9

61 The intellect would not advance, nor will it make that good departure, and be in the land of the incorporeal, if it has not corrected what is within; for the disturbance of its own thoughts is accustomed to turn it back to the things from which it has come forth.

62 Both virtues and vices render the intellect blind; the former, so that it may not see the vices; the latter, so that it may not again see the virtues.

t63-70 Concerning the signs of dispassion

63 When the intellect begins to make its prayers without distraction, then around the

irascible part of the soul by night and by day the whole war is waged. 64 A proof of dispassion is an intellect beginning to see its own light, and remaining tranquil toward the phantoms of sleep, and seeing things calmly.

65 An intellect is strong when it imagines nothing of this world during the time of prayer.

66 The intellect that with God has achieved the practical life and has approached knowledge feels little or nothing at all of the irrational part of the soul, as knowledge seizes it, raises it up, and separates it from sensible things.

67 A soul has dispassion, not the one that is not affected by things, but the one that remains undisturbed even by the memories of them.

68 The perfect one does not practice self-control, and the dispassionate one does not endure, since endurance belongs to one who is suffering, and self-control to one who is troubled.

69 It is a great thing to pray without distraction, but a greater thing to also sing psalms without distraction.

70 He who has established the virtues in himself, and has been wholly mingled with them, no longer remembers law or commandments or punishment, but says and does those things which the best state dictates.

t70-90 Practical Theorems

71 οαʹ Demonic songs stir our desire, and into shameful

fantasies cast the soul; but psalms and hymns and spiritual songs always call the intellect to the memory of virtue, cooling our boiling anger and withering our desires.

72 If those who wrestle are engaged in pressing and being pressed in return, and the demons wrestle with us, then they too, pressing us, are pressed in return by us. For I will press them, he says, and they will not be able to stand. And again: those who afflict me and my enemies, they themselves were weakened and fell.

73 Rest is yoked to wisdom, but toil to prudence. For it is not possible to acquire wisdom without warfare, and it is not possible to succeed in the war without prudence; for this latter is entrusted with resisting the anger of the demons, compelling the powers of the soul to act according to nature, and preparing the way for wisdom.

74 The temptation of a monk is a thought that has arisen through the passible part of the soul and darkens the intellect.

75 The sin of a monk is the consent to the forbidden pleasure of the thought.

9

61 Οὐκ ἂν προέλθοι ὁ νοῦς, οὐδὲ ἀποδημήσει τὴν καλὴν ἐκείνην ἀποδημίαν, καὶ ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ γένοιτο τῶν ἀσωμάτων, μὴ τὰ ἔνδον διορθωσάμενος· ἡ γὰρ ταραχὴ τῶν οἰκείων ἐπιστρέφειν αὐτὸν εἴωθε πρὸς τὰ ἀφ' ὧν ἐξελήλυθεν.

62 Τὸν νοῦν καὶ αἱ ἀρεταὶ καὶ αἱ κακίαι τυφλὸν ἀπεργάζονται· αἱ μέν, ἵνα μὴ βλέπῃ τὰς κακίας· αἱ δέ, ἵνα μὴ πάλιν ἴδῃ τὰς ἀρετάς.

t63-70 Περὶ τῶν τῆς ἀπαθείας συμβόλων

63 Ὅταν ὁ νοῦς ἀπερισπάστως ἄρξηται ποιεῖσθαι τὰς προσευχάς, τότε περὶ τὸ

θυμικὸν μέρος τῆς ψυχῆς νύκτωρ καὶ μεθ' ἡμέραν ὁ πᾶς συνίσταται πόλεμος. 64 Ἀπαθείας τεκμήριον, νοῦς ἀρξάμενος τὸ οἰκεῖον φέγγος ὁρᾶν, καὶ πρὸς τὰ καθ' ὕπνον φάσματα διαμένων ἥσυχος, καὶ λεῖος βλέπων τὰ πράγματα.

65 Ἔρρωται νοῦς μηδὲν τῶν τοῦ κόσμου τούτου παρὰ τὸν καιρὸν τῆς προσευχῆς φανταζόμενος.

66 Νοῦς σὺν Θεῷ πρακτικὴν κατορθώσας καὶ προσπελάσας τῇ γνώσει ὀλίγον ἢ οὐδ' ὅλως τοῦ ἀλόγου μέρους τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπαισθάνεται, τῆς γνώσεως αὐτὸν ἁρπαζούσης μετάρσιον καὶ χωριζούσης τῶν αἰσθητῶν.

67 Ἀπάθειαν ἔχει ψυχή, οὐχ ἡ μὴ πάσχουσα πρὸς τὰ πράγματα, ἀλλ' ἡ καὶ πρὸς τὰς μνήμας αὐτῶν ἀτάραχος διαμένουσα.

68 Ὁ τέλειος οὐκ ἐγκρατεύεται, καὶ ὁ ἀπαθὴς οὐχ ὑπομένει, εἴπερ τοῦ πάσχοντος ἡ ὑπομονή, καὶ τοῦ ὀχλουμένου ἡ ἐγκράτεια.

69 Μέγα μὲν τὸ ἀπερισπάστως προσεύχεσθαι, μεῖζον δὲ τὸ καὶ ψάλλειν ἀπερισπάστως.

70 Ὁ τὰς ἀρετὰς ἐν ἑαυτῷ καθιδρύσας, καὶ ταύταις ὅλος ἀνακραθείς, οὐκ ἔτι μέμνηται νόμου ἢ ἐντολῶν ἢ κολάσεως, ἀλλὰ ταῦτα λέγει καὶ πράττει ὁπόσα ἡ ἀρίστη ἕξις ὑπαγορεύει.

t70-90 Θεωρήματα πρακτικά

71 οαʹ Αἱ μὲν δαιμονιώδεις ᾠδαὶ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἡμῶν κινοῦσι, καὶ εἰς αἰσχρὰς

τὴν ψυχὴν φαντασίας ἐμβάλλουσιν· οἱ δὲ ψαλμοὶ καὶ ὕμνοι καὶ αἱ πνευματικαὶ ᾠδαὶ εἰς μνήμην ἀεὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς τὸν νοῦν προκαλοῦνται, περιζέοντα τὸν θυμὸν ἡμῶν καταψύχοντες καὶ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας μαραίνοντες.

72 Εἰ οἱ παλαίοντες ἐν τῷ θλίβεσθαι καὶ ἀντιθλίβειν εἰσί, παλαίουσι δὲ ἡμῖν οἱ δαίμονες, καὶ αὐτοὶ ἄρα θλίβοντες ἡμᾶς ὑφ' ἡμῶν ἀντιθλίβονται. Ἐκθλίψω γὰρ αὐτούς, φησί, καὶ οὐ μὴ δύνωνται στῆναι. Καὶ πάλιν· οἱ θλίβοντές με καὶ οἱ ἐχθροί μου αὐτοὶ ἠσθένησαν καὶ ἔπεσον.

73 Ἀνάπαυσις μὲν τῇ σοφίᾳ, κόπος δὲ τῇ φρονήσει συνέζευκται· οὐκ ἔστι γὰρ σοφίαν κτήσασθαι ἄνευ πολέμου, καὶ οὐκ ἔστι κατορθῶσαι τὸν πόλεμον χωρὶς φρονήσεως· αὕτη γὰρ ἀνθίστασθαι τῷ θυμῷ τῶν δαιμόνων πεπίστευται, τὰς τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεις κατὰ φύσιν ἐνεργεῖν ἀναγκάζουσα, καὶ τὴν ὁδὸν τῆς σοφίας προευτρεπίζουσα.

74 Πειρασμός ἐστι μοναχοῦ λογισμὸς διὰ τοῦ παθητικοῦ μέρους τῆς ψυχῆς ἀναβὰς καὶ σκοτίζων τὸν νοῦν.

75 Ἁμαρτία ἐστὶ μοναχοῦ ἡ πρὸς τὴν ἀπηγορευμένην ἡδονὴν τοῦ λογισμοῦ συγκατάθεσις.