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and of anger likewise. For example, long-suffering and not remembering wrongs and meekness, check it, and do not allow it to grow; but love and almsgiving and kindness and philanthropy, lead it to diminution.
48. He whose mind is always towards God, his desire also has grown exceedingly into divine love; and his whole anger has been transformed into divine love. For through long participation in the divine illumination, having become entirely full of light, and having drawn its passionate part to itself, it has turned it into unceasing divine love, as has been said, and unending charity, having wholly transferred it from earthly things to the divine.
49. Not everyone who does not envy, nor is angry, nor bears a grudge against the one who has caused him pain, already has love for him. For it is possible, though not yet loving, (1001) not to return evil for evil, because of the commandment; but it is not yet in every case possible to return good for evil without constraint. For to do good from one's disposition to those who hate us, belongs only to perfect spiritual love.
50. He who does not love someone does not in every case also hate him; nor again, he who does not hate, does not in every case also love. But it is possible to be in a middle state towards him; that is, neither to love nor to hate. For only the five ways mentioned in the ninth chapter of this century are naturally constituted to produce the disposition of love, both the praiseworthy and the intermediate, and the blameworthy.
51. When you see your mind gladly occupied with material things, and lingering on the thoughts of these things, know that you love these things more than God. For where your treasure is, says the Lord, there your heart will be also.
52. The mind that is united with God, and abides in Him through prayer and love, becomes wise and good and powerful and philanthropic and merciful and long-suffering; and, simply put, it carries within itself almost all the divine properties. But withdrawing from Him [Ft. departing], and cleaving to material things, it either becomes beast-like, having become a lover of pleasure; or bestial, fighting with men for these things.
53. Scripture calls material things the world; and worldly are those who occupy their mind with these things, to whom it also says rather reproachfully: Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. The desire of the flesh, and the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not from God; but is from the world, and so on.
54. A monk is one who has separated his mind from material things; and through self-control and love and psalmody and prayer perseveres with God.
55. A herdsman, in the spiritual sense, is the man of practical virtue; for moral achievements take the place of cattle; wherefore Jacob also said: Your servants are herdsmen. But a shepherd of sheep is the man of knowledge. For thoughts take the place of sheep, being shepherded by the mind to the mountains of contemplation. For this reason also, Every shepherd of sheep is an abomination to the Egyptians, that is, to the opposing powers.
56. The evil mind, when the body is moved through the senses towards its own desires and pleasures, follows along, and consents to its fantasies and impulses; but the virtuous mind practices self-control, and restrains itself from passionate fantasies and impulses, and rather philosophizes to make such movements of his better.
(1004) 57. Of the virtues, some are of the body, and some of the soul. And the bodily virtues are, for example, fasting, vigil, sleeping on the ground, service, manual labor so as not to be a burden to anyone, or for giving to others, and so on. But the spiritual virtues are, for example, love, long-suffering, meekness, self-control, prayer, and so on. If therefore from some necessity, or bodily circumstance, such as illness, or something of that kind, it happens that we do not
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τοῦ θυμοῦ δέ ὁμοίως. Οἷον, μακροθυμία καί ἀμνησικακία καί πραότης, ἱστῶσιν αὐτόν, καί οὐκ ἐῶσιν αὔξειν· ἀγάπη δέ καί ἐλεημοσύνη καί χρηστότης καί φιλανθρωπία, εἰς μείωσιν ἄγουσιν.
μη΄. Οὗτινος ὁ νοῦς διαπαντός ἐστι πρός Θεόν, τούτου καί ἡ ἐπιθυμία εἰς τόν θεῖον ὑπερηύξησεν ἔρωτα· καί ὁ θυμός ὁλοστός εἰς τήν θείαν μετετράπη ἀγάπην. Τῇ γάρ χρονίᾳ τῆς θείας ἐλλάμψεως μετουσίᾳ, ὅλος φωτοειδής γεγονώς, καί τό παθητικόν αὐτοῦ μέρος πρός ἑαυτόν συσφίγξας, εἰς ἔρωτα θεῖον, ὡς εἴρηται, ἀκατάληκτον, καί ἀγάπης ἀκατάπαυστον, ἔστρεψεν, ὅλως ἐκ τῶν ἐπιγείων ἐπί τό θεῖον μεταγαγών.
μθ΄. Οὐ πάντως ὁ μή φθονῶν, μηδέ ὀργιζόμενος μηδέ μνησικακῶν τῷ λυπήσαντι, ἤδη καί ἀγάπην ἔχει πρός αὐτόν. ∆ύναται γάρ καί μήπω ἀγαπῶν, (1001) κακόν ἀντί κακοῦ μή ἀποδοῦναι, διά τήν ἐντολήν· οὐ πάντως δέ ἔτι καί καλόν ἀνταποδῦναι κακοῦ, ἀβιάστως. Τό γάρ ἐκ διαθέσεως καλῶς ποιεῖν τοῖς μισοῦσι, μόνης ἐστί τῆς πνευματικῆς τελείας ἀγάπης.
ν΄. Οὐχ ὁ μή ἀγαπῶν τινα, ἤδη πάντως καί μισεῖ αὐτόν· οὐδέ πάλιν, ὁ μή μισῶν, ἤδη πάντως καί ἀγαπᾷ. Ἀλλά δύναται ὡς μέσος εἶναι πρός αὐτόν· τουτέστι, μήτε ἀγαπᾷν, μήτε μισεῖν. Τήν γάρ ἀγαπητικήν διάθεσιν, μόνοι οἱ ἐν τῶ ἐνάτῳ κεφαλαίῳ ταύτης τῆς ἑκατοντάδος εἰρημένοι πέντε τρόποι, ἐμποιεῖν πεφύκασιν, ὅ τε ἐπαινετός καί ὁ μέσος, καί οἱ ψεκτοί.
να΄. Ὅταν ἴδῃς τόν νοῦν σου τοῖς ὑλικοῖς ἡδέως ἐνασχολούμενον, καί τοῖς τούτων νοήμασιν ἐμφιλοχωροῦντα, γίνωσκε σεαυτόν ταῦτα μᾶλλον ἤ τόν Θεόν ἀγαπῶντα. Ὅπου γάρα ἐστιν ὁ θησαυρός σου, φησίν ὁ Κύριος, ἐκεῖ καί ἡ καρδία ἔσται.
νβ΄. Νοῦς Θεῷ συναπτόμενος, καί αὐτῷ ἐγχρονίζων διά προσευχῆς καί ἀγάπης, σοφός γίνεται καί ἀγαθός καί δυνατός καί φιλάνθρωπος καί ἐλεήμων καί μακρόθυμος· καί ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν, πάντα σχεδόν τά θεῖα ἰδιώματα ἐν ἑαυτῷ περιφέρει. Τούτου δέ ἀναχωρῶν [Ft. ἀποχωρῶν], καί τῶν ὑλικῶν προσχωρῶν, ἤ κτηνώδης γίνεται φιλήδονος γεγονώς· ἤ θηριώδης, διά ταῦτα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις μαχόμενος.
νγ΄. Κόσμον λέγει ἡ Γραφή τά ὑλικά πράγματα· καί κοσμικοί εἰσι, οἱ τούτοις τόν νοῦν ἐνασχολοῦντες, πρός οὕς καί λέγει ἐντρεπτικώτερον· Μή ἀγαπᾷτε τόν κόσμον, μηδέ τά ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ. Ἡ ἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκός, καί ἐπιθυμία τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν, καί ἡ ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου, οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ· ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου ἐστί, καί τά ἑξῆς.
νδ΄. Μοναχός ἐστιν, ὁ τῶν ὑλικῶν πραγμάτων τόν νοῦν ἀποχωρίσας· καί δι᾿ ἐγκρατείας καί ἀγάπης καί ψαλμῳδίας καί προσευχῆς προσκαρτερῶν τῷ Θεῷ.
νε΄. Κτηνοτρόφος μέν ἐστιν νοητός, ὁ πρακτικός· κτηνῶν γάρ λόγος ἐπέχουσι τά ἠθικά κατορθώματα· διό καί ἔλεγεν ὁἸακώβ· Ἄνδρες κτηνοτρόφοι εἰσίν οἱ παῖδές σου. Ποιμήν δέ προβάτων, ὁ γνωστικός. Προβάτων γάρ ἐπέχουσιν οἱ λογισμοί, ἐπί τά ὄρη τῶν θεωρημάτων ὑπό τοῦ νοῦ ποιμαινόμενοι. ∆ιά τοῦτο καί Βδέλυγμα τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις πᾶς ποιμήν προβάτων, ἤγουν ταῖς ἐναντίαις δυνάμεσι.
νστ΄. Ὁ μέν φαῦλος νοῦς, κινουμένου τοῦ σώματος διά τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἐπί τάς ἰδίας ἐπιθυμίας καί ἡδονάς, ἐξακολουθεῖ, καί συγκατατίθεται ταῖς τούτου φαντασίαις καί ὁρμαῖς· ὁ δέ ἐνάρετος, ἐγκρατεύεται, καί κατέχει ἑαυτόν ἀπό τῶν ἐμπαθῶν φαντασιῶν καί ὁρμῶν, καί μᾶλλον φιλοσοφεῖ βελτίους ποιῆσαι τάς τοιαύτας αὐτοῦ κινήσεις.
(1004) νζ΄. Τῶν ἀρετῶν, αἱ μέν εἰσι σωματικαί· αἱ δέ, ψυχικαί. Καί σωματικαί μέν εἰσιν, οἷον νηστεία, ἀγρυπνία, χαμευνία, διακονία, ἐργόχειρον πρός τό μή ἐπιβαρῆσαί τινα, ἤ πρός μετάδοσιν, καί τά ἑξῆς. Ψυχικαί δέ εἰσιν, οἷον ἀγάπη, μακροθυμία, πραότης, ἐγκράτεια, προσευχή, καί τά ἑξῆς. Ἐάν οὖν ἔκ τινος ἀνάγκης, ἤ περιστάσεως σωματικῆς, οἷον ἀῤῥωστίας, ἤ τινος τῶν τοιούτων, συμβῇ ἡμῖν μή