Instructions on good morals and holy living, in 170 chapters

1. People are usually called smart due to the incorrect use of this word. Not those who are smart are those who have studied the sayings and writings of the ancient sages, but those whose souls are smart, who can judge what is good and what is evil, and run away from evil and what is harmful to the soul, but care about what is good and beneficial to the soul intelligently and do it with great thanksgiving to God. These alone should truly be called smart people. 2. A truly intelligent person has one concern - to wholeheartedly obey and please the God of all. This and the only thing he teaches his soul is how to please God, thanking Him for His good providence, no matter what the accidents in life may be. For is it not appropriate for doctors, even when they give us bitter and unpleasant medicines, to give thanks for the recovery of the body, but to God, because of what seems joyless to us, to remain ungrateful, not realizing that everything happens according to His providence and for our benefit? In such understanding and in such faith in God there is salvation and peace of the soul. 3. Temperance, kindness, chastity, firmness, patience and similar great virtues, like military strengths, we received from God, so that they would resist and withstand the sorrows that we encounter and help us during them: so if we exercise these forces and always have them at the ready, then nothing that happens to us will be painful or painful for us, disastrous and unbearable, for everything will be overcome by the virtues existing within us. This is not in the minds of those whose souls are not intelligent, for they do not believe that everything happens for our benefit, so that our virtues shine forth and we are crowned for them by God. 4. If, honoring wealth and the full enjoyment of it as just a short-term illusory vanity and knowing that a virtuous and godly life is better than wealth, you firmly stand in this conviction and keep it in memory, then you will neither sigh, nor complain, nor murmur against anyone, but you will thank God for everything when you see that the worst of you are glorified for eloquence or learning and wealth. An insatiable desire for wealth and pleasure, love of fame and vanity, in ignorance of the truth, are the most evil passions of the soul. 5. An intelligent person, examining himself, knows what he should and what is useful for him to do, what is akin to his soul and saving and what is alien to it and harmful. And thus he avoids what harms the soul, as alien to it. 6. The more moderate a person leads his life, the calmer he is, because he does not worry about many things: about slaves, farmers (hired workers) and the acquisition of livestock. When we cleave to this, then, being subjected to the sorrows that happen because of it, we come to the point where we murmur against God. Thus, our spontaneous desire (for much) fills us with confusion, and we wander in the darkness of a sinful life, not knowing ourselves. 7. It should not be said that it is impossible for a person to lead a virtuous life, but that it is not easy. And for sure: this is not accessible to everyone without distinction, but only those people who participate in a virtuous life are those who are pious and have a God-loving mind. The general (ordinary) mind is a worldly and perverse mind; he gives thoughts good and bad, is changeable and inclined to material things; and a God-loving mind is the exterminator of evil that happens in people from their arbitrary carelessness. 8. The uneducated and simpletons consider science a ridiculous matter and do not want to listen to them, because they expose their ignorance - and they want everyone to be like them; in the same way, those who are incontinent in life and morals carefully wish that everyone would be worse than them, thinking to gain the blame for the fact that there are many evil ones. The soul perishes and is corrupted by sinful evil, which is complex and combines fornication, pride, greed, anger, insolence, fury, murder, murmuring, envy, covetousness, predation, impatience, lies, lust, laziness, sadness, timidity, hatred, condemnation, corruption, delusion, ignorance, deception, forgetfulness of God. This and similar things are tormented by a poor soul that moves away from God. 9 . Whether someone is truly living a virtuous and praiseworthy life as an ascetic should be judged not by the disposition he pretends to take on himself, and not by the deceitful appearance of his life, but by the fact that someone, like skilled painters and sculptors, demonstrates his virtuous and God-loving life by deed itself, turning away from all pleasures as from snares. 10. A man is rich and of noble origin, but without mental education and a virtuous life he is unhappy in the eyes of sensible people; on the contrary, a poor and slave in condition is happy if he is adorned with education and virtue. Just as strangers go astray on the roads (and perish), so those who do not care about a virtuous life perish, being carried away by desires. 11. One who manages to soften the morals of the uneducated and make them fall in love with science and education should be called a man-creator. In the same way, those who lead people of an intemperate life to a virtuous and godly life should also be considered man-creators, because they seem to recreate people. Meekness and self-control are happiness and good hope for human souls. 12. Truly, people must arrange their lives and morals properly. When this is corrected, then God will also be conveniently known. He who reveres God with all his heart and with all faith providentially receives help from Him to tame anger and lust. Lust and anger are the cause of all evil. 13. A person should be called either someone who is smart (according to the first point), or someone who has begun to correct himself. A faulty person should not be called a person, because this (that is, incorrigibility) is not a human matter. You should run away from them. Those who live with evil will never be among the immortals (blessed immortality). 14. Only by deed itself does the quality of intelligence in us (according to the first point) make us worthy of being called people; Not having such intelligence, we differ from the dumb ones by the disposition of our limbs and the gift of speech. So, let a reasonable person know that he is immortal, and let him hate all shameful lust, which is the cause of death for people. 15. Just as every artist shows his art by finishing the appropriate substance he takes into beautiful forms, such as wood, another copper, another gold and silver, so we should show that we are people, not by the fact that we are so constructed physically, but by the fact that we are truly intelligent in the soul: by the fact that we submit to the law of good living, that is, a virtuous and godly life. A truly intelligent and God-loving soul knows everything that should happen in life and how it should be, and loves to propitiate God and thank Him sincerely, rushing towards Him with all desire and all thought. 16. Just as helmsmen carefully steer the ship forward so as not to stumble upon any pitfall or rock, so let those who are zealous for a virtuous life carefully consider what they should do and what they should run away from, considering for themselves useful only what the true and Divine laws inspire, cutting off evil thoughts from the soul. 17. Just as helmsmen and coachmen, with intelligence and diligence, manage to be efficient in their work, so those who are zealous for a right, virtuous life must carefully consider and take care of how to live properly and pleasingly to God, for whoever wants this and is convinced that it is possible for him to achieve what he wants through faith achieves incorruption (pure life). 18. Consider free not those who are free in condition, but those who are free in life and morals. For example, one should not call the noble and rich truly free when they are evil and intemperate, because such people are slaves of sensual passions. Freedom and bliss of the soul consist of real purity and contempt for the temporary. 19. Remind yourself that you must constantly show yourself to be smart, but show yourself through a good life and deeds. Likewise, patients find and recognize doctors as saviors and benefactors, not by words, but by deeds. 20. Whose soul is truly intelligent and virtuous is revealed in his gaze, his actions, his voice, his smile, his conversations and his manners. Everything in her changed and took on a most beautiful appearance. Her God-loving mind, like a cheerful gatekeeper, closes the entrances to evil and shameful thoughts. 21. Consider what surrounds you and know that leaders and rulers have power only over the body, and not over the soul, and always keep this in your thoughts. Therefore, when they order, for example, to kill or do something else that is inappropriate, unrighteous and harmful to the soul, one should not listen to them, even if they torture the body. God creates the soul free and autocratic, and it is free to do as it wants - good or bad. 22. An intelligent soul tries to get rid of dissipation, arrogance, pride, seduction, envy, theft and the like, which are the deeds of demons and evil will. Yet, with careful effort and careful consideration, a person whose desire does not strive for low pleasures manages to accomplish this. 23. Those who spend their lives in small and low feats are freed from danger and do not need special precautions. Having conquered desires in everything, they conveniently find the path leading to God. 24. Intelligent people do not need to listen to all kinds of conversations, but only those that are beneficial, that lead to knowledge of the will of God: for it is the way by which people again return to life and the Eternal Light. 25. Those who try to live virtuously and lovingly of God must give up self-conceit and all empty and false glory and strive for a good correction of the life of the heart. A God-loving and unchanging mind is the guide and path to God. 26. There is no benefit to studying science if the soul does not have a good and godly life. The cause of all evil is delusion, delusion and ignorance of God. 27. Deep reflection on a good life and caring for the soul produces kind and loving husbands. He who seeks God finds Him, conquering all lust through unceasing prayer to Him. Such a one is not afraid of demons. 28. Those who are deceived by earthly goods and know every word of what those who lead a good life should do, are like those who have acquired medicines and medical instruments, but do not know how to use them and do not even care about it. Therefore, for the sins we have committed, we will not blame either our birth or anyone else, but only ourselves, for if the soul self-willingly indulges in corruption, then it cannot be invincible. 29. Therefore, those who do not know how to distinguish between what is good and what is evil should not judge who is good and who is evil among people. A person who knows God is good; and when he is not good, it means he does not know (God) and will never be known (from Him), for the only way to know God is kindness. 30. Good and God-loving men reproach people for something bad when they are present, but they not only do not reproach those who are absent, but also do not allow those who try to say anything about them. 31. There should be no rudeness in interviews, for intelligent people are usually more adorn with modesty and chastity than virgins. A God-loving mind is the light that shines on the soul, like the sun on the body. 32. With each of the spiritual passions that rise up against you, remember that those who are just and want to decide what concerns them (their fate) on a proper and lasting basis, consider it delightful not to acquire perishable wealth, but to true glory (in heaven). That's what makes them blessed. Wealth is both stolen and sometimes taken away by the strongest, but spiritual virtue is one acquisition that is safe and not stolen, and, moreover, one that saves its acquirers after death. Those who reason like this are not carried away by the illusory shine of wealth and other pleasures. 33. The fickle and untrained should not test intelligent husbands. Smart is the one who pleases God and is mostly silent, or if he speaks, he says little and only what is necessary and pleasing to God. 34. Those who strive for a virtuous and God-loving life are zealous for spiritual virtues, as such an acquisition that constitutes their inalienable property and eternal consolation. They use the temporary only as much as and as God gives and wants, using it with joy and all thanksgiving, even if it is very moderate. For a rich table nourishes the body as if it were material, and the knowledge of God, abstinence, goodness, goodness, piety and meekness deify the soul. 35. Rulers who force people to do things that are inappropriate and harmful to the soul do not rule over the soul, which was created autocratically. They knit the body, but not the will, of which the intelligent man remains master by the gift of his Creator, the strongest of all power, and coercion, and all strength. 36. Those who consider the loss of money, or children, or slaves, or other property to be a misfortune, know that, firstly, they must be content with what God gives; and then, when necessary, give it back with readiness and complacency, without tormenting yourself with grief due to the deprivation of it, or, better, the return of it: like those who, having used something that is not theirs, again give it back. 37. The business of a man of good qualities is not to sell his freedom for the sake of acquiring wealth, even if what he gets is very significant. For worldly blessings are like a dream, and wealth has only a ghostly shine, unfaithful and short-lived. 38. People with truly human virtues (according to the meaning stated above) should try so hard to live a God-loving and virtuous life, so that their virtuous life shines among other people, just as a little purple, thrown over white clothes to decorate them, stands out and is noticeable to everyone. For in this way their zeal for spiritual virtues will be more reliable. 39. Prudent people should examine their strength (army) and keep in line the virtues that are in their souls, so that they are always ready to resist attacking passions, with the strength (army of virtues) existing in their souls, naturally given to them by God. These are the essence: against beauty and any harmful lust - abstinence; against need and poverty - patience; against annoyance and anger - gentleness and the like (compare with Art. 3). 40. It is impossible to suddenly become a kind and wise person, but this is achieved through careful discussion, exercise, experience, long-term feat and (most importantly) a strong desire for a good deed. A kind and God-loving person who truly knows God does not give himself peace, doing everything without exception that is pleasing to God. But such men are rare. 41. People who do not have a natural disposition for good should not, in despair about themselves, throw up their hands, and neglect a God-loving and virtuous life, no matter how inaccessible and unattainable it may be for them, but they should also think and take all possible care for themselves. For although they will not be able to reach the pinnacle of virtue and perfection, by thinking about themselves and taking care in every possible way, they will become better or, at least, will not become worse - and this is a considerable benefit for the soul. 42. Man in his mind comes into contact with the ineffable Divine power, and in his body he is similar to animals. But there are few who, like real people, smart, try to turn their thoughts to God and the Savior and have an affinity with Him, and they show this by deeds and a virtuous life. The majority of people, foolish in soul, having abandoned that Divine and immortal sonship, are inclined towards a dead, poor and short-lived affinity with bodies and, like dumb people, thinking only about carnal things and being kindled by lust, they separate themselves from God and bring the soul down from heaven into the abyss of desires. 43. An intelligent man, thinking about coexistence with the Divine, will never cleave to anything earthly or low, but directs his mind to the heavenly and eternal, knowing that the will of God - this is the reason for all good and the source of eternal blessings for people - is that a person should be saved. 44. When you meet a person who, loving to argue, enters into a struggle with you against truth and evidence, then, having stopped the argument, turn away from him, having completely petrified your mind. For just as bad water makes the best wines worthless, so evil conversations corrupt people who are virtuous in life and character. 45. If we use every effort and all means to avoid bodily death, then we must try even more to avoid spiritual death, for whoever wants to be saved has no obstacle to this - except negligence and corruption of the soul. 46. Of those who do not like to learn what is good for them and what should be considered good, we can say that they are not in good health; those who, having learned the truth, shamelessly argue against it, have their rationality killed: their disposition has become bestial, they do not know God and their soul is not illuminated by light. 47. God created different kinds of animals by His word for our benefit: some for food, others for service. And God created man to be a spectator and grateful interpreter of His works. This is what people should try to do, lest they otherwise die without seeing and understanding God and His works, like dumb animals. Man must know that God can do everything. No one can resist the One who can do everything. Just as out of non-existence He created everything that He wanted with His word, so (and now) He creates everything for the salvation of people. 48. Celestial beings are immortal due to the goodness that exists in them; and those on earth became mortal because of the spontaneous evil within them, which among the foolish is multiplied by their corruption and ignorance of God. 49. Death for people who understand it is immortality; and for the simple ones who do not understand it, there is death. And one should not be afraid of this death, but (one should be afraid) of spiritual destruction, which is ignorance of God. This is what is terrible for the soul! 50. Sin found support for itself in the material, and the body became its seat. But the intelligent soul, having understood this, throws off the burden of material things and, emerging from under this burden, comes to know the God of all and carefully looks at the body as an enemy and opponent, not trusting it. And thus the soul, having conquered evil passions and matter, is crowned by God. 51. Sin, having been understood by the soul, is hated by it, like a most foul-smelling beast; misunderstood, he is loved by those who do not understand him, and, enslaving his lover, keeps him captive. And he, unhappy and poor, does not see what is saving for him, does not even think about it, but, believing that sin makes him beautiful, he is glad of it. 52. A pure soul, being good, is sanctified and overshadowed by God, and then the mind thinks about good things and gives birth to God-loving intentions and deeds. But when the soul is defiled by sin, then God turns away from it, or rather, the soul itself separates itself from God, and the crafty demons, having entered into the thoughts, inspire the soul with inappropriate deeds: adultery, murder, theft and similar demonic evil acts. 53. Those who know God are filled with all sorts of good thoughts and, lustful of heavenly things, despise worldly things. But not many people like them, so for this they are not only hated, but also subject to reproach by many of the senseless. They are ready to endure extreme poverty, knowing that what seems evil to many is good for them. He who thinks about heavenly things believes in God and knows that all creation is the work of His will, and he who does not think about this never believes that the world is the work of God and was created for the salvation of man. 54. Those filled with sin and reveling in ignorance do not know God, for they are not sober in soul; God is mental (that is, he can only be known with a sober mind). Although he is invisible, he is very clear in the visible, like the soul in the body. Just as a body cannot live without a soul, so everything visible and existing cannot stand without God. 55. Why was man created? So that, cognizing the creations of God, he sees God Himself and glorifies the One who created them for man; the mind, clinging to God with love (God-lover and God-loving), is an invisible good given from God to those worthy for a good life. 56. Free is the one who is not enslaved to sweets (sensual pleasures), but dominates the body through reasoning and chastity and is content with complete gratitude with what God gives him, even if it is very moderate. When the God-loving mind and soul come into agreement with each other, then the body is peaceful and reluctant, for then the soul, through the action of the mind, extinguishes all carnal movement. 57. Those who are not satisfied with what they have to support life, but strive for more, enslave themselves to passions that trouble the soul and put into it thoughts and dreams that are worse and worse: that everything is not good and that, therefore, it is necessary to acquire new and better things. Just as long clothes that are too long prevent travelers from walking, so the desire for property beyond measure prevents the soul from struggling and being saved. 58. Where anyone is involuntarily and unwillingly, there is a prison and execution for him. So be content with what you have; otherwise, enduring (this state of yours) without gratitude (with dissatisfaction, reluctantly), you will be a tyrant for yourself, without realizing it. But there is only one way to achieve this - contempt for worldly goods. 59. Just as we have vision from God in order to recognize what is visible: what is white and what is black, so reason is given to us from God in order to distinguish what is useful for the soul (and what is harmful). Desire, being torn away from reason, gives rise to addiction to sensual pleasures, and this does not allow the soul to be saved or enter into communion with God. 60. It is not a sin that is done according to the law of nature, but when one does something bad at will. Eating food is not a sin, but it is a sin to eat it without thanksgiving, irreverently and intemperately; It’s not a sin to simply look, but it’s a sin to look enviously, proudly, insatiably; It is not a sin to listen peacefully, but it is a sin to listen with anger; It is not a sin to force the tongue to give thanks and pray, but it is a sin to allow it to slander and condemn; It is not a sin to tire your hands with alms, but it is a sin to allow theft and murder. Thus, each member sins when, according to our free will, we do evil instead of good, contrary to the will of God. 61. If you doubt that every deed of yours is apparently God, then consider that you, man and dust, can at once mentally look around all the places known to you and think about them - much less, God, who gives life and nourishes everything according to His will, sees everything like a mustard seed. 62. When you close the door of your home and you are left alone, know that you have an Angel assigned to each person from God, whom the Greeks call the house spirit. He is vigilant and, always being with you, sees everything. He cannot be deceived, and darkness does not hide from him. Together with him, recognize God as present in every place. For there is no place or substance where there is not God, who is greater than all and holds everything in His hand. 63. If the soldiers remain faithful to the king because food is delivered to them from him, how much more should we try, thanking God with silent lips, to constantly please Him, who created everything for man? 64. Gratitude to God and a good life are fruits pleasing to God from man. But just as earthly fruits do not ripen in one hour, but require time, rain and care, so human fruits require effort, reasoning, time of waiting, abstinence, patience, until they appear in all their splendor. However, if for their sake you sometimes seem to someone to be a reverent man, do not trust yourself while you are in this body, and do not consider anything of your own to be completely pleasing to God. For know that it is inconvenient (difficult) for a person to preserve sinlessness to the end. 65. People have nothing more honest than their word. The word is so important that we honor God with word and thanksgiving. By using obscene or dishonest words, we expose the obscenity of our soul. It is common for a foolish person to blame his birth or something else for his sins, when he spontaneously uses a bad word or does an unkind deed. 66. If we try to heal other bodily illnesses so that those with whom we happen to be do not laugh at us, then it is much more necessary for us to try with all care to heal mental illnesses, so as not to turn out to be dishonorable and worthy of ridicule before God, before Whom we have the Judgment of acceptance. For, having autocracy, we can, if we want, not do evil deeds even when we desire them; It is also within our power to live pleasingly to God, and no one will ever force us to do anything bad if we do not want to. By laboring in this way, we will become people worthy of God, living like Angels in heaven. 67. If you want, you can be a slave to passions, and if you want, you can remain free without bowing to the yoke of passions, for God created you autocratic. He who overcomes the passions of the flesh is crowned with incorruption. If there were no passions, there would be neither virtues nor crowns given by God to worthy people. 68. Those who do not see what is good for them, who do not know what is good, are blind in soul, and their reason is blinded. We should not look at them, lest we, of necessity, be subjected to the same thing unforeseen, like blind people. 69. One should not be angry with those who sin, even if the offenses they committed were worthy of punishment. Those who are guilty, for the sake of truth itself, must be converted (to the true path) and punished, if necessary, either themselves or through others, and one should not be angry or angry with them, because anger acts only through passion, and not through justice and truth. One should not approve of those who are merciful beyond due measure, but one should also punish the evil for the sake of goodness and truth itself, and not for the sake of one’s own passion of anger. 70. Spiritual acquisition alone is safe and inconspicuous; there it is - a virtuous and godly life, the vision and creation of good deeds. Wealth is a blind leader and a foolish adviser. He who uses wealth badly, for his own pleasure, destroys his stupefied (darkened) soul. 71. People need to either not acquire anything superfluous at all, or, having this, be firmly convinced that everything in life is perishable by nature, can be taken away, lost and destroyed, and that therefore, when something happens, they should not be faint-hearted. 72. Know that bodily illnesses are naturally characteristic of the body, both perishable and material. So, in the case of such illnesses, a soul trained (for good) should show courage and patience with gratitude and not reproach God for why he created the body. 73. Those who compete in the Olympic Games are crowned not when they defeat one, or another, or a third, but when they defeat everyone who enters into competition with them. Likewise, everyone who wants to be crowned by God must train his soul to be chaste not only in relation to bodily passions, but also when we are tempted by greed, the desire to steal someone else’s property, envy, lust, vanity, reproaches, the dangers of death and the like. 74. Let us be zealous for a good and God-loving life, not for the sake of human praise, but let us choose a virtuous life for the sake of saving the soul, for every day we see death before our eyes - and everything human is unreliable. 75. It is in our power to live chastely, but to become rich is not in our power. So what? Shouldn't we condemn our soul for the desire for a short-lived and illusory splendor of wealth, which we have no power to acquire? Oh, how foolishly we act in desiring all the riches! Don’t we know that above all virtues there is humility, just as above all passions there is gluttony and an insatiable desire for worldly goods? 76. Prudent people must constantly remember that by undertaking small and short-lived labors in this life, after death we will receive the greatest consolation and eternal bliss. He who struggles with passions and wants to be crowned by God, if he falls, should not be faint-hearted and do not remain in this fall, despairing of himself, but, having risen again, let him fight and strive to receive the crown, rising to his last breath from the falls that happen. Bodily labors are instruments of virtues and are saving for the soul. 77. The deprivation of everyday comforts makes courageous people and fighters worthy of crowns from God. So, in this life we ​​must mortify our hearts for everything worldly, for a dead person will no longer care about anything worldly. 78. An intelligent and striving soul should not immediately lose heart and be afraid when something sad happens, so as not to be ridiculed for timidity. The soul, carried away by the splendor of life, leaves its rank. Spiritual virtues make us worthy of eternal blessings, and spontaneous human sins are the cause of eternal torment. 79. An intelligent person fights spiritual passions through feelings (bodily), which intelligent creatures have. There are five bodily senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Through these five senses, falling under its own four passions, the poor soul is taken captive. These four passions of the soul are vanity, thirst for pleasure, anger and fear. But when a person with wisdom and reasoning, having fought well, overcomes and conquers the passions, then we no longer fight, but have peace in soul and are crowned by God as a conqueror. 80. Of those staying in hotels, some receive beds, while others, having no bed, lie down on the floor and fall asleep just as soundly as those who sleep on beds. Having waited until the end of the night, in the morning both of them leave their beds and all leave the hotel the same, carrying with them only their own. In the same way, all those who walk the path of this life: both those who lived in a moderate state, and those who lived in glory and wealth, leave this life as if leaving an inn, not taking with them anything from the pleasures of life and wealth, but only their own deeds, done by them in this life, whether good or evil. 81. Having great power, do not immediately threaten anyone with death, knowing that by nature you are subject to death and that every soul, like the last garment, throws off its body. Understanding this clearly, strive to be meek; When you do good, always thank God. He who is not merciful does not have virtue in himself. 82. Death cannot be avoided and there is no way. Knowing this, truly intelligent people, experienced in virtues and God-loving thoughts, meet death without lamentation, fear and crying, having in mind that it, on the one hand, is inevitable, and on the other, it saves us from the evils that we are subjected to in this life. 83. Those who have forgotten the good and godly life and those who do not think according to the right and God-loving dogmas should not be hated, but rather pitied, as those who are impoverished in reasoning and blind in heart and mind, for, taking evil for good, they perish from ignorance. And they do not know God, repentant and foolish in soul. 84. Don’t have conversations with everyone about piety and good living. I don’t say this out of envy, but because, to the foolish, you will seem, I think, ridiculous. Like sympathizes with like, and there are few listeners for such conversations, or rather, they are very rare. It is therefore better not to say, for this is not what God wants for the salvation of man. 85. The soul has compassion for the body, but the body does not have compassion for the soul. Thus, when the body is cut, the soul suffers with it, and when the body is strong and healthy, the feelings of the soul also enjoy. But when the soul thinks (repents), the body does not think (does not repent) along with it, but remains on its own, remaining behind (not moving), for thinking (repentance) is a painful feeling of the soul, just as ignorance, pride, unbelief, covetousness, hatred, envy, anger, cowardice, vanity, ambition, disagreement, lack of feeling for good, and the like - with the soul are produced. 86. Thinking about God, be pious, non-envious, kind, chaste, meek, generous in strength, sociable, non-argumentative and the like, for to please God with all this is the inestimable wealth of the soul, and also not to condemn anyone, or not to say about anyone that he is not good, has sinned, but it is better to look for your bad deeds and consider your life whether it is pleasing to God. Why do we care if someone else is bad? 87. A true man tries to be godly. He is pious who does not desire what is alien to him; everything created is alien to man. So, despise everything, since you are the image of God. A person becomes the image of God when he lives right and is pleasing to God, but this is impossible to be if a person does not lag behind everything passionate. He who has a God-loving mind is skilled in everything that is saving for the soul, and in every reverence required of him. A God-loving husband does not reproach anyone else, because he knows that he himself sins - and this is a sign of a soul being saved. 88. Those who try with effort to have temporary acquisitions and, forgetting about death and the destruction of their souls, love the lust of evil deeds, and do not care about what is saving for them, they do not imagine, poor people, what people endure from evil after death. 89. God is not the author of evil. He gave man reason, the ability to distinguish between good and evil, and autocracy; Evil passions are born from the negligence and carelessness of people. God is not at all to blame for them. By free choice of will, demons became evil, as did most people. 90. A person who lives piously does not allow evil to enter the soul. And when there is no evil in the soul, then it is safe and unharmed. Neither an evil demon nor chance have power over such people. God delivers them from evils, and they live unharmed, preserved as godlike. If anyone praises such a person, he will laugh within himself at those praising him; whether he dishonors him, he himself does not defend himself against those who reproach him and is not indignant because they say so about him. 91. Evil is attached to nature as rust is to copper and dirt is to the body. But just as the coppersmith did not create rust and parents did not create dirt, so it was not God who created evil. He gave man conscience and reason to avoid evil, knowing that it is harmful to him and prepares him torment. Look carefully: when you see someone lucky in power and wealth, do not please him under any circumstances, being seduced by a demon. But let death immediately be before your eyes - and you will never desire anything bad or worldly. 92. Our God granted immortality to those in heaven, and created those on earth subject to change; He gave life and movement to everything (else) - and everything for man. So, do not let the delights of life carry you away, when the devil puts evil thoughts into your soul; but immediately remember the heavenly blessings and tell yourself: if I want, it is in my power to defeat this rebellion of passion; but I cannot win if I want to satisfy my desire. Fight such a feat that can save your soul. 93. Life is the union and combination of mind (spirit), soul and body, and death is not the death of these combined (parts), but the dissolution of their union; God preserves all this even after dissolution. 94. The mind is not the soul, but the gift of God that saves the soul. A godly mind flows ahead of the soul and advises it to despise the temporary, material and corruptible, and to love eternal, incorruptible and immaterial blessings, so that a person, living in the body, imagines and contemplates the Heavenly and Divine with his mind. Thus, a God-loving mind is the benefactor and savior of the human soul. 95. The soul, while pleasing the body, is darkened by pleasure and dies. The God-loving mind acts contrary to this: it causes grief to the body and saves the soul, like a doctor cutting and burning bodies. 96. Those souls that are not bridled by reason and not controlled by the mind, which would calm, restrain and direct (where they should) their passions, that is, sorrow and pleasure - such souls perish like unreasonable animals, because their reason is carried away by passions, like a coachman with horses that have become out of obedience. 97. The greatest illness of the soul, extreme misfortune and destruction is not to know God, who created everything for man and gave him mind and word, with which, while ascending the mountain, he can enter into communication with God, contemplating and glorifying Him. 98. The soul is in the body, in the soul is the mind, in the mind is the word, by which God, contemplated and glorified, immortalizes the soul, giving it incorruptibility and eternal pleasure. For God gave existence to everything that exists through His sole goodness. 99. God, having created man as autocratic, as unenvious (all-generous) and good, gave him the opportunity, if he wants, to please God. It pleases God that there be no evil in man. For if people praise the good deeds and virtues of a holy and God-loving soul, and condemn shameful and evil deeds, isn’t it all the more so for God, who wants the salvation of man? 100. Man receives good from God as the Good; and a person is exposed to evil from himself, from the evil existing in him, from lust and insensibility. 101. The unreasonable soul, immortal by nature and the mistress of the body, becomes a slave of the body because of sensual pleasures, not realizing that the pleasure of the body is detrimental to the soul. But having fallen into insensibility and having become a fool, she carefully cares about this pleasure of the body. 102. God is good and man is evil. There is no evil in heaven, and there is no true good on earth. But an intelligent person chooses the best: he knows the God of all, thanks and glorifies Him; he abhors the body before death and does not allow his evil feelings (demands, desires) to come true, knowing their destructiveness and evil effect. 103. A sin-loving person loves a lot of acquisitions, but does not care about the truth, not thinking about infidelity, impermanence and the short duration of life and not remembering the incorruptibility and inevitability of death. If, even in old age, someone is so shameful and senseless, then he, like a rotten tree, is unfit for any work. 104. We feel pleasure and joy after we experience sorrow, for the one who has not been thirsty drinks hard, the one who has not been hungry eats sweetly, the one who has not been hungry, sleeps hard, the one who has not been very drowsy, the one who has not been in sorrow before does not feel much joy - so we will not enjoy eternal blessings if we do not despise the short-lived. 105. The word is the servant of the mind. What the mind wants, the word expresses. 106. The mind sees everything, even what is in heaven, and nothing darkens it except sin alone. For the pure there is nothing incomprehensible, as for his word - unspeakable. 107. In body a person is mortal, but in mind and speech he is immortal. Silently you think and, thinking, you speak within yourself, for in silence the mind gives birth to the word. A grateful word offered to God is salvation for a person. 108. He who speaks without meaning has no mind, for he speaks without thinking anything. But consider what is good for you to do to save your soul. 109. The word that is intelligent and useful to the soul is a gift of God; on the contrary, the empty word, which wants to determine the measure and distance of heaven and earth, and the size of the sun and stars, is the invention of a person who labors in vain, who, out of empty conceit, seeks something that does not bring him any benefit, as if wanting to scoop up water with a sieve, because this is not something people can find. 110. No one sees the sky, and no one can know what is in it, except a person who is zealous for a virtuous life, who knows and glorifies the Creator of it (the sky) for the salvation and life of man. Such a God-loving husband undoubtedly knows that without God there is nothing, but He is everywhere and in everything, like God, unlimited by anything. 111. Just as a person comes out of the mother’s womb, so the soul comes out of the body naked; and some are pure and bright, others are stained by falls, and others are black from many sins. Therefore, an intelligent and God-loving soul, remembering and reasoning about the troubles and extremes of the post-mortem, lives piously, so as not to be condemned and not subject to them. But unbelievers do not feel and sin, despising what is there to be there, foolish in soul. 112. Just as, having come out of the womb, you do not remember what was in the womb, so, having come out of the body, you do not remember what was in the body. 113. Just as, having come from the womb, you have become better and larger in body, so, having come from the body clean and undefiled, you will be better and incorruptible, staying in heaven. 114. Just as the body, when it has fully developed in the womb, needs to be born, so the soul, when it reaches the limit of its life in the body set by God, needs to leave the body. 115. How you treat your soul while it is in the body, so it will treat you when it leaves the body. Having served his body well here, providing it with all sorts of pleasures, he rendered a bad service to himself after death (as is known from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus), for he condemned his soul as a fool. 116. Just as a body that comes out of the mother’s womb imperfectly cannot live, so a soul that leaves the body without achieving the vision of God through a good life cannot be saved or be in communion with God. 117. The body, uniting with the soul, emerges from the darkness of the womb; and the soul, uniting with the body, is contained in the darkness of the body. Therefore, we must not pity, but bridle the body as the enemy and opponent of the soul, for many foods and sweets arouse evil passions in people, but a restrained belly pacifies the passions and saves the soul. 118. The organ of bodily vision is the eyes, and the organ of mental vision is the mind. Just as a body that has no eyes is blind, does not see the sun that illuminates the entire earth and sea, and cannot enjoy its light, so the soul, which does not have a good mind and a good life, is blind: it does not know and does not glorify God, the Creator and Benefactor of all (creatures), and cannot enter into the enjoyment of His incorruptibility and eternal blessings. 119. Ignorance of God is due to insensibility and madness of the soul. From this ignorance evil is born; From the vision of God, good comes to people and saves the soul. So, if, being in sobriety and vision of God, you try not to fulfill your desires, then your mind is turned to virtues; If, intoxicated by the ignorance of God, you try to fulfill your evil desires for your own pleasure, then you will perish like the dumb, not remembering the troubles that will meet you after death. 120. The work of Providence is also what happens according to an immutable order determined by God for the world, such as, for example, the fact that the sun sets and rises daily and the earth bears fruit. After all, it was created for man’s sake. 121. What God creates as Good, he creates for man; and what a person does, he does for himself, both good and evil. So that you do not be perplexed about the prosperity of evil people, know that, just as cities keep executioners not because their evil will is praised, but in order to punish those worthy through them, so God allows the evil to prevail in everyday life in order to punish the wicked through them. Afterwards He will bring them to justice, because not serving God, but slavishly satisfying their own malice, they caused evil to people. 122. If those who worship idols knew and saw in their hearts what they worshiped, they would not have strayed from the path of piety, unfortunate ones; but, contemplating the beauty, order and thoughts in everything created and that is from God, we would know the One who created all this for man. 123. A person, being angry and unrighteous, can kill; God continually gives life to the unworthy. Being unenviable (All-generous) and Good by nature, He willed that there should be peace - and it began to be and continues to be for man and his salvation. 124. A (real) person is one who has understood what the body is: namely, that it is perishable and short-lived. Such a person understands the soul (as it should) - namely, that it is divine and immortal and, being the inspiration of God, is united with the body for testing and ascension to godlikeness. He who understands the soul properly, lives rightly and pleasing to God, without trusting or pampering the body. Contemplating God with his mind, he mentally sees the eternal blessings given by God to the soul. 125. God, being Good and unenvious (Generous), gave man freedom in relation to good and evil, endowing him with reason, so that, contemplating the world and what is in the world, he would know the Creator of all things for man. But an unrighteous person may desire and not understand this; perhaps, to his misfortune, he may not believe and think contrary to the truth. Such is the freedom a person has in relation to good and evil! 126. This is God’s determination that, as the body ages, the soul is filled with the mind - so that a person chooses from good and evil what is pleasing to the mind (that is, good). A soul that does not choose good has no mind. Therefore, although all bodies have a soul, it cannot be said that every soul has a mind. A God-loving mind is found in those who are chaste, reverent, righteous, pure and good, merciful and pious. The presence of mind can help a person in his relationship with God. 127. There is only one thing impossible for a person - to be immortal (to avoid death). He can communicate with God if he understands how this is possible. For with desire and understanding (of the matter) for the sake of faith and love, evidenced by a good life, a person becomes an interlocutor with God. 128. The eye sees the visible, and the mind comprehends the invisible. A God-loving mind is the light of the soul. He who has a God-loving mind is enlightened in his heart and sees God with his mind. 129. No good person is disgraceful. He who is unkind is, of course, both evil and body-loving. The first virtue of man is contempt of the flesh. Detachment from temporary, perishable and material goods by choice, and not by poverty, makes us heirs of eternal and incorruptible goods. 130. He who has a mind knows about himself what he is - namely, that he is a perishable person. He who knows himself knows about everything, that it is the creation of God and was created for the salvation of man. Thus, to understand everything and the right to believe lies in the power of man. Such a husband knows for sure that those who despise worldly blessings have very little work, but receive eternal consolation and peace from God after death. 131. Just as a body without a soul is dead, so a soul without a mind is inactive (sterile) and cannot have God as its property. 132. God listens to one person, God appears to one person, for God is a lover of mankind and wherever a person is, there is God; one man is a worshiper worthy of God; for man, God is transformed. 133. For man, God created the sky, decorated with stars; for man, He created the earth, and people cultivate it for themselves. Those who do not feel such divine providence are foolish in soul. 134. Good is invisible, like the invisible things in heaven; and evil is visible, as it is visible on earth. Good is something that has no comparison; a person who has intelligence chooses what is good. One person is capable of knowing God and His creations. 135. The mind operates in the soul, and nature acts in the body. The mind deifies the soul, and nature decomposes the body. Nature operates in every body, but not every soul has a mind, therefore not every soul is saved. 136. The soul is in the world as born; and the mind is above the world as unborn. The soul, which understands that there is a world and wants to be saved, has an urgent law - every hour to think in itself that now there is a feat (mortal) and torture (of deeds), in which you cannot endure (the gaze) of the Judge, and that it is as if the soul is already perishing. By thinking this way, she protects herself from insignificant and shameful pleasures. 137. On earth, birth and death are ordained by God, and in heaven - the fullness of everything and immutability. All things were created for man and his salvation. Not needing any blessings, God created heaven, earth and the elements for man, giving him through them all the enjoyment of blessings. 138. The mortal is subordinate to the immortal and serves him, that is, the element - man, according to the love of mankind and the essential goodness of the Creator God. 139. The poor, who does not have the power to harm, is not ranked among the actively pious. But he who can cause harm and does not use his strength for evil, but spares the humiliated, out of piety before God, is a partaker of good rewards even after death. 140. According to the love of God who created us, there are many paths to salvation that convert souls and take them to heaven. All kinds of souls receive rewards for virtue, and punishments for sins. 141. Son in the Father, Spirit in the Son, Father in Both. By faith a person knows everything visible and imaginable. Faith is the free conviction of the soul that it returns from God. 142. Like those who, due to some needs and circumstances, are forced to swim across large rivers and, if they are sober, save their lives, for even if there is a strong rush of water, even if water is scooped up by a boat, they are saved by grabbing onto something that usually happens along the banks; but if they are drunk, then at least they tried to swim to the edge ten times, being overcome by wine, they plunge into the waves and remain outside the circle of the living; in the same way, if the soul, having fallen into the waves and whirling currents of life, does not itself arise from the love of the flesh and does not recognize itself, namely, that it, being divine and immortal, is united with a material body, of little faith, multi-passionate and mortal, only for testing, and allows itself to be carried away by carnal passions to its own destruction, then as a despiser of itself, drunk with ignorance and not caring about itself caring, perishes and remains outside the circle of those being saved. For the body, like a river, often carries us away to indecent pleasures. 143. An intelligent soul, standing unshakably in its good intentions, like a horse, curbs anger and lust - these most unreasonable passions of its own, and for the fact that it fights with them, taming and overcoming them, it is crowned and honored with a stay in heaven, receiving this as a reward for sowing and labor from the God who created it. 144. A truly intelligent soul, looking at the happiness of the wicked and the prosperity of the unworthy, is not indignant, thinking about their pleasures in this life, as happens with reckless people; for such a soul clearly knows the impermanence of happiness, and the obscurity of being here, and the short duration of this life, and the impartiality of judgment, and believes that God does not neglect what is necessary for its sustenance. 145. Carnal life and the pleasure in this life of great wealth and power is death for the soul; on the contrary, labor, patience, poverty with thanksgiving and mortification of the body are the life of the soul and the path to eternal consolation. 146. An intelligent soul, despising material acquisition and a short life, chooses heavenly consolation and eternal life, which it will receive from God for a good life. 147. Those who have soiled clothing stain the clothing of those who touch them. In the same way, people with an evil disposition and faulty behavior, treating the simplest and speaking to them inappropriate words like dirt, defile their soul through their ears. 148. The beginning of sin is lust, through which the intelligent soul perishes. The beginning of salvation and the Kingdom of Heaven is love for the soul. 149. Just as copper, thrown in negligence and left without proper care for it, is damaged by rust that appears on it from lying in bundles for a long time and not being used, and through this it becomes unsound and unusable, so the soul, remaining in inaction and not caring about a good life and turning to God, depriving itself of the protection of God by its evil deeds, is consumed by the evil that is born from such negligence in the substance of the body, and through this it is unkind and unfit for salvation. 150. God is Good, and impassive, and unchanging. If someone, recognizing that it is blessed and true that God does not change, is perplexed, however, how He (being such) rejoices over the good, turns away the evil, becomes angry at sinners, and when they repent, is merciful to them, then it must be said that God does not rejoice and is not angry, for joy and anger are passions. It is absurd to think that the Divine would be good or bad because of human affairs. God is Good and does only good things, but does not harm anyone, being always the same. And when we are good, we enter into communication with God, out of similarity with Him, and when we become evil, we separate from God, out of dissimilarity with Him. By living virtuously, we become God's people, and by becoming evil, we become rejected from Him. And this does not mean that He is angry with us, but that our sins do not allow God to shine in us, but they unite us with the demons who torture us. If later through prayers and acts of kindness we gain remission of sins, this does not mean that we have pleased God and changed Him, but that through such actions and our turning to God, having healed the evil that exists in us, we again become capable of tasting God’s goodness. So to say: “God turns away from the wicked” is the same as saying: “The sun is hidden from those deprived of sight.” 151. A pious soul knows the God of all, for to be pious is nothing other than doing the will of God, and this means knowing God, that is, when someone tries to be unenvious, chaste, meek, generous in strength, sociable, unloving, and does everything that pleases the will of God. 152. The knowledge of God and the fear of God are the cure against the passions of the flesh. Therefore, when there is ignorance of God in the soul, then passions, remaining unhealed, spoil the soul; she is then corrupted by the evil living in her, as by long-term harm. But God is not to blame for this, because He gave people vision and reason. 153. God filled man with vision and reason, trying to purify passions and spontaneous evil and, out of His goodness, desiring to transform mortal into immortality. 154. The mind located in a pure and God-loving soul truly sees God - the unborn, invisible, ineffable, the One Pure for the pure in heart. 155. There is a crown of incorruption, virtue and salvation for a person - and it is grateful to endure misfortune. Curbing anger, tongue, belly and lust is a very great help for the soul. 156. What holds the world together is God’s providence, and there is not a single place that this providence does not touch. Industry is the self-perfecting Word of God, the Formator of the substance that is part of this world, the Organizer and Artist of everything that happens. It is in no way possible for a substance to accept a beautiful structure without the rational power of the Word, which is the image, mind, wisdom and providence of God. 157. Lust excited by memory is the root of passions akin to darkness. Being in this lustful memory, the soul does not know about itself that it is the inspiration of God, and rushes into sin, not thinking about the extreme misfortune that it will find itself in after death, insane. 158. The greatest and most incurable disease of the soul and its destruction is forgetfulness of God and vanity. The desire for evil is the deprivation of good; Our goodness consists in willingly doing every good thing that is pleasing to the God of all. 159. Only man is capable of accepting God, for God converses with this one living creature - at night through dreams, and during the day, through the mind, He in every possible way predicts and foreshadows future benefits for people worthy of Him. 160. It is not at all difficult for a believer and one who desires to know God. If you want to see Him, look at the improvement of everything and the providence of everything that was and is His word. And all this is for a person. 161. A saint is someone who is pure from evil and sins. Therefore, the greatest perfection of the soul and a deed that is very pleasing to God is when there is no evil in a person. 162. A name means one of many (common noun). But it is unreasonable to think that God, Who is one and only, had those named after Himself, for the word “God” means the beginningless One, who created everything for man. 163. If you recognize bad deeds behind you, cut them off from your soul in the hope of good things, for God is Righteous and Humane-loving. 164. The person who knows God and knows from God is the one who always tries to be inseparable from God; Inseparable from God is a person who is good in everything and abstains from all sensual pleasure, not due to lack of means, but according to his own will and free abstinence. 165. Give thanks to those who offend you, and you will have God as a friend. Don't tell anyone about your enemy. Strive in love, in chastity, in patience, in abstinence and the like, for this is the knowledge of God, so that through humility and similar virtues you can follow God. But such deeds are not characteristic of everyone, but only of the intelligent soul. 166. Against those who dare to say that plants and herbs have a soul, I wrote this chapter for the benefit of the simplest. Plants have physical life, but do not have souls. Man is called a rational animal because he has intelligence and is capable of acquiring knowledge. Other animals - earthly and airy, which have a voice, have breath and soul. Everything that grows and decreases can be called alive, because it lives and grows, but it cannot be said that everything like that has a soul. There are four different types of living beings: some of them are immortal and inspired - like the Angels; others have mind, soul and breath - what people are like; others have breath and soul - like animals; and others have only life - such as plants. Life in plants persists without soul, and without breath, and without mind and immortality; but everything else cannot exist without life. Every human soul is ever-moving. 167. When you perceive a dream about any sensual pleasure, take care not to be immediately carried away by it; but, putting it aside a little, remember death and think how much better it is to recognize yourself as having conquered this charm of voluptuousness. 168. God most appropriately put a barrier to evil in people by giving them intelligence, knowledge, intelligence and the discernment of good, so that, recognizing evil that it harms us, we would run away from it. But an insane person follows evil and even boasts of it, and, as if caught in a net, he struggles, being entangled by it inside and not having the strength to ever emerge from under it in order to see and know God, who created everything for the salvation and deification of people. 169. Mortals must take care of themselves, knowing in advance that death awaits them. For blessed immortality is the lot of a reverend soul when it is good, and eternal death overtakes it when it is evil. 170. When you bow down on your bed, remember with gratitude the blessings and Providence of God. Then, filled with this good thought, you will be completely rejoiced in spirit, and the sleep of your body will be for you the sobriety of the soul, the closing of your eyes will be the true vision of God, and your silence, being filled with a sense of goodness, will with all your soul and strength give heartfelt glory to the ascending mountain to the God of all. For when there is no evil in a person, then thanksgiving alone, more than any valuable sacrifice, is pleasing to God. To him be glory forever and ever. The translation was made by Saint Theophan the Recluse. Published by: Philokalia. T. 1. pp. 53–80. The authenticity of these instructions is testified by St. Peter of Damascus (VIII), to whom John Mavrocordato refers, who published them in 1782 in Greek in the Philokalia. Doubts on this issue are expressed by Cava, Oudinot, and Fabricius, attributing the instructions to Anthony to Melissa (VII) (Fabr. Bibl. T. 9. P. 262).