Conversation 4. Christians, in order to be vouchsafed heavenly praise from God and from the angels, must attentively and carefully carry out their course in the field of this world.

1. Whoever wishes to lead the Christian life with great precision and perfection must first of all take care of the meaning and reason of the soul, so that, having acquired the ability to distinguish accurately between good and evil, and in any case discerning what has come into pure nature that is not peculiar to it, we may live correctly and without stumbling, and that, using the intellect as an eye, to be able for us not to make friends and not to agree with the suggestions of vice, but through this, having been vouchsafed the Divine gift, to become worthy of the Lord. Let us take an example from the visible; for there is a similarity between the body and the soul, between the bodily and the mental, the visible and the hidden.

2. The body has the eye as its guide, and it sees, and the whole body leads the proper way. Imagine, then, that someone walks through wooded places, overgrown with thorns and shady, where fire blocks the way and swords are thrust in; there are rapids and many waters. If the traveler is quick-witted, cautious and fearless, then, having an eye as a guide, he passes through these difficult places with great attentiveness, and with his hands and feet he restrains his tunic in every possible way, so as not to tear it among the trees and in thorns, not to stain it with mud, not to cut it with swords; and the eye, serving as a light for the whole body, shows it the way, so that it does not break down in the rapids, or drown in the waters, or suffer harm in some difficult place. Thus the quick-witted and clever traveler, having carefully picked up his tunic, walking directly at the direction of the eye, preserves himself unharmed, and the tunic he wears preserves unburned and untorn. If a person who is negligent, lazy, careless, clumsy, inactive passes through such places; then his tunic, fluttering hither and thither, because the traveler lacks firmness to choose his clothes in every possible way, is torn against knots and thorns, or is set ablaze by fire, or cut by thrust swords, or gets dirty in the mud; in a word, his beautiful and new tunic soon deteriorates from his inattention, inactivity and laziness. And if the traveler does not pay full and due attention to the direction of the eye; then he himself will fall into the pit, or drown in the waters.

3. In the same way, the soul, wearing the garment of the body like a beautiful tunic, and having an intellect that gives direction to the whole soul and body, when it passes along the wooded and thorny paths of life, among the mud, fire, rapids, that is, lusts and pleasures, and other inconsistencies of this age, must everywhere restrain and protect itself with sobriety, courage, diligence and attentiveness. And so that the bodily tunic in the wooded and thorny places of this world does not tear somewhere from cares, lack of leisure and earthly amusements, and does not burn from the fire of lust; then the soul clothed in it turns away the eye so as not to see deceit, and also turns away the ear so as not to hear gossip, restrains the tongue from vain conversations, hands and feet from evil occupations; for the soul is given the will to turn away the bodily limbs and not to allow them to engage in evil spectacles, to hear anything evil and shameful, to indecent words, to worldly and evil occupations.

4. The soul itself turns away from evil circles, guarding the heart, so that its thoughts do not spin in this world. And in this way, asceticizing, using all diligence and with great attention on every occasion restraining the bodily members from evil, he keeps the beautiful tunic of the body untorn, unburned, unblackened. And she herself will be protected by the curiosity, intelligence and prudence of her will, and most of all by the power of the Lord, since, to the best of her ability, she restrains herself and turns away from any worldly desire, and for this she receives help from the Lord to actually protect herself from the evils enumerated above. For the Lord, as soon as He sees that someone courageously turns away from worldly pleasures, from material amusements and cares, from earthly bonds and from the whirling of vain thoughts, He gives His grace-filled help to such a person, and without stumbling He preserves this soul, which beautifully completes its course in the present evil age. And in this way, the soul is honored with heavenly praise from God and from the Angels, for having beautifully guarded both itself and the robe of its body, as far as it was possible, turning away from all worldly lusts, and, aided by God, beautifully completed its course in the field of this world.

5.

For this reason she is expelled from the kingdom. For what will God do to him who, of his own free will, gives himself over to the world, is deceived by its pleasures, or wanders, whirling in material things? He gives His help to those who turn away from material pleasures and former habits, who always directs his thoughts with effort to the Lord, who renounces himself, and who seeks the Lord alone. God also watches over him who, in the wilds of this world, on every occasion beware of snares and snares, who with fear and trembling works out his own salvation (Phil. 2:11), with all attentiveness avoids the snares, snares and lusts of this world, but seeks the Lord's help and, by the mercy of the Lord, hopes to be saved by grace.

6. Behold, the wise five virgins, sobering, hastening to the extraordinary for their nature, taking oil into the vessels of their hearts, that is, the grace of the Spirit given from above, were able to enter with the Bridegroom into the heavenly palace. Other foolish virgins, who remained in their own nature, did not sober up, did not try, while they were still in the flesh, to take the oil of joy into their vessels (Psalm 44:8), but through negligence, inactivity, carelessness, ignorance, or even through self-conceit about their righteousness, they gave themselves over as if to sleep; and for this reason they were not admitted into the palace of the kingdom, as they were unable to please the heavenly Bridegroom. Being held together by worldly bonds and some earthly love, they did not dedicate all their love and devotion to the heavenly Bridegroom, and did not bring oil with them. And the souls that have sought that which is unusual for nature, the holiness of the Spirit, are attached to the Lord with all their love, walk with Him, turning away from everything, directing their prayers and thoughts to Him; for which they were vouchsafed to receive the oil of heavenly grace; and after this they can continue their course without stumbling, fully pleasing the spiritual Bridegroom in everything. But the souls that remain in their nature crawl on earth in thought, they think about the earth, and their mind has its own abode on earth. They think of themselves as belonging to the Bridegroom, and are adorned with carnal justifications; but not having received the oil of joy, they were not regenerated by the Spirit from above.

7. The five intellectual senses of the soul, if they receive the grace from above and the holiness of the Spirit, are indeed wise virgins who have received grace-filled wisdom from above. And if they remain in their nature alone, then they become fools for Christ and turn out to be children of the world; because they have not cast off the spirit of the world, although they think of themselves, in certain probabilities and outwardly, that they are brides of the Bridegroom. As souls that have completely cleaved to the Lord, abide in Him in thought, lift up prayers to Him, walk with Him, and desire the love of the Lord; Thus, on the contrary, souls that have given themselves over to the love of the world and have desired to have their abode on earth, walk there, there they dwell in thought, there their mind lives. And therefore, they are not inclined to the good philosophizing of the spirit, as to something extraordinary for our nature, and by this I mean heavenly grace, which is necessary to enter into the composition and union with our nature, so that we may enter with the Lord into the heavenly palace of the kingdom and obtain eternal salvation.

8. As a result of the disobedience of the first man, we have taken into ourselves that which is strange to our nature, harmful passions, and by habit and long-term assimilation we have turned them for ourselves, as it were, into nature; and again, by the heavenly gift of the Spirit, which is unusual for our nature, it is necessary to expel this strange thing from us and restore us to our original purity. And if now, with much supplication, supplication, faith, prayer, and abhorrence of the world, we do not receive into ourselves this heavenly love of the Spirit, and our nature, defiled by vice, does not cling to love, that is, to the Lord, and is not sanctified by it by the love of the Spirit, and we do not remain unstumbled to the end, living in all exactness according to the commandments of the Lord; then we will not be able to gain the heavenly kingdom.

9. I intend, to the best of my ability, to utter a certain subtle and profound word. Therefore, listen sensibly. The boundless, unapproachable and uncreated God, in His boundless and inconceivable goodness, made Himself flesh, and, so to speak, diminished Himself in unapproachable glory, so that He could enter into unity with His visible creatures, that is, the souls of the Saints and Angels, and they could be partakers of the life of the Godhead. And every creature – the Angel, the soul, and the demon, by its own nature, is a body; for although they are refined, yet in their essence, in their distinctive features and in their image, in accordance with the refinement of their nature, they are subtle bodies, whereas this body of ours in its essence is debelo. In the same way, the soul, being refined, is clothed with the eye with which it looks, and with the ear with which it hears, and likewise with the tongue with which it speaks, and with the hand; and in a word, having clothed itself with the whole body and its members, the soul is dissolved with the body, as a result of which all the functions of life are performed.

10. In the same way, the boundless and inconceivable God, in His goodness, made Himself smaller, clothed Himself in the members of this body, and hid Himself from unapproachable glory. In condescension and love for mankind, transfiguring Himself, He makes Himself flesh, enters into unity, receives holy, well-pleased, and faithful souls, and, according to Paul's saying, is with them in one Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17), soul, so to speak, into soul, and hypostasis into hypostasis, so that the soul, worthy of God and pleasing to Him, may live in renewal and feel immortal life, and become a partaker of incorruptible glory. For even this visible creation He brought from non-existence into existence in a great variety and with many differences, and it did not exist until it was brought into being. He willed, and without difficulty created out of nothing coarse and harsh creatures, for example: mountains, trees (you see how hard their nature is!), then means — waters, and from the waters He commanded birds to be born, and still more subtle: fire and winds, and even those that are invisible to the bodily eye because of their subtlety.

11.

When He wills, He is a fire, burning up every worthless spiritual weakness that has come into us. For it is said: "Our God is a consuming fire" (Heb. 12:29). And when it wills, it is an ineffable and unspeakable repose, so that the soul may rest in the peace of the Divine. When he wants, he is joy and peace, warms and protects the soul.