Philoxenus of Mabbug

And again he said, "Ye are dead unto the world, but alive unto God, in our Lord Jesus Christ." And again he said, "If ye died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as if ye were living in the world, do ye receive the commandments?" Now a man arriveth at this rule of life after he hath stripped himself of his possessions, and beginneth to work good deeds in the members of his person, for so long as he hath riches, he justifieth himself by riches, and he emptieth not himself from the cares of riches which he serveth in himself. And if it be imagined that he will also do these things while he liveth in riches, he will not, for his service will be confounded, that is to say, he advanceth, and turneth backwards, and in addition thereunto, although this man may labour in the world of the body, yet it is impossible for him to stand in the purity of the soul, from which a man entereth into spiritual love, from which is born knowledge, the mirror of everything, and from which the understanding riseth step by step unto divine conversation.