committed adultery with her in his heart” (St. Matt, 5:28). And in another place He rebuked and admonished those who laugh, and concerning the idle word also He said, “Its answer is given”; and on account of this the blessed Job, “ ‘because of the thoughts which were in the hearts of his sons, offered up an offering. Now therefore, since we know all these things, let us take good heed to ourselves [and avoid] the beginning of the movement of our thoughts, and then we shall never fall.’ ”
361. A brother said unto an old man, “Dost thou not see that I have not even one war in my heart?” The old man said unto him, “Thou hast an opening in thee at each of the four points of the compass, and whatsoever wisheth can go in and come out without thy perceiving it. But if thou wilt set up a door, and wilt shut it, and wilt not allow evil thoughts to enter, thou wilt then see them standing outside; for if our minds be watchful and strenuous in loving God, the Enemy who is the counsellor of wickednesses will not approach [us].”
362. A certain Mother of noble rank said, “As the stamped silver coin which is current loseth its weight and becometh less, so doth the spiritual excellence which is apparent and is made manifest become destroyed; and as wax melteth before the fire, so also doth the soul become lax and confused, and strenuousness departeth from it.”
363. One of the old men used to say, “The man who doeth many good deeds doth Satan cast down by means of small matters into pits, so that he may destroy the wages of all the good things which he hath performed.”
364. A brother asked Abbâ Poemen, saying, “For what purpose were spoken the words, ‘Take no thought for the morrow?’ ” The old man said unto him, “For the man who is under temptation, and is in affliction; for it is not meet that such a man should take thought for the morrow, or should say, ‘How long shall I have to endure this temptation?’ but he should think upon patient endurance, saying, ‘It is to-day, and the temptation will not remain thus for a long time.’ ” And the old man said, “It is good that a man should be remote from temptation of the body, for he who is nigh unto the temptation of the body is like unto him that standeth upon the mouth of a deep pit, and whom, whensoever his enemy wisheth, he can easily cast therein. But if he be remote from the temptation of the body, he is like unto a man who is far away from the pit, and even though his enemy may wish to cast him into it, he is not able to do so because the pit is far away from him, and whilst he is either
