Epitomes Operum Cassiani Ad Castorem Aptensem Libri Duo

THE TWO BOOKS OF THE EPITOMES OF THE WORKS OF CASSIAN BY SAINT EUCHERIUS, BISHOP OF LYONS, ADDRESSED TO CASTOR OF APT.

BOOK ONE.

ON THE CANONICAL INSTITUTES OF THE MONASTERIES.

( Cass. Inst. preface and book II, chapters 7-11.) Since you have commanded me, most blessed father Castor, to set forth for you the canonical constitutions of the monasteries of the East and especially of Egypt, which I have myself seen with my own eyes, obeying your command I have sent you these few words, so that from them provision for the journey to virtue may be supplied to those who, with God's help, have been gathered together in your new monastery. And likewise I have sent the canons of the blessed men, and certain others besides. It is necessary, therefore, that I speak first of all about prayer, the cause of all good things—namely, how and with what excellent order they perform it in the monasteries of Egypt and the Thebaid. For when they have gathered in one place, at the time of the synaxis, after the psalm has been completed, they do not come at once to genuflection, but before they bend their knees they stand for a short time praying with hands outstretched; afterwards, prostrate on the ground and having made a brief prayer while kneeling, they all rise together; and again with hands outstretched they pour forth supplications at greater length and more fervently, with no one kneeling or rising from kneeling until he who recites the prayer has first knelt or first risen.

As has been said, therefore, when they assemble for a synaxis of this kind, such silence is observed by all that in so great and almost innumerable a gathering, no one seems to be present; especially at the time of prayers, when neither is spittle emitted nor a cough heard: there no sign of sloth, no drowsiness, no yawning, no groaning with sound is heard. For they say that the one who prays aloud out of nausea and softness of mind sins in two ways: first, because he prays sluggishly; second, because by that undisciplined voice he dulls the ears of his neighbor and distracts his mind: evil spirits rushing in at the same time, who, when they have seen us standing in prayer, weigh down the soul with indecent thoughts and with nausea and loathing. This is the reason that they recite the psalms not with tumult and disturbance by hurrying, nor are they delighted by a multitude of verses, but by the consideration of the mind: that is, obeying him who says: I will sing with the spirit, I will sing also with the mind (1 Cor 14:15): thinking it more useful to sing ten verses with attention than the whole psalter with confusion of mind.

15.) When the psalms and the canon have been completed, as we recalled above, no brother dares to stand with another even for the briefest moment or to speak; nor yet to leave his cell or abandon the work he has in hand, according to the apostolic precept, unless the occasion of some necessary task requires all to come together at once. But having gone out, they carry out their own work in such a way that there is not even the slightest conversation among them, but each one devotes himself to meditation of the mind and to a psalm, and fulfills what has been enjoined upon him. Furthermore, with great care they guard against any brother, especially a novice, ever being left alone with another, or anyone daring to touch or embrace another with hands outstretched. But if anyone is found to have transgressed this rule, he is subjected to the most severe correction.

(Cass. Inst. I. iv, c. 1-6.) Concerning the canonical custom, then, whether of prayers or of psalms—namely, in what manner they ought to be observed in the daytime assemblies—enough has already been said by us. Next, however, we must treat of those who have renounced the world: by what principle they enter these monasteries, and how they remain in them in humility and obedience even to extreme old age. For such is the obedience among them, such the humility even to old age, as is not found even in the first year among those who have renounced the world in our monasteries.

Therefore he who wishes to be a monk is not admitted into the monastery before he has given a proof and, as it were, a test of his love for God, of his humility and equanimity, through the highest obedience. Having been approved by these, he is considered fit to be admitted by them and is taught to keep nothing of his goods stored up with himself; they know, namely, that he who retains anything of his goods cannot long remain in the obedience of the monastery, nor persevere to the end, because of the weakness and weariness of his mind. For whenever even the slightest occasion or affliction stirs his mind, at once the hope of the stored-up treasure, like a stone from a sling, casts him out of the monastery. Therefore each one of them is stripped of his former possessions, so that he is not even permitted to use the garment with which he was clothed. But when all the brothers have been gathered, he is brought into their midst, is stripped of his own garments, and in their place is clothed with the garments of the monastery from the abbot's stores; so that in that manner he may recognize that he himself, stripped of all worldly things, and likewise of arrogance and pride, has put on the poverty of Christ, and without shame may count himself and make himself equal to the body of the brotherhood. But the steward of the monastery receives and keeps the garments with which he was stripped, and lays them aside separately, until he himself, having set out, has given proof of his conduct and patience in various temptations.

And if indeed he is found able to persevere in these things, and to remain with the same zeal and fervent purpose with which he began, they enroll him among the rest of the brethren. But if they discover in him the fault of murmuring, or the sin of any disobedience, they strip him of the monastery's garments, clothe him again in worldly dress, and expel him from the community. So that after such careful testing, it is not easy for one who wishes it to enter or to withdraw from the monastery at his own discretion; but whoever declares that he does not wish to remain is altogether stripped of the monastery's garments.

Since therefore he who has been received, having been tested with the carefulness we have described and found blameless, is not immediately permitted to be mingled with the company of the brethren, but is handed over to the one to whom the care of guests has been entrusted, and is ordered to devote himself entirely to the ministry and service of guests; and after he has received guests blamelessly for a full year, having been formed by this in humility and equanimity, he is at last enrolled in the company of the brethren and handed over to one of the elders, upon whom the solicitude of this office rests, that he may teach the disciple by what paths, once entered, he can arrive at the perfection of virtues. First of all he teaches him the zeal for overcoming his own desires and pleasures, by commanding the things that are contrary to his will.

For the Fathers say that no one can otherwise repress pleasures, or anger, or sorrow, or attain true humility, or finally be rightly perfected together with the brethren in the cenobium, unless he has first mortified his own wills through obedience. By these constitutions and teachings, as by certain elements and syllables, when they have brought the disciple to a more excellent state, they then teach him this: that he should not conceal his thoughts, but as soon as they come, reveal them to his father; nor should he trust his own heart at all concerning their judgment and examination, but should know that to be good or evil which his father, after examining the matter, has declared to be so. By this method anyone who is being trained toward virtue will be able to avoid all the deceits of the enemy, since, being inexperienced, he does not know the enemy's wiles. For the holy Fathers say that it is a clear sign of the devil's cunning and snares when he persuades disciples to hide their thoughts from the fathers, and that this comes either from a motion of pride, as if they themselves were fit to take suitable counsel on the matter by themselves, or from vainglory, because they are ashamed, of course, to make their thoughts public.

5. (Cassian, Institutes IV.10–12.) Moreover, such is their obedience that no one dares to go out even from his own cell in which he sits without the abbot's command; and they fulfill his orders with as much zeal as if God himself had commanded. While they sit in their cells and apply themselves to the work of their hands, to meditation, and to prayer, and devote their minds earnestly to these things, if anyone hears someone knocking at the door of his cell, summoning him either to common prayer or to the work of the hands, having immediately set aside everything, they hurry to the task commanded them, cultivating the virtue of obedience most zealously; and this they place before not only the work of the hands, reading, and remaining quietly in the cell, but even before all the virtues, and they hold everything else of lesser account.

(Cassian, Institutes IV.13–16.) But it is superfluous to mention that none of them possesses anything beyond a tunic, a half-cloak, sandals, a sheepskin, and a mat: they consider it shameful if anyone says, "My book," "My pen," or anything else "mine." Moreover, each of them brings in such revenue to the monastery from his own work and sweat that they suffice not only for their own needs but also for the service of guests and the poor.

But while they labor thus, they are not puffed up, they do not swell with pride, nor does anyone demand more for his own toil and sweat than the abbot grants according to necessity; nor does he acquire possession of anything for himself, since he considers himself a stranger and pilgrim of the whole world, and reckons himself rather a servant and minister of the brethren than a lord of any earthly place. But if anyone has broken or lost any vessel whatsoever, he confesses the mishaps of his negligence to the abbot and thus with humility of penitence receives pardon. If anyone, however, when called to any work or to the synaxis, comes too late out of contempt, or answers too harshly and insolently; or if he has completed a commanded task too negligently or with murmuring; or if, putting reading before the work commanded and obedience, he has completed the tasks ordered him too slowly; or if, dismissed from the assembly, he has not quickly run to his work; or if he has conversed with someone without necessity; or if with presumption he has touched another's hand; or if he has visited relatives without the abbot's permission and blessing; or if he has dared to receive a letter from anyone or write back to anyone without the abbot's concession—if, indeed, he has offended in any such matter, he is subjected to this kind of penance: with the brethren gathered in the synaxis, he casts himself to the ground, and having confessed, he seeks pardon for his sin.

But graver offenses, if anyone is caught committing them—such as contempt, rebelliousness with pride, or leaving the monastery without the abbot's permission, or meeting with a woman, or anger, or fighting, or enmity toward someone, or holding a grudge for injuries, or being the author of money, which is the leprosy of the soul, or possessing anything whatsoever, except those things which are given by the abbot, or food taken by stealth without the abbot's blessing, and the like of these—he undergoes not the aforementioned penalty, but a graver one, and much greater. But if he has not repented, he is cast out of the monastery.

But that in certain monasteries a reading is held at the time of eating, this is observed not from the rule of the Egyptians but from that of the Cappadocians, who established it not so much for the sake of spiritual exercise as for the sake of quiet and of avoiding conversation. Among the Egyptians, however, and especially among the Tabennesiotae, such silence is kept by all that when that vast multitude of brothers is gathered at table at the time of eating, scarcely anything similar is found among them; so much so that no one even dares to spit, except the overseer of the table, who, if there is need of anything, signifies it by a knock rather than by voice. They wear cowls, moreover, drawn down even below the eyelids, lest with wandering eyes they look too curiously upon others, and they apply their mind only to the table and to giving thanks to God who feeds them.

And there is great care among them that no one of them take food outside the table.

But lest we seem to omit anything of the cenobitic rules, it is fitting also to recall the constitutions handed down in other regions. Throughout all Mesopotamia, Palestine, and Cappadocia, and in the whole East, at the time of the third, sixth, and ninth hour, if anyone has not arrived before the first psalm is completed, he does not dare to enter the oratory so as to join himself to those singing; but standing before the doors, he awaits the dismissal of the brothers. When all are going out, however, prostrate on the ground, doing penance, he begs pardon for his negligence. At the night gatherings, moreover, pardon is granted to latecomers only up to the second psalm. Further, the brothers succeed one another by weeks in the kitchen and in other duties, both for the sake of lightening mutual labor and that they may fulfill the law of charity by mutual services. With such great humility and solicitude do they perform their ministries as not even slaves would show with their masters. When the week is completed, on the Lord's day after the morning hymns, as others enter to serve, they hand over the vessels of their office sealed; which others, having received, guard with such care and solicitude that nothing of them is either broken or lost, as great as he shows to whom the sacred vessels and those dedicated to God are entrusted.

For they prepare themselves to give an account, not only to the steward in the present time, but also to God in the future, if anything has been done by them through negligence or sloth. Moreover, for greater assurance of what has been said, I shall relate what I myself have seen with my own eyes. During the week of a certain brother, the steward, passing by, saw a few grains of lentil thrown on the ground, and he did not despise it as a thing of no value; but after rebuking the brother to whom that week had been entrusted, he punished him with a penalty, as one negligent of the things consecrated to God and trampling on his own conscience. For they keep and administer all things with such care and solicitude that they guard with great attention the things which seem to us faults and contemptible; so that they move a vessel badly placed, gather up what has been thrown down, believing that they will receive from the Lord God a reward for these things also. We have found these rules of the weeks observed throughout the whole East. Among the Egyptians, however, the rotation of the week is not kept in this way; but the care of the kitchen is committed to some one of the brothers most approved, namely for as long a time as his virtue receives increase, the strength of his body suffices for the performance of the office, and neither old age nor infirmity prevents him. But since our discourse is concerning obedience and humility, through which we can reach the highest summit of virtue, I consider it worthwhile to add a few examples out of many glorious deeds of the holy Fathers who shone in the cenobia, for the sake of example, to our narrative.

There was a certain father named Muthius, who, when he wished to renounce the world, came to the monastery and persevered for a long time before the doors of the monastery, until, on account of his great patience, he was admitted together with his small son, contrary to the customary rule of the monastery. And when after many labors he had entered, not only were the two assigned to various works, but they were also separated as regards their dwelling in cells, so that by that separation they might gradually be freed from that mutual natural affection; and from this too, by the grace of Christ, the father was freed through much practice. Moreover, to test and prove his virtue, the abbot would sometimes pretend that he was stirred to anger against the boy, and he ordered the aforementioned father to take him up and throw him into the river. Then he, as if God were commanding him to take up his son, came with hurried course to the bank of the river, and while he was hastening to fulfill the command out of burning faith and the fervor of obedience, he was prevented by the brothers, who came ahead of him and snatched away the son. But his faith and obedience were so acceptable to God that it was revealed by God to the abbot that he had accomplished the very work of Abraham. And after a short time had passed, when the aforementioned abbot of the monastery had died, he left him as his successor.

10. (Cassian, Institutes IV, c. 29.) We knew another brother who renounced the world, and who had even been distinguished in the world (for his father, a count, waged war and was rich), and he was not moderately learned and devoted to reading. He, then, having cast aside worldly pomp, betook himself to the monastic life; and to prove his faith and humility he was ordered by the abbot to carry ten baskets and sell them in his own city, and not all at once but one by one; this he fulfilled with all patience and humility, and placing the baskets on his shoulders he sold them one at a time; he did not reckon with himself the cheapness of the thing nor the nobility of his birth; for he strove to become an imitator of the humility of Christ.

(Cassian, Institutes IV, c. 30-32.) We saw likewise another of the fathers, the abbot Pinophas [Cassian: Pinufius], a man adorned with every virtue, who was an elder and abbot of a great monastery situated in Egypt near the city of Panephos.

He, seeing himself praised and celebrated by all both on account of his manner of life and on account of his old age and his prefecture, and unable, as in the zeal of his first conversion, to exercise himself in humility, moved by these things, on account of the subjection he desired and to which he had been called, secretly fleeing from his own monastery, withdrew alone to the farthest parts of the Thebaid; and having put off the monk's garment and put on secular clothing, he sought the monastery of the Tabennesiotae, thinking that he could hide there, both because of the multitude of brothers and because it was very far from the region in which his own monastery was situated. There, when he had asked for many days, he was received by the archimandrite, who, since he was an old man and useful for nothing else, entrusted to him the care of the garden, together with another brother, to whom, being subject, he cultivated the humility and obedience he desired. Nor was he content with that ministry alone; whatever works seemed hard and difficult to others, these he cheerfully completed. When he had passed three years thus in hiding, sought throughout all Egypt by his disciples, he was at last barely recognized by a certain brother who had come there, and who, having seen him and recognized the form of his face, while he still doubted, tried to hear his voice; for he was not certain from sight alone, having seen the man as an old man, digging the earth with a hoe, carrying dung on his shoulders to place it at the roots of the vegetables.

When, therefore, observing the sound of his voice, he recognized who he was, he threw himself at his feet and struck the onlookers with great astonishment, because he had behaved in such a way toward a man who, though a novice in his own estimation, having only recently left the world, was held to be the least among them. And they were all the more astounded when they learned his name, for he had previously been of great renown among them; and they begged his pardon, because, not knowing him, they had ranked him with the lowest of the novices. And after urging him with many words, they sent him back against his will to his own monastery, and he lamented that it had not been granted him to practice the humility and obedience he loved. After therefore a short time had passed in his monastery, burning again with the desire for humility and obedience, he fled away at nightfall, no longer to a foreign land; for having boarded a small ship, he came to the regions of Palestine, hoping that he could lie hidden there until the end. When he had arrived in Palestine, he sought out a monastery situated near the cave in which Christ the Lord was born, and in that monastery he then stayed. Yet he does not set himself there to lie hidden, according to that saying of the Lord: A city cannot be hidden that is set upon a mountain (Matthew 5:15). For when brothers had come from Egypt to adore the holy places, he was recognized, and having been persuaded by many entreaties and tears, they led him back again to his own monastery.

I therefore lived with this holy man in Egypt for a short time; and I will make an end of my discourse by narrating what I heard from him as he instructed the brother whom he admitted in my presence.

(Cass. Inst. I. IV, c. 33-55.) "You know, brother," he said, "how many days you spent before the gate of the monastery, and that you were admitted today. If you learn the reason for this kind of difficulty, it can bring you benefit on this way you desire to enter, and make you a faithful servant of God. For just as glory and honor are promised in the future to those who serve the Lord faithfully, so the gravest punishments threaten those who approach that promise softly and sluggishly. For better is it, according to the Scripture, not to make a vow than not to pay a vow once made. And again it is said: Cursed is the one who does the work of the Lord negligently (Jer. XLVIII, 10). For this reason we rejected you and hesitated to admit you, not because we do not desire your salvation and that of all who believe in Christ, but lest, admitting you rashly and without any effort, we ourselves, even as we pray, pay the penalty for excessive leniency from God, and make you guilty of a graver punishment, if we admit you now easily, before you have learned the seriousness and exactness of the promise, and you afterward turn out soft and sluggish. Therefore, as has been said above, you ought to learn the reason for your renunciation, namely what you must do. Renunciation, then, is nothing other than a promise of continence and death.

Know therefore that from this day you are dead and crucified to the world, and the world to you, according to the Apostle; and learn what the power of the cross is: since you no longer live, but he lives in you who was crucified for you. Therefore by this figure in which the Lord was suspended for us, we too must live in the monastery, as blessed David asks when, in the fear of the Lord, he prays that his flesh be pierced (Psalm 118:120). For just as one whose body is fastened to wood is motionless for any action, so one whose thought is pierced through by divine fear is motionless toward every carnal desire. And as one fixed to the cross no longer thinks of things present, nor is directed by his own will, is not disturbed by desire, is not held fast by the care of possessing, is not puffed up by pride, does not burn with strife or envy, does not grieve over present insult, does not remember past injuries—for after a short time he expects the end of his life, namely through the cross—so one who has sincerely renounced the world and is, as it were, fixed on the cross by the fear of God, expecting daily the departure from this life, has all his desires and all his carnal affections motionless and weak.

Be on guard, therefore, lest at any time you desire to take up again the things you renounced in your renunciation. For according to the Lord's sentence: He who puts his hand to the plow and turns back is not fit for the kingdom of heaven (Luke 9:62), and he who descends from the lofty rule of life to the vile and earthly things of this world acts against the Lord's command, when he descends from the house and tries to carry something away from the house. Beware, therefore, lest, remembering your former affection toward carnal parents and turning to the cares of this age, you be found unfit, according to the Lord's word, in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:19). Beware lest you stir up in yourself again the pride which you trampled down at the beginning through the fervor of humility. When you have learned the psalter, or something from Scripture, or, according to the Apostle's word, when you build again the things you destroyed, do not show yourself a transgressor; but rather, as you began and professed humility, preserve it before God and his angels even to the end. Likewise, take care to increase the humility you showed in the monastery, when for many days you persevered with tears supplicating at the doors of the monastery. It would surely be a wretched thing if, when it behooves you daily to add to your fervor and by continual progress to ascend to perfection, you should diminish and turn back to lower things. For it is not the one who begins to do good who is blessed, but whoever perseveres in it even to the end.

For the serpent that is dragged along the ground always watches our heel, that is, he prepares ambushes for our death and tries to trip us up even to the end of our life. Therefore it will profit nothing to have begun well, nothing to have made a fervent beginning of obedience, unless the end likewise follow through. And that humility which is according to Christ, which you have now promised, will not be made firm unless you display it even to the end. Wherefore, so that you may be able to possess it perfectly and crush the head of the dragon (Gen. 3:15), when thoughts have attacked you, reveal them promptly from the very beginning; for if you thus make public from the start the pernicious thoughts of the dragon, if you are not ashamed to declare them to your father, you will crush his head. Indeed, according to the divine Scripture, if you have come near to serve God, prepare yourself (Sir. 2:1), not for carelessness, not for idleness, but for temptations, for tribulations; for through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of heaven (Acts 14:22), and narrow is the gate and strait the way that leads to life, and few there are who find it (Matt. 7:14). Apply your mind, therefore, to those few good things, and establish your life by their example; and do not pay attention to the slothful and the contemptuous, however many they may be in number: for many, he says, are called, but few are chosen (Matt. 20:16); and it is a little flock to which it has pleased the Father to give the kingdom (Luke 12:31).

For you should not think it a small sin to promise perfection and yet imitate the more negligent and slothful. Therefore, so that you may be able to attain perfection, use this rule, ascend by these steps.

The first step of virtue and the beginning of our salvation is the fear of God; for through it comes the purging of sins, the guarding of the virtues, and the way to perfection is obtained: for when the fear of God has entered the soul, it persuades us to despise all worldly things; from this arises forgetfulness of kin and of the whole world. From these, furthermore, humility, the head of all the virtues and the completion of all good things, is exercised; for from the contempt and privation of all things humility comes.

But humility is proven by these indications: first, if a person holds his own will mortified within himself; second, if he conceals nothing from the father, not only of his deeds but even of his thoughts; third, if he does not trust in his own prudence, but in all things relies on the discretion of his father, and always thirsts for, longs for, and sweetly listens to his admonitions; fourth, if he carries out all his father's commands without shame; fifth, if he not only does not dare to bring insults upon another, but gladly accepts those brought by others; sixth, if he has not undertaken to do anything new that neither the common rule nor the examples of the Fathers permit; seventh, if, content with every lowliness, he gives thanks for the things granted to him and considers himself unworthy of them; eighth, if he considers himself plainly lower than all, and is not reckless in words; ninth, if he restrains his tongue, or is not loud in voice; tenth, if he is not easy in speech and hasty of tongue. By these and similar signs humility is recognized; and if these things are truly exhibited, they quickly lead to the height of love, in which there is no fear of hell, and through which all things are accomplished no longer out of necessity and with toil, but out of the love of one burning and out of desire for the good. So that you may more easily attain this virtue, let the words of the brothers who run together with you and possess piety be a model for you; but not those who, being more numerous in number, pass their life more negligently and slothfully.

For from the imitation and emulation of the saints, great benefit comes to those willing to strive toward perfection.

15. (Cassian, Institutes IV, ch. 41-43.) If therefore you wish to have the ability to carry out all these things, and to persevere under them in the spiritual contest of the monastery even to the end, these things will be necessary for you to observe in the company of the brothers, which David says: But I, as a deaf man, did not hear, and as a man who does not hear and has no reproofs in his mouth (Psalm 37:14). Therefore, as often as you see anything foreign to edification and usefulness, be as if blind; and if you hear anything similar to these things, become as if deaf and mute, and having no reproofs in your mouth. And do not imitate those who are faithless, disobedient, wanton, scurrilous, and abusive; but as a mute man and one not hearing, pass these things by. If anyone brings reproaches, insults, or abuses against you, be unmoved as if bridled, and as if mute; repeat this verse of the psalm to yourself continually: I said, I will keep my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue. I set a guard on my mouth, when the sinner stood against me. I was mute and was humbled (Psalm 38:1). In addition to these, meditate on that fourth thing before all; and observe that it can adorn the three things said above: namely, that you make yourself foolish and senseless in this world, according to the Apostle's command, so that you may be wise (1 Cor.

(IV, 18); that is, judging or doubting nothing in whatever commands are given you, being instructed, of course, in the simplicity and faith of obedience. Among all things, believe that only this is holy, this is wise, this is useful, which has been commanded you by your father. If you establish your heart in this purpose, you will be able to endure the yoke of obedience to Christ even to the end, and no temptation or device of the devil will be able to shake you from the knowledge of life. But do not expect to establish your patience, humility, and equanimity by the virtue of others: namely, if no one provokes you, no one despises you, no one puts you to shame—which indeed is neither a proof of your virtue nor within your power; but if you willingly bear reproaches, insults, and contempt, that is within your own choice. Therefore, to say in brief what we have discussed at greater length above, so that you may remember it more easily, hear again how you can come to perfection in order.

The beginning of our salvation is the fear of God; from it is begotten good obedience; hence arises subjection and contempt of the things of the world; from this humility is born the mortification of one's own wills; from the mortification of one's own wills, the roots of pleasures are dried up; but by these all the imperfections of the soul are eliminated, and by their expulsion the virtues grow and bear fruit; from the increase of the virtues is begotten purity of heart; purity of heart is followed by apostolic perfection, by the grace and aid of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever, amen.

BOOK TWO. ON THE EIGHT EVIL THOUGHTS.

i. (Cassian, Institutes I. v, c. and following.) Since we have first spoken of the constitution of monasteries, trusting in your prayers, we now undertake to write of the eight evil thoughts, namely gluttony, fornication, avarice, anger, sadness, sloth, vainglory, and pride. First, therefore, we shall speak of abstinence, which is opposed to gluttony; we shall also treat of the manner of fasting, and of the quality and quantity of foods. And we shall say these things not from ourselves, but what we have received from our holy Fathers. For they handed down not one rule of fasting, nor one manner of eating, nor the same measure to all, because not all are of the same strength or age, and because some labor under bodily infirmity, while others are of a more delicate body.

But they handed down to all one single goal: that they flee drunkenness and turn away from the fullness of the belly; and they said that daily fasting, having been tested by experience, is more useful and contributes more to purity than if fasting is prolonged to three or four days, or even to a week. For they say that one who prolongs fasting immoderately often takes food beyond measure; so that from this it often happens that sometimes, from excessive abstinence, he falls into bodily weakness and becomes slower for spiritual ministries; at other times, weighed down by a multitude of foods, he engenders sloth and softness of mind. Again, the use of vegetables is not suitable for all, nor likewise of legumes for all, nor can the nourishment of dry bread suffice for all; likewise there are those who, having eaten two pounds of bread, still hunger, while others are satisfied with one pound, indeed with six ounces. And so, as has been said, they handed down to all one single goal of abstinence: that they not be deceived by the fullness of the belly, nor drawn by the pleasure of the gullet. For not only the difference of quality, but also a great quantity of foods, is accustomed to kindle the fiery darts of sin. For with whatever food the belly is filled, it begets the seeds of lust. And again, not only drunkenness from wine, but also the fullness of water, and the redundancy of any foods whatsoever, weigh a man down and make him sluggish and drowsy.

It was not wine, nor the excess of various foods, that was the cause of the destruction of the Sodomites, but the fullness of bread, as the prophet says (Ezekiel 16:49). Bodily weakness is not opposed to purity of heart. Therefore you should give to the body what its weakness demands, not what its will desires. The use of food is to be taken insofar as it is necessary to sustain life, not so that it may be enslaved to the impulse of concupiscence. A moderate and reasonable intake of food procures bodily health and does not take away holiness. This is the accurate norm and rule of abstinence, handed down by the holy Fathers: that, even while appetite still presses, the one who eats should make an end of taking food. And the Apostle, when he says, "Make no provision for the flesh in its desires" (Romans 13:14), did not forbid the necessary care of life, but forbade the care that fosters pleasure. Moreover, for perfect purity of soul, abstinence from food alone is not sufficient unless the other virtues concur. Thus humility, through obedience in action and through affliction of the body, confers great goods upon us. To be free of avarice is this: not only to lack money, but not even to desire its possession. The restraint of anger, of sorrow, of vainglory, and of pride leads the soul to purity. All these things bring about the whole purity of the soul. But that particular purity of the soul which is obtained through temperance, abstinence and fasting bring about first of all.

For it is impossible for one who is full in the belly to strive with the mind against the spirit of fornication. So let our first contest be to command the belly and to bring the body into subjection: not only through fasting, but also through vigils, labor, reading, and likewise by conceiving in the mind the fear of hell and the desire of the kingdom of heaven.

i. Our second contest is against the spirit of fornication and the concupiscence of the flesh, which concupiscence begins to cause trouble for man from his earliest age. That great and heavy contest consists of a double struggle; for it is double, since it is waged both in the body and in the soul. Therefore one must fight against it with a double battle. For bodily fasting is not enough for the possession of perfect temperance and for true chastity, unless there be present assiduous prayer to God, frequent meditation on the divine Scriptures, labor and the work of the hands, which can repress the unstable impulses of the soul and recall it from obscene thoughts. To this especially contributes the humility of the soul, without which no one will be able to overcome either fornication or the other passions. Above all, therefore, one must with all vigilance guard the heart from sordid thoughts (Proverbs 4:23). For from it proceed, according to the word of the Lord, evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, and the rest (Matthew 15).

Fasting, indeed, is enjoined upon us not only for the affliction of the body, but also for the temperance of the mind, lest, darkened by an abundance of foods, it be unable to guard against thoughts. Therefore it is fitting not only to devote all care to bodily fasting, but also to attentiveness to thoughts and to spiritual meditation, without which it is impossible to ascend to the summit of true chastity and purity. It is fitting, then, according to the Lord's word, that we cleanse the inside of the cup and the dish, so that the outside may be clean (Matthew 23:26). Wherefore, if we have a care, according to the Apostle, to strive lawfully and to receive the crown (2 Timothy 2), then, having conquered the impure spirit of fornication, let us trust neither in our own strength nor in our own asceticism, but in the help of the Lord God. For no one has an end to the contest with a demon of this kind until he truly believes that he is freed from this disease and ascends to the highest peak of chastity not by his own zeal or labor, but by God's impulse and aid. Indeed, it is a thing beyond nature, and in some manner exists outside the body, for one to have trampled upon the goads of the flesh and its pleasures. Wherefore it is impossible for a man, on his own wings, so to speak, to fly up to this summit and to the prize of holiness, and to become an imitator of the angels, unless the grace of God lead him out from the earth and the mud.

For by no virtue are men bound in the flesh made more like the heavenly angels than by temperance, since through it, while they still dwell on earth, they have, according to the Apostle, their conversation in heaven (Philippians 3:20). But this is the proof of this virtue acquired by us: if no image of obscene fantasy enters the mind of one sleeping. For even if a movement of this kind is not reckoned as sin, it is nonetheless a sign of a soul that is sick and not yet freed from such a passion. Wherefore we ought to consider those obscene fantasies occurring during sleep to be evidence of preceding sluggishness and of our weakness, and the cessation of waking sleep reveals the disease lurking in the secret of our heart. Therefore the physician of souls placed medicine in the inner recesses of the soul, knowing that the causes of the disease are there, when he said: Whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matthew 5:28), not only to correct lascivious and curious eyes, but much more the soul situated within, which has wickedly used the eyes given to it by God for good; which is the reason why the Wise Man says in a proverb, not, Guard your eyes with all custody, but, Guard your heart with all custody (Proverbs 4:23). To that custody, namely, which uses the eyes at its own will, he applies the remedy most of all. Therefore let this be the purga.

The first guard of our [mind] is this: when the memory of a woman has entered our mind through the operation of the devil, even if it be of a mother, or a sister, or other pious women, we should immediately cast that impulse out of our heart; lest, if we linger too long in such a thought, that seducer and author of evils, from the phantasm of countenances of this kind, roll down and plunge the mind into obscene and harmful thoughts. As is commanded by that mandate of God given to the first man, namely that he should watch the head of the serpent, that is, the beginning of the harmful thought by which it strives to creep into our soul, so that, the head not being admitted—that is, the first irruption of the thought—we should not admit the rest of the serpent's body, namely the consent of pleasure, and from there at last he cast the mind down into a nefarious deed. But it is right, as it is written, in the morning to slay all the sinners of the earth (Ps. 100:8); that is, by the light of knowledge to discern and to scatter the thoughts that lead to sin; from the earth, namely from the heart, according to the voice of the Lord. And while the sons of Babylon are still little ones (Ps. 136:9), that is, evil thoughts, then one ought to level them with the ground and dash them against the rock, which is Christ. For if by our consent they reach manly age, they will not be overcome without great groans and labors. But to those things which have been said above from sacred Scripture, the sayings of the holy Fathers must be added.

It was therefore said by Saint Basil, bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia: I know not a woman, and yet I am not a man; so thoroughly had he ascertained that the gift of virginity is not rightly possessed by bodily continence alone apart from a woman, but is much more wont to be held by the sanctity and purity of the soul and the fear of God. The Fathers also say that we cannot possess the virtue of perfect chastity unless we first possess true humility in the heart; nor are we accounted worthy of true knowledge as long as the disposition of fornication remains silent in the inner recesses of the soul. But that we may make plain this great virtue of this kind from the Apostle himself, let us recall one sentence of his, with which we shall make an end of speaking. Follow peace, he says, with all men, and holiness, without which no one shall see the Lord (Heb. XII, 14). For that he speaks of this matter is manifest from those things which he subjoined, when he says: Lest any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau (Ibid.). Therefore, by how much the virtue of chastity is more heavenly and angelic, by so much is it assailed by graver snares from the enemy. Wherefore we ought to take care not only to preserve temperance of the body, but also contrition of heart, and to pour forth frequent prayers with groanings; so that the furnace of our flesh, which the king of Babylon kindles daily with the goads of concupiscence, may be extinguished by the dew of the presence of the Holy Spirit. In addition to these things, the greatest weapon against an enemy of this kind is at hand for us, namely, vigils kept in God.

For just as chastity and daytime watchfulness prepare nighttime holiness, so nighttime vigils in God prepare daytime...

The third contest for us is against the spirit of avarice: this kind of war is foreign, and is found to be outside nature, and comes to a monk on the occasion of unbelief. For indeed the stimuli of the other affections—namely of anger and of concupiscence—seem to have their occasion from the body, and are in a certain manner implanted, and have their beginning from birth; which is the reason that they are overcome only over a long period of time. But the disease of avarice, coming from outside, can more easily be cut out, provided there is care and attention of mind. But if it is neglected, it is more pernicious than the other affections, and becomes execrable: for it is the root of all evils, according to the Apostle. But let us consider these things by this reasoning: natural motions of the body are seen not only in boys, in whom there is not yet discernment of good and evil, but even in the very smallest and suckling infants, who, though they have not even a trace of carnal pleasure, nevertheless exhibit motion in the flesh. Similarly the stimulus of anger appears in infants, when we see them stirred up against those who create trouble for them.

I say this, however, not to convict nature as if it were the cause of sin—far be it—but to show that although anger and concupiscence were bestowed on man by God the Creator for good, he nevertheless seems in some way, through the sluggishness of his bodily nature, to slip into things contrary to nature. For the motion of the body for the procreation of children and the continuous succession of the human race was given by the Creator, not for fornication; and the stirring of anger was implanted in us for our salvation, that we might be angry against sin, not that we might be roused to fury against a fellow man. If, then, we use these things wrongly, nature does not thereby sin, nor should we on that account accuse the craftsman—just as we would not accuse the one who gave iron for a necessary and useful purpose, if the one who received it should use it to commit murders. We have said these things to show that the affection of avarice does not take its beginning from a natural motion, but from malice alone and from a corrupt purpose. For a disease of this kind, when at the outset of withdrawal it finds the soul lukewarm and unbelieving, puts forward certain just and, in appearance, reasonable causes, so as to persuade one to retain something of his possessions; for it represents to the monk's mind a long old age and bodily infirmity: that what is given in the monastery for necessity is not sufficient for consolation, not only for the infirm but not even for the healthy; that there the care of the infirm is not carried out fittingly, but that they are greatly neglected, so that if no gold secretly supplies help, one must perish miserably.

Finally he adds that one cannot persevere long in the monastery because of the heaviness of the work and the severity of the father. And when he has furnished the mind with thoughts of this kind, so that he may keep even a single denarius, then he persuades him to learn secretly, without the abbot's knowledge, a craft by which he may be able to increase carefully hoarded money; finally, by a hidden hope he deceives the wretched man, suggesting that profit will come from his craft, and that from this will follow rest and a mind free from cares. And at last, bound fast by the thought of profit, he considers nothing adverse: not how great the anger will be, how great the fury, if he happens to fall into some loss; how great the sadness, how great the grief, if he is deprived of the profit of his work: but just as the belly is a god to others, so to him gold is. Wherefore, since blessed Paul knew this well, he called it not only the root of all evils, but even idolatry. Let us therefore weigh carefully into how great a wickedness this disease drags a man, since it casts him into idolatry.

For after greed has torn his mind away from the love of God, he loves images of men engraved in gold; and the monk, darkened by thoughts of this kind, while he takes increase toward worse things, can thereafter have no humility, no obedience; but he grows angry, is indignant, murmurs at any work whatsoever, resists, and at last, with no shame preserved, like a completely unbridled horse he is borne headlong into precipices, nor is he content with his daily food, and finally he testifies that he cannot endure any longer; and he says that God is not only there, nor is his salvation enclosed in that place; but that God is found everywhere by those who seek him: that he will perish unless he leaves that monastery; and so, since hidden money supplies aid to his corrupted mind, as if lifted up on certain wings, and pondering his departure from the monastery, he thereafter answers proudly and harshly to all commands, and reckoning himself as a stranger and outsider, if they see anything in the monastery worthy of correction, he cares nothing for it, indeed he despises it. Then he seeks occasions of anger or complaint, so that he may not seem to leave the monastery lightly and without cause. Nor does he hesitate to conduct himself in that way, so that he may find a helper for his offense. Thus further seduced, the greedy man, by the fire of his own money, can never be at rest in the monastery, or live under the rule.

But when the demon has snatched him from the fold like a wolf, and having separated him from the fold has taken him to devour for himself, then he takes care that the works which he was wholly neglecting in the monastery at the appointed hours, he should perform in his cell that very night and day with great eagerness; nor does he allow him to observe the custom of prayers, the practice of fasts, the rule of vigils; but, having bound him fast by the frenzy of avarice, he persuades him to devote all his zeal and all his labor to his own work. Of this disease, however, there are three modes, equally condemned by the divine Scriptures and by the teaching of the Fathers. The first, of which we wrote above, which takes care that the wretched acquire and accumulate even those things which they did not possess in the world. The second brings it about that those who have renounced their money repent of what they have done; and it persuades them to seek again the things which they offered to God. The third is the one which, when from the beginning it has bound the monk by the lukewarmness of unbelief, does not allow him to renounce worldly things perfectly, suggesting to his mind the fear of poverty and distrust of God's providence; and it makes him a violator of the promises, namely those which he professed when he renounced the world. Moreover, we find examples of these three modes hidden in the divine Scripture. For Gehazi, because he coveted the money which he had not possessed before, was deprived of the grace of prophecy, which his master wished to leave to him as an inheritance; and in place of a blessing, through the prophet's curse he possessed eternal leprosy (2 Kings 5).

But Judas, when he wished to recover the money which he had cast away before following the Lord, was not only driven out from the choir of the Apostles when he had set his mind upon the betrayal of the Lord, but he ended this carnal life by a violent death (Matt. 27:5). Ananias and Sapphira, when they had kept back certain things from those which they had consecrated to the Lord, pay the penalty of death by the apostolic mouth (Acts 5). Moreover, that great Moses in Deuteronomy gives a mystical precept to those who are about to renounce the world, and who through a certain fear of distrust still cling to earthly things: If any man is timid and fainthearted, let him go, let him not go forth to battle: let him depart home and there live softly, lest perhaps he strike fear into the hearts of his brothers (Deut. 20:8). Is there anything safer and clearer than this testimony? Do we not learn from these words that we who renounce the world must perfectly renounce ourselves and so proceed to battle, lest perhaps from a soft and corrupt beginning we turn others away from evangelical perfection? But since that saying is well spoken in Scripture, It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35), certain people interpret it badly, and do violence to the letter, and twist the meaning of the saying to their own fraud and to the covetousness of money, and also the teaching of the Lord, which reads thus: If you wish to be perfect, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me (Matt.

(19:21); and they judge that the possession of riches is happier than blessed poverty, and that from abundance of this kind they can give generously to the needy; let such people know that they have not yet renounced the world, nor do they walk in monastic perfection, as long as they are ashamed for Christ's sake to take up the glorious poverty of the Apostle, and to support themselves and the needy by the work of their hands. But if they desire to fulfill the monastic promise in deed, and to receive glory with the Apostle, let them distribute their former riches and, in hunger, thirst, and nakedness, fight the good fight with Paul (2 Tim. 4:7). For if the Apostle himself had reckoned the possession of former riches necessary for perfection, he would never have despised his former rank; for he testifies that he had been a distinguished Roman citizen (Acts 22:25). But those who sold their houses and lands in Jerusalem and laid them at the feet of the apostles (Acts 4:35) would by no means have done so, if they had known how to judge that the apostles were more happily supplied with their money than by their own labor and the work of their hands. The Apostle teaches this matter more clearly in his Epistle to the Romans: But now I will set out for Jerusalem to minister to the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have approved making some contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem (Rom. 15:25).

But he himself, often in chains and in prisons, subjected to the hardships of travel, and hindered thereby from preparing for himself the necessities with his own hands as he was accustomed, teaches that he received these things from the brothers who were from Macedonia and who had come to him, saying: For what was lacking to me the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied (II Cor. 11:9). And to the Philippians: That in the beginning of the Gospel, when no church shared with me in the matter of giving or receiving, except you alone; because even at Thessalonica once and twice you were of use to me (Phil. 4:15). So let the greedy, according to their own opinion, be more blessed than the Apostle; since indeed their necessary things are supplied to them from their own substance. But no one, unless he has fallen into extreme madness, would have dared to say this. If, therefore, we wish to follow the evangelical and apostolic precept, and the whole Church founded from the beginning upon the apostles, let us not obey our own opinions, nor understand perversely the things that have been rightly said, and, having rejected that pleasant and unbelieving disposition of mind, let us attain to a careful zeal for the Gospel. For by this reasoning we shall be able to follow in the footsteps of the holy Fathers, and never to depart from the knowledge and institution of the monastery, and likewise truly to renounce this world. But it will be worthwhile at this point to recall the sayings of the holy Fathers.

Accordingly, the sermon of Saint Basil, bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, is reported to have been addressed to a certain senator, a man who had promptly renounced the world but had reserved some portion of his money, in these words: "You have lost the senator and have not made the monk." It is necessary, therefore, that with all care we cut out from our soul the root and beginning of all evils—namely, avarice—holding it as most certain that, while the root remains, the branches sprout, and that it is difficult to practice virtue unless we live in a monastery; for in it we take no care even for necessary things. Keeping before our eyes the condemnation of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5), let us shudder at reserving anything for ourselves from our former possessions. Likewise let us fear the example of Gehazi (2 Kings 5), who for the sake of avarice was handed over to eternal leprosy. Let us beware lest we accumulate for ourselves the money of this life, which we do not possess even in this world. Let us likewise fear, reckoning with ourselves Judas perishing by the noose, lest we preserve anything from all those things which we have renounced with contempt. Keeping always before our eyes, in addition to all these things, the uncertain hour of death, let us beware lest, at the hour we do not expect, the Lord come and find our conscience stained with avarice, and say to us that which was said to the rich man in the Gospel: "Fool, this night they demand your soul from you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?" (Luke 12:20).

The fourth contest for us is against the spirit of anger, so that we may cut out from the inmost part of our soul its death-bearing poison, together with God. For when this is settled within our heart and blinds the eye of the mind with dark tumults, we are able to have no discernment of those things that are agreeable to us, nor to find the comprehension of spiritual knowledge, nor to be made partakers of true life, nor will our mind be capable of the divine and true light. For, he says, my eye is troubled because of fury (Psalm 6:8). Nor will we be partakers of wisdom, even if we seem wise to ourselves, since it is written: Fury will dwell in the bosom of fools; but neither are we able to attain the saving rays of discernment, even if we are esteemed exceedingly wise by men, for it is written: Anger destroys even the prudent; nor are we able to hold the helm of justice with watchful hearts, since it is written: The anger of man does not work the justice of God (James 1:20); nor can we obtain the modesty and propriety celebrated by the mouth of all, since it is written: A man given to anger is not modest (Proverbs 29:25). Whoever therefore wishes to attain to perfection, whoever desires lawfully to undertake the spiritual contest, let him be alien from every offense of anger or fury, and let him hear what that vessel of election commands: Let all bitterness and anger and indignation, and clamor, and blasphemy be taken away from you with all malice (Ephesians 4:31).

But when he says "all," he has left us no occasion for indignation, neither as if necessary nor as if fitting. Therefore, whoever wishes to correct a brother who is erring or to bring chastisement upon him should take care to keep himself free from agitation and disturbance, lest while he wishes to cure another he draw the disease upon himself, and lest that Gospel saying be applied to him: Physician, cure yourself (Luke 4:25); and again: Why do you see the speck in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the beam in your own eye? Or how will you say to your brother: Let me cast out the speck from your eye, you who have a beam in your own eye obscuring it (Mark 7:23)? For whatever the cause, a stirring of anger boils up, blinds the eyes of the mind, and does not allow a man to look upon the Sun of justice. For just as one who places gold and lead upon the eyes equally impedes the faculty of sight, and the value of the gold makes no difference to eyes that have been affected, so, whatever the cause by which the commotion of anger is kindled, it darkens the soul's faculty of sight. Then alone do we use indignation according to nature, when we rouse it against vicious and voluptuous thoughts. This indeed the prophet David teaches us when he says: Be angry, and do not sin (Psalm.

That is, stir up anger against your own passions, and also against depraved thoughts, so that you do not sin by doing what they suggest to you. This interpretation is clearly shown by what follows: "What you say in your hearts," he says, "be pierced with compunction in your beds" (Ibid.); that is, when depraved thoughts have risen in your heart, cast them out, rousing your anger against them; but after they have been cast out, then, as it were in bed or in quiet, be pierced with compunction unto repentance. With this, moreover, blessed Paul agrees, who used the testimony of this saying and added: "Let not the sun set upon your anger; do not give place to the devil" (Eph. 4:26); that is, do not, by consenting to depraved thoughts, provoke the Sun of justice, Christ, and bring it about that he sets in your hearts, so that by his departure the devil may find a place in you. Of this Sun God says through the prophet: "To those who fear my name the Sun of justice shall rise, and healing shall be in his wings" (Mal. 4:2). But if we take that saying of the Apostle literally, it is certainly not granted to us to keep our anger until the setting of the sun.

What then shall we say of those who, corrupted by a savage and insane disposition, not only keep their anger until the setting of this sun, but even prolong it for many days, abstaining from conversation with one another? They no longer express their anger in words, but by keeping silence toward each other, they kindle the poison of the memory of injuries to their own destruction, ignorant that one must abstain not only from the sin that is committed in deed, but also from that which is conceived in the mind—lest the mind, darkened by the shadows of the remembrance of injuries, fall away from the light of knowledge and discernment and be deprived of the dwelling of the Holy Spirit. Wherefore the Lord commands in the Gospels that the gift be left upon the altar and that the brother be reconciled (Matt. 5:4), since it cannot be that a gift is accepted while we are occupied with anger and the memory of injuries. But the Apostle, when he says that prayer is to be made without ceasing and that holy hands are to be lifted up in every place (1 Thess. 5), teaches that this is to be done without anger, even if it be only in thought. It remains, therefore, that either we never pray—and so are guilty against the apostolic precept—or, if we take care to keep the precepts, that we do so without anger and without the remembrance of injuries.

But since it often happens that, when our brothers are grieved or disturbed, we disregard the matter and say that we are not the cause of their grief, the physician of souls, in order to tear out the occasions of anger from our heart by the root, commands us not only, if we ourselves are grieved and angry with our brother, to leave our gift and be reconciled to him (Matt. 5:4), but even if he is angry with us, rightly or wrongly, that we should appease his anger by our excuse and then offer our gift. But why should we linger longer over the evangelical and apostolic precepts, when from the old law too it is permitted to learn this? For although it seems to bend aside from that severity and to accommodate itself, it says thus: Do not hate your brother in your heart (Lev. 19:17); and again: In place of those who hold the memory of injuries, unto death (Prov. 12:25). For in this place it forbids and punishes not only the anger that bursts forth into action, but also that which is retained in the mind.

Therefore, clinging to the divine laws, we must strive with all our strength against the spirit of anger and against that disease situated within us; and we must not stir up anger against men and for that reason pursue solitude and separation—namely, so that, with no one present there to provoke us to anger, the virtue of equanimity may easily be exercised in solitude. For it is partly from pride and partly because we are unwilling to accuse ourselves and to ascribe the causes of our anger to our own sloth that we seek to be separated from the brothers. As long as, therefore, we impute the causes of our weakness to others, it is impossible for us to attain to the perfection of equanimity. For the height of our amendment is obtained not from our neighbor's equanimity toward us, but from our own long-suffering toward our neighbor and forgetfulness of injuries. But when, fleeing the contest of equanimity, we seek the desert and solitude, whatever passions we bring there not yet cured and calmed, let us consider them to be hidden, not destroyed. Indeed, the desert and withdrawal know how not only to preserve but also to conceal imperfections in those who are not yet free from passions.

Nor does it allow them to perceive the passions to which they are subject; indeed, by the phantasies it suggests, it persuades them that they have attained equanimity and humility, as long as no one is present to provoke and test them. But when an occasion arises for them to be provoked and exercised, the passions, previously hidden and concealed, like unbridled horses bursting from their stables and fattened by long quiet and idleness, hurl their rider more violently and fiercely to destruction. For passions, when not stirred up in leisure, are all the more fiercely roused within us by men; and the very shadow of patience and equanimity, which we hold only by phantasy and opinion, we lose through the leisure of solitude by neglect of exercising it, if we mingle with our brothers. For just as venomous animals, lying in the wilderness and in their dens, then display their fury when they catch someone approaching, so men subject to passions, resting not from affection for virtue but from the necessary condition of a desert place, then vomit forth the poison of the soul when they have caught someone approaching and provoking them. Therefore, those who seek the perfection of gentleness ought by all means not only not to be angry against men, but not even against brute animals, indeed not even against inanimate things.

I remember that when I was living in the desert, I conceived anger against a pen, because its thickness at one moment and its thinness at another displeased me; likewise against a piece of wood, because when I wished to cut it I could not do so quickly; and again against a flint for striking fire, because, though I was in haste to draw out fire, the spark did not leap forth at once. So surely does anger rage that it is carried even to insensible and inanimate things. If, therefore, we wish to attain the blessedness of Christ, we must restrain not only the anger that bursts forth into action, as was said above, but also that which is conceived in the mind. For it brings no such profit to keep one's mouth closed and to utter no furious word, as to purify the heart from the memory of injuries and not to cherish wicked thoughts. For the evangelical teaching teaches that the roots of sins must be cut out rather than the branches. Indeed, once the root of anger has been cut out from the heart, no hatred, no envy will be brought to the point of action; for whoever hates his brother is a murderer, inasmuch as he kills him by the affection of hatred. But God sees him as slain; his blood men do not see poured out by the sword, but he was killed by the affection of hatred. God therefore will render to each one crowns or punishments not only for works but also for thoughts and purpose, as He Himself says through the prophet: I come to gather their works, thoughts, and meditations.

And again the Apostle says: as they accuse one another in their thoughts, or else defend themselves, on the day when God will judge the hidden things of men (Rom. 2:15). But the Lord Himself, teaching that we ought to lay aside all anger, says in the Gospels: Whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment (Matt. 5:22). For the accurate copies have it thus; for that word "without cause" is a later addition, as is clear from the preceding clause of Scripture. For the Lord's purpose is that we cut off the root and spark of anger entirely, and keep within us not even the least occasion of anger; so that, surely, even if we stir up anger from some seemingly reasonable cause, we may not at last fall into the frenzy of a brutish mind. The perfect cure for this disease, moreover, is this: that we hold it as a settled conviction that it is permitted us to stir up our indignation on neither a just nor an unjust cause. For if the spirit of anger darkens the mind, neither the light of discernment nor the rudder of right counsel and justice will be found in us; nor, while the spirit of anger rules, can it be that our soul becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit. Finally, keeping the uncertain hour of death before our eyes, we must guard ourselves from anger, and know that neither ascetic practice, nor temperance, nor the renunciation of every material thing, nor fastings and vigils, will be of profit to us, if, seized by anger and hatred, we are liable to judgment. From which may we be delivered by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.

The fifth contest for us is against the spirit of sadness, which darkens our soul so that it cannot give itself to any spiritual contemplation, and restrains it from every good work. For when that wicked spirit has seized the soul and darkened it wholly, it does not allow it to pour out prayers with eagerness, nor to be free to take up the profit of sacred readings, nor does it permit it to be gentle and agreeable to the brethren: it suggests hatred of every pursuit of work, and of the profession of life itself. In short, while sadness confounds all the soul's salutary counsels and loosens its firmness and perseverance, it makes it, as it were, foolish and stunned, and at last binds it fast with the thought of despair. Therefore let this be our one aim: to wage the spiritual contest, to conquer the spirits of wickedness with God, and to keep our heart with all vigilance from the spirit of sadness (Prov. 4:23).

For just as a moth consumes a garment and a worm consumes wood, so sadness gnaws away a person's soul, persuading him to withdraw from every upright company and not allowing him to take counsel from true friends or to give them a gentle and peaceable answer; but sadness throws the whole soul into confusion and fills it with negligence, and finally persuades him to flee from people as though they had been the cause of his disturbance. Nor does it allow him to recognize that the sickness lies not outside but within, which becomes apparent when pressing temptations make it plain by experience. For a person is never harmed by another unless he has within himself the disease—that is, the causes of the passions. This is the reason that God, the maker of all things and the physician of souls, who alone knows the soul's wounds rightly and accurately, does not command us to abandon the company of people but to cut out the causes of malice within ourselves, knowing that the cause of the soul's health is obtained not in separation from people but in converse and practice with people. Therefore when we leave our brothers for certain suitable occasions, we by no means cut off the occasions of sadness but only change them, since the disease placed within moves them according to the condition of circumstances. Wherefore let our whole warfare be against the interior passions. For when these have been cast out with God's help, we shall easily live not only with people but even with wild beasts, according to that saying of blessed Job: The savage beasts shall have peace with you (Job.

V, 23). First of all, then, we must fight against the spirit of sadness, which casts the soul into despair, so that we may drive that (evil) from our heart. For it did not allow Cain to repent after the murder of his brother, nor Judas after the betrayal of the Lord. Let us have only that sadness which looks to repentance for sins, joined with good hope, and which procures the possession of heavenly goods; of which the Apostle said: The sadness that is according to God (II Cor. 7:10)..... Therefore that sadness which nourishes the soul with the hope of repentance is mingled with joy: wherefore it makes a person eager and obedient to every good work, and also easy of approach and humble.

Here one leaf is missing, namely what remains against the spirit of sadness, and the beginning of what is said concerning the spirit of sloth.

(Cassian, Institutes I. x, c. and following) Let them eat bread. Let us hear how wisely the Apostle shows us the causes of this sloth. For he calls them unruly (II Thess. 3:6) who do not work: by this one word declaring much malice. For he who is given to idleness is also reckless in words, ready to revile, and finally unfit to lead a quiet life, and a slave of sloth. He therefore commands that we withdraw, that is, separate ourselves from him, as from a pestilent disease. Then what does he say: And not according to the tradition which they received from us (II Thess.

and by this he shows that they are proud, contemptuous, and violators of the apostolic traditions. And again: Nor did we eat bread for nothing from anyone, he says, but working night and day in labor and weariness, lest we burden any of you (Ibid., 8). That teacher of the Gentiles, the herald of the Gospel, who was caught up even to the third heaven (II Cor. XII, 2), who says that the Lord commanded those who proclaim the Gospel to live by the Gospel (I Cor. IX, 14), worked night and day in labor, lest he burden anyone. What then shall we do, who out of sloth shrink from work and seek bodily rest; to whom neither the preaching of the Gospel nor the care of churches has been entrusted, but only the solicitude of one's own soul rests upon us? Then, showing more clearly how much loss accrues from idleness, he adds: Doing nothing, but busying themselves curiously (II Thess. III, 11); from idleness comes disorder, and from disorder every malice arises. Then, preparing a remedy for this, he says: But to those who are of this sort we denounce and exhort, that working with silence they eat their own bread (Ibid., 12), and with great rebuke he adds: If anyone is unwilling to work, neither let him eat (Ibid., 10).

Instructed by these apostolic precepts, the holy fathers of Egypt do not allow monks to be idle even for the least amount of time, especially the younger ones, knowing that through patient labor they drive out sloth, provide food for themselves, and come to the aid of the needy. For they labor not only for their own needs, but also supply what is necessary from their own work to strangers, the poor, those handed over to prison, and all the destitute; and they believe that service of this kind is a sacrifice acceptable to God. The fathers also say this: that the one who works does battle with one demon, and is often troubled by him; but the idle man is a captive of countless demons. It will be worth recalling a saying of Abbot Moses, among the most distinguished of the fathers, which he spoke to me. For when I had been sitting in the desert for a short time, sloth seized me, and approaching him, I addressed him thus: "Grievously afflicted by sloth and greatly weakened, I was not freed from it before I left and met Abbot Paul." Abbot Moses answered me: "Be assured that you have by no means freed yourself from it up to now; rather, you have handed yourself over to it as a captive and a slave. Know, therefore, that you must be more fiercely fought against by it, as a deserter, unless hereafter you strive to fight against it through patience, prayer, and the work of your hands.

The seventh contest for us is against the spirit of vainglory, that multiform and most subtle passion, which is not comprehended even by the one who is tempted. For the onsets of the other passions are more open, and one fights against them more easily; for the soul, when it recognizes the war, overcomes by resisting and praying. But the malice of vainglory, since it is multiform, as was said above, is difficult to overcome. For it presents itself in every pursuit of man—in bearing, in appearance, in gait, in speech, in vigils, in fastings, in prayer, in reading, in quiet, in equanimity. For by all these it tries to pierce the soldier of Christ. For whom it cannot deceive by sumptuousness of clothing and bend to vainglory, it tempts by cheapness of clothing. And whom it could not inflate by honor, it inflates by patience under disgrace, even to foolishness; whom knowledge could not lead to vainglory, it tries to deceive by silence, as if he were a quiet man; whom delicacy of foods could not draw to softness, it leads by fasting to a desire for praise. Finally, every work, every pursuit, offers an occasion of war to this demon. In addition to these things, the one who is attacked by it sometimes invents for himself grades of sacred order.

I remember a certain old man, when I was living in Scetis, who came to a brother's cell for the sake of a visit, and when he drew near the door of the cell, he heard him speaking within; and when the old man thought that he was repeating something from Scripture, he stood still to listen, and he perceived that he was raving from vainglory, and was ordaining himself a deacon, and giving the dismissal to the catechumens. When the old man heard this, at last he opened the door and went in, and the brother, running to meet him, greeted him according to custom, and asked whether he had stood long at the door. Then the old man answered him calmly: I have just now, he said, arrived, when you were giving the dismissal to the catechumens. When the brother heard this, he fell at the old man's feet, to beg him with entreaties for deliverance from this kind of error. I have remembered this matter to show into how great foolishness this demon casts a man. Therefore, whoever wishes to strive perfectly and to be crowned with the crown of righteousness, let him strive in every way to overcome this multiform beast, always keeping before his eyes that saying of holy David: The Lord has scattered the bones of those who please men (Ps. 52:6); and let him do nothing with a view to human praises, but seek his reward from God, and always cast away the thoughts of his own praise invading his heart: let him despise himself in the sight of God. For by this agreement he will be able, with God's help, to be freed from the demon of vainglory, by the grace of our Lord Jesus, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

The eighth contest for us is against the spirit of pride, which is more grievous and fierce than all the others, by which especially the perfect are assailed, and which strives to overthrow those who have nearly reached the summit of the virtues; and like a pestilent disease it destroys not a part of the body but the whole. And indeed the other individual passions, although they disturb the soul, yet because each fights against only one virtue opposed to it, and strives to overcome that one, they darken and confuse the soul only in part; but the passion of pride pours darkness over the whole soul and leads it to utter ruin. And that we may consider more carefully what has been said, let us examine the matter by this reasoning. The vice of gluttony strives to corrupt abstinence, fornication chastity, avarice poverty, anger meekness, and the other kinds of wickedness the virtues contrary to themselves; but the wickedness of pride, when it dominates a wretched soul, acts no differently than some most savage tyrant who, having captured a great and lofty city, demolishes it entirely and overturns it from its foundations. Of this the angel who fell from heaven because of pride is a witness; who, created by God and adorned with every virtue and wisdom, was unwilling to ascribe these things to God's grace but to his own nature; whence he thought himself equal to God: and the prophet, rebuking this thought of his, says: You said in your heart: I will sit on the high mountain, I will place my throne above the clouds and I will be like the Most High.

But you are a man, and not God. And another prophet says: Why do you glory in malice, you who are powerful? and after a few words: You have loved all words of destruction, and a deceitful tongue. Therefore God will destroy you in the end, he will pluck you out and remove you from your tabernacle, and your root from the land of the living. The just will see and will fear, and they will laugh over him and say: Behold the man who did not set God as his helper, and prevailed in his vanity. Since we know these things, let us fear, and with all watchfulness keep our heart from the deadly spirit of pride, reciting to ourselves these words of the Apostle whenever we have completed the work of some virtue: Yet not I, but the grace of God which is with me; and what was said by the Lord: Without me you can do nothing; and what was said by the prophet: Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it have labored in vain; and again: It is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For even if someone is fervent in zeal and diligent in purpose, but bound by flesh and blood, he will not be able to reach perfection unless he has hoped for all these things in the mercy and grace of Christ; for, according to the divine James: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights. And Paul says: For what do you have that you did not receive?

But if you have received, why do you glory as though you had not received? Yet you exalt yourself over gifts that are another's as though they were your own. But that salvation comes to us by the grace and mercy of God, the thief is witness—he who obtained the kingdom of heaven not as the reward of virtue, but by the grace and mercy of God. Since our fathers knew these things well, they all handed down with one judgment that we cannot lay a firm foundation for the perfection of virtue except through humility, which proceeds from faith, meekness, and perfect poverty; by these, perfect charity is obtained through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be glory to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, forever. Amen.