VII. Wherefore the greatest and chiefest point of the instructions which relate to life must be implanted in the soul from the beginning,—to know the eternal God, the giver of what is eternal, and by knowledge and comprehension to possess God, who is first, and highest, and one, and good. For this is the immutable and immoveable source and support of life, the knowledge of God, who really is, and who bestows the things which really are, that is, those which are eternal, from whom both being and the continuance6    Instead of μεῖναι Fell here suggests μὴ εἵναι, non-being. of it are derived to other beings. For ignorance of Him is death; but the knowledge and appropriation of Him, and love and likeness to Him, are the only life.

7.1 Οὐκοῦν τὸ μέγιστον καὶ κορυφαιότατον τῶν πρὸς τὴν ζωὴν μαθημάτων ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς εὐθὺς ἐγκαταθέσθαι τῇ ψυχῇ δεῖ, γνῶναι τὸν θεὸν τὸν αἰώνιον καὶ δοτῆρα αἰωνίων καὶ πρῶτον καὶ ὑπέρ τατον καὶ ἕνα καὶ ἀγαθὸν θεόν. ὃν ἔστι κτήσασθαι διὰ γνώσεως καὶ 7.2 καταλήψεως· αὕτη γὰρ ἄτρεπτος καὶ ἀσάλευτος ἀρχὴ καὶ κρηπὶς ζωῆς, ἐπιστήμη θεοῦ τοῦ ὄντως ὄντος καὶ τὰ ὄντα, τουτέστι τὰ αἰώνια, δωρουμένου, ἐξ οὗ καὶ τὸ εἶναι τοῖς ἄλλοις ὑπάρχει καὶ τὸ 7.3 μεῖναι λαβεῖν. ἡ μὲν γὰρ τούτου ἄγνοια θάνατός ἐστιν, ἡ δὲ ἐπί γνωσις αὐτοῦ καὶ οἰκείωσις καὶ ἡ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀγάπη καὶ ἐξομοίωσις μόνη ζωή.