Chapter 20

Thus one who labours at this work described it to me, saying: "After I had taken hold of the contemplation of God in a most firm and settled habit, and my soul had been shaped by the practice of it, I once wished to make trial of it, and I held my mind back, not permitting it to apply itself to its accustomed exercise. And I found it grieved and distressed, straining toward that contemplation with an irresistible longing, and wholly unable to incline toward any contrary thought. But when I gave the reins a little slack, it at once ran swiftly back to its own work, as the Prophet says: As the deer longs for the springs of waters, so my soul longs for God, the strong, the living God." From all this it is proved that the possession of virtue lies within our power, and that we are masters of it, whether we choose to cling to it or to prefer sin. Those, then, who have been enslaved to vice are held by it and torn from it only with difficulty,

as I said earlier. But you, now set free from it through the tender mercy of our God, and having put on Christ by the grace of the divine Spirit, transfer your whole self to the Lord, and open no further door to the passions. Rather, having adorned your soul with the fragrance and splendour of the virtues, make it a temple of the Holy Trinity, occupying all the powers of your mind with the contemplation of it. For if a man who lives with an earthly king and converses with him is accounted blessed by all, what blessedness will he enjoy who is held worthy to converse with God and to be united with him in mind? Mirror him, then, always, and commune with him. And how will you commune with God? By drawing near to him through prayer and supplication. For the man who prays with the warmest longing and with a purified heart, having withdrawn his mind from all things material and earthbound, and standing before God as one face to face, offering his supplications to him with fear and trembling,

such a man communes with him and speaks with him face to face. For our good Master is present everywhere, listening to those who come to him sincerely and purely, as the Prophet says: The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their supplication. And for this reason the Fathers define prayer as the union of man with God, and they call it the work of angels and the prelude of the joy to come. For since they reckon the nearness and contemplation of the Holy Trinity above all things as the kingdom of heaven, and since constancy in prayer leads the mind toward this, prayer is rightly called the prelude and, as it were, the foreshadowing of that blessedness. Yet not every prayer is of this kind, but only that which is truly worthy of this name: the prayer that has God for its teacher, who gives prayer to the one who prays; the prayer that is lifted above all things on earth and addresses the Lord God directly. Win this for yourself, and strive for this advance; for it is able to raise you from earth to heaven. But you will not advance in it unprepared or by chance. Rather, having first cleansed your soul of all the passions, and wiped it clean of every evil thought like a clean and newly polished mirror,

and having removed yourself far from all remembrance of wrongs and all rancour, which more than anything else hinders our prayers from rising to God, and having forgiven from the heart all who have sinned against you their offences, and having winged your prayer with almsgiving and compassion toward the poor, bring it to God with warm tears. Praying thus, you will be able to speak as the blessed David did; for he, though he was a king and was drawn this way and that by countless cares, yet purified his soul of all the passions and said to God: Iniquity I hated and abhorred, but your law I loved; seven times a day I praised you for the judgements of your righteousness; my soul kept your testimonies and loved them exceedingly; let my supplication draw near before you, O Lord; give me understanding according to your word. When you cry out thus, God will hear you; while you are still speaking, he will say: Behold, I am here. If, then, you acquire such prayer, you will be blessed; for it is impossible that a man

who prays with such eagerness and entreats God should not advance daily in the good and fly above all the snares of the enemy. For the man who has kindled his mind, as one of the saints has said, and lifted up his soul, and removed himself to heaven, and so called upon his own Master, and remembered his own sins, and spoken concerning their forgiveness, and with the warmest tears begged the Lover of mankind to be merciful to him — such a man, from his dwelling in these words and meditations, lays aside every care of this life and becomes higher than human passions, and is held worthy to be called the companion of God. And what could be more blessed or more exalted than this? May the Lord, then, count you worthy to attain such blessedness. For behold, I have shown you the way of the Lord's commandments, and I have held back nothing from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. And I, for my part, have now completed my ministry toward you. It remains for you to gird up the loins of your mind, and, after the pattern of him who called you, the Holy One, to be yourself holy in all your conduct: Be holy, for I am holy, says the Lord. The foremost of the apostles also writes: If you call upon as Father him who judges without partiality according to each man's work,

conduct yourselves in fear throughout the time of your sojourning, knowing that you were not redeemed from the empty way of life handed down by your fathers with perishable things, with silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Laying all this to heart, then, remember it without ceasing, keeping ever before your eyes the fear of God and his awe-inspiring judgement; the brightness of the righteous, which they are to receive in that age to come, and the gloom of sinners in the deepest darkness; the weakness and emptiness of present things and the endlessness of those to come; for All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass: the grass has withered and its flower has fallen, but the word of the Lord abides forever. Meditate on these things continually; and may the peace of God be with you, enlightening you and giving you understanding and leading you into the way of salvation, driving every evil intention far from your mind, and sealing your soul with the sign of the cross, that nothing of the evil one's snares may come near you, but that you may be held worthy, in all perfection of the virtues, to attain the kingdom that is to come, which is without end and without succession, and to be encompassed with the light of the blessed and life-giving Trinity, which is glorified in Father and Son and Holy Spirit.