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Four Hundred Chapters on Love

St Maximus the Confessor, tr. Sherwood, 1955

The Ascetic Life

A brother asked an old man and said: ‘Please, Father, tell me: What was the purpose of the Lord’s becoming man?’

The old man answered and said: ‘I am surprised, brother, that you ask me about this, since you hear the symbol of faith every day. Still, I will tell you: the purpose of the Lord’s becoming man was our salvation.’¹

Then the brother said: ‘How do you mean, Father?’

The old man replied:² ‘Listen: man, made by God in the beginning and placed in Paradise, transgressed the commandment and was made subject to corruption and death. Then, though governed from generation to generation by the various ways of God’s Providence, yet he continued to make progress in evil and was led on, by his various fleshly passions, to despair of life. For this reason the only-begotten Son of God, Word of God the Father from all ages, the source of life and immortality, enlightened us who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.³ Taking flesh by the Holy Spirit and the holy Virgin, He showed us a godlike way of life; He gave us holy commandments and promised the kingdom of heaven to those who lived according to them, threatening with eternal punishment those that transgressed them. Suffering His saving Passion and rising from the dead, He bestowed upon us the hope of resurrection and of eternal life. From the condemnation of ancestral sin He absolved by obedience; by death He destroyed the power of death,⁴ so that as in Adam all die, so in Him all shall be made alive.⁵ Then, ascended into heaven and seated on the right of the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit as a pledge of life, and as enlightenment and sanctification for our souls, and as a help to those who struggle to keep His commandments for their salvation. This, in brief, is the purpose of the Lord’s becoming man.’

Then the brother said: ‘What are the commandments⁶ I ought to do, Father, to be saved by them? I would like to hear in just a few words.’

The old man answered: ‘The Lord Himself said to the Apostles after the Resurrection: Go, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded you.⁷ So then one must keep whatever He has commanded, every man that is baptized in the name of the life-giving and deifying Trinity. It is for this reason that the Lord joined to right faith the keeping of all the commandments: He knew that one, apart from the others, was not able to save man. Therefore David, who also had right faith, spoke to God: I was set right towards all Thy commandments; I have hated all wicked ways.⁸ For against every wicked way were the commandments given us by the Lord, and if one of them is omitted, it will surely bring in the contrary way of wickedness.’

Then the brother said: ‘And who, Father, can do all the commandments? There are so many.’

The old man said: ‘He who imitates⁹ the Lord and follows in His footsteps.’

The brother said: ‘Who can imitate the Lord? Though He became man, the Lord was God. But I am a man, a sinner, enslaved to a thousand passions. How then can I imitate the Lord?’

And the old man answered: ‘None of those enslaved to material things can imitate the Lord. But those who can say: Behold, we have left all and followed Thee¹⁰—these receive power both to imitate Him and to do well in all His commandments.’

Then the brother: ‘What sort of power?’

The old man answered: ‘Listen to Him speak: Behold, I have given you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you.¹¹

Now Paul, who had received this same power and dominion, said: Be ye imitators of me as I also am of Christ.¹² And again: There is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the spirit.¹³ Again: And they that are Christ’s have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires.¹⁴ And again: The world is crucified to me and I to the world.¹⁵

About this dominion and help David said in prophecy: He that dwelleth in the aid of the most High, shall abide under the protection of the God of heaven. He shall say to the Lord: Thou art my protector, and my refuge; my God, in Him will I hope.¹⁶ And a little further on: Thou shalt walk upon the asp and the basilisk and thou shalt trample under foot the lion and the dragon; for He hath given His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.¹⁷ But those given to lust and loving material things—listen to what they hear from Him: He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.¹⁸ And a little further on: And he that taketh not up his cross and followeth me, is not worthy of me.¹⁹ Again: Every one that doth not renounce all that he possesseth, cannot be my disciple.²⁰ Therefore he who wants to be His disciple and to be found worthy of Him, and to receive power from Him against the spirits of wickedness, will separate himself from every fleshly attachment and strip himself of every worldly passion. And thus he contends with the invisible enemies in behalf of His commandments, just as the Lord Himself set an example for us in being tried both in the desert by their chief and, returned to civilization, by the demoniacs.’²¹

Then the brother said: ‘But the Lord’s commands are many, Father, and who can keep them all in mind, so as to strive for all of them? And especially myself, who have such a poor memory? I would like to hear a brief explanation, that I may retain it and be saved by it.’

The old man replied: ‘Though they are many, brother, yet they are all summed up in one word: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole strength, and with thy whole mind, and thy neighbor as thyself.²² And he who strives to keep this word succeeds with all the commandments together. And no one that does not separate himself as was said before, from passion for worldly things, can love genuinely either God or his neighbor. Indeed at the same time to attend to the material and to love God, simply cannot be. This is what the Lord says: No man can serve two masters;²³ and: No man can serve God and mammon.²⁴ For so far as our mind clings to the things of the world, it is their slave and scornfully transgresses God’s commandment.’

Then the brother said: ‘What things do you mean, Father?’

The old man replied: ‘Food, money, possessions, acclaim, relatives and the rest.’

‘But, Father,’ said the brother, ‘did not God make these things? And has He not given them to men for their use? How is it that He commands us not to cling to them?’²⁵

The old man replied: ‘It is clear that God made them and has given them to men for their use. Yes, everything that has been made by God is good and fair, so that we who use them may be pleasing to God. Yet, we, in our weakness and material-mindedness, preferred material and worldly things above the commandment of love; and clinging to them we fight with men, though love for every man must be preferred above all visible things, even the body. This is the sign of our love for God, as the Lord Himself shows in the Gospels: He that loves me, He says, will keep my commandments.²⁶ And what this commandment is, which if we keep we love Him, hear Him tell: This is my commandment, that you love one another.²⁷ Do you see that this love for one another makes firm the love for God, which is the fulfilling of every commandment of God?²⁸ This then is the reason why He commands every one that is really desirous of being His disciple not to cling to these things, rather to renounce²⁹ all his possessions.’

Again, the brother said: ‘Since you said, Father, that we must prefer love for every man above all visible things, even the body, how can I love the man that hates and repulses me? Suppose he is envious and aims abuse at me, lays snares and tries to trick me, how can I love Him? This seems impossible to me, Father, of its very nature, as the suffering of grief³⁰ naturally forces one to repulse him that causes it.’

Then the old man gave his answer: ‘With creeping things indeed and beasts that are motivated by instinct, it really is impossible that they should not ward off, as much as they can, whatever molests them. But for those that are created after the image of God and are motivated by reason, that are thought worthy of knowledge of God and receive their law from Him, it is possible not to repulse those that cause grief and to love those that hate them. Hence when the Lord says: Love your enemies; do good to them that hate you, and what follows,³¹ He does not command the impossible, but clearly what is possible; for He would not otherwise rebuke the transgressor. The Lord Himself makes it clear and has shown it to us by His very works; and so too all His disciples, who strove till death for love of their neighbor and prayed fervently for those that killed them. But since we are lovers of material things and of pleasure, preferring them above the commandment, we are then not able to love them that hate us; rather we often, because of these things, repulse them that love us, being worse disposed than beasts and creeping things.³² And that is why, not being able to follow in the steps of God, we are likewise unable to know His purpose, so that we might receive strength.’

Then the brother said: ‘Look, Father, I left everything—relatives, property, luxury, and the world’s good opinion; in this life I have no possessions but my body; still I am not able to love a brother that hates and repulses me, even if I force myself actually not to return evil for evil. Tell me then what ought I to do so as to love him from my heart, or in fact anyone that troubles me or contrives against me in any way at all?’

The old man replied: ‘It is impossible for a man to love his tormentor, even though he think that he has renounced worldly things, unless he truly know the purpose of the Lord; but if by the Lord’s gift he is enabled to know it and lives by it zealously, then he can love from his heart him that hates and troubles him, as did the Apostles, too, after they had known it.’

And the brother said: ‘And what the Lord’s purpose was, I beg to know, Father.’

The old man said: ‘If you want to know the Lord’s purpose, listen intelligently. Our Lord Jesus Christ, being God by nature and, because of His kindness, deigning also to become man, was born of a woman and made under the law,³³ as the divine Apostle says, that by observing the commandment as man He might overturn the ancient curse on Adam. Now the Lord knew that the whole law and the prophets depend on the two commandments of the law—Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and thy neighbor as thyself.³⁴ He therefore was eager to observe them, in human fashion, from beginning to end.

But when the devil, who deceived man from the beginning and thereby had power of death, had seen Him receive at baptism the Father’s testimony and, as man, the Holy Spirit from heaven, consubstantial to Himself, and also when he saw that He had come into the desert to be tempted by himself: then he mustered all his battle force against Him, thinking that in some way he might make even Him prefer the substance of this world to love for God. Now then, as the devil knew that there are three things by which every thing human is moved—I mean food, money, and reputation, and it is by these too that he leads men down to the depths of destruction—with these same three he tempted Him in the desert. But Our Lord, coming off victor over them, ordered the devil to get behind Him.

Such then is the mark of love for God. Now the devil was, by his promises, unable to persuade Him to transgress this commandment. So making use of the wicked Jews and his own machinations, he strove to persuade Him, on returning to society, to transgress the commandment of love for neighbor. For this reason while the Lord was teaching the ways of life, and actually demonstrating the heavenly manner of life, and preaching the resurrection from the dead, and promising believers eternal life and the kingdom of heaven, but threatening unbelievers with eternal punishment, and, in confirmation of what He said, making a display of extraordinary divine signs and inviting the crowds to faith, that vindictive wretch stirred up the wicked Pharisees and Scribes to their various plots against Him in order to bring Him to hate the schemers. He thought that He would not be able to bear up under their plots; and so he would be attaining his purpose by making Him a transgressor of the commandment of love for neighbor.

But the Lord, since He was God, knew his intimate designs; nor did He hate the Pharisees that were thus egged on³⁵—how could He, being good by nature? On the contrary, out of His love for them He fought back against the Instigator: He admonished, rebuked, reproached, berated, ceaselessly did good to those who were egged on, who, though able to resist, yet through sloth had willingly borne with the Instigator. Blasphemed, He was long-suffering; suffering, He patiently endured; He showed them every act of love. Thus against the Instigator He fought back by His loving-kindness towards those egged on—O paradoxical war! Instead of hate He sets forth love, by goodness He casts out the father of evil. It was for this reason that He endured such evils from them; rather, to speak more truly, on their account He, as man, contended until death on behalf of the commandment of love. And, after securing complete victory over the devil, He crowned Himself with the Resurrection for our sake. Thus the new Adam renewed the old. It is what the divine Apostle says: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,³⁶ and what follows.

This then was the Lord’s purpose, that as man He obey the Father until death, for our sake, keeping the commandment of love; that against the devil He fight back, in being subject to attack from him by means of those whom he egged on, the Scribes and Pharisees. Thus by being conquered deliberately, He conquered him who hoped to conquer and snatched the world from his dominion. In this way Christ was crucified through weakness.³⁷ Through this weakness He killed death and destroyed him who had the empire of death.³⁸ In this way also Paul was weak as to himself, yet boasted in his infirmities that the power of Christ might dwell in him.³⁹

Realizing what sort of victory this was, Paul wrote to the Ephesians, saying: Your wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,⁴⁰ and what follows. He said to take the breastplate of justice and the helmet of hope and the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit that they might be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the wicked one, all they that carry on war against invisible enemies.⁴¹ By deeds he showed the manner of wrestling, saying: I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty; I so fight, not as one beating the air; but I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway.⁴² And again: Even unto this hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted.⁴³ And again: . . . in labor and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness, besides those things which are without.⁴⁴

Now in this wrestling he wrestled against the demons that excite pleasures in the flesh, driving them out through the weakness of his own body. But against those who war to stir up hatred, who therefore rouse the more negligent against the pious, that under the thrust of such temptation they may hate them and transgress against the commandment of love—against such he once again by deeds indicated to us the manner of victory, saying: We are reviled, and we bless; we are persecuted, and we suffer it; we are blasphemed, and we entreat; we are made as the refuse of this world, the offscouring of all even until now.⁴⁵ And therefore the demons suggested reviling, blaspheming, persecuting that they might incite him to hatred of the reviler, the blasphemer, the persecutor, their purpose being the transgression of the commandment of love. But as the Apostle was not in ignorance of their schemes, he blessed the revilers and suffered the persecutors and entreated the blasphemers both to keep away from the demons that did these things and to draw near to the good God. With this kind of wrestling he defended himself against these machinations of the demons, ever conquering evil with good⁴⁶ in imitation of the Savior. So, too, he and the rest of the Apostles set the whole world apart from the demons and brought it near to God; by giving way, they conquered those who thought to conquer. Now, brother, if you too hold this purpose, you too can love those that hate you; but otherwise, it is in no way feasible.’

Then the brother said: ‘Of a truth, Father, things are just that way, and no other. And that is why the Lord, when blasphemed and struck and suffering the other things that He suffered from the Jews, endured, yet with sympathy for them as ignorant and deceived. Therefore also He said upon the cross: Father, forgive them, since they know not what they do.⁴⁷ Over the devil’s and his rulers’ trickery and deceit He triumphed on the cross; contended against them for the commandment of love, even, as you said, until death; and granted us His victory over them. He loosed the power of death and bestowed upon the entire world His Resurrection unto life. But pray for me, Father, that I may have strength to know perfectly the Lord’s and His Apostles’ purpose, and that I may be sober-minded in time of temptations and be aware of the schemes of the devil and his demons.’

The old man answered: ‘If you always are attentive to what has been said above, you can have that awareness, but provided you understand that as you are tempted, so also your brother is tempted; that you pardon the tempted and, by refusing to respond to his trick, withstand the Tempter, who wants to bring you to a hatred of the tempted. That is what God’s brother, James, says in the Catholic epistles: Be subject to God, but resist the devil, and he will fly from you.⁴⁸ If then, as has been said, you attend soberly and uninterruptedly to the foregoing, you can know the Lord’s and His Apostles’ purpose: to love men and to have sympathy for them when they fall, but by love to war constantly against the wicked demons. But if we are soft, careless, slothful and confuse our mind with carnal pleasures, we war not against the demons but against ourselves and our brothers; rather, by such things we serve the demons and for their sake fight men.’

Then the brother said: ‘So it is, Father. For out of my carelessness the demons always take occasion against me. I entreat you, then, Father: tell me how I ought to lay hold on soberness.’⁴⁹

The old man answered: ‘Complete lack of concern for earthly things and continuous meditation on the divine Scriptures brings the soul to fear of God; and fear of God brings soberness. Then the soul begins to see the demons warring against it through its own thoughts⁵⁰ and begins to fight back. Of these David said: And my eye hath looked down upon my enemies.⁵¹ As to this wrestling, the Prince of the Apostles, Peter, also said, rousing up the disciples: Be sober and watch, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour; whom resist ye, strong in faith.⁵² And the Lord: Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation.⁵³ And Ecclesiastes says: If the spirit of him that hath power ascend upon thee, leave not thy place.⁵⁴ Now virtue is the place where the mind should be, as also knowledge and fear of God. The admirable Apostle, who contended very soberly and nobly, said: For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty to God unto the pulling down of fortifications, destroying counsels and every height that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every understanding unto the obedience of Christ; and having in readiness to avenge all disobedience.⁵⁵ If, therefore, you both imitate the saints and assiduously devote yourself to God, you will be sober-minded.’

And the brother said: ‘And what should one do, Father, in order to be able to devote oneself continously to God?’

The old man answered: ‘It is impossible for a mind⁵⁶ to devote itself perfectly to God, except it should possess these three virtues:⁵⁷ love, self-mastery, and prayer. Love tames anger; self-mastery⁵⁸ quenches concupiscence; prayer withdraws the mind from all thoughts and presents it, stripped, to God Himself. These are the three virtues that comprise all the virtues; without these the mind cannot devote itself to God.’

Then the brother said: ‘I entreat you, Father: teach me how love tames anger.’

The old man answered: ‘For a fact, it belongs to it to be merciful and to do good to one’s neighbor, to be long-suffering in his regard, to endure what he inflicts, as we have often said. By these means, then, love tames the anger of him who has got hold of it.’

The brother said: ‘Its works are no slight things. Blessed indeed he who can lay hold on it. But I, I am far from it. Still I entreat you, Father: tell me, what is long-suffering?’

Then the old man answered: ‘Perseverance in adversity, endurance of evils, to abide to the end of temptation, not to let one’s anger out by chance, not to speak a word in folly, not to suspect or to think anything that does not become a God-fearing man, as Scripture says: A long-suffering man shall bear for a time, and afterwards joy shall be restored to him. He will hide his words for a time, and the lips of many shall declare his understanding.⁵⁹

These then are the marks of long-suffering. Yes, and to reckon oneself the cause of temptation, also belongs properly to long-suffering. Perhaps that is the way things are. In fact, many of the things that befall us, befall us for our training, either to do away with past sins or to correct present neglect or to check future sinful deeds. He then, who reckons that temptation has come upon him for one of these reasons, is not vexed at its attack, especially as he is conscious of his sin. Nor does he censure him through whom the temptation came; for whether through him or through another, he surely has to drain the chalice of the divine judgments. Rather, he looks to God and gives thanks to Him that pardons; he censures himself and heartily accepts the chastisement, as did David with Semei,⁶⁰ and as Job with his wife.⁶¹ The foolish man often asks God to be merciful; when the mercy comes, he does not accept it, as it did not come, in fact, as he willed, but as the Physician of souls thought fitting. And so he gives no heed and is thrown into confusion: now he is angered at men, now he blasphemes God; indeed he only shows his want of sense and receives nothing but the rod.’

Then the brother said: ‘Well said, Father; yet I entreat you—tell me this also: how does self-mastery quench concupiscence?’

The old man answered: ‘In fact, it keeps away everything that fulfills no need but causes pleasure. It permits one to share in nothing but what is necessary for living, to pursue not the pleasant but the beneficial, to measure food and drink by need, to allow the body no excess of humors, to conserve merely the life of the body and to preserve it undisturbed from tendency to intercourse. In such a way then continence quenches concupiscence. But pleasure and surfeit of food and drink heat the stomach, inflame the appetite to shameful desires and drive the whole animal to illicit union. Then are the eyes shameless, the hand unchecked, the tongue a speaker of charm, and the ear a recipient of foolish reports; the mind a scorner of God, the soul, in intention, a worker of adultery and provoking the body to illicit actions.’

Then the brother said: ‘Yes, indeed, Father, things are that way. But I entreat you to teach also about prayer, how it withdraws the mind from all thoughts.’

And the old man answered: ‘Thoughts are directed to things. Now, of things some are sense-perceptible, some mental.⁶² The mind, then, tarrying with these things, carries about with itself thoughts of them; but the grace of prayer⁶³ joins the mind to God, and joining to God withdraws it from every thought. Then the mind, associating only with Him, becomes God-like. And being such, it asks of Him what is proper and at no time fails of its petition. Therefore the Apostle commands to pray without ceasing,⁶⁴ that, unremittingly joining our mind to God, we may little by little break off our passionate clinging to material things.’

Then the brother said: ‘And how can the mind pray without ceasing? For in psalmody and readings, in ministrations and chance meetings we distract it with many thoughts and sights.’

The old man answered: ‘Divine Scripture commands nothing impossible, since the Apostle himself both sang psalms and read and ministered and prayed without ceasing. For unceasing prayer is to keep the mind in great reverence and attached to God by desire, and to cling always to hope in Him, to be of good courage in Him in all things, alike in our activity and in what befalls us. It was in such a disposition that the Apostle said: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? or distress? and so on; then: For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels.⁶⁵ Again: In all things we suffer tribulation, and are not distressed; we are straitened, and are not destitute; we suffer persecution, but are not forsaken; we are cast down, but we perish not: always bearing about in our body the mortification of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal flesh.⁶⁶

With such dispositions then the Apostle prayed without ceasing. For in every activity, as we said, and in all that befell him he clung to hope in God. For this reason all the saints always rejoiced in their tribulations, in order to come to the habit of divine love. For this reason too the Apostle said: Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Then, further on: When I am weak, then am I powerful.⁶⁷ But woe to us wretches, because we have abandoned the way of the holy fathers, and for that reason we are destitute of every spiritual work!’

Then the brother said: ‘Father, why do I have no compunction?’⁶⁸

And the old man answered: ‘Because there is no fear of God before our eyes, because we have become the resting place of all evils, and, for that reason, we scorn as a mere thought the dreadful punishment of God. For who does not feel compunction at hearing Moses speaking about sinners in God’s person: A fire is kindled in my wrath, it shall burn to the lowest hell. It shall devour the earth and her increase; it shall burn the foundations of the mountains. I will heap evils upon them, and will spend my arrows upon them?⁶⁹ And again: I shall whet my sword as the lightning, and my hand shall take hold on judgment, and I will render vengeance to my enemies, and repay them that hate me?⁷⁰ And at hearing Isaias crying out: Who will tell you: Fire burns? who will tell you the everlasting place?⁷¹ Walk in the light of your fire and in the flames which you have kindled?⁷² And again: They shall go out and see the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me. For their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched; and they shall be a sight to all flesh?⁷³ And at hearing Jeremias saying: Give ye glory to the Lord your God, before it grow dark and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains?⁷⁴ And again: Hear, O foolish and heartless people. They have eyes and see not, they have ears and hear not. Will not you then fear me, saith the Lord; and will you not become reverent before my face? I have set the sand a bound for the sea, an everlasting ordinance, and it will not pass over?⁷⁵ And again: Thy apostasy shall chastise thee, and thy wickedness shall rebuke thee. Know thou, and see that it is a bitter thing for thee that thou hast left me, saith the Lord. I planted thee a fruitful vineyard, entirely genuine; how art thou turned into bitterness, O alien vineyard?⁷⁶ And again: I sat not with the assembly of jesters, but I was in fear of the presence of Thy hand: I sat alone, because I was filled with bitterness?⁷⁷

And who does not shudder at hearing Ezechiel saying: I will pour out my wrath upon thee, and I will accomplish my anger in thee: and I will judge thee in thy ways, and I will lay upon thee all thy abominations; and my eye shall not spare, neither will I show mercy: and then thou shalt know that I am the Lord?⁷⁸

And who does not feel compunction at hearing Daniel explicitly describe the fearful day of judgment,⁷⁹ in such words as these: I, Daniel, beheld till thrones were placed and the Ancient of days sat: His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like clean wool, His throne like flames of fire, the wheels of it like a burning fire. A stream of fire flowed, issuing forth from before Him. Thousands of thousands ministered to Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The judgment sat, and the books were opened (that is, each man’s deeds)?⁸⁰ And again: I beheld in a vision of the night, and lo, one like the Son of Man was coming with the clouds of heaven, and He came up even to the Ancient of days: and He was presented before Him. And there was given Him sovereignty and honor and royal might. And all peoples, tribes, and tongues shall serve Him. And His power is an everlasting power; His kingdom an everlasting kingdom. My spirit shuddered, yes, I, Daniel, in my condition; and the visions of my head troubled me?⁸¹

Who is not frightened, hearing David say: God hath spoken once, these two things have I heard, that power belongeth to God, and mercy to Thee, O Lord; for Thou wilt render to every man according to his works?⁸² Again, when Ecclesiastes says: The end of the discourse—hear its sum: fear God, and keep His commandments, for this is the entire man, for God will bring to judgment every deed, whether good or bad, for what was neglected therein?⁸³

Who does not tremble at hearing things of the same sort from the Apostle, who says: For we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one of us may receive reward for things done through his body, whether good or evil?⁸⁴

Who then will not mourn at our unbelief and at our blindness of soul? For, though we hear all these things, we do not repent and weep bitterly at our own great carelessness and sloth. Jeremias foresaw this and said: Cursed be he that doth the work of the Lord carelessly.⁸⁵ For if we had consideration for the salvation of our souls, we would tremble at the Lord’s word and be eager to follow out His commandments well—and indeed by them we are saved. Yet, when we heard the Lord saying: Enter ye in at the narrow gate that leadeth to life, we preferred the wide and broad way that leads to destruction.⁸⁶ Therefore we hear, when He comes from heaven to judge the living and the dead: Get from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels.⁸⁷

And we hear this, not as having done ill, but as not having cared for the good and the noble nor loved our neighbor. But how shall we endure that day, being thus careless-minded, if also we do evil? Now, Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not kill,⁸⁸ and the rest was said to them of old through Moses; but knowing that for a Christian’s perfection the observance of these alone is not enough, the Lord said: Amen I tell you that unless your justice abound more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.⁸⁹ Therefore at every turn He prescribed the sanctification of the soul, by which also the body is sanctified, and genuine love for all men. And by both these we are able to attain true love for Him. Likewise He gave Himself to us as a model until death, and also His disciples, as has so often been said.

What defence then will we have on that day, we, who have such an example and are so careless? Jeremias mourned over us, who have received so great a grace and are so careless-minded—rather who are filled with every evil. He said: Who will give water to my head and a fountain of tears to my eyes? And I will weep day and night for this people.⁹⁰ About ourselves I also hear Moses speaking: Jacob ate and was filled; and the beloved kicked: he grew fat and thick and gross, he forsook God who made him, and departed from God his savior.⁹¹ Micheas mourns and says: Woe is me, my soul! For the pious man is perished out of the earth, and there is none upright among men: everyone afflicts his neighbor with oppression, they ready their hands to evil.⁹² And the Psalmist likewise says about us: Save me, O Lord, for there is now no saint: truths are diminished from among the children of men,⁹³ and the rest.

The Apostle also prophetically mourned over us and said: There is none that doth good, there is not so much as one. Their throat is an open sepulchre, with their tongues they have dealt deceitfully. The venom of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; destruction and misery in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.⁹⁴ Again therefore, with a look to future things, he writes to Timothy about our present wicked course of life: Know also this, that in the last days shall come difficult times. Men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without affection, without peace, slanderers, incontinent, savage, with no love of the good, traitors, headlong,⁹⁵ and the rest.

Woe therefore to us, for we have come upon the extreme of evil. Tell me, who of us has no part in the aforesaid evils? Is not the prophecy fulfilled in us? Are we not all gluttonous? Are we not all lovers of pleasure? Are we not all mad for, and lovers of, material things? Are we not all savages? Are we not all nurturers of wrath? Are we not all bearers of malice? Are we not all traitors to every virtue? Are we not all revilers? Are we not all fond of scoffing? Are we not all hasty and rash? Do we not all hate our brothers? Are we not all puffed up? Are we not all haughty? Are we not all proud? Are we not all vainglorious? Are we not all hypocrites? Are we not all deceitful? Are we not all jealous? Are we not all unruly? Are we not all listless? Are we not all fickle? Are we not all slothful? Are we not all neglectful of the Savior’s commandments? Are we not all full of evil? Instead of God’s temple have we not become the temple of idols? Instead of dwellings of the Holy Spirit are we not dwellings of evil spirits? Is not our calling upon God the Father make-believe? Instead of sons of God are we not become sons of hell? We, who now bear the great name of Christ, are we not become worse than the Jews? And let no one be vexed at hearing the truth. For transgressors of the law as they were, they said: We have one Father, even God. But they heard from the Savior: You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will to do.⁹⁶

How then can it be that we, transgressors of the commandments as we are, will not hear the like from Him? For indeed the Apostle said that those that are led by the Spirit are sons of God: For whosoever are led by the Spirit of God, he says, they are the sons of God.⁹⁷ How then can we, led by death, be called sons of God? For the wisdom of the flesh is death.⁹⁸ But those led by the Spirit are manifest in the fruits of the Spirit. So then let us know the fruits of the Spirit: For the fruit of the Spirit, he says, is charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, faith, meekness, continency.⁹⁹ So we have these things in us? Rather, would that we had not all their opposites! How then can we be called sons of God and not rather the contrary? For what is born of a creature is like the creature that begot him. This the Lord makes plain, saying: That which is born of the Spirit, is spirit.¹⁰⁰ But we have become flesh, burning with desires contrary to the Spirit, and rightly therefore we hear from Him: My spirit shall not remain in these men . . . because they are flesh.¹⁰¹ How then can we be called Christians, who have nothing at all of Christ in us?

Now perhaps someone will say: I have faith and faith in Him is enough for me for salvation. But James contradicts him, saying: The devils also believe and tremble;¹⁰² and again: Faith without works is dead in itself,¹⁰³ as also the works without faith. In what manner then do we believe in Him? Is it that we believe Him about future things, but about transient and present things do not believe Him, and are therefore immersed in material things and live in the flesh, and battle against the Spirit? But those who truly believed Christ and, through the commandments, made Him to dwell wholly within themselves spoke in this fashion: And I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me. And that I live now in the flesh: I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself for me.¹⁰⁴ For that reason while they were suffering for Him for the salvation of all,¹⁰⁵ as exact imitators of Him and as genuine keepers of His commandments, they said: We are reviled, and we bless; we are persecuted, and we suffer it; we are blasphemed, and we entreat.¹⁰⁶ They in fact heard Him say: Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you. Bless them that curse you, and pray for them that treat you despitefully,¹⁰⁷ and the rest. And by their words and deeds Christ, who works in them, was made manifest.

But we, because we do the contrary of all His commandments, are therefore filled with every uncleanness. For this reason we have become, instead of a temple of God, a place of business;¹⁰⁸ and instead of a house of prayer, a den of thieves;¹⁰⁹ instead of a holy nation, a sinful nation;¹¹⁰ instead of a holy seed, a wicked seed; instead of sons of God, lawless sons, because we have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and serve the evil spirits by our unclean passions, and have provoked the Holy One of Israel.¹¹¹

Therefore the great Isaias mourns over us and cries out, for he wants at the same time to help us in our fall, and says: Why should ye still be smitten, transgressing more and more? Every head in pain, and every heart in grief; from the feet to the head there is no soundness therein. No wound, no weal, no festering bruise is healed; there is no applying of a plaster, nor of oil, nor of bandages.¹¹² Then, what follows? The daughter of Sion shall be left as a covert in a vineyard, and as the hut of a garden-watcher in the cucumber patch, as a city that is besieged.¹¹³ The Apostle also indicated this desolation of our soul, saying: And as they liked not to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them up to a reprobate sense, to do those things which are not convenient; being filled with all iniquity, evil, wickedness, avarice, full of envy, murder, contention, deceit, malignity, whisperers, detractors, hateful to God, contumelious, proud, haughty, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, foolish, dissolute, without affection, without fidelity, without mercy; who, having known the justice of God that they who do such things are worthy of death, not only do them but consent to them that do them.¹¹⁴ Therefore God delivered them up to disgraceful passions to dishonor their own bodies with one another.¹¹⁵ And what follows on this? The wrath of God, he says, is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and injustice of men,¹¹⁶ and the rest.

The Lord also declared this desolation of soul saying: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets and stoneth them that are sent unto her, how often would I have gathered together thy children as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldst not! Behold, your house is left desolate.¹¹⁷ Again, seeing us would-be monks performing corporal services only, but despising the spiritual, and thereby puffed up, Isaias said: Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, attend to the law of God, ye people of Gomorrha. What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? I am full of holocausts of rams; the fat of lambs, the blood of bulls and goats I do not want. For who required these things at your hands? Walk not any more in my courts. If you offer fine wheat flour, it is vain; incense is an abomination to me. Your new moons and sabbaths and great day I will not abide. My soul hateth your fast and rest from work and your festivals. You are become a surfeit to me; no longer will I endure. When you stretch forth your hands to me, I will turn away my eyes from you: and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear you. And why is this? For your hands, he says, are full of blood;¹¹⁸ for, in fact, whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.¹¹⁹ Therefore any ascetic life or practice that is without love is a stranger to God.

For this reason Isaias rebuked also our hypocrisy, saying from afar: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, and in vain do they reverence me,¹²⁰ and the rest. And what Our Lord said of those unhappy Pharisees, I hear also of ourselves, who are the modern hypocrites, recipients of so much grace yet worse disposed than they. Or is it not true that we bind heavy and insupportable burdens, and lay them on men’s shoulders; yet with a finger of our own we will not move them?¹²¹ Is it not so that we do all our works to be seen of men?¹²² Is it not so that we love the first places at feasts, and the first chairs in the synagogues, and to be called by men, Rabbi, Rabbi?¹²³ And if they are not generous in giving us these things, we fight with them till death. And is it not so that we have taken away the key of knowledge and shut the kingdom of heaven against men, ourselves neither entering nor permitting them to enter?¹²⁴ And do we not go round about the sea and the land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, we make him the child of hell twofold more than ourselves?¹²⁵ Or is it not so that we are blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel?¹²⁶ Is it not so that we also make clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within we are full of rapine and avarice—more precisely—of incontinence?¹²⁷ Is it not so that we also tithe mint and rue and every herb; and pass over judgment and the charity of God?¹²⁸ And is it not so that we too are as sepulchres that appear not, outwardly indeed appearing to men just, but inwardly full of hypocrisy and iniquity and every uncleanness?¹²⁹ And is it not so that we also build the tombs of the martyrs and decorate the monuments of the Apostles and are like to those that killed them?¹³⁰

Who then will not lament over us who are of such dispositions? Who will not bewail this great captivity of ours? Therefore we, noble sons of God, are esteemed as earthen vessels. Therefore the gold is become dim; the fine silver is changed.¹³¹ Therefore we, Nazarites of Sion who were brighter than snow, are become like Ethiopians; those that were whiter than milk are blackened more than ink. Therefore our beauty is made darker than soot.¹³² We that were nourished in luxury covered ourselves with dung; our iniquity has grown greater than the iniquities of Sodom.¹³³ Therefore children of the day and of light, we have become children of the night and of darkness.¹³⁴ Children of the kingdom, we have become children of hell. Sons of the most High, we shall die like men and shall fall like one of the princes.¹³⁵ Therefore were we delivered into the hands of wicked enemies, I mean wild devils, and to a king unjust and most evil beyond the whole world¹³⁶—that is, to their prince, because we sinned and did wickedly, transgressing the commandments of the Lord our God, treading under foot the Son of God and esteeming the blood of the testament unclean.¹³⁷

But¹³⁸ deliver us not up forever for Thy name’s sake, Lord, and scatter not Thy covenant. And take not away thy mercy from us¹³⁹ for Thy pity’s sake, our Father who art in heaven, and because of the compassion of Thy only-begotten Son¹⁴⁰ and because of the mercy of Thy Holy Spirit. Remember not our former iniquities, but let Thy mercies speedily prevent us, for we are become exceeding poor. Help us, O God, our Savior. For the glory of Thy name, O Lord, deliver us; and forgive us our sins for Thy name’s sake, Lord.¹⁴¹ Be mindful of our first fruits which Thy only-begotten Son took of us out of kindness and holds for us in heaven, that He may bestow on us a firm hope of salvation and that we may not, because of despair, become worse; for the sake of His precious blood, which He shed for the life of the world; for the sake of His holy Apostles and martyrs, who shed their own blood for His name; for the sake of the holy Prophets and Fathers and Patriarchs, who strove to please Thy holy name. Despise not our supplication, Lord, and cast us not off to the end.¹⁴² For it is not on our justifications that we have relied, but on Thy mercy,¹⁴³ by which Thou dost preserve our race. We beseech and entreat Thy goodness that the mystery, which Thy only-begotten Son effected for our salvation, may not be our judgment, nor cast us away from Thy face. Abominate not our unworthiness, but have mercy on us according to Thy great mercy and according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies, take away our sins,¹⁴⁴ that, coming before Thy holy glory uncondemned, we may merit the protection of Thy only-begotten Son and not be reprobate, as slaves, evil in their sins. Yea, Master, almighty Lord, hear our supplication, for we know no other but Thee. We name Thy name, for Thou art He who worketh all in all,¹⁴⁵ and from Thee we all seek aid. Look down, Lord, from heaven, and behold from the habitation of Thy holy glory. Where is Thy zeal and Thy strength? Where is the multitude of Thy mercy and of Thy tender mercies, that Thou hast permitted our ruin? For Thou art our Father, as Abraham knew us not and Israel had no knowledge of us; but Thou, Lord, our Father, deliver us, because from the beginning Thy holy name is upon us and Thy only-begotten Son’s and Thy Holy Spirit’s. Why hast Thou made us to err, O Lord, from Thy way? Punish us not with the rod of Thy judgments. Why hast Thou hardened our heart, that we should not fear Thee? Hast Thou abandoned us to the self-rule of error? Convert, O Lord, Thy servants, for the sake of Thy holy Church, for the sake of all Thy saints of old, that we may inherit but a little of Thy holy mountain. Our adversaries have trodden down Thy sanctuary. We are become as in the beginning, when Thou didst not rule over us, nor was Thy name called upon us.¹⁴⁶

If Thou wouldst open heaven, the mountains will quake before Thee; and they will melt away as wax in the presence of fire; and fire will burn up the adversaries; and Thy name will be formidable to the adversaries. When Thou dost deeds of glory, the mountains will quake before Thee. From of old we have not heard, nor have our eyes seen a God but Thee, and Thy works which Thou wilt do for them that await mercy. These will meet with them that do justice, and they will remember Thy ways. Behold Thou art angered and we have sinned.¹⁴⁷ Rather, we have sinned and Thou art angered. Therefore have we erred and are all become as one unclean; all our justice is as the rag of a menstruous woman. And we have fallen as leaves because of our iniquities; thus the wind will take us away. There is none that calleth upon Thy name or remembereth to take hold on Thee. And Thou hast hid Thy face from us and delivered us over because of our sins. And now, O Lord, Thou art our Father, and we are clay, all the work of Thy hands. Be not exceeding angered at us and remember not our sins forever. And now, behold, we all are Thy people. Sion, the city of Thy sanctuary, is become a desert. Jerusalem is become a desert. The house of our sanctuary is a curse. The glory which our fathers blessed is burnt with fire, and all our glorious things are fallen together. And with all these things Thou didst bear, O Lord, and hold Thy peace and humiliate us exceedingly.¹⁴⁸

These things, indeed, befell Thy former people as type and figure;¹⁴⁹ but now they are actually fulfilled in us. And we are become a reproach to our neighbors the demons: a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.¹⁵⁰ But look down from heaven, and behold and save us for the sake of Thy holy name. Make known to us the tricks of our adversaries and deliver us from their devices. Turn not Thy help away from us, for we are not sufficiently strong to overcome opposition, but Thou art powerful to save from every adversity. Save us, O Lord, from the difficulties of this world according to Thy kindness, that we may pass over the sea of life with a pure conscience and take our stand untainted and incorrupt before Thy dreadful judgment seat; and then may we be judged worthy of eternal life!’

After having heard all this and being deeply struck with compunction, the brother, in tears, said to the old man: ‘From what I see, Father, there is no hope of salvation left me. For my iniquities are gone over my head.¹⁵¹ Yet, I entreat you, tell me what ought I to do?’

Then the old man answered and said: ‘With men salvation is impossible; but with God all things are possible,¹⁵² as the Lord Himself has said. Therefore let us come before His presence in contrition and thanksgiving; let us adore and fall down and weep before the Lord that made us, for He is our God.¹⁵³ And let us listen to Him say by Isaias: When you return and moan, then you will be saved.¹⁵⁴ And again: Is the hand of the Lord without power to save, or His ear heavy so as not to hear? But our sins make a division between ourselves and God; and because of our sins He has turned His face away, that He should not have mercy.¹⁵⁵ Wherefore He says: Wash yourselves, be clean; take vice away from your souls before my eyes; cease from your vices. Learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, and vindicate the widow. Then come and let us hold converse together, saith the Lord. And if your sins be as crimson, I will make them white as snow; and if they be as scarlet, I will make them white like wool. And if you be willing and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.¹⁵⁶ And again through Joel: Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting, and in weeping, and in mourning. Rend your hearts, and not your garments. For merciful and gracious is the Lord, and ready to repent of evils.¹⁵⁷ And to Ezechiel He says: O son of man, say to the house of Israel: Thus you have spoken, saying: our errors and our iniquities are upon us, and we pine away in them. How then can we live? Say to them: As I live, saith the Lord, I desire not the death of the wicked, but that he turn from his way and live, Turn ye, turn ye from your way; and why will you die, O house of Israel?¹⁵⁸

The third book of Kings tells the following and so shows the excess of God’s kindness. When Achab was in Naboth’s vineyard—which he had possessed himself of by killing him at the instance of Jezabel—he heard the words of Elias: Thus saith the Lord: Thou hast slain, and thou hast taken possession. In this place wherein the dogs have licked the blood of Naboth, there the dogs shall lick thy blood. And dogs will devour Jezabel in the outwork of Israel.¹⁵⁹ And when Achab had heard these words, he rent his garments, and put haircloth upon his flesh, and fasted and slept in sackcloth. And the word of the Lord came to Elias, saying: Behold, Achab has felt compunction before me. I will not bring evil in his days.¹⁶⁰ And David says: I have acknowledged my iniquity, and my sin I have not concealed. I said: I confessed against myself my iniquity to the Lord, and Thou hast forgiven the impiety of my heart. For this shall every one that is holy pray to Thee in a seasonable time. And in a flood of many waters, they will not come nigh unto Him.¹⁶¹ And in the Gospel the Lord says: Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.¹⁶² When Peter inquires: How many times a day, if my brother sins against me, shall I forgive him? Till seven times? He who is good by nature and of incomparable kindness answers him: I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven.¹⁶³ What can be the equal of this goodness? The match for this loving-kindness?

We, then, who have knowledge of the fear of the Lord, yes, and from the Old and New Testament alike, knowledge of His gentleness and loving-kindness: let us turn back with our whole heart. And why should we perish, brothers? Sinners, let us cleanse our hands; double-minded, let us purify our hearts; let us bewail, let us mourn, let us weep because of our sins. Let us quit our vices; let us trust the mercies of the Lord. Let us fear His threats; let us keep His commandments. Let us love one another with our whole heart. Let us say ‘Brothers’ even to those who hate and abominate us, that the Lord’s name be glorified and manifest in its joyfulness. Let us, who are harrassed one by the other, grant pardon one to another, since we are all warred upon by the common enemy. Let us withstand our bad thoughts, calling upon God as our ally; and let us banish from ourselves the evil and unclean spirits. Let us subject the flesh to the spirit, mortifying and enslaving it by every sort of ill-treatment.¹⁶⁴ Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and of the spirit.¹⁶⁵ Let us rouse one another to emulation in charity and good works.¹⁶⁶ Let us not envy one another; nor, grown envious, become savage. Rather let us show sympathy for one another and by humility heal one another. Let us not rail nor jeer at one another; for we are members one of another.¹⁶⁷

Let us cast from us negligence and sloth and stand manfully in strife against the spirits of wickedness. And we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just; and He is the propitiation for our sins.¹⁶⁸ And let us beseech Him with a pure heart, with our whole soul, and He will forgive us our sins. For the Lord is nigh to all them that call upon Him in truth.¹⁶⁹ Therefore He says: Offer to God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows to the most High. And call upon me in the day of thy trouble. I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.¹⁷⁰ And so again Isaias: Loose every band of wickedness, undo the knots of forced contracts, dismiss the broken with pardon, and tear up every wicked paper. Break thy bread to the hungry and bring the poor without shelter into thy house. When thou shalt see one naked, cover him, and despise not the fellows of thy seed. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy remedies shall speedily arise, and thy justice shall go before thy face, and the glory of the Lord shall surround thee. And what follows? Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall hear; whilst thou art yet speaking, He shall say, Here I am. Then shall thy light rise up in the darkness, and thy darkness shall be as the noonday. And God will be with thee continually and thou shalt be filled as thy soul desires.¹⁷¹ You see how in loosing every band of wickedness from our hearts and in undoing every knot of contracts forced for grudges, and in hastening to do good for our neighbor with our whole soul—you see how we are illumined with the light of knowledge, and freed from the disgrace of passions, and filled with every virtue; and are illumined by God’s glory and freed from every ignorance;¹⁷² and praying for things after Christ’s mind, we are heard and shall have God with us continually and are filled with godly desire.

Let us then love one another and be loved by God; let us be patient with one another and He will be patient with our sins. Let us not render evil for evil,¹⁷³ and we shall not receive our due for our sins. For we find the forgiveness of our trespasses in the forgiving of our brothers; and the mercy of God is hidden in mercifulness to our neighbor. Therefore the Lord said: Forgive, and you shall be forgiven.¹⁷⁴ And: If you will forgive men their offences, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your offences.¹⁷⁵ And again: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.¹⁷⁶ And: With what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again.¹⁷⁷ See, the Lord bestowed on us the method of salvation and has given us eternal power to become sons of God.¹⁷⁸ So finally then our salvation is in our will’s grasp.¹⁷⁹

Therefore let us give ourselves entirely to the Lord, that we may receive Him again entire. Let us become gods through Him, for on that account He became man, who is by nature God and Master. Let us obey Him and He will without trouble vindicate us against our enemies. If my people had heard me, He says, if Israel had walked in my ways, I should soon have humbled their enemies, and laid my hand on them that troubled them.¹⁸⁰

Let us place all our hope in Him alone. And let us cast all our care on Him alone, He will deliver us from every trouble, and all our life He will support us.¹⁸¹ Let us love every man sincerely, but put our hope in none; because insofar as the Lord keeps us, all friends also respect us and no enemy can do anything to us. But when the Lord deserts us, then every friend deserts too and every enemy grows strong against us. Even more, he that relies on himself will fall a mighty fall, while he that fears the Lord will be exalted. Therefore David said: For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. For Thou hast saved us from them that afflict us, and hast put them to shame that hate us.¹⁸²

Let us not suffer thoughts that belittle our sins, that conjecture that already they have their forgiveness. For against these the Lord safeguarded us, saying: Beware of false prophets, who will come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.¹⁸³ For so long as our mind is beset by sin, we have not attained forgiveness; for we have not yet produced fruit worthy of penance. Fruit of penance is the soul’s detachment;¹⁸⁴ detachment, the wiping out of sin. And we do not yet have perfect detachment when we are sometimes beset by passions, sometimes not. We have not therefore perfectly attained forgiveness of sins. For we were freed by holy baptism from ancestral sin;¹⁸⁵ but from the sin we had the effrontery to commit after baptism we are freed by penance.

Let us then truly do penance, so that, freed from passions, we may attain forgiveness of sins. Let us despise transient things that we may not, while we fight with men on their account, transgress the commandment to love and fall from God’s love. Let us walk in the spirit, and we shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.¹⁸⁶ Let us watch and be sober; let us at last cast off the sleep of sloth. Let us emulate the holy athletes of the Savior. Let us imitate their combats, forgetting the things that are behind, and stretching forth to those that are before.¹⁸⁷ Let us imitate their tireless course, their flaming eagerness, their perseverance in continence, their holiness in chastity, their nobility in patience, their endurance in long-suffering, their pity in compassion, their imperturbed meekness, their warmth in zeal, their unfeignedness in love, their sublimity in lowliness, their plainness in poverty, their manliness, their kindness, their clemency. Let us not be overturned by pleasures, let us not be softened by thoughts, let us not stain our conscience. Let us follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.¹⁸⁸

And in addition, brothers,¹⁸⁹ let us flee the world and the world’s ruler.¹⁹⁰ Let us leave the flesh and carnal things. Let us run on to heaven; there let us have our citizen rights. Let us imitate the divine Apostle. Let us lay hold on the author of life, let us rejoice in the fountain of life. With the angels let us make chorus, with the archangels let us hymn our Lord Jesus Christ; to whom be glory and power together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and for endless ages. Amen.’

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