On every Saturday, except the Great Sabbath, it behooves you to eat twice, as is prescribed above for Tuesday and Thursday. This is both in accordance with the definition of the sacred rules, and because throughout the whole summer of the Lord's days you must perform vigils, except for the cheese vigil, and also in addition to the occasion when some great feast of the Lord occurs during the week, or the feast of any of the great saints. Then keep vigil in these days, and on the day of the Lord leave it. "But so or so it will be, on Saturday all take two meals. However, since it is useful for you always to compel yourself to perform the vigil of the night, it is much better for you, in spite of the celebration of the vigil during the week, on the occasion of the above-mentioned days, to perform it also on the Resurrection. You will soon see for yourself the great benefit of this; Thy light shall be opened, let us say by the words of the prophet Isaiah, "Thy light shall shine early, and thy healings shall soon shine" (Isaiah 58:8).

St. St. Isaac says: "For every struggle against sin and lust, the labor of vigil and fasting is the beginning, especially for him who struggles against the sin that is within us. And from this we see a sign of hatred of sin and lust in those who struggle in this invisible battle. And all almost passionate prepositions begin to diminish from fasting. After it, the night vigil especially contributes to asceticism. Throughout his life, he who loves to converse with this two, is a friend of chastity. Just as resting the belly and sleeping too much to the point of weakness, kindling the lust of fornication, is the beginning of all evils: so is the holy path of God and the foundation of all virtue fasting, vigil and vigilance in the priestly service of God." — Again: "In a soul overturned by the memory of God and by unceasing vigil night and day, — this is where the Lord builds a cloud for its strengthening and protection, which covers it with its shadow in the days, and illuminates it with the light of fire in the night" (Psalm 77:14). Again: "Choose for yourself a sweet work, an everlasting vigil at night, by which all the fathers have cast off the old man and have been vouchsafed the renewal of the mind. In these hours the soul feels this immortal life, and in its feeling it casts off the darkness of passions, and receives the Holy Spirit." Again: "Almost a vigil, that thou mayest find consolation in thy soul." Again: "Do not think, O man, that in all monastic asceticism there is any work greater than the night vigil." Again: "Do not look upon a monk who dwells in vigil with the discernment of the mind, as one who bears the flesh: for this work, as truly, is the work of the Angelic order." Again: "The soul working in this angelic work of vigil will have the eyes of the cherubim, and with them it will contemplate and see unceasingly the heavenly visions."

Spend these vigils in prayer, psalmody and reading, purely, unscrupulously and with contrite tenderness, alone, or with a kindly and like-minded companionship. After each of your vigils, for the sake of labor, from the vigil that was, do a little consolation in food and drink at supper, namely: eat three bread of Ungia, with an addition and some dry food, as much as you need, drink and wine and water three cups. But look. having a vigil on the ninth day, do not violate the vigil of the nine in any way for the sake of this. For this is fitting to do and not to forsake it. The consolation of which we speak here is due after the vigil.

34) How it is proper to eat on Sundays, and about other things, as well as about work and humility.

Likewise, on all Sundays, eat twice a day, as on Saturdays. This institution should be kept as it should be, except for infirmity. Do the same on all days in which the Holy Fathers have permitted you to do so, or it has been established by a long custom, for whatever reason. And on these days we do not eat once, and do not keep dry food, but we eat of all that is useful and not shameful, also of vegetables, which will happen, however, with abstinence, and in a certain quantity; for abstinence in all things is always a beautiful thing. With bodily infirmities, it is possible, as we have said, to eat without being ashamed of all that is necessary and permitted to us for the maintenance of the body. For the Holy Fathers taught us to be passion-killers, and not body-killers. And what is permitted we do not mean to Christians in general, but to us, according to our monastic order. Commune of all this with thanksgiving, to the glory of God, and in order to avoid arrogance, only do not allow yourself to be excessive. "The poverty of things," says St. Isaac, "involuntarily teaches a person abstinence, even if he does not want to; on the contrary, when we have plenty of them, and access to them is open, then it is difficult for us to restrain ourselves." Do not love bodily repose. For "the soul that loves God, according to the words of the Monk Isaac again, has rest in God alone." "Choose for yourselves more labor and poverty in maintenance, and humility. For "labor and humility," writes one of the saints, "gain Christ."

35) What diet should be kept and how one should live during Lent, and especially during Great Lent.

About diet and about the way of life in general during the holy fasts, I think, it is superfluous to explain in particular and in detail. For as it is ordained for you to act on those days in which you keep the nine, so you must also act on the holy fasts, except Saturdays and Sundays. But, if thou canst, behave in them even more strictly, and even more soberly, especially on the holy Great Forty Days, which is, as it were, a tithe to God from the whole year, and to the victors of Christ bestows rewards for their exploits on the radiant day of the Divine Resurrection.

36) On reasoning in particular, and on the fact that there is no price for moderate action; and obedience.

However, all this and all the like must you go through with careful consideration, in order to preserve a peaceful heart, dispensation, while satisfying the needs of your twofold nature. With wisdom, says the Most Wise, a house is built, and with understanding it is straightened out: with feeling are filled with treasures of all honest and good riches (Proverbs 24:3, 4). The divine Thalassius also writes: "The prudent poverty and straitness of the king is the way; reckless self-exhaustion and wordless indulgence are harmful, as they are useless on both sides." And the Monk Isaac: "The weakening of the members is followed by a frenzy and confusion of thoughts; after immoderate work there is despondency, and after despondency there is frenzy. But one transgression differs from another: the first transgression is followed by fornication; and after the second, leaving his silent abode, and moving from place to place. Moderate and patient, though with difficulty, work is priceless. The belittling of ascetic self-labor multiplies the sweetness of sin, and the immensity in it breeds ecstasy" (Verse 71, p. 524). And St. Maximus the Confessor: "Do not care all about the flesh, but having determined for it a podvig according to its strength, turn your whole mind to the inner. For bodily instruction is profitable in a little, but godliness is profitable in all things (1 Tim. 4:8)" [On Love, One Hundred, 4-63]. But when the weighing cup of the flesh is somewhat overdrawn, it torments and burdens the cup of the soul, drawing it to desires and movements that are disorderly and suffocating, as it is written: "The flesh lusts after the spirit, but the spirit against the flesh" (Gal. 5:15); then you yourself, having restrained it with the reins of abstinence, put it to death until it reluctantly becomes obedient to the ruler and submits to the best, remembering the words of the great Paul: "As our outward man decays, so much does the inward man renew himself all the days" (2 Corinthians 4:16)," and St. Isaac: "Let yourself die in asceticism, and not live in negligence: for not only those who have accepted death for their faith in Christ, are martyrs, but also those who die for the observance of the commandments" — Again: "It is better for us to die in exploits than to live in falls." Again: "The main thing is to do everything with the advice and enquiry of your spiritual father about Christ Jesus: for in this way, by the grace of Christ, the intolerable and the swift are easy, and it will seem to you as if you are rushing through an equal, somewhat sloping field." But it is time for us to return to what we have departed from (See Chapter 27).

(37) As a ascetic, one should spend the time from eating to the setting of the sun; and that we must believe, that according to the work and measure of our work, the alms of the divine gifts are added to us.

Having strengthened yourself with food, as befits a ascetic, according to the word of the divine Paul, who commands: "Strive to abstain from all" (1 Corinthians 9:25), sit down and read the writings of the fathers sufficiently, especially those that teach sobriety; then sleep for one hour, if the days are long; Then, getting up, do a little handiwork, holding prayer as well; after this, pray as it was shown before... Read again, meditate and learn, trying in every way to be humble and to have yourself lower than all people.

For exalt himself, saith the Lord, he shall humble himself; but humble thyself, he shall be exalted (Luke 18:14); again: "Take heed to stand, lest it fall" (1 Cor. 10:12); again: the Lord resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6; Proverbs 4:34). Again: the beginning of pride is apostasy from the Lord (Sir. 10:14); again: "Gordii transgressed the law to the ground" (Psalm 118:51); and again: "Not lofty in wisdom, but led by the humble" (Romans 12:16). And the divine Chrysostom says: "He knows himself best who thinks of himself as nothing; and nothing is so pleasing to God as to count oneself among the last." And St. Isaac: "Mysteries are revealed to the humble-minded." Again: "Where humility grows, there the glory of God flows." Again: "Grace is preceded by humility, and punishment is preceded by self-conceit." And St. Barsanuphius: "If you truly wish to be saved, then show obedience by your very deeds: raise your feet from the earth, lift up your mind to heaven, and there be your mind night and day, but at the same time, as much as you have strength, consider yourself contemptible, straining in every way to see yourself as inferior to any person. This is the true way; except for him there is no other for him that desires to be saved in Christ Who strengthens him (Phil. 4:13). Let the desire flow; let it flow; let him flow — let him comprehend (1 Corinthians 9:24). I bear witness to this before the living God, Who desires to grant eternal life to everyone who wills" (Rev. 477). And St. Climacus: "I did not fast, I did not keep vigils, I did not sleep on the bare ground, but humbled myself, seeking above all things imputation to myself, and the Lord will soon save me" (Ps. 114, 5)». Again, St. Barsanuphius says: "Neglect of everything brings you closer to the city; Disrespect for oneself with anything among people instills in the city, and death for every person makes the heir of the city and its treasures." Again: "If you want to be saved, keep yourself imputed to nothing, and flow forward." "Imputing oneself to nothing," according to St. John, a disciple of this saint, "is not to equate oneself with anyone, and not to speak of a good deed: I have done the same."

After this, pray again purely and without steaming, until the evening subsides. Here sing the usual vespers and perform the dismissal, believing from a pure heart that, to the extent of our labor and illness for the sake of virtue, and in general to the extent of our ascetic work, God grants us alms of gifts, crowns and consolations, as the divine Psalmist says: "Because of the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, Thy consolation hath made my soul rejoice" (Psalm 93:19). And the Saviour Himself: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28); and Paul the Great: Inasmuch as we suffer with Him (Christ), that we also may be glorified with Him. For we are unworthy of the passion of this present time for the glory that desires to be manifested in us (Romans 8:17, 18); and Maximus, the most wise in the understanding of divine things: "The reason (for this or that) distribution of divine blessings is the measure of the faith of each. For as long as we believe. We have the ceiling and the power of zeal for acting in faith. Why does he who acts according to faith, according to his activity, show both the measure of faith, accepting, in so far as he believed, and the measure of grace? And he who does not act according to faith, in accordance with his idleness, also shows the measure of unbelief, accepting, since he did not believe, the deprivation of grace. In this way, the envious one does evil, envying those who are prosperous, when it is clearly in his power, and not anyone else, to apply faith and activity according to faith, in order to receive the grace that comes to him according to the measure of faith."

Finally, ask from your heart for the rest of the time to abide in peace and repentance, to be vouchsafed a Christian end of life, painless, shameless and peaceful, and a good answer at the dreadful judgment of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ.