Discourse 78

On the superiority of flight from the world: that the acquisition of wisdom is separated from the fathers by this means. For he is truly difficult and hard and good and severe: a contest that occurs through the proximity of the passions. And how much has been destroyed and weakened, and the man has become sick, when the causes that stir up battles and disturbances are near to him. The end is close to him. And it is easy to fall: more than that which the adversary himself encounters in open battle. For in that, as long as a man does not remove himself from those things from which the heart fears: he has the place of the opponent over him in a measured way. And if something happens and he is slightly wounded, he easily destroys him. For there, the body is burned when it is covered. From every side, from sins, he removes himself. Here, however, it is the soul that receives an invisible blow: and it does not fill the capacity of the one who contends with it. For these passions, from themselves, are sufficient to stir up against it the disturbance of battles at all times. And they are voluntarily governed by their own will, when there is no one who arranges a battle with it from outside. But it is a contest for itself: in the members of those that are arranged before the senses of the body, as it is said in the place: that as long as the soul is held by its encounters with the gentle touches of the world, those encounters will be easy for it.

And like that: it is purified purely when the contest occurs. And by the path that the early saints followed, who traveled these ways, it is not at every time that a strong nature is able to stand in a single order without being disturbed and to keep the watch. For there is a time when the soul is in distress and cannot aim at those things that are profitable through wisdom. And they turned away from falsehood, like a weapon. Freed from many contests. As it is written, that one is delivered from sins because of his need. And they drank from the desert, where there are no passions, which are the causes of sufferings. For even when the time of affliction comes, no causes for falls are found for them. But I say: anger, desire, envy, and pride—these are in the lesser order, because it is the desert; and in it they were hidden as in an impregnable fortress. And then each one of them was able to complete his contest in tranquility, where the senses could not find assistance, for they were masters of self-control through profitable encounters. Death of our contest blooms for us, and not the life of distraction.