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slaughtering words, but also presenting to those who hear a living image of contempt towards them, and manifest to all, the whole wicked conduct of my life. I then, as I said, both knowing and fearing these things, shook off the eagerness for both speaking and writing the divine words, of which I do not have the practice, judging it to be the greatest injustice, and a ruinous loss, to receive in vain the praises from those who hear. But since my vote for silence has been overcome by the many divine incantations of thoughts, by the one great in prudence, and in all things (15B_364> honorable to me, the most holy abbot, whom I was not able to push away because of the beauty of virtues befitting him according to divine understanding; and he compelled me to compose this modest piece of writing for your piety, having narrated some parts of your achievements according to God, and having benefited me in the greatest things; I thought it necessary to say in summary those things which are profitable and salutary for both you and me, and for all who wish to hear.

0600 David the great prophet and king, to those who set out to love God and who have preferred divine salvation to all things on earth, showing the truly gnostic way of the divine virtues, and opening a little the practical door of knowledge, says: The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord; but a good understanding have all they that do it. But if fear is established as the beginning of wisdom, then clearly the end of wisdom is naturally good understanding, for those who do it. But if these things are in this way, with as much strength as we have let us be eager to acquire the fear of God, and good understanding. Fear, on the one hand, so that we may flee the defilements of sin, shaking them from the soul with the expectation of eternal punishments; understanding, on the other hand, so that we may be shown to be knowledgeable doers of all the divine wills. For he who fears the penalties for transgressions of the divine commands is not captured by the passions that defile his soul; and he who has good understanding in his disposition, which discerns temporal things from eternal things according to right reason, becomes adorned with all the divine goods, in no way preparing for the knowledge in him to be shown to be idle. For just as fear in those who truly fear God becomes the destroyer of unclean passions; so also the understanding of the truly understanding becomes the creator of all the virtues. Therefore let us fear God, and let us do nothing of what He does not want; and let us love His understanding; and let us neglect nothing of what He wants to be done. For he who (15B_366> fears God hates all lawlessness, and he who has made good understanding to dwell within him loves all righteousness. For just as hatred toward lawlessness signifies the one who fears; so also love toward righteousness makes manifest the one who has understanding.

Let us not then fashion fear with downcast habits alone, nor show a piety that exists only in outward appearances; but by a disposition of soul, and humility of heart secured by frequent groans in the depth; and by the scourge of the memory of past sins being invisibly struck in the conscience, and on account of this, by its shrinking into itself, not enduring at all to see the faults of others. For he who feigns the fear of God with habits alone, differs in nothing at all from an ape, imitating the habits and appearances of men. For this animal among the quadrupeds, standing by nature far from human nature, by the imitation of habits seems to those watching to be a man, possessing by nature nothing human; just as also he who imitates the habits of those who truly fear the Lord for the deception of those who see, but not having a disposition of mind equal to theirs 0601 formed by divine fear, is some other Sadducee or Scribe, both being and being called so; preserving the appearance of piety with outward decorum; but entirely of the

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καταφονεύσας λόγους, ἀλλά καί τοῖς ἀκούουσι τῆς πρός αὐτούς καταφρονήσεως εἰκόνα ζῶσαν, καί πᾶσι κατάδηλον, τήν ὅλην μου τοῦ βίου πονηράν ἀναστροφήν παρεχόμενος. Ἐγώ μέν οὖν, ὡς εἶπον, ταῦτα καί εἰδώς καί φοβούμενος, τήν περί τό λέγειν τε καί γράφειν τούς θείους λόγους προθυμίαν ἀπεσεισάμην, ὧν οὐκ ἔχω τήν ἐργασίαν, διακενῆς τούς ἐπαίνους παρά τῶν ἀκουόντων κομίζεσθαι μεγίστην ἀδικίαν εἶναι κρίνων, καί ζημίαν ὀλέθριον. Ἐπειδή δέ νενίκηκέ μου τῆς σιωπῆς τήν ψῆφον ταῖς πολλαῖς τῶν θείων ἐπῳδαῖς λογισμῶν, ὁ πολύς τήν φρόνησιν, καί πάντα (15Β_364> μοι τίμιος ὁ ὁσιώτατος ἡγούμενος, ὅν οὐκ ἠδυνήθην ἀπώσασθαι διά τήν ἐμπρέπουσαν αὐτῷ κατά θείαν σύνεσιν τῶν ἀρετῶν καλλονήν· καί ταύτην ἐβιάσατό με χαράξαι τήν μετρίαν συλλαβήν πρός τήν σήν θεοσέβειαν, μέρη τινά τῶν κατά Θεόν σου κατορθωμάτων ἀφηγησάμενος, καί ὠφελήσας τά μέγιστα· δεῖν ᾠήθην ἐκεῖνα κατ᾿ ἐπιτομήν εἰπεῖν, ὅσα σοί τε κἀμοί, καί πᾶσι τοῖς ἀκούειν ἐθέλουσι συμφέρον ἐστί καί σωτήριον.

0600 ∆αβίδ ὁ μέγας προφήτης καί βασιλεύς, τοῖς ἀγαπᾷν τόν Θεόν προθεμένοις, καί πάντων τῶν ἐπί γῆς τήν ἔνθεον σωτηρίαν προελομένοις, τήν ἀληθῶς γνωστικήν ὁδόν παραδεικνύς τῶν θείων ἀρετῶν, καί τήν ἔμπρακτον τῆς γνώσεως θύραν ὑπανοίγων, φησίν· Ἀρχή σοφίας φόβος Κυρίου· σύνεσις δέ ἀγαθή πᾶσι τοῖς ποιοῦσιν αὐτήν. Εἰ δέ σοφίας ἀρχή καθέστηκεν ὁ φόβος, τέλος δηλαδή σοφίας, ἡ ἀγαθή πέφυκεν εἶναι σύνεσις, τοῖς ποιοῦσιν αὐτήν. Εἰ δέ ταῦτα τοῦτον ἔχει τόν τρόπον, ὅση δύναμις τόν φόβον τοῦ Θεοῦ κτήσασθαι σπουδάσωμεν, καί τήν σύνεσιν τήν ἀγαθήν. Τόν μέν φόβον, ἵνα φύγωμεν τῆς ἁμαρτίας τούς μολυσμούς, τῇ προσδοκίᾳ τῶν αἰωνίων κολάσεων αὐτούς τῆς ψυχῆς ἐκτινάσσοντες· τήν δέ σύνεσιν, ἵνα πάντων ποιηταί τῶν θείων ἐπιστήμονες ἀποδειχθῶμεν θελημάτων. Ὁ γάρ φοβούμενος τάς ἐπί ταῖς παραβάσεσι τῶν θείων ποινάς ἐντολῶν, τοῖς μολύνουσιν αὐτοῦ τήν ψυχήν οὐχ ἁλίσκεται πάθεσιν· καί ὁ τήν σύνεσιν τήν ἀγαθήν ἐνδιαθέτως ἔχων, κατά τόν δέοντα λόγον διακρίνουσαν τῶν αἰωνίων τά πρόσκαιρα, πᾶσι γίνεται τοῖς θείοις κατάκομος ἀγαθοῖς, μηδενί τρόπῳ τήν ἐν αὐτῷ γνῶσιν ἀργεῖν δειχθῆναι παρασκευάζων. Ὡς γάρ ὁ φόβος ἐν τοῖς ἀληθῶς τόν Θεόν φοβουμένοις, τῶν ἀκαθάρτων γίνεται παθῶν ἀναιρέτης· οὕτως καί ἡ σύνεσις τῶν ἀληθῶς συνετῶν, πασῶν γίνεται δημιουργός τῶν ἀρετῶν. Οὐκοῦν φοβηθῶμεν τόν Θεόν, καί μηδέν ὧν μή βούλεται πράξωμεν· καί τήν αὐτοῦ σύνεσιν ἀγαπήσωμεν· καί μηδέν ὧν βούλεται πράττειν καταμελήσωμεν. Μισεῖ γάρ πᾶσαν ἀνομίαν ὁ (15Β_366> τόν Θεόν φοβούμενος, καί ἀγαπᾷ πᾶσαν δικαιοσύνην, ὁ τήν ἀγαθήν εἰσοικισάμενος σύνεσιν. Σημαίνει γάρ ὥσπερ τόν φοβούμενον τό πρός τήν ἀνομίαν μῖσος· οὕτως καί ἡ πρός τήν δικαιοσύνην ἀγάπη, κατάδηλον ποιεῖται τόν συνετόν.

Μή τοίνυν κατηφείας ἤθεσι μόνοις τόν φόβον σχηματισώμεθα, μηδέ μέχρι τῶν φαινομένων τρόπων ὑπάρχουσαν τήν εὐλάβειαν δείξωμεν· ἀλλά διαθέσει ψυχῆς, καί ταπεινώσει καρδίας πυκνοῖς κατά τό βάθος στεναγμοῖς κατησφαλισμένης· καί τῇ μάστιγι τῆς τῶν προημαρτημένων μνήμης κατά τήν συνείδησιν ἀφανῶς πληττομένης, καί διά τοῦτο τῇ πρός ἑαυτήν συστολῇ τά τῶν ἄλλων πταίσματα παντελῶς ὁρᾷν οὐκ ἀνεχομένης. Ὁ γάρ μόνοις τοῖς ἤθεσι τόν τοῦ Θεοῦ φόβον ὑποκρινομένος, οὐδέν τοῦ πιθήκου τό σύνολον διενήνοχεν, ἀνθρώπων ἤθη μιμουμένου καί σχήματα. Τοῦτο γάρ τό ζῶον ἐν τετράποσι, τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως πόῤῥω κατά φύσιν διεστηκός, τῇ τῶν ἠθῶν μιμήσει τοῖς θεωμένοις ἄνθρωπος εἶναι δοκεῖ, μηδέν φύσει κεκτημένος ἀνθρώπινον· ὥσπερ καί ὁ τά μέν ἤθη τῶν ἀληθῶς φοβουμένων τόν Κύριον πρός τήν τῶν ὁρώντων ἀπάτην μιμούμενος, τήν δέ τῆς γνώμης διάθεσιν οὐκ ἔχων κατά τό ἴσον ἐκείνοις 0601 τῷ θείῳ φόβῳ πεποιωμένην, Σαδδουκαῖός τις ἕτερος ἤ Γραμματεύς, καί ὤν, καί καλούμενος· τό μέν σχῆμα σώζων τῆς εὐλαβείας μετ᾿ εὐπρεπείας τῆς ἔξωθεν· παντελῶς δέ τοῦ