The Philokalia

by Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain

If we believe that virtue is good, then of necessity God, who created virtue and gave it to men, is also good; and if He is good, then of necessity He is likewise righteous, for righteousness is a virtue and thus is good. If God is both good and righteous, then He has certainly done all that He has done and is doing out of goodness, even if this does not seem to be so to the wicked. For nothing darkens a man's mind so much as evil, while God reveals Himself to simplicity and humility, not to toil and weariness.

In the case of those who choose it, the kingdom is within and close to them, because they wish for it, and desire to attain here and now the state of dispassion. For what helps or hinders our salvation is the will, and nothing else. If you want to do something good, do it; and if you cannot do it, then resolve to do it, and you will have achieved the resolution even if you do not fulfill the action itself. Thus a habit, whether good or bad, can gradually and spontaneously be overcome. If this were not the case, no criminals would ever be saved, whereas in fact not only have they been saved, but many have become conspicuous for their excellence. Think what a great gulf separates the criminal from the saint; yet resolution finally overcame habit. If by Christ's grace someone is religious, or a monk, what prevents him from achieving sanctity, as criminals have achieved it? They were far from sanctity, he is near it; he has already completed the greater part of the journey, helped by grace, or by nature, or by the devotion and reverence he has inherited from his parents. Is it not strange, then, that when brigands and grave-robbers become saints, monks are condemned? But, alas, 'the shame of my face has covered me' (Ps. 44:15).

When a man has been sufficiently illumined, however, to perceive his own faults, he never ceases mourning for himself and for all men, seeing God's great forbearance and what sins we in our wretchedness have committed and still persist in committing. As a result of this he becomes full of gratitude, not daring to condemn anyone, shamed by the profusion of God's blessings and the multitude of our sins.

And we truly regard ourselves as inferior to all other men, perceiving how many blessings are bestowed on us through the grace of God, to whom be glory and dominion through all the ages. Amen.

Humility bestows complete repose upon whoever possesses it in his heart, because he has Christ dwelling within him. Through it grace remains with him and God's gifts are preserved. It is the offspring of many different virtues: of obedience, patient endurance, shedding of possessions, poverty, fear of God, spiritual knowledge and others as well. But above all it is the offspring of discrimination, the virtue that illumines the farthest reaches of the intellect. Yet let no one think that it is a simple, casual matter to become humble. It is something beyond our natural powers; and it is almost true to say that the more a person is gifted, the harder it is for him to attain humility. It presupposes great judgment and endurance in the face of the trials and evil spirits that oppose us. For humility slips through all their snares.

Yet if the vessel of which we are speaking is endowed with intelligence, then necessarily it will possess free will. Whatever is good in it comes from its Creator, and He is also the cause of its being made; but its fall or deviation will depend upon how it exercises its own free will. If you do not deviate, God in His grace will grant you the seal of His approval; but if you give ear to the serpent's evil counsel, disapprobation will be your lot.

It is excellent to seek advice about everything, but only from those with experience. It is dangerous to ask questions of the inexperienced, because they do not possess discrimination. Discrimination knows when the time is ripe, what means to employ, the inner state of the questioner, what level he has reached, his strength, his degree of spiritual knowledge and his intention, as well as God's purpose and the meaning of each verse of Holy Scripture, and much else besides.

A person must first spend a long time in ascetic practice. He must begin by purifying his body from the actual committing of sin, whether great or small, and then purge his soul of every form of desire or anger. His moral impulses need to be disciplined by good habit, so that he does not do anything whatsoever through his five senses that is contrary to the purpose of his intellect, nor does his inner self consent to any such thing. It is then, when finally he becomes subject to himself, that God makes all things subject to him through dispassion and by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

through humility, comes grace and opens the soul's eye, blinded by the devil, and immediately man begins to see things according to their true nature. He is no longer seduced by the outward appearance of things as he was before.

Should someone in his presumption think that even without the prerequisite struggles and virtues he is able to see things according to their true nature, there is nothing strange in this. For presumption can make even the blind think that they can see and foolish men boast when they have nothing to boast about. Yet if it were easy to see things according to their true nature merely by thinking about them in an abstract way, then inward grief and the purification that comes from it would be superfluous; and so would the many forms of ascetic labor, as well as humility, supranatural grace, and dispassion.

St John Chrysostom says that it is a great blessing from God that some parts of the Scriptures are clear while others are not. By means of the first we acquire faith and ardor and do not fall into disbelief and laziness because of our utter inability to grasp what is said. By means of the second we are roused to enquiry and effort, thus both strengthening our understanding and learning humility from the fact that everything is not intelligible to us.

he who is humble will turn away from his own thoughts and purposes, having no faith in them; indeed, he will be afraid, and seek advice with many tears, taking refuge in humility and self-criticism, and regarding spiritual knowledge and gifts of grace as great liabilities.

Courage itself consists in persisting in every good work and in overcoming the passions of soul and body. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, that is, against men, as was the case with the Jews of old, where to conquer other nations was to do the work of God; it is against principalities and powers, that is, against the unseen demons (cf. Eph. 6:12). He who is victorious conquers spiritually; otherwise he is conquered by the passions. The warfare described in the Old Testament prefigures our spiritual warfare.

The soul is at peace with God when it is at peace with itself and has become wholly deiform. It is also at peace with God when it is at peace with all men, even if it suffers terrible things at their hands.

The person who has attained spiritual knowledge not only marvels at visible things, but also is astounded by his perception of many essential things invisible to those who lack experience of this knowledge.

'As you lie in bed, repent of what you say in your heart' (Ps. 4:4. LXX), that is, repent in the stillness of the night, remembering the lapses that occurred in the confusion of the day and disciplining yourself in hymns and spiritual songs (cf Col. 3:16) - in other words, teaching yourself to persist in prayer and psalmody through attentive meditation on what you read. For the practice of the moral virtues is effectuated by meditating on what has happened during the day, so that during the stillness of the night we can become aware of the sins we have committed and can grieve over them.

For the saints neither know the whole of God's purpose with regard to every object or scriptural text, nor on the other hand do they write down once and for all everything that they do know. This is because in the first place God is beyond comprehension, and His wisdom is not limited in such a way that an angel or man can grasp it in its entirety.

Again, one saint may say one thing and another say something different about the same passage of the Holy Scriptures, since divine grace often gives varying interpretations suited to the particular person or moment in question. The only thing required is that everything said or done should be said or done in accordance with God's intention, and that it should be attested by the words of Scripture.

In short, the saints possessed both spiritual and secular knowledge but preferred the first; they made use, however, of their worldly education wisely and for a limited purpose, guided by St Paul's rule not to boast beyond limits (cf. 2 Cor. 10:13), as did those Egyptians who, according to the Clementine writings, mocked the prosaic diction of the Apostle Barnabas, not realizing that his preaching contained words of life (cf. John 6:68). Many of us are guilty of doing the same: when we hear someone speaking with a strange accent we laugh, though he may perhaps be a wise man in his own tongue and be speaking of awe-inspiring mysteries. This happens because of our inexperience. But the fathers themselves often deliberately wrote in a very simple manner, depending on the particular circumstances and the people for whom they were writing.

Whoever is experienced in the spiritual interpretation of Scripture knows that the simplest passage is of a significance equal to that of the most abstruse passage, and that both are directed to the salvation of man. Whoever lacks such experience, however, is often at a loss, being unaware that secular learning is of great help when it acts as a vehicle for the higher wisdom of the Spirit For the wisdom of the Spirit bestows inspired thoughts, while secular learning provides power of expression, so long as it is accompanied by moral judgment and by the humility that teaches us to fear both thoughtlessness and craftiness and to 'judge with self-restraint', as St Paul puts it (Rom. 12:3).

How many tears would I like to shed whenever I gain even a partial glimpse of myself! If I do not sin, I become elated with pride; while if I sin and am able to realize it, in my dismay I lose heart and begin to despair. If I take refuge in hope, again I become arrogant. If I weep, it feeds my presumption; if I do not weep, the passions visit me again. My life is death, yet death seems even worse because of my fear of punishment. My prayer proves a source of temptation to me, and my inattention a cause of disaster.

Yet I realize that many, because they had a firm faith, received crowns of victory after going through battles and trials like these. It was because of their faith that they were granted fear of God; and through this fear they were enabled to practice the other virtues. Had I faith as they had, I would have found this fear through which, according to the prophet, I would have received true piety and spiritual knowledge; and from this knowledge would have come strength, counsel, understanding and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit (cf. Isa. 11:2). These are the gifts conferred on those who, free from anxiety, wait on God and devote themselves to the Holy Scriptures with the patience that makes it possible to view all things, whether from above or from below, with an equal

Someone prays, for example, for victory over those who fight against him. He hears nothing and sees no deceitful sign; or even if he does hear or see something, either in sleep or when awake, he gives it absolutely no credence. But after a certain length of time he observes that the battle is being won by God's grace and that certain thoughts are drawing his intellect towards humility and the knowledge of his own weakness. Yet he still does not put his trust in this, fearing that it might be deception, but waits for many years. It was such an attitude, according to St John Chrysostom, that Christ wanted to induce in the apostles: that is why He warned them of coming tribulations, adding, 'He who endures to the end will be saved' (Matt. 10:22), so that they would not grow careless or over-confident, but would struggle on out of fear. For a person derives no benefit from the other virtues, even though he dwells in heaven, if he is in the grip of the presumption that led to the fall of the devil, Adam and many others.

St Athanasios the Great was referring to this fear when he told the perfect not to fear God as a tyrant, but to fear Him because of His love; that is, they should fear Him not simply because they sin, but because they are loved without themselves showing love, thus receiving His blessings unworthily. It is through fear in the face of such blessings that God leads the soul towards love, so that through its gratitude to Him it may become worthy of the good things that have been and will be bestowed on it. Then by means of the pure fear inspired by love the soul attains the humility that transcends nature.

Humility is born of many virtues, and in its turn gives birth to things more perfect still. It is the same with spiritual knowledge, thanksgiving, prayer and love, since these virtues are always capable of increase. For example, a person becomes humble and grieves because he is a sinner. In consequence of this he begins to practice self-control and patient endurance in the face of afflictions sought and unsought. What comes from the demons he endures through ascetic discipline, and what comes from men he endures as a test of his faith. In this way it becomes dear whether he puts his trust in God, or in man, or in his own strength and judgment. And when his worthiness has been proved by his patient endurance and by his entrusting all things to God, he receives that great faith to which Christ referred when He said, 'When the Son of man comes, will He find faith on the earth?' (Luke 18:8). Through such faith he gains victory over his enemies; and when he has achieved this, then through the power of God and through the wisdom granted him he becomes aware of his own weakness and ignorance.

As a result of this he begins to give thanks with a humble soul, and he trembles with fear lest he should relapse into disobedience. Because of this pure fear - fear which is not due to the fact that he has sinned - and because of the thankfulness, patient endurance and humility which have been bestowed on him as a result of his knowledge, he begins to have hope that by God's grace he will obtain mercy. In the light of his experience of the blessings he has received, he watches and fears lest he should be found unworthy of such gifts from God. Hence he receives greater humility and more intense prayer from the heart; and the more these increase, together with thankfulness, the greater the knowledge he receives. Thus he advances from knowledge to fear, and from fear to thankfulness, and so he attains the knowledge that transcends all these. As a consequence, he comes truly to love his Benefactor and longs to serve Him with joy, indebted as he is to God for the knowledge bestowed upon him. At once he receives a still farther increase of knowledge, and he contemplates not just the blessings he personally has been granted, but also those that are universal. Not being able to give thanks adequately for these, he grieves; and then, again marveling at the grace of God, he is consoled. At times he weeps painfully; at times, because of his love, his tears are made sweeter than honey by the spiritual joy that comes from ineffable humility. When in truth he longs for God's will to be...

The Gnostic ought not to rely in any way on his own thoughts, but should always seek to confirm them in the light of divine Scripture or of the nature of things themselves. Without such confirmation, there can be no true spiritual knowledge, but only wickedness and delusion, as St Basil the Great says when speaking about the stars. Divine Scripture names only a few stars, while the pagan Greeks in their delusion give names to many. For the intention of divine Scripture is to speak of things that can save the soul, and to reveal to us the mysteries it contains in itself, as well as the inner principles of created beings, that is, the purpose for which each thing was created. In this way it aims to illumine our intellect with the love of God, and to enable it to perceive His greatness and His inexpressible wisdom and providence, as they are revealed in His care for His creation.

Judging by outward appearances, he who obeys the will of God does the better thing, for he obeys the supranatural command of the Lord of nature, which he regards as wiser and more righteous than natural knowledge; whereas he who disobeys does a lesser thing, in that he regards his own opinion about what is right as more righteous than the word of God. But if we look deeper, things turn out to be different. What matters is the motive behind the obedience or disobedience; and so he whose motive is to do God's will has chosen the better path. In the present case, to all appearances God seems to be angry with the man who is disobedient and to bless the man who is obedient. But in reality it is not so, as has been said already: from the viewpoint of natural contemplation both were equally good, since the motive of both was to do God's

We do not reach the final stage of spiritual maturity through divine power and grace alone, without ourselves making any effort; but neither on the other hand do we attain the final measure of freedom and purity as a result of our own diligence and strength alone, apart from any divine assistance.

Again he says: 'Do not weave flax into a woollen garment, or wool into a linen garment' (cf. Deut. 22: 11); and: 'Do not cultivate two kinds of fruit together on the same patch of your land' (cf. Deut. 22:9). Similarly, you are not to mate an animal of one species with an animal of another species, but to mate like with like. All this is a concealed way of saying that you must not cultivate virtue and vice together in yourself, but you must devote yourself singlemindedly to producing the fruits of virtue; and you must not share your soul with two spirits - the Spirit of God and the spirit of the world - but you must give it solely to the Spirit of God and must reap only the fruits of the Spirit. It is for this reason that the psalmist writes: 'I have prospered in all Thy commandments; I hate every false way' (Ps. 119: 128).

11. He who wants to be stamped with the virtues should pursue before everything else and at all times fear of God and holy love, the first and greatest of the commandments (cf. Matt. 22:38). Let him continually beseech the Lord to send this love into his heart, and thus let him advance and grow, augmenting it by grace day by day through the ceaseless and unbroken remembrance of God. Through diligence and effort, concern and struggle he becomes capable of acquiring love for God, given form within him by the grace and bounty of Christ. Through such love the second commandment, love for one's neighbor (cf Matt. 22:39), can easily be attained.

unless a person has been trained in strict vigilance, so that when attacked by a flood of useless thoughts he tests and sifts them all, yearning always for the Lord, he is readily seduced in many unseen ways by the devil. Moreover, those not yet capable of persisting in prayer can easily grow arrogant, thus allowing the machinations of evil to destroy the good work in which they are engaged and making a present of it to the devil.

22. Unless humility and love, simplicity and goodness regulate our prayer, this prayer - or, rather, this pretence of prayer - cannot profit us at all. And this applies not only to prayer, but to every labor and hardship undertaken for the sake of virtue, whether this be virginity, fasting, vigil, psalmody, service or any other work. If we do not see in ourselves the fruits of love, peace, joy, simplicity, humility, gentleness, guilelessness, faith, forbearance and kindliness, then we endure our hardship to no purpose. We accept the hardships in order to reap the fruits. If the fruits of love are not in us, our labor is useless.

He who persists ceaselessly in prayer must not disparage the man incapable of doing this, nor must the man who devotes himself to serving the needs of the community complain about those who are dedicated to prayer. For if both the prayers and the service are offered in a spirit of simplicity and love for others, the superabundance of those dedicated to prayer will make up for the insufficiency of those who serve, and vice versa. In this way the equality that St Paul commends is maintained (cf. 2 Cor. 8:14): he who has much does not have to excess and he who has little has no lack (cf. Exod. 16:18).

27. God's will is done on earth as in heaven when, in the way indicated, we do not disparage one another, and when not only are we without jealousy but we are united one to another in simplicity and in mutual love, peace and joy, and regard our brother's progress as our own and his failure as our loss.

29. When people say that it is impossible to attain perfection, to be once and for all free from the passions, or to participate fully in the Holy Spirit, we should cite Holy Scripture against them, showing them that they are ignorant and speak falsely and dangerously. For the Lord said: 'Become perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect' (Matt. 5:48), perfection denoting total purity; and: 'I desire these men to be with Me wherever I am, so that they may see My glory' (John 17:24).

30. Those who deny the possibility of perfection inflict the greatest damage on the soul in three ways. First, they manifestly disbelieve the inspired Scriptures. Then, because they do not make the greatest and fullest goal of Christianity their own, and so do not aspire to attain it, they can have no longing and diligence, no hunger and thirst for righteousness (cf Matt. 5:6); on the contrary, content with outward show and behavior and with minor accomplishments of this kind, they abandon that blessed expectation together with the pursuit of perfection and of the total purification of the passions. Third, thinking they have reached the goal when they have acquired a few virtues, and not pressing on to the true goal, not only are they incapable of having any humility, poverty and contrition of heart but, justifying themselves on the grounds that they have already arrived, they make no efforts to progress and grow day by day.

The closing of paradise, and the placing of the cherubim with the burning sword to prevent his entrance (cf. Gen. 3:24), must be regarded as actual events; but they are also realities encountered inwardly by each soul. A veil of darkness-the fire of the worldly spirit-surrounds the heart, preventing the intellect from communing with God, and the soul from praying, believing and loving the Lord as it desires to do. All these things may be learnt from experience by those who truly entrust themselves to the Lord, persist in prayer, and fight zealously against the enemy.

According to St Paul, Satan can even change himself into an angel of light in order to practice his deceptions (cf 2 Cor. 11:14); yet though he may manifest himself in such a glorious manner, he cannot, as we said, produce within us the effects of grace, and so it becomes quite clear that the vision is counterfeit. For the devil cannot bring about love either for God or for one's neighbor, or gentleness, or humility, or joy, or peace, or equilibrium in one's thoughts, or hatred of the world, or spiritual repose, or desire for celestial things; nor can he quell passions and sensual pleasure.

52. What the Creator outwardly said to Cain, that he would wander over the earth lamenting and trembling (cf Gen. 4:12. LXX), is in its inner meaning a figure and image of all sinners. For the race of Adam, having broken the commandment and become guilty of sin, is shaken by restless thoughts, full of fear, cowardice and turmoil. Every soul not reborn in God is tossed hither and thither by the desires and multifarious pleasures of the enemy, and whirled about like com in a sieve.

53. It is significant how deeply attracted men are by the spectacle of an earthly king and how eagerly they seek after it; and how everyone who lives in a city where the king has his residence longs to catch a glimpse simply of the extravagance and ostentation of his entourage. Only under the influence of spiritual things will they disregard all this and look down on it, wounded by another beauty and desiring a different kind of glory. If the sight of a mortal king is so important to worldly people, how much more desirable must the sight of the immortal king be to those into whom some drops of the Holy Spirit have fallen and whose hearts have been smitten by divine love? For this They will relinquish all amity with the world, so that they may keep that longing continually in their hearts, preferring nothing to it.

55. Those who reach the goal without falling do so through hating themselves and all worldly desires, distractions, pleasures and preoccupations, for this is what 'denying oneself amounts to. Hence everyone expels himself from the kingdom by his own choice, through not embracing suffering and denying himself for the sake of the truth, but wanting to enjoy something of this world in addition to that divine longing, and not surrendering the whole inclination of his will to god. This may be understood from a single example. On examining himself a man realizes that what he is so eager to do is wicked. At first he feels doubt about it in his heart. Next, the measure and balance in his conscience make it clear inwardly whether the bias inclines to love for god or love for the world; and after that he proceeds to outward action. If for instance someone happens to have fallen out with his brother, then he examines himself, as we have said. At first he finds himself hesitant about whether to speak or not to speak, whether to return the insults hurled at him or to keep silent. At this point the man still remembers god's commandments, but he also thinks about his own reputation and has not fully chosen to deny himself. If a bias in favor of the world tips his heart's balance even slightly, an evil word will at once be on the tip of his tongue. When this happens, with the intellect stretched inwardly like a bow he attacks his neighbor with his tongue and even with his hands - indeed, ...

66. Evil is foreign to our nature; but, given admittance by us through the transgression of the first man, it has with time become as though natural to us. Yet through the celestial gift of the Spirit, that is also foreign to our nature, this nature can once more be completely purged of evil and we can be restored to our original purity.

67. I wish to elucidate, so far as I can, a subject that is as subtle as it is profound. The infinite and bodiless Lord, who is beyond being, in His infinite bounty embodies and, so to say, reduces Himself so that He can commingle with the intelligible beings that He has created-with, that is, the souls of saints and of angels - thereby making it possible for them to participate in the immortal life of His own divinity.

80. Those who hold forth about spiritual realities without having tasted and experienced them are like a man traversing an empty and arid plain at high noon on a summer's day: in his great and burning thirst he imagines that there is a cool spring close at hand, full of sweet clear water, and that there is nothing to prevent him from drinking it to his heart's content. Or they are like a man who, without having tasted a drop of honey, tries to explain to others what its sweetness is like.

86. A lover of riches is never satisfied, no matter how many possessions he accumulates, but the more he acquires daily, the more his appetite increases; and a person forcibly pulled away from a stream of pure water before he has quenched his thirst feels even more thirsty. In a similar way, once one has experienced the taste of God, one can never be satisfied or have enough of it, but however much one is enriched by this wealth one still feels oneself to be poor.

88. Whenever those who possess in themselves the divine riches of the Spirit take part in spiritual discussion, they draw as it were on their inner treasure-house and share their wealth with their hearers. Those, however, who do not have stored in the sanctuary of their heart the treasure from which springs forth the bounty of divine thoughts, mysteries and inspired words, but who cull what they say from the Scriptures, speak merely from the tip of the tongue; or if they have listened to spiritual men, they preen themselves with what others have said, putting it forward as though it were their own and claiming interest on someone else's capital. Their listeners can enjoy what they say without great effort, but they themselves, when they have finished speaking, prove to be like paupers. For they have simply repeated what they have taken from others, without acquiring treasures of their own from which they could first derive pleasure themselves and which they could then communicate profitably to others. For this reason we must first ask God that these true riches may dwell within us, and then we can readily benefit others and speak to them of spiritual matters and divine mysteries.

Sometimes it seems that they are in some realm greatly rejoicing and drunk with the inexpressible drunkenness of the mysteries of the Spirit; and then at other times they are full of grief, weeping and lamenting as they intercede for man's salvation. For, burning with the divine love of the Spirit for all men, they take into themselves the grief of all Adam; and sometimes they are kindled by the Spirit with such untold love and delight that, were it at all possible, they would clasp everyone to their breast, not making any distinction between who is good and who is bad; and sometimes they so disparage themselves that they regard themselves as the least of all men.

In short, it is impossible to describe the grace of Christ by which they are illumined. At other times they can appear to be like any ordinary person. Divine grace, taking in them many different forms, teaches and disciplines the soul so as to present it perfect, pure and spotless to the heavenly Father.

100. The soul that is 'poor in spirit' (Matt. 5:3) is aware of its own wounds, perceives the encompassing darkness of the passions, and always calls upon the Lord for deliverance. It endures suffering, and does not delight in any of the good things of this world, but seeks out only the good doctor and entrusts itself to His treatment. How can the wounded soul become fair and seemly, and fit to live with Christ, except by truly recognizing its wounds and poverty and by recovering the state in which it was originally created? If it does not take pleasure in the wounds and weals of the passions, or defend its faults, the Lord will not call it to account for these things, but will come and heal it, restoring its dispassion and its incorruptible beauty. Only it must not deliberately associate with past acts of passion or give its consent to the passions that are still active within it; but with all its strength it must call upon the Lord, so that through His Holy Spirit it may be granted liberation from all the passions. Such is the soul that is called blessed; but alas for the soul that is unaware of its wounds and that in its endless sinfulness and obduracy does not think that it has anything evil within it: the good doctor will not visit it or heal it, since it does not seek Him out or have any concern for its wounds, because it thinks it is well and in good health. As the Lord said: 'It is not the healthy that need a doctor, but the sick' (Matt. 9: 12).