Humility and the Preservation of the Soul's Powers

Having descended from Jerusalem, that is, to Jericho, that is, to the place around the earth and its city called Jericho because of the interpretation of the name—for Jericho means moonool is like the moon, changing,' like a moon which does not have increasing light, but diminishing. And the bride who is being hymned in the Song of Songs, 'emerging beautiful like the dawn' (Song of Songs 6:10), becomes 'like a chosen moon.' This change happens toward the better, toward the perfection; for in one way the moon changes: passing from the moon-like, it comes to the full moon. And there are four transitions of the progress of growth: moon-like, half-moon, quarter-moon, and full moon. And again, from the full moon it comes to the quarter-moon, and from the quarter-moon to the half-moon, and from the half-moon to the moon-like. In this way, the bride of the Word, the perfect soul, the church having been betrothed to him, emerges like the dawn. And she changes so as to become beautiful, chosen like a full moon. And after this he says: 'as a sun, a haze.' And from the lunar light it comes to the solar, being fulfilled of that prophecy which says: 'the moon shall be as the sun' (Malachi 3:1).

Someone, therefore, is being crushed when he is fulfilled of crushed thoughts, of mindsets alien to the healthy thinking of truth. Of these crushings the Savior becomes the physician; for 'he who is being healed' is 'those having crushed hearts and binding their fragments,' binding their wounds (Psalm 51:17). And I take by way of an example: someone is crushed many times in a struggle, contending against the adversary, and he attains a crown. Let not these crushings bring him mockery. But when he is crushed by beasts or robbers, we question him—not according to history I say, for he undergoes this through ignorance—but: 'Why has this happened where the beasts are, or why did you approach the spiritual robbers of wickedness?' 'And he will save the lowly in spirit.' Spirit here means the judgment. This is equivalent to that said in the beatitudes of the Gospel: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit' (Matthew 5:3), those poor in judgment. These are those who through the Word rightly achieve blindness, those having heard from the Savior saying: 'Learn from me, for I am...'

"I am also humble in heart." But opinion and heart are the same. Just as the Savior is humble in heart, so also those learning from him become humble in opinion. And these are the poor in spirit (Matt 5:3), those who do not wish to be rich in arrogance.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, and from all their afflictions he will rescue them. It has already been said to us many times that from all of them he rescues (Ps 34:19). 'Many' are 'the afflictions of the righteous'; he said that through life and until a later breath.

The Lord guards all their bones. If they are rescued from all the afflictions so as not to fall and be crushed, all their sustaining powers, called bones, are guarded by God. And it was said before this that the powers of the soul are called its bones; for they are the sustaining powers of the whole soul, while the bones are the sensible powers of the whole body. It was impossible for the flesh or the others to stand; the things sustaining the members of the body are bones.

And the sustaining powers of the soul, such as the mnemonic or the contemplative or the aesthetic of the beautiful, when they are unbending and perfect, are held by God in this, not by their own power. Therefore, they come by preconception toward this willing, but they are perfected according to this, God having cooperated.

Not one of them shall be broken (Ps 34:20). If they are righteous and have cried out to God and were rescued from all the afflictions, 'one' of their bones 'shall not be broken', instead of 'one power'. And that I may begin from the more aesthetic of the powers: there is a certain visual power. When one does not see, so that he may desire the beauty of women and not be conquered by the desire of beauty, this bone was not crushed by the Lord, but is guarded by him harmlessly.

When, having looked into the heaven, one sees the sun and the moon and does not prostrate himself and worship, but from the seen creation understands Him who showed all things, and by analogously contemplating the greatness of His creatures and their beauty, this bone of the sight is strengthened. Thus I take it as more aesthetic, when someone does not accept a vain hearing, but judges by what kind of words he will be persuaded and by what kind not, and by what kind he will agree and by what kind he will be renewed—'compare your ear to the words of the wise', and 'he will not accept a vain hearing'—this one has...