The Philokalia

by Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain

God is the source of every virtue, as the sun is of daylight.

By praying for those who wrong us we overthrow the devil; opposing them we are wounded by him.

Every blessing comes from the Lord providentially. But this fact escapes the notice of the ungrateful and the idle.

Concern yourself with your own sins and not with those of your neighbor; then the workplace of your intellect will not be robbed.

Do not claim to have acquired virtue unless you have suffered affliction, for without affliction virtue has not been tested.

If you wish not to incur guilt when men praise you, first welcome reproof for your sins.

I have seen unlearned men who were truly humble, and they became wiser than the wise.

When you observe some thought suggesting that you seek human fame, you can be sure it will bring you disgrace.

If you praise your neighbor to one man and criticize him to another, you are the slave of self-esteem and jealousy. Through praise you try to hide your jealousy, through criticism to appear better than your neighbor.

If you praise your neighbor to one man and criticize him to another, you are the slave of self-esteem and jealousy. Through praise you try to hide your jealousy, through criticism to appear better than your neighbor.

If you wish to be saved, welcome words of truth, and never reject criticism uncritically.

It is better' to pray devoutly for your neighbor than to rebuke him every time he sins.

Do not say: 'I don't want it, but it happens.' For even though you may not want the thing itself, yet you welcome what causes it.

Unquestioning acceptance of tradition is helpful for a gentle person, for then he will not try God's patience or often fall into sin.

Accept present afflictions for the sake of future blessings; then you will never weaken in your struggle.

All good things come from God providentially, and those who bring them are the servants of what is good.

It can happen that someone may in appearance be fulfilling a commandment but is in reality serving a passion, and through evil thoughts he destroys the goodness of the action.

Do not desire to hear about the misfortunes of your enemies. For those who like listening to such things will themselves suffer what they wish for others.

Some call men intelligent because they have the power of discernment on the sensible plane. But the really intelligent people are those who control their own desires.

Until you have eradicated evil, do not obey your heart; for it will seek more of what it already contains within itself

The conscience is nature's book. He who applies what he reads there experiences God's help.

All material wealth is the same, but is acquired in many different ways; similarly, virtue is one, but is many-sided in its operations.

12. Even though knowledge is true, it is still not firmly established if unaccompanied by works. For everything is established by being put into practice.

18. Some without fulfilling the commandments think that they possess true faith. Others fulfill the commandments and then expect the kingdom as a reward due to them. Both are mistaken.

35. Prayer is called a virtue, but in reality it is the mother of the virtues: for it gives birth to them through union with Christ.

48. The sign of sincere love is to forgive wrongs done to us. It was with such love that the Lord loved the world.

55. One man received a thought and accepted it without examination. Another received a thought and tested its truth. Which of them acted with greater reverence?

56. Real knowledge is patiently to accept affliction and not to blame others for our own misfortunes.

. Grace has been given mystically to those who have been baptized into Christ: and it becomes active within them to the extent that they actively observe the commandments. Grace never ceases to help us secretly: but to do good- as far as lies in our power -depends on us.

62. Initially grace arouses the conscience in a divine manner. That is how even sinners have come to repent and so to conform to God's will.

89. When a thought lingers within a man, this indicates his attachment to it; but when it is quickly destroyed, this signifies his opposition and hostility to it.

94. Pray persistently about everything, and then you will never do anything without God's help. 95. Nothing is stronger than prayer in its action, nothing more effective in winning God's favor. 96. Prayer comprises the complete fulfillment of the commandments; for there is nothing higher than love for God. 97. Undistracted prayer is a sign of love for God; but careless or distracted prayer is a sign of love for pleasure. 98. He who can without strain keep vigil, be long-suffering and pray is manifestly a partaker of the Holy Spirit. But he who feels strain while doing these things, yet willingly endures it, also quickly receives help.

103. Once we have entrusted our hope about something to God, we no longer quarrel with our neighbor over it.

117. To him who hungers after Christ grace is food; to him who is thirsty, a reviving drink; to him who is cold, a garment; to him who is weary, rest; to him who prays, assurance; to him who mourns, consolation.

165. The man who loves God benefits from both praise and blame: if commended for his good actions he grows more zealous, and if reproved for his sins he is brought to repentance. Our outward life should accord with our inner progress, and our prayers to God with our life.

177. When you are explaining things, do not conceal what is relevant to the needs of those present. You should discuss explicitly whatever is seemly, but refer less explicitly to what is hard to accept.

180. He who speaks rightly should recognize that he receives the words from God. For the truth belongs not to him who speaks, but to God who is energizing him.

185. Do not be double-tongued, saying one thing when your conscience says another. For Scripture places such people under a curse (cf. Ecclus. 28:13).

186. One man speaks the truth and is hated for it by the foolish: another speaks hypocritically and for this reason is loved. But in both cases their reward is not long delayed, for at the appropriate moment the Lord renders to each his due.

213. If someone does not obey you when you have told him once, do not argue and try to compel him; but take for yourself the profit which he has thrown away. For forbearance will benefit you more than correcting him.

221. He who is easily overcome by the lesser will inevitably be enslaved by the greater. But he who is superior to the lesser will also with the Lord's help resist the greater.

222. When someone boasts about his virtues, do not try to help him by reproving him. For a man cannot love showing off and at the same time love the truth.

This, my son, is how you should begin your life according to God. You should continually and unceasingly call to mind all the blessings which God in His love has bestowed upon you in the past, and still bestows for the salvation of your soul. You must not let forgetfulness of evil or laziness make you grow unmindful of these many and great blessings, and so pass the rest of your life uselessly and ungratefully.

All the penalties imposed by divine judgment upon man for the sin of the first transgression - death, toil, hunger, thirst and the like - He took upon Himself, becoming what we are, so that we might become what He is. The Logos became man, so that man might become Logos. Being rich. He became poor for our sakes, so that through His poverty we might become rich (cf. 2 Cor. 8:9). In His great love for man He became like us, so that through every virtue we might become like Him.

when we are humbled and shattered, and keep in mind Christ's humiliation, what anger, wrath or bitterness can take possession of us?

This is why, if possible, it is very helpful for young monks not to meet women at all, even though these women are considered saintly.

When we have to some extent cut off the causes of the passions, we should devote our time to spiritual contemplation: for if we fail to do this we shall easily revert to the fleshly passions, and so achieve nothing but the complete darkening of our intellect and its reversion to material things.

37. We are not mightier than Samson, wiser than Solomon, more knowledgeable about God than David, and we do not love God better than did Peter, prince of the apostles. So let us not have confidence in ourselves; for he who has confidence in himself will fall headlong.

41. The more the rain falls on the earth, the softer it makes it: similarly, Christ's holy name gladdens the earth of OK our heart the more we call upon it.

46. The provocation comes first, then our coupling with it, or the mingling of our thoughts with those of the wicked demons. Third comes our assent to the provocation, with both sets of intermingling thoughts contriving how to commit the sin in practice. Fourth comes the concrete action - that is, the sin itself. If, however, the intellect is attentive and watchful, and at once repulses the provocation by counter-attacking and gainsaying it and invoking the Lord Jesus, its consequences remain inoperative, for the devil, being a bodiless intellect, can deceive our souls only by means of fantasies and thoughts. David was speaking about these provocations of the devil when he said: 'Early in the morning I destroyed all the wicked of the earth, that I might cut off all evildoers from the city of the Lord' (Ps 101:8. LXX); and Moses was referring to the act of assent to a provocation in his words: 'You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods' (Exod. 23:32).