tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7771751054053544992024-03-13T15:00:40.842+02:00St Diadochos of Photiki, Gnostic ChaptersTranslated from the Greek by Fr Theophanes (Constantine)Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777175105405354499.post-5435570268175505772011-12-24T23:59:00.000+02:002012-07-31T09:56:07.756+03:00Introductory<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Text:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">1. Diadoque
de Photicé, <i>Œuvres Spirituelles</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Édouard des Places, s.j.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Source chrétiennes 5 <i>bis</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Les Éditions
du Cerf, Paris, France, 1955.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">2. <i>One Hundred Practical
Texts of Perception and Spiritual Discernment From Diadochos of Photiki</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Text, Translation and Commentary: Janet Elaine
Rutherford</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Belfast Byzantine Texts and Translations, 8</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Belfast Byzantine Enterprises, Institute of Byzantine Studies, The Queen’s University of Belfast</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Belfast 2000.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Translator’s Note: The anonymous blogger
‘Orthodox Monk’ passed on to us his unfinished translation of the <i>Gnostic
Chapters</i> along with all the rights to it.
He had previously published his translation and commentary on his
blog. We have thoroughly reviewed the
translation against the two texts cited above.
The difference between the two texts is that in determining his critical
edition des Places was unaware of a manuscript at Lavra on Mt Athos which appears
to be the most archaic manuscript extant.
Rutherford reviewed des Places’ critical text in
the light of that manuscript, called by her R, and made several changes to </span><span style="font-size: large;">des Places’</span><span style="font-size: large;">
text. </span><span style="font-size: large;">It should be understood that Rutherford</span><span style="font-size: large;">’s text is not simply </span><span style="font-size: large;">des Places’ text emended for the readings of </span><span style="font-size: large;">Manuscript </span><span style="font-size: large;">R but reflects </span><span style="font-size: large;">Rutherford</span><span style="font-size: large;">’s judgements on a number of issues. </span><span style="font-size: large;">Orthodox Monk had done his
translation only against des Places’ text and had only begun to review his
translation against Rutherford’s text when he passed it on to us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In thoroughly reviewing the translation
against </span><span style="font-size: large;">des Places’ text and </span><span style="font-size: large;">Rutherford</span><span style="font-size: large;">’s text</span><span style="font-size: large;"> we came to the conclusion that des Places’ text is in
general the more satisfactory of the two, although the differences are
relatively few and minor. </span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Apart from the issue of Rutherford's other changes, Manuscript
R offers a reading which significantly improves the text in only one or two
places. Most if not all of the
differences are noted in the footnotes.</span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The complete translated text has been posted here but it will be
necessary to scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on ‘older posts’ to find the
rest of the work.</span></div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777175105405354499.post-34303346183692916302011-12-24T23:58:00.007+02:002011-12-27T03:49:31.088+02:00Manuscript Introduction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><img src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/video_object.png" style="background-color: #b2b2b2; " class="BLOGGER-object-element tr_noresize tr_placeholder" id="ieooui" data-original-id="ieooui" /> <style>
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</style> <![endif]--> <div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">Diadochos, Bishop of Photiki in Old Epirus of Illyrikon</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-GB">100 Ascetical Chapters of Gnosis and Discernment</span></b></span></div><div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">Definition 1: Faith.<span> </span>Dispassionate<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=777175105405354499&postID=3430334618369291630#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[1]</span></span></span></span></a> thought<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=777175105405354499&postID=3430334618369291630#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[2]</span></span></span></span></a> of God.</span></span></div><div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">Definition 2: Hope.<span> </span>Departure of the mind in love towards the things hoped for.</span></span></div><div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">Definition 3: Patience.<span> </span>To persevere unceasingly, seeing with the eyes of the intellect the invisible as visible.</span></span></div><div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">Definition 4: Freedom from avarice.<span> </span>To want not to have just as someone wants to have.</span></span></div><div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">Definition 5: Knowledge<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=777175105405354499&postID=3430334618369291630#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[3]</span></span></span></span></a> of divine things.<span> </span>To forget one’s self in being outside of oneself in God.</span></span></div><div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">Definition 6: Humility.<span> </span>Forgetfulness of things accomplished with care.</span></span></div><div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">Definition 7: Lack of Anger.<span> </span>Great desire not to get angry.</span></span></div><div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">Definition 8: Purity.<span> </span>The [spiritual] sense ever having adhered to God.</span></span></div><div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">Definition 9: Love<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=777175105405354499&postID=3430334618369291630#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[4]</span></span></span></span></a>.<span> </span>Increase of friendship towards those who are insulting [us].</span></span></div><div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; line-height: 200%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">Definition 10: Perfect transformation.<span> </span>In delight in God, to consider the gloominess of death as joy.</span></span></div><div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">Words of judgement and spiritual discernment of Diadochos, Bishop of Photiki in </span><span lang="EN-GB">Epirus</span><span lang="EN-GB">.<span> </span>Through what quality of gnosis we must arrive at the previously declared perfection, the Lord guiding us, so that each of us who are in accord with the sense of the liberating parable bring to fruition the seed of the word.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br clear="all" /> </div><hr size="1" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;" width="33%" /> <div id="ftn1" style="text-align: justify;"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=777175105405354499&postID=3430334618369291630#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB"><span><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[1]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>apathes</i>.</span></span></div></div><div id="ftn2" style="text-align: justify;"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=777175105405354499&postID=3430334618369291630#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB"><span><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[2]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>ennoia.</i><span> </span>This word means ‘thought, idea or concept’ (Lampe).<span> </span>We have preferred to translate it consistently as ‘thought’ because of the other occasions of its use in the text, but clearly the sense here is of ‘conception’ or ‘idea’ of God.<span> </span></span></span></div></div><div id="ftn3" style="text-align: justify;"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=777175105405354499&postID=3430334618369291630#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB"><span><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[3]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>epignosis.</i><span> </span>The sense is of a deep mystical knowledge of divine things.</span></span></div></div><div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;"> <div class="MsoFootnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=777175105405354499&postID=3430334618369291630#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB"><span><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[4]</span></span></span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>agape.</i></span></span></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777175105405354499.post-79468719687374281622011-12-24T23:57:00.000+02:002011-12-24T18:00:17.712+02:00Chapters 1 - 10<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">1</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Brothers,
let faith, hope and love guide every spiritual contemplation, above all
love. The first two teach us to despise
those goods which are seen; love, however, joins the soul to the very virtues
of God, tracking out with a spiritual sense<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[1]</span></span></span></a>
that which is invisible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">2</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Only God is
by nature good<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[2]</span></span></span></a>. By the care a man bestows on his ways he also
becomes good<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[3]</span></span></span></a>
through him who is in reality good<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[4]</span></span></span></a>,
the man changed into the very thing he is not.
This happens when through the care bestowed on the good<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[5]</span></span></span></a>
the soul becomes as much in God as the power of the soul, set into motion,
wishes. For it says: ‘Become good<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[6]</span></span></span></a>
and merciful as your Father who is in the Heavens.’</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">3</span></span></div>
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<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Neither
does evil exist in nature nor is anyone evil by nature. For God did not make an evil thing. But when in the desire of the heart one
brings into appearance<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[7]</span></span></span></a>
that which does not exist in essence, then there begins to exist the very thing
that the person making it might wish.
One must therefore ever neglect the habit of evil by means of the care
bestowed on the memory of God. For the
nature of the good<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[8]</span></span></span></a>
is stronger than the habit of evil—since the former exists while the latter
does not exist except in being practised.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">4</span></span></div>
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<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We are all
of us men in the image of God; however, to be in the likeness<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[9]</span></span></span></a>
of God is only of those who through much love have enslaved their personal
freedom to God. When we are not of
ourselves then we are like him who reconciled us to himself through love, which
very thing one will not attain unless he has prevailed upon his soul not to be
shaken by the easy glory of this life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">5</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Freedom of
choice is the will of a rational soul readily set into motion towards that very
thing it [the soul] might wish. Let us
persuade the soul to be by habit readily disposed<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[10]</span></span></span></a>
only towards the good<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn11" name="_ftnref11" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[11]</span></span></span></a>
so that we ever consume the memory of evil in good thoughts.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn12" name="_ftnref12" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[12]</span></span></span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">6</span></span></div>
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<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The light
of true gnosis<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn13" name="_ftnref13" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[13]</span></span></span></a>
is to discern good from evil faultlessly.
For then the road of justice, leading the mind<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn14" name="_ftnref14" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[14]</span></span></span></a>
towards the Sun of Justice, introduces the mind into the infinite illumination
of gnosis, the mind thenceforth seeking love with boldness. We must therefore seize with wrathless anger
that which is just<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn15" name="_ftnref15" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[15]</span></span></span></a>
from those who dare to insult it; for piety’s zeal, not hating but rebuking,
shows the victory.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">7</span></span></div>
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<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Spiritual
discourse gives inner assurance to the spiritual<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn16" name="_ftnref16" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[16]</span></span></span></a>
sense for it is brought forth from God by an activity of love, for which very
reason also our mind sojourns untormented in the movements of theology<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn17" name="_ftnref17" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[17]</span></span></span></a>. For the mind does not then suffer poverty,
which brings care, because the mind is broadened in contemplations as much as
the activity of love wishes. Therefore
it is good ever to await in faith set into motion by means of love the
illumination of what to say; for there is nothing poorer than an intellect<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn18" name="_ftnref18" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[18]</span></span></span></a>
outside of God philosophizing the things of God.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">8</span></span></div>
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<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">One must
neither throw oneself unilluminated into spiritual speculations<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn19" name="_ftnref19" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[19]</span></span></span></a>
nor come to speak when shone upon richly by the goodness of the Holy
Spirit. For wherever poverty is, it
brings ignorance; but wherever wealth is, it does not permit speech. In the latter case, the soul drunk with the
love of God wishes utterly to delight in the glory of the Lord with silent
voice. Guarding therefore the mean of
this activity [of the Holy Spirit]<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn20" name="_ftnref20" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[20]</span></span></span></a>
one must come to words speaking of God, for this measure grants a certain sort
of glorious words. But the extravagance
of enlightenment nourishes the faith of him who speaks in faith, so that he who
teaches first tastes the fruits of gnosis by means of love. For it says: ‘The farmer who toils should
first partake of the fruit.’</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">9</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Wisdom and
gnosis are charisms of the one Holy Spirit just as all the divine charisms are;
however, each has its proper activity<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn21" name="_ftnref21" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[21]</span></span></span></a>
just as each of the others has. For the
Apostle bears witness that to one is given wisdom and to another gnosis
according to the same Spirit. For gnosis
joins a man to God by experience, not moving the soul to words about the things
experienced. Therefore some of those who
lead the life of monastic asceticism are illuminated by gnosis in conscious
perception but do not come to divine words.
If indeed wisdom is given in fear<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn22" name="_ftnref22" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[22]</span></span></span></a>
to someone with gnosis (this is rare), it manifests the very activities of
gnosis, since gnosis is accustomed to illuminate in activity but wisdom in
word. But prayer<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn23" name="_ftnref23" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[23]</span></span></span></a>
and much stillness in complete freedom from care bring gnosis, whereas
meditation free of vainglory on the sayings of God—and above all the Grace of
God who gives—bring wisdom.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">10</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">When the irascible part of the soul is stirred
against the passions, it must be known that it is time for silence, for it is
the hour of battle. When one sees that
confusion coming to serenity either through prayer or through acts of mercy<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn24" name="_ftnref24" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[24]</span></span></span></a>
let him be stirred in ardent love<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn25" name="_ftnref25" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[25]</span></span></span></a>
of the divine sayings, securing the wings of the mind with the bond of
humility. For if one does not humble
oneself greatly<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn26" name="_ftnref26" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[26]</span></span></span></a>
one cannot discourse concerning the grandeur of God.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br clear="all" /></span><span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<hr size="1" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[1]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>aisthesei noera.</i> This could be translated ‘mental sense’. The ‘spiritual sense’ or ‘mental sense’ is a
faculty of the mind or <i>nous </i>by means
of which one perceives spiritual things.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[2]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>agathos. </i>In this chapter the author alternates
between <i>‘agathos’</i> and <i>‘kalos’.</i>
<i>Agathos</i> is often used of God
as the highest good, or even philosophically.
It often conveys a nuance of ‘morally good’. <i>Kalos</i>
corresponds to the English ‘good’ in all its range of meaning.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[3]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>agathos.</i> </span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[4]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>agathos.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn5">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[5]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek:<i> kalon.</i> </span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn6">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[6]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>agathos.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn7">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[7]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>eidos.</i> This is an indication, if one is needed, of
Diadochos’ erudition. He is contrasting <i>ousia, </i>‘essence’,<i> </i>with <i>eidos, ‘</i>form,
appearance’. <i>Eidos</i> applies to the multiplicity of actual objects that exist in
the world. Hence, what Diadochos is
saying is that the object that the technician wishes to make does not exist in
essence, but the technician conceives it in his heart and then brings it into
being through his art as <i>eidos,</i> as
one of the manifold objects existing in the world. Similarly evil has no essential existence,
since all that God made is good. Evil
exists only as the consequence of the exercise of free will; that is the
significance of ‘habit (Greek: <i>exis</i>)’
and ‘practised’. Habit is a pattern of
acts of the free will; ‘practised’ means ‘done intentionally by the will’.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn8">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[8]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>kalos.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn9">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[9]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>omoiosin.</i> </span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn10">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[10]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘To be by habit … disposed’: <i>echein</i>. We are using this phrase to convey the deeper
sense of <i>echein</i> as a habitual mental
disposition.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn11">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref11" name="_ftn11" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[11]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>kalos.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn12">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref12" name="_ftn12" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[12]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> It is not entirely clear syntactically whether the author intends
the reading we give, or intends ‘it [the soul]’ to read ‘it [the will]’ and ‘
persuade the soul’ to read ‘persuade the will’.
Our reading seems sounder psychologically.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn13">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref13" name="_ftn13" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[13]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The Greek word <i>gnosis</i>
means knowledge. In this work there is a
clear distinction between intuitive knowledge and knowledge arrived at through
reasoning or books. In this and similar
passages, by ‘gnosis’ the author is referring to intuitive spiritual knowledge
conveyed by spiritual illumination.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn14">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref14" name="_ftn14" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[14]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>nous.</i> This is the created spirit of man, his
innermost being.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn15">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref15" name="_ftn15" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[15]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. it is necessary to be zealous for what is true and just.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn16">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref16" name="_ftn16" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[16]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>noeran.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn17">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref17" name="_ftn17" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[17]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>theologia.</i> In this epoch (mid-5<sup>th</sup> Century), <i>theologia</i> is used to refer not to
academic theology but to words spoken about God based on experience of
God. It is also used in the Evagrian
school of mysticism for mystical union with God.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn18">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref18" name="_ftn18" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[18]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>dianoia.</i> This is the conscious aspect of the human
mind, including its ability to reason.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn19">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref19" name="_ftn19" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[19]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The Greek word literally means ‘contemplations’, but in the sense
of words spoken in academic theology, not in the sense of visions of God.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn20">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref20" name="_ftn20" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[20]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. neither in ignorance of God nor when full of divine
illumination. In classical Greek
philosophy virtue is a mean between two extremes.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn21">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref21" name="_ftn21" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[21]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>energeia.</i> Similarly for the plural. This word <i>energeia</i> here refers to the
activity or grace of the Holy Spirit (implicitly uncreated for the author’s
thought to make any sense) that manifests itself in a particular charism. Below, the author will refer to the
illumination in activity provided by gnosis.
This is the illumination given by the grace of the Holy Spirit to him to
whom the charism of gnosis is granted.
The author’s point is that even though illuminated by the Holy Spirit,
the ascetic who has the charism of gnosis without the charism of wisdom will
not speak of his experience; if, however, both charisms are given to the
ascetic then the ascetic will speak (and perhaps write) to explain the
movements of gnosis.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn22">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref22" name="_ftn22" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[22]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘In fear’. The phrase seems
to mean that in cases where an ascetic has gnosis, he should receive the
charism of wisdom in ‘fear and trembling’.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn23">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref23" name="_ftn23" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[23]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>euche</i>. It will be clear that St Diadochos means the
Prayer of Jesus, which he will proceed to discuss.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn24">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref24" name="_ftn24" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[24]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘Acts of mercy’. Greek: <i>eleemosyne.</i> This word means both ‘mercy’ and
‘alms-giving’. In context ‘mercy’ would
seem to be better since the treatise is directed to monks who are counselled to
give everything away in the beginning so as to attain to a complete
poverty. Moreover, in <i>Logos Praktikos
</i>91 Evagrius states: ‘…</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="color: black;">The same one freed of apparitions one of the brothers who was
disturbed at night, ordering him to minister to the sick with fasting. Having
been asked, he said: ‘For by nothing thus as by [acts of] mercy are such
passions extinguished.’</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn25">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref25" name="_ftn25" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[25]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>eros.</i> <i>Eros</i>
is marital love.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn26">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref26" name="_ftn26" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[26]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Following the reading of des Places. The difference with </span><span lang="EN-GB">Rutherford</span><span lang="EN-GB"> is stylistic.</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777175105405354499.post-24508765080754722412011-12-24T23:55:00.000+02:002011-12-24T18:03:19.958+02:00Chapters 11 - 20<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div>
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">11</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Spiritual
discourse ever preserves the soul free from vainglory; for benefiting all the
parts of the soul in a [spiritual] perception<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[1]</span></span></span></a>
of light it makes the soul not to have need of the honour which comes from
men. And for that very reason spiritual
discourse ever preserves the intellect free from fantasy, as transforming it
wholly into the love of God. The
discourse of the wisdom of the world, however, ever provokes a man to ambition. Because this discourse is not able to benefit
through experience of the [spiritual] sense<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[2]</span></span></span></a>,
it grants to its familiars the love of praises, as being the counterfeit of
vainglorious men. Therefore, we will
know without deception the disposition of divine discourse if in a silence
without care we consume the hours of not speaking in the warm remembrance of
God.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">12</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">He who
loves himself is not able to love God.
He who does not love himself on account of the surpassing wealth of the
love of God, this one loves God.
Wherefore such a person does not ever seek his own glory but the glory
of God, for he who loves himself seeks his own glory. He who loves God loves the glory of him who
made him. The characteristic<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[3]</span></span></span></a>
of the soul which has the spiritual sense<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[4]</span></span></span></a>
and which loves God is ever to seek the glory of God in all the commandments
that it fulfils but to delight in its own humility, because glory for the sake
of grandeur is proper to God whereas humility is proper to man, so that through
it we become intimate with God. If we do
this very thing, then rejoicing unceasingly in the glory of the Lord we too
will begin to say according to St John the Baptist: ‘He must be raised up but
we must be decreased.’<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[5]</span></span></span></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">13</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I know
someone who loves God so much, and who still mourns that he does not love as he
wishes, that unceasingly his soul is in a certain sort of warm desire that God
be glorified in him and his own self be as not existing. This man does not know just what he is, not
even in the midst of the very praises borne by words. In a great desire for humility he does not
conceive his own rank; but on the one hand he serves<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[6]</span></span></span></a>
God according to the law for priests and on the other hand in a certain great
disposition of love for God he steals the memory of his rank, in a spirit of
humility concealing the boast that comes from this rank somewhere in the depth
of the love of God so that in his intellect he always appear to himself some
unworthy servant, as being estranged from his own rank in the desire for
humility. And doing this very same thing
we must avoid every honour and glory for the sake of the excess of wealth of
the love of the Lord who loves us thus.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">14</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">He who
loves God in [spiritual] perception of heart<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[7]</span></span></span></a>
has been known by him. For as much as
someone accepts the love of God in [spiritual] perception of heart, that much
he comes to be in the love of God.
Therefore, henceforth such a person will not cease reaching out for the
illumination of gnosis in a certain intense Eros<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[8]</span></span></span></a><span class="FootnoteCharacters"> </span>until he might perceive the very [spiritual]
sense of his bones,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[9]</span></span></span></a>
no longer knowing himself but wholly transformed by the love of God.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[10]</span></span></span></a> Such a person is both present in this life
and not present; still sojourning in his body, in the movement of the soul he
departs unceasingly towards God by means of love. For he has henceforth adhered to God
unwaveringly, burning the heart by means of the fire of love in a certain
necessity of desire, once and for all having stood outside of friendship for
himself in the love of God. For it says:
‘Whether we are beside ourselves, for God; whether we are of sound mind, for
you.’</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">15</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">When a
person begins to perceive [spiritually] the love of God richly then he also
begins to love his neighbour in [spiritual] perception of spirit.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn11" name="_ftnref11" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[11]</span></span></span></a> This is the love concerning which all the
Scriptures speak. For friendship according
to the flesh is dissolved extremely easily some slight cause having been found;
it has not been bound by [spiritual] perception of spirit. For this reason, therefore, even if it should
happen that some exasperation should occur to a soul set into activity by God,
the bond of love is not loosed by the soul.
For again setting fire to itself by the warmth of the love of God, it is
quickly recalled to the good and seeks the love of the neighbour with great joy
even if it has been greatly insulted or damaged by him.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn12" name="_ftnref12" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[12]</span></span></span></a> For in the sweetness of God it completely
consumes the bitterness of the quarrel.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">16</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">No one is
able to love God in [spiritual] perception of heart not having first feared him
in all his heart;<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn13" name="_ftnref13" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[13]</span></span></span></a>
for being purified and as it were softened through the activity of fear, the
soul comes to a love that is set into activity.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn14" name="_ftnref14" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[14]</span></span></span></a> A person would not come wholly to the fear of
God in the way spoken of unless he came to be outside all the cares of this
life. For when the mind comes to be in
much stillness and freedom from care, then does the fear of God trouble it,
purifying it from every earthly grossness in much [spiritual] perception, so
that this fear thus leads the mind to much love of the goodness of God. So the fear of those who are yet being purified
is with a middle degree of love; but perfect love is of those who have been
completely purified, in whom there is no fear.
For it says: ‘Perfect love casts out fear.’ Both degrees are of the righteous only, those
who assiduously work the virtues by the activity of the Holy Spirit. And for this reason, in one place Divine
Scripture says, ‘Fear you the Lord, all his saints;’ but in another place,
‘Love you the Lord, all his holy ones.’
This is so that we learn clearly that the fear of the righteous who are
still being purified is with a middle degree of love, as was said, whereas
perfect love is of those who have been purified, those in whom there is no
longer a thought of any kind of fear, but ceaseless burning and adherence of
the soul to God through the activity of the Holy Spirit, according to him who
says: ‘My soul has adhered behind you; your right hand has helped me.’</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">17</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Just as the
wounds occurring to the body, when they are as it were unirrigated land<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn15" name="_ftnref15" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[15]</span></span></span></a>
or even neglected, do not perceive<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn16" name="_ftnref16" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[16]</span></span></span></a>
the medicine brought forth to them by the physician but, having been cleansed,
they then perceive the activity of the medicine and come to rapid healing on
account of it, thus also as long as it is neglected and wholly covered with the
leprosy of the love of pleasure the soul is not able to perceive [spiritually]
the fear of God even if someone should unceasingly announce to it the frightful
and powerful court of judgement of God.
But when the soul begins to be cleansed through great attention, then it
[spiritually] perceives the divine fear as being a certain medicine of life
burning it, as it were, by the activity of reproaches in the fire of dispassion<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn17" name="_ftnref17" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[17]</span></span></span></a>. Whence, henceforth being purified part by
part, the soul arrives at the perfection of purification, having been so much
increased in love as it is decreased in fear, so that it should finally arrive
at perfect love, in which there is no fear, as has been said, but all
dispassion set into activity by the glory of God. Therefore first let the fear of God be for us
as the boast of ceaseless boasts; then, however, love, the fullness of the law
of perfection in Christ.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">18</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The soul
which has not been freed from worldly cares will neither love God genuinely nor
loathe the Devil duly, for it has once and for all an oppressive veil, the care
of worldly affairs. Whence, among these
sorts of people the mind is unable to know the tribunal of itself so that
before itself it might without deception try the votes of the judgement.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn18" name="_ftnref18" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[18]</span></span></span></a> Therefore solitude is always useful.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">19</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The
characteristic of a pure soul: abundant word, guileless zeal, unceasing Eros
for the Lord of Glory. Then, indeed, the
mind sets its own scales exactly, appearing in its own intellect as in a most
pure tribunal.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn19" name="_ftnref19" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[19]</span></span></span></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">20</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Faith
without works and works without faith will be rejected in the same way. For the believer must offer to the Lord faith
that demonstrates realities. For faith
would not have been reckoned as righteousness to Abraham our father if he had
not brought forth its fruit, his son.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<hr size="1" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[1]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This would be with the spiritual sense.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[2]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> What St Diadochos means is that the wisdom of the world is not able
to benefit through real spiritual experience consciously experienced with the
spiritual sense.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[3]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>idion.</i> This is a philosophical term. It means the characteristic that belongs to
something as part of its nature.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[4]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The author treats attainment to the spiritual sense as a certain
level of spiritual attainment. Given
that the author is considered to be of the </span><span lang="EN-GB">school</span><span lang="EN-GB"> of </span><span lang="EN-GB">Evagrius</span><span lang="EN-GB">, we
would treat this as dispassion. See <i>Kephalaia Gnostica </i>I, 37: ‘<span style="color: black;">The spiritual sense is the dispassion of the reasonable
soul, which is produced by the grace of God.’
</span>However, in common with the subsequent Orthodox tradition,
Diadochos later in this treatise clearly uses the term ‘dispassion’ for the end
of the ascetical journey, not as Evagrius uses it.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn5">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[5]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This is a very free paraphrase of John 3, 30.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn6">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[6]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>leitourgei.</i> I.e. serves as a priest. It appears that the author is speaking of
himself, so, here, ‘serves as a bishop’.
We are not persuaded by </span><span lang="EN-GB">Rutherford</span><span lang="EN-GB">’s assertion (Rutherford, p. 2) that the text was written before St
Diadochos was ordained bishop, especially since there is no evidence
adduced. The ‘law for priests’ is not
dispositive since it could very well apply to the priestly rank of bishop.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn7">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[7]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> See our remarks on the spiritual sense. The same thing is intended.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn8">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[8]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>eros.</i> This is the word used of marital love. What the author is saying is that the person
who has reached this stage henceforth has a burning, ardent desire for the
illumination of gnosis.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn9">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[9]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> It seems to us that the author’s sense would be better conveyed if
the phrase ‘the [spiritual] sense of his bones’ were to be taken to be in the
dative, not the genitive the texts give, so that the sentence would read: ‘...
until he might perceive with the very [spiritual] sense of his bones’. The author seems to us to intend that this
burning, ardent desire for the illumination of gnosis is such that the person
wishes to know God spiritually even in his bones.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn10">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[10]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Following the text of </span><span lang="EN-GB">Rutherford</span><span lang="EN-GB">. De Places’ Greek text
reads: Therefore, henceforth such a person<i> exists in a certain intense Eros
for the illumination of gnosis</i> until he might perceive the very [spiritual]
sense of his bones, no longer knowing himself but wholly transformed by the
love of God.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn11">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref11" name="_ftn11" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[11]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This would be yet another aspect of the spiritual sense. What is important is that St Diadochos means
that these things happen as conscious spiritual phenomena and not emotionally
or by means of the bodily senses.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn12">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref12" name="_ftn12" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[12]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Preferring des Places to </span><span lang="EN-GB">Rutherford</span><span lang="EN-GB"> for this sentence.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn13">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref13" name="_ftn13" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[13]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Preferring des Places to </span><span lang="EN-GB">Rutherford</span><span lang="EN-GB"> for this clause.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn14">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref14" name="_ftn14" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[14]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>energoumenen. </i>There is a danger that this might be
understood to be ‘active’ as opposed to ‘infused’ love in the Western sense, but
within that terminology it is actually ‘infused’. What the author means is an active love that
is given directly to the person by the Holy Spirit once that person has been
purified completely through the fear of God.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn15">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref15" name="_ftn15" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[15]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The Greek is not very clear.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn16">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref16" name="_ftn16" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[16]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Thus the text. We would say,
medically, ‘respond to’. The author is
using ‘perceive’ to tie his medical metaphor to the spiritual sense.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn17">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref17" name="_ftn17" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[17]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>apatheia.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn18">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref18" name="_ftn18" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[18]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. so that by itself the conscience might provide a true
judgement of the person’s condition.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn19">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref19" name="_ftn19" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[19]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. having been completely purified, the conscience gives a true
witness to the soul’s condition.</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777175105405354499.post-45386815141284952332011-12-24T23:54:00.000+02:002012-07-31T09:59:49.971+03:00Chapters 21 - 30<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div>
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">21</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">He who loves
God both believes genuinely and accomplishes the works of faith in a holy way,
but he who only believes and does not abide in love does not even have the
faith that he thinks he has. For with a
certain lightness of mind he believes without being set into activity by the
weight of the glory of love. Therefore
faith set into activity by love is the greatest of the virtues.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">22</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Investigated,
the depth of the sea of faith is agitated; viewed with a simple disposition it
becomes serene. Being the water of Lethe
(forgetfulness) of evils, the depth of faith does not bear to be seen by
curious thoughts. Therefore let us sail
on its waters in simplicity of intellect so that we thus arrive at the harbour
of the will of God.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">23</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">No one is
able either to love or to believe genuinely except if he does not have himself
as an accuser of himself. For when our
conscience agitates itself in reproaches, the mind is not yet permitted to
perceive [spiritually] the odour of the goods above this world, but it is
immediately divided in doubt, on the one hand reaching out to faith with a warm
movement on account of the experience it has already received, on the other
hand not yet being able to attain it in [spiritual] perception of heart by
means of love on account of, as I said, the constant<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[1]</span></span></span></a>
prickings of the reproaching conscience.
Still, purifying ourselves with a warmer attention, with greater
experience in God we will attain what is desired.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">24</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Just as the
senses of the body somewhat violently urge us towards things which are good in
appearance, thus once it tastes the divine goodness the sense of the mind is
accustomed to guide us towards the invisible goods. For at all costs each has an appetite for its
familiar relatives: the soul, as bodiless, for the heavenly goods; but the
body, as dust, for earthly food.
Therefore we will without deception come into experience of the
immaterial sense if with ascetical efforts we refine the material<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[2]</span></span></span></a>.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">25</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The very
activity of holy gnosis teaches us that the natural sense of the soul is one
but that on account of the disobedience of Adam it thenceforth is divided in
two activities: one activity being simple, that coming to occur in the soul
from the Holy Spirit, which activity no one is able to know except those who
for the sake of the future goods have gladly freed themselves from the good
things of this life and who through temperance have dried up all the appetite
of the bodily senses. Only among these
persons can the mind, robustly set into motion on account of the freedom from
care, sense unspeakably the divine goodness, whence these persons then transfer
their own joy to the body according to the measure of their personal progress,
exulting in the confession of love with a certain limitless word. For it says: ‘For my heart has hoped on him
and I was helped and my flesh has been made to flourish and I will willingly
confess to him.’ For the joy which then
really occurs to the soul and to the body is an undeceiving reminder of the
incorruptible life of the spirit.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[3]</span></span></span></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">26</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Those who
are engaged in ascetical struggles must keep the intellect unwashed by waves so
that discerning the thoughts which run to and fro the mind put those that are
good and sent from God into the treasury of the memory but cast somewhere
outside of the store-rooms of nature those that are ill-omened and
demonic. For, indeed, when it is serene
the sea is seen by those who catch fish up to the very movement of the deep, as
if almost nothing eluded them of the creatures passing along its paths; but
when the sea is agitated by winds, it conceals in the gloominess of the
agitation those very things that in the laughter of serenity it has the honour
to let be seen. Whence, we then see the
skill to be idle of those who contrive the cunning devices for fishing. And it also undoubtedly happens that the
contemplative mind suffers this very same thing—and certainly when the sea-deep
of the soul is agitated by an unjust anger.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">27</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It is of
the extremely few to know their own faults precisely, and certainly of those
whose mind is never snatched away from the memory of God. For just as when our bodily eyes are healthy
they are able to see everything up to the gnats and mosquitoes<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[4]</span></span></span></a>
flying through the air but when they are covered with turbidity or certain
humours, then if there should be something great of the things which encounter
our eyes, our eyes see it only dimly and do not perceive small things with the
sense of sight—thus also with the soul if by attention it refines the blindness
which occurs to it from love of the world and if in great thanksgiving it
unceasingly brings tear upon tear, treating its most trivial faults as the most
serious. For it says: ‘The just will
confess in your name.’ If, however, the
soul persists in the disposition of the world, then if it should commit
something murderous or worthy of great punishment it senses this tranquilly; it
is not at all able to take note of the other faults but often considers them to
be achievements of a sort, wherefore the wretched soul is not ashamed as it
defends them warmly.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">28</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It is of
the Holy Spirit alone to purify the mind.
For if the strong man does not enter in and despoil the robber, by no
means will the booty be freed. Therefore
we must by all means give repose to the Holy Spirit, especially by the peace of
the soul, so that we always have the lamp of gnosis shining before us. For when the Holy Spirit unceasingly flashes
like lightning in the treasure-rooms of the soul, not only do all those bitter
and dark assaults of the demons become most obvious to the mind but rebuked by
that Holy and Glorious Light they are extremely weakened. For this reason the Apostle says: ‘Do not
extinguish the Spirit;’ in the sense of: ‘Do not sorrow the goodness of the
Holy Spirit by doing evil works or speaking evil, so that you not be deprived
of that defending lamp.’ For that which
is eternal and vivifying is not extinguished, but its sorrow, that is to say
its aversion, leaves the mind gloomy and without the light of gnosis.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">29</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The Spirit
of God, which is holy and loves Mankind, teaches us that there is one, as I
said, natural [spiritual] sense of the soul, since the five [bodily senses]
differ once and for all according to the needs of our body. However, on account of the Fall which occurred
from disobedience this natural [spiritual] sense of the soul is also divided in
the mind by the movements of the very soul.
Wherefore one aspect of it is carried off with the impassioned part of
the soul, whence we gladly sense the goods of this world, while the other
aspect often sympathizes with the rational and spiritual<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[5]</span></span></span></a>
movement of the soul, whence when we are sober our mind reaches out to run
towards the heavenly beauties. If we
therefore come into the habit of despising the goods in the world we will be
able to join the earthly appetite of the soul to its rational disposition, the
communion of the Holy Spirit dispensing this to us. For if its Divinity should not actively
illuminate the treasure-rooms of our heart, we would not be able to taste the
Good in an undivided [spiritual] sense, that is to say, in a whole disposition.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[6]</span></span></span></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">30</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The
[spiritual] sense of the mind is the exact taste of the things discerned.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[7]</span></span></span></a> For in the way that in time of health,
discerning without deception the good things from the bad things with our
bodily sense of taste, we reach out to the good things—so in the same way, when
our mind should begin to move robustly and in great freedom from care<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[8]</span></span></span></a>
it is able richly to perceive [spiritually] the divine consolation and never at
all to be carried away by the opposed [devilish consolation]. For just as the body has a faultless
experience of the sense [of taste] when tasting earthly sauces, thus also when
the mind boasts [of being] above the will of the flesh<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[9]</span></span></span></a>
it is able without deception to taste the consolation of the Holy Spirit (for
it says: ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good;’) and through the activity of
love to have unforgettable the memory of that taste in faultlessly assaying
vital matters, according to the saint who says: ‘And I pray for this very thing,
that your love be more and more abundant in knowledge and all [spiritual] sense
so that you assay the vital matters.’<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[10]</span></span></span></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><br />
<hr size="1" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[1]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Accepting </span><span lang="EN-GB">Rutherford</span><span lang="EN-GB">’s reading of <i>puknous</i>.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[2]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>ulen.</i> I.e. the material body.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[3]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. after death.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[4]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> (deleted).</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn5">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[5]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>noeran.</i> Literally, ‘mental, pertaining to the mind or
<i>nous’.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn6">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[6]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The author means that in the post-Fall condition of life, part of
the spiritual sense runs after the movements of the impassioned part of the
soul while the other part desires the heavenly goods. It is only through the illumination of the
innermost chambers of our heart by the divinity of the Holy Spirit that we can
return to the pre-Fall condition of tasting the Good with an undivided
spiritual sense, that is to say, in a condition of complete personal integration
where we no longer are divided between the movements of the impassioned part of
the soul and our desire for the heavenly goods.
Moreover, we then have the ability with this undivided spiritual sense
to discern the good from the bad.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn7">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[7]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Cf. Evagrius KG <span style="color: black;">II, 28:</span> ‘<span style="color: black;">The sensible eye, when it regards something visible, does
not see the whole of it; but the intelligible eye either has not seen, or, when
it sees, immediately surrounds from all sides that which it sees.’ Also KG II, 35: ‘The mind <i>(nous) </i>also
possesses five spiritual senses through which it apprehends its familiar
materials: sight presents to it bare the intelligible objects themselves; the
hearing receives the reasons <i>(logoi) </i>concerning those intelligible objects; the sense of
smell enjoys the aroma which is unmixed with any lie; and the mouth partakes of
the pleasure which is from them; by means of the sense of touch, then, the mind
<i>(nous)</i> is confirmed with the exact proof of the objects received.’ </span></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn8">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[8]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The author means that the mind must have no occupation with worldly
affairs.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn9">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[9]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Here and elsewhere the author uses ‘boasts of’ in the good sense of
‘attains to’.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn10">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[10]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This is the author’s only reference to the role of the spiritual
sense in the so-called charisms of discernment, clairvoyance and even
prevoyance, which play such an important role in the Orthodox tradition of
spiritual direction.</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777175105405354499.post-21343554735518706012011-12-24T23:53:00.000+02:002011-12-24T18:09:03.978+02:00Chapters 31 - 40<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div>
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">31</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">When our
mind begins to perceive [spiritually] the consolation of the Holy Spirit, then
Satan also consoles the soul in a certain sweet-seeming sense<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[1]</span></span></span></a>
when in the nocturnal times of stillness one comes as it were to the edge of a
very light sleep. If at that time the
mind be found to be keeping the holy name of the Lord Jesus in extremely warm
remembrance and if it make use of that holy and glorious name as a weapon
against the deception,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[2]</span></span></span></a>
then the deceiver departs from his ruse and henceforth is inflamed towards a
substantial war of the soul.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[3]</span></span></span></a> Whence, knowing the deception of the Evil One
exactly, the mind progresses further in the experience of discernment.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">32</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The good
consolation occurs while the body is alert or even at the hint of a sleep which
is going to come, when in the warm remembrance of God one has as it were
adhered to his love;<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[4]</span></span></span></a>
but the consolation of deception ever occurs when the contender has come, as I
said, into a certain light sleep with a moderate remembrance of God.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[5]</span></span></span></a> The first, as clearly being from God, wishes
to console the souls of the contenders for piety in a great outpouring of the
soul towards love; the second, since it is accustomed to fan the soul in a
certain wind of deception, attempts to steal by means of the sleep of the body
the experience of the healthy mind concerning the memory of God. Therefore, if the mind be found, as I said,
to have been remembering the Lord Jesus<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[6]</span></span></span></a>
attentively, it disperses that sweet-seeming breeze of the Enemy and rejoicing
it is stirred to war against the Enemy,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[7]</span></span></span></a>
having as a second weapon after Grace the boast that comes from experience.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">33</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499" name="check to here"></a>If while he who is set into activity by Divine
Grace is alert or coming into sleep in the way that I have said<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[8]</span></span></span></a>
the soul is kindled by a movement without doubt and without fantasy towards the
love of God, drawing as it were the body towards the depth of that unspeakable
love, the soul conceiving nothing else at all except that only towards which it
is being stirred, it must be known that the activity is of the Holy
Spirit. For being completely seasoned by
that inexpressible sweetness, the soul is then able to conceive nothing else at
all since it rejoices with a steadfast joy.
If, then, there is any doubt at all or if the mind conceives some sordid
thought when it is set into activity or even if it makes use of the holy name
towards defence from evil and not only towards the love of God now,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[9]</span></span></span></a>
one must deem that the consolation is from the Deceiver in an outward
appearance of joy; and that joy is without attribute and completely disordered,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[10]</span></span></span></a>
the Enemy wishing the soul to commit adultery.
For when the Enemy sees the mind boasting exactly of its own [spiritual]
sense<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn11" name="_ftnref11" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[11]</span></span></span></a>
then with certain good-seeming consolations, as I have said, it provokes the
soul so that the soul being dispersed by that empty and very wet sweetness [and
the Enemy being] unrecognized,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn12" name="_ftnref12" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[12]</span></span></span></a>
there occur the intercourse of the Treacherous One [with the soul].<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn13" name="_ftnref13" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[13]</span></span></span></a> Therefore from this we will know the spirit
of truth and the spirit of deception.
Nevertheless, it is impossible for one to taste the divine goodness in
[spiritual] perception or to make trial perceptibly of the bitterness of the
demons unless one gives assurance to oneself that Grace has come to dwell in
the depths of the mind whereas the evil spirits linger around the limbs<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn14" name="_ftnref14" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[14]</span></span></span></a>
of the<span class="FootnoteCharacters"> </span>heart,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn15" name="_ftnref15" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[15]</span></span></span></a>
which very thing the demons do not at all ever wish to be believed by men, lest
the mind, having learned this exactly, arm itself against them with the
remembrance of God.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">34</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">One thing
is the love which is natural to the soul and another thing is the love which is
added to it by the Holy Spirit. For when
we wish, the love from our own will is stirred proportionately, and for that
reason it is easily plundered by the demons whenever we do not control our own
inclination with violence<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn16" name="_ftnref16" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[16]</span></span></span></a>. The other love, however, so much enkindles
the soul towards the love of God that in a certain limitless simplicity of
disposition all the parts of soul then fasten on in an unutterable way to the
goodness of the divine longing. For
having then become as it were pregnant by the spiritual activity,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn17" name="_ftnref17" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[17]</span></span></span></a>
the mind gushes out a sort of fountain of love and joy.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">35</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Just as
when it is agitated the sea has the nature to give way to the oil poured upon
it, the storm being defeated by the nature of the oil, thus also our soul
gladly becomes serene when it is fattened by the goodness of the Holy Spirit. Rejoicing, it is defeated according to the
saint who says: ‘Yet be submissive to God, O my soul,’ in that dispassionate
and unutterable goodness overshadowing it.
On account of this, therefore, as many irritations as are then contrived
by the demons against the soul it remains without anger and full of every
joy. One comes to this very thing or
remains in it if one unceasingly sweetens his soul in the fear of God. For the fear of the Lord Jesus bears a
certain kind of purification to those who are engaged in ascetical struggles:
‘For the fear of the Lord is pure, remaining to the Ages of Ages.’</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">36</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Let no one
hearing ‘sense of the mind’ hope that the glory of God will be seen by him
visibly. For we say that it is sensed,
when one might have purified the soul, in a certain unspeakable taste of divine
consolation, not that one of the invisible things physically appears<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn18" name="_ftnref18" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[18]</span></span></span></a>
to it, for now we walk by faith and not by visible form<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn19" name="_ftnref19" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[19]</span></span></span></a>,
as says the blessed Paul. Therefore, if
there should appear to one of the contenders in asceticism a light, or some
figure<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn20" name="_ftnref20" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[20]</span></span></span></a>
having the form of fire, let him by no means accept the vision of this
sort. For it is a clear deception of the
Enemy, which very thing having suffered from ignorance many have departed from
the road of truth. We know that insofar
as we sojourn in this corruptible body we are abroad from God, that is to say,
we are not able to see visibly either him or one of his Heavenly wonders.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">37</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The dreams
that appear to the soul in the love of God are undeceiving accusers<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn21" name="_ftnref21" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[21]</span></span></span></a>
of the soul that is in any way healthy.
Wherefore they<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn22" name="_ftnref22" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[22]</span></span></span></a>
are neither transformed from one shape to another,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn23" name="_ftnref23" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[23]</span></span></span></a>
nor do they suddenly shake the [spiritual] sense, nor do they laugh or suddenly
take on a gloomy air, but they approach the soul with every clemency,
completely filling it with every spiritual gladness. Whence, once the body has awoken the soul
seeks the joy of the dream with great longing.
But the fantasies of the demons are the opposite in every respect. For they<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn24" name="_ftnref24" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[24]</span></span></span></a>
neither remain in the same shape nor show for very long an undisturbed
form. For what they do not have from
their free will but make use of only from their own deception is unable to
suffice them for very long; moreover, they also say grandiose things and very
often threaten, often shaping themselves into the appearance of soldiers;
occasionally they chant to the soul with shouting. Whence, once it has been purified,
recognizing them clearly the soul that has been subjected to the fantasy wakes
the body; and there is also the case where it even rejoices at having been able
clearly to recognize the ruse of the demons.
For which reason, having rebuked the demons in the very dream, the soul
moves them to a great anger.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn25" name="_ftnref25" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[25]</span></span></span></a> Yet there is also the case where the good
dreams do not bear joy to the soul but create in it a sweet sorrow and painless
weeping. This occurs to those who make
great progress in humility.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">38</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We
ourselves have said what we have heard from those who have come to experience:<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn26" name="_ftnref26" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[26]</span></span></span></a>
the discernment of good from bad dreams.
For the sake of great virtue, however, let it be sufficient for us not
to be in any way persuaded by any fantasy at all. For dreams are for the most part nothing
other than the mental phantoms of deluded thoughts or again, as I said, the
mockeries of demons. So if there would
sometime be sent to us a vision from the goodness of God and we did not accept
it, our most longed-for Lord Jesus would not grow angry with us on account of
this. For he knows that we come to this
on account of the ruses of the demons.
For the aforesaid discernment is exact but it happens that through the
plundering of something imperceptible the soul which has been made filthy—no
one is found to be exempt from this, I think—loses the trace of exact
discernment and believes in things which are not good as if they were good.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">39</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">As an
example for us of this thing, let there be the servant hailed by night by his
master from in front of the enclosing walls of the house after a long absence
abroad. To whom the servant absolutely
refused the opening of the doors. He was
frightened lest the similarity of voice, plundering him, prepare him to become
the betrayer of those very things that were entrusted by the master. With whom his lord did not get angry once it
had become day but found him worthy of many praises, for the servant thought
that even the voice of the master was a deception, not wanting to lose any of
his master’s goods.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">40</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It must not
be doubted that when the mind begins to be set constantly into activity by the
divine light it becomes somewhat transparent so that it richly sees its own
light; and [one must not doubt that] that this word will come to pass when the
power of the soul has subjugated the passions.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn27" name="_ftnref27" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[27]</span></span></span></a> That everything appearing to the mind with
visible shape<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn28" name="_ftnref28" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[28]</span></span></span></a>,
either as light or as fire, occurs through the evil art of the Enemy, the
divine Paul teaches us clearly, saying that he<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn29" name="_ftnref29" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[29]</span></span></span></a>
is transformed into an angel of light.
Therefore one must not undertake the ascetical life with this hope, so
that Satan not find the soul ready for plunder on account of it, but [we must
undertake the ascetical life] only so that we arrive at loving God in every
[spiritual] perception and inner spiritual assurance<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn30" name="_ftnref30" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[30]</span></span></span></a>
of heart, which very thing is the ‘with the whole heart and with the whole soul
and with the whole intellect’. For he
who is set by divine Grace into activity towards this departs from the world
even if he should be present in the world.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<br />
<hr size="1" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[1]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. a false spiritual sense.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[2]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This appears to be the first explicit reference to the Jesus Prayer
in history.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[3]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Because the Devil cannot accomplish his goal indirectly with a
false consolation he engages in direct combat with the soul.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[4]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. adhered to the love of God.
It is not clear to us whether or not the author is drawing a parallel
with someone on the verge of sleep embracing his loved one in the marriage bed.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn5">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[5]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This is a remark on the intensity of the practice of the Jesus
Prayer at the time of the consolation.
In the case of a genuine consolation, the practice is intense, but in
the case of a demonic consolation it is only moderate.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn6">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[6]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> </span><span lang="EN-GB">Rutherford</span><span lang="EN-GB"> drops ‘Jesus’ based on two early manuscripts.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn7">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[7]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> In this case, the Jesus Prayer as it were ‘picks up speed’ to
attack the Devil with a zeal born both of Grace and personal experience while
at the same time becoming focused as a weapon on the temptation.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn8">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[8]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The grammar is tortuous here, this clause (in the Greek, phrase)
having an inexplicable change of grammatical gender which prevents it from
referring to the soul.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn9">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[9]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The soul praying the Jesus Prayer turns automatically and without
conscious intervention from a love directed solely to God in the Prayer, to an
attack focused on the interloper—still by means of the Jesus Prayer. There is no conscious intervention of the
ascetic in this movement, it being a spiritual movement of the soul beyond his
conscious intervention. When it happens,
it is a sure sign that the consolation is demonic in origin.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn10">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[10]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Recall that the author has just discussed the sure taste of things
spiritual by the spiritual sense. Here
he gives the taste of the false consolation as discerned by the spiritual
sense.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn11">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref11" name="_ftn11" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[11]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. when the Devil sees that the mind possesses exact spiritual
discernment.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn12">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref12" name="_ftn12" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[12]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> There is another grammatical problem here since ‘unrecognized’ is
dangling. To convey what seems to be the
sense of the passage we have been obliged to supply ‘[and the Enemy being]’,
also changing the case of ‘unrecognized’.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn13">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref13" name="_ftn13" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[13]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This is a spiritual intercourse of the Devil or demon with the
soul—a spiritual mixing of the two.
However the phrase ‘very wet sweetness’ might hint at a nocturnal
emission. </span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn14">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref14" name="_ftn14" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[14]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> As the author will develop later, he means the more external parts
of the heart taken as both a physical and spiritual organ.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn15">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref15" name="_ftn15" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[15]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> As the author develops later, this occurs only in Baptism.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn16">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref16" name="_ftn16" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[16]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This is the violence of the Gospel not violence actionable in law. This sentence is interesting for its
psychology of natural affection: the author states that natural affection is
closely related to our intention: we choose to love someone or at least
acquiesce in our inclination to love them.
Moreover, the author teaches, rather than encouraging such natural
affection, which is easily subverted by the demons, we must forcibly restrain
the inclination with a view to attaining to the Gospel love added to us by the
Holy Spirit. Recall that ‘particular
friendships’ are forbidden in the monastery.
They are an example of natural rather than Gospel affection; they are by
their very nature relationships exclusive of others that can lead to all manner
of evil—the plundering by the demons the author speaks of.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn17">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref17" name="_ftn17" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[17]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. the activity of the Holy Spirit. This is a metaphor: ‘as it were’.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn18">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref18" name="_ftn18" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[18]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. with the bodily senses.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn19">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref19" name="_ftn19" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[19]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘Visible form’: Greek: <i>eidous.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn20">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref20" name="_ftn20" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[20]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>schema.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn21">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref21" name="_ftn21" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[21]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>kategoros.</i>
‘Accuser’ is the denotation of this Greek word but the context makes the
reading difficult.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn22">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref22" name="_ftn22" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[22]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. the personalities in the dream.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn23">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref23" name="_ftn23" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[23]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The author is clearly paraphrasing Evagrius here.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn24">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref24" name="_ftn24" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[24]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. the demons.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn25">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref25" name="_ftn25" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[25]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. in the dream itself the mind converses with the demons—fallen
angels with actual personality—and by reproaching them provokes them to great
anger.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn26">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref26" name="_ftn26" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[26]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The author’s discussion of dreams seems to draw heavily on
Evagrius.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn27">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref27" name="_ftn27" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[27]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Cf. Evagrius: <i>Logos Praktikos, </i>64 and <i>Peri Logismon, </i>40.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn28">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref28" name="_ftn28" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[28]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘Visible shape’. Greek: <i>schema.</i>
<i>Sch</i><i>ema</i> means ‘shape,
form or figure’.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn29">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref29" name="_ftn29" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[29]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. Satan.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn30">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref30" name="_ftn30" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[30]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘Inner spiritual assurance’.
Greek: <i>plerophoria. </i>So
elsewhere.</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777175105405354499.post-18606091872485617082011-12-24T23:40:00.000+02:002011-12-24T18:12:41.754+02:00Chapters 41 - 50<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div>
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">41</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Obedience
is known to be the first good among all the introductory virtues for, to begin
with, it sets aside our conceit and begets in us humility. Whence to those who sustain it gladly it also
becomes an entrance and a gate of love towards God. Having set this aside, Adam slipped away into
the Tartarean deep. Having in the word
of the Dispensation<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[1]</span></span></span></a>
ardently loved this up to the Cross and death, the Lord was obedient to his own
Father (and this although he was in no way less than the Father’s greatness),
so that having through his own obedience paid in full<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[2]</span></span></span></a>
the crime of Mankind’s disobedience he lead again to the blessed and eternal
life those who have lived in obedience.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[3]</span></span></span></a> Therefore those who sustain a battle against
the conceit of the Devil must first take a care to obedience, for as we
progress it will without deception show us all the paths of the virtues.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">42</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Temperance
is the common name of all the virtues.
Therefore he who is keeping temperance must be temperate in
everything. For just as whatever
smallest member of a man that is removed disfigures the whole of the man,
however insignificant the part that is missing from the form, thus he who
neglects one of the virtues makes the whole dignity of temperance disappear in
a way that he does not know. One must
therefore apply oneself not only to the bodily virtues but also to those able
to purify our inner man. For what profit
is it to someone who has kept the body in virginity if the soul has committed
adultery with the demon of disobedience?
Or how will he be crowned who has refrained from gluttony and every
bodily desire but who has not taken a care to conceit and ambition, neither
sustained a slight affliction, when the scales counterbalance the light of
justice to those who are practising the works of justice in a spirit of
humility?<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[4]</span></span></span></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">43</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Those
engaged in ascetical struggles must take a care to hate all the irrational
desires in such a way as to acquire the hatred for them as a habit; however, it
is necessary to preserve temperance in regard to foods in such a way that one
never comes into a loathing for any of them, for this is both accursed and
completely demonic. For we do not
abstain from any of them because they are wicked—may it not be so!—but so that,
breaking ourselves off from the many and good foods, we proportionately mortify
the inflamed parts of the body, and, further, so that our abundance become a
sufficient provision for the poor, which very thing is the identifying mark of
true love.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">44</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">To eat and
drink from all those things served or mixed,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[5]</span></span></span></a>
giving thanks to God, in no way battles against the rule of gnosis,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[6]</span></span></span></a>
‘for all things were exceedingly good.’ To abstain gladly from the tasty and the many
is both most discerning and more gnostic,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[7]</span></span></span></a>
for we would not gladly despise the tasty foods which are present if we did not
[first] taste the sweetness of God in every [spiritual] perception and inner
spiritual assurance.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">45</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the same
way that weighed down by a multitude of foods the body makes the mind somewhat
timid and slow-moving, so also weakened by much temperance the body renders the
contemplative part of the soul<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[8]</span></span></span></a>
somewhat gloomy and indisposed to letters.
Therefore one must also prepare the foods in accordance with the
movements of the body, so that when the body is healthy it be appropriately
mortified but when it is weak it be moderately fattened. For he who is waging ascetical struggles must
not be exhausted in body but only so much as is enough for him still to have
strength for the struggle, so that even in the labours of the body<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[9]</span></span></span></a>
the soul be appropriately purified.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[10]</span></span></span></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">46</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">When
vainglory is greatly inflamed against us, finding a pretext for its own evil in
the sojourn of certain brothers or of any strangers at all, it is good to
permit the moderate relaxation of the customary diet. For we will send the demon<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn11" name="_ftnref11" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[11]</span></span></span></a>
away not having accomplished anything and rather mourning the endeavour;
moreover, we will fulfil the institution of love in an acceptable way and we
will by means of the condescension preserve the mystery of temperance free from
ostentation.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">47</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Fasting has
a boast in itself but not towards God, for it is as it were a tool which trains
those who wish in chastity. Therefore we
who contend for piety must not think great things of it but await in the faith
of God the perfection of our goal, for the masters of any of the arts
whatsoever never boast of the result of their profession from the tools but
each of them awaits the final product<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn12" name="_ftnref12" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[12]</span></span></span></a>
of the endeavour so that from it the exactness of the art be demonstrated.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn13" name="_ftnref13" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[13]</span></span></span></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">48</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the way
that the earth, moderately watered, sends forth the seed sown in it pure and
greatly increased, but, becoming drunk from the many rains, bears only thistles
and thorns, thus also the land of the heart if we should make moderate use of
wine yields pure its natural seeds and brings forth greatly thriving and very
fruitful that which has been sown in it by the Holy Spirit,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn14" name="_ftnref14" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[14]</span></span></span></a>
but if it should become sodden from hard drinking it really bears all its
thoughts as thorns and thistles.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">49</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">When our
mind swims in the wave of hard drinking, it not only sees in its sleep the
impassioned phantoms figured by the demons but moulding in itself certain fine
apparitions it also makes ardent use of its own fantasies as loved ones of a
sort. For when the organs of intercourse
are warmed by the heat of the wine, there is every need for the mind to present
to itself a voluptuous shadow of the passion. Therefore, it is necessary that making use in
moderation we avoid the damage from excess.
For when the mind does not have pleasure dragging it down to paint a
picture of sin, it remains completely without fantasy and, what is better,
without effeminacy.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">50</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">All the
manufactured drinks, which nowadays are called aperitifs by the artisans of
this invention, on account of the fact, so it seems, that they guide the
multitude of foods into the stomach, must not be pursued by those who wish to
mortify the parts of the body that swell.
For not only does their quality become damaging to the ascetically
contending bodies but their absurd blending itself also wounds the God-bearing
conscience. For what then is it that is
lacking in the nature of wine that by the mixture of various aromatics its
firmness should be made effeminate?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<br />
<hr size="1" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[1]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Given that he continues with a quotation from Paul, the author
seems to mean ‘according to the New Testament’.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[2]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>eklusas.</i> This verb takes on a variety of meanings and
our rendition should not be taken as establishing St Diadochos’ position on the
nature of Christ’s redemptive act on the Cross.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[3]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The author’s intended audience is persons living or desiring to
live the monastic life of asceticism.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[4]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The Greek is not entirely clear.
However, the author is clearly referring to the Last Judgement.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn5">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[5]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> It is difficult to convey simply but in St Diadochos’ day <i>foods</i> were <i>served</i> and <i>drinks</i>—especially
wines—were <i>mixed.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn6">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[6]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. the monastic rule, whose goal is gnosis.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn7">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[7]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> More gnostic. Greek: <i>gnostikoteron.</i> I.e. showing more experience of gnosis.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn8">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[8]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This is the mind.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn9">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[9]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. in manual labour.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn10">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[10]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The Greek of the sentence is very terse. What the author means is that the ascetic
must not exhaust himself by fasting but only fast to the point that he still
retains enough strength for the ascetical struggle, including bodily labour
which itself is useful for the purification of the soul.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn11">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref11" name="_ftn11" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[11]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. the demon of vainglory.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn12">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref12" name="_ftn12" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[12]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>eidos.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn13">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref13" name="_ftn13" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[13]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The author has in mind the sculptor, say, who does not boast of his
hammer and chisel, but waits to show the final form of the sculpture, so that
from it the exactness of his art might be demonstrated (recall that in the
ancient world, the artist attempted to mirror nature, not to create an
autonomous work of art divorced from nature, as today).</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn14">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref14" name="_ftn14" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[14]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The author foresees the ‘natural seeds’ of the heart and those
‘sown in it the Holy Spirit’. This would
correspond to a concept of natural and supernatural virtue.</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777175105405354499.post-54828749160243226392011-12-24T23:35:00.000+02:002011-12-24T18:14:52.733+02:00Chapters 51 - 60<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div>
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">51</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Our Lord
and Teacher of this our sacred way of life, Jesus Christ, was in the Passion
given vinegar to drink by the ministrants of the diabolical commands so that,
it seems to me, he leave us a clear model of the [proper] disposition towards
the sacred [ascetical] struggles. For,
it says, those who are contending against sin must not make use of tasty drinks
or foods but rather sustain the bitterness of the [ascetical] battle with
patience. Let the hyssop also be added
to the sponge of contempt so that the figure of our purification be brought
into the model perfectly. For acridity
is the characteristic of struggles whereas that which purifies is at all events
the characteristic of perfection.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[1]</span></span></span></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">52</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Let no one
proclaim that going to the bath<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[2]</span></span></span></a>
is sinful or absurd; however, I say that to abstain from this for the sake of
temperance is both manly and most prudent.
For then neither does that delightful moisture render our body
effeminate nor do we come into recollection of that inglorious nakedness of
Adam so that we take a care to his leaves to cover the secondary cause of
shame;<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[3]</span></span></span></a>
and certainly we who have just jumped out of the utter destruction of worldly
life ought to be united to the beauty of chastity in the purity of our body.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">53</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">There is
nothing that impedes summoning doctors in the time of illnesses. For since at some time the art was going to
be gathered by human experience,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[4]</span></span></span></a>
for that reason the medicines also pre-existed.
Still, we must not place our hope of healing in doctors but in our true
Saviour and Physician, Jesus Christ. I
say these things to those who accomplish the goal of temperance in cœnobia<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[5]</span></span></span></a>
and in cities since they are unable to have the ceaseless activity of faith [working]
through love because of the difficult situations which occur, and moreover so
that they not fall into vainglory and the temptation of the Devil. Of whom, some of them proclaim among the
populace that they have no need of doctors.
However, if one should accomplish the anchoretic life in more desolate
places among two or three brothers leading the same way of life, then let him
bring himself in faith only to the Lord, him who heals our every illness and
every infirmity, even if he should fall into any sort of afflictions at
all. For after the Lord he has the
wilderness as sufficient consolation for the illnesses. Whence neither does such a person ever lack
the activity of faith and, to be sure, since making use of the wilderness as a
good screen nor does he find anywhere to exhibit his virtue of patience.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[6]</span></span></span></a> For because of this, ‘The Lord makes
solitaries to dwell in a house.’</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">54</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">When we are
greatly disgusted with the bodily anomalies that happen to us<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[7]</span></span></span></a>
we must know that our soul is still enslaved to the desires of the body. On which account, longing for material
successes the soul neither wishes to depart from the good things of life but
also considers it a big distracting business not to be able to make use of the
fine things of life because of the illnesses.
But if with thanksgiving it accepts the troubles that arise from the
illnesses, the soul is known not to be far from the boundaries of dispassion,
whence it then even accepts death with joy, as being the occasion rather of
true life.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">55</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The soul
would not desire to depart from the body unless its disposition towards this
very air became without quality to it.
For all the senses of the body are opposed to faith, since the former
occur in connection with the present things while the latter proclaims only the
extravagance of future goods. It
therefore befits the contender in asceticism never to ponder on certain trees
with fine branches, or arbours, or fine-flowing fountains, or various meadows,
or comely houses or even times passed with relatives, neither then to remember
chance honours at the festivals, but on the one hand to make use of the
necessary things with thanksgiving and on the other hand to consider life to be
some foreign road desolate of every disposition of the flesh. For only if we thus constrain our intellect
might we return the whole of it to the track of the eternal road.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[8]</span></span></span></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">56</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">That sight
and taste and the remaining senses disperse the remembrance of the heart when
we have made use of them beyond measure—Eve first speaks to us of such a
thing. For as long she did not look with
pleasure on the tree of the command she kept in careful remembrance the
commandment of God. For which very
reason she was as it were still covered by the wings of divine Eros<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[9]</span></span></span></a>,
whence ignorant of her own nakedness.
But because she looked at the tree with pleasure and touched it with
great desire and, furthermore, tasted the fruit of it with a certain active
pleasure, she was immediately allured to bodily intertwining having been joined
to the passion naked. She then gave her
whole desire over to the enjoyment of present things and through the
sweet-appearing fruit joined Adam too to her own transgression, for which very
reason thenceforth the human mind is only with difficulty able to keep God or
his commandments in remembrance.
Therefore let us who ever look into the depths of our heart with
ceaseless remembrance of God<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[10]</span></span></span></a>
pass this deceitful life with eyes that are as it were blind.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn11" name="_ftnref11" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[11]</span></span></span></a> For it is the characteristic of truly
spiritual philosophy ever to preserve Eros unwinged for things seen.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn12" name="_ftnref12" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[12]</span></span></span></a> This the most experienced Job also teaches
us, saying, ‘And if my heart also followed after my eye.’ Thus the matter constitutes a mark of extreme
temperance.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">57</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">He who ever
sojourns in his own heart is in every way abroad from the fine things of
life. For walking in the Spirit he is
unable to know the desires of the flesh.
Because such a person henceforth takes his walks in the fortress of the
virtues, having those very virtues as it were as door-keepers of the city of
his purity, then henceforth the war-machines of the demons become unavailing
even if the arrows of vulgar Eros should to a certain extent reach right up to
the windows of nature.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn13" name="_ftnref13" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[13]</span></span></span></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">58</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">When our
soul begins no longer to desire the fine things of the earth then a certain
mind of accidie<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn14" name="_ftnref14" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[14]</span></span></span></a>
usually enters into it, neither allowing the soul to serve gladly in the
ministry of the word nor leaving behind in it the intense desire for future
goods; but even devaluing this temporal life exceedingly as not having a worthy
work of virtue; and contemning this very gnosis, either as having already been
granted to many others or as promising to signify to us nothing perfect. We will escape from this tepid passion that
makes us sluggish if we set very narrow boundaries to our intellect, gazing
only towards the remembrance of God. For
only thus would the mind, running back to its own warmth, be able to depart
from that irrational dispersion.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn15" name="_ftnref15" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[15]</span></span></span></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">59</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">When we
have blocked all its exits with the memory of God, our mind at all events
demands of us a work that ought to satisfy<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn16" name="_ftnref16" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[16]</span></span></span></a>
its aptitude. We must therefore give it
only and wholly the ‘Lord Jesus’<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn17" name="_ftnref17" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[17]</span></span></span></a>
towards realization of the goal.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn18" name="_ftnref18" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[18]</span></span></span></a> For it says: ‘No one says “Lord Jesus” except
in the Holy Spirit.’ But at all events
let this passage be viewed narrowly in one’s own treasure-rooms so that it not
turn aside into some fantasies.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn19" name="_ftnref19" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[19]</span></span></span></a> For as many as unceasingly meditate on this
holy and glorious name in the depth of their heart—these are at some time able
to see the light of their mind. For when
this name is kept with close care by the intellect it burns up in much [spiritual] perception
all the filth that floats in the soul, for it also says: ‘Our God is a consuming
fire.’ Whence, the Lord thenceforth
calls the soul to much love of his own glory.
For when that glorious and much-longed-for name becomes chronic<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn20" name="_ftnref20" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[20]</span></span></span></a>
in the warmth of the heart through remembrance by the mind, it at all events
creates in us the habit of loving the goodness of God, there thenceforth being
nothing that impedes this. For this is
the most valuable pearl which very thing one is able to acquire having sold all
his property and to have unspeakable joy over his find.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">60</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">One thing
is introductory joy and another thing is perfecting joy. For the former is not free of fantasy while
the second has the power of humility; between these is God-loving sorrow and
painless tears.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn21" name="_ftnref21" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[21]</span></span></span></a> For really, ‘In an abundance of wisdom is an
abundance of gnosis;’ and, ‘He who has added gnosis will add pain.’ On account of this, therefore, one must with
the introductory joy first call the soul to the struggles, and then the soul
must be cross-examined and tested thenceforth by the truth of the Holy Spirit
concerning the evils it has practised or even concerning the distractions it
still practises. For it says: ‘In
rebukes concerning lawlessness you have instructed a man and you have melted
his soul like a spider’s web;’ so that, the divine reproval having tried it
just as in a crucible, the soul receive in the warm remembrance of God the
activity of joy that is free of fantasy.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<br />
<hr size="1" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[1]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The author began this chapter with the image of the vinegar given
to the Lord in his Passion; the vinegar is later represented by the sponge on
which the vinegar was offered. The
vinegar and the sponge represent the bitterness of the ascetical life. The author then completes his metaphor by
introducing hyssop, which in the Old Testament was used for purification. He closes by saying that acridity (vinegar,
sponge) is characteristic of ascetical struggles whereas that which purifies
(hyssop) is characteristic of perfection.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[2]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> While this chapter was written at a time when the baths were
public—with all the potential for scandal that that entailed—it clearly applies
to more modern conditions where the bath might be more private.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[3]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This Greek is unclear as regards the author’s precise meaning.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[4]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The author has in mind the plants that in his day were gathered for
use as medicines. He is saying that
since God foresaw that man would develop the art of medicine, He provided that
the appropriate medicinal plants would exist.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn5">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[5]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. monasteries with many monks or nuns leading a group life.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn6">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[6]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. the wilderness acts as a screen between the hermit and the
world, hiding him from other people. The
illness allows the hermit to exhibit his virtue of patience which he would not
otherwise be able to exhibit because of his isolation: in the monastery one
exhibits one's patience by bearing with other people.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn7">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[7]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. in an illness, especially a terminal illness such as cancer.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn8">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[8]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This is an instruction for the advanced Hesychast to keep his mind
on the contemplation of God, not letting it wander to thoughts and memories of
earthly beauties and honours. In
practice, it would appear, the Hesychast would focus his intellect ever more
straitly on the words of the Jesus Prayer.
The author is saying that only in this way can the Hesychast leave the
ways of the earth for the ways of God. </span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn9">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[9]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. Eve’s ardent love for God hid her nakedness from her own eyes.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn10">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[10]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Unless St Diadochos is to be taken as speaking figuratively, then
we have in this treatise not only the first clear reference to the Jesus Prayer
but also in this clause the first clear reference to keeping the mind in the
heart. Since in the next chapter the saint refers to
sojourning in the heart, it is most probable that he is not speaking
figuratively. For his argument is that
the Hesychast must force his intellect to leave behind material things so that,
dwelling in the heart it should turn wholly to God. But implicit in this instruction is the
Evagrian understanding that the mind must leave behind all mental images of created
things in order to attain to the ‘place of God’ (see <i>Peri Logismon </i>40,
41). It should also be noted that St
Diadochos is clearly teaching disciples well-informed as to the practical
techniques he discusses. His conciseness
on these matters must be understood in that light.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn11">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref11" name="_ftn11" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[11]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. to material beauty.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn12">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref12" name="_ftn12" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[12]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. true asceticism always entails restraining the desire from
flying off after the senses. This
chapter is easier to understand if one considers that it is speaking to someone
accustomed to practising the Jesus Prayer in the depths of his heart. The tension that it describes is between
continuing to recite the prayer in the depths of the heart <i>versus </i>the temptation to look out at the things of physical beauty
around one. This line of thought is
continued in the next chapter.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn13">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref13" name="_ftn13" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[13]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The basis of this chapter is the ascetic who maintains his mind in
his heart. Doing so, he has the virtues
as custodians of the citadel of his chastity—that is, as custodians of his
inner world of consciousness centred on his heart where he maintains his
mind. In such a case the demons can do
him no harm even if they should to a certain extent reach right up to the
windows of nature—that is, even should they arrive at exciting the ascetic’s
very flesh.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn14">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref14" name="_ftn14" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[14]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. sloth.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn15">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref15" name="_ftn15" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[15]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This is an instruction for an advanced Hesychast.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn16">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref16" name="_ftn16" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[16]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>plerophorein. </i>We
have otherwise translated this word and its relatives as ‘(give) inner
spiritual assurance’. Here the sense is
that since the mind must always be doing <i>something—</i>i.e. thinking. This is a basic principle of Greek ascetical
psychology. We must give the mind
something to do even (or perhaps especially) after we have closed the mind up
in our heart in the memory of God. That
something is the Jesus Prayer.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn17">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref17" name="_ftn17" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[17]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Assuming that the reading of the critical text in the vocative is
correct, this is to be taken not as a reference to the Lord himself but as a
reference to the particular formula in use among St Diadochos’ disciples for
the recitation of the Jesus Prayer—whether the formula was merely ‘Lord Jesus’
in the vocative or something longer is immaterial to this point.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn18">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref18" name="_ftn18" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[18]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This very important passage establishes that because it is the
nature of the mind to do something, then when we have withdrawn our mind within
ourselves in the remembrance of God, we must still give our mind something to
do. This something is the Jesus
Prayer—and only and wholly the Jesus Prayer.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn19">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref19" name="_ftn19" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[19]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. the Hesychast should stick to the letter of the scripture
passage, repeating just the words of the formula of the Jesus Prayer; otherwise
there is a danger that he will give himself over to fantasies, which are to be
avoided even if they are about the Lord Jesus (this would be taking the
scripture passage broadly).</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn20">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref20" name="_ftn20" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[20]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Not in a negative sense but in the sense of something that
continues over time.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn21">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref21" name="_ftn21" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[21]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This is the so-called ‘gift of tears’—the ability of the Hesychast
to weep over his sins whenever he wants and only when he wants.</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777175105405354499.post-76082729369977636292011-12-24T23:30:00.000+02:002011-12-24T18:16:34.111+02:00Chapters 61 - 70<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">61</span></span></div>
<div>
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">When the
soul is agitated by anger or made turbid by drunkenness or troubled by severe
despondency, then however one might press the mind, the mind is unable to
become master of the remembrance of the Lord Jesus. For having become wholly darkened by the
terribleness of the passions, the mind becomes wholly estranged from its native
[spiritual] sense; and for that very reason the mind does not have anywhere for
the desire to imprint its seal so that the mind bear unforgettably the form of
the meditation, the intellect’s memory having become hard from the rawness of
the passions.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[1]</span></span></span></a> If, however, the mind should be beyond these
things, then even if what is desired<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[2]</span></span></span></a>
be stolen for a short time by forgetfulness, immediately the mind, making use
of its natural aptitude, lays hold again of that highly desired and salvific
prey. For then the soul has Grace itself
meditating together with it and crying the ‘Lord Jesus’<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[3]</span></span></span></a>
together with it, just as a mother might teach her own infant the word
‘father’, and, again, might meditate together with the infant on that word
right up to the time that she guide the infant into the habit of calling
clearly on the father even in sleep, to the exclusion of any other infantile
speech at all.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[4]</span></span></span></a> For this reason the Apostle says: ‘Similarly,
then, the Spirit helps our weakness; for we do not know the ‘what shall we
pray’ as it should be but the very Spirit intercedes for us with unutterable
sighs.’ For since we are infants in
regard to the perfect in the virtue of prayer, we at all events need the
assistance of the Spirit so that, all our thoughts having been recollected and
sweetened by the Spirit’s unspeakable sweetness, from our whole disposition we
be set into motion towards the memory and love of our God and Father. Wherefore we cry in the Spirit, as again the
divine Paul says, when we are regulated by the Spirit to call on God the Father
unceasingly: ‘Abba, Father.’<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[5]</span></span></span></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">62</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">More than
the other passions anger has the custom to agitate and confuse the soul;
however, there are occasions when it is of the greatest benefit to the
soul. For whenever we make use of anger
without agitation against those who are acting impiously or in any way
immorally, so that either they be saved or they be shamed, we provide an
addition of meekness to the soul. For in
every way we concur with the goal of the righteousness and the goodness of God,
but in addition, when we are sternly angered against sin we also often make
manly the womanishness of the soul. It
must also not be doubted that if we rebuke the demon of corruption with anger
when we are in great despondency we are minded above the boast of death. So that he teach us this very thing, the Lord
twice rebuking Hades in the Spirit and agitating himself—although doing
everything he wants without agitation by an act of the will only—thus restored
the soul of Lazarus to the body, so that prudent anger<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[6]</span></span></span></a>,
it appears to me, rather has been given to our nature as a weapon by God who
created us. If Eve had made use of which
very anger against the serpent she would not have been set into activity by
that impassioned pleasure. It therefore
appears to me that he who prudently<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[7]</span></span></span></a>
makes use of anger on account of a zeal for piety will in every respect be
found in the scale of recompenses<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[8]</span></span></span></a>
to be more tried and tested than he who is never moved to anger at all on
account of an inertia of mind. For the
latter appears to have the charioteer of the human wits<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[9]</span></span></span></a>
unexercised whereas the former is ever brought on the horses of virtue into the
midst of the front line of the phalanx of demons in battle, fully exercising
the four-horse chariot of temperance<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[10]</span></span></span></a>
in the fear of God. Which very thing we
find spoken of by Scripture as ‘the chariot of Israel’ in the ascension of the
divine Elias, for God first appears to speak in various ways concerning the
four virtues to the Jews. For which
reason this one who was nourished so much in wisdom was entirely taken up on a
chariot of fire, the prudent one<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn11" name="_ftnref11" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[11]</span></span></span></a>,
it seems to me, using his own virtues as horses, in the Spirit which ravished
him in a breeze<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn12" name="_ftnref12" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[12]</span></span></span></a>
of fire.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">63</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">He who
partakes of holy gnosis and tastes the sweetness of God ought neither to sit in
judgement<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn13" name="_ftnref13" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[13]</span></span></span></a>
nor under any circumstances bring a law-suit against anyone, even should
someone take those very things in which he is clothed. For the righteousness of the rulers of this
world is at all events defeated in the righteousness of God or, rather, it is
nothing compared to what is right before God, because what difference is there
between those who are nourished by God and the men of this Age<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn14" name="_ftnref14" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[14]</span></span></span></a>
if not that what is right before the latter would appear imperfect compared to
the righteousness of the former, so that the one be called human right and the
other divine righteousness? So neither
therefore did our Lord Jesus upbraid in return when he was being upbraided nor
did he threaten when he was suffering, but he endured in silence even the
removal of his clothing and, to say the great thing, prayed the Father for the
salvation of the wrongdoers. However, the
men of this world would not cease to go to law unless occasionally they should
[beforehand] regain with something extra the things for which they are going to
law,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn15" name="_ftnref15" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[15]</span></span></span></a>
and certainly when they receive the interest before the principal<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn16" name="_ftnref16" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[16]</span></span></span></a>—so
that their right often becomes the beginning of a great injustice.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">64</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">While
certain pious persons were speaking I heard one say that we must not allow any
chance individuals to seize those very things which we have for our own
administration or even for the repose of the poor, and certainly not if we
suffer this from Christians—so that we not become occasions of sin to those who
do us injustice through those things towards which we are long-suffering.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn17" name="_ftnref17" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[17]</span></span></span></a> This is nothing more than to want one’s goods
rather than oneself, coupled with an absurd excuse. For if abandoning prayer and attention to my
own heart I little by little begin to proclaim law-suits against those who wish
to use me badly and to frequent the vestibules of the law-courts, it is obvious
that I consider the things sought greater than my own salvation, not to say
greater even than that salvific command.
For how at all costs will I follow the evangelical command which orders
me, ‘And do not demand your things from him who takes them;’ unless in
accordance with the Apostolic saying I endure with joy the plundering of those
things which belong to me—when, going to law and recovering as much as he
wanted, usually one would still not have freed the avaricious person from his
sin?<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn18" name="_ftnref18" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[18]</span></span></span></a> Moreover, the corruptible courts are not able
to delimit the incorruptible judgement seat of God, for at all events the
accused answers fully only to those particular laws before which he happens to
defend himself and in support of his case.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn19" name="_ftnref19" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[19]</span></span></span></a> So it is good for us to bear the violence of
those who wish to commit an injustice against us and to pray for them, so that
they be freed from the crime of avarice through repentance and not through the
restitution of those things of ours which they have seized. For this is what the righteousness of the
Lord wishes, that we at some time take back not that which was coveted but the
avaricious person free of sin through repentance.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">65</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Once we
have come to know the road of piety it is most appropriate and beneficial in
every respect immediately to sell all our goods and to manage the monies from
them in accordance with the commandment of the Lord, and not to disobey the
salvific command with the excuse that we want to keep the commandments always.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn20" name="_ftnref20" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[20]</span></span></span></a> For from this there will be for us first the
good freedom from care and on account of that thenceforth an uncrafty poverty
minded above every injustice and every law-suit since we no longer have the
material which ignites the fire of the covetous. And more than the other virtues humility will
then warm us round and give us repose in its own bosom as being naked—like a
mother who takes up and completely warms in her arms her own child when in its
childish simplicity it has taken off and thrown somewhere far away its own
clothing, on account of its great guilelessness enjoying its nakedness rather
than the many colours of the clothing.
For it says: ‘The Lord guards the infants; I humbled myself and he saved
me.’</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">66</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The Lord
will at all events demand of us an account of our almsgiving according to what
we have, not according to what we have not.
Therefore, if on account of the fear of the Lord I scatter in a goodly
way in little time whatever I had to give over many years, concerning what will
I who have nothing still be arraigned?
But someone will say: ‘Whence then will those poor be shown pity who
were accustomed to being managed bit by bit from our modest means?’ Let such a person learn not to upbraid God
from the actual motive<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn21" name="_ftnref21" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[21]</span></span></span></a>
of his own love of money. For God will
not lack, managing his own creature as from the beginning. For neither did the poor lack for food or
clothing before this or that person rose up in charity. It is therefore good that, strictly in
accordance with this very knowledge<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn22" name="_ftnref22" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[22]</span></span></span></a>,
we cast off with a good ministry the foolish boast that arises from wealth,
hating our own desires—which very thing is to hate our own soul—so that we no
longer hold our soul in great contempt by rejoicing over the scattering of
money as working nothing of the virtues.
For as long as we are somewhat well-provided with goods, we rejoice
greatly over their scattering (if indeed there is an activity of the good in
us), as cheerfully ministering to the divine commandment; but when we have
exhausted our goods, then limitless sorrow and lowliness steal over us as
practising nothing worthy of righteousness.
Whence thereafter the soul returns to itself in great humility so that
whatever it cannot acquire day by day by means of almsgiving it take a care to
acquire in itself from assiduous prayer, patient endurance and humility. For it says: ‘The beggar and the poor man will
praise your name, O Lord.’ For neither is the charism of theology<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn23" name="_ftnref23" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[23]</span></span></span></a>
made ready by God for someone unless he make himself ready by divesting himself
of all his goods for the sake of the glory of the Gospel of God, so that he
preach the wealth of the Kingdom of God in a God-loving poverty. For he clearly means this very thing who
said, ‘You have prepared for the beggar in your goodness, O Lord;’ and added,
‘God will give speech in great power to those who preach the Gospel.’ </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">67</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">All the
charisms of our God are exceedingly good<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn24" name="_ftnref24" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[24]</span></span></span></a>
and able to provide every goodness but nothing kindles and moves our heart to
the love of God’s goodness like theology.
For being the precocious offspring of the Grace of God it is at all
events the first charism<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn25" name="_ftnref25" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[25]</span></span></span></a>
to grant even gifts to the soul. First,
it prepares us to despise with joy all the friendship of this life since we
have instead of corruptible desires the sayings of God as unspeakable wealth. Next, it illuminates our mind with the fire
of change<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn26" name="_ftnref26" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[26]</span></span></span></a>,
whence it even makes our mind to be in communion with the ministering spirits.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn27" name="_ftnref27" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[27]</span></span></span></a> Therefore, beloved, we who have been prepared
for it beforehand genuinely yearn after this virtue; this comely virtue; this
virtue which sees all; this virtue which provides every freedom from care; this
virtue which nourishes the mind in a dawn of unspeakable light in the words of
God; and, not to go on at length, this virtue which by means of the holy
Prophets harmonizes the rational soul towards an inseparable communion with the
Word of God, so that even among men—Oh the wonder!—the Divine Leader of the
Bride<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn28" name="_ftnref28" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[28]</span></span></span></a>
harmonize the God-given voices singing clearly the mighty deeds of God.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn29" name="_ftnref29" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[29]</span></span></span></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">68</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Most of the
time our mind finds prayer<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn30" name="_ftnref30" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[30]</span></span></span></a>
hard to bear because of the extremely narrow and restrained character<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn31" name="_ftnref31" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[31]</span></span></span></a>
of the virtue of prayer;<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn32" name="_ftnref32" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[32]</span></span></span></a>
however it gives itself over to theology rejoicing because of the broad and
released nature of the divine contemplations.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn33" name="_ftnref33" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[33]</span></span></span></a> Therefore, so that we do not give a road to
the mind to want to speak much, or even allow it to take wing beyond measure in
its joy, let us for the most part spend our time in prayer, and [secondarily]
in psalmody and the reading of Holy Scripture, not overlooking the
contemplations<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn34" name="_ftnref34" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[34]</span></span></span></a>
of learned men whose faith is recognized through their words.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn35" name="_ftnref35" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[35]</span></span></span></a> For if we do this, neither will we prepare
the mind to mix its own sayings<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn36" name="_ftnref36" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[36]</span></span></span></a>
with the words<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn37" name="_ftnref37" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[37]</span></span></span></a>
of Grace nor will we allow the mind to be dragged under by vainglory, the mind
having been dissipated through much joy and loquacity; but we will also keep
the mind outside of fantasy in the time of contemplation<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn38" name="_ftnref38" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[38]</span></span></span></a>,
and from this we will procure for the mind that almost all its thoughts be
tearful<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn39" name="_ftnref39" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[39]</span></span></span></a>. For reposing in the times of stillness<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn40" name="_ftnref40" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[40]</span></span></span></a>
and indeed sweetened by the sweetness of the prayer<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn41" name="_ftnref41" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[41]</span></span></span></a>,
the mind does not only come to be outside the aforementioned faults but is more
and more renewed in the acute and painless intuitive apprehension of divine
contemplations<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn42" name="_ftnref42" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[42]</span></span></span></a>,
along with progressing with much humility in the contemplation<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn43" name="_ftnref43" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[43]</span></span></span></a>
of discernment. However, it must be
known that there is a prayer<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn44" name="_ftnref44" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[44]</span></span></span></a>
which is above every diffuseness. This
prayer is only of those who are filled with divine Grace in every [spiritual]
sense and inner spiritual assurance.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">69</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the
beginning Grace is accustomed to illuminate the mind in much [spiritual]
perception in Grace’s own light but as the battles progress it usually sets its
own mysteries into action in the theological soul<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn45" name="_ftnref45" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[45]</span></span></span></a>
in an unknown manner, so that in the first case it let us loose rejoicing on
the trail of the divine contemplations<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn46" name="_ftnref46" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[46]</span></span></span></a>
as having been called from ignorance to gnosis,<span class="FootnoteCharacters"> </span>whereas
it preserve our gnosis free from vainglory in the middle of the struggles. We must therefore be moderately sorrowed as
having been abandoned so that we be humbled more and submit more to the glory
of the Lord, yet occasionally rejoice having been given wing in the good hope.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn47" name="_ftnref47" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[47]</span></span></span></a> For as great sorrow envelops the soul in
despair and lack of faith, thus also great joy provokes it to conceit—I am
speaking of those who are still in a state of [spiritual] infancy—, for the
mean between illumination and abandonment is experience whereas the mean
between sorrow and joy is hope.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn48" name="_ftnref48" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[48]</span></span></span></a> For it says: ‘Abiding patiently, I patiently
abided the Lord and he took heed to me;’ and: ‘According to the multitude of
the pains in my heart, your consolations have gladdened my soul.’</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">70</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Just as the
doors of the baths quickly propel the interior warmth towards the exterior when
they are open, thus also the soul disperses its own remembrance [of God] through
the gate of the voice when it wishes to discuss many things, even if it should
say all things well. Whence the soul is
thenceforth deprived of seasonable thoughts<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn49" name="_ftnref49" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[49]</span></span></span></a>
and speaks the clashing of its thoughts<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn50" name="_ftnref50" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[50]</span></span></span></a>
more or less in a mob<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn51" name="_ftnref51" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[51]</span></span></span></a>
to those who chance to be there, because thenceforth it does not have the Holy
Spirit to preserve in it an intellect free of fantasy. For as being foreign to all agitation and
fantasy the Good [Spirit] ever flees garrulousness. Therefore silence is good in its proper time,
being nothing other than the mother of the wisest thoughts<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn52" name="_ftnref52" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[52]</span></span></span></a>.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<br />
<hr size="1" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[1]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> What the author means is that because of the harshness of the
passions that he lists, the mind is unable, even the ascetic wants, to
establish the repetition of the Jesus Prayer in its consciousness. The author makes the important psychological
observation that the reason for this inability is that the ‘intellect’s memory’
has become hard because of the rawness of the passions. This refers to the subjective conscious world
of someone who is very upset: their interior mental world—their ‘fabric of
consciousness’—is so ‘hardened’ by the passion that it is simply impossible for
them to establish the repetition of the Prayer in it: the Prayer simply won’t
‘imprint’ the disturbed consciousness, which indeed has acquired a hardened
texture.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[2]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. the Prayer of Jesus.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[3]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This is again in the vocative, indicating that this is not the full
text of the formula of the Jesus Prayer but rather the name of the formula. In ecclesiastical practice, prayers often
take their name from their first few words.
Compare the ‘Our Father’.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[4]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This is a very important, if succinct, description of how through
the action of Grace the mind is led to the automatic repetition of the formula
of the Jesus Prayer even in sleep.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn5">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[5]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>Abba o pater. </i>Of course, <i>Abba </i>is the Aramaic familiar term for one’s own father that Jesus
himself is recorded in the Gospel as having used for his Heavenly Father.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn6">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[6]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘Prudent anger’: Greek: <i>sophrona
thumo</i>. It is hard to convey the
nuance of this phrase in context. The
author wishes to refer to an anger that is of sound mind, in its senses,
prudent, chaste; not an anger that is extreme, uncontrolled or
impassioned. There are many repetitions
of <i>sophron</i> in its various cognate
forms in this chapter.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn7">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[7]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘In a prudent way’. Greek: <i>sophronos.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn8">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[8]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. at the Last Judgement.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn9">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[9]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘Wits’: Greek: <i>phrenes.</i> This word is a cognate of <i>sophron,</i> which is derived etymologically
from ‘having the wits whole or sound’.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn10">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[10]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Recall that the author has already established that ‘temperance’ is
the common name of all the four virtues. Hence, he is now drawing an extended
metaphor between the four virtues and the four-horse chariot on which the
Prophet Elias ascended.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn11">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref11" name="_ftn11" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[11]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘The prudent one’. Greek: o <i>sophron</i>.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn12">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref12" name="_ftn12" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[12]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>aura.</i> In the Septuagint this word is used not for
Elias’ ascension but for the theophany on Horeb: God appeared there to Elias
not in the earthquake or storm but in the fine breeze <i>(lepte aura).</i> Whether this
is to be taken as an inadvertence on the part of the author or as a subtle
allusion would depend on the reader’s judgement.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn13">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref13" name="_ftn13" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[13]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>dikazein. </i>Des
Places<i> </i>interprets this as <i>‘ne doit pas se défendre en justice’. </i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn14">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref14" name="_ftn14" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[14]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. by the world.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn15">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref15" name="_ftn15" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[15]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. they settle out of court advantageously.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn16">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref16" name="_ftn16" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[16]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. the payments are first applied to interest owed and then to
principal.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn17">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref17" name="_ftn17" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[17]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. We are now showing long-suffering in the seizure by others,
especially Christians, of our goods rather than preventing the seizure or
prosecuting the culprits but supposedly we would prevent these persons from
sinning if we were to take them to court (through the fear of the gendarme).</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn18">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref18" name="_ftn18" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[18]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This abrupt change from the first to the third person is in the
text here and elsewhere.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn19">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref19" name="_ftn19" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[19]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. the court narrowly considers only the specific laws which
apply to the matter at hand whereas the justice of God considers the whole
situation, including the whole person involved.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn20">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref20" name="_ftn20" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[20]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. the author is counselling us to sell our goods and give the
money away immediately, not to keep the money with the excuse that we want to
fulfil over a long period the commandment to help the poor.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn21">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref21" name="_ftn21" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[21]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘Actual motive’. Greek: <i>Prophasis.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn22">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref22" name="_ftn22" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[22]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Cf. the beginning of Chapter 63.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn23">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref23" name="_ftn23" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[23]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> In this chapter the charism of theology seems to be the preaching
of the Gospel.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn24">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref24" name="_ftn24" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[24]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>kala lian,</i> in an
allusion to the Genesis account of Creation (Septuagint).</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn25">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref25" name="_ftn25" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[25]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> We take <i>prota</i> in an adverbial sense as following on
‘precocious’, but English cannot support a literal translation of the
construction. The author wants to exhort
his disciples to concentrate on theology; hence he emphasizes theology as the
first charism to grant gifts, thus exciting his disciples’ desire to occupy
themselves with theology in the manner he describes.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn26">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref26" name="_ftn26" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[26]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>allage.</i> The use of this word seems a little imprecise
for someone of St Diadochos’ literary stature, but there is probably a
reference here to a phrase from the Psalms in the Septuagint: ‘This change is
of the right hand of the Most High.’</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn27">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref27" name="_ftn27" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[27]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. the angels.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn28">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref28" name="_ftn28" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[28]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The soul is here treated as the bride of God being led to marriage
with God by the Holy Spirit.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn29">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref29" name="_ftn29" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[29]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The author seems to mean that the Holy Spirit, as the leader of the
soul to God, harmonizes here on earth the spiritual voice of the soul with the
voices of the angels and Prophets in Heaven.
There also seems to be an allusion to the participation of the monk or
nun in the services of the monastery, where they would be united to the angels
and saints in Heaven in singing the word of God (primarily the Psalms). However, it must be said that we have no
information on St. Diadochos’ monasteries and the services conducted in them.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn30">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref30" name="_ftn30" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[30]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This would be the Jesus Prayer.
The author is saying that to concentrate the mind on the words of the
Jesus Prayer, and especially so with the mind and the words of the Prayer
focused in the heart, is actually quite vexing to the mind.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn31">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref31" name="_ftn31" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[31]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The author is referring to the very concentrated, secret, private
and silent practice of the Prayer of Jesus in the heart. Everything is focused there. It is terribly hard.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn32">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref32" name="_ftn32" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[32]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>euktikes aretes</i>. This should not be understood in a vague sort
of way as the moral virtue of praying often (not that that is not a virtue) but
more specifically as the practice of the Hesychast form of the Jesus Prayer.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn33">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref33" name="_ftn33" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[33]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>theoremata. </i>This normally refers to a speculative
contemplation in the nature of ‘thinking about with words’, not an intuitive
rapture of the mind into God. The author
is contrasting the very difficult focusing of the Prayer of Jesus as practised
by the Hesychast he is addressing, and the release of the built-up mental
tension of the Prayer in the practice of the speculative contemplations of
theology. Again, however, this theology
is already defined by the author as a charism.
It is not academic theology.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn34">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref34" name="_ftn34" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[34]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>theoremata</i>. I.e. speculative theology.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn35">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref35" name="_ftn35" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[35]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. we should only read theological writers whose works are
recognized to be sound.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn36">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref36" name="_ftn36" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[36]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>remata.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn37">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref37" name="_ftn37" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[37]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>logois</i>.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn38">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref38" name="_ftn38" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[38]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>theoria. </i>This is direct intuitive sight of
spiritual things.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn39">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref39" name="_ftn39" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[39]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This is the Hesychast’s charism of tears.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn40">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref40" name="_ftn40" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[40]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Geek: <i>hesychias</i>.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn41">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref41" name="_ftn41" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[41]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>euche.</i> This would again be the Prayer of Jesus
repeated constantly.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn42">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref42" name="_ftn42" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[42]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek:<i> theoremata.</i> These would be speculative contemplations
again.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn43">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref43" name="_ftn43" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[43]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>theoria.</i> This would be intuitive knowledge again.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn44">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref44" name="_ftn44" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[44]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>euche.</i> The author is referring to a certain high
stage in the practice of the Jesus Prayer in Hesychasm.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn45">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref45" name="_ftn45" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[45]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘Theological soul’. </span><span lang="EN-GB">Rutherford</span><span lang="EN-GB"> reads ‘theological
intellect’ but this reading does not persuade us in context. The phrase would refer to the Hesychast who now
enjoys the charism of theology that the author has discussed in the previous
chapters.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn46">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref46" name="_ftn46" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[46]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>theoremata.</i> These are the discursive contemplations of
theology. The image here seems to be of
the dogs let loose with joyous barking on the trail of the quarry.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn47">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref47" name="_ftn47" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[47]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This sentence is a capsule description of the spiritual state of an
advanced Hesychast.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn48">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref48" name="_ftn48" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[48]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The author is using the schema of traditional Greek philosophy: a
virtue is a mean between two extremes.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn49">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref49" name="_ftn49" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[49]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>ennoion.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn50">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref50" name="_ftn50" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[50]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>logismon.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn51">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref51" name="_ftn51" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[51]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘More or less in a mob’.
This refers to how the ascetic speaks, not to the people standing by.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn52">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref52" name="_ftn52" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[52]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>ennoion.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777175105405354499.post-53791170728023259042011-12-24T23:25:00.000+02:002011-12-24T18:18:07.560+02:00Chapters 71 - 80<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">71</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The word of
gnosis<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[1]</span></span></span></a>
teaches us that in the beginning many passions annoy the theological soul, most
of all anger and hatred. Such a soul
suffers this not so much on account of the demons that set these things into
activity as on account of its own progress.
For as long as the soul is carried off by the arrogance of the world, it
remains unmoved and undisturbed even if it see the right trampled upon by certain
men; for taking a care to its own desires it does not look to the right of
God. But when the soul begins to be
above its own passions, then on account of the contempt for present things and
the love of God it does not bear even in dreams to see the right set aside but
becomes choleric with the criminals and agitated until such a time as it see
those who are insolent against righteousness defend themselves before its
dignity with reverent attitude<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[2]</span></span></span></a>. On account of this, therefore, the soul hates
those who are unrighteous and has an exceedingly great love for those who are
righteous. For the eye of the soul<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[3]</span></span></span></a>
becomes completely undespoiled when the curtain, the body I mean, is woven into
great fineness by means of temperance.
However, it is much better to weep for the insensibility of the unrighteous
than to hate them. For even if those
should be worthy of hatred, the word [of gnosis] does not want the God-loving
soul to annoyed by hatred, because whenever there is hatred in the soul, gnosis
is not active.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[4]</span></span></span></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">72</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">On the one
hand, sweetened and enflamed by the very sayings of God, the theologian<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[5]</span></span></span></a>
after a time sends the soul towards the breadths of dispassion. For it says: ‘The sayings of the Lord are
pure sayings, fired silver tried in the earth.’
On the other hand, the gnostic, established from his experience of the
actual activity [of Grace], comes to be above the passions. The theologian, if indeed he disposes himself
to be more humble, also tastes the experience of the gnostic; and the gnostic,
if indeed he has the discerning<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[6]</span></span></span></a>
part of the soul faultless, tastes for a little time the contemplative virtue.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[7]</span></span></span></a> For it does not happen that the two charisms
are given in their entirety to either, so that, the both of them being in
wonder at what each has in excess of the other, humility be multiplied in them
together with a zeal for righteousness.
For this reason the Apostle says: ‘To one is given the word of wisdom
through the Spirit; to another is given the word of gnosis according to the
same Spirit.’</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">73</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">When the
soul should be in abundance of its natural fruits<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[8]</span></span></span></a>
it both makes the psalmody in a louder voice and strongly wishes to pray<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[9]</span></span></span></a>
vocally. When, however, it is set into
activity by the Holy Spirit, it chants and prays<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[10]</span></span></span></a>
with every relaxation and sweetness in its heart only. There follows on the former disposition joy
suffused with fantasy; but there follows on the latter disposition spiritual
weeping and, after that, a certain gladness of heart that prefers
stillness. For the warm remembrance
which endures on account of the moderation of voice at all events prepares the
heart to bear certain tearful and mild thoughts<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn11" name="_ftnref11" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[11]</span></span></span></a>. Whence it is possible, really, to see the
seeds of prayer<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn12" name="_ftnref12" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[12]</span></span></span></a>
sown with tears in the ground of the heart in the hope of the harvest of
joy. However, when we are weighed down
with great despondency we must for a little while make the psalmody in a louder
voice, striking the strings of the soul in the joy of hope up to the time that
the heavy cloud is dispersed by the winds of melody.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">74</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Whenever
the soul comes to be in deep knowledge of itself,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn13" name="_ftnref13" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[13]</span></span></span></a>
it bears out of itself a certain God-loving warmth. For not being disturbed by the cares of
worldly life, it acquires a certain ardour<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn14" name="_ftnref14" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[14]</span></span></span></a>
for peace moderately seeking the God of Peace.
But this is rapidly dissipated either because this remembrance is
betrayed by the senses<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn15" name="_ftnref15" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[15]</span></span></span></a>
or even because nature quickly consumes its own good on account of poverty.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn16" name="_ftnref16" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[16]</span></span></span></a> Whence the wise men of the pagans did not
have as it should be whatever they thought they had attained by means of
temperance because their mind was not set into activity by the eternal and
completely true Wisdom. On the other
hand, the warmth which is brought to the heart by the Holy Spirit is, first,
completely peaceful and unwavering, inviting all the parts of the soul to a
longing for God, not being fanned outside the heart;<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn17" name="_ftnref17" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[17]</span></span></span></a>
and by means of the heart<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn18" name="_ftnref18" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[18]</span></span></span></a>
very deeply gladdening the whole man towards a certain limitless love and
joy. Therefore one must know the former
warmth and arrive at the latter. For
when through temperance nature<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn19" name="_ftnref19" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[19]</span></span></span></a>
is more or less healthy, there exists natural love as a characteristic sign;
but this natural love<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn20" name="_ftnref20" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[20]</span></span></span></a>
is never able to make the mind good up to the stage of dispassion as spiritual
love can.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">75</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The air
around us remains clear when the north wind is blowing in creation because of
the certain subtle nature of that wind that brings a clear sky, but when the
south wind is blowing the whole air is as it were made thick and cloudy, the
mist-producing nature of this wind by reason of a certain relatedness bearing
clouds out of its own regions over the whole inhabited world. Thus also, when the soul is set into activity
by the inspiration of the True and Holy Spirit it finds itself to be wholly
outside the demonic mist, but when it is greatly blown upon by the spirit of
deception<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn21" name="_ftnref21" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[21]</span></span></span></a>
it is wholly covered over by the clouds of sin.
Therefore, we must with all our strength ever return our purpose to the
vivifying and purifying breeze of the Holy Spirit—that is, towards the Spirit<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn22" name="_ftnref22" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[22]</span></span></span></a>
coming from the north that the Prophet Ezekiel saw in the light of gnosis. If we do that then the contemplative part of
our soul would certainly ever remain clear<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn23" name="_ftnref23" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[23]</span></span></span></a>,
so that we might then apprehend the divine contemplations<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn24" name="_ftnref24" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[24]</span></span></span></a>
without deception, seeing in an air of light those things that belong to the
light. For this is the light of true
gnosis.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">76</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Certain men<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn25" name="_ftnref25" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[25]</span></span></span></a>
have supposed that among the baptized Grace and sin, that is, the Spirit of
Truth and the spirit of deception, are hidden in the mind<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn26" name="_ftnref26" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[26]</span></span></span></a>
at the same time. Whence, they say, the
one person<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn27" name="_ftnref27" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[27]</span></span></span></a>
calls the mind to the good things whereas the other directly calls it to the
opposite things. But from the Holy
Scriptures and from the actual [spiritual] sense<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn28" name="_ftnref28" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[28]</span></span></span></a>
of the mind I have comprehended that before Holy Baptism, from outside Grace
urges the soul towards the good things, whereas Satan lurks in the depths of
the soul attempting to block all the exits of the mind that tend to the right
hand<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn29" name="_ftnref29" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[29]</span></span></span></a>. But from that very hour in which we are
reborn<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn30" name="_ftnref30" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[30]</span></span></span></a>
the demon comes to be outside and Grace inside.
Whence we find that as deception reigned over the soul before [Baptism],
so Truth reigns over it after Baptism.
Nevertheless, after this Satan is also active in the soul just as before
(and usually worse), yet not as being present [in the soul] together with
Grace—may it not be so!—but rather fumigating as it were the mind with the
sweetness of the irrational pleasures through the moisture of the body.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn31" name="_ftnref31" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[31]</span></span></span></a> God allows this to occur so that through
storm and fire of trial the soul come to be, if it wishes, in the enjoyment of
the Good. For it says: ‘For we passed
through fire and water and you led us out into refreshment.’</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">77</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Grace, as I
said, lies hidden in the very depth of the mind from the very instant in which
we are baptized, concealing its own presence from the actual [spiritual]
perception of the mind. However,
whenever one should begin to love God ardently from his whole purpose, Grace
speaks then to the soul a certain part of its goods in a certain unspeakable
word by means of the [spiritual] sense of the mind.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn32" name="_ftnref32" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[32]</span></span></span></a> Whence, thenceforth he who wholly wishes to
keep this discovery securely comes to a desire of divesting himself with great
joy of all present goods so that, really, he acquire the field in which he has
found the hidden treasure of life. For
when one divests oneself wholly of the wealth of this worldly life then he
finds the place where the Grace of God has lain hidden.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn33" name="_ftnref33" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[33]</span></span></span></a> For in accordance with the progress of the
soul the Divine Gift<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn34" name="_ftnref34" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[34]</span></span></span></a>
also manifests its own goodness to the mind.
Nonetheless, the Lord then allows the soul to be more afflicted by the
demons, so that he teach it thoroughly as it ought the discernment of good and
evil and make it humbler from the great shame that occurs to it from the
filthiness of the demonic thoughts when it is being purified.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn35" name="_ftnref35" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[35]</span></span></span></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">78</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">We are in
the image of God in the mental<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn36" name="_ftnref36" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[36]</span></span></span></a>
movement of the soul; the body is as it were the house of the soul. Therefore, since not only were the lines of
the portrait<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn37" name="_ftnref37" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[37]</span></span></span></a>
of the soul soiled through the transgression of Adam but our body also fell
under corruption, for this reason the Holy Word of God was incarnated, as God
granting to us by means of his own Baptism the water of salvation towards our
rebirth. For we are reborn by means of
the water<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn38" name="_ftnref38" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[38]</span></span></span></a>
in the activity of the Holy and Vivifying Spirit, whence we are immediately
purified both in soul and in body (if one comes forth to God out of his whole
disposition), the Holy Spirit sojourning in us and sin being driven away by it.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn39" name="_ftnref39" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[39]</span></span></span></a> For it is not possible, the nature<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn40" name="_ftnref40" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[40]</span></span></span></a>
of the soul being one and simple, for two persons<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn41" name="_ftnref41" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[41]</span></span></span></a>
to be present together in it, as some have thought. For when in a certain limitless affection
Divine Grace adapts itself to the lines of the ‘according to the image’<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn42" name="_ftnref42" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[42]</span></span></span></a>
in a pledge<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn43" name="_ftnref43" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[43]</span></span></span></a>
of the likeness,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn44" name="_ftnref44" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[44]</span></span></span></a>
where can the person of the Evil One find place, there certainly being no
communion at all of the Light towards the darkness? We believe, therefore, we the runners in the
sacred games,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn45" name="_ftnref45" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[45]</span></span></span></a>
that the multiform serpent is expelled from the treasure-rooms of the mind
through the bath of incorruption. And
let us not wonder for what reason we again think bad things with the good after
Baptism. For the bath of holiness
completely removes from us the stain that comes from sin but it does not now
change the duality of our will,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn46" name="_ftnref46" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[46]</span></span></span></a>
nor certainly does it impede the demons from warring against us or speaking to
us words of deceit, so that [henceforth] those very things that we did not
observe when we were ‘psychic’<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn47" name="_ftnref47" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[47]</span></span></span></a>
we keep in the power of God by taking up the weapons of righteousness.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">79</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Satan, as I
said, is expelled from the soul by means of Holy Baptism, but for the
aforementioned causes it is permitted to him to operate in the soul by means of
the body. For the Grace of God dwells in
the very depth of the soul, that is, in the mind. For it says: ‘All the glory of the daughter
of the King is within,’ not appearing to the demons. Wherefore we [spiritually] perceive a divine
longing as it were gushing up out of the very depth of our heart when we warmly
make mention<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn48" name="_ftnref48" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[48]</span></span></span></a>
of God; however, the evil spirits thenceforth<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn49" name="_ftnref49" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[49]</span></span></span></a>
leap on and lurk in the senses of the body, acting on those persons who are yet
infants in soul by means of the licentiousness of the body. Therefore, according to the Apostle our mind
ever rejoices at the laws of the Spirit, whereas the sense organs of the body want
to be carried off in the softness of the pleasures. Whence, among those who progress in gnosis
Grace gladdens the body into unspeakable exultation by means of the [spiritual]
sense of the mind, whereas the demons—and certainly when they find us carelessly
running the course of piety—violently capture the soul by means of the senses
of the body, the murderers calling it to that which it does not want.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">80</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Those who
say that the two persons of Grace and sin are together present in the hearts of
the faithful<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn50" name="_ftnref50" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[50]</span></span></span></a>
because the Evangelist has said: ‘And the Light shines in the darkness and the
darkness did not comprehend it;’ wish to recommend their own suggestion by
saying that the Divine Brightness is not at all defiled by the sojourn of the
Evil One together with it, no matter, they say, how much the Divine Light
approaches the darkness of the demon in the soul. But they are refuted by the very passage of
the Gospel since they are minded outside the Holy Scriptures. For since the Word of God deigned that the True
Light should appear in the flesh in his own Creation, in his immeasurable love
for Mankind kindling among us his light of gnosis, (although the mindedness of
the world did not comprehend the counsel of God, that is, did not know it,
since the mindedness of the flesh is hostility to God), for that reason the
Theologian<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn51" name="_ftnref51" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[51]</span></span></span></a>
made use of such a verb. Passing over
some lines in the middle, the divine [Evangelist] continues: ‘He was the true
Light which <i>enlightens</i> every man
coming into the world’ (instead of <i>guides</i>
or <i>vivifies;)</i> ‘he was in the world
and the world came to be through him and the world did not know him; he came to
his own places and his own people did not receive him; as many as received him,
to them he gave authority to become children of God, to those who believe in
his name.’ And the wisest Paul also
says, interpreting the ‘did not comprehend’: ‘Not that I already have received
or that I already have been perfected, but I pursue so that perhaps I might comprehend,
since I have already been comprehended by Christ Jesus.’ So the Evangelist does not say that Satan has
not comprehended the True Light (for from the beginning he is alien to it
because it does not shine in him), but he<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn52" name="_ftnref52" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[52]</span></span></span></a>
worthily dishonours by means of this word those men who hear the mighty deeds
and wonders of the Son of God but who do not wish to approach the light of his
gnosis on account of their darkened heart.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<br />
<hr size="1" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[1]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘Word of gnosis’. Greek <i>‘o
logos tes gnoseos’. </i>We take this to
mean that the author is basing himself on a personal revelation concerning the
matter at hand.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[2]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>logismo</i>.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[3]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The ‘eye of the soul’ is usually considered, especially in St John
of Damascus (admittedly many centuries later), to be the mind or <i>nous.</i>
Here however, it is a matter of the faculty of the soul that the author
has referred to as the spiritual or mental sense. What the author has in mind is that in his
present spiritual condition the ascetic discerns quite clearly ‘what is going
on spiritually’, being able to discern the good spirits from the bad even in
dreams—and to be enraged by the behaviour of the bad spirits in those
dreams. Of course, this could also apply
to actual persons that the ascetic might meet or hear of.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[4]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The author gives a practical reason not to be enraged by evil: such
a psychological condition is incompatible with contemplation.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn5">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[5]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Preferring des Places’ reading of <i>‘theologos’</i> to </span><span lang="EN-GB">Rutherford</span><span lang="EN-GB">'s ‘theologos<i>
nous’</i>. The context would require
adding <i>‘nous’</i> to all further occurrences in the chapter of <i>‘theologos’
</i>or <i>‘gnostikos’.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn6">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[6]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘The discerning part’.
Greek: <i>‘To dioratiko … meros’.</i>
</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn7">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[7]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>theoretikes aretes.</i> Here, given the context, the author must mean
the charism of speculative theology.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn8">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[8]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Recall that the author contrasts the fruits which belong naturally
to the soul with the charisms that accrue to it from the Holy Spirit.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn9">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[9]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>proseuchesthai. </i>This word is ordinarily used for
discursive intercessory prayer.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn10">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[10]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>euchetai.</i> This word ordinarily applies to the Jesus
Prayer.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn11">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref11" name="_ftn11" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[11]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>ennoias.</i> This might also be translated ‘ideas’ or
‘meanings’ or ‘conceptions’. Implicitly,
the <i>ennoias</i> are spiritual. The word is to be contrasted with <i>logismous,</i> which is also translated
‘thoughts’ but which is used for more vulgar thoughts, even thoughts sown by
the demons. More generally, the author’s
sense is that the voice having been kept moderate, the activity of the Holy
Spirit brings the soul to a state of still, quiet and tearful compunction.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn12">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref12" name="_ftn12" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[12]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>euche.</i> I.e. the Prayer of Jesus as prayed in this
context.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn13">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref13" name="_ftn13" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[13]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> As the author develops, this is a natural activity of the soul, not
something arising from the Grace of the Holy Spirit.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn14">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref14" name="_ftn14" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[14]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>eros.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn15">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref15" name="_ftn15" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[15]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. the bodily senses.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn16">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref16" name="_ftn16" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[16]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. this being a natural charism, it is quickly consumed.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn17">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref17" name="_ftn17" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[17]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This means that the warmth of the Holy Spirit does not spread to
the other parts of the body to excite them.
This is an important principle of discernment.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn18">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref18" name="_ftn18" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[18]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>di’ autes. </i>It
is not clear what the antecedent is to this pronoun. The only logical possibility is ‘heart’. However the sense would be better served if
the antecedent were ‘warmth’. But that
seems syntactically impossible. This
sentence seems corrupt. We have
construed it as best we could.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn19">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref19" name="_ftn19" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[19]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. the soul in its natural attributes.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn20">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref20" name="_ftn20" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[20]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The text has ‘it’ here. It
is not entirely clear what the referent for this ‘it’ is.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn21">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref21" name="_ftn21" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[21]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>pneumatos tes planes</i>.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn22">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref22" name="_ftn22" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[22]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>pneuma. </i>This could also mean wind, although the
word used previously in this chapter for wind was <i>anemos.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn23">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref23" name="_ftn23" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[23]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>aithrion.</i> I.e. clear just as the sky is clear. In general there are a number of word-plays
that depend on the author’s metaphor of the natural winds blowing in creation.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn24">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref24" name="_ftn24" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[24]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek:<i> theoremata. </i>While this word is usually used for
discursive contemplations, here the author seems to mean intuitive
contemplations of God and the things of God.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn25">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref25" name="_ftn25" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[25]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. the Messalians.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn26">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref26" name="_ftn26" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[26]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>nous.</i> Recall
that the mind is the highest part of the soul.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn27">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref27" name="_ftn27" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[27]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek:<i> prosopon. </i>This would be the Spirit of Truth and the
spirit of deception.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn28">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref28" name="_ftn28" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[28]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek:<i> aistheseos.</i> This would be the spiritual sense that the
author has discussed. He is asserting
that he is teaching on the basis of a private revelation.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn29">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref29" name="_ftn29" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[29]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek:<i> dexias. </i>I.e. to the good.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn30">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref30" name="_ftn30" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[30]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. in Baptism.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn31">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref31" name="_ftn31" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[31]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The author seems to have in mind the image of the vapour bath.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn32">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref32" name="_ftn32" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[32]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> It is important to understand that this is not a matter of hearing
words spoken either out loud or silently in the mind. Rather it is a matter of a non-verbal
illumination by the Holy Spirit of the mind (the created spirit of man). It should also be apparent that this word
spoken to the soul by the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with emotional states,
especially states of enthusiasm or elation.
What the author is describing is ordinarily called a <i>plerophoria</i>—an inner spiritual assurance
conveyed non-verbally to the mind by the Holy Spirit. It is a matter of the charism of discernment
for an Elder to discern whether an experience of this type is indeed from the
Holy Spirit or not.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn33">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref33" name="_ftn33" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[33]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> As should be evident this is the place in the mind where Grace has
hidden since Baptism.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn34">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref34" name="_ftn34" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[34]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. the Holy Spirit received in Baptism but hidden since.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn35">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref35" name="_ftn35" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[35]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘Demonic thoughts’. Greek: <i>daimonikon logismon.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn36">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref36" name="_ftn36" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[36]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>noero.</i> This could well be translated ‘spiritual’.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn37">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref37" name="_ftn37" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[37]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>charakter</i>.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn38">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref38" name="_ftn38" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[38]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. of Baptism.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn39">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref39" name="_ftn39" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[39]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> It should be evident that for St Diadochos this ‘sin’ is the spirit
of sin, not a juridical notion of original sin and personal sins committed.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn40">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref40" name="_ftn40" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[40]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>charakter</i>.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn41">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref41" name="_ftn41" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[41]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. the Holy Spirit and the spirit of sin.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn42">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref42" name="_ftn42" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[42]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. to the soul or, more precisely, to the mind, the created
spirit of man.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn43">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref43" name="_ftn43" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[43]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>arraboni. </i>This is the engagement pledge of two who
are betrothed to be married.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn44">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref44" name="_ftn44" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[44]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> As the author will discuss, by this act of the Holy Spirit Baptism
restores the ‘according to the image’ but the baptized person then has to work,
with the assistance of the now-indwelling Grace, to restore the ‘according to
the likeness’. However, the author is
saying that this ‘according to the likeness’ is already present in potential
(‘pledge’) through the act of the Holy Spirit in Baptism.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn45">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref45" name="_ftn45" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[45]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The author and his kind are being compared to runners competing in
the sacred games.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn46">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref46" name="_ftn46" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[46]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. we still have free will.
The ‘now’ indicates that after the General Resurrection we will not be
able to sin any more, this duality having been abolished.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn47">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref47" name="_ftn47" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[47]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>psychikoi.</i> The author provides an interpretation of this
mysterious usage of </span><span lang="EN-GB">St Paul</span><span lang="EN-GB">: he treats the ‘psychic’ person that Paul refers to as the person
before Baptism, and the spiritual person that Paul refers to as the person
after Baptism. An interesting
interpretation.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn48">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref48" name="_ftn48" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[48]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘Make mention’. Greek: <i>memnemetha.</i> The most basic meaning of this word is
‘remember’ but it also bears the meaning ‘make mention.’ Since the author is writing a treatise
dealing with the repetition of the Jesus Prayer, we have given a more technical
translation.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn49">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref49" name="_ftn49" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[49]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. after Baptism.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn50">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref50" name="_ftn50" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[50]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. the baptized.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn51">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref51" name="_ftn51" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[51]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. St John the Evangelist.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn52">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref52" name="_ftn52" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[52]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. the Evangelist.</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777175105405354499.post-17409185074723465962011-12-24T23:19:00.000+02:002011-12-24T18:21:45.616+02:00Chapters 81 - 90<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div>
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">81</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The word of
gnosis teaches us that there are as it were two genera of evil spirits. The first of these are as it were finer; the
second, more material. Therefore the
finer war against the soul while the others have the custom to take the body
captive by means of certain greasy<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[1]</span></span></span></a>
consolations. Wherefore the demons that
wrestle with the soul and those that wrestle with the body are ever opposed to
each other even if they have the equal intention of damaging men. Therefore when Grace does not have its abode
in man,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[2]</span></span></span></a>
the demons lurk in the depths of the heart after the manner, really, of
serpents, not at all permitting the soul to see clearly towards the desire for
the good. When Grace is hidden in the
mind,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[3]</span></span></span></a>
however, the demons thenceforth run through the parts of the heart like certain
gloomy clouds, being formed into the passions of sin and into various
distractions, so that deceitfully buoying up the remembrance of the mind they
tear it away from its intercourse with Grace.
Therefore, when we are inflamed towards the passions of the soul by the
demons afflicting the soul, and certainly towards conceit, which is itself the
mother of all evils, by considering the dissolution of our body we certainly
bring to shame the pretension of ambition.
We must also do the same when the demons that wrestle with the body
prepare our heart to boil up in shameful desires. For this simple recollection<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[4]</span></span></span></a>
is able in the memory of God to abolish all the scurryings-about of the evil
spirits. If on account of this
remembrance, however, the demons of the soul suggest to us limitless contempt
for the nature of man, on the ground that on account of the flesh there is no
value to it for any reason at all (for they like to do this when one wishes to
torture them with a thought<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[5]</span></span></span></a>
of this kind), we henceforth recall the honour and glory of the heavenly
kingdom without overlooking the bitter and gloomy aspect of the Judgement, so
that in the former we console our despondency while in the latter we toughen
the softness of our heart.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">82</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The Lord
teaches us in the Gospels that when Satan returns and finds his own house (that
is, the heart that does not bear fruit) swept and put in order, he then takes
seven other spirits and enters into that heart and lurks there, making the last
things of the man worse than the first.
Whence we must understand that as long as the Holy Spirit is in us, it
is not possible for Satan, entering, to reside in the depth of the soul. But the divine Paul also teaches us clearly
the mind<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[6]</span></span></span></a>
of this contemplation. For seeing the
shape<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[7]</span></span></span></a>
of the matter from the point of view of ascetical gnosis he speaks thus: ‘I
rejoice at the Law of God according to the inner man; but I see another law in
my members mobilized against the law of my mind and taking me captive in the
law of sin, the law which exists in my members;’ but from the point of view of
perfection he says: ‘Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are
in Christ Jesus; for the law of the Spirit of Life has freed me from the law of
sin and death.’ So that he again teach
us that from the body Satan wars against the soul which partakes of the Holy
Spirit, he also says elsewhere: ‘Stand, therefore, having girded your loins in
truth and having clothed yourself with the breastplate of righteousness and
having shod your feet in preparation of the Gospel of Peace, taking up over all
the shield of faith, in which you are able to extinguish all the flaming arrows
of the Evil One; and receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God.’
‘Captivity’ is one thing; ‘battle’, another, since the former is
significant of violent seizure whereas the second is declarative of a certain
equipollent struggle. Wherefore the
Apostle says that the Devil is always coming against the Christ-bearing souls<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[8]</span></span></span></a>
with flaming arrows. For he who is not
in control of his own opponent at all events makes use of arrows against him,
so that he be able to hunt with the feather of the arrows the one who is
battling him from a distance. Thus also,
because Satan is not able on account of the presence of Grace to lurk as
previously<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[9]</span></span></span></a>
in the mind of those contending [ascetically], he thenceforth lays hand on the
moistness<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[10]</span></span></span></a>
and lurks in the body so that he entice the soul on account of the body’s
licentiousness. Wherefore it is
necessary to melt the body away moderately so that the mind not slip into the
softness of pleasures by means of the body’s moistness. For it is proper to be persuaded by that
Apostolic saying, that the mind of those who contend [ascetically]<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn11" name="_ftnref11" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[11]</span></span></span></a>
is set into activity by the Divine Light, whence their mind also serves the
Divine Law and rejoices in it. The
flesh, however, gladly admits the evil spirits on account of its own
licentiousness, wherefore it is sometimes dragged out to serve their evil. Whence it certainly appears that the mind is
not some common dwelling place of God and the Devil. For how is it that ‘I serve the Law of God
with my mind, but with the flesh the law of sin;’ unless my mind stands in
every freedom towards battle with the demons, willingly subjecting itself to
the goodness of Grace, while the body gladly admits the odour of the irrational
passions (because, as I said, among those who are contending [ascetically] it
is permitted to the evil spirits of deceit to lurk in the body)? It says: ‘For I know that no good dwells in
me, that is, in my flesh;’—thus among those who in the midst of some struggle
are standing against sin. For the
Apostle does not say this by himself: the demons battle against the mind but
endeavour to loosen the body a little towards the softness of the pleasures by
means of greasy consolations. For
because the free will of the human habit of thought<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn12" name="_ftnref12" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[12]</span></span></span></a>
is ever under test, the demons have in accordance with a just judgement once
and for all been allowed to sojourn around the depths of the body even among
those who are earnestly contending against sin.
If one be able, then, to die while still living by means of ascetical
practices, he thenceforth completely becomes the dwelling place of the Holy
Spirit, for before such a person has died he has been resurrected, just as the
Blessed Paul was, and as many as have contended perfectly, and contend, against
sin.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">83</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The heart
also bears out of itself thoughts<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn13" name="_ftnref13" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[13]</span></span></span></a>
both good and not good,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn14" name="_ftnref14" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[14]</span></span></span></a>
not by nature bearing as fruit the conceptions<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn15" name="_ftnref15" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[15]</span></span></span></a>
which are not good but having in habit as it were the remembrance of that which
is not good on account of the very first deceit (but the heart conceives most
evil thoughts out of the bitterness of the demons). However, we sense all thoughts as proceeding
from the heart and for this reason certain persons have suggested that sin is
also in the mind with Grace. Wherefore
they also say that the Lord said: ‘Those things which come out of the mouth
come out of the heart and those things pollute a man; for out of the heart come
evil thoughts, adulteries;’ and the rest.
They do not know that our mind, having the activity of a certain most
subtle sense, makes its own, as it were by means of the flesh, the activity of
the thoughts<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn16" name="_ftnref16" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[16]</span></span></span></a>
suggested to it by the evil spirits, the licentiousness of the body fully
bearing the soul to this through the commixture<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn17" name="_ftnref17" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[17]</span></span></span></a>
in a way that we do not know. Since the
flesh ever cherishes being flattered without measure by deceit, on account of
this too the thoughts<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn18" name="_ftnref18" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[18]</span></span></span></a>
sown in the soul by the demons also seem to come out of the heart. For we make these thoughts our own, really,
when we wish to rejoice in them.
Censuring this very thing the Lord made use of the aforementioned
quotation, as the divine saying itself declares. For he who rejoices in the thoughts<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn19" name="_ftnref19" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[19]</span></span></span></a>
suggested by the wickedness of Satan and as it were engraves the memory of them
on his own heart—it is not unclear that he thenceforth bears those thoughts
from his own conception<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn20" name="_ftnref20" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[20]</span></span></span></a>
as fruit.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">84</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The Lord
says in the Gospel that it is not possible to expel the strong man from his
house unless someone who is stronger, having bound and despoiled him, expels
him. How is it therefore possible that
he who has been expelled with so much shame should enter again and sojourn with
the true householder who is reposing however he might wish in his own house? For not even a king who has contended greatly
against a tyrant who has at some time rebelled against him will countenance
having this person in the royal court.
Rather, he will cut his throat him immediately or, having bound him,
hand him over to his own troops for a long punishment and most miserable death.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">85</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">If someone
supposes that because we think good things together with bad the Holy Spirit
and the Devil together inhabit the mind, let him learn that this happens
because we have not yet tasted and seen that the Lord is good. For, first, as I said above, Grace hides its
presence among the baptized, awaiting the intention of the soul; when, however,
a man turns his intention wholly towards the Lord, then at that time Grace
manifests its presence in the heart with a certain unspeakable [spiritual]
perception; and it again awaits the movement of the soul, nonetheless allowing
the demonic arrows to reach right up to its deep [spiritual] sense so that the
soul seek out God with warmer intention and humble disposition. If therefore a man begin henceforth to
advance in the keeping of the commandments and if he invoke unceasingly the
Lord Jesus,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn21" name="_ftnref21" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[21]</span></span></span></a>
then the fire of Holy Grace is distributed even on the more external sense
organs of the heart, burning up the weeds of the human earth with inner spiritual
assurance.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn22" name="_ftnref22" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[22]</span></span></span></a> Whence even <the demonic arrows><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn23" name="_ftnref23" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[23]</span></span></span></a>
arrive somewhat further away from those places, thenceforth pricking the
impassioned part of the soul tranquilly.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn24" name="_ftnref24" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[24]</span></span></span></a> When the man of the struggle further binds
all the virtues to himself,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn25" name="_ftnref25" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[25]</span></span></span></a>
and certainly perfect poverty, then in a certain deeper [spiritual] sense Grace
illuminates his whole nature to a great love of God which thenceforth warms him
round. Wherefore the arrows<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn26" name="_ftnref26" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[26]</span></span></span></a>
are then extinguished more externally to the sense of the body.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn27" name="_ftnref27" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[27]</span></span></span></a> For moving the heart towards winds of peace
the breeze of the Holy Spirit completely extinguishes the arrows of the
fire-bearing demon while they are still borne in the air. However, on occasion God surrenders even the
one who has attained this very measure to the evil of the demons, at that time
leaving his mind without light so that our free will not at all be bound by the
bond of Grace<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn28" name="_ftnref28" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[28]</span></span></span></a>—not
only so that sin be defeated out of struggles but also because the man is yet
obliged to progress in spiritual experience.
For that which is thought to be the perfection of him who is being
trained is still imperfect as regards the wealth of honour of the God who is
training us in the love, even if by progress in ascetical practices one should
be able to ascend the whole ladder that was shown to Jacob.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn29" name="_ftnref29" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[29]</span></span></span></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">86</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The Lord
himself says that Satan has fallen like lightning from Heaven, so that the
disfigured one not even gaze on the habitations of the holy angels. How, therefore, is he able, he who has not
been found worthy of the fellowship of the good servants, to have the human
mind as a home together with God? For if
they object<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn30" name="_ftnref30" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[30]</span></span></span></a>
that this happens by surrender, let them say nothing more. For the pedagogical surrender<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn31" name="_ftnref31" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[31]</span></span></span></a>
in no way deprives the soul of Divine Light.
For the most part Grace only hides, as I have already said, its own
presence from the mind so that it propel, as it were, the soul into the
bitterness of the demons with the goal that, knowing a little of the evil of
its enemy, with all fear and great humility it seek out the very help from
God—in the same way that a mother seeing her own infant act disorderly around
the established customs of breastfeeding might thrust it away from her embrace
for a little so that terrified by certain repulsive persons standing there or
by any beasts whatsoever it go back with great fear and tears to the motherly
bosom. On the other hand, the surrender
according to aversion<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn32" name="_ftnref32" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[32]</span></span></span></a>
hands the soul that does not want to have God over to the demons like a
prisoner. However we are not bastards<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn33" name="_ftnref33" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[33]</span></span></span></a>—may
it not be so!—but we believe that we are genuine infants of the Grace of God,
breast-fed by it with small surrenders and frequent consolations so that
through its goodness we arrive to come to the perfect man, to the measure of
stature.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn34" name="_ftnref34" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[34]</span></span></span></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">87</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The
pedagogical surrender brings much sadness and humbleness and moderate despair
to the soul, so that the part of it which is ambitious and easily excited<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn35" name="_ftnref35" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[35]</span></span></span></a>
come appropriately to humility. The
pedagogical surrender immediately brings to the heart fear of God and tears of
confession and great desire of the finest silence. On the other hand, the surrender which is
according to the aversion of God allows the soul to be filled with despair
together with disbelief and wrath and delusion<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn36" name="_ftnref36" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[36]</span></span></span></a>. We must, knowing the experience of both types
of surrender, approach God according to the manner of each. In the first case, we should bring forth to
God thanksgiving with a rendering of accounts as to one who is chastising the
profligate character of our judgement by the suspension of consolation so that
as a good father he teach us the difference between virtue and vice. In the second case, however, ceaseless
confession of our sinful practices, weeping without cease and greater solitude,
so that thus we might with the addition of ascetical practices even be able to
entreat God to look at some time upon our hearts as before.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn37" name="_ftnref37" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[37]</span></span></span></a> However, it must be known that when the
battle occurs according to the substantial<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn38" name="_ftnref38" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[38]</span></span></span></a>
engagement of the soul and the Devil—I am speaking of the case of pedagogical
surrender—Grace conceals itself, as I have already said, but it works together
with a help that is unknown to the soul so as to demonstrate to the soul’s
enemies that the victory is of the soul only.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">88</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Just as
when one is standing some place in the winter-time at the beginning of day and
looking wholly towards the east, all his front parts are somewhat warmed by the
sun whereas all his back parts have no share in the warmth because the sun is
not directly over his head, thus also those in the beginning of spiritual activity<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn39" name="_ftnref39" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[39]</span></span></span></a>
are partially warmed round in the heart by Holy Grace. Wherefore the mind of such persons also
begins at that time to bear the fruit of spiritual habits of thought, but
obvious parts of the mind remain with habits of thought that are according to
the flesh, since all the parts of the heart have not yet been completely
illuminated with the light of Holy Grace in deep [spiritual] perception. (Certain persons, however, not understanding
this very thing, have in themselves thought that in the minds of those who are
contending [ascetically] there are two hypostases<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn40" name="_ftnref40" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[40]</span></span></span></a>
set one over against the other.)
Therefore it thus happens that the soul thinks good things and not good
things in the same instant, in the same way that the man in the example both
shivers and is warmed in the same touch.
For from the time that our mind slid away into the duality of
<judgement><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn41" name="_ftnref41" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[41]</span></span></span></a>,
from that time it has a need to bear, even if it should not want, both good and
bad thoughts<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn42" name="_ftnref42" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[42]</span></span></span></a>,
and even among those, certainly, who are coming into subtlety of
discernment. For as the mind ever makes
an effort to think the good, immediately it also recalls the evil because the
memory of man has been split into a certain dual conception<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn43" name="_ftnref43" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[43]</span></span></span></a>
from the time of Adam’s disobedience.
Therefore, if we begin to practise the commandments of God with warm
zeal Grace illuminating in a certain deep [spiritual] perception all our
[spiritual] organs of sense thenceforth burns up as it were all our
recollections and, sweetening our heart in a certain peace of unwavering
friendship,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn44" name="_ftnref44" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[44]</span></span></span></a>
prepares us to think certain spiritual things and no longer according to the
flesh. This occurs extremely often to
those who are approaching perfection, those who unceasingly have the memory of
the Lord Jesus<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn45" name="_ftnref45" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[45]</span></span></span></a>
in their heart.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">89</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Holy Grace
procures two things for us in our Baptism of Rebirth, of which the one
limitlessly exceeds the other. But the
lesser<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn46" name="_ftnref46" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[46]</span></span></span></a>
is granted immediately: it renews us in the very water and makes bright all the
lines of the soul—that is, the ‘according to the image’—, washing away every
stain of sin. The greater<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn47" name="_ftnref47" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[47]</span></span></span></a>
expects that it will work with us, which very thing is the ‘according to the
likeness’. When the mind therefore
begins to taste the goodness of the Holy Spirit in great [spiritual]
perception, then we should know that Grace is beginning to paint as it were the
‘according to the likeness’ on the ‘according to the image’. For in the same way that painters first
delineate with one colour the figure of the man, then, adorning tint little by
little with tint, thus capture up to the strands of hair the form of the man
being portrayed—thus also the Grace of God first regulates the ‘according to
the image’ by means of Baptism to just what it was when Man came to be. But when Grace sees us desiring from every
purpose the beauty of the ‘according to the likeness’ and standing naked and
undaunted in its workshop, then, adorning virtue with virtue and bringing the
form of the soul back from glory to glory it procures for the soul the very
stamp<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn48" name="_ftnref48" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[48]</span></span></span></a>
of the ‘according to the likeness’.
Therefore the [spiritual] perception declares that we are being formed
in the ‘according to the likeness’; but we will know the perfection of the
likeness from the illumination. For
progressing according to a certain measure and unspeakable rhythm the mind
receives all the [other] virtues by means of the [spiritual] sense; one cannot
acquire spiritual love, however, unless he be illuminated by the Holy Spirit in
every [spiritual] assurance.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn49" name="_ftnref49" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[49]</span></span></span></a> If the mind does not receive the ‘according
to the likeness’ by means of the Divine Light, it is able to have almost all
the other virtues but it still remains without a share in perfect love. For when it becomes like to the virtue of
God—as much as man has the capacity to become like to God, I say—it then bears
the likeness of the divine love too. For
just as among those who are being portrayed, the whole range of splendid
colours<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn50" name="_ftnref50" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[50]</span></span></span></a>
added to the image preserves the resemblance of him who is being portrayed
right up to the smile, thus also among those who are being delineated to the
divine likeness by Divine Grace, the illumination of love when added declares
the ‘according to the image’ to be completely in the comeliness of the
‘according to the likeness.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn51" name="_ftnref51" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[51]</span></span></span></a> For no other virtue except only love is able
to procure dispassion for the soul. For
the fullness of the Law is love. So,
then, our inner man is renewed from day to day in the taste of love; it is
completed in the perfection of love.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">90</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the
beginning of our progress, if indeed we warmly and ardently desire the virtue
of God, the Holy Spirit makes the mind taste in every [spiritual] perception
and inner spiritual assurance the sweetness of God, so that the mind be able to
know in exact knowledge the perfect reward of the God-loving ascetical practices. Thenceforth, however, the Holy Spirit hides
for much time the extravagance of this vivifying gift so that even if we should
completely accomplish all the other virtues we consider ourselves to be utterly
nothing because we do not yet have the holy love as it were in habit. Thus, therefore, the demon of hatred
thereafter greatly afflicts the souls of those who are contending [ascetically]
so that it slander even those who love them with the goal of inciting hatred,
and it bears the destroying activity of hatred almost up to the kiss. Whence the soul is thereafter pained, bearing
the memory of spiritual love but not being able to acquire it in [spiritual]
perception because of the lack of the most perfect ascetical practices. It is therefore necessary that in the
meantime we work this from violence<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn52" name="_ftnref52" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[52]</span></span></span></a>
so that we attain to the taste of this spiritual love in every [spiritual]
perception and inner spiritual assurance.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn53" name="_ftnref53" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[53]</span></span></span></a> For in this flesh no one can acquire the
perfection of this love except those saints who have come as far as martyrdom
and perfect confession.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn54" name="_ftnref54" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[54]</span></span></span></a> For he whose lot this is, is wholly changed
and does not easily desire food. For to
him who is nourished by divine love what desire is there for the good things in
the world? For this reason, the wisest
Paul, the great receptacle of gnosis, announcing to us from his own spiritual
experience<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn55" name="_ftnref55" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[55]</span></span></span></a>
the good news of the future delight of the first just men<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn56" name="_ftnref56" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[56]</span></span></span></a>
speaks thus: ‘For the Kingdom of Heaven is not food and drink, but
righteousness and peace and grace in the Holy Spirit,’ which things are the
fruit of perfect love. So, therefore,
those who are progressing in perfection are able here to taste this continually
but no one is able to acquire this perfectly except when that which is mortal
is completely<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn57" name="_ftnref57" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[57]</span></span></span></a>
swallowed up by Life.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn58" name="_ftnref58" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[58]</span></span></span></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<br />
<hr size="1" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[1]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek:<i> liparon. </i>It is not entirely clear what this means
in context.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[2]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. before Baptism.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[3]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. after Baptism.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[4]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. of the dissolution of the body. This is usually called the Memory of Death.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn5">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[5]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>ennoia.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn6">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[6]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>nous</i>. I.e. meaning or sense.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn7">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[7]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>schema.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn8">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[8]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. souls which have the Holy Spirit indwelling through Baptism.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn9">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[9]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. before Baptism.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn10">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[10]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>ugroteti. </i>Des Places renders this as ‘the humours
of the body’, which is probably what the author has in the back of his mind.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn11">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref11" name="_ftn11" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[11]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Here the author seems to mean all Christians, however.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn12">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref12" name="_ftn12" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[12]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘Habit of thought’: Greek: <i>phronematos</i>.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn13">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref13" name="_ftn13" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[13]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>logismous</i>.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn14">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref14" name="_ftn14" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[14]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. not only does a person have bad thoughts on account of the
demons, or even good thoughts on account of the Holy Spirit, but also out of
his own nature. The issue then becomes
where the person gets such bad thoughts arising out of himself given that God
made everything good.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn15">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref15" name="_ftn15" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[15]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>ennoias</i>.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn16">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref16" name="_ftn16" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[16]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>logismon</i>.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn17">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref17" name="_ftn17" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[17]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. through the commixture of the soul and body.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn18">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref18" name="_ftn18" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[18]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>logismoi</i>.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn19">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref19" name="_ftn19" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[19]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>logismois</i>.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn20">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref20" name="_ftn20" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[20]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>ennoias</i>.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn21">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref21" name="_ftn21" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[21]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> </span><span lang="EN-GB">Reading</span><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘Lord Jesus’ with des Places instead of ‘Lord’ with </span><span lang="EN-GB">Rutherford</span><span lang="EN-GB">. With the reading of des Places, it is clear
that the Jesus Prayer is intended whereas with the reading of </span><span lang="EN-GB">Rutherford</span><span lang="EN-GB"> the author might be
construed to have a more general conception.
However, the construal that the Jesus Prayer is meant is consistent with
the rest of the treatise.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn22">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref22" name="_ftn22" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[22]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The author appears to view the interior world of the ascetic as
having levels of depth so that he can speak of inner and outer spiritual
senses. What he is saying is that when
the Holy Spirit tries the ascetic after it has given him an inner spiritual
assurance of the spiritual sense, it allows the demonic arrows to reach right
up to the depths of the ascetic’s inner world; but when ascetic makes progress
in keeping the commandments and unceasingly remembers the Lord Jesus through
the Jesus Prayer, then the fire of Grace touches not only the most interior
part of the ascetic’s inner world but expands outward from that centre to the
more external spiritual sense organs of the heart. This is evidently based on the author’s own
experience both in the Jesus Prayer and as a guide of souls.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn23">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref23" name="_ftn23" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[23]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <<i>ta demonika bele</i>>.
The text has ‘the demonic counsels (Greek: <i>ai
demonikai boulai</i>), which the other translators have rendered as ‘the
demonic attacks (Greek:<i> ai demonikai
epiboulai)’ </i>except for </span><span lang="EN-GB">Rutherford</span><span lang="EN-GB"> who has rendered it ‘the demonic schemes’. Surely, however, given that ‘the demonic
arrows’ is a consistent element here and elsewhere in the chapter and given
that the author immediately goes on to speak of these things ‘pricking or
piercing’, the text is faulty and to be emended in the manner given.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn24">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref24" name="_ftn24" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[24]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Evidently the author means that the arrows reach only to the more
external parts of the heart, not to the centre as before, thus pricking the
impassioned parts of the soul more gently.
The text is corrupt it seems. However,
the important thing is that the demonic attacks no longer have an overwhelming
force. Cf. </span><span lang="EN-GB">St John</span><span lang="EN-GB"> of Sinai.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn25">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref25" name="_ftn25" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[25]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This seems to be an image of the warrior binding armour to himself.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn26">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref26" name="_ftn26" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[26]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek:<i> toxa.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn27">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref27" name="_ftn27" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[27]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Note that the author has a sort of set of concentric circles: the
innermost circle or bull’s-eye is Grace itself united to the mind in its
uttermost depths. Close to this is the
innermost spiritual sense. Then further
out are the more external spiritual senses of the heart. Finally there are the senses of the
body. The author is saying that when
Grace recedes, then the arrows of the demons reach to the innermost spiritual
sense, but as Grace grows stronger because of the ascetic’s application to the
ascetic struggle, the arrows reach only to the more external spiritual senses
because of the more pervasive conscious presence of Grace. Finally, when the ascetic has reached to the
stage of binding all the virtues to himself, then the arrows of the demons are
extinguished beyond even the physical senses of the body, the outermost circle. But see later in the text, Chapters 89 ff.,
how the author treats the stage of perfection.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn28">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref28" name="_ftn28" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[28]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. when we experience great Grace, our will is at it were bound
to God by our experience of that Grace.
But when we experience abandonment, our free commitment to God is tested
in the darkness of abandonment. The
author continues, saying that this is actually for two reasons: so that sin be
defeated in struggle and so that the man progress in practical spiritual
experience (so that he understand the nature of spiritual warfare
experientially).</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn29">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref29" name="_ftn29" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[29]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Accepting </span><span lang="EN-GB">Rutherford</span><span lang="EN-GB">’s reading from the single manuscript R, unknown to des Places,
which adds <i>tes,</i> giving the reading above. The text of des Places without the <i>tes </i>is
difficult to construe. The text seems to
mean that in comparison with the infinite honour of God the accomplishments of
the ascetic are imperfect however perfect they might be, even when the ascetic
is able to climb Jacob’s Ladder by his own ascetical labours.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn30">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref30" name="_ftn30" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[30]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Accepting </span><span lang="EN-GB">Rutherford</span><span lang="EN-GB">’s reading.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn31">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref31" name="_ftn31" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[31]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. the surrender by God of the soul for pedagogical reasons to
the temptations of the Devil, like Job.
This is usually called ‘pedagogical abandonment’ by the ascetical
authors.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn32">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref32" name="_ftn32" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[32]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This is the second type of abandonment that the author is
analyzing. Here it is a matter of an
aversion on the part of God for someone who refuses God: the soul is handed
over to the demons as a prisoner for punishment.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn33">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref33" name="_ftn33" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[33]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Literally, ‘children of concealment’. Our interpretation depends on the polarity
between this phrase and the ‘genuine infants’ following.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn34">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref34" name="_ftn34" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[34]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Two points here. First, it
is clear that the author is catechizing his disciples and that he is frightened
here of the effect on them if he emphasizes the surrender according to
aversion, immediately moderating his words.
The second point is that the author is alluding to Paul in the contrast
‘bastard – genuine child’ and in the phrase ‘to come into the measure of
stature’: Hebrews 10, 39 and Ephesians 4, 13 (although certainly the passage of
Hebrews does not support the interpretation ‘bastard’ even if it uses the same
Greek word for concealment). Indeed,
that this is a catechism of the author’s disciples helps us to assess why the
author dwells so much on the notion that Satan might dwell along with God in
the mind (the created spirit of man): it was a pastoral problem among his
disciples.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn35">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref35" name="_ftn35" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[35]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘Easily excited’. Greek: <i>euptoeton. </i>According to Liddell-Scott and Lampe
(which indeed references this passage) ‘easily frightened’ is the meaning of
the Greek word. But that doesn’t make
sense in context since the cure given is humility: the virtue which would cure
the lack of manliness implied in the book translation is fortitude. Given the other uses of this word and its
cognates by the author we have adopted the translation given.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn36">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref36" name="_ftn36" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[36]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>tuphos.</i> This is not the same word as <i>plane (plani),</i> which describes a state
of delusion caused by a false revelation given by the demons. Here it is more a matter of a subjective
psychological condition where the person is in the medical sense deluded and
perhaps hallucinating: he is out of his mind.
A milder rendering would be ‘arrogance’.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn37">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref37" name="_ftn37" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[37]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This is very similar to the ‘Prison’ in the <i>Ladder of Divine Ascent </i>by St John of Sinai.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn38">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref38" name="_ftn38" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[38]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>ousiode.</i> The sense is that in the case under
discussion the soul and the Devil join battle in actual hand-to-hand
combat. It is no longer a matter of bad
thoughts. See the Life of St Silouan of
Athos.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn39">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref39" name="_ftn39" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[39]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>energeias.</i> According to the context, this activity is
the activity of Holy Spirit on the person, not the efforts of the person
himself to lead a pious life.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn40">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref40" name="_ftn40" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[40]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek:<i> upostases. </i>Until now the author has used the more
Western word, person (Greek:<i>
prosopon). </i>He clearly means the same
thing: the supposed co-existence of a personal principle of holiness, the Holy
Spirit, and of a personal principal of evil, the Devil or Satan, in the one
person. It should be remarked that the
author’s see was on the Western side of mainland </span><span lang="EN-GB">Greece</span><span lang="EN-GB">
and that it might very well have had regular communication with the West even
though today it seems rather isolated.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn41">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref41" name="_ftn41" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[41]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘<judgement (Greek: <i>gnomes</i>)>. The text here has ‘knowledge (Greek: <i>gnoseos</i>)’. While the critical apparatus does not show
our reading, it seems to be required by the text. As the author has already said, the Fall
introduced a duality of the will towards good or evil. However, there is nothing in his doctrine of
gnosis that would suggest that the Fall also introduced a duality of intuitive
knowledge or illumination, although the author certainly recognizes the
possibility of demonic delusion.
Judgement (<i>gnome</i>) does bear
the sense of a personal judgement leading to a choice made by the free
will. See below in this chapter, where
the duality is applied to the memory.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn42">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref42" name="_ftn42" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[42]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>dianoemata</i>.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn43">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref43" name="_ftn43" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[43]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>ennoian.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn44">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref44" name="_ftn44" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[44]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This is unclear. It appears
to mean friendship between man and Grace.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn45">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref45" name="_ftn45" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[45]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Retaining the reading of des Places. </span><span lang="EN-GB">Rutherford</span><span lang="EN-GB"> drops ‘Jesus’.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn46">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref46" name="_ftn46" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[46]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Literally, ‘the latter’.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn47">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref47" name="_ftn47" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[47]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Literally, ‘the former’.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn48">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref48" name="_ftn48" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[48]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘Very stamp’: Greek: <i>charakter</i>. This word means ‘engraving’, ‘engraved
image’. The word is used by the Apostle
Paul of the relation between Jesus Christ and the Father. Hence, here, the ‘very stamp’. One might also say ‘very character’.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn49">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref49" name="_ftn49" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[49]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘[Spiritual] assurance’: Greek: <i>plerophoria.</i> While all the other virtues are received by
means of the spiritual sense, the virtue of spiritual love is received only in
a conscious illumination of the mind by the Holy Spirit, what is usually called
the Uncreated Light.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn50">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref50" name="_ftn50" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[50]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘The whole range of splendid colours’. Greek: <i>to antheron olon twn chrwmatwn
chrwma. </i>This is unclear. Either it is an otherwise unattested idiom or
the text is corrupt.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn51">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref51" name="_ftn51" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[51]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This sentence is difficult to construe.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn52">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref52" name="_ftn52" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[52]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This is the good violence of the Gospel.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn53">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref53" name="_ftn53" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[53]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> The author means that since by the deprivation of Grace for the
sake of our purification we no longer have any spiritual perception of perfect
love, but even rather are tempted to the hatred of others, we must in this
condition force ourselves to love so that we ultimately attain to the
perfection of love in full consciousness and assurance.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn54">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref54" name="_ftn54" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[54]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> In the sense of the Confessors of the Faith who have gone to the
stadium for martyrdom but who have survived.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn55">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref55" name="_ftn55" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[55]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘Spiritual experience’: Greek: <i>plerophoria.</i> This is the second meaning of <i>plerophoria—</i>an actual illumination.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn56">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref56" name="_ftn56" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[56]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Normally this refers to Adam and Eve before the Fall but here seems
to refer to the saints.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn57">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref57" name="_ftn57" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[57]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Accepting </span><span lang="EN-GB">Rutherford</span><span lang="EN-GB">'s addition of ‘completely’.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn58">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref58" name="_ftn58" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[58]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. after death.</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-777175105405354499.post-34021611887972164452011-12-24T23:10:00.000+02:002011-12-24T18:22:12.478+02:00Chapters 91 - 100<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div>
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">91</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">One of
those who love the Lord with a certain insatiable disposition narrated to me as
follows. He said, ‘To me who desired to
know the love of God with knowledge,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[1]</span></span></span></a>
the Good One provided the love of God in much [spiritual] perception and inner
spiritual assurance<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[2]</span></span></span></a>;
and I [spiritually] perceived that noble activity<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[3]</span></span></span></a>
so much that my soul then hastened with a certain unspeakable joy and love to
go out from the body and depart towards the Lord, and to ignore as it were this
manner of temporal life itself.’ Even if
he who comes to be in experience of this love should be despised or injured by
someone a myriad of times (for it happens that he is undoubtedly yet going to
have one of these sorts of things to work on with labour) he does not grow
wrathful with the person but remains as if joined fast even to the soul of him
who has despised or even injured him. He
is kindled only against those who come either against the poor or against God
(as Scripture says, ‘They speak injustice;’) or otherwise to an extent lead an
evil way of life. For he who henceforth
loves God beyond himself—or, rather, he who no longer loves himself but only
God—no longer avenges his own honour but wants only the righteousness to be
honoured of God who has honoured him in eternal honour.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[4]</span></span></span></a> He no longer has this as deriving from a
certain small bit of will but henceforth has such a disposition as it were in
habit on account of the great experience of divine love. In addition to these things it must be known
that he who is set by God into the activity of such a love comes to be above
even faith in the time of such activity, as by means of the great love holding
fast in [spiritual] perception of heart him who is honoured in faith. The holy Apostle clearly signifies this very
thing, saying: ‘Now there remain these three things, faith, hope and love; of
these the greatest is love.’ For he who
in a wealth of love, as I said, holds God fast is at that time much greater
than his own faith, as being wholly in love<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn5" name="_ftnref5" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[5]</span></span></span></a>.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">92</span></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The intermediate
state of holy gnosis prepares us to be not a little sorrowed when because of
some quarrel we make someone our enemy by insulting him. Wherefore they never cease<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn6" name="_ftnref6" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[6]</span></span></span></a>
to prick our conscience until through much rendering of accounts we lead the
one who was insulted back to his previous disposition. The most extreme compunction of this state of
holy gnosis<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn7" name="_ftnref7" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[7]</span></span></span></a>
makes us meditate and reflect greatly even when one of those leading a secular
life has unjustly grown wrathful with us, since, speaking, we have wholly
become a stumbling block to someone from this Age<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn8" name="_ftnref8" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[8]</span></span></span></a>. Whence the mind also then becomes idle in
regard to contemplation<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn9" name="_ftnref9" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[9]</span></span></span></a>
for since the word of gnosis is wholly love, it does not allow the intellect to
be broadened towards the conception of divine contemplations<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn10" name="_ftnref10" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[10]</span></span></span></a>
unless we first regain in love even him who is without reason wrathful with
us. If, then, that person does not want
this to happen or, again, has departed from our paths, the word of gnosis
presses us thenceforth to fulfil the law of love in the depth of the heart by
adding the character of his face to our own disposition in a certain
unconstrained largeness of soul.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn11" name="_ftnref11" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[11]</span></span></span></a> For it says:<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn12" name="_ftnref12" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[12]</span></span></span></a>
‘Those who wish to have the gnosis of God must in their own intellect look
without choleric conception upon even the faces of those who are choleric out
of season.’ This having come to pass,
the mind is not only faultlessly set into motion as regards theology but will
also ascend to the love of God with great boldness of spirit<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn13" name="_ftnref13" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[13]</span></span></span></a>,
hastening unimpededly from the second step to the first.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn14" name="_ftnref14" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[14]</span></span></span></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">93</span></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">To those
who are beginning ardently to desire piety the road of virtue seems extremely
rough and gloomy not because it is that sort of thing but because human nature
consorts with the full range of the pleasures directly from the womb; to those,
however, who are able to come to the middle of it, the road is shown to be
wholly gentle and easy. For having been
subjected to the good habit by means of the activity of the good, the bad is
destroyed along with the memory of the irrational passions. Whence, the soul thenceforth passes gladly
along all the beaten tracks of the virtues.
For this reason, the Lord, introducing us to the road of salvation,
says: ‘How narrow and strait is the road leading to the Kingdom and few are
they that enter in by it.’ To those,
however, who wish with much purpose to come forth to the keeping of his holy
commandments, he says: ‘For my yoke is good and my load is light.’ Therefore, at the beginning of the struggle
we must work the holy commandments of God with a certain violent act of will so
that seeing our purpose and effort the good Lord send us a certain will ready
to serve extremely gladly the glorious things he wills. For then, ‘The will is prepared by the Lord,’
so that we unceasingly work the good in a certain great joy. For then, really, we will [spiritually]
perceive that, ‘God is he who acts in us both to want and to act for his
approval.’</span></div>
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</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">94</span></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the same
way that wax that has not been heated or softened for a long time is not able
to accept the seal which has been placed on it, thus a man, unless he be tried
by [ascetical] labours and infirmities<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn15" name="_ftnref15" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[15]</span></span></span></a>,
is not able to find place for the seal of the virtue of God.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn16" name="_ftnref16" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[16]</span></span></span></a> For this reason the Lord says to the divine
Paul: ‘My grace is sufficient for you for my power is perfected in
infirmity.’ And the Apostle himself
boasts, saying: ‘Therefore I would rather boast gladly of my infirmities so
that the power of Christ dwell upon me.’
But in Proverbs it has also been written: ‘The Lord chastises him who he
loves; he whips every son whom he receives.’
And the Apostle calls <i>infirmities</i> the rebellions of the enemies
of the Cross which continually happened to him and to all the saints of that
day so that they not be puffed up, as he himself says, at the abundance of
revelations—but they abided, rather, in the characteristic property of
perfection through humiliation, devoutly guarding the divine gift by means of
the frequent episodes of contempt. But
now we call <i>infirmities</i> the evil thoughts and the bodily anomalies. For because the bodies of the saints
contending against sin were delivered up to deadly tortures and various other
afflictions, the saints were then much higher than the passions which have
entered into human nature out of sin.
Now, however, because the peace of the churches is multiplied on account
of the Lord the body of the contenders for piety must be tried on account of
this by means of continual anomalies and their soul by means of wicked
thoughts—and certainly among those in whom gnosis is active in every
[spiritual] perception and inner spiritual assurance—so that the contenders be
able to be outside every vainglory or even vain imagining, and be able by means
of the great abasement to find space in their hearts, as I said, for the seal
of the beauty of God, according to the saint who said: ‘For the light of your
Face has been stamped upon us, O Lord.’
Therefore, giving thanks, we must patiently await the counsel of the
Lord.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn17" name="_ftnref17" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[17]</span></span></span></a> For the continuality of the sicknesses and
the battle against the demonic thoughts will be reckoned for us to the account
of a second martyrdom. For he who at
that time said to the holy martyrs by means of those lawless rulers, ‘Deny
Christ; yearn for the glories of this present life;’ even now stands against
the servants of God in person, saying these things unceasingly. He who at that time pained the bodies of the
righteous and insulted to the utmost the teachers of honour through those
ministering to those diabolical habits of thought—that very same one even now
brings the various passions against the confessors of piety with many insults
and acts of contempt, and certainly when for the sake of the glory of the Lord
they help in much power the poor who are oppressed. For this reason it is necessary to work with
sureness and patience on the martyrdom of our conscience before the Lord. For it says: ‘Waiting patiently, I patiently
awaited the Lord and he took heed to me.’</span></div>
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<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">95</span></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Humility is
a hard thing to procure. For in the
measure of its greatness, that much it is accomplished with many
struggles. It comes to those who
participate in holy gnosis in two ways.
First, when the contender of piety is in the intermediate stage of
spiritual experience then either on account of infirmity of the body or on
account of those who show enmity to those who take a care for the right or on
account of evil thoughts, the contender has a somewhat lowlier habit of
thought. Second, when the mind has been
illuminated by Holy Grace in much [spiritual] perception and inner spiritual
assurance, then the soul has humility as something as it were natural. For fattened by the divine Goodness it is no
longer able to be puffed up by the pretension of ambition and even if it
unceasingly works the commandments of God it certainly considers itself lower
than all men on account of the communion in the divine forbearance.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn18" name="_ftnref18" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[18]</span></span></span></a> The first humility most often has sorrow and
discouragement; the second, joy with an all-wise respect for others. Wherefore, the first humility, as I said,
comes to those who are in the middle of the struggles but the second is sent
down to those who are approaching perfection.
On account of this, the first is often damaged<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn19" name="_ftnref19" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[19]</span></span></span></a>
by the successes of this life while even if someone were to offer it all the
Kingdoms of the world the second neither is passionately excited nor perceives
in any way the terrible arrows of sin—for being wholly spiritual it completely
ignores bodily glories. To come to the
second humility it is in every respect necessary for the [ascetical] contender
to come through the first. For unless
Grace by means of the first humility first soften our free will in the
application of the pedagogical sufferings—as tests and not coercively<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn20" name="_ftnref20" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[20]</span></span></span></a>—it
will not grant us the splendour of the second humility.</span></div>
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</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">96</span></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Those who
are friends of the pleasures of the present life come to the stumbles from the
thoughts<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn21" name="_ftnref21" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[21]</span></span></span></a>. For borne by an undiscerning disposition they
desire to bring almost all their impassioned conceptions<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn22" name="_ftnref22" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[22]</span></span></span></a>
to lawless words and unholy works. Those
however who are endeavouring to accomplish the ascetical way of life come from
the stumbles to the evil thoughts or to certain evil and damaging words. For if the demons see such persons gladly
tolerating abuse [of others] or speaking certain idle and unseasonable things
or laughing as it should not be or angered immoderately or desiring to see
empty and vain glory, then of one accord they arm themselves against them. For taking ambition as an occasion for their
own evil certainly they jump through that ambition as if through a certain dark
window and plunder the souls. Therefore
it is necessary that those who wish to dwell together with the multitude of
virtues not seek glory nor meet with many people nor make use of continual
appearances in public nor abuse certain persons even if those who are abused be
worthy of the abuse nor speak much even if they be able to say all things
well. For dispersing the mind without
measure, loquacity not only makes the mind idle in relation to its spiritual
labour but also delivers it to the demon of accidie<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn23" name="_ftnref23" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[23]</span></span></span></a>,
which weakening it without measure delivers it thenceforth to the demons of
sorrow and the demons of anger. The mind
must therefore ever be occupied with the keeping of the holy commandments and
with the deep remembrance of the Lord of Glory.
For it says: ‘He who keeps the commandment will not know an evil word;’
that is, will not deviate into bad thoughts or words.</span></div>
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<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">97</span></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">When the
heart receives the arrows of the demons with a certain warm pain in such a way
that it suspects that he who is being warred against<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn24" name="_ftnref24" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[24]</span></span></span></a>
endures real arrows, the soul hates the passions with pain, as being in the
beginning of being purified. For if the
soul should not suffer great pain on account of the impudence of sin it would
not be able to rejoice richly over the goodness of righteousness. Therefore let him who wants to purify his own
heart set it on fire at all times with the memory of the Lord Jesus<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn25" name="_ftnref25" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[25]</span></span></span></a>,
having only this as a meditation and ceaseless work.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn26" name="_ftnref26" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[26]</span></span></span></a> For those who wish to put off their own rot
must not pray<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn27" name="_ftnref27" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[27]</span></span></span></a>
at one time and at another time not pray, but ever occupy themselves with the
prayer<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn28" name="_ftnref28" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[28]</span></span></span></a>
in the keeping of the mind, even if they should have their abode somewhere
outside the houses of prayer. For in the
way that he who wishes to purify gold again makes hard the material being
purified if he let the fire go out under the crucible even if only for a short
time—in that same way he who at one time remembers God and at another time does
not, loses though the idleness whatever he thinks to acquire by the prayer<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn29" name="_ftnref29" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[29]</span></span></span></a>. It is a characteristic of the man who loves
virtue ever to consume what is earthy in his heart by means of the memory of
God, so that the bad thus being gradually expended by the fire of the memory of
the Good, the soul come completely back to its natural brightness with greater
glory.</span></div>
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</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">98</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Dispassion
is not the state of not being warred against by the demons, since according to
the Apostle we would then need to have gone out of the world, but the state in
which those who are warred against by the demons remain not warred against.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn30" name="_ftnref30" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[30]</span></span></span></a> For the warriors who wear armour have arrows
shot at them by their opponents and hear the sound of the archery and also see
almost all the arrows sent against them, yet they are not wounded because of
the hardness of the armour. But they
have the quality of not being warred against when they are warred against by
being fenced by iron. Let us, however,
fully armed with the panoply of the Holy Light and the helmet of salvation, cut
through the dark phalanxes of the demons by means of all good works. For no longer to practise vices does not by
itself bring purity but to set aside vices in power through assiduous attention
to the virtues.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">99</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">When the
man of God has conquered almost all the passions, two demons remain behind to
wrestle with him. The first of these
annoys the soul by bringing it from much love of God to an unseasonable zeal
such that the soul does not want anyone else to please God in the way that it
does; the second annoys the body by inciting it to the desire for intercourse
by means of a certain burning activity.
This happens to the body because, first, this pleasure is a property of
nature as on account of child-bearing and for that reason easily defeated; and,
further, also on account of the permission of God. For when the Lord sees one of the [ascetical]
contenders flourishing in the multitude of virtues, he occasionally permits him
to be sullied by this demon so that he suppose himself to be meaner than all
the men leading a secular life.
Doubtless, annoyance by this passion either follows the attainments or,
on occasion, comes before them, so that in anticipation or in sudden attack of
the passion the soul seem somewhat useless however great its accomplishments
might be. But let us battle the first
passion in great humility and love and the second passion in temperance and
freedom from wrath and the deep conception<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn31" name="_ftnref31" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[31]</span></span></span></a>
of death, so that in consequence ceaselessly sensing [spiritually] the activity
of the Holy Spirit we come to be above even these very passions in the Lord.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="StyleHeading3Centered" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="EN-GB">100</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">As many of
us become participants in holy gnosis will render an account of even our
involuntary vain imaginings. For Job
says: ‘You have taken note even if I have transgressed something
involuntarily;’—and justly so. For if
one were not to cease to remember God and were not to neglect his holy
commandments, one would not fall into either a voluntary or an involuntary
fault. We must therefore offer firm
confession to the Master even concerning our involuntary faults, that is, in
regard to the labour of the customary rule<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn32" name="_ftnref32" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[32]</span></span></span></a>
(for it is not possible that being human one has not stumbled in a human way),
up to the time that in tears of love our conscience assure us spiritually
concerning the remission of these faults.
For it says: ‘If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just so that he
forgive our sins and purify us from every injustice.’ We must attend unceasingly to the [spiritual]
perception of confession lest perhaps our conscience speak falsely supposing
that it has confessed adequately to God, for the judgement of God is far
mightier than our conscience even if in complete spiritual assurance one should
bear witness to nothing in himself<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn33" name="_ftnref33" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[33]</span></span></span></a>,
as the wisest Paul teaches us, saying: ‘But I do not interrogate myself; for I
bear witness to nothing in myself but in this I have not been justified; the
Lord is he who interrogates me.’ For if
we do not also properly confess concerning these things [that have escaped our
conscience]<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn34" name="_ftnref34" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="EN-GB">[34]</span></span></span></a>
then at the time of our departure we will find a certain secret cowardice in
ourselves. It is necessary for us who
love the Lord to pray to be found outside all fear at that time for he who is
then found in fear will not pass by the Tartarian rulers in a free way, for
those have the cowardice of the soul as an advocate as it were on behalf of
their own evil. But in the hour of
dissolution the soul which exults in the love of God is borne with the angels
of peace above all the dark ranks. It is
as it were given wing by spiritual love, as bearing without lack love as the
fullness of the Law. Wherefore also in
the Second Coming of the Lord those who depart from this life with such
boldness will be ravished with all the saints.
But those who are even a little cowardly in the time of death will be
left behind in the multitude of all the other men as being under judgement, so
that having been tried by the fire of judgement they receive according to their
own practices the inheritances owed to them by our good God and King Jesus
Christ; for he is the God of Justice and his is over us who love him the wealth
of the goodness of his Kingdom to the Ages of Ages. Amen.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="DiadochosText" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Ascetical
homilies of Saint Diadochos, Bishop of Photiki in Illyria.
100 Chapters, 2,300 lines.<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftn35" name="_ftnref35" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[35]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB" style="letter-spacing: 5.55pt;"></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br clear="all" /></span>
<br />
<hr size="1" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;" width="33%" />
<div id="ftn1">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[1]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘To know … with knowledge’.
Greek: <i>gnostos gnonai. </i>Thus the text. The author is emphasizing the desire to know
consciously the love of the Lord.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn2">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[2]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>plerophoria</i>.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn3">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[3]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>energeia,</i> as
elsewhere in this and other chapters.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn4">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[4]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Thus the text.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn5">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref5" name="_ftn5" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[5]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>potho.</i> Here, this seems to mean affective
ecstasy. The chapter is describing an
advanced stage of mystic union. This
chapter is difficult to render so that it reads easily and clearly but we have
wanted to tamper as little as possible with such an important description of
mystical union.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn6">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref6" name="_ftn6" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[6]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘They … cease’. Greek: <i>endidwsi</i>. The text does not have antecedent for the
implied plural subject of this verb.
Perhaps it is the demons.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn7">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref7" name="_ftn7" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[7]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘Of this state of holy gnosis’.
Greek: <i>autes.</i> The text
uses a pronoun which does not have a clear antecedent. We have supplied what seems to be the correct
antecedent.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn8">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref8" name="_ftn8" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[8]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. the world.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn9">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref9" name="_ftn9" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[9]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>theorias</i>.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn10">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref10" name="_ftn10" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[10]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>theoremata</i>.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn11">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref11" name="_ftn11" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[11]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> We have accepted </span><span lang="EN-GB">Rutherford</span><span lang="EN-GB">’s ‘unrestrained (Greek: <i>asustaltw</i>)’ over des Places’
‘unformed (Greek:<i> asustatw</i>)’ with the interpretation of <i>‘chumati tes
psuches’</i> as ‘largeness of soul’ based on Liddell-Scott’s <i>chumati tes
kardias</i> = largeness of heart. This
gives a somewhat satisfactory interpretation of the meaning of the text. Introducing only </span><span lang="EN-GB">Rutherford</span><span lang="EN-GB">’s reading still
requires </span><span lang="EN-GB">Rutherford</span><span lang="EN-GB"> to force the translation somewhat to get a satisfactory
meaning. If <i>‘chumati tes psuches’</i>
is to retain its literal meaning as ‘humour of the soul’, then we would prefer
des Places’ reading. What the author
means is that if we cannot be reconciled with the other party then, even if we
are not at fault at all, we should introduce his face into our soul so as to have
it before us in love when we are praying.
This does not seem to be a prescription to engage in visualization
exercises but rather to keep the ‘idea’ of the person in our heart while we are
praying. The difference as between
‘unformed’ and ‘unrestrained’ is therefore a matter of how and with what
intensity we keep the person’s image in our soul.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn12">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref12" name="_ftn12" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[12]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This is not a passage of Scripture; nor do any of the other editors
or translators provide a citation. We
are not aware of any work containing this passage.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn13">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref13" name="_ftn13" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[13]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> ‘Boldness of spirit’: <i>parrisia.</i> This is the good boldness before God.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn14">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref14" name="_ftn14" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[14]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. from the intermediate degree of love being discussed in this
chapter to the first degree of love discussed in the previous chapter and
elsewhere.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn15">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref15" name="_ftn15" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[15]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>astheneion</i>. So for ‘infirmity’ and ‘infirmities’
following.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn16">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref16" name="_ftn16" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[16]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Elder Paisios Eznepides (1924 – 1974) is said to have remarked that
he received more spiritual benefit from his illnesses than from his
(considerable) ascetical labours.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn17">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref17" name="_ftn17" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[17]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. in our afflictions.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn18">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref18" name="_ftn18" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[18]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. the ascetic is humbled by his fellowship with God.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn19">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref19" name="_ftn19" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[19]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Literally: ‘reproached’.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn20">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref20" name="_ftn20" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[20]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This seems to mean that it is not merely a matter of
long-suffering: the ascetic must accept his sufferings.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn21">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref21" name="_ftn21" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[21]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>logismon</i>.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn22">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref22" name="_ftn22" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[22]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>ennoias</i>.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn23">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref23" name="_ftn23" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[23]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. sloth.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn24">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref24" name="_ftn24" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[24]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. the ascetic. He is in
such pain that he begins to suspect that he is being shot at with real arrows.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn25">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref25" name="_ftn25" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[25]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> </span><span lang="EN-GB">Rutherford</span><span lang="EN-GB"> drops ‘Jesus’ based on the older manuscripts.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn26">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref26" name="_ftn26" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[26]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> As the author’s continuation clearly indicates this ‘memory of the
Lord Jesus’ is accomplished by the repetition of the Jesus Prayer ‘at all
times’—i.e. continually over a long period of time—‘in the guarding of the
mind’. The author does not explain the
guarding of the mind, which is discussed at length some centuries later by St
Hesychios of Sinai.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn27">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref27" name="_ftn27" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[27]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>euchesthai.</i> This refers to the Jesus Prayer, as should be
evident from the context.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn28">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref28" name="_ftn28" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[28]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>proseuche</i>.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn29">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref29" name="_ftn29" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[29]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>euche.</i></span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn30">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref30" name="_ftn30" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[30]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Thus the text.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn31">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref31" name="_ftn31" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[31]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>ennoia.</i> Here <i>ennoia
</i>means ‘meditation’ or ‘contemplation’ within the mind: a deep consideration
of our coming death.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn32">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref32" name="_ftn32" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[32]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Greek: <i>kanonos.</i> This is the customary rule of private prayer
and asceticism of the monk.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn33">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref33" name="_ftn33" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[33]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> I.e. be conscious of no fault in himself, as further on in the
quotation from </span><span lang="EN-GB">St Paul</span><span lang="EN-GB">. The conscience is treated
with legal concepts both in the text and in </span><span lang="EN-GB">St Paul</span><span lang="EN-GB">.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn34">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref34" name="_ftn34" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[34]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> Following des Places’ interpretation here.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="ftn35">
<div class="MsoFootnoteText">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=777175105405354499#_ftnref35" name="_ftn35" title=""><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span class="FootnoteCharacters"><span lang="EN-GB">[35]</span></span></span></a><span lang="EN-GB"> This is the closing note in the manuscript. </span><span lang="EN-GB">Illyria</span><span lang="EN-GB"> is present day </span><span lang="EN-GB">Albania</span><span lang="EN-GB">,
somewhat north of Photiki.</span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
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