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θ'. Each person must examine and understand himself, so as neither to trust in hope alone, without godly sorrow and spiritual humility, nor in humility and tears without the spiritual hope and joy that follow them.

ι'. There is a supposed humility that comes from negligence and sloth and from the severe condemnation of the conscience, which those who possess it consider an agent of salvation} but it is not, for it does not possess the joyful sorrow that is joined to it.

ια'. There is a sorrow apart from spiritual humility, and those who sorrow in this way consider it a purification for sins. And they are vainly deceived in thinking this} for they are deprived of the sweetness of the Spirit, which is mystically engendered in the noetic chamber of the soul, and they do not taste the goodness of the Lord} (424) for this reason such men are quickly kindled to anger and are not able to despise completely the world and the things in the world. And he who has not completely despised these things and acquired a hatred from the soul for them, can never acquire a sure and unhesitating hope of his salvation; but is always carried about here and there in doubt, not having laid his foundation upon the rock.

ιβ'. Sorrow is twofold in its energies and, as water, through tears it extinguishes all the flame of the passions and cleanses the soul from their pollution; but as fire, through the presence of the Holy Spirit it quickens and ignites and sets on fire and warms the heart and kindles it to the love and longing for God.

ιγ'. Look and learn the energies engendered in you by both humility and sorrow, and search out the benefit added to you hourly from them. And this is for beginners the putting away of every earthly care, detachment from and renunciation of all, parents, family and friends, freedom from anxiety and contempt for all possessions and money, not only up to a needle, but even up to the body itself.

ιδ'. In the way that someone extinguishes a furnace burning with flame by throwing dust on it, in the same way also the cares of life and every attachment to a worthless and very small thing destroys the warmth of the heart kindled in the beginning.

ιε'. He who has made a renunciation of external things and people and all things in this life in complete feeling of the heart with joy, and has taken forgetfulness of such things, having overcome attachment as if it were a wall, exists as a stranger to the world and to all things in the world, gathering his mind to himself and making his only meditation the (425) remembrance and thought of death; for this reason he is also always concerned about the things of judgment and recompense and is completely captivated by these things, being struck with an ineffable fear from such thoughts and from meditation on them.

ιστ'. Just as some condemned man wearing chains, so he who has conceived the fear of judgment in his depths becomes in the theater of this life. Hence indeed also, as if dragged by fear as by some executioner, he appears to be walking the path that leads to death, reckoning nothing else except only the pain and the anguish which he is about to undergo from the eternal punishment; and carrying this indelibly in his heart, the fear engendered from it does not at all permit him to care for human things; for as one already nailed to the wood and fiercely seized by pains unto death, so he continues always, not being permitted even to gaze upon the face of anyone, nor taking any account of the honor or dishonor of men; for holding himself from the heart worthy of all dishonor and contempt, he does not care for the insults brought against him.

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θ'. Σκοπεῖν ἑαυτόν ἕκαστον δεῖ καί κατανοεῖν τοῦ μήτε τῇ ἐλπίδι μόνῃ θαρρεῖν δίχα τοῦ κατά Θεόν πένθους καί πνευματικῆς ταπεινώσεως, μήτε τῇ ταπεινοφροσύνῃ καί τοῖς δακρύοις ἄνευ τῆς συνεπομένης τούτοις πνευματικῆς ἐλπίδος τε καί χαρᾶς.

ι'. Ἔστι νομιζομένη ταπείνωσις ἐξ ἀμελείας τε καί νωθρότητος καί τῆς τοῦ συνειδότος σφοδρᾶς καταγνώσεως, ἥν οἱ κεκτημένοι ὡς σωτηρίας λογίζονται πρόξενον} οὐκ ἔστι δέ, τό γάρ χαροποιόν πένθος ταύτῃ συνεζευγμένον οὐ κέκτηται.

ια'. Ἔστι πένθος πνευματικῆς ἐκτός ταπεινώσεως καί τοῦτο ὡς ἁμαρτημάτων καθαρτήριον οἱ οὕτως πενθοῦντες λογίζονται. Καί πλανῶνται ματαίως τοῦτο οἰόμενοι} τῆς γάρ τοῦ Πνεύματος γλυκύτητος ἀπεστέρηνται, τῆς μυστικῶς ἐν τῷ νοερῷ τῆς ψυχῆς ταμιείῳ ἐγγινομένης, καί τῆς χρηστότητος τοῦ Κυρίου οὐ γεύονται} (424) διό καί πρός ὀργήν ταχέως οἱ τοιοῦτοι ἐξάπτονται καί τοῦ κόσμου καί τῶν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ τέλεον καταφρονῆσαι οὐ δύνανται. Ὁ δέ μή τούτων τελείως καταφρονήσας καί μῖσος ἀπό ψυχῆς πρός ταῦτα κτησάμενος, οὐδέ τήν ἐλπίδα τῆς σωτηρίας αὐτοῦ βεβαίαν ποτέ καί ἀδίστακτον δύναται κτήσασθαι˙ ἀεί δέ ὧδέ τε κἀκεῖσε ἐν δισταγμῷ περιφέρεται, ἐπί τήν πέτραν μή καταβαλών τό θεμέλιον.

ιβ'. Τό πένθος διπλοῦν ταῖς ἐνεργείαις ἐστί καί, ὡς μέν ὕδωρ, διά τῶν δακρύων πᾶσαν σβεννύει τήν φλόγα τῶν παθῶν καί τήν ψυχήν ἐκκαθαίρει τοῦ ἐξ αὐτῶν μολυσμοῦ˙ ὡς δέ πῦρ, διά τῆς παρουσίας τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος ζωοποιεῖ καί ἀναφλέγει καί ἐκπυροῖ καί θερμαίνει τήν καρδίαν καί πρός ἔρωτα καί πόθον Θεοῦ ἐξάπτει αὐτήν.

ιγ'. Βλέπε καί καταμάνθανε τάς ἐν σοί ἐγγινομένας ἐνεργείας ὑπό τε τῆς ταπεινώσεως καί τοῦ πένθους, καί τήν ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐρεύνα προστιθεμένην σοι καθ᾿ ὥραν ὠφέλειαν. Ἔστι δέ αὕτη τοῖς εἰσαγωγικοῖς πάσης γηΐνης φροντίδος ἀπόθεσις, πάντων, γονέων, ἰδίων καί φίλων ἀπροσπάθεια καί ἀπάρνησις, πάντων πραγμάτων καί χρημάτων ἀμεριμνία καί καταφρόνησις, οὐ μέχρι ῥαφίδος μόνον, ἀλλά καί μέχρις αὐτοῦ τοῦ σώματος.

ιδ'. Ὅν τρόπον ἐν φλογί καιομένης καμίνου χοῦν ἐπιβαλών τις ταύτην σβεννύει, τόν αὐτόν τρόπον καί αἱ βιωτικαί μέριμναι καί πᾶσα προσπάθεια εὐτελοῦς καί σμικροτάτου πράγματος τήν ἀναφθεῖσαν ἐν ἀρχαῖς θέρμην τῆς καρδίας ἐξαφανίζει.

ιε'. Ὁ τήν τῶν ἔξωθεν πραγμάτων τε καί ἀνθρώπων καί πάντων τῶν ἐν τῷ βίῳ ποιησάμενος ἐν παντελεῖ καρδίας αἰσθήσει μετά χαρᾶς ἄρνησιν, καί λήθην λαβών τῶν τοιούτων, ὡς τεῖχος ὑπερβάς τήν προσπάθειαν, ὡς ξένος τοῦ κόσμου καί τῶν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ πάντων ὑπάρχει, συνάγων τόν νοῦν ἑαυτοῦ καί μόνην μελέτην ποιούμενος τήν (425) μνήμην τοῦ θανάτου καί ἔννοιαν˙ διό καί ἀεί τά περί κρίσεως καί ἀνταποδόσεως μεριμνᾷ καί ὅλως ἐν τούτοις αἰχμαλωτίζεται φόβῳ ἀρρήτῳ ἐκ τῶν τοιούτων ἐννοιῶν καί τῆς ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀδολεσχίας βαλλόμενος.

ιστ'. Ὥσπερ τις κατάδικος δεσμά περικείμενος ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ τοῦ τῇδε βίου γίνεται ὁ τόν φόβον τῆς κρίσεως εἰς βάθος ἐγκυμονήσας. Ἔνθεν τοι καί ὡς ὑπό δημίου τινός τοῦ φόβου συρόμενος καί τήν ἐπί θάνατον ἄγουσαν πορευόμενος φαίνεται, μηδέν λογιζόμενος ἕτερον εἰ μή τόν πόνον μόνον καί τήν ὀδύνην ἥν ὑποστῆναι μέλλει ἐκ τῆς τιμωρίας τῆς αἰωνίου˙ τοῦτον δέ ἀνεξάλειπτον φέρων ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ, ὁ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἐγγινόμενος φόβος οὐδέν ὅλως τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ἐᾷ μεριμνᾶν αὐτόν˙ ὡς γάρ ἤδη τῷ ξύλῳ προσηλωθείς καί ταῖς ὀδύναις σφοδρῶς πρός θάνατον συνεχόμενος, οὕτως ἀεί διατελεῖ, μηδέ ἀτενίσαι τούς ὀφθαλμούς εἰς πρόσωπόν τινος συγχωρούμενος, μηδέ τιμῆς ἤ ἀτιμίας ἀνθρώπων λόγον ποιούμενος˙ πάσης γάρ ἀτιμίας καί ἐξουδενώσεως ἄξιον ἑαυτόν ἀπό καρδίας ἔχων, τῶν ἐπιφερομένων ὕβρεων αὐτῷ οὐ φροντίζει.