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is meek and lowly in heart," he does not have a troubled heart; for he imitates Jesus. But he who imitates Jesus is outside of all turmoil. And as long as he does not have this turmoil, his strength remains with him, so that he can say: "I can do all things through him who strengthens me," and: "I will love you, O Lord, my strength." 11 and the light of my eyes, it also is not with me. The light of my eyes has become far from me. But the light of the true eyes that see sharply is the knowledge of the truth; for it is said: "Light for yourselves a light of knowledge." That the saying is not about these eyes nor about sensible light, hear the one who says: "the commandment of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes." Certainly the keeping of the clear commandment enlightens the eyes of the inner man; for many have sharp sight and are transgressors of the Lord's commandment, and otherwise they keep it and being contained by it they are dim in their sight. Therefore it is not said entirely about the eyes that: "and the light of my eyes is not with me." But it has left me, since I myself turned away from it, since I myself did not keep it abiding with me. 266 "My heart was troubled, my strength has left me." When the intellectual faculty endures turmoil, strength becomes far away; for when the intellect is strengthened and the mind is made precise, strength is present for one so disposed, as to say: "I can do all things through him who strengthens me." "I will love you, O Lord, my strength." But one is abandoned by this strength, if one endures turmoil in the heart, if one has troubled thoughts. Therefore one must be on guard not to give "a place to the devil" who suggests the turmoils, so that our strength may remain and we might be able to say: "The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation." "and the light of my eyes is not with me." When the heart is troubled, the strength appropriate to the heart also leaves, and the light itself is not with the one who has suffered these things; for it is necessary "to sow in righteousness and to reap for the fruit of life," in order that "having lit for yourselves a light of knowledge" . Therefore when the heart is troubled, the strength that empowers the inner man also becomes distant, and the very light of the eyes that illuminates the inner man abandons this one who has given himself over to darkness and ignorance. 12 My friends and my neighbors have drawn near from opposite sides and have stood still. Such things happen to occur in times of adversity. And so Job, finding himself in adversity, said such things: "But my friends have become pitiless, they have known others rather than me." And in the wisdom literature it is written that friends are only present then and demonstrate and demand the things of friends, when the one they supposedly love is in prosperity. But when his external circumstances fall into some perversity, then they become distant. For there are three kinds of friendship. There is friendship for its own sake, when nothing else is pursued other than beauty or virtue. But if it is for the sake of something, it is wealth. This friendship will cease when those things are absent, and so will the friendship. This friendship is said to be the second kind. It comes into being for the sake of utility. And a third kind of friendship, pleasure. Many were pleased to be friends of monks, not in order to be monks, but in order to say that: "The monks love me." And others of the wealthy, expecting nothing from them, but sometimes even giving to them in addition. It is possible to call the neighbor friend or the friend neighbor interchangeably. And so my neighbors by proximity, my brothers by kinship. Eperch.: and must this be taken in a physical sense? -but if you were to say it spiritually-and there are also friends and relatives in the spirit-, consider: when someone diminishes himself and is no longer such a person, those whom he had as friends before are estranged from him, because he is less than himself, that I may not say, that he has become worthless; for what follows is no longer reported as about a worthless person or by a worthless person. One who has troubled his heart is not completely cast out; for another is the one who

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πραύς ἐστιν καὶ ταπεινὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ", οὐκ ἔχει τεταραγμένην τὴν καρδίαν· μιμεῖται γὰρ τὸν Ἰησοῦν. ὁ δὲ μιμούμενος τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἔξω πάσης ἐστὶν ταραχῆς. ἕως δὲ οὐκ ἔχει τὴν ταραχὴν ταύτην, παραμένει αὐτῷ ἡ ἰσχὺς, ὥστε λέγειν· "πάντα ἰσχύω ἐν τῷ ἐνδυναμοῦντί με", καί· "ἀγαπήσω σε, κύριε, ἡ ἰσχύς μου". 11 καὶ τὸ φῶς τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν μου καὶ αὐτὸ οὐκ ἔστιν μετ' ἐμοῦ. τὸ φῶς τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν μου μακράν μου γέγονεν. φῶς δὲ τῶν ἀληθινῶν ὀφθαλμῶν τῶν ὀξὺ καθορώντων ἡ γνῶσις τῆς ἀληθείας ἐστίν· εἴρηται γ̣άρ̣· "φωτίσατε ἑαυτοῖς φῶς γνώσεως". ὅτι οὐ περὶ τούτων τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν οὐδὲ τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ φωτὸς ὁ λόγος, ἄκουε τοῦ λέγοντος· "ἡ ἐντολὴ κυρίου τηλαυγής, φωτίζουσα ὀφθαλμούς". πάντως ἡ τήρησις τῆς τηλαυγοῦς ἐντολῆς τοὺς τοῦ ἔσω ἀνθρώπου φωτίζει ὀφθαλμούς· πολλοὶ γάρ εἰσιν ὀξὺ καθορῶντε̣ς καὶ π̣αραβάται τῆς ἐντολῆς εἰσιν τοῦ κυρίου, καὶ ἄλλως φυλάττουσιν αὐτὴν καὶ περιεχόμενο̣ι αὐτὴν ἀμβλεῖς εἰσιν κατὰ τὴν ὄψιν. οὐ πάντως οὖν περὶ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν λέγεται ὅτι· "καὶ τὸ φῶς τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν μου οὐκ ἔστιν μετ' ἐμοῦ". ἀφῆκέν με δέ, ἐπεὶ ἐγὼ αὐτὸ ἀπεστράφην, ἐπεὶ αὐτὸ ἐγω`̣ οὐκ ἐφύλαξα παράμονόν μοι. 266 "ἡ καρδία μου ἐταράχθη, ἐνκατέλιπέν με ἡ ἰσχύς μου". ὅταν τάραχον τὸ διανοητικὸν ὑπομείνῃ, ἡ ἰσχὺς μακρὰν γίνεται· ἐρρωμένης γὰρ τῆς διανοίας καὶ τοῦ νοῦ ἠκριβωμένου ἰσχὺς πρόσεστιν τῷ οὕτω δι̣α̣τεθέντι, ὡς εἰπεῖν· "πάντα ἰσχύω ἐν τῷ ἐνδυναμοῦντί με". "ἀγαπήσω σε, κύριε, ἡ ἰσχύς μου". ἐνκαταλείπεται δέ τις ὑπὸ ταύτης τῆς ἰσχύος, ἐὰν τάραχον ὑπομείνῃ ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ, ἐὰν λογισμοὺς σχῇ ταραχώδεις. διὸ φυλακτέον μὴ διδόναι "τόπον τῷ διαβόλῳ" τῷ ὑποβάλλοντι τὰς ταραχάς, ἵνα ἰσχὺς ἡμῶν παραμείνῃ καὶ δυνηθῶμεν εἰπεῖν· "ἰσχύς μου καὶ ὕμνησίς μου κύριος καὶ ἐγένετό μοι εἰς σωτηρίαν". "καὶ τὸ φῶς τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν μου οὐκ ἔστιν μετ' ἐμοῦ". ὅταν ἡ καρδία ταραχθῇ, καὶ ἡ κατάλληλος τῇ καρδίᾳ ἰσχὺς ἐνκαταλείπει, καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ φῶς οὐκ ἔστιν μετὰ τοῦ ταῦτα παθόντος· δεῖ γὰρ "σπεῖραι εἰς δικαιοσύνην καὶ τρυγῆσαι εἰς καρπὸν ζωῆς", ἵνα "φωτίσαντες ἑαυτοῖς φῶς γνώσεως" . ὅταν τοίνυν ταραχθῇ ἡ καρδία, καὶ ἡ ἰσχὺς ἡ ἐνδυναμοῦσα τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον πόρρω γίνεται, καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν φῶς τὸ φωτίζον τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον ἐνκαταλείπει τοῦτον ἑαυτὸν σκότῳ καὶ ἀγνοίᾳ παραδεδωκότα. 12 οἱ φίλοι μου καὶ οἱ πλησίον μου ἐξ ἐναντίας ἤγγισαν καὶ ἔστησαν. συμβαίνει τοιαῦτα γίνεσθαι ἐν τοῖς περιστατικοῖς καιροῖς. καὶ ὁ Ἰὼβ γοῦν γενάμενος ἐν περιστάσει ἔλεγεν τοιαῦτα· "φίλοι δέ μου ἀνελεήμονες γεγόνασιν, ἔγνωσαν ἀλλο τρίους ἢ ἐμέ". καὶ ἐν ταῖς σοφίαις γέγραπται ὅτι οἱ φίλοι τότε μόνον πάρεισιν καὶ τὰ φίλων ἐπιδείκνυνται καὶ ἀπαιτοῦσιν, ὅταν ἐν εὐετηρίᾳ ᾖν ὃν δῆθεν φιλοῦσιν. ὅταν δὲ γένηται ἔν τινι διαστροφῇ τὰ κατ' αὐτόν, τὰ ἐκτός, τότε ἐκεῖνοι πόρρω γίνονται. τρία γὰρ εἴδη φιλίας ἐστίν. ἔστιν φιλία ἡ κατ' αὐτό, ὅταν μηδενὸς ἄλλου μεταδιώκηται ἢ καλλονῆς ἢ ἀρετῆς. ἐὰν δὲ διά τι ᾖν, τὸ πλοῦτος. αὕτη ἡ φιλία ἐκείνων ἀπόντων πεπαύσεται καὶ ἡ φιλία. λέγεται δὲ αὕτη ἡ φιλία δεύτερον εἶδος οὖσα. τοῦ χρησίμου ἕνεκα γίνεται. καὶ τρίτον εἶδος φιλίας, τὸ ἡδύ. πολλοὶ ἥδοντο φίλοι εἶναι μοναχῶν, οὐχ ἵνα μοναχοὶ ὦσιν, ἀλλ' ἵνα λέγωσιν ὅτι· "οἱ μονάζοντές με φιλοῦσιν". καὶ ἄλλοι πλουσίων οὐδὲν παρ' αὐτῶν προσδοκῶντες, ἀλλ' ἐνίοτε καὶ προσεπιδιδόντες αὐτοῖς. δύναται ἐκ παραλλήλου τὸν πλησίον φίλον λέγειν ἢ τὸν φίλον πλησίον. καὶ οὕτως οἱ πλησίον κατ' ἀνχιστείαν, κατὰ συγγένειαν οἱ ἀδελφοί μου. ἐπερ · καὶ ἐπὶ σωματικῶν λημπτέον τοῦτο; -εἰ δὲ λέγοις αὐτὸ πνευματικῶς-εἰσὶν δὲ καὶ κατὰ πνεῦμα φίλοι καὶ συγγενεῖς-, σκόπει· ὅταν τις ἐλαττώσῃ ἑαυτὸν καὶ μηκέτι ᾖν τοιοῦτος, οὓς εἶχεν πρότερον φίλους ἀλλοτριοῦνται αὐτοῦ, ὅτι ἐλάττων ἑαυτοῦ, ἵνα μὴ εἴπω, ὅτι φαῦλος γέγονεν· τὰ γὰρ ἑξῆς οὐκέτι ὡς περὶ φαύλου ἢ ὑπὸ φαύλου ἀπαγγέλλεται. ὅλως ταράξας τὴν καρδίαν οὔκ ἐστιν ἐξώβλητος· ἄλλος γάρ ἐστιν ὁ