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Behold therefore, I have revealed to you, my friends and brothers, the mysteries hidden within me - for I see the end of my life approaching at any moment, so that you may know also the ways of repentance, the ascents and progressions of the beginning and the middle, and the measures of perfection, and that you may hasten to imitate, if no one else, at least the one who has surely begotten you and loved you from the soul, and nursed you with the milk of the word of God and nourished you with the life-giving bread and shown you how to walk in the way of the saving commandments of God, to whom is due all glory, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Concerning the methods of the evil one, which he suggests to the more fickle and to those who love to be first, whenever the shepherd is taken from among men. And that it is necessary to hinder in every way those who unworthily leap at the office from being pushed to this and

cooperating. And at the end, to the shepherd.

Discourse 18. (243) Brother, if you were established as leader of a people and a flock, consider well and

examine yourself with what thought and in what manner you came to such an office. If then you find yourself to have considered even with a mere thought, that you rushed to this for the honor of men or for presidency or for glory, or because you would not deign to be ruled by another brother because you thought there was no other more devout or more eloquent than you, or in order to have bodily necessities more than all the others, and service and rest, or in order to benefit some of your own relatives and to acquire as friends those who walk according to the flesh, or in order to become renowned from the abbacy and (244) and known to the kings and rulers of the world, or even out of envy, as in you did not want it, but so that a certain brother might not be chosen, you hastened to become so yourself, or even out of shame before men, so that not everyone would hear or some who were present would see that another was preferred over you and would condemn you as not being virtuous, know for certain that your appointment was not according to God. And so that I may make this clearer to you, from what the evil one suggests to each of those dwelling in a cenobium, hear from this the plots and suspicions of Satan.

The enemy begins to suggest, when the shepherd departs to the Lord, and the brotherhood must elect another, and to say to each according to his own passion, according to his own will, according to his own state. If then there are in that flock some of the more devout, he suggests these things to each of them and says: "If you became shepherd and abbot here, you would have certainly been able to benefit and save them and to impart your virtues to them, since such-and-such or such-and-such a brother in the matter does not do this." And if he is also known to those in the world, he suggests to him that: "You would have been able to draw many to the monastic life and lead them out of the world, and you would have become the mouth of Christ; 'for he who brings forth,' He says, 'the precious from the worthless will be as my mouth.' And such men would have brought great renunciations and given their substance to the monastery, and the monastery would have been enlarged and become like that of the great saints Euthymius and Sabas and Pachomius. But in addition to these things, you yourself would have been able to acquire greater humility, so that the brothers would see and imitate you, (245) for as the last of all you would have lived in the monastery and

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Ἰδού οὖν ἀνεκάλυψα ὑμῖν τοῖς φίλοις καί ἀδελφοῖς μου τά ἐν ἐμοί κεκρυμμένα μυστήρια - τό τέλος τῆς ἐμῆς ζωῆς ἐγγίζον ὁρῶ ὅσον οὔπω , ἵνα εἰδῆτε καί μετανοίας τρόπους, ἀρχῆς τε καί μεσότητος ἀναβάσεις καί προκοπάς καί τελειότητος μέτρα, καί σπουδάσητε μιμήσασθαι, εἰ μή τινα ἄλλον, τόν γοῦν γεγεννηκότα πάντως ὑμᾶς καί ἐκ ψυχῆς ἀγαπήσαντα, γαλακτοτροφήσαντά τε τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ καί τῷ ζωογονοῦντι θρέψαντα ἄρτῳ καί βαδίζειν ὑποδείξαντα ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ τῶν σωτηρίων ἐντολῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ᾧ πρέπει πᾶσα δόξα νῦν καί ἀεί καί εἰς τούς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.

Περί μεθόδων τοῦ πονηροῦ, ὧν ὑποβάλλει τοῖς κουφοτέροις καί φιλοπρωτεύουσιν, ὁπόταν ὁ ποιμήν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων γένηται. Καί ὅτι χρή τούς μέν ἀναξίως ἐπιπηδῶντας τῇ ἀρχῇ πάσῃ κωλύειν συνωθεῖν ἐπί τοῦτο καί

συνεργεῖν. Καί πρός τῷ τέλει, πρός τόν ποιμένα.

Λόγος ΙΗ΄. (243) Ἀδελφέ, εἰ λαοῦ καί ποίμνης ἡγούμενος κατεστάθης, σκόπησον καλῶς καί

ἀνάκρινον σεαυτόν ποίῳ λογισμῷ καί ἐκ ποίου τρόπου εἰς τήν τοιαύτην κατέστης ἀρχήν. Εἰ μέν οὖν εὑρήσεις σεαυτόν κἄν ψιλῷ λογισμῷ ἐνθυμηθέντα, ὅτι διά τήν τῶν ἀνθρώπων τιμήν ταύτῃ ἐπέδραμες ἤ διά προεδρίαν ἤ διά δόξαν, εἴτε ὡς μή καταδεξαμένου σου παρ᾿ ἑτέρου ἄρχεσθαι ἀδελφοῦ διά τό οἴεσθαι μή εἶναί σου εὐλαβέστερον ἤ λογιώτερον ἕτερον, ἤ διά τό ἔχειν τάς σωματικάς χρείας περισσότερον τῶν ἄλλων ἁπάντων καί τήν δουλείαν καί τήν ἀνάπαυσιν, ἤ διά τό τινάς τῶν ἰδίων καί συγγενῶν εὐεργετῆσαι καί φίλους κτήσασθαι τούς κατά σάρκα περιπατοῦντας, ἤ διά τό ὀνομαστόν σε ἐκ τῆς ἡγουμενίας γενέσθαι καί (244) καί τῆς τοῦ κόσμου βασιλεῦσι καί ἄρχουσι γνώριμον, εἴτε καί κατά φθόνον ὡς ὅτι οὐκ ἤθελες, ἀλλ᾿ ἵνα μή γένηται ὁ δεῖνα ὁ ἀδελφός ἐσπούδασας τοῦ γενέσθαι σύ, ἤ καί διά τήν τῶν ἀνθρώπων αἰσχύνην, ἵνα μή ἀκούσωσι πάντες ἤ καί παραγενόμενοί τινες ἴδωσιν ὅτι ἄλλος ὑπέρ σέ προεκρίθη καί καταγνώσωσί σου ὡς μή ἐναρέτου, γινώσκων γίνωσκε ὅτι οὐ κατά Θεόν ἐγένετό σου ἡ πρόβλησις. Καί ἵνα σοι, ἐξ ὧν ὑποτίθεται ὁ πονηρός ἑκάστῳ τῶν ἐν κοινοβίῳ καθεζομένων, σαφέστερον τοῦτο ποιήσωμαι, ἐντεῦθεν ἄκουε τάς ἐπιβουλάς καί ὑπονοίας τοῦ Σατανᾶ.

Ὑποβάλλειν ἄρχεται ὁ ἐχθρός, ὅταν ὁ ποιμήν πρός Κύριον ἐκδημήσῃ, ἕτερον δέ ὀφείλει ἐκλέξασθαι ἡ ἀδελφότης, καί λέγειν ἑκάστῳ κατά τό ἴδιον πάθος, κατά τό ἴδιον θέλημα, κατά τήν ἰδίαν κατάστασιν. Ἐάν οὖν ὦσιν ἐν τῇ ποίμνῃ ἐκείνῃ τῶν εὐλαβεστέρων τινές, ταῦτα ἑκάστῳ αὐτῶν ὑποτίθεται καί φησίν· "Εἰ ἐγένου σύ ἐνταῦθα ποιμήν καί ἡγούμενος, εἶχες ἄν πάντως ὠφελῆσαι καί σῶσαι καί τῶν σῶν αὐτοῖς ἀρετῶν μεταδοῦναι, ἐπεί ὁ δεῖνα ἤ ὁ δεῖνα ἀδελφός ἐν τῷ πράγματι τοῦτο οὐ ποιεῖ". Εἰ δέ καί γνώριμος τοῖς κατά κόσμον ἐστίν, ὑποβάλλει αὐτῷ ὅτι· "Καί πολλούς ἄν ἑλκύσαι εἶχες πρός τήν μοναχικήν πολιτείαν καί ἐξαγαγεῖν αὐτούς ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου, καί στόμα ἄν ἐγένου Χριστοῦ· ὁ γάρ ἐξάγων, φησί, τίμιον ἐξ ἀναξίου ὡς στόμα μου ἔσται. Εἶχον δέ προσαγαγεῖν οἱ τοιοῦτοι καί ἀποταγάς μεγάλας καί τάς ὑποστάσεις αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ μονῇ ἐπιδοῦναι, καί προστεθῆναι εἶοχε τό μοναστήριον καί οἷον τοῦ μεγάλου Εὐθυμίου καί Σάβα καί Παχωμίου τῶν ἁγίων γενέσθαι. Ἀλλά γάρ πρός τούτοις καί αὐτός περισσοτέραν ταπείνωσιν εἶχες κτήσασθαι, ἵνα ἔβλεπον καί ἐμιμοῦντό σε οἱ ἀδελφοί, (245) ὡς γάρ ἔσχατον πάντων ἄν διῆγες ἐν τῇ μονῇ καί