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

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 there the Lord urges and there He exhorts those who follow Him, saying: Be ye therefore perfect, as your heavenly Father, teaching that complete purity should be in us; and again: I will that where I am, they also may be with me, that they may behold my glory; and also that of the Apostle: That we may present every man perfect in Christ; and that Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. Striving therefore in every way and running without ceasing the good race of good practices and laboring always in the virtues, they will not consider themselves to be anything, seeing that they have not yet reached the measure to which they have been called, but will consider themselves reprobate and wretched and as not having apprehended, because of the excess of the acquisition of spiritual wealth, although they are honorable and approved and contenders; thus being humble-minded about themselves† they will completely escape from wickedness and conceit and sloth and negligence, and inasmuch as they of necessity advance to a great measure of righteousness through much urgency and zeal and unyielding struggle, even if they are not yet able to arrive at perfection 294 because of the exceeding wealth. Therefore in three ways, as has been said, edification and benefit are provided by those who hold to this way of thinking. But those who consider Christianity to be something small and ordinary and do not investigate the highest spiritual goal and what is the will of God, that which is good and acceptable and perfect, and do not seek out the precise instruction of the highest commandments, but attend to the words of the Lord indifferently and casually and contemptuously, being fully persuaded by their own reasoning of a vain opinion, think that the evangelical commandments were spoken simply for the fear of men and not for the sake of truth itself are they assured of the Lord's word that Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. since He taught that His words are thus unshakeable and firm and true, those who are persuaded by such reasoning and way of thinking, again, they themselves [through three things and] in three ways bring the greatest harm and loss to the soul. First, that by disbelieving the divinely-inspired scriptures they make God out to be a liar and not true. Second, that not having the greater and perfect goal of Christianity which they have not yet †attained, 295 considering themselves to be something, they are not able to have toil and struggle and zeal and hunger and thirst for righteousness, but they acquire listlessness and carelessness and sluggishness through negligence and vain assurance. Third, that thinking that they stand well because of a few virtues, not looking to the perfect measure of Christianity, to which looking and having given themselves they know they have not yet arrived, they are not able to possess humility and poverty and contrition of heart [knowing themselves] because of having assured themselves by outward appearances and customs or by some few right actions; and thus they fall short of the blessed hope and calling of the perfection of the Lord and of the complete cleansing from the passions, and justifying themselves because of a few virtues and considering themselves as having attained and as being something, they consequently do not receive daily progress and spiritual growth because of not having toil and struggle and affliction and contrition of heart; for those who do not have toil and struggle and affliction for the sake of the kingdom and hunger and thirst for righteousness are unable to arrive at perfection, even if they shall be able to receive some growth or progress. Or let us also use another example: just as if to some

ἀληθέσι πιστεύουσιν, ὅτι δεῖ εἰς τὰ μέτρα τῆς ἀπαθείας καὶ ἐλευθερίας φθάσαι τὸν ἀληθῶς προσεληλυθότα δουλεύειν τῷ θεῷ. ἐπειδὴ ἐκεῖ προτρέπεται ὁ κύριος κἀκεῖ παρακαλεῖ τοὺς ἀκολουθοῦντας αὐτῷ λέγων· Γίνεσθε οὖν ὑμεῖς τέλειοι, ὡς ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος, παντελῆ καθαρότητα ἐν ἡμῖν γίνεσθαι διδάσκων· καὶ πάλιν· Θέλω ἵνα ὅπου εἰμὶ ἐγώ, καὶ οὗτοι ὦσι μετ' ἐμοῦ, ἵνα θεωρῶσι τὴν δόξαν τὴν ἐμήν· καὶ τὸ τοῦ ἀποστόλου δέ· Ἵνα παραστήσωμεν πάντα ἄνθρωπον τέλειον ἐν Χριστῷ· καὶ τὸ Μέχρι καταντήσωμεν οἱ πάντες εἰς τὴν ἑνότητα τῆς πίστεως καὶ τῆς ἐπιγνώσεως τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ εἰς ἄνδρα τέλειον, εἰς μέτρον ἡλικίας τοῦ πληρώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ. ἀγωνιζόμενοι οὖν παντὶ τρόπῳ καὶ τρέχοντες ἀδιαλείπτως τὸν καλὸν τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων δρόμον καὶ πονοῦντες περὶ τὰς ἀρετὰς πάντοτε οὐχ ἡγήσονται ἑαυτοὺς εἶναί τι, ἅτε δὴ μηδέπω φθάσαντες εἰς ὃ κέκληνται μέτρον, ἀλλ' ἀδοκίμους καὶ ταλαιπώρους καὶ μὴ κατειληφότας διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς κτήσεως τοῦ πνευματικοῦ πλούτου ἡγήσονται, καίπερ ὄντες τίμιοι καὶ δόκιμοι καὶ ἀγωνισταί· οὕτως δὲ περὶ ἑαυτῶν ταπεινοφρονοῦντες† τῆς κακίας καὶ οἰήσεως καὶ ὄκνου καὶ ῥᾳθυμίας παντελῶς ἐκφεύξονται, καὶ ὅσον εἰς μέγα δικαιοσύνης μέτρον ἐξ ἀνάγκης χωροῦσι διὰ τὴν πολλὴν ἔπειξιν καὶ σπουδὴν καὶ τὸν ἀνένδοτον ἀγῶνα, εἰ καὶ εἰς τὴν τελειότητα 294 φθάσαι διὰ τὸν ὑπερβάλλοντα πλοῦτον οὔπω δύνανται. ∆ιὰ τριῶν οὖν τρόπων τὴν οἰκοδομήν, ὡς εἴρηται, καὶ τὴν ὠφέλειαν οἱ τούτῳ ἐχόμενοι τῷ φρονήματι πορίζονται. οἱ δὲ τὸν χριστιανισμὸν ὡς ἔτυχε μικρὸν νομίσαντες εἶναι καὶ μὴ ἀνερευνῶντες τὸ ἀκρότατον τοῦ πνευματικοῦ σκοποῦ καὶ τί τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ εὐάρεστον καὶ τέλειον καὶ τὴν ἀκριβῆ τῶν ἄκρων ἐντολῶν παραγγελίαν μὴ ἀναζητοῦντες, ἀλλὰ ἀδιαφόρως καὶ ὡς ἔτυχε τοῖς τοῦ κυρίου λόγοις καὶ καταφρονητικῶς προσέχοντες, ἰδίῳ λογισμῷ ὑπολήψεως ματαίας πληροφορούμενοι πρὸς φόβον ἀνθρώπων ἁπλῶς εἰρῆσθαι τὰς εὐαγγελικὰς ἐντολὰς νομίζουσιν καὶ οὐκ αὐτῆς τῆς ἀληθείας ἕνεκα βεβαιοῦνται τὸν τοῦ κυρίου λόγον ὅτι Ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ παρελεύσονται, οἱ δὲ λόγοι μου οὐ μὴ παρέλθωσιν. οὕτως ἀσείστους καὶ ἑδραίους καὶ ἀληθεῖς τοὺς λόγους αὐτοῦ εἶναι διδάξαντος οἱ τοιούτῳ λογισμῷ καὶ φρονήματι πειθόμενοι πάλιν καὶ αὐτοὶ [διὰ τριῶν πραγμάτων καὶ] διὰ τριῶν τρόπων τὸ μέγιστον βλάβος καὶ ζημίαν τῇ ψυχῇ προσκομίζουσι. πρῶτον, ὅτι εἰς τὰς θεοπνεύστους γραφὰς ἀπιστοῦντες ψεύστην καὶ οὐκ ἀληθῆ τὸν θεὸν συνιστῶσι. δεύτερον, ὅτι μὴ ἔχοντες τὸν μείζονα καὶ τέλειον τοῦ χριστιανισμοῦ σκοπὸν εἰς ὃν οὐδέπω †κατειλήφασιν, 295 ἑαυτοὺς εἶναι τι ἡγούμενοι πόνον καὶ ἀγῶνα καὶ σπουδὴν καὶ πεῖναν καὶ δίψαν τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἔχειν οὐ δύνανται, ἀλλὰ χαυνότητα καὶ ἀμεριμνίαν καὶ νωθρείαν διὰ τῆς ὀλιγωρίας καὶ ματαίας πληροφορίας κτῶνται. τρίτον, ὅτι οἰόμενοι καλῶς ἑστάναι δι' ὀλίγας τινὰς ἀρετάς, μὴ ἀφορῶντες εἰς τὸ τέλειον τοῦ χριστιανισμοῦ μέτρον, εἰς ὃ ἀποβλέποντες καὶ ἑαυτοὺς δόντες μηδέπω ἐφθακέναι οἴδασι, ταπείνωσιν καὶ πτωχείαν καὶ σύντριψιν καρδίας κεκτῆσθαι [ἑαυτοὺς εἰδότες] οὐ δύνανται διὰ τὸ τοῖς ἐξωτέροις σχήμασι καὶ ἤθεσιν ἢ ἐπὶ ὀλίγοις τισὶ κατορθώμασιν ἑαυτοὺς πληροφορῆσαι· καὶ οὕτως ἀπομένουσι τῆς μακαρίας ἐλπίδος καὶ κλήσεως τῆς τοῦ κυρίου τελειότητος καὶ τῆς τῶν παθῶν παντελοῦς καθάρσεως, καὶ ἑαυτοὺς δικαιοῦντες δι' ὀλίγας τινὰς ἀρετὰς καὶ ὡς κατειληφότας καὶ ὄντας τι ἑαυτοὺς ἡγούμενοι, προκοπὴν ὁσημέραι καὶ αὔξησιν πνευματικὴν ἀκολούθως οὐ λαμβάνουσι διὰ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν πόνον καὶ ἀγῶνα καὶ θλῖψιν καὶ σύντριψιν καρδίας· οἱ γὰρ πόνον καὶ ἀγῶνα καὶ θλῖψιν διὰ τὴν βασιλείαν καὶ πεῖναν καὶ δίψαν τῆς δικαιοσύνης μὴ ἔχοντες ἀδυνατοῦσιν εἰς τὸ τέλειον φθάσαι, καὶ εἰ αὔξησίν τινα ἢ προκοπὴν δέξασθαι δυνήσονται. Ἢ καὶ ἑτέρᾳ ὑποθέσει χρησώμεθα· ὥσπερ ἐάν τισιν