Discourse 3

Discourse Three. Every soul, however, that does not admit the addition of the service of the conquest of the passions upon its purity, it is not possible for it, through much idleness, to find from it and in it the fruits of wisdom concerning God. But the tranquility of that soul which is naturally from the world is a swift casting off of the conceptions in the soul, so that from it she may be raised up to God, and in the end she will stand. When, however, the waters from without do not enter into the stirring of the soul, the waters from her nature will gush forth; the conceptions will be pure, being moved concerning God at all times. Whenever, therefore, you find yourself apart from this, or a cause from memory and recollection has taken hold, or sensations have agitated and disturbed her through the encounters of the passions, then, when the sensations are restrained by the silence that is without beginnings, and the memories are abolished by the help that is from this, then you will see the purity of the thoughts that are natural to the soul, and what the nature of the soul is, and what treasures are deposited in her. The treasures, however, are the conceptions that are not corporeal, which are cast off from their soul without idleness and labor upon them.

of a person: how such thoughts are stirred in the human soul. And what teacher had he, or how could he find that which even he who knows how to teach his companion does not know? And what instruction had he from that one who did not learn from others? This is the nature of the soul. For sufferings are an addition from the causes in the soul; but by its nature, it is not sentient. When, however, sufferings of the soul and of the body are found in the Scriptures, according to the aforementioned causes, they refer to the soul: by nature, the soul has no sufferings. The external philosophers, however, do not believe this, and those who follow their thought also err. But we believe this: that God did not make his image sentient. His image, moreover, is not the body, as they say, but the soul, which is invisible. For every image in which the form of change is depicted, and a visible image of something invisible, cannot suffer the death of its form. Therefore we believe that sufferings of the soul are not natural, as they say. But if someone objects to this, we ask him and he says to us: what is the nature of the soul?

that which is not in pain when it is full of light, or when it is moved in pains and becomes dark? But when was it that the purification of the soul was clear, and it was a receiver of blessed light, and when again will its first nature be found in it in this way? What then of that which is moved in pains, beyond its nature, is acknowledged as a departure from the whole of the church? What then are pains? They come after the nature of the soul. And the personal pains of the soul, all of them, are not fitting, because the soul itself is moved in them, but it is revealed that it is moved in something outside itself, and not in its own. And if these are moved by reason of the body, natural things are stirred in it, then also hunger and thirst and sleep are of the soul, because it feels and is affected together with the body. And also the cutting of limbs, and fire, and pains, and diseases, and the rest: because by reason of the partnership with it, the body suffers in them, and it with it. And it is moved in the joy of these of the body, and receives affliction in its thoughts. The natural state of the soul: and that which is outside its nature, and that which is above its nature. The natural states of the soul are: the thoughts of all creatures, which are perceived and known. Above its nature is: the abandonment of itself in divine vision.

outside its nature, that is, its movement in the passions. Behold, even the light of the world is clothed in the victory of Basiliscus, who speaks thus: “When the soul is in the order of its purity, it is found above. When it is in the entirety of its nature, it is below and on the earth.” The passions indicate that above there is not, where the place of the soul is said to be. But when nature descends from its order to the lower part, then it becomes sentient. Where then do the passions of the soul indicate that it is not in its purity? Thus the soul is moved in the passions of the body, such as hunger and thirst because of it. But because laws have not been established concerning these, it is not a passion. Just as in those who are under authority, there is a time when, by the command of God, one suffers, and in return for obedience and passion, receives a good reward, like Hosea the prophet who participated in a marriage without law, and like Elijah who was persecuted unto death for the sake of God’s worship, and like those who, by the commandment of Moses, slew their relatives with swords. But they say again: not naturally, and to the soul, anger and wrath are foreign to these, which are of the purity of the body, and these are not its passions. The question of the two.

And we ask: the desire of the soul—when is it inflamed by divine things? Its desire is its purity, or rather, it is in these things that are of earth and body. And when it changes those things that are natural to the soul, it is spoken of in anger, or natural anger. When it changes the desire of the body, and loss, and glory, and the rest—or when it does not accept these things. Look upon these things, that one who is called, and go and also seek after him. For the holy Scripture says many things: that it speaks of something according to something. And it places different names, many times, for those things that are of the body upon the soul, and those things of the soul it takes many times upon the body, and does not distinguish them, as if it did not see the difference. The attentive, however, understand what they read. This, then, is the intention of the writer. Like those things concerning the divinity of our Lord: that he takes upon his humanity in a high and lofty manner, something that does not befit human nature, and something that does not befit his divinity. And many who did not attend to the intention of the speech of Scripture have here stumbled into a confusion without foundation. Thus also are those things concerning the soul and the body.

If virtue is the natural health of the soul, then passions are diseases that come upon it from outside the nature, to trouble it and to expel it from its health. It is known that health precedes the diseases of sickness. And if this is so, as indeed it is true and certain, then virtue came to be in the soul as from its natural foundations, and diseases are outside nature. Otherwise, that which is prior cannot be unnatural. The third question: Are bodily passions naturally placed upon the body, or accidentally? And the soul: are these from the cause of the body, accidental or natural? But those of the body outside nature cannot be said to be possible. And as for the soul, from what has been known and from all that is confessed, natural purity is its own, concerning which it is said here that it is not accidental, nor does it admit of increase in that which is of sickness. The second confession of health. And that which is nature, good and evil, is not possible, for from every side one of them is prior to its companion. And whichever is the stronger, that is the natural one. Everything that is an accident is from it; from nature it is not said, nor is it domestic, but it comes from outside. And every accident and troubling is a disturbance when it is attached to it and a change.

Nature, however, is not changed, nor does it err. All the passions that exist are given for the assistance of each one of the natures, those which exist purely in themselves and as they were given for their nurture by God. The bodily passions were appointed by God in the body for its assistance and nurture. And the passions of the soul: these are the spiritual powers for the nurture and assistance of the soul. And when the body is hindered from going out from its suffering, through the restraint of its passions and from clinging to the soul, it is hindered. And when the soul abandons those things which are its own and clings to the body, it is hindered. Because, as the Apostle says, the spirit feels something that suits the body, and the body feels something that suits the spirit. And both are opposed to one another in their nature. Therefore, do not dare to blaspheme against God, that He placed passions and sin in nature. For He placed in each one of the natures that which would perfect it, something that would increase it in itself. And when one is united to its companion, it is not found in its own self, but in the other. And if these passions were natural to the soul, why is it hindered when it is affected by them? For the properties of its own nature do not hinder nature. And why is the completion of the bodily passions nurture and strength for the body?

and how the soul harms itself, whether it is its own or not. And why the abundance that is sought for the body clogs the soul. Have you seen anything outside nature, such as harms each of these natures? For each of the natures, when it approaches its own, rejoices. If you wish to know which are the properties of each of these natures, see each of them by means of that by which it is assisted in its need: its own are present. And by those by which it is troubled, know that by the opposite of its own it is hindered. This is the limit. If it is now established that the passions of each of these natures are opposite to one another, then everything that assists and gives rest to the body, when the soul uses it, is not considered for the soul's own benefit. Because those that are for the soul's own benefit are death for the body. But they are placed upon it spiritually. For the sickness of the flesh, however, cannot be completely freed from it as long as it is clothed in it, because its nature participates in its afflictions due to the union of its movements, which are interwoven with its fleshly sensations by that wisdom which is not to be grasped. Yet even so, in this mixed manner: movements are distinguished from movements, and will from will. This, then: flesh from spirit. And nature is not at all confused, nor does it stand against its own.

But each one of them increases and profits greatly for equality, and brings about sin or excess: each one of them moves its will and abandons its power. When, however, that governance of the body is raised up, then the whole spirit with all its movements, and in its heart of heaven, swims in desires that cannot be grasped. For it remembers that its body will not remain. And thus also: just as when they are in sin, the beauties of the soul are neglected, from the abandonment of the mind. What is purity of thought? Purity of thought is not that which does not know evils. And if not, it is wakefulness. Nor does it call those who have placed nature in the measure of childhood pure of thought. And if not, even the order of wild beasts would follow from evil ones. But purity of thought is the equality of the passions, which comes after many excesses that have been served. Nor do they allow this to be said: that the lowly service of thoughts that oppose this has stood against it. And if not, the body would not be clothed. But the opposites from nature, before the future world, do not rise up.

of thoughts: not to that which is given to the person who has surrendered the power of speech, but to the beginning of the movement of thoughts that is stirred by the will, from the fourfold nature of the bodily elements, which are signs of the movement of all the senses. For in this life there is no person who is elevated from the memories of the future. It is that the heads of the movements, even as Paul the perfect one said, are not. But when the body, by its limbs, is like a natural order, and the world, by its natures, in the service of the senses, and the soul, by thoughts, memories, and the powers of prayer, and demons, by the movements of those that were mentioned, through these four, the gathering of the senses is drawn to it, while it is slightly disturbed, it is snatched toward the excessive desires that are seen in the thoughts. If before the abolition of the world, or by the disturbance of death, it is possible that one of these four be abolished, but not. Or if the body is elevated from its passions to perfection, so that nature does not hinder it, toward the request of one of the two. But if the drunken one is revealed as these stand, it is necessary that the senses also be moved in all the evil ones of the body, and concerning vigilance, for every necessity.

Sensations, then, are not one and two, as the saying goes, but all the varieties of sensations, like those who wear flesh. However, if one extends the discourse, because of the feebleness of movements and the scantiness of members, one might say that which is: that it is not about difficult labors and great vigilance. For what distinction is there between purity of thought and purity of heart? One is purity of thought, and another is purity of heart. Just as there is a distinction between a limb and the whole body, and the whole body. Thought, then, is one of the senses of the soul. Heart, then, is that which holds the inner senses. This, then, is the sense of the senses, which is the root. And if the root is holy, then all the branches are also. It is not so, however, even if one of the branches is sanctified. Thought, then, by a small amount of reading and a little labor of fasting and silence, loses its first fervor, being disturbed, when it is hindered from external readings. But, then, it can also be disturbed at night. Heart, then, by great afflictions and by separation from the whole mixture of the world, together with complete death from everything, is purified. And when it is purified from the encounters of small desires, its purity cannot be disturbed. This, then, is not even afraid of severe battles.

of the stomach, a strong stomach easily digests all foods, so that the remaining difficult things for the shepherds of their thoughts. For it is said to the physicians of all digestion of the flesh that is difficult to digest: a greater power gives in a strong body, when it is strengthened within a powerful stomach. Thus also every purification that occurs easily and with little expenditure and slight labors is also easily defiled. But purity that is acquired through great afflictions and vigilance, and through the death of the members of the soul, is not cut off by small encounters of the desires. Coarse sensations give birth to a disturbance in the soul, instead of allowing it to receive the help of order. But when it does not receive the sensation of anything, it is a victory that does not grow weary. That which wonders at this, that it is compelled without knowing, and after the cause of sensation is disturbed to become outside of it, destroys the former things. These are: clarity and perfection from nature. For their end is in evil things, or rather, the whole world, this evil, departs from that place. One among many is found, who turns again to his place in the order of the two. But good, beautiful simplicity, or the various kinds of remission.

of fear, which is fitting for the spiritual physician: to guard the boundary of the transgression of the commandment. Love, however, is for the sake of the acquisition of the abundance of good things, on account of which one strives toward the service of beautiful things. The knowledge of the spirit is twofold in its existence: for the service of excellence. It precedes both: love and fear. It precedes even affection. Fear. But everyone who looks intently at the outcome of the last things from before the first things: without doubt, he places in himself the foundation of destruction. Thus, by the yoke of the mysteries from God: that these are from those who are born of him. Do not exchange the love of your neighbor for the love of desires: for that which is heavier than everything, conceal within yourself. That which is a bodily deposit for the eyes of the flesh: that, when it is a fitting spiritual thing for the hidden vision. And that which is a pattern of the clouds of passions for the natural vision of both: that, when it is, and this for the natural order, and in it they are mingled with each other, until the point where the yoke of the theories shares in it. When it is in the natural order, it is in the theory of the angels: which is the first and spiritual theory, it is called, however, and that when it is, and it is naked.

Now, as for the natural knowledge of the two: from the coarser elements it becomes heavy and sinks like milk—that which is called the final garment of the order that was mentioned earlier, which after purity is placed, so that it may not enter before its time, and it, while it is prior in manifestation, is indeed the first order of knowledge. By the honor, however, of the final one, and on account of its being called secondary, and like letters of the alphabet, by which that order of the two is purified and studied, leading to the ascent of that order of the two, which is the perfection of the movements of the mind, and the proximate order to divine vision. The final garment of that one: the senses. Its nakedness, however: the mobility of the visions without matter. Small breaths: which are found in the weighty ones. Be dead in life, and do not live in death. Give yourself so that you may die in virtue. And not to live in guilt. Not only those who receive death for the sake of their faith in Christ are martyrs, but also those who die for the sake of the preservation of his commandments. Do not be clever in questions, lest you harm God without your knowledge. Become wise for prayer, so that you may be worthy of praises. Seek weighty things from the one who does not withhold, so that you may receive honor from his side, because of the wise choice of your will.

Solomon asked for wisdom, and he also received the kingdom of the earth along with it, because he knew how to ask wisely. But that one from the king—the great ones. Elisha asked for a double portion of his master's spirit, and his request was not denied him. Israel asked for meats, and received the wrath of God. He who is pure in his works and in the fearful deeds of his hands abandoned that, and asked for the desires of his belly. And while their food was in their mouths, the wrath of God rose up against them. To God, according to his majesty, present your requests, so that your honor may approach him and he may rejoice in you. Just as a man who asks from a king a measure of dung—not only is he rejected because of the baseness of his request, but he also condemns himself by his ignorance; rather, he who presents a pleasant gift to the king approaches him. So it is with one who asks bodily things from God through prayer. Behold, the angels and the chiefs of angels, who are the great ones of the king, look upon you at the time of prayer, to see what petition you present to their Lord. And they are ashamed of you when they see that you have abandoned your dignity and asked for heavenly things. Do not ask anything from God that, even without our own merit, is wasted on being given to us.

Not only for his own household, but also for those who are mindful of his teaching, to the fullness of his knowledge, and even for those who are known to him, he is sufficient for them. Do not be like those who are anxious for the body, like sinners. What is it that is like sinners? Those who are anxious for the body: they are the ones who seek the things of the earth. Be anxious, then, not about what you will eat, or what you will drink, or what you will wear. Your father knows that these things are also necessary for you. A son never asks his father for bread, but rather concerning the great treasures that his father possesses, he presents a petition. That which the Lord commanded concerning daily bread to be asked for in prayer: it is a petition that is entrusted to the interior, because of the weakness of their thoughts. But see, then, to those who are perfect in knowledge and sound in soul, what does he command them? Not even about sustenance or clothing should you be anxious. If concerning the flight of a sparrow that was offered in vain to God, how much more so concerning you. But ask of God for a kingdom and righteousness, and these things will be added to you as extras. If He delays His spirit over your petition, when you seek and do not receive immediately, do not be distressed. For you are not wiser than God.

When then do you suppose that it is thus? Or because your conduct is not equal to your petition? Or because the ways of your heart are separated from the vision of your prayer? Not because of the measure of your hiddenness from the greatness of the desire. It is not right that great desires come by night into your hands, that you might not be deprived of the gift of God because of the simplicity of its finding. Everything that is cheap in its finding, also simply becomes its loss. Everything that is found with labor, is preserved with care. Be silent for the sake of Jesus, that you may be saturated with his love. Close your eyes from the burdens of the world, that you may be equal to the kingdom of peace from God in your heart. Fast from the disturbances that kindle the eyes, that you may be equal to the joy of the spirit. If your conduct is not equal to God, do not ask from him glorious things, lest you appear as a man who contends with God. Righteous prayer, however, is according to conduct. No man is inflamed with heavenly things while he is bound by the passions of his own will because of the body. And there is none who asks for these divine things and is occupied with earthly things. The desire of each man is known from his deeds. And also concerning that which is vain for him, that even in prayer he asks for it, it is fitting for him. And that which he prays for his own sake, and also that which he shows in his revelations, shows negligence.

...that you are eager for the great things, but are not content with the small things. Be a free man while you are bound in the body, and show servitude in your freedom for the sake of Christ. Be cunning in your integrity, so that you are not deceived. Love humility in your ways, so that you may be delivered from snares that are not to be grasped, which are easily found by one who is apart from the paths in which the humble walk. Do not neglect the afflictions through which you will enter into knowledge. Do not fear the trials through which you will find precious things. Pray that you do not enter into self-willed trials. For the body, prepare your whole strength. And in all your limbs, swim within them. For apart from them, you cannot approach God. For within them is placed divine vision. He who flees from trials flees from excellence. Not from the trials of the ranks, but from afflictions. And as that prayer that you not enter into trial is similar to that which struggles to enter through a narrow door, and you should not fear those that kill the body, and that which destroys itself for the sake of its findings. In all your life, our Lord urges you toward trials, and here he commands that you pray that you not enter. What excellence is accomplished apart from trials? Or what trial that is spared from destruction does he command us to enter for its sake?

...that without trials you are not content. And he said: Without trials, the kingdom of heaven is not found. O how narrow is the path of your teaching, my Lord! And what is not attained by knowledge when one reads, stands outside it in his thought. When Zebedai’s sons asked him and his mother to be seated with him in the kingdom, this he sought from them: that if they could joyfully receive the cup of trials, they could come to drink the cup that he drinks. And the baptism that the baptizer baptizes, will you be baptized? And how do you say: Pray that you do not enter, you command, my Lord? Because of those trials, pray that you do not enter. Pray: that you do not enter into trial by your faith. Pray: that you do not enter into trial by the proclamation of your righteousness, with the demon of blasphemy and pride. Pray: that you do not enter with abandonment into the manifest trials of the senses, which know how to bring Satan upon you, when he is permitted by God, because of the foolish thoughts that were considered. Pray: that the witness of asceticism not be removed from you, and that you be burned by the flames of sin without him. Pray: that you do not enter into the trial of blasphemy of anything.

The prayer says: Do not enter into spiritual trials. That is, by trials that are not for the sake of the soul, in anger and in disputes and in contentions. For the body, prepare your whole body. And in all your limbs, swim in their midst, while your eyes are filled with tears, so that you may be found with your guardian in their midst. Without trials, however, the grace of God is not perceived, and intimacy with Him is not established, and the wisdom of the spirit is not learned, and the love of God in the soul is not confirmed. Before trials, a person prays to God like a debtor. But when he enters into afflictions for the sake of His love and does not accept change, then, like one who has placed something of his debts upon God, he is considered a son of the household, and a friend who has fought for His will against the power of His adversaries. This is what the prayer says: Do not enter into trial for the sake of your own benefit, but for the sake of that which makes you love God, so that His power may be victorious in you. The prayer says: Do not enter into these trials as if because of the folly of your thoughts and your actions, but so that you may be known as a friend of God, and so that His power may be praised through your endurance. Upon the mercy of our Lord, who opens the door, He adapts His word according to the human weakness.

Again at this gate: Compassionately be in need. If you are left behind and hasten after the body, while looking at the weakness of the pure one, lest perhaps because of the sickness of the body you are unable to stand before the hardness of the trials when it is middling, and because of this you also fall from the truth, while being pressed by afflictions. In truth, he commands us: as much as you are able, a person should not, by his own will, give himself to enter into a trial. And not only this, but also pray a prayer that you may not even be found involuntarily within it, if it is possible that without it you may be pleasing to God. If, however, necessity compels for the sake of the excellence of a great good, and trials press in, even if they are strong, and unless a person is able to complete that excellence at this time, it is not right for us to take upon ourselves or for a person to take upon himself. Nor, because of fear, should you abandon that great work in which the life of your soul consists, and take up slackness, that is, the prayer that you not enter into a trial, these being those of whom it is said that they sin violently against the commandments.

And again, one of the commandments of God is to be loosed in man: either the vow of fasting, or the rule of holiness, or the confession of faith, or to bear witness to the Word of God, or to guard vigilantly the boundaries of the law of the rest; and there is no opportunity that he does not fall if he is cut off from the helps. Now then, with all confidence, trust in the body, and hasten himself to God, and enter in the name of the Lord. And he who was with Joseph in the land of Egypt and was a witness to fasting, and with Daniel in the den of lions, and with the three youths in the furnace of fire, and with Jeremiah in the pit of mire and saved him and gave him through mercy in the midst of the camp of the Chaldeans, and with Peter in the house of prisoners and brought him out through closed doors, and with Paul in the caves of the Jews, and as he was in the caves, he who was with every one was with his servants in every place and generation, and shows in them his power and triumphs and preserves them in great wonder, and shows his salvation openly at the time of their afflictions; he strengthens and preserves this one when in the midst of the disturbances in which he is wearied.

Take then from this the contest of the Maccabees against the invisible enemy and his works; and like the rest of the holy fathers, apostles, martyrs, confessors, and solitaries, who established the divine laws and the commandments of the Spirit in places of powers and in difficult and harsh deserts, and cast aside the world and the body for their hiddenness, and persevered in their truth and did not fear the knot that is tied on the body together and on the soul, and contended manfully; and behold, few out of many are inscribed with their names in the book of life until the coming of our Lord, and their stories are preserved in writing by the sign of God for our instruction and for our edification, as the testimony of the blessed Apostle, from whom we learn and are taught the way of God, when he placed their histories before the eyes of our mind like beacons of life; and take a likeness from them, and imitate in them the ways of their conduct, from the zeal of the ancients. This is a divine discourse that gives admonition to the soul, like a wholesome medicine that heals the body with the strength of the healthy. The narratives of the righteous are a delight for the hearing of the perfect, like a refreshing drink for new plants.

Let the voice of the governance of God, which was used with the first man, be considered by you like precious remedies for the eyes of the clear-sighted. And let their memory be preserved with you at all times of the day. And meditate, be nourished, and become wise through them; and learn to receive with honor the memory of the greatness of God in yourself. And you will find for your standing eternal life, through Jesus Christ, the mediator between God and humanity, and the unifier of their natures in himself. He who, when in the praise of the pure one for the mysteries of his honor, the legions of angels are unable to be revealed, showed himself for your sake to the world: lowly and humble of humanity, who had no vision nor radiance. He whose invisibility cannot be perceived under the sensation of creatures and creations, on the face of the gate from which his governance is completed for the salvation of the life of all. This one who purified through him many peoples, and the Lord caused the sins of all to pass through him, as the word of Isaiah. And the Lord desired to humble him and to make him feel. Sin was placed in himself, while he did not know sin. For on the face of his governance in all generations for our sakes, praise, glory, acceptance of grace, and adoration to him from all, even now and at all times, and forever and ever. Amen. Completed is the Third Discourse.