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On spiritual work. And what was the work of the ancient saints. And how we can accomplish this, so that we too, like them,

may become partakers of the All-holy Spirit.

Discourse 6. (126) Brothers and fathers, since some, thinking great things of themselves, as they

ought not, consider themselves equal in action and knowledge and perfection to our ancient holy God-bearing fathers and to the same spirit, by which they lived and were moved, commending themselves by words alone and without deeds, having been led astray by a spirit of conceit, I thought it good to speak to them briefly in this way with simplicity and plainness of speech as to one, both because of God who said: "And when you have turned back, correct your brothers," and because of the common love that we are commanded to have toward our neighbors. I shall begin from this point to speak with 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 bodily practice, (127) then I will tell you the spiritual work that they performed. For those who wrote the lives of the saints made known their bodily practices—their poverty, fasting, vigils, self-control, patience, and the rest in order, so that we do not prolong the discourse by enumerating everything—but they revealed their spiritual work only a little and as in a mirror through such things, so that those who demonstrate the labors and faith of those men by their deeds might also become partakers of their spiritual gifts in knowledge and participation, while the rest might not even be deemed worthy to hear about such things. But since we have been brought down into so great a pit of folly, as to think that even without the deeds which they performed, we too possess the same grace as they, come let us exercise our discourse concerning them, and having received full assurance from the attested facts, let us endeavor for now to walk in their footsteps, even if we are not able to overtake them. And beginning the account from above, let us come down little by little to our own time.

What then did the great Antony do, sitting in the tomb, even though he knew no spiritual work at all yet? Did he not shut himself up in the tomb as one dead, carrying nothing of the world's goods with him, nor having any care whatsoever within it? Was he not wholly dead to the world, and lying in the monument did he seek God who is able to make alive and to raise up? Was he not content with only bread and water? Did he not suffer many evils from the demons and lie half-dead from the unbearable beating? When he was carried away from the church as (128) dead, did he not, when he came to himself, go back of his own accord to his adversaries? For if he had not returned to them, but had remained in the world, and if he had not persevered until the end, having given himself over to death in his eagerness and resolve, he would not have been deemed worthy of the much-desired vision of his Master, nor would he have heard that sweet voice of His. But he sought with his whole soul, he knocked without tiring, he endured to the end and received a worthy reward. For having died, as has been said, by his resolve for Christ's sake, he lay as if dead, until He who gives life to the dead came and raised him from Hades—I mean, from the darkness of the soul—and brought him out into the wondrous light of His countenance. And having seen this and been delivered from those grievous things and

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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.

Λόγος στ΄. (126) 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 πόδας ἐκείνων βαδίσαι, εἰ καί μή φθάσαι δυνηθῶμεν αὐτούς. Ἄνωθεν δέ τόν λόγον ἀρξάμενοι, κατ᾿ ὀλίγον ἕως ἡμῶν καταβαίνοντες ἔλθωμεν.

Τί οὖν ὁ μέγας Ἀντώνιος ἐν τῷ μνήματι καθεζόμενος ἔπραττε, καί τοι μήπω πνευματικήν ἐργασίαν ὅλως εἰδώς; Οὐχί ὡς νεκρόν ἑαυτόν ἐν τῷ μνήματι ἔκλεισε, μηδέν τῶν τοῦ κόσμου ἐπιφερόμενος, μηδέ μέριμναν ἔχων τήν οἱανοῦν ἐν αὐτῷ; Οὐχί ὅλος ἦν νεκρός ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου, καί κείμενος ἐν τῷ μνημείῳ τόν ζωῶσαι καί ἀναστῆσαι δυνάμενον ἐζήτει Θεόν; Οὐχί ἄρτῳ μόνῳ ἠρκεῖτο καί ὕδατι; Οὐχί πολλά παρά τῶν δαιμόνων ὑπέστη κακά καί ἠμιθανής ἔκειτο ἐκ τοῦ ἀφορήτου δαρμοῦ; Οὐχί ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ ὡς (128) νεκροῦ ἀπενεχθέντος αὐτοῦ, ἡνίκα ἦλθεν εἰς ἑαυτόν, πάλιν αὐθόρμητος πρός τούς ἀντιπάλους ἀπῆλθεν; Εἰ μή γάρ πρός ἐκείνους ὑπέστρεψεν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐνέμεινε τῷ κόσμῳ καί εἰ μή μέχρι τέλους ἐνεκαρτέρησεν, εἰς θάνατον ἐκδεδωκώς ἑαυτόν τῇ προθυμίᾳ καί προαιρέσει, οὐκ ἄν τῆς πολυποθήτου θέας τοῦ ∆εσπότου αὐτοῦ ἠξιώθη, οὐκ ἄν τῆς γλυκείας ἐκείνου φωνῆς ἀκήκοεν. Ἀλλά ἐζήτησεν ὁλοψύχως, ἔκρουσεν ἀόκνως, ὑπέμεινεν εἰς τέλος καί ἔλαβεν ἐπάξιον τόν μισθόν. Ἀποθανών γάρ, ὡς εἴρηται, τῇ προαιρέσει ὑπέρ Χριστοῦ, ἔκειτο ὡσεί νεκρός, ἕως οὗ ἦλθεν ὁ ζωογονῶν τούς νεκρούς καί ἀνέστησεν αὐτόν ἐκ τοῦ ᾅδου, τοῦ σκότους φημί τοῦ ψυχικοῦ, καί ἐξήγαγεν αὐτόν εἰς τό θαυμαστόν φῶς τοῦ προσώπου αὐτοῦ. Ὁπερ θεασάμενος καί τῶν λυπηρῶν ἐκείνων ἀπαλλαγείς καί