by St. Thalassios the Libyan
-- An all-embracing and intense longing for God binds those who experience it both to God and to one another.
-- An intellect that has acquired spiritual love does not have thoughts unworthy of this love about anyone.
-- He who has acquired love endures calmly and patiently the injuries and sufferings that his enemies inflict on him.
-- A person who does not tolerate suspicion or disparagement of others possesses true love.
-- If you tell your brother how someone else denigrates him you conceal your own envy in the guise of goodwill.
-- Worldly virtues promote human glory, spiritual virtues the glory of God.
-- A strong man is one who repels evil through the practice of the virtues and with spiritual knowledge.
-- If you wish to overcome impassioned thoughts, acquire self- control and love for your neighbor.
-- Firmly control anger and desire, and you will speedily rid yourself of evil thoughts.
-- Inner work destroys self-esteem and if you despise no one you will repel pride.
-- The genuineness of a friend is shown at a time of trial, if he shares the distress you suffer.
-- Waste your body with fasting and vigils, and you will repulse the lethal thoughts of pleasure.
-- The proper activity of the intellect is to be attentive at every moment to the words of God.
-- It is God's task to administer the world and the soul's task to guide the body.
-- Hardship and distress, whether of our own choosing or providential, destroy sensual pleasure.
-- The amassing of money fuels the passions, for it leads to increasing indulgence in all kinds of sensual pleasure.
-- How God treats you depends upon how you treat your body.
-- Virtue and spiritual knowledge lead to immortality, their absence is the mother of death.
-- If you wish to attain salvation, renounce sensual pleasure and learn self-control, love and how to pray with concentration.
-- There are three ways through which thoughts arise in you: through the senses, through the memory, and through the body's temperament. Of these the most irksome are those that come through the memory.
-- The intellect freed from the passions becomes like light, unceasingly illumined by the contemplation of created beings.
-- He who stands in awe of God searches for the divine principles that God has implanted in creation; the lover of truth finds them.
-- Stillness and prayer are the greatest weapons of virtue, for they purify the intellect and confer on it spiritual insight.
-- Only spiritual conversation is beneficial; it is better to preserve stillness than to indulge in any other kind.
-- The person who is unaffected by the things of this world loves stillness; and he who loves no human thing loves all men.
-- The conscience is a true teacher, and whoever listens to it will not stumble.
-- Only those who have reached the extremes of virtue or of evil are not judged by their consciences.
-- Spiritual commerce consists in being detached equally from the pleasures and the pains of this life for the sake of the blessings held in store.
-- Love and self-control strengthen the soul; pure prayer and contemplation, the intellect.
-- When you hear something to your benefit, do not condemn the speaker; for if you do you will nullify his helpful admonition.
-- A pure conscience rouses the soul, but an impure thought debases it.
-- If you want to be free of all the passions, practice self- control, love, and prayer.
-- Forgiveness of sins is betokened by freedom from the passions; he who has not yet been granted freedom from the passions has not yet received forgiveness.
-- An all-embracing and intense longing for God binds those who experience it both to God and to one another.
-- An intellect that has acquired spiritual love does not have thoughts unworthy of this love about anyone.
-- He who has acquired love endures calmly and patiently the injuries and sufferings that his enemies inflict on him.
-- A person who does not tolerate suspicion or disparagement of others possesses true love.
-- If you tell your brother how someone else denigrates him you conceal your own envy in the guise of goodwill.
-- Worldly virtues promote human glory, spiritual virtues the glory of God.
-- A strong man is one who repels evil through the practice of the virtues and with spiritual knowledge.
-- If you wish to overcome impassioned thoughts, acquire self- control and love for your neighbor.
-- Firmly control anger and desire, and you will speedily rid yourself of evil thoughts.
-- Inner work destroys self-esteem and if you despise no one you will repel pride.
-- The genuineness of a friend is shown at a time of trial, if he shares the distress you suffer.
-- Waste your body with fasting and vigils, and you will repulse the lethal thoughts of pleasure.
-- The proper activity of the intellect is to be attentive at every moment to the words of God.
-- It is God's task to administer the world and the soul's task to guide the body.
-- Hardship and distress, whether of our own choosing or providential, destroy sensual pleasure.
-- The amassing of money fuels the passions, for it leads to increasing indulgence in all kinds of sensual pleasure.
-- How God treats you depends upon how you treat your body.
-- Virtue and spiritual knowledge lead to immortality, their absence is the mother of death.
-- If you wish to attain salvation, renounce sensual pleasure and learn self-control, love and how to pray with concentration.
-- There are three ways through which thoughts arise in you: through the senses, through the memory, and through the body's temperament. Of these the most irksome are those that come through the memory.
-- The intellect freed from the passions becomes like light, unceasingly illumined by the contemplation of created beings.
-- He who stands in awe of God searches for the divine principles that God has implanted in creation; the lover of truth finds them.
-- Stillness and prayer are the greatest weapons of virtue, for they purify the intellect and confer on it spiritual insight.
-- Only spiritual conversation is beneficial; it is better to preserve stillness than to indulge in any other kind.
-- The person who is unaffected by the things of this world loves stillness; and he who loves no human thing loves all men.
-- The conscience is a true teacher, and whoever listens to it will not stumble.
-- Only those who have reached the extremes of virtue or of evil are not judged by their consciences.
-- Spiritual commerce consists in being detached equally from the pleasures and the pains of this life for the sake of the blessings held in store.
-- Love and self-control strengthen the soul; pure prayer and contemplation, the intellect.
-- When you hear something to your benefit, do not condemn the speaker; for if you do you will nullify his helpful admonition.
-- A pure conscience rouses the soul, but an impure thought debases it.
-- If you want to be free of all the passions, practice self- control, love, and prayer.
-- Forgiveness of sins is betokened by freedom from the passions; he who has not yet been granted freedom from the passions has not yet received forgiveness.
-- The soul's health consists in dispassion and spiritual knowledge; no slave to sensual pleasure can attain it.
-- Self-love -- that is, friendship for the body -- is the source of evil in the soul.
-- It is an insult to the intelligence to be subject to what lacks intelligence and to concern itself with shameful desires.
-- You were commanded to keep the body as a servant, not to be unnaturally enslaved to its pleasures.
-- Break the bonds of your friendship for the body and give it only what is absolutely necessary.
-- The greatest weapons of someone striving to lead a life of inward stillness are self-control, love, prayer, and spiritual reading.
-- Let us strive to fulfill the commandments so that we may be freed from the passions; and let us struggle to grasp the divine doctrine so that we may be found worthy of spiritual knowledge.
-- The soul's immortality resides in dispassion and spiritual knowledge; no slave to sensual pleasure can attain it.
-- Fear of the Lord conquers desire, and distress that accords with God's will repulses sensual pleasure.
-- The Scriptures contain four things: commandments, doctrines, threats, and promises.
-- Self-control and strenuous effort curb desire; stillness and intense longing for God wither it.
-- Long-suffering and readiness to forgive curb anger; love and compassion wither it.
-- Woman symbolizes the soul engaged in ascetic practice; through union with it the intellect begets the virtues.
-- The study of divine principles teachers knowledge of God to the person who lives in truth, longing and reverence.
-- What light is to those whose and to what is seen, God is to intellective beings and to what is intelligible.
-- Do not neglect the practice of the virtues; if you do, your spiritual knowledge will decrease, and when famine occurs you will go down into Egypt (Genesis 41:57, 46:6).
-- Spiritual freedom is release from the passions; without Christ's mercy you cannot attain it.
-- The Egypt of the spirit is the darkness of the passions; no one goes down to Egypt unless he is overtaken by famine.
-- If you make a habit of listening to spiritual teaching, your intellect will escape from impure thoughts.
-- Control your stomach, sleep, anger, and tongue, and you will not "dash your foot against a stone" (Psalms 91:12).
-- Strive to love every man equally, and you will simultaneously expel all the passions.
-- The intellect cannot devote itself to intelligible realities unless you sunder its attachment to the senses and to sensible things.
-- A sign that the intellect is devoted to the contemplation of intelligible realities is its disdain for all that agitates the senses.
-- When the intellect is rich in the knowledge of the One, the senses will be completely under control.
-- The intellect becomes a stranger to the things of this world when its attachment to the senses has been completely sundered.
-- The intellect is perfect when transformed by spiritual knowledge; the soul is perfect when permeated by the virtues.
-- We are sons of God or of Satan according to whether we conform to goodness or to evil.
-- A wise man is one who pays attention to himself and is quick to separate himself form all defilement.
-- An obdurate soul does not notice when it is whipped and so is unaware of its benefactor.
-- He who fears God will pay careful attention to his soul and will free himself from communion with evil.
-- If you abandon God and are a slave to the passions you cannot reap God's mercy.
-- A soul defiled by the passions becomes obdurate: it has to undergo knife and cautery before it recovers its faith.
-- Concern for one's soul means hardship and humility, for through these God forgives us all our sins.
-- Just as desire and rage multiply our sins, so self-control and humility erase them.
-- All sin is due to sensual pleasure, all forgiveness to hardship and distress.
-- If you are not willing to repent through freely choosing to suffer, unsought sufferings will providentially be imposed on you.
-- Struggle until death to fulfil the commandments: purified through them, you will enter into life.
-- Make the body serve the commandments, keeping it so far as possible free from sickness and sensual pleasure.
-- Blessed stillness gives birth to blessed children: self- control, love and pure prayer.
-- Spiritual reading and prayer purify the intellect, while love and self-control purify the soul's passable aspect.
-- If you lay down rules for yourself, do not disobey yourself; for he who cheats himself is self-deluded.
-- Spiritual poverty is complete dispassion; when the intellect has reached this state it abandons all worldly things.
-- Self-love -- that is, friendship for the body -- is the source of evil in the soul.
-- It is an insult to the intelligence to be subject to what lacks intelligence and to concern itself with shameful desires.
-- You were commanded to keep the body as a servant, not to be unnaturally enslaved to its pleasures.
-- Break the bonds of your friendship for the body and give it only what is absolutely necessary.
-- The greatest weapons of someone striving to lead a life of inward stillness are self-control, love, prayer, and spiritual reading.
-- Let us strive to fulfill the commandments so that we may be freed from the passions; and let us struggle to grasp the divine doctrine so that we may be found worthy of spiritual knowledge.
-- The soul's immortality resides in dispassion and spiritual knowledge; no slave to sensual pleasure can attain it.
-- Fear of the Lord conquers desire, and distress that accords with God's will repulses sensual pleasure.
-- The Scriptures contain four things: commandments, doctrines, threats, and promises.
-- Self-control and strenuous effort curb desire; stillness and intense longing for God wither it.
-- Long-suffering and readiness to forgive curb anger; love and compassion wither it.
-- Woman symbolizes the soul engaged in ascetic practice; through union with it the intellect begets the virtues.
-- The study of divine principles teachers knowledge of God to the person who lives in truth, longing and reverence.
-- What light is to those whose and to what is seen, God is to intellective beings and to what is intelligible.
-- Do not neglect the practice of the virtues; if you do, your spiritual knowledge will decrease, and when famine occurs you will go down into Egypt (Genesis 41:57, 46:6).
-- Spiritual freedom is release from the passions; without Christ's mercy you cannot attain it.
-- The Egypt of the spirit is the darkness of the passions; no one goes down to Egypt unless he is overtaken by famine.
-- If you make a habit of listening to spiritual teaching, your intellect will escape from impure thoughts.
-- Control your stomach, sleep, anger, and tongue, and you will not "dash your foot against a stone" (Psalms 91:12).
-- Strive to love every man equally, and you will simultaneously expel all the passions.
-- The intellect cannot devote itself to intelligible realities unless you sunder its attachment to the senses and to sensible things.
-- A sign that the intellect is devoted to the contemplation of intelligible realities is its disdain for all that agitates the senses.
-- When the intellect is rich in the knowledge of the One, the senses will be completely under control.
-- The intellect becomes a stranger to the things of this world when its attachment to the senses has been completely sundered.
-- The intellect is perfect when transformed by spiritual knowledge; the soul is perfect when permeated by the virtues.
-- We are sons of God or of Satan according to whether we conform to goodness or to evil.
-- A wise man is one who pays attention to himself and is quick to separate himself form all defilement.
-- An obdurate soul does not notice when it is whipped and so is unaware of its benefactor.
-- He who fears God will pay careful attention to his soul and will free himself from communion with evil.
-- If you abandon God and are a slave to the passions you cannot reap God's mercy.
-- A soul defiled by the passions becomes obdurate: it has to undergo knife and cautery before it recovers its faith.
-- Concern for one's soul means hardship and humility, for through these God forgives us all our sins.
-- Just as desire and rage multiply our sins, so self-control and humility erase them.
-- All sin is due to sensual pleasure, all forgiveness to hardship and distress.
-- If you are not willing to repent through freely choosing to suffer, unsought sufferings will providentially be imposed on you.
-- Struggle until death to fulfil the commandments: purified through them, you will enter into life.
-- Make the body serve the commandments, keeping it so far as possible free from sickness and sensual pleasure.
-- Blessed stillness gives birth to blessed children: self- control, love and pure prayer.
-- Spiritual reading and prayer purify the intellect, while love and self-control purify the soul's passable aspect.
-- If you lay down rules for yourself, do not disobey yourself; for he who cheats himself is self-deluded.
-- Spiritual poverty is complete dispassion; when the intellect has reached this state it abandons all worldly things.
from G.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, and Kallistos Ware, trans., The Philokalia -- vol. II, (London: Faber and Faber, 1981), pp. 313 - 318.
