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at once from the first attack should put them all to flight and having wounded, should strike them down, but seeing one or even two of them, more wretched or even weaker, left behind later and approaching him from afar with fear and flattery, and not hastening to seize them and pin them down and bind or even slaughter them, will he not be terribly killed by them? For if out of pride and arrogance, having thrown down his weapons, reclining and falling back, he should fall asleep, despising them, has he not voluntarily given himself over to the slavery of those wretched men? Will not the two or even one of them, having attacked and bound him, hold him as his subject and carry him away as a slave, or even killing him with a sword, cause him to become a laughing-stock to all men? And will not all say that the slaughter of that negligent and arrogant, (123) or rather, foolish and senseless man, was just? For he will not be so praiseworthy on account of the struggle and victory against the stronger ones, as he will be blameworthy and detestable and rejected, so to speak, and a slave or dead, on account of the defeat that came to him from that one.

Thus therefore, my beloved brothers, it will not profit us at all to have mastered the great passions, if we are dominated by the lesser ones. What am I saying? For I will say the same things again and I will not cease saying them. If we guard against the defilement of the flesh, if we abstain from envy and great anger and theft, if we overcome sodomy, pederasty, effeminacy and all licentiousness, but are enslaved by gluttony or much wine or sleep or sloth or carelessness, by contradiction and disobedience and murmuring, like slaves fit for the whip, what profit will there be for us from abstinence from evil deeds alone? But if we also secretly take and eat pieces of bread or take something else from somewhere, and these things without the blessing of our superior, who would say we are free from sin? And if we voluntarily absent ourselves from the synaxes, apart from great weakness or some necessary need, and if, while guarding the fruits, we do not practice self-control with them—for what else was it that cast Adam out of paradise and delivered him to death?—what will we gain from avoiding the aforementioned things? For not even if someone has a wound covering his whole body, and then is healed of the wound by many medicines except for a little, can he be called healthy, if he carries a small hole of a wound equal to a needle's eye; but he who has even made the bruises of the wound disappear, if possible, (124) he will rightly be called healthy by all. Let us not, therefore, consider these things small, but hearing of others who were punished for these things and severely condemned, let us with all our power flee the harm that comes from them. And let no one, beloved, persist henceforth in any of these or another passion, but from now on let him abstain and repent, making a beginning, and let him not cease confessing his own defeat, until the enemy who suggests these things to him, being put to shame, ceases to make war on him. Let not envy rule us, nor anger or wrath and clamor, from which shameful words and insults are usually born; let not vainglory and pride and conceit seize us and drag us down to the abyss of Hades, but banishing all these things far from ourselves, let us acquire the virtues in their place.

But perhaps someone will say: "Since the aforementioned passions are so many and almost countless, who is able to examine all these and abstain from all of them, so that one is not dominated by any of them?". I, by the grace of Christ, will teach you. He who is ever mindful of his own sins and continually foresees the judgment to come and repents and weeps fervently, this man overcomes and conquers all things together, being lifted up by repentance, so that not even one of the aforementioned passions can reach and touch his soul that walks on air. But if our mind, winged by repentance and tears and by the spiritual humility that is born from these, is not lifted up to the height of dispassion, it would not

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ἀθρόως ἐκ πρώτης προσβολῆς ἅπαντας τρέψῃ καί τρώσας καταβάλῃ, ἕνα δέ ἤ καί δύο ἐκ τούτων ταλαιπωροτέρους ἤ καί ἀσθενεστέρους ὕστερον καταλειφθέντας ἰδών καί μετά φόβου καί κολακείας ἐπερχομένους αὐτῷ ἀπό μακρόθεν, οὐ σπεύσας κρατήσει καί ἐξαγκωνίσας δεσμεύσει ἤ καί κατασφάξει αὐτούς, οὐ δεινῶς ἀναιρεθήσεται ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν; Εἰ γάρ ἐξ ὑπερηφανίας καί ἀλαζονείας ῥίψας τά ὅπλα, ἀνακλιθείς καί ἀναπεσών ὑπνώσει καταφρονήσας αὐτῶν, οὐχί ἑκουσίως ἑαυτόν εἰς δουλείαν τῶν ταλαιπώρων ἐκείνων ἐξέδωκεν; Οὐχί ἐπελθόντες οἱ δύο ἤ καί εἷς ἐξ αὐτῶν δεσμήσας αὐτόν, ὑπόσπονδον ἑαυτοῦ τοῦτον ἕξει καί δοῦλον ἄρας οἰχήσεται ἤ καί ἀνελών αὐτόν μαχαίρᾳ, ποιήσει πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις γενέσθαι τοῦτον εἰς καταγέλωτα; Οὐχί δέ πάντες ἐροῦσι δικαίαν γενέσθαι τοῦ ἀμελοῦς ἐκείνου καί ἀλαζόνος, (123) μᾶλλον δέ ἄφρονος καί ἀναισθήτου σφαγήν; Οὐ γάρ τοσοῦτον πάντως ἐπαινετός ἔσται τῆς πρός τούς ἰσχυροτέρους πάλης καί νίκης ἕνεκα, ὅσον ψεκτός καί βδελυκτός καί ἀπόβλητος, ἵν᾿ εἴπω, καί δοῦλος ἤ νεκρός, διά τήν ἐκ τοῦ ἑνός ἐκείνυ γενομένην ἦτταν αὐτῷ.

Οὕτως οὖν, ἀδελφοί μου ἀγαπητοί, οὐδέν ἡμᾶς οὐ μή ὠφελήσῃ τῶν μεγάλων παθῶν κρατήσαντας, ἐάν ὑπό τῶν ἐλασσόνων κυριευώμεθα. Οἷόν τι λέγω; Τά γάρ αὐτά καί πάλιν ἐρῶ καί λέγων οὐ παύσομαι. Ἐάν τόν τῆς σαρκός μολυσμόν φυλαξώμεθα, ἐάν ἀπό φθόνου καί μεγάλης ὀργῆς καί κλοπῆς ἀποσχώμεθα, ἐάν ἀρσενοκοιτίας, παιδοφθορίας, μαλακίας καί πάσης ἀσελγείας κρατήσωμεν, γαστριμαργίᾳ δέ ἤ πολλῷ οἴνῳ ἤ ὕπνῳ ἤ ὀκνηρίᾳ ἤ ῥᾳθυμίᾳ, ἀντιλογίᾳ τε καί ἀνηκοῒᾳ καί γογγυσμῷ, οἷα δή δοῦλοι καί μαστιγίαι δουλούμεθα, τί ἡμῖν ἔσται τό ὄφελος ἐκ τῆς τῶν πονηρῶν ἔργων καί μόνων ἀποχῆς; Εἰ δέ καί λάθρα ἄρτου τεμάχια αἵρομεν καί ἐσθίομεν ἤ ἄλλο τί ποθεν ἐπιλαβόμενοι καί ταῦτα ἄνευ εὐχῆς τοῦ προεστῶτος ἡμῶν, τίς ἄν εἴπῃ ἐλευθέρους ἡμᾶς ἁμαρτίας; Εἰ δέ καί τῶν συνάξεων, δίχα μεγάλης ἀσθενείας ἤ ἀναγκαίας χρείας τινός, ἑκουσίως ἀπολιμπανόμεθα, εἰ δέ καί τους καρπούς φυλάσσοντες ἐξ αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐγκρατευόμεθα - καί γάρ τί ἄλλο ἦν ὅ τόν Ἀδάμ ἐκ τοῦ παραδείσου ἐξέβαλε καί τῷ θανάτῳ παρέδωκε; τί κερδανοῦμεν ἐκ τῆς τῶν εἰρημένων ἀποφυγῆς; Οὐδέ γάρ εἰ ὁλόσωμόν τις πληγήν ἔχων, εἶτα διά φαρμάκων πολλῶν ἰαθείς παρά μικρόν τήν πληγήν, δύναται ὑγιής λέγεσθαι, εἰ μικράν ὀπήν ἴσην ῥαφίδος ἐπιφέρεται τραύματος, ἀλλ᾿ ὁ καί τούς μώλωπας, εἰ δυνατόν, τοῦ τραύματος ἐξαφανίσας, (124) ἐκεῖνος παρά πάντων εἰκότως λεχθήσεται ὑγιής. Μή οὖν ταῦτα μικρά λογιζώμεθα, ἀλλά διά ταῦτα τιμωρηθέντας ἄλλους ἀκούοντες καί καταδικασθέντας σφοδρῶς, ἡμεῖς τήν ἐξ αὐτῶν βλάβην πάσῃ δυνάμει ἐκφύγωμεν. Καί μηδείς, ἀγαπητοί, ἔν τινι τούτων ἤ πάθει ἑτέρῳ τοῦ λοιποῦ ἐπιμείνῃ, ἀλλ᾿ ἀπό τοῦ νῦν ἀποσχόμενος μετανοησάτω βαλών ἀρχήν, καί μή ἀποστῇ ἐξαγγέλλων τήν ἧτταν ἑαυτοῦ, ἕως ἄν αἰσχυνθείς ὁ ὑποβάλλων αὐτῷ ἐχθρός παύσηται τοῦ αὐτόν πολεμεῖν. Μή φθόνος κυριεύσῃ ἡμῶν, μή ὀργή ἤ θυμός καί κραυγή, ἐξ ὧν αἰσχρολογίαι καί ὕβρεις εἰώθασι τίκτεσθαι, μή κενοδοξία καί ὑπερηφανία καί οἴησις κατασχοῦσαι ἡμᾶς εἰς βυθόν ᾅδου καθέλξωσιν, ἀλλά ταῦτα πάντα πόρρω ἐξορίσαντες ἑαυτῶν, κτησώμεθα τάς ἀρετάς ἀντ᾿ αὐτῶν.

Ἴσως δέ τις ἐρεῖ ὅτι· "Τοσούτων ὄντων καί ἀναριθμήτων παρά μικρόν τῶν εἰρημένων παθῶν, τίς δύναται ταῦτα ἐρευνᾶν πάντα καί ἐκ τούτων πάντων ἀπέχεσθαι, ἵνα μή ὑπ᾿ οὐδενός τούτων κυριευθῇ τις; ". Ἐγώ χάριτι Χριστοῦ διδάξω ὑμᾶς. Ὁ ἀεί ἐννοῶν τάς ἑαυτοῦ ἁμαρτίας καί τήν μέλλουσαν κρίσιν διηνεκῶς προορῶν καί μετανοῶν καί κλαίων θερμῶς, οὗτος ὑπεραίνει πάντα ὁμοῦ καί ὑπερνικᾷ ὑπό τῆς μετανοίας ὑψούμενος, ὡς μή δύνασθαι ἕν καί μόνον τῶν εἰρημένων φθάσαι καί καθάψασθαι αὐτοῦ τῆς ἀεροβατούσης ψυχῆς. Εἰ δέ μή ἡ διάνοια ἡμῶν ὑπό τῆς μετανοίας και τῶν δακρύων καί ὑπό τῆς ἐγγινομένης ἐκ τούτων πνευματικῆς ταπεινώσεως πτερωθεῖσα εἰς ὕψος ἀπαθείας ἀρθῇ, οὐκ ἄν