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is satisfied with one food, and the acedic monk with one work. One woman will not suffice a lover of pleasure, and one cell will not suffice an acedic monk.
CHAPTER 14. The eye of the acedic man gazes frequently at the windows, and his
mind imagines visitors; the door creaked, and he jumped up, he heard a voice, and he peered through the window, and does not move away from there, until he sits down numb. When reading, the acedic man yawns a lot, and is easily overcome by sleep, he rubs his eyes, and stretches his hands, and turning his eyes from the book, he stares at the wall, turning back again he reads a little, and unfolding the ends of the discourses he busies himself with trifles, he counts the pages, and calculates the quaternions, he criticizes the script and the decoration, and later, having closed it, he puts the book under his head, and sleeps a not very deep sleep, for hunger then awakens his soul, and makes its own cares. An acedic monk is lazy in prayer, and will never speak the words of prayer; for just as a sick man does not carry a heavy burden, so also an acedic man will not do the work of God diligently; for the one is deprived of the strength of the body, while the other's soul has lost its tone. Patience cures acedia, and doing all things with much perseverance and fear of God. Set a measure for yourself in every work, and do not desist before you have completed it, and pray with understanding and intensity, and the spirit of acedia will flee from you.
CHAPTER 15. Concerning vainglory. Vainglory is an irrational passion, and is easily intertwined with every work
of virtue. A line drawn on water is blurred, and the labor of virtue in a vainglorious soul. A hand covered in the bosom became white, and a hidden deed of light shines more brightly. A bindweed twines around a tree, and when it reaches the top it dries up the root, and vainglory grows alongside virtues, and does not depart until it has cut off their strength. A bunch of grapes dragging on the ground easily rots, and virtue leaning on vainglory is destroyed. A vainglorious monk is a worker without wages; he has undergone the labor, and has not received the reward. A purse with a hole in it does not keep what is put in, and vainglory destroys the rewards of virtues. The continence of a vainglorious man is smoke from a furnace, and both will be dissolved into the air. The wind makes a man's footprint disappear, and a vainglorious man his almsgiving. A stone's throw 79.1161 does not reach to heaven, and the prayer of a man-pleaser will not ascend to God.
CHAPTER 16. Vainglory is a hidden rock; if you crash against it, you have lost the cargo.
A prudent man hides his treasure, and a wise monk the labors of virtue. Vainglory advises to pray in the open squares, but he who wars against it prays in his inner room. A foolish man makes his wealth public, and stirs up many to plot against him. But you, hide what is yours, for you are on a road of robbers, until you come to the city of peace, and you will use what is yours in safety. The virtue of a vainglorious man is a shattered sacrifice, and will not be offered up on the altar of God. Acedia relaxes the tone of the soul, but vainglory strengthens a mind that has fallen away from God, it has made the weak strong, and the old man more powerful than the young, only if many witnesses are present for what is happening; fasting is light then, and vigilance, and prayer, for the praise of the many stirs up eagerness. Do not sell your labors for human glories, nor betray the future glory for praise. For human glory pitches its tent in the dust, and its fame is extinguished upon the earth, but the glory of virtue remains forever
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ἀρκεῖται τροφῇ μιᾷ, καὶ ἀκηδιαστὴς μοναχὸς ἐν ἔργῳ ἑνί. Φιληδόνῳ οὐκ ἀρκέσει μία γυνὴ, καὶ ἀκηδιαστῇ μοναχῷ οὐκ ἀρκέσει μία κέλλα.
ΚΕΦΑΛ. Ι∆ʹ. Ὀφθαλμὸς ἀκηδιαστοῦ ταῖς θυρίσιν ἐνατενίζει συχνῶς, καὶ ἡ
διάνοια αὐτοῦ τοὺς ἐπισκεπτομένους φαντάζεται· ἔτρισεν ἡ θύρα, κἀκεῖνος ἐξήλλατο, φωνῆς ἤκουσε, καὶ διὰ τῆς θυρίδος παρέκυψε, καὶ οὐκ ἀφίσταται ἐκεῖθεν, ἕως οὗ ναρκήσει καθήμενος. Ἀναγινώσκων ἀκηδιαστὴς χασμᾶται πολλὰ, καὶ πρὸς ὕπνον καταφέρεται εὐχερῶς, τρίβει τὰς ὄψεις, καὶ διατείνει τὰς χεῖρας, καὶ τοῦ βιβλίου τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἀποστήσας, ἐνατενίζει τῷ τοίχῳ, πάλιν ἐπιστρέψας ἀνέγνω μικρὸν, καὶ ἀναπτύσσων τὰ τέλη τῶν λόγων περιεργάζεται, ἀριθμεῖ τὰ φύλλα, καὶ τὰς τετράδας ἐπιψηφίζει, ψέγει τὸ γράμμα καὶ τὴν κόσμησιν, ὕστερον δὲ πτύξας ὑπέθηκε τῇ κεφαλῇ τὸ βιβλίον, καὶ καθεύδει ὕπνον οὐ πάνυ βαθὺν, ἡ γὰρ πεῖνα λοιπὸν διεγείρει αὐτοῦ τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ τὰς ἑαυτῆς φροντίσεις ποιεῖ. Ἀκηδιαστὴς μοναχὸς, ὀκνηρὸς εἰς προσευχὴν, καὶ οὐ μὴ λαλήσει ποτὲ ῥήματα προσευχῆς· ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ νοσῶν οὐ βαστάζει φορτίον βαρὺ, οὕτω καὶ ἀκηδιαστὴς οὐ μὴ ποιήσει ἔργον Θεοῦ ἐπιμελῶς· καθῄρηται μὲν γὰρ ὁ μὲν τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ σώματος, ὁ δὲ τοὺς τόνους ἐκλέλυται τῆς ψυχῆς. Ἀκηδίαν θεραπεύει καρτερία, καὶ τὸ πάντα ποιεῖν μετὰ πολλῆς προσεδρείας καὶ φόβου Θεοῦ. Τάξον μέτρον σεαυτῷ ἐν παντὶ ἔργῳ, καὶ μὴ πρότερον ἀποστῇς, πρὶν τελέσῃς αὐτὸ, καὶ προσεύχου συνετῶς καὶ εὐτόνως, καὶ πνεῦμα ἀκηδίας φεύξεται ἀπὸ σοῦ.
ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΙΕʹ. Περὶ κενοδοξίας. Κενοδοξία πάθος ἐστὶν ἄλογον, καὶ παντὶ ἕργῳ
ἀρετῆς εὐκόλως συμπλέκεται. Συγκέχυται γραμμὴ χαραχθεῖσα καθ' ὕδατος, καὶ ἀρετῆς πόνος ἐν κενοδόξῳ ψυχῇ. Λευκὴ γέγονε χεὶρ καλυπτομένη κόλπῳ, καὶ κρυπτομένη πρᾶξις φωτὸς ἐκλάμπει φαιδρότερον. Σμίλαξ περιπλέκεται δένδρῳ, καὶ ὅταν φθάσῃ ἄνω ξηραίνει τὴν ῥίζαν, κενοδοξία δὲ ταῖς ἀρεταῖς παραφύεται, καὶ οὐκ ἀφίσταται, ἕως ἂν ἐκκόψῃ τὴν δύναμιν. Βότρυς ἐπισυρόμενος τῇ γῇ σήπεται εὐχερῶς, καὶ ἀρετὴ ἀπόλλυται κενοδοξίᾳ ἐπερειδομένη. Μοναχὸς κενόδοξος, ἐργάτης ἄμισθος· τὸν πόνον ὑπέστη, καὶ τὸν μισθὸν οὐκ ἔλαβε. Βαλάντιον τετρημένον οὐ φυλάττει τὸ βληθὲν, καὶ κενοδοξία ἀπόλλυσι μισθοὺς ἀρετῶν. Κενοδόξου ἐγκράτεια, καπνὸς καμίνου, καὶ εἰς ἀέρα διαλυθήσεται ἀμφότερα. Ἄνεμος ἀφανίζει ἴχνος ἀνδρὸς, καὶ ἐλεημοσύνην κενόδοξος. Λίθου βολὴ 79.1161 οὐ φθάνει εἰς οὐρανὸν, καὶ προσευχὴ ἀνθρωπαρέσκου οὐκ ἀναβήσεται πρὸς Θεόν.
ΚΕΦΑΛ. Ιϛʹ. Κενοδοξία πέτρα ἐστὶν ὕφαλος· ἐὰν προσρήξῃς, τὸν φόρτον
ἀπώλεσας. Κρύπτει θησαυρὸν ἀνὴρ φρόνιμος, καὶ ἀρετῆς πόνους μοναχὸς συνετός. Ἐν πλατείαις προσεύχεσθαι συμβουλεύει κενοδοξία, ὁ δὲ πολεμῶν ταύτῃ προσεύχεται εἰς ταμεῖον αὑτοῦ. ∆ημοσιεύει πλοῦτον αὐτοῦ ἀνὴρ ἄφρων, κινεῖ δὲ πολλοὺς εἰς ἐπιβουλὴν καθ' ἑαυτοῦ. Σὺ δὲ κρύπτε τὰ σὰ, ἐν ὁδῷ γὰρ τυγχάνεις λῃστῶν, ἕως ἥξεις εἰς πόλιν εἰρήνης, καὶ ἀσφαλῶς χρήσῃ τοῖς σοῖς. Ἀρετὴ κενοδόξου συντετριμμένον ἱερεῖον, καὶ οὐ μὴ ἀνενεχθῇ εἰς θυσιαστήριον Θεοῦ. Ἀκηδία ἐκλύει τόνον ψυχῆς, κενοδοξία δὲ νευροῖ νοῦν ἀποπεπτωκότα Θεοῦ, τὸν ἀσθενοῦντα ἐποίησεν ἐῤῥώμενον, καὶ τὸν γέροντα τοῦ νέου δυνατώτερον, μόνον ἐὰν παρῶσι μάρτυρες τῶν γινομένων πολλοί· κούφη νηστεία τότε, καὶ ἀγρυπνία, καὶ προσευχὴ, ὁ γὰρ ἔπαινος τῶν πολλῶν διεγείρει τὴν προθυμίαν. Μὴ πωλήσῃς τοὺς πόνους δόξαις ἀνθρωπίναις, μηδὲ τὴν μέλλουσαν δόξαν προδῷς δι' εὐφημίαν. ∆όξα γὰρ ἀνθρωπίνη εἰς χοῦν κατασκηνοῖ, καὶ κλέος αὐτῆς σβέννυται ἐπὶ γῆς, ἀρετῆς δὲ δόξα μένει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα