The same about those who think to be justified by works, 226 chapters
The same about those who think to be justified by works, 226 chapters
The same about those who think to be justified by works, 226 chapters
1 The wickedness of those who believe only outwardly will be exposed in the next scripture by those who firmly believe and have come to know the truth.
2 The Lord, wanting to show that every commandment is important, and the sonship of God is given to people by His blood, says: “When you have done everything that was commanded to you, say: ‘We, unprofitable servants, have done what we had to do'” (Lk. 17, 10). Therefore, the reward for deeds is not the Kingdom of Heaven, but the grace of the Lord, prepared for faithful servants.
3 The slave does not demand freedom as a reward, but pleases as a debtor and waits for grace.
4 Christ died, according to the Scriptures, for our sins and gives freedom to those who serve Him well (1 Cor. 15, 3). He says: “Okay, good and faithful servant! You were faithful in small things, I will make you over great things. Enter into the joy of your Lord” (Mt. 25, 23).
5 It is not the faithful servant who is established on the mind alone, but the one who believes in Christ, Who commanded obedience.
6 He who honors the Lord does what is commanded; the same one who has sinned or disobeyed bears as his own what is brought upon him for it.
7 When you love to study, you also love to work, only reason makes a person revolt.
8 Temptations that happen to us by chance teach us to be diligent, and those who do not want to repent, are drawn to repentance.
9 Sorrows that befall a man are the result of his own evils. When we endure them in prayer, we will again receive the good things of growth.
10 Some, when they were praised for their virtue, felt satisfaction and took the pleasure of their vanity for fun. And others, when their sins were exposed, felt the pain, and took the useful pain for the effect of sin.
11 Some, supposedly ascetics, exalt themselves before the more negligent, they think that they are justified by bodily works; when we, asserting ourselves only on knowledge, reproach those who do not know, we are much more insane than them.
12 Knowledge, even if it is true, is not yet certain when there are no deeds behind it; because the deed testifies to everything.
13 Because of carelessness in affairs, knowledge is greatly darkened. And those who completely neglected their affairs, the memory of those will gradually fade away.
14 That is why the Scripture advises to know God with understanding in order to serve Him with righteous deeds.
15 When we fulfill the commandments clearly, we receive from the Lord what is due according to the measure, and the benefit comes to us depending on our intention.
16 When someone wants to do something, but cannot, he stands before God the Witness of the Heart as having done it. This applies to both good and evil deeds.
17 The mind without the help of the body can do a lot of good and evil. The body without the mind cannot do any of this, because it only does what the mind has thought up.
18 Some, not obeying the commandments, think that they believe correctly, while others, obeying, expect the Kingdom as a proper reward. Both the first and second games are against the truth.
19 The master does not reward slaves out of obligation, and those who do not serve righteously do not receive freedom.
20 If Christ died for us, according to the Scriptures, then we live not for ourselves, but for Him who died for us and rose again. Therefore, we must serve Him until death. What right do we have to demand adoption?
21 Christ is the Lord by nature and the Lord by providence, because he created what was not, and those who died from sin, he redeemed with his blood, and he gave grace to those who believe in it.
22 When you hear the words in the Scriptures that the Lord will reward everyone according to his works, then do not think that the works are worthy of Gehenna or the Kingdom, but He will reward every Christian according to the works of disbelief in Him or faith, not as a reconciler, but as God, our Co-creator and Redeemer.
23 All of us, who were worthy of the baptismal font, do good deeds not for the sake of reward, but for the sake of preserving the purity given to us.
24 Every good deed that we perform with our being distances us from the enemy, but we cannot sanctify ourselves without grace.
25 The restrained avoids gluttony, the not covetous of wealth – usury, the silent – verbosity, the pure – love of pleasure, the honest – love of fornication, the self-satisfied – love of silver, the meek – embarrassment, the humble – vanity, the obedient – love of arguments, the one who reproaches himself – hypocrisy; so the one who prays avoids hopelessness, the poor avoids possessions, the confessor avoids renunciation, the martyr avoids idolatry. Do you see how every act of honor that we commit to death is nothing but the avoidance of sin? We have to avoid sin by nature, not because we want to reach the Kingdom.
26 Man barely preserves what is proper to him, and Christ gives sonship through the cross.
27 One commandment is partial, and the other is general. In one place it is said to give something to the poor, and in another it is commanded to renounce all possessions.
28 The action of grace, unknown to infants, is different, and the action of sin, which is assimilated to the truth, is different. It is good not to look at such actions through falsehood and not to curse for the sake of truth, but to bring everything to God with hope, because he knows what is useful in both cases.
29 He who wants to swim across the sea of thoughts, endures for a long time, is humble, watches, and refrains. And if he tries to start swimming without these three forces, he will disturb his heart, and he will not be able to swim across.
30 Silence is a warding off evil. Whoever also adds these four virtues to his prayer will not have much help in attaining dispassion.
31 It is impossible to be a silent mind without a body, nor to destroy the barrier between them without speechlessness and prayer.
32 “The flesh will desire against the spirit, and the spirit will desire against the flesh” (Ch. 5, 17), – whoever follows the spirit will not fulfill the desires of the flesh.
33 There is no perfect prayer without mental invocation. When the thought calls out without words, the Lord will hear it.
34 When the mind prays without distraction, it breaks the heart. But God will not despise the brokenhearted and humble.
35 And prayer is called a virtue, because it is the mother of virtues; she is a nation of virtues when she unites with Christ.
36 When we do something without prayer and good hope, it is after all harmful and imperfect.
37 When you hear that the last will be first and the first last (Mt. 19:30), know that we are talking about partakers of virtue and partakers of love. Love is the last of all virtues in terms of virtue, and the first of all in dignity, showing the last of those that were before it.
38 When you get tired while praying, or sin hurts you in every way, remember the exit from the body and the fierce torment. It is better to approach God with prayer and hope than to remember external things, even if they are useful.
39 No virtue alone will open our natural doors unless all virtues depend on each other.
40 There is no abstainer who feeds on thoughts, even if they are not useful; they are no more useful than hope.
41 Every unrepentant sin leads to death, even if a saint prays for another, it will not be heard.
42 He who righteously repents brings labor, which is not equal to his old sins, but also propitiates God with it.
43 We should do all the good that is possible by our nature every day. What shall we repay God for the previous evil?
44 No matter how much we increase virtue today, it will be an exposure of previous negligence, not a reward.
45 He who oppresses his mind, but seeks rest for the body, is like one who oppresses his body, but rejoices in the mind.
46 Carnal sorrow strengthens mental sorrow, and mental sorrow strengthens carnal. It is worse when they are combined.
47 It is a great virtue to endure all the sorrows that come, and to love closer to him who hates you, according to the word of the Lord.
48 A sign of genuine love is forgiveness. This is how the Lord of the field beat this world.
49 It is impossible to forgive some sins from the heart without true knowledge. It shows each individual what sorrows may come.
50 You will not lose anything of what you have left for the sake of the Lord, in due time you will be given much more.
51 When the mind forgets why a person has piety, then even the obvious work of virtue becomes useless.
52 If bad advice harms every person, it harms much more those who have accepted the ascetic life.
53 By deed be wise about human advice and God’s retribution; because there is no wiser or more useful word than action.
54 After works of piety comes intercession. This can be known from God’s law and conscience.
55 One accepted wisdom and, without thinking, delayed; another compared acceptance with truth. Likes to investigate, which of them has done more piety?
56 True knowledge consists in enduring sorrows and not blaming people for their troubles.
57 He who does good and seeks reward, serves not God, but his own will.
58 It is impossible, having sinned, to avoid retribution, except by repentance, which is equal in measure to the sin.
59 Some say: “We cannot do good unless we actually receive the grace of the Spirit.”
60 Those who, by their own will, are in pleasures leave, as the weak do not, even what is within their power.
61 Those who were baptized into Christ received a mysterious grace. Grace works according to the fulfillment of the commandments and secretly does not stop helping us, but it is in our power to do or not to do good according to our strength.
62 God-like grace awakens the conscience, that is why even those who did evil repented and pleased God.
63 Another grace is hidden in teaching one’s neighbor. Sometimes it comes with reading following the thought, and in this sequence it teaches the mind its truth. If we do not hide our talent in each of these cases, we will truly enter into the joy of the Lord.
64 When someone, before fulfilling the commandments, seeks the works of the Spirit, he is like a slave bought for silver, who, since he was bought, seeks release.
65 Whoever understood that external sorrows come with God’s justice, he, seeking the Lord, found knowledge with truth.
66 When you will understand, according to the Scriptures, that God’s decrees will come down throughout the earth, every case will be for you as a teacher of God-understanding.
67 Who thinks about what happens to him, and only God knows the difference between what happens.
68 When you suffer some dishonor from people, immediately understand it as a glorification from God, and in dishonor you will be without sorrow and without confusion, but in glory, when it comes, you will be faithful and uncondemned.
69 When, according to God’s favor, you will be praised by many, do not add anything boastful to God’s providence, so that you do not fall into the opposite from the change.
70 Crops will not germinate without land and water, and a person will not benefit without voluntary labor and divine intercession.
71 It is impossible to go to the rain without a cloud, and to please God without a good conscience.
72 Do not refuse to learn, even when you are very wise. Fishing is more useful than our wisdom.
73 When the heart turns away from industriousness due to some pleasure, then it is as difficult to restrain it as a weighted stone that has moved downwards.
74 As a small calf, running to the grass, falls from a cliff, so it is with the soul, which is gradually tempted by thoughts.
75 When the mind, being courageous in the Lord, detaches the soul from long-term occupations, then the heart is tormented, as if it were being tortured, because of the mind and passion, which pull it to and fro.
76 As sailors, hoping for profit, patiently bear the heat, so those who hate sin love exposure, because heat stops the winds, and exposure the passions.
77 Just as running away in winter or on the Sabbath is painful for the body and defiles the soul, so is the disturbance of passions, which burdens the aging body and the sanctified soul.
78 There is no one as good and generous as the Lord, and to the one who does not repent, He does not forgive sins.
79 Many of us are sad because of our sins, and we gladly accept the causes of our sins.
80 The mole that crawls underground is blind and cannot see the stars, and he who does not believe in temporal things cannot believe in eternal things either.
81 True knowledge – grace above grace – was given by God to people, He teaches his communicants to believe first of all in the One who gave it.
82 When the sinful soul does not accept the sorrows they find, then the angels say to it: “We healed Babylon, but it was not healed.”
83 The mind, which forgets true knowledge, fights with man for what is harmful as well as for what is useful.
84 As fire cannot burn in water, so an evil thought cannot remain in a God-loving heart. Because everyone who loves God is also a hard worker. Voluntary labor is the enemy of pleasure by nature.
85 When passion grew out of someone’s good will, then later, even though the partaker does not want it, it forcibly rises against him.
86 We love the causes of involuntary thoughts, and that is why they come, and we love not only the causes but also the deeds of the involuntary thoughts.
87 High-mindedness and pride are the causes of blasphemy, and love of money and vanity are unkindness and hypocrisy.
88 When the devil sees that the mind has prayed from a sincere heart, then he sends great and malicious temptations. He wants to destroy small virtues with big attacks.
89 Thought, when lingering, reveals the passion of man; when a person destroys it, it means battle and resistance.
90 There are three mental places where the mind alternately enters: natural, supernatural, and unnatural; when he enters the natural place, he discovers that he is guilty of evil thoughts and confesses his sins to God, recognizing the causes of his passions. When he is in an unnatural place, he forgets God’s truth and fights with people as if they offend him; when he is introduced to the supernatural, he does not find the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which the apostle called them: love, joy, peace and others. And he knows that when he chooses bodily desires, he cannot stay there inside and, leaving that place, he falls into sin and the unfortunate events that follow, although, perhaps, not immediately, but after some time – the truth of God knows about this.
91 Everyone’s knowledge is as true as it is affirmed by meekness, humility and love.
92 Everyone who was baptized in the Orthodox way received grace mysteriously. He learns about something else when he fulfills the commandments.
93 When Christ’s commandment is carried out according to conscience, it gives comfort to many heartaches, but comfort comes to each of these pains in its own time.
94 Do not stop praying in every matter, so as not to do anything without God’s help.
95 Nothing works as powerfully as prayer, and to please God there is nothing more useful.
96 Every fulfillment of the commandments depends on it, because there is nothing higher than love for God.
97 A prayer that does not ascend is a sign of the love of God that resides in it, and carelessness in prayer and pride are signs of voluptuousness.
98 He who watches without sorrow, and endures long, and prays, is truly a partaker of the Holy Spirit. And whoever experiences sorrows and endures them willingly, he quickly receives patronage.
99 One commandment turns out to be higher than another, just as one faith turns out to be stronger than another faith.
100 There is “faith from hearing” (Rom. 10, 17), according to the word of the apostle, and there is faith – “the guarantee of what we hope for” (Heb. 11, 1).
101 It is good to answer those who ask with words, and even better to help them with prayer and virtue. After all, with them, the one who offers himself to God helps his neighbor with his help.
102 When you want to help someone who loves to learn with a short word, show him prayer and righteous faith, and the patience of the sorrows they find. Everything else that is good is obtained by these.
103 When someone trusts in God in some matter, he no longer argues with his neighbor about it.
104 If the cause of everything involuntary is everything voluntary, as the Scriptures say, then no one is such an enemy to man as he is to himself.
105 Every evil is preceded by ignorance, and the second is followed by unbelief.
106 Run away from temptations with patience and prayer, when you resist without them, more temptations come.
107 He who is meek according to God is wiser than the wise, and the humble in heart is stronger than the strong. Because he carries the yoke of Christ in his mind.
108 Everything we say or do without prayer will later be either false or harmful, and our actions will expose us.
109 Through deeds, words, and thoughts, individuals become righteous, but through faith, grace, and repentance, many become righteous.
110 Just as the one who repents is alien to high wisdom, so it is impossible for the one who sins of his own free will to be humble.
111 Humility is not remorse, but the grace of God and the knowledge of mercy.
112 What a house is to air, so is the verbal mind to divine grace. And as much as you take something extra out of the house, so much air will enter inside, and as much as you put something in the mind, so much grace will leave.
113 Household things are utensils and dishes, and the things of the mind are vanity and the love of pleasure.
114 The space for the heart is trust in God, and the narrowness for it is bodily care.
115 The only and unchanging grace of the Spirit works in everyone as it wants.
116 Just as the rain, spilling on the earth, gives plants the proper quality: sweetness to the sweet, strength to the strong, so grace, which invariably enters the hearts of the faithful, bestows actions characteristic of virtues.
117 For the sake of Christ, grace becomes food for the hungry, sweet drink for the thirsty, clothing for the frozen, rest for the laborer, testimony for the prayerful, consolation for the one who cries.
118 When, therefore, you will hear the Scriptures, which speak about the Holy Spirit, Who descended on each of the apostles, whether He rested on the prophet, whether He works, whether He is upset, whether He is quenched or ignited; and also, those, therefore, are beginning to be filled, and those are already filled with the Holy Spirit – then understand this not as a separation, or transformation, or change of the Holy Spirit, but believe that, as we announced, He is constant, unchanging and all-powerful. Therefore, in his actions, he remains as he is, and what he likes, he bestows, like God. Because he, like the sun, completely poured out on those who were baptized. The more each of us hates the passions that darken and rejects them, the more he becomes enlightened, and the more he loves them and thinks about them, the more he darkens.
119 He who hates passions rejects their causes, but he who remains in the causes, even though he does not want to, falls into passion.
120 When evil thoughts act in us, let us blame ourselves, and not the sin of our fathers.
121 The roots of thoughts are obvious sins that we commit with our hands, feet, and mouth.
122 It is impossible to unite with passion in the thought of one who does not love its cause.
123 Who among those who do not fear shame joins themselves with vanity, or who does not fear humiliation, but is troubled by dishonor? Who, having a broken and humble heart, accepts carnal pleasure? Who, believing in Christ, cares about temporal things or makes war?
124 When someone rejects someone else, and the rejected one does not argue with either word or thought, then he has acquired true knowledge and shows firm faith to the Lord.
125 “Deceitful sons of men to deceive in measure” (Ps. 61, 10), and God preserves what is true for everyone.
126 Neither the one who offends has excess, nor the offended lack; “a man walks like a shadow, but in vain he worries” (Ps. 38, 7).
127 When you see someone who suffers pain due to numerous dishonors, know that he, fed up with thoughts of vanity, reaps the painful sheaves of what he sowed in his heart.
128 He who has enjoyed bodily pleasures more than he likes, he will pay for the excess a hundredfold with pain.
129 The abbot must tell the novice what is necessary; when he listens to him, warn about the troubles that will come.
130 The offended, who does not exact from the offender, in this he believes in Christ and will receive a hundredfold in this age, and will inherit eternal life.
131 Remembrance of God causes pain in the heart for piety, but anyone who forgets God is comforted by pleasures and knows no pain.
132 Do not say that the dispassionate cannot grieve. If he does not grieve for himself, then he should do it for his neighbor.
133 When the enemy keeps a list of numerous unconscious sins, then he forces the debtor to commit them consciously, abusing the law of sin.
134 When you want to always remember God, do not reject sorrows as unjust, but accept them as those that come rightly. After all, patience in every case awakens the memory of God, and the refusal of patience reduces the condition of the heart’s wisdom and leads to forgetfulness due to ease.
135 If you want the Lord to cover your sins, do not show in front of people that you have any virtue. After all, what we do with our virtues, the same God does with our sins.
136 Concealing virtue, do not exalt yourself like one who has done right. After all, it is good not only to hide what is good, but also not to think about anything that is not allowed.
137 Rejoice not when you do good to someone, but when you endure the denial of the person to whom you did good. As night replaces day, sin replaces good deeds.
138 Vanity, love of money and love of pleasures will not allow good deeds to remain undefiled, unless they are the first to fall from the fear of God.
139 God’s mercy is hidden in forced illnesses, which prompts the patient to repent and frees him from eternal torment.
140 Some, obeying the commandments, expect to be weighed next to their sins; others, fulfilling them, propitiate the One who died for our sins. I like to find out which of them thinks correctly.
141 Fear of Gehenna and love of the Kingdom prompt us to endure sorrows, moreover, not from ourselves, but from Him Who knows our thoughts.
142 He who believes in future benefits avoids present pleasures without experiencing them; he who does not believe is in pleasures and without worries.
143 Do not say: “How can a poor person indulge in pleasures, not having such at times?”; some can even in thoughts wretchedly indulge in pleasures.
144 One thing is knowledge of things, and another is knowledge of truth. To the extent that the sun is separated from the moon, the second is more useful than the first.
145 Knowledge of things comes according to the fulfillment of the commandments, and knowledge of the truth comes according to the hope in Christ.
146 When you want to be saved and come to an understanding of the truth, try to always go beyond the sensual and cling to God with hope alone. This is how you will meet the authorities and authorities, who will wage a battle with you with attacks of thoughts. Conquering them by prayer and staying in good hope, you will have the grace of God, which will save you from future wrath.
147 Whoever understands the mysterious meaning of the words of St. Paul, who said: “It is necessary to fight against the spirits of malice”, he will also understand the Lord’s parable about the need to always pray and not be sad.
148 The law figuratively commands to work six days, and to rest on the seventh. To work means for the soul to do good deeds, and rest and peace for the soul consists in selling everything and giving to the poor, according to the word of the Lord, and, having calmed down in hardship, to be in conditional hope. Paul urges us to hasten to enter this rest, saying: “Let us strive, therefore, to enter that rest” (Heb. 4:11).
149 We said this without closing the future or asserting that there will be retribution for everything, but only explained that one should first have the grace of the Holy Spirit in one’s heart and thus enter the Kingdom of Heaven according to its measure. Announcing this, the Lord also says: “The Kingdom of God is within you” (Lk. 17, 21 – quoted by Ogienko). The apostle also says about this: “Faith is the guarantee of what we hope for” (Heb. 11, 1). And also: “Run so as to […] grasp [the reward]” (1 Cor. 9, 24). And again: “Examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith. […] Do you not know […] that Jesus Christ dwells in you? Are you untested!” (2 Chron. 13, 5).
150 He who has learned the truth does not resist the arrival of sorrows, because he knows that they teach a person the fear of God.
151 The mention of past sins harms one who has a good hope. When it comes with sadness – it takes away from hope, when it comes without sadness – it puts an ancient filth inside.
152 When the mind, renouncing itself, preserves firm hope, then the enemy, hiding under the guise of confession, reveals ancient sins in order to stir up passions forgotten thanks to God’s grace, and secretly harms a person. Then the strong and passionately hating mind will darken, embarrassed by what has been done. And when he is also gloomy and voluptuous, then everything will linger in such thoughts and converse with memories – then such memories will be like an attack of passions, and not a confession.
153 When you want to bring a non-judgmental confession to God, do not mention in detail the connection with thoughts, but bravely endure their attacks.
154 They find sorrow for previous sins, bringing with them everything that is associated with sin.
155 He who is intelligent and knows the truth confesses to God not by remembering what he has done, but by the patience of what he finds.
156 Having rejected pain and dishonor, do not promise that you will repent with other virtues. Vanity and impatience of pain are accustomed to serve sin even if we are righteous in deeds.
157 Just as pain and dishonor usually give rise to virtue, so pleasures and vain glory are sin.
158 All bodily pleasure comes from previous comfort, and comfort is generated by unbelief.
159 He who is under sin cannot overcome carnal wisdom by himself, because his body is constantly inflamed.
160 The passionate like to pray and obey. But even with prayer and hearing, it is barely possible to overcome the attacks of passions.
161 He who mortifies his will by obedience and prayer is an experienced ascetic who conducts a mental struggle, distancing himself from sensual things.
162 He who does not reconcile his will with God’s will stumbles in his endeavors and helps his opponent.
163 When you see two sinners who have love for each other, know that one is helping the other in wantonness.
164 The highly wise and the vain are easily reconciled to each other: the one, slavishly bowing before the vain, praises, and the other, often praising the highly wise, magnifies.
165 The God-loving listener benefits from the first and from the second. When they speak well of him, he becomes more careful, but when he is exposed in a bad way, he hastens to repent. We like to have life according to our success, and according to our life we should offer prayers to God.
166 It is good to keep the greatest commandment and not to worry about anything openly, nor to pray openly, but only to seek the Kingdom and the word of God. If we still worry about some need, then we should pray for each one. After all, whoever does something or takes care of something without prayer does not succeed when the work is finished. And this is what the Lord says about: “Without me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
167 The one who neglects the commandment to pray is overtaken by the most ridiculous disobedience, sending him from one to another like a prisoner.
168 Accept present sorrows, hoping for future benefits; the mind will find the truth and will easily get rid of anger and sadness.
169 Whoever accepts insult and dishonor as the truth, follows the apostolic path, taking up the cross and putting on the shackles. Whoever tries to guard his heart without this, wanders his mind and falls into temptations and devilish snares.
170 It is never possible for a wrestler to defeat evil thoughts without a reason, or a reason without thoughts – when we repel one even a little, the other will soon defeat us.
171 He who competes with people, fearing patience and humiliation, either here suffers excessively from the sorrows that he finds, or in the next age he is mercilessly tormented.
172 Whoever wants to stop all the inflow of grief, let him make peace with God through prayer and firmly trust in Him in his mind, and avoid requests for sensual things as much as possible.
173 When the devil finds a person who unnecessarily engages in bodily affairs, he first steals the benefit that he perceives for his mind, and then – the hope in God, as if he were to freeze his head.
174 When you reach the stronghold of pure prayer, do not at that time entertain thoughts about various things that the enemy brings, so that you do not lose more. After all, it is better to shoot him with the arrows of prayer, imprisoned somewhere by fate, than to talk with him when he brings evil and distracts us from prayer so that we notice him.
175 Understanding things during temptation and despair benefits a person, but during prayer it harms.
176 When the lot fell to you to teach in the Lord, and they do not listen to you, be sad in your mind and do not worry in reality; when you are sad, you will not be condemned with the disobedient, but when you are worried awake, you will be tempted.
177 When you interpret, do not hide from those present what they need to know, telling about the beautiful in detail, and about the cruel – mysteriously.
178 Do not tell the one who is not subordinate to you about his transgressions. Let the one who has power over him do it.
179 What is often talked about is useful to everyone. And everyone’s conscience also shows what he needs.
180 Whoever speaks truthfully, he himself must accept the words, as if from God. Because it belongs to God, who does not speak, but acts.
181 Do not argue with those who oppose the truth, unless they have promised you obedience, for this will only result in hatred between you, according to the Scriptures.
182 He who allows a novice to contradict where he does not like, tempts him in this matter and inclines him to reject the vows of obedience.
183 He who teaches and punishes a sinner with the fear of God acquires a virtue that resists sinning, but he who remembers evil and judges with an evil will falls, according to the spiritual law, into the same passion.
184 He who has learned the law well, fears the Lawgiver and, fearing Him, shuns all evil.
185 Do not be bilingual, saying one thing in words, but feeling another in your conscience – such a Scripture swears by.
186 One speaks the truth and is hated by fools, according to the word of the apostle, and the other is a hypocrite and is loved for it. However, neither such hatred nor such love is long-lasting, because the Lord will reward everyone in due time.
187 Whoever wants to avoid future sufferings, let him joyfully endure the present ones. So, intelligently changing one thing for another, you will avoid big pains with small pains.
188 Restrain your mind from self-praise and your thoughts from high-mindedness, so that you will not be allowed to do something evil, because it is not man himself who does good, but the All-Knowing God.
189 Omniscient God determines what we are worth according to our deeds, thoughts, and intentions.
190 Involuntary thoughts grow out of previous sin, and free ones – from free will. Therefore, the latter are the cause of the former.
191 Evil thoughts that arise against intention are followed by sadness, and therefore they quickly perish, and those that arise according to desire are followed by joy, so it is not easy to get rid of them.
192 He who loves pleasure is saddened by reproaches and endures adversity, but the lover of God is saddened by praise and usury.
193 He who does not recognize God’s judgments, walks a steep path with his mind, and throws it lightly: when he is praised, he exalts himself, when he is persecuted, he is offended, while feasting, he commits adultery, and, enduring evil, he weeps; when he understands – he wants others to see it, and when he does not understand – he pretends to understand, when he gets rich – he is proud, when he becomes poor – he is a hypocrite, when he is full – he becomes defiant, and when he fasts – he falls into vanity, he likes to argue with those who expose him, and he looks at those who forgive him as madmen.
194 If, therefore, someone does not acquire the knowledge of the truth and the fear of God by the grace of Christ, then not only his passions will fiercely wound him, but also accidents.
195 When you want to solve a difficult matter, ask what God likes about it, and you will find a useful solution to it.
196 The whole creation serves those matters concerning which God is pleased, and from which He turns away, the creation also resists.
197 Whoever resists sorrows, resists, even if unconsciously, God’s commandment, and whoever accepts them with true knowledge, according to the Scriptures, he “patiently trusts in the Lord.”
198 When you find a temptation, do not look for what or why it came, but look for how to endure it gracefully and without sorrow and without malice.
199 Another’s evil does not add sin, if we do not accept it with evil thoughts.
200 If it is not easy to find someone who pleases without temptation, then it is necessary to thank God for each case.
201 If Peter had left fishing at night, he would not have caught a catch during the day, and if Paul had not been blinded with his sensual eyes, he would not have seen mentally, and if Stephen had not been slandered as a blasphemer, the heavens would not have been opened to him and he would not have seen God.
202 Just as an act according to God is called a virtue, so an unexpected sorrow is a temptation.
203 God tested Abraham, that is, he sent sorrows for his benefit, not so that he would understand what God is like – he who saw God, saw everything that was before the foundation of the world – but in order to teach him to believe perfectly.
204 Every sorrow exposes the deviation of the will – whether it deviates to the right or to the left. That is why accidental sorrow is called a temptation, because it tests the hidden desires of the tempted.
205 The fear of God prompts us to do battle with sin; when we fight, the grace of God rises against him.
206 To be wise means not only to see the truth according to the natural order, but also to tolerate the cunning of wrongdoers as a matter of course. Because those who have learned only the first, rise to pride, those who have achieved the second – acquire humble wisdom.
207 When you want to avoid evil thoughts, accept offense for the soul and sorrow for the flesh, and this not from time to time, but at all times, in every place and in every matter.
208 He who of his own free will learns from sorrows will not be possessed by involuntary thoughts, but he who does not accept the former will be captured by the latter, even if he does not want to.
209 When you are offended and your insides and heart are stirred, do not be sad that what was lying inside rose up by means of a plan, but, rejoicing, overcome the thoughts that begin to come. Know that when they are destroyed, as soon as they appear, then sin is also destroyed. When thoughts come often and linger, sin increases.
210 Without breaking the heart, it is impossible to completely free oneself from passions. And triple abstinence breaks the heart: from sleep, food, and carnal pleasure. The love of pleasure leads to the moderation of these three, and the love of pleasure gives rise to evil thoughts and interferes with prayer and worthy service.
211 He who has fallen to lead the brothers, let him guard his rank and not keep silent about what he likes to say when he is rebuked. In what they obey you, you will reward them for their virtue, and in what they disobey, completely let them go, and you will receive the same from the One who said: “Forgive and you will be forgiven” (Lk. 6, 37).
212 Every case is similar to trade: those who know how to buy will acquire a lot, those who can’t will suffer losses.
213 When someone does not listen from the first word, do not force him by arguing, but acquire for yourself the property that he rejected. Kindness will be more beneficial to you than correcting him.
214 When harm to one affects many, then one does not like to endure for a long time or seek one’s own benefit, one likes to seek benefit for many in order to be saved. Because the virtue of many is more useful than the virtue of one.
215 When someone falls into some sin and does not feel sorry for what he has done, he will easily fall into the same trap again.
216 As a lioness does not approach a calf with love, shamelessness does not accept sorrow for God with joy.
217 As a sheep does not come together with a wolf to give birth to lambs, so heartache does not come together with satiety to conceive virtue.
218 No one can have sorrow and pain for God if he does not first love the cause of them.
219 The fear of God and exposure contain sorrow, but restraint and vigilance are combined with pain.
220 Whoever does not learn from the written commandments and teachings, he will be driven with a whip on a horse’s back and a bridle on a donkey [Prov. 26, 3]. If even this is not enough, then “with a bridle and rods they will pull his jaws” [Ps. 31, 9] and will lead.
221 He who is easily overcome by small temptations will be overcome by his strength and great ones, but he who overcomes small temptations will face great ones in the Lord.
222 Do not try to teach by denunciations of someone who boasts of virtues. After all, he cannot love both praise and truth.
223 Every word of Christ reveals God’s mercy, and truth, and wisdom, and He conveys their power through hearing to the one who listens willingly; therefore, the unmerciful, and the unrighteous, who do not listen willingly, could not know the wisdom of God, and crucified the One who taught it. Therefore, we also see whether we listen to Him willingly. He says: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. […] My Father will love him, and I will love him, and I will reveal myself to him” (John 14, 15.21). Do you see how he hid his revelation in the commandments, because in all the commandments we are talking about love for God and neighbor, which arises from distance from things and silence of thoughts.
224 Knowing this, the Lord commands us, saying: “Do not be sad about tomorrow”, and rightly so. If someone has not freed himself from things and grieves over them, then how can he free himself from evil thoughts? When one is possessed by thoughts, how can he see the natural sin that lies beneath them, which is itself darkness and encircles the soul, having its origin in evil thoughts and deeds? The devil tempts him with an ordinary adverb and shows the beginning, and a person sweetly unites with him with his voluptuous vanity, although he does not want to by reason, but by action he enjoys and accepts. When a person does not see the sin that dominates him, when will he be cleansed by praying for him? And who has not purified himself, how will he find the “testing place” (Ezek. 37, 27 – quoted according to Ohienko) of pure being? Who will not find this, as they will see the inner house of Christ? (Zech. 2, 14; John 14, 23; 1 Kr. 13, 6). Because we are the house of God, according to the words of the prophet, the evangelist, and the apostle.
225 Therefore, it is good to search according to the specified order in order to find this house and to knock unceasingly with prayer, so that here or at the end the Lord will open to us and not say to the negligent: “I do not know you, where are you from” (Lk. 13, 25). And we should not only ask and accept, but also keep what we have received. There are some who, having received, destroyed. Therefore, ordinary knowledge of proper things or experience regarding them, perhaps, those who began to learn later, and young people, and long-term actions with patience hardly even the most reverent of elders have. Many of the experienced ones lost it due to inattention and found it again with many efforts and acquired it. Therefore, let’s not stop doing it until we get what is being taken away from us.
226 We have come to know these institutions of the spiritual law – they are few of the many, and the great psalmist endlessly advises them to study and do them by often praising the Lord Jesus. He likes glory, and power, and worship now and forever. Amen.