with them in any way whatsoever when they are remote from thee. For until a man arriveth at a state of impassibility, and overcometh by striving both the passions and the devils, whensoever a monk remembereth any man in his cell, he remembereth him in connexion with some passion, that is to say, with desire (or lust), or with anger, or with vainglory. And if it should happen that the mind wandereth in respect of ordinary things (or means), unless he cutteth them off from him, his wandering inclineth through absolute necessity towards a remembrance which is allied to some passion. And it is also thus in the case of a neophyte, for whensoever during his contemplation in silence he remembered women he falleth into the lust of fornication; and whensoever he remembereth men, he is either wroth with them in his thoughts, and he maketh accusations against them, and blameth them, and condemneth them, or he demandeth from them vainglory, and he inclineth to passibility. Therefore when Abbâ Macarius was asked, ‘What is the right way for a brother, who is a neophyte, to live in his cell?’ he said, ‘Let no monk when he is in his cell have any remembrance whatsoever of any man, for he cannot profit in any way in restraining his feelings from the conversation of men, except he take care to withhold his thoughts from secret intercourse with them.’ This is the meaning of the words, “ ‘Flee, keep silence, and contemplate in silence.’ ”
660. The brethren said, “What is the meaning of the words which one of the old men spake, saying, ‘He who dwelleth with men, because of the commotion of worldly affairs is unable to see his sins; but if he dwell in the silent repose of the desert he will be able to see God in a pure manner?’ ” The old man said, “The excellences which are cultivated in the world, and to which our Lord, speaking in the Gospel, ascribed blessing, are loving-kindness, peace-making and the other commandments which are like unto them, and it is quite possible for such virtues to be cultivated in the world by certain strenuous persons. But the purity of heart which seeth God, and to which our Lord ascribed blessing, saying, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,’ cannot be acquired without dwelling in the desert, and solitary and silent contemplation, and the monk must acquire it in the following way. First of all a man must go forth from the world, and dwell in a monastery, and after his training in a monastery and having gone into his cell, he must die through contemplation in silence, and through the other labours of his body, and through striving against the passions, and through conflict with devils. Then through the
