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43. Let us abandon all things upon the earth, not only wealth and gold and the other materials of life, but let us also completely drive away from our souls the desire for them. Let us hate not only the pleasures of the body, but also its irrational movements, and let us be zealous to mortify it through labors; for through this the things of desire are activated and brought into action, and while it is alive, it is altogether necessary for our soul to be dead and sluggish toward every commandment of God, or even completely immobile.

44. Just as the flame of a fire is always lifted on high, as if you were to turn the matter from which it is kindled, so also the heart of the vainglorious cannot be humbled, but if you should tell him the things for his benefit, he is lifted up more and more. For being reproved or even admonished, he contradicts vehemently; being praised or even encouraged, he is wickedly exalted.

45. A man who has practiced contradicting is a two-edged sword for himself, unwittingly slaying his own soul and making it a stranger to eternal life.

46. He who contradicts is like one who willingly makes himself a captive to the opposing enemies of the king. For contradiction is a hook, having self-justification as bait, through which, being deceived, we swallow the hook of sin, (395) by which the wretched soul is wont to be seized, as by the tongue and the throat, by the spirits of wickedness, and sometimes to be led up to the height of pride, and other times to be plunged into the chaos of the abyss of sin and to be condemned with those who have fallen from heaven.

47. He who is dishonored or insulted and greatly grieved in his heart let him know from this that he carries the ancient serpent in his bosom. If, then, he endures it with silence or answers with great humility, he has rendered it weak and feeble. But if he contradicts with bitterness or even speaks with audacity, he has given strength to the serpent to pour its venom into his heart and to devour his inner parts savagely, so that from then on, being strengthened each day, it makes a meal of the correction toward good and the strength of this wretched soul, and so that he lives from then on for sin, but is completely dead to righteousness.

48. If you wish to renounce the world and be taught the evangelical way of life, do not give yourself over to an inexperienced or impassioned teacher, lest instead of the evangelical way of life you be taught a diabolical one, because from good teachers come good lessons, and from bad ones, bad lessons; and from evil seeds, the crops are certainly evil.

49. With prayers and tears beseech God to send you a guide who is dispassionate and holy. And you yourself also search the divine scriptures, especially the practical writings of the holy fathers, so that by comparing with these the things we are taught by your teacher and superior, you are able to see and understand these things as in a mirror, and to embrace those things that agree with the divine scriptures and hold them in your mind, but to discern and send away those that are spurious and foreign, so that you may not be led astray. For know that (396) many deceivers and false teachers have arisen in these days.

50. Everyone who does not see, but promises to guide others, is a deceiver and puts those who follow him into a pit of destruction according to the voice of the Lord: "If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit."

51. He who is blind to the one is completely blind to all things, but he who sees in the one is in contemplation of all things. And he abstains completely from contemplation, and comes to be in the contemplation of all things, and is outside the things contemplated. Being in the one, this man sees all things, and being in all things, he sees none of all things.

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μγ΄. Καταλείψωμεν πάντα τά ἐπί τῆς γῆς, μή πλοῦτον μόνον καί χρυσόν καί τάς ἄλλας ὕλας τοῦ βίου, ἀλλά καί τήν ἐπιθυμίαν τήν πρός αὐτά τέλεον ἀπό τῶν ψυχῶν ἡμῶν ἀπελάσωμεν. Μισήσωμεν μή τάς ἡδονάς μόνον τοῦ σώματος, ἀλλά καί τάς ἀλόγους κινήσεις αὐτοῦ, καί νεκρῶσαι τοῦτο διά πόνων σπουδάσωμεν διά τοῦτο γάρ ἐνεργοῦνται τά τῆς ἐπιθυμίας καί εἰς ἔργον ἐξάγονται, καί ζῶντος αὐτοῦ, ἀνάγκη πᾶσα νεκράν τήν ψυχήν ἡμῶν εἶναι καί δυσκίνητον πρός πᾶσαν Θεοῦ ἐντολήν ἤ καί παντελῶς ἀκίνητον.

μδ΄. Καθάπερ ἡ φλόξ τοῦ πυρός εἰς ὕψος ἀεί αἴρεται, ὡς ἐάν στρέψῃς τήν ὕλην ἀφ᾿ ἧς ἀνάπτεται, οὕτω καί ἡ τοῦ κενοδόξου καρδία ταπεινωθῆναι οὐ δύναται, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ἐάν εἴπῃς αὐτῷ τά τῆς ὠφελείας αὐτοῦ, μᾶλλον καί μᾶλλον ἐπαίρεται ἐλεγχόμενος γάρ ἤ καί νουθετούμενος, ἀντιλέγει σφοδρῶς, ἐπαινούμενος ἤ καί παρακαλούμενος, ἀνυψοῦται κακῶς.

με΄. Ἄνθρωπος μεμελετηκώς ἀντιλέγειν ἑαυτῷ δίστομός ἐστι μάχαιρα, ἀναιρῶν ἀγνώστως τήν ἰδίαν ψυχήν καί τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς ἀλλότριον αὐτήν ἐργαζόμενος.

μστ΄. Ὁ ἀντιλέγων ὅμοιός ἐστι τῷ ἑκουσίως ἔκδοτον ἑαυτόν ποιοῦντι τοῖς ὑπεναντίοις τοῦ βασιλέως ἐχθροῖς. Ἡ γάρ ἀντιλογία ἁρπάγιόν ἐστι, δέλεαρ ἔχον τήν δικαιολογίαν, δι᾿ ἧς ἀπατώμενοι, τό ἄγκιστρον καταπίνομεν τῆς ἁμαρτίας, (395) ὑφ᾿ οὗ καί ἁρπάζεται εἴωθεν, ὡς ἀπό τῆς γλώττης καί τοῦ λαιμοῦ, ὑπό τῶν πνευμάτων τῆς πονηρίας ἡ ἀθλία ψυχή καί ποτέ μέν εἰς ὕψος ὑπερηφανίας ἀνάγεσθαι, ποτέ δέ εἰς χάος ἀβύσσου ἁμαρτίας καταποντίζεσθαι καί μετά τῶν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἐκπεπτωκότων καταδικάζεσθαι.

μζ΄. Ὁ ἀτιμαζόμενος ἤ ὑβριζόμενος καί σφόδρα ἀλγῶν τήν καρδίαν γινωσκέτω ἐκ τούτου ὅτι τόν παλαιόν ὄφιν περιφέρει ἐγκόλπιον. Εἰ μέν οὖν μετά σιωπῆς ὑπομείνῃ ἤ μετά πολλῆς ἀποκριθήσεται ταπεινώσεως, ἀσθενῆ τοῦτον καί ἐκλελυμένον εἰργάσατο. Εἰ δέ μετά πικρίας ἀντείπῃ ἤ καί λαλήσῃ μετά θρασύτητος, δέδωκεν ἰσχύν τῷ ὄφει τόν ἰόν ἐκχέαι ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ καί ἀνημέρως τά ἐντός αὐτοῦ κατεσθίειν, ὡς ἐντεῦθεν καθ᾿ ἑκάστην ἐνδυναμούμενον αὐτόν κατάβρωμα ποιεῖσθαι τήν ἐπ᾿ ἀγαθοῖς διόρθωσιν καί ἰσχύν τῆς ἀθλίας τούτου ψυχῆς, καί ζῆν μέν αὐτόν ἔκτοτε τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, νεκρόν δέ παντελῶς εἶναι τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ.

μη΄. Ἐάν ἀποτάξασθαι βουληθῇς καί τήν εὐαγγελικήν πολιτείαν ἐκδιδαχθῆναι, μή ἀπείρῳ μηδέ ἐμπαθεῖ διδασκάλῳ ἑαυτόν ἐκδῷς, ἵνα μή ἀντί εὐαγγελικῆς διαβολικήν πολιτείαν ἐκδιδαχθῇς, ἐπειδή καλῶν μέν διδασκάλων καλά τά μαθήματα, κακῶν δέ κακά καί σπερμάτων πονηρῶν πάντως πονηρά τά γεώργια.

μθ΄. Εὐχαῖς καί δάκρυσι τόν Θεόν καθικέτευσον πέμψαι σοι ὁδηγόν ἀπαθῆ τε καί ἅγιον ἐρεύνα δέ καί αὐτός τάς θείας γραφάς, μάλιστα τάς τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων πρακτικάς συγγραφάς, ἵνα ταύταις ἀντιπαρατιθείς τά παρά τοῦ διδασκάλου καί προεστῶτός σοι διδασκόμεθα, ὡς ἐν κατόπτρῳ βλέπειν δύνασαι ταῦτα καί καταμανθάνειν, καί τά μέν συνᾴδοντα ταῖς θείαις γραφαῖς ἐγκολποῦσθαι καί κατέχειν τῇ διανοίᾳ, τά δέ νόθα καί ἀλλότρια διακρίνειν καί ἀποπέμπεσθαι, ἵνα μή πλανηθῇς. Πολλοί γάρ, (396) ἴσθι, πλάνοι καί ψευδοδιδάσκαλοι ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ταύταις γεγόνασιν.

ν΄. Πᾶς ὁ μή βλέπων, ἄλλους δέ ὁδηγεῖν ὑπισχνούμενος, πλάνος ἐστί καί τούς ἑπομένους αὐτῷ εἰς βόθρον ἀπωλείας ἐντίθησι κατά τήν τοῦ Κυρίου φωνήν «Τυφλός τυφλόν ἐάν ὁδηγῇ, ἀμφότεροι εἰς βόθυνον ἐμπεσοῦνται».

να΄. Ὁ τυφλός πρός τό ἕν τυφλός ὅλως πρός πάντα ἐστίν, ὁ δέ βλέπων ἐν τῷ ἑνί ἐν θεωρίᾳ τῶν πάντων ἐστί τῆς θεωρίας τε πάντως ἀπέχεται, καί ἐν τῇ θεωρίᾳ τῶν πάντων γίνεται, καί τῶν θεωρουμένων ἔξω ἐστίν ἐν τῷ ἑνί οὗτος ὤν τά πάντα ὁρᾷ, καί ἐν πᾶσιν ὤν οὐδέν τῶν πάντων ὁρᾷ.