Book II: Twenty-Four Discourses

Book ll l Spiritual Wisdom

In all languages the first letter of the alphabet is A, though some people are unaware of this. Similarly, the first of all the virtues is spiritual wisdom, though it is also their consummation. For if the intellect is not imbued with spiritual wisdom, no one can accomplish anything of value, for he will not even have learnt what is of value. But if he has been enabled by grace to learn something about this, he will to that extent possess wisdom. Yet although learning the alphabet is something elementary, unless we learn it we cannot proceed to any more advanced study. In the same way, although our first steps in spiritual knowledge may be very slight, unless we make them we will not acquire any virtue at all. Because of this I am afraid to write anything about wisdom, since I am entirely lacking in it.

It seems to me that there are four things which make the intellect articulate: first, supranatural grace and blessedness; second, the purity that comes from the practice of the virtues and that restores the soul to its pristine beauty; third, experience of the lower forms of teaching, through human education and secular learning; fourth, the accursed and satanic delusion that works in us through pride and demonic cunning, and distorts our nature. I have no share in any of these things. So how can I write? Perhaps the faith of you who in your devotion to God urge me to write will bring grace to my pen; for my intellect and my hand are unworthy and impure. I know from experience that this can happen. For, fathers, whenever I have wanted to write something I have not been able to formulate it in my intellect

Book ll l Spiritual Wisdom until I have actually picked up my pen. Frequently it was some small thought suggested by Scripture, or something I had heard or seen in this world, that set my mind to work; but as soon as I took up my pen and began to write, at once I discovered what I needed to say. It is as if someone is forcing me to write the thing down; and when this happens I begin to write freely and without anxiety for as long as my hand holds out. If God puts something into my darkened heart, I write it down without thinking. This prevents me from imagining that I am the source of what I have received through the prayers of another, as St John Klimakos puts it, basing himself on St Paul’s words: ‘What do you have which you did not receive? Now if you received it, why do you boast, as if you had not received it?’ (1 Cor. 4:7) - as if, that is to say, you were yourself the author of it. According to St Isaac the ideas that arise spontaneously in the intellect of those who have attained a state of stillness, free from discursive thought, are to be accepted. But what comes from discursive thought is a purely subjective and individual notion. St Antony says that every word or act ought to be supported by divine Scripture. It is in this spirit that I begin to write, just as the ass of Balaam began to talk (cf. Num. 22:28-30). I do this not in order to teach others - God forbid! - but in order to reprove my unhappy soul, so that, shamed by my own words, as St John Klimakos says, I who have done nothing but speak may begin to act. Who knows whether I shall live and have the strength to write? Or whether you will be able to carry out what I say? But let us both begin to do both things, each to the extent of his own ability. For we do not know when we will die and. when our end will come. But God who foreknows all things knows about us as well. To Him be glory through all the ages. Amen.

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II The Two Kinds of Faith

St Paul said that faith was the basis of all actions that conform to God’s will, and that we have received it through holy baptism by the grace of Christ and not through works (cf. Col. 1:23; Rom. 11:6). According to St Isaac, this is the first kind of faith, and it engenders the fear that is inherent in it. Such fear leads us to keep the commandments and patiently to endure trials and temptations, as St Maximos has explained. Then, after we have begun to act in this way, a second kind of faith is born in us, the great faith of contemplation, to which the Lord was referring when He said; ‘If you have faith as a mustard seed... nothing will be impossible for you’ (Matt. 17:20). Thus there is, first, the ordinary faith of all Orthodox Christians, that is to say, correct doctrinal belief concerning God and His creation, both visible and invisible, as the Holy Catholic Church, by God’s grace, has received it; and there is, second, the faith of contemplation or spiritual knowledge, which is not in any way opposed to the first kind of faith; on the contrary, the first gives birth to the second, while the second strengthens the first.

We acquire the first kind of faith through hearing about it, inheriting it from devout parents and teachers of the Orthodox faith; but the second is engendered in us by our true belief and by our fear of the Lord in whom we have come to believe. For because of this fear we have chosen to keep the commandments and so have resolved to practice the virtues that pertain to the body-stillness, fasting, moderate vigils, psalmody, prayer, spiritual reading, and the questioning of those with experience about all our thoughts, words, or undertakings. We practice these virtues so that the body may be purified of the worst passions -gluttony, unchastity and superfluous possessions - and so that we may be content with what we have, as the apostle puts it (cf. Heb. 13:5).

It is in this way that a man finds the strength to devote himself undistractedly to God. He learns from the Scriptures and from people of experience about divine doctrines and commandments, and he

Book ll II The Two Kinds of Faith begins to reject the rest of the eight leading passions. Perceiving the punishments that threaten man, he is not merely afraid of God: he fears Him as God, in the words of St Neilos. As a consequence of this fear he begins to keep the commandments with true knowledge of why he does so. And the more he endures voluntary death for the sake of each commandment, the more he enters into greater knowledge and contemplates what is taking place in himself through the grace of Christ. As a result he comes to believe that the Orthodox faith is truly glorious, and he begins to long to do God’s will. He no longer has any doubts about God’s help, but ‘casts his burden upon the Lord’ (Ps. 55: 22). As St Basil the Great says, he who wishes to acquire the higher kind of faith should not worry about his own life or death: even if faced by a wild beast or attacked by demons or evil men, he should not be at all afraid, since he knows that they are all the creatures of a single Creator and are co-servants with him, and would have no power against him if God did not allow it. He should fear God alone, for He alone has power. This is made clear by the Lord Himself when He says: ‘I will warn you whom to fear’, continuing: ‘Fear Him who has the power to cast both soul and body into hell’; and in order to confirm His words. He says: ‘Yes, I tell you, fear Him’ (cf. Luke 12:5). He has good reason to say this; for if someone else apart from God had power, we ought to fear him; but since God alone is the Creator and Master of things above and things below, who can do anything without Him? If someone says that there are creatures that possess free will, I too agree that angels and men, as well as the demons, do indeed possess it. But the angelic orders and good men cannot bear to inflict any harm at all on one of their fellow-servants, even though he is very evil; instead, they feel compassion for him and entreat God on his behalf, as St Athanasios the Great says. As for evil men and their teachers in evil, the demons, they would certainly like to harm others, but are utterly unable to do so, unless the person in question has himself caused God to abandon him through his own sinful actions. Yet even this occurs for the sake of his instruction and salvation at the hands of the all-bountiful God, provided, that is to say, he is willing to accept God’s correction of his sinfulness with thankful endurance. If he refuses to do this, then God’s action proves of benefit to someone else, since God desires the salvation of everyone.

Book ll II The Two Kinds of Faith The trials and temptations of righteous and holy men take place with God’s consent and contribute both to the perfecting of their souls and to the shaming of their enemies, the demons. Thus when the person who carries out Christ’s commandments becomes aware of these things, he does not believe simply that Christ is God and that He has power; for even the demons realize this because of His actions and they shudder (cf. Jas. 2:19). On the contrary, he believes that all things are possible for Christ, that His every will is good, and that without Him nothing good can happen. It is for this reason that such a person does not want to do anything contrary to the divine will, even if it is a question of saving his life; though, of course, it is impossible to save one’s life unless one does perform God’s will, for this divine will is eternal life (cf. John 12:50), the greatest of blessings, even if the effort needed to attain it appears to some to be arduous. Because of this I in my wretchedness am worse than the infidel, for I am unwilling to make efforts to find that greater faith and through it to come to the fear of God, the beginning of the wisdom of the Spirit (cf. Prov. 1:7). At times I deliberately close my soul’s eyes and transgress the law; at other times I am blinded by forgetfulness and enter a state of total ignorance: unaware of what profits my soul I fall into bad habits and become an inveterate sinner. As a result, even if I want to return whence I fell, I cannot do so, since my own will has become a dividing wall between myself and God, as the holy fathers say, and I have no wish to exert myself in order to destroy it. Had I the faith that comes from performing works of repentance, I would be able to say, ‘With the help of my God I will leap over the wall’ (Ps. 18:29. LXX). I would not hesitate out of cowardice, asking myself what will happen to me if I rush over this wall, and whether there may not be a pit on the other side, and what I will do if I cannot get over, and fall headlong backwards again after my efforts, and many other questions of this kind. Such questions never even occur to someone who has faith that God is close at hand and not far off (cf. Jer. 23:23), and who in his determination to attain his end advances directly towards God, source of all strength, power, goodness and love, acting not like one who ‘beats the air’ (cf. 1 Cor. 9:26), but like a swimmer. He aspires to the realm above and, leaving all self-will

Book ll II The Two Kinds of Faith behind, journeys towards the divine will until he hears ‘new tongues’ and even perhaps speaks with them (cf. Mark 16:17), perceiving the mysteries. So he gains, or rather he is given, the power to ascend from the practice of the virtues to the state of contemplation, through the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belong all glory, honor and dominion throughout the ages. Amen.

Book ll III The Two Kinds of Fear

Gluttony is the first of the eight champions of evil. But fear of God, which is the first commandment, defeats all eight of them, while without this fear one cannot possess any blessing. For how can the person who feels no fear keep the commandment, unless indeed he has already attained the state of love? Even he who has attained the state of love began with fear, though he may not know how this initial fear passed from him. Should someone say that he has reached the state of love by some other path, he has been taken captive either by spiritual joy or by his own obduracy, so that he is like someone crossing a river while asleep, as St Ephrem puts it. The man seized by spiritual joy is astounded by the many blessings that God in his grace has bestowed on him, and he loves his Benefactor. But he who obdurately indulges in luxury and splendor, like the rich man (cf. Luke 16:19), thinks that those consumed by fear and facing trials and temptation suffer in this way because of their sins, and in his comfort and complacency he despises them. He imagines that he deserves his easy life, although in fact he does not deserve it at all; for, blinded by his inane love for the ephemeral, he has made himself unworthy of the life held in store. He may even think that he has attained the state of love and on account of this has received greater benefits than others have. This shows that he is totally unaware of God’s forbearance towards him. For this reason he will find himself defenseless on the day of judgment and deservedly will hear the words, ‘You received your good things during your lifetime’ (Luke 16:25). All this is obvious from the fact that there are many non-believers of this type, who are benefited by God without deserving it;

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III The Two Kinds of Fear yet no one with any sense would call them blessed or say that they are worthy of being loved by God, or that they love God and perhaps on this account live comfortably in the present life. But to return to the question of the fear of God. Like faith, fear is of two kinds: the first is introductory, while the second, which grows out of the first, is perfect. He who is afraid of God’s punishment has a slave-like fear of God, and it is this that makes him refrain from evil: ‘Out of fear of the Lord men shun evil’ (Prov. 16:6. LXX); ‘I will teach you the fear of the Lord’ (Ps. 34:11). According to St Dorotheos, these and similar things are said with regard to the introductory fear, so that through fear of what threatens us we sinners may be led to’ repent and may seek to find deliverance from our sins. Moreover, when it is active. within us, this introductory fear teaches us the way that leads to life, for it is said: ‘Shun evil, and do good’ (Ps. 34:14). The more a man struggles to do good, the more fear grows in him, until it shows him his slightest faults, those which he thought of as nothing while he was still in the darkness of ignorance. When fear in this way has become perfect, he himself becomes perfect through inward grief: he no longer desires to sin but, fearing the return of the passions, he remains in this pure fear invulnerable. As the psalm puts it, ‘The fear of the Lord is pure, and endures for ever’ (Ps. 19:9. LXX). The first kind of fear is not pure, for it arises in us because of our sins. But, independent of sin, the person who has been purified continues to feel fear, not because he sins, but because, being human, he is changeable and prone to evil. In his humility, the further he advances through the acquisition of the virtues, the more he fears. This is natural; for everyone who possesses wealth greatly fears loss, punishment, dishonor, and the consequent fall from his high estate. The poor man, on the contrary, is on the whole without fear: he is only afraid of being beaten. What has just been said applies to those who are entirely perfect and pure in soul and body. But if someone is still stumbling, even though his sins are of the slightest and most insignificant kind, let him not mislead himself by thinking that his fear is pure. For if he does think this, he is deceived, as St John Klimakos states: his fear is not pure, nor is it humility. It is but servile prudence and fear of

Book ll III The Two Kinds of Fear punishments threatened. Thus such a person’s thoughts need to be corrected, so that he may learn what kind of fear he is subject to, and through the deepest grief and by patiently enduring affliction may purify himself of sins, and in this way through Christ’s grace may attain perfect fear. The sign of the first kind of fear is hatred of sin and anger towards it, like someone wounded by a wild beast. The sign of perfect fear is the love of virtue and the fear of relapsing, since no one is unalterable. Thus in every situation throughout this present life we ought always to be afraid of falling; for we see the great king and prophet David mourning for his two sins (cf. Ps. 51; 2 Sam. 11:1-17), and Solomon himself giving way to grievous evil (cf. 1 Kgs. 11:1-10). As St Paul said: ‘Let anyone who thinks he stands firm take care lest he fall’ (1 Cor. 10:12). If someone says that, according to St John, ‘love casts out fear’ (1 John 4:18), he is right; but this refers to the first, the introductory fear. Concerning perfect fear David has said: ‘Blessed is the man who fears the Lord and who greatly delights in His commandments’ (Ps. 112:1), that is, who greatly cherishes virtue. Such a person has the status of a son, for he cherishes virtue not out of fear of punishment, but because of the love that ‘casts out fear’. This is why he ‘greatly delights’, unlike the slave who carries out orders under constraint because of his fear of punishment. From this punishment may we all be saved, through the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belong all glory, honor and worship throughout the ages. Amen.

Book ll IV True Piety and Self-Control It is clear that true piety embraces a great variety of things, as does secular philosophy. For philosophy presupposes the completion of ten different branches of learning, embracing not just one or two of these branches but all ten together. Similarly, true piety consists not in the possession of a single virtue alone, but in the keeping of all the commandments. In its Greek form, the term ‘true piety’ comes from a word meaning ‘to serve well’. If some people say that ‘to serve well’

Book ll IV True Piety and Self-Control is the same thing as faith, let them explain how it is possible to fear the Lord before believing in Him. Does one not first believe in the Lord and then fear Him? Hence faith gives rise to fear, and from fear comes true piety. The prophet Isaiah indicates that this is the correct sequence: starting with wisdom, he proceeds in a descending order, referring to ‘the spirit of knowledge and true piety’, and last of all to ‘the spirit of the fear of God’ (Isa. 11:2-3. LXX). The Lord Himself starts with fear and then guides the man who possesses this fear to a state of inward grief. This is not the moment to speak systematically about every form of true piety or spiritual activity. Leaving to one side the ascetic practices pertaining to the body that precede the acquisition both of the higher kind of faith and of pure fear - for everyone knows what these practices are - I will speak of the trees of the spiritual paradise, that is, with the help of God’s grace I will speak briefly about the virtues of the soul. Of these, the most all-embracing is self-control, by which I mean abstinence from all the passions. There is also another, more partial form of selfcontrol, that applies to bodily actions and teaches us the proper use of food and drink. Here, however, I am referring to the self-control that applies, as I said, to the passions and that restrains every thought and every movement of the limbs that is not in harmony with God’s will. The person who possesses this virtue does not tolerate any thought or word, any movement of hand or foot or of any other member of the body, unless it is essential to the life of the body or to the soul’s salvation.

It is after the acquisition of this virtue that the trials and temptations incited by the demons multiply, for they see before them an embodied angel, wholeheartedly committed to doing what is right and good. This is what is meant by the command given to man in paradise, ‘to cultivate and to keep it’ (Gen. 2:15); for self-control needs to be cultivated and guarded ceaselessly, so as to prevent any of the passions that are outside the garden from stealthily creeping in. As I have said, the two forms of self-control or self-restraint are not identical, for while the first curbs unchastity and the other shameful passions, the second controls even the slightest thought, bringing it under surveillance before it can lead to sin, and then conducting it to God. No one can speak or learn about this with precision merely through hearsay; it is only through experience that one can come to understand and counteract all these things that so disturb the intellect. How, indeed, is it possible merely by giving things a name to resurrect the

Book ll IV True Piety and Self-Control dust and to make the material immaterial? Names are one thing, and secular learning, on the basis of etymology, can provide one with knowledge about them. But the experience and acquisition of the virtues require God’s help; and they are achieved only through much effort and over a long period of time. This is especially true of the virtues of the soul, for these are the more inward and essential virtues. The virtues that pertain to the body - which are better described as the tools of the virtues - are easier to acquire, even though they do demand bodily effort. But the virtues of the soul, although they demand the control of thought alone, are much more difficult to achieve. Because of this the Law says first: ‘Watch yourself attentively’ (Exod. 23:21. LXX). St Basil the Great has written an excellent treatise on this phrase. But what shall we say, we who are not attentive at all? We are like the Pharisees. Some of us may fast and keep vigil and perform other such things, and we may often do this with partial understanding. But we lack discrimination because we do not pay attention to ourselves and do not know what it is that is being asked of us. Nor are we willing to give persistent and patient attention to our thoughts, so as to gain experience from our many trials and battles, and thus become for others at least an experienced sailor, if not a captain. Although we are all of us blind, we claim that we ourselves see, as the Pharisees claimed. That is why it is said. that they will be judged more severely (cf. John 9:41). For if we acknowledged our blindness, we should not be condemned; it would be enough for us to be grateful and to admit our failure and ignorance. But, alas, we shall receive the greater condemnation, as did the pagan Greeks; for, according to Solomon, they aspired after so many things and yet failed to attain what they sought. Should we therefore keep silence, as though there was nothing for us to do? That would be even worse. Let us rather rebuke ourselves, for it is shameful even to mention the things that we do in secret (cf. Eph. 5:12). Hence I will say nothing about such things, but will speak about the virtues that so deserve our esteem. For the recollection of their sweetness fills my darkened heart with pleasure, and I forget my limitations and am no longer troubled about the condemnation that awaits me if 1 speak and do not act. Self-control, then, and self-restraint have the same power and are

Book ll IV True Piety and Self-Control twofold, as has been said. But now 1 want to say something further about their more perfect form. He who by God’s grace enjoys the great faith of contemplation together with pure and divine fear, and who wishes on the basis of these to keep possession of self-control and self-restraint, should first master himself both outwardly and inwardly, acting as if he were already dead in soul and body as regards this world and all other men. In every circumstance he should say to himself: ‘Who am I? What is my existence? Nothing but abomination. For I start as earth and I end as putrefaction, and in between I am filled with all manner of insolence and worse. What is my life? And how long? A single hour and then death comes. Why do I bother about this and that? Already I am dying. For Christ controls both life and death. Why do I worry and strive in vain? All one needs is a bit of bread: why seek more? If I have this, there is nothing to worry about. If I don’t, it may be that in my ignorance I do worry about it; yet it is God who provides.’ For these reasons every man should make it his whole concern to guard his senses and his thoughts, so as not to devise or do anything that does not seem to be in accordance with God’s will. Let him prepare himself to accept patiently the things that befall him at the hands of. men and demons, whether these things are pleasant or unpleasant. Neither the one nor the other should excite him or make him give way either to senseless joy and presumption, or to dejection and despair. He should entertain no over-confident thought until the Lord comes. To Him be glory throughout the ages. Amen.

Book ll V Patient Endurance The Lord said: ‘He who endures patiently to the end will be saved’ (Matt. 10:22). Patient endurance is the consolidation of all the virtues, because without it not one of them can subsist. For whoever turns back is not ‘fit for the kingdom of heaven’ (Luke 9:62). Indeed, even though someone thinks that he is in possession of all the virtues, he is still not fit for the kingdom until he has first endured to the end and escaped from the snares of the devil; for only thus can he

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V Patient Endurance attain it. Even those who have received a foretaste of the kingdom stand in need of patient endurance if they are to gain their final reward in the age to be. Indeed, in every form of learning and knowledge persistence is needed. This is natural, since even sensible things cannot be produced without it: when any such thing is born, there has to be a period of patient waiting if it is to continue to live. In short, patient endurance is required before anything can come about; and, once something has come about, it can be sustained and brought to perfection only through such endurance. If it is something good, this virtue assists and guards it; if something evil, it confers relief and strength of soul and does not permit the person being tempted to grow faint-hearted, thus experiencing a foretaste of hell. Patient endurance kills the despair that kills the soul; it teaches the soul to take comfort and not to grow listless in the face of its many battles and afflictions. Judas lacked this virtue, and because of his inexperience in spiritual warfare suffered a double death (cf. Matt. 27:5). Peter, chief of the apostles, possessed it, being an experienced warrior; and when he fell, he defeated the devil who had overthrown him (cf. Matt. 26:75; John 21:15-17). The monk who once lapsed into unchastity acquired it, and conquered his conqueror by not yielding to the counsel of despair that urged him to abandon his cell and his solitude. Patiently he said to the thoughts that tempted him: ‘I have not sinned; and again I say to you, I have not sinned.’ What divine understanding and patience in that noble man! This blessed virtue brought the righteous Job and his initial good works to fulfillment; for had he lacked it even slightly, he would have obliterated all the good he had previously done. But God who knew his patience allowed the plague to strike him for his own perfecting and for the benefit of many others. He, then, who knows what is to his benefit should struggle to acquire this virtue before anything else, according to St Basil the Great. For St Basil advises us not to fight against all the passions at once, since if we are unsuccessful we might turn back and no longer be fit for the kingdom of heaven. Rather we should fight the passions one at a time, and start by patiently enduring whatever befalls us. This is right; for the person who lacks patient endurance will never be able

Book ll V Patient Endurance to stand fast even in an ordinary, battle, but will bring only flight and destruction upon himself and others by retreating. This is why God told Moses not to allow anyone who was cowardly to go out with the army (cf. Deut. 20:8). In an ordinary war it may be possible for someone to remain inside in his house and not go out to fight; and though by doing this he loses gifts and honors, he may live on in poverty and dishonor. But in spiritual warfare it is impossible to find a place anywhere in creation in which a battle is not being waged. In the desert there are wild beasts and demons and other malefic and terrifying things; in places of solitude and stillness there are demons, trials and temptations; in the midst of human company there are demons and men who try one and tempt one. There is no place anywhere where one is unmolested; and, because of this, without patient endurance it is impossible to find peace. Such endurance is born of fear and faith, though it originates in understanding. He who is sensible tests things in the light of his intellect and, when he finds that he is ‘hemmed in on every side’ - to use Susanna’s words - he chooses what is better, as she did. For she said to God: ‘I am hemmed in on every side. If I do the will of the lawless priests, my soul will perish because of my adultery; but if I disobey them, they will accuse me of adultery and as judges of the people will condemn me to death. It is better for me to take refuge in the Almighty, even if death awaits me’ (cf. Sus., verses 22-23). How great was the wisdom of that blessed woman! For as soon as the people had gathered together and the lawless judges had sat down to accuse her, blameless as she was, and to condemn her to death as an adulteress, then Daniel, though only twelve years old, was shown by God to be a prophet and saved her from death, transferring the death sentence from her to the priests who were about to judge her unjustly (cf. Sus., verses 44-62). Through Susanna God has shown how close He is to those who are willing to endure trials for His sake, and who will not abandon virtue out of cowardice because of the suffering involved, but cleave to the law of God by patiently enduring what befalls them, rejoicing in the hope of salvation. And they have good cause to do this; for when confronted by two perils, one with temporary and the other with eternal consequences, is it not better to choose the first? For this reason St Isaac says that it is better to endure dangers out of love for God, and to cleave to Him in the hope of eternal life, than through

Book ll V Patient Endurance fear, of trials to fall away from God into the hands of the devil and to be condemned with him to punishment. If we love God, then like the saints we should rejoice in our own trials. But even if we are not like them, let us at least choose the better path simply out of constraint; for we are in fact constrained either to run bodily risks in this present life, thereby attaining the state of dispassion, and so coming to reign with Christ spiritually in this age and in the age to be; or else, as I have said, to fall away through fear of trials and be committed to agelong punishment. May God save us from punishment by giving us the strength patiently to endure whatever terrible things befall us. Endurance is like an unshakeable rock in the winds and waves of life. However the tempest batters him, the patient man remains steadfast and does not turn back; and when he finds relief and joy, he is not carried away by self-glory: he is always the same, whether things are hard or easy, and for this reason he is proof against the snares of the enemy. When storms beset him, he endures them with joy, awaiting their end; and when the heavens smile on him, he expects temptation-until his last breath, as St Antony has said. Such a person knows that nothing in life is unchangeable, and that all things pass. Thus he is not troubled or anxious about any of them, but leaves all things in the hands of God, for He has us in His care (cf. 1 Pet. 5:7); and to Him belong all glory, honor and dominion throughout the ages. Amen.

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VI Hope Life is hope free from all anxiety, wealth hidden from the senses but attested by the understanding and by the true nature of things. Farmers work laboriously, sowing and planting, sailors endure many dangers, and children learn reading and writing and other branches of knowledge. They all look forward with hope, laboring with joy. Outwardly they sacrifice immediate advantages, but in reality, even if they forfeit what they sacrifice, through their patient endurance they

Book ll VI Hope gain what is of far greater value. But in such instances, it might be said, they do this because they know from experience that they stand to gain something, while in the realm of the spiritual no one has risen from the dead so that we can know what rewards to expect. It is, however, only because we have no experience of spiritual gifts and spiritual knowledge that we think like this. Nor is it surprising that we should do so. For even farmers and sailors are full of apprehension so long as they have not acquired experience. And children, ignorant of the value of writing and the other subjects, seek to avoid learning them; but their parents, aware of what is to be gained, in their love compel them to study; then, when the time is ripe, the children themselves acquire experience and not only begin to love their lessons and those who force them to study, but even to accept with joy the ordeals of learning. Thus we, too, setting out in faith should strive patiently to advance, and not lose heart because of our tribulations; and then, when the time is ripe, we like them will come to know the value of what is happening to us and so will work tirelessly and with joy and gladness. ‘We walk by faith,’ as St Paul says, ‘not by sight’ (2 Cor. 5:7).

Yet just as it is impossible for someone engaged in business to make a profit on the basis of faith alone, so it is impossible for anyone to attain spiritual knowledge and repose before he has labored in thought and action to acquire the virtues. And just as business men always fear loss and hope for gain, so should we, until our final breath; and as they exert themselves not only when they make a profit, but also after suffering loss and taking risks, so should we as well, knowing that the idle man will not eat from the fruit of his own labors and so will become a pauper, perhaps even falling heavily into debt. It is because of this that the prophet says, ‘Thou hast made me to dwell in hope’ (Ps. 4:8. LXX); and the apostle writes, ‘Through hope were they made perfect’ (cf. Heb. 11:39-40).

Such in brief is what we can learn from nature and from Holy Scripture. But if someone wishes to know these things through experience, let him do all that he can to practice assiduously, as though he were at school, the seven forms of bodily discipline, and let him pay attention to the moral virtues as well, that is, to the virtues that pertain to the soul. Then, after attaining hope and persisting in it, he will obtain precise knowledge of what has been said. He will realize that from the very outset of his repentance, when he began to practice

Book ll VI Hope the first of the seven forms of bodily discipline - namely, stillness - the reward of hope and the blessings it confers were granted to him even before he began to practice the other six, that is to say, fasting, vigils, and so on. As soon as he had begun to practice the first of them - stillness, the beginning of the soul’s purification - at once the blessings to which he aspired were bestowed on him. But being an inexperienced student he did not recognize the grace of his Master, just as a child does not recognize the bounty of his parents, though before he was born it was already their desire to help him, for they prayed that he would be born and would live. The child even fails to realize that he will be their heir and will have all they already possess as well as what their labors may still accumulate. In his ignorance he pays no attention whatsoever to such things, but thinks of obedience to his parents as a trial. Indeed, were he not in need of food and other natural necessities he would not be grateful towards them at all. He who wishes to inherit the kingdom of heaven, yet does not patiently endure what befalls him, shows himself even more ungrateful than such a child. For he was created by God’s grace, has received all things in this world, awaits what is to come, and has been called to reign eternally with Christ, who has honored him, in spite of his nothingness, with such great gifts, visible and invisible, to the extent even of shedding His most precious blood for him, not asking anything from him at all except that he should choose to receive His blessings. For this is Christ’s only request, and whoever can understand that will be astonished. ‘What does God require of you?’ we are asked (cf. Mic. 6:8. LXX). How stupid we are! How is it that we look and fail to see His awesome mysteries? For precisely that which He seems to demand from us is in fact another, a greater gift. How do we not understand that he who cultivates the virtues is the greatest of men, superior to all, even if he is a pauper and of humble birth? How can we recognize the prophets, apostles and martyrs in this present life, and yet be doubtful about the blessings held in store? Let us consider their lives and what they have done, and whence it is they say they have received grace and strength. Do they not perform miracles even after their death? Have we not remarked how kings and rich people venerate their holy icons? We have seen how virtuous men live even in this present life full of thankfulness and virtue and spiritual joy, while the rich are troubled and experience greater trials and temptations than ascetics and those who possess nothing. All this

Book ll VI Hope gives us grounds for hoping that virtue is truly greater than everything else. But if it is not enough, then we should note how unbelievers, although they may not know God, still praise virtue, despite the fact that the virtuous man seems to have a faith other than their own. For even an enemy is capable of respecting virtue in his opponent. If we believe that virtue is good, then of necessity God, who created virtue and gave it to men, is also good; and if He is good, then of necessity He is likewise righteous, for righteousness is a virtue and thus is good. If God is both good and righteous, then He has certainly done all that He has done and is doing out of goodness, even if this does not seem to be so to the wicked. For nothing darkens a man’s mind so much as evil, while God reveals Himself to simplicity and humility, not to toil and weariness. But He reveals Himself, not in the way that some in their inexperience think, but through the contemplation of created beings and through the revelation of the mysteries hidden in the divine Scriptures. Such is the reward, in this present life, of stillness and of the other virtues. As for the age to be, ‘the eye has not seen, and the ear has not heard, and man’s heart has not grasped the things that God has prepared for those who love Him’ (1 Cor. 2:9), and who renounce their own will in patient endurance and in the hope of the blessings held in store. We pray that we too may attain these blessings through the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belong all glory, honor and dominion throughout the ages. Amen.

Book ll VII Detachment Detachment has its origin in hope, for he who hopes to acquire elsewhere eternal wealth readily despises that which is material and transient, even if it offers him every kind of comfort. For although his life may be harsh and full of pain, who could persuade a man of intelligence to value material wealth above love for God, who gives both forms of wealth to those who love Him? This could only happen to someone blind and unable to see at all because of his lack of faith or

Book ll VII Detachment because of his evil disposition and habits. Had he possessed faith, he would have been enlightened; and had he through his firm faith received but a small measure of the enlightenment that comes from spiritual knowledge, he would have struggled to destroy those evil habits. And if he had resolved to do this, God’s grace would have worked and struggled with him. But the Lord has said that few are saved (cf. Luke 13:23-24); for the things we see appear to be sweet, even when they are actually bitter. The dog that licks his wound with his tongue is not aware of the pain because of the sweetness, and does not realize that he is drinking his own blood; and the glutton who eats what harms him in both soul and body is not aware of the damage he does himself. All those who are the slaves of passion suffer likewise because of their lack of awareness; and even if they resist for a while they are again overcome by habit. For this reason the Lord says, ‘The kingdom of heaven is subjected to violence’ (Matt. 11:12). Such violence is due, not to our nature, but to our intimacy with the passions. Had it been due to our nature, no one would enter the kingdom. For those who have chosen the kingdom, however, the yoke of the Lord is easy to bear and His burden is light (cf. Matt. 11:30), while for those who have not made this choice, ‘strait is the gate, and narrow is the way’ (Matt. 7:14) and ‘the kingdom is subjected to violence’ (Matt. 11:12). In the case of those who choose it, the kingdom is within and close to them, because they wish for it, and desire to attain here and now the state of dispassion. For what helps or hinders our salvation is the will, and nothing else. If you want to do something good, do it; and if you cannot do it, then resolve to do it, and you will have achieved the resolution even if you do not fulfill the action itself. Thus a habit, whether good or bad, can gradually and spontaneously be overcome. If this were not the case, no criminals would ever be saved, whereas in fact not only have they been saved, but many have become conspicuous for their excellence. Think what a great gulf separates the criminal from the saint; yet resolution finally overcame habit. If by Christ’s grace someone is religious, or a monk, what prevents him from achieving sanctity, as criminals have achieved it? They were far from sanctity, he is near it; he has already completed the greater part of the journey, helped by grace, or by nature, or by the devotion and reverence he has inherited from his parents. Is it not strange, then, that when brigands and grave-robbers become saints, monks are

Book ll VII Detachment condemned? But, alas, ‘the shame of my face has covered me’ (Ps. 44:15). Kings renounce their riches, as Joasaph did and others like him; but often a poor man is unable to continue in his original state, and so to enter without struggle into the kingdom of heaven simply by remaining detached from things which he has not acquired by inheritance from his parents. For although at baptism he renounced even what did not belong to him - since another possesses the world and the things in it, he merely has the power to desire them - and although he renounced this world-ruler as well, yet even so he may afterwards try to acquire possessions. He may say, ‘I am not able to live without possessions or to endure the things that befall me.’ ‘What things?’ it may be asked. The prison cells and chains which he endured previously, and might have had to endure, even if he had been a ruler? For even those who are in positions of authority and who possess wealth are subject to these things. What, then? The deprivation of life’s necessities, the nakedness and the other things that he has to endure? But in order not to prolong this discussion by going into details and so heaping further disgrace on those who are already full of shame, I will add only the following. If we crave but one of the visible things, the desire for which we have renounced, then like Gehazi and Judas (cf. 2 Kgs. 5:25-27; Matt. 27:3-5) we will reap shame and disgrace in the age to come. For Gehazi desired what he did not have and so both contracted leprosy and fell away from God; while Judas desired to repossess what he had renounced and so was punished not only with hanging but also with perdition. In what way is the monk exceptional if he does not persevere in virginity and a state of total dispossession? All men are under an obligation to keep the other commandments, because they pertain to our nature; that is to say, we are all required to love God and our neighbor, to endure patiently what befalls us, to make use of things according to their true nature, and to refrain from committing evil. We should keep these commandments even if we do. not want to. Indeed, unless we keep them, we will not find peace even in this world, since the laws punish those who offend against them, and our rulers compel us to live virtuously. As St Paul says, the ruler ‘does not

Book ll VII Detachment bear the sword to no purpose’ (Rom. 13:4); and again: ‘You wish to have no fear of the authorities? Do what is right and you will have their approval’ (Rom. 13:3). Everyone does and wants to do these things because they accord with nature - indeed, we insist that they should be done. But the lot of the monk as a soldier of Christ is to do that which is beyond nature; for this reason he should taste Christ’s sufferings, so that he may also attain His glory. Indeed, this too is a law of nature, verified by what happens in this world. Are not the soldiers of the king honored because they suffer with him? And does not each of them receive praise in proportion to his suffering? And to the extent that he shows himself incapable of suffering in this way, is he not dishonored? Is it not obvious that the more regal the garments a person wears, the closer he is to the king? And the less regal, the farther away? The same things apply in connection with our own King. The more we suffer with Christ and imitate His poverty, tasting His sufferings and the ill-treatment to which He was subjected before He was crucified for our sake and buried, the more intimate we become with Him and the more we share in His glory. It is as St Paul says: if we suffer with Him, we will also be glorified with Him (cf. Rom. 8:17). Why, as we know, soldiers and thieves suffer simply trying to get food, travelers and sailors are absent from home for long periods, and people endure great trials quite apart from any hope of the kingdom of heaven, often indeed failing to achieve whatever it is they struggle for. But we are unwilling to endure even slight hardship for the sake of the kingdom of heaven and eternal blessings. Yet these might not prove so difficult to attain if our resolution abetted us and if we regarded the acquisition of the virtues not as a laborious and intolerable task, but rather as a joy and a relaxation, because of the hope, freedom from anxiety and unsolicited honor that come through virtue; for even its enemy respects it and admires it. Finally, virtue brings us happiness and exultation. Indeed, detachment is full of joy, just as material existence and its shameful passions are full of sorrow. May we be redeemed from this material existence and may we attain eternal, immaterial life through the detachment that leads to the mortification of the body, in Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom belong all glory, honor and worship throughout the ages. Amen.

Book ll VI Mortification of the Passions He who has achieved detachment has his attention fixed always on God through contemplation. For detachment from material things gives rise to the contemplation of spiritual realities-contemplation not of created beings in this present life, but of the awesome things that take place before and after death. For the detached person is taught about these things by grace, so that through inward grief he may mortify the passions and, when the time is ripe, attain peace and gentleness in his thoughts.

From faith comes fear, and from fear comes true piety, or self-control, the endurance of grief, and the other things of which the Lord’s Beatitudes speak (cf. Matt. 5:3-12) - gentleness, hunger and thirst for righteousness, that is, for all the virtues, acts of mercy - and also detachment. From detachment comes the mortification of the body, realized through compunctive sorrow and bitter tears of repentance and distress. By means of these the soul in its anguish renounces the joys of this world and even the food we eat, for it begins to see that its faults are countless as the sand of the sea. This is the start of the soul’s enlightenment and the sign of its health. The tears that may occur before this, and the apparently divine thoughts, compunction and the like, are all deceits and ruses of the demons, especially in the case of those living among men or subject to distraction, even though it be but slight.

For no one still attracted by any sensible object can overcome the passions. And if it is said that the saints of old not only lived among men but also possessed material things, the answer is that, though this is certainly true, they never used any of these objects under the influence of the passions. This is clear from the fact that, as is recorded in the genealogies of the Old Testament, they married wives and yet knew them only after many years, thus showing that they were in a sense both married and unmarried. The same is true of Job and other righteous men. Indeed, David was both king and prophet, and Solomon likewise up to a certain point in his life. He himself describes how God has sent subtle temptations to the sons of men, so that they might be distracted by vain things (cf. Eccles. 1:13) and thus prevented from turning towards what is even worse. All this is

Book ll VI Mortification of the Passions clear from the very nature of things. For if, when there are thousands of distractions, some still find opportunity to commit sins, how much more would this be the case if our lives were without distraction? In such circumstances, it is better for us to be superficially distracted, and so prevented from devoting ourselves to holy things and holy thoughts, rather than for us to do many other things which are in fact worse.

But he who by God’s grace has achieved a certain degree of spiritual knowledge and can understand the awesome things that occur before and after death as a result of man’s primal disobedience, should continue in all stillness and detachment to occupy himself with such thoughts as well as with the actions that -induce them, and should not let himself be distracted by vain things. ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity’ (Eccles. 1:2); and on the basis of this text St John of Damaskos said. ‘Truly all things are vanity, and life is but a shadow and a dream.’ For everyone worries in vain, as the Scripture rightly says (cf. Ps. 39:6): for what can be more vain than a life whose end is putrefaction and dust? Thus detachment is mortification, not of the intellect, but of the body’s initial impulses towards pleasure and comfort. For the desire for comfort, however slight, is a non-spiritual desire. And when the soul recognizes in itself some altogether spiritual activity or knowledge, it feels still greater distress at the presence of this non-spiritual desire; for if the soul is non-spiritual, the Spirit of God will not abide in it (cf. Gen. 6:3). When this happens, the soul will not be interested in any good work, but will struggle to fulfill the desires of the body and of its own indwelling passions, piling darkness upon darkness, and gladly accepting to live always in utter ignorance.

When a man has been sufficiently illumined, however, to perceive his own faults, he never ceases mourning for himself and for all men, seeing God’s great forbearance and what sins we in our wretchedness have committed and still persist in committing. As a result of this he becomes full of gratitude, not daring to condemn anyone, shamed by the profusion of God’s blessings and the multitude of our sins. Thereupon he joyfully renounces everything in his own will that is counter to God, and he watches over his own senses, so as to prevent them from doing anything beyond what is unavoidably needed.

Book ll VI Mortification of the Passions In this way he emulates the psalmist, who wrote: ‘Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor are my eyes presumptuous’ (Ps. 131:1). But after having reached such heights he must be careful lest through negligence or self-inflation he suffers what David suffered, without perhaps being able to repent as David did. For to sin, even in the case of those who are most righteous, is easy, while repentance is not easy for everyone because death is near; and even before death comes there is despair. It is good, then, not to fall; or, if we fall, to rise again. And should we fall, we should not despair and so estrange ourselves from the Lord’s love. For if He so chooses, He can deal mercifully with our weakness. Only we should not cut ourselves off from Him or feel oppressed when constrained by His commandments, nor should we lose heart when we fall short of our goal. Rather, let us learn that a thousand years in the sight of the Lord are but a single day, and a single day is as a thousand years (cf. Ps. 90:4). Let us be neither hasty nor tardy, and let us be always ready to make a new start. If you fall, rise up. If you fall again, rise up again. Only do not abandon your Physician, lest you be condemned as worse than a suicide because of your despair. Wait on Him, and He will be merciful, either reforming you, or sending you trials, or through some other provision of which you are ignorant.

For the devil is in the habit of promoting in the soul whatever he sees is in accordance with the soul’s own disposition, whether this be joy or self-conceit, distress or despair, excessive toil or utter indolence, or thoughts and actions that are untimely and profitless, or blindness and unreflecting hatred of all that exists. Quite simply, he inflames in the soul whatever material he finds there already, so as to do it as much harm as he can, even though in itself the thing may be good and acceptable to God, provided that it is used with due restraint by one who is able to judge things and to discern the intention of God hidden in the six passions that surround him - those, that is, above him and below, to his right and to his left, within him and without. Whether it relates to the practice of the virtues or to spiritual knowledge, there is some good purpose lying within the six passions that oppose him.

Thus, as St Antony says,’ we should always seek counsel about everything; and we should consult not just anyone, but those who

Book ll VI Mortification of the Passions have the grace of discrimination; for if the person we consult lacks experience, we may both fall into the ditch, as in the example given in the Gospel (cf. Matt. 15:12-14). For without discrimination nothing good is ever done, even though to the ignorant it appears to be altogether good; for what is done without discrimination will be either untimely, or profitless, or disproportionate, or beyond the strength or knowledge of the person doing it, or faulty in some other way. He who has the gift of discrimination has received it on account of his humility. Through it he knows all things by grace and, when the time is ripe, he attains spiritual insight.

From inward grief, then, and patient endurance come hope and detachment; and through hope and detachment we die to the world. We may also die to the world by enduring patiently and by not despairing when we see everywhere dismay and death, knowing that this is both a trial and an illumination; or by not being over-confident about having reached our goal. Shedding many tears of distress, we begin to see clearly before us the holy sufferings of the Lord, and we are greatly solaced by them. And we truly regard ourselves as inferior to all other men, perceiving how many blessings are bestowed on us through the grace of God, to whom be glory and dominion through all the ages. Amen.

Book ll IX The Remembrance of Christ’s Sufferings

So that we will not think that we are doing something great through our ascetic efforts and our many sighs and tears, we are given knowledge of the sufferings of Christ and His saints. Meditating on these we are astonished, and in our amazement we exhaust ourselves through our ascetic labors. For by contemplating the numberless trials that the saints joyfully accepted and the many sufferings that the Lord endured on our behalf, we become aware of our own feebleness. At the same time we are illumined by the knowledge of what the Lord did and said. And by understanding what is stated in the Gospel, we begin sometimes to mourn bitterly in sorrow, sometimes to rejoice spiritually in thanksgiving. Not because we think that we have

Book ll IX The Remembrance of Christ’s Sufferings done anything good, for that would be self-conceit; but because, in spite of being such sinners, we have been granted the contemplation of these things.

In this way we become all the more humble in action and thought, practicing the seven forms of bodily discipline of which we have spoken, as well as the moral virtues, that is to say, the virtues of the soul; and we guard the five senses and keep the Lord’s commandments. We do not regard these as good works deserving reward; rather we view them as a debt to be paid. Nor do we hope in any way to be released from the debt, for we recognize how enormous are the gifts of knowledge that we have received. We become, as it were, captive to the meaning of what we read and the message of what we chant; and in our delight we often unconsciously forget our sins, and in our joy we begin to shed tears that are sweet as honey. But then, fearful of being deluded in case this is all premature, we restrain ourselves; and recalling our former way of life, we again weep bitterly. In this manner we oscillate between these two kinds of tears, the sweet and the bitter.

So we go forward, provided we are attentive and always consult someone of experience, and provided we come before God with the pure prayer that is appropriate for one practicing the virtues, while at the same time we withdraw our intellect from all that it has known or heard, and concentrate it on the remembrance of God, asking only that God’s will may be done in all our thoughts and undertakings. But if we fail to do this, then we are liable to be deluded, thinking that we will see an apparition of one of the holy angels, or of Christ. We fail to realize that he who seeks to see Christ should look not outside himself, but within himself, emulating Christ’s life in this world, and becoming sinless in body and soul, as Christ was. His intellect should apprehend everything through Christ.

To have in mind any form, color or thought during the time of prayer is not good-in fact it may be extremely dangerous. Evagrios has explained what is meant by the intellect being in the realm or dwelling-place of God. He took the expression from the Psalter: ‘In peace is His dwelling-place’ (Ps. 76:2. LXX). To be ‘in peace’ means to have no thoughts, whether bad or good, because, as Evagrios says, if the intellect perceives something, it is not in God alone, but also in

Book ll IX The Remembrance of Christ’s Sufferings itself. This is true; for since God is undetermined and indeterminable, without form or color, the intellect that is with God alone should itself be without form or color, free from all figuration and undistracted. Otherwise it will be subject to demonic illusion. That is why we must be careful and, unless we have taken advice from someone of experience, we should not entertain any thought, whether good or bad, for we do not know which it is. For the demons take whatever shape they want and appear in this way to us, just as the human intellect is shaped by what it wants and is colored by the forms of the things that it perceives. The demons do this in order to deceive us, and under their influence our intellect wanders senselessly in its efforts to reach perfection.

Thus one ought to constrain the intellect as much as possible within the bounds of some meditation acceptable to God. For as there are seven forms of bodily discipline, so there are eight types of contemplation, or types of spiritual knowledge, that pertain to the intellect. Three of these, which have already been mentioned, are connected with the holy sufferings of the Lord and we should always of our own accord meditate on them, so as to grieve over our own soul and over those of our fellow men. But in addition to these, we should also think about the terrible things that happened at the very beginning because of man’s transgression; about how our nature succumbed to so many passions; about our own faults and the trials that occur for the sake of our correction and recovery. Finally we should think both of death and of the fearful punishments that await sinners after death. In this way the soul may be strengthened and devote itself to grief. At the same time it will be solaced and humbled, neither despairing because of these terrible thoughts nor imagining that it has attained the level of spiritual work; and it will continue in fear and hope, a state equivalent to gentleness of thought and one that is always the same. It is this that leads the intellect to spiritual knowledge and discrimination. The psalmist confirms this when he writes: ‘He will lead the gentle to judgment’ (Ps. 25:9), or rather, to discrimination, or what the prophet describes as spiritual knowledge and holiness (cf. Isa. 11:2. LXX).

Yet as true piety, although a single term, takes many outward forms, so spiritual knowledge, also a single term, includes many forms of

Book ll IX

The Remembrance of Christ’s Sufferings knowledge and contemplation. For even the first step in the practice of bodily discipline is a form of knowledge; in fact, without knowledge no one does anything good. Until we attain our goal - by which I mean until we are adopted as sons and our intellect ascends into the heavens in Christ-each state is a form of knowledge and contemplation. The knowledge that we have before we begin to practice a spiritual discipline helps to make this practice effective, serving thus as a kind of tool; while the knowledge that follows on faith protects our faith with fear as with a wall.

The knowledge and the practice of the soul’s virtues have as their goal the preparation and planting of the trees of paradise. These trees are the knowledge of a man’s intellect and his spiritual labor; in other words, the attentiveness of his intellect and the moral state of his soul. By practicing the commandments he ‘cultivates and keeps’ the trees (cf. Gen. 2:15) with understanding and insight. At the same time he is helped by divine providence, that acts like sun, rain, wind and growth, without which all the effort of the gardener is in vain, even if everything has been done in due order. For nothing good can come about without help from above; yet help from above and grace are only granted to those who have resolved to act, as St John Chrysostom says.

In this life, all things go in pairs: practice and spiritual knowledge, free will and grace, fear and hope, struggle and reward. The second does not come until the first has been actualized; and if it seems as if it does, this is illusion, just as someone who lacks horticultural knowledge, on seeing the flower and thinking that it is the fruit, rushes forward to pick it, not realizing that by picking the flower he destroys the fruit, so it is here: for, as St Maximos puts it, ‘To think that one knows prevents one from advancing in knowledge.’ Hence we ought to cleave to God and to do all things with discrimination.

Discrimination comes from seeking advice with humility and from criticizing oneself and what one thinks and does. There is nothing astonishing in the fact that the devil assumes the form of ‘an angel of light’ (2 Cor.11:14), for the thoughts that he sows in us also appear to be righteous when we lack experience. Humility is the gateway to

Book ll IX The Remembrance of Christ’s Sufferings dispassion, said St John Klimakos; and, according to St Basil the Great, the fuel of humility is gentleness. It is this that gives man constancy, so that he is always the same whether circumstances and thoughts are pleasant or unpleasant. He is indifferent to both honor and dishonor, joyfully accepting things sweet and painful, and remaining unperturbed.

In this he is unlike the virgin about whom St Antony the Great speaks. One day, while St Antony was sitting with a certain Abba, a virgin came up and said to the Elder: ‘Abba, I fast six days of the week and I repeat by heart portions of the Old and New Testaments daily.’ To which the Elder replied: ‘Does poverty mean the same to you as abundance?’ ‘No’, she answered. ‘Or dishonor the same as praise?’ ‘No, Abba.’ Are your enemies the same for you as your friends?’ ‘No’. she replied. At that the wise Elder said to her: ‘Go, get to work, you have accomplished nothing.’ And he was justified in speaking like this. For if she fasted so strictly as to eat only once a week, and then very little, should she not have regarded poverty in the same way as abundance? And if she repeated passages from the Old and New Testaments daily, should she not also have learnt humility? And since she had surrendered everything worldly, should she not have considered all people to be her friends? And if she did still have enemies, could she not learn to treat them as friends after so much ascetic effort? The Elder was quite right when he said, ‘You have accomplished nothing.’

Indeed, I would add that such a person deserves severe condemnation. It is as St John Chrysostom said with regard to the five foolish virgins: they had the strength to practice the more difficult form of asceticism - the virginity which is beyond nature - but not to perform what is less difficult - acts of mercy - though pagans and nonbelievers perform such acts as something natural. So with this virgin: because she did not know what was really needed, she labored in vain. As the Lord said: ‘All this you should have done, without neglecting the rest’ (Matt. 23:23). Ascetic practice is a good thing, but only when done with the right goal in mind. We ought to think of it not as the real task, but as a preparation for the real task;

Book ll IX The Remembrance of Christ’s Sufferings not as the fruit, but as the earth that can, with time, labor and the help of God, bear trees from which the fruit will come-the fruit that is purity of intellect and union with God. To Him be glory throughout the ages. Amen.

Book ll X Humility

The truly humble man never ceases to reproach himself, even when the whole world attacks and insults him. He acts in this way, not simply in order to attain salvation as it were passively by enduring with patience whatever befalls him, but in order to press forward actively and deliberately to embrace the sufferings of Christ. From these sufferings he learns the greatest of all the virtues, humility: the dwelling-place of the Holy Spirit, the gateway to the kingdom of heaven, that is to say, to dispassion. He who passes through this gateway comes to God; but without humility his road is full of pain and his effort useless. Humility bestows complete repose upon whoever possesses it in his heart, because he has Christ dwelling within him. Through it grace remains with him and God’s gifts are preserved. It is the offspring of many different virtues: of obedience, patient endurance, shedding of possessions, poverty, fear of God, spiritual knowledge and others as well. But above all it is the offspring of discrimination, the virtue that illumines the farthest reaches of the intellect. Yet let no one think that it is a simple, casual matter to become humble. It is something beyond our natural powers; and it is almost true to say that the more a person is gifted, the harder it is for him to attain humility. It presupposes great judgment and endurance in the face of the trials and evil spirits that oppose us. For humility slips through all their snares.

Humility is also the offspring of spiritual knowledge, and such knowledge is born of trials and temptations. To the man who knows himself is given the knowledge of all things; and to the man who submits to God, all things will be subject when humility reigns in his members. For it is precisely through undergoing many trials and temptations, and through patiently enduring them, that a man

Book ll X Humility acquires experience; and as a result he comes to know both his own weakness and the power of God. In becoming aware of his own weakness and ignorance, he recognizes that he has now learned what once he did not know; and this allows him to see that just as he used not to know these things, and was unaware that he did not know, so there are many other things which he may later be able to learn. St Basil the Great observes in this connection that unless one tastes something one is unaware of what one is missing. But he who has tasted spiritual knowledge knows at least to some extent that he is ignorant, and so his knowledge becomes for him a source of humility. Again, he who knows that he is a mutable creature will never maintain a high opinion of himself; he will recognize that anything he may have belongs to his Creator. You do not praise a pot on the grounds that it has made itself useful; you praise its maker. And when it is broken, you blame whoever broke it, not its maker. Yet if the vessel of which we are speaking is endowed with intelligence, then necessarily it will possess free will. Whatever is good in it comes from its Creator, and He is also the cause of its being made; but its fall or deviation will depend upon how it exercises its own free will. If you do not deviate, God in His grace will grant you the seal of His approval; but if you give ear to the serpent’s evil counsel, disapprobation will be your lot. Approval and gratitude, however, are due not to the man who receives the gifts but to Him who bestows them. Yet by grace he who receives a gift may deserve approval because by his own choice he accepted what he did not have or, rather, because he is grateful to his Benefactor. And if he is not grateful, not only does he forfeit all approval, but he is selfcondemned for his ingratitude as well. Yet no one, I trust, is so shameless as to claim that the gift was not freely bestowed on him and to pretend in his iniquity that he deserves praise, calmly puffing himself up and condemning those who are apparently not like him, on the grounds that he himself has conferred on himself the wealth he thinks he possesses, and has not received it by God’s grace. Should such a person thank the Giver, he does so in the same way as the Pharisee in the Gospel, and says to himself, ‘I thank Thee, 0 God, that I am not like other men’ (Luke 18:11). The Evangelist - or, rather, God, who knows men’s hearts - was right to say that he spoke ‘to himself, for the Pharisee was not speaking to God. Even though orally he did seem to be speaking to God, yet God who knew his

Book ll X Humility self-applauding soul says that he stood and prayed not to God but to himself. The fact that the Scriptures often make use of identical or very similar phrases is due, says St John Chrysostom, not to repetitiveness or prolixity, but to the desire to imprint what is said on the heart of the reader. In the ardor of his writing the psalmist did not want to stop, as do those who have not tasted the sweetness of his words and who in their listlessness trample them underfoot so as to be freed from the weight of them. Will such a person ever reap any profit from Holy Scripture? Does he not simply earn condemnation and a darkening of his intellect by opening the door to the demons who are attacking him? As the Lord has said: ‘If they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?’(Luke 23:31); and again: ’If the righteous man is only just saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?’ (1 Pet. 4:18). The demons attack even those whose intellect, immaterial and formless, is concentrated entirely on the remembrance of God; and, unless God assisted them on account of their humility, their prayer would not mount to heaven but would fall back empty. What then will be our lot, abject as we are? We do not even open our lips and speak into the air, so that at the last God may have mercy on us, descending to the level of our ignorance and weakness because we have shown gratitude to Him. As for whether or not the demons attack even the perfect in this world, let us hear what St Makarios says: ‘No one becomes perfect in this present age; for if they did, then what is given here would not be simply a pledge of the blessings held in store but their full realization.’ He adduces in testimony one of the brethren who was praying with several others and who was suddenly snatched up mentally to heaven and saw the heavenly Jerusalem and the tabernacles of the saints. When he returned to his habitual state, however, he fell from virtue and ended up by being completely destroyed; for he thought he had achieved something and did not realize that, being unworthy and only dust by nature, he was that much the more in debt for having been privileged to ascend to such a height. St Makarios also says that he had known many men, and from his experience had come to

Book ll X Humility recognize without any doubt that no one in this world is perfect: even if he becomes altogether immaterial and is almost one with God, yet sin pursues him and will not disappear completely before his death. Evagrios the Solitary has recounted how a certain monk was praying when, for his benefit and for that of many others, God allowed the demons to take him by his hands and feet and throw him in the air; and so that his body would not be hurt when he fell to the earth, they caught him in a rush-mat. This they did for a long time, but were unable to distract his intellect from heaven.’ How would such a man even perceive what he was eating? When would he have need of psalmody or reading? But we have need of them because of the weakness of our intellect, though even in this way we fail to concentrate. Alas, such a holy man suffered attacks from the demons, yet we do not worry at all about their assaults. The saints are protected by their humility from the snares of the devil, while we in our ignorance are puffed up. It is indeed a sign of great ignorance for someone to be self-elated-about what is not his. For ‘what do you have which you did not receive’, either freely from God or through the prayers of others? ‘Now if you received it, why do you boast as if you had not received it’ (1 Cor. 4:7), but had achieved it yourself? So Abba Cassian puts it. Humility, then, is born from spiritual knowledge, and itself gives birth to discrimination; while from discrimination comes the spiritual insight which the prophet calls ‘counsel’ (Isa. 11:2). By means of such insight we see things according to their true nature, and the intellect dies to the world because it now contemplates the creations of God. To Him be glory throughout the ages. Amen.

Book ll XI Discrimination It is excellent to seek advice about everything, but only from those with experience. It is dangerous to ask questions of the inexperienced, because they do not possess discrimination. Discrimination

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XI Discrimination knows when the time is ripe, what means to employ, the inner state of the questioner, what level he has reached, his strength, his degree of spiritual knowledge and his intention, as well as God’s purpose and the meaning of each verse of Holy Scripture, and much else besides. Hence he who lacks discrimination may exert himself enormously, but he cannot achieve anything; while the person who possesses it is a guide to the blind and a light to those in darkness (cf. Rom. 2:19). We should refer everything to such a person and accept whatever he says, even if because of our inexperience we do not see its import as well as we would like. Indeed, he who has discrimination is to be recognized in particular from the fact that he is able to communicate the sense of what he says even to those who do not want to know it. For the Spirit searches things out; and God’s presence has the power to persuade even an unwilling intellect to believe. This is what happened in the case of Jonah (cf. Jonah 1:3), Zacharias (cf. Luke 1:18) and - the monk David, once a brigand, whom the angel prevented from saying anything except the psalms that he recited according to his rule of prayer.

If in this present generation no one possesses discrimination, it is because no one has the humility that engenders it. We should therefore pray fervently about everything we do, as St James counsels (cf. Jas. 5:16). For even if we lack holy hands, that is, if we lack purity of soul and body, we should at least strive to be without rancor and evil thoughts. For St Paul tells us to ‘lift up holy hands without anger and without quarrelling’ (1 Tim. 2:8). If we think that something is in accordance with God’s will, we should do it dispassionately; and even if it is not such a very good thing, what we do will be counted to our credit by God’s grace, because of our perplexity and the fact that we do it with God in mind. Even if we do God’s will when passion is still present, the consequences will be as stated. This is inevitably so, simply because of God’s goodness. But where our own will is involved, and not God’s, there self-inflation is present as well, and God does not approve; nor does He reveal His will to us then, lest we should know what it is and still not do it, and thereby incur greater condemnation. For whether God gives us something or withholds it from us. He acts for our good, even if we, like children, are unaware of this. He does not send down His Holy Spirit to someone who has not purified himself from the passions through the practice of the virtues that pertain both to body and to

Book ll XI Discrimination soul, lest this person should out of habit succumb to his passions and so become guilty of abusing the presence of the Holy Spirit within him.

A person must first spend a long time in ascetic practice. He must begin by purifying his body from the actual committing of sin, whether great or small, and then purge his soul of every form of desire or anger. His moral impulses need to be disciplined by good habit, so that he does not do anything whatsoever through his five senses that is contrary to the purpose of his intellect, nor does his inner self consent to any such thing. It is then, when finally he becomes subject to himself, that God makes all things subject to him through dispassion and by the grace of the Holy Spirit. For a man must first submit to the law of God, and then he will rule as an intelligent being over all around him. His intellect will reign as it was originally created to reign, with judgment and self-restraint, with courage and justice. Now he will calm his wrath with the gentleness of his desire, now quieten his desire with the austerity of his wrath; and he will know that he is a king. All the limbs of his body, no longer abducted by ignorance and forgetfulness, will act in accordance with God’s commandment. Then through his devotion to God he will achieve spiritual insight and will begin to anticipate the snares prepared by the devil and his secret and stealthy attacks. He will not, however, foresee the future as did the prophets. For this ability is a supranatural gift granted for the good of the community. Insight, however, is intrinsic to man’s nature; and, once the intellect is purified, it emerges from the tyranny of the passions under which it has been concealed, as it were, in the dark. Then, through humility, comes grace and opens the soul’s eye, blinded by the devil, and immediately man begins to see things according to their true nature. He is no longer seduced by the outward appearance of things as he was before. He looks dispassionately on gold, silver and precious stones and is not led astray, nor does he assess them falsely because of his passions: he knows that these and other such material things come from the earth, as the holy fathers point out. He looks at a man, and knows that he too is from the earth and is going to return to it (cf. Gen. 3:19). And he does not simply think about this in an abstract way, for we all know from experience that this is the case; yet because we are tyrannized by the passions we still have a craving for material things.

Book ll XI Discrimination Should someone in his presumption think that even without the prerequisite struggles and virtues he is able to see things according to their true nature, there is nothing strange in this. For presumption can make even the blind think that they can see and foolish men boast when they have nothing to boast about. Yet if it were easy to see things according to their true nature merely by thinking about them in an abstract way, then inward grief and the purification that comes from it would be superfluous; and so would the many forms of ascetic labor, as well as humility, supranatural grace, and dispassion. But this is not the case at all. For often this capacity to see things according to their true nature comes more readily to simple people, to those whose intellects are free from the hustle and wiliness of this world, once they have submitted themselves to an experienced spiritual father. It may also be granted through the special dispensation of God’s grace, as it was to people in ancient times, before they knew either their left hand or right hand (cf. Jonah 4:11). But the fact that we have served the passions from our youth up, and have practiced virtually every form of malice and fraud with complete willingness and zeal, means that it is impossible for us to be freed from such evils and to see things as they truly are without effort, time, and God’s help. It is indeed impossible, unless we devote ourselves to the acquisition of the virtues as once we devoted ourselves to the passions, and unless we cultivate these virtues diligently in thought and action.

If in spite of this our efforts are often of no avail, this is either because we do not endure our trials to the end, or because we do not know the road or the goal, or because of slothfulness or lack of faith, or for one of the numberless other reasons. But if this is the case, and we strike very wide of the mark, how can we dare claim that we have attained the ancient beauty, unless we have been deluded by self-satisfaction and unperceived self-destruction? For just as self-criticism is a form of invisible progress - since it carries us along the right path even though we are unaware of it-so both presumption and self-satisfaction are forms of unseen destruction, since we have turned back without realizing it. This is inevitably so; for the passions expelled by grace return to an arrogant soul, as the Lord told us when He spoke of the unclean spirit that, after being expelled from a man, later returned, bringing with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself (cf. Matt. 12:43-4;). Why does this happen? Because the place

Book ll XI Discrimination from which the unclean spirit departed is not filled with spiritual activity, or with humility; and therefore the unclean spirit comes out of bondage and again takes up its dwelling in this place, along with many other evils.

Let him who understands take note. For the Logos wishes to transmit things to us in a way that is neither too clear nor too obscure, but is in our best interests. St John Chrysostom says that it is a great blessing from God that some parts of the Scriptures are clear while others are not. By means of the first we acquire faith and ardor and do not fall into disbelief and laziness because of our utter inability to grasp what is said. By means of the second we are roused to enquiry and effort, thus both strengthening our understanding and learning humility from the fact that everything is not intelligible to us. Hence, if we take stock of the gifts conferred on us, we will reap humility and longing for God from both what we understand and what we do not. Thus the gauge of the fifth stage of contemplation, about which we are now speaking, is this: that we are enabled to look with discrimination at sensible creation and at our own thoughts, not blinded by any delusion, or doing anything contrary to God’s purpose because of our subjection to the passions, or submitting to any of our evil thoughts. Even if threatened with death, we would not deviate from God’s purpose in thought or action.

What has just been said applies to the final stages of spiritual knowledge. Where the initial stage is concerned, we will unavoidably fall short of our goal because we are learners. Indeed, defeated by our bad habits, we may achieve nothing as a result of our labor. Sometimes, however. God in His providence allows us to go slightly astray, and then at once to return with great humility; at other times He permits us in our presumption to think too much of ourselves. When this happens we should realize that God’s grace is disciplining us, teaching us to be humble and to recognize whence we receive our strength and knowledge, ‘so that we should rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead’ (2 Cor. 1:9), something which happens even in this world. For if we endure with patience, and do not grow presumptuous or lapse from virtue, we will be raised from the deathlike state of the body and of material things to the spiritual knowledge of created realities. Indeed, according to St Paul (cf. Rom. 6:4-6), we are crucified with Christ bodily through the practice of bodily discipline, and in soul through the practice of the virtues that

Book ll XI Discrimination pertain to the soul. We are then buried through the mortification of the senses and of natural knowledge. Finally, through attaining the state of dispassion we are resurrected spiritually in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and honor through all the ages. Amen.

Book ll XII Contemplation of the Sensible World

Until our intellect has died to the passions, it should not attempt to embark on the contemplation of sensible realities. For if it is still subject to distraction and is unable to devote itself to meditation on the divine Scriptures in stillness and spiritual knowledge, then by turning prematurely to such contemplation we tend to sink more deeply into forgetfulness and gradually to approach a state of ignorance, even though our intellect may have already attained some degree of spiritual knowledge. This happens especially if, unknown to ourselves, our knowledge has not come to us through God’s grace, but we are still learning about such mysteries through reading and from people who have experienced them.

Just as the earth-and especially good earth-becomes cloddish if the farmer does not work it, so our intellect becomes coarse and obtuse if we do not devote ourselves to prayer and reading, making this our chief task. And just as the earth, even when moistened by rain and warmed by the sun, yields nothing unless the farmer sows and cultivates it, so our intellect cannot keep possession of spiritual knowledge, even if this knowledge has been bestowed on it by grace, unless we practice the moral virtues, those, that is to say, of the soul. For as soon as the intellect grows negligent and turns even slightly towards the passions, it at once goes astray; while if presumption seduces it, it is abandoned by grace.

Because of this, even though the fathers often reduced their practice of bodily discipline because of age or lack of physical strength, they never relaxed their practice of the moral virtues at all. For in the place of bodily asceticism they had bodily weakness, which

Book ll XII Contemplation of the Sensible World is able to constrain the flesh. But we cannot keep the soul sinless so that the intellect may be illumined unless we practice the virtues of the soul. The fanner frequently changes his implements, and may even reduce their number, but he never leaves the ground unworked, unsown or unplanted, nor does he ever leave the fruit unprotected if he wishes to gather it.

If, however, a thief or robber tries to enter, not by the proper door, but by ‘climbing up some other way’, as the Lord puts it (John 10:1), then the sheep-that is, according to St Maximos, divine thoughts - pay no attention to him. For the thief enters only so that he can deceive by hearsay, and kill the Scriptures by turning them into allegory, since he is unable to interpret them spiritually. Thus through his presumption and his pseudo-knowledge he destroys both himself and the divine thoughts contained in the Scriptures. But the shepherd, as a good soldier of Christ, feels compassion for these thoughts; and by keeping the divine commandments he enters in through the narrow gate (cf. Matt. 7:13), the gate of humility and dispassion. Before receiving divine grace he devotes himself to studying and to learning about everything by listening to others; and whenever the wolf approaches in the guise of a sheep (cf. Matt. 7:15), he chases him off by means of self-criticism, saying, ‘I do not know who you are: God knows.’ And should a thought approach shamelessly and ask to be received, saying to him, ‘If you do not watch over thoughts and discriminate between things, you are ignorant and lacking in faith’, then he replies, ‘If you call me a fool, I accept the title; for like St John Chrysostom I know that whoever is foolish in this world becomes wise, as St Paul puts it’ (cf. 1 Cor. 3:18).

The Lord Himself said that the children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children of the kingdom of heaven (cf. Luke 16:8). And He was quite right: for the children of this world long to make good and to grow rich, to be clever and to win praise, to gain power and so on; and even though they are likely to fail in their aspirations and their effort will prove vain, they still exert more than human strength to attain these things. But the children of the kingdom aspire to things that are completely

Book ll XII Contemplation of the Sensible World different, and because of this they often receive in this world a foretaste of the blessings held in store. Like the children of this world they exert themselves, but they do this so that by grace their intellect may be liberated and may thereby become unforgettingly mindful of God. In this way it comes to know the divine thoughts to which the Holy Scriptures and those with experience in spiritual knowledge bear witness; or else in its perplexity it realizes that in spite of its great knowledge it is still ignorant of them. Then it understands that its former thoughts were trials intended to test its free will. Thus he who is humble will turn away from his own thoughts and purposes, having no faith in them; indeed, he will be afraid, and seek advice with many tears, taking refuge in humility and self-criticism, and regarding spiritual knowledge and gifts of grace as great liabilities. But the arrogant man will promptly insist upon his own thoughts, ignoring the warning of St John Klimakos that we should not search prematurely for things that have their appointed time. He also ignores St Isaac’s counsel that we should not enter in recklessly, but should give thanks in silence. Nor does he listen to St John Chrysostom when he says, ‘I do not know’, having learned to say this from St Paul (cf. 2 Cor. 12:2-3); or to St John of Damaskos when he says of Adam that he embarked prematurely on the contemplation of sensible realities. For the stomachs, of infants are too tender for solid food and need milk, as St Paul says (cf. 1 Cor. 3:2; Heb. 5:12-14). That is why we should not attempt to embark on contemplation when it is not yet time for contemplation. Let us first acquire in ourselves the mothers of the virtues, and then spiritual knowledge will come spontaneously through the grace of Christ: to whom be glory through all the ages. Amen.

Book ll XIII

Knowledge of the Angelic Orders

Knowledge becomes spiritual after we are firmly established in the contemplation of sensible realities. Yet the gnostic cannot by his own power see an angel; for how can man, who cannot see even his own soul, see something that is non-material and known only to its Creator? For the common good, however, angels by God’s providence often appeared to our fathers in visible form. But such a thing does not happen to us, because it is our presumption that makes us want it to happen, and we do not think of the common good or suffer in order to fulfill God’s will. Thus should we want to see a thing of this kind we are really asking to see a demon. Indeed, St Paul speaks of Satan himself being ‘transformed into an angel of light’ (2 Cor. 11:14). Rather, it is when we do not think about such things at all, and perhaps do not even believe that they occur, that they do in fact happen, if received for the common good. We can gauge our attitude by asking ourselves whether we have any desire to experience such a thing, even in a dream, or would attach great importance to it if it were to happen, or would behave as if we did not know anything about the state in which we found ourselves. For the true angel has power from God to reassure even the intellect that repudiates it and to make it receptive. The demons cannot do this; but when they see an intellect disposed to receive them, only then with God’s consent they appear to it. If the intellect is not thus disposed, however, the demons depart, chased away by the guardian angel given us at holy baptism, since the intellect has not surrendered its free will to the enemy.

So much for these matters. Now I will say something about the contemplation of the angelic orders. According to St Dionysios the Areopagite and as we find confirmed in Holy Scripture (cf. Isa. 6:2; Ezek. 1:5; Rom. 8:38; Eph. 1:21; Col. 1:16; 1 Thess. 4:16), there are nine such orders. These nine orders have been named according to their natures and activities. They are called ‘bodiless’ because they are non-material, ‘spiritual’ because they are intellects, and ‘hosts’ because they are the ministering spirits of the King of all

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Knowledge of the Angelic Orders (cf. Luke 2:13; Heb. 1:14). They also have other names and titles, both specific and general; thus they are called ‘powers’ (cf. Eph. 1:21; 1 Pet. 3:22) and ‘angels’, that is to say, ‘messengers’ (cf. Matt. 1:20). ‘Powers’ is the name of a single order but it applies also to all nine orders with regard to their activities, for all have been empowered to fulfill God’s will. Again, one particular order - that which is closest to us and ninth from God’s inaccessible throne - is called the order of ‘angels’; yet with regard to their activities all are called ‘angels’, or ‘messengers’, because all announce the divine ordinances to men.

The book of Job speaks several times of ‘another messenger’ (cf. Job 1:14-19); but. this was not a holy angel, since, as St John Chrysostom points out, in each case he was the only one of Job’s servants to escape, and he then came to give Job the news. The Holy Scriptures even call the Lord an ‘angel’ in several places, as when it is said that Abraham’ entertained angels’ (Heb. 13:2; cf. Gen. 18:1-2). Indeed, the Lord Himself was ‘fleshless’, as St John of Damaskos says in a hymn to the Mother of God: ‘In the tent Abraham saw the mystery that is in you, 0 Mother of

God; for he received your Son fleshless. The Lord was also together with the three holy children in the fiery furnace (cf. Dan. 3:25); and because of His activity He is also called ‘angel’ or ‘messenger’ by the prophet Isaiah, who uses the expression ‘the angel of great counsel’ (Isa. 9:6. LXX). As the Lord Himself said, ‘I will announce to you those things that I have heard from My Father’ (cf. John 8:26). To Him be glory throughout the ages. Amen.

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XIV Dispassion Dispassion is a strange and paradoxical thing: once someone has consolidated his victory over the passions, it is able to make him an imitator of God, so far as this is possible for man. For though the person who has attained the state of dispassion continues to suffer

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XIV Dispassion attacks from demons and vicious men, he experiences this as if it were happening to someone else, as was the case with the holy apostles and martyrs. When he is praised he is not filled with self-elation, nor when he is insulted is he afflicted. For he considers that what is pleasant comes to him by the grace of God and as an act of divine concession of which he is unworthy, while what is unpleasant comes as a trial: the former is given us by grace to encourage us in this world, while the latter is given us to increase our humility and our hope in the world to be. Such a person is impassible, and yet because of his power of discrimination is acutely aware of what gives pain.

Dispassion is not a single virtue, but is a name for all the virtues. A man is not merely one limb, for it is the many limbs of the body that constitute a man; and not merely the limbs, but the limbs together with the soul. Similarly, dispassion is the union of many virtues, while the place of the soul is taken by the Holy Spirit. For all activities described as ‘spiritual’ are soul-less without the Holy Spirit, and it is by virtue of the presence of the Holy Spirit that a ‘spiritual father’ is given this title. Yet if the soul does not reject the passions, the Holy Spirit will not come to it; nor, on the other hand, unless the Holy Spirit is present can one properly speak of the all-embracing virtue of dispassion. And if someone were to become dispassionate without the Holy Spirit, he would really be, not dispassionate, but in a state of insensitivity. For this reason even the pagan Greeks, who do not understand these things fully, counsel us not to become dispassionate as though without soul, or impassioned as though without mind. When they say ‘dispassionate as though without soul’, they are speaking in terms of their own knowledge, for they lack the knowledge bestowed by the Holy Spirit. But when they call the impassioned man mindless, we agree with them. Not that we have learnt it from them, for they had neither true knowledge nor true experience; we have learnt it because we have ourselves experienced the tyranny of the passions and so have come to understand why we suffer from them.

Again, what we write about the acquisition of the virtues we have learnt from the fathers who were enabled by grace to attain the state of dispassion. For they say that because of his amity with the passions the highly impassioned person becomes like a prisoner and as one who is insensate. Sometimes because of his desire for something he rushes forward thoughtlessly like some mindless thing; at other times,

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XIV Dispassion when anger champions desire, he gnashes his teeth like a wild beast at his fellow-men. The man who has attained dispassion becomes impassible out of his perfect love for God. At times he meditates on God, at times on the spectacle of some of God’s marvelous works or on a passage from the divine Scriptures, as St Neilos explains. Even if he is in the market place among crowds of people, his intellect acts as if it were alone. This state comes through keeping the divine commandments of Christ: to whom be glory and power throughout the ages. Amen.

Book ll XV Love To speak of love is to dare to speak of God; for, according to St John the Theologian, ‘God is love; and he who dwells in love dwells in God’ (1 John 4:16). And the astonishing thing is that this chief of all the virtues is a natural virtue. Thus, in the Law, it is given pride of place: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might’ (Deut. 6:5). When I heard the words ‘with all your soul’ I was astounded, and no longer needed to hear the rest. For ‘with all your soul’ means with the intelligent, incensive and desiring powers of the soul, because it is of these three powers that the soul is composed. Thus the intellect should think at all times about divine matters, while desire should long constantly and entirely, as the Law says, for God alone and never for anything else; and the incensive power should actively oppose only what obstructs this longing, and nothing else. St John, consequently, was right in saying that God is love. If God sees that, as He commanded, these three powers of the soul aspire to Him alone, then, since He is good. He will necessarily not only love that soul, but through the inspiration of the Spirit will dwell and move within it (cf. 2 Cor. 6:16; Lev. 26:12); and the body, though reluctant and unwilling - for it lacks intelligence - will end by submitting to the intelligence, while the flesh will no longer rise in protest against the Spirit, as St Paul puts it (cf. Gal. 5:17). Just as the sun and moon, at the command of God, travel through the heavens in order to light the world, even though they are soul-less, so the body, at the behest of the soul, will perform works of light. As

Book ll XV Love the sun journeys each day from east to west, thus making one day, while when it disappears night comes, so each virtue that a man practices illumines the soul, and when it disappears passion and darkness come until he again acquires that virtue, and light in this way returns to him. As the sun rises in the furthest east and slowly shifts its rays until it reaches the other extreme, thus forming time, so a man slowly grows from the moment he first begins to practice the virtues’ until he attains the state of dispassion. And just as the moon waxes and wanes every month, so with respect to each particular virtue a man waxes and wanes daily, until this virtue becomes established in him. At times, in accordance with God’s will, he is afflicted, at times he rejoices and gives thanks to God, unworthy as he is to acquire the virtues; and sometimes he is illumined, sometimes filled with darkness, until his course is finished.

All this happens to him by God’s providence: some things are sent to keep him from self-elation, and others to keep him from despair. Just as in this present age the sun creates the solstices and the moon waxes and wanes, whereas in the age to come there will always be light for the righteous and darkness for those who, like me, alas, are sinners, so, before the attainment of perfect love and of vision in God, the soul in the present world has its solstices, and the intellect experiences darkness as well as virtue and spiritual knowledge; and this continues until, through the acquisition of that perfect love to which all our effort is directed, we are found worthy of performing the works that pertain to the world to be. For it is for love’s sake that he who is in a state of obedience obeys what is commanded; and it is for love’s sake that he who is rich and free sheds his possessions and becomes a servant, surrendering both what he has and himself to whoever wishes to possess them. He who fasts likewise does so for love’s sake, so that others may eat what he would otherwise have eaten. In short, every work rightly done is done out of love for God or for one’s neighbor. The things we have spoken of, and others like them, are done out of love for one’s neighbor, while vigils, psalmody and the like are done out of love for God. To Him be glory, honor and dominion through all the ages. Amen.

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XVI Knowledge of God

All things that God has created have an origin and, if He wishes, an end, since they were brought into existence out of non-existence. God, however/has neither origin nor end. The same is true of His virtues, since He was not at any time without them: He is always beyond goodness, righteous, all-wise, all-powerful, unconquerable, dispassionate, uncircumscribed, infinite, unsearchable, incomprehensible, unending, eternal, uncreated, invariable, unchanging, true, incomposite, invisible, untouchable, ungraspable, perfect, beyond being, inexpressible, inexplicable, full of mercy, full of compassion and sympathy, all-ruling, all-seeing. But, as St Dionysios the Areopagite has said, the fact that God possesses these virtues does not mean that He is compelled to exercise each one of them, as holy men are: He acts virtuously because He chooses to, and uses the virtues as tools with complete freedom and power over them.

It is from God that, along with their being, angels and holy men have by grace received the virtues, and it is through emulating Him that they become righteous, good and wise. Because they are creatures, they have need of God’s assistance and inspiration, for without this they can possess neither virtue nor wisdom. All creatures are susceptible to change, and because they are composed of various elements they are called composite. But God is bodiless, simple, unoriginate, one God, worshipped and glorified by all creation in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. He who becomes like God has but one will and not many composite wills. His intellect is simple and - so far as this is possible - is always concentrated on what is formless; but by divine providence it descends reluctantly from the realm of the formless to the contemplation of some verse of Scripture or aspect of creation: Yet in order not to be condemned, such a person makes provision for his body, not because in his love for it he wishes to keep it alive, but so as not to make it utterly useless and on this account to incur condemnation.

For just as the intellect does not reject the passions that surround it, but uses them in accordance with their true nature, so the soul does not reject the body, but uses it for every good work. And as the

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XVI Knowledge of God intellect, controlling the mindless impulses of the passions, directs each of them according to the divine will, so man, controlling the members of his body, makes them subject so a single will and not to many. For he does not allow the four constituent elements of the body, or its many members, to do what they wish, nor does he allow the three faculties of the soul to act, or impel the body to act, thoughtlessly and licentiously; but, guided by spiritual wisdom, he makes the will of the three faculties one and indivisible. Four principles constitute this wisdom: moral judgment, self-restraint, courage and justice. St Gregory the Theologian has written about these most excellently under the inspiration of Jesus Christ our Lord: to whom be glory and dominion throughout the ages. Amen.

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XVII Moral Judgment

Although it is easy for everyone who so wishes to learn from St Gregory about the four principal virtues mentioned above, yet I will speak briefly about each of them here. Every other virtue has need of them, and every undertaking has need of the first - moral judgment - for without it nothing can be brought to a successful conclusion. How can anything be accomplished without moral judgment? It is born of the intelligence and constitutes the mean between craftiness - that is, excessive astuteness - and thoughtlessness. Craftiness pulls moral judgment towards cunning and guile, and injures the soul of its possessor and as many other people as it can; lack of thought makes one obtuse and trivial, and does not allow the intellect to concentrate on divine matters or on something of profit to one’s soul or to one’s neighbor. The first is like a high mountain, the second like a ravine.

The man of moral judgment, then, is he who travels along the plain that lies between these two. But he who strays from this path either falls into the ravine or attempts to climb up into the heights and, not finding a way through, plunges in spite of himself headlong into the ravine; nor - is he able to climb out of it, for he refuses to renounce the

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XVII Moral Judgment mountain tops and through repentance to turn back to the path of moral judgment. But the person who has fallen into the ravine calls with humility upon the One who can lead him out again onto the royal road of virtue. The man of moral judgment, however, neither climbs arrogantly upward seeking to harm others, nor descends foolishly only to be harmed by someone else. Choosing the middle way, he keeps to this with the help of Christ our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion throughout the ages. Amen.

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XVIII Self-Restraint

Self-restraint is a sure and unfailing sense of discretion. It does not permit its possessor to lapse into either licentiousness or obduracy, but safely preserves the blessings reaped through moral judgment while rejecting all that is bad. At the same time it unites to itself the intelligence and through itself leads the intelligence up toward God. Like a good shepherd it folds the sheep - the divine thoughts - and through refraining from what is harmful it slays licentiousness as if it were a mad dog. It expels stupidity as though it were a fierce wolf, and prevents it from devouring the sheep one by one; but it constantly keeps an eye on such stupidity and reveals it to the intelligence, so that it cannot lie hidden in the moonless dark and infiltrate among our thoughts.

Self-restraint is born of the desiring power of the soul. Without it, should any good thing come to pass, it cannot be preserved; for without self-restraint the soul’s three powers are carried either upward towards licentiousness or downwards towards stupidity. And I do not mean only the licentiousness involved in gluttony and unchastity, but that involved in every passion and thought not deliberately nurtured in a manner that accords with God’s will. For self-restraint disciplines all things and bridles the mindless impulses of soul and body, directing them towards God: to whom be glory throughout the ages. Amen.

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XIX Courage

Courage does not consist in defeating and oppressing one’s neighbor; for this is overbearingness, which oversteps the bounds of courage. Nor again does it consist in fleeing terrified from the trials that come as a result of practicing the virtues; for this is cowardice and falls short of courage. Courage itself consists in persisting in every good work and in overcoming the passions of soul and body. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, that is, against men, as was the case with the Jews of old, where to conquer other nations was to do the work of God; it is against principalities and powers, that is, against the unseen demons (cf. Eph. 6:12). He who is victorious conquers spiritually; otherwise he is conquered by the passions. The warfare described in the Old Testament prefigures our spiritual warfare.

These two passions of overbearingness and cowardice, though they appear to be opposites, are both caused by weakness. Overbearingness pulls one upwards and is outwardly something startling and frightening, like some powerless bear, while cowardice flees like a chased dog. No one who suffers from either of these two passions puts his trust in the Lord, and therefore he cannot stand firm in battle, whether he is overbearing or cowardly. But the righteous man is as bold as a lion (cf. Prov. 28:1) in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion throughout the ages. Amen.

Book ll XX Justice

St Dionysios the Areopagite says that God is praised through justice. This is true; for without justice all things are unjust and cannot endure. Justice is sometimes called discrimination: it establishes the just mean in every undertaking, so that there will be no falling short due to over-frugality, or excess on account of greed. For even if

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Justice over-frugality and greed appear to be opposites, the one below and the other above justice, yet they both push us in some way towards injustice. Whether a line is convex or concave, it still deviates from what is straight; and to whichever side the balance tilts, that side gets the better of the other side. But the person able to hold fast to justice is neither dragged down through thoughtlessness, licentiousness, cowardice or greed, like the serpent that goes on its belly eating dust (cf. Gen. 3:14), a slave to the shameless passions; nor does he fall victim to craftiness and overbearingness, to stupidity and over-frugality, to excessive astuteness and cunning. Rather, he ‘judges with selfrestraint’ (Rom. 12:3) and endures with patient humility, fully acknowledging that whatever he possesses he has received by grace, as St Paul puts it (cf. 1 Cor. 4:7). For he does an injustice to himself and to his neighbor - or, rather, to God - when he ascribes his own achievements to himself. If he thinks that any good thing he possesses is due to himself, then what he thinks that he has will be taken away from him, to use the words of our Lord (cf. Matt. 13:12): to whom be glory and dominion throughout the ages. Amen.

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Peace When the Lord said to the apostles, ‘My peace I give unto you’, He added ‘not as the world gives’ (John 14:27). He did not, that is to say, give peace in a simple, conventional manner, as people do when they greet one another with the words ‘Peace to you’, or as the Shunammite woman did when she said ‘Peace be with you’ (cf. 2 Kgs. 4:23. LXX). Nor did Christ mean the peace that Elisha had in mind when he told Gehazi to say to the Shunammite, ‘Is there peace with you?’ (cf. 2 Kgs. 4:26. LXX)-in other words, is there peace with your husband, is there peace with your son? No, Christ’s peace is the peace which transcends every intellect (cf. Phil. 4:7), and which God gives to those who love Him with all their soul, because of the dangers and battles they have been through.. In the same spirit the Lord also said, ‘In Me you have peace’, and added, ‘In the world you will experience affliction; but have courage, for I have overcome the

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Peace world’ (John 16:33). By this He meant that though a person may experience many afflictions and dangers at the hands of demons and other men, these will be as nothing if he possesses the Lord’s peace. Again He said, ‘Be at peace with one another’ (Mark 9:50). The Lord said all these things to them in advance because they were going to fight and suffer for His sake.

In a similar way each of us faithful is attacked and led astray by the passions; but if he is at peace with God and with his neighbor he overcomes them all. These passions are the ‘world’ which St John the Theologian told us to hate (cf. 1 John 2:15), meaning that we are to hate, not God’s creatures, but worldly desires. The soul is at peace with God when it is at peace with itself and has become wholly deiform. It is also at peace with God when it is at peace with all men, even if it suffers terrible things at their hands. Because of its forbearance it is not perturbed, but bears all things (cf. 1 Cor. 13:7), wishes good to. all, loves all, both for God’s sake and for the sake of their own nature. It grieves for unbelievers because they are destroying themselves, as our Lord and the apostles grieved for them. It prays for the faithful and labors on their behalf, and in this way its own thoughts are filled with peace and it lives in a state of noetic contemplation and pure prayer to God. To Him be glory through all the ages. Amen.

Book ll XXII Joy ‘Rejoice in the Lord’, said St Paul (Phil. 3:1). And he was right to say, ‘in the Lord’. For if our joy is not in the Lord, not only do we not rejoice, but in all probability we never shall. Job, as he described the life of men, found it full of every kind of affliction (cf. Job 7:1-21), and so also did St Basil the Great. St Gregory of Nyssa said that birds and other animals rejoice because of their lack of awareness, while man, being endowed with intelligence, is never happy because of his grief; For, he says, we shave not been found worthy even to have knowledge of the blessings we have lost. For this reason nature teaches us rather to grieve, since life is full of pain and effort, like a

Book ll XXII Joy state of exile dominated by sin. But if a person is constantly mindful of God, he will rejoice: as the psalmist says, ‘I remembered God, and I rejoiced’ (Ps. 77:3. LXX). For when the intellect is gladdened by the remembrance of God, then it forgets the afflictions of this world, places its hope in Him, and is no longer troubled or anxious. Freedom from anxiety makes it rejoice and give thanks; and the grateful offering of thanks augments the gifts of grace it has received. And as the blessings increase, so does the thankfulness, and so does the pure prayer offered with tears of joy.

Slowly the man emerges from the tears of distress and from the passions, and enters fully into the state of spiritual joy; Through the things that bring him pleasure, he is made humble and grateful; through trials and temptations his hope in the world to come is consolidated; in both he rejoices, and naturally and spontaneously he loves God and all men as his benefactors. He finds nothing in the whole of creation that can harm him. Illumined by the knowledge of God he rejoices in the Lord on account of all the things that He has created, marveling at the care He shows for His creatures. The person who has attained spiritual knowledge not only marvels at visible things, but also is astounded by his perception of many essential things invisible to those who lack experience of this knowledge.

Thus he looks with wonder not only on the light of day, but also at the night. For the night is a benediction to all: to those practicing the virtues that pertain to the body it offers stillness and leisure; it encourages the remembrance of death and hell in those who grieve; those engaged in practicing the moral virtues it spurs to study and examine more closely the blessings they have received and the moral state of their soul. In the words of the psalmist, ‘As you lie in bed, repent of what you say in your heart’ (Ps. 4:4. LXX), that is, repent in the stillness of the night, remembering the lapses that occurred in the confusion of the day and disciplining yourself in hymns and spiritual songs (cf. Col. 3:16) - in other words, teaching yourself to persist in prayer and psalmody through attentive meditation on what you read. For the practice of the moral virtues is effectuated by meditating on what has happened during the day, so that during the stillness of the night we can become aware of the sins we have committed and can grieve over them.

When in this way through God’s grace we make some progress,

Book ll XXII Joy and discover that in truth and not just in fantasy we have realized in either action or thought sonic moral virtue of soul or body according to Christ’s commandment, then we give thanks with fear and humility; and we struggle to preserve that moral virtue by means of prayer and many tears offered to God, disciplining ourselves to remember it lest we lose it again because of forgetfulness. For it takes much time to make a moral virtue effective in ourselves, while. what has been achieved with so much time and effort can be lost in a single instant.

All this applies to those practicing the virtues. Where the contemplative life is concerned, the night supplies us with many themes for contemplation, as St Basil the Great has said. First of all, it reminds us daily of the creation of the world, since all creation becomes invisible because of the darkness, as it was before it came into existence. This in its turn prompts us to reflect how the sky was empty then and without stars, as happens now when they become invisible because of the clouds. When we enter our cell and see only darkness, we are reminded of the darkness that was over the abyss (cf. Gen. 1:2); and when suddenly the sky becomes clear again, and we stand outside our cell, we are struck by wonder at the world above, and offer praise to God, just as the angels are said in the Book of Job to have praised God when they saw the stars (cf. Job 38:7). We see in the mind’s eye the earth as it was originally, invisible and without form (cf. Gen. 1:2), and men held fast by sleep as if they did not exist. We feel ourselves alone in the world like Adam and, united with the angels, in fall knowledge we praise the Maker and Creator of the universe.

In thunder and lightning we see the day of judgment; in the call of cocks we hear the trumpet that will sound on that day (cf. 1 Thess. 4:16); in the rising of the morning star and the light of dawn we perceive the appearance of the precious and life-giving Cross (cf. Matt. 24:30); in men’s rising from sleep we see a sign-of the resurrection of the dead, and in the rising of the sun a token of the second advent of Christ. Some, like the saints caught up in clouds on the last day (cf. 1 Thess. 4:17), we see go forth to greet Him with song, while others, like those who will then be judged, are indifferent and remain asleep. Some we see rejoicing throughout the day in the

Book ll XXII Joy offering of praise, in contemplation and prayer, and in the other virtues, living in the light of spiritual knowledge, as will the righteous at the second coming; while others we see persisting in the passions and in the darkness of ignorance, as will sinners on that day.

In short, the man. of spiritual knowledge finds that everything contributes to his soul’s salvation and to God’s glory: indeed, it was because of this glory that all things were brought into existence by the Lord and God of knowledge, as Hannah the mother of the prophet Samuel calls Him (cf. 1 Sam. 2:3). ‘Therefore let the wise man not vaunt himself because of his wisdom,’ she said, ‘or the strong man because of his strength, or the rich man because of his wealth; but let him who boasts do so because of his understanding and knowledge of the Lord’ (1 Sam. 2:10. LXX). That is to say, let him boast because he knows the Lord with full understanding from His works, and because he imitates Him, so far as is possible, through the keeping of His divine commandments. For it is through them that he knows God and can ‘work judgment and righteousness in the midst of the earth’ (1 Sam. 2:10. LXX), as God does. Hannah spoke these words prophetically concerning the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord. The gnostic’s aspiration, too, is to suffer with the Lord through the acquisition of the virtues and to be glorified with Him through dispassion and spiritual knowledge, and to boast because of Him, in that, unworthy though he is, he has been enabled by grace to be a servant of such a master and an imitator of His humility. Then ‘praise will come from God’ (cf. 1 Cor. 4:5). But when will that happen? When He says to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed, inherit the kingdom’ (Matt. 25:34). May we all be found worthy to inherit that kingdom through His grace and love: to Him be glory and dominion throughout the ages. Amen.

Book ll XXIII Holy Scripture ‘Sing the psalms with understanding’, says the psalmist (Ps. 47:7); and the Lord says, ‘Search the Scriptures’ (John 5:39). He who pays attention to them is illumined, while he who pays no attention is

Book ll XXIII Holy Scripture filled with darkness. For, unless a person attends to what is said in divine Scripture, he will gather but little fruit, even though he sings or reads them frequently. ‘Devote yourself to stillness and know’, it is written (Ps. 46:10), because such devotion concentrates the intellect: even if it is attentive for only a short time, none the less it knows ‘in pan’, as St Paul puts it (1 Cor. 13:12). This is especially true of the person who has made some progress in the practice of the moral virtues, for this teaches the intellect many things related to its association with the passions. Nevertheless, he does not know all the mysteries hidden by God in each verse of Scripture, but only as much as me purity of his intellect is able to comprehend through God’s grace. This is clear from the fact that we often understand a certain passage in the course of our contemplation, grasping one or two of the senses in which it was written; then after a while our intellect may increase in purity and be allowed to perceive other meanings, superior to the first. As a result, in bewilderment and wonder at God’s grace and His ineffable wisdom, we are overcome with awe before ‘the God of knowledge’, as the prophetess Hannah calls Him (cf. 1 Sam. 2:3).

I am not speaking here about the mere act of listening to a passage of Scripture or to some other person; for this does not by itself involve purity of intellect or divine revelation. I am speaking about the person who possesses knowledge but distrusts himself until he finds another passage from Scripture or from one of the saints that confirms his spontaneous knowledge of the scriptural passage or of some sensible or intelligible reality. And if instead of one meaning he should find many as a result of giving attention to either the divine Scriptures or the holy fathers, he should not lose faith and think that there is a contradiction. For one text or object can signify many things. Take clothing, for example: one person may say that it warms, another that it adorns, and another that it protects; yet all three are correct, since clothing is useful alike for warmth, for adornment and for protection. All three have grasped the purpose assigned by God to clothing; and Holy Scripture and the very nature of-things themselves confirm it. But if someone whose intention is to rob and pilfer should say that clothing exists in order to be stolen, he would be an utter liar, for neither the Scriptures nor the nature of things suggest that it exists for this purpose; and even the laws punish those who do steal it.

The same applies to everything, whether visible or invisible, and to

Book ll XXIII Holy Scripture every word of the divine Scriptures. For the saints neither know the whole of God’s purpose with regard to every object or scriptural text, nor on the other hand do they write down once and for all everything that they do know. This is because in the first place God is beyond comprehension, and His wisdom is not limited in such a way that an angel or man can grasp it in its entirety. As St John Chrysostom says with regard to a certain point of spiritual exegesis, we say about it as much as should be said at the moment, but God, in addition to what we say, knows other unfathomable meanings as well. And, in the second place, because of men’s incapacity and weakness it is not good for even the saints themselves to say all that they know; for they might speak at too great a length, thus making themselves offensive or unintelligible because of the confusion in their reader’s mind. As St Gregory the Theologian observes, what is said should be commensurate to the capacity of those to whom it is addressed.

For this reason the same saint may say one thing about a certain matter today, and another tomorrow; and yet there is no contradiction, provided the hearer has knowledge and experience of the matter under discussion. Again, one saint may say one thing and another say something different about the same passage of the Holy Scriptures, since divine grace often gives varying interpretations suited to the particular person or moment in question. The only thing required is that everything said or done should be said or done in accordance with God’s intention, and that it should be attested by the words of Scripture. For should anyone preach anything contrary to God’s intention or contrary to the nature of things, then even if he is an angel St Paul’s words, ‘Let him be accursed’ (Gal. 1:8), will apply to him. This is what St Dionysios the Areopagite, St Antony and St Maximos the Confessor affirm. For this reason St John Chrysostom says: ‘It was not the Greeks but the Holy Scriptures that transmitted these things to us. There is no contradiction when Scripture says about a certain person both that he did not see Babylon as a captive and, elsewhere, that they took him to Babylon with the rest. For one who reads attentively will find it said about this same man in another part of Scripture that they blinded him and in dm condition took him off as a captive (cf. 2 Kgs. 25:7; Jer. 52:11): Thus he went to Babylon, as the one writer says, but did not see it, as the other says.’

Book ll XXIII Holy Scripture Again, some say in their lack of experience that the Epistle to the Hebrews was not written by St Paul, or that St Dionysios the Areopagite did not write one of the treatises ascribed to him. But if a man will pay attention to these same works, he will discover the truth. If the matter pertains to nature, the saints gain their knowledge of it from spiritual insight, that is, from the spiritual knowledge of nature and from the contemplation of created beings that is attained through the intellect’s purity; and so they expound God’s purpose in these things with complete accuracy. Searching the Scriptures, as St John Chrysostom says, like gold-miners who seek out the finest veins. In this way they ensure that ‘not the smallest letter or most insignificant accent is lost’, as the Lord put it (Matt. 5:18).

Such is the situation with regard to things that pertain to nature. When the matter in question is something that lies beyond nature, whether it be sensible or intelligible, or even a written phrase, the saints know about it through the gift of prophecy and through revelation, provided that such knowledge is given them by the Holy Spirit. But if this knowledge is not given them, and if for their own good the matter remains beyond their understanding, they are not ashamed to speak the truth and to confess their human weakness, saying with St Paul, ‘I do not know; God knows’ (2 Cor. 12:2). As Solomon said, ‘There are three things of which I am ignorant and a fourth which I do not know’ (Prov. 30:18. LXX). Again, St John Chrysostom says, ‘I do not know; and if the heretics call me an unbeliever, let them call me a tool as well’

In short, the saints possessed both spiritual and secular knowledge but preferred the first; they made use, however, of their worldly education wisely and for a limited purpose, guided by St Paul’s rule not to boast beyond limits (cf. 2 Cor. 10:13), as did those Egyptians who, according to the Clementine writings, mocked the prosaic diction of the Apostle Barnabas, not realizing that his preaching contained words of life (cf. John 6:68). Many of us are guilty of doing the same: when we hear someone speaking with a strange accent we laugh, though he may perhaps be a wise man in his own tongue and be speaking of awe-inspiring mysteries. This happens because of our inexperience. But the fathers themselves often deliberately wrote in a very simple manner, depending on the

Book ll XXIII Holy Scripture particular circumstances and the people for whom they were writing. St Gregory of Nyssa remarks on this when praising St Ephrem: though he was wise, says Gregory, he wrote simply. Gregory also marvel at the way in which, being deeply versed in theological doctrine, Ephrem refuted with great learning the accursed hooks of a childish heretic, and how the latter, because of his pride, was unable to bear the shame of this and died.

Saintly humility is something that transcends nature, and an unbeliever cannot achieve it, but thinks that it is contrary to nature. St Dionysios the Areopagite speaks of this when writing to St Timothy about such men: he says that to the ancients the resurrection of the dead appeared contrary to nature, whereas to himself and to St Timothy - and in the eyes of the truth itself - it is not contrary to nature but it transcends nature. This at least is how it looks to us; in God’s eyes, however, it does not transcend nature, but is quite natural; for God’s commandment is His nature. The fathers had a special love for humility in action and drought, as did the compiler of the Gerontikon, though he was a bishop and in exile for Christ’s sake; for he says with regard to the tattered garment of some virgin that he took it in order to receive a blessing. And the holy fathers St Dorotheos and St Cassian, though wise, wrote simply. I say this lest anyone should think that some fathers wrote in a learned manner out of pride, while others wrote in a simple style because of their lack of intelligence. Both alike wrote through the same power of the intellect, conferred by the one Holy Spirit, and their purpose was to be of service to everyone. Had they all written simply, no learned person would ever benefit, for he would regard what was written as worthless because of its pedestrian style; nor on the other hand would a simpler type of person ever benefit had all of them written in a learned style, since he would not have understood the meaning of what was said.

Whoever is experienced in the spiritual interpretation of Scripture knows that the simplest passage is of a significance equal to that of the most abstruse passage, and that both are directed to the salvation of man. Whoever lacks such experience, however, is often at a loss, being unaware that secular learning is of great help when it acts as a

Book ll XXIII Holy Scripture vehicle for the higher wisdom of the Sprit For the wisdom of the Spirit bestows inspired thoughts, while secular learning provides power of expression, so long as it is accompanied by moral judgment and by the humility that teaches us to fear both thoughtlessness and craftiness and to ‘judge with self-restraint’, as St Paul puts it (Rom. 12:3).

Just as the term ‘amen’, which St Luke translates as ‘truly’ (cf. Luke 9:27), is a stable and decisive word endorsing what comes before it, so moral judgment is a stable. and decisive form of intellection enabling us to cleave to the truth. The word ‘amen’ affirms the permanence of the new grace conferred by Christ; hence it is not found in the Old Testament at all, since the Old Testament is but a prefiguration. In the New Testament, however, it is used everywhere because this testament will endure for ever and through all the ages.

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XXIV Conscious Awareness in the Heart

How many tears would I like to shed whenever I gain even a partial glimpse of myself! If I do not sin, I become elated with pride; while if I sin and am able to realize it, in my dismay I lose heart and begin to despair. If I take refuge in hope, again I become arrogant. If I weep, it feeds my presumption; if I do not weep, the passions visit me again. My life is death, yet death seems even worse because of my fear of punishment. My prayer proves a source of temptation to me, and my inattention a cause of disaster. ‘He that increases knowledge increases sorrow,’ says Solomon (Eccles. 1:18). I am at a loss, beside myself, and do not know what to do. And should I know, and then not do it, my knowledge would contribute to my condemnation. Alas, what shall I choose? In my ignorance all things seem contradictory and I cannot reconcile them. I do not find the virtue and wisdom hidden in my trials, since I do not endure these trials with patience. I flee from stillness because of my evil thoughts, and so I find myself beset by the

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XXIV Conscious Awareness in the Heart passions that tempt me through the senses. I want to fast and to keep vigil, but am impeded by presumption and laxity. I eat and deep lavishly, and sin without knowing it. I withdraw myself from everything and flee out of fear of sin, but listlessness is again my undoing.

Yet I realize that many, because they had a firm faith, received crowns of victory after going through battles and trials like these. It was because of their faith that they were granted fear of God; and through this fear they were enabled to practice the other virtues. Had I faith as they had, I would have found this fear through which, according to the prophet, I would have received true piety and spiritual knowledge; and from this knowledge would have come strength, counsel, understanding and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit (cf. Isa. 11:2). These are the gifts conferred on those who, free from anxiety, wait on God and devote themselves to the Holy Scriptures with the patience that makes it possible to view all things, whether from above or from below, with an equal mind.

Time and experience make it clear when a particular passion has been transformed into virtue. When, on the other hand, a virtue veers towards passion, time and experience permit us to set them apart through patient endurance. For if such endurance is not born in the soul out of faith, the soul cannot possess any virtue at all. ‘You will gain possession of your souls through your patient endurance’, said the Lord (Luke 21:19), who alone has fashioned the hearts of men, as the psalmist puts it (cf. Ps. 33:15). From this it is dear that the heart, that is, the intellect, comes into possession of itself through the patient endurance of what befalls it. For if we believe that someone else is invisibly guiding our life, how can we ever obey our own thoughts when they say ‘I want this’ or ‘I do not want it’, ‘This is good’ or ‘This is bad’? If we had some visible guide, we would ask him about everything, would hear the reply and carry into effect what was said. But even when we do not have a visible guide, we do have Christ, as the bishop of Evchaita remarks. We should therefore put questions to Him through prayer from the heart, in faith hoping His answer will manifest itself in our thoughts and actions. Otherwise Satan, not being able to affect us in our actions, may answer us in our

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XXIV Conscious Awareness in the Heart thoughts, pretending that he is the guide and in this way dragging us to perdition because we lack patient endurance. It is those lacking such endurance who in their ignorance impetuously hurry on to seize what they have not yet been given, failing to realize that one day in the eyes of the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as a single day (cf, Ps. 90:4). But he who by enduring patiently has gained experience of the devil’s machinations will fight and strive forward with patience so as to reach the goal, as St Paul puts it (cf. 1 Cor. 9:26; Phil. 3:12). He will be able to say, ‘We are not ignorant of Satan’s devices’ (2 Cor. 2:11), that is, of the devil’s invisible ploys, unknown to most men. For St Paul says, ‘Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light’ (2 Cor. 11:14); and there is nothing surprising in this, since the thoughts that he causes to appear in our heart seem to be righteous thoughts to those who lack experience. For this reason it is good to say ‘I do not know’, so that we neither disbelieve what is said by an angel nor place credence in what occurs through the deceitfulness of the enemy. By thus accepting patiently whatever comes we may avoid both pitfalls. We may wait for many years until the answer is given us, unsolicited and unperceived, in the form of some concrete action-as someone has put it with reference to the contemplation of created beings. In this way we reach the haven of active spiritual knowledge. When we see this knowledge persisting in us over many years, then we will understand that truly we have been heard and have invisibly received the answer. Someone prays, for example, for victory over those who fight against him. He hears nothing and sees no deceitful sign; or even if he does hear or see something, either in sleep or when awake, he gives it absolutely no credence. But after a certain length of time he observes that the battle is being won by God’s grace and that certain thoughts are drawing his intellect towards humility and the knowledge of his own weakness. Yet he still does not put his trust in this, fearing that it might be deception, but waits for many years. It was such an attitude, according to St John Chrysostom, that Christ wanted to induce in the apostles: that is why He warned them of coming tribulations, adding, ‘He who endures to the end will be saved’ (Matt. 10:22), so that they would not grow careless or overconfident, but would

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XXIV Conscious Awareness in the Heart struggle on out of fear. For a person derives no benefit from the other virtues, even though he dwells in heaven, if he is in the grip of the presumption that led to the fall of the devil, Adam and many others.

Hence we should never abandon fear until we have reached the haven of perfect love and are no longer in the world or the body. Even the person who has reached that haven will not abandon such fear of his own accord. Rather, by virtue of his great faith his intellect is freed from all anxiety about the life and death of the body, and he attains the pure fear that is inspired by love. St Athanasios the Great was referring to this fear when he told the perfect not to fear God as a tyrant, but to fear Him because of His love; that is, they should fear Him not simply because they sin, but because they are loved without themselves showing love, thus receiving His blessings unworthily. It is through fear in the face of such blessings that God leads the soul towards love, so that through its gratitude to Him it may become worthy of the good things that have been and will be bestowed on it. Then by means of the pure fear inspired by love the soul attains the humility that transcends nature.

For no matter how many blessings a person in the state of pure fear receives, or how many appalling things he suffers, he never for a moment thinks that it is due to his own strength and understanding that he is able to endure or prosper in soul and body. On the contrary, in his humility he has received the discrimination by means of which he realizes that he is a creature of God, and that of himself he can do nothing good and cannot even preserve what has been given him by grace; and that he can neither remove temptation nor endure it through his own courage and judgment. By means of discrimination he thus attains a certain degree of spiritual knowledge and begins to see all things with the eye of the intellect. But, ignorant of the inner principles of these things, he longs for the Teacher; yet he fails to find Him, because He is invisible. At the same time he is unwilling to accept anyone else because his discrimination tells him - although there is no dear evidence for this - that anyone else may be an impostor; so he is at a loss, and as a result regards all that he has done and all that he has been taught as nothing.

For he sees how many men, beginning with Adam, have fallen in

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XXIV Conscious Awareness in the Heart spite of their efforts and their knowledge; and he realizes as well that, though he hears, yet he does hot understand what is said in the Holy Scriptures. This knowledge - the knowledge that in fact he does not know as he should know - brings him to tears. It is indeed truly astonishing that, if a man thinks he knows, he knows nothing yet (cf. 1 Cor. 8:2); and that what he thinks he has will be taken from him, as the Lord says (cf. Matt. 13:12) - that is, will be taken away because he thinks he has it while he does not have it. Thus the man who acknowledges that he is stupid and witless, ignorant and weak, weeps and laments because he thought he had received what he now realizes that he does not have.

Humility is born of many virtues, and in its turn gives birth to things more perfect still. It is the same with spiritual knowledge, thanksgiving, prayer and love, since these virtues are always capable of increase. For example, a person becomes humble and grieves because he is a sinner. In consequence of this he begins to practice self-control and patient endurance in the face of afflictions sought and unsought. What comes from the demons he endures through ascetic discipline, and what comes from men he endures as a test of his faith. In this way it becomes dear whether he puts his trust in God, or in man, or in his own strength and judgment. And when his worthiness has been proved by his patient endurance and by his entrusting all things to God, he receives that great faith to which Christ referred when He said, ‘When the Son of man comes, will He find faith on the earth?’ (Luke 18:8). Through such faith he gains victory over his enemies; and when he has achieved this, then through the power of God and through the wisdom granted him he becomes aware of his own weakness and ignorance.

As a result of this he begins to give thanks with a humble soul, and he trembles with fear lest he should relapse into disobedience. Because of this pure fear - fear which is not due to the fact that he has sinned - and because of the thankfulness, patient endurance and humility which have been bestowed on him as a result of his knowledge, he begins to have hope that by God’s grace he will obtain mercy. In the light of his experience of the blessings he has received, he watches and fears lest he should be found unworthy of such gifts from God. Hence he receives greater humility and more intense prayer from the heart; and the more these increase, together with thankfulness, the greater the knowledge he receives. Thus he

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XXIV Conscious Awareness in the Heart advances from knowledge to fear, and from fear to thankfulness, and so he attains the knowledge that transcends all these. As a consequence, he comes truly to love his Benefactor and longs to serve Him with joy, indebted as he is to God for the knowledge bestowed upon him.

At once he receives a still farther increase of knowledge, and he contemplates not just the blessings he personally has been granted, but also those that are universal. Not being able to give thanks adequately for these, he grieves; and then, again marveling at the grace of God, he is consoled. At times he weeps painfully; at times, because of his love, his tears are made sweeter than honey by the spiritual joy that comes from ineffable humility. When in truth he longs for God’s will to be done in everything and abhors every honor and comfort; when he regards himself as lower than all other men and does not even think that he is anybody at all, but holds himself indebted to God and to all men as much as to God, then he will consider trials and afflictions to be great blessings, and enjoyment and comfort to be extremely harmful. For trials and afflictions he longs with all his soul, wherever they may come from; enjoyment and comfort he fears, even though they may be sent by God to test him.

While he is experiencing the tears of which we have spoken, his intellect begins to attain purity and to return to its pristine state, that is, to the state of natural spiritual knowledge which it lost through its amity with the passions. By some this is called moral judgment, since the intellect ‘then sees things as they are by nature; by others it is called spiritual insight, since he who possesses it knows something at least of the hidden mysteries - that is, of God’s purpose-in the Holy Scriptures and in every created thing. Such natural knowledge springs from discrimination, and enables us to perceive the inner principles of things sensible and intelligible. On account of this it is known as the contemplation of created beings, that is, of God’s creation. It is natural and comes from purity of intellect. But if for the common good a person receives the gift of prophecy, he has attained something that transcends nature; for only God foreknows all things, as well as the purpose for which He created each thing and inspired each word of Holy Scripture; and it is by grace that He grants such knowledge to the saints.

Thus, the contemplation of sensible and intelligible creation,

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XXIV Conscious Awareness in the Heart sometimes called moral judgment, is also a form of spiritual insight and of natural spiritual knowledge - ‘natural’ since it pre-exists in nature. But when the passions darken the intellect, it is lost; and unless God removes the passions through our practice of the virtues, the intellect remains blinded. The gift of prophecy, however, is of a different order, for it transcends nature and is granted only by grace. Yet even natural spiritual knowledge cannot be attained without God, though it is natural; for the pagan Greeks perceived many things but, as St Basil the Great has said, they were unable to discern God’s purpose in created beings, or even God Himself, since they lacked the humility and the faith of Abraham.

A person is said to have faith when, on the basis of what he can see, he believes in what he cannot see. But to believe in what we can see of God’s works is not the same as to believe in Him who teaches and proclaims the truth to us. Hence the trials sent to test our faith are visible, while God’s assistance comes to us invisibly. In this way, the person who in faith endures these trials patiently will discover, once they have passed, that he has acquired spiritual knowledge, through which he knows things previously unknown to him, and that blessings have been bestowed on him. As a result he gains humility together with love both towards God, as his benefactor, and towards his fellowmen for the healing wrought by God through them. He regards this as something “natural, and yet as a debt, which fills him with the desire to keep God’s commandments. He hates the passions as his enemies and pays scant attention to the body, considering it an obstacle to his attainment of dispassion and of the knowledge of God, that is, of hidden wisdom’ (1 Cor; 2:7).

This wisdom is rightly called ‘hidden’. If someone seeks for success and pleasure, comfort and glory in this world, then he loves the wisdom of this world. But if someone struggles for what is contrary to these things - if he suffers, practices self-control, and endures all kinds of affliction and disgrace for the sake of the kingdom of heaven - then he loves the wisdom of God. The first longs to attain material benefits, secular learning and secular power, and often suffers on this account; but the second shares the sufferings of Christ. Thus the first places all his hopes in the things of this world, desiring to possess them even though they are transitory and hard to come by; while the second is hidden from ‘the eyes of the foolish’, as Holy Scripture puts it (Wisd. 3:2), but is clearly revealed in the world to come, when everything

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XXIV Conscious Awareness in the Heart hidden is disclosed. Moreover, according to St John Chrysostom the knowledge of what is hidden-that is, the contemplation of the divine Scriptures and of created beings-is given as an encouragement to those who grieve in this world. For from faith is born fear, and from fear comes inward grief. This in turn produces humility, which gives rise to discrimination. Discrimination, finally, gives birth to spiritual insight and, by God’s grace, to the gift of prophecy.

The gnostic ought not to rely in any way on his own thoughts, but should always seek to confirm them in the light of divine Scripture or of the nature of things themselves. Without such confirmation, there can be no true spiritual knowledge, but only wickedness and delusion, as St Basil the Great says when speaking about the stars. Divine Scripture names only a few stars, while the pagan Greeks in their delusion give names to many. For the intention of divine Scripture is to speak of things that can save the soul, and to reveal to us the mysteries it contains in itself, as well as the inner principles of created beings, that is, the purpose for which each thing was created. In this way it aims to illumine our intellect with the love of God, and to enable it to perceive His greatness and His inexpressible wisdom and providence, as they are revealed in His care for His creation. Such knowledge makes us afraid of breaking His commandments and conscious of our own weakness and ignorance. This in its turn makes us humble and teaches us to love God and not to despise His commandments, as do those who lack effective knowledge of Him. Moreover, God withholds some of the mysteries from us, so that we may long for them and not be quickly sated, as was Adam, whom the enemy caught off his guard and led into his own base ways.

This, then, is the position of. those who have acquired the virtues. Those who lack knowledge, on the other hand. God alarms with trials and temptations so that they will refrain from sin; at the same time He: encourages them by bestowing on them bodily blessings so as to keep them from despair. God in His unbounded goodness does this at all times so that He may save all men and free them from the snares of the devil, either by conferring on them or else by withholding from them His favors and knowledge. According to the gratitude of each He bestows His gifts and divine thoughts. Similarly, in accordance with the propensity of each reader and with what is to his profit, God

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XXIV Conscious Awareness in the Heart either conceals the meaning of Holy Scripture or allows it to be known.

The aim of the teachers of secular wisdom was different, for each was eager to defeat the other and to appear wiser; hence they did not discover Christ, nor do those who emulate them, in spite of all their efforts. For, as St John Klimakos says, God reveals Himself, not in response to our exertions, but in response to the humility and simplicity that come through faith, that is, through the contemplation of the Scriptures and of created beings. On this account the Lord said, ‘How can you have faith when you receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?’ (John 5:44). This is that great faith which makes it possible for us to put all our cares into the hands of God. The apostle calls it the foundation (cf. Heb. 6:1), St John Klimakos, the mother of stillness, and St Isaac, the faith of contemplation and the gateway of the mysteries. He who possesses this faith is completely free from worry and anxiety, as were all the saints.

The saints, like the righteous men of old, even had names to suit them. Peter’s name, that comes from the Greek word for ‘rock’, indicates his firmness; Paul’s name, that comes from the Greek word for ‘rest’, refers to the ‘rest’ he found in Christ; James is called the ‘tripper up’, because he tripped up the devil; and Stephen - from the Greek word for ‘crown’ - is named from the unfading crown he won; Athanasios means ‘deathless’ in Greek; Basil means ‘kingdom’; Gregory signifies ‘vigilance’,’ for he was vigilant in wisdom and theology; Chrysostom, meaning ‘golden-mouthed’ in Greek, is so named from his rich style and admirable grace in speaking; and Isaac means forgiveness.

In short, in both the Old and the New Testament, the names given are appropriate. Thus Adam was named from the four Cardinal points; for the four letters of his name are the initial letters of the Greek words for East, West, North and South. Man, in the Syrian language, was denoted by the word for ‘fire’, because of the similitude of his nature to that of fire. For the whole of humanity is descended from one man, just as from a single lamp one can light as many others as one wishes without the first suffering any loss. But, after the

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XXIV Conscious Awareness in the Heart confusion of the tongues (cf. Gen. 11:1-9), in one language the name ‘man’ is derived from the forgetfulness which man incurred another from his other characteristics. The Greek language derives its word for ‘man’ from the fact that he looks upward; yet his chief natural quality is his intelligence: it is for this reason that he is called an intelligent being, since he alone has this quality. As regards the other qualities from which he is named, there are many other created beings with which he shares them.

Hence we ought to abandon all other things and as intelligent beings cleave to the intelligence, offering with the intelligence intelligible worship to the divine Intelligence. Then we will be found worthy to receive from Him in this present age, in return for human words, the divine words of the Holy Spirit. For it is said of God that He ‘gives prayer to him who prays’ (1 Sam. 2:9. LXX); and indeed to one who truly prays the prayer of the body God gives the prayer of the intellect; and to one who diligently cultivates the prayer of the intellect, God gives the imageless and formless prayer that comes from the pure fear of Him. Again, to one who practices this prayer effectively. God grants the contemplation of created beings. Once this is attained-once the intellect has freed itself from all things and, not content with hearing about God at second hand, devotes itself to Him in action and thought - God permits it to be seized in rapture, conferring on it the gift of true’ theology and the blessings of the age to be.

Thus spiritual knowledge is good if it fills its possessor with shame and so leads him involuntarily towards humility, making him think that he possesses such knowledge unworthily; indeed, according to St John Klimakos, in his humility he even rejects it as harmful, God-given though it may be. Yet how disastrous if it affects him as it affected that monk who was torn apart by the triple-teethed prongs of the demons! He was so greatly respected and loved that all mourned his death and thought it a great loss. Yet he was a victim of hidden pride; and the person who has told us about him heard from on high the words, ‘Allow him no rest, for never for a single moment did he give rest to Me.’ Alas, someone whom everyone called a saint, and through whose prayers many hoped to be saved from a host of trials and temptations, came to such an end because he thought so

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XXIV Conscious Awareness in the Heart highly of himself. And it is obvious that the reason was his pride. For had it been some other sin, he would not have teen able to take everyone in or to commit it continuously. It is true that, had it been heresy, he would have continually angered God through his willful blasphemy; but heresy does not remain concealed for ever. Through God’s providence it is revealed, so that he who holds it may recant, provided he is willing to; if he is not, then it is revealed in order to safeguard other people.

Thus it is self-satisfied haughtiness alone that can escape the notice of everyone. It all but escapes the notice even of its victim, unless he is permitted to fall into temptations which put his soul to the test and allow him to recognize his own weakness and ignorance. Thus not even for a single moment was the Holy Spirit given rest in the hapless soul of that monk, since he was always preoccupied with the thought of his own excellence and rejoiced in this thought as though it were some lofty achievement. For this reason he was filled with darkness, as are the demons. Moreover, in order to conceal his fault, he nourished this single passion instead of all the others. And this was sufficient for the demons since, as St John Klimakos says, this single passion is capable of taking the place of the other vices.

I am not here recording something that I discovered with my own understanding and discrimination, but I write what I have learnt from the saint who was my spiritual father. He also told me of an occasion on which St Antony the Great ordered St Paul the Simple to cast the demon out of a certain girl. St Paul did not at once prostrate himself and obey, but made objections, asking St Antony why he did not cast the demon out himself. It was only after St Antony told him that he was otherwise occupied that St Paul finally obeyed. On account of Paul’s procrastination, said my spiritual father, the demon did not obey at once, but only went out of the girl after Paul had struggled for a long time. That things are in fact like this can be believed not only on the testimony of the holy elder, but also from the washing of the disciples’ feet in the Bible (cf. John 13:6-8), as well as from the account of Moses’ argument with the Lord (cf. Exod. 4:10), and from the story of the prophet who asked someone to strike him (cf. 1 Kgs. 20:35-42).

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XXIV Conscious Awareness in the Heart Because this latter story incapable of a spiritual interpretation which has not been given elsewhere, I will recount it here. A certain king ruled his kingdom so tyrannically that God, in His love for mankind, could not endure this tyranny and commanded his prophet to go and rebuke that king. The prophet, however, knew the king’s cruelty and did not wish simply to go to him, lest seeing him from afar and surmising the reason for which he had come, the king would drive him away and thus prevent him from carrying out his task; or lest, if he was given audience and began by saying, ‘My God has sent me here because of your cruelty’, the king would not pay attention to what was said. Instead he devised a plan whereby he would be struck by somebody and then go, covered with blood, as if he were lodging a complaint; in this way he would deceive the king and force him to listen to what he had to say.

As the prophet was going along he came upon someone at the roadside who had an axe, and he said to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, take your axe and strike my head.’ But the other, being a devout man, said, ‘Certainly not; I am a man of God and will not lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed.’ Then the prophet said, ‘Thus says the Lord: as you did not obey the voice of the Lord, let a lion come from the desert and devour you.’ This was not done in anger - God forbid! It happened for the benefit of all. This righteous man deserved not to die in an ordinary fashion like other men, but to be devoured by a wild beast in accordance with God’s word and so to receive a crown of glory because of his bitter death. The Gerontikon records a similar story. Four priests made a pact and prayed that, when they had fallen asleep in Christ, their servant should be eaten by a lion because of his unchastity. But the Lord did not hear them, and chose rather to listen to the hesychast who was praying for the servant so that the lion would not touch him.

To return to the prophet. He then found another man, who was obedient, and he said to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: lift your axe and strike my head.’ This man, when he heard the words, ‘Thus says the Lord’, without hesitation struck the head of the prophet with his axe, and the prophet said to him, in words similar to those used by Moses when he spoke to the children of Levi, ‘The blessing of the Lord be upon you, for you have listened to the voice of the Lord’ (cf. Exod. 32:29).

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XXIV Conscious Awareness in the Heart

Thus the first man, in his great devoutness, respected the prophet and did not obey him, like Peter at the washing of the feet (cf. John 13:8); while the other obeyed without further thought, as the sons of Levi were obedient to Moses when they slew then-brethren (cf. Exod. 32:26-29).

Judging by outward appearances, he who obeys the will of God does the better thing, for he obeys the supranatural command of the Lord of nature, which he regards as wiser and more righteous than natural knowledge; whereas he who disobeys does a lesser thing, in that he regards his own opinion about what is right as more righteous than the word of God. But if we look deeper, things turn out to be different. What matters is the motive behind the obedience or disobedience; and so he whose motive is to do God’s will has chosen the better path. In the present case, to all appearances God seems to be angry with the man who is disobedient and to bless the man who is obedient. But in reality it is not so, as has been said already: from the viewpoint of natural contemplation both were equally good, since the motive of both was to do God’s will.

Then the prophet went to the king and standing before him said, ‘Give me justice, 0 king! For as I was coming someone met me on the road and struck my head.’ And the king, seeing the wound and the blood, became angry in his usual way, but not with the prophet; and, thinking that he was condemning someone else, and not himself, he denounced with extreme severity the man who had wounded the prophet. Then the prophet, having achieved what he wanted, said, ‘You have spoken well, 0 king, for thus says the Lord: I shall surely tear this kingdom from your hands and from your seed, for it is you that have done these things.’ Thus the prophet delivered his message as he wished, skillfully compelling the king to pay attention to what he said. He then departed, praising God.

Such, then, were the souls of the prophets. They loved God and, because of their knowledge of God, they were eager to suffer for the sake of His will. This is natural; for he who is familiar with a certain path or a certain skill pursues it readily and easily, with assurance explaining to others the direction of the path or the secrets and finer points of the craft; and he often does this even though he is young in years and lacks formal training, while those to whom he is explaining things may be advanced in years and wise in other matters. For the prophets, apostles and martyrs did not gain their knowledge of God

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XXIV Conscious Awareness in the Heart and their wisdom at second hand, as we have gained ours. On the contrary, they poured out their blood and received the Spirit, exemplifying the words of the fathers: ‘Spill your blood and receive the Spirit.’ Thus the fathers suffered martyrdom, not in an outward sense, but in their conscience: instead of undergoing physical death they showed themselves willing to die, and in this way their intellect proved victorious over all earthly desires and reigns in Christ Jesus our Lord. To Him be glory and dominion, honor and worship, now and always and throughout the ages. Amen.