115

27.

What the monk ought to be like, and what his work is, and what his progress and ascent are. (211)

Fashion the house of your soul into a palace, as a dwelling for Christ, the king of all, with the sprinkling of your tears, with wailings and lamentations and bendings of the knees and a multitude of sighs, if truly, O monk, you wish to live as a solitary. And then you were not living alone, for you were with the king, and you were living as a solitary according to us, as being from us and separated from the whole world; this is truly living as a solitary. But united to God and king, you are not living alone, but you have become numbered with all the saints, living with the angels and dwelling with the just and truly a co-heir of all those in heaven. How then is he living alone, who has his citizenship there, where there is an assembly of martyrs and saints, where there is a choir of prophets and divine apostles, where there is the countless multitude of the just, hierarchs, patriarchs and the rest of the saints? And he who has Christ dwelling in himself, how can he be said to be alone, tell me? For with my Christ is the Father and the Spirit, and how is he living alone, who is joined to three as one? (212) He who is united to God is not alone, even if he lives as a solitary, even if he sits in the desert, even if he is in a cave; but if he has not found him, if he has not known him, if he has not received him, the whole incarnate God the Word, he has not become a monk, alas, at all. Therefore this one is also alone, separated from God, but also each one of us is separated from other men in every way, and we might all be isolated orphans, even if we seem to have union in our common life and to mix with one another in the gathering of the many. For in soul and in body we are separated, which death shows to be true, separating each from relatives and friends and causing forgetfulness of all those who are now beloved. Thus also night and sleep and the actions in life dissolve the union of the many, as is natural. But he who has made his cell a heaven through virtue, and contemplates and sees and worships the creator of heaven and earth seated in it, and is always with the inaccessible light, with the unsetting light, with the unapproachable light, from which he is in no way separated, not at all distant,

115

ΚΖ'.

Ὁποῖον δεῖ εἶναι τόν μοναχόν καί τίς ἡ ἐργασία καί τίς ἡ τούτου προκοπή καί ἀνάβασις. (211)

Ἀπέργασαι παλάτιον τόν τῆς ψυχῆς σου οἶκον, εἰς κατοικίαν τῷ Χριστῷ καί βασιλεῖ τῶν ὅλων δακρύων ταῖς ῥανίσι σου, ὀλολυγμοῖς καί θρήνοις καί τῶν γονάτων κάμψεσι καί στεναγμῶν τῷ πλήθει, εἰ ἀληθῶς, ὦ μοναχέ, μονάζων εἶναι θέλεις. Καί τότε οὐ μονάζων ἦς, τῷ βασιλεῖ συνῆς γάρ καί ἦς μονάζων καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς, ὡς ἐξ ἡμῶν ὑπάρχων καί χωρισθείς κόσμου παντός˙ τοῦτο μονάζων πάντως. Τῷ δέ Θεῷ καί βασιλεῖ ἑνωθείς οὐ μονάζων, ἀλλά ἁγίων γέγονας συναρίθμιος πάντων, ἀγγέλων ὁμοδίαιτος καί σύνοικος δικαίων καί πάντων τῶν ἐν οὐρανῷ συγκληρονόμος ὄντως. Πῶς οὖν μονάζων ὁ ἐκεῖ τό πολίτευμα ἔχων, ἔνθα ἐστίν ὁμήγυρις μαρτύρων καί ὁσίων, ἔνθα χορός τῶν προφητῶν καί θείων ἀποστόλων, ἔνθα ἡ ἀναρίθμητος πληθύς, ἡ τῶν δικαίων, ἱεραρχῶν, πατριαρχῶν καί τῶν λοιπῶν ἁγίων; Ὁ δέ καί ἔχων τόν Χριστόν ἐν ἑαυτῷ οἰκοῦντα, πῶς μόνος εἶναι λέγεσθαι δύναται, εἴπατέ μοι; Τῷ γάρ Χριστῷ μου σύνεστιν ὁ Πατήρ καί τό Πνεῦμα, καί πῶς μονάζων, ὁ τρισί ὡς ἑνί συνημμένος; (212) Οὐκ ἔστι μόνος ὁ Θεῷ ἑνωθείς, κἄν μονάζῃ, κἄν ἐν ἐρήμῳ κάθηται, κἄν ἐν σπηλαίῳ ἔστιν˙ εἰ δέ μή τοῦτον εὕρηκεν, εἰ δέ μή τοῦτον ἔγνω, εἰ δέ μή τοῦτον ἔλαβεν ὅλον τόν σαρκωθέντα Θεόν Λόγον, οὐ γέγονε μοναχός, οἴμοι, ὅλως. Ὅθεν καί μόνος ἐστί τοῦ Θεοῦ κεχωρισμένος οὗτος, ἀλλά καί ὁ καθείς ἡμῶν ἐσμέν κεχωρισμένοι ἀνθρώπων ἄλλων πάντως γε καί ὀρφανοί δέ ἅπαντες μεμονωμένοι ὦμεν, εἰ καί δοκοῦμεν ἕνωσιν τῇ συνοικήσει ἔχειν καί μετ᾿ ἀλλήλων μίγνυσθαι τῇ τῶν πολλῶν συνάξει. Ψυχῇ γάρ καί τῷ σώματι ἐσμέν κεχωρισμένοι, ὅπερ καί εἶναι ἀληθές ὁ θάνατος δεικνύει, ἀποχωρίζων ἕκαστον συγγενῶν τε καί φίλων καί λήθην πάντων ἐμποιῶν τῶν νῦν ἀγαπωμένων. Οὕτω κάι νύξ καί ὕπνος τε καί πράξεις αἱ ἐν βίῳ τήν ἕνωσιν τήν τῶν πολλῶν ὡς εἰκός διαλύει. Ὁ δέ ποιήσας οὐρανόν δι᾿ ἀρετῆς τήν κέλλαν τήν ἑαυτοῦ, καί ἐν αὐτῇ καθήμενον τόν κτίστην τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τε καί τῆς γῆς κατανοεῖ καί βλέπει καί προσκυνεῖ καί σύνεστιν ἀεί φωτί ἀδύτῳ, φωτί τῷ ἀνεσπέρῳ τε, φωτί τῷ ἀπροσίτῳ, οὗ οὐδαμῶς χωρίζεται, οὐ μακρύνεται ὅλως,