11

a strong foundation, to place both fear and love in his own soul and to water it with good works and constant prayer; for love for God is not naturally engendered in us simply or automatically, but through many 8,1.72 labors and great cares and the cooperation of Christ, as Wisdom has said: For if you seek her, it says, as silver and search for her as for treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God; and having found the knowledge of God and understood fear, you will also easily accomplish what follows, I mean, loving your neighbor; for when the first and great thing has been acquired with labor, the second, being lesser, follows the first with less labor; but if that is not present, neither could the second be purely achieved. For one who does not love God with all his heart and with all his mind, how could he healthily and guilelessly care for the love of the brethren, not fulfilling the love for Him on whose account he cares for this? For finding one in such a state, who has not given his whole soul to God nor partakes in His love, unarmed, the craftsman of wickedness easily overcomes him, tripping him up with wicked reasonings, now making the commandments of scripture seem burdensome and the service to the brethren oppressive, and now lifting him up to arrogance and pride from the very 8,1.73 service to his fellow servants and persuading him that he has fulfilled the commandments of the Lord and will be great in heaven; and this is no small offense; for the well-disposed and diligent servant must entrust the judgment of his good will to the master, and not himself instead of the master become the judge and praiser of his own conduct; for if he himself should become the judge, having pushed aside the true one, he will not receive the reward from Him, having paid himself in full with praise and conceit before His judgment. For according to the saying of Paul, the Spirit of God must bear witness with our spirit, and our own affairs must not be tested by our own judgment; For not he, it says, who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends; But he who does not wait for the commendation from the Lord, but anticipates His judgment, falls into human opinions, procuring for himself honor from the brethren out of his own labors and doing the things of the faithless; for he is faithless who hunts for human honors instead of heavenly ones, as the Lord Himself somewhere says: How can you believe, receiving glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that is from the only God? 8,1.74 To whom then do they seem to me to be like? Or to those who clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside are full of every kind of wickedness? See then that you do not suffer such a thing, but †giving your souls upward and having the one care of pleasing the Lord and of never falling away from the remembrance of heavenly things nor accepting the honors of this life, so run, concealing with speech the struggles for virtue, so that he who suggests earthly honors, finding no opportunity, might seize your mind away from its occupation with true things and cast it down to things that are vain and full of deceit; But finding no opportunity at all nor any way to slip in to entice those who dwell above with their souls, he is destroyed and lies dead; for the death of the devil is to have his wickedness inactive and inoperative. Therefore, with the love of God present in you, it is necessary that the rest also follow with it: brotherly love, gentleness, sincerity, constancy and earnestness in prayers, and simply every virtue. Since, therefore, the possession is great, great 8,1.75 labors are also needed for its acquisition, not being done for the display of men, but to please the Lord who knows secret things. Toward whom one must always look and examine the inner part of the soul and fence it around with the reasonings of piety, so that the adversary may not find any way to slip in nor room for a plot, but to exercise and bring to the discernment of good and evil the weakened members of the soul; the mind that follows God knows how to exercise them, uniting the whole soul with itself toward Him out of love for God and

11

ρεὰν κρηπῖδα τὸν φόβον τε καὶ τὴν ἀγάπην ἐν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ τιθέναι ψυχῇ καὶ ταύτην ἐπάρδειν ἔργοις τε ἀγαθοῖς καὶ εὐχῇ διαρκεῖ· οὐ γὰρ ἁπλῶς οὐδὲ αὐτομάτως ἡμῖν ἡ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἀγάπη ἐγγίνεσθαι πέφυκεν, ἀλλὰ διὰ πολλῶν 8,1.72 πόνων καὶ μεγάλων φροντίδων καὶ συνεργίας τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ, καθὼς εἴρηκεν ἡ Σοφία· Ἐὰν γὰρ ζητήσῃς αὐτήν, φησίν, ὡς ἀργύριον καὶ ὡς θησαυροὺς ἐξερευνήσῃς αὐτήν, τότε συνήσεις φόβον κυρίου καὶ ἐπίγνωσιν θεοῦ εὑρήσεις· θεοῦ δὲ ἐπίγνωσιν εὑρὼν καὶ φόβον συνεὶς ῥᾳδίως καὶ τὸ ἐφεξῆς κατορθώσεις, τὸ ἀγαπᾶν λέγω τὸν πλησίον· τοῦ γὰρ πρώτου καὶ μεγάλου πόνῳ κτηθέντος τὸ δεύτερον ἔλαττον ὂν ἀπονώτερον ἕπεται τῷ πρώτῳ· ἐκείνου δὲ μὴ παρόντος οὐδὲ τὸ δεύτερον ἂν γένοιτο καθα ρῶς. ὁ γὰρ θεὸν μὴ ἀγαπῶν ἐξ ὅλης καρδίας καὶ ἐξ ὅλης διανοίας, πῶς ἂν ὑγιῶς καὶ ἀδόλως ἐπιμελοῖτο τῆς τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἀγάπης, ἐκείνῳ μὴ πληρῶν τὴν ἀγάπην δι' ὃν ἐπιμελεῖται ταύτης; τὸν γὰρ οὕτως ἔχοντα καὶ μὴ τὴν ψυχὴν ὅλην ἀποδόντα τῷ θεῷ μηδὲ πρὸς τὴν ἐκείνου κε κοινωμένον ἀγάπην εὑρὼν ἐξωπλισμένον ὁ τῆς κακίας τεχνίτης χειροῦται ῥᾳδίως λογισμοῖς πονηροῖς ὑποσκελί ζων, νῦν μὲν βαρέα φαίνεσθαι ποιῶν τὰ τῆς γραφῆς ἐπι τάγματα καὶ ἐπαχθῆ τὴν εἰς τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς θεραπείαν, νῦν δὲ ἐπαίρων εἰς ἀλαζονείαν καὶ τῦφον ἀπ' αὐτῆς τῆς 8,1.73 εἰς τοὺς ὁμοδούλους διακονίας καὶ πείθων αὐτὸν ὡς ἐπλή ρωσε τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ κυρίου καὶ ἔσται μέγας ἐν οὐρανοῖς· οὐ μικρὸν δὲ τοῦτο ἀδίκημα· δεῖ γὰρ τὸν εὔνουν καὶ σπουδαῖον δοῦλον τῷ δεσπότῃ πιστεύειν τῆς εὐνοίας τὴν κρίσιν, ἀλλὰ μὴ αὐτὸν ἀντὶ τοῦ δεσπότου δικαστὴν καὶ ἐπαινέτην τῆς αὑτοῦ γίνεσθαι πολιτείας· εἰ γὰρ αὐτὸς γένοιτο κριτὴς τὸν ἀληθινὸν παρωσάμενος, οὐδὲ τὸν μισθὸν ἐκεῖθεν ἕξει, πρὸ τῆς ἐκείνου κρίσεως ἑαυτῷ τοῖς ἐπαίνοις καὶ τῇ οἰήσει ἀποπληρώσας. δεῖ γὰρ κατὰ τὸ λόγιον Παύλου τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ θεοῦ συμμαρτυρεῖν τῷ πνεύματι ἡμῶν, ἀλλὰ μὴ τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ κρίσει τὰ ἡμέτερα δοκιμάζεσθαι· Οὐ γάρ, φησίν, ὁ ἑαυτὸν συνιστῶν ἐστι δόκιμος ἀλλ' ὃν ὁ κύριος συνίστησιν· ὁ δὲ μὴ παρὰ τοῦ κυρίου τὴν σύστασιν ἀναμένων, ἀλλὰ φθάνων τὴν ἐκείνου κρίσιν, εἰς τὰς ἀν θρωπίνας ἐκπίπτει δόξας, τιμὴν ἑαυτῷ τὴν παρὰ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἐκ τῶν ἰδίων πόνων πραγματευόμενος καὶ ποιῶν τὰ τῶν ἀπίστων· ἄπιστος γὰρ ὁ τὰς ἀνθρωπίνας ἀντὶ τῶν οὐρανίων θηρεύων τιμάς, ὡς αὐτός πού φησιν ὁ κύριος· Πῶς δύνασθε ὑμεῖς πιστεύειν δόξαν παρ' ἀλλήλων λαμ βάνοντες, καὶ τὴν δόξαν τὴν παρὰ τοῦ μόνου θεοῦ οὐ ζητεῖτε; 8,1.74 Τίσιν οὖν ἐοικέναι μοι δοκοῦσιν; ἢ τοῖς [τὸ] τοῦ ποτηρίου καὶ τῆς παροψίδος τὸ ἐκτὸς περικαθαίρουσιν, ἐντὸς δὲ μεστοῖς παντοίας οὖσι κακίας; ὁρᾶτε οὖν μή τι πάθητε τοιοῦτον, ἀλλὰ ἄνω† δόντες τὰς ψυχὰς καὶ μίαν ἔχοντες φροντίδα τοῦ ἀρέσαι τῷ κυρίῳ καὶ μηδέποτε τῆς τῶν οὐρανίων ἐκπίπτειν μνήμης μηδὲ δέξασθαι τὰς τοῦ βίου τούτου τιμάς, οὕτω τρέχετε κρύπτοντες τῷ λόγῳ τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀγῶνας, ὅπως μὴ καιρὸν εὑρὼν ὁ τὰς ἐκ τῆς γῆς τιμὰς ὑποβάλλων καὶ ἐντεῦθεν ἁρπάσας ὑμῶν τὸν νοῦν ἐκ τῆς τῶν ἀληθινῶν ἀσχολίας ἐπὶ τὰ μάταια καὶ πλάνης μεστὰ καταβάλῃ· μὴ εὑρὼν δὲ καιρὸν ὅλως μηδὲ παρείσδυσιν εἰς τὸ δελεάσαι τοὺς ἄνω ταῖς ψυχαῖς διατρίβοντας ἀπόλωλε καὶ κεῖται νεκρός· θάνατος γὰρ διαβόλου τὸ ἄπρακτον ἔχειν καὶ ἀνενέργητον τὴν κακίαν. ἀγάπης οὖν ἐν ὑμῖν παρούσης τοῦ θεοῦ ἀνάγκη καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ταύτῃ συνέπεσθαι· τὸ φιλάδελφον, τὸ πρᾶον, τὸ ἀνυπόκριτον, τὸ περὶ τὰς εὐχὰς διαρκὲς καὶ σπουδαῖον καὶ ἁπλῶς πᾶσαν ἀρετήν. Ὡς οὖν μεγάλου τοῦ κτήματος ὄντος μεγάλων καὶ 8,1.75 πόνων δεῖ περὶ τὴν κτῆσιν, οὐ πρὸς ἔνδειξιν ἀνθρώπων γινομένων, ἀλλ' εἰς τὸ ἀρέσαι τῷ κυρίῳ τῷ τὰ κρυπτὰ εἰδότι. πρὸς ὃν δεῖ βλέπειν ἀεὶ καὶ τὸ ἔνδον τῆς ψυχῆς διερευνᾶν καὶ περιφράσσειν τοῖς τῆς εὐσεβείας λογισμοῖς, ὅπως μὴ παρείσδυσιν εὕρῃ τινὰ μηδὲ χώραν ἐπιβουλῆς ὁ ἀντίδικος, γυμνάζειν δὲ καὶ προσάγειν πρὸς τὴν τοῦ καλοῦ καὶ πονηροῦ διάγνωσιν τὰ ἠσθενηκότα τῆς ψυχῆς μέλη· γυμνάζειν δὲ αὐτὰ οἶδεν ὁ τῷ θεῷ ἑπόμενος νοῦς καὶ συνοικίζων ἑαυτῷ πᾶσαν τὴν ψυχὴν πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ἐκ τῆς πρὸς θεὸν ἀγάπης καὶ