OF OUR HOLY FATHER MAXIMUS THE CONFESSOR, ASCETIC DISCOURSE: By way of question and answer.
A 367 FRATER, SENEX. 1. Brother: The brother questioned the elder, saying: I beseech you, Father, tell me, what was the purpose of the Lord’s becoming man? B And the elder, answering, said: I marvel at you, brother, that, hearing the Creed of the faith every day, you ask me about this. Yet I say to you that the purpose of the Lord’s becoming man was our salvation. And the brother said: How do you mean, Father? And the elder replied: Because man, having been created by God from the beginning, and placed in Paradise, transgressing the commandment he had received, fell into corruption and death; and then, though guided and helped by the varied providence of God through every generation, he remained, growing worse, led by the varied passions of the flesh to the abyss of despair of life; for this reason the only-begotten Son of God, the pre-eternal Word from God C the Father, that fountain of life and immortality, appeared to us who were sitting in darkness and the shadow of death; being incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the holy Virgin, he showed us a manner of life that is godlike, and having given holy commandments, and promised the kingdom of heaven to those conducting their lives according to them, and having threatened eternal punishment to those who transgress them – and having undergone the saving passion, and having risen from the dead, he generously granted to us D the hope of resurrection and eternal life, dissolving by his obedience the guilt of our forefathers' transgression, and destroying by his death the power of death; so that, just as in Adam all are dying, so in him all will be made alive; and having ascended into the heavens, and having sat at the right hand of the Father, he sent the Holy Spirit as a pledge of life, and for the illumination and sanctification of our souls, and for the help of those strug-
struggling for their own salvation to keep his commandments. This was the purpose of the Lord's becoming man, to speak in summary.
B 2. The brother said: "What commandments, then, O Father, ought I to perform, that I might be saved through them? I wish to hear briefly." The elder answered: "The Lord himself said after the resurrection to the Apostles: 'Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I have commanded you.' Wherefore it is necessary to keep all that he commanded, for every person baptized in the name of the life-giving and divine Triad. For this reason, the Lord joined the keeping of all the commandments to the right faith, knowing that it is impossible for such a person, having separated one from another, to attain salvation. For this reason also, David, having the right faith, said to God: 'I was directed toward all thy commandments; I hated every wicked way.' For against every wicked way, all the commandments have been given to us by the Lord; and if one is omitted, it introduces into its place the opposite path of wickedness altogether."
3. The brother said: "And who, O Father, is able to perform all the commandments, being so many?" The elder said: "He who imitates the Lord and follows in his footsteps." The brother said: "And who can imitate the Lord? For the Lord was God, even C if he became man; but I am a sinful man, enslaved by myriad passions. How, then, can I imitate the Lord?" The elder answered: "Of those who are enslaved to the material things of the world, no one can imitate the Lord. But those who are able to say, 'Behold, we have left all and followed you,' they receive the power both to imitate him and to succeed in all his commandments." The brother says: "What power?" The elder answered: "Hear him saying: 'Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you.'"
4. Having received this power D and authority, Paul said: "Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ." And again: "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." And again: "Those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires." And again: "To me the world is crucified, and I to the world."
5. Prophesying regarding this power and aid, David said: "He who dwells in the help of the Most High shall lodge in the shelter of the God of heaven. He shall say to the Lord: 'You are my protector and my refuge, my God, and I will hope in him.'" And with a few things interposed, "Upon
A the asp and the basilisk you shall tread, and you shall trample upon the lion and the dragon; for he will give his angels charge of you, to keep you in all your ways." But those who are addicted to the flesh in their mind, and are held by the love of earthly things, hear what they hear from him: "He who loves father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me." And after a few words: "And whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me, is not worthy of me." And: "Whoever does not renounce all that he possesses cannot be my disciple." He, therefore, who thinks to be made his disciple and to be found worthy of him, and also to receive from him power against the spirits of wickedness, must depart from every carnal affection and strip himself of all love of earthly things; and in this way, he begins the struggle against invisible enemies for the sake of his commandments, B not otherwise than as the Lord himself provided an example for us, being tempted in the desert by their leader, and when he had given himself to the world, being tempted by those who were driven by their influence.
6. The brother said: "But there are many commandments of the Lord, Father; and who can keep them all in mind so as to struggle for the sake of them all? I, especially, who am of fragile memory and cannot remember many things. I would wish to hear a concise saying, so that by holding it I might, through its help, provide for my own salvation." The elder replied: "Although they are many, my brother, yet they are gathered into a single saying, which is that which is said: 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your might and with all your mind; and your neighbor C as yourself.' And he who struggles to hold this saying accomplishes all the commandments at once. However, no one can—as has been stated above—unless he has separated himself from the attachment to material things, either truly love God or his neighbor; for to be at once attached to material things and to love God is impossible. And this is what the Lord says: 'No one can serve two masters.' And: 'No one can serve God and mammon.' For as much as our mind clings to the things of the world in affection, it is enslaved to them, and it despises the commandment of God by transgressing it."
7. The brother said: "Of what things are you speaking, Father?" The elder replied: "Foods, money, possessions, glory, kindred or relations, and the like." To whom the brother said: D "I beseech you, Father, did not God create these and grant them to men for their use?" The elder replied: "It is clear that God created them and handed them over to men for their use. For all things created by God are good, that by using them well we might please God. But we, who are infirm and earthly in our mind, have preferred earthly things to the commandment of love; and being attached to them, we fight with men, when it would be fitting that, in all these things which fall under our sight,
A and even in the body itself, we should prize the love of every man more highly; which is indeed the evidence of that charity which is toward God, as the Lord Himself shows in the Gospels: *He that loveth me*, He says, *will keep my commandments*. But what this commandment is, by the keeping of which we have loved Him, hear Him speaking: *This is my commandment, that you love one another*. Do you see that mutual love confirms the love toward God, which is the fullness of every commandment of God? For this reason, therefore, He commands us not to cling to them, but to renounce all things that one possesses, B if he desires to be His disciple.
8. Then the brother said: Since you have said, Father, that it is fitting to prize the love of every man more highly than all things which fall under our sight, and even the body itself, how can I love him who hates me and turns away from me? And if he even envies me, and attacks me with reproaches, and constructs deceits, and attempts to plot against me, how can I love him? It seems to me, Father, that this is impossible, since the passion of grief by nature compels us to turn away from him who has caused us pain. And the elder replied: In the case of serpents and beasts, which are led by nature, it is truly impossible not to take vengeance in every way one can upon that which brings harm: C but in the case of those who were fashioned according to the image of God, and are led by reason, and have been deemed worthy of the knowledge of God, and have received the law from Him, it is certainly possible not to turn away from those who grieve us, and to love those who hate us. Wherefore the Lord also, saying, *Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you*, and what follows, does not command these things as impossible, but as things that are clearly possible; for otherwise He would not have punished him who transgresses. And the Lord Himself shows this, having demonstrated it to us by His own actions; and all His disciples, having contended even unto death for the sake of love toward their neighbor, and having prayed fervently for those who killed them. D But since we are lovers of pleasure and lovers of the world, and prize these things more than the commandment, for this reason we are unable to love those who hate us; but we often even turn away from those who love us, behaving worse than beasts and serpents; and for this reason, since we are unable to follow the footsteps of God, we are not able even to know His goal, that we might receive power.
9. And the brother said: Behold, Father, I have abandoned all things, kindred, substance, luxuries, and the glory of the world, and I possess nothing in life except the body; yet I cannot love the brother who hates me and turns away from me, although I do compel myself by action not to return evil for evil. Tell me, therefore, what I ought to do, that I may be able to love him from the heart, and likewise him who in any way whatsoever causes me distress and plots against me.
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The elder answered: It is impossible for anyone to love the one who distresses him, even if he seems to have renounced all the material things of this world, unless he truly knows the aim [scopus] of the Lord. But if, by His gift, he is able to know it, and strives to walk according to His reason, he can love from the heart the one who hates and distresses him, just as the Apostles loved, having known it.
10. Then the brother said: I ask you to tell me, Father, what this aim of the Lord was. And the elder said: If you wish to know the Lord’s aim, listen carefully. Our Lord Jesus Christ, being God by nature, and deeming it worthy to become man out of ultimate compassion and love for mankind, was born of a woman, made under the law, as the divine Apostle says *; so that, being man, by the observance of the commandment B He might overthrow the ancient curse and harm of Adam. For the Lord knew that the whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments of the law, in the saying: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself." [* Galat iv, 4. * Matth. xxii, 37. ] From the beginning to the end, He strove to keep these commandments in a human manner. But the devil, who had deceived man from the start and had for that reason obtained the power of death, seeing Him at His baptism proclaimed by the Father, and receiving the kindred Holy Spirit as a man from the heavens, and having come into the wilderness to be tempted by him, turned against Him the entire weight of his warfare, if by any means he might induce Him to prefer the material things of the world to the love of God. C Knowing, therefore, that these are the three things in which all human affairs revolve—namely food, wealth, and glory—by which he is always accustomed to cast man down into the abyss of perdition, he attacked Him with this triple wedge in the wilderness. Having emerged victorious over these, the Lord commanded the devil to depart.
11. This, then, is the hallmark of the love for God. Since the tempter could not, by any of his promises, induce Him to transgress that commandment, he strove, through the works of the most wicked Jews, to make Him transgress the commandment of love for one's neighbor, following Him into the public gatherings of men. D Therefore, while He was teaching the ways of life and demonstrating by His works the heavenly way of life, and was the herald of the resurrection of the dead, promising eternal life and the kingdom of heaven to those who believe, and seriously threatening eternal punishment to the unbelievers, and performing stupendous and unheard-of divine signs to confirm His words and inviting the crowds to faith—he stirred up the most wicked Pharisees and Scribes to various plots against Him, so that, being unable, as it seemed, to bear these temptations, He might be turned to hatred of those who were weaving them, and in this manner the wicked one might attain his intended end.
A 12. But the Lord, as God, knowing B his thoughts and designs, did not pursue the Pharisees, who were being moved by him, with any hatred (for how could He, who is good by nature, do so?). Rather, through the love He bore them, He took vengeance on the one who was at work. As for those who were being moved—since it was within their power not to be moved, but they willingly, through sloth, endured the one who was moving them—He admonished, reproved, chided, and bewailed them, and never ceased to do them good. When He was reviled, He was long-suffering; when He suffered, He endured; He showed toward them every work of love. But as for the one who was moving them, He took vengeance upon him with the human kindness He showed toward those being moved. O paradoxical warfare! By displaying love instead of hatred, He struck the father of malice with goodness. For this reason, having endured so many evils from them, or (to speak more truly) for their sake, He struggled even unto death as a man for the commandment of love. Having thus carried off the perfect victory over the devil, He wove for Himself the crown of the resurrection on our behalf; and thus the new Adam restored the old. And this is what the divine Apostle says: "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus," etc.
13. This, then, was the purpose of the Lord: that He might obey the Father as man for our sake even unto death, keeping the commandment of love, and that He might take vengeance on the devil by suffering at his hands—through the agencies of those he was moving, namely, the Scribes and Pharisees. And thus, by being willingly overcome, He overcame the one who hoped to win, and rescued the world from his dominion. In this way, Christ was crucified out of weakness; by which weakness He put death to death, and brought to nothing him who had the power of death. In this way, too, Paul boasted of being weak in himself, and boasted in his weaknesses, so that the power of Christ might dwell in him.
14. Having mastered the manner of this victory, he wrote to the Ephesians: "We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers," etc. He bids them take up the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of hope, the shield of faith, and the sword of the spirit, C that they may be able to extinguish all the flaming darts of the wicked one, against whom this war against invisible enemies weighs upon them. Showing by his own conduct the manner of this struggle, he said: "I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air; but I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." And again: "To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are ill-clad and buffeted." And again: D "In labor and hardship, in many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, in cold and exposure, apart from other things."
A And this struggle, against the demons who incite pleasures in the flesh, he fought by putting them to flight through the weakness of his own body; but against those who fight in the midst, and for that reason move those who are more negligent among men against the pious, so that, being tempted by them, they might hate them and violate the commandment of love—again, showing us the manner of victory by his deeds, he said: "Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat; we have become as the offscouring of the world, the dross of all things until now." For the demons prompted them to revile and defame and persecute, so that they might incite in him a hatred of the one who was reviling, defaming, and persecuting him, having as their aim the transgression of the commandment of love. But the Apostle, not unaware of their schemes, blessed those who reviled him, endured the persecutors, and entreated those who defamed him, B that they might desist from the demons who were working these things, and might become reconciled to the good God. And he warded off the demons who were working these things in this manner of struggle, always overcoming evil with good, in imitation of the Savior. And thus, he and the rest of the apostles, having detached the whole world from the demons, reconciled it to God, having—by their own suffering and defeat—triumphed over those who hoped to be victors and who believed they would hold sway. If, therefore, you too, brother, hold to this goal, you will be able to love also those who hate you; but if not, otherwise it is impossible.
16. And the brother said: In truth, Father, it is so and not otherwise. And for this reason, the Lord, when He was reviled and buffeted by the Jews, and suffering the other things which He suffered from them, endured, being moved toward them with an affection of compassion, as those who were acting in ignorance and had been led astray. Whence also, on the cross, He said: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." C But He also triumphed over the most crafty mind and deceit of the devil and his principalities on the cross, having struggled against them even unto death for the commandment of love, as you said, and having granted us victory over them; and having destroyed the power of death, He bestowed His resurrection as a gift of life to the whole world. But pray for me, Father, that I may be able to understand perfectly the goal of the Lord and of His apostles, and may be able to be vigilant and sober in mind when temptations approach, and not be ignorant of the schemes of the devil and his demons.
17. And the elder, answering, said: If you always keep in mind the things said before, you will be able not to be ignorant. But furthermore, if you understand that just as you are tempted, so also your brother is tempted; and you show indulgence to the one being tempted, but resist the one tempting you—who wishes to bring you into the midst of the one being tempted—not yielding to his snare. And this is D
as it has been said, if you have soberly and unceasingly the meditation of the aforementioned, you can know the purpose of the Lord and of his apostles; and to love men, even sympathizing with them when they stumble, but to war unceasingly against the wicked demons through love. But if we are slack and negligent and slothful, and we immerse our mind in carnal pleasures, we do not war against the demons, but against ourselves and our brothers; rather, we serve the demons through them, by fighting against men on the demons' behalf.
B 18. And the brother said: "It is so, Father; for indeed, because of my negligence the demons always find pretexts against me. But I beseech you, Father, tell me how I ought to acquire sobriety." And the elder answered: "Total freedom from worldly care and the diligent, continuous meditation of the Divine Scripture bring the soul into the fear of God; and the fear of God brings sobriety. And then the soul begins to see the demons who are warring against it through thoughts, and to defend itself; concerning whom David said: 'And mine eye hath looked upon mine enemies' (Ps. LIII, 9). Urging the disciples to this struggle, the prince of the apostles, Peter, also said: 'Be sober, be watchful; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour; whom resist stedfast in the faith' (I Petr. V, 8-9). And the Lord says: 'Watch and pray, that C ye enter not into temptation' (Matth. XXVI, 41). And the Preacher says: 'If the spirit of the one having power rise up against thee, leave not thy place' (Eccle. X, 4). The place of the mind is virtue, and knowledge, and the fear of God. But the admirable Apostle, striving very soberly and bravely, said: 'For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; and having in readiness to revenge all disobedience' (II Cor. X, 3-6). If, therefore, you also imitate the saints and apply yourself diligently to God, you will be sober."
D 19. And the brother said: "And what ought one to do, Father, in order to be able to apply himself unceasingly to God?" And the elder answered: "It is impossible for the mind to apply itself perfectly to God unless it has acquired these three virtues: I mean love, and abstinence, and prayer. For love tames anger; and abstinence withers desire; and prayer draws the mind away from all thoughts, to God himself."
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20. The brother said: "I beseech you, Father, to teach me how love tames anger." And the elder replied: "Love possesses mercy, and the doing of good to one's neighbor, and longsuffering toward him, and the endurance of what he inflicts, as we have often said. Love, therefore, possessing these things, tames the anger of one who has attained it." And the brother said: "These are no small works; but blessed is he who is able to gain it. As for me, I am truly far from it. Nevertheless, I beseech you, Father, to tell me what longsuffering is."
21. The elder replied: "It is to persevere in the face of hardships, and to endure evil things, and to await the end of the temptation, and not to let out anger as it happens, nor to speak a word in folly, nor to suspect or conceive anything unbecoming a God-fearing man, just as the Scripture says: *Until a time the longsuffering man will hold out, and afterwards joy will blossom for him; until a time he will hide his words, and the lips of many will recount his understanding.*" B
22. Furthermore, these are the signs of longsuffering; and not only this, but to consider oneself the cause of the temptation is a property of this virtue. Perhaps it even stands thus: because most of the things that happen to us occur for our instruction, or for the removal of past sins, or for the correction of present negligence, or to block the path to future lapses. C He, therefore, who reckons in his mind that it is for one of these reasons that a temptation has seized him, is not indignant when he is struck, especially when he is conscious of his own sins; nor does he blame the one through whom the temptation occurs—for whether it be through this person or through another, it was necessary for him to drink wholly from the cup of divine judgments—but he looks to God, and gives thanks to Him who allowed it, and blames himself, and accepts the discipline D eagerly, just as David did with Semei, and as Job did with his wife. The foolish man, however, often asks God to have mercy; yet when the mercy comes, he does not receive it, because it did not come as he wished, but as a physician of souls deemed profitable. And for this reason he is despondent and troubled; and at one time, [alt-version omitted]
A he burns with rage against men, at another he utters blasphemies against God; and further, he shows his thanklessness, and does not accept even the rod. B
23. And the Brother said: Well spoke you, Father; but I pray you to tell me also this: how does abstinence wither concupiscence? And the Elder answered: Because it causes one to abstain from all things that are not for necessary use, but provide pleasure; and it makes one partake of nothing except what is necessary for living; and not to pursue things that are pleasant, but things that are profitable; and to proportion food and drink to the need; and not to allow superfluous humors to gather in the body; and to maintain only the life of the body, and to keep it untroubled for the impulse of intercourse. Thus, therefore, abstinence withers concupiscence; but pleasure, and the surfeit of food and drink, heats the stomach and inflames the appetite for shameful desire, and urges the whole animal toward illicit C intercourse. Then the eyes become shameless, the hand unrestrained, the tongue speaks things that tickle the ears, and the ear receives empty things; the mind despises God; the soul, in its inner thought, commits adultery, and incites the body to the lawless act itself.
24. The Brother said: In truth, Father, it is as you say; but I pray to learn also concerning prayer, how it separates the mind from all thoughts. And the Elder answered: Thoughts are thoughts of things; and of things, some are sensible, others intelligible. The mind, therefore, dwelling in these, carries around their thoughts; but the grace of prayer joins the mind to God; and by joining it to God, it separates it from all thoughts. Then the mind, naked, conversing with Him, becomes god-like. Having become such, it asks from Him what is fitting, and its prayer never fails. For this reason, therefore, the Apostle commands us to pray without ceasing, that by continuously joining our mind to God, we may little by little tear ourselves away from the attraction of material things. D
25. The Brother said: And how can the mind pray without ceasing? For while chanting, and reading, and meeting others, and serving, we are distracted into many thoughts and perceptions. And the Elder answered: The divine Scripture commands nothing of the impossible; for even the Apostle himself prayed without ceasing? For by the duty of the Psalms and reading, and by mixing in conversation and serving, we distract it into many thoughts and perceptions. The Elder answered: The divine Scripture prescribes nothing of such a kind that cannot be performed. For even he himself
A the Apostle used to chant, read, and minister, yet he prayed without ceasing. For prayer without ceasing is to have the mind in great reverence and desire, fixed upon God, and to be suspended from His hope, and to trust in Him in all things, both in one’s works and in the things that befall one. Having been disposed in this way, the Apostle said: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress?" and what follows. And after a few words: "For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels." And again: "In all things troubled, yet not distressed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed. Always carrying about in the body the mortification of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh."
26. B In this way, then, the Apostle was disposed; he prayed without ceasing, for in all his works, as has been said, and in the things that befell him, he was suspended from the hope of God. For this reason, all the saints always rejoiced in tribulations and troubles, so that they might attain the habit of divine love. And for this reason the Apostle said: "Most gladly therefore will I boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." And after a few words: "When I am weak, then am I powerful." But woe to us wretched ones, because we have abandoned the life of the holy Fathers; and for this cause we are destitute of every spiritual work.
27. And the brother said: What is the reason, Father, that I have no compunction? The Elder answered: Because the fear of God is not before our eyes. Because we have become a receptacle of all evils, and for that reason C we have contemned the terrible judgment of God, as if it were a mere thought or a fabrication of the mind. Otherwise, who would not be pricked in his heart, hearing Moses, from the person of God, saying concerning sinners: "A fire is kindled in my anger, and shall burn unto the lowest abyss. It shall consume the earth and her fruits; it shall set on fire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap evils upon them, and will complete my arrows in them"? And again: "I will sharpen my sword like lightning, and my hand shall take hold of judgment; and I will render vengeance to my enemies, and will reward them that hate me." And let one listen to Isaiah crying out: "Who shall tell you that fire is kindled? Who shall tell you of the eternal place? D Walk in the light of your fire and in the flame which you have kindled." And again: "They shall go forth, and shall see the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me. For their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched; and they shall be for a spectacle to all flesh." And to Jeremiah saying: "Give glory to the Lord your God, before it grow dark, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains." And again: "Hear, O foolish and heartless people; they have eyes, and do not see; they have ears, and do not hear. Will you not fear me, saith the Lord? Or from the face"
of me will you not tremble? who have set the sand as a bound to the sea, by a perpetual decree, and it shall not pass it?" A And again: "Thy own wickedness shall reprove thee, and thy apostasy shall rebuke thee. Know and see, that it is an evil and bitter thing for thee, that thou hast left me, saith the Lord." "I have planted a fruitful vine, a true one; how art thou turned into bitterness, O strange vine?" And again: "I have not sat with the council of those who play; but I was fearful before the face of thy hand. I sat alone, because I was filled with bitterness." And who, hearing Ezekiel, does not tremble with horror, when he says: "I will pour out my indignation upon thee, and I will fulfill my anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and I will lay upon thee B all thy abominations: and my eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and then shalt thou know that I am the Lord." And who, hearing Daniel, is not pricked to the heart, as he clearly describes the day of the fearful judgment, in which he says: "I, Daniel, was watching, until thrones were set. And the Ancient of days sat. His garment was white as snow: and the hair of his head as pure wool. His throne was a flame of fire: the wheels thereof a burning fire. A river of fire issued and came forth from before him. Thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before him. The judgment sat, and the books were opened," that is to say, the deeds of each one. And again: "I beheld in the vision of the night, and lo, with the clouds of heaven, there came as it were a Son of man, and he reached even to the Ancient of days, and he was offered before him; and to him was given the sovereignty and honor and a kingdom. And all peoples, C tribes, and tongues shall serve him; and his power is an everlasting power; and his kingdom, an everlasting kingdom. My spirit was horror-struck, I, Daniel, in my habit, and the visions of my head troubled me."
28. And who, hearing David, is not fearful, when he says: "God hath spoken once, these two things have I heard: that power belongeth to God, and mercy to thee, O Lord; for thou wilt render to every man according to his works." And again, the Ecclesiastes saying: "The end of the discourse, hear all: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is every man: for God will bring every work into judgment D with everything that is hidden, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."
29. And who, hearing similar things from the Apostle, does not tremble: "For we must all be made manifest before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in the body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." Who then will not lament our unbelief, and the blindness of our soul; that, hearing all these things, we do not repent, and bitterly weep for such great negligence and sloth of ours? Jeremias, seeing this from afar,
A said: "Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord negligently." For if we had concern for the salvation of our souls, we would tremble at the word of the Lord, and we would hasten to accomplish His commandments, through which we are saved. Yet we, hearing the Lord saying, "Enter through the narrow gate, which leads to life; for wide and spacious is the gate that leads to destruction," have preferred the wide and spacious one. Therefore, we are to hear, when He comes from the heavens to judge the living and the dead: "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire, which is prepared for the devil and his angels."
50. And we hear these things, not because we have done evil, but because we have neglected the good, and have not loved our neighbor. But if we have actually perpetrated evils, how shall we—being so negligently disposed—endure that day? Furthermore, it was said to the ancients by Moses: "You shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not murder," and what follows. But the Lord, knowing that it does not suffice for a Christian for perfection to keep only these things, said: "Amen I say to you, that unless your justice abounds more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." For this reason, He legislated from above and below for the sanctification of the soul—by which the body is also sanctified—and for sincere love toward all people, through which we can also attain love for Him; and He set Himself and His disciples as a B model and norm for us even unto death, as has been said often.
51. What defense, therefore, shall we have on that day, when we are supported by such an example, and yet are so slothful and sluggish? Jeremias, mourning for us who have been gifted with such great grace, yet remain so negligently disposed—or rather, are filled with every malice—said: "Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes, and I will weep for this people day and night?" I hear also Moses speaking of us: "And Jacob ate, and was filled; and the beloved kicked. He grew fat, he grew thick, he grew wide, and he forsook God who made him, and departed from God his savior." And Michaeas also, mourning and saying: "Woe is my soul, because the godly has perished from the earth, and there is none who cultivates virtue among men. Everyone presses his neighbor with oppression; they prepare their hands for evil." Likewise also the Psalmist, speaking of us: "Save me, O Lord, for the saint has failed; for truths have been diminished from the children of men," and what follows.
52. The Apostle also, mourning us prophetically, C said: "There is none who does good, there is not even one. Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have dealt deceitfully. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Destruction and misery D
in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known; there is no fear of God before their eyes. For this reason, foreseeing the future, he writes again to Timothy regarding our present wicked conduct: "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: for men will be lovers of themselves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, slanderers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors," and the rest. Therefore, woe to us, for we have reached the extremity of evils. For tell me, who among us is devoid of the evils mentioned above? Has not the prophecy been fulfilled in us? Are we not all gluttons? Are we not all lovers of pleasure? Are we not all lovers of matter and lovers of money? Are we not all irascible? Are we not all wrathful? Are we not all resentful? Are we not all traitors to every virtue? Are we not all revilers? Are we not all mockers? Are we not all headstrong? Are we not all haters of the brethren? Are we not all puffed up? Are we not all arrogant? Are we not all proud? Are we not all vainglorious? Are we not all hypocrites? Are we not all deceitful? Are we not all envious? Are we not all insubordinate? Are we not all slothful? Are we not all unstable? Are we not all lazy? Are we not all negligent of the Savior's commandments? Are we not all filled with every kind of malice? Have we not become a temple of idols instead of a temple of God? Have we not become dwellings for wicked spirits instead of a hall for the Holy Spirit? Do we not call upon God the Father performatively? Have we not become children of hell instead of children of God? Have we not become worse than the Jews, we who now carry about the great name of Christ? And let no one be indignant at hearing the truth, since even those lawless ones said, "We have one Father, God"; but they heard from the Savior, "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. 383 You are of your father the devil, and of your father [you want to do the desires]."
33. How then, being ourselves transgressors of His commandments, do we not hear the same things from Him? For even the Apostle called those who are led by the Spirit of God sons of God: "For as many," he says, "as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God." How then can we, who are led by death, be called sons of God? For "to be carnally minded is death." But those who are led by the Spirit are manifest from the fruits of the Spirit. Let us therefore look at the fruits of the Spirit: "The fruit of the Spirit," he says, "is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." Do we have these in ourselves? Would that we did not have the exact opposites! How then can we be called children of God, and not rather the contrary? For that which is born of something
is like the one who begat it. The Lord signifies this as well, saying: "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit." But we have become flesh, desiring against the Spirit, and for this reason we justly hear from Him: "My Spirit shall not remain in these men, because they are flesh." How then can we be called Christians, having nothing of Christ in ourselves?
B 34. But perhaps someone will say: "I have faith, and faith in Him is sufficient for me for salvation." But James contradicts him, saying that "even the demons believe, and shudder." And again: "Faith without works is dead in itself," just as works are without faith. But in what way do we believe in Him, or put our faith in Him regarding future things, if we do not even believe Him regarding the temporal things and those which concern this life? For this reason, we are entangled by our affection for earthly things, and living according to the flesh, we war against the Spirit. But those who truly believed in Christ, and having fulfilled the commandments, received Him entirely into the bosom of their minds, said surely this: "I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Therefore, because they suffered for Him to procure the salvation of all, as His exact imitators and true observers of His commandments, they said: "When we are reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat"; because they heard Him saying: "Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who spitefully use you," and what follows. And from both words and works, Christ, who was operating in them and by whose inspiration they were moved, was clearly manifested. But we, since we oppose all His commandments and behave contrarily, have for this reason become filled with all uncleanness and wickedness. And for this reason, instead of a temple of God, we have become a house of merchandise; and instead of a house of prayer, a den of thieves; instead of a holy nation, a sinful nation; instead of a people of God, a people full of transgressions; instead of a holy seed, a wicked seed; and instead of children of God, children of lawlessness, because we have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and, enslaved to unclean vices and lusts, serve the most wicked spirits and have provoked the Holy One of Israel.
D 35. For this reason the great Isaiah, lamenting us and at the same time wishing to bring aid to our downfall, cries out, saying: "Why should you be struck again, adding to your iniquity? Every head is in pain, and every heart in sorrow; from the feet even to the head there is no soundness in it; neither wound, nor bruise, nor festering sore. It is not possible to apply a poultice, nor oil, nor bandages." Then what follows thereupon? "The daughter of Zion shall be left like a booth in a vineyard, and like a
A cucumber-watchman’s hut in a garden, like a besieged city." The Apostle also, manifesting this desolation of our soul, said: "And just as they did not see fit to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a base mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, malice, wickedness, covetousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity; secret slanderers, backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, arrogant, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions, so that their bodies might be dishonored among themselves." And what follows upon these things? "The wrath of God," he says, "is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men," and what follows.
36. The Lord also, signifying this desolation of the soul, said: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, B you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate." And again, Isaiah, seeing us—that is, monks—who perform only bodily duties but look down upon spiritual ones, and who for this reason are puffed up, said: "Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; attend to the law of God, you people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me? I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and I do not want the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls and goats. For who has required this from your hands? You shall no longer trample my court. If you bring fine flour, it is in vain; incense is an abomination to me. Your new moons and your sabbaths, and the great day, I cannot endure; your fasts and your days of rest and your feasts, my soul hates. You have become a burden to me; I will no longer endure it. When you stretch out your hands to me, I will hide my eyes from you; and even if you multiply your prayer, I will not hear you." For what reason? "For your hands," he says, "are full of blood"; C since he who hates his brother is a murderer. Therefore, whatever discipline or religious exercise is not supported by love becomes estranged from God.
37. Therefore, also rebuking our hypocrisy from afar, He said: "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, and in vain they worship me," and what follows. Indeed, the very things that our Lord spoke in lamentation over the Pharisees, I hear as directed at us, who now fill the ranks of hypocrites; we who, having been deemed worthy of such great grace, conduct ourselves even worse D than they.
[...]. Do we also not bind heavy and unbearable burdens and lay them on the shoulders of men, while we ourselves are unwilling to move them with a finger? Do we also not do all our works to be seen by men? Do we also not love the place of honor at feasts and the seats of honor in the synagogues, and to be called "Rabbi, Rabbi" by men? And those who do not grant these things to us, do we not pursue and harass them even unto death? Do we also not take away the key of knowledge, and shut the kingdom of heaven before men, neither entering ourselves nor allowing those who are entering to go in? Do we also not travel by sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he becomes one, do we not make him two-fold more a son of hell than ourselves? B Are we also not blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel? Do we also not clean the outside of the cup and the dish, while that which is within us is full of rapine and iniquity? Or rather, of incontinence and shameful lust? Do we also not tithe mint, rue, and every herb, and overlook judgment and the love of God? Are we also not like hidden tombs, which appear righteous to men on the outside, but inside are full of hypocrisy and iniquity and all uncleanness? Do we also not build the tombs of the martyrs, and adorn the monuments of the apostles, and are we not similar to those who killed them? Who, then, would not weep for us, being so disposed and laboring under such things? Who would not follow our great captivity with tears? Therefore, the glorious sons of God were reckoned as earthen vessels. Therefore, the gold is dimmed, the finest gold is changed. Therefore, we the Nazirites of Sion, who were more splendid than snow, have become like Ethiopians; those who were whiter than milk have been blackened more than ink. Therefore, our appearance has become darker than soot. We who were nourished on scarlet have embraced C dung-heaps; and our iniquity has become greater than the iniquity of Sodom. Therefore, we who were sons of the day and of light have become sons of night and darkness. Therefore, we who were sons of the kingdom have become sons of hell. Therefore, we the sons of the Most High are dying as men, and falling as one of the princes. Therefore, we have been delivered into the hands of lawless enemies—I mean the savage demons—and to a king unjust and most wicked beyond all the earth, namely their prince, because we have sinned and acted iniquitously, transgressing the commandments of the Lord our God, and trampling underfoot the Son of God and considering common the blood of the covenant. But do not deliver us completely for the sake of your name, O Lord, and do not break your covenant; and do not remove your mercy from us D for the sake of your compassions, O our Father who art in heaven; and for the sake of the bowels of your only-begotten Son, and for the sake of the mercy of the Holy Spirit. Do not remember our ancient iniquities; but let your mercy quickly anticipate us, for we have become poor indeed.
Help us, O God our Savior. For the sake of the glory of your name, O Lord, deliver us, and be propitious to our sins for the sake of your name, O Lord, mindful of our first-fruits which your only-begotten Son took from us out of love for mankind, A which for our sake he holds in heaven, so that he might grace us with a sure hope of salvation; and lest, through despair, we become worse, because of his precious blood which he shed for the life of the world; for the sake of his holy Apostles and Martyrs, who for his name shed their own blood; for the sake of the holy Prophets and Fathers and Patriarchs, who struggled to please your holy name. Do not despise our supplication, O Lord, nor abandon us unto the end. For we do not trust in our own righteousness, but in your mercy, through which you sustain our race. We beseech and entreat your goodness that the mystery which your only-begotten Son dispensed for our salvation may not turn into judgment against us; and do not cast us away from your face. Do not loathe our unworthiness; but have mercy on us according to your great mercy, and according to the multitude of your compassions, blot out our sins, B so that, approaching blamelessly before your holy glory, we may be deemed worthy of the protection of your only-begotten Son, and may not become like evil servants, unworthy slaves of sin, rejected. Yes, O Master, almighty Lord, hear our supplication, for we know none other apart from you. We call upon your name; for you are the one working all things in all, and from you all seek help. Look down, therefore, from heaven, O Lord, and behold from the habitation of your holy glory. Where is your zeal and your strength? Where is the multitude of your mercy and of your compassions, that you have endured our fall? For you are our Father; for Abraham did not know us, and Israel did not acknowledge us; but you, O Lord, are our Father; deliver us, for from the beginning your holy name is upon us, and [that] of your only-begotten Son, and of your Holy Spirit. C Why did you make us wander, O Lord, from your way? Do not discipline us with the rod of your judgments. Why did you harden our hearts so as not to fear you? Did you abandon us to the waywardness of error? Turn back, O Lord, to your servants, for the sake of your holy Church, for the sake of all your saints from ages past, that we may possess a little of the inheritance of your holy mountain. Our adversaries have trampled upon your sanctuary; we have become as from the beginning, when you did not rule over us, nor was your name called upon us.
38. If you open heaven, trembling will seize the mountains from you, and they will melt like wax from the face of the fire; and fire will burn up your D adversaries; and your name shall be terrible to your adversaries. When you do [these things] ...
A, tremors will seize the mountains from you. From of old we have not heard, nor have our eyes seen a God, besides you. And your works, which you will do for those who wait for mercy; for it shall meet those who do justice, and they will remember your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we have sinned. Or rather, we have sinned, and you were angry. Therefore we went astray, and we all became as unclean; all our righteousness is like a menstruous cloth; and we have fallen away like leaves because of our iniquities, and so a wind will carry us away, and there is no one who calls upon your name, and who remembers to take hold of you. You turned your face away from us, and delivered us up because of our sins. And now, O Lord, you are our Father; but we are clay, and all of us are the work of your hands. Do not be very angry with us; and do not remember our sins in time. And now look, for we are all your people; the city of your sanctuary, Sion, has become a desert; Jerusalem has become as a desert. Our holy house has become a curse, and the glory which our fathers blessed has been burned with fire, and all our glorious things have fallen. And in all these things you endured, O Lord, and you kept silence, and you humbled us exceedingly.
39. These things indeed happened in a figure to your ancient people, B but now they have been truly fulfilled in us; and we have become a reproach to our neighbors, the demons, a sneering and a mockery to those round about us. But look down from heaven, and see, and save us for the sake of your holy name; and make known to us the stratagems of our adversaries; and deliver us from their snares, and do not take your help away from us, because we are not sufficient to overcome the opposing forces; but you are powerful to save [us] from all [our] adversaries. Save us, O Lord, from the hardships and perils of this world, according to your goodness, so that having passed through the sea of this life with a pure conscience, standing blameless and uncorrupted before your fearful judgment-seat, we may be deemed worthy of eternal life.
40. After hearing all these things, the Brother, being deeply pricked in his conscience C, said with tears to the elder, "As I perceive, Father, there is no hope of salvation left for me. For my iniquities have gone over my head; but I beseech you to tell me what you think should be done." The elder answered and said, "The task of attaining salvation is indeed above human strength; but with God all things are possible, as the Lord himself has spoken. Let us therefore come before his face in confession; let us worship and fall down and weep before the Lord who made us, for he himself is our God; and let us listen to him saying through the voice of Isaiah, that 'When you have turned back and groaned, then you shall be saved.' And again: 'Is my hand not powerful...
enough to save? Or has He hardened his ear so as not to hear? But our sins separate us from God, and because of our sins, He has turned His face away from us, so as not to show mercy.' A Therefore He says: 'Wash yourselves, become clean; remove the wicked deeds from your souls before my eyes; cease from your wicked ways; learn to do good, seek justice, rescue the oppressed, judge for the orphan, and justify the widow. And come, and let us reason together, says the Lord; and if your sins be as crimson, I will make them white as snow; and if they be as scarlet, I will make them white as wool.' And, 'If you are willing and obey me, you shall eat the good things of the earth.' For the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things. And again through Joel: 'Turn to me with all your heart, in fasting and in weeping and in lamentation; rend your hearts, and not your garments. For the Lord is merciful and compassionate, and relents over evils.' B And to Ezekiel: 'Son of man, say to the house of Israel: Thus you have spoken, saying, "Our transgressions and our iniquities are upon us, and we are pining away in them; and how shall we live?" Say to them, As I live, says the Lord, I do not desire the death of the ungodly, so that he may turn from his way and live. Turn away, turn back from your way; and why will you die, O house of Israel?' The third book of Kings, revealing the abundance of God’s goodness, speaks thus: When Achaab heard, while in the vineyard of Nabuthae, the possession of which he had entered upon after he had been put to death by the work of Jezabel, the words of Elias saying: 'Thus says the Lord God: You have killed, and you have taken possession; and in the place where the dogs licked the blood of Nabuthae, there the dogs shall lick your blood; and the dogs shall eat Jezabel in the outwork of Israel.' C And when Achaab heard these words, he tore his garments, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and slept in sackcloth. And the word of the Lord came to Elias, saying: 'Have you seen how Achaab has been brought to shame from before my face? I will not bring evil in his days.' And David says: 'I acknowledged my iniquity, and I did not hide my sin. I said, I will confess my iniquity against myself to the Lord, and you forgave the ungodliness of my heart. For this, every holy one shall pray to you in an opportune time; and in the flood of many waters, they shall not approach him.' Furthermore, the Lord in the Gospel says: 'Repent; for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near.' And when Peter asked, 'How many times in the day, if my brother sins against me, shall I forgive him? Up to seven times?' D He who is by nature good and incomparable in kindness answers him: 'I do not say to you seven times, but up to seventy times seven.' What can be equal to this goodness? What can compare with this philanthropy?
A Since, therefore, we have explored the fear of the Lord, and His kindness and philanthropy, from both the Old and the New Testament, let us repent with our whole heart; and why, brothers, should we perish? Let us cleanse our hands, you sinners; let us purify our hearts, you double-minded; let us be distressed, and mourn, and weep for our sins. Let us cease from our wickedness; let us trust in the compassions of the Lord; let us fear His threats, let us keep His commandments; let us love one another with our whole heart. Let us speak, our brothers, even to those who hate us and despise us, so that the name of the Lord may be glorified and be seen in His joy. Let us grant forgiveness to one another, being tempted by one another, as we are all attacked by a common enemy. B Let us resist our thoughts, calling upon God for our alliance, and let us put to flight those evil and unclean spirits from us. Let us subject the flesh to the spirit, subduing and mortifying it with every strict discipline: let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit. Let us incite one another to a zeal for love and good works. Let us not envy one another, nor, being envied, become savage; but rather let us sympathize with one another, and let us heal one another through humility. Let us not speak evil of one another, nor mock one another, for we are members of one another. Let us cast off from us negligence and sloth; and let us stand bravely against the spirits of wickedness, struggling; and we have an advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous, before the Father; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and let us entreat Him with a pure heart and with our whole soul, and He will forgive us our sins; because the Lord is near to all who call upon Him in truth. Therefore He says: "Sacrifice to God a sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Most High. And call upon Me in the day of your tribulation; and I will deliver you, and you will glorify Me." And Isaiah again says: "Loose every bond of iniquity, dissolve the knots of violent contracts, send away those who are broken into forgiveness, and tear up every unjust document. Break your bread for the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house. If you see the naked, clothe him; and do not despise those of your own seed. Then your morning light will burst forth, and your healings will quickly arise. And your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of God will encompass you. D What more, then? Then you will cry out, and God will hear you; while you are yet speaking, He will say: 'Behold, I am here.' Then your light will rise in the darkness, and your darkness will be as noonday. And God will be with you always; and you will be filled as your soul desires. You see that by this means we loose every bond of iniquity from our heart, and we dissolve every obligation of violent contracts of rancor, and we study to love our neighbor with our whole soul, having bestowed gifts upon him, being illuminated by the light of knowledge.
and freed from the passions of dishonor, and filled with all virtue, and illuminated by the glory of God, and freed from all ignorance; and praying to Christ, we are heard, and we shall have God with us A always, and we shall be filled with the desire according to God.
42. Let us therefore love one another, and be loved by God. Let us be patient with one another, and He will be patient with our sins. Let us not render evil for evil, and we shall not receive back according to our sins. For the forgiveness of our trespasses we find in the forgiveness of our brothers. And the mercy of God is hidden in the almsgiving towards our neighbor. For this reason the Lord said: "Forgive, and it shall be forgiven you." And, "If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you your trespasses." And again: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." And, "With what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again." Behold, the Lord has granted us a way of salvation, and has given us eternal power to become children of God B; and thus our salvation depends hereafter upon our own will.
43. Let us therefore give ourselves to the Lord completely, that we may receive Him completely. Let us become gods for His sake; for this is the reason why He who was by nature God and Lord became man. Let us be obedient to Him, and He Himself will unweariedly avenge our enemies: "If my people had heard me," He says, "if Israel had walked in my ways, I would have quickly humbled their enemies, and I would have laid my hand upon those who afflict them." Let us place all our hope on Him alone. And let us cast all our care upon Him alone, and He will rescue us from every affliction; and He Himself will provide for our whole life. Let us love every man from the soul, yet place our hope in no man; for as long as the Lord preserves us, all our friends also cherish and observe us, and all our enemies are powerless against us. But when the Lord abandons us, then even all our friends abandon us, and all our enemies prevail against us. C But he who trusts in himself shall fall with a terrible fall; but he who fears the Lord shall be exalted. For this reason David said: "For I will not trust in my bow, and my sword will not save me. For you have saved us from those who afflict us, and you have put to shame those who hate us."
44. Let us not endure those thoughts which diminish our sins and divine that their forgiveness has already occurred. For the Lord, securing us against them, said: "Beware of false prophets, who will come to you in sheep's clothing, [but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.]" For as long as the D
they are ravenous wolves.” For as long as our mind is troubled by sin, we have not yet obtained its remission; for we have not yet produced fruits worthy of repentance. The fruit of repentance is the soul’s impassibility; and impassibility is the eradication of sin. We do not yet possess perfect impassibility, as we are at times troubled by the passions, and at other times not troubled. We have not, therefore, perfectly obtained the remission of our sins. For we were delivered from ancestral sin through holy baptism; but from that which is dared after baptism, we are delivered through repentance.
45. Let us therefore repent sincerely, that we may be freed from the passions B and obtain the remission of sins. Let us despise passing things, so that by fighting with men for their sake we do not violate the commandment of love and fall away from the love of God. Let us walk in the Spirit, and we shall not perform the desires of the flesh. Let us watch, let us be sober: let us now shake off the sleep of sloth. Let us emulate the holy combatants of the Savior; let us imitate their struggles, forgetting what lies behind and stretching out to what lies before. Let us imitate their ceaseless course, their fervent zeal, the endurance of self-control, the sanctification of chastity, strong patience, the longsuffering of forbearance, the mercy of compassion, the tranquility of meekness, the fervor of zeal, the sincerity of love, the loftiness of humility, the simplicity of poverty, fortitude, kindness, gentleness. Let us not be laid prostrate by pleasures; let us not be softened by thoughts; let us not defile our conscience. Let us pursue peace with all, and holiness, without C which no one will see the Lord. To this end, brothers, let us flee from the world and the ruler of the world. Let us abandon the flesh and the things of the flesh. Let us hasten to run into the heavens, where our citizenship awaits us. Let us imitate the divine Apostle; let us lay hold of the Author of life; let us enjoy the spring of life. Let us dance with the angels; with the archangels let us praise our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belongs glory and power, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
FROM PHOTIUS
D The same author’s *Ascetic Discourse*, and another treatise in four hundred chapters.I also read the *Ascetic Book* of the same holy Maximus, written in the form of a dialogue between two, one questioning and the other responding. The treatise is truly useful to all, and especially to those who have set their lives toward the cultivation of virtue and its exercises [alt-version omitted].
A Indeed, it provides many opportunities for the knowledge and practice of Charity. It offers arguments for everything—both for the knowledge that is to be established and for the action that is to be cultivated.
There was also arranged in the same volume another work, expanded into four hundred chapters, which had been dedicated to a certain Elpidius, a man devoted to a holier life. The author himself inscribes the labor *On Charity*, perhaps because he posits this as the beginning to the text, and elsewhere he often discourses upon it. Yet, it contains a sufficient abundance of problems and theorems by which theology is strengthened, and by which one makes the holy life pure, for those who laboriously pursue them to reap the benefit.
The style of his discourse is luminous and polished, more than that of others, and it produces nothing that one, if he were to examine it, could blame—except for this one thing alone: that sometimes it does not sufficiently prefer the Attic vocabulary to the others.
NOTICE
CONCERNING THE CHAPTERS ON CHARITY OF SAINT MAXIMUS
It has been my pleasure to place these hundred chapters before others that Maximus the Confessor has provided in such great store, because they were the first to be published, and can justly be seen to claim a foremost place among others of almost the same kind and arrangement on account of their subject matter, their clarity, and, finally, their universal utility. Not only for that reason, but more principally because the very title and substance of them is charity—the scope toward which the Lord’s Prayer, as also the *Ascetic Book* (which Maximus himself seems to have written to that same Elpidius to whom he inscribed these four hundred chapters), primarily leads.
The subsequent five hundred and two hundred chapters—because more of them are allegorical and have the same style, and often the same words as the *Questions to Thalassius*—could have been seen as being attached to these. However, I preferred to place whatever is written in this genre—by means of maxims, and smaller and miscellaneous chapters—in a single series after the slightly more complete exegetical or parenetic treatises already ascribed to him, of which I do not know if Maximus published many.
Vincentius Obsopoeus first edited them at Hagenau in the year 1531, in both languages, and in a lengthy preface he displayed his ignorance and his great lack of historical knowledge when he made Maximus the author of these chapters to be Maximus, the Bishop of the Church of Turin, whom Gennadius commemorates among illustrious men; concerning whom he says that mention is also made in St. Jerome among ecclesiastical writers. Who would say these are his, if he were to apply a censor’s rod to Maximus himself with confidence, and carry more weight in his works than the pure Word of God, as if warning with religious fear? Indeed, these are the miracles of a heretical spirit and disposition.
They proceed forth of their own accord; namely, as masters of the world and the sole arbiters of the true understanding of the Scriptures. To these men, everything the unity of the entire past ecclesiastical tradition cherished magnificently in the Fathers and in the theologians is subject. What is difficult to those men, and of which they acknowledge they have attained only thin shadows and representations after immense labors and vigils, is, to these new-fangled theologians, clear and open: provided only that they read it with their eyes, instantly all the arcana of the Scriptures lie open; and they believe that the knowledge of common matters and times is thus closed to others, as Obsopoeus asserts—whom to have refuted is nothing other than to have quoted his own words.
After Obsopoeus, Gesner published these Chapters of Maximus, with his version also revised; which the *Bibliotheca Patrum* of Cologne, volume VII, also presents, prefixed also to both interpreters—a censure, indeed, sharper than the former, but not sharp enough itself, especially for the stupidity of Obsopoeus, nor cautious for the reader, as anyone may easily see from the notes provided. Jacobus Billius touched upon very few things, and seems to have run his eyes over them so lightly that he might amend a few things as if by conjecture, without any better codex: which often hinders him, so that even though he is a learned and upright interpreter, he sometimes falls short of the true sense of the authors when judging others, because a sufficiently sound and corrected text is not available to him.
Along with the published ones, there was available to me, besides several Royal codices, a most emended codex of the illustrious Raphael Dufresne, so that the reader can desire nothing regarding the integrity of the text. The version is composed according to my own methods, and ecclesiastically, as far as was permitted, as in the other works of Maximus.