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De virtutibus et vitiis

OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS John of Damascus, Concerning virtues and

vices, of the soul and of the body. It must be known, then, that man being twofold, that is, of soul and body, has twofold senses, and their virtues; and five are of the soul, and five of the body. And the senses of the soul, which the wise also call powers, are these: intellect, thought, opinion, imagination, and perception. And those of the body are, sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch; whence also their virtues are twofold, and their vices are twofold; so that it is necessary for every person to know clearly how many are the passions of the soul, and what are those of the body; and we say that the virtues of the soul are principally these four most general ones, which are these, courage, prudence, temperance, and justice; and from these are born the virtues of the soul: faith, hope, love, prayer, humility, meekness, long-suffering, forbearance, kindness, freedom from anger, divine knowledge, high-spiritedness, simplicity, tranquility, sincerity, freedom from vanity, freedom from pride, freedom from envy, guilelessness, freedom from avarice, compassion, mercifulness, generosity, fearlessness, freedom from grief, compunction, reverence, piety, desire for future goods, longing for the kingdom of God, desire for adoption as sons. And these are the bodily virtues, or rather, instruments of virtues, when they are done with knowledge and according to God, and apart from all hypocrisy and men-pleasing, leading a person to the advancement of humility and dispassion: self-control, fasting, thirst, vigil, 95.88 all-night standing, constant bending of the knees, not bathing, wearing a single tunic, eating dry food, eating slowly, eating little, drinking water, sleeping on the ground, poverty, non-possession, squalor, being unadorned, freedom from self-love, solitude, quiet, not going out, want, self-sufficiency, silence, pursuing manual labor with one's own hands, and all hardship, and bodily asceticism; all of which, when the body is strong, and troubled by the passions of the flesh, are most necessary and beneficial; but when it is weak, and has overcome these by the help of God, they are not so necessary, as holy humility, and prayer which fulfills all things. We ought, then, to speak also concerning the psychical and somatic, that is, the passions; and the passions of the soul are these: forgetfulness, sloth, and ignorance; by which passions, to be sure, the eye of the soul, that is, the intellect, being darkened, is mastered by all the passions, which are these: impiety, false opinion, that is, every heresy, blasphemy, wrath, anger, bitterness, irritability, misanthropy, remembrance of wrongs, slander, condemnation, irrational grief, fear, cowardice, strife, rivalry, envy, vainglory, pride, hypocrisy, lying, unbelief, avarice, love of material things, attachment, addiction to earthly things, acedia, faint-heartedness, ingratitude, murmuring, conceit, presumption, arrogance, boasting, love of power, pleasing men, guile, shamelessness, insensibility, flattery, treachery, irony, double-mindedness, the assents to sins from the passionate part, and the constant meditation on these, wandering of thoughts, self-love, the mother of evils, and the love of money, the root of all evils, and malice and wickedness. And the passions of the body: gluttony,

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De virtutibus et vitiis

ΤΟΥ ΕΝ ΑΓΙΟΙΣ ΠΑΤΡΟΣ ΗΜΩΝ Ἰωάννου ∆αμασκηνοῦ, Περὶ ἀρετῶν καὶ

κακιῶν, ψυχικῶν καὶ σωματικῶν. Ἰστέον οὖν ὅτι διπλοῦς ὢν ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ἤγουν ἐκ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος, διπλᾶς ἔχει καὶ τὰς αἰσθήσεις, καὶ τὰς τούτων ἀρετάς· καὶ πέντε μέν εἰσι τῆς ψυχῆς, καὶ πέντε τοῦ σώματος. Καὶ αἱ μὲν ψυχικαὶ αἰσθήσεις, ἃς καὶ δυνάμεις αὐτὰς οἱ σοφοὶ λέγουσιν, εἰσὶν αὗται· νοῦς, διάνοια, δόξα, φαντασία, καὶ αἴσθησις. Αἱ δὲ σωματικαὶ, ὅρασις, ὄσφρησις, ἀκοὴ, γεῦσις, καὶ ἁφή· ὅθεν τοι διπλαῖ τούτων αἱ ἀρεταὶ, διπλαῖ καὶ αἱ κακίαι· ὥστε ἀναγκαῖον εἰδέναι σαφῶς πάντα ἄνθρωπον, πόσα μέν εἰσι τὰ ψυχικὰ πάθη, ποῖα δὲ τὰ σωματικά· καὶ ψυχικὰς μὲν ἀρετὰς λέγομεν εἶναι προηγουμένως γενικωτάτας τέσσαρας ταύτας, αἵτινές εἰσιν αὗται, ἀνδρεία, φρόνησις, σωφροσύνη, καὶ δικαιοσύνη· καὶ ἐκ τούτων ἀποτίκτονται ψυχικαὶ ἀρεταί· πίστις, ἐλπὶς, ἀγάπη, προσευχὴ, ταπείνωσις, πραότης, μακροθυμία, ἀνεξικακία, χρηστότης, ἀοργησία, γνῶσις θεία, τὸ ἄθυμον, τὸ ἁπλοῦν, τὸ ἀτάραχον, τὸ ἀνυπόκριτον, τὸ ἄτυφον, τὸ ἀνυπερήφανον, τὸ ἄφθονον, τὸ ἄδολον, τὸ ἀφιλάργυρον, τὸ συμπαθὲς, τὸ ἐλεημονητικὸν, τὸ μεταδοτικὸν, τὸ ἄφοβον, τὸ ἄλυπον, τὸ κατανυκτικὸν, τὸ αἰδεστικὸν, ἡ εὐλάβεια, ἡ τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν ἔφεσις, ἡ τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ Θεοῦ ὄρεξις, ἡ τῆς υἱοθεσίας ἐπιθυμία. Ἀρεταὶ δὲ σωματικαὶ αὗται, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐργαλεῖα ἀρετῶν, ἐν γνώσει καὶ κατὰ Θεὸν γινόμεναι, ἔξω τε πάσης ὑποκρίσεως καὶ ἀνθρωπαρεσκείας, εἰς προκοπὴν ταπεινώσεως, καὶ ἀπαθείας φέρουσαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον· ἐγκράτεια, νηστεία, δίψα, ἀγρυπνία, 95.88 στάσις παννύχιος, κάμψις γονάτων συνεχὴς, ἀλουσία, μονοχιτωνία, ξηροφαγία, βραδυφαγία, βραχυφαγία, ὑδροποσία, χαμευνία, πτωχεία, ἀκτημοσύνη τὸ αὐχμηρὸν, τὸ ἀκαλλώπιστον, τὸ ἀφίλαυτον, μεμονωμένον, τὸ ἥσυχον, τὸ ἀπρόϊτον, τὸ ἐνδεὲς, τὸ αὐταρκὲς, τὸ σιωπηλὸν, τὸ ταῖς οἰκείαις χερσὶν ἐργόχειρον μετέρχεσθαι, καὶ πᾶσα κακοπάθεια, καὶ ἄσκησις σωματική· ἅπερ ἅπαντα, τοῦ σώματος ῥωστοῦντος, καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν σαρκικῶν παθῶν ὀχλουμένου, ἀναγκαιότατα καὶ ὠφελιμώτατα· ἀσθενοῦντος δὲ, καὶ Θεοῦ βοηθείᾳ τούτων περιγενομένου, οὐ τοσοῦτον ἀναγκαῖά εἰσιν, ὡς τῆς ἁγίας ταπεινώσεως, καὶ εὐχῆς τὰ πάντα ἀναπληρούσης. Ὀφείλομεν οὖν εἰπεῖν, καὶ περὶ τῶν ψυχικῶν καὶ σωματικῶν, ἤγουν παθῶν· καὶ ψυχικὰ μέν εἰσι πάθη ταῦτα, λήθη, ῥᾳθυμία, καὶ ἄγνοια· ὑφ' ὧν δηλαδὴ τῶν παθῶν τούτων ὁ ὀφθαλμὸς τῆς ψυχῆς, ἤτοι ὁ νοῦς, σκοτιζόμενος, κυριεύεται ὑπὸ πάντων τῶν παθῶν, ἅτινά εἰσι ταῦτα, ἀσέβεια, κακοδοξία, ἤγουν πᾶσα αἵρεσις, βλασφημία, θυμὸς, ὀργὴ, πικρία, ὀξυχολία, μισανθρωπία, μνησικακία, καταλαλία, κατάκρισις, λύπη ἄλογος, φόβος, δειλία, ἔρις, ζῆλος, φθόνος, κενοδοξία, ὑπερηφανία, ὑπόκρισις, ψεῦδος, ἀπιστία, πλεονεξία, φιλοϋλία, προσπάθεια, σχέσις γηΐνων, ἀκηδία, μικροψυχία, ἀχαριστία, γογγυσμὸς, τύφος, οἴησις, σοβαρότης, ἀλαζονεία, φιλαρχία, ἀνθρωπαρέσκεια, δολιότης, ἀναίδεια, ἀναισθησία, κολακεία, ὑπουλότης, εἰρωνεία, διψυχία, αἱ συγκαταθέσεις τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἐκ τοῦ παθητικοῦ μέρους, καὶ ἡ συνεχὴς τούτων μελέτη, πλάνη λογισμῶν, φιλαυτία ἡ τῶν κακῶν γεννήτρια, καὶ ἡ ῥίζα πάντων τῶν κακῶν φιλαργυρία, κακοήθειά τε καὶ πονηρία. Σωματικὰ δὲ πάθη· γαστριμαργία,