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CHAPTER 104. Let the debtor of the ten thousand talents teach you, that if you do not forgive the debtor, you yourself will not obtain forgiveness; for he delivered him, it says, to the torturers.

CHAPTER 105. Put aside the needs of the body, when you stand for prayer, lest, being pricked by a flea, or a louse, or a gnat, or a fly, you be deprived of the greatest gain of your prayer.

CHAPTER 106. It has come to our attention, that while a certain one of the saints was praying, the evil one resisted him so much, that as soon as he stretched out his hands, he would transform himself into a lion, and would raise up its front paws, and would plunge his own claws from both sides into the two flanks of the combatant, and not withdraw until he lowered his hands. But he never lowered them until he had completed his customary prayers. 79.1192

CHAPTER 107. We have known something of this sort to have happened, also, to John the Little who kept stillness in a pit, that is, the exceedingly great monk, who remained unmoved from communion with God, while the demon in the form of a dragon coiled around him, and gnawed his flesh, and belched in his face.

CHAPTER 108. You have certainly also read the lives of the Tabennesiote monks, as it says, that while the abbot was speaking a word to the brothers, two vipers came under his feet; but he, untroubled, making them as it were an arch, held them underneath, until he stopped speaking the word, and then he showed them to the brothers, explaining the matter.

CHAPTER 109. Again, we have read about another spiritual man, that while he was praying, a viper came and fastened itself to his foot; but he did not lower his hands until he had completed his customary prayer, and he who loved God more than himself was not harmed at all.

CHAPTER 110. Keep your eye undistracted in your prayer and having denied your flesh, and your soul, live according to the intellect.

CHAPTER 111. To a certain other saint praying intensely while keeping stillness in the desert, demons having appeared for two weeks, tossed him like a ball, and threw him into the air, catching him on a mat, and were in no way able to draw his mind away from his fiery prayer.

CHAPTER 112. To another again, a lover of God and one taking care for prayer, while walking in the desert, two angels appeared, and walked on either side of him, accompanying him; but he paid no attention to them at all, lest he lose what is better. For he remembered the apostolic saying that states: "Neither angels, nor principalities, nor powers will be able to separate us from the love of Christ."

CHAPTER 113. A monk becomes equal to the angels through true prayer. CHAPTER 114. Longing to see the face of the Father who is in heaven, do not

seek at all to receive a shape or a form at the time of prayer; CHAPTER 115. Do not long to see angels, or powers, or Christ in a sensory way, lest you become completely insane, receiving a wolf instead of the 79.1193 shepherd and worshiping the enemy demons.

CHAPTER 116. The beginning of delusion is the vainglory of the intellect, moved by which the intellect tries to circumscribe the Divinity in a shape and in forms.

CHAPTER 117. I, for my part, will say this, which I have also said to the younger ones: Blessed is the intellect which at the time of prayer has acquired complete formlessness.

CHAPTER 118. Blessed is the intellect which, praying without distraction, ever acquires a greater longing for God.

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ΚΕΦΑΛ. Ρ∆ʹ. Ὁ χρεωφειλέτης τῶν μυρίων ταλάντων παιδευέτω σε, ὡς, εἰ μὴ ἀφήσῃς τῷ ὀφειλέτῃ, οὐδὲ αὐτὸς τεύξῃ τῆς ἀφέσεως· παρέδωκε γὰρ, φησὶν, αὐτὸν τοῖς βασανισταῖς.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΡΕʹ. Παραπέμπου τὰς ἀνάγκας τοῦ σώματος, ἐν τῇ παραστάσει τῆς προσευχῆς, ἵνα μὴ νυττόμενος ὑπὸ ψύλλης, ἢ φθειρὸς, ἢ κώνωπος, ἢ μυίας, ζημιωθῇς τὸ μέγιστον κέρδος τῆς προσευχῆς σου.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Ρςʹ. Ἦλθεν εἰς ἡμᾶς, ὥς τινι τῶν ἁγίων προσευχομένῳ, τοσοῦτον ἀνθίστατο ὁ πονηρὸς, ὡς ἅμα τῷ ἐκτεῖναι τὰς χεῖρας, ἐκεῖνον εἰς λέοντα μετασχηματίζεσθαι, καὶ ἀνεγείρειν εἰς ὀρθὸν τοὺς ἐμπροσθίους πόδας, καὶ τοὺς οἰκείους ὄνυχας ἑκατέρωθεν ταῖς δυσὶ ψύαις ἐμπείρειν τοῦ ἀγωνιστοῦ, καὶ μὴ ἀφίστασθαι πρὶν τὰς χεῖρας κατάξει. Τὸν δὲ μηδὲ πώποτε ὑποχαλάσαι ταύτας ἄχρις οὗ τὰς συνήθεις εὐχὰς ἐπλήρωσε. 79.1192

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΡΖʹ. Τοιοῦτον ἔγνωμεν γεγονέναι, καὶ τὸν ἐν λάκκῳ ἡσυχάσαντα Ἰωάννην τὸν Μικρὸν, ἤτοι ὑπερμεγέθη μοναχὸν, ὃς ἀκίνητος ἔμεινεν ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ συνουσίας, τοῦ δαίμονος ἐν εἴδει δράκοντος περιειλιχθέντος, καὶ μασσομένου αὐτοῦ τὰς σάρκας, καὶ τῷ προσώπῳ αὐτοῦ ἐπερευγομένου.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΡΗʹ. Ἀνέγνως πάντως καὶ τοὺς βίους τῶν Ταβεννησιωτῶν μοναχῶν, καθά φησιν, ὅτι Λαλοῦντος τοῦ ἀββᾶ λόγον τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς, ἦλθον δύο ἔχιδναι ὑπὸ τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ· ὁ δὲ ἀταράχως ποιήσας αὐτὰς ὡσεὶ καμάραν, ὑπέλαβεν αὐτὰς ἔνδοθεν, ἕως ἐπαύσατο λαλῶν τὸν λόγον, καὶ τότε αὐτὰς ὑπεδείκνυ τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς, ἐξηγούμενος τὸ πρᾶγμα.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΡΘʹ. Περὶ ἑτέρου πάλιν ἀνέγνωμεν πνευματικοῦ, ὅτι προσευχομένου αὐτοῦ, ἔχιδνα ἐλθοῦσα, καθήψατο τοῦ ποδὸς αὐτοῦ· ὁ δὲ οὐ πρότερον καθῆκε τὰς χεῖρας, ἄχρις οὗ τὴν συνήθη ἐξετέλεσεν εὐχὴν, καὶ οὐδὲν ἐβλάβη ὁ ἀγαπήσας τὸν Θεὸν ὑπὲρ ἑαυτόν.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΡΙʹ. Ἀμετεώριστον ὄμμα ἔχε ἐν τῇ προσευχῇ σου καὶ ἀρνησάμενός σου τὴν σάρκα, καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν, κατὰ νοῦν ζῆθι.

ΦΑΛ. ΡΙΑʹ. Ἑτέρῳ τινὶ εὐτόνως εὐχομένῳ ἁγίῳ ἐν ἐρήμῳ ἡσυχάζοντι, δαίμονες ἐπιστάντες ἐπὶ δύο ἑβδομάδας, τοῦτον ἐσφαίριζον, καὶ ἐτίνασσον εἰς τὸν ἀέρα, δεχόμενοι αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ ψιαθίῳ, καὶ οὐδόλως ἴσχυσαν κατάγειν τὸν νοῦν αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῆς ἐμπύρου προσευχῆς.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΡΙΒʹ. Ἄλλῳ πάλιν φιλοθέῳ καὶ προσευχῆς πρόνοιαν ποιουμένῳ, ἐν ἐρήμῳ βαδίζοντι, ἄγγελοι ἐπέστησαν δύο, καὶ ἐμέσαζον αὐτὸν συνοδοιποροῦντες αὐτῷ· ὁ δὲ οὐδόλως τούτοις προσεῖχεν, ἵνα μὴ τὸ κρεῖττον ζημιωθῇ. Ἐμνημόνευσε γὰρ τοῦ ἀποστολικοῦ ῥητοῦ τοῦ φάσκοντος· «Οὔτε ἄγγελοι, οὔτε ἀρχαὶ, οὔτε δυνάμεις δυνήσονται ἡμᾶς χωρίσαι ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Χριστοῦ.»

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΡΙΓʹ. Ἰσάγγελος γίνεται μοναχὸς διὰ τῆς ἀληθοῦς προσευχῆς. ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΡΙ∆ʹ. Ἐπιποθῶν ἰδεῖν τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ Πατρὸς τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς, μὴ

ζήτει παντελῶς μορφὴν, ἢ σχῆμα δέχεσθαι ἐν τῷ τῆς προσευχῆς καιρῷ· ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΡΙΕʹ. Μὴ πόθει ἀγγέλους ἰδεῖν, ἢ δυνάμεις, ἢ Χριστὸν αἰσθητῶς, ἵνα μὴ τέλεον φρενιτικὸς γένῃ, λύκον ἀντὶ 79.1193 ποιμένος δεχόμενος καὶ προσκυνῶν τοῖς ἐχθροῖς δαίμοσιν.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΡΙςʹ. Ἀρχὴ πλάνης, νοῦ κενοδοξία, ἐξ ἧς κινούμενος ὁ νοῦς, ἐν σχήματι καὶ μορφαῖς περιγράφειν πειρᾶται τὸ Θεῖον.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΡΙΖʹ. Ἐγὼ τὸ ἐμὸν, τοῦτο ἐρῶ ὃ καὶ νεωτέροις εἴρηκα· Μακάριος ὁ νοῦς, ὃς κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τῆς προσευχῆς τελείαν ἀμορφίαν ἐκτήσατο.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΡΙΗʹ. Μακάριός ἐστιν ὁ νοῦς, ὃς ἀπερισπάστως εὐχόμενος, πλείονα πόθον ἀεὶ πρὸς Θεὸν προσλαμβάνει.