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of testimonies. For on the mouth, he says, of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. For thus both the zeal of the brothers will have what is irreproachable, and for those who have professed themselves to God, then attempt to break their vow, an occasion for shamelessness will not be left. But let the one not accepting the life in virginity, as being unable to be anxious for the things of the Lord, be released in the presence of the same witnesses. Indeed, the one who has made his profession after much examination and consideration, which it is fitting to permit him to make by himself over several days, so that nothing may seem to be done by us by force, thus should he be received, and be counted among the brotherhood, and will share the same house and way of life with the more perfect. But what escaped us to say, it is not untimely to add now, that because it is necessary for some of the trades to be practiced from early childhood, whenever some of the boys already appear to be well-suited for the 31.957 learning, we do not forbid them from spending the day with the teachers of the trade; but at night we must move them to their peers, with whom it is also necessary for them to share their food. 31.961

QUESTION 17. That it is necessary to be continent also of laughter. RESPONSE. And what by

the many is overlooked is worthy of no small vigilance for those practicing asceticism. For to be possessed by incontinent and unrestrained laughter is a sign of incontinence, and of not having one's impulses under control, and of the soul's vanity not being suppressed by precise reason. For up to a cheerful smile it is not unbecoming to show the soul's expansion, only so much as to show what is written: When the heart is cheerful, the face blossoms; but to guffaw with the voice, and the body to convulse involuntarily, is not characteristic of one whose soul is composed, nor of one who is approved, nor of one who is in control of himself. This kind of laughter Ecclesiastes also rejects, as that which especially subverts the stability of the soul, saying: To laughter I said, madness; and: As the sound of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of fools. And the Lord appears to have endured the necessary passions of the flesh, and whatever bears witness to virtue, such as weariness, and pity for those in distress; but He never used laughter, as far as the history of the Gospels shows, but rather pronounced woe on those possessed by it. Let not the homonymy of laughter deceive us. For it is customary in Scripture often to call the joy of the soul and the cheerful disposition at good things "laughter," as Sarah says: God has made laughter for me; and, Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh; and what is found in Job: And He will fill a true mouth with laughter. For all these names are taken for gladness in the exultation of the soul. So the one who is superior to all passion, and neither 31.964 suffers nor gives way to any incitement from pleasure, but is disposed with self-control and unyieldingly toward every harmful enjoyment, is the perfectly self-controlled man; and such a one is evidently also free from all sin. And there are times when one must abstain even from things permitted and necessary for life, when the abstinence is managed for the benefit of our brothers. As the Apostle: If food causes my brother to stumble, he says, I will never eat meat. And having authority to live from the Gospel, he did not use his authority, that he might not give any hindrance to the Gospel of Christ. Self-control, therefore, is the abolition of sin, alienation from passions, the mortification of the body even to its natural affections and desires, the beginning of spiritual life, the harbinger of eternal goods, destroying in itself the sting of pleasure. For pleasure is the great bait of evil, through which we men are most prone to fall into sin; by which every soul is dragged to death as by a hook. So that he who is not effeminated, nor bent by it,

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μαρτυρίας. Ἐπὶ στόματος γὰρ, φησὶ, δύο ἢ τριῶν μαρτύρων σταθήσεται πᾶν ῥῆμα. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ἡ σπουδὴ τῶν ἀδελφῶν τὸ ἀβλασφήμητον ἕξει, καὶ τοῖς ἑαυτοὺς καθομολογη σαμένοις Θεῷ, εἶτα ἀθετεῖν ἐπιχειροῦσιν, ἀφορμὴ πρὸς ἀναισχυντίαν οὐχ ὑπολειφθήσεται. Ὁ δὲ μὴ καταδεχόμενος τὸν ἐν παρθενίᾳ βίον, ὡς οὐ δυνά μενος μεριμνᾷν τὰ τοῦ Κυρίου, ἐπὶ τῶν αὐτῶν μαρτύρων ἀπολυέσθω. Τόν γε μὴν καθομολογησά μενον μετὰ πολλὴν ἀνάκρισιν καὶ ἐπίσκεψιν, ἣν ἐν πλείοσιν ἡμέραις ἐπιτρέπειν αὐτῷ ποιεῖσθαι καθ' ἑαυτὸν προσήκει, ὡς μὴ δόξαι τι καθ' ὑπαρπαγὴν παρ' ἡμῶν γίνεσθαι, οὕτως ἤδη παραδέχεσθαι δεῖ, καὶ ἐναρίθμιον ποιεῖσθαι τῇ ἀδελφότητι, καὶ οἴκου καὶ διαίτης τῆς αὐτῆς τοῖς τελειοτέροις μεθ έξοντα. Ὃ δὲ παρέλαθεν ἡμᾶς εἰπεῖν, οὐδὲ νῦν προσ θεῖναι ἄκαιρον, ὅτι διὰ τό τινας τῶν τεχνῶν εὐθὺς ἐκ νηπίου ἐπιτηδεύεσθαι δεῖν, ἐπειδὰν ἤδη τινὲς τῶν παίδων ἐπιτηδείως ἔχοντες φανῶσι πρὸς τὴν 31.957 μάθησιν, τὸ μὲν συνδιημερεύειν αὐτοὺς τοῖς διδα σκάλοις τῆς τέχνης οὐκ ἀπαγορεύομεν· νύκτωρ δὲ ἀναγκαίως πρὸς τοὺς ὁμήλικας μεθιστῶμεν, μεθ' ὧν καὶ τῆς τροφῆς αὐτοῖς ἀναγκαῖον μεταλαμ βάνειν. 31.961

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΙΖʹ. Ὅτι δεῖ καὶ γέλωτος ἐγκρατῶς ἔχειν. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ. Καὶ τὸ παρὰ

τοῖς πολλοῖς δὲ παρορώμενον οὐ μετρίας φυλακῆς τοῖς ἀσκουμένοις ἄξιον. Τὸ γὰρ γέλωτι ἀκρατεῖ καὶ ἀσχέτῳ κατέχεσθαι, ἀκρασίας σημεῖον, καὶ τοῦ μὴ κατεσταλμένα ἔχειν τὰ κινήμα τα, καὶ τοῦ μὴ ἀκριβεῖ λόγῳ τῆς ψυχῆς τὸ χαῦνον καταπιέζεσθαι. Ἄχρι μὲν γὰρ μειδιάματος φαιδροῦ τὴν διάχυσιν τῆς ψυχῆς ὑποφαίνειν οὐκ ἀπρεπὲς, ὅσον δεῖξαι μόνον τὸ γεγραμμένον· Καρδίας εὐφραινομέ νης, πρόσωπον θάλλει· ἐγκαγχάζειν δὲ τῇ φωνῇ, καὶ ἀναβράζεσθαι ἀπροαιρέτως τὸ σῶμα, οὐ τοῦ κατεσταλμένου τὴν ψυχὴν, οὐδὲ τοῦ δοκίμου, οὐδὲ τοῦ περικρατῶς ἔχοντος ἑαυτοῦ. Τοῦτο εἶδος τοῦ γέλωτος καὶ ὁ Ἐκκλησιαστὴς παραιτούμενος, ὡς περιτρέπον μάλιστα τὸ σταθερὸν τῆς ψυχῆς, φησί· Τῷ γέλωτι εἶπα περιφοράν· καί· Ὡς φωνὴ τῶν ἀκανθῶν ὑπὸ τὸν λέβητα, οὕτως ὁ γέλως τῶν ἀφρόνων. Καὶ ὁ Κύριος τὰ μὲν ἀναγκαῖα πάθη τῆς σαρκὸς ὑπομείνας φαίνεται, καὶ ὅσα ἀρετῆς μαρ τυρίαν φέρει· οἷον κόπον, καὶ τὸν ἐπὶ τοῖς θλιβομένοις ἔλεον· γέλωτι δὲ μηδαμοῦ χρησάμενος, ὅσον ἐκ τῆς τῶν Εὐαγγελίων ἱστορίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταλανίζων τοὺς κατεχομένους ὑπ' αὐτοῦ. Μὴ παρακρουέσθω δὲ ἡμᾶς ἡ ὁμωνυμία τοῦ γέλωτος. Σύνηθες γὰρ τῇ Γραφῇ πολλάκις τὴν χαρὰν τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ τὴν φαιδρὰν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς διάθεσιν γέλωτα ὀνομάζειν, ὡς ἡ Σάῤῥα φησί· Γέλωτά μοι ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεός· καὶ τὸ, Μακάριοι οἱ κλαίοντες νῦν, ὅτι γελάσετε· καὶ τὸ ἐν τῷ Ἰὼβ δὲ κείμενον· Ἀληθινὸν δὲ στόμα ἐμπλήσει γέλωτος. Ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα ἀντὶ ἱλαρότη τος ἐπὶ τῆς κατὰ ψυχὴν ἀγαλλιάσεως εἴληπται τὰ ὀνό ματα. Ὥστε ὁ παντὸς πάθους ἀνώτερος, καὶ μηδένα 31.964 ἐξ ἡδονῆς ἐρεθισμὸν πάσχων, ἢ καὶ προϊέμενος, ἀλλ' ἐγκρατῶς καὶ ἀνενδότως πρὸς πᾶσαν ἀπόλαυσιν βλαβερὰν διακείμενος, ὁ τέλειός ἐστιν ἐγκρατής· ὁ δὲ τοιοῦτος δηλονότι καὶ πάσης ἀπήλλακται ἁμαρ τίας. Ἔστι δὲ ὅτε καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν συγκεχωρημένων καὶ ἀναγκαίων πρὸς τὸ ζῇν ἀφεκτέον, ὅταν ἐπ' ὠφελείᾳ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἡμῶν ἡ ἀποχὴ οἰκονομῆται. Ὡς ὁ Ἀπόστολος· Εἰ βρῶμα σκανδαλίζει τὸν ἀδελφόν μου, φησὶν, οὐ μὴ φάγω κρέα εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. Καὶ ἔχων ἐξουσίαν ἐκ τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου ζῇν, οὐκ ἐχρή σατο τῇ ἐξουσίᾳ, ἵνα μὴ ἐγκοπήν τινα δῷ τῷ Εὐαγγε λίῳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Ἔστιν οὖν ἡ ἐγκράτεια ἁμαρτίας ἀναίρεσις, παθῶν ἀπαλλοτρίωσις, σώματος νέκρωσις μέχρι καὶ αὐτῶν τῶν φυσικῶν παθημάτων τε καὶ ἐπιθυμιῶν, ζωῆς πνευματικῆς ἀρχὴ, τῶν αἰωνίων ἀγαθῶν πρό ξενος, ἐν ἑαυτῇ τὸ κέντρον τῆς ἡδονῆς ἀφανίζουσα. Ἡδονὴ γάρ ἐστι τὸ μέγα τοῦ κακοῦ δέλεαρ, δι' ἣν εὐέμπτωτοι μάλιστα πρὸς ἁμαρτίαν ἐσμὲν οἱ ἄνθρωποι· ὑφ' ἧς πᾶσα ψυχὴ ὡς ὑπ' ἀγκίστρου πρὸς τὸν θάνατον ἕλκεται. Ὡς ὅ γε μὴ ἐκθηλυνόμενος, μηδὲ κατακαμπτόμενος ὑπ' αὐτῆς,