The Great Letter

VIII.1 As for the inward side of ascetic practice and the question which of the good exercises is best and first, know, beloved brothers, that all the virtues are bound together and depend upon one another, linked one to another like a sacred and spiritual chain. Prayer depends upon love; love upon joy; joy upon gentleness; gentleness upon humility; humility upon service; service upon hope; hope upon faith; faith upon obedience; and obedience upon simplicity.

VIII.2 Likewise, but in the opposite direction, the vices are bound together with one another: hatred depends upon anger, anger upon pride, vainglory upon unbelief, unbelief upon hardness of heart, hardness of heart upon negligence, negligence upon idleness, idleness upon contempt, contempt upon despondency, despondency upon impatience, and impatience upon love of pleasure. All the other forms of evil depend on one another in the same way that, in the portion of the good, the virtues are connected with one another.

VIII.3 The substance of every good zeal and the summit of spiritual achievement is patient perseverance in prayer, through which, by petitioning God, we can acquire the other virtues as well. In the prayer of those who have been deemed worthy of these things, the operation of holiness is directed toward God alone; through such spiritual operation there comes about a certain mystical communion with the Lord in ineffable love, taking place in the inward disposition of the mind. Therefore the one who each day constrains himself to patient persistence in prayer is drawn, through God's fiery love, toward divine love and a burning longing for the Lord. Freely choosing the way of perfection, he also receives the grace of the Spirit given him by God, according to the saying: "You have given gladness in my heart." [Ps. 4:8 LXX] And the Lord says: "The kingdom of heaven is within you." [Luke 17:21]

VIII.4 What else can this kingdom within us mean except the heavenly gladness of the Spirit made effective in worthy souls? For the saints will taste in the Kingdom spiritual joy and gladness in the eternal Light; yet worthy and faithful souls are already deemed worthy here, through active communion with the Spirit, to receive its pledge and firstfruits. For the Apostle says that God is the one "who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in every affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." [2 Cor. 1:4] It is also said: "My heart and my flesh rejoiced in the living God" [Ps. 83:3 LXX], and, "As with marrow and fatness let my soul be filled." [Ps. 62:6 LXX] By these and similar words the gladness and consolation of the Spirit already made effective here are indicated. All the commandments that follow are related to prayer as the members of the body are related to the head, and those who give themselves to God must, as far as possible, fulfill them.