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he thinks he has the mind of the unbelievers, while not having a mind, and he seems to know something, while knowing nothing at all, for if he does know anything, he knows it badly, which is even worse than all ignorance - so, I think, are these men also. For thinking themselves to be wise, they have in fact become fools, as if out of their minds and senseless, the wretched ones pass their days and knowing none of Christ’s mysteries as they ought; from their conceit and pride may the God of Israel deliver us and deem us worthy to become imitators of His humility.

Therefore, whoever deviates from this path, I mean that of blessed humility, and walks somewhere outside it, perhaps to the right or to the left, and prospers, and does not condescend to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and God, how will he enter into His bridal chamber with Him? And not having seen it, how will he recount to others the things concerning it or about it? How would he dare to speak at all about things which he does not know and has never seen? But if he should attempt to teach about such and so great things, is there a more foolish man than such a one on earth? Will he not be more irrational and altogether more brutish than the four-footed beasts themselves? For all the irrational animals, as is seen, keep their own nature and order, and each one of them never oversteps its own boundaries. But this one, formed by the hand of God, honored by Him with reason and free will, has not used his dignity as he ought, nor has he recognized his own weakness, nor has he remained in the good things implanted in his nature by God, nor has he stood within his own boundaries (25) or understood his own affairs; but as Lucifer or Adam later, the one being an angel, the other a man, puffed up against the creator, were eager to become gods, so alas, this man also, having overstepped the boundaries of his own nature and having desired and imagined things beyond him, did not wish to ascend to the height of spiritual knowledge through humility and a Christ-imitating way of life, but through pride and arrogance; as if having collected bricks of falsely-named knowledge from here and there and having fired them through persistent study, having built them up through vainglory and the pleasing of men with conceit, he expected to acquire a tower of theology and spiritual knowledge; moreover, thinking himself to be in the heavens or even above the heavens and imagining he stands above them, he discourses about the one who made the heaven and the earth and all that is in them. Who then would call such a one a man, or equal to the beasts themselves or having any perception at all? For if the man formed according to the image of God and deemed worthy of a life equal to the angels and immortal, through the transgression of one command of God was justly deprived not only of that angelic way of life, but also of eternal life, having been condemned to death and corruption and a curse, what then will all those born of him suffer, who still bear the image of the man of dust and attempt to theologize impurely?

But tell me, everyone who attempts not to be taught, but to teach about God and divine things, if you first came up from Hades and have come to the earth, and how it was possible for you to experience this, and through what supports and steps, and through what sort and what kind of helpers and assistants for the ascent. And having ascended, smelling and teeming with corruption, or rather, being held by death (26) and still being dead, how did you come to life and become stronger than death and were strong enough to escape his hands? Tell us, then, and then you will surely say also how after ascending from Hades and setting foot on the earth you were delivered from corruption and set free from the curse. Then you will teach us how you were led up again from the earth, using what steps, flying with what wings you were lifted up to the heavens, boarding what chariot, being in the body without a body, you passed beyond them, what cloud received you. Show us these things and teach us about such matters and then we will accept you speaking about God with some moderation and with fear and trembling. If

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ἀπίστων φρονεῖν οἴεται μή φρονῶν, καί εἰδέναι τι δοκεῖ μηδέν ὅλως εἰδώς, εἴ τι γάρ καί οἶδε, κακῶς οἶδεν, ὅ καί χεῖρον πάσης ἀγνωσίας ἐστίν - οὕτως, οἶμαι, καί οὗτοι. ∆οκοῦντες γάρ εἶναι σοφοί, μωροί τῷ ὄντι γεγόνασιν, ὥσπερ ἐξεστηκότες καί ἔκφρονες τάς ἑαυτῶν ἡμέρας οἱ δυστυχεῖς διερχόμενοι καί μηδέν τῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ μυστηρίων εἰδότες, ὡς δεῖ· ὧν τῆς οἰήσεως καί ὑπερηφανίας ῥύσαιτο ἡμᾶς ὁ Θεός Ἰσραήλ καί μιμητάς γενέσθαι τῆς αὐτοῦ ταπεινώσεως ἀξιώσοι.

Ταύτης οὖν τῆς ὁδοῦ, φημί δή τῆς μακαρίας ταπεινοφροσύνης, ὁ παρεκλίνων καί ἔξω που, δεξιά τυχόν ἤ ἀριστερά, βαδίζων καί προευόμενος καί τοῖς ἴχνεσι τοῦ Ἰησοῦ καί Θεοῦ μή καταδεχόμενος ἕπεσθαι, πῶς εἰς τόν νυμφῶνα αὐτοῦ σύν αὐτῷ εἰσελεύσεται; Μή θεασάμενος δέ ταύτην, πῶς τά κατ᾿ αὐτήν ἤ τά περί αὐτήν ἄλλοις ἐκδιηγήσεται; Πῶς περί ὧν οὐκ οἶδε καί οὐκ ἐθεάσατο πώποτε εἰπεῖν καθόλου τολμήσειεν; Εἰ δ᾿ ἐπιχειρήσειε περί τοιούτων καί τηλικούτων διδάσκειν, ἆρα τοῦ τοιούτου ἀνθρώπου ἔστιν ἐπί τῆς γῆς ἀφρονέστερος; Ἆρα οὐχί καί αὐτῶν τῶν τετραπόδων κτηνῶν ἀλογώτερος ἔσται καί παντάπασι κτηνωδέστερος; Πάντα γάρ, ὡς ὁρᾶται, τά ἄλογα ζῷα τήν ἑαυτῶν φυλάττει καί φύσιν καί τάξιν, καί τούς ἰδίους ὅρους ἕκαστον αὐτῶν οὐχ ὑπερβαίνει ποτέ. Οὗτος δέ ὁ χειρί Θεοῦ πλασθείς, ὁ λόγῳ καί αὐτεξουσιότητι παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ τιμηθείς, οὐκ εἰς δέον ἐχρήσατο τῇ ἀξίᾳ, οὐδέ τήν ἰδίαν ἐπέγνω ἀσθένειαν, οὐδέ ἐνέμεινεν ἐν τοῖς ὑπό τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐντεθεῖσι τῇ φύσει αὐτοῦ ἀγαθοῖς, οὐδέ ἐντός τῶν ἰδίων ὅρων ἔστη (25) ἤ τά ἑαυτοῦ συνῆκεν· ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ὁ Ἑωσφόρος ἤ καί ὁ Ἀδάμ ὕστερον, ὁ μέν ἄγγελος ὤν, ὁ δέ ἄνθρωπος, κατεπαρθέντες τοῦ ποιητοῦ, θεοί γενέσθαι προεθυμήθησαν, οὕτως οἴμοι καί οὗτος, τούς ὅρους τῆς ἰδίας φύσεως ὑπερβάς καί τῶν ὑπέρ αὐτόν ἐπιθυμήσας καί φαντασθείς, οὐ διά ταπεινώσεως καί χριστομιμήτου πολιτείας πρός ὕψος πνευματικῆς γνώσεως ἀνελθεῖν ἠβουλήθη, ἀλλά διά ὑπερηφανίας καί ἐπάρσεως· οἱονεί πλίνθους τῆς ψευδωνύμου γνώσεως ἄλλοθεν ἄλλους συλλέξας καί δι᾿ ἐπιμόνου μελέτης ἐξοπτήσας αὐτούς, διά φιλοδοξίας τε καί ἀνθρωπαρεσκείας μετά οἰήσεως οἰκοδομήσας αὐτούς, πύργον θεολογίας καί πνευματικῆς γνώσεως κτήσασθαι προσεδόκησε· πρός δέ, καί εἰς οὐρανούς ἤ καί ὑπέρ τούς οὐρανούς εἶναι οἰόμενος καί ὑπεράνω αὐτῶν ἵστασθαι φανταζόμενος, περί τοῦ ποιήσαντος τόν οὐρανόν καί τήν γῆν καί πάντα τά ἐν αὐτοῖς διαλέγεται. Τόν τοιοῦτον οὖν τίς ἄρα καλέσειεν ἄνθρωπον, ἤ τῶν κτηνῶν αὐτῶν ἴσον ἤ ὅλως αἴσθησιν ἔχοντα; Εἰ γάρ ὁ κατ᾿ εἰκόνα Θεοῦ πλασθείς ἄνθρωπος καί καταξιωθείς ἰσαγγέλου καί ἀθανάτου ζωῆς, διά μιᾶς ἐντολῆς Θεοῦ παράβασιν οὐ μόνον τῆς ἀγγελικῆς ἐκείνης διαγωγῆς, ἀλλά καί τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς, δικαίως ἀπεστερήθη, θανάτῳ καί φθορᾷ καί κατάρᾳ καταδικασθείς, τί πείσονται ἄρα οἱ ἐξ αὐτοῦ γεννώμενοι ἅπαντες καί ἔτι τοῦ χοϊκοῦ τήν εἰκόνα φοροῦντες καί θεολογεῖν ἀνάγνως ἐπιχειροῦντες;

Ἀλλά γάρ εἰπέ μοι, πᾶς τις ὁ περί Θεοῦ και τῶν θείων μή διδάσκεσθαι, ἀλλά διδάσκειν ἐπιχειρῶν, εἰ ἐκ τοῦ ᾅδου πρῶτον ἀνῆλθες καί πρός τῇ γῇ γέγονας, καί πῶς τοῦτό σοι παθεῖν ἐξεγένετο, καί διά ποίων τῶν ἐπιστηριγμάτων καί ἐπιβάσεων, διά τίνων δέ καί ὁποίων τῶν συνεργησάντων καί βοηθησάντων πρός τήν ἀνάβασιν. Ἀνελθών δέ ὀδωδώς καί βρύων φθοράν, μᾶλλον δέ ὑπό τοῦ θανάτου (26) κρατούμενος καί νεκρός ὤν ἔτι, πῶς ἔζησας καί ἰσχυρότερος γέγονας τοῦ θανάτου καί τάς ἐκείνου χεῖρας διαδρᾶναι ἐξίσχυσας; Φράσον οὖν ἡμῖν καί εἶθ᾿ οὕτως ἐρεῖς πάντως καί πῶς μετά τό ἀνελθεῖν ἐκ τοῦ ᾅδου καί ἐπιβῆναι τῇ γῇ τῆς τε φθορᾶς ἀπηλλάγης καί τῆς κατάρας ἠλευθερώθης. Εἶτα διδάξεις ἡμᾶς πῶς πάλιν ἀνήχθης ἀπό τῆς γῆς, ποίαις χρησάμενος βαθμίσι, ποίοις πτεροῖς πετασθείς ὑψώθης πρός οὐρανούς, ποίου ἅρματος ἐπιβάς, ἐν σώματι ὤν χωρίς σώματος, ὑπερέβης αὐτούς, ποία σε νεφέλη ὑπέλαβε. ∆εῖξον ἡμῖν ταῦτα καί δίδαξον ὑπέρ τῶν τοιούτων ἡμᾶς καί τότε δεξόμεθά σε περί Θεοῦ μετρίως πως καί μετά φόβου καί τρόμου λέγοντα. Εἰ