Epistula Magna

 are possible with the God who has promised for the passions of sin later came upon the soul and the body because of the transgression of the first-fo

 gives himself to all the well-pleasingness of the commandments, to that extent he also acquires the participation of the spirit for the spiritual incr

 [as] one who, as a bride of Christ, longs to be joined to the heavenly king who is pure and undefiled. For the soul that longs to be joined to him and

 the worse work of destruction, numbering hidden and manifest sins as one, he says: And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up

 to have fellowship and to be united, but only with the Spirit of God, 247 being united and clinging to it, he commanded the soul to bear the sacred of

 But in another epistle, teaching about the same things and showing the disciples the abundance of spiritual wealth and exhorting them to hasten to att

 he sets forth the goal. And because we are not sufficient for the struggle against the principalities and the powers and the spiritual forces of wicke

 let us have affliction and struggle and a ceaseless race, daily stretching forward always to the things that are before and forgetting the things that

 and having entered with exultation, since indeed he has become the agent of great salvation for himself, if with long-suffering and patience he remain

 he who humbles himself will be exalted and again: Whoever wishes to be first among you, let him be the last of all and the servant of all just as th

 the adversary always hinders the mind in good things, from loving the things above by the memory of good things, but rather, by enticing the will thro

 occupying ourselves with love always. and thus we shall be able to receive daily increase and progress towards divine love, being helped by the divine

 the soul's love is stretched out toward God and therefore if someone wishes to persevere unceasingly in prayers and to be at leisure for fasting acco

 surrendering the mind to such things and by reason of a lack of discernment being fully convinced by the bodily kneeling, while the mind is in a state

 a lack, his own work and toil, should he think the fruits of the spirit to be, he possesses much vain conceit and falls from great spiritual goods, no

 the future hope of the resurrection 279 immortal and it is possible to take up the sufferings of Christ readily and easily. Let those who have not ye

 being done That, he says, they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. And the apostles, having legislated through the Spir

 the need of those who serve and give rest, and again the surplus of those who serve and work for the need of those who devote themselves to prayers. F

 we are deemed worthy of Christ, let us have communion with one another in all good things for the edification and benefit both of ourselves and of our

 of practices will it be to attain unless through what we have said before, setting forth through many things at the same time also the scriptural test

 believe in truths, that it is necessary for the one who has truly come to serve God to arrive at the measures of impassibility and freedom. Since ther

 workers or certain slaves are told by their master to reap three plethra each day, and one worker, having received such a command from his master, giv

 is promised to those who have consecrated themselves. For those who consider it impossible for this accomplishment to happen in men through the Spirit

 to those who obey the spirit, that it is necessary for the one who has approached God in truth, believing in his promises with a whole heart and striv

Epistula Magna

THE FIRST EPISTLE OF SAINT MACARIUS TO MONKS

The Lord of all, the philanthropic God, always bestows good starting points upon the human race for the knowledge of things to come, and wishing each one to receive advancement toward better things, which by a nod of his goodness he suggests, always drawing to the good the man made according to his image; for since the soul by nature has an inclination toward what is good and hastens to desire better things, the sinister side of wickedness with terrible craftiness always puts forward a fantasy of good things to simpler souls for the obscuring of what is truly good. Therefore, the ineffable love of the grace of God teaches us the knowledge of truth through the divinely-inspired scriptures, according to the one who says: Teach me goodness and discipline and knowledge, so that thus we may be strong enough to push away ignorance, the cause of all evils, and, being guided by the light of true knowledge, we may be able to completely drive out the carnal and irrational mindset existing in us, which is deceitfully strengthened by the promise of knowledge, having learned that the knowledge of the truth is the cause of salvation. Since, therefore, you also, O most desired and beloved brothers, have often requested from us to set forth a discourse, 234 what sort of way of life one ought to have who has withdrawn from carnal pleasures and from the way of life of this age .... but having come together in the same place according to the apostolic character in the Acts, having become a sacred assembly and a company of brotherhood, having chosen to be piously with one another always; and how it is necessary to hold fellowship with one another, and what sort of disposition of character one ought to have, and what is the goal of the path of highest virtue and what is the will of God that is good and well-pleasing and perfect, and what sort of course and contest for those who desire to reach perfection and hasten to arrive at the measure of spiritual maturity; and so that we might not extend the discourse at length, you have requested from us that these things and what follows them be written down for you in a letter for a continual reminder of soul-profiting meditation, being persuaded, clearly, concerning the pious dogma of the orthodox faith, that there is one divinity of the adorable and blessed Trinity, one essence, one will, one glory, offering one worship to the three hypostases of the one divinity, just as also in the holy mystery of baptism we piously confessed the good confession before many witnesses. For this reason we also, having seen your great impulse toward the good and having observed your desire for the height of virtue, have not hesitated to make a brief reminder, taking the starting points of our thoughts from the divinely-inspired scriptures themselves; and at the same time we have also set forth the scriptural testimonies for the full assurance of unhesitating faith, so that no one might think we are saying anything from ourselves and suspect us of thinking arrogant things of vanity. 235 Let there be, therefore, first of all for all who have dedicated themselves to God and who always hasten to present their bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is their spiritual worship, the proposed goal of piety, an enlightenment [and] to believe according to the sacred promises of the gospels and the other scriptures, giving themselves to every good work and to every practice of virtue; and to be firmly persuaded that through the grace of Christ and the divine power, the healing and the cleansing of the passions of dishonor which are at work in the soul and in the body are completely possible to take place in us, that the things impossible for us

Epistula Magna

ΤΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΜΑΚΑΡΙΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ ΠΡΩΤΗ ΠΡΟΣ ΜΟΝΑΧΟΥΣ

Ὁ τῶν ἁπάντων δεσπότης, ὁ φιλάνθρωπος θεὸς ἀγαθὰς ἀφορμὰς τῷ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένει χαρίζεται πάντοτε πρὸς τὴν τῶν μελλόντων ἐπίγνωσιν, καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ κρείττω προκοπὴν ἕκαστον λαμβάνειν βουλόμενος, οἷς νεύματι χρηστότητος ὑποτίθεται, εἰς ἀγαθὸν ἕλκων ἀεὶ τὸν κατ' εἰκόνα αὐτοῦ γεγενημένον ἄνθρωπον· τῆς γὰρ ψυχῆς κατὰ φύσιν τὴν ἐπὶ τὰ καλὰ ῥοπὴν ἐχούσης καὶ τῶν κρειττόνων ἐπιθυμεῖν σπευδούσης τὸ τῆς κακίας ἀριστερὸν μέρος πανουργίᾳ δεινῇ ταῖς ἁπλουστέραις ψυχαῖς φαντασίαν καλῶν πάντοτε προβάλλεται εἰς ἐπισκότωσιν τῶν ὄντως καλῶν. διὸ ἡ τῆς χάριτος τοῦ θεοῦ ἀνεκδιήγητος ἀγάπη γνῶσιν ἀληθείας διὰ τῶν θεοπνεύστων γραφῶν διδάσκει ἡμᾶς κατὰ τὸν λέγοντα· Χρηστότητα καὶ παιδείαν καὶ γνῶσιν δίδαξόν με, ἵνα οὕτως ἰσχύσωμεν τὴν πάντων τῶν κακῶν αἰτίαν ἄγνοιαν ἀπώσασθαι καὶ τὴν ἐν ἡμῖν οὖσαν σαρκικὴν καὶ ἄλογον φρόνησιν δολερῶς ἐπαγγελίᾳ γνώσεως κρατυνομένην τῷ φωτὶ τῆς ἀληθοῦς γνώσεως ὁδηγούμενοι παντελῶς ἐξελάσαι δυνηθῶμεν, σωτηρίας αἰτίαν τὴν γνῶσιν τῆς ἀληθείας μεμαθηκότες εἶναι. Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν καὶ ὑμεῖς, ὦ ποθεινότατοι καὶ ἀγαπητοὶ ἀδελφοί, πολλάκις παρ' ἡμῶν ᾐτήσατε λόγον ἐκθέσθαι, 234 ὁποῖον χρὴ τρόπον ἔχειν τὸν ἀναχωρήσαντα τῶν σαρκικῶν ἡδονῶν καὶ τῆς πολιτείας τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου .... ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ δὲ κατὰ τὸν ἐν ταῖς πράξεσιν ἀποστολικὸν χαρακτῆρα συνεληλυθότας ἱερὸν συγκρότημα καὶ στῖφος ἀδελφότητος γεγενημένον συνεῖναι εὐσεβῶς ἀλλήλοις διὰ παντὸς ἑλομένους, ὅπως τε ἀλλήλων συνδιατριβὴν ποιεῖσθαι δέοι, ποίαν δὲ ἔχειν χρὴ τὴν τῶν ἠθῶν κατάστασιν, τίς δὲ ὁ σκοπὸς τῆς ἄκρας ἀρετῆς ὁδοῦ καὶ τί τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ εὐάρεστον καὶ τέλειον, ὁποῖός τε ὁ δρόμος καὶ ἀγὼν τῶν εἰς τὸ τέλειον ἐπιθυμούντων φθάσαι καὶ εἰς μέτρον τῆς πνευματικῆς ἡλικίας καταντῆσαι σπευδόντων· καὶ ἵνα μὴ εἰς μακρὸν παρατείνωμεν τὸν λόγον, ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τούτοις ἀκόλουθα ᾐτήσατε παρ' ἡμῶν διὰ γράμματος ὑμῖν χαραχθῆναι εἰς ὑπόμνησιν συνεχῆ ψυχωφελοῦς μελέτης, πεπεισμένοι δηλονότι περὶ τοῦ εὐσεβοῦς τῆς ὀρθοδόξου πίστεως δόγματος, μίαν εἶναι θεότητα τῆς προσκυνητῆς καὶ μακαρίας τριάδος, μίαν οὐσίαν, ἓν θέλημα, μίαν δόξαν, μίαν προσκύνησιν προσφέρειν ταῖς τρισὶ τῆς μιᾶς θεότητος ὑποστάσεσι, καθὼς καὶ ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ μυστηρίῳ τοῦ βαπτίσματος εὐσεβῶς τὴν καλὴν ὁμολογίαν ἐνώπιον πολλῶν μαρτύρων ὡμολογήσαμεν. διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡμεῖς τὴν πολλὴν ὑμῶν ἐπὶ τὸ ἀγαθὸν ὁρμὴν θεασάμενοι καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ ἄκρον τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐπιθυμίαν ἰδόντες δι' ὀλίγων ὑπόμνησιν ποιῆσαι οὐκ ὠκνήσαμεν, ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν θεοπνεύστων γραφῶν τὰς ἀφορμὰς τῶν νοημάτων λαβόντες· ἅμα δὲ καὶ αὐτὰς τὰς γραφικὰς μαρτυρίας εἰς πληροφορίαν ἀδιστάκτου πίστεως παρεθέμεθα, ἵνα μή τις δόξῃ ἡμᾶς ἀφ' ἑαυτῶν τι λέγειν καὶ ὡς ὑπέρογκα ματαιότητος φρονοῦντας ὑποπτεύσῃ. 235 Ἔστω τοίνυν προηγουμένως πᾶσι τοῖς ἀφιερώσασιν ἑαυτοὺς τῷ θεῷ καὶ τὰ σώματα αὐτῶν θυσίαν ζῶσαν ἁγίαν εὐάρεστον τῷ θεῷ τὴν λογικὴν λατρείαν παριστᾶν πάντοτε σπουδάζουσι σκοπὸς ὁ τῆς εὐσεβείας προκείμενος φωτισμὸς [καὶ] εἰς τὸ πιστεύειν κατὰ τὰς ἱερὰς τῶν εὐαγγελίων καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν γραφῶν ἐπαγγελίας, ἐπιδιδόντας ἑαυτοὺς εἰς πᾶν ἔργον ἀγαθὸν καὶ εἰς πᾶσαν ἀρετῆς ἐπιτήδευσιν· πεπεῖσθαί τε βεβαίως, ὅτι διὰ τῆς χάριτος τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ τῆς θείας δυνάμεως παντελῶς τὴν ἴασιν καὶ τὴν κάθαρσιν τῶν τῆς ἀτιμίας παθῶν δυνατὸν ἐν ἡμῖν γενέσθαι τῶν ἐνεργουμένων ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ καὶ τῷ σώματι, ὅτι τὰ παρ' ἡμῖν ἀδύνατα