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we will not be able to become free of all the things mentioned, but at one time by this passion, and at another by a different one we will not cease (125) to be goaded and devoured as if by wild beasts, and after death, because of these things, having fallen from the kingdom of heaven, we will again be punished eternally by such things.

For this reason I exhort you all, my spiritual fathers and brothers, and exhorting your love I will never cease, that each one not neglect his own salvation, but in every way hasten to be lifted a little from the earth. For if this marvel should happen, striking you with amazement, I mean being suspended in the air from the earth, you will no longer wish to descend to the earth and stand at all; by "earth" I mean the carnal mindset and by "air" the spiritual mindset. For if the mind should be freed from wicked thoughts and passions, and through it we should behold the freedom which Christ and God has granted us, we will no longer accept to descend to the former slavery of sin and of the carnal mindset, but according to the voice of the Lord we will not cease to watch and to pray, until we pass over to the blessedness there and obtain the promised goods, by the grace and loving-kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is due all glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Discourse 6. (126)

Concerning spiritual work. And what the work of the ancient saints was. And how we are able to accomplish this, so that we too, like

them, may become partakers of the All-Holy Spirit. Brothers and fathers, since some, thinking great things about themselves, as they

ought not, consider themselves equal in practice and knowledge and perfection to our ancient God-bearing holy fathers and to the same spirit by which they lived and were moved, recommending themselves by words alone and without works, having been led astray by a spirit of conceit, I thought it good to speak to them in brief, thus in simplicity and plainness of speech as if to one person, both because of God who said: "And you, when you have turned, correct your brothers," and because of the common love which we are commanded to have for our neighbors. And so I will begin from this point to speak in simplicity and to exhort your love.

Do you wish, therefore, to hear what our holy fathers did, while sitting in their cells? Read their lives and learn for yourself first their physical practice for the time being, (127) then I will announce to you the spiritual work which they performed. For those who wrote the lives of the saints made known their physical practices—poverty, fasting, vigilance, self-control, patience and the rest in order, so that by not enumerating everything we might not lengthen the discourse, but their spiritual work they revealed little and as in a mirror through such things, so that those who demonstrate their labors and faith by works may by these same works come into the knowledge and participation of their spiritual gifts, while the rest would not even be deemed worthy to hear about such things. But since we have been brought down into such a pit of folly as to think that even without the works which they performed, we have grace equal to theirs, come, let us exercise the discourse concerning them and, having received assurance from the attested facts, let us hasten for the time being according to

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ἐλεύθεροι τῶν εἰρημένων ἁπάντων γενέσθαι ἰσχύσωμεν, ἀλλά ποτέ μέν ὑπό τοῦδε τοῦ πάθους, ποτέ δέ ὑφ᾿ ἑτέρου κεντᾶσθαι καί ὡς ὑπό θηρίων ἀγρίων κατεσθίεσθαι οὐ (125) παυσόμεθα, καί μετά θάνατον διά ταῦτα τῆς τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείας ἐκπεσόντες, ὑπό τῶν τοιούτων πάλιν αἰωνίως κολασθησόμεθα.

∆ιά τοῦτο παρακαλῶ πάντας ὑμᾶς, πνευματικοί μου πατέρες καί ἀδελφοί, καί παρακαλῶν οὐδέποτε παύσομαι τήν ὑμετέραν ἀγάπην, μή ἀμελῆσαι ἕκαστον τῆς ἑαυτοῦ σωτηρίας, ἀλλά παντί τρόπῳ σπουδάσαι ἀρθῆναι μικρόν ἀπό τῆς γῆς. Εἰ γάρ τοῦτο γενήσεται τό θαῦμα καταπλῆξαν ὑμᾶς, τό ἀπό τῆς γῆς εἰς ἀέρα λέγω κρέμασθαι, οὐκέτι πρός τήν γῆν κατελθεῖν καί στῆναι κἄν ὅλως θελήσετε· "γῆν"δέ τό σαρκικόν καί "ἀέρα"τό πνευματικόν λέγω φρόνημα. Εἰ γάρ ὁ νοῦς τῶν πονηρῶν λογισμῶν καί παθῶν ἐλευθερωθῇ καί θεασόμεθα δι᾿ αὐτοῦ τήν ἐλευθερίαν, ἥν ἡμῖν ὁ Χριστός καί Θεός ἐχαρίσατο, οὐκέτι καταδεξόμεθα πρός τήν προτέραν δουλείαν τῆς ἁμαρτίας καί τοῦ σαρκικοῦ φρονήματος κατελθεῖν, ἀλλά κατά τήν τοῦ Κυρίου φωνήν γρηγορεῖν καί προσεύχεσθαι οὐ παυσόμεθα, ἕως ἄν πρός τήν ἐκεῖθεν μεταβῶμεν μακαριότητα καί τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων ἐπιτύχωμεν ἀγαθῶν, χάριτι καί φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοοῦ, ᾧ πρέπει πᾶσα δόξα εἰς τούς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

Λόγος στ΄. (126)

Περί ἐργασίας πνευματικῆς. Καί τίς ἦν ἡ ἐργασία τῶν παλαιῶν ἁγίων. Καί πῶς ταύτην κατορθῶσαι δυνάμεθα, ἵνα καί μέτοχοι, ὥσπερ

ἐκεῖνοι, τοῦ Παναγίου γενώμεθα Πνεύματος. Ἀδελφοί καί πατέρες, ἐπειδήπερ μεγάλα τινές οἰόμενοι περί ἑαυτῶν, ὡς οὐκ

ὤφελεν, ἴσους ἑαυτούς ἡγοῦνται κατά τε πρᾶξιν καί γνῶσιν καί τελειότητα τῶν πάλαι ἁγίων θεοφόρων πατέρων ἡμῶν καί τοῦ αὐτοῦ πνεύματος, ᾧ ἔζων καί ἐκινοῦντο ἐκεῖνοι, συνιστάνοντες ἑαυτούς ἐκ λόγων μόνων καί δίχα τῶν ἔργων, πνεύματι ἀποπλανηθέντες οἰήσεως, ᾠήθην διά βραχέων οὕτω πως ἐν ἁπλότητι καί ὑπτιότητι λόγου πρός αὐτούς εἰπεῖν ὡς πρός ἕνα, διά τε τόν εἰρηκότα Θεόν· "Καί σύ στραφείς, τούς ἀδελφούς σου διόρθωσαι", καί διά τήν κοινήν ἀγάπην ἥν ἐντελλόμεθα ἔχειν πρός τούς πλησίον ἡμῶν. Ἄρξομαι δέ ἐντεῦθεν τοῦ λέγειν ἐν ἀφελότητι καί παρακαλεῖν τήν ἀγάπην ὑμῶν.

Βούλῃ τοιγαροῦν ἀκοῦσαι τί ἐποίουν οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν οἱ ἅγιοι, ἐν τοῖς ἑαυτῶν κελλίοις καθήμενοι; Ἀνάγνωθι τούς βίους αὐτῶν καί μάθε σύ πρῶτον τήν σωματικήν τέως πρᾶξιν αὐτῶν, (127) εἶτα ἐγώ σοι ἀναγγελῶ τήν πνευματικήν ἐργασίαν ἥν ἐκεῖνοι εἰργάζοντο. Οἱ γάρ τούς βίους συγγραψάμενοι τῶν ἁγίων, τάς πράξεις αὐτῶν ἐδήλωσαν τάς σωματικάς, τήν ἀκτημοσύνην, τήν νηστείαν, τήν ἀγρυπνίαν, τήν ἐγκράτειαν, τήν ὑπομονήν καί καθεξῆς τά λοιπά, ἵνα μή πάντα ἀπαριθμοῦντες τόν λόγον μηκύνωμεν, τήν δέ πνευματικήν αὐτῶν ἐργασίαν μικρόν τε καί ὡς ἐν ἐσόπτρῳ διά τῶν τοιούτων ἐδήλωσαν, ἵνα οἱ τούς κόπους ἐκείνων καί τήν πίστιν ἐκ τῶν ἔργων ἐπιδεικνύμενοι, ἔργοις αὐτοῖς καί τῶν πνευματικῶν χαρισμάτων αὐτῶν ἐν γνώσει καί μετοχῇ γένωνται, οἱ δέ γε λοιποί μηδέ ἀκοῦσαι περί τῶν τοιούτων ἀξιωθήσωνται. Ἐπεί δέ εἰς τοσοῦτον ἀνοίας βόθρον κατήχθημεν, ὡς καί δίχα τῶν ἔργων, ὧν ἐκεῖνοι εἰργάσαντο, ἴσως ἐκείνοις τήν χάριν ἔχειν καί ἡμᾶς οἴεσθαι, φέρε τόν περί ἐκείνων γυμνάσωμεν λόγον καί ἀπό τῶν μεμαρτυρημένων πραγμάτων τήν πληροφορίαν λαβόντες, σπουδάσωμεν τέως κατά