323

DISCOURSE 21.

Concerning meddlesomeness and stillness. Luke 10. Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things. But one thing is needful:

Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.

1 Thessalonians 4. Therefore I beseech you, brethren, to abound more and to aspire to be quiet, and to do your own things, and to work with your hands.

Job, 11. You will be quiet, and there will be no one to make war on you.

Job, 39. He scoffs at the tumult of the city; he does not hear the rebuke of the tax collector.

Sirach 11. Child, let not your doings be about many things; for if you multiply them, you shall not be innocent.

Of Basil. For just as wild beasts are easily overcome when they have been soothed; so also desires and angers and fears and griefs, the venomous evils of the soul, being calmed by stillness, and not made savage by continuous provocation, become more easily overcome by the power of reason.

Stillness, then, is the beginning of purification for the soul, when neither the tongue speaks the things of men, nor the eyes look about at the fair color and proportion of bodies, nor hearing relaxes the tone of the soul in listening to songs made for pleasure, nor to the words of witty and jesting men, which is especially apt to relax the tone of the soul.

For the mind, not being scattered on outward things, nor poured out upon the world by the senses, returns to itself; and through itself, it ascends to the thought of God; and being illumined and enlightened by that beauty, it even forgets its own nature, not dragging down the soul to the care of food, nor to anxiety for clothing; but having leisure from earthly cares, it transfers all its zeal to the acquisition of eternal goods, how temperance and courage may be perfected in it; and how justice and prudence, and the other virtues.

In those things that drag the soul and create the cares of life, to overcome by toilsome practice is impossible.

Of the Theologian. It is necessary to be still sometimes, so as to converse with God without disturbance; and to gather the mind a little from the things that lead it astray.

We observe one another's sins, not that we may lament, but that we may reproach; nor that we may heal, (852) but that we may strike an additional blow, and have the wounds of our neighbors as an excuse for our own evils.

Undisturbed stillness is more honorable than distinction in affairs.

Of Chrysostom. For a morsel of bread with salt in stillness and freedom from care is better than a spread of costly foods with distractions and anxieties.

323

ΛΟΓΟΣ ΚΑ´.

Περί πολυπραγματοσύνης καί ἡσυχίας. Λουκ. ι´. Μάρθα, Μάρθα, μεριμνᾷς καί τυρβάζῃ περί πολλά. Ἑνός δέ ἐστι χρεία·

Μαρία δέ τήν ἀγαθήν μερίδα ἐξελέξατο, ἥτις οὐκ ἀφαιρεθήσεται ἀπ᾿ αὐτῆς.

Α´Θεσσ.δ´. Παρακαλῶ οὖν ὑμᾶς ἀδελφοί, περισσεύειν μᾶλλον καί φιλοτιμεῖσθαι ἡσυχάζειν, καί πράσσειν τά ἴδια, καί ἐργάζεσθαι ταῖς χερσίν ὑμῶν.

Ἰώβ, ια΄ .Ἡσυχάσεις, καί οὐκ ἔσται ὁ πολεμῶν σε.

Ἰώβ, λθ´. Καταγελῶν πολυοχλίαν πόλεως, μέμψιν φορολόγου οὐκ ἀκούει.

Σιράχ ια´. Τέκνον, μή περί πολλά ἔστωσαν αἱ πράξεις σου· ἐάν γάρ πληθύνῃς, οὐκ ἀθῶος ἔσῃ.

Βασιλείου. Ὥσπερ γάρ τά θηρία εὐκαταγώνιστά εἰσι καταψηχθέντα· οὕτως ἐπιθυμίαι καί ὀργαί καί φόβοι καί λύπαι, τά ἰοβόλα τῆς ψυχῆς κακά, κατευνασθέντα διά τῆς ἡσυχίας, καί μή ἐξαγριαινόμενα τῷ συνεχεῖ ἐρεθισμῷ, εὐκαταγωνιστότερα τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ λόγου γίνεται.

Ἡσυχία οὖν ἀρχή καθάρσεως τῇ ψυχῇ, μήτε γλώσσης λαλούσης τά τῶν ἀνθρώπων, μήτε ὀφθαλμῶν εὐχροίας σωμάτων καί συμμετρίας περισκοπούντων, μήτε ἀκοῆς τόν τόνον τῆς ψυχῆς ἐκλυούσης ἐν ἀκροάσει μελῶν πρός ἡδονήν πεποιημένων· μήτε ῥήμασιν εὐτραπέλων καί γελοιαστῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὅ μαλιστα λύειν τῆς ψυχῆς τόν τόνον πέφυκεν.

Νοῦς μέν γάρ μή σκεδαννύμενος ἐπί τά ἔξω, μηδέ ὑπό τῶν αἰσθητηρίων ἐπί τόν κόσμον διαχεόμενος, ἐπάνεισι μέν πρός ἑαυτόν· δι᾿ ἑαυτοῦ δέ πρός τήν περί Θεοῦ ἔννοιαν ἀναβαίνει· κἀκείνῳ τῷ κάλλει περιλαμπόμενός τε καί ἐλλαμπόμενος, καί αὐτῆς τῆς φύσεως λήθην λαμβάνει, μήτε πρός τροφῆς φροντίδα, μήτε πρός περιβολαίων μέριμναν, τήν ψυχήν καθελκόμενος· ἀλλά σχολήν ἀπό τῶν γηΐνων φροντίδων ἄγων, τήν πᾶσαν ἑαυτοῦ σπουδήν ἐπί τήν κτῆσιν τῶν αἰωνίων ἀγαθῶν μετατίθησι, πῶς κατορθωθῇ αὐτῷ ἡ σωφροσύνη καί ἡ ἀνδρεία· πῶς δέ ἡ δικαιοσύνη καί ἡ φρόνησις, καί αἱ λοιπαί ἀρεταί.

Ἐν τοῖς ἕλκουσι τήν ψυχήν καί ἀσχολίας βιωτικάς ἐμποιοῦσιν, περιγενέσθαι τῆς ἐπιπόνου μελέτης, ἀμήχανον.

Θεολόγου. Χρή τι καί ἡσυχάζειν, ὥστε ἀθολώττως προσομιλεῖν τῷ Θεῷ· καί μικρόν τι συνάγειν τόν νοῦν ἀπό τῶν πλανώντων.

Τηροῦμεν τάς ἀλλήλων ἁμαρτίας, οὐχ ἵνα θρηνήσωμεν, ἀλλ᾿ ἵν᾿ ὀνειδίσωμεν· οὐδέ ἵνα θεραπεύσωμεν, (852) ἀλλ᾿ ἵνα προσπλήξωμεν, καί ἀπολογίαν ἔχωμεν τῶν ἡμετέρων κακῶν τά τῶν πλησίον τραύματα.

Ἡ ἀπράγμων ἡσυχία, τῆς ἐν πράγμασι περιφανείας τιμιωτέρα.

Χρυσοστ. Κρεῖσσον γάρ ψωμός ἐν ἅλατι μεθ᾿ ἡσυχίας καί ἀμεριμνίας, ἤ παράθεσις ἐδεσμάτων πολυτελῶν ἐν περισπασμοῖς καί μερίμναις.