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26 Gifts extinguish resentment; and let Jacob persuade you, who with gifts won over Esau, who had come out to meet him with four hundred men. But let us who are poor fulfill this need with a meal.

27 When we fall prey to the demon of listlessness, then let us with tears divide our soul, making one part the comforter and the other the comforted, sowing good hopes in ourselves and chanting the words of holy David: Why are you sorrowful, O my soul, and why do you disquiet me? Hope in God, for I will give thanks to him; he is the salvation of my countenance and my God.

28 One must not, during the time of temptations, abandon the cell, fabricating supposedly plausible pretexts, but rather sit within and persevere and receive nobly all who come against him, but especially the demon of listlessness, who, being the most oppressive of all, renders the soul most tried. For fleeing from and avoiding such struggles teaches the mind to be unskillful, cowardly, and a fugitive.

29 But our holy and most practical teacher used to say: a monk must always be prepared as if he were to die tomorrow, and again use his body as if he were to live with it for many years. For the first, he says, cuts off the thoughts of listlessness and makes the monk more zealous; while the second keeps the body sound and always preserves its continence on an even keel.

30 It is difficult to escape the thought of vainglory; for what you do to destroy it becomes for you the beginning of another vainglory. The demons do not oppose every right thought of ours, but to some also these vices according to which we have been disposed.

31 I have known the demon of vainglory to be pursued by almost all the other demons, and upon the falls of its pursuers, to stand shamelessly by, displaying to the monk a greatness of virtues.

32 He who has touched upon knowledge and reaps the pleasure from it will no longer be persuaded by the demon of vainglory, even when it offers him all the pleasures of the world. For what greater thing could it promise than spiritual contemplation? But as long as we are without a taste of knowledge, let us zealously work at the practical life, showing God our purpose, that we do all things for the sake of His knowledge.

33 Remember your former life and your old transgressions, and how, being passionate, by the mercy of Christ you passed over to dispassion, and how you again went out from the world which humbled you many times and in many ways. Consider this also: who is it that guards you in the desert, and who drives away the demons who gnash their teeth against you? For such thoughts produce humility, and do not admit the demon of pride.

34-39 Concerning passions

34 The things of which we have passionate memories, their realities we also formerly with

passion received; and whatever realities we again receive with passion, of these too we shall have passionate memories. Therefore, he who has conquered the demons who are at work despises the things that are worked by them; for the bodiless war is more difficult than the one involving matter.

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26 Μνησικακίαν σβέννυσι δῶρα· καὶ πειθέτω σε Ἰακὼβ τὸν Ἠσαῦ δόμασιν ὑπελθὼν μετὰ τετρακοσίων εἰς ὑπάντησιν ἐξελθόντα. Ἀλλ' ἡμεῖς πένητες ὄντες τραπέζῃ τὴν χρείαν πληρώσωμεν.

27 Ὅταν τῷ τῆς ἀκηδίας περιπέσωμεν δαίμονι, τὸ τηνικαῦτα τὴν ψυχὴν μετὰ δακρύων μερίσαντες τὴν μὲν παρακαλοῦσαν τὴν δὲ παρακαλουμένην ποιήσωμεν, ἐλπίδας ἀγαθὰς ἑαυτοῖς ὑποσπείροντες καὶ τὸ τοῦ ἁγίου ∆αυῒδ κατεπᾴδοντες· ἵνα τί περίλυπος εἶ, ἡ ψυχή μου, καὶ ἵνα τί συνταράσσεις με; ἔλπισον ἐπὶ τὸν Θεόν, ὅτι ἐξομολογήσομαι αὐτῷ· σωτήριον τοῦ προσώπου μου καὶ ὁ Θεός μου.

28 Οὐ δεῖ κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τῶν πειρασμῶν καταλιμπάνειν τὴν κέλλαν προφάσεις εὐλόγους δῆθεν πλαττόμενον, ἀλλ' ἔνδον καθῆσθαι καὶ ὑπομένειν καὶ δέχεσθαι γενναίως τοὺς ἐπερχομένους ἅπαντας μέν, ἐξαιρέτως δὲ τὸν τῆς ἀκηδίας δαίμονα, ὅστις ὑπὲρ πάντας βαρύτατος ὢν δοκιμωτάτην μάλιστα τὴν ψυχὴν ἀπεργάζεται. Τὸ γὰρ φεύγειν τοὺς τοιούτους ἀγῶνας καὶ περιίστασθαι ἄτεχνον τὸν νοῦν καὶ δειλὸν καὶ δραπέτην διδάσκει.

29 Ἔλεγε δὲ ὁ ἅγιος καὶ πρακτικώτατος ἡμῶν διδάσκαλος· 29 οὕτω δεῖ ἀεὶ παρασκευάζεσθαι τὸν μοναχὸν ὡς αὔριον τεθνηξόμενον, καὶ οὕτω πάλιν τῷ σώματι κεχρῆσθαι ὡς ἐν πολλοῖς ἔτεσι συζησόμενον. Τὸ μὲν γάρ, φησί, τοὺς τῆς ἀκηδίας λογισμοὺς περικόπτει καὶ σπουδαιότερον παρασκευάζει τὸν μοναχόν· τὸ δὲ σῶον διαφυλάττει τὸ σῶμα καὶ ἴσην αὐτοῦ ἀεὶ συντηρεῖ τὴν ἐγκράτειαν.

30 Χαλεπὸν διαφυγεῖν τὸν τῆς κενοδοξίας λογισμόν· ὃ γὰρ ποιεῖς εἰς καθαίρεσιν αὐτοῦ τοῦτο ἀρχή σοι κενοδοξίας ἑτέρας καθίσταται. Οὐ παντὶ δὲ λογισμῷ ἡμῶν ὀρθῷ ἐναντιοῦνται οἱ δαίμονες ἀλλά τισι καὶ αἱ κακίαι αὗται καθ' ἃς πεποιώμεθα.

31 Ἔγνων τὸν τῆς κενοδοξίας δαίμονα σχεδὸν ὑπὸ πάντων διωκόμενον τῶν δαιμόνων καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς τῶν διωκόντων πτώμασιν ἀναιδῶς παριστάμενον καὶ τῷ μοναχῷ μέγεθος ἀρετῶν ἐμφανίζοντα.

32 Ὁ γνώσεως ἐφαψάμενος καὶ τὴν ἀπ' αὐτῆς καρπούμενος ἡδονὴν οὐκέτι τῷ τῆς κενοδοξίας πεισθήσεται δαίμονι, πάσας αὐτῷ τὰς ἡδονὰς τοῦ κόσμου προσάγοντι· τί γὰρ ἂν καὶ ὑπόσχοιτο μεῖζον πνευματικῆς θεωρίας; Ἐν ὅσῳ δέ ἐσμεν γνώσεως ἄγευστοι, τὴν πρακτικὴν προθύμως κατεργαζώμεθα, τὸν σκοπὸν ἡμῶν δεικνύντες Θεῷ ὅτι πάντα πράττομεν τῆς αὐτοῦ γνώσεως ἕνεκεν.

33 Μέμνησο τοῦ προτέρου σου βίου καὶ τῶν ἀρχαίων παραπτωμάτων, καὶ πῶς ἐμπαθὴς ὢν ἐλέει Χριστοῦ πρὸς τὴν ἀπάθειαν μεταβέβηκας, καὶ πῶς πάλιν ἐξῆλθες τοῦ κόσμου τοῦ πολλὰ καὶ πολλάκις σε ταπεινώσαντος. Λόγισαι δέ μοι καὶ τοῦτο· τίς ὁ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ φυλάσσων σε, καὶ τίς ὁ ἀπελαύνων τοὺς δαίμονας βρύχοντας κατὰ σοῦ τοὺς ὀδόντας αὐτῶν. Οἱ γὰρ τοιοῦτοι λογισμοὶ ταπεινοφροσύνην μὲν ἐμποιοῦσιν, τὸν δὲ τῆς ὑπερηφανίας οὐκ εἰσδέχονται δαίμονα.

34-39 Περὶ παθῶν

34 Ὧν τὰς μνήμας ἔχομεν ἐμπαθεῖς, τούτων καὶ τὰ πράγματα πρότερον μετὰ

πάθους ὑπεδεξάμεθα· καὶ ὅσα τῶν πραγμάτων πάλιν μετὰ πάθους ὑποδεχόμεθα, τούτων καὶ τὰς μνήμας ἕξομεν ἐμπαθεῖς. Ὅθεν ὁ νικήσας τοὺς ἐνεργοῦντας δαίμονας τῶν ὑπ' αὐτῶν ἐνεργουμένων καταφρονεῖ· τοῦ γὰρ ἐνύλου πολέμου ὁ ἄϋλος χαλεπώτερος.