Letter 396

To the Same Person. "We are not straitened in the love of God," says the Apostle [Paul] to the Corinthians; but you are straitened in your own bowels [inward affections], because you are unwilling, through many virtues, to have your soul enlarged, so as to receive the divine communications and to make room for them. Hence what is said in Isaiah befalls us: that in the affliction of the enemy and in the straitening of the mind, lions and asps and any other hostile power-for the demons too are called by such names-carried off their wealth upon asses and upon camels. The asses signify the foolish, and the lovers of pleasure, and the wicked; the camels signify those who practice secret malice and the bearing of grudges. So the demons, having loaded the souls of men with the wealth of base and shameful and profitless thoughts, drive them out into the deserts barren of the practices and dispositions of the virtues. And there is nothing heavier than sin, which is why by the God-bearing men it has been likened to lead. If out of the depth of the heart we groan toward God, He will assuredly hear, and will show marvelous things to the sons of men, and will make the camel a sheep; for this, He says, is "the change of the right hand of the Most High." And the titles of certain psalms were inscribed "For those who shall be changed." If, then, you are zealous to please the Savior through the virtues, He unloads your spiritual ass that bears burdens for the demons, and, having made it unburdened, He casts upon you the garments of the apostles-that is, the divine instructions and doctrines-and, seated upon the mind as once upon the ass, He enters even now into the holy city, glorified and acclaimed by all the angels at the salvation of the irrational creature, which has become rational through the love of mankind shown by the One who created it, or rather re-created it, who has changed and renewed a soul made old through negligence and error, and willingly perverted.

Οὐ στενοχωρούμεθα ἐν τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀγάπῃ, φησὶν ὁ Ἀπόστολος Κορινθίοις, ὑμεῖς δὲ στενοχωρεῖσθε ἐν τοῖς σπλάγχνοις ὑμῶν, μὴ βουλόμενοι διὰ πολλῶν ἀρετῶν πλατυνθῆναι τὴν ψυχὴν, καὶ τὰς θείας ἀλλήσεις δέξασθαι, καὶ χωρῆσαι. Ὅθεν ἡμῖν συμβαίνει τὸ ἐν τῇ Ἠσαΐᾳ εἰρημένον, ὅτι ἐν τῇ θλίψει τοῦ ἐχθροῦ, καὶ ἐν τῇ στενοχωρίᾳ τῆς διανοίας λέοντες, καὶ ἀσπίδες, καὶ εἴ τις ἄλλη δύναμις ἐναντία, τούτους γὰρ καὶ τοῖς τοιούτοις ὀνόμασι καλοῦνται οἱ δαίμονες, τὸν πλοῦτον αὐτῶν ὄνων καὶ τῶν καμήλων ἔφερον· ὄνων μὲν νουνομένων, τῶν νουθετέρων, καὶ φιληδόνων, καὶ μοχθηρῶν· καμήλων δὲ τῶν τὴν ὄπισθεν ἠφάνειαν, καὶ τὴν μνησικακίαν ἐξασκούντων. Τὸν τοίνυν πλοῦτον τῶν πονηρῶν, καὶ αἰσχρῶν, καὶ ἀνίων λογισμῶν φορτώσαντες τὰς ψυχὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων οἱ δαίμονες, ἐλαύνουσι εἰς τὰς ἐρήμους τῶν ἀρετῶν πράξεις, καὶ καταστάσεις. Οὐδὲν δ’ ὑπάρχει τῆς ἁμαρτίας βαρύτερον, διὸ καὶ παρὰ τοῖς θεοφόροις ἀνδράσι μολίβδῳ παρείκασται. Ἀν ἐκ τοῦ βάθους τῆς καρδίας πρὸς Θεὸν στενά- ξωμεν, εἰσακούσεται πάντως, καὶ δείξει θαυμάσια τοῖς υἱοῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ ποιήσει τὴν κάμηλον πρόβατον· ἡ Ἀδτη γάρ, φησίν, « ἡ ἀλλοίωσις τῆς δεξιᾶς τοῦ Ὑψίστου. » Καὶ τινῶν ψαλμῶν τίτλοι, « Τοῖς ἀλλοιωθησομένοις » ἐγράφησαν. Ἐάν τοίνυν σπουδά- σεις διὰ τῶν ἀρετῶν ἀρέσαι τῷ Σωτῆρι, ἀποφορτίζει τὸν νοητόν σου ὄνον ἀχθοφοροῦντα τοῖς δαίμοσι, καὶ ἀσαγῆ ποιήσας, ἐπιβαλεῖ σοι τὰ τῶν ἀποστόλων ἱμάτια, τουτέστι τὰ θεῖα παιδεύματα καὶ δόγματα, καὶ ἐπικαθεσθείς τῷ νοῦ ὥσπερ τῇ ὄνῳ ποτέ, εἰσέρχεται καὶ νῦν εἰς τὴν ἁγίαν πόλιν δοξαζόμενος τε, καὶ ἀνευφημούμενος ὑπὸ πάντων ἀγγέλων ἐπὶ τῇ σωτηρίᾳ τοῦ ἀλόγου, λογικοῦ γενομένου διὰ φιλ- ανθρωπίαν τοῦ Κτίσαντος, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀνακτίσαντος, ἀλλοιώσαντός τε, καὶ ἀνανεώσαντος διὰ τῆς ἀμε- λείας, καὶ τῆς πλάνης ψυχὴν παλαιωθεῖσαν, καὶ παρα- τετραμμένην ἑκουσίως.