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If he wakes up, he does not get up, but says: "It is early, I will sleep a little longer." And as he thus postpones, the morning service arrives, and then getting up he enters the service, his conscience reproaching him for his negligence and sloth.

As we said before, then, as is his custom, he goes rather frequently to the cells of friends and beloved fathers and sits until late in the evening, eating with them, drinking with them, conversing with them; and thus coming to his cell, he becomes useless not only for the evening prayer, but also for the morning service, being able to conceive or accomplish nothing spiritual at all. But also in his own cell, if another comes and visits, he likewise prolongs the night, at times reviling and condemning the lives of others, and this one remains, wasting the whole time of his life in dissipation and drunkenness and in cares that are not good.

But for what reason have I gone through all these things? So that I might show you, brothers, that one who leads such a life can never bring a tear from his eyes; for how can one who is always serving his own stomach and continually worrying like the gentiles what he will eat tomorrow and what he will drink (71) and serving the pleasure of the throat as a mistress? But let us grant that he abstains from the things mentioned and that he neither goes to another's cell, nor receives another in his own cell, nor devotes himself to gluttony and drinking and idle talk, but closing the doors remains completely alone inside the cell; what then is the benefit to him, if his work is not spiritual and with knowledge, but he sits reading in order to memorize something, so that he might have this to say at the time of the service or even in the presence of friends, so as to appear knowledgeable? But let us suppose that it is not for this reason, but for the sake of benefit and to hear the word of God that he occupies himself with the divine Scriptures, then rising he stands for prayer; and let his prayer be, if you will, two psalms or three or ten or a hundred, and likewise the prostrations, as many as you might say to make, and then having thus fulfilled everything, he lies down and nothing more; what then, tell me, is the benefit to him from such work alone, if the fruit of the prayer and the reading does not also blossom in his soul through the tears of repentance, which is dispassion, the acquisition of humility together with meekness, and the knowledge with wisdom of the spirit? For to everyone who works the spiritual work of the commandments of God with knowledge, the acquisition of the things mentioned follows proportionately without any doubt from his arduous labor. But if, to one who works and toils as it seems, the aforementioned things do not blossom, his work is not according to God but only for the pleasing of men, and reasonably he fails to attain the better things.

(72) Thus, then, each of the aforementioned, by always living his life in this way, will he ever be able, like the one who from the beginning of his renunciation gave himself completely to endure and suffer all sorrows according to God, as we said above, to acquire tears or compunction, or to cast off the malice and wickedness and hard-heartedness that accompanied him from the world, and to acquire humility? By no means. Whoever he may be, he deceives himself who thinks or legislates these things. For just as it is not possible for iron that is not heated in the fire to shine like that which is heated, or to become soft by some other device and be forged and ever be made into a useful tool, so also is it not possible for the negligent and slothful one, who leads such a harmful life as the discourse has shown, to be made equal to the one who from the first received good examples from the obedience of spiritual fathers and has a virtuous life, and to enjoy the same gifts and graces of the

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ἐάν ἔξυπνος γένηται, οὐκ ἐγείρεται, ἀλλά λέγει· "Ταχύ ἐστιν, ὑπνώσω ἔτι μικρόν". Καί οὕτως ὑπερτιθεμένου, φθάνει ἡ σύναξις τοῦ ὄρθρου, καί τηνικαῦτα ἐγειρόμενος εἰσέρχεται εἰς τήν σύναξιν, τό συνειδός ἔχων ἔλεγχον τῆς ἀμελείας καί ῥᾳθυμίας αὐτοῦ.

Καθώς οὖν προείπομεν, ὡς ἔθος αὐτῷ ἐστι, συχνοτέρως εἰς τάς τῶν φίλων καί ἀγαπητῶν πατέρων κέλλας ἀπερχόμενος ἕως βράδυ κάθηται συνδειπνῶν, συμπίνων, προσομιλῶν αὐτοῖς· καί οὕτως ἐν τῷ κελλίῳ ἐρχόμενος, ἄχρηστος γίνεται οὐ μόνον ἐν τῇ ἑσπερινῇ εὐχῇ, ἀλλά δή καί ἐν τῇ τοῦ ὄρθρου συνάξει, μηδέν ὅλως πνευματικόν ἤ ἐννοῆσαι ἤ διαπράξασθαι δυνάμενος. Ἀλλά καί ἐν τῇ αὐτοῦ κέλλῃ, ἐάν ἕτερος ἐλθών παραβάλῃ, ὁμοίως τήν νύκτα παρέλκει, ἔσθ᾿ ὅτε λοιδορῶν καί κατακρίνων βίους ἑτέρων, καί μένει οὗτος τόν ὅλον τῆς ζωῆς αὐτοῦ χρόνον προσαπολλύς ἐν κραιπάλῃ καί μέθῃ καί μερίμναις οὐκ ἀγαθαῖς.

Ἀλλά τίνος ἕνεκα ταῦτα πάντα διῆλθον; Ἵνα δείξω ὑμῖν, ἀδελφοί, ὅτι ὁ τοιοῦτον ἕλκων βίον οὐ δύναταί ποτε δάκρυον ἐξ ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτοῦ καταγαγεῖν· πῶς γάρ ὁ ἀεί τήν αὐτοῦ θεραπεύων γαστέρα καί διηνεκῶς φροντίζων ὁμοίως τοῖς ἔθνεσι τί φάγεται αὔριον καί τί πίεται (71) καί ὡς δεσποίνῃ δουλεύων τῇ τοῦ φάρυγγος ἡδονῇ; ∆ῶμεν δέ καί ἀπέχεσθαι τῶν εἰρημένων αὐτόν καί μήτε πρός ἄλλου τινός κέλλαν χωρεῖν, μήτε ἄλλον αὐτόν ὑποδέχεσθαι ἐν τῇ κέλλῃ αὐτοῦ, μήτε κόρῳ γαστρός καί πότῳ καί ἀργολογίαις προσανέχειν, ἀλλά κλείσαντα τάς θύρας ἔνδον μένειν τῆς κέλλης μονώτατον· τί οὖν ὁ ὄφελος αὐτῷ, ἐάν μή πνευματική ὑπάρχῃ καί μετά γνώσεως ἡ ἐργασία αὐτοῦ, ἀλλά κάθηται ἀναγινώσκων πρός τό ἀποστηθίσαι τι, ἵνα ἔχῃ τοῦτο λέγειν ἐν καιρῷ συνάξεως ἤ καί παρουσίᾳ φίλων, ὥστε φαίνεσθαι αὐτόν γνωστικόν; Θῶμεν δέ ὅτι οὐχ ἕνεκα τούτου, ἀλλά χάριν ὠφελείας καί τοῦ ἀκοῦσαι λόγον Θεοῦ ἐντυγχάνει ταῖς θείαις Γραφαῖς, εἶτα ἐγερθείς ἵσταται εἰς προσευχήν· ἡ δέ προσευχή αὐτοῦ ἔστωσαν, εἰ δοκεῖ, ψαλμοί δύο ἤ τρεῖς ἤ δέκα ἤ ἑκατόν, αἱ προσκυνήσεις ὡσαύτως, ὅσας ἄν καί εἴποις ποιεῖν, εἶθ᾿ οὕτως ἐκπληρώσας πάντα ἀνακλίνεται καί πλέον οὐδέν· τί οὖν, εἰπέ μοι, ὄφελος αὐτῷ ἐκ τῆς τοιαύτης καί μόνον ἐργασίας, ἐάν μή καί ὁ καρπός τῆς εὐχῆς καί τῆς ἀναγνώσεως ἐπανθήσῃ τῇ ψυχῇ αὐτοῦ διά τῶν δακρύων τῆς μετανοίας, ὅς ἐστιν ἡ ἀπάθεια, ἡ ἐπίκτησις τῆς ταπεινοφροσύνης ὁμοῦ καί πρᾳότητος, καί ἡ γνῶσις μετά σοφίας τοῦ πνεύματος; Παντί γάρ τῷ μετά γνώσεως ἐργαζομένῳ τήν πνευματικήν ἐργασίαν τῶν ἐντολῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀναλόγως δίχα πάσης ἀμφιβολίας ἡ τῶν εἰρημένων ἐπιγίνεται κτῆσις τῆς ἐμπόνου ἐργασίας αὐτοῦ. Εἰ δέ ἐργαζομένῳ κατά τό δοκεῖν καί πονοῦντι οὐκ ἐπανθήσει τά εἰρημένα, οὐκ ἔστιν κατά Θεόν ἡ ἐργασία αὐτοῦ ἀλλά μόνον πρός ἀνθρώπων ἀρέσκειαν, καί εἰκότως τῶν κρειττόνων ἐξαμαρτάνει.

(72) Οὕτω τοίνυν ἀεί τόν ἑαυτοῦ βίον ἕκαστος τῶν προειρημένων διερχόμενος, δυνήσεταί ποτε ἆρα, ὡς ὁ ἀπό τῆς ἀρχῆς τῆς ἀποταγῆς αὐτοῦ δούς ἑαυτόν ὅλον εἰς τό πάντα τά κατά θεόν λυπηρά ὑπομεῖναι καί παθεῖν, καθώς ἄνωθεν προειρήκαμεν, δάκρυον ἤ κατάνυξιν κτήσασθαι ἤ τήν ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου συνοῦσαν αὐτῷ κακίαν καί πονηρίαν καί σκληροκαρδίαν ἀποβαλέσθαι καί ταπείνωσιν κτήσασθαι; Οὐδαμῶς. Πλανᾷ ἑαυτόν ὅστις ἄν ᾖ, ὁ ταῦτα νομίζων ἤ καί νομοθετῶν. Ὡς γάρ οὐκ ἐνδέχεται τόν μή ἐκπυρούμενον σίδηρον τῷ πυρί ὁμοίως τῷ ἐκπυρουμένῳ λαμπρύνεσθαι ἤ εἰς ἁπαλότητα δι᾿ ἑτέρας τινός μηχανῆς ἔρχεσθαι καί χαλκεύεσθαι καί εἰς ἐργαλεῖον κατασκευάζεσθαί ποτε εὔχρηστον, οὕτως οὐδέ τόν ἀμελῆ καί ῥᾴθυμον καί τοιοῦτον ἕλκοντα βίον ἐπιβλαβῆ, οἷον ὁ λόγος ἐδήλωσε, δυνατόν τῷ ἀναδεξαμένῳ ἐκ πρώτης τύπους ἀγαθούς ἐξ ὑπακοῆς πατέρων πνευματικῶν καί βίον ἐνάρετον ἔχοντι ἐξισωθῆναι καί τῶν αὐτῶν ἐκείνῳ καταπολαῦσαι δωρεῶν καί χαρισμάτων τοῦ