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having become so, I was filled with great despondency and I am compelled to lament for those who say these things and to weep out of much compassion, knowing precisely that they do not say these things otherwise than out of great ignorance of the gifts of God. For if they were not deprived of true dispassion and covered in the darkness of the passions and were slaves of pleasures and of the desires of the flesh, they would not have been ignorant of and disbelieved in the life-giving mortification of Jesus and God, (227) which he bestows on the members of his saints.

For how will such men ever believe that some are and become dead to the world and live only the life in the Spirit, they who throughout their whole life have made it their aim to do all things in hypocrisy, so that they may please men and be called God-beloved by them? For just as they think to achieve dispassion while in the passions, being and having become sin entirely, and as they persuade themselves that the praises of men alone suffice for virtue and holiness, so also, denying dispassion, they wish to be and to be called saints without it, as if having acquired holiness from human praises. For they judge the one who is not praised simply and at random by the many to be worthy of no account, being ignorant, as is likely, that one who knows God and is known by Him is better than myriads of unbelievers who do not know God, even if they are praised and called blessed by the whole world, just as one who sees is better than infinite multitudes of the dim-sighted. For that it is possible for some of those who struggle in truth to come to such freedom and for one who has once become a partaker of the grace of God to arrive at dispassion of soul and body, so that, not only when eating with women and conversing with them, he remains untroubled and dispassionate, but also when moving about in the midst of cities, hearing singers and lyre-players and seeing people laughing and dancing and playing, he is in no way harmed, every writing testifies, and every history and the acts of the saints describe such testimonies for us, and for this reason every struggle and every hardship is undertaken by the pious.

(228) For the goal of those who struggle according to God is this, first, to flee the entire world and the things in the world. And by world I mean the present life, that is, this temporal age, and the things in the world, all the things around us which the Word commands us to abandon, from which it is necessary to flee completely, such as from father and mother, and brothers and relatives and friends, and moreover from possessions and money and property and all wealth, not as if these things are forbidden or even harmful, but as we, being occupied in their midst, are not able to be freed from attachment to them; for one who is already bound by pleasures, unless he flees the causes of them and gets far away from them, will not be freed from their desires. And after becoming stripped of all possessions, then he ought, if he is zealous, to deny his own soul; which is accomplished in the mortification of one's own will, I do not speak only of the external, such as not to eat, not to drink, not to do anything rashly, not to oversleep, not to do any of the things that seem to be good without a command, but also of the internal, I mean, the movement of the heart, such as not to look with passion, not to embrace in like manner, not to find fault secretly, not to condemn anyone, not to rejoice at someone's fall, not to be angry in thought, not to envy wickedly, not to be jealous in evil.

How shall I enumerate all the properties of piety, so that I may show you precisely the exactness of the Christians? Nevertheless, learn further the things of the life-giving mortification, never to hide even a random thought, not to let a single day pass without tears, as far as possible, not to wash the face with water according to habit, not of the hair

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γεγονώς, μεγάλης ἐπληρώθην τῆς ἀθυμίας καί θρηνεῖν ὑπέρ τῶν ταῦτα λεγόντων καί κλαίειν ἐκ πολλῆς συμπαθείας βιάζομαι, ἀκριβῶς εἰδώς ὤν μή ἄλλως ταῦτα λέγειν αὐτούς εἰ μή ἐκ πολλῆς ἀγνοίας τῶν χαρισμάτων τοῦ Θεοῦ. Εἰ μή γάρ ἐστερημένοι τῆς ὄντως ἀπαθείας ὑπῆρχον καί ἐν τῷ σκότει τῶν παθῶν ἐκαλύπτοντο καί δοῦλοι τῶν ἡδονῶν καί τῶν τῆς σαρκός θελημάτων ἐτύγχανον, οὐκ ἄν τήν ζωοποιόν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ καί Θεοῦ νέκρωσιν, (227) τοῖς μέλεσι τῶν ἁγίων αὐτοῦ χαρίζεται, ἠγνόουν καί ἠπίστουν περί αὐτῆς.

Πῶς γάρ καί πιστεύσουσιν οἱ τοιοῦτοί ποτε νεκρούς εἶναι καί γίνεσθαι τῷ κόσμῳ τινάς καί μόνην ζῶντας ζωήν τήν ἐν Πνεύματι, οἵτινες διά βίου παντός σπουδήν ἔθεντο ἐν ὑποκρίσει πάντα ποιεῖν, ἵνα ἀνθρώποις ἀρέσωσι καί θεοφιλεῖς παρ᾿ αὐτῶν ὀνομάζωνται; Ὡς γάρ ἐν πάθεσιν οἴονται κατορθοῦν τήν ἀπάθειαν, ὅλως ἁμαρτία ὄντες τε καί γενόμενοι, καί ὡς μόνους τούς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπαίνους ἀρκεῖν εἰς ἀρετήν καί ἁγιότητα πείθουσιν ἑαυτούς, οὕτω καί τήν ἀπάθειαν ἀπαρνούμενοι, ἅγιοι εἶναι καί λέγεσθαι βούλονται ταύτης χωρίς, ὡς ἐκ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ἐπαίνων τήν ἁγιωσύνην κτησάμενοι. Τόν γάρ μή ἐπαινούμενον ἁπλῶς καί ὡς ἔτυχε παρά τῶν πολλῶν οὐδενός λόγου ἄξιον εἶναι κρίνουσιν, ἀγνοοῦντες, ὡς εἰκός, ὅτι κρείσσων εἷς γινώσκων Θεόν καί ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ γινωσκόμενος ὑπέρ μυριάδας ἀπίστων τῶν μή εἰδότων Θεόν, κἄν παρά παντός τοῦ κόσμου ἐπαινῶνται καί μακαρίζωνται, ὥσπερ καί εἷς βλέπων ὑπέρ ἄπειρα πλήθη ἀμβλυωπούντων.Ὅτι γάρ ἔνι τινά τῶν ἐν ἀληθείᾳ ἀγωνιζομένων εἰς τοιαύτην ἐλευθερίαν ἐλθεῖν καί τόν ἅπαξ μέτοχον τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτος γενόμενον εἰς ἀπάθειαν ψυχῆς καί σώματος καταντῆσαι, ὥστε, μή μόνον μετά γυναικῶν συνεσθίοντα καί αὐταῖς ὁμιλοῦντα, ἀνενόχλητον αὐτόν καί ἀπαθῆ διαμένειν, ἀλλά καί ἐν μέσαις στρεφόμενον πόλεσι, τραγῳδούντων τε καί κιθαρῳδούντων ἀκούοντα καί ὁρῶντα γελῶντας καί ὀρχουμένους καί παίζοντας, μηδέν παραβλάπτεσθαι, πᾶσα μέν συγγραφή μαρτυρεῖ, πᾶσα δέ ἱστορία καί τῶν ἁγίων αἱ πράξεις τοιαύτας τάς μαρτυρίας ἡμῖν διαγράφουσι, καί τούτου ἕνεκεν πᾶσα πρᾶξις ἐναγώνιος καί πᾶσα κακοπάθεια παρά τῶν εὐσεβούντων ἐπιτελεῖται.

(228) Ὁ γάρ τῶν κατά Θεόν ἀγωνιζομένων σκοπός τοιοῦτός ἐστι, πρῶτον μέν ἐκφυγεῖν κόσμον ἅπαντα καί τά ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ. Κόσμον δέ λέγω τήν παροῦσαν ζωήν, ἤγουν τόν αἰῶνα τοῦτον τόν πρόσκαιρον, τά δέ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, τά περί ἡμᾶς πάντα ἅπερ καταλιμπάνειν ἡμᾶς ὁ Λόγος διακελεύεται, ἀφ᾿ ὧν καί φεύγειν ἐκ παντός χρή, οἷον ἀπό πατρός καί μητρός, ἀδελφῶν τε καί συγγενῶν καί φίλων, ἔτι δέ ἀπό κτημάτων καί χρημάτων καί περιουσίας καί πλούτου παντός, οὐχ ὡς ἀπηγορευμένων ὄντων αὐτῶν ἤ καί ἐπιβλαβῶν, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς μή δυναμένων ἡμῶν, ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῶν στρεφομένων, τῆς αὐτῶν προσπαθείας ἀπαλλαγῆναι· ὁ γάρ ἤδη ταῖς ἡδοναῖς συγκραθείς, εἰ μή τάς αἰτίας αὐτῶν ἐκφύγοι καί μακράν γένηται ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν, οὐκ ἄν τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν αὐτῶν ἐλευθερωθήσεται. Μετά δέ τό γενέσθαι γυμνός πάντων τῶν προσόντων, τότε καί αὐτήν ἑαυτοῦ ὀφείλει, εἰ σπουδαῖός ἐστιν, ἀπαρνήσασθαι τήν ψυχήν· ὅπερ καί κατορθοῦται ἐν τῇ τοῦ οἰκείου ἀπονεκρώσει θελήματος, οὐ λέγω μόνου τοῦ ἔξωθεν, οἶον μή φαγεῖν, μή πιεῖν, μή προπετῶς τι διαπράξασθαι, μή ὑπνῶσαι, μή τι τῶν δοκούντων εἶναι καλῶν ἄνευ ἐπιταγῆς ποιῆσαι, ἀλλά καί τοῦ ἔσωθεν, φημί, τῆς καρδιάς κινήματος, οἳον μή βλέψαι ἐμπαθῶς, μή ὡσαύτως ἀσπάσασθαι, μή μέμψασθαι ἀφανῶς, μή κατακρῖναί τινα, μή ἐπιχαρῆναι πτώσει τινός, μή ὀργισθῆναι κατά διάνοιαν, μή φθονῆσαι κακῶς, μή ζηλῶσαι ἐν πονηρίᾳ.

Πῶς πάντα τά τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀπαριθμήσομαι ἰδιώματα, ἵνα καί δείξω σοι ἀκριβῶς τῶν χριστιανῶν τήν ἀκρίβειαν; Πλήν ἔτι τά τῆς ζωοποιοῦ νεκρώσεως μάνθανε, τοῦ μή κρῦψαι λογισμόν μηδέ τόν τυχόντα ποτέ, μή παρελθεῖν δακρύων χωρίς ἡμέραν μίαν τό κατά δύναμιν, μή τρῖψαι τήν ὄψιν κατά τήν συνήθειαν ὕδατι, μή τῆς κόμης