Asceticon 1 part 1/6

αʹ. Concerning the order and sequence in the commandments of the Lord

βʹ. Concerning love toward God, and that the inclination and power toward the Lord's commandments exist by nature in human beings

γʹ. Concerning love of one's neighbor

εʹ. Concerning freedom of mind from distraction

ʹ. That it is necessary to withdraw from society

ζʹ. That one must live together with those of like mind, with a view to the goal of pleasing God;

and that the solitary life is at once difficult and dangerous

θʹ. That one must not entrust to one's kinsfolk according to the flesh the things that concern oneself

ιʹ. Concerning which of those coming to the life according to God ought to be received, and when, or how

ιβʹ. How those living in wedlock ought to be received

ιγʹ. That the discipline of silence is also profitable for those being newly introduced

ιδʹ. Concerning those who have professed themselves to God and afterward attempt to set aside their profession

ιεʹ. Concerning the reception and upbringing of children, and concerning the profession of virgins

ιζʹ. That one must exercise self-control even over laughter

ιηʹ. That we must taste of everything set before us

ιθʹ. What is the measure of self-control

κʹ. What is the manner of receiving food

καʹ. How one ought to conduct oneself regarding seats and reclining places at the time of the midday or evening meals

κβʹ. What clothing is fitting for a Christian

κδʹ. Concerning the manner of conduct with one another

κεʹ. That the judgment is fearful for the superior who does not reprove those who sin

κ ʹ. Concerning the duty to disclose to the superior all things, even the secrets of the heart

κζʹ. That the superior himself must also be reminded by those foremost in the brotherhood, if ever he should err

κηʹ. How all ought to be disposed toward the disobedient one

κθʹ. Concerning one who works with arrogance or with murmuring

λʹ. With what disposition the superior ought to care for the brothers

λαʹ. That one must accept the service rendered by the superior

λβʹ. How one ought to be disposed toward one's kinsfolk according to the flesh

λγʹ. What is the manner of a brother's meeting with a brother

λδʹ. What kind of men those who administer the necessities in the brotherhood ought to be

λεʹ. Whether several brotherhoods ought to be gathered together in the same village

λ ʹ. Concerning those who withdraw from a brotherhood

λζʹ. Whether one ought to neglect one's tasks under pretext of prayers and psalmody, and what times are suitable for prayer, and first, whether one ought to work at all

ληʹ. What crafts are suited to our profession

λθʹ. How the disposal of the products of labor ought to be conducted, and how one ought to travel abroad

μʹ. Concerning business transactions at public gatherings

μαʹ. Concerning authority and obedience

μβʹ. With what purpose and with what disposition those who work ought to work

μγʹ. What manner of men superiors ought to be, and how they should guide those who dwell with them

μδʹ. To whom journeys abroad ought to be permitted, and how they ought to be examined upon their return

μεʹ. That, besides the superior, there ought also to be another who is able to care for the brothers in his absence or when he is occupied

μ ʹ. Concerning not concealing a sin, whether a brother's or one's own

μζʹ. Concerning those who do not accept what is ordained by the superior

μηʹ. That one must not busy oneself curiously with the superior's administration, but attend to one's own task

μθʹ. Concerning matters disputed within the brotherhood

νʹ. How the superior ought to be admonished

ναʹ. How the fault of one who has sinned ought to be corrected

νβʹ. With what disposition one ought to accept penances

νγʹ. How masters of crafts should correct their apprentices when they err

νδʹ. Concerning the superiors of the brotherhood disclosing to one another their own affairs

νεʹ. Whether it is in accord with the aim of piety to make use of the remedies of medicine

Concerning the order and sequence in the commandments of the Lord

Question. Since the word has granted us authority to ask, we need above all else to be taught whether there is a certain order and sequence in the commandments of God, such that one is first, another second, and so on in succession;

or whether they are all bound to one another, and all of equal honor with one another with respect to the principle of their beginning, so that it is permitted to whoever wishes, as in a circle, to take his starting point from wherever he wishes.

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind."

"This is the first and great commandment."

"You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Answer. The Lord himself, then, imposed order upon his own commandments;

designating as first and greatest the commandment concerning love toward God;

and second in order, and like unto it — or rather, completing the former and depending upon it — the commandment concerning loving one's neighbor;

so that from what has been said, and from other such passages found in the divinely inspired Scriptures, one may learn the order and sequence present in all the commandments of the Lord.

βʹ. Concerning love toward God, and that the inclination and power toward the Lord's commandments exist by nature in human beings

Question. Speak to us, then, first concerning love toward God.

That we must love, we have indeed heard;

but how this might be rightly accomplished, we seek to learn.

Answer. Love toward God is not something taught.

For neither have we learned from another to rejoice in the light and to cling to life, nor did anyone else teach us to love those who begot or nurtured us.

So then — or rather, much more so — the learning of divine longing does not come from without;

but together with the very constitution of the living being — I mean, of man — a certain seminal principle has been implanted within us, possessing of itself the grounds for an affinity toward love.

This the school of God's commandments, once it has received, is by nature fitted to cultivate with diligence, and to nurture with skill, and to bring to perfection by the grace of God.

One must know, however, that this is but one right action;

yet in its power it is productive and inclusive of every commandment.

For he who loves me, says the Lord, will keep my commandments;

and again, that On these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.

And we shall not now attempt to traverse this subject with precision (for thus we would, without noticing, encompass the whole discourse on the commandments within this one part), but only so far as is proportionate to us and proper to our present purpose, we shall remind you concerning the love owed by us to God, first saying this: that of all the commandments given to us by God, we have also received beforehand from him the powers for them, so that we may neither be vexed, as though something more novel were being demanded of us, nor be puffed up, as though contributing something more than what was given us.

By exercising these powers we fulfill, in piety, a life according to virtue;

but by corrupting their operation, we are carried away toward vice.

And this is the definition of vice: the wicked use, contrary to the Lord's commandment, of the things given us by God for good;

just as, on the other hand, the virtue that God requires of us is the use of these same things out of a good conscience, according to the Lord's commandment.

This being so, we shall say the same also concerning love.

Having received, then, the commandment to love God, we already possess the capacity for love, which was implanted together with us at our very first formation;

and the proof of this is not from without: one may learn it of oneself and within oneself.

For we are by nature desirous of what is good and beautiful, even though different things appear good and beautiful to different people;

and we have, untaught, affection toward what is our own and akin to us, and toward our benefactors we willingly render every goodwill.

What, then, is more wonderful than divine beauty? What thought is more gracious than the majesty of God? What longing of the soul is as keen and unbearable as that which comes from God upon a soul purified from all vice, and which says, out of a true disposition, "I am wounded with love"? Wholly ineffable and indescribable are the flashes of divine beauty;

speech cannot set it forth, hearing cannot receive it.

Even should you speak of the rays of the morning star, or the brightness of the moon, or the light of the sun, all are worthless in comparison with that glory, and fall short in the comparison with the true light by a margin greater than that by which deepest night, and dismal moonless darkness, falls short of the clearest noonday.

This beauty is invisible to eyes of flesh, but comprehensible to the soul and mind alone; and wherever it has shone about any of the saints, it has left in them an unbearable sting of longing, so that, chafing against this present life, they said:

Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged!

When shall I come and appear before the face of God? and, To depart and be with Christ is far better;

and, My soul has thirsted for God, the mighty, the living God;

Weighed down by this life as by a prison, those whose souls the divine longing had touched were thus hard to restrain in their impulses.

Indeed, because they could not be sated in the contemplation of divine beauty, they made it their prayer that the contemplation of the delightfulness of the Lord might extend throughout the whole of eternal life.

In this way, then, human beings are by nature desirous of what is good and beautiful.

But properly speaking, the good is what is beautiful and worthy of love.

So that what is achieved by choice also exists in us by nature, at least in those whose reasonings have not been perverted by wickedness.

We are required, then, to pay as a necessary debt the love owed to God, the lack of which is, for a soul that falls short of it, the most unbearable of all evils.

For estrangement from God and aversion from him is more unbearable than even the punishments awaited in Gehenna, and more grievous to the one who suffers it — just as the loss of light is to the eye, even though no pain attend it, and the loss of life is to a living creature.

And if natural affection exists from offspring toward their parents — as is shown both by the behavior of irrational animals and by the disposition of human beings, in their earliest age, toward their mothers — let us not appear more irrational than infants, nor more savage than wild beasts, by being disposed without affection and as strangers toward him who made us;

him whom, even if we did not know from his goodness what sort of being he is, we ought, for this reason alone — that we have come into being from him — to love and cherish exceedingly, and to cling continually to the remembrance of him, just as infants cling to their mothers.

But the benefactor is more worthy of love than those who are loved by nature.

And this is not proper to human beings alone, but is a feeling common to nearly all animals: attachment toward those who have given some good thing.

The ox, it says, knows its owner, and the ass its master's manger;

But may it never be said concerning us what follows;

that Israel has not known me, and my people has not understood me.

...display goodwill toward those who feed them? And if we naturally choose goodwill and affection toward our benefactors, and endure every labor in return for the benefits previously received by us, what discourse can worthily attain to the gifts of God? — gifts so vast in number that they even escape counting;

and so great in magnitude and of such a kind that even one alone would suffice to render us debtors for every gratitude to the one who gave it.

The other gifts, then, I shall pass over — gifts which, even though in themselves they surpass in greatness and grace, are yet outshone by the greater ones, as stars by the rays of the sun, and so present their own grace as dimmer.

For there is no leisure, once one has set aside the surpassing gifts, to measure the benefactor's goodness by the lesser ones.

Let there be silence, then, concerning the risings of the sun, and the courses of the moon, the temperings of the air, the alternations of the seasons, the water from the clouds and the other water from the earth, the sea itself, the whole earth, the things that grow from the earth, the creatures that dwell in the waters, the kinds that fill the air, the countless varieties of animals — all the things ordered for the service of our life.

But that one gift it is not possible to pass over, even for those who wish to; and to be silent about its grace is altogether impossible for one who has a sound mind and reason;

yet to speak of it in a manner worthy of it is even more impossible: that God, having made man according to the image and likeness of God, and having deemed him worthy of the knowledge of himself, and having adorned him with reason beyond all other animals, and having granted him to delight in the inconceivable beauties of paradise, and having established him as ruler of all things on earth — then, when man had been outwitted by the serpent, and had fallen into sin, and through sin into death and its due consequences, God did not overlook him;

but at first gave the Law as a help, set angels over him for guard and care, sent prophets to rebuke vice and teach virtue, checked the impulses of vice by threats, roused eagerness for good things by promises, and often made known beforehand, in various persons, the end of each course, for the admonition of others; and even when men persisted in disobedience in the face of these and all such things, he did not turn away from them;

but we were called back from death, and were made alive again by our Lord Jesus Christ himself.

In this too the manner of his benefaction holds a still greater wonder;

for though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant;

and he took up our infirmities, and bore our diseases, and was wounded for our sake, that by his stripe we might be healed;

and he redeemed us from the curse, having become a curse for our sake, and endured the most dishonorable death, that he might bring us back into the glorious life.

And he was not content merely to give life to us who were dead, but also graciously granted us the dignity of divinity, and prepared eternal restings, surpassing every human conception in the greatness of their joy.

What, then, shall we render to the Lord for all that he has rendered to us? Yet he is so good that he does not even demand recompense, but is content merely to be loved for what he has given.

When I consider all these things (that I may declare my own feeling), I fall into a certain dread and fearful trembling, lest, through inattentiveness of mind or occupation with vain things, I should fall away from the love of God and become a reproach to Christ.

For the one who now deceives us, and who, through worldly enticements, is eagerly striving by every device to bring about in us forgetfulness of our benefactor, leaping upon us and trampling us for the destruction of our souls — he will then bring forward our contempt as a reproach against the Lord, and will boast in our disobedience and apostasy;

This reproach against the Lord, and this boast of the enemy — that I should become for the enemy of Christ material for boasting and an occasion for exalting himself against him who died for us and rose again, to whom for this very reason we are all the more debtors, as it is written — seems to me more grievous than the punishments in Gehenna.

So much, then, concerning the love toward God.

For our purpose, as I said before, is not to say everything;

but, by way of headings, to give a brief reminder that continually stirs up divine longing in our souls.

Concerning love toward one's neighbor

It would follow, then, to discuss the commandment that is second both in order and in power.

That the Law, then, is the cultivator and nurturer of the powers that exist in us in seed-form has been said by us in the preceding discourse;

and since we have been commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves, let us learn whether we also have from God the power to fulfill this commandment.

Who, then, does not know that man is a gentle and social animal, and not solitary, nor savage? For nothing is so proper to our nature as to have fellowship with one another, and to need one another, and to love our own kind.

Of these things, then, whose seeds the Lord himself gave us beforehand, he consequently also seeks the fruits, saying:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another.

And wishing to rouse our soul toward this commandment, he did not require, as proof of his disciples, signs and marvelous powers (although he also granted the working of these in the Holy Spirit);

but what does he say? By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

And thus everywhere he joins these commandments together, so that he transfers to himself the good done to one's neighbor.

For I was hungry, he says, and you gave me food; and so on.

Then he adds: Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.

Therefore, through the first commandment it is possible also to fulfill the second;

and through the second, to return again to the first.

and that he who loves the Lord loves his neighbor also, as a consequence.

For 'he who loves me,' said the Lord, 'will keep my commandments.'

'This,' he says, 'is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you';

and again, he who loves his neighbor thereby fulfills the love toward God, since God himself receives the kindness shown as done to himself.

Paul dared to pray to be accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of his brothers, his kinsmen according to the flesh, wishing, in imitation of the Lord, to become a ransom for the salvation of all;

and at the same time knowing that it was impossible for one who, out of love for him, gave up the grace received from God for the sake of the greatest of the commandments, to be estranged from God, and that for this very reason he was about to receive back many times what he had given.

That the saints attained to this measure of love toward their neighbor is, however, sufficiently proved by what has been said.

For those, then, who are newly being introduced into piety, instruction by way of fear is more useful, according to the precept of the most wise Solomon, who said:

'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.'

This is accomplished by taking heed — plainly — lest the abundance of God's gifts become for you the cause of graver condemnation, should you be found ungrateful toward your benefactor.

'For to him,' he says, 'to whom much was entrusted, of him will they demand the more.'

Concerning the mind's freedom from distraction

This, however, one must know: that we can accomplish neither the observance of any other commandment, nor love toward God itself, nor love toward our neighbors, if our minds wander now to one thing, now to another.

For it is not possible to master a craft or a science by passing constantly from one to another;

nor indeed can one attain mastery of even a single one without first recognizing what belongs to its proper end.

Since neither is the end of the smith's craft naturally attained through the works of pottery, nor are athletic crowns won through zeal for flute-playing;

but for each end the labor that is proper and fitting to it must be sought.

So too the discipline of pleasing God according to the Gospel of Christ is accomplished in us through withdrawal from the cares of the world and complete estrangement from every distraction.

'He who is unmarried is careful for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord;'

'but he who has married is careful for the things of the world, how he may please his wife.'

Thus also the Lord bore witness to his disciples concerning their sincere and undistracted disposition, saying:

'You are not of this world.'

And, conversely, he testified that it is impossible for the world to receive the knowledge of God, nor to contain the Holy Spirit;

'For, righteous Father,' he says, 'the world has not known you;'

and, 'the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive.'

He, then, who truly intends to follow God must be loosed from the bonds of attachment to this present life;

and this is accomplished through complete withdrawal and forgetfulness of one's former habits.

For unless we estrange ourselves both from kinship according to the flesh and from association in worldly life — passing over, as it were, into another world through this new relation — according to him who said,

'our citizenship is in heaven,' it is impossible for us to attain the goal of pleasing God, since the Lord has declared decisively: 'So then, every one of you who does not renounce all that he possesses cannot be my disciple.'

Having done this, it is fitting to guard one's own heart with all vigilance, so as never to cast out the thought of God, or to defile the memory of his wonders with fancies of vain things;

but rather, through continual and pure remembrance, to carry about the holy thought of God imprinted upon our souls like an indelible seal.

For thus love toward God is attained by us, at once rousing us to the performance of the Lord's commandments, and being itself in turn preserved by them, so as to remain lasting and unfailing.

And this the Lord shows, at one time saying:

'If you love me, keep my commandments'; and at another time, 'If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love'; and still more compellingly:

'Even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.'

By these he teaches us always to set before ourselves, as a goal, the will of him who commands the work at hand, and to direct our earnestness toward it, just as he says elsewhere: 'I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me.'

For just as the crafts of life, having set before themselves certain ends proper to each, accordingly adapt their particular activities to those ends;

since our task is to perform the commandments in a manner pleasing to God, it is impossible for the precision of the work to be otherwise achieved unless it is carried out according to the intention of him who assigned it.

And in this precise diligence toward God's will concerning the work, we shall be joined to God through remembrance.

For just as the smith, when working, say, upon an axe, remembers the one who commissioned it, and, keeping him in mind, considers its shape and size, and directs his work according to the will of the one who set him the task (for if he forgets, he will make something else, or something different from what was intended);

so too the Christian, directing every activity, both small and great, toward the will of God, at once adorns his action with precision, and preserves the intention of him who commanded, and fulfills what has been said:

'I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.'

And he fulfills that which was commanded:

'Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.'

But whoever, in his work, corrupts the precision of the commandment, is clearly failing in the remembrance of God.

Remembering, then, the voice of him who said:

'Do I not fill heaven and earth?' says the Lord;

and, 'I am a God who draws near, and not a God far off';

and, 'Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them';

we must perform every action as being done under the eyes of the Lord, and every thought as being watched over by him.

For thus a constant fear will also abide in us, hating injustice, according to what is written, and arrogance and pride and the ways of the wicked; and love is perfected, fulfilling what was said by the Lord, 'I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me,' the soul remaining in continual assurance both that good deeds are acceptable to the Judge and Umpire of our life, and that those of the contrary kind at once receive condemnation.

And I think that this also is accomplished together with the foregoing: that even the Lord's own commandments are not carried out for the sake of pleasing men.

For no one, while fully conscious of the presence of a superior, turns his attention to an inferior;

but even should it happen that what is being done is acceptable and pleasing to the more honorable person, while it appears unwelcome and blameworthy to the inferior, he, esteeming the approval of the superior of greater worth, disregards the disapproval of the lesser.

But if this is so among men, will a soul that is truly sober and sound, being fully assured of the presence of God, ever forsake doing something for God's pleasure, and turn instead toward the opinions of men?

Or will it, at times neglecting God's commands, become enslaved to human custom, or be held captive by common preconception, or even be overawed by worldly dignities?

Such was the disposition of him who said:

'And I spoke of your testimonies before kings, and was not ashamed.'

That it is necessary to live apart

Living apart in respect of dwelling also contributes to the soul's freedom from distraction.

For that it is harmful to have one's life mingled with those who are disposed, without fear and with contempt, toward the exact observance of the commandments, the word of Solomon also demonstrates, teaching us: 'Be not companion to a wrathful man;'

'and with an irascible friend do not dwell together, lest you learn his ways, and take a snare for your soul'; and this also tends to the same point: 'Come out from among them, and be separated, says the Lord.'

so that the things seen and heard may not lodge within the soul unto ruin and destruction, and that we may be able to persevere in prayer, let us first separate ourselves in respect of dwelling.

For thus we might also overcome our former habit, in which we lived estranged from the commandments of Christ (and this is no small struggle, to overcome one's own custom;

for a habit confirmed over a long time takes on the force of nature); and we shall also be able to wear away the stains that come from sin, through diligent prayer and persistent meditation on the will of God;

but it is impossible to attain such meditation and prayer amid the many things that drag the soul about and produce worldly preoccupations.

And as for the saying, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself' — when, amid such things, could one ever be able to fulfill it? For we must, having denied ourselves and taken up the cross of Christ, thus follow him.

Self-denial is the complete forgetting of what is past, and the renunciation of one's own wishes — which it is most difficult to accomplish while living in indiscriminate association with others, not to say that it is altogether impossible.

But association with such a way of life is also an obstacle to taking up one's own cross and following Christ.

For readiness for death on Christ's behalf, and the mortification of the members that are upon the earth, and standing in constant readiness for every danger that comes upon us for the sake of Christ's name, and holding oneself free from attachment to the present life — this is what it means to take up one's own cross;

with regard to which we see great impediments arising for us from the customary experience of life in common.

And in addition to all the many other obstacles that exist, the soul that looks to the multitude of those who transgress the law, in the first place, does not gain the occasion to perceive its own sins, and to break itself through repentance over its offenses;

but in comparing itself with those who are worse, it even acquires a certain semblance of achievement;

then, being torn away by the tumults and preoccupations which life in common naturally tends to produce, from the more worthy remembrance of God, it not only suffers the loss of exulting and rejoicing in God, of delighting in the Lord, and of being made sweet by his words, so that it could say:

"I remembered God, and I rejoiced;"

and, "How sweet are your words to my palate, sweeter than honey to my mouth;"