The Meekness of the Combatant

A memory, as if having been exhausted for some reason. Therefore, when we are awake at night, let us not incline the assembly toward acedia, so that the demons, standing by, do not gather the tares of the thoughts and sow them together in the heart; for when we destroy the assembly of hymns, then we gather together the assembly of thoughts. Having been awakened before the assembly, let us practice thoughts of light in the heart beforehand, so that, having been made ready, we may stand at the psalmody with a watchful mind.

In one way the psalm must be said with a rushing sound in wakefulness, in another way one must be tested against babbling in the psalmody; for according to the ambush of the adversary it is necessary that we also be transformed, because at times they suggest letting the tongue run, the soul being held by acedia, and at times they provoke the words to be sung, just as the noetic eye receives its strength from the food of light. For he who stretches himself toward the vision of the high things will receive a sharper eye, according to the pattern of Elisha (2 Kings 6:17).

When a thought comes as an enemy to your heart, do not seek other things instead of others through prayer, but whet the sword of tears against the enemy; for in this way, if we strike more fiercely in the battle, we will make him depart from us more readily. Love beauty with the work of the hands, and especially the memory of prayer; for the one is not always, but the other, unceasing, has the means of the labor.

Do not hesitate to give the debt of prayer, hearing a thought through the pretext of works, and do not cause turmoil in the work, tossing the body about, so that you may not disturb the heart of prayer together with it. Just as the outer man works with hands so as not to burden anyone, so let the one in the thoughts work, so that the mind may not be burdened. For the thoughts bring their own work to the soul when they catch it idle with respect to godly thoughts.

O unplowed field: let the works of the hands be toward love of mankind, and the mind of the rational part toward love of wisdom, so that the one may be a hospitality to strangers and a burning of laziness, but the other a general of contemplation and a shaking-off of thoughts; let us strike the pleasures of the thoughts with boldness, turning all our anger toward them, so that we do not, by receiving things from them through pleasure, become gentle toward them in return.

Chapter 10. Prepare yourself to be both meek and a combatant, the one toward your kinsman and the other toward the enemy; for in this is the use of thumos, in opposing the serpent according to enmity; and in this is the reasonableness of meekness, in being long-suffering toward the brother according to love, and fighting against the thought. Let the meek man, therefore, be a combatant, meekness being divided from the deceitful thoughts, just as battle is divided from those of the same nature; do not turn the use of thumos toward the life contrary to nature, so as to be angry at the brother according to the likeness of the serpent, but to be befriended by the serpent according to the agreement of the thoughts. The meek man, even if he suffers terrible things, does not depart from love; for because of this he is long-suffering and endures, he is kind and remains. For if long-suffering belongs to love, thumos-fighting does not belong to love; for thumos stirs up grief and wrath, but love diminishes these three things. If you have a firm foundation in love, attend more to this than to what afflicts you; serve God in fear and in love, the one as Master and Judge, the other as Lover of mankind, and He nourishes. He who has acquired the virtues of love takes captive the passions of the wicked, and he who has these three things from the Holy Trinity — faith, hope, love — will be a city fortified by a triple wall for the virtues. You will be revealed as loving not only in not receiving from another, but in giving ungrudgingly as one who has renounced, in giving, as you struggle with matter, to cast pure seeds, so that instead of wheat, nettle does not come forth to you. Remember God in the things you provide, both giver and receiver, so that He may reckon to you the wages of your renunciation along with praises.

Chapter 11. The unattached man has the pleasure of life without care, but the lover of possessions has the pain of anxiety for wealth in all things; then you will drive the multitude of thoughts into captivity, when you do not give the heart to the cares of material things; then also you will carry the cross undistracted (Matt 16:24), when you deny the desire to acquire, but the thought of material things will predict old age to you, and diseases, so that it may divide your hope toward God by money. Let him who has preordained to practice renunciation be walled in by faith, and be strengthened by love, and be made firm by hope. For faith is...