Letter 933

To the Third. More than the wild winds that throw the sea into turmoil, the most fearsome reef of vainglory storms the soul of the consecrated man [the ordained or monastic person]. Fight therefore, above all else, against vainglory, and do not remain free of concern, as though you will suffer no harm from it. And fast not only from bread, and wine, and meats, and certain other foods or drinks, but much more from evil reasonings, from such listening, and from wicked and harmful talk, from anger, and envy, and jests, and the other improprieties that follow upon them.

Πλεῖον τῶν ἀγρίων ἀνέμων τῶν ταραττόντων τὴν θάλατταν χειμάζει τὴν τοῦ ἱερωμένου ψυχὴν ὁ τῆς κενοδοξίας δεινότατος σκόπελος. Μάχου τοίνυν ὑπὲρ πάντα πρὸς τὴν κενοδοξίαν, καὶ μὴ ἀμέριμνος διά- κεισαι ὡς μηδὲν ὑπ' αὐτῆς βλαθησόμενος. Νήστευε δὲ μὴ μόνον ἀπὸ ἄρτου, καὶ οἴνου, καὶ κρεῶν, καὶ ἄλλων τινῶν βρωμάτων ἢ πομάτων, ἀλλὰ πολὺ πλέον ἀπὸ τῶν λογισμῶν, ἀπὸ ἀκροάσεως, καὶ ἀπὸ λαλιᾶς πονηρᾶς καὶ βλαβεράς, ἀπὸ θυμοῦ, καὶ βασκανίας, καὶ γελωίων, καὶ τῶν ἑξῆς ἀτοπημάτων.