430

63. The account of confession is twofold: one, made in thanksgiving for the good things that have been bestowed; the other, spoken for the reproof and examination of evil deeds. For confession is called both the enumeration with thanksgiving of the divine benefactions by those who have been well-treated, and the disclosure of evil deeds by those who are culpable; and both are productive of humility. For both he who offers thanks for good things, (1289) and he who is examined for his faults, is humbled; the one, by judging himself unworthy of the good things given; the other, by praying to receive remission of his transgressions.

64. The passion of pride consists of two ignorances. For two ignorances, coming together into a union, constitute one confused mind-set. For he alone is proud who is ignorant of both divine help and human weakness. Therefore, pride is the privation of divine and human knowledge. For through the negation of the true extremes, there exists one and a false affirmation.

65. Vainglory is a departure from the goal that is according to God; and it is a transition to another goal apart from the divine one. For he is vainglorious who practices virtue for the sake of his own glory, but not for God's, and with his own labors purchases unsubstantial praises from men.

66. The man-pleaser is concerned only with outward appearances of character, and indeed with flattering speech; so that with the one he might usurp the sight, and with the other the hearing, of those who are pleased or even astonished only by what is seen and heard, and who define virtue by sense-perception alone. Therefore, we call man-pleasing the display of character and words which is done for the sake of men, as if for virtue.

67. Hypocrisy is a pretense of friendship; or hatred, covered by the appearance of friendship; or enmity, enacted through goodwill; or envy, imitating the character of love; or a life, having seemliness by a fiction of virtue, but not in reality; or a pretense of righteousness, maintained by the appearance of being so; or deceit, having the form of truth; which those who imitate the serpent in the crookedness of their character practice.

68. The cause of existing things, and of the good things in them, is God. He, therefore, who is lifted up on account of virtue or knowledge, and does not, in proportion to the measure of virtue or progress in grace, extend also the recognition of his own weakness, has not escaped the evil of pride. But he who practices what is good for the sake of his own glory has preferred himself to God, being pierced by the nail of vainglory. And he who does or speaks virtue in order to be seen by men, has much preferred human acceptance to divine, being afflicted by the passion of man-pleasing; but he who only wickedly misuses his character with the gravity of virtue for deceit, and covers the evil disposition of his mind with the outward appearance of reverence, buys virtue with the guile of hypocrisy. Therefore, such a one has diverted the goal of each of these to other things than their cause.

69. None of the wicked demons ever hinders the zeal of the virtuous man; (1292) but rather, having deceitfully cut off the deficiencies of the virtues, he suggests their excesses, showing zeal along with the combatants; in order that he might draw the whole mind of the ascetic to himself, having lost the equal measure of the mean, and that it might unawares journey to a lodging-place other than the one it seems to be.

70. The demons neither hate self-control, nor do they loathe fasting; not the distribution of money, not hospitality, not psalmody, not leisure for reading, not quiet, not the highest forms of learning, not sleeping on the ground, not vigils, nor all the other things through which the life according to God is characterized, as long as the goal and the cause of what is done inclines towards them.

430

ξγ΄. ∆ιττός ὁ τῆς ἐξομολογήσεως λόγος· ὁ μέν, ἐπ᾿ εὐχαριστίᾳ τῶν δεδωρημένων ἀγαθῶν γινόμενος· ὁ δέ, ἐπ᾿ ἐλέγχῳ καί ἐτασμῶ τῶν κακῶς πεπραγμένων λεγόμενος. Ἐξομολόγησις γάρ λέγεται, καί ἡ τῶν εὖ πεπονθότων μετ᾿ εὐχαριστίας τῶν θείων εὐεργεσιῶν ἀπαρίθμησις, καί ἡ τῶν κακῶς πεπραγμένων παρά τῶν ὑπαιτίων ἐξαγόρευσις· ἀμφότερα δέ, ταπεινώσεως ὑπάρχει ποιητικά. Ὅ τε γάρ ἐπ᾿ ἀγαθοῖς εὐχαριστιῶν ὁμοῦ, (1289) καί ὁ ἐπ᾿ ἐγκλήμασιν ἐταζόμενος, ταπεινοῦται· ὁ μέν, ἑαυτόν ἀνάξιον κρίνων τῶν δοθέντων καλῶν· ὁ δέ, λαβεῖν ἄφεσιν τῶν πλημμεληθέντων δεόμενος.

ξδ΄. Τό τῆς ὑπερηφανίας πάθος, ἐκ δύο συνέστηκεν ἀγνοιῶν. ∆ύο δέ συνελθοῦσαι πρός ἕνωσιν ἄγνοιαι, μίαν φρόνησιν συγκεχυμένην ἀποτελοῦσι. Μόνος γάρ ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν ὑπερήφανος, ὁ καί τήν θείαν βοήθειαν, καί τήν ἀνθρωπίνην ἀγνοήσας ἀσθένειαν. Οὐκοῦν ὑπερηφανία ἐστί, θείας καί ἀνθρωπίνης γνώσεως στέρησις. Τῇ γάρ τῶν ἀληθῶν ἄκρων ἀποφάσει, μία καί ψευδής ὑπάρχει κατάφασις.

ξε΄. Ἡ κενοδοξία, σκοποῦ μέν τοῦ κατά Θεόν ἐστιν ἔκστασις· πρός δέ ἄλλον σκοπόν παρά τόν θεῖον ὑπάρχει μετάβασις. Κενόδοξος γάρ ἐστιν, ὁ τῆς οἰκείας, ἀλλά μή τῆς θείας ἕνεκα δόξης, τήν ἀρετήν ἐπιτηδεύων, καί πόνοις οἰκείοις τούς ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀνυποστάτους ἐπαίνους ὠνούμενος.

ξστ΄. Ὁ ἀνθρωπάρεσκος, μόνων ἐπιμελεῖται τῶν φαινομένων ἠθῶν, καί μήν καί λόγου τοῦ κόλακος· ἵνα τοῖς μέν τήν ὅρασιν, τῷ δέ τήν ἀκοήν σφετερίζηται, τῶν μόνοις ἡδομένων ἤ καί καταπληττομένων τοῖς φαινομένοις τε καί ἀκουομένοις, καί μόνῃ τῇ αἰσθήσει περιγραφόντων τήν ἀρετήν. Ἀνθρωπαρέσκειαν οὖν φαμεν, τήν ὡς ἐπ᾿ ἀρετῇ δι᾿ ἀνθρώπους γινομένην τῶν ἠθῶν τε λόγων ἐπίδειξιν.

ξζ΄. Ὑπόκρισίς ἐστι, φιλίας προσποίησις· ἤ μῖσος, σχήματι φιλίας κεκαλυμμένον· ἤ ἔχθρα, δι᾿ εὐνοίας ἐνεργουμένη· ἤ φθόνος, ἀγάπης χαρακτῆρα μιμούμενος· ἤ βίος, ἀρετῆς πλάσματι, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ πράγματι τό κόσμιον ἔχων· ἤ δικαιοσύνης προσποίησις, τῆ τοῦ εἶναι δοκήσει συντηρουμένη· ἤ ἀπάτη, ἀληθείας ἔχουσα μόρφωσιν· ἥν οἱ τόν ὄφιν τῇ τῶν ἠθῶν σκολιότητι μιμούμενοι, ἐπιτηδεύουσιν.

ξη΄. Ἡ τῶν ὄντων αἰτία, καί τῶν ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν ἀγαθῶν, ἐστίν ὁ Θεός. Ὁ τοίνυν περί τήν ἀρετήν ἤ τήν γνῶσιν ἐπαιρόμενος, καί μή τῷ μέτρῳ τῆς ἐν χάριτι ἀρετῆς ἤτοι προκοπῆς, συνεπεκτείνων τῆς οἰκείας ἀσθενείας τήν ἐπιγνωμοσύνην, τό τῆς ὑπερηφανίας κακόν οὐ διέφυγεν. Ὁ δέ δόξης ἕνεκεν ἰδίας τό καλόν ἐπιτηδεύων, ἑαυτόν τοῦ Θεοῦ προτετίμηκε, τῷ τῆς κενοδοξίας ἥλῳ περιπαρείς. Ὁ δέ πρός τό θεαθῆναι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, ποιῶν ἤ λαλῶν τήν ἀρετήν, τῆς θείας πολλῷ τήν ἀνθρωπίνην ἀποδοχήν ὑπερέθηκε, τῷ τῆς ἀθρωπαρεσκείας πάθει νοσηλευόμενος· ὁ δέ μόνον τῇ κατ᾿ ἀρετήν σεμνότητι πρός ἀπάτην κακούργως ἐπιχρώσας τά ἤθη, καί τήν πονηράν τῆς γνώμης διάθεσιν τῷ φαινομένῳ σχήματι καλύπτων τῆς εὐλαβείας, τῷ τῆς ὑποκρίσεως ἐξωνεῖται δόλῳ τήν ἀρετήν. Οὐκοῦν ὁ τοιοῦτος, ἐπ᾿ ἄλλα παρά τήν αἰτίαν ἑκάστου τούτων ἀπήγαγε τόν σκοπόν.

ξθ΄. Οὐδείς τῶν πονηρῶν δαιμόνων, τοῦ ἐναρέτου (1292) ποτέ κωλύει τό πρόθυμον· ἀλλά καί μᾶλλον τάς ἐλλείψεις δολερῶς περικόψας τῶν ἀρετῶν, τάς ἐπιτάσεις ὑπαγορεύει, τοῖς ἀγωνισταῖς συμπροθυμούμενος· ἵνα πρός ἑαυτόν ὅλην ποιήσηται τοῦ ἀσκουμένου τήν ἔννοιαν, παραπολέσασαν τό ἴσον τῆς μεσότητος στάθμισιν, καί λάθῃ πρός ἄλλο παρά το δοκοῦν ὁδεύουσα καταγώγιον.

ο΄. Οἱ δαίμονες οὔτε σωφροσύνην μισοῦσιν, οὔτε νηστείαν βδελύσσονται· οὐ χρημάτων διάδοσιν, οὐ φιλοξενίαν, οὐ ψαλμῳδίαν, οὐ σχολήν ἀναγνώσεως, οὐχ ἡσυχίαν, οὐ τῶν μαθημάτων τά ὑψηλότατα, οὐ χαμευνίαν, οὐκ ἀγρυπνίαν, οὐ τά λοιπά πάντα, δι᾿ὧν ὁ κατά Θεόν χαρακτηρίζεται βίος, ἕως πρός αὐτούς νένευκεν ὁ σκοπός καί ἡ αἰτά τῶν γινομένων.