EPISTLE TO THE MONK NICHOLAS
To the beloved child Nicholas
1. You have previously been very concerned about your salvation. In great concern for a life according to God, you have told us everything about yourself, i.e. with what ardent effort you have resolved to cling to the Lord by a strict life, abstinence and various other mortifications, performing a feat in vigils and diligent prayer, then what a struggle and multitude of bodily passions, from the sinful law that opposes the law of the mind, were inflamed in your body and rose up against your soul. You especially wept because you were greatly oppressed by the passions of anger and lust. You asked that we, by verbal instruction, indicate to you the kind of effort and feat necessary to overcome the aforementioned destructive passions.
2. At that time, as far as was possible, I proposed to your love useful thoughts and advice for the soul, indicating the kind of effort and ascetic effort by which a prudent soul, enlightened by rational knowledge, living according to the Gospel, can, through faith and aided by grace, overcome the evils that grow in the heart, and especially the aforementioned passions. The soul must undertake a constant and diligent struggle against the passions that have marked it through recollection and habit, and which have attracted it more strongly, until it subdues the carnal and irrational movements of the heart, to which it was previously subject and enslaved through the internal harmony of thoughts, frequent passionate recollections and evil occupations.
3. Since I have been separated from your presence in body, though not in heart, and since I have gone into the desert to the true workers and fighters of Christ, in order that, by doing at least a little feat and fighting together with the brothers who oppose the enemy's enterprises and bravely oppose the passions, I may cast off laziness, cut off distraction, drive away negligence from myself and acquire zeal and all care, directing myself to pleasing God, I have now taken the trouble to write to your sincerity a brief instruction and advice useful for the soul. So that what I previously told you personally, you may now be able to read carefully in this short writing full of advice and gain spiritual benefit, as if I were with you.
4. My child, this is where your saving benefit according to God should begin. Unforgettable and every day should be your memory of everything that has happened and is happening to you according to the plan of the God who loves humanity, as well as of all His benefits for the salvation of your soul. Do not allow yourself to stop remembering His many and great benefits due to the darkness of evil forgetfulness, or due to spiritual laziness, so that you do not spend the rest of your life fruitlessly and ungratefully. For such memories, like a dagger, wound the heart and always encourage it to confession, to humility, to gratitude with a contrite soul, to care for its own good, to readiness to repay with good customs and every virtue according to God, with daily reflection on the prophetic word: What shall I repay the Lord for all that He has given me (Ps 115:3). When the soul remembers all the benefits that the loving God has bestowed upon it since its birth, from how many troubles it has been delivered many times, how, despite many iniquities and voluntary sins, it was not handed over by a just judgment to the spirits who deceived it into peril and death, how the loving Lord long-sufferingly forgave its sins and guarded it, expecting its correction, protected it, covered it and in every way thought about it, even though it willingly served its enemies and evil spirits with its passions, how, finally, with gentle encouragement, He directed it on the path of salvation, putting in its heart a love for the ascetic life, inspiring it to joyfully leave the world and all the deceitfulness of its bodily comforts, and arranging for the holy fathers to accept it into the brotherhood, will it not, if its thought is guided by a good conscience and if it reflects on all this, always abide in contrition of heart? Having such a pledge in previously received goods, will not a man forever acquire strong hope and say to himself: "If the Lord did not deal with me according to my sins and repay me according to my iniquities when I did nothing good, but wallowed in bodily impurity and in many other sins, but rather bestowed such gifts and grace upon me for salvation, what good and spiritual gifts will he merit me when at last I, by a blameless life and the practice of all virtues, give myself entirely to serving Him? Will he not then strengthen me in every good work, instructing me and accompanying me?" In this way, the one who has such a thought, never forgetting God's benefices, incites himself, directs and compels himself to every good feat of virtue and to every work of justice, always remaining zealous and always being ready to do the will of God.
5. Beloved child, and thus having by the grace of Christ a natural prudence, always keep such good thinking within you and do not allow yourself to be covered, as with a dark cloud, by pernicious forgetfulness, nor by laziness that hinders the walk, frustrates the mind and separates from the necessary life, nor be darkened in thought by ignorance, that is, the cause of all evils, nor be drawn away by completely evil negligence, nor be deceived by bodily pleasure, nor be overcome by pleasing the belly, nor be enslaved in the mind by desires, nor be defiled by assent to lustful thoughts, nor be overcome by anger that gives birth to hatred towards your brother, if for some miserable and sinful reason, grieving or being saddened, you begin to collect in your memory evil thoughts against your neighbor, nor be separated from pure prayer to God, nor be led into slavery by your mind, in which you would observe with bestial thoughts your brother who is of one soul with you. For, because of such an unreasonable nature, full of carnal wisdom, you would be bound by conscience and temporarily handed over to the evil spirits, to whom you listened, for an instructive punishment, until your mind, completely impoverished and consumed with sorrow and despondency due to the loss of progress in God, due to previous sins, begins again to undertake, with all humility, the path of salvation, and, after many labors in prayer, all-night vigils, and humble confession to God and men, receives absolution from your sins. Thus he begins to sober up again, and, enlightened by the light of gospel knowledge, by the grace of God he understands that he who does not completely surrender himself to the cross with a humble mind and self-denial, who does not surrender himself to all to be trampled on, humiliated, despised, dishonored, mocked and ridiculed, joyfully enduring everything for the Lord's sake and seeking nothing human: neither glory, nor honor, nor praise, nor delicious food and drink, nor beautiful clothing, cannot be a true Christian.
6. Therefore, if such feats, struggles, and crowns await us, how long will we allow ourselves to be mocked by a false form of piety and to serve the Lord with cunning? In one way we appear holy before men, and in another way we are revealed to Him who knows even in secret. By being considered holy by many, we show that we are still by nature beasts, having only a form of godliness, but having not the power thereof (2 Tim. 2:5). Many consider us virgins and pure, but we secretly defile ourselves before Him who knows by impure consent to lustful thoughts, defiling ourselves with the workings of passion. And yet, because of our extremely hypocritical asceticism and because of human praise, we do not care about such a state, remaining blind in mind. How long will we go on with a vain mind, not adopting evangelical thinking and not accepting a conscientious life, with the determination to diligently walk its path in order to gain boldness of conscience, but still deceiving ourselves with the alleged righteousness of the external man and ourselves, due to the deprivation of true knowledge, lying with external righteousness, in the desire to please people and seeking glory, honor and praise from them?
7. He will indeed come who reveals the secrets of darkness and makes known the intentions of the heart (1 Cor 4:5), the infallible Judge who is neither ashamed of the rich nor has mercy on the poor. He will remove the outer veil and reveal the hidden truth within. Those who live with a good conscience, true ascetics and fighters, He will crown before His Father in the presence of angels, while the hypocrites, who only put on a face of piety and show a righteous life before men, and who vainly rely on it, deceiving themselves with their minds, He will publicly expose before His Church and before all the heavenly army and send them with utter shame into the deepest darkness.
8. Such are like the foolish virgins who preserved their outward virginity, and even had some oil in their vessels, that is, they had certain virtues, outward righteousness, and certain gifts, because their lamps burned for a certain time. However, due to negligence and forgetfulness, ignorance and laziness, they did not take care of the inner side, nor did they properly recognize the multitude of passions that were hidden within, and which were moved by evil spirits. Therefore, their thoughts were corrupted by the work of the enemy, and they communed with them through agreement in thought, being secretly attracted and overcome from within by evil envy, good-hating zeal, quarrelsomeness, insolence, anger, bitterness, resentment, hypocrisy, rage, pride, vanity, man-pleasing, self-indulgence, avarice, despondency, carnal lust, lustful thoughts, unbelief, fearlessness toward God, timidity, sadness, murmuring, indulgence, sleep, haughtiness, self-justification, puffed-upness, boasting, insatiability, wastefulness, greed, and worst of all, hopelessness, and other subtle works of evil. They gave up both the good works and the honorable life they led before the eyes of men who praised them, and the spiritual gifts themselves, if they had any, to the spirit of vanity and man-pleasing. Following other passions, they mixed good deeds with cunning and carnal wisdom, corrupting them and making them impure and displeasing to God, like Cain's sacrifice. Because of all this, they were deprived of the joy with the Bridegroom, remaining outside the heavenly chamber, which was locked up before them.
9. By reflecting on this with reasoning and examination, we will understand and know in what state we ourselves are. And, while there is still time for repentance and conversion, let us correct ourselves and take care to perform good works purely and perfectly, truly and without the admixture of carnal wisdom, so that they will not be rejected as a defective sacrifice due to the absence of fear, due to negligence and lack of true knowledge. Otherwise, all the enduring efforts of virginity, abstinence, vigils, fasting, hospitality and spent days, and everything that seems to us to be great righteousness, will not be accepted by the Lord, because, due to the aforementioned passions, they will appear to him as a defective sacrifice.
10. And so, my child, he who wants to take up the cross and follow Christ should above all take care of knowledge and prudence, with constant examination of thoughts and much care for salvation, with great devotion to God and inquiry from the single-minded and one-minded servants of God, who have striven in the same feat, so that it does not happen that we go without knowing the goal and without a shining beacon. For he who acts independently and goes without gospel knowledge and guidance, often stumbles and falls into many trenches and traps of the cunning demon, turning aside and subjecting himself to great troubles, not knowing where he will end up. Many have gone through great feats of suffering and torment for the sake of God, but then, by self-management, lack of judgment and avoiding turning to his neighbor for advice, they made them unpleasant to God and futile.
11. But you, beloved child, as I have already told you at the beginning of this instructive word, do not forget the benefits of the God who loves mankind, to whom we bow down. Do not let the wickedness of the enemy and laziness turn you away from this remembrance, but place before your eyes all the benefits of soul and body that have been done to you from your birth until today, meditating on them and teaching yourself according to what is said: Do not forget all His benefits (Ps 102:2). In this way, your heart will easily be stirred to the fear and love of God, and you will be able to repay Him with a strict life, a virtuous conduct, a pious conscience, a suitable word, a correct faith, a humble mind, in a word, to surrender yourself completely to God. This is what the memory of the benefits that you have received from the kind and loving Lord will draw you to. By such remembrance of your deeds of charity, with the cooperation of help from on high, your heart will be wounded with love and longing for God, since He did not perform for others, more worthy, the miracle that He showed in you through His ineffable love for humanity.
12. And so, take care to keep in constant remembrance the good things you have received from God. Remember especially the great mercy and wonderful charity of which you told me, that is, when you sailed with your mother from the holy places to Constantinople. Then at night a terrible storm arose with great waves of the sea, so that all who were on the ship, together with the sailors and your mother, perished in the depths, while only you, with your two companions, were thrown ashore and were saved by the glorious power of God. Remember, also, how the Lord arranged your journey to Ancyra, where you were received with paternal kindness by a merciful man and were lovingly united with the most pious child Epiphanius, with whom, under the guidance of an experienced and God-pleasing man, you entered the path of salvation and were received as a true child among the servants of God.
13. What have you to give in return for all the riches that God has given you, calling you to eternal life? Righteousness demands that you no longer live for yourself, but for Christ who died for you and rose again. You are obliged to strive for every virtue of righteousness and to fulfill every commandment, always asking for the good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Rom 12:2), and striving with all your heart to fulfill it. Above all, my child, submit your youth to the word of God, as it demands, that is, present your body as a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, as your reasonable service (Rom 12:1). Cool and dry every moisture of bodily lust by abstaining from food and drink and by watching all night, so that you too may be able to say from your heart: I have become like a wineskin on a salt pan, and I have not forgotten your precepts (Ps 118:83). Realizing that Christ, according to the apostle's voice, crucified your body with its passions and desires (Gal 5:24), and put to death the members that are on the earth (Col 3:5), i.e. not only the act of fornication, but also the impurity that evil spirits instill in the body. He who wants to be worthy of the crown of true, undefiled and perfect virginity does not extend his feat only to this, but, following the apostle's teaching, strives to mortify the very movement of this passion. Well, he who, out of a strong love for purity, has decided to instill angelic and pure virginity into his body, is not even satisfied with this, but prays that even the simple memory of lust, which appears in a moment, without the movement and action of bodily passion, may disappear. However, this is achieved only with help from on high, only by the power and gift of the Holy Spirit, if there are any who are worthy of such grace.
14. In this way, he who desires to obtain the crown of pure, immaterial and undefiled virginity, crucifies his body with ascetic efforts, mortifies the members that are on earth, and by strenuous and patient abstinence thins the external man, exhausts him and makes him old and bony, so that, for the sake of faith and asceticism, by the action of grace, the inner man may be more easily renewed. Day by day, advancing towards the better, he grows in love, adorns himself with meekness, rejoices in spiritual joy, receives from Christ the pledge of peace, governs himself with mercy, clothes himself with gentleness, clothes himself with the fear of God, enlightens himself with knowledge and prudence, is illuminated with wisdom, is guided by humility of mind. Renewed by these and similar virtues by the Holy Spirit, the mind receives within itself the features of the image of God, comprehends the intellectual and ineffable beauty of the Lord's countenance, deserving the wealth of self-taught and self-known wisdom of the internal law.
15. My child, thin your young body, and fatten your soul, and renew your mind with the virtues mentioned, with the cooperation of the Holy Spirit. A young body, fattened with various foods and wine, becomes like a fattened boar, ready for slaughter. The fire of bodily pleasures kills the soul, and the inflaming of evil lusts captures the mind, which cannot resist the pleasures of the body. The influx of blood, therefore, represents the outflow of the spirit? Youth should not even smell the fragrance of wine, lest by the double fire, the internal one from passion and the external one from wine, the pleasure of the body be inflamed and drive out the spiritual sweetness of painful sweetness in the heart, and produce confusion and petrification of the heart. Youth should not even use water to its fullness in order to preserve spiritual desire, since the scarcity of water helps the purity of the body. Having examined this in action, you will be convinced by your own experience. For I command and legislate this to you, not to place an unwanted burden on you, but out of love I advise and suggest to you what will help you preserve true virginity and strict chastity, leaving it to your free will to do as it pleases.
16. Let us speak briefly also of the unreasonable passion of anger, which, when it rises, devastates the whole soul, disturbs and darkens it, making a man like a beast that is easily provoked. This passion is strengthened, strengthened and made invincible by pride. This root of bitterness of the devil (Heb 12:15), i.e., anger and irritability, will grow, flourish and bear abundant fruit of iniquity as long as it is watered with the bad water of pride. This edifice of the cunning demon in the soul remains indestructible as long as it has support and support in the foundation of pride. Therefore, if you want this tree of iniquity, i.e., bitterness, anger and irritability, to dry up in the body and make it fruitless, let the axe of the Holy Spirit come to it and cut it down, let it be thrown into the fire, and, according to the Gospel word, disappear with all wickedness; If you want to destroy that edifice of iniquity that the cunning one builds in the soul, gathering in your mind from everywhere, like stones, well-founded and unfounded propositions based on material things and words, and placing the thought of pride as a solid foundation for it; if you want to destroy and demolish that edifice of wickedness in your soul, adopt an unforgettable memory of the Lord's humility in your heart. Who is He and what did He become for our sake? From what height does the light of God, which is partially revealed to the higher beings and which is glorified in the heavens by all rational beings, i.e. angels, archangels, thrones, dominions, principalities, powers, cherubim and seraphim, and from all other unnamed mental powers, whose names have not come down to us, as the Apostle Paul indicates (Eph 1:21) the Lord descends into the depths of human humility by his ineffable gentleness, in all things similar to us who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, and are in slavery to the enemy because of Adam's transgression and because of the passions that work in us?
17. And so, the Lord, the ruler of all visible and invisible things, was not ashamed of us who are in miserable slavery and over whom invisible and bitter death reigns, but humbled Himself, taking on the nature of a man who, by the Lord's will, was condemned because of dishonorable passions and lusts, becoming like us in all things except sin, that is, except for the passions of dishonor. Everything that, by the Lord's will, was imposed on man because of the sin of transgression: death, labor, hunger, thirst, He also accepted, becoming what we are, so that we too might become what He is. And the Word became flesh (John 1:14) so that the body might become rational. Being rich, He became poor for our sakes, so that we might become rich through His poverty. Out of great love for humanity, He became like us so that we too might become like Him in every virtue. For since Christ came, man, who was created in the image and likeness of God, begins to be renewed by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, reaching the measure of perfect love that casts out fear and can no longer fall, because: Love never fails (1 Cor 13:8), because God, as John says, is love, and he who abides in love abides in God (1 John 4:16). Such measures were granted to the apostles and all who, like them, strived in virtue, approaching the Lord as perfect and with perfect devotion throughout their lives belonging to Christ.
18. Constantly and unforgettably keep in mind the humility that the Lord showed out of ineffable humanity and love for us, i.e. the indwelling of God the Word in the womb,
the acceptance of human nature, birth from a woman, gradual physical growth, dishonor, cursing, insults, mockery, reproaches, blows, spitting, mockery, humiliation, a madman's robe, a crown of thorns, the judgment of the elders, the cries of the lawless Jews of the same race: Take him, take him, crucify him (John 19:15), the cross, the nails, the spear, the drinking of vinegar and gall, the celebration of the Gentiles, the mockery of the passersby who said: If he is the King of Israel, let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him (Matthew 17:42), and the other sufferings that he endured for us: crucifixion, death, three-day burial, descent into hell, and then the fruits of his suffering: resurrection from the dead, the devastation of hell and death by leading out the souls who had gathered around him, ascension into heaven, sitting at the right hand of the Father, above every principality and power and every name which can be called (Eph 1:21), honor and glory and worship from all the angels as the Firstborn from the dead because of suffering, according to the words of the apostle Paul: Therefore let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but humbled himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man. He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth (Phil 2:5-10). This is what glory and height the aforementioned sufferings, according to the justice of God, have raised the man of the Lord to.
19. Therefore, if you keep such thoughts in your heart with a warm disposition and without forgetfulness, the passion of bitterness, anger and irritability will not take hold of you. For when their foundation is removed, that is, when the passion of pride is destroyed by plunging into the humility of Christ, the whole edifice of lawless anger, wrath and sorrow will easily be destroyed of itself. What hard and stony heart will not be humbled and come to sweetness and humility if it constantly keeps in mind such humility for our sakes of the divinity of the Only-Begotten, and which recalls His sufferings enumerated? Will it not gladly become dust and ashes, which, according to the Scripture, are trampled on by all men? What irritability can take hold of a soul that has humbled itself and become contrite by looking at the humility of Christ? What anger or indignation will approach it?
20. However, the forgetfulness of these salutary and life-giving thoughts, and its sister laziness , as well as their associate and relative, i.e. ignorance , these most serious internal diseases of the soul that are difficult to recognize and even more difficult to cure, deceive and darken the soul with uncontrollable curiosity and become the cause of the action and rooting in it of all other passions. They drive out the fear of God and cause negligence towards all good, allowing all passions to freely move into the soul and act in it without shame. If the soul is covered with completely evil forgetfulness , destructive laziness and the mother and nurturer of all evil, i.e. ignorance , the poor and blind mind easily attaches itself to every visible, thought and sensory thing. For example, it sees a woman's beauty and is immediately wounded by bodily passion. Having received what was seen, heard, or touched passionately and with pleasure, memory then draws internal images and through the renewal of thoughts and evil occupation, with the cooperation of the spirits of fornication, defiles the passionate and wretched mind.
21. Finally, a body that is fat, young, or too full of moisture, easily arouses passion from such memories and does what is proper to it, moving towards lust. Sometimes in a dream, and sometimes in reality, it practices impurity, even without intercourse with a woman. Such a one may appear to many to be blameless, virginal, and chaste, and even holy, although before Him who sees in secret he is defiled, a fornicator and an adulterer. He will be justly condemned on that day, unless he weeps and laments, and unless he offers worthy repentance to God, before whose face he has thought and done evil, having exhausted the body with fasting, vigils, and constant prayers, and having healed and corrected the mind by holy remembrance and instruction in the word of God. For the living voice is true which said: Everyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Mt 5:28). Therefore, it is very useful for young monks not to see women, even if they consider themselves saints. It is even useful for them to live separately from all people. Because of this, the struggle will become much easier and progress will be very noticeable, especially if they strictly watch themselves and if they dwell in prayer, practicing abstinence from food and drink and persevering in long vigils. It will also be useful for them to communicate with experienced spiritual fathers and to use their guidance. For it is extremely dangerous for a monk to live alone and of his own free will, without witnesses, or to live with those who are not experienced in spiritual warfare. Namely, there are many snares of evil, many hidden ambushes and various traps, which the enemy has scattered everywhere. Therefore, as much as possible, it is necessary to take care and strive to live together with men who are familiar with spiritual activities and to talk with them often, so that even those who, due to youth and imperfection of spiritual age, do not have their own light of true knowledge would not fall into the hands of the mental beasts that, hiding in darkness, prey on and corrupt those who walk without the intellectual beacon of God's words.
22. My son, if you wish to acquire and have within yourself your own beacon of intellectual light and spiritual knowledge, so that you may walk without stumbling in the deepest night of this life and that the Lord may direct your steps (Ps 118:133), so that, according to the prophetic word, you may greatly desire the gospel path, that is, so that with the warmest faith you may pass through the most perfect gospel commandments and become a partaker of the Lord's sufferings through desire and prayer, I will show you a wonderful way and a spiritual discovery. It does not require physical effort or feat, but painful mental effort, with the control of the mind, the attention of reason and the cooperation of the fear and love of God. With this discovery you can easily put to flight the hordes of the enemy, like blessed David, who, with faith and hope in God, killed a giant from a foreign tribe and thereby put thousands of enemies to flight with their people.
23. My word is aimed at the three mighty and strong giants, that is, the strangers, on whom all the power of the thought Holofernes rests. If they are overthrown and killed, all the power of the cunning demons will weaken. These alleged strongmen, the three giants of the cunning are: the already mentioned ignorance , the mother of all evils, forgetfulness , its sister, associate and helper, and laziness , which sews a dark garment and covering for the soul from dark wool, and which establishes and strengthens the first two, giving them independence. Laziness makes evil in the negligent soul become rooted and persistent. For from laziness , forgetfulness and ignorance the foundations of all other passions gain strength and are magnified. Helping each other and, unable to survive without each other, they are a strong support for the enemy and the main leaders of the cunning demon. With their help, the army of cunning spirits weaves their snares in the soul and manages to put their plans into action.
24. If you wish to gain victory over the passions and easily put to flight the multitude of strangers of thought, having gathered yourself together in prayer and with the help of God and having descended into the depths of your heart, seek within yourself those three mighty giants of the devil, i.e. forgetfulness , laziness and ignorance , from which, feeding on them, all other passions operate, live and are strengthened in pleasure-loving hearts and untrained souls. With great attention, with the control of the mind and with help from on high, with the instrument of justice, i.e. the remembrance of good (the cause of all good), with enlightened knowledge by which a caring soul drives away the darkness of ignorance from itself, and with lively zeal, which excites the soul and leads it to salvation, you will find these, unknown and unknowable to others, the three most pernicious evil passions. Then, having clothed yourself with these instruments of righteousness, with every prayer and supplication, by the power of the Holy Spirit, you will boldly and courageously overcome the three aforementioned giants of the mind of strangers: with an excellent memory according to God and always thinking about what is true, what is honorable, what is just, what is pure, what is lovely, what is of good report, what is virtuous, what is praiseworthy (Phil 4:8), you will completely banish evil forgetfulness ; with enlightened heavenly knowledge you will destroy the pernicious darkness of ignorance ; and with readiness for every good, with the most lively zeal you will drive out the ungodly laziness , which evil takes root in the soul. You cannot acquire these virtues by your own free will alone, but by the power of God and the cooperation of the Holy Spirit, with great attention and prayer. Having acquired them in this way, you will be able to deliver yourself from the three greatest giants of Satan mentioned. When, by the power of active grace, the threefold covenant of true knowledge, remembrance of the words of God, and good zeal is formed in the soul and diligently preserved, the very trace of forgetfulness , ignorance , and laziness will disappear from the soul . They will turn into nothing, and in the soul grace will finally begin to reign in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power forever and ever. Amen!
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