Блаженство

Let one perform one virtue, another another, a third many, and someone else, if possible, all of them - just let each one walk unceasingly, strive forward and follow unswervingly in the footsteps of that good guide who directly directs his path and leads him along the narrow path through the narrow gate (see Matt. 7:14) to the breadth of heavenly bliss (1). I do not praise the limited concept of Aristotle, 20 who, when defining our bliss, still follows the straight path when he claims that it is an action of the soul consistent with virtue, and even when he adds: action in a perfect life (and in this he acts very wisely due to the vicissitudes and changeability of our nature); but it ceases to be sublime and becomes extremely low when it adds that bliss is also external abundance. Why, if someone is poor, or sick, or homeless, or expelled from the fatherland, bliss is already forbidden to him. I praise the nobility and lofty thoughts of the Stoics 21, who say that external things do not in the least hinder bliss and that a valiant man is blessed, even if they burned him in the bull of Phalaris 22. And therefore, just as I marvel at those among us who went into danger for a wonderful cause or courageously endured disasters, so I marvel at those from outside who came close to ours, such as Anaxarchus, Epictetus, Socrates, not to mention many. Anaxarchus, when, at the order of the tormentor, his hands were pounded in a mortar, he ordered the performers to beat out Anaxarchus’s bag, calling our pitiful flesh by this name, as if the blows did not touch Anaxarchus himself, that is, the soul of the philosopher (and in our country this is distinguished by the names of the external and internal man). Epictetus, when they stretched and twisted his leg, philosophized as if in someone else's body, and they rather broke his leg than noticed that he felt the violence. And Socrates, condemned to death by the Athenians and living, as we know, in prison, first talked with his disciples about the body as about another prison, and when he could escape, he refused it; and then, when the hemlock 24 was brought to him, he took the poison with great pleasure, as if not a deadly drink, but as if tasting a healthy cup. I would have added our Job to them if I didn’t know that you yourself, with God’s help, are not far from his suffering now and will not be far from now on. With this, I think, calming and healing yourself, O divine and sacred chapter 25, you yourself alleviate suffering and make us happy, filled with wonder and love for you, not weakening in illness and not being tempted, as the divine David says, by the world of sinners (Ps. 73:3) and the happy course of their present life, but being cleansed by suffering, if I may say this about you, and turning weakness into a means to virtues (2). Aristotle is an ancient Greek philosopher and encyclopedist of the 4th century. BC, founder of the Peripatetic school. – Approx. ed. The Stoics are followers of the Stoic school of philosophy. The life ideal of the Stoics is equanimity and calm. Stoics should not react to external internal irritants. – Approx. ed. The Phalarid bull is a bronze bull in which, according to legend, people were burned alive on the orders of Phalaris, a tyrant from Akragant who lived in the 6th century. BC Anaxarchus - ancient Greek philosopher of the 4th century. BC, student of Democritus. According to legend, the Cypriot tyrant Nikopreon, in revenge for the insult, ordered the philosopher to be pounded in a mortar. Epictetus is an ancient Greek Stoic philosopher who lived in the 1st-2nd centuries. Socrates is an ancient Greek philosopher of the 5th century. BC He was sentenced to death on false charges. – Approx. ed. Hemlock (vekh) is a genus of perennial aquatic grasses of the Apiaceae family. The plant is poisonous. – Approx. ed. From a letter to St. Gregory to Philagrios. – Approx. ed. You might be interested in: