Letter 1091: The spiritual life is a journey with a beginning, a middle, and an end.

To Peter. On the saying: "Do not do your almsgiving before men." [Matthew 6:1] I marvel at your well-earned folly. For I do not think you have driven yourself into such senselessness as to suppose that those who show mercy, but who do it for display, are worse than those who show no mercy at all. But I will state my own judgment about these matters: that the merciful man, properly speaking, is the one who does good, yet does not parade about the misfortunes of those who have suffered. For if someone acts for the sake of the good itself, he has a greater reward than the man who does it for the sake of a reward; but if he acts for the sake of a divine reward, he will be ranked in the second order; and if he does it for the sake of praise, he will have only that which he has already gotten. But the man who does what is required neither for the sake of the good itself, nor for the divine reward, nor for human praise, does not even seem to me to be a human being, but a wicked demon. For what reason, then, having heard the divine oracles, which exhort us not to do our almsgiving before men, do you, while you yourself, out of love of glory, cannot bring yourself to do anything beneficial, find fault with those who act out of love of honor? For by as much as the man who practices self-control for the sake of human reputation is better than the man who is not even self-controlled for that reason, by so much is the man who does good out of love of glory better than the man who does no good at all. For the one stood in awe of men, while the other has stood in awe neither of men nor of God.

Εἰς τὸ· Μὴ ποιεῖν τὴν ἐλεημοσύνην ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων. Θαυμάζω σου τὴν κεχρεωστημένην (30) ἀφροσύ- νην. Οὐ γὰρ οἶμαι σε εἰς τοσαύτην ἄνοιαν ἐληλακέ- ναι, ὡς νομίσαι, τοὺς ἐλεοῦντας μέν, ἐπιδεικνυμέ- νους δέ, τῶν μὴ ἐλεοῦντων χείρους εἶναι. Ἐγὼ δὲ ὡς ἔχω γνώμης περὶ τούτων φράσω· ὅτι ἐλεήμων μέν ἐστι κυρίως ἐκεῖνος, ὁ εὐεργετῶν μέν, μὴ ἀκ- πομπεύων δὲ τὰς τῶν εὐσχόντων συμφοράς. Εἰ μὲν γὰρ δι’ αὐτό τὸ καλόν, τὶς πράξειε, μείζονα ἔχει τὸν μισθὸν τοῦ διὰ μισθὸν αὐτὸ ποιοῦντος· εἰ δὲ διὰ μισθὸν θεῖον, ἐν δευτέρᾳ τάξει τετάξεται· εἰ δὲ δι’ ἔπαινον ποιεῖ, ἕξει τοῦτο δ’ ὃ καὶ πεποίηκεν, Ὁ δὲ μήτε δι’ αὐτὸ τὸ καλόν, μήτε διὰ τὸν θεῖον μι- σθὸν, μήτε δι’ ἀνθρώπινον ἔπαινον ποιῶν τὸ δέον, οὐδὲ ἄνθρωπος εἶναί μοι δοκεῖ, ἀλλ’ ἀλιτήριος δαί- μων. Δί’ ἣν τοίνυν αἰτίαν σὺ τῶν θείων χρησμῶν ἀκούσας, παρακελευομένων μὴ ποιεῖν τὴν ἐλεημο- σύνην ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, οὐ διὰ φιλοδοξίαν ἀνεχόμενος τι ποιεῖν χρηστὸν, τοὺς διὰ φιλοτιμίαν ποιοῦντας αἰτιᾷ; Ὅσῳ γὰρ κρείττων ὁ διὰ τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων δόξαν σωφροσύνην ἀσκῶν, τοῦ μηδὲ διὰ ταύτην σωφρονοῦντος· τοσοῦτον ὁ διὰ φιλοδοξίαν εὖ ποιῶν, τοῦ μηδόλως εὖ ποιοῦντος ἀμείνων. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, ὁ δὲ οὔτε τοὺς ἀνθρώπους οὐδὲ τὸν Θεὸν ᾐδέσθη.