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and is contemplated through both; and this Providence wisely contrives, so that the principle of things that are altered becomes a pedagogy for the confirmation of eternal things. All things change into one another, and each is reversed by each; and through one another they confirm their own corruption rather than their generation.

Let us not, therefore, bind the incorruptible soul to things of the moment; nor let us weigh down the mind, dragging it to the earth with care for material things, for it is by nature free from matter. Let us by reason naturally separate from one another things that never in essence 0377 coincide with one another; and no labor will remain for us to draw the uncompounded soul, which is in no way able to admit a dissolution of its nature, away from its attachment to corruptible things. Let us flee Sodom: the error of the senses concerning sensible things; I mean also the confusion, so that we may flee the conflagration; I mean the punishment that certainly follows these things through fire. Let us be saved on the mountain, that is, to the height of the life according to God, so that we may not be taken along with them, we who have not yet been wholly removed from the senses, even if we seem, like the blessed Lot, to be idle from wickedness(7), by not cooperating 15Β_030 in like things with the Sodomites; that is, with the passions that come through the senses, the things appropriate to the passions. Let us with all our strength run past the things that run past, which can in no way be held by us, having as their very nature a passing flux for their substance; and which only cause to grow in us a badly marked disposition of the soul toward them, on account of which every torment is destined to be inflicted upon the condemned. Let us relinquish all things eagerly, or let us lend them in advance to God through those in need, things of which deprivation follows for us naturally by necessity. Let us relinquish by our will according to our choice the things that by nature, out of necessity, both relinquish and are relinquished. Let us not, through an irrational attachment, make the soul, which naturally images its own Creator, a possession of things that come to be and pass away; the soul that never, after coming into being, receives an end, and is commanded always to seek God through all things and to hasten toward Him. Let us not wish to have what we cannot hold; nor let us be attached to things that are surely passing away as if they were eternal. For the fashion of this world passes away, as the Saint has said; and: Heaven and earth will pass away, as the God of the Saint has said; and let us accept the divine and true decree, and let us by faith in the word anticipate its power, and let us be assured of the outcome of what has been said through clear demonstration. For that of which the parts are subject to corruption and alteration, as one of our wise men said, of this the whole also, clearly, even if the time has not yet arrived in effect, in which these things, the whole will undergo; since also every man, from what he suffers each day, knows by nature that he will die, even if death is not yet present in actuality.

Let us become, therefore, our own, and God's; or rather, God's alone, and not at all of the flesh and of the world. Let us prepare to call upon our God according to what is written: 15Β_032 Prepare to call upon your God, O Israel; which is, let us be cleansed of evil marks and defilements, casting off from ourselves even the mere fantasies of the passions, as far as possible. For thus is everyone who wishes to prepare well truly prepared; so that we may receive through the 0380 virtues, as through certain divine colors, the precise assimilation to God. For so he calls upon Him fittingly, who is not ignorant of how one must call upon God; for preparation is, in my opinion, the alienation from the passions; and invocation, the genuine appropriation to God through the virtues. Or again, preparation is the splendor that comes to be in the worthy through the virtues; and invocation, the reception of the deifying grace through true knowledge. For thus we will be able to have our garments always white, according to what is written; that is, our ways bright through the virtues; and transparent, and

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καί δι᾿ ἀμφοῖν θεωρούμενον· καί τοῦτο σοφῶς τῆς προνοίας μηχανωμένης, ἵνα γένηται πρός τήν τῶν αἰωνίων πίστωσιν ὁ τῶν ἀλλοιουμένων λόγος παιδαγωγία. Πάντα μεταβάλλει εἰς ἄλληλα, καί περιτρέπεται ἕκαστον ἑκάστῳ· καί δι᾿ ἀλλήλων μᾶλλον κυροῦσιν ἑαυτῶν τήν φθοράν ἤ τήν γένεσιν.

Μή τοίνυν ἐνδήσωμεν τοῖς ἐπικαίροις τήν μή φθειρομένην ψυχήν· μηδέ βαρήσωμεν τόν νοῦν κατασπῶντες πρός γῆν τῇ φροντίδι τῶν ὑλικῶν, ὕλης ὄντα κατά φύσιν ἐλεύθερον. Φυσικῶς ἀλλήλων διέλωμεν τῷ λόγῳ, τά μηδέποτε κατ᾿ οὐσίαν ἀλλήλοις 0377 συμπίπτοντα· καί οὐδείς κόπος ἡμῖν περίεστιν ἑλκύσαι τῆς προσπαθείας τῶν φθειρομένων, τήν ἀσύνθετον καί μηδαμῶς διάλυσιν φύσεως ἐπιδέξασθαι δυναμένην ψυχήν. Φύγωμεν Σόδομα· τήν περί τά αἰσθητά τῶν αἰσθήσεων πλάνην· λέγω καί σύγχυσιν, ἵνα φύγωμεν τόν ἐμπρησμόν· τήν τούτοις φημί πάντως διά πυρός ἑπομένην κόλασιν. Εἰς τό ὄρος σωθῶμεν, εἰς τό ὕψος δηλαδή τῆς κατά Θεόν πολιτείας, ἵνα μή συμπαραληφθῶμεν, οἱ μήπω τῶν αἰσθήσεων ὁλικῶς ἐξοικισθέντες, κἄν ἀργεῖν δοκῶμεν κατά τόν μακάριον Λώτ ἀπό κακίας(7), τῷ μή συνεργάζεσθαι 15Β_030 τοῖς Σοδομίταις τά ὅμοια· τουτέστι, τοῖς διά τῶν αἰσθήσεων πάθεσι, τά πρόσφορα πάθεσι. Παραδράμωμεν ὅση δύναμις τά παρατρέχοντα, καί κρατεῖσθαι μέν παρ᾿ ἡμῶν οὐδαμῶς δυνάμενα, αὐτήν ἔχοντα φύσιν τήν παροδικήν ῥεῦσιν ὑπόστασιν· μόνην δέ ἡμῖν ἀναφυέντα τήν ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς τῆς ψυχῆς κακῶς ἐστιγμένην διάθεσιν, δι᾿ ἥν πᾶσα μέλλει τοῖς κατακρίτοις ἐπανατείνεσθαι βάσανος. Ἀφῶμεν πάντα προθύμως, ἤ Θεῷ διά τῶν δεομένων προχρήσωμεν, ὧν ἐξ ἀνάγκης φυσικῶς ἡμῖν παρέπεται στέρησις. Ἀφῶμεν γνωμικῶς κατά θέλησιν, τά φυσικῶς κατ᾿ ἀνάγκης ἀφίεντά τε καί ἀφιέμενα. Μή ποιήσωμεν τοῖς γινομένοις τε καί ἀπογινομένοις διά ἀλογίστου σχέσεως κάτοχον, τήν τόν Ποιητήν ἑαυτῆς φυσικῶς εἰκονίζουσαν ψυχήν· τήν μηδέποτε μετά τό γενέσθαι πέρας τοῦ λαμβάνουσαν, καί ἀεί ζητεῖν τόν Θεόν διά πάντων, καί πρός αὐτόν ἐπείγεσθαι προστεταγμένην. Μή θελήσωμεν ἔχειν ἅπερ κρατεῖν οὐ δυνάμεθα· μήτε μήν ὡς αἰωνίοις προστεθῶμεν τοῖς πάντως παρερχομένοις. Παράγει γάρ τό σχῆμα τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, καθώς εἶπεν ὁ Ἅγιος· καί· Ὁ οὐρανός, καί ἡ γῆ παρελεύσεται, καθώς εἴρηκεν ὁ τοῦ Ἁγίου Θεός· καί δεχώμεθα τήν θείαν ἀψευδῶς ἀπόφασιν, καί φθάνωμεν τῇ πίστει τοῦ λόγου τήν δύναμιν, καί πιστούμεθα δι᾿ ἀποδείξεως ἐναργοῦς τῶν λεγομένων τήν ἔκβασιν. Οὗτινος γάρ τά μέρη φθοραῖς καί ἀλλοιώσεσιν ὑπόκειται, καθώς τις τῶν ἡμετέρων ἔφη σοφός, τούτου καί τό πᾶν δηλονότι, κἄν μήπω δι᾿ ἐνεργείας ἐφέστηκεν ὁ καιρός, ἐν ὧ ταῦτα, τό πᾶν ὑποστίσεται· ἐπεί καί πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ἐξ ὧν πάσχει καθ᾿ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν, φυσικῶς οἶδε τεθνήξεσθαι, κἄν μήπω πάρεστι διά τῶν πραγμάτων ὁ θάνατος.

Γενώμεθα τοίνυν ἑαυτῶν, καί τοῦ Θεοῦ· μᾶλλον δέ μόνου Θεοῦ, ἀλλά μή τῆς σαρκός ὅλως καί τοῦ κόσμου. Ἑτοιμασθῶμεν τοῦ ἐπικαλεῖσθαι τόν Θεόν ἡμῶν κατά τό γεγραμμένον· 15Β_032 Ἑτοιμάζου, τοῦ ἐπικαλεῖσθαι τόν Θεόν σου, Ἰσραήλ· ὅπερ ἐστί, καθαρθῶμεν τῶν κακῶν στιγμάτων καί μολυσμῶν, ἀποβαλόντες ἑαυτῶν καί αὐτάς ψιλάς τῶν παθῶν, κατά τό δυνατόν, τάς φαντασίας. Οὕτω γάρ ἀληθῶς ἑτοιμάζεται πᾶς ἑτοιμάζεσθαι θέλων καλῶς· ἵνα δεξώμεθα διά τῶν 0380 ἀρετῶν, ὡς διά τινων θείων χρωμάτων τήν ἀκριβῆ πρός Θεόν ἀξομοίωσιν. Οὕτω γάρ ἐπικαλεῖται δεόντως, ὁ τόν Θεόν πῶς ἐπικαλεῖσθαι χρή μή ἀγνοῶν· ἑτοιμασία γάρ ἐστι, κατ᾿ ἐμέ φάναι, τῶν παθῶν ἀλλοτρίωσις· ἐπίκλησις δε, ἡ γνησία διά τῶν ἀρετῶν πρός Θεόν οἰκείωσις. Ἤ πάλιν, ἑτοιμασία ἐστίν, ἡ διά τῶν ἀρετῶν τοῖς ἀξίοις ἐγγινομένη λαμπρότης· ἐπίκλησις δέ, ἡ διά γνώσεως ἀληθοῦς ὑποδοχή τῆς θεοποιοῦ χάριτος. Οὕτω γάρ ἄν λευκά διά παντός τά ἱμάτια ἔχειν δυνησόμεθα, κατά τό γεγραμμένον· τουτέστι φαιδρούς τούς διά τῶν ἀρετῶν τρόπους· καί διαφανεῖς, καί