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became for us wisdom from God, and with the light having risen, which enlightens every man coming into the world, and with day having dawned and the morning star having risen in our faithful hearts, according to the chief of the apostles, they themselves need a wick-trimmer, the knowledge from the outside philosophers that leads to the knowledge of God, and they exhort others—having themselves abandoned purifying themselves in quietness through the supervision of their thoughts and attending to God through unceasing prayer—to grow old in vain, sitting by a smoldering lamp.

Did not that ever come to their mind, that by desire for and partaking of the plant of knowledge we fell from that divine place of delight? For not having been willing to cultivate it and keep it according to the commandment, (p. 72) we yielded to the evil counselor who stole his way in and enticed us with the beauty of the knowledge of good and evil. Perhaps indeed even now this one, to those not willing to cultivate and keep their own heart according to the teaching of the fathers, promises an exact knowledge of the heavenly spheres and the things related to them, of many motions and counter-balances, being a knowledge of good and evil, in that it does not possess the good in its own nature, but in the choice of those who use it, changing along with this toward either. And before these things, and perhaps for the sake of these things, experience and the graces of many-tongued dialects, the power of rhetoric, knowledge of history, the discovery of the mysteries of nature, manifold methods of logical inquiry, multifaceted investigations of the science of calculation, the figuration of immaterial things, multiform measurements, all of which I for my part would say are both good and evil, not only because they are easily altered and transformed toward what seems best to those who use them according to the purpose of those who possess them, but also because leisure for these things is good, exercising the eye of the soul toward keen-sightedness; but to remain attending to this until old age is evil, and it would be for one's good, having exercised oneself moderately, to transfer the struggle to things far better and more lasting, with even the scorning of these studies bringing him a great reward from God. For this reason the second theologian says concerning the great Athanasius that he gained this from external studies, to understand those things which he decided to disregard; and he himself, as he (p. 74) again says, enjoyed this alone from them, to have looked past and possessed those things over which he preferred Christ.

But the evil one, wickedly ever striving to draw us away from better things, begets charms in our souls and binds them with bonds beloved by the foolish, almost indissolubly; he suggests the great and long extent and multitude of these branches of knowledge, just as to others he suggests wealth or inglorious glory and carnal pleasures, so that, having occupied ourselves with the search for these things for our whole life, we might not have the strength to take a firm hold of the discipline that purifies the soul, of which the beginning is the fear of God, from which is born continuous prayer in compunction to God and the keeping of the evangelical decrees, and through these things, a reconciliation with God having been made, fear changes into love and the painfulness of prayer, having been transformed into something pleasant, the flower of illumination blossoms; and from this, like a fragrance spreading to the one who bears it, is the knowledge of the mysteries of God. This is true discipline and knowledge, of which not even the beginning, that is, the fear of God, can one who is possessed by the love of vain philosophy receive, who is entangled and entwined in its turns and theories. For how could it enter into a soul at all, or how, having entered, could it remain, when the soul is preoccupied and takes pleasure in and is, so to speak, constricted by all kinds and manner of reasonings, unless, having bid farewell to all these, it should become wholly of the leisure that is according to God, so that it may also become wholly of His love according to the commandment? For this reason, the beginning of divine wisdom and contemplation is his the

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ἐγενήθη ἡμῖν σοφία ἀπό Θεοῦ, καί τοῦ φωτός ἀνασχόντος, ὅ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τόν κόσμον, ἡμέρας τε διαυγασάσης καί φωσφόρου ἀνατείλαντος ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν τῶν πιστῶν, κατά τό τῶν ἀποστόλων κορυφαῖον, αὐτοί τε δέονται θρυαλλίδος ἐπισκευαστῆς, τῆς ἀπό τῶν ἔξω φιλοσόφων γνώσεως πρός θεογνωσίαν ὁδηγούσης, καί τούς ἄλλους παραινοῦσιν, ἀφεμένοις τοῦ καθ᾿ ἡσυχίαν διά τῆς τῶν λογισμῶν ἐπιστασίας καθαίρειν ἑαυτούς καί δι᾿ ἀδιαλείπτου προσευχῆς προσανέχειν τῷ Θεῷ, καταγηρᾶν μάτην, λύχνῳ τυφομένῳ παρακαθημένους.

Ἆρ᾿ οὐδ᾿ ἐκεῖνο ποτ᾿ ἐπῆλθεν ἐπί νοῦν αὐτοῖς, ὡς ἐφέσει τε καί μεταλήψει τοῦ φυτοῦ τῆς γνώσεως ἐκπεπτώκαμεν ἐκείνου τοῦ θείου χωρίου τῆς τρυφῆς; Ἐργάζεσθαι γάρ αὐτό καί φυλάττειν κατά τήν ἐντολήν οὐκ ἐθελήσαντες, (σελ. 72) εἴξαμεν τῷ πονηρῷ συμβούλῳ τήν εἴσοδον κλέψαντι καί τῷ κάλλει θέλξαντι τῆς γώσεως τοῦ καλοῦ καί τοῦ πονηροῦ. Τάχα δή καί νῦν οὗτος τοῖς μή βουλομένοις ἐργάζεσθαι καί φυλάττειν τήν ἑαυτῶν καρδίαν, κατά τήν τῶν πατέρων ὑφήγησιν, οὐρανίων σφαιρῶν τε καί τῶν κατ᾿ αὐτάς ἀκριβῆ γνῶσιν ἐπαγγέλλεται, πολυκινήτων τε καί ἀντιρρόπων, γνῶσιν οὖσαν καλοῦ καί πονηροῦ, τῷ μή ἐν τῇ ἑαυτῆς φύσει κεκτῆσθαι τό καλόν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν τῇ τῶν χρωμένων προαιρέσει, συμμεταβάλλουσαν ταύτῃ πρός ἑκάτερον. Πρό δέ τούτων, μικροῦ καί διά ταῦτ᾿ ἴσως, ἐμπειρίας τε καί χάριτας πολυγλώσσων διαλέκτων, δύναμιν ρητορείας, εἴδησιν ἱστορίας, μυστηρίων φύσεως εὕρεσιν, πολυειδεῖς μεθόδους λογικῆς πραγματείας, πολυμερεῖς σκέψεις λογιστικῆς ἐπιστήμης, σχηματισμόν ἀύλων πολυσχήμονας ἀναμετρήσεις, ἅ πάντα καλά τε καί πονρά φαίην ἄν ἔγωγε, μή μόνον πρός τό δοκοῦν τοῖς χρωμένοις μεταγινόμενα καί συμμεταμορφούμενα ρᾳδίως τῷ σκοπῷ τῶν ἐχόντων, ἀλλ᾿ ὅτι καί καλόν μέν ἡ πρός ταῦτα σχολή, γνμνάζουσα πρός ὀξυωπίαν τόν τῆς ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμόν˙ παραμένειν δ᾿ ἄχρι γήρως ταύτῃ προσανέχοντα πονηρόν, πρός ἀγαθοῦ δ᾿ ἄν εἴη μετρίως ἐκγυμνασάμενον πρός τά μακρῷ κρείττω καί μονιμώτερα μετασκεύασασθαι τόν ἀγῶνα, πολλήν αὐτῷ καί τῆς τῶν λόγων περιφρονήσεως φερούσης τήν ἐκ Θεοῦ ἀμοιβήν. ∆ιό φησιν ὁ θεολόγος ὁ δεύτερος περί Ἀθανασίου τοῦ πάνυ τοῦτ᾿ ἐκ τῶν ἔξω κερδῆσαι λόγων, τό συνιδεῖν ὧν ὑπεριδεῖν ἐδοκίμασεν˙ αὐτός τε τούτων, ὡς αὐτός (σελ. 74) αὖθις λέγει, τοῦτ᾿ ἀπήλαυσε μόνον, τό παριδεῖν καί ἐσχηκέναι ὧν Χριστόν προετίμησεν.

Ἀλλ᾿ ὁ πονηρός, πονηρῶς ὑποσπᾶν ἡμᾶς τῶν κρειττόνων ἀεί γλιχόμενος, ἴυγγας ἐντίκτει ταῖς ἡμετέραις ψυχαῖς καί δεσμοῖς ἀγαπωμένοις τοῖς ἀνοήτοις σχεδόν ἀδιαλύτως συνδεῖ, τό πολύ τε καί μακρόν ὑποτίθεται μῆκος καί πλῆθος τούτων τῶν γνώσεων, ὥσπερ ἑτέροις πλοῦτον ἤ δόξαν ἄδοξον καί σαρκικάς ἠδονάς, ὡς ἄν, τῇ τούτων ζητήσει διά βίου παντός ἀπασχολήσαντες ἑαυτούς, ἀπρίξ ἐπιλαβέσθαι τῆς καθαιρούσης τήν ψυχήν παιδείας οὐκ ἐξισχύσωμεν, ἧς ἀρχή μέν ὁ φόβος τοῦ Θεοῦ, παρ᾿ οὗ δέησις ἐν κατανύξει συνεχής πρός τόν Θεόν γεννᾶται καί ἡ τῶν εὐαγγελικῶν θεσπισμάτων φυλακή, διά τούτων δέ καταλλαγῆς γεγονυίας πρός θεόν, ὁ φόβος εἰς ἀγάπην μεταβάλλει καί τό τῆς εὐχῆς ὁδυνηρόν εἰς τερπνόν μετενεχθέν τοῦ φωτισμοῦ τό ἄνθος ἀνατέλλει˙ τούτου δ᾿ οἷον ὀσμή διαδιδομένη πρός τόν φέροντα ἡ τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ γνῶσις μυστηρίων. Αὕτη παιδεία καί γνῶσις ἀληθής, ἧς οὐδέ τήν ἀρχήν, τόν τοῦ Θεοῦ φόβον δηλαδή, δύναται χωρῆσαί τις ἐνεσχημένος τῇ τῆς ματαίας ἀγάπῃ φιλοσοφίας καί ταῖς στροφαῖς αὐτῆς καί θεωρίαις ἐνειλούμενός τε καί συστρεφόμενος. Πῶς γάρ ἄν εἰς ψυχήν ὅλως εἰσέλθοι, πῶς δ᾿ εἰσελθών παραμεῖναι δυνηθείη, προκατειλημμένην καί ἐνηδυνομένην καί οἷον στενοχωρουμένην παντοδαποῖς καί πολυτρόποις διαλογισμοῖς, εἰ μή πᾶσι χαίρειν εἰποῦσα τῆς κατά Θεόν ὅλη γένοιτο σχολῆς, ἵνα καί τῆς ἀγάπης ὅλη τούτου γένηται κατά τήν ἐντολήν; ∆ιά τοῦτο γάρ τῆς θείας σοφίας καί θεωρίας ἀρχή ἐστι τούτου ὁ