Preface XX
PREFACE xxi tioned previously, was his rediscovery of the treatise On the Christian Mode of Life, St. Gregory's most profound exposition of the theoretical and practical aspects of the ascetic life. It was included among the Ascetica, the first volume published under the aegis of the Harvard Institute in 1952. The steps leading up to the recognition of that treatise as a work of St. Gregory were disclosed two years later in a book entitled Two Rediscovered Works of Ancient Christian Literature: Gregory of Nyssa and Macarius (Leiden 1954). Fortunately, in writing about the authenticity and influence of the 'new' Gregorian treatise, it was necessary for Jaeger to discuss the other ascetical works of St. Gregory, their approximate dates, and their relation to the newly-discovered work. In his last book, Early
Christianity and Greek Paideia (Cambridge, Mass. 1961), he stressed the contribution of St. Gregory of Nyssa to the development of the Christian heritage.
The translation of all the treatises included in this volume, except On the Soul and the Resurrection, is based on Jaeger's edition of the ascetical works: Gregorii Nysseni Opera Ascetica, published in Leiden by Brill in 1952. Jaeger himself edited On What It Means to Call Oneself a Christian, On Perfection, and On the Christian Mode of Life. On Virginity was edited by John P. Cavarnos who most generously read the present translation36 and offered many suggestions for its improvement, all of which have been incorporated in the final version.
The Life of St. Macrina was edited by the translator. Unfortunately, Miss H. Polack's edition of On the Soul and the Resurrection which is to be published as part of Volume III of Jaeger's edition has not yet appeared, so the present translation of that treatise is based on the edition of J. G. Krabinger
(Leipzig 1837) .
In addition to Mr. John Cavarnos, thanks must be given to the following good friends for their efforts in helping to 36 Since the completion of this translation, Michel Aubineau has published an execellent new edition and French translation of this treatise; cf. Select Bibliography.
xxii
SAINT GREGORY OF NYSSA
bring this volume into being: John Callahan of Georgetown University, Roy J. Deferrari and Bernard M. Peebles of The Catholic University, Father Gerhard Fittkau of the Diocesan
Seminary in Essen-Werden, William Heckscher of Duke University, Mrs. Nina Langobardi, Librarian of the American
Academy in Rome. A research grant from Howard University provided the opportunity to concentrate on the translation which was completed while I was enjoying the hospitality of the American Academy in Rome.
We gratefully acknowledge the permission of the Brill Publishing House in Leiden to base the translation of the first five treatises on the Jaeger edition. The Scriptural passages follow the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine translation.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Texts and Translations:
Sancti Gregorii Nysseni Opera Omnia, Migne, Patrologia Graeca 46 (Paris 1863) based on the Morellus edition of 1638.
Gregorii Nysseni Opera Ascetica, ed. W. Jaeger, J. Cavamos, V. W.
Callahan (Leiden 1952). This is Vol. VIII.1 of Gregorii Nysseni Opera, edited by W. Jaeger.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Vol. 5, ed. P. Schaff and H. Wace (New York 1893). This volume contains On Virginity and On the Soul and the Resurrection translated by W. Moore.
S. Gregorii Episcopi Nysseni De anima et resurrectione, edited with a Latin translation by J. G. Krabinger (Leipzig 1837).
St. Gregory of Nyssa, The Life of St. Macrina, translated by W. K. L.
Clarke (London 1916).
Gregoire de Nysse, Traite de la Virginite, edited with a French translation by Michel Aubineau as No. 119 in Sources Chretiennes
(Paris 1966).
General Works:
Altaner, B. Patrology, trans. by Hilda Graef (New York 1960).
Balthasar, H. von. Presence et Pensee: Essai sur la philosophie religieuse de Gregoire de Nysse (Paris 1942).
Bardenhewer, O. Geschichte der altkirchlichen Literatur, Vol. 3
(Freiburg 1924).
Campbell, J. M. The Greek Fathers (New York 1963).
Campenhausen, H. von. The Fathers of the Greek Church (New York 1959).
Chemiss, H. F. The Platonism of Gregory of Nyssa (Berkeley 1930).
Danielou, J. Platonisme et theologie mystique (Paris 1954).
PREFACE xxiii -----. 'Le mariage de Gregoire de Nysse et la chronologie de sa vie,' Revue des Etudes Augustiniennes 2 (1956) 71-78.
-----. 'La resurrection des corps chez Gregoire de Nysse:
Vigiliae Christianae 7 (1953) 154-170.
-----. 'Apocatastase chez Saint Gregoire de Nysse: Recherches de Science Religieuse 30 (1940) 347-356.
----. From Glory to Glory: Texts from Gregory of Nyssa's Mystical Writings, trans. by H. Musurillo (New York 1961).
-----. Primitive Christian Symbols (London 1964).
Goggin, Sister Thomas Aquinas. The Times of St. Gregory of Nyssa as Reflected in the Letters of the Contra Eunomium (Washington 1947).
Jaeger, W. Two Rediscovered Works of Ancient Christian Literature:
Gregory of Nyssa and Macarius (Leiden 1954).
----. Early Christianity and Greek Paideia (Cambridge, Mass.
1961).
-----,. 'Von Affen und Wahren Christen,' Varia Variorum, Festgabe filr Karl Reinhardt (Munster and Cologne 1952) 161·168.
Repr. in Scripta Minora 2 (Rome 1960) 429·439.
Keenan, Sister Mary Emily. 'De professione Christiana and De perfectione: A Study of the Ascetical Doctrine of Saint Gregory of Nyssa: Dumbarton Oaks Papers 5 (1950) 167-207.
Leys, R. Image de Dieu de S. Gregoire de Nysse (Brussels 1951).
McClear, E. V. 'The Fall of Man and Original Sin in the Theology of Gregory of Nyssa: Theological Studies 9 (1948) 175-212.
Meridier, L. L'Influence de la seconde sophistique sur l'oeuvre de Gregoire de Nysse (Rennes 1906).
Merki, H. 'Op.o[wav;; ()djJ: Von der platonischen Angleichung an Gott zur Gottahnlichkeit bei Gregor von Nyssa (Freiburg 1952).
Rev. by W. Jaeger, Gnomon (1955) 573-581. Repr. in Scripta Minora 2 (Rome 1960) 469-481.
Musurillo, H. 'History and Symbol. A Study of Form in Early Christian Literature: Theological Studies 18 (1957) 357-386.
Newman, John Henry. Historical Sketches 2 (London 1906).
Pellegrino, M. 'II Platonismo di San Gregorio Nisseno ne! Dialogo intorno all anima e alla risurrezione: Rivista de Filosofia Neoscolastica 30 (1938) 437-474.
Quasten, J. Patrology 3: The Golden Age of Greek Patristic Literature (Westminster 1963) 254-296.
Stein, Sister James Aloysius. Encomium of St. Gregory Bishop of Nyssa on his Brother St. Basil (Washington 1928).
Stiglmayer, J. 'Die Schrift des heiligen Gregor von Nyssa uber die Jungfraulichkeit: Zeitschift fur Askese und Mystik 2 (1927) 334359.
Volker, W. Gregor von Nyssa als Mystiker (Wiesbaden 1955).
----,. 'Zur Gotteslehre Gregors von Nyssa,' Vigiliae Christianae 9 (1955) 103-128.
ON VIRGINITY
INTRODUCTION
--~~HIS ENCOMIUM OF VIRGINITY, addressed to the monks living under St. Basil's Rules, is the earliest of the ascetical works of St. Gregory and is referred to by J. Danielou as 'the first in date as in importance.'! St. Gregory's reference to St. Basil as his 'bishop and father' in the introduction indicates that his brother is still alive, and dates the treatise before 371,2 the year in which St. Gregory himself was consecrated bishop. Although St. Basil's name occurs nowhere in the treatise, the portrait of him in the final chapter as a model and guide for the young aspirants to the ascetic life which has just been extolled gives a typically Greek climax to the work, since the person of St. Basil provides the ideal paradigm, 'the goal of the divine life as the fixed stars are for the pilots.'3
The form of the treatise is the protreptic address used by the philosophers to persuade their listeners to a certain course of action. The usual stylistic and rhetorical devices, e.g., contrast, pathos, similes, and metaphors are skilfully employed in it.4
In this eulogy of virginity, there is no need for St. Gregory to be concerned with the specific details of the ascetic life, since these were available to the monks in the Rules of their
I J. Danielou, Platonisme et theologie mystique, 12.
2 W. Jaeger (in his Two Rediscovered Works, p. 24) dates it before 370 or 371. J. Danielou (in his From Glory to Glory, p. 4) suggests that it was written some years later.
3 P. 72.
4 For a discussion of the variety of forms employed by St. Gregory, cf. H. Musurillo, 'History and Symbol. A Study of Form in Early
Christian Literature,' Theological Studies 18 (1957) 357-386. For an analysis of his style, cf. L. Meridier, L'Influence de la seconde sophistique sur l'oeuvre de Gregoire de Nysse (Rennes 1906).
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founder. He is free, therefore, to explore the concept of virginity and to approach his subject philosophically rather than pragmatically. Like a philosopher, he seeks, first of all, to define his subject. Virginity is the central virtue through which man perfects himself and reaches his goal which is participation in the purity and incorruptibility of God. It is the mediating force which brings God down to man and lifts man to God. It corrects the catastrophe of man's fall and restores him to the contemplation of the divine nature. St.
Gregory stresses the unity of the virtues, insisting that virginity is not confined to bodily purity, but is seen in every activity.
He agrees with the Aristotelian idea that virtue lies in the mean and he warns that, although self-discipline is necessary, excess in either direction will deter the soul from achieving its end.
The treatise contains examples of St. Gregory's method of enriching certain well-known Christian concepts by his use of Platonic reminiscences. As illustrations of the self-control to which the monks must aim, St. Gregory chooses two famous passages from Plato, the myth of the charioteer from the Phaedrus and the desirability of the harmonious interworking of the faculties of the soul from the Republic. An analogy is suggested between the passage in Genesis which teaches that man is made in the image of God and the Platonic theory of ideas. And the parable of the lost coin is Platonized, so to speak, when St. Gregory emphasizes the image of the king on the coin which has been lost sight of because it has been covered with filth, and interprets the neighbors in the parable as the faculties of the soul which not only help to recover the coin, but share in the celebration of its return.
When St. Gregory points out that mortal union begets children, whereas those who participate in the spirit beget spiritual children, he fortifies this idea by references to the Bible, but we are reminded also of similar statements in Plato's
Symposium. Within the Christian point of view, there is a
ON VIRGINITY
broad extension of the idea of virginity as the monks are reminded that it is a virtue associated with each of the three
Persons of the Trinity, the angels, distinguished pairs from the Old and New Testaments, e.g., Elias and St. John the Baptist, St. Basil, and the unmarried saints.
ON VIRGINITY
A letter giving the details which constitute an exhortation to a life of virtue. n HE AIM OF THIS DISCOURSE is to create in the reader a desire for a life of virtue. But because of the many distractions associated with what the divine apostle1 calls 'the married life,' the treatise suggests, as a kind of door or entrance into a nobler state, the life of virginity. It is not easy for those involved in every day activities also to devote themselves quietly to the more divine life; nor is it easy for those diverted in every way by the business of life to settle down undistractedly and contentedly to higher pursuits. Since advice, in itself, is rather slow to persuade, and since a person who is urging another on to something beneficial does not easily influence him by a mere word, without first exalting that towards which he is urging his listener, our discourse begins with a eulogy of virginity and ends with advice. Because the excellence of each thing somehow becomes necessarily more obvious through contrast, we have made mention, first, of the vexations of the ordinary life. Next, we have introduced a more or less systematic description of the philosophic life and man's inability to achieve it while he is preoccupied with worldly considerations. Then, with regard to those who have rid themselves of idle bodily desire, we have inquired further what the truly desirable thing is, for the sake of which we receive the faculty (of desire) from the Creator of our nature. Once this was revealed, as far as possible, it seemed logical also to suggest some method of attaining this good.
I Cf. I Cor. 7.25 ff.
ON VIRGINITY
Indeed, true virginity, purified of every stain of sin, has been discovered to be so useful for this purpose, that the entire discourse, even if it seems in part to concern itself with something different, tends to be an encomium of virginity. As for all the particular counsels for such a life, which have been rendered suitable for those who accurately pursue this high excellence, the discourse, avoiding exaggeration, reviews them in outline, and, although it offers advice through more general precepts, it embraces in a certain way the details so that nothing essential is overlooked and excess is avoided. Since it is customary for everyone to participate more eagerly in a pursuit in which he sees someone especially outstanding, we have, of necessity, recalled the glorious unmarried saints; and since descriptions aimed at establishing virtue are not as powerful as the living voice and the actual examples of what is good, we have, perforce, referred at the end of the discourse to our most reverend bishop and father as the only one capable of teaching these things. We did not mention him by name, but the treatise refers to him enigmatically, so that the advice bidding the young to follow in the footsteps of one who has gone before them may not seem incomprehensible to those who have access to the treatise. Asking only who the fitting guide is for such a life, let them select for themselves those who, by the grace of God, point the way to the safeguarding of a life of virtue. For either they will find the one they seek or they will not be ignorant of what kind of person he must be.
The sequence of our thoughts is as follows:
(1) That virginity is beyond praise.
(2) That virginity is the peculiar achievement of the divine and incorporeal nature.
(3) A reminder of the difficulties of marriage and proof that the author of the treatise was not unmarried.
(4) That everything disturbing and bad in life has its beginning in marriage which distracts one from the true life.
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(5) That it is necessary that the soul, freed from passions, be the guide to bodily purity.
(6) That Elias and John were concerned with the rigid disci pline of this life.
(7) That marriage is not to be despised either.
(8) That it is difficult for the soul which is divided to attain its goal.
(9) That habit in every case is difficult to change.
(10) What is truly desirable.
(11) How one can gain an understanding of the really beautiful.
(12) That the one who has purified himself will see the divine beauty in himself; also on the cause of evil.
(13) That release from marriage is the beginning of caring for oneself.
(14) That virginity is stronger than the power of death.
(15) That true virginity is seen in every activity.
(16) That whatever is outside the realm of virtue is equally dangerous.
(17) That the person who lacks even one of the virtues is imperfect with respect to the good.
(18) That it is necessary for every faculty of the soul to aim at virtue.
(19) Mention of Mariam, the sister of Aaron, as the one who inaugurated this achievement.
(20) That it is impossible to serve the bodily pleasure and, at the same time, to reap the enjoyment of God.
(21) That it is necessary for the one who has chosen a rigid discipline to be estranged from every type of bodily pleasure.
(22) That it is not necessary to exercise self-control beyond the proper measure, and that both carnal indulgence and excessive mortification are opposed to the soul's attaining perfection.
(23) That it is necessary for the one who wishes to learn the
ON VIRGINITY
strictness of this life to be taught by one who has achieved it.
(1) That virginity is beyond praise.
The lofty fonn of virginity which is prized by all those who discern the beautiful in purity is present only to those whom the grace of God has kindly assisted in their good inclination. At the same time, it derives befitting praise from the noun with which it is synonymous. The 'incorrupt: usually spoken of by the multitude in connection with virginity, is significant of the purity in it, so that it is possible to recognize the superiority of this esteemed blessing from its equivalent name, for although many things are accomplished in accordance with virtue, this alone is honored by the title 'the incorruptible: And, if it is necessary to speak in praise of this great gift of God, the divine apostle succeeds in praising it in a few words by declaring without rhetorical exaggeration that the person adorned with this grace is 'holy and without blemish.'2 If the achieving of this revered virginity means becoming blameless and holy (but these words are used propl'!rly and primarily in praise of the incorruptible God), what greater praise of virginity is there than its being proved that in some way those who have a share in the pure mysteries of virginity become themselves partakers of the glory of God, who is alone holy and blameless, since they participate in His purity and incorruptibility? In my judgment, persons who compose long and detailed panegyrics and think that thus they add something to the wonder of virginity deceive themselves. They effect the opposite of their intention, for what they exalt grandiloquently they render the object of suspicion with their praise. Whatever has greatness in its nature provides wonder of itself and has no need of verbal support.
Think, for example, of the sky or the sun or any of the other marvels of the universe. It is for things on a lower level that 2 Eph.5.27.
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the word, through its clever praise, adds some fantasy of greatness. As a result, the admiration evoked by encomia is often suspected of being created by man's sophistication. The only sufficient praise of virtue is to make it clear that it is beyond praise and that purity in life is more wonderful than the spoken word. The person who, because of love of esteem, composes an encomium seems to think that a drop of his own sweat is going to make a contribution to a fathomless sea. For if he believes that the human word can exalt such a grace, either he is mistaken about his own ability or he does not understand what he is praising.
(2) That virginity is the peculiar achievement of the divine and incorporeal nature.
We need a good deal of intelligence to recognize the superiority of this grace which is perceived in connection with the incorruptible Father. Indeed, it is a paradox to find virginity in a Father who has a Son whom He has begotten without passion, and virginity is comprehended together with the only-begotten God who is the giver of incorruptibility, since it shone forth with the purity and absence of passion in His begetting. And again, the Son, conceived through virginity, is an equal paradox. In the same way, one perceives it in the natural and incorruptible purity of the Holy Spirit.
For when you speak of the pure and incorruptible, you are using another name for virginity. Since, by reason of its lack of passion it exists with the whole of other-worldly nature and associates with the superior powers, it neither separates itself from things divine nor does it attach itself to their opposites. For whatever inclines towards virtue by nature and by choice is rendered quite beautiful by the purity of the incorruptible, and whatever rejects virtue for its opposite is referred to as such because of its lack of purity. What power of words can equal such a grace? Or how can one fail to be afraid, lest in his eagerness to praise he besmirch it and decrease the glory of its dignity for his listeners?
ON VIRGINITY
It is right, therefore, to forego encomiastic discourse, since it is impossible for the word to rise to the superiority of the subject. However, it is possible always to keep this divine grace in mind and to have this good on our lips. Virginity is exceptional and peculiar to the incorporeal nature, and, through the kindness of God, it has been granted to those whose life has been allotted through flesh and blood, in order that it may set human nature upright once more after it has been cast down by its passionate disposition, and guide it, as if by the hand, to a contemplation of the things on high.
It is for this reason, I think, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the source of incorruptibility, did not come into the world through marriage. He wanted to demonstrate through the manner of his becoming man this great mystery, that purity alone is sufficient for receiving the presence and entrance of God, a purity that cannot be otherwise achieved fully, unless one alienates himself entirely from the passions of the flesh.
For what happened corporeally in the case of the immaculate Mary, when the fullness of the divinity shone forth in Christ through her virginity, takes place also in every soul spiritually giving birth to Christ, although the Lord no longer effects a bodily presence. For, Scripture says: 'We no longer know
Christ according to the flesh,'a but, as the Gospel says somewhere, He dwells with us spiritually and the Father along with Him.4
Therefore, since the power of virginity is such that it resides in heaven with the Father of spiritual beings, and takes part in the chorus of the supramundane powers, and attains to human salvation, and since, by itself, it brings God down to a sharing in human life and lifts man up to a desire of heavenly things, becoming a kind of binding force in man's affinity to God, and since it brings into harmony by mediation things so opposed to each other by nature, what power of words could be found to equal the grandeur of this marvel?
3 Cf. 2 Cor. 5.16.
4 Cf. John 14.23.
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However, since it may appear altogether strange that we be silent and insensible in this matter, and one of two things may happen, namely, we may seem not to have recognized the beauty of virginity, or we might be considered to have shown ourselves unresponsive and unmoved by the perception of its beauty, we are disposed to say a few words because of the necessity of establishing in all men a belief in the power of the One who enjoins virginity upon us. However, let no one expect pompous words from me. Perhaps such a thing would be impossible for us, even if we should wish it, since we are unpracticed in such a manner of speech. But even if we possessed this ability, we would prefer what would be to the common advantage rather than what would be esteemed among the few. For I think that every intelligent person must seek, not what will make him more esteemed than others, but those things by which he can benefit himself and others.
(3) A reminder of the difficulties of marriage and proof that the author was not unmarried.
If only it were possible for me, too, as I zealously begin my work on this subject, to hand on the treatise with the hope of sharing in the harvest of the ploughing and the threshing. But, as it is now, for me the knowledge of the beauty of virginity is vain and as useless as the grain is to the 'muzzled OX'5 who goes around the threshing floor, or as the flowing stream is to a thirsty person when the water is out of reach. Blessed are they who have the power to choose the better things and those who ~re not cut off from them by having chosen the common life previously, so that we are kept as if by an abyss from the boast of virginity to which one cannot return once he has set his foot upon the path of the worldly life. On account of this, we are only spectators of the beauty belonging to others and witnesses of the blessedness of others. And even if we gain some special knowledge of virginity, we have the same experience as cooks and servants who season the delicacies of 5 Cf. 1 Cor. 9.9,10.
ON VIRGINITY
the rich, but do not themselves partake of what is prepared.
How blessed it would be if it were not SO, and if we had not come to recognize the beauty in deliberation post factum. At any rate, truly enviable are those beyond all prayer and desire who are not barred from the enjoyment of these goods.
We are like those who compare their own poverty with the wealth of the rich and are, as a result, the more troubled and annoyed by what they have. In the same way, the more we come to know the wealth of virginity the more we have disdain for the other life, having learned from the comparison how many precious things it lacks. I do not speak only of what is laid up in store for those who have lived virtuously, but also of what they have in the present life. For if someone wishes to examine carefully the difference between this life and the life of virginity, he will find as much difference as there is between the things of heaven and earth. We can learn the truth of this by examining the facts themselves.
But where can one begin in decking out in tragic phrase this burdensome way of life? Or how can anyone bring into view the ordinary evils of the life which all men know from experience? Since men are willingly ignorant of the circumstances in which they exist, nature manages to have these things escape our notice. Do you want us to begin with the most delightful features of married life? Truly, what is chiefly sought after in marriage is the joy of living with someone.
Grant that this is so, and let the marriage be described as blessed in every respect: good family, sufficient wealth, harmony in age, the very flower of youth, much affection, and, what is divined in each by the other, that sweet rivalry in subduing one's own will in love. Let there be added to these glory, power, renown, and whatever else you wish, but see the smoldering grief necessarily attendant upon the advantages enumerated. I do not mean the envy which is directed against the prosperous, and the treachery which apparent happiness arouses in men, and the fact that everyone who does not
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himself have an equal share in the better lot has a natural hatred against the more fortunate. For this reason, the life of those who are seemingly happy is an object of suspicion and brings more grief than pleasure. I pass over these things on the grounds that envy is slothful, and yet it is not easy to find anyone for whom these two circumstances exist being happier than others and escaping envy. But let us assume a life free from all such things, if you like, and let us see if it is possible for men living in such a state of well-being to be happy.
But, you will say then, what grief will there be if not even envy touches them in their happiness? I say that the very sweetness of their life is the fomenting of their grief. For as long as men, these mortal and perishable creatures, exist and look upon the tombs of those from whom they came into being, they have grief inseparably joined to their lives even if they take little notice of it. For the continuous expectation of death is not known through spoken symbols, but because of the uncertainty of the future, inherently frightening, it dissipates our present joy and disturbs our well-being with the fear of what is to come. 1£ only it were possible to know the things of experience before we experience them! 1£ only it were possible to examine things ahead of time, how frequent would be the race of deserters from marriage to virginityl What care and forethought there would be never to be in the power of inescapable snares, the discomfort of which one cannot know accurately if he has never been caught in the net. For you would see, if one could see without taking a risk, a constant mingling of opposites: laughter moistened by tears, grief mingled with joy, death, everywhere present, fastening itself upon each of our pleasures. When the bridegroom looks upon the face of his beloved, the fear of separation immediately comes over him; while he listens to her sweet voice, he is aware that sometime he will not hear it; when he is delighted by the sight of her beauty, then, especially, does he shudder at the expectation of misfortune. When
ON VIRGINITY
he perceives the qualities in youth sought after by the unthinking, e.g., the shining eye, the lovely eyebrows, the cheeks with their sweet smile, lips blooming with their natural redness, hair golden and heavy, shining about the head with its intricate braid, and all that ephemeral splendor, then, most of all, even if he is not given to brooding, it dawns upon his soul that this beauty will not go on forever, that it will come to nothing, that in place of what he now beholds there will be bones, disgusting and ugly, with no trace, no reminder, no remains of this present blossoming.
Can anyone live happily when such thoughts are in his mind? Will he believe that his present joys will continue forever, or is it not clear from this that he will be at a loss like one in the fantasy of dreams? Will he not be distrustful of his life, as if in attendance upon the goods of others, entirely aware (if he reflects upon reality) that none of the goods of life are what they appear to be, but that life holds out something different to us and deceitfully mocks at those stretching out towards it? Because of the instability of goods, man ignores the facts until all at once, at the moment of reversal, fortune proves to be something quite different from the human expectations of foolish people who have deluded themselves. After thinking about these things, what kind of pleasure can the sweetness of life provide? Will the person aware of them ever be truly pleased and able to enjoy the advantages that seem to be present to him? If he is always disturbed by a fear of the reversal of fortune, will not the enjoyment of what is present go by unperceived?
I omit signs, dreams, omens, and such nonsense which are the product of foolish custom and the cause for suspecting misfortune. Assume that the moment of childbirth is at hand; it is not the birth of the child, but the presence of death that is thought of, and the death of the mother anticipated. Often, the sad prophecy is fulfilled and before the birth is celebrated, befor(:! any of the anticipated goods are tasted, joy is exchanged
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for lamentation. Still burning with affection, still at the peak of desire, without having experienced the sweetest things of life, one is all at once bereft of everything as if in a nightmare. And after this? The house is invaded by relatives as if by the enemy. Instead of a bridal chamber, death provides a tomb. There are senseless invocations and the wringing of hands, recollections of one's former life, curses against those who advised the marriage, complaints against friends who did not prevent it. Parents are severely blamed whether they happen to be present or not. There is vexation with human life, accusations against all of nature, indictments and charges against the divine economy itself, a battle against oneself, a fierce reaction against those offering advice. There is no hesitation about the most unseemly conduct in word and deed. Many times, the end is more bitter tragedy for those overtaken by this sorrow and excessively cast down by grief, and the one left behind is not able to live with his misfortune.
But perhaps this is not the case. Let us assume that conditions are more favorable, that the mother survives the pains of childbirth and a child is born, the very image of the springtime of his parents; what then? Is the supposition of grief lessened because of this, or is it not rather increased? In addition to their earlier fears, they have added those in behalf of the child lest he encounter something unpleasant, lest some disagreeable chance befall him with regard to his upbringing, some unwished-for casualty or suffering or mutilation or danger. These are shared by both parents. But who could enumerate the special worries of the wife? I pass over the ordinary factors known to all, the discomfort of pregnancy, the risk of childbirth, the toil of educating the child, and the special heartbreak caused by a child. And if she becomes the mother of more than one, her soul is divided into as many parts as the number of her children, since she experiences in her own being whatever happens to them. What can we say to all these things we all know so well?
ON VIRGINITY
And since, according to the divine plan, the wife does not govern herself, but has her place of refuge in the one who has power over her through marriage, if she is separated from him for even a short time, it is as if she has been deprived of her head. She cannot endure the separation and has a premonition of the life of widowhood and of her husband's departure from the world in a little while. Suddenly, fear makes her despair of her dearest hopes. For this reason, she keeps her eyes glued on the door, full of worry and fright. She pays too much attention to gossip. Her heart, scourged by fear, tortures itself even before any news is brought back. At the door there is only knocking, real or imagined, as if some messenger of evil had suddenly and violently shaken her soul.
There are the usual reports, not worth worrying about, but she faints before she receives the message. She keeps her mind away from pleasant matters and dwells upon the opposite.
Such is the life of the happy pair! Truly a fine one! Certainly, it cannot be measured against the freedom of virginity.
And yet our brief discourse has not touched upon many of the sadder things. For often, the bride herself, stilI young in body, still glowing in her bridal splendor, perchance stiIl blushing at the approach of the bridegroom and casting her eyes down with modesty when she encounters desires too ardent to be displayed because of shame, is suddenly bereft of her husband, and, wretched and deserted, she receives in exchange all sorts of appellations that are to be avoided. The misfortune that has fallen upon her subdues, all at once, the girl who was up to this time radiant and bright and enviable, and, despoiling her of her bridal adornment, it envelops her in sadness. In the bridal chamber, there is gloom instead of splendor and dirge singers prolong the wailings, and there is hatred towards those who try to soothe the emotions, scorn of food, wasting away, dejection of spirit, a longing for death, which often increases to the point of death itself. But even if this affliction is somehow taken care of by
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time, there is another. Either there are children or there are not. If there are orphans, they are piteous because of this and accentuate the grief by their existence; if there are no children, the memory of what has passed disappears completely and the woe is beyond consolation.
I omit the other features of widowhood. For who could enumerate them accurately? The enemies, the relatives, those who become involved in the misfortune, those who are gladdened by the widow's desolation, those who look with pleasure and a bitter eye upon the stricken house, the disdainful servants, and all the other circumstances abundantly attendant upon such misfortunes. Because of these conditions, many women of necessity venture a second time upon the experience of such evils. They cannot endure the bitterness of being laughed at and they marry again as if they were avenging themselves on those grieving for their particular misfortunes. However, many others, because of the memory of what has occurred, withdraw completely rather than fall a second time into a similar misfortune. If you want to learn the disadvantages of the common life, listen to what those say who know this life through experience, how they bless the life of those who chose virginity from the beginning and did not learn afterwards from misfortune which was better, i.e., that virginity is immune to all such troubles. It does not bewail orphanhood, nor does it lament widowhood; it is always accompanied by an incorruptible Bridegroom; it always takes pride in the begetting of reverence; it continuously sees the house truly its own, abounding in the fairest things, because the Master of the house is always present and at home, so that death effects, not a separation, but a union with what is longed for. For, as the apostle says,6 when one 'dies,' then he is with Christ.
Having examined in detail the circumstances of those who are fortunate, now would be the opportune moment to take
6 Cf. Phil. 1.23.
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a look at the other states of life, in which poverty and troubles and the remaining misfortunes of men are fixed, e.g., mutilations, and diseases, and other such human allotments. In the case of all of these, the person living by himself either avoids the experience of them, or he bears the misfortune more easily, because he can concentrate on himself and not be distracted by cares for anything else. Whereas the man whose attention is directed towards wife and children often does not have the leisure to bemoan his own misfortunes, since in his heart resounds the concern for his beloved ones. But perhaps this goes beyond the limits of what we agreed to discuss in this treatise. For if such toil and wretchedness are attached to those who seem to be blessed, what could anyone conjecture about the opposite? Every treatise falls short of the truth if it tries to show us the life of the wretched. However, perhaps it is possible to indicate briefly the sum of unpleasantness in life. Those whose lot is contrary to the ones who seem to be happy have contrary griefs. The life of the prosperous is disturbed by death, present or anticipated; for the wretched, the delay of death is a misfortune. Life divides the two groups diametrically, but despondency with respect to the same end, namely death, afflicts them both.
Thus manifold and varied is the supply of evils that come from marriage. Children born and not born, living and dying, are alike the source of pain. The person who has many children does not have enough to feed them, whereas the one to whom this succession of trouble has not come places the other's misfortune in the category of goods. Each wishes he were the other in respect to the very matter in which he sees the other having difficulty, the one whose beloved child is dead and the one whose uncared-for child still lives. And both are to be pitied, the one lamenting the death of his child and the other the life of his.
I pass over the jealousies and battles arising from real or jmaginary causes and the emotions and disasters in which they
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end. For who could accurately list them all? But you, if you want to learn how human life is filled with such evils, do not go to the old stories which the poets use for the plots of their dramas, for they are considered good mythological material because of their exaggerated unnaturalness: children slain, offspring eaten, husbands murdered, mothers killed, brothers butchered, lawless unions, every kind of confusion of nature, which the story-tellers of old recounted, commencing their story with a marriage and ending it with such misfortunes. Leave all these aside and contemplate the tragedies on the contemporary stage of life whose sponsor is marriage.
Come to the law courts, read the marriage laws. See there the abominations of marriage. For just as when you hear doctors describing various diseases, you recognize the wretchedness of the human body, since you learn what evils it can be afflicted with, so when you read the marriage laws and discover the many illegalities of marriage for which fines are inflicted, you perceive dearly the circumstances of marriage. For neither does the doctor cure diseases that do not exist, nor the law punish evil deeds that are not committed.
(4) That everything wrong in life has its beginning in marriage which distracts one from the true life.
But why should we treat with contempt the incongruity of such a life by limiting our account of the misfortunes attached to it to adultery, separations, and treachery? For it seems to me that, in the light of higher and truer reason, every evil of life in all matters and pursuits has no power over man's life, unless a person brings it on himself. Thus the truth of our discourse will come to light. The one who perceives the de. ceitfulness of this life with the pure eye of his soul and rises above the earthly pursuits, and, as the apostle says,7 sees it all as 'dung' and refrains from marriage during his whole life has no share in human evils, I mean in greed, envy, anger, hatred,
7 Cf. Phil. 3.8.
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the desire for empty fame, and all such things. Being exempt from these and completely free and at peace in his life, it is not possible for him to be involved in rivalry out of greed or any envious disagreement with his neighbors, since none of these things in which envy thrives is of concern to him.
For having elevated his soul above the whole world, and considering his only precious possession to be virtue, he will lead a life that is untroubled and peaceful and without dissension. For the possession of virtue, even if all men share in it, each according to his own ability, is always sufficient for those who desire it. It is different from earthly possessions where those dividing something into pieces, in proportion as they give a part to one, take it from another, and where an abundance for one means a lesser amount for him who shares the whole with him. Whence, also, the contentions for the larger share result for men because of the strong dislike for diminution. But the person who possesses an abundance of virtue will not envy another's greed for property nor, for that reason, incur a penalty from another who thinks himself worthy of an equal amount, for in proportion to the extent of one's withdrawal from the world, his good desires will be fulfilled and the wealth of the virtues is not used up by those who have shared in it previously.
Would the person who looks towards this life and the treasury of virtue which has no human limit set upon it be impelled to incline his soul to anything involving wretchedness and deceit? Will he be overwhelmed by earthly riches or human power, or any of the other things sought after by . the foolish? If anyone still disparages this point of view, he is not part of the group we have just mentioned and our discourse is not for him. But if he has his thoughts on high and is making his way up to God, being superior to such people, he will have no common starting point for a discussion about the common cause of error regarding such matters, namely, marriage. For the desire to excel other people, this
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difficult disease of pride, which someone has reasonably called the seed and root of every thorn connected with sin, has marriage as its original cause.
Indeed, it is not possible for the ambitious man not to blame his children for his misery, or for the man with a mad desire for fame, or a lover of honor, not to refer to his family as the cause of his difficulty, in order not to seem inferior to his ancestors and in order to be considered important in the future, leaving behind accounts of his career for his descendants. And, likewise, the other weaknesses of the soul, envy and malice and hatred and any other such thing, are all derived from this same cause, for all of these go along with the distraught aspects of married life. The person removed from these, looking down from afar from some high vantage point upon such human ills, pities the blindness of those enslaved by such vanity and those who consider the well-being of the flesh important. For when he sees a certain man admired for some feature of his life pluming himself on his honors or wealth or power,. he laughs at the foolishness of those puffed up because of these things, since he measures the longest time of human life by the limited period referred to by the psalmistS (i.e., seventy or eighty years). Then, comparing this brief interval of time with the boundless ages, he pities the emptiness of the person whose soul is elated by what is so petty and wretched and ephemeral. For why should one be congratulated for earthly honor, a thing which is eagerly sought by many? What does it add to those who have it?
Mortal man remains mortal whether he is honored or not. Or for possessing many acres of land? What useful purpose does this serve aside from the foolish man's thinking that that is his own which does not belong to him? For because of his greediness, he does not know, as it seems, that: 'The Lord's are the earth and its fulness.'9 For: 'King of all the earth is God,'10
8 Cf. Ps. 89.10.
9 Ps.23.l.
10 Ps.46.8.
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and the passion of greed gives man the false name of lordship over what does not belong to him at all. As the wise Ecclesiastes says:ll 'The earth standeth forever,' serving all generations, begetting them one after the other. Men, not being lords of themselves, but coming into existence they know not when, according to the will of the Maker, and being separated from it when they do not wish to be, think, because of their excessive vanity, that they are lords of it, although they live for a season and are dead for all time, and it remains forever.
Therefore, if one examines these matters and because of this despises whatever is held in honor among men, and longs only for the divine life, knowing that 'all flesh is grass and all the glory of man as the flower of grass,'12 is he likely to think of grass which exists today and is gone tomorrow as something worth striving for? The one who has examined well the things divine knows that not only human affairs have no stability, but also that the whole world itself has not remained forever unchanged. Therefore, he despises this life as alien and impermanent, since 'heaven and earth will pass away,'13 according to the word of the Savior, and all things of necessity undergo a transformation. Therefore, as long as he is 'in the tent, burdened'14 by the present life, as the apostle says to illustrate its impermanence, he laments the lengthening of his stay as the psalmist says in his divine songs.15 For they truly live in darkness who spend their life in these quarters. Because of this, the prophet groans over the extension of his sojourn here and says: 'Alas, my stay is lengthened.'16 But he attributes the cause of his dejection to darkness, for in Hebrew darkness is equivalent to K"lMp, as we learn from the scholars. Is it not true that men overcome by some night-blindness are thus dim-sighted in recognizing de11 Cf. Eccles. 1.4.
12 Cf. 1 Pet. 1.24.
13 Matt. 24.35.
14 Cf.2 Cor. 5.4.
15 Cf. Ps. 118.4.
16 Cf. Ps. 118.5.
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lusion, not knowing that whatever is considered honorable in this life, or even whatever is assumed to be the opposite, is understood thus only on the assumption of the foolish? Of themselves, they are never anything at all. There is no dishonorable lineage or distinction of birth, no glory or renown, no old legends, no vanity dependent on circumstances, no power over others or subjection to others. Wealth, luxury, poverty, want, all the anomalies of life seem something altogether different to the untaught, since they make pleasure the criterion of such things. But to one who is elevated in thought, all things appear to be of equal honor, and none is preferred to another, because the course of life is run equally by opposites, and there is present in the destiny of each person the power to live well or badly, 'with the armor on the right hand and on the left,' as the apostle says,17 'in honor and dishonor.' Accordingly, the one who has pl,lrified his mind and rightly examined the truth of reality will go on his way in the time assigned to him from birth to death, not spoiled by pleasures or cast down by austerity, but, in accordance with the custom of travelers, he will be little affected by what he encounters. For it is customary for travelers to hasten on to the end of their journey whether they go through meadows and fertile fields or through deserts and rough terrain; pleasure does not delay them, nor does the unpleasant impede them. So he himself will also hurry on without distraction to the goal before him, turning off into none of the byways, and he will pass through life looking only to heaven, just like some good captain who guides his ship to its lofty destination.
However, the one who is stupid looks downwards and hands his soul over to pleasures of the body, as cattle to pasture, living only for the stomach and the organs nearby, being alienated from the life of God and a stranger to the promise of the covenants, considering nothing else to be good than pleasing the body. This one, and everyone like him, is the 17 2 Cor. 6.7.8.
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one making his way 'in darkness,' as the Scripture says,18 which is the inventor of evils in this life. Among these evils are greed and unbridled passions and lack of moderation in pleasure and love of power and desire for empty glory and the rest of the band of afflictions that accompany mankind. Somehow, one or the other of these exists and, if one of them is present, the rest always come as if dragged along on a chain by some natural necessity. If the beginning of a chain is drawn tight, the rest of the links cannot remain unmoved.
Each link is always moved along with the part ahead of it and the movement continues throughout. It is thus that human weaknesses are linked together and related to each other, and if one of them gains control, the whole train of passions enters the soul. If we must describe this wretched chain, let us imagine someone weakened by any of the pleasures connected with vanity. The desire for more accompanies vanity, since it is not possible for anyone to become greedy unless vanity has led him to that condition. Next, the desire for more than one's share and to be first excites him to anger against anyone who has as much as he, or to arrogance towards anyone below him, or envy towards anyone excelling him. Envy leads to hypocrisy, hypocrisy to bitterness, bitterness to misanthropy, and the final result of all of these is a condemnation which ends up in hell and darkness and fire. Do you see the succession of evils; how one passion follows upon the heels of another?
We see from the counsel of the divinely inspired scriptures one way out once the sequence of passion has come into life, that is, a withdrawal from the life which has this distressing sequence inherent in it. For it is not possible for anyone who is fond of the life in Sodom to escape the rain of fire, or for the one who has left Sodom, but turns back to the devastation of the city, not to be turned into a pillar of salt. Nor will the one who has not left Egypt be delivered from the slavery of 18 Cf. John 12.35.
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the Egyptians. I refer not to a crossing of the Red Sea, but to his crossing of the black and gloomy sea of life. But if the truth does not make us free, as the Lord tells us it does,19 and we remain in the evil condition of slavery, how is it possible for us to exist in truth while we are seeking what is· false and being tossed about in our wandering? How will anyone escape from slavery who subjects his life to the necessities of nature? Perhaps the argument about these matters could be made more intelligible to us by an example. Just as a river, made turbulent by winter floods, carrying along with it wood and stones and whatever happens to be near, is dangerous and hazardous and flows heedlessly beyond its boundaries, so also the person who is himself leading a turbulent life and who has become involved in passions in keeping with his own nature and is overflowing with the evils of his own life necessarily seduces those who come into his environment.
But if a person should leave this torrent behind him, 'the insupportable water,'20 as Scripture calls it, he will, according to the rest of the Psalm, escape the 'teeth' of the enemy and avoid the snare like the sparrow flying on wings of virtue.
Since, in keeping with the example of the winter torrent suggested by us, human life is overflowing with disturbances and anomalies and is always pouring forth from the precipitousness of its nature and never restrains itself and is never sated, but contaminates everything it happens upon and runs over everything it touches, never by-passing anything, because it is concentrating on the downward flow, it would, for this reason, be advantageous to keep oneself away from such a stream in order not to slight what is established forever because of our being involved with what has no substance. For how is it possible for anyone passionately in love with anything in this life finally to achieve what he longs for? Which of the special objects of our interests remain what they are?
What is the acme of youth? What is the good fortune of power 19 Cf. John 8.32.
20 Cf. Ps. 123.4.
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or beauty? What is wealth? What is glory? Power? Do not all such things blossom for a short time and then fade away and turn into their opposites? Who has lived an entire life of youthfulness? For whom did power persist until the end?
What flower of beauty has nature not made more short-lived than those which come forth in the spring? For the things of the passing season appear, and, flowering for a short time, depart again, and the beauty of the present fades away and rises up again and points to the morrow; but the human flower, once its nature has brought its youth to light in the spring, declines in winter and begets old age. Thus, also, all other things in season, deceiving the perception of the flesh, run past and are covered by forgetfulness.
Since, then, such changes, occurring according to the necessity of nature, distress the human being with this obsession, there is only one escape from this evil, that is not to attach oneself to anything changeable. Since it is possible to be separated from any association with the life of passion and the flesh, most assuredly it is also possible to be beyond any sympathy with one's own body, in order not to be subject to the evils of the flesh. But this means living for the soul alone and imitating, as far as possible, the regimen of the incorporeal powers, among whom there is neither marriage nor giving in marriage. Their work and zeal and success consist in the contemplation of the Father of incorruptibility and in beautifying their own form through imitation of the archetypal beauty.
We say that virginity is given to man as an ally and an aid in this thought and lofty desire, as Scripture suggests. And just as in other pursuits certain skills are devised for the perfection of each of the things sought after, it seems to me that the pursuit of virginity is a certain art and faculty of the more divine life, teaching those living in the flesh how to be like the incorporeal nature.
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(5) That it is necessary that the soul, freed from passions, be the guide to bodily purity.
In such a life, every effort is made to insure that the loftiness of the soul is not brought low by the insurrection of pleasures, for then the soul turns down towards the passions of flesh and blood instead of occupying itself with lofty things and looking upwards. For how is it possible for the soul, nailed down by the pleasure of the flesh and indulging in a desire for human passions, to look up with a free eye to the natural and intelligible light, when it is inclined toward the material through some sorry and coarse misconception? For just as the eyes of pigs are by nature trained on the ground and have no experience of the wonders of the sky, so the soul pulled down by the body can no longer look towards heaven and the beauties on high, being bent towards what is low and brutish in nature. Whereas if the soul, quite free and relaxed, looks up to the divine and blessed pleasures, it will never turn itself back to any of the earthly things, nor will it exchange them for what are commonly considered pleasures, but it will transfer its power to love from the body to the intelligible and immaterial contemplation of the beautiful. It was for such a disposition of the soul that the virginity of the body was intended, to make the soul forget and become unmindful of the passionate movements of its nature, affording it no necessity to descend to the lowly guilt of the flesh. For once freed from such needs, it no longer runs the risk of turning away from and ignoring the divine and unmixed pleasure which only purity of heart naturally seeks after. This occurs when the soul gradually accustoms itself to what seems to yield to some law of nature.
(6) That Elias and John were concerned with the rigid discipline of this life.
Consequently, of special importance for us are Elias, great among the prophets, and one who lived later in the spirit
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and power of Elias, greater than whom there is no one among those born of woman. If the history of these two hints at anything in a riddle, it is this, that through their own lives they recommended separating one's self from the normal sequence of events in human life and having leisure for the contemplation of the invisible, in order not to fall into confusion and error in judging the truly good, as a result of being accustomed to the deceptions which come to us through the senses. Both of them, right from their youth, alienated themselves from human life and placed themselves beyond human nature by their disdain of the usual food and drink and by living in the desert to make sure that their hearing would not be encompassed by sound, that their sight would be safeguarded against wandering, that their taste would remain plain and simple, their needs being fulfilled by whatever they happened upon. Thus, free from external disturbances, they achieved a condition of deep tranquillity and calmness from external disturbances, and, for this reason, they were lifted up to the height of divine grace that the history of each of them reveals. Elias, as a kind of steward of God's gifts, having his needs. supplied from heaven according to his office, was a master in shutting himself off from sinners and in approaching those who were repentant. John, the divine history tells us, performed no such miracles, but the grace in him surpassing every prophet was testified to by the One who sees what is hidden. They quickly dedicated their own desire to the Lord from the beginning to the end, pure and unmixed with any material obsession, devoting no time to the love of children or to the thought of women or to any other human attachment. They did not think it fitting to be concerned with the day's food supply or with proving that they were superior by the adornment of clothes. They dispensed with the need of them by wearing whatever was at hand, the one goatskin, the other camel's hair, and I do not think they would have reached that height if they had grown soft because
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of the pleasures of the body in marriage. These facts are recorded for us, not for their own sake, but, as the apostle says,
'for our correction,'21 in order that we may direct our lives in accordance with theirs. What, then, do we learn from this? That, in the light of the examples of the saints, the person desiring to fix his thought upon God indulges in none of the practical things of life. For it is not possible for anyone whose mind is diffused in many things to proceed directly to a knowledge of God and a desire for Him.
I think that this can be made clearer by an example. Let us assume that water pouring from the source is divided by chance into diverse streams. As long as it flows along in this way, it will be of no use for farming, because the division makes each stream small and weak and sluggish. However, if anyone could bring all the disorderly streams together and collect what was previously scattered, he could use the collected water and control it for many practical and helpful purposes. It seems to me that this is also true with the human mind; if it flows in all directions, it scatters itself by running towards what is pleasing to the senses, and has no worthwhile force for its journey to the really good. But if it were called in from all sides, collected unto itself, brought together, it would move with its own natural energy and nothing would prevent it from being borne upwards and fastening itself upon the truth of reality. Just as water in a pipe, when constrained by force, often goes straight up, unable to flow elsewhere, even though its natural movement is downwards; so, also, the human mind being constrained from all directions by self-control, as by a kind of pipe, will somehow be taken up by the nature of the movement to a desire for what is above, there not being any place for it to run to. It is never possible for what has been put into eternal motion by its Creator to stop and to use its motion for useless purposes once it has been controlled and made incapable of not going directly to 21 1 Cor. 10.11.
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the truth, being kept on all sides from what is not suitable for it. We see travelers on long journeys not missing their way because they have learned from experience to avoid the byways.
Just as an experienced vagabond returning to the right road will be careful, so, also, will our mind concentrate on the real truth once it has been diverted from vanities. It seems, therefore, that the memory of these great prophets teaches us not to become entangled with what is longed for in the world, and one of these is marriage, the beginning and root of the desire for vain things.
(7) That marriage is not to be despised either.
Let no one think that, for these reasons, we are disregarding the institution of marriage. We are not ignorant of the fact that this also is not deprived of God's blessing. But since there is sufficient support for it and since the common nature of man, bestowed upon all who come to birth through marriage, automatically inclines in this direction, whereas virginity somehow goes against nature, it would be superfluous to go to the trouble of writing a plea for marriage and a eulogy of it emphasizing its indisputable inducement, I mean pleasure, unless there should be need of such words because of some people who tamper with the teachings of the Church on marriage, whom the apostle calls 'those having their conscience branded.'22 These, forsaking the guidance of the Holy Spirit because of the teaching of demons, engrave scars and brands upon their hearts, detesting God's creatures as abominations, addressing them as evil-bringers, causes of evil, and the like. But He speaks saying: 'What have I to do with judging those outside?'23 For they are truly outside of the court of the mysteries of the word, being lodged, not in the shelter of God, but in the stable of the wicked one, being captives of his will, according to the voice of the apostle.24
22 1 Tim. 4.2.
23 1 Cor. 5.12.
24 Cf. 2 Tim. 2.26.
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And this is because they do not understand that evil is the turning to extremes, all virtue being looked upon as lying in the mean, since one everywhere distinguishes virtue from evil by taking the mean between the slack and the taut.
But the argument could be made clearer by us through practical examples. Cowardice and rashness are two opposites recognized as evils, the one because of a deficiency, the other because of an excess, and fortitude is the mean between them.
Again, the pious man is neither atheistic nor superstitious, for there is the same irreverence in believing in no God and in believing in many. Do you want further clarification? The person who avoids miserliness and profligacy in his withdrawal from opposite passions achieves freedom in his character. For freedom consists of this sort of thing, namely, in not being disposed either to immoderate and useless expense or to stinginess with regard to necessary expenditures. Thus it is in all other matters, but we need not enumerate them. Reason recognizes virtue as the mid-point between opposites. Therefore, temperance, too, is a mean and has clear deviations towards evil in each of the two directions. The person who is deficient in the strength of his soul is an easy prey to the passion of pleasure, and, because of this, he does not go near the path of the pure and moderate life, being sunk down in the passions of dishonor. On the other hand, the person who disregards the accessibility of moderation and goes beyond the mean of this virtue is thrown down by the treachery of the demons as if from a cliff, 'branding their own consciences,' as the apostle says. While he defines marriage as disgusting, he pricks himself with the reproaches of marriage. For, as the Gospel says somewhere: 'If the tree is evil, the fruit of the tree is also evil.'25 But if man is the offspring and the fruit of the plant in marriage, the disgrace of marriage also belongs to the one who is casting it in our teeth.
However, those culprits, branded in their conscience and 25 Cf. Matt. 7.18.
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covered with stripes for the strangeness of their belief, are refuted by such arguments. And we, on our part, know this about marriage, that the zeal and the desire for divine things come first, but that one should not scorn the moderate and measured use of the duty of marriage. There was the example of the patriarch, Isaac, who did not marry at the peak of his youth, in order that marriage should not be a deed of passion; but when his youth was already spent, he married Rebecca because of the blessing of God upon his seed.26 He continued in the marriage until the birth of his twin sons, and later, closing his eyes, he entered again fully the realm of the unseen. This is what the story of the patriarch seems to mean, in my opinion, when it refers to the failing of his sight.27
(8) That it is difficult for the soul which is divided in a multiplicity of things to attain its goal.
But let these matters be the concern of the experts and let us continue our treatise. What were we saying? That if it is possible, one should neither remain aloof from the more divine desires, nor should one reject the idea of marriage. It is not reasonable to disregard the economy of nature or to slander what is honorable as disgusting. For just as we said before in the illustration of the water and the source, when the farmer directs the water to a certain place and draws it off, there is a need for a small central stream to facilitate the flow in proportion to the amount required for it to be mingled again easily with the main stream. But, if someone imprudently and unskillfully opens up a channel for the water, there is the risk that the whole stream will abandon its straight course and be broken up into gullies. In the same way, since there is need in life also for the succession of one thing from another, if someone uses reproduction similarly, while spiritual considerations hold priority, exercising his desire for such things sparingly and fearfully in accordance with the 26 Cf. Gen. 25.20.
27 Cf. Gen. 27.1.
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requirement of the situation, that person will be a wise farmer, cultivating himself in wisdom according to the injunction of the apostle.28 He will never disparage rendering those customary debts, but he will properly keep separate his purity
'Of soul by devotion to prayer, fearing lest, through preoccupation with passion, he become wholly flesh and blood, in which the spirit of God does not reside. But the one who is weak by disposition, so that he is not able to withstand in a manly fashion the onslaughts of his nature, might better hold himself removed from such circumstances rather than enter a contest which is beyond his strength. There is no small danger that such a person, misled by his experience of pleasure, may come to think obsessively that there is no other good than that achieved through the flesh and, turning his mind completely from the desire for the incorporeal goods, he may become wholly flesh, hunting for the pleasure in these things in every way, so that he becomes a lover of pleasure rather than a lover of God. Since, then, because of the weakness of nature, it is not possible for everyone to arrive at such a point of balance, and since the one incapable of it is likely to 'stick in the mire of the deep,' as the psalmist says,29 it would be profitable, as our treatise suggests, to go through life without the experience of marriage, lest, under the pretext of what has been conceded, the passions should make their entry against the soul.
(9) That habit in every case is difficult to change.
Habit in every case is something hard to fight against, because it has great power to lead the soul on and to draw it to itself, and it offers a certain fantasy of beauty once an obsessive condition has been established by habituation. Therefore, nature should avoid accustoming itself to what is not considered desirable and worthy to be sought after.
The life of human beings is an illustration of our argument.
Although there are so many nations, the same things are not 28 Cf. 1 Cor. 3.9.
29 Cf. Ps. 68.3.
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sought after by all of them. Different things are prized by different nations and custom creates the desire and zeal for something in each group. And it is not only among nations that one can observe these differences, where certain things are admired by some and disdained by others, but even in the same nation and the same city and the same family such differences may be seen. For example, twins can be very different from each other in the way they live, and this is not surprising because each man does not generally have the same judgment about the same matter, his disposition towards each thing being determined by custom. And, not to belabor the point, we ourselves have known many who, from an early age, appeared to be lovers of moderation, whose participation in what seemed lawful and acceptable pleasures was the cause of their living a sordid life. For once they have had such an experience, according to our analogy of the stream, the entire concept of the desirable is changed for them; they change the direction of their thought from the more divine to the lowly and the material, and they open up in themselves a wide channel for the passions; their desire for things above stops and is completely dried up, being wholly diverted towards the passions.
On this account, we think it advantageous for the very weak to flee for refuge to virginity as to a safe fortress, not to call down upon themselves temptations that flow in sequence, not to involve their minds because of carnal passions with forces that make war upon the law, and not to run the risk of thinking about the limits of earth or the loss of money or anything else zealously sought for in this life, except the predominant hope. For it is not possible for the one who has turned to this world in his thought, and who worries about it, and busies himself with being pleasing to man to fulfill the first and great commandment of the Lord which says: 'Love God with thy whole heart and strength:30 For how will anyone love God
30 Cf. Matt. 22.37; Mark 12.30; Luke 10.27.
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with his whole heart when he is dividing his heart between God and the world, and stealing in some way the love that is owed to that One alone, and squandering it on human passions? 'He who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, whereas he who is married is concerned about the things of the world:S1 And if the battle against pleasures seems difficult, let everyone have courage, for habit is not powerless to produce some pleasure through steadfastness in what seems to be most difficult, and it encompasses the most beautiful and the purest pleasure worthy of the mind's attention, rather than estranging us from what is truly great and beyond our imagination because of our shabby concern with lowly things.
(10) What is truly desirable.
What treatise could possibly describe how great the penalty is for falling away from the truly beautiful? What kind of extravagant language could one use? How could the ineffable and the incomprehensible be presented and delineated? If anyone has such purity of mental vision that he is able to see, to some degree, what is promised by the Lord in His beatitudes, he will despise every human voice as having no power to set forth what is meant by them. On the other hand, if anyone still immersed in material matters has the clear vision of his soul blurred by some bleary-eyed condition, so to speak, any treatise will be futile as far as he is concerned. For, in the case of the insensitive, minimizing wonders and exaggerating them in discourse will amount to the same thing, just as in the case of the rays of the sun. Any verbal explanation of light is useless and idle for a person blind from birth, because it is not possible to visualize the brilliance of the sun through the ear. In the same way, each individual needs his own eyes to see the beauty of the true and the intelligible light. The one who does see it through some divine gift and unexplainable
31 1 Cor. 7.32,33.
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inspiration is astonished in the depths of his consciousness; the one who cannot see will not realize what he has missed. For how can anyone confront him with the very good he has run away from? How can anyone bring the ineffable into his line of vision? We have not devised the particular verbal expressions for that beauty. There are no verbal tokens of what we are seeking. It is even difficult to make it clear by comparison.
For who likens the sun to a little spark, or who compares a tiny drop with the boundless sea? The relation of the drop to the sea and the spark to the beam of the sun is similar to the relation between all the beauteous wonders in the world of men and that beauty which is seen with reference to the first
Good and to what is beyond every good.
So what power of mind can possibly indicate the enormity of the penalty for those who incur it? The great David seems to me to have illustrated this impossibility well. When he was once lifted up in thought by the power of the Spirit, he was, as it were, divorced from himself and saw that incredible and incomprehensible beauty in a blessed ecstasy. But he did see it as far as it is possible for a man to do so when he is released from the limitations of the flesh and comes to the contemplation of the incorporeal and intelligible through thought alone. When he wanted to say something worthy of what he had seen, he sang out that song which all men sing: 'Every man is a liar.'&2 That is, as our treatise shows, that every man who commits his interpretation of the ineffable light to words is really a liar, not because of any hatred of the truth, but because of the weakness of his description. Perceptible beauty as far as it dwells here below in our life, fancied because of some charm in inanimate matter or living bodies, is within our power to admire and to describe and make known to others in treatises, just as such beauty is also painted on an icon. But how could a treatise, even if it explored every means of description, bring into view that whose archetype eludes
32 Cf. Ps. 115.2.
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comprehension, being without color or form or size or shape or any such foolishness? How could anyone by means of those things which we grasp by perception alone come to know that which is the altogether invisible, the formless, the sizeless, as far as bodily perception goes? And yet one should not, for this reason, despair of his desire simply because these things seem to be beyond his grasp. Indeed, the treatise has shown that, in proportion to the greatness of what is sought after, it is necessary to elevate the mind in thought and to lift it to the level of what we are seeking, so that we are not excluded entirely from participation in the good. For when we try to observe what we are unacquainted with, there is no small risk that we may slip away entirely from the thought of it.
(11) How one could gain an understanding of the really beautiful.
On account of this weakness of knowing things through the senses, it is necessary for us to direct our mind to the unseen.
But can one achieve such a thing? Some people, looking at matters superficially and thoughtlessly, when they see a man or whatever they happen upon, are interested in nothing more than what they see. It is enough for them having seen the size of the body to think that the whole concept of the man has been grasped. But the clear-sighted person, who has educated his soul, does not entrust his consideration of things to his eyes alone, nor does he stop at appearances, or reason that what he has not seen does not exist; he shrewdly contrives a nature of a soul; he examines the qualities appearing in the body, both in general and separately; and, after considering each quality for its own merits, he again looks at the general relationship and whole in connection with the underlying plan of composition. Accordingly, in the seeking of the beautiful, the person who is superficial in his thought, when he sees something in which fantasy is mixed with some beauty, will think that the thing itself is beautiful because of its own nature, his attention being attracted to it because of pleasure,
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and he will be concerned with nothing beyond this. But the man who has purified the eye of his soul is able to look at such things and forget the matter in which the beauty is encased, and he uses what he sees as a kind of basis for his contemplation of intelligible beauty. By a participation in this beauty, the other beautiful things come into being and are identified.
Since the majority of men possess such dense minds, it seems to me difficult for them to distinguish logically and separate the matter from the beauty perceived in it, and to come to know the nature of beauty in itself. And if anyone should want to determine the cause of the misconceptions and fallacious assumptions, I think he would find it in the fact that the faculties of the soul are not sufficiently trained in distinguishing between the beautiful and the not beautiful. For this reason, we falter in our zeal for the truly good. Some sink down into a love of the flesh, others turn to lifeless material things, others confine their idea of beauty to honor, glory, and power, but there are also some who are diverted by the arts and certain kinds of knowledge. The lowest of these make their palate and their stomach the criteria of the good. If they had deserted their material considerations and the obsessions with appearances, and sought after the simple and the immaterial and formless nature of beauty, they would not have been led astray in their choice of the desirable, nor would they have been swept away by deception to such an extent that, although they have seen the ephemeral quality of the pleasure in these things, they have not been led to a disdain for them.
The path leading us to the discovery of beauty would thus come into being for us and we would not squander our power of desire on any of the other things which distract us and which are considered beautiful and, for this reason, worthy of our zeal and praise. We would disregard these as being low and ephemeral, nor would we lazily and idly be limited to them, but, having been cleansed from our obsession with lowly
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things, our desire would go up to where perception does not reach, so that we would not admire the beauty of the sky or the rays of light or any other beautiful appearance, but, through the beauty seen in all these, we would be led to a desire for that beauty of which the heavens tell the glory and the firmament of all creation proclaims the knowledge.ss In this way, the soul, rising and leaving behind all notice of unimportant things, arrives at a knowledge of the grandeur beyond the heavens.
But how could anyone whose enthusiasm is directed towards the lowly rise to such heights? How could anyone fly up to heaven unless, equipped with heavenly wings, he be borne upwards because of his lofty way of life? Who is so removed from the mysteries of the Gospel, that he does not know that there is one vehicle for the human soul for the journey to the heavens, and that is by likening itself to the cowering dove whose wings the prophet David longed for.s4 It is customary for Scripture to use this symbol in referring to the power of the Spirit, either because the dove is known for its peacefulness, or because it has an aversion to evil smells, as the specialists tell us. Indeed, the person who removes himself from all hatred and fleshly odor and rises above all low and earthbound things, having ascended higher than the whole earth in his aforementioned flight, will find the only thing that is worth longing for, and, having come close to beauty, will become beautiful himself. Through his participation in the true light, he will himself be in a state of brightness and illumination. For just as at night the multitudinous glowing objects of the air which certain people call 'shooting stars'the physical scientists say they are nothing else than air poured into the aethereal region by the force of the wind, and they say that this firelike trail is traced in the sky when a wind is enflamed in the aether-just as this earthly air, when it is forced upwards by the wind, becomes light-like, being changed
33 Cf. Ps. 18.1.
34 Cf. Ps. 54.7.
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in the clarity of the aether, so the mind of man, when, after leaving this muddy and dusty life, it is purified through the power of the Spirit, becomes light-like, and it is mixed with the true and lofty purity, and it glows and is filled with rays and becomes light in accordance with the promise of the Lord who declared that the just wiIl shine like the sun.35 We see this happen also on earth in the case of a mirror or water or anything that has the power of reflection because of its smoothness. For, when these receive the beam of the sun, they create another beam from themselves, but this would not occur if their clean and shiny surface became dirty. Therefore, either we go up, leaving behind earthly darkness, and become light-like there, because we are near the true light of Christ, or the true Light shining in the darkness comes down to us and we are made light, as the Lord says, somewhere to His disciples,36 unless some dirt resulting from evil comes into our heart and dims the grace of our light.
Perhaps, then, the treatise has gently led us through examples to the thought of transforming ourselves to something better than we are, and has showed us also that the only way for the soul to be attached to the incorruptible God is for it to make itself as pure as it can. In this way, reflecting as the mirror does, when it submits itself to the purity of God, it will be formed according to its participation in and reflection of the prototypal beauty. If there is only such a person who has already left all human things behind, whether these be bodies or money or pursuits connected with the sciences and the arts, or whatever is considered acceptable to law and custom (in connection with these things there is a misconception of beauty, because the senses have become the cri. terion), such a person will love and desire that alone which has its beauty, not from another source nor in connection with the things just mentioned, but that which is beautiful of itself and in itself, that which is always beautiful, not some35 Cf. Provo 4.18.
36 Cf. John 1.9; 12.36,46; also Matt. 5.14.
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times beautiful and sometimes not, that which is above addition and increase and incapable of any kind of change and transformation.
I refer to the person who has purified all the powers of his soul from every form of evil, and I dare say that it is clear that the only thing which is beautiful by nature is that which is the cause of all beauty and all goodness. For, just as the eye cleansed from rheum sees objects shining brightly in the distance in the air, so also the soul through incorruptibility acquires the power to perceive the Light. The goal of true virginity and zeal for incorruptibility is the ability to see
God, for the chief and first and only beautiful and good and pure is the God of all, and no one is so blind in mind as not to perceive that even by himself.
(12) That the one who has purified himself will see the divine beauty in himself; also on the cause of evil.
Perhaps no one is ignorant of this, but it is likely that certain people will want to discover, if this is possible, what method and mode of life leads us to it. The divine books are filled with pertinent suggestions, and many of the saints set before those on their way to God their own lives as guiding lights. It is possible for each of us to gather a wealth of suggestions from both Testaments. For there is much in the prophets and in the Law and much in the evangelical and apostolic tradition to take in abundance. Following the divine voice, our own opinion on the subject is as follows.
This logical and thinking animal, man, came into being as the work and imitation of the divine and unmixed nature.
(For thus it is written of him in the story of creation,37 that:
'He made him in the image of God:) This creature, man, therefore, did not have the elements of passion and mortality essentially and naturally in himself from the beginning.
37 Gen. 1.27. Cf. R. Leys, op. cit., and J. Muckle, "The Doctrine of St.
Gregory of Nyssa on Man as the Image of God," Mediaeval Studies 7 (1945) 55·84.
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For it would not have been possible for the meaning of the word 'image' to be preserved if the copied beauty were different from the archetype. It was only later with the first fall that sin came upon man, and thus it crept in. Man was the image and likeness, as it has been said, of the sovereign power over all beings, and, for this reason, even in the exercise of choice, man is like the One who has power over all things, being enslaved by necessity to none of the things outside of himself, and he acts according to his own judgment of what seems best to him. The misfortune in which man is now involved he caused of his own will, having been swept away by deceit. He himself became the inventor of evil, he did not simply discover it after it had been invented by God. Nor did
God create death; man, in a way, is the founder and creator of evil.
For it is possible for all who have the power of seeing to have a share in the sunlight, but someone can, if he wishes, by dimming his eyes, shut off the perception of light, not because the sun has withdrawn to another place and thus brought darkness upon him, but because he has, through the dimming of his sight, cut himself off from the sun's rays.
And when the power of vision is thus prevented from functioning, it is entirely possible that this condition of being in a state of darkness will become habitual. It is also possible for someone building himself a house to make no provision for the light to enter; he will necessarily live in a darkness of his own making, since he has prevented the rays of light from entering. In like manner, also, the first man on earth, or rather, the begetter of evil among men, had the beautiful and the good naturally at hand in his power everywhere, but he deliberately estranged himself from them and created the experience of evil by choosing to turn away from virtue. For evil outside of choice and by itself does not exist in the nature of things. Every creation of God is beautiful and not to be despised and whatever God has made is exceedingly beautiful.
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But when, as has been said, the sequence of sin ruined the life of man, there gushed forth from a small beginning an endless stream of evil for man, and that godlike beauty of the soul made in imitation of the prototype was darkened like some iron by the rust of evil, and it no longer preserves the grace of its own natural form, but is changed into the sordidness of sin. Like man, this 'great and honored being: as he was called by Scripture,38 falling from his own worthiness like those who slip and fall into the mud and, having smeared themselves with mire, become unrecognizable even to their companions, so the one who falls into the mire of sin no longer is the image of the incorruptible God, and he is covered through sin with a corruptible and slimy form which reason advises him to reject. However, if, purged by the water, so to speak, of his way of life, the earthly covering can be stripped off, the beauty of the soul may reappear again. The rejection of what is alien means a return to what is proper and natural to oneself, but this is not possible to achieve, unless one be created anew. For, being like the divine is not our function, nor is it the product of human ability, but it is part of the generosity of God who freely, at the birth of the first man, gave our nature a likeness to Himself.
The human effort extends only to this: the removal of the filth which has accumulated through evil and the bringing to light again the beauty in the soul which we had covered over.
It is such a dogma that I think the Lord is teaching in the Gospel to those who are able to hear wisdom when it is mysteriously spoken: 'The kingdom of God is within yoU.'39
This saying shows, I believe, that the goodness of God is not separated from our nature, or far away from those who choose to seek it, but it is ever present in each individual, unknown and forgotten when one is choked by the cares and pleasures of life, but discovered again when we tum our attention back to it. If there is need for further support of 38 Cf. Provo 20.6.
39 Luke 17.21.
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the argument, I think this is what the Lord was suggesting in the search for the lost drachma. The rest of the virtues which the Lord refers to as drachmas are of no use, even if they all be present in the soul, if the soul is bereft of the one that is lost. Consequently, He bids us, first of all, to light a lamp, and by this He means perhaps the word which brings to light that which is hidden. Then, He tells us to look for the lost drachma in our own house, i.e., in ourselves. Through this parable, He suggests that the image of the King is not entirely lost, but that it is hidden under the dirt. We must, I think, interpret the word 'dirt' as the filth of the flesh. Once this is swept away and cleaned off by our caring for our life, that which is being looked for becomes visible, and then the soul can rejoice and bring together the neighbors to share her joy. For in reality, all the faculties of the soul, which is what the Lord means by neighbors, do live together, and when the great image of the King which the Creator implanted in our hearts from the beginning is uncovered and brought to light, then, these faculties turn towards that divine joy and merriment, gazing upon the unspeakable beauty of what has been recovered. For it says: 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma that I had lost:40 The neighbors, i.e., the faculties of the soul which dwell together, rejoice at the finding of the divine drachma. Reason and desire and the faculty aroused by grief and anger, and whatever other faculties there are, are looked upon as being connected with the soul, and they are logically considered as friends who rightly rejoice in the Lord when they all look to the beautiful and the good and do everything for the glory of God, for now they are no longer the instruments of sin.
This concern, then, for the finding of what is lost is the restoration to the original state of the divine image which is now covered by the filth of the flesh. Let us become what the first being was during the first period of his existence.
40 Luke 15.9.
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But what was he? Liberated from the threat of death, looking freely upon the face of God, not yet judging the beautiful by taste and sight, but only enjoying the Lord and using the helpmate given to him for this purpose, as Holy Scripture tells us, because he did not know her earlier, before he was driven out of paradise, and before she was condemned to the punishment of the pains of childbirth for the sin which she committed, having been deceived.41 Through this sequence of events, we, together with our first father, were excluded from paradise, and now, through the same sequence, it is possible for us to retrace the steps and return to the original blessedness. What was the sequence? It was pleasure brought about through deceit which initiated the fall. Shame and fear followed upon the experience of pleasure and they no longer dared to be in the sight of God. They hid themselves in leaves and shadows and, after that, they covered themselves with skins. And in this way, they came as colonists to this place, which is full of disease and toil where marriage was contrived as a consolation for death.
(13) That release from marriage is the beginning of caring for oneself.
If, then, we are going to return thence and be with Christ, we must begin at the point of deviation, just as those who have become separated from their own group on a journey, after they have retraced their steps, talk, first of all, to those who are just leaving the spot at which they went astray. Since the point of departure from the life in paradise was the married state, reason suggests to those returning to Christ that they, first, give this up as a kind of early stage of the journey. Next, they must withdraw from the earthly wretchedness in which man became involved after his fall; in addition, they must put off the coverings of the flesh, the garments made of skin, that is, they must put aside the thought of the flesh, and,
41 Cf. Gen. 3.16 if.
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after they have rejected the concealments of their shame, they must no longer stand in the shade of the fig tree of the bitter life; they must cast aside the coverings of these ephemeral leaves of life and be once more under the eyes of the Creator; they must disdain the deceptions of taste and sight; they must no longer have as their guide the poisonous serpent, but only the commandment of God. Fastening upon beauty alone and thrusting aside the taste of evil are one and the same thing, because for us the sequence of evils had its beginning in man's not wishing to be ignorant of evil. It was because of this that the first creatures were forbidden the knowledge of evil along with the good, and made to keep apart from the knowledge of good and evil, partaking only of the pure and unmixed good which has no share in evil. And this is nothing else, as our discourse indicates, than being with God and having this unceasing and continuous fastidiousness and not mixing with the enjoyment of the good those things which draw us in the opposite direction. And, if one may speak boldly, it is perhaps in this way that one could be snatched away from this world which lies in shame and restored to paradise where Paul saw and heard things unheard and unseen, which: 'It is not granted for man to utter:42
But since paradise is a dwelling place of living beings which does not admit those who are dead because of sin, and we are 'carnal and mortal, sold into the power of sin,'43 how is it possible for one who is ruled by the power of death to dwell in the land of the living? What means and plan could anyone devise to be beyond this power? The advice of the Gospel is altogether sufficient also for this. We have heard the Lord telling Nicodemus: 'That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit,'44 and we know that the flesh because of sin is subject to death, whereas the spirit is of God, incorruptible, life-giving, and immortal.
42 Cf. 2 Cor. 12.2-4_ 43 Rom. 7.14.
44 John 3.6.
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Therefore, just as the power which destroys what is born is begotten along with physical birth, so it is clear that the Spirit bestows a life-giving power upon those born through it. What, then, can be deduced from what we have said? That separating ourselves from life in the flesh which death normally follows upon, we must seek a kind of life which does not have death as its consequence. This is the life of virginity. That this is true will be clearer if we explain a little further. Everyone knows that the function of bodily union is the creation of mortal bodies, but that life and incorruptibility are born, instead of children, to those who are united in their participation in the Spirit. Excellent is the apostolic saying about this, that the mother blessed with such children 'will be saved by child-bearing,'45 just as the psalmist utters in the divine hymns: 'He establishes in her home the barren wife as the joyful mother of children.'46 The virgin mother who begets immortal children through the Spirit truly rejoices and she is called barren by the prophet because of her moderation.
(14) That virginity is stronger than the rule of death.
Therefore, such a life, because it is stronger than the power of death, ought to be preferred by the intelligent. For the bodily procreation of children (let no one be displeased by this argument) is more an embarking upon death than upon life for man. Corruption has its beginning in birth and those who refrain from procreation through virginity themselves bring about a cancellation of death by preventing it from advancing further because of them, and, by setting themselves up as a kind of boundary stone between life and death, they keep death from going forward. If, then, death is not able to outwit virginity, but through it comes to an end and ceases to be, this is clear proof that virginity is stronger than death.
Also, that body can well be called incorruptible which is not functioning in the service of the life which ends in corruption,
45 I Tim. 2.15.
46 Ps. 112.9
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inasmuch as it has not become an instrument in the process of mortality. In this way, the unceasing succession of destruction and dying, which began with the first man and which continued until the lifetime of the One born of a Virgin, is interrupted. Death, you see, was never able to be idle while human birth was going on in marriage. After accompanying all the generations and going along with those who were always coming into life, death found in virginity a limit to its own activity which it was powerless to overcome. Just as at the time of Mary, the Mother of God, death who had been king from the time of Adam until then, when she was born, was shattered, being dashed against the fruit of virginity as if against a stone, so in every soul which through virginity rejects life in the flesh, the power of death is somehow shattered and destroyed, since it cannot apply its goad to them.
Also, just as fire, if wood and kindling and hay or some other inflammable material are not added to it, does not have the nature to persist by itself, so the power of death will not function if marriage does not furnish it with fuel and provide it with victims who are like condemned prisoners.
If you have any doubt, think of the types of misfortunes which come to men from marriage as we have already discussed them in the beginning of this treatise. Can anyone lament widowhood, orphanhood, calamities concerning children, if he does not marry? The longed-for delights and joys and pleasures and whatever else is hoped for in marriage come to an end with these pains. For as the handle of the sword is smooth and well-fitted and polished and gleaming and adapted to the shape of the palm, but the rest of it is steel, an instrument of death, fearful to see, but more fearful to experience, such, also, is marriage holding out to us the smoothness and superficiality of pleasure like a handle which is adorned with skillful carving, but when it is in the hands of someone under attack, it brings pain with it and becomes the creator of grief and misfortune for men.
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Marriage presents us with sights which are piteous and tearful, children bereft at an early age and left as booty to those who have charge of them, children who often smile at their misfortune because of their ignorance of evil. And what other source of widowhood is there but marriage? Giving up marriage means being exempt from participation in all these evil experiences and this is not at all unreasonable. Once the sentence set up from the beginning against sin is removed, no longer are the troubles of mothers 'multiplied:47 as it is written, nor does the grief derived from human birth continue. Misfortune is removed entirely from life and 'tears are wiped away from the face,' as the prophet says,48 no longer is there unlawful pregnancy or conception in sin, birth comes,
'not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God'49 alone. This occurs when someone through the life-giving quality of the heart takes on the incorruptibility of the Spirit and begets wisdom and justice and holiness and redemption. It is possible for everyone to become a mother in reality in this respect, since the Lord says somewhere: 'The one doing my will is my brother and my sister and my mother.'50
What place does death still have in such births? In them, mortality is truly conquered by life and the life of virginity seems to be an image of the blessedness that is to come, bringing with it many tokens of the goods that are stored up through hope. It is possible for those examining this argument to see the truth of what has been said. First of all, once one is dead to sin, he lives the rest of the time for God. Death is no longer his harvest. Having put an end to his carnal life, as far as this is within his power, he awaits the blessed hope and the epiphany of the great God, putting no distance between himself and the presence of God because of the 47 Cf. Ps. 24.17.
48 Isa. 25.8.
49 John 1.13.
50 Cf. Matt. 12.50; Mark 3.35.
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generations in between. Secondly, he reaps the choicest goods in the resurrection and in the present life. For if the life which is promised to the just by the Lord after the resurrection is similar to that of the angels-and release from marriage is a peculiar characteristic of the angelic nature-he has already received some of the beauties of the promise, having mingled with the splendor of the saints and having imitated the purity of the incorporeal beings in the undefiled character of his life. If virginity is the sponsor of such experience, what word can sufficiently extol this grace? What other goods of the soul will appear so great and honorable, that they can be compared with the grandeur of this gift?
(15) That true virginity is seen in every activity.
But if we have exaggerated the grace of virginity, it is fitting for us to add the following. Achieving it is not as simple as one might think, nor is it confined to the body; it pertains to all things and extends even to thought which is considered one of the achievements of the soul. The soul, adhering to its true Bridegroom through virginity, not only keeps itself away from bodily defilements, but begins its purity there, and proceeds to all things in the same way and with equal steadfastness, being fearful lest the heart incline beyond its need to some adulterous participation in something evil and incur some sin in accordance with that part. What do I mean? (For I shall take up the argument again.) The soul, clinging to the Lord for the purpose of becoming 'one spirit'51 with Him, and having entered into a kind of symbiotic agreement to love Him alone with its whole heart and power, must not become involved in fornication, lest the body become one with it, nor must it become involved in anything else that is opposed to salvation, because there is a common sharing of defilements, and if the soul is stained by even one, it can no longer be spotless.
51 1 Cor. 6.18.
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It is possible to prove this argument by an example. Just as the water of a lake is smooth and motionless if nothing disturbs it from the outside, but, if a stone falls into it, the entire lake is affected and waves rise from the swell; and whereas the stone sinks to the bottom under its weight, the waves appear in a circle all around and they are pushed to the edge of the water by the movement in the center, and the whole appearance of the lake is made rough; so, also, the calm and quiet of the soul is entirely shaken if one sin falls upon it and it is affected by the part that is harmed. Those who are experts in such matters say that the virtues are not separate from each other and that it is not possible to grasp one of the virtues properly without attaining to the rest of them, but where one of the virtues is present the others will necessarily follow. Therefore, the harm to any of the elements in us extends to the whole life of virtue and truly, as the apostle says, the whole is affected by its parts, and 'if one member suffers anything, all the members suffer with it, or if one member glories, all the members rejoice with it.'52
(16) That whatever is outside of the realm of virtue is equally dangerous.
But our transgressions in a lifetime are countless and Scripture points out in many ways how numerous they are, for it says: 'Many are my persecutors and they that afflict me,'53 and 'many fight against me from the height/54 and there are many other such passages. Perhaps, then, it is right to say that there are many who are adulterously plotting to destroy this honorable marriage and this pure bed. If it is necessary to recount these adulteries by name, we must say that anger is adultery, greed is adultery, envy is adultery, malice, hatred, slander, enmity, and all the things mentioned by the apostle as being in opposition to wholesome teaching come under 52 1 Cor. 12.26.
53 Cf. Ps. llS.I57.
54 Cf. Ps. 55.2,11.
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this heading. 55 Let us suppose that there is an exceptionally beautiful and lovable woman, fit to marry a king, but, because of her beauty, she is plotted against by licentious men. As long as she is hostile towards all who are connected with her destruction and condemns them in the presence of her lawful husband, she is wise and looks to the bridegroom alone, and the deceptions of these lawless persons make no impression upon her. But if she gives in to one of her assailants, her chastity in regard to the rest of them will not save her from punishment. Defilement of her bed by one is sufficient for condemnation. In the same way, the soul living for God will find no pleasure in any of the deceptive beauties before it, but if it does take some pollution into its heart because of some sin, it surrenders its rights to marriage with the Spirit, and as Scripture says: 'Into a soul that plots evil wisdom enters not.'56 This is the same as saying that the good Bridegroom cannot live with a soul which has anything passionate or malignant or any such fault in it.
What intellect is capable of harmonizing things that are different by nature and have no common elements? Listen to the apostle as he teaches that: 'Light hath no fellowship with darkness and justice no participation with injustice';57 nor, in a word, has the person who has chosen all the qualities attributed to the Lord any fellowship with those things which are known to be the opposite of the Lord. If, then, it is impossible for things essentially different to have anything in common, the soul subject to any evil is alienated from fellowship with the good. And what do we learn from these observations? That it is necessary for the wise and thoughtful virgin to remain aloof from every evil which in any way touches the soul and to keep herself pure for the Bridegroom legitimately suited to her, having no stain or spot or any such thing. For there is one straight and narrow path, truly compressed and 55 Cf. 1 Cor. 6.9,10.
56 Wis. 1.4.
57 Cf. 2 Cor. 6.14.
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without deviations, and whatever is outside of it holds an equal risk of downfall.
(17) That the person who lacks even one of the virtues is imperfect with respect to the good.
If these things are so, we must correct, as much as we can, the habit of the multitude, of all those who energetically fight against the more shameful pleasures, but seek pleasure elsewhere in honors and administrative power, like the slave who, desiring freedom, does not make an effort to be released from slavery, but changes masters because he thinks that freedom is an exchange of lords. For we are all equally slaves, even if we do not have the same masters, as long as any sin has power over us and rules us by force. And again, there are those who, by reason of much fighting against pleasures, are somehow easily overcome by an opposite kind of weakness and spend their lives in grievances and irritations and malice and all the other things which are the opposite of the sins connected with pleasure. These are easily acquired and difficult to shake off, and this happens when it is not reason, but emotion which governs our way of life.
For, as Scripture says: 'The command of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes of the little ones,'58 telling us that:
'It is good to adhere to God alone.'59 God is not pain or pleasure or cowardice or rashness or fear or anger or any other such emotion which lords it over the untutored soul, but, as the apostle says, He is 'very wisdom and sanctification and truth and joy and peace,'60 and such things. How, then, is it possible for anyone to adhere to the One who is truly these things if he is in the power of the opposite? Or how is it not unreasonable for one who is anxious not to be subject to anyone of these sins to think that the opposite of them is virtue? For example, for the soul fleeing from pleasure to be
58 Cf. Ps. 18.9.
59 Cf. Ps. 72.28.
60 Cf. 1 Cor. 1.30; Rom. 14.17.
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subject to pain, or for the soul inclined towards boldness and rashness to be abased by cowardice, or for the soul impregnable to anger to be eager to be cowed down because of fear?
What difference does it make if we sin in one way or another when the important thing is that either way estranges us from God who is perfect virtue? In the case of bodily illnesses, no one would say that it makes any difference if the body is being destroyed by an excess or a deficiency, since the lack of balance will have the same result anyway. Therefore, the person who values the life and health of his soul will keep himself at the mean and will not participate in either of the emotions which deviate in either direction from the virtue in question. This is not my argument, but that of the Divine
Voice itself. One can find this theory in the teaching of the Lord when he instructs his disciples, who are sent as sheep among wolves, not only to be doves, but to have also something of the serpent in their character.61 I mean that thinking with simplicity is not the most praiseworthy activity among men since it comes near to being extreme foolishness. On the other hand, one should not think that the cleverness and cunning that are praised by the multitude are the equivalent of pure and unmixed virtue, but that rather from these opposites one should achieve a single mixed character, the one part surpassing innocence, the other surpassing the wisdom used by the wicked, so that from the two, one fine condition is arrived at combining simplicity of judgment and shrewdness. For, it says: 'Be wise as serpents and guileless as doves.'
(18) That it is necessary for every faculty of the soul to aim at virtue.
Therefore, let what has been said here by the Lord be the conviction in the life of everyone, especially among those who are approaching God through virginity. They should not 61 Matt. 10.16; Luke 10.3.
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concentrate on achieving one thing while they are careless about its opposite, but they should seek out the good for themselves from all sides, so that their life will be secure in every respect. A soldier does not protect part of his body with armor and run the risk of leaving the rest of himself exposed.
What good is the part protected by armor if he is wounded in a spot that is not covered? Or who could say that a person is handsome, if one of the features contributing to his handsomeness is mutilated in an accident? The ugliness of the injured part diminishes the grace of the part that is unimpaired.
1£ that person is ridiculous, as the Gospel says somewhere,62 who undertakes to build a tower, but stops with the foundations and never completes it, what do we learn from this parable except that we should strive to bring every high aspiration to a conclusion, completing the work of God by an elaborate building up of His commandments? For one stone does not make a complete tower, nor does one commandment bring the perfection of the soul to its desired measure. It is entirely necessary both to erect the foundation and, as the apostle says: 'to lay upon it a building of gold and precious stones,'63 for that is what the products of the commandments are called by the prophet when he says: 'I have loved your command more than gold and much precious stone.'64 Let eagerness for virginity, then, be put down as the foundation for the life of virtue, but let there be built upon this foundation all the products of virtue. 1£ this is believed to be precious and god-befitting, as it is, but one's whole life does not conform to it, and is stained by the rest of the soul's disorder, then, this is 'the golden ring in the swine's snout,'65 or 'the pearl trampled under the feet of the swine.'66
And there are other pertinen t passages.
62 Luke 14.28 if.
63 Cf. 1 Cor. 3.12.
64 Cf. Ps. 118.127.
65 Prov. 11.22.
66 Matt. 7.6.
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But if anyone considers it unimportant for the elements in one's life to be in harmony with each other, let him behold the objects in his home and learn from this teaching. It seems to me that, as in a private house, the master does not allow the things in it to be unsuitable and incongruous: the bed overturned, the table full of dirt, valuable objects cast aside into filthy corners, vessels serving the needs of nature in full sight of those who come in, but rather he has everything tidy and in good order with each thing in its proper place, so that he confidently receives guests, not fearing any criticism if people see how things are in his house. Thus I think the master and steward of our dwelling ought to be, I mean the mind, making sure that everything in us is well-disposed, and that each of the faculties of the soul, which the Creator has given us in place of instruments or wares, is properly used and for the purposes of beauty. But if anyone says disparagingly that this argument is foolish and frivolous, let him explain in detail how he would manage his own life to his advantage by using what he has.
We say, then, that it is necessary that desire be founded on the purity of the soul as upon some first fruit or votive offering selected for God, purifying the soul and keeping it untouched and undefiled, never soiled by any of the filth of life.
Anger and rage and hatred should be aroused, like dogs guarding gates, only for resistance to sin, and used against the thief or enemy who enters to defile the divine treasury and comes to steal, to storm, and to destroy. Instead of a weapon in the hand, one should have courage and bravery so there would be no need to be afraid and one could withstand the onslaughts of the impious. One should be supported, not by a staff, but by hope and steadfastness, if he should ever be weary from temptations. If the moment of repentance for sins should come, one should then exhibit grief, conscious that it is never useful for any other function. Justice should be for him the standard of uprightness, showing, without clumsi-
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ness, in every word and deed how it is necessary for things to be disposed in his soul and how he should manage each element according to its worth. The impulse towards more which lies without limit in the soul of each person should be applied to the desire for God, and thus one will be congratulated for his greed, since he is using force where force is praiseworthy. He should have wisdom and prudence as advisers in all circumstances and as sharers of his life, so that he will not be harmed by ignorance or imprudence.
However, if one does not use the faculties we have spoken of in accordance with what is natural and appropriate, but perverts their use by applying desire to the most shameful things, such as directing hatred against one's relatives, loving injustice, playing the brave fellow against his parents, being bold where it is out of place, hoping for vain things, rejecting prudence and wisdom as living companions, becoming the comrade of gluttony and folly, and so forth, he will be absurd and monstrous, so that no one could even adequately describe how ridiculous he is. Is it not just as if a soldier would alternately cover his face and put back the crest of his helmet, place his feet in his breastplate, fit the greaves to his chest, change right to left and left to right? What such a soldier would be likely to experience in war is what a person is likely to experience in life who confuses his judgment and his use of the powers of the soul.
Therefore, we ought to provide for harmony in these matters which true moderation puts by nature into our souls.
And if it is necessary to consider the perfect definition of moderation, perhaps it could be said authoritatively that this is what it is: the well-ordered economy of all the movements of the soul with wisdom and prudence. Such a condition of the soul has no need of toil and trouble for participation in lofty and heavenly things, since it quickly and easily achieves what seemed before to be difficult to attain, by rejecting the opposite of what it is seeking. For it is necessary for the one
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who is not in the dark to be completely in the light, and for the living not to be dead, and, therefore, unless one foolishly distracts his own soul, he will be entirely on the right road.
For provision against being led astray and knowledge are the accurate guides for proceeding on the direct path. And just as slaves, when they have been freed and have stopped serving their masters, turn their attention to themselves, thus, I think, the soul, once it has been freed from deception and service to the body, comes to an understanding of what is particularly its own and of its natural functions. Freedom, as we learn from the apostle, is not to be held 'under the yoke of slavery,'67 and not to be fettered in the bonds of the married life like a fugitive or a criminal.
But, again, the argument returns to the original point, that perfect freedom does not consist in this alone, in abstaining from marriage. Let no one think that virginity is so small and cheap that it can be thought of as attainable through a slight control of the flesh. Since 'everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin/6s i.e., turning to evil in any matter and situation somehow enslaves a man and puts the stigma of a runaway slave on him, scars and brands inflicted by the blows of sin, it is fitting for the one aiming at the great goal of virginity to be uniformly virtuous and for purity to be evident in every aspect of his life.
If it is necessary to strengthen our argument through some divinely inspired word, the truth itself in parable and symbols in the Gospel gives us sufficient support. The art of fishing consists in separating the good and edible fish from the bad and harmful ones, so that the enjoyment of the good ones will not be spoiled by one of the bad ones which has fallen into the baskets. This also is the function of true moderation, having selected from all situations what is pure and useful, and having rejected in each case what is unsuitable and useless, to put it back into the common life of the world which is
67 Gal. 5.1.
68 John 8.M.
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called the sea in the parable.69 And when the psalmist offers a similar teaching in one of the Psalms,70 he points out the unsteady and passionate and disturbed life, when he speaks of 'waters coming unto the soul' and 'the depth of the sea' and 'a tempest,' in which every rebellious thought is like a stone drowned in the sea as the Egyptians were.71 That which is dear to God and has a clear vision of the truth, which is called
Israel in the story, this alone comes to dry land and is never enveloped in the bitter brine of the waves of life. As a sym~ bol under the rule of law (Moses was the symbol of the Law),
Israel crossed the sea without getting wet and the Egyptians were drowned, each in keeping with their own attitude, the one crossing easily and the other dragged down into the deep.
For virtue is something light and exhilarating. All who live according to it 'fly along like clouds,' according to Isaia,72 and 'like doves' with their young, but sin is heavy, seated, as one of the prophets says, upon 'a talent of lead.'73 If such an interpretation of Scripture appears to anyone to be forced and unfitting, because he does not think the miracle of the sea was written as an aid to us, let him listen to the apostle saying that he wrote symbolically, both for the men of his own time and 'for our correction.'74
(19) Mention of Mariam, the sister of Aaron, as the one who inaugurated this achievement.
This reminds us that the prophetess, Mariam, immediately after the crossing of the sea, took a dry, tuneful 'tambourine in her hand'75 and led a chorus of women. Perhaps by the tambourine Scripture means to suggest the virginity achieved by the first Mary, who was, I think, the prototype of Mary
69 Cf. Matt. 13.47 If.
70 Cf. Ps. 68.2,3.
71 Cf. Exod. 14.21 If.
72 Cf. Isa. 60.8.
73 Cf. Zach. 5.7.
74 1 Cor. 10.11.
75 Exod. 15.20.
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the Mother of God. For, as the tambourine produces a loud sound, having no moisture in it and being quite dry, so also virginity is clear and noised abroad and has nothing in itself of the life-preserving moisture of this life. If it was a tambourine, a dead body, which Mariam used, then virginity is the deadening of the body, and it is perhaps not unlikely that it was being a virgin which set her apart. We suggest from conjecture and assumption and not from proof that the prophetess, Mariam, led a chorus of maidens. Many of the learned affirm clearly that she was unmarried from the fact that there is no mention in Scripture of her marriage or of her children. Also, she would not have been referred to or been known as the sister of Aaron if she were married, since it is the husband who is the head of the woman and not her brother, and it is her husband's name that she is called by.
And so if the grace of virginity appeared precious among a people who considered childbearing desirable and lawful, let us, who hear the divine injunctions, not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit, cling to it all the more. The divine injunctions have often revealed to us that childbearing and the begetting of children are a good thing, and they have indicated the kind of procreation sought after among God's saints. The prophet, Isaia, and the divine apostle both indicated this clearly and precisely. The former has said: 'From fear of you, 0 Lord, we have conceived and been in labor and given birth.'76 And the latter proudly said that he has been the most prolific of all in offspring, and had filled entire cities and nations with his children; through his own pangs, he formed them in the Lord,77 and not only brought to light the Corinthians and the Galatians, but also filled the whole inhabited world with his own children which he begot in Christ through the Gospel 'from Jerusalem round about as far as Illyricum.'78 Thus, even in the Gospel, the womb of 76 Cf. Isa. 26.18.
77 Cf. Gal. 4.19; 1 Cor. 4.15.
78 Rom. 15.19.
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the holy Virgin which served the unblemished childbirth is blessed on the grounds that the offspring does not destroy virginity and virginity does not stand in the way of such begetting, for, as Isaia says, where 'the spirit of salvation is born the wishes of the flesh are entirely useless.'79
(20) That it is impossible to serve the bodily pleasures and, at the same time, to reap the enjoyment of God.
There is some such idea also in the apostle where he says that each man is twofold; there is the 'outer man' to whom corruption is natural, and the one who is known in accordance with the hidden places of his heart, that is, the one who undergoes 'a renewal.'80 If, indeed, this is true (and it is entirely true because of the truth that is speaking in it), it is not at all unlikely that he has in mind a twofold idea of marriage, profitable and suitable for every man among us. And perhaps the bold will dare to say that it is not beyond likelihood that the virginity of the body is the co-worker and sponsor of an inner and spiritual marriage.
For just as it is not possible for the same person to pursue two crafts, that is, he cannot be a farmer and a sailor at the same time, or a smith and a carpenter, but if he is going to take up the one occupation successfully, he has to let the other go; so, also, for us, although two kinds of marriages are possible, the one accomplished through the flesh and the other through the spirit, a desire for the one necessitates the exclusion of the other. For the eye cannot look at two things at one time, unless it is directed to each of them in turn, nor can the tongue utter two different sounds at the same time, for example, Hebrew and Greek. Also the same person cannot listen to a story and an instruction at the same time, for the meaning of what is heard depends on the sound, and if one hears a mixture of sounds, there will be an unintelligible confusion.
79 Cf. Isa. 26.18.
80 2 Cor. 4.16.
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According to the same argument, the desiring element in us does not by nature serve bodily pleasures and, at the same time, participate in a spiritual marriage. It is not possible to attain each of these goals through similar activities. Selfcontrol and the mortification of the body and a disdain for everything connected with the flesh are the sponsors of the latter, and the opposites of these are the sponsors of the physical union. Therefore, just as where one has a choice of two masters, since he cannot, at the same time, be subject to both (for 'no man can serve two masters,'S!), the wise man will choose the more helpful one. So, when we have the choice of two marriages, since a person cannot participate, at the same time, in both (,for he who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, and he who is married about the things of the world: 82) , it will be wise for us not to make the wrong selection or to be ignorant of the road that leads to the better one, and this we can learn only through some such analogy.
Just as in a physical marriage a person who is eager not to be rejected makes an effort to have a fine appearance, fitting adornment and sufficient wealth, and takes much care not to be a burden because of his way of life or his family background (these are the factors which would especially occur to him), in the same way, the person planning a spiritual marriage will want to present himself as being youthful and intellectually rejuvenated, and he will indicate that he is from a family that is rich in the way that is most desirable, a family not respected because of its earthly possessions, but because of the abundance of its heavenly treasures. That person will not pride himself on having a family that is looked up to because of the good fortune which comes automatically to many, even to the foolish, but the good fortune that is present because of the toil and effort of one's own accomplishments, which only those achieve who are sons
81 Matt. 6.24.
82 1 Cor. 7.32,33.
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of the light and children of God and called well-born 'from the risings of the sun'83 through their enlightened deeds. He will not busy himself with his bodily strength or his appearance or with exercising his body or fattening his flesh, but quite the opposite; he will perfect the power of the spirit in the weakness of the body. I know that the dowry in this wedding does not consist of corruptible things, but of what is given us as a gift from the special wealth of the soul. Do you want to know the names of these gifts? Let anyone who introduces himself as a man of wealth listen to Paul, the fair escort of the bride. Listing many other important qualities, he also mentions 'innocence.'84 And, again, wherever the fruits of the spirit are enumerated,85 they are the gifts of this marriage. If anyone is going to obey Solomon and take true wisdom as the companion and sharer of his life, concerning which he says: 'Love her, and she will safeguard yoU/86 and:
'Honor her, in order that she may embrace you,'87 he will worthily prepare himself for this longing, keeping festival in a pure garment, rejoicing with those in this marriage, in order not to be rejected because of being clothed as a married person.
It is clear that the eagerness for this kind of marriage is common to men and women alike, for since, as the apostle says: 'There is neither male nor female,'88 and Christ is all things for all human beings, the true lover of wisdom has as his goal the divine One who is true wisdom, and the soul, clinging to its incorruptible Bridegroom, has a love of true wisdom which is God. Now, what spiritual marriage is and towards what goal the pure and divine love looks has been sufficiently revealed in what we have said before.
83 Cf. Isa. 41.25.
84 2 Cor. 6.6.
85 Cf. Gal. 5.22.
86 Prov.4.6.
87 Cf. Provo 4.8.
88 Gal. 3.28.
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(21) That it is necessary for the one who has chosen a rigid discipline to be estranged from every type of bodily pleasure.
Since it is impossible for anyone to draw near to the purity of God who has not become pure himself, it is necessary for a person to separate himself from pleasures with a large and strong partition, so that the purity of the heart will, in no way, be defiled by coming near them. A safe protective wall is the complete estrangement from everything involving passion.
For if one pleasure exists (as we learn from the philosophers), it is like the stream of water from one source which, when it is divided into different streams, spreads to each of the pleasureloving organs of the senses. Therefore, the one who is weakened by anyone of the sensual pleasures, damages his heart, as the voice of the Lord teaches, when He says that the one who has fulfilled the desire of his eyes has already received the wound in his heart.so I think that the Lord is speaking of all the senses in this one example, so that those of us who follow His words should add that the one who has heard or touched or employed any faculty in the service of pleasure has sinned in his heart.
To make certain that this does not happen, the following rule should be used by the wise man for his own life: never allow the soul to come near any temptation to pleasure, and be on guard, above all, against the pleasure of taste, because somehow this seems to be the most persistent, being practically the mother of all that is forbidden. Pleasures connected with eating and drinking abound in immoderate consumption, create in the body the necessity for a surfeit of undesirable evils, and this begets many similar sins among men.
Indeed, in order for our body to remain calm and be soiled by none of the sins of satiety, we must provide for a life of greater self-control, by defining not only the limit and boundary of every enjoyment connected with pleasure, but 89 Cf. Matt. 5.28.
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the limit connected with our individual need. If the pleasant is often mingled with the need (for want knows how to season everything because of the vehemence of the longing, sweetening everyth'ing that is discovered through need), one does not have to banish the need because of the enjoyment attendant upon it, nor, however, should one pursue pleasure as a guide. It is fitting, further, to choose from all things that which is useful and to control the sensations of enjoyment.
We see farmers skilfully separating the chaff from the wheat, so that each of them is put aside for a special need, the one for the use of human beings and the other for fuel or the nourishing of animals. Therefore, the cultivator of wisdom distinguishes the need from the pleasure like the wheat from the chaff: the one he will throw aside for the less intelligent
'whose end is to be burnt: as the apostle says,90 but he will thankfully partake of what is necessary according to his need.
(22) That it is not necessary to exercise self-control beyond the proper measure, and that carnal indulgence and excessive mortification are both opposed to the soul for attaining perfection.
But since many fall into the other form of immoderation and, through excessive discipline, achieve the opposite effect of what they are aiming for, distracting their soul in a different way from what is lofty and divine, descending to lowly thoughts and occupations, directing their attention to bodily mortifications, so that they no longer soar mentally in freedom or look on high, but incline towards toil and the wearing out of the flesh, it would be well for us to give some importance to this and to guard against an equal lack of moderation in this direction. We should not bury the mind in sensuality, nor, again, should we make it powerless and abject because of the weakness imposed upon it by bodily toil.
We should, instead, remember the equally wise advice which 90 Heb. 6.8; cf. Matt. 3.12; Luke 3.17.
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forbids that one should deviate to things to the right or to the left.
I heard a certain physician explaining professionally that our body is made up of four similar elements which are direct opposites to each other, namely, hot and cold, wet and dry, mixed together. He said that, although the mixture of wet and dry is illogical, they do go together through some intermediary relationship. And he astutely explained the meaning of the natural philosophers by saying that each of these elements is diametrically opposed to the other, but that they fit together by nature through some affinity of the qualities in them, the cold and the hot being present equally in the wet and the dry, and, again, the wet and the dry in the hot and the cold. The identity of the qualities appearing equally in the opposites creates by itself a union of opposites. But why is it pertinent for me to go through the opposites in detail, showing how they are separated from each other because of the opposition of their nature, and then, united again, joined by the relationship of the qualities in them? Only to remind us by what has been said that the person who looks at the body in the light of this theory will be impelled to think about the equality of power in these elements, because health consists in not having one element in us dominate the others.
Therefore, if this argument has any truth in it, we ought to provide for such a condition for the maintenance of our health. We should induce it by having no one of the elements of which we are made too great or too small as a result of any anomaly in our diet. We should always, as it were, imitate the driver of a chariot. For just as he drives his team in harmony, neither urging on with his whip the swift colt nor restraining the slow one with the reins, nor, again, does he allow them to be too slack or refractory and disordered through their own impulses, but he guides them and stops them short and touches them with the whip until they go harmoniously along the race course; in the same way, our
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mind, which holds the reins of the body, should not continue to inflame it with excessive heat in its youthfulness, nor should it allow it to abound in what is overly cool and weak once it has been chilled by disease and time. And in connection with the other qualities, the mind will likewise listen to Scripture. In order not to have too much or too little, avoiding the immoderate in each case, it will provide for what is lacking and will equally guard against the superfluous in each part of the body. It will not make the flesh slack and flabby through excessive good living, nor ill and wasted and languid in its necessary activity because of immoderate suffering. This is the most perfect goal of self-control: not to concentrate on the suffering of the body, but on the efficient working of the instruments of the soul.
(23) That it is necessary for the one who wishes to learn the strictness of this life to be taught by one who has achieved it.
There are many written instructions teaching the particulars: how it is right for the person choosing to live with this philosophy to conduct his life, what to guard against, in what activities he should engage himself, the limits of selfcontrol, the manner of spending one's time, and all the things one must learn once such a goal has been established.
However, the guidance of deeds is more effective than instructions in words; nor is this a cause for discontent, since it is necessary for those starting a long trip or an extensive voyage to have a teacher. The apostle says: 'The Word is near thee.'Ol Grace begins at home. Here is the workshop of the virtues in which such a life is purified to the highest point.
Great is the power to teach this divine regimen through deeds, both on the part of those who are silent and those who speak out, since every word seen apart from deeds, even if it is beautifully decked out, is like a lifeless icon which portrays a 91 Rom. 10.8. The 'written instructions' seem to refer to Basil's Rules.
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form blooming with paint and color, but 'he that shall do and teach,'92 as the Gospel says somewhere, this man is truly alive and outstandingly beautiful and effective in his movements.
Indeed, the novice who is going to acquire the habit of virginity in accordance with convincing logic must have this kind of teacher. For just as one eager to learn the language of a certain people cannot teach himself, but is taught by those who know it, and thus comes to speak the foreign tongue, making quick progress because of the habit of hearing the language, in the same way, I think, one's nature does not make progress in this life automatically, since it is foreign to the novelty of the regimen, unless the person is taken in hand and learns the details from someone who has succeeded in it. In everything we do in life, it is better for the one entering upon something to gain a knowledge of whatever he is striving for from teachers than to undertake to learn by himself. This undertaking of ours is not so simple that one can necessarily judge for himself what is advantageous, and when a person dares to try out what he is not familiar with, he takes a risk. Just as men, through experience and close observation, have gradually discovered the previously unknown art of healing, so that the beneficial and the harmful are recognized through the experiments, knowledge is garnered for the profession, and instruction as to what is going to be observed is handed down by those who have learned beforehand, and thus the neophyte does not have to decide the effects of medicines, whether a drug is harmful or helpful through his own experiments, but becomes a successful physician by learning what is known from others; in the same way, it is not necessary to gain a knowledge of the healing art of the soul through conjectures and assumptions
(I am speaking of philosophy through which we learn the cure for all diseases touching the .soul), but through the 92 Cf. Matt. 5.19.
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authority of the learning of one who has established the habit through long and extensive experience.
Youth, for the most part, is a precarious counselor in every matter and we do not easily find any success worthy of emulation in one whom gray hair has not brought to a participation in his subject. In proportion, as the goal we are aiming at is greater than that aimed at in other activities, we must be more careful to insure ourselves against risk. In other circumstances, if youth conducts itself unreasonably, it incurs a fine of money or loses some worldly distinction or esteem.
But, in the case of this great and lofty desire, it is not merely money or worldly and temporary glory that is risked, or any of the other external things mentioned by us, for which there is little concern among the wise. The thoughtlessness touches the soul itself and the danger of punishment is not the loss of something just happened upon or something which can be recovered, it is the very destruction of oneself and the punishment of one's own soul. The person who has squandered his patrimony does not despair, as long as he lives, of regaining his former prosperity through ingenuity, but the one who fails in this life removes all hope of a change for the better.
Therefore, since the majority of persons who intend to lead a life of virginity are still young and immature, they must concern themselves with this before all, the finding of a good guide and teacher on this path, lest, on account of their ignorance, they enter upon trackless places and wander away from the straight road. For, as Ecclesiastes says: 'Two are better than one.'93 The one is easily overcome by the enemy lying in ambush on the divine road, and verily: 'Woe to the solitary man, for if he should fall he has no one to lift him
Up.'94 In the past, certain people have made an auspicious beginning in their desire for this life, but, although they have attained perfection in their intention, they have been tripped
93 Eccles. 4.9.
94 Eccles. 4.10.
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up because of their vanity. They deceived themselves, through some craziness, into thinking that that was fair towards which their own thought inclined. Among these, there are those called 'the slothfu1'95 in the Book of Wisdom, who strew their path with thorns, who consider harmful to the soul a zeal for deeds in keeping with the commandments of God, the demurrers against the apostolic injunctions, who do not eat their own bread with dignity, but, fawning on others, make idleness the art of life. Then, there are the dreamers who consider the deceits of dreams more trustworthy than the teachings of the Gospels, calling fantasies revelations. Apart from these, there are those who stay in their own houses, and still others who consider being unsociable and brutish a virtue without recognizing the command to love and without knowing the fruit of long-suffering and humility.
Who could enumerate all such deviations into which one is carried because of not wishing to associate himself with those esteemed in the sight of God? Of these, we know also those who starve themselves to death on the grounds that such a sacrifice is pleasing to God, and again, others, completely opposite to these, who practice celibacy in name, but who do not refrain from social life, not only enjoying the pleasures of the stomach, but living openly with women, calling such a living together 'brotherhood,' and thinking that they are avoiding suspicion by this pious term. Because of them, this revered and pure way of life is blasphemed by the pagans.
Indeed, it is advantageous for the young not to regulate the path of this life for themselves. Demonstrations of the goods of this life of ours are not lacking. In fact, now especially, its dignity is flourishing and it is popular, being perfected to the highest degree by gradual additions to it, so that it is possible to walk in such footsteps and have a share in it, and, following after the scent of the perfume, to be filled with the fragrance of Christ. For just as when one candle is lighted the 95 Cf. Provo 15.19.
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Harne is then distributed to all the candles nearby, and the original light is not lessened, although it is equally present in those lighted from it, so the dignity of this life is distributed by the one who has succeeded in it to those who come near him. For the prophetic word is true that one associating with the holy and the innocent and the elect will take on their characteris tics. 96
Moreover, if you seek tokens through which it is possible not to miss the good example, an outline is easy. If you see the life of a man standing between life and death, choosing philosophically what is useful on either side, neither taking on the negative aspect of death because of his eager attitude towards the divine commandments, nor stamping with both feet upon life because of his alienation from worldly desires, and in those matters in which the life of the flesh is esteemed, remaining more idle than the dead, but in those deeds of virtue by which those living in the spirit are known, being alive and energetic and strong, look to this man as the model of your life. God has made him as a goal for our own lives.
Let this one be for you the goal of the divine life as the fixed stars are for the pilots. Imitate the old age and the youth of this one, rather, imitate the old age in his youthfulness and the youthfulness in his old age. For when he is approaching old age, time does not dim the strength and vigor of his soul, nor is his youth distinguished by the activities in which youth usually engages, but there is some wonderful mixture of opposites in each age, a release from what is peculiar to each, his power for good being young in his old age, and his youthfulness in adolescence doing nothing connected with evil. But, even if you are searching for lovers of that age, imitate the steadfastness and fire of the divine love of wisdom which increases from youth and persists to old age.
However, if you are not able to look at him as those who have weak eyes cannot look at the sun, contemplate the 96. Cf. Ps. 17.26,27.
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chorus of the saints arrayed under it, those shining in life in imitation of those who have come of age, among whom are many, who, although they are young in years, are old in the purity of their self-control, anticipating old age in their logic and, in a way, going beyond time, those who have demonstrated a more steadfast and forceful love of wisdom than of bodily pleasures, not because these were foreign to their nature (for in everybody 'the flesh lusts against the spirit'97), but because they listened well to the one who said that wisdom 'is the tree of life to those who grasp her:98
Sailing through the wave of youth with that tree as if on a raft, they are moored in the harbor of the will of God, and now, in tranquillity and calm, their soul is not washed by the waves, and they are blessed by smooth sailing; after having moored what they had on good hope as if with a safe anchor, they are calm beyond the reach of disturbing waves, extending the brightness of their life to those following them like beacons on a high promontory. Therefore, having someone to whom we can look, let us sail securely through the storm of temptations.
Why are you so curious about those who have had intentions along these lines, but have faltered, and why, for this reason, do you despair on the grounds that it is not practical? Look rather to the one who has succeeded and, being encouraged by him, dare to undertake the good voyage using the intelligence of the Holy Spirit with Christ as the pilot at the rudder of moderation. Those who go down to the sea in ships and work in many deep waters are not deterred from hope because shipwrecks have occurred, but, projecting their own good hope, they speed on to a successful end. Or would it not be the most ridiculous thing of all for someone to say that failure in the life of perfection is an evil, and, then also, to advise that it is better to grow old making mistakes throughout one's life? If it is a terrible thing to fall into sin once,
97 Gal. 5.17.
98 Provo 3.l8.
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do you also, for this reason, think it is safe not to attempt a higher goal? Is it not more difficult to make sin one's life occupation, and, because of this, to remain completely without any share of the purer life? How do you, the living, listen to the Crucified One, the Healer of sin, when He orders us to follow Him and to carry the cross as a banner against the Adversary, if you are not crucified to the world and have not taken on the death of the flesh? How does the person 'conformed' to this age and not 'transformed in the newness' of his mind and not walking in the newness of this life, but following instead the sequence of the life of ancient man, obey Paul who commanded you to present your body as a sacrifice, living, holy, and pleasing to God?99 How are you a priest for God, having been anointed for this very purpose of offering a gift to God, a gift that is not altogether alien or fraudulent, because it is made up of what is external to you, but a gift that is truly yours, which is the man within you helping you to be perfect and blameless according to the word of the Lamb, free from all stain and dishonor? How will you set these offerings before God, if you do not listen to the law which forbids an unholy man to be a priest?lOO And if you are longing for God to appear to you, why do you not listen to Moses who ordered the people to abstain from (the privileges of) marriage in order to be present at the appearance of God?lOl If these things seem unimportant to you, being crucified with Christ, offering yourself as a sacrifice to God, becoming a priest of the highest God, being worthy of the great epiphany of God, why should we consider anything beyond these things for your benefit? Uniting yourself with God comes from being crucified with Him and living with Him and sharing His glory and His kingship; offering yourself to God means transforming human nature and worth into the angelic.
Thus Daniel says: 'Thousands upon thousands were minis99 Rom. 12.1,2.
100 Cf. Exod. 19.22.
101 Cf. Exod. 19.15.
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tering to Him:102 Once one has taken on the true priesthood and allied oneself with the great High Priest, this alliance continues in every way, and one is a priest forever, unhindered by death from being near Him always. There is no other reward for being worthy to see God than this very thing: seeing Him. For the crown of every hope and the achievement of every desire and the limit and acme of every praise of God and every promise of the ineffable goods believed to be beyond perception and knowledge is this crowning experience which Moses longed for and many prophets and kings desired. Only 'the clean of heart' are worthy of it, and it is for this reason they are truly called 'blessed,' that 'they shall see
God:103 We want you to be one of those crucified with Christ, to stand beside Him as a pure priest, to become a pure sacrifice in all purity, preparing yourself through your holiness for the presence of God, in order that you yourself may see God in the purity of your heart according to the promise of God and our Savior Jesus Christ, to whom is the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.
102 Dan. 7.10.
103 Matt. 5.8.
