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by the invocation to Him, leading ourselves up to Him and returning, so that we may thus partake of the befittingly good gifts that are around Him. “For then,” according to the great Dionysius, “we are with God, when with all-holy prayers and an untroubled mind we invoke Him.” For this reason, therefore, we invoke Him unceasingly, so that we may be unceasingly with Him.

But of this unceasing prayer and state, which this philosopher was the first to conceive just now, not even the devil appears to be without a share, although he never prays; for he knew that he could do nothing even against swine, unless the Lord of all allowed it, and that against Peter he would not even make an attempt, and before these, against Job he would accomplish nothing with his manifold plots; so far is the conviction that the God of all is Lord from prayer, not only unceasing prayer but also prayer at intervals. 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 who are clothed in a body, all know the God of the universe, and all pray, each one appropriately to his own belief. But for those who know the one and true 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 united in a lordly way with the Lord of all, these, becoming without food and breath in prayer, according to the (p. 318) instruction of the fathers, turn the mind back into itself 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 the worthy mind from itself toward the most ineffable union and causing sacred joy to spring forth, and now mystically echoing and praying along with the mind that is stretched out to God through prayer, just as music does for the one who composes the ode 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, but 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 things, except what is of absolute necessity, and even in human necessities not to depart, as far as possible, from the memory of God, but, according to the great Basil, to hasten to carry about the thought of God imprinted on the soul like an indelible seal. For by deeds and words and thoughts we must practice the unceasing prayer that is for now possible for us, until we attain the gift; “for if,” he says, “you have not received the glorious gift of prayer, persevere and you shall receive it”; for it is the Spirit through whom we worship and through whom we pray, and “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

But after he taught about prayer and the state related to it, although he had previously heard the sayings of the theologian brought forward by me, through which he says (p. 320) that he preferred to enjoy this one thing of words for Christ’s sake, he brings forward in opposition those things, through which he says, “I have forsaken all things for the commandment; but I am possessed by the word alone and I would never willingly neglect it”; and thus he shows himself to be completely inconsistent with himself. What then shall we say to these things, agreeing with the wise theologian? What else but that the words which he says he left for Christ’s sake, he means the wisdom of the Greeks, but the word by which he is possessed, is that which is selected from it and to the

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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 ἐντετυπωμένην τῇ ψυχῇ σπεύδειν περιφέρειν κατά τόν μέγαν Βασίλειον. Ἔργοις τε καί γάρ λόγοις καί διανοήμασιν τήν δυνατήν ἡμῖν τέως καί ἀδιάλειπτον προσυχήν ἐπιτηδεύειν χρή, μέχρις ἄν ἐπιτύχωμεν τοῦ δώρου˙ «εἰ μή γάρ», φησίν, «ἔλαβες δῶρον προσευχῆς εὐκλεές, προσέδρευσον καί λήψῃ»˙ τό γάρ Πνεῦμά ἐστι δι᾿ οὗ προσκυνοῦμεν καί δι᾿ οὗ προσευχόμεθα, καί «Πνεῦμα ὁ Θεός, καί τούς προσκυνοῦντας αὐτόν ἐν πνεύματι καί ἀληθείᾳ δεῖ προσκυνεῖν».

Ἀλλά μετά τό διδάξαι περί προσευχῆς ἐκεῖνος καί τῆς κατ᾿ αὐτήν ἕξεως, καίτοι πρότερον ἀκούσας τῶν ὑπ᾿ ἐμοῦ προηγμένων τοῦ θεολόγου ρητῶν, δι᾿ ὧν λέγει (σελ. 320) τοῦτ᾿ ἀπολαῦσαι μόνον τῶν λόγων τό διά Χριστόν προετίμησεν, ἀντεπιφέρει ἐκεῖνα, δι᾿ ὧν φησι, παρῆκα τά πάντα τῇ ἐντολῇ˙ τοῦ λόγου δέ περιέχομαι μόνου καί οὐκ ἄν ποτε τούτου ἑκών ἀμελήσαιμι»˙ καί οὕτως αὐτόν ἑαυτῷ πάντως ἀνακόλουθον δείκνυσι. Τί οὖν πρός ταῦτα ἡμεῖς ἐροῦμεν, συνιστάμενοι τῷ σοφῷ θεολόγῳ; Τί γε ἄλλο ἤ ὅτι λόγους μέν οὕς διά Χριστόν καταλιπεῖν λέγει, τήν τῶν Ἑλλήνων λέγει σοφίαν, λόγον δ᾿ οὗ περιέχεται, τό ἀπ᾿ ἐκείνης ἐξειλεγμένον καί τοῖς