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This is true; listen to the Lord Himself saying: "Everyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart" and again: "You shall not covet anything that is your neighbor's". And by these words He shows us that not only he who commits the sin is separated from God and becomes His enemy, but also he who loves it and he who desires something, that is, who is disposed in his heart toward something on earth, for this is friendship with the world; so that it is clearly demonstrated that even if someone possesses nothing and does not commit any sin in deed, but only loves and is fond of it, being, as it were, disposed toward it, he is an enemy of God, as John also says: "If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him", but also the Lord: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your mind and with all your strength and with all your soul", so that he who is desirously or affectionately disposed toward anything else is outside this commandment. But we, the wretched and miserable, having left behind the great and glorious and lofty things of the world and having come to the monastery, some of us love gleaming cloaks, others fine-gold garments, others straps and scapulars, others sandals and shoes, others pleasant foods and (116) drinks, others knives and needles and razors or even things more trivial than these, through which we fall away from the love of Christ, the king over all, and become His enemies, without realizing it, O brethren! For which things, therefore, we are destined, unless we repent beforehand and each of us banishes from our soul every evil and wicked desire and strife and jealousy and arrogance, to be condemned to the eternal fire with tax collectors and sinners and the rich who lived in dissipation.

For this reason, therefore, let us be eager, brethren, to display every virtue, and to abhor from our soul every evil and every passion, and to hate every thing, small or great, which brings danger to our souls; and let us use only those things in which the mind takes no delight, and in which our heart finds no pleasure, so that we do not rank ourselves on the left with the worldly through seemingly trivial things, as has been said, and see our brothers and fathers standing on the right hand of God and condemning us, the leaders of each monastery, I say, seeing those in the same monasteries who pleased the Lord, those in ministries seeing those who shone like luminaries in the same ministries, those in obedience and handiwork seeing those who excelled in similar works and in the same most humble or even more honored services, being crowned with the holy martyrs, those who defiled their youth seeing those who bridled their youth, those who fell through negligence in the prime of life seeing those who persevered from youth to old age in the war of the flesh (117) and guarded their chastity, those who in old age and until the end did the things of senseless children seeing those who were tonsured in old age and in a short time, for the fear of God, cut off every evil habit which they had acquired from youth, those who laugh seeing those who now weep, those who live in luxury and eat before the appointed hour seeing those who are not satisfied even at the time of the meal, those who are playful seeing those who are in constant gloom and paleness from the remembrance of that dreadful hour and of their own sins, those who came to the monastic life from wealth and glory and were unwilling to be humbled even a little seeing those who came from extreme poverty and lived with us, but who, on account of their humility, are more glorious than many of those standing with them on the right—kings, I say, and patriarchs— being truly adorned with their humility.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, have you understood what I have said? Do you know what shame will be ours then? Have you taken it to heart? Have you come to a sense of that hour, or in order that

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ἀληθές ἐστι τοῦτο, ἄκουσον αὐτοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου λέγοντος· "Πᾶς ὁ ἐμβλέψας πρός τό ἐπιθυμῆσαι ἤδη ἐμοίχευσεν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ " καί πάλιν· "Οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις τι τοῦ πλησίον σου". ∆είκνυσι δέ διά τούτων ἡμῖν τῶν ῥημάτων, ὅτι οὐχ ὁ ποιῶν τήν ἁμαρτίαν αὐτός μόνος χωρίζεται τοῦ Θεοῦ καί ἐχθρός αὐτοῦ γίνεται, ἀλλά καί ὁ αὐτήν ἀγαπῶν καί ὁ ἐπιθυμῶν τινος, ἤτοι σχετικῶς τῇ καρδίᾳ πρός τι τῶν ἐπί γῆς διακείμενος, τοῦτο γάρ ἡ φιλία τοῦ κόσμου ἐστίν· ὥστε φανερῶς ἀποδέδεικται ὅτι, εἰ καί γυμνός πάντων ὑπάρχει τις καί μή πράττει ἔργῳ τήν οἱανοῦν ἁμαρτίαν, μόνον δέ ἀγαπῶν καί φιλῶν αὐτήν οἱονεί σχετικῶς πρός αὐτήν διακείμενος, ἐχθρός ἐστι τοῦ Θεοῦ, καθώς καί Ἰωάννης φησίν· "Ἐάν τις ἀγαπᾷ τόν κόσμον, οὐκ ἔστιν ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ Πατρός ἐν αὐτῷ", ἀλλά καί ὁ Κύριος· "Ἀγαπήσεις Κύριον τόν Θεόν σου ἐξ ὅλης τῆς διανοίας σου καί ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ἰσχύος σου καί ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ψυχῆς σου", ὥστε ὁ πρός ἕτερόν τι ἐπιθυμητικῶς ἤ σχετικῶς διακείμενος τῆς ἐντολῆς ταύτης ἐκτός ἐστιν. Ἡμεῖς δέ, οἱ ἄθλιοι καί ταλαίπωροι, τά μεγάλα καί περίδοξα καί ὑψηλά τοῦ κόσμου καταλιπόντες καί εἰς τό μοναστήριον ἐλθόντες, ἀγαπῶμεν οἱ μέν παλλία ἐκστίλβοντα, οἱ δέ ἱμάτια καλόχρυσα, οἱ δέ λώρους καί ἀναλάβους, ἄλλοι σανδάλια καί ὑποδήματα, ἄλλοι βρώματα ἡδέα καί (116) πόματα, ἕτεροι σμίλας καί ῥαφίδας καί μαχαίρας ἤ καί τά τούτων εὐτελέστερα, δι᾿ ὧν τῆς ἀγάπης ἐκπίποντες τοῦ ἐπί πάντων βασιλέως Χριστοῦ καί ἐχθροί αὐτοῦ γενόμενοι, οὐκ αἰσθανόμεθα, ὦ ἀδελφοί! δι᾿ ἅ καί μέλλομεν ἄρα, εἰ μή προλαβόντες μετανοήσομεν καί πᾶσαν ἐπιθυμίαν κακήν καί πονηράν καί ἔριν καί ζῆλον καί ἀλαζονείαν ἐκ τῆς ψυχῆς ἡμῶν ἕκαστος ἐξορίσομεν, εἰς τό πῦρ τό αἰώνιον μετά τελωνῶν κα΄ἁμαρτωλῶν καί πλουσίων, τῶν ἐν ἀσωτίᾳ βιωσάντων, κατακριθήσεσθαι.

∆ιά τοῦτο οὖν σπουδάσωμεν, ἀδελφοί, πᾶσαν ἀρετήν ἐπιδείξασθαι, πᾶσαν δέ κακίαν καί πᾶν πάθος βδελύξασθαι ἀπό ψυχῆς καί μισῆσαι πᾶν πρᾶγμα μικρόν ἤ μέγα, ὅ φέρει ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἡμῶν κίνδυνον· μόνοις δέ τούτοις χρησώμεθα ἐν οἷς ὁ μέν νοῦς οὐ τέρπεται, ἡ καρδία δέ ἡμῶν οὐχ ἡδύνεται, ἵνα μή εἰς τά ἀριστερά διά τῶν δοκούντων εὐτελῶν μετά τῶν κοσμικῶν, ὡς εἴρηται, ἡμᾶς αὐτούς κατατάξαντες, βλέψωμεν εἰς τά δεξιά τοῦ Θεοῦ παρισταμένους τούς ἀδελφούς ἡμῶν καί πατέρας καί κατακρίνοντας ἡμᾶς, οἱ ἡγούμενοι ἑκάστου, λέγω, μοναστηρίου τούς ἐν τοῖς αὐτοῖς μοναστηρίοις εὐαρεστήσαντας τῷ Κυρίῳ, οἱ ἐν διακονίαις τούς ἐν ταῖς αὐταῖς διακονίαις λάμψαντας ὡς φωστῆρας, οἱ ἐν ὑποταγῇ καί ἐργοχείροις τούς ἐν τοῖς ὁμοίοις διαπρέψαντας ἔργοις καί ἐν ταῖς αὐταῖς ἐλαχίσταις ἤ καί προτιμοτέραις δουλείαις, ἐστεφανωμένους ὄντας μετά τῶν ἁγίων μαρτύρων, οἱ τήν νεότητα μολύναντες τούς τήν νεότητα χαλιναγωγήσαντας, οἱ ἐν τελειότητι ἡλικίας ἐκ ῥᾳθυμίας πεσόντες τούς ἀπό νεότητος μέχρι γήρως ἐγκαρτερήσαντας τῷ τῆς σαρκός πολέμῳ (117) καί φυλάξαντας τήν ἑαυτῶν σωφροσύνην, οἱ ἐν γήρᾳ καί μέχρι τέλους τά τῶν παίδων τῶν ἀναισθήτων διαπραττόμενοι τούς ἐν γήρᾳ ἀποκειραμένους καί πᾶσαν κακήν συνήθειαν ἥν ἀπό νεότητος προσελάβοντο διά τόν τοῦ Θεοῦ φόβον ἐν μικρῷ χρόνῳ ἐγκόψαντας, οἱ γελῶντες τούς νυνί κλαίοντας, οἱ τρυφῶντες καί πρός τῆς τετυπωμένης ὥρας ἐσθίοντες τούς μηδέ ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τοῦ ἀρίστου κορεννυμένους, οἱ παίζοντες τούς ἐν στυγνότητι καί ὠχρότητι ὄντας διηνεκεῖ ἀπό τῆς μνήμης τῆς φοβερᾶς ἐκείνης καί τῶν ἰδίων ἁμαρτημάτων αὐτῶν, οἱ ἀπό πλούτου καί δόξης ἐλθόντες εἰς τό μοναχικόν καί ταπεινωθῆναι καί μικρόν μή θελήσαντες τούς ἀπό πτωχείας ἐσχάτης ἐλθόντας καί σύν ἡμῖν βιοτεύσαντας, διά δέ τήν ταπείνωσιν αὐτῶν ὑπέρ πολλούς τῶν μετ᾿ αὐτῶν ἱσταμένων εἰς τά δεξιά - βασιλέων, λέγω, καί πατριαρχῶν - ἐνδοξοτέρους ὑπάρχοντας, τῇ ταπεινώσει αὐτῶν ὄντως κεκοσμημένους.

Ἆρα οὖν, ἀδελφοί μου ἀγαπητοί, ἔγνωτε τί εἶπον; Ἆρα οἴδατε ὁποία αἰσχύνη τότε ἡμῖν ἔσται; Ἆρα ἐλάβετε εἰς νοῦν; Ἤλθετε εἰς αἴσθησιν τῆς ὥρας ἐκείνης, ἤ ἵνα