17

For this reason, we, setting ourselves in opposition to this law of sin, drive it out of the body and install the supervision of the mind and through it we legislate for each power of the soul and for the members of the body what is proper for each: to the senses, what and how much is to be perceived, and this work of the law is called self-control; and to the passionate part of the soul we impart the best disposition, and this has received the name of love; but we also improve the rational faculty through this, sending away whatever opposes the mind's ascent to God; and this part of this law we call watchfulness. And when someone has cleansed his body through self-control, has made anger and desire an occasion for virtues through divine love, and has presented to God a mind made pure through prayer, he acquires and sees in himself the grace promised to the pure in heart. And then he would be able to say this with Paul, that ‘the God who said, Let light shine out of darkness, (p. 124) is the one who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.’ ‘But we have,’ he says, ‘this treasure in earthen vessels.’ Therefore, since we have the paternal light in the face of Jesus Christ, for the knowledge of the glory of the Holy Spirit, as in earthen vessels, our bodies, shall we confine it to our mind within the body and act unworthily of the greatness of the mind? And who would say this, not only one who is spiritual, but even one having a mind stripped of divine grace, yet still a human mind?

And since our soul is a thing of many powers, and uses as an instrument the body which is by nature suited to live according to it, through what instruments does this power of it, which we call mind, operate? But indeed no one ever supposed the intellect to be situated either in the nails, or in the eyelids, nor even in the nostrils or the lips; but it seems to all of us that it is within us, and some have differed as to which of the inward parts it uses as its primary instrument. For some establish it in the brain as in some acropolis, while others give to it the very center of the heart and the purest part of the vital spirit there as its vehicle. But we ourselves, although it is neither inside as in a vessel (for it is incorporeal), nor outside (for it is joined to it), know precisely that our rational faculty is in the heart as in an instrument, having been taught this not by man, but by the very one who formed man, who, showing how ‘not what goes in, but what comes out of the mouth defiles a man,’ says, ‘for out of the heart come forth thoughts.’ Therefore also the great Macarius, (p. 126) ‘the heart,’ he says, ‘rules over the whole organism, and when grace takes possession of the pastures of the heart, it reigns over all the thoughts and the members; for there is the mind and all the thoughts of the soul.’ Therefore our heart is the storehouse of the rational faculty and its first fleshly rational instrument. Therefore, when we are eager to watch over and correct our rational faculty with precise watchfulness, with what could we watch over it, if we did not gather our mind, which is poured out through the senses to external things, and lead it back to the things within and to the heart itself, the storehouse of thoughts? For this reason, Macarius, true to his name, following what he said a little before, says: ‘There, therefore, one must look to see if grace has inscribed the laws of the Spirit.’ Where is ‘there’? In the ruling instrument, in the throne of grace, where the mind and all the thoughts of the soul are, that is, in the heart. Do you see how most necessary it is for those who have chosen to attend to themselves in quiet to lead back and enclose the mind in the body, and especially in the innermost body within the body, which we call the heart?

17

∆ιά τοῦθ᾿ ἡμεῖς, ἀντιπαραταττόμενοι τούτῳ τῷ νόμῳ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἐξοικίζομεν αὐτόν τοῦ σώματος καί ἐνοικίζομεν τήν ἐπισκοπήν τοῦ νοῦ καί νομοθετοῦμεν δι᾿ αὐτῆς ἑκάστῃ τε δυνάμει τῆς ψυχῆς καί τοῖς τοῦ σώματος μέλεσιν ἑκάστῳ τό προσῆκον˙ ταῖς μέν αἰσθήσεσιν, ὧν τε καί ἐφ᾿ ὅσον ἐστίν ἀντιληπτέον, τό ἔργον δέ τοῦ νόμου τοῦτο προσαγορεύεται ἐγκράτεια˙ τῷ δέ παθητικῷ μέρει τῆς ψυχῆς τήν ἀρίστην ἐμποιοῦμεν ἕξιν, ἀγάπην δ᾿ ἔσχεν αὕτη τήν ἐπωνυμίαν˙ ἀλλά καί τό λογιστικόν διά τούτου βελτιοῦμεν, ἀποπεμπόμενοι πᾶν ὅ τι προσίσταται τῇ διανοίᾳ πρός τήν εἰς Θεόν ἀνάνευσιν, καλοῦμεν δέ τουτί τό μόριον τοῦ νόμου τούτου νῆψιν. Ἐγκρατείᾳ δέ τις τό σῶμα καθάρας ἑαυτοῦ, θυμόν τε καί ἐπιθυμίαν ἀφορμήν ἀρετῶν δι᾿ ἀγάπης θείας ποιησάμενος καί νοῦν ἀπειλικρινημένον δι᾿ εὐχῆς παραστήσας τῷ Θεῷ, κτᾶται καί ὁρᾷ ἐν ἑαυτῷ τήν ἐπηγγελμένην χάριν τοῖς κεκαθαρμένοις τήν καρδίαν. Καί τότ᾿ ἄν δυνηθείη καί τοῦτο μετά Παύλου λέγειν, ὅτι «ὁ Θεός ὁ εἰπών ἐκ σκότους φῶς λάμψαι, (σελ. 124) ὅς ἔλαμψεν ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν, πρός φωτισμόν τῆς γνώσεως τῆς δόξης τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐν προσώπῳ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ˙ «ἔχομεν δέ», φησί, «τόν θησαυρόν τοῦτον ἐν ὀστρακίνοις σκεύεσιν». Τό γοῦν πατρικόν φῶς, ἐν προσώπῳ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, εἰς τό γνῶναι τήν δόξαν τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἔχοντες ἡμεῖς ὡς ἐν ὀστρακίνοις σκεύεσι, τοῖς σώμασιν, εἰς τόν νοῦν ἡμῶν αὐτῶν ἔνδον τοῦ σώματος καθέξομεν, ἀναξίως τῆς μεγαλοφυΐας πράξομεν τοῦ νοῦ; Καί τίς ἄν τοῦτ᾿ εἴποι, μή ὅτι πνευματικός, ἀλλά καί νοῦν γεγυμνωμένον θείας χάριτος, ἀνθρώπου δ᾿ ὅμως ἔχων;

Ἐπεί δέ καί ἔνεστι πολυδύναμον πρᾶγμα ἡ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ψυχή, χρῆται δ᾿ ὡς ὀργάνῳ τῷ ζῆν κατ᾿ αὐτήν πεφυκότι σώματι, τίσιν ὡς ὀργάνοις χρωμένη ἐνεργεῖ ἡ δύναμις αὐτῆς αὕτη, ἥν καλοῦμεν νοῦν; Ἀλλά γάρ οὐδείς ποθ᾿ ὑπενόησεν, οὔτε ἐπί τοῖς ὄνυξιν, οὔτ᾿ ἐν τοῖς βλεφάροις, οὐδέ μενοῦν ἐν τοῖς μυκτῆρσιν ἤ τοῖς χείλεσιν ἐνῳκισμένην εἶναι τήν διάνοιαν˙ ἐντός δ᾿ ἡμῖν ἐνεῖναι πᾶσιν αὕτη συνδοκεῖ, διηνέχθησαν δέ τινες, τίνι πρώτῳ ὡς ὀργάνῳ χρῆται τῶν ἐντός. Οἱ μέν γάρ ὡς ἐπ᾿ ἀκροπόλει τινί τῷ ἐγκεφάλῳ ταύτην ἐνιδρύουσιν, οἱ δέ τῆς καρδίας τό μεσαίτατον καί τό κατ᾿ αὐτό τοῦ ψυχικοῦ πνεύματος ἐπειλικρινημένον ὄχημα διδόασιν αὐτῇ. Ἡμεῖς δέ καί αὐτοί, εἰ καί μήτε ἔνδον ὡς ἐν ἀγγείῳ, καί γάρ ἀσώματον, μήτε ἔξω, καί γάρ συνημμένον, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ ὡς ἐν ὀργάνῳ τό λογιστικόν ἡμῶν εἶναι ἐπιστάμεθ᾿ ἀκριβῶς, οὐ παρ᾿ ἀνθρώπου τοῦτο διδαχθέντες, ἀλλά παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ τοῦ πλάσαντος τόν ἄνθρωπον, ὅς, δεικνύς ὅπως «οὐ τά εἰσερχόμενα, ἀλλά τά ἐξερχόμενα διά τοῦ στόματος κοινοῖ τόν ἄνθρωπον», «ἐκ γάρ τῆς καρδίας ἐξέρχονται», φησίν, «οἱ λογισμοί». Ταῦτ᾿ ἆρα καί ὁ μέγας Μακάριος, (σελ. 126) «ἡ καρδία», φησίν, «ἡγεμονεύει ὅλου τοῦ ὀργάνου καί, ἐπάν κατάσχῃ τάς νομάς τῆς καρδίας ἡ χάρις, βασιλεύει ὅλων τῶν λογισμῶν καί τῶν μελῶν˙ ἐκεῖ γάρ ἐστιν ὁ νοῦς καί πάντες οἱ λογισμοί τῆς ψυχῆς». Οὐκοῦν ἡ καρδία ἡμῶν ἐστι τό τοῦ λογιστικοῦ ταμεῖον καί πρῶτον σαρκικόν ὄργανον λογιστικόν. Τό τοίνυν λογιστικόν ἡμῶν ἐν ἀκριβεῖ νήψει σπεύδοντες ἐπισκέπτεσθαι καί διορθοῦν, τίνι γ᾿ ἄν ἐπισκεψαίμεθα, εἰ μή τόν ἐγκεχυμένον διά τῶν αἰσθήσεων νοῦν ἡμῶν ἔξωθεν συναγαγόντες πρός τά ἐντός ἐπαναγάγοιμεν καί πρός αὐτήν ταύτην τήν καρδίαν, τό τῶν λογισμῶν ταμεῖον; ∆ιά τοῦτο καί ὁ φερώνυμος Μακάριος ἐφεξῆς τοῖς ᾶνωτέρω μικρόν εἰρημένοις παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ φησιν˙ «ἐκεῖ τοίνυν δεῖ σκοπεῖν, εἰ ἐνέγραψεν ἡ χάρις τούς τοῦ Πνεύματος νόμους». Ἐκεῖ ποῦ; Ἐν τῷ ἡγεμονικῷ ὀργάνῳ, ἐν τῷ τῆς χάριτος θρόνῳ, ὅπου ὁ νοῦς καί οἱ λογισμοί πάντες τῆς ψυχῆς, ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ δηλαδή. Ὁρᾷς πῶς ἀναγκαιότατον τοῖς προηρημένοις ἐν ἡσυχίᾳ προσέχειν ἑαυτοῖς ἐπανάγειν καί ἐμπερικλείειν τῷ σώματι τόν νοῦν, καί μάλιστα τῷ ἐν τῷ σώματι ἐνδοτάτῳ σώματι, ὅ καρδίαν ὀνομάζομεν;