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ambiguous things, once the self-subsistent truth manifest to all is shown, there is no choice that is moved through intermediate things and matters that are up to us; because neither is there judgment, which makes a distinction of opposites, of which we make the better preferable to the worse; but if then, according to the now prevailing law of nature, there is no choice, all ambiguity of beings having ceased, there will be only an active, intellectual appetite for those who are by nature so appetitive; ineffably apprehending only the mystical enjoyment of the naturally desirable, towards which it had its motion through the things enumerated; whose satiety is the infinite intensification of the very appetite of those who enjoy; each one supernaturally partaking as much as he desired; and an immediate co-mingling with that which is by nature desired. But if one will partake of what is desired as much as he desired, 0025 then according to the principle of nature, the will of all will be shown to be one; but according to the mode of motion, it will be different.

But if in the mode according to motion the will of all men is not one; then the will of both God and the saved will never become one in every way, as some have thought; even if the thing willed is one for both God and the saints, namely, the salvation of the saved, being a divine purpose, pre-conceived as the end of all the ages; concerning which, an agreement according to will shall come to be, both of the saved with one another and with God who saves; God, who fills all things by the measure of grace, having contained the whole generally in all, and each thing particularly; 15Α_032 and being filled in all, in the manner of members, according to the analogy of faith in each of those who are ingrafted in him. For if the will of God is by nature saving, and that of men is by nature being saved, that which by nature saves and that which by nature is saved could never be the same; even if the purpose of both has become one, the salvation of all; proposed by God, and chosen by the saints.

But if the divine and the human will shall be identical and one in number, according to those who say so, since God by will established all the ages, then the choir of saints will also be creator by the same will, whether natural or gnomic; and simply, by which they are disposed to be identified with the divine; which is absurd, and is, I think, the work of a wandering mind only. For as long as not all are creators, or only apostles, or only prophets; and these again, either only Peter, or only Moses; and there are not one, but many, mansions with God the Father for the saints; that the human will, moved toward it in imitation, should be identical in both natural quality and quantity to the naturally good will, is impossible (for how could that which by nature participates be identical with that which by nature is participated in?); for the mind of both God and the choir of saints to be one in every way is impossible; even if, as I said, the thing willed by both is one, the salvation of all, concerning which is the union of the wills. But, as it seems, being ignorant of what kind of absurd argument arises for them from what they say, they allow their own thought to be carried aimlessly toward what it should not. For if will is not conceived or spoken of in any way as unrelated, and is not predicated without the genus of relation, it is a quality, but 15Α_034 not of things in themselves, as it is manifestly contemplated in another. And if will is among the things contemplated in another, it is certainly an accident; and if it is an accident, it will be characteristic either of substance(4), or of hypostasis 0028 (for there is nothing intermediate between these that is contemplated in itself, either partaking of neither, or composed of both); and if of substance, they will predicate one nature of both God and the saints; all having undergone a contraction into one substance through the one will. For what is predicated generally and equally of certain things is indicative of the substance under which they are. But if of hypostasis, there will be one hypostasis of all, both of God and of the saints, all being fused together into the same. For what is particularly to someone in relation to

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ἀμφίβολα, τῆς αὐθυποστάτου πᾶσιν ἐμφανοῦς ἀληθείας δειχθείσης, προαίρεσις οὐκ ἔστι διά τῶν μέσων καί ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν ὄντων κινουμένη πραγμάτων· ὅτι μηδέ κρίσις, ἀφορισμόν ποιουμένη τῶν ἀντικειμένων, ὧν τό κρεῖττον ποιούμεθα πρό τοῦ χείρονος αἱρετόν· εἰ δέ τότε κατά τόν νῦν κρατοῦντα νόμον τῆς φύσεως, προαίρεσις οὐκ ἔστι, πάσης ἀπογενομένης τῶν ὄντων ἀμφιβολίας, ὄρεξις ἐνεργής ἔσται μόνη νοερά, τοῖς οὕτω κατά φύσιν ὀρεκτικοῖς· μόνης ἀφράστως ἐπειλημμένη τῆς τοῦ κατά φύσιν ὀρεκτοῦ μυστικῆς ἀπολαύσεως, πρός ἤν ἔσχε διά τῶν ἀπηριθμημένων τήν κίνησιν· ἧς ὁ κόρος ἐστίν, ἡ ἐπ᾿ ἄπειρον ἐπίτασις αὐτῆς τῆς τῶν ἀπολαυόντων ὀρέξεως· ἑκάστου τοσοῦτον ὑπερφυῶς μεθέξοντος, ὅσον ἐπόθησε· καί πρός αὐτό τό φύσει ποθούμενον ἄμεσος συνανάκρασις. Εἰ δέ ὅσον τις ἐπόθησε, 0025 τοσοῦτον μεθέξει τοῦ ποθουμένου· τῷ μέν τῆς φύσεως λόγῳ, μία δειχθήσεται πάντων ἡ θέλησις· τῷ δέ τῆς κινήσεως τρόπῳ, διάφορος.

Εἰ δέ τρόπῳ τῷ κατά τήν κίνησιν οὐ μία πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἡ θέλησις· οὐδέποτε μία τοῦ τε Θεοῦ καί τῶν σωζομένων, ὥς τισιν ἔδοξε, κατά πάντα τρόπον γενήσεται θέλησις· κἄν ἕν τό θεληθέν ἐστι τῷ τε Θεῷ καί τοῖς ἁγίοις, ἡ σωτηρία τῶν σωζομένων· σκοπός ὑπάρχουσα θεῖος, ὥς τέλος πάντων προεπινοηθέν τῶν αἰώνων· περί ὅ, τῶν τε σωζομένων πρός ἀλλήλους καί Θεοῦ τοῦ σώζοντος, κατά τήν θέλησιν γενήσεται σύμβασις· ὅλου ἐν πᾶσι γενικῶς , καί τό καθ᾿ ἕκαστον ἰδικῶς χωρήσαντος τοῦ Θεοῦ, τοῦ τά πάντα πληροῦντος τῷ μέτρῳ τῆς χάριτος· 15Α_032 καί ἐν πᾶσι πληρουμένου, μελῶν δίκην, κατά τήν ἀναλογίαν τῆς ἐν ἑκάστῳ πίστεως αὐτῷ συμφυεῖσιν. Εἰ γάρ τοῦ μέν Θεοῦ τό θέλημα φύσει σωστικόν, τό δέ τῶν ἄνθρώπων φύσει σωζόμενον ταυτόν οὐκ ἄν εἴη ποτέ τό φύσει σῶζον, καί τό φύσει σωζόμενον· κἄν εἷς ἀμφοτέρων σκοπός, ἡ σωτηρία τῶν ὅλων καθέστηκεν· ὑπό μέν τοῦ Θεοῦ προβεβλημένη· ὑπό δέ τῶν ἁγίων προῃρημένη.

Εἰ δέ ταυτόν ἔσται καί ἕν ἀριθμῷ τό τε θεῖον καί τό ἀνθρώπινον θέλημα, κατά τούς λέγοντας, ἐπειδή θελήματι πάντας ὁ Θεός ὑπέστησε τούς αἰῶνας, ἔσται τῷ αὐτῷ θελήματι δημιουργός καί ὁ τῶν ἁγίων χορός, εἴτε φυσικῷ, εἴτε γνωμικῷ· καί ἁπλῶς, ᾧ πεφύκασι πρός τό θεῖον ταυτίζεσθαι· ὅπερ ἄτοπον, καί μόνης, ὡς οἶμαι, ῥεμβαζομένης ἔργον διανοίας ἐστιν. Ἑως γάρ ἄν μή πάντες δημιουργοί, ἤ μόνον ἀπόστολοι, ἤ μόνον προφῆται· καί οὗτοι πάλιν, ἤ Πέτρος μόνον, ἤ Μωσῆς μόνον· καί οὐ μία, πολλαί δέ παρά τῷ Θεῷ καί Πατρί μοναί τοῖς ἁγίοις εἰσί· τῷ τε κατά φύσιν ἀγαθῷ θελήματι, τό κατά μίμησιν πρός αὐτό κινηθέν ἀνθρώπινον, ποιότητι τε φυσικῇ καί ποσότητι εἴη ταυτόν, ὅπερ ἀμήχανον (πῶς γάρ ἄν τῷ φύσει μεθεκτικῷ, τό φύσει μεθεκτόν εἴη ταυτόν;) μίαν γνώμην κατά πάντα τρόπον εἶναι τοῦ τε Θεοῦ καί τοῦ τῶν ἁγίων χοροῦ, ἀδύνατον· κἄν, ὡς εἶπον, ἕν ἐστιν ἀμφοτέροις τό θεληθέν, ἡ σωτηρία τῶν ὅλων· περί ἥν τῶν θελημάτων ἡ ἕνωσις. Ἀλλ᾿, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἀγνοοῦτες οἷος αὐτοῖς ἐξ ὧν λέγουσιν ἀτοπίας ἀναφύεται λόγος, ἀσκόπως ἐφ᾿ ἅ μή δεῖ φέρεσθαι τήν σφῶν αὐτῶν συγχωροῦσι διάνοιαν. Εἰ γάρ οὐκ ἔστι θέλημα, ὁπωσοῦν νοούμενον ἤ λεγόμενον ἄσχετον, καί τό πρός τι γένος οὐκ ἔχον κατηγορούμενον· ποιότης ἐστίν, ἀλλ᾿ 15Α_034 οὐ τῶν καθ᾿ αὐτά, ὡς ἐν ἑτέρῳ δηλαδή θεωρούμενον. Εἰ δέ τῶν ἐν ἑτέρῳ θεωρουμένων ἐστί τό θέλημα, συμβεβηκός πάντως ἐστίν· εἰ δέ συμβεβηκός, ἤ οὐσίας(4), ἤ ὑποστάσεως ἔσται χαρακτηριστικόν 0028 (τούτων γάρ οὐδέν μέσον ἐστί καθ᾿ αὐτό θεωρούμενον, ἤτοι μηδετέρων μετέχον, ἤ ἐξ ἀμφοῖν σύνθετον)· καί εἰ μέν οὐσίας, μίαν τοῦ τε Θεοῦ καί τῶν ἁγίων φύσιν κατηγορήσουσι· πάντων διά τοῦ ἑνός θελήματος, τήν εἰς μίαν οὐσίαν παθόντων συναίρεσιν. Τό γάρ γενικῶς τινων ἐπίσης κατηγορούμενον, οὐσίας, ὑφ᾿ ἥν τελοῦσιν, ὑπάρχει δηλωτικόν. Εἰ δέ ὑποστάσεως, μία πάντων ἔσται τοῦ τε Θεοῦ καί τῶν ἁγίων ὑπόστασις, πάντων ἀλλήλοις εἰς ταυτόν συγχωνευθέντων. Τό γάρ ἰδικῶς τινι καθ᾿