The monks Kallistos and Ignatius Xanthopoulos admonished the silent, in a hundred chapters

Chapters 1 – 20

1) About the need to teach each other goodness.

We, who, as children of Light and heirs of God, co-heirs with Christ, according to the divine promise, should be taught by God Himself (John 6:45), to bear the New Testament inexpressibly in our hearts more clearly than the flame of the New Testament, and to be guided by a good and righteous Spirit, should live in angelic imitation and have no need for anyone to teach us: "Know the Lord" (Jeremiah 31:1, 34). But just as now, on the one hand, our deviation from good and deviation from evil from childhood, and on the other hand, the deception and irreconcilable enmity of the fierce Belial against us, teach us, having turned away from the salvific and God-created commandments, to rush along the soul-destroying rapids, and, what is most deplorable, incite us against ourselves and to philosophize and act, to the point that, according to the word of God, Do not understand or seek God, and we all, having deviated from the right path, have become incapable (Psalm 13:2, 3), carnal and without grace: then we have an extreme need for mutual direction towards good and cooperation in this.

2) It is indicated that this instruction is written at the request of a certain brother and in fulfillment of the commandment of the fathers; God's help is asked for himself to write, and for those who read it to understand and fulfill it.

Inasmuch as thou, impelled, according to the word of the Lord, by the desire to test the divine life-giving Scriptures, and to be consecrated into their mysteries infallibly, hast often asked of us for the infallible words and written canons, for the benefit of thyself, and perhaps also of others, as thou sayest: then we, if not before, then now have deemed it necessary, with God's help, to fulfill thy laudable desire, forgetting out of love for you and for your benefit, about our fellow pupil — sloth, and imitating you in your zeal for good and your tireless diligence, our spiritual and most beloved child, and above all fearing God's condemnation, which threatens everyone who hides his talent, and at the same time wishing to fulfill the commandment of our fathers, which our fathers and spiritual teachers have taught us, so that we may entrust to other God-loving people what we have learned from them. And may God, the Father of love, and of all good things in general, the all-bountiful Giver, Who gave the word even to the foolish beasts, grant to us, who are slow and dumb, a useful word for the opening of our mouths, for the benefit of those who hear, and to you and to those who come, according to His word, may He put an ear to hear these things wisely and prudently, and as it is pleasing to Him, to live unswervingly according to this: for without Him, as it is written, we cannot do anything useful and salvific (John 15:5), and: "Unless the Lord buildeth a house, he laboureth in vain to build it" (Psalm 126:1).

3) The program of the instruction to be given.

Inasmuch as every deed is directed by the goal, and our aim is to express to the best of our ability all that can contribute to your success, and with thee that according to what is said, he will direct his life exactly: then first of all it is necessary to understand what in the fullness of the economy of Christ, looking at the fullness of the economy of Christ, we can faithfully lay the foundation for the edifice of life, and to complete its building, and in due time, or as God wills, who is fitting to lay shelter upon it, — all by the architectonism of the Spirit (paraphrase: for the speech is dark).

4) The main beginning of the instruction.

The basic principle of our instruction with God's help is briefly combined in the following proposition: we must strive in every possible way and with all our might to live according to the law of all the God-created commandments of the Saviour; — so that through their observance we may ascend again to that spiritually perfect and grace-filled imagination and re-creation, which in the beginning was given to us, in the holy font, or, — if it pleases you to define this gift in this way — so that, putting aside the old Adam with his deeds and lusts, we may put on the new and spiritual, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, as the most divine Paul says: "My child, by whom the sick are formed, until Christ is imagined in you (Gal. 4:19); and: "If you are baptized into Christ, you will put on Christ" (Gal. 3:27).

5) The glory of the grace of holy baptism, and what darkens it, and what restores it.

What kind of grace is this, and how we are vouchsafed it, what darkens it and what purifies it, St. Chrysostom, who shines more than any gold in soul and word, will explain to you, saying: "Beholding the glory of the Lord, we are transformed into the same image (2 Cor. 3, 18). This was clearer to the faithful of the times of the Apostles, when the gifts of miracles were at work; however, whoever has the eyes of faith, even now it is not difficult for him to understand this. At the same time as we are baptized, our soul, cleansed by the Spirit, becomes brighter than the sun; and we are not only able to look at the glory of God, but we ourselves receive from it a certain radiance. As pure silver, lying against the sun's rays, emits rays not only from its own nature, but also from the splendor of the sun: so the soul, purified by the Spirit of God and made more brilliant than silver, receives into itself a ray of the glory of God, and reflects from itself a ray of the same glory. For this reason the Apostle says: beholding the glory of the Lord, in the same image we are transformed from glory to glory, that is, from the glory of the Spirit into our glory, which dwells in us, and moreover into such glory as is proper to be from the Spirit of the Lord."