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the firm and unyielding nature of the body's constitution and power; but what is tolerable for these has become an occasion of dangers for others. For one might find as great a difference between bodies and bodies as that between bronze and iron and dry sticks of wood. So that it is fitting to choose self-control in proportion to one's existing strength. For virtues indeed that are perfected in the soul alone will all be assigned equally to all; such as meekness, gentleness, humility, goodness, brotherly love, sincerity, love of truth, sympathy, mildness, love for mankind; for we say these are the special virtues of the soul, since for their acquisition and perfection the body contributes nothing more to the soul than to be a council-chamber for its consideration of them; but self-control will be determined for each one according to the strength of the body, so as neither to undertake less than one's existing strength, nor to stretch out to things beyond one's strength. For this too, I think, it is fitting to consider, so that by immoderate self-control we do not, having destroyed the body's strength, render it idle and inactive for important actions. For indeed, when God made man, he did not will him to be idle and motionless, but to be active in his duties, in paradise commanding Adam to work and to keep it (for even if a spiritual interpretation is attached to the saying, still at least the literal sense too is worthy of zeal and diligence), and after the fall from there declaring that he should eat his bread in the sweat of his face. And that the things said to Adam were said to all who have been born from him, is clear from this. For God decreed death against him, saying, "You are earth, and to earth you shall return"; and all who have come from him have similarly shared in that suffering. It is fitting therefore to innovate nothing contrary to nature and the laws of the benefactor of nature, but abiding by these, to keep the body active, in no way being paralyzed by immoderation 31.1349. For this, I think, is of the best management, to follow the established rules. Besides, we can establish the argument from many testimonies of the divine Scripture. For the divine Scripture commands us to work and to be active with the body, and rather to support the weakness of others, than to need the hand of others; but in no way to waste this away and paralyze it with immoderate mortifications. And for this I will provide you a most trustworthy witness, Saint Paul, at one time saying: "We hear that some among you walk in a disorderly manner, working at nothing"; and declaring idleness to be disorder; "For we were not disorderly among you," he says, "nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day"; and more than this: "These hands have ministered to my necessities, and to those who were with me"; and elsewhere again: "so that by working," he says, "they may eat their own bread"; and again elsewhere: "To be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands." It is fitting for the ascetic to be free from all pride, and walking the truly middle and royal road, in no way to turn aside to either extreme; neither embracing relaxation, nor rendering the body useless by an excess of self-control. For if it were good for the body to be paralyzed, and to lie as a breathing corpse, God would surely have made us such from the beginning; but if He has not made us so, surely whatever He deemed good, this He also accomplished; and if He has fashioned us as what was good, they sin who do not preserve, as far as possible, what was well made. Therefore let the ascetic of piety consider one thing, whether wickedness perhaps has nested in the soul through sloth, whether perhaps the watchfulness and the intense turning of the mind toward God has been dissolved, whether perhaps the sanctification of the Spirit, and the illumination engendered in the soul from it, has been obscured. For if the aforesaid good things should flourish, the passions of the body will in no way have occasion to rise up, since the soul is occupied with things above, and not giving occasion to the body of

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τὸ στεῤῥὸν καὶ ἀνένδοτον τῆς τοῦ σώ ματος κατασκευῆς καὶ δυνάμεως· τὸ δὲ τούτοις ἀνεκτὸν ἑτέροις κινδύνων ὑπόθεσις γέγονε. Σωμάτων γὰρ πρὸς σώματα τοσαύτην ἄν τις εὕροι διαφορὰν, ὅσην χαλκοῦ καὶ σιδήρου πρὸς τὰ φρυγανώδη τῶν ξύλων. Ὥστε ἐγκράτειαν αἱρεῖσθαι προσήκει πρὸς λόγον τῆς ὑπαρχούσης δυνάμεως. Ἀρεταὶ μὲν γὰρ ἐν μόνῃ τῇ ψυχῇ κατορθούμεναι πᾶσαι πᾶσιν ὁμοίως ταχθήσονται· οἷον πραότης, ἐπιείκεια, ταπεινο φροσύνη, ἀγαθωσύνη, φιλαδελφία, τὸ ἄδολον, τὸ φιλάληθες, τὸ συμπαθὲς, τὸ ἥμερον, τὸ φιλάνθρω πον· ταύτας γὰρ ἐξαιρέτους φαμὲν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀρετὰς, ἐπείπερ εἰς τὴν αὐτῶν κτῆσίν τε καὶ κατ όρθωσιν οὐδὲν πλέον τὸ σῶμα τῇ ψυχῇ συνεισφέρει ἢ τὸ βουλευτήριον αὐτῇ γενέσθαι τῆς περὶ αὐ τῶν διασκέψεως· ἐγκράτεια δὲ ἑκάστῳ πρὸς τὴν δύ ναμιν τοῦ σώματος ὁρισθήσεται, ὥστε μήτε ἔλαττον τῆς ὑπαρχούσης δυνάμεως διελθεῖν, μήτε τοῖς ὑπὲρ τὴν δύναμιν ἐπεκτείνεσθαι. Καὶ τοῦτο γὰρ, οἶμαι, προσήκει σκοπεῖν, ὅπως ἂν, μὴ τῇ ἀμετρίᾳ τῆς ἐγκρατείας τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ σώματος καταλύ σαντες, ἀργὸν αὐτὸ καὶ ἄπρακτον πρὸς τὰ σπουδαῖα τῶν πράξεων ἀποφήνωμεν. Οὐ γὰρ δὴ ποιῶν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἀργὸν καὶ ἀκίνητον αὐτὸν εἶναι βεβού ληται, ἀλλ' ἐνεργὸν ὑπάρχειν πρὸς τὰ καθ ήκοντα, ἐν μὲν τῷ παραδείσῳ κελεύσας τὸν Ἀδὰμ ἐργάζεσθαι, καὶ φυλάττειν αὐτὸν (εἰ γὰρ καὶ θεωρία τῷ ῥητῷ πρόσκειται, ἀλλὰ γοῦν καὶ τὸ ἰδικὸν ζήλου καὶ σπουδῆς ἄξιον), μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἐκεῖθεν ἔκπτωσιν ἐν ἱδρῶτι τοῦ προσώπου τὸν ἄρτον ἐσθίειν ἀποφηνά μενος. Τὰ δὲ πρὸς τὸν Ἀδὰμ εἰρημένα, ὅτι πᾶσι τοῖς ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεγεννημένοις εἴρηται, δῆλον ἐντεῦθεν. Καὶ γὰρ τὸν θάνατον ὥρισε μὲν ὁ Θεὸς κατ' ἐκείνου, Γῆ εἶ, καὶ εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσῃ, εἰπών· πάντες δὲ οἱ ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεγονότες μετέσχον παρα πλησίως ἐκείνῳ τοῦ πάθους. Προσήκει τοίνυν μηδὲν καινοτομεῖν παρὰ τὴν φύσιν καὶ τοὺς ὅρους τοῦ εὐεργέτου τῆς φύσεως, ἀλλ' ἐμμένοντα τούτοις, ἔμπρακτον ἔχειν τὸ σῶμα, μηδαμοῦ ταῖς ἀμετρίαις 31.1349 παραλυόμενον. Τοῦτο γὰρ, οἶμαι, ἀρίστης οἰκονομίας ἐστὶ, τὸ τοῖς κειμένοις κατακολουθεῖν ὅροις. Ἄλλως τε καὶ ἐκ πλειόνων μαρτυριῶν τῆς θείας Γραφῆς ἔχομεν ἂν συστῆσαι τὸν λόγον. Ἡ γὰρ θεία Γραφὴ ἐργάζεσθαι μὲν κελεύει, καὶ κινεῖσθαι τῷ σώματι, καὶ μᾶλλον ἑτέρων ὑπερείδειν ἀσθέ νειαν, ἢ τῆς παρ' ἑτέρων δεῖσθαι χειρός· κατα μαραίνειν δὲ τοῦτο καὶ παραλύειν ταῖς ἀμέτροις ἐκτή ξεσιν οὐδαμῶς. Καὶ τούτου ἀξιοπιστότατόν σοι παρέξομαι μάρτυρα τὸν ἅγιον Παῦλον, πὴ μὲν λέ γοντα· Ἀκούομέν τινας ἐν ὑμῖν ἀτάκτως περιπα τοῦντας, μηδὲν ἐργαζομένους· καὶ τὴν ἀργίαν ἀταξίαν ἀποφηνάμενον· Οὐκ ἠτακτήσαμεν γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐν ὑμῖν, οὐδὲ δωρεὰν ἄρτον ἐφάγομεν παρά τινος, ἀλλ' ἐν κόπῳ καὶ μόχθῳ νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας ἐργαζόμενοι· καὶ τὸ τούτου πλέον· Ταῖς χρείαις μου καὶ τοῖς οὖσι μετ' ἐμοῦ ὑπηρέτησαν αἱ χεῖρες αὗται· ἑτέρωθι δὲ πάλιν· Ἵνα ἐργαζόμενοι, φησὶ, τὸν ἑαυτῶν ἄρτον ἐσθίωσι· καὶ πάλιν ἄλλοθι· Ἡσυ χάζειν, καὶ πράττειν τὰ ἴδια, καὶ ἐργάζεσθαι ταῖς χερσὶν ὑμῶν. Τύφου παντὸς ἀπηλλάχθαι προσ ήκει τὸν ἀσκητὴν, καὶ τὴν μέσην ὄντως καὶ βασιλι κὴν ὁδὸν πορευόμενον, ἐπὶ θάτερα μηδαμῶς ἀποκλί νειν· μήτε τὴν ἄνεσιν ἀσπαζόμενον, μήτε τῇ ὑπερ βολῇ τῆς ἐγκρατείας ἀχρειοῦντα τὸ σῶμα. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ καλὸν ἦν παρεῖσθαι τῷ σώματι, καὶ κεῖσθαι νεκρὸν ἔμπνουν, τοιούτους πάντως ἂν ἡμᾶς κατ εσκεύασεν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὁ Θεός· εἰ δὲ οὐ πεποίηκεν οὕτως, πάντως ὅ τι περ ἂν καλὸν ἔγνω, τοῦτο καὶ ἀπετέλεσεν· εἰ δὲ ὅπερ καλὸν ἦν, τοῦτο ἡμᾶς ἀπειρ γάσατο, ἁμαρτάνουσιν οἱ τὸ καλῶς ποιηθὲν, ὡς ἔν εστιν, οὐ φυλάττοντες. Ἓν οὖν ὁ ἀσκητὴς τῆς εὐσεβείας σκοπείτω, εἰ μήπου κακία διὰ ῥᾳθυμίας ἐνεφώλευσε τῇ ψυχῇ, εἰ μήπου ἡ νῆψις καὶ ἡ πρὸς Θεὸν ἐκτενὴς τῆς διανοίας ἀπότασις ἐξελύθη, εἰ μήπου ὁ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἁγια σμὸς, καὶ ὁ ἐκεῖθεν ἐγγενόμενος τῇ ψυχῇ φωτισμὸς ἠμαυρώθη. Ὡς, εἴγε τὰ εἰρημένα ἀκμάζοι καλὰ, οὐδαμῶς καιρὸν ἕξει τὰ πάθη τοῦ σώματος κατεξαν ίστασθαι, τῆς ψυχῆς πρὸς τὰ ἄνω ἀσχολουμένης, καὶ οὐκ ἐνδιδούσης καιρὸν τῷ σώματι τῆς