The Great Letter

IX.1 We have spoken, then, of the goal of piety set before us, the one goal common to all, and have confirmed what we said by many testimonies from holy Scripture. It must also be remembered that faithful and God-fearing souls are deemed worthy, through faith and great diligence in all the virtues, of the fullness of the Spirit, acquiring perfect deliverance from the passions—that is, attaining purification of the heart through the sanctifying operation of the Spirit. Therefore let each person give himself to the good to the extent that the love of his soul reaches out toward God.

IX.2 If anyone wishes to pray unceasingly and with endurance, and also to exercise himself in fasting, he must attend to Paul's words: "Pray without ceasing" [1 Thess. 5:17], and, "Continue steadfastly in prayer." [Col. 4:2; Rom. 12:12] He must also attend to the Lord's sayings: "How much more will God vindicate those who cry to him day and night?" [Luke 18:7], and, "He also told them a parable that they ought always to pray and not lose heart." [Luke 18:1] Concerning the way in which those who thirst for God and believe in him are deemed worthy to be clothed in the heavenly armor, the Apostle says: "With every prayer and supplication pray at all times in the Spirit, and for this very purpose keep watch with all perseverance and supplication." [Eph. 6:18] If one of the brothers who struggles in faith, prayer, and repentance desires to take part in the contest of love for the heavenly goods, he is praiseworthy and pleasing both to men and to God.

IX.3 The monastic brotherhood should therefore gladly allow the one who struggles with patient persistence in prayer to be a member of the brotherhood and should assist him in every way. Through their unanimity with that brother and their good cooperation with him, the monks may themselves receive a reward from God. The brother who prays with all watchfulness, however, must examine his conscience, maintain unceasing concern for God, and live in continual struggle. Each day he must resist the mass of many and abundant evil thoughts, compelling the mind always to stretch out in loving desire toward the Lord and, in return, receive from the Lord the perception of grace, so that the fruits of his endurance and steadfastness may become manifest day by day for the edification of all.

IX.4 For the one who has been wounded by love and burning desire for God exerts himself in prayer, struggles, and compels his free choice toward spiritual labor, giving himself to it wholly even if he had never previously practiced such labor. He longs to receive from God heavenly love and true spiritual prayer, according to the saying: "He gives prayer to the one who prays." [1 Sam. 2:9 LXX] The other brothers should gladly allow him to devote himself to this spiritual labor, encouraging and helping him as faithful assistants. They should see the brother's spiritual progress as a benefit to themselves also, and should not be governed by contentiousness or envy, should not act under the suggestion of evil, should neither hinder nor obstruct his good longing for God, nor cut off at its beginning the brother's contest of good zeal. In this way God, seeing the good impulse toward mutual love in the soul of each of them, will grant his holy recompense in response to the petitions of all and give each person full assurance, seeing their right and good disposition toward one another.

IX.5 Above all, the superiors of the brothers must carry this out with every diligence and discernment, striving to dispose both themselves and the brothers to such a way of thinking, so that no obstacle may be placed before anyone in the freely chosen contest of spiritual struggle.

IX.6 The one who continually devotes himself to prayer performs the chief work and must undertake a special contest, with much labor and unceasing diligence, because evil places many obstacles in the path of continual prayer: drowsiness, despondency, heaviness of body, wandering thoughts, disturbance of mind, negligence, impatience, slackness, and the rest. Then come afflictions and assaults from the evil spirits themselves, which fight against the soul and oppose it even to blood when it begins truly and unceasingly to seek God, for they desire to prevent it from drawing near to him.

IX.7 Therefore the one who continually abides in prayer must take courage with all watchfulness and diligence, struggling bodily and spiritually with every kind of endurance. As one who truly bears the cross, let him remain without ceasing in much struggle, labor, contrition, and much affliction for the sake of the Kingdom, without vainglory, without surrendering to wandering evil thoughts, confused dreams, despondency, or slackness. He must not use improper words that cause disturbance in others, nor even entertain anything of this kind in thought. Nor should he, as though lacking discernment, be satisfied merely with bodily bending of the knees while the mind remains confused and wandering.

IX.8 For unless a person prepares himself for the strictest watchfulness and continually examines his mind with all attention, always stretching out by desire toward the Lord, evil can secretly deceive and beguile him in many ways, making him boast before the other brothers who are not yet able to remain continually in prayer. Through such crafty snares of evil he will lose his good work and hand it over to the evil demon. On the contrary, because he has undertaken the greatest work—prayer—he must also acquire greater labors, cares, and contests than the other brothers, lest he suffer any robbery by evil. For the evil one fights more fiercely against those who have taken up the greater and better work, desiring to outwit them.

IX.9 We must therefore daily cultivate within ourselves, through continual prayer, the fruit of love, humility of mind, simplicity, goodness, and discernment. Manifesting our spiritual progress, let us struggle in such a way that those who are still infants in Christ and cannot persevere in prayer may, on seeing our good fruits, themselves desire to dedicate themselves willingly and zealously to the same contest. For if our prayer is not adorned with love, simplicity, and goodness, it will profit us nothing and will be merely the appearance of prayer.

IX.10 We say this not only of prayer but of every ascetic labor and effort. Whether it is virginity or prayer, fasting or vigil, psalmody or service, or any other effort and work undertaken by us for virtue—if we do not find within ourselves the fruits of love, peace, joy, gentleness, humility, simplicity, sincerity, faith, long-suffering, and freedom from envy, our labors and efforts are vain and useless. They are likewise vain if we do not share these fruits with all our brothers. Every work and every effort must be performed for the sake of these fruits; if we do not acquire them within ourselves, all our labor is vain and useless.

IX.11 For those who do not possess these fruits will be found on the Day of Judgment like the five foolish virgins [Matt. 25:1-12], who had not stored spiritual oil in the vessels of their hearts—that is, had not acquired and fulfilled here, through the Holy Spirit, the virtues named above. Therefore they were called foolish and were not admitted into the spiritual bridal chamber of the Kingdom. Their labor of virginity was not reckoned to them, because the virtues were lacking and they had been deprived of the effective indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

IX.12 As in the cultivation of a vine the farmer undertakes labors and cares for the sake of tasting the fruit, and if no fruit is found all his toil proves vain and useless, so too with us: if through the operation of the Spirit we do not come to know within ourselves, in full assurance and spiritual perception, the fruits of love, peace, joy, humility, long-suffering, faith, and all the other fruits enumerated by the Apostle [Gal. 5:22], then our efforts will prove empty and our labor in virginity, prayer, psalmody, fasting, and vigil will be in vain. For these labors and efforts must be undertaken in hope of the spiritual fruits to come. The fruit-bearing of the Spirit is a spiritual tasting accompanied by incorruptible delight, brought about by the Spirit only in the hearts of the faithful and humble.

IX.13 All the labors, exercises, and efforts of human nature must therefore be judged with much discernment and understanding, and only those things should be recognized as the true fruits of virtue which, through faith and hope, are cultivated by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the worthy. If, through lack of knowledge, someone counts his own work and effort alone as the fruits of the Spirit, this shows that he has acquired only empty self-conceit and has voluntarily fallen away from the great spiritual goods. He has trusted that progress in the virtues can be achieved by himself alone, without the operation of the Holy Spirit. But the one who dedicates himself wholly to God and applies, as far as possible, his own diligence and labor, receives grace from God, is freed from the passions, and is deemed worthy to reach the heights above and the purity of virtue.

IX.14 Just as a person who lives according to the world and has given himself wholly to sin satisfies with great pleasure the passions of dishonor that are contrary to nature—debauchery, fornication, drunkenness, greed, envy, deceit, lack of restraint, hostility, hatred, and love of money—and performs other evil deeds with pleasure and sweetness as though they were natural, so the perfect Christian performs all the virtues and all the perfect fruits of the Spirit that are beyond our nature—true and unfailing love, long-suffering, kindness, gentleness, endurance, faith, humility of mind, and the other works of virtue—with great pleasure and spiritual delight as though they were natural. He does them easily and without effort, no longer being occupied with the evil passions or fighting against them. Completely redeemed by the Lord and deemed worthy to become his pure dwelling, he is moved toward the virtues by the power of God, filled with joy and gladness from the worshipful Holy Spirit and possessing the perfect peace of Christ ruling in his heart. [Col. 3:15] He is the one who has truly "cleaved to the Lord" and become "one spirit" with him. [1 Cor. 6:17] For through the operation of the Spirit and the holiness of the virtues he can suppress within himself the filthy passions and operations of vice.

IX.15 Such a perfect Christian, because of the effective indwelling of the Holy Spirit, not only performs the works of virtue with great pleasure and without effort, but easily and freely accepts what is most difficult: the sufferings of Christ. Strengthened by the Spirit, he prays with great desire that he may suffer together with Christ. Just as people who live according to the flesh desire with great pleasure and joy to be honored, glorified, and admired, strive to become rich, live in luxury, exercise authority, and enjoy the other pleasures of this life, so those who have been deemed worthy to attain the highest measure of Christianity, with spiritual delight, pleasure, and joy, in the blessed hope of the Resurrection, readily accept as desirable nakedness, hunger, and the endurance of every hardship for the sake of the Lord. They are ready to be hated, dishonored, and reviled, to become as the refuse of this world [cf. 1 Cor. 4:11-13], to be crucified and subjected to every punishment.

IX.16 For the glory, wealth, luxury, treasure, and boasting of Christians consist in the sufferings of Christ, according to the apostolic saying: "Not only so, but we also boast in afflictions." [Rom. 5:3] And according to the Lord himself: "Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and say every evil thing against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven." [Matt. 5:11-12] Blessed Paul, taking great delight in sufferings for Christ, cries out: "Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, necessities, pressures, beatings, imprisonments... for when I am weak, then I am strong." [2 Cor. 12:9-10; 6:4-5]

IX.17 The fullest indwelling of the Holy Spirit in them and his incorruptible and effective consolation prepare them, through the immortal hope of the future Resurrection, to accept the sufferings of Christ with the sweetest assurance and great delight. Thus even the reception of those sufferings becomes light and easy for them. Those who have not yet been deemed worthy of this, and have not yet received the operation of the Spirit, should continually meditate with diligence and desire, in hope and faith, on the commandments and sufferings of the Lord. Compelling themselves, let them exercise themselves as far as possible in spiritual labor, hoping that with the help of the Spirit they too will one day attain perfection in progress. This is necessary so that, in the labor of hope, in the meditation of the mind, and with desire, we may receive the Spirit operating in power, joyfully take up the practice of the Gospel commandments and the endurance of the sufferings of Christ, and thus, through the effective indwelling and communion of the Spirit within us, be deemed worthy to become perfect Christians and heirs of eternal life.

IX.18 Strive, therefore, in precisely this way; train yourselves in this way; and together prepare yourselves for every good work. Above all compel yourselves to remain continually in prayer, keeping before you the goal of attaining such great goods, so that this may serve as an example that edifies both yourselves and your neighbors. Take care lest through negligence or heedlessness you harm both yourselves and those near you.