Chapter 15

Josaphat said to the old man: How, then, will I be able to send treasures of money and wealth ahead

to that place, so that when I depart I may find the enjoyment of them unplundered and unspoiled? And how shall I show my hatred of present things and hold fast to the eternal ones? Make it very clear to me. Barlaam said: The sending ahead of this wealth to the eternal place is done by the hands of the poor. For one of the prophets, the most wise Daniel, says to the king of Babylon: Therefore, O king, let my counsel be pleasing to you; redeem your sins by almsgiving and your injustices by compassion for the poor. And the Savior says: Make for yourselves friends out of the mammon of unrighteousness, so that when you fail, they may receive you into the eternal dwellings. And the Master makes much discourse, above and below, about almsgiving and sharing with the poor, as we learn in the Gospel. In this way, then, you will most securely send everything ahead to that place by the hands of those in need; for whatever you do for these, the Master, claiming it as done to himself, will repay you many times over;

for he always outdoes those who love him by the recompense of his gifts. In this way, then, having for now plundered the treasures of the darkness of this age, which you have wretchedly served for a long time now, you will be well provisioned out of them for the future; and, taking everything from what belongs to another, you will lay it up beforehand for yourself, purchasing through these fleeting and short-lived things the things that stand fast and abide. Then, God working with you, you will perceive the unsteadiness and unevenness of the world, and, having said farewell to all things, you will shift your moorings toward the future—passing by the things that pass by, and being added to the things hoped for and standing fast; leaving the darkness behind along with the shadow of death; hating the world and the world-ruler, and reckoning the corruptible flesh an enemy to yourself; and you will run to the unapproachable light, and, taking up the cross on your shoulders, you will follow him without turning back, that you may be glorified together with him and be shown to be an heir of the life that no longer changes nor deceives. Josaphat said: Is the disregarding of all things, then, and the taking up of so laborious a life as you have described above, an ancient tradition coming down from the teaching of the apostles? Or has it lately been devised by you in the knowledge of your own mind, as having chosen this to be better?

The old man said to him: I am not teaching you a law lately introduced—God forbid—but one given to us of old. For the Lord said to a certain rich man who asked him, What shall I do to inherit eternal life? and who boasted that he had kept all that was written in the law: One thing, he said, you lack; go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me, taking up the cross. But when he heard this he became deeply grieved, for he was very rich. And Jesus, seeing that he had become deeply grieved, said: How hard it is for those who have money to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. All the saints, then, hearing this commandment, took care to separate themselves entirely from such a difficulty of wealth; and scattering everything, and through the distribution to the poor laying up beforehand for themselves eternal wealth, they took up the cross and followed Christ—some perfected by martyrdom, as I have already told you, others contending in the ascetic life, and falling short of those in nothing in the conduct of this true philosophy. Know, then, that this is a commandment of Christ our

King and God, leading us away from corruptible things and making us partakers of the eternal. Since, then, such a philosophy is ancient and so necessary, says Josaphat, how is it that many do not emulate this life today? The old man said: Many have emulated it and do emulate it, but most hold back and shrink from it; for few, as the Lord says, are the travelers of the narrow and hard way, but many of the loose and broad one. For those who have once been taken captive by the love of money and the evils of pleasure-loving, and cling to empty and vain glory, are hard to be torn from these, since they have willingly sold themselves as slaves to an alien master, and stand opposed to God who commands these things, and are held bound by him. For a soul that has once despaired of its own salvation, giving over its reins to irrational desires, is carried about everywhere. Therefore the Prophet, bewailing the folly poured out over such souls, and lamenting the thickness of the mist that lies upon them, said: Sons of men, how long will you be heavy of heart? Why do you love emptiness and seek a lie? With which one of our own wise teachers, a most theological man, agreeing, and adding something of his own,

cries out to all as from some lofty and most exalted watchtower: Sons of men, how long will you be heavy of heart? Why do you love emptiness and seek a lie?—supposing the life here, and luxury, and the little scrap of glory, and lowly power, and lying prosperity to be something great—things that belong no more to those who hold them than to those who hoped for them, nor more to these than to those who never even expected them; things that, like dust before a tempest, are tossed and flung about from some to others, or stream away like smoke, or sport like a dream, and like a shadow cannot be grasped; neither, when absent, beyond the hope of those who do not possess them, nor, when present, to be trusted by those who have them. So then, since the Savior commands these things, and the Prophets and Apostles proclaim them, and all the saints in deed and word press us toward the most unerring way of virtue, even if few are those who travel it and more are those who prefer the broad way that leads to destruction, the conduct of this godly philosophy will not be lessened on that account. But just as the sun, rising to give light to all, sends forth its rays ungrudgingly, urging all to be enlightened, so too the true philosophy lights up its lovers like the sun, and warms them, and makes them bright. And if some, closing their eyes, are unwilling to behold its radiance, the sun is not on this account to be blamed, nor overlooked by the rest, nor will the glory of its brightness be dishonored through their dullness;

but those, having deprived themselves of the light, will grope a wall like blind men, and will fall into many pits, and have their eyes pierced by many thorns, while the sun, standing in its own brightness, will give light to those who with unveiled face reflect its radiance. In the same way too the light of Christ shines richly upon all, imparting to us of its splendor; but each shares in it according to his longing and eagerness. For neither does the sun of righteousness deprive any who wish to gaze upon it steadily, nor does it force those who willingly choose the darkness; but each is left to his own free choice, so long as he is in the present life. When Josaphat asked, What is free will, and what is choice? the old man said: Free will is the willing of a rational soul, moved unhindered toward whatever it may wish, whether virtue or vice, the soul being so made by the Creator. Free will, again, is the self-governing movement of a thinking soul. Choice is the deliberative desire of things within our power, or a desiderative deliberation of things within our power; for we desire, by choosing, the thing preferred out of deliberation. Deliberation is an inquiring desire concerning the things within our power that can be done; for one deliberates whether he ought to undertake the matter or not. Then he judges the better course, and there comes judgment. Then he is disposed toward and loves what was judged from the deliberation, and this is called inclination; for if one judges,

but is not disposed toward what was judged—that is, does not love it—it is not called inclination. Then, after the disposition, there comes choice—that is, selection; for choice is, when two things are set before us, to take the one and select it before the other. And this is plain, that choice is deliberation together with decision, even from its very etymology; for the thing chosen is the one preferable before the other. But no one prefers anything without deliberating, nor chooses without preferring. For since we are not eager to bring into action everything that has seemed good to us, then what was preferred out of deliberation becomes choice and a thing chosen when it takes on desire. And so it is gathered that choice is the deliberative desire of things within our power; for we desire, by choosing, the thing preferred out of deliberation. For every deliberation is for the sake of action and on account of action; and so deliberation leads every choice, and choice leads every action. For this reason not only actions, but also the things in the mind, which represent the choices, procure both crowns and punishments. For the beginning of sin and of right-doing is choice, exercised in the things within our power; for of those things whose workings are in our power, the actions too that accord with the working are in our power; and the workings that accord with virtue are in our power; therefore the virtues too are in our power. For all the things of the soul, and those about which we deliberate, are properly in our power. So, men deliberating freely and

choosing freely, in proportion as a man chooses, in that proportion he also shares in the divine light and advances in the pursuits of philosophy; for there are differences of choice. And just as certain springs of water sent up from the hollows of the earth—some gush out near the surface of the earth, others a little deeper, others very deep; and of these waters some, gushing out close to the surface, are sweet to the taste, while others, coming out deep, are salt or sulphurous; and some are given forth abundantly, others drip out little by little—so too understand it with regard to the choices: that some are quick and most fervent, others sluggish and cold, and some have their whole inclination toward good things, while others incline with all their power to the opposite. According to their dispositions, then, the impulses toward actions also follow.