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Basil the Great studied this carefully. For he, clarifying the truth testified by the psalmist in the heart of the perfect man, says, “we find two meanings of truth: one is the comprehension of the things that lead to the blessed life, the other is sound knowledge about any of the things in the world. The truth, therefore, which is a co-worker of salvation, is in the heart of the perfect man, who also imparts it guilelessly to his neighbor; but concerning the earth and sea, and the 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”.

A DISCOURSE IN DEFENSE OF THOSE WHO PRACTICE SACRED HESYCHASM

THE SECOND OF THE LATER ONES (P. 348)

CONCERNING PRAYER. So then, for those who reckon as of no great value the benefit from secular education in comparison to the

benefit from the gospel which both now accrues to those who live according to it, and is hoped for according to the true promises—that this philosopher should so unsparingly accuse them as even to devote lengthy writings to his reproaches against them, one might say he was incited by his affection for education and his extreme disposition for knowing. For since they held only the commandments of Christ of the greatest importance and urged everyone toward these alone, as alone effecting assimilation to God and perfecting and deifying the human soul, while not esteeming discourses and the philosophy in discourses very highly above earthly things, and calling it, according to Paul, a carnal wisdom and a wisdom of this age, and pointing out the leaders of the Greeks as abominable and unwise wise men, for having used the school of creation from God against God, the philosopher, it seems, was vexed on behalf of his favorite pursuits, because they too were not deemed worthy of the greatest honor, and this honor of which he himself was to be a partaker and on account of which he received the surname of philosopher, and which was the only manifest prize they reaped from their life's endeavor. But against our rational, or rather, spiritual worship, that is, prayer, and against those who honor this above everything and who in quietness and without care attend to it throughout their life and lend a hand to those (p. 350) who are being initiated into 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, thinks highly of himself over those sitting far from the stadium? And there, indeed, in the contests he waged on behalf of philosophy, this monk and philosopher was clearly opposing monks, but who are still living; but here, by clearly bringing forward in the midst of his arguments the sayings of the fathers who have departed to heaven in order to refute them, I do not know what has come over him, but he has waged no small contest.

But rather than against all, he directs the power of his argument without restraint against the writings concerning prayer by the venerable confessor Nikephoros, Nikephoros who made the good confession and on account of it was condemned to exile by the first Palaiologan emperor who held the opinions of the Latins, Nikephoros who, though drawing his lineage from the Italians, condemned their evil doctrine and joined our Orthodox Church, who along with the ancestral things denies

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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