NPNF2-08. Basil: Letters and Select Works - Holy Bible Institute

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 thepoor; 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 maybe defiled by the acceptance of money.4. Shun pleasures; seek after continence; train your body to hard work; accustom yoursoul to trials. Regarding the dissolution of soul and body as release from every evil, awaitthat 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, asthe 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 withdrawingyourself from the society of men? Do you not know that those, who are ordained by Godto be bishops of God’s churches, constantly associate with their fellows, and indefatigablyattend 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 theapostles, interpretations of the thoughts of the gospels, lessons in theology and the intercourseof 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 herein a wild state like the beasts. You see round you a wide desert with scarcely a fellow creaturein it, lack of all instruction, estrangement from your brothers, and your spirit inactive incarrying 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 reflectionyour 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 theupper hand. Once when I attended the spiritual assemblies I did with difficulty find onebrother, who, so far as I could see, feared God, but he was a victim of the devil, and I heardfrom him amusing stories and tales made up to deceive those whom he met. After him Ifell in with many thieves, plunderers, tyrants. I saw disgraceful drunkards; I saw the bloodof the oppressed; I saw women’s beauty, which tortured my chastity. From actual fornicationI fled, but I defiled my virginity by the thoughts of my heart. I heard many discourses whichwere good for the soul, but I could not discover in the case of any one of the teachers thathis life was worthy of his words. After this, again, I heard a great number of plays, whichwere made attractive by wanton songs. Then I heard a lyre sweetly played, the applause oftumblers, the talk of clowns, all kinds of jests and follies and all the noises of a crowd. I sawthe tears of the robbed, the agony of the victims of tyranny, the shrieks of the tortured. Ilooked and lo, there was no spiritual assembly, but only a sea, wind-tossed and agitated,441