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44

3.8 (η') Self-love is the passionate and irrational love for the body, to which love and self-control are opposed; the one who has it has all the passions.

3.9 (θ') "No one," says the Apostle, "ever hated his own flesh;" 14__266 but he obviously buffets and brings it into subjection, providing it with nothing more than food and clothing, and only these things which are necessary for life. Thus, therefore, one loves it dispassionately and as a servant of divine things he nourishes and cherishes it only with those things that fulfill its needs.

3.10 (ι') Whomever one loves, this one he certainly hastens to serve. If therefore one loves God, he certainly hastens to do the things pleasing to him; but if [he loves] the flesh, to carry out the things that delight it.

3.11 (ια') God is pleased by love and temperance and contemplation and prayer; but the flesh, by gluttony and licentiousness and the things that increase them. For this reason those who are in the flesh cannot please God; but those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

3.12 (ιβ') If the mind inclines towards God, it has the body as a slave and provides it with nothing more than the things necessary for life; but if it inclines towards the flesh, it is enslaved to the passions, always making provision for it to fulfill its desires.

3.13 (ιγ') If you wish to overcome thoughts, take care of the passions and you will easily drive them from the mind. For instance, concerning fornication, fast, keep vigil, labor, be in solitude; but concerning anger and grief, despise glory and dishonor and material things; but concerning remembrance of wrongs, pray for the one who has grieved you and you will be set free.

3.14 (ιδ') Do not measure yourself by the weaker among men, but rather extend yourself to the commandment of love; for by measuring yourself by the former 14__268 you fall into the pit of conceit; but by extending yourself to the latter, you advance to the height of humility.

3.15 (ιε') If you keep the commandment of love for your neighbor at all, for what reason do you bring forth the bitterness of grief towards him? Or is it clear that by preferring temporary things to it and clinging to them, you make war on your brother?

3.16 (ιστ') Gold has not become so desirable to men because of need, as because through it the many serve their pleasures.

3.17 (ιζ') There are three causes of the love of money: love of pleasure, vainglory, and faithlessness; but faithlessness is more grievous than the other two.

3.18 (ιη') The lover of pleasure loves money, so that through it he may live in luxury; the vainglorious man, so that through it he may be glorified; the faithless man, so that he may hide and guard it, fearing famine or old age or sickness or exile, and he hopes in it more than in God, the Creator and Provider for all creation, even down to the last and smallest of living things.

3.19 (ιθ') There are four who acquire money: the three aforementioned and the steward; only this last one, obviously, acquires it rightly, so that by providing for the need of each he may never cease.

3.20 (κ') All passionate thoughts either excite the appetitive part of the soul 14__270 or disturb the incensive part or darken the rational part; and from this it happens that the mind is blinded to spiritual contemplation and the departure [of the mind] in prayer. And for this reason the monk, and especially the hesychast, ought to pay close attention to his thoughts and to know and cut off their causes. To know them thus: for instance, the passionate memories of women excite the appetitive part of the soul; and the causes of these, the

44

3.8 (η') Φιλαυτία ἐστὶν ἡ πρὸς τὸ σῶμα ἐμπαθὴς καὶ ἄλογος φιλία, ᾗ ἀντίκειται ἀγάπη καὶ ἐγκράτεια· ὁ ἔχων αὐτὴν ἔχει πάντα τὰ πάθη.

3.9 (θ') Οὐδείς, φησὶν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, τὴν ἑαυτοῦ σάρκα ἐμίσησεν· 14__266 ἀλλ᾽ ὑπωπιάζει δηλονότι καὶ δουλαγωγεῖ, μηδὲν πλέον αὐτῇ παρέχων πλὴν διατροφῆς καὶ σκεπασμάτων καὶ τούτων μόνων τῶν πρὸς τὸ ζῆν ἀναγκαίων. Οὕτως οὖν ἀπαθῶς τις ἀγαπᾷ αὐτὴν καὶ ὡς ὑπηρέτιν τῶν θείων ἐκτρέφει καὶ θάλπει αὐτὴν τοῖς τὴν ἔνδειαν αὐτῆς ἀποπληροῦσι μόνοις.

3.10 (ι') Ὅν τις ἀγαπᾷ, τοῦτον πάντως καὶ σπεύδει θεραπεύειν. Εἰ οὖν τὸν Θεόν τις ἀγαπᾷ, πάντως καὶ τὰ ἀρεστὰ αὐτῷ σπεύδει ποιεῖν· εἰ δὲ τὴν σάρκα, τὰ ταύτην τέρποντα ἐκτελεῖν.

3.11 (ια') Τῷ μὲν Θεῷ ἀρέσκει ἀγάπη καὶ σωφροσύνη καὶ θεωρία καὶ προσευχή· τῇ δὲ σαρκί, γαστριμαργία καὶ ἀκολασία καὶ τὰ τούτων αὐξητικά. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οἱ ἐν σαρκὶ ὄντες Θεῷ ἀρέσαι οὐ δύνανται· οἱ δὲ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὴν σάρκα ἐσταύρωσαν σὺν τοῖς παθήμασι καὶ ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις.

3.12 (ιβ') Ὁ νοῦς ἐὰν μὲν νεύσῃ πρὸς Θεόν, ἔχει δοῦλον τὸ σῶμα καὶ πλέον οὐδὲν αὐτῷ παρέχει τῶν πρὸς τὸ ζῆν ἀναγκαίων· ἐὰν δὲ νεύσῃ πρὸς τὴν σάρκα, δουλοῦται τοῖς πάθεσι, πρόνοιαν αὐτῆς ἀεὶ εἰς ἐπιθυμίας ποιούμενος.

3.13 (ιγ') Εἰ θέλεις τῶν λογισμῶν περιγενέσθαι, ἐπιμελοῦ τῶν παθῶν καὶ εὐχερῶς αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ νοῦ ἐξελαύνεις. Οἷον ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς πορνείας, νήστευε, ἀγρύπνει, κοπίασον, ἰδίασον· ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς ὀργῆς καὶ τῆς λύπης, καταφρόνει δόξης καὶ ἀτιμίας καὶ τῶν ὑλικῶν πραγμάτων· ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς μνησικακίας, προσεύχου ὑπὲρ τοῦ λυπήσαντος καὶ ἀπαλλάττῃ.

3.14 (ιδ') Μὴ τῶν ἀνθρώπων τοῖς ἀσθενεστέροις σεαυτὸν παραμέτρει, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἐντολῇ τῆς ἀγάπης μᾶλλον παράτεινον· τοῖς μὲν 14__268 γὰρ παραμετρῶν, εἰς τὸν βόθρον τῆς οἰήσεως ἐμπίπτεις· τῇ δὲ παρατείνων, εἰς τὸ ὕψος τῆς τα πεινοφροσύνης προκόπτεις.

3.15 (ιε') Εἰ ὅλως τῆς πρὸς τὸν πλησίον ἀγάπης τὴν ἐντολὴν φυλάττεις, ὑπὲρ τίνος τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν λύπης τὴν πικρίαν ἐντίκτεις; Ἢ δῆλον ὅτι ταύτης τὰ πρόσκαιρα προτιμῶν καὶ αὐτῶν ἀντεχόμενος, τὸν ἀδελφὸν πολεμεῖς;

3.16 (ιστ') Οὐ διὰ τὴν χρείαν τοσοῦτον τὸ χρυσίον ζηλωτὸν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις γέγονεν, ὅσον τὸ δι᾽ αὐτοῦ τοὺς πολλοὺς τὰς ἡδονὰς θεραπεύειν.

3.17 (ιζ') Τρία εἰσὶ τὰ αἴτια τῆς τῶν χρημάτων ἀγάπης· φιληδονία, κενοδοξία καὶ ἀπιστία· χαλεπωτέρα δὲ τῶν δύο ἡ ἀπιστία καθέστηκεν.

3.18 (ιη') Ὁ μὲν φιλήδονος ἀγαπᾷ ἀργύριον, ἵνα δι᾽ αὐτοῦ τρυφήσῃ· ὁ δὲ κενόδοξος, ἵνα δι᾽ αὐτοῦ δοξασθῇ· ὁ δὲ ἄπιστος, ἵνα κρύψῃ καὶ φυλάξῃ, λιμὸν φοβούμενος ἢ γῆρας ἢ νόσον ἢ ξενιτείαν καὶ ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ μᾶλλον ἐλπίζει ἢ ἐπὶ τῷ Θεῷ τῷ πάσης κτίσεως δημιουργῷ καὶ προνοητῇ, ἕως τῶν ἐσχάτων καὶ μικροτάτων ζώων.

3.19 (ιθ') Τέσσαρές εἰσιν οἱ περιποιούμενοι χρήματα· οἱ προειρημένοι τρεῖς καὶ ὁ οἰκονομικός· μόνος δὲ οὗτος δηλονότι ὀρθῶς περιποιεῖται, ἵνα ἑκάστῳ τὴν χρείαν παρέχων μὴ διαλείπῃ ποτέ.

3.20 (κ') Πάντες οἱ ἐμπαθεῖς λογισμοὶ ἢ τὸ ἐπιθυμητικὸν τῆς ψυχῆς 14__270 ἐρεθίζουσιν ἢ τὸ θυμικὸν ἐκταράσσουσιν ἢ τὸ λογιστικὸν ἐπισκοτίζουσι· καὶ ἐκ τούτου συμβαίνει τὸν νοῦν ὀφθαλμιᾶσαι πρὸς τὴν πνευματικὴν θεωρίαν καὶ τὴν τῆς προσευχῆς ἐκδημίαν. Καὶ τούτου χάριν ὀφείλει ὁ μοναχός, καὶ μάλιστα ὁ ἡσυχάζων, ἀκριβῶς τοῖς λογισμοῖς προσέχειν καὶ τὰς τούτων αἰτίας καὶ γνῶναι καὶ ἐκκόπτειν. Γινώσκειν δὲ οὕτως· οἷον ἐρεθίζουσι τὸ ἐπιθυμητικὸν τῆς ψυχῆς αἱ ἐμπαθεῖς μνῆμαι τῶν γυναικῶν· τούτων δὲ αἰτίαι, ἡ τῶν