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and considers his ancestral and native land dearer than his own on account of the "rightly dividing word of truth" among us, and having come to be in this, he chooses a more precise life, that is, the solitary one, and for a place of dwelling the one named for holiness, on the border between the world and the super-cosmic realms (this is Athos, the hearth of virtue), having eagerly desired to dwell there. And there he first showed that he knew well how to be ruled, by submitting himself to the chosen fathers; and after having given them proof of his own humility over a long period of time, he himself receives from them in return the peace of the arts, that is, the experience of stillness, and becomes a leader of those who strip for the struggle (p. 352) against the spiritual things of wickedness in the intelligible world, for whom he also made a collection of patristic teachings, anointing them for the contests and setting forth the ways of the struggles and pointing out the prizes beforehand and sketching out the crowns of victory. Then, in addition to these things, since he saw many of the beginners unable to control even moderately the instability of the mind, he also suggests a way by which they might moderately restrain its much-wandering and imaginative nature.

To this man, therefore, this philosopher unleashed his own imaginative polymathy, like some fire, using him who stood in his way as so much fuel, with no respect for that blessed confession and the exile on account of it, with no respect for those who conversed with him in exile and were taught divine things by him, who have appeared to the Church as salt of the earth and light of the world, and brighter than luminaries, "holding forth the word of life" (You hear of that Theoleptos, who shone upon the city of Philadelphia as upon a lampstand, Seliodes the leader of the monks, Elias who embraced the desert almost all his life in the manner of Elias, and the others through whom God, leading back His own Church, adorned and established it), not even on account of these, therefore, and those taught by them who still now hold to the same way of life, was he persuaded to abandon his ill suspicions, that is to say words, against the man, or if not, at least to dishonor with long writings one whom, if praising, he would in no way have been able to praise worthily. But the fact that the writing was composed by him simply and artlessly, this moved him to contradiction, from which he was also able to find his pretexts. And so, that we may now say that theological maxim, "not he who is wise in words, this one is wise to us, nor he who has a versatile tongue but an uneducated soul, just like those tombs that, being beautiful on the outside (p. 254), cover over rotting corpses and a great stench inside, but he who adds credibility to his words by his life and adorns the uncomeliness of his sayings with his deeds." But in fact this wise man was not even able to attack those simple sayings, without first distorting them, as we will show clearly shortly.

Now, since this man, from beginning to end, teaches on his own authority about noetic prayer, let us also briefly examine this teaching of his. For it is of such a kind as to deceive many of the inexperienced through fair-sounding words, but none of those who have even moderately tasted true prayer. Let us then consider this teaching of his, insomuch as to show its discordance with the fathers. For he begins from things acknowledged by the fathers, but ends up on a path completely contrary to them. For he says this at the beginning, that one who is diligent in prayer must grant repose to the senses, and through this, deceiving the hearer into thinking he is saying things in harmony with the fathers, then from this he concludes that one must completely deaden the passionate part of the soul so that it operates according to none of its own powers, and in addition also every common activity of soul and body. "for by the

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καί τά πατρῷα καί τήν ἡμεδαπήν τῆς σφετέρας φιλτέραν ἡγεῖται διά τόν παρ᾿ ἡμῖν «ὀρθοτομοῦντα λόγον τῆς ἀληθείας», κἀν ταύτῃ γενόμενος, βίον μέν αἱρεῖται καί ἀκριβέστερον, δηλαδή τόν μονήρη, τόπον δέ πρός κατοικίαν τόν τῆς ἁγιωσύνης ἐπώνυμον, ἐν μεθορίῳ κόσμου καί τῶν ὑπερκοσμίων (Ἄθως οὗτός ἐστιν, ἡ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἑστία), ἐνδιαιτᾶσθαι πριθυμηθείς. Κἀνταῦθα πρῶτον μέν ἔδειξεν εἰδώς καλῶς ἄρχεσθαι τοῖς ἐκκρίτοις πατέρων ὑποταττόμενος δούς δέ διά μακροῦ χρόνου τῆς οἰκείας ταπεινώσεως ἐκείνοις τήν πεῖραν, ἀντιλαμβάνει παρ᾿ ἐκείνων αὐτός τῆς τῶν τεχνῶν εἰρήνης, δηλαδή τῆς ἡσυχίας τήν πεῖραν καί ἀρχηγός γίνεται τῶν ἐν τῷ κατά διάνοιαν κόσμῳ πρός τήν πάλην (σελ. 352) ἀποδυομένων τῶν τῆς πονηρίας πενυματικῶν, οἷς καί πατερικῶν εἰσηγήσεων ἐποιήσατο συλλογήν, ἐπαλείφουσάν τε πρός τούς ἀγῶνας καί διατιθεῖσαν τούς τρόπους τῶν ἄθλων καί προδεικνῦσαν τά ἔπαθλα καί ὑπογράφουσαν τούς στεφάνους τῆς νίκης˙ εἶτ᾿ ἐπί τούτοις, ἐπειδή πολλούς τῶν εἰσαγομένων ἑώρα τῆς ἀστασίας τοῦ νοῦ μηδέ μετρίως γοῦν κρατεῖν δυναμένους, καί τρόπον ὑποτίθεται δι᾿ οὗ τό πολυπόρευτον καί φαντασιῶδες αὐτοῦ μετρίως συστείλειαν.

Τούτῳ τοίνυν ὁ φιλόσοφος οὗτος τήν ἑαυτοῦ φαντασιώδη πολύνοιαν ἐπαφῆκεν, οἷόν τι πῦρ, τῷ κωλύοντι καθάπερ ὕλη χρησάμενον, οὐκ αἰδοῖ τῆς μακαρίας ἐκείνης ὁμολογίας καί τῆς δι᾿ αὐτήν ἐξορίας, οὐκ αἰδοῖ τῶν ἐπί τῆς ἐξορίας ὡμιληκότων ἐκείνῳ καί παρ᾿ ἐκείνου τά θεῖα πεπαιδευμένων, οἵ τῆς γῆς ἅλας καί φῶς τοῦ κόσμου καί φωστήρων ἀναπεφήνασι τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ φανότεροι, «ζωῆς ἐπέχοντες λόγον» (Θεόληπτον ἀκούεις ἐκεῖνον, τόν ἐπί τῆς Φιλαδελφείας πόλεως ὡς ἐπί λυχνίας ἀστράψαντα, Σελιώτην τόν τῶν μοναζόντων καθηγητήν, Ἠλίαν τόν τήν ἐρημίαν κατά τόν Ἠλίαν διά βίου σχεδόν ἀσπαζόμενον, τούς ἄλλους δι᾿ ὧν ὁ Θεός τήν οἰκείαν Ἐκκλησίαν ἐπαναγαγών ἐκόσμησε καί συνέστησεν), οὐδέ διά τούτους τοίνυν καί τούς ὑπ᾿ἐκείνων πεπαιδευμένους καί τῆς αὐτῆς ἔτι καί νῦν ἀγωγῆς ἐχομένους ἀναπεισθείς ἀφεῖναι τάς κατά τοῦ ἀνδρός οὐκ ἀγαθάς ὑπονοίας ἤγουν τούς λόγους, εἰ δέ μή, τό γοῦν συγγράμμασι μακροῖς ἀτιμάζειν, ὅν ἐγκωμιάζων, οὐκ ἄν ἠδυνήθη πάντως ἀξίως˙ ἀλλ᾿ ὅτι περ ἁπλοϊκῶς ἐκείνῳ ἀφελῶς συνετέθη τό σύγγραμμα, τοῦτο πρός τήν ἀντιλογίαν αὐτόν ἐκίνησεν, ἀφ᾿ οὗ καί τάς λαβάς εὑρεῖν ἐδυνήθη. Καί τοίνυν, ἵνα τό θεολογικόν ἐκεῖνο νῦν εἴπωμεν, «οὐχ ὁ ἐν λόγοις σοφός, οὗτος ἡμῖν σοφός, οὐδ᾿ ὅστις γνῶσσαν μέν εὔστροφον ἔχει, ψυχήν δέ ἀπαίδευτον, ὥσπερ τῶν τάφων ὅσοι τά ἔξωθεν ὄντες εὐπρεπεῖς (σελ. 254) μυδῶσι νεκροῖς τά ἔνδον πολλήν δυσωδίαν περικαλύπτοντες, ἀλλ᾿ ὅστις τό ἀξιόπιστον τῶν λόγων διά τοῦ βίου προστίθησι καί τοῖς ἔργοις ὡραΐζει τό ἀκαλλές τῶν ρημάτων». Ἀλλά γάρ οὐδέ τοῖς ἁπλοϊκοῖς ἐκείνοις ρήμασιν ὁ σοφός οὗτος ἴσχυσεν ἐπιθέσθαι, μή πρότερον διαστρέψας αὐτά, καθάπερ σαφῶς μετά βραχύ δείξομεν.

Νῦν δ᾿ ἐπείπερ οὗτος ἀρχόμενός τε καί τελευτῶν παρ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ διδάσκει περί προσευχῆς νοερᾶς, ταύτην καί ἡμεῖς αὐτοῦ τήν διδασκαλίαν διά βραχέων προθεωρήσωμεν˙ τοιαύτη γάρ ἐστιν, οἵα διά χρηστολογίας ἀπατῆσαι τῶν ἀπείρων πολλούς, τῶν εὐχῆς δ᾿ ἀληθοῦς καί μετρίως γευσαμένων οὐδένα. Τοσοῦτον οὖν τήν διδασκαλίαν ταύτην αὐτοῦ κατίδωμεν, ὅσον δεῖξαι τό πρός τούς πατέρας αὐτῆς ἀσύμφωνον. Ἄρχεται μέν γάρ ἀπό τῶν τοῖς πατράσιν ὡμολογημένων, τελευτᾷ δέ εἰς τήν ἐναντίαν παντάπασιν ἐκείνοις ὁδόν. Τοῦτο γάρ φησιν ἀρχόμενος, ὡς ἠρεμίαν παρέχειν ταῖς αἰσθήσεσι χρή τόν προσευχῆς ἐπιμελούμενον, καί διά τούτου, κλέψας τόν ἀκούοντα ὡς συνῳδά λέγων τοῖς πατράσιν, εἶτ᾿ ἐκ τούτου συμπεραίνει δεῖν νεκροῦν τελέως τό τῆς ψυχῆς παθητικόν ὡς κατά μηδεμίαν τῶν ἑαυτοῦ δυνάμεων ἐνεργεῖν, πρός δέ καί πᾶσαν ἐνέργειαν ψχῆς τε καί σώματος κοινήν˙ «τῇ γάρ