all the passions is the thought of the love of the soul, and after it come the following eight.’ And again he said, ‘Conquer the strife of the love of the soul which is in thy bosom, by that which is towards God.’ For until the monk is worthy of this love, he is unable to acquire exact consolation from the remainder of the labours of the other spiritual excellences, even though it be that he obtaineth assistance from them, as Abbâ Isaiah said, ‘Although the children of Leah were a help to Jacob, yet he loved Joseph most of all, and when Joseph was born, he wished to leave Laban and go to his parents,’ that is to say, When a monk hath become worthy, and hath acquired the perfect love of Christ, which is stablished by silent contemplation, and the power to pray without ceasing, and his soul is at all times rejoicing and exulting with gladness, he will not be content to remain in this life; but each and every day he will be desiring eagerly and longing to depart from the body, and to be with our Lord in Paradise, which is the habitation of the spirits of just men who have become perfect, and the holy country which is exalted above the passions, and devils, and the striving of those who cultivate the virtues until the revelation of our Lord Jesus, Who loveth to make perfect a man with the never-ending happiness of His love in a glorious kingdom.”
625. The brethren said, “Explain to us the course of life and labour of the old man [who made] baskets, [and dropped] small stones in them.” The old man said, “The course of life of that old man was one which was of the mind, and it was stern, and excellent, and it swiftly brought the monk unto purity of heart. And as concerning that which he said, ‘I set two baskets, one on my right hand and one on my left,’ etc. it doth not [mean] that he sat the whole day with his baskets round him, but that his two baskets were set in two places. And he himself was occupied with service and prayer, and with his toil, and for every thought, good or bad, which entered his mind he cast a pebble [into the baskets], that is to say, the labour is very severe for the man for a certain time at the beginning, because the devils are envious at the purity of heart which is acquired by him, and therefore they afflicted this old man also for a long time with the multitude of evil thoughts which were stirring in him, even as he said, ‘Many days I have eaten nothing, because the good thoughts did not outnumber the bad ones.’ Now he used to afflict his body with the labour of much fasting, so that he might do away the evil thoughts, because it is not the soul only which feeleth the labours of the body,
