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

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 testimonies? From which, having discerned the ultimate and perfect goal of the devout way of life, in love and hope and with zeal for all virtue, believing in the God who cannot lie and is true, to be counted worthy of the things promised to us beyond our nature and power by the good pleasure and goodness of God, growing daily in the Lord and making our progress manifest to all in the Lord, we shall attain the spirit of adoption, as we hope with complete and perfect and unwavering faith. Through which also we are able to be delivered from the passions of dishonor, both manifest and hidden, and from sinful deeds and those accomplished by thought, 291 and are counted worthy to acquire a pure heart according to the beatitude of the Lord; provided that we completely present the struggle from our own free will, as we have proposed, thus having been counted worthy to become children of God and sons of the kingdom and brothers of Christ through the presence and mingling of the Holy Spirit, resting with him, we shall reign with him for the endless ages. But since some, carried along by ignorance, charge us with thinking extravagant things out of vanity and hoping for things that are impossible and beyond human nature to happen according to the goal, which we have set forth from the divinely-inspired scriptures, and the genuine purity that comes to believers, which we have dared to speak of not without witness, and they say that it is impossible for any person to become as the scriptures command, that is concerning perfect purity and deliverance from the passions or concerning the participation in and fullness of the Holy Spirit (for, they say, the Lord wished to speak thus to frighten men: 'Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven,' and he spoke similar things abruptly, not that, if someone does not become so, he does not enter the kingdom of heaven; for to become so is impossible for human nature), it is necessary in a few words concerning these things to present to the master 292 and to show what sort of harm and loss they suffer who have persuaded themselves not to believe the divine scriptures, but to be futilely assured by the private supposition of their own mind, and what sort of achievement and gain they procure for themselves who believe the teachings of the Spirit and have thus assured themselves, that every utterance and every word and every commandment spoken through the unfailing and Holy Spirit can be achieved by those who have truly and perfectly given themselves over to God and who through faith receive participation in the Holy Spirit, with a perfect struggle of free will and the assistance of grace. First, those who investigate Christianity with exactness and are zealous to know what is the perfect will of God, and who place their zeal and labor and struggle for the perfection of the words of the Lord in faith and hope of the goal, and who hope in much struggle to arrive and to enter into that rest, and are zealous through faith in the practice of virtues and by the grace of Christ, where the words of the Lord and of the apostles urge them on to perfection in every way, bear the fruit of their benefit through three things and receive their edification and gain in three ways. First, that as faithful servants, they regard the holy scriptures and the words of the Lord as of the true God. Second, that looking to the perfect goal of Christianity, they are made courageous and noble day by day, having unceasing and uninterrupted labor and course and struggle, and pressing on toward the blessed hope of perfection, not giving 293 themselves any relaxation at all in laxity on account of the loftiness of the goal. Third, that having before their eyes the goal of perfection and to the words of the Lord as

ἐπιτηδευμάτων ἔσται τυχεῖν εἰ μὴ δι' ὧν προειρήκαμεν, παραθέμενοι διὰ πλειόνων ἅμα καὶ τὰς γραφικὰς μαρτυρίας; ἀφ' ὧν τὸν ἄκρον καὶ τέλειον σκοπὸν τῆς εὐσεβοῦς πολιτείας διαγνόντες, ἀγάπῃ καὶ ἐλπίδι καὶ πάσης ἀρετῆς σπουδῇ πιστεύοντες θεῷ ἀψεύστῳ καὶ ἀληθινῷ τῶν ὑπὲρ τὴν ἡμετέραν φύσιν καὶ δύναμιν εὐδοκίᾳ καὶ ἀγαθότητι θεοῦ ἐπαγγελθέντων ἡμῖν καταξιωθῆναι, καθ' ἡμέραν αὐξανόμενοι ἐν κυρίῳ καὶ τὴν προκοπὴν ἡμῶν φανεροῦντες πᾶσιν ἐν κυρίῳ, τυχεῖν ἕξομεν τοῦ πνεύματος τῆς υἱοθεσίας, ὁλοκλήρως καὶ τελείως ἀδιστάκτῳ πίστει ἡμῶν ἐλπιζόντων. δι' οὗ καὶ τῶν παθῶν τῆς ἀτιμίας, φανερῶν τε καὶ κρυφίων, πρακτικῶν τε ἁμαρτημάτων καὶ λογισμῷ ἐπιτελουμένων, 291 ἀπαλλαγῆναι δυνάμεθα καὶ καθαρὰν καρδίαν κατὰ τὸν μακαρισμὸν τοῦ κυρίου καταξιούμεθα κτήσασθαι· τὸν ἀγῶνα μέντοι τὸν ἐξ ἰδίας προαιρέσεως ὡς ὑπεθέμεθα τελείως ἡμῶν παριστώντων, οὕτω τέκνα θεοῦ καὶ υἱοὶ τῆς βασιλείας καὶ ἀδελφοὶ Χριστοῦ διὰ τὴν τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος παρουσίαν καὶ συνανάκρασιν καταξιωθέντες γενέσθαι, σὺν αὐτῷ εἰς τοὺς ἀπεράντους αἰῶνας ἀναπαυόμενοι συμβασιλεύσομεν. Ἀλλ' ἐπειδή τινες ἀγνοίᾳ φερόμενοι ἐπισκήπτουσιν ἡμῖν ὡς ὑπέρογκα ἐκ ματαιότητος φρονοῦσι καὶ ἀδύνατα καὶ ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον γενέσθαι ἐλπίζουσι κατὰ τὸν σκοπόν, ὅνπερ ἀπὸ τῶν θεοπνεύστων γραφῶν παρεστήσαμεν, καὶ τὴν γινομένην εἰλικρινῆ τοῖς πιστεύουσι καθαρότητα, ἣν οὐκ ἀμαρτύρως εἰπεῖν τετολμήκαμεν, καί φασιν ὅτι ἀδύνατόν ἐστί τινα ἄνθρωπον γενέσθαι ὡς αἱ γραφαὶ παρακελεύονται, ἤτοι περὶ τελείας καθαρότητος καὶ ἀπαλλαγῆς τῶν παθῶν ἤτοι περὶ τῆς μετουσίας καὶ πληρώσεως τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος (ἠθέλησε γάρ, φασίν, ὁ κύριος οὕτω λαλῆσαι πρὸς φόβον ἀνθρώπων τὸ Ἐὰν μὴ περισσεύσῃ ἡ δικαιοσύνη ὑμῶν πλέον τῶν γραμματέων καὶ Φαρισαίων, οὐ μὴ εἰσέλθητε εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν καὶ τὰ ὅμοια ἀποτόμως εἶπεν, οὐχ ὅτι, ἐὰν μή τις οὕτως γένηται, εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν οὐκ εἰσέρχεται· γενέσθαι γὰρ οὕτως ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει ἀδύνατον), ἀναγκαῖον δι' ὀλίγων περὶ τούτων παραστῆσαι τῷ δεσπότῃ 292 καὶ δεῖξαι οἵαν μὲν βλάβην καὶ ζημίαν ὑφίστανται οἱ ταῖς θείαις γραφαῖς ἑαυτοὺς πείσαντες μὴ πιστεύειν, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἰδίᾳ τοῦ νοὸς ὑπολήψει ματαίως πληροφορεῖσθαι, οἵαν δὲ κατόρθωσιν καὶ κέρδος ἑαυτοῖς προξενοῦσιν οἱ πιστεύοντες τοῖς τοῦ πνεύματος διδάγμασι καὶ οὕτως ἑαυτοὺς πληροφορήσαντες, ὅτι πᾶν ῥῆμα καὶ πᾶς λόγος καὶ πᾶσα ἐντολὴ διὰ τοῦ ἀψευδοῦς καὶ ἁγίου πνεύματος εἰρημένη τοῖς ἀληθῶς καὶ τελείως ἑαυτοὺς τῷ θεῷ ἐκδεδωκόσι καὶ διὰ τῆς πίστεως τὴν μετουσίαν τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος κομιζομένοις ἀγῶνι τελείῳ προαιρέσεως καὶ ἀντιλήψεως χάριτι κατορθωθῆναι δύναται. Πρῶτον μὲν οἱ τὸν χριστιανισμὸν ἀκριβῶς ἀνερευνῶντες καὶ τί τὸ τέλειον τοῦ θεοῦ θέλημα σπουδάζοντες ἐπιγινώσκειν καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν τελειότητα τῶν λόγων τοῦ κυρίου τὴν σπουδὴν καὶ πόνον καὶ ἀγῶνα ἐν πίστει καὶ ἐλπίδι τοῦ σκοποῦ θέμενοι καὶ ἐλπίζοντες ἐν ἀγῶνι πολλῷ καταντῆσαι καὶ εἰς ἐκείνην τὴν κατάπαυσιν εἰσελθεῖν, πίστει δὲ ἐπιτηδεύσεως ἀρετῶν καὶ Χριστοῦ χάριτι σπουδάζοντες, ἔνθα οἱ τοῦ κυρίου καὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων λόγοι τῆς τελειότητος παντοίως προτρέπονται, διὰ τριῶν πραγμάτων τὴν ὠφέλειαν καρπίζονται καὶ διὰ τριῶν τρόπων τὴν οἰκοδομὴν καὶ τὸ κέρδος λαμβάνουσι. πρῶτον, ὅτι τὰς ἁγίας γραφὰς καὶ τοὺς τοῦ κυρίου λόγους ὡς θεοῦ ἀληθινοῦ ὡς πιστοὶ δοῦλοι ἡγοῦνται. δεύτερον, ὅτι εἰς τὸν τέλειον σκοπὸν τοῦ χριστιανισμοῦ ἀποβλέποντες ἀνδρεῖοι καὶ γενναῖοι ὁσημέραι καταρτίζονται, πόνον καὶ δρόμον καὶ ἀγῶνα ἄπαυστον καὶ ἀδιάλειπτον ἔχοντες καὶ εἰς τὴν μακαρίαν ἐλπίδα τῆς τελειότητος ἐπειγόμενοι, μὴ διδόντες 293 ἑαυτοῖς ἄνεσιν ἐν χαυνότητι ὅλως διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τοῦ σκοποῦ. τρίτον, ὅτι ἔχοντες πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν τὸν σκοπὸν τῆς τελειότητος καὶ τοῖς τοῦ κυρίου λόγοις ὡς