Глава 6. Исихия пресвитера Иерусалимского к Феодулу. Душеполезное и спасительное слово о трезвении, борьбе с помыслами и молитве
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1) Sobriety is a spiritual art, which, if constantly and diligently practiced, with God’s help, frees a person from passionate thoughts and words and from bad deeds; grants to those who pass it a firm understanding of the incomprehensible God, how much this is achievable, and secretly gives the solution to the hidden divine mysteries; it is also the fulfiller of every commandment of the Old and New Testaments, and the giver of every good of the future age. It itself is actually purity of heart, which, due to its greatness and its goodness, or, more truly, due to our inattention and negligence, is now extremely rare among monks; Meanwhile, Christ pleases her, saying: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). - Being such, it is bought at a high price. – Sobriety, if it constantly remains in a person, becomes for him a guide to a right and godly life. It is the fruit and finding of contemplation; it also teaches us the right to set in motion the tripartite soul (i.e.
three forces - mental, irritable and desirable), it firmly preserves feelings, and every day in its participant it increases the four main virtues (wisdom, courage, temperance and justice).
2) The great lawgiver Moses, and especially the Holy Spirit, showing how immaculate, pure, rich in content and highly creative this virtue is and teaching us how we should begin and perform it, says: “Take heed to yourself: let not the word of iniquity be in secret in your heart” (Deut. 15:9), - in a secret word calling one mental imagination of some sinful, God-hating thing: what St. The Fathers also call an excuse brought into the heart by the devil, which (an excuse), following its appearance, our thoughts immediately follow and passionately rant with it.
3) Sobriety is the path of every virtue and commandment of God; it is also called heart silence and is also the preservation of a mind that has reached the perfection of non-dreaming.
4) He who was born blind does not see the sunshine: so he who does not walk in sobriety does not see the brilliance of the richly descending grace from above; He will also not free himself from sinful deeds, words and thoughts that are hated by God, and in his exodus he will not freely pass by the princes of Tartarus (who will meet him).
5) Attention is the silence of the heart, unceasing from every thought, in which it always, continuously and unceasingly breathes in Christ Jesus, the Son of God and God, and in Him alone, calls upon Him, courageously takes up arms against His enemies with Him, and confesses (its sins) to Him, who has the power to forgive sins. Such a soul often embraces in secrecy through the invocation of Christ, the One searching heart, but from people it tries in every possible way to hide its sweetness and its inner feat, so that the evil enemy does not somehow secretly favor sin in it and destroy its wonderful work.
6) Sobriety is the firm installation of the thought (mind) and its standing at the door of the heart, so that he sees how (alien) thoughts approach, these thieves - the plunderers, hears what these destroyers say and what they do, and what image the demons draw and reward, trying, by drawing the mind through it into dreams, to seduce it. If we go through such an action with any difficulty (we work on it), then, if we want, it will very intelligently (thoroughly and clearly) show us (open and explain) the art of mental warfare (and provide experience in it).
7) Pure fear, on the one hand from the abandonment of God, on the other from the intelligible temptations of the accidents (of life), usually gives rise to a frequency of supervisory attention in the mind of a person who tries to block the source of evil thoughts and deeds. For this purpose, there are abandonments and unexpected temptations are sent from God, to correct our lives, especially when someone has tasted the sweetness of peace from this goodness (attention and sobriety) and has been careless. From this frequency a skill is born; from this there is a certain natural continuity (continuity) of sobriety; and from this, by its nature, little by little a vision of warfare is generated, followed by patient (difficult) prayer to Jesus, a sweet peace of mind without dreams and a (wonderful) state that is made up of Jesus (from the combination with Him).
8) The thought that stands and calls Christ against enemies and resorts to Him is like some kind of beast, which, being surrounded by many dogs, courageously stands against them, hiding in some kind of fence. From afar, seeing in her mind the fetters of invisible enemies, she constantly prays against them to the peacemaker Jesus, and thus remains unhurt by them.
9) If you know, and it has been given to you to face the morning - and not only to be visible, but also to mature (Ps. 5:4), then you understand what I’m talking about: if not, stay sober and you will receive.
10) The composition of the seas – many waters; and the composition and firmament of sobriety, vigilance and deep silence of the soul, as well as the abyss of wondrous and ineffable contemplations and reasonable humility, righteousness and love, is (the very same thing) extreme sobriety and prayer to Jesus Christ without thoughts, and, moreover, continuous, day-night, laborious, without despondency and boredom (Luke 18:1).
11) “Not everyone who says to Me: Lord, Lord,,” says the Lord, “will enter into the kingdom of heaven: but do the will of My Father” (Matthew 7:21). The will of His Father is this: “You who love the Lord, hate evil” (Ps. 96:10). So, when we pray to Jesus Christ, let us also hate evil thoughts; and - the will of God is fulfilled.
12) Our Master and God, having become incarnate, offered the outline of all virtue, as an example to the human race and as a proclamation from the ancient fall, depicting all the virtuous life in the flesh. Among many other good examples He showed, He, having ascended into the desert after baptism, entered into mental warfare there with the devil, who approached Him as a simple man; and by the way of victory over him, that is, by humility, fasting, prayer and sobriety, which He maintained, having no need for them, as God and the God of gods, He taught us inexorable slaves how to properly fight against the spirits of evil.
13) How many methods (techniques) of sobriety there are, in my opinion, which can little by little clear the mind of passionate thoughts, I will not be too lazy to indicate to you, not in eloquent and not flecked speech. For I do not consider it reasonable, even in this word, as happens in stories about external wars, to cover up what is useful with a set of sayings, especially for ordinary people. But you, child Timothy, I tell you in the word of the Apostle, pay attention to what you read (1 Tim. 4:13).
14) And so there is one way of sobriety - to look unacceptably for dreams or excuses; for without dreaming, Satan cannot form thoughts and present them to the mind to be deceived by false phantoms.
15) Another is to have a deeply silent heart, always silent from every thought, and to pray.
16) Another - call on the Lord Jesus Christ for help - constantly, in humility.
17) Another thing is to have a constant remembrance of death in the soul.
18) All these works, beloved, like gatekeepers, prohibit the entry of evil thoughts; about the fact that one should only look to heaven (always occupy the mind with the contemplation of heavenly things), counting the earth (and everything earthly) as nothing - which is also one of the effective ways of sobriety, like others - about this I, with the help of God, who gives the word, will expound in more detail in another place.
19) If we cut off the causes of passions and engage in spiritual contemplation for a short time only, and do not remain patiently in this order of life forever, this is the very thing we have to do, then we easily return again to carnal passions, having received no other fruit from that (good undertaking), except for the complete darkening of the mind and deviation towards the material.
20) Anyone who strives within must have the following four (doings) at every moment: humility, extreme attention, contradiction (of thoughts) and prayer. Humility so that, since he is fighting with rivals proud demons, he always has the help of Christ in the hand of his heart, for the Lord hates the proud. Be careful to always keep your heart without any thoughts, even if they seem good. Contradiction, so that as soon as with the sharpness of your mind you understand who has come, you can immediately contradict the evil one with anger, as they say: “And I answer evilly to those who reproach me” (Ps. 119:42), “Does not my soul obey God?” (Ps. 61:1). – Prayer: so that after a contradiction, immediately from the depths of the heart cry out to Christ in unutterable groaning. And then the ascetic himself will see how, by worshiping the Name of Jesus, his enemy with his dreams will overflow and be dispersed like dust by the wind, or disappear like smoke.
21) He who does not have a prayer that is pure from thoughts does not have a weapon for battle—a prayer, I say, that would incessantly act in the inner recesses of the soul, and with the invocation of the Lord Jesus Christ would scourge and scorch the enemy who is secretly fighting.
22) You must look inside with a sharp and intense gaze of your mind in order to recognize those entering. As soon as you find out, immediately crush the head of the serpent with contradiction and at the same time cry out to Christ with groaning. And then you will receive the experience of invisible divine intercession, and you will clearly see the rightness of the heart (how to keep the heart in the rightness).
23) Just as someone holding a mirror in his hand and standing between many others, looking into the mirror, sees his own face as it is, he also sees others looking into the same mirror: so he who has completely entered his heart, sees his own state in it, and sees the black faces of the mental Ethiopians.
24) The mind cannot defeat demonic dreaming by itself alone: let it never dare to do so. For (our enemies) are cunning, and pretending to be defeated, they often, through vanity, knock down (the fighter). But they will not stand against calling on the name of Jesus for even a minute and will not tolerate malice against you.
25) Be careful not to fall into conceit (and do not rely on your own inventions) like ancient Israel: otherwise you too will be betrayed to your mental enemies. For he, having been delivered from the Egyptians by all Gods, then invented his own helper - a merged idol.
26) Under the merged idol, understand our weak mind, which, while it calls on Jesus Christ to the spirits of malice, conveniently drives them away and with skillful skill puts to flight the invisible, military forces of the enemy, and as soon as it foolishly dares to rely on itself alone, it will fall and break, like the so-called swift-winged one (a dove, for example, curled up and falls like a tumbler; if it does not have time to turn around, then hits the ground from all over the summer and breaks to death). “In the Lord,” he says, “my heart trusts, and help me, and prosper my flesh” (Ps. 27:7); and who, besides the Lord, “will stand up for me against the wicked? Or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity” (Ps. 93:16) - countless thoughts? But he who trusts in himself, and not in God, will fall into a most amazing fall.
27) Here is the image and order of heartfelt silence: if you want to fight (successfully and properly), then let a small animal, a spider, be your example in this. He grabs and kills small flies, and you, if, just like him (sitting in his cobweb hole), you find it difficult to remain silent in your soul, do not always stop beating the infants of Babylon - for which beating the Holy Spirit will bless you through David (Ps. 137:9). If you don’t have this, then you haven’t yet become silent in your mind as you should.
28) Just as it is impossible for the red sea to appear in the firmament of heaven among the stars, and just as it is impossible for a person walking on earth not to breathe the local air, so it is not possible for us to cleanse our hearts of passionate thoughts and drive out mental enemies from it, without frequently invoking the name of Jesus Christ.
29) If with humble wisdom, remembrance of death, self-reproach, contradiction (of thoughts) and the invocation of Jesus Christ, you always remain in your heart, and with these tools you soberly walk every day the mental path - narrow, but joyful and sweet, then you will enter into the holy contemplation of the Saints and will be enlightened by the knowledge of the deep mysteries from Christ, “in Him are all the treasures hidden wisdom and understanding" (Col. 2:3), and "in whom dwells all the fulfillment of the Godhead bodily" (Col. 2:9). For with Jesus you will feel that the Holy Spirit has descended into your soul, by whom the mind of man is enlightened with a revealed face to see (the glory of the Lord) (2 Cor. 3:12). "No one," says the Apostle, "can say the Lord Jesus, exactly the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:3), which mysteriously confirms the one who seeks Him (in the truth about him).
30) Those who love learning also need to know the following - that evil demons, envying us, because of the great benefit from battle, wisdom and ascension to God, often hide from us and calm down this mental battle (with this in mind) so that when we, having forgotten about the dangers of attack from their side, become unconcerned, suddenly steal our mind (into dreams), and again make us not listen to our hearts negligent. For they have one goal, concern and feat - not to allow our hearts to remain attentive to ourselves, knowing what wealth is collected through this in the soul. “But then (during the lull of the battle) we will return to spiritual contemplation with the remembrance of our Lord Jesus Christ, and battle will come to mind again.” We will only do everything with the advice, I will say, of the Lord himself, and with great humility.
31) While staying in a hostel, we must, with self-willed will and a ready heart, cut off all our will before the abbot; and with God’s help we will become in some way self-submissive and, as it were, weak-willed. At the same time, we must manage in every possible way so as not to be indignant by irritability and not allow unreasonable and unnatural movements of anger, because otherwise in the hour of spiritual warfare we will turn out to be impudent (deprived of courage). For our will, if we ourselves do not cut it off willingly, usually becomes irritated by those who all try to cut it off forcibly (without our will); and because of this, stirred up anger, like an evil robber, destroys the ability to wage war, which could hardly be acquired with great difficulty. Anger is naturally destructive. If he moves against demonic thoughts, he upsets and destroys them; and if it rises up against people, then in this case it destroys but our good thoughts. Thus, anger, as is obvious, is destructive for all kinds of thoughts, whether bad or, if it happens, even right.
It is given to us by God, like a weapon and a bow, and remains such if it does not deviate from its purpose. If he begins to act inconsistently with him, he becomes a destroyer. I saw that the dog, which sometimes boldly rushes at wolves, torments sheep.
32) Thus one must avoid insolence (careless license in dealing with others), like the poison of adders, and avoid frequent conversations, like the brood of vipers; because they can very quickly lead to complete oblivion of internal warfare, and bring the soul down from the joyful heights brought by purity of heart. A curse worthy of oblivion, like water to fire, resists attention, and is a strong adversary to it every hour. From oblivion we come to carelessness, from carelessness - to carelessness (about the orders of spiritual life), boredom (in them), and to placeless wishes; and thus we go back again, like “a dog to his vomit” (2 Pet. 2:22). Let us avoid freedom like deadly poison; and the evil acquisition of oblivion, with what comes from it, we will heal with extremely strict guarding of the mind, and the unceasing invocation of our Lord Jesus Christ; for without Him we cannot “do anything” (John 15:5).
33) It is not customary to make friends with the serpent, you cannot (with impunity) carry it in your bowels: so it is not possible to caress the body in every possible way, and love it, and please it, except for providing what is necessary; - and at the same time care about heavenly virtue. For that one (the serpent), by its nature, cannot resist so as not to wound the one who has warmed it, and this (the body) - so as not to defile the one pleasing it with movements of lustful sweetness. When the body sins in any way, it must be beaten with whips mercilessly to the point of wounds, like a runaway slave, full of wine, so that it knows that there is a master (mind) over it, ready to punish it, and let it not seek drunkenness (lust), as if with wine in an inn, so that this corruptible slave, dust and dust, does not know that his mistress (soul) is incorruptible. Do not trust your flesh until your very end. The desire of the flesh, says the Apostle, is “enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God” (Rom. 8:7); also: “the flesh... lusts after the spirit” (Gal. 5:17); and: “Those who live according to the flesh cannot please God. But you are born in the flesh, but in spirit” (Rom. 8:8, 9).
34) The point of prudence is to always move our irritable strength towards battles in internal warfare and self-reproach; wisdom - to strain our mental strength towards strict and continuous sobriety, and towards spiritual contemplation; justice - to direct the desired force towards virtue and towards God; courage - to rule and control the five senses, so that they do not defile either our inner man, or heart, or outer, or body.
35) “The glory of it is on Israel, - on the mind, beholding the beauty of the glory of God himself, as much as possible, - and His power on the clouds” (Ps. 67:35), on the radiant souls, in the morning gazing at the Father who sits at the right hand, who, shining upon them, just as the sun illuminates the pure clouds with its rays, reveals them to be most dear.
36) “One person who sins will destroy many good things,” says the Divine Scripture (Eccl. 9:18); and the mind, by sinning, destroys what was written about in the previous chapter - these heavenly meats and drinks.
37) We are no stronger than Sampson, no wiser than Solomon, no more knowledgeable than the divine David, no more than the supreme Peter we love God. Let us not rely on ourselves; for Scripture says that he who trusts in himself will fall into a terrible fall (Prov. 11:28).
38) Let us learn from Christ humility, from David humility, from Peter - weeping over the failures that happen: but not despair like Sampson, Judas and the great wise Solomon.
39) “The devil goes about roaring like a lion,” with his hordes, “seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). May our heartfelt attention, sobriety, contradiction of thoughts and prayer to Christ Jesus our God never be stopped. For you will not find better help other than Jesus in your entire life; because only He alone, the Lord, like God, knows the demonic feats, detours and deceits.
41) Just as the more rain that falls on the earth, the more it softens it: so the earth of our hearts is gladdened and gladdened by the holy name of Christ, which we proclaim, the more often it is called upon.
42) It is good for the inexperienced to know that we, stout and bowed to the ground both in body and in wisdom, have the opportunity to defeat our enemies, incorporeal and invisible, ill-willed and wise to anger, quick and easy, and tempted in battle in all ages from Adam until now, in no other way than by constant sobriety of mind and the invocation of Jesus Christ, our God and Creator. For the inexperienced, let the prayer of Jesus Christ be a guide to testing and learning good; for the experienced, the best way and mentor in goodness is action (practice), testing by deeds, and peace (what gives true peace to the spirit is good, no matter how difficult it may be).
43) Just as a small child, and therefore kindly, seeing how another performs some kind of fantasy and finding it pleasant, in his kindness, will follow this wonder-worker, so our soul, being simple and good - for it was created as such from the good Master - finding pleasant the pretexts of the devil that appear in the imagination, and being deceived by them, runs up as if to good, to what is bad, and mixes his thoughts with what the demonic pretext brought into the imagination, whether it be the face of a beautiful woman, or something else that is completely prohibited by the commandments of Christ; then, having reached the point of lust, she plans to somehow manage and put into action what the beauty that presented itself inspired; and finally, having formed the thought (internally agreeing and inclined to sin), she already puts into action through the body, bringing the iniquity imagined (formed and matured) in her thoughts to condemnation for herself.
44) Such is the cunning of the evil one, and with such and such arrows he wounds, and fills every soul with his poison. Therefore, it is not safe, before the mind has acquired great experience in warfare, to allow thoughts to enter our heart, especially at the beginning, when our soul still sympathizes with demonic tricks, enjoys them and willingly rushes after them; but one must, as soon as they are recognized, immediately, at the very moment of finding them and attacking them, cut them off. When the mind, having been in this wondrous activity for a long time, is trained, finds out everything, and acquires the skill in warfare, so that it will correctly recognize them, and, as the Prophet says, will be able to easily catch “little foxes” (Song. 2:15): then you can let them in, with knowledge of the matter, and reprove them.
45) Just as it is impossible for fire and water to pass through one channel together, so it is impossible for sin to enter the heart unless it first knocks on its door with the imagination of a crafty excuse.
46) The first is a preposition; the second is cohesion, that is, the confusion of our thoughts and the thoughts of the evil demons; the third is condolence, when both thoughts conspire for evil and decide among themselves what to do; the fourth is a sensual act, that is, sin. And so, if a sober mind pays attention to itself, and through contradiction and invocation of the Lord Jesus, drives away the pretext from its very occurrence; then nothing that usually follows it no longer happens. For the evil one, being a disembodied mind, can deceive souls in no other way than by introducing thoughts into their imagination. And about the pretext, David says: “In the morning I destroyed all the sinners of the earth” (Ps. 100:8); the great Moses speaks of marriage: “and let not mix with them” (Ex. 23:32).
47) Mind with mind is intertwined in struggle - the demonic mind with ours. Therefore, every minute we need to cry out to Christ from the depths of our souls, so that he may destroy the demonic mind and grant us the signs and glory of victory, as he is a lover of mankind.
48) Let the person holding a mirror in his hands and looking into it from the outside be an example of heartfelt silence; and then you will see how both evil and good will be mentally written in your heart.
49) Be careful never to have any thought in your heart, either dumb or blessed, so that in this way it will be convenient for you to recognize foreigners, that is, the firstborn sons of Egypt.
50) How good, pleasant, bright, sweet, all-good, clear-eyed and beautiful is the virtue of sobriety, by You, Christ God, well-controlled and cheerfully walked by the human mind with great humility! - For it extends its branches to the sea and the depths of contemplation, and to the rivers of sweet Divine mysteries - its branches, watering (irrigating and refreshing) the mind, which for a long time has been scorched by wickedness from the sweetness of the evil thoughts of demons and the frantic wisdom of the flesh, in which death.
51) Sobriety is like Jacob’s ladder, on the top of which God sits, and on which Angels walk. He purges all evil from us, cuts off verbosity, slander, slander, and the whole list of sensual vices, not allowing his own sweetness to be diminished or stopped even for a short time.
52) This, my brothers, we will go through with all diligence. But, hovering in His visions with a pure thought in Christ Jesus, let us maintain the sight of our sins and our former life, so that, being crushed by the memory of our sins, we may have in our mental battle the persistent help of Jesus Christ our God. For if, for pride, or vanity, or self-love, we lose the help of Jesus, then we will also lose the purity of heart through which God is known by man, since according to the promise (Matthew 5:8), the first is the reason for the second (purity of heart - knowledge of God).
53) A mind that is not neglectful of its innermost work, along with other benefits, from constantly keeping this work in progress, will also gain the fact that the five bodily senses will not be accomplices of sinful temptations coming from outside. Heeding entirely his virtue - sobriety and always wanting to enjoy good thoughts, he does not allow the five senses to rob him, through the entrance to himself through their material and vain thoughts; but knowing what (feelings) of seduction happen through them, it curbs them from the inside with strong tension.
54) Stay attentive to the mind, and you will not be overwhelmed by temptations. When moving away from there, be patient with what he finds.
55) Just as bitter wormwood is beneficial for those who have lost their appetite and feel aversion to food, so misadventures are beneficial for the evil-willed.
56) If you don’t want to suffer, don’t want to do evil either: because the first inexorably follows the last. Whatever he sows, he will reap. So, when we voluntarily sow evil, we reap (sorrowful) against our will, we must marvel at the justice of God.
57) The mind is blinded by the following three passions - love of money, I say, vanity and voluptuousness.
58) Knowledge and faith, co-educators of our nature, are not due to anything else but because of them they have become weak (become lean).
59) Fury and anger, abuse and murder, and the whole catalog of other passions, through them became extremely strong in people.
60) He who does not know the truth cannot believe truly; because knowledge naturally precedes faith. – What is said in Scripture is said not so that we only know, but so that we do it.
61) Let's start with doing. Thus, gradually progressing, we will find that trust in God, firm faith, inner knowledge, deliverance from temptations, grace-filled gifts, heartfelt confession, abundant tears are brought to believers through prayer, and not only this, but also patience in the afflictions encountered, and sincere forgiveness to one’s neighbor, and understanding of the spiritual law, and the acquisition of the righteousness of God, and the influx of the Holy Spirit, and the giving of spiritual treasures, and all, what God promised to believers both here and in the next century. Simply put, it is impossible for the soul to appear as existing in the image of God, as by the grace of God through faith, when a person (for his part), with his mind and heart, remains in deep humility and in undistracted prayer.
62) We have truly received a great benefit from experience: to constantly call upon the Lord Jesus against our mental adversaries, if anyone desires to cleanse his heart. And see how what I have spoken from experience agrees with the testimony of Scripture. “Be prepared,” it says, “to call upon the name of the Lord your God, O Israel” (Amos 4:12). The Apostle also says: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). And our Lord says: “Without Me you cannot do wicked things. He who is in Me, and I in him, will produce much fruit. If anyone does not abide in Me, he will be cast out like a rod and dry up” (John 15:5, 6). A great good is prayer, which combines all the good in itself, because it cleanses the heart in which God is seen by believers.
63) since the treasure of humility is highly creative and God-loving, having in itself the power to destroy all evil in us, and everything hated by God, it is not conveniently acquired for this reason. Conveniently, perhaps you will find in one person some particular acts of many virtues, but if you look for the fragrance of humility in him, you will hardly find it. Therefore, a lot of zeal and effort is required to acquire this treasure. Scripture also calls the devil unclean because from the very beginning he rejected this good treasure of humility and loved pride. For this alone, everywhere in Scripture, he is called an unclean spirit. For what kind of bodily uncleanness could a being who is completely insubstantial, incorporeal and not articulated commit, in order for this to be called unclean? It is obvious that for his pride he was called unclean, and from a pure and bright Angel, he was called nasty. “Everyone who is high-hearted is unclean before God” (Prov. 16:5). The first sin, according to Scripture, is pride (Sir. 10:15). And this is what the proud Pharaoh said: “I do not know your God, and I will not let Israel go” (Ex. 5:2).
64) There are many actions of the mind that can earn us the good gift of humility, if we do not neglect our salvation, such as: recollection of sins, in word, deed and thought, and many other things, conceptually imagined, contribute to humility. True humility is also impressive when someone constantly turns in his mind the virtues of his neighbors and extols their other natural advantages, comparing his own with theirs. Seeing in this way clearly in his mind his own badness and how far he is from the perfection of his brothers, a person will naturally begin to consider himself earth and ashes, and not even a man, but some kind of dog, because he lags behind all the rational creatures on earth, in everything, and all of them are poorer and more impoverished.
65) The mouth of Christ, the pillar of the church, our great father Vasily says: so as not to sin and the next day not to fall into the same offenses again, for this it is very useful at the end of the day to subject ourselves and everything we own to the judgment of our conscience, in order to see; what we did wrong and what we did right. Job did the same, both in relation to himself and in relation to his children. This daily reporting enlightens and teaches us to act properly at every hour.
66) Another of the godly wise men said: “The beginning of fruitfulness is color; and the beginning of an active life is abstinence.” Let us accept abstinence, and, moreover, in measure and weight, as the fathers teach, and we will pass the entire twelve-hour day in guarding the mind. By acting in this way, through such self-compulsion we will be able, with the help of God, to extinguish and diminish the evil in ourselves. For a virtuous life is needed, for which the Kingdom of Heaven is given.
67) The path to knowledge is dispassion and humility, without which no one will see the Lord.
68) He who continually dwells in his inner being and always revolves there, is of sound mind; and not only this, but also enters into contemplation, theologizes, and prays. And this is what the Apostle says: “Walk in the Spirit, and do not commit carnal lust” (Gal. 5:16).
69) He who does not know how to walk the spiritual path does not care about passionate thoughts, but is always occupied only with the body, or is gluttonous and debauched, or sad, angry and vindictive, and through this he darkens his mind, or, beginning excessive exploits, he upsets and makes sense of his thoughts.
70) He who renounced worldly things, that is, wife, property and other external things, only made a monk a monk, and not also an internal one. But whoever has renounced passionate thoughts and this last thing, that is, the mind, is a true monk. And it’s easy to make an external person a monk if you want, but it’s no small feat to make an internal person a monk.
71) Who is there in this generation who has completely freed himself from passionate thoughts and has been granted unceasing prayer, pure and immaterial? – This is the sign of an inner man.
72) Many passions lie hidden in our souls; but they expose themselves only when their reasons become visible.
73) Do not engage in physical training all the time, but, having determined a feasible feat for the body, turn your entire mind to the inner: “physical training is useful for a little, but godliness is useful for everything” (1 Tim. 4:8).
74) When the passions are inactive - because either their causes are cut off, or the demons have insidiously retreated - pride is reborn.
75) Humility and suffering (ascetic bodily deprivation) free a person from all sin - then, cutting off spiritual passions, and these are bodily. Therefore, the Lord says: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8), - they will see both Himself and the treasures that are in Him; when they purify themselves with love and abstinence, and this is all the more the more they purify themselves.
76) Contemplation (understanding) of words about every virtue is (gives) guarding the mind, as the ancient guardian of David (2 Sam. 18:24) predicted circumcision of the heart.
77) Just as we are damaged by looking at something harmful to the senses, so it happens in relation to the mental.
78) Just as if the core of a plant is damaged, it dries up, so understand the same with regard to the human heart. You need to pay attention every minute, because predators don’t yawn.
79) The Lord, wanting to show that every commandment is obligatory and that sonship was given to people for His own blood, says: “When you have done all that is commanded you, say, ‘For we are servants without duty: for whatever we ought to do, we have done by him’” (Luke 17:16). Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven is not a reward for deeds, but a gift from the Master prepared for faithful slaves. The slave does not demand freedom as a reward; but (having received it) he thanks as a debtor, and (not having received) he expects it as a favor.
80) Christ, according to Scripture, died for our sins, and grants freedom to slaves who work well for Him, for He says: “Good, good and faithful servant: you have been faithful for a little, I will make you ruler over many: enter into the joy of your Lord” (Matthew 25:21). But a faithful servant is not the one who relies on bare knowledge (of the debt of slavery), but the one who shows loyalty by obedience to Christ, who gave the commandments.
81) He who honors his master does what he has commanded, but having made a mistake or disobeyed, he endures as his due what happens to him for this. Being inquisitive, be also hardworking: for mere knowledge inflates a person.
82) Temptations that unexpectedly happen to us providentially teach us to be hardworking (i.e., in fulfilling the commandments).
83) The belonging of a star is the light that is near it; and the belonging of the pious and God-fearing is poverty and humility: since nothing else should be a distinguishing and indicative sign of the disciples of Christ, like humble wisdom and a humiliated appearance. The four Gospels loudly preach this. Whoever does not live this way, that is, does not live humbly, is deprived of a part of Him who humbled Himself to the cross and death and Who is the active legislator of the divine gospels (by deed and life depicted in the gospels, who showed the commandments obligatory for us).
84) “You who are thirsty, come to the water,” says the Prophet (Is. 55:1); Those who thirst for God, walk in purity of mind and heart. However, the one soaring high through it must also turn his gaze to the ground of his beggary. There is no one higher than the humble. Like where there is no light, everything is dark and gloomy; so when there is no humility, all our diligent labors for God are vain and fruitless.
85) “The end of the word, listen to everything: fear God and keep His commandments” (Eccl. 12:13), both mentally and sensually. If you mentally force yourself to keep them, then you will rarely have the need for sensual labors for their sake. David says: “I have willed Your will... and do Your law in the midst of my womb” (Ps. 39:9).
86) If a person does not do the will of God and His law in the middle of his belly, that is, in the middle of his heart, then he cannot comfortably fulfill them outside either.
87) As sensual salt sweetens bread and all food, protects meat from rotting and preserves it intact for a long time; So also think about the intelligent preservation of mental sweetness and wondrous (in the heart) deeds. For it divinely delights both the inner and outer man, drives away the stench of bad thoughts and keeps us constant in goodness.
88) From the pretext comes a multitude of thoughts, and from these evil things are sensual. He who immediately extinguishes the first with Jesus avoids the subsequent. And he will be enriched by the sweet knowledge of God, in which he will be able to see God everywhere, and, opposing Him with the mirror of the mind, will be enlightened by Him, like clear glass placed against the sensual sun. Then, finally, the mind, having reached the final limit of its desires, rests from all other contemplation within itself.
89) since every thought enters the heart through the imagination of something sensual (the sensual interferes with the intelligent); then the blissful light of the Divine then begins to illuminate the mind when it is abolished from everything and becomes completely formless (representing no form or image). For this lightness manifests itself in a pure mind, under the condition of the impoverishment of all thoughts.
90) The more vigilantly you listen to your mind, the more you will pray to Jesus with warm desire; and again, the more carelessly you watch your mind, the more you will distance yourself from Jesus. And as the former greatly illuminates the air of the mind; so the latter, deviation from sobriety and the sweet calling of Jesus, usually completely darkens it. It is natural for this matter to be as we said, and it cannot happen otherwise. You will learn this from experience when you experience it. For virtue, and especially such luminous, sweet activity, is usually studied in no other way than by experience.
91) The incessant invocation of Jesus with a certain warm desire, full of sweetness and joy, causes the air of the heart to be filled with a gratifying silence from extreme attention. For the heart to be completely cleansed, the author is Jesus Christ, the Son of God and God, the author and Creator of all good things. For He Himself says: “I am... God, create the world” (Is. 45:7).
92) The soul, being benefited and delighted by Jesus, with a certain joy and love rewards the benefactor with confession, thanking and calling on its Peacemaker with reverent inspiration; for within himself he cleverly sees how He disperses the dreams of evil spirits.
93) “And,” says David, “my intelligent eye will look upon my mental enemies, and my ear will hear the evil ones who rise up against me” (Ps. 91:12). “And the reward of sinners” I saw from God taking place in me (Ps. 90:8). When there are no dreams in the heart, then the mind stands in its natural order, ready to be moved to do anything. sweet contemplation, spiritual and God-loving.
94) Thus, as I said, sobriety and the Jesus Prayer are mutually part of each other - extreme attention is part of unceasing prayer, and prayer is again part of extreme mental sobriety and attention.
95) A good teacher for both body and soul is an uninterrupted memory of death, and so that, passing everything in the middle of existence, (i.e., between the present minute and the hour of death), one can always see it (see it before oneself), and the very bed on which our soulless body has to lie, and so on.
96) Whoever wants, brethren, to always remain unhurt, must not indulge in sleep. For one of two things is necessary - either to fall and perish, naked of virtues, or to always stand (on guard) armed in mind - just as the enemy with his militia always stands (in wait).
97) A certain divine state in the mind is born from the constant remembrance and invocation of our Lord Jesus Christ, if we do not care about always praying to Him in the mind, about continuous sobriety, and about one urgently necessary matter. And truly, we must always do the same thing and do it in the same way - calling on Jesus Christ our Lord, crying out to Him with burning hearts, that He may give us communion and taste of His holy name (so that it may take root in the heart). For practice (frequent repetition of the same thing) is the mother of skill, both in relation to virtue and in relation to vice; and skill then rules, like nature. – Having come to such a state, the mind itself is already looking for its adversaries, like a hunting dog for a hare in the bushes; but this one seeks in order to devour, and the other seeks to strike and disperse.
98) So, whenever evil thoughts happen to multiply in us, let us cast into their midst the invocation of our Lord Jesus Christ; and we will immediately see that they will begin to dissipate like smoke in the air, as experience has taught us. When after this the mind remains alone (without disturbing thoughts), let us again take up continuous attention and invocation. We will do this every time we endure such a temptation.
99) Just as it is impossible for a naked body to go to war, or to swim across a large sea in clothes, or to live without breathing: so it is impossible, without humility and unceasing prayer to Christ, to learn mental and secret warfare, and skillfully drive it away and stop it.
100) The great David, most experienced in business, speaks to the Lord: “I will keep my power for you” (Ps. 59:10) (turning to You): so that maintaining in us the power of heart and mental silence, from which all virtues are born, depends on the assistance of the Lord, who gave us commandments, and drives away from us, when we constantly call on Him, indecent oblivion, which most of all destroys Heart silence is like water and fire. Therefore, monk, do not indulge in sleep from negligence to your own death (and destruction); but in the name of Jesus scourge your adversaries, and let this sweetest name, as one wise man said, cleave to your breath: and then you will know the benefit of silence.
101) When we, unworthy, are worthy to partake with fear and trembling of the divine and most pure mysteries of Christ our God and King, then we will most of all show sobriety, guarding our minds and strict attention, so that this divine fire, that is, the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, will consume our sins, and our small and large defilements. For entering into us, it immediately drives away the evil spirits of malice from the heart, and forgives us former sins; and our mind is then left free from the restless bothersomeness of evil thoughts. If after this, standing at the door of the heart, we carefully preserve our minds, then when will we again be honored with St. Mysteries, the Divine Body will more and more enlighten our mind and make it shining like a star.
102) Oblivion usually extinguishes the preservation of the mind, just as water extinguishes fire. But the unceasing Jesus Prayer with unremitting sobriety ultimately evaporates it from the heart. Prayer needs sobriety, like a small lamp in the light of a candle (it could be like a lamp in a calm environment, so that it burns like a candle).
103) One must be painfully concerned about preserving what is precious; In truth, only that which preserves us from all evil, both sensory and mental, is precious to us. This is keeping the mind with the invocation of Jesus Christ, always looking into the depths of the heart and constantly keeping silent in thought, even, I will say, from thoughts that seem to be in the gums, and trying to be empty of all thoughts at all, so that thieves do not hide under them. But although we suffer with patience in our hearts, consolation is nevertheless close.
104) An unceasingly guarded heart, which is not allowed to accept the forms, images and dreams of dark and crafty spirits, usually gives birth to light-like thoughts. For just as a coal gives birth to a flame, so much more, God, who dwells in our hearts from holy baptism, ignites our mind to contemplation, if he finds the air of our heart clean from the winds of malice and protected by the guards of the mind.
105) The name of Jesus Christ must always rotate in the space of our hearts, just as lightning rotates in air space before it becomes rain. Those who have spiritual experience in internal warfare know this well. This mental battle must be waged in the same way as an ordinary war. The first thing is attention; then, when we notice that an enemy thought has approached, we will hurl words of oath from our hearts at him with anger; the third thing is to pray for it, turning your heart to the call of Jesus Christ, so that this demonic ghost will immediately dissipate, so that otherwise the mind does not follow the trail of this dream, like a child seduced by some skillful magician.
106) Let us labor in prayer so that, like David, we can cry out: Lord Jesus Christ! Let our larynx become silent (go hoarse, lose its voice), but let our intelligent eyes never cease to trust in the Lord our God (Ps. 68:4).
107) Always remembering the parable of the unjust judge, which the Lord spoke to teach us that we must always pray and not lose heart (and acting on it), and we will receive profit and vengeance.
108) Just as it is impossible for someone who looks at the sun not to have their pupils shine strongly: so it is impossible for someone who always touches the air of the heart not to shine.
109) Just as it is impossible to live a real life without food and drink: so without preserving the mind and purity of heart, which is what is called sobriety, it is impossible for the soul to achieve anything spiritual and pleasing to God, or to get rid of mental sin, even if someone, through fear of torment, forces himself not to sin (by deed).
110) However, those who, through some need, abstain from sin by deed, are blessed before God, Angels and men: because they are “needs who delight in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 11:12).
111) This is the wondrous fruit for the mind from silence, that in it sins, which at first knock on the mind only with thoughts, so that if they are accepted by thought, then become gross sensual sins, are all cut off mentally in our inner man by the virtue of sobriety, which does not allow them to enter inside and go out into evil deeds, by the wave and intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ.
112) The image of external, sensory-bodily exploits is the Old Testament, and the Holy Gospel, which is the New Testament, is an image of attention, or purity of heart. And just as the Old Testament did not bring to perfection, did not satisfy and did not confirm the inner man in the matter of pleasing God: “nothing has been accomplished,” says the Apostle, “the law” (Heb. 7:19), but only gross sins (cut off evil thoughts and desires from the heart to preserve heart purity, which is the Gospel Commandment, higher than, for example, the prohibition to pluck out an eye or tooth from your neighbor): so understand about bodily righteousness and bodily exploits, about fasting, I say, and abstinence, lying down, standing, vigil, and others, which usually rise in relation to the body, and calm the passionate part of the body from sinful movements. Well, of course, and this is all, as it is said about the Old Testament (that the law is good): because it serves to train (nurturing is) our outer man and to protect. from passionate deeds. But these deeds are not guardians from mental sins, or rebukers of them, i.e.
are not strong enough to save us from envy, anger and other things.
113) And purity of the heart, that is, guarding and guarding the mind, which the New Testament serves, if it is observed by us as it should, cuts off all passions and all evil from the heart and eradicates it, and instead introduces into it joy, trustworthiness, contrition, crying, tears, knowledge of ourselves and our sins, remembrance of death, true humility, immeasurable love for God and people, and some kind of Divine heart pleasure.
114) Just as it is impossible for someone walking on earth not to cut through this air, so it is impossible for the human heart not to be constantly struggling from demons, or not to be subject to influences hidden from them, even if someone undergoes rigorous physical labors.
115) If you want not only in appearance to be a monk, good, meek and always united with God, but in truth you want to be such in the Lord; then try with all your might to practice the virtue of attention, which consists of vigilance in guarding the mind, and in establishing a sweet silence of the heart, and a blissful state of soul free from dreams: a task that you will not find in many.
116) This is called mental wisdom. And go through it in great sobriety and warm zeal with the Jesus Prayer, with humility and continuity, with the silence of sensory and mental lips, with abstinence in food and drink and removal from everything sinful; pass it on your mental path skillfully with reasoning - and with God’s help it will reveal to you what you did not imagine, will let you know, enlighten you, make you wise and teach you what could not even come to your mind when you walked in the darkness of passions and dark deeds, being immersed in the abyss of oblivion and confusion of thoughts.
117) Just as the valleys abundantly produce wheat, so it will abundantly produce every good thing in your heart; or better yet, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself will give this to you, without Whom we cannot do anything. And first you will find it as a ladder, then as a book in which you will read, finally, more and more prospering, you will find it as a city, the heavenly Jerusalem, and you will actually see Christ of Israel, the King of hosts, with your mind, with His Father being consubstantial and worshiped by the Holy Spirit.
118) Demons always lead us into sin with false dreams. Thus, with dreams of enrichment and self-interest, they set up the unfortunate Judas to betray the Lord and God of all. Leading to this, they besieged him with dreams of bodily peace, insignificant in itself, of honor, wealth, glory, and then they drew him into suicide by strangulation and subjected him to eternal death. Insidious, they gave him the opposite of what they had imagined for him in their dreams or pretexts.
119) See how the enemies of our salvation overthrow us with false dreams and empty promises. And Satan himself, in the same way, fell from heavenly heights like lightning, dreaming of equality with God. So then he alienated Adam from God, instilling in him a dream of divine (certain dignity), and all those who sin are usually seduced by this deceitful and insidious enemy.
120) Our hearts are filled with bitterness from the poison of evil thoughts when, having become negligent due to oblivion, we are drawn away for a long time from attention and the Jesus Prayer. But when, out of love for the divine, with strong zeal, we harmoniously begin in our mental brain (in the mental workshop, in the heart) to do the above (i.e., attention and prayer), it is again filled with sweetness, in a feeling of delight with some kind of blissful joy. Then we set firm intentions to always walk in silence of heart, and not for the sake of anything else, but for the sake of the pleasant sweetness and joy felt from it in the soul.
121) The science of sciences and the art of arts is the ability to cope with evil thoughts. The best method against them and the most reliable outwitting of them is to watch in the Lord for the appearance of their motive and always keep your thought pure, just as we keep the bodily eye, with a keen eye, so that nothing comes close to it that could damage it and in every possible way trying not to allow even the smallest speck of dust to reach it.
122) Just as snow does not give rise to flame, water does not give birth to fire, thorns and figs: so the heart of every person will not be freed from demonic thoughts, words and deeds, if it does not cleanse its inner being, does not combine sobriety with the Jesus Prayer, does not acquire humility and spiritual silence, and does not become a mother-in-law with all the zeal, hastening to the hall. A soul that does not pay attention to itself inevitably becomes barren of good and immaculate thoughts, like a barren mule; because there is no understanding of spiritual wisdom in it either. Truly, calling on the name of Jesus and eliminating passionate thoughts is a sweet deed that brings peace of mind.
123) When the soul enters into an evil agreement with the body, then they create a city of vanity and a pillar of pride, and wicked thoughts dwelling in them. But the Lord, through the fear of Gehenna, creates confusion in them and divides them, forcing the mistress soul to philosophize and speak alien and contrary to the body. From this fear, division occurs: because of the wisdom of the flesh, enmity against God is: “For he is not subject to the law of God” (Rom. 8:7).
124) Our daily deeds must be weighed hourly, listening to them, and in the evening we must lighten their burden by repentance, as much strength as we have, if we want, with the help of Christ, to overcome evil in ourselves. We must also look at whether we do all our sensory and visible deeds according to God, in the presence of God and for God alone, so that otherwise, through foolishness, we will not be robbed of any unkind feelings.
125) If, with God’s help, we acquire something every day through our sobriety, then we should not indiscriminately enter into relations with others, so as not to suffer damage from any seductive conversations; but even more so we must despise all vanity for the beauty and beneficence of this virtue (sobriety), most amiable and sweet.
126) We must give the three forces of the soul the correct movement, in accordance with their nature and in accordance with the intention of the Creator of them - God. Namely: the power of irritability must be fought against our external man and against the serpent - Satan. “Be angry,” it says, “and do not sin” (Ps. 4:5). This means, be angry at sin, that is, be angry at yourself and at the devil, so as not to sin against God. The desirable force must be directed towards God and virtue, and the mental force must be placed as the ruler over both of them, so that, with wisdom and prudence, it orders them, admonishes them, denounces them and rules over them, as a king rules over slaves. And then the reason that exists in us according to God controls them (that is, when it dominates over them). Although passions rebel against reason, we will not cease to insist that reason remain their ruler. For the brother of the Lord says: “If anyone sins in word [εν λογω - in word and in mind, (mind)], he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body” (James 3:2).
Truly speaking, every lawlessness and sin is accomplished by these three forces, and every virtue and truth is again accomplished by these same three forces.
127) The mind becomes darkened and becomes fruitless when a monk either talks with someone about worldly things, or mentally rants about them to himself, or when his body and mind become occupied with something sensual, or when he generally indulges in fussiness. For in this case, immediately after that he loses warmth, contrition, boldness towards God, and knowledge (consciousness of the order of God, and the memory of God; he falls into oblivion about God and about the orders of God): so as long as we listen to the mind, we are enlightened, and as long as we do not listen to it, we are darkened.
128) He who unremittingly strives for peace and silence of the mind and diligently seeks it, will easily despise everything sensory, so as not to work in vain. If he deceives his conscience with some false wisdom (that nothing can be attached to anything sensual), then he will fall asleep with the bitter death of oblivion, for deliverance from which the divine David prays (Ps. 12:4): “Let me not sleep into death.” And the Apostle says: “To him who leads... to do good, and to him who does not, it is sin for him” (James 4:17).
129) The mind comes from negligence again into its characteristic order and sobriety, if we are immediately inflamed with zeal and with warm zeal we again restore the usual practice of the (sober) mind.
130) The mill donkey cannot overtake the wheel on which it is tied (it walks, but everything is in one place): and the mind will not move forward in virtue (sobriety) leading to perfection if it does not order its inner being. He who cannot see this virtue (sobriety) and the luminous Jesus is always blind with his inner eyes.
131) A good and strong horse gallops merrily having accepted its rider: the mind will rejoice with joy in the light of the Lord, “in the morning appearing” to Him free from all thoughts (Ps. 5:4); inflaming himself, he will go from the power of the active wisdom of the mind, into the wondrous power of contemplation and the mysteries of ineffable virtues; and when he finally perceives in his heart the immeasurable depth of sublime divine contemplations, then “the God of gods will appear to him,” as much as the heart can accommodate (Ps. 83:8). The mind struck by this then lovingly cherishes in praises of God, who is visible and seeing, and for the sake of both, saving those who so fix their mental gaze on Him.
132) The silence of the heart, which is kept intelligently, will see great depth; and the ear of the silent mind will hear wondrous things from God.
133) A traveler, having begun to make a long, inconvenient and difficult journey, and fearing to get lost on the way back, places signs along the road as wayfinders that would help him conveniently return home: and a husband walking the path of sobriety, let him put (as signs) words (heard from his fathers), fearing the same thing for himself (i.e., getting lost on the way, or moving backwards) back).
134) But for a traveler, returning to where he came from is a reason for joy; and for a teetotaler, going back is the destruction of a rational soul and a sign of apostasy from godly deeds, words and thoughts. And he will, during the deathly sleep of his soul, have thoughts that, like skeletons, will wake him up (from sleep), reminding him into what deep darkness and relaxation he has fallen due to his carelessness.
135) Having fallen into sorrow, and into hopeless extremes, from which there is no hope of extrication, we need to do for ourselves, too, what David did, to pour out our heart and our prayer before God, and to proclaim our sorrow, as it is, to the Lord (Ps. 141:3), For we confess to God, who is able to wisely arrange everything that concerns us, and make our misfortune, if it is useful, easy (convenient and convenient), and save us from pernicious and destructive sadness.
136) Anger at people not driven by nature, sadness not according to God and despondency are still fatal to good and reasonable thoughts; but the Lord, squandering them for our sake of confession, brings joy.
137) Thoughts that appear and stand in the heart against our will are usually blotted out by the Jesus Prayer with sobriety, from the depths of the thoughts of the heart.
138) We will find relief and joy in sorrow from many wordless thoughts as soon as we reproach ourselves truly and impartially, or we declare everything to the Lord as if to a man. In every possible way, with these two (techniques) we can find peace from everything (confusing).
139) The father of the law, Moses, who sees God in the bush, is accepted by the fathers into the image of the mind, glorified by his face, and supplied as a god to Pharaoh from the God of gods; then he smites Egypt with plagues, plagues Israel, and gives the law. All this, taken figuratively in relation to the spirit, depicts the actions and advantages of the mind.
140) And Aaron, the brother of the lawgiver, shall serve as the image of the external man. And so, angrily bringing accusations against him (the external man), we too will say to him, as Moses did to Aaron who sinned: How has Israel wronged you, that you tried to make him an apostate from the Lord the living God Almighty (Ex. 32:21).
141) Among many other good examples, the Lord, proceeding to raise Lazarus from the dead, (by forbidding the spirit), showed that we need to curb the soul with strict prohibition when it effeminately indulges in relaxed sensitivity, and in general try to establish in ourselves a cruel (towards ourselves) disposition, which, I’m talking about self-reproach, can rid the soul of self-indulgence, vanity and pride.
142) Just as it is impossible to cross the depths of the sea without a large ship, so without calling on Jesus Christ it is impossible to drive out the pretense of the evil thought.
143) Controversy usually blocks the further course of thoughts, and invocation (of the name of Jesus Christ) drives them out of the heart. As soon as a pretext is formed in the soul by the idea of a sensory object, such as a person who has offended us, or a woman’s beauty, or silver and gold, or when all of this, one after another, appears in our thoughts, then it becomes self-evident that our heart is ready to fulfill thoughts of either rancor, or fornication, or the love of money. So, if our mind is experienced and trained, so that it knows how to guard itself (from attacks) and see the seductive dreams and charms of the evil ones as clearly as day; then immediately, by resisting through contradiction and the prayer of Jesus Christ, he easily extinguishes the kindled arrows of the devil, not allowing himself to rush after a dream as soon as it appears, nor to our thoughts sympathetically agree with the ghost of a dream, or to talk friendly with it, or to unite with it in the noise of many thoughts, - why, with some necessity, like nights after days, bad deeds follow.
144) If our mind is not experienced in the matter of sharp-sighted sobriety, then it immediately attaches itself biasedly to the pretext presented to it, whatever it may be, and begins to talk with it, receiving dissimilar questions and giving the same answers. Then our thoughts are mixed with demonic dreams, which, as a result, become even more prolific and multiply in order to appear more amiable, beautiful and attractive to the seduced and robbed mind. In this state of affairs, something similar happens in our minds, as if a dog appeared on some plain where gentle lambs graze, and the lambs, as soon as he appeared, would often run up to him, as to their mother, receiving no benefit from approaching him, except perhaps borrowing from him uncleanness and stench.
In the same way, our thoughts unreasonably run up to all the demonic dreams in the mind and, as I said, are mixed with them, so that we can assume that both of them are conferring with each other, just as Agamemnon and Menelaus never conferred about how to overthrow Iliupol: because they, too, are conferring on what should be arranged in order to bring into action through the body that which seemed so red and sweet to them under the influence of the demonic. seduction. This is how the soul finally settles down inside the fall; after which, as if out of some kind of necessity, what has ripened there, inside the heart, will be worn out outside.
145) Our mind is something light-moving and gentle, easily given over to dreams and uncontrollably susceptible to sinful thoughts, if it does not have in itself such a thought that, as an autocrat over the passions, would constantly restrain it and curb it.
146) Contemplation and knowledge usually act as guides and promoters of the most perfect life through the fact that the heart, enraptured by them with grief, is filled with contempt for earthly pleasures and for all sensual worldly pleasures, as insignificant things.
147) An attentive life, accomplished in Christ Jesus, is the father of contemplation and knowledge, and the parent of divine ascents and the wisest thoughts, combined with the wife of humility, as the divine Prophet Isaiah says: “those who endure... the Lord will change their strength, become inspired” and soar in the Lord (Is. 40:31).
148) It seems too strict and difficult for people to be mentally silent from every thought. And truly this is difficult and painful: for not only those who are not initiated into the secrets of spiritual warfare find it painfully difficult to contain and hold the incorporeal in a corporeal house, but also for those who have been tempted in the internal immaterial warfare. But whoever, through unceasing prayer, contains Jesus in his heart, he, according to the Prophet, “will not be weary in following Him, and will not desire the day of man” (Jer. 17:16), for the sake of the beauty of the pleasantness and sweetness of Jesus, and his enemies - the unclean demons walking around him, will not be ashamed, but will speak to them at the gates of the heart (Ps. 126:5), and will drive them back them by Jesus.
149) The soul, having soared into the air after death to the gates of heaven, and there will not be ashamed of its enemies, having Christ with it for itself; but even then, as now, he will boldly speak to them at the gates. Just until her very end, may she not tire of calling out day and night to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God; and He will take its vengeance soon, according to the true divine promise, which He spoke in the parable of the unrighteous Judge: “I say to you... He will take vengeance... soon” (Luke 18:8), both in this life and after its departure from the body.
150) Sailing on the mental sea, take courage in Jesus; for He Himself is within you - in your heart, mysteriously calling to you: do not be afraid, my child, little Israel; Fear not, O worm Israel, I will protect you (Isa. 41:14). If God is for us, what evil one is against us? For us, God, who blessed the pure in heart, laid down the law according to which the sweetest Jesus, the only pure one, wants to divinely feed into pure hearts and dwell in them. Let us not, according to the divine Paul, “train” our minds “for godliness” (1 Tim. 4:7).
151) According to David, he who does not accept the face of man, judging unrighteousness in his heart, will enjoy, according to David, the abundance of peace (Ps. 36:11), that is, who does not accept the images of evil spirits, and through these images does not conceive sin, but strictly judging and speaking judgment on the earth of his heart, he gives sin its due. The great and wise Fathers, in some of their writings, also call demons people because of their rationality. So in the Gospel the Lord says: “An evil man did this,” that is, he sowed among the wheat and tares (meaning the devil; for then he said: “He who is all-manifest is the devil”) (Matthew 13:28, 39). Since we do not immediately contradict these doers of evil, then for this reason we are overcome by thoughts.
152) If, having begun to live in the attention of the mind, we combine humility with sobriety and with contradiction we combine prayer, then we will walk well in our mental path, as with a lamp of light, with the worshipful and holy name of Jesus Christ, both sweeping and cleansing from sin, and decorating and tidying the house of our heart. If we rely on our own sobriety or attention alone, then soon, being attacked by enemies, we will fall and be overthrown. And then these most insidious evildoers will begin to overcome us in everything, and we will begin to become more and more entangled in evil desires, like nets: or we will conveniently be subjected to complete slaughter from them, not having within ourselves the victorious sword - the name of Jesus Christ. For only this sacred sword, being constantly rotated in a heart abolished from any image, knows how to turn them back and cut, scorch and eat up straw like fire.
153) The task of constant sobriety, which is beneficial to the soul and fruitful, is to immediately discern the dreamy thoughts that form in the mind. The point of contradiction is to expose and put to shame a thought that attempts to enter the air of our mind through the presentation of some sensory object. The same thing that immediately extinguishes and dispels every intention of the opponents, every word, every dream, every idol and every pillar of malice, is the calling of the Lord. And we ourselves see in our minds how powerfully Jesus, our great God, strikes them, and how he protects us, the humble, the poor and good for nothing.
154) Many do not know that our thoughts are nothing more than dreamy images of sensual and worldly things. When we remain sober in prayer, then prayer frees our mind from any material image of evil thoughts, and allows it to recognize the words of the adversaries (or the password or plans for the attacks they are planning) and feel the great benefits of prayer and sobriety. “Behold both your eyes and you will see the reward of sinners (mental, mentally and yourself) ... and you will understand” (Ps. 90:8), as the divine psalmist David says.
155) Let us, if possible, unceasingly remember death: for from this remembrance is born in us the putting aside of all worries and vanities, guarding the mind and unceasing prayer, dispassion for the body and aversion to sin, and almost, to tell the truth, every virtue, living and active, flows from it. Therefore, let it be, if possible, that this matter in our movement is as continuous as our breathing.
156) The heart, completely alienated from dreams, gives birth to divine and mysterious thoughts that play inside it, like fish play and dolphins jump in a calm sea. The sea is blown by a thin wind, and the abyss of the heart is blown by the Holy Spirit. “And because you are sons,” says the Apostle, “God sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying: Abba, father” (Gal. 4:6).
157) Every monk will doubt and hesitate to take up spiritual work if he has not first established sobriety of mind, either because he has not yet recognized its beauty, or because having recognized it, he is weak in it through negligence. But this hesitation will undoubtedly dissipate as soon as he enters into the work of preserving the mind, which is and is called mental wisdom, or active wisdom of the mind. Through this he will find the path about which the Lord said: “I am the way... the truth and the life” (John 14:6).
158) Again he will waver, seeing the abyss of thoughts and the crowd of Babylonian babies: but Christ also dispels this wavering, if we constantly establish ourselves with the foundation of the mind on Him, and we throw away the Babylonian babies, breaking them against this stone (Ps. 136:9). “Without Me,” says the Lord, “you cannot do wicked things” (John 15:5).
159) He is truly a true monk who keeps sobriety, and he is a true teetotaler who is a monk in his heart (who has only in his heart that he and God).
160) Human life moves forward with alternating years, months, weeks, days and nights, hours and minutes. Together with them, we should also move forward (towards perfection) virtuous deeds, I mean sobriety, prayer, sweetness of heart, with unremitting silence until our very end.
161) The hour of death will finally come upon us, it will come, and it is impossible to avoid it; and - oh, if only the prince of peace and air, having come then, found our iniquities small and insignificant, so that he could not justly expose us! Otherwise, we will cry then, although it is useless. For “a servant,” as the Lord says, “knows the will of his master, and without... doing... there will be many scourges” (Luke 12:47).
162) Woe to those who have destroyed their hearts! And what will they do when the Lord visits (Sir. 2:14)? - Let us take up the matter of the heart more zealously, brothers.
163) Simple and dispassionate thoughts are followed by passionate ones, as we have learned from long-term experience and observation; and the former serve as an entrance for the latter, the impassive for the passionate.
164) Truly a man must cut himself in two by will, he must tear himself apart with his wisest thoughts, truly he must become his own irreconcilable enemy. Whatever disposition someone has towards a person who has extremely insulted and offended him, the same, or even worse, we must have towards ourselves if we want to fulfill the greatest and first commandment, that is, blessed humility, which is the life of Christ, the incarnate life of God. Therefore the Apostle says: “Who will deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24)? “For he is not subject to the law of God” (Rom. 8:7). Showing that subduing the body to the will of God is one of the tasks that lies upon us, he said: “Even if we had reasoned with ourselves, we would not have been condemned. If we judge, we are punished by the Lord” (1 Cor. 11:31, 32).
165) The beginning of fruiting – color; and the beginning of sobriety of mind is abstinence in food and drink, rejection and cutting off of all thoughts, and heartfelt silence.
166) When we begin to flow with sobriety firmly established in Christ Jesus, then first appears to us in our minds, as if some lamp is held by us with the hand of the mind and guides us on mental paths - then, as if a bright moon rotating on the firmament of the heart - finally, as if the sun - Jesus, shining like the sun with righteousness, revealing Himself and His all-bright lights contemplations.
167) This is what Jesus mysteriously reveals to the mind that patiently keeps His commandment, which says: “Circumcise your hardness of heart” (Deut. 10:16). Yes, careful sobriety teaches a person wonderful truths. - The deity is not partial. Why does the Lord say: “Hear Me and understand, for whatever one has will be given to him and will abound; and again: “All things work together for good to those who love God” (Rom. 8:28). Wouldn't virtues help them achieve this all the more?
168) A ship will not move forward without water; keeping the mind will not succeed at all without sobriety, with humility and the constant prayer of Jesus Christ.
169) The foundation of the house is stones; and this virtue (keeping the mind) both the foundation and the top is the holy and worshiped name of our Lord Jesus Christ. A foolish helmsman will soon and easily suffer a shipwreck during a storm, who will dismiss the shipbuilders, throw the oars and sails into the sea, and go to bed himself: but even more likely the soul will be drowned by demons, which, when the excuses begin, will neglect sobriety and calling on the name of Jesus Christ.
170) What we know, we convey through the Scripture, and what we saw while passing along the path, we testify to those who wish, if you want to accept what is said to you. The Lord Himself said: “If anyone does not abide in Me, he will be cast out like a rod and dry up: and they gather it up and put it into the fire, and it is burned up. And whoever is in Me, and I in him, he will produce much fruit” (John 15:6, 5). – Just as it is impossible for the sun to shine without light, so it is impossible for the heart to be cleansed of the filth of harmful thoughts without calling on the name of Jesus. If this is true, as I see, let us use Him as our own breath. For it (the name of Jesus Christ) is light, and those (bad thoughts) are darkness: and He (the one called upon) is God and Master, and those are demonic servants.
171) It is proper for the preservation of the mind to be worthily called luminous, and lightning-generating, and light-emitting, and fiery-bearing. For, truly, it alone is superior to the greatest bodily virtues, no matter how many of them anyone has. For this reason, this virtue should be called by the most honorable names, for the sake of the luminous lights born from it. Those who have loved her, from sinners, obscene, nasty, ignorant, senseless, unrighteous, are made righteous, wholesome, pure, holy and reasonable by the power of Jesus Christ; - and not only this, but they also begin to contemplate the sacraments and theology. Having become contemplatives, they move to this most pure boundless Light, touch It with indescribable touches, live and act with It, because they have tasted that the Lord is good; so that on these first angels the word of the divine David is clearly fulfilled: “The righteous will confess to Your name, and the righteous will dwell with Your face” (Ps. 139:14).
And indeed they are the only ones who truly call on God and confess to Him, with whom they always love to talk, loving Him.
172) Woe to the inner from the outer: for the inner man suffers much from outer feelings. But having suffered something, he must use whips against these external feelings. Having accomplished what belongs to the active side of life, he begins to understand what belongs to its contemplative side.
173) If our inner man is sober, then, according to the Fathers, he is strong to preserve the outer one. - According to them, we and the villains, demons, both commit sins together: those in thoughts or dreamy paintings only depict sin in their minds, as they want, and we, in our thoughts, imagine sin inside and commit it externally in deeds. Demons, not having plump bodies, and only through thoughts, arranging intrigues and seductions, prepare torment for themselves and for us. But if these most indecent ones were not deprived of a plump body, they would sin incessantly and in deeds, always containing within themselves an evil will, ready to commit wickedness.
174) But prayer (from the heart to the Lord) in one word breaks them and dispels their charms. For Jesus, God and the Son of God, who is constantly and unfailingly called upon by us, does not allow them to even begin to introduce sin into us - which is called an excuse - does not allow them to show him any image in the mirror of their thoughts, nor to utter any words in their hearts. But if no image is squeezed into the heart, then it will be empty of thoughts, as we said; because demons usually talk secretly through thoughts and teach her evil.
175) And so, through unceasing prayer, the mental air in us becomes clear from dark clouds and winds of spirits of evil. When the air of the heart is pure, then nothing prevents the divine light of Jesus from shining in it, unless we become inflated with vanity, conceit and the desire for ostentation, and rush towards the unattainable, and for this we will not be deprived of Jesus’ help; because Christ hates all such things, being an example of humility.
176) Let us therefore embrace prayer and humility—these two weapons, with which, together with sobriety, mental warriors take up arms against demons like a sword of fire. If we lead our lives this way, then every day and every hour we can have a joyful holiday in our hearts, mysteriously.
177) The eight most important sinful thoughts, which encompass the entire area of such thoughts, and from which they all have their birth, all approach the doors of the heart, and, finding the mind unguarded, they enter it one after another, each in its own time. When one of these eight thoughts, rising to the heart, enters it, it brings with it a whole swarm of unclean thoughts, and thus darkening the mind, inflames the body, drawing it to commit shameful deeds.
178) But who watches the head of the serpent (adjective); and with an angry contradiction, choosing scolding words, he hits the enemy with his fingers, as if with his fingers, thereby stopping the abuse. For having erased his head, he avoided both vicious thoughts and the most vicious deeds. After this, his thoughts are no longer agitated; because God accepts his vigilance over his thoughts, and as a reward for this he gives him knowledge of how to overcome enemies, and how to cleanse the heart from thoughts that defile the inner man, as the Lord Jesus says: “from the heart... come evil thoughts... adulteries, fornications... these are the things that defile a person” (Matthew 15:19, 20).
179) In this way, in the Lord, the soul can become in its goodness, beauty and rightness, as in the beginning it was created by God, beautiful and right, as the great servant of God Anthony says: “when in the soul the mind is such as it should be by nature, then virtue is arranged by itself.” He said again: “To be a right soul is the same as having a mind in its natural state, as it was created.” And not much lower, he says again: “let’s clear the mind; for I believe that, having been thoroughly purified and having come to his natural state, he can become perspicacious and see more and more demons, having within himself the Lord who gives revelations.” This is what the famous Anthony says, as Athanasius the Great says in the life of Anthony.
180) Every thought reproduces in the mind the image of some sensual object: for the Assyrian (enemy), being himself a mental force, can only seduce by using something familiar to us, sensual.
181) Just as it is impossible for us, such people, to chase feathered birds through the air, or to fly like them, because this is not characteristic of our nature: so it is impossible for us to overcome non-physical demonic thoughts, or to intensely direct the eye of our mind to God, without sober, unceasing prayer. If you don't have this in you; then you are only hunting on earth and for earthly things.
182) If you truly want to cover your thoughts with shame, you must remain silent and without difficulty be sober in heart; may the Jesus Prayer stick to your breath, and in a few days you will see it in action.
183) Just as letters should not be written in the air, but must be inscribed with a chisel on some solid body, so that they can be preserved for a long time: so we should combine the Jesus Prayer with our difficult sobriety, so that the wonderful virtue of sobriety together with Him may be whole in us, and through Him preserved in us forever and ever.
184) Cast your deeds on the Lord, as it is said, and you will find grace, so that the words of the Prophet do not apply to you and me: “Thou art near, O Lord, their mouth, but far from their bellies” (Jer. 12:2). No one else will firmly pacify your heart from passions except Jesus Christ Himself, who combined in Himself what is far apart (i.e., Divinity and humanity).
185) Internal conversations with thoughts and external conversations and idle talk equally darken the soul. And so those who try to turn away everything harmful from their minds should, without pity, drive away both those and other lovers of idle talk, thoughts and people, for a very good reason according to God - namely, so that the mind, having become darkened, does not weaken in sobriety: for, being darkened by oblivion (from conversations), we usually lose our minds (we begin to think and do not know what).
186) Whoever maintains purity of heart with all zeal will have the Lawgiver Christ as a mentor in it, Who will mysteriously express His will to him. “I will hear what the Lord God says about me” (Ps. 84:9), says David, pointing to this. Depicting, on the one hand, the mind’s view of itself, in the matter of mental warfare, and on the other, God’s intercessory protection in it, he first, when looking at his enemies, said: “And a man says: If ... there is fruit for the righteous” (Ps. 57:12)? And then, expressing the decision that had taken place, as a result of a strict discussion, regarding both, he added: “for God is judging them” - the evil demons on the lands of our hearts (ibid.). And in another place he says: “a man will come, and the heart is deep. And God will be exalted: and then the arrows of infants will be their plagues for us" (Ps. 63:7, 8), and will be honored as such.
187) Let us always behave as “punished in heart in wisdom” (Ps. 89:12), continually breathing Jesus Christ, God the Father, with the power and wisdom of God. If, by some chance, having fallen down, we neglect this smart work: then the next morning we will again gird up the loins of our mind with goodness, and we will take hold of this work more firmly, knowing that there is no justification for us, “who lead to do good,” if we do not do it (James 4:17).
188) How harmful foods, having been taken into the body, soon produce painful anxiety in it; but if the one who has tasted them, as soon as he feels harm, hastens to throw them out through a well-known medicine, then he remains unharmed: so the mind, when it has absorbed the vicious thoughts it has accepted and felt their harmful bitterness, hastens through the Jesus Prayer, proclaimed from the depths of the heart, to quickly throw them out and throw them far away from itself, then through this it will avoid all harm from them, as by the grace of God learning from others and, along with it, one’s own experience, taught the sober to understand the task at hand.
189) Soberly combine with your breathing the Jesus Prayer, or the incessant thought of death and humility: both of these bring great benefit.
190) The Lord said: “Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29).
191) The Lord also said: “Whoever... humbles himself as a child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:4); “Be exalted and humble yourself” (Luke 18:14). “From Me,” he says, “you will learn.” You see that learning is humility. His commandment is eternal life; and this commandment is humility. Consequently, whoever is not humble has fallen from the stomach, and of course will find there what is opposite to him.
192) If every virtue is produced by the soul and body, then the soul and body, by which, as I said, every virtue is composed, are the creation of God; Are we not extremely extravagant when we exalt ourselves and boast of alien adornments of soul and body? And isn’t this even more so because, relying on pride as on a reed cane, we rebel against ourselves with the infinite greatness of God, with such extreme lawlessness and madness attracting His most terrible displeasure to our head; for “The Lord opposes the proud” (James 4:6)? Instead of imitating the Lord in humility, with our vain and proud wisdom we enter into fellowship with the furious enemy of the Lord, the proud devil. For this reason, the Apostle says: “What... did you receive the same?” (1 Cor. 4:7). Did you create yourself? If you received body and soul, from which, in which and through which all virtue is composed, from God, then “what do you boast about, if not reception?” (ibid.). For the Lord has given you all this.
193) Purification of the heart, for the sake of which both humility and every good thing that comes from above has a place in us, is nothing more than not allowing thoughts that approach it to enter the heart.
194) Keeping the mind, with God's help and for the sake of God alone, acting, established in the soul, gives the mind wisdom in conducting deeds according to God; It also provides its participant with no small ability to arrange external deeds and words according to God, with impeccable reasoning.
195) The distinctive high priestly decoration in the Old Testament (a pure golden woman on the chest, with the inscription - the holiness of the Lord, Ex. 28:36) was a prototype of heartfelt purity, which inspires us to listen to the woman of our heart, whether she has become blackened by sin, so that (if she turns out to be so) we hasten to cleanse her with tears, repentance and by prayer. Our mind is something light (moving), and it is difficult to keep it from sinful memories. It can be said, however, that he will follow both bad and good mental dreams with equal comfort.
196) Blessed indeed is he who is so attached in thought to the Jesus Prayer, crying out to Him unceasingly in the heart, as air clings to our bodies, or a flame to a candle. – The sun, passing over the earth, produces day; and the holy and venerable name of the Lord Jesus, constantly shining in the mind, gives rise to countless sun-like thoughts.
197) When the clouds clear, the air appears clear; when passionate dreams are dispelled by the Sun of Truth Jesus Christ, then usually light-shaped and star-shaped thoughts are born in the heart, due to Jesus enlightening the air of the heart... For the Wise One says: “Those who trust in the Lord will understand the truth, and faithfulness in love will remain unto Him” (Wis. 3:9).
198) One of the saints said: When you bear a grudge, bear a grudge against the demons, and when you are at enmity, always be at enmity against the body. The flesh is an insidious friend: the more it is satisfied, the more powerfully it raises an attack. So quickly take hostility to the body, and begin to fight with the belly.
199) In the previous chapters, constituting the first and second hundred, we described the works of sacred silence of the mind, presenting not only the fruit of our own research, but also what the divine words of the wise fathers teach us regarding the purity of the mind. Now, having said a little more to show the benefits of keeping the mind, let’s finish the word.
200) So come, follow me to achieve the blissful preservation of the mind, whoever you are, loving in the spirit you have seen good days (Ps. 33:13), and in the Lord I will teach you the visible work and living of mental powers. The Angels will not get enough of chanting the Creator; the mind that purely competes with it will not be satisfied either. And how the immaterial do not care about food; So neither do the material and non-material ones care about it when they ascend to the heaven of the silence of the mind.
201) Just as the heavens of Power do not care about wealth and acquisitions, so those who have purified the spiritual eye and acquired skill in virtue (sobriety) do not care about the embitterment of evil spirits. And just as for those the wealth of success in approaching God is obvious, so for these the lust for God and love, striving for the divine and ascension are obvious. Moreover, they, with insatiable lust, stretching out in ascension from the taste of divine, admiring (ecstasy) love, will not stop until they reach the Seraphim - and will not rest from sobriety of mind and longed-for exaltation until they become Angels in Christ Jesus our Lord.
202) There is no poison greater than the poison of the asp and the basilisk; and there is no evil greater than the evil of self-love. The offspring of self-love are: boasting in the heart, self-indulgence, gluttony, fornication, vanity, envy and the pinnacle of all evil, pride, which knows how to cast not only people, but also Angels from heaven, and cover them with darkness instead of light.
203) This is what was written to you, Theodule, by the name of silence (i.e. Hesychius), although he is not silent in reality. Perhaps I did not write everything related to our subject, but in every possible way that God gave, in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, praised and glorified by all rational nature: Angels and men, and from every creature created by the ineffable Trinity, the one God, whose bright kingdom may we also be worthy to receive, through the prayers of the Most Holy Theotokos and our venerable Fathers. To Him, the incomprehensible God, be eternal glory. Amen.
The original title of this collection: “Patristic instructions on prayer and sobriety or attention in the heart to God.”
To the author's text of the collection (from St. Basil the Great to St. Barsanuphius and John inclusive), the publishers added quotes about prayer from the letters of St. himself. Feofan.
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