Epistula Magna

 are possible with the God who has promised for the passions of sin later came upon the soul and the body because of the transgression of the first-fo

 gives himself to all the well-pleasingness of the commandments, to that extent he also acquires the participation of the spirit for the spiritual incr

 [as] one who, as a bride of Christ, longs to be joined to the heavenly king who is pure and undefiled. For the soul that longs to be joined to him and

 the worse work of destruction, numbering hidden and manifest sins as one, he says: And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up

 to have fellowship and to be united, but only with the Spirit of God, 247 being united and clinging to it, he commanded the soul to bear the sacred of

 But in another epistle, teaching about the same things and showing the disciples the abundance of spiritual wealth and exhorting them to hasten to att

 he sets forth the goal. And because we are not sufficient for the struggle against the principalities and the powers and the spiritual forces of wicke

 let us have affliction and struggle and a ceaseless race, daily stretching forward always to the things that are before and forgetting the things that

 and having entered with exultation, since indeed he has become the agent of great salvation for himself, if with long-suffering and patience he remain

 he who humbles himself will be exalted and again: Whoever wishes to be first among you, let him be the last of all and the servant of all just as th

 the adversary always hinders the mind in good things, from loving the things above by the memory of good things, but rather, by enticing the will thro

 occupying ourselves with love always. and thus we shall be able to receive daily increase and progress towards divine love, being helped by the divine

 the soul's love is stretched out toward God and therefore if someone wishes to persevere unceasingly in prayers and to be at leisure for fasting acco

 surrendering the mind to such things and by reason of a lack of discernment being fully convinced by the bodily kneeling, while the mind is in a state

 a lack, his own work and toil, should he think the fruits of the spirit to be, he possesses much vain conceit and falls from great spiritual goods, no

 the future hope of the resurrection 279 immortal and it is possible to take up the sufferings of Christ readily and easily. Let those who have not ye

 being done That, he says, they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. And the apostles, having legislated through the Spir

 the need of those who serve and give rest, and again the surplus of those who serve and work for the need of those who devote themselves to prayers. F

 we are deemed worthy of Christ, let us have communion with one another in all good things for the edification and benefit both of ourselves and of our

 of practices will it be to attain unless through what we have said before, setting forth through many things at the same time also the scriptural test

 believe in truths, that it is necessary for the one who has truly come to serve God to arrive at the measures of impassibility and freedom. Since ther

 workers or certain slaves are told by their master to reap three plethra each day, and one worker, having received such a command from his master, giv

 is promised to those who have consecrated themselves. For those who consider it impossible for this accomplishment to happen in men through the Spirit

 to those who obey the spirit, that it is necessary for the one who has approached God in truth, believing in his promises with a whole heart and striv

a lack, his own work and toil, should he think the fruits of the spirit to be, he possesses much vain conceit and falls from great spiritual goods, not hoping to be guided by the energy of the spirit in all the aforementioned virtues. For he who completely dedicates himself to God, always lacking in nothing regarding the zeal and the labor that comes from his own power, but expecting from Him the redemption from the passions through the reception of grace, is deemed worthy to arrive at the very height of virtue and purity. For just as he who lives luxuriously in this life and has given himself over completely to sin [performs with great pleasure] the unnatural passions of dishonor, debauchery and fornication, drunkenness and greed, envy and deceit and licentiousness, strife and hatred, love of money and the other workings of evil, and works them out in enjoyment and pleasure as if they were natural, so also the perfect 277 Christian henceforth accomplishes tirelessly and easily with much enjoyment and spiritual pleasure, as if they were natural, all the virtues and all the fruits of the Spirit which are beyond nature—love and peace, long-suffering and goodness, gentleness and patience, faith and humility and the other works of virtue—and no longer warring against the passions of evil, since indeed he has been completely redeemed by the Lord and is energized in the virtues with exultation and gladness by the holy and adorable Spirit, possessing the perfect peace of Christ ruling in his heart. This is he who is joined to the Lord and has become one spirit. For through the energy of the spirit and the holiness of virtues, defiled passions and the energy of evil can be extinguished. And such a one not only henceforth tirelessly accomplishes such work of the virtues with much enjoyment on account of the active indwelling of the Holy Spirit, but also what is more difficult, which is the sufferings of Christ, he takes up readily and easily, being empowered by the Spirit and accepting with much desire to suffer with Christ; and just as the rest of the people in the world, living according to the flesh, have through desire with much pleasure and gladness to be honored and glorified, to be adored and to be rich and to live in luxury and to rule and the other 278 enjoyments of this life, so those who have been deemed worthy to attain to the aforementioned workings of Christianity tirelessly accept with spiritual pleasure and enjoyment, with joy and gladness, because of the blessed hope of the resurrection, to be naked and to hunger and to endure every hardship for the Lord's sake, to be hated and dishonored and reviled, to be scourged and to become like the refuse of this world, and in a word, both to be crucified and to be subjected to every punishment; or rather, they hold it with much desire. For the glory and the wealth and the luxury and the treasure and the boast of Christians happen to be the sufferings of Christ, according to the apostolic saying: Not only so, but we also glory in tribulations, and that which was spoken by the Lord: Blessed are you when they reproach you and persecute you and say every evil word against you falsely for my sake; rejoice and be glad, because your reward is great in the heavens. And again the blessed Paul, cries out, saying how much pleasure he had in the sufferings for Christ: Most gladly therefore will I boast in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me; wherefore I am well pleased in weaknesses, in insults, in necessities, in hardships, in stripes, in imprisonments; for when I am weak, then I am strong. And again: As ministers of God, in much patience; for the most full indwelling of the Holy Spirit in them and the incorruptible, active comfort will prepare them to accept the sufferings of Christ with sweetest full assurance and much enjoyment because of

ἔλλειψιν ἰδίαν ἐργασίαν καὶ κάματον τοὺς καρποὺς τοῦ πνεύματος εἶναι νομίσῃ, πολλὴν οἴησιν ματαιότητος κέκτηται καὶ ἀπὸ μεγάλων ἀγαθῶν πνευματικῶν ἐκπίπτει, μὴ διὰ πνεύματος ἐνεργείας ἐν πάσαις ταῖς προειρημέναις ἀρεταῖς κατευθυνθῆναι ἐλπίσας. Ὁ γὰρ ὁλοτελῶς ἑαυτὸν τῷ θεῷ ἀφιερῶν πάντοτε κατὰ τὴν ἐξ ἰδίας δυνάμεως σπουδὴν καὶ τὸν πόνον ἐν μηδενὶ ἐλλείπων, παρ' αὐτοῦ δὲ τὴν λύτρωσιν τῶν παθῶν διὰ τῆς ἀντιλήψεως τῆς χάριτος ἐκδεχόμενος, εἰς αὐτὴν τὴν ἀκρότητα ἀρετῆς καὶ καθαρότητος καταντῆσαι καταξιοῦται. ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ ἐν τῷ βίῳ ἡδυπαθῶς διαιτώμενος καὶ τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ἑαυτὸν ὁλοτελῶς ἐκδεδωκὼς τὰ παρὰ φύσιν πάθη τῆς ἀτιμίας [ἐν ἡδονῇ πολλῇ ἐπιτελεῖ], ἀσωτίαν καὶ πορνείαν, μέθην καὶ πλεονεξίαν, φθόνον καὶ δόλον καὶ ἀσέλγειαν, ἔριν καὶ μῖσος, φιλαργυρίαν καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῆς κακίας ἐνεργήματα, ἐν ἀπολαύσει καὶ ἡδονῇ ὡς φυσικὰ ἐργάζεται, οὕτως καὶ ὁ τέλειος 277 Χριστιανὸς πάσας τὰς ἀρετὰς καὶ πάντας τοὺς καρποὺς τοῦ πνεύματος τοὺς ὑπὲρ τὴν φύσιν, τὴν ἀγάπην καὶ εἰρήνην, τὴν μακροθυμίαν καὶ ἀγαθότητα, τὴν πραότητα καὶ ὑπομονήν, τὴν πίστιν καὶ ταπεινοφροσύνην καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἔργα, ἐν ἀπολαύσει πολλῇ καὶ ἡδονῇ πνευματικῇ ἐπιτελεῖ ὡς φυσικὰ ἀκαμάτως λοιπὸν καὶ εὐχερῶς καὶ μηκέτι πρὸς τὰ πάθη τῆς κακίας πολεμῶν, ἅτε δὴ λελυτρωμένος ὑπὸ κυρίου τελείως καὶ ἐνεργούμενος ἐν ταῖς ἀρεταῖς ἐν ἀγαλλιάσει καὶ εὐφροσύνῃ ὑπὸ τοῦ ἁγίου καὶ προσκυνητοῦ πνεύματος, τὴν τελείαν τοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰρήνην βραβεύουσαν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ κεκτημένος. οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ κολληθεὶς τῷ κυρίῳ καὶ γενόμενος εἰς ἓν πνεῦμα. διὰ γὰρ πνεύματος ἐνεργείας καὶ ἁγιότητος ἀρετῶν πάθη μιαρὰ καὶ ἐνέργεια κακίας κατασβεσθῆναι δύναται. οὐ μόνον δὲ τὴν τοιαύτην τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐργασίαν ἐν πολλῇ ἀπολαύσει ὁ τοιοῦτος διὰ τὴν ἐνεργῆ ἐνοίκησιν τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἀκαμάτως λοιπὸν ἐπιτελεῖ, ἀλλὰ τὸ δυσχερέστερον, ὅπερ ἐστὶ τὰ παθήματα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, εὐχερῶς καὶ εὐκόλως ἀναλαμβάνει, δυναμούμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος καὶ ἐν πολλῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ τὸ συμπαθεῖν τῷ Χριστῷ δεχόμενος· καὶ ὥσπερ οἱ λοιποὶ ἐν βίῳ ἄνθρωποι κατὰ σάρκα ζῶντες τὸ τιμηθῆναι καὶ δοξασθῆναι, τὸ προσκυνηθῆναι καὶ τὸ πλουτῆσαι καὶ τρυφῆσαι καὶ ἄρξαι καὶ τὰς λοιπὰς τοῦ βίου τούτου 278 ἀπολαύσεις ἐν ἡδονῇ πολλῇ καὶ εὐφροσύνῃ δι' ἐπιθυμίας ἔχουσιν, οὕτως οἱ εἰς τὰ προειρημένα τοῦ χριστιανισμοῦ ἐνεργήματα φθάσαι καταξιωθέντες τὸ γυμνητεῦσαι καὶ λιμῶξαι καὶ πᾶσαν κακοπάθειαν ὑπομεῖναι διὰ τοῦ κυρίου, τὸ μισηθῆναι καὶ ἀτιμασθῆναι καὶ λοιδωρηθῆναι, τὸ μαστιχθῆναι καὶ ὥσπερ κάθαρμα τοῦ κόσμου τούτου γενέσθαι, τὸ δὲ ὅλον καὶ σταυρωθῆναι καὶ πάσῃ τιμωρίᾳ ὑποβληθῆναι ἐν ἡδονῇ καὶ ἀπολαύσει πνευματικῇ μετὰ χαρᾶς καὶ εὐφροσύνης διὰ τὴν μακαρίαν τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἐλπίδα ἀκαμάτως καταδέχονται, μᾶλλον δὲ διὰ πολλῆς ἐπιθυμίας ἔχουσι. Χριστιανῶν γὰρ ἡ δόξα καὶ ὁ πλοῦτος καὶ ἡ τρυφὴ καὶ ὁ θησαυρὸς καὶ ἡ καύχησις τὰ παθήματα τοῦ Χριστοῦ τυγχάνει κατὰ τὸ ἀποστολικὸν λόγιον· Οὐ μόνον δὲ ἀλλὰ καὶ καυχώμενοι ἐν ταῖς θλίψεσι, καὶ τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ κυρίου εἰρημένον· Μακάριοι ἐστὲ ὅταν ὀνειδίσωσιν ὑμᾶς καὶ διώξωσιν ὑμᾶς οἱ ἄνθρωποι καὶ εἴπωσι πᾶν πονηρὸν ῥῆμα καθ' ὑμῶν ψευδόμενοι ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ· χαίρετε καὶ ἀγαλλιᾶσθε, ὅτι ὁ μισθὸς ὑμῶν πολὺς ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. καὶ πάλιν ὁ μακάριος Παῦλος ὅσην ἡδονὴν ἐν τοῖς ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ παθήμασιν εἶχεν βοᾷ λέγων· Ἥδιστα οὖν καυχήσομαι ἐν ταῖς ἀσθενείαις, ἵνα ἐπισκηνώσῃ ἐπ' ἐμὲ ἡ δύναμις τοῦ Χριστοῦ· διὸ εὐδοκῶ ἐν ἀσθενείαις, ἐν ὕβρεσιν, ἐν ἀνάγκαις, ἐν στενοχωρίαις, ἐν πληγαῖς, ἐν φυλακαῖς· ὅταν γὰρ ἀσθενῶ, τότε δυνατός εἰμι. καὶ πάλιν· Ὡς θεοῦ διάκονοι ἐν ὑπομονῇ πολλῇ· ἡ γὰρ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος εἰς αὐτοὺς πληρεστάτη ἐνοίκησις καὶ ἄφθαρτος ἐνεργὴς παράκλησις τὰ παθήματα τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐν ἡδυτάτῃ πληροφορίᾳ καὶ ἀπολαύσει πολλῇ καταδέχεσθαι παρασκευάσει διὰ