[BOOK 1, 449a-c]

Maximus the monk [and] sacred philosopher] has treated of this theophany most profoundly and subtly in his commentary on the Homilies of Gregory the Theologian. For he says that theophany is effected from no other (cause) but God, but that it happens as a result of the condescension of the Divine Word, that is, of the only begotten Son Who is the Wisdom of the Father, downwards, as it were, upon human nature which was created and^449B purified by Him, and of the exaltation upwards of human nature to the aforesaid Word by divine love.

Maximum monachum, divinum philosophum, in expositione Sermonum Gregorii Theologi de hac theophania altissime atque subtilissime disputasse reperimus. Ait enim, theophaniam effici non aliunde nisi ex Deo, fieri vero ex condescensione divini Verbi, hoc est, unigeniti Filii, qui est sapientia Patris, veluti deorsum versus ad ^[449B] humanam naturam a se conditam atque purgatam, et exaltatione sursum versus humanae naturae ad praedictum Verbum per divinum amorem.

 [By condescension I mean here not that which has already taken place through the Incarnation but that which is brought about by theosis, that is to say, the deification of the creature.] So from this condescension of the Wisdom of God upon human nature through grace, and the exaltation of the same nature to that same Wisdom through love [dilectio sic. "choice"], theophany is brought about. With this interpretation the holy father Augustine seems to agree in his exposition of that passage from the Apostle, “He Who is made unto us righteousness and wisdom” ; for he expounds it as follows : “The Father’s Wisdom, in which and through which all things were made, which is not created but creating, comes into being in our souls by some ineffable condescension of compassion ^449C and attaches to itself our intellect so that in some ineffable manner a kind of composite wisdom, as it were, is formed out of its descending upon us and dwelling in us, and out of our understanding which through love is raised up by it to itself and is formed in it.”

Condescensionem hic dico non eam, quae jam facta est per incarnationem, sed eam, quae fit per theosin, id est per deificationem creaturae. Ex ipsa igitur sapientiae Dei condescensione ad humanam naturam per gratiam, et exaltatione ejusdem naturae ad ipsam sapientiam per dilectionem, fit theophania. Cui sensui sanctus pater Augustinus astipulari videtur, exponens illud Apostoli: Qui factus est nobis justitia et sapientia. Ita enim exponit: Sapientia Patris , in qua et per quam omnia facta sunt, quae non est creata, sed creans, fit in animabus nostris quadam ineffabili suae misericordiae condescensione, ac ^[449C] sibi adjungit nostrum intellectum, ut ineffabili quodam modo quaedam quasi composita fiat sapientia ex ipso descendente ad nos, et in nobis habitante, et ex nostra intelligentia ab eo per amorem ad se assumpta, et in se formata.

[BOOK 1, 482 B-D]

Do you see then that place and time are understood (to be) prior to all things that are? For the number of places and times, as St. Augustine says in chapter six of the “De Musica”, precedes all things that are in them : for the mode, that is, measure, of all things that are created is, in the nature (of things), logically prior to their creation ; and this mode and measure of each is called its place, and so it is. Similarly, the origin and beginning of its birth is seen to be ^482C logically prior to everything which is born and has a beginning, and therefore everything which was not and is has begun to be from a beginning in time. Thus, only God is infinite, all else is limited by a “where?” and a “when?” [that is, by place and time] — not that place and time are not in the number of those things that are created by God, but that they are prior, not in extent of time but only in respect of creation, to all things that are in the universe.

Videsne igitur , locum tempusque ante omnia, quae sunt, intelligi? Numerus enim locorum et temporum, ut ait sanctus Augustinus in sexto de Musica, praecedit omnia, quae in eis sunt. Modus siquidem, id est, mensura omnium rerum, quae creatae sunt, naturaliter conditionem earum ratione praecedit. Qui modus atque mensura uniuscujusque locus dicitur et est. Similiter principium nascendi ^[482C] atque inchoatio ante omne, quod nascitur atque inchoat, ratione praecedere perspicitur. Ideoque omne, quod non erat et est, a principio temporis coepit esse . Solus itaque Deus infinitus est; cetera ubi et quando terminantur, id est, loco et tempore, non quod locus et tempus in numero eorum, quae a Deo creata sunt, non sint, sed quod omnia, quae in universitate sunt, non spatiis temporum, sed sola ratione conditionis praecesserint.

For that which contains is necessarily understood as prior to that which is contained, as the cause precedes the effect, fire the conflagration, voice the word, and so on ;

Necessario enim ea, quae continent, prius intelliguntur, quam ea, quae continentur; sicut causa praecedit effectum, ignis incendium, vox verbum, ceteraque similia.

and therefore we hold that no other beatitude is promised to those who are worthy, and [that there will be] no other end of this world, but the ascent beyond places and ^482D times of all those who shall receive the glory of theosis, that is, deification.

Ac per hoc non aliam beatitudinem his, qui digni sunt, aestimamus esse promissam , nec alium hujus mundi finem fore, quam ut omnes, qui gloriam ^[482D] theoseos, id est, deificationis accepturi sunt, ultra loca et tempora ascendant.

For those who are bound by place and time are finite ; but the eternal beatitude is infinite. Therefore those who participate in the eternal and infinite beatitude will be encompassed neither by place nor by time.

Nam, qui loco et tempore coartantur, finiti sunt. Aeterna autem beatitudo infinita est. Aeternae igitur beatitudinis atque infinitae participes neque loco circumscribentur, neque tempore

[ BOOK 4, 743 A-B

And it seems to me that he [Epiphanius] was ^743A employing the allegory of Light, Fire and Heat, substituting Spirit for the last. It need not worry us that he puts Light before Fire : for the Father is Light and Fire and Heat, and the Son is Light and Fire and Heat, and the Holy Spirit Light and Fire and Heat. For the Father illumines, the Son illumines, and the Holy Spirit illumines (That is to say, all wisdom and knowledge are the gifts of all Three) : the Father burns, the Son burns, and the Holy Spirit burns (for together They burn away our transgressions and transmute us, a burnt offering, by the action of theosis or deification, into the Unity which is Theirs) : the Father warms, the Son warms, and the Holy Spirit warms (for with one and the same heat of Love

. Et mihi videtur Spiritum pro calore posuisse, quasi dixisset in similitudine, lux, ignis, calor . Sed cur lucem primo dixit, non est mirum. Nam et Pater lux est, et ignis, et calor; et Filius est lux, ignis, calor; et Spiritus sanctus lux, ignis, calor. Illuminat enim Pater, illuminat Filius, illuminat Spiritus sanctus; ex ipsis enim omnis scientia et sapientia donatur. Urit Pater, urit Filius, urit Spiritus sanctus, quia simul nostra delicta consumunt, et nos, velut holocaustum quoddam, per θέωσιν, id est deificationem, in unitatem suam convertunt. Caleficat Pater, caleficat Filius, caleficat Spiritus sanctus, quia uno eodemque caritatis aestu

They cherish us and nourish us,

and so lead us forth from the kind of formlessness of our imperfection, which was the result of the transgression of the First Man,

to the perfection of man when the era of Christ shall be ^743B fulfilled.

et nos fovent et nutriunt,

ac veluti ex informitate quadam imperfectionis nostrae post ^[743B] primi hominis lapsum

in virum perfectum, in plenitudinem aetatis Christi, educant.

Now, the perfection of man is Christ, in Whom all is consummated : and the fulfilment of His era is the consummation of the salvation of the universal Church, which is established among angels and among men.

Vir autem perfectus est Christus, in quo omnia consummata sunt, cujus aetatis plenitudo est consummatio salutis universalis Ecclesiae, quae in angelis et hominibus constituta est.

[BOOK 4, 760 C-D

For the reasonable and intellectual ^760D nature, although not wishing to be deceived, was not incapable of suffering deceit, especially as she had not yet attained the perfection of her form

.purgari. Natura siquidem rationalis et intellectualis, ^[760D] quamvis noluit falli, potuit tamen decipi, praesertim cum nondum formationis suae perfectionem acceperit,

[BOOK 4, 842C-843A]

Or since the creature possesses both spiritual principles of visible things and the principles which nourish the mind, and again a natural power of delighting the sense, but of corrupting the mind, it is called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and of Evil. For considered under its spiritual aspect it has the knowledge of good, but taken corporally it has the knowledge of evil. For to those who receive that knowledge with their bodies it becomes the mistress of the passions, bringing upon them forgetfulness of divine things. ^842D  Therefore God meanwhile intervened to forbid man to have perception of the visible creature, so that at first, as was very just, he might by participation of Grace learn his proper Cause, and the immortality with which he was through Grace endowed, and might then through perception of this tree be perfected in impassibility and immutability.

Aut quoniam et rationes habet spirituales visibilium creatura et intellectum nutrientes, et iterum naturalem potentiam sensum delectantem, intellectum vero subvertentem, lignum scientiae boni et mali appellata est. Boni siquidem habet scientiam spiritualiter considerata, mali vero scientiam corporaliter assumpta. Passionum namque fit magistra ^[842D] corporaliter eam accipientibus, divinorum eis oblivionem inferens, propter quod homini interdixit intermittens interim ejus perceptionem Deus, ut prius, maxime quippe erat justum, per participationem gratiae propriam cognoscens causam, datamque per gratiam immortalitatem, per hujusmodi ligni perceptionem ad impassibilitatem consummatus et inconversibilitatem,

And as though made God by deification he might by communion with the blameless Deity contemplate the creatures of God and have knowledge of them as a god and no longer as a man,^843A having through Grace in wisdom the same knowledge of the things that are as God has, because of the same transmutation of mind and sense to deification.

sicut Deus deificatione factus, innocui cum Deo communione Dei disceptaret creaturas, et earum reciperet scientiam, ut Deus et non homo, eandem ^[843A] habens Deo per gratiam eorum, quae sunt, sapienter notitiam per ipsam ad deificationem animi atque sensus transmutationem.

[BOOK 4, 843 B-C]

 Nor could that woman, that is to say, carnal sense, have enticed that man, that is to ^843C say, mind, to delight in the material creature exteriorly considered, if he had wished to possess the knowledge of the Creator before that of the created. The order of the Divine Law, then, was first to know the Creator and His ineffable beauty, and then to contemplate the creature with the reasonable sense controlled by the dictates of the mind and to refer all its beauty to the glory of God, whether the inner beauty of the principles or the outward beauty of the sensible forms.

 Nec illa mulier, carnalis videlicet sensus, ad delectationem materialis creaturae extrinsecus consideratae valeret virum, animum dico , attrahere, ^[843C] si prius Creatoris cognitionem, quam creaturae, vellet habere. Ordo itaque divinae legis erat, primum Creatorem cognoscere ejusque ineffabilem pulchritudinem, deinde creaturam rationabili sensu mentis nutibus obtemperante considerare, totamque ipsius pulchritudinem, sive interius in rationibus, sive exterius in formis sensibilibus, ad laudem Creatoris referre.

[BOOK 5, 897C]
The whole universe returned but not deified

  But the Causes of all things subsist in God, as no one of the faithful will deny. For ^898A anyone who does so is either an unbeliever or a fool. We can, therefore, in a sense, say of that which is brought back to its cause that it has returned to God.

 Causas autem omnium in Deo ^[898A] esse substitutas, nemo fidelium dubitat. Qui enim dubitat, aut infidelis est aut insipiens. Proinde omne, quod in causam suam reducitur, in Deum redire cur dubitaretur?

[BOOK 5, 903 C – 904B
All exist eternally by participation: only the elect receive deification

But the Superessential Goodness bestows upon all things not only the gift of being, but also of eternal being. For every essence and substance derives its being and subsistence from no other source but the Superessential and Supersubstantial Goodness Which in Itself truly is and truly subsists. For there is no substantial or essential good which exists of itself

Et non solum superessentialis bonitas dat omnibus esse, verum etiam aeternaliter esse. Omnis quippe essentia et substantia non aliunde et est et subsistit, nisi ab ea superessentiali et supersubstantiali bonitate, quae per se vere est et subsistit. Nullum namque substantiale vel essentiale bonum per se est,

save that alone by participation

in which all things receive the gift of well-being,

and the elect alone the Grace of deification.

Without this intermediary the two ^904A extremes, being and eternal being, although existing, cannot rightly be said to exist truly : for if you take away well-being, being is not truly being, nor eternal being truly eternal being: only that which exists well and blessedly truly is and truly is eternal.

sine qua ipsae extremitates, esse videlicet et semper esse, nec vere sunt, quamvis sint, nec recte dicuntur esse ---esse enim et semper esse, sublato bene esse, nec vere esse est, nec vere semper esse: illud enim vere et est et semper est, quod bene ac beate subsistit---

and not even upon all men and angels,

but only upon those angels who are aflame with love of their Creator and remain in constant contemplation of the Truth,

and ^904B only upon those men “who are called according to (the divine) purpose.”

[BOOK 5 p. 576   904D – 905 A]

This should teach us that the gift, as we have said,
is received universally by all creatures in their subsisting substance,

but the Grace is specially reserved
for the superessential deification of the elect.

 For it was not the Will of the Divine Providence, nor was it proper nor even possible, that the Universe should be ordered in any other way than that first He should bestow the gifts of essence and substance, and then that He should adorn them with Graces, namely the virtues that are appropriate to the dignity of the angels and men “whom He foreknew and foreordained to become images of the Only-Begotten Word of God.”

Non enim aliter divina providentia universitatis, quam condidit, ordinem substituere voluit, nec fieri debuit, nec possibile fuit, nisi ut primo daret essentias et substantias, quibus postea distribueret ornamenta, hoc est, virtutes donaret juxta dignitatem et angelorum et hominum, quos praescivit et praedestinavit conformes fieri unigeniti Dei Verbi .

[BOOK 5 p, 578   906 B-C]

A. Nature, you said, is a datum,
Grace a donum.

DISC. Naturam dixisti esse datum, gratiam vero donum .

N. Yes.

MAG. Ita.

to nature that of having come from nothing and of abiding forever,

to Grace the power of deifying, that is, of bringing into God those men whom the accession of the Divine Goodness freely and without the aid of ^906C nature or antecedent deserts raises up over all things that are and are contained within the bounds of the created Universe.

and this is held to be the resurrection of the human substance, that is,

the passing of mortal bodies into immortal,

of corruptible into incorruptible,

of animal into spiritual, and

of spatio-temporal into eternal bodies free from all (local) limitation. ^907A   

 mortalium corporum in immortalia transitus, et corruptibilium in incorruptibilia, et animalium in spiritualia, et temporalium et localium in aeterna omnique circumscriptione libera.

MAG. Recte collegisti; haec enim suadere volui, et, ut video, tibi suasi. DISC. Adhuc tamen haesito, quoniam non tam clare contemplor, quomodo non solum humanae naturae resurrectionem, verum etiam omnium rerum sensibilium, quas hujus mundi ambitus comprehendit, videris ^[906D] asserere. MAG. Mirari non desino, cur tam frequenter ^[907A] de talibus haesitas, cum suasum tibi saepe concesseris, omnia in homine creata esse , visibilia dico et invisibilia, ac post hoc resurrectura. Verum de resurrectione invisibilium nunc tractare non est nostri propositi.

It is the resurrection or Return into their Causes of sensible bodies that we are discussing. If then human nature is a composite of the intelligibles and sensibles, that is, of soul and body, it is not surprising that the totality of all the sensibles should rise again in the human body and pass over into whatever state the human body passes into, — though not of course into that deification which is a Grace bestowed only upon the perfectly purged intellects, but into the Causes only.

De resurrectione vero corporalium sensibilium, hoc est, de eorum reditu in suas causas disputamus. Si ergo humana natura ex intelligibilibus et corporalibus sensibilibus composita est, anima dico et corpore: quid mirum, si universitas omnium sensibilium in humano corpore resurgat, et quocunque transierit, transeat? In causas tamen solummodo dico, non in ipsam deificationem, quae solis purgatissimis intellectibus donabitur.

[BOOK 5   p. 584   911B-D

He went forth, then, from the Father, and came into the world, that is to say, He took upon Himself the human nature in which the whole world subsists : for there is nothing in the world which is not comprehended in human nature. And then He left the world again and went to the Father, that is to say, He raised up the human ^911B nature which He had taken upon Himself above all things visible and invisible, above all the heavenly powers, above everything which can be uttered or imagined, by unification with His Deity which is equal to His Father.

Exivit igitur a Patre, et venit in mundum, humanam videlicet naturam accepit, in qua totus mundus subsistit; nihil enim in mundo est, quod non in humana natura comprehendatur: ^[911B] et iterum reliquit mundum, et ivit ad Patrem, hoc est, humanam quam acceperat naturam super omnia visibilia et invisibilia, super omnes virtutes caelestes, super omne quod dicitur et intelligitur, suae Deitati, quae Patri aequalis est , adunans sublimavit.

restoring some to their former state of nature,

raising others because of the excellence of their worthiness beyond nature to the state of divinization :

yet nowhere but in Himself alone is humanity united to the Deity in a single substance, so that transmuted into Deity itself it transcends all things. For the Head of the Church reserved this property for Himself alone, that His humanity should not only participate in Deity, but, after He had ascended to His Father, should itself become Deity : to such a height none but He has ever ascended nor shall ascend.

in nullo tamen nisi in ipso solo humanitas Deitati in unitatem substantiae adunata est, et in ipsam Deitatem mutata omnia transcendit. Hoc enim proprium caput Ecclesiae sibi ipsi reservavit, ut non solum ejus humanitas particeps Deitatis, verum etiam ipsa Deitas, postquam ^[911C] ascendit ad Patrem, fieret; in quam altitudinem nullus praeter ipsum ascendit, nec ascensurus est.

This is the meaning of what He explicitly says of Himself in another place : “No one has ^91IC ascended into heaven but He Who came down from heaven, the Son of Man Who is in heaven.”

Et hoc est, quod alibi aperte de seipso dicit: Nemo ascendit in caelum, nisi qui de caelo descendit, filius hominis, qui est in caelo.

for the others whom He deifies He sets beneath Himself in a mere participation in the Deity

each according to the height attained by his contemplative power,

and establishes in Himself as in a house, ^911D all whom He has chosen to become of like form with Himself.

 Therefore God the Word of God, in Whom all things are created according to their Causes and subsist, descended in His Divinity into the effects of the Causes which subsist in Him, that is, into the sensible world, taking upon Himself our human nature in which is contained every creature visible and invisible.

    Deus itaque Dei Verbum, in quo omnia facta sunt causaliter et subsistunt, secundum suam divinitatem descendit in causarum, quae in ipso subsistunt, effectus, in istum videlicet sensibilem mundum, humanam accipiens naturam, in qua omnis visibilis et invisibilis creatura continetur.

[BOOK 5, 939 A-B

Hence anything that is called eternal must be thought of as being nowhere but in God, lest we should imagine that there could be any eternity outside Him Who alone is eternal and Eternity itself. Thus the attribute of eternity could be properly applied either to the unalterable severity of His most just decrees whereby in the wicked He allows the eternal punishment of that which He did not create, or to His ineffable and supernatural grace by which He deifies and exalts above all things those whom He foreknew and predestined to take the form of the Image of His Son. For nothing is coeternal with God, just as nothing is contrary ^939B to Him. He, then, alone is eternal in those who are in Him and live in bliss eternal through His Grace freely bestowed : but to those who are without Him, since they are not from Him, and therefore although they are said to exist in fact have no being at all, He is eternal in the severity of His judgment.

Hinc confectum, omne, quod aeternum dicitur, in Deo solummodo intelligi, ne ulla aeternitas existimetur extra eum, qui solus aeternus est et aeternitas. Aut enim inconcussa justissimorum ejus judiciorum severitas, qua puniri sinit in impiis irrevocabiliter quod non fecit, aut ineffabilis et supernaturalis ejus gratia, qua quos praescivit et praedestinavit conformes fieri imaginis ^[939B] Filii sui, deificat ac super omnia exaltat, aeternitatis nomine rectae rationis contuitu accipitur, quoniam nihil Deo coaeternum est, aut ex diametro contrarium. Ipse siquidem solus in his, quae in ipso sunt, et feliciter vivunt, aeternus est per gratuitam gratiam; in his vero, quae extra ipsum sunt, quoniam ab ipso non sunt , ideoque, quamvis dicantur esse, omnino non sunt, aeternus est per severam sententiam.

[BOOK 5, 944B-C

Therefore what is punished is the irrational impulse of the perverse will which arises in rational nature,

but that nature remains everywhere what it was and in all things that partakes of it it is good, unmenaced, undamaged, unharmed, uncontaminated, incorruptible, impassible, immutable, for it eternally participates in the Supreme Good;

 everywhere it is blessed, most glorious in the Saints, in whom it is deified, most excellent in sinners, to whose sins it sets the limit, ^944C so that their proper substance shall never be reduced to not being and so that they shall never suffer the destruction of those natural goods which were bestowed upon them at their creation;

ubique beata, gloriosissimaque in electis, in quibus deificatur , optima in reprobis, quos continet, ne illorum substantialis ^[944C] proprietas ad nihilum redigatur, hoc est, ne naturalium bonorum, quae ex conditione sua attraxerant, patiantur interitum;

in those who inherit perfect bliss she rejoices in the contemplation of the Truth, in those who are paying the penalty for their sins she rejoices in the preservation of their substantiality ; in all alike she is whole and perfect and the Image of her Creator; purged from all the filthiness of vice which from without in this mortal flesh has defiled and deflowered her, she returns restored to the pristine glory of her former state, to which she has been recalled by the grace of her Redeemer and Preserver.

gaudet contemplatione veritatis in his, qui perfectam beatitudinem possident; gaudet administratione substantialitatis in his, qui suorum delictorum poenas solvunt; in omnibus tota, perfecta, suo similis Creatori, cunctis vitiorum sordibus, quibus in hac mortali carne veluti lepra quadam deformari et violari extrinsecus patitur, purgata, in pristinum conditionis suae statum restituta revertetur, redemptoris et susceptoris sui gratia revocata.

[BOOK 5, 945 A-946A]

I might add what St. Augustine says in the twelfth book of his Hexemeron where he argues that while souls are still established in this flesh their joys and sufferings are insubstantial, existing in phantasies ;

Quid dicam de sancto Augustino in duodecimo libro Exemeri sui, disputante de eo, quod animae adhuc in hac carne mortali constitutae, non alibi nisi in phantasiis, aut quasdam ^[945B] inanes laetitias, aut quasdam inanes poenas patiantur,

while the righteous shall rejoice in the solid contemplation of the Truth,

the wicked shall weep from what they suffer from the insubstantial simulacra of sensible things.

one whereby the deified are rapt into the most pure knowledge of their Creator :

and the other whereby the wicked are submerged into the most profound ignorance of the Truth.

And it is no wonder if that which the wicked suffer in their dreams while still imprisoned in this corruptible flesh and thereafter in phantasies suffer in hell, they shall suffer in torment even more keenly when they have received their spiritual bodies, awaking as it were out of a heavy slumber; so that, as Augustine says, they shall suffer true punishments, they shall have false images in things not true, real sorrow, real lamentation and real terror, ^945C  tardy repentance and the consuming fire of their thoughts.

Et quid mirum, si impii, quod in hac vita adhuc in carne corruptibili detenti per somnia, et post eam phantastice patiuntur in inferno, spiritualibus corporibus suis receptis, ac veluti gravissimo quodam somno evigilantes , expressius patiantur per supplicia, ita ut semper, sicut ait Augustinus, verae poenae eis sint, falsae vero ^[945C] imagines in non veris, vera tristitia, verus luctus pavorque, sera poenitentia, urens cogitationum flamma.

The passion of the just, on the other hand, shall be this : when they have received their spiritual bodies and when their minds have been deified they shall enjoy true blessedness in contemplation of the Truth, true joy, and true happiness, because everything which in this life they accepted by faith they now see face to face.

E contrario autem justi patientur, quibus, receptis corporibus, deificatisque mentibus, verae beatitudines erunt in veris contemptationibus, verum gaudium, vera laetitia, quoniam omne, quod in hac vita per fidem accipiunt, in futuro per speciem considerabunt.

but those of the righteous will be the representation of divine contemplations : for not in Himself, but through certain apparitions of Himself appropriate to the capacity for contemplation of each ^945D one of the Saints, shall God be seen. These apparitions are the clouds of which the Apostle speaks : “We shall be snatched up into the clouds going before Christ.” By the clouds he means apparitions of the divine phantasies which vary according to the height of contemplation attained by each of the deified.

 justis quidem divinarum contemplationum; nam non per seipsum, sed per quasdam suas apparitiones secundum altitudinem uniuscujusque sanctorum contemplationis videbitur Deus. Hae ^[945D] quippe sunt nubes, de quibus ait Apostolus: Rapiemur in nubibus obviam Christo, nubes videlicet appellans divinarum phantasiarum diversas apparitiones secundum uniuscujusque deificati altitudinem theoriae.

But the wicked will be given over to phantasies of mortal things and manifold false appearances corresponding to the manifold ^946A impulses of their evil imaginations; and just as the deified shall ascend through an innumerable number of stages of divine contem­plation, as it is written: “The Saints caught up in the clouds of Good and vision shall g o from virtue to virtue and shall behold the God of gods in Sion,” behold Him, that is, not as He is in Himself, but in the mirror of the divine phantasy; so those who are separated from God shall ever descend through the different degrees of their vices into the depths of ignorance and into the outer darkness, where “there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Impiis vero mortalium rerum semper erunt phantasiae ac diversae falsaeque species, secundum diversos malarum suarum cogitationum motus. Et quemadmodum deificati per innumerabiles divinae contemplationis gradus ascendent, ^[946A] sicut scriptum est: Ibunt sancti ae virtute in virtutem, in nubibus visionis rapti, videbuntque Deum deorum in Sion, hoc est, non per seipsum, sed in speculo divinae phantasiae: ita a Deo elongati semper descendent per diversos vitiorum suorum descensus in profundum ignorantiae, inque tenebras exteriores, in quibus erit fletus et stridor dentium.

But in both the good and the evil, their human nature will ever remain undamaged, unimpaired, uncontaminated, and free from all the conflict of the passions :

In utrisque tamen, justis dico et impiis, salva, et integra, et incontaminata, omnique contraria passione libera erit et semper erit humana natura . . .

[BOOK 5, 948 A-C

Now, I brought forward this example in order to show clearly that in its regenerate state human nature, having nothing left in it of an earthly or watery or massive quality, shall be utterly undisturbed, once it is totally converted into spirit : but that nevertheless it will, without any change in its restored state or any contrary passion, be capable of receiving contrary qualities. For just as the air, which we ^948B took as a figure for human nature, receives ethereal splendours from above and vapours distilled from water and earth from below;

Hoc autem paradigma propterea introduximus, ut incunctanter cognoscamus, humanam naturam in regeneratione ejus serenissimam esse futuram, dum in ea nil terrenum seu humidum seu ponderosum relinquetur, omnino in spiritum conversa; diversarum ^[948B] tamen qualitatum capacem fore absque ulla restitutionis suae permutatione aut contraria sibi passione. Ut enim aer iste, ex quo similitudinem quandam humanitatis accepimus, aethereos desuper splendores, deorsum vero concretas ex terra et aqua recipit fumigationes:

but has miserably fallen through its own irrational impulses into the love of sensible things and into corruptible bodies which weigh it down,

is restored in the day of its regeneration into its former state,

it shall in those who are deified be illuminated by the Divine Rays
shining within it and above it;

and in those who are deprived of all blessedness, shall be subject to the phantasies and memories from below and from without of those temporal and transitory things which infect them in this life

— not that human nature pays the penalty in itself,

but that those things which against the will of the ^948C Creator it attracted to itself shall be separated from it and damned and utterly destroyed : the sort of things I refer to are : malice, and impiety, and every other form of wickedness which made of the works of the flesh, that is, of the soul living according to the flesh an occasion for original sin.

non ut ipsa in seipsa poenas luat,

sed ut illa, quae contra voluntatem Creatoris sui attraxerat, extra ipsam damnentur, penitusque pereant, malitiam dico, et impietatem, ceteraque nequitiae membra, quae ex operibus carnis, hoc est, carnaliter animae viventis, merito originalis peccati occasionem sumpserunt;

[BOOK 5, 961 B-C]

Furthermore, I think that those who wish to show that the rational nature both shall endure for ever and also shall forever be consumed in the flames of its torments fall into ambiguity when they use the illustration of the non-inflammable stone which can be forever burned and yet eternally endure, so that neither its substance nor its quality nor its form is either diminished or destroyed, even though the flame which burns it is never extinguished : for this ^961C illustration could be as reasonably employed to show that

Proinde, ut mihi videtur, ambiguum posuere exemplum, qui rationabilem naturam et semper mansuram, et suppliciorum flammis semper arsuram docere volentes, asbestum lapidem semper manere semperque ardere dicunt, ita ut et substantia ejus, et quantitas, et qualitas nullo modo minuatur vel corrumpatur, dum flamma in ea non extinguitur. Hac enim similitudine ^[961C] non irrationabilius uti possent ad suadendum,

I think you can now distinguish between that which shall be totally destroyed and that which shall be subject to eternal punishment.

Discernis itaque, ut opinor, inter ea, quae penitus peribunt, et ea, quae aeternis attribuuntur suppliciis.

A. I can : for I see that while sin and the occasion for sin shall be totally abolished from nature, the phantasies of those temporal things by which imperfect souls are seduced while they live in the flesh shall remain and be subjected to the everlasting fires of ^961D punishment, so that in them may be tormented the evil desires of evil men

DISC. Discerno; video enim, quod vitia vitiorumque occasiones de natura rerum penitus delebuntur, phantasiae autem rerum temporalium, quibus imperfectae animae in carne constitutae seducuntur, aeternis suppliciorum ^[961D] ardoribus attributae manebunt, ut in eis pravae torqueantur cupiditates pravorum.

[BOOK 5, 972 C-D]

For the binding of the feet signifies the difficulty in walking in the Laws of God, and the binding of the hands the difficulty in performing good deeds in conformity with the virtues, and all other such things have an allegorical interpretation which it would take too long, and indeed would be impossible to expound. But the effects of good deeds are joy, happiness, peace, bliss, blessedness, glory, equality with the holy angels, and in short theosis or deification, whereby “God has prepared Himself for those who love Him, that which neither the eye has seen nor the ear heard and which has not ascended into the heart of man.” But if the effects of the Causes are contrary to one another, it follows that the Causes also must disagree.

Ligatis quippe pedibus difficultas in divinis legibus ambulandi, ligatis manibus difficultas bonorum actuum, qui secundum virtutes sunt peragendi, typice insinuatur , hisque similia, quae enumerare et longum est et impossibile. Meritorum vero effectus ^[972D] sunt gaudium, laetitia, pax, beatitudo, felicitas, gloria, beatissimis angelis aequalitas, ac breviter dicendum, theosis, id est deificatio, in qua Deus diligentibus se praeparavit, quae nec oculus vidit, nec auris audivit, nec in cor hominis ascendit. Ubi autem causarum effectus inter se invicem contrarii sunt, ibi necesse est, et ipsas causas disparari.

[BOOK 5, 977C – 978B

But these and all other indescribable and innumerable kinds of punishments shall exist only in the phantasies of sensible things. For the wide fields of the memory both here and there are spread with phantasies, arranged according to a perfect order. These orders enter into the city of the soul as though through five gates, the first order through sight, the second through hearing, the third through smell, the fourth through taste, the fifth through touch. And these phantasies are of two kinds : the first comprises the rewards that are prepared for those who have lived a good life on earth, but not the best ; the second, the punishments meted out to those who live evil lives. But the Saints, who even while in the flesh have by the power of their works and their wisdom conquered the world and the flesh and themselves and by the loftiness of their contemplation have ascended into God, receive as the reward of their labours no phantasy of sensible things but the theophanies of the Divine ^978A Energies, and in addition the Grace of deification itself. For it is one thing to remain within the natural goods; this is prepared by the Divine dispensation for all men generally: it is another thing to transcend all nature and its goods, and attain to God Himself; this is the gift of the Grace of God. For “where the body” that is, the Truth, “is, there the eagles” that is, the minds that contemplate it, “shall be gathered together.” And again, those who do not go beyond the bounds of the natural goods fall into two categories : for we must distinguish between those who as a reward for their good conduct and pure innocence not only shall escape all punishment, but shall receive worthy rewards known only to God, so that they shall possess the natural goods, and in addition partake to a certain degree of the superabundant generosity of God, though not to the ^978B extent of deification ; and those in whom only the integrity of their nature will be restored, while the lust of the flesh and the incon­tinence of their life will be condemned to eternal torment : for these torments which are ordained by the Laws of God shall never harm the nature within whose potency they are comprehended and maintained, nor mar her beauty in whole or in part.

Haec autem omnes ceteraeque ineffabiles et innumerabiles poenarum varietates in phantasiis rerum sensibilium futurae sunt. Phantasiae autem in latissimis memoriae campis sive hic sive illic ordinatissime disponuntur. Quorum primus est earum, quae per visum, secundus earum, quae per auditum, tertius earum, quae per olfactum, quartus earum, quae per gustum, quintus earum, quae per tactum, veluti per quinque portas ^[977D] civitatem animae intrant. Quarum phantasiarum duae formae sunt. Una earum, in quibus his, qui in hac vita bene, sed non summe vixerunt, praeparantur praemia; alia, in quibus his, qui male vivunt, dispensantur supplicia. Siquidem sancti, qui adhuc in carne constituti, virtute actionis et scientiae carnem et mundum seque ipsos superantes usque ad ipsum Deum altitudine contemplationis ascenderunt, non in phantasiis rerum sensibilium, sed in theophaniis ^[978A] divinarum virtutum laboris sui mercedem, insuper etiam deificationis gratiam accipient. Aliud est enim intra naturae bona manere, quod generaliter omnibus divina largitate praestabitur, aliud omnem naturam ejusque bona superare, et ad ipsum Deum pervenire, quod proprium est divinae gratiae. Ubi enim fuerit corpus, hoc est veritas, illuc congregabuntur aquilae, hoc est animi, qui eam contemplaturi sunt. Et iterum eorum, qui terminos naturalium bonorum non excessuri sunt, in formis imaginalibus speculatio est. Aliter enim considerantur in his, qui merito bonae conversationis simplicisque innocentiae non solum omnes poenas evasuri, verum etiam praemia sibi condigna ac soli Deo cognita recepturi, ita ut et naturalia bona possideant, et superaffluentis ^[978B] divinae largitatis quodammodo participes fiant, non tamen deificati: aliter in his, in quibus solummodo naturae integritas restaurabitur, malefica vero et libidinosa carnalis eorum vitae intemperantia aeternis punietur suppliciis. Quae videlicet supplicia divinis legibus ordinata, naturae, intra cujus virtutem et sustinentur et comprehenduntur, nusquam nunquam sunt nocitura, ejusve pulchritudinem nec in toto, nec in parte infectura.

[BOOK 5, 1011D – 1012A]

For as the blessed Dionysius the Areopagite says, “that in which all by nature desire to participate is the One : but all do not equally participate in the One.” There is nothing in nature which is totally deprived of participation in the One ; 

Unum est enim, ut beatus Dionysius Areopagita ait, quod ^[1011D] omnia naturaliter participare appetunt; sed non aequaliter omnia unum participant. Nullum tamen est in natura rerum, quod ejus participatione omnino privetur,

For those who, as well as the faculty for apprehending the True Light, also possess the Light itself, which the oil supplies, will come to the Bridegroom Himself, and will enter with Him into the spiritual marriage feast,

while those who only possess the faculty of apprehending the Light, and are not illuminated ^1012A by and conformed to the Light itself, although they will go forth to meet Christ, that is to say, will ascend not only in the desire which is innate in their nature but also in actual experience to those things which are their sole natural goods, which subsist in Christ, yet they shall not attain to the supernatural Grace and joy of deification in Him.

[BOOK 5, 1014 B-D]

This was the condition of the first man and woman before their transgression, and it is to this condition, namely enjoyment of their natural goods alone without the adornment of the virtues that that part of the human race which is signified by the five foolish virgins shall return ; but we may reasonably suppose that the other part of the human race which is represented by the five prudent virgins, is to be raised up beyond all natural goods to that height to which man would through Grace have ascended had he not sinned, that is to ^1014C say, to participation in the highest wisdom and all the virtues, and through that participation attain to deification and the contemplation of the truth ; and thus it will enter in to the spiritual marriage feast of its Bridegroom. To this feast none is admitted unless he is shining with the light of wisdom and aflame with the fires of Divine Love : and of these two qualities, wisdom and love, the nourishment is action and contemplation : therefore none is allowed to ascend to this feast who is deficient in action and contemplation but is totally excluded from it, even though he is endowed in the highest degree with natural goods. For it is not nature that raises the human mind thither, but Grace, which thus rewards obedience to the command­ments of God, and the most perfect knowledge of God, in so far as that is granted us in this life, through what He has created and what He has written in His Scriptures. Consider, then, the central ^1014D meaning of this parable, and how it makes a transition from the genus to the species in the same way as the other parable we have discussed, that of the two sons who divided their father’s substance between them. In that, you will remember, it was first the general Return of mankind that was signified, and then the special Return of the gentiles : in this, in like manner, the general Return of the total number of mankind to the former condition of their nature is signified by the ten virgins who go forth to meet the Bridegroom ; ^1015A the Special Return of all the Saints by the five who were prudent. For the number of the elect is a species of the human genus. So besides the Return to the ancient principle of their nature which is common to the generality of mankind, the parable also alludes to the ascent beyond nature into God Himself in the special case of the ineffable deification.

Ad hunc itaque statum primorum hominum ante delictum, hoc est, ad sola naturalia bona absque virtutum ornamentis, partem humani generis unam, quae typo fatuarum quinque virginum configuratur, reversuram; ad ipsam vero excelsitudinem, ad quam homo per gratiam , si non peccaret, ascensurus esset, hoc est, ad participationem summae sapientiae omniumque virtutum, quam, participationem dico, deificatio et contemplatio veritatis ^[1014C] sequitur, alteram humanae numerositatis partem, cujus symbolum est quinarius prudentium virginum numerus, sublimandam ultra omnia bona naturalia, et ad spirituales nuptias sponsi sui intraturam , non incongrue existimandum ; ad quas nemo intromittitur, nisi sapientiae luce refulgens, divinique amoris inflammationibus ardens, quae duo, sapientiam dico et caritatem, pinguedine scientiae et actionis nutriuntur; et ad eas nuptias nullus scientiae et actionis expers, quamvis naturalibus bonis integerrime et pulcherrime floruerit, sinitur ascendere, sed omnino ab eis secluditur. Non enim illuc natura humanam mentem sublevat, sed gratia, et mandatis Dei obedientiae, purissimaeque , quantum in hac vita datur, Dei per literam et creaturam ^[1014D] cognitionis meritum subvehit. Intuere itaque hujus parabolae medullam, et quomodo transitum facit de genere ad speciem, quemadmodum in praefata parabola de duobus filiis patris sui substantiam inter se partientibus. In ea siquidem totius generis humani generalis reditus primo, deinde specialis gentilis populi conformatur: in hac autem similiter per decem virgines obviam sponso exeuntes totius humanae numerositatis generalis ad pristinum ^[1015A] naturae statum reversio; specialis autem per quinque prudentes omnium Sanctorum. Species enim humani generis est electorum numerus. Non solum igitur ad antiquum naturae principium reditus in generalitatem humanitatis, verum etiam ultra naturam in ipsum Deum in specialitate deificationis ineffabilis insinuatur ascensus.

[BOOK 5, 1015 C]

For there are many Divine Mysteries that the Holy Fathers do not touch upon but pass over in silence for this reason : weak eyes cannot bear the brilliance of the light.

Multa quippe divina mysteria a sanctis Patribus intacta ob hanc causam praetermissa sunt; infirmi siquidem oculi claritatem luminis sufferre nequeunt. ^[1015D]

[BOOK 5, 1017 C-1018 A]

while the others He left in the enjoyment of natural goods, but excluded from the heights of that ineffable Deification “which the eye has not seen nor the ear heard, nor has it ascended into the heart of man.”

This is the significance of the words, “The door was shut”, the entry, that is, into the contemplation of God face to face, which shall not be opened to those who lived in this life carelessly, neglecting to fill the vessels of their reason with the oil of knowledge and good works, even though, induced by a tardy ^1018A penitence they cry out, “Lord, Lord, open unto us.”

Et hoc est quod ait: Et clausa est janua, introitus videlicet contemplationis divinae facie ad faciem, ad quam incaute in hac vita viventes, oleumque actionis et scientiae in rationis suae receptacula non infundentes, etiamsi clameverint , ^[1018A] sera quandoque poenitentia compuncti, non intrabunt, dicentes: Domine, Domine, aperi nobis.