Conference Eleven
Conference Eleven
ON PERFECTION
I Living in a Syrian monastery w e had learned the elements of the faith and had made some progress in it. But we began to w ish for the grace of increased perfection. W e quickly decided to go to Egypt and to visit the greatest possible number of holy men in the remotest areas of the desert of I hebais.
I heir renown had spread throughout the world and our urge was not so much to rival them as to get to know' them. And so w e sailed to an Egyptian city named
I'hennesus, w hich is washed on all sides either by the sea or by salt lakes. The people living there devote themselves entirely to business, since there is no land, and they earn their money and their living entirely by naval commerce. Indeed the earth which they need for the construction of their buildings has to be brought in from afar by sea.
The Cod w ho supports us in our longings arranged that our arrival should coincide w ith that of bishop Archebius, a most blessed and outstanding man. He had been hijacked from a group of anchorites to be made bishop of the tow n of Panephysis. Throughout his life he lived with the same austerity which he had set himself as a solitary. He relaxed none of his earlier humility and was in no way beguiled by the honor thrust upon him.
1 le claimed that he w as in no w ay suited to this job. Indeed he lamented that he had been expelled from the anchoritic life because he w as unworthy of it and that in the thirty-seven years during which he was himself an anchorite he had never been able to achieve the purity required by so exalted a vocation.
This man had come to I hennesus for the election of a bishop there
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and he received us in a very holy and humane fashion. W hen he learned that w e w ished to visit the holy fathers in the remotest parts of Egypt, he said to us: "Before you go, come and see the old men who live not far from our monastery.
Eheir old age is clear in their bent bodies and their saintliness shines in their faces, dO those looking at them the very sight of them can bestow knowledge. Not from their words but from the example of their holy way of living you may learn that which I grieve to have lost and v\ hich, because it is lost, 1 cannot hand on to you.
Still, I think that what I lack may somehow be eased by my concern for you and by ensuring that you can more easily acquire that gospel pearl for w hich you are seeking and which I do not possess."
I le took the stick and the w allet which are customary for all monks traveling there and he himself was our guide on the journey to his tow n,
Panephysis. Fhe land here, together w ith most of the neighboring territory, w as once so fertile that, according to reports, it w as able to supply the table of the king. But it was overrun by the sea, w hich had broken its limits after a sudden earthquake.
It destroyed nearly all the villages and it covered the once rich land with salt marshes. One could take as a literal prophecy for this region what was sung in a spiritual sense: "He turned rivers into desert and springs of water into thirsty ground and a fertile country into salt flats because of the w ickedness of the people living there" (Ps 106:33).
Similarly, there w ere many tow ns in these areas built on higher ground.
I he flood drove out the inhabitants and made the tow ns look like islands, which nov\ give holy men in search of retreat the solitude they long for.
I hree very old anchorites were living there, namely, Chaeremon, Nesteros, and Joseph.
d he blessed Archebius decided to bring us first to Chaeremon, since he was nearer the monastery and because he w as older than the other two.
I le was over a hundred years old and only the spirit remained energetic w ithin him. Old age and zeal for prayer had so bent his back that he was like someone in his first childhood, for he moved around w ith hands reaching to the ground. And so we gazed at a wonderful face and at this w ay of moving about. His limbs were dried up and dead, and still he had not lost the rigor of his earliest austerity.
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\ ery humbly v\ e asked him to speak to us and to teach us. W e urgently maintained that the reason for our coming w as a longing for the Rules of the spiritual life.
He sighed deeply.
"W hat teaching could I give you? The frailty of age has compelled me to relax my former austerity and has taken aw ay anv confidence in what I might have to sav. How could I presume to teach w hat I mvself do not practice? How could I instruct someone else in w hat, as I know , I do very little or lukew armlv? 7 hat is whv
I have allow ed none of mv juniors to live with me when I am this age. Mv example might w eaken the austerity of someone else. The authority of a teacher will never be effective unless the fruit of deeds is impressed upon the heart of w hoever is listening to him."
7'hese words caused us no slight embarrassment, and, stirred by compunction, w e gave him this answ er: quite adequate lesson to us would be the very hardship of this place and that solitary life w hich even sturdy youth can scarcely enjoy. Even w ith you silent these things have abundant instruction to offer and they move us very deeply. But still w e ask you to break your silence in some small way and to please tell us how it might be possible for us not so much to imitate as to contemplate that excellence w hich we so clearly see in you.
It may be that our tepid enthusiasm has been made known to you so that we do not deserve to obtain w hat w e seek. But this lack of v\'armth should be ascribed to the w eariness of a very long journey which has brought us from the rudimentary training of the monastery at Bethlehem to here, where we wished so much to listen to your teaching and because we wanted so much to make progress."
I hen (Taeremon said thus: "
I hree things keep men from giving themselves over to sin. There is the fear either of hell or of earthly law s.
7 here is the hope and the desire for the kingdom of heaven. Or there is the attraction of good itself and the love of virtue.
I here is the text concerning how' fear drives out the contagion of ' Fhe fear of the Lord hates evil' (Rrv 8:13). evil.
I hose w ho hope in I lim do not commit sin' (Rs 33:23).
"1 lope too shuts out the onset of all sins.
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"Love is not nervous of the ruin of sin because 'love never falls' and 'love eovers a multitude of sins' (1 (>or 1 3:8; 1 Ft 4:8).
"Further, the blessed apostle offers as a summary of salvation the perfection of these three virtues. 'Now ,' he says, 'these three things remain—faith, hope, love' (1 Cor
13:13). For it is faith—with its fear of the judgment and punishment to come—which brings about the decline of sin's contagion.
It is hope w hich draw s our mind from the things of the present and w hich in its anticipation of heavenly rew ards spurns all the pleasures of the body. And it is love which fires us to long for Christ, to be zealous for the fruit of the spiritual virtues and to detest utterlv w hatever is contrarv to these virtues.
"All three seem to tend toward the one end.
Fhey summon us to abstain from everything unlawful. But they differ from one another in their degree of excellence. The first two are appropriate to men w ho seek perfection but w ho are not yet moved by zeal for the virtues. I'he third is particularly characteristic of God and of those who have reallv taken the image and likeness of God unto themselves. For only God does good, not out of fear nor in hopes of a rew ard but simply out of a love of goodness. 'The Lord has worked every thing on His ow n account' (Prv
16:4). 1 his is w hat Solomon declares. From the workings of
1 is ow n goodness I le lavishes all good things on the worthv and the unworthy and He can be wearied by no w rongs. Nor can He be provoked to painful emotion by human wickedness. But always and forever
1 le remains w hat I le is, perfect goodness and an unchanging nature.
"If anyone has a w ish for perfection he w ill start off from that first step of fear w hich w e describe as appropriate to a servant and of which it is said: 'When you have done everything sav "we are useless servants"
' (Lk 17:10).
1 le w ill rise up progressively to the higher path of hope w hich is made ready not for the servant but for the hired hand since such a one expects to be rew arded. Hope is sure of pardon and is w ithout fear of being punished.
1 lope know s of the good w orks done.
1 lope is able to be on the lookout for the promised reward.
"But it has not yet reached the feeling of being a son w ho trusts in the abundant generosity of his father and w ho has no doubt that everything belonging to the father is also his.
Fhis w as something w hich the prodigal son did not aspire to after he had lost both the name of son and the wealth of his father.
'I do not now' deserve to be called vour son'
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(Lk 1 5:9). He turned back to become himself again after even the husks of pigs, that is, the squalid food of sin, had denied him satisfaction. He
\\ as moved by a saving fear. He began now to have a horror of the filth of pigs. He grew fearful of the torments of dreadful hunger. He turned, as it w ere, into something servile. Then he began to think of the rew ard attached to the condition of being a hired hand. He thinks he would like to be one and says: 'How' many of my father's hired hands have more food than they want and here am 1 dying of hunger.
I v\ ill go back to my father and I will say to him "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
I no longer deserve to be called vour son.
Freat me as one of your hired hands"
' (Lk 15:17-19).
"But the father rushed forw ard to meet him and received him with a fondness of feeling that was greater than those humble words expressing regret. And the father was not satisfied to give him the less valuable things.
I le moved him bevond the tv\ o low er grades and restored him to his former rank as son.
"So we too must hurry, and beg the grace of indissoluble love. VVe must climb to the third rank of sons w ho deem everything of the father to be their ow n. Let us earn the right to receive the image and likeness of the Father within us so that like that true Son w e can cry out, 'Everything belonging to the Father is mine' (Jn 16:15). This too is w hat the blessed apostle says for us:
'All belongs to you, whether it be Paul, Apollo, Cephas, the world, life, death, the present or the future—all belong to you'
( 1 Cor 3:22). And this likeness to the Father is something to w hich we are called by the precepts of the Savior w hen
I le says: 'Be perfect as vour heavenly Father is perfect' (Mt 5:48).
"Among those of low er standing the love of goodness is normally interrupted whenever lack of warmth, contentment, or pleasure unwind the vigor of the soul and cause a temporary w ithdraw al of the fear of hell or of the longing for the future.
Still, these are stages on a w ay of progress causing us at the beginning to avoid sin, out of our fear of punishment or out of a hope for reward. Then we can move on to the stage of love for 'there is no fearfulness in love. Indeed perfect love expels fear, because to fear is to expect punishment and anyone who is afraid is still not perfect in love. So we are to love because God first loved us' (1 Jn 4:18-19).
"Therefore in no other w ay can we rise up to true perfection. God loved us first and this w as for no other reason than that we should be saved and so w e ought to love Him solely for His love of us. For this reason we should strive to rise from fear to hope and from hope to love
JOHN CAS of Ciod and of virtue.
VV e should pass and so far as is possible for human nat to it.
" rhere is a great difference betwc fires of sin out of fear of hell or hope of moved bv love of God, turns in horror holds puritv as a good because he love: not look to the rew ard promised for th( surable sense of a present good and al consideration of punishment but out o one in this situation the removal of all abuse nor will he be able to pollute thoughts.
1 le holds the love of virtue < and w ith regard to anything opposed t it in his heart but he looks upon it wit "To hate the contagion of sin and to an existing good—this is one thing. i in of unlaw ful urges out of regard for tf to be frightened of a present danger an punishment.
Finally, however, it is r goodness itself one never w ishes to des does not yield to evil out of fear of evi liberately chosen, in the other, it is, as i out of someone unw illing, and this b* thirst for reward.
"h'urthermore, someone who keej of sin because he is afraid will return t as the obstacle of fear is removed. Mei
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for in his eyes there is nothing more deadly than some wreckage in the heart of his own chaste disposition. To him nothing is dearer, nothing more precious, than the purity which he now possesses. For him some deadly transgression against virtue or the poisonous contagion of sin itself is a grievous punishment. The deference shown him by men or total solitude will neither add to nor take from his own goodness. Everywhere and always he will strive to ensure that the supreme arbiter not only of his acts but of his thoughts will be his own conscience which, as he knows well, he cannot circumvent, deceive, or avoid.
"If w ith God's help and w ithout a presumptuous reliance on his own efforts someone comes to w in this condition, he w ill pass over to the status of an adopted son. Fie w ill leave behind servility with its fear.
He will leav e aside the mercenary hope of reward, a hope w hich seeks a rew ard and not the goodness of the giver. There w ill be no more fear, no more desiring. Instead, there w ill be forever the love which never fails.
"The Lord has critical w ords for some concerning this fear and this love and He indicates the kind of person to w horn they apply. 'The son honors his father and the slave fears his master.
If I am indeed father, where is my honor.^ And if I am master, w here is the fear of me?' (Mal
1:6). The slave has to fear him because 'if know ing the wishes of his master he does things worthy of blow s, he w ill be well flogged' (Lk
12:47).
"But anyone whose charity makes him to be an image and likeness of God, such a one will delight in the good because of the pleasure he takes in what is g(X)d, and w ith equal love he will embrace patience and gentleness. The failures of sinners will no longer enrage him. Rather, he w ill beg pardon for their weaknesses and out of sympathy he will plead for them. He remembers how long he too was besieged by the promptings of similar passions until the day w hen he w as saved by the H)rd's pity.
It was not by his own efforts but rather by God's protectiveness that he w as saved from the temptation of the flesh, and so he understands that it is mercy, not anger, which must be show n to those gone astray. And in all peace of heart he sings to the Lord the little verse
'You have broken my chains and I w ill offer you a sacrifice of praise'
(Ps 1 15:16-17). 'Had it not been for the Lord's help my soul would soon have been dwelling in hell' (Ps 93:17).
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Persisting in this lowliness of mind he will then be able to fulfill that gospel command of perfection, 'Love your enemies, do good to those w ho hate you, pray for those who persecute you and utter calumnies against you' (Mt
5:44).
In this way we will earn the right to reach the reward mentioned a bit later, namely, that not only will we bear before us the image and likeness of God but w e will even be truly called sons of God, 'that you may be described as sons of your Father in heaven w ho makes 1 lis sun shine on good and bad and w ho makes the rain fall on the just and the unjust' (Mt 5:45).
"I'he blessed John, know ing he had arrived at this feeling, says 'that we may be trustful on the day of judgment because in this w orld w e have become as He is'
( 1 Jn 4:
1 7). How could the nature of a human being—so frail, so fragile—hope to be like the Lord if it were not for the fact that to good and bad, just and unjust, he gives his heart's peaceful love—as God does—and does good because of his love of good? And so he comes to true adoption as son of God, regarding which the same blessed apostle says, 'Everyone born of God does not sin because the seed of CJod is w ithin him, so he cannot sin because of his birth from (iod' (1 jn 3:9). 'W'e know' that everyone born of God does not sin. The birth w hich he has had of God protects him and the evil one does not touch him' (1 Jn 5:18).
Phis, of course, is not to be understood of every kind of sin but rather of the sins that carry death. And if there is someone w ho does not wish to drag himself from this latter sort of sin, the above-mentioned apostle says, in another place, that one should not even pray for him.
'If anyone knows that his brother is committing a sin that is not mortal, he has only to pray and God will give him life, though not to those committing deadly sin. For there is a sin that brings death, and I do not say that you must pray about that'
(ljn5:16).
"Regarding those not engaged in sins that are not mortal, sins from which even the faithful servants of Christ are not exempt, despite all their vigilant effort to be careful, this is w hat is said: 'If w e say we have no sin in us, we are fooling ourselves and the truth is not within us' (1
Jn 1:8).
'If we say wc have not sinned we make a liar of Ciod and His word is not w ithin us'
( 1 Jn
: 10). Among any holy men it is impossible not to fall into those small lapses which occur because of something said, some thought, some unawareness, some forgetfulness, some urge, some w ish, some surreptitious act.
I hey are quite different from that sin which is declared to be mortal, but they cannot be innocent of blame or reproach.
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"When someone has attained this love of the good and this imitation of God, about which I have been speaking, then he will put on the Lx)rd's long-suffering patience and like Him he w ill pray for those w ho persecute him. He w ill say, 'Father, forgive them for they do not know w hat they are doing' (Lk 23:34).
"A very clear proof of the fact that a soul has not yet cut loose from the corruption of sin is when it feels no sympathizing pity for the wrongdoing of others but holds instead to the strict censoriousness of a judge. For how can someone attain perfection of heart if he does not possess w hat the apostle described as the Law 's consummation w hen he said, 'Carry one another's burdens and in this w ay you w ill fulfill the law of Christ' (Gal 6:2)? How can he do so if he does not possess that virtue of charity 'w hich is not annoyed, is not boastful, w hich does not think evil, which endures everything and is a support for everything' (1 Cor 1 3:4—7). For 'the just man has compassion for the lives of his beasts, but there is no pity in the hearts of the unjust' (Prv
12:10).
And therefore it is most certain that he y ields to the verv sins which he condemns in someone else w ith unmerciful and inhuman severity. 'The stern king will tumble into evil' (Prv 13:17). 'He who shuts his ears to the crv of the poor w ill himself call out, and there w ill be none to listen to him' (Prv 21:1 3)."
Germanus: "You have spoken powerfully and splendidly about the perfect love of God. But, to be honest, there is something w hich troubles us. Despite all your praise, you have said that fear and the hope of reward are imperfect. Now' the prophet seems to have thought quite differently. 'Fear the D)rd,' he says, 'all of you who are I lis holy ones.
For nothing is lacking to those who fear Him' (Ps 33:10). Again, he admits that he is preoccupied with observing the commandments of Ciod for the sake of reward.
'I have inclined my heart to obey your commands for the sake of an everlasting reward' (Ps 118:112).
Fhe apostle said thus: 'It was bv faith that when he reached manhood Moses denied
¥ that he w as a son of the daughter of Pharaoh. He preferred to be afflicted along w ith the people of God than to have the passing joy of sin.
1 le considered that the insult offered to the anointed one was a greater treasure than the riches of Egypt, for he had his eyes fixed on the rew ard' (I leb
1 :24-26).
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"I low , then, can these things be considered imperfect w hen the blessed David l)oasts that he follow ed the divine commandments for the sake of rew ard and w hen the lawgiver, as we are told, despised the adoption v\ hich would have given him royal status, preferred the most cruel suffering to the treasures of Egypt, and all this because he w as looking to a future reward?"
(>hacremon: "Scripture summons our free w ill to different degrees of perfection, and this in proportion to the condition and the measure of the individual soul.
It w as not at all possible to propose to all together the same crow n of perfection, since everyone does not have the same virtue, the same disposition of w ill, or the same zeal.
I lence the Word of Ciod lavs dow n the different degrees and the different measures of perfection.
"A clear proof of all this is to be seen in the varied gospel beatitudes. Happy are those, it is said, to w hom the kingdom of heaven belongs, happy those who w ill possess the earth, happv those who w ill be consoled, happy those who shall have their fill. And yet we believe there is quite a difference between living in heaven and possessing the earth such as it is; that there is quite a difference betw een an aw areness of consolation and the plenitude, the satiety, of justice; that there is a great distance betw een those w ho w ill obtain mercy and those w ho w ill deserve to enjoy the most glorious vision of God. 'The brightness of the sun is one thing and the brightness of the moon another and something else again is the brightness of the stars. Star differs from star in brightness. And so it is w ith the resurrection of the dead' (1 Cor 15:41-42).
"Now Scripture praises those w ho fear God. 'Blessed are all those who fear the Lord' (Ps 127:1).
It promises them blessedness for this.
Again, it says, 'There is no fear in love. Rather, perfect love casts out fear, for it is fear w hich has an expectation of punishment. Anyone who is fearful is not yet perfect in love' (1 Jn 4:18).
"Again, since it is a glorious thing to serve God, it is said, 'Serve the Ivord in fear' (Ps 2:1 1).
'It is a great thing for you to be called mv servant' (Is 49:6). 'Blessed is the servant whom the master, upon his return, will find acting in this way' (Mt 24:26). And yet the following is said to the apostle, 'I do not call you servants any more, for the servant does not know' w hat his master is doing. But I have called you friends because I have let you know all that I heard from my Father'
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(Jn 15:1-1—15). And again, 'You are friends of mine if you do what I command you' (Jn 15:13).
"So you see, then, that there are different grades of perfection and that from some high points the Lord summons us to go higher. Someone blessed and perfect in the fear of God will walk, as is written, 'from virtue to virtue' (Ps 83:8), from perfection to some other perfection.
That is, with eager spirit he will rise up from fear to hope and then he will be invited to a holier state, that of love. He who was 'the faithful and prudent servant' (Mt 24:25) will pass to the relationship of a friend and the adopted condition of sons.
"This, then, is how my words are to be interpreted.
I do not wish to be understood as saying that the thought of everlasting punishment or of a most blessed reward has no value. They are indeed valuable be- ¥ cause those given over to them are introduced to the first stages of blessedness. In love, however, there is a greater faith, and the joy of it is forever. Taking hold of them it will lead them from servile fear and from the hope of reward to the love of God and to being adopted as sons.
It will, so to speak, make of the perfect those who are still more perfect. 'There are many mansions in my Father's house,' says the Lord
(Jn 14:2). All the stars can be seen in the sky, and still there is a great difference between the brilliance of the sun, of the moon, of Venus, and of the other stars.
"And so it is that the blessed apostle makes out that love is not only higher than fear and hope, but higher than all the charisms, however great and however marvelous these may be in human reckoning. Having gone through the entire list of the spiritual charisms he decides to speak of the various facets of love and this is what he says: 'Furthermore, I will show you a way more excellent than the others.
If I speak the language of men and angels, if I have the gift of prophecy, know all the mysteries and all that there is to know, if I have all faith so as to move mountains, if I give all my wealth to feed the poor and deliver my body to be burned—it will be of no use to me if I have not love' (1 Cor 12:H, 13:1-3).
"You see, then, that there is nothing more precious, nothing more perfect, nothing more sublime, and, as it were, nothing more enduring than love. 'Prophesying will go empty, languages will fail, knowledge will be undermined, but love will never die' (1 Cor
1 3:8). Without love not only are all these outstanding kinds of charisms but even the very glorv of the martyr brought to nothing.
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"It must follow that anyone solidly established in the perfection of this love will rise to that more excellent and more sublime stage which is the fear of love. I'his is not a terror in the face of punishment nor a desire for reward. Rather it is something which comes from the very greatness of love.
It is the mixture of respect and affection which a son has for a verv indulgent father, a brother for a brother, a friend for a friend, a wife for a husband, 'fhis is the fear whose splendor has been clegantlv described by one of the prophets. 'Wisdom and knowledge are the riches of salvation, but its treasure is the fear of the Lord' (Is 33:6). He could not have more clearly described the dignity and the merit of this fear when he said that the riches of our salvation, namely true v\ isdom and the knowledge of God, cannot be preserved except by the fear of the Lord.
I'his is the fear to which saints, and not sinners, are invited by the prophetic oracles. The psalmist says: 'Fear the Lord, all you u ho are I lis holy ones, because nothing is lacking to those who fear I lim' (Ps 33:10). Someone holding to this fear of the Lord is certain to lack no perfection.
"As for the fear of punishment, it was of this that the apostle John spoke when he said, 'I le who is fearful is not perfected in loye, because fear anticipates punishment' (1 Jn 4:18). Hence there is a considerable distance betw een that fear which lacks nothing, which is the treasure of wisdom and of knowledge, and that fear which is imperfect. This latter is only 'the beginning of wisdom' (Ps 1 10:10) and because it implies punishment it is manifestly banished from the hearts of the perfect when love is at its most superabundant, 'Love has no fear and perfect love drives out fear' (1 jn 4:18). Actually, if the beginning of wisdom lies in fear, what w ill be its perfection if not in that love of Christ which comprises the fear of perfect love and which therefore deserves to be called not a beginning but, rather, the treasure of wisdom and of knowledge?
"I lence there are two degrees of fear. The first characterizes beginners, namely, those who are servants, yoked and fearful. Of such a one it is said, 'And the servant will be frightened of his lord' (Mai
1:6).
And in the gospel this is what is said: 'I do not call you servants because the servant does not know what his master is doing' (Jn 15:14). Hence too: 'The servant does not always remain in the house, but the son always remains there' (Jn 8:35).
It is borne in upon us that we should pass
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from fear of punishment to the full freedom of love and to that trust which characterizes the friends and sons of God.
"Then there is the blessed apostle who by virtue of his love of God had once risen beyond the stage of servile fear, l^ooking down to the lowlier gifts, he asserts that the Lord enriched him w ith much more splendid gifts. 'God did not give me a spirit of fear, but rather of virtue, of love, and of moderation' (2 Tm 1:7). And this is w hat he has to say as an encouragement to those w ho were burning with perfect love of the heavenly Lather and w hom adoption out of the rank of servants had turned into sons: 'The spirit you received is not the spirit of slaves bringing fear once more into your lives, but you have received the spirit of adoption, which makes us cry out Abba, Lather' (Rom 8:15).
"The prophet too is speaking of love's fear when he describes that septi-form spirit which undoubtedly came dow n upon the Lord-man, in accordance with the economy of the incarnation. 'The spirit of the Lord will come to rest upon him, the spirit of w isdom and of insight, the spirit of counsel and of strength, the spirit of know ledge and of piety' (Is 11:2). Then, finally, as a kind of crown to all this he says: 'And the spirit of fear of the Lord shall fill him' (Is 1 1:2). And w hat must be noted most carefully is the fact that he does not say 'The spirit of the fear of the Lord w ill come to rest upon him,' as he had earlier said, but, rather, 'the spirit of fear of the Lord shall fill him.' Such indeed is the splendor of the spirit's richness that w hen it takes possession of a soul, it does so not in part but entirely. Nor is this w ithout good reason. Seizing upon that love which w ill never pass aw ay, not only does he fill but he possesses inseparably and forever the one of w hom he has laid hold, and he is never diminished by any worldly joys or pleasures, a thing which happens from time to time to that fear w hich drives out love.
"This then is the fear of perfection with w hich the Lord-man Himself was said to have been filled. He came not only to redeem us but also to give us in Himself a model of perfection and an example of virtue. As for the servile fear of punishment, this was something out of His reach, for He w as the true Son of God 'w ho committed no sin and in w hose mouth no guile was to be found' (1 Pt 2:22)."
Germanus: "Now' that you have spoken to us about perfect love we w ould like to put some questions to you about the objective of chastity. For w e have no doubt that those sublime reaches of love by w hich.
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as you have shown, one rises up to the image and likeness of love can hardly exist w ithout the perfection of chastity. We would like to know if that virtue can be so steadfast that our purified hearts need never suffer the blandishments of concupiscence. Living in the flesh can we remain so free from the body's passions that we wdll never feel their goading fires?"
/5 (^haeremon: "Truly it would be a sign of the utmost blessedness and of outstanding merit to take a stand unceasingly in that feeling, learned or taught, which makes us cling to the Lord. As the psalmist says, all our days and nights would pass by in the contemplation of it.
Our souls, devoured by a hunger and by an insatiable thirst for justice, would ceaselessly feed upon this heavenly food.
"But w e have to take thought for this animal body of ours and w e must do so in accordance w ith the most kindly providence of our Savior. 'For the spirit is w illing but the flesh is w eak' (Mt 26:41).
"So we must make sure to give it a little food. When the body is refreshed, the spirit w ill be readier for that problem which you wish to investigate more thoroughly."