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but they are terrible to them even by their mere appearance, for as soon as they appear, their enemies turn to flight, and those who have been wounded by them are immediately healed, bound and anointed by them, and are taught how they ought to approach such things, and with what sort of weapons and what kinds of devices. If the one who practices stillness, and the one who presides over others, and the one who teaches others does not know these things one by one, he is not one who practices stillness who seems to practice stillness, but sits in ignorance, only his body enclosed; nor is he one who presides who seems to preside, but walking on a road he does not know, or rather, outside the road, he will cast those who follow him, along with himself, into the abyss of eternal fire; nor is he a teacher of others who seems to teach, but a liar and a deceiver, because he does not have the true wisdom, our Lord Jesus Christ, within himself. And what should one say about binding and loosing for those who are in such a state, when even those who have the Paraclete within themselves forgiving sins shudder lest they do something against the will of the One who is in them and speaks through them? But who, being so mad and lifted to such a degree of audacity before receiving the Paraclete, would speak and do the works of the Spirit and, without the will of God, perform the things of God? Woe to those who dare these things on the fearful day of judgment, on which the incorruptible and impartial judge, the Lord, sits upon a throne and a fearful tribunal, rendering to each according to his works and thoughts and (382) words; to whom is due all glory, honor, and worship, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the unending ages of ages, amen.

Of our holy father Symeon the New Theologian, abbot of the monastery of St. Mamas of Xerokerkos, 100 practical and theological chapters. (383)

1. To those who see corporeally, God is nowhere, for He is invisible, but to those

who perceive spiritually He is everywhere, for He is present both in everything and outside of everything; in this way He is both near to those who fear Him, and His salvation is far from sinners.

2. The remembrance of Christ illumines the mind and drives out demons; and the light of the Holy Trinity, shining in a pure heart, detaches from the whole world, and makes its partaker to be filled already from this life with the glory to come, insofar as is possible for a man who is activated by grace from above, but is still hidden by the veil of the flesh.

3. If after the passing away of visible things nothing else exists, except God alone, and He is and will be, then certainly those who richly partake of His grace in this world, even if they are present on earth, are for the most part already joined to the age to come, and they even groan somehow, being weighed down by the shadow and the drag.

4. The Lord does not bless those who simply teach, but those who were first deemed worthy through the practice of the commandments to look up and to have beheld within themselves the illuminating (384) light of the Spirit flashing, and through it to have known in true vision and knowledge and activity of it the things about which one ought to speak and teach others; therefore, those who attempt to teach must first be so elevated, as has been said, so that by not speaking about things they do not know, they do not lead astray those who are persuaded by them, and destroy themselves as well.

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ἀλλά φοβεροί αὐτοῖς καί μόνῃ τῇ ἰδέᾳ εἰσίν μόνον γάρ ἀναφανέντων, εἰς φυγήν μέν τρέπονται οἱ τούτων ἐχθροί, οἱ δέ γε παρ᾿ ἐκείνων τρωθέντες εὐθύς θεραπεύονται, δεσμοῦνται καί ἐπαλείφονται παρ᾿ αὐτῶν καί διδάσκονται, πῶς δεῖ προσέρχεσθαι τοῖς τοιούτοις, ἐν ποίοις τε ὅπλοις καί μηχανήμασι ποταποῖς. Ταῦτα εἰ μή καθ᾿ ἕν ὁ ἡσυχάζων καί ὁ προεστώς ἄλλων καί ὁ διδάσκων ἑτέρους ἐπίσταται, οὔτε ἡσυχάζων ἐστίν ὁ δοκῶν ἡσυχάζειν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν ἀγνοίᾳ κάθηται, μόνον περικεκλεισμένος τό σῶμα οὔτε προεστώς ἐστιν ὁ δοκῶν προεστάναι, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν ὁδῷ ᾗ οὐκ ἐπίσταται, μᾶλλον δέ ἔξω τῆς ὁδοῦ, πορευόμενος, τούς ἀκολουθοῦντας αὐτῷ σύν αὐτῷ εἰς αἰωνίου πυρός κρημνόν ἀπορρίψει οὔτε διδάσκαλος ἄλλων ἐστίν ὁ διδάσκεν δοκῶν, ἀλλά ψεύστης καί πλάνος, ὅτι τήν ἀληθινήν σοφίαν, τόν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, οὐκ ἔχει ἐν ἑαυτῷ. Τί δέ χρή καί λέγειν περί τοῦ δεσμεῖν καί λύειν τούς οὕτως ἔχοντας, ὅπου γε καί οἱ τόν Παράκλητον ἔχοντες ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἀφιέντα τά ἁμαρτήματα φρίττουσι μή τι τῶν παρά γνώμην τοῦ ἐν αὐτοῖς ὄντος καί δι᾿ αὐτῶν λαλοῦντος ἐργάσωνται; Ἀλλά τίς οὕτω μανείς καί ἐπί τοσοῦτον θράσους ἀρθείς πρός τοῦ τόν Παράκλητον δέξασθαι εἴπῃ καί ποιήσει ἔργα τοῦ Πνεύματος καί ἄνευ γνώμης Θεοῦ τά τοῦ Θεοῦ διαπράξεται; Οὐαί τοῖς ταῦτα τολμῶσιν ἐν τῇ φοβερᾷ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς κρίσεως, ἐν ᾗ ὁ ἀδέκαστος καί ἀπαραλόγιστος κριτής Κύριος κάθηται ἐπί θρόνου καί βήματος φοβεροῦ, ἀποδιδούς ἑκάστῳ κατά τά ἔργα καί τάς ἐνθυμήσεις καί τούς (382) λόγους αὐτοῦ ᾧ πρέπει πᾶσα δόξα, τιμή καί προσκύνησις σύν τῷ πατρί καί τῷ Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι νῦν καί ἀεί καί εἰς τούς ἀτελευτήτους αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων ἀμήν.

Τοῦ ὁσίου πατρός ἡμῶν Συμεών τοῦ Νέου Θεολόγου, ἡγουμένου μονῆς τοῦ ἁγίου Μάμαντος τῆς Ξηροκέρκου, κεφάλαια πρακτικά καί θεολογικά ρ΄. (383)

α'. Θεός τοῖς μέν σωματικῶς ὁρῶσιν οὐδαμοῦ ἐστιν, ἀόρατος γάρ, τοῖς δέ

πνευματικῶς νοοῦσι πανταχοῦ ἐστι, πάρεστι γάρ ἐν γάρ τῷ παντί καί ἐκτός τοῦ παντός ἐστιν, ἐν τούτῳ καί ἐγγύς ἐστι τοῖς φοβουμένοις αὐτόν καί μακράν ἀπό ἁμαρτωλῶν ἡ σωτηρία αὐτοῦ.

β΄. Μνήμη Χριστοῦ φωτίζει τόν νοῦν καί δαίμονας ἐκδιώκει τό δέ φῶς τῆς Ἁγίας Τριάδος φαῖνον ἐν καθαρᾷ καρδίᾳ παντός ἀφιστᾷ τοῦ κόσμου καί τόν μέτοχον αὐτοῦ ἀπ᾿ ἐντεῦθεν ἤδη ἐμφορεῖσθαι ποιεῖ τῆς μελλούσης δόξης, καθόσον ἀνθρώπῳ χωρητόν τῷ ὑπό τῆς ἄνωθεν χάριτος ἐνεργουμένῳ, κρυπτομένῳ δέ εἰσέτι τῷ παραπετάσματι τῆς σαρκός.

γ'. Εἰ οὐδέν ἕτερον μετά τήν παρέλευσιν τῶν ὁρωμένων, εἰ μή μόνος ὁ Θεός ἐστι, καί ἔστι καί ἔσεται, πάντως οἱ τῆς αὐτοῦ χάριτος ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ τούτῳ πλουσίως μετέχοντες, εἰ καί τῇ γῇ πάρεισιν, ἀλλά τό πλεῖστον ἤδη τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι συνήφθησαν, οἵ καί στένουσί πως τῇ σκιᾷ καί τῷ ἐφολκίῳ βαρούμενοι.

δ΄. Ὁ Κύριος οὐ τούς ἁπλῶς διδάσκοντας μακαρίζει ἀλλά τούς πρότερον διά τῆς τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐργασίας ἀναβλέψαι ἀξιωθέντας καί θεασαμένους ἐν ἑαυτοῖς τό φωτίζον (384) φῶς τοῦ Πνεύματος ἀστράπτον καί δι᾿ αὐτοῦ γνόντας ἐν ἀληθινῇ τούτου ὁράσει καί γνώσει καί ἐνεργείᾳ τά περί ὧν εἰπεῖν καί ἄλλους διδάξαι χρή οὖν οὕτω πρῶτον, ὡς εἴρηται, ἀναχθῆναι τούς διδάσκειν ἐπιχειροῦντας, ἵνα μή περί ὧν οὐκ ἐπίστανται λέγοντες τούς πειθομένους αὐτοῖς καί ἑαυτούς πλανήσαντες ἀπολέσωσιν.