4

CHAPTER. ΑΙʹ. What else is good, but God? Therefore let us entrust all our affairs to Him, and it will be well with us; for He who is good is certainly also the provider of good gifts.

CHAPTER. Λ∆ʹ. Do not immediately seek your request, as if you were receiving it by your own power; for He wishes to benefit you even more as you persevere with Him in prayer; for what is higher than to converse with God and to be occupied with communion with him? CHAPTER. ΛΕʹ. Prayer is an ascent of the mind to God. 79.1176

CHAPTER. Λςʹ. If you desire to pray, renounce everything, that you may inherit everything.

CHAPTER. ΛΖʹ. Pray first to be purified of the passions, and second to be delivered from ignorance, and third from every temptation and abandonment.

CHAPTER. ΛΗʹ. Seek in your prayer only righteousness and the kingdom, that is, virtue and knowledge, and all the rest will be added to you.

CHAPTER. ΛΘʹ. It is right to pray not only for your own purification, but also for all your kind, that you may imitate the angelic way.

CHAPTER. Μʹ. See whether you truly stand before God in your prayer, or are overcome by the praise of men, and hasten to hunt for it, as if using the posture of prayer for a covering.

CHAPTER. ΜΑʹ. Whether you pray with brothers or alone, strive to pray not by habit, but with perception.

CHAPTER. ΜΒʹ. The character of prayer is thoughtfulness with reverence, and compunction, and pain of soul in the confession of failings with unvoiced groanings.

CHAPTER. ΜΓʹ. If your mind still looks about at the time of prayer, it does not yet pray as a monk, but is still worldly, embellishing the outer tent.

CHAPTER. Μ∆ʹ. While praying, guard your memory with strength, so that it does not present its own affairs to you, but moves you toward the awareness of your standing before God; for the mind is very apt to be plundered by memory at the time of prayer.

CHAPTER. ΜΕʹ. While you pray, memory brings you fantasies of old affairs, or new cares, or the face of one who has grieved you.

CHAPTER. Μςʹ. The demon is very envious of a person who prays, and uses every device to ruin his purpose; therefore he does not cease stirring up thoughts of things through memory, and rousing all the passions through the flesh, so that he may be able to hinder his excellent course and his journey to God.

CHAPTER. ΜΖʹ. When the most wicked demon, having tried many things, is unable to hinder the prayer of the diligent one, he backs off a little, and afterwards takes revenge on him when he has finished praying; for he either inflames him to anger and destroys the excellent state formed in him from the prayer, or by provoking him to some irrational pleasure he insults his mind.

CHAPTER. ΜΗʹ. When you have prayed as you ought, expect what you ought not, and stand courageously guarding your fruit; for from the beginning you were appointed for this, to work and to keep; therefore, having worked, do not leave unguarded what has been accomplished; otherwise, you have gained nothing by praying.

4

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΑΙʹ. Τί ἄλλο ἀγαθὸν, ἀλλ' ἢ Θεός; Οὐκοῦν αὐτῷ ἀποδῶμεν πάντα τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς, καὶ εὖ ἡμῖν ἔσται· ὁ γὰρ ἀγαθὸς πάντως, καὶ ἀγαθῶν ἐστι παροχεὺς δωρεῶν.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Λ∆ʹ. Μὴ ὡς ἐν δυνάμει κομιζόμενος, εὐθέως τὸ αἴτημα ζήτει· βούλεται γάρ σε ἐπὶ πλέον εὐεργετῆσαι προσκαρτεροῦντα αὐτῷ ἐν τῇ προσευχῇ· τί γὰρ ἀνώτερον τοῦ τῷ Θεῷ προσομιλεῖν, καὶ τῇ πρὸ αὐτὸν συνουσίᾳ περισπᾶσθαι; ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΛΕʹ. Προσευχή ἐστιν ἀνάβασις νοῦ πρὸς Θεόν. 79.1176

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Λςʹ. Εἰ προσεύξασθαι ποθεῖς, ἀπόταξαι τοῖς σύμπασιν, ἵνα τὸ πᾶν κληρονομήσῃς.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΛΖʹ. Προσεύχου πρότερον περὶ τοῦ καθαρθῆναι τῶν παθῶν, καὶ δεύτερον περὶ τοῦ ῥυσθῆναι ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγνωσίας, καὶ τρίτον ἀπὸ παντὸς πειρασμοῦ καὶ ἐγκαταλείψεως.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΛΗʹ. Μόνην ζήτει ἐν τῇ προσευχῇ σου τὴν δικαιοσύνην, καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν, τουτέστι τὴν ἀρετὴν, καὶ τὴν γνῶσιν, καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ πάντα προστεθήσεταί σοι.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΛΘʹ. ∆ίκαιον, μὴ μόνον περὶ οἰκείας καθάρσεως προσεύχεσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ παντὸς ὁμοφύλου, ἵνα ἀγγελικὸν μιμήσῃ τρόπον.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Μʹ. Ὅρα, ἐὰν ἀληθῶς Θεῷ παρέστηκας ἐν τῇ προσευχῇ σου, ἢ ἐπαίνῳ ἀνθρώπων ἡττᾶσαι, καὶ τούτων θηρᾷν ἐπείγῃ, ὥσπερ ἐπικαλύμματι κεχρημένος τῇ παραστάσει τῆς προσευχῆς.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΜΑʹ. Εἴτε μετὰ ἀδελφῶν προσεύχῃ, εἴτε κατὰ μόνας, ἀγώνισαι, μὴ ἔθει, ἀλλὰ αἰσθήσει προσεύχεσθαι.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΜΒʹ. Ἦθος ἐστὶ προσευχῆς σύννοια μετ' εὐλαβείας, καὶ κατανύξεως, καὶ ὀδύνης ψυχῆς ἐν ἐξαγορεύσει πταισμάτων μετὰ στεναγμῶν ἀφώνων.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΜΓʹ. Ἐὰν περιβλέπηται ὁ νοῦς σου ἀκμὴν ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς προσευχῆς, οὐδέπω ὡς μοναχὸς προσεύχεται, ἀλλ' ἔτι κοσμικός ἐστι, τὴν ἔξωθεν σκηνὴν καλλωπίζων.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Μ∆ʹ. Προσευχόμενος, τὴν μνήμην σου δυνάμει φύλαττε, ἵνα μὴ τὰ οἰκεῖα παράθηταί σοι, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν γνῶσιν τῆς παρατάσεώς σε κινῇ· λίαν γὰρ πέφυκε συλᾶσθαι ὁ νοῦς ὑπὸ τῆς μνήμης κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τῆς προσευχῆς.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΜΕʹ. Ἢ παλαιῶν πραγμάτων ἄγει σοι φαντασίας ἡ μνήμη προσευχομένῳ, ἢ νέας φροντίδας, ἢ πρόσωπον λελυπηκότος.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Μςʹ. Λίαν βασκαίνει ὁ δαίμων ἀνθρώπῳ προσευχομένῳ, καὶ πάσῃ χρᾶται μηχανῇ, λυμήνασθαι τὸν τούτου σκοπόν· οὐ παύεται οὖν τὰ νοήματα κινῶν τῶν πραγμάτων διὰ τῆς μνήμης, καὶ ὅλα τὰ πάθη ἀναμοχλεύων διὰ τῆς σαρκὸς, ἵνα ἐμποδίσαι δυνηθῇ τῷ ἀρίστῳ αὐτοῦ δρόμῳ, καὶ τῇ πρὸς Θεὸν ἐκδημίᾳ.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΜΖʹ. Ὅταν πολλὰ ποιήσας ὁ πονηρότατος δαίμων, μὴ δυνηθῆ ἐμποδίσαι τὴν τοῦ σπουδαίου προσευχὴν, μι79.1177 κρὸν ὑποχαλᾷ, καὶ μετέπειτα ἀμύνεται αὐτὸν προσευξάμενον· ἢ γὰρ εἰς ὀργὴν ἐξάψας ἀφανίζει τὴν ἐκ τῆς εὐχῆς συγκροτουμένην ἀρίστην κατάστασιν ἐν ἑαυτῷ, ἢ πρὸς ἡδονήν τινα ἄλογον ἐρεθίσας ὑβρίζει τὸν νοῦν.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΜΗʹ. Προσευξάμενος ὡς δεῖ, προσδόκα ἃ μὴ δεῖ, καὶ στῆθι ἀνδρείως φυλάττων τὸν καρπόν σου· εἰς τοῦτο γὰρ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐτάχθης, ἐργάζεσθαι, καὶ φυλάττειν· μὴ οὖν ἐργασάμενος ἐάσῃς ἀφύλακτον τὸ πονηθέν· εἰ δὲ μήγε, οὐδὲν ὠφέλησας προσευχόμενος.