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of the spirit, and this also of the unifying and peaceful grace in Christ, which we also embrace, for Christ rejoices in nothing else so much as in brotherly love.

17 But let the discourse again take up what follows. Peter from Simon is called to this which he is, as one might say, to the firm foundation of the church; and action is established as the basis of contemplation. But Paul from Saul was renamed by Christ to that wherein every practical power and economy according to God, ascending by degree, has come to rest. Peter follows God bearing flesh, but Paul follows the Christ who has become beyond the flesh; Peter is a disciple to Jesus before the passion and the burial and the resurrection, but Paul is gathered to him after the resurrection and the ascension and the enthronement at the right hand of the Father, having received a more godlike knowledge and one removed beyond material appearances. What is the mark of Peter? Divine signs and wonders. And what is the characteristic of Paul? Theology and teaching and the proclamation and revelation of the hidden mysteries. Peter wished to reveal his own things in Jerusalem only; for the things of action are easily limited. But Paul has passed through to all the earth with the word of his preaching; for the things of contemplation are incomprehensible and by nature inexhaustible. Peter embraced the circumcision alone and wished to transform it from the letter to the spirit, from things that appear to the hidden mystery; for the practical is constrained in its movements. But Paul welcomes also the uncircumcised; for the things of contemplation are broadened. Peter takes a wife and does not refuse marriage; but Paul embraces virginity, the companion of contemplatives. Peter sees a sheet let down from heaven, in which all the animals are contained; but Paul ascends into the breadth of the heavens, measured by the multitude of its divisions, and has heard and seen inexpressible things. Peter is first in time in Christ; for action is first for us; and Paul is second, since those who are able ascend through action to the more perfect knowledge. Peter is asked and confesses the sonship of Christ revealed to him by the Father; but Paul, though not asked nor seeing the one asking, confesses the divinity of Christ. Peter receives the keys of the kingdom of heaven as a reward for his theology, a certain sensible grace or one named from sensible things; but Paul is caught up to the third heaven and enters into paradise while still living in the body and hears strange things and sees the unseen things, which he was not even able to proclaim, as he says. Peter, after the glory and the divine signs and the wonders, denies Christ three times; for action is changeable, even if it reaches the perfection of its state. Paul remained unshaken, since he had attained to the greater visions, and unchangeable. For how or where could he have fallen away, having attained the last of desirable things? Peter, on account of his love for the teacher above the others, inherits the teaching and is entrusted with the things of the flock; but Paul, not having loved first but having been loved, made plain the gospel of Christ to all the earth. And that I may speak briefly: I find Peter showing the most exact images of the practical life, but Paul the clear images of contemplation.

18 Not, however, that Peter did not delight in high contemplations or that Paul was not occupied with actions according to Christ; for where will you place the theology and teachings of the former, and the God-pleasing works and labors of the latter, when he is said also to offer his own hands for the service of the saints and to care for the churches and to do the other things, all those which are external and visible and require bodily presence? Besides, they are not completely distinguished from one another, but just as one of the ancient philosophers has said in other matters, as "all things together

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τοῦ πνεύματος καὶ τοῦτο τῆς συναπτικῆς καὶ εἰρηναίας ἐν Χρι στῷ χάριτος, ἣν καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀσπαζοίμεθα, ὡς οὐδενὶ γὰρ ἄλλῳ οὕτως ἢ τῇ φιλαδελφίᾳ χαίρει Χριστός.

17 Ἀλλ' ἐχέσθω καὶ πάλιν ὁ λόγος τῶν πρόσω. Πέτρος ἐκ Σίμωνος εἰς τοῦτο ὅ ἐστι μετακέκληται, ὡς ἄν τις εἴπῃ εἰς τὸν στερρὸν τῆς ἐκκλησίας θεμέλιον· πρᾶξις δὲ ὑπο βάθρα τῆς θεωρίας καθέστηκεν. ἐκ Σαύλου δὲ ὁ Παῦλος παρὰ Χριστοῦ μετωνόμασται εἰς ὃ πᾶσα πρακτικὴ δύνα μις καὶ οἰκονομία κατὰ θεὸν ἀνερχομένη κατὰ βαθμὸν ἀναπέπαυται. Πέτρος ἕπεται σαρκοφοροῦντι θεῷ, Παῦλος δ' ἀκολουθεῖ τῷ ὑπὲρ τὴν σάρκα γενομένῳ Χριστῷ· Πέτρος πρὸ τοῦ πάθους καὶ τῆς ταφῆς καὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως τῷ Ἰησοῦ μαθητεύεται, Παῦλος δὲ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν καὶ τὴν ἀνάληψιν καὶ τὴν εἰς τὰ δεξιὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐγκαθίδρυσιν τούτῳ συνάγεται, θεοειδεστέραν τὴν γνῶσιν λαβὼν καὶ τῶν ὑλικῶν ὑπερανῳκισμένην ἐμφάσεων. τί μᾶλλον Πέτρου τὸ γνώρισμα; θεοσημεῖαί τε καὶ τεράστια· τί δὲ Παύλου τὸ χαρακτήρισμα; θεολογία καὶ διδασκαλία καὶ ἡ τῶν κεκρυμ μένων μυστηρίων ἐξαγγελία τε καὶ φανέρωσις. Πέτρος ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις καὶ μόνον τὰ ἑαυτοῦ φανερῶσαι τεθέληκεν· εὐπεριόριστα γὰρ τὰ τῆς πρά ξεως· Παῦλος δὲ εἰς πᾶσαν γῆν τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ κηρύγματος διαβέβηκεν· ἀπερίληπτα γὰρ τὰ τῆς θεωρίας καὶ τῇ φύσει ἀδιεξίτητα. Πέτρος τὴν περι τομὴν καὶ μόνην ἠσπάζετο καὶ μεταποιεῖν αὐτὴν ἐβεβούλητο ἀπὸ τοῦ γράμματος εἰς τὸ πνεῦμα, ἀπὸ τῶν φαινομένων εἰς τὸ κεκρυμμένον μυστήριον· στενοχωρεῖται γὰρ τὸ πρακ τικὸν τοῖς κινήμασι· Παῦλον δὲ καὶ τοὺς ἀπεριτμήτους προσδέχεται· τὰ γὰρ τῆς θεωρίας πεπλάτυνται. Πέτρος γυναῖκα φέρει καὶ συζυγίαν οὐκ ἀπαναίνεται· Παῦλος δὲ τὴν παρθενίαν ἀσπάζεται, τῶν θεωρητικῶν τὴν ὁμόσκηνον. Πέτρος ὀθόνην κατενηνεγμένην ἐξ οὐρανοῦ θεωρεῖ, ἐν ᾗ τὰ τῶν ζώων ἅπαντα περιέσταλται· Παῦλος δὲ εἰς πλάτος ἀνέρχεται οὐρανῶν καὶ πλήθει τῶν μερισμῶν συμμετρού μενον, καὶ ἀνέκφραστα καὶ ἀκήκοε καὶ τεθέαται. Πέ τρος πρῶτος τῷ χρόνῳ ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ· προτέρα γὰρ ἡ πρᾶξις τοῖς καθ' ἡμᾶς· δεύτερος δὲ Παῦλος, ἐπεὶ διὰ πράξεως εἰς τὴν τελεωτέραν γνῶσιν ἀναβαίνουσιν οἱ δυνάμενοι. ὁ Πέτρος ἐρωτᾶται καὶ ὁμολογεῖ Χριστοῦ τὴν υἱότητα ἀπο κεκαλυμμένην τούτῳ ἐκ τοῦ πατρός· Παῦλος δὲ καὶ μὴ ἐρωτώμενος μηδὲ βλέπων τὸν ἐρωτῶντα ὁμολογεῖ Χριστοῦ τὴν θεότητα. κλεῖς ὁ Πέτρος τῆς θεολογίας μισθὸν τῆς βασιλείας λαμβάνει τῶν οὐρανῶν, αἰσθητήν τινα χάριν ἢ ὠνομασμένην ἐξ αἰσθητῶν· Παῦλος δὲ εἰς τρίτον ἁρπάζε ται οὐρανὸν καὶ παραδείσου ἔσω χωρεῖ ἔτι διάγων ἐν σώματι καὶ ἀκροᾶται ξένων καὶ θεωρεῖ τὰ ἀθέατα, ἃ μηδ' ἐξαγ γέλλειν ὡς οὗτος φάσκει δεδύνηται. Πέτρος μετὰ τὴν δόξαν καὶ τὰς θεοσημείας καὶ τὰ τεράστια ἀρνεῖται τρί τον Χριστόν· εὐμετάτρεπτος γὰρ ἡ πρᾶξις, κἂν εἰς τέλος ἔλθῃ τῆς ἕξεως· Παῦλος ἀπαρασάλευτος ἔμεινεν, ἐπείπερ ἥψατο τῶν μειζόνων θεαμάτων, καὶ ἀμετάτρεπτος. πῶς γὰρ ἂν εἶχεν ἢ ποῦ μεταπεσεῖν, τοῦ ἐσχάτου τῶν ὀρεκτῶν ἐφαψά μενος; Πέτρος διὰ τὴν ὑπὲρ τοὺς ἄλλους φιλίαν εἰς τὸν διδάσκαλον τὴν διδασκαλίαν κληροῦται καὶ τὰ τῆς ποίμνης πιστεύεται· Παῦλος δὲ οὐ φιλήσας πρῶτον ἀλλὰ φιληθεὶς τὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ εὐαγγέλιον εἰς πᾶσαν γῆν διετράνωσε. καὶ ἵνα συντόμως ἐρῶ· Πέτρον μὲν εὑρίσκω τῆς πρακτικῆς εἰκόνας ἀκριβεστάτας ἐμφαίνοντα, Παῦλον δὲ θεωρίας ὡς ἐναργῆ τὰ ἰνδάλματα.

18 Οὐ μὴν ὡς οὐχὶ καὶ Πέτρου θεωρίαις ἐντρυφῶντος ταῖς ὑψηλαῖς ἢ Παύλου ταῖς κατὰ Χριστὸν μὴ ἐνσχολάζοντος πράξεσι· ποῦ γὰρ θήσεις ἐκείνου μὲν τὴν θεολογίαν καὶ τὰ διδάγματα, τούτου δὲ τὰς θεαρέστους ἐνεργείας καὶ σπουδάσ ματα, ὅτε καὶ τὰς αὐτοῦ χεῖρας εἰς ὑπηρεσίαν ἁγίων προ τείνειν λέγεται καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν μεριμνᾶν καὶ τἆλλα ποιεῖν, ὅσα τῶν ἔξω καὶ φαινομένων καὶ σωματικῆς δεο μένων τῆς παραστάσεως; ἄλλως τε οὐδ' ἀπ' ἀλλήλων τέλεον αὐτὰ διακέκριται, ἀλλ' ὅπερ τις ἐν ἄλλοις εἰρήκει τῶν παλαιοτέρων ἐν φιλοσόφοις ὡς «ὁμοῦ χρήματα