TWO HUNDRED CHAPTERS OF OUR HOLY FATHER MAXIMUS THE CONFESSOR

ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΑ  Σ ΄  ⁽¹⁰⁸⁴⁾

ON THEOLOGY AND THE ECONOMY IN THE FLESH OF THE SON OF GOD.

Περί θεολογίας καί τῆς ἐνσάρκου οἰκονομίας τοῦ Υἱοῦ Θεοῦ

FIRST CENTURY

ΕΚΑΤΟΝΤΑΣ  Α ΄

1. God is one, without beginning, incomprehensible, possessing in his totality the full power of being, fully excluding the notion of time and quality in that he is inaccessible to all and not discernible by any being on the basis of any natural representation. ¹

α΄.  Εἷς Θεός, ἄναρχος, ἀκατάληπτος, ὅλην ἔχων τοῦ εἶναι τήν δύναμιν διόλου· τήν, πότε καί πῶς εἶναι παντάπασιν ἀπωθούμενος ἔννοιαν· ὡς πᾶσιν ἄβατος, καί μηδενί τῶν ὄντων ἐκ φυσικῆς ἐμφάσεως διεγνωσμένος.

2. God is in himself (insofar as it is possible for us to know) neither beginning, nor middle, nor end, nor absolutely anything that is thought of as coming after him by nature; for he is unlimited, unmoved, and infinite in that he is infinitely beyond every essence, power, and act. ²

β΄.  Ὁ Θεός, οὐκ ἔστι δι᾿ ἑαυτόν, ὡς ἡμᾶς εἰδέναι δυνατόν· οὔτε ἀρχή, οὔτε μεσότης, οὔτε τέλος, οὔτε τι τό σύνολον ἕτερον τῶν τοῖς μετ᾿ αὐτόν φυσικῶς ἐνθεωρουμένων· ἀόριστος γάρ ἐστι καί ἀκίνητος καί ἄπειρος, ὡς πάσης οὐσίας καί δυνάμεως καί ἐνεργείας ὑπερέκεινα ἀπείρως ὤν.

3. Every essence, which implies in itself its own limit, is naturally a principle of movement contemplated in potency to it. Every natural movement toward act, discerned after essence and before act, is a middle insofar as it is taken naturally between the two as midpoint. And every act, circumscribed naturally by its own principle, is the end of essential movement logically preceding it. ³

γ΄.  Πᾶσα οὐσία τόν ἑαυτῆς ὅρον ἑαυτῇ συνεισάγουσα, ἀρχή πέφυκεν εἶναι,τῆς ἐπιθεωρουμένης αὐτῇ κατά δύναμιν κινήσεως. Πᾶσα δέ φυσική πρός ἐνέργειαν κίνησις, τῆς μέν οὐσίας μετεπινοουμένη· προεπινοουμένη δέ τῆς ἐνεργείας, μεσότης ἐστίν, ὡς ἀμφοῖν κατά τό μέσον φυσικῶς διειλημμένη· καί πᾶσα ἐνέργεια τῷ κατ᾿ αὐτήν λόγῳ φυσικῶς περιγραφομένη, τέλος ἐστί τῆς πρό αὐτῆς κατ᾿ ἐπίνοιαν οὐσιώδους κινήσεως.

4. God is not essence, understood as either general or particular, even if he is principle; nor is he potency understood as either general or particular, even if he is means; he is not act, understood as either general or particular, even if he is end of essential movement discerned in potency. ⁴ But he is a principle of being who is creative of essence and beyond essence, a ground who is creative of power but beyond power, the active and eternal condition of every act, and to speak briefly, the Creator of every essence, power, and act, as well as every beginning, middle, and end. ⁵

δ΄.  Οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ Θεός οὐσία, κατά τήν ἁπλῶς ἤ πῶς λεγομένην οὐσίαν, ἵνα καί ἀρχή· οὔτε δύναμις κατά τήν ἁπλῶς ἤ πῶς λεγομένην δύναμιν, ἵνα καί μεσότης· οὔτε ἐνέργεια, κατά τήν ἁπλῶς ἤ πῶς λεγομένην ἐνέργειαν, ἵνα καί τέλος ἐστί τῆς κατά δύναμιν προεπινοουμένης οὐσιώδους κινήσεως· ἀλλ᾿ οὐσιοποιός καί ὑπερούσιος ὀντότης· καί δυναμοποιός καί ὑπερδύναμος ἵδρυσις· καί πάσης ἐνεργείας δραστική καί ἀτελεύτητος ἕξις· καί συντόμως εἰπεῖν, πάσης οὐσίας καί δυνάμεως καί ἐνεργείας, ἀρχῆς τε καί μεσότητος καί τέλους ποιητική.

5. Beginning, middle, and end are characteristics of beings distinguished by time and it can be truly stated that they are also characteristics of beings comprehended in history. Indeed time, which has measured movement, is circumscribed by number, and history, which includes in its existence the category of when, admits of a separation insofar as it began to be. And if time and history are not without beginning, so much less are those things which are contained in them. ⁶

⁽¹⁰⁸⁵⁾ ε΄.  Ἡ ἀρχή καί ἡ μεσότης καί τό τέλος, τῶν χρόνῳ διαιρετῶν εἰσι γνωρίσματα· εἴποι δ᾿ ἄν τις ἀληθεύων, καί τῶν ἐν αἰῶνι συνορωμένων. Ὁ μέν γάρ χρόνος, μετρουμένην ἔχων τήν κίνησιν, ἀριθμῷ περιγράφεται· ὁ αἰών δέ συνεπινοουμένην ἔχων τῇ ὑπάρξει τήν πότε κατηγορίαν, πάσχει διάστασιν, ὡς ἀρχήν τοῦ εἶναι λαβών. Εἰ δέ χρόνος καί αἰών οὐκ ἄναρχα, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τά ἐν τούτοις περιεχόμενα.

6. God is always properly one and unique by nature. He encloses in himself in every way the whole of what being is in that he is himself even well beyond being itself. If this is the case, absolutely nothing that we call being has being at all of its own. Consequently, absolutely nothing that is different from him by essence is seen together with him from all eternity: neither age, nor time, nor anything dwelling in them. ⁷ For what is properly being and what is improperly being never come together with each other.

στ΄. Εἷς καί μόνος κατά φύσιν ἀεί κυρίως ἐστίν ὁ Θεός, ὅλον τό κυρίως εἶναι κατά πάντα τρόπον ἑαυτῷ περικλείων, ὡς καί αὐτοῦ τοῦ εἶναι κυρίως ὑπέρτερος. Εἰ δέ τοῦτο, οὐδαμῶς οὐδέν οὐδαμοῦ τῶν εἶναι λεγομένων τό σύνολον ἔχει τό, κυρίως εἶναι. Οὐκοῦν οὐδέν αὐτῷ τό παράπαν ἐξ ἀϊδίου συνθεωρεῖται κατ᾿ οὐσίαν διάφορον· οὐκ αἰών, οὐ χρόνος, οὐδέ τι τῶν τούτοις ἐνδιαιτωμένων. Οὐ γάρ συμβαίνουσιν ἀλλήλοις πώποτε, τό κυρίως εἶναι καί οὐ κυρίως.

7. Every beginning, middle, and end does not totally exclude every category of relation. God, on the contrary, being infinitely infinite, well above every relationship, is obviously neither beginning nor middle nor end nor absolutely anything of what the category or relation can be seen to possess.⁸

ζ΄.  Ἀρχή πᾶσα καί μεσότης καί τέλος, εἰς ἅπαν τήν σχετικήν δι᾿ ὅλου κατηγορίαν οὐκ ἤρνηται· Θεός δέ καθόλου πάσης σχέσεως ὑπάρχων ἀπειράκις ἀπείρως ἀνώτερος, οὔτε ἀρχή οὔτε μεσότης οὔτε τέλος εἰκότως ἐστίν· οὐδέ τι τό σύνολον ἕτερον, τῶν, οἷς ἐνθεωρεῖσθαι κατά τήν σχέσιν ἡ τοῦ πρός τι δύναται κατηγορίαν.

8. It is said that all beings are objects of knowledge because they bear the demonstrable principles of their knowledge. God, however, is called the unknown, and among all knowable things only his existence can be perceived.⁹ This is why no knowable object can compare in any way with him.

η΄.  Πάντα τά ὄντα, νοούμενα λέγεται· τῶν ἐπ᾿ αὐτά γνώσεων ἐναποδείκτους ἔχοντα τάς ἀρχάς· ὁ δέ Θεός, οὐ νοούμενος ὀνομάζεται· ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ τῶν νοουμένων μόνον εἶναι πιστεύεται· διόπερ οὐδέν τῶν νοουμένων αὐτῷ καθ᾿ ὁτιοῦν παραβάλλεται.

9. The knowledge of beings includes naturally, in view of demonstration, their own principles which naturally circumscribe them in a definition. But with God, only his existence can be believed through the principles in beings. He gives to those who are devout a proper faith and confession which are clearer than any demonstration. For faith is a true knowledge from undemonstrated principles, since it is the substance of realities which are beyond intelligence and reason.¹⁰

θ΄.  Αἱ τῶν ὄντων γνώσεις, συνηρτημένους φυσικῶς ἔχουσι πρός ἀπόδειξιν τούς οἰκείους λόγους, οἷς περιγραφήν φυσικῶς ὑπομένουσιν· ὁ δέ Θεός, διά τῶν ἐν τοῖς οὖσι λόγων εἶναι μόνον πιστεύεται· πάσης ἀποδείξεως βασιμώτερον, τοῖς εὐσεβέσι τήν ὅτι κυρίως ἐστίν ὁμολογίαν καί πίστιν διδούς. Πίστις γάρ ἐστι, γνῶσις ἀληθής ἀναποδείκτους ἔχουσα τάς ἀρχάς, ὡς τῶν ὑπέρ νοῦν καί λόγον ὑπάρχουσα πραγμάτων ὑπόστασις.

10. God is the beginning, middle, and end of beings in that he is active and not passive, as are all others which we so name. For he is beginning as creator, middle as provider, and end as goal, for it is said, "From him and through him and for him are all beings."¹¹

ι΄.  Ἀρχή τῶν ὄντων καί μεσότης καί τέλος ἐστίν ⁽¹⁰⁸⁸⁾ ὁ Θεός, ὡς ἐνεργῶν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ πάσχω ὥσπερ καί τά ἄλλα πάντα, οἷς παρ᾿ ἡμῶν ὀνομάζεται. Ἀρχή γάρ ἐστιν ὡς δημιουργός· καί μεσότης, ὡς προνοητής· καί τέλος, ὡς περιγραφή. Ἐξ αὐτοῦ γάρ, φησί, καί δι᾿ αὐτοῦ, καί εἰς αὐτόν τά πάντα.

11. There is no rational soul which is by essence more valuable than another rational soul. Indeed, God in his goodness, creating every soul to his image, brings it into being to be self-moving. Each one, then, deliberately either chooses honor or accepts dishonor by its own deeds.¹²

ια΄. Οὐκ ἔστι ψυχή λογική κατ᾿ οὐσίαν ψυχῆς λογικῆς τιμιωτέρα. Πᾶσαν γάρ ψυχήν κατ᾿ εἰκόνα ἑαυτοῦ δημιουργῶν, ὡς ἀγαθός ὁ Θεός, αὐτοκίνητον εἰς τό εἶναι παράγει· ἑκάστη δέ κατά πρόθεσιν, ἤ τήν τιμήν ἐπιλέγεται, ἤ τήν ἀτιμίαν ἑκοῦσα διά τῶν ἔργων προσίεται.

12. God is the sun of justice,¹³ as it is written, who shines rays of goodness on simply everyone. The soul develops according to its free will into either wax because of its love for God or into mud because of its love of matter. Thus just as by nature the mud is dried out by the sun and the wax is automatically softened, so also every soul which loves matter and the world and has fixed its mind far from God is hardened as mud according to its free will and by itself advances to its perdition, as did Pharaoh. However, every soul which loves God is softened as wax, and receiving divine impressions and characters it becomes "the dwelling place of God in the Spirit."¹⁴

ιβ΄. Ὁ Θεός, ἥλιός ἐστι δικαιοσύνης, ὡς γέγραπται· πᾶσιν ἁπλῶς τάς ἀκτῖνας ἐπιλάμπων τῆς ἀγαθότητος· ἡ δέ ψυχή, ἤ κηρός ὡς φιλόθεος, ἤ πηλός ὡς φιλόϋλος κατά τήν γνώμην γίνεσθαι πέφυκεν· ὥσπερ οὖν ὁ πηλός κατά φύσιν ἡλίῳ ξηραίνεται· ὁ δέ κηρός, φυσικῶς ἁπαλύνεται· οὕτω καί πᾶσα ψυχή φιλόϋλος καί φιλόκοσμος ἀπό Θεοῦ νουθετουμένη, καί ὡς πηλός κατά τήν γνώμην ἀντιτυποῦσα,  σκληρύνεται· καί ἑαυτήν ὠθεῖ κατά τόν Φαραώ πρός ἀπώλειαν· πᾶσα δέ φιλόθεος, ὡς κηρός ἁπαλύνεται, καί τούς τῶν θείων τύπους καί χαρακτῆρας εἰσδεχομένη, γίνεται Θεοῦ κατοικητήριον ἐν πνεύματι.

13. The one who has illumined his mind with divine thoughts, who has accustomed his reason to honor ceaselessly the Creator with divine hymns, and who has sanctified his sense with uncontaminated images has added to the natural beauty of the image the voluntary good of likeness.¹⁵

ιγ΄.  Ὁ τόν νοῦν ταῖς θείαις καταστράψας νοήσεσιν, καί τόν λόγον ἐθίσας θείοις ὕμνοις ἀπαύστως γεραίρειν τόν Κτίσαντα, καί ταῖς ἀκηράτοις φαντασίαις καθαγιάσας τήν αἴσθησιν· οὗτος τῷ φυσικῷ κατ᾿ εἰκόνα καλῷ, προσέθηκε τό καθ᾿ ὁμοίωσιν γνωμικόν ἀγαθόν.

14. One keeps his soul uncontaminated for God if he strives to direct his thought to think on God alone and on his virtues, who sets up his reason as a true interpreter and exegete of his virtues, and who teaches his senses to reflect honestly on the sensible world and whatever it contains so as to announce to the soul the magnificence of the principles of things.¹⁶

ιδ΄. Φυλάττει τις τῷ Θεῷ τήν ψυχήν ἀκηλίδωτον, εἰ τήν μέν διάνοιαν περί μόνου Θεοῦ, καί τῶν αὐτοῦ ἀρετῶν διανοεῖσθαι βιάσαιτο· τόν δέ λόγον, ὀρθόν ἑρμηνέα καί ἐξηγητήν τῶν αὐτῶν ἀρετῶν καταστήσειε· καί τήν αἴσθησιν εὐσεβῶς τόν ὁρατόν κόσμον καί τά ἐν αὐτῷ πάντα φαντάζεσθαι διδάξειε, τήν τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς λόγων μεγαλειότητα τῇ ψυχῇ διαγγέλλουσαν.

15. In freeing us from the bitter bondage of tyrannical devils, God has given us the loving yoke of holy piety, which is humility. By it all diabolical power is subdued, and for those who choose it everything becomes good and remains inviolate.

ιε΄.  Ὁ τῆς πικρᾶς δουλείας τῶν τυραννούντων δαιμόνων ἐλευθερώσας ἡμᾶς Θεός, φιλάνθρωπον θεοσεβείας ἡμῖν ζυγόν ἐδωρήσατο, τήν ταπεινοφροσύνην· δι᾿ ἧς πᾶσα μέν διαβολική δαμάζεται δύναμις·  ⁽¹⁰⁸⁹⁾ πᾶν δέ τοῖς ἑλομένοις αὐτήν ἀγαθόν δημιουργεῖται, καί ἀραδιούργητον διαφυλάττεται.

16. The believer comes to fear. The one who has fear is humbled. The one who is humbled becomes gentle; he has adopted a behavior which renders inactive the movements of the anger and lust. The one who is gentle keeps the commandments. The one who keeps the commandments is purified. The one who is purified is illumined. And the one who is illumined is judged worthy to sleep with the Word-Spouse in the inner chamber of the mysteries.¹⁷

ιστ΄. Ὁ πιστεύων, φοβεῖται· ὁ δέ φοβούμενος ταπεινοῦται· ὁ δέ ταπεινούμενος, πραΰνεται, τήν τῶν παρά φύσιν τοῦ θυμοῦ καί τῆς ἐπιθυμίας κινημάτων ἀνενέργητον ἕξιν λαβών· ὁ δέ πραΰς, τηρεῖ τάς ἐντολάς· ὁ δέ τηρῶν τάς ἐντολάς, καθαίρεται· ὁ δέ καθαρθείς, ἐλλάμπεται· ὁ δέ ἐλλαμφθείς, ἐν τῷ ταμιείῳ τῶν μυστηρίων ἀξιοῦται τῷ νυμφίῳ Λόγῳ συγκοιτασθῆναι.

17. As a farmer in examining a suitable place to transplant wild trees falls upon an unhoped for treasure, so it is with every genuine and humble ascetic whose soul is smooth of the roughness of matter, as the most blessed Jacob, asked by his father on the manner of his knowledge, "How did you find it so quickly, my son?" replies, "The Lord God granted me success."¹⁸ For when the Lord will have given us who did not expect it the wise contemplations of his own wisdom without labor, it will be granted us suddenly to find a spiritual treasure. For the proven ascetic is a spiritual farmer who transplants as a wild tree the sense contemplation of visible things into the region of the spiritual and who finds a treasure: the manifestation by grace of the wisdom which is in beings.

ιζ΄. Ὥσπερ γεωργός, ὑπέρ τοῦ τι τῶν ἀγρίων μεταφυτεῦσαι δένδρων ἐπιτήδειον σκοπῶν χωρίον, ἀνελπίστῳ θησαυρῷ περιπίπτει· οὕτω καί πᾶς ἀσκητής ταπεινόφρων καί ἄπλαστος, καί λεῖος κατά ψυχήν τῆς ὑλικῆς δασύτητος, κατά τόν μακαριώτατον Ἰακώβ, ὑπό τοῦ Πατρός ἐρωτώμενος τῆς ἐπιστήμης τόν τρόπον·  Τί τοῦτο ὅ ταχύ εὗρες, τέκνον; ἀποκρίνεται λέγων· Ὅ παρέδωκε Κύριος ὁ Θεός ἐναντίον μου. Ὅταν γάρ ἡμῖν ὁ Θεός παραδῷ τῆς ἰδίας σοφίας τά σοφά θεωρήματα καμάτου χωρίς, οὐ προσδοκήσασι, θησαυρόν ἐξαίφνης πνευματικόν εὑρηκέναι νομίσωμεν. Γεωργός γάρ πνευματικός ἐστιν ὁ δόκιμος ἀσκητής, τήν πρός αἴσθησιν [unus Reg. τήν αἰσθητόν] τῶν ὁρατῶν θεωρίαν, ὡς ἄγριον δένδρον πρός τήν τῶν νοητῶν χώραν μεταφυτεύων· καί θησαυρόν εὑρίσκων, τήν κατά χάριν τῆς ἐν τοῖς οὖσι σοφίας φανέρωσιν.

18. Falling suddenly through humility on the ascetic who did not expect it,the knowledge of divine contemplations overcomes the thinking of the one who seeks it with effort and toil for the sake of show but does not find it. It foolishly engenders in the senseless one any envy toward his brother, a thought of murder, and for himself a sadness in not having the vanity of praises.¹⁹

ιη΄.  Ἄφνω προσπεσοῦσα γνῶσις θείων θεωρημάτων τῷ ἀσκητῇ μή προσδοκήσαντι διά τήν ταπείνωσιν, κατακλᾷ τόν λογισμόν τοῦ πρός ἐπίδειξιν μετά καμάτου καί πόνου ταύτην ζητοῦντος, καί μή εὑρίσκοντος· καί γεννᾷ τῷ ἄφρονι φθόνον εἰκῇ πρός τόν ἀδελφόν, καί φόνου μελέτην, καί ἑαυτῷ λύπην, διά τό μή ἔχειν τήν ἐκ τῶν ἐπαίνων φυσίωσιν.

19. Those who search for knowledge with toil and do not succeed fail because of a lack of faith or else because being foolishly in rivalry with those who have knowledge they are at the point of rebelling against them, as once the people did against Moses. Against them let the law rightly say that some, using force, climbed the mountain, and the Amorite who dwelt on that mountain came out and slaughtered them.²⁰ For it is necessary that those who simulate virtue through ostentation be not only defeated for having deceived piety but also be wounded by their conscience.

ιθ΄. Οἱ ζητοῦντες μετά πόνου γνῶσιν, καί ἀποτυγχάνοντες, ἤ διά ἀπιστίαν ἀποτυγχάνουσι, ἤ τυχόν διά τό ἀφυῶς μέλλειν αὐτούς ἀντιφιλονεικοῦντας ἐπαίρεσθαι κατά τῶν γινωσκόντων, ὡς ὁ λαός πάλαι κατά Μωϋσέως· πρός οὕς ὁ νόμος ἐρεῖ δεόντως, ὅτι παραβιασάμενοί τινες, ἀνέβησαν εἰς τό ὄρος, καί ἐξῆλθεν ὁ Ἀμοῤῥαῖος ὁ οἰκῶν ἐν τῷ ὄρει ἐκείνῳ, καί ἐτίτρωσκεν αὐτούς. Ἀνάγκη γάρ τούς ἐπιδείξεως ἕνεκεν ἐπιμορφιζομένους τήν ἀρετήν, μή μόνον σφάλλεσθαι δολοῦντας τήν εὐσέβειαν, ἀλλά καί ὑπό τοῦ συνειδότος τιτρώσκεσθαι.

20. The one who seeks knowledge for the sake of display and does not succeed should not be jealous of his neighbor nor should he be sad, but let him make the Preparation with some neighbor as it is prescribed;²¹ he must be diligent in readying himself for knowledge by practice, first on the body, then on the soul.

⁽¹⁰⁹²⁾ κ΄. Ὁ πρός ἐπίδειξιν ἐφιέμενος γνώσεως, καί ἀποτυγχάνων· μήτε φθονείτω τῷ πέλας, μήτε λυπείσθω· ἀλλ᾿ ἔν τινι τῶν ὁμόρων ποιείτω τήν παρασκευήν, ὡς προστέτακται· κατά τήν πρᾶξιν, ἐν τῷ σώματι πρότερον φιλοπονῶν τῇ ψυχῇ τήν ἑτοιμασίαν τῆς γνώσεως.

21. Those who deal rightly and piously with beings and who conceive no sort of love of ostenation will find coming to meet them their most precise apprehension. To these the Law says, "Enter and inherit big and beautiful cities and houses which you did not build, filled with all kinds of goods, and wells dug in stone, which you did not dig, and vines and olive trees which you did not plant."²² Indeed he who lives not for himself but for God becomes filled with divine graces which had not been manifested till then because of the pressing disturbance of the passions.

κα΄.  Οἱ ὀρθῶς μετ᾿ εὐσεβείας τοῖς οὖσι προσβάλλοντες, καί μηδένα φιλενδειξίας τρόπον ἐπινοοῦντες, εὑρήσουσι προϋπαντώσας αὐτοῖς τάς τῶν ὄντων παμφαεῖς θεωρίας, ἀκριβεστάτην αὐτοῖς ἐμποιούσας ἑαυτῶν τήν κατάληψιν· πρός οὕς ὁ νόμος φησίν· Εἰσελθόντες κληρονομήσατε πόλεις μεγάλας καί καλάς, καί οἰκίας πλήρεις πάντων ἀγαθῶν, ἅς οὐκ οἰκοδομήσατε· καί λάκκους λελατομημένους, οὕς οὐκ ἐλατομήσατε· καί ἀμπελῶνας καί ἐλαιῶνας, οὕς οὐκ ἐφυτεύσατε. Ὁ γάρ μή ἑαυτῷ ζῶν, ἀλλά τῷ Θεῷ, πάντων γίνεται πλήρης τῶν θείων χαρισμάτων· τῶν τέως διά τήν ἐπικειμένην τῶν παθῶν ὄχλησιν μή φαινομένων.

22. Just as we speak of the two types of sense, the first a habitual one which is ours even when we are asleep and which does not perceive any object (it has no utility since it does not tend to an act), the second, in act, by which we perceive sensible things, so are there two types of knowledge. The first is intelligent, which picks up the principles of beings by its habit alone; it has no usefulness since it does not tend toward the observance of the commandments. The second is practical, in act, and admits this true understanding of beings through experience. ²³

κβ΄. Ὥσπερ διχῶς ἡ αἴσθησις λέγεται· ἡ μέν, καθ᾿ ἕξιν· ἥτις καί κοιμωμένων ἡμῶν ἐστι, μηδενός ἀντιλαμβανομένη τῶν ὑποκειμένων· ἧς οὐδέν ὄφελος, μή πρός ἐνέργειαν τεινομένης· ἡ δέ, κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν· δι᾿ ἧς ἀντιλαμβανόμεθα τῶν αἰσθητῶν· οὕτω καί ἡ γνῶσις διττή· ἡ μέν ἐπιστημονική, καθ᾿ ἕξιν μόνην τούς λόγους ἀναλεγομένη τῶν ὄντων· ἧς οὐδέν ὄφελος μή πρός τήν τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐνέργειαν ἐκτεινομένης· ἡ δέ,  κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν πρακτική, αὐτήν ἀληθῆ διά τῆς πείρας τῶν ὄντων κομίζουσα τήν κατάληψιν.

23. The hypocrite, so long as he thinks himself hidden, is quiet and seeks after glory in having it believed that he is righteous. But when he is detected, he hurls death-bearing words, thinking in abusing others to hide his own deformity. Scripture compares him to a brood of vipers because of his duplicity and calls upon him to produce fruits worthy of repentance, that is, to transform the hidden disposition of the heart into honest behavior.²⁴

κγ΄. Ὁ ὑποκριτής, ἕως μέν δοκεῖ λανθάνειν, ἠρεμεῖ· τήν ἐκ τοῦ δοκεῖν δίκαιος εἶναι δόξαν θηρώμενος. Ἐπειδάν δέ φωραθῇ, θανατηφόρους προΐσχεται λόγους, ταῖς κατ᾿ ἄλλων λοιδορίαις δοκῶν τήν οἰκείαν συγκαλύπτειν ἀσχημοσύνην· ὅν ἐχίδνης γεννήματι παρεικάσας ὁ λόγος, ὡς παλίμβολον, ἀξίους τῆς μετανοίας προσέταξεν αὐτῷ ποιεῖσθαι καρπούς· τουτέστι, πρός τούς φαινομένους τρόπους, μεταποιῆσαι τήν κρυπτομένην τῆς καρδίας διάθεσιν.

24. Some call beast every being living in the air, on land, or in the sea which is not adjudged clean by the Law even if it seems domesticated in its ways. By their names, the Scripture denotes each man according to his passion.²⁵

κδ΄. Φασί τινες θηρίον εἶναι, πᾶν ὅ μή τῷ νόμῳ τῶν ἐν ἀέρι τε καί γῇ καί θαλάττῃ ζώων κέκριται καθαρόν, κἄν ἥμερον εἶναι τῷ ἤθει δοκῇ· οἷς ἕκαστον τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐκ τοῦ οἰκείου πάθους ὁ λόγος προσαγορεύει.

25. The one who counterfeits friendship to harm his neighbor is a wolf who hides his wickedness under his fleece,²⁶ and when he encounters a simple behavior or a word according to Christ done or said with innocence, he robs them and corrupts them, showering many censures. He attacks these words and this behavior as a spy on the freedom of the brothers in Christ.²⁷

κε΄. Ὁ ἐπί βλάβῃ τῶν πέλας μορφιζόμενος φιλίαν, λύκος ἐστί κωδίῳ ἐπικρύπτων τήν ἑαυτοῦ κακουργίαν. Ὅς ἐπειδάν εὕρῃ ψιλόν ἦθος, ἤ ῥῆμα κατά Χριστόν ἁπλοϊκῶς ⁽¹⁰⁹³⁾ ἤ γινόμενον ἤ λεγόμενον, ἥρπασε καί διέφθειρε· μυρίους καταχέων μώμους, ὧν τοῖς λόγοις ἤ τοῖς ἤθεσιν ἐπιτίθεται· ὥσπερ κατάσκοπος τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ ἀδελφῶν ἐλευθερίας.

26. The one who simulates silence because of wickedness contrives deceit against his neighbor. He gives up without success, having inflicted sorrow on himself by reason of his own passion. On the other hand, the one who keeps silence for the sake of spiritual profit has increased friendship and is made happy for having received an illumination which puts darkness to flight.

κστ΄. Ὁ ὑποκρινόμενος σιωπήν κακουργίας χάριν, τῷ πλησίον τεκταίνεται δόλον· οὗ ἀποτυγχάνων ἄπεισι, τῷ ἰδίῳ πάθει προσθέμενος ὀδύνην. Ὁ δέ σιωπῶν ὠφελείας χάριν, ηὔξησε φιλίαν, καί ἀπελεύσεται χαίρων, ὡς λαβών φωτισμόν σκότους λυτήριον.

27. The one who in a gathering interrupts rashly the flow of conversation does not hide in his illness his love of glory. Caught in the act, he proposes countless escapes and circumlocutions in an attempt to quarrel with the sequence of what is said.

κζ΄. Ὁ ἐν συνεδρίῳ λόγων ἀκρόασιν προπετῶς ἀνακόπτων, οὐκ ἔλαβε φιλοδοξίαν νοσῶν· ὑφ᾿ ἧς ἁλισκόμενος, μυρίους προβάλλεται δρόμους καί περιδρόμους προτάσεων, τήν εἰρμόν τῶν λεγομένων διαστῆσαι βουλόμενος.

28. The wise man who gives or receives instruction wishes to give or receive it only in useful matters. However, when the man who appears wise seeks information or is questioned, he advances only more contrived things.

κη΄.  Ὁ σοφός, καί διδάσκων καί διδασκόμενος, μόνα βούλεται τά ὠφελοῦντα διδάσκεσθαι καί διδάσκειν· ὁ δέ δοκήσει σοφός, καί ἐρωτῶν καί ἐρωτώμενος, τά περιεργότερα μόνον προβάλλεται.

29. The goods which one has received by the grace of God should be shared without jealousy with others. For it is said, "You have freely received, freely give."²⁸ For the one who hides the gift under the earth accuses his master of being harsh, declining virtue by caring for the flesh.²⁹ And the one who sells the truth to the enemy and is later convicted of glory-seeking cannot bear the shame and hangs himself.³⁰

κθ΄. Ὧν μετέσχε τις κατά Θεοῦ χάριν ἀγαθῶν, καί ἄλλοις ἀφθόνως μεταδοῦναι χρεώστης ἐστί. Δωρεάν γάρ, φησίν, ἐλάβετε, δωρεάν δότε. Ὁ γάρ ὑπό γῆν κρύπτων τήν δωρεάν, ὡς σκληρόν διαβάλλει τόν κύριον, φειδοῖ τῆς σαρκός τήν ἀρετήν ἐξομνύμενος. Ὁ δέ πιπράσκων ἐχθροῖς τήν ἀλήθειαν, ὕστερον ἁλούς ὡς φιλόδοξος, μή φέρων τήν αἰσχύνην ἀπάγχεται.

30. Those who are still timid in the war against the passions and who fear the inroads of invisible enemies should be quiet, that is, not engage in warlike behavior above their strength, but by prayer abandon the care of themselves to God's concern. For we read in Exodus, "The Lord will fight for you and you will keep quiet."³¹ Those who have already overcome their pursuers and who seek virtuous behavior for right-minded instruction must only keep open the ear of the mind. To them is said, "Listen, Israel!"³² To him who by purification energetically aims at the divine knowledge there corresponds a reverent boldness. It will be said to him, "Why do you cry out to me?"³³ Thus to the one to whom silence is prescribed because of fear, only refuge in God is helpful. To the one to whom it is recommended to listen there corresponds a readiness to hearken to the divine commandments. As for the gnostic, it is fitting that he cry out endlessly in supplication to turn away evils and to give thanks for the sharing of good things.

λ΄. Τούς ἔτι δειλιῶντας τόν πρός τά πάθη πόλεμον, καί φοβουμένους τήν τῶν ἀοράτων ἐχθρῶν ἐπιδρομήν, σιωπᾶν δεῖ· τουτέστι, τόν ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς ἀντιῤῥητικόν μή μεταχειρίζεσθαι τρόπον· ἀλλά παραχωρεῖν τῷ Θεῷ δι᾿ εὐχῆς, τήν ὑπέρ ἑαυτῶν μέριμναν· πρός οὕς ἐν Ἐξόδῳ λέγεται· Κύριος πολεμήσει περί ὑμῶν, καί ὑμεῖς σιγήσεσθε. Τούς δέ ἤδη μετά τήν ἀναίρεσιν τῶν διωκόντων, τούς τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐπιζητοῦντας τρόπους πρός εὐγνώμονα μάθησιν, δέον ἔχειν μόνον ἠνεῳγμένον τῆς διανοίας τό οὖς· πρός οὕς φησιν,  Ἄκουε Ἰσραήλ. Τῷ δέ σφόδρα διά τήν κάθαρσιν, τῆς θείας ἐφιεμένῳ γνώσεως, ἁρμόδιος ἡ εὐλαβής παῤῥησία· πρός ὅν εἰρήσεται,  Τί βοᾷς πρός με; Οὐκοῦν ὅτῳ μέν σιωπή διά φόβον προστέτακται, πρόσφορος μόνον ἡ πρός Θεόν καταφυγή· ὅτῳ δέ ἀκούειν παρακελεύεται, ἁρμόδιος ἡ πρός ὑπακοήν τῶν θείων ἐντολῶν ἑτοιμότης· τῷ δέ γνωστικῷ, τί δι᾿ ἱκεσίαν ἀπαύστως βοᾷν ἐπιτήδειον, ὑπέρ τε τῆς τῶν κακῶν ἀποτροπῆς, καί εὐχαριστίας τῆς τῶν ἀγαθῶν μετουσίας.

31. The soul would never be able to reach out toward the knowledge of God if God did not allow himself to be touched by it through condescension and by raising it up to him. Indeed, the human mind as such would not have the strength to raise itself to apprehend any divine illumination did not God himself draw it up, as far as it is possible for the human mind to be drawn, and illumine it with divine brightness.³⁴

λα΄.  Οὐδέποτε ψυχή δύναται πρός γνῶσιν ἐκταθῆναι Θεοῦ, εἰ μή αὐτός ὁ Θεός συγκαταβάσει χρησάμενος ἅψηται αὐτῆς, καί ἀναγάγῃ πρός ἑαυτόν. ⁽¹⁰⁹⁶⁾ Οὐ γάρ ἄν τοσοῦτον ἴσχυσεν ἀναδραμεῖν ἀνθρώπινος νοῦς, ὡς ἀντιλαβέσθαι τινός θείας ἐλλάμψεως, εἰ μή αὐτός ὁ Θεός ἀνέσπασεν αὐτόν, ὡς δυνατόν ἦν ἀνθρώπινον νοῦν ἀνασπασθῆναι, καί ταῖς θείαις αὐγαῖς κατεφώτισεν.

32. The one who imitates the Lord's disciples is not deterred on account of the Pharisees from walking through the grain fields on the Sabbath and picking the ears of grain,³⁵ but arrived at detachment through spiritual practice he gathers up the principles of creatures and is religiously nourished with the divine knowledge of beings.

λβ΄. Ὁ τούς μαθητάς τοῦ Κυρίου μιμούμενος, οὐ παραιτεῖται διά τούς Φαρισαίους ὁδόν ποιεῖν ἐν Σαββάτῳ διά τῶν σπορίμων, καί στάχυας τίλλειν, ἀλλά μετά τήν πρακτικήν ἐν τῇ ἀπαθείᾳ γενόμενος, τούς λόγους ἀναλέγεται τῶν γεγονότων, εὐσεβῶς τήν θείαν τῶν ὄντων ἐπιστήμην τρεφόμενος.

33. The one who is a simple believer according to the Gospel moves the mountain of his wickedness through practice, rejecting for himself from the unstable course of sensible things the former disposition based on them. The one who is capable of being a disciple receives in his hands from the Word the fragments of the loaves of knowledge and nourishes thousands of people,³⁶ showing that by practice the power of the word is multiplied. The one who has received the strength of being an apostle heals every sickness and weakness by expelling demons, that is, by putting to flight the activity of the passions, in caring for the sick, in recalling to a habit of devotion by words of hope those who are deprived of it, and in converting by the word of judgment those who have been weakened by laziness. For exhorted to crush underfoot both serpents and scorpions,³⁷ he obliterates the beginning and end of sin.

λγ΄.  Ὁ κατά τό Εἀγγέλιον μόνον πιστός, τό ὄρος τῆς κακίας αὐτοῦ διά πράξεως μετατίθησιν· ἀπωθούμενος ἑαυτοῦ τῇ ἀστάτῳ περιφορᾷ τῶν ὑπό αἴσθησιν, τήν ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς προτέραν διάθεσιν. Ὁ δέ μαθητής εἶναι δυνάμενος, ἐκ τοῦ Λόγου δεχόμενος χερσί τῶν γνωστικῶν ἄρτων τά κλάσματα, διατρέφει χιλιάδας· πράξει δεικνύς πληθυνομένην τοῦ λόγου τήν δύναμιν. Ὁ δέ καί Ἀπόστολος ἰσχύσας εἶναι, πᾶσαν ἰατρεύει νόσον καί μαλακίαν, ἐκβάλλων δαιμόνια· τουτέστι, τήν τῶν παθῶν φυγαδεύων ἐνέργειαν· νοσοῦντας ἰώμενος, πρός ἕξιν εὐσεβείας τούς στερηθέντας αὐτῆς δι᾿ ἐλπίδος ἐπανάγων, καί τούς δι᾿ ὄκνον μαλακισθέντας, ἐπιστύφων τῷ λόγῳ τῆς κρίσεως. Πατεῖν γάρ ἐπάνω ὄφεων καί σκορπίων κελευσθείς, ἀρχήν καί τέλος τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐξαφανίζει.

34. The one who is an apostle and a disciple is also completely a believer. But the one who is a disciple is not wholly an apostle, but is wholly a believer. The one who is only a simple believer is neither disciple nor apostle. Still, by his manner of life and contemplation, the third can be moved to the rank of dignity of the second, and the second to the rank of dignity of the first.

λδ΄. Ὁ Ἀπόστολος καί μαθητής, πάντως ἐστί καί πιστός· ὁ δέ μαθητής οὐ πάντως μέν καί ἀπόστολος, πάντως δέ πιστός. Ὁ δέ μόνον πιστός, οὔτε μαθητής οὔτε ἀπόστολός ἐστι· πλήν δύναται διά βίου καί θεωρίας, καί ὁ τρίτος εἰς τήν τοῦ δευτέρου, καί ὁ δεύτερος εἰς τήν τοῦ πρώτου μετενεχθῆναι τάξιν καί ἀξίαν.

35. All things created in time according to time become perfect when they cease their natural growth. But everything that the knowledge of God effects according to virtue, when it reaches perfection, moves to further growth. For the end of the latter becomes the beginning of the former. Indeed, the one who by practicing the virtues keeps in check the substance of past things begins other, more divine patterns. For God never ceases from good things, as he never began them. For just as it is the property of light to illumine, likewise is it the property of God to do good. Under the Law which regulates the ordering of what is in time subject to becoming and corruption, the Sabbath is honored by rest. But under the Gospel, which brings in the restoration of intelligible things, it is brightened by the noble performance of good works. Only those who did not yet know that "the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath," and again that the "Son of Man is Lord even on the Sabbath" would be indignant.³⁸

λε΄. Ὅσα μέν ἐν χρόνῳ καί χρόνον δημιουργεῖται, τελειωθέντα ἵσταται, λήγοντα τῆς κατά φύσιν αὐξήσεως. Ὅσα δέ κατ᾿ ἀρετήν ἐπιστήμη Θεοῦ κατεργάζεται, τελειωθέντα πάλιν κινεῖται πρός αὔξησιν. Τά γάρ τέλη αὐτῶν, ἑτέρων ἀρχαί καθεστήκασιν. Ὁ γάρ καταπαύσας ἐν ἑαυτῷ διά τῶν ἀρετῶν κατά τήν πρᾶξιν τήν τῶν φθειρομένων ὑπόστασιν, ἑτέρων ἀπήρξατο θειοτέρων διατυπώσεων· παύεται γάρ οὐδέποτε τῶν καλῶν ὁ Θεός, ὧν οὐδέ ἀρχήν ἔσχεν. Ὡς γάρ φωτός ἴδιον τό φωτίζειν, οὕτως ἴδιον Θεοῦ τό εὖ ποιεῖν. Διό τῷ μέν νόμῳ, τήν κατά χρόνον τῶν ἐν γενέσει καί φθορᾷ σύστασιν ἀφηγουμένῳ, ⁽¹⁰⁹⁷⁾ τιμᾶται δι᾿ ἀργίας τό Σάββατον· τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ δέ τήν τῶν νοητῶν εἰσηγουμένῳ κατάστασιν, δι᾿ εὐποιίας καλῶν ἔργων τοῦτο φαιδρύνεται· κἄν ἀγανακτῶσιν οἱ μήπω γνόντες ὅτι διά τόν ἄνθρωπον τό Σάββατον γέγονεν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ διά τό Σάββατον ὁ ἄνθρωπος· καί ὅτι κύριός ἐστι καί τοῦ Σαββάτου ὁ Υἱός τοῦ ἀνθρώπου.

36. For the Law and the Prophets there is the Sabbath,³⁹ the Sabbaths,⁴⁰ and the Sabbaths of Sabbaths, just as there is the circumcision and the circumcision of circumcision, and also the harvest and the harvest's harvest, as it is written, "When you harvest your harvest."⁴¹ The first is the completion of practical, natural, and theological learning. The second is the release of becoming and of the principles of becoming. The third is the bringing in and enjoyment of the more spiritual principles of sense and mind. And this comes about, of course, in each of the three categories mentioned. In this way the gnostic knows the principles according to which Moses observes the Sabbath in dying outside the Holy Land.⁴² Joshua, son of Nun, performs circumcision in crossing the Jordan⁴³ and those who inherited the good land present to God the gathering in of the doubly abundant harvest.

λστ΄.  Ἔστι τῷ νόμῳ καί τοῖς προφήταις, καί Σάββατον καί Σάββατα, καί Σάββατα Σαββάτων· ὥσπερ καί περιτομή, καί περιτομῆς περιτομή· καί θέρος, καί θέρους θέρος, κατά τό εἰρημένον,  Ὅταν θερίσητε τόν θερισμόνὑμῶν. Ἔστιν οὖν τό μέν πρῶτον, πρακτικῆς καί φυσικῆς καί θεολογικῆς φιλοσοφίας ἀποπεράτωσις. Τό δεύτερον δέ, γενέσεως καί τῶν κατά γένεσιν λόγῳν, ἀπόλυσις. Τό δέ τρίτον, τῶν κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν καί νοῦν πνευτικωτέρων λόγων, εἰσφορά καί ἀπόλαυσις. Καί τοῦτο τρισσῶς ἐφ᾿ ἑκάστῳ δηλονότι τῶν εἰρημένων γινόμενον, ἵνα γνῷ τούς λόγους ὁ γνωστικός, καθ᾿ οὕς ὁ μέν Μωϋσῆς ἔξω τῆς ἁγίας γῆς σαββατίζει τελευτῶν· ὁ δέ τοῦ Ναυῆ Ἰησοῦς, περιτέμνει περάσας τόν Ἰορδάνην· οἱ δέ τήν ἀγαθήν γῆν κληρονομοῦντες, τήν εἰσφοράν τοῦ καθ᾿ ὑπέρθεσιν διπλοῦ θέρους τῷ Θεῷ προσκομίζουσιν.

37. Sabbath is the detachment of the rational soul which has by practice completely thrown off the marks of sin.⁴⁴

λζ΄.  Σάββατόν ἐστιν, ἀπάθεια ψυχῆς λογικῆς· κατά τήν πρακτικήν παντελῶς ἀποβαλομένης τῆς ἁμαρτίας τά στίγματα.

38. Sabbaths are the freedom of the rational soul which by natural contemplation in the Spirit has put down this natural activity oriented toward sensibility.

λη΄. Σάββατά ἐστιν, ἐλευθερία ψυχῆς λογικῆς· καί αὐτήν τήν κατά φύσιν πρός αἴσθησιν, διά τῆς ἐν πνεύματι φυσικῆς θεωρίας, ἀποθεμένης ἐνέργειαν.

39. Sabbaths of Sabbaths are the spiritual peace of the rational soul which, having withdrawn the mind even from all the more divine principles which are in beings, dwells entirely in God alone in a loving ecstasy,⁴⁵ and has rendered itself by mystical theology totally immobile in God.

λθ΄. Σάββατα Σαββάτων ἐστίν, ἡρεμία πνευματική ψυχῆς λογικῆς· καί ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν πάντων τῶν ἐν τοῖς οὖσι θειτέρων λόγων τόν νοῦν συστειλάσης· καί μόνῳ τῷ θεῷ κατ᾿ ἐρωτικήν ἔκστασιν ὁλικῶς ἐνδησάσης, καί παντελῶς ἀκίνητον αὐτόν τοῦ Θεοῦ διά τῆς μυστικῆς ἀπόθεσιν διαθέσεως.

40. Circumcision is the soul's putting off of its disposition of being affected by becoming.⁴⁶

μ΄. Περιτομή ἐστιν, ἡ περί γένεσιν τῆς κατά ψυχήν ἐμπαθοῦς ἀπόθεσις διαθέσεως.

41. The circumcision of circumcision is the total loss and stripping even of natural movements of the soul with respect to becoming.

μα΄. Περιτομή περιτομῆς ἐστιν, ἡ καί αὐτῶν τῶν κατά ψυχήν περί τήν γένεσιν φυσικῶν κινημάτων, παντελής ἀποβολή καί περιαίρεσις.

42. The harvest is the rational soul's collecting and recognition with understanding of the more spiritual principles of things by virtue and nature.⁴⁷

μβ΄. Θέρος ἐστί ψυχῆς λογικῆς, ἡ τῶν κατ᾿ ἀρετήν ⁽¹¹⁰⁰⁾ καί φύσιν τῶν ὄντων πνευματικωτέρων λόγων μετ᾿ ἐπιστήμης συλλογή καί ἐπίγνωσις.

43. The harvest of harvests is the understanding of God, not accessible to all, beyond the mystical contemplation of the intelligibles, arranged around the mind in an unknowable manner. This understanding God presents to the one who worthily honors the Creator from visible and invisible creatures.

μγ΄.  Θέρους θέρος ἐστίν, ἡ πᾶσιν ἄβατος μετά τήν τῶν νοητῶν μυστικήν θεωρίαν περί νοῦν ἀγνώστως συνισταμένη τοῦ Θεοῦ κατανόησις· ἥν προσφέρει δεόντως ὁ ἐκ τῶν ὁρατῶν καί ἀοράτων κτισμάτων ἀξίως γεραίρων τόν Κτίσαντα.

44. There is another more spiritual harvest which is said to be from God himself, and another more mysterious circumcision and another more secret Sabbath in which God rests in doing Sabbath from his own works. Thus it is said, "The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few,"⁴⁸ and "the circumcision of the heart in Spirit,"⁴⁹ and "God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because on it he rested from all the works that he had begun to create. "⁵⁰

μδ΄. Ἔστι καί ἄλλο πνευματικώτερον θέρος, αὐτοῦ λεγόμενον εἶναι τοῦ Θεοῦ· καί ἄλλη μυστικωτέρα περιτομή· καί ἄλλο κρυφιώτερον Σάββατον, ἐν ᾧ ἀπό τῶν ἰδίων ἔργων σαββατίζων ὁ Θεός ἀναπαύει, κατά τό, Ὁ μέν θερισμός, πολύς· οἱ δέ ἐργάται, ὀλίγοι. Καί, Περιτομή καρδίας ἐν πνεύματι. Καί, Εὐλόγησεν ὁ Θεός τήν ἡμέραν τήν ἑβδόμην, καί ἡγίασεν αὐτήν· ὅτι ἐν αὐτῇ κατέπαυσεν ἀπό πάντων τῶν ἔργων αὐτοῦ, ὧν ἤρξατο ὁ Θεός ποιῆσαι.

45. The harvest of God is the future home and dwelling in him for the end of ages of those who are completely worthy.

με΄. Θεοῦ θέρος ἐστίν, ἡ εἰς αὐτόν κατά τήν τῶν αἰώνων ἀποπεράτωσιν γινομένη τῶν ἀξίων καθόλου μονή τε καί ἵδρυσις.

46. The circumcision of the heart in spirit is the complete stripping away of the natural actions of sense and mind with respect to sensible and intelligible things by the presence of the Spirit, who directly transfigures the entire body and soul altogether into something more divine.

μστ΄. Ἐν πνεύματι περιτομή καρδίας ἐστίν, ἡ γινομένη τῶν κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν καί νοῦν περί τά αἰσθητά καί τά νοητά φυσικῶν ἐνεργειῶν παντελής περιαίρεσις· διά τῆς ἀμέσως τό τε σῶμα καί τήν ψυχήν ὁλικῶς μεταμορφούσης πρός τό θειότερον, παρουσίας τοῦ Πνεύματος.

47. The Sabbath of God is the full return to him of all creatures whereby he rests from his own natural activity toward them, his very divine activity which acts in an ineffable way. For God rests from his natural activity in each being by which each of them moves naturally. He rests when each being, having obtained the divine energy in due measure, will determine its own natural energy with respect to God.⁵¹

μζ΄. Θεοῦ σαββατισμός ἐστιν, ἡ εἰς αὐτόν διόλου τῶν πεποιημένων κατάντησις· καθ᾿ ἥν καταπαύει τῆς ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς φυσικῆς ἐνεργείας, τήν αὐτοῦ θειοτάτην ἀῤῥήτως ἐνεργουμένην  [Fr.ἐνεργουμένοις] ἐνέργειαν. Παύεται γάρ ὁ Θεός τῆς ἐν ἑκάστῳ τῶν ὄντων τυχόν φυσικῆς ἐνεργείας, καθ᾿ ἥν ἕκαστον τῶν ὄντων φυσικῶς κινεῖσθαι πέφυκεν, ὁπόταν ἕκαστον τῆς θείας ἀναλόγως ἐπιλαβόμενον ἐνεργείας, τήν κατά φύσιν οἰκείαν περί αὐτόν ὁρίσῃ τόν Θεόν ἐνέργειαν.

48. Zealous people should look among God's works to know which of them he began to create and which, on the contrary, he did not begin. Indeed, if he has rested from all the works that he began to create, it is clear that he did not rest from those which he did not create. God's works which began in time are all beings which share, for example, the different essences of beings, for they have nonbeing before being. For God was when participated beings were not. The works of God which did not happen to begin to be in time are participated beings, in which participated beings share according to grace, for example, goodness and all that the term goodness implies, that is, all life, immortality, simplicity, immutability, and infinity and such things which are essentially contemplated in regard to him; they are also God's works, and yet they did not begin in time. For what does not exist is not older than virtue nor than anything else of what was just listed, even if beings which participate in them in these things began their existence in time. For all virtue is without beginning, not having any time previous to itself. Such things have God alone as the eternal begetter of their being.

μη΄. Ζητητέον τοῖς σπουδαίοις, τίνα καθήκει νοεῖν εἶναι τά ἔργα ὦν ἤρξατο τῆς γενέσεως ὁ Θεός· καί τίνα πάλιν, ὧν οὐκ ἤρξατο. Εἰ γάρ πάντων κατέπαυσε τῶν ἔργων, ὧν ἤρξατο ποιῆσαι, δῆλον ἐκείνων οὐ κατέπαυσεν, ὧν οὐκ ἤρξατο ποιῆσαι. Μήποτε οὖν, ἔργα μέν Θεοῦ χρονικῶς ἠργμένα τοῦ εἶναί ἐστι, πάντα τά ὄντα μετέχοντα· οἷον αἱ διάφοροι τῶν ὄντων οὐσίαι. Τό γάρ μή ὄν, ἔχουσι αὐτῶν τοῦ εἶναι πρεσβύτερον. Ἦν γάρ ποτε, ὅτε τά ὄντα μετέχοντα οὐκ ἦν. Θεοῦ δέ ἔργα τυχόν οὐκ ἠργμένα τοῦ εἶναι χρονικῶς, τά ὄντα μεθεκτά, ὧν κατά χάριν μετέχουσι τά ὄντα μετέχοντα· οἷον, ἡ ἀγαθότης, καί πᾶν εἴ τι ἀγαθότητος ἐμπεριέχεται λόγῳ. Καί ἁπλῶς πᾶσα ζωή,καί ἀθανασία καί ἁπλότης καί ἀτρεψία καί ἀπειρία, καί ὅσα περί αὐτόν οὐσιωδῶς θεωρεῖται· ἅτινα καί ἔργα Θεοῦ εἰσι, καί οὐκ ἠργμένα χρονικῶς. Οὐ γάρ ποτε πρεσβύτερον ἀρετῆς,τό οὐκ ἦν· οὐδέ τινος ἄλλου τῶν εἰρημένων· κἄν τά μετέχοντα αὐτῶν καθ᾿ αὐτά, ἦρκται τοῦ εἶναι χρονικῶς. ( 1101) Ἄναρχος γάρ πᾶσα ἀρετή, μή ἔχουσα τόν χρόνον ἑαυτῆς πρεσβύτερον· οἷα τόν Θεόν ἔχουσα τοῦ εἶναι μονώτατον ἀϊδίως γεννήτορα.

49. God infinitely transcends all things which participate or are participated. For everything claiming to have the term attributed to it happens to be a work of God, even if some begin their existence through becoming in time and others are implanted by grace in creatures, for example, an infused power which clearly proclaims that God is in all things.

μθ΄. Πάντων τῶν ὄντων καί μετεχόντων καί μεθεκτῶν, ἀπειράκις ἀπείρως ὁ Θεός ὑπεξῄρηται. Πᾶν γάρ εἴ τι τόν τοῦ εἶναι λόγον ἔχει κατηγορούμενον, ἔργον Θεοῦ τυγχάνει· κἄν τό μέν κατά γένεσιν ἦρκται τοῦ εἶναι χρονικῶς· τό δέ, κατά χάριν τοῖς γεγονόσιν ἐμπέφυκεν, οἷα τις δύναμις ἔμφυτος, τόν ἐν πᾶσι ὄντα Θεόν διαπρυσίως κηρύττουσα.

50. All immortal things and immortality itself, all living things and life itself, all holy things and holiness itself, all virtuous things and virtue itself, all good things and goodness itself, all beings and being itself, are clearly found to be works of God. But some began to be in time, for there was a time when they were not, and others did not begin to be in time. Thus there was never a time when there existed neither virtue nor goodness nor holiness nor immortality. What began in time is and is said to be what it is and is said, by participation with what did not begin in time. God is the creator of all life, immortality, holiness, and virtue, for he transcends the essence of all which can be thought and said.⁵²

ν΄. Τά ἀθάντα πάντα, καί αὐτή ἡ ἀθανασία· καί τά ζῶντα πάντα, καί αὐτή ἡ ζωή· καί τά ἅγια πάντα, καί αὐτή ἡ ἁγιότης· καί τά ἐνάρετα πάντα, καί αὐτή ἡ ἀρετή· καί τά ἀγαθά πάντα, καί αὐτή ἡ ἀγαθότης· καί τά ὄντα πάντα, καί αὐτή ἡ ὀντότης, Θεοῦ προδήλως ἔργα τυγχάνουσιν· ἀλλά, τά μέν, τοῦ εἶναι χρονικῶς ἠργμένα· ἦν γάρ ποτε, ὅτε οὐκ ἦν· τά δέ, τοῦ εἶναι χρονικῶς οὐκ ἠργμένα. Οὐκ ἦν γάρ ποτε, ὅτε οὐκ ἦν ἀρετή καί ἀγαθότης καί ἁγιότης καί ἀθανασία. Καί τά μέν ἠργμένα χρονικῶς, τῇ μετοχῇ τῶν οὐκ ἠργμένων χρονικῶς εἰσι καί λέγονται τοῦθ᾿ ὅπερ καί εἰσί καί λέγονται. Πάσης γάρ ζωῆς καί ἀθανασίας, ἁγιότητός τε καί ἀρετῆς, δημιουργός ἐστιν ὁ Θεός· ὑπέρ οὐσίαν γάρ πάντων τῶν τε νοουμένων καί λεγομένων ἐξῄρηται.

51. According to Scripture, the sixth day brings in the completion of beings subject to nature. The seventh limits the movement of temporal distinctiveness. The eighth indicates the manner of existence above nature and time.⁵³

να΄. Ἡ ἕκτη κατά τήν Γραφήν ἡμέρα, τήν τῶν ὑπό φύσιν ὄντων εἰσηγεῖται συμπλήρωσιν· ἡ δέ ἑβδόμη, τῆς χρονικῆς ἰδιότητος περιγράφει τήν κίνησιν· ἡ δέ ὀγδόη, τῆς ὑπέρ φύσιν καί χρόνον ὑποδηλοῖ καταστάσεως τόν τρόπον.

52. The one who spends the sixth day solely according to the Law in fleeing the tyranny of the passions which strongly oppress the soul fearlessly crosses the sea toward the desert; he observes the Sabbath only by the inactivity of the passions. But the one who crosses the Jordan, having gone even beyond the simple state of inactivity of the passions, comes into the inheritance of the virtues.⁵⁴

νβ΄. Ὁ τήν ἕκτην μόνον κατά τόν νόμον ἄγων ἡμέραν, τήν κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν ἐκθλίβουσαν τήν ψυχήν τῶν παθῶν φεύγων δυναστείαν, διά τῆς θαλάσσης ἀφόβως ἐπί τήν ἔρημον διαβαίνει· τήν τῶν παθῶν ἀργίαν μόνην σαββατίζων. Ὁ δέ τόν Ἰορδάνην διαβάς, καί αὐτήν ἀπολιπών τήν τῶν παθῶν μόνον ἀργοῦσαν κατάστασιν, ἦλθεν εἰς τήν τῶν ἀρετῶν κληρονομίαν.

53. The one who spends the sixth day according to the Gospel, having already given up the first movements of sin, acquires by his virtues the state of detachment which is removed from all evil; he makes Sabbath in his mind of the simple representation of the passions. The one who has crossed over the Jordan is transported to the region of knowledge where the mind, mystically built by peace as a temple, becomes "the dwelling-place of God in the Spirit."⁵⁵

νγ΄. Ὁ τήν ἕκτην εὐαγγελικῶς ἄγων ἡμέραν, ἀποκτείνας πρότερον τά τῆς ἁμαρτίας πρῶτα κινήματα, τήν πάσης κακίας ἔρημον διά τῶν ἀρετῶν καταλαμβάνει τῆς ἀπαθείας κατάστασιν· σαββατίζων κατά νοῦν καί αὐτῆς ψιλῆς τῆς τῶν παθῶν φαντασίας. ⁽¹¹⁰⁴⁾ Ὁ δέ Ἰορδάνην διαπεράσας, εἰς τήν τῆς γνώσεως μετατίθεται χώραν· καθ᾿ ἥν ὁ νοῦς, ναός μυστικῶς ὑπό τῆς εἰρήνης οἰκοδομούμενος, Θεοῦ κατοικητήριον γίνεται ἐν πνεύματι.

54. The one who has divinely accomplished in himself the sixth day by appropriate works and thoughts, and who has with God nobly brought his works to an end, has crossed by comprehension all the ground of what is subject to nature and to time. He is transported to the mystical contemplation of the immortal ages, and in an unknowable manner he makes Sabbath in his mind in leaving behind and totally surpassing beings. The one who has become worthy of the eighth day is risen from the dead, that is, from what is less than God: sensible and intelligible things, words, and thoughts; and he lives the blessed life of God, who alone is said to be and is in very truth the Life, in such a way that he becomes himself God by deification.⁵⁶

νδ΄.  Ὁ τήν ἕκτην θεϊκῶς μετά τῶν προσφόρων ἔργων καί ἐννοιῶν ἑαυτῷ συμπληρώσας ἡμέραν, καί αὐτός μετά τοῦ Θεοῦ καλῶς τά ἑαυτοῦ συντελέσας ἔργα, διέβη τῇ κατανοήσει πᾶσαν τήν τῶν ὑπό φύσιν καί χρόνον ὑπόστασιν, καί εἰς τήν τῶν αἰώνων καί τῶν αἰωνίων μετετάξατο μυστικήν θεωρίαν· σαββατίζων ἀγνώστως κατά νοῦν, τήν ὁλικήν τῶν ὄντων ἀπόλειψίν τε καί ὑπέρβασιν. Ὁ δέ καί τῆς ὀγδόης ἀξιωθείς, ἐκ τῶν νεκρῶν ἀνέστη· τῶν μετά Θεόν λέγω πάντων, αἰσθητῶν τε καί νοητῶν, καί λόγων καί νοημάτων· καί ἔζησε τήν τοῦ Θεοῦ μακαρίαν ζωήν, τοῦ μόνον κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν κυρίως ζωῆς καί λεγομένου καί ὄντος· οἷα καί αὐτός γενόμενος τῇ θεώσει θεός.

55. The sixth day is the full accomplishment of the natural activities of those who practice virtue. The seventh is the fulfillment and rest of the natural activities of those who contemplate the ineffable knowledge. The eighth is the promotion and transition to deification of those who are worthy. The Lord has perhaps never allowed a more mystical glance at these seventh and eighth days than in referring to them as the day and the hour of fulfillment, since it encloses the mysteries and the principles of all things. Absolutely no heavenly or earthly power can know these days before experiencing the passion, only the blessed divinity which created them.⁵⁷

νε΄. Ἕκτη ἡμέρα ἐστίν, ἡ τῶν πρακτικῶν περί ἀρετήν τῶν κατά φύσιν ἐνεργειῶν, παντελής ἀποπλήρωσις· ἑβδόμη δέ ἐστιν, ἡ τῶν θεωρητικῶν περί τήν ἄῤῥητον γνῶσιν πασῶν τῶν φυσικῶν ἐννοιῶν ἀποπεράτωσις καί ἀπόπαυσις· ὀγδόη δέ, ἡ πρός θέωσιν τῶν ἀξιῶν μετάταξίς τε καί μετάβασις. Καί μήποτε ταύτην τήν ἑβδόμην καί τήν ὀγδόην τυχόν μυστικώτερον ὑποφαίνων ὁ Κύριος, προσηγόρευσεν ἡμέραν συντελείας καί ὥραν, ὡς πάντων περιγράφουσαν τά μυστήρια καί τούς λόγους. Ἅς οὐδέν οὐδαμῶς τό παράπαν τῶν ἐπουρανίων καί ἐπιγείων Δυνάμεων γνῶναι πρό πείρας τοῦ παθεῖν δυνήσεται, πλήν αὐτῆς τῆς ταῦτα ποιούσης μακαρίας θεότητος.

56. The sixth day reveals the principle of being of things, the seventh indicates the manner of the well-being of things, the eighth communicates the ineffable mystery of the eternal well-being of things.⁵⁸

νστ΄. Ἡ ἕκτη ἡμέρα, τόν τοῦ εἶναι τῶν ὄντων λόγον ὑποδηλοῖ· ἡ δέ ἑβδόμη, τόν τοῦ εὖ εἶναι τῶν ὄντων τρόπον ὑποσημαίνει· ἡ δέ ὀγδόη, τό τοῦ ἀεί εὖ εἶναι τῶν ὄντων ἄῤῥητον μυστήριον ὑπαγορεύει.

57. Knowing that the sixth day is the symbol of practical activity, let us acquit on this day the whole debt of the works of virtue, so that it can be said of us, "And God saw all that he had done, and behold it was very good."⁵⁹

νζ΄.  Πρακτικῆς ἐνεργείας σύμβολον ὑπάρχουσαν τήν ἕκτην ἡμέραν γινώσκοντες, πᾶσαν ἐν αὐτῇ τῶν ἔργων τῆς ἀρετῆς τήν ὀφειλήν ἀποπληρώσωμεν· ὅπως καί ἐφ᾿ ἡμῶν ῥηθείη τό,  Καί εἶδεν ὁ Θεός πάντα ὅσα ἐποίησε, καί ἰδού καλά λίαν.

58. The one who with his body is diligent for his soul in the well-ordered diversity of the virtues fulfills the expectation of the beautiful and praiseworthy work of God.⁶⁰

νη΄. Ἀποπληροῖ τήν ὀφειλήν τῆς ἐπαινουμένης τῷ Θεῷ καλῆς ἐργασίας, ὁ διά σώματος τῇ ψυχῇ φιλοπονῶν τήν εὔκοσμον ποικιλίαν τῶν ἀρετῶν.

59. The one who has fulfilled the Preparation of works of justice has arrived at the rest of gnostic contemplation. In it he divinely comprehends the principles of beings and rests from movements of the mind about it.⁶¹

νθ΄. Ὁ τήν παρασκευήν τῶν ἔργων τῆς δικαιοσύνης πληρώσας, διέβη πρός τήν ἀνάπαυσιν τῆς γνωστικῆς θεωρίας· ⁽¹¹⁰⁵⁾ καθ΄ ἥν τούς λόγους τῶν ὄντων περιλαβών θεοπρεπῶς, τῆς κατά νοῦν περί αὐτήν κινήσεως ἀναπαύεται.

60. The one who has shared in God's rest on the seventh day for our sake will also share in his activity on the eighth day by our deification, that is, in the mystical resurrection. He also has left behind the linen cloths placed in the tomb and the cloth placed on the head. In contemplating these things, if we are like Peter and John, we believe that the Lord has risen.⁶²

ξ΄. Ὁ τῆς δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ἑβδοματική τοῦ Θεοῦ μετεσχηκώς ἀναπαύσεως, καί τῆς αὐτοῦ δι᾿ ἡμᾶς μεθέξει κατά τήν θέωσιν ὀγδοατικῆς ἐνεργείας, εἴτουν μυστικῆς ἀναστάσεως· ἀφείς καί αὐτός ἐν τῷ τάφῳ κείμενα τά ὀθόνια, καί τό ἐπί τῆς κεφαλῆς σουδάριον· ἅπερ θεωροῦντες εἴ τις Πέτρος καί Ἰωάννης, πιστεύουσιν ἐγηγέρθαι τόν Κύριον.

61. The Lord's tomb is also to be seen as this world and as the heart of each believer. The linen cloths are the principles of sensible things along with the modes of virtue. The headcloth is the simple and undiversified knowledge of intelligible things along with the awareness of God one has acquired. Through these things we first know the Word who without them has an understanding which transcends them and is completely inaccessible to us.⁶³

ξα΄. Μνημεῖον ἐστιν ἴσως Δεσποτικόν, ἤ ὁ κόσμος οὗτος, ἤ ἡ ἑκάστου τῶν πιστῶν καρδία· τά δέ ὀθόνια, οἱ τῶν αἰσθητῶν μετά τῶν κατ᾿ ἀρετήν τρόπων ὑπάρχουσι λόγοι· τό δέ σουδάριον, ἡ τῶν νοητῶν ἐστι μετά τῆς ἐνδεχομένης θεολογίας ἁπλῆ καί ἀποίκιλος γνῶσις, δι᾿ ὧν ἐγνωρίζετο πρότερον ὁ Λόγος, ἀχώρητον ἡμῖν ἔχων παντάπασιν δίχα τούτων, τήν ὑπέρ ταῦτα κατάληψιν.

62. Those who bury the Lord with honor will also behold him gloriously risen, while to all those who do not he is unseen. For he is no longer caught by those who lay snares, since having no longer the external covering by which he seemed to allow himself to be caught by those who wanted him, and by which he endured the Passion for the salvation of all.⁶⁴

ξβ΄. Οἱ θάπτοντες ἐντίμως τόν Κύριον, καί ἐνδόξως ἀναστάντα θεάσονται· πᾶσιν ὄντα τοῖς μή τοιούτοις ἀθέατον. Οὐκ ἔτι γάρ τοῖς ἐπιβουλεύουσίν ἐστιν ἁλωτός, οὐκ ἔχων τῶν ἐκτός τά προκαλύμματα, δι᾿ ὧν ἐδόκει θέλων ἁλίσκεσθαι παρά τῶν βουλομένων, καί πάσχειν ὑπέρ τῆς πάντων σωτηρίας ἠνείχετο.

63. The one who honorably buries the Lord will be held in veneration by all the friends of God, for he has kept him as is fitting from public display and from shame in not leaving him as a subject of blasphemy to the unbelievers who nailed him to the wood. Those who posted seals at the tomb and stationed soldiers before it are odious for this deed. They have reproached the risen Word as if he had been stolen, and bought off with money for betrayal the counterfeit disciple who represents the showy manner of virtue, as well as the soldiers for a slander against the risen Savior. The gnostic knows the meaning of these words; he is not unaware of how often the Lord is crucified, is placed in the tomb, and rises again. He treats as dead the passionate thoughts which are posted next to the heart by the demons and which in temptations divide as garments the ways of moral comeliness. He penetrates as seals the images which press in on the soul and predispose it to sin.⁶⁵

ξγ΄. Ὁ θάπτων ἐντίμως τόν Κύριον, πᾶσίν ἐστι τοῖς φιλοθέοις αἰδέσιμος· θριάμβου γάρ αὐτόν καί ὀνείδους καθηκόντως ἐῤῥύσατο, βλασφημίας ὑπόθεσιν οὐκ ἀφείς τοῖς ἀπίστοις, τήν ἐν τῷ ξύλῳ αὐτοῦ προσήλωσιν. Οἱ δέ σφραγῖδας ἐπιτιθέντες τῷ τάφῳ, καί στρατιώτας προκαθιστῶντες, μισητοί τῆς ἐγχειρήσεως· οἵ καί ἀναστάντα τόν Λόγον, ὡς κλαπέντα διαβάλλουσιν· ἀργυρίῳ, ὥσπερ τόν νόθον μαθητήν εἰς προδοσίαν· λέγω δέ τόν ἐπιδεικτικόν τρόπον τῆς ἀρετῆς· οὕτω καί τούς στρατιώτας πρός συκοφαντίαν τοῦ ἀναστάντος Σωτῆρος ὠνούμενοι. Γινώσκει τῶν λεγομένων τήν ἔμφασιν, ὁ γνωστικός· οὐκ ἀγνοῶν πῶς τε καί ποσαχῶς σταυροῦται ὁ Κύριος, καί θάπτεται καί ἀνίσταται· ὡσεί νεκρούς μέν ποιῶν τούς ὑπό δαιμόνων τῇ καρδίᾳ παρακαθημένους ἐμπαθεῖς λογισμούς· τούς διαμεριζομένους ἐν τοῖς πειρασμοῖς ὥσπερ ἱμάτια, τούς τρόπους τῆς ἠθικῆς εὐπρεπείας· καί ὑπερβαίνων ὥσπερ σφραγίδας τούς ἐπικειμένους τῇ ψυχῇ τύπους, τῶν κατά πρόληψιν ἁμαρτημάτων.

64. When any greedy person, in carefully feigning virtue, succeeds in acquiring the object he wants, he renounces the mode by which he was previously thought to be a disciple of the Word.

ξδ΄. Πᾶς φιλάργυρος, δι᾿ εὐλαβείας τήν ἀρετήν ὑποκρινόμενος, ἐπειδάν εὕρῃ τήν ποθουμένην ὕλην πορίσασθαι, τόν τρόπον ἐξώμνυται, καθ᾿ ὅν μαθητής εἶναι τοῦ Λόγου τό πρίν ἐνομίζετο.

65. When you see certain arrogant people who cannot bear to have those who are better than themselves praised, and who scheme to suppress the spoken truth by confining it by countless temptations and wicked slanders, it occurs to me that it is by them that the Lord is once again crucified, put into the tomb and guarded by soldiers and seals. Throwing them upside down, the Lord rises up again, all the more conspicuous in being attacked because of the silent serenity he maintained throughout his sufferings. For he is the strongest of all inasmuch as he is and is called the Truth.⁶⁶

ξε΄. Ὅταν ἴδῃς τινάς ὑπερηφάνους μή φέροντας ἐπαινεῖσθαι τούς κρείττονας, ἀκήρυκτόν τε μηχανωμένους ποιεῖν τήν λαλουμένην ἀλήθειαν, μυρίοις αὐτήν ἀπείργοντας πειρασμοῖς, καί ἀθεμίτοις διαβολαῖς· νόει μοι πάλιν ὑπό τούτων σταυροῦσθαι τόν Κύριον ⁽¹¹⁰⁸⁾ καί θάπτεσθαι· καί στρατώταις καί σφραγῖσι φυλάττεσθαι. Οὕς ἑαυτοῖς περιτρέπων ὁ Λόγος, ἀνίσταται· πλέον τῷ πολεμεῖσθαι,διαφαινόμενος· ὡς πρός ἀπάθειαν διά τῶν παθημάτων στομούμενος. Πάντων γάρ ἐστιν ἰσχυρότερος, ὡς ἀλήθεια καί ὤν καί καλούμενος.

66. The mystery of the Incarnation of the Word bears the power of all the hidden meanings and figures of Scripture as well as the knowledge of visible and intelligible creatures. The one who knows the mystery of the cross and the tomb knows the principles of these creatures. And the one who has been initiated into the ineffable power of the Resurrection knows the purpose for which God originally made all things.⁶⁷

ξστ΄. Τό τῆς ἐνσωματώσεως τοῦ Λόγου μυστήριον, πάντων ἔχει τῶν τε κατά τήν Γραφήν αἰνιγμάτων καί τύπων τήν δύναμιν, καί τῶν φαινομένων καί νοουμένων κτισμάτων τήν ἐπιστήμην. Καί ὁ μέν γνούς σταυροῦ καί ταφῆς τό μυστήριον, ἔγνω τῶν προειρημένων τούς λόγους· ὁ δέ τῆς ἀναστάσεως μυηθείς τήν ἀπόῤῥητον δύναμιν, ἔγνω τόν ἐφ᾿ ᾧ τά πάντα προηγουμένως ὁ Θεός ὑπεστήσατο σκοπόν.

67. All visible things need a cross, that is, a capacity which holds back the participation in what is active in them according to sense. All intelligible things need a tomb, that is, the total immobilization of the activities of the mind in them. For when this natural activity and movement with respect to all things is taken away along with their participation, the Word which alone exists by itself as if he had risen from the dead is manifested anew, having in outline all which is from him, though absolutely nothing has any kinship with him in any natural relationship. For it is by grace and not by nature that he is the salvation of those who are saved.⁶⁸

ξζ΄. Τά φαινόμενα πάντα δεῖται σταυροῦ· τῆς τῶν ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ἐνεργουμένων ἐπεχούσης τήν σχέσιν, ἕξεως· τά δέ νοούμενα πάντα, χρῄζει ταφῆς· τῆς τῶν ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς κατά νοῦν ἐνεργουμένων ὁλικῆς ἀκινησίας. Τῇ γάρ σχέσει συναναιρουμένης τῆς περί πάντα φυσικῆς ἐνεργείας τε καί κινήσεως, ὁ λόγος μόνος ἐφ᾿ ἑαυτόν ὑπάρχων, ὥσπερ ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐγηγερμένος ἀναφαίνεται, πάντα κατά περιγραφήν ἔχων τά ἐξ αὐτοῦ, μηδενός φυσικῇ σχέσει τήν πρός αὐτόν οἰκειότητα τό σύνολον ἔχοντος. Κατά χάριν γάρ, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ κατά φύσιν ἐστίν ἡ τῶν σωζομένων σωτηρία.

68. Age, time, and place belong in the category of the relative. Without them nothing of what is included in them exists. God is not of the category of the relative because he does not have anything at all included in him. If, then, the inheritance of those who are worthy is God himself, the one who is rendered worthy of this grace will be above age, time, and place. He will have God himself as a place, according to what is written, "Be for me a protecting God, a strong place which saves me."⁶⁹

ξη΄. Τῶν πρός τι, καί οἱ αἰῶνές εἰσι, καί οἱ χρόνοι, καί οἱ τόποι· ὧν ἄνευ οὐδέν τῶν συνεπινοουμένων τούτοις ἐστίν. Ὁ δέ Θεός, οὐ τῶν πρός τι ἐστίν· οὐ γάρ ἔχει τι καθόλου συνεπινοούμενον. Εἴπερ οὖν ἄρα κληρονομία τῶν ἀξίων αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ Θεός, ὑπέρ πάντας αἰῶνας καί χρόνους καί τόπους ὁ ταύτης ἀξιούμενος τῆς χάριτος ἔσται, τόπον ἔχων αὐτόν τόν Θεόν, κατά τό γεγραμμένον· Γενοῦ μοι εἰς Θεός ὑπερασπιστήν, καί εἰς τόπον ὀχυρόν, τοῦ σῶσαί με.

69. The end has altogether no resemblance to the middle, otherwise it would not be an end. The middle is all that comes after the beginning and before the end. Thus if all ages, times, and places and all that they include are after God who is the beginning without a beginning, and as they are much behind him as infinite end, they do not differ in any way from the middle. Rather, God is the end of those who are saved, and no middle shall be contemplated by those who are saved when the ultimate end is reached.

ξθ΄. Τό τέλος οὐδέν τό παράπαν ἐμφερές ἔχει μεσότητα· ἐπεί οὐδέ τέλος. Μεσότης δέ ἐστι, πάντα τά μετά τήν ἀρχήν κατόπιν ὄντα τοῦ τέλους. Εἰ τοίνυν πάντες οἱ αἰῶνες καί οἱ χρόνοι καί οἱ τόποι μετά τῶν συνεπινοουμένων αὐτοῖς ἁπάντων, μετά τόν Θεόν εἰσιν, ἀρχήν ἄναρχον ὄντα· καί ὡς ἀπείρου τέλους αὐτοῦ πολύ κατόπιν ὑπάρχουσι, μεσότητος οὐδέν διαφέρουσι· τέλος δέ τῶν σωζομένων ἐστίν ὁ Θεός, οὐδέν ἔσται μεσότητος κατά τό ἀκρότατον τέλος γενομένοις τοῖς σωζομένοις συνθεωρούμενον.

70. The whole world is limited by its own principles and we attribute place and age to whatever it contains. It has modes of thought naturally inherent in it which can produce a partial understanding of God's wisdom over all things. So long as they serve for understanding, they cannot be anything but middle and thus partial understanding. But when what is partial ceases with the appearance of what is perfect, all mirrors and hidden meanings pass away; once the truth arrives face to face, the one who is saved will be above all worlds, ages, and places in which he was once nurtured as a child, and will reach his end in God.⁷⁰

⁽¹¹⁰⁹⁾ ο΄. Ὁ πᾶς κόσμος ἰδίοις περιοριζόμενος λόγοις, καί τόπος λέγεται καί αἰών, τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ διαιτωμένων· τρόπους θεωρημάτων ἔχων κατά φύσιν τούς ἐν αὐτῶ προσφυεῖς, μερικήν κατανόησιν αὐτοῖς ἐμποιῆσαι τῆς ἐπί πάντα σοφίας τοῦ Θεοῦ δυναμένους· οἷς ἕως χρῶνται πρός κατανόησιν, οὐ δύνανται δίχα μεσότητος εἶναι καί μερικῆς καταλήψεως. Ἐπειδή δέ τό ἐκ μέρους τοῦ τελείου φανέντος καταργεῖται, καί τά ἔσοπτρα πάντα καί τά αἰνίγματα παρέρχονται, τῆς πρόσωπον πρός πρόσωπον παραγινομένης ἀληθείας, ὑπέρ πάντας ἔσται κόσμους καί αἰῶνας καί τόπους, οἷς τέως ὡς νήπιος ἐπαιδαγωγεῖτο, τελειωθείς κατά Θεόν ὁ σωζόμενος.

71. Pilate is the figure of the natural law; the crowd of Jews a figure of the written law. The one who does not surpass by faith the two laws cannot receive the truth which surpasses nature and reason, but really crucifies the Word. As a Jew he regards the Gospel as a scandal, or else as a Greek supposes that it is foolishness.⁷¹

οα΄. Ὁ Πιλάτος, τοῦ κατά φύσιν τύπος ἐστί· τοῦ δέ γραπτοῦ νόμου, τό πλῆθος τῶν Ἰουδαίων. Ὁ τοίνυν κατά πίστιν ὑπέρ τούς δύο μή γενόμενος νόμους, οὐ δύναται δέξασθαι τήν ὑπέρ φύσιν καί λόγον ἀλήθειαν· ἀλλά σταυροῖ πάντως τόν Λόγον· ἤ ὡς Ἰουδαῖος, σκάνδαλον· ἤ ὡς Ἕλλην, μωρίαν ἡγούμενος τό Εὐαγγέλιον.

72. When you see Herod and Pilate forming a frienship with each other to destroy Jesus, then realize that there is the same association between the demon of fornication and that of vainglory which join together to put to death the principle of virtue and knowledge. For the demon of vainglory in feigning spiritual knowledge leads one to the demon of fornication, while that of fornication, taking on an air of purity, leads one back in turn to the demon of vainglory. This is why it is said, "Having clothed him in a bright cloak, Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate."⁷²

οβ΄.  Ὅταν ἴδῃς Ἠρώδην καί Πιλάτον ἀλλήλοις φικιάζοντας ἐπί τῇ ἀναιρέσει τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, τότε νόει τήν εἰς αὐτό συνδρομήν· τοῦ τε τῆς πορνείας καί τῆς κενοδοξίας δαίμονος, ἐπί τῷ θανατῶσαι τόν λόγον τῆς ἀρετῆς καί τῆς γνώσεως, ἀλλήλοις συμφωνούντων. Ὁ μέν γάρ κενόδοξος δαίμων, πνευματικήν γνῶσιν ὑποκρινόμενος, παραπέμπει τῷ δαίμονι τῆς κενοδοξίας. Διό, Λαμπράν περιθείς ἐσθῆτα, φησίν, ὁ Ἡρώδης, ἀνέπεμψε Πιλάτῳ τόν Ἰησοῦν.

73. It is good that the mind does not make allowance for the flesh nor devote itself to the passions. "For," it is said, "we do not gather figs from thorns," that is, virtue from the passions, "nor grapes from thistles," that is, joyous knowledge from the flesh.⁷³

ογ΄. Καλόν μή συχωρεῖν σαρκί καί πάθεσι προσανέχειν τόν νοῦν. Οὐ γάρ συλλέγουσι, φησίν, ἐξ ἀκανθῶν σῦκα· τουτέστιν, ἐκ παθῶν, ἀρετήν· οὔτε ἐκ βάτου σταφυλήν· τουτέστιν, ἐκ τῆς σαρκός, τήν εὐφραίνουσαν γνῶσιν.

74. The ascetic who is tested by the patient endurance of temptations, who has purified himself by the training of his body, and who has become perfect by the diligence in sublime contemplations has become worthy of divine consolation. "For the Lord," says Moses, "has come from Sinai (that is, temptations) and has appeared to us from Seir (that is, bodily pains) and has stopped at the mountain of Paran with the multitude of Cadesh (that is, at the mountains of faith with multitudes of holy thoughts)."⁷⁴

οδ΄. Διά τῆς ὑπομονῆς τῶν πειρασμῶν δοκιμαζόμενος ὁ ἀσκητής, καί διά τῆς σωματικῆς παιδαγωγίας καθαιρόμενος, καί διά τῆς ἐπιμελείας τῶν ὑψηλῶν θεωρημάτων τελειούμενος, ἀξιοῦται τῆς θείας παρακλήσεως. Κύριος γάρ,φησίν ὁ Μωϋσῆς, ἐκ Σινᾶ ἤκει· τουτέστιν, ἐκ τῶν πειρασμῶν· καί ἐπεφάνη ⁽¹¹¹²⁾ ἡμῖν ἐκ Σηείρ· τουτέστιν, ἐκ τῶν σωματικῶν πόνων· καί κατέπαυσεν [lego κατέσπευσεν ut est in Sixt.] ἐξ ὄρους Φαράν σύν μυριάσι Κάδης· τουτέστιν, ἐξ ὄρους τῆς πίστεως [alii Regii, πτοήσεως,  Fr. πτήσεως], σύν μυριάσιν ἁγίων γνώσεων.

75. Herod is intent on the principle of prudence of the flesh; Pilate on the principle of the senses; Caesar on the principle of sensible things; the Jews on the principle of earthly thoughts.⁷⁵ When therefore the soul adheres through ignorance to the sensible, it delivers the Word over to the senses for death, proclaiming in its own way by acknowledging the royal character of corruptible things. The Jews say in fact, "We have no other king but Caesar."⁷⁶

οε΄.  Ὁ Ἡρώδης, φρονήματος λόγον ἐπέχει σαρκός· ὁ δέ Πιλάτος, αἰσθήσεως· ὁ δέ Καῖσαρ τῶν αἰσθητῶν· οἱ δέ Ἰουδαῖοι, τῶν ψυχικῶν λογισμῶν.Ἐπειδάν οὖν ἐν ἀγνοίας ἡ ψυχή τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς προστεθῇ, προδίδωσι τῇ αἰσθήσει τόν Λόγον εἰς θάνατον, καθ᾿ ἑαυτῆς κυροῦσα δι᾿ ὁμολογίας, τήν τῶν φθαρτῶν βασιλείαν. Φασί γάρ οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι, Οὐκ ἔχομεν βασιλέα εἰ μή Καίσαρα.

76. Herod is intent on the place of activity of the passions; Pilate on the deceptive habit stemming from them; Caesar on the master of the world of darkness; the Jews on the soul. Thus when the soul, in submitting to the passions, hands virtue over into the hands of wicked behavior, it evidently rejects the kingdom of God and seeks after the corrupting tyranny of the devil.

οστ΄. Ὁ Ἡρώδης, ἐνεργείας τόπον ἐπέχει παθῶν· ὁ δέ Πιλάτος, τῆς ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς ἠπατημένης ἕξεως· ὁ δέ Καῖσαρ, τοῦ σκοτεινοῦ κοσμοκράτορος· οἱ δέ Ἰουδαῖοι, ψυχῆς. Ὁπηνίκα γοῦν ὑποκλιθεῖσα ψυχή τοῖς πάθεσι, τήν ἀρετήν παραδῷ τῇ ἕξει τῆςκακίας ὑποχείριον, τήν μέν τοῦ Θεοῦ προδήλως ἀρνεῖται βασιλείαν· πρός δέ τήν τοῦ διαβόλου μετέρχεται φθοροποιόν τυραννίδα.

77. The subjection of the passions does not suffice to the soul for spiritual joy if it has not acquired the virtues for the fulfilling of the commandments. "Do not rejoice," is it said, "in the fact that the demons are subject to you," that is, the activities of the passions, "but in the fact that your names are written in heaven";⁷⁷ that is, they are translated in the place of detachment by the grace of adoption through the virtues.

οζ΄. Οὐκ ἀρκεῖ τῇ ψυχῇ πρός εὐφροσύνην πνευματικήν ἡ ὑποταγή τῶν παθῶν, εἰ μή τάς ἀρετάς κτήσηται τῇ πληρώσει τῶν ἐντολῶν. Μή χαίρετε γάρ, φησίν, ὅτι τά δαιμόνια ὑμῖν ὑποτάσσεται· τουτέστι, τά ἐνεργήματα τῶν παθῶν· ἀλλ᾿ ὅτι τά ὀνόματα ὑμῶν ἐγράφη ἐν οὐρανῷ· τῇ δι᾿ ἀρετῶν τῆς υἱοθεσίας χάριτι, πρός τόν τόπον τῆς ἀπαθείας μεταγραφέντα.

78. The abundance of virtues through action is absolutely necessary to the gnostic. "For," it is said, "let him who has a purse," that is, spiritual knowledge, "take it, and likewise the bag," that is, the abundance of virtues which lavishly maintains the soul. "The one who has none (clearly the purse and bag, that is, of knowledge and virtue), let him sell his cloak and buy a sword." He should, he says, deliver his flesh with haste to the labors of the virtues and wisely take in hand for God's peace the struggle against the passions and the demons, that is, the behavior which, according to God's word, separates as a sword the better from the worse.⁷⁸

οη΄. Ἀναγκαῖος τῷ γνωστικῷ πάντως ἐστίν, ὁ διά πράξεως πλοῦτος τῶν ἀρετῶν. Ὁ ἔχων γάρ, φησί, βαλάντιον· τουτέστι, γνῶσιν πνευματικήν· ἀράτω ὁμοίως καί πήραν· τουτέστι, τήν δαψιλῶς τήν ψυχήν διατρέφουσαν τῶν ἀρετῶν ἀφθονίαν. Ὁ δέ μή ἔχων, βαλάντιον δηλονότι καί πήραν· τουτέστι, γνῶσιν καί ἀρετήν, πωλησάτω τό ἱμάτιον αὐτοῦ, καί ἀγορασάτω μάχαιραν. Ἐκδότω, φησί, προθύμως τήν ἑαυτοῦ σάρκα τοῖς πόνοις τῶν ἀρετῶν, καί μεταχειρισάσθω σοφῶς ὑπέρ τῆς εἰρήνης τοῦ Θεοῦ, τόν πρός τά πάθη καί τούς δαίμονας πόλεμον· ἤγουν τήν ἐν ῥήματι Θεοῦ διακρίνουσαν ἕξιν τό χεῖρον τοῦ κρείττονος.

79. In appearing at the age of thirty, the Lord teaches the discerning through this number, as in a hidden way, mysteries which concern him. Indeed, the number thirty considered mystically points to the Lord as Creator and Provider of time, nature, and the intelligibles which are above visible nature. Of time by the number seven, since time is divided into weeks; of nature by the number five, for nature is fivefold and divided into five by the senses; of the intelligibles by the number eight, for the realm of intelligibles is above the period measured by time. He is Provider by the number ten, by the holy decalogue of commandments which introduces men to the good and by the fact that the Lord by this letter mystically introduced his name when he became man. Thus in adding five, seven, eight, and ten we arrive at the number thirty. The one, therefore, who knows how to follow the Lord worthily as a leader will not be unmindful of the reason by which he also will appear as having the age of thirty years, that is, as being able to announce the Gospel of the kingdom. For in an irreproachable way he creates through spiritual exercises the world of virtues as if this were some visible reality, without changing the compass which from this soul follows as some sort of time from contrary things; when by contemplation he gathers without stumbling the knowledge of the intelligibles, and will have been able carefully to place this habit in others also, then will he also be by the Spirit thirty years of age, as if this were his bodily age, manifesting simultaneously with his own benefits the influence which he has on others.⁷⁹

οθ΄. Τριακοντούτης ὤν ὁ Κύριος ἀναφαίνεται· τούς διορατικούς τῷ ἀριθμῷ τούτῳ, τά περί ἑαυτοῦ κρυφίως μυστήρια διδάσκων. Ὁ γάρ τριάκοντα ἀριθμός μυστικῶς κατανοούμενος, χρόνου τε καί φύσεως, καί τῶν ὑπέρ τήν ὁρατήν φύσιν νοητῶν, δημιουργόν καί προνοητήν εἰσάγει τόν Κύριον. Χρόνου μέν, διά τοῦ ἑπτά· ἑβδοματικός γάρ ὁ χρόνος· φύσεως δέ, διά τοῦ πέντε· πενταδική γάρ ἡ φύσις, διά τήν αἴσθησιν πενταχῶς διαιρουμένην· νοητῶν δέ, διά τοῦ ὀκτώ· ⁽¹¹¹³⁾ ὑπέρ γάρ τήν μετρουμένην τοῦ χρόνου περίοδον, ἡ τῶν νοητῶν ἐστι γένεσις· προνοητήν δέ, διά τοῦ δέκα· διά τε τήν τῶν ἐντολῶν ἁγίαν δεκάδα, τήν πρός τό εὖ τούς ἀνθρώπους ἐνάγουσαν, καί διά τό τούτου τοῦ γράμματος μυστικῶς ἀπῆρχθαι τῆς προσηγορίας τόν Κύριον, ἡνίκα γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος. Συνάψαςοὖν τόν πέντε, καί τόν ἑπτά, καί τόν ὀκτώ, καί τόν δέκα, τόν τριάκοντα πλήροις ἀριθμόν. Ὁ τοίνυν ὡς ἀρχηγῷ τῷ Κυρίῳ καλῶς ἕπεσθαι γινώσκων, οὐκ ἀγνοήσει τόν λόγον, καθ᾿ ὅν καί αὐτός τριακοντούτης ἀναφανήσεται, κηρύττειν δυνάμενος τό Εὐαγγέλιον τῆς βασιλείας. Ὅτε γάρ ἀμέμπτως, ὥσπερ τινά φύσιν ὁρατήν, τόν κατά πρᾶξιν τῶν ἀρετῶν δημιουργήσει κόσμον, τήν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῆς τῆς ψυχῆς, ὥσπερ τινά χρόνον διά τῶν ἐναντίων συμβαίνουσαν μή ἀλλοιώσας περίοδον, καί διά θεωρίας τήν τῶν νοητῶν ἀπταίστως δρέψεται γνῶσιν, καί τήν αὐτήν καί ἄλλοις ἕξιν προνοητικῶς ἐνθεῖναι δεδύνηται· τότε καί αὐτός, ὡς δ᾿ ἄν ἔχῃ σωματικῆς ἡλικίας, τριακοντούτης ἐστί τῷ πνεύματι, συνεμφαίνων τῶν οἰκείων ἀγαθῶν τήν ἐν ἄλλοις ἐνέργειαν.

80. The one who has given himself over to the pleasures of the body is neither active in virtue nor does he properly move toward knowledge. Thereby he does not behave as a man, that is, according to common sense, so that as soon as the water moves he throws himself into the pool, that is, into virtue which receives knowledge and heals every ill on condition that the sick man be not preceded, having delayed by sluggishness, by another who prevents him from reaching healing. This is why for thirty-eight years he is laid up with his sickness. For the one who does not contemplate the visible creation to glorify God nor reverently raise up his thought to intelligible nature remains ill for about the same number of years. In fact, the number thirty taken naturally signifies sensible nature, just as considered practically it signifies practical virtue. The number eight considered naturally denotes the intelligible nature of incorporeal beings, just as contemplated gnostically it means the all-wise theology. The one who does not move by these toward God remains paralyzed until the Word comes to teach him the rapid manner of his cure in saying, "Get up, take up your pallet and walk." He urges him to take away his mind from the love of pleasures which dominate him, to take up his body on the shoulders of the virtues and to return home, to heaven of course. For it is good that what is worse be raised up to the better on the shoulders of the practice of virtue rather than for the better to be carried to the worse through the ease of the love of pleasure.⁸⁰

π΄. Ὁ ταῖς ἡδοναῖς παρειμένος τοῦ σώματος, οὔτε πρός ἀρετήν ἐστιν ἐνεργός, οὔτε πρός γνῶσιν εὐκίνητος. Ὅθεν οὐδέ ἄνθρωπον ἔχει· τουτέστιν, ἔμφρονα λογισμόν· ἵνα ὅταν ταραχθῇ τό ὕδωρ, βάλῃ αὐτόν εἰς τήν κολυμβήθραν· τουτέστιν, εἰς τήν δεκτικήν τῆς γνώσεως ἀρετήν, τήν ἰατρεύουσαν πᾶσαν νόσον, εἰ μή που διά ῥᾳθυμίαν ὁ νοσῶν ἀναβαλλόμενος, ὑπ᾿ ἄλλου προληφθῇ τοῦ κωλύοντος αὐτῷ παραβενέσθαι τήν ἴασιν. Διό καί τριάκοντα καί ὀκτώ ἔτη τῇ νόσῳ συγκατακλίνεται. Ὁ γάρ μή πρός δόξαν Θεοῦ τήν ὁρατήν θεώμενος κτίσιν, καί πρός τήν νοητήν φύσιν εὐσεβῶς ἀναβιβάζων τήν ἔννοιαν, εἰκότως νοσῶν διαμένει τόν εἰρημένον τῶν ἐτῶν ἀριθμόν. Ὁ γάρ τριάκοντα φυσικῶς λαμβανόμενος ἀριθμός, τήν αἰσθητήν σημαίνει φύσιν· ὥσπερ καί πρακτικῶς σκοπούμενος, τήν πρακτικήν ἀρετήν. Ὁ δέ ὀκτώ φυσικῶς κατανοούμενος, τήν νοητήν τῶν ἀσωμάτων παραδηλοῖ φύσιν· ὥσπερ καί γνωστικῶς θεωρούμενος, τήν πάνσοφον θεολογίαν· αἷς ὁ μή κινούμενος πρός Θεόν, πάρετος μένει, μέχρις ἄν ἐλθών ὁ Λόγος, διδάξῃ αὐτόν τόν σύντομον τῆς ἰάσεως τρόπον, φάσκων· Ἔγειραι· ἆρον τόν κράββατόν σου, καί περιπάτει· διαναστῆναι τόν νοῦν τῆς κατεχούσης φιληδονίας, καί ἆραι τό σῶμα τοῖς ὤμοις τῶν ἀρετῶν, καί ἀπελθεῖν εἰς τόν οἶκον· δηλαδή τόν οὐρανόν, ἐγκελευόμενος. ⁽¹¹¹⁶⁾ Καλόν γάρ ὑπό τοῦ κρείττονος τοῖς ὤμοις τῆς πράξεως, τό χεῖρον αἴρεσθαι πρός ἀρετήν, ἤ τό κρεῖττον διά θρύψεως πρός φιληδονίαν ὑπό τοῦ χείρονος φέρεσθαι.

81. So long as we have not, in our thinking, genuinely transcended the essence which is our own and that of all that is after God, we have not yet acquired an inflexible habit of virtue. But when our dignity will have been restored to us by love we will then know the power of the divine promise. For there, one must believe, are the worthy in an unchangeable repose, there where the mind has anticipated them in rooting its power through love, for the one who does not transcend himself or whatever can be in any way apprehended and who does not settle in a silence beyond all thought is absolutely incapable of being free from mutability.⁸¹

πα΄.  Ἕως τῆς ἡμῶν τε καί πάντων τῶν μετά Θεόν οὐσίας κατά διάνοιαν καθαρῶς οὐκ ἐκβεβήκαμεν, οὔπω τήν τῆς κατ᾿ ἀρετήν ἀτρεψίας ἕξιν ἐλάβομεν. Ὁπηνίκα δέ τοῦτο δι᾿ ἀγάπης ἡμῖν κατορθωθῇ τό ἀξίωμα, τότε γνωσόμεθα τῆς θείας ἐπαγγελίας τήν δύναμιν. Ἐκεῖ γάρ εἶναι χρή πιστεύειν καθ᾿ ἵδρυσιν ἀμετάθετον τούς ἀξίους, ἔνθα προλαβών ὁ νοῦς δι᾿ ἀγάπης τήν σφετέραν ἐνεῤῥίζωσε δύναμιν. Ὁ γάρ μή ἐκβάς ἑαυτοῦ, καί πάντων τῶν ὁπωσοῦν νοεῖσθαι δυναμένων, καί εἰς τήν ὑπέρ νόησιν σιγήν καταστάς, οὐ δύναται τροπῆς εἶναι πάμπαν ἐλεύθερος.

82. Every thought certainly expresses several or at least a duality of aspects, for it is an intermediary relationship between two extremes which joins together the thinker and the object thought of. Neither of the two can completely retain simplicity. For the thinker is a subject who bears the power of thinking in himself. And what is thought of is a subject as such or dwells in a subject, having inherent in it the capacity of being thought of, or else the essence whose faculty it is which formerly existed. For there is no being at all which is by itself a simple essence or thought to the extent of also being an undivided monad. As far as God is concerned, if we say that he is an essence, he has not naturally inherent in him the possibility of being thought because he is not composed; if we say that he is thought he has no essence which by nature is capable of being a subject of thought. But God is himself thought by essence, and wholly thought, and solely thought. According to thought he is himself essence, wholly essence, and solely essence. He is entirely above essence and entirely above thought, since he is an invisible monad, simple and without parts. Thus the one who still in some way possesses any thought has not yet left the dyad; but the one who has completely abandoned it has arrived in some fashion into the monad in having supremely relinquished the power of thinking.⁸²

πβ΄. Πᾶσα νόησις, πλήθους· ἤ τουλάχιστον, δυάδος πάντως ἔμφασιν ἔχει. Μέση γάρ ἐστι τινῶν ἀκροτήτων σχέσις, ἀλλήλοις συνάπτουσα, τό τε νοοῦν καί τό νοούμενον. Οὐδέτερον δέ διόλου τήν ἁπλότητα πέφυκε σώζειν. Τό τε γάρ νοοῦν, ὑποκείμενόν τί ἐστι, πάντως συνεπινοουμένην αὐτῷ τήν τοῦ νοεῖν ἔχον δύναμιν. Καί τό νοούμενον ὑποκείμενόν τι πάντως ἐστίν, ἤ ἐν ὑποκειμένῳ· συνεπινοουμένην αὐτῷ τήν τοῦ νοεῖσθαι δύναμιν ἔχον· ἤ προϋποκειμένην τήν, οὗ ἐστι δύναμις, οὐσίαν. Οὐ γάρ τι τῶν ὄντων τό σύνολον αὐτό καθ᾿ αὑτό ἁπλῆ τις οὐσία ἤ νόησίς ἐστιν, ἵνα καί μονάς ἀδιαίρετος. Τόν δέ Θεόν, εἴτε οὐσίαν εἴπωμεν, οὐκ ἔχει φυσικῶς συνεπινοουμένην αὐτῷ τήν τοῦ νοεῖσθαι δύναμιν, ἵνα μή σύνθετος· εἴτε νόησιν, οὐκ ἔχει φυσικῶς δεκτικήν τῆς νοήσεως ὑποκειμένην οὐσίαν· ἀλλ᾿ αὐτός κατ᾿ οὐσίαν νόησίς ἐστιν ὁ Θεός· καί ὅλος νόησις, καί μόνον· ⁽¹¹¹⁷⁾ καί αὐτός κατά τήν νόησιν οὐσία, καί ὅλος οὐσία καί μόνον· καί ὑπέρ οὐσίαν ὅλος, καί ὑπέρ νόησιν ὅλος, διότι καί μονάς ἀδιαίρετος καί ἀμερής καί ἁπλῆ. Ὁ τοίνυν καθ᾿ ὁτιοῦν νόησιν ἔχων, οὔπω τῆς δυάδος ἐξῆλθεν· ὁ δέ ταύτην πάμπαν ἀπολιπών, γέγονε ποσῶς ἐν τῇ μονάδι, τήν τοῦ νοεῖν ὑπεροχικῶς ἀποθέμενος δύναμιν.

83. In the multiple there is diversity, unlikeness, and difference. But in God, who is eminently one and unique, there is only identity, simplicity, and sameness. It is therefore not wise, before leaving the multiple, to apply oneself to contemplations which concern God. This is what Moses shows in pitching the tent of thought outside the camp and then conversing with God.⁸³ It is precarious to attempt to speak the ineffable in verbal discourse, for this type of language is twofold and manifold. It is safest to contemplate without words and only in the soul the one who is, for he consists in indivisible unity and not in the multiple. For the high priest, who was assigned to enter the Holy of Holies behind the veil only once every year,⁸⁴ teaches that only the one who has crossed the court and the holy place and has arrived at the Holy of Holies, that is, who has gone beyond the whole nature of the intelligible and the sensible realities and has purified himself from every particularity stemming from his origin, can encounter God with a soul naked and stripped of representations of him.⁸⁵

πγ΄. Ἐν μέν τοῖς πολλοῖς, ἑτερότης καί ἀνομοιότης ἐστί καί διαφορά· ἐν δέ τῷ Θεῷ, κυρίως ἑνί καί μόνῳ τυγχάνοντι, ταυτότης καί ἁπλότης μόνον ἐστί, καί ὁμοιότης. Οὐκ ἀσφαλές οὖν πρίν ἔξω γενέσθαι τῶν πολλῶν, ἐπιβάλλειν ταῖς περί Θεοῦ θεωρίαις· καί δηλοῖ τοῦτο Μωϋσῆς, ἔξω τῆς παρεμβολῆς πηγνύμενος τήν σκηνήν τῆς διανοίας, καί τότε προσομιλῶν τῷ Θεῷ. Τό γάρ μετά λόγου τοῦ κατά προφοράν πειρᾶσθαι φάναι τόν ἄῤῥητον, ἐπικίνδυνον· ὅτι δυάς, καί πλέον ἐστίν ὁ κατά προφοράν λόγος. Τό δέ ἄνευ φωνῆς μόνῃ τῇ ψυχῇ τό ὄν θεωρεῖν, ἰσχυρότατον· ὅτι κατά τήν ἀδιαίρετον ἵσταται μονάδα, καί οὐκ ἐν τοῖς πολλοῖς. Ὁ γάρ ἀρχιερεύς, ἅπαξ τοῦ ἑνιαυτοῦ εἰς τά Ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων εἴσω τοῦ καταπετάσματος εἰσιέναι μόλις προστεταγμένος, διδάσκει μόνον δεῖν ἐκεῖνον, τόν τήν αὐτήν καί τά ἅγια διαβάντα, καί εἰς τά Ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων εἴσω γενόμενον· τουτέστι, τήν ἅπασαν τῶν αἰσθητῶν τε καί νοητῶν παρελθόντα φύσιν, καί πάσης τῆς κατά γένεσιν ἰδιότητος γενόμενον καθαρόν, ἀνείμονι καί γυμνῇ τῇ διανοίᾳ προσβάλλειν ταῖς περί Θεοῦ φαντασίαις.

84. The great Moses, having pitched his tent outside the camp, that is, having installed his free will and his understanding outside the visible, begins to adore God. Having entered the darkness, the formless and immaterial place of knowledge, lie remains there to accomplish the most sacred rites.

πδ΄. Μωϋσῆς ὁ μέγας, ἔξω τῆς παρεμβολῆς πηξάμενος ἑαυτοῦ τήν σκηνήν· τουτέστι, τήν γνώμην καί τήν διάνοιαν ἱδρυσάμενος ἔξω τῶν ὁρωμένων, προσκυνεῖν τόν Θεόν ἄρχεται· καί εἰς τόν γνόφον εἰσελθών, τόν ἀειδῆ καί ἄϋλον τῆς γνώσεως τόπον, ἐκεῖ μένει τάς ἱερωτάτας τελούμενος τελετάς.

85. Darkness is a formless, immaterial, and incorporeal state which bears the exemplary knowledge of beings. The one who enters into this state as another Moses understands things invisible to his mortal nature. Through this state he depicts in himself the beauty of the divine virtues just as a handwriting is a good imitation of the beauty of the archetype ; he descends, offering himself to those who want to imitate his virtue and showing by this the generous and ungrudging grace received in exchange.⁸⁶

⁽¹¹²⁰⁾ πε΄. Ὁ γνόφος ἐστίν, ἡ ἀειδής καί ἄϋλος καί ἀσώματος κατάστασις, ἡ τήν παραδειγματικήν τῶν ὄντων ἔχουσα γνῶσιν· ἐν ᾗ ὁ γενόμενος ἐντός, καθάπερ τις ἄλλος Μωϋσῆς, φύσει θνητῇ κατανοεῖ τά ἀθέατα· δι᾿ ἧς τῶν θείων ἀρετῶν ἐν ἑαυτῷ ζωγραφήσας τό κάλλος, ὥσπερ γραφήν εὐμιμήτως [unus Reg. εὐμίμητον] ἔχουσαν τοῦ ἀρχετύπου κάλλους τό ἀπεικόνισμα, κάτεισιν· ἑαυτόν προβαλλόμενος τοῖς βουλομένοις μιμεῖσθαι τήν ἀρετήν, καί ἐν τούτῳ δεικνύς, ἧς μετειλήφει χάριτος, τό φιλάνθρωπόν τε καί ἄφθονον.

86. Those who purely pursue the divine way of life find the greatest benefit in knowledge about it. They no longer change their will along with things, but with a sound firmness undertake readily everything which accords with the principle of virtue.⁸⁷

πστ΄. Οἱ ἀσπίλως τήν κατά Θεόν μετερχόμενοι φιλοσοφίαν, μέγιστον ἐκ τῆς κατ᾿ αὐτήν ἐπιστήμης κέρδος εὑρίσκουσι· τό, μηκέτι τήνγνώμην τοῖς πράγμασι συμμεταβάλλεσθαι· ἀλλά μετ᾿ εὐσταθοῦς βεβαιότητος [unus Reg. γενναιότητος] πᾶσιν ἐγχειρεῖν προθύμως τοῖς ἁρμόζουσι τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀρετῆς.

87. Baptized in Christ by the Spirit, we have received the first incorruptibility of the flesh; we await the final incorruptibility of Christ in the Spirit, that is, in keeping undefiled the first incorruptibility by a free gift of good works and by a voluntary death; according to this final incorruptibility no one who enjoys it will lose the benefits he has acquired.⁸⁸

 πζ΄. Τήν κατά σάρκα πρώτην ἐν Χριστῷ διά Πνεύματος βαπτισθέντες [ἴσ. κτηθέντες, primam nacti incorruptionem] ἀφθαρσίαν, τήν ἐσχάτην κατ᾿ αὐτόν ἐν Πνεύματι· δι᾿ ἐπιδόσεως ἔργων ἀγαθῶν δηλονότι, καί τοῦ κατά πρόθεσιν θανάτου, τήν προτέραν φυλάξαντες ἀκηλίδωτον, ἐκδεχόμεθα· καθ᾿ ἥν τῶν ἐχόντων, οὐδείς ἀποβολήν δέδοικε τῶν κτηθέντων ἀγαθῶν.

88. God, who in his mercy for us has desired that the grace of divine virtue be sent down from heaven to those who are on earth, has symbolically built the sacred tent and everything in it as a representation, figure, and imitation of Wisdom.⁸⁹

πη΄. Τοῖς ἐπί γῆς, τῆς θείας ἀρετῆς ἀπ᾿ οὐρανοῦ δι᾿ ἔλεον τόν πρός ἡμᾶς τήν χάριν καταπέμψαι βουληθείς ὁ Θεός, συμβολικῶς τήν ἱεράν σκηνήν καί τά ἐν αὐτῇ πάντα κατεσκεύασε· σοφίας οὖσαν ἀπεικόνισμα καί τύπον καί μίμημα.

89. The grace of the New Testament is mysteriously hidden in the letter of the Old. This is why the Apostle says that the Law is spiritual.⁹⁰ Thus the Law is rendered old and obsolete by the letter and becomes useless, but it is made young and thoroughly active by the Spirit. For grace is completely free of old age.⁹¹

πθ΄. Ἡ χάρις τῆς Νέας Διαθήκης, μυστικῶς τῷ τῆς Παλαιᾶς κέκρυπται γράμματι· διό φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, ὅτι ὁ νόμος πνευματικῶς ἐστιν. Ὁ οὖν νόμος, τῷ μέν γράμματι, παλαιοῦται καί γηράσκει καταργούμενος· τῷ δέ πνεύματι,νεάζει διαπαντός ἐνεργούμενος. Ἡ γάρ χάρις παντελῶς ἀπαλαίωτος.

90. The Law is the shadow of the Gospel and the Gospel is the image of the good things to come. For the former checks bad activities and the latter provides good actions.

τέσσ. ἀνοικ. ΄. Ὁ μέν νόμος, σκιάν ἔχει τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου· τό δέ Εὐαγγέλιον, εἰκών ἐστι τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν. Ὁ μέν γάρ κωλύει τάς τῶν κακῶν ἐνεργείας· τό δέ, τάς πράξεις τῶν ἀγαθῶν παρατίθεται.

91. We say that the entire Holy Scripture is divided into flesh and spirit, as if it were a spiritual person.⁹² For the one who says that the text of Scripture is flesh and that its meaning is spirit or soul does not stray from the truth. The wise man is certainly the one who abandons the corruptible and belongs wholly to the incorruptible.

τέσσ. ἀνοικ. α΄.  Τήν ἁγίαν ὅλην Γραφήν, σαρκί διαιρεῖσθαι λέγομεν καί πνεύματι· καθάπερ τινά πνευματικόν ἄνθρωπον οὖσαν. Ὁ γάρ τό ῥητόν τῆς Γραφῆς εἰπών εἶναι σάρκα· ⁽¹¹²¹⁾ τόν δέ νοῦν, πνεῦμα, ἤγουν ψυχήν, τῆς ἀληθείας οὖν ἁμαρτήσεται. Σοφός δέ προδήλως, ὁ τό μέν φθειρόμενον ἀφείς· ὅλος [unus Reg. ὅλως] δέ τοῦ ἀφθάρτου γενόμενος.

92. The Law is the flesh of the spiritual man which is Holy Scripture, the Prophets are the senses, and the Gospel is the spiritual soul. Through the flesh of the Law and through the sense of the Prophets the soul is activated and expresses its own power in its activities.⁹³

τέσσ. ἀνοικ. β΄.  Ὁ μέν νόμος, σάρξ ἐστι τοῦ κατά τήν ἁγίαν Γραφήν πνευματικοῦ ἀνθρώπου· αἴσθησις δέ, οἱ προφῆται· τό δέ Εὐαγγέλιον, ψυχή νοερά· διά σαρκός τοῦ νόμου, καί δι᾿ αἰσθήσεως τῶν προφητῶν ἐνεργοῦσα· καί τήν ἑαυτῆς δύναμιν ταῖς ἐνεργείαις ἐμφαίνουσα.

93. The Law is the shadow and the Prophets are the image of the divine and spiritual benefits contained in the Gospel. The Gospel itself has shown us this truth which is present to us through the Scriptures, which hitherto was covered with shadow in the Law and prefigured by the Prophets.

τέσσ. ἀνοικ. γ΄. Σκιάν μέν εἶχεν ὁ νόμος, εἰκόνα δέ οἱ προφῆται τῶν ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ θείων καί πνευματικῶν ἀγαθῶν. Αὐτό δέ τό Εὐαγγέλιον, αὐτήν παροῦσαν ἡμῖν διά τῶν γραμμάτων ἔδειξε τήν ἀλήθειαν· τήν τῷ νόμῳ προσκιασθεῖσαν, καί τοῖς προφήταις προεικονισθεῖσαν.

94. The one who fulfills the Law in his way of life and conduct leaves unaccomplished the performance of evil in sacrificing to God the activity of irrational passions. In this stage he is sufficiently close to salvation through the spiritual infancy he possesses.⁹⁴

τέσσ. ἀνοικ. δ΄.  Ὁ τόν νόμον διά βίου καί πολιτείας ἐπιτελῶν, μόνων τῶν τῆς κακίας ἀργεῖ συμπερασμάτων, καταθύων τῷ Θεῷ τῶν ἀλόγων παθῶν τήν ἐνέργειαν· καί τούτῳ πρός σωτηρίαν ἀρκεῖται τῷ τρόπῳ, διά τήν ἐν αὐτῷ πνευματικήν νηπιότητα.

95. The one who is instructed by the words of the Prophets rejects the activities of the passions, and puts off as well the submission to those which are encountered in the soul, lest by seeming to abstain from the wickedness of the worse (I mean here the flesh) he unwittingly activates it too much in the better (that is, in the soul).

τέσσ. ἀνοικ. ε΄. Ὁ τῷ προφητικῷ λόγῳ παιδαγωγούμενος, πρός τῇ ἀποβολῇ τῆς τῶν παθῶν ἐνεργείας, καί τάς κατά ψυχήν συνισταμένας αὐτῶν  ἐκτίθεται συγκαταθέσεις· ἵνα μή τῷ χείρονι, φημί δή τῇ σαρκί, δοκῶν κακίας ἀπέχεσθαι· τῷ κρείττονι, λέγω δέ τῇ ψυχῇ, λάθῃ ταύτην δαψιλῶς ἐνεργούμενος.

96. The one who sincerely embraces the evangelical life has cut off from himself the beginning and end of evil, and pursues in word and deed every virtue. He offers a sacrifice of praise and confession in having freed himself from every burden of the activity of the passions and is now free in his mind from the struggle against them. Now he has only an insatiable happiness which nourishes the soul with the hope of the blessings to come.

 τέσσ. ἀνοικ. στ΄. Ὁ τήν εὐαγγελικήν ζωήν γνησίως ἀσπαζόμενος, καί ἀρχήν καί τέλος ἑαυτοῦ τῆς κακίας ἐξέτεμε· καί πᾶσαν ἀρετήν ἔργῳ τε καί λόγῳ μετέρχεται· θύων θυσίαν αἰνέσεως καί ἐξομολογήσεως, πάσης τῆς κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν τῶν παθῶν ἀπηλλαγμένος ὀχλήσεως, καί τῆς κατά νοῦν πρός αὐτά μάχης ὑπάρχων ἐλεύθερος· καί μόνην ἔχων τήν ἐπ᾿ ἐλπίδι τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν τήν ψυχήν διατρέφουσαν, ἀκόρεστον ἡδονήν.

97. To those who apply themselves with the utmost zeal to the divine Scriptures the Word as Lord appears under two forms: first, a general and public sight not reserved to a small number of which it is said, "We have seen him, he had neither form nor beauty";⁹⁵ the second is more hidden and accessible to a small number, to those who have already become as Peter, James, and John, the holy apostles before whom the Lord was transfigured in a glory overpowering the senses, in which "he is beautiful in appearance before the sons of men."⁹⁶ Of these two forms, the first is fitting for beginners, the second is proportioned to those who have become perfect in knowledge, insofar as this is attainable. The former is the image of the first coming of the Lord to which the letter of the Gospel refers and which purifies by sufferings those who are in the stage of striving. The latter is a prefiguring of the second and glorious coming in which is understood the Spirit. It transfigures the gnostics by wisdom with a view toward their deification. By this transfiguration of the Word in them, they behold with unveiled faces the Lord's glory.⁹⁷

τέσσ. ἀνοικ. ζ΄.  Τοῖς σπουδαιοτέροις τῶν θείων Γραφῶν ἐπιμεληταῖς, δύο ἔχων ἀναφαίνεται μορφάς ὁ κατά Κύριον Λόγος· τήν μέν κοινήν καί δημωδεστέραν καί οὐκ ὀλίγοις θεατήν, καθ᾿ ἥν λέγεται τό, Εἴδομεν αὐτόν, καί οὐκ εἶχεν εἶδος οὐδέ κάλλος· τήν δέ κρυφιωτέραν καί ὀλίγοις ἐφικτήν, τοῖς ἤδη κατά Πέτρον καί Ἰάκωβον καί Ἰωάννην, τούς ἁγίους ἀποστόλους γεγονόσιν, ἐφ᾿ ὧν ὁ Κύριος μετεμορφώθη πρός δόξαν νικῶσαν τήν αἴσθησιν· καθ᾿ ἥν ἔστιν ὡραῖος κάλλει παρά τούς υἱούς τῶν ἀνθρώπων. ⁽¹¹²⁴⁾ Τούτων δέ τῶν δύο μορφῶν, ἡ μέν προτέρα, τοῖς εἰσαγομένοις ἁρμόδιος· ἡ δευτέρα δέ, τοῖς κατά τήν γνῶσιν ὡς ἐφικτόν τελειωθεῖσιν ἀνάλογος. Καί ἡ μέν, τῆς πρώτης τοῦ Κυρίου παρουσίας ἐστίν εἰκών, ἐφ᾿ ἧς τό ῥητόν τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου θετέον τῆς διά παθημάτων καθαιρούσης τούς πρακτικούς· ἡ δέ, τῆς δευτέρας καί ἐνδόξου παρουσίας ἐστί προδιατύπωσις, ἐφ᾿ ἧς τό πνεῦμα νοεῖται· τῆς διά σοφίας τούς γνωστικούς μεταμορφούσης πρός θέωσιν· ἐκ τῆς ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῦ λόγου μεταμορφώσεως, ἀνακεκαλυμμένῳ προσώπῳ τήν δόξαν Κυρίου κατοπτριζομένους.

98. The one who by virtue has unshakably held firm against sufferings bears active in himself the first coming of the Word which purifies him from all blemishes. But the one who by contemplation has transported his mind to the angelic state bears the power of the second coming which renders him free from passion and decay.

 τέσσ. ἀνοικ. η΄.  Ὁ μέν ἀκατασείστως ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς ἐγκαρτερῶν τοῖς δεινοῖς, ἐνεργουμένην ἐφ᾿ ἑαυτόν ἔχει τήν πρώτην τοῦ Λόγου παρουσίαν, πάσης αὐτόν κηλίδος καθαίρουσαν· ὁ δέ τόν νοῦν πρός τήν τῶν ἀγγέλων διά θεωρίας μεταβιβάσας κατάστασιν, τῆς δευτέρας ἔχει παρουσίας τήν δύναμιν, ἐνεργοῦσαν αὐτῷ τό ἀπαθές καί ἀνάλωτον.

99. Sensibility⁹⁸ accompanies the man of striving who succeeds in the virtues only with difficulty; insensibility accompanies the gnostic who has withdrawn his mind away from the flesh and the world toward God. The former, in striving by effort to unbind the soul from the bonds of the natural relation to the flesh, has his free will continually beset with difficulties and gives up. But the latter, who by contemplation has pulled out the nails of this relationship,⁹⁹ can be held back by absolutely nothing; he has already purified himself from passion and has become strong against anything attempting to overpower him.

 τέσσ. ἀνοικ.  θ΄.  Αἴσθησις μέν ἕπεται τῷ πρακτικῷ, διά πόνον κατορθοῦντι τάς ἀρετάς· ἀναισθησία δέ τῷ γνωστικῷ, τόν νοῦν ἀπό τῆς σαρκός καί τοῦ κόσμου συστείλαντι πρός Θεόν. Ὁ μέν γάρ λῦσαι τήν ψυχήν τῶν κατά φύσιν τῆς σχέσεως πρός τήν σάρκα δεσμῶν διά τῆς πρακτικῆς ἀγωνιζόμενος, ἔχει τήν γνώμην τοῖς πόνοις συνεχῶς ἐποκλάζουσαν· ὁ δέ, ταύτης τῆς σχέσεως ἀνασπάσας διά τῆς θεωρίας [unus Reg. θεωρητικῆς] τούς ἥλους, οὐδενί τό σύνολόν ἐστι καθεκτός· καθαρός ἤδη τοῦ πάσχειν τε καί κρατεῖσθαι πεφυκότος παρά τῶν ἑλεῖν βουλομένων, γενόμενος.

¹⁰⁰. The manna given to Israel in the desert is the Word of God, which prepares those who eat it for every spiritual delight and which is transmuted to every taste in accordance with different desires of those who eat it. For it includes all the qualities of spiritual food.¹⁰⁰ That is why for those who are born from above through the Spirit from an incorruptible seed it becomes true spiritual milk.¹⁰¹ For those who are infirm it is an herb¹⁰² which soothes the passive faculty of the soul; for those who have through habit trained the soul's spiritual sense to discern good and evil, he gives himself as solid nourishment.¹⁰³ The Word of God has also other infinite powers which cannot be spoken of here below. The one who has died and who has been judged worthy of being set over many or all things will receive all or some of the Word's powers, because he was faithful in a few things in this life.¹⁰⁴ For the highest of any of the spiritual gifts given by God in this life is a modest and trifling thing in comparision with those to come.

  ρ΄.  Τό μάννα δοθέν τῷ Ἰσραήλ κατά τήν ἔρημον, ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγος ἐστί, πρός πᾶσαν ἡδονήν πνευματικήν ἁρμῶν τοῖς ἐσθίουσιν αὐτόν, καί πρός πᾶσαν γεῦσιν κατά τήν διαφοράν τῆς τῶν ἐσθιόντων ἐπιθυμίας, μετακιρνώμενος. Πάσης γάρ ἔχει πνευματικῆς βρώσεως ποιότητα. Διό τοῖς μέν ἄνωθεν ἐκ σπόρου ἀφθάρτου διά πνεύματος γεννηθεῖσι, λογικόν ἄδολον γίνεται γάλα· τοῖς δέ ἀσθενοῦσι, λάχανον, τήν παθοῦσαν τῆς ψυχῆς παραμυθούμενος δύναμιν· τοῖς δέ διά τήν ἕξιν τά αἰσθητήρια τῆς ψυχῆς γεγυμνασμένα ἔχουσι πρός διάκρισιν καλοῦ τε καί κακοῦ, στερεάν ἑαυτόν δίδωσι τροφήν. Ἔχει δέ καί ἄλλας ἀπείρους δυνάμεις ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγος, ἐνταῦθα μή χωρουμένας· ἀναλύσας δέ τις, καί ἄξιος γενόμενος ἐπί πολλῶν, ἤ ἐπί πάντων κατασταθῆναι, λήψεται κἀκείνας ὅλας, ἤ τινας τοῦ λόγου τάς δυνάμεις, διά τό ἐν ἐλαχίστῳ αὐτόν ἐνταῦθα πιστόν γεγονέναι. Πᾶσα γάρ τῶν ἐνταῦθα διδομένων θείων χαρισμάτων ἀκρότης, συγκρίσει τῶν μελλόντων, ἐλάχιστόν τι καί μέτριόν ἐστιν.

SECOND CENTURY

ΕΚΑΤΟΝΤΑΣ  Β΄  ΓΝΩΣΤΙΚΩΝ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΩΝ.

1. There is one God because one Godhead, one, without beginning, simple and supersubstantial, without parts and undivided, identically monad and triad; entirely monad and entirely triad; wholly monad as to substance, and wholly triad as to hypostases. For the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the Godhead, and the Godhead is in Father and Son and Holy Spirit. The whole is in the whole Father and the whole Father is in the whole of it; the whole is in the Son and the whole Son is in the whole of it. And the whole is in the Holy Spirit and the whole Holy Spirit is in the whole of it. The whole is the Father and in the whole Father; and the whole Father is the whole of it. And the whole is the whole Son and the whole is in the whole Son and the whole Son is the whole of it, and the Son is in the whole of it. And the whole is the Holy Spirit and in the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is the whole of it and the whole Holy Spirit is in the whole of it. For neither is the Godhead partly in the Father nor is the Father partly God; nor is the Godhead partly in the Son nor the Son partly God; nor is the Godhead partly in the Holy Spirit nor the Holy Spirit partly God. For neither is the Godhead divisible nor are Father, Son, and Holy Spirit imperfectly God. Rather the whole and complete Godhead is entirely in the entire Father and wholly complete it is entirely in the entire Son; and wholly complete it is entirely in the entire Holy Spirit. For the whole Father is entirely in the whole Son and Holy Spirit, and the whole Son is entirely in the whole Father and Holy Spirit; and the whole Holy Spirit is entirely in the whole Father and Son. This is why there is only one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For there is one and the same essence, power, and act of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit, and no one of them can exist or be conceived without the others.¹⁰⁵

α΄. Εἷς Θεός, ὅτι μία θεότης· μονάς [deest τό, μονάς,  in tribus Regiis] ἄναρχος καί ἁπλῆ καί ὑπερούσιος· ⁽¹¹²⁵⁾ καί ἀμερής καί ἀδιαίρετος· ἡ αὐτή μονάς καί Τριάς· ὅλη μονάς ἡ αὐτή, καί ὅλη Τριάς ἡ αὐτή· μονάς ὅλη κατά τήν οὐσίαν ἡ αὐτή, καί Τριάς ὅλη κατά τάς ὑποστάσεις ἡ αὐτή. Πατήρ γάρ, καί Υἱός, καί Πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἡ θεότης, καί ἐν Πατρί, καί Υἱῷ, καί ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι ἡ θεότης. Ὅλη ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ Πατρί ἡ αὐτή· καί ὅλος ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ αὐτῇ ὁ Πατήρ· καί ὅλη ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ Υἱῷ ἡ αὐτή· καί ὅλος ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ αὐτῇ ὁ Υἱός. Καί ὅλη ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ Πνεύματι τῷ ἁγίῳ ἡ αὐτή· καί ὅλον ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ αὐτῇ τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον. Ὅλη Πατήρ, καί ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ Πατρί· καί ὅλος ἐν ὅλῃ ὁ Πατήρ· καί ὅλη ὅλος ὁ Πατήρ. Καί ὅλη ὅλος ὁ Υἱός ἡ αὐτή· καί ὅλη ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ Υἱῷ ἡ αὐτή· καί ὅλος ὅλη, καί ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ αὐτῇ ὁΥἱός. Καί ὅλη Πνεῦμα ἅγιον ἡ αὐτή, καί ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ Πνεύματι τῷ ἁγίῳ· καί τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον ὅλον ὅλη, καί ὅλον ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ αὐτῇ τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον. Οὐ γάρ ἐκ μέρους ἡ θεότης ἐν τῷ Πατρί, ἤ ἐκ μέρους Θεός ὁ Πατήρ· οὔτε ἐκ μέρους ἐν τῷ Υἱῷ ἡ θεότης, ἤ ἐκ μέρους Θεός ὁ Υἱός· οὔτε ἐκ μέρους ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι ἡ θεότης, ἤ ἐκ μέρους Θεός τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον. Οὔτε γάρ μεριστή ἡ θεότης· οὔτε ἀτελής ὁ Θεός ὁ Πατήρ, ἤ ὁ Υἱός, ἤ τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον· ἀλλ᾿ ὅλη ἐστίν ἡ αὐτή τελεία τελείως ἐν τελείῳ τῷ Πατρί· καί ὅλη τελεία τελείως ἡ αὐτή ἐν τελείῳ τῷ Υἱῷ ἡ αὐτή· καί ὅλη τελεία τελείως ἡ αὐτή ἐν τελείῳ τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι. Ὅλος γάρ ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ Υἱῷ καί τῷ Πνεύματι τελείως ἐστίν ὁ Πατήρ· καί ὅλος ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ Πατρί καί τῷ Πνεύματι τελείως ἐστίν ὁΥἱός· καί ὅλον ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ Πατρί καί τῷ Υἱῷ τελείως ἐστί τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον. Διό καί εἷς Θεός ὁ Πατήρ καί ὁ Υἱός καί τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον. Μία γάρ καί ἡ αὐτή οὐσία καί δύναμις καί ἐνέργεια Πατρός καί Υἱοῦ καί ἁγίου Πνεύματος· οὐκ ὄντος οὐδενός τοῦ ἑτέρου χωρίς ἤ νοουμένου.

2. Every concept involves those who think and what is thought, subject and object. But God is neither of those who think nor of what is thought for he is beyond them. Otherwise he would be limited if as a thinker he stood in need of the relationship to what was thought or as an object of thought he would naturally lapse to the level of the subject thinking through a relationship. Thus there remains only the rejoinder that God can neither conceive nor be conceived but is beyond conception and being conceived. To conceive and to be conceived pertain by nature to those things which are secondary to him.¹⁰⁶

β΄. Πᾶσα νόησις, τῶν νοούντων καί νοουμένων ἐστίν· ὁ δέ Θεός, οὔτε τῶν νοούντων ἐστίν, οὔτε τῶν νοουμένων· ὑπέρ ταῦτα γάρ· ἐπεί περιγράφεται, τῆς τοῦ νοουμένου σχέσεως, ὡς νοῶν, προσδεόμενος· ἤ τῷ νοοῦντι φυσικῶς ὑποπίπτων, διά τήν σχέσιν νοούμενος. Λείπεται γοῦν, μήτε νοεῖν, μήτε νοεῖσθαι τόν Θεόν ὑπολαμβάνειν· ἀλλ᾿ ὑπέρ τό νοεῖν εἶναι καί νοεῖσθαι. Τῶν γάρ μετ᾿ αὐτόν, φυσικῶς ἐστι τό νοεῖν καί τό νοεῖσθαι.

3. Every concept has its motion about substance, as a quality clearly has its place in a substance. For it is not possible that what is completely free and simple and existing by itself could admit something which is not free and simple. But God is altogether simple in both ways and is a substance which is not present in a subject and a conception which has nothing of the subject in him, is not of those things which conceive or are conceived because he is obviously above essence and thought.

γ΄. Πᾶσα νόησις ὥσπερ ἐν οὐσίᾳ πάντως ἔχει τήν θέσιν ὡς ποιότης, οὕτω καί περί οὐσίαν πεποιωμένην ἔχει τήν κίνησιν. Οὐ γάρ ἄφετόν τι καθόλου καί ἁπλοῦν καθ᾿ ἑαυτό ὑφεστώς δυνατόν ἐστιν αὐτήν ὑποδέξασθαι, ὅτι μή ἄφετός ἐστι καί ἁπλῆ. Ὁ δέ Θεός, κατ᾿ ἄμφω πάμπαν ὑπάρχων ἁπλοῦς, καί οὐσία τοῦ ἐν ὑποκειμένῳ χωρίς, καί νόησις μή ἔχουσά τι καθάπαξ ὑποκείμενον· οὐκ ἔστι τῶν νοούντων καί νοουμένων, ὡς ὑπέρ οὐσίαν ὑπάρχων δηλονότι καί νόησιν.

4. Just as straight lines which proceed from the center are seen as entirely undivided in that position, so the one who has been made worthy to be in God will recognize in himself with a certain simple and undivided knowledge all the preexisting principles of things.¹⁰⁷

δ΄. Ὥσπερ ἐν τῷ κέντρῳ τῶν ἐξ αὐτοῦ κατ᾿ εὐθεῖαν ἐκτεταμένων γραμμῶν ἀδιαίρετος θεωρεῖται ⁽¹¹²⁸⁾ παντελῶς ἡ θέσις· οὕτως ὁ ἀξιωθείς ἐν τῷ Θεῷ γενέσθαι, πάντας εἴσεται τούς ἐν αὐτῷ τῶν γεγονότων προϋφεστῶτας λόγους, καθ᾿ ἁπλῆν τινα ἀδιαίρετον γνῶσιν.

5. Formed by its objects, the one concept gives rise to many concepts when each of the objects takes formal shape.¹⁰⁸ But when it has gone beyond a multitude of sense experiences and thoughts which have formed it, it becomes completely without form. It is then that the Word which is above thought aptly holds it fast and makes it his own, causing it to cease from those forms produced from thoughts of another sort; thus the one who experiences this "rests from his works just as God did from his."¹⁰⁹

ε΄. Μορφουμένη τοῖς νοουμένοις νόησις, πολλαί νοήσεις ἡ μία καθίσταται νόησις, κατ᾿ εἶδος ἕκαστον μορφουμένη τῶν νοουμένων. Ὁπηνίκα δέ τῶν μορφούντων αὐτήν αἰσθητῶν τε καί νοητῶν τό πλῆθος περάσασα, γένηται πάμπαν ἀνείδεος, τηνικαῦτα προσφυῶς αὐτήν ὁ ὑπέρ νόησιν οἰκειοῦται Λόγος, καταπαύων τῶν ἀλλοιοῦν αὐτήν ταῖς τῶν νοημάτων μορφαῖς πεφυκότων· ὅπερ ὁ παθών, καί αὐτός κατέπαυσεν ἀπό τῶν ἔργων αὐτοῦ, ὥσπερ ἀπό τῶν ἰδίων ὁ Θεός.

6. The one who achieves a perfection attainable to men here below bears as fruit for God love, joy, peace, endurance for the future, incorruption and eternity, and things similar to these. And perhaps the first things belong to the one who is perfect in the active life while the second belong to the one who through genuine knowledge has gone beyond created things.¹¹⁰

στ΄. Ὁ τήν ἐφικτήν ἀνθρώποις ἐνταῦθα τελειότητα φθάσας, καρποφορεῖ τῷ Θεῷ ἀγάπην, χαράν, εἰρήνην, μακροθυμίαν· πρός δέ τό μέλλον, ἀφθαρσίαν καί ἀϊδιότητα, καί τά τούτοις ὅμοια· καί μήποτε τά μέν πρῶτα προσήκει τῷ τήν πρακτικήν τελειώσαντι· τά δεύτερα δέ, τῷ διά γνώσεως ἀληθοῦς ἐκστάντι τῶν πεποιημένων.

7. Just as sin is the fruit of disobedience so is virtue the fruit of obedience. And just as a transgression of the commandments is a concomitant of disobedience and a separation¹¹¹ from the one who enjoined them, so does the keeping of the commandments and union with the one who gave them follow obedience. Therefore the one who has observed a commandment out of obedience has both fulfilled righteousness and also has preserved unbroken the union of love with the giver of the commandments. But the one who out of disobedience transgresses a commandment has both committed sin and separated himself as well from loving union with the giver of the commandments.

ζ΄. Ὥσπερ ἴδιον παρακοῆς ἔργον ἐστίν ἡ ἁμαρτία, οὕτως ἴδιον ὑπακοῆς ἔργον ἐστίν ἡ ἀρετή· καί ὥσπερ τῇ μέν παρακοῇ παρακολουθεῖ παράβασις ἐντολῶν, καί τοῦ ἐντειλαμένου διαίρεσις, οὕτω τῇ ὑπακοῇ ἐφέπεται συντήρησις ἐντολῶν, καί ἡ πρός τόν ἐντειλάμενον ἕνωσις. Ὁ γοῦν συντηρήσας δι᾿ ὑπακοῆς ἐντολήν, καί δικαιοσύνην εἰργάσατο, καί πρός τόν ἐντειλάμενον, ἕνωσιν διά τῆς ἀγάπης ἐτήρησεν ἀδιαίρετον· ὁ δέ παραβάς διά παρακοῆς ἐντολήν, καί τήν ἁμαρτίαν εἰργάσατο, καί τῆς κατ᾿ ἀγάπην ἑαυτόν πρός τόν ἐντειλάμενον διεῖλεν ἑνώσεως.

8. The one who rallies from the division caused by disobedience first separates himself from the passions, then from passionate thoughts, then from nature and the things of nature, then from concepts and knowledge derived from them, and finally getting away from the abundant variety of the reasons concerning Providence he reaches in a way which transcends knowledge the very Word of God himself. In him the mind considers its own stability and "rejoices with unutterable joy,"¹¹² as a peace comes from God which surpasses all understanding¹¹³ and which continually keeps secure the one who is worthy of it.

η΄. Ὁ ἐκ τῆς κατά τήν παράβασιν διαιρέσεως συναγόμενος, πρῶτον χωρίζεται τῶν παθῶν· ἔπειτα τῶν ἐμπαθῶν λογισμῶν· εἶτα φύσεως καί τῶν περί φύσιν λόγων· εἶτα νοημάτων, καί τῶν περί αὐτά γνώσεων· καί τελευταῖον, τῶν περί Προνοίας λόγων διαδράς τό ποικίλον, εἰς αὐτόν ἀγνώστως καταντᾷ τόν περί μονάδος λόγον· καθ᾿ ὅν μόνον θεωρήσας ἑαυτοῦ ἀτρεψίαν ὁ νοῦς, χαίρει τήν ἀνεκλάλητον χαράν· ὡς τήν εἰρήνην εἰληφώς τοῦ Θεοῦ, τήν ὑπερέχουσαν πάντα νοῦν· καί φρουροῦσαν διηνεκῶς ἄπτωτον τόν αὐτῆς ἀξιούμενον.

9. The fear of hell trains beginners to flee from evil, the desire for the reward of good things gives to the advanced the eagerness for the practice of virtues. But the mystery of love removes the mind from all created things, causing it to be blind to all that is less than God. Only those who have become blind to all that is less than God does the Lord instruct by showing them more divine things.¹¹⁴

θ΄. Ὁ τῆς γεέννης φόβος, κακίαν φεύεγειν παρασκευάζει τούς εἰσαγομένους· ὁ δέ πόθος τῆς τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀντιδόσεως, τοῖς προκόπτουσι τήν ἐπ᾿ ἐνεργείᾳ τῶν ἀρετῶν χαρίζεται προθυμίαν· τό δέ τῆς ἀγάπης μυστήριον, πάντων ὑπεραίρει τῶν γεγονότων τόν νοῦν, ⁽¹¹²⁹⁾ πρός πάντα τά μετά Θεόν τυφλόν ἀπεργαζόμενον. Μόνους γάρ τούς τυφλούς πρός πάντα τά μετά Θεόν γεγενημένους ὁ Κύριος σοφίζει, δεικνύς τά θειότερα.

10. The word of God is like a grain of mustard seed; before its cultivation it appears to be very small, but when it has been properly cultivated it shows itself to be so evidently big that the noble reasons of creatures of sense and mind come as birds to rest in it. ¹¹⁵ For the reasons of all things are set in it as finite beings, but it is limited by none of these beings. Thus the Lord said that the one who has faith as a mustard seed could move a mountain by his word, which means to chase away the might of the devil from us and to change over from his sway. ¹¹⁶

ι΄. Ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγος, κόκκῳ σινάπεως ἐοικώς, πρό τῆς γεωργίας πάνυ εἶναι δοκεῖ μικρός· ἐπειδάν δέ γεωργηθῇ δεόντως, τοσοῦτον διαδείκνυται μέγας, ὥστε τούς τῶν αἰσθητῶν καί τῶν νοητῶν κτισμάτων μεγαλοφυεῖς λόγους πτηνῶν δίκην αὐτῷ ἐπαναπαύεσθαι. Πάντων γάρ οἱ λόγοι καθεστήκασιν αὐτῷ χωρητοί· αὐτός δέ, τῶν ὄντων ἐστίν οὐδενί χωρητός. Διό τόν ἔχοντα πίστιν ὡς κόκκον σινάπεως, δύνασθαι μεταθεῖναι λόγῳ τό ὄρος ὁ Κύριος ἔφη· τουτέστι, τό καθ᾿ ἡμῶν τοῦ διαβόλου κράτος ἀποδιώκειν, καί μετατιθέναι τῆς βάσεως.

11. The grain of mustard seed is the Lord, who is sown by faith in the Spirit in the hearts of those who receive him. The one who carefully cultivates it through the virtues moves the mountain of earthly purpose by driving away from himself with authority the tenacious habit of wickedness. Then the reasons and forms of the commandments, which are the divine powers, will come as birds from heaven to rest in him.

ια΄. Κόκκος τοῦ σινάπεώς ἐστιν ὁ Κύριος, κατά πίστιν ἐν Πνεύματι σπειρόμενος ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις τῶν δεχομένων· ὅν ὁ ἐπιμελῶς διά τῶν ἀρετῶν γεωργήσας, τό μέν ὄρος τοῦ χοϊκοῦ φρονήματος μετατίθησι, τήν δυσκίνητον ἕξιν ἑαυτοῦ τῆς κακίας κατ᾿ ἐξουσίαν ἀπωθούμενος· τούς δέ λόγους ἑαυτῶ τῶν ἐντολῶν καί τούς τρόπους, ἤ καί τάς θείας δυνάμεις, ὥσπερ πετεινά οὐρανοῦ ἐπαναπαύει.

12. In building the summit of good things on the Lord as a foundation of faith we must lay down gold, silver, and precious stones, that is, a pure and unalloyed theology, a bright and shining life, and divine notions as pearl-like thoughts; not wood, hay, or straw, that is, idolatry, which is the passionate seeking after things of sense, nor impassioned imaginings, which are as deprived of wise understanding as stalks.¹¹⁷

ιβ΄. Τῷ Κυρίῳ καθάπερ τινί θεμελίῳ πίστεως, τό ὕψος ἐποικοδομοῦντες τῶν ἀγαθῶν, χρυσίον, ἀργύριον, λίθους τιμίους ἐπιθώμεθα· τουτέστι, θεολογίαν καθαράν καί ἀκίβδηλον, καί βίον διαφανῆ καί λαμπρόν, καί θείους λογισμούς τά μαργαρώδη νοήματα· ἀλλά μή ξύλα, μή χόρτον μήτε καλάμην· τουτέστι, μήτε εἰδωλολατρείαν· ἤγουν τήν περί τά αἰσθητά πτόησιν· μήτε βίον ἀλόγιστον, μήτε λογισμούς ἐμπαθεῖς, καί τῆς κατά σοφίαν συνέσεως ὥσπερ ἀσταχύων ἐστερημένους.

13. The one who seeks after knowledge sets the immovable foundations of the soul firmly on the Lord, as God says to Moses, "You stand with me."¹¹⁸ Now it should be known that there is a distinction among those who stand before the Lord, if only this Scripture be acknowledged by those eager to learn, "There are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God coming in power."¹¹⁹ For the Lord does not always appear in glory to those who are standing before him; rather, he comes in the form of a servant¹²⁰ to beginners, and to those who are strong enough to follow him in climbing the lofty mountain of his transfiguration before the creation of the world. Thus it is possible for the Lord not to appear in the same form to all those who meet him, but to some in one way and to others in another way, that is, by varying the contemplation according to the measure of faith in each one.¹²¹

ιγ΄. Ὁ γνώσεως ἐφιέμενος, ἀμετακινήτους τάς βάσεις τῆς ψυχῆς ἐρεισάτω παρά τῷ Κυρίῳ, καθά φησιν ὁ Θεός τῷ Μωϋσῇ· Σύ δέ αὐτοῦ στῆθι μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ. Ἰστέον δέ, ὅτι καί ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἱσταμένοις παρά τῷ Κυρίῳ ἐστί διαφορά· εἴπερ ἐκεῖνο μή παρέργως ἀναγινώσκεται τοῖς φιλομαθέσι, τό, Εἰσί τινες τῶν ὧδε ἑστώτων, οἵτινες οὐ μή γεύσωνται θανάτου, ἕως ἄν ἴδωσι τήν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐληλυθυῖαν ἐν δυνάμει. Οὐ γάρ πᾶσιν ἀεί μετά δόξης ὁ Κύριος ἐπιφαίνεται τοῖς παρ᾿ αὐτῷ ἱσταμένοις, ἀλλά τοῖς μέν εἰσαγομένοις, ἐν δούλου μορφῇ παραγίνεται· τοῖς δέ δυνάμενοις ἀκολουθῆσαι αὐτῷ ἐπί τό ὑψηλόν ἀναβαίνοντι τῆς αὐτοῦ μεταμορφώσεως ὄρος, ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ ἐπιφαίνεται· ἐν ᾗ ὑπῆρχε, ⁽¹¹³²⁾ πρό τοῦ τόν κόσμον εἶναι. Δυνατόν οὖν ἐστι, μή κατά τό αὐτό τόν αὐτόν πᾶσι τοῖς παρ᾿ αὐτῷ τυγχάνουσιν ἐπιφαίνεσθαι Κύριον· ἀλλά τοῖς μέν οὕτως, τοῖς δέ ἑτέρως, κατά τό μέτρον τῆς ἐν ἑκάστῳ πίστεως δηλονότι ποικίλλων τήν θεωρίαν.

14. When the Word of God becomes bright and shining in us, and his face is dazzling as the sun, then also will his clothes be radiant, that is, the clear and distinct words of the Holy Scripture of the Gospels now no longer veiled. Then Moses and Elijah will stand beside him, that is, the more spiritual meanings of the Law and the Prophets.¹²²

ιδ΄. Ὅταν περιφανής καί λαμπρός ἐν ἡμῖν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ γένηται λόγος, καί τό πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ λάμψοι καθάπερ ἥλιος, τότε καί τά ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ φαίνεται λευκά· τουτέστι, τά ῥήματα τῆς ἁγίας τῶν Εὐαγγελίων Γραφῆς, τρανά καί σαφῆ, καί μηδέν ἔχοντα κεκαλυμμένον. Ἀλλά καί Μωϋσῆς καί Ἠλίας μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ παραγίνονται· τουτέστιν, οἱ τοῦ νόμου καί τῶν προφητῶν πνευματικώτεροι λόγοι.

15. Just as the Son of Man, as it is written, is coming with his angels in the glory of the Father,¹²³ so is the Word of God transformed in the worthy with each advance in virtue as he comes with his angels in the glory of the Father. For the more spiritual meanings in the Law and the Prophets, of which Moses and Elijah are the personal figures, appear with the Lord in his transfiguration and retain a degree of the glory in them and make manifest the power contained in those who are worthy.

ιε΄. Ὥσπερ ἔρχεται ὁ Υἱός τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ὡς γέγραπται, μετά τῶν ἀγγέλων αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ δόξῃ τοῦ Πατρός, οὕτως καθ᾿ ἑκάστην προκοπήν ἀρετῆς μεταμορφοῦται τοῖς ἀξίοις ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγος, ἐρχόμενος μετά τῶν ἀγγέλων αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ δόξῃ τοῦ Πατρός. Οἱ γάρ ἐν νόμῳ καί προφήταις πνευματικώτεροι λόγοις, οὕς Μωϋσῆς καί Ἠλίας δι᾿ ἑαυτῶν προτυπούσι, μετά τοῦ Κυρίου φαινόμενοι, κατά τήν μεταμόρφωσιν τοῦ Κυρίου , τήν ἀναλογίαν σώζουσι τῆς ἐν αὐτοῖς δόξης, τήν τέως χωρητήν τοῖς ἀξίοις ἀποκαλύπτοντες δύναμιν.

16. The one who is instructed for a time about the reason of the monad fully recognizes as well the reasons of Providence and judgment associated with it. Thus he judges it a good thing, as did St. Peter, that three tents be made by him for those who appear, that is, the three ways of salvation: virtue, knowledge, and theology. The first one requires the practice of courage and chastity, of which the blessed Elijah is a figure. The second is the righteousness of natural contemplation which the great Moses showed in his life. The third is the pure perfection of wisdom which the Lord revealed. Tents are spoken of because there are other appointed places better and more distinguished than these which those who are worthy will receive in the future.¹²⁴

ιστ΄. Ὁ τόν περί μονάδος ποσῶς μυηθείς λόγον, πάντως καί τούς περί προνοίας καί κρίσεως ἐπέγνω λόγους, συνόντας αὐτῷ. Διό καί τρεῖς γενέσθαι σκηνάς παρ᾿ ἑαυτῷ [unus Reg. παρ᾿ αὐτῷ] κατά τόν ἅγιον Πέτρον, τοῖς ὁραθεῖσι καλόν εἶναι ψηφίζεται· τουτέστι, τάς τρεῖς ἕξεις τῆς σωτηρίας· τήν τῆς ἀρετῆς λέγω, καί τήν τῆς γνώσεως, καί τήν τῆς θεολογίας. Ἡ μέν γάρ δεῖται τῆς κατά πρᾶξιν ἀνδρείας καί σωφροσύνης, ἧς ὁ μακάριος τύπος ὑπῆρχεν Ἠλίας· ἡ δέ, τῆς κατά τήν φυσικήν θεωρίαν δικαιοσύνης, ἥν ὁ μέγας ἐμήνυε δι᾿ ἑαυτοῦ Μωϋσῆς· ἡ δέ, τῆς κατά τήν φρόνησιν ἀκραιφνοῦς τελειότητος, ἥν ὁ Κύριος ἐδήλου. Σκηναί δέ προσηγορεύθησαν, διά τό ἄλλας εἶναι τούτων κρείττους καί περιφανεστέρας, τάς τούς ἀξίους κατά τό μέλλον διαδεξομένας λήξεις.

17. The active man is said to dwell on the level of flesh as one who through the virtues cuts away the attachment of the soul to the body and drives away from himself the deceitfulness of material things. The man of knowledge is likewise said to dwell in the same flesh as one who still contemplates the truth in mirrors and enigmas. For not yet are the self-existing forms of blessing beheld by him as they are, in a face-to‐ face enjoyment. For in comparison with the goods which lie in the future, every saint goes around crying, "I am but a wayfarer and a pilgrim before you as were all my fathers."¹²⁵

ιζ΄. Ὁ μέν πρακτικός, ἐν σαρκί λέγεται παροικεῖν· ὡς τῆς ψυχῆς τήν πρός τήν σάρκα σχέσιν διά τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐκτέμνων, καί τῶν ὑλικῶν ἑαυτοῦ περιελόμενος τήν ἀπάτην. Ὁ δέ γνωστικός, καί ἐν αὐτῆ τῇ ἀρετῇ λέγεται παροικεῖν· ὡς ἐν ἐσόπτροις ⁽¹¹³³⁾ ἔτι καί αἰνίγμασι θεωρῶν τήν ἀλήθειαν. Οὔπω γάρ αὐτῷ τά τῶν ἀγαθῶν αὐθυπόστατα εἴδη καθώς εἰσιν ἐθεάσθησαν, διά τῆς πρόσωπον πρός πρόσωπον ἀπολαύσεως. Ἐν εἰκόνι γάρ τῶν ἀγαθῶν, ὡς πρός τό μέλλον, πᾶς ἅγιος διαπορεύεται, βοῶν· Πάροικός εἰμι καί παρεπίδημος καθώς πάντες οἰ πατέρες μου.

18. The one who prays ought never to halt his movement of sublime ascent toward God. For just as we should understand the ascents "from strength to strength" as the progress in the practice of the virtues, "from glory to glory"¹²⁶ as the advance in the spiritual knowledge of contemplation, and the transfer from the letter of Holy Writ to its spirit, so in the same way the one who is settled in the place of prayer should lift his mind from human matters and the attention of the soul to more divine realities. This will enable him to follow the one who has "passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God," who is everywhere and who in his incarnation passes through all things on our account. If we follow him, we also pass through all things with him and come beside him if we know him not in the limited condition of his descent in the incarnation but in the majestic splendor of his natural infinitude.¹²⁷

ιη΄. Τόν εὐχόμενον οὐ δεῖ στῆναί ποτε τῆς ἐπί Θεόν ἀγούσης ὑψηλῆς ἀναβάσεως. Ὡς γάρ ἀναβάσεις χρή νοεῖσθαι [duo Regii, ποιεῖσθαι, ut et Fr.], κατά τήν ἐκ δυνάμεως εἰς δύναμιν, τήν ἐν τῇ πρακτικῇ τῶν ἀρετῶν προκοπήν· καί τήν ἀπό δόξης εἰς δόξαν, τῶν πνευματικῶν τῆς θεωρίας γνώσεως ἐπανάβασιν· καί τήν ἀπό τοῦ ῥητοῦ τῆς ἁγίας καί θείας Γραφῆς, ἐπί τό πνεῦμα μετάβασιν· οὕτω καί ἐν τῷ περί εὐχῶν τόπῳ γινόμενον χρή ποιεῖν· ἐπαίρειν τόν νοῦν ἀπό τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων· καί τό φρόνημα τῆς ψυχῆς, ἐπί τά θειότερα· ἵνα καί δυνηθῇ ὁ νοῦς ἀκολουθῆσαι τῷ διεληλυθότι τούς οὐρανούς, Ἰησοῦ τῷ Υἱῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ, πανταχοῦ ὄντι, καί πάντα διερχομένῳ δι᾿ ἡμᾶς οἰκονομικῶς, ἵνα καί ἡμεῖς ἀκολουθοῦντες αὐτῷ, πάντα διέλθωμεν τά μετ᾿ αὐτόν· καί γενώμεθα πρός αὐτόν, ἐάν γε νοῶμεν αὐτόν, οὐ κατά τήν σμικρότητα τῆς οἰκονομικῆς συγκαταβάσεως, ἀλλά κατά τήν μεγαλειότητα τῆς φυσικῆς ἀοριστίας.

19. It is always a good thing to devote ourselves to seeking God, as we have been commanded. For although in the present life we are unable to arrive at the limit of God's depth, yet at least by reaching in some small way his depth we would see the holier among holy things and the more spiritual among spiritual things. This is clearly indicated in the figure of the high priest who from the holy place which is more sacred than the courtyard enters into the Holy of Holies which is more sacred than the holy place.¹²⁸

ιθ΄. Καλόν ἀεί σχολάζειν καί ζητεῖν τόν Θεόν, ὡς προσετάγημεν. Κἄν γάρ κατά τήν παροῦσαν ζωήν ζητοῦντες ἐπί τό πέρας ἐλθεῖν τοῦ βάθους τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐ δυνάμεθα· ἀλλ᾿ ἴσως καί ἐπ᾿ ὀλίγον τοῦ βάθους αὐτοῦ φθάνοντες, θεωροῦμεν ἁγίων ἁγιώτερα, καί πνευματικῶν πνευματικώτερα. Καί δηλοῖ τυπικῶς ὁ ἀρχιερεύς, ἀπό τῶν ἁγίων τῶν τῆς αὐλῆς ἁγιωτέρων, ἐπί τά ἅγια τῶν Ἁγίων, ἁγιώτερα τῶν ἁγίων εἰσιών.

20. Each word of God is neither multiple nor wordy but rather is one, though made up of different parts of speech, of which each is a part of the meaning. Thus if one is speaking about truth, even if he could speak about it in such a way that nothing is left out he has spoken about the one Word of God.¹²⁹

κ΄. Πᾶς τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγος, οὔτε πολύλογος, οὔτε πολυλογία ἐστίν· ἀλλ᾿ εἷς, συνεστώς [Regii guidam et Rt. συνετός] ἐκ διαφόρων θεωρημάτων· ὧν ἕκαστον μέρος ἐστί τοῦ λόγου. Ὥστε ὁ λέγων ὑπέρ ἀληθείας, κἄν οὕτως εἰπεῖν δυνηθῇ ὡς μηδέν εἰς τό ζητούμενον παραλιπεῖν, ἕνα λόγον εἴρηκε τοῦ Θεοῦ.

21. In Christ who is God and the Word of the Father there dwells in bodily form the complete fullness of deity by essence;¹³⁰ in us the fullness of deity dwells by grace whenever we have formed in ourselves every virtue and wisdom, lacking in no way which is possible to man in the faithful reproduction of the archetype. For it is not unnatural thereby that the fullness of deity dwell also in us by adoption, expressed in the various spiritual ideas.

κα΄. Ἐν μέν τῷ Χριστῷ, Θεῷ ὄντι καί Λόγου τοῦ Πατρός, ὅλον κατ᾿ οὐσίαν οἰκεῖ τό πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος σωματικῶς· ἐν ἡμῖν δέ κατά χάριν οἰκεῖ τό πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος, ἡνίκα πᾶσαν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἀθροίσωμεν ἀρετήν καί σοφίαν, μηδενί τρόπω κατά τό δυνατόν ἀνθρώπῳ λειπομένην τῆς πρός τό ἀρχέτυπον ἀληθοῦς ἐκμιμήσεως. Οὐ γάρ ἀπεικός κατά τόν θέσει λόγον, καί ἐν ἡμῖν οἰκῆσαι τό πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος, τό ἐκ διαφόρων συνεστηκός πνευματικῶν θεωρημάτων.

22. Just as our human word which proceeds naturally from the mind is messenger of the secret movements of the mind, so does the Word of God, who knows the Father by essence as Word knows the Mind which has begotten it (since no created being can approach the Father without him), reveal the Father whom he knows. As the Word of God by nature he is spoken of as the "messenger of the great counsel."¹³¹

κβ΄. Ὥσπερ ὁ παρ᾿ ἡμῖν λόγος, ἐκ τοῦ νοῦ κατά φύσιν προερχόμενος, ⁽¹¹³⁶⁾ ἄγγελος τῶν κρυπτομένων τοῦ νοῦ κινημάτων ἐστίν· οὕτως ὁ Θεοῦ Λόγος, κατ᾿ οὐσίαν ἐγνωκώς τόν Πατέρα, καθάπερ Λόγος τόν γεννήσαντα Νοῦν, οὐδενός τῶν γεννητῶν προσβάλλειν αὐτῷ χωρίς αὐτοῦ δυναμένου, ἀποκαλύπτει ὅν ἔγνω Πατέρα, ὡς κατά φύσιν Λόγος, καθό καί Μεγάλης βουλῆς ἄγγελος λέγεται.

23. The great plan of God the Father is the secret and unknown mystery of the dispensation which the only-begotten Son revealed by fulfilling in the incarnation, thus becoming a messenger of the great plan of God the eternal Father. The one who knows the meaning of the mystery and who is so incessantly lifted up both in work and in word through all things until he acquires what is sent down to him is likewise a messenger of the great plan of God.¹³²

κγ΄. Μεγάλη βουλή τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Πατρός ἐστι, τό σεσιγημένον καί ἄγνωστον τῆς οἰκονομίας μυστήριον· ὅπερ πληρώσας διά τῆς σαρκώσεως ὁ μονογενής Υἱός, ἀπεκάλυψεν, ἄγγελον γενόμενος τῆς μεγάλης τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Πατρός καί προαιωνίου βουλῆς. Γίνεται δέ τῆς μεγάλης τοῦ Θεοῦ βουλῆς ἄγγελος, ὁ γνούς τοῦ μυστηρίου τόν λόγον, καί τοσοῦτον ἔργῳ τε καί λόγῳ διά πάντων ἀκαταλήκτως ὑψούμενος, μέχρις ἄν φθάσῃ τόν πρός αὐτόν τοσοῦτον κατελθόντα.

24. If it was for us that the Word of God in his incarnation descended into the lower parts of the earth and ascended above all the heavens;¹³³ while being himself perfectly unmoved, he underwent in himself through the incarnation as man our future destiny. Let the one who is moved by a love of knowledge mystically rejoice in learning of the great destiny which he has promised to those who love the Lord.

κδ΄. Εἰ δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος οἰκονομικῶς κατῆλθεν εἰς τά κατώτερα μέρη τῆς γῆς, καί ἀνῆλθεν ὑπεράνων πάντων τῶν οὐρανῶν, ὁ πάντη κατά φύσιν ἀκίνητος· ἐν ἑαυτῶ κατ᾿ οἰκονομίαν ὡς ἀνθρώπῳ, προενεργῶν τά ἐσόμενα· σκοπείτων χαίρων μυστικῶς, ὁ τήν φιλίαν στέργων τῆς γνώσεως, ὁποῖόν ἐστι τό κατ᾿ ἐπαγγελίαν τέλος τῶν ἀγαπώντων τόν Κύριον.

25. If the Word of God and God the Son of the Father became son of man and man himself for this reason, to make men gods and sons of God, then we must believe that we shall be where Christ is now as head of the whole body having become in his human nature a forerunner to the Father on our behalf.¹³⁴ For God will be in the "assembly of the gods,"¹³⁵ that is, of those who are saved, standing in their midst and apportioning there the ranks of blessedness without any spatial distance separating him from the elect.

κε΄. Εἰ διά τοῦτο γέγονεν υἱός ἀνθρώπου καί ἄνθρωπος ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Πατρός Υἱός Θεός Λόγος, ἵνα ποιήσῃ θεούς καί υἱούς Θεοῦ τούς ἀνθρώπους· ἐκεῖ γενήσεσθαι πιτεύσωμεν, ἔνθα νῦν αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός ὡς κεφαλή τοῦ ὅλου σώματος, καί ὑπέρ ἡμῶν γενόμενος πρόδρομος πρός τόν Πατέρα, τό καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς. Ἐν γάρ συναγωγῇ θεῶν, τῶν σωζομένων, ἔσται Θεός μέσος ἱστάμενος, διανέμων τάς ἀξίας τῆς ἐκεῖθεν μακαριότητος· τοπικήν οὐκ ἔχων ἀπό τῶν ἀξίων διάστασιν.

26. The one who is still satisfying the passionate appetites of the flesh dwells as a maker and worshiper of idols in the land of the Chaldeans. But after some reflection on this matter he becomes aware of behavior which is more proper to nature, leaves the land of the Chaldeans, and goes to Haran in Mesopotamia, that is, the frontier state between virtue and vice which is not yet purified of the deception of the senses. This is what the word Haran means. But if one looks even beyond the understanding of the good which is suitable to the senses, he will press on to the good land, that is, to the state which is free from all vice and ignorance which a faithful God points out and professes to give as a reward of virtue to those who love him.¹³⁶

κστ΄. Ὁ τάς ἐμπαθεῖς τῆς σαρκός ὀρέξεις ἔτι πληρῶν, ὠς εἰδωλολάτρης καί εἰδωλοποιός τήν γῆν οἰκεῖ τῶν Χαλδαίων. Ἐπάν δέ μικρόν τά πράγματα διακρίνας, αἴσθησιν λάβῃ τῶν καθηκόντων τῆς φύσεως τρόπων, τήν γῆν τῶν Χαλδαίων ἀφείς, ἔρχεται εἰς Χαῤῥάν τῆς Μεσοποταμίας· τήν μεταίχμιον ἀρετῆς καί κακίας λέγω κατάστασιν, τήν μήπω τῆς κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν πλάνης καθαράν γενομένην. Τοῦτο γάρ ἡ Χαῤῥάν. Εἰ δέ καί τήν δι᾿ αἰσθήσεως γενομένην σύμμετρον τοῦ καλοῦ σύνεσιν ὑπερκύψῃ, πρός τήν γῆν ἐπείξεται τήν ἀγαθήν· τοῦτ᾿ ἔστιν, εἰς τήν πάσης κακίας καί ἀγνωσίας ἐλευθέραν κατάστασιν· ⁽¹¹³⁷⁾ ἥν ὁ ἀψευδής Θεός δείκνυσι καί ἐπαγγέλλεται δώσειν ὥσπερ ἔπαθλον ἀρετῆς, τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτόν.

27. If the Word of God was crucified for us out of weakness and was raised up by the power of God,¹³⁷ it is evident that he is always doing and suffering this for us in a spiritual way; because he became all things to all men in order to save all. Well, then, did the holy Apostle while among the weak Corinthians determine that he would know nothing except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.¹³⁸ But to the Ephesians who were perfect he writes that God "raised us up with Christ Jesus and seated us with him in the heavens."¹³⁹ He speaks of the reality of the Word of God in a manner which corresponds to each one's strength. Thus he is crucified for those who are still beginners in the practice of virtue and who crucify their passionate drives with reverential fear. But he rises and ascends into heaven for those who have completely put off the old self which is corrupted through deceitful desires, who have completely put on the new self which is created in God's image through the Spirit,¹⁴⁰ and who have become the Father's by virtue of the grace which is in them: "high above every principality and power, virtue, and domination, and every name that can be given either in this age or in the one to come."¹⁴¹ For everything which is less than God, things and names and dignities, will be subject to the one who has come to be in God through grace.

κζ΄. Εἰ ἐσταυρώθη δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ἐξ ἀσθενείας ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, καί ἠγέρθη ἐκ δυνάμεως Θεοῦ, δῆλον ὅτι πνευματικῶς δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ἀεί τοῦτο καί ποιεῖ καί πάσχει· ὡς πᾶσι πάντα γινόμενος, ἵνα σώσῃ τούς πάντας. Οὐκοῦν καλῶς ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος ἐν τοῖς Κορινθίοις ἀσθενοῦσιν, οὐδέν ἔκρινεν εἰδέναι, εἰ μή Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, καί τοῦτον ἐσταυρωμένον. Ἐφεσίοις δέ γράφει, τελείοις οὖσι, τό, Συνήγειρε καί συνεκάθισεν ἡμᾶς ὁ Θεός ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ· κατά τήν ἀναλογοῦσαν ἑκάστῳ δύναμιν, τόν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγον γίνεσθαι φάσκων. Σταυροῦται τοίνυν τοῖς ἔτι πρός εὐσέβειαν πρακτικῶς εἰσαγομένοις, τάς ἐμπαθεῖς αὐτῶν τῷ θείῳ φόβῶ προσηλῶν ἐνεργείας. Ἀνίσταται δέ καί ἄνεισιν εἰς οὐρανούς, τοῖς ὅλον τόν παλαιόν ἀπεκδυσαμένοις ἄνθρωπον, τόν φθειρόμενον κατά τάς ἐπιθυμίας τῆς ἀπάτης· καί ὅλον τόν νέον ἐνδυσαμένοις, τόν διά τοῦ πνεύματος κατ᾿ εἰκόνα Θεοῦ κτιζόμενον, καί πρός τόν Πατέρα τῆς ἐν αὐτοῖς χάριτος γενομένοις· Ὑπεράνω πάσης Ἀρχῆς καί Ἐξουσίας καί Δυνάμεως καί Κυριότητος, καί παντός ὀνόματος ὀνομαζομένου, εἴτε ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, εἴτε ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι. Πάντα γάρ τά μετά Θεόν, καί πράγματα καί ὀνόματα καί ἀξιώματα, ὑπό τόν ἐν τῷ Θεῷ διά τῆς χάριτος γενησόμενον ἔσται.

28. Just as before his visible and fleshly appearance the Word of God dwelt spiritually with the patriarchs and prophets prefiguring the mysteries of his coming, so after this presence he comes not only to those who are still infants, spiritually supporting them and bringing them to the age of perfection in God, but he comes also to the perfect and in a hidden way he delineates in advance in them as in a picture the features of his future coming.

κη΄. Ὥσπερ πρό τῆς ἐμφανοῦς καί κατά σάρκα παρουσίας, νοητῶς ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος τοῖς πατριάρχαις καί προφήταις ἐνεδήμει, προτυπῶν τά μυστήρια τῆς αὐτοῦ παρουσίας· οὕτω καί μετά ταύτην τήν ἐνδημίαν, οὐ μόνον ἐν τοῖς ἔτι νηπίοις παραγίνεται, διατρέφων πνευματικῶς καί ἄγων πρός ἡλικίαν τῆς κατά Θεόν τελειότητος· ἀλλά καί ἐν τοῖς τελείοις, προδιαγράφων αὐτοῖς κρυφίως τῆς μελλούσης αὐτοῦ παρουσίας ὡς ἐν εἰκόνι τούς χαρακτῆρας.

29. Just as the understanding of the Law and the Prophets as precursors of the coming of the Word in the flesh instructed souls about Christ, so has this same glorified Word of God incarnate become a precursor of his spiritual coming and he instructs souls by his words about the acceptance of his visible divine coming. This coming he always effects by changing those who are worthy from the flesh to the spirit through the virtues. And he will do this also at the end of time, clearly revealing to all what is still secret.¹⁴²

κθ΄. Ὥσπερ οἱ τοῦ νόμου καί τῶν προφητῶν λόγοι, πρόδρομοι τυγχάνοντες τῆς κατά σάρκα τοῦ Λόγου παρουσίας, τάς ψυχάς εἰς Χριστόν ἐπαιδαγώγουν· οὕτω καί αὐτός ὁ δεδοξασμένος τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος σαρκωθείς, πρόδρομος τῆς πνευματικῆς αὐτοῦ παρουσίας γεγένηται· παιδαγωγῶν τάς ψυχάς διά τῶν οἰκείων λόγων, πρός ὑποδοχήν τῆς ἐμφανοῦς αὐτοῦ θεϊκῆς παρουσίας· ἥν ἀεί μέν ποιεῖται, μεταβάλλων ἀπό τῆς σαρκός πρός τό πνεῦμα διά τῶν ἀρετῶν τούς ἀξίους· ποιήσει δέ καί ἐπί τέλει τοῦ αἰῶνος, ἐμφανῶς ἀποκαλύπτων τά τέως πᾶσιν ἀπόῤῥητα.

30. So long as I am imperfect and insubordinate in not obeying God through the keeping of the commandments, and have not reached the interior perfection of knowledge, then Christ also must be considered imperfect and insubordinate as related to me and in me. In this case I diminish him and cut him down and fail to grow up with him spiritually, since we are Christ's body, each one a member of it.¹⁴³

λ΄. Ὅσον ἐγώ εἰμι ἀτελής καί ἀνυπότακτος, μή ὑπακούων τοῦ Θεοῦ διά τῆς ἐργασίας τῶν ἐντολῶν· μήτε γινόμενος κατά τήν γνῶσιν τέλειος ταῖς φρεσίν· ἀτελής καί ἀνυπόκτατος τό κατ᾿ ἐμέ καί Χριστός νομίζεται δι᾿ ἐμέ· μειῶ γάρ αὐτόν καί ⁽¹¹⁴⁰⁾ κολοβῶ, μή συναυξάνων αὐτῷ κατά πνεῦμα, ὡς σῶμα Χριστοῦ τυγχάνων καί μέλη ἐκ μέρους.

31. "The sun rises and the sun goes down," says Scripture.¹⁴⁴ Thus it is also with the Word who is sometimes regarded as up and sometimes as down obviously depending on the dignity and nature and character of those who practice virtue and who are moved toward divine knowledge. Then blessed is he who like Joshua, the son of Nun, can keep the sun of justice from falling in himself, and the complete duration of whose day in the present life is not limited by the evening of sin and ignorance in order to enable him to rout in a lawful way the wicked spirits who are attacking him.¹⁴⁵

λα΄. Ἀνατέλλει ὁ ἥλιος, καί δύνει ὁ ἥλιος, φησίν ἡ Γραφή. Οὐκοῦν καί ὁ Λόγος, ποτέ μέν νομίζεται ἄνω, ποτέ δέ κάτω, κατά τήν ἀξίαν δηλονότι, καί αὐτόν τόν λόγον ἤ τόν τρόπον, τῶν μετερχομένων τήν ἀρετήν, καί περί τήν θείαν κινουμένων γνῶσιν. Μακάριος δέ, ὁ κρατῶν ἄδυτον ἐν ἑαυτῷ, κατά τόν τοῦ Ναυῆ Ἰησοῦν, τόν τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἥλιον· ὅλον τό μέτρον τῆς κατά τήν παροῦσαν ζωήν ἡμέρας, κακίας ἑσπέρᾳ καί ἀγνωσίας μή περιγραφόμενον, ἵνα δυνηθῇ νομίμως τροπώσασθαι τούς ἐπανισταμένους αὐτοῦ πνηρούς δαίμονας.

32. When the Word of God is exalted in us through asceticism and contemplation, he draws everyone to himself,¹⁴⁶ sanctifying our thoughts and ideas about the flesh and the soul and the nature of things, as well as these members and senses of the body by virtue and knowledge, and bringing them under his yoke. Therefore the one who is a witness of divine things should quickly ascend and follow the Word until he arrives at the place where he is. For there he draws him, as Ecclesiastes says, "he draws toward his place"¹⁴⁷ those, that is, who follow him as a great High Priest who leads them into the Holy of Holies where "he entered on our behalf as a forerunner."¹⁴⁸

λβ΄. Ὑψούμενος ἐν ἡμῖν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος διά πράξεως καί θεωρίας, πάντας ἕλκει πρός ἑαυτόν· τούς τε περί σάρκα καί ψυχήν καί φύσιν τῶν ὄντων ἡμετέρους λογισμούς τε καί λόγους, καί αὐτά τά μέλη τοῦ σώματος καί τάς αἰσθήσεις κατ᾿ ἀρετήν καί γνῶσιν ἁγιάζων, καί ὑπό τόν αὑτοῦ ζυγόν ποιούμενος. Ὁ τοίνυν θεατής τῶν θείων ἀναβαινέτω κατά σπουδήν, ἀκολουθῶν τῷ Λόγῳ· μέχρις οὗ φθάσῃ τόν τόπον, οὗ ἐστιν. Ἐκεῖ γάρ ἕλκει, καθώς φησιν ὁ Ἐκκλησιαστής,  Καί εἰς τόπον αὐτοῦ ἕλκει· δηλονότι τούς ἀκουλοῦντας αὐτῷ, ὡς μεγάλῳ Ἀρχιερεῖ, καί εἰσάγοντι εἰς τά Ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων· ἔνθα τό καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς αὐτός ὑπέρ ἡμῶν πρόδρομος εἰσῆλθεν.

33. The one who engages in a pursuit of wisdom out of devotion and stands prepared against invisible forces should pray that both the natural discernment (with its proportionate light) and the illuminating grace of the Spirit remain with him. The former trains the flesh in the acquisition of virtue through asceticism while the latter illuminates the mind to select the companionship of wisdom before all others, according to the Scripture, "He works the destruction of the strongholds of evil and of every pretension which raises itself up against the knowledge of God."¹⁴⁹ Joshua the son of Nun clearly shows this by asking in prayer, "Stand still, O sun, at Gibeon," that is, that the light of the knowledge of God be kept secure for him in the mountain of spiritual contemplation, "and the moon in the valley," that is, that the natural discernment which lies in the frailty of the flesh remain steadfast through virtue. ¹⁵⁰

λγ΄. Ὁ τήν κατ᾿ εὐσέβειαν μετιών φιλοσοφίαν, καί πρός τάς ἀοράτους παρατασσόμενος δυνάμεις· εὐχέσθω, τήν τε φυσικήν διάκρισιν αὐτῷ παραμεῖναι (φῶς ἔχουσαν σύμμετρον), καί τήν φωτιστικήν τοῦ Πνεύματος χάριν. Ἡ μέν γάρ, παιδαγωγεῖ τήν σάρκα πρός ἀρετήν διά πράξεως· ἡ δέ, φωταγωγεῖ τόν νοῦν, τήν τῆς σοφίας πάντων προκρῖναι συμβίωσιν· καθ᾿ ἥν, τῶν τε τῆς κακίας ὀχυρωμάτων καί παντός ὑψώματος ἐπαιρομένου κατά τήν γνώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ, ποιεῖται τήν καθαίρεσιν. Καί δηλοῖ δι᾿ εὐχῆς αἰτῶν ὁ τοῦ Ναυῆ Ἰησοῦς, στῆναι τόν ἥλιον κατά Γαβαώ· τουτέστιν, ἄδυτον αὐτῷ τό φῶς τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ, κατά τό ὄρος τῆς κατά νοῦν θεωρίας φυλαχθῆναι· καί τήν σελήνην κατά φάραγγα· τουτέστι, τήν φυσικήν διάκρισιν ἐπί τῆς σαρκικῆς ἀσθενείας κειμένην, ἀπό τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀναλλοίωτον διαμεῖναι.

34. Gibeon is the higher mind, and the valley is the flesh which is weighed down by death. And the sun is the Word who illuminates the mind and inspires it with the power of contemplative experience and delivers it from every ignorance. The moon is the law of nature which persuades the flesh to subject itself lawfully to the spirit by accepting the yoke of the commandments. The moon is symbolic of nature in that it is changeable; but in the saints it remains unchanging through the unchangeable habit of virtue.¹⁵¹

⁽¹¹⁴¹⁾ λδ΄. Ἡ Γαβαώ ἐστιν, ὁ ὑψηλός νοῦς· ἡ δέ φάραγξ ἐστίν ἡ τῷ θανάτῳ ταπεινωθεῖσα σάρξ. Καί ὁ μέν ἥλιός ἐστιν, ὁ φωτίζων τόν νοῦν Λόγος, καί χορηγῶν αὐτῶ θεωρημάτων δύναμιν· καί πάσης ἀγνοίας αὐτόν ἀπαλλάσσων· ἡ δέ σελήνη, ὁ κατά φύσιν νόμος ἐστίν, ὁ πείθων τήν σάρκα νομίμως ὑποταγῆναι τῷ πνεύματι, πρός τό δέξασθαι τῶν ἐντολῶν τήν ζυγόν. Φύσεως δέ σύμβολον ἡ σελήνη, διά τό τρεπτόν· ἀλλ᾿ ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις ἄτρεπτος διαμένει, διά τήν ἀναλλοίωτον ἕξιν τῆς ἀρετῆς.

35. It is not necessary that those who seek the Lord seek him outside themselves; rather, those who seek him should seek him in themselves through faith in works: "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith. "¹⁵² Seeking the word of faith is the same as seeking Christ.

λε΄. Οὐκ ἔξω τῶν ζητούντων χρή ζητεῖσθαι τόν Κύριον· ἀλλ᾿ ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, διά τήν ἐν ἔργοις πίστεως αὐτόν χρή ζητεῖν τούς ζητοῦντας. Ἐγγύς γάρ σου, φησί, τό ῥῆμά ἐστιν ἐν τῷ στόματί σου καί ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ σου· τουτέστι τό ῥῆμα τῆς πίστεως· ὡς αὐτοῦ ὄντος τοῦ Χριστοῦ καί ῥήματος τοῦ ζητουμένου.

36. In considering the loftiness and divine infinity we should not despair that God's love for man cannot reach all the way to us from the heights. Neither when we ponder the infinite depth of our fall in sin should we disbelieve that a resurrection of dead virtue can take place in us. For God can accomplish both these things: He can come down and illuminate our mind through knowledge, and likewise he can raise up virtue in us once again and exalt us to himself through the works of justification. As Scripture has it, "Do not say in your heart 'who shall go up into heaven?' that is, to bring Christ down, or 'who shall go into the abyss?' that is, to bring Christ up from the dead."¹⁵³ It is possible to interpret abyss in another way, as everything which is after God, in which the complete Word of God is present to all of them through Providence in a complete way, as life comes to those who are dead. For all things are dead if they have life only through participation. But heaven is to be understood as God's natural hiddenness which takes him beyond everyone's grasp. It can also be interpreted as the meaning of theology, as the abyss cannot unreasonably be regarded in my interpretation as the mystery of the incarnation. Both of these are hard to understand and to prove in any definite way. It is better to say that they are completely inaccessible if they are searched after apart from faith.

λστ΄. Μήτε τό ὕψος τῆς θεϊκῆς ἀπειρίας ἐννοήσαντες, ἀπελπίσωμεν τήν τοῦ Θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν, ὡς οὐ φθάνουσαν διά τό ὕψος μέχρις ἡμῶν· μήτε ἄπειρον βάθος τῆς ἡμῶν διά τήν ἁμαρτίαν πτώσεως ἐνθυμηθέντες, ἀνάστασιν γίνεσθαι τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν νεκρωθείσης ἀρετῆς ἀπιστήσωμεν. Ἀμφότερα γάρ δυνατά τῷ Θεῷ· καί τό κατελθεῖν καί φωτίσαι τόν νοῦν ἡμῶν διά γνώσεως· καί τό ἀναστῆσαι πάλιν τήν ἀρετήν ἐν ἡμῖν, καί ἑαυτῷ συνυψῶσαι διά τῶν ἔργων τῆς δικαιοσύνης. Μή γάρ εἴπῃς, φησίν, ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ σου· Τίς ἀναβήσεται εἰς τόν οὐρανόν; τουτέστι Χριστόν καταγαγεῖν· ἤ, Τίς καταβήσεται εἰς τήν ἄβυσσον; τουτέστι Χριστόν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναγαγεῖν. Τυχόν δέ κατ᾿ ἄλλην ἐκδοχήν, ἄβυσσός ἐστι, πάνα τά μετά Θεόν· ἐν οἷς ὅλος ὅλοις κατά πρόνοιαν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ γίνεται Λόγος, ὡς ζωή νεκροῖς ἐπιφοιτῶσα τοῖς οὖσι. Νεκρά γάρ πάντα τά ζῶντα μεθέξει ζωῆς. Οὐρανόν δέ,τήν φυσικήν τοῦ Θεοῦ κρυφιότητα, καθ᾿ ἥν πᾶσίν ἐστιν ἀκατάληπτος. Εἰ δέ τις ἐκλάβοι πάλιν, οὐρανόν μέν εἶναι τόν τῆς θεολογίας λόγον· ἄβυσσον δέ, τό τῆς οἰκονομίας μυστήριον οὐκ ἀπεικότως ἐρεῖ κατά τόν ἐμόν λόγον. Ἀμφότερα γάρ δυσεπίβατα τοῖς ἀποδεικτικῶς ζητεῖν ἐπιχειροῦσι· μᾶλλον δέ παντελῶς ἄβατα, δίχα πίστεως ἐρευνώμενα.

37. In the active person the Word grows fat by the practice of the virtues and becomes flesh. In the contemplative it grows lean by spiritual understandings and becomes as it was in the beginning, God the Word.¹⁵⁴

λζ΄. Ἐν μέν πρακτικῷ, τοῖς τῶν ἀρετῶν τρόποις παχυνόμενος ὁ λόγος, γίνεται σάρξ· ἐν δέ τῷ θεωρητικῷ, τοῖς πνευματικοῖς νοήμασι λεπτυνόμενος, γίνεται ὥσπερ ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ, Θεός Λόγος.

38. The one who is involved in the moral teaching of the Word through rather earthly examples and words out of consideration for his hearers is making the Word flesh. On the other hand, the one who expounds mystical theology using the sublimest contemplative experiences is making the Word spirit.

λη΄. Ποιεῖ σάρκα τόν λόγον, ὁ παραδείγμασι καί ῥήμασι παχυτέροις διά τήν ἀνάλογον τῶν ἀκουόντων δύναμιν, ἠθικήν τοῦ λόγου τήν διδασκαλίαν ποιούμενος· καί πάλιν ποιεῖ πνεῦμα τόν λόγον, ὁ τοῖς ὑψηλοῖς θεωρήμασι τήν μυστικήν ἐκτιθέμενος θεολογίαν.

39. The one who speaks of God in positive affirmations is making the Word flesh. Making use only of what can be seen and felt he knows God as their cause. But the one who speaks of God negatively through negations is making the Word spirit, as in the beginning he was God and with God. Using absolutely nothing which can be known he knows in a better way the utterly Unknowable.¹⁵⁵

λθ΄. Ὁ μέν ἐκ τῶν θέσεων καταφατικῶς θεολογῶν, σάρκα ποιεῖ τόν λόγον· οὐκ ἔχων ἄλλοθεν, ἤ ἐκ τῶν ὁρωμένων καί ψηλαφωμένων τόν Θεόν γινώσκειν ὡς αἴτιον· ⁽¹¹⁴⁴⁾ ὁ δέ ἀποφατικῶς ἐκ τῶν ἀφαιρέσεων θεολογῶν, πνεῦμα ποιεῖ τόν λόγον, ὡς ἐν ἀρχῇ Θεόν ὄντα, καί πρός Θεόν ὄντα, ἐξ οὐδενός τό παράπαν τῶν γνωσθῆναι δυναμένων, καλῶς γινώσκων τόν ὑπεράγνωστον.

40. The one who through asceticism and contemplation has known how to dig in himself the wells of virtue and knowledge as did the patriarchs will find Christ within as the spring of life. Wisdom bids us to drink from it, saying, "Drink waters from your own vessels and from your own springs."¹⁵⁶ If we do this we shall discover that his treasures are present within us.

μ΄. Ὁ μαθών ὀῤῥύσειν κατά τούς πατριάρχας διά πράξεως καί θεωρίας τά ἐν αὐτῷ τῆς ἀρετῆς καί τῆς γνώσεως φρέατα, τόν Χριστόν ἔνδον εὑρήσει τήν πηγήν τῆς ζωῆς· ἀφ᾿ ἧς πίνειν ἡμᾶς ἡ σοφία παρακελεύεται, λέγουσα· Πίνε ὕδατα ἀπό σῶν ἀγγείων, καί ἀπό σῶν φρεάτων πηγῆς· ὅπερ ποιοῦντες, εὑρήσομεν ἔνδον ἡμῶν ὄντας τούς αὐτῆς θησαυρούς.

41. Those who live as beasts on the level of sense alone make the Word flesh in a way dangerous to themselves. They misuse God's creatures for the service of the passions and do not contemplate the reason of wisdom which is manifest in all things to know and glorify God from his works, as well as to perceive whence and what and why and where we are going from the things which are seen. Rather we go groping through the present life in darkness, feeling with both hands nothing but ignorance about God.¹⁵⁷

μα΄. Οἱ κτηνωδῶς πρός μόνην τήν αἴσθησιν ζῶντες, ἐπισφαλῶς ἑαυτοῖς σάρκα ποιοῦσι τόν λόγον· εἰς ὑπηρεσίαν μέν παθῶν, τοῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ καταχρώμενοι κτίσμασι· τόν δέ τῆς σοφίας τῆς πᾶσιν ἐμφαινομένης, οὐ κατανοοῦντες λόγον, πρός τό γνῶναι καί δοξάσαι τόν Θεόν ἐκ τῶν αὐτοῦ ποιημάτων· καί συνιέναι πόθεν, καί τί, καί ἐπί τίνι, καί ποῦ φέρεσθαι διά τῶν ὁρωμένων γεγόναμεν· ἀλλ᾿ ἐν σκότει τόν αἰῶνα τοῦτον διαπορευόμενοι, μόνην τήν περί Θεόν ἀμφοῖν ταῖν χεροῖν ψηλαφῶσιν ἀγνωσίαν.

42. Those who hold fast only to the word of Holy Scripture, and bind the honor of the soul to the bodily service of the law, culpably make the Word flesh for themselves. They think that God is well pleased by sacrifices of brute animals. They take much thought for the body by exterior cleansings but neglect the beauty of the soul by disfiguring it with the stains of the passions. Yet it is because of the soul that every force of visible things has been produced and every divine reason and law is enacted.¹⁵⁸

μβ΄. Οἱ μόνῳ τῷ ῥητῷ τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς παρακαθήμενοι, καί τῇ σωματικῇ τοῦ νόμου λατρείᾳ δεσμοῦντες τῆς ψυχῆς τό ἀξίωμα, ψεκτῶς ποιοῦσιν ἑαυτοῖς σάρκα τόν λόγον· ἀλόγων ζώων θυσίαις εὐαρεστεῖσθαι νομίζοντες τόν Θεόν· οἷς πολύ τό σῶμα πεφρόντισται, τοῖς ἐκτός καθαρσίοις· τῆς δέ ψυχῆς παρημέληται τό κάλλος, ταῖς τῶν παθῶν κηλίσι στιζόμενον· ὑπέρ ἧς, ἡ πᾶσα τῶν ὁρωμένων προβέβληται δύναμις, καί πᾶς λόγος θεῖος καί νόμος ἐκδέδοται.

43. The holy Gospel states that the Lord is "destined to be the downfall and rise of many. "¹⁵⁹ Let us observe, then, whether the downfall is of those who see creation only as what is visible to the senses and who are satisfied with the mere letter of Holy Scripture because out of folly they cannot pass over the new spirit of grace. But the rise is for those who spiritually understand the created things and words of God and listen to them, as well as those who take care to cultivate by the appropriate dispositions the divine image in the soul.

μγ΄. Εἰς πτῶσιν καί ἀνάστασιν πολλῶν κεῖσθαι τόν Κύριον λέγει τό ἅγιον Εὐαγγέλιον. Οὐκοῦν σκοπήσωμεν, μήπως εἰς πτῶσιν μέν, τῶν τε πρός μόνην τήν αἴσθησιν τήν ὁρωμένην θεωρούντων κτίσιν, καί τῶν μόνῳ τῷ ῥητῷ στοιχούντων τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς· ὡς μή δυναμένων πρός τό καινόν πνεῦμα διαβῆναι τῆς χάριτος διά τήν ἄνοιαν· ἀνάστασιν δέ, τῶν πνευματικῶς τά τε κτίσματα τοῦ Θεοῦ καί τά ῥήματα θεωρούντων τε καί ἀκουόντων, καί τοῖς καθήκουσι τρόποις μόνης τῆς κατά ψυχήν θείας εἰκόνος ἐπιμελουμένων.

44. The scriptural fact of the Lord's being set up as the downfall and rise of many in Israel, if considered only in a praiseworthy way, sees him as the downfall of the passions and evil attitudes in each of the faithful, as well as the rising of the virtues and of a thoroughly upright attitude.

μδ΄. Τό, κεῖσθαι τόν Κύριον εἰς πτῶσιν πολλῶν καί ἀνάστασιν ἐν τῷ Ἰσραήλ, ἐπαινετῶς μόνον νοούμενον, εἰς πτῶσιν μέν νοεῖται, τῶν ἐν ἑκάστῳ τῶν πιστευόντων τῶν παθῶν τε καί πονηρῶν λογισμῶν· ἀνάστασιν δέ, τῶν ἀρετῶν καί παντός θεοφιλοῦς λογισμοῦ

45. The one who thinks of the Lord only as the Creator of what is governed by generation and corruption is, like Mary Magdalene, mistaking him for a gardener. This is why the Lord, for our benefit, shies away from the touch of such a person who has not allowed him to ascend to the Father, when he says, "Do not touch me." For he knows that the one who approaches him with such an inferior preconception will be misled.¹⁶⁰

με΄. ⁽¹¹⁴⁵⁾ Ὁ μόνον τῶν ἐν γενέσει καί φθορᾷ δημιουργόν νομίζων τόν Κύριον, εἰς κηπουρόν αὐτόν παραγνωρίζει, κατά τήν Μαγδαληνήν Μαρίαν. Διό πρός ὠφέλειαν φεύγει τοῦ τοιούτου τήν ἀφήν ὁ Δεσπότης, μήπω παρ᾿ αὐτῷ δυνηθείς ἀναβῆναι πρός τόν Πατέρα, λέγων· Μή μου ἅπτου. Γινώσκει γάρ βλάπτεσθαι, τόν μετά τοιαύτης αὐτῷ προσερχόμενον ταπεινοτέρας προλήψεως.

46. Those who out of fear of the Jews in Galilee have locked the doors and tarry in the upper room, that is, those who out of fear of evil spirits in the region of revelations have closed the doors of the ordinary course of sense and steadily ascend to the height of divine contemplations, receive in a way which transcends knowledge the Word of God who comes to them and makes himself present without the working of sense. Through his greeting of peace he breathes on them and bestows a tranquillity as well as a sharing in the Holy Spirit. Likewise he offers them the power against evil spirits and opens up the significance of his mysteries.¹⁶¹

μστ΄. Οἱ διά τόν φόβον τῶν Ἰουδαίων κατά τήν Γαλιλαίαν ἐν τῷ ὑπερῴῳ κλείσαντες τάς θύρας καθήμενοι· τουτέστι, οἱ διά τόν φόβον τῶν πνευμάτων τῆς πονηρίας, κατά τήν χώραν τῶν ἀποκαλύψεων, ἐν τῷ ὕψει τῶν θείων θεωρημάτων ἀσφαλῶς βεβηκότες, θυρῶν δίκην μύσαντες τάς αἰσθήσεις, παραγινόμενον ἀγνώστως δέχονται τόν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγον, ἄνευ τῆς κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ἐνεργείας αὐτοῖς ἐπιφαινόμενον· ἀπάθειάν τε διά τῆς ἐμπνεύσεως δωρούμενον· καί τήν κατά πνευμάτων πονηρῶν ἐξουσίαν παρέχοντα, καί δεικνύοντα τῶν αὐτοῦ μυστηρίων τά σύμβολα.

47. For those who search according to the flesh after the meaning of God, the Lord does not ascend to the Father; but for those who seek him out in a spiritual way through lofty contemplations he does ascend to the Father. Let us, then, not always hold him here below though he came down here out of love to be with us. Rather, let us go up to the Father along with him, leaving behind the earth and what is earthly, so that he will not say to us what he said to the Jews who remained unconverted, "I am going where you cannot come."¹⁶² For without the Word, it is impossible to come to the Father of the Word.

48. The land of the Chaldeans is a life given over to passion, in which idols of sinners are fashioned and worshiped. Mesopotamia is a condition of wavering between opposites. But the promised land is the state of being filled with every blessing. Thus the one who like the old Israel is careless about his condition is again carried off in slavery to the passions, losing the freedom that he had.

μη΄. Ἡ γῆ τῶν Χαλδαίων ἐστίν, ὁ ἐμπαθής βίος· ἐν ᾧ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων δημιουργεῖται καί προσκυνεῖται τά εἴδωλα. Ἡ δέ Μέση τῶν ποταμῶν ἐστιν, ὁ ἐπαμφοτερίζων τοῖς ἐναντίοις τρόπος. Ἡ δέ γῆ τῆς ἐπαγγελίας ἐστίν, ἡ παντός ἀγαθοῦ πεπληρωμένη κατάστασις. Πᾶς οὖν ὁ ταύτης κατά τόν παλαιόν Ἰσραήλ ἀμελῶν τῆς ἕξεως, πρός δουλείαν πάλιν κατασύρεται παθῶν, τῆς δοθείσης ἐλευθερίας στερούμενος.

49. It is clear that no one of the saints appears to go down to Babylon of his own will, for it is not right or consistent with rational intelligence for those who love God to prefer worse things to the better. But if some of them are carried off to that place by force along with the people, we can understand through them those who not principally but rather through unfortunate circumstance, on account of the salvation and guidance of those who need them, give up the higher meaning of knowledge and go over to the instruction concerning passions. This is why the great Apostle judged that it was more profitable for him to remain in the flesh, that is, in moral instruction, for the sake of his disciples even though he had a great longing to depart from moral instruction and to be with Christ in supernatural and simple mental contemplation.¹⁶³

μθ΄. Σημειωτέον, ὡς οὐδείς τῶν ἁγίων ἑκουσίως φαίνεται κατελθών εἰς τήν Βαβυλωνίαν. Οὐ γάρ θέμις, οὔτε συνέσεώς ἐστι λογικῆς, τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀνθαιρεῖσθαι τά χείρονα, τούς τόν Θεόν ἀγαπῶντας. Εἰ δέ τινες αὐτῶν κατά βίαν ἐκεῖ τῷ λαῷ συναπήχθησαν, νοοῦμεν διά τούτων τούς μή προηγουμένως, ἀλλά κατά περίστασιν, σωτηρίας ἕνεκεν τῶν χρῃζόντων ⁽¹¹⁴⁸⁾ χειραγωγίας, ἀφέντας τόν ὑψηλότερον τῆς γνώσεως λόγον, καί τήν περί παθῶν μετερχομένους διδασκαλίαν· καθ᾿ ἥν καί ὁ μέγας Ἀπόστολος ἐν σαρκί λυσιτελέστερον ἔκρινεν εἶναι· τουτέστι, τῇ ἡθικῇ διδασκαλίᾳ, διά τούς μαθητάς· ὅλον ἔχων τόν πόθον ἀναλύσαι τῆς ἠθικῆς διδασκαλίας, καί σύν Χριστῷ γενέσθαι, διά τῆς κατά νοῦν ὑπερκοσμίου καί ἁπλῆς θεωρίας.

50. Just as the blessed David with his lyre relieved Saul from being tormented by the evil spirit, so does every spiritual meaning seasoned by gnostic experiences relieve the frenzied mind and free it from an evil consciousness which torments it.¹⁶⁴

ν΄. Ὥσπερ πνιγόμενον τῷ πονηρῷ πνεύματι τόν Σαούλ, ψάλλων μετά τῆς κιννύρας ἀνέπαυεν ὁ μακάριος Δαβίδ· οὕτω καί πᾶς λόγος πνευματικός, γνωστικοῖς ἡδυνόμενος θεωρήμασιν, ἀναπαύει τόν ἐπιληπτευόμενον νοῦν, τῆς πνιγούσης αὐτόν πονηρᾶς ἐλευθερῶν συνειδήσεως.

51. "Ruddy with beauty of eyes"¹⁶⁵ like the great David is the one who in the brightness of his life with God has the reason of knowledge in equal brilliance. In this state, both asceticism and contemplation band together, the former made brilliant in the practice of the virtues, the latter illuminated by divine understandings.

να΄. Πυῤῥάκης μετά κάλλους ὀφθαλμῶν ἐστι κατά τόν μέγα Δαβίδ, ὁ τῷ φαιδρῷ τοῦ κατά Θεόν βίου, τόν τῆς γνώσεως λόγον ἔχων συνεπιλάμποντα· καθ᾿ οὕς ἡ πρᾶξίς τε καί ἡ θεωρία συνεστήκασιν· ἡ μέν, ἀρετῶν λαμπρυνομένη τρόποις· ἡ δέ, θείοις φωτιζομένη νοήμασιν.

52. The kingdom of Saul is an image of the fleshly observance of the Law which the Lord abolished as not bringing anything to perfection: "For," as Scripture says, "the law brought nothing to perfection."¹⁶⁶ But the kingdom of the great David is a prefiguring of the gospel observance, for it completely embraces all that God wills in his heart.¹⁶⁷

νβ΄. Ἡ μέν τοῦ Σαούλ βασιλεία, τῆς σωματικῆς τοῦ νόμου λατρείας ἐστίν εἰκών· ἥν ὁ Κύριος κατήργησεν, ὡς μηδέν τελειώσασαν. Οὐδέν γάρ, φησίν, ἐτελείωσεων ὁ νόμος. Ἡ δέ τοῦ μεγάλου Δαβίδ βασιλεία, τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς ἐστι λατρείας προδιατύπωσις· πάντα γάρ τά ἐν καρδίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ θελήματα τελείως περιέχει.

53. Saul is the law of nature which was allotted by God to hold sway over nature in the beginning. When he transgressed the commandment through disobedience by sparing Agag the king of Amalek, that is, the body, and lapsing into the passions, he was displaced in the kingship to allow David to take charge of Israel, that is, the law of the spirit which begets the peace which splendidly builds for God the temple of contemplation.¹⁶⁸

νγ΄. Ὁ Σαούλ, ὁ φυσικός ἐστι νόμος· ὁ κατ᾿ ἀρχάς κυριεύειν τῆς φύσεως παρά τοῦ Κυρίου λαχών. Ὅς ἐπειδή παρέβη τήν ἐντολήν διά παρακοῆς, φεισάμενος τοῦ Ἀγάγ βασιλέως Ἀμαλήκ· τουτέστι τοῦ σώματος· καί πρός τά πάθη κατώλισθεν· ἐξωθεῖται τῆς βασιλείας, ἵνα παραλάβῃ τόν Ἰσραήλ ὁ Δαβίδ· τουτέστιν ὁ νόμος τοῦ νεύματος, ὁ γεννῶν τήν εἰρήνην τήν οἰκοδομοῦσαν περιφανῶς τῷ Θεῷ τόν τῆς θεωρίας ναόν.

54. Samuel is interpreted as "obedience to God."¹⁶⁹ So long, then, as the Word exercises the priesthood in us by obedience, even though Saul should spare Agag (i.e., earthly intention), the Word as priest is jealous in thus slaying him and smites the mind which is prone to sin by putting it to shame as a companion warrior of divine righteousness.¹⁷⁰

νδ΄. Σαμουήλ ὑπακοή Θεοῦ ἑρμηνεύεται. Οὐκοῦν ἕως ἀν καθ᾿ ὑπακοήν ὁ λόγος ἐν ἡμῖν ἱερατεύῃ, κἄν φείσηται τοῦ Ἀγάγ ὁ Σαούλ· τουτέστι, τοῦ χοϊκοῦ φρονήματος· ἀλλ᾿ οὖν ἀποκτενεῖ τοῦτον ζηλώσας ὁ ἱερεύς Λόγος, καί πλήττει καταισχύνων τόν φιλαμαρτήμονα νοῦν, ὡς παραβάτην τῶν θείων δικαιωμάτων.

55. When the mind has become proud after being anointed against the passions by the principle of instruction and ceases its diligent search of what is and what is not to be done, it is completely taken over by the passions out of ignorance. Slowly falling away from God through them it passes by involuntary misfortune to demons who make the belly their God.¹⁷¹ From there, it desires to find comfort from the things which press on it. Such is Saul who did not take counsel with Samuel in everything, but was necessarily perverted to idolatry and insisted on seeking out the witch as some kind of god.¹⁷²

νε΄. Ἐπάν ὁ νοῦς ὑψηλοφρονήσας, τόν κατά παθῶν αὐτόν χρίσαντα τῆς διδασκαλίας λόγον, διά τῆς ⁽¹¹⁴⁹⁾ προσηκούσης ἐρεύνης ἐπερωτῶν περί τῶν ποιητέων καί οὐ ποιητέων παύσαιτο, τοῖς πάθεσι πάντως ἐξ ἀγνοίας ἁλίσκεται· δι᾿ ὧν κατά μέρος τοῦ Θεοῦ χωριζόμενος, ἐν ταῖς ἀκουσίοις περιστάσεσι προσχωρεῖ τοῖς δαίμοσι, τήν κοιλίαν θεοποιῶν· ἐκεῖθεν εὑρέσθαι θέλων τῶν πιεζόντων παράκλησιν. Καί πειθέτω σε Σαούλ, ἐν πᾶσι σύμβουλον μή λαμβάνων τόν Σαμουήλ, ἐξ ἀνάγκης πρός εἰδωλολατρίαν μεταστρεφόμενος, καί τήν Ἐγγαστρίμυθον ὡς δή τινα Θεόν ἐπερωτᾷν ἀνεχόμενος.

56. The one who prays to receive his daily bread does not exactly receive it as the bread is in itself but as the one who receives it is capable. For the Bread of Life, because he loves men, gives himself to all who ask but not to all in the same way; rather to those who perform great works of righteousness in a fuller way, to those who do less in a smaller way—to each in accordance with his spiritual capacity.¹⁷³

νστ΄. Ὁ τόν ἄρτον εὐχόμενος λαβεῖν τόν ἐπιούσιον, οὐ πάντως ὅλον δέχεται καθώς αὐτός ὁ ἄρτος ἐστίν· ἀλλά καθώς αὐτός ὁ δεχόμενος δύναται. Πᾶσι μέν γάρ ἑαυτόν δίδωσι τοῖς αἰτοῦσι ὁ τῆς ζωῆς ἄρτος ὡς φιλάνθρωπος, οὐ κατά τό αὐτό δέ πᾶσιν· ἀλλά τοῖς μεν μεγάλα δικαιοσύνης ἔργα πεποιηκόσι, πλείονως τοῖς δέ τούτων ἥττοσιν, ἡττόνως· ἑκάστῳ καθώς ἡ κατά νοῦν ἀξία δέξασθαι δύναται.

57. The Lord sometimes is away and sometimes close at hand. He is away insofar as face-to-face vision is concerned, but he is close to us in a vision which is indistinct as in a mirror.¹⁷⁴

νζ΄. Ὁ Κύριος ποτέ μέν ἀποδημεῖ, ποτέ δέ ἐνδημεῖ. Ἀποδημεῖ, κατά τήν πρόσωπον πρός πρόσωπον θεωρίαν· ἐνδημεῖ, κατά τήν ἐν ἐσόπτρῳ καί αἰνίγμασι θεωρίαν.

58. To the active person the Lord is present through the virtues, but he is absent to the one who has no understanding of virtue. Likewise, to the contemplative he is present through knowledge of things, but absent to the one who falls away from this in any way.

νη΄. Τῷ μέν πρακτικῷ, ἐνδημεῖ διά τῶν ἀρετῶν ὁ Κύριος· τοῦ δέ μηδένα λόγον ποιουμένου τῆς ἀρετῆς, ἀποδημεῖ. Καί πάλιν, τῷ μέν θεωρητικῷ, διά γνώσεως τῶν ὄντων ἀληθοῦς ἐνδημεῖ· τοῦ δέ ταύτης κατά τι παρασφαλέντος, ἀποδημεῖ.

59. The one who passes from an active to a gnostic condition takes leave of flesh. He is snatched up to the clouds of loftier understandings to the diaphanous air of mystical contemplation where he will ever be able to be with the Lord.¹⁷⁵ But far from the Lord is the one who cannot yet contemplate the understandings as far as they can be contemplated with a pure mind without sense activity, who does not take in the simple and direct meaning of the Lord without images.

νθ΄. Ἀποδημεῖ σαρκός, ὁ πρός τήν γνωστικήν ἕξιν μεταβάς ἀπό τῆς πρακτικῆς· ἁρπαζόμενος ὡς ἐν νεφέλαις, τοῖς ὑψηλοτέροις νοήμασιν, εἰς τόν διαφανῆ τῆς μυστικῆς θεωρίας ἀέρα· καθ᾿ ὅν σύν Κυρίῳ εἶναι δυνήσεται πάντοτε. Ἐκδημεῖ δέ ἀπό τοῦ Κυρίου, ὁ μήπω δίχα τῶν κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ἐνεργειῶν καθαρῷ νοΐ θεωρῆσαι κατά τό ἐφικτόν τά νοήματα δυνάμενος, καί τόν περί τοῦ Κυρίου λόγον ἁπλοῦν χωρίς αἰνιγμάτων μή χωρῶν.

60. The Word of God is called flesh not only as having become incarnate but as God the Word understood simply in the beginning with God the Father, who possesses the clear and naked forms of the truth of all things and does not include riddles or enigmas or need allegorical stories. When he is present to men who cannot with their naked mind reach naked spiritual realities, and converses in a way familiar to them in a variety of stories, enigmas, parables, and dark sayings, then he be comes flesh. Our mind does not in this first encounter hold converse with the naked Word, but with the Word made flesh, certainly in a variety of languages; though he is the Word by nature he is flesh to the sight, so that many think they see flesh and not the Word even if he is truly the Word. For the understanding of Scripture is not what appears to the many but is otherwise than it appears. For the Word becomes flesh through each recorded word.¹⁷⁶

ξ΄. Ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, οὐ μόνον καθότι σεσάρκωται λέγεται σάρξ· ἀλλά καθότι Θεός Λόγος ἁπλῶς νοούμενος ἐν ἀρχῇ πρός τόν Θεόν καί Πατέρα, καί σαφεῖς καί γυμνούς τούς τῆς ἀληθείας περί τῶν ὅλων ἔχων τύπους, οὐ περιέχει παραβολάς καί αἰνίγματα· οὐδέ ἱστορίας δεομένας ἀλληγορίας· ἐπάν δέ ἀνθρώποις ἐπιδημήσῃ μή δυναμένοις γυμνῷ τῷ νοΐ γυμνοῖς προσβάλλειν νοητοῖς· ἀπό τῶν αὐτοῖς συνήθων διαλεγόμενος, διά τῆς τῶν ἱστοριῶν καί αἰνιγμάτων καί παραβολῶν καί σκοτεινῶν λόγων ποικιλίας ⁽¹¹⁵²⁾ συντιθέμενος, γίνεται σάρξ. Κατά γάρ τήν πρώτην προσβολήν, οὐ γυμνῷ προσβάλλει Λόγῳ ὁ ἡμέτερος νοῦς· ἀλλά Λόγῳ σεσαρκωμένῳ· δηλαδή τῇ ποικιλίᾳ τῶν λέξεων· Λόγῳ μέν ὄντι, τῇ φύσει· σαρκί δέ τῇ ὄψει· ὥστε τούς πολλούς, σάρκα καί οὐ Λόγον ὁρᾷν δοκεῖν κἄν εἰ κατά ἀλήθειαν ἐστι Λόγος. Οὐ γάρ ὅπερ δοκεῖ τοῖς πολλοῖς, τοῦτο τῆς Γραφῆς ἐστιν ὁ νοῦς, ἀλλ᾿ ἕτερον παρά τό δοκοῦν. Ὁ γάρ Λόγος, δι᾿ ἑκάστου τῶν ἀναγεγραμμένων ῥημάτων γίνεται σάρξ.

61. The beginning of religious discipleship for men is directed at the flesh. For in our first aquaintance with religious devotion we approach it in the letter not the spirit. But gradually going on in the spirit we strip off the grossness of the words to find finer meanings and so arrive purely at the pure Christ, insofar as human beings are able, and can say with the Apostle, "And if we looked on Christ according to the flesh, we no longer look on him in this way."¹⁷⁷ That is to say, by means of the simple encounter with the Word without the veils of the mind covering him, we progress from knowing the Word as flesh to "his glory as the only-begotten of the Father."¹⁷⁸

ξα΄. Ἡ ἀπαρχή τῆς πρός εὐσέβειαν μαθητείας τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὡς πρός σάρκα γίνεσθαι πέφυκε. Γράμματι γάρ, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ πνεύματι κατά τήν πρώτην εἰς θεοσέβειαν προσβολήν ὁμιλοῦμεν. Κατά μέρος δέ προσβαίνοντες τῷ πνεύματι κατά τό παχύ τῶν ῥημάτων τοῖς λεπτοτέροις θεωρήμασιν ἀποξέοντες, ἐν καθαρῷ καθαρῶς τῷ Χριστῷ γινόμεθα κατά τό δυνατόν ἀνθρώποις· εἰς τό δύνασθαι λέγειν κατά τόν Ἀπόστολον· Εἰ καί ἐγνώκαμεν κατά σάρκα Χριστόν, ἀλλά νῦν οὐκέτι γινώσκομεν· διά τήν ἁπλῆν δηλονότι πρός τόν Λόγον χωρίς τῶν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ καλυμμάτων τοῦ νοός προσβολήν· ἀπό τοῦ σάρκα τόν Λόγον γινώσκειν, εἰς τήν, ὡς Μονογενοῦς παρά Πατρός αὐτοῦ δόξαν προκόψαντες.

62. The one who is living a life in Christ has gone beyond the righteousness of both the Law and of nature, as the divine Apostle has pointed out in these words, "For in Christ there is neither circumcision nor uncircumcision."¹⁷⁹ By circumcision he meant the righteousness of the Law, and by uncircumcision he signified in an obscure way the equality that comes from nature.

ξβ΄. Ὁ τήν ἐν Χριστῷ ζήσας ζωήν, τήν τε τοῦ νόμου καί τῆς φύσεως ὑπερέβη δικαιοσύνην· ὅπερ ὁ θεῖος ἐνδεικνύμενος Ἀπόστολος φησιν· Ἐν γάρ Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, οὔτε περιτομή ἐστιν, οὔτε ἀκροβυστία. Διά μέν τῆς περιτομῆς, τήν νομικήν δικαιοσύνην δηλώσας· διά δέ τῆς ἀκροβυστίας, τήν φυσικήν ἰσονομίαν αἰνιξάμενος.

63. Some are reborn of water and the Spirit; others receive baptism in the Holy Spirit and in fire. These four: water, Spirit, fire, and the Holy Spirit, I understand as one and the same spirit of God. For some the Holy Spirit is water because he can cleanse the external stains of the body. For others, however, he is Spirit only because he produces the benefits of the virtues. For still others he is fire inasmuch as he purifies the radically interior defilements of the soul. Finally, for others, as the great Daniel tells us, he is Holy Spirit because he bestows wisdom and knowledge. Thus on the basis of the difference of the subject's activity, one and the same Spirit is given different designations.¹⁸⁰

ξγ΄. Οἱ μέν, δι᾿ ὕδατος ἀναγεννῶνται καί πνεύματος· οἱ δέ, ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ καί πυρί τό βάπτισμα δέχονται. Τά τέσσαρα δέ ταῦτα, τό ὕδωρ τέ φημι, καί τό πνεῦμα, καί τό πῦρ, καί τό πνεῦμα ἅγιον,τό ἕν καί τό αὐτό Πνεῦμα νοῶ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Τοῖς μέν γάρ ὕδωρ ἐστί τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον, ὡς ῥυπτικόν τῶν ἐκτός περί τό σῶμα μολυσμῶν· τοῖς δέ πνεῦμα μόνον, ὡς ἐνεργητικόν τῶν κατ᾿ ἀρετήν ἀγαθῶν· τοῖς δέ πῦρ, ὡς καθαρτικόν τῶν ἐντός κατά τό βάθος περί ψυχήν κηλίδων· τοῖς δέ κατά τόν μέγαν Δανιήλ, πνεῦμα ἅγιον, ὡς σοφίας καί γνώσεως χορηγόν. Ἐκ γάρ τῆς διαφόρου περί τό ὑποκείμενον ἐνεργείας, διαφόρους λαμβάνει τό ἕν καί αὐτό Πνεῦμα τάς προσηγορίας.

64. The Law established the Sabbath, "so that," it says, "your ox and your servant can rest."¹⁸¹ Both of these symbolically mean the body. The body is the beast of burden of the active state, compelled in ascetical practice to bear the necessary onus of virtuous activity. The servant is the contemplative state because it is already possessed of contemplations and carries out the orders of the mind in a spiritual and mystical way. For both of these the Sabbath is the fulfillment of the good accomplished both by asceticism and contemplation, a fulfillment which grants a rest suitable to each.

ξδ΄. Ὁ νόμος τό Σάββατον δέδωκεν, Ἵνα, φησίν, ἀναπαύσηται τό ὑποζύγιόν σου καί ὁ παῖς σου. Ἀμφότερα δέ ταῦτα δι᾿ αἰνιγμάτων τό σῶμα δηλοῦσι. Τοῦ γάρ πρακτικοῦ νοός ὑποζύγιόν ἐστι τό σῶμα, ἀχθοφορεῖν βίᾳ τοῖς τρόποις τῶν ἀρετῶν κατά τήν πρᾶξιν ἀναγκαζόμενον. Τοῦ δέ θεωρητικοῦ παῖς, ὡς ἤδη λογισθέν θεωρήμασι, καί λογικῶς ταῖς γνωστικαῖς ἐπιταγαῖς τοῦ νοός ὑπηρετούμενον. ⁽¹¹⁵³⁾ Ἀμφοτέροις δέ Σάββατόν ἐστι, τῶν αὐτοῖς ἐνεργουμένων κατά τε πρᾶξιν καί θεωρίαν καλῶν, τό πέρας, τήν πρόσφορον ἑκάστῳ παρέχον ἀνάπαυσιν.

65. The one who accomplishes virtue with conspicuous knowledge keeps his body as a beast of burden and drives it on by reason to perform its duties, and regards the servant as the way of the practice of virtue, that is, the way of life in which virtue comes about, which is purchased with the money of discerning attitudes. The Sabbath is the state of both soul and body, that is, the immutable condition which is tranquil in virtue and peaceful.

ξε΄. Ὁ τήν ἀρετήν μετά τῆς πρεπούσης γνώσεως ἐξανύων, ὑποζύγιον ἔχει τό σῶμα, λόγῳ ἐλαύνων πρός τήν τῶν καθηκόντων ἐνέργειαν· παῖδα δέ, τόν ἐπ᾿ ἀρετῇ κατά τήν πρᾶξιν τρόπον· ἤγουν αὐτόν τόν καθ᾿ ὅν ἡ ἀρετή πέφυκε γίνεσθαι τρόπον· ὥσπερ ἀργυρίῳ τοῖς διακριτικοῖς ὠνηθέντα λογισμοῖς. Σάββατον δέ, ἡ κατ᾿ ἀρετήν ἀπαθής καί εἰρηναία τῆς τε ψυχῆς καί τοῦ σώματος κατάστασις, ἤγουν ἀναλλοίωτος ἕξις.

66. The Word of God seems to be chaff and hay to those who still devote most of their care to the bodily forms of virtue because it turns the emotional part of their soul to the service of the virtues. But to those who are advanced in the contemplation of the true comprehension of divine things he is bread, which turns the spiritual part of their soul to perfect godlikeness. Thus we find the patriarchs providing along the way both bread for themselves and fodder for their asses.¹⁸² And the Levite in the book of Judges says to the old man who received him as a guest in Gibeah, "We have bread for us and straw for our asses ... your servants do not lack anything at all."¹⁸³

ξστ΄. Ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγος, τοῖς μέν ἔτι περί τά σωματικά τῆς ἀρετῆς εἴδη τό πλέον ἔχουσι τῆς φροντίδος, ἄχυρον γίνεται καί χόρτος· διατρέφων αὐτῶν τό παθητικόν τῆς ψυχῆς μέρος, πρός τήν τῶν ἀρετῶν ὑπηρεσίαν· τοῖς ἀνηγμένοις δέ τῇ θεωρίᾳ τῆς ἀληθοῦς τῶν θείων κατανοήσεως, ἔστιν ἄρτος διατρέφων αὐτῶν τῆς ψυχῆς τό νοερόν πρός θεοειδῆ τελειότητα. Διό τούς πατριάρχας εὑρίσκομεν ἐπισιτιζομένους ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ, καί ἑαυτοῖς ἄρτους, καί τοῖς ὄνοις αὐτῶν χορτάσματα. Καί ὁ ἐν τοῖς Κριταῖς δέ Λευίτης, τῷ ἐν Γαβαᾷ ξεναγήσαντι αὐτόν πρεσβύτῃ φησίν· Εἰσί καί ἡμῖν ἄρτοι, καί τοῖς ὄνοις ἡμῶν ἄχυρα· καί οὐκ ἔστιν ὑστέρημα τοῖς παισί σου, παντός τινος.

67. The Word of God is both spoken of and is dew, as well as water and fountain and river, as it is written. ¹⁸⁴ That is, according to the underlying force of these terms he both is and becomes these things. For to some he is dew because he can extinguish the fire and energy of the bodily passions which externally lie about them. To those who are internally burning with the poison of wickedness he is water, not only because he is destructive of a hostile force by way of antidote, but also as ready to share life-giving powers for perfect being. Likewise he is a fountain as giving wisdom to those who keep the habit of contemplation ever gushing forth. He is a river for those who pour out like a river the religious and upright and saving teaching as giving abundant drink to men, cattle, beasts, and plants, so that even men might be deified in being raised to the contemplation of what is spoken of, and those who have become brutish by the passions might become human through the exact proof of virtuous behavior and resume their natural rationality. ¹⁸⁵ Also that those who have become wild beasts by bad habits and evil actions, having been tamed through a mild and gentle teaching, might return to nature's domesticity. And, finally, that those who like plants have become insensitive to good things might be softened by the depth of the Word's Passover and receive quickening to produce fruit and the strength to sustain themselves, which are the qualities of the Word.

ξζ΄. Ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος καί δρόσος λέγεται καί ἔστιν· καί ὕδωρ καί πηγή καί ποταμός, ὡς γέγραπται· κατά τήν ὑποκειμενικήν δηλονότι τῶν δεχομένων δύναμιν, ταῦτα και ὤν καί γινόμενος. Τοῖς μέν γάρ ἐστι δρόσος, ὡς τῆς ἔξωθεν ἐπικειμένης αὐτοῖς περί τό σῶμα τῶν παθῶν πυρώσεώς τε καί ἐνεργείας, σβεστικός. Τοῖς δέ τό βάθος τῷ ἰῷ τῆς κακίας φρυσσομένοις [Fr. et guidm Regii  φυσσωμένοις], ἐστίν ὕδωρ· οὐ μόνον ὡς δι᾿ ἀντιπαθείας τοῦ ἀντικειμένου φθαρτικός, ἀλλά καί ὡς μεταδοτικός ζωτικῆς πρός τό εὖ εἶναι δυνάμεως. Πηγή δέ, ἀεννάως ἔχουσιν ἀναβλύζουσαν τήν ἕξιν τῆς θεωρίας, ὡς σοφίας χορηγός. Ποταμός δέ, τοῖς τήν εὐσεβῆ καί ⁽¹¹⁵⁶⁾ ὀρθήν καί σωτήριον ποταμηδόν προχέουσι διδασκαλίαν ὡς ἀνθρώπους, καί κτήνη καί θηρία καί φυτά δαψιλῶς ποτίζων· ἵνα καί ἄνθρωποι θεωθῶσι, τοῖς τῶν λεγομένων ὑψωθέντες νοήμασι· καί οἱ κτηνωθέντες τοῖς πάθεσι, διά τῆς ἀκριβοῦς τῶν κατ᾿ ἀρετήν τρόπων ἀποδείξεως ἀνθρωπισθέντες, τήν φυσικήν ἐπαναλάβωσι λογιότητα· καί οἱ θηριωθέντες ταῖς πονηραῖς ἕξεσι καί κακοπραγίαις, διά τῆς προσηνοῦς τε καί εὐαφοῦς παραινέσεως τιθασσευθέντες, πρός τήν τῆς φύσεως ἐπανέλθωσιν ἡμερότητα· καί οἱ φυτῶν δίκην ἀναισθητοῦντες τῶν ἀγαθῶν, διά τῆς εἰς βάθος τοῦ λόγου διαβάσεως ἀπαλυθέντες, λάβωσιν αἴσθησιν πρός καρπογονίαν, καί δύναμιν τήν αὐτούς διατρέφουσαν, τοῦ λόγου ποιότητα.

68. The Word of God is a way¹⁸⁶ for those who run well and vigorously the active course of virtue and do not turn aside either to the right out of vainglory or to the left from the inclination of passion, but keep their steps straight on God. Asa the king of Judah did not persevere to the end but we are told that in his old age he became diseased in his feet, as he became feeble in the course of a life lived for God.¹⁸⁷

ξη΄. Ὁδός ἐστιν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, τοῖς καλῶς κατά τήν πρακτικήν,καί εὐτόνως τό τῆς ἀρετῆς τρέχουσι στάδιον· καί μήτε δεξιά διά κενοδοξίας, μήτε ἀριστερά διά τῆς πρός τά πάθη ῥοπῆς ἐκκλίνουσιν, εὐθύνων κατά Θεόν τά διαβήματα· ὅπερ εἰς τέλος μή φυλάξας Ἀσά ὁ βασιλεύες Ἰούδα, λέγεται περί τό γῆρας αὐτοῦ πεπονηκέναι τούς πόδας· ὡς περί τόν δρόμον τοῦ κατά Θεόν βίου ἀσθενήσας.

69. The Word of God is a door,¹⁸⁸ because he leads on to knowledge those who have rightly accomplished the way of the virtues in a blameless course of asceticism, and shows them, as a light, the brilliant treasures of wisdom. For he is alike way and door and key and kingdom; a way as guide; a key as the one who opens and who is opened for those who are worthy of divine treasures; a door as the one who gives entry; a kingdom as the one who is inherited and who comes to be present in all through participation.

ξθ΄. Θύρα λέγεται τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, ὡς τούς καλῶς πᾶσαν διηνυκότας τήν ὁδόν τῶν ἀρετῶν κατά τόν ἄμεπτον δρόμον τῆς πράξεως, πρός γνῶσιν εἰσάγων· καί ὡς φῶς, δεικνύς τούς πολυφαεῖς τῆς σοφίας θησαυρούς. Ὁ αὐτός γάρ καί ὁδός ἐστι καί θύρα καί κλείς καί βασιλεία· ὁδός μέν, ὡς ὁδηγός· κλείς δέ, ὡς ἀνοίγων τοῖς ἀξίοις τῶν θείων καί ἀνοιγόμενος· θύρα δέ, ὡς εἰσαγωγεύς· βασιλεία δέ, ὡς κληρονομούμενος, καί κατά μέθεξιν ἐν πᾶσι γινόμενος.

70. The Lord is called light and life and resurrection and truth.¹⁸⁹ He is light as the brightness of souls and as the one who drives away the darkness of ignorance, as the one who enlightens the mind to understand unutterable things, and as the one who reveals mysteries which can be perceived only by the pure. He is life as the one who grants to souls who love the Lord the movement proper for divine things. Again, he is resurrection as the one who raises up the mind from a deathly craving for material things and cleanses it from all kinds of corruption and death. Finally, he is truth as the one who gives to those who are worthy an inflexible disposition toward the good.

ο΄. Φῶς ὁ Κύριος λέγεται, καί ζωή καί ἀνάστασις καί ἀλήθεια. Φῶς μέν καί ὡς λαμπρότης, ψυχῶν, καί ὡς ἀγνοίας σκότους διώκτης· καί ὡς φωτίζων τόν νοῦν πρός κατανόησιν τῶν ἀποῤῥήτων· καί δεικνύς, τά μόνοις θεατά τοῖς καθαροῖς μυστήρια· ζωή δέ, ὡς τήν πρέπουσαν ψυχαῖς ἀγαπώσαις τόν Κύριον ἐν τοῖς θείοις παρεχόμενος κίνησιν· ἀνάστασις δέ, ὡς τῆς νεκρᾶς τῶν ὑλικῶν προσπαθείας ἐγείρων τόν νοῦν, φθορᾶς παντοίας καθαρόν καί νεκρότητος· ἀλήθεια δέ, ὡς ἕξιν τῶν ἀγαθῶν τοῖς ἀξίοις δωρούμενος ἄτρεπτον.

71. God the Word of God the Father is mystically present in each of his own commandments. God the Father is by nature completely inseparable in the whole of his Word. Therefore the one who receives the divine commandment and accomplishes it receives in it the Word of God. The one who has received the Word through the commandments has received along with him the Father who is in him by nature, as well as the Spirit who is also in him by nature. For the Scripture says, "Amen I say to you, the one who receives anyone whom I send receives me; and the one who receives me receives the one who sent me."¹⁹⁰ Therefore the one who has accepted a commandment and performed it has received in mystical possession the Holy Trinity.

οα΄. Ὁ μέν τοῦ Θεοῦ, καί Πατρός Θεός Λόγος, ἑκάστῃ μυστικῶς ἐνυπάρχει τῶν οἰκείων ἐντολῶν· ὁ δέ Θεός καί Πατήρ, ὅλος ἐστίν ἀχώριστος ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἰκείῳ Λόγῳ φυσικῶς. Ὁ τοίνυν δεχόμενος θείαν ἐντολήν καί ποιῶν αὐτήν, τόν ἐν αὐτῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ δέχεται Λόγον. Ὁ δέ τόν Λόγον διά τῶν ἐντολῶν δεξάμενος, δι᾿ αὐτοῦ τόν ἐν αὐτῷ φυσικῶς ὄντα συνεδέξατο Πατέρα, καί τό ἐν αὐτῷ φυσικῶς ὄν συνεδέξατο Πνεῦμα. ⁽¹¹⁵⁷⁾ Ἀμήν γάρ, φησι, λέγω ὑμῖν, ὁ λαμβάνων ὅν τινα πέμψω, ἐμέ λαμβάνει· ὁ δέ ἐμέ λαμβάνων, λαμβάνει τόν πέμψαντά με. Ὁ γοῦν ἐντολήν δεξάμενος καί ποιήσας αὐτήν, λαβών ἔχει μυστικῶς τήν ἁγίαν Τριάδα.

72. One glorifies God in himself not when he pays him honor with mere words but when he endures for God out of virtue sufferings and trials. In return he is glorified by God with the glory which is in him, recovering the grace of detachment by participation as a reward of virtue. For anyone who glorifies God in himself through the sufferings of ascetical practice performed for virtue is himself glorified in God through the tranquil illumination of divine gifts in contemplation. For the Lord says when going to his passion, "Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and will glorify him right away."¹⁹¹ Thus it seems clear that the divine gifts of grace follow the sufferings endured for virtue.

οβ΄. Δοξάζει τόν Θεόν ἐν ἑαυτῷ, οὐχ ὁ λόγοις  μόνον γεραίρων τόν Θεόν, ἀλλ᾿ ὁ διά τόν Θεόν ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς τά τῶν πόνων ὑπομένων παθήματα· καί ἀντιδοξάζεται παρά Θεοῦ, τήν ἐν τῷ Θεῷ δόξαν, οἷον ἀρετῆς ἔπαθλον κατά μέθεξιν τήν τῆς ἀπαθείας κομιζόμενος χάριν. Πᾶς γάρ ὁ δοξάζων τόν Θεόν ἐν ἑαυτῷ διά τῶν κατά τήν πρακτικήν ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς παθημάτων, καί αὐτός ἐν τῷ Θεῷ δοξάζεται, διά τῆς κατά τήν θεωρίαν ἀπαθοῦς τῶν θείων ἐλλάμψεως. Φησί γάρ ὁ Κύριος ἐπί τό πάθος ἐρχόμενος· Νῦν ἐδοξάσθη ὁ Υἱός τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, καί ὁ Θεός ἐδοξάσθη ἐν αὐτῷ. Εἰ ὁ Θεός ἐδοξάσθη ἐν αὐτῷ, καί ὁ Θεός δοξάσει αὐτόν ἐν ἑαυτῷ· καί εὐθύς δοξάσει αὐτόν. Ὡς ἐντεῦθεν εἶναι δῆλον, ὅτι τοῖς ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς παθήμασιν, ἐπακολουθοῦσι τά θεῖα χαρίσματα.

73. So long as we see the Word of God take flesh in the letter of Holy Writ in a variety of figures we have not yet spiritually seen the incorporeal and simple and singular and only Father as in the incorporeal and simple and singular and only Son. As the Scripture says, "The one who has seen me has seen the Father," and also, "I am in the Father and the Father is in me."¹⁹² It is, therefore, very necessary for a deep knowledge that we first study the veils of the statements regarding the Word and so behold with the naked mind the pure Word as he exists in himself, who clearly shows the Father in himself, as far as it is possible for men to grasp. Thus it is necessary that the one who seeks after God in a religious way never hold fast to the letter lest he mistakenly understand things said about God for God himself. In this case we unwisely are satisfied with the words of Scripture in place of the Word, and the Word slips out of the mind while we thought by holding on to his garments we could possess the incorporeal Word. In a similar way did the Egyptian woman lay hold not of Joseph but of his clothing, and the men of old who remained permanently in the beauty of visible things and mistakenly worshiped the creature instead of the Creator.¹⁹³

ογ΄. Ἕως τόν ἐν τῷ ῥητῷ τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς ποικίλως δά τῶν αἰνιγμάτων σεσωματωμένον ὁρῶμεν τόν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγον, οὔπω τόν ἀσώματον καί ἁπλοῦν καί ἐνιαῖον καί μόνον, ὡς ἐν ἀσωμάτῳ καί ἁπλῷ καί ἐνιαίῳ καί μόνῳ Υἱῷ νοητῶς τεθεάμεθα Πατέρα, κατά τό,  Ὁ ἑωρακώς ἐμέ ἑώρακε τόν Πατέρα. Καί· Ἐγώ ἐν τῷ Πατρί, καί ὁ Πατήρ ἐν ἐμοί. Πολλῆς οὖν χρεία τῆς ἐπιστήμης, ὥστε διαδύντας πρότερον τά περί τόν Λόγον τῶν ῥημάτων καλύμματα, οὕτω γυμνῷ τῷ νοΐ καθαρόν αὐτόν ἐφ᾿ ἑαυτόν ἑστῶτα θεάσασθαι [unus Reg.  τεθεάσασθαι] τόν Λόγον, τόν ἐν ἑαυτῷ σαφῶς ὡς ἐφικτόν ἀνθρώποις τόν Πατέρα δεικνύντα. Διόπερ ἀνάγκη τόν εὐσεβῶς τόν Θεόν ἐπιζητοῦντα, μηδενί κρατεῖσθαι ῥητῶ, ἵνα μή ἀντί Θεοῦ, τά περί Θεόν λάθῃ λαβών· τουτέστιν, ἀντί τοῦ Λόγου τά ῥητά στέργων ἐπισφαλῶς τῆς Γραφῆς, τοῦ Λόγου διαφυγόντος τόν νοῦν ἐκ τῶν περιβλημάτων κρατεῖν δοκοῦντα τόν ἀσώματον Λόγον· κατά γε τήν Αἰγυπτίαν, τήν μή τοῦ Ἰωσήφ, ἀλλά τῶν αὐτοῦ ἐπιλαβομένην ἱματίων· καί τούς παλαιούς ἀνθρώπους, οἱ μόνῃ τῆ εὐπρεπείᾳ τῶν ὁρωμένων ἐναπομείναντες, ἔλαθον τῇ κτίσει λατρεύοντες παρά τόν κτίσαντα.

74. The meaning of Holy Writ reveals itself gradually to the more discerning mind in loftier senses when it has put off the complex whole of the words formed in it bodily, as in the sound of a gentle breeze. Through a supreme abandonment of natural activities, such a mind has been able to perceive sense only in a simplicity which reveals the Word, the way that the great Elijah was granted the vision in the cave at Horeb. For Horeb means "newness," which is the virtuous condition in the new spirit of grace. The cave is the hiddenness of spiritual wisdom in which one who enters will mystically experience the knowledge which goes beyond the senses and in which God is found. Therefore, anyone who truly seeks God as did the great Elijah will come upon him not only on Horeb, that is, as an ascetic in the practice of the virtues, but also in the cave of Horeb, that is, as a contemplative in the hidden place of wisdom which can exist only in the habit of the virtues.¹⁹⁴

οδ΄. Ὁ τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς λόγος, κατά μέρος τοῖς ⁽¹¹⁶⁰⁾ ὑψηλοτέροις νοήμασι τήν τῶν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῶ σωματικῶς διαπεπλασμένων ῥητῶν ἐκδυσάμενος σύνθεσιν, ὡς ἐν φωνῇ αὔρας λεπτῆς ὑπάρχων δείκνυται τῷ διορατικωτέρῳ, νοΐ· τῷ διά τήν ἄκραν ἀπόλειψιν τῶν κατά φύσιν ἐνεργειῶν, αἴσθησιν μόνου δυνηθέντι λαβεῖν, τῆς τόν Λόγον ποσῶς μηνυούσης ἁπλότητος, κατά τόν μέγα Ἠλίαν τόν ἐν τῷ σπηλαίῳ Χωρήβ ταύτης ἀξιωθέντα τῆς ὄψεως. Χωρήβ γάρ ἑρμηνεύεται νέωμα [unus Reg. νόημα], ὅπερ ἐστίν ἡ ἐν τῷ καινῷ πνεύματι τῆς χάριτος ἕξις τῶν ἀρετῶν. Τό δέ σπήλαιον, ἡ τῆς σοφίας ἐστί κατά νοῦν κρυφιότης· ἐν ᾗ ὁ γενόμενος, τῆς ὑπέρ αἴσθησιν μυστικῶς αἰσθήσεται γνώσεως, ἐν ᾗ λέγεται τυγχάνειν ὁ Θεός. Πᾶς οὖν κατά τόν μέγαν Ἠλίαν ζητῶν ἀληθῶς τόν Θεόν, οὐ μόνον ἐν Χωρήβ γενήσεται· τουτέστιν, ὡς πρακτικός ἐν τῇ ἕξει τῶν ἀρετῶν· ἀλλά καί ἐν τῷ σπηλαίῳ τῷ ἐν Χωρήβ· τουτέστιν, ὡς θεωρητικός ἐν τῇ κρυφιότητι τῆς σοφίας τῇ ἐν μόνῃ τυγχανούσῃ τῇ ἕξει τῶν ἀρετῶν.

75. When the mind shakes off the many distractions about things which are pressing on it, then the clear meaning of truth appears on it and gives it pledges of genuine knowledge after it has driven off the preoccupations bothering it of late as scales on its power of seeing, as with the great and holy apostle Paul.¹⁹⁵ For notions about the mere letter of Scripture and considerations of visible things prejudicial to sense are indeed scales which cling to the clear-sighted part of the soul and hinder the passage to the pure meaning of truth.

οε΄. Ὅταν ὁ νοῦς τάς ἐπικειμένας αὐτῷ πολλάς περί τῶν ὄντων ἐκτινάξηται δόξας, τότε σαφής αὐτῷ τῆς ἀληθείας ὁ λόγος ἀναφαίνεται, διδούς αὐτῷ τῆς ὄντως γνώσεως τάς ὑποθήκας, καί τάς πρώην ἐπ᾿ αὐτῶ προλήψεις ὡσεί λεπίδας τῶν ὀπτικῶν δυνάμεων ἀπωθούμενος, κατά τόν θεσπέσιον καί μέγαν Ἀπόστολον Παῦλον. Λεπίδες γάρ εἰσιν, ὡς ἀληθῶς, ἐπικείμεναι τῷ διορατικῷ τῆς ψυχῆς, καί ἀπείργουσαι τήν πρός τόν ἀκραιφνῆ τῆς ἀληθείας λόγον, διάβασιν, αἵ τε πρός τό ῥητόν μόνον τῆς Γραφῆς ὑπολήψεις, καί τῶν ὁρωμένων αἱ κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν προσπαθεῖς θεωρίαι.

76. The divine apostle Paul said he knew in part the knowledge of the Word.¹⁹⁶ But the great evangelist John said that he saw his glory: "We have seen his glory, the glory as the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. "¹⁹⁷ And why did St. Paul say that he knew in part the knowledge of the divine Word? For he is known only to a certain extent through his activities. The knowledge of himself in his essence and personhood remains inaccessible to all angels and men alike and he can in no way be known by anyone. But St. John, initiated as perfectly as humanly possible into the meaning of the Word's incarnation, claims that he has seen the glory of the Word as flesh, that is, he saw the reason or the plan for which God became man, full of grace and truth. For it was not as God by essence, consubstantial to God the Father, that the only‐ begotten Son gave this grace, but as having in the incarnation become man by nature, and consubstantial to us, that he bestows grace on us who have need of it. This grace we receive from his fullness always in proportion to our progress. Therefore, the one who keeps sacred the whole meaning of the Word of God's becoming incarnate for our sake will acquire the glory full of grace and truth of the one who for our sake glorifies and consecrates himself in us by his coming:¹⁹⁸ "When he appears we shall be like him."¹⁹⁹

οστ΄. Ὁ μέν θεῖος Ἀπόστολος Παῦλος, τήν τοῦ Λόγου γνῶσιν, ἐκ μέρους ἔφη γινώσκειν. Ὁ δέ μέγας εὐαγγελιστής Ἰωάννης τεθεᾶσθαι λέγει τήν αὐτοῦ δόξαν. Ἐθεασάμεθα γάρ, φησίν, τήν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, δόξαν ὡς Μονογενοῦς παρά Πατρός, πλήρης χάριτος καί ἀληθείας. Καί μήποτε ὁ μέν ἅγιος Παῦλος τήν ὡς Θεοῦ Λόγου γνῶσιν ἐκ μέρους ἔφη γινώσκειν. Ἐκ γάρ τῶν ἐνεργειῶν, ποσῶς μόνον γινώσκεται.Ἡ γάρ ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ κατ᾿ οὐσίαν τε καί ὑπόστασιν γνῶσις, ὁμοίως πᾶσιν ἐγγέλοις τε καί ἀνθρώποις, καθέστηκεν ἄβατος, κατ᾿ οὐδέν οὐδενί γινωσκομένη· Ὁ δέ ἅγιος Ἰωάννης, τέλειον ὡς ἐν ἀνθρώποις, τόν τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως τοῦ Λόγου μυηθείς λόγον, τήν ὡς σάρκα Λόγον δόξαν ἔφη τεθεᾶσθαι· τουτέστι, τόν λόγον, ἤγουν τόν σκοπόν, καθ᾿ ὅν ὁ Θεός γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος, πλήρη χάριτος ἐθεάσατο, καί ἀληθείας. Οὐ γάρ καθ᾿ ὅ κατ᾿ οὐσίαν Θεός, καί τῶ Θεῷ Πατρί ὁμοούσιος ὁ Μονογενής κεχαρίτωται, ἀλλά καθ᾿ ὅ φύσει κατ᾿ οἰκονομίαν γέγονεν, ἄνθρωπος καί ἡμῖν ὁμοούσιος, δι᾿ ἡμᾶς κεχαρίτωται τούς χρῄζοντας χάριτος· καί ἐκ τοῦ πληρώματος αὐτοῦ διαπαντός κατά πᾶσαν ἡμῶν προκοπήν τήν ἀναλογοῦσαν δεχομένους χάριν. Ὥστε ὁ τόν λόγον ⁽¹¹⁶¹⁾ τέλειον ἐν ἑαυτῶ φυλάξας, ἀβέβηλον τοῦ δι᾿ ἡμᾶς σαρκωθέντος Θεοῦ Λόγου, τήν πλήρη χάριτος καί ἀληθείας κομίσεται δόξαν, τοῦ δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ἑαυτόν καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς δοξάσαντός τε καί ἁγιάσαντος κατά τήν αὐτοῦ παρουσίαν. Ὅταν γάρ, φησίν, ἐκεῖνος φανερωθῇ, ὅμοιοι αὐτῷ ἐσόμεθα.

77. So long as the soul makes the passage from strength to strength and "from glory to glory,"²⁰⁰ progress from virtue to greater virtue, and makes the ascent from knowledge to higher knowledge it does not cease being a sojourner, as it is stated, "My soul has long been a sojourner."²⁰¹ For great is the distance and the multitude of steps of knowledge to be passed until it "comes to the place of your wondrous tabernacle, up to the house of God, in a voice of exultation and thanksgiving, and of those keeping festival,"²⁰² ever adding a voice to voices, a spiritual one to spiritual ones, as it progresses in divine contemplations with rejoicing over the spiritual contemplations, that is, with joy and proper thanksgiving. These festivals are celebrated by all those who have received the Spirit of grace who cry out in their hearts, "Abba, Father. "²⁰³

οζ΄. Ἕως ἡ ψυχή, τήν ἀπό δυνάμεως εἰς δύναμιν, καί ἀπό δόξης εἰς δόξαν ποιεῖται μετάβασιν· τουτέστι, τήν ἀπό ἀρετῆς εἰς ἀρετήν μείζονα προκοπήν, καί τήν ἀπό γνώσεως εἰς γνῶσιν ὑψηλοτέραν ἀνάβασιν, οὐκ ἐπαύσατο παροικοῦσα, κατά τό εἰρημένον. Πολλά παρώκησεν ἡ ψυχή μου. Πολύ γάρ ἐστι τό διάστημα, καί τό πλῆθος τῶν ὀφειλουσῶν παρ᾿ αὐτῆς διαβαθῆναι γνώσεων, μέχρις οὗ διελεύσεται ἐν τόπῳ σκηνῆς θαυμαστῆς, ἕως τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ Θεοῦ· ἐν φωνῇ ἀγαλλιάσεως καί ἐξομολογήσεως, ἤχου ἑορτάζοντος· ἀεί φωναῖς, φωνήν,νοεραῖς, νοεράν προστιθεῖσα τῇ προκοπῇ τῶν θείων θεωρημάτων, μετά τῆς κατά νοῦν ἐπί τοῖς θεωρηθεῖσιν ἀγαλλιάσεως, ἤγουν χαρᾶς, καί τῆς ἀναλογούσης εὐχαριστίας. Τοιαύτας γάρ ἑορτάζουσι πάντες, οἱ τό Πνεῦμα τῆς χάριτος εἰληφότες, ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις αὐτῶν κράζων· Ἀββᾶ, ὁ Πατήρ.

78. The place of the wondrous tabernacle is the virtuous condition which is free of passion and harm in which the Word of God comes and adorns the soul like a tabernacle with various beauties of virtues. The house of God is a knowledge composed of many and varied contemplations, according to which God goes out to the soul and fills it with the chalice of wisdom. The voice of exultation is the joy of the soul over the wealth of virtues. The voice of thanksgiving is gratitude for the glory of the feasting in wisdom. The sound is the continuous mystical doxology which comes about from both exultation and thanksgiving.²⁰⁴

οη΄. Ὁ  τῆς θαυμαστῆς σκηνῆς τόπος, καί ἀπαθής ἐστι καί ἀπήμων ἕξις τῶν ἀρετῶν· καθ᾿ ἥν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ γινόμενος Λόγος, διαφόροις ἀρετῶν κάλλεσι κατακοσμεῖ καθάπερ σκηνήν τήν ψυχήν. Ὁ δέ οἶκος τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἡ ἐκ πολλῶν καί διαφόρων συγκειμένη θεωρημάτων γνῶσίς ἐστι· καθ᾿ ἥν ἐνδημῶν τῇ ψυχῇ ὁ Θεός, τοῦ τῆς σοφίας κρατῆρος ἐμπίμπλησιν.Ἡ δέ φωνή τῆς ἀγαλλιάσεώς ἐστι, τό ἐπί τῷ πλούτῳ τῶν ἀρετῶν τῆς ψυχῆς σκίρτημα. Ἡ δέ τῆς ἐξομολογήσεως, ἡ ἐπί τῇ δόξῃ τῆς κατά τήν σοφίαν εὐωχίας ἐστίν εὐχαριστία. Ὁ δέ ἦχος, ἡ ἐξ ἀμφοῖν, ἀγαλλιάσεώς φημι καί ἐξομολογήσεως, κατά σύγκρασιν γινομένη διηνεκής μυστική δοξολογία.

79. The one who has genuinely overcome the bodily passions and has done sufficient battle against unclean spirits and has banished their devices from the region of his soul should pray to be given a clean heart and that an upright spirit be renewed deep within him,²⁰⁵ that is, that he be completely purged of evil imaginings and through grace be filled with divine thoughts. In this way there will come about God's world both great and spiritually luminous brought together by moral, natural, and theological insights.²⁰⁶

οθ΄. Ὁ γενναίως καταπαλαίσας τά πάθη τοῦ σώματος, καί τοῖς ἀκαθάρτοις πνεύμασιν ἱκανῶς πολεμήσας, καί τῆς ἑαυτοῦ κατά ψυχήν χώρας ἐξελάσας αὐτῶν τά νοήματα· καρδίαν εὐχέσθω καθαράν αὐτῷ δοθῆναι, καί πνεῦμα εὐθές ἐν τοῖς ἐγκάτοις ἐγκαινισθῆναι· τουτέστι, τελείως τῶν μέν φαύλων κενωθῆναι λογισμῶν, τῶν δέ θείων ἐννοιῶν πληρωθῆναι διά τῆς χάριτος· ἵνα γένηται κόσμος Θεοῦ νοητῶς λαμπρός τε καί μέγας, ἐξ ἠθικῶν καί φυσικῶν καί θεολογικῶν συνεστώς θεωρημάτων.

80. The one who has rendered his heart clean not only understands the meanings of things which are inferior to God but also after passing through all of them can look in some way on God himself, who is the ultimate good. On this heart God comes and deigns to engrave his own words through the Spirit as on the tablets of Moses, to the extent that he has devoted itself through ascetical practice and contemplation according to the mystically given commandment: "Increase."²⁰⁷

π΄. Ὁ τήν καρδίαν καθαράν ἐργασάμενος, οὐ μόνον τῶν ὑποβεβηκότων καί μετά Θεόν γνώσεται τούς λόγους, ἀλλά καί αὐτῷ ποσῶς μετά τήν τῶν ὅλων διάβασιν, ἐνορᾷ· ὅπερ ἐστίν ἀκρότατον τέλος τῶν ἀγαθῶν· ἐν ᾗ γενόμενος ὁ Θεός, ἀξιοῖ τά ἴδια γράμματα διά τοῦ πνεύματος ἐγχαράττειν, καθάπερ τισί ⁽¹¹⁶⁴⁾ πλαξί Μωσαϊκαῖς· τοσοῦτον, ὅσον ἑαυτήν διά πράξεως ἐπιδέδωκε καί θεωρίας, κατά τήν τό, Αὐξάνου, μυστικῶς κελεύουσαν ἐντολήν.

81. A clean heart might be said to be one which has not at all any natural movement in any way whatever. The Lord comes to it in perfect simplicity and as on a beautifully clean tablet writes his own laws on it.²⁰⁸

πα΄. Καρδία καθαρά τάχα ἐκείνη λέγεται,ἡ μηδεμίαν ἔχουσα φυσικήν καθ᾿ οἱονδήποτε τρόπον, πρός ὁτιοῦν κίνησιν· ἐν ᾗ καθάπερ πτυχίῳ καλῶς λειανθέντι διά τήν ἄκραν ἁπλότητα γινόμενος ὁ Θεός, τούς ἰδίους νόμους ἐγγράφει.

82. A heart is clean if it presents its memory of God in a condition completely devoid of shape and form and is prepared to be imprinted only by his characters by means of which it becomes visible.

πβ΄. Καρδία ἐστί καθαρά, ἡ παντάπασιν ἀνείδεοντῷ Θεῷ καί ἀμόρφωτον παραστήσασα τήν μνήμην· καί μόνοις τοῖς αὐτοῦ ἕτοιμον ἐνσημανθῆναι τύποις, δι᾿ ὧν ἐμφανής πέφυκε γίνεσθαι.

83. The mind of Christ which the saints receive according to the saying, "We have the mind of Christ,"²⁰⁹ comes along not by any loss of our mental power, nor as a supplementary mind to ours, nor as essentially and personally passing over into our mind, but rather as illuminating the power of our mind with its own quality and bringing the same energy to it. For to have the mind of Christ is, in my opinion, to think in his way and of him in all situations.

πγ΄. Ὁ τοῦ Χριστοῦ νοῦς, ὅν λαμβάνουσιν οἱ ἅγιοι, κατά τόν φάμενον·  Ἡμεῖς δέ νοῦν Χριστοῦ ἔχομεν, οὐ κατά στέρησιν τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν νοερᾶς δυνάμεως ἐπιγίνεται· οὐδέ ὡς συμπληρωτικός τοῦ ἡμετέρου νοός, οὐδ᾿ ὡς μεταβαίνων οὐσιωδῶς καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν εἰς τόν ἡμέτερον νοῦν· ἀλλ᾿ ὡς τῇ οἰκείᾳ ποιότητι τήν τοῦ ἡμετέρου νοός λαμπρύνων δύναμιν, καί πρός τήν αὐτήν αὐτῷ φέρων ἐνέργειαν. Νοῦν γάρ ἔχειν Χριστοῦ ἔγωγέ φημι, τόν κατ᾿ αὐτόν νοοῦντα, καί διά πάντων αὐτόν νοοῦντα.

84. We are said to be the body of Christ according to the Scripture. "We are the body of Christ, each one a member of it,"²¹⁰ not by losing our own bodies and becoming his, nor because he passes into us in his person or is divided up in our members. Rather it is because the corruption of sin is shaken off in a likeness to the Lord's flesh. For as Christ is by nature sinless in both body and soul by which he is known as man, so can we who believe in him and who are clothed with him in the Spirit be in him without sin by the use of our free will.

πδ΄. Σῶμα Χριστοῦ εἶναι λεγόμεθα, κατά τό, Ἡμεῖς δέ σῶμα Χριστοῦ ἐσμεν, καί μέλη ἐκ μέρους· οὐ κατά στέρησιν τῶν ἡμετέρων σωμάτων, ἐκείνου τό σῶμα γινόμενοι· οὐδ᾿ αὖ πάλιν ἐκείνου καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν εἰς ἡμᾶς μεταβαίνοντος, ἤ μεληδόν διατεμνομένου· ἀλλά τῷ καθ᾿ ὁμοιότητα τῆς τοῦ Κυρίου σαρκός, τήν φθοράν ἀποσείεσθαι τῆς ἁμαρτίας. Ὡς γάρ ὁ Χριστός κατά φύσιν σαρκί τε καί ψυχῇ καθ᾿ ὅ νοεῖται ἄνθρωπος ἀναμάρτητος ἦν, οὕτω καί ἡμεῖς οἱ πεπιστευκότες αὐτῷ, καί διά Πνεύματος αὐτόν ἐνδυσάμενοι, κατά προαίρεσιν ἐν αὐτῷ χωρίς ἁμαρτίας εἶναι δυνάμεθα.

85. There are in Scripture both temporal ages and also what comprises the end of other ages according to the Scripture, "But now once and for all at the end of ages, etc."²¹¹ And again there are other ages beyond time after this present temporal age which follow on the end of the ages, according to the Scripture, "That he might show in the ages to come, the overflowing riches, etc."²¹² Indeed we find in Scripture a number of ages, past, present, and to come, as well as ages of ages and ages of age, and temporal age and generations joined to age. But to discourse on what Scripture means by temporal ages, or ages of time, or again simply by ages, or ages of ages, or age in the singular, or age of age, would bring us far from the subject. Instead, let us leave these matters for those who are eager to examine them further, and let us return to the original subject matter.²¹³

πε΄. Εἰσί παρά τῇ Γραφῆ καί χρονικοί αἰῶνες καί ἄλλων αἰώνων συντέλειαν περιέχοντες, κατά τό, Νυνί δέ ἅπαξ ἐπί συντελείᾳ τῶν αἰώνων, καί τά ἑξῆς. Καί ἕτεροι πάλιν χρονικῆς ἐλεύθεροι φύσεως αἰῶνες, μετά τόν ἐνεστῶτα τοῦτον χρόνον, αἰῶνα, τόν ἐπί συντελείᾳ τῶν αἰώνων, κατά τό, Ἵνα ἐνδείξηται ἐν τοῖς αἰῶσι τοῖς ἐπερχομένοις τόν ὑπερβάλλοντα πλοῦτον, καί τά ἑξῆς. Εὑρίσκομεν δέ παρά τῇ γραφῇ καί πλῆθος αἰώνων, παρελθόντων τε καί ἐνεστώτων καί μελλόντων· καί αἰῶνας αἰώνων εἶναί τινας αἰῶνας, καί αἰῶνος αἰῶνα, καί χρόνους αἰωνίους, καί γενεάς συνημμένας αἰῶσι. Καί ἵνα μή νῦν, τί μεν διά τῶν χρονικῶν αἰώνων, τί δέ διά τῶν αἰωνίων χρόνων καί ⁽¹¹⁶⁵⁾ γενεῶν βούλεται δηλοῦν ὁ λόγος, λέγοντες· τινές δέ παλιν ἁπλῶς οἱ αἰῶνες τῶν αἰώνων, τίς τε ὁ ἁπλοῦς αἰών, καί ὁ αἰών τοῦ αἰῶνος, πολύν παρά τήν ὑπόθεσιν ἐκτείνωμεν λόγον, τά περί τούτων τοῖς φιλομαθέσι σκοπεῖν ἐάσαντες, πρός τόν σκοπόν δι᾿ ὅν ταῦτα προηγάγομεν, ἐπανέλθωμεν.

86. We know from Scripture that there is a realm above time which gives evidence of its existence; but to what it is we can give no name; as Scripture says, "The Lord reigns forever and ever and ever."²¹⁴ Thus there is something beyond time: the pure reign of God. For it is not correct to say that the reign of God had a beginning or falls under ages and times. Rather we believe that it is the inheritance and the abode and the place of those who are saved as the genuine word of Scripture tells us. It is the fulfillment of those who are moved by a longing for the ultimate object of desire. When they reach it they receive a special kind of repose from all movement, because they will require no further time or period to go through since at the completion of these they arrive at God who is before all ages and whom the very nature of time cannot even approach.²¹⁵

πστ΄. Οἴδαμεν τι κατά τήν Γραφήν ὑπεραιώνιον· ὅπερ ὅτι μέν ἔστιν, ἐσήμανε· τί δέ τοῦτό ἐστιν, οὐκ ὠνόμασε, κατά τό, Κύριος βασιλεύων τόν αἰῶνα, καί ἐπ᾿ αἰῶνα καί ἔτι. Οὐκοῦν ἔστι τι πρᾶγμα ὑπέρ αἰῶνας, ἡ ἀκραιφνής τοῦ Θεοῦ βασιλεία. Οὐ γάρ δή θέμις εἰπεῖν ἦρχθαι, ἤ φθάνεσθαι ὑπό αἰώνων ἤ χρόνων τήν τοῦ Θεοῦ βασιλείαν. Ταύτην δέ πιστεύομεν εἶναι τῶν σωζομένων κληρονομίαν, καί μονήν, καί τόπον, καθώς ὁ ἀληθής παραδίδωσι λόγος· ὡς τέλος τῶν δι' ἐφέσεως πρός τό ἔσχατον ὀρεκτόν κινουμένων· ἐν ᾧ γινόμενοι, πάσης τῆς ὁποιασοῦν δέχονται παῦλαν κινήσεως· ὡς μηκέτι χρόνου τινός ὄντος αὐτῶν ἤ αἰῶνος τοῦ διαβαθῆναι ὀφείλοντος, οἷα δή μετά πάντα καταντήσασιν εἰς τόν Θεόν· τόν πρό πάντων ὄντα τῶν αἰώνων, καί ὅν φθάνειν αἰώνων φύσις οὐ πέφυκεν.

87. So long as one is in the present time of this life even if he be perfect in his earthly state both in action and in contemplation, he still has knowledge, prophecy, and the pledge of the Holy Spirit only in part, but not in their fullness. ²¹⁶ He has yet to come at the end of the ages to the perfect rest which reveals face to face to those who are worthy the truth as it is in itself. Then one will possess not just a part of the fullness but rather acquire through participation the entire fullness of grace. For the Apostle says, "All of us (i.e., those who are saved) will be that perfect man in the measure of the age of Christ's fullness"; ²¹⁷ in whom are hidden the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," ²¹⁸ "and when he appears what is in part shall pass away." ²¹⁹

πζ΄. Ἐφ᾿ ὅσον χρόνον τίς ἐστιν ἐν τῇ ζωῇ ταύτῃ, κἄν τέλειός ἐστι κατά τήν ἐνθάδε κατάστασιν, καί πράξει καί θεωρίᾳ, τήν ἐκ μέρους ἔχει καί γνῶσιν καί προφητείαν καί ἀῤῥαβῶνα Πνεύματος ἁγίου· ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ αὐτό τό πλήρωμα· ἐλευσόμενός ποτε μετά τήν τῶν αἰώνων περαίωσιν εἰς τήν τελείαν λῆξιν, τήν πρόσωπον πρός πρόσωπον τοῖς ἀξίοις δεικνῦσαν αὐτήν ἐφ᾿ ἑαυτῆς ἑστῶσαν τήν ἀλήθειαν· ὡς μηκέτι ἐκ τοῦ πληρώματος μέρος ἔχειν, ἀλλ᾿ αὐτό τό πλήρωμα τῆς χάριτος κατά μέθεξιν ὅλον κομίζεσθαι. Καταντήσεσθαι γάρ, φησίν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, πάντας (δηλονότι τούς σωζομένους) εἰς ἄνδρα τέλειον, εἰς μέτρον ἡλικίας τοῦ πληρώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ· ἐν ᾧ εἰσιν οἱ θησαυροί τῆς σοφίας καί τῆς γνώσεως ἀπόκρυφοι· ἧς φαινομένης, τό ἐκ μέρους καταργηθήσεται.

88. Some seek to know what will be the state of those judged worthy of perfection in the kingdom of God, whether there will be progress and change or a settled state of sameness; and how one should think of bodies and souls. To this one might conjecture an answer by using the example of bodily life where there is a twofold reason for food: for both the growth and sustenance of those who are fed. For until we reach the perfection of bodily stature we are fed for growth; but when the body achieves the measure of its increase it is no longer fed for growth but for sustenance. In the same way there is a twofold reason for food for the soul. For while it is growing it is fed with virtues and contemplations until it no longer passes through all its stages and arrives at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. At this point it leaves off making progress in its increase and growth through various means and is fed directly (in a way which surpasses the mind and thus growth as well) a form of incorruptible food to sustain the Godlike perfection given to it and to manifest the infinite splendors of this food. When it receives through this food eternal blessedness indwelling in it, it becomes God through participation in divine grace by itself ceasing from all activities of mind and sense and with them the natural activities of the body which become Godlike along with it in a participation of deification proper to it. In this state only God shines forth through body and soul when their natural features are transcended in overwhelming glory. ²²⁰

πη΄.  Ζητοῦσί τινες, πῶς ἔσται τῶν ἀξιουμένων τῆς ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ τελειότητος ἡ κατάστασιν· πότερον κατά προκοπήν καί μετάβασιν, ἤ κατά τήν ἐν στάσει ταυτότητα· πῶς τε τά σώματα καί τάς ψυχάς εἶναι χρεών ὑπολαμβάνειν. Πρός δή τοῦτο στοχαστικῶς ἐρεῖ τις, ὅτι καθάπερ ἐπί τῆς σωματικῆς ζωῆς διττός ἐστιν ὁ τῆς τροφῆς λόγος· ὁ μέν πρός αὔξησιν, ὁ δέ πρός συντήρησιν τῶν τρεφομένων· μέχρις οὗ φθάσωμεν τό τέλειον τῆς σωματικῆς ἡλικίας, τρεφόμεθα πρός αὔξησιν· ἐπειδάν δέ τό σῶμα στῇ τῆς εἰς μέγεθος ἐπιδόσεως, οὐκέτι τρέφεται πρός αὔξησιν, ἀλλά πρός συντήρησιν. Οὕτως καί ἐπί τῆς ψυχῆς διττός ὁ τῆς τροφῆς λόγος.Τρέφεται γάρ προκόπτουσα ταῖς ἀρεταῖς καί ⁽¹¹⁶⁸⁾ τοῖς θεωρήμασι, μέχρις οὗ διαβᾶσα τά ὄντα πάντα φθάσῃ τό μέτρον τῆς ἡλικίας τοῦ πληρώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ· ἐν ᾧ γινομένη, πάσης τῆς πρός ἐπίδοσίν τε καί αὔξησιν διά τῶν μέσων ἵσταται προκοπῆς· ἀμέσως τρεφομένη τό ὑπέρ  νόησιν· καί διά τοῦτο τυχόν ὑπέρ αὔξησιν· τῆς ἀφθάρτου τροφῆς εἶδος, πρός συντήρησιν τῆς δοθείσης αὐτῇ θεοειδοῦς τελειότητος, καί ἔκφανσιν τῶν τῆς τροφῆς ἐκείνης ἀπείρων ἀγλαϊῶν, καθ᾿ ἥν τό ἀεί εὖ ὡσαύτως εἶναι ἐνδημῆσαν αὐτῇ δεχομένη, γίνεται θεός τῆς μεθέξει τῆς θεϊκῆς χάριτος, πασῶν τῶν κατά νοῦν καί αἴσθησιν ἐνεργειῶν, αὐτή τε παυσαμένη, καί ἑαυτῇ τάς τοῦ σώματος συναπαύσασα φυσικάς ἐνεργείας, συνθεωθέντος αὐτῇ κατά τήν ἀναλογοῦσαν αὐτῷ μέθεξιν τῆς θεώσεως. Ὥστε μόνον τόν Θεόν διά τε τῆς ψυχῆς καί τοῦ σώματος φαίνεσθαι, νικηθέντων αὐτῶν τῇ ὑπερβολῇ τῆς δόξης, τῶν φυσικῶν γνωρισμάτων.

89. Some who are interested in such things seek to know what will be the manner of the difference of the heavenly mansions and promises: whether it is a substantial difference of place or a notional one of spiritual quality and quantity different in each mansion. To some it seems the former, to others the latter. But the one who knows the meaning of "The kingdom of God is within you" ²²¹ and "In my Father's house there are many mansions" ²²² will prefer the second opinion.

πθ΄.  Ζητοῦσί τινες τῶν φιλομαθῶν, κατά ποῖον ἔσται τρόπον ἡ τῶν αἰωνίων μονῶν τε καί ἐπαγγελιῶν διαφορά· πότερον καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν τοπικήν, ἤ κατ᾿ ἐπίνοιαν τῆς ἰδιαζούσης καθ᾿ ἑκάστην μορφήν πνευματικῆς ποιότητός τε καί ποσότητος. Καί τοῖς μέν δοκεῖ τό πρῶτον· τοῖς δέ, τό δεύτερον· ὁ δέ γνούς, τί τό,  Ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐντός ὑμῶν ἐστι, καί τί τό, Πολλαί μοναί παρά τῷ Πατρί, τοῦ δευτέρου μᾶλλον γενήσεται.

90. Some seek to know what the difference is between kingdom of God and kingdom of heaven, whether there is a substantial difference between them or a notional difference. To them it should be said that they differ but not in their substance, for both substantially are one, but rather their difference is notional. For the kingdom of heaven is the apprehension of the pure eternal knowledge of beings in their inner meaning of God. On the other hand, the kingdom of God is the imparting through grace of gifts which belong to God by nature. The former refers to the end of beings, the latter, by a notional change, to what comes after their end. ²²³

τέσσ΄ ἀνοικ. ΄. Ζητοῦσί τινες, ποίαν διαφοράν ἔχει πρός τήν τοῦ Θεοῦ βασιλείαν ἡ τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλεία· πότερον καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν διαφέρουσιν ἀλλήλων, ἤ κατ᾿ ἐπίνοιαν. Πρός οὕς ῥητέον, ὅτι διαφέρουσι μέν· οὐ καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν δέ. Μία γάρ καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν ἄμφω· ἀλλά κατ᾿ ἐπίνοιαν· ἡ μέν γάρ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν, τῆς τῶν ὄντων ἀκραιφνοῦς κατά τούς ἑαυτῶν λόγους ἐν τῷ Θεῷ προαιωνίου γνώσεώς ἐστι κατάληψις· ἡ δέ τοῦ Θεοῦ βασιλεία, τῶν προσόντων τῷ Θεῷ φυσικῶς ἀγαθῶν κατά χάριν ἐστί μετάδοσις· καί ἡ μέν κατά τό τέλος τῶν ὄντων, ἡ δέ κατ᾿ ἐπίνοιαν μετά τό τέλος τῶν ὄντων ἐστί.

91. The Scripture "The Kingdom of heaven is at hand" ²²⁴ does not, I think refer to temporal nearness for "it does not come with observation nor will they say, 'Behold, it is here.' " Rather it refers to the nearness to it possessed by those who are worthy in a disposition of relationship. As it says, "The kingdom of God is within you." ²²⁵

τέσσ. ἀνοικ. α΄.  Τό, Ἤγγικεν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν, οὐκ ἔστιν, ὡς οἶμαι, χρονικῆς συστολῆς· Οὐ γάρ ἔρχεται μετά παρατηρήσεως· οὔτε ἐροῦσιν· Ἰδούς ὦδε, ἰδού ἐκεῖ· ἀλλά τῆς πρός αὐτῶν τῶν ἀξίων ⁽¹¹⁶⁹⁾ αὐτῆς κατά διάθεσιν σχέσεώς ἐστιν· Ἡ γάρ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ, φησίν, ἐντός ὑμῶν ἐστιν.

92. The kingdom of God the Father is in potency in all those who believe, and in act in those who have completely laid aside all life of body and soul in a natural way to gain the mansion of the Spirit, and who can say, "I live now, not I, but Christ lives in me." ²²⁶

τέσσ. ἀνοικ. β΄. Ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Πατρός βασιλεία, δυνάμει μέν ἐν πᾶσί ἐστιν τοῖς πιστεύουσιν· ἐνεργείᾳ δέ ἐν τοῖς ἀποθεμένοις διόλου διαθέσεως πᾶσαν τήν κατά φύσιν ψυχῆς τε καί σώματος ζωήν, καί μόνην κτησαμένοις τήν τοῦ πνεύματος, καί δυναμένοις λέγειν·  Ζῶ δέ, οὐκέτι ἐγώ, ζῇ δέ ἐν ἐμοί Χριστός.

93. Some say that the kingdom of heaven is the life which the worthy lead in heaven. Others that it is the state of the saved similar to the angels. Still others claim it is the very form of divine beauty possessed by those who bear the image of the heavenly Being. ²²⁷ All three opinions on the subject are in harmony with the truth, it seems to me, for to all there is given a future grace in proportion to their righteousness in quantity and quality. ²²⁸

τέσσ. ἀνοικ.  γ΄.  Τήν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν εἶναί τινες λέγουσι, τήν ἐν οὐρανοῖς τῶν ἀξίων διαγωγήν· ἕτεροι δέ, τήν ὁμοίαν τοῖς ἀγγέλοις τῶν σωζομένων κατάστασιν· ἄλλοι δέ, τό εἶδος αὐτό τῆς θεϊκῆς ὡραιότητος τῶν φορεσάντων τήν εἰκόνα τοῦ Ἐπουρανίου. Συνᾴδουσι δέ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, κατά τό ἐμοί δοκοῦν, καί αἱ τρεῖς περί τούτου δόξαι. Πᾶσι γάρ κατά τήν ἀναλογίαν τῆς ἐν αὐτοῖς κατά ποιόν τε καί ποσόν δικαιοσύνης, ἡ μέλλουσα δίδοται χάρις.

94. So long as one bravely endures spiritual contests with ascetic discipline, he holds fast to himself the Word who came out from the Father through the commandments to the world. But when he is released from the struggles of the ascetic state against the passions and is pronounced victor over passions and devils, and has passed on through contemplation to the mystical level of knowledge, then he allows the Word mystically to leave the world again and to go to the Father. Thus the Lord says to his disciples, "You have loved me and have believed that I come from the Father. I did come from the Father and have come into the world; again I leave the world and go to the Father." ²²⁹ Here he speaks of world as the laborious effort required for the practice of the virtues. Father refers to the transcendent state of mind and will which is free of material considerations, wherein the Word of God comes to us to give end to the battling against passions and devils.

τέσσ. ἀνοικ.  δ΄.  Ἑως ὅτου κατά τήν πρακτικήν φιλοσοφίαν, ἀνδρικῶς τούς θείους διεξέρχεταί τις ἀγῶνας· τόν διά τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐξελθόντα παρά τοῦ Πατρός εἰς τόν κόσμον, παρ᾿ ἑαυτῷ κατέχει Λόγον. Ἐπειδάν δέ τῶν κατά τήν πρᾶξιν πρός τά πάθη παλαισμάτων ἀφιέμενος, ὡς νικητής παθῶν καί δαιμόνων ἀποφανθείς, πρός τήν διά θεωρίας γνωστικήν μετέλθῃ φιλοσοφίαν, συγχωρεῖ τῷ Λόγῳ μυστικῶς ἀφεῖναι πάλιν τόν κόσμον, καί πορευθῆναι πρός τόν Πατέρα. Διό φησιν ὁ Κύριος τοῖς μαθηταῖς, ὅτι Ὑμεῖς ἐμέ πεφιλήκατε, καί πεπιστεύκατε ὅτι ἐγώ παρά τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐξῆλθον. Ἐξῆλθον παρά τοῦ Πατρός, καί ἐλήλυθα εἰς τόν κόσμον· πάλιν ἀφίημι τόν κόσμον, καί πορεύομαι πρός τόν Πατέρα· κόσμον εἰπών τυχόν, τήν κατά τήν πρᾶξιν τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐπίπονον ἐργασίαν· Πατέρα δέ, τήν κατά νοῦν ὑπερκόσμιον καί παντός ἐλευθέραν ὑλικοῦ φρονήματος κατάστασιν· καθ᾿ ἥν ἐν ἡμῖν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ γίνεται Λόγος, τῆς πρός τά πάθη καί τούς δαίμονας μάχης παυόμενος.

95. The one who has succeeded through ascetical practice in mortifying the members which are on the earth ²³⁰ and through the commandments of the Word has overcome the world of the passions in himself will have no further tribulation since he has already abandoned the world and has begun to dwell in Christ who has overcome the world of the passions and who is the bestower of all peace. For the one who has not put off the attachment to the material world will have tribulation at every turn because he changes his mind along with whatever changes by nature. But the one who has to come to dwell in Christ will not in any way feel material change no matter what it might be. Therefore the Lord says, "These things I have spoken to you so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have tribulation. But take courage; I have overcome the world." ²³¹ In other words: In me, the Word of virtue, you shall have peace by being delivered from the whirl and confusion of earthly realities and passions, whereas in the world, that is, in the attachment to material things, you shall have tribulation because of their constant change into each other. Thus tribulation comes to both the one who practices virtue in the effort which it involves and also to the lover of the world because of earthly failures. However in the former it is a salutary tribulation while in the latter it is corruptive and pernicious. But the Lord is the comfort of both: for the former, because he puts an end to the struggles connected with the virtues in the detached state of contemplation; for the latter, because through repentance he takes away the firm attachment to corruptible things. ²³²

τέσσ. ἀνοικ.  ε΄.  Ὁ δυνηθείς νεκρῶσαι διά πράξεως τά μέλη τά ἐπί τῆς γῆς, καί νικῆσαι διά τοῦ Λόγου τῶν ἐντολῶν τόν ἐν αὐτῷ τῶν παθῶν κόσμον, οὐδεμίαν ἕξει λοιπόν θλίψιν· τόν κόσμον ἐάσας ἤδη, καί ἐν Χριστῷ γεγενημένος, τῷ τόν κόσμον νικήσαντι τῶν παθῶν, καί πάσης εἰρήνης χορηγῷ. Ὁ γάρ τήν προσπάθειαν τῶν ὑλικῶν μή ἀφείς, διά παντός θλίψιν ἕξει· τοῖς κατά φύσιν ἀλλοιουμένοις τήν γνώμην συναλλοιούμενος. Ὁ δέ γενόμενος ἐν Χριστῷ, κατ᾿ οὐδένα λόγον αἰσθήσεται τῆς οἱασοῦν ὑλικῆς μεταπτώσεως. Διό φησιν ὁ Κύριος·  Ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν, ἵνα ἐν ἐμοί εἰρήνην ἔχητε. Ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ θλίψιν ἕξετε· ἀλλά θαρσεῖτε, ἐγώ νενίκηκα τόν κόσμον. Τουτέστιν, Ἐν ἐμοί τῷ Λόγῳ τῆς ἀρετῆς, εἰρήνην ἔχετε· ἀπηλλαγμένοι τῆς τῶν ὑλικῶν παθῶν τε καί πραγμάτων στροβώσεώς τε καί ταραχῆς· ἐν δέ τῷ κόσμῳ, τουτέστι ἐν τῇ προσπαθείᾳ τῶν ὑλικῶν, θλίψιν, διά τήν αὐτῶν ἀλλεπάληλον μετάπτωσιν. ⁽¹¹⁷²⁾ Θλίψιν γάρ ἔχουσι ἀμφότεροι, καί ὁ πράττων τήν ἀρετήν, διά τόν αὐτῇ συνημμένον πόνον· καί ὁ τόν κόσμον ἀγαπῶν, διά τήν τῶν ὑλικῶν ἀποτυχίαν· ἀλλ᾿ ὁ μέν, θλίψιν σωτήριον· ὁ δέ, φθαρτικήν καί ὀλέθριον. Ἀμφοτέρων δέ ἐστιν ὁ Κύριος ἄνεσις· τοῦ μέν, καταπαύων ἐν ἑαυτῷ κατά τήν θεωρίαν δι᾿ ἀπαθείας τούς πόνους τῶν ἀρετῶν· τοῦ δέ, τήν πρός τά φθειρόμενα σχετικήν προσπάθειαν δά τῆς μετανοίας ἀφαιρούμενος.

96. The notice on the inscription of the Savior's charge clearly shows us that the one who was crucified is King and Lord of ascetic, natural, and theological ways of wisdom. For we are told that the inscription was written in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. ²³³ Now by the Latin inscription I understand the ascetic state, since the empire of the Romans was, according to Daniel, ²³⁴ appointed as the mightiest of all earthly empires, and strength is the characteristic of the ascetic state, if anything is. By the Greek inscription I understand natural contemplation because the Greek nation more than anyone else devoted themselves to natural philosophy. And by the Hebrew inscription I understand theological revelation because this nation was manifestly set up from above by God as our ancestors.

τέσσ. ἀνοικ. στ΄.  Ἡ ἐν τῷ τίτλῳ προγραφή τῆς τοῦ Σωτῆρος αἰτίας, πρακτικῆς καί φυσικῆς καί θεολογικῆς φιλοσοφίας ὄντα Βασιλέα τόν σταυρωθέντα σαφῶς καί Κύριον ἔδειξε. Ῥωμαϊστί γάρ, καί Ἑλληνιστί, καί Ἑβραϊστί φησιν ἀναγεγράφθαι τό λόγιον. Νοῶ δε, διά μέν τοῦ Ῥωμαϊστί, τήν πρακτικήν· ὡς τῆς Ῥωμαίων βασιλείας κατά τόν Δανιήλ ὁρισθείσης εἶναι πασῶν ἀνδρικωτέρας τῶν ἐπί γῆς βασιλειῶν· πρακτικῆς δέ ἴδιον, εἴπερ τι ἄλλο, ἡ ἀνδρεία. Διά δέ τοῦ Ἑλληνιστί, τήν φυσικήν θεωρίαν· ὡς μᾶλλον τοῦ Ἑλλήλων ἔθνους παρά τούς λοιπούς ἀνθρώπους, τῇ φυσικῇ σχολάσαντος φιλοσοφίᾳ. Διά δέ τοῦ Ἑβραϊστί, τήν θεολογικήν μυσταγωγίαν· ὡς τοῦ ἔθνους τούτου προδήλως ἀνέκαθεν τῷ Θεῷ τούς πατέρας ἀνατεθέντος.

97. We are obliged not only to slay the bodily passions but also to do away with lustful imaginings of the soul according to the Scripture, "Early I slew all the sinners of the land that I might destroy out of the city of the Lord all those who work iniquity," ²³⁵ that is, the body's passions and the wanton imaginings of the soul.

τέσσ. ἀνοικ.  ζ΄.  Δεῖ μή μόνον ἡμᾶς εἶναι παθῶν σωματικῶν φονευτάς, ἀλλά καί τῶν κατά ψυχήν ἐμπαθῶν λογισμῶν ὀλετῆρας, κατά τόν λέγοντα ἅγιον· Εἰς τάς πρωΐας ἀπέκτενον πάντας τούς ἁμαρτωλούς τῆς γῆς· τοῦ ἐξολοθρεῦσαι ἐκ πόλεως Κυρίου πάντας τούς ἐργαζομένους τήν ἀνομίαν· τουτέστι, τά τοῦ σώματος πάθη, καί τῆς ψυχῆς τούς ἀνομοῦντας λογισμούς.

98. The one who keeps untarnished the way of virtue with religious and upright knowledge and does not fall away will discover the presence of God in him through detachment. "I will sing and be wise in a blameless path when you come to me." ²³⁶ The psalm means a virtuous way of asceticism; being wise is the gnostic understanding which comes from virtue whereby one who waits for the Lord in the watchfulness of the virtues experiences the divine presence.

τέσσ. ἀνοικ.  η΄.  Ὁ τήν ὁδόν τῶν ἀρετῶν χωρίς τῆς ἐφ᾿ ἑκάτερα ῥοπῆς μετ᾿ εὐσεβοῦς καί ὀρθῆς γνώσεως συντηρήσας ἀλώβητον, εἴσεται τήν γινομένην πρός αὐτόν τοῦ Θεοῦ διά τῆς ἀπαθείας παρουσίαν. Ψαλῶ γάρ, καί συνήσω ἐν ὁδῷ ἀμώμῳ, πότε ἥξεις πρός με. Ὁ γάρ ψαλμός τήν ἐνάρετον πρᾶξιν δηλοῖ· ἡ δέ σύνεσις, τήν ἐπ᾿ ἀρετῇ γνωστικήν ἐπιστήμην· καθ᾿ ἥν τῆς θείας αἰσθάνεται παρουσίας, ὁ δι᾿ ἀγρυπνίας τῶν ἀρετῶν προσδεχόμενος τόν Κύριον αὐτοῦ.

99. It is not necessary that the beginner in devotion be led to the practice of the commandments by goodness alone, but also that he struggle more often in severe trials by keeping in mind the divine judgments. In this way he not only loves by longing for the divine but also resists out of fear of wickedness. "I will sing to you, Lord of mercy and judgment" ²³⁷—so that gladdened by longing he might address God, and being furnished a mouth by fear he might make bold to sing.

τέσσ. ἀνοικ. θ΄.  Οὐ δεῖ τόν εἰσαγόμενον εἰς εὐσέβειαν, διά μόνης ἄγεσθαι χρηστότητος πρός τήν πρᾶξιν τῶν ἐντολῶν, ἀλλά μήν καί τῇ μνήμῃ τῶν θείων δικαιωμάτων, δι᾿ ἀποτομίας συχνότερον αὐτόν ἀγωνίσασθαι· ἐφ᾿ ᾧ μή μόνον πόθῳ τῶν θείων ἐρᾷν, ἀλλά καί φόβῳ τῆς κακίας ἀπέχεσθαι· Ἔλεον γάρ καί κρίσν ᾄσομαί σοι, Κύριε· ἵνα καί αὐδῇ τῷ Θεῷ κατά πόθον τερπόμενος, καί εὐτονῇ πρός τό ᾆσμα, τῷ φόβῳ στομούμενος.

¹⁰⁰. The one who has joined the body to the soul through virtue and knowledge has become a lyre and a flute and a temple. A lyre, firstly, because he beautifully maintains the harmony of the virtues; next, a flute because through the divine experiences he receives the Spirit's inspiration ; finally, a temple because through the purity of his mind he has become the Word's dwelling place. ²³⁸

ρ΄.  Ὁ δι᾿ ἀρετῆς καί γνώσεως ἁρμοσάμενος τό σῶμα πρός τήν ψυχήν, ⁽¹¹⁷³⁾ γέγονε κιθάρα Θεοῦ καί αὐλός καί ναός. Κιθάρα μέν, ὡς καλῶς φυλάξας τήν τῶν ἀρετῶν ἁρμονίαν· αὐλός δέ, ὡς διά τῶν θείων θεωρημάτων εἰσδεχόμενος τήν τοῦ Πνεύματος ἔμπνευσιν· ναός δέ, ὡς διά τήν κατά νοῦν καθαρότητα, τοῦ Λόγου γεγονώς κατοικητήριον.