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1.23 (23rd) Adam, having accepted the side offering pleasure, puts humanity outside of paradise; but the Lord, having had this [side] pierced with pain by the lance, put the thief inside paradise. Let us therefore love the pain of the flesh; but let us hate its pleasure. For the one leads in and restores to good things, but the other leads out and separates from good things.

1.24 (24th) If God suffers in the flesh, having become man, who that suffers does not rejoice, having God as a fellow-participant in his suffering? 1189 to whom suffering with [him] becomes the cause of the kingdom. For true is the one who said: If we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.

15∆_030 1.25 (25th) If it is altogether necessary to feel pain, on account of the pleasure mixed into our nature through the Forefather, let us nobly endure temporary pains, which both blunt for us the sting of pleasure, and free us from the eternal torments that come through it.

1.26 (26th) The end of all good things is love, as it leads to God, the highest of good things and the cause of every good, leading and bringing to and gathering those who walk in it, as it is faithful and unfailing and abiding. For faith is the foundation of the things that come after it, I mean of hope and of love, giving firm substance to the truth. But hope is the strength of the extremes, I mean of love and of faith, revealing through itself both that which is to be believed and that which is to be loved to both, and teaching to make the journey toward it through itself. But love is the fulfillment of these, wholly embracing the whole final object of desire, and granting to them a cessation of the movement toward it, substituting through itself the enjoyment of it as present for believing that it exists and hoping that it will be present.

1.27 (27th) The most perfect work of love, and the limit of its activity, through a relational interchange of those united by it, is to make the properties and the names apply to one another; and to make man god, and God to be called and appear as man, through the one and unchangeable will and movement of both according to the will.

1.28 (28th) If we are to become entirely according to the image of God, of ourselves and of God; or rather, of God alone and wholly, and wholly bearing nothing earthly in ourselves, so that we may draw near to God, and become gods, having received from God the state of being gods. For thus are the divine gifts honored, 15∆_032 and the presence of divine peace is kindly welcomed.

1.29 (29th) A great good is love, and of good things the first and preeminent good, as it joins God and human beings through itself around the one who has it 1192 and as it prepares the maker of human beings to appear as a human being, on account of the exact likeness—insofar as is possible for a human being—of the one being deified to God according to the good; which I understand to be put into effect by this: To love the Lord God with all your heart, and soul, and strength; and your neighbor as yourself.

1.30 (30th) It must be known that by a deceit wickedly contrived through self-love, the devil, having deceived us by an assault of pleasure, separated us in purpose from God and from one another, twisting what is straight, and in this manner dividing nature, and cutting it up into many opinions and fancies.

1.31 (31st) There are three greatest and primal evils, and, to put it simply, productive of all vice: ignorance, I say, and self-love, and tyranny; they are dependent on one another and established through one another. For from ignorance concerning God comes self-love; and from this, comes tyranny over one's kin. And no argument will deny that the evil one brought these into being in us by the misuse of our own faculties, namely, of reason, desire, and temper.

5

1.23 (κγ΄) Ὁ μέν Ἀδάμ τήν πλευράν ἡδονήν προτείνουσαν παραδεξάμενος, ἔξω τοῦ παραδείσου ποιεῖ τό ἀνθρώπινον· ὁ δέ Κύριος πόνῳ ταύτην διά τῆς λόγχης ἀνασχισθείς, τόν λῃστήν ἔσω τοῦ παραδείσου ἐποίησεν. Ἀγαπήσωμεν τοίνυν τόν πόνον τῆς σαρκός· μισήσωμεν δέ ταύτης τήν ἡδονήν· ὁ μέν γάρ εἰσάγει καί τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς ἀποκαθίστησιν· ἡ δέ ἐξάγει καί τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀποδιίστησιν.

1.24 (κδ΄) Εἰ Θεός πάσχει σαρκί, γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος τίς πάσχων οὐ γέγηθε Θεόν ἔχων τοῦ πάθους συμμέτοχον; 1189 ᾧ τό συμπάσχειν, βασιλείας πρόξενον γίνεται. Ἀληθής γάρ ὁ εἰπών· Εἴπερ συμπάσχομεν, ἵνα καί συνδοξασθῶμεν.

15∆_030 1.25 (κε΄) Εἰ πάντως πονῆσαι δεῖ, διά τήν ἐμφυρεῖσαν τῇ φύσει διά τοῦ Προπάτορος ἡδονήν, γενναίως τούς προσκαίρους καρτερήσωμεν πόνους, τῆς τε ἡδονῆς τό κέντρον ἡμῖν ἀμβλύνοντας, καί τῶν δι᾿ αὐτῆς ἡμᾶς αἰωνίων ἐλευθεροῦντας κολάσεων.

1.26 (κστ΄) Πάντων τῶν ἀγαθῶν τέλος ἐστίν ἡ ἀγάπη, ὡς πρός Θεόν τό τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀκρότατον, καί παντός αἴτιον ἀγαθοῦ, τούς ἐν αὐτῇ περιπατοῦντας ἄγουσα καί προσάγουσα καί συνάγουσα, ὡς πιστή καί ἀδιάπτωτος καί μένουσα. Ἡ πίστις γάρ, βάσις ἐστί τῶν μετ᾿ αὐτήν, ἐλπίδος λέγω καί ἀγάπης, βεβαίως τό ἀληθές ὑφεστῶσα. Ἡ δέ ἐλπίς, τῶν ἄκρων ἐστίν ἰσχύς, ἀγάπης λέγω καί πίστεως, τό πιστόν τε δι᾿ ἑαυτῆς καί τό ἐραστόν ἀμφοῖν ὑποφαίνουσα, καί πρός αὐτό τόν δρόμον δι᾿ ἑαυτῆς ποιεῖσθαι διδάσκουσα. Ἡ δέ ἀγάπη, τούτων ἐστί συμπλήρωσις, τό ἔσχατον ὀρεκτόν ὅλον ὅλη περιπτυσσομένη, καί ταύταις τῆς ἐπ᾿ αὐτό κινήσεως στάσιν παρεχομένη, τοῦ πιστεύειν εἶναι, καί ἐλπίζειν παρέσεσθαι, τό ἀπολαύειν παρόντος δι᾿ ἑαυτῆς ἀντεισάγουσα.

1.27 (κζ΄) Ἔργον τῆς ἀγάπης τελειότατον, καί τῆς κατ᾿ αὐτήν ἐνεργείας πέρας, δι᾿ ἀντιδόσεως σχετικῆς τῶν κατ᾿ αὐτήν συνημμένων, ἀλλήλοις ἐμπρέπειν τά ἰδιώματα, καί τάς κλήσεις παρασκευάζειν· καί θεόν μέν τόν ἄνθρωπον ποιεῖν, ἄνθρωπον δέ τόν Θεόν χρηματίζειν καί φαίνεσθαι, διά τήν μίαν καί ἀπαράλλακτον ἀμφοτέρων κατά τό θέλημα βούλησίν τε καί κίνησιν.

1.28 (κη΄) Εἰ κατ᾿ εἰκόνα Θεοῦ πάντως ἡμεῖς γενώμεθα ἑαυτῶν καί τοῦ Θεοῦ· μᾶλλον δέ, μόνου καί ὅλου Θεοῦ, καί ὅλοι μηδέν ἐπίγειον ἐν ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς φέροντες, ἵνα Θεῶ πλησιάσωμεν, καί θεοί γενώμεθα, ἐκ Θεοῦ τό θεοί εἶναι λαβόντες. Οὕτω γάρ τιμᾶται 15∆_032 τά θεῖα δωρήματα, καί ἡ τῆς θείας εἰρήνης φιλοφρονεῖται παρουσία.

1.29 (κθ΄) Μέγα ἀγαθόν ἡ ἀγάπη, καί τῶν ἀγαθῶν τό πρῶτον καί ἐξαίρετον ἀγαθόν, ὡς Θεόν καί ἀνθρώπους δι᾿ ἑαυτῆς περί τόν αὐτήν ἔχοντα συνάπτουσαν 1192 καί ὡς ἄνθρωπον τόν ποιητήν τῶν ἀνθρώπων φανῆναι παρασκευάζουσα, διά τήν τοῦ θεουμένου πρός τόν Θεόν κατά τό ἀγαθόν ὡς ἐφικτόν ἀνθρώπῳ ἀπαραλλαξίαν· ἥν ἐνεργεῖν ὑπολαμβάνω τό, Ἀγαπῆσαι Κύριον τόν Θεόν ἐξ ὅλης καρδίας, καί ψυχῆς καί δυνάμεως· καί τόν πλησίον ὡς ἑαυτόν.

1.30 (λ΄) Ἰστέον, ὡς δόλῳ κακούργως μεμηχανημένῳ διά φιλαυτίας, καθ᾿ ἡδονῆς προσβολήν ἀπατήσας ἡμᾶς ὁ διάβολος, Θεοῦ καί ἀλλήλων κατά γνώμην διέστησε, τό εὐθές διαστρέψας, καί τήν φύσιν κατά τόν τρόπον τοῦτον μερίσας, καί κατατεμών εἰς πολλάς δόξας καί φαντασίας.

1.31 (λα΄) Τρία ἐστί τά μέγιστα καί ἀρχέκακα, καί πάσης ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν, κακίας γεννητικά· ἄγνοια, φημί, καί φιλαυτία καί τυραννίς· ἀλλήλων ἐξηρτημένα καί δι᾿ ἀλλήλων συνιστάμενα. Ἐκ γάρ τῆς περί Θεοῦ ἀγνοίας, ἡ φιλαυτία· ἐκ δέ ταύτης, ἡ πρός τό συγγενές τυραννίς ἐστι. Καί οὐδείς ἀντερεῖ λόγος, μή οὐχί τῷ κατά παράχρησιν τρόπῳ τῶν οἰκείων δυνάμεων, λόγου τε καί ἐπιθυμίας καί θυμοῦ, ταύτας ἐν ἡμῖν τόν πονηρόν ὑποστήσασθαι.