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pass by in silence. Do not go and sit with them, remembering the psalmist who says: "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful." For such are pestilences, as Paul says: "Evil communications corrupt good manners"; if then a pestilence, this is also corruption. Therefore, do not sit together with those who speak idly, beloved, nor say: "I will also hear what you are saying", but as has been said, make a prostration and pass by. Guard silence, exile; and silence, indeed, in saying to yourself: "For what good thing have I to say, being all filth and foolish, and not only that but also a stranger and unworthy to speak and to hear or to be numbered among men?"; and exile and abstaining from all things in reasoning these things and saying to yourself: "Who am I," he says, "the outcast and worthless one, the ignoble and poor, that I should enter anyone's cell? Will he not, seeing me, turn away from me as an abomination? Will he not perhaps say: 'Why has this defiled one (332) come to me to defile my cell?'", putting your sins before your eyes, and saying these things not with the tips of your lips, but from your soul. For even if at first you do not have the strength to say these things from your soul, yet little by little you will come to this also, 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 to practice and to 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.

Therefore, having passed the hours until the liturgy in this way, brother, enter again into the assembly with haste and with much eagerness. Stand as we have outlined for you in the morning doxology, not at all forgetting 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 with fear and joy to partake of the ineffable good things. And after the final prayer, having gone out, enter with everyone into the refectory, not separating yourself from your brothers. And if you have been appointed to serve, stand as serving Christ and not men, out of a sincere disposition and love for all as saints, or rather as to 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 with intention 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 older 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 silence, not speaking at all to anyone 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 for you, being twofold, of soul I say and body, to have your food and your table in two ways and appropriately, and to nourish the body, being sensible and earthly, with sensible foods from the earth, but the soul, being intellectual and divine, to nourish with the intellectual and divine dainties of the words.

Therefore do not scrutinize the portions set before you at the table, whether one happens to be larger or very small, but whatever is given to you, having received it with all thanksgiving, eat it, and this with self-control, fleeing satiety in all things, evidently considering yourself unworthy of the common table of the brothers and such things within yourself

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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