On Works

On the Perfection of Conducts Homily on the Perfection of Conducts. It is his, when it is his, the discourse of the sixty-fifth. On the Perfection of Conducts. One victor conquered the sin that slew man, and through his victory he associated men and the heavenly ones. One champion went forth to battle against the evil one, and through his contest the earthly ones learned the contest. One athlete descended to the arena of righteousness, and through his valor he established the dead in good hope. One athlete descended to the arena of righteousness, and through his valor he established the dead in good hope. One ascetic took up the contest with the pious one, and through his zeal he strengthened the earthly ones of their minds. Over all and in every form of help from his gift, he mixed goods and evils and called to the feast of his love. Like a man who cries out in creation, a hero of strength, for behold he has conquered the world, and every man stands and tramples upon his head. Arise and be valiant, earthly ones and heavenly ones, and take victory through the victory that was in my hands. Come, rejoice in my words to the sighs that are not in the people of the sorrowful, and do not be destroyed in the house of the disturbances of the desires. Come, take the inheritances of your courses that were in motion, and seize the signs that were of the sinner from your lives. Come, hasten to acquire spiritual life, and reject the service of earthly things that are not true. Come, be adorned with the thought of the virtues that are hidden in my standing, and remove and cast away the foul habits of the transitory. True and chosen is the kingdom of life that is spoken of here.

and without dispute he gave rewards to those who believed in him. The power of the Creator desired to display his might in his hands. He spreads forth the wealth of his love to the work of his hands. The debt of love obligated him to the work he wrought, and especially the subtle words of perfection. Come, words, repay the thanksgiving that is owed to the power of being that proclaimed his might in the arena of creation. Come, be established in the straight path of the head of the tree. And learn that like a covering, the arena of sufferings and demons. Sufferings for the victors adorned the beauty of your thoughts. Purify the filth of your laziness from your hearts. Demons, deceivers, snatched the inheritance of your sanctity. Draw near with them and take hold of the ropes of new life. Spiritually make a contest with your adversaries in that same form in which you drew near with them and plundered your coverings. According to the hardness of sufferings, they put on hard violence and subdued your sign so that you would not be subdued under their feet. Like the madness of frenzied youths, they cried out in lamentation so that you would not be [...] from their appearances as before. For the whole man put on the armor of righteousness so that the swift arrow of the slanderer would not pierce him. Body and soul together took up the generation with the lower parts. And firmly they subdued the evil of the kingdom of life. The evil of the pains they subdued, the movements and sensations of the body, so that they might together receive the reward that is not corrupted. It is time, then, to show the battles, the contests full of the arena against sufferings.

Openly he declares the cause of the discourse that is prepared for the hearers of his love, the hearing of spiritual things. Clearly he sets forth the growth of the word of his mouth for the spiritual ones who see the fair meaning of words. Without concealment he forms the narrative of the passions of his self on the tablet of being, which knows how to discern future things. Concerning the generations of the rich in thought he desired to speak, and concerning the foundation that is indestructible he wished to come. By the victory of the king who conquers with the rod, he renewed many, and my desire to reveal his victory to his workers. In the contest of the labors of the workers of the chosen one, their thoughts shone forth, for the people were strong against the beams of the trembling. The path that is his and of the sons of his house I saw that it is narrow, and I said that I would go also in words to the travelers. I heard blessed gentle ones who are hidden in her narrowness, and my mind was compelled to hear and go also to the hearer. I heard the hearer that the good path leads to the covenant, and I saw that the advantage of the sign leads from her advantage. Come, journeys of the beloved, to the path of life; journey with the tribe, take the meaning of life anew. In love hear the narrative of spiritual life, and in understanding attend to the meaning of hidden things. In hope affirm the things spoken concerning future things, for also hidden from him are true things better than the sun. These three things that the apostle Paul said indicate truly that they are able by the power of everything. The conduct of spiritual things is difficult for the corporeal, and where they are mixed with him of the night and are ordered.

Even the power of the fast he opens and reveals, which restrains the passions of the members of the soul and the body. For every hand that is stretched out towards men is idle, to become towards God it is able to be in faith. The sun is that which kindles faith for the eyes of the body, so that it may see in it the beautiful beauty of the future things. Better than the sun is the light that takes one who looks at it, and while he is on the earth, he sees the hidden things above in the heavens. A great wonder is filled with the conduct of faith: so that he may marvel at it and learn the order that is spoken in it. The hidden treasures are filled with the actions of her doings, and every one who approaches takes from the market of his life. At the gate of her house the wise also knock, and behold, their markets are filled without delay. So all merchants with all measures enrich themselves equally from the treasury of faith that is not exhausted. By faith the mysteries of faith are completed, and by her trust he places his trust upon the future things. By her light he sees the things not revealed to the eyes of the flesh, and by her stirring he is awake and spreads out in glorious things. A great glory that is unspeakable is filled with her abundance, and gloriously she is praised in glory to the lovers of her love. By her the prophets were glorified in the mysteries of the future, and by her the apostles were strengthened in the power of their manliness. Upon her foundation the weary and the afflicted toiled in their labors, and the height of their conduct reached up to the height. They began to seek the truth in the wide world, and men began to seek labors upon their labors.

Upon its foundation he placed his confession, Simon the rock, and he took the reward, the crown of virtues that cannot be destroyed. Blessed are you, Simon, said the mouth full of virtues, who was worthy to learn the hidden mysteries from the hidden mouth. Not flesh and blood revealed to you to confess well, but a father who has a son who resembles his nature. A fitting nature without mixture was revealed to Simon, that he might confess a father who has a son of two natures. In the likeness of Simon, every one who confesses the Son confesses, and is not divided as to where the Word and the body are together. The apostles received in love and handed on that which was accomplished, that the Word dwelt in a body by his will for our salvation. For the sake of our life, his will dwelt in a body that suffers, and he freed our life from the servitude of evil and death. By sufferings he perfected that which was for us the cause of life, by sufferings he completed the course of the conduct of life. From him he taught among those sufferings he took victory, and how he trod upon the thorns of the paths. From his heralds he heard his labor and his self-restraint, of those labors he formed in his person before their labors. He also showed the likeness of their conduct, how they were strong against sufferings in their persons. In the flesh they drew near to the thorns of the path of the flesh, and in the mind they held the contest with its movements. By perceptions they restrained the watchers of perception, and by health they gave strength to mortality. By food they fed the fullness of the spirit to their thoughts, and by drink they drove away the cut from their minds.

in the contest he conquered the contest and the crowns of virtues, and while he was in it he was as one who is not. Simon, who was destined to be in life without death, and they spread life of the contest as if not life. They saw that the mysteries were renewed mystically in baptism, and they put on the likeness of spiritual things over their senses. They saw that the time of the reward of their struggles had drawn near, and they anticipated and shaped that which is destined to be justly. The world that is destined they shaped, the true ones by their conduct, and in the form of an image they placed it on the earth before the living. Like seals they purified the labors of all the ascetic disciplines, and with laughter they marked the sign of the hidden mystery. By fasting they showed that without food the body lives, and by prayers that in the spirit there is a help for the soul. By vigil they learned that without sleep the mortal nature does not rest, and by hymns that without ceasing praise sings. By poverty they examined the wealth that is hidden in height, and by humility they depicted discipline towards the glorious. They fasted from bread, not because the food from it was satiating, but because they rejected that conduct which is without food. They left unions, not because the bond with it was defiled, but because they became as those destined to be there. They rejected pleasure, not when they were cast down from delights, but because they showed that they would delight in that which has no end. They subdued the pain of the members of body and soul, while they were both bodily and spiritual. They bore the burden of earthly things while they were earthly, and they loved the thoughts of spiritual things while they were distant.

He made a contest with all the hidden and revealed passions, and they did not slacken from the hope of the rich ones. They quenched anger, subdued pride, overthrew envy, and did not cut off the course of his running according to his will. The commands of the rocks cast stones at the desire of the body, and although it was small, they made it run swiftly. Bitter waters rushed upon the mountain of the members, and its strength was shaken, but it was not stirred as usual. As if upon horses, they mounted their movements upon their senses, and they arranged the running of the whole contest without confusion. They placed the bit of silence in the mouth of the steed of words, and the chariot of the soul ran like a thought above its middle. To the weary they gave rest in order, to the watchers they gave vision in the likeness of the seen, and to the hearers they extended hearing of the pure and just sound. They taught the hand to sow seeds of righteousness and to gather fruits of glory by its alms. They instructed the foot to tread the path toward the contest and to seek the contest by spiritual virtues. They purified the whole body of human passions by the work of life, and they adorned his life with the adornment of life that is foreign to him. They bound the whole nature that resembles his nature, and he let go of his own and began to resemble that which is not his. The nature of the body in bodily things rages every hour, and they became for him a wall against his own error and a rampart against the spirit. The nature of the soul naturally rages at times, and they changed the course of the soul toward the glorious. They showed a great wonder in the land of humans to humans, that in their bodies they made a contest with their bodies.

a new path that they began in creation with the sons of the living one, for they took up the contest against the limbs of their bodies. Without delay they prepared the dead in mortality, who fashioned a new thing while bound in the bonds of death. From the beginning he never saw limbs being destroyed, who made a contest with the passions, secretly. When he was shaken by movements, foundations, and those who are oppressed, who held the contest against the slack changes that were in him. To whom was the valor given as if to a man, so that when they were guilty they took an unearned victory? A man, a man, how much did he conquer with what was not his own, and that wonder, that he conquered in the end as with his own. A new thing happened to the sons of Adam, the earth of the land, and they exchanged dust for gold of the spirit through their conduct. Adam, a human nature, was created by a hand that is not composite. From the beginning, your work, that your nature might err in what is not your nature. Your nature is dust, and your dust testifies that your dust is dust. And the conduct of the life that you took up now is raised from your dust, and as if for a garment, he turned passions into secretiveness. You are secret, and passions are spent in the covering of your body, and when did it not marvel at your secretiveness, which is the passion for it? Come, secrets, marvel and be astonished at your brothers, who restrained the passions of their opponents by their own will. Come, the dead, see the dead, how they became mighty, for they died while not dying, and they preceded and lived without a sign. Come, the earthly ones, look at the earthly ones, how they became wise, for they judged wisely their conduct before the day of judgment.

They placed the contest like a new thing before their eyes, and they greatly desired to mortify the members that stood in their uprightness. Before the test they went to the treasury of their thoughts, and they waged war and subdued the passions of the body and soul. In the arena of their being they made a contest between good and evil, and they praised truth and despised the lie of falsehood. Without falsehood, the true ones stretched forth a hand to the contest, and they showed that a man can know the truth through the contest. There is no cause for the mercy of the oppressors to be exercised, for behold, man from his humanity has known the contest. You have no men to open their mouths concerning your deeds, and you cannot say that the course of righteousness is difficult. It is very easy for you, if you wish, to be justified, as the contestants, your brothers, were justified in the generations of generations. Extend your mind toward the conduct of the sons of your race, and see the truth of what I have said in their deeds. Travel in the company of the spiritual scribes on the feet of the air, and guide well toward the appointed time, the contest of the labors that are in them. Take the path from the beginning of the beginning of men, and place a sign in the house of the ages of their conduct. Enter the house of the archives of the writings that counsel kings, and read in the chronicles that are filled with hundreds of victories of man. Your heart is a parchment on which is inscribed the history of Abel, and see how he sacrificed the pure lamb and the purity of the soul. Purify your mind from the filth of the filthy image, and offer the sacrifice of the purity of the soul that is like his own.

Open your hearing to the contest of the sense of hearing on the day of his standing, and listen to the daughter of the voice of the follower, the watchful one of his youth. The voice that resembles evil to the violence of your soul, and do not consider it strange when you are deceived wickedly. And when you are confounded in the expectation of his death, the firstborn of the dead, turn the page and see his coldness, your companion who has been silenced. Hear concerning the man clothed in members that are being destroyed, who folded his wings and flew in the air above pains. See the new wonder that happened to the son of man, who made the order of the sons of man by his practice. After his narrative, read in the passage that is inscribed in him, the spirit, that by his swiftness he perceived the contest that would cut the covenant. The command passed, cut upon man, pains and sufferings, and by his spirit he brought down the strength of the cord of the earth. Bless your soul, fill the air of the righteousness that perceived in you men from the abundance of toilsome lives. From the spirit, learn the sign of one who desires to learn well, that man is able to conquer sufferings, for he is sentient. Sentient was the spirit, living the soul and the sons of his generation, and in his weeping he conquered the battle of sufferings and waters. And also he set his victory for the sign that is his, living purely, and in his purity he was worthy to receive the high rank. By his blessings he begged the curses of the covenant that cut, and men began to be blessed in the name of the Creator.

And with his parents, the blessings that his father gave him pursued him until he reached the side of Abraham, the father of the nations. At the side of Abraham, the blessings of the degrees of the spirit were established, and in him the circumcised nations participated in the blessing of the covenant. By the spirit of his will, he completed his will, set a limit, and made the man share in the great wealth of his goodness. The wealth of his friends, the merciful one gave through Abraham, and he bequeathed the wealth of the greatness of his love upon his household member. Causally, he closed his will toward his station, so that the man might walk in the path of his faith. The walker cast the man into a loving man, that he might bind the yoke in the love of his name, which his errors do not forget. From Abraham, his will grew strong and settled upon Isaac, and he translated with him the voices of love and knowledge. Isaac, pleasing in the will of his father, toward his Lord, became the heir of the kingdom of life that does not deceive. In faith, the righteous one submitted to the voice of the kingdom, and when he saw that his gift was true, he gave it to Jacob, who was distinguished in him. Jacob trampled upon all the difficulties of the pains of suffering, and eagerly he pressed toward the degree of the house of Abraham. The voice that called "Abram, Abram" was true for him, and he mounted the causes that would become a companion to that daughter of the voice. All afflictions he endured and bore, filled with consolation, so that he would not be separated from the kingdom of the house of his fathers.

The twenty years the perfect one labored in the wages of the spirit, and by the spirit he earned the wage from God. A good wage the Creator set for the man, and true promises that he would receive from one to the next. True for him was the voice of the kingdom when it was good and distant, and like a near one he was proclaimed in his distance. By their labors they proved the love of their minds, how much he loved Shem, the Creator of the honor of the man. The labor of Joseph is a clear witness to the truth, a clear witness that he was a servant and was not enslaved to the passions. His sacrifice was a loss from lordship to servitude, and he was not troubled as to how or about what unjustly. A second: In the house of the second ones the son of the household of faith labored, and when he was a youth he received authority from the lords of the place. Joseph became a free man, fitting to be despised, how much his pains and sufferings despised him, and he did not hide nor abase. The battles of the spirit and of his accusers Jacob’s son conquered, and he proved and revealed that man is ruler over his freedom. Like a trumpet his labor sounds in all the ages, that man might hear the victory of man over the human. The crown of sufferings Moses also conquered, the companion of Joseph, and he was persecuted and endured the pains of the time. To the laborers of demons he offered himself, a laborer of truth, and the purity of his self was not defiled by a filthy dwelling.

Truly the true one labored in the house of the deceivers, and was not ensnared by the deception of the fear of demons. After his labor he saw a vision and heard a voice, which interpreted new sounds among the creatures. The voice that called at the beginning of creation called to the upright one, who proclaimed by his hand the great power of the works of his hands. Like a painter he painted the world by means of his voice, and set his image before the speakers who were astonished by him. The upright one was able to lend his tongue to the hand of the spirit, and he formed creatures according to the pattern of those that were from the beginning. The book of the spirit he wrote for speakers above language, and he meditated on the being of the world where the sounds were. Like a sophist he interpreted the face in the hands of men, and made heard the name of the creators who made man. The sketch of the spirit he took, the teacher of the fear of truth, and began to instruct the youth of men in the fear of truth. Against the Egyptians he raised his hand, the great skilled one, and by their defeat he cast fear upon all peoples. Harsh cords he stretched from the mouth of the mouth of the spirit, which increased and confirmed bodily things by spiritual things. In the manner of a physician his voice was among the dead, and he healed the laborers who were languishing in the pains of their error. He was not hindered by the power of divine assistance, which by the hand of man healed man from their pains. By Moses he healed the evil sickness of the wicked among his people, and showed that man can heal his fellow men.

The physicians were the righteous in the generations of generations, and their words were like antidotes to the wounds of iniquity. Moses entrusted his art to Joshua son of Nun, that he might heal the pains of the Israelites with the medicine of his words. The iron of the spirit, O disciple of the great teacher, and cut the people from the foreskin of the body and the soul. A harsh burden the zealous one put on against iniquity, and he freed his people from members and from thoughts. Behold the deeds of men, the pains that were in the race, arise and be likened to the good likeness that they showed on earth. In the good course of their conduct, look steadfastly, and according to their ways, walk in the land of your repentance. Consider the dwelling of the sacrificer as an earthly dwelling, like guests who came into creation and preceded it. Job cries out that the blessings of the sacrificer are not true, and he concluded and said, "Naked I came and naked I go." Nakedly the righteous stood without covering, and they showed every man that there is no trust in visible things. They loved and cherished the name of the Creator above everything, and they placed nothing visible with his covering. As in the revealed he was sought in the hidden, and in revelations he was considered as not revealed. Or the earth-dweller who left the earth while he was an earth-dweller, and he ran to the heavens while he did not see the dwelling above. Or the son of man who put on members that are destructible, and made his body like Adam before the temptations.

Bar Asha was a physician, a man of physicians, and when he was ailing, he conquered the torments of troubled pains. Like waves, the afflictions disturbed his body and his soul, yet he was not submerged in the house of stumbling blocks that cut off hope. Good hope he placed in his heart, not fleeing with his limbs, and he weighed his soul to fulfill the hour of his Lord's word. As a pilot of a great ship amidst the pains, without a rudder, he steered the ships of their thoughts. To the appointed time of the hour, the sailors of faith watched, and they trusted and affirmed that their rewards are not to be attained. With faith they bore all the pains, hidden and revealed, and they left a pattern of their conduct for those after them. One after another, they advanced in the paths of toiling peoples, and they arrived and reached the sign that is full of blessings. With Moses and Joshua, who are like, but also with Mari and Ged'u, and in their service, they served, and their great sun opened. Samuel raised the wing of his course and passed over, and he took the step of righteousness and purity. From his youth, he began the race of righteousness, and with the measure of the years of his life, he extended his strength. He bore witness to the truth concerning himself before God, that his separation was not concealed by receiving with faces. David also saw the path of his service, who was of sound mind, and he prepared himself to contend with spiritual labors.

He chose the spiritual ones of the Spirit, a worker of the Spirit, and with the spiritual ones he was accustomed to fly to the heights of heaven. Like the desire of one who desires, he was striking the sick one, and he almost did not sleep, but was completely asleep in his love. Sin conquered him in the form of a demon of wakeful thought, and when he was well, he learned to sin and was warned not to sin again. He learned the scattered ways of sin from his sin against sin, and he no longer gave it a place to enter among his thoughts. A good cause became for him an evil one, as if evil, and he awakened himself not to sleep again and to be deceived by it. He was a great skilled physician for the healing of the skilled air, and he guarded his treasure so that it would not be weakened by the sick ones. Come, all you gatherings of the afflicted, the stars, and the sinners, and see how the righteous one became mighty over his transgression. Come, hear his voice as he laments over his fall, and he weeps over his wickedness with a roaring voice. He mounts the voices of the guilty, the afflicted, with humility, and like a guilty one he wails and weeps over his transgression. "My God, my God, why did you leave me?" he said to his Lord, "and you removed from me the salvation of life because of my folly." "O woe to you, soul, you knew the ways of the gates of the soul, how you were scattered to suffer the pains of your guilt." "O woe to you, man, mighty warrior of the power that sinned in sin, how you became mighty to take from yourself the name of the guilty.

Or to you, David, lover of the image of righteousness. How much did you pursue the image of your soul with a firm hand? He did not know that he was speaking thus about his own transgressions, like David who ran to his stand among those who sinned. He sinned and covered the shame of his soul with innocent blood, and rose and washed it with the waters of tears of repentance. Once he erred when he did not intend to err, and from that time he also covered the depths of the soul's foundations. Again he repented and sought and made peace with his transgression, and returned to his rank and interpreted the sounds of repentance. With his mouth he proclaimed a revealed spirit concerning his exaltation, that he might make heard concerning the kingdom for his seed. Through his seed he received the kingdom of life without end. And he believed and affirmed what was and what became as it was ordained. The word of the tongue became in deed through the movements of his soul, and from his seed arose the man who gives life to the people. His seed was that which became for you the cause of life, and his seed testified that he lives and gave life to those who believed in him. There is one who understands this salvation from the house of David, and knows that he is pure in conduct, the righteous who are images of him. There is one who assents with a revealed spirit of repentance, and his thought is awake to understand the interpretation of his mystery. There is one who is healed from the sickness of ignorance, and his heart is steadfast to receive the food of faith. Through faith the first ones saw with their eyes, and erred and were amazed at the likeness they received, one from his companion.

The image of David saw Hezekiah in his writings, and he took his form upon his limbs and his mind. Firmly he formed the likenesses that depicted his labors, and he passed through the perfection of skills. Also Josiah the Good was stirred up over the writings, and by his will he was eager that everyone be like him. The good bosom of the love of truth was filled with sorrows, and they were afflicted to fashion her form with the mind of man. The good fullness of their conduct left in creation that the needy of the monastery might trade in it and acquire life. They showed the merchandise of spiritual commerce, and men learned to trade spiritually. They mounted ships of love and moored them with their minds, and they cast anchor in the turbulent sea of bodily passions. They brought forth a new skill in the house of the earth-dwellers, that men might be workers in the heavenly earth. The skillful ones made a navy of the sea of the air, without wood they cast nets in the midst of passions. Like a loom they wove their movements with their heads, that they might be a receptacle of power for the course of the spirit. To the future beyond they prepared the discipline of their deeds, and like a star they watched and were scattered in the future things. In the height they bound their faith like an anchor, that it might not be shaken by the storms of the spirits of passions.

The difficulty of sufferings saw the sufferers of how much difficulty, and they increased the riding of the courses of the contest to overcome the sufferings. Artfully they went up to battle with their sufferings, and with gentleness they lowered the height of their humiliations. Like athletes they ascended from the world full of contests, and they rested in the harbor of the good hope of their kingdoms. With hope he directed the weary course of their contests, and that hope confirmed the hope upon which he relied. With their hands they rolled their struggles like the true ones who were to keep for the day of retribution at the end. Again, men hasten their lives to the good hope that they may not be delivered from the sides of weak men. In the place above are placed the treasures of the work of the self, where there is no difficulty, the foundation of the two. In the likeness of a foundation, sufferings destroy the lower parts of the self, and it is established in the hearing of lives without sufferings. It is a dwelling, a narrow bodily place, and its life is wide. Its foundation is laid with the waters of the word of truth, a gentle request. It is clay, the body, and the vessel that fills with causes, to which evil habits have not approached so that it may not be broken. It is a cause that seeks the sources of its senses, the callings, and like clay, sufferings that are to be purified are prepared. The stones of sufferings strike at all times against the limbs, and if they were not stirred by the spirit, they would have perished.

By the power of the Spirit, the remainder of the course of the contest is strengthened, and with its aids, life is sought within from its difficulties. There is nothing apart from the power that strengthens it, and if it abandons it, it perishes and vanishes from life. By the vitality of life, it lives and walks, not dying, and if it slackens, it returns to its earth and becomes dust. Dust it is, and from dust, and from the waters of sufferings, the constitution of the contest is formed. Let not the waters of sufferings increase in it, so that they do not overflow its banks. The power of conduct becomes victorious over mortality, so that it does not perish from the slackness of its mortality. By faith, it restrains the slackness of the weak contest, and it does not become slack and become waters that are poured out. By love, it atones for the bitter time of the difficulty of our sufferings, so that the wind of iniquity does not pass through it, the measure of what is fitting. By hope, it strengthens the journey of itself, as with reeds, so that the floods of sufferings do not uproot it in the storms. Truth is sought upon the foundation that the ancients laid, and like their labors, the course of our word is ordered. By them, it is likened in the work of spiritual life, and it paints the image of their conduct, and it forms it in our person.