De patientia et de consummatione huius saeculi

On patience and on the consummation of this age, and the second coming, the unbroken kingdom of the righteous, and the unending punishment of sinners; also a subject for confession, and an exhortation to the study of the divine Scriptures, what the devices of the Enemy are, and what the benefit of quietude is. Bright is the life of the righteous; but how is it brightened, if not through patience? Having acquired this, love it, O brother, as the mother of courage; for the psalm exhorts, saying: Wait for the Lord, and keep his way. And Paul says how to acquire the virtue: Affliction produces patience. Following this, you will find the source of good things, hope; and hope is not put to shame. Submit therefore to the Lord, and entreat him, and you will find from this: And he will grant you the requests of your heart. What is more blessed than this, to possess the favorable ear of such a king? Who would not wish to have the judge’s ear open and listening? You are a worker of virtue, brother; Christ has hired you for his vineyard; while you have the opportunity, work the good.

Listen to Paul saying: "Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." Sow into the spirit, so that you may reap eternal life; for he who sows into the body, he says, will reap corruption from the body. Listen to the good counselor saying: "Sow righteousness for yourselves, and gather the fruit of life; do not be negligent in your labor, looking forward to the hope." For where there are contests, there also are prizes; where there are wars, there also are honors; where there is the struggle, there also is the crown. Looking to these things, anoint yourself with patience; always exhort yourself, crying out with the saints: "Be brave, and let your heart be strengthened, and wait for the Lord." Prepare your works for the departure, and equip yourself for the field; for this life is a field. Take the Old Testament. Encircle your property with thorns. What kind? With fasting, with prayer, with teaching. If you have the fence, the beast will not enter—I mean the devil. Cultivate your soul like a good vine. And just as those who guard vineyards clap with their hands, shout with their voice, and through the noises drive away those who plot against them, so also you shout with prayer, cry out with psalmody, and you will drive away the treacherous beast, the fox, which is the devil; concerning whom the Scripture said: "Catch for us the little foxes," and so forth. Always watch the Enemy.

If he comes to shoot your heart with an arrow toward improper desire, and if he comes to hurl your soul, attacking with filthy thoughts, set up the shield of faith, put on the helmet of hope, draw the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; and thus armed against the Enemy, endure, and do not be negligent in the war, but be vigilant in all things. The Enemy brings sometimes spaciousness, sometimes afflictions. For toward whatever he tests the disposition of a person to be inclined, toward that he himself also arrays himself to wage war with cunning. Therefore, my brother, be securely vigilant, and always strive to cleave to reading, so that it may teach you how you must escape the snares of the Enemy and attain eternal life. For the reading of the divine Scriptures restrains the wandering mind and bestows knowledge of God; for it is written: "Be at leisure, and know that I am God." Do you hear, brother, that he who is at leisure with the divine Scriptures in a true heart receives knowledge of God? Therefore, my brother, do not neglect your soul, but be at leisure with reading and with prayers, so that your mind may be illuminated, and so that you may become perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Others boast of association with magnates, rulers, and kings; but you boast before the angels of God, conversing with the Holy Spirit through the divine Scriptures; for it is the Holy Spirit that speaks through them. Strive, then, to engage with the divine Scriptures and to persevere in holy prayers.

For whenever you encounter God through them, that many times your body, soul, and spirit are sanctified. Knowing this, then, my brother, that whenever you encounter them, it sanctifies, be eager to encounter them more frequently; and if your hands are not free, pray with your mind. For the blessed Anna, the mother of the prophet Samuel, prayed, and her lips moved; but her prayer had entered the ears of the Lord of Hosts. And indeed her request was granted to her. Therefore, my brother, even if your hands are not free, pray with your mind; for God hears even those who are silent. But if you do not know how to read, attach yourself where there is opportunity to hear and be benefited; for it is written: If you see a wise man, go to him early, and let your foot wear out the thresholds of his doors. For this is beneficial, my brother, not only for those who do not know how to read, but also for those who do. For there are many who read, yet do not understand what they read.

See therefore, brother, that you do not neglect the grace within you, which was given to you by the gift of Christ; but take thought and seek how you may be able to please God, so that you may attain blessedness. For it is written: "Blessed are those who search out his testimonies; with their whole heart they will seek him." See that the Enemy does not cut you off, when you wish to read, offering you injustice and casting you into temptations, and saying: "First do this thing, since it is small, and then you may read without distraction." For when he suggests these things and provides eagerness for manual labor, he throws all these in to distract you from reading and being benefited. For when the devil sees a man reading earnestly and being benefited, he arrays himself against him with these pretexts and many others, seeking to hinder him. Therefore, do not be persuaded by him, but become like a thirsty deer, longing to come to the springs of waters—that is, to the divine Scriptures—so that you may drink from them, and they may cool your thirst, which burns you through the passions. And also drink in the benefit that comes to you from them. I mean something like this: that when the Lord grants you to understand a passage from them, do not pass it by, but meditate on it in your mind, and inscribe it in your heart, and preserve it in your memory as indelible. For it is written: "In your ordinances I will meditate; I will not forget your words." And again: "In my heart I have hidden your oracles, so that I may not sin against you." And again: "How shall a younger man straighten his path? By guarding your words.

You see, brother, that in remembering the words of God a man sets his path right. For who is there who remembers the words of God and does not set his path right, unless he is that worthless and wretched man who remembers nothing at all, but even forgets what he seems to remember? To such a man God says: Why do you recite my ordinances and take up my covenant on your lips? He therefore commands that even what he seems to have be taken away from him; for this man seems to have faith and even calls himself a Christian, but by his works he denies it, and he is worse than an unbeliever. Therefore he commands that the Holy Spirit, which he received on the day of redemption, which he seems to have, be taken away from him. And such a man becomes like a jar of wine that has developed a crack and through it has lost the wine; all who see it, not having seen what happened, think it is full; but when it is examined, then it becomes clear to all that it lies empty. So also such a man, when examined on that day of judgment, is found out; and then his true state becomes manifest to all. Such are those who will say to the king on that day: Lord, did we not perform many mighty deeds in your name? And the king will answer them: Truly I say to you, I do not know you. You see, brother, that such a man has no mercy. Therefore remember the words you hear, and set your path right. See that you do not allow forgetfulness to come down and snatch them from your heart.

See that you do not allow the birds to come down and devour the seed of God; for He said that the seed is the word which you have heard. Bury the seed in the furrows of the earth; that is, bury the word in the midst of your heart, that it may bear fruit for the Lord in fear. And when you read, read carefully and with effort, going through the verse with great composure, and do not be eager merely to turn the pages, but if need be, do not hesitate to go through the verse twice, three times, and many times, so that you may understand its power. And when you are about to sit down and read, or again to hear another reading, first pray to God, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, open the ears and eyes of my heart, that I may hear your word, and understand, and do your will, Lord, for I am a stranger in the land. Do not hide your commandments from me, but open my eyes, and I shall contemplate the wonders from your law; for I have hoped in you, my God, that you may enlighten my heart. Yes, my brother, I exhort you, always pray thus to God, that he may enlighten your mind and reveal to you the power of his words. For many have gone astray, trusting in their own understanding, and claiming to be wise have become foolish, not understanding what is written, and have fallen into blasphemy and perished.

If, then, while you are reading, you find a passage that is difficult to understand, see that the Evil One does not teach you to say to yourself, "This is not as the word says; for how can it be so?" and the like. But, if you believe in God, believe also in his words, and say to the Evil One, "Get behind me, Satan. For I know that the words of God are pure words, silver refined seven times over; and there is nothing crooked or twisted in them, but all good things are plain to those who understand. But I am ignorant and do not know; I know, then, that they are written spiritually; for the Apostle also says that the law is spiritual." Then look up to the heaven and say, "Lord, I believe in your words; I do not contradict, but I trust in the words of the Holy Spirit. So, Lord, save me, that I may find grace before you. For I seek nothing else but only to be saved, that I may obtain your mercy, O compassionate one; for yours is the kingdom and the power for ever and ever, amen." Acquire also stillness, brother, as a strong wall; for stillness makes you higher than the passions; for you fight from above, while they are from below. Acquire, then, stillness in the fear of God, and all the arrows of the Enemy will not harm you; for stillness joined with the fear of God is a fiery chariot. And let the prophet Elijah, who loved stillness and the fear of God and was taken up as if into heaven, persuade you. O stillness, the advancement of monastics; O stillness, a heavenly ladder; O stillness, a road to the kingdom of heaven; O stillness, the mother of compunction.

O silence, mirror of sins, showing a person his transgressions; O silence, not hindering tears; O silence, mother of gentleness; O silence, tent-mate of humility; O silence, yoked with fear of God, light-bringer of the mind; O silence, spy of thoughts and fellow-worker of discernment; O silence, mother of every good, foundation of fasting and obstacle to gluttony; O silence, leisure for prayer and reading; O silence, calm of thoughts and fair-weather harbor; O silence, freedom from care for the soul; O silence, good yoke and light burden, resting and carrying the one who carries you; O silence, gladness of soul and heart; O silence, bridle of eyes and hearing and tongue; O silence, destruction of boastfulness and enemy of shamelessness; O silence, prison of passions; O silence, fellow-worker of every virtue, promoter of poverty, field of God bearing good fruits; O silence, wall and fortress of those wishing to contend for the kingdom of the heavens. Yes, brother, acquire this good portion, which Mary chose.

This Mary became a model of stillness, sitting at the feet of the Lord and cleaving to him alone. Therefore the Lord praised her, saying: Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken from her. Do you see, brother, what stillness is? That our Master God himself praises the one who acquires it. Acquire this, my brother, and you will delight in your Lord, sitting at his feet and cleaving to him alone, so that you too may say with confidence: My soul has clung behind you, and your right hand has taken hold of me. Therefore my soul has been filled as if with fat and richness. Yes, my brother, acquire this, sweeter than honey. For a morsel with the salt of stillness and freedom from care is better than a display of costly dishes amid trials and anxieties. Listen to the Lord God who says: Come to me, all who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. For the Lord wishes to give you rest from anxieties, from anger, from trial and affliction of this age; he wishes you to be free from care, from the brick-making of Egypt; he desires to lead you into the desert, that is, into stillness, so that he may light your ways with the pillar of cloud, so that he may feed you with manna, I mean the bread of stillness and freedom from care; so that you may inherit the good land, I mean the heavenly Jerusalem. Yes, beloved, love this, acquire this, so that you may delight in the path of the testimonies of God, as in any wealth.

Yes, brother, acquire stillness with fear of God, and the God of peace will be with you, to whom glory is due for ever. Amen. I therefore exhort you, brothers beloved by the Lord, that we make it our concern each day to keep the memory of these things, I mean of hope, of faith, of love, of humility, of always sealing ourselves in the prayers of God, and in the meditations of the divine Scriptures, and in stillness. For these things, when present and abundant in you, do not render you idle or unfruitful for the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For a Christian who does not possess these things is blind, seeing dimly, having forgotten his former sins; and the true proverb has befallen him: A dog returning to its own vomit, and a sow washed, rolling in the mire. Because, having fled the defilements of the world, as it is written, and having renounced them in the holy bath, and having come to the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, they then become entangled in them again; the last state has become worse for them than the first. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of truth than, knowing it, to turn back again. Therefore, beloved, faithful servants and chosen soldiers of God, Christians, let us take up the full armor of the things mentioned above in our hearts, and make remembrance of them each day without delay, so that we may be able to fight the good fight and trample underfoot every power of the Enemy, that we may be delivered from the wrath that is coming upon the sons of

abandon disobedience, and find mercy and grace on the fearful day before the just judge, who gives to each according to his works; to whom glory is due, together with the all-powerful Father and the all-holy Spirit, now and always, and to the ages of ages. Amen.