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CHAPTER 17. Go, sell your possessions, and give to the poor, and having taken up the cross, deny yourself, so that you may be able to pray without distraction.

CHAPTER 18. If you wish to pray in a praiseworthy manner, deny yourself every hour, and endure very many terrible things for the sake of prayer.

CHAPTER 19. Whatever hardship you endure with fortitude, its fruit

you will find at the time of prayer. CHAPTER 20. Desiring to pray as you ought, do not grieve a soul, otherwise,

you run in vain. CHAPTER 21. Leave your gift, he says, before the altar, and

first go and be reconciled to your brother, and then you will pray without disturbance; for remembrance of wrongs darkens the ruling faculty of the one who prays, and darkens his prayers.

CHAPTER 22. Those who store up griefs and remembrance of wrongs for themselves, and think they are praying, are like those who draw water, and pour it into a pierced jar.

CHAPTER 23. If you are patient, you will always pray with joy. CHAPTER 24. When you are praying as you ought, such things will happen to you,

that you will think it is altogether just to give way to anger; but there is no just anger at all against one's neighbor; for if you seek, you will find that it is possible for the matter to be settled well even without anger; therefore, use every means not to erupt in anger.

CHAPTER 25. See that in thinking to heal another, you yourself are not incurable, and cause an interruption to your prayer.

CHAPTER 26. By being sparing of anger, you will find forbearance, and will prove yourself prudent with regard to conceit, and you will be among those who pray.

CHAPTER 27. Arming yourself against anger, you will never tolerate desire; for this gives material to anger, and this 79.1173 disturbs the intellectual eye, ruining the state of prayer.

CHAPTER 28. Do not pray only in outward forms, but turn your mind to the awareness of spiritual prayer with much fear.

CHAPTER 29. Sometimes, having immediately stood for prayer you will not pray, and at other times, having labored greatly, you will not attain the goal, so that having sought even more, and received, you will possess the achievement as inviolable.

CHAPTER 30. When an angel appears, all those who trouble us immediately depart, and the mind is found in great relief, praying soundly; but at other times, when the usual war presses upon us, the mind struggles, and is not allowed to recover its breath, for it has been affected beforehand by the various passions, nevertheless, seeking more it will find, and to it knocking intensely, it will be opened.

CHAPTER 31. Do not pray for your own wishes to be done; for they do not in every case agree with the will of God, but rather, as you have been taught, pray, saying: Your will be done in me. And in every matter, thus ask him for what is good and beneficial for your soul, for you do not in every case seek this.

CHAPTER 32. Often in prayer I have asked for what I thought was good for me to happen, and I persisted in the request, irrationally forcing the will of God, and not yielding to him, so that he himself might rather provide what he knows is beneficial, and yet, on receiving it, I was later greatly distressed, because I had rather asked for my own will to be done; for the matter did not turn out for me as I thought.

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ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΙΖʹ. Ἀπελθὼν πώλησόν σου τὰ ὑπάρχοντα, καὶ δὸς πτωχοῖς, καὶ λαβὼν τὸν σταυρὸν, ἀπάρνησαι ἑαυτὸν, ἵνα δυνηθῇς ἀπερισπάστως προσεύχεσθαι.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΙΗʹ. Εἰ βούλει ἐπαινετῶς προσεύχεσθαι, ἄρνησαι ἑαυτὸν καθ' ὥραν, καὶ πάμπολα δεινὰ πάμπολα ὑπὲρ προσευχῆς φιλοσόφει.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΙΘʹ. Ὅπερ ἂν χαλεπὸν ὑπομένων φιλοσοφήσῃς, τούτου τὸν καρπὸν

κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τῆς προσευχῆς εὑρήσεις. ΚΕΦΑΛ. Κʹ. Ἐπιθυμῶν προσεύξασθαι ὡς δεῖ, μὴ λυπήσῃς ψυχὴν, εἰ δὲ μήγε,

εἰς μάτην τρέχεις. ΕΦΑΛ. ΚΑʹ. Ἄφες σου τὸ δῶρον, φησὶν, ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου, καὶ

ἀπελθὼν πρότερον διαλλάγηθι τῷ ἀδελφῷ σου, καὶ τότε προσεύξῃ ἀταράχως· ἡ γὰρ μνησικακία ἀμαυροῖ τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν τοῦ προσευχομένου, καὶ σκοτίζει τούτου τὰς προσευχάς.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΚΒʹ. Οἱ λύπας καὶ μνησικακίας ἑαυτοῖς σωρεύοντες, καὶ προσεύχεσθαι δοκοῦντες, ὅμοιοί εἰσι τοῖς ὕδωρ ἀντλοῦσι, καὶ εἰς τετρημένον πίθον βάλλουσιν.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΚΓʹ. Ἐὰν ὑπομονητικὸς ᾖς, ἀεὶ μετὰ χαρᾶς προσεύξῃ. ΚΕΦΑΛ. Κ∆ʹ. Προσευχομένου σου δεόντως, τοιαῦτά σοι ἀπαντήσει πράγματα,

ἵνα δόξῃς δίκαιον εἶναι πάντως τῷ θυμῷ χρήσασθαι· οὐκ ἔστι δὲ δίκαιος θυμὸς κατὰ τοῦ πέλας τὸ σύνολον· ἐὰν γὰρ ζητήσῃς, εὑρήσεις, ὅτι δυνατὸν, καὶ δίχα θυμοῦ καλῶς διατεθῆναι τὸ πρᾶγμα· πάσῃ οὖν μηχανῇ χρῆσαι πρὸς τὸ μὴ ῥῆξαι θυμόν.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΚΕʹ. Ὅρα μὴ δοκῶν ἕτερον ἰᾶσθαι, αὐτὸς ἀνίατος ἔσῃ, καὶ δῷς ἐκκοπὴν τῇ προσευχῇ σου.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Κςʹ. Φειδόμενος θυμοῦ, φειδὼ εὑρήσεις, καὶ φρόνιμον ἑαυτὸν ἀναδείξεις πρὸς τὸ εἰς οἴησιν, καὶ ἐν τοῖς προσευχομένοις ἔσῃ.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΚΖʹ. Κατὰ θυμοῦ ὁπλιζόμενος, ἐπιθυμίας οὐκ ἀνέξῃ ποτέ· αὕτη γὰρ ὕλας δίδωσι τῷ θυμῷ, καὶ οὗτος 79.1173 ταράττει τὸν νοερὸν ὀφθαλμὸν, λυμαινόμενος τὴν κατάστασιν τῆς προσευχῆς.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΚΗʹ. Μὴ ἐν μόνοις τοῖς ἐκτὸς σχήμασι προσεύχου, ἀλλὰ τρέπε τὸν νοῦν σου εἰς συναίσθησιν πνευματικῆς προσευχῆς μετὰ πολλοῦ φόβου.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΚΘʹ. Ποτὲ μὲν ἀθρόως στὰς εἰς προσευχὴν οὐ προσεύξῃ, ποτὲ δὲ λίαν πονήσας, οὐκ ἐπιτεύξῃ τοῦ σκοποῦ, ἵνα ἔτι μᾶλλον ζητήσας, καὶ λαβὼν, ἕξεις ἄσυλον τὸ κατόρθωμα.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Λʹ. Ἐπιστάντος ἀγγέλου ἀθρόον ἅπαντες ἀφίστανται οἱ ἐνοχλοῦντες ἡμῖν, καὶ εὑρίσκεται ὁ νοῦς ἐν πολλῇ ἀνέσει, ὑγιῶς προσευχόμενος· ποτὲ δὲ τοῦ συνήθους πολέμου ἡμῖν ἐπικειμένου, πυκτεύει ὁ νοῦς, καὶ οὐ συγχωρεῖται ἀνανεῦσαι, προπεποίωται γὰρ τοῖς ποικίλοις πάθεσιν, ὅμως ἐπὶ πλέον ζητῶν εὑρήσει, καὶ κρούοντι αὐτῷ εὐτόνως, ἀνοιγήσεται.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΛΑʹ. Μὴ προσεύχου τὰ σὰ θελήματα γενέσθαι· οὐδὲ γὰρ πάντως συμφωνοῦσι τῷ θελήματι τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον καθὼς ἐδιδάχθης, προσεύχου λέγων· Γενηθήτω τὸ θέλημά σου ἐν ἐμοί· καὶ ἐπὶ παντὶ δὲ πράγματι οὕτως αὐτὸν αἴτει τὸ ἀγαθὸν, καὶ συμφέρον τῇ ψυχῇ, σὺ δὲ οὐ πάντως τοῦτο ζητεῖς.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΛΒʹ. Πολλάκις προσευχόμενος ᾐτησάμην γενέσθαι μοι ὃ ἔδοξα καλὸν εἶναί μοι, καὶ ἐπέμενον τῷ αἰτήματι, ἀλόγως βιαζόμενος τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ μὴ ἀποδιδοὺς αὐτῷ, ἵνα ὃ οἶδε συμφέρον αὐτὸς μᾶλλον οἰκονομήσῃ, καὶ μέντοι λαβὼν, ὕστερον ἠχθέσθην λίαν, διότι μᾶλλον τὸ βούλημα ἑαυτοῦ ᾐτησάμην γενέσθαι· οὐ γὰρ τοιοῦτόν μοι ἀπήντησε τὸ πρᾶγμα, οἷον ἐνόμιζον.