All sciences and arts have their goal (scopon) and their end (telos), in view of which the diligent lover of art willingly endures all labor and expense. Thus, a farmer, enduring now heat, now cold, tirelessly plows and loosens the soil, with the "goal" of clearing it of all foreign debris and making it more fertile; convinced that otherwise he will not achieve the "end ," that is, a bountiful harvest for his own sustenance and the increase of his wealth. So our asceticism has its goal and its end, for the sake of which we tirelessly and with pleasure undertake all labors - for the sake of which the meagerness of fasting food does not burden us, the exhaustion from vigils delights us, the constant reading of Scripture with meditation knows no satiety, and neither incessant labor, nor nakedness from everything and poverty in everything, nor even the horrors of this immeasurable desert frighten us.
2. The end of our ascetic life is the Kingdom of God, and the goal is purity of heart, without which it is impossible to attain that end. Fixing our gaze on this goal, we must direct our course most surely, as if along a straight line, and if our thoughts stray even slightly from it, we must immediately return to contemplation of it and correct it, as if according to some norm.
3. Thus teaches St. Paul when he says to those who have accepted the good yoke of Christ: "Your fruit is in holiness, and the end, eternal life" ( Rom. 6:22 ). By this he says, as it were, "Your goal is purity of heart, and the end, eternal life." Therefore, whatever can direct us to this goal, that is, to purity of heart, we must pursue with all our might, and whatever distracts us from it, we must avoid as destructive and harmful. For this is what we lift up and do everything for; for this we leave behind parents, fatherland, rank, wealth, the comforts of this world, and all pleasures—that is, to preserve unfailing purity of heart. If, therefore, we always keep this goal in mind, then all our actions and thoughts will be directed directly toward its attainment. If it does not constantly stand before our eyes, then all our labors and strength, not being directed to this alone, will be wasted in vain.
4. Therefore, for this purity we must do everything and desire everything; for it we must go into the desert, observe fasts, vigils, labors, physical poverty, reading, and other virtues—that is, to make our hearts unaffected by any pernicious passions and to preserve them thus. Fasts, vigils, hermitage, and study of Scripture must be elevated to this primary goal, that is, purity of heart; and because of them we must not allow ourselves to disturb this primary virtue. For when this primary virtue remains preserved and unharmed, then there will be no harm if any of the aforementioned ascetic labors must be omitted in any case out of necessity. But if we endure them all, but violate this one, then there will be no benefit from this; for everything must be done for this. They (ascetic labors) are not perfection, but are means to perfection. Why will he labor in vain who, content with them alone, as if they were the “supreme good ,” stops the desire of his heart on them, and does not extend it to the attainment of the end for which they themselves are desirable.
