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OF THE SAME AUTHOR, A PRACTICAL DISCOURSE, 100 CHAPTERS

1 Christianity is the doctrine of our Savior Christ, composed of the practical, the natural, and the theological. 2 The kingdom of heaven is dispassion of the soul, together with true knowledge of beings.

3 The kingdom of God is knowledge of the Holy Trinity, co-extensive with the constitution of the intellect, and surpassing its incorruptibility.

4 Whatever one loves, this he certainly desires, and what he desires, this he strives to obtain. Desire is the precursor of all pleasure, and sensation begets desire; for that which is without sensation is also free from passion.

5 With anchorites, the demons wrestle nakedly, but against those practicing virtue in cenobitic communities or companies, they arm the more careless of the brethren. But the second war is much lighter than the first, because it is not possible to find on earth human beings more bitter than demons or who can receive all their malice at once.

t6-14 On the eight thoughts

6 There are eight principal thoughts in all, in which is contained every thought.

First is that of gluttony, and after it, that of fornication; third, that of avarice; fourth, that of sadness; fifth, that of anger; sixth, that of acedia; seventh, that of vainglory; eighth, that of pride. Whether all these trouble the soul or not is not up to us; but whether they linger or do not linger, or stir up passions or do not stir them up, is up to us.

7 The thought of gluttony suggests to the monk the swift decline of his ascetic practice, sketching for him a picture of stomach, liver, and spleen ailments, and dropsy, and a long illness, and a scarcity of necessities, and a lack of physicians. It also often brings to his memory certain brethren who have fallen into these afflictions. And there are times when it even persuades those very persons who have suffered to visit the continent ones, and to recount their own misfortunes, and how they became such from their ascetic practice.

8 The demon of fornication compels one to desire different bodies; and he attacks the continent more fiercely, so that they might cease, as if achieving nothing. And defiling the soul, he bends it toward those acts; he makes it say certain words and hear them in return, as if the deed were being seen and actually taking place.

9 Avarice suggests a long old age and an inability of the hands to work, future famines and impending sicknesses, and the bitter things of poverty, and how shameful it is to receive one's necessities from others.

10 Sadness sometimes arises from the frustration of desires, and sometimes it accompanies anger. It arises from the frustration of desires in this way: certain thoughts come first and lead the soul to the memory of home and parents and its former way of life. And when they see it not resisting but following along and becoming dissipated in pleasures of the mind, they then seize it and plunge it into sadness, because the former things no longer exist and cannot exist again on account of the present way of life. And the wretched soul, by as much as it was dissipated by the first thoughts, by so much is it humbled and constricted by the second.

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ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΛΟΓΟΣ ΠΡΑΚΤΙΚΟΣ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΑ Ρʹ

1 Χριστιανισμός ἐστι δόγμα τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Χριστοῦ ἐκ πρακτικῆς καὶ φυσικῆς καὶ θεολογικῆς συνεστός. 2 Βασιλεία οὐρανῶν ἐστιν ἀπάθεια ψυχῆς μετὰ γνώσεως τῶν ὄντων ἀληθοῦς.

3 Βασιλεία Θεοῦ ἐστι γνῶσις τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος συμπαρεκτεινομένη τῇ συστάσει τοῦ νοός, καὶ ὑπερβάλλουσα τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν αὐτοῦ.

4 Οὗτινός τις ἐρᾷ, τούτου καὶ ἐφίεται πάντως, καὶ οὗ ἐφίεται, τούτου καὶ τυχεῖν ἀγωνίζεται· καὶ πάσης μὲν ἡδονῆς ἐπιθυμία κατάρχει, ἐπιθυμίαν δὲ τίκτει αἴσθησις· τὸ γὰρ αἰσθήσεως ἄμοιρον καὶ πάθους ἐλεύθερον.

5 Τοῖς μὲν ἀναχωρηταῖς οἱ δαίμονες γυμνοὶ προσπαλαίουσι, τοῖς δὲ ἐν κοινοβίοις ἢ συνοδίαις κατεργαζομένοις τὴν ἀρετὴν τοὺς ἀμελεστέρους τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἐφοπλίζουσι· πολλῷ δὲ κουφότερος ὁ δεύτερος πόλεμος τοῦ πρώτου διότι οὐκ ἔστιν εὑρεῖν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἀνθρώπους πικροτέρους δαιμόνων ἢ πᾶσαν ἀθρόως αὐτῶν ὑποδεχομένους τὴν κακουργίαν.

t6-14 Περὶ τῶν ὀκτὼ λογισμῶν

6 Ὀκτώ εἰσι πάντες οἱ γενικώτατοι λογισμοὶ ἐν οἷς περιέχεται πᾶς λογισμός.

Πρῶτος ὁ τῆς γαστριμαργίας, καὶ μετ' αὐτὸν ὁ τῆς πορνείας· τρίτος ὁ τῆς φιλαργυρίας· τέταρτος ὁ τῆς λύπης· πέμπτος ὁ τῆς ὀργῆς· ἕκτος ὁ τῆς ἀκηδίας· ἕβδομος ὁ τῆς κενοδοξίας· ὄγδοος ὁ τῆς ὑπερηφανίας. Τούτους πάντας παρενοχλεῖν μὲν τῇ ψυχῇ ἢ μὴ παρενοχλεῖν, τῶν οὐκ ἐφ' ἡμῖν ἐστι· τὸ δὲ χρονίζειν αὐτοὺς ἢ μὴ χρονίζειν, ἢ πάθη κινεῖν ἢ μὴ κινεῖν, τῶν ἐφ' ἡμῖν.

7 Ὁ μὲν τῆς γαστριμαργίας λογισμὸς ἔκπτωσιν ταχεῖαν τῷ μοναχῷ τῆς ἀσκήσεως ὑποβάλλει· στόμαχον καὶ ἧπαρ καὶ σπλῆνα καὶ ὕδρωπα διαγράφων, καὶ νόσον μακράν, καὶ σπάνιν τῶν ἐπιτηδείων, καὶ ἰατρῶν ἀπορίαν. Φέρει δὲ αὐτὸν πολλάκις καὶ εἰς μνήμην ἀδελφῶν τινων τούτοις περιπεσόντων τοῖς πάθεσιν. Ἔστι δὲ ὅτε καὶ αὐτοὺς ἐκείνους τοὺς πεπονθότας παραβάλλειν ἀναπείθει τοῖς ἐγκρατευομένοις, καὶ τὰς ἑαυτῶν ἐκδιηγεῖσθαι συμφοράς, καὶ ὡς ἐκ τῆς ἀσκήσεως τοιοῦτοι γεγόνασιν.

8 Ὁ τῆς πορνείας δαίμων σωμάτων καταναγκάζει διαφόρων ἐπιθυμεῖν· καὶ σφοδρότερος τοῖς ἐγκρατευομένοις ἐφίσταται, ἵν' ὡς μηδὲν ἀνύοντες παύσωνται· καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν μιαίνων περὶ ἐκείνας κατακάμπτει τὰς ἐργασίας· λέγειν τε αὐτήν τινα ῥήματα καὶ πάλιν ἀκούειν ποιεῖ, ὡς ὁρωμένου δῆθεν καὶ παρόντος τοῦ πράγματος.

9 Ἡ φιλαργυρία γῆρας μακρὸν ὑποβάλλει καὶ πρὸς ἐργασίαν ἀδυναμίαν χειρῶν, λιμούς τε ἐσομένους καὶ νόσους συμβησομένας, καὶ τὰ τῆς πενίας πικρά, καὶ ὡς ἐπονείδιστον τὸ παρ' ἑτέρων λαμβάνειν τὰ πρὸς τὴν χρείαν.

10 Ἡ λύπη ποτὲ μὲν ἐπισυμβαίνει κατὰ στέρησιν τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν, ποτὲ δὲ καὶ παρέπεται τῇ ὀργῇ. Κατὰ στέρησιν δὲ τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν οὕτως ἐπισυμβαίνει· λογισμοί τινες προλαβόντες εἰς μνήμην ἄγουσι τὴν ψυχὴν οἴκου τε καὶ γονέων καὶ τῆς προτέρας διαγωγῆς. Καὶ ὅταν αὐτὴν μὴ ἀνθισταμένην ἀλλ' ἐπακολουθοῦσαν θεάσωνται καὶ διαχεομένην ἐν ταῖς κατὰ διάνοιαν ἡδοναῖς, τότε λαμβάνοντες αὐτὴν ἐν τῇ λύπῃ βαπτίζουσιν ὡς οὐχ ὑπαρχόντων τῶν προτέρων πραγμάτων οὐδὲ δυναμένων λοιπὸν διὰ τὸν παρόντα βίον ὑπάρξαι· καὶ ἡ ταλαίπωρος ψυχή, ὅσον διεχύθη ἐπὶ τοῖς προτέροις λογισμοῖς, τοσοῦτον ἐπὶ τοῖς δευτέροις συνεστάλη ταπεινωθεῖσα.