121–169

121. If the worshippers of idols knew what they worship, they would not have departed from God and would have seen in everything that exists the beautiful creation of God, which He made for man.

122. A person, when he is embittered and wicked, can kill another person. But God unceasingly grants the gift of life even to unworthy people. He alone is free from envy and is generous and good to all. He willed that the world should be, and it was made, began to be, and behold, it exists still. And all this was made for man and for the salvation of his immortal soul!

123. A real human being is one who has known in truth what the body is, that is, that the body is corruptible and passing and has a short life. The soul of such a person will also know that the soul of man is from God and therefore immortal; this immortal soul, breathed by God into the body of man, was joined to a corruptible and passing body so that by this way it might be tested and tempered, like gold in fire, and might become better; and having become better, that it might rise again to God and be united with its Creator. Thus one becomes a knower of God who has known his own soul and because of this lives righteously and in a way pleasing to God; he does not trust the body and does not please it. With his mind he beholds God and sees those eternal goods which are granted by God to the soul of man.

124. The good and unenviously generous God granted man freedom in distinguishing evil and good, since He gave him understanding. By means of understanding the person was given the possibility of choosing for himself what he desires — evil or good. But the soul that does not choose the good for itself is without understanding. Therefore, although every body has a soul, we cannot say that every soul also has understanding. The person furnished with this understanding, coming to know this world and everything in it, should first of all come to know Him who is the Creator of it all. But a wicked person may want to know the world and yet not know God; for, to his own misfortune, he can also not believe in His existence and think contrary to the truth. Such is the freedom granted to man in distinguishing evil and good.

125. It is appointed by divine providence that, as the body grows and comes to its prime, the soul of a person should also be filled with understanding, and by means of it be able to choose the better for itself. But not everyone chooses the good, and such people have no understanding. So, as we said above, every body has a soul, but not understanding. A God-loving mind belongs to people who are reverent, worthy, righteous, holy and good, merciful and loving to others. Understanding helps a person to establish a bond with God, to be in communion with Him.

126. Only one thing is impossible for a person — to avoid death, to be immortal in this world in his body. But he can attain communion with God only if he understands how and by what way this is attained. If he has a strong desire for it and gains understanding with faith and love, which will be confirmed by his virtuous life too, then a person can become one who converses with God.

127. The eye sees everything visible, but a person’s mind reaches what is invisible. The God-loving mind is the light of the soul. He who has a God-loving mind is enlightened in heart and can behold God with his mind.

128. No good person will be put to shame by God. He who is not good is, of course, evil and a lover of the body. The beginning of virtue and of a godly life is to loathe and disregard the body. If we of our own will renounce everything earthly — the passing, the corruptible and the material — and not by compulsion, out of poverty or infirmity, then and only then shall we become worthy to inherit the eternal and incorruptible goods in the heavens.

129. He who truly has understanding knows about himself that he is a mortal person with a corruptible body. And he who has come to know himself knows about everything else too, that everything is God’s creation and was made by Him for the salvation of man. Thus a person is able to know and understand everything, and to believe rightly — that depends on his will. And such a person knows firmly that those who disregard the goods of this life will meet with very little toil and difficulty in it, while after death they will receive the greatest consolation and rest from God.

130. As a body without a soul is dead, so a soul without understanding is idle and barren and, of course, cannot clothe itself in God.

131. Of all the creatures of this world God listens to man alone, and to him alone He appears, for God loves mankind; and wherever a person may be, God will always be beside him; man alone is a worthy worshipper of God, and for his sake alone God changes His appearance.

132. It was for people that God made the sky too, adorned with stars and luminaries. For man He created this earth as well, and man works the earth for his own benefit. Those who do not perceive such providence of God are people without understanding who do not know God.

133. Good is as invisible as everything that is in the heavens. But evil is visible, as everything on the earth is visible. Good is something to which nothing can be compared; but a person, to whom understanding has been granted by God, can choose the good for himself. Man alone has the ability to know God and His creations.

134. In the soul the mind acts, and in the body, nature. The mind cherishes the soul and acts for its profit, while nature corrupts the body. Nature acts in every body, but not every human soul has understanding! It is for this very reason that not every soul can be saved.

135. The soul in this world is as one brought into being, as one born. But understanding abides above this world, as unborn and unbegotten. The soul that knows this world, the life of the body and earthly creatures, and truly wants to save itself, has laid down for itself as an unbreakable law always, every minute, to expect death, the departure from this world, and such a judgement upon the works it has done that it will not endure the gaze of the wrathful Judge, and that therefore its own soul is already now prepared for destruction. A soul that thinks in this way will keep itself from low and shameful bodily pleasures.

136. God appointed for man birth and death on the earth, and in the heavens the fullness of all things and unchanging being. And all this the good Creator made for man and for the salvation of his immortal soul. God, who has no need of any goods at all, prepared for man the heavens, the earth and the workings of nature, and through them granted him every good thing.

137. The mortal is subject to the immortal and serves it; that is, everything that exists is subject to man and serves him by the providence of God, who loves mankind and is good in His very being.

138. A poor cripple who has not the strength to harm another or to sin cannot be counted a person who acts godly; only he can be counted such who has the strength to harm another or to sin but does not use his strength for evil, but always shows mercy to the humbled and by his understanding lives in reverence before God. It is precisely such a person who after death will become a partaker in the blessedness of the righteous believers.

139. By the love for mankind of God our Maker, many roads lead us to salvation; in many ways our souls turn to the truth, which raises them up to heaven. For virtue and for good deeds our souls will receive a reward, but for sins punishment awaits us.

140. The Son is in the Father, the Holy Spirit is in the Son, and the Father is in the Son and in the Holy Spirit. By the power of faith in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit a person reaches everything invisible and accessible to the mind. And faith is the free, voluntary effort of the soul, which believes everything that has been made known to us from God through Holy Scripture and through the prophets.

141. Sometimes, by some circumstance or by need, a person is forced to swim across a great river; and if he is sober at the time, he will escape the danger and remain alive, for however swift the current and however furiously the waves beat, even if the boat fills entirely with water, he will save himself, will reach the bank, where he will catch hold of something and come out on dry land; but if at the time of such danger a person is drunk, he will certainly perish, even if he tries with all his strength to swim to the bank: weakened by wine, he will in the end be swallowed by the waves and will no longer be numbered among the living. Just so it is with the soul of a person, which has been cast into the stormy waves and whirl of the current of this life; by itself it will not be able to break free of these waves and save itself from destruction, because it is drunk with bodily pleasures and enslaved to its own evil passions. Therefore it cannot know in truth what it itself is — namely, that it is of divine origin and therefore immortal in soul, but that in this earthly life the immortal soul is joined to a material, mortal body, which by means of evil passions separates it from faith. The soul is tested in that through the body it is subjected to temptation; and if it is overcome by the passions of the body, it will perish. Such is the condition of a person’s soul in this world, joined to the body; and if, like a drunken man, it disregards itself, does not know God and does not care for the salvation of the soul, then it perishes and will not be numbered among the saved, since the body, like a river in flood, often carries us off into the whirlpool of bodily pleasures; and if we are not always sober, we shall easily perish.

142. The intelligent soul of a person, which stands unshakeably and firmly in its good intention to live virtuously, like a rider puts a bridle on and tames within itself anger, foul desires and the wish to judge others — those most evil and most senseless passions of the human soul. And because it has always fought these evil passions in its own soul and has even overcome them, in the end it will be crowned by God and become worthy to dwell in the heavens. All this is that good reward for the good works it has sown and tended, which the Creator will render at the end of the world.

143. The truly intelligent person is not troubled in soul and is not tormented with envy when he sees the happy lot of evil people and the prosperity of the unworthy in this earthly life, for bodily pleasures are hateful to him. But with the senseless person who lacks understanding it is the other way round, since, unlike the intelligent person, he does not know that earthly happiness is unstable. Life in this world is very short, and God’s judgement on the day of judgement shows no partiality. But the intelligent soul believes that God will not disregard it and will not deprive it of anything that is necessary for its sustenance.

144. To live in bodily pleasures and to take delight in great riches and power is death for the soul; and on the contrary, the mortifying of the body, and with it the unceasing thanksgiving to God for everything, is the life of the soul and that narrow way which leads to eternal consolation.

145. The intelligent soul of a person will loathe material acquisitiveness and the short life of this world, and will choose for itself instead the heavenly consolation, the eternal blessed life, which it will indeed receive by God’s mercy for its virtuous and godly life.

146. Those clothed in a defiled garment defile the garments of the people who come near them too. So also people of evil character and incorrigible conduct, in dealing with blameless people, as it were spatter their souls with mud by an unworthy word.

147. The beginning of sin is foul desire, by reason of which even an intelligent soul may perish; but the beginning of salvation and the beginning of the Heavenly Kingdom for a person’s soul is love.

148. A copper object left unheeded and without due care will be spoiled by rust, since it has lain a long time somewhere in a bundle and no one has put it to use. So also the soul of a person becomes useless when it is idle, does not care to live virtuously and to turn to God, but on the contrary, enslaved to foul desires, has given itself to evil deeds and has lost the shelter of God; such a soul is taken over and devoured by evil — that evil which, by reason of such sloth of the soul, is conceived and grows in the body; and because of this the soul becomes wholly useless and unfit for salvation.

149. God is good, dispassionate and unchanging. It may happen that one of the brethren piously confesses the good God and truly believes that He is unchanging, but at the same time thinks, out of want of understanding, that God, being good and unchanging, rejoices at a person’s good deeds and is grieved at the evil ones, turns His back on evil people, but when they repent of their error receives them again and sends them His mercy. If any of the brethren thinks so, we must tell him that God neither rejoices nor is angry, since joy and anger are the passions of a changeable soul; it is unseemly and untrue if a person thinks that God feels well or ill because of people’s deeds. God is good and does only good works, harms no one and is always the same. But we are changeable: when we do good, we are in communion with God by our likeness to Him; and when we are enslaved to evil and do unworthy deeds, we are removed from Him by our unlikeness to Him. When we live virtuously, we people are God’s and abide by Him; and when we are enslaved to evil, we are rejected by Him. For this does not mean that God is angry with us, but that our sins do not let Him enter into us, make us partakers of Him and shine divinely through us. On the contrary, our sins help the demons to enter into us, to torment us and to remove us still further from the good God. But if afterwards, by prayer and a virtuous life, we obtain the forgiveness of sins, this does not mean that we have pleased God and changed His wrath into mercy toward us. No, it means only that by this, by our turning to God, we have healed ourselves of the evil nesting in us and have become able once more to taste God’s goodness and to become His partakers. So the assertion that God turns His back on the evil person and departs from him means no more than to say that the sun hides itself from the blind.

150. The soul of a godly person knows God in every way, for a godly life is nothing else than the fulfilling of the will of God, and to fulfil the will of God is to know God in truth. To put it otherwise: if someone is free from envy, reverent, gentle, generous in almsgiving, free from anger and loves the brethren, and always strives to do what God wills, then such a person does the will of God and has truly come to know God.

151. The knowledge of God and the fear of Him are a medicine for the soul enslaved to bodily passions. Therefore, when a person’s soul does not know God, then the bodily passions, left unhealed, spoil and in the end destroy the soul. Such a soul rots from the evil within it, as a person’s body rots from a long-standing sore. But God has no hand in this, since He granted man, along with full freedom, both the capacity for knowledge and understanding.

152. God furnished man with knowledge and understanding because He wanted to free him from the passions and from the evil that comes from the will, and by His goodness He wanted to make mortal man immortal.

153. The mind that dwells in a pure and God-loving soul truly sees God — unbegotten, invisible to bodily eyes, unutterable by human tongue, one, holy to those who are holy in heart.

154. The incorruptible crown, the virtue and the salvation of a person’s soul is to endure every misfortune and at the same time to give thanks to God for everything. And the bridling of anger, of the tongue, of love of glory and of the craving for bodily pleasures is the greatest help for the soul.

155. That by which we exist in this world is the providence of God, and there is no place that this providence does not touch. And this providence is the self-fulfilling word of God, which brings into being the matter of which this world consists and which prepares and adorns everything that exists. It is impossible for material creation to take on a beautiful form without the intelligent power of the word — that Word which is the image, the wisdom and the providence of God.

156. Foul desire, kindled by the effort of memory, is the chief cause of the passions akin to darkness, which enslave and destroy a person. The soul of a person wounded by the remembrance of such foul desire does not know the truth about itself, namely that it is a breath of life breathed in by God, and so gives itself to sin, without thinking of the greatest misfortune and torment which it, the senseless soul, will meet after death by the providence of God.

157. The greatest sickness of a person’s soul, which destroys it, is the forgetting of God and the pride that comes from this. To desire evil is nothing else than to be deprived of good; and good, for us, consists in doing gladly everything that is pleasing to God.

158. Of earthly creatures only one — man — has the capacity to receive God within himself, for it is with this living creature alone that God speaks: by night through dreams, and by day by way of the mind. To His worthy people He announces much beforehand and plainly points them to the eternal goods to come.

159. For a person who believes rightly, who is free and master of his own will, it is by no means impossible to know God. And if you want to see Him, that is, to behold the Creator plainly, then look around you at everything and understand how well ordered and beautiful the world is, how well governed in this world is everything that has been and that is by His word. All this is the creation of God, and all this God made for the salvation of man!

160. He is called holy who has departed from evil and from sins. Therefore the greatest good for a person is such perfection, when he is not evil and by this pleases God.

161. A name given is the marking out and setting apart of one among many. Therefore it is the greatest senselessness to think that God, who is one, has anyone of the same name; for the very word “God” means “without beginning,” who created everything for man.

162. If you know that you have evil deeds, cut them off and hope only in good, for God is just and loves mankind.

163. He knows God (and is known by God) who strives always, inseparably, to be with God; and a person inseparable from God is good in everything and keeps himself from every pleasure of the senses; he refuses every bodily pleasure not from lack of property or means, but is restrained only by his own will, by his own free choice.

164. Be thankful to the person who does you some wrong, and by this you will gain God as a friend. Say a word of reviling to no one and nothing bad about your enemy. Labour with love, with reverence, with patience, with self-restraint and other like good deeds, for all this is the very knowledge of God: by humility and the other virtues you will truly follow God. And this, that is, the life pleasing to God, is not within everyone’s power, but only within that of an intelligent soul.

165. What I shall now say to you I say against those (and also for the understanding of the simple) who dare to assert that plants and grasses have a spirit or a soul. Against such I say that plants have been given natural life by God, and that they have neither spirit nor soul in any way at all. Man is called a rational animal because he, like the animals, is born in the body, grows, lives and finally dies; but we cannot on this ground assert that everything that is born in the body, grows, lives and dies has a soul like man. Living beings among God’s creatures are of four different kinds: some are immortal and ensouled by God — such we hold the heavenly angels to be; to others God has granted understanding, spirit and soul — such are we, human beings; to a third kind God has granted only a soul, bodily life — such are animals, birds, fish, reptiles and the like; and finally, creatures of a fourth kind have been granted only physical life — such are plants. Life exists in plants even without a soul, without understanding and without immortality, whereas the soul of man is ever-moving and immortal.

166. When the desire for some pleasure of the senses is conceived in you, try not to be carried away by it at once, but, as far as you can at that moment, put it away from you, remember death and think how much worse it will be for you at the hour when death comes to remember that you were overcome by temptation.

167. The good God ordered things as they should be when He set a limit to evil in people by granting them understanding, discernment and the ability to tell good from evil. And we, knowing that evil only harms us, flee from it. But the senseless person has given himself to evil and even exalts himself in evil, putting his hope in that evil: he is as though caught in a net, struggles, and has not the strength to free himself from evil by himself, so as to see God truly and to know Him who created everything for the salvation and deification of man.

168. Mortal man should care for himself in such a way as always to remember: death awaits me — for blessed immortality is the lot only of a wholly worthy soul, of the person who has lived in this world well and virtuously; but when a person’s soul is evil and has lived unworthily in this world, its final lot is eternal death.

169. When you make ready to go to sleep on your bed, remember in your heart with thankfulness the good deeds of the good God toward you and His righteous providence. Then, filled with these good thoughts, you will be wholly gladdened in soul, will be spiritually encouraged, and the sleep of your body will be a watchfulness for your soul, and the closing of your eyes the true vision of God; and the silence of your lips, filled with the sense of good, will lift up glory to God with your whole being and will give Him thanks with your whole heart; for if there is no evil in a person, this itself is thanksgiving to the Creator, and this alone is most pleasing to God and dearer to Him than every costly sacrifice — to whom belongs glory, with the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen!