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mounts, and places knowledge in him, as he wishes, and through the mind calming the incontinence of the body.

CHAPTER 64. No one who loves true prayer, and is angry, or bears a grudge, is free from madness; for he is like one who wishes to see sharply, and troubles his own eyes. 79.1181

CHAPTER 65. If you desire to pray, do nothing of the things that are contrary to prayer, so that God, having drawn near, may journey with you.

CHAPTER 66. Do not form an image of the Godhead in yourself while praying, nor allow your mind to be stamped with any form; but approach the Immaterial as an immaterial being, and you will understand.

CHAPTER 67. Beware of the snares of the adversaries. For it happens that while you are praying purely and calmly, a strange and alien form suddenly appears to you, in order to lead you into conceit by making you suppose that the Godhead is there. so that what was suddenly revealed to you might persuade you that the divine is quantitative; but the Godhead is without quantity and without form.

CHAPTER 68. When the envious demon is unable to stir the memory during prayer, then he forces the temperament of the body so as to create a strange phantasy for the mind, and give it a form; but the one accustomed to thoughts is easily bent, and hastening toward immaterial and formless knowledge is deceived, grasping smoke instead of light.

CHAPTER 69. Stand at your post, guarding your mind from thoughts during the time of prayer, to stand in its own stillness, so that the one who has compassion on the ignorant may also visit you, and then you will receive a most glorious gift of prayer

CHAPTER 70. You will not be able to pray purely, if you are entangled in material things, and agitated by constant cares; for prayer is the laying aside of thoughts. CHAPTER 71. A man in chains cannot run, nor can a mind enslaved to passions see the place of spiritual prayer; for it is dragged and carried about by impassioned thought, and does not stand unshaken.

CHAPTER 72. When at last the mind prays purely, without error and truly, the demons no longer approach from the left, but from the right; for they suggest to it a glory of God, and some form pleasing to the senses, so that it seems to have perfectly attained the goal of prayer. And this, a wonderful and gnostic man said, is caused by the passion of vainglory, and by the demon that touches the place in the brain and causes the veins to throb. 79.1184

CHAPTER 73. I think that the demon, by touching the aforesaid place, turns the light around the mind as it wishes, and thus the passion of vainglory is stirred, forming the mind into a thought, frivolous in judgment, towards the fashioning of divine and essential knowledge. And such a person, not being troubled by carnal and impure passions, but standing as if purely, thinks that no contrary operation is any longer taking place in him, whence he suspects it to be a divine manifestation, that which has happened to him from the demon, and which is giving him form, as we said before.

CHAPTER 74. The angel of God, appearing, by a word alone puts a stop to all the opposing energy from us, and moves the light of the mind to act without error.

CHAPTER 75. The saying in the Apocalypse that the angel receives incense to offer with the prayers of the saints, I think this is the grace through the angel

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ἐπιβαίνει, καὶ ἐντιθεὶς αὐτῷ γνῶσιν, ὡς βούλεται, καὶ διὰ τοῦ νοῦ τὴν τοῦ σώματος ἀκρασίαν κατευνάζων.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Ξ∆ʹ. Οὐδεὶς ἐρῶν ἀληθοῦς προσευχῆς, καὶ ὀργιζόμενος, ἢ μνησικακῶν ἐκτός ἐστι παραπληξίας· ὅμοιος γάρ ἐστι τῷ ὀξυωπεῖν θέλοντι, καὶ τοὺς οἰκείους ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐκταράσσοντι. 79.1181

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΞΕʹ. Εἰ προσεύξασθαι ποθεῖς, μηδὲν τῶν ἐναντιουμένων τῇ προσευχῇ πρᾶττε, ἵνα ὁ Θεὸς ἐγγίσας συμπορεύσηταί σοι.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Ξςʹ. Μὴ σχηματίζῃς τὸ Θεῖον ἐν ἑαυτῷ προσευχόμενος, μηδὲ πρὸς μορφήν τινα συγχωρήσῃς τυπωθῆναί σου τὸν νοῦν· ἀλλ' ἄϋλος τῷ ἀΰλῳ πρόσιθι, καὶ συνίσεις.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΞΖʹ. Φυλάττου τὰς παγίδας τῶν ἐναντίων. Γίνεται γὰρ ἐν τῷ προσεύχεσθαί σε καθαρῶς, καὶ ἀταράχως, ἀθρόως ἐπιστῆναί σοι μορφὴν ξένην, καὶ ἀλλόφυλον, πρὸς τὸ εἰς οἴησιν ἀπαγαγεῖν σε τοπάζοντα τὸ Θεῖον ἐκεῖ. ἵνα τὸ ἀθρόως ἐκκαλυφθέν σοι, ποσὸν τὸ θεῖον εἶναι πείσῃ· ἄποσον δὲ τὸ Θεῖον, καὶ ἀσχημάτιστον.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΞΗʹ. Ὅταν μὴ δυνηθῇ τὴν μνήμην κινῆσαι ἐν τῇ προσευχῇ ὁ φθονερὸς δαίμων, τότε τὴν κρᾶσιν τοῦ σώματος ἐκβιάζεται εἰς τὸ ποιῆσαι ξένην τινὰ φαντασίαν τῷ νῷ, καὶ μορφῶσαι αὐτόν· ὁ δὲ ἔχων ἔθος ἐν νοήμασιν, εὐχερῶς κάμπτεται, καὶ πρὸς ἄϋλον, καὶ ἀνείδεον γνῶσιν ἐπειγόμενος ἀπατᾶται, καπνὸν ἀντὶ φωτὸς κατέχων.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΞΘʹ. Στῆθι ἐπὶ τῆς φυλακῆς σου φυλάττων τὸν νοῦν σου ἀπὸ νοημάτων κατὰ τὸν καιρὸν τῆς προσευχῆς, στῆναι ἐπὶ τῇ οἰκείᾳ ἠρεμίᾳ, ἵνα ὁ συμπάσχων τοῖς ἀγνοοῦσι, καὶ σοὶ ἐπιφοιτήσῃ, καὶ τότε λήψῃ δῶρον προσευχῆς εὐκλεέστατον

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Οʹ. Οὐ δυνήσῃ προσεύξασθαι καθαρῶς, πράγμασι συμπλεκόμενος ὑλικοῖς, καὶ φροντίσι συνεχέσι δονούμενος· προσευχὴ γάρ ἐστιν ἀπόθεσις νοημάτων. ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΟΛʹ. Οὐ δύναται δεδεμένος δραμεῖν, οὐδὲ νοῦς πάθεσι δουλεύων προσευχῆς πνευματικῆς τόπον ἰδεῖν· ἕλκεται γὰρ, καὶ περιφέρεται ἐκ τοῦ ἐμπαθοῦς νοήματος, καὶ οὐχ ἵσταται ἀκλόνητος.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΟΒʹ. Ἐπὰν καθαρῶς λοιπὸν, ἀπλανῶς καὶ ἀληθῶς προσεύχηται ὁ νοῦς τὸ τηνικαῦτα. οὐκ ἔτι ἐκ τῶν ἀριστερῶν ὑπέρχονται οἱ δαίμονες, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῶν δεξιῶν· ὑποτίθενται γὰρ αὐτῷ δόξαν Θεοῦ, καὶ σχηματισμόν τινα τῶν τῇ αἰσθήσει φίλων, ὡς δοκεῖν τελείως τετεῦχθαι αὐτὸν τοῦ περὶ προσευχῆς σκοποῦ. Τοῦτο δὲ, ἔφρασε θαυμαστὸς καὶ γνωστικὸς ἀνὴρ, ὑπὸ τοῦ τῆς κενοδοξίας πάθους γίνεσθαι, καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ δαίμονος τοῦ ἁπτομένου, τοῦ κατὰ τὸν ἐγκέφαλον τόπου, καὶ φλεψὶ πάλλοντος. 79.1184

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΟΓʹ. Οἶμαι τὸν δαίμονα ἐφαπτόμενον τοῦ εἰρημένου τόπου τὸ περὶ τὸν νοῦν φῶς τρέπειν καθὼς βούλεται, καὶ οὕτω κινεῖσθαι τὸ τῆς κενοδοξίας πάθος, εἰς λογισμὸν μορφοῦντα τὸν νοῦν κοῦφον γνωμόνως πρὸς τὸν ἀναπλασμὸν τῆς θείας καὶ οὐσιώδους γνώσεως, μὴ ὀχλούμενος δὲ ὁ τοιοῦτος ὑπὸ σαρκικῶν, καὶ ἀκαθάρτων παθῶν, ἀλλὰ καθαρῶς δῆθεν παρεστηκὼς, δοκεῖ μηκέτι ἐνέργειάν τινα ἐναντίαν γίνεσθαι ἐν ἑαυτῷ, ὅθεν ὑποπτεύει θεῖαν εἶναι ἐπιφάνειαν τὴν γενομένην αὐτῷ ὑπὸ τοῦ δαίμονος, καὶ μορφοῦντος αὐτὸν, καθῶς προέφαμεν.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Ο∆ʹ. Ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἄγγελος ἐπιστὰς λόγῳ μόνῳ ἅπασαν τὴν ἀντικειμένην ἐνέργειαν παύει ἐξ ἡμῶν, καὶ κινεῖ τὸ φῶς τοῦ νοῦ ἀπλανῶς ἐνεργεῖν.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΟΕʹ. Τὸ λέγειν ἐν τῇ Ἀποκαλύψει κομίζεσθαι τὸν ἄγγελον θυμίαμα ἵνα δῷ εἰς τὰς προσευχὰς τῶν ἁγίων, οἶμαι τὴν χάριν εἶναι ταύτην διὰ τοῦ ἀγγέλου