Gratitude and the Union of Practice and Knowledge

and they may not endure the insults. When I give great repentance concerning sins, then the thoughts, enlarging the struggles of the labors, diminish the sins, and often they cover them in secrecy, or even signify that these are permitted to remain, so that one might be discouraged by the labors, not calculating that the laments cried out because of the stings should be more numerous.

Chapter 43. But he who, cutting off the passions that fall upon him, commands more soldiers, will lead a campaign in the battle. Do not forget having stumbled, even if you repent, but have remembrance of your sin, the grief toward your humility, so that, having been humbled, you may by necessity cut off pride. If anyone having done impious things would wish to live excellently, let him stand in alternation of better things against the contrary of his deeds; for indeed he who opposes the contrary deed with the virtue of each, shoots the dragon with the quiver of virtues, and vanity is the sharpest weapon against the beast, piercing the labors, which he, having anticipated through the secret strategies of works, has approached all the bringing of the head of the devil. Seal your fragrances of the labors with silence, so that being released by the tongue, glory may steal them away; hide your tongue in the manner of the practical aspect of asceticism; for indeed, by silencing, your faithful companions witness the labors of your life. He who, not having anything from the present labors to be witnessed, let him never witness to himself by tongue; for some, having exhausted themselves through the labors of hardness of heart, compare their deeds as a cover for the laziness of past times, providing uncertain witnesses not present through manifest works. Just as you hide your sins from men, so hide the labors from them; for indeed the counter-art of the secrets of the heart, folding up the hidden things, and the refreshments, stand against them; but if we hide the faults with safety, and the pains against them we uncertainly reveal, we are performing the opposites in both. But be ashamed of the publication of shameful things, lest they make a reproach and render the things of your soul useless. Fear also the display of the labors, lest he bring the destruction of the soul as a man-pleasing accusation; but if you manifest the shameful things to God alone...

Regarding faults, do not display the struggles against them as if they were human victories, so that they might not be thought to be crowns.

Chapter 14. Those receiving the power of labors from grace should not think they have this as an inherent strength; for the word of the commandments is the cause of all good things to us, just as the one who casts away is the cause of all evil. Therefore, whatever good thing you accomplish, offer thanksgiving to the cause of the good; but whatever evil flows through you, cast it toward the leader of these. To the end of every undertaking, we bring thanksgiving to the better, so that your offering, being legally presented, the evil might be put to shame. For he who has joined thanksgiving to his practice will have an unshakeable treasure of the heart, having doubled the wall against evil. This man is praiseworthy, who has joined the contemplative to the practical, so that the space of the soul might water itself toward virtue from both sources; for the contemplative gives wings to the spiritual essence through the contemplation of the superior ones, but the practical kills the members upon the earth: fornication, the passion of uncleanness, evil, and bad desire. Therefore, those being surrounded by the armor of both these things will easily overcome the remaining wickedness of the demons. The demons fight the soul through thoughts, but those fight back more fiercely through endurance, and, being cowardly, they approach the rest of the battle wearing the strong general of the struggle. If you wish to command against the phalanx of the demons, shut the gates of your soul with stillness, and touch also your ear with the words of the fatherhood, so that then, having learned the thorns of thoughts, you might strike them, upon hearing paternal instruction. Do not be a judge of works, but an examiner of words.

Chapter 15. For it is the habit of such thoughts to lead you toward the practical aspect of the one instructing you, so that, having made you a terrible critic of this, they might turn you away from beneficial instruction. Do not contradict the one instructing, even if you are a contemplative; for if the practical of the contemplative is severed, the need of the one joining the harmony of either of the virtues will be judged by a terrible judgment. He who spreads the paternal commandment from the ear, and will be obedient to the legal commandment, shall not only speak being delighted by the achievements of the Fathers, but also himself being a worker of these.