Active and Contemplative Chapters by the Same Author

692 Part Four

31 The quality of the grain is seen from the ear, and the purity of contemplation is revealed by prayer. The ear is surrounded by weeds that protect it from birds that fly to peck the grain. When temptations come in prayer, there are wise thoughts that destroy the temptation.

32 The soul thanks to action becomes silvered like the wings of a dove, and the spirit, that is, the feathers, through contemplation shines like gold (Ps. 67:14). If the soul is not adorned with silver wings and golden feathers, it cannot fly and rest where the dwelling of those who rejoice is. Active and Contemplative Chapters by the Same Author. Here is a field full of the fruits of spiritual action and contemplation

33 Once the ancients were commanded to bring firstfruits and the juice of the winepress to the temple. But now it behooves us to bring to God the firstfruits of active virtue, that is, moderation and truth, and the firstfruits of contemplative virtue, that is, love and prayer. With the first we stop the causes of wordless lust and anger, and with the second—idle thoughts and attacks of the neighbor.

34 The beginning of active virtue is moderation and truth, the middle—chastity and humility of mind, and its end—peace of thoughts and holiness of body.

35 Good action is not only in being able to do good, but also in doing it well, preserving time and measure.

36 Contemplation is not only in seeing the nature of things, but also in seeing their meaning.

37 There is neither action established without contemplation, nor true contemplation without action. It is fitting that action should be contemplative, and contemplation—active. By this, sin is weakened and virtue is strengthened in the good pleasure of goodness.

38 The end of action is the mortification of passions, the end of contemplation—the vision of virtues.

39 What things are to sight, that action is to the sight of the mind; and what the eye is to the face, that contemplation is to action.

40 In the arena of active virtue many run, but one receives the prize—he who desires to attain contemplation to the end.

41 The active person, when he prays, is watered with contrition; the contemplative—drinks from the best cup. And he who by nature loves wisdom does not even remember himself when he prays.

42 The active person is not allowed to enter into spiritual contemplation for long. In contemplation he is like a stranger whom someone has received into his house, and soon he must leave this house.

43 The active enter into prayer through the gates of God’s commandments; the contemplative enter, giving thanks, into the courts of virtues with songs. The first have freed themselves from bonds, and the second have taken captive those who fought against them.

44 When active virtue comes into force, contemplation also must come into force. Otherwise, the ascetic will be like a ship on which the sails are unevenly stretched. Such a ship suffers from a strong wind, and the ascetic—from the attacks of spirits, because his ship is empty.

45 Know that the rowers of the mental ship are thoughts, the oars are the living powers of the soul: anger and desire, will and consent. They are always necessary for the active and not always for the contemplative. During prayer, he tells everyone to rejoice, himself sits at the helm with his mind, and keeps vigil all night in contemplation, bringing praise to Him Who holds everything. And having learned the song of love somewhere, he hums it in his soul, seeing far ahead of him how another sea rises and waves, and marvels at Divine judgments and laws.

46 He who is between action and contemplation does not row with oars like sailors, and does not set mental sails. He eases his sailing by action and contemplation, sweetly bearing the labors of action, and the measure of contemplation, and the understanding of imperfect vision with the help of action.

47 In the contemplative, nature agrees with desire, therefore he sails without labor, as if carried by the current. In the active, habit contradicts desire; he experiences a great storm of thoughts and, from a heavy burden, almost despairs.

48 If the field is not well plowed, it will not give the sower a good harvest and clean grain. He who practices active virtue will not see the pure fruits of prayer unless he labors zealously and without turning aside.

49 The thought on which traces of prayer remain is like the ground that is trodden upon. Trodden ground becomes smooth, and thought—light. Traces of light feet remain on the ground, and of pure prayers—on the thought.

50 In unspiritual things the mind has thought for a helper, but if in spiritual things it does not leave thought behind, it will have a troublemaker that causes trouble.

51 The active person, when he prays, has a veil on his heart—the knowledge of sensible things, which he cannot remove because of his habituation to them. Only the contemplative, since he has already become disaccustomed to sensible things, can with an open face partially see God’s glory.

52 Prayer that is with spiritual contemplation is the promised land, in which flows, like milk and honey, the knowledge of providence and the words of God’s statutes. And prayer that is with some natural contemplation is Egypt, where to those who pray comes the memory of the heaviest lusts of the body. And simple prayer is manna in the wilderness, which closed for the impatient the desire for the promised goods. To those who were satisfied with such simple food, it became the cause of a better and eternal food.

53 Action with contemplation is like a body with a master spirit; action without contemplation is like a body with a transient spirit.

54 The court of the rational soul is sense, the temple is thought, the high priest is the mind. The mind that is troubled by wordless thoughts stands in the court; when it is troubled by timely thoughts—in the temple; no thoughts trouble the mind that has been deemed worthy to enter the divine sanctuary.

55 Weeping, and song, and woe can be found in the house of the active soul, for her labors are heavy. The song of joy and praise (Ps. 41:5) is heard in the contemplative soul, for contemplation comforts her.

56 The active person, because of the heaviness of labors, would wish to be freed from the body and be with Christ. But for the contemplative it is better “to abide in the flesh” (Phil. 1:23-24) both because of the joy of prayer and because of the benefit to the neighbor.

57 In the most rational, action precedes contemplation; in the simplest, contemplation precedes action; moreover, both lead to the same end. And this is the shortest road, when contemplation precedes action.

58 Paradise is the contemplation of intelligible things. The contemplative enters it by prayer as his home; the active comes as a traveler who desires rest. However, he cannot enter, for the fence is higher than his spiritual stature.

59 Bodily passions are like beasts, soulish ones—like birds. The active drives away the first from the rational vineyard, but cannot drive away the second if he has not yet attained spiritual contemplation, even if he guards his heart most carefully.

60 The active person cannot adorn himself with moral beauty unless he goes out, like the patriarch Abraham, from his land, that is, from the natural law, and from his kindred, that is, from his usual life. Only then will he receive, as a seal, the circumcision of inborn lust. Because of it, a veil lies on us from birth, which does not allow us to obtain complete freedom.

61 Neither will a colt in spring stand by the manger and want to eat only from the manger, nor does the mind of a beginner endure long remaining in prayer. The colt wants to run out into the open space, and the mind wants to go out into the open space of natural contemplation, wider than psalmody and reading.

62 Active virtue girds its animal powers with fasting and vigil, as loins are girded with a belt. Contemplative virtue sets silence and prayer—its mental powers—as two lit lamps. The instructive word for the first is like a tutor, and for the second—like an adorner of brides.

63 The imperfect mind is not allowed to enter the fruitful vineyard of prayer. To it, as to a beggar, fall the leftovers from the vineyard, that is, psalmody.

64 Not all who come to converse with the king can dine with him. So also not all who converse with God by prayer can see Him in contemplation.

65 The bridle for anger is timely silence; for wordless desire—moderate food; for the unrestrained thought—focused prayer.

66 He who plunges into the sea depth to gain natural pearls, and he who plunges into the spiritual depth to gain mental pearls, will gain nothing unless the first strips off his clothes and the second gets rid of all that is sensible.

67 When the mind in prayer enters inside its thought, it converses like a bridegroom with a bride in their chamber. But when it cannot enter, it stands outside and, sighing, calls out: “Who will bring me into the strong city? Who will lead me (Ps. 107:11) that I look not at vanity and deceitful folly (Ps. 39:5) when I pray?”

68 What food without salt is to the throat, the same is prayer without contrition to the mind.

69 The soul that is still seeking prayer is like a woman giving birth in pain. The soul that has already found prayer is like a woman in labor who rejoices in the child born.

70 Once the Amorites lived on the Sion mountains (Deut. 1:44) and killed all who passed through their land (Judg. 11:19), and now evil forgetfulness does not allow those who have not yet gained purity to go out to a higher and more silent prayer.

71 Demons fight greatly against pure prayer. They are terrified not by the number of psalms, as external enemies are terrified by the number of an army, but by the agreement between mind and word, and between mind and sense.

72 Simple prayer becomes bread for those who pray, strengthening them. Prayer with contemplation is like oil that anoints. Formless prayer is like fragrant wine: those who drink it insatiably fall into ecstasy.

73 It is said that the wild donkey mocks the tumult of the city [Job 39:5, 7], and no one binds him. And the mind, when it reigns over nature and unnatural words, mocks the vanity of thoughts. But when the mind prays and has not yet reigned, even that which is below the senses can rule over it.

74 He who waves a stick at dogs will anger them against himself; he who tries to pray purely will anger the demons against himself.

75 It behooves him who struggles to limit his senses to some single food, and to direct his mind to focused prayer. Then passions will not restrain him, and he will be caught up to the Lord through prayer.

76 He who prays with pleasure-loving is as if living in a swamp where thoughts are frogs that lead him away from prayer. He who rules over passions is like a nightingale flying from branch to branch, that is, passing through different stages of contemplation. For the dispassionate, silence and a great quietness of thoughts and minds are characteristic when they pray.

77 Once Moses’ sister Miriam, seeing the destruction of the enemies, took a timbrel in her hands and sang a song of victory (Ex. 15:20). And now the soul that has overcome passions, having gained love—the best of virtues—sees the harp with a song, like some vision, once made of the beauty of ascents, and does not cease to praise God with those who rejoice in her.

78 When, from frequent prayer, the words of the psalms linger in the heart of the one who prays, then it, like good ground, begins to grow now briars—the contemplation of the bodiless, now lilies—luminous bodies, now fragrant flowers—various divine judgments and that which is not so easy to see.

79 When fire unites with matter, it becomes luminous, and the soul, having freed itself from matter, becomes God-bearing. Fire rises higher than the laid wood, and the soul—until it is embraced by divine love.

80 The soul that has completely renounced itself and with all its might resorted to prayer finds itself below not when it wants—for indeed it has ascended above creation—but when He Who measures all our beginnings with measure and weight deems it appropriate.

81 When despondency is driven away from the soul, and craftiness is cast away from thought, then the mind, having become naked in simplicity and guileless life, without any cover from shame, sings to God a new song, gives thanks with a song, cheerfully striking the harp, and celebrates with it the renewal of the future life.

82 When the divine action begins to act in the soul that prays, then it proclaims, like the bride in the Song of Songs: “My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him” (Song of Sol. 5:4).

83 When a soldier returns from battle, he lays down his weapons; when the active person enters contemplation, he lays down thoughts. To the soldier weapons are not needed if there is no battle; to the active thoughts are not needed, unless he secretly dwells in those things that are below the senses.

84 The active see in what condition the body is, the contemplative—in what condition nature is, only seers see the condition of both nature and body.

85 Through the properties of bodily creatures the properties of the bodiless are known. Through the bodiless the supersubstantial Word is known. Every good soul strives to free itself and draw near to Him.

86 The words of the bodiless are like bones covered with a sensible body; no one will see them who has not gone outside sensible passions.

87 When the battle ends, the soldier lays down his weapons; the contemplative, ascending to the Lord, lays down thoughts.

88 The commander is sad when after the battle he has no booty; the active is sad when in prayer he has no spiritual contemplation.

89 The deer runs to the springs when bitten by some beast, and the soul, struck by the sweet arrow of prayer, runs to the bodiless rays.

90 The bodily eye cannot see a grain of wheat if it is not threshed; the active mind cannot see its nature unless it frees itself from the habits with which it is overgrown.

91 When the sun rises, the stars fade; when the mind returns to its kingdom, thoughts weaken.

92 When action is completed, spiritual contemplation embraces the mind like sun rays coming from Him Who distributes them. It seems that they come from without, are proper to it, and embrace the mind because of its purity.

93 And the contemplative mind, when it descends from on high, from heaven, forced to this by natural needs, can say together with him who spoke: “What is more wondrous than divine beauty? And what thought is more joyful than the thought of God’s all-fairness? What love is greater and stronger than God’s love, which is in a soul cleansed of all sin, which repeats always: ‘I am sick of love’?” (Song of Sol. 2:5).

94 “My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned” (Ps. 38:4), can say he who does not tire in prayer to follow God and does not wish to see the days of men.

95 Let also the active soul, having put away all evil, say to the evil demons and thoughts that again force it to look at vanity and deceitful folly, like the bride from the Song of Songs: “I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?” (Song of Sol. 5:3).

96 Let the God-loving soul dare to say to God: “Tell me, O Thou Whom my soul loveth, where Thou feedest, where Thou makest Thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of Thy companions?” (Song of Sol. 1:6).

97 When the active soul tries to keep the word of prayerful action and cannot, let it call out like the bride from the Song of Songs: “By night on my bed I sought Him Whom my soul loveth: I sought Him, but I found Him not. I will rise now [by the most vigilant prayer], and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek Him Whom my soul loveth” (Song of Sol. 3:1),—perhaps I will find Him Who is in everything and outside of everything. I will be satisfied “when Thy glory appears” (Ps. 16:15).

98 When the whole soul is bathed in tears of joy that come in prayer, let it then not hesitate to call out as the bride calls to the bridegroom: “Let my brother enter into his garden, and let him taste my tears, and rejoice in them as the fruits of the trees” (see Song of Sol. 5:1).

99 When the active soul begins to marvel at the abundance and beauty of creations and enjoy the sweetness that comes from them, then, marveling at them, it will cry out: “Why hast thou so adorned thyself, bridegroom, paradise of thy father? Its blossom is full and its cedar is like the cedars of Lebanon. ‘I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste’” (Song of Sol. 2:3).

100 He who receives a king in his house becomes glorious, and known, and very joyful. How much brighter and more joyful becomes the soul that, having cleansed itself, has received the King of kings according to His unshakable promise. However, it must hold itself very reverently, throwing outward everything that is not intended for His rest, and bringing inward everything that serves to please Him.

101 He who is invited to the king for tomorrow, about what else will he care, if not about the words he will say to please the king. Remembering this, the soul will not come unprepared for the future judgment.

102 Blessed is the soul that expects that its Lord will come today; it counts as nothing the labor of the whole day and the whole night, hoping that morning will come, and with it the coming of the Lord.

103 God sees everything, and God is seen only by those who see nothing else during prayer. And those who see God so, God also hears; and those whom He does not hear, do not see Him. Blessed is he who believes that God sees him; his foot will not step in such a way as not to please God.

104 The goods of the Kingdom, which is within us (Luke 17:21), a good-loving eye has not seen, and a fame-loving ear has not heard, and a heart deprived of the Holy Spirit has not reasoned about them. These goods are the pledges of those which the righteous will receive in the future Kingdom from God. And he who does not enjoy these goods, which are the fruits of the Holy Spirit, cannot enjoy the future ones.

105 The thoughts of the active are like deer. Just as deer are now above, to escape from hunters, now below, in the valleys, desiring what is in them—so also the active because of their weakness cannot always remain in spiritual contemplation and not always in natural, because they do not always seek rest. But the contemplative no longer need earthly visions.

106 Dewdrops water the fields; spiritual revelations in prayer press out tearful sighs from the heart.

107 The Godhead, which we know in the Trinity, no one will see in contemplation. It appeared as a natural Duality and a Unity close to it. He will not attain the contemplation of the Unity who has not gathered his mind into one.

108 It is easier to dam a river so that it flows no further than to restrain the rushing of the mind so that it does not scatter among visible things, but ascends in prayer to the things on high and close to it. This second, by the way, is according to its nature, while the first is not.

109 Those who cleanse their inner self and direct their mind to what they can see are filled with such wonder and such joy that they cannot contain anything earthly, even if all that they loved were to gather to them.

110 Known natural laws are enough for us to marvel at them. The gardens of discretion will become blooming, as if from a heavenly sweet drink, with pure flowers pouring out the sweetness of a spiritual banquet.

111 Bees surround the queen bee, just as flowers in a garden surround the largest flower, and souls that are constantly in contrition surround spiritual powers, as kindred to them, and together perform what is desired.

112 In the visible world man himself is like a separate visible world. And in the intelligible world thought, which exists between heaven and earth and all creation—proclaims them to all. It is a messenger for the mind, and the senses, and for everything else, so that without it both worlds would be deaf.

113 Even a captive does not rejoice so when returning home as the mind rejoices when it is freed from its habits and with joyful feet directs itself to heavenly things, as to home.

114 He who prays inattentively, for him the psalm is as if written in a foreign language, and he himself is like a stranger to the psalm. Demons mock such a one.

115 It is not the same thing that the world is crucified to someone and someone is crucified to the world. For to some the nails are fasting and vigil; to others—non-possession and humiliation. But without non-possession and humiliation, the labors of fasting and vigil bring no benefit.

116 No one can pray purely if he is held captive by beauty-loving and fame-loving passions. And because the passions hold tight, thoughts easily enter and intertwine with passions like snakes, and drag down the mind, which wants to fly like a bird during prayer.

117 The mind cannot be peaceful during prayer unless it takes moderation and love as its friends. Moderation destroys the enmity that rises in the body against the soul, and love destroys the enmity that rises against the neighbor; through this comes the peace that surpasses all mind, and promises to make its dwelling in him who has thus reconciled with himself and with the neighbor.

118 The Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force (Matt. 11:12). He who tries to attain it needs to have good deeds in abundance: to give alms from his poverty, to labor for peace, enduring in the Lord.

119 Neither he who through negligence leaves virtue, nor he who, having reached virtue, falls into pride, will enter the haven of dispassion. Neither the first nor the second will enjoy the truth of good things: one because of leaving virtue, and the other because of pride.

120 The earth, if it does not multiply what is sown, will not make the farmer rich, but will only return what was sown. The deeds that the active do will not make them righteous if they do not have the intention of doing deeds for God’s sake.

121 Not all who do not love their neighbor hate him, and not all who do not hate love their neighbor. One thing is to envy his success, and another—not to be an obstacle to his success. And you will cross the last degree of malice when not only the successes of the neighbor stop irritating you, but you also call him good, even if he is not so.

122 Bodily passions are one thing, and soulish ones—another. Some passions are natural, and others—unnatural. And he who rejects some and disregards others is like a man who set up a high fence against beasts and disregards that birds peck at the clusters of the intelligible, truly bright vineyard.

123 First the soul dreams of evil, then desires it, then is in sweetness or sorrow, and also in sense, and then touches evil invisibly to all. But if the soul does not accept the first thought, all the evil that follows it loses its power.

124 He who approaches dispassion is shaken only by imagination; the moderately passionate—by desires that occur in the sense of evil. He who abuses what is necessary, but also endures tribulations, to him desires cause no harm.

125 Pleasure-loving finds refuge in all members of the body, but it does not plague everyone equally. To some it plagues in the desiring power of the soul, to others—in the irascible, and to still others—in the verbal by gluttony, anger, and cunning—the cause of all defiled sweetnesses.

126 It is necessary to open the senses like the gates of a city, but opening them, one must not allow those to enter who become the cause of battle.

127 Sweetness is the mother of desire; the mother of anger is hot-temperedness; and of envy—cunning. He has no peace with the latter who does not struggle against the former, and he cannot enter the haven of moderate passionateness who fulfills the commandments by compulsion.

128 He who repels provocations does not allow thoughts, like beasts, to enter the rational vineyard and harm it. He who unites with thoughts but does not enjoy them simply allows them to enter but does not let them harm. He who unites with passions through thoughts but does not consent to them is like one who let wild boars into the fence and into the dwelling, and they left him no grape clusters. And it also turned out that their power is greater than his power, because it is composed of the power of numerous passions.

129 He has not yet reached simplicity who needs to rely on moderation. He who is already perfect and does not hold back from struggles is like one who has a vineyard or a field not among other vineyards or fields, but on either side of them, and he has to guard his vineyard or field often and keep sober. He who has reached simplicity, his vineyard will be preserved undamaged. He can be compared to a king or some other ruler: robbers, only hearing about him, are afraid to begin their evil deeds.

130 Many ascend the cross of enduring evil, but not all accept its nails. Many by consent accept labors and tribulations, but those who come to the cross without consent are those who have completely died to this world and its rest.

131 Many have cast off their garments of skin, but the last garment—vanity—has been cast off only by those who despised its mother—self-pleasing.

132 He who, receiving praise from men and rest for the body, suffers no harm from it, has already cast off the last garment—vanity—and with many sighs was deemed worthy to put on the brightness of the heavenly dwelling he sought.

133 A deed is one thing, and action is another; the first indicates a sin that has already occurred, and the second—pleasure-loving that acts within. It seems not to belong to the body and at the same time commands it.

134 When a person is still drawn to sweetnesses, it is impossible that all other senses should not also be drawn to them, although the lower parts seem cooled and peaceful, just as in old people who are already withered and do not suffer from burning. But unproductive adulterers will be condemned for not having given birth to chastity. Chaste can be called everyone who does not suffer from burning and does not enjoy looking.

135 From food, look, and voice is revealed the desiring power of the soul, what kind it is. Whether it enjoys what it perceives through taste, sight, and hearing, or uses them, or abuses them, or stays between use and abuse.

136 Those in whom there is no fear at first are in turmoil of thoughts, like sheep without a shepherd. But those whom fear accompanies or follows, their thoughts are in good order and good deeds, like sheep in a fold.

137 Fear is the son of faith; it guards the fulfillment of the commandments. And he who has not gained its mother, that is, faith, is such a sheep that has not been deemed worthy of the Lord’s pasture.

138 In some, only the beginning is good; in others—the middle; and in still others, also the end. Without them, everyone will appear as a naked soldier or a gardener without fruits. And therefore the first only keeps his dwelling from those who begin to trouble it, and the second has not yet reached proper honor.

139 Those who instruct us, the imperfect, to yield to sweetness, do something similar to those who urge to cut open the wounds of those in whom they have already healed, or to tear off scabs, or to eat something that leads to fever, or to pull down the fence of their vineyard and let in the reasoning of the flesh like a wild boar, and eat up good thoughts like clusters. It behooves us not to listen to them, not to bow to temporary flatteries, people, and passions, but to strengthen the fence with moderation, until the beasts—bodily passions—stop roaring, and thoughts, like birds, stop flocking to destroy the vineyard that enriches the soul with contemplation, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, to Whom be glory forever. Amen.