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“an ineffable energy seen invisibly,” for not by the senses, and “conceived unknowably,” for not by reason.

It were possible, then, to add other things also; but I fear that I have set forth even these things in vain. For according to the same saint, “he who wishes to explain through words the perception and energy of the divine illumination to those who have not tasted it, is like one who desires to teach through words the sweetness of honey to those who have never tasted it.” Nevertheless, our words have been addressed to you, so that you too might know the truth precisely, and that we are in agreement with the sayings of the fathers, whose remaining sayings, which are written below, you should peruse.

DISCOURSE IN DEFENSE OF THOSE WHO PRACTICE SACRED HESYCHASM

THE FIRST OF THE LATER ONES (p. 260)

NARRATION AND REFUTATION OF THE WRITINGS BY THE PHILOSOPHER

BARLAAM AGAINST THOSE WHO PRACTICE SACRED HESYCHASM

WHAT IS TRULY SAVING KNOWLEDGE AND FOR THOSE WHO ARE TRULY

MONKS EAGERLY SOUGHT AFTER, OR AGAINST THOSE WHO SAY

THAT THE KNOWLEDGE FROM SECULAR EDUCATION IS TRULY SAVING Nothing is more terrible than falsehood, nothing is a heavier burden than slander for those

who perpetrate it, but not for those who suffer it. For the latter are sometimes even proven more worthy and through endurance obtain the heavenly prizes, “but the Lord will destroy all who speak falsehood.” But if a robber, being one, cries out as if he were the one robbed, and the slanderer laments as if he were slandered against the one who has suffered and done nothing terrible, what excess of evil does he leave behind? And of what condemnation is he not worthy? And if he does not experience this now, yet “he treasures up for himself wrath on the day of righteous judgment and revelation of God.” It is for these reasons, then, that I lament, taking to mind the one who came from Sicily and professes to philosophize in secular education. For seeing him dressed as a monk, I rejoiced, reasoning to myself that as he advanced he would also become wise in divine things, having joined the most distinguished of our monks, who, having bid farewell to all other things, for their whole life attend to God in quietude. For he might have become for us, so I said, a scribe like a treasure, according to the Lord's word, bringing out things old and new. But now the very opposite has come to pass, and because of him for whom I rejoiced in good hopes, a grief has just now come upon my soul for the sake of his soul. For he approached some of our own, and of these the (p. 262) more simple, pretending to be a disciple, but he departed, having shown that he condemned them to such an extent, that he even composed writings against them, alleging no small or moderate charge, and with these writings to speak freely against them, but before the youths who attended him and buzzed around him, and of these, he persuaded those who do not profess a venerable life.

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«ἄρρητος ἐνέργεια ὁρωμένη ἀοράτως», οὐ γάρ αἰσθητῶς, καί «νοουμένη ἀγνώστως», οὐ γάρ λογιστικῶς.

Ἦν μέν οὖν προσθεῖναι κάι ἕτερα˙ δέδοικα δέ μή καί ταῦτα μάτην προέθηκα. Κατά γάρ τόν αὐτόν ἅγιον «ὁ ἐλλάμψεως Θεοῦ αἴσθησιν καί ἐνέργειαν τοῖς ἀγεύστοις διά λόγου διηγεῖσθαι βουλόμενος, ὅμοιός ἐστι τῷ τοῖς μή γευσαμένοις μέλιτος τήν αὐτοῦ γλυκύτητα διά λόγων διδάσκειν ἐθέλοντι». Πρός σέ δ᾿ ὅμως ἡμῖν οἱ λόγοι γεγόνασιν, ὡς ἄν καί σύ τἀληθές ἀκριβῶς εἰδείης καί ἡμᾶς ὁμολογοῦντας ταῖς τῶν πατέρων φωναῖς, ὧν τάς ὑπολοίπους ὑπογεγραμμένας οὖσας, διέξιθι.

ΛΟΓΟΣ ΥΠΕΡ ΤΩΝ ΙΕΡΩΣ ΗΣΥΧΑΖΟΝΤΩΝ

ΤΩΝ ΥΣΤΕΡΩΝ Ο ΠΡΩΤΟΣ (Σελ. 260)

∆ΙΗΓΗΣΙΣ ΚΑΙ ΑΝΑΤΡΟΠΗ ΤΩΝ ΥΠΟ ΤΟΥ ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΟΥ

ΒΑΡΛΑΑΜ ΣΥΓΓΡΑΦΕΝΤΩΝ ΚΑΤΑ ΤΩΝ ΙΕΡΩΣ ΗΣΥΧΑΖΟΝΤΩΝ

ΤΙΣ Η ΟΝΤΩΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΙΟΣ ΓΝΩΣΙΣ ΚΑΙ ΤΟΙΣ ΟΝΤΩΣ

ΜΟΝΑΧΟΙΣ ΠΕΡΙΣΠΟΥ∆ΑΣΤΟΣ Η ΚΑΤΑ ΤΩΝ ΛΕΓΟΝΤΩΝ

ΤΗΝ ΕΚ ΤΗΣ ΕΞΩ ΠΑΙ∆ΕΙΑΣ ΓΝΩΣΙΝ ΟΝΤΩΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΙΟΝ Οὐδέν ψεύδους δεινότερον, οὐδέν συκοφαντίας ἄχθους βαρύτερον τοῖς

ἐνεργοῦσιν ἀλλ᾿ οὐ τοῖς πάσχουσιν. Οἱ μέν γάρ ἔσθ᾿ ὅτε καί δοκιμώτεροι γίνονται καί δι᾿ ὑπομονῆς τῶν οὐρανίων βραβείων ἐπιτυγχάνουσιν, «ἀπολεῖ δέ Κύριος πάντας τούς λαλοῦντας τό ψεῦδος». Εἰ δέ καί ἀποστερητής τις ὤν, ὡς ἀποστερηθείς βοᾷ, καί ὁ συκοφάντης ὡς συκοφαντηθείς κατά τοῦ πεπονθότος καί μηδέν εἰργασμένου δεινόν ἀποδύρεται, τίνα καταλείπει κακίας ὑπερβολήν; Τίνος δέ καταδίκης οὐκ ἄξιος; Εἰ δέ καί μή ταύτυης πειρῷτο νῦν, ἀλλ᾿ «ἑαυτῷ θησαυρίζει τήν ὀργήν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ δικαιοκρισίας καί ἀποκαλύψεως Θεοῦ». Ταῦτ᾿ ἆρ᾿ ἐγώ τόν ἐκ Σικελίας ἥκοντα καί φιλοσοφεῖν τήν ἔξω παιδείαν ἐπαγγελλόμενον ἐπί νοῦν λαμβάνων θρηνῶ. Τοῦτον γάρ κατά μοναχούς ἐσταλμένον ὁρῶν, ἔχαιρον ἐπ᾿ ἐμαυτοῦ λογιζόμενος ὡς καί τά θεῖα προϊών σοφός ἔσται, συνελθών τοῖς ἐκκρίτοις τῶν παρ᾿ ἡμῖν μοναχῶν, οἵ τοῖς ἄλλοις πᾶσι χαίρειν εἰπόντες, διά βίου μεθ᾿ ἡσυχίας τῷ Θεῷ προσανέχουσι. Γένοιτο γάρ ἄν ἡμῖν, οὕτως ἔλεγον, γραμματεύς ὅμοιος θησαυρῷ, κατά τόν τοῦ Κυρίου λόγον, ἐκφέροντι παλαιά τε καί νέα. Νῦν δ᾿ ἅπαν τοὐναντίον ἐξέβη καί δι᾿ ὅν ἐπ᾿ ἐλπίσιν ἀγαθοῖς ἔχαιρον, πένθος ἀρτίως καθίκετό μου τῆς ψυχῆς ὑπέρ τῆς ἐκείνου ψυχῆς. Προσῆλθε μέν γάρ τισι τῶν ἡμετέρων, καί τούτων τοῖς (σελ. 262) ἁπλουστέροις, τόν μαθητιῶντα ὑποκρινόμενος, ἀπέστη δ᾿ ἐπί τοσούτῳ κατεγνωκέναι δείξας αὐτῶν, ὡς καί συγγράμματα κατ᾿ αὐτῶν οὐδέν μικρόν οὐδέ μέτριον ἐπικαλοῦντα συνθεῖναι καί μετά τῶν συγγραμμάτων τούτων παρρησιάζεσθαι κατ᾿ αὐτῶν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐπί τῶν φοιτώντων αὐτῷ καί περιβομβούντων μειρακίων, καί τούτων ἔπειθεν ἐκείνους ὅσοι μή πρεσβυτικόν ἐπαγγέλλονται