THE EVERGETINOS: Book 1 - (HYPOTHESIS 31-40)

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Episode contents:

HYPOTHESIS 31: One who has come to the ascetic life should only be closed in monastic garb after he has been sufficiently trained in the virtues; the monastic schema is honorable, soul-profiting, and salvific.
HYPOTHESIS 32: The faithful monk should display a manner of life that is appropriate to his schema; for he does not live in conformity with his schema is not faithful; likewise, a Godly old age is not characterized by length of time, but by the way in which a man lives.
HYPOTHESIS 33: The faithful monk should eagerly accept whatever his spiritual Father suggests to him, because all such suggestions are in his interest, even if they induce distress or are arduous; for mercy is given by God for this purpose, and for the alleviation of afflictions.
HYPOTHESIS 34: We should be obedient to our superiors in the Lord, even unto death, and love and fear them.
HYPOTHESIS 35: We should be subject in simplicity to our superiors in the Lord and accept their orders as coming from God, without criticizing, examining, or correcting them, even if they do not seem for the time being to be a benefit.
HYPOTHESIS 36: What the sins of disobedience and grumbling against our teachers in the Lord are; the Christian should not object at all or justify himself, but should in all cases resist his own will and love reproof, not avoid it.
HYPOTHESIS 37: One should not condemn his teacher, even if his teacher does some things at variance with what he teaches; for many disciples have trusted themselves to negligent teachers and, not having condemned them, but remaining subject to them in the Lord, have saved themselves and have become the cause of their teachers’ salvation.
HYPOTHESIS 38: How the Grace of God often teaches those who watch over themselves and entrust themselves to His Providence what they ought to do through simple people and strangers; the humble do not refuse to learn from anyone they may encounter.
HYPOTHESIS 39: The faithful Christian should not be confident in himself, but should believe that through his spiritual Father he is both saved and enabled to do everything good; and he should invoke the prayers of his Elder, for they have great power.
HYPOTHESIS 40: That one should not lightly go out of, or withdraw from, the monastery which he has promised, in the sight of God, to remain until the end of his life; for the Fathers did not even go out of their cells, in which they found great benefit.