Fifty Spiritual Homilies 1

THE SPIRITUAL HOMILIES OF OUR HOLY FATHER MACARIUS THE EGYPTIAN, filled with very great profit, Concerning the perfection that is owed by Christians and is to be earnestly pursued. HOMILY 1.

The blessed prophet Ezekiel, beholding a divine and glorious vision and apparition, narrated and wrote down a vision laden with ineffable mysteries.

For he saw in the plain the chariot of the Cherubim, four spiritual living creatures, each living creature having four faces: the one face of a lion, one the face of an eagle, another that of an ox, and the other the face of a man;

and there were wings about each face, so that none of them had any back or hinder part.

Their backs were full of eyes, and their bodies likewise were filled with eyes, and there was no place that was not full of eyes.

And there were wheels for each face, a wheel within a wheel, and in the wheels there was a spirit.

And he saw as it were the likeness of a man, and seated upon them the likeness of a man, and that which was beneath his feet was as the work of sapphire.

And the chariot of the Cherubim and the living creatures bore the Master who rode upon them;

wherever he willed to go, they went straight ahead, face foremost.

And he saw beneath the Cherubim as it were a man's hand supporting and bearing them.

And this which the prophet saw in actual subsistence was true and certain.

But it also pointed to and prefigured another mystical and divine thing, a mystery truly hidden from the ages and from the generations, but in the last times made manifest at the appearing of Christ.

For he was beholding the mystery of the soul that was to receive its own Lord and to become a throne of glory for him.

For the soul that is counted worthy to have fellowship with the Spirit of his light, and is illumined by the beauty of his unspeakable glory — he having prepared her for himself as a seat and dwelling-place — becomes all light, and all face, and all eye;

and there is no part of her not full of the spiritual eyes of light, that is, nothing darkened, but she is wholly and throughout made into light and spirit, and full of eyes everywhere, having no hinder or back part, but on every side facing forward, since upon her has mounted and is enthroned the unspeakable beauty of the glory of the light of Christ.

And just as the sun is everywhere alike, having no part behind or deficient, but is wholly glorified throughout with light and is wholly light, being uniform in all its members;

or as fire — the very light of fire — is wholly like itself and has in it no first or last, no greater or lesser; so also the soul that is perfectly illumined by the unspeakable beauty of the glory of the light of Christ's face, and has perfectly partaken of the Holy Spirit, and is counted worthy to become a dwelling-place and throne of God, becomes all eye and all light and all face and all glory and all spirit — Christ thus fashioning her, who bears and leads and carries and clothes her, and so adorns and arrays her with spiritual beauty.

For he says a man's hand was beneath the Cherubim, because it is he himself who is borne in her and who guides her.

The four living creatures that bore the chariot bore a type of the ruling faculties of the soul.

For as the lion is king of the wild beasts, the ox of the tame animals, and man of the creatures, so also are the more royal faculties of the soul — I mean the will, the conscience, the mind, and the power of love;

for through these the chariot of the soul is steered, and upon these God rests.

But in another manner it is taken to refer to the heavenly church of the saints.

And just as it says there that the living creatures were exceedingly high, full of eyes, and it was not possible for anyone to grasp the number of the eyes or their height, because the knowledge of these was not given;

and just as it is given to all men to behold and marvel at the stars in heaven, but to know their number or comprehend it is not given;

and of the plants of the earth it is given to all to enjoy them, but to know their number is possible for none — in the same way, regarding the heavenly church of the saints, it is given to all who are willing to strive, to enter into it and enjoy it; but to see and comprehend its number is appointed to him alone to know.

Therefore he who rides is led and borne by the chariot and throne of the all-eyed living creatures (that is, by each soul that becomes for him a throne and seat, and is eye and light), mounted upon her and holding the reins of the Spirit, and, as he knows how, guiding her.

For just as the spiritual living creatures went not where they wished to go, but where he who sat upon them and directed them knew and willed, so here too he himself holds the reins and leads, guiding by his Spirit; and so they go, not according to their own will.

When he wills, in heaven, even though the body lies on the ground, he steers and drives the soul in the heavens by its understanding;

and again, when he wills, he comes into the body and the thoughts;

and when he wills, to the ends of the earth, and he shows her revelations of mysteries.

O the good and kind and only true Charioteer!

And in this way the bodies too shall be counted worthy in the resurrection, since the soul is now thus pre-glorified and commingled with the Spirit.

That the souls of the saints become heavenly light, the Lord himself said to the apostles:

"You are the light of the world."

For having made them light, he commanded them to illumine the world through themselves; and he says, "Men do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house."

"So let your light shine before men" — which is to say:

do not hide the gift which you have received from me, but give it to all who are willing.

"The lamp of the body is the eye;

if your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light;

but if your eye is evil, your whole body is full of darkness."

"If then the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" For as the eyes are the light of the body, and when the eyes are healthy the whole body is enlightened;

but when something falls in and they are darkened, the whole body is in darkness — so the apostles were set as the eyes and light of the whole world.

So the Lord said to them, charging them:

if you stand firm and do not turn aside, being the light of the body, behold, the whole body of the world is enlightened.

But if you who are the light become darkened, how great is that darkness — which is the world! Having therefore become light, the apostles ministered light to those who believed, illumining their hearts with the heavenly light of the Spirit, by which they themselves had been enlightened.

And being themselves salt, they seasoned and salted every believing soul with the salt of the Holy Spirit.

For the Lord said to them:

"You are the salt of the earth" — calling the souls of men "earth."

For they ministered the heavenly salt of the Spirit in the souls of men, seasoning them and rendering them incorruptible and unharmed, freed from much foul stench.

From the foulest odor worms crawl into the rotted flesh and there feed and eat and burrow;

but when the salt comes, the worms that feed there are destroyed and perish, and the stench of the foul odor ceases (for the nature of salt is destructive of worms and dissolves foul odor). In the same way, every soul that has not been salted with the Holy Spirit and does not partake of the heavenly salt, that is, of the power of God, is rotted and filled with much foul stench of evil thoughts, so that the face of God turns away from the dreadful stench of the vain thoughts of darkness and the passions that dwell in such a soul.

And the evil and dreadful worms — which are the spirits of wickedness and the powers of darkness — walk about in her and there feed and burrow and crawl, and eat and corrupt her.

For he says, "My wounds have grown foul and festered."

But when she flees to God and believes and asks for the salt of life — the good and loving Spirit — then the heavenly salt comes and destroys the dreadful worms and removes the evil stench and cleanses her by the working of his power; and so, made healthy and unharmed by the true salt, she is restored to the use and service of the heavenly Master.

For this reason God, using a figure even in the Law, commanded that every sacrifice be salted with salt.

For unless the priest first sacrifices and kills the sheep, it is not salted nor offered to the Master for a whole burnt offering.

So too our soul, coming to the true High Priest Christ, must be sacrificed by him and die to its understanding and to the most evil life in which it lived, that is, to sin; and as it were the very life of it must go out from it — the wickedness of the passions.

For just as the body, when the soul has departed, is dead and no longer lives the life it lived, neither hears nor walks, so when the heavenly High Priest Christ, by the grace of his power, sacrifices and puts to death our life to the world, it dies to the life of wickedness in which it lived, and no longer hears or speaks or conducts itself in the darkness of sin;

because through grace the wickedness of the passions goes out as it were its life.

And the apostle cries out, saying:

"The world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."

For the soul that still lives in the world and in the darkness of sin, and has not been put to death from it, but still has within itself the soul of evil — that is, the working of the darkness of the passions of sin — and is shepherded by it, is not of the body of Christ, is not of the body of light, but is a body of darkness and is still of the portion of darkness;

just as, on the contrary, those who have the soul of light — that is, the power of the Holy Spirit — are of the portion of light.

How do you call the soul a body of darkness, when it is not the creature of darkness? Here understand attentively and rightly.

Just as the garment or cloak that you wear another made and fashioned, and you put it on;

and likewise another built and constructed the house, and you dwell in it — in the same way Adam, having transgressed the commandment of God and listened to the evil serpent, was sold and sold himself to the devil; and the evil one put on the soul, that good creature which God had fashioned after his own image, as the apostle also says:

"Having stripped off the principalities and authorities, he triumphed over them in the cross."

For this reason the coming of the Lord took place, that he might cast them out and take back his own house and temple — man.

the evil one of darkness, and there it is held captive, even as Paul too calls it the body of sin and the body of death, saying:

"that the body of sin might be destroyed"; and again:

"Who shall deliver me from this body of death?" Likewise again, the soul that has believed in God and has been delivered from sin and put to death from the life of darkness, and has received the light of the Holy Spirit as it were its life, and from thence lives, henceforth abides there, because there it is held fast by the light of the Godhead.

For the soul is neither of the nature of the Godhead nor of the nature of the darkness of wickedness, but is a certain intelligent creature, beautiful and great and wonderful and good, a likeness and image of God; and through the transgression the wickedness of the passions of darkness entered into it.

Henceforth, that with which the soul is commingled and united in its desires —

either, then, having in itself the light of God and living in it, it is in all the virtues of the light of rest; or, having the darkness of sin, it is under condemnation.

For the soul that wishes to live with God in rest and eternal light must come, as has been said, to the true High Priest Christ, and be sacrificed and die to the world and to the former life of the darkness of wickedness, and be transferred into another life and a divine manner of conduct.

Just as when someone dies in a city, he no longer hears the voices of those there, nor speech, nor sounds, but is once for all dead and removed to another place where there are no voices and cries of that city, so too the soul, when it has been sacrificed and has died, no longer hears the voice of the thoughts of darkness in the city of the wickedness of the passions in which it spent its life and lived;

no longer is there heard in it the speech and cry of vain reasoning and the turmoil of the spirits of darkness, but it is removed into a city full of goodness and peace, into a city of the light of the Godhead, and there it lives and hears, and there it conducts itself and speaks and reasons, and there it works spiritual works worthy of God.

Let us then also entreat to be sacrificed through his power and to die to the age of the wickedness of darkness, that the spirit of sin may be destroyed in us, and that we may put on and receive a soul of the heavenly Spirit, and be transferred from the wickedness of darkness into the light of Christ, and find rest in life unto all ages.

For just as in the stadium the chariots race, and the one in front impedes and holds back and hinders the other from advancing and getting ahead to victory, so the thoughts of the soul and of sin race within man.

If then the thought of sin happens to get ahead, it impedes and holds back and checks and hinders the soul from drawing near to God and from gaining the victory over it.

But where the Lord himself mounts and steers the soul, he always conquers, holding the reins and skillfully guiding the chariot of the soul into the heavenly and divine disposition continually.

For he does not war against wickedness, but being himself sovereign and ruler, he always works the victory himself.

Therefore the Cherubim are led not where they wish to go, but where he who is mounted and steers guides; and where he himself wills, there they go, and he bears them up;

for he says a man's hand was beneath them.

The holy souls are led and guided by the steering Spirit of Christ wherever he wills:

when he wills, in heavenly thoughts;

when he wills, in the body;

where he wills, there they minister to him.

For just as the wings are the feet of the bird, so the heavenly light of the Spirit takes up the wings of the thoughts of worthy souls, guiding and steering them as it knows how.

You then, when you hear these things, attend to yourself, whether you possess them in deed and in truth in your soul.

For these are not merely words that are spoken, but a work of truth taking place in the soul.

from the kingdom; and like one wounded, cry out continually to the Lord and ask in faith, that you too may be counted worthy of this true life.

For just as God, when he made this body, gave it to have its life — its food and drink and clothing and footwear — not out of its own nature nor out of the body, but provided that it should have the whole economy of life from without, making the body in itself naked, and apart from the things outside the body it is impossible for the body to live, that is, without food and drink and clothing;

but if it stands in its own nature alone, taking nothing from without, it decays and perishes — in the same way also the soul that has not the divine light, though created after the image of God.

For so he ordered it and was well pleased that it should have eternal life, not out of its own nature, but out of his Godhead, out of his own Spirit, out of his own light, to have spiritual food and drink and heavenly garments, which are the true life of the soul.

Just then as for the body, as has been said, life is not from itself but from without it, that is, from the earth, and apart from the things outside it, it cannot live — so also the soul, unless it be born from now into that land of the living and be there nourished spiritually and grow, advancing in the Lord, and be clothed from the Godhead with unspeakable garments of heavenly beauty, apart from that nourishment it is impossible for it to live in enjoyment and incorruptible rest.

For the divine nature has the bread of life, even him who said:

"I am the bread of life"; and living water, and wine that gladdens the heart of man, and the oil of gladness, and the manifold food of the heavenly Spirit, and heavenly garments of light, being from God;

in these is the eternal life of the soul.

Woe to the body when it stands in its own nature, for it decays and dies;

and woe to the soul if it stands in its own nature alone and trusts only in its own works, not having fellowship with the divine Spirit, for it dies, not being counted worthy of the eternal life of the Godhead.

For just as in the case of the sick, when the body can no longer take food, all their true friends, kinsfolk, and loved ones despair of them and weep, so God and the holy angels weep over the souls that are not nourished with the heavenly food of the Spirit and have not lived in incorruption.

These are not merely words that are spoken, but a work of spiritual life, a work of truth, taking place in the worthy and believing soul.

If then you have become a throne of God and the heavenly Charioteer has mounted upon you, and your soul has become wholly a spiritual eye and wholly light; and if you have been nourished with that food of the Spirit and have been given to drink of the living water and have put on the garments of the unspeakable light; if your inner man has been established in the experience and full assurance of all these things — behold, you live the truly eternal life from now on, your soul resting with the Lord;

behold, you have gained and received these things from the Lord in truth, that you may live the true life.

But if you are conscious to yourself of none of these things, weep and grieve and lament, because you have not yet attained the eternal and spiritual riches, and have not yet received the true life.

Have grief, then, over your poverty, beseeching the Lord night and day, because you stand in the dreadful penury of sin.

Would that even some grief over his own poverty were possessed by everyone, and that we did not live in carelessness as though satisfied.

For he who has grief and seeks and asks the Lord unceasingly will swiftly attain redemption and the heavenly riches, just as the Lord said when he set forth the parable of the unjust judge and the widow:

"How much more will God avenge those who cry to him night and day!"

"Yea, I say, he will avenge them speedily."

To whom be glory and dominion unto the ages.

HOMILY 2. The kingdom of darkness, the evil prince, having taken man captive from the beginning, so wrapped around and clothed the soul in the power of darkness,

as when there is a man and they make him king and clothe him in royal garments, and from head to toe he wears royal attire — so the evil prince clothed the soul and all its substance with sin, and defiled it wholly and took it wholly captive into his own kingdom.

He left not even one member of it free from himself — neither thoughts, nor mind, nor body — but clothed it in the purple of darkness.

For just as the body does not suffer in one part or member only, but is wholly and throughout subject to suffering, so also the soul wholly suffered the passions of wickedness and sin.

The evil one therefore clothed the whole soul — that necessary member and part of man — with his wickedness, that is, with sin; and so the body became subject to suffering and corruptible.

For when the apostle says:

"Put off the old man" — he means the whole man, having eyes for eyes, head for head, ears for ears, hands for hands, feet for feet;

for the evil one defiled and dragged down the whole man, soul and body, and clothed man in an old and polluted man, unclean and at enmity with God, not subject to the law of God — sin itself — so that man no longer sees as he wills, but sees evilly and hears evilly and has feet hastening to do evil and hands working iniquity and a heart devising evil things.

Let us then also entreat God to strip off from us the old man, for he alone is able to take away sin from us;

for those who took us captive and hold us in their kingdom are stronger than we.

But he has promised to deliver us from this evil bondage.

For just as when there is the sun and some wind blows —

the sun has its own body and its own nature, and likewise the wind has its own nature and its own body, and no one can separate the wind from the sun, unless God alone should cause it to cease, that it blow no more — so also sin is mingled with the soul, each having its own nature.

It is therefore impossible to separate the soul from sin, unless God should cause to cease and check this evil wind that dwells in the soul and the body.

Just as one watches a bird flying and wishes himself to fly, but having no wings he is unable to fly, so also for man the willing to be pure and blameless and spotless, and to have no wickedness in himself but to be always with God, lies at hand;

he wishes to fly into the divine air and the freedom of the Holy Spirit, but unless he receives wings, he cannot.

Let us then entreat God to give us

the wings of the Holy Spirit — for to him alone is it possible to do this.

For he says, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world."

He alone wrought this mercy for the men who believe in him, that he redeems them from sin;

and for those who continually look for him and hope and ask unceasingly, he works this indescribable salvation.

In the night of darkness, of the devil, and being in night and darkness, man is tossed by the dreadful wind of sin that blows, and is shaken and moved, and his whole nature is searched out — the soul, his thoughts, and the mind — and all the bodily members are shaken, and there is no member of soul or body free or unaffected by the sin that dwells in us.

Likewise there is a day of light and a divine wind of the Holy Spirit, blowing and refreshing the souls that are in the day of divine light, and penetrating the whole substance of the soul and the thoughts, and refreshing all the members of the body and giving them rest with a divine and ineffable rest.

This is what the apostle said:

"But we are not children of night nor of darkness;

for you are all sons of light and sons of the day."

And just as there, in delusion, the old man clothed himself in a complete man and wears the garment of the kingdom of darkness — the garment of blasphemy, unbelief, fearlessness, vainglory, pride, avarice, lust, and likewise the other ragged and unclean and polluted garments of the kingdom of darkness — so here again, all who have stripped off the old and subterranean man, and all whom Jesus has stripped of the garments of the kingdom of darkness, have put on the new and heavenly man, Jesus Christ (again likewise eyes for eyes, ears for ears, head for head), that the whole may be pure and may wear the heavenly image.

And the Lord clothed them in garments of the kingdom of unspeakable light — garments of faith, hope, love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness — and all the rest likewise, garments of light, of life, divine, living, of unspeakable rest; that just as God is love and joy and peace and kindness and goodness, so also the new man may become the same according to grace.

And just as the kingdom of darkness and sin is hidden in the soul until the day of the resurrection — when the very body of sinners shall be covered with the darkness now hidden in the soul — so also the kingdom of light and the heavenly image, Jesus Christ, now mystically illumines the soul and reigns in the soul of the saints,

but Christ, hidden from the eyes of men, is seen in truth only by the eyes of the soul, until the day of the resurrection, when the very body too shall be covered and glorified with the light of the Lord that is now from this time in man, in the soul; that the very body also may reign together with the soul, which from now receives the kingdom of Christ, resting and being illumined with eternal light.

Glory to his mercies and his compassion, that he pities his servants and illumines and delivers them from the kingdom of darkness, and graciously bestows on them his own light and his own kingdom — to whom be glory and dominion unto the ages.

The brothers ought to dwell together with one another in much love, whether they pray or read the scriptures or do any work, so that they may have the foundation of love toward one another.

And thus good pleasure can come upon those endeavors, and those who pray and those who read and those who work can all, conducting themselves with one another in integrity and simplicity, be profited.

For what is written? "Your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth" — that just as the angels in heaven are with one another in much concord, dwelling in love and peace, and there is there no haughtiness or envy, but they are with one another in love and sincerity, so also may the brothers be with one another.

It happens that there are thirty under one roof,

and they cannot persevere day and night in the same thing, but some of them devote six hours to prayer and wish to read, others minister readily, and others of them do some work.

The brothers therefore, whatever they do, ought to be with one another in love and joy.

And let the one who works say of the one who prays, "The treasure which my brother acquires, since it is common, I too possess";

and let the one who prays say of the one who reads, "What he profits from his reading goes to my gain";

and let the one who works say in turn, "The service which I perform is a common benefit."

For just as the members of the body, being many, are one body, and they help one another, and each performs its own work — yet the eye sees on behalf of the whole body, and the hand works on behalf of all the members, and the foot walks carrying all the members, and another member suffers along with them — so let the brothers be with one another.

And let not the one who prays judge the one who works;

neither let the one who works judge the one who prays, saying, "He stays put while I work"; nor let the one who ministers judge the other.

But let each, whatever he does, do it to the glory of God.

Let the one who reads hold the one who prays in love and joy, reckoning thus, "He prays on my behalf"; and let the one who prays reckon concerning the one who works, "What he does, he does for the common benefit."

And thus much harmony and peace and concord can prevail, holding one another in the bond of peace, and they can dwell together with one another in integrity and simplicity and the good pleasure of God.

But the chief thing of all, evidently, is perseverance in prayer.

Yet one thing is sought: that one should have a treasure in the soul, and life — which is the Lord — in the mind;

whether he works or prays or reads, that he may have that possession which does not pass away, which is the Holy Spirit.

There are some who say this, that the Lord requires of men only manifest fruits, but the hidden things God himself sets right.

But the matters are not so; rather, just as one guards himself in the outer man, so he ought also to wage struggle and war in the thoughts.

For the Lord requires of you that you be angry with yourself and wage battle with your mind, neither agreeing with nor taking pleasure in the thoughts of wickedness.

But for the rest — to uproot sin and the indwelling evil — this is possible to set right by the divine power alone.

For it is not lawful nor possible for man by his own power to uproot sin.

To wrestle against, to fight against, to beat and to be beaten — this is yours;

for if you were able to do this, what need of the Lord's coming? For as it is not possible for the eye to see without light, or to speak without a tongue, or to hear without ears, or to walk without feet, or to work without hands, so it is not possible for anyone without Jesus to be saved or to enter the kingdom of heaven.

But if you say, "In outward things I do not fornicate, I do not commit adultery, I am not avaricious, therefore I am righteous" — you are deceived in this, supposing that you have accomplished everything.

There are not only three departments of sin in which one ought to guard himself, but ten thousand;

fearlessness, conceit, unbelief, hatred, envy, deceit, hypocrisy — whence are these? Ought you not against these to have your wrestling and struggle in the hidden things, in the thoughts? Just as if there were a robber in the house, henceforth he presses you and does not let you be at ease, and you too begin to strike back at him — you beat, you are beaten — so the soul too ought to fight back and struggle against and resist.

Henceforth the will, fighting back and having toil and affliction, begins to gain the upper hand;

it falls, it rises again; again sin casts it down; in ten or twenty struggles sin conquers the soul and casts it down, and the soul, in the course of time, in a single bout conquers sin.

to carry off the prizes of victory against sin.

But even if it is tested in these things, sin still overthrows the man, until he comes to a perfect man, to the measure of stature, and perfectly conquers death;

"The last enemy, death, is destroyed."

And so they become superior and victors over the devil.

But if, as we said before, someone says,

"I do not fornicate, I do not commit adultery, I am not covetous, it is enough for me" — this man has striven in three departments, but in the other twenty which sin has against the soul he has not striven, but has been defeated.

He ought therefore to strive and contend in all things;

for the mind, as we have often said, is an adversary and has power evenly matched against sin, to contradict and oppose the thoughts.

But if you say that the opposing power is stronger and that wickedness reigns wholly over man, you make God unjust in condemning humanity;

because he obeyed Satan, when Satan is stronger and subjects him by some compelling power;

you have made Satan greater and stronger than the soul, and yet you charge me:

"Do not obey!" Just as if there were a young man who has a wrestling-match with a child, and if the child is defeated, it is condemned — why was it defeated?

This is great injustice.

Wherefore we say that the mind is an adversary and evenly matched, and such a soul, seeking, obtains help and assistance and is counted worthy of redemption.

For the wrestling and the struggle rest upon equality of power.

We glorify Father and Son and Holy Spirit unto the ages.

Those who wish to set right the life of Christianity with much exactness ought, before all else, to take care with all their power of the intellectual and discerning faculty of the soul, so that, having acquired with exactness the discernment of good and evil, and always distinguishing from the pure nature the passions that have been introduced contrary to nature, we may conduct ourselves rightly and without stumbling; that, using the faculty of discernment as an eye, we may be able to be unmixed and uncombined with the designs of wickedness, and so, being counted worthy of the divine gift, may become worthy of the Lord.

Let us take an example from things visible.

For the body resembles the soul, and the affairs of the body resemble those of the soul, and the things manifest resemble the things hidden.

For just as the body has the eye for its guide, and the eye, itself seeing, guides the whole body into the right way;

suppose for me that someone is passing through places thickly wooded and full of thorns and mire, where also fire shoots up and swords are fixed in the way, and there are cliffs and great quantities of water;

then the quick and earnest and nimble man, having the eye for his guide, passes very carefully through those difficult places, holding his tunic close on every side with hands and feet, lest it be torn through in the brush and thorns, or be ruined by the mire, or be cut by a sword;

and the eye guides the whole body, being its light, lest it be dashed down on the cliffs, or sunk in the waters, or harmed by any dangerous thing.

He who thus passes through, quick and prudent and with all watchfulness, drawing tight his tunic, guided straightway by the eye, keeps both himself unharmed and preserves the tunic of his garment unburned and untorn.

the tunic of the garment, through his carelessness and slackness and sloth.

But if he does not attend well and straightway to the eye, he too will fall into a ravine or be drowned in the waters.

In the same way, the soul also, wearing as it were a beautiful tunic — the garment of the body — and having the discerning faculty to direct the whole soul together with the body, as it passes through the brush and thorns of life, and mire and fire and cliffs (that is, through the lusts and pleasures and other unseemly things of this age), ought on every side, with watchfulness and courage and earnestness and attention, to draw close and guard both itself and the tunic of the body, lest somewhere it be torn through in the brush and thorns of the cares and occupations and earthly distractions of the world, and be burned up by the fire of lust.

So, being clothed, it turns the eye away from seeing evil things, likewise turns the ear away from hearing slander, the tongue from speaking vain things, the hands and feet from evil practices.

For the soul has the will to turn away and restrain the members of the body from the most evil spectacles and from wicked and shameful hearing and unbecoming words and worldly and wicked practices.

And the soul turns itself also away from wanderings, guarding the heart, that the members of its thoughts may not wander about in the world.

And thus, striving and being earnest and holding together on every side, with much attention, the members of the body away from evils, it keeps the beautiful tunic of the body untorn and unburned and unspotted.

And the soul itself, through its knowing and intellectual and discerning will — yet the whole will be guarded through the power of the Lord — drawing itself together as much as it can and turning away from every worldly lust, and so being helped by the Lord, is in truth kept from the aforesaid evils.

For when the Lord sees someone nobly turning away from the pleasures of life and its distractions and material cares and earthly bonds and the wanderings of vain thoughts, he gives his own help of grace, keeping unfallen that soul which nobly passes through the present evil age.

And so the soul will attain heavenly praises from God and the angels, because it nobly guarded the tunic of its body and itself, having (as far as in it lay) turned away from every lust of the world, and being helped by him, has nobly run the course of the stadium of this world.

But if someone walks in this life in slackness and indifference, not attending carefully, and does not of his own will turn away from every lust of the world and seek the Lord alone with all desire, he is entangled in the thorns and brush of this world, and by the fire of lust the tunic of the body is scorched and by the mire of pleasures is spotted; and so the soul is found without boldness in the day of judgment, having been unable to keep its garment unspotted, but having corrupted it by the deceits of this age;

and on this account it becomes an outcast from the kingdom.

For what will God do for the one who by his own will gives himself over to the world and is deceived by its pleasures, or led astray by material wanderings? For he gives help to the one who turns away from material pleasures and former habits, and forcibly draws his mind always toward the Lord, denying himself and seeking the Lord alone.

This one he preserves — the one who guards himself on every side from the snares and nets of the material world, who works out his own salvation with fear and trembling, and with all attentiveness passes through the snares and nets and lusts of this age, and seeks the help of the Lord, and hopes to be saved by his mercy through grace.

having been quick to gain that which is foreign to their own nature, having received the oil in the vessels of their hearts — that is, the grace of the Spirit from above — they were able to enter in together with the bridegroom into the heavenly bridal chamber.

But the others, the foolish, who remained in their own nature, were not watchful nor earnest to receive the oil of gladness in their vessels while they were still in the flesh,

but as it were fell asleep through negligence and slackness and sloth and ignorance, or even through a presumption of righteousness.

Wherefore they were also shut out from the bridal chamber of the kingdom, being unable to please the heavenly bridegroom.

For being held fast by the bond of the world and by some earthly love, they gave not their whole love and longing to the heavenly bridegroom, nor did they procure the oil.

For the souls that seek that which is foreign to nature — the sanctification of the Spirit — release their whole love toward the Lord, and there they walk, there they pray, there they think, turning away from all else.

Wherefore they are counted worthy to receive the oil of heavenly grace, and so are able to pass through unfallen, perfectly pleasing the spiritual bridegroom.

But the souls that remain in their own nature crawl in their thinking upon the earth, they reckon upon earth, their mind has its dwelling upon earth;

and in appearance they suppose they belong to the bridegroom and are adorned with the ordinances of the flesh, but from above, out of the Spirit, they were not born, not having received the oil of gladness.

For the five rational senses of the soul, if they receive the grace from above and the sanctification of the Spirit, are truly wise virgins, having received the prudence of grace from above.

But if they remain in their own nature alone, they are found foolish and are shown to be children of the world;

for they have not stripped off the spirit of the world, even though in appearance they suppose, through certain plausible pretexts and outward form, that they are brides of the bridegroom.

For just as the souls that cleave wholly and entirely to the Lord are there in their thinking, and there pray, and there walk, and there long for the love of the Lord, so again the souls that are bound in the love of the world and wish to have their dwelling upon the earth walk there and reckon there, there their mind makes its abode;

wherefore they are also unchangeable toward the good disposition of the Spirit.

Something then foreign to our nature (I mean the heavenly grace) must be combined and interwoven with our nature, that we may be able to enter in together with the Lord into the heavenly bridal chamber of the kingdom and obtain eternal salvation.

For something foreign to our nature — the wickedness of the passions — we received into ourselves through the disobedience of the first man, which, having become as it were our nature through habit and much prepossession, must again be driven out through that which is foreign to our nature, the heavenly gift of the Spirit, and we must be restored to the ancient purity.

And unless we now receive that love of the Spirit from heaven, with much asking and beseeching and faith and prayer and turning away from the world, and unless our nature, defiled by wickedness, cleaves to love (which is the Lord) and is sanctified by that love of the Spirit, and unless we remain unfallen to the end, conducting ourselves with exactness in all his commandments, we shall not be able to obtain the heavenly kingdom.

I wish to speak a subtle and deep word, according to the power that is in me;

the infinite and inaccessible and uncreated God, out of his infinite and inconceivable goodness, embodied himself, and, so to speak, made himself small from his inaccessible glory, that he might be able to be united with his invisible creatures (I mean such as the souls of saints and of angels), so that they might be able to partake of the life of the Godhead.

For each, according to its own nature, is a body — the angel, the soul, the demon;

for in its image, according to the subtlety of their nature, they are subtle bodies.

Just as in subsistence this body is dense, so also the soul, being subtle, has embraced the eye through which it sees, the ear through which it hears, likewise the tongue through which it speaks, the hand — and in a word, embracing the whole body and its members, the soul is commingled with it, through which it accomplishes all the activities of life.

In the same way also the infinite and inconceivable God, in his goodness, made himself small and clothed himself with the members of this body, and embraced himself, withdrawing from his inaccessible glory; and out of gentleness and love for man, transforming himself, he embodies himself and mingles with and takes to himself the holy and well-pleasing and faithful souls, and becomes with them one spirit, according to the word of Paul:

soul, so to speak, into soul and substance into substance, that the soul may be able to live in the Godhead and to perceive immortal life, and to become a partaker of incorruptible glory — the soul, that is, that is worthy of him and well-pleasing.

For if out of things that were not he brought the visible creation into being, such as it is, in much diversity and variety, and before it came to be it was not, but he willed and easily made out of non-existent things substances dense and hard (I mean such as earth, mountains, trees;

you see what hardness of nature there is), and again midway the waters, and commanded birds to be brought forth from them, and again things more subtle, fire and winds, which through their subtlety are not seen by the eye of the body —

How the infinite and indescribable art of the manifold wisdom of God created out of non-existent things bodies denser and subtler and more delicate, given subsistence by his will — how much more does he himself, being as he wills and what he wills, through unspeakable goodness and inconceivable kindness, change and make himself small, and liken himself, embodying himself according to capacity, to the holy and worthy and faithful souls, that the invisible may be seen by them, and the intangible be handled according to the nature of the subtlety of the soul, and that they may perceive his sweetness, and by experience itself enjoy the kindness of the light of his unspeakable enjoyment.

When he wills, he becomes fire, consuming every base and adventitious passion of the soul;

for he says, "Our God is a consuming fire."

When he wills, he is unspeakable and indescribable rest, that the soul may rest with the rest of the Godhead;

when he wills, he is joy and peace, cherishing and tending it.

And if he wishes also to liken himself to one of the created things, for the gladness and good cheer of the intelligent creatures — such as either a city of light, Jerusalem, or a heavenly Mount Zion — he can do all things as he wills, as has been said:

"But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem."

All things are easy and ready for him, into whatever he wills to transform himself for his worthy and faithful souls.

Only let one strive to become his friend and well-pleasing to him, and by experience itself and perception he shall see heavenly good things and unutterable delight and the infinite riches of the Godhead — truly the things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not entered into the heart of man, the Spirit of the Lord becoming the rest of worthy souls and their gladness and delight and eternal life.

For the Lord embodies himself also into food and drink, as it is written in the Gospel:

"He who eats this bread shall live forever" — that he may give rest unspeakably and fill the soul with spiritual gladness;

"I am the bread of life."

Likewise also into the drink of a heavenly stream, as he says:

"He who drinks of the water that I shall give him, there shall be in him a spring of water leaping up unto eternal life"; and, he says, "we were all made to drink the same drink."

Thus to each of the holy fathers he appeared as he willed and as was profitable;

and to each of the holy prophets:

in one way to Elijah, in another to Moses.

And I think that Moses, at every hour on the mount, during the fast of forty days, entering into that spiritual table, feasted and enjoyed.

To each of the saints, then, he appeared as he willed, to give rest and to save and to lead to the knowledge of God.

For all things are easy for him which he wills, and as he wills, making himself small, he embodies himself and transforms himself, appearing to those who love him in the inaccessible glory of light, manifesting himself according to his great and unutterable love to the worthy according to his power.

For the soul that is counted worthy, with much desire and expectation and faith and love, to receive that power from on high — the heavenly love of the Spirit — and that has received the heavenly fire of immortal life, is in truth loosed from all worldly love and freed from every bond of wickedness.