44 The whole of this section is read in manuscript.

to mix in everything that serves to reproach the sense of touch. And is the whole swarm of errors of the soul and arbitrariness able to count any word? It is said: "Evil thoughts proceed out of the heart" (Matt. 15:19), and a list of those who defile us with thoughts is added. And so, if everywhere the remnants of sins are spread out to us with all the senses and heartfelt movements of the soul, then who can say, as Wisdom says, "I have cleansed my heart" (Proverbs 20:9)? Who is clean from defilement? as Job testifies to such a thing (Job 4:4). And defilement for spiritual purity is pleasure, in many forms and in many ways mixed with human life both soul and body, thoughts and feelings, deliberate movements and bodily actions. Who, then, has a soul that is clean from this defilement? Who has not been struck by arrogance? Who is not trampled under the foot of pride? Who has not been shaken by the sinful hand? Whose foot did not hurry to vice? Who has not been defiled by a disorderly eye, who has not been plunged into impurity by an ignorant ear, who has not occupied the palate? Whose heart remained inactive for vain movements?

Since we have all these things in us, and those who live like beasts are very bad and intolerable, and those who are more attentive to themselves are more tolerable, but all who are of the same nature as us always necessarily participate in the errors of nature, then, falling down in prayer to God, we ask that we forgive us our debts. But such a voice is not accepted45 and does not reach the Divine ear, if our conscience does not cry out at the same time that it is a beautiful thing to share with others by the grace of sharing. For whoever considers that love for mankind is proper to God (and if he did not consider it proper, he would not ask God for what is unseemly and incongruous), justice demands that by his own deeds he confirm the judgment about a beautiful deed, so that he himself does not hear from the righteous Judge: "Physician, heal thyself. You beseech me for love for mankind, which you do not share with your neighbors. You ask for the forgiveness of debts; Why do you torture the debtor yourself? Do you beg that the handwriting be blotted out from you, and you yourself carefully keep the contracts with those who borrow from you? Do you ask for a reduction in the account of debts, and you yourself increase the loan with interest? Your debtor is in prison, and you are in the meetinghouse? He suffers for debts, and you ask for forgiveness of debt? Your prayer is not heard, because it is drowned out by the voice of the suffering. If you forgive bodily duty, spiritual bonds will be forgiven you. If you forgive, you will also be forgiven: you will be your own judge, you will prescribe a law for yourself, pronouncing a sentence about yourself by your disposition towards him who lies at your feet."

Something similar, it seems to me, the Lord teaches in another word, in the form of a narrative, offering this teaching. According to this narration, a certain king somewhere menacingly presides over the trial and summons the servants to him, collecting information about each of their orders. A debtor is brought before him, and the king shows him humanity, because the debtor, falling at his feet, has given a request instead of money in payment; and then he treats a slave like himself cruelly and inhumanely for a small debt, and angers the king with his inhumanity towards a slave like himself. The emperor commanded the executioners to banish him completely from the royal house, and to prolong the torment until he had endured a punishment worthy of guilt. And indeed, what is the meaning of a few worthless and easily counted oxen in comparison with thousands of talents,46 so are the debts of our brethren to us in comparison with our sins before God. To your detriment, of course, is either an insult inflicted by someone, or the depravity of a servant, or an evil intent on bodily life; and in the flames of your heart you are irritated to avenge this, you seek all possible means to punish those who have grieved you.

And if irritation is kindled against a servant, you do not reason that it is not nature, but lust for power that divides the human race into slaves and masters. For the Steward of the universe has ordained the one dumb nature to be a bondage to man, as the Prophet says: He hath put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,

45 According to the manuscript, instead of άπρακτος, it reads: α̉παραδίκτος.

46 The ovol and the talent are monetary units. — Ed. 25

the fowls of the air and the fish of the sea (Psalm 8:7-9).47 The Prophet also calls them servant, since it is said in another place of the prophecy: "He gives to cattle their food, and grain for the benefit of man" (Psalm 146:8-9). But God adorned man with the gift of freedom, so that he who is enslaved to you by custom and law has equality with you according to the dignity of nature. He did not receive existence from you, he does not live by you, he does not borrow physical and spiritual strength from you. Why then does your irritation rage rise up against him so much, if he has been lazy, or has left you, or, perhaps, has shown disdain to your eyes? You must look at yourself, what you have been like before the Lord, Who created you, brought you into the world through birth, made you a partaker of these miracles in the world, offered you the sun for your enjoyment, gave you all the means of life from the elements: from earth, from fire, from air, from water, provided you with the gift of understanding, impressionable feeling, knowledge of those who distinguish between good and evil? And what happened? Are you not obedient to such a Lord and stubborn against Him? Have you not departed from His dominion? Did you not flee to sin? Have you not exchanged good dominion for evil dominion for evil? Did not, as much as it depended on thee, leave the Lord's house empty, leaving that which thou hast been commanded to cultivate and keep (Gen. 2:15)? And is it not in the presence of the omnipresent all-seeing witness God that you either commit enumerated sins, or say, or think what you ought not to do? And then, when you are such and burdened with so many debts, do you consider it a great thing to show mercy to a slave like you by ignoring some of his sins against you?

Therefore, if we intend to offer God a prayer for mercy and forgiveness, let us prepare the boldness of conscience, let us present our lives as an intercessor for the prayer we pronounce, so that we may truly say: as we also forgive our debtors.

What is the meaning of what is added to what has been said? I consider it necessary not to leave this without consideration, so that, knowing whom we pray to, we may pray with the soul, and not with the body. And lead us not into temptation,48 but deliver us from evil (Matt. 6:13). What, brethren, is the power of what has been said? The Lord, it seems to me, calls the evil one in many ways according to the difference of evil powers, calling him by many names: the devil (Matt. 13:39), Beelzebub (Matt. 10:25), mammon (Matt. 6:24), the prince of peace (Jn. 14:30), the murderer (Jn. 8:44), the evil one, the father of lies (Jn. 8:44) and other similar names. Therefore, perhaps, one of the names understood about it is this: temptation. And this conjecture of ours is confirmed by the word-composition in what has been said; for the Lord, after the words: "Lead us not into temptation," adds a petition for deliverance from the evil one, as if both signify one and the same thing. If anyone does not enter into temptation, he is certainly beyond the power of the evil one; and whoever is in temptation is necessarily in the power of the evil one, then it follows that temptation and the evil one are one and the same in meaning.

What does such a teaching of prayer inspire us with? – To stand outside of what is seen in this world, as He tells His disciples in another place, that the whole world lies in evil (1 John 5:19). Therefore, whoever wishes to become outside the power of the evil one is necessarily transmigrated from the world. For temptation has no opportunity to touch the soul, if this worldly care, like some kind of bait, is placed on a treacherous bait, and does not stretch out to the greedy. But this idea will become much clearer to us from other examples. The sea is often frightening with its waves, but not for those who live far from it. Fire is destructive, but only for the substance placed in the fire. The war is terrible, but only for those who have joined the military ranks. Whoever avoids the calamities that befall in war prays that he will not fall into the necessity of war. Whoever fears fire prays that he may not be in the fire. Whoever trembles at sea prays that there will be no need for him to set sail. In the same way, he who fears the inclinations of the evil one, let him pray that he may not be in the power of the evil one. And since, as we said before, according to the words of the Scriptures, the whole world lies in evil, and in worldly affairs there are reasons for temptation, then he who prays for deliverance from the evil one does well and properly when he asks that

47 This is how the text is read from the manuscript.

48 Εί̉ς πειρασμὸν: into temptation.

He will not be tempted. For, without greedily attracting the bait, it is impossible for anyone to swallow the hook on the bait.