41
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[1]
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[2]
the crime of Mankind’s disobedience he lead again to the blessed and eternal
life those who have lived in obedience.[3] 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.
42
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?[4]
43
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.
44
To eat and
drink from all those things served or mixed,[5]
giving thanks to God, in no way battles against the rule of gnosis,[6]
‘for all things were exceedingly good.’ To abstain gladly from the tasty and the many
is both most discerning and more gnostic,[7]
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.
45
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[8]
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[9]
the soul be appropriately purified.[10]
46
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[11]
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.
47
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[12]
of the endeavour so that from it the exactness of the art be demonstrated.[13]
48
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,[14]
but if it should become sodden from hard drinking it really bears all its
thoughts as thorns and thistles.
49
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.
50
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?
[1] Given that he continues with a quotation from Paul, the author
seems to mean ‘according to the New Testament’.
[2] Greek: eklusas. 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.
[3] The author’s intended audience is persons living or desiring to
live the monastic life of asceticism.
[4] The Greek is not entirely clear.
However, the author is clearly referring to the Last Judgement.
[5] It is difficult to convey simply but in St Diadochos’ day foods were served and drinks—especially
wines—were mixed.
[6] I.e. the monastic rule, whose goal is gnosis.
[7] More gnostic. Greek: gnostikoteron. I.e. showing more experience of gnosis.
[8] This is the mind.
[9] I.e. in manual labour.
[10] 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.
[11] I.e. the demon of vainglory.
[12] Greek: eidos.
[13] 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).
[14] 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.