is written, ‘The man who is haughty in heart is an abominable thing before the Lord?’ (Proverbs 16:5.) For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, but he that abaseth himself shall be exalted (St. Matthew, 23:12). Therefore deliver ye yourselves from your false superiority, for do ye not know that the mother of the beginning of wickednesses is pride? Ye did not only leave Theodore and depart from him, but ye fled and departed from the Word of God, [and] ye fell away from the Holy Spirit. O ye truly wretched men, who deserve sorrow of every kind, how is it that ye cannot understand that it was Satan who was working in you, and that, because of this, ye made yourselves to be remote from God? Oh, what a great and wonderful thing it is that God humbled Himself, and took upon Himself the form of a servant, and put on his body and dwelt in him, and became obedient even unto death for our sakes! And yet we who are by nature low puff ourselves up with pride! He Who is high above all things, and exceeding great, turned from the ordinary course [of His greatness] and in humility fashioned the world, although He was able to destroy everything which existeth by a glance! And yet we who are nothing make ourselves proud, being ignorant that in thus doing we are sinking ourselves into the depths of the earth! Do ye not observe that I stand and incline my ear to the teaching [of Theodore]? Verily I say unto you, that I have been greatly helped by him. For I did not ask him to address you because I thought lightly of him, but because I expected to be helped myself by his words; how very much more, then, is it right that ye should hearken unto his words with a ready mind and absolute humility? Verily I, who am your father in the Lord, am as one who knoweth not his right hand from his left, and therefore I listen unto him with all my soul. Therefore before God I say unto you that, if ye shew great repentance for this folly which ye have committed, and if ye weep and mourn for yourselves because thereof in such wise that ye be edified thereby, that which hath happened shall be forgiven you, and if not, then ye will go to perdition.”
Chapter ij: Of Sylvanus the Actor
ONCE there was a man among the brethren whose name was Sylvanus, who for a period of twenty years had worn the garb of a monk; now he was originally an actor, and at the beginning of his life as a monk he was exceedingly anxious about his soul, but after a short time had elapsed he began to be so negligent about his redemption, that he wanted to make merry and to enjoy himself, and besides
