Letter 410

To Cleobulus the Monk. And you have made my arms a bow of bronze [cf. Psalm 17(18):34], not a bow of wax that yields and gives way to the demons and the passions, broken at once in war from the very first encounter, but a bow of bronze. For one must obtain from the Lord arms that are firm and unyielding, able to be drawn up against the adversaries in many wars and to hold out. Bravo for your feats of valor in withdrawal [anachoresis, the retreat into the solitary life]! Bravo for your trophies won by virtue! All hail your empty, theatrical, and play-acted manner of life in your enclosure [the reclusion of the anchorite shut into his cell]! For you seem to differ in nothing from those who trade hotly in the marketplace, and from those who weave together countless lawsuits and varied wars of words in the law courts, droning over business affairs of every kind, shrieking in anger and bellowing, hurling insults from your wicket [the cell's window], and jeering, and reviling, and finding fault with those who happen to be present. And there are times when you even apply your own hands at the window and strike the brothers, filling your wretched cell with uproar, and disturbance, and turmoil, and disorder, while the cell groans, as it were, even if it is without feeling and double-minded, at the harshness and bitterness of the one shut up within it as though within some cage, a beast, or rather a solitary more beastly than the beasts. Tell me, I beg you, what have you gained by being shut up in your little house? What benefit have you brought to your own soul by hiding your body away among these mean walls? For it is said, "Ephraim has become like a cake baked under the ashes" [Hosea 7:8], not being turned toward the better. What profit is it to you to have obtained your little chamber? When indeed did you put on the venerable garment of the monks? What abba laid upon you the hand of blessing? From where did you take over these flooded-together and contemptible habits? Where is the converse with God, undistracted in prayer and free from care? Where have you banished the psalms and the hymns? Where have you driven into exile the tranquil mind? Where have you abandoned the sacred teachings of the fathers? Where has the honey-dripping tear gone? Where is the peace, and calm, and stillness, and faith that are the foster-companion, and bedfellow, and tent-mate of those who live the solitary life? With what freedom will you stand boldly on the day of recompense?

Καὶ ἔθου τόξον χαλκοῦν τοὺς βραχίονάς μου, οὐχὶ τόξον κήρινον, ὑπεῖκον, καὶ ὑπενδῖδον τοῖς δαίμοσι, καὶ τοῖς πάθεσιν, εὐθέως ἀπὸ πρώτης συμβολῆς κλώμενον ἐν πολέμῳ, ἀλλὰ τόξον χαλκοῦν. Χρὴ γὰρ στεῤῥὰ καὶ ἀνένδοτα κτήσασθαι παρὰ Κυρίου ὅπλα πολλοῖς πολέμοις τῶν ἐναντίων ἀντιπαρατάξασθαι, καὶ διαρκέσαι δυνάμενα. Εὖγε τῶν ὑμετέρων κατὰ τὴν ἀναχώρησιν ἀριστευμάτων! εὖγε τῶν ὑμετέρων καθ’ ἀρετὴν τροπαίων! ὑπέρευγε τῆς ὑμετέρας κατὰ τὸν ἐγκλεισμὸν ματαίας, καὶ σκηνικῆς, καὶ κατεσχηματισμένης διαγωγῆς. Τῶν γὰρ ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ θερμῶς ἐμπορευομένων, καὶ τῶν μυρίας δίκας, καὶ τὰς ποικίλας λογομαχίας ἐν πραιτωρίοις πλεκόντων, οὐδὲν δοκεῖς διαλλάττειν, πραγματείας παντοίας ἐπιγόων, κράζων μετ’ ὀργῆς, καὶ βρύχων, ἀπὸ τῆς γαλαιάγρας καθυβρίζων, καὶ σκώπτων, καὶ λοιδορῶν, καὶ διαμεμφόμενος τοὺς παρατυγχάνοντας. Ἐσθ’ ὅτε δὲ καὶ τὰς ἰδίας χεῖρας προσφέρων τῆς θυρίδος, καὶ τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς τύπτων, τοῦ θορύβου, καὶ ταραχῆς, καὶ τύρβης, καὶ ἀκαταστασίας πληρῶν τὴν ἐλεεινὴν κέλλαν, στενάζουσαν τάχα, κἂν ὑπάρχῃ ἀναίσθητός τε, καὶ δίψυχος, ἐπὶ τῇ ἀπηνείᾳ, καὶ πικρίᾳ τοῦ ἐν αὐτῇ καθάπερ ἔν τινι ζώγρῳ κατακλεισθέντος θηρίου, μᾶλλον δὲ θηριωδεστέρου τῶν θηρίων μονάζοντος. Εἴπέ μοι, παρακαλῶ, τί κεκέρδακας τῷ οἰκιδίῳ κατακλεισθείς; τί ὤνησας τὴν σεαυτοῦ ψυχὴν τοῖς τοιχαρίοις τὸ σῶμα ἐγκεκρυφώς; Ἐγενήθη γάρ, φησίν, Ἐφραΐμ καθὼς ἐγκρυφίας, μὴ μεταστρεφόμενος πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον. Τί σοι ὄφελος λαχεῖν τοῦ δωματίου; Πότε ἄρα τὸ ἔνδυμα τὸ σεμνὸν τῶν μοναχῶν ὑπέδυς; ποῖος δὲ ἀββᾶς τὴν χεῖρα τῆς εὐλογίας ἐπέθηκεν; Πόθεν δὲ παρείληφας τὰ συρρεῦσαν, καὶ κατάπτυστα ἤθη; Ποῦ ἡ ἀπέρισπαστος τῶν εὐχῶν, καὶ ἀμέριμνος πρὸς Θεὸν ὁμιλία; Ποῦ ἐξώρισας τοὺς ψαλμούς, καὶ τοὺς ὕμνους; Ποῦ ἐφυγάδευσας τὸ ἡσύχιον φρόνημα; Ποῦ κατέλειπες τὰς ἱερὰς διδαχὰς τῶν πατέρων; Ποῦ οἴχεται τὸ μελισταγὲς δάκρυον; Ποῦ ἡ σύντροφος, καὶ σύνευνος, καὶ ὁμόσκηνος τῶν μονάζοντων εἰρήνη, καὶ γαλήνη, καὶ ἠρεμία, καὶ πίστις; Ποίᾳ σχολῇ παρρήσιαν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ τῆς ἀνταποδόσεως;