Sermones 1_22 & 24_27

Question. How does Paul say, "The Gentiles, who have no law," "are a law to themselves"? If they did not have the natural law, how did they become a law to themselves? Answer. The statement requires discernment: the inner man is both darkened and not darkened, both blinded and partially open-eyed, both dead and alive in nature. But it is not possible for anyone to "enter into life" except through many trials, through much training, through many dishonors. For thus this vessel must be trained to "enter into the kingdom," and no one enters untrained. For just as, in order that a vessel be hardened and a craftsman take it, and having brought it into the fire, cast it out again, hammer it, bring it in again, until it becomes soft and is made a precious vessel and goes forth to the service of its master; or just as wax, while it is in cold air, is hard, but when it is thrown into fire and begins to be softened and made pliable, then it receives the impression and the perfect image of the seal—so also the soul itself, often entering into fire and being tested, needs much discipline, so that in this way it may be able to have the perfect image of Christ impressed upon it, and a heavenly seal. And the "vessels" that are "of clay" the potter throws into fire and water and thus tests them, and there some of them become useful, while others are broken and destroyed. So also those who go into trials and into the training of warfare—being of the two, they either conquer or fall and are destroyed and become far from God and strangers to life.

But those who endure trials and afflictions, falling and rising, building up and being thrown down, receive the victor's crowns, and thus thereafter are without stumbling and unconquerable. For so it is with the soul that is trained: sometimes it falls, sometimes it rises, it builds up and is thrown down, until it carries off the victor's crowns. For even in visible things, many children go off together to school; but some of them come out disorderly, some theatrical, some licentious, some hunters, some studious and inquisitive. So also in the monasteries there are many brothers together, and through their free will some of them enter into life, and some do not. For just as the plant, while it is young, is soft and cannot take root in the earth, and if harsh airs come upon it, it is worn away, and when winds come upon it, they shake it and cast it down; but when it has truly taken root deep in the earth, neither airs nor storms can harm it, since it has taken root deep and is strong. So also the brothers are still children, infants needing much training; for those who are being instructed for "the kingdom of heaven" always need guides who have gone before, until they are rooted in grace and become without stumbling and unshaken.

For Christians become superior to passions and demons; they are masters of the unclean spirits and sons of the bridegroom of Christ and heirs of God. These have reached the perfection of Christ, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature, and neither bodily labors nor fevers nor demons can harm them; for they are masters of all things, and the venomous beasts are subjected to them. For indeed the first man himself, being master of creation, ruled over passions and demons; but after he transgressed, he became a slave of passions and demons and of fire and sword. But again, when Christ came, men through the power of baptism reach the former measure of Adam, become masters of demons and passions, and the last enemy, death, is placed under the feet of Adam. For the Christian must be far from the arrows of wickedness and seek to be saved and to be wholly blended into all the contests. But if a man has a perfect eye and the face of his sight, but his hands or feet are stricken, this man has two members sound and the others are weak. But the Christian must have all his members sound and healthy. The chariot and the weapon of Christianity and its union and its whole manner of life are outside this world, and for this reason the many among men do not know what they are seeking. They become craftsmen of the earth, not looking up to heaven, nor do they seek to learn a craft able to lead up to the heavens. And if you find merchants often or philosophers, you find that they are of this age.

But the "mystery" of Christianity "is great" and highly esteemed, known only to those found outside the world. It is as if there were a great city, and in that city itself all were noble, all kings, all priests, all rich, and it happened that these were dispersed one by one into certain homelands; thereafter all the inhabitants of those regions, wherever they meet them, appear to them as barbarians and strangers when they see them, and these likewise to those. But they alone recognize one another, because they are of the same tongue and of one city. For these are of another world, citizens of another city (that of the saints), of another age (for all who are "in Christ" are "a new creation"), partakers of another wisdom, another spirit, another praise, another wealth, another dignity, another disposition; they have another "mind" ("that of Christ"); they are sons "of light," sons "of the bridechamber," sons "of consolation," sons "of the new covenant." Truly, then, the things of the incorruptible and non-passing in the heavens are unknown to the many. Suppose a man is a king—is he not of this age? He is an orator or a philosopher—is he not of this age? But if he is of that age, he knows that tongue and is a partaker of that wisdom. For the things that are not found from heaven and earth neither exist nor can truly be known by deed and power, because all things that appear are imagination and a deception of the eyes. And through how many things must one pass to attain life? Through many trials. For it is not possible for anyone to "enter into life" unless he passes through the rough road and the fearful places.

For just as mist lies upon the air, so the power of Satan has filled the hearts of Adam, and the smoke lies upon all their choices. And for the rest, they are lovers of truth, though the smoke is present, striving to resist and struggle, but they do not immediately become of the good part, except through a long course and struggle. These are better than those who do not struggle. Nevertheless, many, obtaining a little rest and growing in grace, were lifted up and puffed up and thought they had reached freedom and called themselves perfect, but they are secretly robbed by evil and do not know it. For nothing else has destroyed the race of Christians except exaltation; for indeed the serpent also deceived Adam, saying, "You shall become as gods." For the divine is wholly opposed to exaltation; for this is the sign of Christianity: the one whom you see hungry, thirsty, in pain, poor "in spirit," humbled in his own eyes, seeking continually night and day—this one truly stands. But if anyone is satisfied and no longer in need, but is rich, this one is a member of the deception, as it says: "You are already satisfied; you have already become rich"; and again it says: "Woe to you who are rich" in this world, but also to those who already hold concerning themselves that they are something. But to God be the glory.

Question. When the bodies of Adam rise, do they stand naked before the Godhead, or do they have "coverings" upon them and are they nourished with another food, in the manner that here the body is covered with garments and nourished with foods (for it is necessary that men and women who are in this age be clothed and cover their shame and be nourished with perishable food)? If, then, when they have risen from the dissolution of the earth and returned to their original composition, do they still need the same things or not? Answer. This appears to me unseemly and unreasonable; for we know that all the "comeliness" and harmony of creation is abolished when it is dissolved, and the earth no longer brings forth fruits for the nourishment of the body, and the heaven also passes away with all its world. Whence, then, will food still be supplied to men and garments be prepared, when the things that are seen are dissolved according to the declaration of the Lord? Or is it clear that what is to be given is something other than the things that are seen? For it is necessary both to be clothed and to be nourished. But if to the Israelites the manna that was given in the wilderness was strange and foreign to their nature (for it is written that "man ate the bread of angels"), how much more in the age to come does God give food and garments to men that are foreign to their nature.

Therefore, all who receive here "the pledge of the Spirit in their hearts" and the heavenly treasure, and all who now wear glorious and heavenly garments, and all who sow the soil of their heart with heavenly and spiritual seed—these will without doubt also enjoy the glory of the body. For the beauty of God that is now hidden and dwells as a citizen in the soul will in the resurrection emerge and be poured out, and will cover and glorify the outer body with eternal light. It is necessary that the mind, being honorable, receive the good news here and welcome the Spirit of God, and thus afterward the body also will be glorified together with it. For God, having from now on clothed the soul with glory and caused it to be swallowed up by his fire, in the time that is awaited will also clothe the body and make it "conformed to the body of his glory," giving there thereafter rest from foods and heavenly garments and an incorruptible occupation, that of the angels. But in things visible, night has its own work and day has its own work. And the works of the night are evil; for in it evildoers display lawlessness, for aided by the darkness they plot and steal and commit fornication and adultery without fear, convicted by no one. But the works of the day are luminous, works of righteousness and piety; for everything that is done in the light "is light," having been wrought in God. So too those who work lawlessness, as in the night, now escape the notice of many, but later "all things, being exposed by the light, are made manifest.

For those who from now on conceive the seed of the evil one in their hearts, their mind being joined to the shameful works of the evil one, hasten to escape notice and to hide their evil works, but they cannot escape the notice of God; for "all things are naked and laid bare" to him, "to whom our account must be given." For the darkness that now covers the soul and the heart will in that day darken and cover the body as well, for it is swallowed up by the dark bosoms of the evil one, but the good works of the righteous will shine "as the sun," for they too cannot be hidden. And just as the fruit-bearing trees, during the season of their movement, having conceived their fruits within,

They can no longer hide what is contained within, since the time, by some drawing and violent power, brings the fruits forth for food. And just as the body of the seed, buried in the earth, first in the unseen, in the belly of the earth, takes root and conceives, and thus growing and emerging toward the surface of the earth, is made manifest, being nourished and lifted up into a stalk and rendering a full ear and grain, and in the way the branch on the vine, stirred, first conceives within, in the heart, and thus brings forth into manifestation the fruit of what was conceived and renders the wine in due season—in the same way also Christians, who from now on have been sown and from now on planted in the heavenly vineyard, having fixed most sweet roots in the earth of the heart, cannot hide the fruits, but what was conceived within on the day of the resurrection will shine forth together with the body as well, gladdening and rejoicing it. Thus again also the works of sinners are made manifest. And just as a modest virgin who has fallen into fornication and has conceived and hastens to hide her foul licentiousness cannot escape notice—for the embryo, coming to full formation, comes forth convicting its mother of lawlessness—so also those who conceive sin in the heart and give birth to children of lawlessness cannot on that day escape the fearful and ineffable fire, but their souls and bodies together are condemned.

This, then, is what is sought: that from now on we strive, in this brief time, to be deemed worthy to receive and conceive in our hearts the Holy Spirit of God, so that through him, on that day, our bodies also may be clothed with glory and rest. For he restores them into a new and incorruptible age, creating for them "a new heaven and a new earth" and new luminaries, and he gives them his own image and the whole "promise" of "the inheritance." And such people are precious stones and chosen pearls standing before the Godhead; for the righteous were called precious stones, and eagles, and doves. But Christ, the master builder, demolishes the buildings of darkness of evil thoughts, concerning which it is said: "casting down thoughts and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God" (for these, entering in as in a desert, howl in our hearts), and having torn them down he lays the foundation and his own rock, and rolling the remaining stones (I mean the thoughts of nature) he raises them up to the very summit of the building of the heights of heaven, fitting them together with the holy body of Christ and joining them to the building of the holy apostles. The divine building is composed of two substances: he first leads up our inner man into the building of his own body and of angels and perfected holy spirits, and again he himself descends from above to those on earth and makes his lair, having pitched his tent here and chosen for himself a place to abide.

Just as the eyes of physical sight see the physical sun, so must the eyes of the soul see the noetic light of the sun of "righteousness," and just as the swallows, having departed at the time of winter, when they cannot endure the roughness of the airs and the hardness of the frosts, return again in the time of spring, when they find the air clear and calm, with the whole earth now warmed, and having come as to their own homes they enter into the houses of men and dart in fearlessly and build nests for themselves and hatch their young and speak with the voices of nature—so also the Lord, having come to the houses of our souls, rests in the nest of our heart and dwells there, now that the waves and the wild winter and the darkness have passed away, and there his rays shine, full of the sweetest light, deep peace having entered into such a house. In the time of spring, then, when the warmth of the sun is now near and lingering, the earth blossoms, stirred together with all the fruits and plants in it; for the vines and all the trees of the thicket and the fields grow shaggy, overshadowed by flowering leaves and adorned with bright flowers.

Moreover, even the irrational animals bear fruit, bringing forth their offspring from the womb, so that there are now also new bodies of lambs and of the other animals, and innocent and simple hearts of newly born children; and almost all things that shortly before were gloomy and contracted and motionless and barren have now been changed, bearing fruit and moving and being nourished. For the earth, frozen by the cold, is dissolved and shines brightly with the varied plants of the meadows, and the desolate mountains, clothed in verdure, cast off their wildness, and all the springs, enriched by the addition of water, pour forth a sweet and clear stream; and every kind of living creature, birds and quadrupeds, leaps and exults, changing together with the most pleasant and temperate season and being nourished abundantly, rejoices. But all these things are types of spiritual and noetic realities. For from the dread mist and the bitter winds the mind is bound and fettered and barren, and all its thoughts are enslaved in great grief; for many thoughts foreign to nature go up there, and every evil thought is from Satan. But in the "time" of the "visitation" of the Holy Spirit there comes a great transformation and change. For the mind begins to blossom and to bear spiritual fruits from the earth of the heart; the thorns and the fences and the evil demons are broken apart by the power of the Holy Spirit. And the heart itself begins to be moved and to conceive the heavenly seed and to be cultivated by the true husbandman.

There is great calm there, great peace, and blessed are those who have been visited and cultivated by the Holy Spirit. And just as the doves, running to the windows, seize the nest, so the righteous run to the glory of the body of Christ into the rest ("for where the corpse is, there the eagles will be gathered together"). To him be the glory. A wooden weapon, a cross without iron, and a dead body conquered and put to death the devil and his angels; for through his own armor the "stronger" one put to death the strong warrior, having conquered him. And now he comes to every soul that seeks him in truth, and drawing near to the soul he crushes and destroys the power of darkness that guarded and fettered the soul. And the soul ought to have as much longing and as much love for Christ, the bridegroom joined to it, as a chaste and husband-loving woman, seeing her husband often in prison or in bonds or in another punishment bound for love of him and seeming to suffer with him, is tormented more, being tortured in her inward parts, than the one held captive. And just as Mary of the Lord, standing by as he was crucified, wept, crying because of the sting of longing, and seemed to be crucified with him, so also the soul that has loved the Lord and taken up the zeal of affection and hastens in truth to be joined to its own bridegroom

She must suffer with Christ in his sufferings, always keeping before her eyes and remembering his wounds that were made for her sake, how much the impassible one suffered for her sake, and how he who is above all punishment was punished for her sake, and how, being "in the form of God," he took "the form of a servant," and thus in all things to suffer with him and be bound together with him; for in this way she will also be glorified together with him. And just as then by the power of God the stone was rolled away from the tomb and Mary saw the Lord, so by the power and visitation of the Holy Spirit the stone lying upon the soul, "the veil" of sin, is rolled away and taken out of the midst, and the soul is deemed worthy to see the face of Christ and to rest in his Spirit, having been loosed and set free from the stone of sin lying upon it. For every soul that loves the Lord is oppressed by the evil demons warring against it and not allowing it to draw near to the life-giving Christ. But this happens by the permission and allowance of God; for he tests it, whether it truly loves the Master, whether it perseveres in its purpose even when troubles press upon it, lest perhaps growing weary it renounce him, shrinking from the toil of the way and fleeing the "war against the spiritual forces of wickedness," but having persevered and spent many years in the temptations of evil, it is judged with boldness before the Lord as one that has been abandoned and deemed worthy of no help.

And the Lord, seeing the courage of the soul and her endurance in temptations, and that being tried she was found approved, appears to her in his goodness, manifesting himself and shining upon her with his most radiant light, and calling her to himself he says: "Come" in peace, "my neighbor." And she, running to him, accuses him and says: Why, Lord, have you left me for so long a time, suffering many things and being insulted by the enemies? For "the watchmen" of the night who encircle the city "found me" seeking you, and they troubled me. But the Lord, full of ineffable light, answers, persuading and consoling and saying to her: You speak well. "Come" in peace, "my neighbor, my fair one, my dove." And he is judged with her, showing her the marks of the nails and saying: See the marks of the nails, see the scourges, see the spittings, see the wounds. All these things I have suffered for your sake, who were wounded with many wounds and dragged by many enemies into great slavery; and I, in my love for humanity, came for your seeking and for your freedom, since from the beginning I made you my image and created you as my bride, and for your sake I suffered, the impassible one, and I, the one who is above insult, endured many insults for your redemption. But you, for your own sake—you who have so many evils and are sunk in such darkness—ought you not to have suffered and been afflicted?

And being judged peacefully and conversing with the soul, he shows that it was he who gave her the power to endure when afflicted, and he who strengthened her in temptations and secretly encouraged her. And the soul, having heard these things, knows that she had nothing of her own, but that all things belong to the good and beautiful bridegroom, the Lord. But her purpose and love and will, which he gave her, she condemns with her whole heart and answers and says: Behold, Lord, behold a pure body, behold a clean soul; receive me wholly, sheltered under your right hand and resting in your bosom. The Lord shows himself to her in two aspects, both in his wounds and in the glory of his light, and the soul beholds the sufferings which he suffered for her sake, and beholds also the surpassing brightness of the glory of his divine light, being transformed into "the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord, the Spirit," and advancing in both aspects, both in that of the passion and in that of the glorious light, she in a manner takes forgetfulness of her nature, being illuminated by God and commingled and mingled with the heavenly man and with the Holy Spirit, becoming herself spirit. For just as some beggar, utterly poor and going from door to door for the sake of "daily food," suddenly, on a moment's notice, having become a king, forgets his poverty because of the prosperity in his hands, so the soul, having been enriched with heavenly wealth, no longer remembers her former poverty.

For if Christ, who by nature "was in the form of God," in a certain manner forgot his dignity, "taking the form of a slave and being made in the likeness of men," how much more does the soul, having received the substance and power and nature of God, forget its former shamefulness. Let us therefore entreat the Lord and expect him in love to appear and redeem us from now on out of the darkness, so that thus in the resurrection the body also may shine with the light of the indwelling one who has illumined the soul, and itself be glorified together with the soul. "The Lord is near" to us; only let us seek him with a true heart. Let everyone, then, who hears the words hope to receive the Word who exists in substance and to learn all righteousness from him. But see, O you who hope to inherit God and to have your soul mingled with the Spirit of the Lord, what manner of conduct and dignity of life you must take up, and in what manner of life you must live and conduct yourself; for all these things you ought, as far as you are able, to do and demonstrate of yourself. Amen.

There is an imperfect world and there is a perfect world. The imperfect and passing world has many forms resembling those of the perfect and eternal world. Here there is a palace and a king clothed in purple and a crown composed of precious stones, and his attendants and his guards—some dwelling in the palace itself, while others are counts and others of another rank, themselves clothed in bright and honored garments. There is in heaven a palace and the king Christ, clothed in the royal purple. There palace officials and counts and dignitaries serve as soldiers, themselves clothed in equal glory and wearing crowns of precious stones (for you have set "a crown of precious stones upon his head"). There are on this earth warriors and generals who have passed through many contests and won many wars and raised countless trophies against the enemy. There are found here also many brave men and warriors who have conquered the devil and his angels and have advanced in progress. There are in the visible palace of the Romans honored men, free from all tumult and struggle, compelled by no one to bear arms or enter the battle line—those called the royal eunuchs, honored by every man and loved by the king himself, who carry and are entrusted with the purple, some the diadem, others some other honored and royal thing. There are also in the heavens men honored by the heavenly king, the true eunuchs who have been made eunuchs and purified from the war of sin.

To these blessed homelands has been entrusted, possessing peace and rest, and they are appointed over the royal purple and the heavenly treasures; these have been wholly freed from war, passing their time thereafter in freedom from care. There are craftsmen and wise men there, and again here there are wise men made wise with the spiritual wisdom by the all-wise Christ, whose garments are luminous and whose spiritual wealth never passes away. And for this reason the work of Christians is more precious than every invention and every fleshly pursuit. For they work a divine work that the world does not know. Mind differs from mind, and one man is more precious than another. And all visible things appear to me to be opposed and foreign to the things of the mind. For there is a mind that travels and runs even to heaven and walks along the road of its own pure thoughts and through it reaches the paths and the ways prepared for the saints in the heavenly places. And there is another mind that creeps upon the earth and rolls about in the ways of the flesh. There is a fleshly mind and there is a spiritual mind. And the spiritual mind differs greatly from the fleshly.

For just as the winged creatures of the animals, lifted up by their light wing, pass through the air in the midst, helped by their wings and lightened by the air itself (for being fanned, as it were, they receive a kind of wind that bears them up and works together with their flight), but the wingless ones, lying on the ground, even if the eagerness to be lifted into the air is present, are not able; so the purified mind, having received spiritual wings and using a most keen impulse, ascends into heaven, being taken up into the air of the Godhead, but the beastly and wild and material mind, rolling on the ground, creeps along, pursuing the deserts, unable to grasp or know the mind previously mentioned. There are kinds of trees that shed their leaves neither in summer nor in winter, but are always clothed and adorned with flowers, as the olive and the cypress and the like, and again there are others that are stripped bare and cast off their leaves in winter. The example resembles Christians; for they were called trees by the Scripture, and they never cast off the adornment and comeliness of their leaves, neither when wild winds are stirred nor when summer droughts come upon them, but they are always clothed with the glory of the Spirit. This is what was said: "He who will give his fruit in his season, and his leaf shall not fall." And there are others who have a lighter mind, who, because of the weakness that surrounds them, when temptations and winters and winds come upon them, do not resist nor endure.

Those, then, who are spiritual in their mindset are enemies of the fleshly. For just as creatures that live and are nourished in the waters do not endure the life of the dry land but perish when separated from the waters, and again those that dwell on the land flee the sojourn in the waters and hate the life in the deep, so also Christians, when they are occupied and dragged into the affairs of this age, are held fast and seem in some way to be choked. Thus the fleshly, when they have withdrawn from material things and are compelled to attend to spiritual things, are dizzy, held fast and choked. Therefore those who are manly and who in endurance carry through their work "to the end" are very rare. But these need much shamelessness and keenness for the petition of God "in the present time." For just as the sharp-winged among the birds, using a light wing, rise above the snares and laugh at the plot of the hunters, so also the man sharp and keen in his thoughts escapes the plots and snares of the devil. For many spirits hold the soul fast, and all things that creep upon the earth draw the mind to themselves and occupy it and make it wander. Therefore the Christian ought to be like an athlete and a contender. And just as a man who is a stranger and unacquainted with the affairs of the city, having come to sojourn in some city that is crowded and flourishing in multitude, and not taking courage

By his own inexperience and weakness he runs and lays hold of some experienced patron able to break through the violence of the crowds. This man, as long as he runs at the heels of his leader without distraction, completes a straight road; but being distracted and, through sluggishness, being carried about among the peoples in the city, he is drawn far away and falls off, losing the help. But if he will be earnest and despise toils, girding "his loins" in strength, he breaks through the violence of the crowds and reaches the patron and is deemed worthy of the help from him. The souls of men have this same manner; they were called a city of God and have now in their marketplaces a crowd of spirits and multitudes of reasonings in the broad streets of the mind and the heart, and they look to their own master and guardian, Jesus Christ, the prudent one and giver of great dignities. Therefore they too, in great shamelessness and recklessness, ought to scatter and break through the confining tumult of the crowds. For thus, having prevailed, they can come to the blessed bosoms of Christ, to whom be the glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Those who have withdrawn from the world and have genuinely listened to the word of God and live reverently, yet are still under the veil of the passions, which all acquired through the disobedience of Adam (that is, the fleshly mindset of evil thoughts, which the apostle calls death, saying, "the mindset of the flesh is death"), these, then, resemble people walking in the night; for though they are illuminated by the stars (that is, by the holy commandments of Scripture), they are nonetheless in the night, by the invisible activity of the passions, and they stumble and cannot see all things accurately because of the working of the darkness of the passions. Therefore they must, living in virtues with labor and great faith, entreat the heavenly Master at length, so that when the day of the sun of "righteousness" has shone forth in their hearts, they may be able to behold all things accurately—both the varied and diverse harm of the noetic beasts and the inexpressible variety of the good things of the enjoyments in the incorruptible world, and the wondrous beauties which spiritual and perfect men, in whom the noetic light has shone actively in their hearts, recognize in true discernment—both the virtues of the better things and the dreadfulness of the worse, according to the diverse activity of each, just as the blessed Paul says: "Solid food is for the perfect, for those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil," and the blessed Peter also says:

And we have the prophetic word, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dry place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; and elsewhere: But for you who fear the Lord, the sun of righteousness shall rise, and healing in its wings. But the many who are mired in the world are like people walking in a murky night filled with clouds and mist, in which not even a little gleam of starlight shines (that is, of the divine word illuminating the soul), so that they resemble the nearly blind. Thus those who are wholly entangled in material complications, and who do neither the commandments nor any other good works out of the fear of God, but are wholly deceived by the vanity of the world in grievous deeds. But as many of those living in the world as are illumined by the commandments of God as by stars, conducting themselves in faith and the fear of God, are not wholly in the dark and murky night; therefore they can also have hope of salvation.

For just as people in this world gather wealth from various crafts and various occupations, and likewise in the military ranks of rulers they procure gain of gold from various orders, and from various possessions or animals or other things gold is gathered for the master of the house, so from various gifts (as it is said: "Having gifts differing according to the grace given to us") and from various ascetic practices and righteous deeds and virtues performed for God's sake, each person procures the heavenly gold (that is, the heavenly wealth of the Spirit of eternal life), according to his good occupation and zeal and faith. For this reason no one ought to judge or condemn or despise his neighbor; let each one only run faithfully for God's sake and strive and procure the spiritual gain. However, those who dig for gold are clearly those who seek out the very veins of gold, that is, those who run ceaselessly and without faltering toward the highest goal of attaining "perfection." For those who work their crafts with patience and endurance—that is, those who labor on the earth in hope—grow wealthy little by little, and they also become renowned in the world; but the hired servants, the Helots, the lazy ones, who immediately eat whatever falls to them, not laboring with patience, always remain naked and poor.

Thus all who labor diligently in the works of virtue with longsuffering and endurance, in hope, and faithfully await the heavenly hope, keeping the assistance of grace before their eyes—these truly gather the wealth of the Spirit through their endurance and longsuffering and toil and supplication; therefore they are found glorious before God in that age. But those who are impatient, who are ready only to receive grace, but do not endure to toil and labor and to please God in all things with all longsuffering, are stripped even of the grace of which they were deemed worthy. For always the weak and slothful will, being discordant with grace, is found naked of good works and poor in virtues, and is shown to be reprobate and inglorious before God in that age. Those who go out from the world and love poverty, and become strangers to fleshly fellowship and to all the things that appear in the world, despising glory and those who seem to be great in life, and who stand in poverty and attend to the Lord—these well understand, and have set before themselves a good and virtuous aim.

These, then, are intent on entering the glorious city of the saints, the heavenly homeland, the buildings and houses not made with hands; and since their mind is fixed there, as though they had already entered and been glorified and were heirs of it, so they are in themselves, and these things—even as they live in the flesh because of their good purpose and aim—they await, as they are in this age, to enter into "a city whose builder and maker is God." For the buildings of this age are unsound and have no solid foundation. For "in the consummation of the age" all its works and buildings are corrupted; for "the heaven shall be rolled up as a book" "and the earth shall pass away." Where, then, are the glorious and great things of this life, when the time comes that dissolves them? Gather for me the wealth, the gold, the silver, the possessions, and all the beauty and confidence that is in wealth, and begin to build a city with them—wisdom, glory, dignities, dominions—build these

Like a wall of the city and all the adornment of this age; and when you have finished the city, the city has no foundation or solidity. For behold, the foundations of the wall are rotten and fall, and all things in the city are corrupted and destroyed. So is all the variety of this age, being corrupted and destroyed. But you do well, building buildings that cannot be dissolved and are never corrupted; for you strive to lay your foundation upon the rock, and the foundation built upon the rock never falls. For the Scripture says: "The kingdom of heaven is like" "a wise man" "who dug and deepened and laid a foundation upon the rock; and when the flood came" and the winds beat against it, "it did not fall, for it was founded upon the rock." And what is this building not made with hands? Faithful souls that love the Lord; for they are built by the wise master builder Jesus Christ "upon the rock," upon the Lord himself, upon his life-giving word, upon the divine power, upon the Holy Spirit. And who are the stones? The pure and good thoughts of the nature of Adam; for these resemble the heavenly stone and are built up according to its measure. What does the Scripture say? Until we attain "to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." But there is also another building, the one "upon the sand"—sinful souls, the worldly mind, those carried away into the passions of the flesh. These are built into the evil thought, upon the spirit of the devil.

And what are the stones? The evil thoughts that love the pleasures of sin. Such a building, then, the one "on the sand," is corrupted and dissolved. Those, therefore, who in the present time knock at "the door" and reckon future things as present are much more prudent. For when they consider the corruption and dissolution of this age, they despise fleshly intercourse, knowing that after these things there will be a dissolution of bodies; and again considering that the wealth that appears is subject to corruption and nakedness, they despise all things seen; and remembering also the condemnations that come upon sinners and the various punishments brought upon them, they stand in care and fear and secure their souls, lest they fall into Gehenna and torments. And considering again also the city of the saints and the great ones, our fathers, the prophets, the apostles, the martyrs, and the heavenly beauties and the divine glories with which the saints will be clothed because of their good purpose—even if they are in this age, yet they are as though already enjoying those good things. And being in this discipline, they are like their heavenly Father. For since after the transgression both good and evil spring from man himself, these have gone before and made war against evil, and asked for a weapon from their heavenly Father, and through it made war and victory and quenched "the fiery darts" of sin. For this reason, wherever these enter, "angels desire to look in.

For crowns of honor are set "upon their heads." Then the angels begin to say to one another: Who then are these who have been deemed worthy of such glory and such crowns, that they are brought into places more honored than ours? And the Lord says to them: They are rightly preferred above you, for these are the ones who "for my name's sake" and for my commandment went out from the world and despised that age, becoming poor, mocked, ridiculed in that world, warred against by Satan, and struggling and contending against him and not defeated by him, those who have toil and fill their eyes with tears night and day, ministering to me, those who have borne the insolence of my cross on their shoulders and my sufferings in their bodies. The Lord therefore receives such souls and presents them to the Father, saying: Behold, the pure virgins are here, those who obeyed your commandment; receive them into the embraces of your Spirit and into the blessed bosoms of your light. For on their behalf I bowed the knee on the earth and filled my eyes with tears, saying: "Holy Father," "sanctify them" and keep them "from the evil one," and that they may become with us one body and one spirit.

And not only at that time did I entreat you and pray for their sake alone, but also for the whole church of the saints (for his patience and the standing of the age have come to this, for the sake of those who are to become his servants and to become well-pleasing to him and to be completed with them in the heavenly church of his peaceful kingdom). And the Father rejoices over them, saying: "Inherit the kingdom prepared for you"; I and my Son together will be with you as one spirit and one fellowship. And he carries such souls away into rest and into glorious thrones and into gladness. And the host of angels that is with them bears witness to these things, both when they struggled and when they remained in their contest and offered their prayers and fasts and vigils to the Lord. Stand firm, therefore, in poverty, and through this poverty draw down for yourselves the heavenly wealth. For by exercising your bodies on the ground, in kneeling, in prayer, you will be more beautiful than those who live in purple. For those who live in purple do not serve the Lord, but you, in hardship and in what appears to be grass, come to worship and glorify God. But being in this poverty and nakedness, do not become disheartened, having as your pattern and goal the Lord, who thus traveled the road. When your body suffers and you grow weary, remember the body of the Lord, how it was struck by Pilate and grew faint with journeyings.

When a house fails you, remember that the Lord of creation, when he came upon the earth, said this: "The foxes have holes and the birds of the heaven have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head" and rest. When you walk, remember that the feet of the Lord walked upon the earth—except that they were covered with dust, for as long as he once sat upon a donkey for the prophecy. When you fill your eyes with tears, remember that the Lord wept over your fall, praying to the Father "with loud crying and tears" many, that you might be delivered from death. When people mock you, attend to his blows and his spittings, and endure in your humility. Likewise, your sleeping on the ground is not harder than the crown of thorns placed upon his head. Thus all the angels and the hosts of the saints rejoice over the bridegroom and the bride with trumpets and lyres. Just as at the visible wedding of a rich man, where the whole city and its peoples run together, and they are the mediators eagerly urging on the bridegroom and the bride, so too the whole heavenly church runs together, and it is the soul that shares fellowship with the heavenly bridegroom. And just as in the season of summer each one expects to reap what he sowed before the season and to receive the fruits from the earth, so too whatever anyone has worked "in the present time," that same thing meets him beforehand in the kingdom of heaven.

For there are Christians in word, and there are Christians in deed. Let us pray, then, that what is spoken in us may be fulfilled in deed and power and in all assurance. For experience is far more trustworthy than those who stand on bare words. Glory to the mercies of Christ and to his boundless compassion toward the ages of ages. Amen. Just as an animal that comes to be food for humans must first be slaughtered, and then its hide with the hair removed, and then by dissection the dung lying inside the belly washed out, and again the finer and more troublesome excrements hidden in the folds of what is called the second stomach carefully washed with water, and then the flesh handed over to the fire and boiled little by little is made sweet, and so becomes food and enjoyment for the master of the house—in the same way also the Christian, withdrawing from the world and as it were being put to death from his former most wicked life, and stripping off the world like a hide with hair and blood—yet still he has within him the foul-smelling dung of evil thoughts, the memories of wicked deeds, both the obvious and base passions and others more subtle and hard to discover, which are also difficult to grasp.

It is necessary, then, that the one who desires to become a perfect Christian put himself to death from the evil works of the world that he formerly practiced, and, as it were, strip off this age from the outside like a hide with its hair, through complete withdrawal and total renunciation, and then in this way, through the dissection—that is, the visitation of divine grace—wash away from within the dung of evil thoughts in the heart, and by a twofold cleansing the finer and hard-to-discover passions, and then, in the heavenly manner, the things that are evident and have been set on fire by the fire of the Holy Spirit, and having laid aside all harshness of disposition and having received every complete change, become useful and pleasant at the heavenly table for the enjoyment of the heavenly King and an heir of the kingdom, just as it is said in the Gospel by the Lord: "My food is that I do the will of the one who sent me and complete his work.

But just as formerly under the law the sheep was inspected for blemishes, and then it proceeded to sacrifice, and through the fattening of the animal and the fat dissolving through the fire it was offered to God as a whole burnt offering "for a sweet-smelling aroma," so also here now the soul is inspected for blemishes—the soul that wishes to offer itself and its body as "a living sacrifice, holy, well-pleasing to God" through the heavenly high priest Christ—and if it has the fatness of the Spirit, which it acquired through the good laws of the teachings of grace and through the virtues, it is truly brought as a whole burnt offering and a living sacrifice, in the spiritual fire, through the true high priest Christ, to the heavenly Father, into the living kingdom of the heavens, having been deemed worthy to become an heir of eternal good things. It is necessary, then, that each person at all times in all things examine and test himself, whether he is conducting his life according to the word of truth and following "in the footsteps" of the Lord (that is, he is tested so as to be examined by spiritual men), and always to seek out those who proclaim the word of truth and who hold to Christianity "in deed and in truth." For just as, when many cups are handed to people to drink, those mixed with the sweetest wine are evident, and those filled with water only (for those mixed with wine provide to the drinker return, strength, and gladness), so when many in the world offer drink to people through various words and wisdom, those are the ones who

Those who gladden souls with a heavenly gladness and lead them to a good transformation, who speak by the Holy Spirit and are seasoned with grace, who utter with the living voice of the heart and do not make the many drunk by watering them with noises and boastings of lips, who provide power and heavenly gladness to the soul that hears through the grace that speaks within them, and who transform people into the same holiness of grace—so that it is necessary, as we said before, to search out and seek those who speak in the Spirit with a living heart, and to devote oneself to them, from whom one can receive the truly God-given benefit, to those who are truly wise in the Lord and not in the world, concerning whom it is said: "If you see a wise man, rise early to him, and let your foot wear down the steps of his doors"; for those who are obedient can, through their staying with them, become like them in the course of time.

For just as in this world there are many who possess much gold within and are not visible to all, but as far as the many are concerned they are modest, boasting of themselves in nothing—neither in possessions nor in houses nor in various vessels nor in servants nor in animals—and thus keep their treasure hidden with all security; and there are many others who possess no gold at all, yet through many vessels and painted houses make themselves suspected of possessing much gold, deceiving the many by their apparent boast, and are considered rich while being poor and needy—so also among Christians there are those who possess in power the heavenly treasure of the Spirit within themselves and are not visible to all, but hide themselves as being modest and not wishing to be known for what they are; and there are others who, through some few apparent virtues—fastings or vigils or silence or wisdom of speech or some such things—wish to be considered spiritual, though they do not have the working and power of the Spirit. For just as in the example, if the one who has his great wealth hidden wishes to bring out a portion of the gold, with a little money he buys all the abundance of the one who displays himself as rich and wishes to be considered what he is not—

But if he reveals his wealth and makes himself visible to all, many are stirred up to great envy against him, amazed that one who was considered poor by everyone has suddenly acquired so much wealth; and they begin to press him into public services and many losses, and moreover thieves and robbers watch him night and day to kill him and take away his wealth, and from every side he falls into dangers and losses and unexpected afflictions, since he has not yet received any rank or authority from the king. Therefore the prudent man who has much gold hidden but has not received rank keeps his wealth hidden with all safety, lest, being made known to the many and falling under envy or to plotting men, he lose his life together with his wealth. But if he receives rank from the king's hand, of some office or authority, such a man, even if he reveals the wealth of his treasure, is not afraid, but rather is even glorified in it, buying great possessions and building glorious houses, and through the treasure acquiring a multitude of servants and countless multitudes of various animals, and he is free from fear of a robbers' attack, having received from the king the authority of the sword against plotting and evildoing men; and so through the rank he gathers wealth upon wealth and adds gold to gold through all his acquisitions, until he becomes wholly rich, almost no longer even knowing how much he possesses.

Thus also the Christian who has found in himself a spiritual gift and rejoices in the consolation of divine grace should safely hide within himself the consolation of the Spirit, or the knowledge of heavenly mysteries, not boasting nor displaying himself to his neighbors, lest, falling under the envy of wickedness and being plausibly robbed by the invisible robbers, he be despoiled—especially so long as he has not yet been appointed by the heavenly King to some stewardship of spiritual rank. For the stewards of "the mysteries of God," and those who are truly able to benefit souls and have been appointed beforehand by the Spirit for this purpose—these, possessing the heavenly wealth unceasingly, speak with authority without boasting and without vainglory. "For thus" (he says) "we speak, not as pleasing men, but as to God who tests our hearts," and again, "we speak before God in Christ." For with such great longing ought Christians to press on toward the "better" and "greater" "gifts" of the Spirit, being insatiable concerning the heavenly wealth, and thus to hunger and thirst for "righteousness," which is the perfect and unchanging love "of the Spirit," toward which the blessed Paul exhorts and urges those who are in great gifts not to remain in the gifts of the Spirit which they have acquired, but to strive by every entreaty to obtain that from which it is no longer possible to fall—which is the perfect and unchanging "love of the Spirit," which possesses all the gifts in itself, or rather is itself at once the "more excellent" way revealed by the apostle to the disciples.

For those who have arrived at such measures, the passions of evil have also been done away with (as it is said: "Love does not envy," "does not boast, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own," "does not reckon evil," and so on), and the living spring of the Spirit from the abyss of the Godhead gushes forth in them unceasingly and without interruption, as it is said: "He who drinks of the water that I shall give him" "shall become in him a spring of water leaping up into eternal life," always snatching the mind away into heavenly "unutterable" mysteries and giving it wings "from glory to glory," from ages to ages, from mysteries to mysteries, from powers to powers, from rests to rests beyond all telling, from virtues to virtues, from lights above the world to lights above the heavens. And the understanding of such a soul, wholly occupied with things divine and superior, is found inflamed with spiritual love and with a desire that is higher, toward the more glorious and more luminous beauties of the Spirit, "wounded" with insatiable longing for the heavenly Bridegroom, and, so to speak, now luxuriating, it has its desire for the better and greater things rather than the lesser—things which can no longer be expressed in speech nor illuminated by human thought.

And so it is: just as a son or daughter of a king, living in luxury, throws away the precious things of their parents and seeks after more precious things—suppose, instead of silver dishes, they seek golden ones; instead of bright and precious garments of pure silk, they choose gem-studded and gold-woven ones; instead of old and good wine, they desire very old and more precious wine—by their desire for better things they make these precious things themselves cheap and, as it were, common, seeking the better things from their parents—so truly royal souls, who have been deemed worthy to obtain the royal and governing Spirit and have received within themselves the unswerving power of love and are wounded with perfect love toward the heavenly Bridegroom, no longer occupy themselves with the passions of evil. For with much labor and intensity and time and a perfect struggle through faith they have been redeemed from these by the Spirit, and they have been caught up always into the heavenly mysteries of the Spirit and are occupied with the various beauties of the Godhead, seeking the better and greater things in great desire. For the Godhead of the Spirit has various and manifold beauties, ineffable and inconceivable, which it displays for delight and joy and life and rest to worthy souls, so that the holy soul, wounded always with a more vehement and more fiery love toward the heavenly Bridegroom, no longer looks around at the things on earth, but is wholly occupied, with all its longing, with him.

A Christian soul, then, that has become a partaker of grace ought not to remain and be fully assured as though it had "already" attained something, but looking to the goal of the apostle spoken of before, it should strive always with struggle and much labor, through faith, to obtain the promised perfect love of the Spirit, which "casts out fear," as John has said, and it must always hunger and thirst for "righteousness," and, as one always beginning, be so disposed in itself because of the "surpassing wealth" of the Spirit promised to those who believe, so that the devout soul, being thus disposed toward the great desire for better things, does not lose the good things it possesses, but also receives those things it does not yet have. For the Christian ought not, like a hired servant or a "slave," to watch for the opportune moment, cringing over his toil, but as a "son and heir," having served the Father in all goodwill and zeal until the end, so shall he be heir of the Father's possessions. For all in this age seem to enjoy life, from king to beggar, and each is assured that he lives; but if you compare the life and luxury of the rich with that of the poor, you will find a great difference. For comparing the poor man with the rich according to the enjoyment of the luxury of various foods and various wines and various garments, of gold and silver and the rest of possessions, you will find the former dead compared to the latter.

For the rich man feels with his hands only gold and counts coins, but the poor man, if he finds even a bronze coin in the dung, is not ashamed to stoop down and take it because of his great need. If, then, you compare the life of the poor man with the rich man, you will find it as though it were not, compared with what is, and as a dead man compared with a living one. So it is also in the spiritual realm. All think themselves to be Christians because of the confession of faith in Christ, or even because of a few certain virtues, but the true Christians are few—those who are rich in the Holy Spirit, who delight in the various luxuries of grace, who are made glad by the heavenly longing of the Spirit, who have their soul adorned with the various heavenly garments of the gifts, who possess Christianity not by confession and bare faith but by the power and energy of the Spirit, who with the hands of the soul ceaselessly feel with the mind the heavenly gold (that is, the knowledge and narration of the mysteries of the Spirit)—these are the true Christians. For if you compare the conduct of their mind and the life of their soul with that of those others, you will find a great difference, as of the living compared with the dead.

For those men, being in the terrible poverty of the worldly spirit and deprived of the power of heavenly wealth, and with their mind confounded by the passions, scarcely finding even one good thought out of many evils within themselves, find rest, being governed by poverty and filled up with the plain garments of small virtues, since they do not have the varied workings of the Spirit in the divine virtues—as also the Lord made manifest the great difference between the true worshippers who were to be, and the many who seem to worship with a superficial and outward worship, not worshipping "in spirit" and "in truth," when he said: "The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for indeed the Father seeks such to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth"—distinguishing the heavenly palace-dwellers and those rich in spirit from those in the terrible poverty of sin, who indeed through the confession of faith in Christ seem to live, yet have not acquired the rich life of the working that is in the power of the Spirit.

For just as all people have the image of the body, but some possess it healthy and unharmed, while others possess it diseased or even wounded—yet even in the afflictions of the body themselves there is a great difference. For those who have visible wounds suffer pain, while those who have no obvious wounds have a terrible chill in the body, so that they cannot even move, and by appearance the body seems to be healthy, but in terms of its pains and the movement of its activity it is much worse, and its affliction is harder to cure than that of one who has been visibly struck. That man, having his wounds manifest, if he comes to the physician, is deemed worthy of healing more quickly than the other. And all the hidden afflictions of the body are worse than the manifest ones and hard to cure. So also are Christians. Many are thought to be healthy (that is, spiritual) because of certain superficial and bodily virtues, but inwardly they are mastered by terrible hidden passions; and others, entangled in manifest sins and regarded by the many as disreputable and outcast (as the tax collector was by the Pharisee), if they turn to the true physician, Christ, and draw near to him, receive healing more quickly than those just mentioned (in the way the tax collector did compared to the Pharisee; for it says, "he went down justified"). For they are not so "in the inner man" as those who have been struck by hidden passions—such as conceit, or arrogance, or puffing up, or unbelief, or pride, or presumption, or hypocrisy, or vainglory, or cowardice, or shameful thoughts and the like.

For," he says, "man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart." Yet the point under inquiry is that the human being be found healthy both outwardly and inwardly, through divine grace and his own self-determined struggle, and then be deemed worthy to become an heir of the kingdom in Christ Jesus, to whom be the glory and the power unto the ages of ages. Amen. This is "the new covenant," this is "the law of the Spirit," the one inscribed in "hearts," the one proclaimed beforehand by the prophets; in this law the soul bears fruit of "righteousness" and lives in God eternal life. If, then, anyone has not received the grace from God, and if anyone has not hoped and received "the gift of the Holy Spirit," he has set aside "the counsel of God" and has denied all the Scriptures by his deed. For if he has not received the working, he is deluded by his own reasonings, being a stranger to the heavenly church of the "firstborn"; he has not shared with the "spirits" of the "righteous and perfected," he has not become part of the "Jerusalem above." This man has not worshiped "the Father in spirit and truth." For in whom God does not dwell, that man has not even known God; "for this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God." For "that which is born of the Spirit is spirit," and "the birth of God" keeps "him, and the evil one does not touch him." But these—

They wish to put a roof on the house without a foundation. Without a mother a son is not born, and without union a child does not come to be; so too, without the birth that is from the Holy Spirit no one becomes a son of God, and one who is not a son of God does not enter into eternal life. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God." For a house that is being built needs a foundation. It is not that someone simply builds "on the sand," but first he digs up all the sand and goes deep, and so lays the foundation "on the rock," so that it may remain unshaken when the storms and winds and waves and rivers come; but those who build simply on the sand labor in vain, for the house immediately falls and is overturned. So too a truth-loving soul, wishing to build its house according to the word of the Lord, does not build "on the sand" of the evil thoughts of sin, but digs and goes deep, cutting out the sandy and wicked thoughts of evil as far as it can, until it finds the solid thoughts of the faith of Christ, unshaken, until it finds Christ, the true rock, against which "the gates of hell do not prevail." And so it builds upon this through good conduct, having a pure heart, a good conscience, and unfeigned faith, according to the apostle, and in this way it completes the building of the house of God—the spiritual house—pure within and much more pure without.

For formerly, before this mystery of the Spirit of Christ was revealed and before his coming and manifestation, the whole adornment of righteousness was outward—the law, circumcision, purification, sacrifices, offerings, and acts of worship. But since the saving Word of Christ has appeared and has given the Holy Spirit into the hearts of men—the Word not written in ink—all things are found within: worship within from a pure conscience, and sacrifices within (for the psalmist says, "The lifting up of my hands is an evening sacrifice"), and simply the inner purity and adornment of the soul is sought; and thus the outward can also be truly clean, as the Lord says: "Blind Pharisee, wash the inside of the cup and the dish, that the outside also may be clean." For "he who made the inside also made the outside." For if formerly men, not having inner purification, were adorned through the righteousness of the law, how much more, when the soul has been purified from darkness and has the true Christ within itself, is the body also truly sanctified and adorned. A great and precious and royal pearl, one that advances to a royal diadem, needs only a king, and only a king can wear this pearl, and it is not permitted for another man to wear such a pearl. So too, unless one is born of the royal and divine Spirit and becomes a heavenly and royal race and a child of God (according to what is written—

But to as many as received him, he gave the right to become children of God”), he cannot wear the heavenly and precious pearl, the image of the true light, which is the Lord, unless he has been born a son of the kingdom. For those who have and wear the pearl will live together and reign together with Christ forever; for so the apostle said: “As we have worn the image of the earthly, let us wear also the image of the heavenly.” Christ is he who is worn in the soul in ineffable light, known only to those who wear him in truth, and seen by the eyes of the soul; but for the uninitiated it is impossible to know “the things of the Spirit” or only to receive faith, until the heavenly image of Christ comes to be in him as well, and then by experience he truly knows the goodness of the Lord. Glory to him who so loved the human race and counted them worthy to be partakers of his own substance. For Peter says: “that you may become partakers of the divine nature.” Since such good things and divine gifts have been promised, let us also be zealous and entreat, that we may become partakers, as the apostle also said: “My little children, for whom I am again in travail until Christ is formed in you.” Woe to him who has not sought and found the spiritual and ineffable good things, for he who has not been born of the Spirit cannot enter the “kingdom”; for the Lord so declared.

From the beginning, man, formed by the hands of God, was in purity and great gentleness; but when he transgressed the commandment of God, he came under the sentence, and being ruled by the evil one, he was made savage along with his own wills, and his whole race, ruled in savagery and desolation, was found not submitting to the yoke of righteousness. Therefore, when he is called back by the word of life while he is still in the habit of savagery, he returns with difficulty to the gentle and kind yoke. In the way that an ox, taken from a wild herd to come under the yoke and plow the earth, at first is wild and has a dislike for the yoke, but when it has been trained and tamed by the yoke-driver, little by little together with the fellow-worker ox, for the rest it comes eagerly to the yoke without compulsion, laboring on the earth—so also the soul that believes in God, while still held under sin and being desolate, is wild toward the true yoke; but when it is yoked together with holy souls who well know how to work the work of the true earth, for the rest it is tamed by the grace of the Spirit and is guided into the truth little by little, until it is completely tamed, and for the rest it gladly takes up the kind yoke of the Lord, working the earth of the heart, so that it may produce the fruits "of the Spirit," and being pricked and scourged by bitter temptations, it works the divine work all the more unremittingly and more zealously.

Or again, just as a horse in herds draws near and in desolate places has its dwelling with wild beasts, being wild and untamed toward men, then is taken from the wild herd and first is tormented in various ways, until its wildness is tamed, and they put a heavy bridle on it, until it learns to walk in order and rightly, and it is trained by an experienced rider, so that it may become useful in war. Then they clothe it with weapons or a breastplate or armor and the rest, and first they hang the bridle and shake it before its eyes, so that it may become accustomed and not shy away. And thus being taught by the rider it learns to fight against enemies (for without a rider and a breastplate a horse cannot fight); but when it has learned and become accustomed to war, whenever it scents or hears the sounds of "war," it comes readily against the enemies, so as even from that very sound to cause panic in the warriors. In the same way also the soul, being wild and untamed from the transgression, drawing near in the desolate place of the world with the beasts, the spirits "of wickedness," lives having its service in sin. But when it hears the word of God and believes, being bridled by the Spirit it puts off the wild disposition and the fleshly mind, being guided by the rider Christ.

Then it enters into affliction and subduing and straitness, to be tested, so that little by little it may be tamed through the Spirit, as the sin within it gradually fails and vanishes; and thus the soul, being clothed with "the breastplate of righteousness" and "the helmet of salvation" and "the shield of faith" and "the sword of the Spirit," is taught to war against its enemies, and thus armed with the Spirit of the Lord it strives "against the spiritual forces of wickedness" and quenches "the fiery darts of the evil one." For without the weapons of the Spirit sin is not destroyed; but the soul that has the weapons of the Lord, when it hears and perceives the fierce wars, "goes forth with shouting and cry" (as it is said in Job), because at "the voice of its supplication" the enemies fall; and thus having striven and conquered the war through the Spirit, it bears victorious crowns with much boldness, and so is joined to the heavenly King for ever and ever.

Amen. Whoever wishes to please God and, believing, to become a co-heir of Christ, and strives to be an imitator of the Lord, so that he too may be called a son of God from the Spirit, must before all things lay hold of longsuffering and endurance, and bravely bear the various afflictions, straits, and constraints that come upon him—whether bodily illnesses and sufferings, or the reproaches and insults of men, or the various invisible afflictions brought upon the soul by the evil spirits, who wish to hinder it from going to the kingdom by leading it into slackness, negligence, and impatience—while the Lord in his providence permits each soul to be tested in various afflictions, so that the souls may be made manifest which love the Lord with their whole heart and for his sake bravely endure all things brought upon them by the evil one, and do not fall away from the hope of the Lord, but always await the redemption of grace in faith and much endurance; therefore they will also be able to come forth from every temptation. For in this way, obtaining the promise of the Spirit, they are made worthy of the kingdom. The soul, then, that follows the word of the Lord must take up the cross of the Lord with joy, as it is written—that is, be ready to endure for the Lord's sake every temptation that comes, whether hidden or manifest, and to hang upon the Lord in hope always, because it is in his power both to afflict the soul, when he permits it, and to set it free from every temptation and affliction through him.

But if she does not act manfully and does not bear nobly, enduring every affliction, but is grieved and grows despondent and is burdened and hemmed in and grows slack in the struggle and despairs as though she were no longer being redeemed (which is itself a device of evil, casting the soul into despondency and slackness), and if she does not become possessed of hope, always awaiting the mercy of the Lord in unwavering faith, such a soul does not become a child of life, since she has not become a follower of all the saints nor walked in the footsteps of the Lord. For consider and see how from the beginning the fathers, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs passed through the narrow way of afflictions and temptations, and thus were able to please God, enduring every affliction and temptation nobly and rejoicing in their straits and hardships because of the hoped-for expectation of reward, as the Scripture says: "Child, if you come to serve the Lord, prepare your soul for temptation; deepen your heart and endure"; and again the apostle: "But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons"; and elsewhere: "Receive all that comes upon you as good, knowing that without God nothing happens." And the Lord says: "Blessed are you when they reproach you and persecute you and say every evil word against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven"; and: "Blessed are the

persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; and persecuted either openly by men or secretly by the spirits of wickedness. For they contend against the soul that seeks God and cast it into various afflictions, in order to hinder it from entering into eternal life, and at the same time so that, having been tested, it may be shown whether it truly loves God by enduring every affliction and whether it will hold fast to hope until the end, awaiting redemption in undoubting faith, or again, not having endured but having shrunk back in afflictions and grown despondent or fainthearted and fallen short of hope, so that it may be proved not to love God in truth. For the various afflictions and temptations prove souls unworthy and worthy, those that have faith and hope and endurance and those that do not, so that in all things the worthy souls, having been proved approved and faithful—those that endured to the end and held firmly to hope and thus received redemption through grace—may justly become heirs of the kingdom. Therefore every soul that wishes to please God should before all things hold fast to hope and endurance nobly, and thus it will be able to pass through every uprising and affliction of the evil one. For God does not permit a soul that hopes in him and endures for him to be tested to such an extent as to be utterly at a loss and handed over to temptations and afflictions which it cannot bear, as the apostle says:

Faithful is God, who will not allow you to be tested beyond what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way out, that you may be able to bear it. For the evil one does not test and afflict the soul as much as he wishes, but only as much as is permitted him by God; let the soul only bravely hold fast its hope and in faith await the help and succor that comes from him. And it is impossible for it to be abandoned, but to the extent that it struggles through faith and hope, fleeing to God and undoubtingly awaiting the help and deliverance that comes from him, to that extent the Lord delivers it more swiftly from every affliction that encompasses it. For he himself knows how much the soul must enter into testing and discipline and temptations, and he permits just so much; let it only become master of endurance and hope to the end, and it will certainly not be put to shame, as it is said: affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope; and hope does not put to shame; and again: as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, and the rest. And the Lord says: but the one who endures to the end, this one will be saved; and: in your endurance possess your souls; and elsewhere he says: who believed God and was put to shame? Or who remained in his fear and was abandoned?

Or who called upon him and he overlooked him? For if human beings, who partake of but little understanding and mind, know how to test and distinguish how great a burden and load each of the animals can bear—such as a mule or a donkey or a camel—and they load them in proportion to the animal's strength; and the potter who molds the vessels, unless he puts them into the furnace so that, being fired, they may be made firm, they do not become fit for human use, yet he knows how much they must be placed in the fire until they become useful, and he neither leaves them in the furnace beyond what is needful, lest, being cracked, they be destroyed, nor again insufficiently, lest they be unfinished and useless—if, then, in the case of visible things human beings possess such knowledge and discernment, how much more does God, who is incomprehensible and ineffable, being a certain knowledge and understanding and wholly wisdom, know how many testings and afflictions and temptations the souls need that wish to please him and long to obtain eternal life. And

Thus, enduring every affliction bravely and faithfully in hope until the end, they are then approved and fit for the kingdom of heaven. For just as the form of hemp is not useful for making the finest threads from it unless it is beaten for a long time, and the more it is tested, the more it is carded and the purer and more fit it becomes, so also the soul that loves God, entering into many trials and temptations and afflictions and enduring bravely, becomes purer and more useful for the spiritual working of fineness, and finally is deemed worthy to inherit the heavenly place of the kingdom. For just as a newly molded vessel, if it is not put into the fire, is unfit for human use, or just as an infant child is unfit for the works of the world—for it can neither build cities nor plant nor sow seed nor accomplish any other work of the world (for it is an infant)—so also souls, even if they have become partakers of divine grace, being shaped in the sweetness and rest of the Spirit because of their infancy through the goodness of the Lord—but not yet having been tested and tried in various afflictions by the evil spirits, through which love toward God is shown—are still infants and (so to speak) are not yet useful for the kingdom, being still unexercised, as it is said: "But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.

So afflictions and temptations are for a person's benefit, and they render the soul approved and steadfast, if one endures what comes upon him bravely and eagerly in confidence and hope in God, awaiting in unwavering faith the redemption from the Lord and his mercy. And it is impossible for such a soul to fail of the promise "of the Spirit" and to be counted worthy of the redemption from the passions of wickedness, provided that, as approved and faithful, it holds fast its hope in the Lord until the end with much endurance. For just as the holy martyrs endured many torments in appearance and, having come "unto death," remained in the good confession because of their hope in the Lord, and thus, having been shown approved, were counted worthy to obtain the crown "of righteousness," while those who endured more and harsher torments received and acquired greater glory and boldness before God.

But those who shrank back from afflictions and scourges out of fear, not remaining in the good confession to the end, are shown to be without boldness and put to shame both here and on the day of judgment. In the same way also the souls that are handed over to afflictions, in order that they may be tested, and are invisibly and variously tormented by the spirits of wickedness—whether secretly from within by the pains of afflictions or by evil thoughts, or else openly through bodily sufferings—yet endure bravely and hold fast to hope and await in faith the recompense of the Lord, are deemed worthy of the same crown of righteousness and, receiving redemption from this, find the same boldness as the martyrs on the day of judgment before God. For they have endured the same testimony of afflictions as those others—what the latter endured through men, these endure through the very spirits of wickedness who also worked in those men. And the more afflictions and assaults of the evil one they endure and hold fast to hope, the more glory they obtain before God and are redeemed from this, according to the expectation of their hope, being deemed worthy of the consolation of the Spirit and from there becoming heirs of the eternal good things of the kingdom. But as many souls as shrink back in cowardice and fear, not enduring afflictions, but come to negligence and impatience and despair and

But if they turn away from the way of righteousness and do not wait for the mercy of the Lord to the end, such souls, having been found worthless, will not be able to attain the eternal kingdom. For every soul is bound, until death, for the Lord's sake—who died for us—to endure in patience and to hold fast the hope in him, and so to be deemed worthy of eternal salvation. For as many as wish to be fully delivered from the coming Gehenna that punishes sinners and to obtain the heavenly kingdom, they must suffer the afflictions of Gehenna here below through the temptations brought on by the evil one; and if they endure to the end, awaiting in faith the mercy of the Lord through hope, they are both delivered from temptations and afflictions through grace and deemed worthy of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, and are released from eternal Gehenna here below and inherit the eternal kingdom of Christ. For the Lord has set such a way as leads to life—narrow and constricted, as it is written; for this reason also few are those who travel along it. Since such a hope lies before us and such promises have been promised by the God who does not lie, let us endure with courage every assault and affliction of the evil one for the sake of the hope laid up for us in the heavens.

For whatever afflictions we endure for the Lord's sake, what will be comparable either to the future promised life, or to the consolation of the Holy Spirit that comes from this present time to souls that endure, or to the redemption from the darkness of the passions of wickedness, or even to the debts of the multitude of our sins? As it is said: "But being judged by the Lord, we are chastened, so that we may not be condemned with the world"; and again: "the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory that is to be revealed in us." Let us therefore be as noble soldiers, ready to die for our King. For why was it that in the world, when we were occupied with worldly affairs, we did not suffer these things nor have such afflictions, but now, when we have come near to please the Lord, so many uprisings and afflictions of the evil one are stirred up against us? You see that we suffer these things for the Lord's sake, while the enemy envies us and tries to turn us aside from the way of life, or to lead us into slackness or into negligence, so that we might not be saved by having pleased God. To the extent, then, that the evil one is stirred up against us, if we are found in endurance and courage, ready to endure "even to death" for the hope that is in the Lord, all his devices against us are dissolved. For we have Jesus as our protector and champion, who gives endurance both to us when we are afflicted and to those who hope in him, and that one is put to shame when we carry off the trophies of our labors—that is, the kingdom of the Lord.

Let us therefore be like anvils that are struck and do not give way, nor receive in ourselves the impressions of slackness or faintheartedness or despondency through the scourges of temptations; being beaten, let us conquer the adversary through endurance. For our Lord also passed through this present age in this way—being scourged, reviled, persecuted, spat upon, and afterward even punished by an dishonorable death of the cross at the hands of the lawless. And all those things he endured for our salvation, "leaving us an example" of life, so that by the same road of temptations and afflictions and death through which he himself passed, those who truly believe in him and wish to become "co-heirs" with him might pass by that same road; so that just as he suffered many things for our sake, and afterward, dying on the cross, conquered, and by being crucified crucified, and by dying put to death, condemning "sin" "through the flesh" and bringing down the opposing powers, as it is said: "having stripped off the principalities and the powers" on the cross "he made a show of them, triumphing over them in him"—so also we, if we endure every uprising and affliction of the evil one bravely and eagerly, having come "even to death," then we shall conquer the adversary through faith and endurance and hope in the Lord; and thus, having been found approved, we are counted worthy of the redemption and are filled with the sanctification of the Spirit and become heirs of the eternal life that is there. For in the spiritual contest, the victory over the adversary comes through sufferings and death. Suffering and being put to death for the Lord eagerly—then we conquer the adversary.

If, then, we wish to regard every affliction and temptation as not grievous and hard, but to endure easily every uprising of the evil one, let us always have before our eyes, in desire, the death for the Lord's sake, and, as it is said by the Lord, "daily taking up the cross" (which is death), let us follow him eagerly behind, and thus let us easily endure every affliction, whether hidden or manifest. For if we await death for the Lord's sake in desire and always hold it before our eyes, longing for it, how much more readily will we endure with joy whatever grievous afflictions there may be. For this is why we regard afflictions as difficult and heavy and burdensome, being impatient, because we do not have the death for the Lord's sake before our eyes, nor does our mind always long for it; for he who desires to inherit the Lord must also desire his sufferings in like manner. So then, those who love Christ are shown in this, when they endure courageously and eagerly all afflictions that come upon them for the hope that is in him. Let us therefore entreat the Lord to give us understanding, to know his will and to fulfill it eagerly in all endurance and longsuffering with joy, which he himself will grant us, strengthening us for all pleasing, so that, having been found approved and worthy of his eternal salvation, we may obtain it in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be the glory forever. Amen.

Just as among visible things, those who have passed through life by experience and over time are not, when a famine comes, without hope—as though the world were already about to perish and no more abundance would ever occur—nor, when great fruitfulness comes, are they so disposed as though famine would never come again, but they always expect both barrenness in abundance and abundance in barrenness, and such people are equal and the same—so too in the spiritual and invisible world and in the conduct of the grace of the Spirit, those who are trained by experience and over time neither, when they encounter affliction from sin of whatever kind, lose hope as though they would never again attain grace, nor, when they come to be in rest and gladness of the Spirit, are they made slack and puffed up as though afflictions would never come upon them, but they are always equal, remaining in the same state, not departing from themselves, founded, steadfast, having the goal of perfection and awaiting the freedom through the Spirit of "adoption," which is the complete redemption of the old man. Blessed are those who have passed through the fearful places of darkness and the terrible night and the dry and disease-bearing airs of sin, who have entered into rest and joy. But there are others, young yet prudent, understanding, devout, and grace is with them, and they already begin to speak the word, and their word is good, and those who hear, being prudent, begin to praise and marvel and to hold them in honor, since

They speak the word of God. Yet even if they speak from grace, evil is present with their mind and suggests to them the love of glory and delight in praises, so as to make them vainglorious. And just as a person turns away from and opposes the desire of the flesh, so he ought in his mind and in his thoughts to oppose vainglory; and even if he speaks from grace and is compelled by certain people to proclaim his word, he himself ought to be displeased and to flee as from fire, and to oppose it in his mind, so as to restrain himself, lest through his word he be found vainglorious. For indeed Moses, "the servant" of the Lord, when compelled to speak and proclaim the word to Israel, declined, saying that he was not "able" to speak. Likewise Jeremiah also was compelled—for his heart was burning "like fire"—and he declined, saying, "I am too young," and I cannot, so that through prophesying I might not carry off glory and praise. And Paul: "If I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if unwillingly, a stewardship has been entrusted to me." Just as among visible things the master builder does a work, and the smith, and the silversmith casting vessels into the fire and doing a work, and likewise the builder completes a work, so also the men of God have once for all been prepared for this—not that they may speak and "be glorified by men," but that their word may accomplish a work.

For they do not simply speak a light and unprofitable word, but they benefit souls and enlighten and guide the mind that is weighed down and sunk into evils, and change it into "good manners" and good ways, and prepare them to depart "into life." There are, then, many strongholds of evil: the first are the desire of the flesh and the love of money, so that just as one sets himself against pleasure in his thoughts, so also against the love of money. For it happens that outwardly he is poor and possessionless, yet inwardly he rejoices in wealth and is a friend of the rich, and if it should happen that money be left to him by someone, he turns aside to it. I seek, then, a manner free from the love of money, so that even if it should happen that he fall into wealth, then especially he may be displeased, hate it, and flee from it as from fire. After these there are other strongholds of vainglory and of pride, so that one may be able to break through these fences and dividing walls, so that he may have toil in his soul, tears, hunger, thirst. For it happens that there are some who have renounced, are possessionless, fasting, and as though doing these things by force they consider them great, and they rejoice with those who glorify and praise them. But there are others who, through the Lord's consolation, rejoice and are at rest in poverty and in hardship (more than the one who is rich and lives in luxury and is at rest in fleshly things), and if you force them to withdraw from hardship, they are distressed, as a rich man in outward things, if you force him to become poor, is distressed. But what we call toil, hunger, and thirst are not only things that come about from nature, but for the most part from divine power.

And those who have entered into the net of grace—these are able to have the labor and fear, the hunger and thirst; but without the divine grace they cannot have the labor and fear. For those who have acquired these things have entered into the net of grace. Nevertheless, many enter into the net, and some, agreeing with grace, are drawn out and enter into life, while others turn aside and depart into perdition. But there is not one form and one manner of grace. For some are in labor, others in hunger and thirst, others "in fear and trembling," and others are always at rest in grace, in love and joy and exultation, and likewise in trembling; for "serve" (he says) "the Lord in fear, and exult in him with trembling." Nevertheless, this present time is one of mourning and tears, that age of laughter and joy; this time of the cross and death, that time of redemption and ineffable delight; this time of the narrow and afflicted way, that time of rest and peace. Yet the earnest "of the Spirit" and the consolation are present "in the present age" for those who are afflicted, but the perfect rest and recompense is from there "in the age to come." And you find those who have renounced the world having a sick soul, their mind diseased, as it were suspended on high, grown slack, wandering.

But their mind and their inner man must be noble, must have a courageous heart, and their reasoning and choice must be manly and noble, so that one may take up the weapons of war and, having taken courage, descend into battle and play the man and make his struggle there, so that he may have tension and an athletic mind. But these things are accomplished in the inner man; for they are movements of the soul, so that it may have a living heart. For many have the outward form, while their mind is diluted and wanders without stability. For one must acquire a new heart, a heavenly mind in the inner man, a divine soul in the soul, a body in the body, so that the man may become double. You believed, you were believed; you loved, you were loved; you knew, you were known. For the man receives certain things foreign to his nature, heavenly things, and becomes double. For few are those who wish to weigh pearls and test precious stones. For a pearl is present with many, and since they do not have the power of discernment, they do not know what treasure they possess; but those who have discernment or conscience know how to test both the coins and the counterfeits. And there are others with whom grace is present secretly, and the good nods to them, and they do good things and do not know whence they are moved, since they have it discordantly and invisibly. But the prudent must not only say in prayer that we pray, and when they rise they are idle, but they must always have the care and always pray, since the evil that is present with them and the smoke and the sin that is their companion always gush forth like the eye of a spring, and their reasonings against the soul never rest.

For not only when you pray are the thoughts present, but also when you are engaged in certain necessities and when you sleep, they always gush forth. So you too have the will to always contradict. You see a man rich according to the world, and immediately it suggests to you that he is glorious; immediately you too contradict: these things are corruptible, it is that wealth which does not pass away that concerns me. It shows you a beautiful woman, it suggests desire to you; immediately say: she is uncleanness; look, the tombs are full of dead bones. You see glorious things as in life, buildings, cities; you, always build your soul spiritually and always contradict the sin that is present with you, since you have the will, and always pray to God. For when you pray, what do you say? I beseech you, I beseech you. Say the same also in walking and in eating and drinking, and never be idle; for even if the good should come to a man, the prayer is never idle, but the Spirit always prays in him. And this is the measure of the great and perfect, that even when they walk or meet with others, they always pray to the Lord. If anyone therefore says: When I bend my knees, I pray and am able to contradict sin, but when I work or do something else, I am not able to contradict—this man is a simpleton and has no discernment; for sin always wages war, and the mind has the will to strive against and always struggle against the evil that is present with it, whether one walks, or journeys, or does anything else. For where the mind is bound, that is its god.

If you are bound by desire or gluttony or love of money, the god that has bound you is your own («for whatever a person is defeated by, to that he is also enslaved»). But if, having renounced the world, you enter the world again through the back door, and having denied fleshly fellowship you do not strive to have fellowship with the heavenly bridegroom and the Holy Spirit, what have you gained by going out «from the world»? And if, having left behind possessions and properties and affairs, instead of the visible wealth you do not receive another wealth, and instead of luxury a heavenly luxury, and instead of a child you do not become a child «of God», what have you gained by renouncing? You have become «salt» that is foolish, and you neither have the things of the world, since you have left them, nor have you inherited the heavenly and spiritual things; from now on you make progress nowhere. And just as the pupil of the eye, though small, can see many things—heaven, earth, the sun—but when some small covering falls into the pupil and casts a shadow, the eye is blinded and is in darkness, so if a little smoke or a misty power darkens the mind, it is blinded and sees nothing; but if it becomes clear again, it sees spiritual and heavenly things. For just as the earth, when worked, appears fruitful, so also the earth of the heart, worked by the Holy Spirit, no longer lies waste.

Just as a city may lie on a high place or a mountain, and have there rest and great peace and wealth and treasures, and there may be noble and senatorial men in it, but the road by which one passes to the city is narrow, having the circumference of a step, the footprint of one man, and on the right is a great chasm of fire and on the left the depth of the sea, so that if the foot strays even a little from the narrow path, it is plunged either into the fire or into the water; but if someone passes through safely and traverses the rough way and reaches the city, he is in rest and great wealth and much freedom from care. So it is also in the spiritual sense. Rough is the road on which Christians travel; for around them is a great chasm of fire of the unclean spirits. But if they are able to prevail over them and pass through the thorns of wickedness, they enter the heavenly city, at peace, full of many good things and deep peace, where the spirits of the righteous rest with the Lord, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Question. For what reason, when a man is renewed, is his ancient disposition not entirely changed? For it happens that some are rather simple in speech, having a sharper movement, and after grace these things remain. Answer. This happens by the permission and economy of faith. For the apostles, into whatever city they entered, performed great powers, to such an extent that even their shadows drove away passions and raised the dead.

If it happened, then, that someone should die in that city, could the grace that was with them, which raised the dead man, not raise all the dead? Likewise, those afflicted with various diseases came forward; some obtained healing, but to others grace did not permit it, and they provided no healing. So they did not do everything they wished. Likewise Paul, when the God-bearer was let down "in a basket," could not by the power that was with him break through the wall or say in a word, "Give way"; but this did not happen, so that both the purpose of those who believe and natural weakness might be made evident. Not all, then, succeeded, so that those who choose wickedness and those who wish to be good might be plainly shown. The Pharisees said to the Lord, "Come down from the cross," and he did not come down. For weakness according to the divine plan tests those who wish to be steadfast in the faith, whether they are "immovable," whether from a few successes they are not scandalized even at weaker things. Why? "Then" they are able "when" they are weak. For Christianity is a stone "of stumbling" and a rock "of offense." So also those who are in grace have a treasure and rest with them, and yet in due time it withdraws, so that they may be tested and fought against.

Question: Why, when grace is at work in the same vessel of the body, does sin also work again? Answer: First, when a person has tasted grace, his soul is refreshed and rests in a heavenly rest that is strange to this age, so that by experience he may know the sweetness of the good. Then, if the mind is lifted up a little, or converses, or does anything else, it is filled with sin again, so that it may be afflicted and learn by experience its bitterness, and then quickly take refuge, seeking that ineffable consolation and rest. And again it obtains it, and having been refreshed and rested a little, again, if it becomes negligent, wickedness finds pasture and bitterly afflicts the man, with grace yielding place, so that by experience he may know the sweetness and rest and consolation of grace, and the bitterness and pain and affliction of sin, so that he may more earnestly flee it (if indeed he wishes to be saved) and be joined wholly, entirely, to grace, giving himself always and lifting himself up to the Lord, so that by that bitterness and shamefulness and affliction of sin, the sweetness and help and rest and exultation of grace may become more desirable and longed for, so that by the experience of the two, the soul having tasted the bitterness of sin and the sweetness of grace, may become more perceptive and more watchful, so as to flee wickedness completely and be joined wholly, entirely, to the Lord, until it becomes with him "one spirit.

For if the sweetness and the rest and the joy were always in the soul, it would not know the difference, it would not know what it possesses, and it would become more negligent; it would be ignorant of the abundance of the good, and it would not understand the abundance of the Lord's goodness, nor would it know the enjoyment—even if it possessed these things, it would not know what it possesses—and it would not know the abundance of bitterness and the severity of sin, nor would it understand its wickedness. But in this way the ineffable wisdom of God orders matters, so that its own good may be known by experience through comparison and contrast with the bitterness of the evil one, and the soul itself may receive benefit in two ways: by gaining experience of the bitterness and affliction of sin, and by tasting the goodness of the Lord. And it will desire to flee from evil with all its strength, and to be always zealous and earnest toward the good, and not infantile and inexperienced and ignorant of both good and evil, but it has complete knowledge of both through experience and activity and perception; and thus, having been trained and having run the perfect course through its great zeal and desire for the good, having its senses fully "exercised" (as it is said) "to discern good and evil," it will receive the perfect "crown," and having come "to the measure of the stature" of spiritual maturity, it will be appointed an heir of the kingdom.

In some such way does the matter stand. For this reason he tastes of the kingdom little by little, so that with the whole will and the whole choice, out of free will, she may have loved God, and so that the free choice may be shown (to which part it clings and what it shrinks from), so that she may also inherit the kingdom righteously, and having herself striven and run the whole course, she may have great boldness before the Lord into the endless ages of ages. Amen. There are two kingdoms, a kingdom of light and a kingdom of darkness. Consider yourself, then, of which king you are. For wherever you make friendship and covenants, of that one you are a partaker, for it is written: "To those who love God all things work together for good." For you have your own will, and wherever you give your impulse and your obedience, of that one you become a possession and a son and a friend. If you love and are pleased with the wills of wickedness, immediately they work together with you and cling to you. For sin is easily come by and arrives with haste; for it is a ruler over the evildoing of men, rejoicing in it. Likewise again, if you love and are pleased with the good, it too likewise comes and helps. But here it is commanded with much struggle, since it is a kingdom that has no "end"; therefore the precious thing is rare, and what is with difficulty achieved is glorious, whence also it is eternal, since all wish to enter without toil and to become of the good, but in between a long course and struggle lie before them, and out of many, few are chosen.

Those, then, who have conquered have arrived at a peaceful and gentle ruler and king, who rejoices in doing good to men; for such as these from now on inherit the land of the promise and enter into the harbor of rest and into the city of the saints and "into the rest." For just as there is a heaven that appears, which is called the firmament, so above this there is another heaven, full of light, where are the encampments of the angels (even though God and the angels are certainly not circumscribed by bodily boundaries), and there is the tabernacle not made with hands. All these things, then, are divine and ineffable and full of light, since they are spiritual and substantial, not belonging to this age but to another world, where there is no darkness or night or war or Gehenna. Since, then, it is not possible for all to perceive those heavenly things with the outward eye, for this reason this firmament was created as a curtain, so that it might not be possible for anyone simply to gaze upon them except those pure in heart and sanctified in mind, the fellow citizens and fellow initiates of the saints. And when this is rolled up, then those things that are not seen receive the elect. For many, being of the good part and being moved by the good Spirit, thought they had been made perfect, and afterward suffered an assault and plot by the evil spirits, just as soldiers who think they have conquered their enemies, and so throw down their weapons and are in carelessness, while the enemies make an ambush and suddenly fall upon them, killing some, binding others, and taking others captive.

Thus sin also, once stirred up, misused them: some it bound in its own abyss and in the snares of wickedness, others it took captive into the “passions” of “dishonor.” All men, then, whether righteous or sinners, unless they become free through the law “of the Spirit” (that is, through Jesus Christ), cannot be freed from evils and delivered from the tyranny of the devil. For Paul says, describing man’s fall: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from death? I thank God through Jesus Christ,” because “the law of the Spirit of life has set me free from death.” As from a gushing spring, all who drink have no lack, so those who have the revenues and treasures of the Spirit within in their mind—whatever they may say, those who hear are benefited by faith, while they themselves remain such as they were before. For from now on, for the spiritual, palaces and dining couches and exceedingly great houses are built by the Spirit, and various and glorious clothing is prepared for them, and when they depart to Christ, their own—the spirits of the righteous and the whole heavenly church—receive them with great joy. For the Lord says: “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things; enter into the joy of your lord.” For many of the brothers, receiving grace and being in agreement

Day by day they advance toward increase and progress and great measures; but there are others who receive a gift from God, and these, although grace is present with them, turn aside into disorder and into many evils. Question. And when they fall into sins, does grace remain, or does it depart at once? Answer. It happens that even when the man has sinned, because of his love for mankind it remains until he is in the flesh; but when the soul is separated from the body, then grace also departs, and the soul goes to its own place, handed over to the evil spirits. For the two laws are in the man: the law of wickedness, stealing him to its own place, and the law of grace, drawing him to the heavenly things. For insofar as one enters into the testing places, he is strengthened and grounded and becomes an unshakable rock; and such a mind, standing at the door and not turning its back to the enemy but resisting, at the departure of the body the angels on the right receive it into the portion of the kingdom, and it goes into eternal life. Just as in visible things, so that a king may be one who gives gifts to his servants, some who receive them spend them on fornication and debauchery and gluttony, while others who receive them preserve them and acquire for themselves precious vessels—these are the glorious ones who have multiplied their own substance from the gifts bestowed on them.

For those who have truly tasted of that sweetness and pleasantness, when they see the king appearing clothed in purple and behold dignities and treasures, they regard them as a foul odor, and they appear to them abominable and base, because they have entered into the royal and heavenly houses of Christ and heavenly treasures have been opened to them, and they have inherited another wealth, having become of another dignity, sons of heavenly light, of an endless age. Comparing, then, earthly things with heavenly, they then know the gulf that lies between and the difference. For just as when someone is held by a fever, while the affliction is still at its height, if you set before such a person various foods or some sweetmeat or other nourishment, he loathes and is disgusted and turns away, being sated and drunk from the fever and, as it were, having it for food—so too those who are spiritual, having the burning of heavenly love and of the divine fire, whatever things of this world are set before them—whether dignities or a kingdom or wealth or glory—they loathe and abominate, as one is disgusted when passing through a place where there are corpses and much foul odor. In the same way, again, those who are filled with the opposing power and are of the spirit of the world—when a spiritual word is spoken about light, about the kingdom, about another age and divine power—they are, as it were, disgusted and grow listless, unable to contain the word of God.

For these are truly wise and courageous; these are the warriors who keep their own mind on things above and are angry with the desires and pleasures that dwell with them, and who strive against the law of evil and become obedient and rejoice together with "the law of God." What, then, is the orator or the philosopher? Desire rises up against him and commits adultery, and he is carried off by greed, and his mind is driven by the evil spirits—and where is their great wisdom? Question. Why is it that when I go to prayer, I am beset by many thoughts and distractions? Answer. Come courageously and eagerly, and not sluggishly and as one half-asleep, but with a sober mind, as one who has a work to do and not as one doing nothing, lest you be distracted by your thoughts. For just as when you do a bodily work, you are wholly there with your mind and your thoughts and your body, in the same way you ought to come to prayer as to a spiritual work, expecting to accomplish it; for God sees the mind and attends to the thoughts. Strive always to gather yourself into the work and into the seeking and into the longing for God; stretch out there and ponder and meditate, wherever the body prays—whether there is need of speech or silence or whatever kind—only with a sober and attentive mind. For just as the iconographer who paints the image of the king, if he does all the members well but in the eye falls short a little or spoils it and does not paint it as it ought to be, the whole work is ruined;

He destroys the royal image and becomes liable to punishments because of his negligence. Likewise, let each person paint the image of the thoughts rightly and correctly in his soul—the image of the heavenly King—and adorn it with all good thoughts. Or as the builder measures the straightness of the rule, lest it be twisted anywhere, or as the farmer, paying attention to the furrow, is in no way distracted but is wholly there, so that he may make the furrows straight. If, then, they do so in bodily matters, how much more ought the soul, in prayer as in a true work, to pay attention and to direct its thoughts and reasonings with much watchfulness toward God always "unto the good." For thus, having laboriously corrected the uprightness of the mind, he will be able to be deemed worthy of praise and to attain spiritual gifts, and thus he can bring his labors into rest, progressing and improving day by day and becoming "the cause of salvation" for many; and having been shown to be a lover of God and well-pleasing to God, he is established as an heir of the kingdom of the heavens in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be the glory forever. Amen.

Question: Why can those who do not have the Holy Spirit within themselves not deliver a complete and living word? Answer: Just as a child born from the womb comes forth with its limbs sound, having no blemish on its body, so too those born from the womb of the Spirit—even though they appear in the flesh in this world—are entirely in the Spirit, having come to rest with the Lord in that other world, from which they were also born; and these alone can deliver a perfect word to the brethren, having the members of the Spirit perfect within themselves. But if some were not born from there, they cannot deliver a spiritual word, since they do not have the living Spirit who suggests heavenly things to them. Just as a child born from the womb that is blemished or blind from birth or lame is a portent and a sign to the world, so too are the wise who wish to be interpreters of the Scriptures without having the heavenly Spirit, and who have not been mingled in the divinity—they are blemished, not having their members sound, but delivering a reprehensible and unsound word. Just as a coin that appears to have an imprint on one side but is damaged and useless on the other side, so too are those who are damaged by sin: by their own mind, that is, by their wisdom, they wish to speak of heavenly things, from which they were not born. For suppose me one person who is wise, a virgin, and in outward appearances blameless—fasting, keeping vigil, renouncing the world, praying. Then I say to this person: Are you a virgin? I am more so than you. Do you fast in outward appearance?

Rather, I am more than you. Are you poor? I am more so than you. For one ought not to remain in these visible things, and the mind ought not to be free from care and rest in them as though it were perfect, but the mind must seek a heavenly power to be mingled with it and to receive at every hour the heavenly gift that is beyond your nature, to be mixed with natural fruits, so that in all things you do you may be doing them purely. Just as if a king were sound in his limbs, if he is not clothed in purple, he is not worshipped as a king, so also you, even if you have your natural limbs sound, if while having them you do not put on the purple of the Spirit, which is beyond your nature, you cannot be crowned nor seated on a royal throne. But you will answer me: If in thirty or forty years I do not receive the divine power, and it happens that I depart from this life, what then? And I answer you to this: that God does not judge you as a blasphemer, inasmuch as you have shown greater zeal for the good.

God has this to say to you: Since you went out after me and wept and sought night and day, and beyond what you were before—carefree among visible things and puffed up about them—now you have been more earnest, according to the Scriptures, seeking the truth and desiring to receive the divine power in yourself, I do not judge you in this as a blasphemer; God forbid, but I accept you as having become better than yourself, beyond what you were before. And you yourself also test in yourself and discern that your present conduct and work is higher. And I say to you according to the Scriptures, that "the one who seeks finds, and the one who asks receives, and to the one who knocks it will be opened." But you say to me: Show me how the divine power is present with some in the present age. I also answer you: How shall I persuade you that the divine power is present with the faithful—from the old covenant or from the new? Let us come first to the shadow. Who empowered Abraham, when he was old and had a "body deadened," to come to renewal and beget the son? But you say to me: He accepted his sacrifices, but he was not with him. And what friend, wishing to meet his friend, first stirs himself to his property, to a field or to a vineyard, and then sees him and kisses him? And so did God accept Abraham's sacrifices and possessions, but was not with him and did not dwell within him? And when he engaged in war, who was the one who conquered? Was it his nature alone, or was it God dwelling in him and producing the victory? Let us come to Noah. Who was it that subjected before him all the kinds of beasts?

Is it his own nature, or some heavenly being present with him that is above nature—which created the living creatures themselves and him, and subjected the wild beasts before him? Could Jacob, then, by his own strength have rolled away such a stone, or was it the divine power present with him that rolled away the weight of the stone? So continually was God present with him that not even when he slept did he leave him. For he opened the doors of the heavens and showed him the heavenly house; it appeared to him in the form of a ladder. Then he wrestled with him as a man with a man. The Christians worthy of Christ do not learn and speak from the letter, but are taught all things from the Spirit of God—"not in taught" letters (as the apostle says) "in words of human wisdom, but in taught of the Holy Spirit." For their covenant and their law and their book is the Spirit, as the Spirit says through the prophet: And it shall be in the last days, "I will make" "a new covenant" with the house of Jacob, "not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers," but "this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel," "giving my laws into their mind, and upon their heart I will write them," and so on. For just as those of old, from the old covenant, read the bodily letters with bodily eyes, so Christians with the inner

They read with the eyes of the soul and learn from the covenant of the Spirit, and they speak with a new tongue within and hear with ears within. For thus the Lord also chose the apostles, uneducated and illiterate men, and filled them with the Holy Spirit, and being made wise by the Spirit they spoke, teaching wise men and scribes; for even if "these" (he says) "fall silent, the stones will cry out." The Lord foretold this either concerning the apostles or concerning all souls that are redeemed from the heaviest stone of sin that lies upon them, and when it is lifted, they cry out praising God. For just as the stones then and "the rocks" that saw the Lord were split and "the tombs" were opened, so when the good "face of the Lord" Jesus Christ shines forth and appears in the soul, the heavy stone of sin is split apart, giving place to the Master, so that entering in he may himself dwell in it. When, then, souls that are like stone see the desirable face of Christ, then they cry out. And just as if a mountain has no dwellings within but is stone, and a craftsman comes who knows how to quarry and fashions there the most beautiful houses, in the same way Christ, the true and good craftsman, comes to the souls that love him and quarries and cuts away from them the spirit of sin and prepares for himself palaces and makes his dwelling in them. Therefore the souls that are like stone cry out when the Lord causes "his face" to shine upon them.

But concerning the apostles, that they cried out whether they willed or not, just as a flute sounds when the spirit breathes through it (as the one who breathes wills, so the flute speaks), so too the apostles and those born "from above" like them, having received the Paraclete Spirit, spoke as the Spirit itself willed within them. For the Lord, explaining to Nicodemus about the one born "from above," said: "The Spirit breathes where it wills, and you hear its voice, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes." Just as no one knows the home of the wind of the spirit, where it comes from, or its fullness, where it arrives, nor can anyone hinder it or measure it or comprehend it—just as no one can hold back or comprehend the currents of rivers—so it is also with the soul: no one can comprehend its reasonings, nor again hinder the streams of the mind, nor hold them back, nor know the source of the thoughts of the understanding, where it comes from, or comprehend where it goes. For where it is not, there it sits, and elsewhere it is with the mind and understanding in distant places. If, then, he says, these earthly things here in our hands are such and so incomprehensible, how much more is that soul incomprehensible—the one born "from above" and having received the heavenly Spirit of the Lord and having been mingled with it "according to the inner man"? For where it wills, behold, there it is; for while it was here, the heavenly and divine Spirit came and led it into the heavenly places and taught it, and that soul is everywhere incomprehensible. Glory to his majesty forever and ever. Amen. What the Lord says in the gospel:

How narrow and constricted is the way that leads to life, and few there are who pass through it"—this is understood with respect to the highest virtue, because of its affliction and because each person acquires it through toil and struggle. Yet when he calls the way narrow for those who do not wish to travel through it, the way is narrow for its enemies, for those who are unable to walk into it, as it is written: "How exceedingly rough it is for the uneducated, and the fainthearted will not remain in it"; for there is need of much understanding and prudence and endurance and faith, so that one may reach firmly and securely the blessed and divine "way of righteousness." Just as if there were a mountain very high and steep and it had a path very narrow, as it were the width of a footstep, and through it four-footed animals or anything else cannot pass through and get by, except perhaps only birds that are lightened by their own wings, so too the highest commandments of the gospel and "the way" of God is "narrow and constricted" for the people of this world who do not partake of the Spirit of God, and it is impossible for any to pass through (that is, to be found obedient and blameless in all the gospel commandments) unless they acquire the wings of the Holy Spirit, and then, lightened by the Holy Spirit, they can easily pass through the gospel "way of righteousness," so that they may be deemed worthy "to enter into life," as the Lord has said.

because "my yoke is easy and my burden is light," and then they will know that the commandments of Jesus are not heavy, when, winged by the Holy Spirit, these men pass through the narrow way—narrow to the rest of mankind—with great lightness and cheerfulness. For it is impossible for anyone to pass along the aforementioned way (that is, to fulfill all the commandments of the Lord purely, perfectly, and blamelessly) without the holy wings of the Spirit, and thus to be deemed worthy to enter through the gate of the kingdom of heaven. But in many and varied ways, according to progress and growth and the passage of time, the grace of the Spirit deems worthy to come to the perfect measures of purity those souls that are obedient to it in all things.

For in a certain manner, birds that fear the beasts on the earth make their nest in a higher and loftier place, either on a roof or in some tall tree, and the mother herself goes about and brings tender food to the nestlings, just as they are able to receive it because they are still infants; then in due season she offers them more solid food according to the growth of the age of the nestlings, and at the same time she teaches them, as their wings grow and increase, to exercise their flight little by little in the air and to practice first around the nest, then around the branches of the tree, from branch to branch, then a little farther off, until they are grown and their wings are made strong, and thereafter from hill to hill and from mountain to mountain they fly easily and without toil in rest. So also the children of God, whom the Holy Spirit begets from his own power, at first in the beginnings he gives them spiritual milk for food, full of sweetness and heavenly longing in the heart; for "I fed you with milk," says the apostle, "and not with solid food," and Peter also said thus: "As newborn infants, desire the rational and guileless milk." Then, according to the progress and growth of the soul being renewed, he gives more solid food of the Spirit, and at the same time the wings of grace (that is, the power of the Spirit) increase in it as the soul progresses in good works.

Then divine grace (the good and heavenly mother) teaches the mind to fly, first around the nest of the heart, that is, of the thoughts (that is, to pray to God undistractedly in the power of the Spirit). Then, to the extent that it receives the more solid food of the Spirit of the Godhead, to that extent it is also able to fly more greatly and more highly, being led and carried aloft by the Spirit. But when it has finally been made manly and has come "to the measure" of spiritual "stature," from hill to hill and from mountain to mountain (that is, from this world to the world above, and from this age to the blessed and incorruptible and endless age) the mind flies easily, in great freedom from care and rest, being carried and guided by the wings of the Spirit "into visions and revelations" of heavenly mysteries and into ineffable spiritual contemplations, which a tongue of flesh cannot speak. For from then on the children of God become higher and loftier than evil, having been strengthened by the Spirit and having their dwelling in the heavens, no longer fearing the savagery of the unclean spirits.

Just as nestlings, once grown to maturity and their wings fully developed, no longer fear the plots of beasts or of men, because for the most part their dwelling is in the air, and just as no man knows the speech of birds, so too no man filled with the Spirit of the world knows the tongue of the Spirit in power, but only the sons of the Spirit of grace know the speech of their mother, according to what was said by the apostle: "comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him." For just as the voice of swallows and the rest of the birds is barbarous to men, so also the words of spiritual men are barbarous to fleshly men. Likewise, to spiritual men the words of fleshly men—that is, "the wisdom of the world"—are foolishness, and they recognize them, but turn away from them as the words of the world's nonsense and vanity.

All these things have been recorded by me through visible things—through birds and animals and all things seen—because it is impossible for spiritual things to be spoken or interpreted otherwise, just as the Lord also spoke most things in parables, taking illustrations from visible things, likening the kingdom to a grain of mustard seed and to leaven and to a treasure. For he says, I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world. For spiritual things are ineffable, unable to be expressed by human speech, unless the Spirit himself by experience and operation teaches the worthy and faithful soul. For the spiritual regeneration and growth and perfection—how one ought to speak of them—it is impossible to utter, or only to believe, that God does these things in this way for men who have chosen a manner of life pleasing to him. Thus also the discourse of spiritual things is barbarous to the men of the world. For just as the fish of the sea know all things in it—the paths and the depths—and it is not possible for a man or beasts or the other living creatures to know the things there or to linger there, since they are destroyed by drowning, so it is impossible for one not born of the Holy Spirit to know the things of that age as they are—both the depths of God and to know the paths of the Spirit of the kingdom—except those who conduct themselves in that very Spirit and live from him and partake and walk in him, according to what was said by the apostle: But our citizenship is in heaven; and again: no one has known the things of God except the Spirit of God.

But God has revealed them to us through his Spirit,” and again he says: the Spirit “searches even the depths of God.” Thus it is impossible for one who has “the spirit of the world” and has not been born in the Holy Spirit to know anything by experience of the knowledge of the things of the Spirit as they are, even if they wish to intrude into them; they are vainly puffed up by the mind of their flesh. For resting on worldly wisdom and supposing that by their own understanding they can grasp spiritual things without the visitation and revelation of the Spirit, they are at a loss and perish, having no true foundation (which is the Lord, through whom those who are worthy encompass all spiritual knowledge). For their mind comes to a certain uncertainty and to a phantasm of conjectures through their own understanding and strength, as they think to grasp spiritual knowledge; but even if they recite all the Scriptures from mouth, they do not know the power of what they speak. For just as children being taught by a teacher learn by heart the narratives of clever orators and with their mouth recite the words of the wise, but do not know or understand the power of the words, nor what they are reading or reciting, because of their infancy—so also those who recite and study the Scriptures, if they have not received from spiritual men the true meaning lying within them, and if they do not have within themselves the living voice (that is, the divine power itself that dictated the Scriptures), they are not benefited as they ought to have been benefited.

For they are still clothed in “the old man,” that is, “the spirit of the world” (which is the law “of sin” that wars against “the law of the mind”). And just as one who is not born in this world does not exist, but when he is born, then he exists into this age, so also one who has not been born in the Holy Spirit does not exist into the age of the Spirit, nor can he arrive there. Unless, therefore, he receives the new and heavenly birth from here (that is, in that age the soul is born of the Spirit and from there is nourished and grows and is perfected in the Spirit), he does not arrive at that age. For thus the decrees have been ordained by the Lord, and thus he was pleased and declared: “Unless one is born again from above,” he shall not enter “into the kingdom of heaven”; for what is born “of the Spirit is spirit,” just as also “what is born of the flesh is flesh.” For the Holy Spirit willed to be mingled with the soul and to cleanse it from the spirit of sin that is “in its members” and to become with it one spirit, so that he might present it to himself as a pure and blameless bride. Glory to him who so loved the soul created in his image, who redeemed it from the kingdom of darkness and transferred it into the kingdom of the light of life.

Let us therefore also entreat God and beseech him, that he may beget us from the Holy Spirit and redeem us from the spirit "of the world" and lead us from now on into the world of the divinity of the Holy Spirit—lest death (which is "the spirit of the world," "the mind of the flesh") seize us under its own authority and we be handed over to eternal Gehenna, and then we come to understand, to no avail, that when we had the time we did not ask for redemption and mercy from him, even though he readily (if anyone asks and seeks and knocks) provides his own promises in a loving manner; for "faithful" and true is "he who promised" to give his own grace and life to those who ask him with faith. Let us therefore always receive the Lord, the true life-giver, who alone can come and redeem our souls from the invisible enemies, the passions of "dishonor," making our conduct spotless and blameless in all virtues. Let us not become like the wicked and man-hating women, who, when the husband comes home weary to rest in his house, leave their own houses and go off elsewhere and wander about. For much does that good and only husband Christ desire to rest in his own house, in our bodies and souls—he who has labored much for our sake and redeemed us with his own blood, and knocks always at the doors of our hearts, that we may open to him and, entering in, he may rest in our souls and make a "dwelling" with us, so that we may not be blameworthy.

Just as there the Lord reproaches the one who did not wash and anoint "his feet" and did not give him rest, and again elsewhere the Lord says: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone opens to me, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me." Therefore we keep ourselves far from him, not seeking him in truth; for he himself always draws near to our souls, knocking and seeking to enter in and rest in us. For this reason he also endured many sufferings, giving his own body over to death and purchasing us from the slavery of darkness, so that entering into each soul he might make a "dwelling" and rest, having labored much for its sake. This was the will of his good pleasure, that while we are still in this age he might dwell and walk among us according to his promise. For to those on the left in the judgment, sent by the Lord into Gehenna with the devil, he says this: "I was a stranger and you did not receive me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and you did not visit me," "I was hungry and you did not give me food to eat, I was thirsty and you did not give me drink," "I was in prison and you did not come to me." This is understood openly concerning good works, the Lord receiving the service done to his servants as done to himself, but the truer and deeper meaning is understood in relation to the inner man of each person.

For his true food and drink and clothing and shelter and rest are our souls, so that the soul, having received the Lord into itself and having communed with his Spirit, may become with him "one spirit," and there may be a renewal and transformation of the heart and an abolishing and quenching of the passions, and the working of the Holy Spirit and the works of the virtues may be found in us. This is the true food and drink of the Lord. The Lord, then, hungers and thirsts for our souls, and is as a stranger and a sick man among us, not yet having rested nor having a "dwelling" in our souls. Always, therefore, he knocks, wishing to enter in to us and to rest, and he makes all his providence for our sake for this purpose. Let us, then, receive him in faith and great love, and let us bring him within us and give him hospitality and feed him and give him drink and clothe him—giving over our very dispositions to him wholly and entirely, and following the will of his Spirit; or rather, let us be fed and given drink by his Spirit and be clothed with the Lord himself. For he himself is our food and drink and clothing and treasure and inheritance and possession and rest and house, and he himself is our all, eternal life; and every soul that has not received him within now and given him rest through the fruits of virtue—or rather, has not been given rest by him and lived the life of the Spirit—has no inheritance in the kingdom of heaven with the saints, and cannot enter into the heavenly city of the "firstborn.

For if the Lord, having come to the fig tree to be fed and finding no fruit on it, condemned it to punishment and it was immediately dried up (for he says, "May no fruit ever come from you again"), how much more—for a soul in which no fruit of choice and uprightness of character is found for the Lord's food—what it will suffer or what punishment it will undergo cannot be expressed; for it is eternal, as the apostle says: "For if the word spoken through angels proved firm, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" The Lord, then, seeks from us a good fruit—our good choice and our whole will, to love him with our whole soul—so that, receiving the virtues of our souls as good food, he may make us bear fruits of the Spirit that are unchanging and true, divine and full of eternal life. For just as there "was no season for figs" and fruit was sought on it, so also here, before communion with the Spirit, the Lord comes seeking from the soul the fruit of good choice. There, indeed, it is understood in a manifest way concerning Israel, that they did not give the Lord "fruit worthy" of him, not believing in him. But in each soul this signifies that before the working of grace and before the soul bears the "fruits of the Spirit," the Lord seeks some fruit proper to the soul itself—that it render to him its very will and choice and faith and whole love, and whatever capacity it has for readiness in good works, whether from within or from without.