St. Athanasius: The Paradise of the Holy Fathers

[Stone]

CHAPTER LVI

OF DIOCLES

THIS man Diocles was originally [one] of those who were greatly skilled in grammar, but afterwards he became learned in philosophy. And having arrived at the period of the twenty-eighth year of his life, he was called by the Grace of God, and he departed and removed himself from the house of instruction, and delivered himself over to the promise of Christ; and having dwelt in caves for the space of thirty-five years, he said unto us, “The mind which removeth itself from the meditation of God falleth into lust.” Now he used to say that lust was that of a savage, animal, and bestial character, for he said unto us, “The mind which falleth away from the meditation of God becometh either a devil or a beast”; and we asked him to explain this saying unto us, and he did so, and said, “The mind which maketh itself to be remote from the contemplation of God must, perforce, be delivered over either to the devil of lust, who leadeth [it] into lasciviousness, or to the evil devil of wrath, wherefrom are produced the animal passions.” And he said, “The feeling of lasciviousness is a bestial thing, but the feeling ofwrath appertaineth to the devil.” And making answer l said unto him, “How is it possible for the human mind to be with God continually and uninterruptedly?” And he said, “The mind of that soul which liveth in the thought or the fear of God, no matter what it may be, is with God.”

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CHAPTER LVII

OF THE BLESSED MAN KAPITON

NOW by the side of this man there used to dwell Kapiton, a man who had been formerly a thief, and he had lived in holes in the rocks for fifty years, [at a place] which was about four miles from Antinoë; he never went down from his cave, not even to the river Nile, for he used to say that he was unable to meet in the congregation of the children of men him that still fought with him, namely, his Adversary.

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CHAPTER LVIII

OF THE MONK WHO FELL

AND by the side of these blessed men I saw a man who also had made himself remote from the world, and he dwelt in holes in the rocks even as did they; now this man was mocked at by the devil of vainglory, and by the visions which he saw, and he was deluded (or snared) by things which appeared to approach him and then wandered away. And he was lacking in mind, even as it is written, “Being exalted in his dreams he pastureth spirits and pursueth after a shadow”; now he was chaste in his body, perhaps owing to the length [of his years], or perhaps through vainglory, yet through the matters of spiritual excellence he destroyed his understanding, and he was corrupted by empty and polluted glory, and because of this he departed from the straight road of the ascetic life.