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With good reason may the Lord's rebuke also come upon us, as those who strain out the gnat, but swallow the camel.

CHAPTER 20. That one must not pursue conversations with worldly relatives, or be concerned for their affairs.

Indeed, it is fitting to be separated in disposition from relatives and friends and parents, as much as we see the dead are removed from the living. For indeed the one who has in truth stripped himself for the contests for virtue, and has renounced the entire world with all the things in the world, and has crucified himself, to speak fully, to the world, is dead to the world, and to all things in the world, whether they be parents, or brothers, or holding the third or fourth or any degree of kinship. If then his parents should change their way of life, and should transfer to the way of life of their child, they are truly relatives; holding not the rank of parents, but that of brothers. For the truest father is, first, the Father of all; and the second after Him is the one who leads the spiritual way of life. But if the relatives should remain embracing their former life, they are a part of the world, from which we have been separated, 31.1392 and are in no way related to those who have put off the man of flesh and have stripped off familiarity with them. But the one who embraces the friendship of worldly people with exactness, and desires to associate constantly with them, has brought their dispositions into his soul through constant conversation. And again his mind being filled with the worldly mindset, he has fallen from his good resolve, and has been separated from the spiritual mindset, and has wiped up his former vomit with his soul, and has been wounded by the enemy, who through carnal kinship has muddied the spiritual way of life. Therefore, for our relatives let us pray for the best things, righteousness, I say, and piety, and these things, which we have held to be precious. For these things it is fitting for us to pray for, and it is profitable for them to receive from us. But as for ourselves, let us release our thoughts from care and anxiety for them. For the devil, seeing that we have stripped off all worldly care, and are running well-equipped toward heaven, instills in us the thought of our relatives, preparing us to care for their affairs, and prepares our mind to be anxious about worldly cares: what the property of our family is, and whether it is sufficient or lacking, and what profits have accrued to them from their transactions, and how much their wealth is increasing; and what losses are befalling them from life's circumstances, and how much they are diminishing their existing property. And he makes us to rejoice in their prosperity, and to grieve at their failures, and to share hatred for their enemies (and this, when we are commanded to have no enemy), and to rejoice with friends who are often not worthy of spiritual familiarity, and to rejoice also in their unjust and unreasonable gains, and he reintroduces into our thoughts all the wicked dispositions of worldly affairs, which we, having stripped them off, had replaced with spiritual thoughts, and again working into the soul the material and worldly mindset, he destroys the inner ascetic, and causes him to bear the habit as only a statue of an ascetic, in no way animated by the virtues. And often because of intense goodwill towards relatives the ascetic has dared even to commit sacrilege, so as to relieve the poverty of his relatives. For the things stored up for the saints, those who have dedicated themselves to God, are considered and taken to be sacred and truly votive offerings. Therefore the one who misappropriates any of these things is one of those who dare to commit sacrilege. Knowing, therefore, of the

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εἰκότως καὶ ἐφ' ἡμᾶς ἡ τοῦ Κυρίου μέμψις ἔλθοι, ὡς τὸν κώνωπα διυλιζόντων, τὴν δὲ κάμηλον καταπινόντων.

ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Κʹ. Ὅτι οὐ χρὴ τὰς πρὸς τοὺς βιωτικοὺς συγγενεῖς μεταδιώκειν

ὁμιλίας, ἢ τὰ ἐκείνων φροντίζειν. Συγγενῶν μέντοι καὶ φίλων καὶ γονέων κεχω ρίσθαι τοσοῦτον τῇ διαθέσει

προσήκει, ὅσον τοὺς τεθνεῶτας ὁρῶμεν τῶν ζώντων ἀφεστηκότας. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ κατὰ ἀλήθειαν πρὸς τοὺς κατ' ἀρετὴν ἀγῶνας ἀποδυσάμενος, καὶ τῷ κόσμῳ παντὶ μετὰ τῶν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ πάντων ἀποταξάμενος, καὶ σταυ ρώσας ἑαυτὸν, ἵνα τὸ πλῆρες εἴπω, τῷ κόσμῳ, τέ θνηκε τῷ κόσμῳ, καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, κἂν γονεῖς ὦσι, κἂν ἀδελφοὶ, κἂν τρίτον ἢ τέταρτον ἢ πολλοστὸν βαθμὸν τῆς συγγενείας ἐπέχοντες. Εἰ μὲν οὖν μετασταῖεν οἱ γεγεννηκότες τοῦ βίου, καὶ πρὸς τὴν πολιτείαν τοῦ παιδὸς μετατάξαιντο, ἀληθῶς εἰσι συγγενεῖς· οὐ τὴν γονέων, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀδελφῶν τάξιν ἐπέχοντες. Πατὴρ γάρ ἐστιν ἀληθέστατος, πρῶτος μὲν ὁ τῶν ἁπάντων Πατήρ· ὁ δεύτερος δὲ μετ' ἐκεῖνον ὁ τῆς πνευματικῆς καθηγούμενος πολιτείας. Εἰ δὲ μένοιεν οἱ συγγενεῖς τὸν πρότερον ἀσπασάμενοι βίον, μέρος εἰσὶ τοῦ κόσμου, οὗ ἡμεῖς κεχωρίσμεθα, 31.1392 καὶ κατ' οὐδὲν προσήκοντες τὸν κατὰ σάρκα ἄνθρω πον ἀποθεμένοις, καὶ ἀποδυσαμένοις τὴν πρὸς ἐκεί νους οἰκείωσιν. Ὁ δὲ τὴν τῶν βιωτικῶν φιλίαν μετὰ ἀκριβείας κατασπαζόμενος, καὶ τούτοις διαπαντὸς προσομιλεῖν ἐφιέμενος, τὰς ἐκείνων διαθέσεις διὰ τῆς συνεχοῦς ὁμιλίας εἰς τὴν ψυχὴν εἰσῳκίσατο. Πάλιν τε τοῦ κοσμικοῦ φρονήματος ἀναπλησθεὶς τὴν διάνοιαν, τῆς ἀγαθῆς ἐνστάσεως ἀποπέπτωκε, καὶ τοῦ πνευματικοῦ φρονήματος ἐχωρίσθη, καὶ τὸν πρότερον ἔμετον ἀνεμάξατο τῇ ψυχῇ, καὶ παρὰ τοῦ ἐχθροῦ τέτρωται, διὰ τῆς σαρκικῆς συγγενείας τὴν πνευματικὴν πολιτείαν ἐπιθολώσαντος. Τοῖς μὲν οὖν συγγενέσιν εὐχώμεθα τὰ βέλτιστα, δικαιοσύνην, φημὶ, καὶ εὐσέβειαν, καὶ ταῦτα, ἅπερ ἡμεῖς τίμια πεποιήμεθα. Ταῦτα γὰρ ἡμῖν πρέπον εὔχεσθαι, κἀκείνοις παρ' ἡμῶν καρποῦσθαι συμφέ ρον. Αὐτοὶ δὲ τῆς περὶ ἐκείνων φροντίδος τε καὶ μερίμνης τοὺς λογισμοὺς ἀπολύσωμεν. Ὁ γὰρ διά βολος, θεασάμενος ἀποδυσαμένους ἡμᾶς πᾶσαν φρον τίδα βιωτικὴν, καὶ εὐσταλεῖς ἐπὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν τρέ χοντας, τὴν περὶ τοὺς συγγενεῖς ἡμῖν ἐνεργασάμενος ἔννοιαν, τά τε ἐκείνων φροντίζειν παρασκευάσας, καὶ εἰς τὰς βιωτικὰς φροντίδας τὸν λογισμὸν μερι μνᾷν παρασκευάζει· τίς μὲν ἡ τῶν οἰκείων περιου σία, καὶ εἰ αὐτάρκης, ἢ ἐνδεὴς, τίνα δὲ τὰ ἐκ τῶν συναλλαγμάτων αὐτοῖς προσγενόμενα κέρδη, καὶ ἐπὶ πόσον τὸν πλοῦτον αὐξάνοντα· τίνες δὲ ἐκ τῶν τοῦ βίου περιστάσεων ζημίαι προσπίπτουσαι, καὶ πόσον τὴν ὑπάρχουσαν ἐλαττοῦσαι περιουσίαν. Καὶ συν ήδεσθαι μὲν ποιεῖ ταῖς εὐπορίαις αὐτῶν, συναθυ μεῖν τε ταῖς ἀστοχίαις, συνεχθραίνειν δὲ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς (καὶ τοῦτο, κελευομένους μηδένα ἔχειν ἐχθρὸν), καὶ συγχαίρειν τοῖς φίλοις οὐκ ἀξίοις οὖσι πολλάκις τῆς πνευματικῆς οἰκειώσεως, χαίρειν δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀδίκοις αὐτῶν καὶ παραλόγοις κέρδεσι, καὶ πάσας τὰς πονηρὰς τῶν βιωτικῶν ὑποθέσεων διαθέσεις, ἃς ἀποδυσάμενοι, τὰς πνευματικὰς ἐννοίας εἰσῳκισά μεθα, πάλιν ἐπεισάγει τοῖς λογισμοῖς, καὶ τὸ ὑλικὸν καὶ κοσμικὸν φρόνημα τῇ ψυχῇ πάλιν ἐνεργασάμενος, τὸν ἔνδον ἀσκητὴν καταλύει, καὶ ἀνδριάντα μόνον ἀσκητοῦ τὸ σχῆμα περιφέρειν παρασκευάζει, μηδα μοῦ ἐψυχωμένον ταῖς ἀρεταῖς. Πολλάκις δὲ διὰ τὰς περὶ τοὺς συγγενεῖς ἐπιταθείσας εὐνοίας ἐτόλμησεν ὁ ἀσκητὴς καὶ ἱεροσυλίαν ἐργάσασθαι, ὥστε τὴν τῶν συγγενῶν ἔνδειαν θεραπεῦσαι. Τὰ γὰρ εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους, τοὺς ἀναθέντας ἑαυτοὺς τῷ Θεῷ, ταμιευό μενα ἱερὰ καὶ ἀληθῶς ἀναθήματα νοεῖται καὶ ἐκλαμ βάνεται. Ὁ τοίνυν τούτων τι νοσφιζόμενος εἷς ἐστι τῶν ἱεροσυλίας κατατολμώντων. Γνόντες οὖν τῆς