having voluntarily renounced marriage, he preferred the divine life of an ascetic: and having long persisted in this purpose of life, he finally becomes patriarch of New Rome. But after he himself also voluntarily resigned the see, Athanasius came to the seat again: and when he also again had wearied of the burden, Niphon, translated from the diocese of Cyzicus, ruled as patriarch over the queen of cities; a man of the monastic life, sagacious in practical affairs, devoid of common education, but prudent in matters and teeming with talent, born in Berrhoea in the western regions, having been superior of a laura on Mount Athos, subsequently made metropolitan of Cyzicus, he finally held the pontificate of Constantinople. But he too resigned the honor by petition. B John, however, by surname Glycas, a man of senatorial rank and logothete of the course, one of the nobles and the most learned, approached the sacred presidency of the people. C When he likewise resigned the dignity, Gerasimus, a man monastic and a priest, who had been born in the city of Philadelphia and had governed the monastery of the Sosandra, held the pontificate of Byzantium. And when he had died in the see, the monk Isaiah, distinguished by piety, a benign, venerable, and modest elder, having his natal land in ancient Epirus, the glory of the monks living on Mount Athos, attained the highest summit of the patriarchate.
THEOLEPTUS METROPOLITAN OF PHILADELPHIA
NOTICE
(Philokalia of the Sacred Neptic Fathers, Venice 1782, fol. p. 855.)D Theoleptus, that great light of the Philadelphians, flourished in the reign of Andronicus the Second of the Palaeologi, about the year one thousand three hundred and twenty-five. At first he led an anchoritic life on the Holy Mountain; then, having accepted the presidency of Philadelphia, [he became guide and mystagogue…]
Then, having accepted the leadership of Philadelphia, A he became a guide and initiator into the finest teachings of Saint Gregory of Thessalonica. For he initiated the young man—who was still living in the world, as is described in the Life of the same Gregory, which the Patriarch Philotheus wrote—into the sacred sobriety and that intellectual prayer. B The present treatise, composed by him, being an excellent demonstration and an accurate rule for the hidden study in Christ, together with the chapters accompanying it, which are set together in the best way through divine thoughts and purity of expression, has been arranged herewith along with the rest. For this is useful, if anything is, and noteworthy for those desiring to gather in a short space the divine wisdom of spiritual philosophy.
THEOLEPTOS, METROPOLITAN OF PHILADELPHIA, TREATISE DEFINING THE HIDDEN WORK IN CHRIST, AND SHOWING IN BRIEF THE LABOR OF THE MONASTIC PROFESSION
B The monastic profession is like a tree, high-branched and most fruitful; its root is the alienation from all bodily things, its branches are the dispassion of the soul and the having of no relationship to the things from which it has made its retreat; its fruit is the acquisition of virtues, and god-making love, and the joy from these that is not interrupted. For the fruit, he says, of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, and the rest. The flight from the world grants the refuge unto Christ. By "world" I mean the friendship of sensible things and of the flesh. He who is alienated from these through the knowledge of the truth is joined to Christ, acquiring His love, for the sake of which he has renounced all the things of the world and "bought" the precious pearl, Christ. C You have put on Christ through the saving baptism, you have cast off the filth through the divine washing, you have brought back the splendor of spiritual grace, and the nobility of your creation; but what has come to pass? Or rather, what has man suffered through his own thoughtlessness? On account of his love for worldly things, he has changed in himself the divine lineaments...
and through his sympathy for the flesh, he has rendered the image useless; the mist of impassioned thoughts has darkened the mirror of the soul, through which Christ, the A intelligible sun, appears. You have nailed your soul fast with the fear of God; you have recognized the darkness of worldly confusion; you have apprehended the fragmentation of your mind caused by noise; you have seen the vain distraction that meets men in their tumultuous life; you have been wounded by the arrow of desire for stillness; you have sought the peace of your thoughts. For you learned: “Seek peace and pursue it.” You desired the repose found therein, since you heard: “Return, O my soul, to your rest.” B Therefore, having pondered this nobility which you received by grace in baptism—but which you cast away by your own will through the passions in the world—you did not neglect to call it back through a good intent. You put it into action by betaking yourself to the sacred monastery, clothing yourself in the precious garments of repentance, and courageously promising to remain in the monastery until death. Now I shall add a second motivation, which tends toward the end of this present life; for the first looked to the present life itself. Initially, you drew near to Christ out of piety, but now, through the conversion of the senses, you are joined to Christ; there you found grace, here you have entered into an obligation; then you were younger and ignorant of the dignity you received, although later, having grown, you recognized the value of the gift and placed a bridle upon your mouth; now, standing in perfect consideration, you perceive the power of your commitment. See that you do not violate this state, lest, like an utterly broken vessel, you be cast into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth; for outside the way of repentance, C there is no other path that leads to salvation. Hear what David declares to you: “You have made the Most High your refuge.” And if you have chosen the life of affliction in Christ, the evils that were expected to come to you from worldly association will not approach you. For one who chooses to repent, love of money, luxury, honor, vanity, and incontinence of the senses will not pursue you; there will not remain against you the illegal agitations of the mind, the captivity of the intellect, the weakening caused by successive thoughts, and every other voluntary perversion and confusion. Nor will the friendship of parents, brothers, relatives, friends, and acquaintances disturb you; nor will untimely and useless association and conversation with them dwell within you. If you will love this renunciation with body and soul, the scourge of pain will not draw near to your soul, the arrow of sorrow will not pierce your heart, nor will it darken your countenance. For those who withdraw themselves from pleasurable habits and cast off all affection for the things mentioned above, blunt the stings of grief; for Christ stands by D souls in their struggles and pours into their hearts an ineffable and spiritual joy, so that they can be fettered neither by the things of this world that please, nor by those that afflict. Christ, to the holy...
A soul that is being exercised, appears and provides the heart with unspeakable joy, and no joy from the things of the world, whether pleasant or painful, can ever take it away. For holy meditations, and memories that bring salvation, and divine thoughts, and words of wisdom ministering to the combatant, keep guard over him in all the paths of his works in God. Hence he treads upon every irrational desire and headlong anger, just as if upon an asp and a basilisk, and he tramples down wrath like a lion and pleasure like a dragon. The reason is that he has withdrawn all his hope from men and from the aforementioned things and has bound it to God, and he grows rich in the knowledge of God, and ever mentally calls upon God for his own help. "For because he has hoped in me," He says, "I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he has known my name; he shall cry out to me, and I will hear him, and I will not only deliver him from those who afflict him, but I will also glorify him."
Do you see the struggles of those who are trained in God, and the rewards that come from them? Make haste, therefore, to translate your calling into action; and just as you have become solitary in body, casting aside the thoughts of things, change your appearance, make yourself a stranger, put away also the words and associations that belong to your kin. For if you do not cease from wandering after external things, you will never arrive at those who lie in wait within. If you do not conquer those who fight against you through visible things, how will you overcome the invisible plotters?
When, however, you have brought to naught the external distractions and have left behind the internal reasonings, then the C mind is raised up in the works and words of the Spirit; and instead of the familiarity of relatives and acquaintances, you perform the ways of the virtues; and instead of the vain words born of worldly conversation, study, and the manifestation of divine words moving according to the intellect, illuminates and gives understanding to the soul. The loosening of the senses becomes a bond for the soul, but the binding of the senses results in the soul's liberation. The setting of the sun brings night; and Christ departs from the soul, and the darkness of passions overtakes it, and the intelligible beasts tear it apart. When the sensible sun has risen, the beasts gather into their dens; and Christ also rises in the firmament of the praying mind, and all the familiarity of the world passes away, and the love of the flesh vanishes, and the mind proceeds to its work, that is, the meditation on divine things, until evening, not limiting the performance of the spiritual law by a temporal interval, and performing it by measure, but D even until the end, when the present life shall conclude the departure of the soul from the body. This is what the prophet also signifies when he says: "How I have loved thy law, O Lord! All the day it is my meditation." He calls the fleeting life of each person "the day." Therefore, curb external associations and turn yourself to internal conversations, while you find a place for pure prayer and...
A the house in which Christ dwells, illuminating and sweetening you by his knowledge and visitation, and preparing you to consider tribulations endured for his sake as joy, and to reject worldly pleasures as if they were wormwood. The spirits of the sea raise up the waves, and if the winds do not cease, the waves do not subside, nor does the sea become calm. So too, the spirits of wickedness stir up in the soul of the slothful a memory of parents, brothers, relatives, acquaintances, banquets, festivals, theaters, and all other phantasms of pleasure, and they whisper to the eyes, the tongue, and the body to engage in these encounters, so that the present hour is spent in vain, and the next, when you remain alone inside your cell, is consumed in memories of what was seen and said. Thus, the life of the monk is brought to an end without profit; worldly operations pass through the memory and leave their marks in the mind, just as the feet of a man walking through snow leave their footprints there. If we provide food for wild beasts, shall we destroy them? If we indulge in foolish friendships and habits by words and deeds, shall we mortify the appetite of the flesh? When, then, shall we examine the life that we have professed according to Christ? The footprints that remain in the snow from one’s feet are destroyed either by the rays of the sun or by falling rain; and the images impressed upon the memory by the pleasurable habit of words and deeds are brought to nothing if Christ arises in the mind through prayer and if rivulets of tears flow from a contrite heart.
If a monk does not conduct himself in a rational manner, how shall he pluck out from his soul the opinions that are ingrained and impressed upon it? You will fulfill the virtues in your body if you lay aside secular commerce. Good thoughts are formed, and divine discourses dwell in the mind, if by constant prayers, poured forth with fervent compunction, you erase from your mind the memories of former actions. For the illumination of faith that works through the remembrance of God, and the contrition of the heart, cut away evil thoughts like a razor. Make the bees your pattern. When they feel the swarms of wasps flying about them, they remain in their hives and avoid their snares. Consider worldly encounters to be like wasps; if you flee these with great zeal, you will retreat to the inner harbor of the monastery, namely, your cell, and there you will attempt to go into your inmost soul, in which Christ dwells, and with Him there is present peace, joy, and firm D tranquility. These are the gifts of Christ, the sun of the spirit; just as he emits light, he sends them forth from himself, and bestows them as a reward upon the soul that receives him with faith and love. When, therefore, you are in your dwelling, think of God, withdraw your mind from all things, and without voice refer it to God; open all the dispositions of your heart to him and adhere to him through love. For this remembrance of God is as it were an intuition: God draws the senses and eyes of the soul to himself, who with his own light considers the mind of the one contemplating him
A For when the mind turns to God, while resting from all the formative notions of existing things, it sees without images; and through an ignorance that surpasses understanding, because of the inaccessibility of the glory, it illumines its own vision. And while it does not know through the incomprehensibility of the object seen, it knows through the truth of the One who is truly Being and who alone possesses the quality of being beyond; and by the plenitude of the goodness gushing forth from there, it nourishes its own love, and fulfilling its own impulse, it is deemed worthy of an unceasing and blessed rest.
These then are the marks of exact remembrance. Prayer is a dialogue of the mind with the Lord, traversing the steps of supplication with the total attentive gaze of the mind toward God. For while the mind is constantly uttering the name of the Lord, and the intellect is clearly attending to the invocation of the divine name, the light of the knowledge of God overshadows the whole soul like a luminous cloud. For both love and joy accompany an exact remembrance of God: "I remembered God," he says, "and I rejoiced" (Ps. LXXVI, 4). And with pure prayer come knowledge and compunction: "In whatever day I call upon you, behold I know that you are my God" (Ps. LV, 10). And again: "A sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit" (Ps. L, 19). For the temple and those of the mind standing before God through active attentiveness and fervent supplication, B the compunction of the soul follows. And as the intellect, the word, and the spirit fall before God—the one through attention, the other through invocation, and the other through compunction and love—the whole inward man ministers to the Lord. "For you shall love," he says, "the Lord your God with all your heart" (in other codices, "with all your mind").
I wish you to know this also, lest, thinking you are praying, you might wander far from prayer and labor uselessly and run in vain. Just as this occurs in the psalmody of the mouth, while the mind is carried elsewhere, being divided among passions and affairs of the world, so that from this the understanding of the psalmody is also harmed, so too does this happen in the mind. For often, while the words of prayer go forth, the mind does not accompany them, and it does not fix its gaze on C God, toward whom the dialogue is directed in prayer; but it is secretly turned aside by certain thoughts. And while the intellect habitually speaks the words, the mind slips away from the knowledge of God. Hence, at that time, the soul appears uncomprehending and undisposed, as the mind is scattered into certain fantasies and becomes distracted toward things to which it is stolen or by which it is desired. For when the prayerful knowledge is not present, nor is the one who is praying standing before the one to whom he is praying, how will the soul be sweetened? How will a heart that pretends to pray, but does not provide true prayer, rejoice? "The heart of those who seek the Lord shall rejoice." Now he seeks the Lord who, with a totally fervent disposition D of mind, falls before God, all worldly...
A thought being banished by reason of the knowledge and love of God which are supplied by continuous and pure prayer.
I, however, for the sake of clarity regarding the intuition in the mind according to divine remembrance, and the dignity according to pure prayer in the intellect, put forward the bodily eye and the tongue as an image. For that which the pupil is to the eye, and the utterance of the word is to the tongue, that is remembrance to the mind, and prayer to the intellect. For as the eye, having received by its visual sense the visible object set before it, makes no sound, but by the experience of sight receives the knowledge of what is seen; so also the intellect, through remembrance, drawing near to God with desire, B by the attachment of the constant disposition and by the silence of the most simple intuition, is illuminated by the divine radiance, receiving a pledge of future brightness. And just as again the tongue, producing the words of speech, manifests the hidden will of the mind to the listener; so also the intellect, by frequently and fervently announcing the short-syllabled words of prayer, reveals the soul’s petition to the God who knows all things, and by the beseeching assiduity and persistent contrition of the heart, the contrition opens the merciful bowels of the compassionate One, and receives abundant salvation. "For a contrite and humbled heart," He says, "God will not despise." C He will guide you into pure prayer, as is done toward a king on earth. For when you approach a king, you stand before him with your body, you beseech him with your tongue, and you gaze at him with your eye, and thus you draw royal favor to yourself. Do this also when you are in the assembly of the Church, or alone in your house. For when you are gathered in the Lord with your brothers, just as you present yourself to God by the posture of your body and the psalmody of your tongue, so too keep your mind attentive to the words and to God, knowing to whom you are speaking and addressing. For when the intellect is occupied intently and purely with prayer, the heart is deemed worthy of ineffable joy D and peace. When you are alone again in your house, waiting faithfully, the prayer of the intellect will come forth with a sober mind and a contrite spirit, and your contemplation will dwell within you on account of your sobriety, and knowledge will dwell within you on account of your contrition; irrational pleasure will be destroyed, and divine love will enter into you.
Trust me when I tell you the truth: if in all your works you take as a companion the mother of good things, namely prayer, you shall not fall asleep until He shows you the Bridegroom, brings you in, and fills your heart with unspeakable glory and joy. For when all obstacles are removed, He renders the path of virtue smooth and makes it easy for the seeker.
Consider also the manner of mental prayer. A settled conversation removes the dissipation of the passions; the conversion of the mind to God flees the thoughts of the world; the contrition of the soul wards off carnal...
appetites; and prayer is seen in the silent dictation of the divine name, a harmony and union of mind, word, and soul. "For where," he says, "two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." A Thus, then, prayer, by recalling the faculties of the soul from the dispersion of the passions, and binding them both to one another and to itself, unites the tripartite soul to the one God in three hypostases. For, first, by the modes of virtue, it scrapes away the defilement of sin from the soul, then, by painting the beauty of the divine characters through the holy knowledge acquired by itself, it presents the soul to God. For the soul immediately recognizes its own Maker. "In the day," he says, "that I shall call upon you, behold I have known that you are my God." And it is known by him. "For the Lord," he says, "has known those who are his." It is known because of the purity of the image—for every image has its referral to the prototype—and it is known through the likeness according to the virtues, through which it also has knowledge of God, and is known by God. B One who seeks to obtain royal favor employs a threefold method: he either supplicates with his voice, or stands in silence, or casts himself before the feet of the one who can help. And pure prayer, joining the mind, the word, and the spirit to itself, by means of the word, it proffers the name; by means of the mind, it gazes unswervingly at the God who is entreated; and by means of the spirit, it makes manifest contrition, humility, and love, and in this way it entreats the unoriginate Trinity, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the one God.
C As the variety of foods arouses the appetite for their consumption, so the diverse types of virtues awaken the readiness of the mind. For this reason, as you travel the path of thought, gather the words of prayer; and converse with the Lord always, crying out and not giving up; praying frequently, and imitating the shamelessness of the widow who persuaded the implacable judge. Then you walk in the spirit, and you do not attend to carnal desires, nor do you interrupt the continuity of prayer with worldly thoughts. You become a temple of God, singing hymns to God without distraction. Thus, as you advance toward the memory of God, and enter into the inmost parts of the mind, and contemplate the invisible in mystical visions, D and solely with God alone, in conscious outpourings, you celebrate the liturgy [index: entries preserved].
When, therefore, you see a book, take it in hand, and as you read it attentively, bring in knowledge, not passing over the words cursorily, but observing and storing them up in the mind. Then perform the meditation on what has been read, so that your intellect may be sweetened by the understanding, and that the readings may remain unforgotten, and from this, your soul rises up...
A with warmth in regard to divine thoughts. "For in my meditation," it says, "a fire shall be kindled." For just as food delights the sense of taste when it is chewed by the teeth, so divine words, when turned over in the soul, fatten the intellect and gladden it. "For how sweet," it says, "are your words to my throat!" Commit to memory both the words of the Gospel and the sayings of the blessed Fathers, and search out their lives, so that you may have these as subject matter for meditation in the night.
So that you may refresh the intellect when it has grown faint from prayer, through the reading and meditation of the divine words, and so that you may prepare it more readily for prayer, perform the singing of psalms with your mouth; yet with a very quiet voice, and with an attentive mind, not allowing yourself to leave any of the words ungrasped. But if at any time the mind wanders, repeat the verse as often as is necessary, until you have your mind following what is being said. For the mind is able both to sing with the mouth and to remember God. And learn this from natural experience. For as one who meets someone and converses with him also gives attention to him with his eyes, so also he who sings with his lips is able to gaze upon God through the power of memory B. Do not neglect the bending of the knees. For by bending the knee, the fall of sin is symbolized, providing a manifestation of confession; and by rising up, repentance is signified, hinting at a life that returns to virtue. And let each genuflection be completed with the mental invocation of Christ, so that by falling down before the Lord in soul and body, you may render the God of souls and bodies merciful. And if you also perform some quiet task with your hands alongside prayer, so as to banish sleep and listlessness, this too strengthens the ascetic struggle. For all the stated activities, when performed with prayer, sharpen the mind, banish listlessness, render the soul fresher, and make the mind more acute and fervent in busying itself with mental activity.
At the striking of the wood, go out from your cell, looking with the eyes of the body toward the ground, but with your mind and memory ascending to God. When you have entered C the temple and reached the choir, do not engage in inept chatter with the monk standing near you, nor let your spirit run off into vain digressions; but turn your tongue solely to psalmody and your spirit to prayer. When the dismissal has taken place, return to your dwelling and attend to the things established for you by the rule.
When you go to the table, do not look around at the portions of the brethren, nor divide your soul with unworthy suspicions; but look at and touch what is set before you. Then offer food to your mouth, but to your ears the hearing of the readings D
A and to your soul offer prayer, so that, nourished in body and spirit, you may praise with all your might Him who has fulfilled your desire with good things. Rising from there, enter your cell with dignity and silence, and like a diligent bee, labor at the virtues.
When you perform a service together with the brethren, let your hands work, but let your lips be silent, and let your mind remember God. And if at any time someone is moved to idle talk, to cut off the disorder, rise up and perform a penance. Turn away from thoughts and do not allow them to run through your heart and linger there; for the lingering of passionate thoughts brings the passions to life, but puts the mind to death. Rather, as soon as they strike, hasten to kill them with the dart of prayer. But if they persist in knocking, and confuse the mind, and sometimes recede and sometimes approach, know that they are fortified by a previous consent of your will. Therefore, because you have what is just in your soul B by reason of the defeat of your intention, they disturb and trouble you. It is necessary, then, to brand them by means of confession; for when wicked thoughts are triumphed over, they are put to flight. For just as light shining causes darkness to recede, so too the light of confession causes the thoughts of the passions—which are themselves a darkness—to vanish, since vainglory and ease, which gave those thoughts room, have been destroyed by the shame of confession and the hardship according to the rule. Whence, finding the mind now become free from the passions through continuous and compunctionate prayer, they flee away in shame.
For when the combatant attempts to cut off with prayer the thoughts that disturb him, he cuts them off for a moment and restrains their wordiness, as if wrestling and contending, but he is not delivered once and for all; because he cherishes the causes of the troublesome thoughts—the rest of the flesh, and worldly ambition—for which he does not even make an effort toward confession. Whence he has no peace, C because he holds the arguments of his enemies. For who that possesses the goods of others is not required by their owners to return them? And who, being asked to return what he unjustly holds, is delivered from his adversaries if he does not give them up? But when the combatant, having been enabled by the memory of God, loves the renunciation and the maltreatment of the flesh, and performs the confession of his thoughts without shame, immediately the enemies withdraw, and the mind, being free, has the continuity of prayer and the study of divine things without interruption.
Completely reject every suspicion rising in your heart against anyone, as it dissolves love and peace. But accept every calamity approaching from outside with nobility, as it brings about saving patience; patience, which grants a dwelling and rest in the heavens. Finishing your days in this way, in the present life you will live with joy, rejoicing in blessed hopes; and at your departure you will D pass over with confidence, and you will enter the places of refreshment which the Lord has prepared for you upon your arrival, and will repay you for the labors you have undertaken here. You will reign with Him, to whom belongs all glory, honor, and adoration, together with the Father without beginning, with the holy and
good, and life-giving Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
OF THE SAME THEOLEPTOS
1. B The mind, fleeing things external and gathering itself inward, returns to itself—or rather, it communes with the word that is congenitally present to the intellect—and through the word that is essentially present with it, it is united to prayer; and through prayer, it ascends to the knowledge of God with its entire affective power and disposition. Then the desire of the flesh departs, all sense-perception that seeks pleasure becomes idle, and the beautiful things of the earth appear distasteful. For the soul, having placed behind itself all things belonging to the body and concerning the body, comes to be behind the beauty of Christ, following Him with works of dignity and with purity of intellect, and singing: "The virgins shall be brought to the king after her." C Imagining Christ to herself, and seeing Him before her, she says: "I beheld the Lord always before me, for He is at my right hand." By love she is securely glued to Christ, and cries out: "Lord, all my desire is before thee." Always gazing toward Christ, she cries: "My eyes are always toward the Lord." Speaking with Christ through pure prayer, she finds sweetness and is gladdened, singing: "May my discourse be pleasing to Him; and I will rejoice in the Lord." For God receives the discourse from prayer, and as He is loved, and as He is invoked, and as He is sought for help, He grants ineffable joy to the soul that prays. For, remembering God through the discourse in prayer, it is gladdened by the Lord, as it says: "I remembered God, and I was glad."
2. D Flee the senses, and you have rendered the pleasure of sensible things idle. Flee also the images within the mind of pleasant things, and you have rendered the voluptuousness of thoughts idle. The mind, remaining without images, as it does not accept being molded or stamped under the influence of modes of pleasure or of thoughts of desire, is found in simplicity. Rising above all sensible and intelligible things, it raises its awareness to God, uttering nothing else, but deeply and continuously whispering the name of the Lord through constant remembrance, as an infant calls to his father: "I will call…
A unto thee." For just as Adam, fashioned by the hand of God from the earth, became a living soul through the divine breath, so too the spirit, which is formed by the virtues, frequently invokes God with a pure mind and great fervor, is changed by the divine operation, is vivified and deified, so that it might know and love God.
3. If you persist in continuous and sincere prayer, and cast aside the desire for earthly things and raise all your thoughts to God even during sleep itself, and if you become entirely established in the sole remembrance of God, the love of God will dwell within you as another helper. For the crying out from prayer according to one’s disposition brings forth divine love, and divine love awakens and stirs the spirit to manifest B hidden things. Then the spirit, joined to love, reaps wisdom and through wisdom proclaims ineffable things. For God the Word, being named through the crying out in prayer according to one’s disposition, receives the perception of the mind, grants knowledge as if it were a rib, and instead of this, filling up the good disposition, bestows virtue, builds up light-giving love, and leads the mind that has stood outside itself, and is sleeping, and resting from all earthly desire. And love is found to be another helper of the mind that has rested from the irrational attachment to sensible things. Whence it also awakens the mind, as one who is pure, to the words of wisdom. Then the mind, loving this [love] and finding sweetness in it, makes known to others the hidden dispositions of the virtues and the invisible operations of knowledge, through the extension of words.
4. Withdraw from all things perceived by the senses, and abandon the law of the flesh; then the law of the Spirit will be written upon your heart. For as one who walks in the Spirit does not fulfill the desire of the flesh, as the Apostle says, so also he who withdraws from senses and sensible things—that is, from the flesh and the world—comes to walk in the Spirit and to mind the things of the Spirit. Learn this, too, from what God brought to pass in Adam before the transgression.
5. Him who strives for the keeping of the commandments, D and persists in the paradise of prayer, and stands before the Lord through constant remembrance, God delivers from the pleasurable operations of the flesh, and from all motions according to the senses, and from all phantasms according to the mind; and making him dead to the passions and to sin, He makes him a participant in the divine life. For as one who sleeps is likened to the dead, yet exists as living—the one through the operation of the body, the other through the cooperation of the soul—so also he who remains in the Spirit is dead to the flesh and the world, but lives by the mindset of the Spirit.
6. If you know what you are chanting, you receive recognition. From recognition you acquire understanding. From understanding...
[403] arrival at the fruit of knowledge, that is, at activity. Through habitual activity, you perceive knowledge, by which, if you have employed it, you rise to true meditation; thence, through the illuminating words of grace, wisdom arises, which fills the mind with its light and explains hidden things to those on the outside.
7. First, the mind seeks and finds; then it is united to that which is found. The investigation is performed through the word, but the unification through charity. The investigation of the word is founded in truth, while the unification of charity is for the sake of the good.
8. He who ascends above the fluctuating nature of present things, and passes by the desire for passing things, does not look down to the lowest things nor does he desire the beautiful things of this world. Rather, he lifts his eyes upward, gazes upon the beauty of the heavens, and contemplates a happiness subject to no change. B For as for him who gapes at the matter of the earth and bends down toward the pleasures of the flesh, the heavens are closed, as he has the eyes of his mind darkened; thus, he who scorns lower things and turns away from them keeps his mind uplifted and sees the glory of eternity, and perceives the brightness reserved for the saints. Such a one also receives the love of God descending upon him from above, and becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit, and seeks the divine commands, and is led by the Spirit of God, and passes into the adoption of sons; he pleases God and has God well-pleased with him, as it is written: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." (Rom. 8:14)
Never, not even for a single day while you draw breath, should you omit prayer on account of infirmity; hear him who says: "When I am weak, then I am powerful." (2 Cor. 12:10) If you do this, you will receive great benefit, for prayer will lift you up in a short time, with divine grace cooperating; for where there is the consolation C of the Spirit, there infirmity or weariness will not remain.
THE THEOLEPTUS, METROPOLITAN OF PHILADELPHIA CANTICUM COMPUNCTIONIS
Ex meditatione æterni judicii. (Bibl. PP. ed. Lugd. tom. XXII.)ODE I. Agedum, anima miserrima, seclusis hujus vitæ curis, et vitiorum cogitationibus, carnisque voluptatibus, futuri status hominum horribilia considera. D Angor ingens et timor plurimus, animam omnem
A invadet, quando mortalium ossa omnia concursantia, suas quæque coagmentationes, et juncturas diligenter requirent.
Universa terra, velut mulier prægnans, cum tremore mortuos suos ad unum edet. Tuba quippe horrendum insonante, illico unusquisque de loco, redivivus prodibit.
Ad opem tuam, ceu ad petram tutamque anchoram, immaculata Virgo, confugio. Ne me repelle, sed toties in peccata lapsum erige.
ODE II
Flebis affatim, et gemitus dabis altos, anima mea, quando omnium sæculorum mortales nudos resurgere, et ante judicem, qui muneribus non corrumpitur, stare videbis.
In novissimo et terrifico illo die, fratres mei, omnes illic sistemur, in ictu oculi. Nam et feræ bestiæ, et volucres, et pisces quos devoraverint reddent.
Rapidus ignis fluvius, colles, montes et opera hominum per terras furenter absumet. Flammæ universa depascentis impetum et minas quis non perhorrescet?
Non est fidelibus portus alius, Virgo sanctissima, præter te, quæ Christum, tranquillitatem securitatemque nostram, genuisti. Quæ omnes vexationibus, et injuriis inimici dæmonis ceu tempestate jactatos, quieti ac saluti restituis.
Tria ista timeo, o anima: egressum e corpore, in hora mortis occursum veniente communi omnium judice: et quam idem pronuntiabit justam incorruptam sententiam.
ODE III
Terra inflammabitur, mare subsidet ac decrescet; aer concutietur, et totum cœlum involvetur, lumina et astra ejus decident. Quomodo hæc, anima, sustinebis?
Lamentaberis vehementer, anima mea, cum missos festinato angelos, a quatuor terrarum finibus Deo placitos congregare cernes.
En, totum genus humanum attonitum stupebit, cum judicem illum formidandum in duas partes quidquid est hominum secernentem, et actionum trutinæ subjicientem intuebitur.
Dies retributionis veniet, sicut fur in nocte, peccatores omnes exterrens. Tum tu, casta Mater, miserta mei, a supplicio me vindica.
ODE IV
Pudor et confusio operiet facies eorum qui sibi verbo et opere commissorum conscii fuerint. Etenim actiones suas omnes vultu ipso inseparabiliter præ se ferens unusquisque resurget.
A rea et flagellante conscientia liberi, fiducia pleni et hilares apparebunt justi omnes. Suorum quippe laborum multorumque certaminum quæ subierunt mercedem exspectabunt.
Clarisonus tum clamor dicet: Ecce judex venit, ut populos omnes judicet, et pro dignitate quilibet suorum laborum præmia juste accipiat.
Divina luce tua, o bona, animam meam affectionum malarum tenebris offusam illumina: quo tanquam filius lucis opera lucis faciens, a tenebris exterioribus liberer.
ODE V
Mens et renes contremiscent, ubi terribilem illius tubæ clangorem clamoremque audierint. Abyssi ingemiscent, et virtutes cœlorum commovebuntur.
Invenient quo divertant, qui lugent, quique pauperes sunt secundum Deum, et castitatem colunt, et qui per viam angustam ambulant, atque Eden hæreditatem habent, in mansionibus intemeratis permanentes.
Divites ardebunt igne inhumanitatis, et pauperes in tabernaculis, atque in sinu Abrahæ conspicientes, guttam aquæ rogabunt, nec erit qui illis tribuat. Formidemus omnes.
Da mihi, Virgo, pedicas et laqueos vitæ hujus vanæ, ac perituræ effugere, et vires suffice, quibus ad vitam futuram curram, et a stridore dentium me libera.
ODE VI
Judex est incorruptus, judicium imprimis formidabile, ira intolerabilis, et tribunal hoc nulla potest calliditate versutiaque circumveniri. Angeli cum timore et tremore ministrant; libri occulta mortalium produnt. De cætero depone mores improbos, anima, et amaras funde lacrymas.
Cum hinc emigravero, ne, Virgo, me deseras. C Tunc enim nequam spiritus animam meam captabunt. Heu me! qua ratione effugiam illos, aut quid faciam? Heu me! quomodo horribiles locos pertransibo? Tu spes mea, tu portus meus, et ante te ego famulus tuus me prosterno.
ODE VII
Quis erit sensus animæ, cum positi fuerint throni, et ad judicandum judex ille integerrimus consederit, et libri exhibebunt hominum actiones, cogitationes et consilia? Væ tibi tum, o vilis anima et miserrima!
Oratorum ad persuasionem accommodatæ argumentationes, et orationis ornamenta, artificia, verborum strophæ ac fallaciæ desinent; sapientes omnes obmutescent, libri operum loquentur, hominibus angelisque simul audientibus.
Innumerabilium angelorum exercitus astabit ac thronum circumdabit. Homines autem universi stabunt tristes, necessitatem horriferam videntes, et sententiam justissimam metuentes. D
Aspersione roris tui, intacta Virgo, ardorem libidinis meæ restingue. Nam in te Verbum Dei sicut pluvia in vellus descendit, fidelibus gehennæ rogum exstinguens.
ODE VIII
Tunc ordines fidelium examinabuntur, episcopi quoque, sacerdotes, levitæ, monachi: nam in ordine suo quisque resurget, ut quisque actorum suorum rationem reddat.
Trepidabunt omnes principes, opulenti, reges et