'Where outward ascetic practice is concerned, which
virtue is the most important? The answer to this is that the virtues are
linked one to the other, and follow as it were a sacred sequence, one
depending on the other. For instance, prayer is linked to love, love to
joy, joy to gentleness, gentleness to humility, humility to service,
service to hope, hope to faith, faith to obedience, and obedience to
simplicity. Similarly, the vices are linked one to another: hatred to
anger, anger to pride, pride to self-esteem, self-esteem to unbelief,
unbelief to hardheartedness, hardheartedness to negligence, negligence
to sluggishness, sluggishness to apathy, apathy to listlessness,
listlessness to lack of endurance, lack of endurance to self-indulgence,
and so on with all the other vices.'
