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acceptable and perfect, calling the perfect will of God the forming of the soul by piety, which the grace of the spirit brings to bloom in extreme beauty, having joined with the labors of the one being formed. Now the body's increase in stature is not in our power; for nature does not measure its size by man’s will and pleasure, but by its own impulse and necessity; but the measure and beauty of the soul in the renewal of its birth, which the grace of the spirit provides through the zeal of the one receiving it, depends on our will; for as much as you extend the contests for piety, by so much is the soul's greatness also extended, through contests and labors for which our Lord also exhorts us, saying. Strive to enter through the narrow door; and again Use force; for the violent take the kingdom of heaven by force; and He who endures to the end will be saved; and In your patience possess your souls; and the apostle, Let us run with patience the race that is set before us; and So, he says, run that you may obtain; and again As ministers of God in much patience and so forth. For this reason he urges us to run and exhorts us to hold earnestly to the contests, since the gift of grace is measured by the labors of the one receiving it; for the grace of the spirit gives eternal life and 8,1.47 the inexpressible joy in heaven, but the love for labors through faith provides the worthiness to receive the gifts and enjoy the grace. And the work of righteousness and the grace of the spirit, having come together into the same thing, into the soul into which they came together, filled this with blessed life with one another; but being separated from one another they provide no benefit to the soul; for the grace of God does not have the nature to visit souls that are fleeing salvation, and the power of human virtue is not sufficient by itself to raise up to the form of life souls that are without grace.

For unless, he says, the Lord builds the house and guards the city, in vain the watchman keeps awake and the builder labors; and again For not by their own sword did they inherit the land, and their own arm did not save them, although they used swords and arms for the contests, but your right hand and your arm and the light of your countenance. What is he saying by this? The alliance from above for the workers of the Lord, and at the same time that those should not trust in human efforts who think that the whole crown lies in their own labors, but to refer the hopes for the end to the will of God. It is necessary, therefore, to know what the will of God is, toward which one who desires the blessed life must strive, looking to it, and who desires to arrange his own life toward that. 8,1.48 The perfect will of God is, then, to purify the soul through grace from every defilement, having made it higher than the pleasures of the body, and to present it pure to God, longing and being able to see that intelligible and ineffable light. The Lord also blesses such people, saying: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God; and in other places he commands: Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Toward this perfection the apostle also urges us to run, saying: That I may present every man perfect in Christ for which I also labor, striving; and David, speaking by the spirit, teaches those who wish to philosophize correctly the way of true philosophy, by which one must walk toward the perfect goal, asking from the Giver the things which the spirit teaches through David; Let my heart, he says, be blameless in your statutes, that I may not be ashamed. He commands to fear shame and to strip it off, like a soiled and dishonorable garment, for those who have put it on from wickedness; for again he says: Then I shall not be ashamed when I have respect unto all your commandments. You see how the spirit places 8,1.49 boldness in the fulfillment of the commandments; and again

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εὐάρεστον καὶ τέλειον, θέλημα τέλειον τοῦ θεοῦ λέγων τὸ ὑπὸ εὐσεβείας μορφωθῆναι ψυχήν, ἣν εἰς ἄκρον ἀνθίζει κάλλος ἡ τοῦ πνεύματος χάρις, τοῖς τοῦ μορφουμένου συγγενομένη πόνοις. ἡ μὲν οὖν τοῦ σώματος πρὸς τὸ ἀνελθεῖν ἐπίδοσις οὐδὲν ἐφ' ἡμῖν· οὐ γὰρ τῇ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου γνώμῃ καὶ ἡδονῇ μετρεῖ τὸ μέγεθος ἡ φύσις, ἀλλὰ τῇ αὐτῆς ὁρμῇ καὶ ἀνάγκῃ· τὸ δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐν τῇ τῆς γεννή σεως ἀνανεώσει μέτρον καὶ κάλλος, ὃ παρέχει διὰ τῆς τοῦ δεχομένου σπουδῆς ἡ τοῦ πνεύματος χάρις, τῆς ἡμετέ ρας ἤρτηται γνώμης· ὅσον γὰρ ἐκτείνεις τοὺς ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀγῶνας, τοσοῦτον καὶ τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς συνεκτείνεται μέγεθος, διά τε ἀγώνων καὶ πόνων ὑπὲρ ὧν καὶ ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν ἐγκελεύεται λέγων. Ἀγωνίζεσθε εἰσελθεῖν διὰ τῆς στενῆς θύρας· καὶ πάλιν Βιάζεσθε· βιασταὶ γὰρ ἁρπά ζουσι τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν· καὶ Ὁ δὲ ὑπομείνας εἰς τέλος οὗτος σωθήσεται· καὶ Ἐν τῇ ὑπομονῇ ὑμῶν κτήσασθε τὰς ψυχὰς ὑμῶν· καὶ ὁ ἀπόστολος δὲ ∆ι' ὑπο μονῆς τρέχομεν τὸν προκείμενον ἡμῖν ἀγῶνα· καὶ Οὕτως, φησί, τρέχετε ἵνα καταλάβητε· καὶ πάλιν Ὡς θεοῦ διά κονοι ἐν ὑπομονῇ πολλῇ καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. διὰ τοῦτο δὲ παρα καλεῖ τρέχειν καὶ ἐγκελεύεται συντόνως ἔχεσθαι τῶν ἀγώνων, ἐπειδὴ τοῖς τοῦ δεχομένου πόνοις ἡ δωρεὰ μετρεῖται τῆς χάριτος· τὴν μὲν γὰρ ἀίδιον ζωὴν καὶ 8,1.47 τὴν ἄῤῥητον ἐν οὐρανοῖς εὐφροσύνην ἡ τοῦ πνεύματος δωρεῖται χάρις, τὴν δὲ ἀξίαν τοῦ δέξασθαι τὰ δῶρα καὶ ἀπολαῦσαι τῆς χάριτος ὁ διὰ τῆς πίστεως περὶ τοὺς πόνους ἔρως παρέχει. συνελθοῦσαι δὲ εἰς ταὐτὸν δικαιοσύνης ἔργον καὶ πνεύματος χάρις, εἰς ἣν συνῆλθον ψυχήν, ταύτην ζωῆς μακαρίας μετ' ἀλλήλων ἐνέπλησαν· διαζυγεῖσαι δὲ ἀπ' ἀλλήλων οὐδὲν τῇ ψυχῇ κέρδος παρέχουσιν· ἥ τε γὰρ τοῦ θεοῦ χάρις ψυχαῖς φευγούσαις τὴν σωτηρίαν οὐκ ἔχει φύσιν ἐπιφοιτᾶν, ἥ τε τῆς ἀνθρωπείας ἀρετῆς δύναμις οὐκ ἐξαρκεῖ καθ' ἑαυτὴν πρὸς τὸ τῆς ζωῆς εἶδος ἀναβι βάσαι ψυχὰς ἀμοιρούσας τῆς χάριτος.

Ἐὰν γάρ, φησί, μὴ κύριος οἰκοδομήσῃ οἶκον καὶ φυλάξῃ πόλιν, εἰς μάτην ἠγρύπνησεν ὁ φυλάσσων καὶ κοπιᾷ ὁ οἰκοδομῶν· καὶ πάλιν Οὐ γὰρ ἐν τῇ ῥομφαίᾳ αὐτῶν ἐκληρονόμησαν γῆν, καὶ ὁ βραχίων αὐτῶν οὐκ ἔσωσεν αὐτούς, καίτοι ῥομφαίαις καὶ βραχίοσιν πρὸς τοὺς ἀγῶνας χρωμένων, ἀλλ' ἡ δεξιά σου καὶ ὁ βραχίων σου καὶ ὁ φωτισμὸς τοῦ προσώπου σου. τί τοῦτο λέγων; τὴν ἄνωθεν εἰς τοὺς ἐργάτας τοῦ κυρίου συμμαχίαν, καὶ ἅμα τὸ μὴ δεῖν φρονεῖν ταῖς ἀνθρωπίναις σπουδαῖς τοὺς νομίζοντας ἐν τοῖς ἑαυτῶν πόνοις ὅλον κεῖσθαι τὸν στέφανον, ἀλλὰ ἀναφέρειν ἐπὶ τὸ τοῦ θεοῦ θέλημα τὰς περὶ τοῦ τέλους ἐλπίδας. ∆εῖ οὖν εἰδέναι τί τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ, πρὸς ὃ βλέποντα σπουδάζειν <χρὴ> τὸν τῆς μακαρίας ζωῆς ὀρεγόμενον καὶ πρὸς ἐκείνην ἐπιθυμοῦντα τὸν ἑαυτοῦ διαθεῖναι βίον. 8,1.48 ἔστιν οὖν θέλημα τέλειον τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ καθᾶραι διὰ τῆς χάριτος τὴν ψυχὴν παντὸς μολυσμοῦ, τῶν τοῦ σώματος ἡδονῶν ὑψηλοτέραν ποιήσαντα, καὶ προσάγειν αὐτὴν καθα ρὰν τῷ θεῷ, ποθοῦσαν καὶ δυναμένην ἰδεῖν τὸ νοητὸν ἐκεῖνο καὶ ἄφραστον φῶς. τοὺς τοιούτους καὶ ὁ κύριος μακαρίζει λέγων· Μακάριοι οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ ὅτι αὐτοὶ τὸν θεὸν ὄψονται· καὶ ἐν ἄλλοις παραγγέλλει· Γίνεσθε οὖν ὑμεῖς τέλειοι ὡς ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος τέλειός ἐστιν. ἐπὶ ταύτην τὴν τελειότητα καὶ ὁ ἀπόστολος παρα καλεῖ τρέχειν λέγων· Ἵνα παραστήσω πάντα ἄνθρωπον τέλειον ἐν Χριστῷ εἰς ὃ καὶ κοπιῶ ἀγωνιζόμενος· καὶ ὁ ∆αβὶδ πνεύματι λαλῶν διδάσκει τοὺς ὀρθῶς φιλοσοφεῖν θέλοντας τὴν τῆς ἀληθινῆς φιλοσοφίας ὁδόν, δι' ἧς χρὴ βαδίζειν πρὸς τὸν τέλειον σκοπόν, αἰτοῦντας παρὰ τοῦ διδόν τος ἅπερ διὰ τοῦ ∆αβὶδ τὸ πνεῦμα διδάσκει· Γενηθήτω, φησίν, ἡ καρδία μου ἄμωμος ἐν τοῖς δικαιώμασίν σου, ὅπως ἂν μὴ αἰσχυνθῶ. φοβεῖσθαι κελεύει τὴν αἰσχύνην καὶ ἀπο δύεσθαι καθάπερ ἐσθῆτα ῥυπῶσαν καὶ ἄτιμον τοὺς ἐκείνην ἐκ τῆς κακίας περιθεμένους· πάλιν γάρ φησιν· Τότε οὐ μὴ αἰσχυνθῶ ἐν τῷ με ἐπιβλέπειν ἐπὶ πάσας τὰς ἐντολάς σου. ὁρᾷς ὡς ἐν τῷ πληρώματι τῶν ἐντολῶν τίθεται τὸ πνεῦμα 8,1.49 τὴν παρρησίαν· καὶ πάλιν