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having made a response, return quickly. But if, as you are passing by, you see a brother alone, or sitting with others and conversing at an inappropriate time, make a prostration and pass by in silence. Do not go and sit with them, remembering the psalmist who says: "Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of the pestilent." For such men are pestilences, as Paul says: "Evil communications corrupt good manners"; if then the pestilence is anything, so also is corruption. Therefore, do not sit with those who speak idly, beloved, nor say: "I too will listen to what you are saying," but as it has been said, make a prostration and pass by. Guard silence and exile; silence, by saying to yourself: "For what good thing have I to say, I who am all filth and a fool, and not only that but also a stranger and unworthy to speak or to hear or to be numbered among men?"; and exile and refraining from all, by considering these things and saying to yourself: "Who am I," he says, "the outcast and worthless one, the ignoble and poor, that I should enter someone's cell? Will he not, seeing me as an abomination, turn away from me? Will he not say: Why has this defiled (332) man come to me to defile my cell?", placing your sins before your eyes, and saying these things not with the tips of your lips, but from the soul. For even if at first you are not strong enough to say these things from the soul, yet little by little you will come to this, with grace working with you. Only listen to me, the humble one, only make a beginning in these things, brother, only begin to do and practice and say these things, and God will not abandon you. For He loves you greatly and wants you to come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved.

Thus, therefore, having passed the hours until the liturgy, brother, enter again into the assembly with diligence and with great eagerness. Stand as we have instructed you in the morning doxology, in no way forgetting your mourning; stand trembling, as seeing the Son of God being sacrificed for you. And if you are worthy and have been permitted for this, approach in fear and joy to partake of the ineffable good things. And after the final prayer, go out and enter the refectory with everyone, not separating yourself from your brothers. And if you have been assigned to serve, stand by as serving Christ and not men, out of a sincere disposition and love for all as for saints, or rather as for Him, as we have said—to serve Christ, embracing each of them as it were with your soul and offering your whole self to them in purpose through love, being assured that from serving them you will reap sanctification.

But if you also sit in it with everyone, see what I command you in the Lord, as my beloved father and brother, do not rashly stretch out your hand (333) to the foods set on the table before the elder of your brothers begin to eat, before the blessing is given from above by the priest. And having begun to eat with your fathers and brothers, attend to yourself alone, sitting with all modesty and in silence, not speaking to anyone at all but paying attention to the reading and being nourished, just as the body, so also the soul from the divinely inspired oracles of the Spirit. For it is necessary that you, being twofold, of soul I say and body, have food and a table in two corresponding ways, and on the one hand, having a sensible and earthly body, to nourish it with sensible and earthly foods, but on the other hand, bearing an intellectual and divine soul, to nourish it with intellectual and divine delicacies of the words.

Do not therefore examine the portions set before you at the table, which one happens to be larger or very small, but whatever is given to you, receiving it with all thanksgiving, eat, and this with self-control, fleeing satiety in all things, considering yourself of course unworthy of the common table of the brothers and such things within yourself

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ἀπόκρισιν ποιήσας, συντόμως ὑπόστρεψον. Εἰ δέ καί διερχόμενος ἴδῃς τινά ἀδελφόν μόνον, ἤ καί μετά ἑτέρων καθήμενον καί ὁμιλοῦντα παρά καιρόν, βαλών μετάνοιαν σιωπῇ πάρελθε. Μή ἀπελθών καθεσθῇς μετ᾿ αὐτῶν, μνησθείς τοῦ ψαλμῳδοῦ λέγοντος· "Μακάριος ἀνήρ ὅς οὐκ ἐπορεύθη ἐν βουλῇ ἀσεβῶν, καί ἐν ὁδῷ ἁμαρτωλῶν οὐκ ἔστη, καί ἐπί καθέδρᾳ λοιμῶν οὐκ ἐκάθισε". Λοιμοί γάρ εἰσιν οἱ τοιοῦτοι, καθώς ὁ Παῦλός φησι· "Φθείρουσιν ἤθη χρηστά ὁμιλίαι κακαί"· εἴ τι οὖν ὁ λοιμός, τοῦτο καί ἡ φθορά. Μή τοίνυν συγκαθεσθῇς μετά ἀργολογούντων, ἀγαπητέ, μηδέ εἴπῃς· "Ἀκούσομαι τί λαλεῖτε κἀγώ", ἀλλ᾿ ὡς εἴρηται, βαλών μετάνοιαν πάρελθε. Φύλαξον τήν σιωπήν τήν ξενιτείαν· καί τήν μέν σιωπήν ἐν τῷ λέγειν πρός ἑαυτόν· "Τί γάρ ἔχω καί εἰπεῖν ἐγώ ἀγαθόν, ὅλος βόρβορος ὤν καί μωρός, οὐ μόνον δέ ἀλλά καί ξένος καί ἀνάξιος τοῦ λαλεῖν καί ἀκούειν ἤ συναριθμεῖσθαι μετά ἀνθρώπων; "· τήν δέ ξενιτείαν καί τό ἀπέχεσθαι ἀπό πάντων ἐν τῷ λογίζεσθαι ταῦτα καί λέγειν πρός ἑαυτόν· "Τίς εἰμι, φησίν, ἐγώ ὁ ἀπερριμένος καί εὐτελής, ὁ ἀγεννής καί πτωχός, ἵνα εἰς κελλίον εἰσέλθω τινός; οὐχί ὡς βδέλυγμα ὄντα με, ἰδών με ἀποστραφήσεται; ἆρα οὐ μή εἴπῃ· Τί δέ ὁ μιαρός (332) οὗτος ἦλθε πρός με μιᾶναι τήν κέλλαν μου; ", προτιθείς πρό τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν σου τάς ἁμαρτίας σου, καί μή ἄκροις χείλεσιν, ἀλλ᾿ ἀπό ψυχῆς λέγων αὐτά. Εἰ γάρ καί μή κατ᾿ ἀρχάς λέγειν ταῦτα ἰσχύσεις ἀπό ψυχῆς, ἀλλ᾿ ὅμως κατά μικρόν ἐλεύσῃ καί εἰς τοῦτο, τῆς χάριτος συνεργούσης σοι. Μόνον ἄκουσόν μου τοῦ ταπεινοῦ, μόνον βάλε εἰς ταῦτα ἀρχήν, ἀδελφέ, μόνον ἄρξαι ποιεῖν καί πράττειν καί λέγειν ταῦτα, καί οὐκ ἐγκαταλείψει σε ὁ Θεός. Ἀγαπᾷ γάρ σε σφόδρα καί θέλει σε εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν καί σωθῆναι.

Οὕτω τοιγαροῦν τάς μέχρι τῆς λειτουργίας ὥρας διελθών, ἀδελφέ, εἴσελθε πάλιν εἰς τήν σύναξιν ἐν σπουδῇ καί ἐν προθυμίᾳ πολλῇ. Στῆθι καθώς ἐν τῇ ὀρθρινῇ σοι δοξολογίᾳ ὑπετυπώσαμεν, τοῦ πένθους μηδόλως λήθην ποιούμενος· στῆθι σύντρομος, ὡς τόν Υἱόν τοῦ Θεοῦ βλέπων θυόμενον διά σέ. Καί εἰ εἶ ἄξιος καί ἀπελύθης εἰς τοῦτο, πρόσελθε ἐν φόβῳ καί χαρᾷ τῶν ἀπορρήτων κοινωνήσων ἀγαθῶν. Καί μετά τήν ἐσχάτην εὐχήν ἐξελθών, εἴσελθε μετά πάντων ἐν τῇ τραπέζῃ, μή χωριζόμενος τῶν σῶν ἀδελφῶν. Καί εἰ μέν διακονεῖν ἐτάγης, παράστηθι ὡς τῷ Χριστῷ καί οὐκ ἀνθρώποις διακονῶν ἐξ εἰλικρινοῦς διαθέσεως καί ἀγάπης πᾶσιν ὡς ἁγίοις, μᾶλλον δέ ὡς αὐτῷ καθώς εἴπομεν - διακονήσων τῷ Χριστῷ, ἕκαστον αὐτῶν περιπλεκόμενος οἱονεί τῇ ψυχῇ καί ὅλον σεαυτόν τῇ προθέσει διά τῆς ἀγάπης ἐμπαρέχων αὐτοῖς, ἐκ τοῦ διακονεῖν αὐτοῖς βεβαιούμενος καρποῦσθαι ἁγιασμόν.

Εἰ δέ καθεσθῇς ἐν αὐτῇ μετά πάντων καί σύ, ὅρα τί σοι ἐν Κυρίῳ ἐντέλλομαι, ὡς ἀγαπητῷ πατρί μου καί ἀδελφῷ, μή προπετῶς ἐκτείνῃς τήν χείρά σου (333) ἐπί τοῖς παρακειμένοις βρώμασι τῇ τραπέζῃ πρό τοῦ ἐνάρξασθαι τούς παλαιοτέρους ἐσθίειν τῶν ἀδελφῶν σου, πρό τοῦ δοθῆναι τήν εὐλογίαν ἄνωθεν παρά τοῦ ἱερέως. Καί ἀρξάμενος συνεσθίειν τοῖς πατράσι καί ἀδελφοῖς σου, πρόσεχε σεαυτῷ καί μόνῳ ἐν συστολῇ πάσῃ καί σιωπῇ καθεζόμενος, μή ὁμιλῶν καθόλου τινί ἀλλά προσέχων τῇ ἀναγνώσει καί τρεφόμενος, ὥσπερ τό σῶμα, οὕτω καί τήν ψυχήν ἐκ τῶν θεοπνεύστων λογίων τοῦ Πνεύματος. ∆εῖ γάρ σε διπλοῦν ὄντα, ἐκ ψυχῆς λέγω καί σώματος, δισσῶς καί καταλλήλως ἔχειν τήν τροφήν καί τήν τράπεζαν, καί τό μέν σῶμα αἰσθητόν ἔχοντα καί γήϊνον αἰσθητοῖς καί τοῖς ἀπό γῆς τρέφειν βρώμασι, τήν δέ ψυχήν νοεράν καί θείαν ἐπιφερόμενον νοητοῖς τρέφειν καί θείοις τῶν λόγων ἐδέσμασι.

Μή οὖν περιεργάζου τά παρατιθέμενά σοι μέρη ἐν τῇ τραπέζῃ, ποῖον τυχόν μεῖζον ἤ βραχύτατόν ἐστιν, ἀλλ᾿ οἷον δοθῇ σοι μετ᾿ εὐχαριστίας πάσης δεξάμενος φάγε, καί τοῦτο μετ᾿ ἐγκρατείας, φεύγων ἐν πᾶσιν τόν κόρον, ἀνάξιον ἑαυτόν δηλονότι λογιζόμενος τῆς κοινῆς τραπέζης τῶν ἀδελφῶν καί τοιαῦτα καθ᾿ ἑαυτόν