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and were you strong enough to escape his hands? Tell us, therefore, and then you shall certainly say how, after you came up from Hades and set foot on the earth, you were freed from corruption and liberated from the curse. Then you will teach us how you were led up again from the earth, what ladders you used, with what wings you flew and were raised up to the heavens, mounting what chariot, being in the body without the body, you passed beyond them, what cloud received you. Show us these things and teach us about such matters, and then we shall accept you speaking somewhat moderately and with fear and trembling about God. But if, apart from these things which have been mentioned, which always happen mystically in those who have run up to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, you boldly attempt to speak before the practice of what has been commanded by God, we shall turn away from you as from one who is mad and insane and possessed by a demon, since neither was Elijah bodily raised to heaven without that fiery chariot, nor our Lord and God without the cloud of the Spirit which received Him.

And yet He had the power to translate Elijah himself from earth to heaven without the chariot that appeared, just like Enoch, and the Lord Himself again was able to ascend to the heavens without a cloud and the accompanying angels, but He does not do this. Why is this? So that He might teach us that our mind also certainly needs something to carry it up to heaven and show it the sights there and reveal the mysteries of God; for just as it is not possible for a bird to fly to a height without wings, so neither can the mind of man ascend (27) to the things from which it fell, unless it has one to lead it and carry it up. And otherwise, also that through these very works the Lord might confirm the assumption of the servant and His own ascension and ascent to the heavens, and might teach us not to be deceived by words alone and not to believe every man who says he is spiritual, but first being assured from his life and deeds, and especially if his words and deeds are in harmony with the teachings of the Lord and of the apostles and of the holy fathers, and then to accept and to 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 as from a demon and to hate him, and especially when we see him, being admonished, not accepting to change his own mindset, but still remaining in his deluded knowledge and thinking that his manner of life and conduct is in heaven.

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

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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 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.