Letter 434

To the same person. Pray such things as these to the Lord: "Open, O Master, your rich hand for the bestowal of spiritual benefaction, and every most bitter and harsh soul, just as mine also is, shall be filled with goodness, and the soul that has been made savage shall be tamed. For even though I was abandoned for a little while because of my own sluggishness, yet you are able, even after the abandonment, to send forth again the Holy Spirit and to renew my corrupted earth, so that then you may rejoice over your works, when sinners fail from the earth [Psalm 103:35, LXX] -- that is, when the demonic sorceries fail from my heart." For we shall find some such things as these stated toward the end of the one hundred and third psalm [Psalm 103 in the Septuagint numbering, Psalm 104 in the Hebrew].

Τοιαῦτα εὔχου πρὸς τὸν Κύριον· « Ἄνοιξον, ὦ Δέσποτα, τὴν πλουσίαν σου χεῖρα εἰς χορηγίαν πνευ- ματικῆς εὐεργεσίας, καὶ πᾶσα πικροτάτη, καὶ ἀπηνὴς ψυχή, καθάπερ καὶ ἡ ἐμή, πλησθήσεται χρη- στότητος, καὶ ἡ ἐξαγριωθεῖσα ἡμερωθήσεται. Κἂν γὰρ πρὸς ὀλίγον ἐγκατελείφθην διὰ τὴν ἐμαυ- τοῦ νωχείαν, ἀλλὰ δύνη, καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἐγκατά- λειψιν, ἐξαποστεῖλαι πάλιν τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, καὶ ἀνακαινίσαι τὴν κατεφθαρμένην μου γῆν, ἵνα τότε εὐφρανθῇς ἐπὶ τοῖς ἔργοις σου, ἐκλειπόντων ἁμαρ- τωλῶν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, τουτέστι τῶν δαιμονικῶν μαγ- γευμάτων ἀπὸ τῆς καρδίας μου. Τοιαῦτα γάρ τινα εὑρήσομεν εἰρημένα πρὸς τῷ τέλει τοῦ ἑκατοστοῦ τρίτου ψαλμοῦ.