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IV

 

The soul that loves God [finds] its rest in God only.

First detach from thyself the outward bonds, then strive to bind thy heart to God.

To be detached from matter is prior to being bound to God1.

When a child has been weaned, bread is given him as food. And a man who wishes to become excellent in God, has first to wean himself from the world, as a child is weaned from his mother’s breasts.

Bodily labours are prior to psychic service, as the creation of the body takes place before that of the soul.

For he who does not perform bodily labour, does not {41} perform psychic labours either. For the latter are born out of the former as the ears from mere grains. And he who does not perform psychic service, is also devoid of spiritual gifts.|

Temporary suffering for the sake of the truth is not to be compared with the delight preserved for those who perform labours of excellence.

As the weeping of the time of sowing is followed by the joys of harvest2, so are the labours for the sake of God followed by joy.

The bread earned with sweat, delights the workman; labours for the sake of righteousness, the heart that has received the knowledge of Christ.

Suffer contempt and3 humiliation in the thought of excellence, for the sake of the heart’s familiarity of speech with God. Every time a man suffers a hard word with discernment, save only when it is caused by his own fault, he receives a crown of thorns on his head for the sake of Christ; blessed is he! At other times he is crowned and knows it not.

He who flees from the fame [that rests] on knowledge, will perceive in himself the hope of the world to come.

He who promises to leave the world, yet quarrels with men concerning [worldly] things because he is not willing to give up anything of what is agreeable unto him, he is perfectly blind, because he has given up the whole world voluntarily, yet quarrels about a part of it.

If anyone flees from what is agreeable [unto him] in this world, his mind will behold the world to come.

He who is master of possessions, is the slave of passions. Do not estimate gold and silver only as possessions, but all things thou possessest for the sake of the desire of thy will.

He who cuts off impediments from fear of affections, he is a wise man indeed.

Without the constant service of excellence true knowledge {42} cannot be found.

Not by bodily works alone is the knowledge of life acquired, but by directing our efforts to the cutting off of mental affections.

He who labours without discernment will easily become the victim of the causes of sin when they present themselves to him. Never praise him who labours with his body, but concerning his senses is lax and without constraint, viz. whose ears and mouth are open and whose eyes are prone to wander.|

If thou settest up as thy aim to practice mercy, train thyself not to pursue justice in other fields, lest thou appear to work with one hand and to spill with the other. For there clemency is necessary, but here magnanimity.

Let the forgiveness of those who are guilty towards thee in these things, be reckoned by thee as a work of righteousness. Then thou wilt see peace springing up in thy soul from both sides, that is when thy path is superior to dignity and justice, and thou wilt favour the rise of freedom in all things. For one of the saints, speaking of these things, says: The merciful, if he be not just, is blind, in so far as he provides others from wealth which has been gathered with justice and by his own labours, and not from the acquirements of falsehood, oppression, iniquity and cunning.

In the same way, in another place, this man preaches: If thou sowest among the poor, sow from thy own possessions; what thou sowest from those of others is much more bitter {43} than weeds. But I say: if the merciful be not even above justice, he is not merciful. This means, that he will not only show mercy unto men on his own part, but that he will voluntarily suffer iniquity with delight, so that he does not maintain and postulate full justice in his dealings with his fellow men, but is merciful towards him and surpassing justice by mercy, wreathing for himself the crown not of the just under the law, but of the perfect under the new covenant.

To give the poor from one’s own possessions, and to cover the naked on seeing them, to love the neighbour as one self, not to do iniquity or falsehood, are things commanded also by the old law. But perfection in behaviour, according to the new covenant, commands thus: If a man takes from thee, do not demand back; give every one who asks from thee. And not only hast thou to suffer gladly iniquitous dealing in possessions and other outward things, but thou hast even to give thyself in behalf of thy neighbour.

Merciful is he, who shows his compassion towards his neighbour not only in gifts, but who after hearing or seeing anything that causes suffering to any one, cannot withhold his heart from burning; who, even if he receives a blow on his cheek from his brother, does not venture to repay him even with a word and so cause him to suffer intellectually.

Honour the works of vigils, then thou wilt find consolation| near in thy self. Be constantly occupied with recitation in solitude, then thou wilt be drawn towards ecstasy at all times.

{44} Love poverty with endurance, that thy mind may be concentrated and so not wander.

Hate abundance, that thou be preserved against confusion of mind.

Cut off [intercourse with] the multitude and take care of thy behaviour that thy soul be saved from spilling its inward rest.

Love chastity lest thou be put to shame at the time of prayer before Him who exposes thee to strife.

Acquire a pure behaviour, that thy soul may exult during prayer and joy be kindled in thy mind at the recollection of death.

Keep control of small things, lest thou neglect great ones.

Be not lazy with regard to labours lest thou be put to shame when in presence of all comrades.

Pursue thy work with knowledge, lest it throw thee out of thy whole course.

Be not destitute of provisions; lest [thy companions] leave thee alone in the midst of the way and depart.

Acquire freedom in thy behaviour, that thou be freed from confusion.

Do not use thy freedom for the sake of comfort, lest thou become a slave of slaves.

Love abstinence in thy behaviour, that the deliberations leading to haughtiness of heart and lasciviousness may be restrained.

That he who loves finery should acquire a humble mind, is not possible. For the heart within and the habits without necessarily must be parallel one to another. Who would be able to acquire chastity of mind, when he is addicted to luxuriance? And who could acquire humble inward deliberations, when he is pursuing outward glory? And who is he, that being lascivious without and lax in his limbs, should be chaste in his {45} heart and pious in his deliberations? When the mind is guided by the senses, it feeds with them upon the food of the beasts; but when the senses are guided by the mind, they feed with it upon the sustenance of the angels.

Vain glory is a servant to fornication. If it is concerned with behaviour, to haughtiness. To humility brevity is proper.

Love of glory is connected with prolixity. The former through| constant concentration, attains to contemplation and arms the soul unto chastity. The latter through the continual wandering of the mind, gathers provisions4 through contact with [outward] things, and defiles the heart.

It touches lasciviously upon the nature of things and excites the mind through lascivious deliberations. The former is spiritually concentrated by contemplation and moves its possessors towards glory.

Compare not all powers and signs that are worked in the whole world, with a man’s consciously sitting in solitude.

Love the ease of solitude rather than satisfying the hunger of the world and the converting of the multitude of heathen peoples from error unto adoring God. Let it be more excellent in thy eyes to detach thyself from the bonds of sin, than to detach the subdued unto liberty from those who subject their bodies.

Prefer to make peace with thyself, in harmony with the trinity within thee: body, soul and spirit, rather than to appease those who are angry at thy teachings.

Love simplicity of speech together with experienced {46} knowledge within, rather than the production of a Gihon of teachings by acuteness of mind and out of a deposit of hear–say and ink.

Be anxious to quicken the deadness of thy soul caused by affections, unto the emotion of the impulses in God, rather than to quicken those who are dead in the natural sense.

There have been many people who have exercised powers, quickened the dead, bestowed their labour upon the erring, done great signs and drawn many people towards God by exciting their admiration of the things done by them; but afterwards those who have saved others, have fallen into impure and disreputable passions. And after they had given life to others, they have brought themselves to death and caused themselves to stumble by the offence given by their works. The cause of this is, that, while they were still sick of soul, they did not care for their own healing, but plunged themselves into the sea of the world in order to heal the souls of others, being still sick themselves. So they have bereft themselves of the hope in God as I said before, because the weakness of their senses was not yet able to bear the touch of the rays| of [worldly] things that excite usually the vehemence of the affections in those who still are in want of caution. I mean the sight of women and comfort and money and worldly things, and the passion for governing and for exalting oneself above others.

Be despised by fools for simplicity, not by the wise for audacity. Seek poverty for humility’s sake and do not seek riches {47} for the sake of audaciousness. Confound critics by the power of thy virtues, not by thy word; and the impudence of those who will not be persuaded, by the peacefulness of thy lips, not by sounds. Confound the lascivious by thy honourable behaviour and those of audacious sensuality by the chastity of thy eyeballs that are concentrated within thee in quiet.

Deem thyself a stranger wherever thou enterest all thy lifelong5, that thou mayest be able to flee from the great damages rising from freedom of speech.

Think concerning thyself always that thou knowest nothing, that thou mayestVb^ liberated from the reprehensible things caused in thee by conceit; then thou wilt be entitled to direct others.

Let thy mouth constantly administer blessing; then the scorn of any one will never hurt thee. Disdain gives birth to disdain, blessing to blessing.

Think concerning thyself always that thou needest teaching, in order that thou be found a wise man during thy whole life.

Do not hand down to others as thy own, the practical ethics6 that thou hast not yet reached; lest thou be put to shame by thyself and thy deception appear from the comparison with thy behaviour. But if thou speakest concerning what is becoming, speak as one belonging to the class of pupils, not as an authority, having before subdued thy self and shown thyself as being less than thy listener. Then thou wilt give also thy hearers an example of humility and thy words will spur them unto the course towards [good] works and thou wilt be honoured in their eyes.

{48} As much as is possible for thee, speak about such things with tears, so that it be profitable unto thyself and thy companions and attract grace towards thee.|

If, by the grace of Christ, thou hast reached the delight of the mysteries of the visible created things, which is the first summit of knowledge, then arm thy soul against the spirit of slander. For without arms thou canst not hold thy place in this country, but thou wouldst soon be killed secretly by the seducers. Let thy arms be: fasting and tears which thou shedst in constant self–humiliation; and prudence against reading books which accentuate the differences between the confessions, with the aim of causing schisms, which provides the spirit of slander with a mighty weapon against the soul.

When thy stomach is replenished, do not venture to scrutinize, or thou willst regret it. Understand what I say: in a full stomach, there is no knowledge of the mysteries of God. Be occupied with the books of God’s providence intensely, without becoming satisfied. They have been composed by holy men and show the aim of His different works in His establishing the different natures7 of the world. Let thy mind be strengthened by them and thou wilt acquire enlightened impulses from their subtlety; then thy mind will go its way with a clear consciousness towards the aim of [understanding] the right scheme of the creation of the world, according to the laudable wise intention of the Creator of the natures.

Read in the two Testaments which God has destined for the instruction of the whole world, so that it should be dazzled by the power of His Providence in every generation and be enveloped in wonder.

Such recitations and the like are very useful to this aim. Let thy recitation take place in complete rest, while thou art {49} free from too great care for the body and from the disturbance of practice; then the recitation will give thy soul a delicious taste, by the sweet insight, exalted above the senses, which the soul, by constant intercourse with it, perceives in itself. Do not deem the words that are founded upon experience as the babbling of those who sell words, lest thou remain in darkness till the end of thy life, bereft of their profit, groping in the night in times of war, nay even falling into one of the pits, under the pretext of [clinging to] truth.

This shall be the sign for thee, when thou art near to enter that country: when grace begins to open thy eyes so that they |perceive things by essential sight, at that time thy eyes will begin to shed tears till they wash thy cheeks even by their multitude, and the vehemence of the senses will be calmed so that they will be shut up within thee peacefully. If any man teach thee otherwise, do not believe him. To ask from the body anything else – as a manifest sign of the real apperception – than tears, is not allowed to thee, save only if the influence of the members of the body be silent. This takes place when the mind is elevated above [earthly] beings and the body is without tears, apprehension and emotionality, except only its natural animal existence. For this knowledge does not stoop to take with it as secondary companions of spiritual sight the {50} ideas of the things of the sensual world. "Whether in the body or out of it, I do not know". It is God who knows this as well as the fact that he has heard unutterable words8.

All that is heard by the–eara can be spoken. But he did not hear sensible sounds, nor did he [see] in a vision of corporeal sensible images, but with the impulses of the mind, in a state of rapture apart from the body, the will having no part in it9. The eye never saw the like, the ear never heard its equal and his varied knowledge never dreamt of recollecting the likeness of what his heart saw, namely that which God has in store to show the pure in heart when they have become dead to the world: not corporeal sight received through the eyes of the flesh in gross distinctions, nor fantasies which they themselves form in their mind, in a secondary way, but simplicity of contemplation concerning things of intellect and faith – the contrary of partition and division – that show the images of the elements.

Fix thy gaze on the sphere of the sun according to thy visual strength and only with the object of enjoying its rays, noth with the aim of scrutinizing the course of its wheel, lest even thy limited sight be taken from thee10. If thou find honey, eat in measure lest thou, having become satisfied, hast to reject it. The nature of the soul is of small dimensions; and sometimes it proceeds onwards, desiring to learn what is beyond its nature. And many times, during the course of recitation and {51} the contemplation of things, it grasps one or more things; yet the sum of its knowledge is insignificant as compared with| what it found. But how far does its knowledge penetrate? Until its deliberations are clad with emotion and trembling. Then it hastens to turn backwards from fear, venturing [from time to time] to penetrate into the luminous things.

But fear witholds it on account of the frightfulness of these things. And discernment warns in silence the mind of the soul not to be audacious lest it should die. What is too hard for thee, seek not; what is too strong for thee, search not. Scrutinize with thy intellect that which has been allowed to thee, and do not venture to approach unto hidden things. Adore therefore and praise in silence and confess thy unability to understand. For too much for thee has been shown to thee, but do not trouble thyself with the rest of His works. As it is not good to eat much honey, so it is not good to examine laudable words. Lest, desiring to gaze from a great distance before we have approached near, we be exhausted by the interminable way, without having the power to gaze, and be injured.

For sometimes in stead of truth fantasies arise; when namely the intellect becomes too weary to understand, and forgets its true essence. And the wise Solomon has well said that he that hath no rule over his own spirit, is like a city that is in ruins and without walls11.

It is not necessary to search for God in heaven and earth and to send out our mind to seek Him in different places. {52} Purify thy soul, o man, and strip thyself from the thought of recollections which are unnatural and hang before thy impulses the curtain of chastity and humility. Thereby thou wilt find Him that is within thee. For to the humble the mysteries are revealed.

If thou wouldst give thyself to the service of the pure prayer of the mind and to constant vigils in order to acquire a mind clad with light, withdraw thyself from the sight of the world, and cut off intercourse by speech. And refuse to receive in thy cell thy accustomed friend, even [if he comes] for the sake of excellence, save only him that has the same aim as thyself and shares in the secrets of thy behaviour. If thou art in fear of distraction and secret psychic intercourse, which originates spontaneously without our seeking it, cut off from thee even outward intercourse.|

Let thy prayers be followed by works of excellence, that thy soul may see the flower of the light of truth. In consequence of the heart’s freedom from external recollections, the mind will receive [the gift] of ecstatic understanding of things. The soul can easily be accustomed to interchange one occupation with another if we only bestow some little care and trouble upon it.

Burden it with the labour of reading books expounding the narrow ways of behaviour, contemplation, and the stories of the saints, even if it does not perceive delight in the beginning, because of the darkness and disturbance originating in present recollections; then it will interchange one habit with another.

{53} Accordingly when thou risest for prayer and service, instead of meditating worldly things, scriptural thoughts will be pictured in the mind. And thereby the recollection of that which it saw and heard before, will be forgotten and effaced in it. So thy mind will reach purity. This is what has been said: the mind is made chaste by recitation when it comes to prayer, and by recitation it is enlightened during prayer. This means: the soul will find strength to interchange outward distraction with the habits of prayer, viz. essential understanding shining in the mind on account of the wondrous recollections of that world. How often at those times has the power of contemplation [stimulated] by the scriptures, made silent and stupefied [the solitary] during prayer and left him standing without impulses; the same power, that cuts off prayer by delight as I have said, giving rest to the heart and bringing to silence its impulses, the psychic and bodily members being in rest.

Those know what I say. who have experienced this in their soul, who have penetrated into its mysteries, who have not learnt it from others or snatched it from writings which so often are found to falsify truth.

A full stomach shrinks from examining spiritual questions, as a harlot from speaking of chastity. A conscience full of disease abhors fat food; a mind full of the world, cannot approach the investigation of divine service.

{54} Fire cannot burn fresh wood; the love of God cannot be kindled in a heart that loves comfort.

A harlot cannot cling to the love of one man; neither can the soul, that is tied to many things, cling to loving spiritual teachings.|

As he who has never seen the sun with his eyes is not able, on the basis of hearing about it, to imagine its light in his mind, or to receive some image in his soul, or to perceive the beauty of its rays, so he who in his soul does not have perception for the taste of spiritual service and whose behaviour has never brought him experience of its mysteries so that he is able to conceive in his mind an image resembling the truth, is unable to find real conviction in his soul nor to attain the essence of the matter through human teachings and training in writings12.

If thou possesses! anything above thy daily sustenance, go and give it the poor and then offer unto God prayer with frankness. This means: speak with God as a son with his father.

There is nothing which brings the heart so near unto God as mercy13; and nothing which gives peace to the mind as voluntary poverty. Many will scorn thee as an ignorant because of thy liberality and for thy giving thyself without stint for the sake of the fear of God; they will not call thee wise or steady of mind, because of thy asceticism.

If any one is riding on a horse and stretches out his hand, {55} do not withdraw from him thy hand in which is that which his need truly requires. For at that time he is needy as one of the indigent. And what thou givest, give it with a bountiful eye, and make thy face glad towards him. And give him above what he asks, that which he does not seek. Cast thy bread upon the waters for thy shalt find remuneration after many days14.

Do not make any distinction between the rich and the poor nor know who is worthy and who is not worthy. Deem all men worthy of bounty on thy part. Especially because thou spurrest them unto truth thereby. The soul can easily be drawn by corporeal things to the thought of the fear of God. Also our Lord shared his table with publicans and harlots without making any distinction between those who were worthy and those who were not, seeking to spur them on thereby unto the fear of God and to bring them, through communion in bodily things, unto spiritual communion. Therefore deem all| people worthy of bounty and honour, be they Jews or miscreants or murderers. Especially if they be thy brothers and comrades who have erred from the truth on account of ignorance.

When thou doest well, do not wish a remuneration in this world; for both thou wilt be recompensed by God. If possible, do not even wish a remuneration in the world–to–come; but be excellent only by the love of God. The degree of love is more intimate than that of service unto God; nay, it is more {56} intimate in its mystery, with an intimacy that surpasses that of service as the soul’s the body’s.

If thou hast set for thyself the aim of renunciation, and by the grace of God thou hast been freed from care, and exalted above the world by thy renunciation, take care lest, on account of thy love of the poor, thou desire to fall back into the care of possessions and things, even with the aim of giving alms, falling thereby into trouble, taking from one to give unto another15; for thou wouldst expose thy honour to contempt by thy propensity to accost others in thy search for these and cognate things and thou wouldst fall back from the height of thy liberated mind unto care for earthly things.

Thy rank is higher than that of almsgivers. I pray thee, do not make thyself an object of laughter. The latter is the class of adolescents being educated; the former is the way of perfection.

If thou possessest, spend at once. If not, be not desirous to possess. Purify thy life from luxuriousness and superfluous things; this will necessarily bring thee towards asceticism.

Necessity bears many things which our will, as long as possible, would not submit to bear. Those who have overcome outward struggle have also annihilated inward fear and no compulsion can force them to go its way by confounding them with strife before and behind.

Outward struggle I name that which a man excites by the senses against himself foolishly; viz.: worldly dealings, hearing {57} and seeing, speech and stomach, gradually and continually associating himself with the practice of life, so that the soul is blinded and becomes unable, because of external troubles that meet it, to discern its self in the hidden strife that arises; then| for the sake of quiet, he subdues that which comes from within. But if a man closes the gates of the town, there will be a strife face to face; and he will not fear from the ambushes outside the town.

Blessed is the man who knows these things and endures them in silence without even then imposing upon himself much work, but interchanging the whole of his bodily service with the labour of prayer, if he is able to do so, who, proceeding from service to service, does not join anything to the worship of God consisting in prayer and recitation, but believes that, when serving God and meditating upon Him night and day, He will not leave him in need of the necessary things he needs, because he does not work for himself.

If anyone is not able to bear solitude without service, he must necessarily have recourse to it. But he shall take it as a helpful means only, without eagerness, and as a secondary thing, not as a principal commandment.

This applies to the weak. Manual work is called by Euagrius an impediment to the recollection of God. The Fathers have prescribed service to the indigent and despondent, not to those who are zealous to perform their legal obligations.

When God opens thy mind from within and thou givest {58} thyself to frequent kneelings, let no care of anything take hold of thee, though the demons secretly persuade thee to do so; then see and wonder at what is born in thee from these things.

Do not compare any of the ethical practices16 with a man’s throwing himself day and night on his face before the cross, his hands turned backwards. If thou desirest that thy fervour may never abate, and that thy tears may never fail, then practice this. Blessed art thou, o man, if thou thinkest of what I have told thee, without seeking any other thing night and day. Then thy light will be spread out like dawn and thy righteousness will shortly appear17. Then thou wilt be like an exulting paradise and like a fountain never destitute of water.

Behold, how many signs of grace happen to a man from Providence. Sometimes a man will be on his knees at the time of prayer, his hands spread out or stretched towards heaven, his face looking to the cross, and, so to speak his whole emotion and mind stretched out towards God in supplication;| and while absorbed in these beseechings and pains at this time, of a sudden a fountain of delight will spring from his heart, his limbs will relax, his eyes be darkened, his face bow down and his deliberations be confuse, so that even his knees are no longer able to lean on the earth, from the exulting joy of the sign of grace that spreads through his whole body.

Distinguish, o man, what thou art reading, can these things be known from ink? Or can the taste of honey be spread over the palate of the reader, from written documents?

{59} If thou doest not seek, thou wilt not find. And if thou doest not wake and knock fervently at the gate, without a break, thou wilt not be answered. Who could hear these things and be desirous of outward righteousness, unless he who is not able to bear the bonds of the cell ? But if there be anyone who is not able to do these things, since it is a gift of God that a man remain within the door, he should not however desist from this other part18, lest he be bereft of the two parts of life. For until the outward man becomes dead to the ways of the world, not only to sin, but also to the whole bodily service, and the inward man to the seducing recollections of evil things, until the natural impulse is brought low and the body has almost died through labours, so that the sweetness of sin has no more mastery over the heart, the spirit of God does not spread its sweetness and man’s limbs are not unveiled to life and divine impulses do not show themselves in the soul. And as long as a man’s heart is not freed from earthly care, except those necessary things which nature imposes upon him at the time of his necessity – and which he leaves also to God to arrange – spiritual drunkenness cannot rise in him and that madness, for which the Apostle was disdained, he will not perceive; for the multitude of books had made him mad.

But I do not say this in despair; namely that unless a man reach the depth of perfection, the grace of God will not be given him and consolation will not come to him.

Verily, when a man rejects evil things and becomes wholly {60} alienated to them, and clings to good things, in a short time he will be aware of profit. And if he shows only a little zeal he will find the consolation of the forgiveness of sins in himself, and he will be dignified with grace and receive many good| things. But he is little when compared with him who has become wholly alienated to the world and has found in himself as it were the blessings of the world to come and has reached that for the sake of which Christ reached us. To whom and to his Father and to the Holy Ghost be glory and praise for ever and ever. Amen.

Here ends the fourth discourse.

1 The sentence occurs also p. 7. Cf. Introduction.

2 Litterally: full hands. Cf. Ps. 126, 6.

3 Reading of London Ms. 14632.

4 The London Ms. has “bonds”.

5 Bukhārī, Rikāk, b. 3: Be in the world as a stranger (_aj^c liUl/ LoiX!! j, ^).

And according to Porphyrius man in this world is a stranger, who longs for home (Zeller, Phil. d. Griechen4 III, 2, p. 718). Cf. Hebrews 11,13 etc.

6 See beneath p. 40, note I.

7 Isaac uses the word “nature” () in a sense corresponding with our “species”.

8 1 Cor. 12, 2-4.

9 Cf. above p. 14 note 1.

10 Cf. p. 17.

11 Proverbs 25, 28.

12 Cf. Book of the Dove, Sentence 3.

13 Cf. the title of Chapter LXXXI and p. 8 sq., 42 sq.

14 Eccles 11, 1.

15 To take and give is an expression denoting worldly dealings.

16 ...

17 Cf. Ps. 37, 6.

18 outward righteousness.