PG_91AGI

(73) Things themselves are outside the mind, but the thoughts of them are constituted from within. So it is in its power to use them well or badly; for a mistaken use of thoughts is followed by a misuse of things. (74) Through these three the mind receives the impassioned thoughts: through sensation, through temperament, and through memory. Through sensation, when the things that assail it—things toward which we have acquired passions—move it toward impassioned thoughts; through temperament, when the body's temperament is altered by an intemperate way of life or by the activity of demons or by some illness, and moves it again toward impassioned thoughts or even against providence; through memory, when memory brings back the thoughts of the things we have suffered and similarly moves it toward impassioned thoughts.

(75) Of the things given to us by God for use, some are found in the soul, some in the body, and some around the body: in the soul, for instance, its powers; in the body, the sense organs and the remaining members; around the body, food, money, possessions, and the like. So the good or bad use of these, or of the circumstances that befall them, shows us to be either virtuous or base. (76) Of the circumstances that befall things, some belong to those in the soul, some to those in the body, and some to the things around the body; and of those in the soul, for instance, knowledge and ignorance, forgetfulness and memory, love and hatred, fear and boldness, grief and joy, and the like;

Of things in the body, such as pleasure and pain, sensation and mutilation, health and sickness, life and death, and the like; and of things around the body, such as having good children and childlessness, wealth and poverty, fame and obscurity, and so on. Of these, some are considered good and some bad by men, though none of them is bad in its own nature; but according to use, they are found to be either truly bad or good. (77) Knowledge is good by nature, and likewise health; but the opposites of these have benefited the many more than these have. For knowledge does not turn out for good in the case of the wicked, even if by nature, as has been said, it is good; and likewise neither health nor wealth nor joy; for they have not used these profitably. Therefore their opposites are profitable; so neither are those things bad in their own nature, even if they seem to be bad.

(78) Do not misuse your thoughts, lest you necessarily misuse things as well. For if one does not first sin in thought, he would never sin in action.

The generic vices are the image of the earthly man, such as folly, cowardice, licentiousness, injustice; and the generic virtues are the image of the heavenly man, such as prudence, courage, temperance, justice. But just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, let us also bear the image of the heavenly man.

If you wish to find the way that leads to life, seek it in the Way itself, and there you will find it, in the one who said: I am the way and the truth and the life. Only seek it with great labor, because few are those who find it, and take care lest, being left behind with the few, you be found with the many. For these five reasons the soul is turned back from sins: either through fear of men, or through fear of judgment, or through the future recompense, or through the love of God, or finally through the conscience striking it.

Some say that evil would not exist among beings unless there were some other power drawing us back toward it; but this is nothing other than the neglect of the natural operations of the mind. Therefore those who take care of these things always do the good and never the evil. If, then, you also wish it, drive out neglect and you will drive out evil with it, which is the mistaken use of thoughts, followed by the misuse of things. It is according to nature for the rational part in us to be subject to the divine Word and to rule the irrational part in us; let this order, then, be preserved in all things, and neither will evil exist among beings nor will that which draws us back toward it be found.

(104) Some thoughts are simple, and others are composite. And simple thoughts are those free from passion; composite thoughts are those with passion, being composed of passion and thought. This being so, it is possible to see many of the simple thoughts following the composite ones, whenever they begin to be moved toward sinning in the mind. For example, in the case of gold: a passionate thought about gold rose up in someone's memory, and he rushed in his mind toward stealing, and completed the sin in his intellect. And there followed the memory of gold, along with the memory of the purse and the chest and the storeroom and the like. And the memory of gold was composite, for it had the passion; but the memory of the purse and the chest and the like was simple, for the intellect had no passion toward them. And it is the same with every thought, both with vainglory and with a woman and with the rest. For not all the thoughts that follow a passionate thought are themselves passionate, as the argument has demonstrated. From these, then, we can know which thoughts are passionate and which are simple.

(105) Some say that the demons, by touching the parts of the body during sleep, stir up the passion of fornication; then the passion, once stirred, brings up the form of a woman through memory to the mind. Others say that they appear to the mind in the shape of a woman, and by touching the parts of the body they stir up desire, and thus the fantasies arise. Others again say that the passion prevailing in the demon who draws near stirs up the passion, and thus the soul is kindled toward thoughts, bringing up the forms through memory; and in the case of the other passionate fantasies likewise, some say it happens in this way and others in that. Yet in none of the ways mentioned do the demons have power to stir up any passion whatsoever, when love and self-control are present in the soul, neither while the body is awake nor during sleep. (106) Some of the commandments of the law must be kept both bodily and spiritually, and others only spiritually. For example, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," and the like, must be kept both bodily and spiritually—and spiritually in a threefold way. But to be circumcised, to keep the Sabbath, to slaughter the lamb, and to eat unleavened bread with bitter herbs, and the like, must be kept only spiritually.

(87) There are three more general ethical states among monks. The first is to sin in no way in action; the second is not to let impassioned thoughts linger in the soul; the third is to contemplate the forms of women and of those who have caused grief without passion, in the mind.

(88) He is without possessions who has renounced all that he owns and possesses nothing at all on earth except the body; and having broken even his attachment to it, he has entrusted his own stewardship to God and to the pious. (89) Of those who acquire possessions, some acquire them without passion, and therefore when they are deprived of them they are not grieved, like those who welcomed the plundering of their possessions with joy. But others acquire them with passion, and therefore when they are about to be deprived of them they become deeply grieved, like the rich man in the Gospel who went away grieved; and if they are deprived, they grieve even to death. Deprivation therefore exposes the disposition of the impassioned and the dispassioned alike.

(90) The demons wage war against those who pray supremely, so that they may not take up the bare meanings of sensible things; against the contemplatives, so that impassioned thoughts may linger in them; against those struggling in practice, so that they may persuade them to sin in action. And in every way they struggle against all, so that these wretched beings may separate men from God. (91) Those who in this life are exercised by divine providence unto piety are tested through these three temptations: for instance, through the giving of pleasant things, as in the case of health and beauty and good children and wealth and glory and the like;

or through the infliction of distressing things, such as the loss of children, possessions, and reputation; or through things that produce pain in the body, such as illnesses, tortures, and the like. And to the first group the Lord says: If anyone does not renounce all that he possesses, he cannot be my disciple; and to the second and third: In your endurance possess your souls. (2) They say that these four things alter the temperament of the body and give to the mind thoughts either impassioned or dispassionate through it: for example, the angels, the demons, the airs, and the diet. And they say that the angels alter it by reason; the demons, by contact; the airs, by their changes; and the diet, by the qualities of foods and drinks and by excess and deficiency—besides the alterations that come to it through memory, hearing, and sight, when the soul is first affected by the distressing or joyful things that befall it. And from these things the soul, being affected, alters the temperament of the body; and from the aforementioned things the temperament, being altered, supplies thoughts to the mind. (3) Death in the proper sense is separation from God; and the sting of death is sin; having received this, Adam at once became an exile from the tree of life, from paradise, and from God; and the death of the body necessarily followed upon this. Life in the proper sense is the one who said: I am the life; having come into death, he led the one who had been put to death back again into life.

(d') A written discourse is composed either for one's own remembrance, or for the benefit of others, or both, or for the harm of some, or for display, or from necessity.

(e') The place of grass is the practical virtue; and the water of rest is the knowledge of things that have come to be.

(st') Human life is the shadow of death. If, then, anyone is with God and God is with him, this one can say plainly: For even if I walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will not fear evils, because you are with me.

(z') A pure mind sees things rightly; a trained reason brings what has been seen before the eyes; and a bright hearing receives them. But the one deprived of the three blames the one who has spoken.

(ē') He is with God who knows the holy Trinity and its creation and providence, and who possesses the passible part of the soul free from passion.

(th') They say the rod signifies the judgment of God, and the staff, providence. So it belongs to the one who has partaken of the knowledge of these things to say: Your rod and your staff, they have comforted me.

(r') When the mind is stripped of the passions and is illumined by the contemplation of beings, then it can both be in God and pray as it ought.

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THREE

(a') The reasonable use of thoughts and things is productive of chastity and love and knowledge; but the unreasonable use, of licentiousness and hatred and ignorance.

(b') You prepared a table before me, and the rest. The table here signifies practical virtue; for this was prepared by Christ in the face of those who afflict us. And the oil that makes the mind fat signifies the contemplation of created things; and the cup of God signifies the knowledge of God; and his mercy signifies his Word and God. For he, through his incarnation, pursues all the days until he overtakes all who are to be saved, as he did Paul. And the house signifies the kingdom, in which all the saints are restored. And the length of days signifies eternal life.

(g') Vices befall us through the misuse of the powers of the soul—namely, the desiring, the irascible, and the rational. The misuse of the rational power is ignorance and folly; of the irascible and desiring powers, hatred and licentiousness. Their use is knowledge and prudence, love and chastity. And if this is so, none of the things created and made by God is evil.

(d') Foods are not evil, but gluttony is; nor is procreation evil, but fornication is; nor is money evil, but the love of money is; nor is glory evil, but vainglory is. And if this is so, nothing among existing things is evil except misuse, which befalls from the mind's negligence concerning the natural cultivation.

(e') The blessed Dionysius says that the evil among demons is these things: irrational anger, mindless desire, rash imagination. But irrationality and mindlessness and rashness, in the case of rational beings, are privations of reason and mind and circumspection. And privations are secondary to the states; therefore there was a time when reason and mind and reverent circumspection existed in them. And if this is so, not even the demons are evil by nature, but they have become evil from the misuse of their natural powers. (st') Some of the passions are productive of licentiousness, others of hatred, and others of both licentiousness and hatred.

(z') Gluttony and daintiness are causes of licentiousness; but love of money and vainglory, of hatred toward one's neighbor; and self-love, the mother of these, is the cause of both.

(8) Self-love is the passionate and irrational love of the body, to which love and self-control are opposed; whoever has it has all the passions. (9) No one, says the Apostle, hated his own flesh; but he clearly beats it and enslaves it, providing it nothing more than food and clothing, and these only the necessities for living. Thus, then, one loves it without passion and nurtures and cherishes it as a servant of divine things with only those things that fulfill its need. (10) Whomever one loves, one certainly hastens to serve. If, then, one loves God, one certainly hastens to do what is pleasing to him; but if one loves the flesh, one carries out what delights it.

(11) What pleases God is love and chastity and contemplation and prayer; but what pleases the flesh is gluttony and licentiousness and the things that increase these. Therefore those who are in the flesh cannot please God; but those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its sufferings and desires. (12) If the mind inclines toward God, it has the body as a slave and provides it nothing more than the necessities for living; but if it inclines toward the flesh, it is enslaved to the passions, always making provision for the flesh unto desires. (13) If you wish to overcome your thoughts, attend to the passions and you will easily drive them out of the mind. For example, in the case of fornication, fast, keep vigil, labor, live in solitude; but in the case of anger and grief, despise glory and dishonor and material things; but in the case of resentment, pray for the one who grieved you and you will be delivered.

(14) Do not measure yourself against the weaker among men, but rather stretch yourself toward the commandment of love. For by measuring yourself against them, you fall into the pit of conceit; but by stretching toward it, you advance to the height of humility.

(15) If you keep the commandment of love toward your neighbor at all, for what reason do you give birth to the bitterness of grief against him? Or is it not clear that, preferring the things of this world to that love and clinging to them, you wage war against your brother? (16) It is not for the sake of need that gold has become so coveted by men, but rather so that through it the many may serve their pleasures. (17) There are three causes of the love of money: love of pleasure, vainglory, and unbelief; and unbelief is the more grievous of the two. (18) The lover of pleasure loves silver, in order to luxuriate through it; the vainglorious man, in order to be glorified through it; the unbeliever, in order to hide and guard it, fearing famine or old age or disease or exile, and he hopes in it rather than in God, the Creator and Provider of all creation, down to the last and smallest of living things.

(19) There are four kinds of people who acquire possessions: the three already mentioned, and the one who manages a household; and this one alone, clearly, acquires them rightly, so that providing for each person's need he may never cease.

(20) All passionate thoughts either provoke the desiring part of the soul, or disturb the irascible part, or darken the rational part; and from this it happens that the mind becomes dim-sighted for spiritual contemplation and for the departure of prayer. And for this reason the monk, and especially the one who practices stillness, ought to pay close attention to his thoughts and both to know and to cut off their causes. And he should know them thus: for example, the passionate memories of women provoke the desiring part of the soul; and the causes of these are the intemperance in foods and drinks and the frequent and irrational association with women themselves; but hunger and thirst and vigil and withdrawal cut these off. Again, the passionate memories of those who have caused grief disturb the irascible part; and the causes of these are love of pleasure and vainglory and love of matter; for because of these the passionate man is grieved either as having been deprived or as not having obtained; but contempt and disregard for these very things, for the love of God, cut them off.

(20) God knows himself, and he knows also the things that have come to be from him; and the holy powers also know God, and they know also the things that have come to be from God. But not as God knows himself and the things that have come to be from him, so also do the holy powers know God and the things that have come to be from him. (21) God knows himself from his blessed essence, and the things that have come to be from him from his wisdom, through which and in which he made all things. But the holy powers know God by participation, though he is beyond participation; and they know the things that have come to be from him by the apprehension of the contemplations within them. (22) The things that have come to be are outside the mind, but it apprehends their contemplation within. Not so in the case of God, the eternal and infinite and boundless, who has granted to existing things both to be and to be well and always to be. (23) The rational and intellectual essence participates in the Holy God, both by its very being and by its fitness for well-being—I mean goodness and wisdom—and by the grace for always being. By this, then, it knows God; and it knows the things that have come to be from him by the apprehension, as has been said, of the artistic wisdom contemplated in the things that have come to be, which is bare and without subsistence, established in the mind. (24) Four of the divine properties, constitutive and protective and preservative of existing things, God, out of extreme goodness, shared in common, when he brought the rational and intellectual essence into being: being, always being, goodness, and wisdom. Of these he granted the two to the essence, and the two to the faculty of choice; and to the essence, being and always being;

By its capacity for moral choice, [he made it capable of receiving] goodness and wisdom, so that what he himself is by essence, creation might become by participation. It is for this reason that it is said to have been made in the image and likeness of God: in the image, as being, of the One who is; and as always being, of the One who always is—not without beginning, but without end; and in the likeness, as good, of the Good; and as wise, of the Wise—the one by nature, the other by grace. And every rational nature is in the image of God; but only the good and wise are in the likeness.

(26) Every rational and intellectual substance is divided into two, that is, into the angelic and the human nature. And every angelic nature is again divided into two universal companies and flocks, holy and accursed, that is, into holy powers and unclean demons. And every human nature is divided into only two universal companies—I mean the pious and the impious. (27) God, being self-existence and self-goodness and self-wisdom, or rather, to speak more truly, even above all these, has nothing at all opposed to him. But created things, since all have their existence by participation and grace, and rational and intellectual beings also have a capacity for goodness and wisdom, do have opposites: for existence, non-existence; for the capacity for goodness and wisdom, vice and ignorance. And whether these things always exist or do not exist is in the power of the one who made them; but whether they participate in his goodness and wisdom or do not participate is in the will of rational beings.

(28) The Greeks, saying that the substance of beings coexists with God from eternity, and that it has received from him only the qualities pertaining to it, say nothing contrary as regards the substance, but place the contrariety in the qualities alone. We, however, say that the divine substance alone has nothing contrary, since it is eternal and infinite and the giver of eternity to other things; but to the substance of beings, non-being is contrary, and it lies in the power of him who truly is that it always be or not be, yet his gifts are without repentance. And for this reason it both always is and always will be, upheld by the almighty power, even if it has non-being as its contrary, as has been said, since it was brought by God from non-being into being and has it in his will that it be or not be. (29) Just as evil is the privation of good and ignorance the privation of knowledge, so also non-being is the privation of being—not of him who truly is (for he has nothing contrary), but of that which is by participation in him who truly is. And the privations of the former things follow upon the inclination of created things, but the privation of the latter lies in the will of the Maker, who always in his goodness wills that beings exist and are always benefited by him.

(31) Of all things that have come into being, some are rational and intellectual and capable of opposites, such as virtue and vice, knowledge and ignorance; while bodies are various, composed of opposites, that is, earth, air, fire, water. And some are wholly incorporeal and immaterial, even if some of these are yoked to bodies; while others have their constitution from matter and form only.

(32) All bodies are by nature motionless; they are moved by a soul—some by a rational soul, others by an irrational soul, others by a soul without sensation. (33) Of the powers of the soul, one is nutritive and augmentative; another is imaginative and impulsive; another is ratiocinative and noetic. And of the first alone the plants partake; of the second, in addition to this, the irrational animals; of the third, in addition to the two, human beings. And the two powers are corruptible; but the third is shown to be incorruptible and immortal.

(34) The holy powers, imparting illumination to one another, also impart to human nature either their own virtue or the knowledge that is in them: virtue, such as the God-imitating goodness by which, making themselves God-like, they benefit themselves and one another and those ranked below them; and knowledge, either something loftier concerning God—for you, it says, are most high forever, O Lord—or something deeper concerning bodies, or more precise concerning incorporeal things, or clearer concerning providence, or more distinct concerning judgment.

(34) Impurity of intellect is, first, the possession of false knowledge; second, ignorance of any of the universal truths—I speak with reference to the human intellect, for it belongs to an angel to be ignorant of none of the particular things; third, the possession of impassioned thoughts; and fourth, assent to sin.

(35) Impurity of soul is to not act according to nature; for from this the impassioned thoughts are begotten in the intellect. For it acts according to nature when its passible powers—I mean anger and desire—remain impassible at the assault of things and of the thoughts within them. (36) Impurity of body is sin in act. (37) He who is not affected by the things of the world loves stillness, and he who loves nothing human loves all men, and he who is not scandalized at anyone, whether because of transgressions or because of thoughts arising from suspicion, has knowledge of God and of divine things. (38) Great indeed is not to be affected by things; but far greater than this is to remain impassible toward their thoughts.

(39) Love and self-control keep the intellect free from passion in relation to things and to the thoughts of them.

(40) The intellect of the God-loving man does not war against things, nor against the thoughts of them, but against the passions that are yoked to the thoughts; for example, it does not war against the woman, nor against the one who has grieved him, nor against their phantasies, but against the passions yoked to the phantasies. (41) The whole warfare of the monk is against the demons, in order that he may separate the passions from the thoughts; for otherwise he cannot look upon things without passion. (42) One thing is a thing, another a thought, and another a passion; and a thing is, for example, a man, a woman, gold, and the like; a thought is, for example, the bare memory of one of the things just mentioned; a passion is, for example, irrational affection or uncritical hatred for one of the things just mentioned. The monk's battle, then, is against the passion. (43) A passionate thought is a composite reasoning formed from a passion and a thought. Let us separate the passion from the thought, and the bare reasoning remains; and we separate them by spiritual love and self-control, if we will. (44) The virtues separate the intellect from the passions; spiritual contemplations separate it from the bare thoughts; and pure prayer presents it to God himself.

(41) The virtues exist for the sake of the knowledge of created things; and knowledge exists for the sake of the one who knows; and the one who knows exists for the sake of the One who is known unknowably and who knows beyond knowledge.

(42) God, who is all-sufficient, did not bring created things into being as though he needed anything, but so that they, partaking of him in proportion, might enjoy him, and that he might rejoice in his works, seeing them rejoicing and ever being filled insatiably with the insatiable.

(43) The world has many poor in spirit, but not as is fitting; and many who mourn, but because of loss of money or the death of children; and many who are meek, but toward unclean passions; and many who hunger and thirst, but to seize what belongs to others and to profit from injustice; and many who are merciful, but toward the body and the things of the body; and many who are pure in heart, but for the sake of vainglory; and many who are peacemakers, but who subject the soul to the flesh; and many who are persecuted, but as disorderly persons; and many who are reviled, but for shameful sins. But those alone are blessed who do and suffer these things for Christ and according to Christ. Why? Because theirs is the kingdom of heaven, and they shall see God, and so on. So it is not because they do and suffer these things that they are blessed—for those just mentioned do the same—but because they do and suffer these things for Christ and according to Christ. (44) In all things done by us, the purpose is sought by God, as has often been said, whether we do them for his sake or for something else.

When, therefore, we wish to do some good, let us have God as our aim, not people-pleasing, so that always looking to him, we may do all things for his sake, lest we both endure the toil and lose the reward.

(49) And cast out from your mind, in the time of prayer, the mere thoughts of human affairs and the contemplations of all created things, lest by imagining the lesser things you fall away from the One who is incomparably better than all that exists. (50) If we love God genuinely, we cast off the passions through that very love. And love for him is esteeming him above the world and the soul above the flesh, in despising worldly things and devoting oneself to him continually through self-control and love and prayer and psalmody and the like.

(51) If, devoting ourselves to God for a long time, we take care of the passionate part of the soul, we shall no longer be tossed about by the assaults of thoughts; but understanding their causes more precisely and cutting them off, we become more discerning, so that there is fulfilled in us the saying: And my eye has looked upon my enemies, and my ear shall hear those who rise up against me and devise evil.

(52) When you see your intellect turning piously and righteously among the thoughts of the world, know that your body also remains pure and sinless; but when you see your intellect, in its understanding, devoting itself to sins and you do not check it, know that your body will not long delay in falling into these same things. (53) Just as the body has the world of things as its cosmos, so too the intellect has thoughts as its cosmos; and just as the body commits fornication with the body of a woman, so too the intellect commits fornication with the thought of a woman through the imagination of its own body; for it sees the form of its own body mingling with the form of the woman in its understanding. Likewise also it avenges itself on the form of the one who grieved it in its understanding through the form of its own body. And similarly in the case of the other sins; for whatever the body does in actual deed in the world of things, these same things the intellect does in the world of thoughts. (54) Is it not a thing to shudder at and be struck with amazement and astonishment in one's understanding, that God the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son. And the Son cries out: Judge not, that you be not judged; condemn not, that you be not condemned. And the Apostle likewise: Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, and: By whatever judgment you judge another, you condemn yourself. But people, having let go of weeping for their own sins, have taken judgment away from the Son and, as though sinless themselves, judge and condemn one another; and heaven was astonished at this, and the earth shuddered, but they are not ashamed, being insensible.

(53) The one who busies himself with the sins of others, or who judges his brother on the basis of suspicion, has not yet begun repentance, nor begun to search out and know his own sins, which in truth are heavier than many talents of lead; nor has he come to know whence it is that a man becomes heavy-hearted, loving vanity and seeking falsehood. Therefore, like a fool walking in darkness, he abandons his own sins and imagines the sins of others, whether they exist or are merely supposed from suspicion. (54) Self-love, as has often been said, is the cause of all passionate thoughts. For from it are born the three most general thoughts of desire: that of gluttony, that of avarice, and that of vainglory. From gluttony is born the thought of fornication; from avarice, that of covetousness; from vainglory, that of pride. And all the rest follow each of these three: the thought of anger, of grief, of resentment, of listlessness, of envy, of slander, and the rest. These passions, then, bind the intellect to material things and hold it down to the earth, lying upon it like a very heavy stone, though by nature it is lighter and swifter than fire. (55) The beginning of all the passions is self-love; the end is pride. Self-love is the irrational friendship for the body; the one who has cut this out has cut out together with it all the passions that come from it. (56) Just as parents are attached to the bodies born from them, so too the intellect is naturally attached to its own principles. And just as it is attached to those of them that are more passionate, even if in all respects

whose children are the most ridiculous, they appear the most reasonable and fair of all, so too to the foolish mind its own words, even if they are more wretched than all, appear wiser than all. But to the wise man his own words are not so; rather, whenever he seems to be fully assured that they are true and good, then most of all he does not trust his own judgment, but appoints other wise men as judges of his words, lest he run or have run in vain; and from them he receives confirmation. (59) When you have conquered some of the more dishonorable passions, such as gluttony or fornication or anger or greed, immediately the thought of vainglory flies upon you; and if you conquer this, the thought of pride succeeds it. (60) All the dishonorable passions, when they rule the soul, drive the thought of vainglory out of it; and when all the aforementioned are defeated, they bring it back upon it.

(61) Vainglory, sometimes being destroyed and sometimes remaining, gives birth to pride; and when destroyed, it produces conceit; when remaining, arrogance. (62) Hidden labor destroys vainglory; but attributing one's successes to God destroys pride.

(63) He who has been deemed worthy of the knowledge of God and has richly enjoyed the pleasure that comes from it—this man despises all the pleasures born of the appetitive faculty.

(64) He who desires earthly things desires either foods, or things that serve the belly, or human glory, or money, or some other of the things that follow upon these; and unless the mind finds something better than these, to which it may transfer its desire, it would not be fully persuaded to despise them. But incomparably better than these is the knowledge of God and of divine things. (65) Those who despise pleasures despise them either out of fear, or out of hope, or out of knowledge and the love of God.

(66) The knowledge of divine things without passion does not persuade the mind to despise material things to the end, but is like a bare thought of a perceptible thing. Therefore one can find many men who have much knowledge and yet wallow like swine in the mire of the passions of the flesh. For having been purified for a little while by diligence and having attained knowledge, they later grew negligent and became like Saul, who was deemed worthy of kingship and, having conducted himself unworthily, was cast out from it with terrible wrath.

(67) Just as bare reasoning about human affairs does not compel the mind to despise divine things, so neither does bare knowledge of divine things persuade one to despise human things completely; for now the truth exists in shadows and likenesses. And for this reason it needs the blessed passion of holy love, which binds the mind to spiritual contemplations and persuades it to prefer immaterial things to material, and intelligible and divine things to sensible things. (68) Not everyone who has cut off the passions and made his reasonings bare has thereby already turned them toward divine things, but he is able neither to suffer toward human things nor toward divine things; which happens only in the case of those engaged in the practical life and not yet deemed worthy of knowledge, who abstain from the passions out of fear of punishment or hope of the kingdom.

(69) We walk by faith, not by sight; and we have knowledge in mirrors and riddles. And for this reason we need much occupation with them, so that by prolonged study and meditation on them we may make a habit of the contemplations that is hard to break away from.

(70) If for a little while we cut off the causes of the passions and occupy ourselves with spiritual contemplations, but do not always dwell in them, making this very thing our work, we are easily overturned again into the passions of the flesh, having harvested nothing else from there than bare knowledge together with conceit; the end of which is the gradual darkening of that knowledge itself and the complete turning of the mind toward material things. (71) A blameworthy passion of love occupies the mind with material things; a praiseworthy passion of love binds it to divine things. For the mind is accustomed to expand in the things in which it lingers, and in those in which it expands, it also turns its desire and love toward them, whether toward divine and kindred and intelligible things, or toward the things and passions of the flesh. (72) God created the invisible world and the visible; and He Himself made the soul and the body, clearly. And if the visible world is so beautiful, of what sort then is the invisible? And if that is better than this, how much greater than both is God who created them? If, then, the Creator of all good things is better than all things that have come to be, for what reason does the mind abandon the better than all and occupy itself with the worst of all? I mean the passions of the flesh; or is it clear that it has lived with and been accustomed to this from birth, but has not yet received a perfect experience of the better than all and above all?

If, then, by prolonged practice of self-control over pleasures and of meditation on divine things, we gradually break him away from such a disposition, he is widened in divine things, advancing little by little, and he recognizes his own worth, and finally transfers his whole longing to the divine. (73) He who speaks of a brother's sin without passion speaks for two reasons: either that he may correct him or that he may benefit another. But if he speaks outside these reasons, whether to him or to another, he speaks reproaching or ridiculing him, and he shall certainly not escape divine abandonment, but will surely fall into some fault, whether to himself or to another, and being rebuked and reproached by others, he shall be put to shame.

(74) There is not one account for those who sin the same sin in actual deed, but various. For instance, it is one thing to sin from habit and another to sin by sudden seizure; such a one neither had the thought before the sin nor after the sin, but is greatly pained at what has happened; whereas the one who sins from habit is the opposite; for at first he did not cease sinning in thought, and after the deed he is in the same disposition.

(65) One who pursues the virtues for the sake of vainglory clearly also pursues knowledge for the sake of vainglory. And such a person clearly does or says nothing for the sake of edification, but in all things hunts for the esteem of those who see or hear. The passion is exposed when certain of those mentioned above bring blame upon his deeds or words, and he is greatly grieved at this—not because they are not edified, for this was not his aim, but because he himself is held in contempt.

(66) The passion of love of money is exposed from this: in rejoicing to receive and grieving to give. And such a person cannot be a good steward.

(67) For these reasons one who suffers endures: either for the love of God, or for the hope of reward, or for the fear of punishment, or for the fear of men, or by nature, or for pleasure, or for gain, or for vainglory, or by necessity. (68) It is one thing to be rid of thoughts and another to be freed from passions. And often a person is rid of thoughts when those things are not present for which he possesses the passions; but the passions lie hidden in the soul.

And when the matters come to light, he is exposed. It is necessary, then, to keep the mind attentive to matters and to know toward which thing it has its passion. (79) That one is a genuine friend who, in the time of trial, bears with his neighbor the afflictions, constraints, and calamities that arise from circumstances, as if they were his own, without disturbance and without agitation.

(80) Do not dishonor your conscience, which always counsels you for the best; for it suggests to you a divine and angelic judgment, and frees you from the hidden defilements of the heart, and grants you boldness toward God at your departure. (81) If you wish to become discerning and moderate and not to be a slave to the passion of conceit, always seek among existing things what is hidden from your knowledge. And finding very many and various things that escape you, you will marvel at your own ignorance and you will contract your pride, and knowing yourself you will understand many great and wonderful things; since the belief that one knows does not allow one to progress toward knowing.

(82) That one wishes to be saved precisely, who does not resist the healing remedies; and these are pains and griefs brought on through various inflictions. But the one who resists does not know what he is accomplishing here, nor what he will depart from here having benefited.

(81) Vainglory and love of money are the begetters of one another; for those who are vainglorious grow rich, and those who grow rich are vainglorious—but as worldly people are. Since the monk, being without possessions, is rather vainglorious; but if he has silver, he hides it, being ashamed, as having a thing unbecoming to his habit. (84) It is proper to the monk's vainglory to be vainglorious over virtue and the things that follow upon it; and it is proper to his pride to be elated over achievements and to despise others and to ascribe these things to himself and not to God. But it is proper to the worldly man's vainglory and pride to be vainglorious and elated over beauty and wealth and power and prudence. (85) The achievements of worldly people are the falls of monks; and the achievements of monks are the falls of worldly people. For example, the achievements of worldly people are wealth and glory and power and luxury and good living and having good children and the things that follow these; when a monk comes to these, he is lost. But the achievements of a monk are dispossession, disrepute, powerlessness, self-control, hardship, and the things that follow these; when a lover of the world comes to these, contrary to his intention, he considers it a great fall and often runs the risk of even resorting to hanging; and some have indeed resorted to it. (86) Foods were created for two reasons: for nourishment and for healing. Those, then, who partake of them beyond these purposes, as misusing the things given by God for use, are condemned as lovers of luxury; and in the case of all things, it is the misuse that is the sin.

(87) Humility is continual prayer with tears and labors; for by always calling upon God for help, it does not allow one to trust foolishly in one's own strength and wisdom, nor to exalt oneself over others—things which are grievous diseases of the passion of pride.

(88) It is one thing to fight against the bare thought, so that the passion is not stirred; and another to fight against the passionate thought, so that consent does not occur. Both ways do not permit the thoughts to linger.

(89) Grief is yoked together with remembrance of wrongs; when, then, the mind beholds the face of a brother with grief, it is clear that it holds a grudge against him. The ways of those who remember wrongs lead to death, because everyone who remembers wrongs is a transgressor of the law.

(90) If you bear a grudge against someone, pray for him and you will halt the passion's movement, separating the grief from the memory of the wrong he did to you by means of prayer; but by becoming loving and humane, you will utterly obliterate the passion from your soul. And if another bears a grudge against you, be gracious toward him and humble, and dwell well together with him, and you will deliver him from the passion. (91) You will put an end to the grief of the envious man by toil; for he considers the good that is envied in you to be a calamity, and it is not possible to stop it otherwise, unless you conceal it from him. But if you benefit many and grieve him, which side will you disregard? It is necessary, then, to seek the benefit of the many, yet not to neglect that man either, as far as you are able, nor to be carried along with the wickedness of his passion, so as to defend yourself not against the passion but against the one who suffers it.

But by humility he should regard him as superior to himself and at every time and place and circumstance prefer him. And you can stop your envy if you rejoice in the things in which the one envied by you rejoices, and grieve with him in the things in which he grieves, fulfilling the Apostle's word: Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.

(2) Our mind is midway between two beings, each working its own works: of the one, virtue; of the other, vice—that is, of an angel and a demon. And the mind has authority and power to follow or to resist whichever it wishes. (3) The holy powers urge us toward good things; the natural seeds and the good inclination help us. The assaults of demons are reinforced by the passions and the evil inclination. (4) The pure mind is sometimes taught by God Himself, who comes upon it; sometimes by the holy powers, who suggest good things; sometimes by the nature of things, when contemplated.

(5) The mind that has been deemed worthy of knowledge must keep its thoughts about things free from passion, its contemplations safe, and the state of its prayer undefiled. But it cannot always keep this undefiled because of the emissions of the flesh, being darkened by the plotting of demons.

(134) It is not for all the things for which we grieve that we also become angry; for the things that produce grief outnumber those that produce anger. For example, this was broken, this was lost, so-and-so died; for such things we grieve only; but for the rest we both grieve and become angry, being disposed without philosophy. (135) The mind, when it receives the thoughts of things, is naturally conformed to each thought; but when it contemplates these things spiritually, it is variously transformed to each contemplation; but when it comes to be in God, it becomes wholly formless and shapeless; for contemplating the One-form, it becomes one-form and wholly light-like.

(136) A soul is perfect when its passible power has inclined wholly toward God.

(137) A mind is perfect which through true faith has known in a super-knowing way the One beyond knowledge, and has beheld the universals of His creatures, and has received from God the comprehensive knowledge of His providence and judgment in them; but I speak as to men.

(138) Time is divided threefold, and faith extends along with all three parts; hope, with one; and love, with two. And faith and hope last until a certain point, but love remains into boundless ages, united beyond bound to the Boundless and ever super-increasing; and therefore love is greater than all.

ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FOUR (a) First, the mind marvels as it contemplates the divine inexperience in all things, and that unattainable and much-desired sea. Second, it is struck with amazement at how, from nothing, he brought the existence of beings into being. But just as there is no limit to his greatness, so also there is no discovering of his understanding.

(b) For how would it not marvel, contemplating that boundless and beyond-amazement sea of goodness? Or how would it not be astonished, considering how and from where both the rational and intellectual substance came to be, and the four elements, from which bodies come, when no matter of their generation pre-existed? And what is that power which, moved into activity, brought these things into being? But the children of the Greeks do not accept this, being ignorant of the almighty goodness and its active and beyond-mind wisdom and knowledge.

(c) God, being Creator from eternity, creates when he wills, by his co-essential Word and Spirit, through boundless goodness. And do not say: For what reason did he create now, being always good? Since I also say to you that the unsearchable wisdom of the infinite essence does not fall under human knowledge. (d) The knowledge of beings that pre-existed from eternity in himself, the Creator, when he willed, he made substantial and brought forth. But it is absurd to doubt concerning the almighty God whether he is able to make something substantial when he wills. (e) Seek the cause for which God created; for it is knowledge. But do not seek the how and why recently; for it does not fall under your mind, because of divine things some are graspable, but some are ungraspable by humans.

An unbridled contemplation would drive one over a precipice, as one of the saints said.

(6) Some say that the created things coexist with God from eternity, which is impossible. For how can things that are in all respects limited coexist from eternity with the one who is in every way infinite? Or how are they properly created things, if they are coeternal with the Creator? But this is the argument of the Greeks, who introduce God as the creator not of substances at all, but only of qualities. But we, having known the almighty God, say that he is the creator not of qualities but of substances that possess qualities. And if this is so, the created things do not coexist with God from eternity.

(7) In one respect the divine nature and the divine things are knowable, and in another respect unknowable: knowable, indeed, by the contemplations that concern it; but unknowable, by what pertains to it in itself.

(8) Do not seek states and aptitudes in the simple and infinite substance of the Holy Trinity, lest you make it composite like created things—a thing absurd and unlawful to conceive concerning God.

(9) Alone simple and uniform and without quality and peaceful and free from faction is the infinite and almighty substance, creative of all things. But all creation is composite, consisting of substance and accident, and always in need of divine providence, since it is not free from change.

(10) Every intellectual and sensible essence, having been brought into being by God, received powers for apprehending existing things: the intellectual essence received thoughts, and the sensible essence received sensations.

(11) God is only participated in, while creation both participates and imparts; and it participates in being and in well-being, but imparts well-being only. Yet the bodily essence does so in one way, and the incorporeal essence in another.

(12) The incorporeal essence imparts well-being both by speaking and by acting and by being contemplated; the bodily essence, only by being contemplated. (13) The ever to be or not to be of the rational and intellectual essence lies in the will of the one who created all things good; but whether these things are good or evil according to choice lies in the will of those who have come to be. (14) Evil is not contemplated in the essence of things that have come to be, but in the mistaken and irrational movement.

(15) The soul moves rationally when its desiring part has been made firm by self-control, its spirited part holds fast to love, turning away from hatred, and its reasoning part converses with God through prayer and spiritual contemplation.

(15) He does not yet have perfect love, nor knowledge of divine providence in its depth, who in a time of trial does not patiently endure the painful things that befall him, but cuts himself off from love for his spiritual brethren. (16) The goal of divine providence is to unite, through right faith and spiritual love, those who have been torn apart in various ways by evil—since it was for this that the Savior suffered, that he might gather into one the scattered children of God. Therefore, whoever does not endure troublesome things, nor bear painful things, nor withstand toilsome things, walks outside divine love and the goal of providence. (17) If love is patient and kind, how does the one who loses heart at the painful things that befall him, and for this reason grows wicked toward those who have grieved him and cuts himself off from love toward them, not fall short of the goal of divine providence?

(18) Take heed to yourself, lest the evil that separates you from your brother be found not in your brother but in you; and hasten to be reconciled with him, so that you do not fall short of the commandment of love.

(20) Do not despise the commandment of love, for through it you will be a son of God; by transgressing it, you will be found a son of Gehenna. (21) These are the things that separate from love of friends: envying or being envied, harming or being harmed, dishonoring or being dishonored, and thoughts arising from suspicion. So consider whether you have ever done or suffered any of these things, and for that reason are separated from love of your friend.

(22) A trial has come to you from your brother, and the grief has led you to hatred. Do not be conquered by hatred, but conquer hatred in love. You will conquer it in this way: by praying genuinely to God for him, by accepting his defense, or even yourself healing him through it, and by reckoning yourself the cause of the trial, and by being patient until the cloud passes. (23) He is patient who awaits the end of the trial and waits for the boast of endurance.

(24) A patient man is great in understanding, because he refers all that happens to the end, and waiting for that, he endures painful things. And the end is eternal life, according to the divine Apostle: and this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (25) Do not be quick to cast off spiritual love, for no other way of salvation has been left among men. (26) Do not judge the brother who was spiritual and virtuous yesterday to be base and wicked because of the hatred that arises in you today through the malice of the evil one.

But through long-suffering love, reckoning yesterday's good things, cast out today's hatred from your soul. (27) Do not revile today as worthless and wicked the one whom you praised yesterday as good and commended as virtuous, making your censure of your brother an excuse for the wicked hatred within you because of your own change from love to hatred; but persist in the same praises, even if you are still overcome by grief, and you will easily return to the same saving love. (28) Do not adulterate your brother's customary praise in the company of the other brothers because of the hidden grief against him that still exists in you, secretly mingling censure with your words; but use pure praise in his company and pray genuinely for him as for yourself, and you will quickly be delivered from destructive hatred. (29) Do not say, "I do not hate my brother," while turning away from the remembrance of him; but hear Moses saying: Do not hate your brother in your mind; you shall surely reprove your brother, and you shall not incur sin because of him. (30) And even if your brother, perhaps being tempted, persists in speaking evil of you, do not be carried away from your loving disposition, enduring the same wicked demon troubling you in your mind. You will not be carried away from it if, when reviled, you bless; when slandered, you speak well; when plotted against, you wish him well. This is the way of philosophy according to Christ, and the one who does not walk this way does not dwell together with him.

(31) Do not regard those who bring you words that cause you grief as well-disposed toward you—words that work in you hatred toward your brother, even if they seem to speak the truth; but turn away from such people as from deadly serpents, so that you may both check them from speaking evil and free your own soul from wickedness. (32) Do not wound your brother with words spoken in riddles, lest, receiving the like in return from him, you drive out the disposition of love from both of you; but go with loving frankness and reprove him, so that by resolving the causes of the grief you may free both of you from turmoil and grief.

(33) Examine your conscience with all exactness, lest perhaps your brother has not been reconciled through your fault; and do not deceive it, since it knows your hidden things and accuses you in the time of your departure, and in the time of prayer becomes a stumbling block to you.

(34) In the time of peace, do not remember the things said by your brother in the time of grief, whether the painful words were spoken to your face or you heard afterward that they were said to another about you; lest, by entertaining thoughts of remembrance of wrongs, you return to deadly hatred of your brother. (35) A rational soul that nourishes hatred toward a man cannot be at peace with God, the giver of the commandments. For, he says, if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses. But if that one does not wish to be at peace, do you at least keep yourself from hatred, praying genuinely for him and not speaking evil of him to anyone.

(36) The ineffable peace of the holy angels is held fast by these two dispositions: love toward God and love toward one another; and likewise that of all the saints from the beginning of the ages. Most excellently, then, has our Savior said that in these two commandments the whole law and the prophets hang.

(37) Do not be self-pleasing, and you will not be a hater of your brother; and do not be a lover of yourself, and you will be a lover of God.

(38) If you have chosen to live together with spiritual brothers, renounce your own wills from the door; for in no other way will you be able to be at peace either with God or with those who live with you.

(39) The one who has been able to acquire perfect love and has ordered his whole life toward it—this one says "Lord Jesus" in the Holy Spirit; and from the opposite, the opposite is clearly the case.

(40) Love toward God always loves to wing the mind toward divine converse; and love toward one's neighbor always prepares one to think good things about him. (41) It belongs to one who still loves empty glory or is attached to some of the material things to be grieved at people because of transient things, or to bear grudges against them, or to have hatred toward them, or to be enslaved to shameful thoughts; but these things are wholly foreign to a God-loving soul.

(42) When you have said or done nothing shameful in thought, and when you do not hold a grudge against the one who has harmed or slandered you, and when in the time of prayer you always keep your intellect free of matter and form, then know that you have reached the measure of dispassion and perfect love. (43) It is no small struggle to be delivered from vainglory; but one is delivered through the hidden practice of the virtues and more frequent prayer. And the sign of deliverance is no longer holding a grudge against the one who has slandered you or is slandering you. (44) If you wish to be just, assign to each of the parts within you what is according to its worth—I mean the soul and the body. To the rational part of the soul, give readings and spiritual contemplations and prayer; to the spirited part, spiritual love, which is opposed to hatred; to the desiring part, chastity and self-control; and to the flesh, nourishment and clothing, the only things most necessary. (45) The intellect acts according to nature when it has the passions subjected, contemplates the principles of beings, and lives toward God. (46) Just as health and disease are considered in relation to the body of a living creature, and light and darkness in relation to the eye, so virtue and vice are considered in relation to the soul, and knowledge and ignorance in relation to the intellect.

(47) In these three things the Christian philosophizes: in the commandments, in the doctrines, and in the faith. And the commandments separate the intellect from the passions; the doctrines lead it into the knowledge of beings; and the faith, into the contemplation of the Holy Trinity.

(48) Some of those who struggle repel only the passionate thoughts; others cut off the passions themselves. And one repels, for instance, by psalmody or prayer or elevation or some other local distraction; but he cuts off the passions by despising those things toward which the passions are held. (49) The things toward which we hold the passions are these: a woman, money, glory, and the like. And one can despise a woman when, after withdrawal, he properly withers the body through self-control; and money, when he persuades his reason to follow self-sufficiency in all things; and glory, when he loves the hidden working of the virtues, which is seen by God alone; and likewise in the case of the others. But the one who despises these never comes to hatred of anyone. (50) The one who has renounced things—a woman, money, and the like—has made the outer man a monk, but not yet the inner man. But the one who has renounced the passionate thoughts of these things has made the inner man, that is, the intellect. And the one

One can easily make the outer man a monk, if only he wills it; but it is no small struggle to make the inner man a monk.

(51) Who, then, in this generation is the one who has been wholly freed from passionate thoughts and deemed worthy of pure and immaterial prayer, which is the sign of the inner monk?

(52) Many passions lie hidden in our souls, but they are exposed when circumstances bring them to light.

(53) A person can be free from being troubled by the passions in the absence of circumstances, having attained a partial impassibility; but if circumstances appear, the passions immediately distract the intellect.

(54) Do not think you have perfect impassibility when the thing is not present. But when it appears and you remain unmoved toward the thing and toward the memory of it thereafter, then know for yourself that you have reached its boundaries. Nevertheless, do not despise even so, because virtue, when it endures, puts the passions to death, but when neglected, it raises them up again.

(55) The one who loves Christ certainly also imitates him according to his power. For example, Christ did not cease benefiting men, and though he was ungratefully treated and blasphemed, he was long-suffering; and being struck by them and killed, he endured, reckoning evil to no one at all. And these three are the works of love toward neighbor, without which the one who says he loves Christ or that he himself will attain his kingdom deceives himself: For not the one who says to me, says he, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father; and again: The one who loves me will keep my commandments; and the rest.

(56) The whole aim of the Savior's commandments is to free the mind from incontinence and hatred and to lead it into love of himself and of neighbor, from which is born the light of holy knowledge that is according to activity. (57) Having been deemed worthy of partial knowledge from God, do not neglect love and self-control; for these, cleansing the passionate part of the soul, always keep ready for you the road to knowledge. (58) The road to knowledge is dispassion and humility, without which no one will see the Lord.

(59) Since knowledge puffs up, but love builds up, join love to knowledge, and you will be without pride and a spiritual builder, building up both yourself and all who draw near to you.

(60) Hence love builds up, since it neither envies nor is embittered against those who envy nor publicizes what is envied in a showy manner nor reckons that it has already attained, and of things it does not know it confesses its ignorance without shame; thus it renders the mind free from pride and always prepares it to advance in knowledge.

(61) Presumption and envy naturally tend to follow knowledge, especially in its beginnings. Presumption is from within only; envy is both from within and from without—from within, toward those who possess knowledge; from without, from those who possess it. Love, then, overturns all three: presumption, because it is not puffed up; envy from within, because it does not envy; envy from without, because it is patient and kind. Therefore one who possesses knowledge must also take love to himself, so that he may keep his mind unwounded in everything.

(62) One who has been deemed worthy of the gift of knowledge but holds grief or resentment or hatred toward a person is like a man who pierces his own eyes with thorns and thistles. Therefore knowledge necessarily needs love.

(63) Do not devote your whole leisure to the flesh, but assign to it the practice that is within its power, and turn your whole mind to things within. For bodily exercise is profitable for a little while, but godliness is profitable for all things, and so on.

(64) One who continually makes his dwelling among inner things is self-controlled, long-suffering, kind, and humble-minded; not only that, but he also contemplates and theologizes and prays; and this is what the Apostle says: Walk in the Spirit, and the rest.

(65) One who does not know how to walk the spiritual path takes no thought for passionate thoughts, but keeps his whole leisure occupied with the flesh, and either gluttonizes and is licentious, and is grieved and grows angry and holds grudges, and from this darkens his mind, or he uses asceticism without measure and muddies his understanding. (66) Scripture abolishes none of the things given by God for our use, but it punishes excess and corrects irrationality. For example, it does not forbid eating, nor begetting children, nor possessing wealth and managing it rightly, but it forbids gluttony, fornication, and the like; nor does it forbid thinking about these things—for this is why they exist—but thinking about them passionately. (67) Some of the things we do according to God are done by commandment; others are not by commandment but, as one might say, by voluntary offering. For example, by commandment: to love God and neighbor, to love enemies, not to commit adultery, not to murder, and the rest—things which, if we transgress them, we are condemned. Not by commandment: virginity, celibacy, poverty, withdrawal, and the like; these have the status of gifts, so that if through weakness we are unable to fulfill some of the commandments, we may propitiate our good Master through the gifts.

(65) One who honors celibacy or virginity must necessarily have his waist girded and his lamp burning—the waist through self-control, the lamp through prayer and contemplation and spiritual love. (69) Some of the brethren think that they are outside the gifts of the Holy Spirit; for they do not know, through their negligence in the working of the commandments, that one who has undefiled faith in Christ has all the divine gifts together in himself. For since, through sloth, we are far from the love of him that works in us, which love shows us the divine treasures within us, we reasonably think ourselves outside the divine gifts.

(70) If Christ dwells in our hearts through faith, according to the divine Apostle, and all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in him, then all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in our hearts; and they are made manifest to the heart in proportion to each one's purification through the commandments.

(14.338 (71)) This is the treasure hidden in the field of your heart, which you have not yet found because of your idleness; for if you had found it, you would surely have sold everything and acquired this field. But now, leaving the field, you busy yourself with the things around the field, in which nothing else is found but thorns and thistles. (72) For this reason the Savior says: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God; since He Himself is hidden in the heart of those who believe in Him. But then they will see Him and the treasures in Him, when they purify themselves through love and self-control, and all the more the more they intensify their purification.

(73) For this reason He says again: Sell your possessions and give alms, and behold, all things will be clean to you; as those who no longer occupy themselves with the affairs of the body, but hasten to purify the mind from hatred and incontinence—which the Lord calls the heart. For these things, defiling the mind, do not allow it to see the Lord who dwells in it through the grace of holy Baptism. (74) Scripture calls the virtues ways; and love is established as greater than all the virtues. For this reason the Apostle said: I show you still a more excellent way; as one that persuades us to despise material things and to prefer nothing temporal to eternal things.

(15) The love of God resists desire; for it persuades the mind to abstain from pleasures. And the love of neighbor resists anger; for it makes one despise glory and money. And these are the two denarii that the Savior gave to the innkeeper, so that he might take care of you. But do not be found ungrateful by consorting with the robbers, lest you be struck again and found no longer half-dead, but dead.

(16) Purify your mind from anger and resentment and shameful thoughts, and then you will be able to know the indwelling of Christ. (17) Who enlightened you into the faith of the holy and worshipful and consubstantial Trinity? Or who made known to you the incarnate economy of the one of the holy Trinity? And who taught you the doctrines concerning incorporeal beings, or those concerning the generation and consummation of the visible world, or concerning the resurrection from the dead and eternal life, or concerning the glory of the kingdom of heaven and the fearful judgment? Was it not the grace of Christ that dwells in you, which is the pledge of the Holy Spirit? What is greater than this grace, or what is better than this wisdom and knowledge? Or what is higher than these promises? But if we are idle and negligent and do not purify ourselves from the passions that defile us and blind our mind, so as to be able to see the doctrines concerning these things more clearly than the sun, let us blame ourselves and not deny the indwelling of grace.

(68) God, who promised you eternal goods and gave you the pledge of the Spirit in your heart, commanded you to take care of your life, so that the inner man, freed from the passions, may begin from here the enjoyment of goods.

(69) Having been deemed worthy of divine and lofty contemplations, take great care of love and self-control, so that, keeping the passionate part of your soul undisturbed, you may have the light of your soul unceasing. (80) Bridle the irascible part of your soul with love, wither its desiring part with self-control, and give wings to its rational part with prayer; and the light of the mind is never darkened.

(81) These are the things that dissolve love: for example, dishonor, loss, slander either against faith or against livelihood, beatings, blows, and the like; and these things either happening to oneself or to one of one's own, or to relatives or friends. Therefore, whoever dissolves love for the sake of any of these has not yet known what is the goal of Christ's commandments. (82) Strive as much as you can to love every human being; but if you are not yet able to do this, at least hate no one. But you cannot do even this unless you despise the things of the world.

(83) A certain person blasphemed; do not hate that person, but hate the blasphemy and the demon who prepared him to blaspheme. For if you hate the one who blasphemed, you have hated a human being and transgressed the commandment, and what that man did with his word, you do with your deed. But if you keep the commandment, show the works of love, and if you are able, help, so that you may free him from the evil. (84) Christ does not want you to have hatred toward a human being, or grief, or anger, or resentment at all, in any way or for the sake of any temporal thing; and the four Gospels cry this out in every way. (85) Many of us are those who speak, but few are those who act; yet no one ought to falsify the word of God because of his own negligence, but rather to confess his own weakness and not conceal the truth of God, so that we may not become liable along with the transgression of the commandments and the misinterpretation of God.

(86) Love and self-control free the soul from the passions; reading and contemplation release the mind from ignorance; and the state of prayer presents it to God himself.

(87) When the demons see us despising the things of the world, then, so that we may not hate human beings on account of them and fall away from love, they stir up slanders against us, so that, unable to bear the grief, we may hate those who slandered us.

(88) There is no pain of the soul heavier than slander, whether one is slandered in regard to faith or in regard to one's manner of life; and no one is able to despise it except the one who looks to God alone, like Susanna—to the only one who is able to rescue from necessities, as he did her also, and to fully convince human beings, as he did concerning her also, and to comfort the soul with hope. (89) To the extent that you pray from your soul for the one who slandered you, to that same extent God also fully convinces those who were scandalized.

(90) Good by nature, God alone; and good by choice, the one who imitates God alone; for his aim is, with the one who is good by nature, to join the wicked to himself, so that they may become good. For this reason, when reviled by them he blesses, when persecuted he endures, when blasphemed he exhorts, when being killed he prays exceedingly; he does everything so that he may not fall away from the aim of love, which is our God himself. (91) The commandments of the Lord teach us to use the intermediate things reasonably; and the reasonable use of intermediate things purifies the state of the soul; and the pure state gives birth to discernment; and discernment gives birth to dispassion, from which perfect love is born.

(2) He does not yet possess dispassion who, on account of the occurrence of a trial, is unable to overlook the fault of a friend, whether it be real or merely supposed to be. For the passions lying within the soul, when stirred up, blind the mind and do not allow it to look clearly into the rays of truth or to distinguish the better from the worse. Such a person, then, has not acquired perfect love either, the love that casts out the fear of judgment. (3) There is no exchange for a faithful friend, since he reckons the misfortunes of his friend as his own and suffers together with him, enduring hardship even to death. (4) Many are the friends, but in a time of prosperity; in a time of trial, however, you will scarcely find even one.

(5) Every human being must be loved from the soul; but in God alone must hope be placed, and he must be served with all one's strength. For as long as he himself preserves us, all friends attend to us and all enemies are powerless against us; but when he himself abandons us, all friends turn away from us and all enemies prevail against us. (6) There are four general modes of abandonment: the economic, as in the case of the Lord, so that through the seeming abandonment those

...that those who have been abandoned may be saved; another for testing, as in the case of Job and Joseph, so that the one might be shown forth as a pillar of courage and the other of chastity; another for the Father's discipline, as in the case of the Apostle, so that being humble-minded he might preserve the abundance of grace; and another by way of turning away, as in the case of the Jews, so that being chastised they might be bent toward repentance. And all these ways are salvific and full of the divine goodness and wisdom.

(5) Only those who are exact keepers of the commandments and genuine initiates of the divine judgments do not abandon as friends those who are being tested by God's permission. But those who despise the commandments and are uninitiated in the divine judgments, when a friend is prospering, enjoy it together with him; but when he is tested and suffers hardship, they abandon him; and there are times when they even stand with his adversaries. (6) The friends of Christ love all genuinely, but are not loved by all; while the friends of the world neither love all nor are loved by all. And the friends of Christ preserve the continuity of love until the end; but the friends of the world do so only until they stumble against one another over the things of the world.

(157) A faithful friend is a strong shelter, since in prosperity he is a good counselor to his friend and a kindred-spirited co-worker, and in adversity a most genuine helper and a most compassionate champion.

(158) Many have said many things about love, but if you seek it, you will find it in the disciples of Christ alone, since they alone possessed the true love that is the teacher of love, concerning which they said: If I have prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Therefore the one who has acquired love has acquired God himself, since God is love.

To him be the glory forever. Amen.

Ascetic Discourse (14_354) by question and answer.

1 (a). A brother asked the Elder, saying: "I beg you, Father, tell me, what was the purpose of the Lord's becoming man?" And the Elder answered and said:

"I am amazed at you, brother, that hearing the Symbol of the faith every day, you ask me about this. Nevertheless I tell you that the purpose of the Lord's becoming man was our salvation.

And the brother said:

"How do you mean this, Father?" And the elder answered:

The text comes from the Patrologia, in contrast with the text of the editions "TO BYZANTION" of the series "GREGORIOS O PALAMAS" *

Thessaloniki 1992, PHILOKALIA OF THE NEPTIC AND ASCETIC FATHERS, volume 14.

"For since man, having been made by God from the beginning and placed in paradise, transgressed the commandment and fell under corruption and death; then, being guided by the manifold providence of God in every generation and generation, he persisted advancing toward the worse, led by the manifold passions of the flesh to despair of life because of this, the only-begotten Son of God, the pre-eternal Word who is from (14__356 God the Father, 'the fountain of life' and of immortality, shone forth upon us who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, having become flesh of the Holy Spirit and the holy Virgin, and showed us a way of life of God-like 'life'; and having given holy commandments, and promised the kingdom of heaven to those who live according to them, and threatened eternal punishment to those who transgress them; and having suffered the saving passion, and risen from the dead, he granted 'us' the hope of the resurrection and of 'eternal life,' having dissolved the condemnation of the ancestral sin through obedience, and having abolished the power of death by death; so that, 'just as in Adam all die, so in him all shall be made alive.'

and having ascended into the heavens and sat at the right hand of the Father, he sent down the Holy Spirit as a pledge 'of life,' and for the illumination and sanctification 'of' our 'souls,' and as a help to those who struggle for their own salvation to keep his commandments. This was the purpose of the Lord's becoming man, so to speak briefly." (2) And the brother said:

"What commandments, then, ought I to perform, Father, that through them I may be saved? I would wish to hear briefly."

And the elder answered:

"The Lord himself said after the resurrection to the apostles: 'Go, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.' So then, all that he commanded must be observed by every man who has been baptized in the name of the life-giving and God-ruling Trinity. For this reason the Lord joined the keeping of all the commandments to right faith, knowing that it is impossible for one commandment, separated from the other, to save a man. Therefore David also, having right faith, said to God: 'I was upright toward all your commandments; I hated every unjust way.' For against every unjust way, all the commandments have been given to us by the Lord; and if one is omitted, it certainly brings in the way of wickedness that is opposed to it." (3) And the brother said:

And who can, Father, keep all the commandments, being so many? The Elder said:

"He who imitates the Lord and follows in his footsteps." And the Brother said:

"And who can imitate the Lord? For the Lord was God, even though he became man; but I am a sinful man, enslaved to countless passions. How then can I imitate the Lord?" And the Elder answered:

"No one who is enslaved to the matter of the world can imitate the Lord; but those who are able to say, 'Behold, we have left all things and followed you,' these receive power both to imitate him and to accomplish all his commandments." And the Brother said:

"What power?" The Elder answered:

"Hear him saying: 'Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means harm you.'

4 (d). Having received this power and authority, Paul said: 'Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ.' And again: 'There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit.' And again: 'Those who are of Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.' And again: 'The world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.' (e). Prophesying concerning this authority and help, David said: 'He who dwells in the help of the Most High shall abide in the shelter of the God of heaven. He shall say to the Lord: You are my helper and my refuge, my God, and I will hope in him.' And after a little:

You will tread upon the asp and the basilisk, and you will trample the lion and the dragon; for he will command his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways." But those who are attached to the flesh and love the material things of the world—hear what they hear from him: "He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me." And shortly after: "And he who does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me." And, "Whoever does not renounce all that he possesses cannot be my disciple." Therefore, the one who wishes to become his disciple, and to be found worthy of him and to receive power from him against the spirits of wickedness, separates himself from every fleshly attachment, and strips himself of every material affection, and thus struggles against the invisible enemies on behalf of his commandments, just as the Lord himself gave himself as a model for us, both being tempted in the wilderness by their leader, and coming into the inhabited world by those who are energized by him. (6) And the Brother said:

But there are many commandments of the Lord, Father, and who is able to keep them all in mind, so as to strive for them all? Especially I, who am slow of understanding? I would wish to hear a brief word, so that by holding to it I might be saved through it." And the Elder answered:

"Even if they are many, Brother, they are summed up in one word: 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.' And the one who strives to hold to this word fulfills all the commandments together. But no one is able, unless he has separated himself, as has been said, from attachment to material things, to love God or his neighbor genuinely; since it is impossible to be devoted to matter and at the same time to love God. And this is what the Lord says: 'No one can serve two masters'; and, 'No one can serve God and mammon.' For to the extent that our mind clings to the things of the world, to that extent it is enslaved to them and, transgressing, despises the commandment of God." (7) And the Brother said:

Of what things do you speak, Father?" And the Elder answered:

"Of foods, of money, of possessions, of reputation, of relatives, and the like." And the Brother said:

"Tell me, Father, did not God create these things and give them to men for their use? And how does he command that they not cling to them?" And the Elder answered:

"It is clear that God created them and gave them to men for their use. And all things that have come to be by God are good, so that using them well we might be pleasing to God. But we, being weak and material in our understanding, have preferred material things to the commandment of love, and clinging to them we fight against men; whereas it is necessary to prefer the love of every man above all things seen, even the body itself—which love is the mark of love toward God, just as the Lord himself shows in the Gospels: 'He who loves me,' he says, 'will keep my commandments.' And what is the commandment which, having kept it, we shall love him? Hear him saying: 'This is my commandment, that you love one another.' Do you see that love of one another establishes love toward God, which is the fulfillment of every commandment of God? For this reason, then, he commands that they not cling to them, but even renounce all that he possesses, if one desires to be a disciple of his." (8) And the Brother said:

Since you have said, Father, that it is necessary to prefer love for every human being above all visible things, even the body itself, how can I love the one who hates me and turns away from me? And if he also envies me and shoots at me with insults, and devises plots and attempts to scheme against me, how can I love him? By nature, Father, this seems impossible to me, since the passion of grief naturally compels one to turn away from the one who has grieved him."

And the Elder answered:

"In the case of reptiles and wild beasts that are led by nature, it is truly impossible not to defend oneself altogether, as far as the one inflicting harm is able; but in the case of those created in the image of God and led by reason, and counted worthy of the knowledge of God and having received the law from him, it is possible not to turn away from those who grieve one and to love those who hate one. Therefore the Lord also, saying, 'Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you' and the rest, commands not things that are impossible but things that are evidently possible, since he would not have punished the transgressor. The Lord himself makes this clear, having shown it to us by his very deeds, and all his disciples, who struggled even to death for love of neighbor and prayed fervently for those who killed them. But since we are lovers of matter and lovers of pleasure, and prefer these things to the commandment, for this reason we cannot love those who hate us; but even those who love us we often turn away from because of these things, being disposed worse than wild beasts and reptiles; and for this reason, being unable to follow in the footsteps of God, we cannot even know his purpose, so as to receive power.

(9) And the brother said:

"Behold, Father, I have left all things—kindred, possessions, luxury, and the glory of the world—and I possess nothing in this life except the body; and I cannot love the brother who hates me and turns away from me, even though I force myself not to repay evil for evil in deed. Tell me, then, what I ought to do, so that I may be able to love him from the heart, or indeed anyone who afflicts and plots against me in any way."

And the elder answered:

"It is impossible for a man to love the one who afflicts him, even if he seems to have renounced the material things of the world, unless he truly knows the Lord's purpose; but if, by the Lord's grace, he is able to know it, and hastens to walk according to it, he can love from the heart the one who hates and afflicts him, just as the Apostles also, having known it, loved."

(10) And the brother said:

"And what was the Lord's purpose? I beg you to tell me, Father." And the elder said:

"If you wish to know the Lord's purpose, listen with understanding. Our Lord Jesus Christ, being God by nature, and having deigned through love for humanity to become man, was born of a woman and came under the law, according to the divine Apostle, so that as a man, having kept the commandment, he might overturn the ancient curse of Adam. Knowing, then, that the whole law and the prophets hang upon the two commandments of the law—"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself"—the Lord hastened from beginning to end to keep these in a manner befitting a man.

But the devil, who from the beginning deceived man and for this reason held the power of death, seeing him at his baptism testified to by the Father and receiving the kindred Holy Spirit as a man from the heavens, and having come into the wilderness to be tempted by him, marshaled his whole war against him, in the hope that he might be able to make him prefer the matter of the world to the love of God. Knowing, then, that these three things are those in which all human affairs are shaken—I mean food, possessions, and glory—through which he always led man down into the pit of destruction, he tempted him in the wilderness in these three things; over which our Lord appearing superior, he commanded the devil to go back.

(11) This, then, is the mark of love toward God, whose commandment he was unable to persuade him to transgress by the things he urged; so thereafter he struggled, working through the lawless Jews, to make him transgress the commandment of love toward neighbor when he came into the world. For this reason, as he taught the ways of life and showed forth the heavenly citizenship in deed, and proclaimed the resurrection of the dead, and promised eternal life and the kingdom of heaven to those who believe, and threatened eternal punishment to the unbelievers, and displayed wondrous divine signs for the confirmation of what was said, and called the crowds to faith, he stirred up the lawless Pharisees and Scribes to various plots against him;

so that, as he thought, being unable to endure the temptations, he might be diverted into hatred of those who plotted against him, and thus the avenger might achieve his aim, by showing him to be a transgressor of the commandment of love toward his neighbor.

12 (12'). But the Lord, being God, knowing his thoughts, did not hate the Pharisees who were acted upon by him—for how could he, being good by nature?—but through his love for them he repelled the one who was working in them; and those who were acted upon, since they were able not to be acted upon but willingly, through sloth, endured the one working in them, he admonished, rebuked, reproached, pitied, and did not cease doing good to them; being blasphemed, he was long-suffering; suffering, he endured; he displayed toward them all the works of love. But the one who was working he repelled by his love for mankind toward those who were acted upon—O strange warfare!—showing love instead of hatred, and by his goodness striking the father of evil. For this reason, having endured so many evils from them—or, to speak more truly, for their sake—he struggled in a manner befitting a man, even unto death, for the commandment of love; and having won the perfect victory over the devil, he wove for us the crown of the resurrection, and thus the new Adam renewed the old. And this is what the divine Apostle says: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus," and so on. (13').

This, then, was the Lord's purpose: that as a man he might obey the Father unto death for our sake, keeping the commandment of love, and that he might repel the devil by suffering at his hands, through the Scribes and Pharisees who were energized by him; and thus he conquered by willingly being conquered by the one who hoped to conquer, and he rescued the world from his dominion. In this way Christ "was crucified through weakness"; through which weakness he put death to death and brought to nothing the one who had the power of death. In this way Paul too was weak in himself and boasted "in weaknesses, so that the power of Christ might tabernacle" in him.

14. Having learned the manner of this victory, he said, writing to the Ephesians: "Your struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against the authorities," and the rest. He says to take up the breastplate of righteousness, and the helmet of hope, and the shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit, so that those who wage war against invisible enemies may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. And demonstrating in deed the manner of the struggle, he said: "I therefore so run, as not uncertainly; so I fight, as not beating the air; but I buffet my body and bring it into subjection, lest, having preached to others, I myself should become disqualified." And again: "Until this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked and are buffeted." And again: "In labor and toil; in watchings often, in cold and nakedness, besides the things without." 15.

And this struggle he wrestled against the demons who work pleasures in the flesh, driving them back through the weakness of his own body; but against those who war unto hatred and thereby stir up the more negligent of men against the pious, so that being tempted by them they might hate them and transgress the commandment of love, he again showed us in deeds the manner of victory, saying: "Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat; we have become as the refuse of the world, the offscouring of all things until now." For the demons brought about reviling and blasphemy and persecution for this reason, that they might stir him to hatred of the one reviling and blaspheming and persecuting him, having as their aim the transgression of the commandment of love.

But the Apostle, not ignorant of their designs, blessed those who reviled him, endured those who persecuted him, and entreated those who blasphemed him—that they might depart from the demons who wrought these things and be made near to the good God; and the demons who wrought these things he repelled by this manner of struggle, always conquering evil in good, in imitation of the Savior. And thus, having turned the whole world away from the demons, they made it near to God—he himself and the rest of the Apostles—conquering by defeat those who hoped to conquer. If, then, you also, brother, hold fast to this aim, you too can love those who hate you; but if not, it is otherwise impossible. (16) And the brother said:

Truly, Father, so it is and not otherwise; and for this reason the Lord, being blasphemed and buffeted and suffering the other things which he suffered at the hands of the Jews, endured them, suffering with them as those who were ignorant and deceived; therefore he also said upon the cross: 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do'; but triumphing over the cunning and the deceit of the devil and his rulers upon the cross, for the sake of the commandment of love, as you said, having struggled against them unto death, and having granted us the victory over them and having destroyed the power of death, he bestowed his resurrection unto life upon the whole world. But pray for me, Father, that I may be fully able to know the purpose of the Lord and of his Apostles, and that I may be able to be sober in the times of temptations, and not to be ignorant of the thoughts of the devil and of his demons." (17) And the Elder, answering, said:

"If you always have the meditation of the things previously said, you are able not to be ignorant. But also if you understand that just as you are tempted, so also your brother is tempted, and you forgive the one who is tempted, but you resist the one who tempts, wishing to lead you into hatred of the one who is tempted, not obeying his device. And this is what James, the brother of the Lord, says in the Catholic Epistles: 'Submit to God; but resist the devil, and he will flee from you.'

If, then, as has been said, you keep vigilantly the unceasing meditation on the things previously mentioned, you are able to know the purpose of the Lord and of his Apostles: to love human beings and to suffer with them when they stumble, but to wage unceasing war against the evil demons through love. But if we are slack and negligent and easygoing, and plunge our reason into fleshly pleasures, we fight not the demons but ourselves and our brothers, and we rather serve the demons through these things, fighting against human beings on their behalf.

18. And the Brother said:

"So it is, Father; for from my negligence the demons always take occasion against me. But I beseech you, Father, tell me how I ought to acquire watchfulness."

And the Elder answered:

"Complete freedom from care for earthly things and continual meditation on the divine Scripture bring the soul to the fear of God; and the fear of God brings watchfulness; and then the soul begins to see the demons that war against it through thoughts, and to defend itself; concerning which David said: 'And my eye looked upon my enemies.' To this struggle also Peter, the chief of the Apostles, rousing the disciples, said: 'Be watchful, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour; resist him, steadfast in the faith.' And the Lord also: 'Watch and pray, that you do not enter into temptation.' And Ecclesiastes says: 'If the spirit of the ruler rises up against you, do not leave your place.'

The place of the mind is virtue, and knowledge, and the fear of God. And the wondrous Apostle, striving very soberly and nobly, said: "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but mighty to God for the pulling down of strongholds, casting down reasonings and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to avenge every disobedience." If, then, you also imitate the saints and devote yourself to God with labor, you will be sober. (19.) And the brother said:

"And what ought one to do, Father, in order that the mind may be able to devote itself to God without ceasing?" And the Elder answered:

"It is impossible for the mind to devote itself perfectly to God unless it acquires these three virtues: I mean love, and self-control, and prayer. For love calms the temper, self-control withers desire, and prayer separates the mind from all thoughts and presents it naked to God himself. These three virtues, then, are comprehensive of all the virtues; and without these the mind cannot devote itself to God." (20.) And the brother said:

I ask you, Father, to teach me how love tames the temper." And the Elder answered:

"Since it has the qualities of showing mercy and doing good to one's neighbor, and of being patient with him and enduring the things brought on by him, as we have often said. So then, love, possessing these things, tames the temper of the one who possesses it." And the Brother said:

"Not small are its works; but blessed is the one who is able to acquire it. But I am truly far from it. Nevertheless, I ask you, Father, to tell me what patience is."

21 (21). And the Elder answered:

"To persevere in hardships and to endure evils; and to await the end of the trial, and not to bring out anger as it happens; nor to speak a word in foolishness, nor to suspect or think anything of the things that are not fitting for godliness, just as the Scripture said: 'For a time a patient man will hold fast, and afterward joy will be given to him; for a time he will hide his words, and the lips of many will recount his understanding.'

22 (22'). These, then, are the marks of patience; and not only these, but also to reckon oneself to be the cause of the trial is a property of patience. And perhaps it is also thus: since most of the things that happen to us happen for our instruction, either for the removal of past sins or for the correction of present negligence or for the checking of future sins. Therefore the one who reckons that the trial happened for one of these reasons does not grow indignant when struck, especially when he is conscious of sins in himself; nor does he blame the one through whom the trial comes; for whether through him or through another, he would in any case have had to drink the cup of the divine judgments; but he looks to God, and gives thanks to the one who has forgiven, and blames himself, and accepts the instruction eagerly, as David did in the case of Shimei, and as Job did in the case of his wife. But the foolish man often asks God to have mercy on him, yet when the mercy comes he does not receive it, because it did not come as he wished, but as the physician of souls judged to be beneficial. And for this reason he is fainthearted and troubled, and sometimes he rages in anger against men, and sometimes he blasphemes against God; and indeed he also shows his ingratitude, and does not receive even the rod. (23'). And the Brother said:

You have spoken well, Father; but I beg you to tell me this also: how does self-control wither desire?"

And the Elder answered:

"Because it makes one abstain from all things that do not fulfill a need but produce pleasure; and it makes one partake of nothing except what is necessary for living; nor to pursue what is pleasant but what is beneficial; and to measure foods and drinks by need; and not to allow superfluous moisture in the body; and to preserve only the life of the body, and to keep it undisturbed for the impulse of intercourse. Thus, then, self-control withers desire; but pleasure and the surfeit of foods and drinks inflame the belly, and kindle the appetite toward shameful desire, and drive the whole living being toward unlawful union. Then the eyes are shameless, and the hand unbridled, the tongue speaking charms for the hearing, and the ear admitting vain hearing, and the soul committing adultery in the mind and calling the body forth to the lawless deed." (24) And the Brother said:

Truly, Father, it is so; but I beg you to learn also about prayer, how it separates the mind from all thoughts." And the Elder answered:

"Thoughts are thoughts of things; and of things, some are perceptible and some intelligible. The mind, then, dwelling among them, carries their thoughts about; but the grace of prayer unites the mind to God; and uniting it to God, it separates it from all thoughts. Then the mind, conversing with God nakedly, becomes God-like. And becoming such, it asks of him what is fitting and never fails of its request. For this reason, then, the Apostle commands us to pray without ceasing, so that, uniting the mind continuously to God, we may little by little break away from attachment to material things."

25 (25). And the Brother said:

"And how can the mind pray without ceasing? For when we sing psalms and read and converse and serve, we distract it into many thoughts and contemplations.

And the Elder answered: "Divine Scripture commands nothing that is impossible; since even the Apostle himself both sang and read and served, and prayed without ceasing. For prayer is unceasing when the mind is kept in great reverence and cleaves to God with longing, and always hangs upon hope in him, and trusts in him in all things, both in deeds and in what befalls. Being thus disposed, the Apostle said: 'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, or distress?' and what follows. And shortly after: 'For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels.' And again: 'In all things troubled, yet not distressed; perplexed, yet not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed. Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.'

26. Being thus disposed, then, the Apostle prayed without ceasing; for in all his deeds, as has been said, and in what befell him, he hung upon the hope of God. For this reason all the saints always rejoiced in tribulations, that they might come to a habit of divine love. And for this reason the Apostle said: 'Most gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.' And shortly after: 'When I am weak, then am I strong.' But woe to us wretches, because we have abandoned the way of the holy Fathers, and for this reason we are destitute of every spiritual work.

27. And the brother said:

"Why is it, Father, that I have no compunction?" And the Elder answered:

"Because the fear of God is not before our eyes. Because we have become a dwelling-place of all evils, and for this reason we have despised the fearful punishment of God as a mere thought. For who would not be compunctious on hearing Moses speaking in God's person concerning sinners, saying, 'A fire has been kindled from my wrath; it shall burn unto the lowest Hades. It shall devour the earth and its produce; it shall scorch the foundations of the mountains. I will gather evils upon them, and I will accomplish my arrows against them'? And again: 'I will provoke my sword like lightning, and my hand shall take hold of judgment; and I will render vengeance to my enemies, and I will repay those who hate me.' And Isaiah crying out: 'Who will declare to you that a fire is burning? Who will declare to you the eternal place? Walk in the light of your fire, and in the flame which you have kindled.' And again: 'They shall go forth, and they shall see the limbs of the men who have transgressed against me. For their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched; and they shall be a sight for all flesh.'

And Jeremiah says: "Give glory to the Lord your God before the darkness comes, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains." And again: "Hear, foolish and heartless people: they have eyes, and they do not see; they have ears, and they do not hear. Will you not fear me, says the Lord? Or will you not be reverent before my face? I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting ordinance, and it shall not pass over it." And again: "Your apostasy will discipline you, and your wickedness will reprove you. And know and see that it is bitter for you to have forsaken me, says the Lord. I planted a vine wholly fruitful and wholly true; how have you turned to bitterness, the alien vine?" And again: "I did not sit in the council of those who play; but I was reverent before the face of your hand. I sat alone, because I was filled with bitterness."

And who does not shudder when he hears Ezekiel saying: "I will pour out my wrath upon you, and I will accomplish my fury upon you; and I will judge you in your ways, and I will bring upon you all your abominations; and my eye will not spare, nor will I have mercy; and then you shall know that I am the Lord." And who, hearing Daniel, is not pierced with compunction as he plainly describes the day of the fearful judgment, in the words: "I, Daniel, was watching until thrones were set. And the Ancient of Days sat. His garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool. And his throne was a flame of fire; his wheels were burning fire. A river of fire was drawn forth, proceeding from before him.

A thousand thousands were ministering to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court sat, and the books were opened [clearly the deeds of each one]. And again: "I was watching in a vision of the night, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a Son of Man was coming; and he came to the Ancient of Days; and he was brought before him; and to him was given the rule and the honor and the kingdom. And all peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve him; and his authority is an everlasting authority, and his kingdom an everlasting kingdom. My spirit shuddered, I, Daniel, in my condition, and the visions of my head troubled me." (28) And who, hearing David, does not fear when he says: "Once God spoke; these two things I heard: that power belongs to God, and to you, O Lord, is mercy; for you will repay each one according to his works." And again, when Ecclesiastes says: "The end of the matter, hear the whole: fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is every man; for God will bring every work into judgment, with every overlooked thing, whether good or whether evil." (29) And who, hearing the Apostle say similar things, does not tremble: "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive the things done through the body, whether good or evil." Who then will not lament our unbelief and the blindness of our soul, that hearing all these things we do not repent, and weep bitterly over such great negligence and slackness of ours? Foreseeing this, Jeremiah said:

Cursed is everyone who does the works of the Lord negligently." For if we had care for the salvation of our souls, we would tremble at the word of the Lord, and we would hasten to set straight his commandments, through which we were also being saved. But we, hearing the Lord saying, "Enter through the narrow gate that leads into life," have preferred the broad and spacious one that leads away to destruction. Therefore we hear, when he comes from the heavens to judge the living and the dead: "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." And these things we hear, not as those who have done evil, but as those who have neglected good things and have not loved their neighbor. But if we have also done evil, how

shall we endure that day, being so negligent? Moreover, "You shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not murder," and the rest, were spoken to the ancients through Moses; but the Lord, knowing that for the Christian the keeping of these alone is not sufficient for perfection, said: "Amen, I say to you, that unless your righteousness abounds more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of the heavens." Therefore he legislated, up and down, the sanctification of the soul, for whose sake the body also is sanctified, and sincere love toward all human beings, through which we are also able to acquire love for him; and he gave himself as a model unto death, and his disciples, to us, as has often been said.

What defense, then, shall we have on that day, having such an example and being so negligent? Lamenting us, who have been deemed worthy of such grace and yet are so carelessly disposed—or rather, filled with every evil—Jeremiah said: "Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes, and I will weep for this people day and night?" Concerning us I hear Moses also saying: "And Jacob ate and was filled; and the beloved one kicked back; he grew fat, he grew thick, he grew broad, and he forsook God who made him, and departed from God his Savior." And Micah lamenting and saying: "Woe is me, my soul, for the devout one has perished from the earth, and there is none who sets things right among men. Each one oppresses his neighbor with oppression; they prepare their hands for evil." And the Psalmist likewise speaking about us: "Save me, O Lord, for the holy one has failed; for truths have been diminished from among the sons of men," and the rest. (32) And the Apostle, lamenting us prophetically, said: "There is none who does good, there is not even one. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongues they have deceived. The poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Ruin and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known; there is no fear of God before their eyes." Therefore again, foreseeing the things to come, concerning our present evil conduct he writes to Timothy: "But know this, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, implacable, slanderers, incontinent, savage, haters of good, traitors, reckless, and so on. Therefore woe to us, because we have arrived at the very extremity of evils. For who among us, tell me, is without a share in the evils just mentioned? Was not the prophecy fulfilled in our case? Are we not all gluttons? Are we not all lovers of pleasure? Are we not all mad for matter and lovers of material things? Are we not all irascible? Are we not all prone to rage? Are we not all resentful of wrongs? Are we not all traitors to every virtue? Are we not all abusive? Are we not all haughty? Are we not all vainglorious? Are we not all hypocrites? Are we not all deceitful? Are we not all envious? Are we not all insubordinate? Are we not all given to despondency? Are we not all unstable? Are we not all slack? Are we not all negligent of the Savior's commandments? Are we not all filled with every wickedness? Have we not become, instead of a temple of God, a temple of idols? Have we not become, instead of a dwelling of the Holy Spirit, a lodging-place of evil spirits? Do we not call upon God as Father in a counterfeit way? Have we not become, instead of sons of God, sons of Gehenna? Have we not become worse than the Jews, we who now carry about the great name of Christ? And let no one be indignant upon hearing the truth, since even they, being lawless, said, "We have one Father, God"; but they heard from the Savior, "You are of your father the devil, and you wish to do the desires of your father.

33. How then do we too, being transgressors of his commandments, not hear the same things from him? Since the Apostle also said that those led by the Spirit are sons of God: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God," he says, "these are sons of God." How then can we too, being led by death, be called sons of God? "For the mind of the flesh is death." But those led by the Spirit are evident from the fruits of the Spirit. Let us then consider the fruits of the Spirit: "for the fruit of the Spirit," he says, "is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control." Do we have these in ourselves? But would that we did not have all the opposite things. How then can we be called sons of God, and not rather from the opposite? For what has been begotten from something is like that which begot it. And the Lord also makes this clear, saying: "That which is begotten of the Spirit is spirit." But we have become flesh, desiring against the Spirit, and for this reason we justly hear from him: "My Spirit shall not remain in these men, because they are flesh." How then can we be called Christians, having in ourselves anything at all of Christ? 34. But someone will perhaps say: "I have faith, and faith in him is sufficient for me for salvation." But James speaks in opposition to him, saying: "Even the demons believe, and shudder." And again: "Faith without works is dead in itself; as also works apart from faith.

How then do we too believe in him, or how do we believe him concerning things to come, when we do not believe him concerning things temporary and present, and for this reason are confounded with material things, and live according to the flesh, and wage war against the Spirit? But those who truly believed in Christ and enshrined him wholly within themselves through the commandments spoke thus: "I live, yet no longer I, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Therefore, suffering for him for the salvation of all, as exact imitators of him and genuine keepers of his commandments, they said: "Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being slandered, we entreat," since they heard him saying: "Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you," and the rest; and from their words and deeds Christ, who worked in them, was made manifest. But we, since we act contrary to all his commandments, have for this reason been filled with every uncleanness. And for this reason we have become, instead of a temple of God, a house of trade, and instead of a house of prayer, a cave of robbers, instead of a holy nation, a sinful nation, and instead of a people of God, a people full of sins, instead of a holy seed, an evil seed, and instead of sons of God, lawless sons, since we have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and serve evil spirits through unclean passions, and have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel.

35 (35). For this reason the great Isaiah, lamenting over us, cries out, wishing at the same time to come to the aid of our fall, saying: "Why are you still struck, adding lawlessness? Every head is in pain, and every heart in grief; from feet to head there is no wholeness in it; neither wound, nor bruise, nor festering blow; there is no plaster to apply, nor oil, nor bandages." Then what follows these things? "The daughter of Zion will be left as a booth in a vineyard, and as a watchman's hut in a cucumber field, as a city under siege." The Apostle too, making clear this desolation of our soul, said: "And just as they did not see fit to have God in their knowledge, God handed them over to a debased mind, to do things that are not fitting; filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, malice, greed; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity; whisperers, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, implacable, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous decree of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do them but also approve of those who practice them." For this reason God handed them over to dishonorable passions, so that their bodies were dishonored among themselves. And what follows these things? "The wrath of God," he says, "is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men," and the rest.

36 (lst'). The Lord also, revealing this desolation of the soul, said: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to her; how often I wished to gather your children, as a bird gathers her nestlings under her wings, and you would not? Behold, your house is left to you desolate." And again Isaiah, seeing us so-called monks performing only bodily services while despising the spiritual, and for this reason being blinded, said: "Hear the word of the Lord, rulers of Sodom; attend to the law of God, people of Gomorrah. What is the multitude of your sacrifices to me? I am full of the burnt offerings of rams; and the fat of lambs, and the blood of bulls and goats I do not desire. For who has sought these things from your hands? You shall not continue to tread my court. If you bring fine flour, it is vain; incense is an abomination to me. Your new moons and sabbaths and the great day I cannot endure. My soul hates your fasting and idleness and your feasts. You have become to me a fullness; I will no longer bear them. When you stretch out your hands to me, I will turn my eyes away from you. And if you multiply your supplication, I will not hear you." Why? "For your hands," he says, "are full of blood"; because "he who hates his brother is a murderer." For this reason every ascetic practice that does not have love is made alien to God.

37 (lz'). Therefore, exposing our hypocrisy from afar, he said: "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, and in vain do they worship me," and so on. And the very things our Lord said, pronouncing woes upon the Pharisees, I understand as spoken about us, the hypocrites of today, who have been deemed worthy of such great grace and are in a worse state than they. Or do we not also bind heavy and hard-to-bear burdens and lay them on people's shoulders, while with our finger we are unwilling to move them? Or do we not also do all our works to be seen by people? Or do we not also love "the chief couch at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and to be called by people 'Rabbi, Rabbi'"? And those who do not readily assign these to us, do we not fight them to the death? Or have we not also taken away the key of knowledge, and do we not shut "the kingdom of heaven before people," neither entering ourselves nor allowing them to enter? Or do we not also traverse "sea and dry land to make one proselyte, and when he becomes one" we make him "a son of Gehenna twice as much as ourselves"? Or are we not also "blind guides, straining out the gnat and swallowing the camel"? Or do we not also cleanse "the outside of the cup and the dish," while "the inside" of us is full of "robbery and greed," or rather "intemperance"? Or do we not also tithe mint and dill and every herb, and pass by the judgment and the love of God?

Or are we not also like the hidden tombs, "outwardly appearing righteous to men, but inwardly full of hypocrisy and lawlessness and all uncleanness"? Or do we not also build "the tombs" of the Martyrs, and adorn the "memorials" of the Apostles, and are we not like those who killed them? Who then will not weep for us who are in such a state? Who will not lament this great captivity of ours? For this reason we, "the precious" sons of God, were reckoned as "earthen vessels." For this reason the "gold" was dimmed; the "good" silver was changed. For this reason we, the Nazarenes of Zion, who shone "brighter than snow," have become like Ethiopians; we who were made white "whiter than milk" have been darkened more than blackness. For this reason "our appearance has grown darker than soot." We who were nursed "on scarlet" have been clothed in "dung"; and our lawlessness has been magnified beyond the "lawlessnesses of Sodom." For this reason we, "the sons of the day and" of the "light, have become sons of night and darkness." For this reason we, sons of the kingdom, have become sons of Gehenna. For this reason we, "sons of the Most High, like men" die, "and like one of the rulers" we fall. For this reason we were delivered into "the hands of lawless enemies"—I mean the savage demons—"and to an unjust king and the most wicked beyond all the earth," that is, to their ruler, "because we have sinned and acted lawlessly," transgressing the commandments of the Lord our God, and trampling underfoot the Son of God and counting the blood of the covenant as common.

But do not hand us over completely for your name's sake, Lord, and do not scatter your covenant; and do not take your mercy away from us, for the sake of your compassions, our Father who is in the heavens, and for the sake of the tender mercies of your only-begotten Son, and for the sake of the mercy of your Holy Spirit. Do not remember our ancient lawless deeds, but let your compassions quickly go before us, for we have become very poor. Help us, O God our Savior. For the sake of the glory of your name, Lord, deliver us, and be propitiated for our sins for the sake of your name, Lord, remembering our firstfruits, which your only-begotten Son, having received from us through his love for humanity, holds on our behalf in the heavens, so that he may grant us the sure hope of salvation; and let us not become worse through despair, for the sake of his precious blood, which he poured out for the life of the world; for the sake of his holy Apostles and Martyrs, who poured out their own blood for his name; for the sake of the holy Prophets and Fathers and Patriarchs, who struggled to be well-pleasing to your holy name.

Do not overlook our supplication, Lord, nor abandon us utterly. For we have not trusted in our own righteousnesses, but in your mercy, through which you preserve our race. We entreat and beseech your goodness, that the mystery dispensed for us by your only-begotten Son for salvation may not become a judgment for us; and do not cast us away from your face. Do not loathe our unworthiness, but have mercy on us according to your great mercy, and according to the multitude of your compassions pass over our sins, so that having come without condemnation before your holy glory we may be deemed worthy of the shelter of your only-begotten Son, and may not become, like wicked servants, rejected because of our sins.

Yes, Master, almighty Lord, hear our supplication, for apart from you we know no other. We name your name; for you are the one who works all things in all, and we all seek the help that comes from you. Look down then from heaven, Lord, and see from the house of your holy glory. Where is your zeal and your strength? Where is the multitude of your mercy and your compassions, that you have borne with our fall? For you are our Father, though Abraham did not know us, and Israel did not acknowledge us; but you, Lord, are our Father, deliver us, for your holy name has been upon us from the beginning, and that of your only-begotten Son, and of your Holy Spirit. Why have you led us astray, Lord, from your way? Do not discipline

us with the rod of your judgments." "Why have you hardened our hearts, so that we do not fear you?" Have you abandoned us to the autonomy of error? Turn back, Lord, your servants, for the sake of your holy Church, for the sake of all your saints from ages past, so that "we may inherit a little of your holy mountain. Our adversaries have trampled your sanctuary; we have become as we were at the beginning, when you did not rule over us, and your name was not called upon us."

38 (38). "If you open the heaven, trembling will seize the mountains at your presence, and they will melt like wax before the fire; and fire will burn up the adversaries; and your name will be fearful to the adversaries. When you do glorious things, trembling will seize the mountains at your presence. From of old we have not heard, nor have our eyes seen a God besides you. And your works, which you will do for those who await mercy; for he will meet those who do righteousness, and they will remember your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned." Or rather, we sinned, and you were angry.

Therefore we went astray, and we all became as unclean; all our righteousness is like a polluted rag; and we have been swept away like leaves because of our lawless deeds; thus the wind will carry us away, and there is no one who calls upon your name, and no one who remembers to take hold of you. And you turned your face away from us, and delivered us over because of our sins. And now, Lord, you are our Father; but we are clay, all of us the work of your hands. Do not be exceedingly angry with us, and do not remember our sins in the time of visitation. And now look, for we are all your people; the city of your holy one, Zion, has become desolate; Jerusalem has become like a wilderness. The house of our sanctuary has become a curse, and the glory which our fathers blessed has been burned with fire, and all our glorious things have fallen. And in all these things you endured, Lord, and were silent, and you humbled us exceedingly. These things happened figuratively to your people of old, but now they have been truly fulfilled in us: "and we have become a reproach to our neighbors, the demons, a mockery and a derision to those around us." But look down from heaven, and see, and save us for the sake of your holy name; and make known to us the schemes of our adversaries; and deliver us from their devices, and do not withdraw your help from us, for we are not sufficient to conquer those who oppose us; but you are able to save from all our enemies.

Save us, Lord, from the hardships of this world, according to your goodness, so that having crossed the sea of this life with a pure conscience, and having stood blameless and undefiled before your fearful judgment seat, we may be deemed worthy of eternal life. (40) Having heard all these things, the Brother, deeply compuncted, said to the Elder with tears: "From what I see, Father, no hope of salvation is left to me. For my lawless deeds have risen above my head; but I beg you, tell me what I ought to do."

And the Elder answered and said:

"To be saved is impossible with men, but with God all things are possible," as the Lord himself said. "Let us come before his face with confession; let us worship and fall down, and weep before the Lord who made us, for he is our God"; and let us hear him saying through the voice of Isaiah, that "when you turn away and groan, then you will be saved." And again: "Is the hand of the Lord not strong to save? Or has he made his ear heavy so as not to hear? But our sins have separated between us and God; and because of our sins he has turned away his face, so as not to have mercy.

Therefore he says: "Wash yourselves, become clean; remove the wickednesses from your souls from before my eyes; cease from your wickednesses; learn to do good, seek judgment, rescue the wronged, judge for the orphan and justify the widow. And come, and let us reason together, says the Lord: and if your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow; and if they be as crimson, I will make them white as wool." And, "If you are willing and hear me, you shall eat the good things of the earth. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things." And again through Joel: "Turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting and with weeping and with lamentation; rend your hearts, and not your garments. For the Lord is merciful and compassionate, and repents of evils." And to Ezekiel: "Son of man, say to the house of Israel: Thus you have spoken, saying, 'Our wanderings and our lawless deeds are upon us, and in them we are consumed; and how shall we live?' Say to them, 'As I live, says the Lord, I do not desire the death of the ungodly, so as to turn him from his way and that he should live; by turning, turn from your ways; and why do you die, house of Israel?'" And the third of Kingdoms, making manifest the exceeding goodness of God, says thus. When Achaab heard, being in the vineyard of Nabouthai, which he inherited by killing him through Jezabel, the words of Elias saying: "Thus says the Lord: You have murdered and inherited; and in the place where the dogs licked the blood of Nabouthai, there the dogs shall lick your blood.

And the dogs will devour Jezebel in the wall of Israel. And when Ahab heard these words, he tore his garments, and put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted, and slept in sackcloth. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying: "See that Ahab has been put to shame before my face. I will not bring evil in his days." And David says: "I acknowledged my lawlessness, and I did not hide my sin. I said, 'I will confess my lawlessness against myself to the Lord,' and you forgave the impiety of my heart. For this every holy one will pray to you in a fitting time; and in a flood of many waters they will not come near him." And in the Gospel the Lord says: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near." And when Peter asked, "How many times a day, if my brother sins against me, shall I forgive him? Up to seven times?" he who is good by nature and incomparable in kindness answers him: "I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven." What is equal to this goodness? What is comparable to this love of humanity?

41. Having therefore come to know the fear of the Lord, and his goodness and love for mankind, from both the Old and the New Testament, let us turn back with our whole heart; and why are we perishing, brothers? Let us cleanse our hands, we who are sinners; let us purify our hearts, we who are double-minded; let us be wretched and mourn and weep for our sins. Let us cease from our wicked deeds; let us believe in the compassions of the Lord; let us fear his threats, let us keep his commandments; let us love one another with our whole heart. Let us say "our brothers" even to those who hate us and loathe us, so that the name of the Lord may be glorified and may be seen in his gladness. Let us grant forgiveness to one another, being tested through one another, as all being warred against by a common enemy. Let us resist our thoughts, calling upon God for alliance; and let us drive out from us the evil and unclean spirits. Let us subject the flesh to the spirit, buffeting it and enslaving it through all manner of hardship; let us cleanse ourselves

From every defilement of flesh and spirit. Let us stir one another up to love and good works.

Let us not envy one another, nor be provoked to fierceness when we are envied; but rather let us have compassion on one another, and through humility heal one another. Let us not speak against one another, nor mock one another, "for we are members of one another." Let us cast away from us negligence and sloth, and let us stand courageously, struggling against the spirits of wickedness; and "we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins"; and let us entreat him with a pure heart, with our whole soul, and he forgives us our sins. For "the Lord is near to all who call upon him in truth." Therefore he says: "Offer to God a sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Most High. And call upon me in the day of your affliction, and I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."

And Isaiah again: "Loose every bond of injustice, untie the knots of violent contracts, send forth the broken in release, and tear up every unjust document. Break your bread for the hungry, and bring the poor who are without shelter into your house. If you see the naked, clothe him; and do not overlook those of your own seed. Then your light shall break forth early, and your healings shall quickly spring up. And your righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall encompass you." And what follows these things? "Then you shall cry out, and God will hear you; while you are still speaking, he will say: 'Behold, I am present.'

Then your light shall rise in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as midday. And God shall be with you always, and you shall be filled according as your soul desires. You see that in loosing every bond of unrighteousness from our heart, and dissolving every noose of violent dealings and remembrance of wrongs, and in hastening to do good to our neighbor with all our soul, we are illumined by the light of knowledge, and are set free from the passions of dishonor, and are filled with every virtue, and are shone upon by the glory of God, and are set free from all ignorance; and when we pray we are heard as Christ's own, and we shall have God with us always, and we are filled with the desire according to God. (42) Let us therefore love one another, that we may also be loved by God. Let us be long-suffering with one another, and he is long-suffering over our sins. Let us not render evil for evil, and we shall not receive according to our sins. For we find the forgiveness of our trespasses in the forgiveness of our brethren. And the mercy of God is hidden in almsgiving to one's neighbor. Therefore the Lord said: Forgive, and it shall be forgiven you. And if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you your trespasses. And again: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. And: With the measure you measure, it shall be measured to you again. Behold, the Lord has granted us a way of salvation, and has given us eternal authority to become children of God; and henceforth our salvation lies in our will.

43. Let us therefore give ourselves wholly to the Lord, so that we may receive him whole. Let us become gods for his sake; for it is for this that he became man, being by nature God and Master. Let us obey him, and he will unwearyingly defend us from our enemies: "If my people had heard me," he says, "if Israel had walked in my ways, in no time would I have humbled their enemies, and against those who afflict them I would have laid my hand." Let us place all our hope in him alone. And let us cast all our care upon him alone, and he will rescue us from every affliction, and he will direct our whole life. Let us love every man from the soul; but let us place our hope in no man; because

as long as the Lord preserves us, all our friends attend to us, and all our enemies are powerless against us. But when the Lord abandons us, then all our friends abandon us too, and all our enemies prevail against us. But even the one who trusts in himself shall fall with an extraordinary fall; but the one who fears the Lord shall be exalted. Therefore David said: "For I will not hope in my bow, and my sword shall not save me. For you saved us from those who afflict us, and you put to shame those who hate us.