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| Chapter II. What discretion alone can give a monk; and a discourse of the blessed Antony on this subject.
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Chapter II.
What discretion alone can give a monk; and a discourse
of the blessed Antony on this subject.
And so I remember that
while I was still a boy, in the region of Thebaid, where the blessed
Antony lived,1162
| 1162 Cf. the note on the
Institutes, V. iv. | the elders came
to him to inquire about perfection: and though the conference lasted
from evening till morning, the greatest part of the night was taken up
with this question. For it was discussed at great length what virtue or
observance could preserve a monk always unharmed by the snares and
deceits of the devil, and carry him forward on a sure and right path,
and with firm step to the heights of perfection. And when each one gave
his opinion according to the bent of his own mind, and some made it
consist in zeal in fasting and vigils, because a soul that has been
brought low by these, and so obtained purity of heart and body will be
the more easily united to God, others in despising all things, as, if
the mind were utterly deprived of them, it would come the more freely
to God, as if henceforth there were no snares to entangle it: others
thought that withdrawal from the world was the thing needful, i.e.,
solitude and the secrecy of the hermit’s life; living in which a
man may more readily commune with God, and cling more especially to
Him; others laid down that the duties of charity, i.e., of kindness
should be practised, because the Lord in the gospel promised more
especially to give the kingdom to these; when He said “Come ye
blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world. For I was an hungred and ye gave Me to eat, I
was thirsty and ye gave Me to drink, etc.:”1163
and when in this fashion they declared
that by means of different virtues a more certain approach to God could
be secured, and the greater part of the night had been spent in this
discussion, then at last the blessed Antony spoke and said: All these
things which you have mentioned are indeed needful, and helpful to
those who are thirsting for God, and desirous to approach Him. But
countless accidents and the experience of many people will not allow us
to make the most important of gifts consist in them. For often when men
are most strict in fasting or in vigils, and nobly withdraw into
solitude, and aim at depriving themselves of all their goods so
absolutely that they do not suffer even a day’s allowance of food
or a single penny to remain to them, and when they fulfil all the
duties of kindness with the utmost devotion, yet still we have seen
them suddenly deceived, so that they could not bring the work they had
entered upon to a suitable close, but brought their exalted fervour and
praiseworthy manner of life to a terrible end. Wherefore we shall be
able clearly to recognize what it is which mainly leads to God, if we
trace out with greater care the reason of their downfall and deception.
For when the works of the above mentioned virtues were abounding in
them, discretion alone was wanting, and allowed them not to continue
even to the end. Nor can any other reason for their falling off be
discovered except that
as they were not sufficiently instructed
by their elders they could not obtain judgment and discretion, which
passing by excess on either side, teaches a monk always to walk along
the royal road, and does not suffer him to be puffed up on the right
hand of virtue, i.e., from excess of zeal to transgress the bounds of
due moderation in foolish presumption, nor allows him to be enamoured
of slackness and turn aside to the vices on the left hand, i.e., under
pretext of controlling the body, to grow slack with the opposite spirit
of luke-warmness. For this is discretion, which is termed in the gospel
the “eye,” “and light of the body,” according
to the Saviour’s saying: “The light of thy body is thine
eye: but if thine eye be single, thy whole body will be full of light,
but if thine eye be evil, thy whole body will be full of
darkness:”1164
because as it
discerns all the thoughts and actions of men, it sees and overlooks all
things which should be done. But if in any man this is
“evil,” i.e., not fortified by sound judgment and
knowledge, or deceived by some error and presumption, it will make our
whole body “full of darkness,” i.e., it will darken all our
mental vision and our actions, as they will be involved in the darkness
of vices and the gloom of disturbances. For, says He, “if the
light which is in thee be darkness, how great will that darkness
be!”1165
For no one can
doubt that when the judgment of our heart goes wrong, and is
overwhelmed by the night of ignorance, our thoughts and deeds, which
are the result of deliberation and discretion, must be involved in the
darkness of still greater sins.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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