Explication of the tripartite nature of the soul.
A Every rational soul possesses three parts: thought, the irascible power, and the concupiscible power. If there is charity and kindness in the irascible power, and purity and temperance in the concupiscible power, then the thought is illuminated; but if there is misanthropy in the irascible power, and licentiousness in the concupiscible power, then the thought is darkened. Now, the thought is healthy and temperate when it holds the passions in subjection, when it spiritually contemplates the reasons of the things created by God, and when it keeps company with the holy and blessed Trinity. And, in turn, it moves according to nature when it loves all men and harbors neither grief nor resentment against any of them. But when the concupiscible power, by means of temperance, humility, and poverty, has mortified the passions—that is, when it is not a slave to the flesh, nor seeks fleeting glory—it turns toward divine and immortal love. For desire has its motion toward three things: either toward the pleasure of the flesh, or toward vain glory, or toward the deceit of wealth; and because of this irrational impulse it scorns God and divine things, forgets its own nobility, rages against its neighbor, clouds the thought, and does not allow it to look up toward the truth. But he who has acquired a superior mind enjoys from this point onward the kingdom of heaven and lives a blessed life, awaiting the blessedness reserved for those who love the Lord.Division and detailed subdivision of the soul.
C The soul is divided into the rational, the irascible, and the concupiscible. The sins of the rational part are these: unbelief, heresy, folly, indiscretion, blasphemy, and consent to the sins that proceed from the passionate part. The cure and remedy for these is: unwavering faith in God and in true doctrines, constant meditation on the oracles of the Spirit, pure prayer, and unbroken thanksgiving offered to God. The sins of the irascible part are: mercilessness, hatred, lack of sympathy, resentment, envy, murder, and constant meditation upon such things. The cure and remedy for these is: humanity, charity, brotherly love, sympathy, long-suffering, and gentleness. The sins of the concupiscible part are: gluttony, fornication, impurity, licentiousness, covetousness, and the desire for glory. The cure and remedy for these is: temperance, fasting, patient endurance of hardship, poverty, the distribution of wealth to the poor, the longing for those immortal goods, the desire for the kingdom of God, and the yearning for adoption.Diagnosis of the thoughts by which every sin is accomplished.
D There are altogether eight encompassing thoughts. The first is that of gluttony; the second is that of fornication; the third is that of covetousness; the fourth is that of anger; the fifth is that of sadness; the sixth is that of listlessness (acedia); the seventh is that of vainglory; the eighth is that of pride. That all these thoughts should or should not bring us trouble is not within our power; however, that we should...remain in them, or stir up the passions, or not stir them up, is likewise within our power. A There is a difference between irruption, adhesion, passion, struggle, consent, and operation. Irruption is a simple reminiscent thought induced by the enemy; such as this: "Do this, or that," as was said to Christ our God: "Command that these stones become bread" (Matt. IV, 3). This, as has been said, is not within our power. Adhesion is the acceptance of the thought suggested by the enemy, and a kind of meditation and parley with it regarding our own purpose. Passion is the disposition born from adhesion, stirred up by the enemy—the passion, namely, that is suggested by him; it is like an acceptance, meditation, and fantasy. The struggle is the conflict, either to cast out the thought of the passion or to give consent, as the Apostle says: "The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another" (Gal. V, 17). Consent is the inclination of the mind toward the passion. Operation is the act itself. B Gluttony is destroyed by temperance; fornication by divine love and the desire for future things; avarice by compassion for the poor; anger by kindness and charity towards all; worldly sorrow by spiritual joy; sloth by patience, tolerance, and the giving of thanks to God; vainglory by the secret practice of virtues and frequent prayer; pride by judging no one and despising no one, as that boastful Pharisee did, but by considering oneself the least of all. The mind, being liberated from these aforementioned passions and raised toward God, already leads a blessed life from this world, having received the earnest of the Spirit; and hence it departs free from passions, with true knowledge, to stand before the light of the holy and blessed Trinity, shining forever with the holy angels. C
Distinction of the passions
Some passions are bodily, others concern the soul. We call gluttony, fornication, drunkenness, and licentiousness bodily; we call hatred toward one’s neighbor, envy, strife, vainglory, and pride things that concern the soul. These work in our soul when charity and temperance are absent; but when charity and temperance are present, all these things are obliterated—some by spiritual charity, others by fasting and temperance. For then the mind receives its own rightful light and sees God without any hindrance. D
On the Providence of God
All things are from God—whether good, sorrowful, or unworthy; yet some things are by His good pleasure, others by dispensation, and others by permission. Things occur by His good pleasure when we live our lives in virtue; for God desires us to live without sin, and to conduct our lives with piety and virtue. (Things occur) by dispensation, when we are chastised after having slipped and committed sin. (Things occur) by permission, when >
A we are fully abandoned if we do not wish either to live without sin or to amend after being chastised, but rather persist in wickedness, as it is written: “God has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart,” and: “He delivered them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient”; that is, He allowed it on account of their free will; and: “Hardening, I shall harden the heart of Pharaoh,” that is, I shall allow it to be hardened on account of his own lack of feeling.
On our free will.
God created man with free will, honored with reason and wisdom, placing life and death before his eyes, so that if he should wish by his free will to embrace life, he might live forever; but if through an evil choice he should choose the way of death, he might be punished eternally. For the things of nature are immutable and are worthy neither of punishment nor of reward. For no one has ever been accused for being white or black, or for being tall or short; for these things are not of our own choosing. For it is those things which depend on our choice that bring with them both punishments and rewards. Therefore, B both are necessary: both our own will and choice, and the aid and protection of God; for if one or the other be missing, the other is useless. For God foreknew, and predestined, and called, but those who were “called according to purpose,” as the Apostle says, that is, according to will and desire; for those who did not wish he allowed to follow their own will. For He does not do violence to, nor does He injure, our free will; for we received free will for an inclination toward both sides, I mean toward virtue and toward vice. None of the things given to us by God for our use is evil; for all things that are from God are good, and very good; only the misuse is evil; for that belongs to our own free will. C Therefore, food is not evil, but gluttony is; nor is the procreation of children, but fornication is; nor the partaking of wine, but drunkenness is; nor wealth, but avarice is; nor glory, but vainglory is. Therefore, we must do everything to avoid misuse, and to use correctly the things granted to us by God; for by doing this, we shall be superior to wickedness and vice, and we shall be found within the limits of virtue.
A clear and brief formula and knowledge of our faith in the Holy Trinity.
We ought to believe as we were baptized; and we were baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, D and of the Holy Spirit; namely, into one essence and divinity, and one royal
power, and beginning, and strength; and three hypostases, or persons, and characters, and if you wish to call them so, properties. For hypostases are one thing, and substance another. For we call substance the commonality of the three hypostases, since the three persons are of one nature and substance. But we call a hypostasis a nature with characteristic properties; for the Father is one, the Son is another, and the Holy Spirit is another—a distinction that divides the properties alone, that is, the hypostases, and not the nature. It is not "one thing and another" in a way that would divide the natures; rather, they are of the same nature and the same substance. For the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are together; but the Father is unbegotten, the Son is the offspring of the Father, as light is from the sun and the Word from the mind; and the Holy Spirit is the emission of the Father. Therefore, it is proper to the Father that He is unbegotten, or not generated, and that He is called Father; it is proper to the Son that He is called Son, and is begotten from the Father; it is proper to the Spirit that He B is called Holy Spirit, and proceeds from the Father. But of the three persons, or hypostases, there is one nature, one will, one operation, one goodness, one power, one purpose. For this reason, we confess one God. For they are not separated from one another, as humans are, nor do they differ in their judgments; but the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit exist together in one another without confusion and indivisibly, interpenetrating. And every person, as has been said, preserves its own property: one, fatherhood; another, sonship; another, procession. If, therefore, anyone should ask you: "What is the Father?" answer him: "That which the Son and the Holy Spirit are, yet remaining the Father." But if he should say: "What is the Son?" answer: "That which the Father and the Spirit are, yet remaining the Son." Likewise also in the case of the Holy Spirit: for this is what the Father and the Son are, yet remaining the Holy Spirit. The property is unchangeable, as the great and divine Gregory says in his theology. For how, he says, could a property remain if it were to move and undergo change? C The divinity, therefore, to speak briefly, is indivisible in the divided—the former according to nature, the latter according to hypostases. Just as if in three suns clinging to one another, there were one commingling of light. When, therefore, we look toward the divinity which is in one nature, and the first cause, and the monarchy, it is one thing that we conceive; but when we look toward the properties and the persons in whom the divinity subsists, there are three that are adored. Furthermore, let there be examples presented which might shadow forth some dim image of such a great matter—I mean the divine nature—according to the theologian Gregory: think for me of the look of an eye, and the source of water, the fountain, and the river; for these are neither separated by any time, nor are they torn from one another in their mutual connection, even if they seem to be divided by their properties; reflect also on the sun, the light, and the ray; on the mind, the word, and the spirit which comes forth together D with the word. But, as someone said: "Let faith be the guide, and not demonstration," and every person ought, through a pure and God-illuminated action, using the Spirit as a guide, so that light might be grasped by light, to believe in the Father, and
A Son, and Holy Spirit, one Godhead and power recognized and worshipped in three hypostases.
Concerning what must be believed regarding the Incarnation of the Lord.
That the Word of God himself, the uncircumscribed, the incorporeal, the only-begotten Son of the Father, Light from Light, the fount of life and immortality, the radiance of the glory, the stamp of the substance, by the will of the Father who is before all beginning and is co-eternal with Him, and by the cooperation of the Holy Spirit, from the virgin blood of the Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, in His own hypostasis fashioned for Himself flesh endowed with soul and reason, and formed it during the nine months' time from her; He was born God in human form, that is, God and man, in one hypostasis bearing two natures, B indivisibly and inconfusedly, and two wills and operations, divine at once and human. For He willed as God and acted, and He willed as man and acted; yet with a natural will and operation, not sinful. For the human nature was assumed without sin; and from this very union they were united in will. Whatever the divine will desired, that also did the will of the assumed nature desire. But we call the natural things will and operation; such as, that He willed to eat, willed to drink, willed to walk; and these He operated and willed. But these He did with the divine nature permitting, not indeed by compulsion as we do; but even the being weary, and the being in agony, and the asking of the Father that the cup might pass away, this C was of the human will. Indeed, even after the resurrection and the session at the right hand of the Father, we confess two natures in Christ, possessed of will and operative power: for where there is a rational nature, there also is will and operation. But we speak of two natural wills, yet one judgment; for the Godhead ordains, and the humanity follows, and permits it to operate both.
Concerning the difference of virtues.
We have received commandments from Christ and our God, which from thence render divine aid, and cause us to live without sin, and to conduct ourselves among men as angels; such as repentance, humility, and constant mourning, the love toward Him wrought from the whole heart, the disposition toward one's neighbor, pure prayer, and the renunciation D of ourselves, and the having the death for His sake always before our eyes, and to walk in His light without ceasing, and to consider oneself lower than every creature, and to supplicate Him unceasingly. For he who with faith performs these divine commandments becomes a son of God, and a son of light, and an heir of God, and a joint-heir with Christ, and conformed to the image of His likeness, and implanted with Him, and, to speak briefly and simply, God by adoption according to grace. There are also other commandments of Christ, which indeed procure remission, yet do not lead us to perfection; such as are...
confessing and declaring one’s own sins, not judging, not curiously interfering in the affairs of others, giving alms from one’s own possessions, bearing the sorrowful things that befall one A generously and with thanksgiving, and acknowledging that one obtains salvation freely and by grace. If, therefore, anyone accomplishes those first and divinely-working commandments, he thence receives the earnest of the Holy Spirit; but if not, let him at least fulfill the second with diligence, so that he may obtain the forgiveness of the offenses he has committed. But if he falls short of both, such a man is useless, wretched, and miserable: and let him expect the punishment prepared for the devil and his angels.
The Discernment of the Nature (and Condition) of Actions
Of actions, some are strictly good, some strictly evil, and some are intermediate. Strictly good are: prudence, fortitude, temperance, justice. Strictly evil are: folly, cowardice, intemperance, injustice. Intermediate are: wealth, poverty, glory, infamy, health, sickness, B much learning, and ignorance. They are called intermediate because in themselves they are neither strictly good nor strictly evil, but become either the one or the other according to the use made of them by those who employ them. For instance, wealth is good if it is given toward almsgiving, but evil if it is spent upon pleasures. Likewise, poverty is good if it teaches us forbearance, thanksgiving, and liberty; but evil if it produces blasphemy and illiberality from our failure to be patient. Glory is likewise good when it teaches us humility and instills in us a desire for future glory; but evil when it induces a servile spirit and persuades us that all things should be done out of fear of men. C Similarly, health is good when we use it to please God and to perform His commandments; but evil when we use it for intemperance and injustice. Likewise, sickness is good if we give thanks and use it as a kind of helper; but evil if we are of an ungrateful mind, and it provokes us to blasphemy and anger. Much learning is likewise good when we use it for teaching and for the help of those who are oppressed; but evil when we use it for vain glory and to champion injustice. Ignorance is also good when it brings it about that we submit ourselves to the learned and receive profit from them; but evil when it persuades us to walk in our own ignorance D and not to follow those who are better. In the same way, all other things are disposed: namely, nobility and ignobility, beauty and deformity, eloquence and ineloquence, strength and weakness, swiftness and slowness, skill and lack of skill, and aptitude and inaptitude for service. All these, as has been said, are among the intermediate; and he who uses them rightly will be in no way harmed by them, just as the blessed Job was not. For, having been tested in both states, he was proven noble and unconquerable, and in all things pleased God. Therefore, it is not fitting to ascribe blame to the things themselves; for nothing of those things which are given by God is evil; but they derive that state from our seduced and voluntarily enslaved will, and from the judgment of the soul concerning these things which is cast toward its own lust—for the soul freely slips into the misuse of these things out of its own love of pleasure, while despising the will of God and His kingdom.