(St. Gregory, who wished to know the way of life and spending time in the Basil wilderness, according to a humble opinion of himself, sets forth the rules of the ascetic life, shows the benefits of solitude, reading the Scriptures and prayer, and also describes the external life of the ascetic. (Written at the beginning of solitude)

I recognized your letter as one recognizes a friend's children by a remarkable resemblance to their parents. The position of the place, you say, does not mean much, and cannot produce in your soul any attraction to live with us, until you know something about our way of life and about spending time with us. Truly, this is your reasoning, worthy of your soul, which puts everything here in comparison with the blessedness that is prepared for us according to the promises.

But I am ashamed to write that I myself do night and day in this desert. For, although I had left the life of the city as a pretext for a thousand evils, I could not leave myself. But I am like people who, unaccustomed to sailing at sea, become exhausted and feel nauseous, complain about the size of the ship as the cause of the great pitching, and when they move from it to a boat or a small vessel, they suffer from nausea and dizziness; because with them they pass sorrow and bile. Similar is my position in a certain respect: because, carrying with us the passions that dwell in us, we are everywhere with the same rebellions; Therefore, we derive little benefit from this loneliness.

What were we to do and where to begin in order to follow in the footsteps of the Leader of our salvation? for He says: "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and come after Me" (Matt. 16:24). "Here's what:

One must try to have the mind in silence. Just as the eye, which is in constant motion, now turning to the sides, now often turning up and down, cannot clearly see what is before it, but on the contrary, if it wants to make its sight clear, it is necessary to direct its gaze to one visible object: so the human mind, if it is distracted by thousands of worldly cares, cannot clearly discern the truth. As one who is not yet bound by the bonds of marriage is disturbed by violent desires, irrepressible desires, and some kind of torment of love; thus the one who has already entered into marriage is met with a new agitation of cares; when there are no children, the desire to have them, and when there are children, the care of their upbringing, the protection of the spouse, the care of the house, the supervision of ministers, losses under contracts, disputes with neighbors, litigation in the courts, dangers in trade, labor in agriculture. Each day brings with it its own darkness of the soul, and the nights, inheriting the day's work, deceive with the same ideas. There is only one way to avoid this; it is a departure from this world. And withdrawal from the world does not consist in being outside the world in the body, but in tearing oneself away from addiction to the body in one's soul, in having neither a city, nor a house, nor property, nor companionship, to be non-acquisitive, not to worry about the means of life, careless, avoiding all intercourse with people, not knowing human rules, ready to accept what is imprinted in the heart by the divine teaching. And the preparation of the heart consists in weaning it from those rules which it has taken up from an evil custom, because even wax cannot be written without erasing the marks placed on it; and it is impossible to entrust the soul with divine dogmas without destroying in it the opinions rooted in habit. For this, of course, solitude is of great benefit to us, which lulls the passions in us, and gives the mind the leisure to completely cut them off from the soul. How easy it is to overcome tamed beasts; Thus, desires, anger, fear, sorrows, these evil poisonous beasts in the soul, if they are lulled to sleep by silence, and not driven into enrage by constant irritation, are more easily overcome by the power of reason.

Therefore, let such a place be chosen as, for example, ours, free from contact with people, so that nothing extraneous interrupts the incessant exercise. The exercise of piety nourishes the soul with divine contemplation. Therefore, what is more blessed than this is to imitate the face of the Angels on earth: at the very beginning of the day, to hasten to prayer, to honor the Creator with songs and songs; then, when the sun has fully risen, having set to work, and everywhere having prayer with him, to season his works with hymns, as with salt; because the consolations of song bring unsorrowful and joyful peace to the soul?

Thus, silence serves as the beginning of purification for the soul, when neither the tongue pronounces anything human, nor the eyes are occupied with the contemplation of goodness and proportion in the body, nor the ear relaxes the tension of the soul by listening to songs composed for pleasure, or by the conversations of joking and ridiculous people, which, as a rule, weakens the spiritual forces most of all. The mind, not being scattered by external objects, and not being amused by the world under the influence of the senses, enters into itself, and from itself ascends to the thought of God; but he who is illumined by this Goodness falls into oblivion of nature itself; The soul is carried away neither by the care of food nor by the concern of clothing, but, free from earthly cares, it directs all its zeal to the acquisition of eternal blessings, to the growth in it of chastity and courage, justice and prudence, as well as other virtues, which, being under these generic virtues, oblige the zealot to perform every work in life properly.

And the most important way by which we seek out what duty obliges us to do is the study of the inspired Scriptures; for in them we find rules of action, and in them the lives of blessed men, presented in writing, like some animated pictures of life according to God, are offered to us for imitation of good works. Therefore, in whatever way someone feels insufficient, studying the Scriptures, in him, as in a general hospital, he finds a medicine suitable for his illness. And the lover of chastity often rereads the story of Joseph, learns from him chaste actions, finding him not only abstaining from pleasures, but by habit disposed to virtue. And he learns courage from Job, who, at the unfortunate upheaval of his life, having in an instant turned from the rich to the poor and from the pious to childless, not only did not change in himself, preserving in everything an exalted way of thinking, but even without grief endured the fact that his friends, who came to console him, mocked him and aggravated his sorrow. Again, whoever has in mind how to be at the same time meek and magnanimous, in order to act against sin with anger, and against people with meekness, will find David courageous in his military exploits, but meek and unshakable in recompense for his enemies. Such is Moses, who with great anger rises up against those who have sinned before God, but with a meek heart endures slander against him. And just as painters, when they paint a picture from a painting, often peering into the original, try to transfer its features into their work, so he who is zealous to be made perfect in all parts of virtue must at all occasions look at the lives of the saints, as if at moving and acting statues, and through imitation make what is good in them his own.

Again, if the readings are followed by prayers, then the soul, moved by love for God, approaches them more vigorously and maturely. Beautiful is prayer that clarifies the thought of God in the soul. And by means of remembrance, the thought of God implanted in us is the indwelling of God Himself in us. In this way we become the temple of God, when unceasing remembrance is not interrupted by earthly cares, and the mind is not disturbed by sudden passionate movements, but the God-lover who avoids everything secludes himself in God, repelling from himself the passions that lure him to abstinence, and spends his time in occupations that lead to virtue.

In the tension of the voice, the middle should be preferred, so that with a small tension it does not remain meaningless, and with a greater intensification it does not become unbearable. You must think with yourself what you will say, and only then let the word go to the people. At meetings he should be affable, in pleasant conversations, not sweetening the speech with jokingness, but imparting to it the sweetness of the cordiality of advice. In any case, even if a reprimand should be made, cruelty should be avoided; for if you humble yourself out of humility, you will find convenient access to that which is in need of healing. And often the method of reprimanding is also useful to us, which is used by the Prophet, who pronounced the definition of condemnation to the sinning David, not on his own behalf, but using an introductory person, making David himself the judge of his own sin; so, having pronounced condemnation on himself, he no longer complained about the accuser.

A humble and contrite way of thinking is befitting a sad and downcast gaze to the ground, carelessness about appearance, uncombed hair, unwashed clothes. What those who mourn do with intent should not be manifested with us intentionally. It is necessary that the tunic be gathered on the body with a belt, however, the girdle should not lie higher than the loins (this would be effeminate), and not so loosely tightened that the chiton could flutter (this would be pampered). The gait should not be slow, which would reveal spiritual weakness, and again not quick and hurried, which would reveal the ecstatic movements of the soul. The purpose of clothing is one – to serve as a covering for the flesh, sufficient in winter and summer. But do not chase after pleasantness in color, after delicacy and softness in decoration, for to distinguish the good color of clothes is the same panache that women are occupied with, who dye their cheeks and hair in a foreign color. On the contrary, it is useful if the chiton is so thick that the wearer can warm himself without needing anything else. Shoes should be cheap, but sufficiently satisfying the needs. In a word, just as in clothing one should prefer what is necessary; Thus, bread will satisfy the need for food, water will quench the thirst of a healthy person, and even jams from seeds can maintain strength in the body for the necessary needs. And food should be eaten, not showing frenzied greed, but in all things observing firmness, meekness, and abstinence from pleasures, even at this very time having a mind not idle from the thought of God; on the contrary, the very quality of the food and the structure of the body that receives it must be turned into a pretext for the glorification of the Steward of the universe, by Whom various kinds of food adapted to the properties of the body are produced. Let the prayers after partaking of food contain both thanksgiving for what has been given and the petition of the promised. For the intake of food one definite hour should be appointed, and the same one and the same for a certain period of time, so that out of twenty-four hours in a day only one is used for the body, while all the other hours are spent by the ascetic in mental activity.

Sleep should be light, from which one can easily awaken, and which naturally follows after a small tasting of food, it should be interrupted with the intention of taking care of important matters. And immersion in deep sleep until the limbs are weakened, which gives time to irrational dreams, thus gives the sleeper a daily death. On the contrary, what others use the morning for, midnight serves the ascetics of piety for; for the silence of the night gives freedom to the soul most of all, when neither the eyes nor the ears convey to the heart harmful sights or rumors, but the mind is alone with God, and just as it corrects itself by remembering the sins it has committed, so it prescribes for itself rules for avoiding evil, and for committing deliberate things, it asks for God's help.

Such is my tale of brotherly love to you, O dear head! And Thou mayest be pleased to reward me with thy holy prayers, that I may be saved from this present evil age, and from foolish men, and having been freed from all sin, or rather, separated from the enemy himself, and the slander of our life, with a pure heart, to behold in the knowledge of God of all, according to the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

10. To the mother of Dionysius