Слово 1

Through labor, those who acquire the Heavenly region as their inheritance do not pay attention to the belly and care of perishable things, like those who pray for profit, thinking that piety will bring them profit, but with spiritual vision, as an undefiled host, illuminated by the light of Divine glory, they partake of piety itself, which nourishes high minds. And you yourself, the secret of virtues, Eulogius, nourishing the sacred essence with the luminosity of the most sublime, removed the burden of the flesh from the host of thoughts, knowing that the substance of the flesh becomes the food of thoughts. And as one who has slain the intrigues with the sting of labor, you entrust me to become the mouthpiece of these deeds of yours. But if it were not for the impudence of breaking the command of love, then I would have refused such a voyage on this sea. Since those who are unanimous must obey rather than resist, then be for me “among those who come to God” (Rom. 15:17), “that the word may be given to me at the opening of my mouth” (Eph. 6:19), and I will be what obedience requires, and it will be given to you to reap the fruits of sowing. The first of the glorious exploits is the pilgrim life, especially when you go out on it as a fighter, courageously leaving your fatherland, clan, and estate and standing up alone for these glorious exploits. If you begin in this way according to God, walking to the beginning of the path 1 with fiery faith, the Divine spirit and dooming yourself to patience, keeping this life unchanged, then your soul on the gilded wings of virtue will fly 2 from its place and hasten to soar to Heaven itself. But the father of sin tries to trim the wings of this life, the land from which the ascetic descends, presenting it to him as in a mirror, especially during painful attacks that occur to him. And while he is still in place, he gradually distracts from the ardently desired relocation; when he realizes that the soul is exhausted by sorrows, then this night raven, bringing night of thoughts, darkens the ray of the Most Perfect in the soul. And if an ascetic alone embarks on a feat in the desert field and his body happens to be stung by illness, then the enemy makes the life of a wanderer all the more difficult for the soul, instilling in him that success in virtues depends not on the place, but on the way of life, and that at home, having consolation from his relatives, he will without difficulty retain for himself the rewards for renouncing the world. There, benefits against illness are also convenient, there is no suffering and painful exhaustion, which one suffers now, especially since the brethren rarely make an effort to receive strangers. “Go especially for this reason,” the enemy will say, “because you will bring joy and glory with you to your relatives, whom you mercilessly abandoned to indulge in unbearable lamentation. For many, even without fleeing their fatherland, among their kinship, have reached the height of virtue” 3. But whoever, upon entering the life of a pilgrim, is clothed in the purple of sorrows and crowned with hopes for labors, with faith, patience and gratitude he will repel the storms of these thoughts rising within him. And the more they pierce the heart, forcing them to return, the more they will proclaim to them: “Behold, I have gone away in flight and settled in the desert” (Ps. 54:8). For with their reproaches they cause us sorrow and flatteringly convince us to return, so that, having deprived us of the intention we had accepted, we could also stop the gratitude shown in patience, and thus, with great freedom, they spread their nets wider and wider, even with the help of relatives. Therefore, let one who begins to practice virtue also weigh the abuse that threatens it, so that if he appears without preliminary exercise, he will not be distracted from the task as if he is unprepared. For the courage of virtue is commendable even in times of peace, but even more commendable is its valor in the coming battle. Virtue allows itself to be seen not so much in what it produces, but also in the disasters that fight it. He is dispassionate who has won, having suffered in many battles, and he is passionate who says that he has acquired virtue without battle. In accordance with the orders of the valiant military leader in his labors, the anger of the opponents is also ordered. A heart that does not have a fight is deprived of the opportunity to show virtue, because virtue (άρετή) is a name meaning activity, and is derived from a name meaning exploits (άριστειά). Virtue does not seek human praise, it is not consoled by honor - this is the mother of evil. The beginning of honor is people-pleasing, and its end is pride. He who strives for honor exalts himself, but he who does not know how to endure humiliation. The desire for honor is a dream, and whoever loves honor dreams of receiving approval. For you, let the work of virtues be an honor, and the desired praise be a dishonor. He who lays aside carnal passions does not seek glory from the flesh, but seeks something better. Let this be a glory for you too. He who desires to be given honor envies the superior in glory, and to this competition he adds hatred. He who is overcome by a strong desire for honor does not tolerate anyone being preferred to him, but admires the primacy for himself, so as not to appear inferior; considers it unbearable to honor someone who deserves praise, and in his absence, the glory of his labors is considered meaningless. Insult to a man who loves fame is the sharpest knife: having received it, he cannot avoid indignation. Such a one is in slavery to a cruel mistress and sold to many rulers: pride, envy, jealousy and all the crowds of spirits mentioned above. And whoever strikes the spirit of honor with humility overcomes a whole regiment of demons. He who, out of humility, makes himself a slave to everyone, will become like the One who humbled Himself and took on “the form of a servant” (Phil. 2:7). If you measure yourself with a small measure, then you will not measure yourself with others. Whoever reveals spiritual weakness in tears will not think highly of his labors. Demons bring the humble into humiliation and insult them, so that, not tolerating humiliation, they abandon their humility. He who, out of humility, courageously endures dishonor, thereby rises even more to the heights of wisdom. The insulted David did not say anything on the contrary, but even stopped the vindictiveness of Abishai (see 2 Sam. 16:10). And when you suffer an insult, do not repay the insult, but tame the one who avenges you truthfully. Bear the insult and close the door to irritation with your lips - this is success for you. Don’t answer anything threatening at all, so as to silence the lips that breathe fire. Then you will cause sensitive pain to those who threaten and offend when you put a bridle on your jaws. When you are silent, resentment will not consume you, and the offender is much more tormented by your silence when you tolerate his insolence generously. Tear away human praise from your insides so that it can first be reflected by an arrogant thought. Be careful of self-indulgence, especially remain silent, so that, while exalting yourself before those who dare to speak freely, you do not somehow humiliate him. One of the brothers was offended by a reverent brother and, having suffered an insult, walked away together both with joy and with sadness, with joy that he was wronged unfairly and was not embarrassed, but with sadness that the reverent brother was deceived and the one who deceived him rejoiced at it. Understand also that the deceiver felt the same way about both, no doubt rejoicing that he embarrassed one, but was more sad that the other was not embarrassed. When the demons see that we were not inflamed by the very act of insulting us, then, attacking in silence, they try to arouse the sovereign in us, so that in absentia we would arm ourselves with courage against those with whom, having been together, we preserved peace. Therefore, when you end an argument or displeasure with a brother, consider yourself to have sinned, so that in the silence in your heart you do not find a struggle of thoughts, of which one will reproach you for causing displeasure, and the other for not repaying the trouble with the same trouble. When strong irritation upsets the brethren in the community, then thoughts inspire us to please the one living in solitude, so that, having deprived us of long-suffering, we are also driven away from love. He who reflects anger from himself with long-suffering and sadness with love, repels two evil beasts, overcoming them with two valiant deeds. He who bends his knees begs the one who has irritated him to stop his anger, takes both away from irritation, because he who reconciles those who are angry overcomes the very spirit of anger. But he himself will become indignant who, by his assistance, encourages his relatives to become angry, because he took upon himself the quarrel of his neighbors. Whoever, for the sake of peace, tolerates an impudent person, strengthens himself to become a son of peace. But one should not only seek a union of peace between people, but also in one’s body, and in one’s spirit, and in one’s soul. For when you unite in peace the union of this trinity of yours, then, as united by the commandment of the Divine Trinity, you will hear: “Blessed are the peacemakers: for these shall be called the sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). And if you pacify the flesh, which desires what is contrary to the spirit, through labor, then you will have the glory of the bliss of the Future Age, having defeated the enemy who in your body “warns against the law of your mind and takes you captive by the law of sin that is in your destiny” (Rom. 7:23). Great is that union of the mind in which joy is added, enlightening the mental eye to the contemplation of the Most Perfect. Why, if we acquire peaceful joy in our labors, then with gratitude we will reflect with it the troubles that befall us and will not accept into ourselves the roaring demon of sadness, which especially attacks the soul, weakening it with sorrows, and prepares a place for the spirit of despondency in order to darken the soul with them and give them new labors. Therefore, let the joy of peace be written in our hearts as a law, which removes sorrow, and extinguishes anger, 4 and drives out hatred, and destroys vindictiveness, and puts an end to despondency, and changes sadness; because, hiding in peaceful long-suffering, like water, surrounding herself with gratitude and patience, she is a sea of ​​virtues and with the cross drowns the opposing horde of the devil. But understand also that there is a vague joy that is contrary to it, and, deceived by a shadow, do not mistake one for the other, because demons also counterfeit spiritual gifts in order to mislead the mind with a ghost and deprive it of its meaning. For spiritual joy comes to the heart without any external reason, because it finds the most exalted leader of sorrow for God; then she betrays the soul and spirit to sadness, because she has made it a captive of spiritual joy. I will also say what experience itself inspired one of the brothers, namely: how, instead of joy in the Lord, the destroyer introduces his own joy, and instead of sorrow for God, he tempts the mind with a sorrow contrary to it, in order, through perverse changes in the soul, to obscure the ray of the Most Perfect through cares. A double sinful sadness is associated with every action: one occurs in the heart without any apparent reason for sadness, while the other is born and invades from strange reasons. Sorrow for God strengthens the soul with tears, not accepting joy and sadness that come from contrary causes, but cares about approaching death and judgment and awaits this with patience and love. Unfulfilled wishes plant sadness in the soul, and prayers and thanksgiving dry them up. Those who are angry are troubled by mutual sadness. If one of them is the first to sober up, rise from passion and give a hand to the other, then with an apology he drives out bitter sadness. Sadness is a disease of the soul and the flesh and takes the soul into captivity, but exhausts the flesh, leaving it in place. Sadness is born from what is disgusting, from sadness comes indignation, and from both of them is born frenzied slander. If you want to suppress sadness and indignation, then embrace the long-suffering of love and put on the joy of gentleness. Let your joy not become sorrow for another. He who rejoices over unrighteousness will weep over favor. And whoever endures sorrows, suffering unjustly, will rejoice brightly, because the future is opposite to the present. Be especially grateful in sorrows, because through them you will more clearly feel the helping grace. Thus, in overcoming the sorrows that befall you in thanksgiving, you will not darken the brilliant beauty of patience. When the demon strikes your flesh with his whip, then he will be the culprit of the greatest reward for you, if you accept his blows as a reason for gratitude. For by this you will put him to flight. And so that your reward may be even more poured out on you for your patience, for this purpose let your patience take up arms with all sorts of courageous labors, because despondency takes up arms against you with all its malice and, observing all your labors, tortures them. And if it finds that someone is not nailed down by patience, then it burdens him and bends him under himself. If the demon of despondency turns out to be weak in the face of patience in labor, then the beast of arrogance again threatens success. Why, if you drive it away with careful prudence, you will drive away the vainglorious spirit with it during the Divine service. When the spirit of despondency attacks you, then it will give your soul the idea that psalmody is burdensome, and the opponent of thoroughness is opposed to laziness, so that, having mastered psalmody, it will give the flesh rest, reminding you that for some reason it is tired. Therefore, when we attend vigils at night, we will not sit down during the service out of despondency, so that demons do not come, gather up the tares of thoughts and sow them in our hearts. For, as soon as we lose the connection of psalmody, we gather a host of thoughts. Having woken up before the service, let us occupy our hearts with bright thoughts in order to prepare ourselves to stand before the psalmody with a vigilant mind. Sometimes the psalm at the vigil should be read quickly, and sometimes it is supposed to start singing the psalm, because we also need to be transformed according to the machinations of the enemy; therefore, if when despondency takes hold of the soul, it is suggested to encourage the tongue to speed up, and sometimes the enemies themselves encourage one to recite, because the intelligent eye from light, like from food, borrows strength and the mind, long occupied with seeing something sublime, following the example of Elisha, acquires a more acutely visual eye. When a thought that is hostile to your heart arises, do not look for another thought in its place in prayer, but sharpen the sword of tears against the hostile thought. For in this way, in the fight, you will deal a powerful blow and will sooner achieve the point that the enemy will retreat from us. Love to decorate yourself with handicrafts, and even more so with prayerful memory, 5 because one is not always, but the other constantly brings benefit to the work. Do not put off paying your prayer duty, obeying the thought that it is time to get down to business, and do not throw things into disarray by disturbing your body, so as not to disturb your heart for prayer. Just as our outer man works with his own hands so as not to burden others, so let the inner man work so that the mind is not burdened. For thoughts then offer their own work to the soul when they find that it is not occupied with thoughts about God; Cultivate both handicrafts out of love for mankind, and the thought of mental strength out of wisdom, so that the first serves to nourish the strange and to ignite your laziness, and the other is a leader for contemplation and cooling of thoughts. Let us boldly attack the pleasure of thoughts, turning all our anger towards them, lest otherwise, while accepting with pleasure what they bring, we would not become to the same extent condescending towards the thoughts themselves. Prepare yourself to be meek and loving to fight: meek with your fellow tribesman and loving to fight with your enemy, for this is what irritability can be used to fight the serpent out of enmity, and also the modesty of the meek serves this purpose, so that in love you can be generous to your brother and fight with intent. Therefore, let the meek one also be loving of violence, not extending meekness to deceptive thoughts and love of violence to those close to him by nature. Do not turn the use of irritability into something unnatural, so that, becoming like the serpent, you become irritated with your brother and, condescending to your thoughts, enter into friendship with the serpent. A meek person, even if he endures something difficult, does not abandon love, for for the sake of love he shows generosity and kindness, covers and endures everything. If the business of love is to be generous, then it is not its business to argue irritably, because irritability arouses sadness and indignation, but love reduces irritability, sadness, and indignation. If your march is firm in love, then pay more attention to it, and not to what offends you. Serve God with fear and love: with fear, as the Lord and Judge, with love, as the Lover of Mankind and the Nourisher. He who has acquired the virtues of love has taken captive evil passions. And whoever has these three virtues from the Holy Trinity: faith, hope, love, will be a city that is surrounded by a triple wall, and fortified like loopholes with these virtues. Do not only show yourself filled with love by not taking from another, but let them know about your renunciation of the world by the fact that you give your own, sparing nothing. When you distribute material things, try to sow clean seeds, so that nettles do not sprout instead of wheat. When you give something, remember God, both the giver and the acceptor, so that He rewards you with praise for renouncing the world. The non-acquisitive person enjoys life carefree, but the covetous person has a constant illness - worrying about wealth. Then you will lead the crowd of thoughts into captivity when you do not devote your heart to worries about material things. Then you will bear the cross without having fun, when you renounce the desire to have property. The thought of material things prophesies for you both old age and illness, so that your hope in God can be divided with your hope in property. Whoever intends to renounce the world, let him protect himself with faith, strengthen him with love, and strengthen him with hope, because faith is not abandonment, but the affirmation of the Most Perfect in the hope of patience and in the love of life. When you renounce all external substance, then pay attention to the dark thoughts that reproach you for poverty and poverty, presenting you with humiliation and disgrace. These murderers are trying to deceive you into repenting of such a glorious virtue. Therefore, if you pay reasonable attention to the feat, you will quickly find that for this very thing, for which they reproach you, a crown is woven for you. For when you renounce the world, you renounce for those deeds for which you reproach yourself. Therefore, do not indulge in the struggle of internal thoughts, because it is not at the beginning of renunciation that the end is praised, but at the end of patience the beginnings are crowned, and it is not only for bodily exercise that one applauds one’s exploits, but through the struggle of thoughts one achieves the right to the crown. Judge your thoughts at the judgment seat of your heart, so that after the destruction of the robbers, their ruler may also come into fear. For a strict examiner of thoughts is also a true lover of the commandments. Therefore, when an inconvenient thought appears to your heart, then use the most intense efforts on it, for he will either run away, unable to bear your ardor, as being contrary to him, or he will endure it, as characteristic of the right path. Sometimes it happens that demons, having inspired a good thought in your heart and soon afterwards transformed, show that they are resisting it, so that from this opposition you can conclude that they know the thoughts of your heart, even not only for you to conclude, but also for them to have the right to judge your conscience as being overcome by good while resisting evil. And sometimes they also point out to you your own vigilance, so that you think about yourself that you are wise. When thoughts are transferred to the place that they assume we love, then they force us to repent of it in order to make us fickle and fruitless in everything. Therefore, let us not stretch ourselves from place to place, but rather surrender ourselves to silence and labor, because through our laziness our thoughts take power over us. Let the one who has experienced the temptation of thoughts remain in the place to which he has been called by God, but the one who has not experienced this is still in struggle. Let the change of place be done for the sake of a more spiritual life, and not a calmer one. Patience, generosity, love in sorrows are thanked, but despondency, frivolity, and self-love love peace. A restless person's soul struggles with visions of the senses, while a lover of peace, protecting his senses, struggles with thoughts. Therefore, let your leader subordinate the behavior of your feelings to the decree of the law, so that neither your sight nor your hearing will deal you disastrous blows to your soul. Consisting of two entities, see that each is given its own rank and, when one gains the upper hand, the other does not contradict. And do not give up the right to command to the tormentor, because when he is consigned to fire, you will also repay the last death. When you overcome the causes of passions and they take flight, then let no evil thought exalt you, lest you, believing the spirit of flattery, lose your mind. But try to calculate what is unfinished in what you are working on, so that the gains of success are not stolen from you by internal enemies. Others, having been praised for their success, over time neglected their labors, and the praise passed by and their labors were lost. Others, being depressed by the burden of evil, are honored as great, and the conscience of the soul is covered with scabs, and the disease intensifies from praise; thoughts, having turned the soul's gaze away from the ulcers, took away the work with praise. When the most industrious are enriched with honors from people, then the demons prepare and bring dishonor, so that, deprived of honors, they will not suffer dishonor and endure insults. When you bring great repentance for sins, then the demons, exalting your exploits in your labors, belittle your sins and often cover them up with oblivion or suggest that they have been forgiven, so that, having relied on your labors, you no longer consider it necessary to bitterly mourn your failures. He who enters into battle in order to cut off the passions fighting him will arm for battle not only passions, but a great number of warriors. Do not forget your fall, although you will repent, let crying serve as a reminder of your sin to your humiliation, so that you, having humiliated yourself, may, if necessary, cut off your pride. If anyone who has done something that is not allowed intends to live well from now on, then he can completely replace his bad actions with correspondingly better ones. For he who opposes every vice with an opposite activity strikes the serpent with arrows from the rational quiver of virtues. And this beast’s sharpest weapon is vanity, which shoots down work. Whoever warned this by secret wars of deeds is close to slaying the head of the devil himself. Seal the aromas of your labors with silence, so that, being resolved by the tongue, they do not become robbed of glory. Hide your tongue in the active pursuit of asceticism. For as silent witnesses to your life and labors you will have reliable companions. He who has no one to testify to his real labors should not testify to himself with his own tongue. Others, having laid aside the burden of labor, present the deeds of the past as a cover of laziness, not quite thoroughly, in the absence of present deeds, using them instead of obvious witnesses. Just as you hide your sins from people, so hide your labors from them, because the secrecy of hesitation opposes the secrets of the heart, and the renewal of warfare strengthens you against them. If we hide errors with caution, and open works on their correction carelessly, then in both cases we do the opposite of what should be done. Are you ashamed to reveal your shame, lest what is good for the soul be turned into reproach and humiliation? Be afraid to show your works, so that the accusation of man-pleasing does not bring spiritual death. But if you reveal shameful failures to God alone, then do not reveal your struggles to people, lest they be honored with victorious crowns. Let those who have received the strength to work from grace not think that they have it because of their own strength. For the cause of everything good in us is the word of the commandments, just as the cause of everything bad is the inspirer of the deceptive 6 . Therefore, whatever good you do, bring thanks to the Author of goodness. And if something bad bothers you, then turn it over to the main culprit of the bad. The end of all labor is to bring thanks to the Most Perfect, so that when your offering is brought legally, evil will be put to shame. Whoever adds gratitude to the deed will have an unstealable treasure of the heart, having built a double wall against sin. The man who combines knowledge with activity, so that from both sources the spiritual field can be watered for the growth of virtue, is worthy of praise. For knowledge elevates the mental essence to the contemplation of the Most Perfect, and activity mortifies “the evils... that are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, malice, evil lust” (Col. 3:5). Therefore, those who have protected themselves with all the armor of both activity and knowledge are already conveniently stepping on demonic deceit. Demons fight with the soul with thoughts, but are strongly repelled by patience, even seeing this powerful leader of the battle, they timidly enter into the fight. If you want to wage war with a horde of demons, then block the gates of your soul with silence and apply your ear to the words of the fatherland, so that then, more precisely, having learned, the thorns of your thoughts will be burned for you. When you listen to your father's advice, be not a judge of deeds, but a tester of speech. Such thoughts tend to draw your attention to the activities of the advisee, so that, having made him a formidable judge, they may turn you away from useful advice. When someone offers you advice, even though you are knowledgeable, do not reject it. For if the active is detached from the power of knowledge, then the one who brings both virtues into harmony needs terrible truthfulness in court. He who does not allow the father’s commandment to be heard, disobeys the commandment of the Law. Not only talk with pleasure about the successes of your fathers, but also demand from yourself to be the most hardworking worker in them. He who carefully searches for which thoughts oppose which work turns out to be skillful in the fight against error. If in the whole totality of your spiritual works you are missing something, then the thought that stole it creeps in instead. Remember this, so that the heart maintains prudence in its work and so that the forgetfulness of caring for the best works, having robbed it, does not give it over into captivity to thoughts, because forgetting about this captivity paves the way for vice, so that, as soon as the mind is robbed, it enters it unhindered. A mind in which the thought of God has been stolen and which has become far from remembering Him, sins equally with external feelings. And such a mind is not able to be a leader of both hearing and language, because within it there is no commitment to work. When one loves to listen to how another reviles someone, then both contribute to two spirits promoting each other, because hearing something bad about someone becomes conducive to condemnation and they love each other to the destruction of their hearts. Stop your mouth from gossip, so that you do not fall into double iniquity with them, accustoming yourself to a dangerous passion, and not restraining others from speaking evil. He who loves to mock plunders what is best in the soul, undermining weak hearing with slander. He who runs away from the tongue that slanders his neighbor will himself avoid the vice of slander. He who listens with pleasure to a slanderer sucks in animal poison with his ears. Let not your ear taste this bitter poison, lest you dissolve it somehow for someone else. Do not upset your ears with gossip, so that when you are sold to this passion, you do not become a slave to many passions, because one passion, having found a place in you, introduces other passions into the same enclosure. The master's mind becomes a slave to many vices when, having united with passion, it renounces work. He who tries to understand the ridicule of others does not actually examine his own actions. Do not laugh at the one who has ended his life as if he lived carelessly, lest, out of habit of judging the living, you become an evil judge of the dead. Do not pursue the fallen with an arrogant thought that puffs you up as a judge, but examine yourself with a sober thought that evaluates your actions. When you fall, sigh, and when you succeed, do not be arrogant. Do not be magnified because you are worthy of contempt, lest instead of adornment you be clothed with vice. Others, not having the opportunity to become known for reverence, tried to gain fame for vice. Others, filled with envy, humiliate those who have established virtues, striking them with fictitious accusations. Others, having become famous among the people for their bad behavior, take on the appearance of living an honest life, not in order to mourn their sinful falls in labor, but in order to drown out the reproachful rumors about them. But do not decorate yourself for the one who deceives you and do not rejoice that you are deceived. For if you acquire only the name of zealous, then you work not for God, but for people. Do not get close to someone who does not live through work, although in this he brings great glory to himself. He is a friend to please, but time will become his accuser. Make a mocker a caring friend so that you can find in him a cover for your downfalls, and what is worthy of envy in you, hide especially from the envious one. When your friend, humiliated by praise of your work, indulges in envy and even in front of strangers will amaze your work with words of vanity, in order to darken the glory spreading about you with ridicule of you, then do not pay attention to his envy and do not be tormented by this, so that bitter poison does not pour into your soul. For Satan’s job is to both inflame him with envy and kill you with grief. It is better for us to humble ourselves before such people, “doing more honor... to do more” (Rom. 12:10) and pleasing them at meals, in order to tame the spirit enraged by jealousy. Do not reproach a friend for jealousy as if from another person, so that, reproaching him as if through the lips of a friend, you will make yourself appear innocent and exalt yourself before him as blameless. For this is the transformation of Satan, who, on behalf of the serpent, blasphemes the Almighty, so that, as through the mouth of another who expressed his hatred of God, he himself would not be considered a hater. Do not try to catch your brother in his fall, with the intention of somehow enslaving him to yourself, so that you yourself do not become an accomplice of Satan. He who has fallen, let him not observe what others say or in what they fall, so as not to be the only one to fall into evil (for this too was the first deed of the devil after his fall), but let him repent of indecent actions, recognizing that tears of sorrow are necessary against them, and also let him acquire the first of all works - silence, showing him a vision of many-eyed virtues. He who is silent with his tongue, let him take courage against his thoughts, because the courage of the soul is shown not only in the silence of the lips, but also in the firmness of thoughts, in calmly enduring insults and insults, since in this way, during mutual meetings, the terrible scourges of the devil are reflected. Let not only the lips be observed, but also the heart, for when the mind is inactive, then the eye of the soul is darkened by the eye of servility. Let your mind be blind to what is shameful (God makes such blind men wise), and keen-sighted to what is good, so as to be blind to what is bad. Understand that two separate types of fornication are combined together, physical fornication and spiritual fornication. When a lustful thought unites with your spirit, then your soul becomes akin to the seductive imprint in it. The demon takes on a female face in order to attract the soul to unite with him. An incorporeal demon takes on the appearance of an image in order to lead the soul into fornication with obscene thoughts. Therefore, do not be carried away by a ghost that has no substance, so as not to do something similar in the flesh. All those who did not reflect the internal adultery of the spirits with the cross were deceived by the spirit of fornication. By abstaining from food, strike thoughts so that they talk not about fornication, but about hunger. Let the prayer vigil shed tears so that you can be helped in this battle. During the time of prodigal warfare, refuse invitations to feasts. And, serving the stranger who came, give him peace, and, having covered himself, protect himself by abstaining from food. You will receive a greater reward for both deeds if you devote your activity to each of them for the sake of virtue. Do not eat food with your brother for the sake of your stomach, but for the sake of Christ, through love, bring him with you. Satiety with food feeds thoughts, and the drunken one feeds sleep with dreams. The pleasantness of pleasure died as soon as the food passed through the larynx, but the lust of the belly revives in this tomb. The labors of a harsh life end in repose, and luxurious behavior ends in ignition. He who causes the color of his flesh to fade, daily in the flesh thinks about his death. Let the prudence of the heart be commensurate with the body, so that when the body is struck, it itself does not suffer. It is enough for the flesh to reduce natural demands; Let your physical exercise mean the organization of morals, so that you learn to work with your heart and work together with your soul. Those who are distinguished by their pale complexions in ascetic life should reject human praise before it comes, when the thought puts the thought of it into the heart even before meeting people. When you spend a lot of time abstaining from wine, oil and excesses, then your thoughts, calculating the time with praise, inspire you with the idea of ​​relaxing your labors for the sake of the body. Therefore, tell these malicious calculators, on the contrary, everything that can serve to overthrow their intentions. One of the brethren, praised by his inner thoughts for his labors against demons, spoke in the words of the psalm: “Let those who are ashamed of us return, saying: good, good” (Ps. 69:4). Do not tolerate thoughts in yourself that point you to many years of stay in the monastic life, so that over time your labors do not cease and you, in deserted patience, are caught in boasting, but in the patience of misery, remember about yourself that you are an “unbreakable servant” (cf. Matt. 25:30). Someone tried to lead one patient desert dweller out of the desert due to his extreme old age. But the elder told him: “Stop forcing me, because I, worthless, have not yet been allowed to return from prison.” When I tried to get the word of teaching from him, he said: “Work hard to first seek innate fear, and then within yourself you will find an experienced word that teaches a person knowledge.” The same old man, asked about fear, answered this way: “Whoever cares about the memory of death is brought into fear of Judgment.” Because of fear, become a daily interlocutor of the Divine Scriptures. For by communicating with these thoughts you will drive away 8 conversations. He who, by studying the Divine Scriptures, collects treasure in his heart, easily drives thoughts out of it. When reading at night at vigils, listening to the Divine Scriptures, let us not kill our ears with sleep, so as not to give the soul captivity to thoughts, but with the sting of the Scriptures we will pierce the heart, so that with the contrition of care we will cut the opposite corresponding negligence. Others, for glory, and not for the sake of caring for the soul, enter into friendship with reverent people, so that they can easily appropriate this decoration for themselves. But he who is inflamed with love because of the remembrance of the Heavenly, banishes servility to earthly things from his thoughts. Do not reject the testimony of your conscience with contemptuous thoughts and sweet-talking thoughts in case of a fall. Do not continue a conversation with a stubborn person, lest, armed with passion against passion, you suffer defeat in virtue. Do not be lifted up by a proud thought that is blown up by an opposing wind. There is no praise for the tongue that speaks boldly, but glory for the lips that move calmly! Listening to the word, question your mind, and then, having judged, you will give a verdict. Do not deceive your mind with foolish words, lest your Canaanite tongue rush headlong. Let not the garrulous spirit deceive you, for cunning lies nest within it. He who is wounded by the slander of others and does not cast him over the devil, stirs up a crowd of his own thoughts against himself and even more encourages them to prepare arrows against him, thereby causing his soul to fall, wounded by such slander. When you go in a foreign direction on matters of service, do not be ready to take advantage of everyone’s hospitality, recognizing yourself as unworthy of glory, so as to thus avoid the thought of slander, even if it seems that he is telling the truth, 9 because there is no love. When enduring the greatest slander or grave insult, do not be vindictive, but bless, for whoever bears malice against demons does not bear vindictiveness against people, but makes peace with demons, whoever bears malice against his brother. Indignation and resistance are a fire in the heart, and the souls of the unforgiving are spiritually irrigated. Fiery coals throw sparks from themselves - so vindictive souls spew out evil thoughts. Just as a scorpion’s sting produces the most severe pain, so the vindictive soul contains the most bitter poison. Remember to be angry with the spirits of fornication and vanity, these two evil demons, opposite to each other, for one runs away from faces, and the other rejoices in faces. And the demon of lewdness, not tolerating the warmth of the fiery luminosity of labor, quickly attacks the ascetic during the feat, suddenly showering him with impurities, and if he weakens in abstinence from the seduction of pleasures, he gradually advances on him, conversing with his heart, so that it, inflamed by vices, indulges in this conversation, is captivated by it and completely puts aside hatred of sin. The demon of vanity, who loves to wander and gain the love of the people, secretly appears to the soul of hard workers, for the very labors in which they practice, catching glory for them. If anyone wants, with God's help, to overcome them, then let him exhaust his flesh against fornication and humble his soul against vanity. For in this way we will conveniently reflect the vain glory of one and will please God, and we will also evaporate in ourselves the impure dreams of another and make the heart pure from lust. It is most dangerous if the heart is mired in the habit of pleasure; and it will take a lot of work to destroy everything in this pasture of vices to the roots. Therefore, do not accustom your thoughts to enter into conversation with pleasures, because “in the host” of vices “a fire is kindled” (cf. Ps. 106:18). They, inflaming you, bring you to the conclusion that it is difficult to continue the burnt offering of nature, that the life of abstinence is long and patience is long, 10 they bring to mind those shameful dreams that appear to you in a vision at night, forming in you fiery idols of beauty, and then, kindling the strongest heat in the flesh with the law of sin, they internally inspire that you are not able to do violence to nature and although You will sin this day out of necessity, but in the morning you will repent according to the commandment. For the law is philanthropic and forgives sin to those who repent. They present to you as an example that some, after abstinence, fell and repented again, in order to thereby give credibility to their seductive advice and so that, having crushed 11 the soul with this reverse repentance, they could make the church of chastity a house of fornication. So these bilingual serpents whistle this thought in the shocked church of the heart. And you, a man of abstinence, under the pretext of repenting again, do not be deceived by unknown hopes. For many, having fallen, were immediately snatched away by death, while others were not able to rise up, bound by the habit of pleasure as if by law. Why do you know, man, whether you will live and whether you will repent for assigning years of life to yourself? And, falling here, you indulge your flesh, when you should all the more indulge in the remembrance of death, so that in your heart you can vividly imagine the terrible decree of judgment and thereby extinguish the inflamed wisdom of the flesh. For you cannot quench passions otherwise if you do not mix with your flesh labors that crush passions. You will not extinguish the passions of your soul if you do not first bring the fruits of love to your heart. Bodily passions originate from the natural needs of the flesh, and abstinence is necessary against them. But spiritual passions are generated from spiritual needs, and love is needed against them. Love is a union of dispassion, while the blotting out of passions - it brings long-suffering, cools boiling irritability, inspires humility, and humiliates pride. Love has nothing of its own except God, because God is love. Whoever has recently joined the bright council of monks, let him put aside thoughts that assign good fame to him by his kinship, in order to seek for him not praise from people, but satisfaction from the commandments. But let him arm himself with courage against the demons that inspire fear. For “do not receive... the spirit of fear back into fear” (cf. Rom. 8:15). Let him not frighten himself with the spirit of fear, and let him not tremble at the night noise made by demons, when they no longer have power over pigs. Therefore, when leaving his cell late in the evening, let him not become horrified and let him not rush to run back, as if from attacking demons, but, kneeling down in the place where he became afraid, let him say a prayer. For the demons will not attack you, although they will frighten you. And when you rise up, be encouraged in your heart, console yourself with psalmody, saying: “Do not be afraid from the fear of the night, from the arrow that flies in the days, from the thing that passes in darkness, from the debris and the demon of the midday” (Ps. 91:5-6). For, having done this once or more, you will soon drive away the spirit of fear from yourself. Not being able to harm by deed itself, demons frighten the soul with dreams so that people, weak and powerless, would consider them powerful and strong. Do not dress up in red clothes, lest you become even more clearly clothed in the demon of vanity. For virtues are not adorned with the beauty of clothing, but with the beauty of the soul, works shine like gold. Cover yourself with the fear of God from the executions of judgment, so that, through the fear of fire, you may be clothed with unquenchable ardor and quickly become wiser against evil thoughts, because fear is the beginning of wisdom. Whoever makes it possible to see the error of thoughts through experience will not be known by everyone, but only by those who have experienced it themselves, because the path to knowledge in this is experience. The cause of both is active life; Having engaged in it with great diligence, we will recognize ourselves, and we will condemn our thoughts, and we will know God. Whoever anoints unartificial thoughts with art through the active transmigration and cognitive infusion of thoughts must be careful not to magnify knowledge for the sake of glory. If the thought, exalting them, acts predatory, then let the ascetic take for help the stranger 12 Jethro, who out of mercy gave wise advice to the great prophet Moses about judgment. Let your actions be the power of your thoughts, because there is more wisdom in what is done than in what is said, just as the former is more difficult than the latter; When there is activity, words seem to be lightning fast, but when there are no deeds, words do not shine with the power of deeds. Reproach for gray hairs is a young word and long-winded lips twisted with laughter. He who both confuses and is confused in vain is beyond the silence and is overwhelmed without a storm. Don’t force your tongue to untimely chase words, so that you yourself don’t suffer the same from someone you don’t want. Beware of stumbling your neighbor's tongue, so that you yourself can avoid the devil's stumbling. Beware of blaming your brother's fall, lest you be deprived of compassion like a foreigner. Can anyone who does not have kindness and love for his brother be a member of Christ-bearing love? When your brother comes to you during your continuous fast, do not give room for boredom due to thoughts that inspire you to break silence and stop fasting. They make sure that when you look at your brother, you do not look at God Himself. We will not call the frequent supervision of the brethren a reason for embarrassment, but rather a complicity. Let us trust their courage against the hordes of the enemy. Thus, united by the affection of love, let us drive away vice from ourselves, and we will bring the works of our hands into the treasury of love of strangers. Let us receive the brethren to us, not as showing them mercy, but as paying due tribute, we will beg them to accept our treat, as Lot showed (see Gen. 19:1-3). Some are strangely dignified and strangely exalted; and when they call a wanderer to them, they do not beg him at all, but pronounce the very word of the call slowly, with arrogance; and, if the wanderer refuses, they blame him as an offender; therefore, from this great arrogance flares up. For thoughts, gouging the eye of the soul, blind us, so that we use the best of the commandments as badly as possible. When a thought keeps you from forcing your brother to eat, then he mocks you by the fact that your tongue is not forced by the power of love. The thought perhaps suggests to you that your brother is one of the wandering ones and that, having satisfied himself with bread, he will leave, but it suggests to him that he did not find any love of strangers in you; because the thought, looking at one and the same thing in one way or another, puts its own in the heart of everyone, in order to stop the love of strangeness in one, and to grow slander in the other. Abraham, sitting in front of the tabernacle, if he saw anyone passing, he received him directly. He offered a meal to those living in wickedness and, while receiving the barbarians, was not deceived in the hope of receiving Angels. The sweetness of love of strangers has been known to everyone who, during a journey, has found refuge with someone, when a kind word makes a meal sweet for the heart. Therefore, with great care let us adhere to the love of hospitable people, for our own benefit, so that we can receive not only Angels, but also God. For the Lord says: “Because you have created one and the least of these brothers of mine, you have created for me” (Matthew 25:40). One of those who practiced virtue with the greatest knowledge gave the following answer: “The demonic dreams that resonate in the heart are usually destroyed by the thoroughness of love of hobbies and generous services rendered with zeal, if only someone has somehow freed himself from material things. If this is done with humility and a contrite heart, then it even more quickly delivers from the dreams of the one who suffers from them, because demons are very afraid of humility, knowing that this is the Lord’s commandment.” One of the most skillful ones, speaking about humility, recounted the following: “A very skillful father was hit on the cheek by a demoniac, who was in severe madness; and the father, immediately turning around, offered him the other cheek, ready to take the blow. The demoniac, as if struck by the lightning of humility, cried out and suddenly jumped away from his father.” These are the words of the holy Bishop Epiphanius. “It happened,” he says, “that one faithful widow’s son had an inquisitive demon in him; the seizures continued for a long time, and no benefits helped; when his mother came into humility from tears, her thanksgiving eased the suffering. Having betrayed her soul to the cross, she tore the demon out of the boy with her prayers. When the young man wandered around the surrounding places, and his mother began to pray at home, the demon, loudly pronouncing her name, rushed about in agony. She, hearing this, did not go to the scene of action herself, binding the struggle of nature with humility, but, attracted by others, she was brought by force, and after that the demon furiously intensified to flee. Therefore, without retreating and hugging the boy in tears, she protected him from the demon with thanksgiving and humility, and when, having wept bitterly, she brought a prayer to Christ and placed the sign of the cross on her son, the demon immediately left the boy.” The demons look with hatred at those who shine by subordinating themselves to their father, and gnashing their teeth at them, because, living in subordination, they carelessly coupled with this renunciation of the world. It is for them, carefully looking for pretexts, that the demons prepare grief, when they encounter a reason for anger, they instill indignation in them, and then gradually lead them into inflammation and hatred of their father because he allegedly punishes unfairly and is partial; Demons do this in order to, having shaken the soul in various ways, steal it from its fatherly embrace. Therefore, whoever is subordinate to his father, let him give himself up to insults and overcome them with humility, let him be governed by long-suffering and not listen to thoughts that murmur against the severity and insolence of his brothers. Most of all, demons inspire that freedom cannot be coupled with heavy slavery, they even extend beyond this, so that, having made the subject rebellious, it is more convenient to immerse him in the material. And they try to separate some from their father’s care, and others in other ways, internally repeating to them: “Work, acquire, accept strangers in order to create a good name for yourself.” For with the good seeds, the bad weeds are sown piecemeal and at first they allow a person to enjoy vanity, to be sober in constant fasting, to rise diligently for prayers and church services, so that he can conclude from this that, remaining subject, he would not become like this: because there are insults, and sorrows, and confusion, but here there is peace, silence, joy; there is the father’s severity, fear, numbness, and here he is carefree, fearless, unconstrained. Thus, demons, deceived by such thoughts, steal a person’s mind. Suddenly attacking the soul during an excessively long sleep, they fill it with fear, interrupt Divine services with negligence and despondency, suggest that hospitality upsets a person, use all the charms of vice in order to plunge him into despondency, arouse hatred of life itself, and thus, stripping him of his virtues, present him to shame to the Angels. Sometimes demons exalt labor in thoughts, and sometimes they disparage them as useless, in order in one case to inspire arrogance, and in another to sow despair. In those who cannot be brought to relaxation, labor is exalted in order to instill in them arrogance, and to those who do not agree to indulge in arrogance, they repeat one thing: that labor serves no purpose, so that, by leading them to relaxation, they instill despair in them. Therefore, when thoughts magnify labors, rejecting them with contempt, we will humiliate the soul, and also when labors are belittled as serving nothing, let us magnify Christ’s mercy as much as we have. For to the extent that you distress your body more and more, examine your conscience to the same extent. Get to know yourself by feeling the secret thefts of thoughts, so that, while remaining insensitive to their secret robberies, we do not become darkened by the thought that virtues are reaped by the mere severity of life. Some, having dreamed this like springs, wavered in their minds, because demons produce ghosts, deceive with visions, and sometimes plunder the soul through fear. To one of the brothers, who was awake at night, the demons presented terrible dreams, imprinting not only on the outer eye, but also on the inner vision. Therefore, the mind, struggling with concern for another coming night, came into danger of being plundered by thoughts, and battle befell the soul for many nights. But the distressed one tried to keep the leader of thoughts within himself and, having betrayed his soul to the Giver of the soul, 13 reproaching himself for his actual failures, labored to go deeper into himself; then, occupying the soul with thoughts of fire at the Judgment, he brought it into fear, so that, striking fear with fear, he would ward off fear from himself. This happened, as the one who endured this battle said. For when demons frightened the soul in all sorts of ways, the sufferer sought God in prayer; they entertained the soul with dreams, and he, having collected the burden of the falls, revealed it to the Omniscient God; they again entertained the prayerful eye, and he, having rewarded this with the fear of Judgment, destroyed the dreamy fear and, as one fear abounded over another, with God's help he overcame seduction, because the soul, humbled by the remembrance of sins and awakened by the fear of Judgment, spewed out demonic monsters. Yet this: both driving away the demonic monsters and strengthening the falling soul was accomplished by grace from above, because the Lord strengthens all those who fall and “raises up all those who are cast down” (cf. Ps. 146:8). Sometimes we try to create a pure prayer, and yet we cannot; and sometimes we also do not force ourselves, and the soul remains in pure prayer: and the first comes from our weakness, and the last from grace from above, calling us to enter into spiritual purity, teaching us the same and others at the same time not to attribute to ourselves if we pray purely, but to recognize the Giver of this. “For what let us pray as we ought, we know not” (Rom. 8:26). When we strive to make prayer pure and cannot, but are darkened, then, wetting our cheeks with tears, we will beg God to dispel the night of battle and light to shine in the soul. When a brother living with you is away on business, according to the custom of prayer, renew your memory of him, but do not dream about him beyond measure, so that the demons, having borrowed from you the beginning of care and encouraging it, do not begin to refine it more and more, vividly introducing you to your brother during psalmody and depriving God of care in God, so that, with one care reflecting another, like captives, us from the best and from the thought of what was said: “Cast up your sorrow on the Lord” (Ps. 54:23). For the demons know that, as a result of excessive concern for our brother, having disturbed the sovereign in us, they will give the wrong direction to sadness itself, and they will also extract from us reproaches for our brother for slowness, as if he who had been absent due to zeal for the work of service neglected his brother, and they do this so that our much-caring love will even turn into hatred. When we are concerned about the absentee, the demons usually do the same thing that on the very day on which, as they know, the absentee will arrive, as in a mirror they show him to us in a dream vision, so that after the dream has come true and during the absence of others, they will make us again expect prophecy dreams, which we should more than avert and greatly avoid, so that the demons do not mislead the soul with them and in reasoning about something else. For they do not know anything in advance, but what they see accomplished, they show and imagine in their dreams. Often, when we were in silence, the demons, seeing a brother coming towards us, pointed him out in advance in their thoughts; and there is no need to believe them, although apparently they are telling the truth, because with the truth itself they introduce lies, so that, based on this particular case and on the paths before us, they can determine the places of ambushes. Just as unused gold, when put into a melting furnace, becomes purer, so a newly admitted monk, having melted his morals in the monastery, is distinguished by his patience. For under the order of the brethren he completes his training in obedience and, under the right hand of the punisher, prepares nature for long-suffering. Therefore, when he accepts insults with joy and loves humility with self-abasement, then, having become above the opposite passions, he then begins to strive to excel in virtues in proportion to the strength bestowed upon him by grace. Just as those who descend to the foundations of the earth pull out gold there, so those who descend to gold-like humility wear out virtues from it. Then the mind will feel peace when, having cut off the causes of the passions, it engages in contemplation, and before cutting off the passions it feels both labor and its damnation, going out with weakness to fight the opposing ones. Hermitage, when gradualism is observed in it, is willingly accepted by the elders, if only someone moves on to this, having improved in virtues while still in the community. And let him test himself to see whether he can succeed in solitude. And if, finding this impossible, he weakens in virtue, then let him return to the hostel, so that otherwise, not having the strength to resist the tricks of his thoughts, he will not lose his mind. Just as sons serve as comforters to a weeping widow, so labors provide consolation to a fallen soul: they dispel the despair of thoughts and sow faith in repentance, proclaim Christ’s mercy and make known the sins committed. Therefore, we must not only engage in labor according to custom, but with the understanding of thanksgiving, so that the soul does not find itself deprived of such wisdom. For if in every deed we understand Him who gives an end to labor, then we seal the deed with thanksgiving. Just as a young dog tries to take away a baby’s bread, so the understanding of the heart is an evil thought. Therefore, let us not look at the wickedness of nasty deeds like infants, so as not to hand over our souls to them for theft. Just as a sparkling host of stars colors the sky, so the illuminating truth of words adorns a person. Therefore, let us carry on our tongues one image of the truth, because the Lord “brings like-minded people into the house” (Ps. 67:7). Just as strong lightning, having rushed, foreshadows thunder, so precise speech, when spoken, foreshadows faith. Therefore, let us try to be faithful to the truth in order to get closer to the throne city of virtues - love. Just as the sun smiles with golden rays on the whole earth, so love greets every soul with its radiant deeds. If we acquire it, we will extinguish passions and shine to the skies. We will complete every work as soon as we receive holy love, because without it there is no real use, and anger grows fierce, and morals become coarse, and glory is mixed in with labors out of arrogance. Out of humility of soul, David fasted with tears; and we will humble our souls by fasting. He who labors in the most difficult bodily labors should not work for praise and not be exalted in glory. For demons puff up the soul with these labors and strengthen the severity and feat of the body with glory, entice him to take on even greater labors so that a person exalts himself even more, conduct an internal conversation with him, instilling in him through thoughts: “Just as such and such labored, not sparing himself, and such and such acquired a great name for himself, so that they talk about him even after his death, so you too ascend to the very height of asceticism in order to gain for yourself glory and so that your name becomes great and after your death is pronounced with special praise.” Through these thoughts, to such an extent seduced, they wage war with you not only through bodily labors, but also call you into collaboration, in order through them to touch the soul in something more dangerous, for they elevate a person to primacy, elevate him to the right to speak as a teacher, so that for this rumor would give him primacy both in great labors and in knowledge. They put into it competition and envy of those whose successes are glorified; activity is worthy of surprise, and knowledge is close to it. Sometimes they lull the kindling of the flesh in him, with a cunning intention they do not give place to unclean thoughts in his insides, so that a person thinks that the spirit of fornication has been overcome by the severity of his life, his heart is close to the lordship of the saints and he has ascended to the very top of holiness. And in consideration of the dishes from which he abstained, and constant fasts, the years are determined for him, after which he has the right to boast as valiant, and to exalt himself before the brotherhood as something low in comparison with him; and thus they force him to talk about his exploits, in which he allegedly succeeded only by his own strength, because he did this and that, labored and suffered this way and that, without at all allowing him to reprimand: “However, it was not I who labored, but the help that acted in me.” For they do not allow him to confess God as a helper in what they force him to boast about, so that since he accomplished everything in his own exploits with his own strength, he would fully demand praise as a reward for himself and through this would sink into the depths of blasphemy, senselessly boasting that he was his own helper. Therefore, when the heart is so strongly resounding with the glory of thoughts and does not resist this, then it is not beyond the secret dullness of meaning, but the leader of reason is in danger of being shaken either by dreams accepted with faith, or by transformations taking place in the waking state, or by the light visible in the transformation. For this is how Satan, to deceive us, transforms himself into an Angel of light; sometimes he shows that he is giving gifts so that you will fall and worship him, or he announces that he will take you as a new Elijah, or he promises to make you a saint. Others, having accepted this with faith, deviated from the truth and fell into mental harm. Therefore, you, prayer book of the Holy Trinity, knowing what you are working on with love, guard your heart with all care, so that, paying attention only to external labors, you will not be treacherously caught in internal labors. So, my word has been spoken to you, child, but let your heart keep what I have spoken. Remember Christ who protects you; do not forget the venerable and consubstantial Trinity, to the glory of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and always and unto the ages of ages 14. Amen. According to the manuscript it reads: είς άρχήν όδων βαδίζων. Instead of: άφισταμένη according to the manuscript it reads: άφιπταμένη. According to the manuscript it reads: έν μέσω του γένους έπέλαβον τό της άρετης. According to the manuscript it reads: ή τήν λύπην έξορίζουσα, καί τήν όργήν καταποντίζουσα and so on. According to the manuscript it reads: μνήμη. According to the manuscript it reads: ό των άπατηλων ύποβολεύς. According to the manuscript it reads: προτρέπονται, and not γυμνάζουσιν. Instead of: xo...seij according to the manuscript it reads: xoik...seij. According to the manuscript it reads: κάν λέγειν τάληθη νομίζοι. These words have been supplemented according to the manuscript. Instead of: άνακαλέσαντες according to the manuscript it reads: άνακλασαντες. According to the manuscript it reads: τόν νέηλυν Ιωθορ. Instead of: της εύχης according to the manuscript it reads: της ψυχης. The doxology has been translated from the manuscript. You might be interested in: