Our Venerable Father John, Bishop of Carpathia, to the monks who wrote to him from India, 100 consoling chapters
When petitioners come before earthly kings and bring them flowers, they are not turned away but even receive some gift in return. And I, having received your bidding, have borrowed from nowhere a hundred good words, and, bringing them to you who dwell in heaven, I hope for your favour and for your prayers on my behalf.
1. As great as the eternity of the King of all, whose Kingdom has neither beginning nor end, so great should be the zeal of those who have resolved to labour for His sake and for the virtues. The honours of the present life, however bright, vanish together with this life; but the honours that God bestows upon the worthy abide for ever, for they are given together with incorruption.
2. Blessed David, composing his song to God on behalf of all creation, called to mind the angels and all the invisible powers, and came down even to the earth so as to pass over neither beasts, nor cattle, nor birds, nor creeping things; for he considered that by such a song all things worship the Creator, and he wished every creature to have its own share in it. How, then, can a monk, who may be likened to gold and sapphire, fail to delight in the singing of psalms, or grow slothful in it?
3. As the fire enveloped the burning bush yet did not consume it, so those who have received the gift of dispassion, though they feel weight and heat in the body, are neither harmed nor hindered by the body’s heat, neither in the flesh nor in the intellect. For the voice of the Lord cut short the natural flame, since God’s will and word separated what by nature is joined together.
4. The moon, which now waxes and now wanes, is an image of man’s condition: now he does good and now he sins, and then again through repentance he returns to a life of virtue. Therefore the intellect of one who has sinned does not perish, as some among us suppose; for neither does the moon itself diminish, but only its light. Man restores his own light by repentance, just as the moon, after waning, restores its light again. He who believes in Christ, «though he die, yet shall he live» (Jn 11:25), and shall understand «that I am the Lord; I have spoken and I will do it» (Ezek 37:14).
5. When a multitude of hostile images rises against you in thought and overcomes you, know that for a time you have withdrawn from divine grace, and that for this reason you were handed over to your own fall by a just judgment. Struggle, then, not to lose grace even for a moment through negligence. But when you are able to evade the enemy’s snares and to step over passionate thoughts and the frequent foul provocations of our many-minded enemies, know that this is a gift given you from on high. For the Apostle says: «Not I, but the grace of God which is with me» (1 Cor 15:10) wrought this token of victory, and raised me above the foul thoughts that rise against me, and delivered me from the unrighteous man, that is, from the devil and from the old self. And so, having flown up on the wings of the Spirit and being as it were freed from the body, I was able to fly above the demon-hunters who take the human intellect captive by the sweetness towards which they drive us under compulsion, as though it were something necessary. He who brought me out of the land of Egypt, that is, from the soul’s destruction in the world, He who fights for me with a hidden hand, struck down Amalek and taught me to hope that the Lord will also destroy from before our face the other assaults of foul passions (cf. Ex 17:14). This our God will give wisdom and strength. For some have received wisdom but have not yet received the strength of the Spirit to overcome their enemies. He will exalt your strength above your enemies and will give you «wings like a dove» (Ps 54:7), and you will fly away and rest in God. The Lord will make your arms «like a bow of bronze» (Ps 17:35), showing you firm and swift and strong against the adversary, and He will lay low beneath you all who oppose you. Give thanks, then, to the Lord for your purity, that He did not shut you up in the hands of the lusts of your flesh and blood, nor in the hands of the corrupting and unclean spirits that arouse desire, but has upheld you with His right hand. Raise Him an altar, as Moses did when he overcame Amalek (Ex 17:15). «Therefore I will give glory, and I will praise You, O Lord, and I will sing to Your name» (Ps 17:50), magnifying Your power; for You have delivered my life from corruption and set me free from snares, from cunning wiles and from the malice of the morning.
6. The cunning demons inflame, renew, exalt and multiply the foul passions within us. But meditation upon the divine word, especially when accompanied by the shedding of tears, puts the passions to death, however long-standing they may be, and destroys them, and gradually reduces to nothing those sinful acts that ruin soul and body alike — provided only that we do not grow slack in prayer and that we turn to the Lord with unfailing hope.
7. Why does Christ perfect praise out of the mouths of the faithful who are as infants in malice? So that by their singing He may destroy the enemy and avenger who torments us grievously, that is, the enemy of the virtues and the champion of malice, the devil. Therefore we too, singing to the Master in simplicity of heart, crush and destroy the enemy’s designs: «In the multitude of Your glory You have crushed the adversaries and those who fight against us».
8. When a man is outwardly crippled, it is said that he will consume half of his fruits now and half in the age to come; each man knows the fruits of his own way.
9. Every monk should desire a good fast, should not be lifted up by the passions, and should always cultivate great stillness.
10. The demons who hate our souls persuade some people to praise us at any cost, and teach us to take delight in that praise. And when we, slackened by self-conceit, give place to vainglory, our enemies easily take us captive.
11. Receive with greater joy the man who mocks you than the man who praises you; for it is written that there is no difference between them.
12. When you have laboured to acquire the virtue of fasting and, through weakness, fail in it, turn with a contrite heart and with thanksgiving to the Provider and Judge of all. If you always stand thus humbly before the Lord, you will never exalt yourself above any man.
13. The enemy knows that prayer is our greatest help and the greatest defence against him; therefore he tries to tear us away from it and instils in us a desire to study the writings of the Greeks, from which we have withdrawn. Let us not listen to him, lest we turn from our plough and afterwards gather thorns and thistles instead of figs and grapes. «The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God» (1 Cor 3:19).
14. «I bring you tidings of great joy», said the angel, «which shall be to all the people» (Lk 2:10) — to all the people, not to some part of it. And again it is said: «Let all the earth worship You and sing to You» (Ps 65:4) — not a part of the earth, but the whole. And it is not those who pray in tears who sing, but those who rejoice. Since this is so, let us not fall into despair, but let us pass through this present life with joy, thinking of the joy and gladness to come. Yet let us add to our gladness a divine fear, as it is said: «Rejoice in the Lord with trembling». For the women who were with Mary also ran from the tomb with great joy and fear. Perhaps we too shall one day set out from the noetic tomb with fear and joy. I should be astonished if it were without fear, for no one is sinless, be he Moses or the apostle Peter. Yet at their end, in such as these, divine «love casts out fear» (1 Jn 4:18).
15. When even a man deeply enslaved to passion believes with his whole heart and humbles himself, he receives the gift of dispassion; and of this there is testimony in Scripture: «Truly I say to you», said the Lord, «today you shall be with Me in Paradise» (Lk 23:43). And again: «Your faith has saved you; go in peace» (Mk 5:34) — the peace of the most blessed dispassion. And how many other such passages there are! For it is said: «From the seed the fruit will grow»; and again: «According to your faith be it unto you» (Mt 9:29).
16. When we wage a painful war against the passions, the demons attack us all the more with shameful thoughts; but then above all we are established in faith in the Lord and hold a surer hope of the eternal blessings promised us — the very hope of which our enemies, out of envy, try to deprive and estrange us. For if those blessings were not so great, the demons would not burn with such envy against us nor cast so many foul thoughts upon us. By these they wish to confirm their own madness and to drive us to despair through unbearable and heavy oppressions.
17. Some maintain that practice is the truest knowledge. Strive, therefore, to show your faith and knowledge above all by your deeds. He who has prided himself on knowledge alone will hear: «They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him».
18. Most often on feast days and at holy assemblies, and especially when someone wishes to approach the Mystical Table, the demons try to defile the faster with foul fantasies and with emission. But by this they will not crush or weaken the man who has learned to bear all things patiently and valiantly. And let not these corrupters of virginity boast of victory over us as though they were in the right.
19. The enemies take revenge upon good habit and zeal by assailing the soul with various and unspeakable temptations. Out of afflictions many and unutterable a crown is woven for you, and in weakness the power of Christ is revealed (2 Cor 12:9); and where great sorrow comes, there the grace of the Spirit flourishes. «Light has dawned in the darkness for the righteous» (Ps 111:4), if we keep to the end our courage and the boast of our hope.
20. Nothing destroys virtue so much as laughter, jesting and idle talk. And, conversely, nothing so renews an aged soul and helps it to draw near to God as the fear of God, good attentiveness, unceasing study of the words of God, arming oneself with prayer, and vigilance.
21. It is more worthy and at the same time more profitable for the soul to bear manfully every affliction that comes, whether from men or from demons, and to see clearly that we deserve every burden; and to reproach no one else, but only ourselves. He who reproaches another for his own afflictions departs from right judgment.
22. Sometimes it happens that a man falls away from steadfastness, however diligent he may be, because temptations have multiplied. He goes out of his proper rank, for, as Scripture says, «all their wisdom was swallowed up» (Ps 106:27), and all his skill with it. And this is so that we may not trust in ourselves, and that Israel may not boast, saying: «My own hand has saved me» (Judg 7:2). But hope that you will enter again into your former good order, when by divine command the evil one falls away and is driven from you — the one who teaches you to see and hear everything with passion and pushes you into sin. He has made your intellect hard, like a thick cloud, and has given the body a sense of unspeakable heaviness and oppression. And the thought that was sown, simple and guileless as an infant, he makes appear manifold and experienced in every kind of sin, having enticed it and inclined it to impurity.
23. A man who grows inwardly and is magnified by the virtues is something great. But let this great one fear sin as an elephant fears a mouse, «lest, having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified» (1 Cor 9:27).
24. It is not only at the end of the world that the devil «will speak words against the Most High» (Dan 7:25), as the prophet Daniel says. Even now he sometimes sends up blasphemy through our thoughts to the very heavens, blaspheming the Most High Himself, and His creation, and the holy Mysteries of Christ. But we, established upon the rock of knowledge, will not be terrified by him nor astonished at the impudence of the impious one. Taking up faith and fervent prayer and receiving help from on high, we shall beat back the enemy.
25. Fighting and mocking, the enemy falls insolently upon the soul that has gone out of the body, and bitterly and terribly exposes its transgressions. But then one may see that the soul which loves God and is faithful, though often wounded by sins, is not terrified by his efforts and threats. The Lord strengthens it, and it is winged with joy, and the holy powers teach it boldness, and the light of faith overshadows it, and with great courage it answers the wicked devil: «What have you to do with us, you who are far from God? What have you to do with us, cunning slave who fled from heaven? You have no authority over us. For Christ, the Son of God, has authority over us and over all. Against Him we have sinned, and to Him we shall answer, having as our pledge of mercy and salvation His precious Cross. But you, destroyer, flee far from us; you have nothing in common with the servants of Christ.» When the soul speaks so boldly, the devil flees away and cries out, weeping: «I could not withstand the name of Christ.» And the soul that has overcome him soars above him and strikes him as a falcon strikes a crow. And after this the divine angels bear it with joy to the place appointed for it according to its state.
26. That even a small temptation, permitted by God, can keep a zealous man from advancing — let the remora convince you of this, the smallest of fish, which by a single touch halts a ship laden with countless goods and does not let it sail on. And remember him who said: «Therefore we wanted to come to you — I, Paul, once and again — but Satan hindered us» (1 Thess 2:18). Yet do not be troubled by this: struggle against it with patience, and you will receive grace.
27. When someone rich in virtues turns aside through despondency from what is fitting, then the sons of the wicked east rise against him — whether Amalekites or Midianites (cf. Judg 6) — the power that loves unchastity with its camels, that is, with passionate recollections beyond number, and they destroy all the fruits of the earth, that is, the fruits of the best practice and habit. And then at last Israel is impoverished and becomes faint-hearted and is compelled to cry out to the Lord. And so there is sent from heaven a good thought that imitates Gideon in great faith and humility of wisdom. For Gideon said: «My family is the least in Manasseh» (Judg 6:15) — and how shall three hundred feeble men array themselves against so great a multitude and gloriously set up a token of victory against the adversaries by the victory of grace?
28. You will not be able to tread upon the asp and the basilisk unless you entreat God with great supplication and receive the angels as your allies, who will lift you up in their hands and raise you above foul desires.
29. When a man who is struggling is defeated, let him not grieve nor grow weary. Rather, as Isaiah says, let him set himself right and rejoice in soul, singing thus: «Mighty ones, submit! O cunning demons, though you have strength, you shall be overcome. And though you take counsel, the Lord will destroy your counsels; for God is with us, the God who raises up the fallen and makes our enemies weep when we repent.»
30. It is impossible for the man who is taught through temptations to live without sorrow. But afterwards such men are filled with great joy, with sweet tears and with divine understanding, in proportion to the pains and afflictions they have cherished in their hearts.
31. Although Isaac wished to give the blessing and Esau hastened to receive it, neither of them obtained what he wanted; for it is God who shows mercy and anoints with the Spirit the one who is blessed (cf. Rom 5:16) — not the one whom we may wish, but the one whom God appointed to His service before He created him. Therefore let us not be troubled or envious when we see the least noticed and the least of the brethren flourishing in the virtues. You have heard the Lord say: «Give place to this man!» (Lk 14:9), that he may sit higher. Let us marvel at the Judge, who has judged wisely and ineffably that the least and the last should become first and should teach, while we should be last, even though we surpass him in ascetic labours and in years. Let each conduct himself according to the measure that the Lord has given him, as it is written: «If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit» (Gal 5:25).
32. Never listen to one who is under your authority if he says: «Allow me for a time to try this virtue or this thing, and to act in this or that way.» When someone speaks thus, it is clear that he wants to do his own will and is casting aside the vows of good obedience.
33. The passions of body and soul, as you will see for yourself, will be destroyed in time and by the divine will, however great they may be. But the mercy of Christ will never be destroyed; for the mercy of the Lord is from this age and unto the age to come upon those who fear Him.
34. The treasuries of kings are filled with gold, and the intellects of true monks are filled with knowledge.
35. Sometimes a teacher endures dishonour, suffering for the sake of those who have received spiritual profit from him. For it is said: «We are weak, but you are strong; you are honoured, but we are without honour» (1 Cor 4:10) in Christ.
36. The source and cause of the body’s corruption is the passionate thought, which the man who has become sober after a fall drives out of his soul by repentance. It would be good for you to weep, that he who taught you to commit such a deed might be taken away from you — that is, the cunning and unseemly thought (cf. 1 Cor 5:2); for mourning is opposed to the spirit of corruption.
37. Who will announce to the man weighed down by ignominy and by weakness in the virtues that he will see Jesus not only in the age to come but even here, and that Jesus will come to him with great power and glory through dispassion? He will say of his own soul, as Sarah said when she had grown old in barrenness and beyond hope bore the son of the promise: «The Lord has made laughter for me» — that is, He has granted exceeding joy to one who for many years was grieved by the multitude of his passions. Or, as one man said in explaining this passage: «God has made me young again; my youth has been renewed like the eagle’s» (Ps 102:5) — my youth, which before had grown old in sins and dishonourable passions. For now I have been born again and am young and supple, whereas before I was hardened in my nature; now I look simply on all the things that are in the world, for I have received the simplicity proper to me, and my intellect is healthy through God’s great mercy. And my flesh has become like that of Naaman the Syrian, like the flesh of an infant, for I have washed in the Jordan of knowledge and have come to be of one mind with the grace of God, delivered from the serpent’s brood of most experienced and most manifold thoughts of malice, which I had acquired before, contrary to nature.
38. Imagine the Lord speaking to you: «For a time I took from you such and such gifts, in which your intellect thought to be established and to rest, and in their place I gave you other gifts equal to the former. But you, remembering what was taken and not noticing what was given, are downcast and grieved and sorrowful. Yet you gladden Me in that you accept sorrow from Me (cf. 2 Cor 2:2); for I send sorrow for your benefit, to save and not to destroy him who has been given Me as a son.»
39. Take a commandment upon yourself and make it a law not to eat fish, and see how the enemy will urge you to eat it, and how you yourself will be driven with frenzy towards the very thing you renounced. Something like this happened with Adam: he heard that there was one thing he might not eat, and he rushed towards that forbidden thing with exceeding desire.
40. One man God saves through knowledge, another through simplicity and guilelessness. Know that God will not reject the guileless.
41. More terrible and more savage temptations come upon those who pray most fervently.
42. If you have desired to be clothed in dispassion, do not be careless, but strive with all your strength to acquire it. «Therefore we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, that what is mortal in us may be swallowed up by life» (2 Cor 5:2, 4). «Death is swallowed up in victory» (1 Cor 15:54), and the Egyptians who wrong us and pursue us will be swallowed up by the waves of the power sent to us from heaven.
43. If you forget him who said: «I fear lest, having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified» (1 Cor 9:27); and again: «Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall» (1 Cor 10:12); and again: «If you are spiritual, watch yourself, lest you also be tempted» (Gal 6:1); and if you forget how Solomon fell away and transgressed after receiving such grace; and if you forget the great Peter’s unwilling denial — then go on trusting in your own reason, and boast greatly of your way of life, and think highly of yourself because of your long ascetic labour, and give place to pride. But do not think, brother, that you may relax! Fear this as long as you breathe, even if you have as many years as Moses, and pray, saying: «Do not cast me off in the time of old age; when my strength fails, do not forsake me» (Ps 70:9), O God my Saviour. «My song is of You continually» (Ps 70:6).
44. The Lord says to you as He said to Matthew: «Follow Me.» And if, as you follow zealously after the greatly beloved Master, you stumble on the stone of the passions and fall unwillingly into sin, or, coming upon marshy ground, slip and fall against your will — then as many times as you happen to fall and to bruise the body, so many times rise again and follow after the Lord with the very same zeal, until you draw near to Him. «So in the holy thought I have appeared before You, to see Your power and Your glory that saves me, and in Your name, O Lord, I will lift up my hands» (Ps 62:3, 5). And I shall imagine that my soul has been filled «with marrow and fatness, and my lips shall praise Your name with rejoicing» (Ps 62:6). It is a great thing for me that I am called a Christian, as the Lord also says to me through the prophet Isaiah: «It is a great thing that you are called My servant» (Is 49:6).
45. In one place it is said that «the Father will give good gifts to those who ask Him» (Mt 7:11), and in another that «the heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him». These words mean that those who pray to God will receive not only the forgiveness of their transgressions but also heavenly gifts; and they are strengthened by this thought, that the Lord promises such good things not to the righteous but to sinners. For He says: «If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!» (Lk 11:13). Therefore ask unceasingly and without doubting, even if you are weak in the life of virtue, and very feeble, and unworthy — and you will receive great blessings.
46. If an unbeliever or a man of little faith could consider that ants grow wings, and that from a grub there comes a bird, and that many other wondrous things happen among created beings, then perhaps, laying aside the sickness of unbelief and hopelessness, he too would grow wings and would put forth, like a tree, all-praiseworthy knowledge. For it is said: «I am the Lord, who make the dry tree to flourish and give life to the withered bones» (Ezek 17:24; 37:4, 9).
47. Let us not give ourselves over to our needs by fussing over the body, but let us believe God with all our soul. A certain good man once said: «Trust God, and He will trust you.» And as the blessed apostle Peter writes: «Be wise and sober, ready for prayer» (1 Pet 4:7). And again: «Cast all your care upon God, for He cares for you» (1 Pet 5:7). But if you doubt and do not believe that He is concerned to feed you, look at the spider and consider how greatly man differs from the spider, that most feeble and powerless of creatures. The spider gathers no property, sails no seas, goes to no court of law, does not grow angry, has no storehouses; it lives out its life in complete gentleness, chastity and full stillness. It takes no interest in what its neighbours do, but does its own work, and by that work testifies quietly and without fuss to a certain order, and thereby says to the ambitious that whoever wishes to be idle should not eat. It keeps such silence that not even Pythagoras can be compared with it — and the Greeks marvel at Pythagoras above all their philosophers because he learned to restrain his tongue. Yet Pythagoras did not speak with everyone but conversed in secret only with those closest to him, and he often uttered strange and senseless things even to oxen and eagles. Wine he drank not at all, but only water. The spider, however, surpassed Pythagoras’ silence by its own voicelessness and left him far behind in abstinence, for it drinks neither wine nor water. In such order the feeble and humble spider abides in silence, and it does not love to go anywhere, nor to wander here and there in daydreams, nor to labour and suffer endlessly. And the Lord, who dwells on high and looks upon the lowly — and there is nothing more lowly than a spider — remembers even it and sends it food every day, so arranging matters that some small insect falls into its web.
48. But perhaps someone possessed by gluttony will say: «I eat a great deal, and so I spend a great deal, and therefore I have to take up all sorts of worldly business.» Let such a man too look at the whales that graze in the Atlantic Ocean. God feeds them abundantly, and they never know hunger. Each of these beasts devours enough fish to feed an entire populous city. «All things wait upon You, that You may give them food in due season» (Ps 103:27). So God feeds both the one who eats much and the one who eats little. Hearing this, you who have a wide and spacious belly, give yourself to God and to faith, casting away every worldly care and every intellect full of many cares; and be not unbelieving, but believing.
49. If we truly wish to please God, so that He may love us with the most blessed love, let us set our intellect naked before God and take nothing with us that comes from this present age — no skill, no knowledge, no cleverness, no justifications in words, even if we have learned all the wisdom of the world. God turns away from those who approach Him presumptuously, full of vainglory and conceit. Some have well said that vain presumption is self-satisfaction and arrogance.
50. How shall we overcome the sin that has taken root in us? We must compel ourselves. It is said that a man labours with labours and drives away his own destruction, striving to raise his thoughts to holiness. The law does not forbid us to destroy force by force. When we add even the smallest measure of self-compulsion to our effort, then we may hope that, if we remain in Jerusalem — that is, in unceasing prayer and the other virtues — power from on high will come upon us (cf. Lk 24:49). This mighty power is such that no bodily lips can describe it: it will reinforce our efforts and will overcome with great strength both evil habits and the malice of the demons. It will overcome our souls’ inclination to evil and the unseemly stirrings of the body. For it is said that «suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind» (Acts 2:2), in order to drive away the malice that constantly forces us into sin.
51. «The enemy lies in wait in a hiding place, like a lion in his den» (Ps 9:30), and sets before us the nets and snares of unclean and impious thoughts. But we too, if we do not sleep, can set greater and stronger nets and snares and traps against him. Prayer and psalmody, vigilance and humility of wisdom, service to our neighbours and mercy, thanksgiving and the hearing of the divine words — these are a trap for the enemy, and nets, and a pit, and wounds, and a noose, and snares.
52. Having reached old age, the divine David, giving thanks to God for choosing him, says at the end of his blessings: «Now the heart of Your servant has prayed this prayer.» This is said so that we may understand that great struggle is needed and much time must be spent in prayer to attain an unshakeable ordering of the intellect — a kind of heavenly firmament within the heart, where Christ dwells, as the Apostle says: «Do you not know that Jesus Christ is in you?» (2 Cor 13:5).
53. If Christ has become for us «wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption» (1 Cor 1:30), then He has also become our rest; for He said: «Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest» (Mt 11:28). Well is it said that the Sabbath, that is, rest, was made for man. Only in Christ Jesus will the human race find rest.
54. As there is a cup of falling and a cup of wrath, so there is also a cup of weakness. The Lord takes it in due time and puts it into the hands of our enemies, so that not we alone but the demons also may grow faint and fall.
55. As in outward affairs there are money-changers, weavers, fowlers, soldiers and builders, so, you should know, in inward affairs there are gamblers, deceivers, pirates, hunters, defilers, murderers and others besides. We must give them no entry, by pious contradiction and by prayer — and above all the defilers, lest they defile the holy place and pollute the man of God.
56. It is not only by words that one can incline the Lord to grant salvation, as happened with the thief when he called out from the cross, but by thought as well. For the woman with the issue of blood said within herself: «If only I touch the hem of His garment, I shall be healed» (cf. Mt 9:21). And Abraham’s servant prayed to God in his intellect that He would point out Rebecca to him (Gen 24:15).
57. Sin itself brings the penitent to God, when he perceives its stench, its weight and its frenzy. But the man who does not want repentance is not brought by sin to God; rather, sin holds him fast, binds him with bonds that cannot be loosed, and strengthens and confirms his ruinous desires.
58. Beware of the sorceries of Jezebel (2 Kg 9:22), that is, of thoughts, of arrogance and of vain glory. You will be able to overcome them by the grace of God, humbling and abasing your soul, casting yourself down before the Lord and calling upon Him to help you, knowing that all these things are heavenly gifts. Therefore it is said: «A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven» (Jn 3:27).
59. It is said in the law: «When they testify against him and he does not destroy it, let him make restitution.» Sometimes, while the brethren are being served at table, a vainglorious thought will come, urging you to say something out of season. Angelic thoughts will prompt you to destroy this talkative and untimely thought. If you do not destroy it by good silence but allow it to come out, puffed up with great pride, then it will turn against you, and you will be handed over to a greater sin by judgment, or you will suffer grievous bodily illnesses, or frequent attacks from the brethren, or torment in the age to come. For we shall answer both for an empty and vainglorious word and for lack of restraint in the tongue. Therefore we ought soberly to guard our tongue.
60. Of those who are tempted through sensual pleasure, anger and love of glory, it is said that the sun scorches them by day and the moon by night (cf. Ps 120:6). Pray that the divine dew-bearing cloud may cover you, so that you may escape the heat of your enemies.
61. Never allow the champions of drunkenness and the slaves of a disorderly table to come to you, or to speak with you shamelessly, even if they are already grey-haired and have spent many years in the monastic life — lest, as Scripture says, rottenness cover you and the unclean and uncircumcised in heart lead you astray.
62. Before the keys were entrusted to Peter, he was permitted to deny the Lord, so that through his fall his opinion of himself might become virtuous. And you too, when you have received the key of knowledge and fall into various thoughts, do not be terrified, but glorify our one and all-wise Lord, who by a fall bridles the presumption that rises up against divine knowledge. Temptation is a bridle that curbs human pride against God’s providence.
63. When the Lord often takes from us what is good, as He did with Job’s wealth — for «the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away» (Job 1:21) — then the evil also that the Eternal One has brought upon us will be taken from our hands. It is said that good and evil are from the Lord; and He who brings evil upon us will also bring gladness with eternal glory. «As I have watched over you», says the Lord, «to pull down and to bring evil upon you, so I will build again and not pull down, I will plant and not uproot.» Let the popular proverb be silent that says: «One misfortune comes and brings another after it.» The Lord, who has changed things for the worse, can unexpectedly change them for the better.
64. He who attacks the demons more firmly and surely, with abstinence, prayer and every virtue, receives from them deeper wounds — so deep that he comes even to hopelessness, suspecting that his soul lies under the condemnation of noetic death; and then the words come to his mind: «Who will deliver me from the body of this death?» (Rom 7:24). For he is compelled against his will to submit to the laws of the adversary.
65. It was not for nothing that it was written of old how some said to one another: «Arise, let us go up against a people at ease and silent» (Judg 18:9). And again: «Let us go up against Judah and terrify him» (Is 7:6) with a cunning and flattering tongue, and turn him from the truth to ourselves. Fierce demons are accustomed to sharpen the swords of temptation all their life against those who live in stillness, and above all to fall with frenzy upon the most reverent and devout of the soldiers of Christ, pushing them into sin by the very fierceness of the struggle, so that in this way at least they may turn them from faith in Christ, from prayer and from good hope. «But we», says David, «will not depart from You» (Ps 79:19) — until You have mercy on us and until those who devour us withdraw. We will not depart from You until You command those who tempt us to withdraw, and we shall live through patience and firm dispassion. For temptation is life for a man, and at a certain time the Giver of the contest allows us to fall beneath the feet of strangers. It is proper to a magnanimous and valiant soul not to fall into despair.
66. If a demon has such strength that he persuades a man and drags him after his own impulses — because man has by nature fallen from his good condition — how much greater strength has an angel, who in due time receives God’s command to lead a man to a better state? If the cold north wind has such power that it turns water, soft by nature, into hard stone, what power has the warm south wind? If exceedingly cold air subdues everything — for «who can stand before His frost?» (Ps 147:6) — can warmth not change everything? Who can withstand warmth? Let us believe, then, that the cold and black coal of our intellect will sooner or later become burning and full of light through the divine fire.
67. Even in the present age there is a certain state of dispassion, of which there is testimony and sign in our inner Joseph. In this state the intellect, having come out of Egypt, is freed from the burdens of passion and from what is a hidden and shameful slavery, and hears a language it did not know. This is not the language of demons, which defiles and destroys the true intellect, but the holy language of the light-bearing angels, which transforms the intellect from bodily into bodiless — a language that illumines the soul that receives it.
68. Many brethren sick in body, who could not fast because of illness, have asked me: «How can we be delivered from the devil and the passions without fasting?» They must be told that not only by abstinence, but also by the cry of the heart, can evil and the abettor of evil be overcome and driven out. «And they cried to the Lord in their affliction», it is said, «and He delivered them out of their distress» (Ps 106:6). And again it is said: «Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and You heard my voice. Yet You brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God» (Jonah 2:3, 7). Therefore, «until iniquity passes by» — that is, the oppression of sin — «I will cry to God the Most High» (Ps 56:2-3). And He, granting me an exceedingly great benefaction, will by His authority destroy even the first provocation to sin, will grind to powder the idols of the passionate intellect, and will make dispassionate the intellect within us that is full of fantasies. If you have not received the gift of self-control, know that the Lord wishes to hear you pray with the prayer of hope. Therefore, having recognised the Master’s providence, do not grieve that you have grown faint in your struggles, but hasten to free yourself from the enemy by prayer and grateful patience. When thoughts of weakness and of the endurance of evil drive you out of the city of fasting, flee to another, that is, to the city of prayer and thanksgiving.
69. Pharaoh said, entreating: «Let God take this death away from me.» And he was heard. In the same way the demons who begged the Lord not to send them into the abyss received what they asked. How much more, then, will a man be heard, a Christian, who prays for freedom from noetic death.
70. When grace has for a time illumined and consoled someone, and then departs, and he falls into wandering thoughts and defilement and therefore complains, and does not try by prayer to call back that saving assurance, but grows indignant — he is like a beggar who has been given alms from the palace and is displeased because he was not brought inside to dine with the king.
71. «Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed» (Jn 20:29). And blessed too are those who, when grace withdraws, find no consolation in themselves, but on the contrary, seeing afflictions and darkness follow one upon another, do not fall into despair but are strengthened by faith — with the hope that they will see the Invisible One — and endure valiantly.
72. That humility of wisdom which is given from heaven in due time, after many struggles and sorrows and tears, to those who seek it, is stronger in its origin and greater than the humility of those who have fallen away from the virtues. Those who have been counted worthy of it are truly perfect men and invulnerable.
73. When the devil departed from the Lord, «angels came and ministered to Him» (Mt 4:11). We should know — though it is not written — that while the devil was tempting Christ, the angels were nearby. So it is with us also when we undergo temptations: the angels of God withdraw for a time, but not far off; and when the tempters go away, the angels return to us and bring divine thoughts, assurance, illumination, tenderness of heart, consolation, patience and delight, and by all these they save, strengthen and raise up the wearied soul. For it was said to Nathanael: «You shall see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man» (Jn 1:51) — which means that the ministry and help of the angels will be poured out abundantly upon the human race.
74. Remember that high priest at whose right hand the devil stood to accuse him (Zech 3:1) — that is, the devil can stand beside every true thought, word and deed; so do not be surprised if this happens to you.
75. A monk must know what weakness is. What do the words mean: «Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am weak»? What is falling away from God — the sickness of the devil and of his angels?
76. As red-hot iron cannot be touched, so frequent prayer makes the intellect stronger for battle with the enemies. Therefore the demons try with all their might, through slothfulness, to draw us away from prolonged prayer, for they see that it is a weapon against them and a support for the intellect.
77. David accepted the zeal of those who went out with him from Ziklag against the foreigners, even though they grew faint and remained at the brook Besor. He returned to them in victory and heard others say that no share of the spoil should be given to those who had sat exhausted by the brook. But blessed David answered on their behalf — while they were ashamed and said nothing — that they «stayed by the baggage» (1 Sam 30:21), and that therefore an equal share belonged to them along with those who had fought manfully. Consider, then: if some brother was zealous at first and afterwards gradually grew slack — yet we may suppose that he has his own baggage, that is, faith and repentance, humility and mourning, patience, hope and long-suffering — then if he sits beside these and abides in them patiently in hope in Christ, which is very good, he will receive some eternal gift.
78. Levites and priests are the names given to those who have wholly consecrated themselves to God, both in practice and in contemplation. But «the cattle of the Levites» (Num 3:45) is the name given to those who cannot help following after the passions, yet desire the virtues, care for them zealously and long for them always, though they often sin, because malice often wears them down. Yet we may hope that these too will receive the gift of dispassion, solely through God’s love for man. «The Lord has heard the desire of the poor.»
79. The wounds that the enemy inflicts upon us, whether visibly or invisibly, we often see and know. But as for the torments and pains that we inflict upon him when we fulfil the virtues, or repent of our transgressions, or take courage and endure what befalls us, or pray, or do anything else — through these he suffers and is tormented, he weeps and wails; yet all this we do not see, by God’s providence, lest we grow slack. Such is God’s justice: to repay with oppression those who oppress us.
80. If a stump grown old on the ground or on a rock puts forth shoots from the moisture like a newly planted tree, then we too, when the power of the Holy Spirit bedews us, can bring forth the incorruption that we received by nature and produce a harvest as though newly planted, even though we have fallen back into the old man.
81. To the soul that has fallen into despair through temptations and sins and says: «Our hope has perished, we are slain» — God, who does not let our salvation perish, says: «You shall live again, and you shall know that I am the Lord» (Ezek 37:6). And to the soul that wonders how it can give birth to Christ through great virtues it is said: «The Holy Spirit will come upon you» (Lk 1:35). And where the Holy Spirit descends, do not look for the law of nature or for the usual sequence of things. For the Holy Spirit, whom we worship, is all-powerful, and He accomplishes in you what by nature could not come to pass, so that you will marvel; and He will make victorious the intellect that before suffered defeat. The Comforter, who in His compassion descends upon us from on high, is above all things; and He will set you above all natural impulses and demonic passions.
82. Labour to keep unharmed the bright vision of your ruling intellect. If you begin to look upon everything with passion, it means that the Lord has darkened you, has set a hedge before your face, and the light of your eyes is not with you (cf. Ps 37:11). But if this is so, do not weary of praying unceasingly with holy David: «Send forth Your light and Your truth to me who am sorrowful, the salvation of my countenance and my God» (Ps 42:3, 5). «You will send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created, and You will renew the face of the earth» (Ps 103:30).
83. Blessed is he who insatiably eats and drinks of prayers and psalms here by day and by night, and strengthens himself with the glorious reading of Scripture. Such communion will bring forth for the soul an unfading gladness in the age to come.
84. Establish yourself with all your strength so as not to fall; for it is not fitting that a strong ascetic should fall. But if you do happen to fall, spring up at once and stand again in the good struggle. Though grace withdraw countless times, countless times you must rise again — and so on until your death. For it is written: «The righteous man falls seven times» — that is, throughout his whole life — «and rises again» (Prov 24:16). So long as you hold the weapon of the holy habit, with tears and supplication to God, you are counted among those who stand, however often you may fall. So long as you remain with the monks, like a brave soldier you receive your wounds in the chest. By these wounds you will receive praise, for though wounded you did not betray your post nor retreat. But if you depart from the monks, you will receive your wounds in the back, like a fugitive and a coward, like one who has left his rank and lost heart.
85. To fall into despair is worse than to sin. Judas the betrayer was faint-hearted and unskilled in the struggle, and so, when he fell into despair, the enemy drew near to him and caught him in his nets. But Peter, the firm rock, was cast down by a terrible fall; yet, being skilled in the struggle, he did not grow weak nor fall into despair from grief. He leapt to his feet and shed bitter tears from a sorrowful and humbled heart. And the adversary, seeing this, at once sprang away as though scorched by a great flame, fleeing far off and crying out fiercely with weeping.
86. A monk must wage his greatest war against these three: gluttony, vainglory and the love of money, for this last is idolatry.
87. A certain king of Israel overcame the people of Succoth and other barbarians with psalms, chants and spiritual songs, with the words and instruments of David (cf. 2 Chr 12:3; 20:22). You too must overcome the barbarian Succothites, that is, the demons who enter into your senses and your body, torment the flesh with burning, and urge you to look and hear and smell with passion, to speak unseemly words, to have eyes full of adultery, and to be troubled outwardly and inwardly like the furnace of Babylon. Take pains, then, with great faith and with psalms and chants and spiritual songs, to destroy together with them the Succothites who work evil.
88. As the Lord wills that a man be saved through a man, so Satan wills that a man perish through a man. Therefore we must not associate with a man who is abusive and cunning and does not guard his tongue, lest we depart with him to torment. For if a man associates with the righteous, even then he is scarcely saved; but if someone keeps company with the cunning and does not take care, he will find shipwreck, as though he had found ruin and leprosy. And who will pity the man who joyfully approaches a serpent? Flee from those who do not restrain their tongues, who sow discord and are troubled within and without.
89. He who wishes to be called wise and understanding and a friend of God, let him hasten to present his soul to the Lord as he received it from Him — pure and unwounded and wholly undefiled; and for this he will be crowned in heaven, and the angels will glorify him.
90. One good word once made a foul robber pure and holy and brought him into Paradise; and one ill-spoken word forbade Moses to enter the promised land. Let us not, then, consider licence of the tongue a small ailment. Those who love to reproach and to chatter shut the Kingdom of Heaven before themselves. However much success a talkative man may have here, he will have none there: «Evil will hunt him down to destruction» (Ps 139:12). A certain wise man said well: «It is better to fall to the ground from a height than to fall through the tongue.» We ought to believe the apostle James, who writes: «Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak» (Jas 1:19).
91. So that we may not be led about in vanity by our senses, let us listen to Him who says: «Come, My people, enter into your chambers» — the chambers of your heart, closed against every sensual thought, that formless dwelling illumined by dispassion and overshadowed by holy grace — «and shut your doors» against all that is visible, «hide yourself for a little while» — for the whole of human life is but a little while. And He adds: «until the wrath of the Lord has passed» (Is 26:20). As another has said: «until iniquity passes by» (Ps 56:2). The wrath of the Lord is iniquity, and perhaps also the demons, and the passions, and sins, as Isaiah says to God: «Behold, You were angry, and we had sinned» (Is 64:4). A man flees from this wrath when he keeps watch in prayer with his heart and strives to be in his inner chamber, into which no one can enter. «Call wisdom into your inward parts», it is said; for «all the glory of the king’s daughter is within» (Ps 44:14). I will labour «until I enter into the sanctuary of God» (Ps 72:17), into the mountain of holiness, into the dwelling prepared, which You have built, O Lord — the sanctuary that Your hands have made.
92. He who truly wishes to renounce the world, let him imitate the blessed prophet Elisha, leaving himself not a single thing, with a zeal for God exceedingly great and flaming like fire. Let him distribute all his property to the poor, and so, taking up the Lord’s Cross, let him urge himself towards a voluntary death, which becomes the cause of the eternal Kingdom.
93. When you come to understand that the Amorite is growing strong in you like an oak, pray diligently to the Lord that He may wither his fruit above, that is, sin in act, and his roots below, that is, unclean thoughts. And may the Lord take the Amorite away from before your face.
94. Do not be dismayed, even if you see those who mock your stillness while being unable to keep stillness themselves. Do not hold resentment against them, but answer them by your submission to God, singing the psalm: «But submit to God, O my soul!» (Ps 61:6). «Instead of loving me, they slandered me, but I prayed» (Ps 108:4) — for my own correction and for theirs.
95. If a strong wind does not blow over the sea, no wave rises upon it; and if a demon does not assail us, no storm of passions rises either in soul or in body.
96. If you are always warmed by prayer and divine grace, then, as the divine Scripture says, you are clothed in the armour of light. Your garment is warm, while your enemies are doubly clothed: in shame and in trembling.
97. Remembering your transgressions, do not be too slothful to beat your breast, so that by such blows, as with a stone, you may cut your petrified heart. Then you will find a grain of the publican’s gold and will rejoice in hidden riches.
98. Let the fire of prayer for amendment and the study of the Spirit’s holy words burn always upon the altar of your soul.
99. If you always hasten to have your «feet shod with the readiness to preach the Gospel of peace» (Eph 6:15), you will build up both your own house and your neighbour’s. But if you grow slothful, you will be spat upon invisibly, and by the law you will inherit the name of him whose sandal was removed (Deut 25:9-10).
100. In the words of the evangelist John, «God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him» (1 Jn 4:8, 16). He who hates his neighbour tears love apart and builds up hatred. He who hates one such as himself is far from God, for God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. To Him be glory and dominion, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. Here end the chapters of this book.