Гимн 9. Кто живет, не ведая еще Бога, тот есть мертвый среди живущих в познании Бога; и кто недостойно причащается (св.) Таин, для того неуловимо бывает божественное тело и кровь Христова 157 .

Now, O Master, among the living I remain as if dead, and among the dead as if alive, I am more miserable than all the people living on earth whom You, my God, created. After all, to be dead among those who live according to You testifies, of course, about me that I am worse than those who did not receive existence (μὴ κτισθέντων). Living an unreasonable and bestial life of those who do not know God is the same as living among the dead. Indeed, how could it not be like that? and how is it not the same? although it seems to me that I know You and believe (in You), and glorify and call on You. For (only) my mouth speaks to the Word what I have been taught, and I also sing hymns and prayers that have long been written by those who have received Your Holy Spirit. [Meanwhile] saying this and thinking 158 that I have done something great, I do not feel and do not understand that, like children, learning, they [often] do not realize the power of sayings; So I, spending time in prayers, (reading) psalms and (composing) hymns, and chanting You, the only beneficent (Lord), do not perceive with a sense of Your glory and light. And just as the heretics, having learned a lot, imagine that they have come to know and know You, the most unfortunate ones imagine that they see You, my God; So I, too, uttering many prayers and psalmody with my tongue alone, let us assume that in my heart, on the basis of this I believe that I have the highest degree of faith, I think that I have received all knowledge of the truth and do not need anything else; on the basis of the same I conclude that I see You, the Light of the world - the Savior, and I say that I have You, and You abide with me. Imagining that I am communing with Your Divine nature, I am looking for excerpts and sayings against myself. (Thus) having found it from Scripture, I present (the following) evidence, saying: The Lord said that those who eat His flesh and drink His blood abide in Him, and He Himself, the Master, also dwells in them (John 6:56). So, saying this, I affirm that in the held [form] of the body the Elusive One abides as perceptible, and the completely Invisible One as visible and held. But I, unfortunate one, do not understand that [only] in those in whom You will, in the sensual, held and visible, You, the Creator, dwell as sensual held and visible. In the unclean, like I am, or better (to say) unworthy, You, deifying Your sensual body and blood 159 and (making it) completely uncontrollable and elusive, You invariably change it, or rather, truly transform it into spiritual and invisible, as once, with a closed door, You entered and went out (John 20: 19 - 26) and [another time] became invisible before the eyes of the disciples 160 during the breaking of bread (Luke 24:30–31). So now [in the sacrament of the Eucharist] You make bread Your spiritual body. But I think that by becoming a partaker of Your flesh and communing with You, I [always] hold You, whether You would like it or not, and I imagine, my Christ, that I am, as it were, a saint, an heir of God and Your joint heir and brother, and a partaker of eternal glory. So, isn’t it clear from here that I am completely insensitive and obviously do not understand what I sing and chant about, what I say and what I always think about? For if I had fully understood, I would have known, of course, that You, my God, immutably became man so that, having received me, you would deify all of me, and not so that You, as a man, would remain in fat flesh, and so that, being, like God, by nature completely uncontrollable, incorruptible and elusive, You would be kept in corruption. If I knew that Your Divine body is elusive, and believed that Your holy blood is truly an unapproachable fire for me, unworthy; then I would partake of them with fear and trembling, purifying myself with tears and sighs. But I sit now in darkness, deceived by ignorance and possessed, unfortunate, by complete insensibility. However, I ask and beseech You, falling (to You) and seeking Your mercy: Look at me, my All-King, and now, as once before, show Your compassion and compassion, show unforgettable malice against me - the publican, or better yet - the all-fornicating one, who has sinned before You beyond all the nature of rational and dumb creatures. For although I have committed all the iniquities in my life, I confess You God (the Father) as the Creator of all things, I consider You the Son of God to be consubstantial (with the Father), born of Him before all ages, and in recent times - from the Holy Virgin Mary, born as a child, and became a man, who suffered for my sake, was crucified and given over to burial, on the third day rose from the dead and ascended in the flesh to where You did not leave. So, because I thus believe and worship You, and trust that You, Christ, will again come to judge everyone and give everyone their due, let faith instead of works be imputed to me, my God; do not demand (from me) deeds that completely justify me, but instead of everything, let this faith be sufficient for me. Let her protect, let her justify me and show me a partaker of Your eternal glory 161. For he who believes in Me, You said, O my Christ, will live and never see death forever (John 11:25-26). So, if faith in You saves the desperate, then I believe - save me 162 by illuminating Your Divine light: having appeared, You will enlighten, O Master, my soul held in darkness and the shadow of death. Grant me tenderness, (like) Your life-giving drink, a drink that delights my spiritual and physical feelings, a drink that always pleases me and gives me life, which you do not deprive me of, Christ, a humble wanderer, who has placed all my hope in You. In P.K. this is the 26th word. In l. but it is missing, In this case we follow reading II. r., where added: καὶ δοκῶν, which words are not in printed Greek. ed. That is, deifying only the Eucharistic bread and wine, and not those who partake of them. In Greek the text stands ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν... (τῶν μαθητῶν). Thought of St. The father is very transparent here, but it is better, I think, to convey it not literally: not from the hands of the students, but: in front of the students’ eyes. The above words, starting from here: “Let faith instead of works be imputed to me,” etc., are read verbatim in the eighth morning prayer And we literally read these further words in the same prayer; only they are placed there higher than the previous ones. Based on these literal excerpts, it should be concluded that the author of this beautiful prayer is either St. Simeon NB himself, or it was composed by one of his words taken from the 9th hymn. You might be interested in: