,

symbolically engraving and through them leading the mind up to the simplicity of intelligible spectacles, once it has been purely released from all the diversity and composition in visible things, so that we may have as an unerring path of truth your knowledge of the passage to intelligible things.

From here, after the complete putting away of relational passion for sense and flesh, 14Β_028 swimming vigorously with knowledge according to the mind in the infinite sea of the oracles of the Spirit, you search with the Spirit the depths of the Spirit; from whom, having received the manifestation of the hidden mysteries, through great humility, as it seems, you filled a chart with many difficult chapters of Holy Scripture and sent it, seeking also from me, one who is destitute of all virtue and knowledge, a written response for each chapter according to the anagogical contemplation.

Having received and read it, and being astounded in mind, hearing, and thought, I implored you for pardon for my refusal, saying that the things sought are scarcely approachable even for those who have passed a very long time in contemplation and have reached somewhere near the end of the highest knowledge, which is unattainable for others, let alone for me, who has been cast down to the earth and who, like the serpent, as the ancient curse has it, has no other food than the earth of the passions, and like a worm wallows in the decay of pleasures. And having done this often and at length, when I found that you would not accept my entreaty in this matter, fearing lest the matter of love should suffer some harm—according to which, being joined together, we have one soul, even if we bear two bodies—my refusal being considered by you, as is likely, a pretext for disobedience, I dared, even unwillingly, things beyond my power, considering it better to be accused of presumption and to be laughed at by those who wish to, than for love to suffer any shock and diminution, than which nothing after God is more honorable for those who have understanding, or rather, more dear to God, as it brings together the divided into one and is able to create one undivided identity of opinion among many or all.

And first, forgive me yourself, honorable father, for the undertaking, 14Β_030 and ask the others to forgive me my presumption, and make God gracious to me through your prayers and a helper in what is said, or rather, the provider of the whole and correct response concerning each chapter; for from him is every good gift and every perfect gift, as from the source and Father of all illuminating knowledge and powers granted in proportion to the worthy. For trusting in you, I have accepted your command, expecting as a reward for obedience the divine benevolence through you.

And having set forth each of the chapters in sequence and order, as it was written by you, I will make my response word for word, as brief and definitive as possible, insofar as I am able and am granted from God the grace and power for understanding and speaking piously, so that we might not weigh down the hearing of those who will read it with a multitude of words, and especially since I am making my discourse to you, who are truly gnostics and precise spectators of divine things, and have crossed over the disturbance of the passions and have passed beyond the whole relation of nature and who possess reason as a most just guide and judge of what is fitting, and have established the mind through a superior non-discursiveness in the inmost place of divine silence, where it is possible to perceive unknowingly only divine gladness, which has only the experience of those deemed worthy of it as the teacher of its own greatness, and for this reason needing only a small indication concerning the things sought, which points toward the all-radiant beauty of the

συμβολικῶς ἐγχαράττουσαν καὶ δι᾽ αὐτῶν πρὸς τὴν ἁπλότητα τῶν νοητῶν θεαμάτων τὸν νοῦν ἀναβιβάζουσαν, πάσης καθαρῶς ἀπολυθέντα τῆς ἐν τοῖς ὁρωμένοις ποικιλίας τε καὶ συνθέσεως, ἵν᾽ ἔχωμεν ἀληθείας ὁδὸν ἀπλανῆ τὴν ὑμετέραν γνῶσιν τῆς πρὸς τὰ νοητὰ διαβάσεως.

Ἐντεῦθεν, μετὰ τὴν τελείαν τῆς πρὸς αἴσθησίν τε καὶ σάρκα 14Β_028 σχετικῆς προσπαθείας ἀπόθεσιν, τῷ ἀπείρῳ πελάγει τῶν λογίων τοῦ Πνεύματος μετ᾽ ἐπιστήμης κατὰ νοῦν εὐτόνως διανηχόμενος, ἐρευνᾷς μετὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος τὰ βάθη τοῦ Πνεύματος· παρ᾽ οὗ δεξάμενος τὴν τῶν κεκρυμμένων μυστηρίων φανέρωσιν, διὰ πολλήν, ὡς ἔοικεν, ταπεινοφροσύνην, πολλῶν τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς ἀπορουμένων κεφαλαίων χάρτην πληρώσας ἀπέστειλας, ζητῶν καὶ παρ᾽ ἐμοῦ τοῦ πάσης ἀρετῆς ἐρήμου καὶ γνώσεως ἑκάστου κεφαλαίου κατὰ τὴν ἀναγωγικὴν θεωρίαν τὴν ἀπόκρισιν ἔγγραφον.

Ὃν δεξάμενος καὶ ἀναγνούς, καταπλαγεὶς καὶ νοῦν καὶ ἀκοὴν καὶ διάνοιαν, ᾔτουν ὑμᾶς ἐκλιπαρῶν περὶ τούτου συγγνώμην τῆς παραιτήσεως, μόλις εἶναι λέγων προσιτὰ τὰ ζητούμενα καὶ τοῖς ἄγαν ἐπὶ πλεῖστον ἐν θεωρίᾳ διαβεβηκόσι καὶ περὶ τὸ τέλος που τῆς ὑψηλοτάτης καὶ ἀνεφίκτου τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐφθακόσι γνώσεως, μὴ ὅτι γε ἐμοὶ τῷ κατὰ γῆν ἐρριμμένῳ καὶ κατὰ τὸν ὄφιν ἄλλην, ὡς ἡ παλαιὰ κατάρα, μετὰ τὴν γῆν τῶν παθῶν βρῶσιν οὐκ ἔχοντι καὶ σκώληκος δίκην ἱλυσπωμένῳ τῇ σήψει τῶν ἡδονῶν. Καὶ τοῦτο πολλάκις καὶ ἐπὶ πολὺ ποιήσας, ὡς εὗρον μὴ δεχομένους ὑμᾶς τὴν ἐμὴν περὶ τούτου παράκλησιν, δείσας μή τι πάθῃ τὸ χρῆμα τῆς ἀγάπης, καθ᾽ ἣν ἀλλήλοις συγκραθέντες μίαν ἔχομεν ψυχήν, κἂν δύο σώματα φέρωμεν, εἰς πρόφασιν ἀπειθείας, ὡς εἰκός, νομισθείσης ὑμῖν τῆς ἐμῆς παραιτήσεως, κατετόλμησα καὶ μὴ θέλων τῶν ὑπὲρ δύναμιν, κατηγορηθῆναι μᾶλλον προπέτειαν καὶ γελᾶσθαι κρεῖττον ἡγούμενος παρὰ τῶν βουλομένων ἢ τὴν ἀγάπην κατά τι δέξασθαι σάλον καὶ μείωσιν, ἧς οὐδὲν τῶν μετὰ Θεόν ἐστι τοῖς νοῦν ἔχουσι τιμιώτερον, μᾶλλον δὲ τῷ Θεῷ προσφιλέστερον, ὡς τοὺς διῃρημένους εἰς ἓν συναγούσης καὶ μίαν ἐν τοῖς πολλοῖς ἢ τοῖς πᾶσιν ἀστασίαστον κατὰ τὴν γνώμην δημιουργῆσαι δυναμένης ταὐτότητα.

Καί μοι σύγγνωθι πρῶτος αὐτός, τίμιε πάτερ, τῆς ἐγχειρήσεως, 14Β_030 καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους αἴτει προπετείας ἀφίεσθαί με, καὶ ἵλεώ μοι τὸν Θεὸν ταῖς εὐχαῖς κατάστησον καὶ τῶν λεγομένων συλλήπτορα, μᾶλλον δὲ τῆς ὅλης καὶ ὀρθῆς γενέσθαι περὶ ἑκάστου κεφαλαίου χορηγὸν ἀποκρίσεως· παρ᾽ αὐτοῦ γάρ ἐστι πᾶσα δόσις ἀγαθὴ καὶ πᾶν δώρημα τέλειον ὡς πηγῆς καὶ Πατρὸς τῶν ἀναλόγως τοῖς ἀξίοις χορηγουμένων πασῶν φωτιστικῶν γνώσεών τε καὶ δυνάμεων. Ὑμῖν γὰρ θαρρῶν τὸ ὑμέτερον κατεδεξάμην ἐπίταγμα, τῆς εὐπειθείας μισθὸν ἐκδεχόμενος τὴν δι᾽ ὑμῶν θείαν εὐμένειαν.

Ἕκαστον δὲ τῶν κεφαλαίων εἱρμῷ τε καὶ τάξει, καθὼς παρ᾽ ὑμῶν ἐγράφη, προθείς, πρὸς ἔπος ποιήσομαι τὴν ἀπόκρισιν ὡς οἷόν τε σύντομον καὶ ὁριστικήν, καθ᾽ ὅσον οἷός τε ὦ καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὸ νοεῖν τε καὶ λέγειν εὐσεβῶς θεόθεν χορηγοῦμαι χάριν καὶ δύναμιν, ἵνα μὴ πλήθει λόγων βαρήσωμεν τῶν ἐντευξομένων τὴν ἀκοήν, καὶ μάλιστα πρὸς ὑμᾶς γε τὸν λόγον ποιούμενος τοὺς γνωστικοὺς ὄντως καὶ ἀκριβεῖς τῶν θείων θεάμονας καὶ τῶν παθῶν διαβάντας τὴν ὄχλησιν καὶ τὴν ὅλην παρελθόντας σχέσιν τῆς φύσεως καὶ τῶν καθηκόντων κεκτημένους τὸν λόγον ἡγεμόνα καὶ δικαστὴν δικαιότατον, καὶ τὸν νοῦν διὰ τῆς κατὰ τὸ κρεῖττον ἀνοησίας εἰς τὸν ἐνδότατον τῆς θείας ἀφθεγξίας καταστήσαντας τόπον, ἔνθα μόνης ἐστὶν ἀγνώστως εὐφροσύνης θείας ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι, τὴν τῶν ἀξιουμένων αὐτῆς πεῖραν μόνην ἐχούσης τοῦ οἰκείου μεγέθους διδάσκαλον, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μόνης χρῄζοντας μικρᾶς περὶ τῶν ζητουμένων ἐμφάσεως προδεικτικῆς τοῦ παμφαοῦς κάλλους τῶν