Letter 562

To Comasius the Presbyter. If the reasoning of anger, or of shameful desire, or of avarice bends toward itself all the perceptive faculties of the soul and of the body, how much more will the love of the philosophy that accords with Christ [the ascetic, contemplative life] prepare the mind to renounce not only the things perceived by the senses, but the very senses themselves, snatching it up on high and occupying it with the contemplation of heavenly things.

Εἰ ὁ λογισμὸς τοῦ θυμοῦ, ἢ τῆς αἰσχρᾶς ἐπιθυμίας, ἢ τῆς φιλαργυρίας πρὸς ἑαυτὸν πάντα νεύει τὰ αἰσθητήρια τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ τοῦ σώματος, πόσῳ μᾶλ- λον ὁ ἔρως τῆς κατὰ Χριστὸν φιλοσοφίας ἀποτάξα- σθαι παρασκευάσει τὸν νοῦν, οὐ μόνον τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐταῖς ταῖς αἰσθήσεσι, μετάρσιον ἁρ- πάζων αὐτόν, καὶ τῇ τῶν οὐρανίων προσασχοῶν θεωρίᾳ.