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a full-flowing river flooding the minds of the adversaries. But to all the rest they are unknown and hidden, and in no way unfolded by Him who opens the mind of the faithful to understand the scriptures. And reasonably so; "For my mystery," (24) He says, "is for me and for mine." Therefore, such men seem to see without seeing, and to hear without hearing at all, and to understand while being without understanding, unable to grasp the sense of what is read. And just as each of the unbelievers thinks he is wise while not being wise, and seems to know something while knowing nothing at all—for if he does know anything, he knows it badly, which is worse than all ignorance—so too, I think, are these men. For thinking themselves to be wise, they have in reality become fools, as if out of their minds and senseless, the wretched ones pass their days knowing none of the mysteries of Christ as they ought; from their conceit and arrogance may the God of Israel deliver us and deem us worthy to become imitators of His humility.

He, therefore, who deviates from this path—I mean that of blessed humility—and walks somewhere outside it, perhaps to the right or to the left, and is well-pleased, and does not deign 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 he does not know and has never seen? But if he should attempt to teach about such and so great things, is there a man on earth more foolish than such a one? Will he not be more irrational and altogether more beastly than the four-footed beasts themselves? For all irrational animals, as is seen, keep to their own nature and order, and each of them never oversteps its own bounds. But this one, formed by the hand of God, honored by Him with reason and free will, has not used his dignity for what is right, nor has he recognized his own weakness, nor remained in the good things instilled in his nature by God, nor has he stood within his own bounds (25) or understood his own affairs; but just as Lucifer, or Adam later—the one being an angel, the other a man—lifted up against the Creator, desired to become gods, so too, alas, this man, having overstepped the bounds 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 life, but through pride and arrogance; as if gathering bricks of falsely named knowledge from here and there and firing them through persistent study, and building them up through love of glory and man-pleasing with conceit, he expected to acquire a tower of theology and spiritual knowledge; moreover, thinking he is in the heavens or even above the heavens, and imagining he stands above them, he discourses about the one who made heaven and earth and all that is in them. Who then would call such a one a man, or equal to the beasts themselves, or as having any perception at all? For if the man formed in the image of God and deemed worthy of a life equal to 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, being 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 unworthily?

But tell me, everyone who attempts not to be taught but to teach about God and divine things, if you first ascended from Hades and came to the earth, and how it was possible for you to experience this, and by means of what supports and steps, and by what and what sort of helpers and assistants for the ascent. And having ascended, stinking and teeming with corruption, or rather, being held (26) by death and still being dead, how did you come to life and become stronger than death and have the strength to escape its hands? Tell us, therefore, and then you shall speak

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ποταμός πολύρρους κατακλύζων τάς φρένας τῶν ἐναντίων. Τοῖς δέ γε ἄλλοις ἅπασιν ἄγνωστα καί κεκρυμμένα ὑπάρχει καί μηδόλως ἀναπτυσσόμενα ὑπό τοῦ διανοίγοντος τόν νοῦν τῶν πιστῶν εἰς τό συνιέναι τάς γραφάς. Καί εἰκότως· "Τό γάρ μυστήριόν μου, (24) φησίν, ἐμοί καί τοῖς ἐμοῖς". Τοίνυν καί δοκοῦσι βλέπειν μή βλέποντες οἱ τοιοῦτοι καί ἀκούειν μηδόλως ἀκούοντες καί συνιέναι ἀσύνετοι ὄντες, αἴσθησιν τῶν ἀναγινωσκομένων λαβεῖν μή δυνάμενοι. Καί καθάπερ ἕκαστος τῶν 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