That those who live in silence in deserts are superior to those who live in cities, although many of the inexperienced are of the opposite opinion

Essay by Rev. Nile of Sinai's "On the Superiority of Monks" (or "On the Superiority of Monks"), consists of 27 chapters detailing the advantages of the hermit life in the deserts compared to the pious life of Christians in the cities. The time when the treatise was written is unknown. St. Neil compares the anchorite feat with the 40-year wandering of the Jews in the desert, with the life of the prophet John the Baptist, with the choice of Mary, the sister of Lazarus. According to the author, life in the desert contains fewer temptations, it is safer than life among the bustle of the world. Good deeds (virtues) done in secret with the sole purpose of pleasing God bring eternal benefits as a reward. *Title of the work in Greek – ῞Οτι διαφέρουσι τῶν ἐν πόλεσιν ἀσκουμένων οἱ ἐν ἐρήμοις. *The title of the work in Latin is De monachorum praestantia. Chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 If the works of any art are judged by inexperienced people, their judgment will naturally be greatly erroneous. And those uninitiated in the art of words, when they give judgment about words, pronounce an erroneous judgment about them, not knowing the exact use of each word, because knowledge for them has not turned into skill from private various kinds of exercises. Therefore, it should not be surprising that the monks who remain silent in the mountains and dens are condemned by those who have not learned by experience how one can succeed in virtue, and they say that those who treat people and live in cities are much more worthy of respect than hermits, and precisely to the extent that those who engage in hand-to-hand combat with their opponents are more valiant than the fighters who fight with the shadow. For, not knowing the reasons for the fall (and how many unimportant cases that lead to defeat!), they recognize as falls only the sins committed by the deed itself, without imputing the defeats and victories they mentally commit as anything. Even their vision was not accustomed to seeing them as secret and known only to the Ascetic and the conscience of the ascetic. And they need this knowledge most of all: one, as one who strives for the sake of honors and crowns, and the other, as a Rewarder, who will divide the rewards according to the merit of the labors. It seems to me that such judges least of all praise the soul, adorned with hidden goodness, but are amazed at the body, shining with the beauty of the appearance, and glorify the speckled clothing more than the well-being of the one clothed in it, because they deceive the senses with the visible and do not want to turn their thoughts to the essence of things. Just as what is in the cup, to delight the drinker, must certainly be pure, so the heart must be undefiled, especially before the body, in order to please God, Who wants to see it as such, because the purity of the heart will be followed by bodily purity, but the spiritual disposition does not necessarily correspond to the state of the bodily church. For others, as the Lord Jesus says, it is possible to be a melted tomb, full of “the bones of the dead and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27), not having an inner reality consistent with the visible. But this is not what our word calls for in comparison with those about whom we are speaking, but an equal to them in active life and like them, practicing moral virtues. For we will find that even such a person is at a greater distance below them and is as far from behavior established on reasonable principles as treatment is from skillful healing, which is carried out only visually and which does not know the cause of illnesses, as well as suffering, does not enter into the study of what causes the differences, but stops at what is suffering, and heals what can soon return again, because the cause from which the illness began has not been destroyed. For tension and inflammation of the viscera, bad dissolution of juices give rise to thousands of different fevers by name and by properties, daily, weekly, fortnightly, short or long, debilitating and all-day, sometimes caused by yellow or black bile, sometimes with putrid sputum, and sometimes from plethora, sometimes silently and imperceptibly attacking, sometimes foreshadowing their appearance long ago and making one know about the disease relaxation, dryness and frequently interrupted sleep. Thus, the disordered striving of feeling usually produces a passionate thought, and thought 2 - shameful lust; lust is pleasure and also approval, and it is followed by actually committed sin, which, as soon as it begins, must be stopped in the first cause, turning away the gaze, which arouses in order everything that was said above, before it is directed and makes retreat difficult. For what is not impressed by sight, then, perhaps, will not provide employment for thought and will not lead to bad thinking about it, and what thought does not stop at, does not go into action and does not have the opportunity to be revealed by any sign. The tongue will not move towards slander when irritability is lulled inside. The prodigal eye does not see when reason controls it, and forbids looking at what it should not. Hearing does not accept shameful words when the mind protects this feeling. Not a single member acts sinfully when the ruler of thoughts within is sober and firmly holds the barrier, because of which passions are torn. He is sober and awake when he has renounced the external, he looks at it coldly and nothing darkens his pure thoughts. So, why is the one who does not fall in deed preferable to the one who does not sin in thought? Therefore, they say that even though he is irritated, he is not carried away by things and is more worthy of approval than the one in whom the visible does not arouse the concupiscible force of desire. If this person has not known anything that exists in the world, then he has no struggle with it. And if the vision of this was combined with knowledge, then he has memory, which provides him with the same food as visible things. And a continuous struggle takes place in it, because passions in silence have the freedom to disturb the thought more than sight, as if it is no longer entertained by anything external. One sees and treats people - his gaze, suddenly having many faces in front of him, is more indifferent to the seductive, and his thoughts are barely enough to go through the day's meetings at night; the other constantly struggles with just the image of either a person he once liked or a saddened appearance, while the former inflames lust, and the latter inflames irritability, and he uses every effort to drive away from himself the thought of what worries him and to destroy in himself the remembrance of what sets passions in motion. Of course, over time, he will gain the upper hand, every day diminishing the strength of the one fighting him and increasing his own, so that the latter, from exercise, daily advances in maturity and learns to overcome opponents. Thus, habit turns into skill, and skill turns into nature and the acquisition remains immutable for the acquirer. But to those inexperienced in art, the extremely impossible also seems possible. Just as it is impossible in a stream, while it is flowing, to see the sand lying at the bottom (it is necessary to stop the water flowing from above), so exactly, when the gaze floods the thought with new and new 4 images, it is then impossible to enter into a struggle with a certain person or with a certain passion and ever make the thought pure, because what enters from the outside destroys the previous features and little by little outlines its own images, which are also smoothed out by the new ones that come in; and during this siege, a continuous turmoil occurs in the inside, due to the ideas being mutually replaced by each other, which does not even allow one to find out what exactly is troubling. For as soon as the thought takes hold of what has recently presented itself to it, it is soon replaced by the present; and what occupied him before always gives way to what follows; and the mind suffers sufficient harm from the vanity of thoughts, when apparently it does not tolerate anything that produces passionate ideas about things and deviates from thoughts that are more necessary and useful. And if someone considers the harm that occurs from the outside, when the eyes see what is not allowed, the ear is amazed from everywhere by shameful words, moreover, irritability is indignant, lust is caught by some bait, voluptuousness is aroused, fame is shaken, sadness occurs, then, without a doubt, he will find that he is like someone beaten and covered with wounds in a fist fight; and then he will call blessed those who, remaining in silence, do not see or tolerate any of this. For what is the use of arousing the passions for struggle by the very testing of things and by this struggle giving them the opportunity to be suppressed only with great difficulty, when silence (in any way) usually brings them into an undisturbed state and inaction little by little reduces the strength of each passion in the same degree as the struggle with it gives it greater and greater strength? For irritability, remaining at rest, is more moderate, and lust, silent, learns to be less impetuous - in a word, every passion, if not aroused, comes into greater moderation every day and subsequently ceases completely, forgetting its activity over time. And when the passionate disposition passes, only bare memories of things remain. And just as the desires for the most pleasant dishes and drinks do not excite either the sight or the memory in someone who does not want them, so nothing sensual, neither visible, nor audible, nor coming to mind, captures the passion of one who has accustomed the passionate force within himself to rest, because habit no longer allows something to come into motion that has been weaned from movement by long-term silence. Therefore, can it be said that without experience and with danger to oneself, one who performs his feat is worthy of more approval than one who strives according to the rules and safely? Who is more successful in war and more easily defeats his enemies: the one who furiously rushes into the ranks of the opponents and fights the enemy squad face to face, or the one who attacks them according to the rules of military art, easily overthrows them in ambushes during surprise attacks, wins victory with prudence, or with great bloodshed confronts those who fight stubbornly? Who seems chaste, and is really chaste in mind: the one who throws himself at the ardent beasts, into the red-hot furnace and into the violently agitated sea, or the one who is wary of the harm they cause and stands out of danger? Just as the body, being subjected to this, necessarily endures what is characteristic of the body, so the feeling, circling among the sensory, gives the passions ways to damage the soul no less than what has been said. And nature has enough strength to fight, even if we don’t give it anything from the outside to help it against ourselves, because lust has its own fire, let there be no more dry wood and they don’t increase the flame. Perhaps this is what the word legal hints at. It is said: “If the fire comes out and finds thorns and sets the threshing floor on fire, ...let him give it to him who set the fire” (Ex. 22:6); and passions are called threshing floor, natural aspirations are called fire, and thorns are what is subject to the senses. Let it not serve as a means, and fire will not be able to touch the threshing floor without finding a substance that it could ignite and through it reach the threshing floor. For, without a doubt, it will either completely go out due to the lack of what is burned and end, leaving behind ashes, signifying the extreme weakness of the former dominion of passion, or it will lurk in a spark that does not harm at all, but teaches the beholder that it can sometimes harm, ignited in a flame, if there is an abundance of substance suitable for the power remaining in it. For the spark does not suddenly embrace the wood and ignite the placed wood chips, but it needs straw, dry stems and hay in order to overcome the more solid combustible substance. And all this leads us to the realization that small and meaningless sins lead us to great sins, and indifference to small sins paves the way for the gravest sins. And we must not give them a reason to get into the habit, not allow them to behave shamelessly, but at the very beginning stop their future insolence - erase the head of the serpent, which only comes into motion, before it touches the heel (see Gen. 3:15), destroy the “seed from Babylon” (Jer. 50:16) and smash its babies against a stone (πρός τήν πέτραν), which is one, as shown by adding a term to the word “stone”. For the head that creeps in will be invaded by everything that creeps; and the seed of the tares, having taken root, usually prevents the growth of fruitful plants, and babies, having reached manhood, have the custom of waging, if not intolerable, then stubborn and dangerous struggle, and they signify passions, since they are at first surmountable, but, supported by habit, come in full force and at the same time that they become insurmountable in the struggle, cause a lot of work, denouncing us in frivolity and terrible foolishness, because we ourselves grew enemies against ourselves, whom it was easy for us to destroy when they were weak. For then the mind, after crushing its opponents and remaining in peace, would have time to turn to contemplation and cultivate its own powers. And this is what one of the Prophets says: “They will forge their swords into halos and spears ... into pruning hooks” (cf. Micah 4:3), thereby signifying the end of wartime and a state favorable for the affairs of the world. Another Prophet says: “Your eyes will see those who deceive you, and your ears will hear the words behind those who deceive you” (Isa. 30:20-21), thus inspiring, after the end of the hand-to-hand battle, to look and clearly recognize the tricks and intentions of the enemies. And the great Moses in the Second Book carefully reminds the Israelites of what happened to them after leaving Egypt in the desert, the battles and battles that had passed, advising them to exercise their memory and turn their extraordinary victories into a reason for the greatest gratitude. He who lives in cities 5 and thinks of himself as helping others does not know this, nor does he have the leisure to ever find out. For he is engaged in a good and useful work for many, but in comparison with the one who takes care of his own condition and corrects his inner self, he can hardly hold second place, giving bodily help to those who need it, and leaving his soul completely without care for it. I know that farmers are always engaged in their agriculture, and swimmers are always equipping their ship, and travelers, and merchants, and artisans, and mercenaries are trying to do what, in their opinion, serves their benefit, and no one will agree to admit that someone else’s business is preferable to their own or even equivalent to their own. And a swimmer, setting out into the sea, directs his boat where he needs to sail, and a farmer performs work in accordance with the time, taking care of his agriculture, and someone who practices any art practices it for his own benefit - in a word, everyone, considering it a vain and vain thing to worry about what others are doing in the same way, takes a lot of care and concern about how best to arrange his own affairs. And why do others, over those who are useful to themselves in virtue, consider those who are useful to others to be more worthy of preference? It seems to me that they will certainly praise the one whose house is on fire and all the property in the house is on fire, and he, having listened to the conviction of his friends, goes to an agreement with them or even for matchmaking, because the need of his friends was recognized as more worthy of preference than stopping the fire in the house; and in this case they will show respect to the one whom those thinking sensibly should suspect of mental damage and insanity. But worse than a fire, what will the mind endure from each of the senses, if it does not block these entrances, through which substances nutritious for the burning fire are brought in, and, like dry firewood, are piled up in order to kindle a natural flame with them, and memory, like bellows, fans it with attentive reflection and makes it more uncontrollable and inextinguishable than fire in a fire. And this, it seems, indignant at some, God said to the Prophet; and says with anger: “Do you not see what these are doing in the cities of Judah and” outside Jerusalem? “Their sons gather wood, and their fathers kindle the fire, and their wives knead flour, that they may make unleavened bread for the host of heaven” (Jer. 7:17-18), expressing that vision, like dry firewood, collects irritating images, lust kindles a strong fire in them, and memory constantly fragments and softens it. So vision, making its way through this, passes into actual sin, being committed by the general cooperation of everything that has been said. And “gathering the reeds into the chaff” (Exodus 5:12) is the work of those working on planking in Egypt, and not of those remaining in silence. He who enters into communication with the crowd involuntarily collects: from the substance that produces sin and the unprocessed clay of passion, he forms a plinth, which in itself has no form, but takes on the clear imprint of those idols that are drawn by attentive reflection with the help of feeling. For passion can set in motion only a natural desire, and then only weakly, if external substances do not contribute to it. But when it takes into itself attractive and seductive images, then with certain features of the sensual it holds the thought in chains. For example, irritability and lust, pleasure and sadness are forces that are at rest and have no form until there is an abundance of substance that excites them to increasing activity. But if the feeling brings a corresponding image to the irritation of the saddened, and to the lust of the one enjoying, and in others to some other passion, then these passions give something to the senses and a constant occupation of thought when looking at the impressions of what irritates and produces a passionate and extremely painful reminder. That is why silence is beautiful, because it does not see what is harmful, and what was not visible, thought does not accept; and what was not in thought, the memory does not bring into action by imagining it, and what the memory does not bring into action does not irritate the passions; when passion is not excited, then the inside is in deep silence and at peace. That is why the wise Moses, although he had care and concern for the Jewish people, nevertheless set his tent outside the camp, away from the crowds, avoiding, as much as possible, undue anxiety and giving peace to his thoughts, in order to discern and learn what is useful for the soul. That is why Joshua did not leave the booth, deflecting untimely insults to the sense of sight. Therefore, Elijah and Elisha, leaving Judea, lived in Carmel, and John, having escaped Jerusalem, remained in the Jordanian desert. Jeremiah, restrained by the necessity of the prophetic calling, and not tolerating being among the lawless people, lamented about this and said: “Who will give me the last vital place in the desert? and I will leave this people and go away from them” (Jer. 9:2). Thus, he preferred to live better with animals that do not harm the soul, rather than to become harmed by communication with his fellow tribesmen. And most importantly, therefore, the Lord Jesus, above all harm, moving away from crowds, if only he found the opportunity, stayed in the deserts, by the very act of letting those who were able to see the benefit of silence see this, so that from everywhere it would be clear and undeniable that before those who chose a public life, or neither public nor solitary, no matter how distinguished they may be, those who chose monastic and hermit life, because with silence they lull passions, which in the former are driven to hardness by constant vision, so that they no longer feel harm, because time has gradually made it familiar to them, just as a debilitating fever does not produce pain, but imperceptibly exhausts strength. So another pampered person, if he walks barefoot on the ground, at first cannot endure the slightest roughness without pain, and when his feet are covered with calluses, he does not feel pain, although he will encounter thorns, knitting needles and sharp nails, because they do not reach living flesh, and hardened flesh has lost sensitivity on a par with almost dead flesh. So, why do they think that no offense is done to those who, due to a long-term habit of being offended, do not feel harm from those who offend? For the mind, when vision completely entertains it with what is visible, will there be enough time to find out what is causing it grief, when thinking about it requires many free minutes? Having barely accepted some images into himself, he soon accepts others, and then still new ones, and after that still others that come his way; and, enjoying all or most of them, which of them considers the enjoyment to be harmful? And will he try to smooth out the desecration caused by this, without ever being able to see even what was desecrated by him? Entertained by the community with people throughout the day, does not the saddened one forget his sorrow and the sick person his sorrow and pain? Left alone at night, doesn’t everyone come to a sense of their suffering, when silence gives time for illnesses to arise and does something that has not bothered you before begins to bother you? And just as in a gluttonous person who constantly eats, the urge for food, with all the satiety and filling of the belly, does not know satiety in being again aroused to desire, so apparently passions are somewhat inactive, due to the preoccupation of the senses with sensory objects, being restrained from their own desire; but give them freedom from external anxiety - just as, after saturation, the lack of food produces hunger again, so passions, as soon as the tension of feelings ends, rise up against the deceased in all their strength and arouse in him a great rebellion, turning into a habit, arming to fight against it those images that he thought to glance at harmlessly, not having time to remember their harm. And then he only begins to feel harm when he has the leisure to recognize and experience its power, captivated by absurd thoughts and forced to dwell on thoughts filled with shame. And then he openly admits that his past life is a delusion, he pleases those who did not know with their own eyes what he knew, and not without reason he regrets himself for giving weapons to his enemies, and rightly suffers attacks, having given strength to his enemies out of great foolishness. For then, what has sunk in the form of a seed through sight, hearing or other senses, begins to grow like thorns and, gradually ripening, painfully stings with its needles or, better to say, on a par with the fabulous hydra among folk singers, lifts one head in place of another, causing pain to the unfortunate person with thousands of remorse. For the visible face appears to him as bright, the expensive attire, the spilling laughter, the seductive appearance, the tenderness and tenderness exquisitely used to catch, the fluent movement of the eyes, the cunning glance, the tremulous movement, the harmony of the voice, the softness of the pronunciation, and not only this, but also the unfeigned disposition - in a word, sedateness and simplicity, touching speech, a compassionate sigh, the tears of a sick soul evoke a great, decisive feat; and the memory, perhaps, of herself, who aroused compassion and took advantage of care, prepares danger when the petitioner, who is in need and struggling with it, finally arouses regret for her need and mercy and ignites love. Therefore, what is better: to feel sorry for yourself and avoid temptations, or to feel sorry for others, to get entangled in insoluble networks and fall into unspeakable disasters 6 because you wanted to help others? It’s good to give a hand to someone falling from a rapid if you can avoid dying along with the person in danger. If the supposed compassion is followed by suffering, then you must take care of the benefit of your soul, because the other is not so close to the other as each is to himself. Therefore, when the pentacity was being burned by lightning fire, the Angel said to Lot, the righteous and caring about hospitality: “When you save, save your soul: ... be saved in grief, so that you will not be in abundance” (Gen. 19, 17): do not worry about those who are perishing, but rather about your own salvation. For, having said: “Do not look back” (Gen. 19:17), he taught not to pay any attention to those who are perishing, because, without a doubt, it would not be fair to want to perish with those who are perishing, and even to want to take care of others equal to care of oneself, when compassion, without bringing any benefit to those punished, causes the greatest harm to those who suffer, harming salvation itself, desired by all people collectively. For, although love of mankind is God-loving and decent for us, and everyone should give useful advice to others, try to care for him and wish him well, because such a disposition is truly commendable, however, in extreme cases, trying less for yourself than for others is not only disapproving, but even worthy of great condemnation. Therefore, whoever takes great care of his condition, silently trains his disposition in orderly manner and freely converses with God about many things, as one who leads a more sober life, why not be more capable of pleasing God in comparison with someone who does not have time at all to observe his thoughts or secretive and unknowable passions when engaged in external activities? Or should we not say that Mary is better than Martha? Preferring her for her lack of entertainment to the one who had fun and cared about what served to calm the flesh, the Lord does not speak to Mary, but to the one who believes that she is doing something great, and therefore has a need for advice and corrects her erroneous assumption, saying: “Martho, Marfo, worrying and speaking about the multitude, there is only one need: Mary has chosen the good part, lest it be taken away from her” ( Luke 10:41–42). Although Martha’s anxiety stemmed from her zeal to serve Him, she was not praised for this zeal, but deserved a reproach for the fact that, having abandoned being, like Mary, attentive to the word and benefit of her soul, she was concerned that she would not lack anything needed for an expensive treat, and was offered a meal distinguished by the usual generous love of strangers. And that the Lord, intending to condemn inappropriate diligence, pronounced the name twice and said: “Martha, Martha”, perhaps this was the action of one expressing regret and nodding his head at the sight of vain anxiety, considered necessary, for the Lord knew that what Martha left in negligence to succeed in piety is more useful than what she tried. Likewise, the Levites were preferred to the whole people, as free from all worldly occupations, who served God without being distracted by pure thoughts and performed great prayer according to the Law, in order to sanctify themselves to God with attentiveness and purity; Having abandoned external worries, inside the fences of the then holy church, they practiced in what served to achieve the purity for which they tried, being sure that silence made it easy for them to maintain this purity. Witnesses of the harm from the external are the son of the primordial Abel and the daughter of the patriarch Jacob Dinah - one, treacherously killed by Cain in the field, and the other (when she untimely went out to see the native wives), corrupted by Hamor. What would they not have suffered if they had remained at home in peace, loving silence, which is comfortable for everyone, even for the perfect, and especially for the imperfect, because in some it preserves unshakable the skill acquired by exercise, and in others this exercise leads to success! Both Jeremiah, advising not to go out into the field, “because the sword of the enemy dwells all around” (Jer. 6:25), and Peter, calling out: “Our adversary the devil ... walks” (1 Pet. 5:8), testify to all the harm from external things. And he who advises to hide from the destroyer, when he says: “Shut your doors, hide yourself a little, until the wrath of the Lord has passed by” (cf. Is. 26:20), and “living in the house” (Gen. 25:27) of Jacob, and commanding the son of a murderer who came to be squeezed “into the door” (2 Kings. 6:32) proclaim the security of the interior, clearly showing that the lives of some are admittedly easy to harm, while the lives of others are undoubtedly comfortable. This way, and not otherwise, pleases the truth. Those who lead a hermit life need to practice martial arts and engage in battle with an unarmed enemy, because the weapons of the passions are deeds. And among those living in the city, among the crowds, there are many attackers from everywhere and always, who are all protected by all kinds of military weapons and, as quickly as they can hurt, inflict mortal wounds. And it is unreasonable to make every effort to prepare for yourself a life full of fears and dangers, when it is possible to lead it without timidity and fear and make the permitted safety necessary. For whoever has evaded the attackers and placed himself away from communication with them, does not he finally acquire courage, does he not become careless, no longer expecting any harm from anywhere? And whoever lives with them, isn’t he in constant fear, always and everywhere expecting malicious intent, because everyone and at all times are ready with all diligence to plot evil as hostile against hostile? Therefore: is a peaceful and serene life really better than a life among offenders? And really, the path on which there are robbers and barbarians seemed and still seems to anyone worthy of preference over the path that can be followed without fear? On one path there are murderers and predators, and on it, of course, you can either be killed, or at least deprived of clothes, and the other path is free from any such suspicion, is harmless to travelers and makes the journey worry-free, because travelers keep their property unplundered, and they themselves make the journey pleasantly and cheerfully. Others, turning away from rough and difficult paths, although they are short, seek out smooth paths that are traversed by many, although they are longer and require more time to travel. And why is a steep, difficult, long, dangerous path, on which animals attack, robbers earn their bread, and many snares, nets, ambushes, and opportunities to suffer harm, recognized as the best path that is convenient, short, and smooth? There a woman's face attracts, competition, wealth, lust for power are aroused, others sting irritability, others kindle lust, one leads to admiration, another to humiliation, one produces despondency and confusion, another joy and complacency, one causes pleasure, and another unpleasantness; and how can after this the passions, inflated and agitated daily by the visible and audible, not someday turn into a pure, high-flying flame, with continuous exercise not become an ineradicable habit and not reach the point where a change in life will be difficult or, perhaps, completely impossible? For habit, which binds no weaker than bonds, does not allow retreat, it gives in somewhat to the impulse, but immediately again attracts the one who tries to lag behind. But one who has withdrawn from the affairs of everyday life, turning his senses away from everything sensual and resting in himself, even if he has passionate memories, will soon destroy them, because time, with which everything decays, will little by little lead them into oblivion. And if he did not allow these idols into himself, raising up war, then his struggle is with simple, natural memories, which are not difficult to overcome and defeat, because thought easily replaces them and easily turns away from them when the enemy cannot catch any of the external baits. With this the enemy usually anoints the passions and makes the struggle painful and difficult for those who strive. For lust does not have the same strength when it does not have food, which it acquires when there is something that feeds lust; Also, irritation is not so overwhelming when there is nothing irritating. And voluptuousness is then aroused when the one who pleases by his appearance irritates desire. The movements of the passions are powerless and weak when the imagination is not disturbed, awakening a seemingly sleepy thought, and does not keep the thought awake and motionless. So, for example, a face that pleases with its attractiveness retains the attention of the carnal eye, not allowing it to be directed anywhere, not allowing the thought of freedom to be transferred to anything else, even if something was preparing to suppress you, pleasure overcomes the effort of the one forcing you to turn away the eye. But for someone troubled by memories alone, liberation is convenient and elimination is extremely easy. For through teaching and exercise in spiritual words and intense prayer, the mind withdraws from what is displeasing to God and turns to what requires diligence according to God, succeeding in the latter and consigning the former to oblivion. But it is impossible to completely close your eyes to what is visible, to close your ears to what is heard, to reject the harm they cause, even to an always sober mind, for there are many snares everywhere, from which it is difficult to guard. It is impossible for someone who steps in the mud not to get their feet dirty, and for someone living in an infectious place not to suffer from the disease that the surrounding air is prone to. Thus, it is impossible for someone living among them not to be mixed in some way with the impurities of life, although he does not feel any harm, having finally become accustomed to the harmful things over time. For others, having tasted poison in a small dose, at first do not suffer harm, because the amount of intake does not correspond to the deadly property, but by gradually adding to it they have made it habitual for their constitution, and subsequently turn the pernicious power of this poison into food, because nature learns over time to assimilate harmful things. Who does not know from the Divine Scripture what precision Blessed David observed in everything! Who knows his valiant deeds! And, boasting about them, not out of boasting, but out of love for his neighbors, so that others would learn to do the same as he did, he describes his good qualities, saying sometimes: “I walked in my kindness” (Ps. 25:1), sometimes: “If I rewarded those who repay me evil” (Ps. 7:5); and sometimes: “I have flown without iniquity and corrected it” (Ps. 58:5); at another time: “There is no flattery in my tongue” (Ps. 139:4); and again: “I am well pleased in Your truth” (Ps. 25:3); and, after saying even more of this about himself, the saint finally says: “Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are lifted up lower” (Ps. 130:1). He relied so much on his skill in the virtues in which he practiced! But at one time he neglected to pay attention to himself, 7 suddenly allowing his eyes to wander freely everywhere, and he was attracted by it to the beauty of another man’s wife, and in his heart he received an arrow - a flaming gaze, which, inflaming him to the point of frenzy, drove him to adultery, and adultery forced him to dare to kill, and, moreover, an unjust murder; and evil, beginning with a glance, passed through a series of evils and ended so disastrously. Thus, sin, growing from a small cause, leads to the very extreme limit of destruction. For if, in the words of the wise Pritochnik, one should not be a friend to “an angry man” (Proverbs 22:24), so as not to become, of course, from this communication, involved in passion, which, as usual, insensibly passes from those possessed by it to those living with them, then avoiding those suffering from more important and difficult illnesses is not it more necessary and useful for those who intend to beware of imitation? For the treatment of such people makes a person an imitator, when he himself does not know it, likening to evil those who did not want to be such before, and little by little becoming what they tried not to become. And Holofernes, the warlike husband who devastated Judea, was captured by the sandal of his coming wife in frantic love and held captive. For history says that the “sandal” of Judith “stole an eye” (Judith. 16:9) Holofernes and the theft of the eye ended in death, because Judith, having found that he was overcome by passion, seducing in various ways, for a long time tormented the one who was seeking marital intercourse, until she found a convenient time to behead this unfortunate man, who was unsatisfied with his lust and died a miserable and miserable death. Those who come close to the vicious, although they themselves do not know, endure a lot of this, because the multiplying pleasure often amuses them, and the brilliance of wealth disposes to pleasant feelings, and honor inspires, and dishonor saddens, fragrant evaporation delights the sense of smell, and seasoned foodstuffs, perhaps by the very fact that their quality is imperceptible, excite their taste for desire. And how can such a struggle be useful to the unreasonable, who rashly decide to go towards dangers, inflaming passions in themselves that could remain silent, so that they are no longer at peace and do not give them the freedom to usefully occupy the mind with something? For the mind, which by nature is in constant motion, when it is not busy caring about vain things, turns its care to the useful, reasons about what it should, completely indulges in its characteristic diligence, converses in prayer with God, enjoys reading Divine words, reflects on creation and glorifies the Creator for the diversity of creation, sees that the passions in it are tamed, notices that morals comfortable, sees in himself daily success in the best, finds his condition in order in everything and constantly thanks for this the Giver of this grace and life filled with joy and contentment. And he has no equal value with him who does not even know about his condition, what it is, and does not give the mind time to look closely and find out how passions come into motion, whether yesterday or today he was in a better or worse position, because a lot of leisure time is required to understand the various movements in the passions and there is a daily difference in how they creep in, diminishing in part, increasing again, due to zeal or laziness coming to this or that location, they grow stronger and weaker, rest and rebel, eat hay like oxen and crave meat. For the first signifies that they have become meek, and the last that they have become hardened and fierce. Just as poisonous reptiles in the winter season are calm and motionless and do not cause harm, numb from the cold, so passions, remaining inactive during entertainment, although they do not stop, are still for a while, only then coming into motion when they find both freedom and leisure to show in their thoughts what they are capable of, like animals crawling out of their holes in the warmth of the sun. Therefore, as they say, one of those pursuing his thoughts, having spent a long time in silence in the desert and intending to experience daily success, having collected stones in the desert sand, kept them in his bosom, and one stone from the whole heap, if the thought was moved by a good thought, he placed on his right side, and if - on a shameful thought, then on his left, and he usually did this until evenings, applying one stone here and there, as the thoughts that came to mind required. Then, when evening came, he counted these and other stones and thus found out what kind of success he had every day, if ever, in goodness. And his freedom of time gave him the leisure to do this. But whoever does not have enough time for daily worries, because they are most numerous during the day and exceed time in their multitude, will he ever learn anything that requires such diligence? For the mind, when something necessary is subject to consideration, does not want to have any other concern and is not accustomed to it, even if it wants to think about something else besides what it is preoccupied with; like an eye, it looks at one thing and by its nature cannot suddenly divide the visual power into many objects. So, why is this one who lives in danger better than he who lives safely? For, although they apparently follow the same path of virtue, they do not perform it in the same way. Alone in silence, as in the daytime, having carefully surveyed and learned everything that is difficult and convenient along the way, he safely passes through it, dodging cliffs and avoiding rapids. Another in the darkness of entertainment, as if at night, falls into pits, hits rocks and, like a blind man, stumbles at every obstacle. And the praise of those who look at his deeds weakens him, and the glory of successfully completed deeds puffs him up to the point of recklessness, and the neglect of those who are not surprised by virtue saddens him, like insensibility, and the apparent advantage in goodness over others leads him to arrogance. And he needs, sometimes indulging in arrogance, to have fun beyond measure, and sometimes, losing heart and being embarrassed, becoming despondent. But the one who lives as a hermit does not change these dispositions, knows neither those who praise nor those who blame, he remains alone with the one God who crowns his work - he knows his own work, but also tries to hide a lot from himself, for a person can sometimes become a praiser of himself, puffed up with childish superstition, and through this suffer from himself the harm that, having aroused surprise to himself, he would have suffered from others. “You who are blessed flatter you” (Is. 3:12) - the Divine Scripture says beautifully about those who do good things to show off to others. Who will please a person whom he does not see, and who will seduce to the point of conceit the one who has voluntarily fled from people, so as not to diminish his reward from God by someone else’s praises, and, according to the Lord’s word, who hides from the swindler every work of the right hand (Matthew 6:3), so as to know about the work that it has been done, and not know how it is presented, hiding oneself from the half in which it originates? boastfulness? Shuitsa recognizes the work of the right hand when he distributes something out of love for fame, and tries to divulge what is hidden by the right hand in order to catch glory. Therefore, those who gave names in ancient times to those who labored in cities were successfully called doves, and those living in deserts and impassable places - turtle doves, because the former practice virtue in front of the eyes of spectators and, voluntarily or involuntarily, denigrate themselves by pleasing mankind, or being carried away by the praises of many, or often and deliberately striving to become famous, of course bearing in mind the benefit of those who see, which is not yet man-pleasing, however denigrates, without a doubt, virtue and, to the extent of this, diminishes the reward for work, which is why they really are likened to a dove that hatches chicks and gives them to people for slaughter. The latter render everything they do without damage and wholly to God unharmed, like turtle doves who release their chicks from the nest alive into the air. This is what is done in secret to please God, it lives and grows stronger and constitutes the immutable property of the one who has worked. And what desires to be witnessed by human eyes is like clothing, and it gives rise to the aphids of vanity and is damaged by it. Let us assume that someone who completely loves people, or better yet, always treats people and will not tolerate anything that needs to be endured, and will not suffer any harm from those who usually cause harm, as it is said - let the word be given in, which the truth itself does not give in - but what the higher ones do lawlessly with the lower ones, how they offend and suffer insults, how they rule and suffer from autocracy, how they rob and are exposed to robbery - this, without a doubt, he sees and has compassion for those who suffer, sharing his disposition towards both, being indignant at those who oppress and feeling sorry for the oppressed, filled with anger and bowing to mercy, irritated and wounded internally, sometimes even blaming the long-suffering of God who silently looks at this. Having once undergone this, the prophet Habakkuk shows this to others who are subjected to the same thing to which he was subjected: “You showed me all the toils and illnesses... how the wicked will overcome the righteous” (Hab. 1:3-4); and “make men like the fish of the sea” (Hab. 1:14) devouring themselves. So the Prophet, with fiery zeal and boldness, complains to God about this patience and permission as a lack of authority. And what necessity forces one who cannot help in any way to the misfortunes of others and at the same time sins, although it is not a great thing - because others act badly - to become confused in the mind, which should be in peace? This is how those who live in a crowded society sin, although they would not sin if they separated from the crowd, and, moreover, suffer loss in rewards for their labors for the sake of human glory. For, although those who are amazed at them more than at those who remain in silence will claim a thousand times that they are amazed at their presence among the multitude, it is nevertheless obvious that they are bound by these bonds and by the very fact that they have chosen places to live that cause harm, and without an accuser loudly cry out against themselves, while, on the other hand, those who have withdrawn from those who praise by their very deeds also clearly testify that they have trampled on the glory at which many are amazed: and fasting is not for them disappears, and vigilance does not perish, and prayer is not destroyed, and patience is not stolen, and every other virtue is not plundered, because there is no praise that could plunder the work. They are seen by one God, who is inherent in them, and anoints them with zeal for great deeds and rewards, and now provides assistance, and after His departure gives Eternal Life through our Lord Jesus Christ. To him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen. Instead of: όταν according to the manuscript it reads: όραν. По рукописи читается так. Instead of: έξωσθηναι according to the manuscript it reads: έξω γνωσθηναι. According to the manuscript it reads: άλλαις καί αλλαις. Instead of: έν πολέμοις according to the manuscript it reads: έν πόλεσιν. This speech has been supplemented from the manuscript. Instead of: της προσευχης according to the manuscript it reads: της προσοχης. You might be interested in: