And when you come to say 'Lord, have mercy,' and wish to stretch out your hands to the height of heaven, gazing toward Him with your bodily eyes and fixing them and gathering yourself together in mind, remember your evil works, and how much you have sinned through these members, and what kind of shameful deeds you perhaps once laid hold of by means of them; and be afraid, saying within yourself:
'Lest God, seeing me shamelessly spreading out my hands before Him, remember my iniquities which I have committed with them, and send fire against me and lick me up.'
And having recited two or three psalms with understanding, and made as many prostrations as you perceive yourself able, stand again in recollection and ponder within yourself the things aforesaid, in case God should even grant tears and compunction to come upon you.
Having said these things and given thanks, and having sealed your face and breast and your whole body with the sign of the precious Cross, fall upon your rush-mat and recline.
And when you awaken, do not turn to the other side, but rising up at once, again pray in the manner aforesaid, and sleep no more, but persevere in prayer and reading until the wood is struck; and then go with all the others to the synaxis, and stand in the church as though among angels in heaven, trembling, regarding yourself as unworthy even of standing there together with the brethren.
And while standing, take heed to yourself, not to look here and there and to busy yourself with the brethren—how each one stands or how he chants—but attend to yourself alone, and to the psalmody, and to your sins.
Remember also the prayer offered in the cell; do not fall into any idle word at all during the synaxis; do not go out from there before the final prayer.
If possible, do not even sit down for the reading, but withdraw to a hidden place and stand listening, as though He Himself, the God who is over all, were speaking to you through the reader.
And if you yourself should be called upon to read, be so disposed as being unworthy to declare through your mouth to your brethren the God-inspired Scriptures; and having completed the divine reading and being about to make the customary prostration to both choirs, do it not contemptuously nor negligently, but reckoning all as sons of God and saints, falling down and bringing your head near to the floor, say mystically in your heart to them all:
And if you should also be appointed to lead the chant, do not do it negligently or slackly, but with understanding and sobriety, as in the presence of Christ the King over all, distributing the divine words through your voice as by a hand to the brethren; and fear lest through contempt you should fail to give to anyone the life-giving bread—that is, the word of God, as has been said—and you be cast out as one who despises: I do not say cast out of this church only, but out of the kingdom of heaven.
If, therefore, you should continue doing these things, the Lord will not delay to do His mercy with you; I am surety for the compassionate One, I—though it be a bold thing to say—set myself forward as a guarantor for the Lover of mankind!
This one thing only, know well, must he who repents laboriously guard against: namely, that he should not by some device kill himself and become a self-murderer—as, for instance, by casting himself down a precipice, or making use of a noose, or perpetrating some other such contrary thing.
'Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things'—that is, plainly, the things needful and suitable for your body—'shall be added unto you.'
For he who leads the life of struggle and lives according to the Gospel is able to be nourished day by day and to live on bread and water alone; and such a one is even healthier than those who enjoy the more delicate tables.
1:2788
ΔιότοῦτοκαίὁΠαῦλοςεἰδώςἔλεγεκαίἀείλέγει·
因此,保羅也是知道這事,曾說並常說:
Therefore also Paul, knowing this, said, and ever says:
for I did not do these things and speak to you from my own practice, but the grace of God, for your sake and for your salvation, has granted me to say these things.
If, therefore, with God working together with you, you should do these things, and you continue in this work of repentance, little by little you yourself will perceive yet other, greater mysteries, being taught them by the grace from above; and there shall be granted to you not only a fountain of tears, but also, through such practices, estrangement from all the passions.
For always to seek repentance and compunction, and to search out what things help and work together toward mourning and weeping and being pierced with contrition, and to practice them with diligence, and moreover never to prefer oneself in anything or to do the will of the flesh at all—this quickly brings a man to advancement, and to purification and dispassion, and makes him a partaker of the Holy Spirit; and not only so, but also renders him equal to Antony, Sabbas, and Euthymius, the great fathers.
but if you should not be willing to listen to me and to acquire the things spoken as an unceasing work, let neither you nor another blaspheme and say that this is impossible, nor say:
'So many, so many naked ones have I clothed from the gold I possessed, the hungry have I fed, the thirsty have I given drink, all my goods have I scattered abroad, I have come to this mountain, I have entered this cave, I have reached the tomb of the Lord, I have ascended the Mount of Olives, and now I have entered this monastery and been tonsured—or, having been purified beforehand, I sit in a single cell, making so many, so many prayers.'
But if you are ignorant even of these things I am saying to you, and do not know whether any of the better fruits has been sown in your land—I mean, whether you have come to know it in the field of your heart—then tell me, what have you gained by circling the ends of the earth and going to the uttermost parts of the sea?
For if I should show mercy to the whole world out of what is not mine—yet let it be counted as mine—but overlook myself, naked and destitute and brought to the uttermost of poverty, and thus destined to die in poverty of good things and to stand before the fearful judgement-seat of Christ, what profit is there for me?
We must depart from this life and from the body clothed and robed, if indeed we wish to recline at the royal wedding-feast together with the friends of the King.
But if again I should go about all the earth under heaven as though it were a single house, and leave no region or city or church into which I do not enter and worship and pray and diligently and accurately observe all that is in them, yet fall away from the kingdom of heaven—was it not better for me never to have been born nor to have fallen upon the earth, than to breathe this very air and behold the sun with my eyes?
1:2813
Ναίὄντως, κρεῖσσόνμοικατάπολύἦν!
是的,實在地,那對我要好得多!
Yes, truly, it were far better for me!
1:2814
Τίοὖνποιήσω, ἵναμήταύτηςἐκπέσω;
那麼我當作甚麼,才不至於從它墜落?
What then shall I do, that I may not fall away from it?
For this is the seed of Christ, through which we—we poor and mortal ones—become His kinsfolk; which, if it fall into good ground, bears fruit thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold, and this very thing is the kingdom of heaven; but all the rest, apart from this, profit nothing.
If, then, I do not lose my soul in the former manner, as I have said, giving myself over unto death for Christ's sake, and again find it living the eternal life, what profit to me is all the rest, O friends and brethren?
Truly nothing, nothing at all will profit us, O beloved servants of Christ, nor will it deliver us from the eternal fire, unless, having forsaken all things and all persons, we attend to ourselves alone.
But do Thou Thyself, O God, the true Wisdom, who hast deigned to become the teacher of us sinners, teach me to speak to myself and to my fellow-servants and brethren the things that make for the salvation of the soul.
For Thou art the guide and enlightenment of our souls, who givest us a word in the opening of the mouth, and utterance with great power to those who preach the good tidings; and to Thee we send up the glory, now and ever and unto the ages of ages.
Brethren and fathers, in the preceding catechesis, in order not to prolong the discourse too far, we left the things there taught incomplete, being eager to say what it is to examine oneself;
but now, through this present catechesis, we have come to render to you the debt of the word, as having been appointed to this and always owing to give to your love the measure of the word's bread.
But indeed one must also give heed to the divine Scriptures, and while these are being read a man ought to look upon himself, to consider and to learn thoroughly, as in a mirror, his own soul, in what state it is.
1:2840
ἈκούειλέγοντοςτοῦΚυρίου·
他聽見主說:
He hears the Lord saying:
1:2841
Μετανοεῖτε, ἤγγικεγάρἡβασιλείατῶνοὐρανῶν
你們應當悔改,因為天國近了。
Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
1:2842
Μνησθῆναιοὖνὀφείλειὅπωςδιέρχεταιτάςἡμέραςαὐτοῦ
那麼,他應當回想自己是如何度過他的日子。
He ought, then, to call to mind how he passes his days.
He ought, therefore, always to examine and prove himself in every trifling encounter—I mean of insult, dishonour, and contempt—and thus to look into himself, whether indeed this virtue of humility is in him or not;
but rather, over that very piercing of his heart—that he was grieved even a little and did not rather receive with joy the things that befell—he scourges and abases himself, grieves and weeps, entering into the storehouse of his soul or into his cell, and thus falling down before God he confesses to Him, as one who has lost his whole life.
For if we become humble through repentance, it is quite evident that not a day or a single night will pass for us without tears and mourning and compunction.
wherefore in this too one ought to look into himself, whether he is truly gentle; for such a one in no wise endures to see a transgression of God's commandment, but, like that righteous man, though sinning, unceasingly laments on behalf of those who sin;
1:2856
εἶθοὕτως, εἰτήνδικαιοσύνηνπεινᾷκαίδιψᾷτοῦΘεοῦ·
然後,照樣,看他是否飢渴慕義,慕神的義;
and then, in this way, whether he hungers and thirsts after the righteousness of God;
He, then, who hungers and thirsts after Him counts the whole world and the things in the world as dung, and reckons the honours of rulers as a shame, or is not at all sensible of human honours.
Those who have become poor for the sake of Him who became poor for us, and who have nothing to give, yet are ever mindful in their minds of the poor and widows and orphans and those in sickness, and often even see them and have compassion on them and weep fervently on their behalf, such as was Job, saying:
But I wept over every helpless one; such men, when they have the means, show mercy to these with cheerfulness, and unstintingly remind all of the things that make for the salvation of the soul, obeying Him who said:
1:2863
Ἀδόλωςτεἔμαθονἀφθόνωςτεμεταδίδωμι
我毫無詭詐地學了,也毫不吝惜地分給人。
Without guile I learned, and without grudging do I impart.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God—He knowing, as being God and our lawgiver, that unless our soul come into such a disposition it neither mourns unceasingly, nor becomes perfectly gentle, nor thirsts after God, nor is purified from the passions, nor becomes as a clean mirror.
but the soul that has become such sees God in every way and is reconciled to Him, and there comes about peace between our Maker and God and the soul that was formerly at enmity with Him; and then, as a peacemaker, it is pronounced blessed by God:
For blessed, He says, are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God—those who, in a manner they consciously know, have reconciled themselves to Him who came to give peace to them that were near and them that were far off, by reconciling us who were enemies to His own Father and, having come, uniting into one the things that were divided; that is, by imparting to us the Holy Spirit and Himself taking our flesh.
Those, therefore, who have seen him have clearly been truly reconciled to him as well, having brought to fulfillment the peace that is sought and having become sons of God.
Blessed are they who have been persecuted for righteousness' sake; and he takes aim, searching himself, to see whether he was persecuted for the sake of God's commandment—since all who wish to live in Christ shall be persecuted, as the Apostle says.
Why, then, has he placed last those who are persecuted and reviled, and with authority commands them, crying aloud to them the words, 'Rejoice and be exceedingly glad'?
Were I to repeat the same things a second time, I would say: he is counted worthy to mourn each day, and becomes gentle, and hungers and thirsts from his soul for the Sun of righteousness, and is made merciful and compassionate, making the sufferings and afflictions and infirmities of all men his own; and weeping and being purified, he sees God and is reconciled to him and becomes in truth a peacemaker, and is deemed worthy to be called a son of God himself.
Such a one, then, is able—when persecuted and beaten and reviled, slandered and insulted, and hearing every evil word spoken against him—to endure it with joy and unspeakable exultation; and knowing this, the Master God spoke with a firm pronouncement, saying:
But he who has not become such, and has not acquired within himself abundantly the joy that subsists in the person, how then will he be able to bear all these things without bearing a grudge?
Therefore, my fathers and brethren, let us never cease, with all diligence, to examine and search ourselves each day and each hour, if it be possible; but, as we have said, going through all the commandments and testing and scrutinizing ourselves in each one of them, let us see.
but if we have not yet remembered it or performed it, let us run, I beseech you, until we lay hold of it and become masters of it, lest, having despised it, we be called least in the kingdom of the heavens.
For thus, ascending little by little, one by one, as by the rungs of a ladder, I well know we shall come to the very city of heaven, in which, as we said above, our Master stands stooping down and saying to us all:
Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; and having arrived there and having seen him, so far as is possible for a man, and having received from him the kingdom of the heavens—which is the Holy Spirit—we shall have it ever within us, as the Master himself plainly cries out; and thus we shall live as angels upon the earth, or rather as holy sons of God and in all things imitators of our own Father and God.
That the one who says that no person of the present generation can come into partaking of the Holy Spirit, and moreover the one who slanders the operations of the Spirit and ascribes them to the adversary, renews a new heresy in the Church of God.
Brethren and fathers, the most holy oracle of the Savior says: Every sin shall be forgiven to men, but to him who has blasphemed against the Holy Spirit it shall not be forgiven, neither in the present age nor in the age to come.
1:2892
ΖητήσωμενοὖντίςἐστινἡεἰςτόΠνεῦματόἍγιονβλασφημία
那麼,讓我們查究褻瀆聖靈究竟是什麼。
Let us then inquire what the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is.
Whenever, therefore, someone, seeing miracles wrought by the Holy Spirit, or some other divine gift of grace in one of his brethren—I mean compunction, or tears, or humility, or divine knowledge, or a word of wisdom from on high, or some other thing bestowed by the divine Spirit upon those who love God—says that this comes from the deception of the devil;
when he says that those who are led as sons of God, who do the commands of their Father and God, are being deceived by demons, he himself blasphemes against the Holy Spirit who works in them, just as the Jews of old did against the Son of God;
But some, hearing these things, do not hear, and seeing, do not see; and though all the works attested by the divine Scripture come to pass from the Holy Spirit and from divine operation, yet, as though they had gone out of themselves and had spat every divine Scripture from their souls and thrust out the knowledge that arises from them within their minds, they do not shudder to say that these things come to pass from drunkenness and demonic working.
For just as the unbelieving, being wholly uninitiated in the divine mysteries, whenever they hear of divine illumination, or of the enlightenment of soul and mind, or of contemplation and dispassion, or of the humility and tears poured out from the operation and grace of the Holy Spirit, straightway, as though unable to bear the surpassing radiance and power of the words, being darkened in the eyes of the heart rather than illumined, they boldly declare that these things are from the deception of demons, and neither shudder at the judgment of God nor at the harm done to those who hear them, but shamelessly the audacious ones protest to all that no such thing now comes to pass from God in any of the faithful—which is impiety rather than heresy.
but to say that there are not now any who love God, nor that these are deemed worthy of the Holy Spirit and, being baptized by him, become sons of God and gods in knowledge and experience and contemplation, overturns the whole economy of God and our Savior Jesus Christ, and openly denies the renewal of the image that had been corrupted and put to death—the recalling of it unto incorruption and immortality.
For just as it is impossible for one who has not been baptized by water and the Spirit ever to be saved, so neither is it possible for one who has sinned after baptism, unless he be baptized from above and born again, as the Lord, confirming this to Nicodemus, said:
He, then, who is ignorant even of the baptism he received as an infant, and does not so much as know that he was baptized, but has wiped this clean by faith alone, yet renounces the second baptism—I mean that which is through the Spirit, given from above by the loving-kindness of God to those who seek it through repentance—how can he ever attain salvation in any other way?
For this reason, then, I earnestly testify to you all and say, and in saying it I shall not cease: all you who have defiled the first baptism through transgression of God's commandments, imitate the repentance of David and of the rest of the saints, and with all diligence, through works and words of every kind, show forth a worthy repentance, that you may draw down upon yourselves the grace of the All-holy Spirit.
For this Spirit, descending upon you, will become for you a font of light, and enfolding you wholly, ineffably, in himself, will regenerate you—from corruptible into incorruptible, from mortal into immortal, and instead of sons of men into sons and gods of God by adoption and grace—if indeed you also are willing to be shown to be kinsmen and co-heirs of the saints, and to enter with them all into the kingdom of the heavens;
We knew the Studite, who lived in the generation with us, and not only him but also certain others of his disciples, who through his supplications and prayers, by the unspeakable loving-kindness of the supremely good God, were deemed worthy, as I have said, of such a good.
But I say this not boasting in their power, but giving thanks to the goodness of God and proclaiming it to you all, that you yourselves may also be earnest to be deemed worthy of such a good.
For this is the mark of love according to God: that one should not procure the possession of the good for himself alone, but should also make known his wealth to his neighboring brethren and exhort them to seek and find and grow rich in it.
Having given yourselves over to sloth and negligence and to the desires and pleasures of the flesh, you say that it is impossible for you to be cleansed through repentance and to draw near to God;
and not only this, but also that it is impossible to receive the grace of his Spirit and, through it, to be born again and adopted and made like to him?
1:2914
Οὐκἔστιτοῦτοἀδύνατον, οὐκἔστιν
這並非不可能——絕非不可能。
This is not impossible—it is not.
1:2915
Ἀδύνατονμένγάρἦνπρότῆςαὐτοῦἐπίγῆςπαρουσίας·
因為在祂降臨地上之前,這確實是不可能的;
For it was indeed impossible before his coming upon earth;
but from the time when the Master God of all things was well pleased to become man and to be made like to us in all things apart from sin, he wrought these things possible for us and easy, having given us authority to become sons of God and his co-heirs—to whom belongs all glory, honor, and worship unto the ages.