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temporary things; through which, stealing the whole desire of the soul, he completely removes us from divine love, making us willing enemies of the one who made us. And he is an avenger when, having laid bare his hatred for us, as we have already become subject to him through sin, he demands our punishment. For nothing is so dear to the devil as a human being who is being punished. And being permitted this, devising successive inflictions of involuntary sufferings, like a tempest he cruelly attacks those against whom he has received authority by God's permission; not wishing to fulfill the divine command, but desiring to nourish his own passion of hatred against us; so that by the great weight of painful calamities, the soul, growing faint through weakness, might cut off from itself the power of divine hope, making the infliction of grievous events a cause for godlessness instead of an admonition.

1.81 (81) When those who have acquired the practical state and theoretical knowledge pursue these things for the sake of human glory, sketching out the characters of virtues in an apparent manner; but speaking words of wisdom and knowledge only, without works of righteousness; and displaying to others their pride as though it were for virtue and knowledge, they are fittingly handed over to appropriate labours, so that through suffering they may learn anew the humility that was unknown to them because of their vain conceit.

1.82 (82) Each of the demons, according to its underlying disposition and aptitude, happens to be ministering to this or that infliction of temptations; for one is productive of one kind of 15∆_064 evil, and another is clearly more defiled than others, and more suited to this particular form of evil.

1.83 (83) Without divine permission, not even the demons themselves can in any way minister to the devil. For God Himself knows how, with due loving-kindness and good providence, He permits the devil through his ministers to inflict various punishments for the things in which we have sinned; and the story of Job clearly shows this, recording that the devil was completely unable to approach Job, without the divine will.

1.84 (84) Faith with subsistence is that which is active and put into practice, according to which the word of God is shown in practical matters, being embodied in the commandments, 1216 through which, as the Word, He leads those who practice them up to the Father in whom He is by nature.

1.85 (85) A transposition of life and angelic worship, and a voluntary alienation of the soul from the body, and the generation of the divine transformation in spirit, the mystery of the New Covenant proclaims. And the word knows to call spiritual circumcision the excision of the soul's impassioned relation to the body.

1.86 (86) God, being good, and wishing to pluck out from us completely the seed of evil, which is pleasure, which has plundered the mind of divine love, permits the devil to bring upon us labours and punishments; at the same time scraping away through pains the poison of preceding pleasure from the soul, and toward present things which flatter the senses alone, wishing to produce in us hatred and complete aversion, as things that possess no more profit than punishment in their use, and to make his 15∆_066 avenging and man-hating power a circumstantial cause for the return to virtue of those who have willingly slipped away from it.

1.87 (87) It is fitting and just to be punished by the devil, those who have gladly accepted his wicked suggestions of voluntary sins. For the devil is both the sower of pleasure through voluntary passions, and the bringer of pain through involuntary ones.

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πρόσκαιρα· δι᾿ ὧν κλέπτων ὅλην τῆς ψυχῆς τήν ἔφεσιν, τῆς θείας παντελῶς ἀγάπης ἡμᾶς ἀφίστησιν, ἑκουσίους ἐχθρούς ποιῶν τοῦ ποιήσαντος· ἐκδικητής δέ, ὅταν γυμνώσας τό πρός ἡμᾶς μῖσος, ὡς ἤδη γενομένους αὐτῷ διά τήν ἁμαρτίαν ὑποχειρίους, ἐξαιτῆται τήν καθ᾿ ἡμῶν τιμωρίαν. Οὐδέν γάρ οὕτω φίλον τῷ διαβόλῳ καθέστηκεν, ὡς ἄνθρωπος τιμωρούμενος. Τοῦτο δέ συγχωρηθείς, τάς ἀπαλλήλους ἐπινοῶν τῶν ἀκουσίων παθῶν ἐπαγωγάς, λαίλαπος δίκην ἀπηνῶς ἐπιφέρεται τοῖς καθ᾿ ὧν ἐκομίσατο συγχωρήσει Θεοῦ τήν ἐξουσίαν· οὐ τό πρόσταγμα τό θεῖον ἐκπληρῶσαι βουλόμενος, ἀλλά τό οἰκεῖον τοῦ καθ᾿ ἡμῶν μίσους διαθρέψαι πάθος ἐπιθυμῶν· ἵνα τῷ πολλῷ βάρει τῶν ὀδυνηρῶν συμφορῶν, ἡ ψυχή δι᾿ ἀτονίαν ὀκλάσασα, τῆς θείας ἐλπίδος ἑαυτῆς περικόψῃ τήν δύναμιν, ἀντί νουθεσίας, ἀθεΐας αἰτίαν ποιουμένη τήν τῶν ἀλγεινῶς συμβαινόντων ἐπαγωγήν.

1.81 (πα΄) Ὅταν οἱ τήν πρακτικήν ἕξιν, καί τήν θεωρητικήν ἐπιστήμην ἀπειληφότες, πρός τήν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ταύτας μετέρχωνται δόξαν, ἤθη μέν ἀρετῶν τῷ φαινομένῳ τρόπῳ σκιαγραφοῦντες· λόγους δέ σοφίας καί γνώσεως μόνον λαλοῦντες, δίχα τῶν κατά δικαιοσύνην ἔργων· καί τόν ὡς ἐπ᾿ ἀρετῇ καί γνώσει τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐπιδείκνυνται τύφον, εἰκότως πρέπουσι παραδίδονται πόνοις, διά τοῦ πάσχειν τήν ἀγνοηθεῖσαν αὐτοῖς ἐκ τῆς ματαίας οἰήσεως ταπεινοφροσύνην μεταμανθάνοντες.

1.82 (πβ΄) Ἕκαστος τῶν δαιμόνων κατά τήν ἐνδιαθέτως ὑποκειμένην ἐπιτηδειότητα, πρός τήνδε ἤ τήνδε τῶν πειρασμῶν τήν ἐπαγωγήν τυγχάνει λειτουργῶν· ἄλλος γάρ ἄλλης ἐστί ποιητικός 15∆_064 κακίας, καί ἄλλος ἄλλους σαφῶς ἐστι μιαρώτερος, καί πρός τόδε μᾶλλον τῆς κακίας τό εἶδος ἐπιτηδειότερος.

1.83 (πγ΄) Ἄνευ τῆς θείας συγχωρήσεως, οὐδέ αὐτοί οἱ δαίμονες κατ᾿ οὐδέν ὑπουργεῖν δύνανται τῷ διαβόλῳ. Οἶδε γάρ αὐτός ὁ Θεός ὅπως μετά τῆς δεούσης φιλανθρώπου καί ἀγαθῆς προνοίας συγχωρεῖ τῷ διαβόλῳ διά τῶν αὐτοῦ ὑπουργῶν, τάς ἐφ᾿ οἷς ἡμάρτομεν, διαφόρους ποιεῖσθαι τιμωρίας· καί δηλοῖ τοῦτο σαφῶς, ἡ περί τοῦ Ἰώβ συγγραφή μή δυνάμενον τῷ Ἰώβ παντελῶς προσπελάσαι τόν διάβολον ἀναγραφομένη, δίχα τοῦ θείου βουλήματος.

1.84 (πδ΄) Ἐνυπόστατος πίστις ἐστίν, ἡ ἐνεργής καί ἔμπρακτος, καθ᾿ ἥν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγος ἐν τοῖς πρακτικοῖς δείκνυται, ταῖς ἐντολαῖς σωματούμενος, 1216 δι᾿ ὧν ὡς Λόγος πρός τόν ἐν ᾧ κατά φύσιν ἐστίν, ἀνάγει Πατέρα τούς πράττοντας.

1.85 (πε΄) Ζωῆς μετάθεσιν καί λατρείαν ἀγγελικήν, καί πρός σῶμα ψυχῆς ἑκούσιον ἀλλοτρίωσιν, καί τῆς ἐν πνεύματι θείας μεταποιήσεως γένεσιν, τό τῆς Νέας ∆ιαθήκης καταγγέλλει μυστήριον. Πνευματικήν δέ περιτομήν ὁ λόγος οἶδε καλεῖν, τήν τῆς ἐμπαθοῦς σχέσεως πρός σῶμα τῆς ψυχῆς ἐκτομήν.

1.86 (πστ΄) Ἀγαθός ὑπάρχων ὁ Θεός, καί θέλων ἡμῶν ἐκτῖλαι παντελῶς τό τῆς κακίας σπέρμα τήν ἡδονήν, τήν τόν νοῦν τῆς θείας ἀποσυλήσασαν ἀγάπης, συγχωρεῖ τῷ διαβόλῳ πόνους ἡμῖν καί τιμωρίας ἐπαγαγεῖν· κατά ταὐτόν καί τῆς προλαβούσης ἡδονῆς τόν ἰόν, διά τῶν πόνων τῆς ψυχῆς ἀποξέων, καί πρός τά παρόντα καί μόνην τήν αἴσθησιν σαίνοντα, μῖσος ἡμῖν καί τελείαν ἀποδιάθεσιν, ὡς μηδέν τιμωρίας πλέον εἰς κέρδος κεκτημένα κατά τήν χρῆσιν, ἐμποιῆσαι βουλόμενος, καί τήν ἐκείνου 15∆_066 τιμωρόν δύναμιν καί μισάνθρωπον, τῆς πρός ἀρετήν ἐπαναγωγῆς περιστατικήν αἰτίαν ποιήσασθαι τῶν αὐτῆς ἑκουσίως ἀπολισθησάντων.

1.87 (πζ΄) Πρέπον ἐστί καί δίκαιον ὑπό τοῦ διαβόλου κολάζεσθαι, τούς τάς αὐτοῦ πονηράς ὑποθήκας τῶν ἑκουσίων ἁμαρτημάτων ἡδέως δεξαμένους. Καί γάρ καί ἡδονῆς ἐστι διά τῶν ἑκουσίων παθῶν σπορεύς ὁ διάβολος, καί ὀδύνης διά τῶν ἀκουσίων ἐπαγωγεύς.