Letter 551

To Kanadianos the Stratelates [a military commander]. You inquired of me through your letter why it is that the monks, when they robe themselves, throw their garment over the left shoulder, baring the whole left side, whereas worldly men who wear the cloak make the right side of the body visible to all. Hear, then, the reason. The monks, obeying the Lord who says, "Let not your left hand know what your right hand does" [Matthew 6:3] -- that is, let your good deeds, which you perform continually, escape the notice of pestilent vainglory and of the desire to please men, for such a disposition is truly the left -- justly hide their own good achievements from men, while they are accustomed to confess their own faults openly before all. But those who belong to this present life, being vainglorious and given to ostentation, having laid hold of the profession that leads toward God and yet creeping after earthly and transitory things like a serpent, conceal their own countless evil deeds; and having undertaken beforehand to accomplish some single virtue -- such as chastity, almsgiving, or fasting -- they make this plain to almost all people, showing off and boasting and sounding the trumpet with the bubbles of their pride, and crying out everywhere with self-display, and proclaiming it, and attaching greatness to a trifling matter; and from men they receive the useless wage of a little applause and glory, while they fall away from the heavenly recompenses. And it has well been said concerning such men in the Gospels that "They have their reward" [Matthew 6:2]. For they have received it fully here in vain, [...].

Ἐπείθου μου διὰ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς, τίνος χάριν οἱ μὲν μοναχοὶ στολιζόμενοι ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀριστεροῦ ἀναβάλ- λονται ὤμου, γυμνοῦντες ὅλον τὸ εὐώνυμον μέρος, οἱ δὲ φοροῦντες κοσμικοὶ τὰς χλανίδας τὸ δεξιὸν μέρος τοῦ σώματος τοῖς πᾶσι φανερὸν καθιστῶσιν. Ἄκουσον τοίνυν, ὅτι οἱ μὲν μοναχοὶ τῷ Κυρίῳ πειθόμενοι λέγοντι· «Ὅπερ ποιεῖ ἡ δεξιά σου, μὴ γνώτω ἡ ἀριστερά, » τουτέστιν, αἱ ἀγαθαὶ πράξεις, ὥσπερ διὰ παντὸς ἐργάζῃ, λανθανέτωσαν τὴν λοιμώδη κενο- δοξίαν, καὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπαρεσκίαν, ἀριστερὰ γὰρ ἀληθῶς ἐστιν ἡ τοιαύτη κατάστασις, δικαίως τὰ μὲν ἀ ἐαυτῶν κατορθώματα κρύπτουσιν ἐκ τῶν ἀνθρώπων· τὰ δὲ οἰκεῖα ἐλαττώματα ἐνώπιον ἁπάντων ἐξαγορεύειν εἰώθασιν. Οἱ δέ γε βιωτικοὶ κενοδόξοι τε καὶ φιλενδεικτεῖν τυγχάνοντες, ἐπιλαβόμενοι τῆς πρὸς Θεὸν ἀναλήψεως, καὶ περὶ τὰ γήϊνά τε καὶ πρόσκαιρα δίκην ὄφεως ἕρποντες, τὰ μὲν ἑαυτῶν μύρια κακὰ πράγματα καλύπτουσι, προποιησάμενοι δέ μίαν τινὰ ἀρετὴν ἀπεργάσασθαι, οἷον, σωφροσύνην, ἐλεημοσύνην, ἢ ἀσιτίαν, πᾶσι σχεδὸν ἀνθρώποις ταύτην δήλην ποιοῦσι, φανιτιῶντες, καὶ ἀλαζονευόμενοι, καὶ σαλπίζοντες τοῖς πομφόλυξι τῆς ὑπερηφανίας, καὶ βοῶντες κομπαστικῶς πανταχοῦ, καὶ κηρύττοντες, καὶ τῷ βραχεῖ πράγματι μέγεθος περιτιθέντες, καὶ παρὰ μὲν τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὴν ἀνωφελῆ μισθὸν τῆς μικρᾶς εὐφημίας, καὶ δόξης λαμβάνοντες, ἀποπίπτοντες δὲ τῶν οὐρανίων ἀμοι-βῶν. Καὶ καλῶς περὶ τῶν τοιούτων εἴρηται ἐν ταῖς Εὐαγγελίοις, ὅτιπερ «Ἀπέχουσι τὸν μισθὸν αὐτῶν.» Πεπλήρωνται γὰρ τοῦτον ἐνταῦθα εἰς μάτην ἀπα-γενέττες.