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escapes the grasp of our perception. But the reason for the dissolution is clear through the example we mentioned. For since perception is akin to what is dense and earthy, and the intellectual nature is better and higher than the movements of perception, for this reason, when the judgment concerning the good has been missed in the testing of the senses, and the missing of the good has brought into being the substance of the contrary state, that part of us which has become useless is dissolved by the reception of the contrary. And the account of the example is as follows. Let it be granted that a certain vessel is made of clay, and that this, by some design, has become full of molten lead, and that the lead, having been poured in, has solidified and remains unpoured, and that its owner lays claim to the vessel, and having the skill of a potter, he shatters the earthenware around the lead; then in this way, he again refashions the vessel according to its former shape for his own use, it having become empty of the material mixed into it. So therefore also the moulder of our vessel, when evil has been mixed into the perceptive part, I mean that which is according to the body, having dissolved the material that received the evil, again refashions it through the resurrection unmixed with the contrary, he will restore the vessel to its original beauty. And since a certain connection and communion of the passions according to sin occurs for both the soul and the body, and there is a certain analogy of bodily death to the death of the soul; for just as in the flesh we call being separated from perceptible life death, so also in the case of the soul we name the separation from the true life death; since, therefore, there is one communion of evil, as has been said before, observed in both soul and body; for through both the wicked thing proceeds into activity; for this reason the death of dissolution from the imposition of the skins of the dead does not touch the soul. For how could that which is not composite be dissolved? But since it is necessary for its stains, grown from sins, to be removed by some remedy, for this reason in the present life the medicine of virtue was added for the therapy of such wounds. But if one should remain unhealed, the cure is stored up in the life after this. But just as there are certain differences among the ailments according to the body, of which some more easily, others with more difficulty, accept the cure, for which also cuttings and cauteries and bitter draughts of medicine are employed for the removal of the ailment that has fallen upon the body, something of this sort the judgment after this also promises for the therapy of the soul's sicknesses, which for the more sluggish is a threat and a correction of gloomy things, so that by fear of the retribution of painful things we might be brought to our senses for the flight from evil; but for the more intelligent it is believed to be a remedy and a therapy from God, leading back His own creation to its original grace. For just as those who scrape away nails and warts that have grown unnaturally on the body by means of cutting or cauterizing do not bring about a painless healing for the one being benefited, yet they do not do it for the harm of the one who endures the cutting, so also whatever material superfluities become calloused on our souls, which have become disembodied through the communion of passions, in the time of judgment are cut and scraped away by that ineffable wisdom and power of the one who, as the Gospel says, heals the sick. For they who are well, it says, have no need of a physician, but they who are sick. And because a great affinity for evil has grown in the soul just as the cutting of a wart irritates the surface; for that which has grown unnaturally in nature clings to the subject by a certain sympathy, and a certain irrational co-mixture of the foreign with what is ours occurs, so that perception is pained and stung when separated from what is contrary to nature; so also when the soul is being refined and melted down in the reproofs for sin, as the prophecy somewhere says, because of the deep-seated familiarity with evil that has developed there necessarily follow certain ineffable

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ἐκφεύγῃ τὴν κατάληψιν τῆς ἡμετέρας αἰσ θήσεως. ἡ δὲ αἰτία τῆς λύσεως δήλη διὰ τοῦ ῥηθέντος ἡμῖν ὑποδείγματος. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἡ αἴσθησις πρὸς τὸ παχύ τε καὶ γήινον οἰκείως ἔχει, κρείττων δὲ καὶ ὑψηλοτέρα τῶν κατ' αἴσθησιν κινημάτων ἡ νοερὰ φύσις, διὰ τοῦτο τῆς περὶ τὸ καλὸν κρίσεως ἐν τῇ δοκιμασίᾳ τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἁμαρτηθείσης, τῆς δὲ τοῦ καλοῦ διαμαρτίας τὴν τῆς ἐναντίας ἕξεως ὑπόστασιν ἐνεργησάσης, τὸ ἀχρει ωθὲν ἡμῶν μέρος τῇ παραδοχῇ τοῦ ἐναντίου λύεται. ὁ δὲ τοῦ ὑποδείγματος λόγος τοιοῦτός ἐστι. δεδόσθω τι σκεῦος ἐκ πηλοῦ συνεστηκέναι, τοῦτο δὲ πλῆρες ἔκ τινος ἐπι βουλῆς γεγενῆσθαι τετηκότος μολίβδου, τὸν δὲ μόλιβδον ἐγχεθέντα παγῆναι καὶ μένειν ἀπρόχυτον, ἀντιποιεῖσθαι δὲ τοῦ σκεύους τὸν κεκτημένον, ἔχοντα δὲ τοῦ κεραμεύειν τὴν ἐπιστήμην περιθρύψαι τῷ μολίβδῳ τὸ ὄστρακον· εἶθ' οὕτως πάλιν κατὰ τὸ πρότερον σχῆμα πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν ἑαυτοῦ χρῆσιν ἀναπλάσαι τὸ σκεῦος, κενὸν τῆς ἐμμιχ θείσης ὕλης γενόμενον. οὕτως οὖν καὶ ὁ τοῦ ἡμετέρου σκεύους πλάστης, τῷ αἰσθητικῷ μέρει, τῷ κατὰ τὸ σῶμά φημι, τῆς κακίας καταμιχθείσης, διαλύσας τὴν παρα δεξαμένην τὸ κακὸν ὕλην, πάλιν ἀμιγὲς τοῦ ἐναντίου διὰ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἀναπλάσας, πρὸς τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς κάλλος ἀναστοιχειώσει τὸ σκεῦος. ἐπειδὴ δὲ σύνδεσίς τις καὶ κοινωνία τῶν κατὰ ἁμαρτίαν παθημάτων γίνεται τῇ τε ψυχῇ καὶ τῷ σώματι, καί τις ἀναλογία τοῦ σωματικοῦ θανάτου πρὸς τὸν ψυχικόν ἐστι θάνατον· ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐν σαρκὶ τὸ τῆς αἰσθητῆς χωρισθῆναι ζωῆς προσαγορεύομεν θάνατον, οὕτως καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ψυχῆς τὸν τῆς ἀληθοῦς ζωῆς χωρισμὸν θάνατον ὀνομάζομεν· ἐπεὶ οὖν μία τίς ἐστιν ἡ τοῦ κακοῦ κοινωνία, καθὼς προείρηται, ἐν ψυχῇ τε θεωρουμένη καὶ σώματι· δι' ἀμφοτέρων γὰρ πρόεισιν τὸ πονηρὸν εἰς ἐνέργειαν· διὰ τοῦτο ὁ μὲν τῆς διαλύσεως θάνατος ἐκ τῆς τῶν νεκρῶν δερμάτων ἐπιβολῆς τῆς ψυχῆς οὐχ ἅπτεται. πῶς γὰρ ἂν διαλυθείη τὸ μὴ συγκείμενον; ἐπεὶ δὲ χρεία τοῦ κἀκείνης τὰς ἐμφυείσας ἐξ ἁμαρτιῶν κηλῖδας διά τινος ἰατρείας ἐξαιρεθῆναι, τούτου ἕνεκεν ἐν μὲν τῇ παρούσῃ ζωῇ τὸ τῆς ἀρετῆς φάρμακον εἰς θερα πείαν τῶν τοιούτων προσετέθη τραυμάτων. εἰ δὲ ἀθερά πευτος μένοι, ἐν τῷ μετὰ ταῦτα βίῳ τεταμίευται ἡ θεραπεία. ἀλλ' ὥσπερ εἰσί τινες κατὰ τὸ σῶμα τῶν παθημάτων διαφοραί, ὧν αἱ μὲν ῥᾷον, αἱ δὲ δυσκολώτερον τὴν θερα πείαν προσίενται, ἐφ' ὧν καὶ τομαὶ καὶ καυτήρια καὶ πικραὶ φαρμακοποσίαι πρὸς τὴν ἀναίρεσιν τοῦ ἐνσκή ψαντος τῷ σώματι πάθους παραλαμβάνονται, τοιοῦτόν τι καὶ ἡ μετὰ ταῦτα κρίσις εἰς θεραπείαν τῶν τῆς ψυ χῆς ἀρρωστημάτων κατεπαγγέλλεται, ὃ τοῖς μὲν χαυνο τέροις ἀπειλὴ καὶ σκυθρωπῶν ἐστὶν ἐπανόρθωσις, ὡς ἂν φόβῳ τῆς τῶν ἀλγεινῶν ἀντιδόσεως πρὸς τὴν φυγὴν τῆς κακίας σωφρονισθείημεν· τοῖς δὲ συνετωτέροις ἰατρεία καὶ θεραπεία παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ ἴδιον πλάσμα πρὸς τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἐπανάγοντος χάριν εἶναι πιστεύεται. ὡς γὰρ οἱ τοὺς ἥλους τε καὶ τὰς ἀκροχορδόνας παρὰ φύσιν ἐπιγενο μένας τῷ σώματι διὰ τομῆς ἢ καύσεως ἀποξύοντες οὐκ ἀνώδυνον ἐπάγουσι τῷ εὐεργετουμένῳ τὴν ἴασιν, πλὴν οὐκ ἐπὶ βλάβῃ τοῦ ὑπομένοντος τὴν τομὴν ἄγουσιν, οὕτως καὶ ὅσα ταῖς ψυχαῖς ἡμῶν διὰ τῆς τῶν παθημάτων κοινωνίας ἀποσαρκωθείσαις ὑλώδη περιττώματα ἐπιπωροῦται, ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς κρίσεως τέμνεταί τε καὶ ἀποξύεται τῇ ἀρρήτῳ ἐκείνῃ σοφίᾳ καὶ δυνάμει τοῦ, καθὼς λέγει τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, τοὺς κακοὺς ἰατρεύοντος. οὐ χρείαν γὰρ ἔχουσι, φησίν, οἱ ὑγιαίνοντες ἰατροῦ, ἀλλ' οἱ κακῶς ἔχοντες. διὰ δὲ τὸ πολλὴν γεγενῆσθαι τῇ ψυχῇ πρὸς τὸ κακὸν συμφυίαν ὥσπερ ἡ τῆς μυρμηκίας τομὴ δριμύσσει τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν· τὸ γὰρ παρὰ φύσιν ἐμφυὲν τῇ φύσει διά τινος συμπα θείας τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ προσίσχεται, καί τις γίνεται τοῦ ἀλλοτρίου πρὸς τὸ ἡμέτερον παράλογος συνανάκρασις, ὡς λυπεῖσθαι καὶ δάκνεσθαι τοῦ παρὰ φύσιν χωριζομένην τὴν αἴσθησιν· οὕτω καὶ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀπολεπτυνομένης τε καὶ ἐκτηκομένης ἐν τοῖς ὑπὲρ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐλεγμοῖς, καθώς πού φησιν ἡ προφητεία, διὰ τὴν ἐν βάθει γενομένην πρὸς τὸ κακὸν οἰκειότητα κατ' ἀνάγκην ἐπακολουθοῦσιν ἄρρητοί τινες