On Those Who Think They Are Made Righteous by Works, 226 Texts
1. The error of those who believe only in outward appearance will be exposed in what follows by those who believe firmly and have come to know the truth.
2. The Lord, wishing to show that every commandment is an obligation, and that sonship is granted to men freely through His own blood, says: «When you have done all that was commanded you, say: We are unprofitable servants; we have only done what was our duty» (Lk 17:10). Therefore the Kingdom of Heaven is not the wage of works, but the grace of the Master prepared for His faithful servants.
3. A servant does not demand his freedom as a wage; he serves as one who owes a debt, and awaits freedom as a gift.
4. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and He grants freedom to those who serve Him well (cf. 1 Cor 15:3). He says: «Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master» (Mt 25:23).
5. He is not yet a faithful servant who relies on bare knowledge, but he who shows his faith in Christ by obedience to His commandments.
6. He who honours the Master does what the Master commands. When he goes astray or disobeys, he bears the consequences as his own.
7. If you love learning, love labour also; for bare knowledge puffs a man up.
8. The trials that come upon us unexpectedly teach us, by God’s providence, to be diligent; and they draw us to repentance even against our will.
9. The afflictions that come upon a man are the offspring of his own evils. If we endure them with prayer, we shall again receive the good things that make us grow.
10. Some, when praised for their virtue, were pleased, and mistook the pleasure of self-esteem for consolation. Others, when reproved for their sins, felt pain, and mistook this beneficial pain for the working of sin.
11. Those who take themselves for ascetics and exalt themselves above the negligent suppose they are made righteous by bodily works. But when we rely on bare knowledge alone and despise the ignorant, we are far more senseless than they.
12. Knowledge, even when true, is still unconfirmed if works do not follow it; for the deed is the proof of everything.
13. Knowledge is greatly darkened through negligence in practice; and in those who have entirely abandoned practice, the memory of it is gradually extinguished altogether.
14. This is why Scripture bids us know God with understanding, so that we may serve Him rightly by our deeds.
15. When we fulfil the commandments purely, we receive from the Lord what corresponds to our measure; and the benefit that comes to us is proportionate to our intention.
16. When a man wishes to do something but is unable, God, the Searcher of hearts, reckons it to him as done. This holds for good deeds and for evil ones alike.
17. The intellect, without the body’s help, can accomplish much good and much evil. The body can do neither by itself, for it merely carries out what the intellect has conceived.
18. Some, without keeping the commandments, suppose that they believe rightly; others, keeping them, expect the Kingdom as a wage that is owed to them. Both alike miss the truth.
19. A master owes no wage to his slaves; and those who do not serve rightly do not receive their freedom.
20. If Christ died for us according to the Scriptures, then we do not live for ourselves but for Him who died for us and rose again. It is clear, then, that we owe Him service until death. How, then, can we claim sonship as something due?
21. Christ is Master by essence and Master by dispensation: for He created what did not exist, and those who had died through sin He redeemed by His own blood, and to those who believe in Him He gave grace.
22. When you hear Scripture say that God «will reward every man according to his works», do not suppose that works in themselves are worthy of hell or of the Kingdom. Rather, He rewards each man’s works of unbelief or of faith in Him — not as one who weighs out payment, but as God, our Creator and Redeemer.
23. All of us who have been counted worthy of the font of baptism perform good works not for the sake of a wage, but in order to guard the purity that has been given to us.
24. Every good deed we accomplish by our own nature makes us hold back from its opposite; but it cannot of itself sanctify us without grace.
25. The self-controlled man abstains from gluttony; the man free from possessions, from avarice; the man of stillness, from talkativeness; the pure man, from sensual pleasure; the chaste man, from unchastity; the man content with what he has, from love of money; the gentle man, from agitation; the humble man, from vainglory; the obedient man, from quarrelling; the man who reproves himself, from hypocrisy. In the same way, he who prays abstains from despair; the poor man, from wealth; the confessor, from denial; the martyr, from idolatry. Do you see how every virtuous act, even when carried out to the point of death, is nothing other than abstention from sin? And abstention from sin is a work within our nature, not something that purchases the Kingdom.
26. Man scarcely preserves what belongs to his own nature; but Christ, through the Cross, grants us sonship.
27. One commandment is particular and another universal. In one place we are told to give of what we have to the one who lacks; in another, to renounce all our possessions.
28. The energy of grace is one thing, unknown to a beginner; the energy of sin is another, closely imitating the truth. It is best not to scrutinise such energies, lest we be deceived, and not to curse them, lest we curse what is true; but to refer everything to God with hope, for He knows what is profitable in both cases.
29. He who wishes to cross the noetic sea is long-suffering, humble, watchful and self-controlled. If he presumes to embark without these four, he only troubles his heart and cannot make the crossing.
30. Stillness is a putting away of evils. If a man joins these four virtues to prayer, he has no swifter help towards dispassion.
31. The intellect cannot be stilled while the body is unstilled; nor can the wall between them be pulled down without stillness and prayer.
32. «The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh» (Gal 5:17). He who walks in the Spirit will not fulfil the desires of the flesh.
33. No prayer is perfect unless the intellect calls upon God. When our thought cries out undistracted, the Lord will hear it.
34. When the intellect prays without distraction, it afflicts the heart; and «a broken and humbled heart God will not despise» (Ps 50:19).
35. Prayer is called a virtue, but it is in fact the mother of the virtues; for it gives birth to them through union with Christ.
36. Whatever we do without prayer and good hope afterwards turns out to be harmful and defective.
37. When you hear that «the last shall be first, and the first last» (Mt 19:30), understand this of those who participate in the virtues and those who participate in love. For love is the last of the virtues in order of appearance, but the first of all in dignity, and it reveals as last those that came before it.
38. When you grow slack in prayer, or when sin wounds you in some way, call to mind your departure from the body and the dread judgment. It is better to cleave to God through prayer and hope than to remember external things, even when they are profitable.
39. No virtue by itself opens for us the door of our nature; all the virtues must be linked together.
40. He is not self-controlled who feeds on thoughts, even if those thoughts are useful; for nothing is more useful than hope.
41. Sin that is not repented of is sin unto death; and though a saint pray for such a man, he is not heard.
42. He who repents rightly does not think that his labour cancels his former sins, but by this labour he propitiates God.
43. Since we ought to do all the good within our nature every day, what can we render to God for the evils we did before?
44. However much virtue we add today, it is a proof of our past negligence, not a payment for it.
45. He who afflicts his intellect while seeking comfort for his body is like a man who afflicts his body while indulging his intellect.
46. Bodily affliction strengthens affliction of the intellect, and affliction of the intellect strengthens that of the body; but when the two grow slack together, the harm is worse.
47. It is a great virtue to endure with patience whatever comes, and, as the Lord commanded, to love the neighbour who hates you.
48. The sign of unfeigned love is the forgiveness of wrongs. Thus did the Lord love the world.
49. It is impossible to forgive a wrong from the heart without true knowledge; for such knowledge shows every man what afflictions may befall him.
50. You will lose nothing of what you have left for the Lord’s sake; in due season it will be returned to you many times over.
51. When the intellect forgets the purpose of true reverence, then even the visible work of virtue becomes useless.
52. If evil counsel harms every man, it harms far more those who have taken up the ascetic life.
53. Learn in practice what human counsel is and what God’s retribution is; for there is no word wiser or more useful than the deed itself.
54. After works of reverence there follows intercession before God. This can be known from God’s law and from the conscience.
55. One man received a teaching and, without examining it, delayed in acting; another compared what he received with the truth. Let us see which of the two acted more reverently.
56. True knowledge consists in patiently accepting affliction and in not blaming other men for one’s own misfortunes.
57. He who does good and seeks a reward serves not God, but his own will.
58. It is impossible, once a man has sinned, to escape retribution except through a repentance that is proportionate to the sin.
59. Some say: «We cannot do good unless we tangibly receive the grace of the Spirit».
60. Those who deliberately remain in sensual pleasure neglect, on the pretext of weakness, even what lies within their power.
61. Those baptised into Christ have received grace mystically. Grace works in us according to our fulfilment of the commandments, and does not cease to help us secretly; but whether we do good or not, according to our strength, lies in our own power.
62. Grace, in a manner befitting God, stirs the conscience; and so even those who have done evil have repented and become pleasing to God.
63. Grace is also hidden in our neighbour’s counsel. Sometimes it accompanies our reading, following upon our thought, and in this sequence teaches the intellect its own truth. If, then, we do not hide our talent in each of these ways, we shall truly enter into the joy of the Lord.
64. When someone seeks the energies of the Spirit before he has fulfilled the commandments, he is like a slave bought for money who, immediately upon being bought, demands his freedom.
65. He who has understood that outward afflictions come by God’s just judgment has, in seeking the Lord, found knowledge together with righteousness.
66. When you understand, as Scripture says, that «God’s judgments are in all the earth», then every circumstance becomes for you a teacher of the knowledge of God.
67. Each man considers what befalls him; but God alone knows the reason for the difference between one man’s lot and another’s.
68. When you suffer some dishonour from men, understand at once that glory from God awaits you; and then you will be untroubled and unafflicted in dishonour, and, when glory comes, you will be found faithful and beyond reproach.
69. When, by God’s dispensation, you are praised by many, add nothing of your own boasting to His providence, lest by this change you fall into the opposite state.
70. Seed does not sprout without earth and water; and a man does not profit without voluntary labour and divine help.
71. It is impossible for rain to fall without a cloud, or for a man to please God without a good conscience.
72. Do not refuse to learn, however wise you may be; for God’s dispensation is more useful than our wisdom.
73. When the heart turns aside from labour towards some pleasure, it becomes as hard to restrain as a heavy stone that has begun to roll downhill.
74. As a young calf, seeking grass, falls from a cliff, so does the soul that is little by little led astray by its thoughts.
75. When the intellect, having grown strong in the Lord, tears the soul away from long-standing habits, then the heart is tormented as though on the rack, since intellect and passion are pulling it in opposite directions.
76. As sailors endure the heat for the sake of gain, so those who hate sin love reproof; for the heat drives the winds, and reproof drives out the passions.
77. As flight in winter or on the Sabbath is painful for the body and defiling for the soul, so is the surging of the passions in a body grown old and in a soul that has been sanctified.
78. No one is as good and merciful as the Lord; yet even He does not forgive the man who does not repent.
79. Many of us grieve over our sins, yet we gladly accept the causes of them.
80. The mole that burrows underground is blind and cannot see the stars; and he who does not trust God in temporal things will not trust Him in eternal things either.
81. True knowledge, grace upon grace, has been given by God to men; and it teaches those who receive it to believe first of all in Him who gave it.
82. When the sinful soul does not accept the afflictions that come upon it, the angels say of it: «We would have healed Babylon, but she was not healed» (cf. Jer 51:9).
83. The intellect that forgets true knowledge fights against men for what is harmful as though it were profitable.
84. As fire cannot burn in water, so an evil thought cannot remain in a heart that loves God; for everyone who loves God also loves labour, and voluntary labour is by nature the enemy of sensual pleasure.
85. When a passion has grown up out of a man’s own free choice, it afterwards rises against him by force, even when he no longer wishes it.
86. We love the causes of involuntary thoughts, and that is why they come; but with voluntary thoughts we clearly love not only their causes but the thoughts themselves.
87. Self-esteem and pride are the causes of blasphemy; love of money and self-love are the causes of harshness and hypocrisy.
88. When the devil sees that the intellect has prayed from the heart, he brings great and cunning temptations; for he wishes to destroy small virtues through great assaults.
89. When a thought persists, it shows a man’s attachment to the passion; but when it is swiftly destroyed, it signifies battle and resistance.
90. There are three noetic places into which the intellect enters by turns: the natural, the supernatural and the unnatural. When it enters the natural place, it discovers that it is itself the cause of its evil thoughts, and it confesses its sins to God, recognising the causes of its passions. When it is in the unnatural place, it forgets God’s justice and fights with men as though they were wronging it. When it is brought into the supernatural place, it finds the fruits of the Holy Spirit, which the Apostle enumerated: love, joy, peace and the rest. And it knows that if it chooses bodily concerns, it cannot remain there, but, leaving that place, it falls into sin and the misfortunes that follow — perhaps not at once, but after a time, as God’s justice knows.
91. Each man’s knowledge is true to the degree that it is confirmed by gentleness, humility and love.
92. Everyone baptised in the Orthodox manner has received the whole of grace mystically; he becomes assured of it afterwards to the degree that he fulfils the commandments.
93. Christ’s commandment, when carried out with a good conscience, brings consolation proportionate to the pain of the heart; but each of these comes in its own way and at its own time.
94. Do not cease to pray in every circumstance, so that you may do nothing without God’s help.
95. Nothing is as strong as prayer in its working, and nothing is more useful for gaining God’s favour.
96. All the fulfilment of the commandments is contained in prayer, for nothing is higher than love for God.
97. Undistracted prayer is a sign of love for God in the one who perseveres in it; but negligence in prayer and captivity to thoughts are signs of love for sensual pleasure.
98. He who watches without distress, and endures patiently, and prays, plainly participates in the Holy Spirit. But he who is afflicted and yet accepts his afflictions willingly will swiftly receive God’s protection.
99. One commandment is found to be higher than another, just as one faith is found to be firmer than another.
100. There is faith «that comes by hearing» (Rom 10:17), as the Apostle says; and there is faith that is «the substance of things hoped for» (Heb 11:1).
101. It is good to help the enquirer with a word; but it is better still to help him with prayer and virtue. For he who offers himself to God through these helps his neighbour together with himself.
102. If you wish to help with a brief word one who loves to learn, point him to prayer, to right faith, and to patient acceptance of the afflictions that come; for through these all other good things are gained.
103. When a man trusts God in some matter, he no longer contends with his neighbour about it.
104. If, as Scripture says, everything involuntary has its cause in what is voluntary, then no one is such an enemy to a man as he is to himself.
105. Ignorance is the first of all evils; the second after it is unbelief.
106. Flee temptation through patience and prayer; for if you resist it without them, it only comes upon you the more strongly.
107. He who is gentle according to God is wiser than the wise, and he who is humble in heart is stronger than the strong; for he bears Christ’s yoke with understanding.
108. Whatever we say or do without prayer proves afterwards to be either mistaken or harmful, and we are convicted by the outcome of our actions.
109. Through deeds, words and thoughts, individual men become righteous; but through faith, grace and repentance, the many become righteous.
110. As repentance is foreign to self-conceit, so it is impossible for one who sins deliberately to be humble-minded.
111. Humility is not self-condemnation, but the knowledge of God’s grace and compassion.
112. What air is to a house, that divine grace is to the intellect endowed with reason. And as much as you carry out of the house, so much air enters in; and as much as you bring into the intellect, so much grace departs.
113. The furnishings of a house are its vessels and utensils; the furnishings of the intellect are vainglory and love of pleasure.
114. Spaciousness of heart is hope in God; its narrowness is bodily care.
115. The grace of the Spirit is one and unchanging, yet it works in each as it wills.
116. As rain, falling upon the earth, gives to plants the quality proper to each — sweetness to the sweet and pungency to the pungent — so grace, entering unchangeably into the hearts of the faithful, bestows the energies proper to each virtue.
117. To the one who hungers for Christ’s sake, grace becomes food; to the thirsty, sweet drink; to the shivering, a garment; to the labourer, rest; to the one who prays, assurance; to the one who mourns, consolation.
118. When, therefore, you hear the Scriptures speaking of the Holy Spirit — that He came upon each of the apostles, or rested upon a prophet, or is at work, or is grieved, or is quenched, or is kindled; and again that some are beginning to be filled and others are already full of the Holy Spirit — do not understand this as any division or alteration or change in the Spirit, but believe, as we have said, that He is constant, unchanging and all-powerful. Therefore in His energies He remains what He is, and He bestows on each what is fitting, as God. For He is poured out wholly upon the baptised, as the sun is. And each of us is illumined to the degree that he hates the passions that darken him and casts them out; but to the degree that he loves them and dwells upon them, he is darkened.
119. He who hates the passions uproots their causes; but he who lingers among their causes is attacked by the passions even against his will.
120. When evil thoughts are at work in us, let us blame ourselves and not the sin of our forefathers.
121. The roots of our thoughts are the manifest sins we commit with hand and foot and mouth.
122. It is impossible for a man to be joined in thought to a passion whose cause he does not love.
123. Who that does not fear shame joins himself to vainglory? Who that does not fear humiliation is troubled by dishonour? Who that has a contrite and humble heart accepts carnal pleasure? Who that believes in Christ is anxious about transitory things or contends over them?
124. When a man is despised by another and does not dispute with him in word or in thought, he has gained true knowledge and shows firm faith in the Lord.
125. «The sons of men are deceitful, weighing out deceit in the balances» (Ps 61:10); but God preserves for each what is truly his own.
126. Neither has the wrongdoer any surplus, nor the wronged any lack: «man walks as a phantom, and troubles himself in vain» (Ps 38:7).
127. When you see a man suffering pain from many dishonours, know that, having been filled with thoughts of vainglory, he is now reaping with distaste the sheaves of what he sowed in his heart.
128. He who has enjoyed bodily pleasures beyond measure will repay the excess a hundredfold in sufferings.
129. The superior must tell his disciple what is required of him; and when the disciple disobeys, he must forewarn him of the misfortunes that will come.
130. The man who is wronged and does not exact anything from the one who wronged him has believed in Christ in this matter; he will receive a hundredfold in this age and will inherit eternal life.
131. Remembrance of God brings pain to the heart for the sake of reverence; but the man who forgets God is consoled by pleasures and feels no pain.
132. Do not say that a dispassionate man cannot suffer distress; for even if he does not suffer for himself, he is bound to do so for his neighbour.
133. When the enemy has a record of many unnoticed sins, he compels the debtor to sin deliberately, taking advantage of the law of sin.
134. If you wish to remember God unceasingly, do not reject afflictions as unjust, but bear them as coming justly. For patient acceptance in each case awakens the remembrance of God, while the refusal of patience diminishes the heart’s spiritual wisdom and, through slackness, brings on forgetfulness.
135. If you want the Lord to cover your sins, do not display before men whatever virtue you may have. For as we treat our virtues, so God treats our sins.
136. Having hidden your virtue, do not exalt yourself as though you had acted rightly; for it is good not only to conceal what is good, but not even to think about what is not permitted.
137. Rejoice not when you do good to someone, but when you bear without rancour the enmity that follows from the one you helped. For as night follows day, so evil deeds follow good ones.
138. Vainglory, love of money and love of pleasure do not let good deeds remain undefiled, unless the fear of God has first cast them out.
139. God’s mercy is hidden in involuntary sufferings; it leads the one who accepts them to repentance and delivers him from eternal punishment.
140. Some, fulfilling the commandments, expect their good deeds to be weighed against their sins; others fulfil them in order to propitiate Him who died for our sins. Let us consider which of these thinks rightly.
141. Fear of hell and love of the Kingdom give us strength to endure afflictions — not of ourselves, but through Him who knows our thoughts.
142. He who believes in the good things to come abstains of his own accord from present pleasures; he who does not believe is given to pleasure and is insensible.
143. Do not say: «How can a poor man give himself to pleasure when he has nothing at hand?» For it is possible to indulge in pleasure most wretchedly even in thought alone.
144. Knowledge of things is one thing, knowledge of the truth another; and the second surpasses the first as much as the sun surpasses the moon.
145. Knowledge of things comes in proportion to our fulfilment of the commandments; knowledge of the truth, in proportion to our hope in Christ.
146. If you wish to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, strive always to rise above sensible things and to cleave to God through hope alone. Then, turning aside, you will meet the principalities and powers that wage war against you by means of provocative thoughts; but if you overcome them through prayer and remain in good hope, you will have the grace of God, which will deliver you from the wrath to come.
147. He who understands the hidden meaning of Saint Paul’s words, that we must «wrestle against the spirits of wickedness», will also understand the Lord’s parable that we ought always to pray and not lose heart.
148. The law figuratively commands us to work for six days and to rest on the seventh. To work means to do good deeds through the soul’s means; and the soul’s rest and repose consists in selling everything and giving to the poor, according to the Lord’s word, and then, in that very destitution, to be at rest in the hope that does not fail. To this rest Paul urges us to hasten, saying: «Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest» (Heb 4:11).
149. We say this not to exclude what is to come, nor to affirm that everything is repaid here, but to explain that a man must first have the grace of the Holy Spirit at work in his heart, and thus enter the Kingdom of Heaven according to his measure. Declaring this, the Lord says: «The Kingdom of God is within you» (Lk 17:21). The Apostle too says of this: «Faith is the substance of things hoped for» (Heb 11:1); and again: «Run in such a way that you may obtain the prize» (1 Cor 9:24); and again: «Examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith. Do you not know that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed you fail the test?» (2 Cor 13:5).
150. He who has learned the truth does not resist the afflictions that come upon him, for he knows that they lead a man to the fear of God.
151. The recollection of former sins harms one who has good hope. When it comes with grief, it deprives him of hope; but when it comes without grief, it stains him again with the old defilement.
152. When the intellect, having renounced itself, holds fast to firm hope, the enemy, under the pretext of confession, brings back the old sins in order to stir up the passions that God’s grace had caused to be forgotten, and so does his damage in secret. Then even an intellect that is strong and hates the passions will be darkened, confounded by what it has done. And if the intellect is still cloudy and pleasure-loving, it will linger over such thoughts and converse with the memories; and then such recollection is an assault of the passions, not a confession.
153. If you wish to make an unashamed confession to God, do not recount your sins in detail according to their kind, but bear bravely the assaults they provoke.
154. Afflictions come upon us for our former sins, bringing with them what properly belongs to each sin.
155. The man of understanding, who knows the truth, confesses to God not by recalling what he has done, but by patiently bearing what comes upon him.
156. If you set aside pain and dishonour, do not promise to repent by means of some other virtue; for self-esteem and the refusal to suffer pain readily serve sin even under the appearance of righteous deeds.
157. As pain and dishonour usually give birth to virtue, so pleasure and self-esteem usually give birth to sin.
158. Every bodily pleasure arises from a previous relaxation, and relaxation is begotten of unbelief.
159. He who is under the dominion of sin cannot of himself overcome the will of the flesh, for he bears an unceasing fire within his members.
160. Let the man beset by passions persevere in prayer and obedience; for by prayer and hearing alone can the assaults of the passions be overcome, and even so with difficulty.
161. He who mortifies his own will by obedience and prayer is a skilled ascetic who wages the noetic warfare while keeping his distance from sensible things.
162. He who does not conform his own will to God’s stumbles in his own undertakings and thereby assists his adversary.
163. When you see two sinners loving one another, know that each is helping the other in his own wilfulness.
164. The self-conceited man and the vainglorious man are easily reconciled to one another: the one servilely praises the vainglorious, and the other, praising him in return, magnifies the self-conceited.
165. A hearer who loves God profits from both kinds of speech: when he is well spoken of, he becomes more careful; and when he is spoken ill of, he hastens to repent. We should live according to what we can accomplish, and offer our prayers to God according to our life.
166. It is good to keep the chief commandment and not to be anxious about anything, nor to pray for anything in particular, but only to seek the Kingdom and the word of God. Yet if we are still anxious about some need, then we should pray about each thing. For whoever does or plans anything without prayer does not succeed in the end; and it is of this that the Lord says: «Without Me you can do nothing» (Jn 15:5).
167. The man who slights the commandment to pray falls into disobediences more absurd still, which hand him over one to another like a prisoner.
168. Accept present afflictions for the sake of the good things to come; then your intellect will find the truth and will easily be rid of anger and grief.
169. He who accepts insult and dishonour as justly deserved walks the apostolic road, taking up the Cross and bound with chains. But he who attempts to guard his heart without this wanders in his mind and falls into temptations and the snares of the devil.
170. It is never possible for the combatant to overcome evil thoughts without dealing with their causes, nor the causes without the thoughts; for if we set one of them aside, we shall soon be overcome by the other.
171. He who contends with men because he fears patience and humiliation either suffers excessively here from the afflictions that come, or is mercilessly tormented in the age to come.
172. He who wishes to cut off every inrush of grief, let him be reconciled to God through prayer, let him hold fast to Him firmly in his intellect, and let him avoid, as far as he can, requests concerning sensible things.
173. When the devil finds a man occupied with bodily matters beyond what is needed, he first robs him of the profit his intellect had gathered, and then of his hope in God, as though he were beheading him.
174. When you have reached the stronghold of pure prayer, do not at that moment entertain thoughts about various things which the enemy brings, lest you suffer greater loss. For it is better to shoot him with the arrows of prayer, shut up as he is in his own place, than to converse with him when he brings his evils and seeks to distract us from prayer so that we shall pay attention to him.
175. Understanding of things is profitable to a man in the time of temptation and despondency, but harmful in the time of prayer.
176. If it has fallen to your lot to teach in the Lord and you are not obeyed, be grieved in mind but do not be troubled outwardly; for when you are grieved, you will not be condemned with the disobedient, but if you are troubled, you will be tested.
177. When you speak, do not hide from those present what they need to know, but speak of what is good in plain terms and of what is harsh in a veiled way.
178. Do not reprove for his faults one who is not subject to you; that belongs to the one who has authority over him.
179. What is often spoken of is profitable to all; and each man’s conscience shows him what he himself needs.
180. He who speaks the truth must himself receive his words as though from God; for it is God who speaks, though He does not act through the speaker’s own power.
181. Do not argue with those who resist the truth, unless they have promised you obedience; for, as Scripture says, only hatred between you will come of it.
182. He who allows a disciple to contradict him where he ought not tempts him in that very matter and inclines him to break his vows of obedience.
183. He who teaches and corrects a sinner in the fear of God acquires the virtue opposed to that sin; but he who is resentful and judges with an evil will falls, by the spiritual law, into the same passion.
184. He who has learned the law well fears the Lawgiver; and fearing Him, he turns away from every evil.
185. Do not be double-tongued, saying one thing with your lips while feeling another in your conscience; for Scripture pronounces a curse upon such a man.
186. One man speaks the truth and is hated by the foolish, as the Apostle says; another dissembles and is loved for it. But neither this hatred nor this love lasts long, for the Lord will reward each in due time.
187. He who wishes to escape future sufferings, let him gladly endure present ones; and thus, exchanging one for the other with understanding, he will escape great sufferings by means of small ones.
188. Restrain your tongue from self-praise and your thoughts from self-conceit, lest you be permitted to fall into some evil; for it is not man who does good of himself, but God who knows all things.
189. God who knows all things measures out what we deserve according to our deeds, our thoughts and our intentions.
190. Involuntary thoughts grow out of previous sins; voluntary ones spring from free choice. The latter, therefore, are the cause of the former.
191. Evil thoughts that come against our intention are followed by grief, and so they quickly perish; but those that come by our own desire are followed by pleasure, and so it is not easy to be rid of them.
192. The lover of pleasure is grieved by reproaches and hardships; the lover of God is grieved by praises and superfluities.
193. He who does not understand God’s judgments walks his path of intellect on a ridge, and is easily unsettled by every wind. When praised, he is exalted; when censured, he is embittered; when he feasts, he grows wanton; when he suffers hardship, he laments; when he understands something, he wants it to be seen; when he does not understand, he pretends that he does; when rich, he is arrogant; when poor, he plays the hypocrite; when full, he grows bold; when he fasts, he falls into vainglory; he loves to quarrel with those who reprove him, and he regards those who forgive him as fools.
194. Unless, then, a man acquires through the grace of Christ the knowledge of the truth and the fear of God, he will be grievously wounded not only by his passions but also by mere circumstances.
195. When you want to resolve some difficult matter, seek what is pleasing to God in it, and you will find a solution that profits you.
196. All creation serves those undertakings with which God is pleased, and resists those from which He turns away.
197. He who resists afflictions resists God’s commandment without knowing it; but he who accepts them with true knowledge «waits patiently for the Lord», as Scripture says.
198. When temptation comes upon you, do not look for what or why it came, but for how to endure it with thanksgiving, without grief and without rancour.
199. Another’s evil does not add to our sin, unless we accept it with evil thoughts.
200. If it is not easy to find anyone who has been well pleasing to God without temptation, then we ought to give thanks to God for every circumstance.
201. If Peter had not failed in his night’s fishing, he would not have succeeded by day; if Paul had not been blinded in his bodily eyes, he would not have received sight in his intellect; and if Stephen had not been slandered as a blasphemer, the heavens would not have been opened to him and he would not have seen God.
202. As an act done according to God is called a virtue, so an unexpected affliction is called a temptation.
203. God tested Abraham, that is, He sent him affliction for his profit — not so that He might learn what Abraham was like, for He who knows all things knew him before he came into being, but in order to teach him perfect faith.
204. Every affliction exposes the inclination of the will, whether it leans to the right or to the left. This is why an unforeseen affliction is called a temptation: it puts to the test the hidden desires of the one tempted.
205. The fear of God compels us to fight against sin; and when we fight, the grace of God destroys sin.
206. Wisdom does not consist only in perceiving the truth in its natural order, but also in bearing as one’s own the malice of those who wrong us. For those who stop at the first are lifted up by pride, while those who attain the second acquire humility of wisdom.
207. If you wish never to entertain evil thoughts, accept humiliation of soul and affliction of the flesh — not merely on occasion, but always, in every place and in every undertaking.
208. He who willingly accepts afflictions will not be dominated by involuntary thoughts; but he who does not accept the former will be taken captive by the latter even against his will.
209. If you are wronged and your heart and inward parts are stirred, do not be grieved that what lay hidden has risen to the surface through providence; but rejoice, and overcome the thoughts as they begin to come. Know that when they are destroyed as soon as they appear, the sin behind them is destroyed with them; but when they come often and are allowed to linger, the sin grows.
210. Without contrition of heart it is impossible to be wholly freed from the passions. And a threefold abstinence brings contrition to the heart: from sleep, from food and from bodily ease. For excess in these three is the mark of the love of pleasure, and the love of pleasure gives birth to evil thoughts and stands in the way of prayer and worthy service.
211. He to whom it has fallen to guide the brethren, let him keep his rank and not pass over in silence what ought to be said when he is despised. In what they obey you, you will reward them by their own virtue; and in what they disobey, forgive them entirely, and you will receive the same from Him who said: «Forgive, and you will be forgiven» (Lk 6:37).
212. Every circumstance is like a market: he who knows how to trade in it gains much; he who does not suffers loss.
213. When a man does not obey at the first word, do not force him by contending with him, but keep for yourself the good that he has rejected. Forbearance will profit you more than correcting him.
214. When harm done to one man spreads to many, then one must not be long-suffering or seek only one’s own advantage, but must seek the advantage of the many, so that they may be saved; for the virtue of many is more profitable than the virtue of one.
215. When a man falls into some sin and does not grieve over what he has done, he easily falls into the same snare again.
216. As a lioness does not approach a calf with kindness, so shamelessness does not accept affliction for God’s sake with gladness.
217. As a ewe does not mate with a wolf to bear lambs, so pain of heart does not mate with satiety to conceive virtue.
218. No one can have affliction and pain for God’s sake unless he first loves what gives rise to them.
219. Fear of God and reproof bring affliction with them; abstinence and vigil are joined with pain.
220. He who is not taught by the written commandments and teachings will be driven by the whip that belongs to the horse’s back and the bridle that belongs to the ass (cf. Prov 26:3). And if even this is not enough, «with bit and bridle his jaws shall be held fast» (Ps 31:9), and so he will be led.
221. He who is easily overcome by small temptations will inevitably be enslaved by great ones; but he who despises the small ones will resist the great in the Lord.
222. Do not try to instruct by reproofs a man who boasts of his virtues; for he cannot love both praise and truth.
223. Every word of Christ reveals God’s mercy, and justice, and wisdom, and pours their power into the ears of those who listen willingly. Therefore the unmerciful and unjust, who did not listen willingly, could not know the wisdom of God, but crucified Him who taught it. Let us then consider whether we listen to Him willingly. He says: «If you love Me, keep My commandments. My Father will love him, and I will love him, and I will manifest Myself to him» (Jn 14:15, 21). Do you see how He has hidden His manifestation in the commandments? For among all the commandments the greatest is love for God and neighbour, and this comes from detachment from things and from stillness of thought.
224. Knowing this, the Lord commands us: «Do not be anxious about tomorrow» — and rightly so. For if a man has not been freed from things and grieves over them, how shall he be freed from evil thoughts? And when he is held fast by thoughts, how shall he see the sin that underlies them, which is itself the darkness that encircles the soul and takes its origin from evil thoughts and deeds? The devil tempts him by suggestion and shows him the beginning of the passion, and the man, out of his own pleasure-loving self-esteem, joins himself sweetly to it: though he does not consent by reason, in action he takes pleasure and accepts it. And when a man does not see the sin that dominates him, how will he be cleansed by praying about it? And if he has not been cleansed, how will he find the pure ground of his own being? And if he does not find it, how will he see the inner house of Christ? For we are the house of God, according to the words of the prophet, the evangelist and the apostle.
225. Therefore it is good to seek in the order set out here, so as to find this house, and to knock unceasingly with prayer, so that either here or at our departure the Lord may open to us and not say to us in our negligence: «I do not know you, or where you come from» (Lk 13:25). And we must not only ask and receive, but also guard what has been given; for there are some who, having received, have lost it. Bare knowledge of these things, or a passing experience of them, may perhaps be had by those who have only lately begun to learn, and by the young; but constant practice with patience is hardly to be found even among the most reverent of elders. Many of the experienced have lost it through carelessness and found it again only with much labour. Therefore let us not cease to labour until we possess it in such a way that it cannot be taken from us.
226. Such are the ordinances of the spiritual law that we have come to know — a few among many, which the great psalmist of the Church urges us endlessly to study and to practise, ceaselessly praising the Lord Jesus. To Him belong glory, dominion and worship, now and for ever. Amen.