97

us to be aware of ourselves, proportionately sensing the trouble of our own sins. And in some way has made us partakers of wisdom, having received a diagnosis of our own faults, if indeed he who says is true: Those who are aware of themselves are wise.

Do not cease, therefore, honored Father, both renewing our mind by your word, and asking through prayer for our deliverance from evils; so that you may receive a reward for these things from God who gives the perfect purification of the soul according to conscience.

LETTER 38. ... TO THE SAME. 38. From the same to the same. We thank you, honored Father, that you have given yourself to us as an excellent model of repentance,

persuading us through confession to lay bare the dark treasures of the passions within ourselves; through which hatred for sin is naturally confirmed. For we are in truth those who harbor the passions, the memory of which after the act brings disgust; like onions, loving the assent to evil (15B_422> thoughts, by which the eye of the soul becomes duller toward virtue and knowledge, receiving as it were scales, the passionate fantasies of visible things. For according to those who etymologize it, onion (krommuon) means a closing of the pupil (korēs musis). And like garlic, eating the fulfillment of the passions through their activity, by which the mind, being filled with impurity, breathes out to others through shameful words and ways the stench of the evils it has consumed through action.

But teach 0633 us, holy Father, how after the rejection of these things we shall love the manna; I mean the rational bread of divine knowledge, rained down on us from heaven, and how we shall keep it incorruptible; neither storing it up for the morrow through procrastination, lest it breed worms of carnal passions, decaying through idleness; nor parading it for show, lest it vanish, consumed by vainglory.

With such words feed us again, honored Father, us your disciples, and commend us through prayer to God, since we are unable to worship without your mediation.

LETTER 39. ... TO THE SAME. 39. From the same to the same. You nourish us abundantly, sanctified Father, both the visible and the intelligible man.

To the body, supplying what is for its constitution; and to the soul, giving what is for its growth in the Spirit. For God has made you rich in both respects, having blessed your coming in. For by coming in I mean the possession of the charisms supplied to you by God, which are multiplied through practice; and by going out, the distribution of the word which comes from you to others; and in those who receive it, that is, bearing as fruit the practice of what is fitting.

SOME LETTERS FROM ANOTHER CODEX LETTER 40. ... TO THE SAME THALASSIUS THE PRESBYTER... 40. From the same to the same Thalassius, presbyter and abbot.

97

ἡμᾶς ἑαυτῶν ἐπιγνώμονας, συμμέτρως ἐπαισθομένους τῆς τῶν οἰκείων ἁμαρτημάτων ὀχλήσεως. Καί ποσῶς σοφίας μετόχους πεποίηκε, τῶν ἰδίων πλημμελημάτων λαβόντας διάγνωσιν, εἴπερ ἀληθής ὁ λέγων· Οἱ ἑαυτῶν ἐπιγνώμονες σοφοί.

Μή τοίνυν παύσῃ, τίμιε Πάτερ, καί λόγῳ καινίζων ἡμῶν τήν διάνοιαν, καί δι᾿ εὐχῆς τήν τῶν κακῶν ἡμῖν αἰτούμενος λύτρωσιν· ἵνα τούτων λάβῃς μισθόν παρά τοῦ διδοῦντος Θεοῦ τήν τελείαν τῆς ψυχῆς κατά συνείδησιν κάθαρσιν.

ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ ΛΗ'. ... ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΝ ΑΥΤΟΝ. ΛΗ´Τοῦ αὐτοῦ πρός τόν αὐτόν. Εὐχαριστοῦμέν σοι, τίμιε Πάτερ, ὅτι μετανοίας ἀρίστης ἡμῖν σεαυτόν

δέδωκας ὑποτίπωσιν, πείθων δι᾿ ἐξαγορίας τούς ἐν ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς σκοτεινούς τῶν παθῶν γυμνῶσαι θησαυρούς· δι᾿ ἧς τό πρός τήν ἁμαρτίαν ἐπικυροῦσθαι πέφυκε μῖσος. Ἡμεῖς γάρ ἐσμεν ἐπ᾿ ἀληθείας οἱ τά πάθη περιέποντες, ὧν ἡ μνήμη μετά τήν πρᾶξιν φέρει τήν ἀηδίαν· ὡς μέν κρόμμυα, τήν τῶν πονηρῶν (15Β_422> ἀγαπῶντες λογισμῶν συγκατάθεσιν, καθ᾿ ἥν τό τῆς ψυχῆς ὀπτικόν πρός ἀρετήν καί γνῶσιν ἀμβλύτερον γίνεται, λεπίδας ὥσπερ λαμβάνον, τάς ἐμπαθεῖς τῶν ὁρατῶν φαντασίας. Κόρης γάρ μύσις κατά τούς ἐτυμολογοῦντας τό κρόμμυον. Ὡς δέ σκόρδα, τήν δι᾿ ἐνεργείας τῶν παθῶν συμπλήρωσιν τρώγοντες, καθ᾿ ἥν ὁ νοῦς ἀκαθαρσίας πληρούμενος, τοῖς ἔξω πνεῖ δι᾿ αἰσχρῶν ῥημάτων τε καί τρόπων, τήν ὧν διά πράξεως βέβρωκε κακῶν δυσωδίαν.

Ἀλλά δίδαξον 0633 ἡμᾶς, ἅγιε Πάτερ, πῶς μετά τήν τούτων ἀποβολήν ἀγαπήσομεν τό μάννα· φημί δέ τόν λογικόν τῆς θείας γνώσεως ἄρτον, οὐρανόθεν ἡμῖν ὑόμενον, καί φυλάξομεν ἄφθαρτον· μήτε πρός τήν αὔριον, δι᾿ ἀναβολῆς θησαυρίζοντες, ἵνα μή βράσῃ σκώληκας παθῶν σαρκικῶν, διά τῆς ἀργίας σηπόμενον· μήτε δι᾿ ἐπιδείξεως θριαμβεύοντες, ἵνα μή γένηται φροῦδον τῇ κενοδοξίᾳ τηκόμενον.

Τοιούτοις καί πάλιν λόγοις θρέψον ἡμᾶς, τίμιε Πάτερ, τούς σούς μαθητάς, καί παράθου δι᾿ εὐχῆς τῷ Θεῷ, δίχα τῆς σῆς μεσιτείας προσκυνῆσαι μή δυναμένους.

ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ ΛΘ'. ... ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΝ ΑΥΤΟΝ. ΛΘ´Τοῦ αὐτοῦ πρός τόν αὐτόν. Ἀφθόνως ἡμῶν διατρέφεις, ἡγιασμένε Πάτηρ, τόν τε φαινόμενον καί τόν

νοούμενον ἄνθρωπον. Τῷ μέν σώματι χορηγῶν τά πρός σύστασιν· τῇ δέ ψυχῇ διδούς τά πρός αὔξησιν τήν ἐν Πνεύματι. Πεποίηκέ σε γάρ ὁ Θεός κατ' ἀμφότερα πλούσιον, εὐλογήσας τήν εἴσοδόν σου. Εἴσοδον μέν γάρ λέγω, τήν τῶν χορηγουμένων σοι παρά Θεοῦ χαρισμάτων κτῆσιν, πολυπλασιαζομένην διά τῆς πράξεως· ἔξοδον δέ, τήν ἄλλοις παρά σοῦ γινομένην τοῦ λόγου διάδοσιν· καί ἐν ἐκείνοις δηλαδή τοῖς λαμβάνουσιν, ὥσπερ καρπόν φέρουσαν τήν τῶν καθηκόντων ἐνέργειαν.

ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΑΙ ΤΙΝΕΣ ΕΞ ΕΤΕΡΟΥ ΚΩ∆ΙΚΟΣ ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ Μ'. ... ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΝ ΑΥΤΟΝ ΘΑΛΑΣΣΙΟΝ ΠΡΕΣΒΥΤΕΡΟΝ... Μ΄.Τοῦ αὐτοῦ πρός τόν αὐτόν Θαλάσσιον πρεσβύτερον καί ἡγούμενον.