102

it happens in the same way, being mixed with caustic fire. Since these things are so, and you rightly confess them, why do we delay and why do we not flee the bitter darkness? Why do we say 'woe' to the lovers of the world and lovers of pleasure, and being in these things, we do not perceive it? Why do we exclaim: "Truly blessed are those who seek the Lord and place their hopes in Him," while you do not comprehend your own wretchedness, fleeing from it? Why do you think you confess and believe in God, (271) whom you do not wish to know and to serve? Where do you hope, abandoning the good things that are in your hands, and attaching yourselves to vain and fleeting things?

How do you say, tell me, so that I may turn my speech to each of those who cling to the vanity of the present things: "I know all things, and that I am mortal and the things that are seen are a shadow, and death is untimely and the glory of the righteous is eternal and the shame of sinners has no end," but you yourself do not stand apart from evil things? For if you see, how is it that like a blind man stumbling, you are bruised in your whole body and whole soul? If you have seen the better things, how is it that, as if having no perception, you do the worse things? If you know that all visible things are a shadow and all are passing away, are you not ashamed to play with a shadow and to treasure up fleeting things? For just as a child drawing water into a pierced vessel, do you not perceive, though you think yourself wise, most beloved, how very terrible it is to seem and to suppose—for has not reality been taken away by these?

O man, do you believe that Christ is God? If then you believe, fear and keep his commandments. But if you disbelieve, at least ask the demons themselves, whom perhaps you consider more trustworthy. Learn from those by whom you have been enslaved and whom you follow, that there is no other God besides him, to whom no one has been made like, nor can be made like. For he is the ruler of all, the judge of all, the king of all, the creator of light and Lord of life. He is the unutterable light, the unapproachable light, the only one who is; he himself (272) will make his enemies disappear from his presence at his appearing, and those who have not done his commands, in the way that the rising sun drives away the darkness of the night, and the Lord our God will be uncontained among the uncontained and incomprehensible among the incomprehensible, appearing only to the worthy according to the measure of their faith in him, but the sinners will be as if covered by darkness in the light, being ashamed in the midst of joy and in gladness themselves wasting away and being terribly burned and punished by the different forms of their own passions, just as indeed the righteous are crowned with different virtues.

Thus, therefore, I have found these things both corporeally lying in the divinely-inspired Scriptures and have been taught them spiritually by the Spirit, and for your full assurance, out of much love not holding back, I have written. Behold, then, I have announced all things to you and I have not hidden the talent and I have not begrudged your salvation. Each one of you, for the future, will choose what he wills. For I have already been absolved of the charge concerning you in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

On the renunciation and cutting off of the will, for those who asked to write to them how one ought to complete the ascetic life. And that it is good and profitable for this to use an experienced guide, that is, a spiritual father, in order to learn the difficult work of virtue and the ascetic art. And concerning faith in spiritual fathers and the vision of light, by which

every illumined soul progresses to the love of God.

102

ὁμοίως γίνεται, πυρί καυστικῷ ὄντι συμμίκτῳ. Τούτων οὖν οὕτως ἐχόντων, ὀρθῶς καί ὑμῶν ταῦτα ὁμολογούντων, τί βραδύνομεν καί τί τό πικρόν οὐ φεύγομεν σκότος; Τί δέ οὐαί λέγομεν τοῖς φιλοκόσμοις καί φιληδόνοις καί ἐν τούτοις ὄντες οὐκ αἰσθανόμεθα; Τί φθεγγόμεθα· "Μακάριοι ὄντως οἱ ἐκζητοῦντες τόν Κύριον καί ἐπ᾿ αὐτόν τάς ἐλπίδας τιθέμενοι", τήν δέ ὑμετέραν οὐ κατανοεῖτε, ἀποφεύγοντες, ἀθλιότητα; Τί δέ Θεόν ὁμολογεῖν καί πιστεύειν νομίζετε, (271) ὅν γνωρίζειν καί ᾧ δουλεύειν οὐ θέλετε; Ποῦ ἐλπίζετε τά ἐν χερσίν ὑμῶν ὄντα καταλιμπάνοντες ἀγαθά, τοῖς δέ ματαίοις καί ῥέουσι προστιθέμενοι;

Πῶς λέγεις, εἰπέ μοι, ἵνα καί πρός ἕκαστον τῶν ἀντεχομένων τῆς ματαιότητος τῶν παρόντων τρέψω τόν λόγον· " Πάντα ἐπίσταμαι, καί ὅτι θνητός ἐγώ καί σκιά τά ὁρώμενα καί ὁ θάνατος ἄωρος καί ἡ δόξα τῶν δικαίων αἰώνιος καί ἡ αἰσχύνη τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν τέλος οὐκ ἔχουσα", αὐτός δέ σύ τῶν κακῶν οὐκ ἀφίστασαι; Εἰ γάρ βλέπεις, πῶς οἷα δή τυφλός προσκόπτων ὅλον τό σῶμα καί ὅλην τήν ψυχήν μεμελάνωσαι; Εἰ εἶδας τά κρείττονα, πῶς ὡς μηδέ αἴσθησιν ἔχων πράττεις τά χείρονα; Εἰ οἶδας ὅτι πάντα σκιά καί πάντα παρέρχονται τά ὁρώμενα, οὐκ αἰσχύνῃ σκιᾷ προσπαίζων καί θησαυρίζων τά ῥέοντα; Καθάπερ γάρ παῖς εἰς τετρημένον ἄγγος ἀντλῶν, οὐκ αἰσθάνῃ καί φρονεῖν δοκεῖς, προσφιλέστατε, ὡς λίαν δεινόν τό δοκεῖν καί τό οἴεσθαι - τό γάρ εἶναι τούτοις ἀφῄρηται;

Ἄνθρωπε, πιστεύεις ὅτι ἐστί Θεός ὁ Χριστός; Εἰ οὖν πιστεύεις, φοβοῦ καί τάς ἐντολάς αὐτοῦ φύλαττε. Εἰ δέ ἀπιστεῖς, κἄν τούς δαίμονας αὐτούς, οὕς τάχα καί ἀξιοπιστοτέρους ἡγῇ, ἐρώτησον. Μάθε παρ᾿ ὧν δεδούλωσαι καί οἷς ἐξακολουθεῖς, ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι Θεός ἕτερος πλήν αὐτοῦ, ᾧ οὐδείς ἐξωμοίωται, οὐδέ ὁμοιωθῆναι δύναται. Πάντων γάρ ἐξουσιαστής αὐτός ἐστιν, πάντων κριτής, πάντων βασιλεύς, ποιητής φωτός καί ζωῆς Κύριος. Αὐτός φῶς τό ἄρρητον, τό ἀπρόσιτον, ὁ ὤν μόνος, αὐτός (272) ἀφανιεῖ ἐν τῇ ἐπιφανείᾳ αὐτοῦ ἀπό προσώπου αὐτοῦ ἐχθρούς αὐτοῦ καί τούς μή ποιήσαντας τά προστάγματα αὐτοῦ, ὅν τρόπον ἀποδιώκει τόν ζόφον τῆς νυκτός ἀνατέλλων ὁ ἥλιος, καί ἔσται Κύριος ὁ Θεός ἡμῶν ἀχώρητος ἐν ἀχωρήτοις καί ἀκατάληπτος ἐν ἀκαταλήπτοις, μόνοις φαινόμενος τοῖς ἀξίοις κατά τό μέτρον τῆς εἰς αὐτόν πίστεως, οἱ δέ γε ἁμαρτωλοί ἔσονται ὡς ἐν φωτί καλυπτόμενοι σκότει, ἐν χαρᾷ αἰσχυνόμενοι καί ἐν εὐφροσύνῃ αὐτοί τηκόμενοι καί δεινῶς καιόμενοι καί διαφόροις εἴδεσι τῶν ἰδίων παθῶν κολαζόμενοι, καθά δή καί οἱ δίκαιοι ταῖς διαφόροις ἀρεταῖς στεφανούμενοι.

Οὕτω τοίνυν καί σωματικῶς ταῦτα ἐν ταῖς θεοπνεύστοις εὗρον ἐγκείμενα Γραφαῖς καί πνευματικῶς ἐδιδάχθην παρά τοῦ Πνεύματος καί πρός πληροφορία ὑμῶν, ἐξ ἀγάπης πολλῆς μή ὑποστειλάμενος, ἔγραψα. Ἰδού οὖν πάντα ὑμῖν ἀνήγγειλα καί τό τάλαντον οὐκ ἔκρυψα καί τῇ σωτηρίᾳ ὑμῶν οὐκ ἐφθόνησα. Ἕκαστος ὑμῶν τοῦ λοιποῦ ὅ θέλει ἐκλέξεται. Ἐγώ γάρ ἤδη τοῦ περί ὑμῶν ἐγκλήματος ἀπολέλυμαι ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν. Ἀμήν.

Περί ἀποταγῆς καί ἐκκοπῆς θελήματος, πρός τούς αἰτήσαντας γράψαι αὐτοῖς πῶς ὀφείλει τις τόν ἀσκητικόν διανύσαι βίον. Καί ὅτι καλόν ἐπί τούτῳ καί ἐπωφελές ἐμπείρῳ χρήσασθαι ὁδηγῷ ἤγουν πνευματικῷ πατρί εἰς τό αμαθεῖν τά τῆς ἀρετῆς καί τῆς ἀσκητικῆς τέχνης τήν δυσκατόρθωτον ἐργασίαν. Καί περί πίστεως τῆς εἰς τούς πνευματικούς πατέρας καί θεωρίας φωτός, ὑφ᾿ οὗ

πᾶσα φωτιζομένη ψυχή προκόπτει εἰς ἀγάπην Θεοῦ.