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4.73 (73) For this reason he says again: Sell your possessions and give alms, and behold, all things will be clean for you; as no longer being occupied with the things concerning the body, but hastening to purify the mind from hatred and incontinence, which the Lord calls the heart. For these things, defiling the mind, do not permit it to see the Lord dwelling in it through the grace of holy Baptism.

4.74 (74) Scripture calls the virtues 'ways'; but love has been established as the greatest of all virtues. For this reason the Apostle said: I show you a still more excellent way; as persuading one to despise material things and to prefer nothing of temporal things to eternal things.

4.75 (75) Love for God resists desire; for it persuades the mind to be continent from pleasures. And love for neighbor resists anger; for it causes one to despise glory and money. And these are the two denarii, which the Savior gave to the innkeeper, (14__340> so that he might take care of you. But do not appear ungrateful, associating with the robbers, lest you be struck again and be found no longer half-dead, but dead.

4.76 (76) Purify your mind from anger and remembrance of wrongs and shameful thoughts and then you will be able to know the indwelling of Christ.

4.77 (77) Who enlightened you into the faith of the holy and adorable and consubstantial Trinity? Or who made known to you the incarnate economy of one of the holy Trinity? And who taught you the teachings concerning incorporeal beings, or those concerning the generation and end of the visible world, or concerning the resurrection from the dead and eternal life, or concerning the glory of the kingdom of heaven and the fearful judgment? Is it not the grace of Christ dwelling in you, which is the pledge of the Holy Spirit? What is greater than this grace, or what is better than this wisdom and knowledge? Or what is loftier than these promises? But if we are idle and neglectful and do not purify ourselves from the passions that defile us and blind our mind, so as to be able to see the teachings concerning these things more clearly than the sun, let us blame ourselves and not deny the indwelling of grace.

4.78 (78) God, who promised you eternal good things and has given the pledge of the Spirit in your heart, has commanded you to take care of your life, so that the inner man, having been freed from the passions, may begin from this point the enjoyment of the good things.

4.79 (79) Having been deemed worthy of the divine and lofty contemplations, be exceedingly (14__342> careful of love and continence, so that, keeping the passionate part undisturbed, you will have the unfailing light of your soul.

4.80 (80) Bridle the irascible part of the soul with love, and wither its concupiscible part with continence, and give wings to its rational part with prayer; and the light of the mind is never dimmed.

4.81 (81) The things that destroy love are these: such as dishonor, loss, slander either in faith or in life, beatings, blows and the like; and these happening either to himself or to one of his own, either relatives or friends. Therefore, he who for any of these things destroys love has not yet known what the purpose of Christ's commandments is.

4.82 (82) Strive as much as you can to love every man; but if you are not yet able to do this, at least hate no one. And you are not able to do even this, unless you despise the things of the world.

4.83 (83) So-and-so has blasphemed; do not hate him, but the blasphemy and the demon who prepared him to blaspheme. But if you hate the one who blasphemed, you have hated a man and you have transgressed the commandment and what he did in word,

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4.73 (ογ') ∆ιὰ τοῦτο πάλιν λέγει· Πωλήσατε τὰ ὑπάρχοντα ὑμῶν καὶ δότε ἐλεημοσύνην καὶ ἰδοὺ πάντα ὑμῖν καθαρὰ ἔσται· ὡς μηκέτι τοῖς περὶ τὸ σῶμα σχολαζόντων πράγμασιν, ἀλλὰ τὸν νοῦν καθαίρειν σπευδόντων ἀπὸ μίσους καὶ ἀκρασίας, ὃν καρδίαν ὀνομάζει ὁ Κύριος. Ταῦτα γὰρ τὸν νοῦν ῥυποῦντα οὐκ ἐῶσι βλέπειν τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ κατοικοῦντα Κύριον διὰ τῆς χάριτος τοῦ ἁγίου Βαπτίσματος.

4.74 (οδ') Ὁδοὺς ἡ Γραφὴ τὰς ἀρετὰς ὀνομάζει· μείζων δὲ πασῶν τῶν ἀρετῶν ἡ ἀγάπη καθέστηκε. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἔλεγεν ὁ Ἀπόστολος· ἔτι καθ᾽ ὑπερβολὴν ὁδὸν ὑμῖν δείκνυμι· ὡς καταφρονεῖν πείθουσαν τῶν ὑλικῶν πραγμάτων καὶ μηδὲν τῶν προσκαίρων προτιμᾶν τῶν αἰωνίων.

4.75 (οε') Ἡ εἰς Θεὸν ἀγάπη ἀνθίσταται τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ· πείθει γὰρ τὸν νοῦν ἐγκρατεύεσθαι ἀπὸ τῶν ἡδονῶν. Ἡ δὲ εἰς τὸν πλησίον ἀνθίσταται τῷ θυμῷ· ποιεῖ γὰρ καταφρονεῖν δόξης καὶ χρημάτων. Καὶ ταῦτά εἰσι τὰ δύο δηνάρια, ἅπερ ὁ Σωτὴρ δέδωκε τῷ πανδοχεῖ, (14__340> ἵνα σου ἐπιμέλειαν ποιήσηται. Ἀλλὰ μὴ φανῇς ἀγνώμων τοῖς λῃσταῖς συνδυάζων, μή ποτε πάλιν πληγῇς καὶ οὐκ ἔτι ἡμιθανής, ἀλλὰ νεκρὸς εὑρεθήσῃ.

4.76 (οστ') Κάθαιρε τὸν νοῦν σου ἀπὸ ὀργῆς καὶ μνησικακίας καὶ τῶν αἰσχρῶν λογισμῶν καὶ τότε δυνήσῃ γνῶναι τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐνοίκησιν.

4.77 (οζ') Τίς σε ἐφώτισεν εἰς τὴν πίστιν τῆς ἁγίας καὶ προσκυνητῆς καὶ ὁμοουσίου Τριάδος; Ἢ τίς σοι ἐγνώρισε τὴν ἔνσαρκον οἰκονομίαν τοῦ ἑνὸς τῆς ἁγίας Τρίαδος; Τίς δέ σε ἐδίδαξε τοὺς περὶ ἀσωμάτων λόγους ἢ τοὺς περὶ γενέσεως καὶ συντελείας τοῦ ὁρωμένου κόσμου ἢ περὶ τῆς ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστάσεως καὶ τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς ἢ περὶ τῆς δόξης τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν καὶ τῆς φοβερᾶς κρίσεως; Οὐχὶ ἡ χάρις τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἡ ἐνοικοῦσα ἔν σοι, ἥτις ἐστὶν ὁ ἀρραβὼν τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος; Τί μεῖζον ταύτης τῆς χάριτος ἢ τί κρεῖττον ταύτης τῆς σοφίας καὶ τῆς γνώσεως; Ἢ τί τούτων τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν ὑψηλότερον; Εἰ δέ ἐσμεν ἀργοὶ καὶ ἀμελεῖς καὶ μὴ καθαίρομεν ἑαυτοὺς τῶν μολυνόντων ἡμᾶς καὶ τὸν νοῦν ἡμῶν ἐκτυφλούντων παθῶν, ὥστε δυνηθῆναι τρανότερον τοῦ ἡλίου τοὺς περὶ τούτων λόγους ὁρᾶν, ἑαυτοὺς αἰτιασώμεθα καὶ μὴ τὴν τῆς χάριτος ἐνοίκησιν ἀρνησώμεθα.

4.78 (οη') Ὁ ἐπαγγειλάμενός σοι Θεὸς τὰ αἰώνια ἀγαθὰ καὶ τὸν ἀρραβῶνα τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ δεδοκὼς ἐνετείλατό σοι ἐπιμελεῖσθαί σου τοῦ βίου, ἵνα ὁ ἔσω ἄνθρωπος τῶν παθῶν ἐλευθερωθεὶς ἄρξηται ἀπεντεῦθεν τῆς τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀπολαύσεως.

4.79 (οθ') Τῶν θείων καὶ ὑψηλῶν καταξιωθεὶς θεωρημάτων, σφόδρα (14__342> ἐπιμελοῦ ἀγάπης καὶ ἐγκρατείας, ἵνα τὸ παθητικὸν ἀτάραχον διαφυλάττων ἀνέκλειπτον ἕξεις τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς σου φέγγος.

4.80 (π') Τὸ θυμικὸν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀγάπῃ χαλίνωσον καὶ τὸ ἐπιθυμητικὸν αὐτῆς ἐγκρατείᾳ μάρανον καὶ τὸ λογιστικὸν αὐτῆς προσευχῇ πτέρωσον· καὶ τὸ φῶς τοῦ νοῦ οὐκ ἀμαυροῦταί ποτε.

4.81 (πα') Τὰ τὴν ἀγάπην λύοντά εἰσι ταῦτα· οἷον ἀτιμία, ζημία, συκοφαντία ἢ εἰς πίστιν ἢ εἰς βίον, δαρμοί, πληγαὶ καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς· καὶ ταῦτα ἢ αὐτῷ συμβαίνοντα ἤ τινι τῶν αὐτοῦ ἢ συγγενῶν ἢ φίλων. Ὁ οὖν διά τι τούτων λύων τὴν ἀγάπην οὔπω ἔγνω τίς ὁ σκοπὸς τῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐντολῶν.

4.82 (πβ') Σπούδασον ὅσον δύνασαι πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἀγαπῆσαι· εἰ δὲ τοῦτο οὔπω δύνασαι, κἂν μηδένα μισήσῃς. Οὐ δύνασαι δὲ οὐδὲ τοῦτο ποιῆσαι, εἰ μὴ τῶν τοῦ κόσμου πραγμάτων καταφρονήσῃς.

4.83 (πγ') Ὁ δεῖνα ἐβλασφήμησε· μὴ μισήσῃς ἐκεῖνον, ἀλλὰ τὴν βλασφημίαν καὶ τὸν βλασφημεῖν παρασκευάσαντα δαίμονα. Εἰ δὲ τὸν βλασφημήσαντα μισεῖς, ἄνθρωπον ἐμίσησας καὶ τὴν ἐντολὴν παρέβης καὶ ὅπερ ἐκεῖνος τῷ λόγῳ ἐποίησε,