Caught Up On High

Νοῦς σὺν Θεῷ πρακτικὴν κατορθώσας καὶ προσπελάσας τῇ γνώσει ὀλίγον ἢ οὐδ' ὅλως τοῦ ἀλόγου μέρους τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπαισθάνεται, τῆς γνώσεως αὐτὸν ἁρπαζούσης μετάρσιον καὶ χωριζούσης τῶν αἰσθητῶν. Ἀπάθειαν ἔχει ψυχή, οὐχ ἡ μὴ πάσχουσα πρὸς τὰ πράγματα, ἀλλ' ἡ καὶ πρὸς τὰς μνήμας αὐτῶν ἀτάραχος διαμένουσα.  Ὁ τέλειος οὐκ ἐγκρατεύεται, καὶ ὁ ἀπαθὴς οὐχ ὑπομένει, ἔπερ τοῦ πάσχοντος ἡ ὑπομονή, καὶ τοῦ ὀχλουμένου ἡ ἐγκράτεια.  Εὐάγριος ὁ Ποντικός, Ὁ Πρακτικός

A mind that has, with God’s help, been successful in the ascetic life and come near to knowledge, hardly, if at all, perceives the irrational part of the soul, because knowledge catches it up on high and separates it from sensible things. The soul is passionless not when it is unmoved by things, but when it remains undisturbed even by the memory of them. The perfect man does not practice self control, and the passionless man does not endure, for endurance is for passions and self control for tribulation. Evagrius Ponticus, The Praktikos