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Tractatus ad Eulogium (sub nomine Nili Ancyrani)

OF THE SAME AUTHOR, A DISCOURSE TO EULOGIUS THE MONK.

79.1093 CHAPTER 1. Those who inhabit the heavenly place by their labors, do not fix their gaze on the belly, nor on care for perishable things 79.1096; like those who make their prayers for the sake of gain, thinking piety to be a means of gain, but with intellectual vision the pure companies partake of her lofty nourishment, shining round about with the light from glory. And you yourself (O Eulogius, initiate of the virtues), nourishing your sacred being with the splendor of the highest things, by the gatherings of your thoughts strip off the mass of the flesh, knowing that the substance of the flesh becomes food for thoughts, as one who has grasped their wiles with the sting of labors, you appoint me to be a mouthpiece for your deeds against them, and were it not a bold thing to break a command of love, I would have refused such a sea-voyage; but since one must rather obey those of like soul, and not oppose them; be for me in things pertaining to God, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, and I will be for you in matters of obedience, that it may be given to you to reap the fruits of the seed.

CHAPTER 2. First of the glorious contests is exile, especially when to this you depart alone, stripping off like an athlete fatherland, family, property, standing before the glorious contests; if you so begin according to God, walking the path from the beginning with fiery faith, and divine Spirit, and preserving this safe to the end of patience, the soul departing from its own places, and hastening to fly to heaven itself, will be gilded with wings of virtue. But the begetter of evil contrives to cut off the wings of this way of life, reflecting as in a mirror the land from which his family has come, especially in the assaults that happen during sickness; and indeed, while one is at home, he holds back for a little while from the most fervent departure, until he perceives the soul growing sick over afflictions and then the night-raven, bringing on the night of thoughts, darkens for the soul the ray of better things. But if one should be arrayed alone in the wrestling-ground of the desert, and the body should happen to be wounded by sickness, so much the more he shows exile to be harsh for the soul. suggesting that the things of virtue are accomplished not in a place, but in a manner, and that, having comfort at home from his family, he could preserve there the prizes of renunciation without toil; where there is also gentle service for sickness, and not, as now, hardship, and painful despair; especially when the zeal of hospitality from the brotherhood is lacking; wherefore especially, 'Go away,' he says, 'bringing joy to your family and glory to yourself, to whom you have also unfeelingly left behind unbearable grief; for many, even without fleeing their fatherland, have chosen virtue from the midst of their family.' But he who is clothed in the purple robe of afflictions in the battle-array of exile, and is crowned with the hopes of his labors by faith, patience, 79.1097 of thanksgiving shakes off the snowflakes of these thoughts from without, and the more they dig at the heart to turn it back, so much the more let us sing against them: «Behold, I have fled far away, and I have lodged in the desert;» for they afflict by reproaching, and they flatter to turn one aside, that of the purpose

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Tractatus ad Eulogium (sub nomine Nili Ancyrani)

ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΛΟΓΟΣ ΠΡΟΣ ΕΥΛΟΓΙΟΝ ΜΟΝΑΧΟΝ.

79.1093 ΚΕΦΑΛ. Αʹ. Οἱ τὸν οὐράνιον χῶρον νεμόμενοι τοῖς πόνοις, οὐ τῇ γαστρὶ, οὐδὲ τῇ μερίμνῃ τῶν φθαρτῶν ἀτενί79.1096 ζουσι· καθάπερ οἱ κέρδους ἕνεκα τὰς εὐχὰς ποιούμενοι νομίζοντες πορισμὸν εἶναι τὴν εὐσέβειαν, ἀλλὰ νοερᾷ ὁράσει τῆς τροφίμου τῶν ὑψηλῶν αὐτῆς μεταλαμβάνουσιν ἀκήρατοι θίασοι ἐκ τῆς δόξης τὸ φῶς περιλαμπόμενοι. Καὶ αὐτὸς (ὦ μύστα τῶν ἀρετῶν Εὐλόγιε) τῇ τῶν ὑπερτάτων λαμπηδόνι τὴν ἱερὰν οὐσίαν ἐκτρεφόμενος ταῖς συναγωγαῖς τῶν λογισμῶν τὸν ὄγκον τῆς σαρκὸς ἐπαποδύῃ, εἰδὼς ὅτι ὕλη σαρκὸς, τροφὴ λογισμῶν καθίσταται, ὥσπερ τὰς μεθοδείας τῷ κέντρῳ τῶν πόνων κατειληφὼς, ἐμὲ προχειρίζῃ στόμα σῶν ἔργων κατ' αὐτῶν γενέσθαι, καὶ εἰ μὴ τολμηρὸν ἀγάπης ἐπίταγμα διαῤῥῆξαι, παρητησάμην ἂν τὴν τοιαύτην τοῦ πλοὸς ποντοπορίαν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ πείθεσθαι δεῖ μᾶλλον τοῖς ὁμοψύχοις, οὐκ ἀντιτάσσεσθαι· ἔσο μοι σὺ τὰ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, ἵνα μοι δοθῇ λόγος ἐν ἀνοίξει τοῦ στόματός μου, κἀγώ σοι ἔσομαι τὰ τῆς ὑπακοῆς, ἵνα δοθῇ σοι τοῦ σπόρου τοὺς καρποὺς ἀμήσασθαι.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Βʹ. Πρώτη τῶν λαμπρῶν ἀγωνισμάτων ἐστὶ ξενιτεία, μάλιστα ὅταν πρὸς ταύτην, καὶ μόνος ἐκδημοίης, πατρίδα, γένος, ὕπαρξιν ἀθλητικῶς ἀποδυόμενος ἔμπροσθεν τῶν λαμπρῶν ἑστηκὼς ἀγώνων· ἂν οὕτως ἄρξῃ κατὰ Θεὸν εἰς ἀρχῆς ὁδὸν βαδίζων πίστει διαπύρῳ, καὶ Πνεύματι θεϊκῷ, καὶ τῷ τέλει τῆς ὑπομονῆς σώαν ταύτην ἀποσώζων, πτέρυξιν ἀρετῆς ἔσται περικεχρυσωμένη ψυχὴ τῶν οἰκείων τόπων ἀφισταμένη, καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν πτῆναι τὸν οὐρανὸν ἐπειγομένη. Ἀλλὰ τῆσδε τὰ πτερὰ τῆς πολιτείας ὁ τῆς κακίας γεννητὴς μηχανᾶται περικόψαι, γῆς, ἀφ' ἧς ἐξελήλυθε τὸ γένος ἐσοπτρίζων, ἐν ταῖς κατ' ἀῤῥωστίαν μάλιστα ἐπισυμβαινούσαις εἰσβολαῖς· καὶ ἐν μὲν τῇ ἐνδημίᾳ τῆς θερμοτάτης ἐκδημίας ὑπαναχαιτίζει πρὸς ὀλίγον ἕως τὴν ψυχὴν περὶ τὰς θλίψεις καταμάθοι ναυτιῶσαν καὶ τότε τὴν τῶν λογισμῶν νύκτα ἐπιφερόμενος ὁ νυκτικόραξ ἐπισκοτεῖ τῇ ψυχῇ τῆς τῶν κρειττόνων ἀκτῖνος. Εἰ δὲ κατὰ μόνας παρατάττοιτο ἐν τῇ τῆς ἐρημίας παλαίστρᾳ, καὶ τύχῃ τὸ σῶμα ὑπὸ ἀῤῥωστίας τρωθῆναι τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον χαλεπὴν ἐπιδείκνυσι τῇ ψυχῇ τὴν ξενιτείαν. οὐκ ἐν τόπῳ, ἀλλ' ἐν τρόπῳ κατορθοῦσθαι τὰ τῶν ἀρετῶν ὑποβάλλων, καὶ ὅτι παράκλησιν ἔχων οἴκοι τὴν ἀπὸ γένους, ἐκεῖσε τὰ τῆς ἀποτάξεως ἆθλα ἀκόπως εἶχε διασώζειν· ἔνθα καὶ τῆς ἀσθενείας προσηνὴς ὑπηρεσία, καὶ οὐχ ὡς νῦν κακουχία, καὶ ἐπώδυνος λειποθυμία· ἐν τῷ καὶ μάλιστα ἐκ τῆς ἀδελφότητος σπανίσαι τὴν τῆς φιλοξενίας σπουδήν· διὸ καὶ μάλιστα, Ἄπιθι, φησὶ, χαρὰν τῷ σῷ γένει, καὶ δόξαν σαυτὸν ἀποκομίζων, οἷς καὶ τὸ πένθος ἀφόρητον καταλέλοιπας ἀσυμπαθῶς· οἱ πολλοὶ γὰρ, καὶ πατρίδα μὴ φυγόντες, ἐκ μέσου τοῦ γένους εἵλοντο τὴν ἀρετήν. Ἀλλ' ὁ τὴν πορφύραν τῶν θλίψεων ἐν τῇ παρατάξει τῆς ξενιτείας περιβεβλημένος, καὶ τῶν κόπων τὰς ἐλπίδας περιεστεμμένος πίστει, ὑπομονῇ 79.1097 τῆς εὐχαριστίας τῶνδε τῶν λογισμῶν τὰς νιφάδας ἐκ τῶν ἐκτὸς ἐκτινάσσει, καὶ ὅσῳπερ ὑποστρέφειν τὴν καρδίαν διορύττουσι, τοσοῦτον ἔτι μᾶλλον καταψάλλωμεν αὐτῶν· «Ἰδοὺ ἐμάκρυνα φυγαδεύων, καὶ ηὐλίσθην ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ·» καὶ γὰρ ὀνειδίζοντες θλίβουσι, καὶ τραπῆναι κολακεύουσιν, ἵνα τῆς προθέσεως