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For if the knowledges: An explanation of what has been said. And he spoke well; for if knowledges are concerned with substances and beings, but God is neither in substance nor is He any of the beings, it is reasonable that He is also beyond knowledge.

§ 5. Neither imagination: Imagination is one thing, and thought, or concept, is another; for they arise both from different faculties and by a property of motion; for thought is an activity and a making, while imagination is a passion and an impression announcing some sensible thing or as some sensible thing; and sensation perceives beings according to an aggregate formation, but the mind touches upon, that is, perceives beings in another way, and not as sensation does. Concerning, then, the bodily or the spiritual or in that the senses exist, as we also said before, the passive and 14S_040 formative is a movement, but the critical and perceptive must be assigned to the soul and to the mind. To this perceptive faculty of the soul, therefore, one must also subordinate the imaginative; for the imaginative is divided into three parts: first, into the representative faculty of perceptions with regard to the things that make the perception sensible; second, the faculty that re-forms from the remaining remnants of these, not having the images fixed on anything, which they also call properly the imaginative; third, in which all pleasure from that which seems good according to imagination or seems evil according to grief is constituted. Therefore, as has been said, no imagination has a place in relation to God, for He is absolutely beyond and above all conception; and opinion is a certain assumption according to appearance from what is apparent.

Nor contact: He now calls intellectual apprehension "contact"; for when we apply the mind with knowledge to intelligible and immaterial things, we seem as if to touch them and through the mind to perceive what sort of things they are, just as through the sense of touch we perceive sensible things; but in the case of God we do not even touch Him intellectually.

Uncalled and above name: Uncalled, he says, instead of, not being called by any distinguishing mark. For He Himself calls the things that are not as though they were, as Cyrus so many years before and Josiah.

But what: The discourse *On the Theological Outline* is sought. The one-in-Godness: He speaks in a way of the all-holy Trinity as one-in-Godness. Angel-fitting unions: Having said of God, that He is incomprehensible to us and

unutterable, he then establishes the point about God from the lesser; for if the things concerning the angels are unknown to us, 14S_042 what must be thought concerning God? He says, therefore, that the angelic creations are like certain projections of the goodness of God; and "projection" must be understood as the motion that is divided without parts into each of the things being produced, that is, into the production of each of the intelligible beings. But it is also possible to understand it thus, that the modes of unions with God, inasmuch as it is fitting for angels to be united to God, by which union with God, they either attain to the goodness of God according to their own worth, or they receive from Him the revelation of His goodness; and thus they are incomprehensible not only to us, but also to the lower angels; but they are known only to the highest angels, since they have been deemed worthy of the aforementioned mode of unions. And in the discourse *On the Celestial Hierarchy* he also speaks of the angelic orders.

To these the godlike: The godlike minds, which he says in imitation of the angels, insofar as they are able, are led into union with the holy powers, which powers he previously called angels; we must understand as the theologians among us, I mean both prophets and apostles; for indeed one must not suppose them to be angels, especially from his saying "in imitation of the angels"; for an angel does not imitate an angel, but the lesser one does; and calling the theologians minds, he said that they attain the angel-imitating union with God, as far as is possible, according to

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Εἰ γάρ αἱ γνώσεις: Ἐπεξήγησις τῶν εἰρημένων. Καλῶς δέ εἶπεν· εἰ γάρ αἱ γνώσεις περί τάς οὐσίας καί τά ὄντα εἰσίν, ὁ Θεός δέ οὔτε ἐν οὐσίᾳ οὔτε τι τῶν ὄντων ἐστίν, εἰκότως καί γνώσεως ἐπέκεινά ἐστιν.

§ 5. Οὔτε φαντασία: Ἕτερόν ἐστι φαντασία, καί ἕτερον νόησις, ἤτοι νόημα· ἀπό τε γάρ διαφόρων δυνάμεων γίνονται καί ἰδιότητι κινήσεως· ἡ μέν γάρ νόησις ἐνέργειά ἐστι καί ποίησις, ἡ δέ φαντασία πάθος καί τύπωσις ἀναγγελτική αἰσθητοῦ τινος ἤ ὡς αἰσθητοῦ τινος· καί ἡ μέν αἴσθησις ἀντιλαμβάνεται τῶν ὄντων κατά ἀθρόαν μόρφωσιν, ὁ δέ νοῦς ἐσάπτεται, τουτέστιν ἀντιλαμβάνεται τῶν ὄντων ἑτέρῳ τρόπῳ, καί οὐχ οἵῳ ἡ αἴσθησις. Περί μέν οὖν τό σωματικόν ἤ τό πνευματικόν ἤ ἐν τῷ τάς αἰσθήσεις εἶναι καί πρῴην ἔφημεν, τό παθητικόν καί 14S_040 μορφωτικόν ἐστι κίνημα, τό δέ κριτικόν καί ἀντιληπτικόν, τῇ ψυχῇ καί τῷ νῷ δοτέον. Τοῦτο οὖν τῷ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀντιληπτικῷ καί τό φανταστικόν ὑποστεῖλαι δεῖ· διαιρεῖται γάρ ἡ φανταστική εἰς τρεῖς μοίρας· πρώτην μέν εἰς τήν τῶν ἀντιλήψεων εἰκονιστικήν πρός τά ποιοῦντα αἰσθητήν τήν ἀντίληψιν· δευτέραν δέ τήν ἐκ τῶν μενόντων ἐγκαταλειμμάτων ἀπό τούτων ἀνατυπωτικήν, μή ἔχουσαν ἐρηρεισμένας ἐπί τι τάς εἰκόνας, ἥν καί ἰδίως φανταστικήν καλοῦσι· τρίτην ἐν ᾗ πᾶσα ἡδονή τοῦ κατά φαντασίαν δοκοῦντος ἀγαθοῦ ἤ δοκοῦντος κακοῦ κατά λύπην συνίσταται. Οὐδεμία τοίνυν, καθά εἴρηται, φαντασία χώραν ἔχει ἐπί Θεοῦ πάντων γάρ ἁπαξαπλῶς ὑπέρ ἔννοιάν ἐστι καί ὑπέρκειται· δόξα δέ ἐστιν ἡ ἐκ τοῦ φαινομένου κατά τό δοκοῦν τοιάδε τις ὑπόληψις.

Οὔτε ἐπαφή: Ἐπαφήν νῦν φησι τήν νοεράν κατάληψιν· καί γάρ τοῖς νοητοῖς καί ἀΰλοις τῷ νῷ ἐπιστητῶς ἐπιβάλλοντες, δοκοῦμεν ὥσπερ ἅπτεσθαι αὐτῶν καί διά τοῦ νοῦ αἰσθάνεσθαι ὁποῖά εἰσιν, ὡς καί διά τῆς ἁφῆς τῶν αἰσθητῶν· ἐπί δέ Θεοῦ οὐδέ νοερῶς ἐφαπτόμεθα.

Ἀκλήτου καί ὑπερωνύμου: Ἀκλήτου, φησί, ἀντί τοῦ, μή καλουμένου τινί γνωρίσματι. Αὐτός γάρ καλεῖ τά μή ὄντα ὡς ὄντα, ὡς τόν Κῦρον πρό τοσούτων ἐτῶν καί τόν Ἰωσίαν.

Ἀλλ' ὅπερ: Ζητεῖται ὁ Περί θεολογικῆς ὑπστυπώσεως λόγος. Τήν ὁμόθεον: Ὁμόθεόν πως λέγει τήν παναγίαν Τριάδα. Ἀγγελοπρεπεῖς ἑνώσεις: Εἰπών περί τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὅτι ἀνεννόητος ἡμῖν ἐστι καί

ἄφθεγκτος, ἐκ τοῦ ἐλάττονος λοιπόν τό περί Θεοῦ συνίστησιν· εἰ γάρ τά περί τῶν ἀγγέλων ἡμῖν ἄγνωστά 14S_042 ἐστι, τί περί τοῦ Θεοῦ λογιστέον; Φησίν οὖν, ὅτι αἱ ἀγγελικαί δημιουργίαι οἷά τινές εἰσιν ἐπιβολαί τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀγαθότητος· ἐπιβολήν δέ νοητέον, τήν εἰς τό καθ' ἕν τῶν παραγομένων μεριζομένην ἀμερῶς κίνησιν, τουτέστιν εἰς τήν ἑκάστου τῶν νοητῶν παραγωγήν. ∆υνατόν δέ καί οὕτω νοῆσαι, ὅτι οἱ τρόποι τῶν πρός Θεόν ἑνώσεων, καθόσον πρέπει ἀγγέλους ἑνοῦσθαι Θεῷ, καθ' ἥν πρός Θεόν ἕνωσιν, ἤ ἐπιβάλλουσι κατά τήν οἰκείαν ἀξίαν τῇ ἀγαθότητι τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἤ παραδέχονται παρ' αὐτοῦ τῆς ἀγαθότητος αὐτοῦ τήν ἀποκάλυψιν· καί οὕτως ἀκατάληπτοί εἰσιν οὐ μόνον ἡμῖν, ἀλλά καί τοῖς κατωτέροις ἀγγέλοις· μόνοις δέ τοῖς ἀνωτάτω ἀγγέλοις γινώσκονται, ἅτε ἠξιωμένοις τόν εἰρημένον τρόπον τῶν ἑνώσεων. Ἐν δέ τῷ Περί τῆς οὐρανίας ἱεραρχίας λόγῳ φησί καί τάς τάξεις τάς ἀγγελικάς.

Ταύταις οἱ θεοειδεῖς: Τούς θεοειδεῖς νόας, οὕς ἀγγελομιμήτως φησί, καθ' ὅσον ἐφικνοῦνται εἰς ἕνωσιν ἄγεσθαι τῶν ἁγίων δυνάμεων, ἅς δυνάμεις ἀγγέλους προεῖπε· τούς καθ' ἡμᾶς θεολόγους νοητέον, προφήτας τέ φημι καί ἀποστόλους· οὐ γάρ δή ὑποληπτέον ἀγγέλους, μάλιστα ἐκ τοῦ «ἀγγελομιμήτως» εἰπεῖν· ἄγγελος γάρ ἄγγελον οὐ μιμεῖται, ἀλλ' ὁ ἐλάττων· νόας δέ καλῶν τούς θεολόγους, τῆς ἀγγελομιμήτου ἑνώσεως πρός Θεόν αὐτούς ἔφη ἐφικνεῖσθαι, ὡς δυνατόν, κατά