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making progress hourly, they stretch forth to all the things aforesaid. But the others are "left as in a pathless place," according to what is said, "to wander and not by a road," concerning whom it is written: "I sent them away according to the desires of their hearts; they will walk in their own desires." "For as they did not approve to have God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting." Therefore, those who have laid the good foundation of faith and hope in fear and trembling upon the rock of obedience to spiritual fathers, and who unhesitatingly build upon this foundation of submission the things commanded by them as from the mouth of God, immediately achieve the denial of themselves. For to fulfill not his own will but that of his spiritual father for the sake of God’s commandment and for exercise in virtue, produces not only self-denial, but also mortification toward the entire world.

Then such a person, becoming as if in a desert, or rather outside the world, in perfect perception, seized with ineffable fear and trembling, cries out to God with his whole soul, as Jonah from the whale, as Daniel from the lions' den, as the three youths from the fiery furnace, as Manasseh from the bronze instrument. And the all-good Master, who gave His soul for us sinners, immediately hearing him, the groans of anguish of the voice of his supplication, delivers him, (181) as from a whale, from the depth of ignorance and the darkness of friendship with the world, so that he might no longer return to such things even in thought; as from a lions' den, from the wicked desires that seize and devour the souls of men; as from a fiery furnace, from the passionate prejudices that possess all men, which like fire burn and destroy and drag us by force to improper acts and kindle the flame of the passions in us, cooling him with the Holy Spirit and rendering him unburnt; and as from the bronze instrument, from this earthy, heavy, and passionate flesh of ours, in which our soul dwells, terribly held, fettered, and weighed down, and is completely immobile and unwilling for every virtue and work of God's commandments. From which being freed, yet not separated, it also cries out with the prophet David, saying: "You have torn off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness, so that my glory may sing praise to you." And not only this, but it also gives thanks with Paul, saying: "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death."

When these things have thus come to pass by the grace of Christ, and he has been delivered from the ignorance and darkness of friendship with the world—to say the same things again—having been released from wicked and shameful desires and from the death of the body, which enslaves us under the law of sin, what is such a person to do from then on? Will he use this freedom for ease and carelessness? By no means; these are truly the assumptions of slaves and not of the free. For he who has been deemed worthy of this freedom (182) knows that he was freed from the law of sin in order to no longer serve sin, but to serve righteousness, which is Christ our God, who is and is called the sun of righteousness. And that I may show you by an example what sort of benevolence such a one rather shows toward God from then on, I will present it from human affairs that always happen among us.

For just as a certain king, being compassionate and philanthropic, seeing his own slave, who had been willingly taken captive by a certain tyrant and brought into slavery to clay and brick-making and mire, suffering mercilessly

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προειρημένα πάντα προκόπτοντες καθ᾿ ὥραν προσεπεκτείνονται. Οἱ δ᾿ ἄλλοι "ἀφίενται ὡς ἐν ἀβάτῳ" κατά τό εἰρημένον "περιπλανᾶσθαι καί οὐχ ὁδῷ", περί ὧν γέγραπται· "Ἐξαπέστειλα αὐτούς κατά τά ἐπιτηδεύματα τῶν καρδιῶν αὐτῶν· πορεύσονται ἐν τοῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασιν αὐτῶν". "Καθό γάρ οὐκ ἐδοκίμασαν τόν Θεόν ἔχειν ἐν ἐπιγνώσει, παρέδωκεν αὐτούς ὁ Θεός εἰς ἀδόκιμον νοῦν ποιεῖν τά μή καθήκοντα". Οἱ οὖν καλόν τόν θεμέλιον τῆς πίστεως καί ἐλπίδος ἐν φόβῳ καί τρόμῳ ἐπί πέτραν ὑπακοῆς πνευματικῶν πατέρων καταβαλόντες καί ὡς ἐκ Θεοῦ στόματος τά παρ᾿ ἐκείνων ἐντελλόμενα τῷ θεμελίῳ τούτῳ τῆς ὑποταγῆς ἀδιστάκτως ἐποικοδομοῦντες εὐθύς κατορθοῦσι τό ἀπαρνήσασθαι ἑαυτούς. Τό γάρ μή τό ἑαυτοῦ ἀλλά τό τοῦ πνευματικοῦ πατρός αὐτοῦ θέλημα ἐκπληροῦν ἕνεκεν ἐντολῆς Θεοῦ καί γυμνασίας πρός ἀρετήν, οὐ μόνον ἀπάρνησιν ἑαυτοῦ, ἀλλά καί νέκρωσιν τήν πρός τόν κόσμον ἅπαντα ἐμποιεῖ.

Ἔπειτα ὡς ἐν ἐρήμῳ, μᾶλλον δέ ἔξω τοῦ κόσμου, ἐν αἰσθήσει τελείᾳ γενόμενος ὁ τοιοῦτος, ἀρρήτῳ φόβῳ καί τρόμῳ κατασχεθείς, βοᾷ πρός τόν Θεόν ἐξ ὅλης ψυχῆς, ὡς ὁ ἐκ Ἰωνᾶς ἐκ τοῦ κήτους, ὡς ὁ ∆ανιήλ ἐκ τοῦ λάκκου τῶν λεόντων, ὡς οἱ τρεῖς παῖδες ἐκ τῆς καμίνου τοῦ πυρός, ὡς ὁ Μανασσῆς ἐκ τοῦ χαλκουργήματος. Οὗ καί εἰσακούων ὁ πανάγαθος ∆εσπότης εὐθύς, ὁ δούς τήν ψυχήν αὐτοῦ ὑπέρ ἡμῶν τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν, τῶν κατωδύνων στεναγμῶν τῆς φωνῆς τῆς δεήσεως αὐτοῦ, ῥύεται αὐτόν, (181) ὡς ἐκ κήτους μέν, ἐκ τοῦ βυθοῦ τῆς ἀγνοίας καί τοῦ σκοτασμοῦ τῆς φιλίας τοῦ κόσμου πρός τό μηκέτι αὐτόν πρός τά τοιαῦτα κἄν τῷ λογισμῷ ἐπιστρέψαι· ὡς ἐκ λάκκου δέ τῶν λεόντων, τῶν πονηρῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν τῶν ἁρπαζόντων καί κατεσθιόντων τάς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ψυχάς· ὡς ἐκ καμίνου δέ πυρός, ἐκ τῶν κατεχόντων πάντας ἀνθρώπους προλήψεων ἐμπαθῶν, τῶν ὡς πῦρ κατακαιόντων καί καταλυμαινομένων καί πρός ἀτόπους πράξεις βίᾳ ἑλκόντων ἡμᾶς καί τήν φλόγα τῶν παθῶν ἐν ἡμῖν ἀναπτόντων, καταδροσίζων ἐν Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι καί ἀκατάφλεκτον ἀποτελῶν αὐτόν· ὡς ἐκ τοῦ χαλκουργήματος δέ, ἐκ τῆς γεώδους καί βαρείας καί ἐμπαθοῦς ἡμῶν ταύτης σαρκός, ἐν ᾗ οἰκοῦσα ἡμῶν ἡ ψυχή καί δεινῶς κατεχομένη καί πεδουμένη καί βαρουμένη, πρός πᾶσαν ἀρετήν καί ἐργασίαν τῶν ἐντολῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀκίνητος ὑπάρχει παντάπασι καί ἀπρόθυμος. Ἐξ ἧς ἐλευθερουμένη μέν, οὐ χωριζομένη δέ, βοᾷ σύν τῷ προφήτῃ ∆αυίδ καί αὐτή λέγουσα· "∆ιέρρηξας τόν σάκκον μου καί περιέζωσάς με εὐφροσύνην, ὅπως ἄν ψάλλῃ σοι ἡ δόξα μου". Οὐ μόνον δέ, ἀλλά καί εὐχαριστεῖ μετά Παύλου λέγουσα· "Εὐχαριστῶ τῷ Θεῷ διά Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν, ὅτι ὁ νόμος τοῦ πνεύματος τῆς ζωῆς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ ἠλευθέρωσέ με ἀπό τοῦ νόμου τῆς ἁμαρτίας καί τοῦ θανάτου".

Τούτων οὖν οὕτω Χριστοῦ χάριτι γενομένων, καί τῆς ἀγνοίας καί τοῦ σκοτασμοῦ τῆς φιλίας τοῦ κόσμου ῥυσθείς, ἵνα τά αὐτά πάλιν εἴπω, τῶν πονηρῶν τε καί αἰσχρῶν ἀπαλλαγείς ἐπιθυμιῶν καί ἀπό τοῦ θανάτου τοῦ σώματος, ὑπό τόν νόμον τῆς ἁμαρτίας καταδουλοῦντος ἡμᾶς, ἐλευθερωθείς, τί ἔκτοτε ὁ τοιοῦτος μέλλει ποιεῖν; Ἆρά γε τῇ ἐλευθερίᾳ ταύτῃ εἰς ἄνεσιν καί ἀμεριμνίαν χρήσεται; Ἄπαγε· δούλων ὄντως αἱ ὑπολήψεις αὗταί εἰσι καί οὐκ ἐλευθέρων· ὁ γάρ τῆς ἐλευθερίας ταύτης (182) καταξιωθείς οἶδεν ὅτι ἠλευθερώθη ἀπό τοῦ νόμου τῆς ἁμαρτίας τοῦ μηκέτι δουλεύειν αὐτόν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, ἀλλά δουλεύειν τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ, ὅς ἐστι Χριστός ὁ Θεός, ὁ δικαιοσύνης ἥλιος καί ὤν καί καλούμενος. Καί ἵνα ἐκ παραδείγματος δείξω ὑμῖν οἵαν μᾶλλον ἔκτοτε ἐπιδείκνυται πρός τόν Θεόν εὔνοιαν ὁ τοιοῦτος, ἐκ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων καί εἰς ἡμᾶς ἀεί γινομένων παραστήσω αὐτήν.

Καθάπερ γάρ βασιλεύς τις, εὔσπλαχνος ὤν καί φιλάνθρωπος, δοῦλον ἑαυτοῦ ὑπό τυράννου τινός ἑκουσίως αἰχμαλωτισθέντα καί εἰς δουλείαν ὑπαχθέντα τῷ πηλῷ καί τῇ πλινθείᾳ καί τῷ βορβόρῳ θεασάμενος αὐτόν ἀνηλεῶς κακοπαθοῦντα