«Σέ παρακαλῶ, ἐφόσον εὑρίσκεσαι εἰς τήν ζωήν...»

Σέ παρακαλῶ, ἐφόσον εὑρίσκεσαι εἰς τήν ζωήν, μήν ἀφήσεις ἐλευθέραν τήν καρδίαν σου. Διότι ὅπως ὁ γεωργός δέν μπορεῖ νά εἶναι σίγουρος διά τούς καρπούς του, ἐπειδή δέν γνωρίζει τί μπορεῖ νά συμβῇ μέχρις ὅτου τούς μαζέψῃ, ἔτσι καί ὁ ἄνθρωπος δέν ἐπιτρέπεται νά ἀφήσῃ ἀφύλακτον τήν καρδίαν του ὅσο ἀναπνέει, ἀλλά πρέπει πάντοτε νά φωνάζῃ πρός τόν Θεόν νά τόν βοηθήσῃ καί νά τόν ἐλεήσῃ.

Ἐκ τῆς Φιλοκαλίας.

I entreat you not to leave your heart unguarded, so long as you are in the body. Just as a farmer cannot feel confident about the crop growing in his fields, because he does not know what will happen to it before it is stored away in his granary, so a man should not leave his heart unguarded so long as he still has breath in his nostrils, but should at every moment pray to God for His help and mercy.

The Philokalia.