And that the mere distribution of our possessions and the very stripping away of things does not suffice for us unto the cleansing of the soul, unless we also acquire mourning.
And that, unless already from now we become partakers of the participation of the Spirit through earnest zeal, we cannot even be faithful and Christians, nor can we be called sons and children of God.
And that unless one does all these things also within himself, and feeds and gives drink to Christ, he will gain no benefit from doing these things only toward the poor, while overlooking himself as unfed and stripped bare of the righteousness of God.
And that one must not zealously keep and welcome the profit of fasting only in the first and single week of the fasts, but the earnest ought to preserve equal and the same zeal throughout all the weeks of the fasts.
On the devices of the evil one, which he suggests to the more frivolous and to those who love pre-eminence, whenever a shepherd is to be appointed from among men.
And that it is good and profitable for this to make use of an experienced guide, that is, a spiritual father, in order to learn the hard-to-achieve labor of virtue and of the ascetic art.
And that the treasure of the Spirit hidden in the letter of the divine Scripture is not manifest to all, nor to those who merely wish it, but only to those who have acquired Him who opens the mind to understand the Scriptures.
On the beginning of a life exceedingly profitable and salvific, suited to those who are but now renouncing the world and the things in the world, and hastening to the monastic life.
On not being negligent concerning the working of God's commandments, nor despising even one single one of them, but striving to keep all of them together, lest as despisers we be shut out from the bridal chamber.
And that to him who truly performs the sacred rites and is illumined by the divine light all are manifest—both those who walk in the Spirit of God and those who have not yet put off the earthly man.
And that he who says the present generation cannot come to participation in the Holy Spirit, and moreover he who slanders the operations of the Spirit and ascribes them to the adversary, renews a new heresy in the Church of God.
And that it is impossible for the works of virtue to be confirmed otherwise than through the coming of the Spirit, apart from whom no one is directed toward virtue, nor can benefit others or receive the thoughts of others.
for one must make it public and show it to all, and gratefully proclaim the good deeds of God unto the benefit of those who hear, even if some are displeased.
1:67
ΕὐχαριστίαπρόςΘεόνὑπέρὧνἠξίωταιδωρεῶν
為所蒙賜的恩賜向神獻上的感謝。
A thanksgiving to God for the gifts of which he was deemed worthy.
Brethren and fathers, I desire to speak to you of the things that make for the benefit of the soul, yet I am put to shame—Christ the Truth is my witness—before your love, knowing my own unworthiness.
For this reason I always wished to keep silent, as the Lord knows, and not so much as to lift up my head or to look upon the face of any man, having my conscience condemn me: that I, all unworthy, have been appointed to preside over you all, as though I knew the way, I who do not even know what lies at my own feet, who have not yet so much as touched the road that leads to God.
But I know full well that our Lord and God pronounces blessed not merely the one who speaks, but the one who acts before he speaks; for such a one shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
For the disciples too, hearing such a teacher, become eager to imitate him; and they receive benefit not so much from his words as they are stirred up by his good deeds and are constrained to do the same—which is precisely what I know I have not done in myself.
But I beg and entreat you all, my beloved brethren, not to look upon my dissolute life, but upon the commandments of the Lord and upon the teachings of our holy fathers.
For setting out from many and diverse works and deeds, as though departing each from certain places and from many cities, we hasten to arrive at one single lodging—the kingdom of heaven.
And by the deeds and ways of the men who live according to God we must understand the spiritual virtues, in which those who have begun to walk are bound to run toward one single goal, so that from diverse regions and places they may come together into one city—as has been said, the kingdom of heaven—and may be counted worthy to reign together with Christ, having come under one King, God and Father.
By this one city, then, you are to understand not many but one—the holy and undivided trinity of the virtues; or rather, that which is first among the rest, which they also call last, since it is the goal of all good things and is greater than all: I mean love, from which and in which all faith is founded and hope is built up, and apart from which nothing that exists has come to be, nor indeed shall ever wholly subsist.
Many are its names, many its works, more numerous its tokens; its properties are divine and very many, yet its nature is one and equally beyond utterance to all alike—to angels and to men and to every other creature that is perhaps unknown to us.
Incomprehensible in its reason, unapproachable in its glory, unsearchable in its counsels, eternal because it is also timeless, unbeholdable because it is indeed apprehended by the mind, yet is not comprehended.
Many are the beauties of this holy Sion not made with hands, and he who has begun to behold them no longer takes his delight in the contemplation of things perceptible, no longer clings to the glory of this world.
For when, my beloved fathers and brethren, I called to mind the beauty of that blameless love, suddenly its light was found within my heart, and I was caught up by its sweetness and lost my outward senses, becoming wholly beside myself to this present life, and I forgot the things that were in my hands.
O love most greatly to be desired! Blessed is he who has embraced you, for he will no longer passionately long to embrace the beauty of any earthly thing.
1:93
Μακάριοςὁσοίπεριπλακείςἐξἔρωτοςθείου·
凡因神聖之愛的熱望與你相擁的人是有福的;因為他要撇棄整個世界,並且無論親近甚麼人,都絕不被玷污。
Blessed is he who has been enfolded in you through divine eros; for he will renounce the whole world, and drawing near to any man whatsoever, he will in no way be defiled.
Blessed is he who has kissed your beauties and has revelled in them out of boundless longing, for he shall be sanctified in soul by the water and blood that flow undefiled from you.
Blessed is he who has gained you as his possession, for he will reckon the treasures of the world as nothing; for you are truly the wealth that is never emptied.
Praiseworthy is he who pursues you; more praiseworthy he who finds you; more blessed still he who is loved by you, who is received by you, who is taught by you, who dwells in you, who is nourished through you with the food that is Christ the immortal, Christ our God.
1:99
Ὦἀγάπηθεία, ποῦΧριστόνπεριέχεις;
哦,神聖的愛啊,你把基督懷抱在何處呢?
O divine love, where do you hold Christ enclosed?
1:100
ΤίτόντοῦκόσμουΣωτῆραλαβοῦσα, μακράνγέγοναςἀφἡμῶν;
你既已將這世界的救主取為己有,為何竟遠離了我們呢?
Why, having taken to yourself the Saviour of the world, have you gone far from us?
Open even to us unworthy ones your little door, that we too may see Christ who suffered for our sake, and may believe in his mercy, so that we shall no longer die from the time we behold him.
Open to us, you who became the door for him unto his manifestation in the flesh, you who constrained the ungrudging and unconstrained compassions of our Master to bear the sins and the sicknesses of all men; and do not cast us away, saying:
Dwell within us, that for your sake also the Master may come and visit us, the lowly, being met beforehand by you—for we are in every way unworthy—so that he may tarry a little in converse with you, and may receive us sinners also to fall down at his undefiled feet, and that you may speak good things concerning us and intercede that the debt of our evils be forgiven us, so that through you we may again be deemed worthy to serve the Master himself, and may be provided for and nourished by him.
May we be pardoned by you, O holy love, and through you may we come to the enjoyment of the good things of our Master, of whose sweetness no one, save through you, shall taste.
But he who has laid hold of you, or has been laid hold of by you, is wholly secure, since you are the end of the law—you who encircle me, who set me aflame, and out of the travail of my heart kindle me into a boundless longing for God and for my brethren and fathers.
For you are the teacher of the prophets, the fellow-runner of the apostles, the strength of the martyrs, the inspiration of the fathers and teachers, the perfection of all the saints, and now my own equipping for this present ministry.
Therefore I entreat your love also to pursue after her with all your might, and running with faith to lay hold of her, and you shall in no way fall short of your hopes.
For all diligence and all ascetic labour, joined with many toils, which does not arrive at love in a contrite spirit, is vain and ends in nothing profitable.
For the sake of this the Word became flesh and dwelt among us; for its sake, having become man, he willingly endured all his life-giving sufferings, that he might free his own creature, man, from the bonds of Hades, and taking him up, might lead him into the heavens.
Having netted the inhabited world with the hook and the dragnet of the word, they drew it up from the deep of the madness of idolatry and brought it safe to the harbour of the kingdom of heaven.
For its sake our God-bearing fathers and teachers of the inhabited world eagerly laid down their own souls on behalf of the catholic and apostolic Church;
and we, the mean and lowly, have undertaken the guardianship of you, our most honoured fathers and brethren, so that, imitating those men in all things so far as we are able, we may for your sake both suffer and endure, and may accomplish it unto your edification and benefit, that we may present you as perfect victims, as reasonable whole-burnt-offerings, upon the table of God.
Let us then be diligent, my brethren beloved in Christ, that as in all things, so also through love toward one another, we may serve God and him whom you have chosen to have as the type of a spiritual father—even though I fall far short of the dignity—so that God may rejoice over your concord and perfecting, and I too, the lowly one, may rejoice, beholding ever the progress of your life according to God stretching forward unto that which is better: in faith, in purity, in the fear of God, in reverence, in compunction and tears, through which the inner man is cleansed and filled with divine light and becomes wholly of the Holy Spirit, in a contrite soul and a humbled mind; and so my joy becomes a blessing unto you and an increase of that imperishable and blessed life in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be the glory unto the ages.
Brethren and fathers, everyone who wishes to find God, let him deny himself and not spare his own soul, but let him set enmity between himself and all who walk according to the flesh.
Let him not be turned toward any of these by their seemingly consoling words, and let him not sit with them in the seat, nor hold evil conversations, through which the soul is poisoned and is compelled to dwell upon its former wicked reasonings and imaginings.
Do not turn back to the things behind, do not shrink back nor be weighed down by sloth, do not give sleep to your eyes nor sweeten your throat with the pleasure of any food, until you behold that through which and for which you have been called, and toward which you press on to attain according to your goal.
No, my brother, no—do not be caught in this snare, nor betray your own salvation; but rather employ a still more vigorous diligence and manly courage in the working of the virtues, not disbelieving the words and teachings of your fathers according to God.
For if you had done this without wavering from the beginning, the good God would not have overlooked you, but would have given you clearly the enjoyment of what you long for.
Therefore, if you wish to attain what you desire and long for—the good things of God, I mean—and from a man to become an earthly angel, then love, my brother, affliction of the body, embrace suffering, and love temptations even as things destined to become for you the procurers of every good.
What is more glorious than the spiritual poverty that procures the kingdom of heaven? And what could ever be found to equal it, either now or in the age to come?
And to have no care even for oneself for the sake of any earthly thing, but to have one's whole mind directed toward Christ—of how many eternal goods do you think this is the procurer, of how great an angelic estate?
And to despise all temporal things together, and even, so to speak, the necessary needs of the body, so as not to contend with anyone over these, for the sake of keeping peace and love undiminished in an untroubled condition of soul—of what recompenses, of what crowns and prizes, is this not worthy?
When you hear the name of Christ, do not attend to the simplicity of the word or the brevity of the expression; but consider for me the glory of the Godhead, which is beyond mind and understanding, its ineffable might, its immeasurable mercy, its incomprehensible riches, which He bestows upon them abundantly and munificently, and these suffice them in place of all things, since they have received into themselves Him who is the author and bestower of every good.
For he who has been counted worthy to see and behold Him has desired nothing else; nor could he who has become filled with the love of God endure to love anyone else on earth more.
Let us therefore be zealous, my beloved brethren, to find Christ and to see Him, of what sort He is in beauty and in delightfulness; for we see also that many of mankind, out of desire for certain transient things, endure many toils and labors and undertake long journeys, and not only so, but they even despise wife and children and all other glory and luxury, and prefer nothing to their own purpose, so as not to fail of their own aim.
And if certain men lay out their whole struggle and their very soul for the sake of things transient and corruptible, shall we not surrender our souls and bodies unto death for the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Creator and Sovereign of all things?
Since therefore we are unable to resist, brethren, or to flee from the presence of the Lord, come, let us give ourselves as servants to the Lord God who for our sake put on the form of a servant and died for us; come, let us humble ourselves under His mighty hand, which pours forth eternal life upon all and richly imparts it, through the Spirit, to those who seek it.
and its beauty, that you may know and learn its greatness and may seek to receive Him within yourselves; yet I do not see any of you attending to what is said with longing and fervor, or striving to enjoy such glory.
For this reason I too remain utterly speechless, being wholly unable to tell or expound to anyone the glory of Christ our God, which He graciously grants to those who seek Him with their whole soul.
But O my astonishment, and the greatness of the gifts of God, that, leaving aside the wise things of the world and the strong and the rich, He chose its weak and foolish and poor things, out of His great and unspeakable goodness!
1:153
Καίτίςἱκανόςὑπέρμόνουτούτου () ἀξίωςεὐχαριστῆσαι;
單為這一件事,誰能配得上向祂獻上感謝呢?
And who is sufficient worthily to give thanks for this alone?
For nearly all men, as it were, abhor the weak and the poor, and an earthly king cannot bear to look upon them, the rulers turn away from them, the rich despise them, and passing them by as though they were nothing they go their way; and no one counts it a blessing to associate with them.
But God, who is ministered to by countless and innumerable hosts, who upholds all things by the word of His power, whose magnificence is unbearable to all, did not refuse to become both father and friend and brother of these outcast ones; but He even willed to be made flesh, that He might become like us in all things apart from sin, and might make us partakers of His glory and of His kingdom.
Let us therefore seek Christ, whom we put on through divine baptism, when we put off our evil deeds; for having been sanctified without our awareness while yet infants both in mind and in age, we defiled ourselves in our youth—not to say that daily, by the transgression of the commandments, we defile our souls and bodies.
For this reason, therefore, let us call ourselves back again through saving repentance, doing and practicing all things that are well-pleasing to Christ, so that, being sealed by Him, we may live henceforth without fear;
and not only so, but that we may also receive mercy from His hand, and may be counted worthy to become worthy of the knowledge of the mysteries of Christ—by knowledge I mean not that which is handed down in word and hearing alone, but that which is contemplated in deed and action.
and the signs and proofs that one has it within him are these: that such a man desires nothing of the things seen and corruptible—I mean the affairs and delights of this world, neither wealth, nor glory, nor luxury, nor any other worldly or bodily enjoyment—but that he so holds himself back from all these things and is so disposed toward them with distaste in soul and will, as those who are eminent in authority and royal honor are disposed toward those who spend their time upon the harlot's stage, and as those who are clothed in clean garments and anointed with fragrant ointments turn away from stench and mire.
For he who turns toward any one of these things that are seen has neither seen, nor smelled, nor tasted that kingdom of heaven, nor its very delightsomeness and sweetness.
1:178
Μακάριοιοἱπενθοῦντες, ὅτιαὐτοίπαρακληθήσονται
「哀慟的人有福了,因為他們必得安慰。」
Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
But the poor in spirit have, as has been said, no attachment to the things present, nor do they passionately couple their reasoning with them, not even when it is merely being gratified.
How then shall he mourn, and for what reason, who has abhorred the whole world, and by the disposition of his reasoning has removed himself from it further than his body draws near to it?