Praktikos
Translation by Luke Dysinger, O.S.B. (translation in public domain) Greek text based on: Sources Chrétiennes N° 171;& PG 40.
EVAGRIUS the MONK [Prologue: Letter to Anatolius]
[Prol.1.] SINCE you recently wrote to me in Scetis from the Holy Mountain, dear brother Anatolius, demanding that I explain to you the symbolic habit of the Egyptian monks - for you believe it to be neither accidental nor superfluous that [the habit] is so different from what other people wear - I will therefore tell you what we have learned concerning this from the holy fathers.
[Prol.2.] THE hood (koukoullion) is a symbol of the grace of our Saviour [and] God: it shelters their mind (hegemonikon) and nurses their childlike [relationship] with Christ in the face of those who are always attempting to beat and wound it. Anyone who bears this hood on his head is truly chanting the [inner] meaning of the psalm:
“Unless the Lord builds the house and guards the city, in vain do the builder and watchman labor” (Ps. 126:1).
Recitations like these produce humility and uproot the primordial vice of pride that cast down to the earth Lucifer, the Dawn-Rising [Star] (Is. 14:12).
[Prol.3.] THE nakedness of their hands manifests the absence of hypocrisy in their way of life. Vainglory is [terribly] clever at covering and darkening virtues, always hunting for the esteem [glory] that comes from men and chasing faith away.
For how it is possible for you to believe, it says, when you receive glory from one another; and the glory that comes only from God you do not seek? (Jn 5:44).
For the good ought to be chosen for no other [reason] than itself. Apart from this, anything that moves us to do good will appear far more precious than the good itself: and nothing could be more absurd than to consider and assert that something is better than God!
[Prol.4.] AND again, the scapular that wraps around the shoulders in the form of a cross is a symbol of the faith in Christ that supports the gentle (Ps.146:6 cf. Mt 5.5) and always, despite obstacles, permits them to work unimpeded.
[Prol.5.] THE belt tied around their loins repels all impurity and declares, It is good for a man not to touch a woman’ (I Cor.7:1). [cf. KG 4.79; Sch.1 on Ps.25.2]
[Prl.6.] THEY wear the sheepskin - those always carrying around in their bodies the death of Jesus: (2 Cor.4:10) and muzzling all the body's irrational passions, cutting back the wickedness of the soul by their communion in the good;
and loving poverty but fleeing from avarice as the mother of idolatry (Col. 3:5)
[Prol.7.] THE staff is a tree of life to all who hold it, reliable for those who lean on it just as [they lean] on the Lord (Prov. 3:18; cf.Gen.3.22; Rev.22.2 ff.).
[Prol.8] THE habit, then, is like a symbol that summarizes [these] things. And these are the words the fathers always say to them:
“Faith, o [my] child is steadied by the fear of God And [this fear] in turn [is strengthened] by continence. This latter [virtue] is made unshakable by patient endurance and hope:
from these is born apatheia [dispassion], which brings into being love. Love is the door to knowledge of nature which leads to theology and the supreme blessedness.”
[Prol.9.] And so, concerning the holy habit and the teaching of the elders, these things we have said should suffice for now.
BUT concerning the life of the ascetic and the knower I now propose to describe in detail not [only] what we have seen or heard, but also what I have been taught by [the elders] to say to others. I have compactly divided ascetical matters into a hundred chapters, and matters of knowledge into fifty, plus six hundred.
And some things I have concealed and shadowed over, so that we do not throw holy things to the dogs nor cast pearls before swine (Mat. 7:6). But this will be clear to those who have embarked on the same quest [ichnos =searching for traces].
by the same [Evagrius] TREATISE on the PRAKTIKÉ: 100 CHAPTERS
1. CHRISTIANITY is the teaching of our Savior Christ consisting of [:] ascetical practice, the [contemplation of] nature, and theology.
2. THE Kingdom of Heaven is apatheia (dispassion) of the soul together with true knowledge of beings
3. THE Kingdom of God is knowledge of the Holy Trinity, coextensive with the capacity [structure] of the nous (mind/intellect) but surpassing it in incorruptibility.
4. WHATEVER a person ardently loves (eros) he will want completely. And what he wants he will struggle to acquire. Now every pleasure is preceded by desire (epithumia) and desire is born of sensation: thus that which is not subject to sensation is also free from passion. [Prayer 42; KG 1.34]
5. AGAINST the hermits the demons engage in naked combat. Against those laboring at virtue in [cenobitic] monasteries or communities they arm the more careless of the brethren.
For the second battle is much lighter than the first, since there cannot be found on earth men more bitter than the demons, or [able] to undertake all their evil doings at once.
§ 6. NATURE of the LOGISMOI
[CONCERNING THE EIGHT [TEMPTING-] THOUGHTS]
6. THERE are eight principal kinds of [tempting-] thoughts (logismoi), that contain within themselves every [tempting-] thought:
first, that of gluttony; and with it, that of sexual immorality; third, that of love of money;
fourth, that of sadness; fifth, that of anger; sixth that of acedia;
seventh, that of vainglory; eighth, that of pride.
We cannot [control] whether these [tempting-thoughts] can agitate the soul or not; but whether they remain [in us] or not, and whether they move the passions or not – that we can [control]. [Sequence/Movements: Prak. 12, 37, 38, 43, 51, 71, 89; Letter 39.3.]
7. THE [tempting]-thought of gluttony suggests to the monk the sudden rejection of his asceticism. The stomach, liver, spleen, and [resultant] congestive heart failure are depicted, along with long sickness, lack of necessities, and unavailability of physicians. It often leads him to recall those of the brethren who have suffered these things. Sometimes it even deceives those who have suffered from this kind of thing to go and visit [others] who are practicing self-control, to tell them all about their misfortunes and how this resulted from their asceticism. [Gnost. 31; Antirr. 1; Eight Thoughts 1-3; Prayer 134.]
8. THE demon of sexual immorality (porneia) compels desiring for different bodies. Especially violently does it attack those who practice self-control, so that they will cease, as if achieving nothing.
Contaminating the soul, it bends it down towards these sorts of deeds: it makes it speak certain words and then hear them, as if the thing were actually there to be seen. [Prak 46; KG 1.66, 84; Antirr. 2; Eight Thoughts 4-6. Antirr. 2.21; Eulogius 19.]
9. LOVE of money (avarice) suggests: a long old age; hands powerless to work; hunger and disease yet to come; the bitterness of poverty; and the disgrace of receiving the necessities [of life] from others. [Antirr. 3; Eight Thoughts 7-8; Letter 16.4; 25.4; 39.3; 52.3, 6; Cf. Foundations 4. Antirr. 3.2]
10. GLOOMINESS sometimes arises from frustrated desires; but sometimes it is the result of anger. When desires are frustrated it arises thus: certain [tempting-]thoughts first seize the soul and remind it of home and parents and its former course of life.
When they see the soul following them without resistance, and dissipating itself in mental pleasures, they take and dunk [lit baptize] it in gloom, since it is the case that these earlier things are gone and cannot be recovered due to the [monk's] present way of life Then the miserable soul, having been dissipated by the first [tempting-]thought, is humiliated all the more by the second.
11. ANGER (orgē) is the sharpest passion. It is said to be a boiling and movement of indignation (thumos) against a wrongdoer or a presumed wrongdoer:
it causes the soul to be savage all day long, but especially in prayers it seizes the nous, reflecting back the face of the distressing person.
Then sometimes it is lingering and is changed into rancor (mēnis). and [thus] it causes disturbances at night: bodily weakness and pallor; and attacks from poisonous beasts. These four things associated with rancor may be found to have been summoned up by many other [tempting-] thoughts.
12. THE demon of acedia, which is also called the noonday demon (Ps 90.6), is the most burdensome of all the demons. It besets the monk at about the fourth hour (10 am) of the morning, encircling his soul until about the eighth hour (2 pm).
[1] First it makes the sun appear to slow down or stop, so the day seems to be fifty hours long.
[2] Then it forces the monk to keep looking out the window and rush from his cell to observe the sun in order to see how much longer it is to the ninth [hour, i.e. 3 pm], and to look about in every directions in case any of the brothers are there.
[3] Then it assails him with hatred of his place, his way of life and the work of his hands; that love has departed from the brethren and there is no one to console him (cf. Lam 1.17, 21).
[4] If anyone has recently caused the monk grief the demon adds this as well to amplify his hatred [of these things]
[5] It makes him desire other places where he can easily find all that he needs and practice an easier, more convenient craft After all, pleasing the Lord is not dependent on geography, the demon adds; God is to be worshipped everywhere.
[6] It combines this with remembrance of his relatives and his former way of life, and depicts to him a long life, placing before his eyes a vision of the burdens of the ascetic life.
So, it employs, as they say, every [possible] means to move the monk to leave his cell and flee the racecourse.
No other demon comes immediately after this one; rather, after the struggle the soul receives in turn a peaceful state and unspeakable joy
13. THE [tempting-]thought of vainglory is especially subtle and easily sneaks into those whose lives are going well,
[A] wanting to publish their efforts [B] and go hunting for glory among men;
[1] it imagines demons shouting, [2] and women being healed, [3] and a crowd wanting to touch his clothes. [4] It prophesies his [ordination to the] priesthood, with people seeking him at his door; and even if resists being carried off [to be ordained] by force. (Thoughts 21, 28; Ant 7.3, 7.8, 7.26)
And having raised him up with these empty hopes, it suddenly leaps off, leaving and abandoning him to be tempted by the demon of pride or the demon of gloominess, bringing on [tempting-]thoughts the opposite of his earlier hopes
Sometimes it also hands him over to the demon of sexual immorality - the man who, shortly before, was being carried off to be made a holy priest by force.
14. THE demon of pride conducts the soul to the very worst fall. It urges it:
[1] not to acknowledge God’s help; [2] to think it is responsible for its own success; [3] and to be arrogant towards the brethren as unintelligent because they do not all share the same opinion concerning this.
This demon is followed by:
[1] anger and [2] gloominess and the ultimate evil, [3] complete insanity and madness, and visions of throngs of demons in the air.
§ 15. Resisting Logismoi
[TACTICS] for the EIGHT [TEMPTING-] THOUGHTS]
15. THE wandering nous is made stable by [1] reading, [2] vigils and [3] prayer.
Burning epithumia (desire) is quenched by [1] hunger, [2] toil, and [3] solitude.
Churning thumos (indignation) is calmed by [1] the singing of Psalms, by [2] patient endurance and [3] mercy.
But all these practices are to be engaged in at proper times and in proper measure. What is done untimely or without measure is temporary. And what is temporary is more harmful and not beneficial.
16. WHEN our soul longs for a variety of different foods, then its portion should be reduced to bread and water to make it thankful for a little morsel. It is satiety that desires variety in food; hunger considers it blessedness just to have satiety of bread.
17. A GREAT aid to chastity is deprivation of water: be persuaded by three hundred Israelites who defeated Midian in company with Gideon (Judges 7:5-7). [Sch. 1 on Ps 45.2; Monks 102]
18. JUST as life and death cannot coexist in the same subject at the same time; so also it is impossible for love (agape) to coexist with wealth. Love destroys not only wealth, but also this, our temporal life.
19. THE one who flees all worldly pleasures is a tower inaccessible to the demon of gloominess. For gloominess is the deprivation of pleasure that is either present or anticipated.
So it is impossible for us to drive away this enemy as long as we have any earthly attachment. He sets his trap and produces gloominess just where he sees our inclinations lead us. [cf. Prak.10 (sadness/lupe); Eight Thoughts 11, 12]
20. ANGER and hatred amplify indignation: merciful compassion and gentleness decrease it even when present.
21. THE sun should not set on our anger (Eph. 4:26): so that the demons do not, rising up by night, terrify the soul and make the nous more cowardly the day after for the fight. For terrifying phantasms are produced by the disturbance of indignation. And nothing makes a deserter out of the nous as much as disturbed indignation.
22. WHEN the irascible part of our soul (thumikon) seizes some excuse and is troubled, then the demons suggest to us how good it is to withdraw [into solitude] thus keeping us from resolving the cause of the gloominess and freeing ourselves from the disturbance.
But when our desiring part (eipithumetikon) is enkindled, then they make us sociable and call us hardened and uncivil, so that by desiring bodies we [then] come into contact with bodies. We should not obey them, but instead do the opposite.
23. DO not give yourself to the [tempting-] thought of anger by fighting mentally the distressing person; nor to that of fornication by spending most of the time in fantasies of pleasures. For the one darkens the soul, the other summons it to burn with passion. Both of these pollute your nous.
And [thus] at the time of prayer [you will] fantasize images: and not [being able] to offer pure prayer to God, you will immediately fall victim to the demon of acedia. This demon readily leaps upon such states and, like a dog with a young deer, tears the soul to pieces.
24. THE nature of indignation is to fight the demons and to struggle over any kind of pleasure. For this reason the angels suggest to us spiritual pleasures and the blessedness [coming] from them; they encourage us to direct our indignation towards the demons. The latter, however, draging us towards worldly desires, violently force our indignation against nature to fight human beings, so as to darken the nous, separating it from Knowledge, and [thus] making it a traitor to the virtues. (cf Gnost 24)
25. TAKE heed to yourself, that you never so provoke any of the brethren that he runs away, or you will never escape during your lifetime from the demon of despondency, which will always become an obstacle for you at the time of prayer
26. GIFTS quench memory of injury (mnēsikakia). Let Jacob convince you of this. He insinuated himself into Esau's graces with gifts, when he came against him with four hundred men (Gen. 32). But as we are poor, we should make up for our lack by hospitality at table.
27. WHEN we are oppressed by the demon of listlessness, then with tears let us divide our soul in two, |||| one part encouraging the other, sowing good hopes within us, soothing with David’s chant, ‘Why are you downcast, my soul, why do you trouble me? Hope in God, for I will confess him, the Savior of my countenance and my God’ (Ps. 41:6).
28. WE must not abandon our cell in time of temptation, making eloquent excuses: we should stay seated within and persevere and bravely receive all comers, especially the demon of acedia, the most oppressive of all, and thereby most highly proving the soul['s quality]. Fleeing from such conflicts and trying to shun this teaches the nous to be incompetent, fearful and fugitive.
29. OUR holy teacher, who was greatly experienced in asceticism (praktikotatos) said, ‘The monk must always be ready as though he were to die tomorrow, but he must as well treat his body as if he were going to live with it for many years. The first [approach] cuts off the thoughts of acedia and makes the monk more zealous, while the second maintains the body and keeps its self-control in balance.’
30. IT is difficult to escape the [tempting-]thought [logismos] of vainglory, since whatever you do to subjugate it becomes the occasion for renewed vainglory. Our proper thoughts (logismoi) are not all opposed by the demons; some of them are opposed by our own individual vices.
31. I HAVE observed the demon of vainglory chased away by almost all the other demons; but then when its pursuers failed, it shamelessly came forward, proclaiming to the monk how great [the monk’s] virtues are.
32. ONE who has reached knowledge and harvested the pleasure it brings will no longer be persuaded by the demon of vainglory setting before him all the pleasures of the world. For what could it hold out to him better than spiritual contemplation? But to the extent that we have not tasted the savor of knowledge, we should eagerly engage in asceticism [praktikē], demonstrating to God our goal: namely, that we do everything for the sake of knowledge of Him.
33. REMEMBER your former life and your old trespasses, and how while subject to passions you transitioned to apatheia by the mercy of Christ, and how you then left the world that had so frequently and in so many ways humiliated you. And reflect on this for me: who kept guard over you in the desert and drove away the demons who gnashed their teeth against you? Thoughts [logismoi] of this sort will instill humility and deny entry the demon of pride.
§ 34. PASSIONS
ON PASSIONS
34. IF we have memories full of passion of certain things, it is because we once welcomed these very things with passion. Whatever things we welcome with passion, these things we will later remember with passion. So anyone who has defeated the demons which activate such things makes light of the things they activate The immaterial battle is harder than the material battle.
35. THE The passions of the soul originate from human beings; those of the body [originate] from the body. And while the passions of the body are cut away by self-control, those of the soul [are cut back] by spiritual love.
36. THE demons that preside over the passions of the soul [i.e. anger] persist obstinately until death; (Letter 25.3) those that preside over the passions of the body withdraw more quickly. And other demons are like the sun that rises and sets, affecting only one part of the soul; but the noonday [demon] (i.e. acedia) generally envelops the whole soul and suffocates the nous.
For this reason the solitary life is sweet after we have emptied out the passions; then our memories are simple
and the monk’s struggle is thus not to prepare him to fight,, but rather to contemplate [the struggle] itself.
37. WE must consider whether it is concepts (ennoia) that move passions or passions [that] move concepts. Some [people] have held the first opinion, others the second.
38. BY means of sensations passions are naturally aroused: if both charity and self-control are present they will not be aroused; [but] if absent, they will be aroused. Indignation requires more remedies than desire, and because of this charity is called “great” (1 Cor. 13:13), because it bridles indignation; and therefore Holy Moses in his natural science symbolically names it “snake-fighter” (Lev. 11:22).
39. ON account of the strong stench in demons the soul is usually enflamed against [tempting-]thoughts [logismoi] when it perceives them approaching, being affected by the passion associated with the demon that is annoying it.
INSTRUCTIONS
40. IT is not possible at all times to carry out the customary rule, but it is necessary to be watchful of the opportune time [occasion] and [thus] to perform whatever commandments we can, as best we are able.
Regarding these opportune times and what concerns them the demons themselves are not ignorant. Thus in their movements against us they prevent our accomplishing what is possible and force us to undertake what is not possible:
they prevent the sick from giving thanks in their pain and from being patient in receiving their ministrations; again they exhort the weak to fast and those who are weighed down to sing psalms while standing.
41. WHEN we are compelled to spend time in cities or towns, we should especially maintain our self-control on occasions when we interact with secular persons, lest our our mind (nous) become coarse and be robbed of its accustomed diligence because of the present time [occasion] and so become a fugitive, thrown about by the demons.
42. DO not immediately pray when you are tempted; first speak some words with anger to the one pressuring you: for when your soul is acted upon by tempting-thoughts prayer cannot be pure. But if you speak to them with anger you will confuse and utterly destroy the ideas (noemata) that come from your enemies. This is also the natural result of anger in the case of good ideas.
43. IT is necessary to be aware of the differences between demons and to interpret their different occasions [opportunties]:
this we shall know from the [tempting-] thoughts,
and the [tempting-] thoughts from the objects [they depict;
thus knowing] which demons are less frequent and heavier, which are more frequent and lighter, and which leap suddenly and snatch the nous off to blasphemy.
These things it is necessary to know, so that when [tempting-] thoughts begin to move their own particular matter, and before we are driven too far from our proper state, we may speak out to them and indicate which one is present. For thus we shall with God’s help readily make progress, amazing them and forcing them to flee from us.
44. WHEN the demons are powerless in their struggle with the monks, they withdraw for a little and carefully note which of the virtues the [monks] are meanwhile neglecting; and then they suddenly rush in and tear the wretched soul to pieces.
45. THE evil demons bring along even more evil demons to assist them. Temperamentally they are opposed to each another, but they all agree in seeking solely the destruction of the soul.
46. WE should not be disturbed by the demon that seizes and carries off the nous towards blasphemy against God and towards unspeakable fantasies that I have not even attempted to record in writing; nor should such things hinder our eagerness. The Lord is knower of the heart and he knows that even when we were in the world we were not guilty of such insanity. The goal of this demon is to hinder our prayer prayer, so that we do not stand before the Lord our God or dare to raise our hands, on account of having these kinds of ideas.
47. THE sign of the passions within the soul is some word which we utter or some movement of the body; through these the enemies perceive whether we have their [tempting-]thoughts (logismoi) within us and are in labor [of childbirth] with them, or whether we have cast them away and are concerned with our salvation. For It is only the God who made us who knows our nous and does not require signs to know what is hidden within our heart.
48. WHILE the demons prefer to fight persons [who live] in the world by means of [external] matters, they attack monks primarily through [tempting-]thoughts (logismoi), for they are separated [from things] because of the desert. And since it is easier to sin mentally than by action, the mental war is more difficult than that which arises because of [external] matters. The nous is something that is easily moved and hard to restrain when confronted with lawless fantasies.
49. WE are not commanded to work the whole time or to keep vigil the whole time or to fast the whole time, but there is a law that we should pray ceaselessly (1 Thes. 5:17). The first three, which heal the part of the soul in which the passions are, need the body for their practice, and it is congenitally too weak for such labours; but prayer makes the mind strong and pure for the struggle, since the mind is naturally made for prayer and it is natural to it to fight demons even without the body, on behalf of all the powers of the soul. Cf. KG 2.9.
50. IF any monk wishes to experience of the savage demons and to become acquainted with their art, he should observe his [tempting-]thoughts and note [down]
their intensification and diminution, and their interconnectedness, and their timing, and which demons produce what, and which demon comes after another, and which does not follow after which;
and he should seek from Christ the inner meanings [logoi] of these things.
They dislike those who approach the ascetic life with greater knowledge, for they wish to shoot in darkness at the upright of heart (Ps 10:2).
51. THROUGH observation you will discover that two of the demons are the sharpest, so quick that they almost overtake the movement of your mind the demon of fornication and the one which drags us off to blaspheme God But the second does not last for long, while the first, provided it does not stir our thoughts (logismoi) with passion, will not impede our knowledge of God
52. TO separate body from soul belongs solely to the One who united them; but to separate soul from body belongs also to one who longs for virtue. Withdrawal [into solitude] has been called by our fathers meditation on death and flight from the body.
53. THOSE who wickedly cherish the flesh and take thought for it to satisfy desires (Rom 13 14) should blame themselves, not [the flesh]. For they know the grace of the creator - those who have attained apatheia of the soul by means of the body, and to some extent zealously strive for the contemplation of beings.
§ 54 DURING SLEEP
CONCERNING THINGS THAT HAPPEN DURING SLEEP
54. WHEN in the fantasies that arise during sleep the demons, attack the desiring part of the soul and show us such things as gatherings with friends, family banquets, dancing women and other similar pleasures, and we eagerly receive them, then we become sick in the [desiring] part [of our soul] and passion dominates.
And when they trouble our irascible part, forcing us on dangerously high paths and bringing forth armed men and poisonous or flesh-eating beasts, and we are terrified by these paths and we flee, pursued by the beasts and the men, then we must take [particular] care of our irascible part and call upon Christ in vigils and make use of the remedies already described.
55. IF during sleep there are no [mental] images [accompanying] the natural movements of the body, then this shows that the soul is to some extent healthy: [since] the formation of images is a sign of sickness. Consider on the one hand undefined images to be [the sign of] an old passion, while defined images are the sign of a fresh wound.
56. WE shall recognize the proofs of apatheia (dispassion):
[1] during the daytime by our [tempting-] thoughts; and
[2] at night by our dreams.
And apatheia is what we shall call the health of the soul, while its food is knowledge;
which is the only means by which we can normally be united with the holy powers, since our union with incorporeal [beings] naturally occurs because of the similarity of our disposition with theirs.
§ 57. NEAR APATHEIA
THE STATE APPROACHING APATHEIA
57. TWO in number are the soul’s peaceful states:
[A] the first arises from natural seeds; [B] while the other is engendered by the withdrawal of the demons
[A] From the first there follow:
[1] humility, with [2] compunction, and [3] tears, and [4] limitless longing (pothos) for God, and [5] immeasurable eagerness for [our assigned] task.
[B] From the second [arise]
[1] vainglory with [2] pride,
which capture the monk when the other demons go away.
One who perceives the beginnings of the first [peaceful] state will be even more sharply aware of the attacks of the demons.
§58UseVainglorytodriveoutnailwithnail
58. THE demon of vainglory opposes the demon of sexual impurity; and it is impossible for them both to attack the soul at the same time; for the former promises honor while the latter produces disgrace So [1] whichever of them comes and oppresses you, form within yourself the [tempting-]thoughts of the opposing demon. If you are able, as they say, to use a nail to drive out a nail, you can know that you are near to the borders of apatheia, because your nous is strong enough to employ human thoughts to obliterate demonic thoughts.
But [2] to employ humility to drive away the [tempting-]thought of vainglory, or chastity [to drive away] the [tempting-]thought of sexual immorality with would be a sign of the most profound apatheia.
Attempt to practice this with all the demons that are opposed to each other, and you will, at the same time, come to know which passion affects you the most.
But with all your power beseech God for the ability to fight off your enemies in this second way.
59. THE more progress the soul makes, the more [powerful] the antagonists who take their [predecessors'] place. I am not convinced it is always the same demons against whom we remain steadfast. This is best known by those who pay the most careful attention to temptations and who see the apatheia they have achieved being chipped away by successive demons.
60. THE perfection of apatheia arises in the soul after the defeat of all the demons opposing the praktikē. Imperfect apatheia corresponds to the power of the particular demon that is still attacking us.
61. THE nous cannot make progress or depart on the grand journey, entering the place of the incorporeals until it rightly orders its inner [life]. For Its own domestic troubles routinely forceit back to the place from which it had set out.
62. THE nous is blinded by both virtues and vices: the former keep it from seeing the vices; the latter keep it from glimpsing the virtues.
§ 63 SIGNS of APATHEIA
CONCERNING THE SIGNS of APATHEIA
63. WHEN the nous begins perform its prayers without distractions, then there commences an all-out battle day and night against the irascible part.
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64. THE proof of apatheia is that the nous begins to behold its [own] proper gentle radiance; that it remains tranquil in the presence of visions during sleep; and that it looks at matters calmly.
65. THE nous is healthy [and vigorous] when it does not imagine anything of this world at the time of prayer.
66. THE nous that with God’s assistance has successfully completed [the work of] asceticism and drawn close to knowledge is hardly aware at all of the irrational part of the soul, because knowledge has snatched it up on high and separated it from perceptible things.
67. THE soul possesses apatheia not when it is unmoved by matters, but when it abides undisturbed even by the memory of them.
68. ONE who is perfect does not practice self-control, and one who has attained apatheia does not practice patient endurance, since patient endurance pertains to one who suffers, and self-control to one who is disturbed.
69. A GREAT thing - to pray without distraction; a greater thing still - to sing psalms without distraction.
70. A MAN who has established the virtues in himself and is entirely permeated with them no longer remembers the law or the commandments or punishment. Rather, he says and does what [this] excellent condition suggests.
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PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS
71. THE demonic songs move our desire and throw the soul into shameful fantasies. But ‘psalms and hymns and spiritual songs’ (Eph 5:19) summon the intellect to continuous memory of virtue by cooling our boiling indignation (thumos) and by quenching our desires.
72. JUST as wrestlers are accustomed to afflicting and being afflicted, so the demons wrestle with us and when they afflict us, they are afflicted by us in return. As it is said, ‘I will crush afflict and they will bne unable to rise’ (Ps 17 39) and ‘My enemies and those who afflicted me were weakened and fell down.’ (Ps 26 2)
73. REST is yoked to wisdom, wearisome labor to prudence. For just as wisdom cannot be attained without warfare the war cannot be conducted properly without prudence. To it is given [the task of] withstanding the irascibility of the demons, compelling the powers of the soul to function according to nature nature and preparing the way of wisdom.
74. THE temptation of the monk is a [tempting-]thought rising rises up through the passionate part of the soul and darkening the nous.
75. THE sin of the monk is giving consent to the forbidden pleasure of a [tempting-]thought.
76. THE angels rejoice when vice decreases, while the demons are glad when virtue [decreases]. For the former are servants of mercy and love, while the latter are subjects of anger and hatred. When the former approach they fill us with spiritual contemplation, while the latter cast the soul into shameful fantasies.
77. THE virtues do not cut back the attack of demons, but they preserve us from harm.
78. ASCETICAL practice is a spiritual method purifying the passionate part of the soul.
79. THE effects of [keeping] the commandments are not sufficient to perfectly heal the powers of the soul, unless their [corresponding] contemplations succeed one other in the nous. Cf KG 2.9; 2.15
80. IT is not possible to withstand all the thoughts (logismoi) suggested to us by the angels, but it is possible to overturn all the thoughts suggested by demons. After the first thoughts follows a state of peace; after the latter, turmoil.
81. LOVE is the offspring of apatheia; apatheia is the flower of the ascetical life (praktike). The ascetical life is brought intobeing by keeping the commandments, and their guard is the fear of God, begotten by right faith. Faith is an inherent good that exists naturally even in those who have not yet believed in God.
82. JUST as the soul senses our sick members as it tries to operate by means of the body; so too the nous,
activating its own [proper] activity [energeia],
recognizes its own powers
and through that which interferes with it.
discovers the commandment that is able to heal it[s own activity]
83. THE impassioned nous waging warfare is unable to contemplate the logoi of the war; it is like someone who fights at night. But when it has acquired apatheia it will easily recognize the stratagems of the enemies.
84. THE object of the ascetical life is love; of knowledge - theology. The beginnings of each are [respectively,] faith and natural contemplation. The demons that seize the passionate part of the soul are said to oppose the ascetical life, while those that disturb the reasoning [part] are called enemies of all truth and foes of contemplation.
85. NONE of the things that purify the bodies remain with them once they are pure; but the virtues both purify the soul and remain with it when it is purified.
86. THE reasoning soul acts according to nature (kata phusin) when:
its desiring part (epithumētikon) longs for virtue, while
its irascible part (thumikon) fights for virtue, and
its reasoning part (logistikon) applies itself to the contemplation of beings.
87. A PERSON making progress in [ascetical] practice reduces the passions, while one making progress in contemplation reduces ignorance. And although there will eventually be a complete destruction of the passions, some say that ignorance [too] will end; while others say it will not. [On “infinite ignorance” Cf. KG 3.88 and note]
88. THINGS that are good or bad depending on how they are used produce both the virtues and the vices; it pertains to prudence to use them in one way or the other.
89. OF three parts does the rational soul consist, according to our wise teacher:
[1] When it in the RATIONAL part that virtue comes into being it is called [1a] prudence and [1b] understanding and [1c] wisdom;
[2] in the CONCUPISCIBLE part, [2a] temperance and [2b] charity and [2c] self-control;
[3] in the IRASCIBLE part, [3a] courage and [3b] patience.
[4] But in the WHOLE of the SOUL [it] is justice.
[1A] Now the task of PRUDENCE is
[1A.1] to plan the attack against the opposing powers and [1A.2] to defend the virtues, [1A.3] to stand prepared against the vices, [1A.4] and to administer neutral matters according to the [requirements of the] times. (Gnost. 12)
[1B] [The task] of UNDERSTANDING: to direct harmoniously all things which help us toward our goal.
[1C] [The task] of WISDOM: contemplation of the logoi of corporeal and incorporeal beings.
[2A] The work of TEMPERANCE: to look serenely upon those affairs which provoke within us irrational phantasies.
[2B] of CHARITY: all the images of God, showing one another to be as nearly like the prototype as possible no matter how the demons ply their arts to defile them.
[2c] Of CONTINENCE: every pleasure of the palate with joy to decline.
[3A] Not to fear the enemies and
[3B] eagerly to endure afflictions belongs to COURAGE and PATIENCE.
[4] JUSTICE effects a certain symphony and harmony among the [different] parts of the soul.
[See also Schol 1 on Ps 30.2, where justice contains the other virtues, and the three chief virtues are [1] temperance [2] courage and [3] charity: i.e of [1] epith., [2] thum, [3] logist.
90. WHILE the fruit of sowing is sheaves, that of virtues is knowledge And just as tears accompany the sowing, so joy accompanies the sheaves (Ps 125:6)
§ 91 APOPHTHEGMATA
SAYINGS of HOLY MONKS
91. IT is also necessary to inquire diligently concerning the paths of the monks who have travelled uprightly before us, and correct with reference to them. For there is much for us to discover of what they said and did so well. For example, one of them said that a somewhat dry and regular diet, joined to love brings a monk more quickly into the haven of apatheia.
The same [monk] delivered one of the brethren who was being troubled by fantasies at night by recommending that he serve the sick while fasting. He said when asked that nothing quenches such passions as well as mercy.
92. UNTO the just Anthony came one of the wise men of that time, saying, ‘How can you endure, O father, without the comfort of books?’ He replied, ‘My book, philosopher, is the nature of beings, and it is there whenever I wish to read the words (logoi) of God’.
93. THE vessel of election, Macarius the Egyptian elder, asked me, ‘Why is it that when we remember past injuries from men we destroy the soul’s power of memory, but it remains unharmed by memory of past injuries from demons?’ And when I had no answer and asked him to explain it to me he said, ‘It is because the former is contrary to nature (para phusin), while the second is in accordance with the nature (kata phusin) of the irascible [part] (thumos)’.
94. ON one occasion I visited the holy father Macarius at the full heat of midday, and I asked for some water to drink as I was burning with thirst, and he said, ‘Let the shade suffice, for there are many people at this very moment traveling or sailing who are deprived even of this.’ Then, when I repeated to him some sayings concerning self-control, he said, ‘Take courage, o child: for twenty years I have never taken as much as I wanted wanted of bread, water or sleep. I ate my bread by weight, drank water by measure, and snatched a little bit of sleep reclining against a wall’.
95. ONE of the monks was informed of the death of his father, but he said to the one who informed him, ‘Stop blaspheming my father is immortal’.
96. ONE of the brothers asked one of the elders whether he would have him eat with his mother and his sisters when he went home for a visit: he said, ‘Do not eat with a woman’.
97. ONE of the brothers possessed solely a book of the gospels, and he sold it to feed the hungry, saying something worthy of memory: ‘I have sold the word that told me, “Sell what you have and give to the poor “(Mt. 19:21)
98. NEAR Alexandria there is an island in the northern part of the lake that is called Maria, and a monk who lives there is one of the most excellent of the company of the knowers. He proclaimed that everything done by the monks is done for one of five reasons:
God; nature; habit; necessity; or manual work.
He said as well that virtue is by nature one, but that it takes various forms in the powers of the soul;
for it is like the light of the sun that lacks form, but is naturally given form by the windows through which it passes.
99. YET another monk said, ‘I strip away pleasures in order to eliminate excuses for anger. I know that [anger] always fights for pleasures and disturbs my nous and chases knowledge away.’ One of the elders said that love does not know how to store up food or money. And the same [monk] said, ‘I do not know that I have ever been deceived twice by the demons on the same matter.’
100. TO love all the brothers equally is not possible, but it is possible to meet them all with apatheia [by] being free from memory of evil and [from] hatred: priests are next after the Lord, because by means of the sacred mysteries they purify and pray for us; we are to revere the elders as the angels, for it is they who anoint us for our struggle and heal us when we are bitten by [wild] beasts. On the mystical significance of priestly ministry and the Eucharist: KG 2.44; Monks 118-120; Letter on Faith 4/[14]; Sch.15 on Ps 67.24
101Epilogue
EPILOGUE
SO now this, my dear Anatolius, is what I have said about ascetical practice, what I have discovered by the grace of the holy Spirit, gleaning from my crop of ripening grapes: but if the sun of righteousness (Mal 3:20) shines forth upon us in his height, and the grape is fully ripened, then we shall drink his wine, which gladdens the heart of man (Ps 103 13), thanks to the prayers and intercession of the righteous Gregory who planted me, and those of the holy fathers who now water me, and by the power of Christ Jesus our Lord who causes me to grow (cf. 1Cor 3 6-7), to whom be glory and power unto the Ages of Ages, Amen.