The Philokalia

by Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain

1. An all-embracing and intense longing for God binds those who experience it both to God and to one another.

2. An intellect that has acquired spiritual love does not have thoughts unworthy of this love about anyone.

5. Love alone harmoniously joins all created things with God and with each other.

12. A strong man is one who repels evil through the practice of the virtues and with spiritual knowledge.

13. He who has acquired dispassion and spiritual knowledge has been granted God's grace.

24. Stillness, prayer, love and self-control are a four-horsed chariot bearing the intellect to heaven.

28. Patiently endure the distressing and painful things that befall you, for through them God in His providence is purifying you.

34. The amassing of money fuels the passions, for it leads to increasing indulgence in all kinds of sensual pleasure.

67. Stillness and prayer are the greatest weapons of virtue, for they purify the intellect and confer on it spiritual insight.

71. The conscience is a true teacher, and whoever listens to it will not stumble.

85. A good heart produces good thoughts: its thoughts correspond to what it stores up in itself.

95. God, who gave being to all that is, at the same time united all things together in His providence.

98. There is a new wonder in heaven and on earth: God is on earth and man is in heaven. 99. He united men and angels so as to bestow deification on all creation.

11. The greatest weapons of someone striving to lead a life of inward stillness are self-control, love, prayer and spiritual reading.

20. The Scriptures contain four things: commandments, doctrines, threats and promises.

37. God alone is good and wise by nature; but if you exert yourself your intellect also becomes good and wise through participation.

76. Christ is the Savior of the whole world, and has conferred on men the gift of repentance so that they may be saved.

77. Repentance engenders the keeping of the commandments, and this in its turn purifies the soul.

86. If you lay down rules for yourself, do not disobey yourself; for he who cheats himself is self -deluded.

94. When in His compassion for man the Logos became flesh. He changed neither what He was nor what He became.

99. Particular to the three Persons are fatherhood, sonship and procession. Common to them are essence, nature, divinity and goodness.

1. Think good thoughts about what is good by nature, and think well of every man. 2. On the day of judgment we shall be asked by God to answer for our words, acts and thoughts. 3. Whether we think, speak or act in a good or an evil manner depends upon whether we cleave inwardly to virtue or to vice.

9. Impel your intellect continually to prayer and you will destroy the evil thoughts that beset your heart.

10. Ascetic practice requires long and patient endurance: assiduous struggle will slowly root out self-indulgence.

24. It is not difficult to get rid of material things if you so desire; but only with great effort will you be able to get rid of thoughts about them.

49. He who prays for those who offend him is without rancor; and the unstinting giver is set free from it.

65. Our actions disclose what goes on within us, just as its fruit makes known a tree otherwise unknown to us.

91. Christ, Master of all, free us from all these destructive passions and the thoughts born of them. 92. For Thy sake we came into being, so that we might delight in the paradise which Thou hast planted and in which Thou hast placed us. 93. We brought our present disgrace upon ourselves, preferring destruction to the delights of blessedness. 94. We have paid for this, for we have exchanged eternal life for death. 95. Master, as once Thou hast looked on us, look on us now; as Thou becomes man, save all of us. 96. For Thou camest to save us who were lost. Do not exclude us from the company of those who are being saved. 97. Raise up our souls and save our bodies, cleansing us from all impurity. 98. Break the fetters of the passions that constrain us, as once Thou hast broken the ranks of the impure demons. 99. Free us from their tyranny, so that we may worship Thee alone, the eternal light. 100. Having risen from the dead and dancing with the angels in the blessed, eternal and indissoluble dance. Amen.

38. The intellect's task is to reject any thought that secretly vilifies a fellow being.

40. A wise man is one who accepts advice, especially that of a spiritual father counselling him in accordance with the will of God.

46. Our Lord Jesus has given light to all men, but those who do not trust in Him bring darkness upon themselves.

54. Search the Scriptures and you will find the commandments: do what they say and you will be freed from your passions.

57. The first step in the practice of the virtues is faith in Christ; its consummation, the love of Christ.

59. He manifested Himself to us in soul, body and divinity so that, as God, He could deliver soul and body from death.

79. Initially our search for wisdom is prompted by fear; but as we attain our goal we are led forward by love.

85. Just as we speak of the single Godhead of the Holy Trinity, so we glorify the three Persons, or hypostases, of the one Godhead.

91. Just as the single essence of the Godhead is said to exist in three Persons, so the Holy Trinity is confessed to have one essence.

The origin of the Son and Holy Spirit is not to be regarded as temporal: how could it be? On the contrary, the term 'origin' indicates the source from which Their existence is eternally derived, as light from the sun For They originate from that source according to Their essence, although They are in no sense inferior or subsequent to it.

99. The Father is the sole origin of all things. He is the origin of the Son and the Spirit as Their begetter and source. coeternal, co-infinite, limitless, coessential and undivided. He is the origin of created things, as the one who produces, provides for, and judges them through the Son in the Holy Spirit. 'For all things are from Him and through Him, and have Him as their goal. To Him be glory throughout the ages. Amen' (Rom. 11:36). 100. Again, the Son and the Holy Spirit are said to be coeternal with the Father, but not co-unoriginate with Him. They are coeternal in that They coexist with the Father from eternity; but They are not co-unoriginate in that They are not without source: as has already been said. They are derived from Him as the light from the sun, even though They are not inferior or subsequent to Him. They are also said to be unoriginate in the sense that They do not have an origin in time. If this were not the case. They would be thought of as subject to time, whereas it is from Them that time itself derives. Thus They are unoriginate not with regard to Their source, but with regard to time. For They exist prior to, and transcend, all time and all the ages; and it is from Them that all time and all the ages are derived, together with everything that is in time and in the ages. This is because They are, as we said, coeternal with the Father; to Him, with Them, be glory and power through all the ages. Amen.

The virtues which we ascribe to the soul are primarily the four cardinal virtues: courage, moral judgment, self-restraint and justice. These give birth to the other virtues of the soul: faith, hope, love, prayer, humility, gentleness, long-suffering, forbearance, kindness, freedom from anger, knowledge of God, cheerfulness, simplicity, calmness, sincerity, freedom from vanity, freedom from pride, absence of envy, honesty, freedom from avarice, compassion, mercifulness, generosity, fearlessness, freedom from dejection, deep compunction, modesty, reverence, desire for the blessings held in store, longing for the kingdom of God, and aspiration for divine sonship.

The roots or primary causes of all these passions are love of sensual pleasure, love of praise and love of material wealth. Every evil has its origin in these.

The primary cause and vile mother of them all is self-love, which is a senseless love of one's body and an impassioned attachment to it. A dispersed and dissipated intellect given to frivolous talk and foul language produces many vices and sins. Laughter and loose, immodest speech also lead to sin.

The soul has three aspects: the intelligent, the incensive and the desiring aspect. The sins of the intelligent aspect are unbelief, heresy, folly, blasphemy, ingratitude and assent to sins originating in the soul's passable aspect. These vices are cured through unwavering faith in God and in true, undeviating and orthodox teachings, through the continual study of the inspired utterances of the Spirit, through pure and ceaseless prayer, and through the offering of thanks to God. The sins of the incensive aspect are heartlessness, hatred, lack of compassion, rancor, envy, murder and dwelling constantly on such things. They are cured by deep sympathy for one's fellow men, love, gentleness, brotherly affection, compassion, forbearance and kindness. The sins of the desiring aspect are gluttony, greed, drunkenness, unchastity, adultery, uncleanliness, licentiousness, love of material things, and the desire for empty glory, gold, wealth and the pleasures of the flesh. These are cured through fasting, self-control, hardship, a total shedding of possessions and their distribution to the poor, desire for the imperishable blessings held in store, longing for the kingdom of God, and aspiration for divine sonship.

The thoughts that encompass all evil are eight in number: those of gluttony, unchastity, avarice, anger, dejection, listlessness, self-esteem and pride. It does not lie within our power to decide whether or not these eight thoughts are going to arise and disturb us. But to dwell on them or not to dwell on them, to excite the passions or not to excite them, does lie within our power.

These eight passions should be destroyed as follows: gluttony by self-control: unchastity by desire for God and longing for the blessings held in store; avarice by compassion for the poor; anger by goodwill and love for all men; worldly dejection by spiritual joy; listlessness by patience, perseverance and offering thanks to God; self-esteem by doing good in secret and by praying constantly with a contrite heart; and pride by not judging or despising anyone in the manner of the boastful Pharisee (cf. Luke 18:11-12), and by considering oneself the least of all men.

Virtue, however, can only be attained by unremitting effort. This means that we struggle all our life to pay close practical attention to such things as acts of compassion, self-control, prayer, love and the other general virtues. A person may practice these virtues to a greater or lesser degree.

For the good is not good if it is not rightly done. It is really good, only if it is not done with the purpose of receiving some reward: as, for instance, the search for popularity or glory may be rewarded by fame, or by excessive gain, or by something else that is wrong. God is not interested in what happens to turn out to be good or in what appears to be good. He is interested in the purpose for which a thing is done.

Just as the soul is incomparably better than the body and in many major respects altogether more excellent and precious, so the virtues of the soul are infinitely superior to the virtues of the body. This is especially true of those virtues which imitate God and bear His name. Conversely, the vices of the soul are much worse than the passions of the body, both in the actions they produce and in the punishments they incur. I do not know why, but most people overlook this fact. They treat drunkenness, unchastity, adultery, theft and all such vices with great concern, avoiding them or punishing them as something whose very appearance is loathsome to most men. But the passions of the soul are much worse and much more serious then bodily passions. For they degrade men to the level of demons and lead them, insensible as they are, to the eternal punishment reserved for all who obstinately cling to such vices. These passions of the soul are envy, rancor, malice, insensitivity, avarice - which according to the apostle is the root of all evil (cf 1 Tim. 6:10) - and all vices of a similar nature.

The Elder replied: 'Keep watch in your heart; and with watchfulness say in your mind with awe and trembling ''Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me.' For this is the advice which the blessed Diadochos gave to beginners.

the Elder said to him: 'You have had a brief taste of stillness and inner work, and have experienced the sweetness that comes from them. This is what you should always be doing in your heart: whether eating or drinking, in company or outside your cell, or on a journey, repeat that prayer with a watchful mind and an undeflected intellect; also chant, and meditate on prayers and psalms. Even when carrying out needful tasks, do not let your intellect be idle but keep it meditating inwardly and praying. For in this way you can grasp the depths of divine Scripture and the power hidden in it, and give unceasing work to the intellect, thus fulfilling the apostolic command to 'Pray without ceasing' (1 Thess. 5:17). Pay strict attention to your heart and watch over it, so that it does not give admittance to thoughts that are evil or in any way vain and useless. Without interruption, whether asleep or awake, eating, drinking, or to company, let your heart inwardly and mentally at times be meditating on the psalms, at other times be repeating the prayer, 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me.' And when you chant, make sure that your mouth is not saying one thing while your mind is thinking about another.