The Letters

Saint Dorotheos of Gaza · the golden age of the Fathers

The Letters

LETTER I: ON HOW CELL-DWELLERS SHOULD CONDUCT THEIR ENCOUNTERS The Cell and the Encounter 180. The Fathers say: “To sit in one’s cell is one half, and to meet with elders is likewise the other half.” This saying means that both within the cell and outside it we need spiritual watchfulness. We must know why we ought to keep stillness alone and why we ought to meet spiritual fathers and brethren. For if someone lives watchfully for this purpose, he takes care to act as the Fathers have said. When he sits in his cell, he prays, meditates, does a little handiwork, and, according to his strength, takes care to examine his thoughts. When at some time he meets another person, he observes and perceives his own spiritual condition: whether or not he receives benefit from meeting the brethren, and whether he can return to his cell without having suffered any spiritual injury. If he realizes that he has been injured in something, he then perceives his weakness and understands that he has not yet gained anything from the life of stillness. Thus he returns to his cell humbled, weeping, repenting, and entreating God concerning his weakness, and thereafter he lives attending to himself. Then he again approaches other people and observes himself: whether he was conquered by the same things by which he had been conquered before, or by other things.

Thus he returns again to his cell, doing the same things—repenting, weeping, and entreating God concerning his condition. For the cell elevates, but the encounter with people puts our condition to the test. The Fathers therefore spoke very well when they said that to sit in one’s cell is one half and to meet spiritual elders is likewise the other half.

181. When you meet one another, therefore, you too must know why you leave your cells and never go out without self-command. For the one who wanders about without purpose, as the Fathers have said, loses his labor. Everyone who does something must certainly have established a purpose and must know why he does it. The Purposes of Meeting One Another What, then, is the purpose we ought to possess when we meet? First of all, our purpose should be love, for it is said: “You have seen your brother; you have seen the Lord your God.” Second, we meet in order to hear a word of God. For whenever many are gathered together, they necessarily participate in the word of God more deeply and broadly. Often there is something that one person does not know, and another happens to bring it into the conversation by asking a related question. Next, as I said before, we meet in order to understand our own spiritual condition. This is what I mean. Suppose that a brother goes to eat with others. He then observes himself and sees whether, when a fine food that pleases him is offered, he can exercise self-restraint and not taste it; or whether, on the contrary, he tries to push his brother aside so that he may take more than he does. Again, when something is offered in portions, he observes whether he takes care not to choose the larger portion and leave the smaller to the other.

For a person is sometimes not even ashamed to stretch out his hand, push the small portion toward his brother’s place, and take the large one before himself. How great, after all, is the difference between the small and the large portion? How much can two portions differ, that for the sake of such worthless things a person should condescend, through greed, to insult his brother and sin? When he eats with others, he also observes whether he can restrain himself from eating much and not allow himself to be filled to satiety. For, as is natural, in gatherings of this sort a person finds many kinds of food. He also sees whether he guards himself from familiarity; whether he can see his brother honored and cared for more than himself without being grieved; whether he can see someone behaving familiarly with another, speaking much, or wandering about without purpose, and yet pay no attention to him or condemn him, but attend rather to someone else who is more reverent. In general, he must endeavor to behave as Abba Anthony is said to have done. When Anthony went to meet other ascetics, if he saw something good in one of them, he took it and guarded it. From one he took meekness, from another humility, from another stillness. Little by little he came to possess the virtue of each. This is how we too must act, and this is the purpose we must have when we meet.

When we return to our cells, we must examine ourselves and see in what we received benefit and in what we suffered injury. For those things in which we see that God protected us, let us thank Him who protected us, so that we passed through the circumstance without injury. For the things in which we failed, let us repent, weep, and mourn our condition. Each Person Reveals His Own Condition 182. For everyone receives benefit or suffers injury from his own condition. No one injures another. If we suffer injury, as I have said, we suffer it from our own condition. If we wish, therefore, we can, as I often tell you, receive benefit or suffer injury from everything. I shall give you an example, so that you may see that this is so. It happens that a person is standing somewhere at night—I do not mean a monk, of course, but some layman—and three men pass before him. One supposes that he is standing there waiting for a woman in order to commit fornication. Another considers him a thief. The third thinks that he has called a friend from the neighboring house and is waiting for him to come down so that they may go and pray. All three saw the same man in the same place, yet all three did not form the same thought concerning him.

One put one thing into his mind, another something else, and the third another—each, evidently, according to his own spiritual condition. There are weak and sickly bodies which transform every food they receive, even if it is beneficial, into sickness. The cause is not in the food, but in the body itself, which, as I have said, is sickly and transforms and alters foods according to its constitution. So too a soul suffering from spiritual infirmity is harmed by everything. Even if something is beneficial, the soul is harmed. Suppose we have a vessel of honey and put into it a piece of wormwood. Does not that small piece spoil the entire vessel of honey? Does it not make all the honey bitter? This is what we do. We bring forth a little of our own bitterness and destroy our neighbor’s good, seeing it according to our own condition and altering it according to our spiritual infirmity. Those who are spiritually strong, however, resemble a man who has a robust body. Even if he eats something harmful, he transforms it, according to his constitution, into nourishment, and even the bad food does not harm him. For, as I have said, his body is strong and transforms the food according to its constitution. Just as we said of the first body that it transforms even good food into something harmful according to its infirmity, so it is with this man: according to his robust body, he transforms even harmful food into nourishment.

I shall give you an example so that you may understand better. A pig has a strong body. Its food is carob-pods, date-stones, and mud. Yet because it has a strong body, it transforms even this kind of food into nourishment. So too, if we possess good principles and a good spiritual condition, we can, as I said before, receive benefit from everything, even if it is not beneficial in itself. The wise Solomon says very beautifully in Proverbs: “The one who looks calmly and gently awakens the sympathy of others” (Proverbs 12:13). And elsewhere he says: “For the one who lacks understanding, everything comes contrary and reversed” (Proverbs 14:7). Seeing the Good in One’s Brother 183. I heard of a brother who, when he visited another brother and saw his cell disordered and neglected, thought: “Blessed is this brother, for he has succeeded in rising above the care of all earthly things and has so elevated his entire mind to God that he does not interrupt his spiritual work even to arrange his cell.” Again, if he went to another and saw his cell ordered, clean, and well cared for, he thought: “Just as the soul of this brother is clean, so too is his cell clean. The condition of his cell corresponds to the condition of his soul.” He never said of anyone, “He is disorderly,” or, “He is vainglorious.”

Rather, because he himself was in a good spiritual condition, he received benefit from both. May the God who loves the good grant us a good spiritual condition, so that we too may receive benefit from everyone and may never put evil into our mind concerning our neighbor. If at some time we do put evil into our mind or think suspiciously because of our own wickedness, let us immediately turn our thought elsewhere, so that it may think the good. For by placing the good concerning our neighbor in our conscience, we acquire goodness by the grace of God. “Stillness” renders hēsychia, and “thought” renders logismos. “Familiarity” renders parrhēsia in its negative ascetical sense of undisciplined boldness or over-familiarity. The deliberately close wording preserves Dorotheos’s contrast between the cell, which elevates the monk, and encounters, which test his actual condition. LETTER II: ON THE SUPERVISION OF BRETHREN AND THE OBEDIENCE OF NOVICES Counsel to a Superior 184. If you are a superior of brethren, care for them with strictness and compassion, teaching them the practice of the monastic life by words and deeds—but more by deeds, because a good example is more effective. If you are able, become a pattern to them even in the obediences that require bodily labor. But if you are infirm in body, set them an example by your good spiritual condition and by the fruits of the Holy Spirit enumerated by the Apostle: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-restraint, the adversary of all the passions (Galatians 5:22-23).

When faults occur, do not express intense indignation. Indicate calmly the harm that has arisen from the fault committed. If it is necessary to rebuke someone, seek the proper time. Do not scrutinize small faults with inflexible severity, as though you yourself were perfect, nor continually reprove. For this is burdensome, and the habit of constant reproof brings a person to insensibility and indifference. Do not give commands imperiously, but with humility, as though you and the brother were considering the matter together. For a word founded in this manner becomes exhortative rather than commanding; it persuades and gives greater rest to one’s neighbor.

185. When your brother is troubled and resists what you tell him, guard your tongue so that it does not utter even one angry word. Do not allow your heart to be exalted against him. Remember that your brother is a member of the body of Christ and an image of God who is being influenced by our common enemy. Have compassion on him, for perhaps the devil, using your anger, may take him captive and put him to death through remembrance of wrongs, so that through your own inattention a soul “for whom Christ died” is lost (1 Corinthians 8:11). Do not forget that you too will be judged for the same sin of anger. Conscious, therefore, of your own weakness, sympathize with your brother and thank God that an occasion has been given you to forgive, so that you too may be forgiven by God for your greater and more numerous sins. For Scripture says: “Forgive, and you shall be forgiven” (Luke 6:37). Do you suppose that your brother is harmed by your patience? The Apostle Paul commands us to conquer evil by good (Romans 12:21), not evil by evil. And the Fathers say: “If, while rebuking someone, you become angry, you satisfy your own passion.” No reasonable man demolishes his own house in order to build the house of his neighbor. Prayer in the Hour of Disturbance 186.

If the disturbance continues, constrain your heart and pray, saying: “My God, who loves mankind and loves souls, You who in Your great goodness brought us from non-being into life so that we might enjoy Your good things, and who, though we transgressed Your commandments, gathered us again to Yourself by the Blood of Your only-begotten Son, our Savior: come now also and stand near us in this hour of our weakness. “Rebuke the disturbance of our heart, just as You then rebuked the storm-tossed sea. Do not in the same hour be deprived of both Your children, put to death by sin, and never say to us: ‘What profit is there in My Blood, if I descend into corruption?’ (Psalm 29:10), and, ‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you’ (Matthew 25:12), ‘because your oil is spent and your lamps have gone out.’” After your heart has been calmed by this prayer, you can with understanding and humility, according to the apostolic commandment, “reprove, rebuke, exhort” (2 Timothy 4:2), correcting him with compassion as a sick member and healing him. For then the brother also accepts the correction wholeheartedly, condemning himself for his hardness. Thus by your peace you also bring peace to his heart. Let nothing separate you from what Christ handed down to us when He said: “Learn from Me, for I am meek and humble in heart” (Matthew 11:29).

You must always take care to remain in a peaceful condition, so that your heart is not made turbid—not even by pretexts that at first appear just, nor because of a supposed commandment. Be assured that we impose all the commandments for the sake of love and purity of heart. When you order your brother’s life in this way, you will be counted worthy to hear the voice that says: “If you bring forth the precious from the worthless, you shall be as My mouth” (Jeremiah 15:19). Counsel to One Under Obedience 187. If you are under obedience, do not place confidence in your heart, for it is blinded by its many passionate conditions. Do not follow your own judgment in any matter, nor inwardly assure yourself of anything before asking and receiving the opinion of your superior. Do not reckon or suppose that what you think is more reasonable and more just than what he tells you. Do not become an examiner of his works and, as often happens, a deluded judge of them. This is a deception of the evil one, intended to prevent you from submitting in everything with complete trust and to make you lose the sure salvation that proceeds from such submission. Submit peacefully, walking without danger and without straying on the way marked out by the Fathers. Constrain yourself in everything and cut off your will.

When, by the grace of Christ, repeated practice has accustomed you to cut it off, this will then be done without constraint and without grief, as though your own will were always being done. For you no longer wish things to happen as you wish; rather, you wish them as they happen, and thus you live peacefully with everyone. These things apply, of course, when you are not compelled to transgress a commandment of God or of the Fathers. Struggle to succeed in blaming yourself in everything. Take every care not to give importance or substantiality to yourself, nor to seek that others should give it to you. Believe that everything that happens to us, even the most insignificant thing, is under the Providence of God, and endure without disturbance whatever happens to you. Believe also that dishonors and insults are medicines which heal the pride of your soul. Pray fervently for those who humiliate you, as though they were true physicians. Be assured that the one who hates dishonor hates humility, and the one who avoids those who insult him avoids meekness. Do not wish to know your neighbor’s wickedness, and do not accept the suspicions that your thought suggests against him. Even if, through human weakness, suspicions spring up in your mind, endeavor to transform them into good thoughts. Give thanks for everything, and thus you will acquire goodness and holy love.

Above all, let us keep our conscience pure in what concerns God, our neighbor, and material things. Before we say or do anything, let us examine ourselves to see whether it accords with the will of God. Then, after praying, let us say or do it. Let us cast our weakness upon the grace of God, and His goodness will accompany us in everything. “Practice” renders praxis in the monastic sense. “Obedience” is used both for the novice’s relation to a superior and, where the context concerns assigned labor, for a monastic work-assignment. “Remembrance of wrongs” renders the ascetical term mnēsikakia. “Order your brother’s life” preserves the oikonomia word-family used for prudent spiritual governance. LETTER III: TO THE CELLARER Stewardship Without Attachment 188. If you wish not to fall into anger and remembrance of wrongs, have no attachment whatever to material things. Do not regard any vessel as though it were your own, nor again despise it as something small and insignificant. If anyone asks you for something, give it to him; and if something is broken or lost through carelessness or contempt, do not be distressed. You ought to act this way, not because you despise the monastery’s vessels—for you are obliged to care for them with all your strength and attention—but because you must preserve the peace and tranquility of your soul, always offering God what you are able.

You will accomplish this if you manage things not as though they were your own, but as offerings dedicated to God, believing that only their care has been entrusted to you. For freedom from attachment to something prevents a person from despising it. But if this is not your purpose, be assured that you will never cease disturbing others and being disturbed yourself. The ascetical term prospatheia denotes possessive or passionate attachment and is rendered “attachment.” Mnēsikakia is rendered “remembrance of wrongs.” “Cellarer” denotes the monastic steward responsible for provisions and material goods. LETTER IV: TO THE SAME CELLARER Question 189. Since my thought delights in these words and I desire to conform myself to them, why am I not ready to put them into practice when the occasion requires it? Because you do not meditate upon them continually. If you wish to make use of them in every circumstance, meditate upon them continually and devote yourself to them. I believe that, by the grace of God, you will make progress. Join prayer to meditation. Care for the sick: first, so that through this service you may acquire the virtue of compassion, as I have often said; and second, so that God may provide someone who will take care to relieve you when you yourself happen to become ill. For the Lord said, “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:2).

If you take care to do something conscientiously and according to your ability, you must know and assure yourself that you have not yet come to know the true way. Without disturbance or sorrow, but with joy, you ought to acknowledge that you did wrongly what you had supposed you did rightly. For through the judgment of those more discerning than you, something deficient is either corrected, or something well done is made better. Strive to make progress so that, if some bodily or spiritual affliction befalls you, you may be able to endure it without distress, without feeling oppressed, and with patience. If you hear that you did something you have not done, do not be disturbed or indignant at all. Immediately make a prostration in humility before the one who said it to you and say, “Forgive me and pray for me,” and let the matter end there, as the Fathers counsel us. But if he asks you whether the matter of which he admonishes you is true or not, then make a prostration in humility and state the facts truthfully. After you have spoken, make another humble prostration and say likewise, “Forgive me and pray for me.” The Fathers also say: “Humility consists in not regarding oneself as anything in any matter, and in cutting off one’s own will in everything, so as to submit to all and bear without disturbance whatever comes upon one from others.

This is true humility, in which vainglory finds no place. Speaking humble words, however, produces vainglory and is more harmful than profitable. It is enough simply to say, ‘Forgive me and pray for me’” (John Climacus; cf. Barsanuphius and John, Response 278). Logismos is rendered “thought” and metanoia, where it denotes the bodily monastic act, “prostration.” LETTER V: TO THE SAME CELLARER Question 190. What should I do, since I do not have the same disposition of soul toward all the brothers when I meet them? You cannot yet have the same disposition of soul in your dealings with all the brothers. At least strive not to be scandalized by anyone, not to judge anyone, not to backbite anyone, and not to attend to any word, deed, or movement of a brother that does not profit you. Strive instead to be edified by everything, and do not seek to display yourself in your words and deeds or to fall into vainglory. In matters of food and speech, be watchful and dispassionate down to the smallest detail. Know that if a person is attacked or distressed by a passionate thought and puts it into action, he strengthens the passion against himself. He himself reinforces it, as though giving it strength and weapons with which to fight and distress him still more. But if he struggles against his thought and fights it, doing everything necessary to contradict it, as I have often said, he weakens the passion, and it no longer has the strength to fight and distress him.

Thus, little by little, through his struggle and the help of God, he overcomes the passion. Logismos is rendered “thought,” pathos “passion,” and apathēs “dispassionate.” The military image by which acting upon a thought gives the passion “strength and weapons” has been retained. LETTER VI: TO THE SAME CELLARER Question 191. Why did Abba Poemen say that the three most important things in the spiritual life are the fear of God, prayer, and doing good to one’s neighbor? Abba Poemen said: “These three chief things are profitable: to fear the Lord, to pray, and to do good to one’s neighbor” (Sayings of the Fathers, Poemen 160; PG 65, 361A). The elder said that a person must fear God because the fear of God precedes every other virtue. For “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 110:10). No one attains virtue or any other good without the fear of God; for “through the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil” (Proverbs 15:27a). He also said that a person must pray to the Lord because, without God’s help, a human being can neither acquire virtue nor do any other good, as I have said, even if he pursues it through the fear of God. Both our own effort and the help of God are absolutely necessary. Therefore a person needs to pray about everything and entreat God to help him and cooperate with His grace in everything.

To do good to one’s neighbor is the fruit of love. The person who fears the Lord and prays to God appears to profit only himself; but because every virtue is brought to completion through love of one’s neighbor, the elder said that we must do good to our neighbor. It is not enough for a person to fear God and to pray. He is also obliged to be useful to his neighbor and to benefit him. For this, as I have said, is the fruit of love, which is the completion of all the virtues, as the holy Apostle says (Romans 13:10; 1 Corinthians 13:13). The saying of Abba Poemen is translated from the Greek source’s editorial note. Biblical citations follow the source’s Septuagint numbering. The three elements are presented as mutually completing: fear turns a person from evil, prayer obtains divine help, and love bears fruit in concrete good toward one’s neighbor. LETTER VII: TO A BROTHER WHO ASKED ABOUT INSENSIBILITY OF SOUL AND THE COOLING OF LOVE Counsel 192. Concerning insensibility of soul, brother, continual reading of the divine Scriptures is helpful, together with the compunctionate sayings of the God-bearing Fathers and remembrance of the fearful judgments of God, the soul’s departure from the body, and the fearful powers that are to meet it, with which it committed evil in this short and miserable life. Remember also that it is to stand before the fearful and impartial judgment seat of Christ and to give an account before God, all His angels, and the whole creation, not only for deeds but also for words and thoughts.

Continually remember that sentence which the fearful and just Judge will pronounce upon those at His left: “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). It is also good to remember the great afflictions of humanity; perhaps even in this way the hard and insensible soul will be softened and come to awareness of its own evil condition. Weakness in your love for the brothers comes from accepting thoughts born of suspicion, trusting your own heart, and not wanting to suffer anything against your will. Therefore, with God’s help, you must first refuse to believe your suspicious thoughts and strive with all your strength to humble yourself before your brothers and to cut off your own will for their sake. If one of them insults you or causes you grief in any other way, pray fervently for him, as the Fathers have said, regarding him as one who confers a great benefit upon you and as a physician of your love of pleasure. In this way your anger will diminish, for, as the Fathers say, love is a bridle on anger. Above all, beseech God to give you attentiveness and understanding, so that you may know His will, “what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2), and also strength to be ready for every good work. For to Him belong all glory, honor, and worship unto the ages of ages.

Amen. The ascetical term anaisthesia is rendered “insensibility,” logismoi ex hypopsias “thoughts born of suspicion,” and philedonia “love of pleasure.” The image of love as a bridle restraining anger has been retained. LETTER VIII: TO A BROTHER UNDER TEMPTATION Counsel 193. First of all, my child, we do not know the manner in which God orders our life, and we ought to surrender ourselves to Him to be governed by Him. This is precisely what we ought to do in the present circumstance as well. For you will find it difficult if you wish to judge what happens to you by human standards instead of casting every care upon God. Therefore, when grievous and oppressive thoughts surround you, you must cry out to God: “Lord, order this matter as You will and as You know.” For divine Providence arranges many matters differently from what we suppose or hope, and hopes we entertained concerning certain things have been proved mistaken by experience. In a word, you must show patience in the hour of temptation and pray. Do not attempt or suppose, as I have said, that by human thoughts you will overcome demonic thoughts. Abba Poemen, knowing these things, said that the commandment “Do not be anxious about tomorrow” (Matthew 6:34) was addressed to those who are under temptation. If, then, my child, you believe these things to be true, abandon every thought of your own, even if it is prudent, and hold fast your hope in God, who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or understand (Ephesians 3:20).

I could answer everything you have said, but I do not wish to enter into contention either with you or with myself. I say only that you should be established on the way that leads to hope in God, for this way is the safest and the most free from care. God be with you. Abba Macarius was asked how one ought to pray. He answered: “There is no need to use many words, but only to stretch out the hands and say: ’Lord, as You will and as You know, have mercy.’ And if warfare presses upon you: ’Lord, help.’ He knows what is profitable and deals mercifully with us” (Sayings of the Fathers, Macarius 19; PG 65, 269C). Abba Poemen was asked to whom the saying “Do not be anxious about tomorrow” applies. He answered that it was spoken to a person under temptation and growing faint, so that he should not ask, “How long shall I remain in this temptation?” but should instead say each day, “Today” (Sayings of the Fathers, Poemen 126). The oikonomia word-family is rendered with “order,” “arrange,” and “Providence” according to context, preserving Dorotheos’s emphasis on God’s providential ordering of circumstances. Logismos is rendered “thought.” LETTER IX: TO THE SAME BROTHER Counsel 194. Remember, my child, him who said that “through many afflictions we must enter the Kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). He did not specify one kind of affliction or another, but said without qualification, “through many afflictions.”

If you have sins, therefore, endure whatever happens to you with thanksgiving and understanding, as though it were something exceedingly welcome. But if you do not have sins, endure the temptation as something that purifies you from the passions or becomes for you an occasion to gain the Kingdom of Heaven. May the God who loves mankind and loves souls—He who rebuked the wind and the storm-tossed sea and made it calm—also rebuke your temptation, my child, and give you spaciousness of spirit, so that you may discern the machinations of the enemy. Amen. The phrase “spaciousness of spirit” preserves the Greek eurytēs pneumatos, denoting inward breadth and freedom from constriction. The enemy’s kakourgiai are rendered “machinations.” LETTER X: TO A BROTHER IN PROLONGED ILLNESS AND OTHER AFFLICTIONS Counsel 195. I entreat you, my child, to endure and give thanks for the afflictions that befall you because of your illness, according to the saying, “Accept as good all that happens to you” (Sirach 2:4), so that the purpose of divine Providence may be fulfilled in you, my child, according to the will of God. Take courage, therefore, and be strengthened by the grace of God and by His dispensation concerning you. God be with you. The Greek oikonomia is rendered “dispensation,” referring here to God’s providential ordering and care for the brother. LETTER XI: TO A BROTHER UNDER TEMPTATION Counsel 196.

May Christ grant you His peace, my brother. Strive to persuade your thought that you yourself certainly gave occasion for the temptation, even if for the present you cannot discover the cause for which it befell you. Accuse yourself, endure, and pray. I trust in the compassion of the good Master Christ that He will drive away the temptation. The Apostle Paul said: “The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts” (Philippians 4:7). “Thought” renders the Greek logismos, the inner movement of reasoning. “Accuse yourself” reflects Dorotheos’s monastic practice of self-reproach rather than an external assignment of blame. LETTER XII: TO THE SAME BROTHER Counsel 197. Do not find it strange, my child, if, while you are on the road that leads to God, you often encounter thorns and clods of earth, and at other times smooth ground. For those who struggle sometimes fall and sometimes conquer. The great Job said, “Is not human life on earth a trial?” (Job 7:1). And another saint said, “One who has not been tested knows little” (Sirach 34:10). “Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved he will receive the crown of life” (James 1:12). For as we are trained in faith, we are tempted, so that we may be tested and learn to wage war. The Lord said, “Through many afflictions we must enter the Kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).

Let hope for the good end, therefore, be your helper in whatever you encounter. The holy Apostle, wishing to prepare us to acquire patience, says: “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also provide the way out, so that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). And may our Lord, the true Truth, be your consolation, who says: “In the world you will have affliction; but take courage, I have conquered the world” (John 16:33). Meditate on these things; keep these things. Live in remembrance of the Lord, and His goodness will help you in everything, my child, for He is merciful and knows our weakness. He will rebuke the waves and restore calm to your soul, through the prayers of His saints. The path imagery follows the Greek contrast between thorns and clods of earth and smooth ground. The Greek peirasmos is rendered according to context as “trial,” “testing,” or “temptation.” LETTER XIII: TO THE SAME BROTHER Counsel 198. Just as shadows follow bodies, so temptations follow the commandments of God. For, as the great Anthony says, no one who has not experienced temptation will enter the Kingdom of Heaven: “Take away the temptations,” he says, “and no one is saved.” Therefore, do not be perplexed, my child, if you encounter afflictions and temptations while seeking counsel concerning the salvation of your soul.

Endure without disturbance and pray, giving thanks to God that you are counted worthy to be tempted for the sake of God’s commandment, so that your soul may be trained and tested. May the good God grant you spiritual watchfulness and patience in the time of temptation. The saying attributed to Abba Anthony is found in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Anthony 5 (PG 65, 77A). “Spiritual watchfulness” renders the Greek pneumatike agrypnia, literally spiritual wakefulness or vigilance. Peirasmos is rendered “temptation” throughout to preserve the letter’s central refrain. LETTER XIV: TO THE SAME BROTHER Counsel 199. Abba Poemen understood very well that the commandment “Do not be anxious about tomorrow” (Matthew 6:34) was given to a person under temptation. And the saying, “Cast your care upon the Lord” (Psalm 54:23 LXX), leads to the same end. Withdraw, therefore, my child, from human thoughts and hold fast your hope in God, who does far more than we suppose. Hope in God will give you rest. May the Lord help you, my child, through the prayers of the saints. We must withdraw from thoughts of this kind, for we are not certain whether we shall be alive tomorrow. The saying about tomorrow is Matthew 6:34; Dorotheos’s attribution follows the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Poemen 126. Psalm 54:23 in the Septuagint corresponds to Psalm 55:22 in Masoretic numbering. “Human thoughts” renders the Greek anthropinoi logismoi, reasonings arising from merely human calculation.

“Rest” preserves the ascetic sense of inward repose. LETTER XV: TO THE SAME BROTHER Counsel 200. We are creatures of the good God who loves mankind, who said: “As I live, says the Lord, I do not desire the death of the sinner, but that he should turn back and live” (Ezekiel 33:11). And again: “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:13). If this is so—and so we believe—let us cast upon the Lord every care concerning ourselves and our life, and He will sustain us (Psalm 54:23 LXX), that is, He will save us, for He cares for us. May He also console your heart, my child, through the prayers of the saints. The first saying is Ezekiel 33:11, and the second is Matthew 9:13. Psalm 54:23 in the Septuagint corresponds to Psalm 55:22 in Masoretic numbering. “The good God who loves mankind” renders the Greek ho agathos kai philanthropos Theos. “Sustain” renders diathrepsei, literally “will nourish,” which Dorotheos immediately interprets as “save.” LETTER XVI: TO A SPIRITUALLY WEAKER BROTHER TROUBLED BY THOUGHTS CONCERNING THOSE WHO PROVIDED FOR HIS NEEDS Counsel 201. In the name of Jesus Christ. My brother, we have no claim upon our brother. We must overcome whatever evil has occurred and swallow it down with love. No one can say to his neighbor, “Why do you not love me?”

Rather, by deeds of love he draws his neighbor and moves him to love. Concerning bodily and material needs, if someone is worthy to receive rest, God puts it into the heart even of Saracens to show him mercy according to his needs. But if he is not worthy, or if it is not profitable for his soul to be consoled during his trial, then even if he were to create a new heaven and a new earth, he would find no rest. As for what you say—that you are a burden to the brethren—it is as though you were asserting a claim. For no one can be said to burden a neighbor who desires to be saved when he gives him the opportunity to fulfill the commandment of God. Whoever hates those who insult him hates meekness. Whoever avoids those who grieve him avoids his rest in Christ. May the God who loves mankind cover us with His grace, my child, through the prayers of the saints. Amen. The Greek source appends a reference to Abba Poemen (PG 65, 333) after the saying about finding no rest. “Saracens” is retained as the historical term used in the source. “Claim” renders dikaioma, a right or entitlement asserted over another. “Rest” preserves the ascetic sense of inward repose, culminating here in “rest in Christ.”