136

is able." It is impossible for a slave of the belly to become a slave of God. Why do you boast in the frequent study of the psalms, when your mind is distracted and does not understand the power of what is said? And if for this reason you neglect the services assigned to you and the duties of the monastery commanded by the superior, I for my part am silent, but you, I know, have heard the divine Scripture saying: "Cursed is everyone who does the works of the Lord negligently." Why do you rely on the labor in bodily works, while neglecting the inner work? Do you not hear Paul saying: "For bodily exercise is of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things"? What then, if someone accomplishes both, but condemns the brothers with him (349) or those in the world? "For with the judgment you pronounce, he says, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you." But the one who has accomplished all the things mentioned and neither does any of the forbidden things nor condemns the negligent brothers, but in time of temptation, when spitting and blows and insults come upon him, if he does not endure these things without disturbance, or though disturbed in heart does not utter an unseemly word, but entirely shows through his outward appearance that the impulse of his soul has been moved to anger and he utters an insulting word in return or does something else in self-defense, how will such a one dare to call himself a slave and imitator of his own Master at all, and not rather an enemy instead?

The friends of God, therefore, and those who love Him, having Him in themselves as a kind of inviolable treasure of good things, with unspeakable joy and gladness also accept such insults and contempt, loving exceedingly as benefactors in sincere disposition those who show and do these things to them. But those who say: "In the time of contention and fighting we are moved as men to anger and wrath, and sometimes we even defend ourselves in words and in deeds themselves against our brothers, but afterwards we do not have enmity against them in our soul, but we forgive all things, and especially if we also grant forgiveness to one another," seem to me like an unwritten tablet on which, when he gets the opportunity, the enemy and foe of our souls inscribes through those very men his wicked and defiled doctrines and departs; but they (350) again, erasing what they wrote when moved by the evil one, do not choose to inscribe the things of Christ in their place, so that the adversary, on coming, might find the tablets of their hearts inscribed and turn away defeated and ashamed, but each of them, out of sloth and indolence, leaves them unwritten, so that when the Lord sends to write His doctrines in one of them, they immediately write eagerly the things of the enemy; and they accept the bitter and death-bearing things, but they push away from themselves the life-giving things that are sweeter than honey.

Therefore, the Lord Jesus, our God, who had done no wrong, was struck, so that the sinners who imitate Him might not only receive remission of their sins, but also become partakers of His divinity through their obedience; and he who does not accept this in humility of heart, as if ashamed to imitate the sufferings of the Master, Christ will also be ashamed of him before the angels and His Father who is in heaven. But what is said is this: He, being God, became man for our sake. He was struck, spat upon, and crucified, teaching as it were and saying to each one of us through what He, who is impassible in His divinity, suffered: "If you wish, He says, O man, to become God and to attain eternal life and be with me, which your forefather once rightly desired but did not attain, be humbled thus, as I was humbled for your sake; and putting aside the boastful and proud demonic mindset, accept blows, accept being spat upon,

136

δύναται"· γαστρός δοῦλον Θεοῦ δοῦλον γενέσθαι ἀμήχανον. Τί ἐγκαυχᾷ τῇ πολλῇ τῶν ψαλμῶν μελέτῃ, μετεωριζομένου μέν τοῦ νοός σου, μή ἐπισταμένου δέ τῶν λεγομένων τήν δύναμιν; Εἰ δέ καί διά τοῦτο τῶν ἐπιτασσομένων σοι διακονιῶν ἀμελεῖς καί τῶν παρά τοῦ προεστῶτος ἐπιταχθεισῶν σοι δουλειῶν τῆς μονῆς, ἐγώ μέν σιωπῶ, σύ δέ οἶδ᾿ ὅτι ἀκήκοας τῆς θείας Γραφῆς λεγούσης· "Ἐπικατάρατος πᾶς ὁ ποιῶν τά ἔργα τοῦ Κυρίου ἀμελῶς". Τί ἐπερείδῃ τῶν ἐν τοῖς σωματικοῖς ἔργοις κόπῳ τῆς ἔνδοθεν ἀμελῶν ἐργασίας; Οὐκ ἀκούεις Παύλου λέγοντος· "Ἡ μέν γάρ σωματική γυμνασία πρός ὀλίγον ἐστίν ὠφέλιμος, ἡ δέ εὐσέβεια πανταχοῦ ὠφέλιμός ἐστιν"; Τί δέ, ἐάν καί τά ἀμφότερα κατορθώσῃ τις, τούς δέ συνόντας αὐτῷ (349) ἤ καί τούς ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἀδελφούς κατακρίνῃ; "Ὧ γάρ, φησί, κρίματι κρίνετε κριθήσεσθε, καί ἐν ᾧ μέτρῳ μετρεῖτε ἀντιμετρηθήσεται ὑμῖν". Ὁ δέ καί πάντα τά εἰρημένα κατωρθωκώς καί μήτε ποιῶν τι τῶν ἀπηγορευμένων μήτε τούς ἀμελεῖς ἀδελφούς κατακρίνων, ἐν δέ καιρῷ πειρασμοῦ, ἐπελθόντων αὐτῷ ἐμπτυσμάτων καί ῥαπισμάτων καί ὕβρεων, ἐάν μή ὑπενέγκῃ ταῦτα ἀταράχως, ἤ ταραχθείς μέν τήν καρδίαν οὐ προφέρει δέ ῥῆμα ἀπρεπές, ἀλλά ὅλως ἐνδείξεται διά τοῦ ἔξωθεν σχήματος πρός ὀργήν κινηθεῖσαν αὐτοῦ τήν ὁρμήν τῆς ψυχῆς καί λόγον ὑβριστικόν ἀντιφθέγξεται ἤ ἕτερόν τι πρός ἄμυναν διαπράξεται, πῶς δοῦλον ἑαυτόν καί μιμητήν τοῦ ἰδίου ∆εσπότου ὅλως εἰπεῖν ὁ τοιοῦτος τολμήσει καί οὐχί μᾶλλον ἀπεναντίας ἐχθρόν;

Οἱ φίλοι τοίνυν τοῦ Θεοῦ καί οἱ ἀγαπῶντες αὐτόν, ἐν ἑαυτοῖς αὐτόν ἔχοντες οἷα δή θησαυρόν τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἄσυλον, μετά χαρᾶς ἀφάτου καί θυμηδίας τάς τοιαύτας ὕβρεις καί ἐξουδενώσεις προσυποδέχονται, ὑπεραγαπῶντες ὡς εὐεργέτας ἐν εἰλικρινεῖ διαθέσει τούς ταῦτα εἰς αὐτούς ἐνδεικνυμένους καί πράσσοντας. Οἱ δέ γε λέγοντες ὅτι· "Κατά μέν τόν τῆς φιλονεικίας καί μάχης καιρόν κινούμεθα ὡς ἄνθρωποι πρός ὀργήν καί θυμόν, καί ἔσθ᾿ ὅτε καί ἀμυνόμεθα ἐν λόγοις καί αὐτοῖς ἔργοις τούς ἀδελφούς, ὕστερον δέ οὐκ ἔχομεν κατ᾿ αὐτῶν ἔχθραν ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ, ἀλλά πάντα ἀφίεμεν καί μάλιστα ἐάν καί συγχώρησιν πρός ἀλλήλους ποιήσωμεν", ἐοίκασί μοι ἀγράφῳ πυξίῳ ἐν ᾧ ὅταν λάβῃ καιρόν ὁ ἐχθρός καί πολέμιος τῶν ψυχῶν ἡμῶν ἐγγράφει δι᾿ αὐτῶν ἐκείνων τά πονηρά καί μιαρά αὐτοῦ δόγματα καί ὑπάγει· αὐτοί δέ (350) πάλιν τά ἅπερ ἔγραψαν ὑπό τοῦ πονηροῦ κινηθέντες ἐξαλείφοντες, οὐ προαιροῦνται ἐγγράψαι τά τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀντ᾿ αὐτῶν, ἵνα ἐλθών ὁ ὑπεναντίος εὑρήσῃ ἐγγεγραμμένας τάς πλάκας τῶν καρδιῶν αὐτῶν καί ἀποστραφῇ ἡττημένος καί κατῃσχυμένος, ἀλλ᾿ ὀκνηρίᾳ καί ῥᾳθυμίᾳ ἀγράφους ἕκαστος αὐτῶν ἐῶν ταύτας, ὅταν ἀποστείλῃ ὁ Κύριος γράψαι τά ἑαυτοῦ δόγματα ἔν τινι τῶν τοιούτων, εὐθύς ἐκεῖνοι γράφουσι προθύμως τά τοῦ ἐχθροῦ· καί τά μέν πικρά καί θανατηφόρα προσίενται, τά δέ ζωοποιά καί ὑπέρ μέλι γλυκέα ἐξ ἑαυτῶν ἀπωθοῦνται.

Ὁ μηδέν οὖν ἐπταικώς Κύριος ὁ Ἰησοῦς καί Θεός ἡμῶν ἐτύφθη, ἵνα οἱ μιμούμενοι αὐτόν ἁμαρτωλοί μή μόνον ἄφεσιν τῶν ἡμαρτημένων λάβωσιν, ἀλλά καί τῆς Θεόητος αὐτοῦ συγκοινωνοί διά τήν ὑπακοήν αὐτῶν γένωνται· καί ὁ μή τοῦτο ἐν ταπεινώσει καρδίας καταδεχόμενος, ὡς ἐπαισχυνόμενος τά τοῦ ∆εσπότου πάθη μιμήσασθαι, ἐπαισχυνθήσεται καί αὐτόν ὁ Χριστός ἐνώπιον τῶν ἀγγέλων καί τοῦ Πατρός αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. Τό δέ λεγόμενον τοιοῦτόν ἐστι· Θεός ὤν ἐκεῖνος ἐγένετο δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ἄνθρωπος. Ἐρραπίσθη, ἐνεπτύσθη καί ἐσταυρώθη, διδάσκων οἱονεί καί λέγων ἑκάστῳ ἡμῶν δι᾿ ὧν πέπονθεν ὁ ἀπαθής τῇ Θεότητι· "Ἐάν βούλῃ, φησίν, ἄνθρωπε, γενέσθαι Θεός καί ζωῆς ἐπιτυχεῖν αἰωνίου καί σύν ἐμοί εἶναι, οὗπερ ὁ σός πραπάτωρ ποτέ καλῶς ἐπιθυμήσας οὐκ ἔτυχεν, οὕτω ταπεινώθητι, ὡς ἐταπεινώθην ἐγώ διά σέ· καί ἀποθέμενος τό ἀλαζονικόν τε καί ὑπερήφανον τοῦ δαιμονιώδους φρονήματος, δέξαι ῥαπίσματα, δέξαι ἐμπτύσματα,