philok1 page 68:evagre,

114 Never try to see a form or shape during prayer.

115. Do not long to have a sensory image of angels or powers or
Christ, for this would be madness : it would be to take a wolf
as y
our shepherd and to worship your enemies, the demons.
116. Self-esteem is the start of illusions in the intellect. Under
its im
pulse, the intellect attempts to enclose the Deity in
shapes and forms.
I46. Just as persistent staring at the sun in its noonday brilliance will not cu
re a man suffering from ophthalmia, so the counterfeit practice of fearful and s
upernal prayer - which is properly to be performed in spirit and in truth - will
in no way benefit an intellect that is passionate and impure ; on the contrary,
such practice will provoke the wrath of God against the intellect.
----------------philok1,page113,Mark the Ascetic:
46. Better a human than a demonic sin. Through performing the Lord's will we ove
rcome both.
5 8 . Forgetfulness as such has no power, but acquires it in proportion to our n
egligence
6 I . Scripture says : ' Hell and perdition are manifest to the Lord'
(Prov. I 5 : I I . LXX). This refers to ignorance of heart and forgetfulness.
6 2 . Hell is ignorance, for both are dark ; and perdition is
forgetfulness, for both involve extinction.
99 All vice is caused by self-esteem and sensual pleasure ; you
cannot overcome passion without hating them.
I oo. 'Avarice is the root of all evil' ( 1 Tim. 6 : 1 o) ; but avarice is clear
ly a product of these two components.
1 o 1 . The intellect is made blind by these three passions : varice,
self-esteem and sensual pleasure.
I o 2 . Scripture calls these three the daughters of the horseleech,
dearly loved by their mother folly (cf. Prov. 3 0 : I ). LXX).
I o 3 . These three passions on their own dull spiritual knowledge
and faith, the foster-brothers of our nature.
I o4-. It is because of them that wrath, anger, war, murder and
all other evils have such power over mankind.
I o 5. We must hate avarice, self-esteem and sensual pleasure, as
mothers of the vices and stepmothers of the virtues.
I o6. Because of them we are commanded not to love 'the world' and 'the things t
hat are in the world' ( 1 John 2 : I 5) ; not so that we
should hate God's creation through lack of discernment, but so that
we should eliminate the occasions for these three passions.
1 07 . 'The soldier going to war ' , it is said, 'does not entangle
himself in the affairs of this world' (2 Tim. 2 : 4-) . For he who entangles him
self with the passions while trying to overcome them is
like a man who tries to put out a fire with straw.
1 1 9 . When you sin, blame your thought, not your action . For had
your intellect not run ahead, your body would not have followed.
1 4 1 . Once our thoughts are accompanied by images we have
already given them our assent ; for a provocation does not involve us in guilt s
o long as it is not accompanied by images. Some people flee
away from these thoughts like 'a brand plucked out of the fire'
(Zech. 3 : 2) ; but others dally with them , and so get burnt.
9 0 . The intellect changes from one to another of three different
noetic states : that according to nature, above nature, and contrary
to nature. When it enters the state according to nature, it finds that it is its

elf the cause of evil thoughts, and confesses its sins to God, clearly understan
ding the causes of the passions. When it is in the state contrary to nature, it
forgets God's justice and fights with men, believing itself unjustly treated. Bu
t when it is raised to the state above nature, it finds the fruits of the Holy S
pirit : love, joy, peace and the other fruits of which the Apostle speaks (cf. G
al. s : 2 2 ) ; and it knows that if it gives priority to bodily cares it cannot
remain in this state. An intellect that departs from this state falls into sin
and all the terrible consequences of sin - if not immediately, then in due time,
as God's justice shall decide.
--------5 7 . The intellect is made blind by these three passions : avarice,
self-esteem and sensual pleasure.
5 8 . These three passions on their own dull spiritual knowledge
and faith, the foster-brothers of our nature.
66..Let us pass all the hours of the day in the guarding of the intellect, for b
y doing this we shall with God's help and with a certain forcefulness be able to
quell and reduce the evil in us. For the spiritual life, through which the king
dom of heaven is given, does indeed require a certain forcefulness (cf. Matt. I
I : I 2) .
8 8 . Many of our thoughts come from demonic provocation, and
from these derive our evil outward actions. If with the help of Jesus
we instantly quell the thought, we will avoid its corresponding outward action.
We will enrich ourselves with the sweetness of divine
knowledge and so will find God, who is everywhere. Holding the
mirror of the intellect firmly towards God, vve will be illumined
constantly as pure glass is by the sun. Then the intellect, having
reached the term of its desires, will in Him cease from all other
contemplation.