St isaac the syrian

Homily i

On Renunciation and the Monastic Life. In order to lay the foundation of virtue, nothing is better for a man than to contain himself by means of flight from the affairs of life, and to persevere in the illumined word of those straight and holy paths, even that word which in the Spirit the Psalmist named a lamp (Psalms 118:105. For lamp Saint Isaac uses a Syriac word meaning a signifier, an indicator. The Greek has changed it into a verb). Scarcely a man can be found who is able to endure honor, but perhaps such a one cannot be found at all. This, one might say, is because of a man's sudden receptivity to change, even if he be a peer of the angels in his way of life.

The beginning of the path of life is continually to exercise the 'intellect' (as defined and explained in the GLOSSARY at the end of this book) in the words of God, and to live in poverty. For when a man waters himself with one, it aids in the perfection of the other. That is to say, to water yourself with the study of the words of God helps you in achieving poverty, while achieving freedom from possessions affords you the time to attain to constant study of the words of God. But the help provided by both speedily erects the entire edifice of the virtues.

No one can draw nigh to God save the man who has separated himself from the world. But I call separation not the departure of (Syriac; from) the body, but departure from the world's affairs. This is virtue: that in his mind a man should be unbusied with the world. The heart cannot become tranquil and be without imaginings as long as the senses are active. Outside of the desert [[and the wilderness]] the bodily passions do not abate, nor do evil thoughts cease.

Until the soul becomes drunk with faith in God by receiving a perception of faith's power, she ((that is, the soul, which Saint Isaac always refers to in the feminine gender as being a composite part of the Bride of Christ; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Revelation 19:7)) can neither heal the malady of the senses, nor be able forcefully to tread visible matter underfoot, which is the barrier to things that are within and unperceived. The rational faculty is the cause of liberty (i.e. In the bad sense. The Syriac word also means freedom and free will. The Greek translates it free will or the faculty of self-determination. Here, however, liberty in the bad sense is meant) and the fruit of both is aberration. Without the first (i.e. reason) there is no second (i.e. liberty) but where the second is lacking, there the third (i.e. aberration, deviation) is held as with a bridle (this passage is extremely obscure in Greek, but in Syriac it is somewhat clearer. For is lacking the Greek has walks aright. In the Syriac Estrangela script these words are similar in appearance).

When grace is abundant in a man, he easily scorns the fear of death on account of his longing for righteousness, and he finds in his soul many reasons for the necessity of suffering tribulation for the fear of God. All things that are thought to harm the body and that suddenly attack its nature, consequently causing it to suffer, are reckoned in his eyes as nothing in comparison with what is to be hoped for hereafter. It is not possible for us to know the truth unless temptations are allowed to come upon us. And a man's mind gives him assurance of exactly this, and further, of the fact that God takes very great forethought for men, and that there is no human being who is not under His providence (Syriac; who is abandoned to chance) and this especially he sees pointed out as clearly as by a finger in the case of those who go out to seek Him and endure suffering for His sake. But when the privation of grace (Syriac; lack of faith; in this section the Syriac MSS have numerous variants) becomes great in a man, then all we have said is found to be nearly the opposite; for him knowledge is greater than faith, since he relies on investigation; trust in God is not present in everything he does, and divine providence for man is understood differently. Such a man is continually waylaid in these matters by those who 'in a moonless night lie in ambush to shoot down a man with their arrows' (Cf. Psalms 10:2).

The beginning of a man's true life is the fear of God. But the fear of God does not consent to dwell in a soul that is distracted over outward things. By serving the senses, the heart is turned away from delight in God; for our inward thoughts, they say, are bound by their perception to the sensory organs that serve them. Doubting hesitation of the heart introduces cowardice into the soul, but faith can make firm her volition even in the cutting off of the body's limbs. In the measure that love for the flesh prevails in you, you can never become brave and dauntless, on account of the host of adversaries that constantly surround the object of your love.

A man who craves esteem cannot be rid of the causes of grief. There is no man who, with a change of circumstances, will not be subject to a change in his mind with respect to what lies before him. If desire, as they say, is the offspring of the senses, then let them be silent who profess to keep their mind peaceful in the midst of distraction (this refers to the heretics known as the Messalians, or 'praying people', who claimed to reach such a state of perfection and dispassion that they could walk about in the cities and converse with all men without suffering spiritual harm or even distraction from prayer and peace of mind. In other words, their teaching was directly opposed to that of Saint Isaac, and the Saint repeatedly refutes it. See, for example, Homilies 23, 29, and 69. The Syriac printed text reads here If, indeed, there is a secondary perception of the senses from which natural desire is born...).

Not he is chaste who, in the strain and crisis of combat and struggle, says that shameful thoughts cease within him, but rather he who, by the uprightness of his heart, makes the vision of his mind so pure that he cannot gaze on lewd thoughts without shame. And when the gaze of his eyes is held fast (this verb is added from the Syriac, it being lost in the Greek) thus bearing witness to the holiness of his conscience, then shame is like a veil that hangs over the hidden place of his thoughts, and his purity becomes like a chaste virgin being faithfully kept for Christ. There is nothing so capable of banishing the inherent tendencies of licentiousness from our soul, and of driving away those active memories which rebel in our flesh and produce a turbulent flame, as to immerse oneself in the fervent love of instruction, and to search closely into the depth of the insights (or meanings) of divine Scripture.

When a man's thoughts are totally immersed in the delight of pursuing the wisdom treasured in the words of Scripture by means of the faculty that gains enlightenment from them, then he puts the world behind his back and forgets everything in it, and he blots out of his soul all memories that form images embodying the world. Often he does not even remember the employment of the habitual thoughts which visit human nature, and his soul remains in ecstasy by reason of those new encounters that arise from the sea of the Scripture's mysteries. And again, if the mind swims on the surface of the waters, that is, of the sea of the divine Scriptures, and its perceptions cannot fathom the great depth so as to be able to grasp all the treasures in its deep, yet even this practice in itself, by the power of its fervent love, will suffice the mind firmly to pinion its thoughts by a single thought of wonder, and to prevent them from hastening toward the body's nature, as one of the Godbearing Fathers said. And this [[he says]] is because the heart is feeble and cannot sustain the evils that it encounters from inner and outer warfares. And you know that an evil [[bodily]] thought is oppressive. If the heart is not occupied with study (or learning) it cannot endure the turbulence of the body's assault.

Just as the heaviness of weights impedes the quick swaying of a balance in a gust of wind, so shame and fear impede the aberration of the mind. In proportion to the lack of shame and fear, there is an abundance of the dominion of liberty (or freedom, but in the bad sense) in the mind. And just as a decrease in the weight in the pans will be a cause for them to sway more easily to and fro, so an increase of liberty through removal of fear from the soul causes the scales of the mind to sway easily from side to side. Therefore the mind's mobility is a consequence of liberty, and mental changes are a consequence of aberration (this entire paragraph is rendered according to the Syriac).

Be wise, then, and lay the fear of God as the foundation of your journey (Syriac; lay a foundation for your journey) and in but a few days it will bring you before the gate of the Kingdom with no windings (meanderings) on the way. [[Do not, like the pupils of teachers, overly scrutinize words that are written from experience for the rearing of your way of life and that help you, by their lofty insights, to elevate yourself.]] Discern the purport of all the passages (the word passages is missing in the Greek. The Syriac word also means histories) that you come upon in sacred writings, so as to immerse yourself deeply therein, and to fathom the profound insights found in the compositions of enlightened men (the present Greek text reads to fathom with great understanding the profundity of the insights of holy men). Those who in their way of life are led by divine grace to be enlightened are always aware of something like a noetic ray (of light) running between the written lines which enables the mind to distinguish words spoken simply from those spoken with great meaning for the soul's enlightenment.

When in a common way a man reads lines that contain great meaning, he makes his heart common and devoid of that holy power which gives the heart a most sweet taste through intuitions that awe the soul. Everything is wont to run to its kindred; and the soul that has a share of the Spirit, on hearing a phrase that has spiritual power hidden within, ardently draws out its content for herself.

Not every man is wakened to wonder by what is said spiritually and has great power concealed in it. A word concerning virtue has need of a heart unbusied with the earth and its converse. The things of virtue do not awaken the mind of a man who travails in cares about transitory things to a longing and a quest to gain them. Liberation from material things precedes the bond with God, even though often with some, through the oeconomy of grace, the latter is found to precede the former, such that love covers love (the meaning of this seems to be that the love of God covers the love of material things). Oeconomy's usual order is different from the order of the community of men; but you must keep to the common order. If grace comes within you first, that is its own affair; but if not, make the ascent of the spiritual tower by the path common to all men, on which they have journeyed one after another.

Everything that is effected through 'divine vision' (see GLOSSARY) and on account of which a commandment is fulfilled, is wholly unseen by the eyes of the body. Every virtuous action that is effected through righteous activity (praxis) is composite; for the commandment, which is but one (i.e. righteous activity) requires both, theoria and praxis, on account of our corporeal and incorporeal parts. For the combination of these two is one (the Syriac reads here and the combination of the two is from all. The Greek translators took from all to mean complete). [[For this very reason the enlightened intellect understands [the commandment] as formerly the blessed Moses commanded [it], namely, what is simple is understood as well as what is twofold.]]

Works having purity as their goal (or that are solicitous over purity; the Syriac printed text has a variant reading here) do not shake off the memory's awareness of past offenses, but take the grief of the recollection away from our mind. Henceforth it happens that when the recollection passes through our mind, it does so to our advantage. The soul's insatiability for gaining virtue seizes for its own the portion of desire for visible things that belongs to her yoke-mate, the body. Moderation adorns all things; for without moderation, even things deemed good become harmful.

Do you wish to commune with God in your intellect by receiving a perception of that delight which is not enslaved to the senses? Pursue mercy; for when something that is like unto God (Vide Matthew 5:45-48) is found in you, then that holy beauty is depicted by him (this is the Syriac reading; the Greek has is depicted in you, whereto you were likened). For the whole sum of the deeds of mercy immediately brings the soul into communion with the unity of the glory of the Godhead's splendor.

Spiritual unity is an unsealed and perpetual recollection that incessantly blazes in the heart with ardent longing; and from perseverance in the commandments the heart receives its capacity for this bond, not figuratively, nor in a natural way. For there it finds material for the soul's divine vision so as to be sustained in this [union] hypostatically. For this reason the heart comes to awestruck wonder as the eyes of the twofold senses close: those of the flesh and those of the soul. There is no other path toward spiritual love, which forms the invisible image (the Syriac word is a transliteration of the Greek icon, image, and refers to a man's likeness to God) but firstly to begin to show compassion in proportion to the Father's perfection, as our Lord said (Vide Luke 6:36; Matthew 5:46-48). for He commanded those who obey Him to lay this as their foundation.

A word born of righteous activity (praxis) is one thing, and a beautiful speech is another. Even without experience, wisdom is clever at imparting beauty to her words, at speaking the truth without really knowing it, and at making declarations on virtue while the man himself never makes trial of it in his deeds. Speech that comes from righteous activity is a treasury of hope (Syriac; trust; the meaning here is probably a treasury one can trust in) but wisdom not based on righteous activity is a deposit of disgrace. Just as when an artist frescoes water on the walls and cannot relieve his thirst with it, or just as a man dreams beautiful dreams, even so is speech (that is) not based on righteous activity (Vide Romans 2:21-22).

A man who talks of virtue from the experience of his own labor transmits virtue to his hearer just as though he distributes money earned from his own commerce, and as it were from out of his own possessions he sows his teaching in the ears of those who give him ear. Such a man opens his mouth with boldness before his spiritual children, even as the ancient Jacob said to Joseph the Chaste, 'Behold, I have given thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow' (Genesis 48:22).

This transient life is cherished by every man whose way of life is corrupt; and second to him is the man deprived of knowledge. Well has one said, 'The fear of death distresses a man with a guilty conscience (the Syriac printed text reads a carnal man) but the man with a good witness within himself longs for death as for life.' Count no man truly wise who, because of this temporal life, enslaves his mind to timidity and fear. Let whatever good or evil things that befall the flesh be reckoned by you as dreams. For it is not only with death that you will have release from them, but often before death they retire and leave you alone.

But if any of these things that befall you should have communion with your soul, then consider them as your acquisitions in this age, and they will also go with you into the next. If they are good, rejoice and give thanks to God in your mind. But if they are evil, be grieved and sigh; and as long as you are still in the body, seek to be set free of them. Of everything good wrought within you noetically and in secret, be certain that baptism and faith have been the mediators whereby you received it; through these you were called by our Lord Jesus Christ to His good labors, to Whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory, honor, thanksgiving and worship unto the ages of ages. Amen.

homily II

Homily 2. On Thankfulness to God, In Which There Are Also Essential Elementary Lessons.

The thanksgiving of the receiver incites the giver to give gifts greater than the first. He that returns no thanks (Syriac; keeps silent; the word can also mean defrauds, hence the connection with the remainder of the sentence) in small matters is a dissembler and dishonest in greater ones also. If a man is ill and he recognizes his ailment, his healing will be easy. If he confesses his pain, he draws nigh its cure. There are many pangs for the unyielding heart, and the patient who resists his physician amplifies his torment. There is no unpardonable sin, save the unrepented one. Nor does any gift remain without addition, save that which is received without thanksgiving. The fool's portion is small in his eyes.

Ever keep in remembrance those who surpass you by their virtue, so as to see yourself always as inferior to their measure. And be ever conscious of the bitter tribulations of the afflicted and oppressed, so that you may render due thanksgiving for your small and inconsequential troubles, and be able to endure them patiently and with joy.

At the time of your defeat, when you are bound both with languor and slothfulness, and subdued by the enemy in the most painful misery and wearisome labor of sin, ponder in your heart on the former time of your diligence, and how you used to concern yourself even over the most minute matters, and the valiant struggle which you displayed, and how you were stirred up with zeal against those who would hinder you in your progress. Furthermore, reflect upon the groans which you used to utter because of the small faults that you committed due to your negligence, and how in all these things you took the crown of victory. For thus, with such and so many recollections, your soul is wakened as if from the deep and is clad with the flame of zeal. Then through fervent struggling against the devil and sin she rises up out of her sunken state as if from the dead, she is raised on high, and she returns to her ancient estate.

Remember the fall of the mighty, and be humble in your virtues. Recollect the grievous transgressions of those who of old trespassed and repented, and the sublimity and honor of which afterwards they were deemed worthy, and take courage in your repentance. Be a persecutor of yourself, and your enemy will be driven from your proximity. Be peaceful within yourself, and heaven and earth will be at peace with you. Be diligent to enter into the treasury that is within you (Vide Matthew 6:6), and you will see the treasury of Heaven: for these are one and the same, and with one entry you will behold them both. The ladder of the Kingdom is within you, hidden in your soul. Plunge deeply within yourself, away from sin, and there you will find steps by which you will be able to ascend.

Scripture has not explained to us what the things of the age to come are; and yet, how we might receive a perception of their delight here, without a change of nature and a translation to another place, Scripture has easily taught us. For although it does this by the names of things desirable and highly esteemed, which to us are sweet and precious, in order to stimulate us to a yearning for them, still when it says, "which eye hath not seen, nor ear hath heard," and the rest (1 Corinthians 2:9), Scripture has declared to us that the good things to come are incomprehensible, and have no similarity to any thing here.

Spiritual delight is not enjoyment found in things that exist substantially outside the souls of those who receive it and are promised to us for the restitution to come. If it were, then the words, "The Kingdom of the Heavens is within you" (Cf. Luke 17:21) and, "Thy Kingdom come" (Matthew 6:10), would mean that we have acquired matter of a palpable nature within us as the earnest of the delight found in that Kingdom (Vide 2 Corinthians 1:22). For the thing acquired must needs be like the earnest of it, and the whole like its part. And although "as in a mirror" (2 Corinthians 3:18) indicates "not substantially," yet it does show clearly, in any case, the acquisition of a likeness.

But if, as the true testimony of those who have interpreted the Scriptures says, this perception is the noetic operation of the Holy Spirit, and it is a part of that whole, then—besides that spiritual operation which mediates between the Spirit and the saints through noetic perception—there is no palpable mediation by the senses for the delight of the saints yonder, but instead of the senses there are only those receptacles of the mind which contain everything in a well-ordered manner. And if we should call this (i.e. the operation of the Holy Spirit) a profusion of light, we do not mean light that is not noetic.

The lover of virtue is not he who does good with valiant struggle, but he who accepts with joy the evils that attend virtue. It is not so great a thing for one patiently to endure afflictions on behalf of virtue, as it is for the mind through the determination of its good volition to remain unconfused by the flattery of tantalizing pleasures. No kind of repentance that takes place after the removal of our free will will be a well-spring of joy, nor will it be reckoned for the reward of those who possess it.

Cover a man who stumbles, so long as you receive no harm from him, and give him encouragement; then your Master's loving-kindness will bear you up. Support with a word the infirm and those who are grieved at heart in so far as this lies within your hands, then the Right Hand that sustains all will also sustain you. Through the toil of prayer and the anguish of your heart commune with those who are grieved at heart, and the Source of mercy will be opened up to your petitions. Belabor yourself in constant supplication before God with a heart possessing a pure, compunctionate meditation, and God will protect your mind from filthy thoughts, that His way may not be defamed through you.

Continuously apply yourself to the study of reading the divine Scriptures with precise understanding, lest by reason of the idleness of your intellect, your sight be polluted with foreign pollutions. At a time when you think you will not be worsted, do not voluntarily make trial of your mind with lewd reflections which tempt you, because in this way wise men have been darkened and made fools. Do not store a flame in your bosom (Cf. Proverbs 6:27).

Without harsh tribulations of the flesh it is difficult for untrained youth to be held under the yoke of sanctification. The beginning of the intellect's darkening (once a sign of it is visible in the soul) is to be seen, first of all, in slothfulness with regard to the church services and prayer. For except the soul first fall away from these, she cannot be led in the way of error; but as soon as she is deprived of God's help, she easily falls into the hands of her adversaries. And again, whenever the soul becomes heedless of virtue's labors, she is inevitably drawn to what is opposed to them.

A transition, from whichever side it occurs, is the beginning of what belongs to the opposite quarter. Practice the work of virtue in your soul and do not concern yourself with futile matters. Always lay bare your weakness before God, and you will never be put to the test by aliens when you are found alone, distant from your Helper.

The activity of taking up the cross is twofold, in conformity with the duality of our nature, which is divided into two parts. The first is patient endurance of the tribulations of the flesh which is accomplished by the activity of the soul's incensive part, and this is called righteous activity (praxis). The second is to be found in the subtle workings of the intellect, in steady divine rumination, in unfailing constancy of prayer, and in other such practices. This second activity is carried out through the appetitive part of the soul, and is called divine vision (theoria).

As for the first, that is, praxis, it purifies the passionate part of the soul by the power of zeal. And the second, theoria, through the action of the soul's love, which is a natural yearning, thoroughly filters out the noetic part of the soul. Thus every man who, before training completely in the first part, proceeds to that second activity out of passionate longing for its sweetness (or rather, should I say, out of sloth) has wrath come upon him, because he did not first "mortify his members which are upon the earth" (Cf. Colossians 3:5), that is, heal the infirmity of his thoughts by patient endurance of the labor which belongs to the shame of the cross.

For he dared to imagine in his mind the cross's glory. And this is what was said by holy men of old: "If the intellect should wish to mount upon the cross before the senses have found rest from their infirmity, the wrath of God comes upon it." His mounting of the cross which brings wrath upon itself does not result from the first part, that of patient endurance of afflictions which is the crucifying of our flesh, but results from the desire to ascend to divine vision (theoria), which is the second part and takes place after the healing of the soul.

A man whose mind is polluted with the "passions of dishonor" (Romans 1:26), and who rushes to imagine with his mind the phantasies of the thoughts, is put to silence by Divine punishment, because he did not previously purify his mind through afflictions, and subdue the lusts of his flesh. But from what he has heard with his ears, and from the ink of his book-learning, he ran ahead of himself to walk in a way filled with gloom, while his own eyes were blind.

For even those whose sight is sound and who are filled with light, who have obtained grace as their guide, are in peril both night and day. Their eyes are filled with tears, and they are diligent in prayer and weeping all the day and in the night, because they fear the journey and the great precipices that confront them and the illusions of dissembling shapes found mixed with truth.

The things of God, they say, come of themselves, without one being aware of it. Yes, but only if the place is clean and not defiled. If the pupil of your soul's eye is not pure, do not venture to gaze at the orb of the sun, lest you be deprived of your sight—which is simple faith, humility, confession from the heart and your small labors according to your capacity—and lest you be cast aside in a lone region of the noetic world (which is the "outer darkness", outside God, a figure of Hell) like that man who shamelessly entered into the wedding feast with unclean garments (Vide Matthew 22:11 ff).

From exertions and watching (i.e. the guarding of the mind) there springs purity of the thoughts. And out of purity of the thoughts, the light of the understanding dawns. From this the intellect is guided by grace into that wherein the senses have no power, either to teach, or to learn.

Think to yourself that virtue is the body, but divine vision the soul, while both are one complete man in spirit, which is united out of two parts, the physical and the noetic. And just as it is impossible that our soul should come into being and be born without the complete forming of the body with its members, so is it impossible that there be divine vision, that second soul (which is also the spirit of revelation, and is molded in the matrix of the intellect that receives the substance of the spiritual seed) without the completion of virtue's labor; and virtue is the house of knowledge which is a host to revelations.

Divine vision is the perception of divine mysteries which are hidden in things and causes. Whenever you hear of withdrawal or abandonment of the world, or of being pure from the world, then first you must learn and understand the term world, not as common, unlearned men do, but in its spiritual senses, and how many different things this name comprises. Then you will be able to know your soul, how distant she is from the world, and how great an intermingling she has with the world.

World is a collective noun which is applied to the so-called passions. But if a man does not know first what the world is, he will never come to know with how many of his members he is distant from the world, and with how many he is bound to it. Many are the persons that with two or three members have parted from the world, and curb themselves with respect to these, and suppose themselves to be strangers to the world in their way of life. This, however, is because they neither understand nor prudently see that with two of their members they have died to the world, while their remaining members live within the body of the world.

Howbeit, they have not even been able to perceive so much as their passions. And since they have no awareness of them, neither have they made an effort to heal them. By contemplative examination, the world is also called the aggregate of the collective noun which is applied to the separate passions. When we wish to give a collective name to the passions, we call them world. And when we wish to designate them specifically according to their names, we call them passions. The passions are portions of the course of the world's onward flow; and where the passions cease, there the world's onward flow stands still.

These are the passions: love of wealth; gathering objects of any kind; bodily pleasure, from which comes the passion of carnal intercourse; love of esteem, from which springs envy; the wielding of power; pride in the trappings of authority; stateliness and pomposity; human glory, which is the cause of resentment; fear for the body. Wherever these have halted in their course, there, in part, to the extent that the passions are inactive, the world fails from its constitution and remains inactive.

Thus it was with each of the saints, that while they lived, they were dead. For living in the body, they lived not according to the flesh. Examine in which of these passions you are alive, and then you will know in how many parts you are alive to the world, and in how many you are dead. When you learn what the world is, by distinguishing these matters you will also come to know your entanglement in the world as well as your freedom from it.

But that I may speak briefly: the world is the carnal way of life and the "mind of the flesh" (Romans 8:7). Hence, a man's elevation above the world can also be recognized from these two things: from the good transformation of his way of life and from a discernment of his thoughts. Therefore, you may comprehend the measure of your way of life from that which arises in your mind with regard to the things it muses upon in its thoughts: for which things your nature effortlessly longs, what stirrings are aroused continually, and which are caused by an accidental circumstance; whether your mind has any perception at all of incorporeal thoughts; or whether all its motions are of a material sort; and whether the mind's material quality is something passionate, or only that the thoughts are the imprints of the physical aspect of a man's virtuous labor: for the mind involuntarily muses upon the things wherewith it performs the virtues.

From these things last mentioned the mind, in a wholesome manner, receives the cause of fervor and the gathering of its deliberations, for because of its lack of training the mind, with a good intention, prefers to labor in a corporeal manner, though it does not do so passionately. Observe also whether your mind remains unaffected by hidden confrontations with the imprints of thoughts because of a mightier ardor for the Divine, which is wont to cut off vain recollections.

The few indications we have provided in this chapter will suffice a man for his enlightenment instead of many books if he lives quietly and has discernment. Fear for the body is often so strong in a man as to make him incapable of any deeds worthy of honor or praise. But when fear for the soul overshadows bodily fear, then bodily fear wilts before it like wax from the heat of a flame.

But to our God be glory unto the ages. Amen.

homily iii

That Without Toil the Soul Enters Into Understanding of the Wisdom of God and of His Creatures, If She Becomes Still to the World and Life's Concerns; for Then She Can Come to Know Her Nature and What Treasures She Has Hidden Within Herself. When life's concerns do not incur into the soul from without, and she abides in her nature (Syriac; A soul that does not overpower what belongs to her nature by increased care for amassing possessions) then she does not require prolonged toil to penetrate into and understand the wisdom of God. For her separation from the world and her stillness naturally move her toward the understanding of God's creatures. And by this she is lifted up toward God; being astonished, she is struck with wonder, and she remains with God. When water does not seep into the fountain of the soul from without, the natural water that springs up in her incessantly bubbles forth intuitions of God's wonders (Syriac; the waters from her own nature bubble up, which are wondrous intuitions that ever arise concerning God). But when the soul is found bereft of these, it is either because she has received a cause for this from some alien recollection, or because the senses have stirred up turmoil against her by means of encounters with objects. When the senses, however, are confined by stillness and not permitted to sally forth, and by its aid the soul's memories grow old, then you will see what are the soul's natural thoughts, what is the nature of the soul, and what treasures she has hidden within herself. These treasures are incorporeal intuitions that are inspired in the soul by themselves, without the exercise of forethought and toil in their behalf. A man, however, does not even know that such thoughts could arise in human nature. For who taught him these things? Or how did he comprehend that which, even when understood, is impossible to make plain to others? Or who was his guide to that which he had never learned from another?

The nature of the soul is, then, something like what we have described. The passions are, consequently, an addition [to nature] from causes in the soul. Yet by nature the soul is passionless. Whenever you hear in the Scriptures of passions of the soul and body, know that this is said in reference to the causes of the passions. For the soul is naturally dispassionate. Those who prefer outward philosophy do not accept this, and neither do their adherents. But we believe that God created His image passionless (but I do not mean His image in reference to the body, but to the soul, which is invisible). For every image is taken from a prototype. And it is impossible for a visible image to depict the likeness of something invisible (Greek; And it is impossible for a man to depict an image when he has not seen beforehand a likeness thereof). So you must believe that the passions, as we said earlier, do not belong to the soul [by nature]. But if anyone wishes to challenge what has been said, we shall ask:

Question: What is the nature of the soul? Is it, then, something passionless and filled with light, or something passionate and dark?

Answer: If the nature of the soul was once translucent and pure by the reception of that blessed light, it will be found the same when it returns to its original state. Therefore, when the soul is moved in a passionate way, she is confessedly outside her nature, as the children of the Church maintain. The passions, therefore, entered into the soul afterwards, and it is not right to say that the passions belong to the soul, even though she is moved by them. Hence it is evident that she is moved by things from without, not by what is her own. If passions are said to be natural because by them the soul is moved through (the Greek and the Vatican Syriac MS 124 read without, but the Syriac printed text and the context show this to be an error) the intermediary of the body, then hunger, thirst, and sleep would also be natural [to the soul], because she suffers in these things and groans together with the body: in the amputation of its members, in fevers, in diseases, and in what is akin to these. For because of her communion with the body, the soul suffers pain together with it, just as the body with the soul; and the soul is moved to gladness by the body's gladness and she bears its afflictions. On the Soul, the Passions, and the Purity of the Mind, in Questions and Answers. (This title is found in the Greek as the beginning of a new homily).

Question: What is the natural state of the soul, what is the state contrary to nature, and what is the state above nature?

Answer: The natural state of the soul is understanding of God's creatures, both sensory and noetic. The supernatural state of the soul is her movement in (Greek; the movement of) the divine vision of the transubstantial Deity. The contranatural state of the soul is her being moved by the passions. And this is exactly what the divine and great Basil has said: 'When the soul is found in accord with her nature, her life is on high; when she is found outside her nature, she is below upon the earth. When she is on high, she is free from the passions; but as soon as her nature descends from its own state, the passions are found in her.' It is evident, therefore, that the so-called passions of the soul are not the soul's by nature. If this be so, then the soul is moved by the body's blameworthy passions even as she is by hunger and thirst. But since no law has been imposed on her in regard to the latter, the soul is not to be blamed, as she is in regard to the former passions which are subject to reproach. There are times when God permits a man to do something apparently improper and he receives, instead of blame and censure, a good recompense: as Osee the prophet, who married a harlot (Vide Hosea 1:2); as the prophet Elias, who put men to death in his zeal for God (Vide 3 Kings 18:40); and as those who slew their kindred by the sword at Moses' command (Vide Exodus 32:27). It is said, nevertheless, that desire and anger (Greek; or strong feeling) naturally belong to the soul apart from what pertains to the nature of the body, and that these are her passions.

Question: We ask: is the soul's desire natural when it is kindled by divine things, or by the things of earth and the flesh? And is anger natural when it is said that by anger the soul's nature is excited to zeal on account of bodily desire, envy, vainglory, and the rest, or when it is on account of things opposed to these? Let the disputer reply to us on these points, and we shall follow up (this is the Syriac reading).

Answer: Divine Scripture says many things [[with a special intent]] and often uses names figuratively, as for instance: things which pertain to the body are said of the soul, and things pertaining to the soul are said of the body, making no distinction between them. The sagacious, however, understand [[what they read, that is, the intent of Scripture]]. Likewise things pertaining to the Lord's Divinity (which are not compatible with human nature) are said with respect to His all-holy body; and again lowly things are said concerning His Divinity which pertain to His humanity. Many, not understanding the intent of the Divine words, have stumbled here with a stumbling from which there is no recovery. So too it is with names pertaining to the body and the soul. If, therefore, virtue is the natural health of the soul, then the passions are an illness of the soul which befalls and invades her nature and despoils her proper health. Now it is obvious that in every nature health is antecedent to any disease which might befall it. And if this be so, as indeed it is, then [[by necessity]] virtue is in the soul naturally, but that which is an accident (or a chance occurrence, a contingency) is external to her nature. [[For it is impossible that something which is prior should not be natural.]]

Question: Do the bodily passions belong to the soul by nature, or by accident? And are the passions of the soul which she possesses by reason of her connexion with the body said to be hers naturally, or by a figure of speech?

Answer: No one dares say that the passions belong to the body only figuratively; but as for those of the soul, one must be bold and say, inasmuch as it is recognized and confessed by all that purity is a natural property of the soul, that the passions in no wise belong to the soul by nature. For sickness is posterior to health, and it is impossible that one and the same nature be both good and evil. Therefore of necessity, one must precede the other; and the one which is prior is also the natural, because anything which is accidental is not said to belong to a nature, but to intrude from without. And change follows upon every accident and intrusion. Nature, however, does not change or alter itself. Every passion that exists for our benefit has been given by God. The passions of the body have been implanted in it for its benefit and growth, and the same is true with respect to the passions of the soul. But whenever the body is forced by a privation of what is proper to it to be outside of its own well-being and to follow after the soul, it is enfeebled and harmed. And whenever the soul, abandoning what belongs to her, follows after the body, she is immediately harmed, as the divine Apostle said: 'The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, and these two are contrary the one to the other' (Galatians 5:17). Let no one, therefore, blaspheme God, saying that He has imposed the passions and sin upon our nature. For He has implanted in natures that which causes each to grow. But whenever one nature enters into agreement with another, it is no longer found in what is proper to it, but in that which is opposed to it. For if the passions were in the soul naturally, for what reason is she harmed by them? For that which is proper to a nature does not destroy it.

Question: Why does the [[fulfilling of the]] bodily passions strengthen and make the body grow, while those of the soul harm the soul, if they are proper to her? And for what reason does virtue torment the body but enrich the soul?

Answer: Do you not see how things that are external to a nature harm it? For every nature is filled with gladness when it draws near to what is proper to it. And do you wish to know what is proper to each nature? Observe, that which aids nature is proper to it; but that which is harmful is alien and invades it from without. Therefore, since it is known that the passions of the soul and body oppose one another (Cf. Galatians 5:17), it is evident that although the soul should employ something that helps and relieves the body, this thing should not be thought to belong to the soul's nature. For what is proper to the soul's nature is death to the body. But by a figure of speech it is nevertheless attributed to the soul, and because of the body's frailty she cannot be liberated from these things so long as she is clad with the flesh. For through God's inscrutable wisdom, by nature the soul has been made a sharer in the body's griefs, by reason of the union of her movement with the body's movement. But although they are thus partakers of one another, still the movement of one is separate from the movement of the other, the will of one from the will of the other, the body from the spirit. Nature remains totally unconfused and it does not suppress its properties (Greek; nature does not change). Every nature (Specifically, that of the soul and body. The Greek MSS have various readings here) though a man forcibly brings it into agreement with either sin or virtue, will exert its own will and breed its own offspring. When the soul is raised from bodily cares, then by the action of the Spirit she, in her entirety, stimulates her movements to blossom forth and in the bosom of Heaven she swims amidst incomprehensible things. But even when this occurs, the body is permitted to retain a consciousness of what is proper to it. Likewise, if the body is found in sin, the soul's own deliberations do not cease to spring up in the intellect.

Question: What is the purity of the mind?

Answer: The man who is pure in mind is not he who has no knowledge of evil (for that is to be like a brute beast) nor he who is by nature on the level of infants (i.e. a halfwit) not again he who never takes up human affairs (this is the reading of the Vatican Syriac MS 124. The Greek has nor he who takes face[s], that is, shows partiality. Here the Greek translators read the Syriac word eyes in place of affairs—they being very similar—and translated eyes by face) [[nor yet is purity of mind that we should not beseech men for any created thing]]. But purity of the mind is this: to be rapt in things divine, and this comes about after a man has practiced the virtues. We are not so bold as to say that anyone has achieved this without experience of evil thoughts, for in such a case he would not be clad with a body. For until death we cannot dare to say that our nature is not warred upon or harmed. And by experience of evil thoughts I mean not to submit to them but to make a beginning to struggle with them. The movement of thoughts in a man originates from four causes. Firstly, from the natural will of the flesh; secondly, from the imagination of the world's sensory objects which a man hears and sees; thirdly, from mental predispositions and from the aberration of the soul; and fourthly, from the assaults of the demons who wage war with us in all the passions through the causes which we have already mentioned. For this reason, till death a man cannot be without thoughts and warfare so long as he is in the life of the flesh (From the beginning of the paragraph until this point the Syriac reads Struggle with the thoughts is aroused in the mind by four general causes which form a basis for the movement of all the different passions. Hence, in this life, a man cannot be freed from recollections of this world, and though he be a front-line fighter, or even like Paul, he cannot be considered perfect. Still, although he experiences the vexation of the passions through these four causes—namely, the body, through its naturally ordered movements; the world, through its objects with the mediation of the senses; the soul, through thoughts, recollections, and aberrant forces; and the demons, through the activities of the aforesaid—yet even so, when he is troubled by them but briefly, he will be caught away to more excellent things which he perceives by his intuitions). If, before the destruction of this world or before a man's death, one of these four causes could possibly be done away with, or whether it be possible for the body not to seek its needs and not to be compelled to desire any of the world's goods, judge for yourself. But if it is absurd to suppose any such thing, since our nature is in need of the world's goods, then it follows that the passions move in the man who is clad with a body, whether he wills it or not. Wherefore every man must guard himself. By the word passion I do not speak of one [sort] only— which openly and continually moves within a man—or of two, but of many kinds, since he is clad with a body. Although those who have vanquished the passions by means of the virtues are vexed by thoughts and the assaults of these four causes, yet they are not overcome, because they have power and their mind is caught away into good and divine recollections (Instead of this the Syriac reads But if a man should grow presumptuous because of the weakness of his thoughts and the fewness of his severe conflicts, we say that whoever it might be, men are not in need of labors but of great watchfulness).

Question: In what respect does purity of mind differ from purity of heart?

Answer: Purity of mind is one thing, and purity of heart is another [[just as a limb differs from the whole body]]. Now the mind is one of the senses of the soul, but the heart is what contains and holds the inner senses [[:it is the sense of senses]], that is, their root; but if the root is holy, then the branches are holy. It is evident, therefore, that if the heart is purified, all the senses are made pure (Syriac; But this is not so if only one of the branches is sanctified). Now if the mind, on the one hand, is a little diligent in reading the divine Scriptures and toils a little in fasting, vigil, and stillness, it will forget its former activity and will become pure, as long as it abstains from alien concerns. Even so its purity will not be permanent, for just as it is quickly cleansed, so too it is quickly soiled. But the heart, on the other hand, is only made pure by many afflictions, deprivations, separation from all fellowship with the world, and deadness to all things. Once it is purified, however, its purity is not soiled by little things, nor is it dismayed by great and open conflicts (I mean dreadful ones), inasmuch as it has acquired, as it were, a strong stomach capable of quickly digesting all the food that is indigestible to those who are weak. For so it is said among the physicians, that all meat is difficult to digest, but it produces great strength in healthy bodies when a strong stomach takes it. Even so, any purity that comes quickly, with little time and slight labor, is also quickly lost and defiled. But the purity that comes through many afflictions and is acquired over a long period of time in the soul's superior part (this is the sense of the Syriac) is not endangered by any moderate assault. On the Senses, and on Temptations Also. (This title is found in the Greek as the beginning of a new homily). When the senses are chaste and collected, they give birth to peace in the soul and do not allow her to experience strife (Greek; things); and whenever the soul has no perception of anything, victory will be gained without struggle. But (from this point to the end of the paragraph the Syriac of the Vat. MS 124 has been rendered) if the soul should grow negligent in this matter, she will not be able to remain secure; and after a perception has entered, she must fight hard to expel it from herself. However, her first state of limpid purity— (This is the translation of the Syriac term shapyutha, which means clearness, limpidity, transparency, serenity. A clear sky is also serene. Some say that this term is equivalent to the Greek; dispassion. For Saint Isaac, the soul's primordial state is one of limpid purity, and resembles Adam's state before he tasted of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Worldly knowledge and passions cause a man to lose the limpidity that is both natural and proper to his soul. Later East Syrian ascetical writers used the term shapyutha in a more technical sense, referring to a stage in spiritual life) —and natural innocence are lost. The majority of men, if not all the world, for this reason (the Greek has because of their negligence, explaining the reason) depart from the natural state and that limpid purity which is prior to the knowledge of diverse things. On this account, the more men are involved with the world, the more it is difficult for them to regain limpid purity, by reason of their knowledge of many evil things. Only one man among many can once again return to his primordial state by another means (instead of by another means the Greek has the explanatory sentence: To attain this each man must always securely guard his senses and his mind from assaults, for there is much need of sobriety, guarding, and watchfulness). But simplicity is more beautiful (or better) than the diverse ways of [obtaining] forgiveness. Fear is necessary for human nature in order that it might keep within the bounds of obedience to God. But the love of God incites a man to desire the works of virtue and through love he is caught away to the doing of good. Spiritual knowledge naturally comes after the performance of the virtues, but both are preceded by fear and love; and again, fear precedes love. Whoever says with presumption that it is possible to acquire the more perfect virtues before he accomplishes the elementary has, without a doubt, laid the first foundation for the ruin of his soul. For the Lord's way is that the more perfect be born of the former virtues. Do not exchange your brother's love for the love of any fleeting thing, because love conceals within itself Him Who is more precious than all things (The Syriac continues with the following passage: That which a material object is to the eyes of the flesh, the same is passionate behavior to the hidden faculty of sight. And that which the murky passions are to the second mode of natural theoria, the same the passions are to the natural, settled state; and they are thus related to one another throughout the range of the diverse theorias. When the intellect is fixed in the natural, settled state, it abides in angelic theoria, that is, primary and natural theoria, which is also called naked intellect. But when the intellect is in the second, natural knowledge, it suckles and is sustained by milk from breasts, as it were. This is called the outward garment of the degree just mentioned [i.e. the naked intellect]. It is placed after purity, which the mind enters first. It is also prior in existence, for it is the first degree of knowledge, although it is last in honor. For this reason it is also called secondary, and is like certain inscribed letters whereby the intellect is trained and cleansed for the ascent to the second degree, which is perfection of the motions of the mind and the degree that is nigh to divine theoria. The outward garment of the intellect is the senses, but its nakedness is its being moved by immaterial divine visions). Abandon what is small, that you may find what is great. Spurn what is superfluous and without value, that you may discover what is truly valuable. Become as one dead during your life and you will not live unto death. Give yourself over to death in your struggles, rather than live in heedlessness. For martyrs are not only those who have accepted death for their belief in Christ, but also those who die for the sake of keeping His commandments. Do not become foolish in your petitions, lest you insult God by the meanness of your knowledge. Become wise in your prayers that you may be accounted worthy of glorious things. Seek what is honorable from Him Who gives ungrudgingly, that you may also receive honor from Him by reason of your wise volition. Solomon asked for wisdom and with it he received an earthly kingdom, inasmuch as he asked wisely of the Great King Himself (Vide 3 Kings 3:9 ff; Wisdom 7:7 ff). Elisseus asked for a double portion of the grace of the Spirit that abode in his teacher, and by no means failed in his request (Vide 4 Kings 2:9). For he that requests contemptible things of a king brings contempt upon the latter's honor. Israel asked for what was contemptible and received the wrath of God. It ceased to marvel at the works of God, His terrible wonders, and made supplication for its belly's lusts: 'But while their food was yet in their mouth, the wrath of God rose up against them' (Psalms 77:30, 31). Present your petitions to God so as to accord with His glory, that your honor may be magnified before Him, and He rejoice over you. For if a man should beseech the king for a measure of dung, he not only dishonors himself by his miserable petition (since he has shown great lack of sense) but also he has heaped insult upon the king because of what he asked for, even so he that seeks earthly things from God in his prayers does the same. For lo, angels and archangels, who are the King's great officials, are gazing steadfastly upon you at the time of your prayer to see what petition you will make of their Master; and they are astonished and exultant whenever they behold one who is made of earth forsake his dunghill and ask for what is heavenly. Do not ask of God a thing which He Himself, without our asking, has already taken forethought to give not only to us, those of His own household and His beloved friends, but also to those who are strangers to the knowledge of Him. 'Be not like unto the heathen', He says, 'who use vain repetitions in their prayers' [Cf. Matthew 6:7]. 'For after all these bodily things do the heathen seek', says the Lord [Cf. Matthew 6:32]. 'But ye, take no thought what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, or what ye shall put on' [Cf. Matthew 6:31]. 'For your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things' [Cf. Matthew 6:32]. A son does not ask bread of his father, but seeks the great and lofty things of his father's house. It was on account of the feebleness of the minds of [common] men that the Lord commanded us to ask for our daily bread, for see what He commanded those who are perfect in knowledge and healthy of soul: 'Take no thought concerning food or raiment' [Cf. Matthew 6:28], He says, 'for if He taketh care for the brute beasts, and the birds, and even lifeless things, will He not take much more care for you?' [Cf. Matthew 6:26]. 'But seek ye rather the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you' [Cf. Matthew 6:33]. If you should beseech God for a thing and He is slow to hearken to you speedily, do not grieve, for you are not wiser than God. This happens to you either because you are not worthy to obtain your request, or because the pathways of your heart do not accord with your petitions (but rather the contrary) or because you have not yet reached the measure wherein you could receive the gift you ask for, [Syriac; or because your hidden measure is too immature for the greatness of the thing]. We must not rush onwards to great measures before the time [Syriac; it is not right that great things should quickly fall into our hands], lest God's gift be debased by our hasty reception of it. For anything that is quickly obtained is also easily lost, whereas everything found with toil is also kept with careful watching. Thirst for Christ, that He may make you drunk with His love. Close your eyes to the delights of this life [Syriac; the precious things of this world], that God may deem you worthy to have His peace reigning in your heart. Abstain from what your eyes behold, that you may be accounted worthy of spiritual joy. If your works are displeasing to God, seek not from Him glorious things, lest you become a man who tempts God. As your manner of life, so must your prayer be. For it is impossible for someone bound up in earthly matters to seek what is heavenly, and the man who is occupied with worldly affairs cannot ask for what is divine. Each man's desire is revealed by his works, and in whatever matters he shows his zeal, it is for those that he strives in prayer. The man who desires the greatest things does not concern himself with the lesser. Be free, though you are bound in a body, and for Christ's sake show forth obedience in your freedom. But also be prudent in your simplicity, lest you be plundered. Love humility in all your activities, that you be delivered from the imperceptible snares that are always found outside the pathways of humble men. Do not reject afflictions, for through them you will enter into the knowledge of the truth; and do not fear temptations, because therein you find precious things. Pray that you enter not into the temptations of the soul, but with all your strength prepare yourself for those of the body. Without these you cannot draw nigh to God, because divine rest is laid up within them. He that flees temptations flees from virtue. But by temptation (The basic sense of the word is a trial; it will be sometimes translated in this way according to the context. The Latin equivalent is tentatio, an attack, also a trial: hence the English temptation) I mean not that which originates from lusts, but from afflictions.

Question: How does, 'Pray that ye enter not into temptation' (Matthew 26:41) agree with, 'Strive to enter in at the narrow gate'?, (Luke 13:24). And again, with 'Fear not them that kill the body' (Matthew 10:28) and, 'He that loseth his life for My sake shall find it'?, (Matthew 10:39). Why is it that the Lord everywhere urges us on to temptations, yet here He enjoins us to pray not to enter into them? Indeed, what virtue is without affliction and trial? Or what kind of trial is greater than for a man to lose his very self, a trial into which He has bidden us all to enter on His account? For He says, 'He that taketh not up his cross and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me' (Matthew 10:38). How is it, therefore, that in all His teaching He has enjoined us to enter into temptations, yet here He has commanded us to pray not to enter into them? 'Ye must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God', says Paul (Cf. Acts 14:22). And again, 'In the world ye shall have tribulation' (John 16:33) and, 'In your patience', regarding these things, 'ye shall gain your souls' (Luke 21:19). O the subtlety of the path of Thy teachings, O Lord! Outside this path is the man who reads without understanding and knowledge. When the sons of Zebedee and their mother aspired to sit at Thy side in Thy Kingdom, Thou didst say unto them, 'Are ye able to drink the cup of temptations 'that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?' (Matthew 20:22). And how is it that here, O Master, Thou dost permit us to pray not to enter into temptation? Concerning what sort of temptations dost Thou command us to pray that we enter not into them?

Answer: Pray, He says, that you enter not into temptations of your faith. Pray that through your mind's self-esteem you enter not into temptation with the demon of blasphemy and pride. Pray that you enter not by God's permission into the manifest temptation of the devil because of the evil thoughts which you have entertained in your mind and on account of which you suffer temptation (Syriac; the manifest temptations of the senses, which the devil knows how to bring upon you when God permits it because of the foolish thoughts you entertain). Pray that the angel (Syriac; witness) of your [26] chastity may not withdraw from you, that you be not warred upon by the fiery war of sin, and be separated from him. Pray that you enter not into a temptation of vexation with someone. Pray that you enter not into temptations of soul through doubts [[and provocations]] by which the soul is violently drawn into great conflict. Howbeit, prepare yourself with all your soul to receive bodily temptations; voyage in them with all your members and fill your eyes with tears, so that the angel who guards you does not depart from you. For without trials God's providence is not seen, and you cannot obtain boldness before God, nor learn the wisdom of the Spirit, nor can divine longing be established in you. Before temptations a man prays to God as though he were a stranger; but when he enters into temptations for the sake of His love and does not permit himself to be deflected, then straightway he has, as it were, God as his debtor, and God reckons him as a true friend, since he has warred against His enemy and defeated him for the sake of His will. This is to 'pray that you enter not into temptation.' And again, pray that you enter not into the fearsome temptation of the devil by reason of your arrogance, but because you love God, and you wish that His power might help you and through you vanquish His enemies. Pray that you enter not into such trials because of the wickedness (Syriac; folly) of your thoughts and works, but rather in order that your love of God may be tested, and that His strength be glorified in your patience. On Our Master's Tender Compassion, Whereby From the Height of His Majesty He Has Condescended to Men's Weakness; and on Temptations. (This title is found in the Greek as the beginning of a new homily). But on the other hand, if you pay attention with understanding, our Lord did enjoin us to pray concerning bodily trials also, making provision for us after the manner of His loving-kindness and according to the measure of His grace. For knowing our nature to be frail because of the earthy and unsound substance of our body, and that it, [i.e. our nature] cannot withstand temptations when engulfed by them, and that for this reason we fall away from the truth and we turn our backs, being overcome by afflictions, He therefore commanded us to pray that we should not suddenly fall into temptations, if it be possible to please God without them.

If, however, we should fall suddenly into terrible trials by reason of our quest for great virtue, and if virtue cannot be accomplished at that time if we do not endure them, then, in such a case, we should spare neither ourselves nor other men. Nor out of fear must we relinquish the gallant and honorable deed in which the life of the soul is treasured up, and employ as a veil for our laxity (Greek; offer excuses and precepts for our laxity, such as. Perhaps the translators read tahwitha (demonstration) for tahpitha (veil)) the words, 'Pray that ye enter not into temptation.' It is said concerning such persons that 'through the commandment they sin in secret.' If, therefore, it befalls a man that temptation comes upon him and compels him to break one of Christ's commandments, that is, to abandon his chastity, or the monastic life, or to deny the Faith, or not to struggle for Christ's sake (Syriac; not to bear witness to the Word of God), or to set at naught any one of the commandments, and he becomes afraid and does not courageously resist these temptations, then he will fall away from the truth. So let us shun the body with all our strength, surrender our souls to God, and in the Lord's name enter into the arena of temptations. May He that preserved Joseph in the land of Egypt and showed him forth as an icon and exemplar of chastity (Vide Genesis 39:1 ff), and Who kept Daniel unharmed in the lions' den (Vide Daniel 6:16 ff) and the Three Youths in the fiery furnace (Vide Daniel 3:20 ff), and Who delivered Jeremias from the pit of mire (Vide Jeremias 45 (38):6) and bestowed mercy upon him in the midst of the camp of the Chaldeans (Vide Jeremias 47 (40):1), and Who brought Peter out of prison while the doors were shut (Vide Acts 12:7 ff) and saved Paul from the synagogue of the Jews (Vide Acts 21:30 ff) and, to speak simply, He that always continues with His servants in every place and country (Syriac; generation), Who manifests His power and victory in them, Who preserves them with manifold wonders and Who reveals His salvation to them in all their afflictions, may He give us strength also, and rescue us from amid the waves that encompass us.

Amen. Let us, therefore, acquire zeal in our souls against the devil and his commissaries even such as the Maccabees had, and the holy prophets, apostles, martyrs, the righteous, and the just. For these men proved allies of the Divine laws and the commandments of the Spirit in fearful places and amid most grievous tribulations. Mightily did they put the world and the flesh behind their backs and persevere in their righteousness; and they were not overcome by the perils that encircled both their soul and body, but courageously they took the victory, and their names are written in the book of life until the coming of Christ. By God's decree their teaching has been preserved for our instruction and strengthening, as the blessed Apostle testifies (Cf. Romans 15:4) that we might become wise and learn the ways of God, and keep their histories and lives in view as living and breathing icons, and take our example from them, and run their course, and make ourselves like unto them. The words of God are as sweet to the soul possessed of great understanding, as food that delights the body; and the histories of the righteous are as desirable to the ears of the meek, as continual watering to a newly planted tree. Therefore, beloved, have in your mind God's providence (which from the beginning until now is dispensed with foreknowledge (Syriac; which was dispensed to the men of olden times)) as some excellent medicine for weakened eyes, and keep its recollection with you at all times. Ponder, consider, and be taught by these things, that you may learn to hold the remembrance of the greatness of God's honor in your soul, and thus find life eternal for your soul in Jesus Christ our Lord, Who is become 'the Mediator between God and men' (1 Timothy 2:5) as being the Uniter in His two natures (or, Uniter by His two natures, or, united in His two natures, i.e. reading a passive participle instead of an active one (in Syriac the forms are identical). The Greek reads here, united out of both, while the Vatican Syriac MS 124, united out of the two, i.e. natures, an evident interpolation). The orders of the angels cannot approach the glory that surrounds the throne of His majesty, yet He has appeared in the world for our sake in a mean and humble form, as Esaias said: 'We beheld Him, that He had no form nor beauty' (Isaiah 53:2). It is He that, being invisible to all created nature, put on a body and fulfilled the oeconomy for the salvation and life of all the nations which were cleansed by Him, and to Him be glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen.