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However, the holy one prays not that he might not be afflicted, for this is impossible, but that being afflicted he might not be defeated, and that rejoicing in hope he might endure the afflictions and glory in them. For affliction gives birth to hope through endurance and testing. Therefore hear me, he says, on whatever day I am afflicted, inclining to me your philanthropic hearing. God is said to incline his ear, since human power and cry is not able to reach the height of his divinity; wherefore he himself, descending from his majesty, inclines his hearing to those deemed worthy to be heard. And the phrase, "On whatever day I am afflicted," means, "Not only now, but throughout my whole life, and more so in afflictions; for then is there the greatest need of help." Or perhaps it is not said as about a future affliction, but as one that is present. For he wishes to say that, since this is the day whose weight it is not possible to bear, be bent and give swift help. On whatever day I call upon you, hear me quickly. And what is the urgency? What is the cause, or reason for the speed? Because my days have vanished like smoke; he indicates their short-lived and unsubstantial nature through the smoke. And my bones have been scorched like dry twigs. I have been struck down like grass, and my heart has been withered, because I forgot to eat my bread. From the voice of my groaning my bone has clung to my flesh. The prophetic choir, or even David, makes his own the things that happened to the people; and he shows that all their power, by which the things of worship according to the law were established, was corrupted and has perished. And these things were the high priesthood, the temple, the sacrifices through livestock, and the autonomy of the nation. But on a higher level, the one who is poor according to God teaches as his first right action the vanishing of the days of his temporal life like smoke, as he passes them ingloriously and obscurely. You will understand this from what Job says: "When his lamp 23.1253 shone over my head; when I was exceedingly prosperous." The lamp shone for him then when he was in abundance; but when all his possessions had been scattered, he himself would also have said: "Because my days have vanished like smoke." Such is the one who is poor according to God, passing the days of his temporal life ingloriously and obscurely. Then subjecting himself to fasting and afflictions, in hunger and thirst he wears himself out and scorches himself. And since "all flesh is grass, and all its glory as the flower of grass," withering his own flesh he says, "I have been struck down like grass." And the true groaning, which has a voice heard by God, melts the body and works a mortification of the flesh, so that the inner man is renewed. And you will also consider it thus: Smoke vanishes when the fire is extinguished; existing for as long as the fire it accompanies is active. In order that, he says, my days may not vanish. For it will not be good for me for the light that produces my days to be extinguished from me; take away the grievous things. For if they persist, they will become causes of the vanishing of my days, but also, by remaining, they would scorch my bones even more, that is, the vigorous and most firm powers of the soul, which are also scorched by the fire of the passions of the soul. And he says his heart has been withered, possessing nothing cheerful nor anything in which it is possible to have gladness. For it has come to such a state in the present circumstances, that it is no longer possible to be nourished by the bread that is suitable and proper to its more honorable substance; for it is possible to partake of this bread, when not dragged about, nor disturbed by external things. And he says to such a degree has he not been nourished by this bread, that he has even forgotten ever having tasted it. And groaning exceedingly because of the present labors, I let out such an intense and continuous groaning, that from my voice, which becomes a wail, my bone has clung and in a way been united to my flesh, because of the great dryness, all that was sown throughout the body being laid aside

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μέντοι ἅγιος εὔχεται οὐχ ὅπως μὴ θλίβῃ, ἀδύνατον γὰρ τοῦτο, ἀλλ' ὅπως θλιβόμενος μὴ ἡττηθῇ, καὶ ὅπως τῇ ἐλπίδι χαίρων ὑπομένῃ τὰς θλίψεις καὶ καυχώμενος ἐν αὐταῖς. Ἡ γὰρ θλίψις τὴν ἐλπίδα διὰ τῆς ὑπομονῆς καὶ δοκιμῆς γεννᾷ. Ἐπάκουσον οὖν μου, φησὶν, ἐν ᾗ ἂν ἡμέρᾳ θλίβωμαι, ἐπικλίνας μου τὴν φιλάνθρωπον ἀκοήν. Κλίνειν δὲ ὁ Θεὸς τὸ οὖς αὐτοῦ λέγεται, ὡς οὐκ ἐφικνουμένης τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης δυνάμεώς τε καὶ κραυγῆς φθάνειν ἐπὶ τὸ ὕψος τῆς αὐτοῦ θεότητος· διόπερ αὐτὸς ὑποκατιὼν τῆς αὐτοῦ μεγαλειότητος ὑποκλίνει τὴν ἀκοὴν τοῖς καταξιουμένοις εἰσακούεσθαι. Τὸ δὲ, Ἐν ᾗ ἂν ἡμέρᾳ θλίβωμαι, ἀντὶ τοῦ, Μὴ νῦν μόνον, ἀλλὰ παρ' ὅλην ζωὴν, πλέον δὲ ἐν θλίψεσι· τότε γὰρ μάλιστα χρεία βοηθείας. Ἢ τάχα οὐχ ὡς περὶ μελλούσης θλίψεως, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐνεστώσης εἴρηται. Βούλεται γὰρ εἰπεῖν ὅτι, ἐπεὶ αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ ἡμέρα ἧς οὐκ ἔστιν ὑπενεγκεῖν τὴν βαρύτητα, κάμφθητι καὶ ταχεῖαν δὸς τὴν βοήθειαν. Ἐν ᾗ ἂν ἡμέρᾳ ἐπικαλέσωμαί σε, ταχὺ ἐπάκουσόν μου. Καὶ τί τὸ κατεπεῖγον; αἰτία δὲ τίς, ἢ ποία τῆς ταχύτητος; Ὅτι ἐξέλιπον αἱ ἡμέραι μου ὡσεὶ καπνός· τὸ ὀλιγοχρόνιον καὶ ἀνυπόστατον διὰ τοῦ καπνοῦ δηλοῖ. Καὶ τὰ ὀστᾶ μου ὡσεὶ φρύγιον συνεφρύγησαν. Ἐπλήγην ὡσεὶ χόρτος, καὶ ἐξηράνθη ἡ καρδία μου, ὅτι ἐπελαθόμην τοῦ φαγεῖν τὸν ἄρτον μου. Ἀπὸ φωνῆς τοῦ στεναγμοῦ μου ἐκολλήθη τὸ ὀστοῦν μου τῇ σαρκί μου. Τὰ συμβάντα τῷ λαῷ οἰκειοποιεῖται ὁ προφητικὸς χορὸς, ἢ καὶ ὁ ∆αυΐδ· καὶ δείκνυσιν ὅτι πᾶσα δύναμις αὐτῶν, δι' ἧς συνειστήκει τὰ τῆς κατὰ νόμον λατρείας, διεφθάρη καὶ ἀπόλωλεν. Ἦν δὲ ταῦτα ἡ ἀρχιερωσύνη, ὁ ναὸς, αἱ διὰ τῶν θρεμμάτων θυσίαι, καὶ ἡ αὐτονομία τοῦ ἔθνους. Ὑψηλότερον δὲ ὁ κατὰ Θεὸν πτωχὸς πρῶτον αὐτοῦ κατόρθωμα διδάσκει τὸ ἐκλελοιπέναι καπνοῦ δίκην τὰς τῆς προσκαίρου ζωῆς ἡμέρας αὐτοῦ, ἀδόξως καὶ ἀφανῶς αὐτὰς διεξάγοντος. Νοήσεις δὲ τοῦτο ἀφ' ὧν ὁ Ἰώβ φησιν· Ὅτε ηὔγει 23.1253 ὁ λύχνος ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς μου· ὅτε ἤμην ὑλώδης λίαν. Ηὔγει αὐτῷ ὁ λύχνος τότε ἐν εὐθηνίᾳ ὑπάρχοντι· ὅτε δὲ πάντα αὐτῷ τὰ ὑπάρχοντα διαπεπτώκει, εἶπεν ἂν καὶ αὐτός· Ὅτι ἐξέλιπον ὡσεὶ καπνὸς αἱ ἡμέραι μου. Τοιοῦτος δέ ἐστιν ὁ κατὰ Θεὸν πτωχὸς, ἀδόξως καὶ ἀφανῶς τὰς ἡμέρας αὐτοῦ τῆς προσκαίρου ζωῆς διεξάγων. Εἶτα ἀσιτίαις ἑαυτὸν καὶ κακώσεσιν ὑποβάλλων, ἐν λιμῷ καὶ δίψει κατατρύχει καὶ καταφρύγει. Καὶ ἐπεὶ πᾶσα σὰρξ χόρτος, καὶ πᾶσα δόξα αὐτῆς ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου, μαραίνων ἑαυτοῦ τὴν σάρκα φησὶν, Ἐπλήγην ὡσεὶ χόρτος. Ὁ δὲ ἀληθὴς στεναγμὸς, ὃς καὶ φωνὴν ἔχει ἀκουομένην παρὰ Θεοῦ, τήκει τὸ σῶμα, καὶ τῆς σαρκὸς ἐργάζεται νέκρωσιν, ὥστε τὸν ἔσω ἀνακαινοῦσθαι ἄνθρωπον. Ἐπιβαλεῖς δὲ καὶ ὧδε· Ἐκλείπει καπνὸς πυρὸς σβεννυμένου· ὑφεστηκὼς εἰς ὅσον ἐνεργεῖ τὸ πῦρ ᾧ αὐτὸς παρακολουθεῖ. Ἵν' οὖν, φησὶ, καὶ αἱ ἡμέραι μὴ ἐκλείπωσιν. Οὐ γάρ μοι πρὸς καλοῦ ἔσται τὸ σβεσθῆναι τὸ φῶς ἀπ' ἐμοῦ τὸ ποιητικὸν τῶν ἡμερῶν μου· παράγαγε τὰ θλιβερά. Εἰ γὰρ ἐπιμένοιεν, αἴτια γενήσονται τῆς ἐκλείψεως τῶν ἡμερῶν μου, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ὀστᾶ μου ἔτι μᾶλλον συμφρύξοιεν παραμένοντα, τουτέστι, τὰς εὐτόνους καὶ στεῤῥοτάτους τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεις, αἳ καὶ συμφρύγονται ὑπὸ τῆς τῶν ψυχικῶν παθῶν πυρώσεως. Ξηρανθῆναι δὲ αὐτῷ τὴν καρδίαν φησὶν, οὐδὲν ἱλαρὸν οὐδ' ἐφ' ᾧ ἐστιν ἔχειν θυμηδίαν κεκτημένην. Γέγονε γὰρ ἐν τοῖς προκειμένοις περιστατικοῖς τοσοῦτον, ὡς μηκέτι οἷόντε εἶναι τὸν κατάλληλον καὶ ἁρμόδιον τῇ τιμιωτέρᾳ αὐτῇ οὐσίᾳ ἄρτον τρέφεσθαι· τούτου γὰρ τοῦ ἄρτου μεταλαμβάνειν ἔστι, μὴ περιελκόμενον, μηδὲ θολούμενον ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκτός. Εἰς τοσοῦτον δέ φησι μὴ τεθράφθαι τοῦτον τὸν ἄρτον, ὡς καὶ λήθην ἔχειν τοῦ ποτε αὐτοῦ γεγεῦσθαι. Πάνυ δὲ στενάζων διὰ τὰ παρόντα ἐπίπονα, τοσοῦτον ἀφίημι ἐπιτεταμένον καὶ συνεχῆ στεναγμὸν, ὡς ἐκ τῆς φωνῆς μου μετὰ ὀλολυγῆς γινομένης κολληθῆναι καὶ τρόπον τινὰ ἑνωθῆναι τὸ ὀστοῦν μου τῇ σαρκί μου, διὰ τὴν πολλὴν ξηρασίαν ἀναποθείσης πάσης τῆς παρεσπαρμένης τῷ σώματί