Sermo 12

Of the Same, a Discourse on Asceticism: How the Monk Ought to Conduct Himself. The monk must above all possess a life of poverty; solitude of body, and decorum of habit; a measured voice and orderly speech; food and drink without disturbance, and to eat with silence; to be silent before elders, to listen before the wiser; to have love toward equals, loving counsel toward inferiors; to withdraw from the base, the carnal, and the meddlesome; to think more, but speak little; not to be bold in speech, nor excessive in conversation; not to be given to laughter; to be adorned with modesty, to keep the gaze downward, but the soul upward; not to reply to contradictions, to be obedient; to labor with the hands, to remember the end always; to rejoice in hope, to endure in affliction; to pray without ceasing, to give thanks in everything; to be humble toward all, to hate pride; to be sober and to guard the heart from evil thoughts; to store up treasure in heaven through the commandments; to examine oneself concerning daily thoughts and actions; not to become entangled in the affairs and superfluous talk of life; not to pry into the life of the idle, but to emulate that of the holy Fathers; to rejoice with those who succeed in virtue, and not to envy; to sympathize with those who suffer, and to weep with them, and to mourn for them deeply, yet not to condemn; not to reproach one who turns away from sin, never to justify oneself; above all, to confess oneself a sinner before God and men; to admonish the disorderly; to comfort the faint-hearted.

to serve the sick, to wash the feet of holy persons; to attend to hospitality and brotherly love; to be at peace with those of one’s own faith; to shun a heretical person; to read the canonical books; not to occupy oneself at all with apocryphal writings; not to dispute about the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, but to speak and think with confidence of the Trinity as uncreated and consubstantial, and to say to those who inquire that one must be baptized as we have received; to believe as we have been baptized; to glorify as we have believed. To conduct oneself in good works and words, not to swear at all, not to lend money at interest, not to sell grain, wine, and oil at a profit; to abstain from drunkenness, from intoxication, and from worldly cares; not to converse deceitfully, nor to speak at all against anyone; not to slander, nor even to listen with pleasure to slander; not to believe quickly against anyone; not to be tyrannized by anger, not to be mastered by despondency, not to be angry idly with one’s neighbor, not to hold a grudge against anyone, not to return evil for evil; rather to be reviled than to revile, to be struck than to strike, to be wronged than to wrong, to be deprived than to deprive. And before all else, a monk must practice continence from association with women and from wine-drinking, for wine and women will lead even the prudent astray; and while accomplishing the Lord’s commandments as far as possible, not to be discouraged, but to expect reward and praise from Him, and to long for the enjoyment of eternal life, and always to have before his eyes and to say the saying of David:

I kept the Lord before me always, because He is at my right hand, so that I might not be shaken. And as a son, to love God with all my heart, strength, mind, and power; as a slave, to revere and fear Him, and to obey Him, and with fear and trembling to work out my own salvation; to be fervent in spirit, to be clad in the full armor of the Holy Spirit, and to run not aimlessly and to box not as one beating the air, and to wrestle down the enemy in the weakness of the flesh and in the poverty of the soul, and to do all that is commanded, and to call myself useless; to give thanks to the holy, glorious, and fearsome God, and to do nothing for the sake of partisanship or vainglory, but for God and for His own pleasure; for God has scattered the bones of those who please men. Not to boast at all, nor to speak praises of myself, nor to listen gladly when another praises me; but to serve in secret in all things, and not to act for display before men; but to seek only the praise that comes from God, and to contemplate His fearsome and glorious presence; the departure from here, the good things stored up for the righteous, and likewise the fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Over and above all these things, to remember the apostolic saying: that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy compared to the future glory that is to be revealed in us. And to proclaim with David:

For those who keep His commandments, the recompense is great, the reward is abundant, and there are crowns of righteousness, eternal tabernacles, unending life, inexpressible joy, an indissoluble dwelling with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the true God in heaven; a face-to-face manifestation; dances with angels, with the Fathers, with the patriarchs, with the prophets, with the apostles, and the martyrs, and the confessors, and those who from eternity have been pleasing to God, among whom let us strive to be found by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom are the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.