The Same Venerable Father of Ours Peter of Damascus, Book Two: Twenty-Four Short Discourses Full of Spiritual Knowledge

The Same Venerable Father of Ours Peter of Damascus, Book Two: Twenty-Four Short Discourses Full of Spiritual Knowledge

This is the first Discourse and the letter «alpha», which contains spiritual wisdom. This letter is the beginning of all letters in every language; it is likewise the beginning and the end of all the virtues. The alphabet is taught to children, and without it one cannot learn the higher sciences. So it is with the beginning of knowledge: though it is a very small thing, without it no virtue can be acquired at all. Bless, father, the beginning of the Discourse.

Discourse 1. The letter A is the beginning of writing in every language, though some do not know it. At the root of all the virtues stands spiritual wisdom, and it is also their end. For unless wisdom is joined to the intellect, a man can do nothing good, since he has never so much as heard of it; and if once you have taken pleasure in hearing, then this itself is wisdom. Children study the alphabet, and without it they cannot learn the other sciences; and so it is with the beginning of knowledge. Though it is a very small thing, without it there can be no virtue at all.

That is why I am afraid to write anything about wisdom, since I myself am unwise. For, as I think, there are four things that teach the intellect to speak of different matters: either supernatural grace and blessedness; or purity born of ascetic labour, which comes from God and can restore the soul to its original beauty; or skill in the sciences, learning received from men and the working of outward wisdom; or else accursed and satanic delusion, which acts through pride and the cunning of the devil and corrupts our very being. I have no part in any of these, so how can I write anything? I am astonished at myself.

I do not know whether your faith in God, with which you compel me to write, will draw grace to the pen, for my intellect and my hand are unworthy and impure. Yet I know well from experience that this has often happened to me, and always happens. How many times, believe me, father, when I wished to write something, I could not gather my thoughts. Until I took up the pen, nothing came to mind but some thought from the Scriptures, or the memory of something heard or seen among the sensible things of this world. But when I took up the pen and began to write, I found the content of what I had to write, the very thing another was urging me to set down. So I write this without hindrance and without doubt, as fast as my hand can move, and nothing slows my writing. And when God puts something into my darkened heart, I write it without anxiety.

I believe this happens so that I may not imagine that I possess of myself what I have received through another’s prayers, according to the words of the Apostle: «What have you that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?» (cf. 1 Cor 4,7). Why do you boast, as though you had done it yourself? For thoughts that come to the unlearned for God’s sake are to be received without over-scrutiny, as Saint Isaac says; and when a man examines them, that is his own reasoning. And Saint Anthony says: «Every deed and every word must be confirmed by the testimony of the Divine Scripture.» Therefore, as Balaam’s ass once spoke (cf. Num 22,28), so I too shall now begin to write — not to teach, God forbid — but to expose my wretched soul, so that, put to shame at least by words, as the Ladder says, it may begin to act, having gained not the deed but the word.

Who knows whether I shall live long enough to write, or whether you will be able to complete your own work? Still, you will begin yours and I shall begin mine, and we shall see how much time each of us is given. We do not know when our death will come or how long we have left to live. God, who foreknows all things, knows all that concerns us. To Him be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

The first Discourse has now been written in hope. This is the second letter, called «beta», and the second Discourse. It says briefly that faith gives birth to another and greater faith, of which the holy fathers speak, the foundation of the virtues, as the Apostle of the Lord says, who wrote about it. The one comes without the works of the law, the other is fulfilled by works; the first is found in stillness, the second is won by great struggle. Bless, father, the beginning of the Discourse.

Discourse 2. Our venerable father Isaac, wishing to show what that faith is which the Apostle called the foundation of works done for God (cf. 1 Cor 3,10) — the faith we received in Divine baptism by the grace of Christ and not through works, which gives birth to fear, through which we keep the commandments and endure temptations, as Saint Maximos says, and out of which, after we have laboured, there is born in us the great faith of contemplation, of which the Lord says: «If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed…» (cf. Lk 17,6) — Isaac says that there is one faith common to all the Orthodox, namely the true dogmas concerning God and concerning His creation, spiritual and sensible, which the Holy Catholic Church has received by the grace of God. And there is another faith, which is knowledge; and this in no way contradicts the faith from which it is born, but rather makes it stronger.

The first faith we received from devout parents and from teachers of the Orthodox faith. The second is born because we truly believe and fear the Lord in whom we believe. Out of that fear we promised to keep the commandments, and for this we set ourselves to practise the bodily virtues, that is, stillness, fasting, moderate vigil, psalmody, prayer, reading, and the questioning of experienced men about every thought, word and undertaking, so that by such labours the body may be cleansed of the impure passions — gluttony, unchastity and the amassing of possessions — and may be content with what it has, as the Apostle teaches (cf. 1 Tim 6,8). From this a man receives strength to be free of care in God.

From the Scriptures and from experienced men he learns the Divine dogmas and commandments, and because of this he begins to despise the eight chief passions. Pondering the threats of Scripture, he does not merely fear God but fears Him as God, as Saint Neilos says. And out of this fear he begins to keep the commandments with understanding; and in the measure in which he dies willingly to himself in each commandment, he receives greater knowledge and contemplates what is accomplished within him by the grace of Christ. From all this he comes to believe that the faith of the Orthodox is truly great, and he begins to desire to serve God. He no longer doubts God’s help as he did at first but, as the prophet says, casts «his care upon the Lord» (cf. Ps 54,23).

And as Basil the Great says, whoever wishes to have great faith should be anxious neither about his life nor about his death. Whether he sees a wild beast, or the assaults of demons, or crafty men, let him not be afraid, knowing that they are all creatures of the same Creator and fellow servants like himself, and have no power over him unless God permits it. God alone, as the One who has power, is worthy to be feared, as the Lord Himself says: «I will show you whom you should fear: fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell» (Lk 12,5). And confirming these words He adds: «Yes, I tell you, fear Him» — and rightly so. If there were anyone besides God who had power, it would be fitting for us to fear him too; but since God alone is Creator and Lord of things heavenly and of things beneath the earth, who besides Him has power to do anything?

If someone objects that there are creatures possessing free will, I answer that the heavenly powers, and men, and demons possess it. But the bodiless heavenly orders and good men do no harm to any servant of God like themselves, even if that servant is very wicked; on the contrary, they pity him and pray to God for him, as Athanasios the Great says. Evil men, on the other hand, and their evil teachers the demons, desire to do harm but cannot, so long as a man gives them no occasion by being abandoned by God because of his evil deeds. The All-merciful God permits this for a man’s chastening and salvation, if he is willing to be healed of his malice through grace-given patience; and if not, then for the benefit of someone else, since the all-good God wills that everyone be saved. Temptations that come upon righteous and holy men happen by God’s will, for the perfecting of their souls and the shaming of their enemies, the demons.

Understanding this, the man who fulfils the divine commandments of Christ not only believes that Christ is God and has power — for even the demons knew His works and trembled — but that all things are possible to Him, that all His will is good, and that nothing can happen apart from Him. Therefore he wishes to do nothing without God’s will, even in what concerns his own life. And God’s will is a life that is eternal and exceedingly good, even though to some such a life seems full of sorrow.

That is why I, wretched as I am, am worse than an unbeliever: because I am not willing to do anything to find that great faith, so that through it I might come to the fear of God and the wisdom of the Spirit. Instead I either willingly close the eyes of my soul and break the law, or, darkened by forgetfulness, I sink into complete ignorance and no longer know at all what is good for my soul; and having acquired wicked habits, I grow accustomed to sin. And even when I want to return to the place from which I fell, I cannot, because my own will has become the barrier that separates me from God, as the fathers say, and I am unwilling to labour to break down that barrier.

If I had the faith that is acquired by works of repentance, I could say: «By my God I shall leap over a wall» (Ps 17,30), and I would not be afraid of doubts, saying to myself: «What will meet me if I dare to cross the wall? Is there an abyss? Shall I fail to cross and fall headlong after so much labour?» — and many other such thoughts. For whoever has the faith that God is near and not far off will never think in this way, but will turn at once to God, who has all power and authority, and all grace and love for mankind, so as to strive «not as one beating the air» (cf. 1 Cor 9,26) but as one swimming, seeking the things that are above. And leaving his own will below, he travels towards the will of God; and he will be able to hear it in new tongues and to speak them himself, knowing the mysteries. And he will pass from the active power to the contemplative, in the measure in which he receives it, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belong all glory, honour and power unto the ages. Amen.

The third letter of the alphabet is «gamma», and this is the third Discourse, on fear. For there are two fears of the Lord: the initial fear, which keeps a man away from sin, and the perfect fear, which is born of zeal. Bless, father, the beginning of the Discourse.

Discourse 3. Gluttony is the first of the eight chief passions; yet the fear of God and the first commandment conquer all the passions. Whoever does not have this fear cannot possess any of the other virtues. For how, without fear, can a man keep a commandment? Unless indeed he has already learned to love; yet he too began with fear, though perhaps he does not know how his initial fear passed away. And if a man says he came to love by some other road, he has been taken captive either by spiritual joy or by insensibility, «as though he had crossed a river in a dream», as Saint Ephrem says.

Such a man, marvelling at God’s great benefits which have been granted him, loves his Benefactor. But when a man lives insensibly in love of pleasure and of glory, like the rich man of the parable, and concludes that those who are oppressed by fear and pursued by temptations suffer thus because of their sins, and exalts himself above them in pride, imagining that he himself is worthy of the ease he has received — although in truth he is not worthy of it — by this very thing he makes himself unworthy of the life to come and is darkened by an irrational love of earthly things. Perhaps such a man supposes that he has learned to love and therefore receives more grace than others; but he has not understood God’s condescension towards him. Therefore at the judgment he will find no answer and will rightly hear: «You received your good things during your lifetime» (Lk 16,25). It is known that many of the unbelievers too experience special favour although they are unworthy, and no wise man praises them or says that they are worthy of God’s love, or that they love God and perhaps for that reason live well.

So it is with fear. The fear of the Lord is twofold, just as faith is: one fear is initial, the other perfect, and the second comes through the first. He who fears torment fears as a slave and avoids sin: «By the fear of the Lord a man turns away from evil» (cf. Prov 16,6); «I will teach you the fear of the Lord» (cf. Ps 33,12). All this is said of the initial fear, according to Saint Dorotheos, so that through fear of the prohibition we sinners may come to repentance, seeking how we may find forgiveness of our sins. And this fear, returning to us again, teaches us the ways of life, as it is said: «Turn away from evil and do good» (Ps 33,15).

The more a man labours at good works, the more fear grows in him, and it shows him even the smallest sins, which in the darkness of ignorance he had counted as nothing. And when fear becomes perfect, a man is set right through weeping and no longer wishes to sin; but fearing the return of the passions, he remains unharmed in pure fear. «The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring for ever and ever» (Ps 18,10). The first fear is impure, because it arises on account of sins; but the man who has been purified is afraid not as one who sins, but as one who is liable to change and to evil. And in the measure in which he rises by acquiring the virtues, he fears as a man of humble wisdom — and this is right.

Everyone who possesses wealth greatly fears vanity, torment, dishonour and a fall after exaltation. The poor man has no such fear; he fears only being beaten. And this is said of those who are perfect and pure in soul and body. But let the man who still sins not deceive himself, even though his sins are the smallest and most trifling. «Such men are deceived», says the author of the Ladder, «for this is not pure fear and humility, but the caution of a slave and the dread of prohibition.» Therefore such a man must set his thoughts right, so that he may know what kind of fear he has; and, weeping and enduring sorrows, may cleanse his sins and so come by the grace of Christ to perfect fear.

The signs of the first fear are to hate sin and to be angry with it, as a man is angry with the beast that has bitten him. The signs of perfect fear are to love virtue and to fear change, for no one is unchangeable. Therefore in everything in this life we must always fear a fall, looking at the great prophet and king who wept for his two sins, and at Solomon, who fell into such a sin. And as the Apostle says: «Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall» (1 Cor 10,12).

When someone says that «perfect love casts out fear» (1 Jn 4,18), following the Theologian, he says it well; but this holds of the first, that is, the initial fear. Of perfect fear David says: «Blessed is the man who fears the Lord; he will greatly love His commandments» (Ps 111,1), that is, he will greatly love virtue. Such a man stands in the place of a son, for he acts not out of dread of torment but out of love, which drives fear away. That is why it is said «he will greatly love»: because he lives by the commandments not as a slave who keeps them for fear of punishment. May we be delivered from that slavish state by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belong all glory, honour and worship unto the ages. Amen.

This is the fourth Discourse, on piety, and the fourth letter, «delta»; such is its order in the alphabet. It is a Discourse on abstinence, for abstinence together with chastity is the beginning of the eight contests against the eight passions. This is the essence of the work of piety. Bless, father, the beginning of the Discourse.

Discourse 4. It is clear that piety is the name of something manifold and diverse, like the outward love of wisdom. For when a man studies ten sciences together, that may be called the love of wisdom, and not when he studies one or two. So piety is the name not of one virtue but of the fulfilment of all the commandments; the very word means to do what is good. And if anyone says that the word refers to faith, that is, to reverence what is good, let him explain how it is possible first to fear the Lord and only afterwards to believe in Him. A man first believes in the Lord and then fears Him — is that not so? For fear comes from faith, and from fear comes piety, according to the words of the prophet, who speaks first of wisdom and then says: «The spirit of knowledge and of piety and the fear of the Lord» (cf. Is 11,2). And God, who has begun with fear, will teach the man who has fear to weep.

There is no time to speak in order of the whole of piety, that is, of spiritual activity; and those simpler works are known to everyone, for they go before great faith and pure fear. With the help of grace let us speak briefly of the shoots of the paradise within us, that is, of the virtues of the intellect. Among them is comprehensive abstinence, that is, withdrawal from all the passions. For there is also another, partial abstinence, which teaches how to take food and drink; but the first restrains every thought and every movement of the body that is not done for God’s sake — this is abstinence from the passions. It allows no thought, no word, no movement of foot or hand or of any other member of the body to be superfluous; and this in order to live in the body and be saved in the soul. Because of this the temptations of the devil multiply, since the demons see an angel in the flesh, a man who has become such through zeal and good works.

This is the abstinence that must be «tended and kept» (cf. Gen 2,15), for life in abstinence is a perfect work and requires unceasing care, lest some passion hide itself within or enter from outside. No two forms of abstinence are the same, and no two forms of chastity: the one restrains unchastity and the impure passions, the other gathers into itself the most subtle and sinless thought and raises it to God. Therefore it cannot be properly described in words or grasped by hearing about it; only through experience can these things be understood, and they leave a deep imprint upon the intellect. How can a mere name lift up the dust of our nature and make what is sensible insensible? Outward science recognises such names by verbal description, but spiritual experience and the acquiring of the virtues need God’s help and are gained with great labour and over a long time — and most of all the virtues of the spirit, since these are virtues in the true sense. The bodily virtues, being instruments of virtue, are easier to acquire, even though they demand bodily labour, while the virtues of the intellect are harder to acquire, although for these nothing is needed but attentive thought.

That is why the Law says first of all: «Take heed to yourself» (cf. Dt 15,9). Basil the Great wrote a wonderful Discourse on this saying. But what shall we say, who do not guard ourselves at all but live like certain of the Pharisees? Some of us may fast and keep vigil and possess a measure of knowledge, but there is no discernment in us, because we are unwilling to guard ourselves and to know what we are seeking. And no one is willing to take the trouble to be attentive to his own thoughts, so that perhaps in this way he might gain experience from many assaults and temptations and become for others not indeed a helmsman, but at least a good companion on the voyage. Instead it seems that we, though blind, say that we see, like the Pharisees. Therefore it is said: «They will receive the greater condemnation» (Lk 20,47). «If you were blind, you would have no sin» (Jn 9,41) — if only we had the sense to acknowledge our weakness and our ignorance! But woe is me: we shall receive a stricter condemnation, like the Greeks who, according to Solomon, invented so many things and yet lost the very thing they were seeking.

Why then should we keep silence, as those who have no works? But that is worse still. It is said: «Rather reprove them, for it is shameful even to speak of the things they do in secret» (Eph 5,12). So I keep silence about these things and shall begin to speak of the wonderful virtues, for my darkened heart rejoices when it remembers their sweetness. Because of that joy I forget my own measure and give no thought to the condemnation that threatens me for saying what I do not do.

Abstinence and chastity have a similar power, and each is twofold, as has been said; but let us now speak of the more perfect. Whoever by the grace of God has great faith in contemplation and pure and divine fear, and through them desires to attain abstinence and chastity, let him always restrain himself within and without; let him be as one dead in body and soul to this world and to men, saying in all his affairs to his own thoughts: «Who am I, and what is my being, if not corruption? Today earth, tomorrow decay; and in between, what is my life and how long is it? Why do I worry about this and that, why do I trouble myself and argue in vain? When I have a little, then I worry about it, and this is the imperfection of my knowledge, for it is God who governs all things.»

A man’s greatest care should be to guard his senses and his thoughts, so that he neither thinks nor does anything contrary to the will of God. Let him prepare himself to endure all that comes from demons and from men, whether sweet or bitter. Then he will fear neither the one nor the other, and will not fall into irrational joy and imagination, nor into sadness and despair, having no boldness at all in his own thoughts until the Lord comes. Glory to Him unto the ages. Amen.

This is the fifth Discourse and the letter «epsilon». It is a Discourse on patience, which is great and yet small in the virtues and in every skill. Bless, father, the beginning of the Discourse.

Discourse 5. The Lord says: «He who endures to the end will be saved» (Mt 10,22). Patience is the confirmation of all the virtues; without it there is no virtue, for «no one who puts his hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God» (Lk 9,62). And when a man thinks he shares in all the virtues but does not drink the cup to the end and does not free himself from the nets of the devil, he is not fit for the Kingdom of God. For even those who have received the pledge of patience must still receive their perfect reward in the age to come.

Patience is needed in every action and in every kind of knowledge; and rightly so, for without it not even the simplest thing will be done, and when something has been done, patience is needed to preserve it. We may say at once that every work is brought about through patience before it is accomplished, and once accomplished it is preserved by patience; without patience it will neither be kept nor brought to perfection. When the work is good, patience both gives it and guards it; when it is not good, patience gives calm and magnanimity and does not allow faintheartedness — that betrothal to Gehenna — to oppress the man who is tempted. Patience overcomes the despair that conquers the soul; it teaches the soul to rejoice and not to grow weak under many assaults and sorrows.

Judas, whose ears were closed to patience, found a double death, as one untried in combat. The chief of the apostles, having received patience, like a man tested in the contest, overcame the devil who had brought him to his fall. Through patience that monk who once fell into unchastity defeated the one who had conquered him, for he did not listen to the thought of despair that urged him to leave his cell and the desert, but said patiently to his thoughts: «I have not sinned; and I say to you again: I have not sinned.» O divine reasoning and patience of a valiant man!

Patience brought blessed Job and all his earlier works to perfection. For if that righteous man had shrunk from patience even a little, he would have destroyed all his former labours. But God, who knew his patience, allowed misfortune to come upon him for his perfecting and for the benefit of many. Whoever understands the profit of patience, let him strive above all to possess it, according to the words of Basil the Great, who says: «You will not overcome all the passions at once. It may be that in avoiding them you will turn back and be found unworthy of the Kingdom of Heaven. Fight with each passion in turn, beginning with patience in what comes upon you.» And this is right. When a man does not have patience, he will never be able to go out to open war; and by evading it he not only runs away and brings destruction upon himself, but also pushes others to do the same, according to the word which God spoke to Moses: «Whoever is fainthearted… let him return to his house», and let him not go out to battle (cf. Dt 20,8).

In wars between men, some can keep their sons at home and not go out to fight; but then they will receive neither crowns nor gifts, and may remain in poverty and suffer dishonour. In the spiritual struggle, however, you cannot find any place where there is no battle; though you travel round the whole world, you will find the struggle everywhere. In the desert there are beasts and demons and other grievous sorrows and fears; in stillness there are demons and temptations; among men there are demons and men who tempt. There is nowhere free of care. Therefore you cannot find peace without patience.

Patience comes through fear and faith, and it begins with wisdom. A wise man tests his work in his mind and sees that it is straitened, as Susanna said, and desires what is better, as she did. That blessed woman said to God: «I am hemmed in on every side» (Dan 13,22): if I do what these lawless elders desire, my soul will perish through adultery; if I do not listen to them, they will slander me as an adulteress and the judges of the people will condemn me to death. But it is better for me to take refuge in the Almighty, even if death awaits me. O the great prudence of that blessed woman! She weighed everything wisely and was not deceived in her hope. When the people had gathered and the lawless judges sat down to slander her and condemn to death one who was innocent, as though she were an adulteress, God at once sent Daniel, a prophet of twelve years, and he delivered her from death, turning the sentence of death back upon those elders who wished to condemn her unjustly.

In this God showed how near He is to those who endure temptations for His sake and who in sorrow do not abandon virtue through negligence, but set God’s law first and endure their sorrows, comforted by the hope of salvation. And rightly so: when two troubles await us, one temporal and the other eternal, is it not better to choose the first? That is why Saint Isaac says: «It is better to endure trouble out of love for God and to run to Him with the hope of eternal life, than, in fear of temptation, to fall away from God into the hands of the devil and go with him to torment.» Therefore it would be good if we rejoiced in temptations as lovers of God; and since we are not such, let us at least, because of the trouble to come, choose what is lighter. Either we must suffer here in the body and reign spiritually with Christ in this age and the next, having attained dispassion, or we must fall away in fear of temptations, as has been said, and go to eternal torment, from which God will save us by what we endure here.

Patience is like an unbreakable rock against the winds and waves of life. Whoever obtains it will not faint in the flood and will not turn back; and when he finds rest and joy, he will not become arrogant, but will always remain the same, whether in prosperity or in misfortune, and therefore the assaults of the enemy will not harm him. When bad weather overtakes him, he waits patiently and joyfully for it to pass; and when sunny days come, he expects temptation until his last breath, as Anthony the Great teaches. Such a man knows that there is nothing lasting in this life and that everything passes away. Therefore let us not be greatly anxious about everyday things, but leave everything to God, who cares for us. To Him belong glory, honour and power unto the ages. Amen.

The Gospel Discourse on the hope of things to come has now been written. This is the sixth Discourse and the sixth letter, «zeta»: the intellect strives to become free of care. Bless, father, the beginning of the Discourse.

Discourse 6. Hope is an unshaken confidence and a wealth invisible to the eye, yet confirmed by wisdom and by the nature of things. Farmers endure great labour when they sow and plant; sailors likewise suffer great hardships; and children work hard learning letters and the other sciences. All of them have hope, and therefore they labour with joy and seem to lose what they have, while in truth they endure in order to gain more. Many lose even what they have sown. Someone may say that they learn by experience how to make a profit, whereas in spiritual things we know that no one has risen from the dead. This is said out of inexperience in spiritual gifts and knowledge; and it is no wonder, for even in the things just mentioned the inexperienced are afraid until they gain experience.

Children do not understand the benefit of learning to read and of the other sciences, and so they avoid them; but their parents, who know the benefit and love their children, compel them to learn. In time the children gain experience and begin not only to love learning and their parents’ compulsion, but to take up their studies of themselves with joy. So we too must walk in faith and patience and not grow weak in sorrows; and when the time comes we shall learn what profit lies in what befalls us, and shall do it without effort, with joy and cheerfulness. «We walk by faith, not by sight» (2 Cor 5,7), says the Apostle.

As merchants cannot understand profit before they have traded, so a man cannot find wisdom and peace until he has laboured hard in deed and word at the virtues. And as merchants always fear loss and hope for gain, so a man must labour in word and deed until his last breath. And as they work not only when there is profit but also when there is poverty and trouble, so must he, knowing that the idle man will not eat from his own labours, and is therefore poor and often in debt for many talents. «For You, Lord, have made me dwell in hope alone» (Ps 4,9), says the prophet; «we have strong encouragement» (cf. Heb 6,18), says the Apostle. This is briefly what nature and the Divine Scriptures teach.

Whoever wishes to learn this by experience, let him always practise the seven bodily works according to his strength and apply himself zealously to moral, that is, spiritual activity. Thus, having reached hope and abiding in it, he will be able to understand what has been said and to keep it. It is clear too that from the very beginning of repentance, when he began the seven works, he received from the first of them — that is, from stillness — hope and ready profit as his reward, before he had laboured at the other six, that is, at fasting, vigil and the rest. As soon as he began to learn the first and initial purification of the soul, namely the restraint of the tongue, he had his profit at once.

Yet the inexperienced disciple did not recognise the grace of the Lord, just as a child does not understand what it owes to its parents, though they were its benefactors even before it was born, praying not only that it might be born but that it might inherit what they had acquired and gathered even after them. The child understands none of this and cares nothing for it, but counts obedience to its parents an injury; and if it had no need of food and of the body’s other necessities, it would not reason at all.

So whoever wishes to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven and yet does not endure what befalls him behaves like a fool, since he was created by grace and has received everything else, and hoping for the future he reigns eternally with Christ, who honoured him — him who was nothing — with such and so many gifts, natural and spiritual, and was willing to shed His precious blood for him and asked nothing in return, only that he receive Him who is good, and nothing more. This alone He requires. And whoever can understand is filled with wonder. «What does God require of you?» it is said. O our madness! How is it that we, who ought to fear, do not see His awesome mysteries? Even that God shows Himself to those who seek Him is the greatest of gifts.

How is it that we do not understand that the best of all men is the one who cares for virtue and stands above all others, ascending to the summit, even if he is poor and without family? Do we not see in this present age the prophets, the apostles and the martyrs, and yet doubt about the age to come? Let us look at their lives: what they did, and from where they received the grace and power by which they work miracles not only in life but after death. We see how kings and rich men venerate their holy icons; we see that the virtuous live today in all thanksgiving, virtue and spiritual joy, while the rich live in discord and are more sorely tempted than the ascetics and those who possess nothing. Looking at this, let us believe that virtue is truly the best of all things.

If not, let us see how even unbelievers, who may not know God at all, praise virtue when a man appears virtuous to them; and how vice too is ashamed before virtue. And when we believe that virtue is always good, we must also believe that He who created virtue and gave it to men, that is, God, is likewise good; and if He is good, then He is also righteous, for virtue is truth and therefore good. And if God is good and righteous, then everything He has made and makes He does wholly out of goodness, even though the wicked do not think so. Nothing darkens the intellect like cunning. God shows Himself to simplicity and humility, not to toil alone. He does not appear in the way some imagine out of inexperience, but through the contemplation of all things, that is, of all creatures, and through the revelation of the mysteries in the Divine Scriptures. This is the reward of stillness and of the other works in this present age; and in the age to come, «what eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, God has prepared for those who love Him» (1 Cor 2,9). Such men lay aside their own desires because of patience and hope for the blessings to come; and we too pray to receive them, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belong all glory, honour and power unto the ages. Amen.

The seventh letter in order is «eta», and the seventh Discourse is on dispassion. Dispassion is born of hope, and it is a withdrawal from the whole world. Bless, father, the beginning of the Discourse.

Discourse 7. Dispassion comes through hope. When a man hopes to gain eternal riches elsewhere, it is easy for him to despise the things of the present, even if this temporary life brings him rest. And when life is full of sorrow and pain, who then would incline a rational man to love this life more than God, who gives so much to those who love Him? Only if that man is blind and cannot see because of unbelief, an evil will and a wicked habit. For if the soul believed, it would be enlightened; and if the intellect were even slightly enlightened by firm faith, it would labour to destroy its evil habit. And if it set this in its heart, the grace that works together with us would come to its aid.

That is why the Lord says: «Those who are saved will be few» (cf. Lk 13,23) — because what is visible seems sweet, though it is bitter. When a man licks a wounded lip with his tongue, he feels no pain, so pleasant is it to him to taste his own blood. And the man who suffers from gluttony feels no harm while he eats what harms both soul and body. All who serve the passions suffer in the same way from insensibility; and even when they try to rise, the habit of the passions drags them back.

Therefore the Lord says: «The Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force» (cf. Mt 11,12) — not by nature, but because of our habit of the passions. If it had to be acquired against nature, no one would enter it; but for those who desire it, «the yoke is easy and the burden is light» (Mt 11,30), while for those who do not desire it, «strait is the gate and narrow is the way», and the Kingdom is taken by force (cf. Mt 7,14; 11,12). For the former it lies within and close at hand, because they will it and at once attain dispassion. It is the will that helps or hinders salvation, and nothing else. If you want something good, do it; and if you cannot do it, at least desire it, and you may possess it even if you do not yet have it. And so little by little habit itself works either good or evil.

Were it not so, no robber would have been saved; yet not one but many escaped from robbery. You see how far a robber stands from a saint; but where habit failed, desire prevailed. What then can hinder the man who by the grace of Christ is devout, or even a monk? The one is far off, the other is near and has already travelled a long road, whether by grace or by nature or by inheriting piety and reverence from his parents. Is it not strange that robbers and grave-robbers become saints while monks are condemned? Woe is me, wretched that I am! The shame of my face has covered me.

Kings have lived a life of poverty, like Ioasaph and others; yet a poor man cannot preserve his former way of life and enter the Kingdom of Heaven easily by being dispassionate towards things he never inherited from his parents. When he has said «I renounce» what he never possessed — for the world and what is in it lies in another’s power, while he merely desired that power — then, having renounced it, he begins to weep bitterly and to say: «I cannot help gathering possessions and enduring what comes upon me.» Tell me, what are you suffering? Prisons and chains, which you had before, even when you were a prince? For even those who have power and wealth must endure such things. What else? The lack of necessities, nakedness and everything else I suffered before.

But not to prolong these words and shame those who are already full of shame, I will say only this: it is enough for us merely to be attached to something visible which we renounced of our own free will, and because of this we shall suffer shame and exposure in the age to come, as happened to Gehazi and to Judas. The first desired to have what he did not have, and for this received from God a fall and leprosy; the second, having renounced what he had, desired to have it again, and so inherited destruction and the noose. What advantage has a monk if he does not keep his chastity and yet acquires possessions?

Everyone should keep all the other commandments as belonging to nature. The commandment to love God and one’s neighbour, to bear whatever befalls one, to use things according to nature and to avoid evil deeds — these a man must fulfil even against his own inclination, for otherwise he will have no peace even in the present age. The laws too punish those who sin, and the words of the Apostle urge rulers to do good. The Apostle says that the ruler «does not bear the sword in vain»; and again: «Do you wish to have no fear of authority? Do good, and you will have praise from it» (Rom 13,3-4). All this, as belongs to nature, everyone not only does and wishes to do but also defends.

The monk’s calling is something above nature, for he is a soldier of Christ and must therefore undergo Christ’s sufferings in order to receive His glory. Yet this too is a natural law, as visible things bear witness. Are not the king’s soldiers glorified for what they suffer? Does not everyone who suffers receive praise in proportion to his suffering, and everyone who has behaved outrageously suffer dishonour? And is not a man nearer to the king the more his clothing resembles the king’s, and further away the more it differs? So it is, if we look to our King: in the measure in which a man suffers with Jesus and imitates the poverty of Christ, enduring suffering and humiliation as Christ suffered for us even before the crucifixion and the tomb, in that measure he comes nearer to Him and shares in His glory, according to the words of the Apostle: «We suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with Him» (Rom 8,17).

Alas! How is it that we do not understand how much soldiers and robbers endure for the sake of bread alone, and how far travellers and seafaring men journey? What hardships do men undergo who put no trust in the Kingdom of Heaven! And many never obtain what they work for. Yet we are unwilling to suffer a little for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven and eternal blessings. It would not be so hard if we had the desire, and if we did not persuade ourselves that acquiring the virtues is so difficult and unbearable, and if we remembered that joy and peace, born of hope, follow upon the virtues, while the shame that is their opposite both washes them away and astonishes us. Their end is not only joy and gladness: to these is added the delight of dispassion, just as to the shameful passions is added the sorrow of a troubled life. From these may we be delivered, attaining a supernatural and eternal life through the dispassion that is produced by the mortification of the body in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom belong all glory, honour and worship unto the ages. Amen.

This is the eighth Discourse and the eighth letter, «theta». The mortification of the passions produces dispassion; and whoever does not accomplish this with great labour will never be freed from the passions. Bless, father, the beginning of the Discourse.

Discourse 8. The dispassionate man is always attentive to God in contemplation. Dispassion in regard to sensible things opens the contemplation of the things of the intellect. And this contemplation is not of everything that exists, but of that fearful reality which comes before death and after death, of which grace teaches the dispassionate man, so that he may mortify his passions with weeping and in time come to gentleness of thought.

From faith comes fear, and from fear comes piety, that is, abstinence, patience, weeping, humility, hunger and thirst for righteousness, that is, for all the virtues, and almsgiving, according to the Lord’s beatitudes; and from these comes dispassion, and from dispassion the mortification of the body through many sighs and bitter tears, through repentance and grief, because of which the soul rejects the joy of the world and out of sorrow even ceases to eat, since it begins to see its sins, which are like the sand of the sea. This is the beginning of the soul’s illumination and a sign of its health. Whatever may come before tears — some seeming divine understanding or emotion — is the mockery and trickery of the devil, especially for those who live among men amid distractions, however small.

For it is impossible to defeat passion while a man is bound to something sensible. If someone recalls that the men of old possessed this and that, let him know that they possessed things but used nothing with passion. This is clear from the fact that they took wives and came to know them only after many years, as the Old Testament tells in the genealogies of the ancients (cf. Gen 5): those who had wives lived as though they had none. The same is said of Job and of other righteous men — and not of them alone. King David was both king and ruler, which Solomon was not; and Solomon said: «This is a thankless occupation which God has given to men, that they should be busy with it» (cf. Eccl 1,13), that is, because of cares men may turn aside to what is worse. This teaches us the nature of things: some, in spite of their many cares, still find time for iniquity — what then would happen if our lives were free of care? Such a man does indeed need something to occupy him; it is better for him to have a modest care and to be free of lustful things and thoughts than to do something else far worse.

But whoever by the grace of God has grasped knowledge even in part and can understand the fearful things that come before death and after death, which came about through disobedience, let him not abandon this knowledge nor the works that bring it — that is, the stillness of a life free from care — and let him not take up anxiety over vain things. «Vanity of vanities, all is vanity» (cf. Eccl 1,2). Echoing this, John of Damascus says: «Truly all is vanity, and life is a shadow and a dream.» «Man troubles himself in vain» (cf. Ps 38,7), as the Scripture says. And it is true: what is more vain than that whose end is decay and dust?

Mortification, then, is dispassion — not of the intellect, but of the body, from its first movements towards ease and relaxation. The desire for comfort, however small, is a desire of the flesh; and the soul grieves the more over it when it sees in itself some spiritual work or knowledge, for if a man is flesh, the Spirit of God will not abide in him (cf. Gen 6,3). Then the soul no longer tries to do any good work but strives to satisfy the desires of the body and the passions within it, and, receiving darkness upon darkness, remains of its own free will in total ignorance.

But whoever is enlightened so as to see his own sins never ceases to weep for himself and for all men, seeing such patience on God’s part and such sins as we have committed from the beginning and still commit, wretched as we are. Because of this he becomes prudent, not daring to condemn anyone at all, ashamed before God’s great benefits and before his own sins. Everywhere he lays aside his own desires, which are contrary to the will of God, and takes care of his senses, so that they may do nothing superfluous, according to the words of the prophet: «Lord, my heart is not lifted up, nor are my eyes haughty» (Ps 130,1).

Yet one must be careful, lest a man who has reached such a height lose it through carelessness and pride and then be unable to repent. For sin is easy even for the righteous, but repentance is not easy for everyone, since death is near and before it stands despair. It is good not to fall; and if you have fallen, it is good to rise again. And if you fall, it is good not to despair and not to withdraw from the Lord’s love for mankind. Perhaps, when He wills, He will show mercy to our weakness. Only let us not withdraw from Him; let the fulfilment of the commandments not seem too hard for us; let us not turn away from them because we cannot comprehend them all; and let us know that «one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day» (2 Pet 3,8).

Let us not despair or lie where we have fallen, but always begin again from the beginning. You have fallen — rise! You have fallen again — rise again! Only do not withdraw from the Physician, lest for your despair you suffer a punishment worse than that of suicide. Cling to Him, and He will show mercy, whether through conversion, or through temptations, or by other means unknown to you. For the devil is accustomed to lay upon the soul whatever it is inclined to at that moment: joy, or high-mindedness, or sadness and despair, or immoderate labours, or great laziness, or thoughts out of season presented as necessities, or darkness and senseless hatred of everything. Whatever prevails in the soul at that time, he adds to it, so that it may bring no profit.

A thing may be good and pleasing to God when it is governed by men who can judge rightly and know God’s intention, hidden as it is among the six passions that surround it from above and below, on the right and on the left, within and without. Whether it be some work done for God or some knowledge, a man’s good intention is always surrounded by six opposing passions. Therefore in every undertaking one must ask about the intention, as Saint Anthony advises — and ask not just anyone, but those who have the gift of discernment, so that «both do not fall into the pit» (Lk 6,39), according to the Gospel parable. For without discernment nothing good comes about: even if it seems good to those who do not understand, it will still be either untimely, or beyond need, or beyond measure, or beyond a man’s strength or knowledge, and much else besides. He who has the gift of discernment received it through humility; therefore he knows all things by grace and in time will come to contemplation.

Through weeping and patience come hope and dispassion, and through dispassion comes mortification to the world. And when a man endures well, without falling into despair, though he sees oppression and death on every side, knowing that this is for his testing and enlightenment, and does not dare to think that he has reached the level of contemplation because he has shed many tears of grief, then he will come to see clearly the holy sufferings of the Lord, and will be greatly comforted by them, and will count himself the worst of all, seeing how much good is done for his sake by the grace of God. To God be glory and power unto the ages of ages. Amen.

This is the letter «iota» and the ninth Discourse, on the honourable Passion of Christ. The ascetic sheds many tears at the remembrance of death and of his sins; and after these it is fitting to hold in the intellect the Passion of Christ and of His saints. Bless, father, the beginning of the Discourse.

Discourse 9. So that the ascetic may not imagine that his labours, his sighs and his tears are some very great work, he is given an understanding of the sufferings of Christ and of all the saints. Contemplating them, he is filled with wonder and astonishment and pours himself out in ascetic effort. His intellect knows its own weakness when it sees so many temptations that there seems no cure for them, and how the saints endured them all with joy, and how much the Lord endured for us.

At the same time he is given to understand what the Lord said and did. And understanding all that is written in the Gospel, he begins to weep bitterly out of sorrow, and then to rejoice spiritually out of gratitude — not because he thinks he has good works, for that is pride, but because he, a man so sinful, has been counted worthy of such understanding. He humbles himself in word and deed through the seven works already mentioned, through moral, that is, spiritual activity, through the guarding of the five senses and through the keeping of the Lord’s commandments. And all this he counts not as good works deserving a reward but as a debt; nor does he expect to be freed from that debt because of the greatness of the knowledge granted him.

He is as if taken captive by the understanding of the words he reads or chants, and from that delight he involuntarily forgets his sins, and out of joy weeps tears sweet as honey. And then again, fearing delusion, lest those sweet tears come out of season, he remembers his former life and weeps bitterly. So he lives, now in the one kind of tears, now in the other. This is what happens when he is attentive to himself, takes counsel with someone experienced, and falls before God in pure prayer, as befits a man of practice, detaching his intellect from everything he has seen or heard and gathering it into the remembrance of God, seeking only God’s will in all his undertakings and all his knowledge.

Otherwise he is deluded, thinking that he will see the appearance of some holy angel or of Christ, not knowing that whoever wants to see Christ should look not outside but within himself, imitating His life in the world, and should strive to have body and soul sinless, as Christ had, and to keep his intellect always thinking upon Christ. It is not good to entertain any image or thought during prayer. Concerning the fact that the intellect should be in the place of God, Saint Neilos spoke, quoting the psalm: «His place is in peace» (cf. Ps 75,3). And peace means having no thoughts, neither good nor evil; for if the intellect is aware of itself, then it dwells not in God alone but also in itself. And this is true. God is indescribable and limitless, invisible and formless; and whoever says that he is with God alone must himself be invisible, imageless and beyond imagination, free of passion. Whatever goes beyond that is the delusion of the devil.

Therefore the ascetic must be attentive, and without asking the experienced must form no opinion, whether good or bad, since we know neither the one nor the other. The demons change into whatever they wish and appear accordingly, just as the human intellect turns into whatever it wills and takes the shape of the thing it perceives. But the demons do this to deceive us, while our intellect wanders senselessly, trying to grasp perfection. Yet as far as he can, let a man keep his intellect in some teaching about God.

As there are seven bodily works, so there are eight visions, that is, kinds of knowledge of the intellect. Three of them were mentioned before we spoke of the most pure sufferings of the Lord, and from these three let everyone always learn: how to weep for his own soul and for those like himself, that is, to consider all the sorrow that has come upon us since our transgression, and how our nature has fallen into so many passions, and to consider our sins and the temptations that come for our correction; then to consider death and the torments that await sinners after death, so that the soul, broken by these thoughts, may depart in tears towards humility and consolation.

Let the soul not despair because of this abundant and fearful knowledge, nor think that it has achieved some great spiritual work, but let it remain in fear and hope, which is called peace of thought, when everything is received alike. This raises the intellect to knowledge and discernment, according to the words of the prophet: «He will teach the meek His ways in judgment» (cf. Ps 24,9), and still more in discernment; and this the prophet calls knowledge joined to piety. And as piety is one name for many works, so knowledge contains many kinds of knowledge and vision.

For the beginning of bodily activity is knowledge, and without knowledge no one undertakes to do good; and even of the end — of adoption as sons and of the rapture of the intellect to heaven in Christ — it is said that this too is knowledge and vision. But knowledge exists even before labour, so that the work may be done with it, as a house is built with tools; and vision is preserved by faith, which strengthens through fear. There is further the knowledge and practice of the spiritual virtues, which prepares and plants the heavenly shoots. Then there is the knowledge of the intellect and spiritual activity, that is, its attentiveness and the ordering of the soul’s habits, so that the ascetic may skilfully fulfil and keep the commandments; for through them come effort towards growth and Divine help. In the same way sun and rain and wind help the plant, and without them all the farmer’s labour is useless — though sometimes things do turn out well. Nothing good can happen without help from on high; yet help from above and grace do not come to those who do not want them, says the divine Chrysostom.

In this life everything is twofold: action and knowledge, desire and grace, fear and hope, ascetic labour and reward. The second of each pair does not come until the first is fulfilled; and if somehow it seems to appear, it is delusion. It is like an inexperienced farmer who, seeing a flower, thinks it is already the fruit and hurries to pluck it, not knowing that he is destroying the fruit. So it is here: «when we imagine, we do not allow what is imagined to come to pass», says Saint Neilos. Therefore let everyone be with God and act with discernment; and this will be so when he asks questions humbly and rebukes himself, and everything that comes from himself and everything he thinks he knows. «For Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light» (2 Cor 11,14) — and no wonder; for the thoughts he sows seem to the inexperienced to be true knowledge.

«Humility is the door to dispassion», says the author of the Ladder; and «its foundation is gentleness», according to Basil the Great. For humility teaches a man always to keep peace of soul both in pleasant and in sorrowful things and thoughts, and not to care about honour or dishonour, but to accept everything with joy and not be confounded — unlike the virgin of whom Anthony the Great tells: «When I was sitting with an abba, a certain virgin came and said to the elder: Abba, during the six weeks of the fast I fast six days at a time, and every day I read the Old and the New Testament. The old man answered her: Has poverty become abundance for you? She said: No. Is dishonour the same to you as praise? She answered: No, abba. Are your enemies as friends? And she said: No. Then that wise elder said to her: Go and work; you have nothing.»

And indeed: when she fasted so strictly that she ate but once a week, and even then sparingly, should not poverty have become wealth to her? And she read the Old and New Testament daily — and had not learned to humble herself. Having nothing in this life, should she not have counted everyone her friend? And after such hard labour, should she not have learned to receive enemies as friends? Rightly then did he say: «You have nothing.» I would add that such a person will be the more condemned, as Chrysostom says of the five foolish virgins: they were able to endure the hardest labour, that is, virginity, which is above nature, yet did not manage the easiest, that is, almsgiving, which even Greeks and unbelievers practise to this day as something natural. Because that maiden did not understand what she was seeking, she laboured in vain. «These things you ought to have done, and not to have left the others undone», says the Lord (Mt 23,23).

Ascetic labour is a good work when it is done with a good intention; and we should regard it not as the deed itself but as the preparation for the deed — not as the fruit, but as the soil which in time, with hard work and with God’s help, can nourish shoots that will bear fruit. And the fruit is the purification of the intellect and union with God, to whom be glory unto the ages. Amen.

This is the tenth Discourse and the letter «kappa»; it speaks throughout of the humility of Christ, so that the soul may be anxious about nothing and may always condemn itself in every matter. Bless, father, the beginning of the Discourse.

Discourse 10. He who is truly humble never ceases to rebuke himself, even if the whole world should rise against him and dishonour him; and so he is saved not merely against his will, as those are saved who possess patience, but goes willingly towards the sufferings of Christ. From these the ascetic has learned the greatest of all virtues, in which the Holy Spirit abides. This virtue is the door of the Kingdom, that is, dispassion; and entering by it a man goes to God, while without it his labour is fruitless and his journey full of sorrow. This virtue gives all consolation to the one who holds it in his heart, for so he has Christ within him. Through it grace dwells and gifts are preserved.

Humility is born of many virtues: of obedience, patience, non-possessiveness, poverty, the fear of God, knowledge and the rest; and the chief of these is discernment, which enlightens the intellect. Yet let no one imagine that it is easy to become humble and wise. This work is above nature. In a word, as great as the gift is, so great must be the labour, the wisdom and the patience against the demons and the temptations that fight against the ascetic; for humility sweeps away all their nets.

Humility is born through knowledge, and knowledge through temptation. To him who has come to know himself, knowledge of everything is given; and he who has obeyed God finds that everything obeys him, when humility dwells in his members. And this is true. Every man gains experience through many temptations and through enduring them, and by them he learns his own weakness and God’s power. Knowing his weakness and his ignorance, he sees that formerly he did not know what he now knows, and he considers that there is much he still does not know which he will learn later, according to the words of Basil the Great: «When a man does not test things, he does not know what he lacks. He who has received knowledge learns in part what he does not know, and knowledge becomes for him the pledge of humility.» And again: «Whoever knows himself and knows that creatures are subject to change is not exalted in anything at all; for when he has something, he knows that it belongs to the Creator.»

No one praises a dish for having made itself beautiful; the praise goes to the potter. And when a vessel breaks, men blame not the potter but the one who broke it. But when the vessel is rational, it is necessarily self-governing. In all good things the Creator is the Giver of good and its cause; but the cause of falls and deviations is the will of the self-governing creature. He who remains unchanged after receiving grace is praised, and he who receives the malice of the serpent is rebuked. Praise and thanksgiving belong not to the one who receives the gifts but to the One who gives them. It may be that by grace the receiver too is praised for his willingness to receive gifts he did not have, and still more for his gratitude towards the Benefactor; and when this is lacking, he is not merely deprived of praise but will be condemned for his ingratitude.

Let no one dare shamelessly to deny that he has received a gift, and so steal praise by cunning deeds and boast even in his silence, imagining that these gifts are not from the Creator, as though he had himself acquired the wealth he possesses and not received it by grace. Even when such a man gives thanks to the Giver, he thinks as the Pharisee thought and says within himself: «I thank You» for this and that (cf. Lk 18,11). The evangelist puts it well — and still more the God who knows hearts — that he spoke «within himself» and not to God. Though he supposed he was addressing God, those who knew his proud soul do not say that he spoke to God, but say: «The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself.»

And that the Scripture often repeats the same words or words like them is not, as Chrysostom says, a figure of speech or mere verbosity, but is meant to imprint the word on the hearts of the hearers. The psalmist, out of great love, was not unwilling to repeat his words, so that those who through carelessness and neglect have not tasted their sweetness might yet be relieved of their burden. Will such men ever bear worthy fruit from the Divine Scriptures? Are they not in danger of condemnation and of the darkening of the intellect, when they open the entrance to the demons that assail them? As the Lord says: «If they do this to the green tree, what will happen to the dry?» And again: «If the righteous man is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?» (cf. 1 Pet 4,18).

If demons attack even those who spiritually and invisibly keep their whole intellect in the remembrance of God — and if God did not protect them for the sake of their humble wisdom, their prayer could not ascend to Him but would return empty — what then are we to do, wretched as we are, who never so much as utter a word into the air, that God might one day have mercy and stoop to our ignorance and our weakness for the sake of a good intention?

And since the demons attack even the perfect, let us hear what Saint Makarios says: that in this present age no one is perfect; otherwise what is given here would not be a mere pledge. As a testimony to this he tells of one brother who was praying with the brethren and was suddenly caught up in his intellect to heaven, and saw the Jerusalem above and the tabernacles of the saints; and coming down, he fell away from virtue and came to complete ruin, because he thought within himself that he had already succeeded. He did not consider that his debt was now the greater, since he had been counted worthy of such a height, though by nature he was unworthy even of dust. And the same saint says: «We know much from experience, and I myself was in such perfection, and I know well that here no one is perfect. Even if a man becomes wholly spiritual and is united to God, sin follows him still and will never be utterly destroyed until death.»

Saint Neilos tells of a man who was praying when, by God’s permission and for the benefit of himself and of many, the demons seized him by hands and feet and threw him high into the air; and a mat was laid beneath him so that his body should not be broken when he fell to the ground. Yet however long they did this, they could not bring his intellect down from heaven to earth. Would such an ascetic have needed food? Would he have needed reading and psalmody? We need all these things because of the weakness of our intellect, and yet we are unwilling even to keep watch over it. Alas! That saint struggled, while we take no thought for the assaults upon us. The saints guard themselves from the devil’s nets by humility, while we are lifted up out of ignorance. And it is true: it is great folly to be exalted over what we do not possess. «What have you that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?» (1 Cor 4,7) — as though you had done it yourself.

Abba Cassian says: «Humility is born of knowledge, knowledge gives birth to discernment, and from discernment comes right consideration», which the prophet calls «counsel» (cf. Is 11,2): the ability to see the nature of things; and the intellect is made dead to the world through the contemplation of God’s creatures. To God be glory unto the ages. Amen.

The eleventh Discourse and the letter «lambda». Humility gives birth to discernment concerning the nature of sensible creatures. Bless, father, the beginning of the Discourse.

Discourse 11. It is very good to ask about everything, but to ask those who have experience; it is harmful to ask the inexperienced, since they have no discernment. Discernment knows the time, the need, the constitution of the person, the number, the strength and the knowledge of the one who asks, the desire and the purpose of God, the meaning of the words of Holy Scripture, and much else besides. He who lacks discernment may labour hard and yet achieve nothing. But when a man is found who possesses discernment, he becomes a guide to the blind and a light to those in darkness. We must rely on him and take his counsel, even though because of our inexperience we sometimes fail to see what we would wish to see. He who has discernment sees most, for he can incline towards what he says even those who are unwilling; for the Spirit tests the manifestation of the Divine works and can compel an unbelieving intellect to believe, as with the fathers, and as in the cases of Jonah, of Zacharias, and of the robber who was forbidden by an angel to speak anything but psalmody.

If in our day there is no one who possesses such discernment, because he lacks the humility that gives it birth, then we must pray perseveringly over each of our actions, according to the words of the Apostle (cf. Col 4,2). If we do not have «clean hands», that is, purity of soul and body, let us at least try to be free of malice and evil thoughts. These are the Apostle’s words: to lift up «holy hands, without anger or quarrelling» (1 Tim 2,8).

And when we know that some deed is pleasing to God, let us do it dispassionately; and even if it is not particularly good, grace will reckon it to us as good because of our lack of knowledge and our intention to please God, provided it is not done from passion but according to God’s will, out of necessity, and solely because God is good. But where a man’s own will is at work and not God’s, there is exaltation; and God does not favour such a man nor reveal His will, lest one who knows it and does not fulfil it suffer the greater condemnation. For whatever God gives us and whatever He withholds from us is for our benefit, even though we do not understand it. And He does not send us His Holy Spirit if we have not yet cleansed ourselves of the passions by bodily and mental activity, lest, being still accustomed to the passions, we deviate and become guilty before the coming of that Holy Spirit.

But when a man has spent a long time in ascetic labour and has first cleansed the body of sin small and great, and then the soul of every desire and every rage, and has bent his habits towards good, so as to do nothing with his five senses apart from the will of his intellect; and when his inner man no longer has any inclination to such things and the whole man is subject to himself — then God will subject everything to him by the grace of the Holy Spirit, because of his dispassion. For the intellect first obeys the law of God, and then everything that ought to be in a rational man’s power obeys him, so that the intellect may possess all things as it was created in the beginning: a wise, all-wise, courageous and righteous kingdom. Then it will calm rage with the gentleness of desire, and restrain desire with the firmness of rage; and it will know that it is self-governing and acts with all the members of the body according to God’s commandment (cf. Dt 6,5). It will no longer be robbed by forgetfulness and ignorance as before. Then, through withdrawal for God’s sake, it will become discerning and begin to notice the nets the devil has prepared and hidden in order to rob it. Yet it will not know the future, as the prophets did, for that is above nature and is given for the common good; whereas discernment is natural, and when the intellect is purified it is revealed through the restraint of the passions, having been hidden before as in darkness.

Through humility grace comes and opens the eye of the soul, which the devil had blinded; and then a man begins to see the nature of things and is no longer confused, as before, by their outward appearance. He looks dispassionately upon gold, silver and precious stones, and does not shrink back and does not judge with passion, but knows, after the example of the holy fathers, that they all come from the earth, like everything else in this world. He sees a man and understands that he was taken from the earth and will return to the earth. And he does not merely think this, for all men know it from experience; but, tormented by the passions, they become passionately attached to things.

It is no wonder if someone, out of arrogance, imagines that without prior labour and virtue he will be able to see the nature of creatures. Through conceit the blind think they see, and fools boast of knowledge. If it were possible to see the nature of things by thought alone, there would be no need of weeping and of the purification that weeping brings, nor of every kind of ascetic labour, nor of humility, nor of grace from on high, nor of dispassion. But it is not so, it is not so. It is easier for simple people, whose intellect is clean of the world, of things and of deceit, to understand this, when such a man is in obedience to an experienced and spiritual father, or, by the providence of grace, before he turns «to the right hand or to the left» (cf. Prov 4,27), as Solomon says.

But since from our youth we have served the passions and have little by little learned every kind of cunning and transgression, it is impossible to free ourselves from this evil and to see the nature of creatures by our own efforts alone, without God, without labour and without time. We shall succeed in this only when we come to love the acquiring of the virtues in deed and word as much as we once loved evil, and zealously care for them. Often even such efforts bring us no profit: either because we do not endure temptation to the end, or because we do not see the way or the goal, or through laziness, or through unfaithfulness, or for countless other reasons. And if this is so, and we are still very far from success, how dare we say that we have attained our original beauty? Only self-satisfaction could so mislead us and hide our ruin from us.

To rebuke oneself is invisible success, for it is good to go forward without feeling that one is succeeding; arrogance and self-satisfaction are invisible ruin, for through them we turn back without noticing it. And this is true: in a vain soul, even if it has been purified by grace, the passions return again. As the Lord says: «When an unclean spirit goes out of a man…» (cf. Mt 12,43). Why? Because there is no room in that soul for the spiritual activity from which the spirit came out, and there is no humility. Therefore he comes back, bringing many other evils with him, and settles in the soul. Let him who is intelligent understand.

The Word of God does not set everything before us plainly, nor does it leave everything obscure, but just so much as is profitable. Chrysostom says that it is a great kindness of God that some places in the Divine Scriptures are quite clear while others have a hidden meaning: through the first we come to faith and love and do not fall into unbelief and despair when we fail to understand much; and the others urge us to try and to labour, so that we may be rid of pride and find humility because of what we cannot understand. Thus in both cases we receive the fruit of humility and of love for God, when we feel His gifts within us.

The fifth vision, of which this Discourse speaks, is that a man can truly see sensible creatures and thoughts through the gift of discernment, and does not look at them under some delusion, nor act passionately against God’s purpose, nor listen to a wrong thought. Even if death threatens, we shall not depart from God’s purpose in word or deed. This is what happens at the end of that vision; for at the beginning the ascetic, being still a learner, deviates from his purpose, perhaps even in deed, because habit overcomes him. And when by God’s providence he strays a little from the path, he at once turns back with great humility. Sometimes, through arrogance, he is seized by a passion for exaltation; and when this happens to him he does not realise that grace, while chastening him, is teaching him to humble himself and to know from where he receives strength and knowledge, so that, as it is said, we may trust «not in ourselves but in God who raises the dead» (cf. 2 Cor 1,9). So it happens here too.

When a man is patient, neither puffed up nor turning away from virtue, he passes of himself from the mortification of the body and of things to the knowledge of all things. For as the Apostle says, through bodily activity a man is crucified in the body, and through spiritual activity in the intellect (cf. Gal 5,24); so he undergoes death through the mortification of the senses and through the knowledge of the nature of things, and is raised spiritually because of dispassion in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power unto the ages of ages. Amen.

The letter «mu» and the twelfth Discourse. It teaches about the experience of the contemplation of sensible creatures; let no one seek it before its time. Bless, father, the beginning of the Discourse.

Discourse 12. When the intellect has not yet become dead to the passions, it is of no profit for it to pass over to the contemplation of sensible creatures. If it tries to pass over while it neglects the reading of the Divine Scriptures, knowledge and stillness, it is only the more darkened by forgetfulness and gradually sinks into ignorance — even though it may already have attained knowledge of the intellect, especially if that knowledge came not through grace, unknown to itself, but through reading and through teachers experienced in such mysteries. When a farmer does not cultivate his land, it grows thorns, and all the more if it is good land.

So too the intellect: when it is not exercised in prayer and reading and does not labour at them, it grows hard without knowing it. And as the earth, though watered by rain and lit by the sun, yields nothing if it is not sown, so the intellect will have no knowledge without spiritual activity, even if it once had knowledge through grace. As soon as it deviates a little through carelessness towards the passions, it is deceived; and if it looks on itself with even a little pride, grace leaves it. That is why the fathers, when age and weakness came upon them, often reduced their bodily works, but never their spiritual ones; for in place of bodily labours they had bodily weakness, which could silence the wretched flesh. But to keep the soul sinless, so that the intellect may be enlightened, is impossible without spiritual activity. A farmer may often lay aside his tools, but he never leaves the ground unploughed, unsown or unplanted, and never leaves the fruit untended, if he wishes to taste it.

«He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in some other way is a thief and a robber» (Jn 10,1), as the Lord says; and the sheep — that is, the divine thoughts — will not listen to him, according to Saint Maximos. For the thief comes to steal by hearing and to kill by hidden content. He cannot learn from the Scriptures, and by his supposed knowledge he will destroy both himself and his thoughts, because of his arrogance. But the shepherd cares for his thoughts «as a good soldier of Christ Jesus» (2 Tim 2,3), according to the Apostle, and by keeping the Divine commandments he enters through the narrow gate, that is, through humility and the door of dispassion. Before grace from on high visits him he trains himself and learns everything by listening. And however many times the wolf comes to him in sheep’s clothing, he drives it away, rebuking himself and saying: «I do not know who you are; God knows.» And if some thought comes shamelessly and wants to be accepted, saying: «If you have no opinion of your own and do not weigh things, you will be as one faithless and ignorant», then he answers: «Let me be a fool, if you like», following the divine Chrysostom. For the Apostle says that whoever is foolish in this age will become wise (cf. 1 Cor 3,18).

And the Lord says: «The sons of this world are wiser in their generation than the sons of light» (Lk 16,8). And so it is. Men wish to win and grow rich, to be wise and famous, to rule and so forth; and though sometimes they fail and their labour brings no profit, they strive beyond their strength to attain it. Others desire the opposite of these things, and here too they often receive the pledge of the blessedness that will be theirs and strive, as those others do, that the intellect may receive freedom by grace, through which it can hold an untroubled memory and thoughts confirmed by the Divine Scriptures and tested in spiritual knowledge — or, having great knowledge, may know that it does not know everything, realising that the thoughts which came before were a testing of its self-control, so that it might humbly turn away from its own thought and purpose, not trusting them but even fearing them, and might ask with many tears, take refuge in humility and rebuke itself, and so, at great cost, come to knowledge and to gifts.

The proud man hurries to make sure of his own thoughts, not hearing the author of the Ladder, who says: «Do not seek before the time», nor Saint Isaac, who teaches us not to enter boldly within but with gratitude and silence. He does not hear Chrysostom, who said «I do not know», having learned this from the Apostle; nor the Damascene, who said of Adam that the time had not yet come for him to pass over to the contemplation of sensible things. Children’s senses are weak and cannot bear solid food; they need milk, as the Apostle says (cf. Heb 5,13). Therefore let us not seek contemplation before its time, but let us first acquire the mother of all the virtues, and knowledge will come by the grace of Christ. Glory to Him unto the ages. Amen.

The letter «nu» and the thirteenth Discourse, on the knowledge of intelligible things, that is, of the spiritual bodiless host. Through sensible things the one who perceives images comes to know them. Bless, father, the beginning of the Discourse.

Discourse 13. Knowledge of intelligible things comes by way of skill in the knowledge of sensible things. Yet he who has this knowledge will not see an angel. Can a man see a being above nature, accessible only to the Creator, when he cannot even see his own soul? For the common good, according to God’s providence, angels have often appeared to men. But this does not happen with us, because we desire it out of pride, care nothing for the common good and endure nothing for God’s sake. Whoever desires such a thing is desiring to see the devil: «For Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light» (2 Cor 11,14), says the Apostle. Only the man who pays no attention to such things and does not believe them even when they happen can be granted such a vision for the common good.

This is clear from the fact that we ought not to accept anything of the kind even in a dream, nor entertain subtle imaginings; and if any vision comes, we should behave as though it were not there. For a true angel has authority from God, and when the intellect is unwilling to receive him, he can still bring the intellect to peace. The devil cannot bring the intellect to peace; but if he saw that the intellect wished to receive him, he would appear by permission. If the intellect does not wish it, he will flee, driven away by the angel who has guarded that soul ever since it received Divine baptism, so that the intellect may not lose its self-control.

In one vision it is said of the holy orders that there are nine of them, according to the great Dionysios, and so we find throughout the Scriptures. The nine orders have their names according to their nature and their activity. They are called bodiless because they are not made of matter; spiritual, because they are spirits; hosts, because they are «ministering spirits» (Heb 1,14) of the King of all. Others have names both general and particular, that is, they are called angels and powers. «Powers» is the name of one order, yet according to activity there are nine names: powers, because they can carry out the Divine will; and «angels», the proper name of one order, the first in relation to us men, while the awesome thrones are the ninth. All are called angels according to their activity, because God sends them to announce His will to men. «Another messenger came to Job», and this was a holy angel, for Chrysostom says that «he alone was left and came to bring the news» (cf. Job 1,19).

The Divine Scriptures also call the Lord an angel in various places. It is said that Abraham received angels, and the Lord was bodiless (cf. Gen 18). So the Damascene says to the Mother of God: «In the shadow of the law Abraham saw the mystery fulfilled in you, Mother of God, for he received your Son without flesh…» And He Himself was in the furnace with the children in Babylon (cf. Dan 3,92), and He is called an angel according to His activity, as the prophet Isaiah says: «Angel of great counsel» (cf. Is 9,6). As the Lord Himself says: «All that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you» (Jn 15,15). Glory to Him unto the ages. Amen.

The letter «xi», and this is the Discourse on true dispassion. This is the fourteenth Discourse, by the grace of God. Bless, father, the beginning of the Discourse.

Discourse 14. Dispassion is a strange and glorious thing. When a man is victorious over passion, dispassion makes him, according to his measure, an imitator of God. When a dispassionate man is attacked by demons or by evil men, it is as though someone else were suffering, as was the case with the holy apostles and martyrs. He is not exalted when praised and does not grieve when reproached. He remembers that sweet grace and God’s condescension of which he is unworthy, and he remembers that sorrows are trials. The first is given here by grace for consolation, the second for humble wisdom and good hope in the age to come; and he, as one insensible, endures sorrows with discernment though his senses are many.

Dispassion is not one virtue but the name of all the virtues. As a man is not one member of the body, but many members make up a man — and not the members only but the soul as well — so dispassion is a union of many virtues, and in place of a soul they have the Holy Spirit. For all works that are called spiritual are in fact soulless if they do not have the Holy Spirit, from whom what is spiritual comes and is so named. If the soul does not reject passion, the Holy Spirit will not enter it; and without Him there will be no such great virtue as that which we call dispassion. And if a man does become such, he will be untroubled by everything.

The Greeks, not understanding this, said: «Do not be dispassionate as though soulless, nor passionate as though irrational.» To call the dispassionate man soulless was in keeping with their knowledge, for they did not know the Holy Spirit. To call the passionate man irrational is what we too say, though not because we took it from them; we simply say it. This is not knowledge or theory: we who have suffered from the passions know from what we have suffered. We write so that you may learn to acquire the virtues from the holy fathers who were graced with dispassion.

They say that a passionate man becomes like a captive and grows insensible through love of the passions. Sometimes desires drive him as though he were irrational, and sometimes fury, which avenges his desires, so that like a beast he gnashes his teeth at those like himself. The dispassionate man also becomes insensible, but from God’s perfect love. Then his soul learns endlessly in God’s works, sometimes in some vision perceiving His wonders and sometimes in some words of the Divine Scripture, as Saint Neilos says. And though he be among a great crowd, even in the market place, his intellect is as though alone with itself. Such a state comes from keeping the commandments of Christ, to whom be glory and power unto the ages. Amen.

The keeping of God’s commandments is a sign of love for God and for one’s neighbour. Therefore this Discourse will be on love; it is the fifteenth. Its letter is the small «omicron»: the beginning of the law and the end of love. Bless, father, the beginning of the Discourse.

Discourse 15. Whoever wishes to say something about love dares to speak about God, according to John the Theologian: «God is love… and he who abides in love abides in God» (1 Jn 4,8.16). O wonder! This first of all the virtues is natural to us. That is why the law speaks of it from the very beginning: «You shall love the Lord your God… with all your soul» (cf. Dt 6,5). I heard the words «with all your soul» and was taken captive, and needed no other words. For the whole soul is rational, incensive and desiring; of these three powers the soul is composed. The rational power thinks only of the Divine; the desiring power desires only the Divine and nothing else, since the law says «with all your soul»; and the incensive power acts against everything that hinders this desire.

It is well said that «God is love» (1 Jn 4,8). When God sees that these three powers desire Him alone, as He commanded, then He Himself, being good, will not only love but by sending the Holy Spirit will dwell among them and walk among us, as the Apostle said (cf. 2 Cor 6,16). The body will then obey the intellect involuntarily, as something irrational, and will no longer «desire against the Spirit» (cf. Gal 5,17), as the Apostle says. And as the sun and the moon, governed by God’s command, give light to the world though they are without soul, so the body works, at the soul’s desire, the work of light.

As the sun, passing each day from east to west, makes one day, and without it there is night, so every virtue a man practises enlightens the soul, and without it come passion and darkness, until he acquires the virtue and then the light comes. And as the sun, going from one end of the east to the other and changing its rays as it will, completes a year, so a man, having begun the virtues and coming slowly to success, becomes dispassionate. And as the moon waxes and wanes each month, so a man waxes and wanes in progress after each virtue, until he becomes established in it. Sometimes his soul longs for God, then it rejoices, thanking God and knowing that it is unworthy to acquire virtue; sometimes it grows brighter and sometimes it is darkened, until it completes its course. The one comes about through exaltation, the other through despair, by way of exchange. So now, in this present age, the sun changes and the moon waxes and wanes; but when the age to come arrives there will be light unceasing for the righteous, and darkness — alas! — for sinners like me.

Even now, before perfect love, various changes take place in the soul, and in the intellect there is a dimming of the virtues and of knowledge, until the works to come are accomplished for the sake of that perfect love for which we labour. For the sake of love the obedient man listens to the commandments; for its sake the rich and free man becomes poor and a slave and does not defend what is his own, even his own self, against those who wish to take everything. Likewise the man who fasts allows others to be fed from his goods, from which he himself wished to eat. In short, every action is done either out of love for God or out of love for one’s neighbour. The things we have mentioned, and others like them, are done out of love for one’s neighbour; vigils and psalmody and the like are done out of love for God, to whom be glory, honour and power unto the ages. Amen.

The letter «pi» and the sixteenth Discourse, briefly on the knowledge of God; for many fathers have spoken of theology in many canons and discourses. Bless, father, the beginning of the Discourse.

Discourse 16. Everything that God created has a beginning, and when He wills, an end, since everything came out of nothing. But God has no beginning and no end, and neither has His perfection; for He was never without it, but was always good and righteous, all-wise, all-powerful, invincible, dispassionate, indescribable, boundless, unsearchable, unfathomable, infinite, ever-existing, uncreated, unchangeable, eternal, true, indivisible, invisible, untouchable, incomprehensible, perfect, everywhere present, ineffable, all-merciful, all-generous, all-compassionate, all-powerful, all-seeing.

The great Dionysios says that God, possessing perfection, does not force Himself to any virtue as virtuous men do; He wills the good and does it, and uses the virtues as instruments. Angels and virtuous men received the virtues from Him together with their being, by grace. Imitating Him in the virtues, they became righteous, good and wise. And since they are creatures, they need the help and the condescension of the Almighty, and without these they can have neither virtue nor wisdom; for creatures are very liable to change and, being composed of different things, are called composite. But God is bodiless and without beginning, the one God in Father, Son and Holy Spirit, worshipped and glorified by all creation.

A man who bears His likeness has a single will, not one composed of many, and a pure intellect, which as far as it can always exercises itself in contemplation apart from visible things, and by design descends unwillingly from the contemplation of the invisible to the contemplation of some words of the Scriptures or of creatures. And so as not to incur condemnation, he cares for the body, not because he loves it and wishes to indulge it, but so that it may not become wholly weak, for that too brings condemnation, as we have said. As the intellect does not reject the passible powers but uses them according to nature, so the soul does not reject the body but uses it for every good work. And as the intellect, restraining the irrational impulses of the passions, directs each of them to God’s will, so a man, restraining the members of the body, makes one will and not several. He does not allow the four elements of the body, nor its many members, to do what they wish; nor does he allow the three powers of the soul to think unreasonably or to urge the body to action; but, caring for spiritual wisdom, he accomplishes the undivided will of the three powers. There are four kinds of this wisdom: prudence, temperance, courage and righteousness, of which the Theologian wrote great things in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power unto the ages. Amen.

This is now the seventeenth Discourse, on one of the chief virtues; we have reached the letter «rho». Prudence is the first of the four. Bless, father, the beginning of the Discourse.

Discourse 17. Whoever wishes to learn about the four chief virtues will do well to read of them in the Theologian; but a little is written here about each of them. All right conduct requires these four, and every purpose needs the first of them, that is, prudence, and without it nothing can be brought to fulfilment. For how can anything be done without prudence? This prudence is born of learning and stands midway between cunning, or craftiness, and ignorance. Cunning bends wisdom downwards and harms the soul of the one who has it, and other souls as far as it can. Ignorance makes a man insensible and empty and does not let him care either for Divine things or for what is good for his own soul and his neighbours. The first is like a high mountain, the second like a pit; and he who walks the plain between them is prudent. But he who strays from the path either falls into the abyss or tries to climb the mountain and, finding no way, falls in spite of himself into the abyss and cannot rise, because he is unwilling to come down from the mountain height to prudence through repentance. Whereas he who has fallen into the pit prays humbly to the One who can lead him to the path of virtue that runs between them. The prudent man neither exalts himself nor looks for someone to harm; he does not sink into folly and suffers harm from no one, but gathers what is best and keeps what he has gathered in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power unto the ages. Amen.

The letter is «sigma», and the eighteenth Discourse, on temperance, belongs to it. Bless, father, the beginning of the Discourse.

Discourse 18. Chastity is sound wisdom, that is, wisdom unbroken. Whoever has it is not allowed by it to deviate either into dissoluteness or into hardness of heart. It preserves what prudence gathers, rejects everything worse, gathers thought into itself and by itself raises it to God. As a good shepherd gathers his sheep, so it gathers the Divine thoughts within, and kills unruliness like a rabid dog, shunning everything harmful. It drives out hardness of heart like a wild wolf and does not let it devour the sheep at pasture, but keeps watch over it always and brings its arguments to light, so that it may not hide in darkness and steal into the thoughts.

All chastity is born of the desiring power of the soul, and without it no good will be preserved, even when it has been attained. For when chastity is not whole, the three powers of the soul rush either upwards or downwards, that is, into hardness of heart or into the dissipation of what has been given. And dissoluteness is stirred not only by gluttony and unchastity but by every other passion and by every thought that does not come from God yet is willingly accepted. Chastity calms all these passions, restrains the irrational longings of soul and body and directs them to God, to whom be glory unto the ages. Amen.

The letter is «tau», and the nineteenth Discourse is on courage, which is born of the incensive power and stands between audacity and fear. Bless, father, the beginning of the Discourse.

Discourse 19. To have courage does not mean to conquer and subdue one’s neighbour; that is audacity, and it stands above courage. Nor does it mean to shrink back in fear from temptations, labours and Divine virtues; that is cowardice, and it stands below courage. Courage is to persevere in every good work and to overcome the passions of soul and body. «For we wrestle not against flesh and blood» — that is, not against men, as the Jews once did, since they thought that whoever defeated other nations in battle was doing a good work — «but against principalities, against powers», that is, against the invisible demons (Eph 6,12). He who fights inwardly conquers the passions, or is conquered by them; the warfare the Jews waged is a figure of this struggle.

These two passions, though opposed to each other, together oppose our weakness. Audacity pulls a man upwards and frightens him with its threats, like a bear that has no real power; cowardice runs away like a dog that is driven off. For neither of those who have these two passions trusts in the Lord. That is why neither the reckless man nor the coward will stand in battle. But «the righteous is bold as a lion» (cf. Prov 28,1), hoping in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power unto the ages. Amen.

The twentieth Discourse, with the letter «upsilon», on the righteousness of all the virtues. Righteousness balances them all and is itself born of the intellect. Bless, father, the beginning of the Discourse.

Discourse 20. «God is glorified because He is righteous», says the great Dionysios. And so it is; and rightly, for without righteousness everything is unjust and cannot stand. Righteousness is also called discretion, and it balances everything at every step, so that there may be no lack through deficiency and no excess through exaggeration. For these two, though they seem opposites, standing one above and one below righteousness, both incline towards untruth. When a line bends to one side or curves, it departs from its original direction; and whichever side of the scales the weight inclines to, that side is lower than the other.

He who can preserve righteousness does not fall through ignorance, stubbornness, fear or excessive effort; he does not crawl like a serpent on its belly, eating earth and serving the passions of dishonour; and he does not rise up in rage and arrogance, hardness and contempt, thinking «more highly than he ought to think» (Rom 12,3), but ponders with the whole of himself and endures everything with humility, knowing that all he has he has received by grace, as the Apostle says (cf. 1 Cor 4,7), and he does not deny it. For a man harms himself and his neighbour, and what is worse, dishonours God, when he ascribes good works to himself; and if he thinks he has some good of his own, «even what he thinks he has will be taken from him» (Lk 8,18), as the Lord says. To Him be glory and power unto the ages. Amen.

The letter «phi» and the twenty-first Discourse, on the perfect peace of thoughts, such as the disciples received from the Lord, since it was given by God. Bless, father, the beginning of the Discourse.

Discourse 21. The Lord, having said to the apostles «My peace I give to you», added: «not as the world gives», that is, not in the simple way it was then customary among men to say «Peace be with you» in greeting one another; as the Shunammite woman said «Peace», and as Elisha said to Gehazi: «Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?» (cf. 2 Kgs 4,23.26). The Lord gives a peace that surpasses all understanding; He gives it to those who love Him with all their soul, because of the troubles and struggles that come before it.

That is why the Lord says: «I have told you this so that in Me you may have peace», and adds: «In the world you will have tribulation. But take courage: I have overcome the world» (Jn 16,33). That is, even if a man has great sorrows and many troubles from demons and from men, having the Lord’s peace he pays no attention to them. And again He says: «Be at peace among yourselves» (Mk 9,50). The Lord foretold all this to the apostles because they were to go out to war and to suffer sorrows for His sake. In this struggle each of us who believe is assailed by passions and temptations, and the man who has peace with God and with his neighbour overcomes them all.

This is the world which John the Theologian commanded us not to love (cf. 1 Jn 2,15) — not creation, but the desires of the flesh. The soul is at peace with God when it is at peace with itself and everything in it is in God; and this happens when it has peace with all men, even if it suffers at their hands. It is not angered, and therefore is not troubled, but endures everything and wishes everyone well, loving all for God’s sake and for the sake of our common nature. It weeps over unbelievers as over those who are perishing, as the Lord and the apostles did, and it prays and suffers for the faithful (cf. Lk 23,34; Acts 7,60). And so it receives peace of thoughts and dwells in God through pure prayer and contemplation. Glory to Him unto the ages. Amen.

The twenty-second Discourse and the letter «chi», on the fact that joy is born of peace. Little is said of it here, because there is also another, spiritual joy. Bless, father, the beginning of the Discourse.

Discourse 22. «Rejoice in the Lord» (Phil 3,1), says the Apostle. And he says well: «in the Lord». For if joy is not in the Lord, a man not only fails to rejoice but never truly rejoices at all. Job, considering human life, saw that it is full of sorrows (cf. Job 14,1); so also Basil the Great. And Gregory of Nyssa says that the animals may rejoice because of their insensibility, but rational men should never cease weeping: «For we have not even known those blessings from which we fell away.» Nature itself therefore teaches us to weep, since this life is painful, laborious and sinful, like an exile.

But he who always remembers God rejoices, according to the words of the psalmist: «I remembered God and rejoiced» (Ps 76,4). Remembering God, the intellect rejoices, forgets the sorrows of the world, trusts in God and becomes free of care. Freedom from care brings joy and leads to thanksgiving. Thanksgiving joined with discernment increases the gifts and the giving. The more God’s benefits are pondered, the more thanksgiving grows, and pure prayer with tears of joy; and slowly a man is freed from the tears of sorrow and from the passions and grows accustomed to spiritual joy. He humbles himself because of that delight and gives thanks; and through temptations he receives the confirmation of his hope for the future. He is comforted by both, and loves God, and naturally loves all men as benefactors, and there is nothing in any creature that could harm him. On the contrary, enlightened by the knowledge of God, he rejoices in the Lord together with all creatures, marvelling at how God cares for what He has made. And he marvels not only at what is obvious and praiseworthy but, having attained spiritual knowledge, is astonished also at what is hidden from the inexperienced.

He wonders not only in the daytime, because of the light, but also at night. Night is useful to everyone: it gives stillness and exercise to the ascetic; it brings those who weep to the remembrance of death and of the end; and those engaged in spiritual struggle it leads to a more perfect study and testing of their works and prepares them for the ordering of their habits, as the psalmist says: «Repent on your beds for what you say in your hearts» (cf. Ps 4,5), that is, repent in the silence of the night, remembering the tricks that come by day; and «singing hymns and spiritual songs» (cf. Col 3,16), that is, learn to abide in prayers and psalms through study and careful reading. This is how spiritual activity is carried out: to reflect on what has happened during the day, so that in the silence of the night a man may understand and weep over what he has sinned. And when grace brings the ascetic to success and he truly — not in imagination — finds something profitable for his soul and body, whether in deeds or words according to the commandment of Christ, he gives thanks with fear and humility and labours with prayer and abundant tears, asking God to preserve this good habit, teaching himself to remember it so as not to lose it through forgetfulness; for a good habit is established in us only over a long time and with great effort. So it is with the man of practice.

«Night brings many visions to the contemplative», says Basil the Great, «for it reminds him of the creation of the world.» At night all creation is hidden in darkness, as it was in the beginning, and this inclines the ascetic to contemplation. As then there was only the sky and no stars, so it is now, when the clouds cover them. Entering his cell and seeing only darkness, the ascetic remembers the darkness that was «over the abyss» (Gen 1,2); and then, when he leaves the cell and sees the clear sky and the beauty of the heavens, he is amazed and praises God, as the book of Job says of the angels when they saw the stars (cf. Job 38,7). He sees the earth too, «without form and void» (Gen 1,2) as at the beginning, and men wrapped in sleep as though they were not there, and he feels himself alone, as Adam once was, and in his intellect he praises the Creator and Maker together with the angels.

And when there is thunder and lightning, he thinks of the Day of Judgment; in the voices of the birds he seems to hear the sound of the trumpet that will sound then; in the rising of a star and its rays he sees the appearance of the honourable and life-giving Cross; he likens the rising of men from sleep to the resurrection, and the appearance of the sun to the coming of the Lord. And as some greet the sun with songs, so one day the saints will sing upon the clouds, while others are careless and sleep, like those who will fall under Judgment. The first spend the whole day in glorification, contemplation, prayer and the other virtues, rejoicing and dwelling in the light of knowledge, as the righteous will do; the second remain in the passions and in the darkness of ignorance, as sinners will be.

Therefore the man who has knowledge finds that everything works with him for the salvation of his soul and for the glory of God, for whose sake «the Lord, the God of knowledge» created all things. That is why the mother of the prophet Samuel says: «Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom… but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows the Lord» (cf. 1 Sam 2,3.10) — that is, whoever knows the Lord through His creatures and imitates Him in strength, keeping His commandments; and then he will be able to work judgment and righteousness upon the earth. She said this while prophesying of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.

Therefore let the ascetic suffer with Christ, acquiring the virtues, and become known for dispassion and knowledge, and have his praise within himself, because he has been counted worthy to be the servant of such a Lord and an imitator of His humility. And then he will have «praise from God» (Rom 2,29), according to the Apostle. And when will that be? When the Lord «says to those on His right hand: Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom» (Mt 25,34). May we all be counted worthy of it, by His grace and love for mankind. To Him be glory and power unto the ages. Amen.

The twenty-third Discourse, on the Scriptures: that there is no discrepancy in them, when a man is willing to study them and to understand what is written as he ought. Bless, father, the beginning of the Discourse.

Discourse 23. «Sing with understanding» (Ps 46,8), says the prophet; and the Lord says: «Search the Scriptures» (Jn 5,39). He who heeds them is enlightened; he who does not heed them is darkened. Whoever is inattentive to the words he utters gains little fruit from the Divine Scriptures, even if he often chants and reads them. «Be still and know» (Ps 45,11), says the psalm, for stillness concentrates the intellect. If a man is attentive even a little, then, according to the Apostle, he «knows in part» (1 Cor 13,12) — especially when his spiritual activity is still imperfect, for it is this that teaches the intellect how to fight the passions. Yet such a man does not know all the mysteries hidden in every word of Scripture, but only as much as the purity of his intellect can receive by grace.

This is clear from the fact that we often come upon the same words several times and grasp one or two of their meanings; and after a time the intellect grows clearer and becomes able to understand another meaning, higher than the first. Failing to comprehend, and marvelling at God’s grace and His unspeakable wisdom, the intellect is astonished and trembles before the all-knowing Lord, as the prophetess Hannah says: «The Lord is a God of knowledge.»

I do not say that when a man has heard something from the Scriptures or from another man, this is not purity of intellect or revelation. But when something is revealed to someone, let him not believe it on his own authority unless he finds in the Divine Scriptures or in one of the saints confirmation of his understanding of the Scripture or of the meaning or condition of things. And if he finds not one meaning but several, or hears several from the Divine Scriptures or from the holy fathers, let him accept this and not think that these are disagreements. For it happens that a thing is one and yet serves many purposes. It is like a garment: one man will say that it warms, another that it adorns, a third that it covers — and all three speak the truth, for clothing is needed for warmth, for covering and for adornment. These three have discerned the divine purpose of clothing, and they have the Divine Scriptures and the nature of things as their witness. But if someone, being a robber or a thief, were to say that clothing is needed for theft or robbery, that would be a great deception; neither Scripture nor the nature of things confirms that it exists for this, and the law itself punishes theft and robbery. So it is with all sensible things, and with conditions, and with the words of the Divine Scripture.

Even the saints do not know God’s every purpose in all things or in all written words; and when they do know, they do not at once write down everything they know. This is because God is immeasurable and His wisdom is infinite, and neither angel nor man can contain it, as Chrysostom says concerning a certain revelation. We too have said only as much as needed to be said today; and God knows both what we have spoken of and other things we cannot fathom. Moreover, it would be unprofitable for the saints to say all they know, because of human weakness, and because the Discourse would grow too long and become wearisome or nearly incomprehensible through confusion; rather let what is said be measured, according to the Theologian.

Therefore the same saint says one thing about a matter today and another tomorrow; and when the hearer has knowledge or experience, he will find no contradiction in what was said. So too one father says this and another that about the same words of the Divine Scriptures, because the Divine often grants both the one and the other by grace, according to the time and the disposition of the person. One need only seek that whatever is done and whatever is said should be done and said according to the Divine purpose, and should have some confirmation in the Divine Scriptures, so that we may not hear from the Apostle: «Let him be anathema!» (cf. Gal 1,8) — if anyone preaches a gospel contrary to the Divine purpose or beyond the nature of things, even if he be an angel, as the great Dionysios, Anthony and Maximos the Confessor say. That is why Chrysostom says: «It was not the children of the Greeks who gave us this, but the Holy Scriptures.»

There is no contradiction in the fact that Scripture says of a certain man that he did not see Babylon during the captivity (cf. Ezek 12,13), while in another place it says that he was carried off to Babylon with the others. Whoever reads with a sound intellect will find in another place of Scripture that he was blinded and taken captive so, and that at last he came to Babylon (cf. Jer 39,7.9); the one writer said this of him, while the other did not see it and so did not say it.

Again, some, out of inexperience, say that the Epistle to the Hebrews was not written by the apostle Paul, and that a certain Discourse of Saint Dionysios was not written by Saint Dionysios. But if you are attentive, you can find the truth in the Discourses themselves. For the saints, when a matter is natural and can be explained by discernment, that is, by natural knowledge, considering created things through purity of intellect, speak with all vigilance, examining the Scriptures and the knowledge of God. Chrysostom says that they are like gold-miners who, searching for gold, examine the thinnest veins, so that «not one iota, not one stroke» may be lost (cf. Mt 5,18), as the Lord said. Iota is the tenth letter, and without that stroke one cannot write correctly. And this is said of things that lie within nature.

But when a sensible thing or a condition is above nature, then the saints know the written word through insight and revelation, if the Holy Spirit grants them knowledge of it. And if He does not grant it but keeps it hidden for our profit, then they are not ashamed to speak the truth and to acknowledge human weakness, saying: «I do not know; God knows» (cf. 2 Cor 12,3), according to the Apostle’s words. And as Solomon says: «Three things are too wonderful for me, and a fourth I do not understand» (Prov 30,18). And Chrysostom says again: «I do not know; and if the heretics call me stupid, let them call me a fool.»

Simply put: those who possessed a twofold wisdom gave preference to the wisdom from on high, yet used outward learning wisely and in moderation, keeping the apostolic rule of not boasting beyond measure, unlike those Egyptians who mocked the simple words of the apostle Barnabas because they did not understand that in his preaching were the words of eternal life, as Clement relates. Many of us do the same: when someone speaks in a foreign tongue we laugh, even though in his own language he is wise and speaks of awesome mysteries; and this happens through inexperience.

The fathers wrote simply on purpose, taking account of the time and of the person for whom they wrote. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, praising Saint Ephrem because, though wise and deeply versed in dogma, he wrote simply, says in wonder how skilfully he glued together the pages of the heretical books of that foolish heretic, who, unable to bear such shame in his pride, laid hands upon himself. There is a holy humility that is above nature, and an unbeliever cannot possess it and thinks it contrary to nature — as the great Dionysios wrote to Saint Timothy about such a man: the ancients thought the resurrection of the dead contrary to nature, but «to me and to you and to the truth it is not contrary to nature but above nature». And it is above nature only for us; for God it is natural, since God’s commandment is the very nature of resurrection.

The fathers welcome humility both in word and in deed. So the one who wrote the chapters on the eldership, though he was a bishop and had been exiled for Christ’s sake, said of the body of a virgin that he took it to himself in order to receive a blessing. And the holy fathers Dorotheos and Cassian, who were very wise, wrote simply. This is said so that no one may think that some wrote elegantly out of pride and others simply out of ignorance; their intellect is one and the same, for the Holy Spirit gave it, so that their writing might be useful to all. If everyone wrote simply, then nothing would be of use to the learned, for the plainness of the language would make them despise what was written; and if everyone wrote elegantly, nothing would be of use to the unlearned, for they would not grasp the force of what was said. Whoever has experience in understanding the Scriptures knows that the simplest and the most learned word have one and the same meaning and are alike ordered for the salvation of men.

Those who do not know this are often led astray, not understanding that worldly sciences are a great help if they become a vehicle for the wisdom of the Spirit. For the first give clear thoughts and the second the power of the word, if a man has firm wisdom together with chastity, which teaches us «not to think more highly than we ought to think, but to think with sober judgment» (Rom 12,3), according to the Apostle. The word «amen», so often repeated in the Gospels, is replaced in the Gospel of Luke by the word «truly», because it is a firm word that confirms everything said before. Likewise wisdom is firm knowledge that can preserve the truth. The word «amen» signifies the coming of the new grace; that is why it is not found in the Old Testament, which was a figure, while in the new grace it is repeated everywhere, because that grace endures unto the ages of ages.

Great now is the twenty-fourth Discourse, which gives understanding to the heart, so that everyone may know what is profitable. Bless, father, the beginning of the Discourse.

Discourse 24. Oh, how I wish I had tears whenever I look at myself even a little! When I have not sinned, I am lifted up in pride; when I sin and see it, I am confounded by my inexperience and fall into despair. When I take refuge in hope, pride comes; when I begin to weep, arrogance comes; and when I do not weep, the passions come again. My life is like death, and death is worse still, for I fear the torment. My attentiveness becomes my temptation, and my inattention becomes my ruin. «He who adds knowledge adds suffering» (cf. Eccl 1,18), says Solomon. I am astonished and troubled and do not know what to do. Even if I know and yet do not act, that knowledge is my condemnation.

Woe is me! What shall I choose? Through ignorance everything appears to me the reverse of what it is, and I cannot tell which is the better. I do not find the honesty and wisdom hidden in temptations, because I have no patience. I withdraw from stillness through my thoughts, while outwardly the passions tempt me through the senses. When I want to fast and keep silence, arrogance and weakness hinder me; because of them I sleep beyond measure, and so I sin against my will. I withdraw from everything and run away for fear of sin, and then boredom weakens me.

But I see also many who receive crowns for such assaults and temptations, because they have a firm faith by which they received the fear of God, and through fear attained the other virtues. If I had faith like theirs, I would have gained fear, and through fear piety, according to the prophet’s words; and I would have received that vision from which come strength and joy and knowledge and the wisdom of the Spirit (cf. Is 11,2) in those who are safe in God and exercise themselves in the Divine Scriptures with patience, so that the bad and the good become alike to them.

Time and experience will show us when some passion turns into a virtue, and time and experience joined with patience will show when some virtue slips into passion. And if patience is not born of faith, a man cannot have virtue. «By your patience you will gain your souls» (cf. Lk 21,19), says the Lord. «He who fashioned their hearts one by one» (Ps 32,15), as the psalmist says: from which it is clear that the heart, that is, the intellect, is fashioned individually, by patience in what befalls us. Whoever believes that he has One who is inviolable and who sustains his life will not listen to his own thoughts, which say: I want this and do not want that; this is good and that is bad. If he has a spiritual guide who can be seen, he must ask him about everything, listen to his answers and put into action what he says. And if there is no such guide, then there is Christ, according to the bishop of Euchaita.

One must ask Him in prayer from the heart and with faith await His answer in deed and word, so that Satan, who cannot produce deeds, may not answer with words, pretending to be a guide, and drag to ruin those who have no patience. Out of ignorance such men hurry to accept something that will never come to them, for «one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day» (2 Pet 3,8). Whoever through patience has gained experience of the enemy’s tricks, according to the Apostle (cf. Rom 5,4), labours and struggles and advances in patience, so as to understand and be able to say: «We are not ignorant of his designs», that is, of his devices, which are unknown to many. «Satan himself», says the Apostle, «disguises himself as an angel of light» (2 Cor 11,14); and no wonder, for the thoughts he sows in the heart appear to the inexperienced to be thoughts of truth.

Therefore such a man does not know where the good lies; he does not trust what an angel may say, nor what comes from the tricks of the enemy, but with patience keeps away from both extremes and waits even for years until the matter bears fruit without his own consent. As someone said concerning the contemplation of beings, that is, of God’s creatures: if you reach some dwelling place, that is, active knowledge, and remain in it for many years, then you will know that you have been heard and have received an answer invisibly. That is, when a man prays to overcome the passions that master him, and hears no words and sees no image of temptation — and even if something of the kind occurs in a dream or through the senses, he does not believe it — then after some years he will see that the struggle is being won by grace and by certain thoughts that incline the intellect to humility and to the knowledge of its own weakness; and even this he will not trust, but will wait many years, fearing that it may be a robbery, as Chrysostom says of the apostles. That is why the Lord spoke those sorrowful words to them and added: «He who endures to the end will be saved» (Mt 10,22), so that they might never feel safe but might labour in fear.

For no one will profit from the other virtues, even if he lives as if in heaven, if he has pride, through which the devil and Adam and many others fell. Therefore let no one ever cast off fear until he reaches the dwelling place of perfect love and finds himself outside the world and outside the body. Such a man will lay aside fear not by his own will but through great faith; he will make his intellect secure with regard to the life and death of the body and will come to the pure fear of love. Of this Athanasios the Great says to those who are perfect: «Do not fear God as a torturer, but fear Him out of love.» God should be feared not only because of sin, but because God loves us and we do not love Him, and because He covers us, who are unworthy, with His grace; so that a man, fearing such benefits, may incline his soul to love and become worthy of the blessings he has received and still receives, and may pass from the pure fear of love to a humility that is above nature.

However much good such a soul does and however much evil it endures, let it never think that by its own strength and its own knowledge it was able to endure suffering or to keep soul and body from harm. Through humility and wisdom it has received discernment, and through discernment it knows that it is God’s creature and can neither do good of itself, nor preserve the good that comes by grace, nor overcome temptations, nor endure by its own courage or wisdom. So from discernment it passes to a deeper understanding of things and begins to look upon all creatures with the intellect. Not knowing what this means, it seeks the Teacher and does not find Him, because He is invisible and accepts no unfounded or unconfirmed revelation, even though the soul is accustomed to discernment; and it is greatly astonished. Everything that comes from itself and everything it learns of itself is worth nothing, when it sees before it so many who have fallen after many labours and much knowledge, from Adam onwards. So it listens to the Divine Scriptures and understands nothing in them, and then it begins to weep, recognising its own lack of understanding, for it knows that it knows nothing.

This is truly a wonder: «If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know» (1 Cor 8,2). And whoever thinks that he possesses something, «even what he has will be taken from him» (cf. Mt 13,12), says the Lord; for he only thought he had it, and in reality he did not. But the other man thinks himself mad and foolish, weak and ignorant, and therefore weeps and laments, believing that he has received by virtue what he does not have.

Humility is born of many virtues, and it is precisely humility that gives birth to the most perfect of them. So it is with knowledge, thanksgiving, prayer and love, for these virtues are always growing. That is, when a man humbles himself as a sinner, and weeps, and abstains from everything, and endures willingly and unwillingly the sorrows that come from demons and men for the sake of the struggle that tests faith, so that it may be revealed whether he hopes in God, or in man, or in his own strength and wisdom — and when he has passed the test of patience and has learned to rely on God, he will receive that great faith of which the Lord says: «When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?» (Lk 18,8). With this faith he overcomes his adversaries; and having received it, he knows his own weakness and ignorance through the mighty wisdom of God, which is revealed to him.

Grace begins to grow in a humble soul, and the soul trembles, fearing not to obey God as it did before. And out of pure fear, which is without sin, and out of thanksgiving, patience and humility, of which it is counted worthy through knowledge, it begins to hope that by grace it will obtain mercy. Because of its experience of the benefits received, it hopes and yet fears that it may prove unworthy of such gifts of God; and because of this it grows in humility and in prayer of the heart. And as these grow, so much the more knowledge is gratefully received. And so from knowledge it passes to fear, and from fear to thanksgiving and contemplation. Because of this it naturally begins to love the Benefactor and desires with joy to please Him spiritually, as a debtor; and it grows at once in devotion and, together with the particular benefits it has received, contemplates the general ones as well. Unable to give thanks for them, it weeps, and again, marvelling at God’s grace, it is consoled.

Sometimes it sheds tears of pain, sometimes tears of love, sweeter than honey — tears of spiritual joy, which come from great humility, when a man truly desires God’s will, hates honour and comfort, counts himself the least of all, does not think himself equal to anyone, but considers himself a debtor before God and before men. Therefore he receives temptations and sorrows as a great benefit, and counts joy and rest a great loss, and wants with all his heart to know where they come from, and fears them even when they are sent by God as a test. And when he is thus in tears, his intellect begins to acquire purity and returns to its original state, that is, to the natural knowledge which love of the passions had destroyed in him.

Some call natural knowledge wisdom, because the intellect sees the nature of things; others call it consideration, because the intellect comes to know some part of hidden mysteries, that is, of God’s purpose revealed in the Divine Scriptures and in all creation. Consideration is born of discernment and can understand the nature of sensible and intelligible creatures; that is why it is called the vision of beings, that is, of creatures. But this is natural and comes about through purity of intellect. If a man were granted foresight for the common good, that would be above nature; for God alone knows beforehand for what purpose He created each thing and each word of the Divine Scripture, and by grace He gives this gift to the worthy. So the knowledge of sensible and intelligible creatures, which is called wisdom, is consideration and natural knowledge, such as belonged to us by nature at the beginning; but the passions darkened the intellect, and had God not taken the passions away through the active virtues, no one would have this vision. Yet this is not clairvoyance: clairvoyance is above nature and comes by grace. Even so, it does not exist without God, as is plain.

«Although the Greeks invented many things, they did not understand God’s purpose in creation», says Basil the Great, «nor did they know God, because they did not have such humility and faith as Abraham.» He who passes from the visible to the invisible in faith may be called a believer; but he who believes only what is visible does not believe the one who teaches or preaches to him. Therefore for the testing of faith temptations are open and God’s protection is hidden, so that the believer, when the temptation ceases, may through patience find knowledge and learn what he did not know: that God is good to him; and may bring forth the fruit of humility and of love towards God as his Benefactor and towards his neighbour, in order to please God. He hears this as his duty and therefore desires to keep the commandments. He hates the passions as an enemy and despises the body as a hindrance to dispassion and to the knowledge of God, that is, to His hidden wisdom.

And it is truly hidden. For the friend of worldly wisdom wins and is fed by worldly things and has the rest and glory of this world; but the friend of God’s wisdom does the opposite: he labours hard and abstains and endures all sorrow and dishonour for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. The first wishes to draw near to visible goods, to worldly learning and to kings, and suffers much for this; the second suffers with the sufferings of Christ. The first has his hope here, if only he has time to hold on to it, for it is temporary and not easily kept; the hope of the second is hidden here from the eyes of fools, as the Divine Scripture says, and will appear in the age to come, when all that is hidden becomes manifest. And not only there: here too, to comfort those who mourn, hidden knowledge is given, according to Chrysostom — that is, the contemplation of the Divine Scriptures and of creatures.

From faith is born fear; from fear, weeping; through weeping, humility; and from humility, consideration and, by grace, insight. Let him who has knowledge never insist on his own understanding, but always seek confirmation in the Divine Scriptures or in the nature of things. If there is no such confirmation, then it is not true knowledge but cunning and delusion, as Basil the Great says concerning the stars: the Divine Scripture names only some of them, while the Greeks mistakenly give them many names. For the purpose of the Divine Scriptures is to speak of what can save the soul and to reveal to some the mysteries of the Scriptures and the nature of things — that is, the purpose for which each thing exists — so as to enlighten the intellect towards the love of God, to know His greatness and His unspeakable wisdom and the providence with which He cares for creation; so that a man who has this knowledge may fear to transgress His commandments and may acknowledge his own weakness and ignorance, and because of this may be humble and wise, and may love God and not despise Him in His commandments, as those do who do not know Him.

Yet God also hides some mysteries from man, so that he may desire to know them and may not be proud like Adam, whom the enemy found outside the commandments and dragged into his own evil. So He deals with the virtuous; but the foolish He frightens with temptations so that they may avoid sin, and strengthens with bodily benefits so that they may not despair. This is what God always does in His infinite kindness, to save everyone and to deliver us from the devil’s nets, whether by giving us good things and knowledge or by withholding them; and for the discernment of each He gives gifts and understanding. He did the same with the Divine Scripture, giving it a hidden meaning, which is grasped by different men for their own profit according to the desire of the one who reads it. This was not the aim of the worldly sages: each tried to defeat the other and to appear wiser. Therefore neither they nor those who followed their example found the Lord, though they may have laboured hard. «God does not appear to toil», says the author of the Ladder, «but to humility and simplicity through faith» — that is, through the knowledge of the Scriptures and of the nature of things, through the faith of which the Lord says: «How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another?» (Jn 5,44). This is that great faith with which a man can cast all his cares upon God, which the Apostle calls the foundation (cf. 1 Cor 3,11), the Ladder calls the mother of stillness, and Saint Isaac calls the faith of vision and the door of the mystery.

Whoever has such faith is safe in everything, like all the saints, whose very names are in harmony with their faith, as the righteous of old also were: the name Peter means firmness; Paul, consolation; James, conqueror, because he conquered Belial; Stephen comes from the unfading crown; Athanasios from immortality; Basil from kingship; Gregory is called divine in wisdom, that is, in theology; Chrysostom from precious faith and much-desired grace; Isaac from renunciation. Thus in both the Old and the New Testament names are in harmony with faith. The name Adam corresponds to the four quarters of the world: A for east, D for west, A for north, M for south. And the word for «man» in the language of that time, that is, Syriac, means «fire», from the likeness of nature: from one man come all the men in the world, just as from one candle you may light as many others as you wish, and the power of the first is not diminished. When the tongues were confused, then in other languages the word for «man» came to mean «forgetfulness» or to have other meanings according to other marks. A Greek will say that «man» means «one who looks upward». But the true nature of man is reason; that is why we call man rational, since he alone bears this mark. The other names of man may be shared with other creatures, and therefore we must set them all aside and, as has been said, give precedence to reason and to words, harmonising our thought with the word of God, so that we may receive from Him not thoughts but the words of the Holy Spirit, which are worthy to be received in this present age, as it is said: «He gives prayer to the one who prays» (cf. 1 Sam 2,9). That is, to the one who prays well with bodily prayer God gives measured prayer; and to the one who is zealous in that, He gives prayer invisible and imageless, born of the pure fear of God. And whoever does this well is given the gift of contemplation of creation; and from that, the rapture of the intellect to theology and to the good things to come is given to the man who withdraws from everything and exercises himself in word and deed in prayer alone, and not by hearing only.

Thus knowledge, even against a man’s will, leads to the humility of the one who has it; he is ashamed, because he is not worthy to possess it, and turns away from it as from something harmful — for so humility teaches, according to the Ladder — even though it may have been given by God. But when a man has knowledge and lacks humility, then comes disaster, as it did for that man whose soul was torn from his body with three prongs when the Ethiopians came for him. His name was great and men loved him so much that all wept at his death and counted his loss a great misfortune; yet because of the pride hidden within him a voice was heard from above: «Do not give him rest, for he gave Me no rest for a single hour.» Alas! Everyone called him a saint, and many hoped to be saved from many temptations through his prayers, and yet he suffered such an end because of his arrogance.

That the cause was arrogance may be seen from this. Had it been another sin, he could not always have committed it in secret. Had it been heresy, then, although a heretic always angers God with blasphemy in his mind, heresy does not stay hidden: by God’s providence heresy is brought to light, either to correct the heretic when he is willing to be corrected, or, when he is not, for the confirmation of others. Therefore only high-mindedness can be hidden from everyone, and even from the man who has it, if he is not allowed to fall into temptations that lay the soul bare so that it may know its weakness and its ignorance. That is why the Holy Spirit had not one hour of rest in that wretched soul: it always held this thought and rejoiced in it as though it were some success, and so it grew dark like the devil. Perhaps that man, not seeing his own sins, had this one passion alone; but for the demons it was enough, since it can take the place of all other evils, as the Ladder says. I did not work this out myself or understand what the cause was; I heard it from a holy elder and wrote it down.

The same elder said of Saint Paul the Simple that the demon did not obey him at once and leave the man, because when Anthony the Great said to him: «Abba Paul, cast the unclean spirit out of this young man», Paul did not bow at once but hesitated and asked: «Why not you?» And when he heard the answer, «I have another urgent matter», then he obeyed. And for this reason, said the blessed elder, the devil did not come out at once but only after much labour. And rightly so. Not only this shows that the elder was God-bearing, but also his account of the washing of the feet, of Moses’ objection, and of the prophet who sought someone to wound him.

Here we shall retell that story. It is said in the Scriptures that a certain king ruled his kingdom cruelly. God, who loves mankind, would not tolerate such cruelty and commanded a prophet to go and rebuke the king. The prophet, knowing the ferocity of that man, was unwilling to go just as he was, lest the king see him from afar and, guessing why he came, drive him away, so that the prophet could not rebuke him; and if he said, «I have been sent by God because of your cruelty», he would not be heard. Therefore he arranged for someone to wound him, so that he might come covered in blood as though to lodge a complaint, and thus win the king’s ear.

As he went, he saw a man with an axe and said to him what the Lord had commanded: that he should strike him. But that devout man said: «No, my lord; I am God’s servant, and I will not lay hands on the Lord’s anointed.» And the prophet said to him: «Because you did not listen to the word of the Lord, as soon as you leave me a lion will strike you» (cf. 1 Kgs 20,36). This was not anger — let no one think so; it was for the benefit of many. That good man did not simply die: he was torn by a lion according to the word of the Lord, and through a bitter death received a crown. So too in the Sayings of the Elders it is told of four elders who agreed together and prayed that the brother who served them might be torn by a lion for the unchastity he had committed; but the Lord did not hear them, and heard instead the mute man who prayed that the lion might withdraw from him.

Then the prophet found another man, obedient, and said to him: «Thus says the Lord: take an axe and strike me on the head!» And as soon as he heard the words «Thus says the Lord», without long deliberation he struck the prophet on the head with the axe (cf. 1 Kgs 20,37). And the prophet said to him, as Moses once did: «The blessing of the Lord has come upon you today (cf. Ex 32,29), because you have listened to the voice of the Lord.» The first man was in awe of the prophet because of his great grace and did not obey, as the apostle Peter did when his feet were washed (cf. Jn 13,8); the second, without long deliberation, obeyed, as the people obeyed Moses when he commanded that those who had sinned be put to death (cf. Ex 32,27).

It is clear from the Scriptures that he who obeys God’s plain command does better, for he obeys the supernatural command of the Lord of nature and counts it wiser and more righteous than natural knowledge; and he who does not obey does less, because he thinks his own knowledge better than God’s commandments. But it is not so when the command is hidden: then everything depends on the intention to obey or disobey, and he who intends to serve God does better. When the command is plain, God shows wrath to the disobedient and blessing to the one who listens; but when it is hidden, it is not so, and, as we have said, according to natural knowledge both men had grounds and both were good, since the intention of both was to please God.

And the prophet came to the king and stood before him and said: «Save me, O king; as I was walking on the road, someone I met wounded me on the head.» And the king, seeing the blood and the wound, flew into a rage as was his custom — not against the man who complained, but, supposing that someone else was to be judged and not himself, he pronounced against the one who had done this. The prophet, hearing what he had hoped for, said: «You have spoken well, O king. Therefore thus says the Lord: I will tear the kingdom from your hands and from your seed, for this you have done.» So the prophet spoke his prophecy as he had wished, and skilfully brought the king to listen to what was said about him, and departed, praising God.

Such were the souls of the prophets, who loved God and through the contemplation of Him strove to fulfil His commandments. And rightly so: whoever knows a road or a craft perfectly travels it or practises it with thoroughness and ease, and shows others unerringly how to walk the road or the secrets of the art and its knowledge, though he himself may be young and very simple while they are older and wise in other sciences. The prophets, apostles and martyrs did not learn the contemplation of God and His wisdom by hearsay, as we do. They gave blood and received the Spirit, according to the saying of the fathers: «Give blood and receive the Spirit.» That is why the fathers, in place of the torture of the senses, suffered in their conscience, and in place of bodily death accepted a death of their own consent, so that the intellect might overcome the desires of the flesh and reign in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory, power, honour and worship, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Here end the labours of Peter of Damascus, with thanksgiving to God.