341

If we are unable to fulfill the aforementioned bodily virtues, we have pardon from the Lord, who also knows the causes; but for not fulfilling the spiritual virtues, we shall have no defense. For they are not under compulsion.

58. Love for God persuades its partaker to despise every passing pleasure, and every toil and grief. And let all the saints persuade you, who suffered so many things for Christ.

59. Watch yourself against the mother of evils, self-love, which is the irrational love of the body. For from this are born, with a plausible appearance, the first, passionate, and most general three frenzied thoughts: I mean, that of gluttony, and avarice, and vainglory; taking their pretext, so to speak, from the necessary needs of the body; from which is born the whole catalogue of evils. Therefore, it is necessary, as has been said, to be watchful, and to war against this with much sobriety. For when this is destroyed, all that come from it are destroyed with it.

60. The passion of self-love suggests to the monk to pity his body, and to indulge in foods more than is proper, for the sake, supposedly, of good management and governance, so that, being gradually led astray, he may fall into the pit of the love of pleasure. But for the worldly person, it suggests to him from this point on to make provision for desire.

61. They say the highest state of prayer is this: for the mind to be outside of flesh and world, and entirely immaterial and formless while praying. He therefore who preserves this state unharmed, this one truly prays without ceasing.

62. Just as the body, when it dies, is separated from all the things of this life; so also the mind, dying in the highest state of prayer, is separated from all the thoughts of the world. For if it does not die such a death, it cannot be found with God and live.

(1005) 63. Let no one deceive you, monk, that it is possible for you to be saved while serving pleasure and vainglory.

64. Just as the body sins through things, and has the bodily virtues for its discipline, so that it may be sober; so also the mind sins through passionate thoughts, and likewise has the spiritual virtues for its discipline, so that, seeing things purely and dispassionately, it may be sober.

65. Just as nights follow days, and winters summers; so do griefs and pains follow vainglory and pleasure, whether in the present or in the future.

66. It is not possible for one who has sinned to escape the coming judgment, without voluntary labors here, or involuntary afflictions.

67. They say that for five reasons we are permitted by God to be warred against by demons. And the first, they say, is that being warred against and warring in return, we may come to the discernment of virtue and of vice. Second, that acquiring virtue by war and toil, we may possess it securely and unchangeably. Third, that as we advance in virtue, we may not become high-minded, but learn to be humble-minded. Fourth, that having experienced vice, we may hate it with a perfect hatred. Fifth, and above all, that having become dispassionate, we may not forget our own weakness, nor the power of Him who helped us.

68. Just as the mind of the hungry man imagines bread, and that of the thirsty man, water, so too that of the glutton imagines varieties of delicacies; and that of the lover of pleasure, the forms of women; and that of the vainglorious, honors from men; and that of the avaricious, profits; and that of the resentful, revenge on the one who grieved him; and that of the envious, the abasement of the one envied, and likewise for the other passions. For from the passions

341

ἐκτελέσαι δυνηθῆναι τάς προειρημένας σωματικάς ἀρετάς, συγγνώμην ἔχομεν παρά Κυρίου, τοῦ καί τάς αἰτίας εἰδότος· τάς δέ ψυχικάς μή ἐκτελοῦντες οὐδεμίαν ἔξομεν ἀπολογίαν. Οὐ γάρ εἰσιν ὑπό ἀνάγκην.

νη΄. Ἡ εἰς Θεόν ἀγάπη, πάσης ἡδονῆς παρερχομένης, καί παντός πόνου καί λύπης πείθει καταφρονεῖν τόν μέτοχον αὐτῆς. Καί πειθέτωσάν σε οἱ ἅγιοι πάντες, τοσαῦτα πεπονθότες διά Χριστόν.

νθ΄. Πρόσεχε σεαυτῷ ἀπό τῆς μητρός τῶν κακῶν, φιλαυτίας, ἥτις ἐστίν ἡ τοῦ σώματος ἄλογος φιλία. Ἐκ ταύτης γάρ εὐλογοφανῶς τίκτονται οἱ πρῶτοι καί ἐμπαθεῖς καί γενικώτατοι τρεῖς ἐμμανεῖς λογισμοί· ὁ τῆς γαστριμαργίας λέγω, καί φιλαργυρίας, καί κενοδοξίας· τάς ἀφορμάς ἐκ τῆς ἀναγκαίας τοῦ σώματος δῆθεν λαμβάνοντες χρείας· ἐξ ὧν γεννᾶται ἅπας ὁ τῶν κακῶν κατάλογος. ∆εῖ οὖν, ὡς εἴρηται, προσέχειν ἀναγκαίως, καί ταύτῃ πολεμεῖν μετά πολλῆς νήψεως. Ταύτης γάρ ἀναιρουμένης, συναναιροῦνται πάντες οἱ ἐξ αὐτῆς.

ξ΄. Τό τῆς φιλαυτίας πάθος, τῷ μέν μοναχῷ ἐλεεῖν ὑποτίθεται τό σῶμα, καί συνελθεῖν παρά τό προσῆκον εἰς τά βρώματα· οἰκονομίας δῆθεν χάριν καί κυβερνήσεως, ἵνα κατά μικρόν παρασυρόμενος, εἰς τόν βόθρον τῆς φιληδονίας ἐμπέσῃ. Τῷ δέ κοσμικῷ ἐντεῦθεν ἤδη πρόνοιαν αὐτῶ ποιεῖσθαι εἰς ἐπιθυμίαν ὑποβάλλει.

ξα΄. Τήν τῆς προσευχῆς ἀκροτάτην κατάστασιν, ταύτην εἶναι λέγουσι, τό ἔξω σαρκός καί κόσμου γενέσθαι τόν νοῦν, καί ἄϋλον πάντη καί ἀνείδεον ἐν τῶ προσεύχεσθαι. Ὁ οὖν ταύτην ἀλώβητον διατηρῶν τήν κατάστασιν, οὗτος ὄντως ἀδιαλείπτως προσεύχεται.

ξβ΄. Ὥσπερ τό σῶμα ἀποθνῆσκον, πάντων χωρίζεται τῶν τοῦ βίου πραγμάτων· οὕτω καί ὁ νοῦς ἐν τῷ ἄκρως προσεύχεσθαι ἀποθνήσκων, πάντων χωρίζεται τῶν τοῦ κόσμου νοημάτων. Ἐάν γάρ μή τόν τοιοῦτον θάνῃ θάνατον, μετά θεοῦ εὑρεθῆναι καί ζῆσαι οὐ δύναται.

(1005) ξγ΄. Μηδείς σε ἀπατήσῃ, μοναχέ, ὅτι ἔνι σε σωθῆναι ἡδονῇ καί κενοδοξίᾳ δουλεύοντα.

ξδ΄. Ὥσπερ τό σῶμα διά τῶν πραγμάτων ἁμαρτάνει, καί ἔχει πρός παιδαγωγίαν τάς σωματικάς ἀρετάς, ἵνα σωφρονῇ· οὕτω καί ὁ νοῦς διά τῶν ἐμπαθῶν νοημάτων, καί ἔχει ὡσαύτως πρός παιδαγωγίαν τάς ψυχικάς ἀρετάς, ἵνα καθαρῶς καί ἀπαθῶς ὁρῶν τά πράγματα, σωφρονῇ.

ξε΄. Ὥσπερ τάς ἡμέρας διαδέχονται αἱ νύκτες, καί τά θέρη οἱ χειμῶνες· οὕτω κενοδοξίαν καί ἡδονήν, λύπαι καί ὀδύναι, εἴτε ἐν τῷ παρόντι εἴτε ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι.

ξστ΄. Οὐκ ἔστιν ἁμαρτήσαντα ἐκφυγεῖν τήν μέλλουσαιν κρίσιν, ἄνευ ἑκουσίων ἐνταῦθα πόνων, ἤ ἀκουσίων ἐπιφορῶν.

ξζ΄. ∆ιά πέντε αἰτίας φασι παραχωρεῖσθαι ἡμᾶς ὑπό Θεοῦ πολεμεῖσθαι ὑπό δαιμόνων. Καί πρώτην μέν εἶναί φασιν, ἵνα πολεμούμενοι καί ἀντιπολεμοῦντες, εἰς διάκρισιν τῆς ἀρετῆς καί τῆς κακίας ἔλθωμεν. ∆ευτέραν δέ, ἵνα πολέμῳ καί πόνῳ τήν ἀρετήν κτώμενοι, βεβαίαν αὐτήν καί ἀμετάπτωτον ἔξωμεν. Τρίτην δέ, ἵνα προκόπτοντες εἰς τήν ἀρετήν, μή ὑψηλοφρονῶμεν, ἀλλά μάθωμεν ταπεινοφρονεῖν. Τετάρτην δέ, ἵνα πειραθέντες τῆς κακίας, τέλειον μῖσος αὐτήν μισήσωμεν. Πέμπτην δέ ἐπί πάσαις, ἵνα ἀπαθεῖς γενόμενοι, μή ἐπιλαθώμεθα τῆς οἰκείας ἀσθενείας, μήτε τῆς τοῦ βοηθήσαντος δυνάμεως.

ξη΄. Ὥσπερ τοῦ πεινῶντος ὁ νοῦς ἄρτον φαντάζεται, καί τοῦ διψῶντος ὕδωρ, οὕτω καί τοῦ γαστριμάργου ποικιλίας ἐδεσμάτων· καί τοῦ φιληδόνου, μορφάς γυναικῶν· καί ὁ τοῦ κενοδόξου, τάς ἐξ ανθρώπων τιμάς· καί τοῦ φιλαργύρου, τά κέρδη· καί τοῦ μνησικάκου, τήν ἄμυναν τοῦ λυπήσαντος· καί τοῦ φθονεροῦ, τήν κάκωσιν τοῦ φθονουμένου, καί ἐπί τῶν ἄλλων παθῶν ὁμοίως. Ἐκ γάρ τῶν παθῶν