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hasten wickedness itself, and deceptively prepare [people] to choose the way that leads to destruction rather than the one that saves.

15∆_038 1.42 (μβ΄) God has made us for this, that we might become partakers of the divine nature, and participants in His eternity, and appear like Him according to the deification by grace, through which is both the whole constitution and endurance of beings, and the production and generation of non-beings.

1.43 (μγ΄) If we desire both to be called and to be of God, let us struggle not to betray the Word to the passions, like Judas; or not to deny [Him], like Peter. For a denial of the Word is the refusal to do good out of fear; but a betrayal is deliberate sin in action, and the impulse towards sin.

1195 1.44 (μδ΄) The end of all affliction is joy; and of all labor, rest; and of all dishonor, glory. And simply, the end of all painful things for the sake of virtue is, to become and be with God forever, and to enjoy the eternal and unending repose.

1.45 (με΄) God, wishing to unite us to one another in nature and in will, and truly pushing all humanity towards this, lovingly engraved for us the saving commandments, and for this reason simply legislated to show mercy and to be shown mercy.

1.46 (μστ΄) The self-love and cleverness of men, having either thrust aside or sophisticated one another and the law, has cut the one nature into many portions; and having introduced the insensibility now prevailing in it, has armed nature against itself through knowledge. For this very reason, whoever has been able, with sound reasoning and nobility of mind, to resolve this irregularity of nature, has had mercy on himself before others, having fashioned his will according to 15∆_040 nature, and having drawn near to God in his will through nature, and having shown in himself what the mode of being 'according to the image' is, and how God, having fittingly in the beginning created our nature like Himself and a manifest icon of His own goodness, established it in and for itself and all its parts, free from conflict, peaceful, without faction, bound fast through love both to God and to itself, by which we hold fast to God desirously and to one another with sympathy.

1.47 (μζ΄) The philanthropic God became man for this reason, that He might gather human nature to Himself and stop it from its evil course, since it was factious and divided towards, and rather against, itself; and having no stability, because of the inconstant movement of the will concerning each thing.

1.48 (μη΄) To those who have understanding, nothing after God is more honorable, and indeed nothing is more beloved by God, than perfect love, as it gathers the divided into one and is able to create among the many, or among all, a single, factionless identity of 1197 will. For it is a property of love to show one will among those who seek the things according to it.

1.49 (μθ΄) If by nature the good is unitive and cohesive of what is divided, then evil is clearly divisive and destructive of what is united. For by nature evil is dispersive, and unstable and multiform and divisive.

1.50 (ν΄) The release from all evils and the short road to salvation is the true love of God according to full knowledge, and the complete denial of the soul's affection for both the body and this world, by which, casting off the desire for pleasure and the fear of pain, we are freed from evil

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κακίαν αὐτήν κατεπείγουσι, καί τήν εἰς ἀπώλειαν φέρουσαν ὁδόν, τῆς σωζούσης μᾶλλον ἀπατηλῶς αἱρεῖσθαι παρασκευάζουσιν.

15∆_038 1.42 (μβ΄) Εἰς τοῦτο ἡμᾶς πεποίηκεν ὁ Θεός, ἵνα γενώμεθα θείας κοινωνοί φύσεως, καί τῆς αὐτοῦ ἀϊδιότητος μέτοχοι, καί φανῶμεν αὐτῷ ὅμοιοι κατά τήν ἐκ χάριτος θέωσιν, δι᾿ ἥν πᾶσάν τε τῶν ὄντων ἡ σύστασίς ἐστι καί διαμονή, καί ἡ τῶν μή ὄντων παραγωγή καί γένεσις.

1.43 (μγ΄) Εἰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ὀνομάζεσθαί τε καί εἶναι ἐφιέμεθα, ἀγωνισώμεθα μή προδοῦναι τοῖς πάθεσι τόν Λόγον, κατά τόν Ἰούδαν· ἤ μή ἀρνήσασθαι, κατά τόν Πέτρον. Ἄρνησις γάρ ἐστι τοῦ Λόγου, ἡ τοῦ πράττειν τό ἀγαθόν διά φόβον παραίτησις· προδοσία δέ, ἡ κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν ἐμπρόθετος ἁμαρτία, καί ἡ πρός τήν ἁμαρτίαν ὁρμή.

1195 1.44 (μδ΄) Πάσης θλίψεως τέλος ἐστίν ἡ χαρά· καί παντός κόπου, ἡ ἀνάπαυσις· καί πάσης ἀτιμίας, ἡ δόξα. Καί ἁπλῶς, πάντων τῶν ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς ἀλγεινῶν τέλος ἐστί, τό μετά Θεοῦ γενέσθαι καί εἶναι διαπαντός, καί τῆς αἰωνίου καί πέρας μή ἐχούσης ἀνέσεως ἀπολαῦσαι.

1.45 (με΄) Ὁ Θεός πρός τῇ φύσει, καί γνώμῃ ἀλλήλοις ἡμᾶς ἑνῶσαι βουλόμενος, καί πρός τοῦτο ἅπαν ὡς ἀληθῶς ὠθῶν τό ἀνθρώπινον, τάς σωτηρίους φιλανθρώπως ἡμῖν ἐντολάς διεχάραξε, καί τούτου χάριν ἐλεεῖν καί ἐλεεῖσθαι ἁπλῶς ἐνομοθέτησεν.

1.46 (μστ΄) Ἡ τῶν ἀνθρώπων φιλαυτία καί σύνεσις, ἀλλήλους καί τόν νόμον, ἤ ἀπωσαμένη, ἤ σοφισαμένη, εἰς πολλάς μοίρας τήν μίαν φύσιν κατέτεμε· καί τήν νῦν ἐπικρατοῦσαν αὐτῆς ἀναλγησίαν εἰσηγησαμένη, αὐτήν καθ᾿ ἑαυτῆς τήν φύσιν διά τῆς γνώσεως ἐξώπλισε. ∆ιά τοι τοῦτο, πᾶς ὅστις σώφρονι λογισμῷ καί φρονήσεως εὐγενείᾳ, ταύτην λῦσαι δεδύνηται τῆς φύσεως τήν ἀνωμαλίαν, ἑαυτόν πρό τῶν ἄλλων ἐλέησε, τήν γνώμην κατά 15∆_040 τήν φύσιν δημιουργήσας, καί Θεῷ κατά τήν γνώμην διά τήν φύσιν προσχωρήσας, καί δείξας ἐφ᾿ ἑαυτῷ, τίς τοῦ κατ᾿ εἰκόνα λόγου ὁ τρόπος, καί πῶς ἑαυτῷ ὁ Θεός πρεπόντως κατ᾿ ἀρχάς ὁμοίαν τήν ἡμετέραν φύσιν, καί τῆς ἰδίας ἀγαθότητος ἀρίδηλον ἀπεικόνισμα δημιουργήσας, κατέστησεν αὐτήν ἑαυτῇ καί πάντα ταυτήν, ἄμαχον, εἰρηνικήν, ἀστασίαστον, πρός τε Θεόν καί ἑαυτήν δι᾿ ἀγάπης ἐσφιγμένην, καθ᾿ ἥν Θεοῦ μέν ἐφετῶς, ἀλλήλων δέ συμπαθῶς ἀντεχόμεθα.

1.47 (μζ΄) Ὁ φιλάνθρωπος Θεός διά τοῦτο γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος, ἵνα τήν φύσιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων πρός ἑαυτόν συναγάγῃ, καί στῄση τοῦ φέρεσθαι κακῶς, πρός ἑαυτήν, μᾶλλον δέ καθ᾿ ἑαυτῆς σταστιάζουσάν τε καί μεμερισμένην· καί μηδεμίαν ἔχουσαν στάσιν, διά τήν περί ἕκαστον τῆς γνώμης ἀστάθμητον κίνησιν.

1.48 (μη΄) Οὐδέν ἐστι τῶν μετά Θεόν τοῖς νοῦν ἔχουσι τιμιώτερον, μᾶλλον δέ τῷ Θεῷ προσφιλέστερον, τῆς τελείας ἀγάπης, ὡς τούς διῃρημένους εἰς ἕν συναγούσης, καί μίαν ἐν τοῖς πολλοῖς ἤ τοῖς πᾶσιν, ἀστασίαστον κατά τήν γνώμην δημιουργῆσαι 1197 δυναμένης ταὐτότητα. Καί γάρ ἴδιον τῆς ἀγάπης, τῶν τά κατ᾿ αὐτήν ζητούντων, μίαν ἀποδεῖξαι τήν γνώμην.

1.49 (μθ΄) Εἰ φύσει τό καλόν ἐστιν ἑνοποιητικόν τῶν διῃρημένων καί συνεκτικόν, τό κακόν δηλονότι τῶν ἡνωμένων ἐστί διαιρετικόν τε καί φθαρτικόν. Καί γάρ φύσει τό κακόν σκεδαστόν ὑπάρχει, καί ἄστατον καί πολύμορφον καί διαιρετικόν.

1.50 (ν΄) Πάντων τῶν κακῶν ἀπαλλαγή καί σύντομος πρός σωτηρίαν ὁδός, ἡ ἀληθής τοῦ Θεοῦ κατ᾿ ἐπίγνωσιν ἀγάπη ἐστί, καί ἡ καθόλου τῆς κατά ψυχήν πρός τε τό σῶμα καί τόν κόσμον τοῦτον στοργῆς ἐξάρνησις, καθ᾿ ἥν, τῆς μέν ἡδονῆς ἐπιθυμίαν, τῆς ὀδύνης δέ τό φόβον ἀποβαλλόμενοι, τῆς κακῆς ἐλευθερούμεθα