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a great reward, as one who has imitated the passions of Christ and awaits Him in days of the bringing on of both temptations and tribulations.

For this very reason I exhort you, brothers in Christ, let us be zealous according to the voice of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, since we have renounced the world and the things in the world, so that we may enter through the narrow gate, which is the cutting off and avoidance of our carnal mind and will. For without our being dead to the flesh and to its desires and to its wills, it is not possible to obtain rest and release from evils, and the freedom that comes to us from the consolation of the Holy Spirit. And without this—I mean the visitation of the Spirit—no one will see the Lord, neither in the present age nor in the one to come. For that you have indeed done a good thing, having scattered all your possessions to the needy—if indeed you left nothing for yourself, unlike that Ananias—and in addition to these things you have renounced the world and the things in the world, and fleeing this life and its cares (180) you have run to a harbor of life, clothing yourself in the form of godliness, I too concur and praise you for your effort. But you must also strip off the mind of the flesh itself, just as you recently did your tunics, and according to the robe which you put on for Christ's sake, acquire the ways of the soul and your very own spiritual mind; and not only this but also put on the luminous tunic through repentance, which is the Holy Spirit himself. But this does not happen otherwise than through the persistent practice of the virtues and the endurance of tribulations. For the soul, being afflicted through temptations, is moved to tears, and tears, by cleansing the heart, make it a temple and a dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit.For the mere putting on of the habit and the outer adornment of the statue is not sufficient for us for salvation and perfection, but just as the outer man, so also is it necessary to adorn the inner man within us with the sober garment of the Spirit and to offer ourselves completely to God, both soul and body, and on the one hand, with bodily training to train the body for the toils of virtue, so as to become vigorously accustomed to the sorrows according to God and to bear nobly the bitterness of fasting, the forced nature of self-control, the necessity of vigils, every hardship, and on the other hand, with the piety of the Spirit to discipline the soul to think what it ought to think and to meditate always on the things of eternal life, to be humble-minded, meek, contrite, full of compunction, mourning every day and through prayer (181) calling to itself the light of the Spirit, things which are wont to be added to it through most fervent repentance, as it is cleansed by many tears, without which it is never possible for its tunic to be cleansed, nor for it to ascend to the height of contemplation. For just as a garment stained deeply somewhere with mud and dung cannot be cleansed otherwise than through much water and much trampling by the feet, so also the tunic of the soul, stained by the mud and dung of sinful passions, cannot be washed clean otherwise than through many tears and the endurance of both temptations and tribulations. For since there are essentially two flows in us from the body—I mean, the tears flowing down from above and the emissions from the generative powers, the one staining the soul when emptied contrary to nature and law, the other cleansing it when flowing from repentance—it is necessary for those who have stained their soul by the sinful practice of sin and, by the passionate movement of the heart, have engraved in themselves forms of irrational desires, to be cleansed by many tears and to acquire the tunic of the soul most pure. For otherwise to see God, the very light which illumines the heart of every man,

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μεγάλην τήν ἀνταπόδοσιν, ὡς τά πάθη μιμησάμενος τοῦ Χριστοῦ καί ὑπομένων αὐτόν ἐν ἡμέραις ἐπαγωγῆς τῶν πειρασμῶν τε καί θλίψεων.

∆ιά τοι τοῦτο παρακαλῶ ὑμᾶς, ἐν Χριστῷ ἀδελφοί, σπουδάσωμεν κατά τήν φωνήν τοῦ Κυρίου καί Θεοῦ καί Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἐπειδή κόσμῳ καί τοῖς ἐν κόσμῳ ἀπεταξάμεθα, ἵνα διά τῆς στενῆς εἰσέλθωμεν πύλης, ἥτις ἐστίν ἡ ἐκκοπή καί ἀποφυγή τοῦ σαρκικοῦ ἡμῶν φρονήματος καί θελήματος. Ἄνευ γάρ τοῦ νεκρωθῆναι ἡμᾶς τῇ σαρκί καί ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις αὐτῆς καί τοῖς θελήμασιν αὐτῆς οὐκ ἔνι τυχεῖν ἀνέσεως καί ἀπαλλαγῆς τῶν κακῶν καί ἐλευθερίας τῆς ἐπιγινομένης ἡμῖν ἀπό τῆς παρακλήσεως τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος. Ταύτης δέ χωρίς λέγω δή τῆς ἐπιφοιτήσεως τοῦ Πνεύματος - οὐδείς ὄψεται τόν Κύριον, οὔτε ἐν τῷ νῦν αἰῶνι οὔτε ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι. Ὅτι μέν γάρ καλόν εἰργάσω, πάντα σου τά χρήματα σκορπίσας τοῖς δεομένοις, εἴ γε καί οὐδέν ἑαυτῷ ὑπελείπω κατά τόν Ἀνανίαν ἐκεῖνον, καί πρός τούτοις κόσμῳ ἀπετάξω καί τοῖς ἐν κόσμῳ, καί φυγών τόν βίον καί τάς φροντίδας αὐτοῦ (180) ἔδραμες εἰς λιμένα ζωῆς, τήν μόρφωσιν τῆς εὐσεβείας περιβαλλόμενος, σύμφημι κἀγώ καί ἐπαινῶ σε τῆς πραγματείας. Χρή δέ σέ καί τό φρόνημα τῆς σαρκός, ὥσπερ τούς χιτῶνας ἄρτι, καί αὐτό ἀποδύσασθαι καί κατά τήν στολήν, ἥν ἐνεδύσω διά Χριστόν, κτήσασθαι τούς τρόπους τῆς ψυχῆς καί αὐτό δή πνευματικόν σου φρόνημα· οὐ μόνον δέ ἀλλά καί τόν φωτεινόν ἐπενδύσασθαι χιτῶνα διά μετανοίας, ὅπερ ἐστίν αὐτό τό Πνεῦμα τό Ἅγιον. Τοῦτο δέ ἄλλως οὐ γίνεται, εἰ μή διά τῆς ἐπιμόνου τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐργασίας καί τῆς ὑπομονῆς τῶν θλίψεων. Θλιβομένη γάρ ἡ ψυχή διά τῶν πειρασμῶν κινεῖται εἰς δάκρυα, τά δάκρυα δέ καθαίροντα τήν καρδίαν ποιοῦσιν αὐτήν ναόν καί καταγωγίον τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος.Οὐδέ γάρ ἀρκεῖ ἡμῖν εἰς σωτηρίαν καί τελειότητα ἡ περιβολή μόνη τοῦ σχήματος καί ὁ ἔξω κόσμος τοῦ ἀδριάντος, ἀλλ᾿ ὥσπερ τόν ἔξω, οὕτω καί τόν ἐντός ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπον κοσμῆσαι χρεών τῇ καταστολῇ τοῦ Πνεύματος καί ἐξ ὁλοκλήρου θῦσαι ἑαυτούς τῷ Θεῷ ψυχῇ τε καί σώματι, καί τῇ μέν σωματικῇ γυμνασίᾳ γυμνάζειν τό σῶμα πρός τούς πόνους τῆς ἀρετῆς εἰς τό εὐτόνως ἐθίζεσθαι τοῖς κατά Θεόν λυπηροῖς καί φέρειν γενναίως τό πικρόν τῆς νηστείας, τό βεβιασμένον τῆς ἐγκρατείας, τήν ἀνάγκην τῆς ἀγρυπνίας, τήν ἅπασαν κακοπάθειαν, τῇ δέ εὐσεβείᾳ τοῦ Πνεύματος παιδαγωγεῖν τήν ψυχήν εἰς τό φρονεῖν ἅ δεῖ φρονεῖν καί μελετᾶν ἀεί τά τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς, ταπεινόφρονά τε εἶναι, πραεῖαν, συντετριμμένην, κατανυκτικήν, πενθοῦσαν καθ᾿ ἑκάστην καί τό φῶς πρός ἑαυτήν διά τῆς προσευχῆς (181) ἐκκαλουμένην τοῦ Πνεύματος, ἅ καί προσγίνεσθαι ταύτῃ διά μετανοίας θερμοτάτης εἰώθασι, καθαιρομένῃ διά δακρύων πολλῶν ὧν ἄνευ οὐδέ τόν χιτῶνα ταύτης ἔξεστί ποτε καθαρθῆναι, οὐδέ εἰς ὕψος αὐτήν ἀναδραμεῖν θεωρίας. Ὥσπερ γάρ ἱμάτιον ἐκ βορβόρου ποθέν καί κοπρίας εἰς βάθος μολυνθέν, ἄλλως καθαρθῆναι τοῦτο ἀμήχανον, εἰ μή διά πολλοῦ ὕδατος καί πολλῆς θλίψεως τῶν ποδῶν, οὕτω καί ὁ χιτών τῆς ψυχῆς ἐκ βορβόρου καί κοπρίας ἐφαρμάτων παθῶν μολυνθείς, ἄλλως ἀπορρυφθῆναι οὐ δύναται, εἰ μή διά πολλῶν δακρύων καί ὑπομονῆς τῶν πειρασμῶν τε καί θλίψεων. ∆ύο γάρ οὐσῶν οὐσιωδῶς ἐν ἡμῖν ῥεύσεων ἐκ τοῦ σώματος - λέγω δή τῶν ἄνωθεν ἐπεισρεόντων δακρύων καί τῶν ἀπό τῶν γονίμων δυνάμεων , καί τῶν μέν μολυνόντων τήν ψυχήν παρά φύσιν καί νόμον κενουμένων, τῶν δέ καθαιρόντων αὐτήν ἐκ μετανοίας ῥεόντων, χρή τούς μεμολυσμένους τήν ψυχήν τῇ ἐφαρμάρτῳ πράξει τῆς ἁμαρτίας καί τῇ ἐμπαθεῖ κινήσει τῆς καρδίας ἀλόγων ἐπιθυμιῶν μορφάς ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἐγχαράξαντας, διά πολλῶν καθαρθῆναι δακρύων καί τόν χιτῶνα τῆς ψυχῆς καθαρώτατον κτήσασθαι. Ἄλλως γάρ ἰδεῖν τόν Θεόν, αὐτό τό φῶς ὅ φωτίζει παντός ἀνθρώπου καρδίαν,