Instructions of Our Holy Father Anthony the Great in 170 Chapters on Human Character and a Virtuous Life

Instructions of Our Holy Father Anthony the Great in 170 Chapters on Human Character and a Virtuous Life

1 People often make a mistake in calling themselves rational6. For those are not rational who have studied the sciences and books of ancient sages, but those who have a rational soul and can distinguish what is good and what is evil, and avoid what is wicked and harmful to the soul, but diligently learn what is good and useful to the soul and do it, thanking God greatly. Only such should truly be called rational people.

2 A truly rational person cares for one thing only: to obey and please the God of all, and to teach one’s soul only how to please God, thanking Him for His constant providence and governance over all creatures in every turn of life. For it is foolish not to thank doctors for bodily health when they give us bitter and painful medicines, but not to thank God and not to understand that everything that seems like sorrow to us happens as it should and for our benefit by His providence. Such understanding and faith in God is the salvation and perfection of the soul.

3 Self-control, gentleness, purity, fortitude, patience, and other similar great and virtuous powers we have received from God, which resist and oppose, and come to our aid in trials. When we practice these powers and keep them ready, nothing will seem hard or painful or unbearable to us, because all this is human and is conquered by the virtues that are in us. The foolish in soul do not think of this, for they do not ponder that everything happens well and opportunely for our benefit, so that virtues may shine and God may crown us.

6 “Rational” means: 1. Intelligent, endowed with intellect. 2. Spiritual (Slovník jazyka sta- roslovĕnského, Praha 1966, p. 111). (Translator’s Note)

4 Regarding the acquisition of possessions and living from them as only a temporary illusion, and knowing that a virtuous and god-pleasing life is better than wealth, learn this firmly, and, keeping this in memory, you will not groan, nor weep, nor reproach anyone, but for everything you will thank God, seeing those worse off than yourself who are established in glory and wealth. The fierce passions of the soul are lust, glory, and ignorance.

5 A rational person, examining oneself, tests what is suitable and useful for one, and what is characteristic of the soul and useful, and what is foreign to it. And thus avoids what harms the soul and distances it from immortality.

6 The more moderately a person lives, the better it goes for them, because they do not worry about many things: about slaves, plowmen, and the purchase of cattle. For by this we tie ourselves down and, falling into worries because of this, complain against God. And by our self-willed lust, death increases and we remain in the darkness of a sinful life, deceived, not knowing ourselves.

7 It is not fitting to say that it is impossible for a person to lead a virtuous life; one can say it is not easy. A virtuous life is shared by pious people who have a god-loving mind; but in general, the human mind is worldly and capricious, producing good and evil thoughts, changeable by nature and inclined to sensory things. But a god-loving mind is the opponent of malice, which of itself arises in people from laziness.

8 The uneducated and ignorant mock learning and do not wish to listen to it, for then their ignorance would be revealed, and they wish that everyone were like them, which is why they have unrestrained lives and characters. They try to make everyone worse than them, thinking that they will be justified by a multitude of evils. The weak soul perishes and is troubled by malice, having within itself fornication, pride, insatiability, anger, audacity, ferocity, murder, clamor, envy, usury, theft, unrest, lies, love of pleasure, laziness, sorrow, fear, sickness, hatred, reproaches, weakness, flattery, ignorance, and forgetfulness of God. By these and similar things the wretched soul is tormented, separating itself from God.

9 Those who want to live virtuously, piously, and gloriously are known not by pretense and a deceitful life, but by their deeds. Just as craftsmen—painters and sculptors—manifest their craftsmanship, so the righteous manifest a virtuous and god-loving life and, as if from nets, turn away from all wicked pleasures.

10 Those who are wise call a rich and well-born person wretched if they do not have spiritual enlightenment and every virtue of life, while the poor man and slave, adorned with teaching and a virtuous life, is happy. However, just as travelers lose their way, so those who do not care for a virtuous life perish, tempted by lust.

11 We should call a creator of men one who can quiet the uninstructed so that they love learning and instruction; likewise, those who change people who live intemperately into virtuous and god-pleasing ones should be called creators of men, because they transform people. Gentleness and self-control are prosperity and good hope for human souls.

12 It is fitting for people truly to order their character and life as is proper. When they are ordered, it is easier to know God. Whoever honors God with all their heart and faith, God provides for them so that they restrain malice and lust. For the cause of all evils is lust and malice.

13 A person can be called either rational or one who wants to reform. But an unreformed person is not called a human being, for it is beyond a person’s own power to reform without help, and such people must be avoided. Whoever lives with malice can never enter the number of the immortal.

14 When we have rationality, it makes us worthy of being called human beings. But whoever turns away from rationality differs from the irrational only in the arrangement of limbs and voice. Therefore, let a reasonable person know that they are immortal, and let them hate all shameful lust, which is the cause of death.

15 Just as every craftsman, beautifying the things he works on, shows his skill, such as the woodcarver, coppersmith, goldsmith, and silversmith, so we, hearing about a good life, virtuous and god-pleasing conduct, must manifest our perfection; as human beings, we are truly rational in soul, and not in the forms of the body. A truly rational and god-loving soul immediately knows everything of life, and lovingly propitiates God and thanks Him in truth, striving toward Him and directing all its thoughts to Him.

16 As helmsmen steer a ship to the harbor so that it does not strike a submerged rock or cliff, so let those who care for a virtuous life diligently examine what they ought to do and what to avoid; let them consider true and divine laws as useful for themselves, cutting off wicked thoughts from the soul.

17 As helmsmen and grooms by practice and diligence achieve what they strive for, so it is fitting for those who strive for a right and virtuous life to learn and take care to live righteously and god-pleasingly. For whoever wants and believes they can [so live], by believing, passes to immortality.

18 We should consider free those who are free not by their status, but by their life and character. For it is not fitting to call truly free wicked or intemperate princes, for they are slaves to natural passions. And the freedom and prosperity of the soul is true purity and contempt for passing things.

19 Remind yourself that it is always fitting to excel in a good life and good deeds. Thus also the sick think of and recognize doctors as saviors and benefactors not by their words, but by their deeds.

20 The signs of a rational and virtuous soul are the look, gait, voice, laughter, behavior, and conversations: they change and become better. For the god-loving mind of rational people—a vigilant watchman—bars the entrance to evil and shameful thoughts.

21 God made the soul free and self-governing with respect to doing good or evil.

22 A rational soul strives to free itself from profligacy, pride, vanity, passion, murder, theft, and similar things, because these are all works of demons and of a wicked disposition. By diligence and constant action a person corrects everything, whose desires do not lean toward evil pleasures.

23 Those who live simply and imperfectly are freed from troubles and do not need anyone to guard them, for, conquering lust in everything, they easily find the way to God.

24 It is fitting for rational people to listen not to numerous conversations, but to useful ones which are guided by the will of God. Through them people return to life and eternal light.

25 It is fitting for whoever seeks a virtuous and god-loving life to rid themselves of frequent self-conceit and vain, deceptive glory, and to take care to order life and thoughts well; for a god-loving and unchanging mind is an ascent and path to God.

26 There is no benefit from learning if the soul does not live virtuously and god-pleasingly; and the cause of all evils is error, deception, and ignorance of God.

27 Training in a good life and care for the soul make men good and god-loving. He who seeks God finds Him, conquering lust in everything and not ceasing from prayer; for such a one does not fear demons.

28 Those who are enticed by worldly hopes and only in words know what is proper to do for a better life experience something like those who have acquired medicines and medical instruments but neither know how to use them nor try to learn. Therefore, the cause of the sins we have committed is neither the time when we were born, nor anyone else, but ourselves.

29 Let him who does not know how to distinguish what is good and what is evil not judge the good and the evil. Good is the person who knows God; but when they are not good, they know nothing and will learn nothing, because the way to know God is goodness.

30 Good and god-loving men reprove evil deeds only to those present, and do not reprove those who are absent, nor allow others to do so.

31 Let there be no stubborness in conversations. Modesty and chastity adorn rational people more than virgins. A god-loving mind is a light that illuminates the soul just as the sun illuminates the body.

32 In all the passions of the soul that are in you, remember that to those who think well and want to have their house protected, what seems sweet is not the corruptible accumulation of wealth, but right and true honors; it is these that make them capable of receiving goods. For thieves steal wealth and the stronger take it away, but the virtue of the soul is the sole acquisition, both secure and theft-proof, and after death it saves those who accumulated it. Those who think thus are not carried away by dreams of wealth and other pleasures.

33 It is not fitting for changeable and uninstructed people to test rational men. And a rational man is god-pleasing: he keeps silent about many things or speaks briefly about what is necessary and god-pleasing.

34 Let him who lives virtuously and god-lovingly care for the virtues of the soul, for they are his own good and eternal pleasure. And they enjoy temporary good as much as they can contain and as much as God gives and wills, with all joy and thanksgiving, receiving benefit for themselves, even if very moderate. Refined foods nourish the body as natural, but the knowledge of God, self-control, goodness, beneficence, piety, and gentleness deify the soul.

35 A rational person has their own will from God the Creator, who is stronger than any trouble and compulsion.

36 Let those who consider it a misfortune to lose wealth or children or slaves or other property know that first of all it is fitting to be content with what God provides and that it is fitting to return it willingly and with a good mind, not grieving at all at its loss, in other words, its return—for having used what was not ours, we return it.

37 The deed of a good person is not to sell their own will to receive wealth, even if a great deal of it were given to them. Everything in life is like a dream, and the appearance of wealth is temporary and short-lived.

38 Let those who are truly human strive to live god-lovingly and virtuously, so that their virtuous life may shine among other people. Thus also a small purple strip, placed on white robes, adorning them, stands out and catches the eye. For in this way they will strive more for the virtues of the soul.

39 It is fitting for reasonable people to examine their strength and the growth of the soul’s virtue that is in them, and thus to grow and resist the passions that occur according to the strength of the virtue granted to them, by nature, from God. And against vanity and every lust harmful to the soul there is self-control; against labors and wants, fortitude; against annoyance and malice, gentleness and similar virtues.

40 It is impossible for a person to suddenly become good and wise. One becomes such through industrious instruction, investigation, and testing, sometimes with struggle, and the desire for a good deed. A good and god-loving person who truly knows God does not cease from sincerely doing everything god-pleasing. Such men are rare.

41 It is not fitting for people who by nature are not inclined to the good to despair of themselves, to grow weak in a god-loving and virtuous life and despise it as inaccessible and unattainable for them, but it is fitting for them to learn according to their strength and care for themselves. Even if they cannot perfectly acquire virtue and salvation, yet from instruction and desire they either become better or not worse, from which there is no small benefit for the soul.

42 A person is united by mind with the ineffable and divine power, and in body has commonality with the animals. And not many people, but only the perfect and rational, try to turn their thoughts to God the Savior and become related to Him, and show this by deeds and a virtuous life; but many people, foolish in soul, leaving aside that divine and immortal adoption, clinging to a dead, miserable, and short-lived relationship, thinking carnally and inflamed by passions, separate themselves from God and cast the soul from heaven into the abyss, tearing it away from the desire for heaven.

43 A rational man, reflecting on co-existence and communion with the Deity, will never love anything earthly and low, but raises his mind to the heavenly and eternal and understands that such is the will of God, that a person be saved. The will of God is the cause of all good and the source of eternal goods for people.

44 If you meet someone who loves to quarrel and disputes with you against the truth, immediately stop the dispute and yield to that person, who is hardened in mind. Just as the best wine is spoiled by bad water, so a virtuous life and thoughts are ruined by bad conversations.

45 When we apply all our diligence and skill to avoid bodily death, then we ought to labor much more to avoid spiritual death. For him who wants to be saved, there is no obstacle except negligence and despondency7 of the soul.

46 All who fear to think about the useful and what is called good are considered wretched. And in those who, understanding the truth, shamelessly dispute, understanding has died, and their soul has become brutish and is not enlightened, and they do not know God.

47 Various kinds of animals God brought forth [from the earth] by His word for general need, some for food, others for service; but He created man as an overseer over them and their lives, and as a thankful interpreter. Therefore, people should labor so as not to die like irrational beasts, not having seen and not having understood God. For a person ought to know that God can do all things and nothing will hinder the Almighty; He created everything He wished from non-existence, and creates by His word for the salvation of people.

48 Those in heaven are immortal by the goodness that dwells in them; and those on earth are mortal by the self-willed malice that exists in them; malice arises in the foolish through their laziness and ignorance of God.

7 Despondency (unyniye, ἀκηδία)—laziness, or apathy, a term defining a state of listlessness characteristic of monks. It outlined a special problem for hermits who lacked encouragement from other brothers, as was the case in coenobitic monasteries. Nilus of Ancyra defines despondency as “weakness of the soul unable to resist temptations” (PG 79: 1157 C). It was believed that despondency was a consequence of such vices as laziness, talkativeness, and immersion in emotions, but sometimes it was associated with a supernatural cause—with a demon that began to act at noon. Under his influence, monks became restless, excited, and negligent in prayer and reading. Despondency could be overcome by vigilant prayer and reading of Holy Scripture, perseverance, avoiding empty talk, and manual labor (PG 79: 1456D-1460B). Theodore the Studite (PG 99: 1724C) assigned 40 days of penance as punishment for this vice, and of these three weeks without wine and oil, and 250 prostrations daily, because if one does not repent of this sin, it can lead to the abyss of hell (The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, New York – Oxford 1991, vol. 1, p. 44). (Translator’s Note)

49 Death, if people understand it, is immortality; but that death which the ignorant do not understand is death for them. And it is not this death that one should fear, but spiritual destruction, which is ignorance of God. This is the evil for the soul.

50 Malice is a natural passion. Therefore, the body cannot be without malice. But a rational soul, reflecting on this, shakes off the burden of nature, which is malice, and having freed itself from this burden, knows the God of all, and watches the body as an enemy and as a plowman, not obeying it. Such a soul God will crown, because it has conquered the natural passion of malice.

51 The soul, when it recognizes sin, hates it like a most smelly beast; but unrecognized sin is loved by him who does not know it, and it, dominating its adherent, holds him captive. And so the wretched and miserable person neither sees what is useful for him nor understands, but rejoices, for he thinks that sin adorns him.

52 A pure soul, being good, is enlightened and illuminated by God, and then the mind thinks good and produces god-loving words. But when the soul is defiled by malice, God turns away from it. And it is even worse for that soul which has separated itself from God: wicked demons, entering into its thoughts, incite it to unrighteous deeds—adultery, murders, thefts, sacrileges, and the like—all demonic deeds.

53 Those who know God are filled with every good thought and, desiring heavenly things, despise worldly things. Such people please neither many, nor are they pleasing to many, so that for this they are not only hated but also mocked by the foolish. They agree to endure everything from poverty, knowing that what others consider evil is good for them. For he who understands heavenly things believes God, knowing that all creatures depend on His will; but he who does not understand will never believe that the world is the work of God—for the salvation of man it was created.

54 Those who are filled with malice and drunk with ignorance do not understand God, they are not sober in soul. For God can be understood but not seen, He is very manifest in visible creatures, like the soul in the body. Just as the body cannot exist without the soul, so it is impossible for everything visible and living to exist without God.

55 Why was man created? So that, contemplating God’s creations, he might see God and glorify Him Who created them for man. A god-beloved mind is an invisible good that God grants to the worthy for a good life.

56 Free is he who does not serve pleasures, but with wisdom and purity rules the body and is content with great gratitude with what God provides, even if it is very little. When a god-loving mind and soul are in agreement, the whole body is quieted, even against its will. For when the soul wills, every bodily movement is quieted.

57 Those who are not content with the possessions they have, and desire more, fall into slavery to passions which trouble the soul and put thoughts and dreams into it, which are also evil. And as overly large clothing hinders ascetics from moving, so also the desire for more possessions does not allow souls to strive to be saved.

58 When a person is forced or compelled to do something, it is like a prison and hard labor for them. Love, therefore, what happens to you, so that you do not cruelly torment yourself, bearing everything without thanksgiving. There is only one way to this—to despise worldly things.

59 As we have sight from God to distinguish the things we see, what is white and what is black, so rationality is granted to us from God to distinguish what is useful for the soul. Lust, separating from prudence, produces pleasure and does not allow the soul to be saved or united with God.

60 Sins are not what happens by nature, but what happens by wicked consent. It is not a sin to eat; it is a sin to eat without gratitude and intemperately, for the body exists in life without any wicked thought. Simply to look is not a sin; it is a sin to look enviously, proudly, and insatiably; and there is no sin when you listen peacefully, it is a sin when you listen angrily; and it is not a sin to prompt the tongue to thanksgiving and prayer, it is a sin to prompt it to slander; and it is not a sin to stretch out hands for alms, it is a sin to stretch them for murders and thefts. Thus each member sins, self-willedly doing evil instead of good, against God’s will.

61 When you doubt that God watches over every deed, consider that you are human and dust, yet you can think and ponder about different places at one and the same time—how much more then can God, Who sees everything, even as small as a mustard seed, Who gives life and nourishes everything as He wills.

62 When you close the door of your room and are alone, know that present with you is the angel whom God assigns to every person, and the Greeks call him the household demon. He, sleepless and untempted, is always near you, sees everything, and darkness has no power over him. Together with him, acknowledge also God, Who is present in every place, for there is neither place nor thing where there is no God, Who is greater than all and holds everyone in His hand.

63 When soldiers keep allegiance to Caesar because he feeds them, much more ought we to thank God unceasingly, without keeping silent, and please Him Who created everything for man.

64 Gratitude to God and a good life are god-pleasing human fruit. Earthly fruits do not all ripen at one time, but gradually, depending on rains and care; so also human fruits in time are sanctified by struggle and instruction, fortitude, self-control, and patience. When through them you seem pious to others, do not believe yourself while you are in the body, and do not think that any of your deeds are pleasing to God. For know that it is not easy for a person to preserve sinlessness to the end.

65 Nothing is more honorable in people than the word. So powerful is the word that by word and thanksgiving we honor God, and by a slanderous and dishonorable word we condemn our soul. Therefore, it is the deed of an unfeeling person to blame their birth or someone else for the fact that they sin, using self-willedly either a word or a wicked deed.

67 When we try to heal bodily ailments so that those who see us do not mock us, then we must try much more to heal spiritual ailments so that, when we are judged before the face of God, we are not found dishonorable or worthy of mockery. For having our own will, we can, if we want, not do wicked deeds, even though lust pushes us to them. We can do this, and it is in our power to live god-pleasingly, and no one will ever force us against our will to do anything wicked. Striving thus, we will be worthy people of God and like angels who live in heaven.

67 If you want, you can be a slave of passions; if you want, you can be free and not yield to passions. For God created you and gave you free will. Whoever conquers carnal passions is crowned with incorruptibility. For if there were no passions, there would be no virtues, nor crowns which God grants to worthy people.

68 Those who do not see their benefit and do not know good are blind in soul and their understanding is blinded. Therefore, it is not fitting to turn one’s thought to them, lest from weakness we fall into the same, not having foreseen that we too are blind.

69 It is not fitting to be angry with those who sin, even if their sin were worthy of torment, but in accordance with truth itself we ought to convert them and torment them, if it so happens, either through ourselves or through others. But it is not fitting to be angry or furious. For anger happens only by passion, and not by judgment and truth. Therefore, it is not fitting to praise those who pity excessively. In accordance with goodness and truth itself it is fitting to punish the wicked, and not by one’s own passion of anger.

70 Spiritual enrichment is the only secure and theft-proof enrichment. It leads to a virtuous and god-pleasing life and to the understanding and doing of good deeds. Wealth is a blind guide and a foolish counselor, and destroys the unfeeling soul that used wealth excessively and badly.

71 It is fitting for people either not to acquire anything superfluous, or, having it, to look at it firmly, as at everything in life, by nature corruptible and easy to lose, vile and fragile, and one should not despise what happens.

72 Know that bodily ailments are characteristic of the body, as corruptible and natural. Therefore, it is fitting for a humble soul in pains to gracefully manifest fortitude and patience, and not to reproach God for why He created the body.

73 Those who compete in the Olympic Games are crowned not for the first, second, or third victory, but when they conquer all who compete against them. So it is fitting for everyone who wants to be crowned by God to teach their soul chastity, and not only regarding the body, but also regarding gains, and losses, and theft, and envy, and in food, and vain glory, and reproaches, and death, and in everything that is.

74 Not for the sake of human praise let us care for a good and god-acceptable life, but for the sake of the soul’s salvation let us choose a virtuous life. For death is visible before our eyes every day, while human honors are unknown.

75 In our power it is to live chastely, but to get rich is not in our power. And what then, is it not fitting for us to condemn our soul for the temporary desire for wealth, which we have no power to acquire, but only desire it? Oh, how thoughtlessly we live, not knowing that above all virtues humility is higher, just as above all passions gluttony and worldly lust are higher.

76 It is fitting for the reasonable to remember unceasingly that, enduring small and short-lived labors in life, we enjoy great pleasure and eternal joy after death. Therefore, he who fights with passions and desires to be crowned by God, when he falls, let him not be faint-hearted and remain in sin, falling into despair, but rising, let him fight and labor again to be crowned, even to his last breath rising from the fall that happens. For bodily labors are the weapon of virtues and are saving for the soul.

77 Life’s troubles make men and strived ones worthy of being crowned by God. Therefore, it is fitting to die in one’s life to everything worldly, for the dead will never worry about anything worldly.

78 It is not fitting for a rational soul that strives, to immediately fear and be afraid of the sufferings that happen to it, lest it be mocked as cowardly. A soul troubled by worldly dreams will leave the good order. To eternal goods our spiritual virtues lead, while the cause of torments is self-willed human malice.

79 A rational person is fought by spiritual passions through rational senses. The bodily senses are five: sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. Through these five senses the wretched soul is taken captive, falling under its own four passions. The spiritual passions are four: vainglory, joy, anger, and fear. Therefore, when by wisdom and prudence a person who fights well overcomes and conquers the passions, then they are no longer fought, but will have peace in the soul and will be crowned by God as a victor.

80 Those who stay overnight in an inn receive a bed; those who, not having a bed, sleep on the ground, snore no more and no less than those who sleep on a bed; and, having waited for the end of the night, in the morning all go out together, carrying only their own. Likewise, all who walk in life, living both moderately, and in glory, and in wealth, go out of life as if from an inn, taking nothing with them from worldly pleasures and wealth, except their own deeds, whether good or evil, which they did during their life.

81 Having full power, do not hasten to threaten anyone with death, knowing that by nature you too are subject to death and that the soul is clothed in the body as in a dead garment. Knowing this well, learn gentleness and, doing good, thank God at all times, for whoever does not show mercy has no virtue in themselves.

82 Death cannot be avoided and is unthinkable to escape. Knowing this, truly rational people, instructed in virtues and god-acceptable thought, accept death without groans, fear, and weeping, reflecting on its inevitability and on liberation from worldly evils.

83 Those who have forgotten about a good and god-pleasing life and do not reflect on good and god-loving dogmas, it is fitting not to hate, but to pity them as deprived of sense and blind in heart and thought. Accepting evil for good, they perish from ignorance and do not see God, thrice-wretched and profligate in soul.

84 About piety and a good life do not undertake to speak with many. I say this not out of envy, but because the worthless will mock you. For like loves like, and such words will find few listeners, and perhaps even very rare ones. It is better not to speak, for this is not what God wants for the salvation of man.

85 The soul suffers together with the body, but the body does not suffer together with the soul: when the body is cut, the soul also co-suffers, but when the body is strong and healthy, spiritual passions enjoy themselves together with it. But when the soul reflects, the body no longer reflects, but remains separately by itself. For reflection is a spiritual passion, just like ignorance, pride, unbelief, usury, hatred, envy, anger, negligence, vainglory, ambition, discord, insensibility to good. For all this happens in the soul.

86 Reflecting on God, be pious, unenvious, good, virtuous, gentle, ready to help according to your strength, amiable, non-quarrelsome, and so on. For this is the theft-proof acquisition of the soul, to please God with these virtues and to judge no one, and not to say about anyone that such a one is wicked and has sinned, but it is better to examine one’s own evil deeds and look at oneself, at one’s life, whether it is pleasing to God. What is it to us if someone else is wicked.

87 A true person concerns themselves with being pious; pious is the one who does not desire another’s property, and everything created is foreign to a person. So you, as the image of God, despise everything. A person is the image of God when they live well and god-pleasingly. But this is possible only when a person departs from everything worldly. Whoever has a god-acceptable mind knows what spiritual benefit and reverence come from it. A god-loving man does not reproach anyone else for what he himself sins in, and this is a sign of a soul being saved.

88 All who with all their strength care for temporary property and love the desiring of deeds of malice, not knowing death and the destruction of their soul, and do not look, wretched ones, at their benefit, such do not think how much people suffer after death from malice.

89 Malice is a passion of nature. Malice does not come from God. God gave people understanding, signs, and strength of mind, which separates good from evil, and free will. Negligence and human laziness produce the passions of malice, so the cause is not at all in God. But from the division of thoughts, demons and many people became wicked.

90 A person who lives virtuously does not allow sin to enter the soul. But when there is no sin in the soul, it is safe and secure for the soul, it is ruled neither by an evil demon nor by chance. For God delivers it from evils, and it lives, preserved undamaged, like God. If anyone were to praise such a man, he laughs within himself at the one who praised; if anyone were to dishonor him, he will neither answer those who reproach him nor be angry at their words.

91 Evil follows nature, like rust on copper and dirt on bodies. But neither did the coppersmith create rust, nor did the mother create dirt, and God did not create sins. He gave man understanding and discretion to avoid evil, knowing that he suffers harm from it and is tormented. Watch out, therefore, lest, seeing someone prosperous in power and wealth, you praise him because of demonic dreams. But let death be immediately before your eyes so that you never desire anything evil or worldly.

92 Our God granted immortality to those in heaven; those on earth He created changeable, and to all creation He granted life and motion, and everything for man. Let not the worldly dream of the demon entice you, who incites the soul to wicked thoughts, but reflecting on heavenly goods, say: if I want, then it is in my power to conquer also this movement of passion, and I will not conquer if I desire to fulfill my wish. So labor in this struggle which can save your soul.

93 Life is the union and connection of mind, soul, and body, and death is not the destruction of those united, but the breaking of their union. God will preserve them even after the break.

94 The mind is not the soul, but a gift of God that saves the soul, and a god-pleasing mind warns and advises the soul to despise temporary, natural, and corruptible things, and to love eternal, incorruptible, and supernatural goods and to walk in the body of a person, thinking with the mind about the heavenly and the Divine, and about everything together and seeing it. Thus a god-loving mind is a benefactor and salvation for the human soul.

95 The soul, when it is in the body, is immediately darkened and perishes from sorrow and pleasures. Sorrow and pleasures are like mucus for the body. But a god-loving mind, opposing them, constrains the body and saves the soul; like an enemy cutting or burning the body.

96 Those souls which reason does not bridle and which the mind does not rule, so that it restrains and quiets their passions, namely sorrow and pleasure, perish like irrational animals, when passions scatter reason, breaking away like horses from a groom.

97 A great suffering for the soul, destruction, and ruin is not to know God, Who created everything for man and gave him mind and word, flying by which man is united with God, understanding and glorifying Him.

98 The soul is in the body, and in the soul is the mind, and in the mind is the word, through which God, Whom we understand and glorify, makes the soul immortal, granting it incorruptibility and eternal joy. For God in everything that exists by His sole goodness gave being.

99 God, having given man freedom of choice, as good and unenvious, gave him also the ability, if he wants, to please Him. A person pleases God when there is no sin in them. If even people praise the good deeds and virtues of a reverent and god-loving soul, and condemn shameful and wicked deeds, then much more does God praise them, Who wants man to be saved.

100 Good comes from God, as from the Good, and man receives it; for this reason God created him. But evil man attracts to himself through himself, and his own sin, and lust, and insensibility.

101 A foolish soul, though it is immortal and ruler over the body, indulges the body in pleasures, not reflecting on the fact that bodily pleasure harms it; not feeling this and playing the fool, it worries about bodily pleasure.

102 God is good, and man is evil. There is nothing evil in heaven, nothing good on earth. But a rational person chooses what is better, and knows the God of all, and thanks and praises Him, and more than death despises the body, and does not allow wicked feelings to be fulfilled, knowing their power and ruin.

103 A wicked person loves greed and despises justice, thinking neither about the obscurity and instability nor about the short-livedness of life, forgetting about the incorruptibility and inevitability of death. If they are old and foolish, then, like a decayed tree, they are fit for nothing.

104 We experience pleasure and joy when we feel the taste of what we need: he who was thirsty drinks with pleasure, he who was hungry eats with pleasure, he who has not slept well sleeps with pleasure, he who has not been insulted does not know the feeling of joy. So when we do not despise the temporary, we do not enjoy eternal goods.

105 The word is the servant of the mind; what the mind wants, the word expresses.

106 The mind sees everything, even what is in heaven; and nothing darkens it except sin. For a pure mind there is nothing unattainable, as for a word there is nothing unutterable.

107 According to the body a person is mortal, but according to the mind and word, immortal. Silently think, and having thought, speak; in silence the mind generates the word. And the word of thanksgiving that we bring to God is salvation for a person.

108 He who speaks senseless things is foolish, because he speaks without thinking at all. But look to what is useful for you to do for the salvation of the soul.

109 A rational and soul-profiting word is a gift from God, but a word full of foolishness and such that investigates the measure and distance from earth to heaven and the size of the sun and stars is the invention of a person who labors in vain. They seek what is useless to them, boasting in vain, like one who wants to carry water in a sieve. For it is impossible for people to investigate this.

110 No one sees heaven and can understand those in it, except a person who cares for a virtuous life and understands and glorifies Him Who created them for salvation and granted them life. Undoubtedly, such a god-loving man knows that without God there is nothing, but everywhere is God, as unsearchable.

111 Just as from the mother’s womb a person comes out naked, so from the body the soul goes out naked: one clean, another bright, one with sinful defilements, and another black from many transgressions. Therefore, a rational and god-loving soul, remembering and reflecting on what evil awaits it after death, lives piously, so as not to be condemned for the same. For the unbelieving, foolish in soul, commit impiety and sin, despising the eternal.

112 Just as, having come out of the womb, you do not remember what was in the womb, so, having come out of the body, you will not remember what was in the body.

113 Just as, having come out of the womb, you become better and larger in body, so, having come out clean and undefiled from the body, you will be better and incorruptible, dwelling in heaven.

114 Just as the body, which has been formed in the womb, must be born, so also the soul, when it spends in the body the time determined by God, must go out of the body.

115 Just as you keep the soul while it is in the body, so also it, having gone out of the body, will keep you. For he who keeps his body in goodness and comfort, evil happens to him after death; condemn then your soul as foolish.

116 Just as the body, having come out of the mother’s womb incomplete, cannot return, so also the soul, having gone out of the body and by a good life not having acquired the knowledge of God, cannot be saved or united with God.

117 The body, uniting with the soul, comes out from the dark womb into the light, but the soul, uniting with the body, is shut up in the darkness of the body. Therefore, it is fitting to hate and punish8 the body as an enemy and opponent of the soul. A multitude of foods and tasty dishes excite evil passions in people; self-control of the belly subdues passions and saves the soul.

118 Bodily sight is the eyes, but spiritual sight is the mind. And just as the body that has no eyes is blind and does not see the sun which illuminates the whole earth, nor the sea, and cannot enjoy the light, so also the soul which has no good and virtuous life is blind and does not understand nor glorify God—the Creator and Benefactor of all—and cannot enjoy its incorruptibility and eternal goods.

119 Insensibility and foolishness of the soul lead to ignorance of God. Evil is born from ignorance, but good comes to people from the knowledge of God and saves the soul. When you do not hasten to act according to your desires, you are sober and, knowing God, you think of virtues. But when for the sake of pleasure you hasten to act according to your wicked desires, drunk with ignorance of God, you perish like irrational beasts, not reflecting on the evil that awaits you after death.

120 All this is the work of providence, which is created according to divine law, and that every day the sun rises and sets, and the earth bears fruit; and yet everything was created for the sake of man. The law determines also what is necessary for man,

121 Everything that God creates, as Good, He creates for man; everything that man creates, he creates for himself—both good and evil. Therefore, do not wonder at the prosperity of the wicked. Know that executioners live in cities, not because their trade is good, but because they punish those who deserve punishment. Therefore, God allows wicked people to have power over worldly affairs, so that through them the unfeeling may be instructed, and in the end He hands these over to judgment. For they, indulging their malice, did evil to people, and did not serve God.

122 If those who worship idols understood and saw with their heart what they worship, they would not run, wretched ones, from piety, but seeing the good beauty, order, and providence of everything that was and is from God, they would know Him Who created everything for man.

8 Here should be understood the self-control of the body from passionate deeds and pleasures which harm the soul. It is also true that “no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it” (Eph. 5:29).

123 Man, as wicked and unrighteous, can kill, but God does not cease to grant life even to the unworthy. For He—unenvious and good by nature—willed that the world should exist, and the world exists, and serves man for his salvation.

124 A rational person is one who understands that the body is corruptible and temporary. Such a person understands also about the soul, that the soul is divine and immortal and, being what God breathed into man, joined the body for trial and deification. Whoever understands what the soul is, lives righteously and god-pleasingly, not submitting to the body, but sees God with his mind and sees eternal goods, which God grants to the soul, with his mind.

125 God, Who always remains good and unenvious, gave man power in good and evil, granting him reason so that, seeing the world and everything in the world, he might know Him Who created everything for man. But the unrighteous may wish and not understand; he may also not believe, and suffer, and think contrary to the truth. Such power a person has in good and evil.

126 Such is God’s command, that the soul, when the body grows, should be filled with mind, so that a person might choose between good and evil—whatever pleases them. But the soul that does not choose good has no reason. Therefore, all bodies have a soul, but not of every soul can it be said that it has reason. A god-loving reason is in the virtuous, and reverent, and righteous, and blameless, and good, and merciful, and pious. When there is reason, it is easier for a person to know God.

127 Only one thing is impossible for man, namely, to be immortal9. To be united with God is possible for him, when he thinks that he can. For a person who wants, understands, believes, and loves, through a good life becomes a companion of God.

128 The eye sees what is visible, but the mind understands what is invisible. A god-loving mind is the light of the soul. He who has a god-loving mind is enlightened in heart and beholds God with his mind.

129 No good person is shameless; the not good is always wicked and body-loving. The first virtue of a person is contempt for the flesh. Renunciation of the temporary and natural, because it is corruptible, makes us heirs of the eternal and incorruptible, if this renunciation is voluntary, and not out of poverty.

130 Whoever has mind knows himself what he is, knows that he is corruptible; and whoever knows himself knows that all are creations of God and created for salvation. To understand everything and rightly believe is in the power of man. Such a man knows for certain that those who despise worldly affairs will labor least, but pleasure and eternal rest they will receive from God after death.

131 As the body without the soul is dead, so also the soul without the mind is empty and cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.

132 Only man God hears, only to man God appears. God is a lover of mankind, for wherever man is, there also is God. Only man is worthy to worship God. For the sake of man God is transfigured.

9 This is said of the body, and not of the soul, because it too after the resurrection will become immortal.

133 God created everything for man: He created heaven and adorned it with stars, for man He created the earth. People cultivate the earth for themselves. Those who do not feel such providence of God are foolish in soul.

134 Good is not visible, as also everything in heaven is not visible; evil is visible, as also everything on earth is visible. Good cannot be compared with anything. But a person who has mind chooses what is better. Only man is taught by God and His creation.

135 The mind manifests in the soul, and nature in the body, and the mind of the soul is deification, but the nature of the body is division. In every body there is nature, but not in every soul is there mind. Therefore, not every soul is saved.

136 The soul is in the world as born, but the mind is above the world—as unborn. But the soul that understands the world and wants to be saved constantly keeps the law, reflecting in itself what is now the struggle and trial, and that it is impossible to appease (implore) the Judge, and how it perishes—and the soul preserves itself from small and shameful sweetness.

137 On earth God gave Gehenna and death, but in heaven—providence and immutability. And everything was created for man and his salvation. God, Who does not need any goods, created for man heaven and earth, and the elements, granting him through them all pleasures.

138 The mortal is subject to the immortal, and the immortal to the mortal10; elements serve man, therefore, by the love of mankind and the goodness of God the Creator inherent in them.

139 The poor and incapable of harming is not counted among those who act piously; but he who can harm, but does not use his strength for evil and spares the humble out of piety to God, acquires a good reward after death too.

140 By the love of mankind of God Who created us, very many ways of salvation are given to people, which turn souls and lead them to heaven. Human souls receive a reward for virtue, and punishment for transgressions.

141 The Son is in the Father and the Spirit is in the Son, and the Father is in both. By faith everything invisible and everything that can be understood is known by man. And faith is the voluntary consent of the soul.

142 Just as those who out of necessity or compelled by circumstances sail along wide rivers, if they are sober, they remain alive even if the waves are mighty. Having tossed a little on them, they will not drown, but will reach the shore. But if they are drunk, then even if they try with all their might to row to the shore, conquered by wine, they drown in the waves. In the same way the soul dies, falling into the impurities and tossing of life’s waves, if, rising from the sin of nature, it does not know that it—divine and immortal—through temptation united with the temporary, multi-passionate, and mortal, that bodily pleasures draw it to destruction; despising itself and drunk with ignorance and not caring for itself, it perishes and is excluded from among the living. As a river draws to the depth, so often the body draws us to unworthy pleasures.

143 A rational soul, immovably preserving a good will, bridles, like a horse, anger and lust—its irrational passions—and, conquering, quieting

10 The immortal here should be understood as long-lasting and durable.

and surpassing them, is crowned and made worthy of heavenly life, receiving from God Who created it a reward for victory and labors.

144 A truly rational soul, seeing the prosperity of the wicked and the well-being of the unworthy, is not troubled, imagining their pleasures in this life. It knows for certain both the instability of happiness, and the uncertainty of life, and the short-livedness of living, and the incorruptibility of judgment, and such a soul believes that God cares for the food it needs.

145 Bodily life and much wealth, and the power of the pleasures of this life become death for the soul. But labor, patience, poverty with thanksgiving, and the mortification of the body are life and eternal pleasure for the soul.

146 A rational soul is a natural creation, and, despising a short-lived life, chooses heavenly sweetness and eternal life, receiving them from God through a good life.

147 Whoever has clothing stained with mud stains the clothing of others by touching them. So also the wicked by self-will and the unrighteous by life, turning to the simplest, speaking with them about the unbecoming, like slime, defile the soul through hearing.

148 The beginning of sin is lust, and through it the rational soul perishes. But the beginning of the salvation of the soul and the Kingdom of Heaven is love.

149 Just as copper, which is not kept and properly cared for, decays from rust, long binding, and non-use and becomes useless and unfit, so also an empty person who does not care for a virtuous life and turning to God, separating themselves through wicked deeds from God’s protection, through sin born of laziness is ruined in body, like copper from rust, and becomes good-for-nothing and unfit.

150 God is good, dispassionate, and unchanging. But if someone considers it good and true that God does not change, but does not understand how He rejoices in good, but turns away from evil and is angry with those who sin; but when He is honored, He becomes merciful—then it should be said that God does not rejoice and is not angry: for joy and sorrow are passions. And gifts are not brought to Him, for this would mean that He is conquered by the love of pleasures. It is not fitting to think that God is good or bad depending on human actions. For He is good, and only helps, and never causes harm, always the same and identical. We, being good, by similarity are united with God; but being bad, by dissimilarity we separate from God. And, living virtuously, we hold to God, but being bad, we make Him our enemy. When we are angry not in vain, but at sins which do not allow God to shine in us, but unite us with tormenting demons, when by prayers and charity we receive remission of sins, this does not mean that we have honored God or changed Him. It means that by good deeds and turning to God we healed our sin and became worthy to still partake of God’s goodness. Therefore, God turns away from the wicked just as the sun is hidden from those who have lost their sight.

151 A pious soul knows the God of all. Piety is nothing other than doing the will of God. The knowledge of God consists in being unenvious, virtuous, gentle, gracious according to one’s strength, friendly, non-quarrelsome, and doing what is pleasing to the will of God.

152 The knowledge of God and fear of Him heals natural passions. But when the soul is accompanied by ignorance of God, incurable passions that are in it rot the soul; as if from long-standing pus, so it decays from sin, the cause of which is not God, Who sent knowledge and reason to people.

153 God filled man with knowledge and reason, trying to purify passions and self-willed sin, and to transform the mortal into the immortal by His goodness.

154 The mind, which is in a pure and god-loving soul, truly beholds the unborn, invisible, and unutterable God, Who is alone pure to the pure in heart.

155 The crown of incorruptibility, and virtue, and salvation of a person consists in gracefully and thankfully bearing adversities. And to restrain anger, tongue, belly, and desire for pleasure is a great help to the soul.

156 The world is held by the providence of God, and there is no place where there is no providence. And providence is the self-ending Word of God, Which creates the substance of which the world consists, and the Creator and Master of all that is. It is impossible for substance to be adorned without the prudent power of the word, which is the image, mind, wisdom, and providence of God.

157 Lust, which arises from thought, is the root of passions, akin to darkness. And the soul which dwells in the thought of lust does not know itself, that it is what God breathed into man, and so rushes to sin, foolishly not reflecting on the evil that is to be to it after death.

158 A great and incurable disease and ruin for the soul is godlessness and love of glory. Desiring evil leads to deprivation of good. But good is to do good without envy, everything that is pleasing to the God of all.

159 Only man can receive God. Only with this living creature does God converse at night through dreams, and in the day through the mind, and in every way to worthy people announces and foretells future goods.

160 There is nothing difficult for him who believes and desires to understand God. And if you want to see Him, look at the beauty and providence of everything that was and is by His word. And all this is for man.

161 Holy is called he who is clean from malice and sins. Therefore, this is a great success of the soul and pleasing to God when there is no malice in a person.

162 A name is a sign that distinguishes someone from many. Therefore, it is foolish to think that God, though He is one and the same, has another name. For this name—God—designates the beginningless, Who created everything for man.

163 When you know that you commit wicked deeds, cut them off from your soul by the hope of good. For God is righteous and a lover of mankind.

164 Man knows God, and God knows him who wants to be always inseparably with Him. And inseparable from God is that person who is good in everything, overcomes all love of pleasures—not because they have few of them, but by their own will and self-control.

165 Do good to him who wrongs you, and God will be your friend. Do not slander your enemy before anyone: have love, virtue, patience, self-control. For this is the knowledge of God, namely, the imitation of God by humility and such deeds. And these are the deeds not of simple people, but of a rational soul.

166 About those who dare to impiously call shoots and herbs animate, I wrote a separate chapter so that the simplest might know. Herbs have natural life, but they do not have a soul. A person is called a rational creature because they have reason and contain learning. Other creatures of earth and air have a voice because breath is in them and a soul; and all grow and diminish because they live and grow, but not all have a soul. There are four kinds of creatures. Some of them are immortal and animate, namely angels; others have mind, soul, and breath, namely people; still others have breath and soul, namely animals; others have only life, namely plants: only life is in plants, and there is no soul, breath, mind, and immortality in them. And all others cannot exist without life. And every human soul is always moving from one place to another.

167 When you receive the dream (imagination) of some sweetness, watch yourself lest it captivate you, and, having slightly dismissed the dream, remember death and think that it is better to see in yourself this illusion of sweetness conquered.

168 Just as in birth itself there is passion, for what happens in life is also subject to corruption, so in passion there is sin. But do not say: “Could not God have cut off sin?” Those who say so speak unfeelingly and foolishly. It is not fitting for God to cut off nature, for these are natural passions. For the sake of benefit, God cut off sin from people, granting them mind, knowledge, and reason, and the ability to distinguish good, so that, seeing how we are harmed by sin, we might flee from it. But a foolish person follows sin and boasts of it, and as if caught in nets, is conquered by it, being wrapped in it, and can never renounce it, and see and know God, Who created everything for the salvation and deification of man.

169 The mortal hates itself, because it foresees its death. And the immortal, because it is good, joins the reverent soul; but the mortal, because it is evil, joins the foolish and wretched soul.

170 When with gratitude you return to your bed, reflecting in yourself on the benefits and God’s providence for you, being filled with good thoughts and even rejoicing, then your bodily sleep will be the sobriety of the soul, and the closing of your eyelids a true vision of God, and your silence, being full of good, will render from all your soul and strength high glory to the God of all. When there is no sin in a person, then thanksgiving itself is pleasing to God more than any precious sacrifice. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen. Our Reverend Father Mark the Ascetic became famous around the year 430 after the birth of Christ. He was a disciple of Saint John Chrysostom, according to the testimony of Nicephorus Callistus in volume 2, book 14, chapter 53, and a contemporary of Saint Nilus and Isidore of Pelusium, famous ascetics. This industrious father studied the Holy Scriptures, wrote numerous Words, instructive and useful. Of 32 of them Nicephorus Callistus mentions; they taught what the path of ascetic life is, but have not been preserved to this day. Other words of his have been preserved, only 8, and the same Callistus mentions them, and the critic (who checks writings) Photius in the 200th reading, p. 268. Of these words, the first is about the spiritual law, and the third is about those who think they are justified by works, divided into chapters, and the eighth is to Nicholas the monk, placed here as the most useful of all. His works are mentioned by both the Reverend Martyr Peter Damascene, and Saint Gregory of Thessalonica, and Gregory of Sinai, and Callistus, the most holy patriarch, and Paul Beneficent, and other numerous fathers who, having read them, encourage us to read them too. This also the Holy Church of God honoring, celebrates his memory on March 5, preaching his fasting struggles, wisdom in words, and the grace of miracles given to him from on high.