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the aforesaid will blossom, his work is not according to God but only for the pleasing of men, and so he fittingly falls short of the better things.

(72) Thus then, will each of the aforementioned, by always living his life in this way, ever be able, like the one who from the beginning of his renunciation gave himself wholly to endure and suffer all painful things according to God, as we have said above, to acquire tears or compunction or to cast off the evil and wickedness and hard-heartedness that accompany him from the world, and acquire humility? In no way. Whoever he may be, he who thinks or even legislates these things, deceives himself. For just as it is not possible for iron that is not heated in the fire to be made bright like that which is heated, or to become soft by any other contrivance and be forged and ever be fashioned into a useful tool, so also it is not possible for the one who is negligent and slothful and leads such a harmful life, as the discourse has shown, to be made equal to the one who from the first undertook good patterns from the obedience of spiritual fathers and has a virtuous life, and to enjoy the same gifts and charisms of the Spirit as that one. And rightly so. For the one who is humble in heart and has humbler thoughts and a contrite mind, choosing more earnestly to follow the divine Scriptures and enduring every affliction and bearing every temptation, and furthermore counting himself with all the lowliest, considering his own deeds, that is, and his evils, and blaming himself each day and seeing himself as a sinner, quickly makes progress and is taught by divine grace, when he has no man, the things pertaining to salvation, banishing little by little from his soul the evils and wickedness from the world that are in him, (73) and introducing the virtues in their place. But the one who is full of impurity and conceit together, and is not willing to be humbled before the mighty hand of God and to reveal the things of his heart to a spiritual father and to be joined to him and to do and suffer all things that with understanding lead to virtue and God and perfect the man according to God, becomes worse than he was in the world, since the material spirit has turned back and dwelt in him with the seven spirits of wickedness. And so the one surpasses and overcomes the brother who entered with him by as much as one running freely surpasses one held in bonds and iron fetters; but the other is defeated and remains in his former evils or even worse ones, not having been willing of his own accord to choose and do the good upon entering and undertaking the struggles of virtue.

For this reason, then, as I have already said, compunction is the fruit of labor and the producer of fruits, or rather it has been established as the maker and creator of all the virtues, as all God-inspired Scripture testifies. Therefore, he who wishes to cut off passions or acquire virtues ought diligently to seek this before all good things and with all the virtues. For without this he will never see his own soul pure; and if not this, he will certainly not acquire a pure body either. For without water it is impossible for a soiled garment to be washed, and without tears it is even more impossible for the soul to be washed and cleansed of stains and defilements. Let us not make excuses (74) that are soul-harming and vain, or rather, to say it plainly, completely false and producers of perdition, but let us seek this queen of the virtues with our whole soul.

For he who seeks this with his whole soul, finds it; or rather, it, on arriving, finds him who diligently seeks it, and even if he has a heart harder than bronze or iron or adamant, as soon as it arrives it makes it softer than any wax. For it is a divine fire dissolving mountains and rocks and making all things smooth and remaking them into paradises and changing them

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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 Πνεύματος. Καί εἰκότως. Ὁ μέν γάρ ταπεινός ὤν τήν καρδίαν καί ταπεινοτέρας ἔχων τάς ἐννοίας καί συντετριμμένον τόν λογισμόν προαιρούμενός τε σπουδαιότερον ταῖς θείαις Γραφαῖς ἐξακολουθεῖν καί πᾶσαν ὑπομένων θλῖψιν και πάντα πειρασμόν ὑποφέρων, ἔτι δέ καί μετά πάντων τῶν εὐτελεστέρων συναριθμῶν ἑαυτόν, τάς πράξεις αὐτοῦ δηλονότι καί τά κακά ἀναλογιζόμενος καί μεμφόμενος ἑαυτόν καθ᾿ ἑκάστην καί βλέπων ἁμαρτωλόν ἑαυτόν, προκόπτει συντόμως καί ὑπό τῆς θείας χάριτος, ὅταν μή ἔχῃ ἄνθρωπον, τά πρός σωτηρίαν διδάσκεται, ἐξορίζων κατ᾿ ὀλίγον ἀπό τῆς αὐτοῦ ψυχῆς τάς ἐνούσας αὐτῷ ἀπό τοῦ κόσμου κακίας καί πονηρίας, (73) ἀντεισάγων δέ ἀντ᾿ ἐκείνων τάς ἀρετάς. Ὁ δέ γέμων ἀκαθαρσίας ὁμοῦ καί οἰήσεως καί μή βουλόμενος ἐνώπιον τῆς κραταιᾶς χειρός τοῦ Θεοῦ ταπεινωθῆναι καί ἀνακαλύψαι τά τῆς καρδίας αὐτοῦ πατρί πνευματικῷ καί κολληθῆναι αὐτῷ καί πάντα δρᾶσαι καί παθεῖν, ὅσα πρός ἀρετήν καί Θεόν μετά συνέσεως φέρει καί τελεοῖ τόν κατά Θεόν ἄνθρωπον, γίνεται χείρων ἤ ὅπερ ἦν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ τοῦ ὑλικοῦ πνεύματος ἀντιστραφέντος καί ἐνοικήσαντος εἰς αὐτόν μετά τῶν ἑπτά πνευμάτων τῆς πονηρίας. Καί οὕτως ὁ μέν ὑπερβαίνει τοσοῦτον καί ὑπερνικᾷ τόν συνεισελθόντα αὐτῷ ἀδελφόν, ὅσον ὁ τρέχων ἐλευθερίως τόν ἐν δεσμοῖς καί πέδαις σιδηραῖς κατεχόμενον· ὁ δέ ἡττᾶται καί τοῖς προτέροις ἐναπομένει κακοῖς ἤ καί χείροσι, μή θελήσας οἴκοθεν ἐκλέξασθαι καί ποιῆσαι τό ἀγαθόν ἐν τῷ ὑπεισελθεῖν καί ἀναδέξασθαι τούς ἀγῶνας τῆς ἀρετῆς.

∆ιά τοῦτο οὖν, ὡς ἔφθην εἰπών, ἐργασίας ἐστί καρπός ἡ κατάνυξις καί καρπῶν πρόξενος, μᾶλλον δέ ποιητική πασῶν τῶν ἀρετῶν καί δημιουργός αὕτη καθέστηκε, καθώς πᾶσα Γραφή θεόπνευστος μαρτυρεῖ. Τοιγαροῦν καί ὁ θέλων κόψαι πάθη ἤ κτήσασθαι ἀρετάς, ταύτην πρό πάντων τῶν καλῶν καί μετά πασῶν τῶν ἀρετῶν ὀφείλει ἐπιμελῶς ἐκζητεῖν. Χωρίς γάρ ταύτης οὐ θεάσεται καθαράν ποτε τήν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχήν· εἰ δέ μή ταύτην, οὐδέ τό σῶμα πάντως κτήσεται καθαρόν. Ἄνευ γάρ ὕδατος ἀμήχανον ἐκπληθῆναι τό ῥερυπωμένον ἱμάτιον, καί δίχα δακρύων ἀμηχανέστερον ἀποπλυθῆναι καί καθαρθῆναι κηλίδων καί μολυσμῶν τήν ψυχήν. Μή προφασιζώμεθα προφάσεις (74) ψυχοβλαβεῖς καί ματαίας, μᾶλλον δέ εἰπεῖν εἰς ἅπαν ψευδεῖς καί τῆς ἀπωλείας προξένους, ἀλλ᾿ ἐκζητήσωμεν τήν βασιλίδα ταύτων τῶν ἀρετῶν ὁλοψύχως.

Ὁ γάρ ταύτην ὁλοψύχως ἐπιζητῶν, εὑρίσκει αὐτήν· μᾶλλον δέ αὕτη παραγινομένη εὑρίσκει τόν ἐκζητοῦντα ἐπιπόνως αὐτήν, καί κἄν χαλκοῦ κἄν σιδήρου κἄν ἀδάμαντος σκληροτέραν ἔχῃ καρδίαν, ἅμα τῷ παραγενέσθαι κηροῦ παντός μαλακωτέραν ταύτην ἐργάζεται. Πῦρ γάρ ἐστι θεῖον διαλῦον ὄρη καί πέτρας καί λεῖα πάντα ποιοῦν καί μεταποιοῦν εἰς παραδείσους καί ἀλλοιοῦν τάς αὐτό