he baneful head of the enemy of our souls.
Send down from on high the grace of thy Holy Spirit; and strengthen him
against the invisible hosts, that he may receive at thy hands the crown
of victory, and that in him thy name may be glorified, the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Ghost, for to thee belongeth glory and praise for
ever and ever. Amen."

Thus prayed he, and in fatherly wise embraced Ioasaph, and saluted him
with an holy kiss. Then he sealed himself with the sign of the Cross,
and gathered up his feet, and, with exceeding great joy, as at the
home-coming of friends, departed on that blessed journey, to receive
his reward yonder, an old man and full of days in the Spirit.

XL.

Then did Ioasaph embrace the good father, with all the devotion and
sorrow that can be told, and washed his corpse with his tears. Then he
wrapped it in the hair-shirt, which Barlaam had given him in his
palace; and over him he recited the proper psalms, chanting all the day
long, and throughout the night, and watering the venerable body of the
Saint with his tears. On the morrow, he made a grave hard by the cave,
and thither reverently bore the sacred body, and there, like a good and
honourable son, laid his spiritual father in his sepulchre. And then,
the fire of grief kindling all the hotter within his soul, he set
himself to pray the more earnestly, saying:

"O Lord my God, hearken unto my voice, when I cry unto thee. Have mercy
upon me, and hear me, for I seek thee with all my heart. My soul hath
sought for thee: O hide not thy face from me, and turn not away in
anger from thy servant. Be thou my helper; cast me not utterly away,
and forsake me not, O God my Saviour, because my father and mother
forsake me; but do thou, O Lord, take me up. Teach me thy way, O Lord,
and lead me in the right way because of mine enemies. Deliver me not
over unto the souls of them that afflict me; for I have been cast upon
thee ever since I was born; thou art my God even from my mother's womb.
O go not from me, because, except thee, there is none to help me. For
lo, I set the hope of my soul upon the ocean of thy mercies. Be thou
the pilot of my soul, thou that steerest all creation with the
unspeakable forethought of thy wisdom; and shew thou me the way that I
should walk in; and, as thou art a good God and a lover of men, save me
by the prayers and intercessions of Barlaam thy servant, for thou art
my God, and thee I glorify, the Fath