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A flowing fount of the moral dew of words, Here you will find, if you pursue it genuinely, the labors of Maximus the Confessor, friend. Embrace them, and you will learn the profit. 1. It is incumbent on every Christian who rightly believes in God, not to be without care; but

always to expect and await temptation; so that when it comes, he may not be surprised nor disturbed; but to endure with thanksgiving the labor of affliction, and to understand what he says, chanting with the Prophet: Prove me, O Lord, and try me. And he did not say: For your discipline has destroyed me, but, it has set me upright to the end.

2. The beginning of the good is the fear of God; but its end is longing for Him. The beginning of every good thing is a word put into practice, and an action endowed with reason. Therefore, neither is an action without reason good, nor is a word that proceeds without action.

3. Action is, of the body, fasting and vigil; of the mouth, psalmody; but better than psalmody is prayer; and silence is more honorable than speech. And the action of the hands is that which is done by them without murmuring. And of the feet, that which is accomplished by them at the first command. The action of the soul is self-control with simplicity, and simplicity activated by self-control. And of the mind, prayer in contemplation, and in prayer, the contemplation of God.

4. Mercy and truth precede all virtues, of which the offspring is humility, and the discernment that comes from it, according to the Fathers. Without which, no other virtue will be able to see its own end.

5. Action, dishonoring the yoke of reason, (1404) is found wandering here and there about unprofitable things, like a heifer; but reason, rejecting the honorable tunics of practice, is not seemly, even if it somehow contrives to appear so.

6. The courageous soul, like a woman, throughout its entire life, holding two burning lamps, the practical and the contemplative, does what is required; but the opposite again, the soul given over to pleasures.

7. Voluntary hardship is not sufficient for the soul for a perfect deliverance from evil, unless, being also tested by fire through involuntary hardship, it is not dissolved.

8. Like a knife, the soul for a perfect deliverance from evil, unless it passes through fire and water, that is, voluntary and involuntary labors, is not kept unbreakable against the adversities of events.

9. Just as there are three more general causes of voluntary temptations: health, wealth, and good repute; so also there are three of involuntary ones: losses, illnesses, and insults. And these come to some for edification, but to others for destruction.

10. To the soul are attached desire and grief; to the body, pleasure and pain. The cause of pain is pleasure; for, wishing to escape the painful sensation of pain, we flee to pleasure; but of grief, desire or weakness.

11. The virtuous person possesses the good in his disposition; but the vainglorious person, in his thoughts. The zealous person has evil superficially; but the lover of pleasure, in his depths.

12. The one who hates evil is found inclined to it rarely and not diligently; but more often and more attentively, the one who is still attached to its causes.

13. For those for whom repentance is not according to intention, for them transgressing is also continuous; but for those for whom sinning is contrary to intention, repentance is fully assured, and its cause is not frequent.

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Πηγήν νάουσαν ἠθηκῶν δρόσον λόγων, Ἐνταῦθ᾿ ἐφεύρεις, εἰ μετέλθῆς γνησίως, Ὁμολογητοῦ Μαξίμου πόνους, φίλε. Ἀσπάζου δ᾿ αὐτούς, καί μαθήσῃ τό κέρδος. α΄. Ἔπεστι παντί Χριστιανῷ τῷ ὀρθῶς πιστεύοντι εἰς θεόν, μή ἀμεριμνεῖν· ἀλλά

πάντοτε προσδοκᾶν καί ἐκδέχεσθαι πειρασμόν· ἵνα ὅταν ἔλθῃ, μή ξενίζηται μηδέ ταράσσηται· ἀλλ᾿ εὐχαρίστως ὑπομένειν τόν κόπον τῆς θλίψεως, καί ἐννοεῖν τί ψάλλων σύν τῷ Προφήτῃ λέγει· ∆οκίμασόν με, Κύριε, καί πείρασόν με. Καί οὐκ εἶπεν· Ὅτι ἡ παιδεία σου κατέστρεψέ με, ἀλλά, ἀνώρθωσέ με εἰς τέλος.

β΄. Ἀρχή μέν καλοῦ, φόβος Θεοῦ· τέλος δέ, ὁ πόθος αὐτοῦ. Ἀρχή παντός ἀγαθοῦ λόγος ἔμπρακτος, καί πρᾶξις ἐλλόγιμος. ∆ιό, οὔτε πρᾶξις λόγου χωρίς, ἀγαθή· οὔτε λόγος πράξεως ἄνευ, ὁ προερχόμενος.

γ΄. Πρᾶξις ἐστί, σώματος μεν, νηστεία καί ἀγρυπνία· στόματος δέ, ψαλμῳδία· ψαλμῳδίας δέ κρεῖττον, εὐχή· καί σιωπή, λόγου τιμιωτέρα. Καί χειρῶν πρᾶξις, τό ὑπ᾿ ἐκείνων ἀγογγύστως γινόμενον. Ποδῶν δέ, τό δι᾿ αὐτῶν ἐκ πρώτης ἐπιτροπῆς ἀνυόμενον. Ψυχῆς δέ πρᾶξις, ἐγκράτεια σύν ἁπλότητι, καί ἁπλότης τῇ ἐγκρατείᾳ ἐνεργουμένη. Τοῦ δέ νοός, ἡ ἐν θεωρίᾳ εὐχή, καί ἐν εὐχῇ θεωρία τοῦ Θεοῦ.

δ΄. Προηγεῖται πασῶν ἀρετῶν, ἔλεος καί ἀλήθεια, ὧν κύημα ἡ ταπείνωσις, καί ἡ ἐκ ταύτης κατά τούς Πατέρας προσγινομένη διάκρισις. Ἧς ἄνευ, οὐδ᾿ ἑτέρα τό αὐτῆς ἰδεῖν πέρας δυνήσεται.

ε΄. Ἡ μέν πρᾶξις τόν τοῦ λόγου ζυγόν ἀτιμάζουσα, (1404) ᾧδε κἀκεῖσε περί τά ἀνωφελῆ, οἷά τις δάμαλις περιπλανωμένη εὑρίσκεται· ὁ δέ λόγος, τῆς πρακτικῆς τούς ἐντίμους χιτῶνας ἀποποιούμενος, οὐκ εὐσχήμων, κἄν τοιοῦτος εἶναι πως τό δοκεῖν σχηματίζεται.

στ΄. Ἡ ἀνδρεία ψυχή, ὡς γυνή, παρ᾿ ὅλον αὐτῆς τόν βίον, εἰς δύο λύχνους, τό πρακτικόν τε καί θεωρητικόν, καιομένους κατέχουσα, πράττει τά ὀφειλόμενα· τά ἐναντία δέ πάλιν, ἡ παρειμένη ταῖς ἡδοναῖς.

ζ΄. Οὐκ ἀρκεῖ τῇ ψυχῇ πρός τελείαν κακίας ἀπαλλαγήν, ἡ ἑκούσιος κακοπάθεια, εἰ μή καί διά τῆς ἀκουσίου ἐκπυρουμένη μή διαλύηται.

η΄. Οἷά τις μάχαιρα ἡ ψυχή πρός τελείαν κακίας ἀπαλλαγήν, εἰ μή διά πυρός διέλθῃ καί ὕδατος, τουτέστιν ἑκουσίων πόνων καί ἀκουσίων, ἄθραυστος ταῖς ἀντιτυπίαις τῶν συμβαινόντων οὐ συντηρεῖται.

θ΄. Ὥσπερ τῶν ἑκουσίων πειρασμῶν, τρία εἰσί τά καθολικώτερα αἴτια· ὑγεία, πλοῦτος καί εὔκλεια· οὕτω καί τά τῶν ἀκουσίων τρία εἰσί· ζημίαι, ἀσθένειαι καί λοιδορίαι. Γίνονται δέ ταῦτα τισίν, εἰς οἰκοδομήν· τισί δέ, εἰς καθαίρεσιν.

ι΄. Παρυφέστηκε ψυχῇ μέν, ἐπιθυμία καί λύπη σώματι δέ, ἡδονή καί ὀδύνη. Αἴτιον δέ, τῆς μέν ὀδύνης, ἡ ἡδονή· θέλοντες γάρ ἐκφυγεῖν τήν κατα τήν ὀδύνην ἐπίπονον αἴσθησιν, πρός τήν ἡδονήν καταφεύγομεν· λύπης δέ, ἐπιθυμία ἤ ἀῤῥωστία.

ια΄. Ἐνδιάθετον μέν ὁ ἐνάρετος κέκτηται τό καλόν· περινενοημένον δέ, ὁ κενόδοξος. Τό δέ κακόν, ὁ μέν σπουδαῖος, ἐξ ἐπιπολῆς ἔχει· κατά βάθους δέ, ὁ φιλήδονος.

ιβ΄. Ὀλιγάκις μέν καί οὐκ ἐπιμελῶς εὑρίσκεται πρός τό κακόν, ὁ τοῦτο μισῶν· πλεονάκις δέ καί προσεκτικώτερον, ὁ ἔτι ταῖς αἰτίαις ἐκείνου προσκείμενος.

ιγ΄. Οἷς μή κατά πρόθεσιν τό μετανοεῖν, τούτοις συνεχές καί τό πλημμελεῖν· οἷς δέ παρά πρόθεσιν τό ἁμαρτάνειν, ἐμπληροφόρητος ἡ μετάνοια, καί τό αἴτιον ταύτης οὐχί συχνόν.