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the requests of the just; but by the one asking for this, the requests of the just; but by the one asking this of the just man, it makes him desist from his former wickedness, changing his disposition toward virtue.

QUESTION 58.

"In which you rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved [Fr. we have been grieved] by various trials." How can one who is grieved in trials rejoice in that by which he is grieved?

Response. The word of truth knows grief to be twofold: the one, invisibly, according to the soul; the

other, visibly constituted according to sensation. And the one encompasses the whole depth of the soul, which is tormented by the scourge of conscience; the other circumscribes all sensation, which is constricted from its natural diffusion by the weight of painful things. And the one is the end of pleasure according to sensation, the other of gladness (593) according to the soul. Or rather, the one is of willful states according to sensation, the other is the result of passions contrary to the will itself.

For grief, in my opinion, is a disposition deprived of pleasures. And the deprivation of pleasures is the introduction of pains. And pain is clearly a lack or retreat of a natural state; and a lack of a natural state is an affection of the power underlying the state according to nature; and an affection of the power underlying the state according to nature is the mode of misusing the natural energy; and the misuse of the mode in respect to energy is the movement of the power toward that which is not naturally constituted and existing.

And just as the word knows grief to be twofold, as I said, so also it understands the mode of trials to be twofold: the one, according to the will, the other, contrary to the will; and the one, the creator of voluntary pleasures; the other, the producer of involuntary pains. For the trial according to the will clearly constitutes voluntary pleasures according to choice; but the one contrary to the will manifestly inflicts involuntary pains contrary to choice; and the one is the cause of grief according to the soul; the other, of grief according to sensation.

Wherefore I think that our Lord and God, teaching his own disciples how they ought to pray, says to pray against the kind of trial that is according to the will: And lead us not into temptation, teaching his own disciples to pray not to be abandoned to experience trials that are, that is, pleasurable, willful, and voluntary. But the great James, called the brother of the Lord, teaching not to shrink from the kind of involuntary trials, says to those who contend for the truth, Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various trials; that is, involuntary trials that are contrary to the will and productive of pain. And they make it clear, for there the Lord adds: But deliver us from the evil one; and here the great James says, Knowing that the testing of our faith produces steadfastness; and let steadfastness have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. He is perfect who fights against voluntary trials through self-control and endures involuntary trials through steadfastness; and he is complete who accomplishes both practice with knowledge and contemplation that is not inactive.

For since both grief and pleasure are divided into what pertains to the soul and to sensation, he who acquires the pleasure of the soul, while accepting the grief of sensation, becomes approved and perfect and complete. Approved, on the one hand, through the experience of the things according to

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τά τῶν δικαίων αἰτήματα· ὑπό δέ τοῦ ταύτην αἰτουμένου δικαίων αἰτήματα· ὑπό δέ τοῦ ταύτην αἰτουμένου τόν δίκαιον, τῆς προτέρας αὐτόν μοχθηρίας ἀφίστησι, μεταβάλλουσα πρός ἀρετήν αὐτοῦ τήν διάθεσιν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΝΗ΄.

" Ἐν ᾧ ἀγαλλιᾶσθε ὀλίγον ἄρτι, εἰ δέον ἐστί λυπηθέντας ὑμᾶς [Fr.ἡμᾶς] ἐν ποικίλοις πειραμοῖς." Πῶς τις λυπούμενος ἐν πειρασμοῖς, δύναται ἀγαλλιᾶσθαι ἐν ᾧ λυπεῖται.

Ἀπόκρισις. Τήν λύπην διττήν οἶδε τῆς ἀληθείας ὁ λόγος· τήν μέν, κατά ψυχήν ἀφανῶς· τήν

δέ, κατ' αἴσθησιν φανερῶς συνισταμένην· καί τήν μέν, ὅλον τῆς ψυχῆς τό βάθος περιλαμβάνουσαν, τῇ μάστιγι τῆς συνειδήσεως αἰκιζόμενον· τήν δέ, πᾶσαν τήν αἴσθησιν περιγράφουσαν, τῷ βάρει τῶν ἀλγεινῶν συστελλομένην τῆς φυσικῆς διαχύσεως. Καί τήν μέν, τῆς κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ἡδονῆς, τήν δέ, τῆς κατά ψυχήν (593) εὐφροσύνης τέλος ὑπάρχουσαν. Μᾶλλον δέ, τήν μέν, τῶν κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν γνωμικῶν, τήν δέ, τῶν κατ᾿ αὐτήν συμπέρασμα παρά γνώμην παθῶν τυγχάνουσαν.

Λύπη γάρ ἐστι, κατ᾿ ἐμέ φάναι, διάθεσις ἡδονῶν ἐστερημένη. Στέρησις δέ καθέστηκεν ἡδονῶν, πόνων ἐπαγωγή. Πόνος δέ σαφῶς ἐστι φυσικῆς ἕξεως ἔλλειψις, ἤ ὑποχώρησις· ἔλλειψις δέ φυσικῆς ἕξεώς ἐστι, πάθος τῆς κατά φύσιν ὑποκειμένης τῇ ἕξει δυνάμεως· πάθος δέ τῆς κατά φύσιν ὑποκειμένης τῇ ἕξει δυνάμεώς ἐστιν, ὁ κατά τήν παράχρησιν τῆς φυσικῆς ἐνεργείας τρόπος· παράχρησις δέ τοῦ κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν τρόπου καθέστηκεν, ἡ πρός τό μή πεφυκός κατά φύσιν, καί ὑφιστάμενον τῆς δυνάμεως κίνησις.

Ὥσπερ δέ τήν λύπην διττήν, ὡς ἔφην, οἶδεν ὁ λόγος, οὕτω καί τῶν πειρασμῶν διττόν ἐπίσταται τόν τρόπον· τόν μέν, κατά γνώμην, τόν δέ, παρά γνώμην· καί τόν μέν, ἑκουσίων ἡδονῶν δημιουργόν· τόν δέ, ἀκουσίων ὀδυνῶν ἐπακτικόν. Ὁ γάρ κατά γνώμην πειρασμός, τάς κατά προαίρεσιν ἑκουσίους σαφῶς συνίστησιν ἡδονάς· ὁ δέ παρά γνώμην, προδήλως τούς ἀκουσίους παρά προαίρεσιν ἐφίστησι πόνους· καί ὁ μέν, τῆς κατά ψυχήν· ὁ δέ, τῆς κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν λύπης καθέστηκεν αἴτιος.

Ὅθεν οἶμαι τόν Κύριον ἡμῶν καί Θεόν, πῶς δεῖ προσεύχεσθαι τούς οἰκείους διδάσκοντα μαθητάς, πρός τό, τό κατά γνώμην εἶδος τῶν πειρασμῶν ἀπεύχεσθαι φάσκειν· Καί μή εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν, τῶν ἡδονικῶν δηλονότι καί γνωμικῶν καί ἑκουσίων πειρασμῶν, μή ἐγκαταλειφῆναι πεῖραν λαβεῖν εὔχεσθαι τούς οἰκείους διδάσκοντα μαθητάς. Τόν δέ μέγαν Ἰάκωβον τόν τοῦ Κυρίου λεγόμενον ἀδελφόν, πρός τό τῶν ἀκουσίων πειρασμῶν εἶδος διδάσκοντα μή συστέλλεσθαι, τούς ὑπέρ ἀληθείας ἀγωνιζομένους φάναι, Πᾶσαν χαράν ἡγήσασθε, ἀδελφοί μου, ὅταν πειρασμοῖς περιπέσητε ποικίλοις· δηλονότι τοῖς ἀκουσίοις καί παρά γνώμην, καί πόνων ποιητικοῖς πειρασμοῖς· καί δηλοῦσι σαφῶς, ἐκεῖ μέν ἐπάγων ὁ Κύριος· Ἀλλά ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ἀπό τοῦ πονηροῦ· ἐνταῦθα δέ ὁ μέγας Ἰάκωβος, Γινώσκοντες ὅτι τό δοκίμιον ἡμῶν τῆς πίστεως κατεργάζεται ὑπομονήν· ἡ δέ ὑπομονή ἔργον τέλειον ἐχέτω· ἵνα ἦτε τέλειοι, καί ὁλόκληροι, ἐν μηδενί λειπόμενοι. Τέλειός ἐστιν, ὁ τοῖς ἑκουσίοις δι᾿ ἐγκρατείας μαχόμενος, καί τοῖς ἀκουσίοις δι᾿ ὑπομονῆς ἐγκαρτερῶν πειρασμοῖς καί ὁλόκληρός ἐστιν, ὁ καί τήν πρᾶξιν μετά γνώσεως, καί τήν θεωρίαν οὐκ ἄπρακτον διανύων.

∆ιῃρημένης γάρ εἰς ψυχήν τε καί αἴσθησιν τῆς τε λύπης καί τῆς ἡδονῆς· ὁ τήν τῆς ψυχῆς περιποιούμενος ἡδονήν, τήν δέ τῆς αἰσθήσεως καταδεχόμενος λύπην, δόκιμος γίνεται καί τέλειος καί ὁλόκληρος. ∆όκιμος μέν, διά τήν πεῖραν τῶν κατ᾿