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CHAPTER 5. When the demons see that we are not inflamed by the same scraping of insults, then approaching quietly, they stir up the ruling faculty, so that with those with whom we were at peace when they were present, we might become insolent toward them when they are absent. When, therefore, you utter a contradiction or an insult against a brother, consider yourself to have stumbled, so that while you are quiet, you may not find a battle of thoughts in your heart, one reproaching the manner of the insults, and another reproaching in turn that you suffered terrible things and did not insult back. Whenever provocation embitters the brothers in the coenobium, then the thoughts rush in to call the solitary man blessed, so that having emptied them of long-suffering, they may also separate them from love. But he who overthrows anger with long-suffering, and grief with love, overthrows two wicked beasts that battle the soul with two valiant deeds; he who exhorts, and falls to his knees, in order to drive away the anger of the one who provoked him, drives both away from himself, because he who makes peace with those who are angry wages war against the spirit of anger; but it will vent its wrath on him, making the anger of his kin bold against him, because he accepted the battle of his neighbors upon himself, he who 79.1101 bears with the insolent-hearted for the sake of peace, this one forces himself to become a son of peace; but the bond of peace is not to be sought only among men, but also in your body, and in your spirit, and in your soul.

CHAPTER 6. For when you unite the bond of this your triad with peace, then as one united to the command of the divine Trinity you hear: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." For if you pacify with labors the flesh which lusts against the spirit, you will have the glory of the beatitudes beyond the age, having conquered the war in your body which wars against the law of your mind, and takes you captive to the law of sin which is in your members. Great is the bond of peace in which joy is also united, illuminating the eye of the intellect for the contemplation of better things, if, then, we acquire peaceful joy in our labors, we shall gratefully repel through it the difficult things that come upon us, and we will not receive the roaring demon of grief, who, especially mutilating in afflictions, leaps upon the soul, and prepares a place for the spirit of acedia so that they may darken the soul, and at the same time consume its labors. Let, therefore, the joy of peace be a law written on our heart, both drowning grief and driving out hatred, and making wrath disappear, and destroying acedia, and transforming grief. For dwelling in peaceful long-suffering, and abiding in thanksgiving and in patience, it is a sea of virtues drowning the battle-line of the devil with the cross. But understand that a contrary, disturbed joy stands by, lest somehow, being overshadowed, you be deceived into holding one instead of the other. For the demons also disguise themselves with spiritual gifts so that by the overshadowing, having led the mind astray. they might make it depart from its senses; for a spiritual joy comes upon the heart when nothing is set before it, because it finds the guide of godly grief unsettled; and then, it even hands the soul over to the Spirit of grief, because it made it a captive of spiritual joy.

CHAPTER 7. And I also say this, as the experience of the things sought for has suggested to one of the brothers, that instead of rejoicing in the Lord, the avenger brings in its own joy instead. And instead of godly grief, it tempts the mind with the opposite, so that with contrary changes, by anxieties, the soul from the ray of better things

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ΚΕΦΑΛ. Εʹ. Ὅταν ἴδωσιν ἡμᾶς οἱ δαίμονες εἰς τὸ αὐτὸ ξέσμα τῶν ὕβρεων μὴ

ἐξαφθέντας, τότε καθ' ἡσυχίαν ἐπιστάντες, ἀναμοχλεύουσι τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν, ἵνα οἷς παροῦσιν εἰρηνεύσαμεν, τούτοις ἀπιοῦσι διαθρασυνώμεθα. Ἐπὰν οὖν ἀντιλογίαν, ἢ ὕβριν πρὸς τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἐκτελέσῃς, σεαυτὸν λογίζου σφαλέντα, ἵνα μὴ ἡσυχάζων μάχην λογισμῶν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ σου εὕρης, τοῦ μὲν ἐπονειδίζοντος τῶν ὕβρεων τὸν τρόπον, τοῦ δὲ ἀντονειδίζοντος ὡς τὰ δεινὰ καὶ σοῦ μὴ ἀνθυβρίσαντος. Ὁπόταν παροξυσμὸς ἐκπικράνῃ τοὺς ἐν κοινοβίῳ ἀδελφοὺς, τότε οἱ λογισμοὶ τὸν μόνον μακαρίζειν εἰσβάλλουσιν, ἵνα τῆς μακροθυμίας κενώσαντες, καὶ τῆς ἀγάπης ἀφορίσωσιν. Ὁ δὲ μακροθυμίᾳ τὴν ὀργὴν, καὶ ἀγάπῃ τὴν λύπην ἀνατρέπων, πονηροὺς δύο θῆρας διτταῖς ἀνδραγαθίαις ἀνατρέπει θυμομαχοῦντας· ὁ παρακαλῶν, καὶ γονυπετῶν, ἵνα τὴν ὀργὴν ἀπελάσῃ, τὸν παροξύναντα, τοὺς ἀμφοτέρους ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἀπελαύνει, ὅτι τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ὀργῆς ἐκπολεμεῖ ὁ τοὺς ὀργιζομένους εἰρηνεύων· μηνιάσει δὲ τούτῳ ὀργὴν ὁμογενῶν ἐπ' αὐτῷ ἐκθρασύνων, ὅτι τὴν τῶν πλησίον εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἐδέξατο τὴν μάχην, ὁ 79.1101 τὸν θρασυκάρδιον βαστάζων ἕνεκεν εἰρήνης, οὗτος ἐκβιάζεται γενέσθαι τῆς εἰρήνης υἱός· ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐπ' ἀνθρώπων μόνον ζητητέος ὁ τῆς εἰρήνης σύνδεσμος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῷ σώματί σου, καὶ ἐν τῷ πνεύματί σου, καὶ ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ςʹ. Ὅταν γὰρ τῆς σῆς ταύτης τριάδος τὸν σύνδεσμον ἑνώσῃς τῇ

εἰρήνῃ, τότε ὡς τῆς θείας Τριάδος ἐντολῇ ἑνωθεὶς ἀκούεις· «Μακάριοι οἱ εἰρηνοποιοὶ, ὅτι αὐτοὶ υἱοὶ Θεοῦ κληθήσονται.» Καὶ γὰρ ἂν τὴν ἀντεπίθυμον τοῦ πνεύματος σάρκα εἰρηνεύσης τοῖς πόνοις, κλέος ἕξεις τῶν μακαρισμῶν ἐπέκεινα αἰῶνος, νικήσας πόλεμον τὸν ἐν τῷ σώματί σου τὸν ἀντιστρατευόμενον τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ νοός σου, καὶ αἰχμαλωτίζοντά σε τῷ νόμῳ τῆς ἁμαρτίας τῷ ἐν τοῖς μέλεσί σου. Μέγας ὁ τῆς εἰρήνης σύνδεσμος ἐν ᾧπερ ἥνωται καὶ ἡ χαρὰ φωτίζουσα τὸ ὄμμα τῆς διανοίας εἰς τὴν τῶν κρειττόνων θεωρίαν, εἴπερ οὖν ἐπικτησώμεθα τὴν εἰρηνικὴν ἐν τοῖς πόνοις χαρὰν, τὰ ἐπιόντα χαλεπὰ εὐχαρίστως δι' αὐτῆς ἀποκρουσόμεθα, καὶ τὸν τῆς λύπης δαίμονα μυκώμενον οὐκ εἰσδεξόμεθα, ὅστις, ἀκρωτηριάζων ἐν ταῖς θλίψεσι μάλιστα, τῇ ψυχῇ ἐφάλλεται, καὶ τῷ πνεύματι τῆς ἀκηδίας χώραν ἑτοιμάζεται ὅπως τὴν ψυχὴν σκοτίσωσι, καὶ ἅμα τοὺς πόνους ἀναλέξωσιν. Ἔστω τοίνυν νόμος ἡμῶν τῆς καρδίας ἔγγραφος ἡ τῆς εἰρήνης χαρὰ, καὶ τὴν λύπην καταποντίζουσα καὶ τὸ μῖσος ἀπελαύνουσα, καὶ τὴν μῆνιν ἀφανίζουσα, καὶ τὴν ἀκηδίαν καταλύουσα, καὶ τὴν λύπην ἀμείβουσα. Ἐν γὰρ τῇ εἰρηνικῇ μακροθυμίᾳ ἐμφωλεύουσα, καὶ τῇ εὐχαριστίᾳ, καὶ τῇ ὑπομονῇ ἐλλιμνάζουσα, πέλαγός ἐστιν ἀρετῶν τὴν ἀντιπαράταξιν τοῦ διαβόλου τῷ σταυρῷ καταποντίζουσα. Νόει δέ μοι τὴν ἐναντίαν χαρὰν τεταραγμένην ἐφίστασθαι, μή πως ἄλλην ἀντ' ἄλλης σκιασθεὶς ἀπατηθῇς κατέχειν. Συσχηματίζονται γὰρ καὶ τοῖς πνευματικοῖς χαρίσμασιν οἱ δαίμονες ἵνα τῷ παρασκιάσματι τὸν νοῦν ἀποπλανήσαντες. τῶν φρενῶν ἀποστήσωσιν· ἐφίσταται γὰρ χαρὰ πνευματικὴ καρδίᾳ οὐδενὸς προκειμένου, ὅτι τὸν ἡγεμόνα τῆς κατὰ Θεὸν λύπης μετέωρον εὐρίσκει, ἔπειτα δὲ, καὶ τῷ Πνεύματι τῆς λύπης τὴν ψυχὴν παραδίδωσιν, ὅτι τῆς πνευματικῆς αὐτὴν χαρᾶς αἰχμάλωτον ἐποίησε.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Ζʹ. Φημὶ δὲ καὶ τοῦτο, ὡς ὑπηγόρευσέ τινι τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἡ πεῖρα τῶν

ζητουμένων, ὅτι ἀντὶ μὲν τοῦ χαίρειν ἐν Κυρίῳ, χαρὰν οἰκείαν ὁ ἀλάστωρ ἀντεισάγει. Ἀντὶ δὲ τῆς κατὰ Θεὸν λύπης, τὴν ἐναντίαν τῷ νῷ παραπειράζει, ἵνα ταῖς ἀντιστρόφοις μεταβολαῖς τῆς τῶν κρειττόνων ἀκτῖνος μερίμναις τὴν ψυχὴν