On Life and Rational Action

Translated by Claude from N. Bonwetsch's German translation (1917) of the Old Church Slavonic; neither is shown

For how is it not right to think that whoever resists what is pleasing to God is worthy of eternal death? The sailor obeys the helmsman, and the soldier the general; the ox goes under the yoke, and the horse is held by the bridle; and the other animals, as is the law for them, are obedient and subject to their master. How then should man, who is set over them, not obey God? Will he not gladly receive what comes from heaven, quickly do what is commanded, and rejoice in the command as one made worthy of God's command? But we, though we are men and bear a burden of earth, are glad at what passes by, when it is pleasant and seen only for pleasure, supposing it to be good. We rejoice in these things as in some fine errors, from which alone we think we gain. But God, who created and made us, since he wills that man should not be saved in vain, does not bring man so much as to be held fast by pleasures, whose "end is death." Food that is too rich and abundant feeding weaken a man; and such men, made very feeble by rich living, become unfit for obedience to God's command.

Translated by Claude from N. Bonwetsch's German translation (1917) of the Old Church Slavonic; neither is shown

On the whole a man becomes rather stronger, made firm in body by many toils, and he receives a healthier soul as well from the toils and sufferings of life. This God brought upon men, wishing, as he judges, to prepare their minds for what is highly to be desired. For it is better, after living through hard conditions that last only for a time, to enjoy unceasing goods afterwards, than, after reveling briefly in pleasures, to fall into a strange and never-ending torment. That what is useful brings grief and what gives pleasure does harm is, I think, unknown to no one. It is like instruction for children, and hard … for those who wish to remain under instruction. Is it not plain how, after hardships have come first, virtue afterwards shows itself in the very progress; and how those who suffered through not experiencing what was useful and not seeing the goods to come receive from it a sweet and blessed fruit? For those whose bodies are under a physician's care, who suffer in sickness, do not demand health at once; through the hope of the recovery to come they willingly take sufferings on themselves. In time the athlete learns; by toil and suffering he learns from his youth; he sets his table sparingly and takes punishing food, fleeing what stirs up pleasure, by which he is not nourished and in which he takes no delight, so that by keeping its rules he may crown his fatherland. This happens in small things and is visible to all. People understand the arrangements of common life, but not how each of the trials named works an unseen future benefit for those who suffer. For the goods that have not yet come are not quickly recognized by men in the same way; but we have recognized them, who have believed the One who knows that this is what we should say and ask for. So we have also learned that what is pleasing to him is also useful to us, knowing very well and being assured that what is useful to us is also what he desires. For the changes of life, even if what is changed is not at once plain to those people, turn out again for what is useful. Often, changing our needs within ourselves in poverty and in riches, we show that life is flowing in everything. And if some, by one way or another, keep their state unchanged to the end, soon such people, having left everything behind, have become like all others at their departure from all things: only those who hide earthly things in heaven have a different kind of life there.

Translated by Claude from N. Bonwetsch's German translation (1917) of the Old Church Slavonic; neither is shown

And if something second happens, let not those who fall away be offended by the change. For it is right to hear this law too. What among all things shows itself as always remaining the same? Do you not see the cycle of the year changing through the different seasons of many days? Though winter is unbearable to some, it is necessary for life. It nourishes and waters the earth, and though it weighs men down by the gloom of its nature, it soon shows benefit and kindness through the coming of the breezes, with which the earth, crowned (or "wedded"), brings men many and varied fruits. Many flee the heat of the sun, and yet it ripens our food. The rains often trouble us, but they serve to water the earth. Summer too changes and draws near to winter; and autumn shows a blending, from the mixing of both, for the gathering of the fruits. The sun too changes the air, passing elsewhere. Look also, O man, at the moon itself, how it too wanes and grows poor, and fills out and grows rich again. Let us look at the nature of the stars too, with which heaven is crowned, how these too have received a lot; and we behold their passages, which change by different modes and forms of passage, so that among all that circle in heaven only the Wagon, as they say, does not go down. Yet even it is not without motion: like an axle it too is turned by the circle that surrounds it; but it has no share (in setting), as they say, because it stays. Let us look again at the nature of springs, how these too do not remain in their places, but send out much water, which will not stay in the place where it was but passes on further, and is visible in its own right; and, fed by their mingling, they send out many great rivers.

Translated by Claude from N. Bonwetsch's German translation (1917) of the Old Church Slavonic; neither is shown

These are the works and changes of the nature of created things. So you too, O man, whether rich or poor, slave or king, should not love an unchanging stay; but exchange it now for another world as well, and see much, so that you may clearly see and understand the minds of many men. For there you will see many changes in many people, who change places with one another, and forms of life that alter one into another. You will see many there who rise from lowliness and who fall from the heights. Such are the mysteries of our life. Such things the Godhead appoints for men, moving them from place to place, from one way of life to another, as it wills for each in particular. It is ours to obey, to follow, and not to resist. But you, O man, creature of God, image of God, do not be offended at being led, do not call the command hard, and do not be disobedient when chastened; for he chastens you while you live, some as having already sinned, others so that they may not sin. Even if you go near the sea, do not fear its threats, for there too you find the footprints of God, which are to be followed without fear through water and wind and forest, trusting the right way. For the destruction of a kingdom is sad indeed to those it befalls and to those who hear of it. Desiring the pleasure whose enjoyment they had received, they have been robbed, and very great grief has come upon them. But since this did not happen without God, instead of lamenting it one must seek the cause of what happened, so that what comes from him may be well understood. For whoever wishes to learn will recognize from the One who brings it that it is God's will that the faithful accept from him what he has permitted.

Translated by Claude from N. Bonwetsch's German translation (1917) of the Old Church Slavonic; neither is shown

Know then, O man, when you think you are being robbed of something, that it is not eternal but temporal, so that it was something used, not something possessed. Those who hold to present things as though they were lasting will receive neither: robbed of the one, they do not receive the other. For the one passes away and dies like a shadow; the other remains forever as truly being. Let the nature of a thing be recognized from what befalls it: if it did not fall, it is the eternal; if it fell, it is destroyed. Is not what is temporal like a dream that appeared only in the hour of the night, whose illusion is exposed when day comes? What remains for those who despair of the supposed goods is to ask after the goods to come, which those who love them and ask after them will receive as a possession. For the supposed goods here are an image of the true ones. So, having bloomed for themselves a little while, they at once "withered," so that only "the word of God may remain." For "the kingdom is divided" … so that there too the word of God might be fulfilled. Let us lay aside the purple and put off the scarlet, for it does not quench the soul of the thirsty; and let us flee the "barns" filled with many great fruits of every kind. For those things are not ours when the "soul" leaves us. And even if we "gain the world, we have no profit, losing the soul." What is enough and moderate in food is sufficient, lest, having grown rich, I forget the Lord.

Translated by Claude from N. Bonwetsch's German translation (1917) of the Old Church Slavonic; neither is shown

These are God's instructions. Our Lord walked by these directions. Do you not see that he himself too, though he fills heaven and earth, did not love to stay in one place, but he too went away, and that by a departure for salvation, and was the first to show a life well lived and profitable? For he emptied himself of what is God's and put on what is man's, and among us he became one of the poor. He took no account of the rich, but imitated the poor. These he called blessed, promising them riches too, incorruptible and true, and a kingdom that cannot be destroyed; but of those who are "rich" now he said that they "receive their reward," for instead of the eternal they have loved this temporal ease. Let us also strive, disregarding the present, for it passes like a shadow, and loving the future, for it will remain and no one will take it away; for it is God's gift and incorruptible. Those who hold to those goods must count as little the goods here, which are only supposed goods, of which even the Lord refused to be master. Though he is the one who created them, he left them to another, handing over power over temporal things to the evil spirit and to men. Therefore one must not hold to them. For the possessions belong to such a lord, and "to whom he wills he gives them." He gives them to his own, who think everything that is his and hold him for lord and worship him. But it befits us, if we wish to follow God, to renounce the "broad and wide" way, because it is the way "of death," and to pass over to the narrow and unfriendly way, for it leads to life. If you are robbed of property, you gain by poverty, for in place of one thing you will receive many. If you lose one of those you love, they too are not lost to you; for those of whom you were deprived for a short time you will have forever. [8] Look, I pray, at that holy man, the herald of the coming of the Holy One, who was sent into the world for a short time and scarcely stayed in it, hardly heeding anything here; for he fed on "locusts and wild honey" and wrapped himself in "camel's hair." So among all "those born" he proved "the greater," because of the simplicity of his clothing, the plainness of his food, and the sparseness of his table. Look, I pray, also at that poor "widow" whose whole property was "two copper coins"; disregarding it, she surpassed many rich people in gifts. And if anyone wishes to fulfil the command of heaven and bring the law of salvation to its goal, he will find many occasions of suffering here: to disregard marriage while nature still wills and is able, or, "having two garments," to share with the poor and naked, or not to despise those who ask for food, or to serve the thirsty even with "cold water," or "to take into his house" one who has no shelter or dry place, or to bind his soul to the prisoner, or to serve one who suffers from sickness. Such a one will be counted among the choir at the right hand of the Judge and will be honored by the King, so that he will be called a son of God; he will live in unspeakable peace and feed on the riches of God, which cannot be counted out in any length of time.