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31. Do not consider as well-wishers those who bring you words that work grief in you and hatred toward a brother, even if they seem to speak the truth; but turn away from such people as from deadly serpents, so that you may both check them from speaking evil, and deliver your own soul from wickedness.

32. Do not prick your brother with enigmatic words, (1056) lest in receiving the same from him, you drive out the disposition of love from you both. But with loving frankness, go, reprove him, so that having resolved the causes of the grief, you may deliver you both from turmoil and grief.

33. Examine your conscience with all exactness, lest perhaps through your own fault your brother has not been reconciled; and do not deceive it, for it knows your secret things, and will accuse you at the time of your departure, and at the time of prayer, becoming a stumbling block for you.

34. In a time of peace, do not remember the things said by your brother in a time of grief; whether the hurtful things were said to your face, or to another about you, and you heard them afterwards; lest, by tolerating thoughts of remembrance of evil, you fall back into a destructive hatred of your brother.

35. A rational soul that nourishes hatred toward a person cannot be at peace with God, the giver of the commandments. For, He says, if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will our heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses. But if that one does not wish to be at peace, you at least guard yourself from hatred, praying for him genuinely, and not speaking evil of him to anyone.

36. The ineffable peace of the holy angels is maintained by these two dispositions: by love for God, and by love for one another. Likewise also, that of all the saints from the beginning of time. Most excellently, therefore, was it said by our Savior, that on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

37. Do not be self-satisfied, and you will not be a hater of your brother; and do not be a lover of self, and you will be a lover of God.

38. Having chosen to live with spiritual people, from the very doors renounce your own desires; for you will not be able to be at peace in any other way, neither with God, nor with those who live with you.

39. The one who has been able to acquire perfect love, and has regulated his whole life toward it, this one says Lord Jesus in the Holy Spirit. And from the opposite, the opposite, evidently.

40. Love for God, on the one hand, always loves to give wings to the mind for divine conversation; love for one's neighbor, on the other hand, always prepares one to think good things about him.

(1057) 41. It is characteristic of one who still loves vainglory, or who is attached to any material things, to be grieved with people over temporal matters, or to hold a grudge against them, or to have hatred toward them, or to be a slave to shameful thoughts; but to the soul that loves God, all these things are foreign.

42. When you say nothing, nor do anything shameful in your mind, and when you do not hold a grudge against the one who has harmed or slandered you; and when at the time of prayer you always have your mind immaterial and formless, then know that you have reached the measure of dispassion and of perfect love.

43. It is no small struggle to be delivered from vainglory; and one is delivered through the secret practice of the virtues, and more frequent prayer. A sign of deliverance is no longer to bear a grudge against the one who has slandered, or is slandering you.

44. If you wish to be just, assign to each of the parts in you what is according to its worth; I mean to soul and body. And to the rational part of the soul, readings and spiritual contemplations, and prayer; and to the incensive part, spiritual love, which to the

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λα΄. Μή ὡς εὐνοοῦντας λογίζου, τούς λόγους σοι φέροντας λύπην ἐν σοί καί μῖσος τόν πρός ἀδελφόν ἐργαζομένους, κἄν ἀληθεύειν δοκῶσιν· ἀλλ᾿ ὡς θανατοῦντας ὄφεις τούς τοιούτους ἀποστρέφου· ἵνα κἀκείνους τοῦ κακολογεῖν ἀνακόψῃς, καί τήν σεαυτοῦ ψυχήν πονηρίας ἀπαλλάξῃς.

λβ΄. Μή λόγοις δι᾿ αἰνιγμάτων τόν ἀδελφόν κεντήσῃς, (1056) ἵνα μή τά ὅμοια παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἀντιδεχόμενος, τήν τῆς ἀγάπης διάθεσιν ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων ἀπελάσῃς. Ἀλλά μετά παῤῥησίας ἀγαπητικῆς, ὕπαγε, ἔλεγξον αὐτόν, ἵνα τάς αἰτίας τῆς λύπης λύσας, ταραχῆς καί λύπης ἀμφοτέρους ἀπαλλάξῃς.

λγ΄. Ἐρεύνησον τήν συνείδησιν μετά πάσης ἀκριβείας, μήποτε τῇ σῇ αἰτίᾳ ὁ ἀδελφός οὐ διηλλάγη· καί μή παραλογίζου ταύτην, τά κρυπτά σου γινώσκουσαν, καί κατηγοροῦσάν σου ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς ἐξόδου, καί ἐν καιρῷ δέ προσευχῆς, πρόσκομμά σοι γινομένην.

λδ΄. Μή μνημόνευε ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς εἰρήνης, τῶν ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς λύπης ὑπό τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ λεχθέντων· κἄν τε κατά πρόσωπον τά λυπηρά ἐῤῥέθη, κἄν τε πρός ἄλλον περί σοῦ, καί μετά ταῦτα ἤκουσας· ἵνα μή τῶν λογισμῶν τῆς μνησικακίας ἀνεχόμενος, εἰς τό ὀλέθριον μῖσος τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ ὑποστρέψῃς.

λε΄. Οὐ δύναται ψυχή λογική πρός ἄνθρωπον μῖσος τρέφουσα, πρός τόν Θεόν εἰρηνεῦσαι, τόν τῶν ἐντολῶν δοτῆρα· Ἐάν γάρ, φησί, μή ἀφῆτε τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τά παραπτώματα αὐτῶν, οὐδέ ὁ Πατήρ ἡμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος ἀφήσει ὑμῖν τά παραπτώματα ὑμῶν. Εἰ δέ ἐκεῖνος εἰρηνεύειν οὐ θέλει, ἀλλά σύ γε σεαυτόν ἀπό μίσους φύλαξον, προσευχόμενος ὑπέρ αὐτοῦ γνησίως, καί μή κακολογῶν αὐτόν πρός τινα.

λστ΄. Ἡ τῶν ἁγίων ἀγγέλων ἄφραστος εἰρήνη, ταῖς δυσί ταύταις κεκράτηται διαθέσεσι· τῇ τε πρός τόν Θεόν, καί τῇ πρός ἀλλήλους ἀγάπῃ. Ὁμοίως δέ, καί πάντων τῶν ἀπ᾿ αἰῶνος ἁγίων. Παγκάλως οὖν εἴρηται ὑπό τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν, ὅτι Ἐν ταύταις ταῖς δυσίν ἐντολαῖς ὁ νόμος ὅλος καί οἱ προφῆται κρέμανται.

λζ΄. Μή ἔσο αὐτάρεσκος, καί οὐκ ἔσῃ μισάδελφος· καί μή ἔσο φίλαυτος, καί ἔσῃ φιλόθεος.

λη΄. Πνευματικοῖς συζῆσαι προῃρημένος, τοῖς σοῖς θελήμασιν ἀπό θυρῶν ἀπόταξαι· οὐ μή γάρ ἑτέρῳ τρόπῳ εἰρηνεῦσαι δυνήσῃ, οὔτε πρός τόν Θεόν, οὔτε πρός τούς συζῶντας.

λθ΄. Ὁ τελείαν ἀγάπην κτήσασθαι δυνηθείς, καί ὅλον τόν βίον αὐτοῦ, πρός ταύτην ῥυθμίσας, οὗτος λέγει Κύριον Ἰησοῦν ἐν Πνεύματι ἁγίῳ. Καί ἐκ τοῦ ἐναντίου, τά ἐναντία δηλονότι.

μ΄. Ἡ μέν εἰς Θεόν ἀγάπη, εἰς τήν θείαν ὁμιλίαν ἀεί φιλεῖ πτερῶσαι τόν νοῦν· ἡ δέ εἰς τόν πλησίον, ἀεί καλά λογίζεσθαι περί αὐτοῦ παρασκευάζει.

(1057) μα΄. Τοῦ ἔτι δόξαν ἀγαπῶντος κενήν, ἤ τινι τῶν ὑλικῶν πραγμάτων προσκειμένου, ἐστί τό πρός ἀνθρώπους λυπεῖσθαι διά πρόσκαιρα, ἤ μνησικακεῖν αὐτοῖς, ἤ μῖσος ἔχειν πρός αὐτούς, ἤ λογισμοῖς δουλεύειν αἰσχροῖς· τῆς δέ φιλοθέου ψυχῆς, ταῦτα πάντα ἀλλότρια.

μβ΄. Ὅταν μηδέν εἴπῃς, μηδέ πράξῃς αἰσχρόν κατά διάνοιαν, καί ὅταν τῷ ζημιώσαντι ἤ κακολογήσαντι μή μνησικακήσῃς· καί ὅταν ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς προσευχῆς ἄϋλον καί ἀνείδεον ἀεί ἔχῃς τόν νοῦν, τότε γνῶθι, ὅτι ἔφθασας εἰς τό μέτρον τῆς ἀπαθείας καί τῆς τελείας ἀγάπης.

μγ΄. Οὐ μικρός ἀγών κενοδοξίας ἀπαλλαγῆναι· ἀπαλλάττεται δέ τις, διά κρυπτῆς τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐργασίας, καί συχνοτέρας προσευχῆς. Σημεῖον δέ τῆς ἀπαλλαγῆς, τό μηκέτι μνησικακεῖν τῷ κακολογήσαντι, ἤ κακολογοῦντι.

μδ΄. Εἰ θέλεις εἶναι δίκαιος, ἀπόνεμε ἑκάστῳ τῶν ἐν σοί μερῶν τά κατ᾿ ἀξίαν· ψυχῇ λέγω καί σώματι. Καί τῷ μέν λογιστικῷ τῆς ψυχῆς, ἀναγνώσματα καί θεωρήματα πνευματικά, καί προσευχήν· τῷ δέ θυμικῷ ἀγάπην πνευματικήν, τήν τῷ