4. As a ship cannot set sail until the loading is completed, so the soul cannot escape the waves of passions if it lacks some virtues. In the same way, a warrior who goes out to fight with the enemies of the king will not be able to resist them if he does not go out fully armed. And a monk will not be able to resist the passions if he forgets about any virtue. A walled city will easily be captured if there is a breach in at least one place of the wall. As many guards as you want to place at the gates, they will not be able to stop the enemies at the city walls until the breach is repaired. In the same way, a monk who has been possessed by some passion will not be able to cope with his enemies.

5. It is not I who speak of this, but the Divine Scriptures. In the book of Genesis it is said: And the Lord [God] said to Noah... I have seen you righteous before me in this generation" (Gen 7:1). And he said to him (Abraham), "Be blameless; and I will establish my covenant between me and you (Gen 17:1-3). The Scriptures bear witness to the same thing about Job. And Isaac, blessing his son Jacob, said: "May God Almighty bless you" (Gen 28:3), so that you may be able to do all His will.

6. Ecclesiastes teaches us: even the smallest passion destroys all the power of virtues: Dead flies spoil and defile the fragrant ointment (Eccl. 10:1). And in the book of Ezekiel it is said: "In that day the righteous shall be deceived by his righteousness, and I will not remember him" (cf. Ezekiel 18:24). And the Apostle remarked: "A little leaven leavens the whole dough" (1 Cor 5:6). James said: "Whoever keeps the whole law and sins in one thing becomes guilty of all things" (James 2:10).

7. We learn about the same from history. Let us remember how Achan, who stole the gifts of Jericho, deprived the entire nation of God's help. Israel could not defeat their enemies or go to battle at all until they drove out Achan (Josh 7:1). We see that Saul also lost his kingdom when he accepted Amalek's offering (1 Samuel 15:1). And Jonathan's ignorance, how through ignorance he broke his father's oath, and God did not hear Israel on that day (1 Samuel 14:24).

8. Ananias and his wife Sapphira withheld the value of the field, and having lied, immediately fell at the feet of the apostles and gave up their souls (Acts 5:1). And many other examples can be cited from the Old and New Testaments. But for the pious reader, what has been said is enough. One thing you need to know: a person who does evil will not be able to do good. It happens that a person, intending to achieve good, commits evil. This happens when a person sins and does not repent. And if a person truly repents, then he will not sin. Whoever has known true repentance does not divide time into hours for God, in which he performs good deeds, and hours for the devil, in which he sinks into intemperance. He does not live either in piety or in lawlessness, he is not a servant of God or a slave of the devil, but he is always the same.

9. Everyone who commits sin, says the Lord, is a slave to sin (Jn 8:34). And a slave of sin cannot serve God. As the Lord said falsely in the Gospel: "No one can serve two masters" (Mt 6:24). What fellowship is there between righteousness and iniquity? says the Apostle. "What does light have to do with darkness?" What agreement is there between Christ and Belial? What is the participation of the faithful with the unbeliever? What is the commonality of the temple of God with idols? (2 Corinthians 6:14-16). Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and spirit, performing holiness... (2 Corinthians 7:1) in the love of Christ, that is, in every good work. Whoever has escaped a multitude of sins, but is still captive by some small sin, is not yet Free. Whoever is defeated by someone is his servant (2 Peter 2:19).

If the small easily conquers someone, how much more will the great enslave him. It is impossible to cope with the great passions if you do not first conquer the small ones.

4. From Abba Mark

The Word of God has royal power and is useful to the listeners in practice, putting into their hearts the meaning of what is said. And if this is not so, then why is the Kingdom of Heaven like leaven, which a woman took and put into three measures of flour, until everything was leavened (Mt 13:33). That is, the human mind accepts the word of the Lord, hiding it in its threefold composition: body, soul, and spirit, according to the Apostle. And all the subtlety of his thoughts, scattered in many dimensions like flour, he gathers into a single dough of faith, in order to fully liken it to the active word.

2. Here is the exact meaning of this parable. The apostles were cleansed through the word (Jn 15:3) which they heard (from the Lord) and the power of the word, and became fit for work. For the word of God is alive and active. For this reason, the Lord condemned those who did not accept this power that accompanies the word as unbelievers: "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have had no sin: but now they have no excuse for their sin" (Jn 15:22).

3. All of us who have been baptized must fully believe in Christ and obey all His commandments, since we have received power from Him to do so. But not in such a way that at first only one commandment is fulfilled, then another, and each in turn, one might say, gradually. No, one must comprehend such commandments that encompass many others at once, and thus fulfill all of them together. Nor should we omit those which relate to individual cases and are therefore not so often used.

4. The commandments that describe isolated cases include, for example: "Give to everyone who asks you, and from him who takes what is yours do not demand it back" (Lk 6:30), and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you (Mt 5:42). And the general commandment, which includes the particulars, is to sell your possessions and give to the poor (Mt 19:21), and take up your cross and follow me (Lk 9:23). The Lord calls the Cross the endurance of sorrows.

5. Whoever distributed his possessions to the poor and took up his cross, by one of his actions fulfilled all the above-mentioned commandments. And also of particular cases it is said: "Thou shalt not commit adultery" (Exodus 20:14) and the like. And above them stand the commandments for the purification of thoughts and deliverance from all arrogance, which is puffed up against the knowledge of God. Whoever purifies his thoughts excludes any pretext for the above-mentioned sins.

6. Since we have been buried with Him by baptism (Rom 6:4) and have been cleansed from sin, and therefore sin no longer has power over us, we must obey all the commandments in order to attain the perfection granted to us in baptism. If we don't do that, we become unfaithful. Faith is not only in being baptized into Christ, but also in doing His commandments. And if, leaving the commandments aside, we are diligent in pleasures, then sin justly urges us. For as the dog returns to his vomit (2 Pet 2:22), according to the words of the Scriptures, so do we.