Abbot Thalassius

SECOND NOTICE.

Thalassius, presbyter and hegumenus ^A, or abbot of a monastery in the deserts of Libya, a pious man and lover of the sacred Scriptures, to whom Saint Maximus the Confessor wrote various epistles in the year of Christ 662, and dedicated to him a book of questions on difficult places of Scripture. There exist of his, as is credible, Thalassius’s *De charitate, vitæ continentia et mentis regimine* (On Charity, Continence of Life, and the Governance of the Mind) to Paul the presbyter, consisting of hundreds of sentences or four Centuries, the last of which concludes with a clear doctrine on the Holy Trinity. The first letters in each of these sentences, if composed together, create the sense themselves; for the acrostic of the first century is: *Spiritual brother and beloved lord Paul, Thalassius, in outward appearance a Hesychast and seeker of monastic quiet, but in reality a seeker of vainglory* ^B. The second: *Pray for me, most honorable brother, for I look forward to great evils worthy of my own resolve, sorrows for the soul and pains for the body*. The third: *Truly, however, those are not evils which distress the conscience but purge the soul, but those which distress the conscience and tickle the flesh*. The fourth and last: *Nevertheless, therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord our God that He may deliver us from those things which are evils in the strict sense, and from those which are not strictly so, but are thought to be. Yet even from those that are truly evil, and from those which are not truly so but are thought to be, may the Lord our God deliver us, pray earnestly*. Johannes Oecolampadius translated it into Latin, and published it at Augsburg in 1520, in quarto. From there it was reprinted in the *Micropresbyticon* (Basel, 1550, folio) and in both editions of the *Orthodoxographa* in the years 1555 (p. 660) and 1569 (p. 897), as well as in all the Bibliothecae of the Fathers, such as the Lugdunensis, tom. XII, p. 337 [Paris 1575, vol. III, col. 561; ibid. 1589, vol. V, col. 540; Cologne 1618, vol. VII, pag. 271. Harl.]. Johannes a Fuchte also oversaw its reprinting, along with the sentences of Sextus the Pythagorean and Laurentius Pisani (Helmstedt, 1685, 8vo). Fronto Ducaeus first published it in Greek from the royal manuscripts of France in the *Auctarium Bibliothecae Patrum* (Paris, 1624, fol., tom. II, p. 1179). The same man preserved the version of Oecolampadius, with the name of the translator omitted and blotted out. This Greek-Latin edition was repeated in the *Bibliotheca Patrum Morelliana*, Paris, 1644, 1654, tom. XIII, p. 1184. ^C

[alt-version omitted] ^D

Johannes Jacobus Grynaeus, in his Preface to the *Orthodoxographa*, writes that Thalassius, according to the opinion of some, flourished in the Church of Caesarea in the year 465. But Thalassius was certainly different from the author of those opinions, the Hesychast; he was the bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, who attended the Council of Constantinople and the Council of Ephesus in the year 449, and the Council of Chalcedon in the year 451. But there was no Thalassius who was bishop of Caesarea in Palestine; for in the subscription of the Council of Constantinople of the year 381, other manuscripts have, more correctly, Gelasius in place of Thalassius, and Theodoret, Leontius, and other ancient authorities, as recorded by Harduin, support this.

OF ABBOT THALASSIUS ON CHARITY AND CONTINENCE, AND ON THE REGIMEN OF THE MIND, TO PAUL THE PRESBYTER CENTURY I

The first letters of the verses, when collected in Greek, form the following words: To my spiritual brother and beloved lord Paul, Thalassius, who in appearance is a Hesychast, but in truth is a seeker of vainglory.

1. If love is entirely directed toward God, it binds together those who love and unites them with God. 2. The mind that has acquired spiritual love does not think anything of one's neighbor that is unbecoming of love. 3. ^A Under the guise of love, one hides hypocrisy, blessing with the mouth, while despising in the heart. 4. He who has acquired love endures without disturbance the painful and grievous things brought upon him by enemies, ^B if he possesses love. 5. Love alone unites the creation with God and with others in harmony. 6. He possesses true love who does not tolerate suspicions, nor any word against his neighbor. 7. ^C He is held in honor before God and men who does nothing to cause the dissolution of love. 8. A mark of unfeigned love is a word of truth proceeding from a good conscience. ^D

^A 9. He hides envy under the guise of benevolence, who assails his brother with reproaches as if coming from another's mouth. 10. Just as bodily virtues win human glory, so do spiritual virtues win the glory of God. 11. Charity and continence purify the soul; pure prayer illuminates the mind. 12. He is a truly powerful man who drives away wickedness by action and knowledge. 13. He finds favor with God, who has acquired apathy and spiritual knowledge. 14. If you wish to overcome passional thoughts, strive for continence and charity toward your neighbor. 15. Guard yourself against intemperance and hatred, so that you may not find an obstacle in the time of your prayer. 16. Just as it is impossible to find perfumes in the mud, so in the soul of one who keeps old grudges is there no sweet aroma of charity. 17. Master anger and desire bravely, and you will most quickly be delivered from evil thoughts. ^B 18. You will destroy vainglory by doing works in secret; you will drive away pride by despising no one. 19. A mark of vainglory is hypocrisy and falsehood; of pride, conceit and envy. 20. He is to be considered a ruler who has ruled himself, and has subjected soul and body to reason. 21. The sincerity of a friend is shown in times of trial, when he becomes a participant in necessity. ^C 22. Secure your senses with the manner of stillness, and judge the thoughts standing before your heart. 23. Toward painful thoughts, meet them without remembering wrongs; toward voluptuous ones, manage them with hostility. 24. Stillness, prayer, charity, and continence are a four-yoked chariot, leading the mind to the heavens. 25. Wear down your flesh with fasting and vigils, and you will drive away the executioner—the thought of pleasure. 26. Just as wax melts before the face of fire, so does an impure thought before the fear of God. 27. It is a great loss for a prudent soul to linger in a blameworthy passion. 28. Patiently endure the onsets of painful and grievous things; for through these, the providence of God purifies you. ^D 29. Having cast aside material things and renounced the world, renounce henceforth also wicked thoughts. 30. It is the proper work of the mind to occupy itself always with the words of God. 31. Just as it is the work of God to govern the world, so it is the work of the soul to govern the body. 32. With what hope shall we meet Christ, if we are still serving the pleasures of the flesh? — Ps. LXVII, 3.

^A 33. Hardship and sorrow, whether chosen voluntarily or brought about by divine providence, destroy concupiscence. 34. Avarice is the material of the passions; for, being augmentative, it increases the encompassing pleasure. 35. The frustration of pleasure produces sorrow; yet pleasure is conjoined with every passion. 36. With what measure you measure to your body, it shall be measured back to you by God. 37. The works of divine judgments are a just requital for what has been committed through the body. 38. Virtue and knowledge produce immortality; the privation of these has become the mother of death. ^B 39. Sorrow according to God destroys pleasure; and the destruction of pleasure is the resurrection of the soul. 40. Impassibility is the soul's immobility toward any evil; it is impossible to attain this without the mercy of Christ. 41. Christ is the Savior of soul and body; he who follows in his footsteps is rendered free from evil. 42. Do you wish to attain salvation? Renounce pleasures; and embrace temperance, love, and the assiduity of prayer. 43. True discernment is peculiar to impassibility, according to which one does everything by measure and rule. 44. Our Lord and God is Jesus Christ; and the mind that follows him shall not remain in darkness. ^C 45. Gather your mind and watch your thoughts; and whatever passionate ones you find, war against them. 46. There are three things from which you receive thoughts: sensation, memory, and the disposition of the body; but the latter are more troublesome than memory. 47. He who is endowed with wisdom has known the reasons of incorporeal things and what is the beginning and what is the end of the world. 48. Do not neglect the practical life, and your mind will be enlightened. For he says: "I will open to you the hidden and invisible treasuries." ^D 49. He who has been freed from the passions has found grace with God, and he who has been deemed worthy of knowledge has found the great mercy. 50. A mind freed from the passions becomes luminous, being unceasingly illuminated by the contemplations of those things which exist. 51. Knowledge is the light of the soul, deprived of which the fool walks in darkness. 52. A fool is he who lives in darkness; whom the darkness of ignorance overtakes. 53. He who loves Jesus will be freed from evil, and he who follows him will see true knowledge. 54. A mind freed from the passions sees things as they are, both when the body is awake and during its sleep.

55. ^A A mind purified to the highest degree is straitened by the things that are, and desires to be outside of all things that have been made.

56. Blessed is he who has attained to the infinite limitlessness; and he has attained it, who has crossed over all that is finite.

57. He who honors God searches out His words; but he who is a lover of truth finds them.

58. A mind that is moved by uprightness finds truth; but one moved by some passion will miss it.

59. Just as God is unknown in His essence, so also is He infinite in His majesty.

60. ^B Of this essence there is neither beginning nor end, nor is there any search that can reach His wisdom.

61. The providence of the All-Good Creator over every creature is its salvation.

62. The Lord supports all who are falling with mercies, and lifts up all who are broken.

63. Christ is the judge of the living and the dead, and the just rewarder of each person’s work.

64. If you wish to rule over soul and body, take the initiative and prune away the causes of the passions.

65. Bind the faculties of the soul to the virtues, and unyoke them from every impulse of the passions.

66. Bridle the impulses of desire with self-control; and those of anger with spiritual love.

67. ^C Silence and prayer are the greatest weapons of virtue; for these purify the mind and make it capable of deep insight.

68. Only spiritual conversation is beneficial; but of all others, silence is to be preferred.

69. Of the five modes of conversation, choose three; but do not frequent the fourth, and abstain entirely from the fifth.

70. He who does not suffer because of the things of the world loves silence. And he who loves nothing human loves all men.

71. A true teacher is conscience, and he who obeys it remains free from stumbling.

72. Conscience judges only those who have not reached the summit of virtue or of vice.

73. ^D Extreme impassibility makes the thoughts pure; but extreme knowledge brings one to Him who is beyond all knowledge.

74. Sorrow is a blameworthy failure of pleasures, and he who has scorned them remains sorrowless.

75. Sorrow is generally a deprivation of pleasure, whether you consider that which is according to God or that which is according to the world.

76. The kingdom of God is goodness and wisdom, and he who attains them lives as a citizen in the heavens.

77. That man is wretched who, by his deeds, prefers the body to the soul, and the world to God.

78. He possesses charity toward all who does not envy the good, and has compassion for the wicked. ^A

79. How truly suitable and useful for ruling is he who has already beforehand laid down the laws of virtue for his own soul and body!

80. That man is a spiritual merchant who, for the sake of the future, equally despises both the pleasant and the austere things of this world.

81. Charity and temperance strengthen the soul; but pure prayer and spiritual contemplation strengthen the mind.

82. When you hear a useful word, do not judge the speaker, so that you might not deprive yourself of a profitable admonition.

83. A wicked mind thinks evil, and by faithlessly recounting the good deeds of a neighbor, it lowers and diminishes them. ^B

84. Do not believe the thought that judges your neighbor, for he who has an evil treasure also thinks evil things.

85. A good heart brings forth good thoughts; for as a man’s treasure is, so also are his reflections.

86. Keep watch over your thoughts, and flee from wickedness, so that your mind, darkened, may not see one thing in place of another.

87. Consider the Jews, and safeguard yourself. Blinded by envy, they defamed the Lord and God with the name of Beelzebub.

88. Wicked suspicion darkens the intellect, and causes things that are beside the way to be seen as being in the way. ^C

89. Vices are attached to all the virtues; and for this reason the wicked interpret virtues in a malicious light.

90. If the mind dwells too long on pleasure or sorrow, it falls most quickly into the grave evil of acedia.

91. A pure conscience stirs up the soul, but an impure thought casts it down to the earth.

92. When passions are stirred, they drive out vainglory: but when they are suppressed, they bring it back again in its footsteps.

93. Do you wish to be delivered from all the passions of the soul at once? Accustom yourself to charity, temperance, and prayer.

94. The mind, while praying and lingering before God, delivers the affective powers of the soul from the passions. ^D

95. Just as God gave existence to all that is, so also did he bind all things together by his providence.

96. Being Master, yet having become a servant, he manifested to the creation the pinnacle of his providence.

97. God and the Word, having become incarnate without undergoing change, were united to every creature through the flesh.

98. A strange wonder in heaven and on earth, that God is on earth, and man is in heaven; that he might join men to the angels, and together with all creation, grant them divinity.

40. Sanctification and deification of angels and men is the knowledge of the holy and consubstantial Trinity.

109. Remission of sins yields liberty from passions; and he who has not yet attained this through grace, from him sins have not yet departed.

CENTURY II

1. Do you desire to be rid of all evils at once? Renounce the mother of evils, self-love. 2. The health of the soul is dispassion and knowledge, which it is impossible for one who is a slave to pleasures to attain. 3. Temperance combined with patience, and love combined with long-suffering, dry up both bodily and psychic pleasures. 4. The principle ^B of evils for the soul is self-love; and self-love is the love of the body. 5. It is proper for the rational nature to be subjected to the Word, and to buffet and bring the body into subjection. 6. It is an injury to the rational part of man if it is subjected to another that is brute and devoid of reason, by employing its own prudence to fulfill base desires. 7. It is an evil work of the rational soul to abandon the Creator and to serve the body. 8. The body was commanded to serve as a minister, not for you to serve its pleasures contrary to nature. 9. Break ^C the bonds of love for the body, and grant the slave nothing except what is absolutely necessary. 10. Shut up the senses within the fortress of stillness, so that they may not distract the mind toward their own desires. 11. The greatest weapons for one who is at peace with patience are temperance, and love, and prayer, and reading. 12. The mind does not cease from wandering after pleasures ^D until, having brought the flesh into subjection, it is at leisure for contemplation. 13. Let us struggle for the sake of the commandments, so that, having...

^A been set free, we might be deemed worthy of the knowledge of divine dogmas.

14. The impassibility of the soul is tranquility and knowledge, which it is impossible for those who are slaves to pleasures to attain.

15. Bring the body into subjection, stripping away its pleasures, and you will deliver it from grievous slavery.

16. Since you have been created free and have been called to freedom, do not endure to serve impure passions.

17. With sorrows and pleasures, desires and fears, the demons bind the mind of those who serve the senses.

18. The fear of God prevails over desires, and sorrow according to God drives away pleasure. ^B

19. The desire for wisdom despises fear, and the longing for knowledge puts to flight sorrow.

20. The Scriptures contain these four things: commandments, dogmas, threats, and promises.

21. Abstinence and labor check desire, while stillness and divine love diminish it.

22. Do not strike your brother with enigmatic words; for you would not bear it, were you to hear the like in return.

23. Long-suffering and the forgetting of evil check anger, while charity and compassion diminish it.

24. To whom knowledge is given, intellectual light is given; but he who, having received it, dishonors it, will see darkness. ^C

25. The observance of God’s commandments begets impassibility, and the soul’s impassibility guards knowledge.

26. Raise the sensible things to intellectual contemplation, and you will draw your perception above sensible things.

27. The sensible woman signifies the practical soul, to whom, if the mind--which is as a husband--approaches, it brings forth virtues.

28. The investigation of the words of God teaches the knowledge of God to him who seeks the truth with piety and longing.

29. What light is to those who see and to things seen, this God is to those who understand and to things understood. ^D

30. The sensible firmament signifies the firmament of faith, in which all the saints shine like luminaries.

31. Jerusalem is the heavenly contemplation of incorporeal beings, for in it is seen the vision of peace.

32. Do not neglect action, lest knowledge decrease; for this would be, when a famine arises, to descend into Egypt.

33. Freedom is intellectual, being the departure from the passions.

^A which no one attains without the mercy of Jesus Christ. 34. The kingdom of heaven is the land of promise, for which dispassion and knowledge become the agents. 35. Spiritual Egypt is the darkening of the passions; into which no one descends, unless he has fallen into famine. 36. Frequently accommodate your hearing to spiritual discourses, and your mind will distance itself from unclean thoughts. 37. God alone is good and wise by nature; but the mind becomes so by participation, if it is zealous. 38. Exercise restraint over appetite and sleep, and anger and the tongue; and you shall not strike your foot against a stone. 39. Strive to love all men equally, and you will drive away ^B all the passions together. 40. The contemplation of sensible things is common to both mind and sense; but the knowledge of intelligible things belongs to the mind alone. 41. It is impossible for the mind to be occupied with intelligible things, unless it has cut off its relationship with the senses and sensible things. 42. The sense possesses a natural inclination toward sensible things, and being distracted by them, it also distracts the mind. 43. Cast the sense into the service of the mind, and do not give it time to distract it in return. 44. When it happens that the mind is occupied with sensible things, distract the sense in return, by ^C drawing what is present toward the mind. 45. A sign that the mind is occupied with intelligible things is the despising of all things that delight the sense. 46. As the mind opens itself up to the contemplation of intelligible things, it possesses an inseparable pleasure in them. 47. When the mind has become enriched with the knowledge of the Monad, then it holds the sense completely enslaved. 48. Restrain your mind from wandering around sensible things, so that you may not harvest pleasures and pains ^D from them. 49. When the mind is occupied with divine things at all times, the affective part of it also becomes a divine weapon. 50. It is impossible for the mind to be perfected by knowledge, unless the affective part has first been brought near to it by its proper virtues. 51. The mind then becomes a stranger to the things of the world, when it has completely cut off its relationship with the senses. 52. It is proper to the rational part of the soul to be occupied with the knowledge of God; and to its affective part, to embrace love and self-control.

^A 53. The mind cannot remain long upon a sensible object unless it is completely captivated by it. 54. That mind is perfect which is perfected by knowledge; and the soul is perfect which is imbued with the virtues. 55. The mind’s relationship with the senses makes it a slave to the pleasures of the body. 56. When the affective powers are moved away from their virtues, then the mind also is dislodged from the place of its knowledge. 57. We have received power to become children of God; but we shall not be such if we do not divest ourselves of the passions. 58. Let no one think that he has effectively become a child of God if he has not yet acquired the divine characteristics within himself. 59. ^B Similarity of conduct—whether of good or evil—produces children either of God or of Satan. 60. The intelligent man is he who attends to himself and hastens to be freed from all defilement. 61. The callous soul, even when scourged, does not perceive it, and refuses to come to a realization of its benefactor. 62. Filthy attire casts one out of the divine wedding and makes one a participant in the outer darkness. 63. The one who fears God takes care of his own soul and separates himself from evil company. 64. It is impossible for the one who has abandoned God and serves pleasures to receive the mercy of God. ^C 65. It is Jesus who says, even if we do not wish to believe it, that no one can serve two masters. 66. A soul defiled by the passions is so blinded that it refuses to believe unless it is cut and cauterized. 67. Dreadful torments await the callous, for without great toils they cannot be softened. 68. The intelligent man takes care of himself; and through voluntarily accepted toils, he escapes those that he would otherwise suffer against his will. 69. Diligence of soul consists in the endurance of evils and humility; for on account of these, God forgives all sins. ^D 70. Just as desires and anger multiply sins, so self-control and humility wipe them away. 71. Sorrow according to God breaks the heart; and it is born of the fear of punishment. 72. Sorrow according to God purifies the heart and removes the defilements of pleasure from it. 73. Patience is the love of toil in the soul; and wherever there is love of toil, the love of pleasure is banished. 74. All sin is committed for the sake of pleasure.

and every forgiveness is through the endurance of evils and sorrow. 75. He who does not endure to repent through voluntary labors falls into involuntary labors by providence. 76. Christ is the Savior of the whole world, and He bestowed repentance for salvation upon men. ^A 77. Repentance gives birth to the keeping of the commandments; and the keeping of the commandments works the purification of the soul. 78. Spiritual purification is the removal of the passions; and the removal of the passions gives birth to the love of God. 79. A soul is pure if it loves God, and a mind is pure if it has been separated from ignorance. 80. Strive even unto death for the commandments of God, for by them you shall be purified and enter into life. 81. Use the body as a servant of the commandments, keeping it pain-free and healthy as much as possible. 82. The insurrection of the flesh arises from negligence of prayer, of diet, and of holy stillness. 83. Holy stillness gives birth to beautiful fruits: temperance, love, and pure prayer. ^B 84. Reading and prayer purify the mind; but love and temperance purify the affective part of the soul. 85. Always maintain an equal temperance, so that through irregularity you do not fall into the opposite. 86. He who legislates for himself must not violate himself; for he who deceives himself, defrauds himself. 87. Impassioned souls are spiritual sunsets; for the sun of righteousness has set for such as these. 88. He is a son of God who has been made like unto God through goodness, wisdom, power, and justice. 89. A sickness of the soul is the habit of evil, but death is sin in act. ^C 90. Spiritual poverty is total dispassion, by which the mind, having attained it, departs from the things here below. 91. Keep the virtues of the soul in harmony; for from this is born the fruit of justice. 92. They say that the contemplation of intelligible things is incorporeal, as being entirely stripped of matter and form. 93. Just as the four elements are from matter and form, so also are the bodies that exist from them composed of the same. 94. The Word, having become flesh out of love for mankind, neither changed what He was, nor did He alter what He had become. ^D

95. As from deity and humanity, and in deity and humanity, so also from two natures, and in two natures, we say there is one God. ^A

96. We confess the one hypostasis of Christ in two natures united inseparably.

97. We glorify the one hypostasis of Christ, and we confess the union of the natures without any confusion. ^B

98. We worship the one essence of the deity as three-hypostasized, and we confess the holy Trinity to be corevidential.

99. The properties of the three hypostases are paternity, filiation, and procession; and common to the same, again, exist the essence, the nature, the deity, and the goodness. ^C

CENTURY III

1. Think good things, and judge well of every man.

2. We shall be required by God in the day of judgment to render an account for words, and deeds, and thoughts. ^D

3. The habit of virtue or of vice moves us to think, or say, or do, either good or evil things.

4. A mind held captive by passions thinks regarding what is not fitting; but words and deeds reveal the thought.

5. Passion precedes evil thought; sense is the cause of passion; and the mind is clearly the cause of the evil use of this [sense].

6. Shut off sense; and war against preconception, and destroy your passions with the weapons of the commandments.

7. Inveterate malice requires long-lasting exercise; for a habit once established is not quickly changed.

8. An exercise intensified by self-control and love, through patience and quietude, easily overcomes the things that are laid upon it.

^A 9. Stir up your mind to pray unceasingly, and you will scatter the thoughts that dwell in your heart. 10. Exercise requires patience and long-suffering; for the love of pleasure is banished by long-continued labor. 11. You will easily train yourself in the toils of asceticism if you perform everything according to measure and rule. 12. Keep an equal measure of asceticism, and do not break the rule except in case of necessity. 13. Just as love and self-control purify thoughts, so do contemplation and the purity of prayer remove all self-exaltation. 14. Monastic labors, such as fasting, vigil, patience, and long-suffering, produce a pure conscience. ^B 15. He who patiently endures the onset of involuntary temptations becomes humble, proven, and hopeful. 16. Patience is the soul's commitment to labor; it consists of voluntary toils and involuntary temptations. 17. The endurance of severe trials gives birth to innocence, and patience that perseveres to the end destroys wickedness. 18. Even if the onset of pains causes a feeling of suffering, the addition of sadness takes away the pleasure. 19. There are four most general passions, which prudence wisely uses against one another. ^C 20. For the onset of sadness suppresses pleasure, and the fear of punishments withers desire. 21. A prudent mind disciplines its own soul, and accustoms its body to every pious exercise. 22. Hasten to show yourself a monk, not just in the outer man, but by freeing the inner man from the passions. 23. The first renunciation is the casting off of things, the second and third are the casting off of passions and ignorance. 24. Anyone who wishes can easily be rid of things, but with no small labor can one be rid of the passions for them. ^D 25. If you master desire, you will also overcome anger; for this is the cause of the disturbance of anger. 26. Have we been freed from passionate thoughts, and do we enjoy pure and immaterial prayer, or not yet? 27. Great is the mind which has been freed from the passions, and separated from existing things, and which lives in God. 28. He who is making progress philosophizes on these three things: in the commandments, in the doctrines, and in the faith of the Trinity. 29. A mind stripped of passions is found to be in these.

in subtle thoughts, in the contemplation of what exists, and in the eternal light. ^A

30. The worst passions in our souls are hidden; but they are revealed when things are put to the test.

31. Sometimes the mind remains undisturbed, having attained a partial state of passionlessness; but it is unproved because of the absence of external objects.

32. The passions are stirred by these three things: through memory, through the temperament of the body, and through the senses, as has been said before.

33. The mind, having closed off the senses and regulated the temperament, wages war against memory alone.

34. The passions are then moved by the senses ^B whenever self-control and spiritual love are absent.

35. Balanced fasting, vigils, and psalmody are accustomed to regulate the temperament of the body.

36. These three things visibly alter the temperament for the worse: disorder in diet, change of air, and the assault of demons.

37. Passionate memories are stripped away through these: by prayer, reading, self-control, and love.

38. First, close off the senses with silence, and then, with the arms of the virtues, fight against the memories that infest the mind.

39. As the abuse of thoughts is malice, so the abuse of works is likewise malice. ^C

40. The abuse of both thoughts and works consists in not using them piously and justly.

41. Reprehensible passions are chains that hold the mind in sensible objects.

42. He possesses perfect passionlessness who is affected neither by the things themselves nor by the memories of them.

43. A good soul benefits its neighbor, and when it meets with ingratitude, it is long-suffering toward him, enduring patiently what it suffers from him.

44. Evil thoughts are such great evils that, unless one renounces them, one does not become a disciple to knowledge. ^D

45. He who listens to Christ enlightens himself; and he who imitates Him corrects himself.

46. Ill-will is a leprosy of the soul; and it occurs from ignominy, from loss, or from suspicious thoughts.

47. The Lord blinds the envious mind, because it is unjustly grieved by the good of its neighbor.

48. A slanderous soul has a three-pronged tongue; for it harms itself, the listener, and sometimes the one being slandered.

^A 49. He who prays for one who has grieved him is free from resentment; and he who does not spare his gifts will be far from the remembrance of injuries.

50. Hatred toward one's neighbor is the death of the soul; the tongue of the slanderer carries and inflicts this. 51. Acedia is a listlessness of the soul: the soul is listless when it has become addicted to the pursuit of pleasures, and thus morbid. 52. He who loves Jesus exercises himself in labors, and by the endurance of labors he drives away acedia. 53. The soul is strengthened through the labors of asceticism, and by doing all things in measure, it drives away acedia. 54. He who masters his belly weakens desire, and does not allow his mind to serve the thoughts of fornication. ^B 55. The mind of the self-controlled is the temple of the Holy Spirit; but that of the glutton is the dwelling place of ravens. 56. Satiety from a variety of foods excites desire, whereas privation makes even dry and plain bread sweet. 57. He who secretly rejoices with the one being envied is freed from envy, concealing himself from the one who envies. 58. Keep yourself far from the one who lives carelessly, even if he possesses a great name among many. 59. Acquire as a friend a man who is diligent, and you will find a shelter for your failings. 60. The careless man is sold to many masters, and he lives according to how they lead him. ^C 61. He is well-disposed to you as a friend in time of peace, but in time of temptation, he fights like an enemy. 62. Before the passions are stirred, he lays down his soul for you; but when they are stirred, he takes away your soul. 63. Uncultivated land is filled with thorns, and a careless soul with unclean passions. 64. A prudent mind bridles its soul, mortifies the body, and brings the passions into servitude. 65. The manifest movements are signs of what is within, just as the fruits produced are signs of unknown trees. 66. Words and deeds expose the hypocrite, and bring the hidden false ^D prophet to light. 67. A senseless mind does not instruct its soul, and separates it from love and from self-control. 68. The cause of evil thoughts is a wicked habit, formed from vainglory, pride, and arrogance. 69. Peculiar to the aforementioned are hypocrisy, guile, craftiness, irony, and the most wicked lie. 70. Envy and strife, anger and wrath, sorrow and the remembrance of injuries are enslaved to the aforementioned.

71. This is the way of those living in negligence, and this is the treasure of those things hidden within me. ^A 72. Hardship and humility save the soul and deliver it from the aforementioned passions. 73. A useful word is proper to a prudent mind, and a diligent act to a good soul. 74. An illuminated mind brings forth wise words, and a pure soul cultivates divine thoughts. 75. The thoughts of a diligent person study wisdom, and his words illuminate those who hear. 76. If virtues are present in the soul, it brings forth good thoughts; if vices have settled in, it gives birth to evil notions. 77. The impassioned soul is a workshop of evil thoughts; and out of its own treasure it brings forth evil things. 78. A good treasure is the habit of virtue, and a good mind brings forth good things from this. ^B 79. A mind moved by divine love cultivates good thoughts about God; but under the influence of self-love, it does the opposite. 80. A mind moved by love for one's neighbor unceasingly thinks good things about him; on the contrary, one that is differently affected imagines evil things. 81. Virtues are the causes of good thoughts, and commandments are the causes of virtues; but the cause of putting these into effect is the will. 82. Virtues and vices, whether they are performed or omitted, affect the soul for better or worse as they stir up thoughts against one another. ^C 83. Vices are the causes of evil thoughts, disobedience is the cause of vices, the deception of the senses is the cause of disobedience, and negligence of the mind regarding its own security is the cause of deception. 84. In those who are progressing, the dispositions toward opposites are easily changeable. In the perfect, however, both habits are difficult to move. 85. The strength of the soul is a habit of virtue that is difficult to move, having attained which, one might say with the invincible Paul: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? and what follows. 86. Self-love precedes all passions, and pride follows last of all. ^D 87. The three most general thoughts of desire have their origin from the passion of self-love. 88. You should certainly understand the thoughts of gluttony, vainglory, and avarice, which are followed by all other impassioned thoughts, though not all of them commonly. 89. The thought of fornication follows the thought of gluttony, and the thought of pride follows that of vainglory; the rest follow them all in common. 90. In common follow those of sorrow, and anger, and the remembrance of injuries, and envy, and acedia, and the rest.

91. Master of all, Christ, deliver us from all these, both from the destructive passions and from the thoughts born of them. ^A 92. For your sake we were created, that we might take delight in you, being placed in the paradise planted by you. 93. We have drawn down upon ourselves current disgrace, having preferred destructive things to those blessed delights. 94. We have received pay within ourselves, having exchanged death for eternal life. 95. Now therefore, Master, as you have looked upon us, look upon us even to the end; as you have become man, save us all. 96. For you came to save those who are lost; do not separate us from the portion of those being saved. ^B 97. Raise up souls, and save bodies, cleansing us all from every defilement. 98. Melt the bonds of the passions that hold us, you who have broken the phalanxes of the unclean demons. 99. And deliver us from their tyranny, that we may serve you alone, the eternal light. 100. So that, having risen from the dead, we may join the angels in dancing the blessed and eternal and indissoluble dance. Amen.

CENTURY IV

1. He who has separated the mind from friendship and flattery toward the flesh; this man has put to death the deeds of the body by the life-giving Spirit. ^C 2. Do not think you have been separated from the relationship toward the flesh, while you still have your mind occupied in things proper to the flesh. 3. Just as sense and sensible objects are proper to the flesh, so too are the intellect and the things perceived by the intellect proper to the soul. 4. Withdraw the soul from sense and sensible objects, and the mind will be found in God and in intelligible things.

CENTURY IV

5. Mental natures are proper to the Godhead and perceptible to the mind alone; but the senses and sensible things were created in the service of the mind. ^A

6. Let the senses and sensible things serve you for spiritual contemplation, and do not let things pertaining to carnal desire conversely serve you through the senses.

7. You have been commanded to mortify the actions of the body, so that you may resurrect the soul which has been deadened by pleasures, through labors.

8. Rule by God, and be master of your senses, and do not give the authority of the better to the worse, in yourself.

9. God is eternal and boundless and infinite; and He has promised eternal goods, both boundless and ineffable, to those who obey Him. ^B

10. It is the property of the mind to dwell in God, and to think upon Him, and upon His providence, and His terrible judgments.

11. You have the power of inclination in both directions; become the better, and make the worse subject.

12. The senses are good, and sensible things are good, as works of the good God; nevertheless, they are in no way whatever to be compared with the mind and things intelligible.

13. God created the rational and mental essence capable of the Spirit and of his own knowledge; and He brought forth sense and sensible things for its use.

13. Moreover, the aforementioned things, which are common to all in the Holy Trinity, are attributed also by way of negation; things are judged more proper to those which are said by way of affirmation. But it is not alike in the properties. For, as was said, some of them they speak of by affirmation, others by negation, such as being generated, and the like. For unbegottenness differs by a singular significance from birth. For by the former the Father is signified as not being begotten, but by the latter the Son is signified as being begotten.

14. Just as it is absurd for an evil slave to have a good master subjected to him, so it is absurd for a rational mind to be the servile subjection of a corruptible body. ^C

15. If the mind does not preside over the senses, it falls into evils through them; for being deceived by the pleasure of sensible things, it brings forth for itself wickedness.

16. While mastering the sense, secure also the memory; for preoccupations through the sense stir up the passions through the memory.

17. Mortify the body, and pray unceasingly, and you shall very quickly be freed from the thoughts arising from preoccupation.

18. Keep yourself continuously in divine words; for industry concerning them consumes the passions.

19. Reading and vigil and prayer and psalmody establish the mind, so that it does not wander concerning the passions. ^D

20. Just as spring moves the plants to sprout, so does dispassion move the mind toward the knowledge of created things.

21. Keep the commandments, and you will find peace; and love God, and you shall attain knowledge.

22. By labor and toil, and the sweat of your brow, you were condemned to eat the bread of knowledge.

b Gen. iii, 19.

CENTURIA IV

23. Negligence led the first parent to transgression, and instead of the delights of paradise, he was condemned to death. ^A

24. Master also yourself, like Eve, and guard against the serpent, so that, if he deceives you, he may not offer you of the tree.

25. Just as the soul according to nature gives life to the body, so also virtue and knowledge give life to the soul.

26. A mind that thinks itself wise is a waterless cloud, driven about by the spirits of vainglory and pride.

27. If you prevail over vainglory, watch out for fornication, lest while fleeing honors, you fall into ignominy.

28. Having fled vainglory, look to God; otherwise, you will fall into the opinion of fornication. ^B

29. It is characteristic of vainglory to be ostentatious; but of pride, to treat others with contempt and to be puffed up with insolence.

30. He who flees gluttony must beware of seeking to please men, desiring to display a pallor of countenance.

31. A beautiful fast is one that rejoices in sparing eating, keeps a simple diet, and flees the desire to please men.

32. When you fast until evening, do not satisfy yourself to the full, so that you do not build up again what you have once destroyed.

33. When not drinking wine, do not satisfy yourself with water; otherwise, you are providing the same material for fornication. ^C

34. Pride causes one to depart from divine assistance, to trust in oneself, and to be puffed up against men.

35. Two remedies lie before us against pride; if a man refuses to accept these, he will have a third, which is very bitter.

36. Prayer with tears, treating no one with contempt, and involuntary afflictions remove pride.

37. The rod is the intellectual [education] through temptations, teaching the one who was uplifted in folly to think humbly.

38. It is the peculiar work of the mind not to tolerate a thought that secretly speaks evil against one's neighbor. ^D

39. Just as the gardener who does not remove weeds chokes the vegetables, so the mind that does not cleanse its thoughts destroys its labors.

40. A man of understanding is he who listens to advice, and especially to the spiritual father who counsels according to God.

41. One who is deadened by the passions does not perceive counsel, nor does he tolerate spiritual education at all.

42. He who does not accept counsel does not set his paths straight, but is always carried along precipices and ravines.

43. A monk is a mind that has renounced the senses, and that does not even tolerate seeing a thought of pleasure. ^A 44. A physician is a mind that has healed itself, and then heals others from those things by which it was healed. 45. Seek out virtue, and do not be deprived of it, so that you may not live basely and die miserably. 46. Our Lord Jesus Christ granted the light to all, but those who are disobedient to Him darken themselves. 47. Do not consider the loss of virtue to be a small thing, for through it death entered into the world. 48. Obedience to a commandment is a resurrection of the dead; for by nature, life follows upon virtue. ^B 49. When the mind has been deadened by the transgression of the commandment, the death of the body follows of necessity. 50. Just as Adam, by transgressing, fell into death, so the Savior, by being obedient, put death to death. 51. Put vice, to death, so that you may not rise as one dead, and pass from a small death to a great one. 52. Because of the transgression of Adam, the Savior became human, so that by undoing the transgression little by little, He might raise everyone up. 53. That person passes from life to life who has deadened the passions and been separated from ignorance. 54. Search the Scriptures, and you will find the commandments, and once you have done what is said, you will be set free from the passions. ^C 55. Obedience to a commandment effects the purification of the soul, and the purification of the soul effects participation in the light. 56. The tree of life is the knowledge of God, of which the pure person partakes and remains immortal. 57. The beginning of the practical life is faith in Christ; its end is the love of God. 58. Jesus is the Christ and our Lord and God, who granted us faith in Him unto life. 59. Out of soul, and body, and divinity, He appeared to us, so that as God He might redeem both soul and body from death. 60. Let us acquire faith so that we may come to love, ^D from which is born the illumination of knowledge. 61. With the possession of knowledge, these things follow in succession: fear of God, abstinence from pleasures, endurance of hardships, hope in God, dispassion, and love. 62. From sincere love is born natural knowledge. This is succeeded by the ultimate object of desire; this is the grace of theology. 63. A mind that rules over the passions...

^A trusts in God regarding both what He has threatened and what He has promised.

64. To whom faith is given, self-control is required; when this is practiced for a long time, it begets patience, which is a habit of laborious effort.

65. A sign of patience is a love of hardships, in which, having confidence, the mind hopes to attain the things promised and to escape the things threatened.

66. Expectation of future goods joins the mind to the things expected; by dwelling on them, it forgets the present.

67. He who has tasted the things hoped for casts aside the present; for he has poured all his desire into those things.

68. God is the one who has promised the future goods; he who believes this desires the future as if it were present.

69. A sign that the mind is dwelling on the goods hoped for is that it makes a total oblivion of things here ^B and expands itself in the knowledge of the future.

70. Good is the truth which God teaches of the truth, thereby persuading the God-loving soul.

71. The goods laid up for the heirs of the promise are beyond the ages and before every age, and beyond mind and reason.

72. Let us regulate ourselves by the canons of piety, so that we may not be overturned by the passions and fall from hope.

73. Jesus is the Christ, one of the holy Trinity, of whom you are also destined to be a co-heir.

74. He who has been taught by God the knowledge of beings does not ^C disbelieve the Scripture concerning the things aforementioned.

75. Finding the mind stripped of passions, the Holy Spirit gives it instruction, in proportion, concerning all things that are hoped for.

76. In proportion to the purification of the mind, the soul is granted the knowledge of divine things.

77. He who has ordered his body and dwells in knowledge is further purified by that very knowledge.

78. A mind beginning to philosophize on divine things starts from faith, and passing through the things in the middle, it ends again in ^D the supreme faith.

79. At the beginning of philosophy, fear is seen following, but at the end, charity is seen to precede.

80. Starting from proximate faith, the mind concludes its philosophizing in the theology that is beyond every mind, which they define as an unforgetting faith and the contemplation of an invisible reality.

81. Arguments concerning God are not considered by our holy and blessed Fathers from the things which are according to Him, but from the things which are around Him.

82. All arguments concerning Him [—that is, concerning God—] are understood either by affirmation or by negation, for example:

83. The essence, the Godhead, the goodness, and all other things...

that are considered around Him are said by affirmation, such as: without beginning, and infinite, and unlimited; and all those that are negative are understood to be said by negation. ^A 84. Since the unity of the holy Trinity, which is above mind and reason, is more hidden than can be grasped by reason or intellect, they nonetheless say that the aforementioned things and those similar to them are what is considered concerning it. 85. But just as they speak of one Godhead of the holy Trinity, so they also glorify the three hypostases of the one Godhead. 86. They understand, however, the things said by negation and affirmation as common to the holy and consubstantial Trinity, without the designation of the properties; because even of these, they state most by affirmation, and some by negation. 87. They call the properties of the divine hypostases, again, these: for example, paternity, filiation, procession, and whatever else is said strictly. 88. They define a hypostasis as an essence with properties, through which each hypostasis has what is common to the essence and what is proper to the hypostasis. 89. They judge that the things previously stated as common to everything in the holy Trinity by negation are more proper than those which are said by affirmation. ^B However, this is not so of the properties; because even of them, they speak of some by affirmation and others by negation, as has been said before—such as "to be generated" and things similar. For indeed, "not to be generated" differs in singular meaning from "to be generated." For by the latter, the Son is signified to be generated; but by the former, the Father is signified not to be generated. 90. Furthermore, they use words and names for the clarification of the arguments by which those things around the essence of the holy Trinity are considered, as has been said, not to declare those things which are of His essence itself; for things of that kind can be known by no mind, nor declared by any speech, but are known to the divinity alone. 91. But just as they speak of the one essence of the holy Trinity as having three hypostases, so they also confess the holy Trinity as consubstantial. ^C 92. The Father is considered by them, again, as without beginning and as a principle: without beginning, indeed, as unbegotten; but a principle as the generator and producer of those who exist from Him and, being eternal, in Him—I mean the Son and the holy Spirit. 93. The Monad among them, moved as far as the Trinity, remains a Monad, and the Trinity, gathered back as far as the Monad, remains a Trinity: which is very admirable. 94. They understand, indeed, that the Son and the holy Spirit do not lack a beginning, but are eternal. And therefore they are not "without beginning," because they are referred to the principle and source, namely the Father. But they are "eternal," because they coexist with the Father from the Eternal, the former by way of generation, the latter by way of procession.

^A 95. They maintain the one Deity of the Trinity as inseparable, and they preserve the three hypostases of the one Deity as unconfused.

96. They speak of the properties of the Father as being without beginning and unbegotten; and of the Son as being in the beginning and begotten. They say that the beginning of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is not temporal. For how could it be? Rather, they indicate the same source, from which, as light from the sun, they possess their existence from eternity. For they are from him according to essence, even if not after him.

97. The property of the hypostases is strictly guarded by them as immovable and stable, and not falling into one another; and the communion of the essence, that is, the Deity, is inseparable.

98. We confess the Monad in the Trinity and the Trinity in the Monad, as dividing without division, and conjoining in division. ^B

99. We know the Father as the one God of all, and as the begetter of the Son and of the Spirit, and as the eternal and co-infinite and boundless source, and as consubstantial and inseparable. Regarding created things, we know him as creator and provider, and judge through the Son, namely in the Holy Spirit. For "of him," it says, "and through him, and to him are all things." To him be the glory for the ages. ^C

100. They say again that the Son and the Holy Spirit are co-eternal with the Father, but not co-beginningless; co-eternal, indeed, as co-existing with the Father from the infinite; but not co-beginningless, as not being without cause. For they are from him, even if not after him, just as light is from the sun, as has been said before. They say further that they are beginningless when someone considers the beginning from time, so that those from whom time had its origin might not be thought to be subject to time. Therefore, they are not beginningless in relation to the Cause, but they are beginningless in relation to time, as being before every time and age, and above age and time. By these are the whole age and time, and those things in the age and in time, and just as with the Father, as has been said, they are co-eternal. With whom to him be the glory and the power unto the ages of ages. Amen. ^D

THALASSIUS THE ABBOT. LIBELLUS OF THE SAME THALASSIUS TO THE EMPEROR THEODOSIUS.

^A To the most pious and honored, and by God and men beloved, Christian Emperors, Flavius Theodosius and Valentinian, a petition, or exhortation, from Basil, deacon and archimandrite, and Thalassius, lector and monk, and the rest of the Christian monks.

I. The immense kindness and clemency of God, which never ceases to heap his gifts and blessings upon the race of mortals, is conspicuous in all things and above all things. Moreover, among other benefits of God, the knowledge of the truth and the hatred of false knowledge are not undeservedly to be counted: by which, indeed, we have explored and perceived the mysteries of the faith, handed down to the Catholic Church from the beginning by the holy apostles, martyrs, confessors, and bishops, with the aid of the most religious emperors ^B to that end: and first, indeed, by the prince of the apostles, Peter, who, according to the knowledge he had received divinely, confessed it openly and handed it down to posterity: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. XVI, 16); by James, the apostle and archbishop; by John, the apostle and evangelist, and the other evangelists, martyrs, confessors, bishops, and all who have believed and believe in the consubstantial Trinity; by Irenaeus, by Gregory the Great, Bishop of Neocaesarea; by the holy synod of one hundred and eighty bishops gathered at Antioch against Paul of Samosata, which removed him on account of his impiety (for he denied that Christ was by nature God, and the Son of God the Father); by the great and holy synod of three hundred and eighteen bishops held at Nicaea, ^C which confirmed and approved the judgment of those who had gathered at Antioch against Paul of Samosata; by Basil and Gregory, brother bishops; by Athanasius, Bishop of the Alexandrian Church; by Ephrem the Syrian, Gregory the bishop, Ammon the bishop, Vitalius the bishop, Amphilochius, Paul, Antiochus, Eustathius, Methodius, Optimus, Leporius, Ambrose, Bishop of Milan; by the whole African synod; by John, Severianus, Atticus the bishop, by Cyril ^D the Bishop of Alexandria, who even now survives and observes the law of our piety. Finally, no man could easily enumerate all the faithful who have believed and believe in Christ the Son of God, that He is truly very God. For, since...

He became man for our sake, remaining what He was, God, as your piety has also learned, we will not deny what He was. But we believe, and confess, and proclaim that the God the Word, existing as the only-begotten Son of God before the ages, on account of His great philanthropy towards us, became perfect man, just as one of us in all things, sin only excepted, remaining ^A what He was, God, having been born for the salvation of our race from the holy Virgin Mary, as He Himself knows.

II. On account of this true dogma, sincerely preached in the most holy Church of God, and because Paul the heretic was justly cast out, there arose schisms of the nations, a disturbance of priests, and a tumult of shepherds. And so, even now, in the presence of Nestorius, who has taken hold of the episcopal throne—if it is right to call him a bishop—certain of the most devout presbyters in the council have ^B often rebuked him; and because of his disobedience, in that he refuses to call the holy Virgin Theotokos and refuses to call Christ God true by nature, they have cast themselves out of his communion, and they keep themselves apart even until today; and some, in like manner, are stealthily keeping themselves away from his communion. Others of the most devout presbyters, because they were speaking in this holy church, at the "Peace to the seaside," against the evilly-renewed dogma, were forbidden to speak. Whence it happened that the people, seeking the customary teaching of the orthodox faith, ^C cried out publicly: "We have an Emperor, we do not have a bishop." But this effort of the people did not remain unpunished. For a portion of them was seized by the officers and, dragged to the tribunal, was beaten in the imperial city with such savagery as was never common even among the barbarian nations. There were not wanting those who, in the presence and hearing of the people in the most holy Church, protested to his face; but they did not suffer this without grave afflictions, which they underwent on that account. Finally, a certain simple monk, stirred by vehement zeal, stepped into the midst of the church while the synaxis was being celebrated, and ^D attempted to prevent the herald of impiety from entering, because he was a heretic. But Nestorius handed him over, beaten, to the most magnificent prefects; and, having been beaten again and paraded publicly, with the herald shouting before him, he was driven into exile. Nor did this tragedy end at these boundaries. For those who follow the side of him who does all things by force, after his impious sermon, had it not been that God prevented it, would have committed slaughter in the very most holy Church of God.

III. Furthermore, regarding the things we have suffered at his hands, many perhaps will not believe those who hear of it. For by his command and instigation we went up to the bishop's house in order to be informed...

whether what we had heard concerning him was true or not. And he put us off a second and a third time. And then at last he commanded us to tell him what it was that we wanted. But when he heard from us that these things which had been said by him—namely, that Mary brought forth nothing other than a man consubstantial with herself, and that what is born of the flesh is flesh, and is not of the orthodox—he immediately ordered us to be seized. And from there, being struck by the crowd of court-officers, we were led away to the tribunal; and there, like wicked criminals, we were stripped, and being stripped and bound, we were in an unworthy manner tied to the stake and thrown down and beaten, and trampled underfoot. Finally, such things we suffered in the church, unjustly, at the hands of that unjust man, which not even persons of the lowest class undergo in a civil court, not to speak of clergy, ^B and monks, and archimandrites. Furthermore, having been long and greatly vexed there, and wasting away with hunger, we were kept under guard for no short time. Nor did his rage quiet down, content with these things; but even after this, by a certain imposture, we were handed over to the most magnificent prefect of this most celebrated city. And laden with iron, we were dragged to prison; from there again we were extracted, and bound with chains as before, we were presented at the praetorium. And since there was absolutely no one there to accuse us, we were led back by the guards to the place for the accused; and having been led back there, we were again struck on the face by him. Finally, having composed a statement through fraud, he gave his assent, as it appeared later, concerning the natural Son of God, that He was born of holy Mary the Theotokos; adding that there is also ^C another son; and in this manner he finally released us.

IV. Wherefore we again and again entreat your immortal and most pious faith, that you may not henceforth permit the orthodox Church to be adulterated by heretics in the times of your orthodox and most pious reign. We do not ask that the outrages unworthily inflicted upon us be avenged; God knows: but we desire that the foundation of the Christian faith remain unshaken and immovable. Your Majesty should therefore cause a holy ecumenical synod to assemble here as soon as possible, so that with it present, Christ may unite His most holy Church, and lead the people back into one, and restore the priests, the preachers of the sincere faith, to their place, before that impious doctrine spreads further. That also we earnestly pray and entreat, ^D since Nestorius endeavors to strike terror with threats, persecutions, exiles, and cunning and depraved machinations; and in order to make his insanity and his impiety firm, he attacks everything that can be devised without discrimination; neither fearing God, nor revering any man, nor venerating any bishop, nor any priest or cleric, or holy...

^A monk, or religious layman honors; nor does he fear the punishment decreed against the wicked, nor finally any law of those who provoke the divine wrath; but, puffed up by the pride with which he belittles everyone, and relying on money and the power of certain corrupt men; and, that we may speak freely as the matter is, relying also upon your own rule, he does these things. We ask, therefore, that nothing more be permitted to him against anyone, unless first the truth of the orthodox faith be examined; lest, as he zealously strives, having utterly dissipated and overturned this, he slowly introduce his own. For he perceives that those whom he cannot turn away from the faith by any other means, he can turn away by fear; so that, having once attached them to his own opinion, he inflames them to such a point that they dare to inflict even blows as they list in public, and do not hesitate to stir up persecution. Nor does he use the work only of his own supposed clerics or *synkelloi* for this purpose, but also of certain men brought in from external parishes and dioceses; to whom, however, according to the ecclesiastical canons, it is not permitted to reside in another bishopric or church, but they must needs ^B remain in their own parishes or cities where they were ordained, and live there quietly; lest, by the length of their stay and temporary power, the iniquity propagate itself more widely, and it be ascribed to your piety; for God established you as ministers for this purpose, for the glory of Him who glorified you, and who glorifies you, and who will render to you your reward along with all the saints who have well kept the ministries entrusted to them. To whom He said: "Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many; enter into the joy of your Lord." Those who are truly Christians demonstrate by their works how much they attribute to the Christian doctrine. But the faithless and abject, who live for their own bellies, and refer all their own strivings to this end, if they hear anyone confess that Christ is God, they are cut to the heart, just as the Jews of old stopped their ears when the holy proto-martyr Stephen was narrating: "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of the invisible God." Thus also do these gnash their teeth against the Christians, and labor to vent all their fury upon them.

^C

V.