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and the perfection of holiness (346). Let Basil the Great therefore come forward, he who precisely studied the knowledge of beings; for he, clarifying the truth testified by the psalmist in the heart of the perfect man, says, “we have found two meanings of truth: one, the comprehension of those things that lead to the blessed life, and the other, sound knowledge concerning any of the things in the world. Now, the truth that is a co-worker of salvation is in the heart of the perfect man, who also delivers it to his neighbor without deceit. But concerning earth and sea, and stars and their movement or speed, if we do not know the truth in such matters, it will in no way hinder us from attaining the blessedness in the promises.”

THE SECOND OF THE LATER DISCOURSES IN DEFENSE OF THE HOLY HESYCHASTS (Page 348)

CONCERNING PRAYER Now then, of those who set no great store by the benefit from secular education for the

benefit from the gospel accruing now to those who live according to it, and hoped for according to the unfailing promises, for this philosopher to accuse them so unsparingly as to devote long treatises to revilings against them, one might say he was incited by a love of learning and an extreme disposition for knowledge. For since they hold in the highest regard only the commandments of Christ and urge all toward these alone, as alone effecting assimilation to God and perfecting and deifying the human soul, while not placing words and the philosophy in words very much above earthly things, and calling it, according to Paul, a carnal wisdom and a wisdom of this age, and showing the leaders of it among the Greeks to be abominable and unwise wise men, as having used the school of creation given by God against God, the philosopher, it seems, was vexed on behalf of his darlings, because they too were not deemed worthy of the greatest honor, and this, of which he himself was to be a partaker and from which he was named philosopher and which was the only manifest prize they were to reap from their lifelong zeal. But against our rational, or rather, spiritual worship, that is, prayer, and those who honor it above everything and with quietude cleave to it throughout life without care, and who lend a hand to those (p. 350) who are being introduced to the angelic and supramundane liturgy, what manner has incited him? Who contradicts those who choose to be silent? Who envies those who choose not to be honored at all? Who, as if having surpassed them, despises those who sit far from the stadium? And there indeed, in the contests he waged on behalf of philosophy, the monk and philosopher was clearly opposing monks, but who are still living; but here, by clearly setting forth among his arguments the sayings of the fathers who have gone to dwell in the heavens, for their overthrow, I know not what possessed him to make no small contest.

But more than against all, he directs the power of his argument unrestrainedly against what was written concerning prayer by the venerable confessor Nikephoros, Nikephoros, who made the good confession and for it was condemned to exile by the first Palaiologos who reigned and held the views of the Latins, Nikephoros, who though tracing his lineage from the Italians, yet condemned their evil doctrine and joined our Orthodox Church, who with his patrimony denies

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καί ἁγιωσύνης (346) τελείωσιν. Παρίτω τοίνυν ὁ καί τήν τῶν ὄντων γνῶσιν ἐκμελετήσας ἀκριβῶς Βασίλειος ὁ μέγας˙ οὗτος γάρ τήν διά τοῦ ψαλμῳδοῦ προσμαρτυρομένην ἐν τῇ τοῦ τελείου καρδίᾳ διευκρινῶν ἀλήθειαν, «δύο», φησί, «τά σημαινόμενα τῆς ἀληθείας εὕρομεν˙ ἕν μέν τήν κατάληψιν τῶν ἐπί τόν μακάριον βίον φερόντων, ἕτερον δέ τήν περί οἱουσδήποτε τῶν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ εἴδησιν ὑγιᾶ˙ ἡ μέν οὖν συνεργός τῆς σωτηρίας ἀλήθεια τῇ καρδίᾳ ἔνεστι τοῦ τελείου, ὅς καί παραδίδωσι ταύτην τῷ πλησίον ἀδόλως˙ περί δέ γῆς καί θαλάσσης, ἀστέρων τε καί τῆς τούτων κινήσεως ἤ τάχους, ἐάν μή εἰδῶμεν τήν ἐν τοῖς τοιούτοις ἀλήθειαν, οὐδέν ἡμῖν ἐμποδίσει πρός τό ἐπιτυχεῖν τῆς ἐν ἐπαγγελίαις μακαριότητος».

ΛΟΓΟΣ ΥΠΕΡ ΤΩΝ ΙΕΡΩΣ ΗΣΥΧΑΖΟΝΤΩΝ ΤΩΝ ΥΣΤΕΡΩΝ Ο ∆ΕΥΤΕΡΟΣ (Σελ. 348)

ΠΕΡΙ ΠΡΟΣΕΥΧΗΣ Τῶν μέν οὖν οὐδέν μέγα τιθεμένων τήν ἀπό τῆς ἔξω παιδείας ὄνησιν πρός τήν

ἀπό τοῦ εὐαγγελίου τοῖς κατ᾿ αὐτό ζῶσι νῦν τε προσγινομένην καί κατά τάς ἀψευδεῖς ἐπαγγελίας ἐλπιζομένην κατηγορεῖν οὕτως ἀφειδῶς τόν φιλόσοφον τοῦτον ὡς καί συγγράμμασι μακροῖς διδόναι τάς κατ᾿ αὐτῶν λοιδορίας, ὑπό τοῦ φίλτρου τῆς παιδείας εἴποι τις ἄν ἐπῆρθαι καί τῆς πρός τό εἰδέναι διαθέσεως ἄκρας. Μόνας γάρ ἐκείνων περί πλείστου ποιουμένων τάς τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐντολάς καί πρός μόνας ταύτας πάντας προτρεπομένων ὡς μόνας ἱερουργούσας τήν πρός Θεόν ἀφομοίωσιν καί τελειούσας καί θεουργούσας τήν ἀνθρωπίνην ψυχήν, λόγους δέ καί τήν ἐν λόγοις φιλοσοφίαν μή πάνυ τῶν γηΐνων ὑπερτιθέντων, σαρκικήν δέ καί τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου σοφίαν κατά Παῦλον λεγόντων, τῶν δ᾿ Ἑλλήνων τούς προστάτας αὐτῆς, ὡς τῷ παρά Θεοῦ διδασκαλείῳ τῆς κτίσεως κατά Θεοῦ χρησαμένους, ἀποτροπαίους δεικνύντων καί ἀσόφους σοφούς, ὑπέρ τῶν παιδικῶν, ὡς ἔοικεν, ὁ φιλόσοφος ἠνιάθη, μή τῆς μεγίστης καί αὐτῶν ἀξιουμένων τιμῆς, καί ταῦθ᾿ ἧς ἔμελλε καί αὐτός εἶναι κοινωνός καί δι᾿ ἥν ἐπώνυμος τῆς φιλοσοφίας ἐγένετο καί ὅ μόνον φανερόν ἔπαθλον ἐκαροῦντο τῆς διά βίου σπουδῆς. Κατά δέ τῆς λογικῆς, μᾶλλον δέ τῆς πνευματικῆς ἡμῶν λατρείας, δηλαδή τῆς προσευχῆς, καί τῶν ταύτην τοῦ παντός τιμωμένων καί μεθ᾿ ἡσυχίας ἀπεριμερίμνως διά βίου προσανεχόντων αὐτῇ καί τῇ χεῖρα διδόντων τοῖς (σελ. 350) εἰσαγομένοις πρός τήν ἀγγελικήν καί ὑπερκόσμιον λειτουργίαν, τίς ἐπήγειρε τρόπος; Τίς ἀντιλέγει τοῖς σιωπᾶν αἱρουμένοις; Τίς φθονεῖ τοῖς τιμᾶσθαι μηδαμῶς αἱρουμένοις; Τίς ὡς παρελθών μέγα φρονεῖ τούς πόρρω τοῦ σταδίου καθεζομένους; Κἀκεῖ μέν, ἐν τοῖς ὑπέρ φιλοσοφίας αὐτῷ γεγενημένοις ἀγῶσι, μοναχοῖς ἦν δῆλος ἀντικείμενος ὁ μοναχός καί φιλόσοφος, ἀλλ᾿ ἔτι περιοῦσιν, ἐνταῦθα δέ, τάς ρήσεις σαφῶς τῶν πρός οὐρανούς κετῳκισμένων πατέρων μεταξύ προβαλλόμενος τῶν λόγων εἰς ἀνατροπήν αὐτῶν, οὐκ οἶδ᾿ ὅ τι παθών οὔτοι μικρόν ἀγῶνα πεποίηκε.

Μᾶλλον δ᾿ ἤ πᾶσι, τοῖς ὑπό τοῦ ὁσίου καί ὁμολογητοῦ Νικηφόρου γεγραμμένοις περί εὐχῆς ἀνέδην ἀντεπεξάγει τοῦ λόγου τήν δύναμιν, Νικηφόρου τοῦ τήν καλήν ὁμολογίαν ὁμολογήσαντος καί δι᾿ αὐτήν ὑπερορίᾳ κατακριθέντος ὑπό τοῦ βασιλεύσαντος πρώτου Παλαιολόγου καί τά τῶν Λατίνων φρονήσαντος Νικηφόρου τοῦ ἐξ Ἰταλῶν μέν ἕλκοντος τό γένος, καταγνόντος δέ τῆς ἐκείνων κακοδοξίας καί τῇ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ὀρθοδόξῳ προσχωρήσαντος Ἐκκλησίᾳ, ὅς μετά τῶν πατρίων ἀρνεῖται