Pure, undisturbed and quiet prayer is accomplished, performed, constituted and kept by four virtues, and is diminished, tarnished, destroyed and hindered by four passions.

As to the destroying passions, they are: gluttony, excessive sleep, anger and vainglory, as I said before. | The two heads of the solitaries and of the Illuminated, the blessed Mark and the blessed Evagrius, teach us clearly concerning the four virtues which constitute pure prayer, and through which the solitary overcomes the passions and the demons. | p. 120