97

of those knowing how to distinguish the just from the unjust, follow the more reverent and more spiritual.

But if perhaps the majority or even all agree on something evil, and have contrived to have helpers from the outside for this purpose, yield, and neither cooperate nor hinder, but let the evil ones be crushed by him whom they judged should rule, so that they may reap their own trouble and find no benefit, since God often gives a ruler to the disobedient people according to their heart. And let these things be firm and immovable for you.

But if after the death of the superior you see the entire brotherhood around you unstable, all of it being shaken by the spirits of wickedness, and being dragged down and collapsing by the desires and pleasures of the flesh, and having no base nor foundation upon the rock, but being entirely shaken, and one brother here, another there, stretching out his hands and striving to grasp something—not what saves him but what drags down with it to Hades and to darkness (251) and to the fire of pleasures his body and his soul—and others again being full of vigor and raging for authority and having an incontinent desire for it, have mercy, have compassion, feel pity and commiserate, mourn for such ones and weep, examine in your mind, if you have been deemed worthy to see clearly the wounds of your brothers, the brokenness of your members, the collapse of the whole body, and beseech God from the heart with pain and tears to stop the rush of so much wickedness and to turn the hearts of the brothers toward what is better. But watch the inclination of your heart, lest you offer the prayer for yourself, so that they might prefer you, and instead of a blessing it brings upon you a curse and the wrath of God.

If, therefore, while doing thus and being so disposed, you see some of your brothers agreeing on something evil and running about to deceive the simpler among them, but also with all zeal and gifts drawing outsiders to their aid, be grieved and lament in the anguish of your heart, that we monks have descended to such audacity and darkness, so that we attempt to shepherd the sheep of Christ without Christ, and for the sake of pleasure and enjoyment of the body and the acquisition of money and honor from men. Woe is me, the humble and wretched, we strive in every way to receive the dignity of the apostles and we buy their authority with gold, fearing neither God nor being ashamed before those who see us. And no one dares to mount the throne of a king if he does not wish it, nor does a private person (252) undertake the rank of a grammarian or rhetor, nor, being illiterate, to read before the people; but you seek or even accept the dignity of the apostles, having not yet received the grace of the apostles nor seen its fruits cultivated in you! And how do you bear, brother, to consider the magnitude of this audacity? Tell me, beloved, if this whole great and populous city entreated you, saying: "We shall make you praepositus and protovestiarios of the emperor, and go up alone to the palace and having entered, speak to the emperor about us and ask him to do such and such things for us," you, of course, having never entered the palace, but being unknown even to the emperor himself, as a stranger to all those in the palace, would you ever have dared to do this or to accept the office? You would surely confess that you would never have dared to do it, but rather you would have blamed and ridiculed those who said these things to you as madmen and fools, and you would have rejected the office not as a source of honor but as a source of dishonor and punishment. If, therefore, we are unable to do such things in human affairs, is it not dreadful for you

97

εἰδότων διακρίνειν τοῦ δικαίου τόν ἄδικον, τοῖς εὐλαβεστέροις καί πνευματικωτέροις ἐξακολούθησον.

Ἐάν δέ καί πρός κακόν ἴσως οἱ πλείονες ἤ καί πάντες ὁμοφωνήσωσιν, ἔχειν δέ καί τῶν ἔξωθεν βοηθούς ἐπί τοῦτο ἐπραγματεύσαντο, παραχώρησον καί μήτε συνεργήσῃς μήτε κωλύσῃς, ἀλλά ἄφες τούς κακούς συντριβῆναι παρ᾿ οὗ ἔκριναν ἄρχεσθαι, ὡς ἄν καί τόν οἰκεῖον κερδήσωσι πόνον καί ὠφέλειαν οὐχ εὑρήσωσιν, ἐπειδή πολλάκις δίδωσιν ἄρχοντα τῷ λαῷ τῷ ἀπειθεῖ ὁ Θεός κατά τήν καρδίαν αὐτῶν. Καί ταῦτα μέν οὕτως ἔστωσάν σοι βέβαια καί ἀμετακίνητα.

Εἰ δέ μετά τόν θάνατον τοῦ προεστῶτος ἴδῃς τήν περί σέ ἀδελφότητα πᾶσαν ἀστήρικτον, σαλευομένην πᾶσαν ὑπό τῶν πνευμάτων τῆς πονηρίας, καί ταῖς τῆς σαρκός ἐπιθυμίαις καί ἡδοναῖς διασυρομένην καί καταπίπτουσαν καί μηδεμίαν ἔχουσαν βάσιν μήτε θεμέλιον ἐπί τῆς πέτρας, ἀλλ᾿ ὅλην κλονουμένην καί ἄλλον ἀλλαχῆ ἀδελφόν τάς χεῖρας ἁπλοῦντα καί περιδράξασθαί τι σπουδάζοντα, οὐχ ὅπερ σῴζει αὐτόν ἀλλ᾿ ὅπερ συγκατασπᾷ εἰς ᾅδην καί εἰς σκότος (251) καί πῦρ ἡδονῶν τό σῶμα καί τήν ψυχήν αὐτοῦ, ἄλλους δέ πάλιν σφριγῶντας καί περί τήν ἀρχήν μαινομένους καί τήν ἐπιθυμίαν ταύτης ἀκράτητον ἔχοντας, ἐλέησον, συμπάθησον, σπλαγχνίσθητι καί οἰκτείρησον, πένθησον ὑπέρ τῶν τοιούτων καί δάκρυσον, ἀνιστόρησον κατά νοῦν, εἰ καλῶς βλέπειν ἠξίωσαι τῶν σῶν ἀδελφῶν τά τραύματα, τῶν σῶν μελῶν τά συντρίμματα, τοῦ ὅλου σώματος τήν κατάπτωσιν, καί τόν Θεόν ἀπό καρδίας μετά πόνου καί δακρύων ἱκέτευσον στῆσαι τῆς τοσαύτης κακίας τήν ῥύμην καί πρός τό κρεῖττον μεταστρέψαι τάς καρδίας τῶν ἀδελφῶν. Ὅρα δέ τήν ῥοπήν τῆς καρδίας σου, μήποτε προσφέρῃ τήν δέησιν περί σεαυτοῦ, ὡς ἄν προτιμήσωνταί σε, καί ἀντί εὐλογίας κατάραν σοι καί ὀργήν τοῦ Θεοῦ προξενήσῃ.

Ἐάν οὖν οὕτω ποιῶν καί οὕτως ἔχων ἴδῃς τῶν ἀδελφῶν σού τινας ἐπί κακῷ ὁμονοήσαντας καί ἀπατᾷν περιτρέχοντας τούς ἁπλουστέρους αὐτῶν, ἀλλά καί πάσῃ σπουδῇ καί δώροις εἰς βοήθειαν αὐτῶν τούς ἔξωθεν ἐπισπωμένους, λυπήθητι καί ἐν ὀδύνῃ καρδίας σου θρήνησον, ὅτι εἰς τοιαύτην τόλμαν καί σκότωσιν οἱ μοναχοί κατηντήσαμεν, ὥστε ποιμαίνειν ἐπιχειρεῖν ἡμᾶς δίχα Χριστοῦ τά τοῦ Χριστοῦ πρόβατα, καί διά ἡδονήν καί ἀπόλαυσιν σώματος καί χρημάτων πορισμόν καί τήν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων τιμήν. Φεῦ μοι τῷ ταπεινῷ καί ἀθλίῳ, τήν ἀξίαν τῶν ἀποστόλων παντί τρόπῳ λαμβάνειν ἀγωνιζόμεθα καί τήν ἐκείνων ἐξουσίαν χρυσίῳ ἐξαγοράζομεν, μήτε τόν Θεόν φοβούμενοι μήτε τούς ὁρῶντας ἡμᾶς αἰσχυνόμενοι. Καί θρόνῳ μέν βασιλέως οὐδείς ἐπιβῆναι τολμᾷ μή θελήσαντος ἐκείνου, ἀλλ᾿ οὐδέ γραμματικοῦ ἤ ῥήτορος τινος ἀναλαβέσθαι τάξιν ἰδιώτης (252) τυγχάνων, οὐδέ ἐπί λαοῦ ἀναγνῶναι ἀγράμματος ὤν, τήν δέ τῶν ἀποστόλων ἀξίαν ἐπιζητεῖς ἤ καί καταδέχῃ, μήπω τήν χάριν τῶν ἀποστόλων λαβών μηδέ τούς καρπούς αὐτῆς θεασάμενος γεωργηθέντας ἐν σοί! Καί πῶς ὑποφέρεις, ἀδελφέ, τό μέγεθος ἐννοῆσαι τῆς τόλμης; Εἰπέ μοι ἀγαπητέ, ἐάν σε πᾶσα ἡ μεγάλη αὕτη καί πολυάνθρωπος πόλις παρεκάλει λέγουσα· "Ποιήσομέν σε πραιπόσιτον καί τοῦ βασιλέως πρωτοβεστιάριον, καί ἀνάβησθι μόνος εἰς τό παλάτιον καί εἰσελθών λάλησον τῷ βασιλεῖ περί ἡμῶν καί παρακάλεσον αὐτόν ποιῆσαι ἡμῖν τά καί τά", σοῦ δηλονότι εἰς παλάτιον μή εἰσελθόντος ποτέ, ἀλλά ἀγνωρίστου τυγχάνοντος καί αὐτῷ τῷ βασιλεῖ, ὡς ξένου πᾶσι τοῖς ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ, ἆρα ἐτόλμησας ἄν ποτε τοῦτο ποιῆσαι ἤ ἀποδέξασθαι τό ἀξίωμα; Πάντως ὁμολογήσεις ὡς οὐκ ποτε διαπράξασθαι τετόλμηκας, ἀλλά καί τούς ταῦτά σοι λέγοντας ὡς μαινομένους καί ἔκφρονας μᾶλλον ἐμέμψω καί κατεγέλασας, καί τό ἀξίωμα οὐχ ὡς τιμῆς ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ἀτιμίας καί κολάσεως πρόξενον ἀπερρίψω. Εἰ τοίνυν ἀδυνάτως ἔχομεν ἐπί ἀνθρωπίνων πραγμάτων τοιαῦτα ποιεῖν, οὐ φρικτόν σοί ἐστι