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of my moisture from the affliction that has come upon me. For this moisture, when it was with me, fattening the bone, separated it from the flesh, occupying the place between the flesh and the bones. I have become like a pelican of the wilderness; that is, fleeing from time spent in crowds, I was alone and became unsociable. Since this animal, the pelican, is also said to be a lover of solitude. It also represents the desolation of the nation, and this, perhaps, in that only one or a second or a few have been found; such as Jeremiah or Baruch, or another of those who were left at that time, in whose person the preceding words are spoken. But the Lord is also likened to a pelican of the wilderness according to the most wondrous sympathy of this bird for its offspring. For this animal, building its nest on steep rocks, contrives that its chicks should not be easily destroyed by any of those who plot against them. But the serpent, when their father has flown away, since it cannot approach the nest, pours its venom upon them from afar; 23.1256 for it observes from where the wind blows, and from there it breathes its venom upon the chicks, and they die. But the one who fathered them, flying back to them again, and knowing the plot by natural reasoning, knows in turn likewise how they will be brought back to life. For it observes a cloud and flies up high, and above them it gently flutters, and striking its sides more fiercely with its wings on both sides, it releases drops of blood upon them; and these, dripping through the cloud, impart life-giving power to the deadened ones, and they are raised. The pelican, therefore, is taken for the Lord, the chicks for the first-formed humans, the nest for paradise, and the serpent for the apostate devil. This one, therefore, breathed through disobedience upon the first-formed humans who were placed in paradise, and put death into them; but Christ, for his love toward us, being high up on the cross, and having his side pierced, from there dripped the life-flowing blood, and through the cloud of the Holy Spirit he revived us who were deadened; I have become like a night-raven in a ruined house. The night-raven is timid; therefore, fleeing from everywhere, it lodges in the ruins of dwellings, and at night it cries out from timidity. Through the pelican, then, he signified the complete desolation of the people; and through the night-raven he reveals the darkness that has overcome the people; and that, the light that illuminated them having been extinguished, they are as if in darkness and night, having an ignorance of God. Perhaps, too, the holy one, since he cried out all night in prayer, necessarily compares himself to a night-raven. I have watched, and am become as a sparrow that is alone upon the housetop. All the day long my enemies reproached me, and they that praised me swore against me. I became a laughingstock to my enemies, and I who was once envied and admired, have now become an oath to those who formerly admired me; for they swear by my misfortunes; May I not suffer what these people have suffered. And they that praised me swore against me; as one who did not have God as a helper. And not only the enemies of God did these things, but also those who loved me swore against me, that is, those of the same nation and race. And these indeed disbelieved the same prophecies, and deriding both the exhortations and the promises of future things, they swore against me, not to believe the things prophesied by me. For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping. Similar to these are the things in the 79th psalm; You will feed us with the bread of tears, and will give us tears to drink in measure. And by these things he reveals the excess of his pain. For if the time for food was full of pain, what other time could have been free from it? With these evils, he says, I am overwhelmed; because you, Lord, have moved your wrath against me. And the Prophet says these things, making the calamity of the people his own, and bewailing the destruction of so great a multitude, Because of your wrath and your

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μου ὑγρότητος ἐκ τῆς ἐπελθούσης κακώσεως. Αὕτη γὰρ ἡ ὑγρότης ὅτε μοι παρῆν, πιαίνουσα τὸ ὀστοῦν, διῄρει αὐτὸ ἀπὸ τῆς σαρκὸς, τὴν μέσην σάρκα καὶ ὀστέων ἔχουσα χώραν. Ὡμοιώθην πελεκᾶνι ἐρημικῷ· φεύγων δηλονότι τὰς ἐν ὄχλῳ διατριβὰς ἐμονούμην καὶ ἐξηνθρώπιζον. Ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸ ζῶον τοῦτο φιλέρημον εἶναι λέγεται ὁ πελεκάν. Παρίστησι δὲ καὶ τὴν ἐρημίαν τοῦ ἔθνους, καὶ τοῦτό που καθ' ἣν μόνος εὕρηται εἷς που καὶ δεύτερος καὶ βραχεῖς τινες· οἷον Ἱερεμίας ἢ Βαροὺχ, ἢ ἕτερος τῶν τότε ἀπολειφθέντων, ὧν ἐκ προσώπου λέγεται τὰ προκείμενα. Ὁμοιοῦται δὲ καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἐρημικῷ πελεκᾶνι κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ὀρνέου τούτου πρὸς τὰ ἔγγονα θαυμασιωτάτην συμπάθειαν. Τοῦτο γὰρ τὸ ζῶον τὰς νοσσιὰς παρὰ πέτραις ἀποτόμοις πηγνύμενον τοῖς νεοσσοῖς, τὸ μὴ ῥᾷστα παρά τινος τῶν ἐπιβούλων διαφθείρεσθαι, κατεργάζεται. Ἀλλ' ὅ γε ὄφις, ἀποπτάντος αὐτῶν τοῦ πατρὸς, ἐπειδὴ καὶ μὴ προσεγγίζειν τῇ καλιᾷ δύναται, ἐπιχέει αὐτοῖς πόῤῥωθεν 23.1256 τὸν ἰόν· περισκοπεῖ γὰρ ὅθεν πνεῖ ὁ ἄνεμος, κἀκεῖθεν ἐμφυσᾷ τοῖς νεοττοῖς τὸν ἰὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ τελευτῶσιν. Ἀλλ' ὁ γεννήσας, αὐτοῖς ἐπιπτὰς αὖθις, καὶ τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν φυσικοῖς λόγοις εἰδὼς, οἶδε πάλιν ὁμοίως ὅπως ἀναβιώσονται. Σκοπεῖ γὰρ νεφέλην καὶ πέτεται εἰς ὕψος, καὶ κατὰ κορυφὴν ἠρέμα ἐπ' αὐτοῖς πτερύσσεται, καὶ τὰ πλευρὰ τοῖς πτεροῖς ἑκατέρωθεν πλήσσων σφοδρότερον, αἵματος αὐτοῖς ῥανίδας ἀφίησιν· αἱ δὲ διὰ τῆς νεφέλης ἐπιστάζουσαι ζωογόνον τοῖς νεκρωθεῖσιν ἐντιθέασι δύναμιν, καὶ ἐγείρονται. Λαμβάνεται οὖν ὁ πελεκὰν εἰς τὸν Κύριον, οἱ δὲ νεοττοὶ εἰς τοὺς πρωτοπλάστους, ἡ δὲ καλιὰ εἰς τὸν παράδεισον, ὁ δὲ ὄφις εἰς τὸν ἀποστάτην διάβολον. Ἐνεφύσησεν οὖν οὗτος διὰ τῆς παρακοῆς τοῖς ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ τεθεῖσι πρωτοπλάστοις, καὶ νέκρωσιν αὐτοῖς ἐντέθεικεν· ὁ δὲ Χριστὸς διὰ τὴν πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀγάπην ὑψοῦ γενόμενος ἐπὶ τοῦ σταυροῦ, καὶ νυγεὶς τὴν πλευρὰν, ἐκεῖθεν τὸ ζωήῤῥυτον ἐστάλαξεν αἷμα, καὶ διὰ τῆς νεφέλης τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος νεκρωθέντας ἡμᾶς ἀνεζώωσεν· Ἐγενήθην ὡσεὶ νυκτικόραξ ἐν οἰκοπέδῳ. ∆ειλὸν ὁ νυκτικόραξ· διὸ φεύγων πανταχόθεν τοῖς ἐρειπίοις τῶν οἰκημάτων ἐναυλίζεται, καὶ ἐν νυκτὶ κράζει ὑπὸ δειλίας. ∆ιὰ μὲν οὖν τοῦ πελεκᾶνος τὴν παντελῆ ἐρημίαν τοῦ λαοῦ ἐσήμανε· διὰ δὲ τοῦ νυκτικόρακος τὸ κατειληφὸς σκότος τὸν λαὸν δηλοῖ· καὶ ὅτι, τοῦ καταυγάζοντος αὐτοὺς φωτὸς ἀποσβεσθέντος, οἷα ἐν σκοτίᾳ εἰσὶ καὶ νυκτὶ ἀγνωσίαν Θεοῦ ἔχοντες. Τάχα δὲ ὁ ἅγιος, ἐπειδὴ παννύχεις ἐβόα προσευχόμενος, ἀναγκαίως ἑαυτὸν παραβάλλει νυκτικόρακι. Ἠγρύπνησα, καὶ ἐγενήθην ὡσεὶ στρουθίον μονάζον ἐπὶ δώματι. Ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν ὠνείδιζόν με οἱ ἐχθροί μου, καὶ οἱ ἐπαινοῦντές με κατ' ἐμοῦ ὤμνυον. Καταγέλαστος ἐγενόμην τοῖς δυσμενέσι, καὶ ὁ πάλαι ζηλωτὸς καὶ περίβλεπτος, νῦν ὅρκος γέγονα τοῖς πάλαι θαυμάζουσι· κατὰ γὰρ τῶν ἐμῶν ὀμνύουσι συμφορῶν· Μὴ πάθοιμι ἃ οἱ δεῖνες πεπόνθασι. Καὶ οἱ ἐπαινοῦντές με κατ' ἐμοῦ ὤμνυον· ὡς μὴ ἔχοντα βοηθὸν τὸν Θεόν. Καὶ οὐ μόνον οἱ ἐχθροὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ ταῦτ' ἔπραττον, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ ἀγαπῶντές με κατ' ἐμοῦ ὤμνυον, τουτέστιν οἱ ἀπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἔθνους καὶ γένους. Καὶ οὗτοι γοῦν ἠπίστουν ταῖς αὐταῖς προφητείαις, τάς τε παρακλήσεις καὶ τὰς τῶν μελλόντων ἐπαγγελίας διασύροντες κατ' ἐμοῦ ὤμνυον, τὸ μὴ πιστεύειν τοῖς ὑπ' ἐμοῦ προφητευομένοις. Ὅτι σποδὸν ὡσεὶ ἄρτον ἔφαγον, καὶ τὸ πόμα μου μετὰ κλαυθμοῦ ἐκίρνων. Τούτοις παραπλήσια τὰ ἐν τῷ οθʹ ψαλμῷ· Ψωμιεῖς ἡμᾶς ἄρτον δακρύων, καὶ ποτιεῖς ἡμᾶς ἐν δάκρυσιν ἐν μέτρῳ. Τὴν δὲ τῆς ὀδύνης ὑπερβολὴν διὰ τούτων δηλοῖ. Εἰ γὰρ ὁ τῆς τροφῆς καιρὸς ὀδύνης ὑπῆρχε μεστὸς, τίς ἂν ἄλλος καιρὸς ταύτης ἐλεύθερος ἦν; Τούτοις δὲ, φησὶ, περικλύζομαι τοῖς κακοῖς· ἐπειδὴ σὺ, ∆έσποτα, κεκίνηκας κατ' ἐμοῦ τὴν ὀργήν. Ταῦτα δέ φησιν ὁ Προφήτης, οἰκειούμενος τὴν τοῦ λαοῦ συμφορὰν, καὶ ὀλοφυρόμενος τὴν ἀπώλειαν τοῦ τοσούτου πλήθους, Ἀπὸ προσώπου τῆς ὀργῆς καὶ τοῦ