The Evergetinos: Book Two - Chapter XLVII, Part IV

As we come to the end of this hypothesis, the Fathers leave us with something painfully ordinary. They do not give us visions of heaven or heights of contemplation. They speak about the tongue. About when to speak. About when to remain silent. About lowering the eyes. About saying only what is necessary. It feels almost too simple. Yet they place it before us as a matter of life and death.

They tell us that God is always watching.

Not watching in suspicion, but watching as One who longs to dwell within us. And yet how quickly the door of the mouth is thrown open and everything inside spills out. Opinions. Explanations. Justifications. Pious thoughts. Clever remarks. Even good words spoken at the wrong time. We imagine that because something is true or orthodox or well intentioned it must be spoken. But the Fathers are ruthless here. They tell us that even good speech can disperse the soul.

Saint Diadochus says that when the doors of the baths are left open, the heat escapes. So too with the soul. We labor for years to gather the mind, to kindle even a small flame of prayer, and then in a few careless conversations it dissipates. We leave a gathering inwardly empty. Not because we sinned gravely, but because we spoke much.

The tragedy is not only that we lose recollection. It is that we begin to live outwardly. We become performers of thoughts. We interrupt. We insert ourselves. We fear being unnoticed. Saint Maximos unmasks this disease with precision. He says the one who interrupts reveals his love of glory. How often do we speak not from charity but from hunger. Hunger to be seen. To be affirmed. To be needed. Even in spiritual settings. Especially there.

Isaiah the Anchorite brings it to the ground level. If you must speak, do so quietly. With humility. With reverence. As one ignorant. As one unworthy. Lower the face. Say little. Return quickly to silence. This is not theatrical piety. It is an interior stance. The tongue restrained becomes a sign that the passions are not ruling the heart.

The Gerontikon cuts even deeper. Abba Joseph says he cannot control his tongue. The elder asks him one question. Do you find peace when you talk. No. Then why talk.

There is something almost brutal in that simplicity. We speak and we lose peace. Yet we keep speaking.

Abba Sisoes, a great ascetic, confesses that for thirty years he has prayed to be delivered from sins of the tongue and still he falls daily. This should sober us. If such a man trembles over his speech, what of us who speak constantly and without fear.

And yet the Fathers do not romanticize silence. Abba Isaac exposes the counterfeit. There is a silence born of pride, of wanting the glory of being perceived as spiritual. A brooding silence that hides malice. A calculated silence that manipulates. This is not holiness. This is ego dressed in restraint. True silence either springs from zeal for virtue or from inward conversation with God. If it is not one of these, it will decay into self admiration.

The stakes are high. If you guard your tongue, Isaac says, God will give you compunction. Compunction. The gift of seeing your own soul. The light of the mind. The joy of the Spirit. Silence becomes not emptiness but revelation. But if the tongue conquers you, you will never escape darkness.

We are accustomed to thinking that sanctification comes through great works. Through ministries. Through projects. Through visible sacrifices. The Fathers insist that it may begin with something as small and humiliating as closing the mouth.

Not as repression. Not as fear. But as reverence.

To speak only when there is good reason. To speak because it is God’s will and not because it soothes our anxiety. To listen more than we talk. To accept being unknown. To resist the need to untie every thought that wanders into the stable of the mind.

This teaching must be internalized or it will remain quaint desert wisdom. It must confront us in the car after a conversation that left us agitated. It must confront us before we send the message, before we correct someone, before we offer unsolicited counsel, before we share a clever insight. It must question us. Is this necessary. Is this born of love. Will this preserve peace. Or am I simply opening the door and letting the heat escape.

All things must be touched by grace. Speech can console, heal, illumine, and reconcile. Speech can also scatter, inflame, and darken. The same tongue that blesses can wound. The same mouth that proclaims Christ can betray Him.

If we do not yet have a pure heart, the Fathers say, at least have a pure mouth.

It is a beginning. A humiliating beginning. A door set firmly in place.

And behind that door, if we are faithful, the slow birth of compunction.

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Text of chat during the group:

00:04:48 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: Page 356 Section E

00:09:58 Catherine Opie: I have not attended for a couple of weeks. Where are we in the text now?

00:10:21 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/philokalia-ministries-lenten-retreat-2026

00:10:51 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 356, E

00:10:59 Catherine Opie: P356 Section E

00:12:54 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/philokalia-ministries-lenten-retreat-2026

00:13:03 John ‘Jack’: Hello Father

00:13:28 Vanessa: I found the Saturday link in my junk email. I just happened to see it there.

00:13:40 Jessica McHale: Replying to "I found the Saturd..."

me too

00:14:12 Rebecca Thérèse: I registered twice and only got one

00:14:40 Vanessa: If you use Gmail, sometimes it goes into the "Promotions" folder.

00:14:54 Fr. Charbel Abernethy: https://www.philokaliaministries.org/post/philokalia-ministries-lenten-retreat-2026

00:15:06 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 356, E

00:16:00 kristy: is there a way to watch the recording from saturday?

00:16:13 Beth Callaway: The Evergetinos Volumes 1 - 4: The Full Text
By Nun Christina

00:16:23 Beth Callaway: Is this an appropriate text?

00:16:25 Angela Bellamy: It was mentioned there was trouble with the website and so I thought it could creat an error for the registration.

00:17:27 iPad (2)Janine: Beth..that is different translation….close but not same text.

00:23:00 Andrew Adams: Replying to "Is this an appropria..."

This is the translation that we are using: https://ctosonline.org/product/the-evergetinos-a-complete-text/

00:23:56 Myles Davidson: Arrived late. Where are we?

00:24:57 Julie: But in fairness some of the time was in the introduction so, 2 hours was great

00:25:04 maureencunningham: Wait till we get to heaven ! We will be talking  for eternity

00:25:11 Bob Čihák, AZ: P. 356, E

00:25:16 Myles Davidson: Reacted to "P. 356, E" with 🙏

00:25:21 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "P. 356, E" with 👍

00:25:27 Mark South: Fr read 1sr paragragh  in E p356

00:36:21 Wayne Mackenzie: Replying to "I found the Saturday..."

What was the heading in the email?

00:37:07 Angela Bellamy: Sometimes I feel exuberant to attempt silence and I feel quite remorseful when I didn't succeed in a great way, but I do my best to keep heart because James says that if you are able to control your tongue then you can control your whole body. So I know this is no small feat to accomplish and with His grace and mercy will it be achieved. 

00:38:03 Forrest: Replying to "I found the Saturday..."

Wayne, it came to me as "Link + PDF for Session One: The 2026 Philokalia Ministries Lenten Retreat"

00:40:22 Nypaver Clan: Father,  What do you think of the “sign of peace” during the Novus Ordo? I don’t appreciate all that socializing just before reception of Holy Communion. Some people are really put off that I don’t participate.  I don’t want to be uncharitable…..

00:41:19 Myles Davidson: Reacted to "Father,  What do you..." with 👍

00:41:29 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "Father,  What do y..." with 👍

00:44:59 Myles Davidson: The chapel I attend, there is no talking before, during or after the Liturgy. It’s beautiful!

00:45:57 Nypaver Clan: Reacted to "The chapel I attend,..." with ❤️

00:45:59 Jessica McHale: Reacted to "The chapel I atten..." with ❤️

01:02:19 Beth Callaway: Is that what you mean by right ordering of a virtue?

01:02:40 Wayne Mackenzie: Replying to "I found the Saturday..."

Thanks will go through my emails

01:05:24 Lawrence Ruggiero: Replying to "The chapel I atten..."

thinking of what to say is in it self a distraction to me.

01:07:46 Forrest: The Greek makes it clear that the elder made this comment in the form of a parable: a teaching in few words.

01:08:37 Anthony: Reacted to The Greek makes it c... with "👍"

01:17:12 Angela Bellamy: Do you have to have control of the mouth to achieve inner stillness or are they in tandem? Growing together?

01:18:55 maureencunningham: Blessing I think it Wonderfull it is always a  Blessing.

01:19:37 Rebecca Thérèse: Thank you☺️

01:19:43 Catherine Opie: God bless FR. thank you again for your time and consideration🙏🏻