To refrain from glancing here and there with your eyes, but always to gaze steadily on what lies before you;

To refrain from speaking idly and to say only what is necessary;

To regard mean attire as sufficient for your body's need and, in like manner, to make use of foods that sustain the body, and not those that satisfy gluttony;

To take a little from all foods, and not disdain some and select others and choose to fill your belly with these. Discretion is greater than all the other virtues.

Without companions (when not ill or infirm), do not partake of wine.

Do not interrupt the words of one who is talking, and contradict him like someone uncouth; but like a wise man, be patient.

And wherever you find yourself, consider yourself the inferior, and the servant of your brethren.

Do not expose any part of your body in front of any man; and do not touch the body of another, except for some necessary reason, nor permit anyone to touch your body without good cause, as I have said.

Shun familiarity as death.

Acquire a chaste rule for your sleep, lest the power that guards* you remove itself far from you.
*I.e. the guardian angel

Wherever you sleep, if possible, let no man see you.

Do not spit in front of anyone.

If a fit of coughing comes over you while seated at table, turn your face to your back, and cough in this manner.

Eat and drink with moderation, as befits the children of God.

Do not brashly stretch out your hand to take something from in front of your companions.

But if a stranger should sit with you, urge him once or twice to eat;

And set the table neatly, not helter-skelter.

Sit with a neat and not a sprawling posture, exposing none of your limbs.

When you yawn, cover your mouth so as not to be seen; but if you hold your breath it will pass.

Should you go into your superior's cell, or your friend's or disciple's, restrain your eyes so as not to see anything therein. And if compelled by a thought to do so, take good care lest you obey it and do this. For anyone brazenly disposed in these matters is a stranger to the monastic schema,* and to Christ, Who has bestowed this schema upon us.
*Or habit.

Take no notice of the places where the articles of your friend's cell are kept.

Open and shut your door quietly, and your companion's also. Do not burst in suddenly on anyone, but when you have knocked outside and been invited in, then discreetly enter.

Do not rush when you walk, unless compelled by some urgent need.

Be obedient to all in every good work; but do not follow after the covetous, the avaricious, or the worldly, lest a diabolical work be done.

Speak to all with meekness, look upon all with chastity, and do not satiate your eyes with looking on another's face.

When you are journeying on the road, do not get ahead of your seniors; but if your companion gets ahead of you, hurry a little to catch up with him. For whoever does not do so is foolish, and little better than a swine that has no manners.

If your companion should talk with any people he meets, wait for him and do not press him to go.

Before the usual time, let him that is healthy say to him that is ill: 'Let us fulfill the body's need.'*
*A monastic expression meaning Let us eat.

Do not chide anyone for any trespass, but think of yourself as accountable in all things and guilty of his fall.

Do not refuse to do any lowly chore with humility, and in no wise decline from doing it.

If you are compelled to laugh, do not show your teeth.

If you are forced to speak with women, turn your face from the sight of them, and talk with them thus.

But as from fire, as from the snare of the devil, keep yourself from nuns-from meetings with them, and conversations, and the sight of them-lest your heart be chilled from the love of God, and you pollute your heart with the mire of the passions. Even if they are your sisters after the flesh, withhold from them as from strangers.

Be on your guard against mingling with your kindred, lest your heart be chilled from the love of God.

Avoid familiarities and conversations with youths as friendship with the devil.

But have one confidant and sharer of your secrets: a man who fears God, and who always pays heed to himself; one who is poor in his place of dwelling, but rich in the mysteries of God.

Hide your secrets, your doings, and your warfare from all.

Do not sit without a head covering* before anyone else, except in case of necessity.
*Or cowl.
Orthodox Internet Services note: This is a rule for monks. Laymen are not to cover their heads.

Go forth to satisfy your need with chastity, as reverencing the angel which watches over you, and do it with the fear of God.

Constrain yourself till death, even if your heart is displeased thereby.

It is better for you to eat deadly poison than to eat with a woman, even if it should be your mother or sister.

It is better for you to live with a dragon than to sleep with a youth and share the same covers, even if it should be your brother after the flesh.

When you are journeying on the road, if one of your seniors tells you, 'Come, let us chant,' do not disobey him. But if he does not say so, then be silent with your tongue, but with your heart give glory to God.

Oppose no man in anything; do not quarrel, and do not lie, and do not swear by the name of the Lord your God.

Be despised, and do not despise. Be wronged, and do not wrong.

It is better for things of the body to perish with the body than for something pertaining to the soul to be hurt.

Go to court with no man, but endure to be condemned, being uncondemned.

Have no love in your soul for anything which is connected with those in the world;

Submit to rulers and princes, but refrain from mingling with them, for such company is a trap which catches the more heedless to their perdition.

O glutton, bent on the worship of your own belly! It is better for you to cast a live coal into your stomach than the fried foods of rulers and princes.

Pour your mercy out on all, and be moderate in all things.

Keep yourself from much talk, for it is this that extinguishes the noetic movements produced in our heart by God.

Flee from discussions of dogma as from an unruly lion; and never embark upon them yourself, either with those raised in the Church, or with strangers.

Do not pass through the streets of the hot-tempered and quarrelsome, lest your heart be filled with anger, and the darkness of delusion dominate your soul.

Do not dwell with a proud man, lest the energy of the Holy Spirit be taken from your soul and she become the dwelling of every evil passion.

If you keep these observances, O man, and occupy yourself continuously with the study of God, in truth your soul will see the light of Christ in herself, and will never be darkened unto all eternity.

To Him be glory and dominion to the ages. Amen.





Excerpted from: The Ascetical Homilies of St. Isaac the Syrian
Published by Holy Transfiguration Monastery