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distributed to the poor, followed Christ through endurance of temptations, lost their own souls for the sake of the love of God in the world and found them for eternal life. And having found their own souls, they found them in noetic light and thus in this light they saw the unapproachable light, God Himself, according to what is written: "in Your light we shall see light." So how is it to find the soul that one has, pay attention! The soul of each is the drachma which not God lost but each of us, having sunk himself into the darkness of sin. But Christ, the true light, having come and meeting those who seek Him, as He alone knows, granted them to see Himself. This is to find one's soul: to see God and in His light to become superior to all visible creation and to have God as shepherd and teacher, from whom he will also know how to bind and to loose, if you will, and having known accurately, he will worship the one who gave and will impart to those in need.

16. To such as these, I know, my child, is given the authority to bind and to loose from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit, to those who are His holy servants by adoption. To such a father was I myself a disciple, one who did not have ordination from men, but who by the hand of God or rather by the Spirit enlisted me in discipleship and who commanded me to receive well the ordination from men (439) for the sake of the established custom, I having long been moved to this by the Holy Spirit with fervent desire.

17. Therefore, let us pray to first become such men, brothers and fathers, and thus let us speak to others about deliverance from passions and the reception of thoughts and let us seek such a spiritual father. Rather, therefore, let us diligently seek such men, those who are disciples of Christ, and with pain of heart and many tears for a set number of days let us implore God, that He may reveal the eyes of our hearts so that we may recognize if indeed such a one will be found existing in this wicked generation, so that having found him we may receive through him forgiveness of our sins, obeying his commands and precepts with our whole soul, just as he, having heard those of Christ, became a partaker of His grace and gifts, and received from Him the authority to bind and loose sins, being inflamed by the Holy Spirit, to whom is due all glory, honor and worship with the Father and the only-begotten Son unto the ages. Amen.

EPISTLE II. To Stephen of Nicomedia (440) "To my all-holy and holy master, the most glorious syncellus, the one who through

you is exiled and persecuted, your Symeon. Behold, all-holy master, what harvests the seeds of your struggles and words according to God have produced, what glory and joy they have procured for me, of how many crowns they have become the cause for me, with how much gladness they have filled me and have led me up to the height of spiritual knowledge and have firmly set the feet of my mind upon a rock and have prepared me to put on the rock itself, from which I have the living water gushing forth hypostatically in me, moving and speaking and indeed urging me to write to you, and filling me with all delight and not allowing me at all to be sensible of the death-bearing temptations, but like the three youths unburnt in the

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διένειμαν τοῖς πτωχοῖς, ἠκολούθησαν τῷ Χριστῷ διά τῆς τῶν πειρασμῶν ὑπομονῆς, ἀπώλεσαν τάς ἑαυτῶν ψυχάς ἕνεκεν τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ καί εὗρον αὐτάς εἰς ζωήν αἰώνιον. Εὑρόντες δέ τάς ἑαυτῶν ψυχάς, ἐν φωτί νοητῷ εὗρον αὐτάς καί οὕτως ἐν τῷ φωτί τούτῳ εἶδον τό ἀπρόσιτον φῶς, αὐτόν τόν Θεόν, κατά τό γεγραμμένον˙ «ἐν τῷ φωτί σου ὀψόμεθα φῶς». Πῶς οὖν ἔστιν εὑρεῖν τινα ἥν ἔχει ψυχήν, πρόσεχε! Ἡ ἑκάστου ψυχή ἐστίν ἡ δραχμή ἥν ἀπώλεσεν οὐχ ὁ Θεός ἀλλ᾿ ἡμῶν ἕκαστος ἐν τῷ σκόστει τῆς ἁμαρτίας βυθίσας ἑαυτόν. Ὁ δέ Χριστός, τό ὄντως φῶς, ἐλθών καί τούς ζητοῦντας αὐτόν συναντῶν, ὡς οἶδε μόνος αὐτός, ἰδεῖν ἑαυτόν αὐτοῖς ἐχαρίσατο. Τοῦτό ἐστιν εὑρεῖν τήν ψυχήν αὐτοῦ τό ἰδεῖν τόν Θεόν καί ἐν τῷ ἐκείνου φωτί αὐτόν γενέσθαι ἁπάσης κτίσεως τῆς ὁρωμένης ἀνώτερον καί τόν Θεόν σχεῖν ποιμένα καί διδάσκαλον, παρ᾿ οὗ καί τό δεσμεῖν καί λύειν, εἰ βούλει, γνώσεται, καί γνούς ἀκριβῶς προσκυνήσει τόν δεδωκότα καί τοῖς χρῄζουσι μεταδώσει.

16. Τοῖς τοιούτοις οἶδα, τέκνον, δίδοσθαι τοῦ δεσμεῖν καί λύειν τήν ἐξουσίαν ἀπό Θεοῦ Πατρός καί Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ διά τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος, τοῖς θέσει οὖσιν καί ἁγίοις δούλοις αὐτοῦ. Τοιούτῳ καί αὐτός ἐγώ ἐμαθήτευσα πατρί χειροτονίαν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων μή ἔχοντι, ἀλλά χειρί με Θεοῦ εἴτ᾿ οὖν πνεύματι εἰς μαθητείαν ἐγκαταλέξαντι κάι τήν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων χειροτονίαν (439) διά τόν παρακολουθήσαντα τύπον καλῶς λαβεῖν με κελεύσαντι, πάλαι ὑπό τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐπί τοῦτο σφοδρῷ πόθῳ κινούμενον.

17. Τοιγαροῦν γενέσθαι πρῶτον τοιοῦτοι εὐξώμεθα, ἀδελφοί καί πατέρες, καί οὕτως τοῖς ἄλλοις περί παθῶν ἀπαλλαγῆς καί ἀναδοχῆς λογισμῶν ὁμιλήσωμεν καί τοιοῦτον πνευματικόν ζητήσωμεν. Μᾶλλον μέν οὖν τοιούτους ἐμπόνως ζητήσωμεν ἄνδρας, τούς ὄντας μαθητάς τοῦ Χριστοῦ καί μετά πόνου καρδίας καί δακρύων πολλῶν ἐπί ῥητάς ἡμέρας ἱκετεύσωμεν τόν Θεόν, ἵνα ἀποκαλύψῃ τούς ὀφθαλμούς τῶν καρδιῶν ἡμῶν πρός τό ἐπιγνῶναι, εἴ που καί τοιοῦτός τις ἐν τῇ πονηρᾷ ταύτῃ γενεᾷ ὤν εὑρεθήσεται, ὅπως εὑρόντες αὐτόν ἄφεσιν λάβωμεν δι᾿ αὐτοῦ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν, τοῖς προστάγμασιν αὐτοῦ καί ταῖς ἐντολαῖς ὅλῃ ψυχῇ ὑπακούοντες, καθάπερ ἐκεῖνος, ἀκούσας τάς τοῦ Χριστοῦ, γέγονε μέτοχος τῆς χάριτος καί τῶν δωρεῶν αὐτοῦ, καί τήν ἐξουσίαν τοῦ δεσμεῖν καί λύειν τά ἁμαρτήματα παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἔλαβε τῷ Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι πυρωθείς, ᾧ πρέπει πᾶσα δόξα, τιμή κάι προσκύνησις σύν τῷ Πατρί καί τῷ μονογενεῖ Υἱῷ εἰς τούς αἰῶνας. Ἀμήν.

ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ Β'.Πρός Στέφανον Νικομηδείας (440) «Τῷ πανιέρῳ καί ἁγίῳ δεσπότῃ μου, τῷ ἐνδοξοτάτῳ συγκέλλῳ, ὁ διά

σοῦ ἐξόριστος καί δεδιωγμένος Συμεών ὁ σός. Ἰδού, πανίερε δέσποτα, τῶν κατά Θεόν σου ἀγώνων καί λόγων τά σπέρματα οἶα πεποιήκασι τά γεώργια, οἴαν μοι δόξαν καί χαράν προεξένησαν, ὅσων μοι στεφάνων γεγόνασιν αἴτια, ὅσης με τῆς εὐφροσύνης ἐνέπλησαν εἰς ὕψος τε πνευματικῆς ἀνήγαγον γνώσεως καί ἐπί πέτραν τούς πόδας μου τοῦ νοός καλῶς προσερείσαντο καί αὐτήν με τήν πέτραν ἐνδύσασθαι παρεσκευάσαν, ἐξ ἧς ἔχω τό ὕδωρ τό ζῶν ἐνυποστάτως βλύζον ἐν ἐμοί, κινούμενον καί λαλοῦν καί γράφειν μέν πρός σέ προτρεπόμενον, πάσης τε θυμηδίας ἐμπιπλῶν καί μή ἐῶν ὅλως με τῶν θανατηφόρων πειρασμῶν ἐπαισθάνεσθαι, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς τούς τρεῖς παῖδας ἀφλέκτους ἐν τῇ