7

Fear, since I cannot remain with others, having delivered the soul (p. 76) from all things and having smoothed it with prayer, makes it like a suitable tablet for the inscription of the gifts of the Spirit.

For this reason also the great Basil, having set forth the statement of Pharaoh to Israel that 'You are idle, you are idle; you say, Let us go and pray to the Lord our God,' adds: 'This indeed is the good and profitable leisure for the one at leisure; but evil is the leisure of the Athenians, who spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear something new, which some even now imitate in the leisure of their life, it being dear to evil spirits.'

But lest anyone should say that the great one says these things addressing them only to rhetorical idle talk, we shall add what he himself says again, clarifying that command of Solomon, 'to know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding': 'For already some,' he says, 'devoting their leisure to geometry which the Egyptians discovered or to astrology honored by the Chaldeans or being occupied at all with figures and shadows and meteorology, have disdained the instruction of the divine oracles. Since, therefore, many have grown old in the study of these things in the investigation of vanities, for this reason the recognition of instruction is necessary both for the choice of useful instruction and for the renunciation of the foolish and harmful.'

Do you see how he calls the outside learning and even that of the sciences and the knowledge from them vain, harmful, unprofitable, which some, as you say, declare to be the goal of contemplation and salvific?

And he even laments his own life, writing to Eustathius of Sebasteia, how much of it he passed paying attention with his mind to the study of these subjects: 'For I,' he says, 'having spent much time on vanity (p. 78) and having wasted nearly all my youth in useless labor, which I spent while engaged in the acquisition of the lessons of the wisdom made foolish by God, when at last, as if awakening from a deep sleep, I perceived the uselessness of the wisdom of the rulers of this age who are passing away, having lamented much my miserable life, I prayed that some guidance might be given to me.'

Have you heard what are the names for the learning and the knowledge, which some now hasten in vain to extol? It is called vanity, useless labor, wisdom made foolish, wisdom that is passing away, wisdom of this age and of its rulers, wisdom destructive of the life and conduct according to God. Therefore the lover of true wisdom had much regret for having spent time in it and having found no guidance to the true wisdom.

But now there are those, shamelessly I know not how, who say, as you yourself say, that there is no obstacle to the perfection of life in practicing Greek learning throughout one's life, not even hearing the words of the Lord spoken directly to them, 'Hypocrites, you know how to discern the signs of the sky, but how do you not discern the time of the kingdom?'. For since the time of the eternal kingdom has come and God who gives it has arrived, how, if they truly desire the renewal of the mind, do they not approach Him through prayer to receive the ancient dignity of freedom, but run to those who could not even free themselves, and this when the brother of God clearly proclaims, 'If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask from God who gives, and it will be given to him'?

And how does the knowledge from outside wisdom banish from the soul (p. 80) all vice as being born from ignorance, when not even the knowledge from the teaching of the Gospel alone is able to do this? For not the hearers of the law will be saved, says Paul, but the doers of it, and the one who knew the will of God and did not do it the Lord says will be beaten with many stripes and more than the one who did not know. Do you see how knowledge alone profits no one? And what am I to say of that concerning practical matters or that of the visible world or that of the invisible?

7

φόβος, ἐπεί μεθ᾿ ἑτέρων παραμένειν οὐκ ἔχω, πάντων ἀπαλλάξας (σελ. 76) τήν ψυχήν καί τῇ προσευχῇ καταλεάνας, ἐπιτήδειον οἷον πυξίον ποιεῖ πρός καταγραφήν τῶν χαρισμάτων τοῦ πνεύματος.

Ταῦτ᾿ ἄρα καί ὁ μέγας Βασίλειος, προθείς τό τοῦ Φαραώ πρός τόν Ἰσραήλ ὅτι «σχολάζετε, σχολασταί ἐστε, λέγετε Κυρίῳ τῷ Θεῷ ἡμῶν προσευξώμεθα, ἐπιφέρει˙ «αὕτη μέν οὖν ἡ ἀγαθή σχολή καί ὠφέλιμος τῷ σχολάζοντι˙ πονηρά δέ σχολή ἡ τῶν Ἀθηναίων, οἵ εἰς οὐδέν ἄλλο εὐκαίρουν ἤ λέγειν τι καί ἀκούειν καινότερον, ἥν καί νῦν τινες μιμοῦνται τῇ τοῦ βίου σχολῇ, φίλην οὖσαν πονηροῖς πνεύμασιν». Ὡς ἄν δέ μή τις εἴπῃ πρός τάς ρητορικάς μόνας λογολεσχίας ἀποτεινόμενον ταῦτα λέγειν τόν μέγαν, ἐκεῖνο προσθήσομεν, ὅ φησιν αὖθις αὐτός, διευκρινῶν τό σολομώντειον ἐκεῖνο παράγγελμα, «γνῶναι σοφίαν καί παιδείαν καί νοῆσαι λόγους φρονήσεως»˙ «ἤδη γάρ τινες», φησί, «γεωμετρίᾳ σχολάζοντες ἥν ἐξεῦρον Αἰγύπτιοι ἤ ἀστρολογίᾳ τῇ παρά τῶν Χαλδαίων τετιμημένη ἤ ὅλως περί σχήματα καί σκιάς καί μετεωρολογίαν ἔχοντες, τῆς τῶν θείων λογίων παιδεύσεως ὑπερεῖδον˙ ἐπειδή οὖν πολλοί τῇ περί ταῦτα σπουδῇ κατεγήρασαν ἐν τῇ τῶν ματαίων ἐρεύνῃ, διά τοῦτο ἀναγκαία ἡ τῆς παιδείας ἐπίγνωσις πρός τε τήν αἵρεσιν τῆς ὠφελίμου παιδείας καί πρός ἀποταγήν τῆς ἀνοήτου καί βλαβερᾶς». Ὁρᾷς πῶς ματαίαν, βλαβεράν, ἀνόνητον, τήν ἔξω παιδείαν καί αὐτήν τήν τῶν μαθημάτων καί τήν ἐξ αὐτῶν προσαγορεύει γνῶσιν, ἥν τινες, ὡς σύ φῄς, τέλος θεωρίας καί σωτήριον ἀποφαίνωνται; Ἐκεῖνος δέ καί τήν οἰκείαν ἀπολοφύρεται ζωήν, πρός τόν Σεβαστείας Εὐστάθιον γράφων, ὅσην τῇ περί τά μαθήματα ταῦτα μελέτῃ τόν νοῦν προσέχων διήνυσεν˙ «ἐγώ» γάρ, φησί, «πολύν χρόνον προσαναλώσας τῇ ματαιότητι (σελ. 78) καί πᾶσαν σχεδόν τήν ἐμαυτοῦ νεότητα ἐναφανίσας τῇ ματαιοπονίᾳ, ἥν εἶχον προσδιατρίβων τῇ ἀναλήψει τῶν μαθημάτων τῆς παρά τοῦ Θεοῦ μωρανθείσης σοφίας, ἐπειδή ποτε, ὥσπερ ἐξ ὕπνου βαθέος διαναστάς, κατεῖδον τό ἄχρηστον τῆς σοφίας τῶν ἀρχόντων τοῦ αἰῶνος τῶν καταργουμένων, πολλά τήν ἐλεεινήν μου ζωήν ἀπολαύσας, εὐχόμην δοθῆναί μοί τινα χειραγωγίαν». Ἤκουσας τίνα τῆς παιδείας καί τῆς γνώσεως, ἥν νῦν ἐξαίρειν μάτην σπεύδουσί τινες, τά προσρήματα; Ματαιότης, ματαιοπονία κατανομάζεται, σοφία μωρανεῖσα, σοφία καταργουμένη, σοφία τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου καί τῶν ἀρχόντων αὐτοῦ, σοφία τῆς κατά Θεόν ζωῆς τε καί πολιτείας ἀφανιστική. ∆ιό καί ὁ τῆς ἀληθινῆς σοφίας ἐραστής πολύν μετάμελον ἔσχεν ἐνδιατρίψας αὐτῇ καί μηδεμίαν χειραγωγίαν πρός τήν ἀληθινήν σοφίαν εὑρόμενος.

Νῦν δ᾿ εἰσίν, ἀπηρυθριασμένως οὐκ οἶδ᾿ὅπως, οἵ λέγουσιν, ὡς αὐτός λέγεις, μηδέν ἐμπόδιον εἶναι πρός τελειότητα βίου τό διά βίου τήν ἑλληνικήν παιδείαν ἐκμελετᾶν, μηδέ τῶν τοῦ Κυρίου λόγων ἀκούοντες ἄντικρυς πρός αὐτούς λεγομένων, «ὑποκριταί, τά μέν σημεῖα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ οἴδατε διακρίνειν, τόν δέ καιρόν τῆς βασιλείας πῶς οὐ διακρίνετε;». Τοῦ γάρ καιροῦ τῆς αἰωνίου βασιλείας ἐπιστάντος καί τοῦ διδόντος αὐτήν Θεοῦ ἐπιδεδημηκότος, πῶς, εἴγε ἀληθῶς ἐφίενται τῆς τοῦ νοῦ ἀνακαινίσεως, οὐ δι᾿ εὐχῆς αὐτῷ προσέρχονται τό τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἀρχαῖον ἀξίωμα ληψόμενοι, ἀλλά πρός τούς μηδέ ἑαυτούς ἐλευθερῶσαι δυνηθέντας τρέχουσι, καί ταῦτα τοῦ ἀδελφοθέου τρανῶς περιαγγέλλοντος, «εἴ τις λείπεται σοφίας, αἰτείτω παρά τοῦ διδόντος Θεοῦ καί λήψεται»; Πῶς δέ καί ἡ παρά τῆς ἔξω σοφίας γνῶσις κακία πᾶσαν ὡς ἐξ ἀγνοίας τικτομένην ἐξορίζει τῆς ψυχῆς, (σελ. 80) μηδ᾿ αὐτῆς τῆς ἀπό τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς διδασκαλίας γνώσεως μόνης ποιῆσαι τοῦτο δυναμένης; Οὐ γάρ οἱ ἀκροαταί τοῦ νόμου σωθήσονται, φησίν ὁ Παῦλος, ἀλλ᾿ οἱ ποιηταί αὐτοῦ, τόν δέ γνόντα τό θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ καί μή ποιήσαντα δαρρήσεσθαί φησιν ὁ Κύριος πολλά καί τοῦ μή εἰδότος πλέον. Ὁρᾷς ὡς οὐδένα ὀνίνησιν ἡ γνῶσις μόνη; Καί τί λέγω τήν περί τά πρακτέα ἤ τήν τοῦ ὁρατοῦ κόσμου ἤ τήν τοῦ ἀοράτου;