Step 20
On bodily vigil and how to use it to attain spiritual vigil and how to practise it.
1. Some stand before earthly kings without weapons and without armour, others hold staffs of office,
and some have shields, and some swords. The former are vastly superior to the latter, for they are
usually personal relations of the king and members of the royal household. So it is with earthly kings.
2. Now let us see how we stand before God our King, when we stand at our prayers in the evening, or
during the day and night. For some at their evening all-night vigil lift up their hands in prayer as if
they were incorporeal and stripped of all care. Others stand at that time singing psalms. Others are
more occupied in reading. And some out of weakness courageously resist sleep by working with their
hands. Others try to feel the horror of the thought of death, hoping thus to obtain contrition. And of all
these, the first and last are in all-night vigil for the love of God; the second do what befits a monk;
while the third go the lowest way. Yet God accepts and values the offerings of each according to their
intention and power.
3. A vigilant eye makes the mind pure; but much sleep binds the soul.
4. A vigilant monk is a foe to fornication but a sleepy one mates with it.
5. Vigil is a quenching of lust, deliverance from dream phantoms, a tearful eye, a softened heart, the
guarding of thoughts, the dissolving of food, the subduing of passions, the taming of spirits, the
bridling of the tongue, the banishment of phantasies.
6. A monk who denies himself sleep is a fisher of thoughts, and in the stillness of the night he can
easily observe and catch them.
7. The God-loving monk, when the bell rings for prayer, says: ‘Good, good!’ The lazy one says: ‘What
a nuisance!’
71
8. The preparing of the table exposes gluttons, but the work of prayer exposes lovers of God. The
former dance on seeing the table, but the latter scowl.
9. Long sleep produces forgetfulness, but vigil purifies the memory.
10. The farmer’s wealth is gathered on the threshing floor and in the wine-press, but the wealth and
knowledge of monks is gathered during the evenings and the night hours while standing at prayer and
engaged in spiritual activity.
11. Long sleep is an unjust comrade; it robs the lazy of half their life, and even more.
12. The inexperienced monk is wide awake in friendly conversation; but his eyes become heavy when
the hour of prayer is upon him.
13. The lazy monk is famous and skilled at talking; but when reading is about to begin, he cannot keep
his eyes open. At the sound of the trumpet the dead will rise, and when idle talk is afoot those who
were asleep come to themselves.
14. The tyrant sleep is a crafty friend; when we are full of food it often leaves us; but in hunger and
thirst it attacks us vigorously.
15. It suggests that we should do handwork during our prayers; for it cannot otherwise foil the prayers
of the vigilant.
16. It first enters into conflict with beginners in order to make them negligent from the very outset or to
prepare the way for the demon of fornication.
17. Not until we are freed from this should we beg to be excused common worship, for often shame
keeps us from dozing. The hound is the enemy of the hares, and the demon of vainglory is the enemy
of sleep.
18. When the day is over, the vendor sits down and counts his profits, but the ascetic does so when the
psalm-singing is over.
19. When prayer is finished wait soberly, and you will see that swarms of demons, as if challenged by
us, try to invade us after prayer with absurd phantasies. Sit and watch; you will see those who are in
the habit of snatching away the first fruits of the soul.
20. It may happen that continuous meditation on passages of the Psalms is prolonged into the hour of
sleep. And it may happen that the demons put these passages into our mind in order to lead us to
pride. I would not have mentioned the third case, had not someone forced me to do so. The soul which
has spent all day unceasingly engaged with the word of the Lord will love to be occupied with it in
sleep too. For this second grace is in a special sense a reward for the first and helps us to avoid falls and
phantasies.
This is the twentieth step. He who has mounted it has received light in his heart.
Εγγραφή σε:
Σχόλια ανάρτησης (Atom)
-
Step 6 On remembrance of death. 1. Every word is preceded by thought. And the remembrance of death and sins precedes weeping and mourning. ...
-
Step 23 On mad2 pride, and, in the same Step, on unclean blasphemous thoughts. 1. Pride is denial of God, an invention of the devil, the de...
-
THE LADDER OF DIVINE ASCENT St. John Climacus Translated by Archimandrite Lazarus Moore (Harper & Brothers, 1959) An Ascetic Treatise b...
-
Step 29 Concerning heaven on earth, or godlike dispassion and perfection, and the resurrection of the soul before the general resurrection....
-
Step 3 On exile or pilgrimage2 1. Exile means that we leave forever everything in our own country that prevents us from reaching the goal o...
-
Step 12 On lying. 1. The offspring of flint and steel is fire; and the offspring of chatter and joking is lying. 2. A lie is the destructio...
-
Step 20 On bodily vigil and how to use it to attain spiritual vigil and how to practise it. 1. Some stand before earthly kings without weap...
-
Step 26 On discernment of thoughts, passions and virtues 1. Discernment in beginners is true knowledge of themselves; in intermediate souls...
-
Step 13 On despondency. 1 1. As we have already frequently said, this—we mean despondency—is very often one of the branches of talkativenes...
-
Step 15 On incorruptible purity and chastity to which the corruptible attain by toil and sweat.2 Foreword We have heard from that raving mi...
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου