Our Venerable Father Philotheos of Sinai: Forty Texts on Watchfulness
1. There is within us a noetic warfare more grievous than the warfare of the senses. He who works at piety must therefore go forward and press on noetically towards this aim: to gather up perfectly in the heart the remembrance of God, as one gathers pearls or precious stones. He must leave everything behind and despise both the body and the present life, so as to have God alone in the heart. For, as the divine Chrysostom says, the noetic vision of God is sufficient to destroy the wicked adversaries.
2. Those who struggle noetically must draw from the Divine Scriptures with all their strength whatever is said about spiritual activity, and apply it to the intellect like healing plasters. From early morning, with vigilant remembrance of God and with unceasing prayer to Jesus Christ in the soul, they must stand manfully and firmly at the gates of the heart, slaying with noetic guard all the sinners of the land, and with rapture and long, faithful remembrance of God cutting off the heads of the mighty and the first beginnings of warlike thoughts. For we know that in noetic struggles there is a certain divine activity and order. And thus it is fitting for those who force themselves to labour until the hour of the meal. Afterwards, having given thanks to the Lord who, solely out of love for mankind, feeds us generously both bodily and spiritually, one should wear oneself down with the remembrance of death and with meditation; and on the next day again perform the morning work with diligence. Acting thus every day, we shall barely escape in the Lord the nets of the noetic enemy. When this activity is firmly established in us, it gives birth to three virtues: faith, hope and love. Faith truly inspires us to fear God; hope, passing beyond servile fear, unites man with the love of God. For it is said that hope does not disappoint, since it knows how that twofold love is born on which the law and the prophets depend. And he who partakes of love fulfils the law of God; therefore love never fails, neither in this age nor in the age to come.
3. Very rarely can one find those who keep stillness in the intellect. Their work is only this: to grow wise so as to draw divine grace near to themselves, and joy from it. If we wish to practise the love of wisdom in Christ — that is, that activity of the intellect which consists in guarding the intellect and in watchfulness — let us begin this path with abstinence from abundant food, setting a measure in food and drink according to our strength. Watchfulness is called the straight road that leads to the Kingdom, both to the Kingdom within us and to the Kingdom to come. And the activity of the intellect, since it builds up and makes bright the habits of the intellect, and leads the intellect from passion to dispassion, is like a bright window towards which God bends down and through which He appears to the intellect.
4. Where humility and the remembrance of God are compounded of watchfulness and attentiveness, and where prayer is often raised against the enemies, there is the place of God, or heaven in the heart, in which the host of demons is afraid to linger, because God dwells in that place.
5. There is nothing more troublesome than much speaking, nothing fiercer than an unrestrained tongue; nothing can ruin the state of the soul more. What we build up every day, they destroy; and what we gather with hard labour, the soul again scatters through the tongue. What is worse than this unrestrained evil? It must be limited, held down, and even compelled, so that the tongue may serve only what is needful. Who can describe all the desolation of soul that comes from the tongue?
6. The first door leading to the noetic Jerusalem, to attentiveness of the intellect, is intelligent silence of the lips, even though the intellect is not yet still. The second door is moderate abstinence from food and drink. The third door is the constant remembrance of death and meditation upon it, which purify intellect and body. Once, having seen the beauty of this last, my spirit — not my eye — marvelled and was delighted, and desired to have it as the companion of my life, and began to care for its beauty and honour. How humble it is, how full of joy and sorrow together, how discerning: it dreads the deserved torments to come, it fears the changeableness of life; from the bodily eyes it draws forth living, healing water, and from the noetic eyes it sends out a spring of wise thought which, murmuring and playing, gladdens the mind. This daughter of Adam of whom I speak — that is, the remembrance of death — I longed to have always as my companion, to fall asleep with her, to converse with her, and to obtain with her what shall come after the end; yet often I was hindered by foul forgetfulness, the dark daughter of the devil.
7. There is a warfare in which the wicked spirits fight against the soul in secret, through thoughts. For the soul is itself invisible, and therefore those hostile powers come against it with an invisible warfare, according to its nature. And one may see between them weapons and armies, and cunning stratagems, and a fearful battle, and the clash of combatants, and victories and defeats on both sides. Only one thing is lacking to this noetic battle of which we speak, compared with the battle of the senses: the appointed hour when the fighting begins. In warfare of the senses both the time and the manner of fighting are appointed; but noetic warfare falls suddenly upon the heart itself, without warning, and puts the soul to death by sin. Why and for what purpose is this struggle, and why is this battle raised against us? Because we do not do the will of God, for which we pray when we say: «Thy will be done in us» (Matt. 6:10). This will is God’s commandments. And when someone in the Lord has passed with his intellect from demonic seduction to great watchfulness, he will keep guard over their entrances and stratagems woven of fantasy, and, having gained experience, will expose them. That is why the Lord too, directing His purpose against the foul demons and foreseeing their thoughts, set His commandments with their prohibitions against their designs.
8. When we grow accustomed to self-restraint and to fleeing from the evils that come upon us through the five senses, then we shall be able also to guard the heart together with Jesus; and He will illumine our heart, and with warm longing for His goodness our intellect will come to know Him. For we have resolved to purify the heart for no other reason than this: that when constant attentiveness has scattered the cloud of wickedness which has come forth from the space of the heart, we may clearly behold the Sun of righteousness, Jesus, and be in part illumined in intellect by the words of His majesty. For these become known not to all, but only to those who purify their thoughts.
9. Every day it is fitting to make ourselves such as we ought to be when we stand before God. For the prophet Hosea says: «Keep mercy and judgement, and wait continually upon your God» (Hos. 12:6). And Malachi says in the name of God: «A son honours his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honour? And if I am a master, where is the fear of me? says the Lord of hosts» (Mal. 1:6). And the Apostle says: «Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit» (2 Cor. 7:1). And Wisdom says: «Above all else guard your heart, for from it flow the springs of life» (Prov. 4:23). And the Lord Jesus Christ says: «First cleanse the inside of the cup and of the dish, that the outside also may be clean» (Matt. 23:26).
10. Ill-timed conversations give birth in the hearers either to hatred of us, or to reproach and mockery from those who see the folly of our words, or to the defilement of conscience, or to condemnation from God and the grieving of the Holy Spirit, which is worse than all the rest.
11. He who purifies his heart and for the Lord’s sake tears out sin by the roots, and labours for divine contemplation, and sees with his intellect what is invisible to many, must not on this account rise up against anyone. Among created beings there is none purer than the bodiless, none more intelligent than an angel. Yet the devil, when he exalted himself, was cast down from heaven like lightning, for his self-conceit was as uncleanness before God. We know how those who seek for gold work: unnoticed by others.
12. The Apostle says that he who strives «is temperate in all things» (1 Cor. 9:25); for it is impossible to eat to satiety and at the same time to fight against principalities and invisible powers and evil, wicked forces, while bound to this suffering flesh which always lusts against the spirit. «For the Kingdom of God is not food and drink» (Rom. 14:17). «The mind of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it» (Rom. 8:7), says the Apostle. And it cannot because it is itself earthly, mingled of bile, blood and phlegm; it is always drawn downwards, always has passions for earthly things and delights in the fleeting pleasures of this age. «The mind of the flesh leads to death… Those who are in the flesh cannot please God» (Rom. 8:6, 8).
13. Much humility is needed by us who care for the guarding of the intellect for the Lord’s sake — first before God, and then before men. In many ways we must break our heart, learning everything that humbles us. And the remembrance of our former life in the world can break and humble the heart, if we remember it all well and consider in our intellect all our sins committed from childhood, except those of the flesh — for it is harmful to recall those. This remembrance can humble us, and give birth to tears, and move us with our whole heart to give thanks to God; and so likewise can the constant, unfailing remembrance of death. For this gives birth both to weeping with a certain sweetness and joy, and to watchfulness of intellect. The conceit which prompts us to look down upon the earth from on high is well humbled by the remembrance of the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ, when memory gathers them all together and recalls them. From this too come tears. Besides this, the soul is humbled by God’s countless benefits towards us, which we may count over and consider; for we have a battle with the proud demons.
14. Do not refuse out of self-love this saving medicine for the soul. Otherwise you are no disciple of Christ, nor even an imitator of the Apostle Paul, who says: «I am not worthy to be called an apostle» (1 Cor. 15:9). And he says further that at first he blasphemed, persecuted and injured. Do you see, proud man, that the saint did not forget his former life? All the saints from the creation of the world until now have clothed themselves in this last of God’s garments. Therefore our Lord Jesus Christ Himself — the incomprehensible, unsearchable and ineffable God — wishing to show the way of eternal life and holiness, was clothed in humility throughout His whole life in the body. Rightly, then, may holy humility be called a divine virtue, and the commandment of the Master, and His vessel. Angels too and all the bright and divine powers learn this virtue and preserve it, knowing with what a fall the proud Satan fell. As an image of how angels and men should fear, the evil one lies in the abyss, for through his pride he proved the most dishonourable of all beings before God. We know also with what a fall Adam fell through pride. Having, then, so many examples of this exalting virtue, let us always humble ourselves in every way possible, making use of them. Let us be humbled in soul and body, in mind and desire, in words and thoughts, in outward form, both without and within — where we must be most watchful of all — so that Jesus Christ, the Son of God and God, who is for us, may not be against us. «The Lord opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble» (Prov. 3:34). And again: «Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord» (Prov. 16:5). And: «He who humbles himself will be exalted» (Luke 18:14). And: «Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart» (Matt. 11:29). Let us therefore be attentive.
15. «Take heed to yourselves», says the Saviour, «lest your hearts be weighed down with gluttony and drunkenness and the cares of this life» (Luke 21:34). He who strives «is temperate in all things» (1 Cor. 9:25). Knowing all this that is said about us in Divine Scripture, let us live our life with self-restraint. First of all, let us teach the body, by a virtuous manner and habit, to turn away from abundant food, giving it nourishment in measure. In this way it is easiest to quiet even the stirrings of desire and to subject it to its ruler, that is, to the rational faculty; and, to tell the whole truth, in this way also the movements of anger are quieted, and we are easily set far from other transgressions. Therefore those experienced in the virtues account complete self-restraint a virtue, that is, withdrawal from every kind of wickedness. The first cause of purity is God, the cause and Giver of everything good; and then a moderate abstinence from abundant food, kept the same every day.
16. Satan contradicts God, so that the will of God — that is, God’s commandments — may not be done. He wars against God by preventing us from fulfilling the commandments. God wills that His all-holy will should be accomplished through us — that is, as I have said, His divine and life-giving commandments — through us and with His help, destroying the ruinous designs of the evil one. The senseless desires of the enemy, who tries to resist God and thereby to break God’s commandments, God Himself destroys by means of human weakness. Look for yourself and see whether it is not so. All the commandments of the divine Gospel are a law for the three powers of the soul and make it healthy when it fulfils what they command. Against these three powers of the soul the devil wars day and night. And if Satan openly wars against the three powers, then he wars against the commandments of Christ; for Christ gives His commandments as a law for the three powers of the soul: the incensive, the desiring and the rational. See what is said in the Gospel: «Everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgement» (Matt. 5:22); and other commandments also heal anger. The enemy in his turn tries to pervert this commandment and the others, inclining us towards disputes, rancour and envy. The adversary himself knows that the guide of the incensive power is the rational power, and into it, as I have said, he shoots his arrows through thoughts, by images of envy, by the desire for disputes, quarrels, flattery and vainglory; and by this he moves the rational power to abandon its rule, to hand it over to anger and to leave it without any governance. And anger, having cast off its helmsman, brings out through the lips words that were first laid in the heart, hidden there by hostile thoughts and by the negligence of the intellect. Then it becomes clear that the heart is filled not with the divine Spirit and divine thoughts, but with sin, as the Lord said: «Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks» (Luke 6:45). And when the evil one has forced a man to utter the words he himself has taught him, then he will say to his brother not only «good-for-nothing» or «fool», but other wounding words as well, and many times it comes even to murder. Such is what the evil one does against God, who gave the commandment not to be angry without cause. It would have been possible not to come to wounding words at all, if at the first provocation it had been driven from the heart by inward attentiveness and prayer. So the all-destroyer accomplishes his designs, if by the thoughts he has put into the heart he manages to overthrow God’s commandment.
17. And what does the divine commandment lay down for the desiring power? «Whoever looks at a woman with desire has already committed adultery with her in his heart» (Matt. 5:28). Knowing that God has given such a commandment, the evildoer weaves his nets against it. Having removed the object that might arouse desire, he raises the war within, painting vivid images in the intellect and pictures of unchastity; sometimes he even makes us hear words that provoke passion, and other things which those of experienced intellect may perceive.
18. And what is the commandment concerning the rational power? «But I say to you, do not swear at all… Let your word be: Yes, yes; No, no» (Matt. 5:34, 37). And again: «Whoever does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple» (Luke 14:33). «Enter by the narrow gate» (Matt. 7:13). All these are commandments concerning the rational power. The adversary, then, as though wishing to overcome some brave commander — that is, the rational power — draws it away from sound judgement by thoughts of gluttony and negligence. Thus it loses its authority over the other powers of the soul; and he mocks it as a drunken commander, and sets upon it that serpent, anger, and lust, the servants of his desires. And the other powers, the desiring and the incensive, when the rational power abandons them, use our five senses as their servants, so as to sin openly. And the transgressions are these: the eyes become curious, for there is no intellect to lead them within; the ears love to hear about empty things; the sense of touch grows slack; the lips are unrestrained; and the hands touch what they should not. And instead of righteousness there follows unrighteousness, instead of chastity unchastity, instead of courage cowardice. For these are the three or four chief virtues — righteousness, wisdom, chastity and courage — which govern the three powers of the soul. And when the three powers of the soul are well governed, they restrain the senses from senseless and unfitting acts. And then, when there is stillness in the intellect and its powers are governed by divine power and are obedient, it is easier for the intellect to fight in the noetic warfare. But when through inattention it weakens its powers, the assaults of the enemy overcome it, and it transgresses the divine commandments; and after transgression there follows either repentance in proportion to the transgression, or torment in the age to come. It is good, then, for the intellect always to be watchful, for through watchfulness it becomes what it ought to be by nature, and a true keeper of God’s commandments.
19. When the spirits of wickedness surround the soul and wall it in and bind it with the fetters of darkness, it cannot pray as it wishes, because of the darkness within it; for it is secretly bound and blind in its inward eyes. But when it begins to pray to God and to be watchful through prayer, then it will be freed from the darkness; otherwise it is impossible to be freed. Then the soul learns that within the heart there is another struggle and another hidden resistance, and another warfare of thoughts from the wicked spirits, to which Holy Scripture also bears witness. Scripture says: «If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place» (Eccles. 10:4). And «his place» is the firm standing of the intellect in virtue and in watchfulness; for there is a standing both in virtue and in wickedness. For it is said: «Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners» (Ps. 1:1). And the Apostle says: «Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth» (Eph. 6:14).
20. Let us hold fast to Christ, for there are many who strive to take Him away from the soul. Let us hold fast, that Jesus may not be lost in the crowd of thoughts that throng the soul. Without labour of soul it is impossible to hold Him firmly. Let us touch His life in the body, that we may pass our own life in humility. Let us hold fast to His sufferings, that we may bear our sorrows in imitation of Him. Let us come to know His ineffable providence in descending to us, so that, tasting Him sweetly in the soul, we may understand that the Lord is good. And besides all this, and above all, let us believe His words without doubting. Let us look every day for His providence towards us, and whatever happens to us, let us accept it with thanksgiving and zeal, so that we may grow accustomed to look upon God alone, who governs all things by the divine words of His wisdom. And if we do all this, we shall never find ourselves far from God. Piety, as one of the God-bearing men perfect in spirit said, is an imperfect perfection.
21. He who gives a good ransom for his life, and thinks and remembers death at every moment, and wisely by this remembrance draws his intellect away from the passions, will also notice the constant incursions of demonic provocations sooner than one who lives his life without remembering death, purifying his heart only for the sake of knowledge and not preserving sorrow and weeping. Such a man, thinking that by his quick understanding he overcomes all the passions, is in fact bound by one passion which he does not know, and which is worse than all the rest; and often through self-conceit he falls far from God. Such a man must be exceedingly watchful, lest he lose his reason through pride. The Apostle Paul says that «knowledge puffs up» (1 Cor. 8:1) those souls which gather it from every side; and they exalt themselves over those whom they consider lesser. In them, I think, there is no spark of the love that builds up. But he who every evening remembers death sees the incursions of the demons sooner than another, and overcomes them and drives them away.
22. The sweet remembrance of God, that is, of Jesus, together with wrath of heart and saving bitterness, destroys all the wiles of thoughts: reasonings, words, fantasies, dark imaginings — in short, everything with which the all-destroying enemy arms himself and attacks, seeking to swallow up souls. But when we call upon Jesus, He easily burns it all away. For our salvation lies in nothing else but in Christ Jesus. And the Saviour Himself says: «Without me you can do nothing» (John 15:5).
23. Guarding our heart at every hour and moment, we shall keep it from the thoughts that darken the mirror of the soul. In it there is reflected and inscribed as light Jesus Christ, the Wisdom and Power of God the Father. Within the heart let us unceasingly seek the Kingdom of God, the seed, the pearl, the leaven; and all the other mysteries too we shall find within ourselves, when we have purified the eye of the intellect. Therefore our Lord Jesus Christ said: «The Kingdom of God is within you» (Luke 17:21), showing by this that the Godhead dwells in the heart.
24. Watchfulness, then, purifies the conscience so that it shines. When the conscience has been thus purified and is as though lit with light, it will scatter a great darkness. And when the darkness has been scattered by frequent and true watchfulness, the conscience will further reveal hidden deeds and, through the intellect, will teach the invisible struggle and the rational battle by means of watchfulness: how to cast the spear in single combat, and how to strike the mark well with the spears of our thoughts, and how the intellect may not be overthrown but may hide behind Christ, desiring light instead of harmful darkness. He who has known that light understands what I say. He who has tasted this light — his soul longs for it again and again and is never satisfied with it; and the more it partakes of it, the more it desires to partake. This is the light that draws the intellect as the sun draws the eye: a light ineffable, which cannot be described in words; he knows it who has experienced it, or rather, who has been struck by it. It bids me be silent, though the intellect still wishes to delight in these words. For it is said: «Strive for peace with all, and for holiness, without which no one will see the Lord» (Heb. 12:14).
25. It is fitting for us to arm our anger only against the demons who make war on us and rage against us with thoughts. Hear how the constant warfare goes on within us, and do this: to watchfulness add prayer, for watchfulness purifies prayer, and prayer purifies watchfulness. Watchfulness, keeping guard unceasingly, distinguishes those who seek to enter. Forbidding them entrance, it calls to its aid our Lord Jesus Christ to drive away the wicked ones. Attentiveness, contradicting them, forbids them. And Jesus, whom we call upon, drives away the demons with their fantasies.
26. Guard your intellect with great vigilance. When you discern a thought, contradict it and at once call upon Christ, that He may repay the thought. And sweet Jesus, while you are still speaking, will answer you: «Behold, I have come to grant you protection.» And when the enemies have grown wholly quiet through the action of prayer, again keep watch over your intellect. Waves will come again, greater than the first, in which the soul is drowned; but Jesus, when His disciple wakes Him, will rebuke the wicked winds, as God (cf. Matt. 8:25-26). And when you are freed from the assaults for a time or for a moment, glorify Him who has saved you, and meditate upon death.
27. Let us live with the greatest attentiveness of heart, in the perception of the soul. For attentiveness and prayer, harnessed together every day, are like the fiery chariot in which the prophet Elijah was taken up to heaven; for they too raise on high the one who partakes of them. What more shall I say? In one who practises watchfulness, or strives to practise it, the heart becomes pure as a noetic heaven with its sun, moon and stars; the heart becomes the dwelling place of the uncontainable God through mystical vision and ascent. Let him who has love for divine virtue strive at every moment to utter the name of the Lord and diligently to translate words into deeds. And he who with sure effort restrains the five senses through which the soul suffers harm thereby makes lighter for his intellect the struggle and battle of the heart. So forbid outward images to enter, and with divine skill fight against the bodiless thoughts they engender. By the labour of vigils drive away the love of pleasure; be temperate in food and drink; wear down the body sufficiently, that the battle of the heart may become easy for you — for you do this for your own good, and not for anyone else. Torment your soul by meditating on death; by the remembrance of Jesus Christ gather in your scattered intellect. And at night especially the intellect is made bright by the luminous visions of God and of divine things.
28. Let us not refuse labours and bodily struggles; for from the earth grows wheat, and from labours spiritual joy and the experience of good. Let us not deceive our conscience when it speaks to us of things saving and practical, of what is fitting and needful, and especially when the conscience has been purified by an active, effective and subtle watchfulness of intellect. Then it passes a fitting and unerring judgement, thanks to its purity. Therefore it must not be deceived, for within the soul it declares the life that is pleasing to God, and, sharply reproaching the soul which once stained the mind with sins, it points out how the transgressions may be corrected, counselling the heart that has sinned to repent and showing the healing by its sweet converse.
29. When wood burns, its smoke stings the eyes of men, yet afterwards they see the light and delight in what at first troubled them. So too attentiveness, if it is kept unceasingly, is very burdensome. But when Jesus comes, whom we call upon, He illumines the heart by prayer; and the remembrance of Him and the illumination bestow the greatest good.
30. Our enemy is accustomed to disturb our intellect in every way, for he wants us, who were created in the image of God, to eat dust as he does and to crawl upon our belly. Therefore God said: «I will put enmity between you» (Gen. 3:15) and him. Therefore it is fitting always to sigh to God, that we may not be harmed by the burning arrows of the devil. «I will protect him», says God, «because he has known my name» (Ps. 90:14). And again: «His salvation is near to those who fear Him» (Ps. 84:10).
31. The blessed Apostle, the chosen vessel who speaks in Christ, having great experience of the inward, invisible and noetic warfare which is waged in us also, writes to the Ephesians: «For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the spirits of wickedness in the heavens» (Eph. 6:12). And the Apostle Peter says: «Be sober and watch! Your adversary the devil walks about you like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, strong in faith» (1 Pet. 5:8-9). And our Lord Jesus Christ, speaking of the different dispositions of those who hear the words of the Gospel, says: «Then the devil comes and snatches the word out of their heart» — that is, he steals it away by wicked forgetfulness — «lest they believe and be saved» (Luke 8:12). And again the Apostle says: «I delight in the law of God according to the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my intellect and making me captive to the law of sin» (Rom. 7:22-23). They said this to instruct us and to reveal what is hidden from us.
32. The mind is prone to exalt itself, thinking itself higher than others, when there is in it no self-reproach and no humility, through which comes knowledge of one’s own weakness. Let us think thus, listening to him who says: «Brethren, I do not consider that I have already attained the goal; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal, for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus» (Phil. 3:13-14). And again: «So I run, not aimlessly; I box, not as one beating the air, but I subdue my body and bring it into subjection, lest, having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified» (1 Cor. 9:26-27). Do you see what humility and what pressing on towards the virtues? Do you see what humility there is in Saint Paul, so great a man? Christ said that He came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first. Therefore we must humble ourselves, since our nature is so poor. For what is worse than corruptibility? It is fitting for us also to remember God, for it was for this that we were created. And it is right to learn self-restraint, that it may be easy for us to follow our God.
33. It is impossible for the outward man to be pure from sins if he gives himself over as prey to his thoughts; and it is impossible, if the wicked thoughts are not uprooted from the heart, not to pass on to wicked deeds. The cause of an adulterous glance and of the darkening that follows is that the inward eye first committed adultery. The cause of the desire to hear shameful things is that we listen with the ears of the soul to the demons who whisper to us within. We ought for the Lord’s sake to purify ourselves within and without; each of us must guard his senses and daily cleanse them from passionate and sinful activity. And as once, through lack of understanding, we moved about in the world in the vanity of our intellect, and sinful seduction gained mastery over our intellect and our senses, so it is fitting for us who have passed over to life in God to serve the living and true God, and God’s righteousness and desires, with our whole intellect and senses.
34. First comes provocation, then coupling, then assent, then captivity, and then passion, which is strengthened by frequent repetition and habit. Such is the field of battle that arises in us, in which we must gain the victory; and so the holy fathers described it.
35. Provocation, they say, is a simple thought or image of some thing, which has just been born in the heart and has come before the intellect. Coupling is converse with this image, whether passionate or dispassionate. Assent is the soul’s inclination towards this image and its delight in it. Captivity is the forcible and involuntary carrying away of the heart, lasting a long time, and the ruinous mingling of our good state with that image. Passion, properly speaking, is that which settles in the soul for a long time with a passionate attachment to something. Of all these, in the first there is no sin; in the second, not always; in the third, according to the state of the ascetic; and the battle becomes the cause either of crowns or of torments.
36. Captivity is of different kinds: one during prayer, and another not during prayer. But passion undoubtedly falls under either repentance of equal force or future torment. He who resists the first, that is, provocation, or thinks of it dispassionately, cuts off at one stroke everything shameful. In such warfare of the wicked demons against monks and non-monks alike there are both victories and defeats. The victors receive crowns; those who have sinned and not repented suffer torment. Let us therefore struggle noetically against them, that we may not turn their wicked counsels into sinful deeds of sense. Cutting sin away from the heart, we shall find the Kingdom of God which is within us, and by this most excellent activity we shall preserve for ever purity of heart and compunction towards God.
37. Many among the monks do not know what the deception of the intellect is, which the intellect suffers from the demons. They care for active work and take no thought for the intellect, and live simply, without guile. I think that, not having known purity of heart, they do not see at all the inward darkness that comes from the passions. Those who do not know the warfare of which the Apostle Paul speaks, and have not yet learned by experience to stand in what is good, count as falls only the sins actually committed, not even thinking of the victories and falls that occur in thought. For these are not seen by the ordinary eye; they are things unutterable, known only to God, the Giver of the contest, and to the conscience of the ascetic himself. I think that Scripture speaks of such men when it says: «They say, Peace! — when there is no peace» (cf. Ezek. 13:10). For brethren who are such through their simplicity we ought to pray, and to instruct them as far as we can, that they may avoid evil deeds. But for those who have the divine desire that the sight of the soul may be purified, there is another activity of Christ and another mystery.
38. True remembrance of death contains within itself numerous virtues. It gives birth to weeping; it is an incentive to abstain from everything; it is the recollection of Gehenna, the mother of prayer and tears, the guarding of the heart, dispassion towards what is corruptible because it is corruptible, the source of a quick understanding joined with discernment. Their children — the twofold fear of God and the purification of the heart from passionate thoughts — contain within themselves many of God’s commandments. In it is seen a constant struggle, not easily overcome, with which many of Christ’s ascetics are occupied.
39. An accident or misfortune that happens unexpectedly scatters no small part of the attentiveness of our thought and, tearing the intellect away from good intentions and from a virtuous and good disposition, inclines it sinfully towards argument and quarrels. The cause of this ruin of ours is that we do not keep guard at all against temptations.
40. Nothing will harm us, nothing among the sorrows that befall us daily will grieve us, if, seeing them, we learn from them what the divine Apostle says: «All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted» (2 Tim. 3:12). To Him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Note: In the printed collection there follows an editorial remark introducing the next author of the Philokalia, Saint Nikephoros. Our venerable father Nikephoros, who accomplished his ascetic labour on Mount Athos, called the Holy Mountain, became renowned around the year 1340. He taught Gregory of Thessalonica and led him into the mysteries of the high teaching of ascetic wisdom, as Gregory himself relates somewhere. Attending to himself alone in untroubled stillness, through a prior union with himself he was ineffably united with the sovereign Ruler of the whole world, having felt in his heart the blessed illumination of grace. From that time he was abundantly filled with deification and with the gift that makes men godlike. In this little book the blessed one handed down this gift to us also in a fatherly way, if we wish to be counted worthy of the same honours as he. In this little book he gathered all the passages from the holy fathers that explain the profit of watchfulness, attentiveness and prayer, adding from himself an account of that natural and skilful true art than which no one could devise a better: the art of leading the intellect into the heart by means of the breathing and the invocation of the Lord Jesus, as the most exact measure of sacred watchfulness. He was the first to set up for those who wish to be saved a ladder of pure, concentrated prayer and of the blessings that come from it, like some new Bezalel, constructing it by spiritual craftsmanship. Rise up, then, rise up, all you who desire that Christ should dwell in you, and who wish to be transfigured according to the image of the Holy Spirit from glory to glory, and gradually to be deified and counted worthy of the radiant inheritance of those who are saved.