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a provision of insolence and of all forbidden things together, to over-fatten the body and to sink the soul, making it susceptible to sin. Therefore, let us consider a delight worthy of God, so that we may also be taught the planting suitable to God's husbandry. 82 What then can be a delight fitting for saints? Delight in the Lord, and he will give you the requests of your heart. Since, then, the beauty of virtue is infinite, having its origin from the manifold wisdom of God, for this reason it is written that God planted a paradise not in the east, but in the easts. For each of the plants planted by the Lord, adorned in its own light, was gleaming. there the streams of the river which make glad the city of God; elsewhere it is called a torrent of delight, nourishing and increasing the heavenly beauties of the plants, which in the following passages is called a river going out of Eden to water the paradise. Now, in the preceding passages it was said that having first filled creation He thus brought man in to rule and dominion, but now the opposite: He first formed man and then planted the paradise. And the reason is that there, it was so that He might bring the master into a full house and not, having created him poor, later grant him abundance; but here, granting him perfection through progress, He created him elsewhere and later settled him in the paradise, so that, having learned the difference between the life outside and the way of life in paradise from the comparison of both, he might know the superiority of its beauty, and fear the loss of falling from it. 83 And that you may understand a planting worthy of the hand of God, remember the things spoken by the Lord in the Gospel, that Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. From that planting are those planted in the house of the Lord and flourishing in the courts of God. and again in the prophet: I planted you a fruitful vine, wholly true. The imitator of Christ dares even to say that We are God's fellow workers; you are God's field; I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. and the righteous man is likened to the tree planted by the channels of water, which will yield its fruit in its season and its leaf will not fall off; and, The righteous will flourish like a palm tree; and, You brought a vine out of Egypt, you cast out the nations and planted it. Try, therefore, through such teachings to come to a conception of that, so that you may be according to the rays of the divine light, in which the light of knowledge dawns as the paradise of delight is planted. And if you think of some place receptive of the saints, in which all who on earth have shone in good works, enjoying the grace of God and the divine and intelligible pleasantness, dwell, you do not fall away from a fitting conjecture about it. There, then, are certain good powers, rooted and firmly fixed, ministers of the saints, to whom man was delivered, being newly-born and needing much 84 co-training for perfection. in which is the company of the saints, in which are the dawnings of light, in which is the delight of the soul, there God placed man. If you are carnal, you have the sketch of that corporeal place and the sweetest abundance; if you consider the enjoyment of sensible things great, hasten to this, in which there is an unceasing supply of delight. if you are spiritual and think of things higher than bodily enjoyments, ascend with your mind to the beauties of the angels and learn the fruits of righteousness in them, behold the river of God full of waters, whose streams make glad the city of God, that city, whose architect and maker is God. Through that city flows this river of God which begins from Eden, which waters the paradise. Having learned all these things with your mind, glorify God, because to Him belongs glory for ever and ever. Amen.

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ὕβρεως καὶ πάντων ὁμοῦ τῶν ἀπηγορευμένων ἐφόδιον ὑπερπιαίνειν τὸ σῶμα καὶ καταβαπτίζειν τὴν ψυχὴν εὐκατά φορον ποιοῦντα πρὸς ἁμαρτίαν. οὐκοῦν τρυφὴν νοήσωμεν ἀξίαν θεοῦ, ἵνα καὶ τὴν φυτείαν πρέπουσαν τῇ γεωργίᾳ θεοῦ 82 διδαχθῶμεν. τίς οὖν δύναται γενέσθαι τρυφὴ ἁγίοις ἁρμόζουσα; Κατατρύφησον τοῦ κυρίου, καὶ δώσει σοι τὰ αἰτήματα τῆς καρδίας σου. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἄπειρον τὸ κάλλος τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀπὸ τῆς πολυποικί λου σοφίας τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔχον, διὰ τοῦτο γέγραπται ὅτι Ἐφύτευσεν ὁ θεὸς παράδεισον οὐχὶ κατὰ ἀνατολήν, ἀλλὰ Κατὰ ἀνατολάς. ἕκαστον γὰρ τῶν πεφυτευμένων παρὰ τοῦ κυρίου φυτῶν ἐν ἰδίῳ φωτὶ κεκαλλωπισμένον ἐξήστραπτεν. ἐκεῖ Τοῦ ποταμοῦ τὰ ὁρμήματα τοῦ εὐφραίνοντος τὴν πόλιν τοῦ θεοῦ· ἀλλαχοῦ Χειμάρρους τρυφῆς ὀνομάζεται, τρέφων καὶ αὔξων τῶν φυτῶν τὰ οὐράνια κάλλη, ὅστις ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς λέγεται Ποταμὸς ὁ πορευόμενος ἐξ Ἐδὲμ ποτίζειν τὸν παράδεισον. Ἐν μὲν οὖν τοῖς κατόπιν ἐλέγετο ὅτι πρότερον τὴν κτίσιν πληρώσας οὕτως ἐπεισήγαγεν εἰς ἀρχὴν καὶ δεσποτείαν τὸν ἄνθρωπον, νῦν δὲ τὸ ἐναντίον πρότερον ἔπλασε τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ τότε ἐφύτευσε τὸν παράδεισον. ἡ δὲ αἰτία ὅτι ἐκεῖ μέν, ἵνα πλήρει τῷ οἴκῳ τὸν οἰκοδεσπότην ἐπεισαγάγῃ καὶ μὴ πένητα κτίσας ὕστερον αὐτῷ τὴν εὐπορίαν χαρίσηται, ἐνταῦθα δὲ τὴν ἐκ προκοπῆς τελείωσιν αὐτῷ χαριζόμενος ἀλλαχοῦ ἔκτισε καὶ ὕστερον ἐγκατοικίζει τῷ παραδείσῳ, ἵνα τὸ διάφορον καταμαθὼν τῆς τε ἔξω ζωῆς καὶ τῆς ἐν παρα δείσῳ διαγωγῆς ἐκ τῆς συγκρίσεως ἑκατέρων γνωρίσῃ μὲν τοῦ κάλλους τὴν ὑπεροχήν, φοβηθῇ δὲ τῆς ἐκπτώσεως τὴν ζημίαν. 83 Ἵνα δὲ νοήσῃς φυτείαν ἀξίαν τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ χειρός, μνήσθητι τῶν ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ παρὰ τοῦ κυρίου εἰρημένων ὅτι Πᾶσα φυτεία ἣν οὐκ ἐφύτευσεν ὁ πατήρ μου ὁ οὐράνιος ἐκριζωθή σεται. ἐξ ἐκείνης εἰσὶ τῆς φυτείας οἱ Πεφυτευμένοι ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ κυρίου καὶ ἐν ταῖς αὐλαῖς τοῦ θεοῦ ἐξανθοῦντες. καὶ πάλιν ἐν τῷ προφήτῃ· Ἐγὼ ἐφύτευσά σε ἄμπελον καρποφόρον πᾶσαν ἀληθινήν. ἀποτολμᾷ καὶ λέγει ὁ μιμητὴς τοῦ Χριστοῦ ὅτι Θεοῦ συνεργοί ἐσμεν· θεοῦ γεώργιόν ἐστε· Ἐγὼ ἐφύτευσα, Ἀπολλῶς ἐπότισεν, ὁ δὲ θεὸς ηὔξανεν. καὶ ὁ δίκαιος ὡμοίωται τῷ ξύλῳ τῷ πεφυτευμένῳ παρὰ τὰς διεξόδους τῶν ὑδάτων, ὃ τὸν καρπὸν αὐτοῦ δώσει ἐν καιρῷ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ φύλλον αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἀπορρυήσεται· καὶ ∆ίκαιος ὡς φοῖνιξ ἀνθήσει· καὶ Ἄμπελον ἐξ Αἰγύπτου μετῆρας, ἐξέβαλες ἔθνη καὶ κατεφύτευσας αὐτήν. Πειράθητι τοίνυν διὰ τῶν τοιούτων διδαγμάτων ἐν περινοίᾳ γενέσθαι ἐκείνου, ἵνα γένῃ κατὰ τὰς αὐγὰς τοῦ θείου φωτός, ἐν οἷς τὸ φῶς τῆς γνώσεως ἀνατέλλει ὡς ὁ παράδεισος τῆς τρυφῆς φυτευόμενος. κἂν χωρίον δέ τι νοῇς δεκτικὸν τῶν ἁγίων, ἐν ᾧ πάντες οἱ ἐπὶ γῆς διαλάμψαντες ἐν ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς ἀπολαύοντες τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ χάριτος καὶ τῆς θείας καὶ νοητῆς τερπνότητος διαιτῶνται, οὐκ ἀποπίπτεις τῆς πρεπούσης περὶ αὐτοῦ εἰκασίας. ἐκεῖ γ' οὖν ἐρριζωμέναι τινὲς καὶ παγίως ἐρηρεισμέναι ἀγαθαὶ δυνάμεις, λειτουργοὶ τῶν ἁγίων, αἷς ὁ ἄνθρωπος παρεδόθη ἀρτιγενὴς ὢν καὶ πολλῆς δεόμενος 84 συγγυμνασίας πρὸς τὴν τελείωσιν. ἐν ᾧ τὸ σύστημα τῶν ἁγίων, ἐν ᾧ αἱ ἀνατολαὶ τοῦ φωτός, ἐν ᾧ ἡ τρυφὴ τῆς ψυχῆς, ἐκεῖ ἔθετο ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον. εἰ σάρκινος εἶ, ἔχεις τὴν ὑπογραφὴν τοῦ σωματικοῦ ἐκείνου καὶ τὴν ἡδίστην ἐμφόρησιν· εἰ μεγάλην ἡγῇ τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν τῶν αἰσθητῶν, ἐπείγου πρὸς ταύτην, ἐν ᾗ χορηγία τρυφῆς ἀδιάλειπτος. εἰ πνευματικὸς εἶ καὶ ὑψηλότερα φρονεῖς τῶν σωματικῶν ἀπολαύσεων, ἀνάβηθι τῇ διανοίᾳ πρὸς τὰ κάλλη τῶν ἀγγέλων καὶ κατάμαθε τοὺς ἐν αὐτοῖς τῆς δικαιοσύνης καρπούς, θέασαι τὸν ποταμὸν τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν πεπληρωμένον ὑδάτων, οὗ Τὰ ὁρμήματα εὐφραίνουσι τὴν πόλιν τοῦ θεοῦ, ἐκείνην τὴν πόλιν, Ἧς τεχνίτης καὶ δημιουργὸς ὁ θεός. ἐκείνην τὴν πόλιν διαρρέει ὁ ποταμὸς τοῦ θεοῦ οὗτος ὁ ἀρχόμενος ἐξ Ἐδὲμ ὁ ποτίζων τὸν παράδεισον. πάντα ταῦτα τῇ διανοίᾳ καταμαθὼν δόξαζε τὸν θεόν, ὅτι αὐτῷ πρέπει ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰώνας τῶν αἰώνων. ἀμήν.