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  THE WORKS OF JOHN CASSIAN
  by John Cassian
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The collected writings of John Cassian, a foundational fourth-century monastic
writer whose works on prayer, spiritual combat, and communal life shaped Western
Christian monasticism.

  Chapters: 541

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    0. The Works Of John Cassian 
    1. The Works of John Cassian.
    2. Chapter I. The Life of Cassian.
    3. Chapter II. The History of Cassian's Writings, MSS., and Editions. 
    4. Preface.
    5. The Twelve Books of John Cassian
    6. Book I. Of the Dress of the Monks. 
    7. Chapter I. Of the Monk's Girdle. 
    8. Chapter II. Of the Monk's Robe. 
    9. Chapter III. Of the Hoods of the Egyptians. 
   10. Chapter IV. Of the Tunics of the Egyptians. 
   11. Chapter V. Of their Cords. 
   12. Chapter VI. Of their Capes. 
   13. Chapter VII. Of the Sheepskin and the Goatskin. 
   14. Chapter VIII. Of the Staff of the Egyptians. 
   15. Chapter IX. Of their Shoes. 
   16. Chapter X. Of the modification in the observances which may be permitted in accordance with the character of the climate or the custom of the district. 
   17. Chapter XI. Of the Spiritual Girdle and its Mystical Meaning. 
   18. Book II. Of the Canonical System of the Nocturnal Prayers and Psalms.
   19. Chapter I. Of the Canonical System of the Nocturnal Prayers and Psalms. 
   20. Chapter II. Of the difference of the number of Psalms appointed to be sung in all the provinces. 
   21. Chapter III. Of the observance of one uniform rule throughout the whole of Egypt, and of the election of those who are set over the brethren. 
   22. Chapter IV. How throughout the whole of Egypt and the Thebaid the number of Psalms is fixed at twelve. 
   23. Chapter V. How the fact that the number of the Psalms was to be twelve was received from the teaching of an angel. 
   24. Chapter VI. Of the Custom of having Twelve Prayers. 
   25. Chapter VII. Of their Method of Praying. 
   26. Chapter VIII. Of the Prayer which follows the Psalm. 
   27. Chapter IX. Of the characteristics of the prayer, the fuller treatment of which is reserved for the Conferences of the Elders. 
   28. Chapter X. Of the silence and conciseness with which the Collects are offered up by the Egyptians. 
   29. Chapter XI. Of the system according to which the Psalms are said among the Egyptians. 
   30. Chapter XII. Of the reason why while one sings the Psalms the rest sit down during the service; and of the zeal with which they afterwards prolong their vigils in their cells till daybreak. 
   31. Chapter XIII. The reason why they are not allowed to go to sleep after the night service. 
   32. Chapter XIV. Of the way in which they devote themselves in their cells equally to manual labour and to prayer. 
   33. Chapter XV. Of the discreet rule by which every one must retire to his cell after the close of the prayers; and of the rebuke to which any one who does otherwise is subject. 
   34. Chapter XVI. How no one is allowed to pray with one who has been suspended from prayer. 
   35. Chapter XVII. How he who rouses them for prayer ought to call them at the usual time. 
   36. Chapter XVIII. How they do not kneel from the evening of Saturday till the evening of Sunday. 
   37. Book III. Of the Canonical System of the Daily Prayers and Psalms.
   38. Chapter I. Of the services of the third, sixth, and ninth hours, which are observed in the regions of Syria. 
   39. Chapter II. How among the Egyptians they apply themselves all day long to prayer and Psalm continually, with the addition of work, without distinction of hours. 
   40. Chapter III. How throughout all the East the services of Tierce, Sext, and None are ended with only three Psalms and prayers each; and the reason why these spiritual offices are assigned more particularly to those hours. 
   41. Chapter IV. How the Mattin office was not appointed by an ancient tradition but was started in our own day for a definite reason. 
   42. Chapter V. How they ought not to go back to bed again after the Mattin prayers. 
   43. Chapter VI. How no change was made by the Elders in the ancient system of Psalms when the Mattin office was instituted. 
   44. Chapter VII. How one who does not come to the daily prayer before the end of the first Psalm is not allowed to enter the Oratory; but at Nocturnes a late arrival up to the end of the second Psalm can be overlooked. 
   45. Chapter VIII. Of the Vigil service which is celebrated on the evening preceding the Sabbath; of its length, and the manner in which it is observed. 
   46. Chapter IX. The reason why a Vigil is appointed as the Sabbath day dawns, and why a dispensation from fasting is enjoyed on the Sabbath all through the East. 
   47. Chapter X. How it was brought about that they fast on the Sabbath in the city. 
   48. Chapter XI. Of the points in which the service held on Sunday differs from what is customary on other days. 
   49. Chapter XII. Of the days on which, when supper is provided for the brethren, a Psalm is not said as they assemble for the meals as is usual at dinner. 
   50. Book IV. Of the Institutes of the Renunciants. 
   51. Chapter I. Of the training of those who renounce this world, and of the way in which those are taught among the monks of Tabenna and the Egyptians who are received into the monasteries. 
   52. Chapter II. Of the way in which among them men remain in the monasteries even to extreme old age. 
   53. Chapter III. Of the ordeal by which one who is to be received in the monastery is tested. 
   54. Chapter IV. The reason why those who are received in the monastery are not allowed to bring anything in with them. 
   55. Chapter V. The reason why those who give up the world, when they are received in the monasteries, must lay aside their own clothes and be clothed in others by the Abbot. 
   56. Chapter VI. The reason why the clothes of the renunciants with which they joined the monastery are preserved by the steward. 
   57. Chapter VII. The reason why those who are admitted to a monastery are not permitted to mix at once with the congregation of the brethren, but are first committed to the guest house. 
   58. Chapter VIII. Of the practices in which the juniors are first exercised that they may become proficient in overcoming all their desires. 
   59. Chapter IX. The reason why the juniors are enjoined not to keep back any of their thoughts from the senior. 
   60. Chapter X. How thorough is the obedience of the juniors even in those things which are matters of common necessity. 
   61. Chapter XI. The kind of food which is considered the greater delicacy by them. 
   62. Chapter XII. How they leave off every kind of work at the sound of some one knocking at the door, in their eagerness to answer at once. 
   63. Chapter XIII. How wrong it is considered for any one to say that anything, however trifling, is his own. 
   64. Chapter XIV. How, even if a large sum of money is amassed by the labour of each, still no one may venture to exceed the moderate limit of what is appointed as adequate. 
   65. Chapter XV. Of the excessive desire of possession among us. 
   66. Chapter XVI. On the rules for various rebukes. 
   67. Chapter XVII. Of those who introduced the plan that the holy Lessons should be read in the Coenobia while the brethren are eating, and of the strict silence which is kept among the Egyptians. 
   68. Chapter XVIII. How it is against the rule for any one to take anything to eat or drink except at the common table. 
   69. Chapter XIX. How throughout Palestine and Mesopotamia a daily service is undertaken by the brethren. 
   70. Chapter XX. Of the three lentil beans which the Steward found. 
   71. Chapter XXI. Of the spontaneous service of some of the brethren. 
   72. Chapter XXII. The system of the Egyptians, which is appointed for the daily service of the brethren. 
   73. Chapter XXIII. The obedience of Abbot John by which he was exalted even to the grace of prophecy. 
   74. Chapter XXIV. Of the dry stick which, at the bidding of his senior, Abbot John kept on watering as if it would grow. 
   75. Chapter XXV. Of the unique vase of oil thrown away by Abbot John at his senior's command. 
   76. Chapter XXVI. How Abbot John obeyed his senior by trying to roll a huge stone, which a large number of men were unable to move. 
   77. Chapter XXVII. Of the humility and obedience of Abbot Patermucius, which he did not hesitate to make perfect by throwing his little boy into the river at the command of his senior. 
   78. Chapter XXVIII. How it was revealed to the Abbot concerning Patermucius that he had done the deed of Abraham; and how when the same Abbot died, Patermucius succeeded to the charge of the monastery. 
   79. Chapter XXIX. Of the obedience of a brother who at the Abbot's bidding carried about in public ten baskets and sold them by retail. 
   80. Chapter XXX. Of the humility of Abbot Pinufius, who left a very famous Coenobium over which he presided as Presbyter, and out of the love of subjection sought a distant monastery where he could be received as a novice. 
   81. Chapter XXXI. How when Abbot Pinufius was brought back to his monastery he stayed there for a little while and then fled again into the regions of Syrian Palestine. 
   82. Chapter XXXII. The charge which the same Abbot Pinufius gave to a brother whom he admitted into his monastery in our presence. 
   83. Chapter XXXIII. How it is that, just as a great reward is due to the monk who labours according to the regulations of the fathers, so likewise punishment must he inflicted on an idle one; and therefore no one should be admitted into a monastery too easily
   84. Chapter XXXIV. Of the way in which our renunciation is nothing but mortification and the image of the Crucified. 
   85. Chapter XXXV. How the fear of the Lord is our cross. 
   86. Chapter XXXVI. How our renunciation of the world is of no use if we are again entangled in those things which we have renounced. 
   87. Chapter XXXVII. How the devil always lies in wait for our end, and how we ought continually to watch his head. 
   88. Chapter XXXVIII. Of the renunciant's preparation against temptation, and of the few who are worthy of imitation. 
   89. Chapter XXXIX. Of the way in which we shall mount towards perfection, whereby we may afterwards ascend from the fear of God up to love. 
   90. Chapter XL. That the monk should seek for examples of perfection not from many instances but from one or a very few. 
   91. Chapter XLI. The appearance of what infirmities one who lives in a Coenobium ought to exhibit. 
   92. Chapter XLII. How a monk should not look for the blessing of patience in his own case as a result of the virtue of others, but rather as a consequence of his own longsuffering. 
   93. Chapter XLIII. Recapitulation of the explanation how a monk can mount up towards perfection. 
   94. Book V. Of the Spirit of Gluttony. 
   95. Chapter I. The transition from the Institutes of the monks to the struggle against the eight principal faults. 
   96. Chapter II. How the occasions of these faults, being found in everybody, are ignored by everybody; and how we need the Lord's help to make them plain. 
   97. Chapter III. How our first struggle must be against the spirit of gluttony, i.e. the pleasures of the palate. 
   98. Chapter IV. The testimony of Abbot Antony in which he teaches that each virtue ought to be sought for from him who professes it in a special degree. 
   99. Chapter V. That one and the same rule of fasting cannot be observed by everybody. 
  100. Chapter VI. That the mind is not intoxicated by wine alone. 
  101. Chapter VII. How bodily weakness need not interfere with purity of heart. 
  102. Chapter VIII. How food should be taken with regard to the aim at perfect continence. 
  103. Chapter IX. Of the measure of the chastisement to be undertaken, and the remedy of fasting. 
  104. Chapter X. That abstinence from food is not of itself sufficient for preservation of bodily and mental purity. 
  105. Chapter XI. That bodily lusts are not extinguished except by the entire rooting out of vice. 
  106. Chapter XII. That in our spiritual contest we ought to draw an example from the carnal contests. 
  107. Chapter XIII. That we cannot enter the battle of the inner man unless we have been set free from the vice of gluttony. 
  108. Chapter XIV. How gluttonous desires can be overcome. 
  109. Chapter XV. How a monk must always be eager to preserve his purity of heart. 
  110. Chapter XVI. How, after the fashion of the Olympic games, a monk should not attempt spiritual conflicts unless he has won battles over the flesh. 
  111. Chapter XVII. That the foundation and basis of the spiritual combat must be laid in the struggle against gluttony. 
  112. Chapter XVIII. Of the number of different conflicts and victories through which the blessed Apostle ascended to the crown of the highest combat. 
  113. Chapter XIX. That the athlete of Christ, so long as he is in the body, is never without a battle. 
  114. Chapter XX. How a monk should not overstep the proper hours for taking food, if he wants to proceed to the struggle of interior conflicts. 
  115. Chapter XXI. Of the inward peace of a monk, and of spiritual abstinence. 
  116. Chapter XXII. That we should for this reason practise bodily abstinence that we may by it attain to a spiritual fast. 
  117. Chapter XXIII. What should be the character of the monk's food. 
  118. Chapter XXIV. How in Egypt we saw that the daily fast was broken without scruple on our arrival. 
  119. Chapter XXV. Of the abstinence of one old man who took food six times so sparingly that he was still hungry. 
  120. Chapter XXVI. Of another old man, who never partook of food alone in his cell. 
  121. Chapter XXVII. What the two Abbots Pæsius and John said of the fruits of their zeal. 
  122. Chapter XXVIII. The lesson and example which Abbot John when dying left to his disciples. 
  123. Chapter XXIX. Of Abbot Machetes, who never slept during the spiritual conferences, but always went to sleep during earthly tales. 
  124. Chapter XXX. A saying of the same old man about not judging any one. 
  125. Chapter XXXI. The same old man's rebuke when he saw how the brethren went to sleep during the spiritual conferences, and woke up when some idle story was told. 
  126. Chapter XXXII. Of the letters which were burnt without being read. 
  127. Chapter XXXIII. Of the solution of a question which Abbot Theodore obtained by prayer. 
  128. Chapter XXXIV. Of the saying of the same old man, through which he taught by what efforts a monk can acquire a knowledge of the Scriptures. 
  129. Chapter XXXV. A rebuke of the same old man, when he had come to my cell in the middle of the night. 
  130. Chapter XXXVI. A description of the desert in Diolcos, where the anchorites live. 
  131. Chapter XXXVII. Of the cells which Abbot Archebius gave up to us with their furniture. 
  132. Chapter XXXVIII. The same Archebius paid a debt of his mother's by the labour of his own hands. 
  133. Chapter XXXIX. Of the device of a certain old man by which some work was found for Abbot Simeon when he had nothing to do. 
  134. Chapter XL. Of the boys who when bringing to a sick man some figs, died in the desert from hunger, without having tasted them. 
  135. Chapter XLI. The saying of Abbot Macarius of the behaviour of a monk as one who was to live for a long while, and as one who was daily at the point of death. 
  136. Book VI. On the Spirit of Fornication. 
  137. Book VII. Of the Spirit of Covetousness. 
  138. Chapter I. How our warfare with covetousness is a foreign one, and how this fault is not a natural one in man, as the other faults are. 
  139. Chapter II. How dangerous is the disease of covetousness. 
  140. Chapter III. What is the usefulness of those vices which are natural to us. 
  141. Chapter IV. That we can say that there exist in us some natural faults, without wronging the Creator. 
  142. Chapter V. Of the faults which are contracted through our own fault, without natural impulses. 
  143. Chapter VI. How difficult the evil of covetousness is to drive away when once it has been admitted. 
  144. Chapter VII. Of the source from which covetousness springs, and of the evils of which it is itself the mother. 
  145. Chapter VIII. How covetousness is a hindrance to all virtues. 
  146. Chapter IX. How a monk who has money cannot stay in the monastery. 
  147. Chapter X. Of the toils which a deserter from a monastery must undergo through covetousness, though he used formerly to murmur at the very slightest tasks. 
  148. Chapter XI. That under pretence of keeping the purse women have to besought to dwell with them. 
  149. Chapter XII. An instance of a lukewarm monk caught in the snares of covetousness. 
  150. Chapter XIII. What the elders relate to the juniors in the matter of stripping off sins. 
  151. Chapter XIV. Instances to show that the disease of covetousness is threefold. 
  152. Chapter XV. Of the difference between one who renounces the world badly and one who does not renounce it at all. 
  153. Chapter XVI. Of the authority under which those shelter themselves who object to stripping themselves of their goods. 
  154. Chapter XVII. Of the renunciation of the apostles and the primitive church. 
  155. Chapter XVIII. That if we want to imitate the apostles we ought not to live according to our own prescriptions, but to follow their example. 
  156. Chapter XIX. A saying of S. Basil, the Bishop, directed against Syncletius. 
  157. Chapter XX. How contemptible it is to be overcome by covetousness. 
  158. Chapter XXI. How covetousness can be conquered. 
  159. Chapter XXII. That one who actually has no money may still be deemed covetous. 
  160. Chapter XXIII. An example drawn from the case of Judas. 
  161. Chapter XXIV. That covetousness cannot be overcome except by stripping one's self of everything. 
  162. Chapter XXV. Of the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira, and Judas, which they underwent through the impulse of covetousness. 
  163. Chapter XXVI. That covetousness brings upon the soul a spiritual leprosy. 
  164. Chapter XXVII. Scripture proofs by which one who is aiming at perfection is taught not to take back again what he has given up and renounced. 
  165. Chapter XXVIII. That the victory over covetousness can only be gained by stripping one's self bare of everything. 
  166. Chapter XXIX. How a monk can retain his poverty. 
  167. Chapter XXX. The remedies against the disease of covetousness. 
  168. Chapter XXXI. That no one can get the better of covetousness unless he stays in the Coenobium: and how one can remain there. 
  169. Book VIII. Of the Spirit of Anger. 
  170. Chapter I. How our fourth conflict is against the sin of anger, and how many evils this passion produces. 
  171. Chapter II. Of those who say that anger is not injurious, if we are angry with those who do wrong, since God Himself is said to be angry. 
  172. Chapter III. Of those things which are spoken of God anthropomorphically. 
  173. Chapter IV. In what sense we should understand the passions and human arts which are ascribed to the unchanging and incorporeal God. 
  174. Chapter V. How calm a monk ought to be. 
  175. Chapter VI. Of the righteous and unrighteous passion of wrath. 
  176. Chapter VII. Of the only case in which anger is useful to us. 
  177. Chapter VIII. Instances from the life of the blessed David in which anger was rightly felt. 
  178. Chapter IX. Of the anger which should be directed against ourselves. 
  179. Chapter X. Of the sun, of which it is said that it should not go down upon your wrath. 
  180. Chapter XI. Of those to whose wrath even the going down of the sun sets no limit. 
  181. Chapter XII. How this is the end of temper and anger when a man carries it into act as far as he can. 
  182. Chapter XIII. That we should not retain our anger even for an instant. 
  183. Chapter XIV. Of reconciliation with our brother. 
  184. Chapter XV. How the Old Law would root out anger not only from the actions but from the thoughts. 
  185. Chapter XVI. How useless is the retirement of those who do not give up their bad manners. 
  186. Chapter XVII. That the peace of our heart does not depend on another's will, but lies in our own control. 
  187. Chapter XVIII. Of the zeal with which we should seek the desert, and of the things in which we make progress there. 
  188. Chapter XIX. An illustration to help in forming an opinion on those who are only patient when they are not tried by any one. 
  189. Chapter XX. Of the way in which auger should be banished according to the gospel. 
  190. Chapter XXI. Whether we ought to admit the addition of |without a cause,| in that which is written in the Gospel, |whosoever is angry with his brother,| etc. 
  191. Chapter XXII. The remedies by which we can root out anger from our hearts. 
  192. Book IX. Of the Spirit of Dejection. 
  193. Chapter I. How our fifth combat is against the spirit of dejection, and of the harm which it inflicts upon the soul. 
  194. Chapter II. Of the care with which the malady of dejection must be healed. 
  195. Chapter III. To what the soul may be compared which is a prey to the attacks of dejection. 
  196. Chapter IV. Whence and in what way dejection arises. 
  197. Chapter V. That disturbances are caused in us not by the faults of other people, but by our own. 
  198. Chapter VI. That no one comes to grief by a sudden fall, but is destroyed by falling through a long course of carelessness. 
  199. Chapter VII. That we ought not to give up intercourse with our brethren in order to seek after perfection, but should rather constantly cultivate the virtue of patience. 
  200. Chapter VIII. That if we have improved our character it is possible for us to get on with everybody. 
  201. Chapter IX. Of another sort of dejection which produces despair of salvation. 
  202. Chapter X. Of the only thing in which dejection is useful to us. 
  203. Chapter XI. How we can decide what is useful and the sorrow according to God, and what is devilish and deadly. 
  204. Chapter XII. That except that wholesome sorrow, which springs up in three ways, all sorrow and dejection should be resisted as hurtful. 
  205. Chapter XIII. The means by which we can root out dejection from our hearts. 
  206. Book X. Of the Spirit of Accidie. 
  207. Chapter I. How our sixth combat is against the spirit of accidie, and what its character is. 
  208. Chapter II. A description of accidie, and the way in which it creeps over the heart of a monk, and the injury it inflicts on the soul. 
  209. Chapter III. Of the different ways in which accidie overcomes a monk. 
  210. Chapter IV. How accidie hinders the mind from all contemplation of the virtues. 
  211. Chapter V. How the attack of accidie is twofold. 
  212. Chapter VI. How injurious are the effects of accidie. 
  213. Chapter VII. Testimonies from the Apostle concerning the spirit of accidie. 
  214. Chapter VIII. That he is sure to be restless who will not be content with the work of his own hands. 
  215. Chapter IX. That not the Apostle only, but those two who were with him laboured with their own hands. 
  216. Chapter X. That for this reason the Apostle laboured with his own hands, that he might set us an example of work. 
  217. Chapter XI. That he preached and taught men to work not only by his example, but also by his words. 
  218. Chapter XII. Of his saying: |If any will not work, neither shall he eat.| 
  219. Chapter XIII. Of his saying: |We have heard that some among you walk disorderly.| 
  220. Chapter XIV. How manual labour prevents many faults. 
  221. Chapter XV. How kindness should be shown even to the idle and careless. 
  222. Chapter XVI. How we ought to admonish those who go wrong, not out of hatred, but out of love. 
  223. Chapter XVII. Different passages in which the Apostle declares that we ought to work, or in which it is shown that he himself worked. 
  224. Chapter XVIII. That the Apostle wrought what he thought would be sufficient for him and for others who were with him. 
  225. Chapter XIX. How we should understand these words: |It is more blessed to give than to receive.| 
  226. Chapter XX. Of a lazy brother who tried to persuade others to leave the monastery. 
  227. Chapter XXI. Different passages from the writings of Solomon against accidie. 
  228. Chapter XXII. How the brethren in Egypt work with their hands, not only to supply their own needs, but also to minister to those who are in prison. 
  229. Chapter XXIII. That idleness is the reason why there are not monasteries for monks in the West. 
  230. Chapter XXIV. Abbot Paul who every year burnt with fire all the works of his hands. 
  231. Chapter XXV. The words of Abbot Moses which he said to me about the cure of accidie. 
  232. Book XI. Of the Spirit of Vainglory. 
  233. Chapter I. How our seventh combat is against the spirit of vainglory, and what its nature. 
  234. Chapter II. How vainglory attacks a monk not only on his carnal, but also on his spiritual side. 
  235. Chapter III. How many forms and shapes vainglory takes. 
  236. Chapter IV. How vainglory attacks a monk on the right had and on the left. 
  237. Chapter V. A comparison which shows the nature of vainglory. 
  238. Chapter VI. That vainglory is not altogether got rid of by the advantages of solitude. 
  239. Chapter VII. How vainglory, when it has been overcome, rises again keener than ever for the fight. 
  240. Chapter VIII. How vainglory is not allayed either in the desert or through advancing years. 
  241. Chapter IX. That vainglory is the more dangerous through being mixed up with virtues. 
  242. Chapter X. An instance showing how King Hezekiah was overthrown by the dart of vainglory. 
  243. Chapter XI. The instance of King Uzziah who was overcome by the taint of the same malady. 
  244. Chapter XII. Several testimonies against vainglory. 
  245. Chapter XIII. Of the ways in which vainglory attacks a monk. 
  246. Chapter XIV. How it suggests that a man may seek to take holy orders. 
  247. Chapter XV. How vainglory intoxicates the mind. 
  248. Chapter XVI. Of him whom the superior came upon and found in his cell, deluded by idle vainglory. 
  249. Chapter XVII. How faults cannot be cured unless their roots and causes have been discovered. 
  250. Chapter XVIII. How a monk ought to avoid women and bishops. 
  251. Chapter XIX. Remedies by which we can overcome vainglory. 
  252. Book XII. Of the Spirit of Pride. 
  253. Chapter I. How our eighth combat is against the spirit of pride, and of its character. 
  254. Chapter II. How there are two kinds of pride. 
  255. Chapter III. How pride is equally destructive of all virtues. 
  256. Chapter IV. How by reason of pride Lucifer was turned from an archangel into a devil. 
  257. Chapter V. That incentives to all sins spring from pride. 
  258. Chapter VI. That the sin of pride is last in the actual order of the combat, but first in time and origin. 
  259. Chapter VII. That the evil of pride is so great that it rightly has even God Himself as its adversary. 
  260. Chapter VIII. How God has destroyed the pride of the devil by the virtue of humility, and various passages in proof of this. 
  261. Chapter IX. How we too may overcome pride. 
  262. Chapter X. How no one can obtain perfect virtue and the promised bliss by his own strength alone. 
  263. Chapter XI. The case of the thief and of David, and of our call in order to illustrate the grace of God. 
  264. Chapter XII. That no toil is worthy to be compared with the promised bliss. 
  265. Chapter XIII. The teaching of the elders on the method of acquiring purity. 
  266. Chapter XIV. That the help of God is given to those who labour. 
  267. Chapter XV. From whom we can learn the way of perfection. 
  268. Chapter XVI. That we cannot even make the effort to obtain perfection without the mercy and inspiration of God. 
  269. Chapter XVII. Various passages which clearly show that we cannot do anything which belongs to our salvation without the aid of God. 
  270. Chapter XVIII. How we are protected by the grace of God not only in our natural condition, but also by His daily Providence. 
  271. Chapter XIX. How this faith concerning the grace of God was delivered to us by the ancient Fathers. 
  272. Chapter XX. Of one who for his blasphemy was given over to a most unclean spirit. 
  273. Chapter XXI. The instance of Joash, King of Judah, showing what was the consequence of his pride. 
  274. Chapter XXII. That every proud soul is subject to spiritual wickedness to be deceived by it. 
  275. Chapter XXIII. How perfection can only be attained through the virtue of humility. 
  276. Chapter XXIV. Who are attacked by spiritual and who by carnal pride. 
  277. Chapter XXV. A description of carnal pride, and of the evils which it produces in the soul of a monk. 
  278. Chapter XXVI. That a man whose foundation is bad, sinks daily from bad to worse. 
  279. Chapter XXVII. A description of the faults which spring from the evil of pride. 
  280. Chapter XXVIII. On the pride of a certain brother. 
  281. Chapter XXIX. The signs by which you can recognize the presence of carnal pride in a soul. 
  282. Chapter XXX. How when a man has grown cold through pride he wants to be put to rule other people. 
  283. Chapter XXXI. How we can overcome pride and attain perfection. 
  284. Chapter XXXII. How pride which is so destructive of all virtues can itself be destroyed by true humility. 
  285. Chapter XXXIII. Remedies against the evil of pride. 
  286. The Conferences of John Cassian.
  287. Preface.
  288. Chapter I. Of our stay in Scete
  289. Chapter II. Of the question of Abbot Moses, who asked what was the goal and what the end of the monk. 
  290. Chapter III. Of our reply. 
  291. Chapter IV. Of Abbot Moses' question on the aforesaid statement. 
  292. Chapter V. A comparison with a man who is trying to hit a mark. 
  293. Chapter VI. Of those who in renouncing the world, aim at perfection without love. 
  294. Chapter VII. How peace of mind should be sought. 
  295. Chapter VIII. Of the main effort towards the contemplation of things and an illustration from the case of Martha and Mary. 
  296. Chapter IX. A question how it is that the practice of virtue cannot remain with a man. 
  297. Chapter X. The answer that not the reward, but the doing of them will come to an end. 
  298. Chapter XI. On the abiding character of love. 
  299. Chapter XII. A question on perseverance in spiritual contemplation. 
  300. Chapter XIII. The answer concerning the direction of the heart towards and concerning the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil. 
  301. Chapter XIV. Of the continuance of the soul. 
  302. Chapter XV. How we must meditate on God. 
  303. Chapter XVI. A question on the changing character of the thoughts. 
  304. Chapter XVII. The answer what the mind can and what it cannot do with regard to the state of its thoughts. 
  305. Chapter XVIII. Comparison of a soul and a millstone. 
  306. Chapter XIX. Of the three origins of our thoughts. 
  307. Chapter XX. About discerning the thoughts, with an illustration from a good money-changer. 
  308. Chapter XXI. Of the illusion of Abbot John. 
  309. Chapter XXII. Of the fourfold method of discrimination. 
  310. Chapter XXIII. Of the discourse of the teacher in regard to the merits of his hearers. 
  311. Chapter I. Abbot Moses' introduction on the grace of discretion. And so when we had enjoyed our morning sleep
  312. Chapter II. What discretion alone can give a monk; and a discourse of the blessed Antony on this subject. 
  313. Chapter III. Of the error of Saul and of Ahab, by which they were deceived through lack of discretion. 
  314. Chapter IV. What is said of the value of discretion in Holy Scripture. 
  315. Chapter V. Of the death of the old man Heron. 
  316. Chapter VI. Of the destruction of two brethren for lack of discretion. 
  317. Chapter VII. Of an illusion into which another fell for lack of discretion. 
  318. Chapter VIII. Of the fall and deception of a monk of Mesopotamia. 
  319. Chapter IX. A question about the acquirement of true discretion. 
  320. Chapter X. The answer how true discretion may be gained. 
  321. Chapter XI. The words of Abbot Serapion on the decline of thoughts that are exposed to others, and also on the danger of self-confidence. 
  322. Chapter XII. A confession of the modesty which made us ashamed to reveal our thoughts to the elders. 
  323. Chapter XIII. The answer concerning the trampling down of shame, and the danger of one without contrition. 
  324. Chapter XIV. Of the call of Samuel. 
  325. Chapter XV. Of the call of the Apostle Paul. 
  326. Chapter XVI. How to seek for discretion. 
  327. Chapter XVII. On excessive fasts and vigils. 
  328. Chapter XVIII. A question on the right measure of abstinence and refreshment. 
  329. Chapter XIX. Of the best plan for our daily food. 
  330. Chapter XX. An objection on the ease of that abstinence in which a man is sustained by two biscuits. 
  331. Chapter XXI. The answer concerning the value and measure of well-proved abstinence. 
  332. Chapter XXII. What is the usual limit both of abstinence and of partaking food. 
  333. Chapter XXIII. Quemadmodum abundantia umorum genitalium castigetur. 
  334. Chapter XXIV. Of the difficulty of uniformity in eating; and of the gluttony of brother Benjamin. 
  335. Chapter XXV. A question how is it possible always to observe one and the same measure. 
  336. Chapter XXVI. The answer how we should not exceed the proper measure of food. 
  337. III. Conference of Abbot Paphnutius.
  338. Chapter I. Of the life and conduct of Abbot Paphnutius. 
  339. Chapter II. Of the discourse of the same old man, and our reply to it. 
  340. Chapter III. The statement of Abbot Paphnutius on the three kinds of vocations, and the three sorts of renunciations. 
  341. Chapter IV. An explanation of the three callings. 
  342. Chapter V. How the first of these calls is of no use to a sluggard, and the last is no hindrance to one who is in earnest. 
  343. Chapter VI. An account of the three sorts of renunciations. 
  344. Chapter VII. How we can attain perfection in each of these sorts of renunciations. 
  345. Chapter VIII. Of our very own possessions in which the beauty of the soul is seen or its foulness. 
  346. Chapter IX. Of three sorts of possessions. 
  347. Chapter X. That none can become perfect merely through the first grade of renunciation. 
  348. Chapter XI. A question on the free will of man and the grace of God. 
  349. Chapter XII. The answer on the economy of Divine Grace, with free will still remaining in us. 
  350. Chapter XIII. That the ordering of our way comes from God. 
  351. Chapter XIV. That knowledge of the law is given by the guidance and illumination of the Lord. 
  352. Chapter XV. That the understanding, by means of which we can recognize God's commands, and the performance of a good will are both gifts from the Lord. 
  353. Chapter XVI. That faith itself must be given us by the Lord. 
  354. Chapter XVII. That temperateness and the endurance of temptations must be given to us by the Lord. 
  355. Chapter XVIII. That the continual fear of God must be bestowed on us by the Lord. 
  356. Chapter XIX. That the beginning of our good will and its completion comes from God. 
  357. Chapter XX. That nothing can be done in this world without God. 
  358. Chapter XXI. An objection on the power of free will. 
  359. Chapter XXII. The answer; viz., that our free will always has need of the help of the Lord. 
  360. IV. Conference of Abbot Daniel.
  361. Chapter I. Of the life of Abbot Daniel. 
  362. Chapter II. An investigation of the origin of a sudden change of feeling from inexpressible joy to extreme dejection of mind. 
  363. Chapter III. His answer to the question raised. 
  364. Chapter IV. How there is a twofold reason for the permission and allowance of God. 
  365. Chapter V. How our efforts and exertions are of no use without God's help. 
  366. Chapter VI. How it is sometimes to our advantage to be left by God. 
  367. Chapter VII. Of the value of the conflict which the Apostle makes to consist in the strife between the flesh and the spirit. 
  368. Chapter VIII. A question, how it is that in the Apostle's chapter, after he has spoken of the lusts of the flesh and spirit opposing one another, he adds a third thing; viz., man's will. 
  369. Chapter IX. The answer on the understanding of one who asks rightly. 
  370. Chapter X. That the word flesh is not used with one single meaning only. 
  371. Chapter XI. What the Apostle means by flesh in this passage, and what the lust of the flesh is. 
  372. Chapter XII. What is our free will, which stands in between the lust of the flesh and the spirit. 
  373. Chapter XIII. Of the advantage of the delay which results from the struggle between flesh and spirit. 
  374. Chapter XIV. Of the incurable depravity of spiritual wickednesses. 
  375. Chapter XV. Of the value of the lust of the flesh against the spirit in our case. 
  376. Chapter XVI. Of the excitements of the flesh, without the humiliation of which we should fall more grievously. 
  377. Chapter XVII. Of the lukewarmness of eunuchs. 
  378. Chapter XVIII. The question what is the difference between the carnal and natural man. 
  379. Chapter XIX. The answer concerning the threefold condition of souls. 
  380. Chapter XX. Of those who renounce the world but ill. 
  381. Chapter XXI. Of those who having made light of great things busy themselves about trifles. 
  382. V. Conference of Abbot Serapion.
  383. Chapter I. Our arrival at Abbot Serapion's cell, and inquiry on the different kinds of faults and the way to overcome them. 
  384. Chapter II. Abbot Serapion's enumeration of eight principal faults. 
  385. Chapter III. Of the two classes of faults and their fourfold manner of acting on us. 
  386. Chapter IV. A review of the passions of gluttony and fornication and their remedies. 
  387. Chapter V. How our Lord alone was tempted without sin. 
  388. Chapter VI. Of the manner of the temptation in which our Lord was attacked by the devil. 
  389. Chapter VII. How vainglory and pride can be consummated without any assistance from the body. 
  390. Chapter VIII. Of covetousness, which is something outside our nature, and of the difference between it and those faults which are natural to us. 
  391. Chapter IX. How dejection and accidie generally arise without any external provocation, as in the case of other faults. 
  392. Chapter X. How six of these faults are related, and the two which differ from them are akin to one another. 
  393. Chapter XI. Of the origin and character of each of these faults. 
  394. Chapter XII. How vainglory may be useful to us. 
  395. Chapter XIII. Of the different ways in which all these faults assault us. 
  396. Chapter XIV. Of the struggle into which we must enter against our faults, when they attack us. 
  397. Chapter XV. How we can do nothing against our faults without the help of God, and how we should not be puffed up by victories over them. 
  398. Chapter XVI. Of the meaning of the seven nations of whose lands Israel took possession, and the reason why they are sometimes spoken of as |seven,| and sometimes as |many.| 
  399. Chapter XVII. A question with regard to the comparison of seven nations with eight faults. 
  400. Chapter XVIII. Serapion: Everybody is perfectly agreed that there are eight principal faults which affect a monk. And all of them are not included in the figure of the nations for this reason...
  401. Chapter XIX. The reason why one nation is to be forsaken, while seven are commanded to be destroyed. 
  402. Chapter XX. Of the nature of gluttony, which may be illustrated by the simile of the eagle. 
  403. Chapter XXI. Of the lasting character of gluttony as described to some philosophers. 
  404. Chapter XXII. How it was that God foretold to Abraham that Israel would have to drive out ten nations. 
  405. Chapter XXIII. How it is useful for us to take possession of their lands. 
  406. Chapter XXIV. How the lands from which the Canaanites were expelled, had been assigned to the seed of Shem. 
  407. Chapter XXV. Different passages of Scripture on the meaning of the eight faults. 
  408. Chapter XXVI. How when we have got the better of the passion of gluttony we must take pains to gain all the other virtues. 
  409. Chapter XXVII. That our battles are not fought with our faults in the same order as that in which they stand in the list. 
  410. VI. Conference of Abbot Theodore. 
  411. Chapter I. Description of the wilderness, and the question about the death of the saints. 
  412. Chapter II. Abbot Theodore's answer to the question proposed to him. 
  413. Chapter III. Of the three kinds of things there are in the world; viz., good, bad, and indifferent. 
  414. Chapter IV. How evil cannot be forced on any one by another against his will. 
  415. Chapter V. An objection, how God Himself can be said to create evil. 
  416. Chapter VI. The answer to the question proposed. 
  417. Chapter VII. A question whether the man who causes the death of a good man is guilty, if the good man is the gainer by his death. 
  418. Chapter VIII. The answer to the foregoing question. 
  419. Chapter IX. The case of Job who was tempted by the devil and of the Lord who was betrayed by Judas: and how prosperity as well as adversity is advantageous to a good man. 
  420. Chapter X. Of the excellence of the perfect man who is figuratively spoken of as ambidextrous. 
  421. Chapter XI. Of the two kinds of trials, which come upon us in a three-fold way. 
  422. Chapter XII. How the upright man ought to be like a stamp not of wax but of hard steel. 
  423. Chapter XIII. A question whether the mind can constantly continue in one and the same condition. 
  424. Chapter XIV. The answer to the point raised by the questioner. 
  425. Chapter XV. How one loses by going away from one's cell. 
  426. Chapter XVI. How even celestial powers above are capable of change. 
  427. Chapter XVII. That no one is dashed to the ground by a sudden fall. 
  428. VII. First Conference of Abbot Serenus.
  429. Chapter I. On the chastity of Abbot Serenus. 
  430. Chapter II. The question of the aforesaid old man on the state of our thoughts. 
  431. Chapter III. Our answer on the fickle character of our thoughts. 
  432. Chapter IV. The discourse of the old man on the state of the soul and its excellence. 
  433. Chapter V. On the perfection of the soul, as drawn from the comparison of the Centurion in the gospel. 
  434. Chapter VI. Of perseverance as regards care of the thoughts. 
  435. Chapter VII. A question on the roving tendency of the mind and the attacks of spiritual wickedness. 
  436. Chapter VIII. The answer on the help of God and the power of free will. 
  437. Chapter IX. A question on the union of the soul with devils. 
  438. Chapter X. The answer how unclean spirits are united with human souls. 
  439. Chapter XI. An objection whether unclean spirits can be present in or united with the souls of those whom they have filled. 
  440. Chapter XII. The answer how it is that unclean spirits can lord it over those possessed. 
  441. Chapter XIII. How spirit cannot be penetrated by spirit, and how God alone is incorporeal. 
  442. Chapter XIV. An objection, as to how we ought to believe that devils see into the thoughts of men. 
  443. Chapter XV. The answer what devils can and what they cannot do in regard to the thoughts of men. 
  444. Chapter XVI. An illustration showing how we are taught that unclean spirits know the thoughts of men. 
  445. Chapter XVII. On the fact that not every devil has the power of suggesting every passion to men. 
  446. Chapter XVIII. A question whether among the devils there is any order observed in the attack, or system in its changes. 
  447. Chapter XIX. The answer how far an agreement exists among devils about the attack and its changes. 
  448. Chapter XX. Of the fact that opposite powers are not of the same boldness, and that the occasions of temptation are not under their control. 
  449. Chapter XXI. Of the fact that devils struggle with men not without effort on their part. 
  450. Chapter XXII. On the fact that the power to hurt does not depend upon the will of the devils. 
  451. Chapter XXIII. Of the diminished power of the devils. 
  452. Chapter XXIV. Of the way in which the devils prepare for themselves an entrance into the bodies of those whom they are going to possess. 
  453. Chapter XXV. On the fact that those men are more wretched who are possessed by sins than those who are possessed by devils. 
  454. Chapter XXVI. Of the death of the prophet who was led astray, and of the infirmity of the Abbot Paul, with which he was visited for the sake of his cleansing. 
  455. Chapter XXVII. On the temptation of Abbot Moses. 
  456. Chapter XXVIII. How we ought not to despise those who are delivered up to unclean spirits. 
  457. Chapter XXIX. An objection, asking why those who are tormented by unclean spirits are separated from the Lord's communion. 
  458. Chapter XXX. The answer to the question raised. 
  459. Chapter XXXI. On the fact that those men are more to be pitied to whom it is not given to be subjected to those temporal temptations. 
  460. Chapter XXXII. Of the different desires and wishes which exist in the powers of the air. 
  461. Chapter XXXIII. A question as to the origin of such differences in powers of evil in the sky. 
  462. Chapter XXXIV. The postponement of the answer to the question raised. 
  463. VIII. The Second Conference of Abbot Serenus.
  464. Chapter I. Of the hospitality of Abbot Serenus. 
  465. Chapter II. Statements on the different kinds of spiritual wickednesses. 
  466. Chapter III. The answer on the many kinds of food provided in holy Scripture. 
  467. Chapter IV. Of the double sense in which Holy Scripture may be taken. 
  468. Chapter V. Of the fact that the question suggested ought to be included among those things to be held in a neutral or doubtful way. 
  469. Chapter VI. Of the fact that nothing is created evil by God. 
  470. Chapter VII. Of the origin of principalities or powers. 
  471. Chapter VIII. Of the fall of the devil and the angels. 
  472. Chapter IX. An objection stating that the fall of the devil took its origin from the deception of God. 
  473. Chapter X. The answer about the beginning of the devil's fall. 
  474. Chapter XI. The punishment of the deceiver and the deceived. 
  475. Chapter XII. Of the crowd of the devils, and the disturbance which they always raise in our atmosphere. 
  476. Chapter XIII. Of the fact that opposing powers turn the attack, which they aim at men, even against each other. 
  477. Chapter XIV. How it is that spiritual wickednesses obtained the names of powers or principalities. 
  478. Chapter XV. Of the fact that it is not without reason that the names of angels and archangels are given to holy and heavenly powers. 
  479. Chapter XVI. Of the subjection of the devils, which they show to their own princes, as seen in a brother's victim. 
  480. Chapter XVII. Of the fact that two angels always cling to every man. 
  481. Chapter XVIII. Of the degrees of wickedness which exist in hostile spirits, as shown in the case of two philosophers. 
  482. Chapter XIX. Of the fact that devils cannot prevail at all against men unless they have first secured possession of their minds. 
  483. Chapter XX. A question about the fallen angels who are said in Genesis to have had intercourse with the daughters of men. 
  484. Chapter XXI. The answer to the question raised. 
  485. Chapter XXII. An objection, as to how an unlawful intermingling with the daughters of Cain could be charged against the line of Seth before the prohibition of the law. 
  486. Chapter XXIII. The answer, that by the law of nature men were from the beginning liable to judgment and punishment. 
  487. Chapter XXIV. Of the fact that they were justly punished, who sinned before the flood. 
  488. Chapter XXV. How this that is said of the devil in the gospel is to be understood; viz., that |he is a liar, and his father.| 
  489. IX. The First Conference of Abbot Isaac.
  490. Chapter I. Introduction to the Conference. 
  491. Chapter II. The words of Abbot Isaac on the nature of prayer. 
  492. Chapter III. How pure and sincere prayer can be gained. 
  493. Chapter IV. Of the lightness of the soul which may be compared to a wing or feather. 
  494. Chapter V. Of the ways in which our soul is weighed down. 
  495. Chapter VI. Of the vision which a certain Elder saw concerning the restless work of a brother. 
  496. Chapter VII. A question how it is that it is harder work to preserve than to originate good thoughts. 
  497. Chapter VIII. Of the different characters of prayer. 
  498. Chapter IX. Of the fourfold nature of prayer. 
  499. Chapter X. Of the order of the different kinds laid down with regard to the character of prayer. 
  500. Chapter XI. Of Supplications. 
  501. Chapter XII. Of Prayer. 
  502. Chapter XIII. Of Intercession. 
  503. Chapter XIV. Of Thanksgiving. 
  504. Chapter XV. Whether these four kinds of prayers are necessary for everyone to offer all at once or separately and in turns. 
  505. Chapter XVI. Of the kinds of prayer to which we ought to direct ourselves. 
  506. Chapter XVII. How the four kinds of supplication were originated by the Lord. 
  507. Chapter XVIII. Of the Lord's Prayer. 
  508. Chapter XIX. Of the clause |Thy kingdom come.| 
  509. Chapter XX. Of the clause |Thy will be done.| 
  510. Chapter XXI. Of our supersubstantial or daily bread. 
  511. Chapter XXII. Of the clause: |Forgive us our debts, etc.| 
  512. Chapter XXIII. Of the clause: |Lead us not into temptation.| 
  513. Chapter XXIV. How we ought not to ask for other things, except only those which are contained in the limits of the Lord's Prayer. 
  514. Chapter XXV. Of the character of the sublimer prayer. 
  515. Chapter XXVI. Of the different causes of conviction. 
  516. Chapter XXVII. Of the different sorts of conviction. 
  517. Chapter XXVIII. A question about the fact that a plentiful supply of tears is not in our own power. 
  518. Chapter XXIX. The answer on the varieties of conviction which spring from tears. 
  519. Chapter XXX. How tears ought not to be squeezed out, when they do not flow spontaneously. 
  520. Chapter XXXI. The opinion of Abbot Antony on the condition of prayer. 
  521. Chapter XXXII. Of the proof of prayer being heard. 
  522. Chapter XXXIII. An objection that the confidence of being thus heard as described belongs only to saints. 
  523. Chapter XXXIV. Answer on the different reasons for prayer being heard. 
  524. Chapter XXXV. Of prayer to be offered within the chamber and with the door shut. 
  525. Chapter XXXVI. Of the value of short and silent prayer. 
  526. X. The Second Conference of Abbot Isaac.
  527. Chapter I. Introduction. 
  528. Chapter II. Of the custom which is kept up in the Province of Egypt for signifying the time of Easter. 
  529. Chapter III. Of Abbot Sarapion and the heresy of the Anthropomorphites into which he fell in the error of simplicity. 
  530. Chapter IV. Of our return to Abbot Isaac and question concerning the error into which the aforesaid old man had fallen. 
  531. Chapter V. The answer on the heresy described above. 
  532. Chapter VI. Of the reasons why Jesus Christ appears to each one of us either in His humility or in His glorified condition. 
  533. Chapter VII. What constitutes our end and perfect bliss. 
  534. Chapter VIII. A question on the training in perfection by which we can arrive at perpetual recollection of God. 
  535. Chapter IX. The answer on the efficacy of understanding, which is gained by experience. 
  536. Chapter X. Of the method of continual prayer. 
  537. Chapter XI. Of the perfection of prayer to which we can rise by the system described. 
  538. Chapter XII. A question as to how spiritual thoughts can be retained without losing them. 
  539. Chapter XIII. On the lightness of thoughts. 
  540. Chapter XIV. The answer how we can gain stability of heart or of thoughts. 

========================================================================
  CHAPTER 0: THE WORKS OF JOHN CASSIAN 
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========================================================================
  CHAPTER 1: THE WORKS OF JOHN CASSIAN.
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Translated, with prolegomena, prefaces, and notes, by Rev. Edgar C. S. Gibson,
M.A., Principal of the Theological College, Wells, Somerset.


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  CHAPTER 2: CHAPTER I. THE LIFE OF CASSIAN.
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"Cassianus natione Scytha" is the description given by Gennadius [530] of the
writer whose works are now for the first time translated into English. In spite,
however, of the precision of this statement, considerable doubt hangs over
Cassian's nationality, and it is hard to believe that he was in reality a
Scythian. Not only is his language and style free from all trace of barbarism,
but as a boy he certainly received a liberal education; for in his Conferences
he laments that the exertions of his tutor and his own attention to continual
study had so weakened him that his mind was so filled with songs of the poets
that even at the hour of prayer it was thinking of those trifling fables and
stories of battles with which it had from earliest infancy been stored; "and,"
he adds, "when singing Psalms or asking forgiveness of sins, some wanton
recollection of the poems intrudes itself or the image of heroes fighting
presents itself before the eyes; and an imagination of such phantoms is always
haunting me." [531] Further evidence of the character of his education is also
supplied by the fact that in his work on the Incarnation against Nestorius he
manifests an acquaintance not only with the works of earlier Christian Fathers,
but also with those of such writers as Cicero and Persius. [532]These
considerations are sufficient to make us hesitate before accepting the statement
of Gennadius in what would at first sight be its natural meaning; although from
the fact of his connection with Marseilles, where so much of Cassian's life was
spent, as well as the early date at which he wrote (a.d.495), it is dangerous to
reject his authority altogether. It is, however, possible that the term "Scytha"
is not really intended to denote a Scythian, but to refer to the desert of
Scete, or Scitis, [533] in Egypt, where Cassian passed many years of his life,
and with which his fame was closely associated; and, therefore, without going to
the length of rejecting the authority of Gennadius altogether, we are free to
look for some other country as the birthplace of our author. But little light is
thrown on this subject by the statements of other writers. Photius [534]
(a.d.800) calls him Romaios, which need mean no more than born within the Roman
Empire; while Honorius of Autun (a.d.1130) speaks of him as Afer. The
last-mentioned writer is, however, of too late a date to be of any authority;
and it is just possible that the term "Afer," like the "Scytha" of Gennadius,
may be owing to his lengthy residence in Egypt. [535] In the writings of Cassian
himself there is nothing to enable us to identify the country of his birth with
certainty; but, in describing the situation of his ancestral home, he speaks of
the delightful pleasantness of the neighbourhood, and the recesses of the woods,
which would not only delight the heart of a monk but would also furnish him with
a plentiful supply of food; [536] while in a later passage he says that in his
own country it was impossible to find any one who had adopted the monastic life.
[537] From these notices, compared with a passage in the Preface to the
Institutes, where the diocese of Apta Julia in Gallia Narbonensis is spoken of
as still without monasteries, some ground is given for the conjecture that
Cassian was really a native of Gaul, whither he returned in mature age after his
wanderings were ended, and where most of his friends of whom we have any
knowledge were settled. On the whole, then, it appears to the present writer to
be the most probable view that Cassian was of Western origin, and, perhaps, a
native of Provence, although it must be freely acknowledged that it is
impossible to speak with certainty on this subject. [538]Once more: not only is
there this doubt about his nationality, but questions have also been raised
concerning his original name. Gennadius and Cassiodorus [539] speak of him
simply as Cassianus. In his own writings he represents himself as addressed by
the monks in Egypt more than once by the name of John. [540] Prosper of
Aquitaine (his contemporary and antagonist) combines both names, and speaks of
him as "Joannes cognomento Cassianus." [541] In the titles of the majority of
the mss. of his own writing he is merely "Cassianus," though in one case the
work is entitled "Beatissimi Joannis qui et Cassiani." [542] Are we, then, with
the writer of the last-mentioned ms., to suppose that the names John and Cassian
are alternatives; or, with Prosper, that John was his nomen and Cassianus his
cognomen, or, more strictly, agnomen? The former view is, perhaps, the more
probable, as he may well have taken the name of John at his baptism or at his
admission to the monastic life. The theory which has sometimes been advocated --
that he received it at his ordination by S. John Chrysostom -- falls to the
ground when we notice that he represents himself as called John during his
residence in Egypt, several years before his ordination and intercourse with S.
Chrysostom.To pass now from the question of his name and nationality to the
narrative of Cassian's life. Various considerations point to the date of his
birth as about the year 360. Of his family we know nothing, except that in one
passage of his writings he incidentally makes mention of a sister; [543] while
the language which he uses of his parents would imply that they were well-to-do
and pious. [544] As we have already seen, he received a liberal education as a
boy, but while still young forsook the world, and was received, together with
his friend Germanus, into a monastery at Bethlehem, [545] where he spent several
years and became thoroughly familiar with the customs and traditions of the
monasteries of Syria. Eager, however, to make further progress in the perfect
life, the two friends finally determined to visit Egypt, [546] where, as it was
the country in which the monastic life originated, the most famous monasteries
existed, and the most illustrious Anchorites were to be found. Permission to
undertake the journey was sought and obtained from their superiors, a pledge
being required of a speedy return when the object of their visit was gained.
[547] Sailing from some port of Syria, perhaps Joppa, the friends arrived at
Thennesus, a town at the mouth of the Tanitic branch of the Nile, near Lake
Menzaleh. Here they fell in with a celebrated Anchorite named Archebius, bishop
of the neighbouring town of Panephysis, who had come to Thennesus on business
connected with the election of a bishop. He, on hearing the object of their
visit to Egypt, at once offered them an introduction to some celebrated
Anchorites in his own neighbourhood. The offer was gladly accepted, and under
his guidance they made their way through a dreary district of salt marshes, many
of the villages being in ruins and deserted by their inhabitants owing to the
floods which had inundated the country and turned the rising grounds into
islands, "and thus afforded the desired solitudes to the holy Anchorites, among
whom three old men -- Chæremon, Nesteros, and Joseph -- were famed as the
Anchorites of the longest standing." [548] Archebius brought them first to
Chæremon, who had already passed his hundredth year, and was so far bent with
age and constant prayer that he could no longer walk upright, but crawled upon
his hands and knees. The saint's hesitation at allowing himself to be thus
interviewed by strangers was soon overcome, and he finally gratified their
curiosity by delivering three discourses, on the subjects of Perfection,
Chastity, and the Protection of God. [549] From the cell of Chæremon Cassian and
his companion proceeded to that of Abbot Nesteros, who honoured them with two
discourses, on Spiritual Knowledge, and Divine Gifts; [550] and from him they
repaired to Joseph, who belonged to a noble family, and before his renunciation
of the world had been "primarius" of his native city, Thmuis. He was naturally
better educated than the others, and was able to converse with them in Greek
instead of being obliged to have recourse to the help of an interpreter, as had
been the case with Chæremon and Nesteros. [551] His first question referred to
the relationship between Cassian and Germanus: were they brothers? And their
reply -- that the brotherhood was spiritual and not carnal -- furnished the old
man with a text for his first discourse, which was on Friendship, and which was
followed up on the next day by one on the Obligation of Promises, [552] called
forth by the perplexity in which the travellers found themselves owing to their
promise to return to Bethlehem, -- a promise which they were loth to break, and
which yet they could not fulfil without losing a grand opportunity of making
progress in the spiritual life. In their difficulty they consulted Joseph; and,
fortified by his authority and advice, they determined to break the letter of
their promise and make a longer stay in Egypt, where they accordingly remained
for seven years in spite of their brethren at Bethlehem, whose displeasure at
their conduct, Cassian tells us, was not removed by their frequent letters home.
[553] It was while Cassian and his fellow-traveller were still in the
neighbourhood of Panephysis that these energetic precursors of the modern
"interviewers" paid a visit to Abbot Pinufius, a priest who presided over a
large monastery. This man was an old friend of theirs, whose acquaintance they
had previously made at Bethlehem, whither (after an ineffectual attempt to
conceal himself in a monastery in the island of Tabenna) he had fled in order to
escape the responsibilities of his office. There he had been received as a
novice, and had been assigned by the abbot as an inmate of Cassian's cell, until
he was recognized by a visitor from Egypt and brought back in triumph to his own
monastery. [554] To him, therefore, Cassian and Germanus made their way; and by
him they were warmly welcomed; the old man repaying their former hospitality by
giving them quarters in his own cell. While staying in this monastery they were
so fortunate as to be present at the admission of a novice, and heard the charge
which Pinufius made to the new-comer on the occasion; [555] and afterwards the
abbot favoured them with a discourse "on the end of penitence and the marks of
satisfaction." [556] After this, resisting his pressing invitation to remain
with him in the monastery, they proceeded once more on their travels, and,
crossing the river, came to Diolcos, a town hard by the Sebennytic mouth of the
Nile. Here was a barren tract of land between the river and the sea, rendered
unfit for cultivation by the saltness of the soil and the dryness of the sand.
It was, therefore, eagerly seized upon by the monks, who congregated here in
great numbers in spite of the absence of water; the river from which it had to
be fetched being some three miles distant. [557] In this neighbourhood they made
the acquaintance of Abbot Piamun, a most celebrated Anchorite, who explained to
them with great care the characteristics of the three kinds of monks; viz., the
Coenobites, the Anchorites, and the Sarabaites. [558] This discourse had the
effect of exciting their desire more keenly than ever for the Anchorites' life
in preference to that of the Coenobite, -- a desire which was afterwards
confirmed by what they saw and heard in the desert of Scete. They next visited a
large monastery in the same neighbourhood, which was governed by the Abbot Paul,
and which ordinarily accommodated two hundred monks, but was at that moment
filled with a much larger number, who had come from the surrounding monasteries
to celebrate the "depositio" of the late abbot. [559] Here they met a certain
Abbot John, whose humility had led him to give up the life of an Anchorite for
that of a Coenobite, in order that he might have the opportunity of practising
the virtues of obedience and subjection, which seemed out of the reach of the
solitary. He was accordingly well qualified to speak of the subject which he
selected for his discourse; viz., the aims of the Anchorite and Coenobite life.
[560] Another well-known abbot, whose acquaintance they now made, was Theonas,
who, when quite a young man, had been married by his parents, and later on, on
failing to obtain the consent of his wife to a separation, in order that they
might devote themselves to the monastic life, had deserted her and fled away
into a monastery, where after a time he had been promoted to the office of
almoner. From him they heard a discourse on the relaxation of the fast during
Eastertide and Pentecost, [561] and, later on, one concerning Nocturnal
Illusions, [562] and another on Sinlessness. [563] By these various discourses
the two friends were rendered more desirous than ever of adopting the Anchorite
life, and less inclined than before to return to the subjection of the monastery
at Bethlehem. A far better course seemed to them to return to their own home,
probably (as we have seen) in Gaul, where they would be free to practice what
austerities they pleased without let or hindrance. [564] In their perplexity
they consulted Abbot Abraham, who threw cold water on their plan in a discourse
on Mortification, [565] which was entirely successful in persuading them to
relinquish their half-formed intention. They, therefore, remained in Egypt for
some years longer; and it is to the time of their stay in the neighbourhood of
Diolcos that their acquaintance with Abbot Archebius must be assigned. This man,
so Cassian tells us, [566] having discovered their desire to make some stay in
the place, offered them the use of his cell, pretending that he was about to go
off on a journey. They gladly accepted his offer. He went away for a few days,
collected materials, and then returned and proceeded to build a new cell for
himself. Shortly afterwards some more brethren came. He at once gave up to them
his newly built cell, and once more set to work to build another for himself.It
is difficult to determine whether a stay in the desert of Scete was comprised in
the seven years which the two friends now spent in Egypt, or whether they
visited it for the first time during their second tour, after their return from
Bethlehem. On the one hand, the language used in Conference XVIII. cc. i. and
xvi. would almost suggest that they made their way into this remote district
during their first sojourn in Egypt; and, on the other hand, that employed in
Conference I. c. i. might imply a distinct journey to Egypt for the sake of
visiting this region: and in XVII. xxx. Cassian distinctly asserts that they did
visit Scete after their return to Bethlehem in fulfilment of their promise. On
the whole, it appears the more natural view to suppose that their first tour was
not extended beyond the Delta, more distant expeditions being reserved for a
future occasion. Adopting, then, this view, we follow the travellers, after a
seven years' absence, back to the monastery at Bethlehem, where they managed to
pacify the irate brethren, and, strange to say, obtained leave to return to
Egypt a second time. [567] On this occasion they penetrated farther into the
country than they had previously done. The region which they now visited was the
desert of Scete, or Scitis; that is, the southern part of the famous Nitrian
Valley, a name which is well known to all students from the rich treasure of
Syrian mss. brought home from thence by the Hon. Robert Curzon and Archdeacon
Tattam now more than forty years ago. The district lies "to the northwest of
Cairo, three days' journey in the Libyan desert," [568] and gains its name of
Nitria from the salt lakes which still furnish abundance of nitre, which has
been worked for fully two thousand years. The valley has some claims to be
considered the original home of monasticism. Some have thought that a colony of
Therapeutæ was settled here in the earliest days; and hither S. Frontonius is
said to have retired with seventy brethren, to lead the life of ascetics, about
the middle of the second century. [569] Less doubtful is the fact that S. Ammon,
a contemporary and friend of S. Antony, organized the monastic system here in
the fourth century, and "filled the same place in lower Egypt as Antony in the
Thebaid." [570] Towards the close of the fourth century the valley was crowded
with cells and monasteries. Rufinus, who visited it about 372, mentions fifty
monasteries; [571] and the same number is given by Sozomen, who says that "some
were inhabited by monks who live together in society, others by monks who have
adopted a solitary mode of existence." [572] About twenty years later Palladius
passed a considerable time here, and reckons the total number of monks and
ascetics at five thousand. [573] They were also visited by S. Jerome about the
same time, and various details of the life of the monks are given by him in his
Epistles. [574] Some few monks still linger on to the present day to keep up the
traditions of nearly eighteen centuries. They were visited (among others) by the
Hon. Robert Curzon in 1833; and an interesting account of them is given by him
in his volume on "the monasteries of the Levant:" [575] but the latest and best
account of them is that given by Mr. A. J. Butler, who succeeded in gaining
permission to visit them in 1883, and has described his journey in his excellent
work on "the ancient Coptic Churches of Egypt." [576] Four monasteries alone
remain; known as Dair Abu Makâr, Dair Anba Bishôi, Dair es Sûrianî, and Dair al
Baramûs; but the ruins of many others may still be traced in the desert tracts
on the west side of the Natron lakes, and the valley of the waterless river
which at some very remote period is supposed to have formed the bed of one of
the branches of the Nile." [577] The monasteries are all built on the same
general plan, so that, as Mr. Butler tells us, a description of one will more or
less accurately describe the others. Dair Abu Makâr (the monastery of S.
Macarius), the first which he visited, which lies strictly within the desert of
Scete, is spoken of as "a veritable fortress, standing about one-hundred and
fifty yards square, with blind, lofty walls rising sheer out of the sand." "Each
monastery has also, either detached or not, a large keep, or tower, standing
four-square, and approached only by a draw-bridge. The tower contains the
library, store-rooms for the vestments and sacred vessels, cellars for oil and
corn, and many strange holes and hiding-places of the monks in the last resort,
if their citadel should be taken by the enemy. Within the monastery is enclosed
one principal and one or two smaller court-yards, around which stand the cells
of the monks, domestic buildings, such as the mill-room, the oven, the
refectory, and the like, and the churches." [578] The outward aspect can have
changed but little since the fourth century. The buildings are perhaps stronger
and more adapted to resist hostile attacks, but the general plan is probably
identical with that adopted in the earliest monasteries erected in this remote
region. Such, then, was the district to which Cassian and Germanus now made
their way. Here they first sought and obtained an interview with Abbot Moses,
who had formerly dwelt in the Thebaid near S. Antony, and was now living at a
spot in the desert of Scete known as Calamus, [579] and was famous not only for
practical goodness but also for contemplative excellence. After much persuasion
he yielded to their entreaties and discoursed to them "on the goal or aim of a
monk," [580] and, on the following day, on Discretion. [581] They next visited
Abbot Paphnutius, or "the Buffalo," as he was named, from his love of solitude.
He was an aged priest who had lived for years the life of an Anchorite, only
leaving his cell for the purpose of going to the church, which was five miles
off, on Saturday and Sunday, and returning with a large bucket of water on his
shoulders to last him for the week. From him they heard of the "three kinds of
renunciation" necessary for a monk. [582] They also visited his disciple Daniel,
who had been ordained priest through the instrumentality of Paphnutius, but was
so humble that he would never perform priestly functions in the presence of his
master. The subject of his discourse in answer to the inquiry of the two friends
was "the lust of the flesh and the spirit." [583] The next ascetic interviewed
was Serapion, who spoke of the "eight principal faults" to which a monk was
exposed; viz., gluttony, fornication, covetousness, anger, dejection, "accidie,"
vain glory, and pride. [584] After this they proceeded on a journey of some
eighty miles to Cellæ, a place that lay between the desert of Scete (properly so
called) and the Nitrian Valley, in order to consult Abbot Theodore on a
difficulty which the recent massacre of a number of monks in Palestine by the
Saracens had brought forcibly before them; viz., why was it that men of such
illustrious merits and so great virtues should be slain by robbers, and why
should God permit so great a crime to be committed? The difficulty was solved by
Abbot Theodore in a discourse on "the death of the saints;" [585] and thus the
journey was not taken in vain. Two other celebrated monks were also visited by
the friends, whose discourses are recorded by Cassian: viz., Abbot Serenus, who
spoke of "Inconstancy of mind, and Spiritual wickedness," [586] as well as of
the nature of evil spirits, in a Conference on "Principalities;" [587] and Abbot
Isaac, who delivered two discourses on the subject of Prayer. [588] A few days
after the first of these was delivered there arrived in the desert the "festal
letters" of Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria, in which he denounced the heresy
of the Anthropomorphites. This caused a great commotion among the monks of
Scete; and Abbot Paphnutius, who presided over the monastery where Cassian was
staying, was the only one who would allow the letters to be publicly read in the
congregation. Finally, however, owing to the conciliatory firmness of
Paphnutius, the great body of the monks was won over to a sounder and less
materialistic view of the nature of the Godhead than had hitherto been prevalent
among them. [589] These are all the details that can be gathered from Cassian's
writings of his stay in Scete, further than which he does not appear to have
penetrated, as, when he speaks of the Thebaid and the monasteries there, it is
only from hearsay and not from personal knowledge, although his original
intention had certainly been to visit this district among others. [590]In
considering the date of Cassian's visit to Egypt there are various indications
to guide us. In Conference XVIII. c. xiv., S. Athanasius is spoken of by Abbot
Piamun as "of blessed memory;" and the language used of the Emperor Valens in c.
vii. is such as to imply that he was already dead. The former died in 373, and
the latter in 378. Again, in Conference XXIV. c. xxvi. Abbot Abraham is made to
speak of John of Lycopolis as so famous that he was consulted by the very lords
of creation, who sought his advice, and entrusted to his prayers and merits the
crown of their empire and the fortunes of war. These expressions evidently
allude to John's announcement to Theodosius of his victory over Maxentius in
388, and his success against Eugenius in 395. [591] If they stood alone, we
could scarcely rely on these indications of date with any great confidence
because the Conferences were not written till many years later, and it is
impossible to determine with certainty how far they really represent the
discourses actually spoken by the Egyptian Fathers, or how far they are the
ideal compositions of Cassian himself. But, as we have seen, it is certain that
Cassian was actually in Egypt at the time of the Anthropomorphite controversy
raised by the letters of Theophilus in 399; and, as the other notices of events
previously mentioned coincide very fairly with this, we cannot be far wrong in
placing the two visits to Egypt between 380 and 400. About the last-named date
Cassian must have finally left the country; and we next hear of him in
Constantinople, where he was ordained deacon by S. Chrysostom, [592] and,
together with his friend Germanus, put in charge of the treasury, the only part
of the Cathedral which escaped the flames in the terrible conflagration of 404.
Thus Cassian was a witness of all the troublous scenes which attended the
persecution of S. Chrysostom, whose side he warmly espoused in the controversy
which rent the East asunder. And when the Saint was violently deposed and
removed from Constantinople, the two friends -- Germanus, who was by this time
raised to the priesthood, and Cassian, who was still in deacon's orders -- were
chosen as the bearers of a letter to Pope Innocent I. from the clergy who
adhered to Chrysostom, detailing the scandalous scenes that had taken place, and
the trials to which they had been exposed. [593] Of the length of Cassian's stay
in Rome we have no information, but it is likely that it was of some
considerable duration; and it may have been at this time that he was ordained
priest by Innocent. Possibly, also, it was now that he made the acquaintance of
one who was then quite young, but was destined afterwards to become famous as
Pope Leo the Great; for some years afterwards (a.d.430) it was at the request of
Leo, then Archdeacon of Rome, that Cassian wrote his work on the Incarnation
against Nestorius. Leaving Rome, Cassian is next found in Gaul, [594] which (if
we are right in the supposition that it was his birthplace) he must have quitted
when scarcely more than a child. When he left it monasticism was a thing almost
if not quite unknown there, but during his absence in the East a few monasteries
had been founded in the district of the Loire by S. Martin and S. Hilary of
Poictiers. Ligugé was founded shortly after 360, and Marmoutier rather later,
after 371; and about the time of his return similar institutions were beginning
to spring up in Provence. In 410 S. Honoratus founded the monastery which will
ever be associated with his name, in the island of Lérins, and, in the eloquent
words of the historian of the monks of the West, "opened the arms of his love to
the sons of all countries who desired to love Christ. A multitude of disciples
of all nations joined him. The West could no longer envy the East; and shortly
that retreat, destined in the intentions of its founder to renew upon the coasts
of Provence the austerities of the Thebaid, became a celebrated school of
theology and Christian philosophy, a citadel inaccessible to the waves of
barbarian invasion, an asylum for literature and science, which had fled from
Italy invaded by the Goths; -- in short, a nursery of bishops and saints, who
were destined to spread over the whole of Gaul the knowledge of the gospel and
the glory of Lérins." [595]It must have been about the same time -- a little
earlier or a little later -- that Cassian settled at Marseilles; and there, "in
the midst of those great forests which had supplied the Phoenician navy, which
in the time of Cæsar reached as far as the sea-coast, and the mysterious
obscurity of which had so terrified the Roman soldiers that the conqueror, to
embolden them, had himself taken an axe and struck down an old oak," [596] two
monasteries were now established, -- one for men, built it is said over the tomb
of S. Victor, a martyr in the persecution of Diocletian, [597] and the other for
women. Cassian's long residence in the East and his intimate knowledge of the
monastic system in vogue in Egypt made him at once looked up to as an authority,
and practically as the head of the movement which was so rapidly taking root in
Provence; and, although his fame has been overshadowed by that of the greatest
of Western monks, S. Benedict of Nursia, yet his is really the credit of being,
not indeed the actual founder, but the first organizer and systematizer, of
Western monachism: and it is hoped that the copious illustrations from the
Benedictine rule given in the notes to the first four books of the Institutes
will serve to show how much the founder of the greatest order in the West was
really indebted to his less-known predecessor. "He brought to bear upon the
organization of Gallic monasteries lessons learnt in the East. Although S.
Martin and others were before him, yet his life must be regarded as a new
departure for monasticism in the land. The religious communities of S. Martin
and S. Victricius in the centre of France were doubtless rudimentary and
half-developed in discipline when compared with that established by Cassian at
Marseilles, and with the many others which speedily arose modelled upon his
elaborate rules." [598] The high estimation in which his work was held
throughout the Middle Ages is shown not only by the immense number of mss. of
the Institutes and Conferences which still remain scattered throughout the
libraries of Europe, but also by the recommendation of them by Cassiodorus, and
by S. Benedict himself, who enjoins that the Conferences should be read daily by
the monks of his order. At Marseilles, then, Cassian settled; and here it was
that he wrote his three great works, -- the Institutes, the Conferences, and On
the Incarnation against Nestorius; the two former being written for the express
purpose of encouraging and developing the monastic life. Of these the Institutes
was the earliest, being composed in "twelve books on the institutes of the
monasteries and the remedies for the eight principal faults," [599] at the
request of Castor, Bishop of Apta Julia, some forty miles due north of
Marseilles, who was desirous of introducing the monastic life into his diocese,
where it was still a thing unknown. [600] As Castor died in 426, [601] and the
work is dedicated to him, it must have been written some time between the years
419 and 426. When it was first undertaken Cassian's design already was to follow
it up by a second treatise containing the Conferences of the Fathers, to which
he several times alludes in the Institutes as a forthcoming work, [602] and
which, like the companion volume, was undertaken at Castor's instigation. But,
before even the first part of it was ready for publication, the Bishop of Apta
was dead; and thus, to Cassian's sorrow, he was unable to dedicate it to him, as
he had hoped to do. He therefore dedicated Conferences I.-X. (the first portion
of the work) to Leontius, Bishop (probably) of Fréjus, and Helladius, who is
termed "frater" in the Preface to this work, though, as we see from the Preface
to Conference XVIII., he was afterwards raised to the episcopate. [603]This
portion of Cassian's work must have been completed shortly after the death of
Castor in 426. It was speedily followed by Part II., containing Conferences XI.
to XVII. This is dedicated to Honoratus and Eucherius, who are styled "fratres."
Eucherius did not become Bishop of Lyons till 434; but, as Honoratus was raised
to the see of Arles in 426, the volume must have been published not later than
that year, or he would have been termed "Episcopus," as he is in the Preface to
Conference XVIII., instead of "frater."The third and last part of the work,
containing Conferences XVIII. to XXIV., is dedicated to Jovinian, Minervius,
Leontius, and Theodore, who are collectively styled "fratres." Leontius must,
therefore, be a different person from the bishop to whom Conferences I.-X. were
dedicated; and nothing further is known of him, or of Minervius and Jovinian.
Theodore was afterwards raised to the Episcopate, and succeeded Leontius in the
see of Fréjus in 432. This third part of Cassian's work was ready before the
death of Honoratus, Bishop of Arles, who is spoken of in the Preface as if still
living; and, therefore, its publication cannot be later than 428, as Honoratus
died in January, 429.Thus the whole work was completed between the years 426 and
428; and now Cassian, who was growing old, was desirous of rest, feeling as if
his life's work was nearly over. [604] But the repose which he sought was not to
be granted to him, for the remaining years of his life were troubled by two
controversies, -- the Nestorian, and the Pelagian, -- or, rather, its offshoot,
the Semi-Pelagian. Into the history of the former of these there is no need to
enter here in detail. It broke out at Constantinople, where Nestorius had become
bishop in succession to Sisinnius, in 428. The immediate occasion which gave
rise to the controversy was a sermon by Anastasius, the Bishop's chaplain, in
which he inveighed against the title Theotocos, as given to the Blessed Virgin
Mary. This at once created a great sensation, as Nestorius warmly supported his
chaplain, and proceeded to develop the heresy connected with his name, in a
course of sermons. News of the controversy was brought to Egypt, and Cyril of
Alexandria at once entered into the fray. After some correspondence between the
two bishops, both parties endeavoured to gain the adherence of the Church of
Rome early in the year 430; and now it was that Cassian became mixed up with the
dispute. Greek learning was evidently at a low ebb in the Roman Church at this
time; [605] and it was, perhaps, partly owing to Cassian's familiar acquaintance
with this language, as well as owing to his connexion with Constantinople, where
the trouble had now arisen, that Celestine's Archdeacon Leo turned to him at
this crisis for help. Anyhow, whatever was the reason, an earnest appeal from
Rome reached him, begging him to write a refutation of the new heresy. After
some hesitation he consented, and the result of his labours is seen in the seven
books on the Incarnation against Nestorius. The work was evidently done in
haste, and published in 430, before the Council of Ephesus (for Cassian speaks
of Nestorius throughout as still Bishop of Constantinople), and, judging from
the way in which Augustine is spoken of in VII. xxvii., before the death of that
Father, which took place in August, 430. A great part of the work is occupied
with Scripture proof of our Lord's Divinity and unity of Person; but, taken as a
whole, the treatise is distinctly of less value than Cassian's earlier writings,
and betrays the haste in which it was composed by the occasional use of
inaccurate language on the subject of the Incarnation, and of terms and phrases
which the mature judgment of the Church has rejected. But the writer's keen
penetration is seen by the quickness with which he connects the new heresy with
the teaching of Pelagius, the connecting link between the two being found in the
errors of Leporius of Trêves, who, in propagating Pelagian views of man's
sufficiency and strength, had applied them to the case of our Lord, not
shrinking from the conclusion that He was a mere man who had used his free will
so well as to have lived without sin, and had only been made Christ in virtue of
His baptism, whereby the Divine and human were associated in such manner that
virtually there were two Christs. [606] The connexion between Nestorianism and
Pelagianism has often been noticed by later writers, but to Cassian belongs the
credit of having been the first to point it out. Of the impression produced by
his book we have no record. He appears to have taken no further part in the
controversy, which, indeed, must have been to him an episode, coming in the
midst of that other controversy with which his name is inseparably associated;
viz., that on Semi-Pelagianism, on which something must now be said. The
controversy arose in the following way. During the struggle with Pelagianism
between the years 410 and 420, Augustine's views on the absolute need of grace
were gradually hardening into a theory that grace was irresistible and therefore
indefectible. "Intent above all things on magnifying the Divine Sovereignty, he
practically forgot the complexity of the problem in hand and failed to do
justice to the human element in the mysterious process of man's salvation."
[607] The view of an absolute predestination irrespective of foreseen character,
and of the irresistible and indefectible character of grace, was put forward by
him, in a letter to a Roman priest, Sixtus, in the year 418. [608] Some years
afterwards this letter fell into the hands of the monks of Adrumetum, some of
whom were puzzled by its teaching; and, in order to allay the disputes among
them, the matter was referred to Augustine himself. Thinking that the monks had
misunderstood his teaching, he not only explained the letter but also wrote a
fresh treatise, -- "De Gratia et Libero Arbitrio" (426); and, when that failed
to satisfy the malcontents, he followed it up with his work "De Correptione et
Gratia" (426), which, so far as the monks of Adrumetum were concerned, seems to
have ended the controversy. Elsewhere, however, hesitation was felt in going the
full length of Augustine's teaching; and, in the South of Gaul especially, many
were seriously disturbed at the turn which the controversy had lately taken, and
were prepared to reject Augustine's teaching, as not merely novel, but also
practically dangerous. "They said, in effect," to quote Canon Bright's lucid
summary of their position, "to treat predestination as irrespective of foreseen
conduct, and to limit the Divine good-will to a fixed number of persons thus
selected, who, as such, are assured of perseverance, is not only to depart from
the older theology, and from the earlier teaching of the Bishop of Hippo
himself, but to cut at the root of religious effort, and to encourage either
negligence or despair. They insisted that whatever theories might be devised
concerning this mystery, which was not a fit subject for popular discussion, the
door of salvation should be regarded as open to all, because the Saviour died
for all.' To explain away the Scriptural assurance was, they maintained, to
falsify the Divine promise and to nullify human responsibility. They believed in
the doctrine of the Fall; they acknowledged the necessity of real grace in order
to man's restoration; they even admitted that this grace must be prevenient' to
such acts of will as resulted in Christian good works: but some of them thought
-- and herein consisted the error called Semi-Pelagian -- that nature, unaided,
could take the first step towards its recovery, by desiring to be healed through
faith in Christ. If it could not, -- if the very beginning of all good were
strictly a Divine act, -- exhortations seemed to them to be idle, and censure
unjust, in regard to those on whom no such act had been wrought, and who,
therefore, until it should be wrought, were helpless, and so far guiltless, in
the matter." [609] Of the party which took up this position Cassian was the
recognized head. True, he did not directly enter into the controversy himself,
nor is he the author of any polemical works upon the subject; but it is
impossible to doubt that the thirteenth Conference, containing the teaching of
Abbot Chæremon on the Protection of God, was intended to meet what he evidently
regarded as a serious error; viz., the implicit denial by the Augustinians of
the need of effort on man's part.Augustine was informed of the teaching of the
School of Marseilles, as it was called, by one Hilary (a layman, not to be
confounded with his namesake, the Bishop of Arles), who wrote to him two
letters, of which the former is lost. The latter is still existing, and contains
a careful account of what was maintained at Marseilles. Towards the close of it
Hilary says that, as he was pressed for time, he had prevailed upon a friend to
write as well, and would attach his letter to his own. This friend was Prosper
of Aquitaine, also a layman and an ardent Augustinian, whose epistle has been
preserved as well as Hilary's. [610] From these letters, and from the works
which Augustine wrote in reply, we learn that the "Massilians" had been first
disturbed by some of Augustine's earlier writings, as the Epistle to Paulinus;
and that their distrust of his teaching on the subjects of Grace,
Predestination, and Freewill had been increased by the receipt of his work "De
Correptione et Gratia," although in other matters they agreed with him entirely,
and were great admirers of his. [611] Personally, they are spoken of with great
respect as men of no common virtue, and of wide influence; and, though Cassian's
name is never mentioned in the correspondence, yet it is easy to read between
the lines and see that he is referred to. [612]Augustine replied to his
correspondents by writing what proved to be almost his latest works, -- the
treatises "De Prædestinatione Sanctorum" and "De dono Perseverantiæ." In these
volumes Augustine, while freely acknowledging the great difference between his
opponents and the Pelagians, yet maintained as strongly as ever his own
position, and "did not abate an iota of the contention that election and
rejection were arbitrary, and that salvation was not really within the reach of
all Christians." [613] Thus the books naturally failed to satisfy the
recalcitrant party, or to convince those who thought that the denial of the
freedom of the will tended to destroy man's responsibility. Prosper, however,
was delighted with the treatises, and proceeded to follow them up with a work of
his own, a poem of a thousand lines, "De Ingratis," by which he designates the
Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians, whose opinions he speaks of as spreading with
alarming rapidity. The date of this publication was probably the early part of
430. It was certainly written before the death of Augustine, which took place on
August 28 of the same year. The removal from this life of the great champion of
Grace did not bring to an end the controversy to which his writings had given
birth. The school of Marseilles continued to propagate its views with unabated
vigour, in spite of the protests of Prosper and Hilary, who finally took the
important step of appealing to Pope Celestine, from whom they succeeded in
obtaining a letter addressed to the Gallican Bishops, Venerius of Marseilles,
Leontius of Fréjus, Marinus, Auxonius, Arcadius, Filtanius, and the rest. [614]
Celestine speaks strongly of their negligence in not having suppressed what he
regarded as a public scandal, and says that "priests ought not to teach so as to
invade the episcopal prerogative," an expression in which we may well see an
allusion to Cassian, the leading presbyter, of the diocese of Marseilles, whose
Bishop is named first in the opening salutation; and the letter concludes with
some words of eulogium on Augustine "of holy memory." Never, perhaps, was
Gallican independence shown in a more striking manner than in the sturdy way in
which the Massilians clung to their views in spite of the authority of the Pope
now brought to bear upon them. Prosper and Hilary on their return found the
obnoxious teaching daily spreading, so that the former of them finally
determined to put down, if possible, the upholders of the objectionable tenets
by a direct criticism of Cassian's Conferences. This was the origin of Prosper's
work "Contra Collatorem," against the author of the Conferences, a treatise of
considerable power and force, although not scrupulously fair. [615] The respect
in which Cassian was held is strikingly shown by the fact that his antagonist
never once names him directly, but merely speaks of him as a man of priestly
rank who surpassed all his companions in power of arguing. The work consists of
an examination of the thirteenth Conference, that of Abbot Chæremon, on the
Protection of God, from which Prosper extracts twelve propositions, the first of
which he says is orthodox while all the others are erroneous. [616] He concludes
by warning his antagonist of the danger of Pelagianism, and expresses a hope
that his doctrine may be condemned by Pope Sixtus as it had been by Celestine
and his predecessors. The last statement fixes the date of the book as not
earlier than 432; for Celestine only died in April in that year. Cassian was
evidently still living when this attack upon him was made; but, so far as we
know, he made no reply to it. Its publication is the last event in his life of
which we have any knowledge. He probably died shortly afterwards, as the
expression used by Gennadius in speaking of his work against Nestorius would
seem to imply that it preceded his death by no long interval; for he says that
with this he brought to a close his literary labours and his life in the reign
of Theodosius and Valentinian. [617]The controversy on Grace and Freewill
lingered on for nearly a century longer, and was only finally disposed of by the
wise moderation shown by Cæsarius of Arles and those who acted with him at the
Council of Orange (Arausio), in the year 529. [618]While it cannot be denied
that the teaching of Cassian and his school in denying the necessity of initial
and prevenient grace is erroneous and opens a door at which Pelagianism may
easily creep in, yet it was an honest attempt to vindicate human responsibility;
and it must be frankly admitted that the teaching of Augustine was one-sided and
required to be balanced: nor would the question have ever been brought into
prominence had it not been for the hard and rigorous way in which the doctrine
of Predestination was taught, and the denial that the possibility of salvation
lay within the reach of all men. While, then, it is granted that a verdict of
guilty must be returned on the charge of Semi-Pelagianism in Cassian's case, we
are surely justified in claiming that a recommendation to mercy be attached to
it on the plea of extenuating circumstances. Since his death Cassian has ever
occupied a somewhat ambiguous position in the mind of the Church. Never formally
canonized, his name is not found in the Calendars of the West; nor is he
honoured with the title of "Saint." He is, however, generally spoken of as "the
blessed Cassian," holding in this respect the same position as Theodoret, of
whom Dr. Newman says that, though he "has the responsibility of acts which have
forfeited to him that oecumenical dignity," yet he is "not without honorary
title in the Church's hagiology; for he has ever been known as the blessed
Theodoret.'" [619] In the East Cassian's position is somewhat better. He is
there regarded as a saint, and may possibly be intended by the Cassian who is
commemorated on February 29. [620] It is only natural that this difference
should be made, for the Eastern Church has always held a milder view of the
effect of the Fall than that which has been current in the West since the days
of Augustine; and, indeed, Cassian, in making his protest against the rising
tide of Augustinianism, was in the main only handing on the teaching which he
had received from his Eastern instructors.


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  CHAPTER 3: CHAPTER II. THE HISTORY OF CASSIAN'S WRITINGS, MSS., AND EDITIONS. 
========================================================================

The literary history of Cassian's works is not without an interest of its own.
We have already seen the estimation in which they were held in spite of their
Semi-Pelagian doctrines. These were naturally accounted a blemish, and it is not
surprising that those who most admired their excellences were anxious to avoid
propagating their errors. Hence they were often "expurgated," and in many mss.
the text has suffered considerably from the changes made by copyists in the
interests of orthodoxy. As early as the fifth century we find two revised
versions of portions of his works existing. His friend Eucherius, Bishop of
Lyons, was the author of an epitome of the Institutes, which still exists; [621]
and although this was compiled for convenience' sake because of the length of
the original work, rather than from any suspicion of his teaching, the case is
different with a recension made for use in Africa by Victor, Bishop of
Martyrites. This is no longer extant, but Cassiodorus distinctly tells us that
it was made in the interests of orthodoxy by means of expurgation as well as
addition of what was wanting. [622] Yet another epitome of three of the
Conferences (I., II., VII.) was made at some time before the tenth century. It
was translated into Greek, and known to Photius, who speaks [623] of three works
of Cassian as translated into Greek: viz., (1) an Epitome of the Institutes,
Books I.-IV.; (2) Epitome of the Institutes, Books V.-XII.; and (3) one of the
Conferences I., II., VII. Thus in very early days the fashion was set of
expurgating and emending the writings of Cassian; and Leuwis de Ryckel, better
known as Dionysius Carthusianus, might have quoted several precedents for his
method of dealing with the text. This famous divine, -- the doctor exstaticus of
the fifteenth century, -- shocked as others had been before him at the
Semi-Pelagianism of the Conferences, and yet sensible of their real value in
spite of sundry blemishes, took in hand to correct them, and gave to the world a
free paraphrase both of the Institutes and of the Conferences, in a somewhat
simple style and one more easy to be understood than the original. The greatest
alterations, as might be expected, are visible in the thirteenth Conference; as
Dionysius, in his endeavour to make Cassian orthodox, omits all that savours of
Semi-Pelagianism; and from c. viii. onward there are large omissions and various
suggestive alterations in the text. [624] Incidental mention has been already
made of the esteem in which the Institutes and Conferences were held by S.
Benedict and Cassiodorus. In the Rule of the former (c. xlii.) it is ordered
that after supper the brethren should assemble together, and one of them should
read the Conferences, or Lives of the Fathers, or any other book calculated to
edify. And again, in the closing chapter of the same rule, the study of them is
recommended to those who are desirous of perfection; for "what are the
Conferences of the Fathers, the Institutes, and the lives of them; what, too,
the Rule of our holy father, S. Basil, but examples of virtuous and obedient
monks, and helps to the attainment of virtue?" Equally strong is the
recommendation of Cassiodorus: "Sedulo legite, frequenter audite;" but at the
same time he reminds his readers that Cassian was very properly censured by
Prosper for his teaching on Freewill, and that, therefore, he is to be read with
caution whenever he touches on this subject. With testimonies such as these to
their value it is no wonder that copies were rapidly multiplied, so that
scarcely a monastery was without a copy of some part of them; and existing mss.
of the Institutes and Conferences are very numerous. But none of the oldest mss.
contain the complete work. The institutes were often regarded as made up of two
separate treatises, -- (1) the Institutes of the Coenobia, containing Books
I.-IV., and (2) On the Eight Principal Faults, comprising Books V.-XII. So, too,
with the Conferences, and their three divisions: they are often found separately
in different mss. The mss. being so numerous, it was found impossible to collate
them all for the latest edition of Cassian's works; viz., that edited by
Petschenig for the Vienna Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum. The
Editor therefore confined his attention to a limited number, of which the
following is the list. I. The Institutes. 1. Codex Casinensis Rescriptus, 295. A
Palimpsest with the Epistles of S. Jerome written over Cassian's work. The date
of this ms. is the seventh or eighth century, and it contains portions only of
the Institutes, nothing remaining of Books I.-IV., or of VIII. and IX. 2. Codex
Majoris Seminarii OEduensis (Autun), 24. Seventh century, containing portions of
Books V.-XII. 3. Caroliruhensis, 87. Eighth century, containing all twelve
books. 4. Sangallensis, 183. Ninth century. 5. Parisinus, 12292. Tenth century.
6. Laudunensis (Laon), 328 bis. Ninth century.7. Caroliruhensis, 164. Ninth
century.II. Conferences I.-X.1. Vaticanus, 5766. Eighth century.2. Parisinus,
Bibl. Nat., 13384. Ninth century.3. Vercellensis (Chapter Library), 187, 44.
Cent.8-10.4. Parisinus, Bibl. Nat. nouv. fonds, 2170. Ninth century. This (with
a few lacunæ) contains all the Conferences, being the only one of Petschenig's
mss. of which this can be said.5. Vaticanus, Bibl. Palat., 560. Tenth century.6.
Sangallensis, 574. Cent.9-10.Of these mss. the last two contain many errors and
interpolations, some of which are followed in the editions of Cassian published
at Basle, 1485-1495.III. Conferences XI.-XVII.1. Sessorianus (Rome), 55.
Cent.7-8.2. Petropolitanus, Bibl. Imp. O.1, 4. Seventh or eighth century.3.
Sangallensis, 576. Ninth century.4. Parisinus, Bibl. Nat. nouv. fonds., 2170 (as
above).5. Vindobonensis, 397. Tenth century. This Vienna ms. contains Prosper's
work Contra Collatorem, the passages of Cassian being written in the margin.IV.
Conferences XVIII.-XXIV.1. Monacensis, 4549. Cent.8-9.2. Monacensis, 6343. Ninth
century.3. Parisinus, Bibl. Nat. nouv. fonds., 2170 (as above).4. Vaticanus,
Bibl. Reginæ Sueciæ, 140. Cent.9-10.5. Caroliruhensis, 92. Ninth century.6.
Sangallensis, 575. Ninth century.Passing now from the Institutes and Conferences
to the work "On the Incarnation against Nestorius," we are no longer encumbered
by the number of mss. There was not the same reason for the multiplication of
copies of it as there was in the case of those writings which bore on the
monastic life. It appears never to have obtained any special popularity, and, so
far as is known, only seven mss. of it are still in existence. The following are
those of which Petschenig made use for his edition: -- 1. Codex Bibl. Armentarii
Parisiensis (Bibl. de l'Arsenal), 483. Cent.10-11.2. British Museum addl.,
16414. Cent.11-12.3. Parisinus, Bibl. Nat., 14860. Thirteenth century.4. Bibl.
Coloniensium Augustinianorum. This ms. is now lost, but was used by Cuyck for
his edition of Cassian, and from this Petschenig is able to give selected
readings.The remaining mss. known to exist, but not used by Petschenig, are
these: -- 1. Matritensis, Bibl. Nat., Q.106. Twelfth century.2. Laurentianus
(Laurentian Library at Florence), XXVI., 13. Fifteenth century.3. Bibl. Leop.
Medici Foesulanæ (also at Florence), 48. Fifteenth century.4. Parisinus, 2143.
Fourteenth century. [625]It only remains to give some account of the various
editions of the printed text.It has generally been stated that the earliest
edition of the Institutes was that printed at Venice in 1481, of which only a
single copy is known to exist, viz., in the Laurentian Library at Florence; and
that the first edition which included the Conferences was that published by
Amerbach at Basle in 1485. This statement, however, appears to be erroneous, as
there still exists in the British Museum a single copy of a very early
black-letter edition of the Conferences. The title-page is gone, and there is no
colophon; and, therefore, the date cannot be given with certainty, but the work
is assigned by the authorities of the Museum to the year 1476, and is thought to
have proceeded from the press of the Brothers of the Common life at Brussels.
The first page of the work begins as follows: "Ut Valeas cor in opere isto
citius invenire qd requiris hæc tibi concapitulatio breviter demostrabit quis
unde in singulis collationibus disputaverit." Then follows a list of the
twenty-four Conferences with their authors, and the page ends with these words:
"Prologus cassiani sup. collationes patru ad leontiu et elladiu epos. In nomine
Domini ihu cristi dei nostri feliciter."This, then, in all probability was the
first edition of the Latin text of the Conferences. But it is a curious fact
that at a still earlier date a free German translation or paraphrase of them had
already been published. This, like the work just mentioned, has been overlooked
by all the editors of Cassian, but two copies of it still remain in the British
Museum, beginning as follow: "Hic liber a quodam egregio sacrarum literarum
professore magistro Johane Nide ordis pdicatorum fratre de latino in vulgarem
Nuremberge translatus est." The colophon in one copy gives the date as 1472, and
the place at which it was printed as Augsberg. The other copy has no date but is
assigned by the authorities of the Museum to a still earlier year; viz.,
1470.The Basle edition of 1485 was reprinted at the press of Amerbach in 1497;
and at Venice there was issued a second edition of the Institutes, to which the
Conferences were added, in 1491. [626] Subsequent early editions are those of
Lyons, in 1516 and 1525, and Bologna 1521. But not till 1534 were the seven
books on the Incarnation against Nestorius published. They appear for the first
time in the edition which was issued in this year from the press of Cratander at
Basle.Far superior to all these early editions, which were very faulty, was that
published by Christopher Plantin at Antwerp in 1578, edited by H. Cuyck,
Professor at Louvain and afterward Bishop of Ruremonde. It was undertaken at the
suggestion of Cardinal Carafa, and its full title is the following: "D. Ioannis
Cassiani Eremitæ Monasticarum Institutionum libri IIII. De Capitalibus vitiis
libri VIII. Collationes SS. Patrum XXIIII. De Verbi Incarnatione libri VII. Nunc
demum post varias editiones ad complurium ms. fidem a non pancis mendarum
milibus incredibili labore expurgati: id quod ex subiectis ad calcem
castigationibus facile cognosci poterit: additis etiam ad quædam loca censoriis
notationibus, et obscurarum vocum ac sententiarun elucidatione, un a cum duobus
Indicibus locupletissimis. Accesserunt quoque Regulæ SS. Patrum ex antiquissimo
Affliginiensis monasterii ms. codice desumptæ. Opera et studio Henrici Cuyckii
Sacræ Theologiæ Licentiati." Cuyck's work was supplemented, also at Carafa's
desire, by Petrus Ciacconius, a priest of Toledo, who died in 1581, before it
was ready for the press. A new edition was, however, published at Rome in 1588
"ex Edibus Dominicæ Basæ," in which the notes and emendations of Ciacconius were
embodied. Unfortunately this edition does not contain the books on the
Incarnation. Its full title is as follows: "Ioannis Cassiani Eremitæ de
institutis renuntiantium Libri XII. Collationes Sanctorum Patrum XXIIII. Adiectæ
sunt quarundam obscurarum dictionum interpretationes ordine alphabeti dispositæ:
et observationes in loca ambigua et minus tuta. Præterea Indices duo
testimoniorum sacræ Scripturæ, quæ a Cassiano vel explicantur, vel aliter quam
vulgata editio habet, citantur: ac postremo verum memorabilium Index
copiosissimus. Accedit Regula S. Pachomii, quæ a S. Hieronymo in Latinum
sermonem conversa est: Omnia multo quam antehac, auxilio vetustissimorum
codicum, emendatiora, et ad suam integritatem restituta." This edition, as well
as the previous one, contained a dissertation on a number of passages (some
thirty in all) of doubtful orthodoxy, in order to put the reader on his guard
against following Cassian in his errors.In 1616 there was published at Douay in
two volumes what has remained until the present day the standard edition of
Cassian's works, prepared with loving care by a Benedictine monk of the Abbey of
St. Vaast at Arras, named Gazet. This edition is enriched throughout with
copious annotations, containing an immense amount of illustrative matter; and
besides the text of Cassian's works it contains several other documents of
importance for a right understanding of them. The full title is this: "Ioannis
Cassiani presbyteri, quem alii eremitam, alii abbatem nuncupant, opera omnia.
Novissime recognita, repurgata et notis amplissimis illustrata. Quibus accessere
alia ejusdem argumenti opuscula, quorum elenchum sequens pagina exhibebit.
Studio et opera D. Alardi Gazæi coenobitæ Vedastini ord. Benedicti."Besides the
Institutes, Conferences, and the work on the Incarnation against Nestorius,
these volumes contained the following among other material: -- The Rule of St.
Pachomius.The Catholic doctrine substituted for the latter part of Conference
XIII. by Dionysius Carthusianus.Prosper "Contra Collatorem."This edition has
been frequently reprinted, [627] some of the later reprints containing still
more illustrative material. It still remains indispensable to the student of
Cassian's works by reason of the valuable commentary with which it is throughout
enriched. But for the mere text it is now altogether superseded by the fine
edition prepared by Petschenig for the Vienna Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum
Latinorum, in two volumes.Vol. I. -- Ioannis Cassiani De Institutis Coenobiorum
et de octo Principalium Vitiorum Remediis Libri XII. De Incarnatione Domini
Contra Nestorium Libri VII. recensuit et commentario critico instruxit Michæl
Petschenig. Accedunt Prolegomena et Indices (Vindobonæ, 1888).Vol. II. --
Ioannis Cassiani Conlationes XXIIII. (Vindobonæ, 1886). Petschenig's work is
admirably done, and the text of this edition is vastly superior to that of all
its predecessors. In the present translation it has been used throughout the
Conferences. The volume containing the Institutes and the work on the
Incarnation unfortunately appeared too late for the translation to be made from
it. It has, however, been carefully compared with the text of Ciacconius, which
Gazet merely repeats, [628] and attention is called to the chief variations in
the notes.Mention has already been made of the early German paraphrase or
translation, dating from 1470 or 1472; and the popularity of the Cassian's works
is evinced by the number of other early translations made into the various
languages of Europe. Of these next in order of time is one in Flemish. In the
copy of this in the British Museum the title is wanting, the book beginning as
follows: "Hier beghint der ouder vader collacie. Hi hyetede Ioannes Cassianus
die dese vieretwintich navolgende vad, collacien ghemaect hevet." The colophon
is this: "Hier eyndet een seer goede en profitelike leeringhe. En is ghenoemt
der ouder vaders collacien. Michiel hiller van Hoochstraten. Tantwerpen 1506.
fol."Very little later is the first of several French translations, with the
following curious title: "Les Collacions des sains Peres anciens translateez de
Grec en latin. Par Cassiodorus tres sainct docteur en theologie et translateez
de latin en francoys par maistre ieha gosein aussy docteur en theologie de
l'ordre des freres de la Montaigne du carme et imprimees nouvellement a paris."
No date is given, but the work is assigned by the Museum authorities to the year
1510.Later French translations are the following: -- Paris. Chez Charles
Savreux.8° les Conférences de Cassien traduites en françois par De Saligny.1663.
(This edition altogether omits the thirteenth Conference.)Paris. Chez Charles
Savreux.8° les Institutions de Cassien traduites en françois par De
Saligny.1667. Institutions de Cassien traduites par E. Cartier. Paris, Tours,
1872.There are also two Italian translations, one as early as 1563 (Opera.
Tradotta per B. Buffi. Venetia.1563.4°), and one of the present century, --
Volgarizzamento delle collazioni dei SS. Padri del venerabile G. C. [By
Bartolommeo da San Concordio?] Testo di lingua in edito [edited by T. Bini].
Lucca.1854.8°.It is remarkable that England has till now stood almost alone in
possessing no translation, Cassian's works having never yet appeared in an
English press. It is hoped that the version now offered to the reader may do
something to make the works of this interesting and most instructive writer more
widely known than they appear to be at present.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 4: PREFACE.
========================================================================

The history of the Old Testament tells us that the most wise Solomon received
from heaven "wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart
even as the sand that is on the seashore that cannot be counted;" [629] so that
by the Lord's testimony we may say that no one either has arisen in time past
equal to him or will arise after him: and afterward, when wishing to raise that
magnificent temple to the Lord, we are told that he asked the help of a
foreigner, the king of Tyre. And when there was sent to him one Hiram, the son
of a widow woman, [630] it was by his means and ministration that he executed
all the glorious things which he devised by the suggestion of the Divine wisdom
either for the temple of the Lord or for the sacred vessels. If, then, that
power that was higher than all the kingdoms of the earth, and that noble and
illustrious scion of the race of Israel, and that divinely inspired wisdom which
excelled the training and customs of all the Easterns and Egyptians, by no means
disdained the advice of a poor man and a foreigner, rightly also do you, most
blessed Pope [631] Castor, taught by these examples, deign to call in me, a
worthless creature though I am, and in every respect as poor as possible, to a
share in so great a work. When you are planning to build a true and reasonable
temple for God, not with inanimate stones but with a congregation of saints, and
no temporal or corruptible building, but one that is eternal and cannot be
shaken; and desiring also to consecrate to the Lord most precious vessels not
forged of dumb [632] metal, of gold or silver, which a Babylonish monarch may
afterwards take and devote to the pleasures of his concubines and princes, [633]
but fashioned of holy souls which shine with the uprightness of innocence,
righteousness, and purity, and bear about Christ abiding in themselves as King;
-- since, then, you are anxious that the institutions of the East and especially
of Egypt should be established in your province, which is at present without
monasteries, [634] although you are yourself perfect in all virtues and
knowledge and so filled with all spiritual riches that not only your talk but
even your life alone is amply sufficient for an example to those who are seeking
perfection, -- yet you ask me, not knowing what to say, and feeble in speech and
knowledge, to contribute something from the scanty supply of my thoughts toward
the satisfaction of your desire; and you charge me to declare, although with
inexpert pen, the customs of the monasteries which we have seen observed
throughout Egypt and Palestine, as they were there delivered to us by the
Fathers; not looking for graceful speech, in which you yourself are especially
skilled, but wanting the simple life of holy men to be told in simple language
to the brethren in your new monastery. But in proportion as a dutiful desire of
granting your request urges me to obey, so do manifold difficulties and
embarrassments deter me when wishing to comply. First, because my merits are not
so proportioned to my age as for me to trust that I can worthily comprehend with
my mind and heart matters so difficult, so obscure, and so sacred. Secondly,
because that which we either tried to do or learnt or saw when from our earliest
youth we lived among them and were urged on by their daily exhortations and
examples, -- this we can scarcely retain in its entirety when we have been for
so many years withdrawn from intercourse with them and from following their mode
of life; especially as the method of these things cannot possibly be taught or
understood or kept in the memory by idle meditation and verbal teaching, for it
depends entirely upon experience and practice. And, as these things cannot be
taught save by one who has had experience of them, so they cannot even be learnt
or understood except by one who has tried with equal care and pains to grasp
them; while, unless they are often discussed and well worn in frequent
conferences with spiritual men, they quickly fade away through carelessness of
mind. Thirdly, because a discourse that is lacking in skill cannot properly
expound those things which we can recall to mind, not as the things themselves
deserve, but as our condition allows us. To this it must be added that on this
very subject men who were noble in life and eminent for speech and knowledge
have already put forth several little books, I mean Basil and Jerome, and some
others, the former of whom, when the brethren asked about various rules and
questions, replied in language that was not only eloquent but rich in
testimonies from Holy Scripture; while the latter not only published works that
were the offspring of his own genius, but also translated into Latin works that
had been written in Greek. [635] And, after such abundant streams of eloquence,
I might not unfairly be accused of presumption for trying to produce this feeble
rill, were it not that the confidence of your holiness encouraged me, and the
assurance that these trifles would be acceptable to you, whatever they were
like, and that you would send them to the congregation of the brethren dwelling
in your newly founded monastery. And if by chance I have said anything without
sufficient care, may they kindly overlook it and endure it with a somewhat
indulgent pardon, asking rather for trustworthiness of speech than for grace of
style on my part. Wherefore, most blessed Pope, remarkable example of religion
and humility, encouraged by your prayers, I will to the best of my ability
approach the work which you enjoin; and those masters which were altogether left
untouched by those who preceded us, since they endeavoured to describe what they
had heard rather than what they had experienced, these things I will tell as to
an inexperienced monastery, and to men who are indeed [636] athirst. Nor
certainly shall I try to weave a tale of God's miracles and signs, although we
have not only heard of many such among our elders, and those past belief, but
have also seen them fulfilled under our very eyes; yet, leaving out all these
things which minister to the reader nothing but astonishment and no instruction
in the perfect life, I shall try, so far as I can, with the help of God,
faithfully to explain only their institutions and the rules of their
monasteries, and especially the origin and causes of the principal faults, of
which they reckon eight, and the remedies for them according to their
traditions, -- since my purpose is to say a few words not about God's miracles,
but about the way to improve our character, and the attainment of the perfect
life, in accordance with that which we received from our elders. In this, too, I
will try to satisfy your directions, so that, if I happen to find that anything
has been either withdrawn or added in those countries not in accordance with the
example of the elders established by ancient custom, but according to the fancy
of any one who has founded a monastery, I will faithfully add it or omit it, in
accordance with the rule which I have seen followed in the monasteries anciently
founded throughout Egypt and Palestine, as I do not believe that a new
establishment in the West, in the parts of Gaul could find anything more
reasonable or more perfect than are those customs, in the observance of which
the monasteries that have been founded by holy and spiritually minded fathers
since the rise of apostolic preaching endure even to our own times. I shall,
however, venture to exercise this discretion in my work, -- that where I find
anything in the rule of the Egyptians which, either because of the severity of
the climate, or owing to some difficulty or diversity of habits, is impossible
in these countries, or hard and difficult, I shall to some extent balance it by
the customs of the monasteries which are found throughout Pontus and
Mesopotamia; because, if due regard be paid to what things are possible, there
is the same perfection in the observance although the power may be unequal.


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  CHAPTER 5: THE TWELVE BOOKS OF JOHN CASSIAN
========================================================================

on the Institutes of the Coenobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal
Faults.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 6: BOOK I. OF THE DRESS OF THE MONKS. 
========================================================================

Of the Dress of the Monks.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 7: CHAPTER I. OF THE MONK'S GIRDLE. 
========================================================================

As we are going to speak of the customs and rules of the monasteries, how by
God's grace can we better begin than with the actual dress of the monks, for we
shall then be able to expound in due course their interior life when we have set
their outward man before your eyes. A monk, then, as a soldier of Christ ever
ready for battle, ought always to walk with his loins girded. For in this
fashion, too, the authority of Holy Scripture shows that they walked who in the
Old Testament started the original of this life, -- I mean Elijah and Elisha;
and, moreover, we know that the leaders and authors of the New Testament, viz.,
John, Peter, and Paul, and the others of the same rank, walked in the same
manner. And of these the first-mentioned, who even in the Old Testament
displayed the flowers of a virgin life and an example of chastity and
continence, when he had been sent by the Lord to rebuke the messengers of
Ahaziah, the wicked king of Israel, because when confined by sickness he had
intended to consult Beelzebub, the god of Ekron, on the state of his health, and
thereupon the said prophet had met them and said that he should not come down
from the bed on which he lay, -- this man was made known to the bed-ridden king
by the description of the character of his clothing. For when the messengers
returned to him and brought back the prophet's message, he asked what the man
who had met them and spoken such words was like and how he was dressed. "An
hairy man," they said, "and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins;" and
by this dress the king at once saw that it was the man of God, and said: "It is
Elijah the Tishbite:" [638] i.e., by the evidence of the girdle and the look of
the hairy and unkempt body he recognized without the slightest doubt the man of
God, because this was always attached to him as he dwelt among so many thousands
of Israelites, as if it were impressed as some special sign of his own
particular style. Of John also, who came as a sort of sacred boundary between
the Old and New Testament, being both a beginning and an ending, we know by the
testimony of the Evangelist that "the same John had his raiment of camel's hair
and a girdle of skin about his loins." [639] When Peter also had been put in
prison by Herod and was to be brought forth to be slain on the next day, when
the angel stood by him he was charged: "Gird thyself and put on thy shoes."
[640] And the angel of the Lord would certainly not have charged him to do this
had he not seen that for the sake of his night's rest he had for a while freed
his wearied limbs from the girdle usually tied round them. Paul also, going up
to Jerusalem and soon to be put in chains by the Jews, was met at Cæsarea by the
prophet Agabus, who took his girdle and bound his hands and feet to show by his
bodily actions the injuries which he was to suffer, and said: "So shall the Jews
in Jerusalem bind the man whose girdle this is, and deliver him into the hands
of the Gentiles." [641] And surely the prophet would never have brought this
forward, or have said "the man whose girdle this is," unless Paul had always
been accustomed to fasten it round his loins.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 8: CHAPTER II. OF THE MONK'S ROBE. 
========================================================================

Let the robe also of the monk be such as may merely cover the body and prevent
the disgrace of nudity, and keep off harm from cold, not such as may foster the
seeds of vanity and pride; for the same apostle tells us: "Having food and
covering, with these let us be content." [642] "Covering," he says, not
"raiment," as is wrongly found in some Latin copies: that is, what may merely
cover the body, not what may please the fancy by the splendour of the attire;
commonplace, so that it may not be thought remarkable for novelty of colour or
fashion among other men of the same profession; and quite free from anxious
carefulness, yet not discoloured by stains acquired through neglect. Lastly, let
them be so far removed from this world's fashions as to remain altogether common
property for the use of the servants of God. For whatever is claimed by one or a
few among the servants of God and is not the common property of the whole body
of the brethren alike is either superfluous or vain, and for that reason to be
considered harmful, and affording an appearance of vanity rather than virtue.
And, therefore, whatever models we see were not taught either by the saints of
old who laid the foundations of the monastic life, or by the fathers of our own
time who in their turn keep up at the present day their customs, these we also
should reject as superfluous and useless: wherefore they utterly disapproved of
a robe of sackcloth as being visible to all and conspicuous, and what from this
very fact will not only confer no benefit on the soul but rather minister to
vanity and pride, and as being inconvenient and unsuitable for the performance
of necessary work for which a monk ought always to go ready and unimpeded. But
even if we hear of some respectable persons who have been dressed in this garb,
a rule for the monasteries is not, therefore, to be passed by us, nor should the
ancient decrees of the holy fathers be upset because we do not think that a few
men, presuming on the possession of other virtues, are to be blamed even in
regard of those things which they have practised not in accordance with the
Catholic rule. For the opinion of a few ought not to be preferred to or to
interfere with the general rule for all. For we ought to give unhesitating
allegiance and unquestioning obedience, not to those customs and rules which the
will of a few have introduced, but to those which a long standing antiquity and
numbers of the holy fathers have passed on by an unanimous decision to those
that come after. Nor, indeed, ought this to influence us as a precedent for our
daily life, that Joram, the wicked king of Israel, when surrounded by bands of
his foes, rent his clothes, and is said to have had sackcloth inside them; [643]
or that the Ninevites, in order to mitigate the sentence of God, which had been
pronounced against them by the prophet, were clothed in rough sackcloth. [644]
The former is shown to have been clothed with it secretly underneath, so that
unless the upper garment had been rent it could not possibly have been known by
any one, and the latter tolerated a covering of sackcloth at a time when, since
all were mourning over the approaching destruction of the city and were clothed
with the same garments, none could be accused of ostentation. For where there is
no special difference and all are alike no harm is done. [645]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 9: CHAPTER III. OF THE HOODS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
========================================================================

There are some things besides in the dress of the Egyptians which concern not
the care of the body so much as the regulation of the character, that the
observance of simplicity and innocence may be preserved by the very character of
the clothing. For they constantly use both by day and by night very small hoods
coming down to the end of the neck and shoulders, which only cover the head, in
order that they may constantly be moved to preserve the simplicity and innocence
of little children by imitating their actual dress. [646] And these men have
returned to childhood in Christ and sing at all hours with heart and soul:
"Lord, my heart is not exalted nor are mine eyes lofty. Neither have I walked in
great matters nor in wonderful things above me. If I was not humbly minded, but
exalted my soul: as a child that is weaned is towards his mother." [647]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 10: CHAPTER IV. OF THE TUNICS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
========================================================================

They wear also linen tunics [648] which scarcely reach to the elbows, and for
the rest leave their hands bare, that the cutting off of the sleeves may suggest
that they have cut off all the deeds and works of this world, and the garment of
linen teach that they are dead to all earthly conversation, and that hereby they
may hear the Apostle saying day by day to them: "Mortify your members which are
upon the earth;" their very dress also declaring this: "For ye are dead, and
your life is hid with Christ in God;" and again: "And I live, yet now not I but
Christ liveth in me. To me indeed the world is crucified, and I to the world."
[649]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 11: CHAPTER V. OF THEIR CORDS. 
========================================================================

They also wear double scarves [651] woven of woollen yarn which the Greeks call
analaboi, but which we should name girdles [652] or strings, [653] or more
properly cords. [654] These falling down over the top of the neck and divided on
either side of the throat go round the folds (of the robe) at the armpits and
gather them up on either side, so that they can draw up and tuck in close to the
body the wide folds of the dress, and so with their arms girt they are made
active and ready for all kinds of work, endeavouring with all their might to
fulfil the Apostle's charge: "For these hands have ministered not only to me but
to those also who are with me," "Neither have we eaten any man's bread for
nought, but with labour and toil working night and day that we should not be
burdensome to any of you." And: "If any will not work neither let him eat."
[655]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 12: CHAPTER VI. OF THEIR CAPES. 
========================================================================

Next they cover their necks and shoulders with a narrow cape, aiming at modesty
of dress as well as cheapness and economy; and this is called in our language as
well as theirs mafors; and so they avoid both the expense and the display of
cloaks and great coats.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 13: CHAPTER VII. OF THE SHEEPSKIN AND THE GOATSKIN. 
========================================================================

The last article of their dress is the goat-skin, which is called melotes, or
pera, [658] and a staff, which they carry in imitation of those who foreshadowed
the lines of the monastic life in the Old Testament, of whom the Apostle says:
"They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being in want, distressed,
afflicted; of whom the world was not worthy; wandering in deserts, and in
mountains, and in dens, and in caves of the earth." [659] And this garment of
goatskin signifies that having destroyed all wantonness of carnal passions they
ought to continue in the utmost sobriety of virtue, and that nothing of the
wantonness or heat of youth, or of their old lightmindedness, should remain in
their bodies.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 14: CHAPTER VIII. OF THE STAFF OF THE EGYPTIANS. 
========================================================================

For Elisha, himself one of them, teaches that the same men used to carry a
staff; as he says to Gehazi, his servant, when sending him to raise the woman's
son to life: "Take my staff and run and go and place it on the lad's face that
he may live." [660] And the prophet would certainly not have given it to him to
take unless he had been in the habit of constantly carrying it about in his
hand. And the carrying of the staff spiritually teaches that they ought never to
walk unarmed among so many barking dogs of faults and invisible beasts of
spiritual wickedness (from which the blessed David, in his longing to be free,
says: "Deliver not, O Lord, to the beasts the soul that trusteth in Thee"),
[661] but when they attack them they ought to beat them off with the sign of the
cross and drive them far away; and when they rage furiously against them they
should annihilate them by the constant recollection of the Lord's passion and by
following the example of His mortified life.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 15: CHAPTER IX. OF THEIR SHOES. 
========================================================================

But refusing shoes, as forbidden by the command of the gospel, if bodily
weakness or the morning cold in winter or the scorching heat of midday compels
them, they merely protect their feet with sandals, explaining that by the use of
them and the Lord's permission it is implied that if, while we are still in this
world we cannot be completely set free from care and anxiety about the flesh,
nor can we be altogether released from it, we should at least provide for the
wants of the body with as little fuss and as slight an entanglement as possible:
and as for the feet of our soul which ought to be ready for our spiritual race
and always prepared for preaching the peace of the gospel (with which feet we
run after the odour of the ointments of Christ, and of which David says: "I ran
in thirst," and Jeremiah: "But I am not troubled, following Thee"), [662] we
ought not to suffer them to be entangled in the deadly cares of this world,
filling our thoughts with those things which concern not the supply of the wants
of nature, but unnecessary and harmful pleasures. And this we shall thus fulfil
if, as the Apostle advises, we "make not provision for the flesh with its
lusts." [663] But though lawfully enough they make use of these sandals, as
permitted by the Lord's command, yet they never suffer them to remain on their
feet when they approach to celebrate or to receive the holy mysteries, as they
think that they ought to observe in the letter that which was said to Moses and
to Joshua, the son of Nun: "Loose the latchet of thy shoe: for the place whereon
thou standest is holy ground." [664]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 16: CHAPTER X. OF THE MODIFICATION IN THE OBSERVANCES WHICH MAY BE PERMITTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CHARACTER OF THE CLIMATE OR THE CUSTOM OF THE DISTRICT. 
========================================================================

So much may be said, that we may not appear to have left out any article of the
dress of the Egyptians. But we need only keep to those which the situation of
the place and the customs of the district permit. For the severity of the winter
does not allow us to be satisfied with slippers [666] or tunics or a single
frock; and the covering of tiny hoods or the wearing of a sheepskin would afford
a subject for derision instead of edifying the spectators. Wherefore we hold
that we ought to introduce only those things which we have described above, and
which are adapted to the humble character of our profession and the nature of
the climate, that the chief thing about our dress may be not the novelty of the
garb, which might give some offence to men of the world, but its honourable
simplicity.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 17: CHAPTER XI. OF THE SPIRITUAL GIRDLE AND ITS MYSTICAL MEANING. 
========================================================================

Clad, therefore, in these vestments, the soldier of Christ should know first of
all that he is protected by the girdle tied round him, not only that he may be
ready in mind for all the work and business of the monastery, but also that he
may always go without being hindered by his dress. For he will be proved to be
the more ardent in purity of heart for spiritual progress and the knowledge of
Divine things in proportion as he is the more earnest in his zeal for obedience
and work. Secondly, he should realize that in the actual wearing of the girdle
there is no small mystery declaring what is demanded of him. For the girding of
the loins and binding them round with a dead skin signifies that he bears about
the mortification of those members in which are contained the seeds of lust and
lasciviousness, always knowing that the command of the gospel, which says, "Let
your loins be girt about," [668] is applied to him by the Apostle's
interpretation; to wit, "Mortify your members which are upon the earth;
fornication, uncleanness, lust, evil concupiscence." [669] And so we find in
Holy Scripture that only those were girt with the girdle in whom the seeds of
carnal lust are found to be destroyed, and who sing with might and main this
utterance of the blessed David: "For I am become like a bottle in the frost,"
[670] because when the sinful flesh is destroyed in the inmost parts they can
distend by the power of the spirit the dead skin of the outward man. And
therefore he significantly adds "in the frost," because they are never satisfied
merely with the mortification of the heart, but also have the motions of the
outward man and the incentives of nature itself frozen by the approach of the
frost of continence from without, if only, as the Apostle says, they no longer
allow any reign of sin in their mortal body, nor wear a flesh that resists the
spirit. [671]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 18: BOOK II. OF THE CANONICAL SYSTEM OF THE NOCTURNAL PRAYERS AND PSALMS.
========================================================================

Of the Canonical System of the Nocturnal Prayers and Psalms.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 19: CHAPTER I. OF THE CANONICAL SYSTEM OF THE NOCTURNAL PRAYERS AND PSALMS. 
========================================================================

Girt, therefore, with this twofold girdle of which we have spoken, [672] the
soldier of Christ should next learn the system of the canonical prayers and
Psalms which was long ago arranged by the holy fathers in the East. Of their
character, however, and of the way in which we can pray, as the Apostle directs,
"without ceasing," [673] we shall treat, as the Lord may enable us, in the
proper place, when we begin to relate the Conferences of the Elders.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 20: CHAPTER II. OF THE DIFFERENCE OF THE NUMBER OF PSALMS APPOINTED TO BE SUNG IN ALL THE PROVINCES. 
========================================================================

For we have found that many in different countries, according to the fancy of
their mind (having, indeed, as the Apostle says, "a zeal, for God but not
according to knowledge" [674] ), have made for themselves different rules and
arrangements in this matter. For some have appointed that each night twenty or
thirty Psalms should be said, and that these should be prolonged by the music of
antiphonal singing [675] , and by the addition of some modulations as well.
Others have even tried to go beyond this number. Some use eighteen. And in this
way we have found different rules appointed in different places, and the system
and regulations that we have seen are almost as many in number as the
monasteries and cells which we have visited. There are some, too, to whom it has
seemed good that in the day offices of prayer, viz., Tierce, Sext, and Nones,
[676] the number of Psalms and prayers should be made to correspond exactly to
the number of the hours at which the services are offered up to the Lord. [677]
Some have thought fit that six Psalms should be assigned to each service of the
day. And so I think it best to set forth the most ancient system of the fathers
which is still observed by the servants of God throughout the whole of Egypt, so
that your new monastery in its untrained infancy in Christ [678] may be
instructed in the most ancient institutions of the earliest fathers.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 21: CHAPTER III. OF THE OBSERVANCE OF ONE UNIFORM RULE THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE OF EGYPT, AND OF THE ELECTION OF THOSE WHO ARE SET OVER THE BRETHREN. 
========================================================================

And so throughout the whole of Egypt and the Thebaid, where monasteries are not
founded at the fancy of every man who renounces the world, but through a
succession of fathers and their traditions last even to the present day, or are
founded so to last, in these we have noticed that a prescribed system of prayers
is observed in their evening assemblies and nocturnal vigils. For no one is
allowed to preside over the assembly of the brethren, or even over himself,
before he has not only deprived himself of all his property but has also learnt
the fact that he is not his own maker and has no authority over his own actions.
For one who renounces the world, whatever property or riches he may possess,
must seek the common dwelling of a Coenobium, that he may not flatter himself in
any way with what he has forsaken or what he has brought into the monastery. He
must also be obedient to all, so as to learn that he must, as the Lord says,
[679] become again a little child, arrogating nothing to himself on the score of
his age and the number of the years which he now counts as lost while they were
spent to no purpose in the world and, as he is only a beginner, and because of
the novelty of the apprenticeship, which he knows he is serving in Christ's
service, he should not hesitate to submit himself even to his juniors. Further,
he is obliged to habituate himself to work and toil, so as to prepare with his
own hands, in accordance with the Apostle's command, [680] daily supply of food,
either for his own use or for the wants of strangers; and that he may also
forget the pride and luxury of his past life, and gain by grinding toil humility
of heart. And so no one is chosen to be set over a congregation of brethren
before that he who is to be placed in authority has learnt by obedience what he
ought to enjoin on those who are to submit to him, and has discovered from the
rules of the Elders what he ought to teach to his juniors. For they say that to
rule or to be ruled well needs a wise man, and they call it the greatest gift
and grace of the Holy Spirit, since no one can enjoin salutary precepts on those
who submit to him but one who has previously been trained in all the rules of
virtue; nor can any one obey an Elder but one who has been filled with the love
of God and perfected in the virtue of humility. And so we see that there is a
variety of rules and regulations in use throughout other districts, because we
often have the audacity to preside over a monastery without even having learnt
the system of the Elders, and appoint ourselves Abbots before we have, as we
ought, professed ourselves disciples, and are readier to require the observance
of our own inventions than to preserve the well-tried teaching of our
predecessors. But, while we meant to explain the best system of prayers to be
observed, we have in our eagerness for the institutions of the fathers
anticipated by a hasty digression the account which we were keeping back for its
proper place. And so let us now return to the subject before us.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 22: CHAPTER IV. HOW THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE OF EGYPT AND THE THEBAID THE NUMBER OF PSALMS IS FIXED AT TWELVE. 
========================================================================

So, as we said, throughout the whole of Egypt and the Thebaid the number of
Psalms is fixed at twelve both at Vespers and in the office of Nocturns, [681]
in such a way that at the close two lessons follow, one from the Old and the
other from the New Testament. [682] And this arrangement, fixed ever so long
ago, has continued unbroken to the present day throughout so many ages, in all
the monasteries of those districts, because it is said that it was no
appointment of man's invention, but was brought down from heaven to the fathers
by the ministry of an angel.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 23: CHAPTER V. HOW THE FACT THAT THE NUMBER OF THE PSALMS WAS TO BE TWELVE WAS RECEIVED FROM THE TEACHING OF AN ANGEL. 
========================================================================

For in the early days of the faith when only a few, and those the best of men,
were known by the name of monks, who, as they received that mode of life from
the Evangelist Mark of blessed memory, the first to preside over the Church of
Alexandria as Bishop, not only preserved those grand characteristics for which
we read, in the Acts of the Apostles, that the Church and multitude of believers
in primitive times was famous ("The multitude of believers had one heart and one
soul. Nor did any of them say that any of the things which he possessed was his
own: but they had all things common; for as many as were owners of lands or
houses sold them, and brought the price of the things which they sold, and laid
it at the feet of the Apostles, and distribution was made to every man as he had
need"), [683] but they added to these characteristics others still more sublime.
For withdrawing into more secluded spots outside the cities they led a life
marked by such rigorous abstinence that even to those of another creed the
exalted character of their life was a standing marvel. For they gave themselves
up to the reading of Holy Scripture and to prayers and to manual labour night
and day with such fervour that they had no desire or thoughts of food -- unless
on the second or third day bodily hunger [684] reminded them, and they took
their meat and drink not so much because they wished for it as because it was
necessary for life; and even then they took it not before sunset, in order that
they might connect the hours of daylight with the practice of spiritual
meditations, and the care of the body with the night, and might perform other
things much more exalted than these. And about these matters, one who has never
heard anything from one who is at home in such things, may learn from
ecclesiastical history. [685] At that time, therefore, when the perfection of
the primitive Church remained unbroken, and was still preserved fresh in the
memory by their followers and successors, and when the fervent faith of the few
had not yet grown lukewarm by being dispersed among the many, the venerable
fathers with watchful care made provision for those to come after them, and met
together to discuss what plan should be adopted for the daily worship throughout
the whole body of the brethren; that they might hand on to those who should
succeed them a legacy of piety and peace that was free from all dispute and
dissension, for they were afraid that in regard of the daily services some
difference or dispute might arise among those who joined together in the same
worship, and at some time or other it might send forth a poisonous root of error
or jealousy or schism among those who came after. And when each man in
proportion to his own fervour -- and unmindful of the weakness of others --
thought that that should be appointed which he judged was quite easy by
considering his own faith and strength, taking too little account of what would
be possible for the great mass of the brethren in general (wherein a very large
proportion of weak ones is sure to be found); and when in different degrees they
strove, each according to his own powers, to fix an enormous number of Psalms,
and some were for fifty, others sixty, and some, not content with this number,
thought that they actually ought to go beyond it, -- there was such a holy
difference of opinion in their pious discussion on the rule of their religion
that the time for their Vesper office came before the sacred question was
decided; and, as they were going to celebrate their daily rites and prayers, one
rose up in the midst to chant the Psalms to the Lord. And while they were all
sitting (as is still the custom in Egypt [686] ), with their minds intently
fixed on the words of the chanter, when he had sung eleven Psalms, separated by
prayers introduced between them, verse after verse being evenly enunciated,
[687] he finished the twelfth with a response of Alleluia, [688] and then, by
his sudden disappearance from the eyes of all, put an end at once to their
discussion and their service. [689]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 24: CHAPTER VI. OF THE CUSTOM OF HAVING TWELVE PRAYERS. 
========================================================================

Whereupon the venerable assembly of the Fathers understood that by Divine
Providence a general rule had been fixed for the congregations of the brethren
through the angel's direction, and so decreed that this number should be
preserved both in their evening and in their nocturnal services; and when they
added to these two lessons, one from the Old and one from the New Testament,
they added them simply as extras and of their own appointment, only for those
who liked, and who were eager to gain by constant study a mind well stored with
Holy Scripture. But on Saturday and Sunday they read them both from the New
Testament; viz., one from the Epistles [690] or the Acts of the Apostles, and
one from the Gospel. [691] And this also those do whose concern is the reading
and the recollection of the Scriptures, from Easter to Whitsuntide. [692]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 25: CHAPTER VII. OF THEIR METHOD OF PRAYING. 
========================================================================

These aforesaid prayers, then, they begin and finish in such a way that when the
Psalm is ended they do not hurry at once to kneel down, as some of us do in this
country, who, before the Psalm is fairly ended, make haste to prostrate
themselves for prayer, in their hurry to finish the service [693] as quickly as
possible. For though we have chosen to exceed the limit which was anciently
fixed by our predecessors, supplying the number of the remaining Psalms, we are
anxious to get to the end of the service, thinking of the refreshment of the
wearied body rather than looking for profit and benefit from the prayer. Among
them, therefore, it is not so, but before they bend their knees they pray for a
few moments, and while they are standing up spend the greater part of the time
in prayer. And so after this, for the briefest space of time, they prostrate
themselves to the ground, as if but adoring the Divine Mercy, and as soon as
possible rise up, and again standing erect with outspread hands -- just as they
had been standing to pray before -- remain with thoughts intent upon their
prayers. For when you lie prostrate for any length of time upon the ground you
are more open to an attack, they say, not only of wandering thoughts but also
slumber. And would that we too did not know the truth of this by experience and
daily practice -- we who when prostrating ourselves on the ground too often wish
for this attitude to be prolonged for some time, not for the sake of our prayer
so much as for the sake of resting. But when he who is to "collect" the prayer
[694] rises from the ground they all start up at once, so that no one would
venture to bend the knee before he bows down, nor to delay when he has risen
from the ground, lest it should be thought that he has offered his own prayer
independently instead of following the leader to the close.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 26: CHAPTER VIII. OF THE PRAYER WHICH FOLLOWS THE PSALM. 
========================================================================

That practice too which we have observed in this country -- viz., that while one
sings to the end of the Psalm, all standing up sing together with a loud voice,
"Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost" -- we have never
heard anywhere throughout the East, but there, while all keep silence when the
Psalm is finished, the prayer that follows is offered up by the singer. But with
this hymn in honour of the Trinity only the whole Psalmody [695] is usually
ended. [696]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 27: CHAPTER IX. OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PRAYER, THE FULLER TREATMENT OF WHICH IS RESERVED FOR THE CONFERENCES OF THE ELDERS. 
========================================================================

And as the plan of these Institutes leads us to the system of the canonical
prayers, the fuller treatment of which we will however reserve for the
Conferences of the Elders (where we shall speak of them at greater length when
we have begun to tell in their own words of the character of their prayers, and
how continuous they are), still I think it well, as far as the place and my
narrative permit, as the occasion offers itself, to glance briefly for the
present at a few points, so that by picturing in the meanwhile the movements of
the outer man, and by now laying the foundations, as it were, of the prayer, we
may afterwards, when we come to speak of the inner man, with less labour build
up the complete edifice of his prayers; providing, above all, for this, that if
the end of life should overtake us and cut us off from finishing the narration
which we are anxious (D.V.) fitly to compose, we may at least leave in this work
the beginnings of so necessary a matter to you, to whom everything seems a
delay, by reason of the fervour of your desire: so that, if a few more years of
life are granted to us, we may at least mark out for you some outlines of their
prayers, that those above all who live in monasteries may have some information
about them; providing also, at the same time, that those who perhaps may meet
only with this book, and be unable to procure the other, may find that they are
supplied with some sort of information about the nature of their prayers; and as
they are instructed about the dress and clothing of the outer man, so too they
may not be ignorant what his behaviour ought to be in offering spiritual
sacrifices. Since, though these books, which we are now arranging with the
Lord's help to write, are mainly taken up with what belongs to the outer man and
the customs of the Coenobia, yet those will rather be concerned with the
training of the inner man and the perfection of the heart, and the life and
doctrine of the Anchorites.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 28: CHAPTER X. OF THE SILENCE AND CONCISENESS WITH WHICH THE COLLECTS ARE OFFERED UP BY THE EGYPTIANS. 
========================================================================

When, then, they meet together to celebrate the aforementioned rites, which they
term synaxes, [697] they are all so perfectly silent that, though so large a
number of the brethren is assembled together, you would not think a single
person was present except the one who stands up and chants the Psalm in the
midst; and especially is this the case when the prayer is offered up, [698] for
then there is no spitting, no clearing of the throat, or noise of coughing, no
sleepy yawning with open mouths, and gaping, and no groans or sighs are uttered,
likely to distract those standing near. No voice is heard save that of the
priest concluding the prayer, except perhaps one that escapes the lips through
aberration of mind and unconsciously takes the heart by surprise, inflamed as it
is with an uncontrollable and irrepressible fervour of spirit, while that which
the glowing mind is unable to keep to itself strives through a sort of
unutterable groaning to make its escape from the inmost chambers of the breast.
But if any one infected with coldness of mind prays out loud or emits any of
those sounds we have mentioned, or is overcome by a fit of yawning, they declare
that he is guilty of a double fault. He is blameworthy, first, as regards his
own prayer because he offers it to God in a careless way; and, secondly, because
by his unmannerly noise he disturbs the thoughts of another who would otherwise
perhaps have been able to pray with greater attention. And so their rule is that
the prayer ought to be brought to an end with a speedy conclusion, lest while we
are lingering over it some superfluity of spittle or phlegm should interfere
with the close of our prayer. And, therefore, while it is still glowing the
prayer is to be snatched as speedily as possible out of the jaws of the enemy,
who, although he is indeed always hostile to us, is yet never more hostile than
when he sees that we are anxious to offer up prayers to God against his attacks;
and by exciting wandering thoughts and all sorts of rheums he endeavours to
distract our minds from attending to our prayers, and by this means tries to
make it grow cold, though begun with fervour. Wherefore they think it best for
the prayers to be short and offered up very frequently: [699] on the one hand
that by so often praying to the Lord we may be able to cleave to Him
continually; on the other, that when the devil is lying in wait for us, we may
by their terse brevity avoid the darts with which he endeavours to wound us
especially when we are saying our prayers.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 29: CHAPTER XI. OF THE SYSTEM ACCORDING TO WHICH THE PSALMS ARE SAID AMONG THE EGYPTIANS. 
========================================================================

And, therefore, they do not even attempt to finish the Psalms, which they sing
in the service, by an unbroken and continuous recitation. But they repeat them
separately and bit by bit, divided into two or three sections, according to the
number of verses, with prayers in between. [700] For they do not care about the
quantity of verses, but about the intelligence of the mind; aiming with all
their might at this: "I will sing with the spirit: I will sing also with the
understanding." [701] And so they consider it better for ten verses to be sung
with understanding and thought [702] than for a whole Psalm to be poured forth
with a bewildered mind. And this is sometimes caused by the hurry of the
speaker, when, thinking of the character and number of the remaining Psalms to
be sung, he takes no pains to make the meaning clear to his hearers, but hastens
on to get to the end of the service. Lastly, if any of the younger monks, either
through fervour of spirit or because he has not yet been properly taught, goes
beyond the proper limit of what is to be sung, the one who is singing the Psalm
is stopped by the senior clapping his hands where he sits in his stall, and
making them all rise for prayer. Thus they take every possible care that no
weariness may creep in among them as they sit through the length of the Psalms,
as thereby not only would the singer himself lose the fruits of understanding,
but also loss would be incurred by those whom he made to feel the service a
weariness by going on so long. They also observe this with the greatest care;
viz., that no Psalm should be said with the response of Alleluia except those
which are marked with the inscription of Alleluia in their title. [703] But the
aforesaid number of twelve Psalms they divide in such a way that, if there are
two brethren they each sing six; if there are three, then four; and if four,
three each. A smaller number than this they never sing in the congregation, and
accordingly, however large a congregation is assembled, not more than four
brethren sing in the service. [704]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 30: CHAPTER XII. OF THE REASON WHY WHILE ONE SINGS THE PSALMS THE REST SIT DOWN DURING THE SERVICE; AND OF THE ZEAL WITH WHICH THEY AFTERWARDS PROLONG THEIR VIGILS IN THEIR CELLS TILL DAYBREAK. 
========================================================================

This canonical system of twelve Psalms, of which we have spoken, they render
easier by such bodily rest that when, after their custom, they celebrate these
services, they all, except the one who stands up in the midst to recite the
Psalms, sit in very low stalls and follow the voice of the singer with the
utmost attention of heart. For they are so worn out with fasting and working all
day and night that, unless they were helped by some such indulgence, they could
not possibly get through this number standing up. For they allow no time to pass
idly without the performance of some work, because not only do they strive with
all earnestness to do with their hands those things which can be done in
daylight, but also with anxious minds they examine into those sorts of work
which not even the darkness of night can put a stop to, as they hold that they
will gain a far deeper insight into subjects of spiritual contemplation with
purity of heart, the more earnestly that they devote themselves to work and
labour. And therefore they consider that a moderate allowance of canonical
prayers was divinely arranged in order that for those who are very ardent in
faith room might be left in which their never-tiring flow of virtue might spend
itself, and notwithstanding no loathing arise in their wearied and weak bodies
from too large a quantity. And so, when the offices of the canonical prayers
have been duly finished, every one returns to his own cell (which he inhabits
alone, or is allowed to share with only one other whom partnership in work or
training in discipleship and learning has joined with him, or perhaps similarity
of character has made his companion), and again they offer with greater
earnestness the same service of prayer, as their special private sacrifice, as
it were; nor do any of them give themselves up any further to rest and sleep
till when the brightness of day comes on the labours of the day succeed the
labours and meditations of the night.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 31: CHAPTER XIII. THE REASON WHY THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED TO GO TO SLEEP AFTER THE NIGHT SERVICE. 
========================================================================

And these labours they keep up for two reasons, besides this consideration, --
that they believe that when they are diligently exerting themselves they are
offering to God a sacrifice of the fruit of their hands. And, if we are aiming
at perfection; we also ought to observe this with the same diligence. First,
lest our envious adversary, jealous of our purity against which he is always
plotting, and ceaselessly hostile to us, should by some illusion in a dream
pollute the purity which has been gained by the Psalms and prayers of the night:
for after that satisfaction which we have offered for our negligence and
ignorance, and the absolution implored with profuse sighs in our confession, he
anxiously tries, if he finds some time given to repose, to defile us; then above
all endeavouring to overthrow and weaken our trust in God when he sees by the
purity of our prayers that we are making most fervent efforts towards God: so
that sometimes, when he has been unable to injure some the whole night long, he
does his utmost to disgrace them in that short hour. Secondly, because, even if
no such dreaded illusion of the devil arises, even a pure sleep in the interval
produces laziness in the case of the monk who ought soon to wake up; and,
bringing on a sluggish torpor in the mind, it dulls his vigour throughout the
whole day, and deadens that keenness of perception and exhausts that energy
[706] of heart which would be capable of keeping us all day long more watchful
against all the snares of the enemy and more robust. Wherefore to the Canonical
Vigils there are added these private watchings, and they submit to them with the
greater care, both in order that the purity which has been gained by Psalms and
prayers may not be lost, and also that a more intense carefulness to guard us
diligently through the day may be secured beforehand by the meditation of the
night.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 32: CHAPTER XIV. OF THE WAY IN WHICH THEY DEVOTE THEMSELVES IN THEIR CELLS EQUALLY TO MANUAL LABOUR AND TO PRAYER. 
========================================================================

And therefore they supplement their prayer by the addition of labour, lest
slumber might steal upon them as idlers. For as they scarcely enjoy any time of
leisure, so there is no limit put to their spiritual meditations. For practising
equally the virtues of the body and of the soul, they balance what is due to the
outer by what is profitable to the inner man; [707] steadying the slippery
motions of the heart and the shifting fluctuations of the thoughts by the weight
of labour, like some strong and immoveable anchor, by which the changeableness
and wanderings of the heart, fastened within the barriers of the cell, may be
shut up in some perfectly secure harbour, and so, intent only on spiritual
meditation and watchfulness over the thoughts, may not only forbid the watchful
mind to give a hasty consent to any evil suggestions, but may also keep it safe
from any unnecessary and idle thoughts: so that it is not easy to say which
depends on the other -- I mean, whether they practise their incessant manual
labour for the sake of spiritual meditation, or whether it is for the sake of
their continuous labours that they acquire such remarkable spiritual proficiency
and light of knowledge.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 33: CHAPTER XV. OF THE DISCREET RULE BY WHICH EVERY ONE MUST RETIRE TO HIS CELL AFTER THE CLOSE OF THE PRAYERS; AND OF THE REBUKE TO WHICH ANY ONE WHO DOES OTHERWISE IS SUBJECT. 
========================================================================

And so, when the Psalms are finished, and the daily assembly, as we said above,
is broken up, none of them dares to loiter ever so little or to gossip with
another: nor does he presume even to leave his cell throughout the whole day, or
to forsake the work which he is wont to carry on in it, except when they happen
to be called out for the performance of some necessary duty, which they fulfil
by going out of doors so that there may not be any chattering at all among them.
But every one does the work assigned to him in such a way that, by repeating by
heart some Psalm or passage of Scripture, he gives no opportunity or time for
dangerous schemes or evil designs, or even for idle talk, as both mouth and
heart are incessantly taken up with spiritual meditations. For they are most
particular in observing this rule, that none of them, and especially of the
younger ones, may be caught stopping even for a moment or going anywhere
together with another, or holding his hands in his. But, if they discover any
who in defiance of the discipline of this rule have perpetrated any of these
forbidden things, they pronounce them guilty of no slight fault, as contumacious
and disobedient to the rules; nor are they free from suspicion of plotting and
nefarious designs. And, unless they expiate their fault by public penance when
all the brethren are gathered together, none of them is allowed to be present at
the prayers of the brethren.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 34: CHAPTER XVI. HOW NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO PRAY WITH ONE WHO HAS BEEN SUSPENDED FROM PRAYER. 
========================================================================

Further, if one of them has been suspended from prayer for some fault which he
has committed, no one has any liberty of praying with him before he performs his
penance on the ground, [709] and reconciliation and pardon for his offence has
been publicly granted to him by the Abbot before all the brethren. For by a plan
of this kind they separate and cut themselves off from fellowship with him in
prayer for this reason -- because they believe that one who is suspended from
prayer is, as the Apostle says, "delivered unto Satan:" [710] and if any one,
moved by an ill-considered affection, dares to hold communion with him in prayer
before he has been received by the elder, he makes himself partaker of his
damnation, and delivers himself up of his own free will to Satan, to whom the
other had been consigned for the correction of his guilt. And in this he falls
into a more grievous offence because, by uniting with him in fellowship either
in talk or in prayer, he gives him grounds for still greater arrogance, and only
encourages and makes worse the obstinacy of the offender. For, by giving him a
consolation that is only hurtful, he will make his heart still harder, and not
let him humble himself for the fault for which he was excommunicated; and
through this he will make him hold the Elder's rebuke as of no consequence, and
harbour deceitful thoughts about satisfaction and absolution.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 35: CHAPTER XVII. HOW HE WHO ROUSES THEM FOR PRAYER OUGHT TO CALL THEM AT THE USUAL TIME. 
========================================================================

But he who has been entrusted with the office of summoning the religious
assembly and with the care of the service should not presume to rouse the
brethren for their daily vigils irregularly, as he pleases, or as he may wake up
in the night, or as the accident of his own sleep or sleeplessness may incline
him. But, although daily habit may constrain him to wake at the usual hour, yet
by often and anxiously ascertaining by the course of the stars the right hour
for service, he should summon them to the office of prayer, lest he be found
careless in one of two ways: either if, overcome with sleep, he lets the proper
hour of the night go by, or if, wanting to go to bed and impatient for his
sleep, he anticipates it, and so may be thought to have secured is own repose
instead of attending to the spiritual office and the rest of all the others.
[711]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 36: CHAPTER XVIII. HOW THEY DO NOT KNEEL FROM THE EVENING OF SATURDAY TILL THE EVENING OF SUNDAY. 
========================================================================

This, too, we ought to know, -- that from the evening of Saturday which precedes
the Sunday, [712] up to the following evening, among the Egyptians they never
kneel, nor from Easter to Whitsuntide; [713] nor do they at these times observe
a rule of fasting, [714] the reason for which shall be explained in its proper
place in the Conferences of the Elders, [715] if the Lord permits. At present we
only propose to run through the causes very briefly, lest our book exceed its
due limits and prove tiresome or burdensome to the reader.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 37: BOOK III. OF THE CANONICAL SYSTEM OF THE DAILY PRAYERS AND PSALMS.
========================================================================

Of the Canonical System of the Daily Prayers and Psalms.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 38: CHAPTER I. OF THE SERVICES OF THE THIRD, SIXTH, AND NINTH HOURS, WHICH ARE OBSERVED IN THE REGIONS OF SYRIA. 
========================================================================

The nocturnal system of prayers and Psalms as observed throughout Egypt has
been, I think, by God's help, explained so far as our slender ability was able;
and now we must speak of the services of Tierce, Sext, and None, according to
the rule of the monasteries of Palestine and Mesopotamia, [716] as we said in
the Preface, and must moderate by the customs of these the perfection and
inimitable rigour of the discipline of the Egyptians.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 39: CHAPTER II. HOW AMONG THE EGYPTIANS THEY APPLY THEMSELVES ALL DAY LONG TO PRAYER AND PSALM CONTINUALLY, WITH THE ADDITION OF WORK, WITHOUT DISTINCTION OF HOURS. 
========================================================================

For among them (viz., the Egyptians) these offices which we are taught to render
to the Lord at separate hours and at intervals of time, with a reminder from the
convener, are celebrated continuously throughout the whole day, with the
addition of work, and that of their own free will. For manual labour is
incessantly practised by them in their cells in such a way that meditation on
the Psalms and the rest of the Scriptures is never entirely omitted. And as with
it at every moment they mingle suffrages and prayers, they spend the whole day
in those offices which we celebrate at fixed times. Wherefore, except Vespers
and Nocturns, there are no public services among them in the day except on
Saturday and Sunday, when they meet together at the third hour for the purpose
of Holy Communion. [717] For that which is continuously offered is more than
what is rendered at intervals of time; and more acceptable as a free gift than
the duties which are performed by the compulsion of a rule: as David for this
rejoices somewhat exultingly when he says, "Freely will I sacrifice unto Thee;"
and, "Let the free will offerings of my mouth be pleasing to Thee, O Lord."
[718]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 40: CHAPTER III. HOW THROUGHOUT ALL THE EAST THE SERVICES OF TIERCE, SEXT, AND NONE ARE ENDED WITH ONLY THREE PSALMS AND PRAYERS EACH; AND THE REASON WHY THESE SPIRITUAL OFFICES ARE ASSIGNED MORE PARTICULARLY TO THOSE HOURS. 
========================================================================

And so in the monasteries of Palestine and Mesopotamia and all the East the
services of the above-mentioned hours are ended each day with three Psalms
apiece, so that constant prayers may be offered to God at the appointed times,
and yet, the spiritual duties being completed with due moderation, the necessary
offices of work may not be in any way interfered with: for at these three
seasons we know that Daniel the prophet also poured forth his prayers to God day
by day in his chamber with the windows open. [719] Nor is it without good
reasons that these times are more particularly assigned to religious offices,
since at them what completed the promises and summed up our salvation was
fulfilled. For we can show that at the third hour the Holy Spirit, who had been
of old promised by the prophets, descended in the first instance on the Apostles
assembled together for prayer. For when in their astonishment at the speaking
with tongues, which proceeded from them through the outpouring of the Holy Ghost
upon them, the unbelieving people of the Jews mocked and said that they were
full of new wine, then Peter, standing up in the midst of them, said: "Men of
Israel, and all ye who dwell at Jerusalem, let this be known unto you, and
consider my words. For these men are not, as ye imagine, drunk, since it is the
third hour of the day; but this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel:
and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith the Lord, I will pour out of
my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and
your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams. And indeed
upon my servants and my handmaids in those days I will pour out of my Spirit,
and they shall prophesy." [720] And all of this was fulfilled at the third hour,
when the Holy Spirit, announced before by the prophets, came at that hour and
abode upon the Apostles. But at the sixth hour the spotless Sacrifice, our Lord
and Saviour, was offered up to the Father, and, ascending the cross for the
salvation of the whole world, made atonement for the sins of mankind, and,
despoiling principalities and powers, led them away openly; and all of us who
were liable to death and bound by the debt of the handwriting that could not be
paid, He freed, by taking it away out of the midst and affixing it to His cross
for a trophy. [721] At the same hour, too, to Peter, in an ecstasy of mind,
there was divinely revealed both the calling of the Gentiles by the letting down
of the Gospel vessel from heaven, and also the cleansing of all the living
creatures contained in it, when a voice came to him and said to him: "Rise,
Peter; kill and eat;" [722] which vessel, let down from heaven by the four
corners, is plainly seen to signify nothing else than the Gospel. For although,
as it is divided by the fourfold narrative of the Evangelists, it seems to have
"four corners" (or beginnings), yet the body of the Gospel is but one;
embracing, as it does, the birth as well as the Godhead, and the miracles as
well as the passion of one and the same Christ. Excellently, too, it says not
"of linen" but "as if of linen." For linen signifies death. Since, then, our
Lord's death and passion were not undergone by the law of human nature, but of
His own free will, it says "as if of linen." For when dead according to the
flesh He was not dead according to the spirit, because "His soul was not left in
hell, neither did His flesh see corruption." [723] And again He says: "No man
taketh My life from Me but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it again." [724] And so in this vessel of the Gospels
let down from heaven, that is written by the Holy Ghost, all the nations which
were formerly outside the observance of the law and reckoned as unclean now flow
together through belief in the faith that they may to their salvation be turned
away from the worship of idols and be serviceable for health-giving food, and
are brought to Peter and cleansed by the voice of the Lord. But at the ninth
hour, penetrating to hades, He there by the brightness of His splendour
extinguished the indescribable darkness of hell, and, bursting its brazen gates
and breaking the iron bars brought away with Him to the skies the captive band
of saints which was there shut up and detained in the darkness of inexorable
hell, [725] and, by taking away the fiery sword, restored to paradise its
original inhabitants by his pious confession. At the same hour, too, Cornelius,
the centurion, continuing with his customary devotion in his prayers, is made
aware through the converse of the angel with him that his prayers and alms are
remembered before the Lord, and at the ninth hour the mystery [726] of the
calling of the Gentiles is clearly shown to him, which had been revealed to
Peter in his ecstasy of mind at the sixth hour. In another passage, too, in the
Acts of the Apostles, we are told as follows about the same time: "But Peter and
John went up into the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour." [727] And
by these notices it is clearly proved that these hours were not without good
reason consecrated with religious services by holy and apostolic men, and ought
to be observed in like manner by us, who, unless we are compelled, as it were,
by some rule to discharge these pious offices at least at stated times, either
through sloth or through forgetfulness, or being absorbed in business, spend the
whole day without engaging in prayer. But concerning the evening sacrifices what
is to be said, since even in the Old Testament these are ordered to be offered
continually by the law of Moses? For that the morning whole-burnt offerings and
evening sacrifices were offered every day continually in the temple, although
with figurative offerings, we can show from that which is sung by David: "Let my
prayer be set forth in Thy sight as the incense, and let the lifting up of my
hands be an evening sacrifice," [728] in which place we can understand it in a
still higher sense of that true evening sacrifice which was given by the Lord
our Saviour in the evening to the Apostles at the Supper, when He instituted the
holy mysteries of the Church, and of that evening sacrifice which He Himself, on
the following day, in the end of the ages, offered up to the Father by the
lifting up of His hands for the salvation of the whole world; which spreading
forth of His hands on the Cross is quite correctly called a "lifting up." For
when we were all lying in hades He raised us to heaven, according to the word of
His own promise when He says: "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw
all men unto Me." [729] But concerning Mattins, that also teaches us which it is
customary every day to sing at it: "O God, my God, to Thee do I watch at break
of day;" and "I will meditate on Thee in the morning;" and "I prevented the
dawning of the day and cried;" and again, "Mine eyes to Thee have prevented the
morning, that I might meditate on Thy words." [730] At these hours too that
householder in the Gospel hired labourers into his vineyard. For thus also is he
described as having hired them in the early morning, which time denotes the
Mattin office; then at the third hour; then at the sixth; after this, at the
ninth; and last of all, at the eleventh, [731] by which the hour of the lamps
[732] is denoted. [733]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 41: CHAPTER IV. HOW THE MATTIN OFFICE WAS NOT APPOINTED BY AN ANCIENT TRADITION BUT WAS STARTED IN OUR OWN DAY FOR A DEFINITE REASON. 
========================================================================

But you must know that this Mattins, which is now very generally observed in
Western countries, was appointed as a canonical office in our own day, and also
in our own monastery, where our Lord Jesus Christ was born of a Virgin and
deigned to submit to growth in infancy as man, and where by His Grace He
supported our own infancy, still tender in religion, and, as it were, fed with
milk. [734] For up till that time we find that when this office of Mattins
(which is generally celebrated after a short interval after the Psalms and
prayers of Nocturns in the monasteries of Gaul) was finished, together with the
daily vigils, the remaining hours were assigned by our Elders to bodily
refreshment. But when some rather carelessly abused this indulgence and
prolonged their time for sleep too long, as they were not obliged by the
requirements of any service to leave their cells or rise from their beds till
the third hour; and when, as well as losing their labour, they were drowsy from
excess of sleep in the daytime, when they ought to have been applying themselves
to some duties, (especially on those days when an unusually oppressive weariness
was caused by their keeping watch from the evening till the approach of
morning), a complaint was brought to the Elders by some of the brethren who were
ardent in spirit and in no slight measure disturbed by this carelessness, and it
was determined by them after long discussion and anxious consideration that up
till sunrise, when they could without harm be ready to read or to undertake
manual labour, time for rest should be given to their wearied bodies, and after
this they should all be summoned to the observance of this service and should
rise from their beds, and by reciting three Psalms and prayers (after the order
anciently fixed for the observance of Tierce and Sext, to signify the confession
of the Trinity) [735] should at the same time by an uniform arrangement put an
end to their sleep and make a beginning to their work. And this form, although
it may seem to have arisen out of an accident and to have been appointed within
recent memory for the reason given above, yet it clearly makes up according to
the letter that number which the blessed David indicates (although it can be
taken spiritually): "Seven times a day do I praise Thee because of Thy righteous
judgments." [736] For by the addition of this service we certainly hold these
spiritual assemblies seven times a day, and are shown to sing praises to God
seven times in it. [737] Lastly, though this same form, starting from the East,
has most beneficially spread to these parts, yet still in some long-established
monasteries in the East, which will not brook the slightest violation of the old
rules of the Fathers, it seems never to have been introduced. [738]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 42: CHAPTER V. HOW THEY OUGHT NOT TO GO BACK TO BED AGAIN AFTER THE MATTIN PRAYERS. 
========================================================================

But some in this province, not knowing the reason why this office was appointed
and introduced, go back again to bed after their Mattin prayers are finished,
and in spite of it fall into that very habit to check which our Elders
instituted this service. For they are eager to finish it at that hour, that an
opportunity maybe given, to those who are inclined to be indifferent and not
careful enough, to go back to bed again, which most certainly ought not to be
done (as we showed more fully in the previous book when describing the service
of the Egyptians), [739] for fear lest the force of our natural passions should
be aroused and stain that purity of ours which was gained by humble confession
and prayers before the dawn, or some illusion of the enemy pollute us, or even
the repose of a pure and natural sleep interfere with the fervour of our spirit
and make us lazy and slothful throughout the whole day, as we are chilled by the
sluggishness caused by sleep. And to avoid this the Egyptians, and especially as
they are in the habit of rising at fixed times even before the cock-crow, when
the canonical office [740] has been celebrated, afterwards prolong their vigils
even to daylight, that the morning light when it comes on them may find them
established in fervour of spirit, and keep them still more careful and fervent
all through the day, as it has found them prepared for the conflict and
strengthened against their daily struggle with the devil by the practice of
nocturnal vigils and spiritual meditation.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 43: CHAPTER VI. HOW NO CHANGE WAS MADE BY THE ELDERS IN THE ANCIENT SYSTEM OF PSALMS WHEN THE MATTIN OFFICE WAS INSTITUTED. 
========================================================================

But this too we ought to know, viz., that no change was made in the ancient
arrangement of Psalms by our Elders who decided that this Mattin service should
be added; [741] but that office [742] was always celebrated in their nocturnal
assemblies according to the same order as it had been before. For the hymns
which in this country they used at the Mattin service at the close of the
nocturnal vigils, which they are accustomed to finish after the cock-crowing and
before dawn, these they still sing in like manner; viz., Ps.148, beginning "O
praise the Lord from heaven," and the rest which follow; but the 50th Psalm and
the 62nd, and the 89th have, we know, been assigned to this new service. Lastly,
throughout Italy at this day, when the Mattin hymns are ended, the 50th Psalm is
sung in all the churches, which I have no doubt can only have been derived from
this source.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 44: CHAPTER VII. HOW ONE WHO DOES NOT COME TO THE DAILY PRAYER BEFORE THE END OF THE FIRST PSALM IS NOT ALLOWED TO ENTER THE ORATORY; BUT AT NOCTURNES A LATE ARRIVAL UP TO THE END OF THE SECOND PSALM CAN BE OVERLOOKED. 
========================================================================

But one who at Tierce, Sext, or None has not come to prayer before the Psalm is
begun and finished does not venture further to enter the Oratory nor to join
himself to those singing the Psalms; but, standing outside, he awaits the
breaking-up of the congregation, [743] and while they are all coming out does
penance lying on the ground, and obtains absolution for his carelessness and
lateness, knowing that he can in no other way expiate the fault of his sloth,
nor can ever be admitted to the service which will follow three hours later,
unless he has been quick to make satisfaction at once for his present negligence
by the help of true humility. But in the nocturnal assemblies a late arrival up
to the second Psalm is allowed, provided that before the Psalm is finished and
the brethren bow down in prayer he makes haste to take his place in the
congregation and join them; but he will most certainly be subjected to the same
blame and penance which we mentioned before if he has delayed ever so little
beyond the hour permitted for a late arrival. [744]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 45: CHAPTER VIII. OF THE VIGIL SERVICE WHICH IS CELEBRATED ON THE EVENING PRECEDING THE SABBATH; OF ITS LENGTH, AND THE MANNER IN WHICH IT IS OBSERVED. 
========================================================================

In the winter time, however, when the nights are longer, the Vigils, [745] which
are celebrated every week on the evening at the commencing the Sabbath, are
arranged by the elders in the monasteries to last till the fourth cock-crowing,
for this reason, viz., that after the watch through the whole night they may, by
resting their bodies for the remaining time of nearly two hours, avoid flagging
through drowsiness the whole day long, and be content with repose for this short
time instead of resting the whole night. And it is proper for us, too, to
observe this with the utmost care, that we may be content with the sleep which
is allowed us after the office of Vigils up to daybreak, -- i.e., till the
Mattin Psalms, [746] -- and afterwards spend the whole day in work and necessary
duties, lest through weariness from the Vigils, and feebleness, we might be
forced to take by day the sleep which we cut off from the night, and so be
thought not to have cut short our bodily rest so much as to have changed our
time for repose and nightly retirement. For our feeble flesh could not possibly
be defrauded of the whole night's rest and yet keep its vigour unshaken
throughout the following day without sleepiness of mind and heaviness of spirit,
as it will be hindered rather than helped by this unless after Vigils are over
it enjoys a short slumber. And, therefore, if, as we have suggested, at least an
hour's sleep is snatched before daybreak, we shall save all the hours of Vigils
which we have spent all through the night in prayer, granting to nature what is
due to it, and having no necessity of taking back by day what we have cut off
from the night. For a man will certainly have to give up everything to this
flesh if he tries, not in a rational manner to withhold a part only, but to
refuse the whole, and (to speak candidly) is anxious to cut off not what is
superfluous but what is necessary. Wherefore Vigils have to be made up for with
greater interest if they are prolonged with ill-considered and unreasonable
length till daybreak. And so they divide them into an office in three parts,
that by this variety the effort may be distributed and the exhaustion of the
body relieved by some agreeable relaxation. For when standing they have sung
three Psalms antiphonally, [747] after this, sitting on the ground or in very
low stalls, one of them repeats three Psalms, while the rest respond, each Psalm
being assigned to one of the brethren, who succeed each other in turn; and to
these they add three lessons while still sitting quietly. And so, by lessening
their bodily exertion, they manage to observe their Vigils with greater
attention of mind. [748]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 46: CHAPTER IX. THE REASON WHY A VIGIL IS APPOINTED AS THE SABBATH DAY DAWNS, AND WHY A DISPENSATION FROM FASTING IS ENJOYED ON THE SABBATH ALL THROUGH THE EAST. 
========================================================================

And throughout the whole of the East it has been settled, ever since the time of
the preaching of the Apostles, when the Christian faith and religion was
founded, that these Vigils should be celebrated as the Sabbath dawns, [749] for
this reason, -- because, when our Lord and Saviour had been crucified on the
sixth day of the week, the disciples, overwhelmed by the freshness of His
sufferings, remained watching throughout the whole night, giving no rest or
sleep to their eyes. Wherefore, since that time, a service of Vigils has been
appointed for this night, and is still observed in the same way up to the
present day all through the East. And so, after the exertion of the Vigil, a
dispensation from fasting, appointed in like manner for the Sabbath by apostolic
men, [750] is not without reason enjoined in all the churches of the East, in
accordance with that saying of Ecclesiastes, which, although it has another and
a mystical sense, is not misapplied to this, by which we are charged to give to
both days -- that is, to the seventh and eighth equally -- the same share of the
service, as it says: "Give a portion to these seven and also to these eight."
[751] For this dispensation from fasting must not be understood as a
participation in the Jewish festival by those above all who are shown to be free
from all Jewish superstition, but as contributing to that rest of the wearied
body of which we have spoken; which, as it fasts continually for five days in
the week all through the year, would easily be worn out and fail, unless it were
revived by an interval of at least two days.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 47: CHAPTER X. HOW IT WAS BROUGHT ABOUT THAT THEY FAST ON THE SABBATH IN THE CITY. 
========================================================================

But some people in some countries of the West, and especially in the city, [752]
not knowing the reason of this indulgence, think that a dispensation from
fasting ought certainly not to be allowed on the Sabbath, because they say that
on this day the Apostle Peter fasted before his encounter with Simon. [753] But
from this it is quite clear that he did this not in accordance with a canonical
rule, but rather through the needs of his impending struggle. Since there, too,
for the same purpose, Peter seems to have imposed on his disciples not a general
but a special fast, which he certainly would not have done if he had known that
it was wont to be observed by canonical rule: just as he would surely have been
ready to appoint it even on Sunday, if the occasion of his struggle had fallen
upon it: but no canonical rule of fasting would have been made general from
this, because it was no general observance that led to it, but a matter of
necessity, which forced it to be observed on a single occasion.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 48: CHAPTER XI. OF THE POINTS IN WHICH THE SERVICE HELD ON SUNDAY DIFFERS FROM WHAT IS CUSTOMARY ON OTHER DAYS. 
========================================================================

But we ought to know this, too, that on Sunday only one office [754] is
celebrated before dinner, at which, out of regard for the actual service [755]
and the Lord's communion, they use a more solemn and a longer service of Psalms
and prayers and lessons, and so consider that Tierce and Sext are included in
it. And hence it results that, owing to the addition of the lessons, there is no
diminution of the amount of their devotions, and yet some difference is made,
and an indulgence over other times seems to be granted to the brethren out of
reverence for the Lord's resurrection; and this seems to lighten the observance
all through the week, and, by reason of the difference which is interposed, it
makes the day to be looked forward to more solemnly as a festival, and owing to
the anticipation of it the fasts of the coming week are less felt. For any
weariness is always borne with greater equanimity, and labour undertaken without
aversion, if some variety is interposed or change of work succeeds.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 49: CHAPTER XII. OF THE DAYS ON WHICH, WHEN SUPPER IS PROVIDED FOR THE BRETHREN, A PSALM IS NOT SAID AS THEY ASSEMBLE FOR THE MEALS AS IS USUAL AT DINNER. 
========================================================================

Lastly, also, on those days, -- i.e., on Saturday and Sunday, -- and on holy
days, on which it is usual for both dinner and supper to be provided for the
brethren, a Psalm is not said in the evening, either when they come to supper or
when they rise from it, as is usual at their ordinary dinner [756] and the
canonical refreshment on fast days, which the customary Psalms usually precede
and follow. But they simply make a plain prayer and come to supper, and again,
when they rise from it, conclude with prayer alone; because this repast is
something special among the monks: nor are they all obliged to come to it, but
it is only for strangers who have come to see the brethren, and those whom
bodily weakness or their own inclination invites to it.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 50: BOOK IV. OF THE INSTITUTES OF THE RENUNCIANTS. 
========================================================================

Of the Institutes of the Renunciants.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 51: CHAPTER I. OF THE TRAINING OF THOSE WHO RENOUNCE THIS WORLD, AND OF THE WAY IN WHICH THOSE ARE TAUGHT AMONG THE MONKS OF TABENNA AND THE EGYPTIANS WHO ARE RECEIVED INTO THE MONASTERIES. 
========================================================================

From the canonical system of Psalms and prayers which ought to be observed in
the daily services throughout the monasteries, we pass, in the due course of our
narrative, to the training of one who renounces this world; endeavouring first,
as well as we can, to embrace, in a short account, the terms on which those who
desire to turn to the Lord can be received in the monasteries; adding some
things from the rule of the Egyptians, some from that of the monks of Tabenna,
[757] whose monastery in the Thebaid is better filled as regards numbers, as it
is stricter in the rigour of its system, than all others, for there are in it
more than five thousand brethren under the rule of one Abbot; and the obedience
with which the whole number of monks is at all times subject to one Elder is
what no one among us would render to another even for a short time, or would
demand from him.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 52: CHAPTER II. OF THE WAY IN WHICH AMONG THEM MEN REMAIN IN THE MONASTERIES EVEN TO EXTREME OLD AGE. 
========================================================================

And I think that before anything else we ought to touch on their untiring
perseverance and humility and subjection, -- how it lasts for so long, and by
what system it is formed, through which they remain in the monasteries till they
are bent double with old age; for it is so great that we cannot recollect any
one who joined our monasteries keeping it up unbroken even for a year: so that
when we have seen the beginning of their renunciation of the world, we shall
understand how it came about that, starting from such a commencement, they
reached such a height of perfection.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 53: CHAPTER III. OF THE ORDEAL BY WHICH ONE WHO IS TO BE RECEIVED IN THE MONASTERY IS TESTED. 
========================================================================

One, then, who seeks to be admitted to the discipline of the monastery is never
received before he gives, by lying outside the doors for ten days or even
longer, an evidence of his perseverance and desire, as well as of humility and
patience. And when, prostrate at the feet of all the brethren that pass by, and
of set purpose repelled and scorned by all of them, as if he was wanting to
enter the monastery not for the sake of religion but because he was obliged; and
when, too, covered with many insults and affronts, he has given a practical
proof of his steadfastness, and has shown what he will be like in temptations by
the way he has borne the disgrace; and when, with the ardour of his soul thus
ascertained, he is admitted, then they enquire with the utmost care whether he
is contaminated by a single coin from his former possessions clinging to him.
For they know that he cannot stay for long under the discipline of the
monastery, nor ever learn the virtue of humility and obedience, nor be content
with the poverty and difficult life of the monastery, if he knows that ever so
small a sum of money has been kept hid; but, as soon as ever a disturbance
arises on some occasion or other, he will at once dart off from the monastery
like a stone from a sling, impelled to this by trusting in that sum of money.
[758]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 54: CHAPTER IV. THE REASON WHY THOSE WHO ARE RECEIVED IN THE MONASTERY ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BRING ANYTHING IN WITH THEM. 
========================================================================

And for these reasons they do not agree to take from him money to be used even
for the good of the monastery: First, in case he may be puffed up with
arrogance, owing to this offering, and so not deign to put himself on a level
with the poorer brethren; and next, lest he fail through this pride of his to
stoop to the humility of Christ, and so, when he cannot hold out under the
discipline of the monastery, leave it, and afterwards, when he has cooled down,
want in a bad spirit to receive and get back -- not without loss to the
monastery -- what he had contributed in the early days of his renunciation, when
he was aglow with spiritual fervour. And that this rule should always be kept
they have been frequently taught by many instances. For in some monasteries
where they are not so careful some who have been received unreservedly have
afterwards tried most sacrilegiously to demand a return of that which they had
contributed and which had been spent on God's work.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 55: CHAPTER V. THE REASON WHY THOSE WHO GIVE UP THE WORLD, WHEN THEY ARE RECEIVED IN THE MONASTERIES, MUST LAY ASIDE THEIR OWN CLOTHES AND BE CLOTHED IN OTHERS BY THE ABBOT. 
========================================================================

Wherefore each one on his admission is stripped of all his former possessions,
so that he is not allowed any longer to keep even the clothes which he has on
his back: but in the council of the brethren he is brought forward into the
midst and stripped of his own clothes, and clad by the Abbot's hands in the
dress of the monastery, so that by this he may know not only that he has been
despoiled of all his old things, but also that he has laid aside all worldly
pride, and come down to the want and poverty of Christ, and that he is now to be
supported not by wealth sought for by the world's arts, nor by anything reserved
from his former state of unbelief, but that he is to receive out of the holy and
sacred funds of the monastery his rations for his service; and that, as he knows
that he is thence to be clothed and fed and that he has nothing of his own, he
may learn, nevertheless, not to be anxious about the morrow, according to the
saying of the Gospel, and may not be ashamed to be on a level with the poor,
that is with the body of the brethren, with whom Christ was not ashamed to be
numbered, and to call himself their brother, but that rather he may glory that
he has been made to share the lot of his own servants. [759]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 56: CHAPTER VI. THE REASON WHY THE CLOTHES OF THE RENUNCIANTS WITH WHICH THEY JOINED THE MONASTERY ARE PRESERVED BY THE STEWARD. 
========================================================================

But those clothes, which he laid aside, are consigned to the care of the steward
and kept until by different sorts of temptations and trials they can recognize
the excellence of his progress and life and endurance. And if they see that he
can continue therein as time goes on, and remain in that fervour with which he
began, they give them away to the poor. But if they find that he has been guilty
of any fault of murmuring, or of even the smallest piece of disobedience, then
they strip off from him the dress of the monastery in which he had been clad,
and reclothe him in his old garments which had been confiscated, and send him
away. [760] For it is not right for him to go away with those which he had
received, nor do they allow any one to be any longer dressed in them if they
have seen him once grow cold in regard to the rule of their institution.
Wherefore, also, the opportunity of going out openly is not given to any one,
unless he escapes like a runaway slave by taking advantage of the thickest
shades of night, or is judged unworthy of this order and profession and lays
aside the dress of the monastery and is expelled with shame and disgrace before
all the brethren.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 57: CHAPTER VII. THE REASON WHY THOSE WHO ARE ADMITTED TO A MONASTERY ARE NOT PERMITTED TO MIX AT ONCE WITH THE CONGREGATION OF THE BRETHREN, BUT ARE FIRST COMMITTED TO THE GUEST HOUSE. 
========================================================================

When, then, any one has been received and proved by that persistence of which we
have spoken, and, laying aside his own garments, has been clad in those of the
monastery, he is not allowed to mix at once with the congregation of the
brethren, but is given into the charge of an Elder, who lodges apart not far
from the entrance of the monastery, and is entrusted with the care of strangers
and guests, and bestows all his diligence in receiving them kindly. And when he
has served there for a whole year without any complaint, and has given evidence
of service towards strangers, [761] being thus initiated in the first rudiments
of humility and patience, and by long practice in it acknowledged, when he is to
be admitted from this into the congregation of the brethren he is handed over to
another Elder, who is placed over ten of the juniors, who are entrusted to him
by the Abbot, and whom he both teaches and governs in accordance with the
arrangement which we read of in Exodus as made by Moses. [762]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 58: CHAPTER VIII. OF THE PRACTICES IN WHICH THE JUNIORS ARE FIRST EXERCISED THAT THEY MAY BECOME PROFICIENT IN OVERCOMING ALL THEIR DESIRES. 
========================================================================

And his anxiety and the chief part of his instruction -- through which the
juniors brought to him may be able in due course to mount to the greatest
heights of perfection -- will be to teach him first to conquer his own wishes;
and, anxiously and diligently practising him in this, he will of set purpose
contrive to give him such orders as he knows to be contrary to his liking; for,
taught by many examples, they say that a monk, and especially the younger ones,
cannot bridle the desire of his concupiscence unless he has first learnt by
obedience to mortify his wishes. And so they lay it down that the man who has
not first learnt to overcome his desires cannot possibly stamp out anger or
sulkiness, or the spirit of fornication; nor can he preserve true humility of
heart, or lasting unity with the brethren, or a stable and continuous concord;
nor remain for any length of time in the monastery.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 59: CHAPTER IX. THE REASON WHY THE JUNIORS ARE ENJOINED NOT TO KEEP BACK ANY OF THEIR THOUGHTS FROM THE SENIOR. 
========================================================================

By these practices, then, they hasten to impress and instruct those whom they
are training with the alphabet, as it were, and first syllables in the direction
of perfection, as they can clearly see by these whether they are grounded in a
false and imaginary or in a true humility. And, that they may easily arrive at
this, they are next taught not to conceal by a false shame any itching thoughts
in their hearts, but, as soon as ever such arise, to lay them bare to the
senior, and, in forming a judgment about them, not to trust anything to their
own discretion, but to take it on trust that that is good or bad which is
considered and pronounced so by the examination of the senior. Thus it results
that our cunning adversary cannot in any way circumvent a young and
inexperienced monk, or get the better of his ignorance, or by any craft deceive
one whom he sees to be protected not by his own discretion but by that of his
senior, and who cannot be persuaded to hide from his senior those suggestions of
his which like fiery darts he has shot into his heart; since the devil, subtle
as he is, cannot ruin or destroy a junior unless he has enticed him either
through pride or through shame to conceal his thoughts. For they lay it down as
an universal and clear proof that a thought is from the devil if we are ashamed
to disclose it to the senior. [763]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 60: CHAPTER X. HOW THOROUGH IS THE OBEDIENCE OF THE JUNIORS EVEN IN THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE MATTERS OF COMMON NECESSITY. 
========================================================================

Next, the rule is kept with such strict obedience that, without the knowledge
and permission of their superior, the juniors not only do not dare to leave
their cell but on their own authority do not venture to satisfy their common and
natural needs. And so they are quick to fulfil without any discussion all those
things that are ordered by him, as if they were commanded by God from heaven;
[764] so that sometimes, when impossibilities are commanded them, they undertake
them with such faith and devotion as to strive with all their powers and without
the slightest hesitation to fulfil them and carry them out; and out of reverence
for their senior they do not even consider whether a command is an
impossibility. [765] But of their obedience I omit at present to speak more
particularly, for we propose to speak of it in the proper place a little later
on, with instances of it, if through your prayers the Lord carry us safely
through. We now proceed to the other regulations, passing over all account of
those which cannot be imposed on or kept in the monasteries in this country, as
we promised to do in our Preface; for instance, how they never use woollen
garments, but only cotton, and these not double, changes of which each superior
gives out to the ten monks under his care when he sees that those which they are
wearing are dirty.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 61: CHAPTER XI. THE KIND OF FOOD WHICH IS CONSIDERED THE GREATER DELICACY BY THEM. 
========================================================================

I pass over, too, that difficult and sublime sort of self-control, through which
it is considered the greatest luxury if the plant called cherlock, [766]
prepared with salt and steeped in water, is set on the table for the repast of
the brethren; and many other things like this, which in this country neither the
climate nor the weakness of our constitution would permit. And I shall only
follow up those matters which cannot be interfered with by any weakness of the
flesh or local situation, if only no weakness of mind or coldness of spirit gets
rid of them.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 62: CHAPTER XII. HOW THEY LEAVE OFF EVERY KIND OF WORK AT THE SOUND OF SOME ONE KNOCKING AT THE DOOR, IN THEIR EAGERNESS TO ANSWER AT ONCE. 
========================================================================

And so, sitting in their cells and devoting their energies equally to work and
to meditation, when they hear the sound of some one knocking at the door and
striking on the cells of each, summoning them to prayer or some work, every one
eagerly dashes out from his cell, so that one who is practising the writer's
art, although he may have just begun to form a letter, does not venture to
finish it, but runs out with the utmost speed, at the very moment when the sound
of the knocking reaches his ears, without even waiting to finish the letter he
has begun; but, leaving the lines of the letter incomplete, he aims not at
abridging and saving his labour, but rather hastens with the utmost earnestness
and zeal to attain the virtue of obedience, which they put not merely before
manual labour and reading and silence and quietness in the cell, but even before
all virtues, so that they consider that everything should be postponed to it,
and are content to undergo any amount of inconvenience if only it may be seen
that they have in no way neglected this virtue. [767]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 63: CHAPTER XIII. HOW WRONG IT IS CONSIDERED FOR ANY ONE TO SAY THAT ANYTHING, HOWEVER TRIFLING, IS HIS OWN. 
========================================================================

Among their other practices I fancy that it is unnecessary even to mention this
virtue, viz., that no one is allowed to possess a box or basket as his special
property, nor any such thing which he could keep as his own and secure with his
own seal, as we are well aware that they are in all respects stripped so bare
that they have nothing whatever except their shirt, cloak, shoes, sheepskin, and
rush mat; [768] for in other monasteries as well, where some indulgence and
relaxation is granted, we see that this rule is still most strictly kept, so
that no one ventures to say even in word that anything is his own: and it is a
great offence if there drops from the mouth of a monk such an expression as "my
book," "my tablets," "my pen," "my coat," or "my shoes;" and for this he would
have to make satisfaction by a proper penance, if by accident some such
expression escaped his lips through thoughtlessness or ignorance.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 64: CHAPTER XIV. HOW, EVEN IF A LARGE SUM OF MONEY IS AMASSED BY THE LABOUR OF EACH, STILL NO ONE MAY VENTURE TO EXCEED THE MODERATE LIMIT OF WHAT IS APPOINTED AS ADEQUATE. 
========================================================================

And although each one of them may bring in daily by his work and labour so great
a return to the monastery that he could out of it not only satisfy his own
moderate demands but could also abundantly supply the wants of many, yet he is
no way puffed up, nor does he flatter himself on account of his toil and this
large gain from his labour, but, except two biscuits, [769] which are sold there
for scarcely threepence, no one thinks that he has a right to anything further.
And among them there is nothing (and I am ashamed to say this, and heartily wish
it was unknown in our own monasteries) which is claimed by any of them, I will
not say in deed but even in thought, as his special property. And though he
believes that the whole granary of the monastery forms his substance, and, as
lord of all, devotes his whole care and energy to it all, yet nevertheless, in
order to maintain that excellent state of want and poverty which he has secured
and which he strives to preserve to the very last in unbroken perfection, he
regards himself as a foreigner and an alien to them all, so that he conducts
himself as a stranger and a sojourner in this world, and considers himself a
pupil of the monastery and a servant instead of imagining that he is lord and
master of anything.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 65: CHAPTER XV. OF THE EXCESSIVE DESIRE OF POSSESSION AMONG US. 
========================================================================

To this what shall we wretched creatures say, who though living in Coenobia and
established under the government and care of an Abbot yet carry about our own
keys, and trampling under foot all feeling of shame and disgrace which should
spring from our profession, are not ashamed actually to wear openly upon our
fingers rings with which to seal what we have stored up; and in whose case not
merely boxes and baskets, but not even chests and closets are sufficient for
those things which we collect or which we reserved when we forsook the world;
and who sometimes get so angry over trifles and mere nothings (to which however
we lay claim as if they were our own) that if any one dares to lay a finger on
any of them, we are so filled with rage against him that we cannot keep the
wrath of our heart from being expressed on our lips and in bodily excitement.
But, passing by our faults and treating with silence those things of which it is
a shame even to speak, according to this saying: "My mouth shall not speak the
deeds of men," [770] let us in accordance with the method of our narration which
we have begun proceed to those virtues which are practised among them, and which
we ought to aim at with all earnestness; and let us briefly and hastily set down
the actual rules and systems that afterwards, coming to some of the deeds and
acts of the elders which we propose carefully to preserve for recollection, we
may support by the strongest testimonies what we have set forth in our treatise,
and still further confirm everything that we have said by examples and instances
from life.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 66: CHAPTER XVI. ON THE RULES FOR VARIOUS REBUKES. 
========================================================================

If then any one by accident breaks an earthenware jar (which they call
"baucalis"), he can only expiate his carelessness by public penance; and when
all the brethren are assembled for service he must lie on the ground and ask for
absolution until the service of the prayers is finished; and will obtain it when
by the Abbot's command he is bidden to rise from the ground. The same
satisfaction must be given by one who when summoned to some work or to the usual
service comes rather late, or who when singing a Psalm hesitates ever so little.
Similarly if he answers unnecessarily or roughly or impertinently, if he is
careless in carrying out the services enjoined to him, if he makes a slight
complaint, if preferring reading to work or obedience he is slow in performing
his appointed duties, if when service is over he does not make haste to go back
at once to his cell, if he stops for ever so short a time with some one else, if
he goes anywhere else even for a moment, if he takes any one else by the hand,
if he ventures to discuss anything however small with one who is not the
joint-occupant of his cell, [771] if he prays with one who is suspended from
prayer, if he sees any of his relations or friends in the world and talks with
them without his senior, if he tries to receive a letter from any one or to
write back without his Abbot's leave. [772] To such an extent does spiritual
censure proceed and in such matters and faults like these. But as for other
things which when indiscriminately committed among us are treated by us too as
blameworthy, viz.: open wrangling, manifest contempt, arrogant contradictions,
going out from the monastery freely and without check, familiarity with women,
wrath, quarrelling, jealousies, disputes, claiming something as one's own
property, the infection of covetousness, the desire and acquisition of
unnecessary things which are not possessed by the rest of the brethren, taking
food between meals and by stealth, and things like these -- they are dealt with
not by that spiritual censure of which we spoke, but by stripes; or are atoned
for by expulsion.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 67: CHAPTER XVII. OF THOSE WHO INTRODUCED THE PLAN THAT THE HOLY LESSONS SHOULD BE READ IN THE COENOBIA WHILE THE BRETHREN ARE EATING, AND OF THE STRICT SILENCE WHICH IS KEPT AMONG THE EGYPTIANS. 
========================================================================

But we have been informed that the plan that, while the brethren are eating, the
holy lessons should be read in the Coenobia did not originate in the Egyptian
system but in the Cappadocian. And there is no doubt that they meant to
establish it not so much for the sake of the spiritual exercise as for the sake
of putting a stop to unnecessary and idle conversation, and especially
discussions, which so often arise at meals; since they saw that these could not
be prevented among them in any other way. [773] For among the Egyptians and
especially those of Tabenna so strict a silence is observed by all that when so
large a number of the brethren has sat down together to a meal, no one ventures
to talk even in a low tone except the dean, who however if he sees that anything
is wanted to be put on or taken off the table, signifies it by a sign rather
than a word. And while they are eating, the rule of this silence is so strictly
kept that with their hoods drawn down over their eyelids (to prevent their
roving looks having the opportunity of wandering inquisitively) they can see
nothing except the table, and the food that is put on it, and which they take
from it; so that no one notices what another is eating. [774]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 68: CHAPTER XVIII. HOW IT IS AGAINST THE RULE FOR ANY ONE TO TAKE ANYTHING TO EAT OR DRINK EXCEPT AT THE COMMON TABLE. 
========================================================================

In between their regular meals in common they are especially careful that no one
should presume to gratify his palate with any food: [775] so that when they are
walking casually through gardens or orchards, when the fruit hanging enticingly
on the trees not only knocks against their breasts as they pass through, but is
also lying on the ground and offering itself to be trampled under foot, and (as
it is all ready to be gathered) would easily be able to entice those who see it
to gratify their appetite, and by the chance offered to them and the quantity of
the fruit, to excite even the most severe and abstemious to long for it; still
they consider it wrong not merely to taste a single fruit, but even to touch one
with the hand, except what is put on the table openly for the common meal of
all, and supplied publicly by the steward's catering through the service of the
brethren, for their enjoyment.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 69: CHAPTER XIX. HOW THROUGHOUT PALESTINE AND MESOPOTAMIA A DAILY SERVICE IS UNDERTAKEN BY THE BRETHREN. 
========================================================================

In order that we may not appear to omit any of the Institutes of the Coenobia I
think that it should be briefly mentioned that in other countries as well there
is a daily service undertaken by the brethren. For throughout the whole of
Mesopotamia, Palestine, and Cappadocia and all the East the brethren succeed one
another in turn every week for the performance of certain duties, so that the
number serving is told off according to the whole number of monks in the
Coenobium. And they hasten to fulfil these duties with a zeal and humility such
as no slave bestows on his service even to a most harsh and powerful master; so
that not satisfied only with these services which are rendered by canonical
rule, they actually rise by night in their zeal and relieve those whose special
duty this is; and secretly anticipating them try to finish those duties which
these others would have to do. But each one who undertakes these weeks is on
duty and has to serve until supper on Sunday, and when this is done, his duty
for the whole week is finished, so that, when all the brethren come together to
chant the Psalms (which according to custom they sing before going to bed) those
whose turn is over wash the feet of all in turn, seeking faithfully from them
the reward of this blessing for their work during the whole week, that the
prayers offered up by all the brethren together may accompany them as they
fulfil the command of Christ, the prayer, to wit, that intercedes for their
ignorances and for their sins committed through human frailty, and may commend
to God the complete service of their devotion like some rich offering. And so on
Monday after the Mattin hymns they hand over to others who take their place the
vessels and utensils with which they have ministered, which these receive and
keep with the utmost care and anxiety, that none of them may be injured or
destroyed, as they believe that even for the smallest vessels they must give an
account, as sacred things, not only to a present steward, but to the Lord, if by
chance any of them is injured through their carelessness. And what limit there
is to this discipline, and what fidelity and care there is in keeping it up, you
may see from one instance which I will give as an example. For while we are
anxious to satisfy that fervour of yours through which you ask for a full
account of everything, and want even what you know perfectly well to be repeated
to you in this treatise, we are also afraid of exceeding the limits of brevity.
[776]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 70: CHAPTER XX. OF THE THREE LENTIL BEANS WHICH THE STEWARD FOUND. 
========================================================================

During the week of a certain brother the steward passing by saw lying on the
ground three lentil beans which had slipped out of the hand of the monk on duty
for the week [777] as he was hastily preparing them for cooking, together with
the water in which he was washing them; and immediately he consulted the Abbot
on the subject; and by him the monk was adjudged a pilferer and careless about
sacred property, and so was suspended from prayer. And the offence of his
negligence was only pardoned when he had atoned for it by public penance. For
they believe not only that they themselves are not their own, but also that
everything that they possess is consecrated to the Lord. Wherefore if anything
whatever has once been brought into the monastery they hold that it ought to be
treated with the utmost reverence as an holy thing. And they attend to and
arrange everything with great fidelity, even in the case of things which are
considered unimportant or regarded as common and paltry, so that if they change
their position and put them in a better place, or if they fill a bottle with
water, or give anybody something to drink out of it, or if they remove a little
dust from the oratory or from their cell they believe with implicit faith that
they will receive a reward from the Lord.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 71: CHAPTER XXI. OF THE SPONTANEOUS SERVICE OF SOME OF THE BRETHREN. 
========================================================================

We have been told of brethren in whose week there was such a scarcity of wood
that they had not enough to prepare the usual food for the brethren; and when it
had been ordered by the Abbot's authority that until more could be brought and
fetched, they should content themselves with dried food, [778] though this was
agreed to by all and no one could expect any cooked food; still these men as if
they were cheated of the fruit and reward of their labour and service, if they
did not prepare the food for their brethren according to custom in the order of
their turn -- imposed upon themselves such uncalled-for labour and care that in
those dry and sterile regions where wood cannot possibly be procured unless it
is cut from the fruit trees (for there are no wild shrubs found there as with
us), they wander about through the wide deserts, and traversing the wilderness
which stretches towards the Dead Sea, [779] collect in their lap and the folds
of their dress the scanty stubble and brambles which the wind carries hither and
thither, and so by their voluntary service prepare all their usual food for the
brethren, so that they suffer nothing to be diminished of the ordinary supply;
discharging these duties of theirs towards their brethren with such fidelity
that though the scarcity of wood and the Abbot's order would be a fair excuse
for them, yet still out of regard for their profit and reward they will not take
advantage of this liberty.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 72: CHAPTER XXII. THE SYSTEM OF THE EGYPTIANS, WHICH IS APPOINTED FOR THE DAILY SERVICE OF THE BRETHREN. 
========================================================================

These things have been told in accordance with the system, as we remarked
before, of the whole East, which also we say should be observed as a matter of
course in our own country. But among the Egyptians whose chief care is for work
there is not the mutual change of weekly service, for fear lest owing to the
requirements of office they might all be hindered from keeping the rule of work.
But one of the most approved brethren is given the care of the larder and
kitchen, and he takes charge of that office for good and all as long as his
strength and years permit. For he is exhausted by no great bodily labour,
because no great care is expended among them in preparing food or in cooking, as
they so largely make use of dried and uncooked food, [780] and among them the
leaves of leeks cut each month, and cherlock, table salt, [781] olives, tiny
little salt fish which they call sardines, [782] form the greatest delicacy.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 73: CHAPTER XXIII. THE OBEDIENCE OF ABBOT JOHN BY WHICH HE WAS EXALTED EVEN TO THE GRACE OF PROPHECY. 
========================================================================

And since this book is about the training of one who renounces this world,
whereby, making a beginning of true humility and perfect obedience, he may be
enabled to ascend the heights of the other virtues as well, I think it well to
set down just by way of specimen, as we promised, some of the deeds of the
elders whereby they excelled in this virtue, selecting a few only out of many
instances, that, if any are anxious to aim at still greater heights, they may
not only receive from these an incitement towards the perfect life, but may also
be furnished with a model of what they purpose. Wherefore, to make this book as
short as possible we will produce and set down two or three out of the whole
number of the Fathers; and first of all Abbot John who lived near Lycon [783]
which is a town in the Thebaid; and who was exalted even to the grace of
prophecy for his admirable obedience, and was so celebrated all the world over
that he was by his merits rendered famous even among kings of this world. For
though, as we said, he lived in the most remote parts of the Thebaid, still the
Emperor Theodosius did not venture to declare war against the most powerful
tyrants before he was encouraged by his utterances and replies: trusting in
which as if they had been brought to him from heaven he gained victories over
his foes in battles which seemed hopeless. [784]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 74: CHAPTER XXIV. OF THE DRY STICK WHICH, AT THE BIDDING OF HIS SENIOR, ABBOT JOHN KEPT ON WATERING AS IF IT WOULD GROW. 
========================================================================

And so this blessed John from his youth up even to a full and ripe age of
manhood was subject to his senior as long as he continued living in this world,
and carried out his commands with such humility that his senior himself was
utterly astounded at his obedience; and as he wanted to make sure whether this
virtue came from genuine faith and profound simplicity of heart, or whether it
was put on and as it were constrained and only shown in the presence of the
bidder, he often laid upon him many superfluous and almost unnecessary or even
impossible commands. From which I will select three to show to those who wish to
know how perfect was his disposition and subjection. For the old man took from
his woodstack a stick which had previously been cut and got ready to make the
fire with, and which, as no opportunity for cooking had come, was lying not
merely dry but even mouldy from the lapse of time. And when he had stuck it into
the ground before his very eyes, he ordered him to fetch water and to water it
twice a day that by this daily watering it might strike roots and be restored to
life as a tree, as it was before, and spread out its branches and afford a
pleasant sight to the eyes as well as a shade for those who sat under it in the
heat of summer. And this order the lad received with his customary veneration,
never considering its impossibility, and day by day carried it out so that he
constantly carried water for nearly two miles and never ceased to water the
stick; and for a whole year no bodily infirmity, no festival services, no
necessary business (which might fairly have excused him from carrying out the
command), and lastly no severity of winter could interfere and hinder him from
obeying this order. And when the old man had watched this zeal of his on the sly
without saying anything for several days and had seen that he kept this command
of his with simple willingness of heart, as if it had come from heaven, without
any change of countenance or consideration of its reasonableness -- approving
the unfeigned obedience of his humility and at the same time commiserating his
tedious labour which in the zeal of his devotion he had continued for a whole
year -- he came to the dry stick, and "John," said he, "has this tree put forth
roots or no?" And when the other said that he did not know, then the old man as
if seeking the truth of the matter and trying whether it was yet depending on
its roots, pulled up the stick before him with a slight disturbance of the
earth, and throwing it away told him that for the future he might stop watering
it. [785]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 75: CHAPTER XXV. OF THE UNIQUE VASE OF OIL THROWN AWAY BY ABBOT JOHN AT HIS SENIOR'S COMMAND. 
========================================================================

Thus the youth, trained up by exercises of this sort, daily increased in this
virtue of obedience, and shone forth more and more with the grace of humility;
and when the sweet odour of his obedience spread throughout all the monasteries,
some of the brethren, coming to the elder for the sake of testing him or rather
of being edified by him, marvelled at his obedience of which they had heard; and
so the older called him suddenly, and said, "Go up and take this cruse of oil"
[786] (which was the only one in the desert and which furnished a very scanty
supply of the rich liquid for their own use and for that of strangers) "and
throw it down out of window." And he flew up stairs when summoned and threw it
out of window and cast it down to the ground and broke it in pieces without any
thought or consideration of the folly of the command, or their daily wants, and
bodily infirmity, or of their poverty, and the trials and difficulties of the
wretched desert in which, even if they had got the money for it, oil of that
quality, once lost, could not be procured or replaced.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 76: CHAPTER XXVI. HOW ABBOT JOHN OBEYED HIS SENIOR BY TRYING TO ROLL A HUGE STONE, WHICH A LARGE NUMBER OF MEN WERE UNABLE TO MOVE. 
========================================================================

Again, when some others were anxious to be edified by the example of his
obedience, the elder called him and said: "John, run and roll that stone hither
as quickly as possible;" and he forthwith, applying now his neck, and now his
whole body, tried with all his might and main to roll an enormous stone which a
great crowd of men would not be able to move, so that not only were his clothes
saturated with sweat from his limbs, but the stone itself was wetted by his
neck; in this too never weighing the impossibility of the command and deed, out
of reverence for the old man and the unfeigned simplicity of his service, as he
believed implicitly that the old man could not command him to do anything vain
or without reason.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 77: CHAPTER XXVII. OF THE HUMILITY AND OBEDIENCE OF ABBOT PATERMUCIUS, WHICH HE DID NOT HESITATE TO MAKE PERFECT BY THROWING HIS LITTLE BOY INTO THE RIVER AT THE COMMAND OF HIS SENIOR. 
========================================================================

So far let it suffice for me to have told a few things out of many concerning
Abbot John: now I will relate a memorable deed of Abbot Patermucius. For he,
when anxious to renounce the world, remained lying before the doors of the
monastery for a long time until by his dogged persistence he induced them --
contrary to all the rules of the Coenobia -- to receive him together with his
little boy who was about eight years old. And when they were at last admitted
they were at once not only committed to the care of different superiors, but
also put to live in separate cells that the father might not be reminded by the
constant sight of the little one that out of all his possessions and carnal
treasures, which he had cast off and renounced, at least his son remained to
him; and that as he was already taught that he was no longer a rich man, so he
might also forget the fact that he was a father. And that it might be more
thoroughly tested whether he would make affection and love [788] for his own
flesh and blood of more account than obedience and Christian mortification
(which all who renounce the world ought out of love to Christ to prefer), the
child was on purpose neglected and dressed in rags instead of proper clothes;
and so covered and disfigured with dirt that he would rather disgust than
delight the eyes of his father whenever he saw him. And further, he was exposed
to blows and slaps from different people, which the father often saw inflicted
without the slightest reason on his innocent child under his very eyes, so that
he never saw his cheeks without their being stained with the dirty marks of
tears. And though the child was treated thus day after day before his eyes, yet
still out of love for Christ and the virtue of obedience the father's heart
stood firm and unmoved. For he no longer regarded him as his own son, as he had
offered him equally with himself to Christ; nor was he concerned about his
present injuries, but rather rejoiced because he saw that they were endured, not
without profit; thinking little of his son's tears, but anxious about his own
humility and perfection. And when the Superior of the Coenobium saw his
steadfastness of mind and immovable inflexibility, in order thoroughly to prove
the constancy of his purpose, one day when he had seen the child crying, he
pretended that he was annoyed with him and told the father to throw him into the
river. Then he, as if this had been commanded him by the Lord, at once snatched
up the child as quickly as possible, and carried him in his arms to the river's
bank to throw him in. And straightway in the fervour of his faith and obedience
this would have been carried out in act, had not some of the brethren been
purposely set to watch the banks of the river very carefully, and when the child
was thrown in, had somehow snatched him from the bed of the stream, and
prevented the command, which was really fulfilled by the obedience and devotion
of the father, from being consummated in act and result.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 78: CHAPTER XXVIII. HOW IT WAS REVEALED TO THE ABBOT CONCERNING PATERMUCIUS THAT HE HAD DONE THE DEED OF ABRAHAM; AND HOW WHEN THE SAME ABBOT DIED, PATERMUCIUS SUCCEEDED TO THE CHARGE OF THE MONASTERY. 
========================================================================

And this man's faith and devotion was so acceptable to God that it was
immediately approved by a divine testimony. For it was forthwith revealed to the
Superior that by this obedience of his he had copied the deed of the patriarch
Abraham. And when shortly afterwards the same Abbot of the monastery departed
out of this life to Christ, he preferred him to all the brethren, and left him
as his successor and as Abbot to the monastery.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 79: CHAPTER XXIX. OF THE OBEDIENCE OF A BROTHER WHO AT THE ABBOT'S BIDDING CARRIED ABOUT IN PUBLIC TEN BASKETS AND SOLD THEM BY RETAIL. 
========================================================================

We will also not be silent about a brother whom we knew, who belonged to a high
family according to the rank of this world, for he was sprung from a father who
was a count and extremely wealthy, and had been well brought up with a liberal
education. This man, when he had left his parents and fled to the monastery, in
order to prove the humility of his disposition and the ardour of his faith was
at once ordered by his superior to load his shoulders with ten baskets (which
there was no need to sell publicly), and to hawk them about through the streets
for sale: this condition being attached, so that he might be kept longer at the
work, viz.: that if any one should chance to want to buy them all together, he
was not to allow it, but was to sell them to purchasers separately. And this he
carried out with the utmost zeal, and trampling under foot all shame and
confusion, out of love for Christ, and for His Name's sake, he put the baskets
on his shoulders and sold them by retail at the price fixed and brought back the
money to the monastery; not in the least upset by the novelty of so mean and
unusual a duty, and paying no attention to the indignity of the thing and the
splendour of his birth, and the disgrace of the sale, as he was aiming at
gaining through the grace of obedience that humility of Christ which is the true
nobility.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 80: CHAPTER XXX. OF THE HUMILITY OF ABBOT PINUFIUS, WHO LEFT A VERY FAMOUS COENOBIUM OVER WHICH HE PRESIDED AS PRESBYTER, AND OUT OF THE LOVE OF SUBJECTION SOUGHT A DISTANT MONASTERY WHERE HE COULD BE RECEIVED AS A NOVICE. 
========================================================================

The limits of the book compel us to draw to a close; but the virtue of
obedience, which holds the first place among other good qualities, will not
allow us altogether to pass over in silence the deeds of those who have excelled
by it. Wherefore aptly combining these two together, I mean, consulting brevity
as well as the wishes and profit of those who are in earnest, we will only add
one example of humility, which, as it was shown by no novice but one already
perfect and an Abbot, may not only instruct the younger, but also incite the
elders to the perfect virtue of humility, as they read it. Thus we saw Abbot
Pinufius [789] who when he was presbyter of a huge Coenobium which is in Egypt
not far from the city of Panephysis, [790] was held in honour and respect by all
men out of reverence either for his life or for his age or for his priesthood;
and when he saw that for this reason he could not practise that humility which
he longed for with all the ardour of his disposition, and had no opportunity of
exercising the virtue of subjection which he desired, he fled secretly from the
Coenobium and withdrew alone into the furthest parts of the Thebaid, and there
laid aside the habit of the monks and assumed a secular dress, and thus sought
the Coenobium of Tabenna, which he knew to be the strictest of all, and in which
he fancied that he would not be known owing to the distance of the spot, or else
that he could easily lie hid there in consequence of the size of the monastery
and the number of brethren. There he remained for a long time at the entrance,
and as a suppliant at the knees of the brethren sought with most earnest prayers
to gain admission. And when he was at last with much scorn admitted as a feeble
old man who had lived all his life in the world, and had asked in his old age to
be allowed to enter a Coenobium when he could no longer gratify his passions, --
as they said that he was seeking this not for the sake of religion but because
he was compelled by hunger and want, they gave him the care and management of
the garden, as he seemed an old man and not specially fitted for any particular
work. And this he performed under another and a younger brother who kept him by
him as intrusted to him, and he was so subordinate to him, and cultivated the
desired virtue of humility so obediently that he daily performed with the utmost
diligence not only everything that had to do with the care and management of the
garden, but also all those duties which were looked on by the other as hard and
degrading, and disagreeable. Rising also by night he did many things secretly,
without any one looking on or knowing it, when darkness concealed him so that no
one could discover the author of the deed. And when he had hidden himself there
for three years and had been sought for high and low by the brethren all through
Egypt, he was at last seen by one who had come from the parts of Egypt, but
could scarcely be recognized owing to the meanness of his dress and the humble
character of the duty he was performing. For he was stooping down and hoeing the
ground for vegetables and bringing dung on his shoulders and laying it about
their roots. And seeing this the brother for a long time hesitated about
recognizing him, but at last he came nearer, and taking careful note not only of
his looks but also of the tone of his voice, straightway fell at his feet: and
at first all who saw it were struck with the greatest astonishment why he should
do this to one who was looked upon by them as the lowest of all, as being a
novice and one who had but lately forsaken the world: but afterwards they were
struck with still greater wonder when he forthwith announced his name, which was
one that had been well known amongst them also by repute. And all the brethren
asking his pardon for their former ignorance because they had for so long
classed him with the juniors and children, brought him back to his own
Coenobium, against his will and in tears because by the envy of the devil he had
been cheated out of a worthy mode of life and the humility which he was
rejoicing in having discovered after his long search, and because he had not
succeeded in ending his life in that state of subjection which he had secured.
And so they guarded him with the utmost care lest he should slip away again in
the same sort of way and escape from them also.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 81: CHAPTER XXXI. HOW WHEN ABBOT PINUFIUS WAS BROUGHT BACK TO HIS MONASTERY HE STAYED THERE FOR A LITTLE WHILE AND THEN FLED AGAIN INTO THE REGIONS OF SYRIAN PALESTINE. 
========================================================================

And when he had stopped there for a little while, again he was seized with a
longing and desire for humility, and, taking advantage of the silence of night,
made his escape in such a way that this time he sought no neighbouring district,
but regions which were unknown and strange and separated by a wide distance. For
embarking in a ship he managed to travel to Palestine, believing that he would
more securely lie hid if he betook himself to those places in which his name had
never been heard. And when he had come thither, at once he sought out our own
monastery [791] which was at no great distance from the cave [792] in which our
Lord vouchsafed to be born of a virgin. And though he concealed himself here for
some time, yet like "a city set on an hill" [793] (to use our Lord's expression)
he could not long be hid. For presently some of the brethren who had come to the
holy places from Egypt to pray there recognized him and recalled him with most
fervent prayers to his own Coenobium.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 82: CHAPTER XXXII. THE CHARGE WHICH THE SAME ABBOT PINUFIUS GAVE TO A BROTHER WHOM HE ADMITTED INTO HIS MONASTERY IN OUR PRESENCE. 
========================================================================

This old man, then, we afterwards diligently sought out in Egypt because we had
been intimate with him in our own monastery; and I propose to insert in this
work of mine an exhortation which he gave in our presence to a brother whom he
admitted into the monastery, because I think that it may be useful. You know,
said he, that after lying for so many days at the entrance you are to-day to be
admitted. And to begin with you ought to know the reason of the difficulty put
in your way. For it may be of great service to you in this road on which you are
desirous to enter, if you understand the method of it and approach the service
of Christ accordingly, and as you ought.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 83: CHAPTER XXXIII. HOW IT IS THAT, JUST AS A GREAT REWARD IS DUE TO THE MONK WHO LABOURS ACCORDING TO THE REGULATIONS OF THE FATHERS, SO LIKEWISE PUNISHMENT MUST HE INFLICTED ON AN IDLE ONE; AND THEREFORE NO ONE SHOULD BE ADMITTED INTO A MONASTERY TOO EASILY
========================================================================

For as unbounded glory hereafter is promised to those who faithfully serve God
and cleave to Him according to the rule of this system; so the severest
penalties are in store for those who have carried it out carelessly and coldly,
and have failed to show to Him fruits of holiness corresponding to what they
professed or what they were believed by men to be. For "it is better," as
Scripture says, "that a man should not vow rather than that he should vow and
not pay;" and "Cursed is he that doeth the work of the Lord carelessly." [794]
Therefore you were for a long while declined by us, not as if we did not desire
with all our hearts to secure your salvation and the salvation of all, nor as if
we did not care to go to meet even afar off those who are longing to be
converted to Christ; but for fear lest if we received you rashly we might make
ourselves guilty in the sight of God of levity, and make you incur a yet heavier
punishment, if, when you had been too easily admitted by us without realizing
the responsibility of this profession, you had afterwards turned out a deserter
or lukewarm. Wherefore you ought in the first instance to learn the actual
reason for the renunciation of the world, and when you have seen this, you can
be taught more plainly what you ought to do, from the reason for it.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 84: CHAPTER XXXIV. OF THE WAY IN WHICH OUR RENUNCIATION IS NOTHING BUT MORTIFICATION AND THE IMAGE OF THE CRUCIFIED. 
========================================================================

Renunciation is nothing but the evidence of the cross and of mortification. And
so you must know that to-day you are dead to this world and its deeds and
desires, and that, as the Apostle says, you are crucified to this world and this
world to you. [795] Consider therefore the demands of the cross under the sign
[796] of which you ought henceforward to live in this life; because you no
longer live but He lives in you who was crucified for you. [797] We must
therefore pass our time in this life in that fashion and form in which He was
crucified for us on the cross so that (as David says) piercing our flesh with
the fear of the Lord, [798] we may have all our wishes and desires not
subservient to our own lusts but fastened to His mortification. For so shall we
fulfil the command of the Lord which says: "He that taketh not up his cross and
followeth me is not worthy of me." [799] But perhaps you will say: How can a man
carry his cross continually? or how can any one who is alive be crucified? Hear
briefly how this is.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 85: CHAPTER XXXV. HOW THE FEAR OF THE LORD IS OUR CROSS. 
========================================================================

The fear of the Lord is our cross. As then one who is crucified no longer has
the power of moving or turning his limbs in any direction as he pleases, so we
also ought to affix our wishes and desires -- not in accordance with what is
pleasant and delightful to us now, but in accordance with the law of the Lord,
where it constrains us. And as he who is fastened to the wood of the cross no
longer considers things present, nor thinks about his likings, nor is perplexed
by anxiety and care for the morrow, nor disturbed by any desire of possession,
nor inflamed by any pride or strife or rivalry, grieves not at present injuries,
remembers not past ones, and while he is still breathing in the body considers
that he is dead to all earthly things, [800] sending the thoughts of his heart
on before to that place whither he doubts not that he is shortly to come: so we
also, when crucified by the fear of the Lord ought to be dead indeed to all
these things, i.e. not only to carnal vices but also to all earthly things,
[801] having the eye of our minds fixed there whither we hope at each moment
that we are soon to pass. For in this way we can have all our desires and carnal
affections mortified.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 86: CHAPTER XXXVI. HOW OUR RENUNCIATION OF THE WORLD IS OF NO USE IF WE ARE AGAIN ENTANGLED IN THOSE THINGS WHICH WE HAVE RENOUNCED. 
========================================================================

Beware therefore lest at any time you take again any of those things which you
renounced and forsook, and, contrary to the Lord's command, return from the
field of evangelical work, and be found to have clothed yourself again in your
coat which you had stripped off; [802] neither sink back to the low and earthly
lusts and desires of this world, and in defiance of Christ's word come down from
the rod of perfection and dare to take up again any of those things which you
have renounced and forsaken. Beware that you remember nothing of your kinsfolk
or of your former affections, and that you are not called back to the cares and
anxieties of this world, and (as our Lord says) putting your hand to the plough
and looking back be found unfit for the kingdom of heaven. [803] Beware lest at
any time, when you have begun to dip into the knowledge of the Psalms and of
this life, you be little by little puffed up and think of reviving that pride
which now at your beginning you have trampled under foot in the ardour of faith
and in fullest humility; and thus (as the Apostle says) building again those
things which you had destroyed, you make yourself a backslider. [804] But rather
take heed to continue even to the end in that state of nakedness of which you
made profession in the sight of God and of his angels. In this humility too and
patience, with which you persevered for ten days before the doors and entreated
with many tears to be admitted into the monastery, you should not only continue
but also increase and go forward. For it is too bad that when you ought to be
carried on from the rudiments and beginnings, and go forward to perfection, you
should begin to fall back from these to worse things. For not he who begins
these things, but he who endures in them to the end, shall be saved. [805]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 87: CHAPTER XXXVII. HOW THE DEVIL ALWAYS LIES IN WAIT FOR OUR END, AND HOW WE OUGHT CONTINUALLY TO WATCH HIS HEAD. 
========================================================================

For the subtle serpent is ever "watching our heel," that is, is lying in wait
for the close, and endeavouring to trip us up right to the end of our life. And
therefore it will not be of any use to have made a good beginning and to have
eagerly taken the first step towards renouncing the world with all fervour, if a
corresponding end does not likewise set it off and conclude it, and if the
humility and poverty of Christ, of which you have now made profession in His
sight, are not preserved by you even to the close of your life, as they were
first secured. And that you may succeed in doing this, do you ever "watch his
head," i.e. the first rise of thoughts, by bringing them at once to your
superior. For thus you will learn to "bruise" his dangerous beginnings, if you
are not ashamed to disclose any of them to your superior.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 88: CHAPTER XXXVIII. OF THE RENUNCIANT'S PREPARATION AGAINST TEMPTATION, AND OF THE FEW WHO ARE WORTHY OF IMITATION. 
========================================================================

Wherefore, as Scripture says, "when you go forth to serve the Lord stand in the
fear of the Lord, and prepare your mind" [807] not for repose or carelessness or
delights, but for temptations and troubles. For "through much tribulation we
must enter into the kingdom of God." For "strait is the gate and narrow is the
way which leadeth unto life, and few there be which find it." [808] Consider
therefore that you belong to the few and elect; and do not grow cold after the
examples of the lukewarmness of many: but live as the few, that with the few you
may be worthy of a place in the kingdom of God: for "many are called, but few
chosen," and it is a "little flock to which it is the Father's good pleasure to
give" [809] an inheritance. You should therefore realize that it is no light sin
for one who has made profession of perfection to follow after what is imperfect.
And to this state of perfection you may attain by the following steps and in the
following way.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 89: CHAPTER XXXIX. OF THE WAY IN WHICH WE SHALL MOUNT TOWARDS PERFECTION, WHEREBY WE MAY AFTERWARDS ASCEND FROM THE FEAR OF GOD UP TO LOVE. 
========================================================================

"The beginning" of our salvation and the safeguard of it is, as I said, "the
fear of the Lord." [810] For through this those who are trained in the way of
perfection can gain a start in conversion as well as purification from vices and
security in virtue. And when this has gained an entrance into a man's heart it
produces contempt of all things, and begets a forgetfulness of kinsfolk and an
horror of the world itself. But by the contempt for the loss of all possessions
humility is gained. And humility is attested by these signs: First of all if a
man has all his desires mortified; secondly, if he conceals none of his actions
or even of his thoughts from his superior; thirdly, if he puts no trust in his
own opinion, but all in the judgment of his superior, and listens eagerly and
willingly to his directions; fourthly, if he maintains in everything obedience
and gentleness and constant patience; fifthly, if he not only hurts nobody else,
but also is not annoyed or vexed at wrongs done to himself; sixthly, if he does
nothing and ventures on nothing to which he is not urged by the Common Rule or
by the example of our elders; seventhly, if he is contented with the lowest
possible position, and considers himself as a bad workman and unworthy in the
case of everything enjoined to him; eighthly, if he does not only outwardly
profess with his lips that he is inferior to all, but really believes it in the
inmost thoughts of his heart; ninthly, if he governs his tongue, and is not over
talkative; tenthly, if he is not easily moved or too ready to laugh. For by such
signs and the like is true humility recognised. And when this has once been
genuinely secured, then at once it leads you on by a still higher step to love
which knows no fear; [811] and through this you begin, without any effort and as
it were naturally, to keep up everything that you formerly observed not without
fear of punishment; no longer now from regard of punishment or fear of it but
from love of goodness itself, and delight in virtue. [812]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 90: CHAPTER XL. THAT THE MONK SHOULD SEEK FOR EXAMPLES OF PERFECTION NOT FROM MANY INSTANCES BUT FROM ONE OR A VERY FEW. 
========================================================================

And that you may the more easily arrive at this, the examples of the perfect
life of one dwelling in the congregation, which you may imitate, should be
sought from a very few or indeed from one or two only and not from too many. For
apart from the fact that a life which is tested and refined and purified is only
to be found in a few, there is this also to be gained, viz.: that a man is more
thoroughly instructed and formed by the example of some one, towards the
perfection which he sets before him, viz.: that of the Coenobite life.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 91: CHAPTER XLI. THE APPEARANCE OF WHAT INFIRMITIES ONE WHO LIVES IN A COENOBIUM OUGHT TO EXHIBIT. 
========================================================================

And that you may be able to attain all this, and continually remain subject to
this spiritual rule, you must observe these three things in the congregation:
viz.: that as the Psalmist says: "I was like a deaf man and heard not and as one
that is dumb who doth not open his mouth; and I became as a man that heareth
not, and in whose mouth there are no reproofs," [814] so you also should walk as
one that is deaf and dumb and blind, so that -- putting aside the contemplation
of him who has been rightly chosen by you as your model of perfection -- you
should be like a blind man and not see any of those things which you find to be
unedifying, nor [815] be influenced by the authority or fashion of those who do
these things, and give yourself up to what is worse and what you formerly
condemned. If you hear any one disobedient or insubordinate or disparaging
another or doing anything different from what was taught to you, you should not
go wrong and be led astray by such an example to imitate him; but, "like a deaf
man," as if you had never heard it, you should pass it all by. If insults are
offered to you or to any one else, or wrongs done, be immovable, and as far as
an answer in retaliation is concerned be silent "as one that is dumb," always
singing in your heart this verse of the Psalmist: "I said I will take heed to my
ways that I offend not with my tongue. I set a guard to my mouth when the sinner
stood before me. I was dumb and was humbled and kept silence from good things."
[816] But cultivate above everything this fourth thing which adorns and graces
those three of which we have spoken above; viz.: make yourself, as the Apostle
directs, [817] a fool in this world that you may become wise, exercising no
discrimination and judgment of your own on any of those matters which are
commanded to you, but always showing obedience with all simplicity and faith,
judging that alone to be holy, useful, and wise which God's law or the decision
of your superior declares to you to be such. For built up on such a system of
instruction you may continue forever under this discipline, and not fall away
from the monastery in consequence of any temptations or devices of the enemy.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 92: CHAPTER XLII. HOW A MONK SHOULD NOT LOOK FOR THE BLESSING OF PATIENCE IN HIS OWN CASE AS A RESULT OF THE VIRTUE OF OTHERS, BUT RATHER AS A CONSEQUENCE OF HIS OWN LONGSUFFERING. 
========================================================================

You should therefore not look for patience in your own case from the virtue of
others, thinking that then only can you secure it when you are not irritated by
any (for it is not in your own power to prevent this from happening); but rather
you should look for it as the consequence of your own humility and
long-suffering which does depend on your own will.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 93: CHAPTER XLIII. RECAPITULATION OF THE EXPLANATION HOW A MONK CAN MOUNT UP TOWARDS PERFECTION. 
========================================================================

And in order that all these things which have been set forth in a somewhat
lengthy discourse may be more easily stamped on your heart and may stick in your
thoughts with all tenacity, I will make a summary of them so that you may be
able to learn all the changes by heart by reason of their brevity and
conciseness. Hear then in few words how you can mount up to the heights of
perfection without an effort or difficulty. "The beginning" of our salvation and
"of wisdom" is, according to Scripture, "the fear of the Lord." [818] From the
fear of the Lord arises salutary compunction. From compunction of heart springs
renunciation, i.e. nakedness and contempt of all possessions. From nakedness is
begotten humility; from humility the mortification of desires. Through
mortification of desires all faults are extirpated and decay. By driving out
faults virtues shoot up and increase. By the budding of virtues purity of heart
is gained. By purity of heart the perfection of apostolic love is acquired.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 94: BOOK V. OF THE SPIRIT OF GLUTTONY. 
========================================================================

Of the Spirit of Gluttony.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 95: CHAPTER I. THE TRANSITION FROM THE INSTITUTES OF THE MONKS TO THE STRUGGLE AGAINST THE EIGHT PRINCIPAL FAULTS. 
========================================================================

This fifth book of ours is now by the help of God to be produced. For after the
four books which have been composed on the customs of the monasteries, we now
propose, being strengthened by God through your prayers, to approach the
struggle against the eight principal faults, i.e. first, Gluttony or the
pleasures of the palate; secondly, Fornication; thirdly, Covetousness, which
means Avarice, or, as it may more properly be called, the love of money,
fourthly, Anger; fifthly, Dejection; sixthly, "Accidie," [819] which is
heaviness or weariness of heart; seventhly, kenodoxia which means foolish or
vain glory; eighthly, pride. And on entering upon this difficult task we need
your prayers, O most blessed Pope Castor, more than ever; that we may be enabled
in the first place worthily to investigate the nature of these in all points
however trifling or hidden or obscure: and next to explain with sufficient
clearness the causes of them and thirdly to bring forward fitly the cures and
remedies for them.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 96: CHAPTER II. HOW THE OCCASIONS OF THESE FAULTS, BEING FOUND IN EVERYBODY, ARE IGNORED BY EVERYBODY; AND HOW WE NEED THE LORD'S HELP TO MAKE THEM PLAIN. 
========================================================================

And of these passions as the occasions are recognized by everybody as soon as
they are laid open by the teaching of the elders, so before they are revealed,
although we are all overcome by them, and they exist in every one, yet nobody
knows of them. But we trust that we shall be able in some measure to explain
them, if by your prayers that word of the Lord, which was announced by Isaiah,
may apply to us also -- "I will go before thee, and bring low the mighty ones of
the land, I will break the gates of brass, and cut asunder the iron bars, and I
will open to thee concealed treasures and hidden secrets" [820] -- so that the
word of the Lord may go before us also, and first may bring low the mighty ones
of our land, i.e. these same evil passions which we are desirous to overcome,
and which claim for themselves dominion and a most horrible tyranny in our
mortal body; and may make them yield to our investigation and explanation, and
thus breaking the gates of our ignorance, and cutting asunder the bars of vices
which shut us out from true knowledge, may lead to the hidden things of our
secrets, and reveal to us who have been illuminated, according to the Apostle's
word, "the hidden things of darkness, and may make manifest the counsels of the
hearts," [821] that thus penetrating with pure eyes of the mind to the foul
darkness of vices, we may be able to disclose them and drag them forth to light;
and may succeed in explaining their occasions and natures to those who are
either free from them, or are still tied and bound by them, and so passing as
the prophet says, [822] through the fire of vices which terribly inflame our
minds, we may be able forthwith to pass also through the water of virtues which
extinguish them unharmed, and being bedewed (as it were) with spiritual remedies
may be found worthy to be brought in purity of heart to the consolations of
perfection.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 97: CHAPTER III. HOW OUR FIRST STRUGGLE MUST BE AGAINST THE SPIRIT OF GLUTTONY, I.E. THE PLEASURES OF THE PALATE. 
========================================================================

And so the first conflict we must enter upon is that against gluttony, which we
have explained as the pleasures of the palate: and in the first place as we are
going to speak of the system of fasts, and the quality of food, we must again
recur to the traditions and customs of the Egyptians, as everybody knows that
they contain a more advanced discipline in the matter of self-control, and a
perfect method of discrimination.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 98: CHAPTER IV. THE TESTIMONY OF ABBOT ANTONY IN WHICH HE TEACHES THAT EACH VIRTUE OUGHT TO BE SOUGHT FOR FROM HIM WHO PROFESSES IT IN A SPECIAL DEGREE. 
========================================================================

For it is an ancient and excellent saying of the blessed Antony [823] that when
a monk is endeavouring after the plan of the monastic life to reach the heights
of a more advanced perfection, and, having learned the consideration of
discretion, is able now to stand in his own judgment, and to arrive at the very
summit of the anchorite's life, he ought by no means to seek for all kinds of
virtues from one man however excellent. For one is adorned with flowers of
knowledge, another is more strongly fortified with methods of discretion,
another is established in the dignity of patience, another excels in the virtue
of humility, another in that of continence, another is decked with the grace of
simplicity. This one excels all others in magnanimity, that one in pity, another
in vigils, another in silence, another in earnestness of work. And therefore the
monk who desires to gather spiritual honey, ought like a most careful bee, to
suck out virtue from those who specially possess it, and should diligently store
it up in the vessel of his own breast: nor should he investigate what any one is
lacking in, but only regard and gather whatever virtue he has. For if we want to
gain all virtues from some one person, we shall with great difficulty or perhaps
never at all find suitable examples for us to imitate. For though we do not as
yet see that even Christ is made "all things in all," as the Apostle says; [824]
still in this way we can find Him bit by bit in all. For it is said of Him, "Who
was made of God to you wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and
redemption." [825] While then in one there is found wisdom, in another
righteousness, in another sanctification, in another kindness, in another
chastity, in another humility, in another patience, Christ is at the present
time divided, member by member, among all of the saints. But when all come
together into the unity of the faith and virtue, He is formed into the "perfect
man," [826] completing the fulness of His body, in the joints and properties of
all His members. Until then that time arrives when God will be "all in all," for
the present God can in the way of which we have spoken be "in all," through
particular virtues, although He is not yet "all in all" through the fulness of
them. For although our religion has but one end and aim, yet there are different
ways by which we approach God, as will be more fully shown in the Conferences of
the Elders. [827] And so we must seek a model of discretion and continence more
particularly from those from whom we see that those virtues flow forth more
abundantly through the grace of the Holy Spirit; not that any one can alone
acquire those things which are divided among many, but in order that in those
good qualities of which we are capable we may advance towards the imitation of
those who especially have acquired them.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 99: CHAPTER V. THAT ONE AND THE SAME RULE OF FASTING CANNOT BE OBSERVED BY EVERYBODY. 
========================================================================

And so on the manner of fasting a uniform rule cannot easily be observed,
because everybody has not the same strength; nor is it like the rest of the
virtues, acquired by steadfastness of mind alone. And therefore, because it does
not depend only on mental firmness, since it has to do with the possibilities of
the body, we have received this explanation concerning it which has been handed
down to us, viz.: that there is a difference of time, manner, and quality of the
refreshment in proportion to the difference of condition of the body, the age,
and sex: but that there is one and the same rule of restraint to everybody as
regards continence of mind, and the virtue of the spirit. For it is impossible
for every one to prolong his fast for a week, or to postpone taking refreshment
during a two or three days' abstinence. By many people also who are worn out
with sickness and especially with old age, a fast even up to sunset cannot be
endured without suffering. The sickly food of moistened beans does not agree
with everybody: nor does a sparing diet of fresh vegetables suit all, nor is a
scanty meal of dry bread permitted to all alike. One man does not feel satisfied
with two pounds, for another a meal of one pound, or six ounces, is too much;
but there is one aim and object of continence in the case of all of these, viz.:
that no one may be overburdened beyond the measure of his appetite, by gluttony.
For it is not only the quality, but also the quantity of food taken which dulls
the keenness of the mind, and when the soul as well as the flesh is surfeited,
kindles the baneful and fiery incentive to vice.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 100: CHAPTER VI. THAT THE MIND IS NOT INTOXICATED BY WINE ALONE. 
========================================================================

The belly when filled with all kinds of food gives birth to seeds of wantonness,
nor can the mind, when choked with the weight of food, keep the guidance and
government of the thoughts. For not only is drunkenness with wine wont to
intoxicate the mind, but excess of all kinds of food makes it weak and
uncertain, and robs it of all its power of pure and clear contemplation. The
cause of the overthrow and wantonness of Sodom was not drunkenness through wine,
but fulness of bread. Hear the Lord rebuking Jerusalem through the prophet. "For
how did thy sister Sodom sin, except in that she ate her bread in fulness and
abundance?" [828] And because through fulness of bread they were inflamed with
uncontrollable lust of the flesh, they were burnt up by the judgment of God with
fire and brimstone from heaven. But if excess of bread alone drove them to such
a headlong downfall into sin through the vice of satiety, what shall we think of
those who with a vigorous body dare to partake of meat and wine with unbounded
licence, taking not just what their bodily frailty demands, but what the eager
desire of the mind suggests.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 101: CHAPTER VII. HOW BODILY WEAKNESS NEED NOT INTERFERE WITH PURITY OF HEART. 
========================================================================

Bodily weakness is no hindrance to purity of heart, if only so much food is
taken as the bodily weakness requires, and not what pleasure asks for. It is
easier to find men who altogether abstain from the more fattening kinds of foods
than men who make a moderate use of what is allowed to our necessities; and men
who deny themselves everything out of love of continence than men who taking
food on the plea of weakness preserve the due measure of what is sufficient.
[829] For bodily weakness has its glory of self-restraint, where though food is
permitted to the failing body, a man deprives himself of his refreshment.
although he needs it, and only indulges in just so much food as the strict
judgment of temperance decides to be sufficient for the necessities of life, and
not what the longing appetite asks for. The more delicate foods, as they conduce
to bodily health, so they need not destroy the purity of chastity, if they are
taken in moderation. For whatever strength [830] is gained by partaking of them
is used up in the toil and waste of care. Wherefore as no state of life can be
deprived of the virtue of abstinence, so to none is the crown of perfection
denied.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 102: CHAPTER VIII. HOW FOOD SHOULD BE TAKEN WITH REGARD TO THE AIM AT PERFECT CONTINENCE. 
========================================================================

And so it is a very true and most excellent saying of the Fathers that the right
method of fasting and abstinence lies in the measure of moderation and bodily
chastening; and that this is the aim of perfect virtue for all alike, viz.: that
though we are still forced to desire it, yet we should exercise self-restraint
in the matter of the food, which we are obliged to take owing to the necessity
of supporting the body. For even if one is weak in body, he can attain to a
perfect virtue and one equal to that of those who are thoroughly strong and
healthy, if with firmness of mind he keeps a check upon the desires and lusts
which are not due to weakness of the flesh. For the Apostle says: "And take not
care for the flesh in its lusts." [832] He does not forbid care for it in every
respect: but says that care is not to be taken in regard to its desires and
lusts. He cuts away the luxurious fondness for the flesh: he does not exclude
the control necessary for life: he does the former, lest through pampering the
flesh we should be involved in dangerous entanglements of the desires; the
latter lest the body should be injured by our fault and unable to fulfil its
spiritual and necessary duties.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 103: CHAPTER IX. OF THE MEASURE OF THE CHASTISEMENT TO BE UNDERTAKEN, AND THE REMEDY OF FASTING. 
========================================================================

The perfection then of abstinence is not to be gathered from calculations of
time alone, nor only from the quality of the food; but beyond everything from
the judgment of conscience. For each one should impose such a sparing diet on
himself as the battle of his bodily struggle may require. The canonical
observance of fasts is indeed valuable and by all means to be kept. But unless
this is followed by a temperate partaking of food, one will not be able to
arrive at the goal of perfection. For the abstinence of prolonged fasts -- where
repletion of body follows -- produces weariness for a time rather than purity
and chastity. Perfection of mind indeed depends upon the abstinence of the
belly. He has no lasting purity and chastity, who is not contented always to
keep to a well-balanced and temperate diet. Fasting, although severe, yet if
unnecessary relaxation follows, is rendered useless, and presently leads to the
vice of gluttony. A reasonable supply of food partaken of daily with moderation,
is better than a severe and long fast at intervals. Excessive fasting has been
known not only to undermine the constancy of the mind, but also to weaken the
power of prayers through sheer weariness of body.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 104: CHAPTER X. THAT ABSTINENCE FROM FOOD IS NOT OF ITSELF SUFFICIENT FOR PRESERVATION OF BODILY AND MENTAL PURITY. 
========================================================================

In order to preserve the mind and body in a perfect condition abstinence from
food is not alone sufficient: unless the other virtues of the mind as well are
joined to it. And so humility must first be learned by the virtue of obedience,
and grinding toil [833] and bodily exhaustion. The possession of money must not
only be avoided, but the desire for it must be utterly rooted out. For it is not
enough not to possess it, -- a thing which comes to many as a matter of
necessity: but we ought, if by chance it is offered, not even to admit the wish
to have it. The madness of anger should be controlled; the downcast look of
dejection be overcome; vainglory should be despised, the disdainfulness of pride
trampled under foot, and the shifting and wandering thoughts of the mind
restrained by continual recollection of God. And the slippery wanderings of our
heart should be brought back again to the contemplation of God as often as our
crafty enemy, in his endeavour to lead away the mind a captive from this
consideration, creeps into the innermost recesses of the heart.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 105: CHAPTER XI. THAT BODILY LUSTS ARE NOT EXTINGUISHED EXCEPT BY THE ENTIRE ROOTING OUT OF VICE. 
========================================================================

For it is an impossibility that the fiery motions of the body can be
extinguished, before the incentives of the other chief vices are utterly rooted
out: concerning which we will speak in their proper place, if God permits,
separately, in different books. But now we have to deal with Gluttony, that is
the desire of the palate, against which our first battle is. He then will never
be able to check the motions of a burning lust, who cannot restrain the desires
of the appetite. The chastity of the inner man is shown by the perfection of
this virtue. For you will never feel sure that he can strive against the
opposition of a stronger enemy, whom you have seen overcome by weaker ones in a
higher conflict. For of all virtues the nature is but one and the same, although
they appear to be divided into many different kinds and names: just as there is
but one substance of gold, although it may seem to be distributed through many
different kinds of jewelry according to the skill of the goldsmith. And so he is
proved to possess no virtue perfectly, who is known to have broken down in some
part of them. For how can we believe that that man has extinguished the burning
heats of concupiscence (which are kindled not only by bodily incitement but by
vice of the mind), who could not assuage the sharp stings of anger which break
out from intemperance of heart alone? Or how can we think that he has repressed
the wanton desires of the flesh and spirit, who has not been able to conquer the
simple fault of pride? Or how can we believe that one has trampled under foot a
wantonness which is ingrained in the flesh, who has not been able to disown the
love of money, which is something external and outside our own substance? In
what way will he triumph in the war of flesh and spirit, who has not been man
enough to cure the disease of dejection? However great a city may be protected
by the height of its walls and the strength of its closed gates, yet it is laid
waste by the giving up of one postern however small. For what difference does it
make whether a dangerous foe makes his way into the heart of the city over high
walls, and through the wide spaces of the gate, or through secret and narrow
passages?


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 106: CHAPTER XII. THAT IN OUR SPIRITUAL CONTEST WE OUGHT TO DRAW AN EXAMPLE FROM THE CARNAL CONTESTS. 
========================================================================

"One who strives in the games is not crowned unless he has contended lawfully."
[834] One who wants to extinguish the natural desires of the flesh, should first
hasten to overcome those vices whose seat is outside our nature. For if we
desire to make trial of the force of the Apostle's saying, we ought first to
learn what are the laws and what the discipline of the world's contest, so that
finally by a comparison with these, we may be able to know what the blessed
Apostle meant to teach to us who are striving in a spiritual contest by this
illustration. For in these conflicts, which, as the same Apostle says, hold out
"a corruptible crown" [835] to the victors, this rule is kept, that he who aims
at preparing himself for the crown of glory, which is embellished with the
privilege of exemption, and who is anxious to enter the highest struggle in the
contest, should first in the Olympic and Pythian games give evidence of his
abilities as a youth, and his strength in its first beginnings; since in these
the younger men who want to practise this training are tested as to whether they
deserve or ought to be admitted to it, by the judgment both of the president of
the games and of the whole multitude. And when any one has been carefully
tested, and has first been proved to be stained by no infamy of life, and then
has been adjudged not ignoble through the yoke of slavery, and for this reason
unworthy to be admitted to this training and to the company of those who
practise it, and when thirdly he produces sufficient evidence of his ability and
prowess and by striving with the younger men and his own compeers has shown both
his skill and valour as a youth, and going forward from the contests of boys has
been by the scrutiny of the president permitted to mix with full-grown men and
those of approved experience, and has not only shown himself their equal in
valour by constant striving with them, but has also many a time carried off the
prize of victory among them, then at last he is allowed to approach the most
illustrious conflict of the games, permission to contend in which is granted to
none but victors and those who are decked with many crowns and prizes. If we
understand this illustration from a carnal contest, we ought by a comparison
with it to know what is the system and method of our spiritual conflict as well.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 107: CHAPTER XIII. THAT WE CANNOT ENTER THE BATTLE OF THE INNER MAN UNLESS WE HAVE BEEN SET FREE FROM THE VICE OF GLUTTONY. 
========================================================================

We also ought first to give evidence of our freedom from subjection to the
flesh. For "of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he the slave." [836] And
"every one that doeth sin is the slave of sin." [837] And when the scrutiny of
the president of the contest finds that we are stained by no infamy of
disgraceful lust, and when we are judged by him not to be slaves of the flesh,
and ignoble and unworthy of the Olympic struggle against our vices, then we
shall be able to enter the lists against our equals, that is the lusts of the
flesh and the motions and disturbances of the soul. For it is impossible for a
full belly to make trial of the combat of the inner man: nor is he worthy to be
tried in harder battles, who can be overcome in a slight skirmish.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 108: CHAPTER XIV. HOW GLUTTONOUS DESIRES CAN BE OVERCOME. 
========================================================================

First then we must trample under foot gluttonous desires, and to this end the
mind must be reduced not only by fasting, but also by vigils, by reading, and by
frequent compunction of heart for those things in which perhaps it recollects
that it has been deceived or overcome, sighing at one time with horror at sin,
at another time inflamed with the desire of perfection and saintliness: until it
is fully occupied and possessed by such cares and meditations, and recognizes
the participation of food to be not so much a concession to pleasure, as a
burden laid upon it; and considers it to be rather a necessity for the body than
anything desirable for the soul. And, preserved by this zeal of mind and
continual compunction, we shall beat down the wantonness of the flesh (which
becomes more proud and haughty by being fomented with food) and its dangerous
incitement, and so by the copiousness of our tears and the weeping of our heart
we shall succeed in extinguishing the fiery furnace of our body, which is
kindled by the Babylonish king [838] who continually furnishes us with
opportunities for sin, and vices with which we burn more fiercely, instead of
naphtha and pitch -- until, through the grace of God, instilled like dew by His
Spirit in our hearts, the heats of fleshly lusts can be altogether deadened.
This then is our first contest, this is as it were our first trial in the
Olympic games, to extinguish the desires of the palate and the belly by the
longing for perfection. On which account we must not only trample down all
unnecessary desire for food by the contemplation of the virtues, but also must
take what is necessary for the support of nature, not without anxiety of heart,
as if it were opposed to chastity. And so at length we may enter on the course
of our life, so that there may be no time in which we feel that we are recalled
from our spiritual studies, further than when we are obliged by the weakness of
the body to descend for the needful care of it. And when we are subjected to
this necessity -- of attending to the wants of life rather than the desires, of
the soul -- we should hasten to withdraw as quickly as possible from it, as if
it kept us back from really health-giving studies. For we cannot possibly scorn
the gratification of food presented to us, unless the mind is fixed on the
contemplation of divine things, and is the rather entranced with the love of
virtue and the delight of things celestial. And so a man will despise all things
present as transitory, when he has securely fixed his mental gaze on, those
things which are immovable and eternal, and already contemplates in heart --
though still in the flesh -- the blessedness of his future life.


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  CHAPTER 109: CHAPTER XV. HOW A MONK MUST ALWAYS BE EAGER TO PRESERVE HIS PURITY OF HEART. 
========================================================================

It is like the case when one endeavours to strike some mighty prize of virtue on
high, pointed out by some very small mark; with the keenest eyesight he points
the aim of his dart, knowing that large rewards of glory and prizes depend on
his hitting it; and he turns away his gaze from every other consideration, and
must direct it thither, where he sees that the reward and prize is placed,
because he would be sure to lose the prize of his skill and the reward of his
prowess if the keenness of his gaze should be diverted ever so little. [839]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 110: CHAPTER XVI. HOW, AFTER THE FASHION OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES, A MONK SHOULD NOT ATTEMPT SPIRITUAL CONFLICTS UNLESS HE HAS WON BATTLES OVER THE FLESH. 
========================================================================

And so when the desires of the belly and of the palate have been by these
considerations overcome, and when we have been declared, as in the Olympic
contests, neither slaves of the flesh nor infamous through the brand of sin, we
shall be adjudged to be worthy of the contest in higher struggles as well, and,
leaving behind lessons of this kind, may be believed capable of entering the
lists against spiritual wickednesses, against which only victors and those who
are allowed to contend in a spiritual conflict are deemed worthy to struggle.
For this is so to speak a most solid foundation of all the conflicts, viz.: that
in the first instance the impulses of carnal desires should be destroyed. For no
one can lawfully strive unless his own flesh has been overcome. And one who does
not strive lawfully certainly cannot take a share in the contest, nor win a
crown of glory and the grace of victory. But if we have been overcome in this
battle, having been proved as it were slaves of carnal lusts, and thus
displaying the tokens neither of freedom nor of strength, we shall be
straightway repulsed from the conflicts with spiritual hosts, as unworthy and as
slaves, with every mark of confusion. For "every one that doeth sin is the
servant of sin." [840] And this will be addressed to us by the blessed Apostle,
together with those among whom fornication is named. "Temptation does not
overtake you, except such as is human." [841] For if we do not seek for strength
of mind [842] we shall not deserve to make trial of severer contest against
wickedness on high, if we have been unable to subdue our weak flesh which
resists the spirit. And some not understanding this testimony of the Apostle,
have read the subjunctive instead of the indicative mood, i.e., "Let no
temptation overcome you, except such as is human." [843] But it is clear that it
is rather said by him with the meaning not of a wish but of a declaration or
rebuke.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 111: CHAPTER XVII. THAT THE FOUNDATION AND BASIS OF THE SPIRITUAL COMBAT MUST BE LAID IN THE STRUGGLE AGAINST GLUTTONY. 
========================================================================

Would you like to hear a true athlete of Christ striving according to the rules
and laws of the conflict? "I," said he, "so run, not as uncertainly; I so fight,
not as one that beateth the air: but I chastise my body and bring it into
subjection, lest by any means when I have preached to others I myself should be
a castaway." [844] You see how he made the chief part of the struggle depend
upon himself, that is upon his flesh, as if on a most sure foundation, and
placed the result of the battle simply in the chastisement of the flesh and the
subjection of his body. "I then so run not as uncertainly." He does not run
uncertainly, because, [845] looking to the heavenly Jerusalem, he has a mark
set, towards which his heart is swiftly directed without swerving. He does not
run uncertainly, because, "forgetting those things which are behind, he reaches
forth to those that are before, pressing towards the mark for the prize of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus," [846] whither he ever directs his mental
gaze, and hastening towards it with all speed [847] of heart, proclaims with
confidence, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept
the faith." [848] And because he knows he has run unweariedly "after the odour
of the ointment" [849] of Christ with ready devotion of heart, and has won the
battle of the spiritual combat by the chastisement of the flesh, he boldly
concludes and says, "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me in that
day." And that he might open up to us also a like hope of reward, if we desire
to imitate him in the struggle of his course, he added: "But not to me only, but
to all also who love His coming;" [850] declaring that we shall be sharers of
his crown in the day of judgment, if we love the coming of Christ -- not that
one only which will be manifest to men even against their will; but also this
one which daily comes to pass in holy souls -- and if we gain the victory in the
fight by chastising the body. And of this coming it is that the Lord speaks in
the Gospel. "I," says He, "and my Father will come to him, and will make our
abode with him." [851] And again: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any
man hear my voice and open the gate, I will come in to him and will sup with
him, and he with me." [852]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 112: CHAPTER XVIII. OF THE NUMBER OF DIFFERENT CONFLICTS AND VICTORIES THROUGH WHICH THE BLESSED APOSTLE ASCENDED TO THE CROWN OF THE HIGHEST COMBAT. 
========================================================================

But he does not mean that he has only finished the contest of a race when he
says "I so run, not as uncertainly" (a phrase which has more particularly to do
with the intention of the mind and fervour of his spirit, in which he followed
Christ with all zeal, crying out with the Bride, "We will run after thee for the
odour of thine ointments;" [853] and again, "My soul cleaveth unto thee:" [854]
but he also testifies that he has conquered in another kind of contest, saying,
"So fight I, not as one that beateth the air, but I chastise my body and bring
it into subjection." And this properly has to do with the pains of abstinence,
and bodily fasting and affliction of the flesh: as he means by this that he is a
vigorous bruiser of his own flesh, and points out that not in vain has he
planted his blows of continence against it; but that he has gained a battle
triumph by mortifying his own body; for when it is chastised with the blows of
continence and struck down with the boxing-gloves of fasting, he has secured for
his victorious spirit the crown of immortality and the prize of incorruption.
You see the orthodox method of the contest, and consider the issue of spiritual
combats: how the athlete of Christ having gained a victory over the rebellious
flesh, having cast it as it were under his feet, is carried forward as
triumphing on high. And therefore "he does not run uncertainly," because he
trusts that he will forthwith enter the holy city, the heavenly Jerusalem. He
"so fights," that is with fasts and humiliation of the flesh, "not as one that
beateth the air," that is, striking into space with blows of continence, through
which he struck not the empty air, but those spirits who inhabit it, by the
chastisement of his body. For one who says "not as one that beateth the air,"
shows that he strikes -- not empty and void air, but certain beings in the air.
And because he had overcome in this kind of contest, and marched on enriched
with the rewards of many crowns, not undeservedly does he begin to enter the
lists against still more powerful foes, and having triumphed over his former
rivals, he boldly makes proclamation and says, "Now our striving is not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against
world-rulers of this darkness, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places."
[855]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 113: CHAPTER XIX. THAT THE ATHLETE OF CHRIST, SO LONG AS HE IS IN THE BODY, IS NEVER WITHOUT A BATTLE. 
========================================================================

The athlete of Christ, as long as he is in the body, is never in want of a
victory to be gained in contests: but in proportion as he grows by triumphant
successes, so does a severer kind of struggle confront him. For when the flesh
is subdued and conquered, what swarms of foes, what hosts of enemies are incited
by his triumphs and rise up against the victorious soldier of Christ! for fear
lest in the ease of peace the soldier of Christ might relax his efforts and
begin to forget the glorious struggles of his contests, and be rendered slack
through the idleness which is caused by immunity from danger, and be cheated of
the reward of his prizes and the recompense of his triumphs. And so if we want
to rise with ever-growing virtue to these stages of triumph we ought also in the
same way to enter the lists of battle and begin by saying with the Apostle: "I
so fight, not as one that beateth the air, but I chastise my body and bring it
into subjection," [856] that when this conflict is ended we may once more be
able to say with him: "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against world-rulers of this darkness, against
spiritual wickedness in heavenly places." [857] For otherwise we cannot possibly
join battle with them nor deserve to make trial of spiritual combats if we are
baffled in a carnal contest, and smitten down in a struggle with the belly: and
deservedly will it be said of us by the Apostle in the language of blame:
"Temptation does not overtake you, except what is common to man." [858]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 114: CHAPTER XX. HOW A MONK SHOULD NOT OVERSTEP THE PROPER HOURS FOR TAKING FOOD, IF HE WANTS TO PROCEED TO THE STRUGGLE OF INTERIOR CONFLICTS. 
========================================================================

A monk therefore who wants to proceed to the struggle of interior conflicts
should lay down this as a precaution for himself to begin with: viz.: that he
will not in any case allow himself to be overcome by any delicacies, or take
anything to eat or drink before the fast [859] is over and the proper hour for
refreshment has come, outside meal times; [860] nor, when the meal is over, will
he allow himself to take a morsel however small; and likewise that he will
observe the canonical time and measure of sleep. For that self-indulgence must
be cut off in the same way that the sin of unchastity has to be rooted out. For
if a man is unable to check the unnecessary desires of the appetite how will he
be able to extinguish the fire of carnal lust? And if a man is not able to
control passions, which are openly manifest and are but small, how will he be
able with temperate discretion to fight against those which are secret, and
excite him, when none are there to see? And therefore strength of mind is tested
in separate impulses and in any sort of passion: and if it is overcome in the
case of very small and manifest desires, how it will endure in those that are
really great and powerful and hidden, each man's conscience must witness for
himself.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 115: CHAPTER XXI. OF THE INWARD PEACE OF A MONK, AND OF SPIRITUAL ABSTINENCE. 
========================================================================

For it is not an external enemy whom we have to dread. Our foe is shut up within
ourselves: an internal warfare is daily waged by us: and if we are victorious in
this, all external things will be made weak, and everything will be made
peaceful and subdued for the soldier of Christ. We shall have no external enemy
to fear, if what is within is overcome and subdued to the spirit. And let us not
believe that that external fast from visible food alone can possibly be
sufficient for perfection of heart and purity of body unless with it there has
also been united a fast of the soul. For the soul also has its foods which are
harmful, fattened on which, even without superfluity of meats, it is involved in
a downfall of wantonness. Slander is its food, and indeed one that is very dear
to it. A burst of anger also is its food, even if it be a very slight one; yet
supplying it with miserable food for an hour, and destroying it as well with its
deadly savour. Envy is a food of the mind, corrupting it with its poisonous
juices and never ceasing to make it wretched and miserable at the prosperity and
success of another. Kenodoxia, i.e., vainglory is its food, which gratifies it
with a delicious meal for a time; but afterwards strips it clear and bare of all
virtue, and dismisses it barren and void of all spiritual fruit, so that it
makes it not only lose the rewards of huge labours, but also makes it incur
heavier punishments. All lust and shifty wanderings of heart are a sort of food
for the soul, nourishing it on harmful meats, but leaving it afterwards without
share of the heavenly bread and of really solid food. If then, with all the
powers we have, we abstain from these in a most holy fast, our observance of the
bodily fast will be both useful and profitable. For labour of the flesh, when
joined with contrition of the spirit, will produce a sacrifice that is most
acceptable to God, and a worthy shrine of holiness in the pure and undefiled
inmost chambers of the heart. But if, while fasting as far as the body is
concerned, we are entangled in the most dangerous vices of the soul, our
humiliation of the flesh will do us no good whatever, while the most precious
part of us is defiled: since we go wrong through that substance by virtue of
which we are made a shrine of the Holy Ghost. For it is not so much the
corruptible flesh as the clean heart, which is made a shrine for God, and a
temple of the Holy Ghost. We ought therefore, whenever the outward man fasts, to
restrain the inner man as well from food which is bad for him: that inner man,
namely, which the blessed Apostle above all urges us to present pure before God,
that it may be found worthy to receive Christ as a guest within, saying "that in
the inner man Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." [861]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 116: CHAPTER XXII. THAT WE SHOULD FOR THIS REASON PRACTISE BODILY ABSTINENCE THAT WE MAY BY IT ATTAIN TO A SPIRITUAL FAST. 
========================================================================

And so we know that we ought therefore to bestow attention on bodily abstinence,
that we may by this fasting attain to purity of heart. Otherwise our labours
will be spent in vain, if we endure this without weariness, in contemplating the
end, but are unable to reach the end for which we have endured such trials; and
it would have been better to have abstained from the forbidden foods of the soul
than to have fasted with the body from things indifferent and harmless, for in
the case of these latter there is a simple and harmless reception of a creature
of God, which in itself has nothing wrong about it: but in the case of the
former there is at the very first a dangerous tendency to devour the brethren;
of which it is said, "Do not love backbiting lest thou be rooted out." [862] And
concerning anger and jealousy the blessed Job says: "For anger slayeth a fool,
and envy killeth a child." [863] And at the same time it should be noticed that
he who is angered is set down as a fool; and he who is jealous, as a child. For
the former is not undeservedly considered a fool, since of his own accord he
brings death upon himself, being goaded by the stings of anger; and the latter,
while he is envious, proves that he is a child and a minor, for while he envies
another he shows that the one at whose prosperity he is vexed, is greater than
he.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 117: CHAPTER XXIII. WHAT SHOULD BE THE CHARACTER OF THE MONK'S FOOD. 
========================================================================

We should then choose for our food, not only that which moderates the heat of
burning lust, and avoids kindling it; but what is easily got ready, and what is
recommended by its cheapness, and is suitable to the life of the brethren and
their common use. For the nature of gluttony is threefold: first, there is that
which forces us to anticipate the proper hour for a meal, next that which
delights in stuffing the stomach, and gorging all kinds of food; thirdly, that
which takes pleasure in more refined and delicate feasting. And so against it a
monk should observe a threefold watch: first, he should wait till the proper
time for breaking the fast; secondly, he should not give way to gorging;
thirdly, he should be contented with any of the commoner sorts of food. For
anything that is taken over and above what is customary and the common use of
all, is branded by the ancient tradition of the fathers as defiled with the sin
of vanity and glorying and ostentation. Nor of those whom we have seen to be
deservedly eminent for learning and discretion, or whom the grace of Christ has
singled out as shining lights for every one to imitate, have we known any who
have abstained from eating bread which is accounted cheap and easily to be
obtained among them; nor have we seen that any one who has rejected this rule
and given up the use of bread and taken to a diet of beans or herbs or fruits,
has been reckoned among the most esteemed, or even acquired the grace of
knowledge and discretion. For not only do they lay it down that a monk ought not
to ask for foods which are not customary for others, lest his mode of life
should be exposed publicly to all and rendered vain and idle and so be destroyed
by the disease of vanity; but they insist that the common chastening discipline
of fasts ought not lightly to be disclosed to any one, but as far as possible
concealed and kept secret. But when any of the brethren arrive they rule that we
ought to show the virtues of kindness and charity instead of observing a severe
abstinence and our strict daily rule: nor should we consider what our own wishes
and profit or the ardour of our desires may require, but set before us and
gladly fulfil whatever the refreshment of the guest, or his weakness may demand
from us.


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  CHAPTER 118: CHAPTER XXIV. HOW IN EGYPT WE SAW THAT THE DAILY FAST WAS BROKEN WITHOUT SCRUPLE ON OUR ARRIVAL. 
========================================================================

When we had come from the region of Syria and had sought the province of Egypt,
in our desire to learn the rules of the Elders, we were astonished at the
alacrity of heart with which we were there received so that no rule forbidding
refreshment till the appointed hour of the fast was over was observed, such as
we had been brought up to observe in the monasteries of Palestine; but except in
the case of the regular days, Wednesdays and Fridays, wherever we went the daily
fast [864] was broken: [865] and when we asked why the daily fast was thus
ignored by them without scruple one of the elders replied: "The opportunity for
fasting is always with me. But as I am going to conduct you on your way, I
cannot always keep you with me. And a fast, although it is useful and advisable,
is yet a free-will offering. But the exigencies of a command require the
fulfilment of a work of charity. And so receiving Christ in you I ought to
refresh Him but when I have sent you on your way I shall be able to balance the
hospitality offered for His sake by a stricter fast on my own account. For the
children of the bridegroom cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them:' [866]
but when he has departed, then they will rightly fast."


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 119: CHAPTER XXV. OF THE ABSTINENCE OF ONE OLD MAN WHO TOOK FOOD SIX TIMES SO SPARINGLY THAT HE WAS STILL HUNGRY. 
========================================================================

When one of the elders was pressing me to eat a little more as I was taking
refreshment, and I said that I could not, he replied: "I have already laid my
table six times for different brethren who had arrived, and, pressing each of
them, I partook of food with him, and am still hungry, and do you, who now
partake of refreshment for the first time, say that you cannot eat any more?"


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 120: CHAPTER XXVI. OF ANOTHER OLD MAN, WHO NEVER PARTOOK OF FOOD ALONE IN HIS CELL. 
========================================================================

We have seen another who lived alone, who declared that he had never enjoyed
food by himself alone, but that even if for five days running none of the
brethren came to his cell he constantly put off taking food until on Saturday or
Sunday he went to church for service and found some stranger whom he brought
home at once to his cell, and together with him partook of refreshment for the
body not so much by reason of his own needs, as for the sake of kindness and on
his brother's account. And so as they know that the daily fast is broken without
scruple on the arrival of brethren, when they leave, they compensate for the
refreshment which has been enjoyed on their account by a greater abstinence, and
sternly make up for the reception of even a very little food by a severer
chastisement not only as regards bread, but also by lessening their usual amount
of sleep.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 121: CHAPTER XXVII. WHAT THE TWO ABBOTS PÆSIUS AND JOHN SAID OF THE FRUITS OF THEIR ZEAL. 
========================================================================

When the aged John, who was superior of a large monastery and of a quantity of
brethren, had come to visit the aged Pæsius, who was living in a vast desert,
and had been asked of him as of a very old friend, what he had done in all the
forty years in which he had been separated from him and had scarcely ever been
disturbed in his solitude by the brethren: "Never," said he, "has the sun seen
me eating," "nor me angry," said the other. [867]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 122: CHAPTER XXVIII. THE LESSON AND EXAMPLE WHICH ABBOT JOHN WHEN DYING LEFT TO HIS DISCIPLES. 
========================================================================

When the same old man, as one who was readily going to depart to his own, was
lying at his last gasp, and the brethren were standing round, they implored and
intreated that he would leave them, as a sort of legacy, some special charge by
which they could attain to the height of perfection, the more easily from the
brevity of the charge: he sighed and said, "I never did my own will, nor taught
any one what I had not first done myself."


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 123: CHAPTER XXIX. OF ABBOT MACHETES, WHO NEVER SLEPT DURING THE SPIRITUAL CONFERENCES, BUT ALWAYS WENT TO SLEEP DURING EARTHLY TALES. 
========================================================================

We knew an old man, Machetes by name, who lived at a distance from the crowds of
the brethren, and obtained by his daily prayers this grace from the Lord, that
as often as a spiritual conference was held, whether by day or by night, he
never was at all overcome by sleep: but if any one tried to introduce a word of
detraction, or idle talk, he dropped off to sleep at once as if the poison of
slander could not possibly penetrate to pollute his ears.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 124: CHAPTER XXX. A SAYING OF THE SAME OLD MAN ABOUT NOT JUDGING ANY ONE. 
========================================================================

The same old man, when he was teaching us that no one ought to judge another,
remarked that there were three points on which he had charged and rebuked the
brethren, viz.: because some allowed their uvula to be cut off, or kept a cloak
in their cell, or blessed oil and gave it to those dwelling in the world who
asked for it: and he said that he had done all these things himself. For having
contracted some malady of the uvula, I wasted away, said he, for so long,
through its weakness, that at last I was driven by stress of the pain, and by
the persuasion of all the elders, to allow it to be cut off. And I was forced
too by reason of this illness, to keep a cloak. And I was also compelled to
bless oil and give it to those who prayed for it -- a thing which I execrated
above everything, since that I thought that it proceeded from great presumption
of heart -- when suddenly many who were living in the world surrounded me, so
that I could not possibly escape them in any other way, had they not extorted
from me with no small violence, and entreaties that I would lay my hand on a
vessel offered by them, and sign it with the sign of the cross: and so believing
that they had secured blessed oil, at last they let me go. And by these things I
plainly discovered that a monk was in the same case and entangled in the same
faults for which he had ventured to judge others. Each one therefore ought only
to judge himself, and to be on the watch, with care and circumspection in all
things not to judge the life and conduct of others in accordance with the
Apostle's charge, "But thou, why dost thou judge thy brother? to his own master
he standeth or falleth." And this: "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with
what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged." [868] For besides the reason of
which we have spoken, it is for this cause also dangerous to judge concerning
others because in those matters in which we are offended -- as we do not know
the need or the reason for which they are really acting either rightly in the
sight of God, or at any rate in a pardonable manner -- we are found to have
judged them rashly and in this commit no light sin, by forming an opinion of our
brethren different from what we ought.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 125: CHAPTER XXXI. THE SAME OLD MAN'S REBUKE WHEN HE SAW HOW THE BRETHREN WENT TO SLEEP DURING THE SPIRITUAL CONFERENCES, AND WOKE UP WHEN SOME IDLE STORY WAS TOLD. 
========================================================================

The same old man made clear by this proof that it was the devil who encouraged
idle tales, and showed himself always as the enemy of spiritual conferences. For
when he was discoursing to some of the brethren on necessary matters and
spiritual things, and saw that they were weighed down with a sound slumber, and
could not drive away the weight of sleep from their eyes, he suddenly introduced
an idle tale. And when he saw that at once they woke up, delighted with it, and
pricked up their ears, he groaned and said, "Up till now we were speaking of
celestial things and all your eyes were overpowered with a sound slumber; but as
soon as an idle tale was introduced, we all woke up and shook off the drowsiness
of sleep which had overcome us. And from this therefore consider who is the
enemy of that spiritual conference, and who has shown himself the suggester of
that useless and carnal talk. For it is most evidently shown that it is he who,
rejoicing in evil, never ceases to encourage the latter and to oppose the
former."


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 126: CHAPTER XXXII. OF THE LETTERS WHICH WERE BURNT WITHOUT BEING READ. 
========================================================================

Nor do I think it less needful to relate this act of a brother who was intent on
purity of heart, and extremely anxious with regard to the contemplation of
things divine. When after an interval of fifteen years a large number of letters
had been brought to him from his father and mother and many friends in the
province of Pontus, he received the huge packet of letters, and turning over the
matter in his own mind for some time, "What thoughts," said he, "will the
reading of these suggest to me, which will incite me either to senseless joy or
to useless sadness! for how many days will they draw off the attention of my
heart from the contemplation I have set before me, by the recollection of those
who wrote them! How long will it take for the disturbance of mind thus created
to be calmed, and what an effort will it cost for that former state of
peacefulness to be restored, if the mind is once moved by the sympathy of the
letters, and by recalling the words and looks of those whom it has left for so
long begins once more in thought and spirit to revisit them, to dwell among them
and to be with them. And it will be of no use to have forsaken them in the body,
if one begins to look on them with the heart, and readmits and revives that
memory which on renouncing this world every one gave up, as if he were dead."
Turning this over in his mind, he determined not only not to read a single
letter, but not even to open the packet, for fear lest, at the sight of the
names of the writers, or on recalling their appearance, the purpose of his
spirit might give way. And so he threw it into the fire to be burnt, all tied up
just as he had received it, crying, "Away, O ye thoughts of my home, be ye burnt
up, and try no further to recall me to those things from which I have fled."


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 127: CHAPTER XXXIII. OF THE SOLUTION OF A QUESTION WHICH ABBOT THEODORE OBTAINED BY PRAYER. 
========================================================================

We knew also Abbot Theodore, [869] a man gifted with the utmost holiness and
with perfect knowledge not only in practical life, but also in understanding the
Scriptures, which he had not acquired so much by study and reading, or worldly
education, as by purity of heart alone: since he could with difficulty
understand and speak but a very few words of the Greek language. This man when
he was seeking an explanation of some most difficult question, continued without
ceasing for seven days and nights in prayer until he discovered by a revelation
from the Lord the solution of the question propounded.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 128: CHAPTER XXXIV. OF THE SAYING OF THE SAME OLD MAN, THROUGH WHICH HE TAUGHT BY WHAT EFFORTS A MONK CAN ACQUIRE A KNOWLEDGE OF THE SCRIPTURES. 
========================================================================

This man therefore, when some of the brethren were wondering at the splendid
light of his knowledge and were asking of him some meanings of Scripture, said
that a monk who wanted to acquire a knowledge of the Scriptures ought not to
spend his labour on the works of commentators, but rather to keep all the
efforts of his mind and intentions of his heart set on purifying himself from
carnal vices: for when these are driven out, at once the eyes of the heart, as
if the veil of the passions were removed, will begin as it were naturally to
gaze on the mysteries [870] of Scripture: since they were not declared to us by
the grace of the Holy Spirit in order that they should remain unknown and
obscure; but they are rendered obscure by our fault, as the veil of our sins
covers the eyes of the heart, and when these are restored to their natural state
of health, the mere reading of Holy Scripture is by itself amply sufficient for
beholding the true knowledge, nor do they need the aid of commentators, just as
these eyes of flesh need no man's teaching how to see, provided that they are
free from dimness or the darkness of blindness. For this reason there have
arisen so great differences and mistakes among commentators because most of
them, paying no sort of attention towards purifying the mind, rush into the work
of interpreting the Scriptures, and in proportion to the density or impurity of
their heart form opinions that are at variance with and contrary to each other's
and to the faith, and so are unable to take in the light of truth.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 129: CHAPTER XXXV. A REBUKE OF THE SAME OLD MAN, WHEN HE HAD COME TO MY CELL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. 
========================================================================

The same Theodore came unexpectedly to my cell in the dead of night, with
paternal inquisitiveness seeking what I -- an unformed anchorite as I was --
might be doing by myself; and when he had found me there already, as I had
finished my vesper office, beginning to refresh my wearied body, and lying down
on a mat, he sighed from the bottom of his heart, and calling me by name, said,
"How many, O John, are at this hour communing with God, and embracing Him, and
detaining Him with them, while you are deprived of so great light, enfeebled as
you are with lazy sleep!" And since the virtues of the fathers and the grace
given to them have tempted us to turn aside to a story like this, I think it
well to record in this volume a noteworthy deed of charity, which we experienced
from the kindness of that most excellent man Archebius, that the purity of
continence grafted on to a work of charity may more readily shine forth, being
embellished with a pleasing variety. For the duty of fasting is then rendered
acceptable to God, when it is made perfect by the fruits of charity.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 130: CHAPTER XXXVI. A DESCRIPTION OF THE DESERT IN DIOLCOS, WHERE THE ANCHORITES LIVE. 
========================================================================

And so when we had come, while still beginners, from the monasteries of
Palestine, to a city of Egypt called Diolcos, [871] and were contemplating a
large number of monks bound by the discipline of the Coenobium, and trained in
that excellent system of monasteries, which is also the earliest, we were also
eager to see with all wisdom of heart another system as well which is still
better, viz.: that of the anchorites, as we were incited thereto by the praises
of it by everybody. For these men, having first lived for a very long time in
Coenobia, and having diligently learnt all the rules of patience and discretion,
and acquired the virtues of humility and renunciation, and having perfectly
overcome all their faults, in order to engage in most fearful conflicts with
devils, penetrate the deepest recesses of the desert. Finding then that men of
this sort were living near the river Nile in a place which is surrounded on one
side by the same river, on the other by the expanse of the sea, and forms an
island, habitable by none but monks seeking such recesses, since the saltness of
the soil and dryness of the sand make it unfit for any cultivation -- to these
men, I say, we eagerly hastened, and were beyond measure astonished at their
labours which they endure in the contemplation of the virtues and their love of
solitude. For they are hampered by such a scarcity even of water that the care
and exactness with which they portion it out is such as no miser would bestow in
preserving and hoarding the most precious kind of wine. For they carry it three
miles or even further from the bed of the above-mentioned river, for all
necessary purposes; and the distance, great as it is, with sandy mountains in
between, is doubled by the very great difficulty of the task.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 131: CHAPTER XXXVII. OF THE CELLS WHICH ABBOT ARCHEBIUS GAVE UP TO US WITH THEIR FURNITURE. 
========================================================================

Having then seen this, as we were inflamed with the desire of imitating them,
the aforesaid Archebius, the most famous among them for the grace of kindness,
drew us into his cell, and having discovered our desire, pretended that he
wanted to leave the place, and to offer his cell to us, as if he were going
away, declaring that he would have done it, even if we had not come. And we,
inflamed with the desire of remaining there, and putting unhesitating faith in
the assertions of so great a man, willingly agreed to this, and took over his
cell with all its furniture and belongings. And so having succeeded in his pious
fraud, he left the place for a few days in which to procure the means for
constructing a cell, and after this returned, and with the utmost labour built
another cell for himself. And after some little time, when some other brethren
came inflamed with the same desire to stay there, he deceived them by a similar
charitable falsehood, and gave this one up with everything pertaining to it. But
he, unweariedly persevering in his act of charity, built for himself a third
cell to dwell in. [872]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 132: CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE SAME ARCHEBIUS PAID A DEBT OF HIS MOTHER'S BY THE LABOUR OF HIS OWN HANDS. 
========================================================================

It seems to me worth while to hand down another charitable act of the same man,
that the monks of our land may be taught by the example of one and the same man
to maintain not only a rigorous continence, but also the most unfeigned
affection of love. For he, sprung from no ignoble family, while yet a child,
scorning the love of this world and of his kinsfolk, fled to the monastery which
is nearly four miles distant from the aforementioned town, where he so passed
all his life, that never once throughout the whole of fifty years did he enter
or see the village from which he had come, nor even look upon the face of any
woman, not even his own mother. In the mean while his father was overtaken by
death, and left a debt of a hundred solidi. And though he himself was entirely
free from all annoyances, since he had been disinherited of all his father's
property, yet he found that his mother was excessively annoyed by the creditors.
Then he through consideration of duty somewhat moderated that gospel severity
through which formerly, while his parents were prosperous, he did not recognize
that he possessed a father or mother on earth; and acknowledged that he had a
mother, and hastened to relieve her in her distress, without relaxing anything
of the austerity he had set himself. For remaining within the cloister of the
monastery he asked that the task of his usual work might be trebled. And there
for a whole year toiling night and day alike he paid to the creditors the due
measure of the debt secured by his toil and labour, and relieved his mother from
all annoyance and anxiety; ridding her of the burden of the debt in such a way
as not to suffer aught of the severity he had set himself to be diminished on
plea of duteous necessity. Thus did he preserve his wonted austerities, without
ever denying to his mother's heart the work which duty demanded, as, though he
had formerly disregarded her for the love of Christ, he now acknowledged her
again out of consideration of duty.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 133: CHAPTER XXXIX. OF THE DEVICE OF A CERTAIN OLD MAN BY WHICH SOME WORK WAS FOUND FOR ABBOT SIMEON WHEN HE HAD NOTHING TO DO. 
========================================================================

When a brother who was very dear to us, Simeon by name, a man utterly ignorant
of Greek, had come from the region of Italy, one of the elders, anxious to show
to him, as he was a stranger, a work of charity, with some pretence of the
benefit being mutual, asked him why he sat doing nothing in his cell, guessing
from this that he would not be able to stay much longer in it both because of
the roving thoughts which idleness produces and because of his want of the
necessities of life; well knowing that no one can endure the assaults made in
solitude, but one who is contented to procure food for himself by the labour of
his hands. And when the other replied that he could not do or manage any of the
things which were usually done by the brethren there, except write a good hand,
if any one in Egypt wanted a Latin book for his use, then he at length seized
the opportunity to secure the long wished for work of charity, under colour of
its being a mutual benefit; and said, "From God this opportunity comes, for I
was just looking for some one to write out for me the Epistles [873] in Latin;
for I have a brother who is bound in the chains of military service, and is a
good Latin scholar, to whom I want to send something from Scripture for him to
read for his edification." And so when Simeon gratefully took this as an
opportunity offered to him by God, the old man also gladly seized the pretext,
under colour of which he could freely carry out his work of charity, and at once
not only brought him as a matter of business everything he could want for a
whole year, but also conveyed to him parchment and everything requisite for
writing, and received afterwards the manuscript, which was not of the slightest
use (since in those parts they were all utterly ignorant of this language), and
did no good to anybody except that which resulted from this device and large
outlay, as the one, without shame or confusion, procured his necessary food and
sustenance by the reward of his work and labour, and the other carried out his
kindness and bounty as it were by the compulsion of a debt: securing for himself
a more abundant reward proportioned to the zeal with which he procured for his
foreign brother not only his necessary food, but materials for writing, and an
opportunity of work.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 134: CHAPTER XL. OF THE BOYS WHO WHEN BRINGING TO A SICK MAN SOME FIGS, DIED IN THE DESERT FROM HUNGER, WITHOUT HAVING TASTED THEM. 
========================================================================

But since in the section in which we proposed to say something about the
strictness of fasting and abstinence, kindly acts and deeds of charity seem to
have been intermingled, again returning to our design we will insert in this
little book a noteworthy deed of some who were boys in years though not in their
feelings. For when, to their great surprise, some one had brought to Abbot John,
the steward in the desert of Scete, some figs from Libya Mareotis, [874] as
being a thing never before seen in those districts, -- (John) who had the
management of the church in the days of the blessed Presbyter Paphnutius, [875]
by whom it had been intrusted to him, at once sent them by the hands of two lads
to an old man who was laid up in ill health in the further parts of the desert,
and who lived about eighteen miles from the church. And when they had received
the fruit, and set off for the cell of the above-mentioned old man, they lost
the right path altogether -- a thing which there easily happens even to elders
-- as a thick fog suddenly came on. And when all day and night they had wandered
about the trackless waste of the desert, and could not possibly find the sick
man's cell, worn out at last both by weariness from their journey, and from
hunger and thirst, they bent their knees and gave up their souls to God in the
very act of prayer. And afterwards, when they had been for a long while sought
for by the marks of their footsteps which in those sandy regions are impressed
as if on snow, until a thin coating of sand blown about even by a slight breeze
covers them up again, it was found that they had preserved the figs untouched,
just as they had received them; choosing rather to give up their lives, than
their fidelity to their charge, and to lose their life on earth than to violate
the commands of their senior.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 135: CHAPTER XLI. THE SAYING OF ABBOT MACARIUS OF THE BEHAVIOUR OF A MONK AS ONE WHO WAS TO LIVE FOR A LONG WHILE, AND AS ONE WHO WAS DAILY AT THE POINT OF DEATH. 
========================================================================

There is still one valuable charge of the blessed Macarius to be brought forward
by us, so that a saying of so great a man may close this book of fasts and
abstinence. He said then that a monk ought to bestow attention on his fasts,
just as if he were going to remain in the flesh for a hundred years; and to curb
the motions of the soul, and to forget injuries, and to loathe sadness, and
despise sorrows and losses, as if he were daily at the point of death. For in
the former case discretion is useful and proper as it causes a monk always to
walk with well-balanced care, and does not suffer him by reason of a weakened
body to fall from the heights over most dangerous precipices: in the other
high-mindedness is most valuable as it will enable him not only to despise the
seeming prosperity of this present world, but also not to be crushed by
adversity and sorrow, and to despise them as small and paltry matters, since he
has the gaze of his mind continually fixed there, whither daily at each moment
he believes that he is soon to be summoned. [876]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 136: BOOK VI. ON THE SPIRIT OF FORNICATION. 
========================================================================

On the Spirit of Fornication. We have thought best to omit altogether the
translation of this book.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 137: BOOK VII. OF THE SPIRIT OF COVETOUSNESS. 
========================================================================

Of the Spirit of Covetousness.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 138: CHAPTER I. HOW OUR WARFARE WITH COVETOUSNESS IS A FOREIGN ONE, AND HOW THIS FAULT IS NOT A NATURAL ONE IN MAN, AS THE OTHER FAULTS ARE. 
========================================================================

Our third conflict is against covetousness which we can describe as the love of
money; a foreign warfare, and one outside of our nature, and in the case of a
monk originating only from the state of a corrupt and sluggish mind, and often
from the beginning of his renunciation being unsatisfactory, and his love
towards God being lukewarm at its foundation. For the rest of the incitements to
sin planted in human nature seem to have their commencement as it were
congenital with us, and somehow being deeply rooted in our flesh, and almost
coeval with our birth, anticipate our powers of discerning good and evil, and
although in very early days they attack a man, yet they are overcome with a long
struggle.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 139: CHAPTER II. HOW DANGEROUS IS THE DISEASE OF COVETOUSNESS. 
========================================================================

But this disease coming upon us at a later period, and approaching the soul from
without, as it can be the more easily guarded against and resisted, so, if it is
disregarded and once allowed to gain an entrance into the heart, is the more
dangerous to every one, and with the greater difficulty expelled. For it becomes
"a root of all evils," [877] and gives rise to a multiplicity of incitements to
sin.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 140: CHAPTER III. WHAT IS THE USEFULNESS OF THOSE VICES WHICH ARE NATURAL TO US. 
========================================================================

For example, do not we see those natural impulses of the flesh not only in boys
in whom innocence still anticipates the discernment of good and evil, but even
in little children and infants, who although they have not even the slightest
approach to lust within them, yet show that the impulses of the flesh exist in
them and are naturally excited? Do not we also see that the deadly pricks of
anger already exist in full vigour likewise in little children? and before they
have learnt the virtue of patience, we see that they are disturbed by wrongs,
and feel affronts offered to them even by way of a joke; and sometimes, although
strength is lacking to them, the desire to avenge themselves is not wanting,
when anger excites them. Nor do I say this to lay the blame on their natural
state, but to point out that of these impulses which proceed from us, some are
implanted in us for a useful purpose, while some are introduced from without,
through the fault of carelessness and the desire of an evil will. For these
carnal impulses, of which we spoke above, were with a useful purpose implanted
in our bodies by the providence of the Creator, viz.: for perpetuating the race,
and raising up children for posterity: and not for committing adulteries and
debaucheries, which the authority of the law also condemns. The pricks of anger
too, do we not see that they have been most wisely given to us, that being
enraged at our sins and mistakes, we may apply ourselves the rather to virtues
and spiritual exercises, showing forth all love towards God, and patience
towards our brethren? We know too how great is the use of sorrow, which is
reckoned among the other vices, when it is turned to an opposite use. For on the
one hand, when it is in accordance with the fear of God it is most needful, and
on the other, when it is in accordance with the world, most pernicious; as the
Apostle teaches us when he says that "the sorrow which is according to God
worketh repentance that is steadfast unto salvation, but the sorrow of the world
worketh death." [878]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 141: CHAPTER IV. THAT WE CAN SAY THAT THERE EXIST IN US SOME NATURAL FAULTS, WITHOUT WRONGING THE CREATOR. 
========================================================================

If then we say that these impulses were implanted in us by the Creator, He will
not on that account seem blameworthy, if we choose wrongly to abuse them, and to
pervert them to harmful purposes, and are ready to be made sorry by means of the
useless Cains of this world, and not by means of showing penitence and the
correction of our faults: or at least if we are angry not with ourselves (which
would be profitable) but with our brethren in defiance of God's command. For in
the case of iron, which is given us for good and useful purposes, if any one
should pervert it for murdering the innocent, one would not therefore blame the
maker of the metal because man had used to injure others that which he had
provided for good and useful purposes of living happily.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 142: CHAPTER V. OF THE FAULTS WHICH ARE CONTRACTED THROUGH OUR OWN FAULT, WITHOUT NATURAL IMPULSES. 
========================================================================

But we affirm that some faults grow up without any natural occasion giving birth
to them, but simply from the free choice of a corrupt and evil will, as envy and
this very sin of covetousness; which are caught (so to speak) from without,
having no origination in us from natural instincts. But these, in proportion as
they are easily guarded against and readily avoided, just so do they make
wretched the mind that they have got hold of and seized, and hardly do they
suffer it to get at the remedies which would cure it: either because these who
are wounded by persons whom they might either have ignored, or avoided, or
easily overcome, do not deserve to be healed by a speedy cure, or else because,
having laid the foundations badly, they are unworthy to raise an edifice of
virtue and reach the summit of perfection.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 143: CHAPTER VI. HOW DIFFICULT THE EVIL OF COVETOUSNESS IS TO DRIVE AWAY WHEN ONCE IT HAS BEEN ADMITTED. 
========================================================================

Wherefore let not this evil seem of no account or unimportant to anybody: for as
it can easily be avoided, so if it has once got hold of any one, it scarcely
suffers him to get at the remedies for curing it. For it is a regular nest of
sins, and a "root of all kinds of evil," and becomes a hopeless incitement to
wickedness, as the Apostle says, "Covetousness," i.e. the love of money, "is a
root of all kinds of evil." [879]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 144: CHAPTER VII. OF THE SOURCE FROM WHICH COVETOUSNESS SPRINGS, AND OF THE EVILS OF WHICH IT IS ITSELF THE MOTHER. 
========================================================================

When then this vice has got hold of the slack and lukewarm soul of some monk, it
begins by tempting him in regard of a small sum of money, giving him excellent
and almost reasonable excuses why he ought to retain some money for himself. For
he complains that what is provided in the monastery is not sufficient, and can
scarcely be endured by a sound and sturdy body. What is he to do if ill health
comes on, and he has no special store of his own to support him in his weakness?
He says that the allowance of the monastery is but meagre, and that there is the
greatest carelessness about the sick: and if he has not something of his own so
that he can look after the wants of his body, he will perish miserably. The
dress which is allowed him is insufficient, unless he has provided something
with which to procure another. Lastly, he says that he cannot possibly remain
for long in the same place and monastery, and that unless he has secured the
money for his journey, and the cost of his removal over the sea, he cannot move
when he wants to, and, detained by the compulsion of want, will henceforth drag
out a wretched and wearisome existence without making the slightest advance:
that he cannot without indignity be supported by another's substance, as a
pauper and one in want. And so when he has bamboozled himself with such thoughts
as these, he racks his brains to think how he can acquire at least one penny.
Then he anxiously searches for some special work which he can do without the
Abbot knowing anything about it. And selling it secretly, and so securing the
coveted coin, he torments himself worse and worse in thinking how he can double
it: puzzled as to where to deposit it, or to whom to intrust it. Then he is
oppressed with a still weightier care as to what to buy with it, or by what
transaction he can double it. And when this has turned out as he wished, a still
more greedy craving for gold springs up, and is more and more keenly excited, as
his store of money grows larger and larger. For with the increase of wealth the
mania of covetousness increases. Then next he has forebodings of a long life,
and an enfeebled old age, and infirmities of all sorts, and long drawn out,
which will be insupportable in old age, unless a large store of money has been
laid by in youth. And so the wretched soul is agitated, and held fast, as it
were, in a serpent's toils, while it endeavours to add to that heap which it has
unlawfully secured, by still more unlawful care, and itself gives birth to
plagues which inflame it more sorely, and being entirely absorbed in the quest
of gain, pays attention to nothing but how to get money with which to fly [880]
as quickly as possible from the discipline of the monastery, never keeping faith
where there is a gleam of hope of money to be got. For this it shrinks not from
the crime of lying, perjury, and theft, of breaking a promise, of giving way to
injurious bursts of passion. If the man has dropped away at all from the hope of
gain, he has no scruples about transgressing the bounds of humility, and through
it all gold and the love of gain become to him his god, as the belly does to
others. Wherefore the blessed Apostle, looking out on the deadly poison of this
pest, not only says that it is a root of all kinds of evil, but also calls it
the worship of idols, saying "And covetousness (which in Greek is called
philarguria ) which is the worship of idols." [881] You see then to what a
downfall this madness step by step leads, so that by the voice of the Apostle it
is actually declared to be the worship of idols and false gods, because passing
over the image and likeness of God (which one who serves God with devotion ought
to preserve undefiled in himself), it chooses to love and care for images
stamped on gold instead of God.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 145: CHAPTER VIII. HOW COVETOUSNESS IS A HINDRANCE TO ALL VIRTUES. 
========================================================================

With such strides then in a downward direction he goes from bad to worse, and at
last cares not to retain I will not say the virtue but even the shadow of
humility, charity, and obedience; and is displeased with everything, and murmurs
and groans over every work; and now having cast off all reverence, like a
bad-tempered horse, dashes off headlong and unbridled: and discontented with his
daily food and usual clothing, announces that he will not put up with it any
longer. He declares that God is not only there, and that his salvation is not
confined to that place, where, if he does not take himself off pretty quickly
from it, he deeply laments that he will soon die.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 146: CHAPTER IX. HOW A MONK WHO HAS MONEY CANNOT STAY IN THE MONASTERY. 
========================================================================

And so having money to provide for his wanderings, with the assistance of which
he has fitted himself as it were with wings, and now being quite ready for his
move, he answers impertinently to all commands, and behaves himself like a
stranger and a visitor, and whatever he sees needing improvement, he despises
and treats with contempt. And though he has a supply of money secretly hidden,
yet he complains that he has neither shoes nor clothes, and is indignant that
they are given out to him so slowly. And if it happens that through the
management of the superior some of these are given first to one who is known to
have nothing whatever, he is still more inflamed with burning rage, and thinks
that he is despised as a stranger; nor is he contented to turn his hand to any
work, but finds fault with everything which the needs of the monastery require
to be done. Then of set purpose he looks out for opportunities of being offended
and angry, lest he might seem to have gone forth from the discipline of the
monastery for a trivial reason. And not content to take his departure by himself
alone, lest it should be thought that he has left as it were from his own fault,
he never stops corrupting as many as he can by clandestine conferences. But if
the severity of the weather interferes with his journey and travels, he remains
all the time in suspense and anxiety of heart, and never stops sowing and
exciting discontent; as he thinks that he will only find consolation for his
departure and an excuse for his fickleness in the bad character and defects of
the monastery.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 147: CHAPTER X. OF THE TOILS WHICH A DESERTER FROM A MONASTERY MUST UNDERGO THROUGH COVETOUSNESS, THOUGH HE USED FORMERLY TO MURMUR AT THE VERY SLIGHTEST TASKS. 
========================================================================

And so he is driven about, and more and more inflamed with the love of his
money, which when it is acquired, never allows a monk either to remain in a
monastery or to live under the discipline of a rule. And when separating him
like some wild beast from the rest of the herd, it has made him through want of
companions an animal fit for prey, and caused him to be easily eaten up, as he
is deprived of fellow lodgers, it forces him, who once thought it beneath him to
perform the slight duties of the monastery, to labour without stopping night and
day, through hope of gain; it suffers him to keep no services of prayer, no
system of fasting, no rule of vigils; it does not allow him to fulfil the duties
of seemly intercession, if only he can satisfy the madness of avarice, and
supply his daily wants; inflaming the more the fire of covetousness, while
believing that it will be extinguished by getting.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 148: CHAPTER XI. THAT UNDER PRETENCE OF KEEPING THE PURSE WOMEN HAVE TO BESOUGHT TO DWELL WITH THEM. 
========================================================================

Hence many are led on over an abrupt precipice, and by an irrevocable fall, to
death, and not content to possess by themselves that money which they either
never had before, or which by a bad beginning they kept back, they seek for
women to dwell with them, to preserve what they have unjustifiably amassed or
retained. And they implicate themselves in so many harmful and dangerous
occupations, that they are cast down even to the depths of hell, while they
refuse to acquiesce in that saying of the Apostle, that "having food and
clothing they should be content" with that which the thrift of the monastery
supplied, but "wishing to become rich they fall into temptation and the snare of
the devil, and many unprofitable and hurtful desires, which drown men in
destruction and perdition. For the love of money," i.e. covetousness, "is a root
of all kinds of evil, which some coveting have erred from the faith, and have
entangled themselves in many sorrows." [882]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 149: CHAPTER XII. AN INSTANCE OF A LUKEWARM MONK CAUGHT IN THE SNARES OF COVETOUSNESS. 
========================================================================

I know of one, who thinks himself a monk, and what is worse flatters himself on
his perfection, who had been received into a monastery, and when charged by his
Abbot not to turn his thoughts back to those things which he had given up and
renounced, but to free himself from covetousness, the root of all kinds of evil,
and from earthly snares; and when told that if he wished to be cleansed from his
former passions, by which he saw that he was from time to time grievously
oppressed, he should cease from caring about those things which even formerly
were not his own, entangled in the chains of which he certainly could not make
progress towards purifying himself of his faults: with an angry expression he
did not hesitate to answer, "If you have that with which you can support others,
why do you forbid me to have it as well?" [883]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 150: CHAPTER XIII. WHAT THE ELDERS RELATE TO THE JUNIORS IN THE MATTER OF STRIPPING OFF SINS. 
========================================================================

But let not this seem superfluous or objectionable to any one. For unless the
different kinds of sins are first explained, and the origin and causes of
diseases traced out, the proper healing remedies cannot be applied to the sick,
nor can the preservation of perfect health be secured by the strong. For both
these matters and many others besides these are generally put forward for the
instruction of the younger brethren by the elders in their conferences, as they
have had experience of numberless falls and the ruin of all sorts of people. And
often recognizing in ourselves many of these things, when the elders explained
and showed them, as men who were themselves disquieted [884] by the same
passions, we were cured without any shame or confusion on our part, since
without saying anything we learnt both the remedies and the causes of the sins
which beset us, which we have passed over and said nothing about, not from fear
of the brethren, but lest our book should chance to fall into the hands of some
who have had no instruction in this way of life, and might disclose to
inexperienced persons what ought to be known only to those who are toiling and
striving to reach the heights of perfection.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 151: CHAPTER XIV. INSTANCES TO SHOW THAT THE DISEASE OF COVETOUSNESS IS THREEFOLD. 
========================================================================

And so this disease and unhealthy state is threefold, and is condemned with
equal abhorrence by all the fathers. One feature is this, of which we described
the taint above, which by deceiving wretched folk persuades them to hoard though
they never had anything of their own when they lived in the world. Another,
which forces men afterwards to resume and once more desire those things which in
the early days of their renunciation of the world they gave up. A third, which
springing from a faulty and hurtful beginning and making a bad start, does not
suffer those whom it has once infected with this lukewarmness of mind to strip
themselves of all their worldly goods, through fear of poverty and want of
faith; and those who keep back money and property which they certainly ought to
have renounced and forsaken, it never allows to arrive at the perfection of the
gospel. And we find in Holy Scripture instances of these three catastrophes
which were visited with no light punishment. For when Gehazi wished to acquire
what he had never had before, not only did he fail to obtain the gift of
prophecy which it would have been his to receive from his master by hereditary
succession, but on the contrary he was covered by the curse of the holy Elisha
with a perpetual leprosy: while Judas, wanting to resume the possession of the
wealth which he had formerly cast away when he followed Christ, not only fell
into betraying the Lord, and lost his apostolic rank, but also was not allowed
to close his life with the common lot of all but ended it by a violent death.
But Ananias and Sapphira, keeping back a part of that which was formerly their
own, were at the Apostle's word punished with death.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 152: CHAPTER XV. OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ONE WHO RENOUNCES THE WORLD BADLY AND ONE WHO DOES NOT RENOUNCE IT AT ALL. 
========================================================================

Of those then who say that they have renounced this world, and afterwards being
overcome by want of faith are afraid of losing their worldly goods, a charge is
given mystically in Deuteronomy. "If any man is afraid and of a fearful heart
let him not go forth to war: let him go back and return home, lest he make the
hearts of his brethren to fear as he himself is timid and frightened." [885]
What can one want plainer than this testimony? Does not Scripture clearly prefer
that they should not take on them even the earliest stages of this profession
and its name, rather than by their persuasion and bad example turn others back
from the perfection of the gospel, and weaken them by their faithless terror.
And so they are bidden to withdraw from the battle and return to their homes,
because a man cannot fight the Lord's battle with a double heart. For "a
double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." [886] And thinking, according to
that Parable in the Gospel, [887] that he who goes forth with ten thousand men
against a king who comes with twenty thousand, cannot possibly fight, they
should, while he is yet a great way off, ask for peace; that is, it is better
for them not even to take the first step towards renunciation, rather than
afterwards following it up coldly, to involve themselves in still greater
dangers. For "it is better not to vow, than to vow and not pay." [888] But
finely is the one described as coming with ten thousand and the other with
twenty. For the number of sins which attack us is far larger than that of the
virtues which fight for us. But "no man can serve God and Mammon." [889] And "no
man putting his hand to the plough and looking back is fit for the kingdom of
God." [890]


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  CHAPTER 153: CHAPTER XVI. OF THE AUTHORITY UNDER WHICH THOSE SHELTER THEMSELVES WHO OBJECT TO STRIPPING THEMSELVES OF THEIR GOODS. 
========================================================================

These then try to make out a case for their original avarice, by some authority
from Holy Scripture, which they interpret with base ingenuity, in their desire
to wrest and pervert to their own purposes a saying of the Apostle or rather of
the Lord Himself: and, not adapting their own life or understanding to the
meaning of the Scripture, but making the meaning of Scripture bend to the
desires of their own lust, they try to make it to correspond to their own views,
and say that it is written, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." [891]
And by an entirely wrong interpretation of this they think that they can weaken
the force of that saying of the Lord in which he says: "If thou wilt be perfect,
go sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in
heaven; and come, follow me." [892] And they think that under colour of this
they need not deprive themselves of their riches: declaring indeed that they are
more blessed if, supported by that which originally belonged to them, they give
to others also out of their superabundance. And while they are shy of embracing
with the Apostle that glorious state of abnegation for Christ's sake, they will
not be content either with manual labour or the sparing diet of the monastery.
And the only thing is that these must either know that they are deceiving
themselves, and have not really renounced the world while they are clinging to
their former riches; or, if they really and truly want to make trial of the
monastic life, they must give up and forsake all these things and keep back
nothing of that which they have renounced, and, with the Apostle, glory "in
hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness." [893]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 154: CHAPTER XVII. OF THE RENUNCIATION OF THE APOSTLES AND THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. 
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As if he (who, by his assertion that he was endowed with the privileges of a
Roman citizen from his birth, testifies that he was no mean person according to
this world's rank) might not likewise have been supported by the property which
formerly belonged to him! And as if those men who were possessors of lands and
houses in Jerusalem and sold everything and kept back nothing whatever for
themselves, and brought the price of them and laid it at the feet of the
apostles, might not have supplied their bodily necessities from their own
property, had this been considered the best plan by the apostles, or had they
themselves deemed it preferable! But they gave up all their property at once,
and preferred to be supported by their own labour, and by the contributions of
the Gentiles, of whose collection the holy Apostle speaks in writing to the
Romans, and declaring his own office in this matter to them, and urging them on
likewise to make this collection: "But now I go to Jerusalem to minister to the
saints. For it has pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain
contribution for the poor saints who are at Jerusalem: it has pleased them
indeed, and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles are made partakers of
their spiritual things, they ought also to minister to them in carnal things."
[894] To the Corinthians also he shows the same anxiety about this, and urges
them the more diligently to prepare before his arrival a collection, which he
was intending to send for their needs. "But concerning the collection for the
saints, as I appointed to the churches of Galatia, so also do ye. Let each one
of you on the first day of the week put apart with himself, laying up what it
shall well please him, that when I come the collections be not then to be made.
But when I come whomsoever you shall approve by your letters, them I will send
to carry your grace to Jerusalem." And that he may stimulate them to make a
larger collection, he adds, "But if it be meet that I also go, they shall go
with me:" [895] meaning if your offering is of such a character as to deserve to
be taken there by my ministration. To the Galatians too, he testifies that when
he was settling the division of the ministry of preaching with the apostles, he
had arranged this with James, Peter, and John: that he should undertake the
preaching to the Gentiles, but should never repudiate care and anxious thought
for the poor who were at Jerusalem, who for Christ's sake gave up all their
goods, and submitted to voluntary poverty. "And when they saw," said he, "the
grace of God which was given to me, James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be
pillars, gave to me and to Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should
preach to the Gentiles, but they to those of the circumcision: only they would
that we should be mindful of the poor." A matter which he testifies that he
attended to most carefully, saying, "which also I was anxious of myself to do."
[896] Who then are the more blessed, those who but lately were gathered out of
the number of the heathen, and being unable to climb to the heights of the
perfection of the gospel, clung to their own property, in whose case it was
considered a great thing by the Apostle if at least they were restrained from
the worship of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from
blood, [897] and had embraced the faith of Christ, with their goods and all: or
those who live up to the demands of the gospel, and carry the Lord's cross
daily, and want nothing out of their property to remain for their own use? And
if the blessed Apostle himself, bound with chains and fetters, or hampered by
the difficulties of travelling, and for these reasons not being able to provide
with his hands, as he generally did, for the supply of his food, declares that
he received that which supplied his wants from the brethren who came from
Macedonia; "For that which was lacking to me," he says, "the brethren who came
from Macedonia supplied:" [898] and to the Philippians he says: "For ye
Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I came from
Macedonia, no church communicated with me in the matter of giving and receiving,
except you only; because even in Thessalonica once and again you sent to supply
my needs:" [899] (if this was so) then, according to the notion of these men,
which they have formed in the coldness of their heart, will those men really be
more blessed than the Apostle, because it is found that they have ministered to
him of their substance? But this no one will venture to assert, however big a
fool he may be.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 155: CHAPTER XVIII. THAT IF WE WANT TO IMITATE THE APOSTLES WE OUGHT NOT TO LIVE ACCORDING TO OUR OWN PRESCRIPTIONS, BUT TO FOLLOW THEIR EXAMPLE. 
========================================================================

Wherefore if we want to obey the gospel precept, and to show ourselves the
followers of the Apostle and the whole primitive church, or of the fathers who
in our own days succeeded to their virtues and perfection, we should not
acquiesce in our own prescriptions, promising ourselves perfection from this
wretched and lukewarm condition of ours: but following their footsteps, we
should by no means aim at looking after our own interests, but should seek out
the discipline and system of a monastery, that we may in very truth renounce
this world; preserving nothing of those things which we have despised through
the temptation of want of faith; and should look for our daily food, not from
any store of money of our own, but from our own labours.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 156: CHAPTER XIX. A SAYING OF S. BASIL, THE BISHOP, DIRECTED AGAINST SYNCLETIUS. 
========================================================================

There is current a saying of S. Basil, Bishop of Cæsarea, directed against a
certain Syncletius, who was growing indifferent with the sort of lukewarmness of
which we have spoken; who, though he professed to have renounced this world, had
yet kept back for himself some of his property, not liking to be supported by
the labour of his own hands, and to acquire true humility by stripping himself
and by grinding toil, and the subjection of the monastery: "You have," said he,
"spoilt Syncletius, and not made a monk."


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 157: CHAPTER XX. HOW CONTEMPTIBLE IT IS TO BE OVERCOME BY COVETOUSNESS. 
========================================================================

And so if we want to strive lawfully in our spiritual combat, let us expel this
dangerous enemy also from our hearts. For to overcome him does not so much show
great virtue, as to be beaten by him is shameful and disgraceful. For when you
are overpowered by a strong man, though there is grief in being overthrown, and
distress at the loss of victory, yet some consolation may be derived by the
vanquished from the strength of their opponent. But if the enemy is a poor
creature, and the struggle a feeble one, besides the grief for defeat there is
confusion of a more disgraceful character, and a shame which is worse than loss.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 158: CHAPTER XXI. HOW COVETOUSNESS CAN BE CONQUERED. 
========================================================================

And in this case it will be the greatest victory and a lasting triumph, if, as
is said, the conscience of the monk is not defiled by the possession of the
smallest coin. For it is an impossibility for him who, overcome in the matter of
a small possession, has once admitted into his heart a root of evil desire, not
to be inflamed presently with the heat of a still greater desire. For the
soldier of Christ will be victorious and in safety, and free from all the
attacks of desire, so long as this most evil spirit does not implant in his
heart a seed of this desire. Wherefore, though in the matter of all kinds of
sins we ought ordinarily to watch the serpent's head, [901] yet in this above
all we should be more keenly on our guard. For if it has been admitted it will
grow by feeding on itself, and will kindle for itself a worse fire. And so we
must not only guard against the possession of money, but also must expel from
our souls the desire for it. For we should not so much avoid the results of
covetousness, as cut off by the roots all disposition towards it. For it will do
no good not to possess money, if there exists in us the desire for getting it.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 159: CHAPTER XXII. THAT ONE WHO ACTUALLY HAS NO MONEY MAY STILL BE DEEMED COVETOUS. 
========================================================================

For it is possible even for one who has no money to be by no means free from the
malady of covetousness, and for the blessing of penury to do him no good,
because he has not been able to root out the sin of cupidity: delighting in the
advantages of poverty, not in the merit of the virtue, and satisfied with the
burden of necessity, not without coldness of heart. For just as the word of the
gospel declares of those who are not defiled in body, that they are adulterers
in heart; [902] so it is possible that those who are in no way pressed down with
the weight of money may be condemned with the covetous in disposition and
intent. For it was the opportunity of possessing which was wanting in their
case, and not the will for it: which latter is always crowned by God, rather
than compulsion. And so we must use all diligence lest the fruits of our labours
should be destroyed to no purpose. For it is a wretched thing to have endured
the effects of poverty and want, but to have lost their fruits, through the
fault of a shattered will.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 160: CHAPTER XXIII. AN EXAMPLE DRAWN FROM THE CASE OF JUDAS. 
========================================================================

Would you like to know how dangerously and harmfully that incitement, unless it
has been carefully eradicated, will shoot up for the destruction of its owner,
and put forth all sorts of branches of different sins? Look at Judas, reckoned
among the number of the apostles, and see how because he would not bruise the
deadly head of this serpent it destroyed him with its poison, and how when he
was caught in the snares of concupiscence, it drove him into sin and a headlong
downfall, so that he was persuaded to sell the Redeemer of the world and the
author of man's salvation for thirty pieces of silver. And he could never have
been impelled to this heinous sin of the betrayal if he had not been
contaminated by the sin of covetousness: nor would he have made himself wickedly
guilty of betraying [903] the Lord, unless he had first accustomed himself to
rob the bag intrusted to him.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 161: CHAPTER XXIV. THAT COVETOUSNESS CANNOT BE OVERCOME EXCEPT BY STRIPPING ONE'S SELF OF EVERYTHING. 
========================================================================

This is a sufficiently dreadful and clear instance of this tyranny, which, when
once the mind is taken prisoner by it, allows it to keep to no rules of honesty,
nor to be satisfied with any additions to its gains. For we must seek to put an
end to this madness, not by riches, but by stripping ourselves of them. Lastly,
when he (viz. Judas) had received the bag set apart for the distribution to the
poor, and intrusted to his care for this purpose, that he might at least satisfy
himself with plenty of money, and set a limit to his avarice, yet his plentiful
supply only broke out into a still greedier incitement of desire, so that he was
ready no longer secretly to rob the bag, but actually to sell the Lord Himself.
For the madness of this avarice is not satisfied with any amount of riches.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 162: CHAPTER XXV. OF THE DEATHS OF ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA, AND JUDAS, WHICH THEY UNDERWENT THROUGH THE IMPULSE OF COVETOUSNESS. 
========================================================================

Lastly, the chief of the apostles, taught by these instances, and knowing that
one who has any avarice cannot bridle it, and that it cannot be put an end to by
a large or small sum of money, but only by the virtue of renunciation of
everything, punished with death Ananias and Sapphira, who were mentioned before,
because they had kept back something out of their property, that that death
which Judas had voluntarily met with for the sin of betraying the Lord, they
might also undergo for their lying avarice. [904] How closely do the sin and
punishment correspond in each case! In the one case treachery, in the other
falsehood, was the result of covetousness. In the one case the truth is
betrayed, in the other the sin of lying is committed. For though the issues of
their deeds may appear different, yet they coincide in having one and the same
aim. For the one, in order to escape poverty, desired to take back what he had
forsaken; the others, for fear lest they might become poor, tried to keep back
something out of their property, which they should have either offered to the
Apostle in good faith, or have given entirely to the brethren. And so in each
case there follows the judgment of death; because each sin sprang from the root
of covetousness. And so if against those who did not covet other persons' goods,
but tried to be sparing of their own, and had no desire to acquire, but only the
wish to retain, there went forth so severe a sentence, what should we think of
those who desire to amass wealth, without ever having had any of their own, and,
making a show of poverty before men, are before God convicted of being rich,
through the passion of avarice?


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 163: CHAPTER XXVI. THAT COVETOUSNESS BRINGS UPON THE SOUL A SPIRITUAL LEPROSY. 
========================================================================

And such are seen to be lepers in spirit and heart, after the likeness of
Gehazi, who, desiring the uncertain riches of this world, was covered with the
taint of foul leprosy, through which he left us a clear example that every soul
which is defiled with the stain of cupidity is covered with the spiritual
leprosy of sin, and is counted as unclean before God with a perpetual curse.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 164: CHAPTER XXVII. SCRIPTURE PROOFS BY WHICH ONE WHO IS AIMING AT PERFECTION IS TAUGHT NOT TO TAKE BACK AGAIN WHAT HE HAS GIVEN UP AND RENOUNCED. 
========================================================================

If then through the desire of perfection you have forsaken all things and
followed Christ who says to thee, "Go sell all that thou hast, and give to the
poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come follow me," [905] why,
having put your hand to the plough, do you look back, so that you will be
declared by the voice of the same Lord not to be fit for the kingdom of heaven?
[906] When secure on the top of the gospel roof, why do you descend to carry
away something from the house, from those things, namely, which beforetime you
despised? When you are out in the field and working at the virtues, why do you
run back and try to clothe yourself again with what belongs to this world, which
you stripped off when you renounced it? [907] But if you were hindered by
poverty from having anything to give up, still less ought you to amass what you
never had before. For by the grace of the Lord you were for this purpose made
ready that you might hasten to him the more readily, being hampered by no snares
of wealth. But let no one who is wanting in this be disappointed; for there is
no one who has not something to give up. He has renounced all the possessions of
this world, whoever has thoroughly eradicated the desire to possess them.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 165: CHAPTER XXVIII. THAT THE VICTORY OVER COVETOUSNESS CAN ONLY BE GAINED BY STRIPPING ONE'S SELF BARE OF EVERYTHING. 
========================================================================

This then is the perfect victory over covetousness: not to allow a gleam from
the very smallest scrap of it to remain in our heart, as we know that we shall
have no further power of quenching it, if we cherish even the tiniest bit of a
spark of it in us.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 166: CHAPTER XXIX. HOW A MONK CAN RETAIN HIS POVERTY. 
========================================================================

And we can only preserve this virtue unimpaired if we remain in a monastery, and
as the Apostle says, having food and clothing, are therewith content. [908]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 167: CHAPTER XXX. THE REMEDIES AGAINST THE DISEASE OF COVETOUSNESS. 
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Keeping then in mind the judgment of Ananias and Sapphira let us dread keeping
back any of those things which we gave up and vowed utterly to forsake. Let us
also fear the example of Gehazi, who for the sin of covetousness was chastised
with the punishment of perpetual leprosy. From this let us beware of acquiring
that wealth which we never formerly possessed. Moreover also dreading both the
fault and the death of Judas, let us with all the power that we have avoid
taking back any of that wealth which once we cast away from us. Above all,
considering the state of our weak and shifty nature, let us beware lest the day
of the Lord come upon us as a thief in the night, [909] and find our conscience
defiled even by a single penny; for this would make void all the fruits of our
renunciation of the world, and cause that which was said to the rich man in the
gospel to be directed towards us also by the voice of the Lord: "Thou fool, this
night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be which
thou hast prepared?" [910] And taking no thought for the morrow, let us never
allow ourselves to be enticed away from the rule of the Coenobium.


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  CHAPTER 168: CHAPTER XXXI. THAT NO ONE CAN GET THE BETTER OF COVETOUSNESS UNLESS HE STAYS IN THE COENOBIUM: AND HOW ONE CAN REMAIN THERE. 
========================================================================

But we shall certainly not be suffered to do this, nor even to remain under the
rule of a system, unless the virtue of patience, which can only spring from
humility as its source, is first securely fixed and established in us. For the
one teaches us not to trouble any one else; the other, to endure with
magnanimity wrongs offered to us.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 169: BOOK VIII. OF THE SPIRIT OF ANGER. 
========================================================================

Of the Spirit of Anger.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 170: CHAPTER I. HOW OUR FOURTH CONFLICT IS AGAINST THE SIN OF ANGER, AND HOW MANY EVILS THIS PASSION PRODUCES. 
========================================================================

In our fourth combat the deadly poison of anger has to be utterly rooted out
from the inmost comers of our soul. For as long as this remains in our hearts,
and blinds with its hurtful darkness the eye of the soul, we can neither acquire
right judgment and discretion, nor gain the insight which springs from an honest
gaze, or ripeness of counsel, nor can we be partakers of life, or retentive of
righteousness, or even have the capacity for spiritual and true light: "for,"
says one, "mine eye is disturbed by reason of anger." [911] Nor can we become
partakers of wisdom, even though we are considered wise by universal consent,
for "anger rests in the bosom of fools." [912] Nor can we even attain immortal
life, although we are accounted prudent in the opinion of everybody, for "anger
destroys even the prudent." [913] Nor shall we be able with clear judgment of
heart to secure the controlling power of righteousness, even though we are
reckoned perfect and holy in the estimation of all men, for "the wrath of man
worketh not the righteousness of God." [914] Nor can we by any possibility
acquire that esteem and honour which is so frequently seen even in worldlings,
even though we are thought noble and honourable through the privileges of birth,
because "an angry man is dishonoured." [915] Nor again can we secure any
ripeness of counsel, even though we appear to be weighty, and endowed with the
utmost knowledge; because "an angry man acts without counsel." [916] Nor can we
be free from dangerous disturbances, nor be without sin, even though no sort of
disturbances be brought upon us by others; because "a passionate man engenders
quarrels, but an angry man digs up sins." [917]


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  CHAPTER 171: CHAPTER II. OF THOSE WHO SAY THAT ANGER IS NOT INJURIOUS, IF WE ARE ANGRY WITH THOSE WHO DO WRONG, SINCE GOD HIMSELF IS SAID TO BE ANGRY. 
========================================================================

We have heard some people trying to excuse this most pernicious disease of the
soul, in such a way as to endeavour to extenuate it by a rather shocking way of
interpreting Scripture: as they say that it is not injurious if we are angry
with the brethren who do wrong, since, say they, God Himself is said to rage and
to be angry with those who either will not know Him, or, knowing Him, spurn Him,
as here: "And the anger of the Lord was kindled against His people;" [918] or
where the prophet prays and says, "O Lord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither
chasten me in thy displeasure;" [919] not understanding that, while they want to
open to men an excuse for a most pestilent sin, they are ascribing to the Divine
Infinity and Fountain of all purity a taint of human passion.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 172: CHAPTER III. OF THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE SPOKEN OF GOD ANTHROPOMORPHICALLY. 
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For if when these things are said of God they are to be understood literally in
a material gross signification, then also He sleeps, as it is said, "Arise,
wherefore sleepest thou, O Lord?" [920] though it is elsewhere said of Him:
"Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." [921] And He
stands and sits, since He says, "Heaven is my seat, and earth the footstool for
my feet:" [922] though He "measure out the heaven with his hand, and holdeth the
earth in his fist." [923] And He is "drunken with wine" as it is said, "The Lord
awoke like a sleeper, a mighty man, drunken with wine;" [924] He "who only hath
immortality and dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto:" [925] not
to say anything of the "ignorance" and "forgetfulness," of which we often find
mention in Holy Scripture: nor lastly of the outline of His limbs, which are
spoken of as arranged and ordered like a man's; e.g., the hair, head, nostrils,
eyes, face, hands, arms, fingers, belly, and feet: if we are willing to take all
of which according to the bare literal sense, we must think of God as in fashion
with the outline of limbs, and a bodily form; which indeed is shocking even to
speak of, and must be far from our thoughts.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 173: CHAPTER IV. IN WHAT SENSE WE SHOULD UNDERSTAND THE PASSIONS AND HUMAN ARTS WHICH ARE ASCRIBED TO THE UNCHANGING AND INCORPOREAL GOD. 
========================================================================

And so as without horrible profanity these things cannot be understood literally
of Him who is declared by the authority of Holy Scripture to be invisible,
ineffable, incomprehensible, inestimable, simple, and uncompounded, so neither
can the passion of anger and wrath be attributed to that unchangeable nature
without fearful blasphemy. For we ought to see that the limbs signify the divine
powers and boundless operations of God, which can only be represented to us by
the familiar expression of limbs: by the mouth we should understand that His
utterances are meant, which are of His mercy continually poured into the secret
senses of the soul, or which He spoke among our fathers and the prophets: by the
eyes we can understand the boundless character of His sight with which He sees
and looks through all things, and so nothing is hidden from Him of what is done
or can be done by us, or even thought. By the expression "hands," we understand
His providence and work, by which He is the creator and author of all things;
the arms are the emblems of His might and government, with which He upholds,
rules and controls all things. And not to speak of other things, what else does
the hoary hair of His head signify but the eternity and perpetuity of Deity,
through which He is without any beginning, and before all times, and excels all
creatures? So then also when we read of the anger or fury of the Lord, we should
take it not anthropopathos ; i.e., according to an unworthy meaning of human
passion, [926] but in a sense worthy of God, who is free from all passion; so
that by this we should understand that He is the judge and avenger of all the
unjust things which are done in this world; and by reason of these terms and
their meaning we should dread Him as the terrible rewarder of our deeds, and
fear to do anything against His will. For human nature is wont to fear those
whom it knows to be indignant, and is afraid of offending: as in the case of
some most just judges, avenging wrath is usually feared by those who are
tormented by some accusation of their conscience; not indeed that this passion
exists in the minds of those who are going to judge with perfect equity, but
that, while they so fear, the disposition of the judge towards them is that
which is the precursor of a just and impartial execution of the law. And this,
with whatever kindness and gentleness it may be conducted, is deemed by those
who are justly to be punished to be the most savage wrath and vehement anger. It
would be tedious and outside the scope of the present work were we to explain
all the things which are spoken metaphorically of God in Holy Scripture, with
human figures. Let it be enough for our present purpose, which is aimed against
the sin of wrath, to have said this that no one may through ignorance draw down
upon himself a cause of this evil and of eternal death, out of those Scriptures
in which he should seek for saintliness and immortality as the remedies to bring
life and salvation.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 174: CHAPTER V. HOW CALM A MONK OUGHT TO BE. 
========================================================================

And so a monk aiming at perfection, and desiring to strive lawfully in his
spiritual combat, should be free from all sin of anger and wrath, and should
listen to the charge which the "chosen vessel" gives him. "Let all anger," says
he, "and wrath, and clamour, and evil speaking, be taken away from among you,
with all malice." [927] When he says, "Let all anger be taken away from you," he
excepts none whatever as necessary or useful for us. And if need be, he should
at once treat an erring brother in such a way that, while he manages to apply a
remedy to one afflicted with perhaps a slight fever, he may not by his wrath
involve himself in a more dangerous malady of blindness. For he who wants to
heal another's wound ought to be in good health and free from every affection of
weakness himself, lest that saying of the gospel should be used to him,
"Physician, first heal thyself;" [928] and lest, seeing a mote in his brother's
eye, he see not the beam in his own eye, for how will he see to cast out the
mote from his brother's eye, who has the beam of anger in his own eye? [929]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 175: CHAPTER VI. OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND UNRIGHTEOUS PASSION OF WRATH. 
========================================================================

From almost every cause the emotion of wrath boils over, and blinds the eyes of
the soul, and, bringing the deadly beam of a worse disease over the keenness of
our sight, prevents us from seeing the sun of righteousness. It makes no
difference whether gold plates, or lead, or what metal you please, are placed
over our eyelids, the value of the metal makes no difference in our blindness.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 176: CHAPTER VII. OF THE ONLY CASE IN WHICH ANGER IS USEFUL TO US. 
========================================================================

We have, it must be admitted, a use for anger excellently implanted in us for
which alone it is useful and profitable for us to admit it, viz., when we are
indignant and rage against the lustful emotions of our heart, and are vexed that
the things which we are ashamed to do or say before men have risen up in the
lurking places of our heart, as we tremble at the presence of the angels, and of
God Himself, who pervades all things everywhere, and fear with the utmost dread
the eye of Him from whom the secrets of our hearts cannot possibly be hid.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 177: CHAPTER VIII. INSTANCES FROM THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED DAVID IN WHICH ANGER WAS RIGHTLY FELT. 
========================================================================

And at any rate (this is the case), when we are agitated against this very
anger, because it has stolen on us against our brother, and when in wrath we
expel its deadly incitements, nor suffer it to have a dangerous lurking place in
the recesses of our heart. To be angry in this fashion even that prophet teaches
us who had so completely expelled it from his own feelings that he would not
retaliate even on his enemies and those delivered by God into his hands: when he
says "Be ye angry and sin not." [930] For he, when he had longed for water from
the well of Bethlehem, and had been given it by his mighty men, who had brought
it through the midst of the hosts of the enemy, at once poured it out on the
ground: and thus in his anger extinguished the delicious feeling of his desire,
and poured it out to the Lord, without satisfying the longing that he had
expressed, saying: "That be far from me that I should do this! Shall I drink the
blood of those men who went forth on the danger of their souls?" [931] And when
Shimei threw stones at King David and cursed him, in his hearing, before
everybody, and Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, the captain of the host, wished to
cut off his head and avenge the insult to the king, the blessed David moved with
pious wrath against this dreadful suggestion of his, and keeping the due measure
of humility and a strict patience, said with imperturbable gentleness, "What
have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? Let him alone that he may curse. For
the Lord hath commanded him to curse David. And who is he who shall dare to say,
Why hast thou done this? Behold my son, who came forth from my loins, seeks my
life, and how much more this son of Benjamin? Let him alone, that he may curse,
according to the command of the Lord. It may be the Lord will look upon my
affliction, and return to me good for this cursing to-day." [932]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 178: CHAPTER IX. OF THE ANGER WHICH SHOULD BE DIRECTED AGAINST OURSELVES. 
========================================================================

And some are commanded to "be angry" after a wholesome fashion, but with our own
selves, and with evil thoughts that arise, and "not to sin," viz., by bringing
them to a bad issue. Finally, the next verse explains this to be the meaning
more clearly: "The things you say in your hearts, be sorry for them on your
beds:" [933] i.e., whatever you think of in your hearts when sudden and nervous
excitements rush in on you, correct and amend with wholesome sorrow, lying as it
were on a bed of rest, and removing by the moderating influence of counsel all
noise and disturbance of wrath. Lastly, the blessed Apostle, when he made use of
the testimony of this verse, and said, "Be ye angry and sin not," added, "Let
not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil." [934] If
it is dangerous for the sun of righteousness to go down upon our wrath, and if
when we are angry we straightway give place to the devil in our hearts, how is
it that above he charges us to be angry, saying, "Be ye angry, and sin not"?
Does he not evidently mean this: be ye angry with your faults and your tempers,
lest, if you acquiesce in them, Christ, the sun of righteousness, may on account
of your anger begin to go down on your darkened minds, and when He departs you
may furnish a place for the devil in your hearts?


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 179: CHAPTER X. OF THE SUN, OF WHICH IT IS SAID THAT IT SHOULD NOT GO DOWN UPON YOUR WRATH. 
========================================================================

And of this sun God clearly makes mention by the prophet, when He says, "But to
those that fear my name the sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in His
wings." [935] And this again is said to "go down" at midday on sinners and false
prophets, and those who are angry, when the prophet says, "Their sun is gone
down at noon." [936] And at any rate "tropically" [937] the mind, that is the
nous or reason, which is fairly called the sun because it looks over all the
thoughts and discernings of the heart, should not be put out by the sin of
anger: lest when it "goes down" the shadows of disturbance, together with the
devil their author, fill all the feelings of our hearts, and, overwhelmed by the
shadows of wrath, as in a murky night, we know not what we ought to do. In this
sense it is that we have brought forward this passage of the Apostle, handed
down to us by the teaching of the elders, because it was needful, even at the
risk of a somewhat lengthy discourse, to show how they felt with regard to
anger, for they do not permit it even for a moment to effect an entrance into
our heart: observing with the utmost care that saying of the gospel: "Whosoever
is angry with his brother is in danger of the judgment." [938] But if it be
lawful to be angry up till sunset, the surfeit of our wrath and the vengeance of
our anger will be able to give full play to passion and dangerous excitement
before that sun inclines towards its setting. [939]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 180: CHAPTER XI. OF THOSE TO WHOSE WRATH EVEN THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN SETS NO LIMIT. 
========================================================================

But what am I to say of those (and I cannot say it without shame on my own part)
to whose implacability even the going down of the sun sets no bound: but
prolonging it for several days, and nourishing rancorous feelings against those
against whom they have been excited, they say in words that they are not angry,
but in fact and deed they show that they are extremely disturbed? For they do
not speak to them pleasantly, nor address them with ordinary civility, and they
think that they are not doing wrong in this, because they do not seek to avenge
themselves for their upset. But since they either do not dare, or at any rate
are not able to show their anger openly, and give place to it, they drive in, to
their own detriment, the poison of anger, and secretly cherish it in their
hearts, and silently feed on it in themselves; without shaking off by an effort
of mind their sulky disposition, but digesting it as the days go by, and
somewhat mitigating it after a while.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 181: CHAPTER XII. HOW THIS IS THE END OF TEMPER AND ANGER WHEN A MAN CARRIES IT INTO ACT AS FAR AS HE CAN. 
========================================================================

But it looks as if even this was not the end of vengeance to every one, but some
can only completely satisfy their wrath or sulkiness if they carry out the
impulse of anger as far as they are able; and this we know to be the case with
those who restrain their feelings, not from desire of calming them, but simply
from want of opportunity of revenge. For they can do nothing more to those with
whom they are angry, except speak to them without ordinary civility: or it looks
as if anger was to be moderated only in action, and not to be altogether rooted
out from its hiding place in our bosom: so that, overwhelmed by its shadows, we
are unable not only to admit the light of wholesome counsel and of knowledge,
but also to be a temple of the Holy Spirit, so long as the spirit of anger
dwells in us. For wrath that is nursed in the heart, although it may not injure
men who stand by, yet excludes the splendour of the radiance of the Holy Ghost,
equally with wrath that is openly manifested.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 182: CHAPTER XIII. THAT WE SHOULD NOT RETAIN OUR ANGER EVEN FOR AN INSTANT. 
========================================================================

Or how can we think that the Lord would have it retained even for an instant,
since He does not permit us to offer the spiritual sacrifices of our prayers, if
we are aware that another has any bitterness against us: saying, "If then thou
bringest thy gift to the altar and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught
against thee, leave there thy gift at the altar and go thy way; first be
reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." [940] How then may
we retain displeasure against our brother, I will not say for several days, but
even till the going down of the sun, if we are not allowed to offer our prayers
to God while he has anything against us? And yet we are commanded by the
Apostle: "Pray without ceasing;" [941] and "in every place lifting up holy hands
without wrath and disputing." [942] It remains then either that we never pray at
all, retaining this poison in our hearts, and become guilty in regard of this
apostolic or evangelic charge, in which we are bidden to pray everywhere and
without ceasing; or else if, deceiving ourselves, we venture to pour forth our
prayers, contrary to His command, we must know that we are offering to God no
prayer, but an obstinate temper with a rebellious spirit.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 183: CHAPTER XIV. OF RECONCILIATION WITH OUR BROTHER. 
========================================================================

And because we often spurn the brethren who are injured and saddened, and
despise them, and say that they were not hurt by any fault of ours, the Healer
of souls, who knows all secrets, wishing utterly to eradicate all opportunities
of anger from our hearts, not only commands us to forgive if we have been
wronged, and to be reconciled with our brothers, and keep no recollection of
wrong or injuries against them, but He also gives a similar charge, that in case
we are aware that they have anything against us, whether justly or unjustly, we
should leave our gift, that is, postpone our prayers, and hasten first to offer
satisfaction to them; and so when our brother's cure is first effected, we may
bring the offering of our prayers without blemish. For the common Lord of all
does not care so much for our homage as to lose in one what He gains in another,
through displeasure being allowed to reign in us. For in any one's loss He
suffers some loss, who desires and looks for the salvation of all His servants
in one and the same way. And therefore our prayer will lose its effect, if our
brother has anything against us, just as much as if we were cherishing feelings
of bitterness against him in a swelling and wrathful spirit.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 184: CHAPTER XV. HOW THE OLD LAW WOULD ROOT OUT ANGER NOT ONLY FROM THE ACTIONS BUT FROM THE THOUGHTS. 
========================================================================

But why should we spend any more time over evangelic and apostolic precepts,
when even the old law, which is thought to be somewhat slack, guards against the
same thing, when it says, "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart;" and
again, "Be not mindful of the injury of thy citizens;" [943] and again, "The
ways of those who preserve the recollection of wrongs are towards death"? [944]
You see there too that wickedness is restrained not only in action, but also in
the secret thoughts, since it is commanded that hatred be utterly rooted out
from the heart, and not merely retaliation for, but the very recollection of, a
wrong done.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 185: CHAPTER XVI. HOW USELESS IS THE RETIREMENT OF THOSE WHO DO NOT GIVE UP THEIR BAD MANNERS. 
========================================================================

Sometimes when we have been overcome by pride or impatience, and we want to
improve our rough and bearish manners, we complain that we require solitude, as
if we should find the virtue of patience there where nobody provokes us: and we
apologize for our carelessness, and say that the reason of our disturbance does
not spring from our own impatience, but from the fault of our brethren. And
while we lay the blame of our fault on others, we shall never be able to reach
the goal of patience and perfection.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 186: CHAPTER XVII. THAT THE PEACE OF OUR HEART DOES NOT DEPEND ON ANOTHER'S WILL, BUT LIES IN OUR OWN CONTROL. 
========================================================================

The chief part then of our improvement and peace of mind must not be made to
depend on another's will, which cannot possibly be subject to our authority, but
it lies rather in our own control. And so the fact that we are not angry ought
not to result from another's perfection, but from our own virtue, which is
acquired, not by somebody else's patience, but by our own long-suffering.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 187: CHAPTER XVIII. OF THE ZEAL WITH WHICH WE SHOULD SEEK THE DESERT, AND OF THE THINGS IN WHICH WE MAKE PROGRESS THERE. 
========================================================================

Further, it is those who are perfect and purified from all faults who ought to
seek the desert, and when they have thoroughly exterminated all their faults
amid the assembly of the brethren, they should enter it not by way of cowardly
flight, but for the purpose of divine contemplation, and with the desire of
deeper insight into heavenly things, which can only be gained in solitude by
those who are perfect. For whatever faults we bring with us uncured into the
desert, we shall find to remain concealed in us and not to be got rid of. For
just as when the character has been improved, solitude can lay open to it the
purest contemplation, and reveal the knowledge of spiritual mysteries to its
clear gaze, so it generally not only preserves but intensifies the faults of
those who have undergone no correction. For a man appears to himself to be
patient and humble, just as long as he comes across nobody in intercourse; but
he will presently revert to his former nature, whenever the chance of any sort
of passion occurs: I mean that those faults will at once appear on the surface
which were lying hid, and, like unbridled horses diligently fed up during too
long a time of idleness, dash forth from the barriers the more eagerly and
fiercely, to the destruction of their charioteer. For when the opportunity for
practising them among men is removed, our faults will more and more increase in
us, unless we have first been purified from them. And the mere shadow of
patience, which, when we mixed with our brethren, we seemed fancifully to
possess, at least out of respect for them and publicity, we lose altogether
through sloth and carelessness.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 188: CHAPTER XIX. AN ILLUSTRATION TO HELP IN FORMING AN OPINION ON THOSE WHO ARE ONLY PATIENT WHEN THEY ARE NOT TRIED BY ANY ONE. 
========================================================================

But it is like all poisonous kinds of serpents or of wild beasts, which, while
they remain in solitude and their own lairs, are still not harmless; [945] for
they cannot really be said to be harmless, because they are not actually hurting
anybody. For this results in their case, not from any feeling of goodness, but
from the exigencies of solitude, and when they have secured an opportunity of
hurting some one, at once they produce the poison stored up in them, and show
the ferocity of their nature. And so in the case of men who are aiming at
perfection, it is not enough not to be angry with men. For we recollect that
when we were living in solitude a feeling of irritation would creep over us
against our pen because it was too large or too small; against our penknife when
it cut badly and with a blunt edge what we wanted cut; and against a flint if by
chance when we were rather late and hurrying to the reading, a spark of fire
flashed out, so that we could not remove and get rid of our perturbation of mind
except by cursing the senseless matter, or at least the devil. Wherefore for a
method of perfection it will not be of any use for there to be a dearth of men
against whom our anger might be roused: since, if patience has not already been
acquired, the feelings of passion which still dwell in our hearts can equally
well spend themselves on dumb things and paltry objects, and not allow us to
gain a continuous state of peacefulness, or to be free from our remaining
faults: unless perhaps we think that some advantage and a sort of cure may be
gained for our passion from the fact that inanimate and speechless things cannot
possibly reply to our curses and rage, nor provoke our ungovernable temper to
break out into a worse madness of passion.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 189: CHAPTER XX. OF THE WAY IN WHICH AUGER SHOULD BE BANISHED ACCORDING TO THE GOSPEL. 
========================================================================

Wherefore if we wish to gain the substance of that divine reward of which it is
said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God," [946] we ought
not only to banish it from our actions, but entirely to root it out from our
inmost soul. For it will not be of any good to have checked anger in words, and
not to have shown it in deeds, if God, from whom the secrets of the heart are
not hid, sees that it remains in the secret recesses of our bosom. For the word
of the gospel bids us destroy the roots of our faults rather than the fruits;
for these, when the incitements are all removed, will certainly not put forth
shoots any more; and so the mind will be able to continue in all patience and
holiness, when this anger has been removed, not from the surface of acts and
deeds, but from the very innermost thoughts. And, therefore to avoid the
commission of murder, anger and hatred are cut off, without which the crime of
murder cannot possibly be committed. For "whosoever is angry with his brother,
is in danger of the judgment;" [947] and "whosoever hateth his brother is a
murderer;" [948] viz., because in his heart he desires to kill him, whose blood
we know that he has certainly not shed among men with his own hand or with a
weapon; yet, owing to his burst of anger, he is declared to be a murderer by
God, who renders to each man, not merely for the result of his actions, but for
his purpose and desires and wishes, either a reward or a punishment; according
to that which He Himself says through the prophet: "But I come that I may gather
them together with all nations and tongues;" [949] and again: [950] "Their
thoughts between themselves accusing or also defending one another, in the day
when God shall judge the secrets of men." [951]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 190: CHAPTER XXI. WHETHER WE OUGHT TO ADMIT THE ADDITION OF |WITHOUT A CAUSE,| IN THAT WHICH IS WRITTEN IN THE GOSPEL, |WHOSOEVER IS ANGRY WITH HIS BROTHER,| ETC. 
========================================================================

But you should know that in this, which is found in many copies, "Whosoever is
angry with his brother without a cause, is in danger of the judgment," [952] the
words "without a cause" are superfluous, and were added by those who did not
think that anger for just causes was to be banished: since certainly nobody,
however unreasonably he is disturbed, would say that he was angry without a
cause. Wherefore it appears to have been added by those who did not understand
the drift of Scripture, which intended altogether to banish the incentive to
anger, and to reserve no occasion whatever for indignation; lest while we were
commanded to be angry with a cause, an opportunity for being angry without a
cause might occur to us. For the end and aim of patience consists, not in being
angry with a good reason, but in not being angry at all. Although I know that by
some this very expression, "without a cause," is taken to mean that he is angry
without a cause who when he is angered is not allowed to seek for vengeance. But
it is better so to take it as we find it written in many modern copies and all
the ancient ones.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 191: CHAPTER XXII. THE REMEDIES BY WHICH WE CAN ROOT OUT ANGER FROM OUR HEARTS. 
========================================================================

Wherefore the athlete of Christ who strives lawfully ought thoroughly to root
out the feeling of wrath. And it will be a sure remedy for this disease, if in
the first place we make up our mind that we ought never to be angry at all,
whether for good or bad reasons: as we know that we shall at once lose the light
of discernment, and the security of good counsel, and our very uprightness, and
the temperate character of righteousness, if the main light of our heart has
been darkened by its shadows: next, that the purity of our soul will presently
be clouded, and that it cannot possibly be made a temple for the Holy Ghost
while the spirit of anger resides in us; lastly, that we should consider that we
ought never to pray, nor pour out our prayer to God, while we are angry. And
above all, having before our eyes the uncertain condition of mankind, we should
realize daily that we are soon to depart from the body, and that our continence
and chastity, our renunciation of all our possessions, our contempt of wealth,
our efforts in fastings and vigils will not help us at all, if solely on account
of anger and hatred eternal punishments are awarded to us by the judge of the
world.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 192: BOOK IX. OF THE SPIRIT OF DEJECTION. 
========================================================================

Of the Spirit of Dejection.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 193: CHAPTER I. HOW OUR FIFTH COMBAT IS AGAINST THE SPIRIT OF DEJECTION, AND OF THE HARM WHICH IT INFLICTS UPON THE SOUL. 
========================================================================

In our fifth combat we have to resist the pangs of gnawing dejection: for if
this, through separate attacks made at random, and by haphazard and casual
changes, has secured an opportunity of gaining possession of our mind it keeps
us back at all times from all insight in divine contemplation, and utterly ruins
and depresses the mind that has fallen away from its complete state of purity.
It does not allow it to say its prayers with its usual gladness of heart, nor
permit it to rely on the comfort of reading the sacred writings, nor suffer it
to be quiet and gentle with the brethren; it makes it impatient and rough in all
the duties of work and devotion: and, as all wholesome counsel is lost, and
steadfastness of heart destroyed, it makes the feelings almost mad and drunk,
and crushes and overwhelms them with penal despair.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 194: CHAPTER II. OF THE CARE WITH WHICH THE MALADY OF DEJECTION MUST BE HEALED. 
========================================================================

Wherefore if we are anxious to exert ourselves lawfully in the struggle of our
spiritual combat we ought with no less care to set about healing this malady
also. For "as the moth injures the garment, and the worm the wood, so dejection
the heart of man." [953] With sufficient clearness and appropriateness has the
Divine Spirit expressed the force of this dangerous and most injurious fault.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 195: CHAPTER III. TO WHAT THE SOUL MAY BE COMPARED WHICH IS A PREY TO THE ATTACKS OF DEJECTION. 
========================================================================

For the garment that is moth-eaten has no longer any commercial value or good
use to which it can be put; and in the same way [954] the wood that is
worm-eaten is no longer worth anything for ornamenting even an ordinary
building, but is destined to be burnt in the fire. So therefore the soul also
which is a prey to the attacks of gnawing dejection will be useless for that
priestly garment which, according to the prophecy of the holy David, the
ointment of the Holy Spirit coming down from heaven, first on Aaron's beard,
then on his skirts, is wont to assume: as it is said, "It is like the ointment
upon the head which ran down upon Aaron's beard, which ran down to the skirts of
his clothing." [955] Nor can it have anything to do with the building or
ornamentation of that spiritual temple of which Paul as a wise master builder
laid the foundations, saying, "Ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God
dwelleth in you:" [956] and what the beams of this are like the bride tells us
in the Song of Songs: "Our rafters are of cypress: the beams of our houses are
of cedar." [957] And therefore those sorts of wood are chosen for the temple of
God which are fragrant and not liable to rot, and which are not subject to decay
from age nor to be worm-eaten.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 196: CHAPTER IV. WHENCE AND IN WHAT WAY DEJECTION ARISES. 
========================================================================

But sometimes it is found to result from the fault of previous anger, or to
spring from the desire of some gain which has not been realized, when a man has
found that he has failed in his hope of securing those things which he had
planned. But sometimes without any apparent reason for our being driven to fall
into this misfortune, we are by the instigation of our crafty enemy suddenly
depressed with so great a gloom that we cannot receive with ordinary civility
the visits of those who are near and dear to us; and whatever subject of
conversation is started by them, we regard it as ill-timed and out of place; and
we can give them no civil answer, as the gall of bitterness is in possession of
every corner of our heart.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 197: CHAPTER V. THAT DISTURBANCES ARE CAUSED IN US NOT BY THE FAULTS OF OTHER PEOPLE, BUT BY OUR OWN. 
========================================================================

Whence it is clearly proved that the pains of disturbances are not always caused
in us by other people's faults, but rather by our own, as we have stored up in
ourselves the causes of offence, and the seeds of faults, which, as soon as a
shower of temptation waters our soul, at once burst forth into shoots and
fruits.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 198: CHAPTER VI. THAT NO ONE COMES TO GRIEF BY A SUDDEN FALL, BUT IS DESTROYED BY FALLING THROUGH A LONG COURSE OF CARELESSNESS. 
========================================================================

For no one is ever driven to sin by being provoked through another's fault,
unless he has the fuel of evil stored up in his own heart. Nor should we imagine
that a man has been deceived suddenly when he has looked on a woman and fallen
into the abyss of shameful lust: but rather that, owing to the opportunity of
looking on her, the symptoms of disease which were hidden and concealed in his
inmost soul have been brought to the surface.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 199: CHAPTER VII. THAT WE OUGHT NOT TO GIVE UP INTERCOURSE WITH OUR BRETHREN IN ORDER TO SEEK AFTER PERFECTION, BUT SHOULD RATHER CONSTANTLY CULTIVATE THE VIRTUE OF PATIENCE. 
========================================================================

And so God, the creator of all things, having regard above everything to the
amendment of His own work, and because the roots and causes of our falls are
found not in others, but in ourselves, commands that we should not give up
intercourse with our brethren, nor avoid those who we think have been hurt by
us, or by whom we have been offended, but bids us pacify them, knowing that
perfection of heart is not secured by separating from men so much as by the
virtue of patience. Which when it is securely held, as it can keep us at peace
even with those who hate peace, so, if it has not been acquired, it makes us
perpetually differ from those who are perfect and better than we are: for
opportunities for disturbance, on account of which we are eager to get away from
those with whom we are connected, will not be wanting so long as we are living
among men; and therefore we shall not escape altogether, but only change the
causes of dejection on account of which we separated from our former friends.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 200: CHAPTER VIII. THAT IF WE HAVE IMPROVED OUR CHARACTER IT IS POSSIBLE FOR US TO GET ON WITH EVERYBODY. 
========================================================================

We must then do our best to endeavour to amend our faults and correct our
manners. And if we succeed in correcting them we shall certainly be at peace, I
will not say with men, but even with beasts and the brute creation, according to
what is said in the book of the blessed Job: "For the beasts of the field will
be at peace with thee;" [959] for we shall not fear offences coming from
without, nor will any occasion of falling trouble us from outside, if the roots
of such are not admitted and implanted within in our own selves: for "they have
great peace who love thy law, O God; and they have no occasion of falling."
[960]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 201: CHAPTER IX. OF ANOTHER SORT OF DEJECTION WHICH PRODUCES DESPAIR OF SALVATION. 
========================================================================

There is, too, another still more objectionable sort of dejection, which
produces in the guilty soul no amendment of life or correction of faults, but
the most destructive despair: which did not make Cain repent after the murder of
his brother, or Judas, after the betrayal, hasten to relieve himself by making
amends, but drove him to hang himself in despair.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 202: CHAPTER X. OF THE ONLY THING IN WHICH DEJECTION IS USEFUL TO US. 
========================================================================

And so we must see that dejection is only useful to us in one case, when we
yield to it either in penitence for sin, or through being inflamed with the
desire of perfection, or the contemplation of future blessedness. And of this
the blessed Apostle says: "The sorrow which is according to God worketh
repentance steadfast unto salvation: but the sorrow of the world worketh death."
[961]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 203: CHAPTER XI. HOW WE CAN DECIDE WHAT IS USEFUL AND THE SORROW ACCORDING TO GOD, AND WHAT IS DEVILISH AND DEADLY. 
========================================================================

But that dejection and sorrow which "worketh repentance steadfast unto
salvation" is obedient, civil, humble, kindly, gentle, and patient, as it
springs from the love of God, and unweariedly extends itself from desire of
perfection to every bodily grief and sorrow of spirit; and somehow or other
rejoicing and feeding on hope of its own profit preserves all the gentleness of
courtesy and forbearance, as it has in itself all the fruits of the Holy Spirit
of which the same Apostle gives the list: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, forbearance, goodness, benignity, faith, mildness, modesty." [962]
But the other kind is rough, impatient, hard, full of rancour and useless grief
and penal despair, and breaks down the man on whom it has fastened, and hinders
him from energy and wholesome sorrow, as it is unreasonable, and not only
hampers the efficacy of his prayers, but actually destroys all those fruits of
the Spirit of which we spoke, which that other sorrow knows how to produce.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 204: CHAPTER XII. THAT EXCEPT THAT WHOLESOME SORROW, WHICH SPRINGS UP IN THREE WAYS, ALL SORROW AND DEJECTION SHOULD BE RESISTED AS HURTFUL. 
========================================================================

Wherefore except that sorrow which is endured either for the sake of saving
penitence, or for the sake of aiming at perfection, or for the desire of the
future, all sorrow and dejection must equally be resisted, as belonging to this
world, and being that which "worketh death," and must be entirely expelled from
our hearts like the spirit of fornication and covetousness and anger.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 205: CHAPTER XIII. THE MEANS BY WHICH WE CAN ROOT OUT DEJECTION FROM OUR HEARTS. 
========================================================================

We should then be able to expel this most injurious passion from our hearts, so
that by spiritual meditation we may keep our mind constantly occupied with hope
of the future and contemplation of the promised blessedness. For in this way we
shall be able to get the better of all those sorts of dejection, whether those
which flow from previous anger or those which come to us from disappointment of
gain, or from some loss, or those which spring from a wrong done to us, or those
which arise from an unreasonable disturbance of mind, or those which bring on us
a deadly despair, if, ever joyful with an insight into things eternal and
future, and continuing immovable, we are not depressed by present accidents, or
over-elated by prosperity, but look on each condition as uncertain and likely
soon to pass away.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 206: BOOK X. OF THE SPIRIT OF ACCIDIE. 
========================================================================

Of the Spirit of Accidie. [963]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 207: CHAPTER I. HOW OUR SIXTH COMBAT IS AGAINST THE SPIRIT OF ACCIDIE, AND WHAT ITS CHARACTER IS. 
========================================================================

Our sixth combat is with what the Greeks call akedia, which we may term
weariness or distress of heart. This is akin to dejection, and is especially
trying to solitaries, and a dangerous and frequent foe to dwellers in the
desert; and especially disturbing to a monk about the sixth hour, like some
fever which seizes him at stated times, bringing the burning heat of its attacks
on the sick man at usual and regular hours. Lastly, there are some of the elders
who declare that this is the "midday demon" spoken of in the ninetieth Psalm.
[964]


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  CHAPTER 208: CHAPTER II. A DESCRIPTION OF ACCIDIE, AND THE WAY IN WHICH IT CREEPS OVER THE HEART OF A MONK, AND THE INJURY IT INFLICTS ON THE SOUL. 
========================================================================

And when this has taken possession of some unhappy soul, it produces dislike of
the place, disgust with the cell, and disdain and contempt of the brethren who
dwell with him or at a little distance, as if they were careless or unspiritual.
It also makes the man lazy and sluggish about all manner of work which has to be
done within the enclosure of his dormitory. It does not suffer him to stay in
his cell, or to take any pains about reading, and he often groans because he can
do no good while he stays there, and complains and sighs because he can bear no
spiritual fruit so long as he is joined to that society; and he complains that
he is cut off from spiritual gain, and is of no use in the place, as if he were
one who, though he could govern others and be useful to a great number of
people, yet was edifying none, nor profiting any one by his teaching and
doctrine. He cries up distant monasteries and those which are a long way off,
and describes such places as more profitable and better suited for salvation;
and besides this he paints the intercourse with the brethren there as sweet and
full of spiritual life. On the other hand, he says that everything about him is
rough, and not only that there is nothing edifying among the brethren who are
stopping there, but also that even food for the body cannot be procured without
great difficulty. Lastly he fancies that he will never be well while he stays in
that place, unless he leaves his cell (in which he is sure to die if he stops in
it any longer) and takes himself off from thence as quickly as possible. Then
the fifth or sixth hour brings him such bodily weariness and longing for food
that he seems to himself worn out and wearied as if with a long journey, or some
very heavy work, or as if he had put off taking food during a fast of two or
three days. Then besides this he looks about anxiously this way and that, and
sighs that none of the brethren come to see him, and often goes in and out of
his cell, and frequently gazes up at the sun, as if it was too slow in setting,
and so a kind of unreasonable confusion of mind takes possession of him like
some foul darkness, [965] and makes him idle and useless for every spiritual
work, so that he imagines that no cure for so terrible an attack can be found in
anything except visiting some one of the brethren, or in the solace of sleep
alone. Then the disease suggests that he ought to show courteous and friendly
hospitalities to the brethren, and pay visits to the sick, whether near at hand
or far off. He talks too about some dutiful and religious offices; that those
kinsfolk ought to be inquired after, and that he ought to go and see them
oftener; that it would be a real work of piety to go more frequently to visit
that religious woman, devoted to the service of God, who is deprived of all
support of kindred; and that it would be a most excellent thing to get what is
needful for her who is neglected and despised by her own kinsfolk; and that he
ought piously to devote his time to these things instead of staying uselessly
and with no profit in his cell.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 209: CHAPTER III. OF THE DIFFERENT WAYS IN WHICH ACCIDIE OVERCOMES A MONK. 
========================================================================

And so the wretched soul, embarrassed by such contrivances of the enemy, is
disturbed, until, worn out by the spirit of accidie, as by some strong battering
ram, it either learns to sink into slumber, or, driven out from the confinement
of its cell, accustoms itself to seek for consolation under these attacks in
visiting some brother, only to be afterwards weakened the more by this remedy
which it seeks for the present. For more frequently and more severely will the
enemy attack one who, when the battle is joined, will as he well knows
immediately turn his back, and whom he sees to look for safety neither in
victory nor in fighting but in flight: until little by little he is drawn away
from his cell, and begins to forget the object of his profession, which is
nothing but meditation and contemplation of that divine purity which excels all
things, and which can only be gained by silence and continually remaining in the
cell, and by meditation, and so the soldier of Christ becomes a runaway from His
service, and a deserter, and "entangles himself in secular business," without at
all pleasing Him to whom he engaged himself. [966]


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  CHAPTER 210: CHAPTER IV. HOW ACCIDIE HINDERS THE MIND FROM ALL CONTEMPLATION OF THE VIRTUES. 
========================================================================

All the inconveniences of this disease are admirably expressed by David in a
single verse, where he says, "My soul slept from weariness," [967] that is, from
accidie. Quite rightly does he say, not that his body, but that his soul slept.
For in truth the soul which is wounded by the shaft of this passion does sleep,
as regards all contemplation of the virtues and insight of the spiritual senses.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 211: CHAPTER V. HOW THE ATTACK OF ACCIDIE IS TWOFOLD. 
========================================================================

And so the true Christian athlete who desires to strive lawfully in the lists of
perfection, should hasten to expel this disease also from the recesses of his
soul; and should strive against this most evil spirit of accidie in both
directions, so that he may neither fall stricken through by the shaft of
slumber, nor be driven out from the monastic cloister, even though under some
pious excuse or pretext, and depart as a runaway.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 212: CHAPTER VI. HOW INJURIOUS ARE THE EFFECTS OF ACCIDIE. 
========================================================================

And whenever it begins in any degree to overcome any one, it either makes him
stay in his cell idle and lazy, without making any spiritual progress, or it
drives him out from thence and makes him restless and a wanderer, and indolent
in the matter of all kinds of work, and it makes him continually go round, the
cells of the brethren and the monasteries, with an eye to nothing but this;
viz., where or with what excuse he can presently procure some refreshment. For
the mind of an idler cannot think of anything but food and the belly, until the
society of some man or woman, equally cold and indifferent, is secured, and it
loses itself in their affairs and business, and is thus little by little
ensnared by dangerous occupations, so that, just as if it were bound up in the
coils of a serpent, it can never disentangle itself again and return to the
perfection of its former profession.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 213: CHAPTER VII. TESTIMONIES FROM THE APOSTLE CONCERNING THE SPIRIT OF ACCIDIE. 
========================================================================

The blessed Apostle, like a true and spiritual physician, either seeing this
disease, which springs from the spirit of accidie, already creeping in, or
foreseeing, through the revelation of the Holy Spirit, that it would arise among
monks, is quick to anticipate it by the healing medicines of his directions. For
in writing to the Thessalonians, and at first, like a skilful and excellent
physician, applying to the infirmity of his patients the soothing and gentle
remedy of his words, and beginning with charity, and praising them in that
point, that [968] this deadly wound, having been treated with a milder remedy,
might lose its angry festering and more easily bear severer treatment, he says:
"But concerning brotherly charity ye have no need that I write to you: for you
yourselves are taught of God to love one another. For this ye do toward all the
brethren in the whole of Macedonia." [969] He first began with the soothing
application of praise, and made their ears submissive and ready for the remedy
of the healing words. Then he proceeds: "But we ask you, brethren, to abound
more." Thus far he soothes them with kind and gentle words; for fear lest he
should find them not yet prepared to receive their perfect cure. Why is it that
you ask, O Apostle, that they may abound more in charity, of which you had said
above, "But concerning brotherly charity we have no need to write to you"? And
why is it necessary that you should say to them: "But we ask you to abound
more," when they did not need to be written to at all on this matter? especially
as you add the reason why they do not need it, saying, "For you yourselves have
been taught of God to love one another." And you add a third thing still more
important: that not only have they been taught of God, but also that they fulfil
in deed that which they are taught. "For ye do this," he says, not to one or
two, but "to all the brethren;" and not to your own citizens and friends only,
but "in the whole of Macedonia." Tell us then, I pray, why it is that you so
particularly begin with this. Again he proceeds, "But we ask you, brethren, to
abound the more." And with difficulty at last he breaks out into that at which
he was driving before: "and that ye take pains to be quiet." He gave the first
aim. Then he adds a second, "and to do your own business;" and a third as well:
"and work with your own hands, as we commanded you;" a fourth: "and to walk
honestly towards those that are without;" a fifth: "and to covet no man's
goods." Lo, we can see through that hesitation, which made him with these
preludes put off uttering what his mind was full of: "And that ye take pains to
be quiet;" i.e., that you stop in your cells, and be not disturbed by rumours,
which generally spring from the wishes and gossip of idle persons, and so
yourselves disturb others. And, "to do your own business," you should not want
to require curiously of the world's actions, or, examining the lives of others,
want to spend your strength, not on bettering yourselves and aiming at virtue,
but on depreciating your brethren. "And work with your own hands, as we charged
you;" to secure that which he had warned them above not to do; i.e., that they
should not be restless and anxious about other people's affairs, nor walk
dishonestly towards those without, nor covet another man's goods, he now adds
and says, "and work with your own hands, as we charged you." For he has clearly
shown that leisure the reason why those things were done which he blamed above.
For no one can be restless or anxious about other people's affairs, but one who
is not satisfied to apply himself to the work of his own hands. He adds also a
fourth evil, which springs also from this leisure, i.e., that they should not
walk dishonestly: when he says: "And that ye walk honestly towards those
without." He cannot possibly walk honestly, even among those who are men of this
world, who is not content to cling to the seclusion of his cell and the work of
his own hands; but he is sure to be dishonest, while he seeks his needful food;
and to take pains to flatter, to follow up news and gossip, to seek for
opportunities for chattering and stories by means of which he may gain a footing
and obtain an entrance into the houses of others. "And that you should not covet
another man's goods." He is sure to look with envious eyes on another's gifts
and boons, who does not care to secure sufficient for his daily food by the
dutiful and peaceful labour of his hands. You see what conditions, and how
serious and shameful ones, spring solely from the malady of leisure. Lastly,
those very people, whom in his first Epistle he had treated with the gentle
application of his words, in his second Epistle he endeavours to heal with
severer and sterner remedies, as those who had not profited by more gentle
treatment; and he no longer applies the treatment of gentle words, no mild and
kindly expressions, as these, "But we ask you, brethren," but "We adjure you,
brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw from every
brother that walketh disorderly." [970] There he asks; here he adjures. There is
the kindness of one who is persuading; here the sternness of one protesting and
threatening. "We adjure you, brethren:" because, when we first asked you, you
scorned to listen; now at least obey our threats. And this adjuration he renders
terrible, not by his bare word, but by the imprecation of the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ: for fear lest they might again scorn it, as merely man's word, and
think that it was not of much importance. And forthwith, like a well-skilled
physician with festering limbs, to which he could not apply the remedy of a mild
treatment, he tries to cure by an incision with a spiritual knife, saying, "that
ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not
according to the tradition which ye received of us." And so he bids them
withdraw from those who will not make time for work, and to cut them off like
limbs tainted with the festering sores of leisure: lest the malady of idleness,
like some deadly contagion, might infect even the healthy portion of their
limbs, by the gradual advance of infection. And when he is going to speak of
those who will not work with their own hands and eat their bread in quietness,
from whom he urges them to withdraw, hear with what reproaches he brands them at
starting. First he calls them "disorderly," and "not walking according to the
tradition." In other words, he stigmatizes them as obstinate, since they will
not walk according to his appointment; and "dishonest," i.e., not keeping to the
right and proper times for going out, and visiting, and talking. For a
disorderly person is sure to be subject to all those faults. "And not according
to the tradition which they received from us." And in this he stamps them as in
some sort rebellious, and despisers, who scorned to keep the tradition which
they had received from him, and would not follow that which they not only
remembered that the master had taught in word, but which they knew that he had
performed in deed. "For you yourselves know how ye ought to be followers of us."
He heaps up an immense pile of censure when he asserts that they did not observe
that which was still in their memory, and which not only had they learned by
verbal instruction, but also had received by the incitement of his example in
working.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 214: CHAPTER VIII. THAT HE IS SURE TO BE RESTLESS WHO WILL NOT BE CONTENT WITH THE WORK OF HIS OWN HANDS. 
========================================================================

"Because we were not restless among you." When he wants to prove by the practice
of work that he was not restless among them, he fully shows that those who will
not work are always restless, owing to the fault of idleness. "Nor did we eat
any man's bread for nought." By each expression the teacher of the Gentiles
advances a step in the rebuke. [971] The preacher of the gospel says that he has
not eaten any man's bread for nought, as he knows that the Lord commanded that
"they who preach the gospel should live of the gospel:" [972] again, "The
labourer is worthy of his meat." [973] And so if he who preached the gospel,
performing a work so lofty and spiritual, did not venture in reliance on the
Lord's command to eat his bread for nought, what shall we do to whom not merely
is there no preaching of the word intrusted, but no cure of souls except our own
committed? with what confidence shall we dare with idle hands to eat our bread
for nought, when the "chosen vessel," constrained by his anxiety for the gospel
and his work of preaching, did not venture to eat without labouring with his own
hands? "But in labour," he says "and weariness, working night and day lest we
should be burdensome to any of you." [974] Up to this point he amplifies and
adds to his rebuke. For he did not simply say, "We did not eat bread for nought
from any of you," and then stop short. For it might have been thought that he
was supported by his own private means, and by money which he had saved, or by
other people's, though not by their collections and gifts. "But in labour," he
says, "and weariness, working night and day;" that is, being specially supported
by our own labour. And this, he says, we did not of our own wish, and for our
own pleasure, as rest and bodily exercise suggested, but as our necessities and
the want of food compelled us to do, and that not without great bodily
weariness. For not only throughout the whole day, but also by night, which seems
to be granted for bodily rest, I was continually plying the work of my hands,
through anxiety for food.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 215: CHAPTER IX. THAT NOT THE APOSTLE ONLY, BUT THOSE TWO WHO WERE WITH HIM LABOURED WITH THEIR OWN HANDS. 
========================================================================

And he testifies that it was not he alone who so lived among them, lest haply
this method might not seem important or general if he depended only on his
example. But he declares that all those who were appointed with him for the
ministry of the gospel, i.e., Silvanus and Timothy, who wrote this with him,
worked in the same fashion. For by saying, "lest we should be burdensome to any
of you, he covers them with great shame. For if he who preached the gospel and
commended it by signs and mighty works, did not dare to eat bread for nought,
lest he should be burdensome to any, how can those men help thinking that they
are burdensome who take it every day in idleness and at their leisure?


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 216: CHAPTER X. THAT FOR THIS REASON THE APOSTLE LABOURED WITH HIS OWN HANDS, THAT HE MIGHT SET US AN EXAMPLE OF WORK. 
========================================================================

"Not as if we had not power; but that we might give ourselves a pattern to you
to imitate us." He lays bare the reason why he imposed such labour on himself:
"that we might," says he, "give a pattern to you to imitate us, that if by
chance you become forgetful of the teaching of our words which so often passes
through your ears, you may at least keep in your recollection the example of my
manner of life given to you by ocular demonstration. There is here too no slight
reproof of them, where he says that he has gone through this labour and
weariness by night and day, for no other reason but to set an example, and that
nevertheless they would not be instructed, for whose sakes he, although not
obliged to do it, yet imposed on himself such toil. "And indeed," he says,
"though we had the power, and opportunities were open to us of using all your
goods and substance, and I knew that I had the permission [975] of our Lord to
use them: yet I did not use this power, lest what was rightly and lawfully done
on my part might set an example of dangerous idleness to others. And therefore
when preaching the gospel, I preferred to be supported by my own hands and work,
that I might open up the way of perfection to you who wish to walk in the path
of virtue, and might set an example of good life by my work."


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 217: CHAPTER XI. THAT HE PREACHED AND TAUGHT MEN TO WORK NOT ONLY BY HIS EXAMPLE, BUT ALSO BY HIS WORDS. 
========================================================================

But lest haply it might be thought that, while he worked in silence and tried to
teach them by example, he had not instructed them by precepts and warnings, he
proceeds to say: "For when we were with you, this we declared to you, that if a
man will not work neither should he eat." Still greater does he make their
idleness appear, for, though they knew that he, like a good master, worked with
his hands for the sake of his teaching and in order to instruct them, yet they
were ashamed to imitate him; and he emphasizes our diligence and care by saying
that he did not only give them this for an example when present, but that he
also proclaimed it continually in words; saying that if any one would not work,
neither should he eat.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 218: CHAPTER XII. OF HIS SAYING: |IF ANY WILL NOT WORK, NEITHER SHALL HE EAT.| 
========================================================================

And now he no longer addresses to them the advice of a teacher or physician, but
proceeds with the severity of a judicial sentence, and, resuming his apostolic
authority, pronounces sentence on his despisers as if from the judgment seat:
with that power, I mean, which, when writing with threats to the Corinthians, he
declared was given him of the Lord, when he charged those taken in sin, that
they should make haste and amend their lives before his coming: thus charging
them, "I beseech you that I may not be bold when I am present, against some,
with that power which is given to me over you." And again: "For if I also should
boast somewhat of the power which the Lord has given me unto edification, and
not for your destruction, I shall not be ashamed." [976] With that power, I say,
he declares, "If a man will not work, neither let him eat." Not punishing them
with a carnal sword, but with the power of the Holy Ghost forbidding them the
goods of this life, that if by chance, thinking but little of the punishment of
future death, they still should remain obstinate through love of ease, they may
at last, forced by the requirements of nature and the fear of immediate death,
be compelled to obey his salutary charge.


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  CHAPTER 219: CHAPTER XIII. OF HIS SAYING: |WE HAVE HEARD THAT SOME AMONG YOU WALK DISORDERLY.| 
========================================================================

Then after all this rigour of gospel severity, he now lays bare the reason why
he put forward all these matters. "For we have heard that some among you walk
disorderly, working not at all, but curiously meddling." He is nowhere satisfied
to speak of those who will not give themselves up to work, as if they were
victims of but a single malady. For in his first Epistle [977] he speaks of them
as "disorderly," and not walking according to the traditions which they had
received from him: and he also asserts that they were restless, and ate their
bread for nought. Again he says here, "We have heard that there are some among
you who walk disorderly." And at once he subjoins a second weakness, which is
the root of this restlessness, and says, "working not at all;" a third malady as
well he adds, which springs from this last like some shoot: "but curiously
meddling."


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 220: CHAPTER XIV. HOW MANUAL LABOUR PREVENTS MANY FAULTS. 
========================================================================

And so he loses no time in at once applying a suitable remedy to the incentive
to so many faults, and laying aside that apostolic power of his which he had
made use of a little before, he adopts once more the tender character of a good
father, or of a kind physician, and, as if they were his children or his
patients, applies by his healing counsel remedies to cure them, saying: "Now we
charge them that are such, and beseech them by the Lord Jesus, that working with
silence they would eat their own bread." The cause of all these ulcers, which
spring from the root of idleness, he heals like some well-skilled physician by a
single salutary charge to work; as he knows that all the other bad symptoms,
which spring as it were from the same clump, will at once disappear when the
cause of the chief malady has been removed.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 221: CHAPTER XV. HOW KINDNESS SHOULD BE SHOWN EVEN TO THE IDLE AND CARELESS. 
========================================================================

Nevertheless, like a far-sighted and careful physician, he is not only anxious
to heal the wounds of the sick, but gives suitable directions as well to the
whole, that their health may be preserved continually, and says: "But be not ye
weary in well doing:" ye who following us, i.e., our ways, copy the example
given to you by imitating us in work, and do not follow their sloth and
laziness: "Do not be weary in well doing;" i.e., do you likewise show kindness
towards them if by chance they have failed to observe what we said. As then he
was severe with those who were weak, for fear lest being enervated by laziness
they might yield to restlessness and inquisitiveness, so he admonishes those who
are in good health neither to restrain that kindness which the Lord's command
bids us show to the good and evil, [979] even if some bad men will not turn to
sound doctrine; nor to desist from doing good and encouraging them both by words
of consolation and by rebuke as well as by ordinary kindness and civility.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 222: CHAPTER XVI. HOW WE OUGHT TO ADMONISH THOSE WHO GO WRONG, NOT OUT OF HATRED, BUT OUT OF LOVE. 
========================================================================

But again in case some might be encouraged by this gentleness, and scorn to obey
his commands, he proceeds with the severity of an apostle: "But if any man obey
not our word by this Epistle, note that man and do not keep company with him
that he may be ashamed." And in warning them of what they ought to observe out
of regard for him and for the good of all, and of the care with which they
should keep the apostolic commands, at once he joins to the warning the kindness
of a most indulgent father; and teaches them as well, as if they were his
children, what a brotherly disposition they should cultivate towards those
mentioned above, out of love. "Yet do not esteem him as an enemy, but admonish
him as a brother." With the severity of a judge he combines the affection of a
father, and tempers with kindness and gentleness the sentence delivered with
apostolic sternness. For he commands them to note that man who scorns to obey
his commands, and not to keep company with him; and yet he does not bid them do
this from a wrong feeling of dislike, but from brotherly affection and out of
consideration for their amendment. "Do not keep company," he says, "with him
that he may be ashamed;" so that, even if he is not made better by my mild
charges, he may at last be brought to shame by being publicly separated from all
of you, and so may some day begin to be restored to the way of salvation.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 223: CHAPTER XVII. DIFFERENT PASSAGES IN WHICH THE APOSTLE DECLARES THAT WE OUGHT TO WORK, OR IN WHICH IT IS SHOWN THAT HE HIMSELF WORKED. 
========================================================================

In the Epistle to the Ephesians also he thus gives a charge on this subject of
work, saying: "He that stole, let him now steal no more, but rather let him
labour, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have
something to give to him that suffereth need." [980] And in the Acts of the
Apostles too we find that he not only taught this, but actually practised it
himself. For when he had come to Corinth, he did not permit himself to lodge
anywhere except with Aquila and Priscilla, because they were of the same trade
which he himself was accustomed to practise. For we thus read: "After this, Paul
departing from Athens came to Corinth; and finding a certain Jew named Aquila,
born in Pontus, and Priscilla his wife, he came to them because they were of the
same trade; and abode with them, and worked: for they were tent-makers by
trade." [981]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 224: CHAPTER XVIII. THAT THE APOSTLE WROUGHT WHAT HE THOUGHT WOULD BE SUFFICIENT FOR HIM AND FOR OTHERS WHO WERE WITH HIM. 
========================================================================

Then going to Miletus, and from thence sending to Ephesus, and summoning to him
the elders of the church of Ephesus, he charged them how they ought to rule the
church of God in his absence, and said: "I have not coveted any man's silver and
gold; you yourselves know how for such things as were needful for me and them
that are with me these hands have ministered. I have showed you all things, how
that so labouring you ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of
the Lord Jesus, how he said: It is more blessed to give than to receive." [982]
He left us a weighty example in his manner of life, as he testifies that he not
only wrought what would supply his own bodily wants alone, but also what would
be sufficient for the needs of those who were with him: those, I mean, who,
being taken up with necessary duties, had no chance of procuring food for
themselves with their own hands. And as he tells the Thessalonians that he had
worked to give them an example that they might imitate him, so here too he
implies something of the same sort when he says: "I have showed you all things,
how that so labouring you ought to support the weak," viz., whether in mind or
body; i.e., that we should be diligent in supplying their needs, not from the
store of our abundance, or money laid by, or from another's generosity and
substance, but rather by securing the necessary sum by our own labour and toil.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 225: CHAPTER XIX. HOW WE SHOULD UNDERSTAND THESE WORDS: |IT IS MORE BLESSED TO GIVE THAN TO RECEIVE.| 
========================================================================

And he says that this is a command of the Lord: "For He Himself," namely the
Lord Jesus, said he, "said it is more blessed to give than to receive." That is,
the bounty of the giver is more blessed than the need of the receiver, where the
gift is not supplied from money that has been kept back through unbelief or
faithlessness, nor from the stored-up treasures of avarice, but is produced from
the fruits of our own labour and honest toil. And so "it is more blessed to give
than to receive," because while the giver shares the poverty of the receiver,
yet still he is diligent in providing with pious care by his own toil, not
merely enough for his own needs, but also what he can give to one in want; and
so he is adorned with a double grace, since by giving away all his goods he
secures the perfect abnegation of Christ, and yet by his labour and thought
displays the generosity of the rich; thus honouring God by his honest labours,
and plucking for him the fruits of his righteousness, while another, enervated
by sloth and indolent laziness, proves himself by the saying of the Apostle
unworthy of food, as in defiance of his command he takes it in idleness, not
without the guilt of sin and of obstinacy.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 226: CHAPTER XX. OF A LAZY BROTHER WHO TRIED TO PERSUADE OTHERS TO LEAVE THE MONASTERY. 
========================================================================

We know a brother, whose name we would give if it would do any good, who,
although he was remaining in the monastery and compelled to deliver to the
steward his fixed task daily, yet for fear lest he might be led on to some
larger portion of work, or put to shame by the example of one labouring more
zealously, when he had seen some brother admitted into the monastery, who in the
ardour of his faith wanted to make up the sale of a larger piece of work, if he
found that he could not by secret persuasion check him from carrying out his
purpose, he would by bad advice and whisperings persuade him to depart thence.
And in order to get rid of him more easily he would pretend that he also had
already been for many reasons offended, and wanted to leave, if only he could
find a companion and support for the journey. And when by secretly running down
the monastery he had wheedled him into consenting, and arranged with him the
time at which to leave the monastery, and the place to which he should go
before, and where he should wait for him, he himself, pretending that he would
follow, stopped where he was. And when the other out of shame for his flight did
not dare to return again to the monastery from which he had run away, the
miserable author of his flight stopped behind in the monastery. It will be
enough to have given this single instance of this sort of men in order to put
beginners on their guard, and to show clearly what evils idleness, as Scripture
says, [983] can produce in the mind of a monk, and how "evil communications
corrupt good manners." [984]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 227: CHAPTER XXI. DIFFERENT PASSAGES FROM THE WRITINGS OF SOLOMON AGAINST ACCIDIE. 
========================================================================

And Solomon, the wisest of men, clearly points to this fault of idleness in many
passages, as he says: "He that followeth idleness shall be filled with poverty,"
[985] either visible or invisible, in which an idle person and one entangled
with different faults is sure to be involved, and he will always be a stranger
to the contemplation of God, and to spiritual riches, of which the blessed
Apostle says: "For in all things ye were enriched in him, in all utterance and
in all knowledge." [986] But concerning this poverty of the idler elsewhere he
also writes thus: "Every sluggard shall be clothed in torn garments and rags."
[987] For certainly he will not merit to be adorned with that garment of
incorruption (of which the Apostle says, "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ,"
[988] and again: "Being clothed in the breastplate of righteousness and
charity," [989] concerning which the Lord Himself also speaks to Jerusalem by
the prophet: "Arise, arise, O Jerusalem, put on the garments of thy glory),"
[990] whoever, overpowered by lazy slumber or by accidie, prefers to be clothed,
not by his labour and industry, but in the rags of idleness, which he tears off
from the solid piece and body of the Scriptures, and fits on to his sloth no
garment of glory and honour, but an ignominious cloak and excuse. For those, who
are affected by this laziness, and do not like to support themselves by the
labour of their own hands, as the Apostle continually did and charged us to do,
are wont to make use of certain Scripture proofs by which they try to cloak
their idleness, saying that it is written, "Labour not for the meat that
perisheth, but for that which remains to life eternal;" [991] and "My meat is to
do the will of my Father." [992] But these proofs are (as it were) rags, from
the solid piece of the gospel, which are adopted for this purpose, viz., to
cover the disgrace of our idleness and shame rather than to keep us warm, and
adorn us with that costly and splendid garment of virtue which that wise woman
in the Proverbs, who was clothed with strength and beauty, is said to have made
either for herself or for her husband; of which presently it is said: "Strength
and beauty are her clothing, and she rejoices in the latter days." [993] Of this
evil of idleness Solomon thus makes mention again: "The ways of the idlers are
strewn with thorns;" [994] i.e., with these and similar faults, which the
Apostle above declared to spring from idleness. And again: "Every sluggard is
always in want." [995] And of these the Apostle makes mention when he says, "And
that you want nothing of any man's." [996] And finally: "For idleness has been
the teacher of many evils:" [997] which the Apostle has clearly enumerated in
the passage which he expounded above: "Working not at all, but curiously
meddling." To this fault also he joins another: "And that ye study to be quiet;"
and then, "that ye should do your own business and walk honestly towards them
that are without, and that you want nothing of any man's." Those also whom he
notes as disorderly and rebellious, from these he charges those who are earnest
to separate themselves: "That ye withdraw yourselves," says he, "from every
brother that walketh disorderly and not according to the tradition which they
received from us." [998]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 228: CHAPTER XXII. HOW THE BRETHREN IN EGYPT WORK WITH THEIR HANDS, NOT ONLY TO SUPPLY THEIR OWN NEEDS, BUT ALSO TO MINISTER TO THOSE WHO ARE IN PRISON. 
========================================================================

And so taught by these examples the Fathers in Egypt never allow monks, and
especially the younger ones, to be idle, [999] estimating the purpose of their
hearts and their growth in patience and humility by their diligence in work; and
they not only do not allow them to receive anything from another to supply their
own wants, but further, they not merely refresh pilgrims and brethren who come
to visit them by means of their labours, but actually collect an enormous store
of provisions and food, and distribute it in the parts of Libya which suffer
from famine and barrenness, and also in the cities, to those who are pining away
in the squalor of prison; as they believe that by such an offering of the fruit
of their hands they offer a reasonable and true sacrifice to the Lord.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 229: CHAPTER XXIII. THAT IDLENESS IS THE REASON WHY THERE ARE NOT MONASTERIES FOR MONKS IN THE WEST. 
========================================================================

Hence it is that in these countries we see no monasteries found with such
numbers of brethren: for they are not supported by the resources of their own
labour in such a way that they can remain in them continually; and if in some
way or other, through the liberality of another, there should be a sufficient
provision to supply them, yet love of ease and restlessness of heart does not
suffer them to continue long in the place. Whence this saying has been handed
down from the old fathers in Egypt: that a monk who works is attacked by but one
devil; but an idler is tormented by countless spirits.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 230: CHAPTER XXIV. ABBOT PAUL WHO EVERY YEAR BURNT WITH FIRE ALL THE WORKS OF HIS HANDS. 
========================================================================

Lastly, Abbot Paul, one of the greatest of the Fathers, while he was living in a
vast desert which is called the Porphyrian desert, [1001] and being relieved
from anxiety by the date palms and a small garden, had plenty to support
himself, and an ample supply of food, and could not find any other work to do,
which would support him, because his dwelling was separated from towns and
inhabited districts by seven days' journey, [1002] or even more, through the
desert, and more would be asked for the carriage of the goods than the price of
the work would be worth; he collected the leaves of the palms, and regularly
exacted of himself his daily task, as if he was to be supported by it. And when
his cave had been filled with a whole year's work, each year he would burn with
fire that at which he had so diligently laboured: thus proving that without
manual labour a monk cannot stop in a place nor rise to the heights of
perfection: so that, though the need for food did not require this to be done,
yet he performed it simply for the sake of purifying his heart, and
strengthening his thoughts, and persisting in his cell, and gaining a victory
over accidie and driving it away.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 231: CHAPTER XXV. THE WORDS OF ABBOT MOSES WHICH HE SAID TO ME ABOUT THE CURE OF ACCIDIE. 
========================================================================

When I was beginning my stay in the desert, and had said to Abbot Moses, the
chief of all the saints, that I had been terribly troubled yesterday by an
attack of accidie, and that I could only be freed from it by running at once to
Abbot Paul, he said, "You have not freed yourself from it, but rather have given
yourself up to it as its slave and subject. For the enemy will henceforth attack
you more strongly as a deserter and runaway, since it has seen that you fled at
once when overcome in the conflict: unless on a second occasion when you join
battle with it you make up your mind not to dispel its attacks and heats for the
moment by deserting your cell, or by the inactivity of sleep, but rather learn
to triumph over it by endurance and conflict." Whence it is proved by experience
that a fit of accidie should not be evaded by running away from it, but overcome
by resisting it. [1003]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 232: BOOK XI. OF THE SPIRIT OF VAINGLORY. 
========================================================================

Of the Spirit of Vainglory.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 233: CHAPTER I. HOW OUR SEVENTH COMBAT IS AGAINST THE SPIRIT OF VAINGLORY, AND WHAT ITS NATURE. 
========================================================================

Our seventh combat is against the spirit of kenodoxia, which we may term vain or
idle glory: a spirit that takes many shapes, and is changeable and subtle, so
that it can with difficulty, I will not say be guarded against, but be seen
through and discovered even by the keenest eyes.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 234: CHAPTER II. HOW VAINGLORY ATTACKS A MONK NOT ONLY ON HIS CARNAL, BUT ALSO ON HIS SPIRITUAL SIDE. 
========================================================================

For not only does this, like the rest of his faults, attack a monk on his carnal
side, but on his spiritual side as well, insinuating itself by craft and guile
into his mind: so that those who cannot be deceived by carnal vices are more
grievously wounded through their spiritual proficiency; and it is so much the
worse to fight against, as it is harder to guard against. For the attack of all
other vices is more open and straightforward, and in the case of each of them,
when he who stirs them up is met by a determined refusal, he will go away the
weaker for it, and the adversary who has been beaten will on the next occasion
attack his victim with less vigour. But this malady when it has attacked the
mind by means of carnal pride, and has been repulsed by the shield of reply,
again, like some wickedness that takes many shapes, changes its former guise and
character, and under the appearance of the virtues tries to strike down and
destroy its conqueror.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 235: CHAPTER III. HOW MANY FORMS AND SHAPES VAINGLORY TAKES. 
========================================================================

For our other faults and passions may be said to be simpler and of but one form:
but this takes many forms and shapes, and changes about and assails the man who
stands up against it from every quarter, and assaults its conqueror on all
sides. For it tries to injure the soldier of Christ in his dress, in his manner,
his walk, his voice, his work, his vigils, his fasts, his prayers, when he
withdraws, when he reads, in his knowledge, his silence, his obedience, his
humility, his patience; and like some most dangerous rock hidden by surging
waves, it causes an unforeseen and miserable shipwreck to those who are sailing
with a fair breeze, while they are not on the lookout for it or guarding against
it.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 236: CHAPTER IV. HOW VAINGLORY ATTACKS A MONK ON THE RIGHT HAD AND ON THE LEFT. 
========================================================================

And so one who wishes to go along the King's highway by means of the "arms of
righteousness which are on the right hand and on the left," ought by the
teaching of the Apostle to pass through "honour and dishonour, evil report and
good report," [1004] and with such care to direct his virtuous course amid the
swelling waves of temptation, with discretion at the helm, and the Spirit of the
Lord breathing on us, since we know that if we deviate ever so little to the
right hand or to the left, we shall presently be dashed against most dangerous
crags. And so we are warned by Solomon, the wisest of men: "Turn not aside to
the right hand or to the left;" [1005] i.e., do not flatter yourself on your
virtues and be puffed up by your spiritual achievements on the right hand; nor,
swerving to the path of vices on the left hand, seek from them for yourself (to
use the words of the Apostle) "glory in your shame." [1006] For where the devil
cannot create vainglory in a man by means of his well-fitting and neat dress, he
tries to introduce it by means of a dirty, cheap, and uncared-for style. If he
cannot drag a man down by honour, he overthrows him by humility. If he cannot
make him puffed up by the grace of knowledge and eloquence, he pulls him down by
the weight of silence. If a man fasts openly, he is attacked by the pride of
vanity. If he conceals it for the sake of despising the glory of it, he is
assailed by the same sin of pride. In order that he may not be defiled by the
stains of vainglory he avoids making long prayers in the sight of the brethren;
and yet because he offers them secretly and has no one who is conscious of it,
he does not escape the pride of vanity.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 237: CHAPTER V. A COMPARISON WHICH SHOWS THE NATURE OF VAINGLORY. 
========================================================================

Our elders admirably describe the nature of this malady as like that of an
onion, and of those bulbs which when stripped of one covering you find to be
sheathed in another; and as often as you strip them, you find them still
protected.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 238: CHAPTER VI. THAT VAINGLORY IS NOT ALTOGETHER GOT RID OF BY THE ADVANTAGES OF SOLITUDE. 
========================================================================

In solitude also it does not cease from pursuing him who has for the sake of
glory fled from intercourse with all men. And the more thoroughly a man has
shunned the whole world, so much the more keenly does it pursue him. It tries to
lift up with pride one man because of his great endurance of work and labour,
another because of his extreme readiness to obey, another because he outstrips
other men in humility. One man is tempted through the extent of his knowledge,
another through the extent of his reading, another through the length of his
vigils. Nor does this malady endeavour to wound a man except through his
virtues; introducing hindrances which lead to death by means of those very
things through which the supplies of life are sought. For when men are anxious
to walk in the path of holiness and perfection, the enemies do not lay their
snares to deceive them anywhere except in the way along which they walk, in
accordance with that saying of the blessed David: "In the way wherein I walked
have they laid a snare for me;" [1007] that in this very way of virtue along
which we are walking, when pressing on to "the prize of our high calling,"
[1008] we may be elated by our successes, and so sink down, and fall with the
feet of our soul entangled and caught in the snares of vainglory. And so it
results that those of us who could not be vanquished in the conflict with the
foe are overcome by the very greatness of our triumph, or else (which is another
kind of deception) that, overstraining the limits of that self-restraint which
is possible to us, we fail of perseverance in our course on account of bodily
weakness.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 239: CHAPTER VII. HOW VAINGLORY, WHEN IT HAS BEEN OVERCOME, RISES AGAIN KEENER THAN EVER FOR THE FIGHT. 
========================================================================

All vices when overcome grow feeble, and when beaten are day by day rendered
weaker, and both in regard to place and time grow less and subside, or at any
rate, as they are unlike the opposite virtues, are more easily shunned and
avoided: but this one when it is beaten rises again keener than ever for the
struggle; and when we think that it is destroyed, it revives again, the stronger
for its death. The other kinds of vices usually only attack those whom they have
overcome in the conflict; but this one pursues its victors only the more keenly;
and the more thoroughly it has been resisted, so much the more vigorously does
it attack the man who is elated by his victory over it. And herein lies the
crafty cunning of our adversary, namely, in the fact that, where he cannot
overcome the soldier of Christ by the weapons of the foe, he lays him low by his
own spear.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 240: CHAPTER VIII. HOW VAINGLORY IS NOT ALLAYED EITHER IN THE DESERT OR THROUGH ADVANCING YEARS. 
========================================================================

Other vices, as we said, are sometimes allayed by the advantages of position,
and when the matter of the sin and the occasion and opportunity for it are
removed, grow slack, and are diminished: but this one penetrates the deserts
with the man who is flying from it, nor can it be shut out from any place, nor
when outward material for it is removed does it fail. For it is simply
encouraged by the achievements of the virtues of the man whom it attacks. For
all other vices, as we said above, are sometimes diminished by the lapse of
time, and disappear: to this one length of life, unless it is supported by
skilful diligence and prudent discretion, is no hindrance, but actually supplies
it with new fuel for vanity.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 241: CHAPTER IX. THAT VAINGLORY IS THE MORE DANGEROUS THROUGH BEING MIXED UP WITH VIRTUES. 
========================================================================

Lastly, other passions which are entirely different from the virtues which are
their opposites, and which attack us openly and as it were in broad daylight,
are more easily overcome and guarded against: but this being interwoven with our
virtues and entangled in the battle, fighting as it were under cover of the
darkness of night, deceives the more dangerously those who are off their guard
and not on the lookout.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 242: CHAPTER X. AN INSTANCE SHOWING HOW KING HEZEKIAH WAS OVERTHROWN BY THE DART OF VAINGLORY. 
========================================================================

For so we read that Hezekiah, King of Judah, a man of most perfect righteousness
in all things, and one approved by the witness of Holy Scripture, after
unnumbered commendations for his virtues, was overthrown by a single dart of
vainglory. And he who by a single prayer of his was able to procure the death of
a hundred and eighty-five thousand of the army of the Assyrians, whom the angel
destroyed in one night, is overcome by boasting and vanity. Of whom -- to pass
over the long list of his virtues, which it would take a long time to unfold --
I will say but this one thing. He was a man who, after the close of his life had
been decreed and the day of his death determined by the Lord's sentence,
prevailed by a single prayer to extend the limits set to his life by fifteen
years, the sun returning by ten steps, on which it had already shone in its
course towards its setting, and by its return dispersing those lines which the
shadow that followed its course had already marked, and by this giving two days
in one to the whole world, by a stupendous miracle contrary to the fixed laws of
nature. [1009] Yet after signs so great and so incredible, after such immense
proofs of his goodness, hear the Scripture tell how he was destroyed by his very
successes. "In those days," we are told, "Hezekiah was sick unto death: and he
prayed to the Lord, and He heard him and gave him a sign," that, namely of which
we read in the fourth book of the kingdoms, which was given by Isaiah the
prophet through the going back of the sun. "But," it says, "he did not render
again according to the benefits which he had received, for his heart was lifted
up; and wrath was kindled against him and against Judah and Jerusalem: and he
humbled himself afterwards because his heart had been lifted up, both he and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, and therefore the wrath of the Lord came not upon them
in the days of Hezekiah." [1010] How dangerous, how terrible is the malady of
vanity! So much goodness, so many virtues, faith and devotion, great enough to
prevail to change nature itself and the laws of the whole world, perish by a
single act of pride! So that all his good deeds would have been forgotten as if
they had never been, and he would at once have been subject to the wrath of the
Lord unless he had appeased Him by recovering his humility: so that he who, at
the suggestion of pride, had fallen from so great a height of excellence, could
only mount again to the height he had lost by the same steps of humility. Do you
want to see another instance of a similar downfall?


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 243: CHAPTER XI. THE INSTANCE OF KING UZZIAH WHO WAS OVERCOME BY THE TAINT OF THE SAME MALADY. 
========================================================================

Of Uzziah, the ancestor of this king of whom we have been speaking, himself also
praised in all things by the witness of the Scripture, after great commendation
for his virtue, after countless triumphs which he achieved by the merit of his
devotion and faith, learn how he was cast down by the pride of vainglory. "And,"
we are told, "the name of Uzziah went forth, for the Lord helped him and had
strengthened him. But when he was made strong, his heart was lifted up to his
destruction, and he neglected the Lord his God." [1011] You behold another
instance of a most terrible downfall, and see how two men so upright and
excellent were undone by their very triumphs and victories. Whence you see how
dangerous the successes of prosperity generally are, so that those who could not
be injured by adversity are ruined, unless they are careful, by prosperity; and
those who in the conflict of battle have escaped the danger of death fall before
their own trophies and triumphs.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 244: CHAPTER XII. SEVERAL TESTIMONIES AGAINST VAINGLORY. 
========================================================================

And so the Apostle warns us: "Be not desirous of vainglory." [1012] And the
Lord, rebuking the Pharisees, says, "How can ye believe, who receive glory from
one another, and seek not the glory which comes from God alone?" [1013] Of these
too the blessed David speaks with a threat: "For God hath scattered the bones of
them that please men." [1014]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 245: CHAPTER XIII. OF THE WAYS IN WHICH VAINGLORY ATTACKS A MONK. 
========================================================================

In the case also of beginners and of those who have as yet made but little
progress either in powers of mind or in knowledge it usually puffs up their
minds, either because of the quality of their voice because they can sing well,
or because their bodies are emaciated, [1015] or because they are of a good
figure, or because they have rich and noble kinsfolk, or because they have
despised a military life and honours. Sometimes too it persuades a man that if
he had remained in the world he would easily have obtained honours and riches,
which perhaps could not possibly have been secured, and inflates him with a vain
hope of uncertain things; and in the case of those things which he never
possessed, puffs him up with pride and vanity, as if he were one who had
despised them.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 246: CHAPTER XIV. HOW IT SUGGESTS THAT A MAN MAY SEEK TO TAKE HOLY ORDERS. 
========================================================================

But sometimes it creates a wish to take holy orders, and a desire for the
priesthood or diaconate. And it represents that if a man has even against his
will received this office, he will fulfil it with such sanctity and strictness
that he will be able to set an example of saintliness even to other priests; and
that he will win over many people, not only by his manner of life, but also by
his teaching and preaching. It makes a man, even when alone and sitting in his
cell, to go round in mind and imagination to the dwellings and monasteries of
others, and to make many conversions under the inducements of imaginary
exultation.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 247: CHAPTER XV. HOW VAINGLORY INTOXICATES THE MIND. 
========================================================================

And so the miserable soul is affected by such vanity -- as if it were deluded by
a profound slumber -- that it is often led away by the pleasure of such
thoughts, and filled with such imaginations, so that it cannot even look at
things present, or the brethren, while it enjoys dwelling upon these things, of
which with its wandering thoughts it has waking dreams, as if they were true.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 248: CHAPTER XVI. OF HIM WHOM THE SUPERIOR CAME UPON AND FOUND IN HIS CELL, DELUDED BY IDLE VAINGLORY. 
========================================================================

I remember an elder, when I was staying in the desert of Scete, who went to the
cell of a certain brother to pay him a visit, and when he had reached the door
heard him muttering inside, and stood still for a little while, wanting to know
what it was that he was reading from the Bible or repeating by heart (as is
customary) while he was at work. And when this most excellent eavesdropper
diligently applied his ear and listened with some curiosity, he found that the
man was induced by an attack of this spirit to fancy that he was delivering a
stirring sermon to the people. And when the elder, as he stood still, heard him
finish his discourse and return again to his office, and give out the dismissal
of the catechumens, as the deacon does, [1016] then at last he knocked at the
door, and the man came out, and met the elder with the customary reverence, and
brought him in and (for his knowledge of what had been his thoughts made him
uneasy) asked him when he had arrived, for fear lest he might have taken some
harm from standing too long at the door: and the old man joking pleasantly
replied, "I only got here while you were giving out the dismissal of the
catechumens."


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 249: CHAPTER XVII. HOW FAULTS CANNOT BE CURED UNLESS THEIR ROOTS AND CAUSES HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED. 
========================================================================

I thought it well to insert these things in this little work of mine, that we
might learn, not only by reason, but also by examples, about the force of
temptations and the order of the sins which hurt an unfortunate soul, and so
might be more careful in avoiding the snares and manifold deceits of the enemy.
For these things are indiscriminately brought forward by the Egyptian fathers,
that by telling them, as those who are still enduring them, they may disclose
and lay bare the combats with all the vices, which they actually do suffer, and
those which the younger ones are sure to suffer; so that, when they explain the
illusions arising from all the passions, those who are but beginners and fervent
in spirit may know the secret of their struggles, and seeing them as in a glass,
may learn both the causes of the sins by which they are troubled, and the
remedies for them, and instructed beforehand concerning the approach of future
struggles, may be taught how they ought to guard against them, or to meet them
and to fight with them. As clever physicians are accustomed not only to heal
already existing diseases, but also by a wise skill to seek to obviate future
ones, and to prevent them by their prescriptions and healing draughts, so these
true physicians of the soul, by means of spiritual conferences, like some
celestial antidote, destroy beforehand those maladies of the soul which would
arise, and do not allow them to gain a footing in the minds of the juniors, as
they unfold to them the causes of the passions which threaten them, and the
remedies which will heal them.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 250: CHAPTER XVIII. HOW A MONK OUGHT TO AVOID WOMEN AND BISHOPS. 
========================================================================

Wherefore this is an old maxim of the Fathers that is still current, -- though I
cannot produce it without shame on my own part, since I could not avoid my own
sister, nor escape the hands of the bishop, -- viz., that a monk ought by all
means to fly from women and bishops. For neither of them will allow him who has
once been joined in close intercourse any longer to care for the quiet of his
cell, or to continue with pure eyes in divine contemplation through his insight
into holy things.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 251: CHAPTER XIX. REMEDIES BY WHICH WE CAN OVERCOME VAINGLORY. 
========================================================================

And so the athlete of Christ who desires to strive lawfully in this true and
spiritual combat, should strive by all means to overcome this changeable monster
of many shapes, which, as it attacks us on every side like some manifold
wickedness, we can escape by such a remedy as this; viz., thinking on that
saying of David: "The Lord hath scattered the bones of those who please men."
[1017] To begin with we should not allow ourselves to do anything at the
suggestion of vanity, and for the sake of obtaining vainglory. Next, when we
have begun a thing well, we should endeavour to maintain it with just the same
care, for fear lest afterwards the malady of vainglory should creep in and make
void all the fruits of our labours. And anything which is of very little use or
value in the common life of the brethren, we should avoid as leading to
boasting; and whatever would render us remarkable amongst the others, and for
which credit would be gained among men, as if we were the only people who could
do it, this should be shunned by us. For by these signs the deadly taint of
vainglory will be shown to cling to us: which we shall most easily escape if we
consider that we shall not merely lose the fruits of those labours of ours which
we have performed at the suggestion of vainglory, but that we shall also be
guilty of a great sin, and as impious persons undergo eternal punishments,
inasmuch as we have wronged God by doing for the favour of men what we ought to
have done for His sake, and are convicted by Him who knows all secrets of having
preferred men to God, and the praise of the world to the praise of the Lord.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 252: BOOK XII. OF THE SPIRIT OF PRIDE. 
========================================================================

Of the Spirit of Pride.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 253: CHAPTER I. HOW OUR EIGHTH COMBAT IS AGAINST THE SPIRIT OF PRIDE, AND OF ITS CHARACTER. 
========================================================================

Our eighth and last combat is against the spirit of pride, which evil, although
it is the latest in our conflict with our faults and stands last on the list,
yet in beginning and in the order of time is the first: an evil beast that is
most savage and more dreadful than all the former ones, chiefly trying those who
are perfect, and devouring with its dreadful bite those who have almost attained
the consummation of virtue.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 254: CHAPTER II. HOW THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF PRIDE. 
========================================================================

And of this pride there are two kinds: the one, that by which we said that the
best of men and spiritually minded ones were troubled; the other, that which
assaults even beginners and carnal persons. And though each kind of pride is
excited with regard to both God and man by a dangerous elation, yet that first
kind more particularly has to do with God; the second refers especially to men.
Of the origin of this last and the remedies for it we will by God's help treat
as far as possible in the latter part of this book. We now propose to say a few
things about that former kind, by which, as I mentioned before, those who are
perfect are especially tried.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 255: CHAPTER III. HOW PRIDE IS EQUALLY DESTRUCTIVE OF ALL VIRTUES. 
========================================================================

There is then no other fault which is so destructive of all virtues, and robs
and despoils a man of all righteousness and holiness, as this evil of pride,
which like some pestilential disease attacks the whole man, and, not content to
damage one part or one limb only, injures the entire body by its deadly
influence, and endeavours to cast down by a most fatal fall, and destroy those
who were already at the top of the tree of the virtues. For every other fault is
satisfied within its own bounds and limits, and though it clouds other virtues
as well, yet it is in the main directed against one only, and specially attacks
and assaults that. And so (to make my meaning clearer) gluttony, i.e., the
appetites of the belly and the pleasures of the palate, is destructive of strict
temperance: lust stains purity, anger destroys patience: so that sometimes a man
who is in bondage to some one sin is not altogether wanting in other virtues:
but being simply deprived of that one virtue which in the struggle yields to the
vice which is its rival and opposed to it, can to some extent preserve his other
virtues: but this one when once it has taken possession of some unfortunate
soul, like some most brutal tyrant, when the lofty citadel of the virtues has
been taken, utterly destroys and lays waste the whole city; and levelling with
the ground of vices the once high walls of saintliness, and confusing them
together, it allows no shadow of freedom henceforth to survive in the soul
subject to it. And in proportion as it was originally the richer, so now will
the yoke of servitude be the severer, through which by its cruel ravages it will
strip the soul it has subdued of all its powers of virtue.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 256: CHAPTER IV. HOW BY REASON OF PRIDE LUCIFER WAS TURNED FROM AN ARCHANGEL INTO A DEVIL. 
========================================================================

And that we may understand the power of its awful tyranny we see that that angel
who, for the greatness of his splendour and beauty was termed Lucifer, was cast
out of heaven for no other sin but this, and, pierced with the dart of pride,
was hurled down from his grand and exalted position as an angel into hell. If
then pride of heart alone was enough to cast down from heaven to earth a power
that was so great and adorned with the attributes of such might, the very
greatness of his fall shows us with what care we who are surrounded by the
weakness of the flesh ought to be on our guard. But we can learn how to avoid
the most deadly poison of this evil if we trace out the origin and causes of his
fall. For weakness can never be cured, nor the remedies for bad states of health
be disclosed unless first their origin and causes are investigated by a wise
scrutiny. For as he (viz., Lucifer) was endowed with divine splendour, and shone
forth among the other higher powers by the bounty of his Maker, he believed that
he had acquired the splendour of that wisdom and the beauty of those powers,
with which he was graced by the gift of the Creator, by the might of his own
nature, and not by the beneficence of His generosity. And on this account he was
puffed up as if he stood in no need of divine assistance in order to continue in
this state of purity, and esteemed himself to be like God, as if, like God, he
had no need of any one, and trusting in the power of his own will, fancied that
through it he could richly supply himself with everything which was necessary
for the consummation of virtue or for the perpetuation of perfect bliss. This
thought alone was the cause of his first fall. On account of which being
forsaken by God, whom he fancied he no longer needed, he suddenly became
unstable and tottering, and discovered the weakness of his own nature, and lost
the blessedness which he had enjoyed by God's gift. And because he "loved the
words of ruin," with which he had said, "I will ascend into heaven," and the
"deceitful tongue," with which he had said of himself, "I will be like the Most
High," [1018] and of Adam and Eve, "Ye shall be as gods," therefore "shall God
destroy him forever and pluck him out and remove him from his dwelling place and
his root out of the land of the living." Then "the just," when they see his
ruin, "shall fear, and shall laugh at him and say" (what may also be most justly
aimed at those who trust that they can obtain the highest good without the
protection and assistance of God): "Behold the man that made not God his helper,
but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and prevailed in his vanity." [1019]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 257: CHAPTER V. THAT INCENTIVES TO ALL SINS SPRING FROM PRIDE. 
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This is the reason of the first fall, and the starting point of the original
malady, which again insinuating itself into the first man, [1020] through him
who had already been destroyed by it, produced the weaknesses and materials of
all faults. For while he believed that by the freedom of his will and by his own
efforts he could obtain the glory of Deity, he actually lost that glory which he
already possessed through the free gift of the Creator.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 258: CHAPTER VI. THAT THE SIN OF PRIDE IS LAST IN THE ACTUAL ORDER OF THE COMBAT, BUT FIRST IN TIME AND ORIGIN. 
========================================================================

And so it is most clearly established by instances and testimonies from
Scripture that the mischief of pride, although it comes later in the order of
the combat, is yet earlier in origin, and is the beginning of all sins and
faults: nor is it (like the other vices) simply fatal to the virtue opposite to
it (in this case, humility), but it is also at the same time destructive of all
virtues: nor does it only tempt ordinary folk and small people, but chiefly
those who already stand on the heights of valour. [1021] For thus the prophet
speaks of this spirit, "His meat is choice." [1022] And so the blessed David,
although he guarded the recesses of his heart with the utmost care, so that he
dared to say to Him from whom the secrets of his conscience were not hid, "Lord,
my heart is not exalted, nor are my eyes lofty: neither have I walked in great
matters, nor in wonderful things above me. If I was not humbly minded;" [1023]
and again, "He that worketh pride shall not dwell in the midst of my house;"
[1024] yet, as he knew how hard is that watchfulness even for those that are
perfect, he did not so presume on his own efforts, but prayed to God and
implored His help, that he might escape unwounded by the darts of this foe,
saying, "Let not the foot of pride come to me," [1025] for he feared and dreaded
falling into that which is said of the proud, viz., "God resisteth the proud;"
[1026] and again: "Every one that exalteth his heart is unclean before the
Lord." [1027]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 259: CHAPTER VII. THAT THE EVIL OF PRIDE IS SO GREAT THAT IT RIGHTLY HAS EVEN GOD HIMSELF AS ITS ADVERSARY. 
========================================================================

How great is the evil of pride, that it rightly has no angel, nor other virtues
opposed to it, but God Himself as its adversary! Since it should be noted that
it is never said of those who are entangled in other sins that they have God
resisting them; I mean it is not said that God is opposed "to the gluttonous,
fornicators, passionate, or covetous," but only "to the proud." For those sins
react only on those who commit them, or seem to be committed against those who
share in them, i.e., against other men; but this one has more properly to do
with God, and therefore it is especially right that it should have Him opposed
to it.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 260: CHAPTER VIII. HOW GOD HAS DESTROYED THE PRIDE OF THE DEVIL BY THE VIRTUE OF HUMILITY, AND VARIOUS PASSAGES IN PROOF OF THIS. 
========================================================================

And so God, the Creator and Healer of all, knowing that pride is the cause and
fountain head of evils, has been careful to heal opposites with opposites, that
those things which were ruined by pride might be restored by humility. For the
one says, "I will ascend into heaven;" [1028] the other, "My soul was brought
low even to the ground." [1029] The one says, "And I will be like the most
High;" the other, "Though He was in the form of God, yet He emptied Himself and
took the form of a servant, and humbled Himself and became obedient unto death."
[1030] The one says, "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;" the other,
"Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart." [1031] The one says, "I know
not the Lord and will not let Israel go;" [1032] the other, "If I say that I
know Him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know Him, and keep His
commandments." [1033] The one says, "My rivers are mine and I made them:" [1034]
the other: "I can do nothing of myself, but my Father who abideth in me, He
doeth the works." [1035] The one says, "All the kingdoms of the world and the
glory of them are mine, and to whomsoever I will, I give them;" [1036] the
other, "Though He were rich yet He became poor, that we through His poverty
might be made rich." [1037] The one says, "As eggs are gathered together which
are left, so have I gathered all the earth: and there was none that moved the
wing or opened the mouth, or made the least noise;" [1038] the other, "I am
become like a solitary pelican; I watched and became as a sparrow alone upon the
roof." [1039] The one says, "I have dried up with the sole of my foot all the
rivers shut up in banks;" [1040] the other, "Cannot I ask my Father, and He
shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?" [1041] If we look
at the reason of our original fall, and the foundations of our salvation, and
consider by whom and in what way the latter were laid and the former originated,
we may learn, either through the fall of the devil, or through the example of
Christ, how to avoid so terrible a death from pride.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 261: CHAPTER IX. HOW WE TOO MAY OVERCOME PRIDE. 
========================================================================

And so we can escape the snare of this most evil spirit, if in the case of every
virtue in which we feel that we make progress, we say these words of the
Apostle: "Not I, but the grace of God with me," and "by the grace of God I am
what I am;" [1042] and "it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of
His good pleasure." [1043] As the author of our salvation Himself also says: "If
a man abide in me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for without me ye
can do nothing." [1044] And "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in
vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in
vain." And "Vain is it for you to rise up before light." [1045] For "it is not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that hath mercy."
[1046]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 262: CHAPTER X. HOW NO ONE CAN OBTAIN PERFECT VIRTUE AND THE PROMISED BLISS BY HIS OWN STRENGTH ALONE. 
========================================================================

For the will and course of no one, however eager and anxious, [1047] is
sufficiently ready for him, while still enclosed in the flesh which warreth
against the spirit, to reach so great a prize of perfection, and the palm of
uprightness and purity, unless he is protected by the divine compassion, so that
he is privileged to attain to that which he greatly desires and to which he
runs. For "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down
from the Father of lights." [1048] "For what hast thou which thou didst not
receive? But if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not
received it?" [1049]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 263: CHAPTER XI. THE CASE OF THE THIEF AND OF DAVID, AND OF OUR CALL IN ORDER TO ILLUSTRATE THE GRACE OF GOD. 
========================================================================

For if we recall that thief who was by reason of a single confession admitted
into paradise, [1050] we shall feel that he did not acquire such bliss by the
merits of his life, but obtained it by the gift of a merciful God. Or if we bear
in mind those two grievous and heinous sins of King David, blotted out by one
word of penitence, [1051] we shall see that neither here were the merits of his
works sufficient to obtain pardon for so great a sin, but that the grace of God
superabounded, as, when the opportunity for true penitence was taken, He removed
the whole weight of sins through the full confession of but one word. If we
consider also the beginning of the call and salvation of mankind, in which, as
the Apostle says, we are saved not of ourselves, nor of our works, but by the
gift and grace of God, we can clearly see how the whole of perfection is "not of
him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that hath mercy," who makes
us victorious over our faults, without any merits of works and life on our part
to outweigh them, or any effort of our will availing to scale the difficult
heights of perfection, or to subdue the flesh which we have to use: since no
tortures of this body, and no contrition of heart, can be sufficient for the
acquisition of that true chastity of the inner man so as to be able to gain that
great virtue of purity (which is innate in the angels alone and indigenous as it
were to heaven) merely by human efforts, i.e., without the aid of God: for the
performance of everything good flows from His grace, who by multiplying His
bounty has granted such lasting bliss, and vast glory to our feeble will and
short and petty course of life.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 264: CHAPTER XII. THAT NO TOIL IS WORTHY TO BE COMPARED WITH THE PROMISED BLISS. 
========================================================================

For all the long years of this present life disappear when you have regard to
the eternity of the future glory: and all our sorrows vanish away in the
contemplation of that vast bliss, and like smoke melt away, and come to nothing,
and like ashes are no more seen.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 265: CHAPTER XIII. THE TEACHING OF THE ELDERS ON THE METHOD OF ACQUIRING PURITY. 
========================================================================

Wherefore it is now time to produce, in the very words in which they hand it
down, the opinion of the Fathers; viz., of those who have not painted the way of
perfection and its character in high-sounding words, but rather, possessing it
in deed and truth, and in the virtue of their spirit, have passed it on by their
own experience and sure example. And so they say that no one can be altogether
cleansed from carnal sins, unless he has realized that all his labours and
efforts are insufficient for so great and perfect an end; and unless, taught,
not by the system handed down to him, but by his feelings and virtues and his
own experience, he recognizes that it can only be gained by the mercy and
assistance of God. For in order to acquire such splendid and lofty prizes of
purity and perfection, however great may be the efforts of fastings and vigils
and readings and solitude and retirement applied to it, they will not be
sufficient to secure it by the merits of the actual efforts and toil. For a
man's own efforts and human exertions will never make up for the lack of the
divine gift, unless it is granted by divine compassion in answer to his prayer.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 266: CHAPTER XIV. THAT THE HELP OF GOD IS GIVEN TO THOSE WHO LABOUR. 
========================================================================

Nor do I say this to cast a slight on human efforts, or in the endeavour to
discourage any one from his purpose of working and doing his best. But clearly
and most earnestly do I lay down, not giving my own opinion, but that of the
elders, that perfection cannot possibly be gained without these, but that by
these only without the grace of God nobody can ever attain it. For when we say
that human efforts cannot of themselves secure it without the aid of God, we
thus insist that God's mercy and grace are bestowed only upon those who labour
and exert themselves, and are granted (to use the Apostle's expression) to them
that "will" and "run," according to that which is sung in the person of God in
the eighty-eighth Psalm: "I have laid help upon one that is mighty, and have
exalted one chosen out of my people." [1053] For we say, in accordance with our
Saviour's words, that it is given to them that ask, and opened to them that
knock and found by them that seek; [1054] but that the asking, the seeking, and
the knocking on our part are insufficient unless the mercy of God gives what we
ask, and opens that at which we knock, and enables us to find that which we
seek. For He is at hand to bestow all these things, if only the opportunity is
given to Him by our good will. For He desires and looks for our perfection and
salvation far more than we do ourselves. And the blessed David knew so well that
by his own efforts he could not secure the increase of his work and labour, that
he entreated with renewed prayers that he might obtain the "direction" of his
work from the Lord, saying, "Direct thou the work of our hands over us; yea, the
work of our hands do thou direct;" [1055] and again: "Confirm, O God, what thou
hast wrought in us." [1056]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 267: CHAPTER XV. FROM WHOM WE CAN LEARN THE WAY OF PERFECTION. 
========================================================================

And so, if we wish in very deed and truth to attain to the crown of virtues, we
ought to listen to those teachers and guides who, not dreaming with pompous
declamations, but learning by act and experience, are able to teach us as well,
and direct us likewise, and show us the road by which we may arrive at it by a
most sure pathway; and who also testify that they have themselves reached it by
faith rather than by any merits of their efforts. And further, the purity of
heart that they have acquired has taught them this above all; viz., to recognize
more and more that they are burdened with sin (for their compunction for their
faults increases day by day in proportion as their purity of soul advances), and
to sigh continually from the bottom of their heart because they see that they
cannot possibly avoid the spots and blemishes of those faults which are
ingrained in them through the countless triflings of the thoughts. And therefore
they declared that they looked for the reward of the future life, not from the
merits of their works, but from the mercy of the Lord, taking no credit to
themselves for their great circumspection of heart in comparison with others,
since they ascribed this not to their own exertions, but to divine grace; and
without flattering themselves on account of the carelessness of those who are
cold, and worse than they themselves are, they rather aimed at a lasting
humility by fixing their gaze on those whom they knew to be really free from sin
and already in the enjoyment of eternal bliss in the kingdom of heaven, and so
by this consideration they avoided the downfall of pride, and at the same time
always saw both what they were aiming at and what they had to grieve over: as
they knew that they could not attain that purity of heart for which they yearned
while weighed down by the burden of the flesh.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 268: CHAPTER XVI. THAT WE CANNOT EVEN MAKE THE EFFORT TO OBTAIN PERFECTION WITHOUT THE MERCY AND INSPIRATION OF GOD. 
========================================================================

We ought therefore, in accordance with their teaching and instruction, so to
press towards it, and to be diligent in fastings, vigils, prayers, and
contrition of heart and body, for fear lest all these things should be rendered
useless by an attack of this malady. For we ought to believe not merely that we
cannot secure this actual perfection by our own efforts and exertions, but also
that we cannot perform those things which we practise for its sake, viz., our
efforts and exertions and desires, without the assistance of the divine
protection, and the grace of His inspiration, chastisement, and exhortation,
which He ordinarily sheds abroad in our hearts either through the
instrumentality of another, or in His own person coming to visit us.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 269: CHAPTER XVII. VARIOUS PASSAGES WHICH CLEARLY SHOW THAT WE CANNOT DO ANYTHING WHICH BELONGS TO OUR SALVATION WITHOUT THE AID OF GOD. 
========================================================================

Lastly, the Author of our salvation teaches us what we ought not merely to
think, but also to acknowledge in everything that we do. "I can," He says, "of
mine own self do nothing, but the Father which abideth in me, He doeth the
works." [1057] He says, speaking in the human nature which He had taken, [1058]
that He could do nothing of Himself; and shall we, who are dust and ashes, think
that we have no need of God's help in what pertains to our salvation? And so let
us learn in everything, as we feel our own weakness, and at the same time His
help, to declare with the saints, "I was overturned that I might fall, but the
Lord supported me. The Lord is my strength and my praise: and He is become my
salvation." [1059] And "Unless the Lord had helped me, my soul had almost dwelt
in hell. If I said, My foot is moved: Thy mercy, O Lord, assisted me. According
to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, Thy comforts have given joy to my
soul." [1060] Seeing also that our heart is strengthened in the fear of the
Lord, and in patience, let us say: "And the Lord became my protector; and He
brought me forth into a large place." [1061] And knowing that knowledge is
increased by progress in work, let us say: "For thou lightest my lamp, O Lord: O
my God, enlighten my darkness, for by Thee I shall be delivered from temptation,
and through my God I shall go over a wall." Then, feeling that we have ourselves
sought for courage and endurance, and are being directed with greater ease and
without labour in the path of the virtues, let us say, "It is God who girded me
with strength, and made my way perfect; who made my feet like hart's feet, and
setteth me up on high: who teacheth my hands to war." And having also secured
discretion, strengthened with which we can dash down our enemies, let us cry
aloud to God: "Thy discipline hath set me up [1062] unto the end, and Thy
discipline the same shall teach me. Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, and my
feet are not weakened." And because I am thus strengthened with Thy knowledge
and power, I will boldly take up the words which follow, and will say, "I will
pursue after my enemies and overtake them: and I will not turn again till they
are consumed. I will break them, and they shall not be able to stand: they shall
fall under my feet." [1063] Again, mindful of our own infirmity, and of the fact
that while still burdened with the weak flesh we cannot without His assistance
overcome such bitter foes as our sins are, let us say, "Through Thee we will
scatter our enemies: [1064] and through Thy name we will despise them that rise
up against us. For I will not trust in my bow: neither shall my sword save me.
For Thou hast saved us from them that afflict us: and hast put them to shame
that hate us." [1065] But further: "Thou hast guided me with strength unto the
battle, and hast subdued under me them that rose up against me. And Thou hast
made mine enemies turn their backs upon me, and hast destroyed them that hated
me." [1066] And reflecting that with our own arms alone we cannot conquer, let
us say, "Take hold of arms and shield: and rise up to help me. Bring out the
sword and stop the way against them that persecute me: say to my soul, I am thy
salvation." [1067] And Thou hast made my arms like a brazen bow. And Thou hast
given me the protection of Thy salvation: and Thy right hand hath held me up."
[1068] "For our fathers got not the possession of the land through their own
sword; neither did their own arm save them: but Thy right hand and Thine arm and
the light of Thy countenance because Thou wast pleased with them." [1069]
Lastly, as with anxious mind we regard all His benefits with thankfulness, let
us cry to Him with the inmost feelings of our heart, for all these things,
because we have fought, and have obtained from Him the light of knowledge, and
self-control and discretion, and because He has furnished us with His own arms,
and strengthened us with a girdle of virtue, and because He has made our enemies
turn their backs upon us, and has given us the power of scattering them like the
dust before the wind: "I will love Thee, O Lord my Strength; the Lord is my
stronghold, my refuge and my deliverer. My God is my helper, and in Him will I
put my trust. My protector and the horn of my salvation, and my support.
Praising I will call upon the name of the Lord; and I shall be saved from mine
enemies." [1070]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 270: CHAPTER XVIII. HOW WE ARE PROTECTED BY THE GRACE OF GOD NOT ONLY IN OUR NATURAL CONDITION, BUT ALSO BY HIS DAILY PROVIDENCE. 
========================================================================

Not alone giving thanks to Him for that He has created us as reasonable beings,
and endowed us with the power of free will, and blessed us with the grace of
baptism, and granted to us the knowledge and aid of the law, but for these
things as well, which are bestowed upon us by His daily providence; viz., that
He delivers us from the craft of our enemies; that He works with us so that we
can overcome the sins of the flesh, that, even without our knowing it, He
shields us from dangers; that He protects us from falling into sin; that He
helps us and enlightens us, so that we can understand and recognize the actual
help which He gives us, (which some will have it is what is meant by the law);
[1071] that, when we are through His influence secretly struck with compunction
for our sins and negligences, He visits us with His regard and chastens us to
our soul's health; that even against our will we are sometimes drawn by Him to
salvation; lastly that this very free will of ours, which is more readily
inclined to sin, is turned by Him to a better purpose, and by His prompting and
suggestion, bent towards the way of virtue.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 271: CHAPTER XIX. HOW THIS FAITH CONCERNING THE GRACE OF GOD WAS DELIVERED TO US BY THE ANCIENT FATHERS. 
========================================================================

This then is that humility towards God, this is that genuine faith of the
ancient fathers which still remains intact among their successors. And to this
faith, the apostolic virtues, which they so often showed, bear an undoubted
witness, not only among us but also among infidels and unbelievers: for keeping
in simplicity of heart the simple faith of the fishermen they did not receive it
in a worldly spirit through dialectical syllogisms or the eloquence of a Cicero,
but learnt by the experience of a pure life, and stainless actions, and by
correcting their faults, and (to speak more truly) by visible proofs, that the
character of perfection is to be found in that faith without which neither piety
towards God, nor purification from sin, nor amendment of life, nor perfection of
virtue can be secured.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 272: CHAPTER XX. OF ONE WHO FOR HIS BLASPHEMY WAS GIVEN OVER TO A MOST UNCLEAN SPIRIT. 
========================================================================

I knew one of the number of the brethren, whom I heartily wish I had never
known; since afterwards he allowed himself to be saddled with the
responsibilities of my order: [1072] who confessed to a most admirable elder
that he was attacked by a terrible sin of the flesh: for he was inflamed with an
intolerable lust, with the unnatural desire of suffering rather than of
committing a shameful act: then the other like a true spiritual physician, at
once saw through the inward cause and origin of this evil. And, sighing deeply,
said: "Never would the Lord have suffered you to be given over to so foul a
spirit unless you had blasphemed against Him." And he, when this was discovered,
at once fell at his feet on the ground, and, struck with the utmost
astonishment, as if he saw the secrets of his heart laid bare by God, confessed
that he had blasphemed with evil thoughts against the Son of God. Whence it is
clear that one who is possessed by the spirit of pride, or who has been guilty
of blasphemy against God, -- as one who offers a wrong to Him from whom the gift
of purity must be looked for -- is deprived of his uprightness and perfection,
and does not deserve the sanctifying grace of chastity.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 273: CHAPTER XXI. THE INSTANCE OF JOASH, KING OF JUDAH, SHOWING WHAT WAS THE CONSEQUENCE OF HIS PRIDE. 
========================================================================

Some such thing we read of in the book of Chronicles. For Joash the king of
Judah at the age of seven was summoned by Jehoiada the priest to the kingdom and
by the witness of Scripture is commended for all his actions as long as the
aforesaid priest lived. But hear what Scripture relates of him after Jehoiada's
death, and how he was puffed up with pride and given over to a most disgraceful
state. "But after the death of Jehoiada the princes went in and worshipped the
king: and he was soothed by their services and hearkened unto them. And they
forsook the temple of the Lord, the God of their fathers, and served groves and
idols, and great wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem because of this sin." And
after a little: "When a year was come about, the army of Syria came up against
him: and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and killed all the princes of the
people, and they sent all the spoils to the king to Damascus. And whereas there
came a very small number of the Syrians, the Lord delivered into their hands an
infinite multitude, because they had forsaken the Lord the God of their fathers:
and on Joash they executed shameful judgments. And departing they left him in
great diseases." [1073] You see how the consequence of pride was that he was
given over to shocking and filthy passions. For he who is puffed up with pride
and has permitted himself to be worshipped as God, is (as the Apostle says)
"given over to shameful passions and a reprobate mind to do those things which
are not convenient." [1074] And because, as Scripture says, "every one who
exalts his heart is unclean before God," [1075] he who is puffed up with
swelling pride of heart is given over to most shameful confusion to be deluded
by it, that when thus humbled he may know that he is unclean through impurity of
the flesh and knowledge of impure desires, -- a thing which he had refused to
recognize in the pride of his heart; and also that the shameful infection of the
flesh may disclose the hidden impurity of the heart, which he contracted through
the sin of pride, and that through the patent pollution of his body he may be
proved to be impure, who did not formerly see that he had become unclean through
the pride of his spirit.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 274: CHAPTER XXII. THAT EVERY PROUD SOUL IS SUBJECT TO SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS TO BE DECEIVED BY IT. 
========================================================================

And this clearly shows that every soul of which the swellings of pride have
taken possession, is given over to the Syrians of the soul, [1076] i.e., to
spiritual wickedness, and that it is entangled in the lusts of the flesh, that
the soul being at last humbled by earthly faults, and carnally polluted, may
recognize its uncleanness, though while it stood erect in the coldness of its
heart, it could not understand that through pride of heart it was rendered
unclean in the sight of God; and by this means being humbled, a man may get rid
of his former coldness, and being cast down and confused with the shame of his
fleshly lusts, may thenceforward hasten to betake himself the more eagerly
towards fervour and warmth of spirit.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 275: CHAPTER XXIII. HOW PERFECTION CAN ONLY BE ATTAINED THROUGH THE VIRTUE OF HUMILITY. 
========================================================================

And so it is clearly shown that none can attain the end of perfection and
purity, except through true humility, which he displays in the first instance to
the brethren, and shows also to God in his inmost heart, believing that without
His protection and aid extended to him at every instant, he cannot possibly
obtain the perfection which he desires and to which he hastens so eagerly.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 276: CHAPTER XXIV. WHO ARE ATTACKED BY SPIRITUAL AND WHO BY CARNAL PRIDE. 
========================================================================

Thus much let it suffice to have spoken, as far as, by God's help, our slender
ability was able, concerning spiritual pride of which we have said that it
attacks advanced Christians. And this kind of pride is not familiar to or
experienced by most men, because the majority do not aim at attaining perfect
purity of heart, so as to arrive at the stage of these conflicts; nor have they
secured any purification from the preceding faults of which we have here
explained both the character and the remedies in separate books. But it
generally attacks those only who have conquered the former faults and have
already almost arrived at the top of the tree in respect of the virtues. And
because our most crafty enemy has not been able to destroy them through a carnal
fall, he endeavours to cast them down and overthrow them by a spiritual
catastrophe, trying by this to rob them of the prizes of their ancient rewards
secured as they were with great labour. But as for us, who are still entangled
in earthly passions, he never deigns to tempt us in this fashion, but overthrows
us by a coarser and what I called a carnal pride. And therefore I think it well,
as I promised, to say a few things about this kind of pride by which we and men
of our stamp are usually affected, and the minds especially of younger men and
beginners are endangered.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 277: CHAPTER XXV. A DESCRIPTION OF CARNAL PRIDE, AND OF THE EVILS WHICH IT PRODUCES IN THE SOUL OF A MONK. 
========================================================================

This carnal pride therefore, of which we spoke, when it has gained an entrance
into the heart of a monk, which is but lukewarm, and has made a bad start in
renouncing the world, does not suffer him to stoop from his former state of
worldly haughtiness to the true humility of Christ, but first of all makes him
disobedient and rough; then it does not let him be gentle and kindly; nor allows
him to be on a level with and like his brethren: nor does it permit him to be
stripped and deprived of his worldly goods, as God and our Saviour commands:
and, though renunciation of the world is nothing but the mark of mortification
and the cross, and cannot begin or rise from any other foundations, but these;
viz., that a man should recognize that he is not merely spiritually dead to the
deeds of this world, but also should realize daily that he must die in the body
-- it makes him on the contrary hope for a long life, and sets before him many
lengthy infirmities, and covers him with shame and confusion. If when stripped
of everything he has begun to be supported by the property of others and not his
own, it persuades him that it is much better for food and clothing to be
provided for him by his own rather than by another's means according to that
text (which, as was before said, [1077] those who are rendered dense through
such dulness and coldness of heart, cannot possibly understand), "It is more
blessed to give than to receive." [1078]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 278: CHAPTER XXVI. THAT A MAN WHOSE FOUNDATION IS BAD, SINKS DAILY FROM BAD TO WORSE. 
========================================================================

Those then who are possessed by such distrust of mind, and who through the
devil's own want of faith fall away from that spark of faith, by which they
seemed in the early days of their conversion to be enkindled, begin more
anxiously to watch over the money which before they had begun to give away, and
treasure it up with greater avarice, as men who cannot recover again what they
have once wasted: or -- what is still worse -- take back what they had formerly
cast away: or else (which is a third and most disgusting kind of sin), collect
what they never before possessed, and thus are convicted of having gone no
further in forsaking the world than merely to take the name and style of monk.
With this beginning therefore, and on this bad and rotten foundation, it is a
matter of course that the whole superstructure of faults must rise, nor can
anything be built on such villainous foundations, except what will bring the
wretched soul to the ground with a hopeless collapse.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 279: CHAPTER XXVII. A DESCRIPTION OF THE FAULTS WHICH SPRING FROM THE EVIL OF PRIDE. 
========================================================================

The mind then that is hardened by such feelings, and which begins with this
miserable coldness is sure to go daily from bad to worse and to conclude its
life with a more hideous end: and while it takes delight in its former desires,
and is overcome, as the apostle says, by impious avarice (as he says of it "and
covetousness, which is idolatry, or the worship of idols," and again "the love
of money," says he, "is the root of all evils" [1079] ) can never admit into the
heart the true and unfeigned humility of Christ, while the man boasts himself of
his high birth, or is puffed up by his position in the world (which he has
forsaken in body but not in mind) or is proud of his wealth which he retains to
his own destruction; and because of this he is no longer content to endure the
yoke of the monastery, or to be instructed by the teaching of any of the elders,
and not only objects to observe any rule of subjection or obedience, but will
not even listen to teaching about perfection; and such dislike of spiritual talk
grows up in his heart that if such a conversation should happen to arise, he
cannot keep his eyes fixed on one spot, but his gaze wanders blankly about here
and there, and his eyes shift hither and thither, as the custom is. Instead of
wholesome coughs, he spits from a dry throat: he coughs on purpose without any
need, he drums with his fingers, and twiddles them and scribbles like a man
writing: and all his limbs fidget so that while the spiritual conversation is
proceeding, you would think that he was sitting on thorns, and those very sharp
ones, or in the midst of a mass of worms: and if the conversation turns in all
simplicity on something which is for the good of the hearers, he thinks that it
is brought forward for his especial benefit. And all the time that the
examination of the spiritual life is proceeding, he is taken up with his own
suspicious thoughts, and is not on the watch for something to take home for his
good, but is anxiously seeking the reason why anything is said, or is quietly
turning over in his mind, how he can raise objections to it, so that he cannot
at all take in any of those things which are so admirably brought forward, or be
done any good to by them. And so the result is that the spiritual conference is
not merely of no use to him, but is positively injurious, and becomes to him an
occasion of greater sin. For while he is conscience stricken and fancies that
everything is being aimed at him he hardens himself more stubbornly in the
obstinacy of his heart, and is more keenly affected by the stings of his wrath:
then afterwards his voice is loud, his talk harsh, his answers bitter and noisy,
his gait lordly and capricious; his tongue too ready, he is forward in
conversation and no friend to silence except when he is nursing in his heart
some bitterness against a brother, and his silence denotes not compunction or
humility, but pride and wrath: so that one can hardly say which is the more
objectionable in him, that unrestrained and boisterous merriment, or this
dreadful and deadly solemnity. [1080] For in the former we see inopportune
chattering, light and frivolous laughter, unrestrained and undisciplined mirth.
In the latter a silence that is full of wrath and deadly; and which simply
arises from the desire to prolong as long as possible the rancorous feelings
which are nourished in silence against some brother, and not from the wish to
obtain from it the virtues of humility and patience. And as the man who is a
victim to passion readily makes everybody else miserable and is ashamed to
apologize to the brother whom he has wronged, so when the brother offers to do
so to him, he rejects it with scorn. And not only is he not touched or softened
by the advances of his brother; but is the rather made more angry because his
brother anticipates him in humility. And that wholesome humiliation and apology,
which generally puts an end to the devil's temptation, becomes to him an
occasion of a worse outbreak.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 280: CHAPTER XXVIII. ON THE PRIDE OF A CERTAIN BROTHER. 
========================================================================

I have heard while I have been in this district a thing which I shudder and am
ashamed to recall; viz., that one of the juniors -- when he was reproved by his
Abbot because he had shown signs of throwing off the humility, of which he had
made trial for a short time at his renunciation of the world, and of being
puffed up with diabolical pride -- most impertinently answered, "Did I humiliate
myself for a time on purpose to be always in subjection?" And at this wanton and
wicked reply of his the elder was utterly aghast, and could say nothing, as if
he had received this answer from old Lucifer himself and not from a man; so that
he could not possibly utter a word against such impudence, but only let fall
sighs and groans from his heart; turning over in silence in his mind that which
is said of our Saviour: "Who being in the form of God humbled Himself and became
obedient" -- not, as the man said who was seized with a diabolical spirit of
pride, "for a time," but "even to death." [1081]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 281: CHAPTER XXIX. THE SIGNS BY WHICH YOU CAN RECOGNIZE THE PRESENCE OF CARNAL PRIDE IN A SOUL. 
========================================================================

And to draw together briefly what has been said of this kind of pride, by
collecting, as well as we can, some of its signs that we may somehow convey to
those who are thirsting for instruction in perfection, an idea of its
characteristics from the movements of the outward man: I think it well to unfold
them in a few words that we may conveniently recognize the signs by which we can
discern and detect it, that when the roots of this passion are laid bare and
brought to the surface, and seen and traced out with ocular demonstration, they
may be the more easily plucked up and avoided. For only then will this most
pestilent evil be altogether escaped, and if we do not begin too late in the
day, when it has already got the mastery over us, to be on our guard against its
dangerous heat and noxious influence, but if, recognizing its symptoms (so to
speak) beforehand, we take precautions against it with wise and careful
forethought. For, as we said before, you can tell a man's inward condition from
his outward gait. By these signs, then, that carnal pride, of which we spoke
earlier, is shown. To begin with, in conversation the man's voice is loud: in
his silence there is bitterness: in his mirth his laughter is noisy and
excessive: when he is serious he is unreasonably gloomy: in his answers there is
rancour: he is too free with his tongue, his words tumbling out at random
without being weighed. He is utterly lacking in patience, and without charity:
impudent in offering insults to others, faint-hearted in bearing them himself:
troublesome in the matter of obedience except where his own wishes and likings
correspond with his duty: unforgiving in receiving admonition: weak in giving up
his own wishes: very stubborn about yielding to those of others: always trying
to compass his own ends, and never ready to give them up for others: and thus
the result is that though he is incapable of giving sound advice, yet in
everything he prefers his own opinion to that of the elders.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 282: CHAPTER XXX. HOW WHEN A MAN HAS GROWN COLD THROUGH PRIDE HE WANTS TO BE PUT TO RULE OTHER PEOPLE. 
========================================================================

And when a man whom pride has mastered has fallen through these stages of
descent, he shudders at the discipline of the coenobium, and -- as if the
companionship of the brethren hindered his perfection, and the sins of others
impeded and interfered with his advance in patience and humility -- he longs to
take up is abode in a solitary cell; else is eager to build a monastery and
gather together some others to teach and instruct, as if he would do good to
many more people, and make himself from being a bad disciple a still worse
master. For when through this pride of heart a man has fallen into this most
dangerous and injurious coldness, he can neither be a real monk nor a man of the
world, and what is worse, promises to himself to gain perfection by means of
this wretched state and manner of life of his.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 283: CHAPTER XXXI. HOW WE CAN OVERCOME PRIDE AND ATTAIN PERFECTION. 
========================================================================

Wherefore if we wish the summit of our building to be perfect and to rise
well-pleasing to God, we should endeavour to lay its foundations not in
accordance with the desires of our own lust, but according to the rules of
evangelical strictness: which can only be the fear of God and humility,
proceeding from kindness and simplicity of heart. But humility cannot possibly
be acquired without giving up everything: and as long as a man is a stranger to
this, he cannot possibly attain the virtue of obedience, or the strength of
patience, or the serenity of kindness, or the perfection of love; without which
things our hearts cannot possibly be a habitation for the Holy Spirit: as the
Lord says through the prophet: "Upon whom shall My spirit rest, but on him that
is humble and quiet and hears My words," or according to those copies which
express the Hebrew accurately: "To whom shall I have respect, but to him that is
poor and little and of a contrite spirit and that trembleth at My words?" [1082]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 284: CHAPTER XXXII. HOW PRIDE WHICH IS SO DESTRUCTIVE OF ALL VIRTUES CAN ITSELF BE DESTROYED BY TRUE HUMILITY. 
========================================================================

Wherefore the Christian athlete who strives lawfully in the spiritual combat and
desires to be crowned by the Lord, should endeavour by every means to destroy
this most fierce beast, which is destructive of all virtues, knowing that as
long as this remains in his breast he not only will never be free from all kinds
of evils, but even if he seems to have any good qualities, will lose them by its
malign influence. For no structure (so to speak) of virtue can possibly be
raised in our soul unless first the foundations of true humility are laid in our
heart, which being securely laid may be able to bear the weight of perfection
and love upon them in such a way that, as we have said, we may first show to our
brethren true humility from the very bottom of our heart, in nothing acquiescing
in making them sad or in injuring them: and this we cannot possibly manage
unless true self-denial, which consists in stripping and depriving ourselves of
all our possessions, is implanted in us by the love of Christ. Next the yoke of
obedience and subjection must be taken up in simplicity of heart without any
pretence, so that, except for the commands of the Abbot, no will of our own is
alive in us. But this can only be ensured in the case of one who considers
himself not only dead to this world, but also unwise and a fool; and performs
without any discussion whatever is enjoined him by his seniors, believing it to
be divine and enjoined from heaven.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 285: CHAPTER XXXIII. REMEDIES AGAINST THE EVIL OF PRIDE. 
========================================================================

And when men remain in this condition, there is no doubt that this quiet and
secure state of humility will follow, so that considering ourselves inferior to
every one else we shall bear everything offered to us, even if it is hurtful,
and saddening, and damaging -- with the utmost patience, as if it came from
those who are our superiors. And these things we shall not only bear with the
greatest ease, but we shall consider them trifling and mere nothings, if we
constantly bear in mind the passion of our Lord and of all His Saints:
considering that the injuries by which we are tried are so much less than
theirs, as we are so far behind their merits and their lives: remembering also
that we shall shortly depart out of this world, and soon by a speedy end to our
life here become sharers of their lot. For considerations such as these are a
sure end not only to pride but to all kinds of sins. Then, next after this we
must keep a firm grasp of this same humility towards God: which we must so
secure as not only to acknowledge that we cannot possibly perform anything
connected with the attainment of perfect virtue without His assistance and
grace, but also truly to believe that this very fact that we can understand
this, is His own gift.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 286: THE CONFERENCES OF JOHN CASSIAN.
========================================================================

Part I. Containing Conferences I-X.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 287: PREFACE.
========================================================================

The obligation, which was promised to the blessed Pope Castor in the preface to
those volumes which with God's help I composed in twelve books on the Institutes
of the Coenobia, and the remedies for the eight principal faults, has now been,
as far as my feeble ability permitted, satisfied. I should certainly like to see
what was the opinion fairly arrived at on this work both by his judgment and
yours, whether, on a matter so profound and so lofty, and one which has never
yet been made the subject of a treatise, we have produced anything worthy of
your notice, and of the eager desire of all the holy brethren. But now as the
aforesaid Bishop has left us and departed to Christ, meanwhile these ten
Conferences of the grandest of the fathers, viz., the Anchorites who dwelt in
the desert of Scete, which he, fired with an incomparable desire for
saintliness, had bidden me write for him in the same style (not considering in
the greatness of his affection, what a burden he placed on shoulders too weak to
bear it) -- these Conferences I have thought good to dedicate to you in
particular, O blessed Pope, [1083] Leontius, [1084] and holy brother Helladius.
[1085] For one of you was united to him whom I have mentioned, by the ties of
brotherhood, and the rank of the priesthood, and (what is more to the point) by
fervour in sacred study, and so has an hereditary right to demand the debt due
to his brother: while the other has ventured to follow the sublime customs of
the Anchorites, not like some others, presumptuously on his own account, but
seizing, at the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, on the right path of doctrine
almost before he had been taught and choosing to learn not so much from his own
ideas as from their traditions. Wherein just as I had anchored in the harbour of
Silence, a wide sea opens out before me, so that I must venture to hand down for
posterity some of the Institutes and teaching of these great men. For the bark
of my slender abilities will be exposed to the dangers of a longer voyage on the
deep, in proportion as the Anchorite's life is grander than that of the
Coenobium, and the contemplation of God, to which those inestimable men ever
devoted themselves, more sublime than ordinary practical life. It is yours
therefore to assist our efforts by your pious prayers for fear lest so sacred a
subject that is to be treated in an untried but faithful manner, should be
imperilled by us, or lest our simplicity should lose itself in the depths of the
subject matter. Let us therefore pass from what is visible to the eye and the
external mode of life of the monks, of which we treated in the former books, to
the life of the inner man, which is hidden from view; and from the system of the
canonical prayers, let our discourse mount to that continuance in unceasing
prayer, which the Apostle enjoins, that whoever has through reading our former
work already spiritually gained the name of Jacob by ousting his carnal faults,
may now by the reception of the Institutes which are not mine but the fathers',
mount by a pure insight to the merits and (so to speak) the dignity of Israel,
and in the same way be taught what it is that he should observe on these lofty
heights of perfection. [1086] And so may your prayers gain from Him, Who has
deemed us worthy both to see them and to learn from them and to dwell with them,
that He will vouchsafe to grant us a perfect recollection of their teaching, and
a ready tongue to tell it, that we may explain them as beautifully and as
exactly as we received them from them and may succeed in setting before you the
men themselves incorporated, as it were, in their own Institutes, and what is
more to the point, speaking in the Latin tongue. Of this however we wish above
all to advertise the reader of these conferences as well as of our earlier
works, that if there chances to be anything herein which by reason of his
condition and the character of his profession, or owing to custom and the common
mode of life seems to him either impossible or very difficult, he should measure
it not by the limits of his own powers but by the worth and perfection of the
speakers, whose zeal and purpose he should first consider, as they were truly
dead to this worldly life, and so hampered by no feelings for their kinsmen
according to the flesh, and by no ties of worldly occupations. Next let him bear
in mind the character of the country in which they dwelt, how they lived in a
vast desert, and were cut off from intercourse with all their fellow-men, and
thus were able to have their minds enlightened, and to contemplate, and utter
those things which perhaps will seem impossibilities to the uninitiated and
uninstructed, because of their way of life and the commonplace character of
their habits. But if any one wants to give a true opinion on this matter, and is
anxious to try whether such perfection can be attained, let him first endeavour
to make their purpose his own, with the same zeal and the same mode of life, and
then in the end he will find that those things which used to seem beyond the
powers of men, are not only possible, but really delightful. But now let us
proceed at once to their Conferences and Institutes.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 288: CHAPTER I. OF OUR STAY IN SCETE
========================================================================

Chapter I. Of our stay in Scete, and that which we proposed to Abbot Moses. When
I was in the desert of Scete, where are the most excellent monastic fathers and
where all perfection flourishes, in company with the holy father Germanus (who
had since the earliest days and commencement of our spiritual service been my
closest companion both in the Coenobium and in the desert, so that to show the
harmony of our friendship and aims, everybody would say that a single heart and
soul existed in our two bodies), I sought out Abbot Moses, who was eminent amid
those splendid flowers, not only in practical but also in contemplative
excellence, in my anxiety to be grounded by his instruction: and together we
implored him to give us a discourse for our edification; not without tears, for
we knew full well his determination never to consent to open the gate of
perfection, except to those who desired it with all faithfulness, and sought it
with all sorrow of heart; for fear lest if he showed it at random to those who
cared nothing for it, or only desired it in a half-hearted way, by opening what
is necessary, and what ought only to be discovered to those seeking perfection,
to unworthy persons, and such as accepted it with scorn, he might appear to lay
himself open either to the charge of bragging, or to the sin of betraying his
trust; and at last being overcome by our prayers he thus began.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 289: CHAPTER II. OF THE QUESTION OF ABBOT MOSES, WHO ASKED WHAT WAS THE GOAL AND WHAT THE END OF THE MONK. 
========================================================================

All the arts and sciences, said he, have some goal or mark; and end or aim of
their own, on which the diligent pursuer of each art has his eye, and so endures
all sorts of toils and dangers and losses, cheerfully and with equanimity, e.g.,
the farmer, shunning neither at one time the scorching heat of the sun, nor at
another the frost and cold, cleaves the earth unweariedly, and again and again
subjects the clods of his field to his ploughshare, while he keeps before him
his goal; viz., by diligent labour to break it up small like fine sand, and to
clear it of all briers, and free it from all weeds, as he believes that in no
other way can he gain his ultimate end, which is to secure a good harvest, and a
large crop; on which he can either live himself free from care, or can increase
his possessions. Again, when his barn is well stocked he is quite ready to empty
it, and with incessant labour to commit the seed to the crumbling furrow,
thinking nothing of the present lessening of his stores in view of the future
harvest. Those men too who are engaged in mercantile pursuits, have no dread of
the uncertainties and chances of the ocean, and fear no risks, while an eager
hope urges them forward to their aim of gain. Moreover those who are inflamed
with the ambition of military life, while they look forward to their aim of
honours and power take no notice of danger and destruction in their wanderings,
and are not crushed by present losses and wars, while they are eager to obtain
the end of some honour held out to them. And our profession too has its own goal
and end, for which we undergo all sorts of toils not merely without weariness
but actually with delight; on account of which the want of food in fasting is no
trial to us, the weariness of our vigils becomes a delight; reading and constant
meditation on the Scriptures does not pall upon us; and further incessant toil,
and self-denial, and the privation of all things, and the horrors also of this
vast desert have no terrors for us. And doubtless for this it was that you
yourselves despised the love of kinsfolk, and scorned your fatherland, and the
delights of this world, and passed through so many countries, in order that you
might come to us, plain and simple folk as we are, living in this wretched state
in the desert. Wherefore, said he, answer and tell me what is the goal and end,
which incite you to endure all these things so cheerfully.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 290: CHAPTER III. OF OUR REPLY. 
========================================================================

And when he insisted on eliciting an opinion from us on this question, we
replied that we endured all this for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 291: CHAPTER IV. OF ABBOT MOSES' QUESTION ON THE AFORESAID STATEMENT. 
========================================================================

To which he replied: Good, you have spoken cleverly of the (ultimate) end. But
what should be our (immediate) goal or mark, by constantly sticking close to
which we can gain our end, you ought first to know. And when we frankly
confessed our ignorance, he proceeded: The first thing, as I said, in all the
arts and sciences is to have some goal, i.e., a mark for the mind, and constant
mental purpose, for unless a man keeps this before him with all diligence and
persistence, he will never succeed in arriving at the ultimate aim and the gain
which he desires. For, as I said, the farmer who has for his aim to live free
from care and with plenty, while his crops are springing has this as his
immediate object and goal; viz., to keep his field clear from all brambles, and
weeds, and does not fancy that he can otherwise ensure wealth and a peaceful
end, unless he first secures by some plan of work and hope that which he is
anxious to obtain. The business man too does not lay aside the desire of
procuring wares, by means of which he may more profitably amass riches, because
he would desire gain to no purpose, unless he chose the road which leads to it:
and those men who are anxious to be decorated with the honours of this world,
first make up their minds to what duties and conditions they must devote
themselves, that in the regular course of hope they may succeed in gaining the
honours they desire. And so the end of our way of life is indeed the kingdom of
God. But what is the (immediate) goal you must earnestly ask, for if it is not
in the same way discovered by us, we shall strive and wear ourselves out to no
purpose, because a man who is travelling in a wrong direction, has all the
trouble and gets none of the good of his journey. And when we stood gaping at
this remark, the old man proceeded: The end of our profession indeed, as I said,
is the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven: but the immediate aim or goal,
is purity of heart, without which no one can gain that end: fixing our gaze then
steadily on this goal, as if on a definite mark, let us direct our course as
straight towards it as possible, and if our thoughts wander somewhat from this,
let us revert to our gaze upon it, and check them accurately as by a sure
standard, which will always bring back all our efforts to this one mark, and
will show at once if our mind has wandered ever so little from the direction
marked out for it.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 292: CHAPTER V. A COMPARISON WITH A MAN WHO IS TRYING TO HIT A MARK. 
========================================================================

As those, whose business it is to use weapons of war, whenever they want to show
their skill in their art before a king of this world, try to shoot their arrows
or darts into certain small targets which have the prizes painted on them; for
they know that they cannot in any other way than by the line of their aim secure
the end and the prize they hope for, which they will only then enjoy when they
have been able to hit the mark set before them; but if it happens to be
withdrawn from their sight, however much in their want of skill their aim may
vainly deviate from the straight path, yet they cannot perceive that they have
strayed from the direction of the intended straight line because they have no
distinct mark to prove the skilfulness of their aim, or to show up its badness:
and therefore while they shoot their missiles idly into space, they cannot see
how they have gone wrong or how utterly at fault they are, since no mark is
their accuser, showing how far they have gone astray from the right direction;
nor can an unsteady look help them to correct and restore the straight line
enjoined on them. So then the end indeed which we have set before us is, as the
Apostle says, eternal life, as he declares, "having indeed your fruit unto
holiness, and the end eternal life;" [1088] but the immediate goal is purity of
heart, which he not unfairly terms "sanctification," without which the
afore-mentioned end cannot be gained; as if he had said in other words, having
your immediate goal in purity of heart, but the end life eternal. Of which goal
the same blessed Apostle teaches us, and significantly uses the very term, i.e.,
skopos, saying as follows, "Forgetting those things which are behind and
reaching forward to those that are before, I press toward the mark, for the
prize of the high calling of the Lord:" [1089] which is more clearly put in
Greek kata skopon dioko, i.e., "I press toward the mark," as if he said, "With
this aim, with which I forget those things that are behind, i.e., the faults of
earlier life, I strive to reach as the end the heavenly prize." Whatever then
can help to guide us to this object; viz., purity of heart, we must follow with
all our might, but whatever hinders us from it, we must shun as a dangerous and
hurtful thing. For, for this we do and endure all things, for this we make light
of our kinsfolk, our country, honours, riches, the delights of this world, and
all kinds of pleasures, namely in order that we may retain a lasting purity of
heart. And so when this object is set before us, we shall always direct our
actions and thoughts straight towards the attainment of it; for if it be not
constantly fixed before our eyes, it will not only make all our toils vain and
useless, and force them to be endured to no purpose and without any reward, but
it will also excite all kinds of thoughts opposed to one another. For the mind,
which has no fixed point to which it may return, and on which it may chiefly
fasten, is sure to rove about from hour to hour and minute to minute in all
sorts of wandering thoughts, and from those things which come to it from
outside, to be constantly changed into that state which first offers itself to
it.


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  CHAPTER 293: CHAPTER VI. OF THOSE WHO IN RENOUNCING THE WORLD, AIM AT PERFECTION WITHOUT LOVE. 
========================================================================

For hence it arises that in the case of some who have despised the greatest
possessions of this world, and not only large sums of gold and silver, but also
large properties, we have seen them afterwards disturbed and excited over a
knife, or pencil, or pin, or pen. Whereas if they kept their gaze steadily fixed
out of a pure heart they would certainly never allow such a thing to happen for
trifles, while in order that they might not suffer it in the case of great and
precious riches they chose rather to renounce them altogether. For often too
some guard their books so jealously that they will not allow them to be even
slightly moved or touched by any one else, and from this fact they meet with
occasions of impatience and death, which give them warning of the need of
acquiring the requisite patience and love; and when they have given up all their
wealth for the love of Christ, yet as they preserve their former disposition in
the matter of trifles, and are sometimes quickly upset about them, they become
in all points barren and unfruitful, as those who are without the charity of
which the Apostle speaks: and this the blessed Apostle foresaw in spirit, and
"though," says he, "I give all my goods to feed the poor, and give my body to be
burned, but have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." [1090] And from this it
clearly follows that perfection is not arrived at simply by self-denial, and the
giving up of all our goods, and the casting away of honours, unless there is
that charity, the details of which the Apostle describes, which consists in
purity of heart alone. For "not to be envious," "not to be puffed up, not to be
angry, not to do any wrong, not to seek one's own, not to rejoice in iniquity,
not to think evil" etc., what is all this except ever to offer to God a perfect
and clean heart, and to keep it free from all disturbances?


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  CHAPTER 294: CHAPTER VII. HOW PEACE OF MIND SHOULD BE SOUGHT. 
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Everything should be done and sought after by us for the sake of this. For this
we must seek for solitude, for this we know that we ought to submit to fastings,
vigils, toils, bodily nakedness, reading, and all other virtues that through
them we may be enabled to prepare our heart and to keep it unharmed by all evil
passions, and resting on these steps to mount to the perfection of charity, and
with regard to these observances, if by accident we have been employed in some
good and useful occupation and have been unable to carry out our customary
discipline, we should not be overcome by vexation or anger, or passion, with the
object of overcoming which, we were going to do that which we have omitted. For
the gain from fasting will not balance the loss from anger, nor is the profit
from reading so great as the harm which results from despising a brother. Those
things which are of secondary importance, such as fastings, vigils, withdrawal
from the world, meditation on Scripture, we ought to practise with a view to our
main object, i.e., purity of heart, which is charity, and we ought not on their
account to drive away this main virtue, for as long as it is still found in us
intact and unharmed, we shall not be hurt if any of the things which are of
secondary importance are necessarily omitted; since it will not be of the
slightest use to have done everything, if this main reason of which we have
spoken be removed, for the sake of which everything is to be done. For on this
account one is anxious to secure and provide for one's self the implements for
any branch of work, not simply to possess them to no purpose, nor as if one made
the profit and advantage, which is looked for from them, to consist in the bare
fact of possession but that by using them, one may effectually secure practical
knowledge and the end of that particular art of which they are auxiliaries.
Therefore fastings, vigils, meditation on the Scriptures, self-denial, and the
abnegation of all possessions are not perfection, but aids to perfection:
because the end of that science does not lie in these, but by means of these we
arrive at the end. He then will practise these exercises to no purpose, who is
contented with these as if they were the highest good, and has fixed the purpose
of his heart simply on them, and does not extend his efforts towards reaching
the end, on account of which these should be sought: for he possesses indeed the
implements of his art, but is ignorant of the end, in which all that is valuable
resides. Whatever then can disturb that purity and peace of mind -- even though
it may seem useful and valuable -- should be shunned as really hurtful, for by
this rule we shall succeed in escaping harm from mistakes and vagaries, and make
straight for the desired end and reach it.


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  CHAPTER 295: CHAPTER VIII. OF THE MAIN EFFORT TOWARDS THE CONTEMPLATION OF THINGS AND AN ILLUSTRATION FROM THE CASE OF MARTHA AND MARY. 
========================================================================

This then should be our main effort: and this steadfast purpose of heart we
should constantly aspire after; viz., that the soul may ever cleave to God and
to heavenly things. Whatever is alien to this, however great it may be, should
be given the second place, or even treated as of no consequence, or perhaps as
hurtful. We have an excellent illustration of this state of mind and condition
in the gospel in the case of Martha and Mary: for when Martha was performing a
service that was certainly a sacred one, since she was ministering to the Lord
and His disciples, and Mary being intent only on spiritual instruction was
clinging close to the feet of Jesus which she kissed and anointed with the
ointment of a good confession, she is shown by the Lord to have chosen the
better part, and one which should not be taken away from her: for when Martha
was toiling with pious care, and was cumbered about her service, seeing that of
herself alone she was insufficient for such service she asks for the help of her
sister from the Lord, saying: "Carest Thou not that my sister has left me to
serve alone: bid her therefore that she help me" -- certainly it was to no
unworthy work, but to a praiseworthy service that she summoned her: and yet what
does she hear from the Lord? "Martha, Martha, thou art anxious and troubled
about many things: but few things are needful, or only one. Mary hath chosen the
good part, which shall not be taken away from her." [1091] You see then that the
Lord makes the chief good consist in meditation; i.e., in divine contemplation:
whence we see that all other virtues should be put in the second place, even
though we admit that they are necessary, and useful, and excellent, because they
are all performed for the sake of this one thing. For when the Lord says: "Thou
art careful and troubled about many things, but few things are needful or only
one," He makes the chief good consist not in practical work however praiseworthy
and rich in fruits it may be, but in contemplation of Him, which indeed is
simple and "but one"; declaring that "few things" are needful for perfect bliss,
i.e., that contemplation which is first secured by reflecting on a few saints:
from the contemplation of whom, he who has made some progress rises and attains
by God's help to that which is termed "one thing," i.e., the consideration of
God alone, so as to get beyond those actions and services of Saints, and feed on
the beauty and knowledge of God alone. "Mary" therefore "chose the good part,
which shall not be taken away from her." And this must be more carefully
considered. For when He says that Mary chose the good part, although He says
nothing of Martha, and certainly does not appear to blame her, yet in praising
the one, He implies that the other is inferior. Again when He says "which shall
not be taken away from her," He shows that from the other her portion can be
taken away (for a bodily ministry cannot last forever with a man), but teaches
that this one's desire can never have an end.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 296: CHAPTER IX. A QUESTION HOW IT IS THAT THE PRACTICE OF VIRTUE CANNOT REMAIN WITH A MAN. 
========================================================================

To which we, being deeply moved, replied what then? will the effort of fasting,
diligence in reading, works of mercy, justice, piety, and kindness, be taken
away from us, and not continue with the doers of them, especially since the Lord
Himself promises the reward of the kingdom of heaven to these works, when He
says: "Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from
the beginning of the world. For I was an hungred, and ye gave Me to eat; I was
thirsty and ye gave Me to drink:" etc. [1092] How then shall these works be
taken away, which admit the doers of them into the kingdom of heaven?


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  CHAPTER 297: CHAPTER X. THE ANSWER THAT NOT THE REWARD, BUT THE DOING OF THEM WILL COME TO AN END. 
========================================================================

Moses. I did not say that the reward for a good work would be taken away, as the
Lord Himself says: "Whosoever shall give to one of the least of these, a cup of
cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall not
lose his reward:" [1093] but I maintain that the doing of a thing, which either
bodily necessity, or the onslaught of the flesh, or the inequalities of this
world, compel to be done, will be taken away. For diligence in reading, and
self-denial in fasting, are usefully practised for purifying the heart and
chastening the flesh in this life only, as long as "the flesh lusteth against
the spirit," [1094] and sometimes we see that even in this life they are taken
away from those men who are worn out with excessive toil, or bodily infirmity or
old age, and cannot be practised by them. How much more then will they come to
an end hereafter, when "this corruptible shall have put on incorruption," [1095]
and the body which is now "a natural body" shall have risen "a spiritual body"
[1096] and the flesh shall have begun to be such that it no longer lusts against
the spirit? And of this the blessed Apostle also clearly speaks, when he says
that "bodily exercise is profitable for a little: but godliness" (by which he
certainly means love) "is profitable for all things, having the promise of the
life that now is and of that which is to come." [1097] This clearly shows that
what is said to be useful for a little, is not to be practised for all time, and
cannot possibly by itself alone confer the highest state of perfection on the
man who slaves at it. For the term "for a little" may mean either of the two
things, i.e., it may refer to the shortness of the time, because bodily exercise
cannot possibly last on with man both in this life and in the world to come: or
it may refer to the smallness of the profit which results from exercising the
flesh, because bodily austerities produce some sort of beginnings of progress,
but not the actual perfection of love, which has the promise of the life that
now is and of that which is to come: and therefore we deem that the practice of
the aforesaid works is needful, because without them we cannot climb the heights
of love. For what you call works of religion and mercy are needful in this life
while these inequalities and differences of conditions still prevail; but even
here we should not look for them to be performed, unless such a large proportion
of poor, needy, and sick folk abounded, which is brought about by the wickedness
of men; viz., of those who have grasped and kept for their own use (without
however using them) those things which were granted to all by the Creator of all
alike. As long then as this inequality lasts in this world, this sort of work
will be needful and useful to the man that practises it, as it brings to a good
purpose and pious will the reward of an eternal inheritance: but it will come to
an end in the life to come, where equality will reign, when there will be no
longer inequality, on account of which these things must be done, but all men
will pass from these manifold practical works to the love of God, and
contemplation of heavenly things in continual purity of heart: to which those
men who are urgent in devoting themselves to knowledge and purifying the heart,
have chosen to give themselves up with all their might and main, betaking
themselves, while they are still in the flesh, to that duty, in which they are
to continue, when they have laid aside corruption, and when they come to that
promise of the Lord the Saviour, which says "Blessed are the pure in heart for
they shall see God." [1098]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 298: CHAPTER XI. ON THE ABIDING CHARACTER OF LOVE. 
========================================================================

And why do you wonder that those duties enumerated above will cease, when the
holy Apostle tells us that even the higher gifts of the Holy Spirit will pass
away: and points out that charity alone will abide without end, saying "whether
there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall
cease: whether there be knowledge, it will come to an end," but of this he says
"Charity never faileth." For all gifts are given for a time as use and need
require, but when the dispensation is ended they will without doubt presently
pass away: but love will never be destroyed. For not only does it work usefully
in us in this world; but also in that to come, when the burden of bodily needs
is cast off, it will continue in far greater vigour and excellence, and will
never be weakened by any defect, but by means of its perpetual incorruption will
cling to God more intently and earnestly. [1099]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 299: CHAPTER XII. A QUESTION ON PERSEVERANCE IN SPIRITUAL CONTEMPLATION. 
========================================================================

Germanus. Who then, while he is burdened with our frail flesh, can be always so
intent on this contemplation, as never to think about the arrival of a brother,
or visiting the sick, or manual labour, or at least about showing kindness to
strangers and visitors? And lastly, who is not interrupted by providing for the
body, and looking after it? Or how and in what way can the mind cling to the
invisible and incomprehensible God, this we should like to learn.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 300: CHAPTER XIII. THE ANSWER CONCERNING THE DIRECTION OF THE HEART TOWARDS AND CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND THE KINGDOM OF THE DEVIL. 
========================================================================

Moses. To cling to God continually, and as you say inseparably to hold fast to
meditation on Him, is impossible for a man while still in this weak flesh of
ours. But we ought to be aware on what we should have the purpose of our mind
fixed, and to what goal we should ever recall the gaze of our soul: and when the
mind can secure this it may rejoice; and grieve and sigh when it is withdrawn
from this, and as often as it discovers itself to have fallen away from gazing
on Him, it should admit that it has lapsed from the highest good, considering
that even a momentary departure from gazing on Christ is fornication. And when
our gaze has wandered ever so little from Him, let us turn the eyes of the soul
back to Him, and recall our mental gaze as in a perfectly straight direction.
For everything depends on the inward frame of mind, and when the devil has been
expelled from this, and sins no longer reign in it, it follows that the kingdom
of God is founded in us, as the Evangelist says "The kingdom of God cometh not
with observation, nor shall men say Lo here, or lo there: for verily I say unto
you that the kingdom of God is within you." [1100] But nothing else can be
"within you," but knowledge or ignorance of truth, and delight either in vice or
in virtue, through which we prepare a kingdom for the devil or for Christ in our
heart: and of this kingdom the Apostle describes the character, when he says
"For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and
joy in the Holy Ghost." [1101] And so if the kingdom of God is within us, and
the actual kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy, then the man who
abides in these is most certainly in the kingdom of God, and on the contrary
those who live in unrighteousness, and discord, and the sorrow that worketh
death, have their place in the kingdom of the devil, and in hell and death. For
by these tokens the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil are
distinguished: and in truth if lifting up our mental gaze on high we would
consider that state in which the heavenly powers live on high, who are truly in
the kingdom of God, what should we imagine it to be except perpetual and lasting
joy? For what is so specially peculiar and appropriate to true blessedness as
constant calm and eternal joy? And that you may be quite sure that this, which
we say, is really so, not on my own authority but on that of the Lord, hear how
very clearly He describes the character and condition of that world: "Behold,"
says He, "I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former things shall not
be remembered nor come into mind. But ye shall be glad and rejoice forever in
that which I create." [1102] And again "joy and gladness shall be found therein:
thanksgiving and the voice of praise, and there shall be month after month, and
Sabbath after Sabbath." [1103] And again: "they shall obtain joy and gladness;
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." [1104] And if you want to know more
definitely about that life and the city of the saints, hear what the voice of
the Lord proclaims to the heavenly Jerusalem herself: "I will make," says He,
"thine officers peace and thine overseers righteousness. Violence shall no more
be heard in thy land, desolation nor destruction within thy borders. And
salvation shall take possession of thy walls, and praise of thy gates. The sun
shall be no more thy light by day, neither shall the brightness of the moon give
light to thee: but the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and thy God thy
glory. Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself:
but the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning
shall be ended:" [1105] and therefore the holy Apostle does not say generally or
without qualification that every joy is the kingdom of God, but markedly and
emphatically that joy alone which is "in the Holy Ghost." [1106] For he was
perfectly aware of another detestable joy, of which we hear "the world shall
rejoice," [1107] and "woe unto you that laugh, for ye shall mourn." [1108] In
fact the kingdom of heaven must be taken in a threefold sense, either that the
heavens shall reign, i.e., the saints over other things subdued, according to
this text, "Be thou over five cities, and thou over ten;" [1109] and this which
is said to the disciples: "Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve
tribes of Israel:" [1110] or that the heavens themselves shall begin to be
reigned over by Christ, when "all things are subdued unto Him," and God begins
to be "all in all:" [1111] or else that the saints shall reign in heaven with
the Lord.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 301: CHAPTER XIV. OF THE CONTINUANCE OF THE SOUL. 
========================================================================

Wherefore every one while still existing in this body should already be aware
that he must be committed to that state and office, of which he made himself a
sharer and an adherent while in this life, nor should he doubt that in that
eternal world he will be partner of him, whose servant and minister he chose to
make himself here: according to that saying of our Lord which says "If any man
serve Me, let him follow Me, and where I am, there shall My servant also be."
[1112] For as the kingdom of the devil is gained by consenting to sin, so the
kingdom of God is attained by the practice of virtue in purity of heart and
spiritual knowledge. But where the kingdom of God is, there most certainly
eternal life is enjoyed, and where the kingdom of the devil is, there without
doubt is death and the grave. And the man who is in this condition, cannot
praise the Lord, according to the saying of the prophet which tells us: "The
dead cannot praise Thee, O Lord; neither all they that go down into the grave
(doubtless of sin). But we," says he, "who live (not forsooth to sin nor to this
world but to God) will bless the Lord, from this time forth for evermore: for in
death no man remembereth God: but in the grave (of sin) who will confess to the
Lord?" [1113] i.e., no one will. For no man even though he were to call himself
a Christian a thousand times over, or a monk, confesses God when he is sinning:
no man who allows those things which the Lord hates, remembereth God, nor calls
himself with any truth the servant of Him, whose commands he scorns with
obstinate rashness: in which death the blessed Apostle declares that the widow
is involved, who gives herself to pleasure, saying "a widow who giveth herself
to pleasure is dead while she liveth." [1114] There are then many who while
still living in this body are dead, and lying in the grave cannot praise God;
and on the contrary there are many who though they are dead in the body yet
bless God in the spirit, and praise Him, according to this: "O ye spirits and
souls of the righteous, bless ye the Lord:" [1115] and "every spirit shall
praise the Lord." [1116] And in the Apocalypse the souls of them that are slain
are not only said to praise God but to address Him also. [1117] In the gospel
too the Lord says with still greater clearness to the Sadducees: "Have ye not
read that which was spoken by God, when He said to you: I am the God of Abraham,
and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead but of
the living: for all do live unto Him." [1118] Of whom also the Apostle says:
"wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for He hath prepared for
them a city." [1119] For that they are not idle after the separation from this
body, and are not incapable of feeling, the parable in the gospel shows, which
tells us of the beggar Lazarus and Dives clothed in purple, one of whom obtained
a position of bliss, i.e., Abraham's bosom, the other is consumed with the
dreadful heat of eternal fire. [1120] But if you care too to understand the
words spoken to the thief "To-day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise," [1121]
what do they clearly show but that not only does their former intelligence
continue with the souls, but also that in their changed condition they partake
of some state which corresponds to their actions and deserts? For the Lord would
certainly never have promised him this, if He had known that his soul after
being separated from the flesh would either have been deprived of perception or
have been resolved into nothing. For it was not his flesh but his soul which was
to enter Paradise with Christ. At least we must avoid, and shun with the utmost
horror, that wicked punctuation of the heretics, who, as they do not believe
that Christ could be found in Paradise on the same day on which He descended
into hell, thus punctuate "Verily, I say unto you to-day," and making a stop
apply "thou shalt be with Me in Paradise," in such a way that they imagine that
this promise was not fulfilled at once after he departed from this life, but
that it will be fulfilled after the resurrection, [1122] as they do not
understand what before the time of His resurrection He declared to the Jews, who
fancied that He was hampered by human difficulties and weakness of the flesh as
they were: "No man hath ascended into heaven, but He who came down from heaven,
even the Son of man who is in heaven:" [1123] by which He clearly shows that the
souls of the departed are not only not deprived of their reason, but that they
are not even without such feelings as hope and sorrow, joy and fear, and that
they already are beginning to taste beforehand something of what is reserved for
them at the last judgment, and that they are not as some unbelievers hold
resolved into nothing after their departure from this life: [1124] but that they
live a more real life, and are still more earnest in waiting on the praises of
God. And indeed to put aside for a little Scripture proofs, and to discuss, as
far as our ability permits us, a little about the nature of the soul itself, is
it not beyond the bounds of I will not say the folly, but the madness of all
stupidity, even to have the slightest suspicion that the nobler part of man, in
which as the blessed Apostle shows, the image and likeness of God consists,
[1125] will, when the burden of the body with which it is oppressed in this
world is laid aside, become insensible, when, as it contains in itself all the
power of reason, it makes the dumb and senseless material flesh sensible, by
participation with it: especially when it follows, and the order of reason
itself demands that when the mind has put off the grossness of the flesh with
which it is now weighed down, it will restore its intellectual powers better
than ever, and receive them in a purer and finer condition than it lost them.
But so far did the blessed Apostle recognize that what we say is true, that he
actually wished to depart from this flesh; that by separation from it, he might
be able to be joined more earnestly to the Lord; saying: "I desire to be
dissolved and to be with Christ, which is far better, for while we are in the
body we are absent from the Lord:" and therefore "we are bold and have our
desire always to be absent from the body, and present with the Lord. Wherefore
also we strive, whether absent or present, to be pleasing to Him;" [1126] and he
declares indeed that the continuance of the soul which is in the flesh is
distance from the Lord, and absence from Christ, and trusts with entire faith
that its separation and departure from this flesh involves presence with Christ.
And again still more clearly the same Apostle speaks of this state of the souls
as one that is very full of life: "But ye are come to Mount Sion, and the city
of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of
angels, and the church of the first born, who are written in heaven, and the
spirits of just men made perfect." [1127] Of which spirits he speaks in another
passage, "Furthermore we have had instructors of our flesh, and we reverenced
them: shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?"
[1128]


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  CHAPTER 302: CHAPTER XV. HOW WE MUST MEDITATE ON GOD. 
========================================================================

But the contemplation of God is gained in a variety of ways. For we not only
discover God by admiring His incomprehensible essence, a thing which still lies
hid in the hope of the promise, but we see Him through the greatness of His
creation, and the consideration of His justice, and the aid of His daily
providence: when with pure minds we contemplate what He has done with His saints
in every generation, when with trembling heart we admire His power with which He
governs, directs, and rules all things, or the vastness of His knowledge, and
that eye of His from which no secrets of the heart can lie hid, when we consider
the sand of the sea, and the number of the waves measured by Him and known to
Him, when in our wonder we think that the drops of rain, the days and hours of
the ages, and all things past and future are present to His knowledge; when we
gaze in unbounded admiration on that ineffable mercy of His, which with
unwearied patience endures countless sins which are every moment being committed
under His very eyes, or the call with which from no antecedent merits of ours,
but by the free grace of His pity He receives us; or again the numberless
opportunities of salvation which He grants to those whom He is going to adopt --
that He made us be born in such a way as that from our very cradles His grace
and the knowledge of His law might be given to us, that He Himself, overcoming
our enemy in us simply for the pleasure of His good will, rewards us with
eternal bliss and everlasting rewards, when lastly He undertook the dispensation
of His Incarnation for our salvation, and extended the marvels of His sacraments
[1129] to all nations. But there are numberless other considerations of this
sort, which arise in our minds according to the character of our life and the
purity of our heart, by which God is either seen by pure eyes or embraced: which
considerations certainly no one will preserve lastingly, if anything of carnal
affections still survives in him, because "thou canst not," saith the Lord, "see
My face: for no man shall see Me and live;" [1130] viz., to this world and to
earthly affections.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 303: CHAPTER XVI. A QUESTION ON THE CHANGING CHARACTER OF THE THOUGHTS. 
========================================================================

Germanus. How is it then, that even against our will, aye and without our
knowledge idle thoughts steal upon us so subtilely and secretly that it is
fearfully hard not merely to drive them away, but even to grasp and seize them?
Can then a mind sometimes be found free from them, and never attacked by
illusions of this kind?


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 304: CHAPTER XVII. THE ANSWER WHAT THE MIND CAN AND WHAT IT CANNOT DO WITH REGARD TO THE STATE OF ITS THOUGHTS. 
========================================================================

Moses. It is impossible for the mind not to be approached by thoughts, but it is
in the power of every earnest man either to admit them or to reject them. As
then their rising up does not entirely depend on ourselves, so the rejection or
admission of them lies in our own power. But because we said that it is
impossible for the mind not to be approached by thoughts, you must not lay
everything to the charge of the assault, or to those spirits who strive to
instil them into us, else there would not remain any free will in man, nor would
efforts for our improvement be in our power: but it is, I say, to a great extent
in our power to improve the character of our thoughts and to let either holy and
spiritual thoughts or earthly ones grow up in our hearts. For for this purpose
frequent reading and continual meditation on the Scriptures is employed that
from thence an opportunity for spiritual recollection may be given to us,
therefore the frequent singing of Psalms is used, that thence constant feelings
of compunction may be provided, and earnest vigils and fasts and prayers, that
the mind may be brought low and not mind earthly things, but contemplate things
celestial, for if these things are dropped and carelessness creeps on us, the
mind being hardened with the foulness of sin is sure to incline in a carnal
direction and fall away.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 305: CHAPTER XVIII. COMPARISON OF A SOUL AND A MILLSTONE. 
========================================================================

And this movement of the heart is not unsuitably illustrated by the comparison
of a mill wheel, which the headlong rush of water whirls round, with revolving
impetus, and which can never stop its work so long as it is driven round by the
action of the water: but it is in the power of the man who directs it, to decide
whether he will have wheat or barley or darnel ground by it. That certainly must
be crushed by it which is put into it by the man who has charge of that
business. So then the mind also through the trials of the present life is driven
about by the torrents of temptations pouring in upon it from all sides, and
cannot be free from the flow of thoughts: but the character of the thoughts
which it should either throw off or admit for itself, it will provide by the
efforts of its own earnestness and diligence: for if, as we said, we constantly
recur to meditation on the Holy Scriptures and raise our memory towards the
recollection of spiritual things and the desire of perfection and the hope of
future bliss, spiritual thoughts are sure to rise from this, and cause the mind
to dwell on those things on which we have been meditating. But if we are
overcome by sloth or carelessness and spend our time in idle gossip, or are
entangled in the cares of this world and unnecessary anxieties, the result will
be that a sort of species of tares will spring up, and afford an injurious
occupation for our hearts, and as our Lord and Saviour says, wherever the
treasure of our works or purpose may be, there also our heart is sure to
continue. [1131]


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  CHAPTER 306: CHAPTER XIX. OF THE THREE ORIGINS OF OUR THOUGHTS. 
========================================================================

Above all we ought at least to know that there are three origins of our
thoughts, i.e., from God, from the devil, and from ourselves. They come from God
when He vouchsafes to visit us with the illumination of the Holy Ghost, lifting
us up to a higher state of progress, and where we have made but little progress,
or through acting slothfully have been overcome, He chastens us with most
salutary compunction, or when He discloses to us heavenly mysteries, or turns
our purpose and will to better actions, as in the case where the king Ahasuerus,
being chastened by the Lord, was prompted to ask for the books of the annals, by
which he was reminded of the good deeds of Mordecai, and promoted him to a
position of the highest honour and at once recalled his most cruel sentence
concerning the slaughter of the Jews. [1132] Or when the prophet says: "I will
hearken what the Lord God will say in me." [1133] Another too tells us "And an
angel spoke, and said in me," [1134] or when the Son of God promised that He
would come with His Father, and make His abode in us, [1135] and "It is not ye
that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." [1136] And the
chosen vessel: "Ye seek a proof of Christ that speaketh in me." [1137] But a
whole range of thoughts springs from the devil, when he endeavours to destroy us
either by the pleasures of sin or by secret attacks, in his crafty wiles
deceitfully showing us evil as good, and transforming himself into an angel of
light to us: [1138] as when the evangelist tells us: "And when supper was ended,
when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son,
to betray" [1139] the Lord: and again also "after the sop," he says, "Satan
entered into him." [1140] Peter also says to Ananias: "Why hath Satan tempted
thine heart, to lie to the Holy Ghost?" [1141] And that which we read in the
gospel much earlier as predicted by Ecclesiastes: "If the spirit of the ruler
rise up against thee, leave not thy place." [1142] That too which is said to God
against Ahab in the third book of Kings, in the character of an unclean spirit:
"I will go forth and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets."
[1143] But they arise from ourselves, when in the course of nature we recollect
what we are doing or have done or have heard. Of which the blessed David speaks:
"I thought upon the ancient days, and had in mind the years from of old, and I
meditated, by night I exercised myself with my heart, and searched out my
spirit." [1144] And again: "the Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are
vain:" [1145] and "the thoughts of the righteous are judgments." [1146] In the
gospel too the Lord says to the Pharisees: "why do ye think evil in your
hearts?" [1147]


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  CHAPTER 307: CHAPTER XX. ABOUT DISCERNING THE THOUGHTS, WITH AN ILLUSTRATION FROM A GOOD MONEY-CHANGER. 
========================================================================

We ought then carefully to notice this threefold order, and with a wise
discretion to analyse the thoughts which arise in our hearts, tracking out their
origin and cause and author in the first instance, that we may be able to
consider how we ought to yield ourselves to them in accordance with the desert
of those who suggest them so that we may, as the Lord's command bids us, become
good money-changers, [1148] whose highest skill and whose training is to test
what is perfectly pure gold and what is commonly termed tested, [1149] or what
is not sufficiently purified in the fire; and also with unerring skill not to be
taken in by a common brass denarius, if by being coloured with bright gold it is
made like some coin of great value; and not only shrewdly to recognize coins
stamped with the heads of usurpers, but with a still shrewder skill to detect
those which have the image of the right king, but are not properly made, and
lastly to be careful by the test of the balance to see that they are not under
proper weight. All of which things the gospel saying, which uses this figure,
shows us that we ought also to observe spiritually; first that whatever has
found an entrance into our hearts, and whatever doctrine has been received by
us, should be most carefully examined to see whether it has been purified by the
divine and heavenly fire of the Holy Ghost, or whether it belongs to Jewish
superstition, or whether it comes from the pride of a worldly philosophy and
only externally makes a show of religion. And this we can do, if we carry out
the Apostle's advice, "Believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits whether
they are of God." [1150] But by this kind those men also are deceived, who after
having been professed as monks are enticed by the grace of style, and certain
doctrines of philosophers, which at the first blush, owing to some pious
meanings not out of harmony with religion, deceive as with the glitter of gold
their hearers, whom they have superficially attracted, but render them poor and
miserable for ever, like men deceived by false money made of copper: either
bringing them back to the bustle of this world, or enticing them into the errors
of heretics, and bombastic conceits: a thing which we read of as happening to
Achan in the book of Joshua the son of Nun, [1151] when he coveted a golden
weight from the camp of the Philistines, and stole it, and was smitten with a
curse and condemned to eternal death. In the second place we should be careful
to see that no wrong interpretation fixed on to the pure gold of Scripture
deceives us as to the value of the metal: by which means the devil in his craft
tried to impose upon our Lord and Saviour as if He was a mere man, when by his
malevolent interpretation he perverted what ought to be understood generally of
all good men, and tried to fasten it specially on to Him, who had no need of the
care of the angels: saying, "For He shall give His angels charge concerning
Thee, to keep Thee in all Thy ways: and in their hands they shall bear Thee up,
lest at any time Thou dash Thy foot against a stone," [1152] by a skilful
assumption on his part giving a turn to the precious sayings of Scripture and
twisting them into a dangerous sense, the very opposite of their true meaning,
so as to offer to us the image and face of an usurper under cover of the gold
colour which may deceive us. Or whether he tries to cheat us with counterfeits,
for instance by urging that some work of piety should be taken up which as it
does come from the true minds of the fathers, leads under the form of virtue to
vice; and, deceiving us either by immoderate or impossible fasts, or by too long
vigils, or inordinate prayers, or unsuitable reading, brings us to a bad end.
Or, when he persuades us to give ourselves up to mixing in the affairs of
others, and to pious visits, by which he may drive us away from the spiritual
cloisters of the monastery, and the secrecy of its friendly peacefulness, and
suggests that we take on our shoulders the anxieties and cares of religious
women who are in want, that when a monk is inextricably entangled in snares of
this sort he may distract him with most injurious occupations and cares. Or else
when he incites a man to desire the holy office of the clergy under the pretext
of edifying many people, and the love of spiritual gain, by which to draw us
away from the humility and strictness of our life. All of which things, although
they are opposed to our salvation and to our profession, yet when covered with a
sort of veil of compassion and religion, easily deceive those who are lacking in
skill and care. For they imitate the coins of the true king, because they seem
at first full of piety, but are not stamped by those who have the right to coin,
i.e., the approved Catholic fathers, nor do they proceed from the head public
office for receiving them, but are made by stealth and by the fraud of the
devil, and palmed off upon the unskilful and ignorant not without serious harm.
And even although they seem to be useful and needful at first, yet if afterwards
they begin to interfere with the soundness of our profession, and as it were to
weaken in some sense the whole body of our purpose, it is well that they should
be cut off and cast away from us like a member which may be necessary, but yet
offends us and which seems to perform the office of the right hand or foot. For
it is better, without one member of a command, i.e., its working or result, to
continue safe and sound in other parts, and to enter as weak into the kingdom of
heaven rather than with the whole mass of commands to fall into some error which
by an evil custom separates us from our strict rule and the system purposed and
entered upon, and leads to such loss, that it will never outweigh the harm that
will follow, but will cause all our past fruits and the whole body of our work
to be burnt in hell fire. [1153] Of which kind of illusions it is well said in
the Proverbs: "There are ways which seem to be right to a man, but their latter
end will come into the depths of hell," [1154] and again "An evil man is harmful
when he attaches himself to a good man," [1155] i.e., the devil deceives when he
is covered with an appearance of sanctity: "but he hates the sound of the
watchman," [1156] i.e., the power of discretion which comes from the words and
warnings of the fathers.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 308: CHAPTER XXI. OF THE ILLUSION OF ABBOT JOHN. 
========================================================================

In this manner we have heard that Abbot John who lived at Lycon, [1157] was
recently deceived. For when his body was exhausted and failing as he had put off
taking food during a fast of two days, on the third day while he was on his way
to take some refreshment the devil came in the shape of a filthy Ethiopian, and
falling at his feet, cried "Pardon me because I appointed this labour for you."
And so that great man, who was so perfect in the matter of discretion,
understood that under pretence of an abstinence practised unsuitably, he was
deceived by the craft of the devil, and engaged in a fast of such a character as
to affect his worn out body with a weariness that was unnecessary, indeed that
was harmful to the spirit; as he was deceived by a counterfeit coin, and, while
he paid respect to the image of the true king upon it, was not sufficiently
alive to the question whether it was rightly cut and stamped. But the last duty
of this "good money-changer," which, as we mentioned before, concerns the
examination of the weight, will be fulfilled, if whenever our thoughts suggest
that anything is to be done, we scrupulously think it over, and, laying it in
the scales of our breast, weigh it with the most exact balance, whether it be
full of good for all, or heavy with the fear of God: or entire and sound in
meaning; or whether it be light with human display or some conceit of novelty,
or whether the pride of foolish vain glory has not diminished or lessened the
weight of its merit. And so straightway weighing them in the public balance,
i.e., testing them by the acts and proofs of the Apostles and Prophets let us
hold them as it were entire and perfect and of full weight, or else with all
care and diligence reject them as imperfect and counterfeit, and of insufficient
weight.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 309: CHAPTER XXII. OF THE FOURFOLD METHOD OF DISCRIMINATION. 
========================================================================

This power of discriminating will then be necessary for us in the fourfold
manner of which we have spoken; viz., first that the material does not escape
our notice whether it be of true or of painted gold: secondly, that those
thoughts which falsely promise works of religion should be rejected by us as
forged and counterfeit coins, as they are those which are not rightly stamped,
and which bear an untrue image of the king; and that we may be able in the same
way to detect those which in the case of the precious gold of Scripture, by
means of a false and heretical meaning, show the image not of the true king but
of an usurper; and that we refuse those whose weight and value the rust of
vanity has depreciated and not allowed to pass in the scales of the fathers, as
coins that are too light, and are false and weigh too little; so that we may not
incur that which we are warned by the Lord's command to avoid with all our
power, and lose the value and reward of all our labour. "Lay not up for
yourselves treasures on the earth, where rust and moth corrupt and where thieves
break through and steal." [1158] For whenever we do anything with a view to
human glory we know that we are, as the Lord says, laying up for ourselves
treasure on earth, and that consequently being as it were hidden in the ground
and buried in the earth it must be destroyed by sundry demons or consumed by the
biting rust of vain glory, or devoured by the moths of pride so as to contribute
nothing to the use and profits of the man who has hidden it. We should then
constantly search all the inner chambers of our hearts, and trace out the
footsteps of whatever enters into them with the closest investigation lest haply
some beast, if I may say so, relating to the understanding, either lion or
dragon, passing through has furtively left the dangerous marks of his track,
which will show to others the way of access into the secret recesses of the
heart, owing to a carelessness about our thoughts. And so daily and hourly
turning up the ground of our heart with the gospel plough, i.e., the constant
recollection of the Lord's cross, we shall manage to stamp out or extirpate from
our hearts the lairs of noxious beasts and the lurking places of poisonous
serpents.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 310: CHAPTER XXIII. OF THE DISCOURSE OF THE TEACHER IN REGARD TO THE MERITS OF HIS HEARERS. 
========================================================================

At this the old man seeing that we were astonished, and inflamed at the words of
his discourse with an insatiable desire, stopped his speech for a little in
consequence of our admiration and earnestness, and presently added: Since your
zeal, my sons, has led to so long a discussion, and a sort of fire supplies
keener zest to our conference in proportion to your earnestness, as from this
very thing I can clearly see that you are truly thirsting after teaching about
perfection, I want still to say something to you on the excellence of
discrimination and grace which rules and holds the field among all virtues, and
not merely to prove its value and usefulness by daily instances of it, but also
from former deliberations and opinions of the fathers. For I remember that
frequently when men were asking me with sighs and tears for a discourse of this
kind, and I myself was anxious to give them some teaching I could not possibly
manage it, and not merely my thoughts but even my very power of speech failed me
so that I could not find how to send them away with even some slight
consolation. And by these signs we clearly see that the grace of the Lord
inspires the speakers with words according to the deserts and zeal of the
hearers. And because the very short night which is before us does not allow me
to finish the discourse, let us the rather give it up to bodily rest, in which
the whole of it will have to be spent, if a reasonable portion is refused, and
let us reserve the complete scheme of the discourse for unbroken consideration
on a future day or night. For it is right for the best counsellors on discretion
to show the diligence of their minds in the first place in this, and to prove
whether they are or can be possessors of it by this evidence and patience, so
that in treating of that virtue which is the mother of moderation they may by no
means fall into the vice which is opposite to it; viz., that of undue length, by
their actions and deeds destroying the force of the system and nature which they
recommend in word. In regard then to this most excellent discretion, on which we
still propose to inquire, so far as the Lord gives us power, it may in the first
instance be a good thing, when we are disputing about its excellence and the
moderation which we know exists in it as the first of virtues, not to allow
ourselves to exceed the due limit of the discussion and of our time. And so with
this the blessed Moses put a stop to our talk, and urged us, eager though we
were and hanging on his lips, to go off to bed for a little, advising us to lie
down on the same mats on which we were sitting, and to put our bundles [1159]
under our heads instead of pillows, as these being tied evenly to thicker leaves
of papyrus collected in long and slender bundles, six feet apart, at one time
provide the brethren when sitting at service with a very low seat instead of a
footstool, at another time being put under their necks when they go to bed
furnish a support for their heads, that is not too hard, but comfortable and
just right. For which uses of the monks these things are considered especially
fit and suitable not only because they are somewhat soft, and prepared at little
cost of money and labour, as the papyrus grows everywhere along the banks of the
Nile, but also because they are of a convenient stuff and light enough to be
removed or fetched as need may require. And so at last at the bidding of the old
man we settled ourselves down to sleep in deep stillness, both excited with
delight at the conference we had held, and also buoyed up with hope of the
promised discussion.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 311: CHAPTER I. ABBOT MOSES' INTRODUCTION ON THE GRACE OF DISCRETION. AND SO WHEN WE HAD ENJOYED OUR MORNING SLEEP
========================================================================

Chapter I. Abbot Moses' introduction on the grace of discretion. And so when we
had enjoyed our morning sleep, when to our delight the dawn of light again shone
upon us, and we had begun to ask once more for his promised talk, the blessed
Moses thus began: As I see you inflamed with such an eager desire, that I do not
believe that that very short interval of quiet which I wanted to subtract from
our spiritual conference and devote to bodily rest, has been of any use for the
repose of your bodies, on me too a greater anxiety presses when I take note of
your zeal. For I must give the greater care and devotion in paying my debt, in
proportion as I see that you ask for it the more earnestly, according to that
saying: "When thou sittest to eat with a ruler consider diligently what is put
before thee, and put forth thine hand, knowing that thou oughtest to prepare
such things." Wherefore as we are going to speak of the excellent quality of
discretion and the virtue of it, on which subject our discourse of last night
had entered at the termination of our discussion, we think it desirable first to
establish its excellence by the opinions of the fathers, that when it has been
shown what our predecessors thought and said about it, then we may bring forward
some ancient and modern shipwrecks and mischances of various people, who were
destroyed and hopelessly ruined because they paid but little attention to it,
and then as well as we can we must treat of its advantages and uses: after a
discussion of which we shall know better how we ought to seek after it and
practise it, by the consideration of the importance of its value and grace. For
it is no ordinary virtue nor one which can be freely gained by merely human
efforts, unless they are aided by the Divine blessing, for we read that this is
also reckoned among the noblest gifts of the Spirit by the Apostle: "To one is
given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the
same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another the gift of healing
by the same Spirit," and shortly after, "to another the discerning of spirits."
Then after the complete catalogue of spiritual gifts he subjoins: "But all these
worketh one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He
will." You see then that the gift of discretion is no earthly thing and no
slight matter, but the greatest prize of divine grace. And unless a monk has
pursued it with all zeal, and secured a power of discerning with unerring
judgment the spirits that rise up in him, he is sure to go wrong, as if in the
darkness of night and dense blackness, and not merely to fall down dangerous
pits and precipices, but also to make frequent mistakes in matters that are
plain and straightforward.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 312: CHAPTER II. WHAT DISCRETION ALONE CAN GIVE A MONK; AND A DISCOURSE OF THE BLESSED ANTONY ON THIS SUBJECT. 
========================================================================

And so I remember that while I was still a boy, in the region of Thebaid, where
the blessed Antony lived, [1162] the elders came to him to inquire about
perfection: and though the conference lasted from evening till morning, the
greatest part of the night was taken up with this question. For it was discussed
at great length what virtue or observance could preserve a monk always unharmed
by the snares and deceits of the devil, and carry him forward on a sure and
right path, and with firm step to the heights of perfection. And when each one
gave his opinion according to the bent of his own mind, and some made it consist
in zeal in fasting and vigils, because a soul that has been brought low by
these, and so obtained purity of heart and body will be the more easily united
to God, others in despising all things, as, if the mind were utterly deprived of
them, it would come the more freely to God, as if henceforth there were no
snares to entangle it: others thought that withdrawal from the world was the
thing needful, i.e., solitude and the secrecy of the hermit's life; living in
which a man may more readily commune with God, and cling more especially to Him;
others laid down that the duties of charity, i.e., of kindness should be
practised, because the Lord in the gospel promised more especially to give the
kingdom to these; when He said "Come ye blessed of My Father, inherit the
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was an hungred
and ye gave Me to eat, I was thirsty and ye gave Me to drink, etc.:" [1163] and
when in this fashion they declared that by means of different virtues a more
certain approach to God could be secured, and the greater part of the night had
been spent in this discussion, then at last the blessed Antony spoke and said:
All these things which you have mentioned are indeed needful, and helpful to
those who are thirsting for God, and desirous to approach Him. But countless
accidents and the experience of many people will not allow us to make the most
important of gifts consist in them. For often when men are most strict in
fasting or in vigils, and nobly withdraw into solitude, and aim at depriving
themselves of all their goods so absolutely that they do not suffer even a day's
allowance of food or a single penny to remain to them, and when they fulfil all
the duties of kindness with the utmost devotion, yet still we have seen them
suddenly deceived, so that they could not bring the work they had entered upon
to a suitable close, but brought their exalted fervour and praiseworthy manner
of life to a terrible end. Wherefore we shall be able clearly to recognize what
it is which mainly leads to God, if we trace out with greater care the reason of
their downfall and deception. For when the works of the above mentioned virtues
were abounding in them, discretion alone was wanting, and allowed them not to
continue even to the end. Nor can any other reason for their falling off be
discovered except that as they were not sufficiently instructed by their elders
they could not obtain judgment and discretion, which passing by excess on either
side, teaches a monk always to walk along the royal road, and does not suffer
him to be puffed up on the right hand of virtue, i.e., from excess of zeal to
transgress the bounds of due moderation in foolish presumption, nor allows him
to be enamoured of slackness and turn aside to the vices on the left hand, i.e.,
under pretext of controlling the body, to grow slack with the opposite spirit of
luke-warmness. For this is discretion, which is termed in the gospel the "eye,"
"and light of the body," according to the Saviour's saying: "The light of thy
body is thine eye: but if thine eye be single, thy whole body will be full of
light, but if thine eye be evil, thy whole body will be full of darkness:"
[1164] because as it discerns all the thoughts and actions of men, it sees and
overlooks all things which should be done. But if in any man this is "evil,"
i.e., not fortified by sound judgment and knowledge, or deceived by some error
and presumption, it will make our whole body "full of darkness," i.e., it will
darken all our mental vision and our actions, as they will be involved in the
darkness of vices and the gloom of disturbances. For, says He, "if the light
which is in thee be darkness, how great will that darkness be!" [1165] For no
one can doubt that when the judgment of our heart goes wrong, and is overwhelmed
by the night of ignorance, our thoughts and deeds, which are the result of
deliberation and discretion, must be involved in the darkness of still greater
sins.


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  CHAPTER 313: CHAPTER III. OF THE ERROR OF SAUL AND OF AHAB, BY WHICH THEY WERE DECEIVED THROUGH LACK OF DISCRETION. 
========================================================================

Lastly, the man who in the judgment of God was the first to be worthy of the
kingdom of His people Israel, because he was lacking in this "eye" of
discretion, was, as if his whole body were full of darkness, actually cast down
from the kingdom while, being deceived by the darkness of this "light," and in
error, he imagined that his own offerings were more acceptable to God than
obedience to the command of Samuel, and met with an occasion of falling in that
very matter in which he had hoped to propitiate the Divine Majesty. [1166] And
ignorance, I say, of this discretion led Ahab the king of Israel after a triumph
and splendid victory which had been granted to him by the favour of God to fancy
that mercy on his part was better than the stern execution of the divine
command, and, as it seemed to him, a cruel rule: and moved by this
consideration, while he desired to temper a bloody victory with mercy, he was on
account of his indiscriminating clemency rendered full of darkness in his whole
body, and condemned irreversibly to death. [1167]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 314: CHAPTER IV. WHAT IS SAID OF THE VALUE OF DISCRETION IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. 
========================================================================

Such is discretion, which is not only the "light of the body," but also called
the sun by the Apostle, as it said "Let not the sun go down upon your wrath."
[1168] It is also called the guidance of our life: as it said "Those who have no
guidance, fall like leaves." [1169] It is most truly named counsel, without
which the authority of Scripture allows us to do nothing, so that we are not
even permitted to take that spiritual "wine which maketh glad the heart of man"
[1170] without its regulating control: as it is said "Do everything with
counsel, drink thy wine with counsel," [1171] and again "like a city that has
its walls destroyed and is not fenced in, so is a man who does anything without
counsel." [1172] And how injurious the absence of this is to a monk, the
illustration and figure in the passage quoted shows, by comparing it to a city
that is destroyed and without walls. Herein lies wisdom, herein lies
intelligence and understanding without which our inward house cannot be built,
nor can spiritual riches be gathered together, as it is said: "A house is built
with wisdom, and again it is set up with intelligence. With understanding the
storehouses are filled with all precious riches and good things." [1173] This I
say is "solid food," which can only be taken by those who are full grown and
strong, as it is said: "But solid food is for full grown men, who by reason of
use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil." [1174] And it is
shown to be useful and necessary for us, only in so far as it is in accordance
with the word of God and its powers, as is said "For the word of God is quick
and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and reaching even to the
dividing asunder of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart:" [1175] and by this it is clearly
shown that no virtue can possibly be perfectly acquired or continue without the
grace of discretion. And so by the judgment of the blessed Antony as well as of
all others it has been laid down that it is discretion which leads a fearless
monk by fixed stages to God, and preserves the virtues mentioned above
continually intact, by means of which one may ascend with less weariness to the
extreme summit of perfection, and without which even those who toil most
willingly cannot reach the heights of perfection. For discretion is the mother
of all virtues, as well as their guardian and regulator.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 315: CHAPTER V. OF THE DEATH OF THE OLD MAN HERON. 
========================================================================

And to support this judgment delivered of old by the blessed Antony and the
other fathers by a modern instance, as we promised to do, remember what you
lately saw happen before your very eyes, I mean, how the old man Heron, [1176]
only a very few days ago was cast down by an illusion of the devil from the
heights to the depths, a man whom we remember to have lived for fifty years in
this desert and to have preserved a strict continence with especial severity,
and who aimed at the secrecy of solitude with marvellous fervour beyond all
those who dwell here. By what device then or by what method was he deluded by
the deceiver after so many labours, and falling by a most grievous downfall
struck with profound grief all those who live in this desert? Was it not
because, having too little of the virtue of discretion he preferred to be guided
by his own judgment rather than to obey the counsels and conference of the
brethren and the regulations of the elders? Since he ever practised incessant
abstinence and fasting with such severity, and persisted in the secrecy of
solitude and a monastic cell so constantly that not even the observance of the
Easter festival could ever persuade him to join in the feast with the brethren:
when in accordance with the annual observance, all the brethren remained in the
church and he alone would not join them for fear lest he might seem to relax in
some degree from his purpose by taking only a little pulse. And deceived by this
presumption he received with the utmost reverence an angel of Satan as an angel
of light and with blind slavishness obeyed his commands and cast himself down a
well, so deep that the eye could not pierce its depths, nothing doubting of the
promise of the angel who had assured him that the merits of his virtues and
labours were such that he could not possibly run any risk. And that he might
prove the truth of this most certainly by experimenting on his own safety, in
the dead of night he was deluded enough to cast himself into the above mentioned
well, to prove indeed the great merit of his virtue if he should come out thence
unhurt. And when by great efforts on the part of the brethren he had been got
out already almost dead, on the third day afterward he expired, and what was
still worse, persisted in his obstinate delusion so that not even the experience
of his death could persuade him that he had been deceived by the craft of
devils. Wherefore in spite of the merits of his great labours and the number of
years which he had spent in the desert those who with compassion and the
greatest kindness pitied his end, could hardly obtain from Abbot Paphnutius
[1177] that he should not be reckoned among suicides, and be deemed unworthy of
the memorial and oblation for those at rest. [1178]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 316: CHAPTER VI. OF THE DESTRUCTION OF TWO BRETHREN FOR LACK OF DISCRETION. 
========================================================================

What shall I say of those two brethren who lived beyond that desert of the
Thebaid where once the blessed Antony dwelt, and, not being sufficiently
influenced by careful discrimination, when they were going through the vast and
extended waste determined not to take any food with them, except such as the
Lord Himself might provide for them. And when as they wandered through the
deserts and were already fainting from hunger they were spied at a distance by
the Mazices [1179] (a race which is even more savage and ferocious than almost
all wild tribes, for they are not driven to shed blood, as other tribes are,
from desire of spoil but from simple ferocity of mind), and when these acting
contrary to their natural ferocity, met them with bread, one of the two as
discretion came to his aid, received it with delight and thankfulness as if it
were offered to him by the Lord, thinking that the food had been divinely
provided for him, and that it was God's doing that those who always delighted in
bloodshed had offered the staff of life to men who were already fainting and
dying; but the other refused the food because it was offered to him by men and
died of starvation. And though this sprang in the first instance from a
persuasion that was blame-worthy yet one of them by the help of discretion got
the better of the idea which he had rashly and carelessly conceived, but the
other persisting in his obstinate folly, and being utterly lacking in
discretion, brought upon himself that death which the Lord would have averted,
as he would not believe that it was owing to a Divine impulse that the fierce
barbarians forgot their natural ferocity and offered them bread instead of a
sword.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 317: CHAPTER VII. OF AN ILLUSION INTO WHICH ANOTHER FELL FOR LACK OF DISCRETION. 
========================================================================

Why also should I speak of one (whose name we had rather not mention as he is
still alive), who for a long while received a devil in the brightness of an
angelic form, and was often deceived by countless revelations from him and
believed that he was a messenger of righteousness: for when these were granted,
every night he provided a light in his cell without the need of any lamp. At
last he was ordered by the devil to offer up to God his own son who was living
with him in the monastery, in order that his merits might by this sacrifice be
made equal to those of the patriarch Abraham. And he was so far seduced by his
persuasion that he would really have committed the murder unless his son had
seen him getting ready the knife and sharpening it with unusual care, and
looking for the chains with which he meant to tie him up for the sacrifice when
he was going to offer him up; and had fled away in terror with a presentiment of
the coming crime.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 318: CHAPTER VIII. OF THE FALL AND DECEPTION OF A MONK OF MESOPOTAMIA. 
========================================================================

It is a long business too to tell the story of the deception of that monk of
Mesopotamia, who observed an abstinence that could be imitated by but few in
that country, which he had practised for many years concealed in his cell, and
at last was so deceived by revelations and dreams that came from the devil that
after so many labours and good deeds, in which he had surpassed all those who
dwelt in the same parts, he actually relapsed miserably into Judaism and
circumcision of the flesh. For when the devil by accustoming him to visions
through the wish to entice him to believe a falsehood in the end, had like a
messenger of truth revealed to him for a long while what was perfectly true, at
length he showed him Christian folk together with the leaders of our religion
and creed; viz. Apostles and Martyrs, in darkness and filth, and foul and
disfigured with all squalor, and on the other hand the Jewish people with Moses,
the patriarchs and prophets, dancing with all joy and shining with dazzling
light; and so persuaded him that if he wanted to share their reward and bliss,
he must at once submit to circumcision. And so none of these would have been so
miserably deceived, if they had endeavoured to obtain a power of discretion.
Thus the mischances and trials of many show how dangerous it is to be without
the grace of discretion.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 319: CHAPTER IX. A QUESTION ABOUT THE ACQUIREMENT OF TRUE DISCRETION. 
========================================================================

To this Germanus: It has been fully and completely shown both by recent
instances and by the decisions of the ancients how discretion is in some sense
the fountain head and the root of all virtues. We want then to learn how it
ought to be gained, or how we can tell whether it is genuine and from God, or
whether it is spurious and from the devil: so that (to use the figure of that
gospel parable which you discussed on a former occasion, in which we are bidden
to become good money changers [1180] ) we may be able to see the figure of the
true king stamped on the coin and to detect what is not stamped on coin that is
current, and that, as you said in yesterday's talk using an ordinary expression,
we may reject it as counterfeit, under the teaching of that skill which you
treated of with sufficient fulness and detail, and showed ought to belong to the
man who is spiritually a good money changer of the gospel. For of what good will
it be to have recognized the value of that virtue and grace if we do not know
how to seek for it and to gain it?


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 320: CHAPTER X. THE ANSWER HOW TRUE DISCRETION MAY BE GAINED. 
========================================================================

Then Moses: True discretion, said he, is only secured by true humility. And of
this humility the first proof is given by reserving everything (not only what
you do but also what you think), for the scrutiny of the elders, so as not to
trust at all in your own judgment but to acquiesce in their decisions in all
points, and to acknowledge what ought to be considered good or bad by their
traditions. [1181] And this habit will not only teach a young man to walk in the
right path through the true way of discretion, but will also keep him unhurt by
all the crafts and deceits of the enemy. For a man cannot possibly be deceived,
who lives not by his own judgment but according to the example of the elders,
nor will our crafty foe be able to abuse the ignorance of one who is not
accustomed from false modesty to conceal all the thoughts which rise in his
heart, but either checks them or suffers them to remain, in accordance with the
ripened judgment of the elders. For a wrong thought is enfeebled at the moment
that it is discovered: and even before the sentence of discretion has been
given, the foul serpent is by the power of confession dragged out, so to speak,
from his dark under-ground cavern, and in some sense shown up and sent away in
disgrace. For evil thoughts will hold sway in us just so long as they are hidden
in the heart: and that you may gather still more effectually the power of this
judgment I will tell you what Abbot Serapion did, [1182] and what he used often
to tell to the younger brethren for their edification.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 321: CHAPTER XI. THE WORDS OF ABBOT SERAPION ON THE DECLINE OF THOUGHTS THAT ARE EXPOSED TO OTHERS, AND ALSO ON THE DANGER OF SELF-CONFIDENCE. 
========================================================================

While, said he, I was still a lad, and stopping with Abbot Theonas, [1183] this
habit was forced upon me by the assaults of the enemy, that after I had supped
with the old man at the ninth hour, I used every day secretly to hide a biscuit
in my dress, which I would eat on the sly later on without his knowing it. And
though I was constantly guilty of the theft with the consent of my will, and the
want of restraint that springs from desire that has grown inveterate, yet when
my unlawful desire was gratified I would come to myself and torment myself over
the theft committed in a way that overbalanced the pleasure I had enjoyed in the
eating. And when I was forced not without grief of heart to fulfil day after day
this most heavy task required of me, so to speak, by Pharaoh's taskmasters,
instead of bricks, and could not escape from this cruel tyranny, and yet was
ashamed to disclose the secret theft to the old man, it chanced by the will of
God that I was delivered from the yoke of this voluntary captivity, when certain
brethren had sought the old man's cell with the object of being instructed by
him. And when after supper the spiritual conference had begun to be held, and
the old man in answer to the questions which they had propounded was speaking
about the sin of gluttony and the dominion of secret thoughts, and showing their
nature and the awful power which they have so long as they are kept secret, I
was overcome by the power of the discourse and was conscience stricken and
terrified, as I thought that these things were mentioned by him because the Lord
had revealed to the old man my bosom secrets; and first I was moved to secret
sighs, and then my heart's compunction increased and I openly burst into sobs
and tears, and produced from the folds of my dress which shared my theft and
received it, the biscuit which I had carried off in my bad habit to eat on the
sly; and I laid it in the midst and lying on the ground an begging for
forgiveness confessed how I used to eat one every day in secret, and with
copious tears implored them to intreat the Lord to free me from this dreadful
slavery. Then the old man: "Have faith, my child," said he, "Without any words
of mine, your confession frees you from this slavery. For you have today
triumphed over your victorious adversary, by laying him low by your confession
in a manner which more than makes up for the way in which you were overthrown by
him through your former silence, as when, never confuting him with your own
answer or that of another, you had allowed him to lord it over you, according to
that saying of Solomon's: Because sentence is not speedily pronounced against
the evil, the heart of the children of men is full within them to do evil:'
[1184] and therefore after this exposure of him that evil spirit will no longer
be able to vex you, nor will that foul serpent henceforth make his lurking place
in you, as he has been dragged out into light from the darkness by your
life-giving confession." The old man had not finished speaking when lo! a
burning lamp proceeding from the folds of my dress filled the cell with a
sulphureous smell so that the pungency of the odour scarcely allowed us to stay
there: and the old man resuming his admonition said Lo! the Lord has visibly
confirmed to you the truth of my words, so that you can see with your eyes how
he who was the author of His Passion has been driven out from your heart by your
life-giving confession, and know that the enemy who has been exposed will
certainly no longer find a home in you, as his expulsion is made manifest. And
so, as the old man declared, said he, the sway of that diabolical tyranny over
me has been destroyed by the power of this confession and stilled for ever so
that the enemy has never even tried to force upon me any more the recollection
of this desire, nor have I ever felt myself seized with the passion of that
furtive longing. And this meaning we see is neatly expressed in a figure in
Ecclesiastes. "If" says he "a serpent bite without hissing there is no
sufficiency for the charmer," [1185] showing that the bite of a serpent in
silence is dangerous, i.e., if a suggestion or thought springing from the devil
is not by means of confession shown to some charmer, I mean some spiritually
minded person who knows how to heal the wound at once by charms from the
Scripture, and to extract the deadly poison of the serpent from the heart, it
will be impossible to help the sufferer who is already in danger and must soon
die. In this way therefore we shall easily arrive at the knowledge of true
discretion, so as by following the steps of the Elders never to do anything
novel nor to decide anything by or on our own responsibility, but to walk in all
things as we are taught by their tradition and upright life. And the man who is
strengthened by this system will not only arrive at the perfect method of
discretion, but also will remain perfectly safe from all the wiles of the enemy:
for by no other fault does the devil drag down a monk so precipitately and lead
him away to death, as when he persuades him to despise the counsel of the Elders
and to rely on his own opinion and judgment: for if all the arts and
contrivances discovered by man's ingenuity and those which are only useful for
the conveniences of this temporary life, though they can be felt with the hand
and seen with the eye, can yet not be understood by anyone, without lessons from
a teacher, how foolish it is to fancy that there is no need of an instructor in
this one alone which is invisible and secret and can only be seen by the purest
heart, a mistake in which brings about no mere temporary loss or one that can
easily be repaired, but the destruction of the soul and everlasting death: for
it is concerned with a daily and nightly conflict against no visible foes, but
invisible and cruel ones, and a spiritual combat not against one or two only,
but against countless hosts, failure in which is the more dangerous to all, in
proportion as the foe is the fiercer and the attack the more secret. And
therefore we should always follow the footsteps of the Elders with the utmost
care, and bring to them everything which rises in our hearts, by removing the
veil of shame.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 322: CHAPTER XII. A CONFESSION OF THE MODESTY WHICH MADE US ASHAMED TO REVEAL OUR THOUGHTS TO THE ELDERS. 
========================================================================

Germanus: The ground of that hurtful modesty, through which we endeavour to hide
bad thoughts, is especially owing to this reason; viz., that we have heard of a
superior of the Elders in the region of Syria, as it was believed, who, when one
of the brethren had laid bare his thoughts to him in a genuine confession, was
afterwards extremely indignant and severely chid him for them. Whence it results
that while we press them upon our selves and are ashamed to make them known to
the Elders, we cannot obtain the remedies that would heal them.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 323: CHAPTER XIII. THE ANSWER CONCERNING THE TRAMPLING DOWN OF SHAME, AND THE DANGER OF ONE WITHOUT CONTRITION. 
========================================================================

Moses: Just as all young men are not alike in fervour of spirit nor equally
instructed in learning and good morals, so too we cannot find that all old men
are equally perfect and excellent. For the true riches of old men are not to be
measured by grey hairs but by their diligence in youth and the rewards of their
past labours. "For," says one, "the things that thou hast not gathered in thy
youth, how shalt thou find them in thy old age?" "For venerable old age is not
that of long time, nor counted by the number of years: but the understanding of
a man is grey hairs, and a spotless life is old age." [1186] And therefore we
are not to follow in the steps or embrace the traditions and advice of every old
man whose head is covered with grey hairs, and whose age is his sole claim to
respect, but only of those whom we find to have distinguished themselves in
youth in an approved and praiseworthy manner, and to have been trained up not on
self-assurance but on the traditions of the Elders. For there are some, and
unhappily they form the majority, who pass their old age in a lukewarmness which
they contracted in youth, and in sloth, and so obtain authority not from the
ripeness of their character but simply from the number of their years. Against
whom that reproof of the Lord is specially aimed by the prophet: "Strangers have
devoured his strength and he knew it not: yea, grey hairs also are spread about
upon him, and he is ignorant of it." [1187] These men, I say, are not pointed
out as examples to youth from the uprightness of their lives, nor from the
strictness of their profession, which would be worthy of praise and imitation,
but simply from the number of their years; and so the subtle enemy uses their
grey hairs to deceive the younger men, by a wrongful appeal to their authority,
and endeavours in his cunning craftiness to upset and deceive by their example
those who might have been urged into the way of perfection by their advice or
that of others; and drags them down by means of their teaching and practice
either into a baneful indifference, or into deadly despair. And as I want to
give you an instance of this, I will tell you a fact which may supply us with
some wholesome teaching, without giving the name of the actor, lest we might be
guilty of something of the same kind as the man who published abroad the sins of
the brother which had been disclosed to him. When this one, who was not the
laziest of young men, had gone to an old man, whom we know very well, for the
sake of the profit and health of his soul, and had candidly confessed that he
was troubled by carnal appetites and the spirit of fornication, fancying that he
would receive from the old man's words consolation for his efforts, and a cure
for the wounds inflicted on him, the old man attacked him with the bitterest
reproaches, and called him a miserable and disgraceful creature, and unworthy of
the name of monk, while he could be affected by a sin and lust of this
character, and instead of helping him so injured him by his reproaches that he
dismissed him from his cell in a state of hopeless despair and deadly
despondency. And when he, oppressed with such a sorrow, was plunged in deep
thought, no longer how to cure his passion, but how to gratify his lust, the
Abbot Apollos, [1188] the most skilful of the Elders, met him, and seeing by his
looks and gloominess his trouble and the violence of the assault which he was
secretly revolving in his heart, asked him the reason of this upset; and when he
could not possibly answer the old man's gentle inquiry, the latter perceived
more and more clearly that it was not without reason that he wanted to hide in
silence the cause of a gloom so deep that he could not conceal it by his looks,
and so began to ask him still more earnestly the reasons for his hidden grief.
And by this he was forced to confess that he was on his way to a village to take
a wife, and leave the monastery and return to the world, since, as the old man
had told him, he could not be a monk, if he was unable to control the desires of
the flesh and to cure his passion. And then the old man smoothed him down with
kindly consolation, and told him that he himself was daily tried by the same
pricks of desire and lust, and that therefore he ought not to give way to
despair, nor be surprised at the violence of the attack of which he would get
the better not so much by zealous efforts, as by the mercy and grace of the
Lord; and he begged him to put off his intention just for one day, and having
implored him to return to his cell, went as fast as he could to the monastery of
the above mentioned old man -- and when he had drawn near to him he stretched
forth his hands and prayed with tears, and said "O Lord, who alone art the
righteous judge and unseen Physician of secret strength and human weakness, turn
the assault from the young man upon the old one, that he may learn to condescend
to the weakness of sufferers, and to sympathize even in old age with the
frailties of youth." And when he had ended his prayer with tears, he sees a
filthy Ethiopian standing over against his cell and aiming fiery darts at him,
with which he was straightway wounded, and came out of his cell and ran about
hither and thither like a lunatic or a drunken man, and going in and out could
no longer restrain himself in it, but began to hurry off in the same direction
in which the young man had gone. And when Abbot Apollos saw him like a madman
driven wild by the furies, he knew that the fiery dart of the devil which he had
seen, had been fixed in his heart, and had by its intolerable heat wrought in
him this mental aberration and confusion of the understanding; and so he came up
to him and asked "Whither are you hurrying, or what has made you forget the
gravity of years and disturbed you in this childish way, and made you hurry
about so rapidly"? And when he owing to his guilty conscience and confused by
this disgraceful excitement fancied that the lust of his heart was discovered,
and, as the secrets of his heart were known to the old man, did not venture to
return any answer to his inquiries, "Return," said he, "to your cell, and at
last recognize the fact that till now you have been ignored or despised by the
devil, and not counted in the number of those with whom he is daily roused to
fight and struggle against their efforts and earnestness, -- you who could not
-- I will not say ward off, but not even postpone for one day, a single dart of
his aimed at you after so many years spent in this profession of yours. And with
this the Lord has suffered you to be wounded that you may at least learn in your
old age to sympathize with infirmities to which you are a stranger, and may know
from your own case and experience how to condescend to the frailties of the
young, though when you received a young man troubled by an attack from the
devil, you did not encourage him with any consolation, but gave him up in
dejection and destructive despair into the hands of the enemy, to be, as far as
you were concerned, miserably destroyed by him. But the enemy would certainly
never have attacked him with so fierce an onslaught, with which he has up till
now scorned to attack you, unless in his jealousy at the progress he was to
make, he had endeavoured to get the better of that virtue which he saw lay in
his disposition, and to destroy it with his fiery darts, as he knew without the
shadow of a doubt that he was the stronger, since he deemed it worth his while
to attack him with such vehemence. And so learn from your own experience to
sympathize with those in trouble, and never to terrify with destructive despair
those who are in danger, nor harden them with severe speeches, but rather
restore them with gentle and kindly consolations, and as the wise Solomon says,
"Spare not to deliver those who are led forth to death, and to redeem those who
are to be slain," [1189] and after the example of our Saviour, break not the
bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax, [1190] and ask of the Lord that
grace, by means of which you yourself may faithfully learn both in deed and
power to sing: "the Lord hath given me a learned tongue that I should know how
to uphold by word him that is weary:" [1191] for no one could bear the devices
of the enemy, or extinguish or repress those carnal fires which burn with a sort
of natural flame, unless God's grace assisted our weakness, or protected and
supported it. And therefore, as the reason for this salutary incident is over,
by which the Lord meant to set that young man free from dangerous desires and to
teach you something of the violence of their attack, and of the feeling of
compassion, let us together implore Him in prayer, that He may be pleased to
remove that scourge, which the Lord thought good to lay upon you for your good
(for "He maketh sorry and cureth: he striketh and his hands heal. He humbleth
and exalteth, he killeth and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave and
bringeth up") [1192] , and may extinguish with the abundant dew of His Spirit
the fiery darts of the devil, which at my desire He allowed to wound you. And
although the Lord removed this temptation at a single prayer of the old man with
the same speed with which He had suffered it to come upon him, yet He showed by
a clear proof that a man's faults when laid bare were not merely not to be
scolded, but that the grief of one in trouble ought not to be lightly despised.
And therefore never let the clumsiness or shallowness of one old man or of a few
deter you and keep you back from that life-giving way, of which we spoke
earlier, or from the tradition of the Elders, if our crafty enemy makes a
wrongful use of their grey hairs in order to deceive younger men: but without
any cloak of shame everything should be disclosed to the Elders, and remedies
for wounds be faithfully received from them together with examples of life and
conversation: from which we shall find like help and the same sort of result, if
we try to do nothing at all on our own responsibility and judgment.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 324: CHAPTER XIV. OF THE CALL OF SAMUEL. 
========================================================================

Lastly so far has this opinion been shown to be pleasing to God that we see that
this system not without reason finds a place in holy Scripture, so that the Lord
would not of Himself instruct by the method of a Divine colloquy the lad Samuel,
when chosen for judgment, but suffered him to run once or twice to the old man,
and willed that one whom He was calling to converse with Him should be taught
even by one who had offended God, as he was an old man, and preferred that he
whom He had deemed worthy to be called by Him should be trained by the Elder in
order to test the humility of him who was called to a Divine office, and to set
an example to the younger men by the manner of his subjection.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 325: CHAPTER XV. OF THE CALL OF THE APOSTLE PAUL. 
========================================================================

And when Christ in His own Person called and addressed Paul, although He might
have opened out to him at once the way of perfection, yet He chose rather to
direct him to Ananias and commanded him to learn the way of truth from him,
saying: "Arise and go into the city and there it shall be told thee what thou
oughtest to do." [1193] So He sends him to an older man, and thinks good to have
him instructed by his teaching rather than His own, lest what might have been
rightly done in the case of Paul might set a bad example of self-sufficiency, if
each one were to persuade himself that he also ought in like manner to be
trained by the government and teaching of God alone rather than by the
instruction of the Elders. And this self-sufficiency the apostle himself
teaches, not only by his letters but by his acts and deeds, ought to be shunned
with all possible care, as he says that he went up to Jerusalem solely for this
reason; viz., to communicate in a private and informal conference with his
co-apostles and those who were before him that Gospel which he preached to the
Gentiles, the grace of the Holy Spirit accompanying him with powerful signs and
wonders: as he says "And I communicated with them the Gospel which I preach
among the Gentiles lest perhaps I had run or should run in vain." [1194] Who
then is so self-sufficient and blind as to dare to trust in his own judgment and
discretion when the chosen vessel confesses that he had need of conference with
his fellow apostles. Whence we clearly see that the Lord does not Himself show
the way of perfection to anyone who having the opportunity of learning depises
the teaching and training of the Elders, paying no heed to that saying which
ought most carefully to be observed: "Ask thy father and he will show it to
thee: thine Elders and they will tell thee." [1195]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 326: CHAPTER XVI. HOW TO SEEK FOR DISCRETION. 
========================================================================

We ought then with all our might to strive for the virtue of discretion by the
power of humility, as it will keep us uninjured by either extreme, for there is
an old saying akrotetes isotetes, i.e., extremes meet. For excess of fasting and
gluttony come to the same thing, and an unlimited continuance of vigils is
equally injurious to a monk as the torpor of a deep sleep: for when a man is
weakened by excessive abstinence he is sure to return to that condition in which
a man is kept through carelessness and negligence, so that we have often seen
those who could not be deceived by gluttony, destroyed by excessive fasting and
by reason of weakness liable to that passion which they had before overcome.
Unreasonable vigils and nightly watchings have also been the ruin of some whom
sleep could not get the better of: wherefore as the apostle says "with the arms
of righteousness on the right hand and on the left," [1196] we pass on with due
moderation, and walk between the two extremes, under the guidance of discretion,
that we may not consent to be led away from the path of continence marked out
for us, nor fall by undue carelessness into the pleasures of the palate and
belly.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 327: CHAPTER XVII. ON EXCESSIVE FASTS AND VIGILS. 
========================================================================

For I remember that I had so often resisted the desire for food, that having
abstained from taking any for two or three days, my mind was not troubled even
by the recollection of any eatables and also that sleep was by the assaults of
the devil so far removed from my eyes, that for several days and nights I used
to pray the Lord to grant a little sleep to my eyes; and then I felt that I was
in greater peril from the want of food and sleep than from struggling against
sloth and gluttony. And so as we ought to be careful not to fall into dangerous
effeminacy through desire for bodily gratification, nor indulge ourselves with
eating before the right time nor take too much, so also we ought to refresh
ourselves with food and sleep at the proper time even if we dislike it. For the
struggle in each case is caused by the devices of the enemy; and excessive
abstinence is still more injurious to us than careless satiety: for from this
latter the intervention of a healthy compunction will raise us to the right
measure of strictness, and not from the former.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 328: CHAPTER XVIII. A QUESTION ON THE RIGHT MEASURE OF ABSTINENCE AND REFRESHMENT. 
========================================================================

Germanus: What then is the measure of abstinence by keeping which with even
balance we shall succeed in passing unharmed between the two extremes?


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 329: CHAPTER XIX. OF THE BEST PLAN FOR OUR DAILY FOOD. 
========================================================================

Moses: On this matter we are aware that there have been frequent discussions
among our Elders. For in discussing the abstinence of some who supported their
lives continually on nothing but beans or only on vegetables and fruits, they
proposed to all of them to partake of bread alone, the right measure of which
they fixed at two biscuits, so small that they assuredly scarcely weighed a
pound.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 330: CHAPTER XX. AN OBJECTION ON THE EASE OF THAT ABSTINENCE IN WHICH A MAN IS SUSTAINED BY TWO BISCUITS. 
========================================================================

And this we gladly embraced, and answered that we should scarcely consider this
limit as abstinence, as we could not possibly reach it entirely.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 331: CHAPTER XXI. THE ANSWER CONCERNING THE VALUE AND MEASURE OF WELL-PROVED ABSTINENCE. 
========================================================================

Moses: If you want to test the force of this rule, keep to this limit
continually, never departing from it by taking any cooked food even on Sunday or
Saturday, or on the occasions of the arrival of any of the brethren; for the
flesh, refreshed by these exceptions, is able not only to support itself through
the rest of the week on a smaller quantity, but can also postpone all
refreshment without difficulty, as it is sustained by the addition of that food
which it has taken beyond the limit; while the man who has always been satisfied
with the full amount of the above-mentioned measure will never be able to do
this, nor to put off breaking his fast till the morrow. For I remember that our
Elders (and I recollect that we ourselves also often had the same experience)
found it so hard and difficult to practise this abstinence, and observed the
rule laid down with such pain and hunger that it was almost against their will
and with tears and lamentation that they set this limit to their meals.


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  CHAPTER 332: CHAPTER XXII. WHAT IS THE USUAL LIMIT BOTH OF ABSTINENCE AND OF PARTAKING FOOD. 
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But this is the usual limit of abstinence; viz., for everyone to allow himself
food according to the requirements of his strength or bodily frame or age, in
such quantity as is required for the support of the flesh, and not for the
satisfactory feeling of repletion. For on both sides a man will suffer the
greatest injury, if having no fixed rule at one time he pinches his stomach with
meagre food and fasts, and at another stuffs it by over-eating himself; for as
the mind which is enfeebled for lack of food loses vigour in praying, while it
is worn out with excessive weakness of the flesh and forced to doze, so again
when weighed down with over-eating it cannot pour forth to God pure and free
prayers: nor will it succeed in preserving uninterruptedly the purity of its
chastity, while even on those days on which it seems to chastise the flesh with
severer abstinence, it feeds the fire of carnal desire with the fuel of the food
that it has already taken.


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  CHAPTER 333: CHAPTER XXIII. QUEMADMODUM ABUNDANTIA UMORUM GENITALIUM CASTIGETUR. 
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Nam quod semel per escarum abundantian concretus fuerit in medullis, necesse est
egeri atque ab ipsa naturæ lege propelli, quæ exuberantiam cujuslibet umoris
superflui velut noxiam sibi atque contrariam in semet ipsa residere non patitur
ideoque rationabili semper et æquali est corpus nostrum parsimonia castigandum,
ut si naturali hac necessitate commorantes in carne omnimodis carere non
possumus, saltim rarius nos et non amplius quamtrina vice ista conluvione
respersos totius anni cursus inveniat, quod tamen sine ullo pruritu quietus
egerat sopor, non fallax imago index occultæ voluptatis eliciat. Wherefore this
is the moderate and even allowance and measure of abstinence, of which we spoke,
which has the approval also of the judgment of the fathers; viz., that daily
hunger should go hand in hand with our daily meals, preserving both body and
soul in one and the same condition, and not allowing the mind either to faint
through weariness from fasting, nor to be oppressed by over-eating, for it ends
in such a sparing diet that sometimes a man neither notices nor remembers in the
evening that he has broken his fast.


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  CHAPTER 334: CHAPTER XXIV. OF THE DIFFICULTY OF UNIFORMITY IN EATING; AND OF THE GLUTTONY OF BROTHER BENJAMIN. 
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And so far is this not done without difficulty, that those who know nothing of
perfect discretion would rather prolong their fasts for two days, and reserve
for tomorrow what they should have eaten today, so that when they come to
partake of food they may enjoy as much as they can desire. And you know that
lastly your fellow citizen Benjamin most obstinately stuck to this: as he would
not every day partake of his two biscuits, nor, continually take his meagre fare
with uniform self-discipline, but preferred always to continue his fasts for two
days that when he came to eat he might fill his greedy stomach with a double
portion, and by eating four biscuits enjoy a comfortable sense of repletion, and
manage to fill his belly by means of a two days' fast. And you doubtless
remember what sort of an end there was to the life of this man who obstinately
and pertinaciously relied on his own judgment rather than on the traditions of
the Elders, for he forsook the desert and returned back to the vain philosophy
of this world and earthly vanities, and so confirmed the above mentioned opinion
of the Elders by the example of his downfall, and by his destruction teaches a
lesson that no one who trusts in his own opinion and judgment can possibly climb
the heights of perfection, nor fail to be deceived by the dangerous wiles of the
devil.


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  CHAPTER 335: CHAPTER XXV. A QUESTION HOW IS IT POSSIBLE ALWAYS TO OBSERVE ONE AND THE SAME MEASURE. 
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Germanus: How then can we observe this measure without ever breaking it? for
sometimes at the ninth hour when the Station fast [1198] is over, brethren come
to see us and then we must either for their sakes add something to our fixed and
customary portion, or certainly fail in that courtesy which we are told to show
to everybody.


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  CHAPTER 336: CHAPTER XXVI. THE ANSWER HOW WE SHOULD NOT EXCEED THE PROPER MEASURE OF FOOD. 
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Moses: Both duties must be observed in the same way and with equal care: for we
ought most scrupulously to preserve the proper allowance of food for the sake of
our abstinence, and in like manner out of charity to show courtesy and
encouragement to any of the brethren who may arrive; because it is absolutely
ridiculous when you offer food to a brother, nay, to Christ Himself, not to
partake of it with him, but to make yourself a stranger to his repast. And so we
shall keep clear of guilt on either hand if we observe this plan; viz., at the
ninth hour to partake of one of the two biscuits which form our proper canonical
allowance, and to keep back the other to the evening, in expectation of
something like this, that if any of the brethren comes to see us we may partake
of it with him, and so add nothing to our own customary allowance: and by this
arrangement the arrival of our brother which ought to be a pleasure to us will
cause us no inconvenience: since we shall show him the civilities which courtesy
requires in such a way as to relax nothing of the strictness of our abstinence.
But if no one should come, we may freely take this last biscuit as belonging to
us according to our canonical rule, and by this frugality of ours as a single
biscuit was taken at the ninth hour, our stomach will not be overloaded at
eventide, a thing which is often the case with those who under the idea that
they are observing a stricter abstinence put off all their repast till evening;
for the fact that we have but recently taken food hinders our intellect from
being bright and keen both in our evening and in our nocturnal prayers, and so
at the ninth hour a convenient and suitable time has been allowed for food, in
which a monk can refresh himself and so find that he is not only fresh and
bright during his nocturnal vigils, but also perfectly ready for his evening
prayers, as his food is already digested. With such a banquet of two courses, as
it were, the holy Moses feasted us, showing us not only the grace and power of
discretion by his present learned speech, but also the method of renunciation
and the end and aim of the monastic life by the discussion previously held; so
as to make clearer than daylight what we had hitherto pursued simply with
fervour of spirit and zeal for God but with closed eyes, and to make us feel how
far we had up till then wandered from purity of heart and the straight line of
our course, since the practice of all visible arts belonging to this life cannot
possibly stand without an understanding of their aim, nor can it be taken in
hand without a clear view of a definite end.


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  CHAPTER 337: III. CONFERENCE OF ABBOT PAPHNUTIUS.
========================================================================

On the Three Sorts of Renunciations.


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  CHAPTER 338: CHAPTER I. OF THE LIFE AND CONDUCT OF ABBOT PAPHNUTIUS. 
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In that choir of saints who shine like brilliant stars in the night of this
world, we have seen the holy Paphnutius, [1199] like some great luminary,
shining with the brightness of knowledge. For he was a presbyter of our company,
I mean of those whose abode was in the desert of Scete, where he lived to
extreme old age, without ever moving from his cell, of which he had taken
possession when still young, and which was five miles from the church, even to
nearer districts; nor was he when worn out with years hindered by the distance
from going to Church on Saturday or Sunday. But not wanting to return from
thence empty handed he would lay on his shoulders a bucket of water to last him
all the week, and carry it back to his cell, and even when he was past ninety
would not suffer it to be fetched by the labour of younger men. He then from his
earliest youth threw himself into the monastic discipline with such fervour that
when he had spent only a short time in it, he was endowed with the virtue of
submission, as well as the knowledge of all good qualities. For by the practice
of humility and obedience he mortified all his desires, and by this stamped out
all his faults and acquired every virtue which the monastic system and the
teaching of the ancient fathers produces, and, inflamed with desire for still
further advances, he was eager to penetrate into the recesses of the desert, so
that, with no human companions to disturb him, he might be more readily united
to the Lord, to whom he longed to be inseparably joined, even while he still
lived in the society of the brethren. And there once more in his excessive
fervour he outstripped the virtues of the Anchorites, and in his eager desire
for continual divine meditation avoided the sight of them: and he plunged into
solitary places yet wilder and more inaccessible, and hid himself for a long
while in them, so that, as the Anchorites themselves only with great difficulty
caught a glimpse of him every now and then, the belief was that he enjoyed and
delighted in the daily society of angels, and because of this remarkable
characteristic of his [1200] he was surnamed by them the Buffalo.


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  CHAPTER 339: CHAPTER II. OF THE DISCOURSE OF THE SAME OLD MAN, AND OUR REPLY TO IT. 
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As then we were anxious to learn from his teaching, we came in some agitation to
his cell towards evening. And after a short silence he began to commend our
undertaking, because we had left our homes, and had visited so many countries
out of love for the Lord, and were endeavouring with all our might to endure
want and the trials of the desert, and to imitate their severe life, which even
those who had been born and bred in the same state of want and penury, could
scarcely put up with; and we replied that we had come for his teaching and
instruction in order that we might be to some extent initiated in the customs of
so great a man, and in that perfection which we had known from many evidences to
exist in him, not that we might be honoured by any commendations to which we had
no right, or be puffed up with any elation of mind, (with which we were
sometimes exercised in our own cells at the suggestion of our enemy) in
consequence of any words of his. Wherefore we begged him rather to lay before us
what would make us humble and contrite, and not what would flatter us and puff
us up.


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  CHAPTER 340: CHAPTER III. THE STATEMENT OF ABBOT PAPHNUTIUS ON THE THREE KINDS OF VOCATIONS, AND THE THREE SORTS OF RENUNCIATIONS. 
========================================================================

Then The Blessed Paphnutius: There are, said he, three kinds of vocations. And
we know that there are three sorts of renunciations as well, which are necessary
to a monk, whatever his vocation may be. And we ought diligently to examine
first the reason for which we said that there were three kinds of vocations,
that when we are sure that we are summoned to God's service in the first stage
of our vocation, we may take care that our life is in harmony with the exalted
height to which we are called, for it will be of no use to have made a good
beginning if we do not show forth an end corresponding to it. But if we feel
that only in the last resort have we been dragged away from a worldly life,
then, as it appears that we rest on a less satisfactory beginning as regards
religion, so must we proportionately make the more earnest endeavours to rouse
ourselves with spiritual fervour to make a better end. It is well too on every
ground for us to know secondly the manner of the threefold renunciations because
we shall never be able to attain perfection, if we are ignorant of it or if we
know it, but do not attempt to carry it out in act.


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  CHAPTER 341: CHAPTER IV. AN EXPLANATION OF THE THREE CALLINGS. 
========================================================================

To make clear therefore the main differences between these three kinds of
calling, the first is from God, the second comes through man, the third is from
compulsion. And a calling is from God whenever some inspiration has taken
possession of our heart, and even while we are asleep stirs in us at desire for
eternal life and salvation, and bids us follow God and cleave to His
commandments with life-giving contrition: as we read in Holy Scripture that
Abraham was called by the voice of the Lord from his native country, and all his
dear relations, and his father's house; when the Lord said "Get thee out from
thy country and from thy kinsfolk and from thy father's house." [1201] And in
this way we have heard that the blessed Antony also was called, [1202] the
occasion of whose conversion was received from God alone. For on entering a
church he there heard in the Gospel the Lord saying: "Whoever hateth not father
and mother and children and wife and lands, yea and his own soul also, cannot be
my disciple;" and "if thou wilt be perfect, go sell all that thou hast, and give
to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, follow me:"
[1203] And with heartfelt contrition he took this charge of the Lord as if
specially aimed at him, and at once gave up everything and followed Christ,
without any incitement thereto from the advice and teaching of men. The second
kind of calling is that which we said took place through man; viz., when we are
stirred up by the example of some of the saints, and their advice, and thus
inflamed with the desire of salvation: and by this we never forget that by the
grace of the Lord we ourselves were summoned, as we were aroused by the advice
and good example of the above-mentioned saint, to give ourselves up to this aim
and calling; and in this way also we find in Holy Scripture that it was through
Moses that the children of Israel were delivered from the Egyptian bondage. But
the third kind of calling is that which comes from compulsion, when we have been
involved in the riches and pleasures of this life, and temptations suddenly come
upon us and either threaten us with peril of death, or smite us with the loss
and confiscation of our goods, or strike us down with the death of those dear to
us, and thus at length even against our will we are driven to turn to God whom
we scorned to follow in the days of our wealth. And of this compulsory call we
often find instances in Scripture, when we read that on account of their sins
the children of Israel were given up by the Lord to their enemies; and that on
account of their tyranny and savage cruelty they turned again, and cried to the
Lord. And it says: "The Lord sent them a Saviour, called Ehud, the son of Gera,
the son of Jemini, who used the left hand as well as the right:" and again we
are told, "they cried unto the Lord, who raised them up a Saviour and delivered
them, to wit, Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother." [1204] And it
is of such that the Psalm speaks: "When He slew them, then they sought Him: and
they returned and came to Him early in the morning: and they remembered that God
was their helper, and the most High God their redeemer." And again: "And they
cried unto the Lord when they were troubled, and He delivered them out of their
distress." [1205]


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  CHAPTER 342: CHAPTER V. HOW THE FIRST OF THESE CALLS IS OF NO USE TO A SLUGGARD, AND THE LAST IS NO HINDRANCE TO ONE WHO IS IN EARNEST. 
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Of these three calls then, although the two former may seem to rest on better
principles, yet sometimes we find that even by the third grade, which seems the
lowest and the coldest, men have been made perfect and most earnest in spirit,
and have become like those who made an admirable beginning in approaching the
Lord's service, and passed the rest of their lives also in most laudable fervour
of spirit: and again we find that from the higher grade very many have grown
cold, and often have come to a miserable end. And just as it was no hindrance to
the former class that they seemed to be converted not of their own free will,
but by force and compulsion, in as much as the loving kindness of the Lord
secured for them the opportunity for repentance, so too to the latter it was of
no avail that the early days of their conversion were so bright, because they
were not careful to bring the remainder of their life to a suitable end. For in
the case of Abbot Moses, [1206] who lived in a spot in the wilderness called
Calamus, [1207] nothing was wanting to his merits and perfect bliss, in
consequence of the fact that he was driven to flee to the monastery through fear
of death, which was hanging over him because of a murder; for he made such use
of his compulsory conversion that with ready zeal he turned it into a voluntary
one and climbed the topmost heights of perfection. As also on the other hand; to
very many, whose names I ought not to mention, it has been of no avail that they
entered on the Lord's service with better beginning than this, as afterwards
sloth and hardness of heart crept over them, and they fell into a dangerous
state of torpor, and the bottomless pit of death, an instance of which we see
clearly indicated in the call of the Apostles. For of what good was it to Judas
that he had of his own free will embraced the highest grade of the Apostolate in
the same way in which Peter and the rest of the Apostles had been summoned, as
he allowed the splendid beginning of his call to terminate in a ruinous end of
cupidity and covetousness, and as a cruel murderer even rushed into the betrayal
of the Lord? Or what hindrance was it to Paul that he was suddenly blinded, and
seemed to be drawn against his will into the way of salvation, as afterwards he
followed the Lord with complete fervour of soul, and having begun by compulsion
completed it by a free and voluntary devotion, and terminated with a magnificent
end a life that was rendered glorious by such great deeds? Everything therefore
depends upon the end; in which one who was consecrated by a noble conversion at
the outset may through carelessness turn out a failure, and one who was
compelled by necessity to adopt the monastic life may through fear of God and
earnestness be made perfect.


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  CHAPTER 343: CHAPTER VI. AN ACCOUNT OF THE THREE SORTS OF RENUNCIATIONS. 
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We must now speak of the renunciations, of which tradition and the authority of
Holy Scripture show us three, and which every one of us ought with the utmost
zeal to make complete. The first is that by which as far as the body is
concerned we make light of all the wealth and goods of this world; the second,
that by which we reject the fashions and vices and former affections of soul and
flesh; the third, that by which we detach our soul from all present and visible
things, and contemplate only things to come, and set our heart on what is
invisible. And we read that the Lord charged Abraham to do all these three at
once, when He said to him "Get thee out from thy country, and thy kinsfolk, and
thy father's house." [1208] First He said "from thy country," i.e., from the
goods of this world, and earthly riches: secondly, "from thy kinsfolk," i.e.,
from this former life and habits and sins, which cling to us from our very birth
and are joined to us as it were by ties of affinity and kinship: thirdly, "from
thy father's house," i.e., from all the recollection of this world, which the
sight of the eyes can afford. For of the two fathers, i.e., of the one who is to
be forsaken, and of the one who is to be sought, David thus speaks in the person
of God: "Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear: forget also
thine own people and thy father's house:" [1209] for the person who says
"Hearken, O daughter," is certainly a Father; and yet he bears witness that the
one, whose house and people he urges should be forgotten, is none the less
father of his daughter. And this happens when being dead with Christ to the
rudiments of this world, we no longer, as the Apostle says, regard "the things
which are seen, but those which are not seen, for the things which are not seen
are eternal," [1210] and going forth in heart from this temporal and visible
home, turn our eyes and heart towards that in which we are to remain for ever.
And this we shall succeed in doing when, while we walk in the flesh, we are no
longer at war with the Lord according to the flesh, proclaiming in deed and
actions the truth of that saying of the blessed Apostle "Our conversation is in
heaven." [1211] To these three sorts of renunciations the three books of Solomon
suitably correspond. For Proverbs answers to the first renunciation, as in it
the desires for carnal things and earthly sins are repressed; to the second
Ecclesiastes corresponds, as there everything which is done under the sun is
declared to be vanity; to the third the Song of Songs, in which the soul soaring
above all things visible, is actually joined to the word of God by the
contemplation of heavenly things.


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  CHAPTER 344: CHAPTER VII. HOW WE CAN ATTAIN PERFECTION IN EACH OF THESE SORTS OF RENUNCIATIONS. 
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Wherefore it will not be of much advantage to us that we have made our first
renunciation with the utmost devotion and faith, if we do not complete the
second with the same zeal and ardour. And so when we have succeeded in this, we
shall be able to arrive at the third as well, in which we go forth from the
house of our former parent, (who, as we know well, was our father from our very
birth, after the old man, when we were "by nature children of wrath, as others
also," [1212] ) and fix our whole mental gaze on things celestial. And of this
father Scripture says to Jerusalem which had despised God the true Father, "Thy
father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite;" [1213] and in the gospel we
read "Ye are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father ye love to
do." [1214] And when we have left him, as we pass from things visible to things
unseen we shall be able to say with the Apostle: "But we know that if our
earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved we have a habitation from God, a
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens," [1215] and this also, which
we quoted a little while ago: "But our conversation is in heaven, whence also we
look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus, who will reform the body of our low estate
made like to the body of His glory," [1216] and this of the blessed David: "For
I am a sojourner upon the earth," and "a stranger as all my fathers were;"
[1217] so that we may in accordance with the Lord's word be made like those of
whom the Lord speaks to His Father in the gospel as follows: "They are not of
the world, as I am not of the world," [1218] and again to the Apostles
themselves: "If ye were of this world, the world would love its own: but because
ye are not of this world, therefore the world hateth you." [1219] Of this third
renunciation then we shall succeed in reaching the perfection, whenever our soul
is sullied by no stain of carnal coarseness, but, all such having been carefully
eliminated, it has been freed from every earthly quality and desire, and by
constant meditation on things Divine, and spiritual contemplation has so far
passed on to things unseen, that in its earnest seeking after things above and
things spiritual it no longer feels that it is prisoned in this fragile flesh,
and bodily form, but is caught up into such an ecstasy as not only to hear no
words with the outward ear, or to busy itself with gazing on the forms of things
present, but not even to see things close at hand, or large objects straight
before the very eyes. And of this no one can understand the truth and force,
except one who has made trial of what has been said, under the teaching of
experience; viz., one, the eyes of whose soul the Lord has turned away from all
things present, so that he no longer considers them as things that will soon
pass away, but as things that are already done with, and sees them vanish into
nothing, like misty smoke; and like Enoch, "walking with God," and "translated"
from human life and fashions, not "be found" amid the vanities of this life. And
that this actually happened corporeally in the case of Enoch the book of Genesis
thus tells us. "And Enoch walked with God, and was not found, for God translated
him." And the Apostle also says: "By faith Enoch was translated that he should
not see death," the death namely of which the Lord says in the gospel: "He that
liveth and believeth in me shall not die eternally." [1220] Wherefore, if we are
anxious to attain true perfection, we ought to look to it that as we have
outwardly with the body made light of parents, home, the riches and pleasures of
the world, we may also inwardly with the heart forsake all these things and
never be drawn back by any desires to those things which we have forsaken, as
those who were led up by Moses, though they did not literally go back, are yet
said to have returned in heart to Egypt; viz., by forsaking God who had led them
forth with such mighty signs, and by worshipping the idols of Egypt of which
they had thought scorn, as Scripture says: "And in their hearts they turned back
into Egypt, saying to Aaron: Make us gods to go before us," [1221] for we should
fall into like condemnation with those who, while dwelling in the wilderness,
after they had tasted manna from heaven, lusted after the filthy food of sins,
and of mean baseness, and should seem together with them to murmur in the same
way: "It was well with us in Egypt, when we sat over the flesh pots and ate the
onions, and garlic, and cucumbers, and melons:" [1222] A form of speech, which,
although it referred primarily to that people, we yet see fulfilled today in our
own case and mode of life: for everyone who after renouncing this world turns
back to his old desires, and reverts to his former likings asserts in heart and
act the very same thing that they did, and says "It was well with me in Egypt,"
and I am afraid that the number of these will be as large as that of the
multitudes of backsliders of whom we read under Moses, for though they were
reckoned as six hundred and three thousand armed men who came out of Egypt, of
this number not more than two entered the land of promise. Wherefore we should
be careful to take examples of goodness from those who are few and far between,
because according to that figure of which we have spoken in the gospel "Many are
called but few" are said to be "chosen." [1223] A renunciation then in body
alone, and a mere change of place from Egypt will not do us any good, if we do
not succeed in achieving that renunciation in heart, which is far higher and
more valuable. For of that mere bodily renunciation of which we have spoken the
apostle declares as follows: "Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and
give my body to be burned, but have not charity, it profiteth me nothing."
[1224] And the blessed Apostle would never have said this had it not been that
he foresaw by the spirit that some who had given all their goods to feed the
poor would not be able to attain to evangelical perfection and the lofty heights
of charity, because while pride or impatience ruled over their hearts they were
not careful to purify themselves from their former sins, and unrestrained
habits, and on that account could never attain to that love of God which never
faileth, and these, as they fall short in this second stage of renunciation, can
still less reach that third stage which is most certainly far higher. But
consider too in your minds with great care the fact that he did not simply say
"If I bestow my goods." For it might perhaps be thought that he spoke of one who
had not fulfilled the command of the gospel, but had kept back something for
himself, as some half-hearted persons do. But he says "Though I bestow all my
goods to feed the poor," i.e., even if my renunciation of those earthly riches
be perfect. And to this renunciation he adds something still greater: "And
though I give my body to be burned, but have not charity, I am nothing:" As if
he had said in other words, though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor in
accordance with that command in the gospel, where we are told "If thou wilt be
perfect, go sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have
treasure in heaven," [1225] renouncing them so as to keep back nothing at all
for myself, and though to this distribution (of my goods) I should by the
burning of my flesh add martyrdom so as to give up my body for Christ, and yet
be impatient, or passionate or envious or proud, or excited by wrongs done by
others, or seek what is mine, or indulge in evil thoughts, or not be ready and
patient in bearing all that can be inflicted on me, this renunciation and the
burning of the outer man will profit me nothing, while the inner man is still
involved in the former sins, because, while in the fervour of the early days of
my conversion I made light of the mere worldly substance, which is said to be
not good or evil in itself but indifferent, I took no care to cast out in like
manner the injurious powers of a bad heart, or to attain to that love of the
Lord which is patient, which is "kind, which envieth not, is not puffed up, is
not soon angry, dealeth not perversely, seeketh not her own, thinketh no evil,"
which "beareth all things, endureth all things," [1226] and which lastly never
suffers him who follows after it to fall by the deceitfulness of sin.


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  CHAPTER 345: CHAPTER VIII. OF OUR VERY OWN POSSESSIONS IN WHICH THE BEAUTY OF THE SOUL IS SEEN OR ITS FOULNESS. 
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We ought then to take the utmost care that our inner man as well may cast off
and make away with all those possessions of its sins, which it acquired in its
former life: which as they continually cling to body and soul are our very own,
and, unless we reject them and cut them off while we are still in the flesh,
will not cease to accompany us after death. For as good qualities, or charity
itself which is their source, may be gained in this world, and after the close
of this life make the man who loves it lovely and glorious, so our faults
transmit to that eternal remembrance a mind darkened and stained with foul
colours. For the beauty or ugliness of the soul is the product of its virtues or
its vices, the colour it takes from which either makes it so glorious, that it
may well hear from the prophet "And the king shall have pleasure in thy beauty,"
[1227] or so black, and foul, and ugly, that it must surely acknowledge the
stench of its shame, and say "My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my
foolishness," [1228] and the Lord Himself says to it "Why is not the wound of
the daughter of my people closed?" [1229] And therefore these are our very own
possessions, which continually remain with the soul, which no king and no enemy
can either give or take away from us. These are our very own possessions which
not even death itself can part from the soul, but by renouncing which we can
attain to perfection, and by clinging to which we shall suffer the punishment of
eternal death.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 346: CHAPTER IX. OF THREE SORTS OF POSSESSIONS. 
========================================================================

Riches and possessions are taken in Holy Scripture in three different ways,
i.e., as good, bad, and indifferent. Those are bad, of which it is said: "The
rich have wanted and have suffered hunger," [1230] and "Woe unto you that are
rich, for ye have received your consolation:" [1231] and to have cast off these
riches is the height of perfection; and a distinction which belongs to those
poor who are commended in the gospel by the Lord's saying: "Blessed are the poor
in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven;" [1232] and in the Psalm: "This
poor man cried, and the Lord heard him," [1233] and again: "The poor and needy
shall praise thy name." [1234] Those riches are good, to acquire which is the
work of great virtue and merit, and the righteous possessor of which is praised
by David who says "The generation of the righteous shall be blessed: glory and
riches are in his house, and his righteousness remaineth for ever:" [1235] and
again "the ransom of a man's life are his riches." [1236] And of these riches it
is said in the Apocalypse to him who has them not and to his shame is poor and
naked: "I will begin," says he, "to vomit thee out of my mouth. Because thou
sayest I am rich and wealthy and have need of nothing: and knowest not that thou
art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I counsel thee to buy
of me gold fire-tried, that thou mayest be made rich, and mayest be clothed in
white garments, and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear." [1237]
There are some also which are indifferent, i.e., which may be made either good
or bad: for they are made either one or the other in accordance with the will
and character of those who use them: of which the blessed, Apostle says "Charge
the rich of this world not to be high-minded nor to trust in the uncertainty of
riches, but in God (who giveth us abundantly all things to enjoy), to do good,
to give easily, to communicate to others, to lay up in store for themselves a
good foundation that they may lay hold on the true life." [1238] These are what
the rich man in the gospel kept, and never distributed to the poor, -- while the
beggar Lazarus was lying at his gate and desiring to be fed with his crumbs; and
so he was condemned to the unbearable flames and everlasting heat of hell-fire.
[1239]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 347: CHAPTER X. THAT NONE CAN BECOME PERFECT MERELY THROUGH THE FIRST GRADE OF RENUNCIATION. 
========================================================================

In leaving then these visible goods of the world we forsake not our own wealth,
but that which is not ours, although we boast of it as either gained by our own
exertions or inherited by us from our forefathers. For as I said nothing is our
own, save this only which we possess with our heart, and which cleaves to our
soul, and therefore cannot be taken away from us by any one. But Christ speaks
in terms of censure of those visible riches, to those who clutch them as if they
were their own, and refuse to share them with those in want. "If ye have not
been faithful in what is another's, who will give to you what is your own?"
[1240] Plainly then it is not only daily experience which teaches us that these
riches are not our own, but this saying of our Lord also, by the very title
which it gives them. But concerning visible [1241] and worthless riches Peter
says to the Lord: "Lo, we have left all and followed thee. What shall we have
therefore?" [1242] when it is clear that they had left nothing but their
miserable broken nets. And unless this expression "all" is understood to refer
to that renunciation of sins which is really great and important, we shall not
find that the Apostles had left anything of any value, or that the Lord had any
reason for bestowing on them the blessing of so great glory, that they were
allowed to hear from Him that "in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall
sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging
the twelve tribes of Israel." [1243] If then those, who have completely
renounced their earthly and visible goods, cannot for sufficient reason attain
to Apostolic charity, nor climb with readiness and vigour to that third stage of
renunciation which is still higher and belongs to but few, what should those
think of themselves, who do not even make that first step (which is very easy) a
thorough one, but keep together with their old want of faith, their former
sordid riches, and fancy that they can boast of the mere name of monks? The
first renunciation then of which we spoke is of what is not our own, and
therefore is not enough of itself to confer perfection on the renunciant, unless
he advances to the second, which is really and truly a renunciation of what
belongs to us. And when we have made sure of this by the expulsion of all our
faults, we shall mount to the heights of the third renunciation also, whereby we
rise above not merely all those things which are done in this world or specially
belong to men, but even that whole universe around us which is esteemed so
glorious, and shall with heart and soul look down upon it as subject to vanity
and destined soon to pass away; as we look, as the Apostle says, "not on those
things which are seen, but on those which are not seen: for the things that are
seen, are temporal, and the things which are not seen are eternal;" [1244] that
so we may be found worthy to hear that highest utterance, which was spoken to
Abraham: "and come into a land which I will show thee," [1245] which clearly
shows that unless a man has made those three former renunciations with all
earnestness of mind, he cannot attain to this fourth, which is granted as a
reward and privilege to one whose renunciation is perfect, that he may be found
worthy to enter the land of promise which no longer bears for him the thorns and
thistles of sins; which after all the passions have been driven out is acquired
by purity of heart even in the body, and which no good deeds or exertions of
man's efforts (can gain), but which the Lord Himself promises to show, saying
"And come into the land which I will show to thee:" which clearly proves that
the beginning of our salvation results from the call of the Lord, Who says "Get
thee out from thy country," and that the completion of perfection and purity is
His gift in the same way, as He says "And come into the land which I will show
thee," i.e., not one you yourself can know or discover by your own efforts, but
one which I will show not only to one who is ignorant of it, but even to one who
is not looking for it. And from this we clearly gather that as we hasten to the
way of salvation through being stirred up by the inspiration of the Lord, so too
it is under the guidance of His direction and illumination that we attain to the
perfection of the highest bliss.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 348: CHAPTER XI. A QUESTION ON THE FREE WILL OF MAN AND THE GRACE OF GOD. 
========================================================================

Germanus: Where then is there room for free will, and how is it ascribed to our
efforts that we are worthy of praise, if God both begins and ends everything in
us which concerns our salvation?


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 349: CHAPTER XII. THE ANSWER ON THE ECONOMY OF DIVINE GRACE, WITH FREE WILL STILL REMAINING IN US. 
========================================================================

Paphnutius: This would fairly influence us, if in every work and practice, the
beginning and the end were everything, and there were no middle in between. And
so as we know that God creates opportunities of salvation in various ways, it is
in our power to make use of the opportunities granted to us by heaven more or
less earnestly. For just as the offer came from God Who called him "get thee out
of thy country," so the obedience was on the part of Abraham who went forth; and
as the fact that the saying "Come into the land" was carried into action, was
the work of him who obeyed, so the addition of the words "which I will show
thee" came from the grace of God Who commanded or promised it. But it is well
for us to be sure that although we practise every virtue with unceasing efforts,
yet with all our exertions and zeal we can never arrive at perfection, nor is
mere human diligence and toil of itself sufficient to deserve to reach the
splendid reward of bliss, unless we have secured it by means of the co-operation
of the Lord, and His directing our heart to what is right. And so we ought every
moment to pray and say with David "Order my steps in thy paths that my footsteps
slip not:" [1246] and "He hath set my feet upon a rock and ordered my goings:"
[1247] that He Who is the unseen ruler of the human heart may vouchsafe to turn
to the desire of virtue that will of ours, which is more readily inclined to
vice either through want of knowledge of what is good, or through the delights
of passion. And we read this in a verse in which the prophet sings very plainly:
"Being pushed I was overturned that I might fall," where the weakness of our
free will is shown. And "the Lord sustained me:" [1248] again this shows that
the Lord's help is always joined to it, and by this, that we may not be
altogether destroyed by our free will, when He sees that we have stumbled, He
sustains and supports us, as it were by stretching out His hand. And again: "If
I said my foot was moved;" viz., from the slippery character of the will, "Thy
mercy, O Lord, helped me." [1249] Once more he joins on the help of God to his
own weakness, as he confesses that it was not owing to his own efforts but to
the mercy of God, that the foot of his faith was not moved. And again:
"According to the multitude of the sorrows which I had in my heart," which
sprang most certainly from my free will, "Thy comforts have refreshed my soul,"
[1250] i.e., by coming through Thy inspiration into my heart, and laying open
the view of future blessings which Thou hast prepared for them who labour in Thy
name, they not only removed all anxiety from my heart, but actually conferred
upon it the greatest delight. And again: "Had it not been that the Lord helped
me, my soul had almost dwelt in hell." [1251] He certainly shows that through
the depravity of this free will he would have dwelt in hell, had he not been
saved by the assistance and protection of the Lord. For "By the Lord," and not
by free-will, "are a man's steps directed," and "although the righteous fall" at
least by free will, "he shall not be cast away." And why? because "the Lord
upholdeth him with His hand:" [1252] and this is to say with the utmost
clearness: None of the righteous are sufficient of themselves to acquire
righteousness, unless every moment when they stumble and fall the Divine mercy
supports them with His hands, that they may not utterly collapse and perish,
when they have been cast down through the weakness of free will.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 350: CHAPTER XIII. THAT THE ORDERING OF OUR WAY COMES FROM GOD. 
========================================================================

And truly the saints have never said that it was by their own efforts that they
secured the direction of the way in which they walked in their course towards
advance and perfection of virtue, but rather they prayed for it from the Lord,
saying "Direct me in Thy truth," and "direct my way in thy sight." [1253] But
someone else declares that he discovered this very fact not only by faith, but
also by experience, and as it were from the very nature of things: "I know, O
Lord, that the way of man is not his: neither is it in a man to walk and to
direct his steps." [1254] And the Lord Himself says to Israel: "I will direct
him like a green fir-tree: from Me is thy fruit found." [1255]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 351: CHAPTER XIV. THAT KNOWLEDGE OF THE LAW IS GIVEN BY THE GUIDANCE AND ILLUMINATION OF THE LORD. 
========================================================================

The knowledge also of the law itself they daily endeavour to gain not by
diligence in reading, but by the guidance and illumination of God as they say to
Him: "Show me Thy ways, O Lord, and teach me Thy paths:" and "open Thou mine
eyes: and I shall see the wondrous things of Thy law:" and "teach me to do Thy
will, for Thou art my God;" and again: "Who teacheth man knowledge." [1256]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 352: CHAPTER XV. THAT THE UNDERSTANDING, BY MEANS OF WHICH WE CAN RECOGNIZE GOD'S COMMANDS, AND THE PERFORMANCE OF A GOOD WILL ARE BOTH GIFTS FROM THE LORD. 
========================================================================

Further the blessed David asks of the Lord that he may gain that very
understanding, by which he can recognize God's commands which, he well knew,
were written in the book of the law, and he says "I am Thy servant: O give me
understanding that I may learn Thy commandments." [1257] Certainly he was in
possession of understanding, which had been granted to him by nature, and also
had at his fingers' ends a knowledge of God's commands which were preserved in
writing in the law: and still he prayed the Lord that he might learn this more
thoroughly as he knew that what came to him by nature would never be sufficient
for him, unless his understanding was enlightened by the Lord by a daily
illumination from Him, to understand the law spiritually and to recognize His
commands more clearly, as the "chosen vessel" also declares very plainly this
which we are insisting on. "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and
to do according to good will." [1258] What could well be clearer than the
assertion that both our good will and the completion of our work are fully
wrought in us by the Lord? And again "For it is granted to you for Christ's
sake, not only to believe in Him but also to suffer for Him." [1259] Here also
he declares that the beginning of our conversion and faith, and the endurance of
suffering is a gift to us from the Lord. And David too, as he knows this,
similarly prays that the same thing may be granted to him by God's mercy.
"Strengthen, O God, that which Thou hast wrought in us:" [1260] showing that it
is not enough for the beginning of our salvation to be granted by the gift and
grace of God, unless it has been continued and ended by the same pity and
continual help from Him. For not free will but the Lord "looseth them that are
bound." No strength of ours, but the Lord "raiseth them that are fallen:" no
diligence in reading, but "the Lord enlightens the blind:" where the Greeks have
kurios sophoi tuphlous, i.e., "the Lord maketh wise the blind:" no care on our
part, but "the Lord careth for the stranger:" no courage of ours, but "the Lord
assists (or supports) all those who are down." [1261] But this we say, not to
slight our zeal and efforts and diligence, as if they were applied unnecessarily
and foolishly, but that we may know that we cannot strive without the help of
God, nor can our efforts be of any use in securing the great reward of purity,
unless it has been granted to us by the assistance and mercy of the Lord: for "a
horse is prepared for the day of battle: but help cometh from the Lord," [1262]
"for no man can prevail by strength." [1263] We ought then always to sing with
the blessed David: "My strength and my praise is" not my free will, but "the
Lord, and He is become my salvation." [1264] And the teacher of the Gentiles was
not ignorant of this when he declared that he was made capable of the ministry
of the New Testament not by his own merits or efforts but by the mercy of God.
"Not" says he, "that we are capable of thinking anything of ourselves as of
ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God, which can be put in less good Latin
but more forcibly, "our capability is of God," and then there follows: "Who also
made us capable ministers of the New Testament." [1265]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 353: CHAPTER XVI. THAT FAITH ITSELF MUST BE GIVEN US BY THE LORD. 
========================================================================

But so thoroughly did the Apostles realize that everything which concerns
salvation was given them by the Lord, that they even asked that faith itself
should be granted from the Lord, saying: "Add to us faith" [1266] as they did
not imagine that it could be gained by free will, but believed that it would be
bestowed by the free gift of God. Lastly the Author of man's salvation teaches
us how feeble and weak and insufficient our faith would be unless it were
strengthened by the aid of the Lord, when He says to Peter "Simon, Simon, behold
Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed
to my Father that thy faith fail not." [1267] And another finding that this was
happening in his own case, and seeing that his faith was being driven by the
waves of unbelief on the rocks which would cause a fearful shipwreck, asks of
the same Lord an aid to his faith, saying "Lord, help mine unbelief." [1268] So
thoroughly then did those Apostles and men in the gospel realize that everything
which is good is brought to perfection by the aid of the Lord, and not imagine
that they could preserve their faith unharmed by their own strength or free will
that they prayed that it might be helped or granted to them by the Lord. And if
in Peter's case there was need of the Lord's help that it might not fail, who
will be so presumptuous and blind as to fancy that he has no need of daily
assistance from the Lord in order to preserve it? Especially as the Lord Himself
has made this clear in the gospel, saying: "As the branch cannot bear fruit of
itself except it abide in the vine, so no more can ye, except ye abide in me."
[1269] And again: "for without me ye can do nothing." [1270] How foolish and
wicked then it is to attribute any good action to our own diligence and not to
God's grace and assistance, is clearly shown by the Lord's saying, which lays
down that no one can show forth the fruits of the Spirit without His inspiration
and co-operation. For "every good gift and every perfect boon is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights." [1271] And Zechariah too says, "For
whatever is good is His, and what is excellent is from Him." [1272] And so the
blessed Apostle consistently says: "What hast thou which thou didst not receive?
But if thou didst receive it, why boastest thou as if thou hadst not received
it?" [1273]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 354: CHAPTER XVII. THAT TEMPERATENESS AND THE ENDURANCE OF TEMPTATIONS MUST BE GIVEN TO US BY THE LORD. 
========================================================================

And that all the endurance, with which we can bear the temptations brought upon
us, depends not so much on our own strength as on the mercy and guidance of God,
the blessed Apostle thus declares: "No temptation hath come upon you but such as
is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted
above that ye are able, but will with the temptation make also a way of escape,
that ye may be able to bear it." [1274] And that God fits and strengthens our
souls for every good work, and worketh in us all those things which are pleasing
to Him, the same Apostle teaches: "May the God of peace who brought out of
darkness the great Shepherd of the sheep, Jesus Christ, in the blood of the
everlasting Testament, fit you in all goodness, working in you what is
well-pleasing in His sight." [1275] And that the same thing may happen to the
Thessalonians he prays as follows, saying: "Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
and God our Father who hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation
and good hope in grace, exhort your hearts, and confirm you in every good word
and work." [1276]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 355: CHAPTER XVIII. THAT THE CONTINUAL FEAR OF GOD MUST BE BESTOWED ON US BY THE LORD. 
========================================================================

And lastly the prophet Jeremiah, speaking in the person of God, clearly
testifies that even the fear of God, by which we can hold fast to Him, is shed
upon us by the Lord: saying as follows: "And I will give them one heart, and one
way, that they may fear Me all days: and that it may be well with them and with
their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them and
will not cease to do them good: and I will give My fear in their hearts that
they may not revolt from Me." [1277] Ezekiel also says: "And I will give them
one heart, and will put a new spirit in their bowels: and I will take away the
stony heart out of their flesh and will give them a heart of flesh: that they
may walk in My commandments, and keep My judgments and do them: and that they
may be My people, and I may be their God." [1278]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 356: CHAPTER XIX. THAT THE BEGINNING OF OUR GOOD WILL AND ITS COMPLETION COMES FROM GOD. 
========================================================================

And this plainly teaches us that the beginning of our good will is given to us
by the inspiration of the Lord, when He draws us towards the way of salvation
either by His own act, or by the exhortations of some man, or by compulsion; and
that the consummation of our good deeds is granted by Him in the same way: but
that it is in our own power to follow up the encouragement and assistance of God
with more or less zeal, and that accordingly we are rightly visited either with
reward or with punishment, because we have been either careless or careful to
correspond to His design and providential arrangement made for us with such
kindly regard. And this is clearly and plainly described in Deuteronomy. "When,"
says he, "the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which thou art
going to possess, and shall have destroyed many nations before thee, the
Hittite, and the Gergeshite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Perizzite,
the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations much more numerous than thou art and
stronger than thou, and the Lord thy God shall have delivered them to thee, thou
shalt utterly destroy them. Thou shalt make no league with them. Neither shalt
thou make marriage with them." [1279] So then Scripture declares that it is the
free gift of God that they are brought into the land of promise, that many
nations are destroyed before them, that nations more numerous and mightier than
the people of Israel are given up into their hands. But whether Israel utterly
destroys them, or whether it preserves them alive and spares them, and whether
or no it makes a league with them, and makes marriages with them or not, it
declares lies in their own power. And by this testimony we can clearly see what
we ought to ascribe to free will, and what to the design and daily assistance of
the Lord, and that it belongs to divine grace to give us opportunities of
salvation and prosperous undertakings and victory: but that it is ours to follow
up the blessings which God gives us with earnestness or indifference. And this
same fact we see is plainly taught in the healing of the blind men. For the fact
that Jesus passed by them, was a free gift of Divine providence and
condescension. But the fact that they cried out and said "Have mercy on us,
Lord, thou son of David," [1280] was an act of their own faith and belief. That
they received the sight of their eyes was a gift of Divine pity. But that after
the reception of any blessing, the grace of God, and the use of free will both
remain, the case of the ten lepers, who were all healed alike, shows us. For
when one of them through goodness of will returned thanks, the Lord looking for
the nine, and praising the one, showed that He was ever anxious to help even
those who were unmindful of His kindness. For even this is a gift of His
visitation; viz., that he receives and commends the grateful one, and looks for
and censures those who are thankless.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 357: CHAPTER XX. THAT NOTHING CAN BE DONE IN THIS WORLD WITHOUT GOD. 
========================================================================

But it is right for us to hold with unswerving faith that nothing whatever is
done in this world without God. For we must acknowledge that everything is done
either by His will or by His permission, i.e., we must believe that whatever is
good is carried out by the will of God and by His aid, and whatever is the
reverse is done by His permission, when the Divine Protection is withdrawn from
us for our sins and the hardness of our hearts, and suffers the devil and the
shameful passions of the body to lord it over us. And the words of the Apostle
most assuredly teach us this, when he says: "For this cause God delivered them
up to shameful passions:" and again: "Because they did not like to have God in
their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, to do those things
which are not convenient." [1281] And the Lord Himself says by the prophet: "But
My people did not hear My voice and Israel did not obey me: Wherefore I gave
them up unto their own hearts' lusts. They shall walk after their own
inventions." [1282]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 358: CHAPTER XXI. AN OBJECTION ON THE POWER OF FREE WILL. 
========================================================================

Germanus: This passage very clearly shows the freedom of the will, where it is
said "If My people would have hearkened unto Me," and elsewhere "But My people
would not hear My voice." [1283] For when He says "If they would have heard" He
shows that the decision to yield or not to yield lay in their own power. How
then is it true that our salvation does not depend upon ourselves, if God
Himself has given us the power either to hearken or not to hearken?


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 359: CHAPTER XXII. THE ANSWER; VIZ., THAT OUR FREE WILL ALWAYS HAS NEED OF THE HELP OF THE LORD. 
========================================================================

Paphnutius: You have shrewdly enough noticed how it is said "If they would have
hearkened to Me:" but have not sufficiently considered either who it is who
speaks to one who does or does not hearken; or what follows: "I should soon have
put down their enemies, and laid My hand on those that trouble them." [1284] Let
no one then try by a false interpretation to twist that which we brought forward
to prove that nothing can be done without the Lord, nor take it in support of
free will, in such a way as to try to take away from man the grace of God and
His daily oversight, through this test: "But My people did not hear My voice,"
and again: "If My people would have hearkened unto Me, and if Israel would have
walked in My ways, etc.:" but let him consider that just as the power of free
will is evidenced by the disobedience of the people, so the daily oversight of
God who declares and admonishes him is also shown. For where He says "If My
people would have hearkened unto Me" He clearly implies that He had spoken to
them before. And this the Lord was wont to do not only by means of the written
law, but also by daily exhortations, as this which is given by Isaiah: "All day
long have I stretched forth My hands to a disobedient and gain-saying people."
[1285] Both points then can be supported from this passage, where it says: "If
My people would have hearkened, and if Israel had walked in My ways, I should
soon have put down their enemies, and laid My hand on those that trouble them."
For just as free will is shown by the disobedience of the people, so the
government of God and His assistance is made clear by the beginning and end of
the verse, where He implies that He had spoken to them before, and that
afterwards He would put down their enemies, if they would have hearkened unto
Him. For we have no wish to do away with man's free will by what we have said,
but only to establish the fact that the assistance and grace of God are
necessary to it every day and hour. When he had instructed us with this
discourse Abbot Paphnutius dismissed us from his cell before midnight in a state
of contrition rather than of liveliness; insisting on this as the chief lesson
in his discourse; viz., that when we fancied that by making perfect the first
renunciation (which we were endeavouring to do with all our powers), we could
climb the heights of perfection, we should make the discovery that we had not
yet even begun to dream of the heights to which a monk can rise, since after we
had learnt some few things about the second renunciation, we should find out
that we had not before this even heard a word of the third stage, in which all
perfection is comprised, and which in many ways far exceeds these lower ones.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 360: IV. CONFERENCE OF ABBOT DANIEL.
========================================================================

On the Lust of the Flesh and of the Spirit.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 361: CHAPTER I. OF THE LIFE OF ABBOT DANIEL. 
========================================================================

Among the other heroes of Christian philosophy we also knew Abbot Daniel, who
was not only the equal of those who dwelt in the desert of Scete in every sort
of virtue, but was specially marked by the grace of humility. This man on
account of his purity and gentleness, though in age the junior of most, was
preferred to the office of the diaconate by the blessed Paphnutius, presbyter in
the same desert: for the blessed Paphnutius was so delighted with his excellent
qualities, that, as he knew that he was his equal in virtue and grace of life,
he was anxious also to make him his equal in the order of the priesthood. And
since he could not bear that he should remain any longer in an inferior office,
and was also anxious to provide a worthy successor to himself in his lifetime,
he promoted him to the dignity of the priesthood. [1286] He however relinquished
nothing of his former customary humility, and when the other was present, never
took upon himself anything from his advance to a higher order, but when Abbot
Paphnutius was offering spiritual sacrifices, ever continued to act as a deacon
in the office of his former ministry. However, the blessed Paphnutius though so
great a saint as to possess the grace of foreknowledge in many matters, yet in
this case was disappointed of his hope of the succession and the choice he had
made, for he himself passed to God no long time after him whom he had prepared
as his successor.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 362: CHAPTER II. AN INVESTIGATION OF THE ORIGIN OF A SUDDEN CHANGE OF FEELING FROM INEXPRESSIBLE JOY TO EXTREME DEJECTION OF MIND. 
========================================================================

So then we asked this blessed Daniel why it was that as we sat in the cells we
were sometimes filled with the utmost gladness of heart, together with
inexpressible delight and abundance of the holiest feelings, so that I will not
say speech, but feeling could not follow it, and pure prayers were readily
breathed, and the mind being filled with spiritual fruits, praying to God even
in sleep could feel that its petitions rose lightly and powerfully to God: and
again, why it was that for no reason we were suddenly filled with the utmost
grief, and weighed down with unreasonable depression, so that we not only felt
as if we ourselves were overcome with such feelings, but also our cell grew
dreadful, reading palled upon us, aye and our very prayers were offered up
unsteadily and vaguely, and almost as if we were intoxicated: so that while we
were groaning and endeavouring to restore ourselves to our former disposition,
our mind was unable to do this, and the more earnestly it sought to fix again
its gaze upon God, so was it the more vehemently carried away to wandering
thoughts by shifting aberrations and so utterly deprived of all spiritual
fruits, as not to be capable of being roused from this deadly slumber even by
the desire of the kingdom of heaven, or by the fear of hell held out to it. To
this he replied.


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  CHAPTER 363: CHAPTER III. HIS ANSWER TO THE QUESTION RAISED. 
========================================================================

A threefold account of this mental dryness of which you speak has been given by
the Elders. For it comes either from carelessness on our part, or from the
assaults of the devil, or from the permission and allowance of the Lord. From
carelessness on our part, when through our own faults, coldness has come upon
us, and we have behaved carelessly and hastily, and owing to slothful idleness
have fed on bad thoughts, and so make the ground of our heart bring forth thorns
and thistles; which spring up in it, and consequently make us sterile, and
powerless as regards all spiritual fruit and meditation. From the assaults of
the devil when, sometimes, while we are actually intent on good desires, our
enemy with crafty subtilty makes his way into our heart, and without our
knowledge and against our will we are drawn away from the best intentions.


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  CHAPTER 364: CHAPTER IV. HOW THERE IS A TWOFOLD REASON FOR THE PERMISSION AND ALLOWANCE OF GOD. 
========================================================================

But for God's permission and allowance there is a twofold reason. First, that
being for a short time forsaken by the Lord, and observing with all humility the
weakness of our own heart, we may not be puffed up on account of the previous
purity of heart. granted to us by His visitation; and that by proving that when
we are forsaken by Him we cannot possibly recover our former state of purity and
delight by any groanings and efforts of our own, we may also learn that our
previous gladness of heart resulted not from our own earnestness but from His
gift, and that for the present time it must be sought once more from His grace
and enlightenment. But a second reason for this allowance, is to prove our
perseverance, and steadfastness of mind, and real desires, and to show in us,
with what purpose of heart, or earnestness in prayer we seek for the return of
the Holy Spirit, when He leaves us, and also in order that when we discover with
what efforts we must seek for that spiritual gladness -- when once it is lost --
and the joy of purity, we may learn to preserve it more carefully, when once it
is secured, and to hold it with firmer grasp. For men are generally more
careless about keeping whatever they think can be easily replaced.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 365: CHAPTER V. HOW OUR EFFORTS AND EXERTIONS ARE OF NO USE WITHOUT GOD'S HELP. 
========================================================================

And by this it is clearly shown that God's grace and mercy always work in us
what is good, and that when it forsakes us, the efforts of the worker are
useless, and that however earnestly a man may strive, he cannot regain his
former condition without His help, and that this saying is constantly fulfilled
in our case: that it is "not of him that willeth or runneth but of God which
hath mercy." [1287] And this grace on the other hand sometimes does not refuse
to visit with that holy inspiration of which you spoke, and with an abundance of
spiritual thoughts, even the careless and indifferent; but inspires the
unworthy, arouses the slumberers, and enlightens those who are blinded by
ignorance, and mercifully reproves us and chastens us, shedding itself abroad in
our hearts, that thus we may be stirred by the compunction which He excites, and
impelled to rise from the sleep of sloth. Lastly we are often filled by His
sudden visitation with sweet odours, beyond the power of human composition -- so
that the soul is ravished with these delights, and caught up, as it were, into
an ecstasy of spirit, and becomes oblivious of the fact that it is still in the
flesh.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 366: CHAPTER VI. HOW IT IS SOMETIMES TO OUR ADVANTAGE TO BE LEFT BY GOD. 
========================================================================

But the blessed David recognizes that sometimes this departure of which we have
spoken, and (as it were) desertion by God may be to some extent to our
advantage, so that he was unwilling to pray, not that he might not be absolutely
forsaken by God in anything (for he was aware that this would have been
disadvantageous both to himself and to human nature in its course towards
perfection) but he rather entreated that it might be in measure and degree,
saying "Forsake me not utterly" [1288] as if to say in other words: I know that
thou dost forsake thy saints to their advantage, in order to prove them, for in
no other way could they be tempted by the devil, unless they were for a little
forsaken by Thee. And therefore I ask not that Thou shouldest never forsake me,
for it would not be well for me not to feel my weakness and say "It is good for
me that Thou hast brought me low" [1289] nor to have no opportunity of fighting.
And this I certainly should not have, if the Divine protection shielded me
incessantly and unbrokenly. For the devil will not dare to attack me while
supported by Thy defence, as he brings both against me and Thee this objection
and complaint, which he ever slanderously brings against Thy champions, "Does
Job serve God for nought? Hast not Thou made a fence for him and his house and
all his substance round about?" [1290] But I rather entreat that Thou forsake me
not utterly -- what the Greeks call heos sphodra, i.e., too much. For, first, as
it is advantageous to me for Thee to forsake me a little, that the steadfastness
of my love may be tried, so it is dangerous if Thou suffer me to be forsaken
excessively in proportion to my faults and what I deserve, since no power of
man, if in temptation it is forsaken for too long a time by Thine aid, can
endure by its own steadfastness, and not forthwith give in to the power of the
enemy's side, unless Thou Thyself, as Thou knowest the strength of man, and
moderatest his struggles, "Suffer us not to be tempted above that we are able,
but makest with the temptation a way of escape that we may be able to bear it."
[1291] And something of this sort we read in the book of Judges was mystically
designed in the matter of the extermination of the spiritual nations which were
opposed to Israel: "These are the nations, which the Lord left that by them He
might instruct Israel, that they might learn to fight with their enemies," and
again shortly after: "And the Lord left them that He might try Israel by them,
whether they would hear the commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded
their fathers by the hand of Moses, or not." [1292] And this conflict God
reserved for Israel, not from envy of their peace, or from a wish to hurt them,
but because He knew that it would be good for them that while they were always
oppressed by the attacks of those nations they might not cease to feel
themselves in need of the aid of the Lord, and for this reason might ever
continue to meditate on Him and invoke His aid, and not grow careless through
lazy ease, and lose the habit of resisting, and the practice of virtue. For
again and again, men whom adversity could not overcome, have been cast down by
freedom from care and by prosperity.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 367: CHAPTER VII. OF THE VALUE OF THE CONFLICT WHICH THE APOSTLE MAKES TO CONSIST IN THE STRIFE BETWEEN THE FLESH AND THE SPIRIT. 
========================================================================

This conflict too we read in the Apostle has for our good been placed in our
members: "For the flesh lusteth against the spirit: and the spirit against the
flesh. But these two are opposed to each other so that ye should not do what ye
would." [1293] You have here too a contest as it were implanted in our bodies,
by the action and arrangement of the Lord. For when a thing exists in everybody
universally and without the slightest exception, what else can you think about
it except that it belongs to the substance of human nature, since the fall of
the first man, as it were naturally: and when a thing is found to be congenital
with everybody, and to grow with their growth, how can we help believing that it
was implanted by the will of the Lord, not to injure them but to help them? But
the reason of this conflict; viz., of flesh and spirit, he tells us is this:
that ye should not do what ye would." And so, if we fulfil what God arranged
that we should not fulfil, i.e., that we should not do what we liked, how can we
help believing that it is bad for us? And this conflict implanted in us by the
arrangement of the Creator is in a way useful to us, and calls and urges us on
to a higher state: and if it ceased, most surely there would ensue on the other
hand a peace that is fraught with danger.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 368: CHAPTER VIII. A QUESTION, HOW IT IS THAT IN THE APOSTLE'S CHAPTER, AFTER HE HAS SPOKEN OF THE LUSTS OF THE FLESH AND SPIRIT OPPOSING ONE ANOTHER, HE ADDS A THIRD THING; VIZ., MAN'S WILL. 
========================================================================

Germanus: Although some glimmer of the sense now seems clear to us, yet as we
cannot thoroughly grasp the Apostle's meaning, we want you to explain this more
clearly to us. For the existence of three things seems to be indicated here:
first, the struggle of the flesh against the spirit, secondly the desire of the
spirit against the flesh, and thirdly our own free will, which seems to be
placed between the two, and of which it is said: "Ye should not do what ye
will." And on this subject though as I said we can gather some hints, from what
you have explained of the meaning, yet -- since this conference gives the
opportunity -- we are anxious to have it more fully explained to us.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 369: CHAPTER IX. THE ANSWER ON THE UNDERSTANDING OF ONE WHO ASKS RIGHTLY. 
========================================================================

Daniel: It belongs to the understanding to discern the distinctions and the
drift of questions; and it is a main part of knowledge to understand how
ignorant you are. Wherefore it is said that "if a fool asks questions, it will
be accounted wisdom," [1294] because, although one who asks questions is
ignorant of the answer to the question raised, yet as he wisely asks, and learns
what he does not know, this very fact will be counted as wisdom in him, because
he wisely discovers what he was ignorant of. According then to this division of
yours, it seems that in this passage the Apostle mentions three things, the lust
of the flesh against the spirit, and of the spirit against the flesh, the mutual
struggle of which against each other appears to have this as its cause and
reason; viz., "that," says he, "we should not do what we would." There remains
then a fourth case, which you have overlooked; viz., that we should do what we
would not. Now then, we must first discover the meaning of those two desires,
i.e., of the flesh and spirit, and so next learn to discuss our free will, which
is placed between the two, and then lastly in the same way we can see what
cannot belong to our free will.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 370: CHAPTER X. THAT THE WORD FLESH IS NOT USED WITH ONE SINGLE MEANING ONLY. 
========================================================================

We find that the word flesh is used in holy Scripture with many different
meanings: for sometimes it stands for the whole man, i.e., for that which
consists of body and soul, as here "And the Word was made flesh," [1295] and
"All flesh shall see the salvation of our God." [1296] Sometimes it stands for
sinful and carnal men, as here "My spirit shall not remain in those men, because
they are flesh." [1297] Sometimes it is used for sins themselves, as here: "But
ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit," [1298] and again "Flesh and blood
shall not inherit the kingdom of God:" lastly there follows, "Neither shall
corruption inherit incorruption." [1299] Sometimes it stands for consanguinity
and relationship, as here: "Behold we are thy bone and thy flesh," [1300] and
the Apostle says: "If by any means I may provoke to emulation them who are my
flesh, and save some of them." [1301] We must therefore inquire in which of
these four meanings we ought to take the word flesh in this place, for it is
clear that it cannot possibly stand as in the passage where it is said "The Word
was made flesh," and "All flesh shall see the salvation of God." Neither can it
have the same meaning as where it is said "My Spirit shall not remain in those
men because they are flesh," because the word flesh is not used here as it is
there where it stands simply for a sinful man -- when he says" The flesh lusteth
against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh." [1302] Nor is he speaking
of things material, but of realities which in one and the same man struggle
either at the same time or separately, with the shifting and changing of time.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 371: CHAPTER XI. WHAT THE APOSTLE MEANS BY FLESH IN THIS PASSAGE, AND WHAT THE LUST OF THE FLESH IS. 
========================================================================

Wherefore in this passage we ought to take "flesh" as meaning not man, i.e., his
material substance, but the carnal will and evil desires, just as "spirit" does
not mean anything material, but the good and spiritual desires of the soul: a
meaning which the blessed Apostle has clearly given just before, where he
begins: "But I say, walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the desires of
the flesh; for the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the
flesh: but these are contrary the one to the other, that ye may not do what ye
would." And since these two; viz., the desires of the flesh and of the spirit
co-exist in one and the same man, there arises an internal warfare daily carried
on within us, while the lust of the flesh which rushes blindly towards sin,
revels in those delights which are connected with present ease. And on the other
hand the desire of the spirit is opposed to these, and wishes to be entirely
absorbed in spiritual efforts, so that it actually wants to be rid of even the
necessary uses of the flesh, longing to be so constantly taken up with these
things as to desire to have no share of anxiety about the weakness of the flesh.
The flesh delights in wantonness and lust: the spirit does not even tolerate
natural desires. The one wants to have plenty of sleep, and to be satiated with
food: the other is nourished with vigils and fasting, so as to be unwilling even
to admit of sleep and food for the needful purposes of life. The one longs to be
enriched with plenty of everything, the other is satisfied even without the
possession of a daily supply of scanty food. The one seeks to look sleek by
means of baths, and to be surrounded every day by crowds of flatterers, the
other delights in dirt and filth, and the solitude of the inaccessible desert,
and dreads the approach of all mortal men. The one lives on the esteem and
applause of men, the other glories in injuries offered to it, and in
persecutions.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 372: CHAPTER XII. WHAT IS OUR FREE WILL, WHICH STANDS IN BETWEEN THE LUST OF THE FLESH AND THE SPIRIT. 
========================================================================

Between these two desires then the free will of the soul stands in an
intermediate position somewhat worthy of blame, and neither delights in the
excesses of sin, nor acquiesces in the sorrows of virtue. Seeking to restrain
itself from carnal passions in such a way as not nevertheless to be willing to
undergo the requisite suffering, and wanting to secure bodily chastity without
chastising the flesh, and to acquire purity of heart without the exertion of
vigils, and to abound in spiritual virtues together with carnal ease, and to
attain the grace of patience without the irritation of contradiction, and to
practise the humility of Christ without the loss of worldly honour, to aim at
the simplicity of religion in conjunction with worldly ambition, to serve Christ
not without the praise and favour of men, to profess the strictness which truth
demands without giving the slightest offence to anybody: in a word, it is
anxious to pursue future blessings in such a way as not to lose present ones.
And this free will would never lead us to attain true perfection, but would
plunge us into a most miserable condition of lukewarmness, and make us like
those who are rebuked by the Lord's remonstrance in the Apocalypse: "I know thy
works, that thou art neither hot nor cold. I would that thou wert hot or cold.
But now thou art lukewarm, and I will forthwith spue thee out of my mouth;"
[1303] were it not that these contentions which rise up on both sides disturb
and destroy this condition of lukewarmness. For when we give in to this free
will of ours and want to let ourselves go in the direction of this slackness, at
once the desires of the flesh start up, and injure us with their sinful
passions, and do not suffer us to continue in that state of purity in which we
delight, and allure us to that cold and thorny path of pleasure which we have to
dread. Again, if inflamed with fervour of spirit, we want to root out the works
of the flesh, and without any regard to human weakness try to raise ourselves
altogether to excessive efforts after virtue, the frailty of the flesh comes in,
and recalls us and restrains us from that over excess of spirit which is bad for
us: and so the result is that as these two desires are contradicting each other
in a struggle of this kind, the soul's free will, which does not like either to
give itself up entirely to carnal desires, nor to throw itself into the
exertions which virtue calls for, is tempered as it were by a fair balance,
while this struggle between the two hinders that more dangerous free will of the
soul, and makes a sort of equitable balance in the scales of our body, which
marks out the limits of flesh and spirit most accurately, and does not allow the
mind inflamed with fervour of spirit to sway to the right hand, nor the flesh to
incline through the pricks of sin, to the left. And while this struggle goes on
day after day in us to our profit, we are driven most beneficially to come to
that fourth stage which we do not like, so as to gain purity of heart not by
ease and carelessness, but by constant efforts and contrition of spirit; to
retain our chastity of the flesh by prolonged fastings, hunger, thirst, and
watchfulness; to acquire purpose of heart by reading, vigils, constant prayer
and the wretchedness of solitude; to preserve patience by the endurance of
tribulation; to serve our Maker in the midst of blasphemies and abounding
insults; to follow after truth if need be amid the hatred of the world and its
enmity; and while, with such a struggle going on in our body, we are secured
from slothful carelessness, and incited to that effort which is against the
grain, and to the desire for virtue, our proper balance is admirably secured,
and on one side the languid choice of our free will is tempered by fervour of
spirit, and on the other the frigid coldness of the flesh is moderated by a
gentle warmth, and while the desire of the spirit does not allow the mind to be
dragged into unbridled licence, neither does the weakness of the flesh allow the
spirit to be drawn on to unreasonable aspirations after holiness, lest in the
one case incentives to all kinds of sins might arise, or in the other the
earliest of all sins might lift its head and wound us with a yet more fatal dart
of pride: but a due equilibrium will result from this struggle, and open to us a
safe and secure path of virtue between the two, and teach the soldier of Christ
ever to walk on the King's highway. And thus the result will be that when, in
consequence of the lukewarmness arising from this sluggish will of which we have
spoken, the mind has been more easily entangled in carnal desires, it is checked
by the desire of the spirit, which by no means acquiesces in earthly sins; and
again, if through over much feeling our spirit has been carried in unbounded
fervour and towards ill-considered and impossible heights, it is recalled by the
weakness of the flesh to sounder considerations and rising above the lukewarm
condition of our free will with due proportion and even course proceeds along
the way of perfection. Something of this sort we hear that the Lord ordained in
the case of the building of that tower in the book of Genesis, where a confusion
of tongues suddenly sprang up, and put a stop to the blasphemous and wicked
attempts of men. For there would have remained there in opposition to God, aye
and against the interest of those who had begun to assail His Divine Majesty, an
agreement boding no good, unless by God's providence the difference of
languages, raising disturbances among them, had forced them because of the
variations of their words to go on to a better condition, and a happy and
valuable discord had recalled to salvation those whom a ruinous union had driven
to destruction, as when divisions arose they began to experience human weakness
of which when puffed up by their wicked plots they had hitherto known nothing.


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  CHAPTER 373: CHAPTER XIII. OF THE ADVANTAGE OF THE DELAY WHICH RESULTS FROM THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN FLESH AND SPIRIT. 
========================================================================

But from the differences which this conflict causes, there arises a delay that
is so far advantageous to us, and from this struggle an adjournment that is for
our good, so that while through the resistance of the material body we are
hindered from carrying out those things which we have wickedly conceived with
our minds, we are sometimes recalled to a better mind either by penitence
springing up, or by some better thoughts which usually come to us when delay in
carrying out things, and time for reflection intervene. Lastly, those who, as we
know, are not prevented from carrying out the desires of their free will by any
hindrances of the flesh, I mean devils and spiritual wickednesses, these, since
they have fallen from a higher and angelical state, we see are in a worse plight
than men, much in as much as (owing to the fact that opportunity is always
present to gratify their desires) they are not delayed from irrevocably
performing whatever evil they have imagined because as their mind is quick to
conceive it, so their substance is ready and free to carry it out; and while a
short and easy method is given them of doing what they wish, no salutary second
thoughts come in to amend their wicked intention.


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  CHAPTER 374: CHAPTER XIV. OF THE INCURABLE DEPRAVITY OF SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESSES. 
========================================================================

For a spiritual substance and one that is not tied to any material flesh has no
excuse for an evil thought which arises within, and also shuts out forgiveness
for its sin, because it is not harassed as we are by incentives of the flesh
without, to sin, but is simply inflamed by the fault of a perverse will. And
therefore its sin is without forgiveness and its weakness without remedy. For as
it falls through the allurements of no earthly matter, so it can find no pardon
or place for repentance. And from this we can clearly gather that this struggle
which arises in us of the flesh and spirit against each other is not merely
harmless, but actually extremely useful to us.


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  CHAPTER 375: CHAPTER XV. OF THE VALUE OF THE LUST OF THE FLESH AGAINST THE SPIRIT IN OUR CASE. 
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To begin with, because it is an immediate reproof of our sloth and carelessness,
and like some energetic schoolmaster who never allows us to deviate from the
line of strict discipline, and if our carelessness has ever so little exceeded
the limits of due gravity which become it, it immediately excites us by the
stimulus of desire, and chides us and recalls us to due moderation. Secondly,
because, in the matter of chastity and perfect purity, when by God's grace we
see that we have been for some time kept from carnal pollution, in order that we
may not imagine that we can no longer be disturbed by the motions of the flesh
and thereby be elated and puffed up in our secret hearts as if we no longer bore
about the corruption of the flesh, it humbles and checks us, and reminds us by
its pricks that we are but men. [1304] For as we ordinarily fall without much
thought into other kinds of sins and those worse and more harmful, and are not
so easily ashamed of committing them, so in this particular one the conscience
is especially humbled, and by means of this illusion it is stung by the
recollection of passions that have been neglected, as it sees clearly that it is
rendered unclean by natural emotions, of which it knew nothing while it was
still more unclean through spiritual sins; and so coming back at once to the
cure of its former sluggishness, it is warned both that it ought not to trust in
the attainments of purity in the past, which it sees to be lost by ever so small
a falling away from the Lord, and also that it cannot attain the gift of this
purity except by God's grace alone, since actual experience somehow or other
teaches us that if we are anxious to reach abiding perfection of heart we must
constantly endeavour to obtain the virtue of humility.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 376: CHAPTER XVI. OF THE EXCITEMENTS OF THE FLESH, WITHOUT THE HUMILIATION OF WHICH WE SHOULD FALL MORE GRIEVOUSLY. 
========================================================================

To the fact then that the pride which results from this purity would be more
dangerous than all sins and wickednesses, and that we should on that account
gain no reward for any height of perfect chastity, we may call as witnesses
those powers of which we spoke before, which since it is believed that they
experience no such fleshly lusts, were cast down from their high and heavenly
estate in everlasting destruction simply from pride of heart. And so we should
be altogether hopelessly lukewarm, since we should have no warning of
carelessness on our part implanted either in our body or in our mind, nor should
we ever strive to reach the glow of perfection, or even keep to strict frugality
and abstinence, were it not that this excitement of the flesh springs up and
humbles us and baffles us and makes us keen and anxious about purifying
ourselves from spiritual sins.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 377: CHAPTER XVII. OF THE LUKEWARMNESS OF EUNUCHS. 
========================================================================

Lastly, on this account in those who are Eunuchs, we often detect the existence
of this lukewarmness of mind, because, as they are so to speak free from the
needs of the flesh, they fancy that they have no need either of the trouble of
bodily abstinence, or of contrition of heart; and being rendered slack by this
freedom from anxiety, they make no efforts either truly to seek or to acquire
perfection of heart or even purity from spiritual faults. And this condition
which is the result of their state in the flesh, becomes natural, which is
altogether a worse state. For he who passes from the state of coldness to that
of lukewarmness is branded by the Lord's words as still more hateful.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 378: CHAPTER XVIII. THE QUESTION WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE CARNAL AND NATURAL MAN. 
========================================================================

Germanus: You have, it seems to us, very clearly shown the value of the struggle
which is raised between the flesh and spirit, so that we can believe that it can
in a sort of way be grasped by us; and therefore we want to have this also
explained to us in the same way; viz., what is the difference between the carnal
and the natural man, or how the natural man can be worse than the carnal.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 379: CHAPTER XIX. THE ANSWER CONCERNING THE THREEFOLD CONDITION OF SOULS. 
========================================================================

Daniel: There are, according to the statements of Scripture, three kinds of
souls; the first is the carnal, the second the natural, and the third the
spiritual: which we find are thus described by the Apostle. For of the carnal he
says: "I gave you milk to drink, not meat: for you were not able as yet. But
neither indeed are you now able; for you are yet carnal." And again: "For
whereas there is among you envying and contention, are you not carnal?" [1305]
Concerning the natural he also speaks as follows: "But the natural man
perceiveth not the things that are of the spirit of God; for it is foolishness
to him." But concerning the spiritual: "But the spiritual man judgeth all
things: and he himself is judged by no man." [1306] And again "You who are
spiritual instruct such ones in the spirit of meekness." [1307] And so, though
at our renunciation we ceased to be carnal, i.e., we began to separate ourselves
from intercourse with those in the world, and to have nothing to do with open
pollution of the flesh, we must still be careful to strive with all our might to
attain forthwith a spiritual condition, lest haply we flatter ourselves because
we seem as far as the outer man is concerned to have renounced this world and
got rid of the defilement of carnal fornication, as if by this we had reached
the heights of perfection; and thence become careless and indifferent about
purifying ourselves from other affections, and so being kept back between these
two, become unable to reach the stage of spiritual advancement; either because
we think that it is amply sufficient for our perfection if we seem to separate
ourselves, as regards the outward man, from intercourse with this world and from
its pleasure, or because we are free from corruption and carnal intercourse, and
thus we find ourselves in that lukewarm condition which is considered the worst
of all, and discover that we are spued out of the mouth of the Lord, in
accordance with these words of His: "I would that thou wert hot or cold. But now
thou art lukewarm and I will begin to spue thee out of My mouth." [1308] And not
without good reason does the Lord declare that those whom he has previously
received in the bowels of His love, and who have become shamefully lukewarm,
shall be spued out and rejected from His bosom: in as much as, though they might
have yielded Him some health-giving subsistence, they preferred to be torn away
from His heart: thus becoming far worse than those who had never found their way
into the Lord's mouth as food, just as we turn away with loathing from that
which nausea compels us to bring up. For whatever is cold is warmed when
received into the mouth and is received with satisfaction and good results. But
whatever has been once rejected owing to its miserable luke-warmness, we cannot
-- I will not say touch with the lips -- but even look on from a distance
without the greatest disgust. Rightly then is he said to be worse, because the
carnal man, i.e., the worldly man and the heathen, is more readily brought to
saving conversion and to the heights of perfection than one who has been
professed as a monk, but has not, as his rule directs, laid hold on the way of
perfection, and so has once for all drawn back from that fire of spiritual
fervour. For the former is at last broken down by the sins of the flesh, and
acknowledges his uncleanness, and in his compunction hastens from carnal
pollution to the fountain of true cleansing, and the heights of perfection, and
in his horror at that cold state of infidelity in which he finds himself, he is
kindled with the fire of the spirit and flies the more readily to perfection.
For one who has, as we said, once started with a lukewarm beginning, and has
begun to abuse the name of monk, and who has not laid hold on the way of this
profession with the humility and fervour that he ought, when once he is infected
by this miserable plague, and is as it were unstrung by it, can no longer of
himself discern what is perfect nor learn from the admonitions of another. For
he says in his heart that which the Lord tells us: "Because I am rich and
wealthy and want nothing;" and so this which follows is at once applied to him:
"But thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:" [1309]
and he is so far in a worse condition than a worldly man, because he has no idea
that he is wretched or blind or naked or requires cleansing, or needs to be
directed and taught by any one; and on this account he receives no sound advice
as he does not realise that he is weighted with the name of monk, and is lowered
in the judgment of all, whereas, though everybody believes him to be a saint and
regards him as a servant of God, he must hereafter be subjected to a stricter
judgment and punishment. Lastly, why should we any longer linger over those
things which we have sufficiently discovered and proved by experience? We have
often seen those who were cold and carnal, i.e., worldly men and heathen, attain
spiritual warmth: but lukewarm and "natural" men never. And these too we read in
the prophet are hated of the Lord, so that a charge is given to spiritual and
learned men to desist from warning and teaching them, and not to sow the seed of
the life-giving word in ground that is barren and unfruitful and choked by
noxious thorns; but that they should scorn this, and rather cultivate fallow
ground, i.e., that they should transfer all their care and teaching, and their
zeal in the life-giving word to pagans and worldly men: as we thus read: "Thus
saith the Lord to the men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: break up your
fallow ground, and sow not among thorns." [1310]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 380: CHAPTER XX. OF THOSE WHO RENOUNCE THE WORLD BUT ILL. 
========================================================================

In the last place I am ashamed to say how we find that a large number have made
their renunciation in such a way that we find that they have altered nothing of
their former sins and habits, but only their state of life and worldly garb. For
they are eager in amassing wealth which they never had before, or else do not
give up that which they had, or which is still sadder, they actually strive to
augment it under this excuse; viz., that they assert that it is right that they
should always support with it their relations or the brethren, or they hoard it
under pretence of starting congregations which they imagine that they can
preside over as Abbots. But if only they would sincerely seek after the way of
perfection, they would rather endeavour with all their might and main to attain
to this: viz., that they might strip themselves not only of their wealth but of
all their former likings and occupations, and place themselves unreservedly and
entirely under the guidance of the Elders so as to have no anxiety not merely
about others, but even about themselves. But on the contrary we find that while
they are eager to be set over their brethren, they are never subject to their
Elders themselves, and, with pride for their starting point, while they are
quite ready to teach others they take no trouble to learn themselves or to
practise what they are to teach: and so it is sure to end in their becoming, as
the Saviour said, "blind leaders of the blind" so that "both fall into the
ditch." [1311] And this pride though there is only one kind of it, yet takes a
twofold form. One form continually puts on the appearance of seriousness and
gravity, the other breaks out with unbridled freedom into silly giggling and
laughing. The former delights in not talking: the latter thinks it hard to be
kept to the restraint of silence, and has no scruples about talking freely on
matters that are unsuitable and foolish, while it is ashamed to be thought
inferior to or less well informed than others. The one on account of pride seeks
clerical office, the other looks down upon it, since it fancies that it is
unsuitable or beneath its former dignity and life and the deserts of its birth.
And which of these two should be accounted the worse each man must consider and
decide for himself. At any rate the kind of disobedience is one and the same, if
a man breaks the Elder's commands whether it be owing to zeal in work, or to
love of ease: and it is as hurtful to upset the rules of the monastery for the
sake of sleep, as it is for the sake of vigilance, and it is just the same to
transgress the Abbot's orders in order to read, as it is to slight them in order
to sleep: nor is there any difference in the incentive to pride if you neglect a
brother, whether it is because of your fast or because of your breakfast: except
that those faults which seem to show themselves under the guise of virtues and
in the form of spirituality are worse and less likely to be cured than those
which arise openly and from carnal pleasures. For these latter, like sicknesses
which are perfectly plain and visible, are grappled with and cured, while the
former, since they are covered under the cloak of virtue, remain uncured, and
cause their victims to fall into a more dangerous and deadly state of ill
health.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 381: CHAPTER XXI. OF THOSE WHO HAVING MADE LIGHT OF GREAT THINGS BUSY THEMSELVES ABOUT TRIFLES. 
========================================================================

For how can we show how absurd it is that we see that some men after their first
enthusiasm of renunciation in which they forsook their estates and vast wealth
and the service of the world, and betook themselves to the monasteries, are
still earnestly devoted to those things which cannot altogether be cut off, and
which we cannot do without in this state of life, even though they are small and
trifling things; so that in their case the anxiety about these trifles is
greater than their love of all their property. And it certainly will not profit
them much that they have disregarded greater riches and property, if they have
only transferred their affections (on account of which they were to make light
of them) to small and trifling things. For the sin of covetousness and avarice
of which they cannot be guilty in the matter of really valuable things, they
retain with regard to commoner matters, and so show that they have not got rid
of their former greed but only changed its object. For if they are too careful
about their mats, baskets, blankets, books, and other trifles such as these, the
same passion holds them captive as before. And they actually guard and defend
their rights over them so jealously as to get angry with their brethren about
them, and, what is worse, they are not ashamed to quarrel over them. And being
still troubled by the bad effects of their former covetousness, they are not
content to possess those things which the needs and requirements of the body
compel a monk to have, according to the common number and measure, but here too
they show the greediness of their heart, as they try to have those things which
they are obliged to use, better got up than the others; or, exceeding all due
bounds, keep as their special and peculiar property and guard from the touch of
others that which ought to belong to all the brethren alike. As if the
difference of metals, and not the passion of covetousness was what mattered; and
as if it was wrong to be angry about big things, while one might innocently be
about trifling matters: and as if we had not given up all our precious things
just in order that we might learn more readily to think nothing about trifles!
For what difference does it make whether one gives way to covetousness in the
matter of large and splendid things, or in the matter of the merest trifles,
except that we ought to think a man so far worse if he has made light of great
things and then is a slave to little things? And so that sort of renunciation of
the world does not attain perfection of heart, because though it ranks as
poverty it still keeps the mind of wealth.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 382: V. CONFERENCE OF ABBOT SERAPION.
========================================================================

On the Eight Principal Faults.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 383: CHAPTER I. OUR ARRIVAL AT ABBOT SERAPION'S CELL, AND INQUIRY ON THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF FAULTS AND THE WAY TO OVERCOME THEM. 
========================================================================

In that assembly of Ancients and Elders was a man named Serapion, [1312]
especially endowed with the grace of discretion, whose Conference I think it is
worth while to set down in writing. For when we entreated him to discourse of
the way to overcome our faults, so that their origin and cause might be made
clearer to us, he thus began.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 384: CHAPTER II. ABBOT SERAPION'S ENUMERATION OF EIGHT PRINCIPAL FAULTS. 
========================================================================

There are eight principal faults which attack mankind; viz., first gastrimargia,
which means gluttony, secondly fornication, thirdly philargyria, i.e., avarice
or the love of money, fourthly anger, fifthly dejection, sixthly acedia, i.e.,
listlessness or low spirits, seventhly cenodoxia, i.e., boasting or vain glory;
and eighthly pride.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 385: CHAPTER III. OF THE TWO CLASSES OF FAULTS AND THEIR FOURFOLD MANNER OF ACTING ON US. 
========================================================================

Of these faults then there are two classes. For they are either natural to us as
gluttony, or arise outside of nature as covetousness. But their manner of acting
on us is fourfold. For some cannot be consummated without an act on the part of
the flesh, as gluttony and fornication, while some can be completed without any
bodily act, as pride and vainglory. Some find the reasons for their being
excited outside us, as covetousness and anger; others are aroused by internal
feelings, as accidie [1313] and dejection.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 386: CHAPTER IV. A REVIEW OF THE PASSIONS OF GLUTTONY AND FORNICATION AND THEIR REMEDIES. 
========================================================================

And to make this clearer not only by a short discussion to the best of my
ability, but by Scripture proof as well, gluttony and fornication, though they
exist in us naturally (for sometimes they spring up without any incitement from
the mind, and simply at the motion and allurement of the flesh) yet if they are
to be consummated, must find an external object, and thus take effect only
through bodily acts. For "every man is tempted of his own lust. Then lust when
it has conceived beareth sin, and sin when it is consummated begets death."
[1314] For the first Adam could not have fallen a victim to gluttony unless he
had had material food at hand, and had used it wrongly, nor could the second
Adam be tempted without the enticement of some object, when it was said to Him:
"If Thou art the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." [1315]
And it is clear to everybody that fornication also is only completed by a bodily
act, as God says of this spirit to the blessed Job: "And his force is in his
loins, and his strength in the navel of his belly." [1316] And so these two
faults in particular, which are carried into effect by the aid of the flesh,
especially require bodily abstinence as well as spiritual care of the soul;
since the determination of the mind is not in itself enough to resist their
attacks (as is sometimes the case with anger or gloominess or the other
passions, which an effort of the mind alone can overcome without any
mortification of the flesh); but bodily chastisement must be used as well, and
be carried out by means of fasting and vigils and acts of contrition; and to
this must be added change of scene, because since these sins are the results of
faults of both mind and body, so they can only be overcome by the united efforts
of both. And although the blessed Apostle says generally that all faults are
carnal, since he enumerates enmities and anger and heresies among other works of
the flesh, [1317] yet in order to cure them and to discover their nature more
exactly we make a twofold division of them: for we call some of them carnal, and
some spiritual. And those we call carnal, which specially have to do with
pampering the appetites of the flesh, and with which it is so charmed and
satisfied, that sometimes it excites the mind when at rest and even drags it
against its will to consent to its desire. Of which the blessed Apostle says:
"In which also we all walked in time past in the desires of our flesh,
fulfilling the will of the flesh and of our thoughts, and were by nature
children of wrath even as the rest." [1318] But we call those spiritual which
spring only from the impulse of the mind and not merely contribute no pleasure
to the flesh, but actually bring on it a weakness that is harmful to it, and
only feed a diseased mind with the food of a most miserable pleasure. And
therefore these need a single medicine for the heart: but those which are carnal
can only be cured, as we said, by a double remedy. Whence it is extremely useful
for those who aspire to purity, to begin by withdrawing from themselves the
material which feeds these carnal passions, through which opportunity for or
recollection of these same desires can arise in a soul that is still affected by
the evil. For a complicated disease needs a complicated remedy. For from the
body the object and material which would allure it must be withdrawn, for fear
lest the lust should endeavour to break out into act; and before the mind we
should no less carefully place diligent meditation on Scripture and watchful
anxiety and the withdrawal into solitude, lest it should give birth to desire
even in thought. But as regards other faults intercourse with our fellows is no
obstacle, or rather it is of the greatest possible use, to those who truly
desire to get rid of them, because in mixing with others they more often meet
with rebuke, and while they are more frequently provoked the existence of the
faults is made evident, and so they are cured with speedy remedies.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 387: CHAPTER V. HOW OUR LORD ALONE WAS TEMPTED WITHOUT SIN. 
========================================================================

And so our Lord Jesus Christ, though declared by the Apostle's word to have been
tempted in all points like as we are, is yet said to have been "without sin,"
[1319] i.e., without the infection of this appetite, as He knew nothing of
incitements of carnal lust, with which we are sure to be troubled even against
our will and without our knowledge; [1320] for the archangel thus describes the
manner of His conception: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of
the Most High shall overshadow thee: therefore that which shall be born of thee
shall be called holy, the Son of God." [1321]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 388: CHAPTER VI. OF THE MANNER OF THE TEMPTATION IN WHICH OUR LORD WAS ATTACKED BY THE DEVIL. 
========================================================================

For it was right that He who was in possession of the perfect image and likeness
of God should be Himself tempted through those passions, through which Adam also
was tempted while he still retained the image of God unbroken, that is, through
gluttony, vainglory, pride; and not through those in which he was by his own
fault entangled and involved after the transgression of the commandment, when
the image and likeness of God was marred. For it was gluttony through which he
took the fruit of the forbidden tree, vainglory through which it was said "Your
eyes shall be opened," and pride through which it was said "Ye shall be as gods,
knowing good and evil." [1322] With these three sins then we read that the Lord
our Saviour was also tempted; with gluttony when the devil said to Him: "Command
these stones that they be made bread:" with vainglory: "If Thou art the Son of
God cast Thyself down:" with pride, when he showed him all the kingdoms of the
world and the glory of them and said: "All this will I give to Thee if Thou wilt
fall down and worship me:" [1323] in order that He might by His example teach us
how we ought to vanquish the tempter when we are attacked on the same lines of
temptation as He was. And so both the former and the latter are spoken of as
Adam; the one being the first for destruction and death, and the other the first
for resurrection and life. Through the one the whole race of mankind is brought
into condemnation, through the other the whole race of mankind is set free. The
one was fashioned out of raw and unformed earth, the other was born of the
Virgin Mary. In His case then though it was fitting that He should undergo
temptation, yet it was not necessary that He should fail under it. Nor could He
who had vanquished gluttony be tempted by fornication, which springs from
superfluity and gluttony as its root, with which even the first Adam would not
have been destroyed unless before its birth he had been deceived by the wiles of
the devil and fallen a victim to passion. And therefore the Son of God is not
said absolutely to have come "in the flesh of sin," but "in the likeness of the
flesh of sin," because though His was true flesh and He ate and drank and slept,
and truly received the prints of the nails, there was in Him no true sin
inherited from the fall, but only what was something like it. For He had no
experience of the fiery darts of carnal lust, which in our case arise even
against our will, from the constitution of our natures, but He took upon Him
something like this, by sharing in our nature. For as He truly fulfilled every
function which belongs to us, and bore all human infirmities, He has
consequently been considered to have been subject to this feeling also, that He
might appear through these infirmities to bear in His own flesh the state even
of this fault and sin. Lastly the devil only tempted Him to those sins, by which
he had deceived the first Adam, inferring that He as man would similarly be
deceived in other matters if he found that He was overcome by those temptations
by which he had overthrown His predecessor. But as he was overthrown in the
first encounter he was not able to bring upon Him the second infirmity which had
shot up as from the root of the first fault. For he saw that He had not even
admitted anything from which this infirmity might take its rise, and it was idle
to hope for the fruit of sin from Him, as he saw that He in no sort of way
received into Himself seeds or roots of it. Yet according to Luke, who places
last that temptation in which he uses the words "If Thou art the Son of God,
cast Thyself down," [1324] we can understand this of the feeling of pride, so
that that earlier one, which Matthew places third, in which, as Luke the
evangelist says, the devil showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment
of time and promised them to Him, may be taken of the feeling of covetousness,
because after His victory over gluttony, he did not venture to tempt Him to
fornication, but passed on to covetousness, which he knew to be the root of all
evils, [1325] and when again vanquished in this, he did not dare attack Him with
any of those sins which follow, which, as he knew full well, spring from this as
a root and source; and so he passed on to the last passion; viz., pride, by
which he knew that those who are perfect and have overcome all other sins, can
be affected, and owing to which he remembered that he himself in his character
of Lucifer, and many others too, had fallen from their heavenly estate, without
temptation from any of the preceding passions. In this order then which we have
mentioned, which is the one given by the evangelist Luke, there is an exact
agreement between the allurements and forms of the temptations by which that
most crafty foe attacked both the first and the second Adam. For to the one he
said "Your eyes shall be opened;" to the other "he showed all the kingdoms of
the world and the glory of them." In the one case he said "Ye shall be as gods;"
in the other, "If Thou art the Son of God." [1326]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 389: CHAPTER VII. HOW VAINGLORY AND PRIDE CAN BE CONSUMMATED WITHOUT ANY ASSISTANCE FROM THE BODY. 
========================================================================

And to go on in the order which we proposed, with our account of the way in
which the other passions act (our analysis of which was obliged to be
interrupted by this account of gluttony and of the Lord's temptation) vainglory
and pride can be consummated even without the slightest assistance from the
body. For in what way do those passions need any action of the flesh, which
bring ample destruction on the soul they take captive simply by its assent and
wish to gain praise and glory from men? Or what act on the part of the body was
there in that pride of old in the case of the above mentioned Lucifer; as he
only conceived it in his heart and mind, as the prophet tells us: "Who saidst in
thine heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of
God. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the most
High." [1327] And just as he had no one to stir him up to this pride, so his
thoughts alone were the authors of the sin when complete and of his eternal
fall; especially as no exercise of the dominion at which he aimed followed.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 390: CHAPTER VIII. OF COVETOUSNESS, WHICH IS SOMETHING OUTSIDE OUR NATURE, AND OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IT AND THOSE FAULTS WHICH ARE NATURAL TO US. 
========================================================================

Covetousness and anger, although they are not of the same character (for the
former is something outside our nature, while the latter seems to have as it
were its seed plot within us) yet they spring up in the same way, as in most
instances they find the reasons for their being stirred in something outside of
us. For often men who are still rather weak complain that they have fallen into
these sins through irritation and the instigation of others, and are plunged
headlong into the passions of anger and covetousness by the provocation of other
people. But that covetousness is something outside our nature, we can clearly
see from this; viz., that it is proved not to have its first starting point
inside us, nor does it originate in what contributes to keeping body and soul
together, and to the existence of life. For it is plain that nothing belongs to
the actual needs and necessities of our common life except our daily meat and
drink: but everything else, with whatever zeal and care we preserve it, is shown
to be something distinct from the wants of man by the needs of life itself. And
so this temptation, as being something outside our nature, only attacks those
monks who are but lukewarm and built on a bad foundation, whereas those which
are natural to us do not cease from troubling even the best of monks and those
who dwell in solitude. And so far is this shown to be true, that we find that
there are some nations who are altogether free from this passion of
covetousness, because they have never by use and custom received into themselves
this fault and infirmity. And we believe that the old world before the flood was
for long ages ignorant of the madness of this desire. And in the case of each
one of us who makes his renunciation of the world a thorough one, we know that
it is extirpated without any difficulty, if, that is, a man gives up all his
property, and seeks the monastic discipline in such a way as not to allow
himself to keep a single farthing. And we can find thousands of men to bear
witness to this, who in a single moment have given up all their property, and
have so thoroughly eradicated this passion as not to be in the slightest degree
troubled by it afterwards, though all their life long they have to fight against
gluttony, and cannot be safe from it without striving with the utmost
watchfulness of heart and bodily abstinence.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 391: CHAPTER IX. HOW DEJECTION AND ACCIDIE GENERALLY ARISE WITHOUT ANY EXTERNAL PROVOCATION, AS IN THE CASE OF OTHER FAULTS. 
========================================================================

Dejection and accidie generally arise without any external provocation, like
those others of which we have been speaking: for we are well aware that they
often harass solitaries, and those who have settled themselves in the desert
without any intercourse with other men, and this in the most distressing way.
And the truth of this any one who has lived in the desert and made trial of the
conflicts of the inner man, can easily prove by experience.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 392: CHAPTER X. HOW SIX OF THESE FAULTS ARE RELATED, AND THE TWO WHICH DIFFER FROM THEM ARE AKIN TO ONE ANOTHER. 
========================================================================

Of these eight faults then, although they are different in their origin and in
their way of affecting us, yet the six former; viz., gluttony, fornication,
covetousness, anger, dejection, accidie, have a sort of connexion with each
other, and are, so to speak, linked together in a chain, so that any excess of
the one forms a starting point for the next. For from superfluity of gluttony
fornication is sure to spring, and from fornication covetousness, from
covetousness anger, from anger, dejection, and from dejection, accidie. And so
we must fight against them in the same way, and with the same methods: and
having overcome one, we ought always to enter the lists against the next. For a
tall and spreading tree of a noxious kind will the more easily be made to wither
if the roots on which it depends have first been laid bare or cut; and a pond of
water which is dangerous will be dried up at once if the spring and flowing
channel which produce it are carefully stopped up. Wherefore in order to
overcome accidie, you must first get the better of dejection: in order to get
rid of dejection, anger must first be expelled: in order to quell anger,
covetousness must be trampled under foot: in order to root out covetousness,
fornication must be checked: and in order to destroy fornication, you must
chastise the sin of gluttony. But the two remaining faults; viz., vainglory and
pride, are connected together in a somewhat similar way as the others of which
we have spoken, so that the growth of the one makes a starting point for the
other (for superfluity of vainglory produces an incentive to pride); but they
are altogether different from the six former faults, and are not joined in the
same category with them, since not only is there no opportunity given for them
to spring up from these, but they are actually aroused in an entirely different
way and manner. For when these others have been eradicated these latter flourish
the more vigorously, and from the death of the others they shoot forth and grow
up all the stronger: and therefore we are attacked by these two faults in quite
a different way. For we fall into each one of those six faults at the moment
when we have been overcome by the ones that went before them; but into these two
we are in danger of falling when we have proved victorious, and above all after
some splendid triumph. In the cases then of all faults just as they spring up
from the growth of those that go before them, so are they eradicated by getting
rid of the earlier ones. And in this way in order that pride may be driven out
vainglory must be stifled, and so if we always overcome the earlier ones, the
later ones will be checked; and through the extermination of those that lead the
way, the rest of our passions will die down without difficulty. And though these
eight faults of which we have spoken are connected and joined together in the
way which we have shown, yet they may be more exactly divided into four groups
and sub-divisions. For to gluttony fornication is linked by a special tie: to
covetousness anger, to dejection accidie, and to vainglory pride is closely
allied.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 393: CHAPTER XI. OF THE ORIGIN AND CHARACTER OF EACH OF THESE FAULTS. 
========================================================================

And now, to speak about each kind of fault separately: of gluttony there are
three sorts: (1) that which drives a monk to eat before the proper and stated
times; (2) that which cares about filling the belly and gorging it with all
kinds of food, and (3) that which is on the lookout for dainties and delicacies.
And these three sorts give a monk no little trouble, unless he tries to free
himself from all of them with the same care and scrupulousness. For just as one
should never venture to break one's fast before the right time so we must
utterly avoid all greediness in eating, and the choice and dainty preparation of
our food: for from these three causes different but extremely dangerous
conditions of the soul arise. For from the first there springs up dislike of the
monastery, and thence there grows up disgust and intolerance of the life there,
and this is sure to be soon followed by withdrawal and speedy departure from it.
By the second there are kindled the fiery darts of luxury and lasciviousness.
The third also weaves the entangling meshes of covetousness for the nets of its
prisoners, and ever hinders monks from following the perfect self-abnegation of
Christ. And when there are traces of this passion in us we can recognize them by
this; viz., if we are kept to dine by one of the brethren we are not content to
eat our food with the relish which he has prepared and offers to us, but take
the unpardonable liberty of asking to have something else poured over it or
added to it, a thing which we should never do for three reasons: (1) because the
monastic mind ought always to be accustomed to practise endurance and
abstinence, and like the Apostle, to learn to be content in whatever state he
is. [1329] For one who is upset by taking an unsavoury morsel once and in a way,
and who cannot even for a short time overcome the delicacy of his appetite will
never succeed in curbing the secret and more important desires of the body; (2)
because it sometimes happens that at the time our host is out of that particular
thing which we ask for, and we make him feel ashamed of the wants and bareness
of his table, by exposing his poverty which he would rather was only known to
God; (3) because sometimes other people do not care about the relish which we
ask for, and so it turns out that we are annoying most of them while intent on
satisfying the desires of our own palate. And on this account we must by all
means avoid such a liberty. Of fornication there are three sorts: (1) that which
is accomplished by sexual intercourse; (2) that which takes place without
touching a woman, for which we read that Onan the son of the patriarch Judah was
smitten by the Lord; and which is termed by Scripture uncleanness: of which the
Apostle says: "But I say to the unmarried and to widows, that it is good for
them if they abide even as I. But if they do not contain let them marry: for it
is better to marry than to burn;" [1330] (3) that which is conceived in heart
and mind, of which the Lord says in the gospel: "Whosoever looketh on a woman to
lust after her hath already committed adultery with her in his heart." [1331]
And these three kinds the blessed Apostle tells us must be stamped out in one
and the same way. "Mortify," says he, "your members which are upon the earth,
fornication, uncleanness, lust, etc." [1332] And again of two of them he says to
the Ephesians: "Let fornication and uncleanness be not so much as named among
you:" and once more: "But know this that no fornicator or unclean person, or
covetous person who is an idolater hath inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and
of God." [1333] And just as these three must be avoided by us with equal care,
so they one and all shut us out and exclude us equally from the kingdom of
Christ. Of covetousness there are three kinds: (1) That which hinders
renunciants from allowing themselves of be stripped of their goods and property;
(2) that which draws us to resume with excessive eagerness the possession of
those things which we have given away and distributed to the poor; (3) that
which leads a man to covet and procure what he never previously possessed. Of
anger there are three kinds: one which rages within, which is called in Greek
thumos; another which breaks out in word and deed and action, which they term
orge: of which the Apostle speaks, saying "But now do ye lay aside all anger and
indignation;" [1334] the third, which is not like those in boiling over and
being done with in an hour, but which lasts for days and long periods, which is
called menis. And all these three must be condemned by us with equal horror. Of
dejection there are two kinds: one, that which springs up when anger has died
down, or is the result of some loss we have incurred or of some purpose which
has been hindered and interfered with; the other, that which comes from
unreasonable anxiety of mind or from despair. Of accidie there are two kinds:
one of which sends those affected by it to sleep; while the other makes them
forsake their cell and flee away. Of vainglory, although it takes various forms
and shapes, and is divided into different classes, yet there are two main kinds:
(1) when we are puffed up about carnal things and things visible, and (2) when
we are inflamed with the desire of vain praise for things spiritual and unseen.


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  CHAPTER 394: CHAPTER XII. HOW VAINGLORY MAY BE USEFUL TO US. 
========================================================================

But in one matter vainglory is found to be a useful thing for beginners. I mean
by those who are still troubled by carnal sins, as for instance, if, when they
are troubled by the spirit of fornication, they formed an idea of the dignity of
the priesthood, or of reputation among all men, by which they may be thought
saints and immaculate: and so with these considerations they repell the unclean
suggestions of lust, as deeming them base and at least unworthy of their rank
and reputation; and so by means of a smaller evil they overcome a greater one.
For it is better for a man to be troubled by the sin of vainglory than for him
to fall into the desire for fornication, from which he either cannot recover at
all or only with great difficulty after he has fallen. And this thought is
admirably expressed by one of the prophets speaking in the person of God, and
saying: "For My name's sake I will remove My wrath afar off: and with My praise
I will bridle thee lest thou shouldest perish," [1335] i.e., while you are
enchained by the praises of vainglory, you cannot possibly rush on into the
depths of hell, or plunge irrevocably into the commission of deadly sins. Nor
need we wonder that this passion has the power of checking anyone from rushing
into the sin of fornication, since it has been again and again proved by many
examples that when once a man has been affected by its poison and plague, it
makes him utterly indefatigable, so that he scarcely feels a fast of even two or
three days. And we have often known some who are living in this desert,
confessing that when their home was in the monasteries of Syria they could
without difficulty go for five days without food, while now they are so overcome
with hunger even by the third hour, that they can scarcely keep on their daily
fast to the ninth hour. And on this subject there is a very neat answer of Abbot
Macarius [1336] to one who asked him why he was troubled with hunger as early as
the third hour in the desert, when in the monastery he had often scorned food
for a whole week, without feeling hungry. "Because," said he, "here there is
nobody to see your fast, and feed and support you with his praise of you: but
there you grew fat on the notice of others and the food of vainglory." And of
the way in which, as we said, the sin of fornication is prevented by an attack
of vainglory, there is an excellent and significant figure in the book of Kings,
where, when the children of Israel had been taken captive by Necho, King of
Egypt, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Assyria, came up and brought them back from the
borders of Egypt to their own country, not indeed meaning to restore them to
their former liberty and their native land, but meaning to carry them off to his
own land and to transport them to a still more distant country than the land of
Egypt in which they had been prisoners. And this illustration exactly applies to
the case before us. For though there is less harm in yielding to the sin of
vainglory than to fornication, yet it is more difficult to escape from the
dominion of vainglory. For somehow or other the prisoner who is carried off to a
greater distance, will have more difficulty in returning to his native land and
the freedom of his fathers, and the prophet's rebuke will be deservedly aimed at
him: "Wherefore art thou grown old in a strange country? [1337] since a man is
rightly said to have grown old in a strange country, if he has not broken up the
ground of his faults. Of pride there are two kinds: (1) carnal, and (2)
spiritual, which is the worse. For it especially attacks those who are seen to
have made progress in some good qualities.


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  CHAPTER 395: CHAPTER XIII. OF THE DIFFERENT WAYS IN WHICH ALL THESE FAULTS ASSAULT US. 
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Although then these eight faults trouble all sorts of men, yet they do not
attack them all in the same way. For in one man the spirit of fornication holds
the chief place: wrath rides rough shod over another: over another vainglory
claims dominion: in an other pride holds the field: and though it is clear that
we are all attacked by all of them, yet the difficulties come to each of us in
very different ways and manners.


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  CHAPTER 396: CHAPTER XIV. OF THE STRUGGLE INTO WHICH WE MUST ENTER AGAINST OUR FAULTS, WHEN THEY ATTACK US. 
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Wherefore we must enter the lists against these faults in such a way that every
one should discover his besetting sin, and direct his main attack against it,
directing all his care and watchfulness of mind to guard against its assault,
directing against it daily the weapons of fasting, and at all times hurling
against it the constant darts of sighs and groanings from the heart, and
employing against it the labours of vigils and the meditation of the heart, and
further pouring forth to God constant tears and prayers and continually and
expressly praying to be delivered from its attack. For it is impossible for a
man to win a triumph over any kind of passion, unless he has first clearly
understood that he cannot possibly gain the victory in the struggle with it by
his own strength and efforts, although in order that he may be rendered pure he
must night and day persist in the utmost care and watchfulness. And even when he
feels that he has got rid of this fault, he should still search the inmost
recesses of his heart with the same purpose, and single out the worst fault
which he can see among those still there, and bring all the forces of the Spirit
to bear against it in particular, and so by always overcoming the stronger
passions, he will gain a quick and easy victory over the rest, because by a
course of triumphs the soul is made more vigorous, and the fact that the next
conflict is with weaker passion insures him a readier success in the struggle:
as is generally the case with those who are wont to face all kinds of wild
beasts in the presence of the kings of this world, out of consideration for the
rewards -- a kind of spectacle which is generally called "pancarpus." [1338]
Such men, I say, direct their first assault against whatever beasts they see to
be the strongest and fiercest, and when they have despatched these, then they
can more easily lay low the remaining ones, which are not so terrible and
powerful. So too, by always overcoming the stronger passions, as weaker ones
take their place, a perfect victory will be secured for us without any risk. Nor
need we imagine that if any one grapples with one fault in particular, and seems
too careless about guarding against the attacks of others, he will be easily
wounded by a sudden assault, for this cannot possibly happen. For where a man is
anxious to cleanse his heart, and has steeled his heart's purpose against the
attack of any one fault, it is impossible for him not to have a general dread of
all other faults as well, and take similar care of them. For if a man renders
himself unworthy of the prize of purity by contaminating himself with other
faults, how can he possibly succeed in gaining the victory over that one passion
from which he is longing to be freed? But when the main purpose of our heart has
singled out one passion as the special object of its attack, we shall pray about
it more earnestly, and with special anxiety and fervour shall entreat that we
may be more especially on our guard against it and so succeed in gaining a
speedy victory. For the giver of the law himself teaches us that we ought to
follow this plan in our conflicts and not to trust in our own power; as he says:
"Thou shalt not fear them because the Lord thy God is in the midst of thee, a
God mighty and terrible: He will consume these nations in thy sight by little
and little and by degrees. Thou wilt not be able to destroy them altogether:
lest perhaps the beasts of the earth should increase upon thee. But the Lord thy
God shall deliver them in thy sight; and shall slay them until they be utterly
destroyed." [1339]


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  CHAPTER 397: CHAPTER XV. HOW WE CAN DO NOTHING AGAINST OUR FAULTS WITHOUT THE HELP OF GOD, AND HOW WE SHOULD NOT BE PUFFED UP BY VICTORIES OVER THEM. 
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And that we ought not to be puffed up by victories over them he likewise charges
us; saying, "Lest after thou hast eaten and art filled, hast built goodly houses
and dwelt in them, and shalt have herds of oxen and flocks of sheep, and plenty
of gold and of silver, and of all things, thy heart be lifted up and thou
remember not the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of
the house of bondage; and was thy leader in the great and terrible wilderness."
[1340] Solomon also says in Proverbs: "When thine enemy shall fall be not glad,
and in his ruin be not lifted up, lest the Lord see and it displease Him, and He
turn away His wrath from him," [1341] i.e., lest He see thy pride of heart, and
cease from attacking him, and thou begin to be forsaken by Him and so once more
to be troubled by that passion which by God's grace thou hadst previously
overcome. For the prophet would not have prayed in these words, "Deliver not up
to beasts, O Lord, the soul that confesseth to Thee," [1342] unless he had known
that because of their pride of heart some were given over again to those faults
which they had overcome, in order that they might be humbled. Wherefore it is
well for us both to be certified by actual experience, and also to be instructed
by countless passages of Scripture, that we cannot possibly overcome such mighty
foes in our own strength, and unless supported by the aid of God alone; and that
we ought always to refer the whole of our victory each day to God Himself, as
the Lord Himself also gives us instruction by Moses on this very point: "Say not
in thine heart when the Lord thy God shall have destroyed them in thy sight: For
my righteousness hath the Lord brought me in to possess this land, whereas these
nations are destroyed for their wickedness. For it is not for thy righteousness,
and the uprightness of thine heart, that thou shalt go in to possess their
lands: but because they have done wickedly they are destroyed at thy coming in."
[1343] I ask what could be said clearer in opposition to that impious notion and
impertinence of ours, in which we want to ascribe everything that we do to our
own free will and our own exertions? "Say not," he tells us, "in thine heart,
when the Lord thy God shall have destroyed them in thy sight: For my
righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land." To those who
have their eyes opened and their ears ready to hearken does not this plainly
say: When your struggle with carnal faults has gone well for you, and you see
that you are free from the filth of them, and from the fashions of this world,
do not be puffed up by the success of the conflict and victory and ascribe it to
your own power and wisdom, nor fancy that you have gained the victory over
spiritual wickedness and carnal sins through your own exertions and energy, and
free will? For there is no doubt that in all this you could not possibly have
succeeded, unless you had been fortified and protected by the help of the Lord.


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  CHAPTER 398: CHAPTER XVI. OF THE MEANING OF THE SEVEN NATIONS OF WHOSE LANDS ISRAEL TOOK POSSESSION, AND THE REASON WHY THEY ARE SOMETIMES SPOKEN OF AS |SEVEN,| AND SOMETIMES AS |MANY.| 
========================================================================

These are the seven nations whose lands the Lord promised to give to the
children of Israel when they came out of Egypt. And everything which, as the
Apostle says, happened to them "in a figure" [1344] we ought to take as written
for our correction. For so we read: "When the Lord thy God shall have brought
thee into the land, which thou art going in to possess, and shall have destroyed
many nations before thee, the Hittite, and the Girgashites, and the Amorite, the
Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations
much more numerous than thou art and much stronger than thou: and the Lord thy
God shall have delivered them to thee, thou shalt utterly destroy them." [1345]
And the reason that they are said to be much more numerous, is that faults are
many more in number than virtues and so in the list of them the nations are
reckoned as seven in number, but when the attack upon them is spoken of they are
set down without their number being given, for thus we read "And shall have
destroyed many nations before thee." For the race of carnal passions which
springs from this sevenfold incentive and root of sin, is more numerous than
that of Israel. For thence spring up murders, strifes, heresies, thefts, false
witness, blasphemy, surfeiting, drunkenness, back-biting, buffoonery, filthy
conversation, lies, perjury, foolish talking, scurrility, restlessness,
greediness, bitterness, clamour, wrath, contempt, murmuring, temptation,
despair, and many other faults, which it would take too long to describe. And if
we are inclined to think these small matters, let us hear what the Apostle
thought about them, and what was his opinion of them: "Neither murmur ye," says
he, "as some of them murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer:" and of
temptation: "Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them tempted and perished by
the serpents." [1346] Of backbiting: "Love not backbiting lest thou be rooted
out." [1347] And of despair: "Who despairing have given themselves up to
lasciviousness unto the working of all error, in uncleanness." [1348] And that
clamour is condemned as well as anger and indignation and blasphemy, the words
of the same Apostle teach us as clearly as possible when he thus charges us:
"Let all bitterness, and anger, and indignation, and clamour, and blasphemy be
put away from you with all malice," [1349] and many more things like these. And
though these are far more numerous than the virtues are, yet if those eight
principal sins, from which we know that these naturally proceed, are first
overcome, all these at once sink down, and are destroyed together with them with
a lasting destruction. For from gluttony proceed surfeiting and drunkenness.
From fornication filthy conversation, scurrility, buffoonery and foolish
talking. From covetousness, lying, deceit, theft, perjury, the desire of filthy
lucre, false witness, violence, inhumanity, and greed. From anger, murders,
clamour and indignation. From dejection, rancor, cowardice, bitterness, despair.
From accidie, laziness, sleepiness, rudeness, restlessness, wandering about,
instability both of mind and body, chattering, inquisitiveness. From vainglory,
contention, heresies, boasting and confidence in novelties. From pride,
contempt, envy, disobedience, blasphemy, murmuring, backbiting. And that all
these plagues are stronger than we, we can tell very plainly from the way in
which they attack us. For the delight in carnal passions wars more powerfully in
our members than does the desire for virtue, which is only gained with the
greatest contrition of heart and body. But if you will only gaze with the eyes
of the spirit on those countless hosts of our foes, which the Apostle enumerates
where he says: "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness,
against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places," [1350] and this which we find
of the righteous man in the nineteenth Psalm: "A thousand shall fall beside thee
and ten thousand at thy right hand," [1351] then you will clearly see that they
are far more numerous and more powerful than are we, carnal and earthly
creatures as we are, while to them is given a substance which is spiritual and
incorporeal.


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  CHAPTER 399: CHAPTER XVII. A QUESTION WITH REGARD TO THE COMPARISON OF SEVEN NATIONS WITH EIGHT FAULTS. 
========================================================================

Germanus: How then is it that there are eight faults which assault us, when
Moses reckons the nations opposed to the people of Israel as seven, and how is
it well for us to take possession of the territory of our faults?


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  CHAPTER 400: CHAPTER XVIII. SERAPION: EVERYBODY IS PERFECTLY AGREED THAT THERE ARE EIGHT PRINCIPAL FAULTS WHICH AFFECT A MONK. AND ALL OF THEM ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THE FIGURE OF THE NATIONS FOR THIS REASON...
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Chapter XVIII. Serapion: Everybody is perfectly agreed that there are eight
principal faults which affect a monk. And all of them are not included in the
figure of the nations for this reason, because in Deuteronomy Moses, or rather
the Lord through him, was speaking to those who had already gone forth from
Egypt and been set free from one most powerful nation, I mean that of the
Egyptians. And we find that this figure holds good also in our case, as when we
have got clear of the snares of this world we are found to be free from
gluttony, i.e., the sin of the belly and palate; and like them we have a
conflict against these seven remaining nations, without taking account at all of
the one which has been already overcome. And the land of this nation was not
given to Israel for a possession, but the command of the Lord ordained that they
should at once forsake it and go forth from it. And for this cause our fasts
ought to be made moderate, that there may be no need for us through excessive
abstinence, which results from weakness of the flesh and infirmity, to return
again to the land of Egypt, i.e., to our former greed and carnal lust which we
forsook when we made our renunciation of this world. And this has happened in a
figure, in those who after having gone forth into the desert of virtue again
hanker after the flesh pots over which they sat in Egypt.


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  CHAPTER 401: CHAPTER XIX. THE REASON WHY ONE NATION IS TO BE FORSAKEN, WHILE SEVEN ARE COMMANDED TO BE DESTROYED. 
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But the reason why that nation in which the children of Israel were born, was
bidden not to be utterly destroyed but only to have its land forsaken, while it
was commanded that these seven nations were to be completely destroyed, is this:
because however great may be the ardour of spirit, inspired by which we have
entered on the desert of virtues, yet we cannot possibly free ourselves entirely
from the neighbourhood of gluttony or from its service and, so to speak, from
daily intercourse with it. For the liking for delicacies and dainties will live
on as something natural and innate in us, even though we take pains to cut off
all superfluous appetites and desires, which, as they cannot be altogether
destroyed, ought to be shunned and avoided. For of these we read "Take no care
for the flesh with its desires." [1352] While then we still retain the feeling
for this care, which we are bidden not altogether to cut off, but to keep
without its desires, it is clear that we do not destroy the Egyptian nation but
separate ourselves in a sort of way from it, not thinking anything about
luxuries and delicate feasts, but, as the Apostle says, being "content with our
daily food and clothing." [1353] And this is commanded in a figure in the law,
in this way: "Thou shalt not abhor the Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in
his land." [1354] For necessary food is not refused to the body without danger
to it and sinfulness in the soul. But of those seven troublesome faults we must
in every possible way root out the affections from the inmost recesses of our
souls. For of them we read: "Let all bitterness and anger and indignation and
clamour and blasphemy be put away from you with all malice:" and again: "But
fornication and all uncleanness and covetousness let it not so much as be named
among you, or obscenity or foolish talking or scurrility." [1355] We can then
cut out the roots of these faults which are grafted into our nature from without
while we cannot possibly cut off occasions of gluttony. For however far we have
advanced, we cannot help being what we were born. And that this is so we can
show not only from the lives of little people like ourselves but from the lives
and customs of all who have attained perfection, who even when they have got rid
of incentives to all other passions, and are retiring to the desert with perfect
fervour of spirit and bodily abnegation, yet still cannot do without thought for
their daily meal and the preparation of their food from year to year.


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  CHAPTER 402: CHAPTER XX. OF THE NATURE OF GLUTTONY, WHICH MAY BE ILLUSTRATED BY THE SIMILE OF THE EAGLE. 
========================================================================

An admirable illustration of this passion, with which a monk, however spiritual
and excellent, is sure to be hampered, is found in the simile of the eagle. For
this bird when in its flight on high it has soared above the highest clouds, and
has withdrawn itself from the eyes of all mortals and from the face of the whole
earth, is yet compelled by the needs of the belly to drop down and descend to
the earth and feed upon carrion and dead bodies. And this clearly shows that the
spirit of gluttony cannot be altogether extirpated like all other faults, nor be
entirely destroyed like them, but that we can only hold down and check by the
power of the mind all incentives to it and all superfluous appetites.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 403: CHAPTER XXI. OF THE LASTING CHARACTER OF GLUTTONY AS DESCRIBED TO SOME PHILOSOPHERS. 
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For the nature of this fault was admirably expressed under cover of the
following puzzle by one of the Elders in a discussion with some philosophers,
who thought that they might chaff him like a country bumpkin because of his
Christian simplicity. "My father," said he, "left me in the clutches of a great
many creditors. All the others I have paid in full, and have freed myself from
all their pressing claims; but one I cannot satisfy even by a daily payment."
And when they could not see the meaning of the puzzle, and urgently begged him
to explain it: "I was," said he, "in my natural condition, encompassed by a
great many faults. But when God inspired me with the longing to be free, I
renounced this world, and at the same time gave up all my property which I had
inherited from my father, and so I satisfied them all like pressing creditors,
and freed myself entirely from them. But I was never able altogether to get rid
of the incentives to gluttony. For though I reduce the quantity of food which I
take to the smallest possible amount, yet I cannot avoid the force of its daily
solicitations, but must be perpetually dunned' by it, and be making as it were
interminable payments by continually satisfying it, and pay never ending toll at
its demand." Then they declared that this man, whom they had till now despised
as a booby and a country bumpkin, had thoroughly grasped the first principles of
philosophy, i.e., training in ethics, and they marvelled that he could by the
light of nature have learnt that which no schooling in this world could have
taught him, while they themselves with all their efforts and long course of
training had not learnt this. This is enough on gluttony in particular. Now let
us return to the discourse in which we had begun to consider the general
relation of our faults to each other.


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  CHAPTER 404: CHAPTER XXII. HOW IT WAS THAT GOD FORETOLD TO ABRAHAM THAT ISRAEL WOULD HAVE TO DRIVE OUT TEN NATIONS. 
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When the Lord was speaking with Abraham about the future (a point which you did
not ask about) we find that He did not enumerate seven nations, but ten, whose
land He promised to give to his seed. [1356] And this number is plainly made up
by adding idolatry, and blasphemy, to whose dominion, before the knowledge of
God and the grace of Baptism, both the irreligious hosts of the Gentiles and
blasphemous ones of the Jews were subject, while they dwelt in a spiritual
Egypt. But when a man has made his renunciation and come forth from thence, and
having by God's grace conquered gluttony, has come into the spiritual
wilderness, then he is free from the attacks of these three, and will only have
to wage war against those seven which Moses enumerates.


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  CHAPTER 405: CHAPTER XXIII. HOW IT IS USEFUL FOR US TO TAKE POSSESSION OF THEIR LANDS. 
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But the fact that we are bidden for our good to take possession of the countries
of those most wicked nations, may be understood in this way. Each fault has its
own especial corner in the heart, which it claims for itself in the recesses of
the soul, and drives out Israel, i.e., the contemplation of holy and heavenly
things, and never ceases to oppose them. For virtues cannot possibly live side
by side with faults. "For what participation hath righteousness with
unrighteousness? Or what fellowship hath light with darkness?" [1357] But as
soon as these faults have been overcome by the people of Israel, i.e., by those
virtues which war against them, then at once the place in our heart which the
spirit of concupiscence and fornication had occupied, will be filled by
chastity. That which wrath had held, will be claimed by patience. That which had
been occupied by a sorrow that worketh death, will be taken by a godly sorrow
and one full of joy. That which had been wasted by accidie, will at once be
tilled by courage. That which pride had trodden down will be ennobled by
humility: and so when each of these faults has been expelled, their places (that
is the tendency towards them) will be filled by the opposite virtues which are
aptly termed the children of Israel, that is, of the soul that seeth God: [1358]
and when these have expelled all passions from the heart we may believe that
they have recovered their own possessions rather than invaded those of others.


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  CHAPTER 406: CHAPTER XXIV. HOW THE LANDS FROM WHICH THE CANAANITES WERE EXPELLED, HAD BEEN ASSIGNED TO THE SEED OF SHEM. 
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For, as an ancient tradition tells us, [1359] these same lands of the Canaanites
into which the children of Israel were brought, had been formerly allotted to
the children of Shem at the division of the world, and afterward the descendants
of Ham wickedly invading them with force and violence took possession of them.
And in this the righteous judgment of God is shown, as He expelled from the land
of others these who had wrongfully taken possession of them, and restored to
those others the ancient property of their fathers which had been assigned to
their ancestors at the division of the world. And we can perfectly well see that
this figure holds good in our own case. For by nature God's will assigned the
possession of our heart not to vices but to virtues, which, after the fall of
Adam were driven out from their own country by the sins which grew up, i.e., by
the Canaanites; and so when by God's grace they are by our efforts and labour
restored again to it, we may hold that they have not occupied the territory of
another, but rather have recovered their own country.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 407: CHAPTER XXV. DIFFERENT PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE ON THE MEANING OF THE EIGHT FAULTS. 
========================================================================

And in reference to these eight faults we also have the following in the gospel:
"But when the unclean spirit is gone out from a man, he walketh through dry
places seeking rest and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return to my house
from whence I came out: and coming he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished:
then he goeth and taketh seven other spirits worse than himself, and they enter
in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is made worse than the
first." [1360] Lo, just as in the former passages we read of seven nations
besides that of the Egyptians from which the children of Israel had gone forth,
so here too seven unclean spirits are said to return beside that one which we
first hear of as going forth from the man. And of this sevenfold incentive of
sins Solomon gives the following account in Proverbs: "If thine enemy speak loud
to thee, do not agree to him because there are seven mischiefs in his heart;"
[1361] i.e., if the spirit of gluttony is overcome and begins to flatter you
with having humiliated it, asking in a sort of way that you would relax
something of the fervour with which you began, and yield to it something beyond
what the due limits of abstinence, and measure of strict severity would allow,
do not you be overcome by its submission, nor return in fancied security from
its assaults, as you seem to have become for a time freed from carnal desires,
to your previous state of carelessness or former liking for good things. For
through this the spirit whom you have vanquished is saying "I will return to my
house from whence I came out," and forthwith the seven spirits of sins which
proceed from it will prove to you more injurious than that passion which in the
first instance you overcame, and will presently drag you down to worse kinds of
sins.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 408: CHAPTER XXVI. HOW WHEN WE HAVE GOT THE BETTER OF THE PASSION OF GLUTTONY WE MUST TAKE PAINS TO GAIN ALL THE OTHER VIRTUES. 
========================================================================

Wherefore while we are practising fasting and abstinence, we must be careful
when we have got the better of the passion of gluttony never to allow our mind
to remain empty of the virtues of which we stand in need; but we should the more
earnestly fill the inmost recesses of our heart with them for fear lest the
spirit of concupiscence should return and find us empty and void of them, and
should not be content to secure an entrance there for himself alone, but should
bring in with him into our heart this sevenfold incentive of sins and make our
last state worse than the first. For the soul which boasts that it has renounced
this world with the eight faults that hold sway over it, will afterwards be
fouler and more unclean and visited with severer punishments, than it was when
formerly it was at home in the world, when it had taken upon itself neither the
rules nor the name of monk. For these seven spirits are said to be worse than
the first which went forth, for this reason; because the love of good things,
i.e., gluttony would not be in itself harmful, were it not that it opened the
door to other passions; viz, to fornication, covetousness, anger, dejection, and
pride, which are clearly hurtful in themselves to the soul, and domineering over
it. And therefore a man will never be able to gain perfect purity, if he hopes
to secure it by means of abstinence alone, i.e., bodily fasting, unless he knows
that he ought to practise it for this reason that when the flesh is brought low
by means of fasting, he may with greater ease enter the lists against other
faults, as the flesh has not been habituated to gluttony and surfeiting.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 409: CHAPTER XXVII. THAT OUR BATTLES ARE NOT FOUGHT WITH OUR FAULTS IN THE SAME ORDER AS THAT IN WHICH THEY STAND IN THE LIST. 
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But you must know that our battles are not all fought in the same order,
because, as we mentioned that the attacks are not always made on us in the same
way, each one of us ought also to begin the battle with due regard to the
character of the attack which is especially made on him so that one man will
have to fight his first battle against the fault which stands third on the list,
another against that which is fourth or fifth. And in proportion as faults hold
sway over us, and the character of their attack may demand, so we too ought to
regulate the order of our conflict, in such a way that the happy result of a
victory and triumph succeeding may insure our attainment of purity of heart and
complete perfection. Thus far did Abbot Serapion discourse to us of the nature
of the eight principal faults, and so clearly did he expound the different sorts
of passions which are latent within us -- the origin and connexion of which,
though we were daily tormented by them, we could never before thoroughly
understand and perceive -- that we seemed almost to see them spread out before
our eyes as in a mirror.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 410: VI. CONFERENCE OF ABBOT THEODORE. 
========================================================================

On the Death of the Saints.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 411: CHAPTER I. DESCRIPTION OF THE WILDERNESS, AND THE QUESTION ABOUT THE DEATH OF THE SAINTS. 
========================================================================

In the district of Palestine near the village of Tekoa which had the honour of
producing the prophet Amos, [1363] there is a vast desert which stretches far
and wide as far as Arabia and the dead sea, into which the streams of Jordan
enter and are lost, and where are the ashes of Sodom. In this district there
lived for a long while monks of the most perfect life and holiness, who were
suddenly destroyed by an incursion of Saracen robbers: [1364] whose bodies we
knew were seized upon with the greatest veneration [1365] both by the Bishops of
the neighbourhood and by the whole populace of Arabia, and deposited among the
relics of the martyrs, so that swarms of people from two towns met, and made
terrible war upon each other, and in their struggle actually came to blows for
the possession of the holy spoil, while they strove among themselves with pious
zeal as to which of them had the better claim to bury them and keep their relics
-- the one party boasting of their vicinity to the place of their abode, the
other of the fact that they were near the place of their birth. But we were
upset by this and being disturbed either on our own account or on account of
some of the brethren who were in no small degree scandalized at it, inquired why
men of such illustrious merits and of so great virtues should be thus slain by
robbers, and why the Lord permitted such a crime to be committed against his
servants, so as to give up into the hands of wicked men those who were the
admiration of everybody: and so in our grief we came to the holy Theodore, a man
who excelled in practical common sense. For he was living in Cellæ, [1366] a
place that lies between Nitria and Scete, and is five miles distant from the
monasteries of Nitria, and cut off by eighty intervening miles of desert from
the wilderness of Scete where we were living. And when we had made our complaint
to him about the death of the men mentioned above, and expressed our surprise at
the great patience of God, because He suffered men of such worth to be killed in
this way, so that those who ought to be able by the weight of their sanctity to
deliver others from trials of this kind, could not save themselves from the
hands of wicked men (and asked) why it was that God allowed so great a crime to
be committed against his servants, then the blessed Theodore replied.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 412: CHAPTER II. ABBOT THEODORE'S ANSWER TO THE QUESTION PROPOSED TO HIM. 
========================================================================

This question often exercises the minds of those who have not much faith or
knowledge, and imagine that the prizes and rewards of the saints (which are not
given in this world, but laid up for the future) are bestowed in the short space
of this mortal life. But we whose hope in Christ is not only in this life, for
fear lest, as the Apostle says, we should be "of all men most miserable" [1367]
(because as we receive none of the promises in this world we should for our
unbelief lose them also in that to come) ought not wrongly to follow their
ideas, lest through ignorance of the true real explanation, we should hesitate
and tremble and fail in temptation, if we find ourselves given up to such men;
and should ascribe to God injustice or carelessness about the affairs of mankind
-- a thing which it is almost a sin to mention -- because He does not protect in
their temptations men who are living an upright and holy life, nor requite good
men with good things and evil men with evil things in this world; and so we
should deserve to fall under the condemnation of those whom the prophet
Zephaniah rebukes, saying "who say in their hearts the Lord will not do good,
nor will He do evil:" [1368] or at least be found among those of whom we are
told that they blaspheme God with such complaints as this: "Every one that doeth
evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and such please Him: for surely where is
the God of judgment?" [1369] Adding further that blasphemy which is described in
the same way in what follows: "He laboureth in vain that serveth God, and what
profit is it that we have kept His ordinances, and walked sorrowful before the
Lord? Wherefore now we call the proud happy, for they that work wickedness are
enriched, and they have tempted God, and are preserved." [1370] Wherefore that
we may avoid this ignorance which is the root and cause of this most deadly
error, we ought in the first place to know what is really good, and what is bad,
and so finally if we grasp the true scriptural meaning of these words, and not
the false popular one, we shall escape being deceived by the errors of
unbelievers.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 413: CHAPTER III. OF THE THREE KINDS OF THINGS THERE ARE IN THE WORLD; VIZ., GOOD, BAD, AND INDIFFERENT. 
========================================================================

Altogether there are three kinds of things in the world; viz., good, bad, and
indifferent. And so we ought to know what is properly good, and what is bad, and
what is indifferent, that our faith may be supported by true knowledge and stand
firm in all temptations. We must then believe that in things which are merely
human there is no real good except virtue of soul alone, which leads us with
unfeigned faith to things divine, and makes us constantly adhere to that
unchanging good. And on the other hand we ought not to call anything bad, except
sin alone, which separates us from the good God, and unites us to the evil
devil. But those things are indifferent which can be appropriated to either side
according to the fancy or wish of their owner, as for instance riches, power,
honour, bodily strength, good health, beauty, life itself, and death, poverty,
bodily infirmities, injuries, and other things of the same sort, which can
contribute either to good or to evil as the character and fancy of their owner
directs. For riches are often serviceable for our good, as the Apostle says, who
charges "the rich of this world to be ready to give, to distribute to the needy,
to lay up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come,
that" by this means "they may lay hold on the true life." [1371] And according
to the gospel they are a good thing for those who "make to themselves friends of
the unrighteous mammon." [1372] And again, they can be drawn in the direction of
what is bad when they are amassed only for the sake of hoarding them or for a
life of luxury, and are not employed to meet the wants of the poor. And that
power also and honour and bodily strength and good health are indifferent and
available for either (good or bad) can easily be shown from the fact that many
of the Old Testament saints enjoyed all these things and were in positions of
great wealth and the highest honour, and blessed with bodily strength, and yet
are known to have been most acceptable to God. And on the contrary those who
have wrongfully abused these things and perverted them for their own purposes
are not without good reason punished or destroyed, as the Book of Kings shows us
has often happened. And that even life and death are in themselves indifferent
the birth of S. John and of Judas proves. For in the case of the one his life
was so profitable to himself that we are told that his birth brought joy to
others also, as we read "And many shall rejoice at his birth;" [1373] but of the
life of the other it is said: "It were good for that man if he had never been
born." [1374] Further it is said of the death of John and of all saints "Right
dear in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints:" [1375] but of that of
Judas and men like him "The death of the wicked is very evil." [1376] And how
useful bodily sickness sometimes may be the blessing on Lazarus, the beggar who
was full of sores, shows us. For Scripture makes mention of no other good
qualities or deserts of his, but it was for this fact alone; viz., that he
endured want and bodily sickness with the utmost patience, that he was deemed
worthy of the blessed lot of a place in Abraham's bosom. [1377] And with regard
to want and persecution and injuries which everybody thinks to be bad, how
useful and necessary they are is clearly proved by this fact; viz., that the
saints not only never tried to avoid them, but actually either sought them with
all their powers or bravely endured them, and thus became the friends of God,
and obtained the reward of eternal life, as the blessed Apostle chants: "For
which cause I delight myself in my infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities,
in persecutions, in distresses for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong,
for power is made perfect in infirmity." [1378] And therefore those who are
exalted with the greatest riches and honours and powers of this world, should
not be deemed to have secured their chief good out of them (for this is shown to
consist only in virtue) but only something indifferent, because just as to good
men who use them well and properly they will be found to be useful and
convenient (for they afford them opportunities for good works and fruits which
shall endure to eternal life), so to those who wrongfully abuse their wealth,
they are useless and out of place, and furnish occasions of sin and death.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 414: CHAPTER IV. HOW EVIL CANNOT BE FORCED ON ANY ONE BY ANOTHER AGAINST HIS WILL. 
========================================================================

Preserving then these distinctions clear and fixed, and knowing that there is
nothing good except virtue alone, and nothing bad except sin alone and
separation from God, let us now carefully consider whether God ever allows evil
to be forced on his saints either by Himself or by some one else. And you will
certainly find that this never happens. For another can never possibly force the
evil of sin upon anyone, who does not consent and who resists, but only on one
who admits it into himself through sloth and the corrupt desire of his heart.
Finally, when the devil having exhausted all his wicked devices had tried to
force upon the blessed Job this evil of sin, and had not only stripped him of
all his worldly goods, but also after that terrible and utterly unlooked for
calamity of bereavement through the death of his seven children, had heaped upon
him dreadful wounds and intolerable tortures from the crown of his head to the
sole of his foot, he tried in vain to fasten on him the stain of sin, because he
remained steadfast through it all, never brought himself to consent to
blasphemy.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 415: CHAPTER V. AN OBJECTION, HOW GOD HIMSELF CAN BE SAID TO CREATE EVIL. 
========================================================================

Germanus: We often read in holy Scripture that God has created evil or brought
it upon men, as is this passage: "There is none beside Me. I am the Lord, and
there is none else: I form the light and create darkness, I make peace, and
create evil." [1379] And again: "Shall there be evil in a city which the Lord
hath not done?" [1380]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 416: CHAPTER VI. THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION PROPOSED. 
========================================================================

Theodore: Sometimes holy Scripture is wont by an improper use of terms to use
"evils" for "affliction;" not that these are properly and in their nature evils,
but because they are imagined to be evils by those on whom they are brought for
their good. For when divine judgment is reasoning with men it must speak with
the language and feelings of men. For when a doctor for the sake of health with
good reason either cuts or cauterizes those who are suffering from the
inflammation of ulcers, it is considered an evil by those who have to bear it.
Nor are the spur and the whip pleasant to a restive horse. Moreover all
chastisement seems at the moment to be a bitter thing to those who are
chastised, as the Apostle says: "Now all chastisement for the present indeed
seemeth not to bring with it joy but sorrow; but afterwards it will yield to
them that are exercised by it most peaceable fruits of righteousness," and "whom
the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth: for
what son is there whom the father doth not correct?" [1381] And so evils are
sometimes wont to stand for afflictions, as where we read: "And God repented of
the evil which He had said that He would do to them and He did it not." [1382]
And again: "For Thou, Lord, are gracious and merciful, patient and very merciful
and ready to repent of the evil," [1383] i.e., of the sufferings and losses
which Thou art forced to bring upon us as the reward of our sins. And another
prophet, knowing that these are profitable to some men, and certainly not
through any jealousy of their safety, but with an eye to their good, prays thus:
"Add evils to them, O Lord, add evils to the haughty ones of the earth;" [1384]
and the Lord Himself says "Lo, I will bring evils upon them," [1385] i.e.,
sorrows, and losses, with which they shall for the present be chastened for
their soul's health, and so shall be at length driven to return and hasten back
to Me whom in their prosperity they scorned. And so that these are originally
evil we cannot possibly assert: for to many they conduce to their good and offer
the occasions of eternal bliss, and therefore (to return to the question raised)
all those things, which are thought to be brought upon us as evils by our
enemies or by any other people, should not be counted as evils, but as things
indifferent. For in the end they will not be what he thinks, who brought them
upon us in his rage and fury, but what he makes them who endures them. And so
when death has been brought upon a saint, we ought not to think that an evil has
happened to him but a thing indifferent; which is an evil to a wicked man, while
to the good it is rest and freedom from evils. "For death is rest to a man whose
way is hidden." [1386] And so a good man does not suffer any loss from it,
because he suffers nothing strange, but by the crime of an enemy he only
receives (and not without the reward of eternal life) that which would have
happened to him in the course of nature, and pays the debt of man's death, which
must be paid by an inevitable law, with the interest of a most fruitful passion,
and the recompense of a great reward.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 417: CHAPTER VII. A QUESTION WHETHER THE MAN WHO CAUSES THE DEATH OF A GOOD MAN IS GUILTY, IF THE GOOD MAN IS THE GAINER BY HIS DEATH. 
========================================================================

Germanus: Well then, if a good man does not only suffer no evil by being killed,
but actually gains a reward from his suffering, how can we accuse the man who
has done him no harm but good by killing him?


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 418: CHAPTER VIII. THE ANSWER TO THE FOREGOING QUESTION. 
========================================================================

Theodore: We are talking about the actual qualities of things good and bad, and
what we call indifferent; and not about the characters of the men who do these
things. Nor ought any bad or wicked man to go unpunished because his evil deed
was not able to do harm to a good man. For the endurance and goodness of a
righteous man are of no profit to the man who is the cause of his death or
suffering, but only to him who patiently endures what is inflicted on him. And
so the one is justly punished for savage cruelty, because he meant to injure
him, while the other nevertheless suffers no evil, because in the goodness of
his heart he patiently endures his temptation and sufferings, and so causes all
those things, which were inflicted upon him with evil intent, to turn out to his
advantage, and to conduce to the bliss of eternal life.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 419: CHAPTER IX. THE CASE OF JOB WHO WAS TEMPTED BY THE DEVIL AND OF THE LORD WHO WAS BETRAYED BY JUDAS: AND HOW PROSPERITY AS WELL AS ADVERSITY IS ADVANTAGEOUS TO A GOOD MAN. 
========================================================================

For the patience of Job did not bring any gain to the devil, through making him
a better man by his temptations, but only to Job himself who endured them
bravely; nor was Judas granted freedom from eternal punishment, because his act
of betrayal contributed to the salvation of mankind. For we must not regard the
result of the deed, but the purpose of the doer. Wherefore we should always
cling to this assertion; viz., that evil cannot be brought upon a man by
another, unless a man has admitted it by his sloth or feebleness of heart: as
the blessed Apostle confirms this opinion of ours in a verse of Scripture: "But
we know that all things work together for good to them that love God." [1387]
But by saying "All things work together for good," he includes everything alike,
not only things fortunate, but also those which seem to be misfortunes: through
which the Apostle tells us in another place that he himself has passed, when he
says: "By the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left," i.e.,
"Through honour and dishonour, through evil report and good report, as deceivers
and yet true, as sorrowful but always rejoicing, as needy and yet enriching
many:" [1388] All those things then which are considered fortunate, and are
called those "on the right hand," which the holy Apostle designates by the terms
honour and good report; and those too which are counted misfortunes, which he
clearly means by dishonour and evil report, and which he describes as "on the
left hand," become to the perfect man "the armour of righteousness," if when
they are brought upon him, he bears them bravely: because, as he fights with
these, and uses those very weapons with which he seems to be attacked, and is
protected by them as by bow and sword and stout shield against those who bring
these things upon him, he secures the advantage of his patience and goodness,
and obtains a grand triumph of steadfastness by means of those very weapons of
his enemies which are hurled against him to kill him; and if only he is not
elated by success or cast down by failure, but ever marches straightforward on
the king's highway, and does not swerve from that state of tranquillity as it
were to the right hand, when joy overcomes him, nor let himself be driven so to
speak to the left hand, when misfortunes overwhelm him, and sorrow holds sway.
For "Much peace have they that love Thy law, and to them there is no stumbling
block." [1389] But of those who shift about according to the character and
changes of the several chances which happen to them, we read: "But a fool will
change like the moon." [1390] For just as it is said of men who are perfect and
wise: "To them that love God all things work together for good," [1391] so of
those who are weak and foolish it is declared that "everything is against a
foolish man," [1392] for he gets no profit out of prosperity, nor does adversity
make him any better. For it requires as much goodness to bear sorrows bravely,
as to be moderate in prosperity: and it is quite certain that one who fails in
one of these, will not bear up under the other. But a man can be more easily
overcome by prosperity than by misfortunes: for these sometimes restrain men
against their will and make them humble and through most salutary sorrow cause
them to sin less, and make them better: while prosperity puffs up the mind with
soothing but most pernicious flatteries and when men are secure in the prospect
of their happiness dashes them to the ground with a still greater destruction.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 420: CHAPTER X. OF THE EXCELLENCE OF THE PERFECT MAN WHO IS FIGURATIVELY SPOKEN OF AS AMBIDEXTROUS. 
========================================================================

Those are they then who are figuratively spoken of in holy Scripture as
amphoterodexion , i.e., ambidextrous, as Ehud is described in the book of Judges
"who used either hand as the right [1393] hand." And this power we also can
spiritually acquire, if by making a right and proper use of those things which
are fortunate, and which seem to be "on the right hand," as well as of those
which are unfortunate and as we call it "on the left hand," we make them both
belong to the right side, so that whatever turns up proves in our case, to use
the words of the Apostle, "the armour of righteousness." For we see that the
inner man consists of two parts, and if I may be allowed the expression, two
hands, nor can any of the saints do without that which we call the left hand:
but by means of it the perfection of virtue is shown, where a man by skilful use
can turn both hands into right hands. And in order to make our meaning clearer,
the saint has for his right hand his spiritual achievements, in which he is
found when with fervent spirit he gets the better of his desires and passions,
when he is free from all attacks of the devil, and without any effort or
difficulty rejects and cuts off all carnal sins, when he is exalted above the
earth and regards all things present and earthly as light smoke or vain shadows,
and scorns them as what is about to vanish away, when with an overflowing heart
he not only longs most intensely for the future but actually sees it the more
clearly, when he is more effectually fed on spiritual contemplations, when he
sees heavenly mysteries more brightly laid open to him, when he pours forth his
prayers to God with greater purity and readiness, when he is so inflamed with
fervent of spirit as to pass with the utmost readiness of soul to things
invisible and eternal, so as scarcely to believe that he any longer remains in
the flesh. He has also a left hand, when he is entangled in the toils of
temptation, when he is inflamed with the heat of desire for carnal lusts, when
he is set on fire by emotion towards rage and anger, when he is overcome by
being puffed up with pride or vainglory, when he is oppressed by a sorrow that
worketh death, when he is shaken to pieces by the contrivances and attacks of
accidie, and when he has lost all spiritual warmth, and grows indifferent with a
sort of lukewarmness and unreasonable grief so that not only is he forsaken by
good and kindling thoughts, but actually Psalms, prayer, reading, and retirement
in his cell all pall upon him, and all virtuous exercises seem by an intolerable
and horrible loathing to have lost their savour. And when a monk is troubled in
this way, then he knows that he is attacked "on the left hand." Anyone therefore
who is not at all puffed up through the aid of vainglory by any of those things
on the right hand which we have mentioned, and who struggles manfully against
those on the left hand, and does not yield to despair and give in, but rather on
the other hand seizes the armour of patience to practise himself in virtue --
this man can use both hands as right hands, and in each action he proves
triumphant and carries off the prize of victory from that condition on the left
hand as well as that on the right. Such, we read, was the reward which the
blessed Job obtained who was certainly crowned (for a victory) on the right
hand, when he was the father of seven sons and walked as a rich and wealthy man,
and yet offered daily sacrifices to the Lord for their purification, in his
anxiety that they might prove acceptable and dear to God rather than to himself,
when his gates stood open to every stranger, when he was "feet to lame and eyes
to blind," [1394] when the shoulders of the suffering were kept warm by the wool
of his sheep, when he was a father to orphans and a husband to widows, when he
did not even in his heart rejoice at the fall of his enemy. And again it was the
same man who with still greater virtue triumphed over adversity on the left
hand, when deprived in one moment of his seven sons he was not as a father
overcome with bitter grief but as a true servant of God rejoiced in the will of
his Creator. When instead of being a wealthy man he became poor, naked instead
of rich, pining away instead of strong, despised and contemptible instead of
famous and honourable, and yet preserved his fortitude of mind unshaken, when,
lastly, bereft of all his wealth and substance he took up his abode on the
dunghill, and like some stern executioner of his own body scraped with a
potsherd the matter that broke out, and plunging his fingers deep into his
wounds dragged out on every side masses of worms from his limbs. And in all this
he never fell into despair and blasphemy, nor murmured at all against his
Creator. Moreover also so little was he overcome by such a weight of bitter
temptations that the cloak which out of all his former property remained to
cover his body, and which alone could be saved from destruction by the devil
because he was clothed with it, he rent and cast off, and covered with it his
nakedness which he voluntarily endured, which the terrible robber had brought
upon him. The hair of his head too, which was the only thing left untouched out
of all the remains of his former glory, he shaved and cast to his tormentor, and
cutting off even that which his savage foe had left to him he exulted over him
and mocked him with that celestial cry of his: "If we have received good at the
hand of the Lord, should we not also receive evil? Naked came I out of my
mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave and the Lord hath
taken away; as it hath pleased the Lord, so is it done; blessed be the name of
the Lord." [1395] I should also with good reason call Joseph ambidextrous, as in
prosperity he was very dear to his father, affectionate to his brethren,
acceptable to God; and in adversity was chaste, and faithful to the Lord, in
prison most kind to the prisoners, forgetful of wrongs, generous to his enemies;
and to his brethren who were envious of him and as far as lay in their powers,
his murderers, he proved not only affectionate but actually munificent. These
men then and those who are like them are rightly termed amphoterodexion , i.e.,
ambidextrous. For they can use either hand as the right hand, and passing
through those things which the Apostle enumerates can fairly say: "Through the
armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, through honour and
dishonour, through evil report and good report, etc." And of this right and left
hand Solomon speaks as follows in the Song of songs, in the person of the bride:
"His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me." [1396]
And while this passage shows that both are useful, yet it puts one under the
head, because misfortunes ought to be subject to the control of the heart, since
they are only useful for this; viz., to train us for a time and discipline us
for our salvation and make us perfect in the matter of patience. But the right
hand she hopes will ever cling to her to cherish her and hold her fast in the
blessed embrace of the Bridegroom, and unite her to him indissolubly. We shall
then be ambidextrous, when neither abundance nor want affects us, and when the
former does not entice us to the luxury of a dangerous carelessness, while the
latter does not draw us to despair, and complaining; but when, giving thanks to
God in either case alike, we gain one and the same advantage out of good and bad
fortune. And such that truly ambidextrous man, the teacher of the Gentiles,
testifies that he himself was, when he says: "For I have learnt in whatsoever
state I am, to be content therewith. I know both how to be brought low and I
know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full
and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things in Him
which strengtheneth me." [1397]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 421: CHAPTER XI. OF THE TWO KINDS OF TRIALS, WHICH COME UPON US IN A THREE-FOLD WAY. 
========================================================================

Well then, though we say that trial is twofold, i.e., in prosperity and in
adversity, yet you must know that all men are tried in three different ways.
Often for their probation, sometimes for their improvement, and in some cases
because their sins deserve it. For their probation indeed, as we read that the
blessed Abraham and Job and many of the saints endured countless tribulations;
or this which is said to the people in Deuteronomy by Moses: "And thou shalt
remember all the way through which the Lord thy God hath brought thee for forty
years through the desert, to afflict thee and to prove thee, and that the things
that were in thy heart might be made known, whether thou wouldst keep His
Commandments or no:" [1398] and this which we find in the Psalms: "I proved thee
at the waters of strife." [1399] To Job also: "Thinkest thou that I have spoken
for any other cause than that thou mightest be seen to be righteous?" [1400] But
for improvement, when God chastens his righteous ones for some small and venial
sins, or to raise them to a higher state of purity, and delivers them over to
various trials, that He may purge away all their unclean thoughts, and, to use
the prophet's word, the "dross," which he sees to have collected in their secret
parts, and may thus transmit them like pure gold, to the judgment to come, as He
allows nothing to remain in them for the fire of judgment to discover when
hereafter it searches them with penal torments according to this saying: "Many
are the tribulations of the righteous." [1401] And: "My son, neglect not the
discipline of the Lord, neither be thou wearied whilst thou art rebuked by Him.
For whom the Lord loveth He chastiseth, and scourgeth every son whom He
receiveth. For what son is there whom the father doth not correct? But if ye are
without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not
sons." [1402] And in the Apocalypse: "Those whom I love, I reprove and chasten."
[1403] To whom under the figure of Jerusalem the following words are spoken by
Jeremiah, in the person of God: "For I will utterly consume all the nations
among which I scattered thee: but I will not utterly consume thee: but I will
chastise thee in judgment, that thou mayest not seem to thyself innocent."
[1404] And for this life-giving cleansing David prays when he says: "Prove me, O
Lord, and try me; turn my reins and my heart." [1405] Isaiah also, well knowing
the value of this trial, says "O Lord, correct us but with judgment: not in
Thine anger." [1406] And again: "I will give thanks to thee, O Lord, for thou
wast angry with me: Thy wrath is turned away, and Thou hast comforted me."
[1407] But as a punishment for sins, the blows of trial are inflicted, as where
the Lord threatens that He will send plagues upon the people of Israel: "I will
send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the fury of creatures that trail upon
the ground:" [1408] and "In vain have I struck your children: they have not
received correction." [1409] In the Psalms also: "Many are the scourges of the
sinners:" [1410] and in the gospel: "Behold thou art made whole: now sin no
more, lest a worse thing happen unto thee." [1411] We find, it is true, a fourth
way also in which we know on the authority of Scripture that some sufferings are
brought upon us simply for the manifestation of the glory of God and His works,
according to these words of the gospel: "Neither did this man sin nor his
parents, but that the works of God might be manifested in him:" [1412] and
again: "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God that the Son
of God may be glorified by it." [1413] There are also other sorts of vengeance,
with which some who have overpassed the bounds of wickedness are smitten in this
life, as we read that Dathan and Abiram or Korah were punished, or above all,
those of whom the Apostle speaks: "Wherefore God gave them up to vile passions
and a reprobate mind:" [1414] and this must be counted worse than all other
punishments. For of these the Psalmist says: "They are not in the labours of
men; neither shall they be scourged like other men." [1415] For they are not
worthy of being healed by the visitation of the Lord which gives life, and by
plagues in this world, as "in despair they have given themselves over to
lasciviousness, unto the working of all error unto uncleanness," [1416] and as
by hardening their hearts, and by growing accustomed and used to sin they have
got beyond cleansing in this brief life and punishment in the present world:
men, who are thus reproved by the holy word of the prophet: "I destroyed some of
you, as God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a firebrand plucked
out of the burning: yet you returned not to Me, saith the Lord," [1417] and
Jeremiah: "I have killed and destroyed thy people, and yet they are not returned
from their ways." [1418] And again: "Thou hast smitten them and they have not
grieved: Thou hast bruised them and they refused to receive correction: they
have made their faces harder than the rock, they have refused to return." [1419]
And the prophet seeing that all the remedies of this life will have been applied
in vain for their healing, and already as it were despairing of their life,
declares: "The bellows have failed in the fire, the founder hath melted in vain:
for their wicked deeds are not consumed. Call them reprobate silver, for the
Lord hath rejected them." [1420] And the Lord thus laments that to no purpose
has He applied this salutary cleansing by fire to those who are hardened in
their sins, in the person of Jerusalem crusted all over with the rust of her
sins, when He says: "set it empty upon burning coals, that it may be hot, and
the brass thereof may be melted; and let the filth of it be melted in the midst
thereof. Great pains have been taken, and the great rust thereof is not gone
out, no not even by fire. Thy uncleanness is execrable: because I desired to
cleanse thee, and thou art not cleansed from thy filthiness." [1421] Wherefore
like a skilful physician, who has tried all saving cures, and sees there is no
remedy left which can be applied to their disease, the Lord is in a manner
overcome by their iniquities and is obliged to desist from that kindly
chastisement of His, and so denounces them saying: "I will no longer be angry
with thee, and thy jealousy has departed from thee." [1422] But of others, whose
heart has not grown hard by continuance in sin, and who do not stand in need of
that most severe and (if I may so call it) caustic remedy, but for whose
salvation the instruction of the life-giving word is sufficient -- of them it is
said: "I will improve them by hearing of their suffering." [1423] We are well
aware that there are other reasons also of the punishment and vengeance which is
inflicted on those who have sinned grievously -- not to expiate their crimes,
nor wipe out the deserts of their sins, but that the living may be put in fear
and amend their lives. And these we plainly see were inflicted on Jeroboam the
son of Nebat, and Baasha the son of Ahiah, and Ahab and Jezebel, when the Divine
reproof thus declares: "Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will cut down
thy posterity, and will kill of Ahab every male, and him that is shut up and the
last in Israel. And I will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of
Nebat and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahiah: for that which thou hast
done to provoke Me to anger, and for making Israel to sin. The dogs also shall
eat Jezebel in the field of Jezreel. If Ahab die in the city, the dogs shall eat
him: but if he die in the field the birds of the air shall eat him," [1424] and
this which is threatened as the greatest threat of all: "Thy dead body shall not
be brought to the sepulchre of thy fathers." [1425] It was not that this short
and momentary punishment would suffice to purge away the blasphemous inventions
of him who first made the golden calves and led to the lasting sin of the
people, and their wicked separation from the Lord, -- or the countless and
disgraceful profanities of those others, but it was that by their example the
fear of those punishments which they dreaded might fall on others also, who, as
they thought little of the future or even disbelieved in it altogether, would
only be moved by consideration of things present; and that owing to this proof
of His severity they might acknowledge that there is no lack of care for the
affairs of men, and for their daily doings, in the majesty of God on high, and
so through that which they greatly feared might the more clearly see in God the
rewarder of all their deeds. We find, it is true, that even for lighter faults
some men have received the same sentence of death in this world, as that with
which those men were punished who, as we said before, were the authors of a
blasphemous falling away: as happened in the case of the man who gathered sticks
on the Sabbath, [1426] and in that of Ananias and Sapphira, who through the sin
of unbelief kept back some portion of their goods: not that the guilt of their
sins was equal, but because they were the first found out in a new kind of
transgression, and so it was right that as they had given to others an example
of sin, so also they should give them an example of punishment and of fear, that
anyone, who should attempt to copy them, might know that (even if his punishment
were postponed in this life) he would be punished in the same way that they were
at the trial of the judgment hereafter. And, since in our desire to run through
the different kinds of trials and punishments we seem to have wandered somewhat
from our subject, on which we were saying that the perfect man will always
remain steadfast in either kind of trial, now let us return to it once more.


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  CHAPTER 422: CHAPTER XII. HOW THE UPRIGHT MAN OUGHT TO BE LIKE A STAMP NOT OF WAX BUT OF HARD STEEL. 
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And so the mind of the upright man ought not to be like wax or any other soft
material which always yields to the shape of what presses on it, and is stamped
with its form and impress and keeps it until it takes another shape by having
another seal stamped upon it; and so it results that it never retains its own
form but is turned and twisted about to correspond to whatever is pressed upon
it. But he should rather be like some stamp of hard steel, that the mind may
always keep its proper form and shape inviolate, and may stamp and imprint on
everything which occurs to it the marks of its own condition, while upon it
itself nothing that happens can leave any mark.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 423: CHAPTER XIII. A QUESTION WHETHER THE MIND CAN CONSTANTLY CONTINUE IN ONE AND THE SAME CONDITION. 
========================================================================

Germanus: But can our mind constantly preserve its condition unaltered, and
always continue in the same state?


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 424: CHAPTER XIV. THE ANSWER TO THE POINT RAISED BY THE QUESTIONER. 
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Theodore: It is needful that one must either, as the Apostle says, "be renewed
in the spirit of the mind," [1427] and daily advance by "pressing forward to
those things which are before," [1428] or, if one neglects to do this, the sure
result will be to go back, and become worse and worse. And therefore the mind
cannot possibly remain in one and the same state. Just as when a man, by pulling
hard, is trying to force a boat against the stream of a strong current he must
either stem the rush of the torrent by the force of his arms, and so mount to
what is higher up, or letting his hands slacken be whirled headlong down stream.
Wherefore it will be a clear proof of our failure if we find that we have gained
nothing more, nor should we doubt but that we have altogether gone back,
whenever we find that we have not advanced upwards, because, as I said, the mind
of man cannot possibly continue in the same condition, nor so long as he is in
the flesh will any of the saints ever reach the height of all virtues, so that
they continue unalterable. For something must either be added to them or taken
away from them, and in no creature can there be such perfection, as not to be
subject to the feeling of change; as we read in the book of Job: "What is man
that he should be without spot, and he that is born of a woman that he should
appear just? Behold among His saints none is unchangeable, and the heavens are
not pure in His sight." [1429] For we confess that God only is unchangeable, who
alone is thus addressed by the prayer of the holy prophet "But Thou art the
same," [1430] and who says of Himself "I am God, and I change not," [1431]
because He alone is by nature always good, always full and perfect, and one to
whom nothing can ever be added, or from whom nothing can be taken away. And so
we ought always with incessant care and anxiety to give ourselves up to the
acquirement of virtue, and constantly to occupy ourselves with the practice of
it, lest, if we cease to go forward, the result should immediately be a going
back. For, as we said, the mind cannot continue in one and the same condition, I
mean without receiving addition to or diminution of its good qualities. For to
fail to gain new ones, is to lose them, because when the desire of making
progress ceases, there the danger of going back is present.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 425: CHAPTER XV. HOW ONE LOSES BY GOING AWAY FROM ONE'S CELL. 
========================================================================

And so we ought always to remain shut up in our cell. For whenever a man has
strayed from it and returns fresh to it and begins again to live there he will
be upset and disturbed. For if he has let it go he cannot without difficulty and
pains recover that fixed purpose of mind, which he had gained when he remained
in his cell; and as through this he has gone back, he will not think anything of
the advance which he has missed, and which he would have secured if he had not
allowed himself to leave his cell, but he will rather congratulate himself if he
finds that he has regained that condition from which he fell away. For just as
time once lost and gone cannot any more be recovered, so neither can those
advantages which have been missed be restored: for whatever earnest purpose of
the mind there may be afterwards, it will be the profit of the day then present,
and the gain that belongs to the time that then is, and will not make up for the
gain that has been once for all lost.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 426: CHAPTER XVI. HOW EVEN CELESTIAL POWERS ABOVE ARE CAPABLE OF CHANGE. 
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But that even the powers above are, as we said, subject to change is shown by
those who fell from their ranks through the fault of a corrupt will. Wherefore
we ought not to think that the nature of those is unchangeable, who remain in
the blessed condition in which they were created, simply because they were not
in like manner led astray to choose the worse part. For it is one thing to have
a nature incapable of change, and another thing for a man through the efforts of
his virtue, and by guarding what is good through the grace of the unchangeable
God, to be kept from change. For everything that is secured or preserved by
care, can also be lost by carelessness. And so we read: "Call no man blessed
before his death," [1432] because so long as a man is still engaged in the
struggle, and if I may use the expression, still wrestling -- even though he
generally conquers and carries off many prizes of victory, -- yet he can never
be free from fear, and from the suspicion of an uncertain issue. And therefore
God alone is called unchangeable and good, as His goodness is not the result of
effort, but a natural possession, and so He cannot be anything but good. No
virtue then can be acquired by man without the possibility of change, but in
order that when it once exists it may be continually preserved, it must be
watched over with the same care and diligence with which it was acquired.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 427: CHAPTER XVII. THAT NO ONE IS DASHED TO THE GROUND BY A SUDDEN FALL. 
========================================================================

But we must not imagine that anyone slips and comes to grief by a sudden fall,
but that he falls by a hopeless collapse either from being deceived by beginning
his training badly, or from the good qualities of his soul failing through a
long course of carelessness of mind, and so his faults gaining ground upon him
little by little. For "loss goeth before destruction, and an evil thought before
a fall," [1433] just as no house ever falls to the ground by a sudden collapse,
but only when there is some flaw of long standing in the foundation, or when by
long continued neglect of its inmates, what was at first only a little drip
finds its way through, and so the protecting walls are by degrees ruined, and in
consequence of long standing neglect the gap becomes larger, and break away, and
in time the drenching storm and rain pours in like a river: for "by slothfulness
a building is cast down, and through the weakness of hands the house shall drop
through." [1434] And that the same thing happens spiritually to the soul the
same Solomon thus tells us in other words, when he says: "water dripping drives
a man out of the house on a stormy day." [1435] Elegantly then does he compare
carelessness of mind to a roof, and to tiles that have not been looked after,
through which in the first instance only very slight drippings (so to speak) of
the passions make their way to the soul: but if these are not heeded, as being
but small and trifling, then the beams of virtues will decay and be carried away
by a great tempest of sins, through which "on a stormy day," i.e., in the time
of temptation, the devil's attack will assail us, and the soul will be driven
forth from the abode of virtue, in which, as long as it preserved all watchful
diligence, it had remained as in a house that belonged to it. And so when we had
heard this, we were so immensely delighted with our spiritual repast, that the
mental pleasure with which we were filled by this conference outweighed the
sorrow which we had experienced before from the death of the saints. For not
only were we instructed in things about which we had been puzzled, but we also
learnt from the raising of that question some things, which our understanding
had been too small for us to ask about.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 428: VII. FIRST CONFERENCE OF ABBOT SERENUS.
========================================================================

On Inconstancy of Mind, and Spiritual Wickedness.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 429: CHAPTER I. ON THE CHASTITY OF ABBOT SERENUS. 
========================================================================

As we desire to introduce to earnest minds the Abbot Serenus, a man of the
greatest holiness and continence, and one who answers like a mirror to his name,
whom we admired above all others with peculiar veneration, we think that we only
carry out our desire by the attempt to insert his conferences in our book. To
this man beyond all other virtues, which shone forth not merely in his actions
and manners, but by God's grace in his very look as well, there was granted by a
special blessing the gift of continence, so that he never felt himself disturbed
even by natural incitements even in sleep. And how it was that by the assistance
of God's grace he attained such wondrous purity of the flesh, as it seems beyond
the conditions of human nature, I think that I ought first of all to explain.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 430: CHAPTER II. THE QUESTION OF THE AFORESAID OLD MAN ON THE STATE OF OUR THOUGHTS. 
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This man then in his prayers by day and night, and in fasts and vigils
unweariedly entreated for inward chastity of heart and soul, and seeing that he
had obtained what he wished and prayed for, and that all the passions of carnal
concupiscence in his heart were dead, was roused as it were by the sweetest
taste of purity, and inflamed by his zeal for chastity towards a yet more ardent
desire, and began to apply himself to stricter fasts and prayers that the
mortification of this passion which by God's grace had been granted to his inner
man, might be extended also so as to include external purity, to such an extent
that he might no longer be affected by any simple and natural movement, such as
is excited even in children and infants. And by the experience of the gift he
had obtained, which he knew he had secured by no merit of his labours, but by
the grace God, he was the more ardently stimulated to obtain this also in like
manner, as he believed that God could much more easily tear up by the roots this
incitement of the flesh, (which even by man's art and skill is sometimes
destroyed by potions and remedies or by the use of the knife) since He had of
His own free gift conferred that purity of spirit which is a still greater
thing, and which cannot be acquired by human efforts and exertions. And when
with unceasing supplications and tears he was applying himself unweariedly to
the petition he had commenced, there came to him an angel in a vision by night,
and seemed to open his belly, and to remove from his bowels a sort of fiery
fleshly humour, and to cast it away, and restore everything to its place as
before; and "lo" he said, "the incitements of your flesh are removed, and you
may be sure that you have this day obtained that lasting purity of body for
which you have faithfully asked." It will be enough thus briefly to have told
this of the grace of God which was granted to this famous man in a special way.
But I deem it unnecessary to say anything of those virtues which he possessed in
common with other good men, for fear lest that particular narrative on this
man's name might seem to deprive others of that which is specially mentioned of
him. Him therefore, as we were inflamed with the greatest eagerness for
conference with and instruction from him, we arranged to visit in Lent; and when
he had very quietly inquired of us of the character of our thoughts and the
state of our inner man, and what help we had got towards its purity from our
long stay in the desert, we approached him with these complaints:


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 431: CHAPTER III. OUR ANSWER ON THE FICKLE CHARACTER OF OUR THOUGHTS. 
========================================================================

The time spent here, and the dwelling in solitude, and meditation, through which
you think that we ought to have attained perfection of the inner man, has only
done this for us; viz., teach us that which we are unable to be, without making
us what we are trying to be. Nor do we feel that by this knowledge we have
acquired any fixed steadfastness of the purity which we long for, or any
strength and firmness; but only an increase of confusion and shame: for though
our meditation in all our discipline aims at this in our daily studies, and
endeavours from trembling beginnings to reach a sure and unwavering skill, and
to begin to know something of what originally it knew but vaguely or was
altogether ignorant of, and by advancing by sure steps (so to speak) towards the
condition of that discipline, to habituate itself perfectly to it without any
difficulty, I find on the contrary that while I am struggling in this desire for
purity, I have only got far enough to know what I cannot be. And hence I feel
that nothing but trouble results to me from all this contrition of heart, so
that matter for tears is never wanting, and yet I do not cease to be what I
ought not to be. And so what is the good of having learnt what is best, if it
cannot be attained even when known? for when we have been feeling that the aim
of our heart was directed towards what we purposed, insensibly the mind returns
to its previous wandering thoughts and slips back with a more violent rush, and
is taken up with daily distractions and incessantly drawn away by numberless
things that take it captive, so that we almost despair of the improvement which
we long for, and all these observances seem useless. Since the mind which every
moment wanders off vaguely, when it is brought back to the fear of God or
spiritual contemplation, before it is established in it, darts off and strays;
and when we have been roused and have discovered that it has wandered from the
purpose set before it, and want to recall it to the meditation from which it has
strayed, and to bind it fast with the firmest purpose of heart, as if with
chains, while we are making the attempt it slips away from the inmost recesses
of the heart swifter than a snake. Wherefore we being inflamed by daily
exercises of this kind, and yet not seeing that we gain from them any strength
and stability in heart are overcome and in despair driven to this opinion; viz.,
to believe that it is from no fault of our own but from a fault of our nature
that these wanderings of mind are found in mankind.


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  CHAPTER 432: CHAPTER IV. THE DISCOURSE OF THE OLD MAN ON THE STATE OF THE SOUL AND ITS EXCELLENCE. 
========================================================================

Serenus: It is dangerous to jump to a conclusion and lay down the law hastily on
the nature of anything before you have properly discussed the subject and
considered its true character. Nor should you, looking only at your own
weakness, hazard a conjecture instead of pronouncing a judgment based on the
character and value of the practice itself, and others' experience of it. For if
anyone, who was ignorant of swimming but knew that the weight of his body could
not be supported by water, wished from the proof which his inexperience
afforded, to lay down that no one composed of solid flesh could possibly be
supported on the liquid element, we ought not therefore to think his opinion a
true one, which he seemed to bring forward in accordance with his own
experience, since this can be shown to be not merely not impossible but actually
extremely easily done by others, by the clearest proofs and ocular
demonstration. And so the nous, i.e., the mind, is defined as aeikinetos kai
polukinetos, i.e., ever shifting and very shifting: as it is thus described in
the so called wisdom of Solomon in other words: kai geodes skenos brithei noun
poluphrontida , i.e., "And the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind that
museth on many things." [1437] This then in accordance with its nature can never
remain idle, but unless provision is made where it may exercise its motions and
have what will continually occupy it, it must by its own fickleness wander about
and stray over all kinds of things until, accustomed by long practice and daily
use -- in which you say that you have toiled without result -- it tries and
learns what food for the memory it ought to prepare, toward which it may bring
back its unwearied flight and acquire strength for remaining, and thus may
succeed in driving away the hostile suggestion of the enemy by which it is
distracted, and in persisting in that state and condition which it yearns for.
We ought not then to ascribe this wandering inclination of our heart either to
human nature or to God its Creator. For it is a true statement of Scripture,
that "God made man upright; but they themselves found out many thoughts." [1438]
The character of these then depends on us ourselves, for it says "a good thought
comes near to those that know it, but a prudent man will find it." [1439] For
where anything is subject to our prudence and industry so that it can be found
out, there if it is not found out, we ought certainly to set it down to our own
laziness or carelessness and not to the fault of our nature. And with this
meaning the Psalmist also is in agreement, when he says: "Blessed is the man
whose help is from Thee: in his heart he hath disposed his ascents." [1440] You
see then that it lies in our power to dispose in our hearts either ascents,
i.e., thoughts that belong to God, or descents; viz., those that sink down to
carnal and earthly things. And if this was not in our power the Lord would not
have rebuked the Pharisees, saying "Why do ye think evil in your hearts?" [1441]
nor would He have given this charge by the prophet, saying: "Take away the evil
of your thoughts from mine eyes;" and "How long shall wicked thoughts remain in
you?" [1442] Nor would the character of them as of our works be taken into
consideration in the day of judgment in our case as the Lord threatens by
Isaiah: "Lo, I come to gather together their works and thoughts together with
all nations and tongues;" [1443] nor would it be right that we should be
condemned or defended by their evidence in that terrible and dreadful
examination, as the blessed Apostle says: "Their thoughts between themselves
accusing or also defending one another, in the day when God shall judge the
secrets of men according to my gospel." [1444]


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  CHAPTER 433: CHAPTER V. ON THE PERFECTION OF THE SOUL, AS DRAWN FROM THE COMPARISON OF THE CENTURION IN THE GOSPEL. 
========================================================================

Of this perfect mind then there is an excellent figure drawn in the case of the
centurion in the gospel; whose virtue and consistency, owing to which he was not
led away by the rush of thoughts, but in accordance with his own judgment either
admitted such as were good, or easily drove away those of the opposite
character, are described in this tropical form: "For I also am a man under
authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth;
and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth
it." [1445] If then we too strive manfully against disturbances and sins and can
bring them under our own control and discretion, and fight and destroy the
passions in our flesh, and bring under the sway of reason the swarm of our
thoughts, and drive back from our breast the terrible hosts of the powers
opposed to us by the life-giving standard of the Lord's cross, we shall in
reward for such triumphs be promoted to the rank of that centurion spiritually
understood, who, as we read in Exodus, was mystically pointed to by Moses:
"Appoint for thee rulers of thousands, and of hundreds, and of fifties and of
tens." [1446] And so we too when raised to the height of this dignity shall have
the same right and power to command, so that we shall not be carried away by
thoughts against our will, but shall be able to continue in and cling to those
which spiritually delight us, commanding the evil suggestions to depart, and
they will depart, while to good ones we shall say "Come," and they will come:
and to our servant also, i.e., the body, we shall in like manner enjoin what
belongs to chastity and continence, and it will serve us without any gainsaying,
no longer arousing in us the hostile incitements of concupiscence, but showing
all subservience to the spirit. And what is the character of the arms of this
centurion, and for what use in battle they are, hear the blessed Apostle
declaring: "The arms," he says "of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty to
God." He tells us their character; viz., that they are not carnal or weak, but
spiritual and mighty to God. Then he next suggests in what struggles they are to
be used: "Unto the pulling down of fortifications, purging the thoughts, and
every height that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing
into captivity every understanding unto the obedience of Christ, and having in
readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience shall be first
fulfilled." [1447] And since though useful, it yet belongs to another time to
run through these one by one, I only want you to see the different sorts of
these arms and their characteristics, as we also ought always to walk with them
girt upon us if we mean to fight the Lord's battles and to serve among the
centurions of the gospel. "Take," he says "the shield of faith, wherewith ye may
be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one." [1448] Faith then is
that which intercepts the flaming darts of lust, and destroys them by the fear
of future judgment, and belief in the heavenly kingdom. "And the breastplate,"
he says, "of charity." [1449] This indeed is that which going round the vital
parts of the breast and protecting what is exposed to the deadly wounds of
swelling thoughts, keeps off the blows opposed to it, and does not allow the
darts of the devil to penetrate to our inner man. For it "endureth all things,
suffereth all things, beareth all things." [1450] "And for an helmet the hope of
salvation." [1451] The helmet is what protects the head. As then Christ is our
head, we ought always in all temptations and persecutions to protect it with the
hope of future good things to come, and especially to keep faith in Him whole
and undefiled. For it is possible for one who has lost other parts of the body,
weak as he may be, still to survive: but even a short time of living is extended
to no one without a head. "And the sword of the Spirit which is the word of
God." [1452] For it is "sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to
the dividing of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart:" [1453] as it divides and
cuts off whatever carnal and earthly things it may find in us. And whosoever is
protected by these arms will ever be defended from the weapons and ravages of
his foes, and will not be led away bound in the chains of his spoilers, a
captive and a prisoner, to the hostile land of vain thoughts, nor hear the words
of the prophet: "Why art thou grown old in a strange country?" [1454] But he
will stand like a triumphant conqueror in the land of thoughts which he has
chosen. Would you understand too the strength and courage of this centurion, by
which he bears these arms of which we spoke before as not carnal but mighty to
God? Hear of the selection by which the King himself marks and approves brave
men when he summons them to the spiritual combat. "Let," says He, "the weak say
that I am strong;" and: "Let him who is the sufferer become a warrior." [1455]
You see then that none but sufferers and weak people can fight the Lord's
battles, weak indeed with that weakness, founded on which that centurion of ours
in the gospel said with confidence: "For when I am weak, then am I strong," and
again, "for strength is made perfect in weakness." [1456] Of which weakness one
of the prophets says: "And he that is weak among them shall be as the house of
David." [1457] For the patient sufferer shall fight these wars, with that
patience of which it is said "patience is necessary for you that doing the will
of God you may receive the reward." [1458]


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  CHAPTER 434: CHAPTER VI. OF PERSEVERANCE AS REGARDS CARE OF THE THOUGHTS. 
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But we shall find out by our own experience that we can and ought to cling to
the Lord if we have our wills mortified and the desires of this world cut off,
and we shall be taught by the authority of those who in converse with the Lord
say in all confidence: "My soul hath stuck close to Thee;" and: "I have stuck
unto Thy testimonies, O Lord;" and: "It is good for me to stick fast to God;"
and: "He who cleaveth to the Lord, is one spirit." [1459] We ought not then to
be wearied out by these wanderings of mind and relax from our fervour: for "he
that tilleth his ground shall be filled with bread: but he that followeth
idleness shall be filled with poverty." [1460] Nor should we be drawn away from
being intent on this watchfulness through a dangerous despair, for "in every one
who is anxious there is abundance, for he who is pleasant and free from grief
will be in want;" and again: "a man in grief labours for himself, and forcibly
brings about his own destruction." [1461] Moreover also: "the kingdom of heaven
suffereth violence and the violent take it by force," [1462] for no virtue is
acquired without effort, nor can anyone attain to that mental stability which he
desires without great sorrow of heart, for "man is born to trouble," [1463] and
in order that he may be able to attain to "the perfect man, the measure of the
stature of the fulness of Christ" [1464] he must ever be on the watch with still
greater intentness, and toil with ceaseless carefulness. But to the fulness of
this measure no one will ever attain, but one who has considered it beforehand
and been trained to it now and has had some foretaste of it while still in this
world, and being marked a most precious member of Christ, has possessed in the
flesh an earnest of that "joint" [1465] by which he can be united to His body:
desiring one thing alone, thirsting for but one thing, ever bringing not only
his acts but even his thoughts to bear on one thing alone; viz., that he may
even now keep as an earnest that which is said of the blessed life of the saints
hereafter; viz., that "God may be" to him "all in all." [1466]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 435: CHAPTER VII. A QUESTION ON THE ROVING TENDENCY OF THE MIND AND THE ATTACKS OF SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS. 
========================================================================

Germanus: Perhaps this tendency of the mind to rove might to some extent be
checked were it not that so great a swam of enemies surrounded it, and
ceaselessly urged it toward what it has no wish for, or rather whither the
roving character of its own nature drives it. And since such numberless foes,
and those so powerful and terrible, surround it, we should not fancy that it was
possible for them to be withstood especially by this weak flesh of ours, were we
not encouraged to this view by your words as if by oracles from heaven.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 436: CHAPTER VIII. THE ANSWER ON THE HELP OF GOD AND THE POWER OF FREE WILL. 
========================================================================

Serenus: No one who has experienced the conflicts of the inner man, can doubt
that our foes are continually lying in wait for us. But we mean that they oppose
our progress in such a way that we can think of them as only inciting to evil
things and not forcing. But no one could altogether avoid whatever sin they were
inclined to imprint upon our hearts, if a strong impulse was present to force
(evil) upon us, just as it is to suggest it. Wherefore as there is in them ample
power of inciting, so in us there is a supply of power of rejection, and of
liberty of acquiescing. But if we are afraid of their power and assaults, we may
also claim the protection and assistance of God against them, of which we read:
"For greater is He who is in us than he who is in this world:" [1467] and His
aid fights on our side with much greater power than their hosts fight against
us; for God is not only the suggester of what is good, but the maintainer and
insister of it, so that sometimes He draws us towards salvation even against our
will and without our knowing it. It follows then that no one can be deceived by
the devil but one who has chosen to yield to him the consent of his own will: as
Ecclesiastes clearly puts it in these words: "For since there is no gainsaying
by those who do evil speedily, therefore the heart of the children of men is
filled within them to do evil." [1468] It is therefore clear that each man goes
wrong from this; viz., that when evil thoughts assault him he does not
immediately meet them with refusal and contradiction, for it says: "resist him,
and he will flee from you." [1469]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 437: CHAPTER IX. A QUESTION ON THE UNION OF THE SOUL WITH DEVILS. 
========================================================================

Germanus: What, I pray you, is that indiscriminate and common union of the soul
with those evil spirits, by which it is possible for them to be (I will not say
joined with but) united to it in such a way that they can imperceptibly talk
with it, and find their way into it and suggest to it whatever they want, and
incite it to whatever they like, and look into and see its thoughts and
movements; and the result is so close a union between them and the soul that it
is almost impossible without God's grace to distinguish between what results
from their instigation, and what from our free will.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 438: CHAPTER X. THE ANSWER HOW UNCLEAN SPIRITS ARE UNITED WITH HUMAN SOULS. 
========================================================================

Serenus: It is no wonder that spirit can be imperceptibly joined with spirit,
and exercise an unseen power of persuasion toward what is allowed to it. For
there is between them (just as between men) some sort of similarity and kinship
of substance, since the description which is given of the nature of the soul,
applies equally well to their substance. But it is impossible for spirits to be
implanted in spirits inwardly or united with them in such a way that one can
hold the other; for this is the true prerogative of Deity alone, which is the
only simple and incorporeal nature.


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  CHAPTER 439: CHAPTER XI. AN OBJECTION WHETHER UNCLEAN SPIRITS CAN BE PRESENT IN OR UNITED WITH THE SOULS OF THOSE WHOM THEY HAVE FILLED. 
========================================================================

Germanus: To this idea we think that what we see happen in the case of those
possessed is sufficiently opposed, when they say and do what they know not under
the influence of the spirits. How then are we to refuse to believe that their
souls are not united to those spirits, when we see them made their instruments,
and (forsaking their natural condition) yielding to their movements and moods,
in such a way that they give expression no longer to their own words and actions
and wishes, but to those of the demons?


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 440: CHAPTER XII. THE ANSWER HOW IT IS THAT UNCLEAN SPIRITS CAN LORD IT OVER THOSE POSSESSED. 
========================================================================

Serenus: What you speak of as taking place in the case of demoniacs is not
opposed to our assertion; viz., that those possessed by unclean spirits say and
do what they do not want to, and are forced to utter what they know not; for it
is perfectly clear that they are not subject to the entrance of the spirits all
in the same way: for some are affected by them in such a way as to have not the
slightest conception of what they do and say, while others know and afterwards
recollect it. But we must not imagine that this is done by the infusion of the
spirit in such a way that it penetrates into the actual substance of the soul
and, being as it were united to it and somehow clothed with it, utters words and
sayings through the mouth of the sufferer. For we ought not to believe that this
can possibly be done by them. For we can clearly see that this results from no
loss of the soul but from weakness of the body, when the unclean spirit seizes
on those members in which the vigour of the soul resides, and laying on them an
enormous and intolerable weight overwhelms it with foulest darkness, and
interferes with its intellectual powers: as we see sometimes happen also from
the fault of wine and fever or excessive cold, and other indispositions
affecting men from without; and it was this which the devil was forbidden to
attempt to inflict on the blessed Job, though he had received power over his
flesh, when the Lord commanded him saying: "Lo, I give him into thine hands:
only preserve his soul," [1470] i.e., do not weaken the seat of his soul and
make him mad, and overpower the understanding and wisdom of what remains, by
smothering the ruling power in his heart with your weight.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 441: CHAPTER XIII. HOW SPIRIT CANNOT BE PENETRATED BY SPIRIT, AND HOW GOD ALONE IS INCORPOREAL. 
========================================================================

For even if spirit is mingled with this crass and solid matter; viz., flesh (as
very easily happens), should we therefore believe that it can be united to the
soul, which is in like manner spirit, in such a way as to make it also receptive
in the same way of its own nature: a thing which is possible to the Trinity
alone, which is so capable of pervading every intellectual nature, that it
cannot only embrace and surround it but even insert itself into it and,
incorporeal though it is, be infused into a body? For though we maintain that
some spiritual natures exist, such as angels, archangels and the other powers,
and indeed our own souls and the thin air, yet we ought certainly not to
consider them incorporeal. For they have in their own fashion a body in which
they exist, though it is much finer than our bodies are, in accordance with the
Apostle's words when he says: "And there are bodies celestial, and bodies
terrestrial:" and again: "It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual
body;" [1471] from which it is clearly gathered that there is nothing
incorporeal but God alone, and therefore it is only by Him that all spiritual
and intellectual substances can be pervaded, because He alone is whole and
everywhere and in all things, in such a way as to behold and see the thoughts of
men and their inner movements and all the recesses of the soul; since it was of
Him alone that the blessed Apostle spoke when he said: "For the word of God is
quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to
the dividing of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow; and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart; and there is no creature invisible in
His sight, but all things are naked and open to His eyes." [1472] And the
blessed David says: "Who fashioneth their hearts one by one;" and again: "For He
knoweth the secrets of the heart;" [1473] and Job too: "Thou who alone knowest
the hearts of men." [1474]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 442: CHAPTER XIV. AN OBJECTION, AS TO HOW WE OUGHT TO BELIEVE THAT DEVILS SEE INTO THE THOUGHTS OF MEN. 
========================================================================

Germanus: In this way, which you describe, those spirits cannot possibly see
into our thoughts. But we think it utterly absurd to hold such an opinion, when
Scripture says: "If the spirit of him that hath power ascend upon thee;" [1475]
and again: "When the devil had put it into the heart of Simon Iscariot to betray
the Lord." [1476] How then can we believe that our thoughts are not open to
them, when we feel that for the most part they spring up and are nursed by their
suggestions and instigation?


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 443: CHAPTER XV. THE ANSWER WHAT DEVILS CAN AND WHAT THEY CANNOT DO IN REGARD TO THE THOUGHTS OF MEN. 
========================================================================

Serenus: Nobody doubts that unclean spirits can influence the character of our
thoughts, but this is by affecting them from without by sensible influences,
i.e., either from our inclinations or from our words, and those likings to which
they see that we are especially disposed. But they cannot possibly come near to
those which have not yet come forth from the inmost recesses of the soul. And
the thoughts too, which they suggest, whether they are actually or in a kind of
way embraced, are discovered by them not from the nature of the soul itself,
i.e., that inner inclination which lies concealed so to speak in the very
marrow, but from motions and signs given by the outward man, as for example,
when they suggest gluttony, if they have seen a monk raising his eyes anxiously
to the window or to the sun, or inquiring eagerly what o'clock it is, they know
that he has admitted the feeling of greediness. If when they suggest fornication
they find him calmly submitting to the attack of lust, or see him perturbed in
body, or at any rate not groaning as he ought under the wantonness of an impure
suggestion, they know that the dart of lust is already fixed in his very soul.
If they stir up incitements to grief, or anger, or rage, they can tell whether
they have taken root in the heart by the movements of the body, and visible
disturbances, when, for instance, they have noticed him either groaning
silently, or panting with indignation or changing colour; and so they cunningly
discover the fault to which he is given over. For they know that every one of us
is enticed in a regular way by that one, to the incitement of which they see, by
a sort of assenting motion of the body, that he has yielded his consent and
agreement. And it is no wonder that this is discovered by those powers of the
air, when we see that even clever men can often discover the state of the inner
man from his mien and look and external bearing. How much more surely then can
this be discovered by those who as being of a spiritual nature are certainly
much more subtle and cleverer than men.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 444: CHAPTER XVI. AN ILLUSTRATION SHOWING HOW WE ARE TAUGHT THAT UNCLEAN SPIRITS KNOW THE THOUGHTS OF MEN. 
========================================================================

For just as some thieves are in the habit of examining the concealed treasures
of the men in those houses which they mean to rob, and in the dark shades of
night sprinkle with careful hands little grains of sand and discover the hidden
treasures which they cannot see by the tinkling sound with which they answer to
the fall of the sand, and so arrive at certain knowledge of each thing and
metal, which betrays itself in a way by the voice elicited from it; so these
too, in order to explore the treasures of our heart, scatter over us the sand of
certain evil suggestions, and when they see some bodily affection arise
corresponding to their character, they recognize as if by a sort of tinkling
sound proceeding from the inmost recesses, what it is that is stored up in the
secret chamber of the inner man.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 445: CHAPTER XVII. ON THE FACT THAT NOT EVERY DEVIL HAS THE POWER OF SUGGESTING EVERY PASSION TO MEN. 
========================================================================

But we ought to know this, that not all devils can implant all the passions in
men, but that certain spirits brood over each sin, and that some gloat over
uncleanness and filthy lusts, others over blasphemy, others are more
particularly devoted to anger and wrath, others thrive on gloominess, others are
pacified with vainglory and pride; and each one implants in the hearts of men
that sin, in which he himself revels, and they cannot implant their special
vices all at one time, but in turn, according as the opportunity of time or
place, or a man, who is open to their suggestions, excites them.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 446: CHAPTER XVIII. A QUESTION WHETHER AMONG THE DEVILS THERE IS ANY ORDER OBSERVED IN THE ATTACK, OR SYSTEM IN ITS CHANGES. 
========================================================================

Germanus: Must we then believe that wickedness is arranged and so to speak
systematized among them in such a way that there is some order in the changes
observed by them, and a regular plan of attack carried out, though it is clear
that method and system can only exist among good and upright men, as Scripture
says: "Thou shalt seek wisdom among the ungodly and shalt not find it; and: "our
enemies are senseless;" and this: "There is neither wisdom, nor courage, nor
counsel among the ungodly." [1477]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 447: CHAPTER XIX. THE ANSWER HOW FAR AN AGREEMENT EXISTS AMONG DEVILS ABOUT THE ATTACK AND ITS CHANGES. 
========================================================================

Serenus: It is a true assertion that there is no lasting concord among bad men,
and that perfect harmony cannot exist even in regard to those particular faults
which have attractions for them all in common. For, as you have said, it can
never be that system and discipline are preserved among undisciplined things.
But in some matters, where community of interests, and necessity enforces it, or
participation in some gain recommends it, they must arrange for some agreement
for the time being. And we see very clearly that this is so in the case of this
war of spiritual wickedness; so that not only do they observe times and changes
among themselves, but actually are known specially to occupy some particular
spots and to haunt them persistently: for since they must make their attacks
through certain fixed temptations and well defined sins, and at particular
times, we clearly infer from this that no one can at one and at the same time be
deluded by the emptiness of vainglory and inflamed by the lust of fornication,
nor at one and the same time be puffed up by the outrageous haughtiness of
spiritual pride, and subject to the humiliation of carnal gluttony. Nor can
anyone be overcome by silly giggling and laughter and at the same time be
excited by the stings of anger, or at any rate filled with the pains of gnawing
grief: but all the spirits must one by one advance to attack the soul, in such a
way that when one has been vanquished and retreated, he must make way for
another spirit to attack it still more vehemently, or if he has come forth
victorious, he will none the less hand it over to be deceived by another.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 448: CHAPTER XX. OF THE FACT THAT OPPOSITE POWERS ARE NOT OF THE SAME BOLDNESS, AND THAT THE OCCASIONS OF TEMPTATION ARE NOT UNDER THEIR CONTROL. 
========================================================================

We ought also not to be ignorant of this, that they have not all the same
fierceness and energy, nor indeed the same boldness and malice, and that with
beginners and feeble folk only the weaker spirits join battle, and when these
spiritual wickednesses are beaten, then gradually the assaults of stronger ones
are made against the athlete of Christ. For in proportion to a man's strength
and progress, is the difficulty of the struggle made greater: for none of the
saints could possibly be equal to the endurance of the malice of so many and so
great foes, or meet their attacks, or even bear their cruelty and savagery, were
it not that the merciful judge of our contest, and president of the games,
Christ Himself, equalized the strength of the combatants, and repelled and
checked their excessive attacks, and made with the temptation a way of escape as
well that we might be able to bear it. [1478]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 449: CHAPTER XXI. OF THE FACT THAT DEVILS STRUGGLE WITH MEN NOT WITHOUT EFFORT ON THEIR PART. 
========================================================================

But our belief is that they undertake this struggle not without effort on their
part. For in their conflict they themselves have some sort of anxiety and
depression, and especially when they are matched with stronger rivals, i.e.,
saints and perfect men. Otherwise no contest or struggle, but only a simple
deception of men, and one free from anxiety on their part would be assigned to
them. And how then would the Apostle's words stand, where he says: "We wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against
world-rulers of this darkness, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places;"
and this too: "So fight I, not as one that beateth the air;" and again: "I have
fought a good fight"? [1479] For where it is spoken of as a fight, and conflict,
and battle, there must be effort and exertion and anxiety on both sides, and
equally there must either be in store for them chagrin and confusion for their
failure, or delight consequent upon their victory. But where one fights with
ease and security against another who struggles with great effort, and in order
to overthrow his rival makes use of his will alone as his strength, there it
ought not to be called a battle, struggle, or strife, but a sort of unfair and
unreasonable assault and attack. But they certainly have to labour, and when
they attack men, exert themselves in no lesser degree in order to secure from
each one that victory which they want to obtain, and there is hurled back upon
them the same confusion which was awaiting us had we been worsted by them; as it
is said: "The head of their compassing me about, the labour of their own lips
shall overwhelm them;" and: "His sorrow shall be turned on his own head;" and
again: "Let the snare which he knoweth not come upon him, and let the net which
he hath hidden catch him, and into that very snare let him fall;" [1480] viz.,
that which he contrived for the deception of men. They then themselves also come
to grief, and as they damage us so are they also in like manner damaged by us,
nor when they are worsted do they depart without confusion, and seeing these
defeats of theirs and their struggles, one who had good eyes in his inner man,
seeing also that they gloated over the downfall and mischances of individuals,
and fearing lest his own case might furnish them with this kind of delight,
prayed to the Lord saying: "Lighten mine eyes that I sleep not in death: lest
mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him. They that trouble me will rejoice
if I be moved;" and: "O My God, let them not rejoice over me; let them not say
in their hearts, Aha, Aha, our very wish; neither let them say; we have devoured
him;" and: "They gnashed their teeth upon me. Lord, how long wilt Thou look on
this?" for: "he lieth in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lieth in wait to
ravish the poor;" and: "He seeketh from God his meat." [1481] And again when all
their efforts are exhausted, and they have failed to secure our deception, they
must "be confounded and blush" at the failure of their efforts, "who seek our
souls to destroy them: and let them be covered with shame and confusion who
imagine evil against us." [1482] Jeremiah also says: "Let them be confounded,
and let not me be confounded: let them be afraid, and let not me be afraid:
bring upon them the fury of Thy wrath, and with a double destruction destroy
them." [1483] For no one can doubt that when they are vanquished by us they will
be destroyed with a double destruction: first, because while men are seeking
after holiness, they, though they possessed it, lost it, and became the cause of
man's ruin; secondly, because being spiritual existences, they have been
vanquished by carnal and earthly ones. Each one then of the saints when he looks
on the destruction of his foes and his own triumphs, exclaims with delight: "I
will follow after mine enemies and overtake them: and I will not turn until they
are destroyed. I will break them and they shall not be able to stand: they shall
fall under my feet," [1484] and in his prayers against them the same prophet
says: "Judge thou, O Lord, them that wrong me: overthrow them that fight against
me. Take hold of arms and shield: and rise up to help me. Bring out the sword
and shut up the way against them that persecute me: say to my soul, I am thy
salvation." [1485] And when by subduing and destroying all our passions we have
vanquished these, we shall then be permitted to hear those words of blessing:
"Thy hand shall be exalted over thine enemies, and all thine enemies shall
perish." [1486] And so when we read or chant all these and such like passages
found in holy writ, unless we take them as written against those spiritual
wickednesses which lie in wait for us night and day, we shall not only fail to
draw from them any edification to make us gentle and patient, but shall actually
meet with some dreadful consequence and one that is quite contrary to
evangelical perfection. For we shall not only not be taught to pray for or to
love our enemies, but actually shall be stirred up to hate them with an
implacable hatred, and to curse them and incessantly to pour forth prayers
against them. And it is terribly wrong and blasphemous to think that these words
were uttered in such a spirit by holy men and friends of God, on whom before the
coming of Christ the law was not imposed for the very reason that they went
beyond its commands, and chose rather to obey the precepts of the gospel and to
aim at apostolical perfection, though they lived before the dispensation of the
time.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 450: CHAPTER XXII. ON THE FACT THAT THE POWER TO HURT DOES NOT DEPEND UPON THE WILL OF THE DEVILS. 
========================================================================

But that they have not the power of hurting any man is shown in a very clear way
by the instance of the blessed Job, where the enemy did not venture to try him
beyond what was allowed to him by the Divine permission; and it is evidenced by
the confession of the same spirits contained in the records of the gospel, where
they say: "If Thou cast us out, suffer us to go into the herd of swine." [1487]
And far more must we hold that they cannot of their own free will enter into any
one of men who are created in the image of God, if they have not power to enter
into dumb and unclean animals without the permission of God. But no one -- I
will not say of the younger men, whom we see living most steadfastly in this
desert, but even of those who are perfect -- could live alone in the desert,
surrounded by such swarms of foes of this kind, if they had unlimited power and
freedom to hurt and tempt us: and still more clearly is this supported by the
words of our Lord and Saviour, which in the lowliness of the manhood He had
assumed, He uttered to Pilate, when He said: "Thou couldest have no power
against Me at all, unless it were given thee from above." [1488]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 451: CHAPTER XXIII. OF THE DIMINISHED POWER OF THE DEVILS. 
========================================================================

But we have thoroughly discovered both by our own experience and by the
testimony of the Elders that the devils have not now the same power as they had
formerly during the early days of the anchorites, when yet there were only a few
monks living in the desert. For such was their fierceness that it was with
difficulty that a few very steadfast men, and those advanced in years were able
to endure a life of solitude. Since in the actual monasteries where eight or ten
men used to live, their violence attacked them so and their assaults were
experienced so frequently, and so visibly, that they did not dare all to go to
bed at once by night, but took turns and while some snatched a little sleep,
others kept watch and devoted themselves to Psalms and prayer and reading. And
when the wants of nature compelled them to sleep, they awoke the others, and
committed to them in like manner the duty of keeping watch over those who were
going to bed. Whence we cannot doubt that one of two things has brought about
this result not only in the case of us who seem to be fairly strong from the
experience which our age gives us, but also in the case of younger men as well.
For either the malice of the devils has been beaten back by the power of the
cross penetrating even to the desert, and by its grace which shines everywhere;
or else our carelessness makes them relax something of their first onslaught, as
they scorn to attack us with the same energy with which they formerly raged
against those most admirable soldiers of Christ; and by this deceit and ceasing
from open attacks they do us still more damage. For we see that some have fallen
into so sluggish a condition that they have to be coaxed by too gentle
exhortations for fear lest they should forsake their cells and fall into more
dangerous troubles, and wander and stray about and be entangled in what I would
call grosser sins; and it is thought that a great thing is got from them if they
can even with some listlessness remain in the desert, and the Elders often say
to them as a great relief: Stop in your cells, and eat and drink and sleep as
much as you like, [1489] if only you will stay in them always.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 452: CHAPTER XXIV. OF THE WAY IN WHICH THE DEVILS PREPARE FOR THEMSELVES AN ENTRANCE INTO THE BODIES OF THOSE WHOM THEY ARE GOING TO POSSESS. 
========================================================================

It is clear then that unclean spirits cannot make their way into those whose
bodies they are going to seize upon, in any other way than by first taking
possession of their minds and thoughts. And when they have robbed them of fear
and the recollection of God and spiritual meditation, they boldly advance upon
them, as if they were dispossessed of all protection and Divine safeguard, and
could easily be bound, and then take up their dwelling in them as if in a
possession given over to them.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 453: CHAPTER XXV. ON THE FACT THAT THOSE MEN ARE MORE WRETCHED WHO ARE POSSESSED BY SINS THAN THOSE WHO ARE POSSESSED BY DEVILS. 
========================================================================

Although it is a fact that those men are more grievously and severely troubled,
who, while they seem to be very little affected by them in the body, are yet
possessed in spirit in a far worse way, as they are entangled in their sins and
lusts. For as the Apostle says: "Of whom a man is overcome, of him he is also
the servant." Only that in this respect they are more dangerously ill, because
though they are their slaves, yet they do not know that they are assaulted by
them, and under their dominion. But we know that even saintly men have been
given over in the flesh to Satan and to great afflictions for some very slight
faults, since the Divine mercy will not suffer the very least spot or stain to
be found in them on the day of judgment, and purges away in this world every
spot of their filth, as the prophet, or rather God Himself says, in order that
He may commit them to eternity as gold or silver refined and needing no penal
purification. "And," says He, "I will clean purge away thy dross, and I will
take away all thy sin; and after this thou shalt be called the city of the just,
a faithful city." And again: "Like as silver and gold are tried in the furnace,
so the Lord chooseth the hearts;" And again: "The fire tries gold and silver;
but man is tried in the furnace of humiliation;" and this also: "For whom the
Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." [1490]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 454: CHAPTER XXVI. OF THE DEATH OF THE PROPHET WHO WAS LED ASTRAY, AND OF THE INFIRMITY OF THE ABBOT PAUL, WITH WHICH HE WAS VISITED FOR THE SAKE OF HIS CLEANSING. 
========================================================================

And we see clear instance of this in the case of that prophet and man of God in
the third book of Kings, who was straightway destroyed by a lion for a single
fault of disobedience, in which he was implicated not of set purpose nor by the
fault of his own will but by the enticement of another, as the Scripture speaks
thus of him: "It is the man of God, who was disobedient to the mouth of the
Lord, and the Lord delivered him to the lion, and it tare him according to the
word of the Lord, which He spake." [1491] In which case the punishment of the
present offence and carelessness together with the reward of his righteousness,
for which the Lord gave over his prophet in this world to the destroyer, are
shown by the moderation and abstinence of the beast of prey, as that most savage
creature did not dare even to taste the carcass that was given over to him. And
of the same thing a very clear and plain proof has been given in our own days in
the case of the Abbots Paul and Moses who lived in a spot in this desert called
Calamus, [1492] for the former had formerly dwelt in the wilderness which is
hard by the city of Panephysis, [1493] which we know had only recently been made
a wilderness by an inundation of salt water; which whenever the north wind blew,
was driven from the marshes and spreading over the adjacent fields covered the
face of the whole district, so as to make the ancient villages, which on this
very account had been deserted by all their inhabitants, look like islands.
Here, then, the Abbot Paul had made such progress in purity of heart in the
stillness and silence of the desert, that he did not suffer, I will not say a
woman's face, but even the clothes of one of that sex to appear in his sight.
For when as he was going to the cell of one of the Elders together with Abbot
Archebius [1494] who lived in the same desert, by accident a woman met him, he
was so disgusted at meeting her that he dropped the business of his friendly
visit which he had taken in hand and dashed back again to his own monastery with
greater speed than a man would flee from the face of a lion or terrible dragon;
so that he was not moved even by the shouts and prayers of the aforesaid Abbot
Archebius who called him back to go on with the journey they had undertaken to
ask the old man what they had proposed to do. But though this was done in his
eagerness for chastity and desire for purity, yet because it was done not
according to knowledge, and because the observance of discipline, and the
methods of proper strictness were overstrained, for he imagined that not merely
familiarity with a woman (which is the real harm,) but even the very form of
that sex was to be execrated, he was forthwith overtaken by such a punishment
that his whole body was struck with paralysis, and none of his limbs were able
to perform their proper functions, since not merely his hands and feet, but even
the movements of the tongue, which enables us to frame our words, (were
affected) and his very ears lost the sense of hearing, so that there was left in
him nothing more of his manhood than an immovable and insensible figure. But he
was reduced to such a condition that the utmost care of men was unable to
minister to his infirmity, but only the tender service of women could attend to
his wants: for when he was taken to a convent of holy virgins, food and drink,
which he could not ask for even by signs, were brought to him by female
attendants, and for the performance of all that nature required he was
ministered to by the same service for nearly four years, i.e., to the end of his
life. And though he was affected by such weakness of all his members that none
of his limbs retained their keen power of motion and feeling, nevertheless such
grace of goodness proceeded from him that when sick persons were anointed with
the oil which had touched what should be called his corpse rather than his body,
they were instantly healed of all diseases, so that as regards his own malady it
was made clearly and plainly evident even to unbelievers that the infirmity of
all his limbs was caused by the providence and love of the Lord, and that the
grace of these healings was granted by the power of the Holy Ghost as a witness
of his purity and a manifestation of his merits.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 455: CHAPTER XXVII. ON THE TEMPTATION OF ABBOT MOSES. 
========================================================================

But the second person whom we mentioned as living in this desert, although he
was also a remarkable and striking man, yet, in order to punish a single word,
to which in a dispute with Abbot Macarius, [1495] he had given utterance
somewhat too sharply, as he was anticipated in some opinion, he was instantly
delivered to so dreadful a demon that he filled his mouth with filth [1496]
which he supplied, and the Lord showed by the quickness of his cure, and the
author of his healing, that He had brought this scourge upon him to purify him,
that there might not remain in him any stain from his momentary error: for as
soon as Abbot Macarius committed himself to prayer, quicker than a word the evil
spirit fled away from him and departed.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 456: CHAPTER XXVIII. HOW WE OUGHT NOT TO DESPISE THOSE WHO ARE DELIVERED UP TO UNCLEAN SPIRITS. 
========================================================================

From which it plainly results that we ought not to hate or despise those whom we
see to be delivered up to various temptations or to those spirits of evil,
because we ought firmly to hold these two points: first, that none of them can
be tempted at all by them without God's permission, and secondly that all things
which are brought upon us by God, whether they seem to us at the present time to
be sad or joyful, are inflicted for our advantage as by a most kind father and
most compassionate physician, and that therefore men are, as it were, given into
the charge of schoolmasters, and humbled in order that when they depart out of
this world they may be removed in a state of greater purity to the other life,
or have a lighter punishment inflicted on them, as they have been, as the
Apostle says, delivered over at the present time "to Satan for the destruction
of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." [1497]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 457: CHAPTER XXIX. AN OBJECTION, ASKING WHY THOSE WHO ARE TORMENTED BY UNCLEAN SPIRITS ARE SEPARATED FROM THE LORD'S COMMUNION. 
========================================================================

Germanus: And how is it that we see them not only scorned and shunned by
everybody, but actually always kept away from the Lord's communion in our
provinces, in accordance with these words of the gospel: "Give not that which is
holy to the dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine;" [1498] while you tell
us that somehow we ought to hold that the humiliation of this temptation is
brought upon them with a view to their purification and profit?


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 458: CHAPTER XXX. THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION RAISED. 
========================================================================

Serenus: If we had this knowledge, or rather faith, of which I treated above;
viz., to believe that all things were brought about by God, and ordered for the
good of our souls, we should not only never despise them, but rather pray
without ceasing for them as our own members, and sympathize with them with all
our hearts and the fullest affection (for "when one member suffers, all the
members suffer with it" [1499] ), as we know that we cannot possibly be
perfected without them inasmuch as they are members of us, just as we read that
our predecessors could not attain the fulness of promise without us, as the
Apostle speaks of them as follows: "And these all being approved by the
testimony of faith, received not the promise, God providing some better thing
for us that they should not be perfected without us." [1500] But we never
remember that holy communion was forbidden them; nay rather if it were possible,
they thought that it ought to be given to them daily; nor indeed according to
the words of the gospel which you incongruously apply in this sense "Give not
that which is holy to dogs," [1501] ought we to believe that holy communion
becomes food for the demon, and not a purification and safeguard of body and
soul; for when it is received by a man it, so to speak, burns out and puts to
flight the spirit which has its seat in his members or is trying to lurk in
them. For in this way we have lately seen Abbot Andronicus and many others
cured. For the enemy will more and more abuse the man who is possessed, if he
sees him cut off from the heavenly medicine, and will tempt him more often and
more fearfully, as he sees him removed the further from this spiritual remedy.
[1502]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 459: CHAPTER XXXI. ON THE FACT THAT THOSE MEN ARE MORE TO BE PITIED TO WHOM IT IS NOT GIVEN TO BE SUBJECTED TO THOSE TEMPORAL TEMPTATIONS. 
========================================================================

But we ought to consider those men truly wretched and miserable in whose case,
although they defile themselves with all kinds of sins and wickedness, yet not
only is there no visible sign of the devil's possession shown in them, nor is
any temptation proportionate to their actions, nor any scourge of punishment
brought to bear upon them. For they are vouchsafed no swift and immediate remedy
in this world, whose "hardness and impenitent heart," being too much for
punishment in this life, "heapeth up for itself wrath and indignation in the day
of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God," "where their worm
dieth not, and their fire is not quenched." [1503] Against whom the prophet as
if perplexed at the affliction of the saints, when he sees them subject to
various losses and temptations, and on the other hand sees sinners not only
passing through the course of this world without any scourge of humiliation, but
even rejoicing in great riches, and the utmost prosperity in everything,
inflamed with uncontrollable indignation and fervour of spirit, exclaims: "But
as for me, my feet had almost gone, my treadings had well nigh slipped. For I
was grieved at the wicked, when I saw the peace of sinners. For there is no
regard to their death, nor is there strength in their stripes. They are not in
the labour of men, neither shall they be scourged like other men," [1504] since
hereafter they shall be punished with the devils, to whom in this world it was
not vouchsafed to be scourged in the lot and discipline of sons, together with
men. Jeremiah also, when conversing with God on this prosperity of sinners,
although he never professes to doubt about the justice of God, as he says "for
Thou art just, O Lord, if I dispute with Thee," yet in his inquiry as to the
reasons of this inequality, proceeds to say: "But yet I will speak what is just
to Thee. Why doth the way of the wicked prosper? Why is it well with all them
that transgress and do wickedly? Thou hast planted them and they have taken
root: they prosper and bring forth fruit. Thou art near in their mouth and far
from their reins." [1505] And when the Lord mourns for their destruction by the
prophet, and anxiously directs doctors and physicians to heal them, and in a
manner urges them on to a similar lamentation and says: "Babylon is suddenly
fallen: she is destroyed. Howl for her: take balm for her pain, if so she may be
healed;" then, in their despair, the angels, to whom is entrusted the care of
man's salvation, make reply; or at any rate the prophet in the person of the
Apostles and spiritual men and doctors who see the hardness of their soul, and
their impenitent heart: "We have healed Babylon: but she is not cured. Let us
forsake her, and let us go every man to his own land because her judgment hath
reached even to the heavens, and is lifted up to the clouds." [1506] Of their
desperate feebleness then Isaiah speaks in the Person of God to Jerusalem: From
the sole of the foot unto the top of the head there is no soundness therein:
wounds and bruises and swelling sores: they are not bound up nor dressed nor
fermented with oil." [1507]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 460: CHAPTER XXXII. OF THE DIFFERENT DESIRES AND WISHES WHICH EXIST IN THE POWERS OF THE AIR. 
========================================================================

But it is clearly proved that there exist in unclean spirits as many desires as
there are in men. For some of them, which are commonly called Plani, [1508] are
shown to be so seductive and sportive that, when they have taken continual
possession of certain places or roads, they delight themselves not indeed with
tormenting the passers by whom they can deceive, but, contenting themselves
merely with laughing at them and mocking them, try to tire them out rather than
to injure them: while some spend the night merely by harmlessly taking
possession of men, though others are such slaves to fury and ferocity that they
are not simply content with hurting the bodies of those of whom they have taken
possession, by tearing them in a dreadful manner, but actually are eager to rush
upon those who are passing by at a distance, and to attack them with most savage
slaughter: like those described in the gospel, for fear of whom no man dared to
pass by that way. And there is no doubt that these and such as these in their
insatiable fury delight in wars and bloodshed. Others we find affect the hearts
of those whom they have seized with empty pride, (and these are commonly called
Bacucei [1509] ) so that they stretch themselves up beyond their proper height
and at one time puff themselves up with arrogance and pomposity, and at another
time condescend in an ordinary and bland manner, to a state of calmness and
affability: and as they fancy that they are great people and the wonder of
everybody, at one time show by bowing their body that they are worshipping
higher powers, while at another time they think that they are worshipped by
others, and so go through all those movements which express true service either
proudly or humbly. Others we find are not only keen for lies, but also inspire
men with blasphemies. And of this we ourselves can testify as we have heard a
demon openly confessing that he had proclaimed a wicked and impious doctrine by
the mouths of Arius and Eunomius. And the same thing we read that one of them
openly proclaimed in the fourth book of Kings: "I will go forth," he said, "and
will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets." [1510] On which the
Apostle, when reproving those who are deceived by them, adds as follows: "giving
heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils speaking lies in hypocrisy."
[1511] And that there are other kinds of devils which are deaf and dumb the
gospels testify. And that some spirits incite to lust and wantonness the prophet
maintains saying: "The spirit of fornication deceived them and they went astray
from their God." [1512] In the same way the authority of Scripture teaches us
that there are demons of the night and of the day and of the noonday: [1513] But
it would take too long to search through the whole of Scripture and run through
the different kinds of them, as they are termed by the prophets onocentaurs,
satyrs, sirens, witches, howlers, ostriches, urchins; and asps and basilisks in
the Psalms; and are called lions, dragons, scorpions in the gospel, and are
named by the Apostle the prince of this world, rulers of this darkness, and
spirits of wickedness. [1514] And all these names we ought not to take as given
at random or hap-hazard, but as alluding to their fierceness and madness under
the sign of those wild beasts which are more or less harmful and dangerous among
us, and by comparing them to the poisonous wickedness or power which among other
beasts or serpents, some pre-eminence in evil confers on them, they are called
by their names, in such a way that to one is assigned the name of lion because
of the fury of his rage and the madness of his anger, to another that of
basilisk because of his deadly poison, which kills a person before it is
perceived, and to another that of onocentaur or urchin or ostrich because of his
sluggish malice.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 461: CHAPTER XXXIII. A QUESTION AS TO THE ORIGIN OF SUCH DIFFERENCES IN POWERS OF EVIL IN THE SKY. 
========================================================================

Germanus: We certainly do not doubt that those orders which the Apostle
enumerates refer to them: "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but
against principalities, against powers, against the world-rulers of this
darkness, against spirits of wickedness in heavenly places:" [1515] but we want
to know whence comes such a difference between them, or how such grades of
wickedness exist? Were they created for this, to meet with these orders of evil,
and in some way to serve this wickedness?


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 462: CHAPTER XXXIV. THE POSTPONEMENT OF THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION RAISED. 
========================================================================

Serenus: Although your proposals would rob us of our whole night's rest, so that
we should not notice the approach of the rising dawn, and should be tempted
greedily to prolong our conference till sunrise, yet since the solving of the
question raised, if we began to trace it out, would launch us on a wide and deep
sea of questions, which the shortness of the time at our disposal would not
permit us to traverse, I think it will be more convenient to reserve it for
consideration another night, when by the raising of this question I shall
receive from your very ready converse some spiritual joy and richer fruit, and
we shall be able if the Holy Spirit grants us a prosperous breeze to penetrate
more freely into the intricacies of the questions raised. Wherefore let us enjoy
a little sleep, and so shake off the drowsiness that steals over our eyes, as
the dawn approaches, and then we will go together to church, for the observance
of Sunday bids us do this, and after service will come back, and as you wish,
discuss with redoubled delight what the Lord may have given to us for our common
improvement.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 463: VIII. THE SECOND CONFERENCE OF ABBOT SERENUS.
========================================================================

On Principalities.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 464: CHAPTER I. OF THE HOSPITALITY OF ABBOT SERENUS. 
========================================================================

When we had finished the duties of the day, and the congregation had been
dismissed from Church we returned to the old man's cell, and enjoyed a most
sumptuous repast. For instead of the sauce which with a few drops of oil spread
over it was usually set on the table for his daily meal, he mixed a little
decoction and poured over it a somewhat more liberal allowance of oil than
usual; for each of them when he is going to partake of his daily repast, pours
those drops of oil on, not that he may receive any enjoyment from the taste of
it (for so limited is the supply that it is hardly enough I will not say to line
the passage of his throat and jaws, but even to pass down it) but that using it,
he may keep down the pride of his heart (which is certain to creep in stealthily
and surely if his abstinence is any stricter) and the incitements to vainglory,
for as his abstinence is practised with the greater secrecy, and is carried on
without anyone to see it, so much the more subtly does it never cease to tempt
the man who conceals it. Then he set before us table salt, and three olives
each: after which he produced a basket containing parched vetches which they
call trogalia, [1516] from which we each took five grains, two prunes and a fig
apiece. For it is considered wrong for anyone to exceed that amount in that
desert. And when we had finished this repast and had begun to ask him again for
his promised solution of the question, "Let us hear," said the old man, "your
question, the consideration of which we postponed till the present time."


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 465: CHAPTER II. STATEMENTS ON THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESSES. 
========================================================================

Then Germanus: We want to know what is the origin of the great variety of
hostile powers opposed to men, and the difference between them, which the
blessed Apostle sums up as follows: "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but
against principalities, against powers, against the world-rulers of this
darkness, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places:" [1517] and again:
"Neither angels nor principalities nor powers nor any other creature, can
separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." [1518]
Whence then arises the enmity of all this malice jealous of us? Are we to
believe that those powers were created by the Lord for this; viz., to fight
against men in these grades and orders?


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 466: CHAPTER III. THE ANSWER ON THE MANY KINDS OF FOOD PROVIDED IN HOLY SCRIPTURE. 
========================================================================

Serenus: The authority of holy Scripture says on those points on which it would
inform us some things so plainly and clearly even to those who are utterly void
of understanding, that not only are they not veiled in the obscurity of any
hidden meaning, but do not even require the help of any explanation, but carry
their meaning and sense on the surface of the words and letters: but some things
are so concealed and involved in mysteries as to offer us an immense field for
skill and care in the discussion and explanation of them. And it is clear that
God has so ordered it for many reasons: first for fear lest the holy mysteries,
if they were covered by no veil of spiritual meaning, should be exposed equally
to the knowledge and understanding of everybody, i.e., the profane as well as
the faithful and thus there might be no difference in the matter of goodness and
prudence between the lazy and the earnest: next that among those who are indeed
of the household of faith, while immense differences of intellectual power open
out before them, there might be the opportunity of reproving the slothfulness of
the idle, and of proving the keenness and diligence of the earnest. And so holy
Scripture is fitly compared to a rich and fertile field, which, while bearing
and producing much which is good for man's food without being cooked by fire,
produces some things which are found to be unsuitable for man's use or even
harmful unless they have lost all the roughness of their raw condition by being
tempered and softened down by the heat of fire. But some are naturally fit for
use in both states, so that even when uncooked they are not unpleasant from
their raw condition, but still are rendered more palatable by being cooked and
heated by fire. Many more things too are produced only fit for the food of
irrational creatures, and cattle, and wild animals and birds, but utterly
useless as food for men, which while still in their rough state without being in
any way touched by fire, conduce to the health and life of cattle. And we can
clearly see that the same system holds good in that most fruitful garden of the
Scriptures of the Spirit, in which some things shine forth clear and bright in
their literal sense, in such a way that while they have no need of any higher
interpretation, they furnish abundant food and nourishment in the simple sound
of the words, to the hearers: as in this passage: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy
God is one Lord;" and: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy strength." [1519] But there are some which,
unless they are weakened down by an allegorical interpretation, and softened by
the trial of the fire of the spirit cannot become wholesome food for the inner
man without injury and loss to him; and damage rather than profit will accrue to
him from receiving them: as with this passage: "But let your loins be girded up
and your lights burning;" and: "whosoever has no sword, let him sell his coat
and buy himself a sword;" and: "whosoever taketh not up his cross and followeth
after Me is not worthy of Me;" [1520] a passage which some most earnest monks,
having "indeed a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge" [1521] understood
literally, and so made themselves wooden crosses, and carried them about
constantly on their shoulders, and so were the cause not of edification but of
ridicule on the part of all who saw them. But some are capable of being taken
suitable and properly in both ways, i.e., the historical and allegorical, so
that either explanation furnishes a healing draught to the soul; as this
passage: "If any one shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other
also;" and: "when they persecute you in one city, flee to another;" and: "if
thou wilt be perfect, go, sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou
shalt have treasure in heaven, and come follow Me." [1522] It produces indeed
"grass for the cattle" also, (and of this food all the fields of Scripture are
full); viz., plain and simple narratives of history, by which simple folk, and
those who are incapable of perfect and sound understanding (of whom it is said
"Thou, Lord, wilt save both man and beast") [1523] may be made stronger and more
vigorous for their hard work and the labour of actual life, in accordance with
the state and measure of their capacity.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 467: CHAPTER IV. OF THE DOUBLE SENSE IN WHICH HOLY SCRIPTURE MAY BE TAKEN. 
========================================================================

Wherefore on those passages which are brought forward with a clear explanation
we also can constantly lay down the meaning and boldly state our own opinions.
But those which the Holy Spirit, reserving for our meditation and exercise, has
inserted in holy Scripture with veiled meaning, wishing some of them to be
gathered from various proofs and conjectures, ought to be step by step and
carefully brought together, so that their assertions and proofs may be arranged
by the discretion of the man who is arguing or supporting them. For sometimes
when a difference of opinion is expressed on one and the same subject, either
view may be considered reasonable and be held without injury to the faith either
firmly, or doubtfully, i.e., in such a way that neither is full belief nor
absolute rejection accorded to it, and the second view need not interfere with
the former, if neither of them is found to be opposed to the faith: as in this
case: where Elias came in the person of John, [1524] and is again to be the
precursor of the Lord's Advent: and in the matter of the "Abomination of
desolation" which "stood in the holy place," by means of that idol of Jupiter
which, as we read, was placed in the temple in Jerusalem, and which is again to
stand in the Church through the coming of Antichrist, [1525] and all those
things which follow in the gospel, which we take as having been fulfilled before
the captivity of Jerusalem and still to be fulfilled at the end of this world.
In which matters neither view is opposed to the other, nor does the first
interpretation interfere with the second.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 468: CHAPTER V. OF THE FACT THAT THE QUESTION SUGGESTED OUGHT TO BE INCLUDED AMONG THOSE THINGS TO BE HELD IN A NEUTRAL OR DOUBTFUL WAY. 
========================================================================

And therefore since the question raised by us, does not seem to have been
sufficiently or often ventilated among men, and is clear to most people, and
from this fact what we bring forward may perhaps appear to some to be doubtful,
we ought to regulate our own view (since it does not interfere with faith in the
Trinity) so that it may be included among those things which are to be held
doubtfully; although they rest not on mere opinions such as are usually given to
guesses and conjectures, but on clear Scripture proof.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 469: CHAPTER VI. OF THE FACT THAT NOTHING IS CREATED EVIL BY GOD. 
========================================================================

God forbid that we should admit that God has created anything which is
substantially evil, as Scripture says "everything that God had made was very
good." [1526] For if they were created by God such as they are now, or made for
this purpose; viz., to occupy these positions of malice, and ever to be ready
for the deception and ruin of men, we should in opposition to the view of the
above quoted Scripture slander God as the Creator and author of evil, as having
Himself formed utterly evil wills and natures, creating them for this very
purpose; viz., that they might ever persist in their wickedness and never pass
over to the feeling of a good will. The following reason then of this diversity
is what we received from the tradition of the fathers, being drawn from the
fount of Holy Scripture.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 470: CHAPTER VII. OF THE ORIGIN OF PRINCIPALITIES OR POWERS. 
========================================================================

None of the faithful question the fact that before the formation of this visible
creation God made spiritual and celestial powers, in order that owing to the
very fact that they knew that they had been formed out of nothing by the
goodness of the Creator for such glory and bliss, they might render to Him
continual thanks and ceaselessly continue to praise Him. For neither should we
imagine that God for the first time began to originate His creation and work
with the formation of this world, as if in those countless ages beforehand He
had taken no thought of Providence and the divine ordering of things, and as if
we could believe that having none towards whom to show the blessings of His
goodness, He had been solitary, and a stranger to all bountifulness; a thing
which is too poor and unsuitable to fancy of that boundless and eternal and
incomprehensible Majesty; as the Lord Himself says of these powers: "When the
stars were made together, all my angels praised Me with a loud voice." [1527]
Those then who were present at the creation of the stars, are most clearly
proved to have been created before that "beginning" in which it is said that
heaven and earth were made, inasmuch as they are said with loud voices and
admiration to have praised the Creator because of all those visible creatures
which, as they saw, proceeded forth from nothing. Before then that beginning in
time which is spoken of by Moses, and which according to the historic and Jewish
interpretation denotes the age of this world (without prejudice to our
interpretation, according to which we explain that the "beginning," of all
things is Christ, in whom the Father created all things, as it is said "All
things were made by him, and without Him was not anything made,") [1528] before,
I say, that beginning of Genesis in time there is no question that God had
already created all those powers and heavenly virtues; which the Apostle
enumerates in order and thus describes: "For in Christ were created all things
both in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether they be angels or
archangels, whether they be thrones or dominions, whether they be principalities
or powers. All things were made by Him and in Him." [1529]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 471: CHAPTER VIII. OF THE FALL OF THE DEVIL AND THE ANGELS. 
========================================================================

And so we are clearly shown that out of that number of them some of the leaders
fell, by the lamentations of Ezekiel and Isaiah, in which we know that the
prince of Tyre or that Lucifer who rose in the morning is lamented with a
doleful plaint: and of him the Lord speaks as follows to Ezekiel: "Son of man,
take up a lamentation over the prince of Tyre, and say to him: Thus saith the
Lord God: Thou wast the seal of resemblance, full of wisdom, perfect in beauty.
Thou wast in the pleasures of the paradise of God: every precious stone was thy
covering: the sardius, the topaz and the jasper, the chrysolyte and the onyx and
the beryl, the sapphire and the carbuncle and the emerald: gold the work of thy
beauty, and thy pipes were prepared in the day that thou wast created. Thou wast
a cherub stretched out and protecting, and I set thee in the holy mountain of
God, thou hast walked in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in
thy ways from the day of thy creation, until iniquity was found in thee. By the
multitude of thy merchandise thy inner parts were filled with iniquity and thou
hast sinned; and I cast thee out from the mountain of God, and destroyed thee, O
covering cherub, out of the midst of the stones of fire. And thy heart was
lifted up with thy beauty: thou hast lost thy wisdom in thy beauty, I have cast
thee to the ground: I have set thee before the face of kings, that they might
behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thy
iniquities and by the iniquity of thy traffic." [1530] Isaiah also says of
another: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in the
morning? how art thou fallen to the ground, that didst wound the nations? and
thou saidst in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God, I will sit in the mountain of the covenant, in the sides
of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the
Most High." [1531] But Holy Scripture relates that these fell not alone from
that summit of their station in bliss, as it tells us that the dragon dragged
down together with himself the third part of the stars. [1532] One of the
Apostles too says still more plainly: "But the angels who kept not their first
estate, but left their own dwelling, He hath reserved in everlasting chains
under darkness to the judgment of the great day." [1533] This too which is said
to us: "But ye shall die like men and fall like one of the princes," [1534] what
does it imply but that many princes have fallen? And by these testimonies we can
gather the reason for this diversity; viz., either that they still retain those
differences of rank (which adverse powers are said to possess, after the manner
of holy and heavenly virtues) from the station of their former rank in which
they were severally created, or else that, though themselves cast down from
heavenly places, yet, as a reward for that wickedness of theirs in which they
have graduated in evil, they claim in perversity these grades and titles of rank
among themselves, by way of copying those virtues which have stood firm there.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 472: CHAPTER IX. AN OBJECTION STATING THAT THE FALL OF THE DEVIL TOOK ITS ORIGIN FROM THE DECEPTION OF GOD. 
========================================================================

Germanus: Up till now we used to believe that the reason and commencement of the
ruin and fall of the devil, in which he was cast out from his heavenly estate,
was more particularly envy, when in his spiteful subtlety he deceived Adam and
Eve.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 473: CHAPTER X. THE ANSWER ABOUT THE BEGINNING OF THE DEVIL'S FALL. 
========================================================================

Serenus: The passage in Genesis shows that that was not the beginning of his
fall and ruin, as before their deception it takes the view that he had already
been branded with the ignominy of the name of the serpent, where it says: "But
the serpent was wiser" or as the Hebrew copies express it, "more subtle than all
the beasts of the earth, which the Lord God had made." [1535] You see then that
he had fallen away from his angelic holiness even before he deceived the first
man, so that he not only deserved to be stamped with the ignominy of this title,
but actually excelled all other beasts of the earth in the subterfuges of
wickedness. For Holy Scripture would not have designated a good angel by such a
term, nor would it say of those who were still continuing in that state of
bliss: "But the serpent was wiser than all the beasts of the earth." For this
title could not possibly be applied I say not to Gabriel or Michæl, but it would
not even be suitable to any good man. And so the title of serpent and the
comparison to beasts most clearly suggests not the dignity of an angel but the
infamy of an apostate. Finally the occasion of the envy and seduction, which led
him to deceive man, arose from the ground of his previous fall, in that he saw
that man, who had but recently been formed out of the dust of the ground, was to
be called to that glory, from which he remembered that he himself, while still
one of the princes, had fallen. And so that first fall of his, which was due to
pride, and which obtained for him the name of the serpent, was followed by a
second owing to envy: and as this one found him still in the possession of
something upright so that he could enjoy some interchange of conference and
counsel with man, by the Lord's sentence he was very properly cast down to the
lowest depth, that he might no longer walk as before erect, and looking up on
high, but should cleave to the ground and creep along, and be brought low upon
his belly and feed upon the earthly food and works of sins, and henceforward
proclaim his secret hostility, and put between himself and man an enmity that is
to our advantage, and a discord that is to our profit, so that while men are on
their guard against him as a dangerous enemy, he can no longer injure them by a
deceptive show of friendship.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 474: CHAPTER XI. THE PUNISHMENT OF THE DECEIVER AND THE DECEIVED. 
========================================================================

But we ought in this matter, in order that we may shun evil counsels, to learn a
special lesson from the fact that though the author of the deception was visited
with a fitting punishment and condemnation, yet still the one who was led astray
did not go scot free from punishment, although it was somewhat lighter than that
of him who was the author of the deception. And this we see was very plainly
expressed. For Adam who was deceived, or rather (to use the Apostle's words)
"was not deceived" but, acquiescing in the wishes of her who was deceived, seems
to have come to yield a consent that was deadly, is only condemned to labour and
the sweat of his brow, which is assigned to him not by means of a curse upon
himself, but by means of a curse upon the ground, and its barrenness. But the
woman, who persuaded him to this, is visited with an increase of anguish, and
pains and sorrow, and also given over to the yoke of perpetual subjection. But
the serpent who was the first to incite them to this offence, is punished by a
lasting curse. Wherefore we should with the utmost care and circumspection be on
our guard against evil counsels, for as they bring punishment upon their
authors, so too they do not suffer those who are deceived by them to go free
from guilt and punishment.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 475: CHAPTER XII. OF THE CROWD OF THE DEVILS, AND THE DISTURBANCE WHICH THEY ALWAYS RAISE IN OUR ATMOSPHERE. 
========================================================================

But the atmosphere which extends between heaven and earth is ever filled with a
thick crowd of spirits, which do not fly about in it quietly or idly, so that
most fortunately the divine providence has withdrawn them from human sight. For
through fear of their attacks, or horror at the forms, into which they transform
and turn themselves at will, men would either be driven out of their wits by an
insufferable dread, and faint away, from inability to look on such things with
bodily eyes, or else would daily grow worse and worse, and be corrupted by their
constant example and by imitating them, and thus there would arise a sort of
dangerous familiarity and deadly intercourse between men and the unclean powers
of the air, whereas those crimes which are now committed among men, are
concealed either by walls and enclosures or by distance and space, or by some
shame and confusion: but if they could always look on them with open face, they
would be stimulated to a greater pitch of insanity, as there would not be a
single moment in which they would see them desist from their wickedness, since
no bodily weariness, or occupation in business or care for their daily food (as
in our case) forces them sometimes even against their will to desist from the
purposes they have begun to carry out.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 476: CHAPTER XIII. OF THE FACT THAT OPPOSING POWERS TURN THE ATTACK, WHICH THEY AIM AT MEN, EVEN AGAINST EACH OTHER. 
========================================================================

For it is quite clear that they aim these attacks, with which they assault men,
even against each other, for in like manner they do not cease to promote with
unwearied strife the discords and struggles which they have undertaken for some
peoples because of a sort of innate love of wickedness which they have: and this
we read of as being very clearly set forth in the vision of Daniel the prophet,
where the angel Gabriel speaks as follows: "Fear not, Daniel: for from the first
day that thou didst set thy heart to understand, to afflict thyself in the sight
of thy God, thy words have been heard: and I am come for thy words. But the
prince of the kingdom of the Persians resisted me one and twenty days: and
behold Michael one of the chief princes came to help me, and I remained there by
the king of the Persians. But I am come to teach thee what things shall befall
thy people in the latter days." [1536] And we can not possibly doubt that this
prince of the kingdom of the Persians was a hostile power, which favoured the
nation of the Persians an enemy of God's people; for in order to hinder the good
which it saw would result from the solution of the question for which the
prophet prayed the Lord, by the archangel, in its jealousy it opposed itself to
prevent the saving comfort of the angel from reaching Daniel too speedily, and
from strengthening the people of God, over which the archangel Gabriel was: and
the latter said that even then, owing to the fierceness of his assaults, he
would not have been able to come to him, had not Michael the archangel come to
help him, and met the prince of the kingdom of the Persians, and joined battle
with him, and intervened, and defended him from his attack, and so enabled him
to come to instruct the prophet after twenty-one days. And a little later on it
says: "And the angel said: Dost thou know wherefore I am come to thee? And now I
will return to fight against the prince of the Persians. For when I went forth,
there appeared the prince of the Greeks coming. But I will tell thee what is
written down in the Scriptures of truth: and none is my helper in all these
things but Michael your prince." [1537] And again: "At that time shall Michael
rise up, the great prince, who standeth for the children of thy people." [1538]
So then we read that in the same way another was called the prince of the
Greeks, who since he was patron of that nation which was subject to him seems to
have been opposed to the nation of the Persians as well as to the people of
Israel. From which we clearly see that antagonistic powers raise against each
other those quarrels of nations, and conflicts and dissensions, which they show
among themselves at their instigation, and that they either exult at their
victories or are cast down at their defeats, and thus cannot live in harmony
among themselves, while each of them is always striving with restless jealousy
on behalf of those whom he presides over, against the patron of some other
nation.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 477: CHAPTER XIV. HOW IT IS THAT SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESSES OBTAINED THE NAMES OF POWERS OR PRINCIPALITIES. 
========================================================================

We can then see clear reasons, in addition to those ideas which we expounded
above, why they are called principalities or powers; viz., because they rule and
preside over different nations, and at least hold sway over inferior spirits and
demons, of which the gospels give us evidence by their own confession that there
exist legions. For they could not be called lords unless they had some over whom
to exercise the sway of lordship; nor could they be called powers or
principalities, unless there were some over whom they could claim power: and
this we find pointed out very clearly in the gospel by the Pharisees in their
blasphemy: "He casteth out devils by Beelzebub the prince of the devils," [1539]
for we find that they are also called "rulers of darkness," [1540] and that one
of them is styled "the prince of this world." [1541] But the blessed Apostle
declares that hereafter, when all things shall be subdued to Christ, these
orders shall be destroyed, saying: "When He shall have delivered up the kingdom
to God even the Father, when He shall have destroyed all principalities and
powers and dominions." [1542] And this certainly can only take place if they are
removed from the sway of those over whom we know that powers and dominions and
principalities take charge in this world.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 478: CHAPTER XV. OF THE FACT THAT IT IS NOT WITHOUT REASON THAT THE NAMES OF ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS ARE GIVEN TO HOLY AND HEAVENLY POWERS. 
========================================================================

For no one doubts that not without cause or reason are the same titles of rank
assigned to the better sort, and that they are names of office and of worth or
dignity, for it is plain that they are termed angels, i.e., messengers from
their office of bearing messages, and the appropriateness of the name teaches
that they are "archangels" because they preside over angels, "dominions" because
they hold dominion over certain persons, and "principalities" because they have
some to be princes over, and "thrones" because they are so near to God and so
privy and close to Him that the Divine Majesty specially rests in them as in a
Divine throne, and in a way reclines surely on them.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 479: CHAPTER XVI. OF THE SUBJECTION OF THE DEVILS, WHICH THEY SHOW TO THEIR OWN PRINCES, AS SEEN IN A BROTHER'S VICTIM. 
========================================================================

But that unclean spirits are ruled over by worse powers and are subject to them
we not only find from those passages of Scripture, recorded in the gospels when
the Pharisees maligned the Lord, and He answered "If I by Beelzebub the prince
of the devils cast out devils," [1543] but we are also taught this by clear
visions and many experiences of the saints, for when one of our brethren was
making a journey in this desert, as day was now declining he found a cave and
stopped there meaning to say his evening office in it, and there midnight passed
while he was still singing the Psalms. And when after he had finished his office
he sat down a little before refreshing his wearied body, on a sudden he began to
see innumerable troops of demons gathering together on all sides, who came
forward in an immense crowd, and a long line, some preceding and others
following their prince; who at length arrived, being taller and more dreadful to
look at than all the others; and, a throne having been placed, he sat down as on
some lofty tribunal, and began to investigate by a searching examination the
actions of each one of them; and those who said that they had not yet been able
to circumvent their rivals, he commanded to be driven out of his sight with
shame and ignominy as idle and slothful, rebuking them with angry wrath for the
waste of so much time, and for their labour thrown away: but those who reported
that they had deceived those assigned to them, he dismissed before all with the
highest praise amidst the exultation and applause of all, as most brave
warriors, and most renowned as an example to all the rest: and when in this
number some most evil spirit had presented himself, in delight at having to
relate some magnificent triumph, he mentioned the name of a very well known
monk, and declared that after having incessantly attacked him for fifteen years,
he had at last got the better of him, so as to destroy him that very same night
by the sin of fornication, for that he had not only impelled him to commit
adultery with some consecrated maid, but had actually persuaded him to keep her
and marry her. And when there arose shouts of joy at this narrative, he was
extolled with the highest praise by the prince of darkness, and departed crowned
with great honours. And so when at break of day the whole swarm of demons had
vanished from his eyes, the brother being doubtful about the assertion of the
unclean spirit, and rather thinking that he had desired to entice him by an
ancient customary deceit, and to brand an innocent brother with the crime of
incest, being mindful of those words of the gospel; viz., that "he abode not in
the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh
of his own, for he is a liar, and its father," [1544] he made his way to
Pelusium, where he knew that the man lived, whom the evil spirit declared to be
destroyed: for the brother was very well known to him, and when he had asked
him, he found that on the same night on which that foul demon had announced his
downfall to his company and prince, he had left his former monastery, and sought
the town, and had gone astray by a wretched fall with the girl mentioned.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 480: CHAPTER XVII. OF THE FACT THAT TWO ANGELS ALWAYS CLING TO EVERY MAN. 
========================================================================

For Holy Scripture bears witness that two angels, a good and a bad one, cling to
each one of us. And of the good ones the Saviour says: "Do not despise one of
these little ones; for I say unto you that their angels in heaven do always
behold the face of thy Father which is in heaven:" [1545] and this also: "the
angel of the Lord shall encamp round about them that fear Him, and deliver
them." [1546] Moreover this also which is said in the Acts of the Apostles, of
Peter, that "it is his angel." [1547] But of both sorts the book of the Shepherd
teaches us very fully. [1548] But if we consider about him who attacked the
blessed Job we shall clearly learn that it was he who always plotted against him
but never could entice him to sin, and that therefore he asked for power from
the Lord, as he was worsted not by his (Job's) virtue but by the Lord's
protection which ever shielded him. Of Judas also it is said: "And let the devil
stand at his right hand." [1549]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 481: CHAPTER XVIII. OF THE DEGREES OF WICKEDNESS WHICH EXIST IN HOSTILE SPIRITS, AS SHOWN IN THE CASE OF TWO PHILOSOPHERS. 
========================================================================

But of the difference that there is between demons we have learnt a great deal
by means of those two philosophers who formerly by acts of magic had oftentimes
great experience both of their laziness and of their courage and savage
wickedness. For these looking down on the blessed Antony as a boor and rustic,
and wanting, if they could not injure him any further, at least to drive him
from his cell by illusions of magic and the devices of demons, despatched
against him most foul spirits, for they were impelled to this attack upon him by
the sting of jealousy because enormous crowds came daily to him as the servant
of God. And when these most savage demons did not even venture to approach him
as he was now signing his breast and forehead with the sign of the cross, and,
now devoting himself to prayer and supplication, they returned without any
result to those who had directed them; and these again sent against him others
more desperate in wickedness, and when these too had spent their strength in
vain, and returned without having accomplished anything, and others still more
powerful were nevertheless told off against the victorious soldier of Christ,
and could prevail nothing against him, all these great plots of theirs devised
with all the arts of magic were only useful in proving the great value that
there is in the profession of Christians, so that those fierce and powerful
shadows, which they thought would veil the sun and moon if they were directed
towards them, could not only not injure him, but not even draw him forth from
his monastery for a single instant.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 482: CHAPTER XIX. OF THE FACT THAT DEVILS CANNOT PREVAIL AT ALL AGAINST MEN UNLESS THEY HAVE FIRST SECURED POSSESSION OF THEIR MINDS. 
========================================================================

And when in their astonishment at this they came straight to Abbot Antony and
disclosed the extent of their attacks and the reason of them and their plots,
they dissembled their jealousy and asked that they might forthwith be made
Christians. But when he had asked of them the day when the assault was made, he
declared that at that time he had been afflicted with the most bitter pangs of
thought. And by this experience the blessed Antony proved and established the
opinion which we expressed yesterday in our Conference, that demons cannot
possibly find an entrance into the mind or body of anyone, nor have they the
power of overwhelming the soul of anyone, unless they have first deprived it of
all holy thoughts, and made it empty and free from spiritual meditation. But you
must know that unclean spirits are obedient to men in two ways. For either they
are by divine grace and power subject to the holiness of the faithful, or they
are captivated by the sacrifices of sinners, and certain charms, and are
flattered by them as their worshippers. And the Pharisees too were led astray by
this notion and fancied that by this device even the Lord the Saviour gave
commands to devils, and said "By Beelzebub the prince of the devils He casteth
out devils," in accordance with that plan by which they knew that their own
magicians and enchanters -- by invoking his name and offering sacrifices, with
which they know he is pleased and delighted -- have as his servants power even
over the devils who are subject to him.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 483: CHAPTER XX. A QUESTION ABOUT THE FALLEN ANGELS WHO ARE SAID IN GENESIS TO HAVE HAD INTERCOURSE WITH THE DAUGHTERS OF MEN. 
========================================================================

Germanus: Since a passage of Genesis was a little while ago by the providence of
God brought forward in our midst, and happily reminded us that we can now
conveniently ask about a point which we have always longed to learn, we want to
know what view we ought to take about those fallen angels who are said to have
had intercourse with the daughters of men, and whether such a thing can
literally take place with a spiritual nature. And also with regard to this
passage of the gospel which you quoted of the devil a little while back, "for he
is a liar and his father," [1550] we should like in the same way to hear who is
to be understood by "his father."


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 484: CHAPTER XXI. THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION RAISED. 
========================================================================

Serenus: You have propounded two not unimportant questions, to which I will
reply, to the best of my ability, in the order in which you have raised them. We
cannot possibly believe that spiritual existences can have carnal intercourse
with women. But if this could ever have literally happened how is it that it
does not now also sometimes take place, and that we do not see some in the same
way born of women by the agency of demons without intercourse with men?
especially when it is clear that they delight in the pollution of lust, which
they would certainly prefer to bring about through their own agency rather than
through that of men, if they could possibly manage it, as Ecclesiastes declares:
"What is it that hath been? The same that is. And what is it that hath been
done? The same that is done. And there is nothing new that can be said under the
sun, so that a man can say: Behold this is new; for it hath already been in the
ages which were before us." [1551] But the question raised may be resolved in
this way. After the death of righteous Abel, in order that the whole human race
might not spring from a wicked fratricide, Seth was born in the place of his
brother who was slain, to take the place of his brother not only as regards
posterity, but also as regards justice and goodness. And his offspring,
following the example of their father's goodness, always remained separate from
intercourse with and the society of their kindred descended from the wicked
Cain, as the difference of the genealogy very clearly tells us, where it says:
"Adam begat Seth, Seth begat Enos, Enos begat Cainan, but Cainan begat
Mahalaleel, but Mahalaleel begat Jared, Jared begat Enoch, Enoch begat
Methuselah, Methuselah begat Lamech, Lamech begat Noah." [1552] And the
genealogy of Cain is given separately as follows: "Cain begat Enoch, Enoch begat
Cainan, Cainan begat Mahalaleel, Mahalaleel begat Methuselah, Methuselah begat
Lamech, Lamech begat Jabal and Jubal." [1553] And so the line which sprang from
the seed of righteous Seth always mixed with its own kith and kin, and continued
for a long while in the holiness of its fathers and ancestors, untouched by the
blasphemies and the wickedness of an evil offspring, which had implanted in it a
seed of sin as it were transmitted by its ancestors. As long then as there
continued that separation of the lines between them, the seed of Seth, as it
sprang from an excellent root, was by reason of its sanctity termed "angels of
God," or as some copies have it "sons of God;" [1554] and on the contrary the
others by reason of their own and their fathers' wickedness and their earthly
deeds were termed "children of men." Though then there was up to this time that
holy and salutary separation between them, yet after this the sons of Seth who
were the sons of God saw the daughters of those who were born of the line of
Cain, and inflamed with the desire for their beauty took to themselves from them
wives who taught their husbands the wickedness of their fathers, and at once led
them astray from their innate holiness and the single-mindedness of their
forefathers. To whom this saying applies with sufficient accuracy: "I have said:
Ye are Gods, and ye are all the children of the Most High. But ye shall die like
men, and fall like one of the princes;" [1555] who fell away from that true
study of natural philosophy, handed down to them by their ancestors, which the
first man who forthwith traced out the study of all nature, could clearly attain
to, and transmit to his descendants on sure grounds, inasmuch as he had seen the
infancy of this world, while still as it were tender and throbbing and
unorganized; and as there was in him not only such fulness of wisdom, but also
the grace of prophecy given by the Divine inspiration, so that while he was
still an untaught inhabitant of this world he gave names to all living
creatures, and not only knew about the fury and poison of all kinds of beasts
and serpents, but also distinguished between the virtues of plants and trees and
the natures of stones, and the changes of seasons of which he had as yet no
experience, so that he could well say: "The Lord hath given me the true
knowledge of the things that are, to know the disposition of the whole world,
and the virtues of the elements, the beginning and the ending and the midst of
times, the alterations of their courses and the changes of their seasons, the
revolutions of the year and the disposition of the stars, the natures of living
creatures and the rage of wild beasts, the force of winds, and the reasonings of
men, the diversities of plants and the virtues of roots, and all such things as
are hid and open I have learnt." [1556] This knowledge then of all nature the
seed of Seth received through successive generations, handed down from the
fathers, so long as it remained separate from the wicked line, and as it had
received it in holiness, so it made use of it to promote the glory of God and
the needs of everyday life. But when it had been mingled with the evil
generation, it drew aside at the suggestion of devils to profane and harmful
uses what it had innocently learnt, and audaciously taught by it the curious
arts of wizards and enchantments and magical superstitions, teaching its
posterity to forsake the holy worship of the Divinity and to honour and worship
either the elements or fire or the demons of the air. How it was then that this
knowledge of curious arts of which we have spoken, did not perish in the deluge,
but became known to the ages that followed, should, I think, be briefly
explained, as the occasion of this discussion suggests, although the answer to
the question raised scarcely requires it. And so, as ancient traditions tell us,
Ham the son of Noah, who had been taught these superstitions and wicked and
profane arts, as he knew that he could not possibly bring any handbook on these
subjects into the ark, into which he was to enter with his good father and holy
brothers, inscribed these nefarious arts and profane devices on plates of
various metals which could not be destroyed by the flood of waters, and on hard
rocks, and when the flood was over he hunted for them with the same
inquisitiveness with which he had concealed them, and so transmitted to his
descendants a seed-bed of profanity and perpetual sin. In this way then that
common notion, according to which men believe that angels delivered to men
enchantments and diverse arts, is in truth fulfilled. From these sons of Seth
then and daughters of Cain, as we have said, there were born still worse
children who became mighty hunters, violent and most fierce men who were termed
giants by reason of the size of their bodies and their cruelty and wickedness.
For these first began to harass their neighbours and to practise pillaging among
men, getting their living rather by rapine than by being contented with the
sweat and labour of toil, and their wickedness increased to such a pitch that
the world could only be purified by the flood and deluge. So then when the sons
of Seth at the instigation of their lust had transgressed that command which had
been for a long while kept by a natural instinct from the beginning of the
world, it was needful that it should afterwards be restored by the letter of the
law: "Thou shalt not give thy daughter to his son to wife, nor shalt thou take a
wife of his daughters to thy son; for they shall seduce your hearts to depart
from your God, and to follow their gods and serve them." [1557]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 485: CHAPTER XXII. AN OBJECTION, AS TO HOW AN UNLAWFUL INTERMINGLING WITH THE DAUGHTERS OF CAIN COULD BE CHARGED AGAINST THE LINE OF SETH BEFORE THE PROHIBITION OF THE LAW. 
========================================================================

Germanus: If that command had been given to them, then the sin of breaking it
might fairly have been brought against them for their audacity in so marrying.
But since the observance of that separation had not yet been established by any
rule, how could that intermingling of races be counted wrong in them, as it had
not been forbidden by any command? For a law does not ordinarily forbid crimes
that are past, but those that are future.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 486: CHAPTER XXIII. THE ANSWER, THAT BY THE LAW OF NATURE MEN WERE FROM THE BEGINNING LIABLE TO JUDGMENT AND PUNISHMENT. 
========================================================================

Serenus: God at man's creation implanted in him naturally complete knowledge of
the law, and if this had been kept by man, as at the beginning, according to the
Lord's purposes, there would not have been any need for another law to be given,
which He afterwards proclaimed in writing: for it were superfluous for an
external remedy to be offered, where an internal one was still implanted and
vigorous. But since this had been, as we have said, utterly corrupted by freedom
and the opportunity of sinning, the severe restrictions of the law of Moses were
added as the executor and vindicator of this (earlier law) and to use the
expressions of Scripture, as its helper, that through fear of immediate
punishment men might be kept from altogether losing the good of natural
knowledge, according to the word of the prophet who says "He gave the law to
help them:" [1558] and it is also described by the Apostle as having been given
as a schoolmaster [1559] to little children, as it instructs and guards them to
prevent them from departing through sheer forgetfulness from the teaching in
which they had been instructed by the light of nature: for that the complete
knowledge of the law was implanted in man at his first creation, is clearly
proved from this; viz., that we know that before the law, aye, and even before
the flood, all holy men observed the commands of the law without having the
letter to read. For how could Abel, without the command of the law, have known
that he ought to offer to God a sacrifice of the firstlings of his flock and of
the fat thereof, [1560] unless he had been taught by the law which was naturally
implanted in him? How could Noah have distinguished what animals were clean and
what were unclean, [1561] when the commandment of the law had not yet made a
distinction, unless he had been taught by a natural knowledge? Whence did Enoch
learn how to "walk with God," [1562] having never acquired any light of the law
from another? Where had Shem and Japheth read "Thou shalt not uncover the
nakedness of thy father," so that they went backwards and covered the shame of
their father? [1563] How was Abraham taught to abstain from the spoils of the
enemy which were offered to him, that he might not receive any recompense for
his toil, or to pay to the priest Melchizedec the tithes which are ordered by
the law of Moses? [1564] How was it too that the same Abraham and Lot also
humbly offered to passers by and strangers offices of kindness and the washing
of their feet, while yet the Evangelic command had not shone forth? [1565]
Whence did Job obtain such earnestness of faith, such purity of chastity, such
knowledge of humility, gentleness, pity and kindness, as we now see shown not
even by those who know the gospels by heart? Which of the saints do we read of
as not having observed some commandment of the law before the giving of the law?
Which of them failed to keep this: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one
Lord?" [1566] Which of them did not fulfil this: "Thou shalt not make to thyself
any graven image, nor the likeness of anything which is in heaven or in the
earth or under the earth?" Which of them did not observe this: "Honour thy
father and thy mother," or what follows in the Decalogue: "Thou shalt do no
murder; Thou shalt not commit adultery; Thou shalt not steal; Thou shalt not
bear false witness; Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife," [1567] and many
other things besides, in which they anticipated the commands not only of the law
but even of the gospel?


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 487: CHAPTER XXIV. OF THE FACT THAT THEY WERE JUSTLY PUNISHED, WHO SINNED BEFORE THE FLOOD. 
========================================================================

And so then we see that from the beginning God created everything perfect, nor
would there have been need for anything to have been added to His original
arrangement -- as if it were shortsighted and imperfect -- if everything had
continued in that state and condition in which it had been created by Him. And
therefore in the case of those who sinned before the law and even before the
flood we see that God visited them with a righteous judgment, because they
deserved to be punished without any excuse, for having transgressed the law of
nature; nor should we fall into the blasphemous slanders of those who are
ignorant of this reason, and so depreciate the God of the Old Testament, and run
down our faith, and say with a sneer: Why then did it please your God to will to
promulgate the law after so many thousand years, while He suffered such long
ages to pass without any law? But if He afterwards discovered something better,
then it appears that at the beginning of the world His wisdom was inferior and
poorer, and that afterwards as if taught by experience He began to provide for
something better, and to amend and improve His original arrangements. A thing
which certainly cannot happen to the infinite foreknowledge of God, nor can
these assertions be made about Him by the mad folly of heretics without grievous
blasphemy, as Ecclesiastes says: "I have learnt that all the words which God
hath made from the beginning shall continue forever: nothing can be added to
them, and nothing can be taken away from them," [1568] and therefore "the law is
not made for the righteous, but for the unrighteous, and insubordinate, for the
ungodly and sinners, for the wicked and profane." [1569] For as they had the
sound and complete system of natural laws implanted in them they had no need of
this external law in addition, and one committed to writing, and what was given
as an aid to that natural law. From which we infer by the clearest of reasonings
that that law committed to writing need not have been given at the beginning
(for it was unnecessary for this to be done while the natural law still
remained, and was not utterly violated) nor could evangelical perfection have
been granted before the law had been kept. For they could not have listened to
this saying: "If a man strikes thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other
also," [1570] who were not content to avenge wrongs done to them with the even
justice of the lex talionis, but repaid a very slight touch with deadly kicks
and wounds with weapons, and for a single truth sought to take the life of those
who had struck them. Nor could it be said to them, "love your enemies," [1571]
among whom it was considered a great thing and most important if they loved
their friends, but avoided their enemies and dissented from them only in hatred
without being eager to oppress and kill them.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 488: CHAPTER XXV. HOW THIS THAT IS SAID OF THE DEVIL IN THE GOSPEL IS TO BE UNDERSTOOD; VIZ., THAT |HE IS A LIAR, AND HIS FATHER.| 
========================================================================

But as for this which disturbed you about the devil, that "he is a liar and his
father," [1572] as if it seemed that he and his father were pronounced by the
Lord to be liars, it is sufficiently ridiculous to imagine this even cursorily.
For as we said a little while ago spirit does not beget spirit just as soul
cannot procreate soul, though we do not doubt that the compacting of flesh is
formed from man's seed, as the Apostle clearly distinguishes in the case of both
substances; viz., flesh and spirit, what should be ascribed to whom as its
author, and says: "Moreover we have had fathers of our flesh for instructors,
and we reverenced them: shall we not much more be in subjection to the Father of
spirits and live?" [1573] What could show more clearly than this distinction,
that he laid down that men were the fathers of our flesh, but always taught that
God alone was the Father of souls. Although even in the actual compacting of
this body a ministerial office alone must be attributed to men, but the chief
part of its formation to God the Creator of all, as David says: "Thy hands have
made me and fashioned me:" [1574] And the blessed Job: "Hast thou not milked me
as milk, and curdled me as cheese? Thou hast put me together with bones and
sinews;" [1575] and the Lord to Jeremiah: "Before I formed thee in the womb, I
knew thee." [1576] But Ecclesiastes very clearly and accurately gathers the
nature of either substance, and its beginning, by an examination of the rise and
commencement, from which each originated, and by a consideration of the end to
which each is tending, and decides also of the division of this body and soul,
and discourses as follows: "Before the dust returns to the earth as it was, and
the spirit returns unto God who gave it." [1577] But what could be said with
greater plainness than that he declares that the matter of the flesh which he
styled dust, because it springs from the seed of man, and seems to be sown by
his ministration, must, as it was taken from the earth, again return to the
earth, while he points out that the spirit which is not begotten by intercourse
between the sexes, but belongs to God alone in a special way, returns to its
creator? And this also is clearly implied in that breathing by God, through
which Adam in the first instance received his life. And so from these passages
we clearly infer that no one can be called the Father of spirits but God alone,
who makes them out of nothing whenever He pleases, while men can only be termed
the fathers of our flesh. So then the devil also in as much as he was created a
spirit or an angel and good, had no one as his Father but God his Maker. But
when he had become puffed up by pride and had said in his heart: "I will ascend
above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High," [1578] he became
a liar, and "abode not in the truth;" [1579] but brought forth a lie from his
own storehouse of wickedness and so became not only a liar, but also the father
of the actual lie, by which when he promised Divinity to man and said "Ye shall
be as gods," [1580] he abode not in the truth, but from the beginning became a
murderer, both by bringing Adam into a state of mortality, and by slaying Abel
by the hand of his brother at his suggestion. But already the approach of dawn
is bringing to a close our discussion, which has occupied nearly two whole
nights, and our brief and simple words have drawn our bark of this Conference
from the deep sea of questions to a safe harbour of silence, in which deep
indeed, as the breath of the Divine Spirit drives us further in, so is there
ever opened out a wider and boundless space reaching beyond the sight of our
eye, and, as Solomon says, "It will become much further from us than it was, and
a great depth; who shall find it out?" [1581] Wherefore let us pray the Lord
that both His fear and His love, which cannot fail, may continue steadfast in
us, and make us wise in all things, and ever shield us unharmed, from the darts
of the devil. For with these guards it is impossible for anyone to fall into the
snares of death. But there is this difference between the perfect and imperfect,
that in the case of the former love is steadfast, and so to speak riper and
lasts more abidingly and so makes them persevere in holiness more steadfastly
and more easily, while in the case of the latter its position is weaker and it
more easily grows cold, and so quickly and more frequently allows them to be
entangled in the snares of sin. And when we heard this, the words of this
Conference so fired us that when we went away from the old man's cell we longed
with a keener ardour of soul than when we first came, for the fulfilment of his
teaching.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 489: IX. THE FIRST CONFERENCE OF ABBOT ISAAC.
========================================================================

On Prayer.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 490: CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION TO THE CONFERENCE. 
========================================================================

What was promised in the second book of the Institutes [1582] on continual and
unceasing perseverance in prayer, shall be by the Lord's help fulfilled by the
Conferences of this Elder, whom we will now bring forward; viz., Abbot Isaac:
[1583] and when these have been propounded I think that I shall have satisfied
the commands of Pope Castor of blessed memory, and your wishes, O blessed Pope
Leontius and holy brother Helladius, and the length of the book in its earlier
part may be excused, though, in spite of our endeavour not only to compress what
had to be told into a brief discourse, but also to pass over very many points in
silence, it has been extended to a greater length than we intended. For having
commenced with a full discourse on various regulations which we have thought it
well to curtail for the sake of brevity, at the close the blessed Isaac spoke
these words.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 491: CHAPTER II. THE WORDS OF ABBOT ISAAC ON THE NATURE OF PRAYER. 
========================================================================

The aim of every monk and the perfection of his heart tends to continual and
unbroken perseverance in prayer, and, as far as it is allowed to human frailty,
strives to acquire an immovable tranquillity of mind and a perpetual purity, for
the sake of which we seek unweariedly and constantly to practise all bodily
labours as well as contrition of spirit. And there is between these two a sort
of reciprocal and inseparable union. For just as the crown of the building of
all virtues is the perfection of prayer, so unless everything has been united
and compacted by this as its crown, it cannot possibly continue strong and
stable. For lasting and continual calmness in prayer, of which we are speaking,
cannot be secured or consummated without them, so neither can those virtues
which lay its foundations be fully gained without persistence in it. And so we
shall not be able either to treat properly of the effect of prayer, or in a
rapid discourse to penetrate to its main end, which is acquired by labouring at
all virtues, unless first all those things which for its sake must be either
rejected or secured, are singly enumerated and discussed, and, as the Parable in
the gospel teaches, [1584] whatever concerns the building of that spiritual and
most lofty tower, is reckoned up and carefully considered beforehand. But yet
these things when prepared will be of no use nor allow the lofty height of
perfection to be properly placed upon them unless a clearance of all faults be
first undertaken, and the decayed and dead rubbish of the passions be dug up,
and the strong foundations of simplicity and humility be laid on the solid and
(so to speak) living soil of our breast, or rather on that rock of the gospel,
[1585] and by being built in this way this tower of spiritual virtues will rise,
and be able to stand unmoved, and be raised to the utmost heights of heaven in
full assurance of its stability. For if it rests on such foundations, then
though heavy storms of passions break over it, though mighty torrents of
persecutions beat against it like a battering ram, though a furious tempest of
spiritual foes dash against it and attack it, yet not only will no ruin overtake
it, but the onslaught will not injure it even in the slightest degree.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 492: CHAPTER III. HOW PURE AND SINCERE PRAYER CAN BE GAINED. 
========================================================================

And therefore in order that prayer may be offered up with that earnestness and
purity with which it ought to be, we must by all means observe these rules.
First all anxiety about carnal things must be entirely got rid of; next we must
leave no room for not merely the care but even the recollection of any business
affairs, and in like manner also must lay aside all backbitings, vain and
incessant chattering, and buffoonery; anger above all and disturbing moroseness
must be entirely destroyed, and the deadly taint of carnal lust and covetousness
be torn up by the roots. And so when these and such like faults which are also
visible to the eyes of men, are entirely removed and cut off, and when such a
purification and cleansing, as we spoke of, has first taken place, which is
brought about by pure simplicity and innocence, then first there must be laid
the secure foundations of a deep humility, which may be able to support a tower
that shall reach the sky; and next the spiritual structure of the virtues must
be built up upon them, and the soul kept free from all conversation and from
roving thoughts that thus it may by little and little begin to rise to the
contemplation of God and to spiritual insight. For whatever our mind has been
thinking of before the hour of prayer, is sure to occur to us while we are
praying through the activity of the memory. Wherefore what we want to find
ourselves like while we are praying, that we ought to prepare ourselves to be
before the time for prayer. For the mind in prayer is formed by its previous
condition, and when we are applying ourselves to prayer the images of the same
actions and words and thoughts will dance before our eyes, and make us either
angry, as in our previous condition, or gloomy, or recall our former lust and
business, or make us shake with foolish laughter (which I am ashamed to speak
of) at some silly joke, or smile at some action, or fly back to our previous
conversation. And therefore if we do not want anything to haunt us while we are
praying, we should be careful before our prayer, to exclude it from the shrine
of our heart, that we may thus fulfill the Apostle's injunction: "Pray without
ceasing;" and: "In every place lifting up holy hands without wrath or
disputing." [1586] For otherwise we shall not be able to carry out that charge
unless our mind, purified from all stains of sin, and given over to virtue as to
its natural good, feed on the continual contemplation of Almighty God.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 493: CHAPTER IV. OF THE LIGHTNESS OF THE SOUL WHICH MAY BE COMPARED TO A WING OR FEATHER. 
========================================================================

For the nature of the soul is not inaptly compared to a very fine feather or
very light wing, which, if it has not been damaged or affected by being spoilt
by any moisture falling on it from without, is borne aloft almost naturally to
the heights of heaven by the lightness of its nature, and the aid of the
slightest breath: but if it is weighted by any moisture falling upon it and
penetrating into it, it will not only not be carried away by its natural
lightness into any aerial flights but will actually be borne down to the depths
of earth by the weight of the moisture it has received. So also our soul, if it
is not weighted with faults that touch it, and the cares of this world, or
damaged by the moisture of injurious lusts, will be raised as it were by the
natural blessing of its own purity and borne aloft to the heights by the light
breath of spiritual meditation; and leaving things low and earthly will be
transported to those that are heavenly and invisible. Wherefore we are well
warned by the Lord's command: "Take heed that your hearts be not weighed down by
surfeiting and drunkenness and the cares of this world." [1587] And therefore if
we want our prayers to reach not only the sky, but what is beyond the sky, let
us be careful to reduce our soul, purged from all earthly faults and purified
from every stain, to its natural lightness, that so our prayer may rise to God
unchecked by the weight of any sin.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 494: CHAPTER V. OF THE WAYS IN WHICH OUR SOUL IS WEIGHED DOWN. 
========================================================================

But we should notice the ways in which the Lord points out that the soul is
weighed down: for He did not mention adultery, or fornication, or murder, or
blasphemy, or rapine, which everybody knows to be deadly and damnable, but
surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cares or anxieties of this world: which men
of this world are so far from avoiding or considering damnable that actually
some who (I am ashamed to say) call themselves monks entangle themselves in
these very occupations as if they were harmless or useful. And though these
three things, when literally given way to weigh down the soul, and separate it
from God, and bear it down to things earthly, yet it is very easy to avoid them,
especially for us who are separated by so great a distance from all converse
with this world, and who do not on any occasion have anything to do with those
visible cares and drunkenness and surfeiting. But there is another surfeiting
which is no less dangerous, and a spiritual drunkenness which it is harder to
avoid, and a care and anxiety of this world, which often ensnares us even after
the perfect renunciation of all our goods, and abstinence from wine and all
feastings and even when we are living in solitude -- and of such the prophet
says: "Awake, ye that are drunk but not with wine;" [1588] and another: "Be
astonished and wonder and stagger: be drunk and not with wine: be moved, but not
with drunkenness." [1589] And of this drunkenness the wine must consequently be
what the prophet calls "the fury of dragons": and from what root the wine comes
you may hear: "From the vineyard of Sodom," he says, "is their vine, and their
branches from Gomorrha." Would you also know about the fruit of that vine and
the seed of that branch? "Their grape is a grape of gall, theirs is a cluster of
bitterness" [1590] for unless we are altogether cleansed from all faults and
abstaining from the surfeit of all passions, our heart will without drunkenness
from wine and excess of any feasting be weighed down by a drunkenness and
surfeiting that is still more dangerous. For that worldly cares can sometimes
fall on us who mix with no actions of this world, is clearly shown according to
the rule of the Elders, who have laid down that anything which goes beyond the
necessities of daily food, and the unavoidable needs of the flesh, belongs to
worldly cares and anxieties, as for example if, when a job bringing in a penny
would satisfy the needs of our body, we try to extend it by a longer toil and
work in order to get twopence or threepence; and when a covering of two tunics
would be enough for our use both by night and day, we manage to become the
owners of three or four, or when a hut containing one or two cells would be
sufficient, in the pride of worldly ambition and greatness we build four or five
cells, and these splendidly decorated, and larger than our needs required, thus
showing the passion of worldly lusts whenever we can.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 495: CHAPTER VI. OF THE VISION WHICH A CERTAIN ELDER SAW CONCERNING THE RESTLESS WORK OF A BROTHER. 
========================================================================

And that this is not done without the prompting of devils we are taught by the
surest proofs, for when one very highly esteemed Elder was passing by the cell
of a certain brother who was suffering from this mental disease of which we have
spoken, as he was restlessly toiling in his daily occupations in building and
repairing what was unnecessary, he watched him from a distance breaking a very
hard stone with a heavy hammer, and saw a certain Ethiopian standing over him
and together with him striking the blows of the hammer with joined and clasped
hands, and urging him on with fiery incitements to diligence in the work: and so
he stood still for a long while in astonishment at the force of the fierce demon
and the deceitfulness of such an illusion. For when the brother was worn out and
tired and wanted to rest and put an end to his toil, he was stimulated by the
spirit's prompting and urged on to resume his hammer again and not to cease from
devoting himself to the work which he had begun, so that being unweariedly
supported by his incitements he did not feel the harm that so great labour was
doing him. At last then the old man, disgusted at such a horrid mystification by
a demon, turned aside to the brother's cell and saluted him, and asked "what
work is it, brother, that you are doing?" and he replied: "We are working at
this awfully hard stone, and we can hardly break it at all." Whereupon the Elder
replied: "You were right in saying we can,' for you were not alone, when you
were striking it, but there was another with you whom you did not see, who was
standing over you not so much to help you as urge you on with all his force."
And thus the fact that the disease of worldly vanity has not got hold of our
hearts, will be proved by no mere abstinence from those affairs which even if we
want to engage in, we cannot carry out, nor by the despising of those matters
which if we pursued them would make us remarkable in the front rank among
spiritual persons as well as among worldly men, but only when we reject with
inflexible firmness of mind whatever ministers to our power and seems to be
veiled in a show of right. And in reality these things which seem trivial and of
no consequence, and which we see to be permitted indifferently by those who
belong to our calling, none the less by their character affect the soul than
those more important things, which according to their condition usually
intoxicate the senses of worldly people and which do not allow [1591] a monk to
lay aside earthly impurities and aspire to God, on whom his attention should
ever be fixed; for in his case even a slight separation from that highest good
must be regarded as present death and most dangerous destruction. And when the
soul has been established in such a peaceful condition, and has been freed from
the meshes of all carnal desires, and the purpose of the heart has been steadily
fixed on that which is the only highest good, he will then fulfil this Apostolic
precept: "Pray without ceasing;" and: "in every place lifting up holy hands
without wrath and disputing:" [1592] for when by this purity (if we can say so)
the thoughts of the soul are engrossed, and are re-fashioned out of their
earthly condition to bear a spiritual and angelic likeness, whatever it
receives, whatever it takes in hand, whatever it does, the prayer will be
perfectly pure and sincere.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 496: CHAPTER VII. A QUESTION HOW IT IS THAT IT IS HARDER WORK TO PRESERVE THAN TO ORIGINATE GOOD THOUGHTS. 
========================================================================

Germanus: If only we could keep as a lasting possession those spiritual thoughts
in the same way and with the same ease with which we generally conceive their
germs! for when they have been conceived in our hearts either through the
recollection of the Scriptures or by the memory of some spiritual actions, or by
gazing upon heavenly mysteries, they vanish all too soon and disappear by a sort
of unnoticed flight. And when our soul has discovered some other occasions for
spiritual emotions, different ones again crowd in upon us, and those which we
had grasped are scattered, and lightly fly away so that the mind retaining no
persistency, and keeping of its own power no firm hand over holy thoughts, must
be thought, even when it does seem to retain them for a while, to have conceived
them at random and not of set purpose. For how can we think that their rise
should be ascribed to our own will, if they do not last and remain with us? But
that we may not owing to the consideration of this question wander any further
from the plan of the discourse we had commenced, or delay any longer the
explanation promised of the nature of prayer, we will keep this for its own
time, and ask to be informed at once of the character of prayer, especially as
the blessed Apostle exhorts us at no time to cease from it, saying "Pray without
ceasing." And so we want to be taught first of its character, i.e., how prayer
ought always to be offered up, and then how we can secure this, whatever it is,
and practise it without ceasing. For that it cannot be done by any light purpose
of heart both daily experience and the explanation of four holiness show us, as
you have laid it down that the aim of a monk, and the height of all perfection
consist in the consummation of prayer.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 497: CHAPTER VIII. OF THE DIFFERENT CHARACTERS OF PRAYER. 
========================================================================

Isaac: I imagine that all kinds of prayers cannot be grasped without great
purity of heart and soul and the illumination of the Holy Spirit. For there are
as many of them as there can be conditions and characters produced in one soul
or rather in all souls. And so although we know that owing to our dulness of
heart we cannot see all kinds of prayers, yet we will try to relate them in some
order, as far as our slender experience enables us to succeed. For according to
the degree of the purity to which each soul attains, and the character of the
state in which it is sunk owing to what happens to it, or is by its own efforts
renewing itself, its very prayers will each moment be altered: and therefore it
is quite clear that no one can always offer up uniform prayers. For every one
prays in one way when he is brisk, in another when he is oppressed with a weight
of sadness or despair, in another when he is invigorated by spiritual
achievements, in another when cast down by the burden of attacks, in another
when he is asking pardon for his sins, in another when he asks to obtain grace
or some virtue or else prays for the destruction of some sin, in another when he
is pricked to the heart by the thought of hell and the fear of future judgment,
in another when he is aglow with the hope and desire of good things to come, in
another when he is taken up with affairs and dangers, in another when he is in
peace and security, in another when he is enlightened by the revelation of
heavenly mysteries, and in another when he is depressed by a sense of barrenness
in virtues and dryness in feeling.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 498: CHAPTER IX. OF THE FOURFOLD NATURE OF PRAYER. 
========================================================================

And therefore, when we have laid this down with regard to the character of
prayer, although not so fully as the importance of the subject requires, but as
fully as the exigencies of time permit, and at any rate as our slender abilities
admit, and our dulness of heart enables us, -- a still greater difficulty now
awaits us; viz., to expound one by one the different kinds of prayer, which the
Apostle divides in a fourfold manner, when he says as follows: "I exhort
therefore first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings
be made." [1593] And we cannot possibly doubt that this division was not idly
made by the Apostle. And to begin with we must investigate what is meant by
supplication, by prayer, by intercession, and by thanksgiving. Next we must
inquire whether these four kinds are to be taken in hand by him who prays all at
once, i.e., are they all to be joined together in every prayer, -- or whether
they are to be offered up in turns and one by one, as, for instance, ought at
one time supplications, at another prayers, at another intercessions, and at
another thanksgivings to be offered, or should one man present to God
supplications, another prayers, another intercessions, another thanksgivings, in
accordance with that measure of age, to which each soul is advancing by
earnestness of purpose?


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 499: CHAPTER X. OF THE ORDER OF THE DIFFERENT KINDS LAID DOWN WITH REGARD TO THE CHARACTER OF PRAYER. 
========================================================================

And so to begin with we must consider the actual force of the names and words,
and discuss what is the difference between prayer and supplication and
intercession; then in like manner we must investigate whether they are to be
offered separately or all together; and in the third place must examine whether
the particular order which is thus arranged by the Apostle's authority has
anything further to teach the hearer, or whether the distinction simply is to be
taken, and it should be considered that they were arranged by him indifferently
in such a way: a thing which seems to me utterly absurd. For one must not
believe that the Holy Spirit uttered anything casually or without reason through
the Apostle. And so we will, as the Lord grants us, consider them in the same
order in which we began.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 500: CHAPTER XI. OF SUPPLICATIONS. 
========================================================================

"I exhort therefore first of all that supplications be made." Supplication is an
imploring or petition concerning sins, in which one who is sorry for his present
or past deeds asks for pardon.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 501: CHAPTER XII. OF PRAYER. 
========================================================================

Prayers are those by which we offer or vow something to God, what the Greeks
call euke, i.e., a vow. For where we read in Greek ias eukas mou to kurio
apodoso, in Latin we read: "I will pay my vows unto the Lord;" [1594] where
according to the exact force of the words it may be thus represented: "I will
pay my prayers unto the Lord." And this which we find in Ecclesiastes: "If thou
vowest a vow unto the Lord do not delay to pay it," is written in Greek
likewise: ean euxe euchen to kurio, i.e., "If thou prayest a prayer unto the
Lord, do not delay to pay it," [1595] which will be fulfilled in this way by
each one of us. We pray, when we renounce this world and promise that being dead
to all worldly actions and the life of this world we will serve the Lord with
full purpose of heart. We pray when we promise that despising secular honours
and scorning earthly riches we will cleave to the Lord in all sorrow of heart
and humility of spirit. We pray when we promise that we will ever maintain the
most perfect purity of body and steadfast patience, or when we vow that we will
utterly root out of our heart the roots of anger or of sorrow that worketh
death. And if, enervated by sloth and returning to our former sins we fail to do
this we shall be guilty as regards our prayers and vows, and these words will
apply to us: "It is better not to vow, than to vow and not to pay," which can be
rendered in accordance with the Greek: "It is better for thee not to pray than
to pray and not to pay." [1596]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 502: CHAPTER XIII. OF INTERCESSION. 
========================================================================

In the third place stand intercessions, which we are wont to offer up for others
also, while we are filled with fervour of spirit, making request either for
those dear to us or for the peace of the whole world, and to use the Apostle's
own phrase, we pray "for all men, for kings and all that are in authority."
[1597]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 503: CHAPTER XIV. OF THANKSGIVING. 
========================================================================

Then in the fourth place there stand thanksgivings which the mind in ineffable
transports offers up to God, either when it recalls God's past benefits or when
it contemplates His present ones, or when it looks forward to those great ones
in the future which God has prepared for them that love Him. And with this
purpose too sometimes we are wont to pour forth richer prayers, while, as we
gaze with pure eyes on those rewards of the saints which are laid up in store
hereafter, our spirit is stimulated to offer up unspeakable thanks to God with
boundless joy.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 504: CHAPTER XV. WHETHER THESE FOUR KINDS OF PRAYERS ARE NECESSARY FOR EVERYONE TO OFFER ALL AT ONCE OR SEPARATELY AND IN TURNS. 
========================================================================

And of these four kinds, although sometimes occasions arise for richer and
fuller prayers (for from the class of supplications which arises from sorrow for
sin, and from the kind of prayer which flows from confidence in our offerings
and the performance of our vows in accordance with a pure conscience, and from
the intercession which proceeds from fervour of love, and from the thanksgiving
which is born of the consideration of God's blessings and His greatness and
goodness, we know that oftentimes there proceed most fervent and ardent prayers
so that it is clear that all these kinds of prayer of which we have spoken are
found to be useful and needful for all men, so that in one and the same man his
changing feelings will give utterance to pure and fervent petitions now of
supplications, now of prayers, now of intercessions) yet the first seems to
belong more especially to beginners, who are still troubled by the stings and
recollection of their sins; the second to those who have already attained some
loftiness of mind in their spiritual progress and the quest of virtue; the third
to those who fulfil the completion of their vows by their works, and are so
stimulated to intercede for others also through the consideration of their
weakness, and the earnestness of their love; the fourth to those who have
already torn from their hearts the guilty thorns of conscience, and thus being
now free from care can contemplate with a pure mind the beneficence of God and
His compassions, which He has either granted in the past, or is giving in the
present, or preparing for the future, and thus are borne onward with fervent
hearts to that ardent prayer which cannot be embraced or expressed by the mouth
of men. Sometimes however the mind which is advancing to that perfect state of
purity and which is already beginning to be established in it, will take in all
these at one and the same time, and like some incomprehensible and all-devouring
flame, dart through them all and offer up to God inexpressible prayers of the
purest force, which the Spirit Itself, intervening with groanings that cannot be
uttered, while we ourselves understand not, pours forth to God, grasping at that
hour and ineffably pouring forth in its supplications things so great that they
cannot be uttered with the mouth nor even at any other time be recollected by
the mind. And thence it comes that in whatever degree any one stands, he is
found sometimes to offer up pure and devout prayers; as even in that first and
lowly station which has to do with the recollection of future judgment, he who
still remains under the punishment of terror and the fear of judgment is so
smitten with sorrow for the time being that he is filled with no less keenness
of spirit from the richness of his supplications than he who through the purity
of his heart gazes on and considers the blessings of God and is overcome with
ineffable joy and delight. For, as the Lord Himself says, he begins to love the
more, who knows that he has been forgiven the more. [1598]


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  CHAPTER 505: CHAPTER XVI. OF THE KINDS OF PRAYER TO WHICH WE OUGHT TO DIRECT OURSELVES. 
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Yet we ought by advancing in life and attaining to virtue to aim rather at those
kinds of prayer which are poured forth either from the contemplation of the good
things to come or from fervour of love, or which at least, to speak more humbly
and in accordance with the measure of beginners, arise for the acquirement of
some virtue or the extinction of some fault. For otherwise we shall not possibly
attain to those sublimer kinds of supplication of which we spoke, unless our
mind has been little by little and by degrees raised through the regular course
of those intercessions.


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  CHAPTER 506: CHAPTER XVII. HOW THE FOUR KINDS OF SUPPLICATION WERE ORIGINATED BY THE LORD. 
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These four kinds of supplication the Lord Himself by His own example vouchsafed
to originate for us, so that in this too He might fulfil that which was said of
Him: "which Jesus began both to do and to teach." [1599] For He made use of the
class of supplication when He said: "Father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me;" or this which is chanted in His Person in the Psalm: "My God, My
God, look upon Me, why hast Thou forsaken me," [1600] and others like it. It is
prayer where He says: "I have magnified Thee upon the earth, I have finished the
work which Thou gavest Me to do," and this: "And for their sakes I sanctify
Myself that they also may be sanctified in the truth." [1601] It is intercession
when He says: "Father, those Whom Thou hast given me, I will that they also may
be with Me that they may see My glory which Thou hast given Me;" or at any rate
when He says: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." [1602] It
is thanksgiving when He says: "I confess to Thee, Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Thy sight:"
or at least when He says: "Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me. But I
knew that Thou hearest Me always." [1603] But though our Lord made a distinction
between these four kinds of prayers as to be offered separately and one by one
according to the scheme which we know of, yet that they can all be embraced in a
perfect prayer at one and the same time He showed by His own example in that
prayer which at the close of S. John's gospel we read that He offered up with
such fulness. From the words of which (as it is too long to repeat it all) the
careful inquirer can discover by the order of the passage that this is so. And
the Apostle also in his Epistle to the Philippians has expressed the same
meaning, by putting these four kinds of prayers in a slightly different order,
and has shown that they ought sometimes to be offered together in the fervour of
a single prayer, saying as follows: "But in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." [1604]
And by this he wanted us especially to understand that in prayer and
supplication thanksgiving ought to be mingled with our requests.


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  CHAPTER 507: CHAPTER XVIII. OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. 
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And so there follows after these different kinds of supplication a still more
sublime and exalted condition which is brought about by the contemplation of God
alone and by fervent love, by which the mind, transporting and flinging itself
into love for Him, addresses God most familiarly as its own Father with a piety
of its own. And that we ought earnestly to seek after this condition the formula
of the Lord's prayer teaches us, saying "Our Father." When then we confess with
our own mouths that the God and Lord of the universe is our Father, we profess
forthwith that we have been called from our condition as slaves to the adoption
of sons, adding next "Which art in heaven," that, by shunning with the utmost
horror all lingering in this present life, which we pass upon this earth as a
pilgrimage, and what separates us by a great distance from our Father, we may
the rather hasten with all eagerness to that country where we confess that our
Father dwells, and may not allow anything of this kind, which would make us
unworthy of this our profession and the dignity of an adoption of this kind, and
so deprive us as a disgrace to our Father's inheritance, and make us incur the
wrath of His justice and severity. To which state and condition of sonship when
we have advanced, we shall forthwith be inflamed with the piety which belongs to
good sons, so that we shall bend all our energies to the advance not of our own
profit, but of our Father's glory, saying to Him: "Hallowed be Thy name,"
testifying that our desire and our joy is His glory, becoming imitators of Him
who said: "He who speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory. But He who seeks
the glory of Him who sent Him, the same is true and there is no unrighteousness
in Him." [1605] Finally the chosen vessel being filled with this feeling wished
that he could be anathema from Christ [1606] if only the people belonging to Him
might be increased and multiplied, and the salvation of the whole nation of
Israel accrue to the glory of His Father; for with all assurance could he wish
to die for Christ as he knew that no one perished for life. And again he says:
"We rejoice when we are weak but ye are strong." [1607] And what wonder if the
chosen vessel wished to be anathema from Christ for the sake of Christ's glory
and the conversion of His own brethren and the privilege of the nation, when the
prophet Micah wished that he might be a liar and a stranger to the inspiration
of the Holy Ghost, if only the people of the Jews might escape those plagues and
the going forth into captivity which he had announced in his prophecy, saying:
"Would that I were not a man that hath the Spirit, and that I rather spoke a
lie;" [1608] -- to pass over that wish of the Lawgiver, who did not refuse to
die together with his brethren who were doomed to death, saying: "I beseech
Thee, O Lord; this people hath sinned a heinous sin; either forgive them this
trespass, or if Thou do not, blot me out of Thy book which Thou hast written."
[1609] But where it is said "Hallowed be Thy name," it may also be very fairly
taken in this way: "The hallowing of God is our perfection." And so when we say
to Him "Hallowed be Thy name" we say in other words, make us, O Father, such
that we maybe able both to understand and take in what the hallowing of Thee is,
or at any rate that Thou mayest be seen to be hallowed in our spiritual
converse. And this is effectually fulfilled in our case when "men see our good
works, and glorify our Father Which is in heaven." [1610]


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  CHAPTER 508: CHAPTER XIX. OF THE CLAUSE |THY KINGDOM COME.| 
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The second petition of the pure heart desires that the kingdom of its Father may
come at once; viz., either that whereby Christ reigns day by day in the saints
(which comes to pass when the devil's rule is cast out of our hearts by the
destruction of foul sins, and God begins to hold sway over us by the sweet odour
of virtues, and, fornication being overcome, charity reigns in our hearts
together with tranquillity, when rage is conquered; and humility, when pride is
trampled under foot) or else that which is promised in due time to all who are
perfect, and to all the sons of God, when it will be said to them by Christ:
"Come ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world;" [1611] (as the heart) with fixed and steadfast gaze,
so to speak, yearns and longs for it and says to Him "Thy kingdom come." For it
knows by the witness of its own conscience that when He shall appear, it will
presently share His lot. For no guilty person would dare either to say or to
wish for this, for no one would want to face the tribunal of the Judge, who knew
that at His coming he would forthwith receive not the prize or reward of his
merits but only punishment.


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  CHAPTER 509: CHAPTER XX. OF THE CLAUSE |THY WILL BE DONE.| 
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The third petition is that of sons: "Thy will be done as in heaven so on earth."
There can now be no grander prayer than to wish that earthly things may be made
equal with things heavenly: for what else is it to say "Thy will be done as in
heaven so on earth," than to ask that men may be like angels and that as God's
will is ever fulfilled by them in heaven, so also all those who are on earth may
do not their own but His will? This too no one could say from the heart but only
one who believed that God disposes for our good all things which are seen,
whether fortunate or unfortunate, and that He is more careful and provident for
our good and salvation than we ourselves are for ourselves. Or at any rate it
may be taken in this way: The will of God is the salvation of all men, according
to these words of the blessed Paul: "Who willeth all men to be saved and to come
to the knowledge of the truth." [1612] Of which will also the prophet Isaiah
says in the Person of God the Father: "And all Thy will shall be done." [1613]
When we say then "Thy will be done as in heaven so on earth," we pray in other
words for this; viz., that as those who are in heaven, so also may all those who
dwell on earth be saved, O Father, by the knowledge of Thee.


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  CHAPTER 510: CHAPTER XXI. OF OUR SUPERSUBSTANTIAL OR DAILY BREAD. 
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Next: "Give us this day our bread which is epiousion," i.e., "supersubstantial,"
which another Evangelist calls "daily." [1614] The former indicates the quality
of its nobility and substance, in virtue of which it is above all substances and
the loftiness of its grandeur and holiness exceeds all creatures, while the
latter intimates the purpose of its use and value. For where it says "daily" it
shows that without it we cannot live a spiritual life for a single day. Where it
says "today" it shows that it must be received daily and that yesterday's supply
of it is not enough, but at it must be given to us today also in like manner.
And our daily need of it suggests to us that we ought at all times to offer up
this prayer, because there is no day on which we have no need to strengthen the
heart of our inner man, by eating and receiving it, although the expression
used, "today" may be taken to apply to his present life, i.e., while we are
living in this world supply us with this bread. For we know that it will be
given to those who deserve it by Thee hereafter, but we ask that Thou wouldest
grant it to us today, because unless it has been vouchsafed to a man to receive
it in this life he will never be partaker of it in that.


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  CHAPTER 511: CHAPTER XXII. OF THE CLAUSE: |FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS, ETC.| 
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"And forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors." O unspeakable mercy
of God, which has not only given us a form of prayer and taught us a system of
life acceptable to Him, and by the requirements of the form given, in which He
charged us always to pray, has torn up the roots of both anger and sorrow, but
also gives to those who pray an opportunity and reveals to them a way by which
they may move a merciful and kindly judgment of God to be pronounced over them
and which somehow gives us a power by which we can moderate the sentence of our
Judge, drawing Him to forgive our offences by the example of our forgiveness:
when we say to Him: "Forgive us as we also forgive." And so without anxiety and
in confidence from this prayer a man may ask for pardon of his own offences, if
he has been forgiving towards his own debtors, and not towards those of his
Lord. For some of us, which is very bad, are inclined to show ourselves calm and
most merciful in regard to those things which are done to God's detriment,
however great the crimes may be, but to be found most hard and inexorable
exactors of debts to ourselves even in the case of the most trifling wrongs.
Whoever then does not from his heart forgive his brother who has offended him,
by this prayer calls down upon himself not forgiveness but condemnation, and by
his own profession asks that he himself may be judged more severely, saying:
Forgive me as I also have forgiven. And if he is repaid according to his own
request, what else will follow but that he will be punished after his own
example with implacable wrath and a sentence that cannot be remitted? And so if
we want to be judged mercifully, we ought also to be merciful towards those who
have sinned against us. For only so much will be remitted to us, as we have
remitted to those who have injured us however spitefully. And some dreading
this, when this prayer is chanted by all the people in church, silently omit
this clause, for fear lest they may seem by their own utterance to bind
themselves rather than to excuse themselves, as they do not understand that it
is in vain that they try to offer these quibbles to the Judge of all men, who
has willed to show us beforehand how He will judge His suppliants. For as He
does not wish to be found harsh and inexorable towards them, He has marked out
the manner of His judgment, that just as we desire to be judged by Him, so we
should also judge our brethren, if they have wronged us in anything, for "he
shall have judgment without mercy who hath shown no mercy." [1615]


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  CHAPTER 512: CHAPTER XXIII. OF THE CLAUSE: |LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION.| 
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Next there follows: "And lead us not into temptation," on which there arises no
unimportant question, for if we pray that we may not be suffered to be tempted,
how then will our power of endurance be proved, according to this text: "Every
one who is not tempted is not proved;" [1616] and again: "Blessed is the man
that endureth temptation?" [1617] The clause then, "Lead us not into
temptation," does not mean this; viz., do not permit us ever to be tempted, but
do not permit us when we fall into temptation to be overcome. For Job was
tempted, but was not led into temptation. For he did not ascribe folly to God
nor blasphemy, nor with impious mouth did he yield to that wish of the tempter
toward which he was drawn. Abraham was tempted, Joseph was tempted, but neither
of them was led into temptation for neither of them yielded his consent to the
tempter. Next there follows: "But deliver us from evil," i.e., do not suffer us
to be tempted by the devil above that we are able, but "make with the temptation
a way also of escape that we may be able to bear it." [1618]


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  CHAPTER 513: CHAPTER XXIV. HOW WE OUGHT NOT TO ASK FOR OTHER THINGS, EXCEPT ONLY THOSE WHICH ARE CONTAINED IN THE LIMITS OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. 
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You see then what is the method and form of prayer proposed to us by the Judge
Himself, who is to be prayed to by it, a form in which there is contained no
petition for riches, no thought of honours, no request for power and might, no
mention of bodily health and of temporal life. For He who is the Author of
Eternity would have men ask of Him nothing uncertain, nothing paltry, and
nothing temporal. And so a man will offer the greatest insult to His Majesty and
Bounty, if he leaves on one side these eternal petitions and chooses rather to
ask of Him something transitory and uncertain; and will also incur the
indignation rather than the propitiation of the Judge by the pettiness of his
prayer.


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  CHAPTER 514: CHAPTER XXV. OF THE CHARACTER OF THE SUBLIMER PRAYER. 
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This prayer then though it seems to contain all the fulness of perfection, as
being what was originated and appointed by the Lord's own authority, yet lifts
those to whom it belongs to that still higher condition of which we spoke above,
and carries them on by a loftier stage to that ardent prayer which is known and
tried by but very few, and which to speak more truly is ineffable; which
transcends all human thoughts, and is distinguished, I will not say by any sound
of the voice, but by no movement of the tongue, or utterance of words, but which
the mind enlightened by the infusion of that heavenly light describes in no
human and confined language, but pours forth richly as from copious fountain in
an accumulation of thoughts, and ineffably utters to God, expressing in the
shortest possible space of time such great things that the mind when it returns
to its usual condition cannot easily utter or relate. And this condition our
Lord also similarly prefigured by the form of those supplications which, when he
retired alone in the mountain He is said to have poured forth in silence, and
when being in an agony of prayer He shed forth even drops of blood, as an
example of a purpose which it is hard to imitate.


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  CHAPTER 515: CHAPTER XXVI. OF THE DIFFERENT CAUSES OF CONVICTION. 
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But who is able, with whatever experience he may be endowed, to give a
sufficient account of the varieties and reasons and grounds of conviction, by
which the mind is inflamed and set on fire and incited to pure and most fervent
prayers? And of these we will now by way of specimen set forth a few, as far as
we can by God's enlightenment recollect them. For sometimes a verse of any one
of the Psalms gives us an occasion of ardent prayer while we are singing.
Sometimes the harmonious modulation of a brother's voice stirs up the minds of
dullards to intense supplication. We know also that the enunciation and the
reverence of the chanter adds greatly to the fervour of those who stand by.
Moreover the exhortation of a perfect man, and a spiritual conference has often
raised the affections of those present to the richest prayer. We know too that
by the death of a brother or some one dear to us, we are no less carried away to
full conviction. The recollection also of our coldness and carelessness has
sometimes aroused in us a healthful fervour of spirit. And in this way no one
can doubt that numberless opportunities are not wanting, by which through God's
grace the coldness and sleepiness of our minds can be shaken off.


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  CHAPTER 516: CHAPTER XXVII. OF THE DIFFERENT SORTS OF CONVICTION. 
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But how and in what way those very convictions are produced from the inmost
recesses of the soul it is no less difficult to trace out. For often through
some inexpressible delight and keenness of spirit the fruit of a most salutary
conviction arises so that it actually breaks forth into shouts owing to the
greatness of its incontrollable joy; and the delight of the heart and greatness
of exultation makes itself heard even in the cell of a neighbour. But sometimes
the mind hides itself in complete silence within the secrets of a profound
quiet, so that the amazement of a sudden illumination chokes all sounds of words
and the overawed spirit either keeps all its feelings to itself or loses [1619]
them and pours forth its desires to God with groanings that cannot be uttered.
But sometimes it is filled with such overwhelming conviction and grief that it
cannot express it except by floods of tears.


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  CHAPTER 517: CHAPTER XXVIII. A QUESTION ABOUT THE FACT THAT A PLENTIFUL SUPPLY OF TEARS IS NOT IN OUR OWN POWER. 
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Germanus: My own poor self indeed is not altogether ignorant of this feeling of
conviction. For often when tears arise at the recollection of my faults, I have
been by the Lord's visitation so refreshed by this ineffable joy which you
describe that the greatness of the joy has assured me that I ought not to
despair of their forgiveness. Than which state of mind I think there is nothing
more sublime if only it could be recalled at our own will. For sometimes when I
am desirous to stir myself up with all my power to the same conviction and
tears, and place before my eyes all my faults and sins, I am unable to bring
back that copiousness of tears, and so my eyes are dry and hard like some
hardest flint, so that not a single tear trickles from them. And so in
proportion as I congratulate myself on that copiousness of tears, just so do I
mourn that I cannot bring it back again whenever I wish.


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  CHAPTER 518: CHAPTER XXIX. THE ANSWER ON THE VARIETIES OF CONVICTION WHICH SPRING FROM TEARS. 
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Isaac: Not every kind of shedding of tears is produced by one feeling or one
virtue. For in one way does that weeping originate which is caused by the pricks
of our sins smiting our heart, of which we read: "I have laboured in my
groanings, every night I will wash my bed; I will water my couch with my tears."
[1620] And again: "Let tears run down like a torrent day and night: give thyself
no rest, and let not the apple of thine eye cease." [1621] In another, that
which arises from the contemplation of eternal good things and the desire of
that future glory, owing to which even richer well-springs of tears burst forth
from uncontrollable delights and boundless exultation, while our soul is athirst
for the mighty Living God, saying, "When shall I come and appear before the
presence of God? My tears have been my meat day and night," [1622] declaring
with daily crying and lamentation: "Woe is me that my sojourning is prolonged;"
and: "Too long hath my soul been a sojourner." [1623] In another way do the
tears flow forth, which without any conscience of deadly sin, yet still proceed
from the fear of hell and the recollection of that terrible judgment, with the
terror of which the prophet was smitten and prayed to God, saying: "Enter not
into judgment with Thy servant, for in Thy sight shall no man living be
justified." [1624] There is too another kind of tears, which are caused not by
knowledge of one's self but by the hardness and sins of others; whereby Samuel
is described as having wept for Saul, and both the Lord in the gospel and
Jeremiah in former days for the city of Jerusalem, the latter thus saying: "Oh,
that my head were water and mine eyes a fountain of tears! And I will weep day
and night for the slain of the daughter of my people." [1625] Or also such as
were those tears of which we hear in the hundred and first Psalm: "For I have
eaten ashes for my bread, and mingled my cup with weeping." [1626] And these
were certainty not caused by the same feeling as those which arise in the sixth
Psalm from the person of the penitent, but were due to the anxieties of this
life and its distresses and losses, by which the righteous who are living in
this world are oppressed. And this is clearly shown not only by the words of the
Psalm itself, but also by its title, which runs as follows in the character of
that poor person of whom it is said in the gospel that "blessed are the poor in
spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven:" [1627] "A prayer of the poor when
he was in distress and poured forth his prayer to God." [1628]


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  CHAPTER 519: CHAPTER XXX. HOW TEARS OUGHT NOT TO BE SQUEEZED OUT, WHEN THEY DO NOT FLOW SPONTANEOUSLY. 
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From these tears those are vastly different which are squeezed out from dry eyes
while the heart is hard: and although we cannot believe that these are
altogether fruitless (for the attempt to shed them is made with a good
intention, especially by those who have not yet been able to attain to perfect
knowledge or to be thoroughly cleansed from the stains of past or present sins),
yet certainly the flow of tears ought not to be thus forced out by those who
have already advanced to the love of virtue, nor should the weeping of the
outward man be with great labour attempted, as even if it is produced it will
never attain the rich copiousness of spontaneous tears. For it will rather cast
down the soul of the suppliant by his endeavours, and humiliate him, and plunge
him in human affairs and draw him away from the celestial heights, wherein the
awed mind of one who prays should be steadfastly fixed, and will force it to
relax its hold on its prayers and grow sick from barren and forced tears.


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  CHAPTER 520: CHAPTER XXXI. THE OPINION OF ABBOT ANTONY ON THE CONDITION OF PRAYER. 
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And that you may see the character of true prayer I will give you not my own
opinion but that of the blessed Antony: whom we have known sometimes to have
been so persistent in prayer that often as he was praying in a transport of
mind, when the sunrise began to appear, we have heard him in the fervour of his
spirit declaiming: Why do you hinder me, O sun, who art arising for this very
purpose; viz., to withdraw me from the brightness of this true light? And his
also is this heavenly and more than human utterance on the end of prayer: That
is not, said he, a perfect prayer, wherein a monk understands himself and the
words which he prays. And if we too, as far as our slender ability allows, may
venture to add anything to this splendid utterance, we will bring forward the
marks of prayer which are heard from the Lord, as far as we have tried them.


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  CHAPTER 521: CHAPTER XXXII. OF THE PROOF OF PRAYER BEING HEARD. 
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When, while we are praying, no hesitation intervenes and breaks down the
confidence of our petition by a sort of despair, but we feel that by pouring
forth our prayer we have obtained what we are asking for, we have no doubt that
our prayers have effectually reached God. For so far will one be heard and
obtain an answer, as he believes that he is regarded by God, and that God can
grant it. For this saying of our Lord cannot be retracted: "Whatsoever ye ask
when ye pray, believe that you shall receive, and they shall come to you."
[1629]


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  CHAPTER 522: CHAPTER XXXIII. AN OBJECTION THAT THE CONFIDENCE OF BEING THUS HEARD AS DESCRIBED BELONGS ONLY TO SAINTS. 
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Germanus: We certainly believe that this confidence of being heard flows from
purity of conscience, but for us, whose heart is still smitten by the pricks of
sins, how can we have it, as we have no merits to plead for us, whereby we might
confidently presume that our prayers would be heard?


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  CHAPTER 523: CHAPTER XXXIV. ANSWER ON THE DIFFERENT REASONS FOR PRAYER BEING HEARD. 
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Isaac: That there are different reasons for prayer being heard in accordance
with the varied and changing condition of souls the words of the gospels and of
the prophets teach us. For you have the fruits of an answer pointed out by our
Lord's words in the case of the agreement of two persons; as it is said: "If two
of you shall agree upon earth touching anything for which they shall ask, it
shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven." [1630] You have another
in the fulness of faith, which is compared to a grain of mustard-seed. "For," He
says, "if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this
mountain: Be thou removed, and it shall be removed; and nothing shall be
impossible to you." [1631] You have it in continuance in prayer, which the
Lord's words call, by reason of unwearied perseverance in petitioning,
importunity: "For, verily, I say unto you that if not because of his friendship,
yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as much as he needs."
[1632] You have it in the fruits of almsgiving: "Shut up alms in the heart of
the poor and it shall pray for thee in the time of tribulation." [1633] You have
it in the purifying of life and in works of mercy, as it is said: "Loose the
bands of wickedness, undo the bundles that oppress;" and after a few words in
which the barrenness of an unfruitful fast is rebuked, "then," he says, "thou
shalt call and the Lord shall hear thee; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here
am I." [1634] Sometimes also excess of trouble causes it to be heard, as it is
said: "When I was in trouble I called unto the Lord, and He heard me;" [1635]
and again: "Afflict not the stranger for if he crieth unto Me, I will hear him,
for I am merciful." [1636] You see then in how many ways the gift of an answer
may be obtained, so that no one need be crushed by the despair of his conscience
for securing those things which are salutary and eternal. For if in
contemplating our wretchedness I admit that we are utterly destitute of all
those virtues which we mentioned above, and that we have neither that laudable
agreement of two persons, nor that faith which is compared to a grain of mustard
seed, nor those works of piety which the prophet describes, surely we cannot be
without that importunity which He supplies to all who desire it, owing to which
alone the Lord promises that He will give whatever He has been prayed to give.
And therefore we ought without unbelieving hesitation to persevere, and not to
have the least doubt that by continuing in them we shall obtain all those things
which we have asked according to the mind of God. For the Lord, in His desire to
grant what is heavenly and eternal, urges us to constrain Him as it were by our
importunity, as He not only does not despise or reject the importunate, but
actually welcomes and praises them, and most graciously promises to grant
whatever they have perseveringly hoped for; saying, "Ask and ye shall receive:
seek and ye shall find: knock and it shall be opened unto you. For every one
that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it
shall be opened;" [1637] and again: "All things whatsoever ye shall ask in
prayer believing ye shall receive, and nothing shall be impossible to you."
[1638] And therefore even if all the grounds for being heard which we have
mentioned are altogether wanting, at any rate the earnestness of importunity may
animate us, as this is placed in the power of any one who wills without the
difficulties of any merits or labours. But let not any suppliant doubt that he
certainly will not be heard, so long as he doubts whether he is heard. But that
this also shall be sought from the Lord unweariedly, we are taught by the
example of the blessed Daniel, as, though he was heard from the first day on
which he began to pray, he only obtained the result of his petition after one
and twenty days. [1639] Wherefore we also ought not to grow slack in the
earnestness of the prayers we have begun, if we fancy that the answer comes but
slowly, for fear lest perhaps the gift of the answer be in God's providence
delayed, or the angel, who was to bring the Divine blessing to us, may when he
comes forth from the Presence of the Almighty be hindered by the resistance of
the devil, as it is certain that he cannot transmit and bring to us the desired
boon, if he finds that we slack off from the earnestness of the petition made.
And this would certainly have happened to the above mentioned prophet unless he
had with incomparable steadfastness prolonged and persevered in his prayers
until the twenty-first day. Let us then not be at all cast down by despair from
the confidence of this faith of ours, even when we fancy that we are far from
having obtained what we prayed for, and let us not have any doubts about the
Lord's promise where He says: "All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer
believing, ye shall receive." [1640] For it is well for us to consider this
saying of the blessed Evangelist John, by which the ambiguity of this question
is clearly solved: "This is," he says, "the confidence which we have in Him,
that whatsoever we ask according to His will, He heareth us." [1641] He bids us
then have a full and undoubting confidence of the answer only in those things
which are not for our own advantage or for temporal comforts, but are in
conformity to the Lord's will. And we are also taught to put this into our
prayers by the Lord's Prayer, where we say "Thy will be done," -- Thine not
ours. For if we also remember these words of the Apostle that "we know not what
to pray for as we ought" [1642] we shall see that we sometimes ask for things
opposed to our salvation and that we are most providentially refused our
requests by Him who sees what is good for us with greater right and truth than
we can. And it is clear that this also happened to the teacher of the Gentiles
when he prayed that the messenger of Satan who had been for his good allowed by
the Lord's will to buffet him, might be removed, saying: "For which I besought
the Lord thrice that he might depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is
sufficient for thee, for strength is made perfect in weakness." [1643] And this
feeling even our Lord expressed when He prayed in the character [1644] of man
which He had taken, that He might give us a form of prayer as other things also
by His example; saying thus: "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from
me: nevertheless not as I will but as Thou wilt," [1645] though certainly His
will was not discordant with His Father's will, "For He had come to save what
was lost and to give His life a ransom for many;" [1646] as He Himself says: "No
man taketh my life from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it
down and I have power to take it again." [1647] In which character there is in
the thirty-ninth Psalm the following sung by the blessed David, of the Unity of
will which He ever maintained with the Father: "To do Thy will: O My God, I am
willing." [1648] For even if we read of the Father: "For God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son," [1649] we find none the less of the Son:
"Who gave Himself for our sins." [1650] And as it is said of the One: "Who
spared not His own Son, but gave Him for all of us," [1651] so it is written of
the other: "He was offered because He Himself willed it." [1652] And it is shown
that the will of the Father and of the Son is in all things one, so that even in
the actual mystery of the Lord's resurrection we are taught that there was no
discord of operation. For just as the blessed Apostle declares that the Father
brought about the resurrection of His body, saying: "And God the Father, who
raised Him from the dead," [1653] so also the Son testifies that He Himself will
raise again the Temple of His body, saying: "Destroy this temple, and in three
days I will raise it up again." [1654] And therefore we being instructed by all
these examples of our Lord which have been enumerated ought to end our
supplications also with the same prayer, and always to subjoin this clause to
all our petitions: "Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt." [1655] But it
is clear enough that one who does not [1656] pray with attention of mind cannot
observe that threefold reverence [1657] which is usually practised in the
assemblies of the brethren at the close of service.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 524: CHAPTER XXXV. OF PRAYER TO BE OFFERED WITHIN THE CHAMBER AND WITH THE DOOR SHUT. 
========================================================================

Before all things however we ought most carefully to observe the Evangelic
precept, which tells us to enter into our chamber and shut the door and pray to
our Father, which may be fulfilled by us as follows: We pray within our chamber,
when removing our hearts inwardly from the din of all thoughts and anxieties, we
disclose our prayers in secret and in closest intercourse to the Lord. We pray
with closed doors when with closed lips and complete silence we pray to the
searcher not of words but of hearts. We pray in secret when from the heart and
fervent mind we disclose our petitions to God alone, so that no hostile powers
are even able to discover the character of our petition. Wherefore we should
pray in complete silence, not only to avoid distracting the brethren standing
near by our whispers or louder utterances, and disturbing the thoughts of those
who are praying, but also that the purport of our petition may be concealed from
our enemies who are especially on the watch against us while we are praying. For
so we shall fulfil this injunction: "Keep the doors of thy mouth from her who
sleepeth in thy bosom." [1658]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 525: CHAPTER XXXVI. OF THE VALUE OF SHORT AND SILENT PRAYER. 
========================================================================

Wherefore we ought to pray often but briefly, lest if we are long about it our
crafty foe may succeed in implanting something in our heart. For that is the
true sacrifice, as "the sacrifice of God is a broken spirit." This is the
salutary offering, these are pure drink offerings, that is the "sacrifice of
righteousness," the "sacrifice of praise," these are true and fat victims,
"holocausts full of marrow," which are offered by contrite and humble hearts,
and which those who practise this control and fervour of spirit, of which we
have spoken, with effectual power can sing: "Let my prayer be set forth in Thy
sight as the incense: let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice."
[1659] But the approach of the right hour and of night warns us that we ought
with fitting devotion to do this very thing, of which, as our slender ability
allowed, we seem to have propounded a great deal, and to have prolonged our
conference considerably, though we believe that we have discoursed very little
when the magnificence and difficulty of the subject are taken into account. With
these words of the holy Isaac we were dazzled rather than satisfied, and after
evening service had been held, rested our limbs for a short time, and intending
at the first dawn again to return under promise of a fuller discussion departed,
rejoicing over the acquisition of these precepts as well as over the assurance
of his promises. Since we felt that though the excellence of prayer had been
shown to us, still we had not yet understood from his discourse its nature, and
the power by which continuance in it might be gained and kept.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 526: X. THE SECOND CONFERENCE OF ABBOT ISAAC.
========================================================================

On Prayer.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 527: CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. 
========================================================================

Among the sublime customs of the anchorites which by God's help have been set
forth although in plain and unadorned style, the course of our narration compels
us to insert and find a place for something, which may seem so to speak to cause
a blemish on a fair body: although I have no doubt that by it no small
instruction on the image of Almighty God of which we read in Genesis will be
conferred on some of the simpler sort, especially when the grounds are
considered of a doctrine so important that men cannot be ignorant of it without
terrible blasphemy and serious harm to the Catholic faith.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 528: CHAPTER II. OF THE CUSTOM WHICH IS KEPT UP IN THE PROVINCE OF EGYPT FOR SIGNIFYING THE TIME OF EASTER. 
========================================================================

In the country of Egypt this custom is by ancient tradition observed that --
when Epiphany is past, which the priests of that province regard as the time,
both of our Lord's baptism and also of His birth in the flesh, and so celebrate
the commemoration of either mystery not separately as in the Western provinces
but on the single festival of this day, [1660] -- letters are sent from the
Bishop of Alexandria through all the Churches of Egypt, by which the beginning
of Lent, and the day of Easter are pointed out not only in all the cities but
also in all the monasteries. [1661] In accordance then with this custom, a very
few days after the previous conference had been held with Abbot Isaac, there
arrived the festal letters of Theophilus [1662] the Bishop of the aforesaid
city, in which together with the announcement of Easter he considered as well
the foolish heresy of the Anthropomorphites [1663] at great length, and
abundantly refuted it. And this was received by almost all the body of monks
residing in the whole province of Egypt with such bitterness owing to their
simplicity and error, that the greater part of the Elders decreed that on the
contrary the aforesaid Bishop ought to be abhorred by the whole body of the
brethren as tainted with heresy of the worst kind, because he seemed to impugn
the teaching of holy Scripture by the denial that Almighty God was formed in the
fashion of a human figure, though Scripture teaches with perfect clearness that
Adam was created in His image. Lastly this letter was rejected also by those who
were living in the desert of Scete and who excelled all who were in the
monasteries of Egypt, in perfection and in knowledge, so that except Abbot
Paphnutius the presbyter of our congregation, not one of the other presbyters,
who presided over the other three churches in the same desert, would suffer it
to be even read or repeated at all in their meetings.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 529: CHAPTER III. OF ABBOT SARAPION AND THE HERESY OF THE ANTHROPOMORPHITES INTO WHICH HE FELL IN THE ERROR OF SIMPLICITY. 
========================================================================

Among those then who were caught by this mistaken notion was one named Sarapion,
a man of long-standing strictness of life, and one who was altogether perfect in
actual discipline, whose ignorance with regard to the view of the doctrine first
mentioned was so far a stumbling block to all who held the true faith, as he
himself outstripped almost all the monks both in the merits of his life and in
the length of time (he had been there). And when this man could not be brought
back to the way of the right faith by many exhortations of the holy presbyter
Paphnutius, because this view seemed to him a novelty, and one that was not ever
known to or handed down by his predecessors, it chanced that a certain deacon, a
man of very great learning, named Photinus, arrived from the region of
Cappadocia with the desire of visiting the brethren living in the same desert:
whom the blessed Paphnutius received with the warmest welcome, and in order to
confirm the faith which had been stated in the letters of the aforesaid Bishop,
placed him in the midst and asked him before all the brethren how the Catholic
Churches throughout the East interpreted the passage in Genesis where it says
"Let us make man after our image and likeness." [1664] And when he explained
that the image and likeness of God was taken by all the leaders of the churches
not according to the base sound of the letters, but spiritually, and supported
this very fully and by many passages of Scripture, and showed that nothing of
this sort could happen to that infinite and incomprehensible and invisible
glory, so that it could be comprised in a human form and likeness, since its
nature is incorporeal and uncompounded and simple, and what can neither be
apprehended by the eyes nor conceived by the mind, at length the old man was
shaken by the numerous and very weighty assertions of this most learned man, and
was drawn to the faith of the Catholic tradition. And when both Abbot Paphnutius
and all of us were filled with intense delight at his adhesion, for this reason;
viz., that the Lord had not permitted a man of such age and crowned with such
virtues, and one who erred only from ignorance and rustic simplicity, to wander
from the path of the right faith up to the very last, and when we arose to give
thanks, and were all together offering up our prayers to the Lord, the old man
was so bewildered in mind during his prayer because he felt that the
Anthropomorphic image of the Godhead which he used to set before himself in
prayer, was banished from his heart, that on a sudden he burst into a flood of
bitter tears and continual sobs, and cast himself down on the ground and
exclaimed with strong groanings: "Alas! wretched man that I am! they have taken
away my God from me, and I have now none to lay hold of; and whom to worship and
address I know not." By which scene we were terribly disturbed, and moreover
with the effect of the former Conference still remaining in our hearts, we
returned to Abbot Isaac, whom when we saw close at hand, we addressed with these
words.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 530: CHAPTER IV. OF OUR RETURN TO ABBOT ISAAC AND QUESTION CONCERNING THE ERROR INTO WHICH THE AFORESAID OLD MAN HAD FALLEN. 
========================================================================

Although even besides the fresh matter which has lately arisen, our delight in
the former conference which was held on the character of prayer would summon us
to postpone everything else and return to your holiness, yet this grievous error
of Abbot Sarapion, conceived, as we fancy, by the craft of most vile demons,
adds somewhat to this desire of ours. For it is no small despair by which we are
cast down when we consider that through the fault of this ignorance he has not
only utterly lost all those labours which he has performed in so praiseworthy a
manner for fifty years in this desert, but has also incurred the risk of eternal
death. And so we want first to know why and wherefore so grievous an error has
crept into him. And next we should like to be taught how we can arrive at that
condition in prayer, of which you discoursed some time back not only fully but
splendidly. For that admirable Conference has had this effect upon us, that it
has only dazzled our minds and has not shown us how to perform or secure it.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 531: CHAPTER V. THE ANSWER ON THE HERESY DESCRIBED ABOVE. 
========================================================================

Isaac: We need not be surprised that a really simple man who had never received
any instruction on the substance and nature of the Godhead could still be
entangled and deceived by an error of simplicity and the habit of a longstanding
mistake, and (to speak more truly) continue in the original error which is
brought about, not as you suppose by a new illusion of the demons, but by the
ignorance of the ancient heathen world, while in accordance with the custom of
that erroneous notion, by which they used to worship devils formed in the figure
of men, they even now think that the incomprehensible and ineffable glory of the
true Deity should be worshipped under the limitations of some figure, as they
believe that they can grasp and hold nothing if they have not some image set
before them, which they can continually address while they are at their
devotions, and which they can carry about in their mind and have always fixed
before their eyes. And against this mistake of theirs this text may be used:
"And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the
image of corruptible man." [1665] Jeremiah also says: "My people have changed
their glory for an idol. [1666] Which error although by this its origin, of
which we have spoken, it is engrained in the notions of some, yet none the less
is it contracted in the hearts also of those who have never been stained with
the superstition of the heathen world, under the colour of this passage where it
is said "Let us make man after our image and our likeness," [1667] ignorance and
simplicity being its authors, so that actually there has arisen owing to this
hateful interpretation a heresy called that of the Anthropomorphites, which
maintains with obstinate perverseness that the infinite and simple substance of
the Godhead is fashioned in our lineaments and human configuration. Which
however any one who has been taught the Catholic doctrine will abhor as
heathenish blasphemy, and so will arrive at that perfectly pure condition in
prayer which will not only not connect with its prayers any figure of the
Godhead or bodily lineaments (which it is a sin even to speak of), but will not
even allow in itself even the memory of a name, or the appearance of an action,
or an outline of any character.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 532: CHAPTER VI. OF THE REASONS WHY JESUS CHRIST APPEARS TO EACH ONE OF US EITHER IN HIS HUMILITY OR IN HIS GLORIFIED CONDITION. 
========================================================================

For according to the measure of its purity, as I said in the former Conference,
each mind is both raised and moulded in its prayers if it forsakes the
consideration of earthly and material things so far as the condition of its
purity may carry it forward, and enable it with the inner eyes of the soul to
see Jesus either still in His humility and in the flesh, or glorified and coming
in the glory of His Majesty: for those cannot see Jesus coming in His Kingdom
who are still kept back in a sort of state of Jewish weakness, and cannot say
with the Apostle: "And if we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know
Him so no more;" [1668] but only those can look with purest eyes on His Godhead,
who rise with Him from low and earthly works and thoughts and go apart in the
lofty mountain of solitude which is free from the disturbance of all earthly
thoughts and troubles, and secure from the interference of all sins, and being
exalted by pure faith and the heights of virtue reveals the glory of His Face
and the image of His splendour to those who are able to look on Him with pure
eyes of the soul. But Jesus is seen as well by those who live in towns and
villages and hamlets, i.e., who are occupied in practical affairs and works, but
not with the same brightness with which He appeared to those who can go up with
Him into the aforesaid mount of virtues, i.e., Peter, James, and John. For so in
solitude He appeared to Moses and spoke with Elias. And as our Lord wished to
establish this and to leave us examples of perfect purity, although He Himself,
the very fount of inviolable sanctity, had no need of external help and the
assistance of solitude in order to secure it (for the fulness of purity could
not be soiled by any stain from crowds, nor could He be contaminated by
intercourse with men, who cleanses and sanctifies all things that are polluted)
yet still He retired into the mountain alone to pray, thus teaching us by the
example of His retirement that if we too wish to approach God with a pure and
spotless affection of heart, we should also retire from all the disturbance and
confusion of crowds, so that while still living in the body we may manage in
some degree to adapt ourselves to some likeness of that bliss which is promised
hereafter to the saints, and that "God may be" to us "all in all." [1669]


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 533: CHAPTER VII. WHAT CONSTITUTES OUR END AND PERFECT BLISS. 
========================================================================

For then will be perfectly fulfilled in our case that prayer of our Saviour in
which He prayed for His disciples to the Father saying "that the love wherewith
Thou lovedst Me may be in them and they in us;" and again: "that they all may be
one as Thou, Father, in Me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us,"
[1670] when that perfect love of God, wherewith "He first loved us" [1671] has
passed into the feelings of our heart as well, by the fulfilment of this prayer
of the Lord which we believe cannot possibly be ineffectual. And this will come
to pass when God shall be all our love, and every desire and wish and effort,
every thought of ours, and all our life and words and breath, and that unity
which already exists between the Father and the Son, and the Son and the Father,
has been shed abroad in our hearts and minds, so that as He loves us with a pure
and unfeigned and indissoluble love, so we also may be joined to Him by a
lasting and inseparable affection, since we are so united to Him that whatever
we breathe or think, or speak is God, since, as I say, we attain to that end of
which we spoke before, which the same Lord in His prayer hopes may be fulfilled
in us: "that they all may be one as we are one, I in them and Thou in Me, that
they also may be made perfect in one;" and again: "Father, those whom Thou hast
given Me, I will that where I am, they may also be with Me." [1672] This then
ought to be the destination of the solitary, this should be all his aim that it
may be vouchsafed to him to possess even in the body an image of future bliss,
and that he may begin in this world to have a foretaste of a sort of earnest of
that celestial life and glory. This, I say, is the end of all perfection, that
the mind purged from all carnal desires may daily be lifted towards spiritual
things, until the whole life and all the thoughts of the heart become one
continuous prayer.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 534: CHAPTER VIII. A QUESTION ON THE TRAINING IN PERFECTION BY WHICH WE CAN ARRIVE AT PERPETUAL RECOLLECTION OF GOD. 
========================================================================

Germanus: The extent of our bewilderment at our wondering awe at the former
Conference, because of which we came back again, increases still more. For in
proportion as by the incitements of this teaching we are fired with the desire
of perfect bliss, so do we fall back into greater despair, as we know not how to
seek or obtain training for such lofty heights. Wherefore we entreat that you
will patiently allow us (for it must perhaps be set forth and unfolded with a
good deal of talk) to explain what while sitting in the cell we had begun to
revolve in a lengthy meditation, although we know that your holiness is not at
all troubled by the infirmities of the weak, which even for this reason should
be openly set forth, that what is out of place in them may receive correction.
Our notion then is that the perfection of any art or system of training must
begin with some simple rudiments, and grow accustomed first to somewhat easy and
tender beginnings, so that being nourished and trained little by little by a
sort of reasonable milk, it may grow up and so by degrees and step by step mount
up from the lowest depths to the heights: and when by these means it has entered
on the plainer principles and so to speak passed the gates of the entrance of
the profession, it will consequently arrive without difficulty at the inmost
shrine and lofty heights of perfection. For how could any boy manage to
pronounce the simplest union of syllables unless he had first carefully learnt
the letters of the alphabet? Or how can any one learn to read quickly, who is
still unfit to connect together short and simple sentences? But by what means
will one who is ill instructed in the science of grammar attain eloquence in
rhetoric or the knowledge of philosophy? Wherefore for this highest learning
also, by which we are taught even to cleave to God, I have no doubt that there
are some foundations of the system, which must first be firmly laid and
afterwards the towering heights of perfection may be placed and raised upon
them. And we have a slight idea that these are its first principles; viz., that
we should first learn by what meditations God may be grasped and contemplated,
and next that we should manage to keep a very firm hold of this topic whatever
it is which we do not doubt is the height of all perfection. And therefore we
want you to show us some material for this recollection, by which we may
conceive and ever keep the idea of God in the mind, so that by always keeping it
before our eyes, when we find that we have dropped away from Him, we may at once
be able to recover ourselves and return thither and may succeed in laying hold
of it again without any delay from wandering around the subject and searching
for it. For it happens that when we have wandered away from our spiritual
speculations and have come back to ourselves as if waking from a deadly sleep,
and, being thoroughly roused, look for the subject matter, by which we may be
able to revive that spiritual recollection which has been destroyed, we are
hindered by the delay of the actual search before we find it, and are once more
drawn aside from our endeavour, and before the spiritual insight is brought
about, the purpose of heart which had been conceived, has disappeared. And this
trouble is certain to happen to us for this reason because we do not keep
something special firmly set before our eyes like some principle to which the
wandering thoughts may be recalled after many digressions and varied excursions;
and, if I may use the expression, after long storms enter a quiet haven. And so
it comes to pass that as the mind is constantly hindered by this want of
knowledge and difficulty, and is always tossed about vaguely, and as if
intoxicated, among various matters, and cannot even retain firm hold for any
length of time of anything spiritual which has occurred to it by chance rather
than of set purpose: while, as it is always receiving one thing after another,
it does not notice either their beginning and origin or even their end.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 535: CHAPTER IX. THE ANSWER ON THE EFFICACY OF UNDERSTANDING, WHICH IS GAINED BY EXPERIENCE. 
========================================================================

Isaac: Your minute and subtle inquiry affords an indication of purity being very
nearly reached. For no one would be able even to make inquiries on these
matters, I will not say to look within and discriminate, -- except one who had
been urged to sound the depths of such questions by careful and effectual
diligence of mind, and watchful anxiety, and one whom the constant aim after a
well controlled life had taught by practical experience to attempt the entrance
to this purity and to knock at its doors. And therefore as I see you, I will not
say, standing before the doors of that true prayer of which we have been
speaking, but touching its inner chambers and inward parts as it were with the
hands of experience, and already laying hold of some parts of it, I do not think
that I shall find any difficulty in introducing you now within what I may call
its hall, for you to roam about its recesses, as the Lord may direct; nor do I
think that you will be hindered from investigating what is to be shown you by
any obstacles or difficulties. For he is next door to understanding who
carefully recognizes what he ought to ask about, nor is he far from knowledge,
who begins to understand how ignorant he is. And therefore I am not afraid of
the charge of betraying secrets, and of levity, if I divulge what when speaking
in my former discourse on the perfection of prayer I had kept back from
discussing, as I think that its force was to be explained to us who are occupied
with this subject and interest even without the aid of my words, by the grace of
God.


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 536: CHAPTER X. OF THE METHOD OF CONTINUAL PRAYER. 
========================================================================

Wherefore in accordance with that system, which you admirably compared to
teaching children (who can only take in the first lessons on the alphabet and
recognize the shapes of the letters, and trace out their characters with a
steady hand if they have, by means of some copies and shapes carefully impressed
on wax, got accustomed to express their figures, by constantly looking at them
and imitating them daily), we must give you also the form of this spiritual
contemplation, on which you may always fix your gaze with the utmost steadiness,
and both learn to consider it to your profit in unbroken continuance, and also
manage by the practice of it and by meditation to climb to a still loftier
insight. This formula then shall be proposed to you of this system, which you
want, and of prayer, which every monk in his progress towards continual
recollection of God, is accustomed to ponder, ceaselessly revolving it in his
heart, having got rid of all kinds of other thoughts; for he cannot possibly
keep his hold over it unless he has freed himself from all bodily cares and
anxieties. And as this was delivered to us by a few of those who were left of
the oldest fathers, so it is only divulged by us to a very few and to those who
are really keen. And so for keeping up continual recollection of God this pious
formula is to be ever set before you. "O God, make speed to save me: O Lord,
make haste to help me," [1673] for this verse has not unreasonably been picked
out from the whole of Scripture for this purpose. For it embraces all the
feelings which can be implanted in human nature, and can be fitly and
satisfactorily adapted to every condition, and all assaults. Since it contains
an invocation of God against every danger, it contains humble and pious
confession, it contains the watchfulness of anxiety and continual fear, it
contains the thought of one's own weakness, confidence in the answer, and the
assurance of a present and ever ready help. For one who is constantly calling on
his protector, is certain that He is always at hand. It contains the glow of
love and charity, it contains a view of the plots, and a dread of the enemies,
from which one, who sees himself day and night hemmed in by them, confesses that
he cannot be set free without the aid of his defender. This verse is an
impregnable wall for all who are labouring under the attacks of demons, as well
as impenetrable coat of mail and a strong shield. It does not suffer those who
are in a state of moroseness and anxiety of mind, or depressed by sadness or all
kinds of thoughts to despair of saving remedies, as it shows that He, who is
invoked, is ever looking on at our struggles and is not far from His suppliants.
It warns us whose lot is spiritual success and delight of heart that we ought
not to be at all elated or puffed up by our happy condition, which it assures us
cannot last without God as our protector, while it implores Him not only always
but even speedily to help us. This verse, I say, will be found helpful and
useful to every one of us in whatever condition we may be. For one who always
and in all matters wants to be helped, shows that he needs the assistance of God
not only in sorrowful or hard matters but also equally in prosperous and happy
ones, that he may be delivered from the one and also made to continue in the
other, as he knows that in both of them human weakness is unable to endure
without His assistance. I am affected by the passion of gluttony. I ask for food
of which the desert knows nothing, and in the squalid desert there are wafted to
me odours of royal dainties and I find that even against my will I am drawn to
long for them. I must at once say: "O God, make speed to save me: O Lord, make
haste to help me." I am incited to anticipate the hour fixed for supper, or I am
trying with great sorrow of heart to keep to the limits of the right and regular
meagre fare. I must cry out with groans: "O God, make speed to save me: O Lord,
make haste to help me." Weakness of the stomach hinders me when wanting severer
fasts, on account of the assaults of the flesh, or dryness of the belly and
constipation frightens me. In order that effect may be given to my wishes, or
else that the fire of carnal lust may be quenched without the remedy of a
stricter fast, I must pray: "O God, make speed to save me: O Lord, make haste to
help me." When I come to supper, at the bidding of the proper hour I loathe
taking food and am prevented from eating anything to satisfy the requirements of
nature: I must cry with a sigh: "O God, make speed to save me: O Lord, make
haste to help me." When I want for the sake of steadfastness of heart to apply
myself to reading a headache interferes and stops me, and at the third hour
sleep glues my head to the sacred page, and I am forced either to overstep or to
anticipate the time assigned to rest; and finally an overpowering desire to
sleep forces me to cut short the canonical rule for service in the Psalms: in
the same way I must cry out: "O God, make speed to save me: O Lord, make haste
to help me." Sleep is withdrawn from my eyes, and for many nights I find myself
wearied out with sleeplessness caused by the devil, and all repose and rest by
night is kept away from my eyelids; I must sigh and pray: "O God, make speed to
save me: O Lord, make haste to help me." While I am still in the midst of a
struggle with sin suddenly an irritation of the flesh affects me and tries by a
pleasant sensation to draw me to consent while in my sleep. In order that a
raging fire from without may not burn up the fragrant blossoms of chastity, I
must cry out: "O God, make speed to save me: O Lord, make haste to help me." I
feel that the incentive to lust is removed, and that the heat of passion has
died away in my members: In order that this good condition acquired, or rather
that this grace of God may continue still longer or forever with me, I must
earnestly say: "O God, make speed to save me: O Lord, make haste to help me." I
am disturbed by the pangs of anger, covetousness, gloominess, and driven to
disturb the peaceful state in which I was, and which was dear to me: In order
that I may not be carried away by raging passion into the bitterness of gall, I
must cry out with deep groans: "O God, make speed to save me: O Lord, make haste
to help me." I am tried by being puffed up by accidie, vainglory, and pride, and
my mind with subtle thoughts flatters itself somewhat on account of the coldness
and carelessness of others: In order that this dangerous suggestion of the enemy
may not get the mastery over me, I must pray with all contrition of heart: "O
God, make speed to save me: O Lord, make haste to help me." I have gained the
grace of humility and simplicity, and by continually mortifying my spirit have
got rid of the swellings of pride: In order that the "foot of pride" may not
again "come against me," and "the hand of the sinner disturb me," [1674] and
that I may not be more seriously damaged by elation at my success, I must cry
with all my might, "O God, make speed to save me: O Lord, make haste to help
me." I am on fire with innumerable and various wanderings of soul and shiftiness
of heart, and cannot collect my scattered thoughts, nor can I even pour forth my
prayer without interruption and images of vain figures, and the recollection of
conversations and actions, and I feel myself tied down by such dryness and
barrenness that I feel I cannot give birth to any offspring in the shape of
spiritual ideas: In order that it may be vouchsafed to me to be set free from
this wretched state of mind, from which I cannot extricate myself by any number
of sighs and groans, I must full surely cry out: "O God, make speed to save me:
O Lord, make haste to help me." Again, I feel that by the visitation of the Holy
Spirit I have gained purpose of soul, steadfastness of thought, keenness of
heart, together with an ineffable joy and transport of mind, and in the
exuberance of spiritual feelings I have perceived by a sudden illumination from
the Lord an abounding revelation of most holy ideas which were formerly
altogether hidden from me: In order that it may be vouchsafed to me to linger
for a longer time in them I must often and anxiously exclaim: "O God, make speed
to save me: O Lord, make haste to help me." Encompassed by nightly horrors of
devils I am agitated, and am disturbed by the appearances of unclean spirits, my
very hope of life and salvation is withdrawn by the horror of fear. Flying to
the safe refuge of this verse, I will cry out with all my might: "O God, make
speed to save me: O Lord, make haste to help me." Again, when I have been
restored by the Lord's consolation, and, cheered by His coming, feel myself
encompassed as if by countless thousands of angels, so that all of a sudden I
can venture to seek the conflict and provoke a battle with those whom a while
ago I dreaded worse than death, and whose touch or even approach I felt with a
shudder both of mind and body: In order that the vigour of this courage may, by
God's grace, continue in me still longer, I must cry out with all my powers: "O
God, make speed to save me: O Lord, make haste to help me." We must then
ceaselessly and continuously pour forth the prayer of this verse, in adversity
that we may be delivered, in prosperity that we may be preserved and not puffed
up. Let the thought of this verse, I tell you, be conned over in your breast
without ceasing. Whatever work you are doing, or office you are holding, or
journey you are going, do not cease to chant this. When you are going to bed, or
eating, and in the last necessities of nature, think on this. This thought in
your heart maybe to you a saving formula, and not only keep you unharmed by all
attacks of devils, but also purify you from all faults and earthly stains, and
lead you to that invisible and celestial contemplation, and carry you on to that
ineffable glow of prayer, of which so few have any experience. Let sleep come
upon you still considering this verse, till having been moulded by the constant
use of it, you grow accustomed to repeat it even in your sleep. When you wake
let it be the first thing to come into your mind, let it anticipate all your
waking thoughts, let it when you rise from your bed send you down on your knees,
and thence send you forth to all your work and business, and let it follow you
about all day long. This you should think about, according to the Lawgiver's
charge, "at home and walking forth on a journey," [1675] sleeping and waking.
This you should write on the threshold and door of your mouth, this you should
place on the walls of your house and in the recesses of your heart so that when
you fall on your knees in prayer this may be your chant as you kneel, and when
you rise up from it to go forth to all the necessary business of life it may be
your constant prayer as you stand.


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  CHAPTER 537: CHAPTER XI. OF THE PERFECTION OF PRAYER TO WHICH WE CAN RISE BY THE SYSTEM DESCRIBED. 
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This, this is the formula which the mind should unceasingly cling to until,
strengthened by the constant use of it and by continual meditation, it casts off
and rejects the rich and full material of all manner of thoughts and restricts
itself to the poverty of this one verse, and so arrives with ready ease at that
beatitude of the gospel, which holds the first place among the other beatitudes:
for He says "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven." [1676] And so one who becomes grandly poor by a poverty of this sort
will fulfil this saying of the prophet: "The poor and needy shall praise the
name of the Lord." [1677] And indeed what greater or holier poverty can there be
than that of one who knowing that he has no defence and no strength of his own,
asks for daily help from another's bounty, and as he is aware that every single
moment his life and substance depend on Divine assistance, professes himself not
without reason the Lord's bedesman, and cries to Him daily in prayer: "But I am
poor and needy: the Lord helpeth me." [1678] And so by the illumination of God
Himself he mounts to that manifold knowledge of Him and begins henceforward to
be nourished on sublimer and still more sacred mysteries, in accordance with
these words of the prophet: "The high hills are a refuge for the stags, the
rocks for the hedgehogs," [1679] which is very fairly applied in the sense we
have given, because whosoever continues in simplicity and innocence is not
injurious or offensive to any one, but being content with his own simple
condition endeavours simply to defend himself from being spoiled by his foes,
and becomes a sort of spiritual hedgehog and is protected by the continual
shield of that rock of the gospel, i.e., being sheltered by the recollection of
the Lord's passion and by ceaseless meditation on the verse given above he
escapes the snares of his opposing enemies. And of these spiritual hedgehogs we
read in Proverbs as follows: "And the hedgehogs are a feeble folk, who have made
their homes in the rocks." [1680] And indeed what is feebler than a Christian,
what is weaker than a monk, who is not only not permitted any vengeance for
wrongs done to him but is actually not allowed to suffer even a slight and
silent feeling of irritation to spring up within? But whoever advances from this
condition and not only secures the simplicity of innocence, but is also shielded
by the virtue of discretion, becomes an exterminator of deadly serpents, and has
Satan crushed beneath his feet, and by his quickness of mind answers to the
figure of the reasonable stag, this man will feed on the mountains of the
prophets and Apostles, i.e., on their highest and loftiest mysteries. And
thriving on this pasture continually, he will take in to himself all the
thoughts of the Psalms and will begin to sing them in such a way that he will
utter them with the deepest emotion of heart not as if they were the
compositions of the Psalmist, but rather as if they were his own utterances and
his very own prayer; and will certainly take them as aimed at himself, and will
recognize that their words were not only fulfilled formerly by or in the person
of the prophet, but that they are fulfilled and carried out daily in his own
case. For then the Holy Scriptures lie open to us with greater clearness and as
it were their very veins and marrow are exposed, when our experience not only
perceives but actually anticipates their meaning, and the sense of the words is
revealed to us not by an exposition of them but by practical proof. For if we
have experience of the very state of mind in which each Psalm was sung and
written, we become like their authors and anticipate the meaning rather than
follow it, i.e., gathering the force of the words before we really know them, we
remember what has happened to us, and what is happening in daily assaults when
the thoughts of them come over us, and while we sing them we call to mind all
that our carelessness has brought upon us, or our earnestness has secured, or
Divine Providence has granted or the promptings of the foe have deprived us of,
or slippery and subtle forgetfulness has carried off, or human weakness has
brought about, or thoughtless ignorance has cheated us of. For all these
feelings we find expressed in the Psalms so that by seeing whatever happens as
in a very clear mirror we understand it better, and so instructed by our
feelings as our teachers we lay hold of it as something not merely heard but
actually seen, and, as if it were not committed to memory, but implanted in the
very nature of things, we are affected from the very bottom of the heart, so
that we get at its meaning not by reading the text but by experience
anticipating it. And so our mind will reach that incorruptible prayer to which
in our former treatise, as the Lord vouchsafed to grant, the scheme of our
Conference mounted, and this is not merely not engaged in gazing on any image,
but is actually distinguished by the use of no words or utterances; but with the
purpose of the mind all on fire, is produced through ecstasy of heart by some
unaccountable keenness of spirit, and the mind being thus affected without the
aid of the senses or any visible material pours it forth to God with groanings
and sighs that cannot be uttered.


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  CHAPTER 538: CHAPTER XII. A QUESTION AS TO HOW SPIRITUAL THOUGHTS CAN BE RETAINED WITHOUT LOSING THEM. 
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Germanus: We think that you have described to us not only the system of this
spiritual discipline for which we asked, but perfection itself; and this with
great clearness and openness. For what can be more perfect and sublime than for
the recollection of God to be embraced in so brief a meditation, and for it,
dwelling on a single verse, to escape from all the limitations of things
visible, and to comprise in one short word the thoughts of all our prayers. And
therefore we beg you to explain to us one thing which still remains; viz., how
we can keep firm hold of this verse which you have given us as a formula, in
such a way that, as we have been by God's grace set free from the trifles of
worldly thoughts, so we may also keep a steady grasp on all spiritual ones.


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  CHAPTER 539: CHAPTER XIII. ON THE LIGHTNESS OF THOUGHTS. 
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For when the mind has taken in the meaning of a passage in any Psalm, this
insensibly slips away from it, and ignorantly and thoughtlessly it passes on to
a text of some other Scripture. And when it has begun to consider this with
itself, while it is still not thoroughly explored, the recollection of some
other passage springs up, and shuts out the consideration of the former subject.
From this too it is transferred to some other, by the entrance of some fresh
consideration, and the soul always turns about from Psalm to Psalm and jumps
from a passage in the Gospels to read one in the Epistles, and from this passes
on to the prophetic writings, and thence is carried to some spiritual history,
and so it wanders about vaguely and uncertainly through the whole body of the
Scriptures, unable, as it may choose, either to reject or keep hold of anything,
or to finish anything by fully considering and examining it, and so becomes only
a toucher or taster of spiritual meanings, not an author and possessor of them.
And so the mind, as it is always light and wandering, is distracted even in time
of service by all sorts of things, as if it were intoxicated, and does not
perform any office properly. For instance, while it is praying, it is recalling
some Psalm or passage of Scripture. While it is chanting, it is thinking about
something else besides what the text of the Psalm itself contains. When it
repeats a passage of Scripture, it is thinking about something that has to be
done, or remembering something that has been done. And in this way it takes in
and rejects nothing in a disciplined and proper way, and seems to be driven
about by random incursions, without the power either of retaining what it likes
or lingering over it. It is then well for us before everything else to know how
we can properly perform these spiritual offices, and keep firm hold of this
particular verse which you have given us as a formula, so that the rise and fall
of our feelings may not be in a state of fluctuation from their own lightness,
but may lie under our own control.


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  CHAPTER 540: CHAPTER XIV. THE ANSWER HOW WE CAN GAIN STABILITY OF HEART OR OF THOUGHTS. 
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Isaac: Although, in our former discussion on the character of prayer, enough
was, as I think, said on this subject, yet as you want it repeated to you again,
I will give you a brief instruction on steadfastness of heart. There are three
things which make a shifting heart steadfast, watchings, meditation, and prayer,
diligence in which and constant attention will produce steadfast firmness of
mind. But this cannot be secured in any other way unless all cares and anxieties
of this present life have been first got rid of by indefatigable persistence in
work dedicated not to covetousness but to the sacred uses of the monastery, that
we may thus be able to fulfil the Apostle's command: "Pray without ceasing."
[1681] For he prays too little, who is accustomed only to pray at the times when
he bends his knees. But he never prays, who even while on his bended knees is
distracted by all kinds of wanderings of heart. And therefore what we would be
found when at our prayers, that we ought to be before the time of prayer. For at
the time of its prayers the mind cannot help being affected by its previous
condition, and while it is praying, will be either transported to things
heavenly, or dragged down to earthly things by those thoughts in which it had
been lingering before prayer. Thus far did Abbot Isaac carry on his Second
Conference on the character of Prayer to us astonished hearers; whose
instruction on the consideration of that verse quoted above (which he gave as a
sort of outline for beginners to hold) we greatly admired, and wished to follow
very closely, as we fancied that it would be a short and easy method; but we
have found it even harder to observe than that system of ours by which we used
formerly to wander here and there in varied meditations through the whole body
of the Scriptures without being tied by any chains of perseverance. It is then
certain that no one is kept away from perfection of heart by not being able to
read, nor is rustic simplicity any hindrance to the possession of purity of
heart and mind, which lies close at hand for all, if only they will by constant
meditation on this verse keep the thoughts of the mind safe and sound towards
God.


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Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/the-works-of-john-cassian/
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