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in what way, after ascending from Hades and setting foot on the earth, you were both delivered from corruption and freed from the curse. Then you will teach us how you were again taken up from the earth, using what kind of steps, with what kind of wings flying did you rise up to the heavens, mounting what kind of chariot, being in the body without a body, did you pass beyond them, what cloud received you. Show us these things and teach us concerning such things, and then we shall accept you when you speak of God with some moderation and with fear and trembling. But if, without these things which have been mentioned, which are always mystically happening in those who have run up to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, and before the practice of what has been commanded by God you dare to speak boldly, we will turn away from you as from one raving and mad and possessed by a demon, since neither was Elijah bodily taken up to heaven without that fiery chariot, nor our Lord and God without the cloud of the Spirit which received Him.

And yet He was able to translate Elijah himself from earth to heaven without the chariot that appeared, just as Enoch, and the Lord Himself in turn could have ascended to the heavens without a cloud and the accompanying angels, but He does not do this. Why this? In order to teach us that our mind also needs something that brings it up to heaven and points out to it the sights there and reveals the mysteries of God; for just as it is not possible for a bird to fly up to a height without wings, so neither can the mind of man ascend (27) to those things from which it fell, unless it has one who leads and carries it up. And otherwise also, so that through these works the Lord might confirm the ascension of His servant and His own and His ascent to the heavens, and might teach us not to be deceived by words alone and to believe every man who says he is spiritual, but first being assured by his life and his deeds, and especially if his words and his actions are in harmony with the teachings of the Lord and the apostles and the holy fathers, and then to accept and hear his words as the words of Christ; but if not, but even if he raises the dead, and even if he displays countless other miracles, to turn away from him and hate him as a demon, and especially when we see him, when admonished, not accepting to change his own way of thinking, but still abiding in his errant knowledge and supposing he has his citizenship and conduct in the heavens.

For so, having been initiated from the beginning by the apostles of Christ and our divine fathers into the divinely inspired teaching, we turn away from the empty chatter of those who have leisure for nothing else than to be curious and meddle in things unattainable even for angels; but we hold fast to the confession of our faith, unharmed and unshaken, which we received from them from the beginning, that in the Father and Son and Holy Spirit, of the one Godhead and the unconfused and undivided Trinity, in whom we have been baptized, through whom we also live and know and understand, under whom we also are and shall be for ages of ages, as having received from her our being and well-being, from the wisdom that brought all things out of non-being, with whom may we also pass from things here to the calm harbors of undefiled life, where is the dwelling place of all who rejoice and the place (28) of those who celebrate in the Spirit, to whom is due all glory, honor, and worship, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

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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 δέ χωρίς τῶν εἰρημένων τούτων, τῶν ἀεί μυστικῶς γινομένων ἐν τοῖς εἰς ἄνδρα τέλειον εἰς μέτρον ἡλικίας τοῦ πληρώματος ἀναδεδραμηκόσι Χριστοῦ, και πρό τῆς πράξεως τῶν ἐντεταλμένων ὑπό Θεοῦ φθέγξασθαι τολμηρῶς ἐπιχειρήσεις, ὡς μαινόμενον καί ἔκφρονα καί δαιμονῶντά σε ἀποστραφησόμεθα, ἐπειδή οὔτε Ἠλίας ἄνευ τοῦ φλογεροῦ ἅρματος ἐκείνου σωματικῶς πρός οὐρανόν ἤρθη, οὔτε ὁ ∆εσπότης ἡμῶν καί Θεός ἄνευ τῆς ὑπολαβούσης αὐτόν νεφέλης τοῦ Πνεύματος.

Καίτοι καί τόν Ἠλίαν αὐτόν δίχα τοῦ ὀφθέντος ἅρματος, ὥσπερ τόν Ἐνώχ, μεταθεῖναι ἀπό τῆς γῆς εἰς οὐρανόν ἴσχυε καί αὐτός πάλιν ὁ ∆εσπότης ἄνευ νεφέλης καί τῶν συνεπομένων ἀγγέλων εἰς οὐρανούς ἀνελθεῖν ἠδύνατο, ἀλλά τοῦτο οὐ ποιεῖ. Τί τοῦτο; Ἵνα διδάξῃ ἡμᾶς ὅτι καί ὁ νοῦς ἡμῶν δέεταί τινος πάντως τοῦ ἀναφέροντος αὐτόν εἰς τόν οὐρανόν καί τά ἐκεῖσε θεάματα ὑποδεικνύοντος αὐτῷ καί τά μυστήρια τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκκαλύπτοντος· ὡς γάρ οὐκ ἐνδέχεται ἄνευ πτερύγων εἰς ὕψος πετασθῆναι πτηνόν, οὕτως οὐδέ νοῦν ἀνθρώπου ἀναβῆναι (27) πρός τά ἐξ ὧν ἐξέπεσεν, εἰ μή τόν προάγοντα καί ἀναφέροντα αὐτόν σχῇ. Ἄλλως δέ καί ἵνα δι᾿ αὐτῶν τῶν ἔργων πιστώσηται τήν τοῦ δούλου καί τήν ἰδίαν ὁ ∆εσπότης ἀνάληψιν καί εἰς οὐρανούς ἄνοδον καί διδάξῃ ἡμᾶς μή λόγοις μόνοις ἐξαπατᾶσθαι καί πάντα ἄνθρωπον πιστεύειν πνευματικόν ἑαυτόν εἶναι λέγοντα, ἀλλά ἀπό τοῦ βίου καί τῶν πράξεων αὐτοῦ πρότερον βεβαιουμένους, καί μάλιστα ἐάν ταῖς τοῦ Κυρίου καί τῶν ἀποστόλων καί τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων διδασκαλίαις συνᾴδωσιν οἱ λόγοι αὐτοῦ καί αἱ πράξεις, καί τηνικαῦτα προσδέχεσθαι καί ἀκούειν τούς λόγους αὐτοῦ ὡς λόγους Χριστοῦ· εἰ δ᾿ οὖν, ἀλλ᾿ εἰ καί νεκρούς ἀνιστᾷ, κἄν μυρία ἄλλα θαύματα ἐπιδείκνυται, ὡς δαίμονα αὐτόν ἀποστρέφεσθαι καί μισεῖν, καί μάλιστα ὅταν νουθετούμενον μή καταδεχόμενον ὁρῶμεν μεταθεῖναι τό ἴδιον φρόνημα, ἐλλ᾿ ἔτι ἐμμένοντα τῇ πεπλανημένῃ γνώσει αὐτοῦ καί εἰς οὐρανούς οἰόμενον τό πολίτευμα καί τήν διαγωγήν ἔχειν.

Οὕτω γάρ ἄνωθεν ὑπό τῶν ἀποστόλων Χριστοῦ καί τῶν θεσπεσίων πατέρων ἡμῶν τῆς θεοπνεύστου μυσταγωγηθέντες διδασκαλίας, ἀποτρεπόμεθα τάς διακένους τῶν εἰς μηδέν ἕτερον εὐκαιρούντων, ἤ εἰς τό περιεργάζεσθαι καί πολυπραγμονεῖν τά καί ἀγγέλοις ἀνέφικτα, κενοφωνίας· κρατοῦμεν δέ τήν ὁμολογίαν ἡμῶν τῆς πίστεως ἀσινῆ καί ἀκράδαντον, ἥν ἄνωθεν παρ᾿ αὐτῶν παρελάβομεν, τήν ἐν Πατρί καί Υἱῷ καί Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι τῆς μιᾶς θεότητος καί ἀσυγχύτου καί ἀδιαιρέτου Τριάδος, ἐν ᾗ βεβαπτίσμεθα, δι᾿ ἧς καί ζῶμεν κάι γινώσκομεν καί νοοῦμεν, ὑφ᾿ ἥν καί ἐσμεν καί εἰς αἰῶνας αἰώνων ἐσόμεθα, ὡς ἐξ αὐτῆς ἐσχηκότες τό εἶναι καί τό εὖ εἶναι τῆς τό πᾶν ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων παραγαγούσης σοφίᾳ, μεθ᾿ ἧς καί μετασταίημεν τῶν ἐνταῦθα εἰς γαληνούς λιμένας ζωῆς ἀκηράτου, ἔνθα πάντων εὐφραινομένων ἡ κατοικία καί ὁ χῶρος (28) τῶν ἑορταζόντων ἐν Πνεύματι, ᾗ πρέπει πᾶσα δόξα, τιμή καί προσκύνησις, νῦν καί ἀεί καί εἰς τούς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων· ἀμήν.