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a sixth one, which, when brought together, bring it to a perfect conclusion. Hence, those skilled in these things have named the number six perfect. But also in six days God by his word wrought the system of all visible things. And it is fitting for those who have beheld the divine glory—that which is beyond all things, which alone is super-perfect and pre-perfect—to be perfect. For it says, "Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." But eight; for it also bears the type of the age to come. For the present life is completed in seven ages. But on the eighth, the future life is proclaimed, as Gregory, great in theology, said when explaining the saying of Solomon, "to give a portion to the seven," which he says is the present life, "and also to the eight," the life to come. And it was necessary on the eighth for the things of the eighth to be revealed to the perfect. For as the truly divine and God-inspired Dionysius said, thus the Master will be seen by his perfect servants, in the manner He was seen by the apostles on Mount Tabor. You have the numbering of the days. 9. But why did he take Peter, and James, and John? Peter, wishing to show that the testimony which he had truly testified was testified by the Father, and confirming his own declaration, that the heavenly Father had revealed this testimony to him, and as the one who would preside and receive the rudders of the whole Church; James, as the one who before all the disciples would die for Christ, and drink His cup, and be baptized with the baptism for His sake. John, as the virgin and most pure instrument of theology, so that having beheld the timeless glory of the Son of God, he might thunder, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God;" for which reason he was also called a son of thunder. 10. But why does he lead the disciples up a high mountain? The divine Scripture tropologically names the virtues as mountains. And of all the virtues, love is the summit and acropolis. For in it perfection is defined. For if someone speaks with the tongues of men and of angels; and if he has faith, so as to move mountains, and all knowledge, and knows all the 96.561 mysteries, and gives his body to be burned, but does not have love, he has become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal without tune, and will be counted as nothing. Therefore it is necessary, having left the things of dust to the dust and having ascended beyond the body of humiliation, and having been led up to the most high and divine vantage point of love, thus to behold the unseen things. For he who has come to the height of love, in a certain way going out of himself, perceives the invisible one, and flying above the impending gloom of the bodily cloud, and coming into the clear sky of the soul, gazes more clearly upon the sun of righteousness, even if he has not been able to be completely filled with the sight. apart and to pray. For stillness is the mother of prayer, and prayer is the manifestation of divine glory. For when we close our senses, and are in communion with ourselves and with God, and being freed from the external rotations of the world, we come to be within ourselves, then we shall clearly see the kingdom of God within ourselves. For "the kingdom of heaven," which is the "kingdom of God," "is within you," declared Jesus our God. Therefore the servants prayed in one way, and the Master in another. For servants approach the Master with fear and longing through petition, and prayer becomes for the mind an agent of departure to and union with God, nourishing it through itself and strengthening it. But the holy mind, united hypostatically to God the Word, how will it pray? How will the Master present himself as one in need? Or is it clear that, making our person his own, and training us, and making a way for the ascent to God through prayer, and teaching that prayer becomes

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ἕκτον ἓν, ἃ συναγόμενα, τέλειον αὐτὸν συμπεραίνουσιν. Ἐντεῦθεν τὸν ἓξ ἀριθμὸν, οἱ περὶ ταῦτα δεινοὶ, τέλειον κατωνόμασαν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν ἓξ ἡμέραις τῶν ὁρωμένων ἁπάντων τὸ σύστημα λόγῳ Θεὸς κατειργάσατο. Τελείους δὲ εἶναι τοὺς τὴν θείαν δόξαν εἰκὸς κατοπτεύσαντας, τὴν πάντων ἐπέκεινα, τὴν μόνην ὑπερτελῆ καὶ προτέλειον. Γίνεσθε γὰρ, φησὶ, τέλειοι, ὡς ὁ Πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος τέλειός ἐστιν. Ὀκτὼ δέ· καὶ γὰρ αἰῶνος φέρει τύπον τοῦ μέλλοντος. Ἑπτὰ γὰρ αἰῶσιν ὁ παρὼν συμπεραίνεται βίος. Ὀγδόῃ δὲ, ἡ μέλλουσα βιοτὴ ἀνηγόρευται, ὡς ὁ μέγας ἐν θεολογίᾳ Γρηγόριος ἔφησε, τὸ Σολομώντειον ῥητὸν ἐξηγούμενος, δοῦναι μερίδα τοῖς ἑπτὰ, τῷ παρόντι βίῳ φάσκων, καί γε τοῖς ὀκτὼ, τῷ μέλλοντι. Ἔδει δὲ ἐν τῇ ὀγδόῃ τὰ τῆς ὀγδόης τοῖς τελείοις ἀποκαλύπτεσθαι. Ὡς γὰρ ὁ θεῖος ὄντως καὶ θεηγόρος ∆ιονύσιος ἔλεξεν, οὕτως ὁ ∆εσπότης ὀφθήσεται τοῖς τελείοις θεράπουσιν αὐτοῦ, ὃν τρόπον ἐν τῷ ὄρει Θαβὼρ τοῖς ἀποστόλοις τεθέαται Ἔχεις τῶν ἡμερῶν τὴν ἀρίθμησιν. θʹ. Ἀλλὰ τί Πέτρον, καὶ Ἰάκωβον, καὶ Ἰωάννηνπαρείληφε; Πέτρον, τὴν μαρτυρίαν, ἣν ἀληθῶς μεμαρτύρηκεν, ἐκ Πατρὸς μεμαρτυρημένην δεικνύναι βουλόμενος, πιστούμενός τε τὴν οἰκείαν ἀπόφασιν, ὡς ὁ πατὴρ ὁ οὐράνιος ταύτην αὐτῷ τὴν μαρτυρίαν ἀπεκάλυψε, καὶ ὡς πρόεδρον, καὶ πάσης τῆς Ἐκκλησίας δεξόμενον τὰ πηδάλια· Ἰάκωβον, ὡς πρὸ πάντων τῶν μαθητῶν ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ τεθνηξόμενον, καὶ αὐτοῦ πιόμενον τὸ ποτήριον, καὶ τὸ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ βαπτισθησόμενον βάπτισμα. Ἰωάννην, ὡς θεολογίας παρθένον καὶ καθαρώτατον ὄργανον, ὅπως τὴν ἄχρονον δόξαν τοῦ Θεοῦ Υἱοῦ θεασάμενος, τὸ, Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος, καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος, βροντήσειεν· ὅθεν καὶ βροντῆς υἱὸς προηγόρευται. ιʹ. Τί δὲ εἰς ὄρος ὑψηλὸν ἀνάγει τοὺς μαθητάς· Ὄρη τροπικῶς τὰς ἀρετὰς ἡ θεία κατονομάζει Γραφή. Πασῶν δὲ τῶν ἀρετῶν κολοφῶν καὶ ἀκρόπολις ἡ ἀγάπη καθέστηκεν. Ἐν ταύτῃ γὰρ ἡ τελειότης ὁρίζεται. Εἰ γάρ τις ταῖς γλώσσαις τῶν ἀνθρώπων λαλῇ καὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων· κἂν ἔχῃ πίστιν, ὥστε ὄρη μεθιστάνειν, καὶ πάσαν τὴν γνῶσιν, καὶ εἴδῃ πάντα τὰ 96.561 μυστήρια, καὶ παραδῷ τὸ σῶμα ἵνα καυθήσηται, ἀγάπην δὲ μὴ ἔχῃ, χαλκὸς ἠχῶν γέγονεν, ἢ κύμβαλον ἀλαλάζον ἄναρθρα, καὶ εἰς οὐδὲν λογισθήσεται. ∆εῖ τοίνυν τὰ τοῦ χοὸς τῷ χοῒ καταλιπόντας καὶ ὑπεραναβεβηκότας τὸ σῶμα τῆς ταπεινώσεως, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ὑψηλοτάτην καὶ θείαν τῆς ἀγάπης ἀναχθέντας περιοπὴν, οὕτω θεωρεῖν τὰ ἀθέατα. Ὁ γὰρ ἐν τῷ ἄκρῳ τῆς ἀγάπης γενόμενος, τρόπον τινὰ ἑαυτοῦ ἐξιστάμενος, κατανοεῖ τὸν ἀόρατον, καὶ τὸν ἐπιπροσθοῦντα ζόφον τοῦ σωματικοῦ νέφους ὑπεριπτάμενος, καὶ ἐν τῇ τῆς ψυχῆς αἰθρίᾳ γενόμενος, ἐνατενίζει τῷ ἡλίῳ τῆς δικαιοσύνης τρανότερον, εἰ καὶ μὴ πάντη τῆς θέας ἐμφορηθῆναι δεδύνηται. Κατ' ἰδίαν καὶ προσεύξασθαι. Μήτηρ γὰρ τῆς προσευχῆς ἡ ἡσυχία, προσευχὴ δὲ, θείας δόξης ἐμφάνεια. Ὅτε γὰρ τὰς αἰσθήσεις μύσωμεν, καὶ ἑαυτοῖς καὶ Θεῷ συγγενώμεθα, καὶ τῆς ἔξωθεν τῆς τοῦ κόσμου περιφορὰς ἐλευθερωθέντες, ἐντὸς ἑαυτῶν γενώμεθα, τότε τρανῶς ἐν ἑαυτοῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν βασιλείαν ὀψόμεθα. Ἡ βασιλεία γὰρ τῶν οὐρανῶν, ἥ τίς ἐστι τοῦ Θεοῦ βασιλεία, ἐντὸς ὑμῶν ἐστιν, Ἰησοῦς ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν ἀπεφθέγξατο. Ἄλλως μὲν οὖν οἱ δοῦλοι, καὶ ἑτέρως ὁ ∆εσπότης προσηύχετο. ∆οῦλοι μὲν γὰρ φόβῳ καὶ πόθῳ δι' αἰτήσεως τῷ ∆εσπότῃ προσίασι, καὶ τῆς πρὸς Θεὸν ἐκδημίας τε καὶ ἑνώσεως ἡ προσευχὴ τῷ νῷ γίνεται πρόξενος, τρέφουσα τοῦτον δι' ἑαυτῆς καὶ ῥωννύουσα. Ὁ δέ γε καθ' ὑπόστασιν ἡνωμένος τῷ Θεῷ Λόγῳ ἅγιος νοῦς, πῶς προσεύξεται; πῶς δὲ ∆εσπότης παραστήσεται δεόμενος; Ἢ δῆλον, ὡς τὸ ἡμέτερον οἰκειούμενος πρόσωπον, καὶ παιδαγωγῶν ἡμᾶς, καὶ ὁδοποιῶν πρὸς τὴν διὰ προσευχῆς πρὸς Θεὸν ἀνάβασιν, καὶ διδάσκων, ὡς τῆς θείας δόξης ἡ προσευχὴ καθίσταται