The Meekness of the Combatant

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

It is to be tested whether one recites the psalm in a rushing manner during sleep, or whether one is to be tested against being distracted in the psalmody; for according to the enemy's position, it is necessary that we also be transformed, because at times they propose to let the tongue run, the soul being held by acedia, and at times they provoke the words to be sung, just as the spiritual eye gains strength from the light. For he who stretches himself toward the vision of the high things will take a sharper eye, according to the pattern of Elisha (2 Kings 2:9).

When a thought comes to the heart as an enemy, do not seek other things in place 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. Be beautiful with the work of the hands, and especially the memory of prayer; for the one which is not always, and the one which is 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 disturb in the work, tossing the body about, so that you do not also disturb the heart of prayer. Just as the man outside of us works with hands so as not to be burdened by anything, so let the one in the thoughts work, so as not to burden the mind. For the thoughts bring their own work to the soul when they catch it idle with the thoughts according to God.

Let the works of the hands be toward the philanthropic, and the mind of the rational toward the philosophical, so that the one may be a hospitality to strangers and a restraint of laziness, but the other, a general of contemplation and a curb of thoughts; let us strike the pleasures of the thoughts with boldness, turning all 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 fellow-kind and the other toward the enemy; for in this is the use of passion, 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 in the dividing of meekness from the deceitful thoughts, just as the battle is divided from those of the same nature; do not turn the use of passion toward the natural, so as to be angry toward the brother according to the likeness of the serpent, but to love 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 serves and remains. For if to long-suffering belongs to love, to anger-fighting does not belong to love; for anger 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 that which afflicts you; serve God in fear and in love, the one as Master and Judge, the other as Philanthropos, and He nourishes. He who has acquired the virtues of love takes captive the passions of the wicked, and he who possesses these three things—faith, hope, and love, from the Holy Trinity—will be a city fortified by a triple wall for the virtues. He will be revealed as loving not only in not receiving from another, but in giving ungrudgingly through renunciation, in giving as you struggle with the matter to cast pure seeds, so that instead of fire, chaff does not come forth to you. Remember God in those things in which you provide, both the giver and the 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 throughout all things; then you will have driven 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 your hope toward God may be divided 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...