agression, and [reciting the] service is constant supplication and the praising of God.”
681. The brethren said, “Are these things able to redeem the soul?” The old man said, “When the things which are within agree with the things which are without and the humility which is manifest appeareth in the hidden works which are within, in very truth a man is redeemed from the heaviness of the body.”
682. The brethren said, “And what is internal humility?” The old man said, “It is humility of love, peace, concord, purity, restfulness, gentleness, subjection, faith, remoteness from envy, [and it is] the soul which lacketh the fervour of anger, and is remote from the lust of arrogance, and is separated from vainglory, and is filled with patient endurance like the great deep, and whose motion is drawn after the knowledge of the spirit, and before whose eyes is depicted the departure from the body, and the great marvel of the Resurrection, and the call to judgement, which [shall come] after the quickening, and its standing before the awful throne of God, and the being redeemed.”
683. The brethren said, “Is it possible for a man to fast and not to be redeemed?” The old man said, “There is a fasting which is a matter of habit, and another which is of desire, and another which is of constraint, and another which is of the sight, and another which is of vainglory, and another of tribulation, and another of repentance, and another of spiritual love; and although each one of them is the same outside the mind, yet in the word of knowledge they are distinct. Now although the manner of each in respect of the body is the same, yet each should be undertaken with thorough purpose, and a man should journey straightly along the way of love, and should bear his burden with spiritual patience, and he should not rejoice in his honour.”
684. The brethren said, “Who is the true [monk]?” The old man said, “He who maketh his word manifest indeed, and endureth his pain patiently; with such a man new life is found, and the knowledge of the spirit dwelleth in him.”
685. The brethren said, “Who is he that liveth purely?” The old man said, “He who is free from the delights of the body, and who rejoiceth in the love of his neighbours in the love of God; for in proportion as need hath rule over the soul is spiritual repose produced [therein].”
686. The brethren said, “With what can we vanquish lust?” The old man said, “With the remembrance of the good things of the spirit; for, if the desire for the good things which are to come doth not abrogate the lust for the delights of this
