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he will pray without ceasing. What then might one say to such a philosopher who prays unceasingly and yet never? What the apostle says elsewhere: "praying at all times in the spirit and for this very purpose keeping alert". Does he here introduce this state which you speak of, or the activity, although to say "unceasingly" and "at all times" is the same thing? But having additionally enjoined watchfulness in prayer, he is clearly commanding to hold unceasingly to the activity. And the Lord also told a parable to the disciples, according to the evangelist Luke, "to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart". Did he then here lead them toward the state? But the parable does not show this, but persistent asking; and "not to lose heart," that is, not to desist from persistence through laziness, shows that the exhortation is not toward the state, and that which this wise man speaks of, but toward the very activity of prayer, that is, supplication, which the final word of the Lord in the parable also makes clear: (p. 316) "for God will give," he says, "what is holy to those who ask him day and night," that is, to those who pray thus unceasingly. And we need this unceasing supplication not in order to persuade God, for He is self-invoked, nor as if to draw Him down, for He is everywhere, but as by invocation to Him we lead ourselves up to Him and turn toward Him, so that we might thus partake of the befittingly good gifts that are from Him. "For then," according to the great Dionysius, "we are with God, when with all-holy prayers and an untroubled mind we call upon Him." For this reason, then, we call upon Him unceasingly, so that we might unceasingly be with Him.

And of this unceasing prayer and state, which this philosopher was the first just now to conceive, not even the devil appears to be without a share, although he never prays; for he knew he could do nothing even against swine, unless the Lord of all allowed it, and against Peter he would not even attempt it, and before these, against Job he accomplished nothing by his various plots; so far from prayer, not only unceasing but also intermittent, is the conviction that God is Lord of all; for those of the rational beings outside the body all know this, but not all pray; for he who is opposed to God is also opposed to prayer, and he who flees from the good is also a fugitive from prayer to God. But those clothed in a body, all know the God of the universe, and all pray, each one suitably to his own belief. But for those who know the one and truly existing God, with this belief there also enters the conviction that without him they can do nothing; Indeed, of those who are convinced of this, as many as divine love has seized to be properly united with the Lord of the universe, these, having become without food and breath in prayer, according to the (p. 318) instruction of the fathers, turn the mind back into themselves, and thus by their fitness for divine union are deemed worthy of the mystical and ineffable spiritual gift of prayer, which is also unceasingly with them, now drawing on its own the worthy mind to the most ineffable union and causing sacred gladness to spring forth, now mystically echoing and praying along with the mind that is stretched out to God through prayer, just as music to one composing a song to it. For thus, having come to be in participation of the ever-moving and unwearying grace, they have prayer rooted in their soul and unceasingly active, according to the one who said: "I sleep, and my heart is awake." Therefore, he who wishes to attain this true and truly unceasing prayer from "him who gives," to speak prophetically, "prayer to the one who prays," let him obey the divine Nilus and Gregory, so as to live touching none of human affairs, except what is of all necessity, and in human necessities not to depart from the memory of God as far as possible, but like an indelible seal the thought of God

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ἀδιαλείπτς προσεύξεται. Τί οὖν ἄν εἴποι τις πρός τόν ἀδιαλείπτως καί μηδέποτε προσευχόμενον τοιοῦτον φιλόσοφον; Ὅπερ ὁ ἀπόστολος ἀλλαχοῦ λέγων˙ «προσευχόμενοι ἐν παντί καιρῷ ἐν πνεύματι καί εἰς αὐτό τοῦτο ἀγρυπνοῦντες». Ἆρα κἀν τούτῳ τήν ἕξιν ταύτην εἰσηγεῖται, ἥν αὐτός λέγεις, ἤ τήν ἐνέργειαν, καίτοι ταὐτόν ἐστιν ἀδιαλείπτως τε εἰπεῖν καί ἐν παντί καιρῷ; Προσεπισκήψας δέ τήν ἐπί τῷ προσεύχεσθαι ἀγνυπνίαν, δῆλός ἐστιν ἀδιαλείπτως ἔχεσθαι τῆς ἐνεργείας ἐπιτάττων. Ἔλεγε δέ καί ὁ Κύριος παραβολήν τοῖς μαθηταῖς, κατά τόν εὐαγγελιστήν Λουκᾶν, «πρός τό δεῖν πάντοτε προσεύχεσθαι καί μή ἐκκακεῖν». Ἆρ᾿ οὖν κἀνταῦθα πρός τήν ἕξιν ἐνῆγεν; Ἀλλ᾿ οὐ τοῦτο ἡ παραβολή δείκνυσιν, ἀλλά τήν ἐπίμονον αἴτησιν˙ καί τό μή ἐκκακεῖν δέ, τουτέστι μή ἐφίεσθαι τῆς προσεδρείας ὑπό ρᾳθυμίας, δείκνυσι τήν προτροπήν οὖσαν οὐ πρός τήν ἕξιν, καί ταῦθ᾿ ἥν ὁ σοφός οὗτος λέγει, ἀλλά πρός τήν αὐτήν τήν ἐνέργειαν τῆς προσευχῆς, δηλαδή τήν δέησιν, ὅ καί τό ἐπιτελεύτιον ἐν τῇ παραβολῇ ρῆμα τοῦ Κυρίου δηλοῖ˙ (σελ. 316) «δώσει γάρ», φησίν, «ὁ Θεός ἅγιον τοῖς αἰτοῦσι αὐτόν ἡμέρας καί νυκτός», τουτέστι τοῖς ἀδιαλείπτως οὕτω προσευχομένοις. ∆εόμεθα δέ τῆς ἀδιαλείπτου ταύτης δεήσεως οὐχ ὥστε πεῖσαι Θεόν, αὐτοπαράκλητος γάρ, οὐδ᾿ ὡς ἐφελκυσόμενοι τοῦτον πανταχοῦ γάρ, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς τῇ πρός αὐτόν ἐπικλήσει ἡμᾶς αὐτούς ἀνάγοντες πρός ἐκεῖνον καί ἐπιστρέφοντες, ὡς μεθέξοντες οὕτω τῶν περί αὐτόν ἀγαθοπρεπῶν δωρεῶν. «Τότε γάρ» κατά τόν μέγαν ∆ιονύσιον «τῷ Θεῷ σύνεσμεν, ὅτε πανάγνοις μέν εὐχαῖς, ἀνεπιθολότῳ δέ νῷ τοῦτον ἐπικαλώμεθα». ∆ιά τοῦτο τοίνυν αὐτόν ἀδιαλείπτως ἐπικαλούμεθα, ὡς ἄν ἀδιαλείπτως αὐτῷ συνῶμεν.

Τῆς δέ ἀδιαλείπτου ταύτης προσευχῆς τε καί ἕξεως, ἥν ἄρτι διενοήθη πρῶτος ὁ φιλόσοφος οὗτος, οὐδέ ὁ διάβολος φαίνεται ἀμοιρῶν καίτοι μηδέποτε προσευχόμενος˙ ἤδει γάρ μηδέ κατά χοίρων δυνησόμενός τι, μή τοῦ Κυρίου τῶν ὅλων ἐνδόντος, κατά δέ τοῦ Πέτρου μηδ᾿ ἐπιχειρήσεων γοῦν, καί πρό τούτων κατά τοῦ Ἰώβ μηδέν ἀνύσων ταῖς πολυτρόποις ἐπιβουλαῖς˙ τοσοῦτον ἀπέχει προσευχῆς, οὐ τῆς ἀδιαλείπτου μόνον ἀλλά καί τῆς ἐκ διαλειμμάτων, τό πεπεῖσθαι Κύριον εἶναι τόν Θεόν ἁπάντων˙ οἱ μέν γάρ ἐκτός σώματος τῶν λογικῶν ἴσασι μέν τοῦτο πάντες, εὔχονται δ᾿ οὐ πάντες˙ ἀντικείμενος γάρ ἐστι καί τῇ εὐχῇ ὁ τῷ Θεῷ ἀντικείμενος, καί ὁ τοῦ καλοῦ φυγάς καί τῆς πρός τόν Θεόν εὐχῆς φυγάς ἐστιν. Οἱ δέ σῶμα περικείμενοι, τόν μέν τοῦ παντός Θεόν ἴσασιν πάντες, πάντες δ᾿ εὔχονται καταλλήλως ἕκαστος τῇ δόξῃ ἑαυτοῦ. Τοῖς δέ τόν ἕνα καί ὄντως γινώσκοντα Θεόν, συνεισέρχεται τῇ δόξῃ ταύτῃ καί τό χωρίς αὐτοῦ μή δύνασθαι ποιεῖν μηδέν˙ τῶν δή τοῦτο πεπεισμένων ὅσους ἔρως θεῖος εἷλεν ἑνωθεῖναι κυρίως τῷ Κυρίῳ τοῦ παντός, οὗτοι τροφῆς ἄνευ καί πνοῆς ἐν εὐχῇ γενόμενοι, κατά τήν τῶν (σελ. 318) πατέρων ὑφήγησιν, ἐπιστρέφουσι τόν νοῦν εἰς ἑαυτόν καί οὕτω τῇ πρός τήν θείαν ἕνωσιν ἐπιτηδειότητι τοῦ μυστικοῦ καί ἀπορρήτου πνευματικοῦ τῆς προσευχῆς καταξιοῦνται δώρου, ὅ καί ἀδιαλείπτως σύνεστιν αὐτοῖς, νῦν μέν αὐτό παρ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ ἕλκον τόν καταξιωμένον νοῦν πρός τήν ἀρρητοτάτην ἕνωσιν καί πηγάζον εὐφροσύνην ἱεράν, νῦν δέ τῷ νῷ δι᾿ εὐχῆς ἀνατεινομένῳ πρός Θεόν μυστικῶς ὑπηχοῦν τε καί συμπροσευχόμενον, ὥσπερ μουσική τῷ πρός ταύτην συντιθέντι τήν ὠδήν. Οὕτω γάρ ἐν μεθέξει τῆς ἀεικινήτου τε καί ἀκαμάτου γεγονότες χάριτος ἐνερριζωμένην ἔχουσι τῇ ψυχῇ τήν προσευχήν καί ἀδιαλείπτως ἐνεργοῦσαν κατά τόν εἰπόντα˙ «ἐγώ κοιμῶμαι καί ἡ καρδία μου ἀγρυπνεῖν». Ὁ τοίνυν βουλόμενος ἐπιτυχεῖν τῆς ἀληθοῦς ταύτης καί ἀληθῶς ἀδιαλείπτου προσευχῆς παρά «τοῦ διδόντος» προφητικῶς εἰπεῖν «εὐχήν τῷ εὐχομένῳ», πειθέσθω τῷ θείῳ Νείλῳ καί Γρηγορίῳ, ὥστε ζῆν μηδέν τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων προσαπτόμενον, ὅ,τι μή πᾶσα ἀνάγκη, κἀν ταῖς ἀνθρωπίναις ἀνάγκαις τῆς μνήμης τοῦ Θεοῦ κατά τό δυνατόν μή ἀφίστασθαι, ἀλλ᾿ ὥσπερ σφραγῖδα ἀνεξάλειπτον τήν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἔννοιαν