MOTHER AND DAUGHTER MAKE FURTHER PROGRESS IN THE ASCETIC LIFE

When the cares of bringing up a family and the anxieties of their education and settling in life had come to an end, and the property----a frequent cause of worldliness---- had been for the most part divided among the children, then, as I said above, the life of the virgin became her mother's guide and led her on to this philosophic and spiritual [970C] manner of life. And weaning her from all accustomed luxuries, Macrina drew her on to adopt her own standard of humility. She induced her to live on a footing of equality with the staff of maids, so as to share with them in the same food, the same kind of bed, and in all the necessaries of life, without any regard to differences of rank. Such was the manner of their life, so great the height of their philosophy, and so holy their conduct day and night, as to make verbal description inadequate. For just as souls freed from the body by death are saved from the cares of this life, so was their life far removed from all earthly follies and ordered with a view of imitating the angelic life. For no anger or [970D] jealousy, no hatred or pride, was observed in their midst, nor anything else of this nature, since they had cast away all vain desires for honour and glory, all vanity, arrogance and the like. Continence was their luxury, and obscurity their glory. Poverty, and the casting away of all material superfluities like dust from their bodies, was their wealth. In fact, of all the things after which men eagerly pursue in this life, there were none with which they could not easily dispense. ⁵ Nothing was left but the care of divine things and the unceasing round of prayer and endless hymnody, co-extensive with time itself, practised by night and day. So that to them this meant work, and work so called was rest. What human words could make you [972A] realise such a life as this, a life on the borderline between human and spiritual nature? For that nature should be free from human weaknesses is more than can be expected from mankind. But these women fell short of the angelic and immaterial nature only in so far as they appeared in bodily form, and were contained within a human frame, and were dependent upon the organs of sense. Perhaps some might even dare to say that the difference was not to their disadvantage. Since living in the body and yet after the likeness of the immaterial beings, they were not bowed down by the weight of the body, but their life was exalted to the skies and [972B] they walked on high in company with the powers of heaven.

The period covered by this mode of life was no short one, and with the lapse of time their successes increased, as their philosophy continually grew purer with the discovery of new blessings.

Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἐπαύσατο τῇ μητρὶ ἥ τε τῆς παιδοτροφίας φροντὶς καὶ ἡ τῆς παιδεύσεώς τε καὶ καταστάσεως τῶν τέκνων μέριμνα καὶ αἱ πλείους τῆς ὑλωδεστέρας ζωῆς ἀφορμαὶ εἰς τὰ τέκνα κατεμερίσθησαν, τότε, καθὼς προείρηται, γίνεται σύμβουλος τῆς μητρὸς ἡ τῆς παρθένου ζωὴ πρὸς τὴν ἐμφιλόσοφον ταύτην καὶ ἄϋλον τοῦ βίου διαγωγὴν καὶ ἀποστήσασα τῶν ἐν συνηθείᾳ πάντων πρὸς τὸ ἴδιον τῆς ταπεινοφροσύνης μέτρον κατήγαγεν, ὁμότιμον αὐτὴν γενέσθαι τῷ πληρώματι τῶν παρθένων παρασκευάσασα, ὡς καὶ τραπέζης μιᾶς καὶ κοίτης καὶ πάντων τῶν πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν κατὰ τὸ ἴσον συμμετέχειν αὐταῖς, πάσης τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν διαφορᾶς ὑφαιρεθείσης αὐτῶν τῆς ζωῆς. Καὶ τοιαύτη τις ἦν ἡ τοῦ βίου τάξις καὶ τοσοῦτον τὸ ὕψος τῆς φιλοσοφίας καὶ ἡ σεμνὴ τῆς ζωῆς πολιτεία ἐν τῇ καθ' ἡμέραν τε καὶ νύκτα διαγωγῇ, ὡς ὑπερβαίνειν τὴν ἐκ τῶν λόγων ὑπογραφήν. Καθάπερ γὰρ αἱ διὰ θανάτου τῶν σωμάτων ἐκλυθεῖσαι ψυχαὶ καὶ τῶν κατὰ τὸν βίον τοῦτον μεριμνῶν συνεκλύονται, οὕτως κεχώριστο αὐτῶν ἡ ζωὴ καὶ ἀπῴκιστο πάσης βιωτικῆς ματαιότητος καὶ πρὸς μίμησιν τῆς τῶν ἀγγέλων διαγωγῆς ἐρρυθμίζετο. Ἐν οἷς γὰρ οὐ θυμός, οὐ φθόνος, οὐ μῖσος, οὐχ ὑπεροψία, οὐκ ἄλλο τι τῶν τοιούτων ἐνεωρᾶτο, ἥ τε τῶν ματαίων ἐπιθυμία, τιμῆς τε καὶ δόξης καὶ τύφου καὶ ὑπερηφανίας καὶ πάντων τῶν τοιούτων, ἐκβέβλητο: τρυφὴ δὲ ἦν ἡ ἐγκράτεια καὶ δόξα τὸ μὴ γινώσκεσθαι, πλοῦτος δὲ ἡ ἀκτημοσύνη καὶ τὸ πᾶσαν τὴν ὑλικὴν περιουσίαν οἷόν τινα κόνιν τῶν σωμάτων ἀποτινάξασθαι, ἔργον δὲ τῶν μὲν κατὰ τὴν ζωὴν ταύτην σπουδαζομένων οὐδέν, ὅτι μὴ πάρεργον, μόνη δὲ ἡ τῶν θείων μελέτη καὶ τὸ τῆς προσευχῆς ἀδιάλειπτον καὶ ἡ ἄπαυστος ὑμνῳδία, κατὰ τὸ ἴσον παντὶ συμπαρατεινομένη τῷ χρόνῳ διὰ νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας πάσης, ὥστε αὐταῖς καὶ ἔργον εἶναι τοῦτο καὶ ἔργου ἀνάπαυσιν. Τὴν τοίνυν τοιαύτην διαγωγὴν τίς ἂν ὑπ' ὄψιν ἀγάγοι λόγος ἀνθρώπινος, παρ' οἷς μεθόριος ἦν ἡ ζωὴ τῆς τε ἀνθρωπίνης καὶ τῆς ἀσωμάτου φύσεως; Τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἐλευθερωθῆναι τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων παθημάτων τὴν φύσιν κρεῖττον ἢ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον ἦν, τὸ δὲ ἐν σώματι φαίνεσθαι καὶ σχήματι περιειλῆφθαι καὶ τοῖς αἰσθητικοῖς ὀργάνοις συζῆν ἐν τούτῳ τῆς ἀγγελικῆς τε καὶ ἀσωμάτου φύσεως τὸ ἔλαττον εἶχον. Τάχα δ' ἄν τις τολμήσας εἴποι μηδὲ πρὸς τὸ καταδεέστερον τὴν παραλλαγὴν εἶναι, ὅτι σαρκὶ συζῶσαι καθ' ὁμοιότητα τῶν ἀσωμάτων δυνάμεων οὐκ ἐβαροῦντο τῷ ἐφολκίῳ τοῦ σώματος, ἀλλ' ἀνωφερής τε καὶ μετέωρος ἦν αὐτῶν ἡ ζωὴ ταῖς οὐρανίαις συμμετεωροποροῦσα δυνάμεσι. Χρόνος ἦν τῆς τοιαύτης διαγωγῆς οὐκ ὀλίγος καὶ συνηύξετο τῷ χρόνῳ τὰ κατορθώματα, ἀεὶ πρὸς τὸ καθαρώτερον ταῖς τῶν ἐφευρισκομένων ἀγαθῶν προσθήκαις τῆς φιλοσοφίας ἐπιδιδούσης.