Nicene and Post-Nicene Church Fathers Series 2 - The Still Small ...

To Chilo, his disciple.
life. Above all things shun gold as the soul’s foe, the father of sin and the agent of the devil.
Do not expose yourself to the charge of covetousness on the pretence of ministering to the
poor; but, if any one brings you money for the poor and you know of any who are in need,
advise the owner himself to convey it to his needy brothers, lest haply your conscience may
be defiled by the acceptance of money.
4. Shun pleasures; seek after continence; train your body to hard work; accustom your
soul to trials. Regarding the dissolution of soul and body as release from every evil, await
that enjoyment of everlasting good things in which all the saints have part. Ever, as it were,
holding the balance against every suggestion of the devil throw in a holy thought, and, as
the scale inclines do thou go with it. Above all when the evil thought starts up and says,
“What is the good of your passing your life in this place? What do you gain by withdrawing
yourself from the society of men? Do you not know that those, who are ordained by God
to be bishops of God’s churches, constantly associate with their fellows, and indefatigably
attend spiritual gatherings at which those who are present derive very great advantage?
There are to be enjoyed explanations of hard sayings, expositions of the teachings of the
apostles, interpretations of the thoughts of the gospels, lessons in theology and the intercourse
of spiritual brethren, who do great good to all they meet if only by the sight of their faces.
You, however, who have decided to be a stranger to all these good things, are sitting here
in a wild state like the beasts. You see round you a wide desert with scarcely a fellow creature
in it, lack of all instruction, estrangement from your brothers, and your spirit inactive in
carrying out the commandments of God.” Now, when the evil thought rises against you,
with all these ingenious pretexts and wishes to destroy you, oppose to it in pious reflection
your own practical experience, and say, You tell me that the things in the world are good;
the reason why I came here is because I judged myself unfit for the good things of the world.
With the world’s good things are mingled evil things, and the evil things distinctly have the
upper hand. Once when I attended the spiritual assemblies I did with difficulty find one
brother, who, so far as I could see, feared God, but he was a victim of the devil, and I heard
from him amusing stories and tales made up to deceive those whom he met. After him I
fell in with many thieves, plunderers, tyrants. I saw disgraceful drunkards; I saw the blood
of the oppressed; I saw women’s beauty, which tortured my chastity. From actual fornication
I fled, but I defiled my virginity by the thoughts of my heart. I heard many discourses which
were good for the soul, but I could not discover in the case of any one of the teachers that
his life was worthy of his words. After this, again, I heard a great number of plays, which
were made attractive by wanton songs. Then I heard a lyre sweetly played, the applause of
tumblers, the talk of clowns, all kinds of jests and follies and all the noises of a crowd. I saw
the tears of the robbed, the agony of the victims of tyranny, the shrieks of the tortured. I
looked and lo, there was no spiritual assembly, but only a sea, wind-tossed and agitated,
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