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On perfect love and what is its effect. And that unless we earnestly become partakers of the communion of the Spirit from here on, we can be neither faithful nor Christians, nor even sons and children

be called of God.

Discourse 8. (159) Brothers and fathers, if he who feigns virtue for the deception and perdition of many is truly wretched and is condemned and abominable before God and men, it is clear that he who, being dispassionate, feigns some passion for the salvation and benefit of many, in imitation according to the ancient fathers, is praiseworthy and blessed. For just as the devil, in the guise of a serpent and of counsel—which seemed good and beneficial, but in truth was deadly and deprived man of God and of all the fruits in paradise—was shown to be a fighter against God and a murderer of man, so also he who, in the guise of evil, utters certain wicked words in appearance, so that, having learned what is being done for the devil by those who feign virtue and piety, he might turn those who do evil to repentance and salvation and confession, (160) truly becomes an imitator of goodness and a co-worker with God and manifestly a savior of men.But this is the work only of those whose sense is insensible to the perception of this air and of the world and of its affairs, whose mind is not affected by what is seen but has departed from the humiliation of the body, I speak of those equal to the angels, who are perfectly united to God and have acquired the whole Christ completely in themselves, in deed and experience, in perception and knowledge and contemplation.

Therefore it is evil to eavesdrop or to observe secretly what a neighbor says or does, but only if it is for the purpose of reproaching or disparaging or reviling or exposing in time what one has seen or heard; but if one does this in order to correct the neighbor’s affairs with sympathy and wisdom and prudence and to pray for him from the soul with tears, such a thing is not evil. For I saw a man using many devices and many ways, so that nothing of what was being done or said by those with him would escape his notice; but he did not do this for harm, God forbid, but so that he might turn one away from contrary actions and thoughts by word, another by gifts, and another by some other pretext. And I saw such a one at times weeping for this person, at other times lamenting for that one, and at other times even striking his own face and his breast for another, clearly taking on the persona of the one who had sinned in word or in deed, and considering himself to be that very one who had done the evil, confessing to God and prostrating himself and mourning vehemently. (161) And I saw another who rejoiced so much over those who were succeeding and striving and who so approved their progress, that it seemed that he himself, rather than they, was about to receive the rewards for their virtues and labors; but over those who fell in word or deed and persisted in evils, he was so grieved and groaned, that it seemed he alone in truth was required to give an account for all of them and to be handed over to punishment. And I saw another who was so zealous for and desired the salvation of his brothers, that he often beseeched the man-loving God with hot tears from his whole soul either that they be saved or that he himself be condemned with them,

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Περί τελείας ἀγάπης καί τίς ἡ ταύτης ἐνέργεια. Καί ὅτι ἐάν μή διά σπουδῆς ἐντεῦθεν ἤδη τῆς τοῦ Πνεύματος μεθέξεως γενώμεθα μέτοχοι, οὐδέ πιστοί καί χριστιανοί δυνάμεθα εἶναι, ἀλλ᾿ οὐδέ υἱοί καί τέκνα

Θεοῦ χρηματίσωμεν.

Λόγος Η΄. (159) Ἀδελφοί καί πατέρες, εἰ ὁ τήν ἀρετήν ὑποκρινόμενος πρός ἀπάτην πολλῶν καί

ἀπώλειαν, ἄθλιος ὄντως ἐστί καί παρά Θεῷ καί ἀνθρώποις κατακεκριμένος ὑπάρχει καί βδελυκτός, εὔδηλον ὅτι ὁ ἐμπάθειάν τινα, ἀπαθής ὤν, πρός σωτηρίαν πολλῶν καί ὠφέλειαν ἐν προσποιήσει κατά τούς παλαιούς πατέρας σχηματιζόμενος, ἐπαινετός καί μακάριος. Ὥσπερ γάρ ὁ διάβολος ἐν προσχήματι ὄφεως καί συμβουλῆς, τῷ δοκεῖν μέν χρηστῆς καί ἐπωφελοῦς, τῇ δέ ἀληθείᾳ θανασίμου τυγχανούσης καί τοῦ Θεοῦ και πάντων τῶν ἐν τῷ παραδείςῳ καρπῶν ἀποστερούσης τόν ἄνθρωπον, θεομάχος καί ἀνθρωποκτόνος ἐδείχθη, οὕτω καί ὁ ἐν προσχήματι κακίας πονηρούς τινας λόγους κατά τό φαινόμενον ἐκφέρων, ἵνα τά τελούμενα τῷ διαβόλῳ ὑπό τῶν ὑποκρινομένων τήν ἀρετήν καί εὐλάβειαν ἀναμαθών ἐπιστρέψῃ τούς δρῶντας τά κακά πρός μετάνοιαν και σωτηρίαν καί ἐξομολόγησιν, (160) χρηστομίμητος ὄντως καί συνεργός Θεοῦ καί σωτήρ ἀνθρώπων προφανῶς γίνεται.Τοῦτο δέ μόνων ἐκείνων ἔργον ἐστίν, ὧν ἡ αἴσθησις ἀναίσθητός ἐστι τοῦ ἀέρος τούτου καί τοῦ κόσμου καί τῶν πραγμάτων αὐτοῦ τῆς αἰσθήσεως, ὧν ἡ διάνοια οὐ προσπάσχει τοῖς ὁρωμένοις ἀλλ᾿ ἐξέστη τῆς τοῦ σώματος ταπεινώσεως, τῶν ἰσαγγέλων λέγω, τῶν τελείως τῷ Θεῷ ἑνωθέντων καί ὅλον Χριστόν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ὁλοτελῶς κτησαμένων ἔργῳ καί πείρᾳ, αἰσθήσει καί γνώσει καί θεωρίᾳ.

Κακόν τοιγαροῦν τό ἐπακροᾶσθαι ἤ παρατηρεῖν λάθρᾳ τί ὁ πλησίον προσομιλεῖ ἤ διαπράττεται, ἀλλ᾿ ἐάν πρός τό ὀνειδίσαι ἤ ἐκφαυλίσαι ἤ λοιδορῆσαι ἤ ἐκπομπεῦσαι ἐν καιρῷ ἅπερ εἶδεν ἤ ἤκουσεν· εἰ δέ πρός τό συμπαθῶς καί σοφῶς ἐν φρονήσει τά τοῦ πλησίον ἐπιδιορθώσασθαι καί ἀπό ψυχῆς ὑπέρ αὐτοῦ μετά δακρύων προσεύξασθαι τοῦτο ποιεῖ, οὐκ ἔστιν πονηρόν τό τοιοῦτον. Εἶδον γάρ ἐγώ ἄνθρωπον πολλά ἐπιτηδεύματα καί πολλούς τρόπους ποιοῦντα, ὅπως μηδέν αὐτόν τῶν γινομένων ἤ λεγομένων ὑπό τῶν συνόντων αὐτῷ διαλανθάνῃ· οὐκ ἐποίει δέ τοῦτο πρός βλάβην, μή γένοιτο, ἀλλ᾿ ὅπως τόν μέν λόγῳ, τόν δέ δώροις, τόν δέ ἑτέρᾳ τινί προφάσει τῶν ἐναντίων πράξεων καί λογισμῶν ἀποστήσῃ. Καί εἶδον τόν τοιοῦτον ποτέ μέν κλαίοντα διά τόν δεῖνα, ποτέ δέ θρηνοῦντα ὑπέρ τοῦ δεῖνος, ποτέ δέ καί τάς ἑαυτοῦ ὄψεις καί τό στῆθος αὐτοῦ τύπτονα ὑπέρ ἄλλου, τό τοῦ ἁμαρτήσαντος ἐν λόγῳ ἤ ἐν ἔργῳ ἀναδεχόμενον πρόσωπον δηλονότι, καί ὡς ἐκεῖνον αὐτόν εἶναι τόν τό κακόν ποιήσαντα λογιζόμενον ἑαυτόν καί τῷ Θεῷ ἐξομολογούμενον καί προσπίπτοντα καί πενθοῦντα σφοδρῶς. (161) Καί εἶδον ἕτερον ἐπί τοῖς κατορθοῦσι καί ἀγωνιζομένοις τοσοῦτον χαίροντα καί τήν ἐκείνων προκοπήν ἀποδεχόμενον, ὡς δοκεῖν ἐκεῖνον αὐτόν μᾶλλον ἤ ἐκείνους τῶν ἀρετῶν καί πόνων μέλλειν ἀπολήψεσθαι τούς μισθούς· ἐπί δέ τοῖς ἐν λόγῳ ἤ ἔργῳ καταπίπτουσι καί τοῖς κακοῖς ἐπιμένουσι τοσοῦτον ἐλυπεῖτο καί ἔστενεν, ὡς δοκεῖν αὐτόν μόνον ἐν ἀληθείᾳ ὑπέρ ἐκείνων πάντων λόγον ἀποδοῦναι προσαπαιτούμενον καί τῇ κολάσει παραδοθῆναι. Καί εἶδον ἕτερον οὕτω τήν σωτηρίαν τῶν ἀδελφῶν αὐτοῦ παραζηλοῦντα καί θέλοντα, ὡς πολλάκις μετά δακρύων θερμῶν ἐξ ὅλης ψυχῆς δέεσθαι τοῦ φιλανθρώπου Θεοῦ ἤ κἀκείνους σωθῆναι ἤ καί αὐτόν σύν ἐκείνοις κατακριθῆναι,