The Great Canon Á-? On Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent - Page 23 of 59
12.
Esau was called Edom for his extreme passion of
madness for women. For ever burning with incontinence and
stained with pleasures, he was named Edom, which means
a red-hot sin-loving soul.
(Genesis 25:30)
13. .
Have you heard of Job who was made holy on a dunghill,
O my soul? You have not emulated his courage, nor had his
firmness of purpose in all you have learned or known, or in
your temptations, but you have proved unpersevering.
(Job 1)
14.
He who was formerly on a throne is now naked on a
dunghill and covered with sores. He who had many children
and was much admired is suddenly childless and homeless.
Yet he regarded the dunghill as a palace and his sores as
pearls.
(Job 2:7-8)
15.
The opulent and righteous man, arrayed in royal dignity,
crown and purple, abounding in wealth and cattle, was
suddenly shorn of his riches, glory and kingdom and became
a beggar.
16.
If he who was righteous and blameless beyond all did not
escape the snares and nets of the deceiver, what will you
do, my soul, who are sin-loving and wretched, if something
unexpected happens to you?
17.
My body is defiled, my spirit is sullied, and I am all covered
with sores. But as the Physician, O Christ, heal, wash and
cleanse both body and spirit with repentance, and make me,
my Savior, purer than snow.
18.
Thou didst lay down Thy body and blood for ail, O crucified
Word: Thy body in order to renew me, Thy blood in order to
wash me, and Thou didst surrender Thy spirit, O Christ, in
order to bring me to the Father.