humility the more.’ ” Therefore there is never a time when the monk hath not need of humility. Now it is right for him that dwelleth in silence wishing to arrive speedily at purity of heart, and to take care of [his spiritual] splendour, to guard the three following things:—he must guard his hearing against listening to any word which may strike him and may rouse him up to anger; I and he must guard his tongue, not only against rebuking and chiding any man, even though he be a man of no account whatsoever and a man of ignorance, and he must not [attempt] to teach or to admonish. But if a man ask him for a prayer, he must esteem himself to be the servant of him that asketh him, and he must kneel down before the cross and say, “O Lord, provide for my brethren according to Thy Will, and according to Thy design, and according as it may be beneficial for them before Thee, and make me, a sinner, worthy of Thy mercy through my prayers”; let him pray after this example, and it shall suffice. Do not think in thy mind, which may lead thee astray, that thou wilt be able to acquire even one spiritual excellence, no matter which it may be, without afflictions and troubles, whether with or without the desire; for no man who feedeth his body daintily on lusts is able to enter through the door, even as the camel cannot go through the narrow hole of the needle.
Now the pleasures of the body come into being because of unbelief, because the wretched body doth not believe in those good things which are promised unto the hungry, and in the woes which are prepared for those who are filled with food and who live delicately. Therefore he, who believeth in the promises and threats, goeth hungry, and he denieth himself, and he watcheth in prayer, and he humbleth himself, and he layeth hold upon abstinence, and restraineth himself from the gratification of his pleasures, and he inheriteth the purity which is promised to those who are blessed. But if he leadeth a life of sluggishness and pleasure, from it he shall inherit the impurities and the punishments which are prepared for him in Gehenna. Now the desire of the Holy Spirit is thus:—Remoteness from the habitation of men, continual quiet, weeping and sorrowful cries, joyful hymns, the singing of the Psalms, and praises, fasting, and abstinence, and vigil, poor apparel, a humble gait, the cloaking of the thoughts of the passions, the hidden prayer of the mind; know ye that such are the things in which those who are in the desire of the spirit wish to walk, and they never wish to perform the lusts of the flesh. And to speak briefly unto you, O my brethren, fasting, and service, and standing up, and vigil, and abstinence from meats, are the constituent parts of a fair rule of life and conduct, and
