Discourse 24

Concerning those who are being trained toward the brother in his cell. When many times it happens in the middle of the hours of the day: that if the kingdom of the earth were given to the brother, he would not be disturbed at that hour to go out from his cell, nor would he think of it. A time he would receive for the sake of commerce from stillness. And these: in the days when they are being trained, how many times of beginning, and entering and leaving, does grace accomplish for him from stillness, by means of measureless tears, or by the sharpness of the pain of yearning in the heart, or by some joy without cause, or by the tranquility of the laying on of the knee. Know, brother, that the key placed upon the door of his cell is loosed as if to go out to pasture the spirit, as the fullness of Scripture says, and there the grace of his service is finished, and he returns at that same hour. My lords, no one should hinder the brother when, on days when he does not hold the canonical stillness, it happens that he should interrupt the service of prostration. Especially if he is one who is not from among those who are renowned for simplicity, or who attacks empty labors, and not bodily exercises, he should cease. Know, my brothers, that our labors are not only this, that they are fulfilled by means of bodily members, but we have also another work hidden from the eyes of men, which is unknown to beginners and to worldly people.

The persuasion, then, is that the conduct of the solitary is his own, and not subject to another. Thus, even if a brother should happen to come to him, and he enters as if to go in to him and does not find him, he turns back at that very hour, without waiting for his brother. For he does not know what state he is in at that time. The cell of the solitary is a cave of the lion, as the saying of the Fathers goes: where God spoke with Moses. Those solitaries who do not experience the labor of the true taste of stillness do not know these things. And they complain about their brothers, and judge them, while they themselves seek equality with them in all their ways. There is also when a battle of some grievous kind is stirred up against a brother from his cell, and he is in quietude, while his hands are placed on his heart, so that it does not leap, and his face is cast down, while he prays to God, and the voice of a man he cannot hear. These know the changes that have been to them a passage in this sea, and they are persuaded by the spirits of the thoughts. And there is one whom the thought of repentance has seized, and his former things are stirred up from his cell before him, along with the memory of his past, and they stand before him. And this bright sun has become dark in his face, and all his remembrance of the world has been blotted out from his heart. And there is one for whom waves have risen up from his cell, and the nature of his ship has sunk in hidden depths.

These things are not known to everyone: that the solitary struggles within silence without purpose, his fierce battles with Satan, and he has a place of weeping in his cell. How many are the changes of this sea, and who knows his labors and the profit of his commerce, and the wonderful pearls within his depth, and the lives that ascend from within him? Blessed is he who does not sleep through all his training until the end of the course. There is no one who loves something and does not also increase its causes. No one can become divine unless he withdraws and renounces temporal things. When he has despised the honor of the world and its vanities, and has clung to the hem of the cross. When from pains and humanity and demons and poverty, he drinks daily vinegar and bitters. Be strengthened, my brother, and be like a wise merchant: when you have found your pearl and it shines in the world, do not let its beauty be stolen by negligence; beware lest it be taken from you by your carelessness, and through haste you enter Sheol. Pursue the small profit that is gained from labor like your merchandise, so that you may be equal to that great profit that remains from the remnants in this abode of afflictions for those who have found it. Do not neglect the small things, lest you be deprived of the great ones.

No one has ever seen a young man who is weaned from milk put meat in his mouth. Through small things the door is opened to great things. Do not belittle God, my brother, that without order you might go to him who guides you. No one has attained great things without first being healed through small things. Set this in your heart, my brother, and remember me in your prayer. For every time that later you arrive at this path of excellence and knowledge of truth, you will find it glorious and excellent, from those who were filled with it yesterday. Be silent, and marvel at the beauties of the time that has entered upon you. But the beauty of this is swallowed up by that which you are destined to encounter later. Who can perceive the subtle changes of the mind? Pray alone, that the door may be opened before you. Beware of despair. You do not work for a harsh taskmaster; your labor is for the good Lord, who, while taking nothing from you, gives you everything. And while you are not perfect, he makes you to be in that which you are. Even in that which is coming into being, who can repay his grace? O the grace that cannot be measured! Who can exhaust his praises, who gives knowledge of everything? Not only of those things that are revealed, but also of those that are hidden.

that he knows that there is something which, when they do not know it, they are troubled to ask about it. And what has your teacher, the son of the dead, taught you, that when that which is not in your knowledge you know, you are moved by the love of his seeking? Never seek a petition that is set outside the heart, for it is the knowledge of distinctions. Be elevated from every petition of the senses and their servants, so that you may be equal to that which is established within from these. The solitary one who is troubled by the petition of the world, and does not every day taste the petition of Christ, is dead in his life. For God is compassionate, and he also loves that it be given, but he desires that you be the cause. For he rejoices when a wise prayer offers healing to him. It is she who begins to be healed from pain, when she runs to the physicians. But she is astonished when she looks at her firm health. The companion is the one who diminishes the asking; that one is the one who cuts off what is given. Moderation is the passage of the petition of prayer. This one, however, stops from asking. The cutting off, then, ceases, so that it does not prolong and delay in the petition; patience makes it stand, and in the prayer that is delayed, it incites. The purpose lightens the weight of weariness from the limbs. It knows, then, and gives rest to the heart in its afflictions. There is no bearer who can carry its weight from the labor that is with this.

There is no one outside of the tomb: his own nature is from himself. Among the prisoners, it is fitting to dwell with him. Make this one your own nature, O penitent brother, and let there be no perception in all the labors of your exercise. If you are in your cell, be with him. And if you are found among the houses of the living, set your mind there. And let your heart not be troubled by anything of the world: a reminder will be found for you in the world and all that is in it. And if you are silent, make him the companion of your silence. And until you are immersed in the hour, be occupied with him. And let no deceptive thought approach your heart, because your nature is without possessions. Something evil that is lost to possessions: at its sight the mind is disturbed, unable to be revealed there. And a demonic thought, beyond the possession of the vision, whose standing it does not know how to reveal. The movement of the spirit in prayer: the fruit of life is pressed from it. And the goal is a helper in prayer for its holders. When you pray, remember the farmer who sows with hope. And that which is fulfilled in the branches for the seed of the farmer who casts with faith, and its light for the request of his kingdom and his righteousness more than sacrificial offerings, he is fulfilled upon our requests according to his promise. Amen.