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you will be ranked among the saved, for which every zealous man strives and to attain which nothing of all things is more worthy. If only there were some way to make an exchange, to trade our senses with each other; and it would be for me a matter of much prayer that with the removal of my sight, the goads of sin that come before sight would also be removed. But these things are in the manner of friendship; may our good God exhort you with much exhortation to bear all things with thanksgiving in imitation of the blessed Job and may He deem us worthy to come at some point to a face-to-face conversation, so that whatever now escapes these letters, we might supply with a living voice and then get to know one another better, having previously tasted of your sweet love from a small experience. 520 {1To Niketas the spatharios}1 In the case of small sufferings, it is easy for one who chooses to comfort the afflicted to find consolations; but in the case of such a great suffering, by which your God-loving person has been encompassed, what word of comfort could be found? And who, attempting to heal such pain, could do so with knowledge? Oh, the abominable news! Your lady wife has been torn from you, as has just now been heard by us, the only comfort in the circumstances of life has been taken away, the blessed hearth has been unadorned; the branches are downcast, the good root having been cut out, the manservants and maidservants huddled here and there, as not having the mistress's face shining upon the house; all things are full of gloom, perhaps even the air seems changed to you by the change of your mind. Where is she who welcomed you with great joy when you returned home from your duties at the palace? Where is she who received relatives graciously, who, to speak concisely, arranged and reconciled this and that and all things, both managing and keeping house in all matters concerning the home, and all matters concerning others, both relatives and guests? All is gone and has perished, and we have become as if in a wilderness, deprived of all the good things we possessed. Such and so great is the suffering of your precious soul, O master, and there is no comfort from man sufficient to soothe your inflamed heart, except from God alone, who comforts the lowly in heart through the recollection of good thoughts. Therefore that blessed one (for blessed she is), since she possessed a sure faith toward God, also lived a venerable life; of which there are many signs, of which we ourselves have not been without a share, and the last, that having been tested like gold in a fire by a very long and hard-to-bear illness, she flew away from here. Therefore this is sufficient for our consolation, that you have sent such a spouse to God, who left her own life to us as an example of a most beautiful way of life, and besides, that you yourself, being educated in divine matters, ought not to be so distraught at what has happened; for you know that, having come into being by the good pleasure of God, our departure is also necessarily joined to our birth, and no man is immortal and no marriage is inseparable. Let us review, if you please, those from Adam until today and we will find the continuous succession descending as long as this world shall last. Where are those who begot you, master, and those who bore them? And tracing back you will find nothing else but a flowing and an ebbing in human affairs. What then is now the question? That we should come to ourselves, and perform the fitting funeral rites for the ever-memorable one, for whom we the humble also prayed not a little, even if we were not heard as sinners, that she might remain in this life, and that we should arrange well the affairs of the children and prepare in advance for our own departures, living our life in a manner worthy of God, so that, when we depart from here whenever Providence permits, we shall find there our good spouse, rejoicing in endless ages with us ourselves in the participation of the ineffable good things. These things, although they are very little for consolation, are nevertheless indicative of your love, which may it be granted to us cheerful and easily consoled

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σῳζομένων σε τετάξεται, περὶ οὗ πᾶς σπουδαῖος ἐπείγεται καὶ οὗ τοῦ τυχεῖν οὐδὲν τῶν ἁπάντων ἀνταξιώτερον. εἴθε ἦν πως ἀντάλλαγμα γενέσθαι εἰς τὸ ἀμείψασθαι ἀλλήλοις τὰς αἰσθήσεις· καὶ πολλοῦ ἂν εὐχῆς μοι ἔργον ἦν τῇ ἀφαιρέσει τῆς ὄψεως συναφαιρεθῆναι καὶ τῶν πρὸ τῆς ὄψεως κέντρων τῆς ἁμαρτίας. Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν κατὰ φιλίας τρόπον· σὲ δὲ ὁ ἀγαθὸς θεὸς ἡμῶν παρακαλέσειε παρακλήσει πολλῇ οἴσειν πάντα εὐχαρίστως κατὰ μίμησιν τοῦ μακαρίου Ἰὼβ καὶ ἀξιώσειεν καὶ εἰς τὴν κατ' ὀφθαλμοὺς ὁμιλίαν ἐλθεῖν ἡμᾶς ποτε, ἵνα, ὅσα νῦν διαφεύγει τοῖς γράμμασι, ζώσῃ φωνῇ ἀναπληρώσαιμεν καὶ μᾶλλον τηνικαῦτα γνωρίσωμεν ἀλλήλους, ἐκ μικρᾶς πρότερον πείρας ἀπογευσάμενοί σου τῆς γλυκείας ἀγάπης. 520 {1Νικήτᾳ σπαθαρίῳ}1 Ἐπὶ μὲν μικροῖς πάθεσιν ἔστιν ἐξευρίσκειν εὐκόλως τὰς παρακλήσεις τὸν προαιρούμενον παραμυθεῖσθαι τοὺς κακουμένους· ἐπὶ δὲ τοιούτῳ μεγίστῳ πάθει, ἐν ᾧ περιεσχέθη ἡ θεοφίλειά σου, τίς ἂν καὶ ἐξευρεθείη λόγος παρακλητικός; τίς δὲ ὁ ἐπιχειρῶν θεραπεύειν τοιοῦτον ἄλγος ἐπιστημόνως δυνηθείη; ὢ τῆς ἀπευκταίας ἀκοῆς· ἀπερράγη σοι ἡ κυρία ἡ ὁμόζυγος, ὡς ἄρτι ἤκουσται ἡμῖν, ἀφῃρέθη τὸ μόνον παραμύθιον ἐν ταῖς συμβατικαῖς περιστάσεσιν, ἀπεκοσμήθη ἡ εὐλογημένη ἑστία· οἱ κλάδοι κατηφεῖς, τῆς ἀγαθῆς ῥίζης ἐκκοπείσης, οἱ θεράποντες καὶ αἱ θεράπαιναι ὧδε κἀκεῖσε περιειλούμεναι, ὡς οὐκ ἔχουσαι τὸ δεσποτικὸν πρόσωπον ἐπιλάμπον τῇ οἰκίᾳ· τὰ πάντα κατηφείας μεστά, τάχα καὶ ὁ ἀήρ σοι ἠλλοιωμένος τῇ ἀλλοιώσει τῶν φρενῶν. ποῦ ἡ προσιεμένη σε ἐπανιόντα οἴκοι περιχαρῶς ἀπὸ τῶν ἀνακτορικῶν διατριβῶν; ποῦ ἡ τοὺς ἀγχιστεύοντας δεξιουμένη ἐπιεικῶς, ἡ τόδε καὶ τόδε καὶ ὅσα ἐστί, συντόμως εἰπεῖν, διευθετοῦσα καὶ συμβιβάζουσα, οἰκονομοῦσά τε καὶ οἰκουροῦσα ὅσα τὰ κατ' οἶκον, ὅσα τὰ πρὸς ἄλλους οἰκείους τε καὶ ἐπιξενουμένους; πάντα οἴχεται καὶ ἀπόλωλε, καὶ γεγόναμεν ὡς ἐν ἐρημίᾳ πάντων τῶν προσόντων ἀγαθῶν ἀπεστερημένοι. Τοιοῦτον καὶ τηλικοῦτον τὸ πάθος τῆς τιμίας σου ψυχῆς, ὦ δέσποτα, καὶ οὐδεμία παραμυθία πρὸς ἀνθρώπου, ἱκανουμένη καταλεᾶναι τὴν φλεγμαίνουσάν σου καρδίαν, ἢ παρὰ μόνου θεοῦ, τοῦ παρακαλοῦντος τοὺς ταπεινοὺς τῇ καρδίᾳ διὰ τῆς τῶν ἀγαθῶν λογισμῶν ἀναλήψεως. ἐκείνη μὲν οὖν ἡ μακαρία (μακαρία γάρ ἐστιν), ἐπὰν τὴν πίστιν πρὸς θεὸν ἐκέκτητο ἀσφαλῆ, καὶ τὸν βίον διετέλει σεμνόν· οὗ γνωρίσματα πολλά, ὧν καὶ ἡμεῖς οὐκ ἄμοιροι τετυχήκαμεν, τὸ δὲ τελευταῖον, ὅτι ὡς χρυσὸς ἐν πυρὶ τῇ μακροτέρᾳ καὶ δυσοίστῳ νόσῳ δοκιμασθεῖσα ἀπέπτη τῶν ἐνθένδε. οὐκοῦν ἀρκετὸν ἡμῖν τοῦτο εἰς παρηγορίαν, ὅτι τηλικαύτην ὁμόζυγον παρέπεμψας μὲν θεῷ, ὑπόδειγμα καλλίστης πολιτείας τὸν ἑαυτῆς βίον ἐναφήσασαν ἡμῖν, καὶ ἄλλως ὅτι, τὰ θεῖα ὤν πεπαιδευμένος αὐτός, οὐ τοσοῦτον ὀφείλεις ἐκσταθῆναι ἐπὶ τῷ γεγονότι· οἶδας γὰρ ὅτι, εἰς γέννησιν ἐληλυθότες κατ' εὐδοκίαν θεοῦ, πάντως τῇ γεννήσει συνεζευγμένη καὶ ἡ ἔξοδος ἡμῖν προσγίνεται καὶ οὐδεὶς ἄνθρωπος ἀθάνατος καὶ οὐδεμία συζυγία ἀδιάζευκτος. ἀναθεωρήσωμεν, εἰ δοκεῖ, τοὺς ἀπὸ Ἀδὰμ μέχρι τήμερον καὶ εὑρήσομεν τὴν ὑπάλληλον διαδοχὴν κατιοῦσαν ἕως ἂν καὶ συσταίη ὁ τῇδε κόσμος. ποῦ οἱ φύσαντές σε, δέσποτα, καὶ οἱ ἐκείνους τεκόντες; καὶ ἀναποδίζων οὐδὲν ἄλλο εὑρήσεις ἢ ῥοὴν καὶ ἀπορροὴν τὰ ἀνθρώπινα. τί οὖν ἐστι νῦν τὸ ζητούμενον; ὅπως εἰς ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς γενοίμεθα, καὶ τὰ μὲν εἰκότα ἐπιτάφια ἐπιτελέσωμεν τῇ ἀειμνήστῳ, ὑπὲρ ἧς καὶ ἡμεῖς οἱ ταπεινοὶ οὐκ ἐλάχιστα ηὐξάμεθα, εἰ καὶ οὐκ ἠκούσθημεν ὡς ἁμαρτωλοί, τὸ ἐπιμεῖναι αὐτὴν ἐν τῷδε τῷ βίῳ, τὰ δὲ τῶν παίδων εὖ διαθώμεθα καὶ τὰ ἡμέτερα ἐξόδια προευτρεπίσωμεν, ἐμβιοτεύοντες τῷ βίῳ θεοπρεπῶς, ἵνα, μεταστάντες τῶν ἐνθένδε ὁπηνίκα ἐπιτρέπει ἡ πρόνοια, εὑρήσομεν ἐκεῖσε τὴν καλὴν ὁμόζυγον, ἐν ἀπείροις αἰῶσι χαίρουσαν σὺν ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς ἐπὶ μεθέξει τῶν ἀπορρήτων ἀγαθῶν. Ταῦτα, εἰ καὶ ἐλάχιστα πρὸς παρηγορίαν, ὅμως ὅτι ἐπιδεικτικὰ τῆς ἀγάπης σου, ἥτις καὶ χαρισθείη ἡμῖν εὔθυμος καὶ εὐπαρηγόρητος