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having cast out from the thoughts both laziness and every unjust thought, to give the soul with the body to prayers. And it is necessary for those who preside to help such a one and through all diligence and admonition to nourish the desire of the one praying for the matter at hand and to purify his soul precisely. For the fruit of the virtues of those who pray thus, being shown to those who are with them, becomes useful not only for the one who has made progress, but also for those who are still infants and in need of teaching, encouraging them and urging them to imitation of what they see. And the fruit of sincere prayer is simplicity, love, humility, perseverance, guilelessness and such things, which the labor of the diligent one concerning prayer here brings forth during this life, before the eternal fruits. 8,1.83 Prayer is adorned by these fruits, but lacking these its labor is in vain; and not only prayer, but also every path of philosophy, having such an offspring, is truly a path of righteousness and leads to a right end, but deprived of these is left an empty name and is like the foolish virgins for whom at the time of need the oil was not present in the bridal chamber; for they did not have the light in their souls, the fruit of virtue, nor the lamp of the Spirit in their mind; for which reason scripture rightly called them foolish, their virtue having been extinguished before the bridegroom came, and for this reason he shut out the wretched ones from the bridal chamber above; for he did not reckon to them the zeal of virginity because the energy of the Spirit was not present, and very justly. For what is the benefit of a cultivated vine if the fruits are not present, for the sake of which the farmer endured the labor? And what is the profit of fasting and prayer and vigils, if peace is absent and joy and love and the rest of the fruits 8,1.84 of the grace of the Spirit, which the holy apostle enumerates? For the lover of the joy above endures every labor for the sake of these things, through which the Spirit is drawn, and partaking of the grace from there he bears fruit and enjoys with gladness the cultivation, which the grace of the Spirit has cultivated in his own humility and care for his works.

It is necessary therefore to endure the labors of prayer and fasting and the other works with much pleasure and love and hope, but to believe the flowers of the labors and the fruits to be of the energy of the Spirit. For if someone should reckon these to himself and attribute the whole to his labors, instead of those pure fruits arrogance and pride spring up for such a one, and these passions, like some decay growing in the souls of the fickle, corrupt and destroy the labors. What then must he who lives for God and in His hope do? To endure the struggles for virtue with pleasure, but for the redemption of the soul from the passions and the ascent to the summit of the virtues, and for perfection to place hope in Him and to trust in the love for mankind from Him; for having prepared himself thus 8,1.85 and having enjoyed the grace of the one in whom he has trusted, he runs without toil despising the evil of the enemy, since indeed he is a stranger to him and has been redeemed from his passions by the grace of Christ; for just as those who, through laziness in good things, introduce the evil passions to their own nature, and spending time in them, with joy easily accomplish greed and envy and fornication and the other parts of the opposing evil, reaping as it were a certain innate and familiar pleasure, so also the workers of Christ and of the truth, through both faith and the labors of virtue, receiving from the grace of the Spirit the good things beyond their nature, reap with unspeakable pleasure and without toil accomplish guileless and unchanging love, unshakable faith, unchangeable peace, true goodness, and all the rest, through which the soul, becoming better than itself and more powerful than the evil of the enemy, offers itself as a clean dwelling place to the adorable and holy Spirit, from whom having received the immortal of Christ

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ἐκβαλόντα τῶν λογισμῶν ῥᾳθυμίαν τε καὶ ἄδικον ἔννοιαν ὅλην μετὰ τοῦ σώματος ἀποδοῦναι τὴν ψυχὴν ταῖς εὐχαῖς. Καὶ τοὺς προεστῶτας δὲ χρὴ συναντιλαμβάνειν τῷ τοιούτῳ καὶ διὰ πάσης σπουδῆς καὶ νουθεσίας τρέφειν τὴν περὶ τὸ προκείμενον τοῦ εὐχομένου ἐπιθυμίαν καὶ καθαίρειν ἀκριβῶς τὴν τούτου ψυχήν. τῶν γὰρ οὕτως εὐχομένων ὁ καρπὸς τῶν ἀρετῶν τοῖς συνοῦσιν ἐπιδεικνύμενος οὐ τῷ προκόψαντι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ἔτι νηπίοις καὶ δεομένοις διδασκαλίας χρήσιμος γίνεται, παρακαλῶν αὐτοὺς καὶ προτρέπων εἰς μίμησιν ὧν ὁρῶσι. καρπὸς δ' εἰλικρινοῦς εὐχῆς ἁπλότης, ἀγάπη, ταπεινοφροσύνη, καρτερία, ἀκακία καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα, ἃ πρὸ τῶν αἰωνίων καρπῶν παρὰ τὸν βίον ὁ τοῦ σπουδαίου περὶ τὴν εὐχὴν πόνος ἐνταῦθα βλαστάνει. 8,1.83 τούτοις εὐχὴ καλλωπίζεται τοῖς καρποῖς, ἀποροῦσα δὲ τούτων μάταιον ἔχει τὸν πόνον· καὶ οὐκ εὐχὴ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πᾶσα φιλοσοφίας ὁδὸς τοιαύτην μὲν ἔχουσα τὴν βλάστην δικαιοσύνης ὄντως ἐστὶν ὁδὸς καὶ πρὸς ὀρθὸν ἄγει τὸ τέλος, τούτων δὲ ἐστερημένη κενὸν ὄνομα κατα λείπεται καὶ ταῖς μωραῖς ἐοικὸς παρθένοις αἷς παρὰ τὸν καιρὸν τῆς χρείας οὐ παρῆν ἐν τῷ νυμφῶνι τὸ ἔλαιον· οὐ γὰρ εἶχον ἐν ταῖς ψυχαῖς τὸ φῶς, τὸν τῆς ἀρετῆς καρ πόν, οὐδὲ τὸν τοῦ πνεύματος ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ λύχνον· ὅθεν καὶ μωρὰς εἰκότως ὠνόμασεν ἡ γραφή, σβεσθείσης αὐτῶν τῆς ἀρετῆς πρὶν ἐλθεῖν τὸν νυμφίον, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τοῦ ἄνω νυμφῶνος τὰς ἀθλίας ἀπέκλεισεν· οὐ γὰρ ἐλογίσατο αὐταῖς τὴν σπουδὴν τῆς παρθενίας τῷ μὴ παρεῖναι τὴν τοῦ πνεύματος ἐνέργειαν, καὶ πάνυ δικαίως. τί γὰρ ὄφελος ἀμπέλου πεπονημένης καρπῶν μὴ παρόντων, ὧν ἕνεκεν ὑπέμεινε τὸν πόνον ὁ γεωργός; τί δὲ κέρδος νηστείας καὶ προσευχῆς καὶ ἀγρυπνίας, εἰρήνης ἀπούσης καὶ χαρᾶς καὶ ἀγάπης καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν τῆς τοῦ πνεύματος χάριτος καρ 8,1.84 πῶν, οὓς ὁ ἅγιος ἀπαριθμεῖται ἀπόστολος; πάντα γὰρ ὑφίσταται πόνον τούτων ἕνεκεν ὁ τῆς ἄνω χαρᾶς ἐραστής, δι' ὧν ἐφέλκεται τὸ πνεῦμα, καὶ τῆς ἐκεῖθεν μεταλαμβάνων χάριτος καρποφορεῖ καὶ ἀπολαύει μετ' εὐφροσύνης τῆς γεωργίας, ἣν ἐν τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ταπεινοφροσύνῃ καὶ ἐπιμελείᾳ τῶν ἔργων ἡ τοῦ πνεύματος ἐγεώργησε χάρις.

∆εῖ οὖν τοὺς μὲν πόνους τῆς εὐχῆς καὶ νηστείας καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἔργων μετὰ πολλῆς ἡδονῆς καὶ ἀγάπης καὶ ἐλπίδος ὑφίστασθαι, τὰ δὲ ἄνθη τῶν πόνων καὶ τοὺς καρποὺς τοῦ πνεύματος εἶναι πιστεύειν ἐνεργείας. εἰ γὰρ ἑαυτῷ τις λογίζοιτο ταῦτα καὶ τὸ πᾶν ἀνατιθείη τοῖς πόνοις, ἀντὶ τῶν ἀκηράτων ἐκείνων καρπῶν ἀλαζονεία τῷ τοιούτῳ καὶ φρόνημα φύεται, ταῦτα δὲ τὰ πάθη καθάπερ τις σηπεδὼν ταῖς τῶν εὐκόλων ψυχαῖς ἐμφυόμενα δια-φθείρει καὶ ἀπολλύει τοὺς πόνους. Τί οὖν χρὴ ποιεῖν τὸν τῷ θεῷ καὶ τῇ ἐκείνου ζῶντα ἐλπίδι; τοὺς μὲν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀγῶνας μεθ' ἡδονῆς ὑπομένειν, τὴν [δὲ] λύτρωσιν τῆς ψυχῆς ἐκ τῶν παθῶν καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὸ ἀκρότατον τῶν ἀρετῶν ἄνοδον, τῆς <δὲ> τελειότητος ἐπ' ἐκείνῳ παρίστασθαι τὴν ἐλπίδα καὶ τῇ παρ' ἐκείνου φιλανθρωπίᾳ πιστεύειν· οὕτω γὰρ 8,1.85 παρασκευασάμενος καὶ ἀπολαύσας τῆς ᾧ πεπίστευκε χάριτος ἀπόνως τρέχει καταφρονῶν τῆς τοῦ ἐχθροῦ κακίας ἅτε δὴ ξένος ἐκείνου καὶ λελυτρωμένος τῶν παθῶν αὐτοῦ τῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ χάριτι· ὥσπερ γὰρ οἱ τὰ πονηρὰ πάθη διὰ τῆς τῶν καλῶν ῥᾳθυμίας τῇ ἑαυτῶν ἐπεισάγοντες φύσει καὶ διατρίβοντες ἐν αὐτοῖς μετὰ χαρᾶς ἐπιτελοῦσι ῥᾳδίως ὥσπερ τινὰ ἔμφυτον ἡδονὴν καὶ οἰκείαν καρπούμενοι πλεονεξίαν καὶ τὸν φθόνον καὶ τὴν πορνείαν καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ μέρη τῆς ἀντικειμένης κακίας, οὕτως οἱ τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας ἐργάται διά τε τῆς πίστεως καὶ τῶν τῆς ἀρετῆς πόνων τὰ ὑπὲρ τὴν φύσιν αὐτῶν ἀγαθὰ παρὰ τῆς τοῦ πνεύματος δεχόμενοι χάριτος μεθ' ἡδονῆς ἀρρήτου καρποῦνται καὶ ἀπόνως ἐπιτελοῦσι τὴν ἄδολον καὶ ἄτρεπτον ἀγάπην, τὴν ἀκίνητον πίστιν, τὴν ἀμετάπτωτον εἰρήνην, τὴν ὄντως ἀγαθότητα τά τε λοιπὰ πάντα, δι' ὧν ἡ ψυχὴ κρείττων ἑαυτῆς γινομένη καὶ τῆς τοῦ ἐχθροῦ δυνατωτέρα κακίας οἰκητήριον καθαρὸν ἑαυτὴν παρέχει τῷ προσκυνη-τῷ καὶ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι, παρ' οὗ τὴν ἀθάνατον τοῦ Χριστοῦ λαβοῦσα