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they purify the flesh of snakes by boiling it, so too with the soul's faculty of examination and contemplation to discern harmful (p. 112) thoughts. Nevertheless, even if you do all these things and make good use of what has been well discerned (and what a task this is and how much discernment it requires), yet even if you make good use of the well-acquired portion of outside wisdom, this would not be an evil thing, for indeed it is by nature an instrument for something good; but not even so could it be properly called a gift of God and spiritual, since it is natural and not sent from above. Wherefore Paul, who if anyone was wise in divine matters, calls it carnal, saying, "See our calling, that not many are wise according to the flesh." And yet who could have used this wisdom better than the outside wise men called by Paul? But nevertheless, he calls these men wise according to the flesh, at least as far as this is concerned; reasonably so.

For just as the pleasure in procreation according to lawful marriage could hardly be called a divine gift of God, for it is a carnal gift and of nature, but not of grace, although God made nature; so too the knowledge from outside education, even if one should use it well, is a gift of nature, but not of grace, given by God through nature commonly to all and brought to progress by study; and this is clear proof that it is a natural and not a spiritual gift, the fact that it comes to no one at all without effort and study. For a gift of God properly, and not natural, is our theosophy, which, even if it falls from above on fishermen, makes them sons of thunder, according to Gregory the Theologian, making the ends of the world resound with the word, and even if on tax collectors, it makes them merchants of souls, and even in those ardent with zeal as persecutors, it transforms and makes Pauls out of Sauls, reaching from earth to the third heaven and hearing unutterable things; through it, therefore, it is possible for us both to become in the image of God and to be after God. (p. 114) But natural wisdom is said to have been possessed in abundance by Adam, if by anyone after him, although he, first of all, did not preserve the "according to the image." And the outside philosophy which in turn assists this was discovered before the coming down of the One who through Himself recalled the soul to its ancient beauty. How then were we not renewed through it before Christ, but they and all of us were in need, not of one who teaches philosophy, an art that is abolished along with this age (wherefore it is also called "of this age"), but of Him who takes away the sin of the world and provides a wisdom that is true and everlasting, even if it is foolishness to the wise who are temporary and perishing, not only seeming so, but also making foolish by its absence those who do not apply their mind to it? Do you see clearly that it is not the learning of outside education that saves and purifies the gnostic faculty of the soul and makes it like the divine archetype?

Therefore, I will make a fitting end to the words concerning it. If anyone turns back to the observances of the law as if to be perfected by them, Christ will profit him nothing, although those were once clearly legislated by God, but not so the undertaking of outside studies; for which reason, indeed, and much more so, if someone turns back again to the rejected philosophy of the outsiders as if his soul is to be purified by it, Christ will profit him nothing. The mouth of Christ is Paul, who says there and bears witness with us here.

Say these things, brother, to those who exalt outside wisdom more than is proper. And in addition to these things, show them through the chapters written below, how vain and contemptible it was considered by our holy fathers, and especially by those who had experience of it.

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τῶν ὄφεων σάρκας ἀποκαθαίρουσιν ἕψοντες, οὕτω δέ τῷ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐξεταστικῷ καί θεωρητικῷ τῶν βλαβερῶν (σελ. 112) διακρῖναι νοημάτων. Οὐ μήν ἀλλ᾿ εἰ καί ταῦθ᾿ ἅπαντα ποιήσεις καί καλῶς χρήσῃ τῷ καλῶς διακριθέντι (ὅσον δέ καί τοῦτ᾿ ἔργον καί ὅσης δεῖται διακρίσεως), ὅμως εἰ καί καλῶς χρήσῃ τῷ καλῶς ἀπειλημμένῳ μορίῳ τῆς ἔξωθεν σοφίας, κακόν μέν οὐκ ἄν εἴη τοῦτο, καί γάρ ὄργανον πέφυκε γίνεσθαι πρός τι καλόν˙ ἀλλ᾿ οὐδ᾿ οὕτως ἄν κληθείη Θεοῦ κυρίως δῶρον καί πνευματικόν, ἅτε φυσικόν καί μή ἄνωθεν καταπεμφθέν. ∆ιό καί ὁ σοφός εἴπερ τις τά θεῖα Παῦλος σαρκικόν αὐτό καλεῖ, «βλέπετε, λέγων, τήν κλῆσιν ἡμῶν, ὡς οὐ πολλοί σοφοί κατά σάρκα». Καίτοι τίς ἄν χρήσαιτο κάλλιον τῇ σοφίᾳ ταύτῃ τῶν ὑπό Παύλου κεκλημένων ἔξωθεν σοφῶν; Ἀλλ᾿ ὅμως κατά σάρκα τούτους, τό γε εἰς ταύτην ἧκον, ὀνομάζει σοφούς˙ εἰκότως.

Ὡς γάρ ἡ ἐπί παιδοποιΐᾳ κατά τούς νομίμους τῶν γάμων ἡδονή θεῖον Θεοῦ δῶρον, ἥκιστ᾿ ἄν κληθείη, σαρκικόν γάρ καί φύσεως, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ χάριτος δῶρον, καίτοι τήν φύσιν ὁ Θεός ἐποίησεν˙ οὕτω καί ἡ παρά τῆς ἔξω παιδείας γνῶσις, εἰ καί καλῶς τις ταύτῃ χρῷτο, φύσεώς ἐστιν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ χάριτος τό δόμα, διά τῆς φύσεως παρά Θεοῦ κοινῇ πᾶσι δεδομένον καί μελέτῃ πρός ἐπίδοσιν ἀγόμενον˙ ὅ καί τοῦτο τεκμήριον ἐναργές ὡς φυσικόν ἀλλ᾿ οὐ πνευματικόν ἄρα δῶρον, τό μή σπουδῆς καί μελέτης ἄνευ μηδενί τῶν ἁπάντων παραγίνεσθαι. Θεοῦ γάρ κυρίως δῶρον, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ φυσικόν, ἡ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς θεοσοφία, ἥ κἄν ἁλιεῦσιν ἄνωθεν ἐπιπτῇ βροντῆς υἱούς, κατά τόν θεολόγον Γρηγόριον, ἀπεργάζεται, περιηχοῦντας, τῷ λόγῳ τῆς οἰκουμένης τά πέρατα, κἄν τελώναις, ψυχῶν ἐμπόρους δημιουργεῖ, κἄν διώκταις θερμοῖς τόν ζῆλον, μετατίθησι καί ποιεῖ Παύλους ἀντί Σαύλων, ἀπό γῆς μέχρι οὐρανοῦ τρίτου φθάνοντας καί ἀκούοντας ἄρρητα˙ δι᾿ αὐτῆς τοίνυν ἔνι καί ἡμᾶς κατ᾿ εἰκόνα Θεοῦ γενέσθαι τε καί μετά θά εἶναι. (σελ. 114) Τῆς δέ φυσικῆς σοφίας καί τῷ Ἀδάμ εἴπερ τινι τῶν μετ᾿ αὐτόν περιεῖναι λέγεται, καίτοι τό κατ᾿ εἰκόνα πρώτῳ πάντων μή φυλάξαντι. Καί ἡ ταύτῃ δ᾿ αὖθις βοηθοῦσα τῶν ἔξω φιλοσοφία πρό τοῦ κατελθεῖν τόν δι᾿ ἑαυτοῦ πρός τό ἀρχαῖον κάλλος τήν ψυχήν ἐπανακαλεσάμενον εὕρηται. Πῶς οὖν οὐ πρό Χριστοῦ δι᾿ αὐτῆς ἀνεκαινίσθημεν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐδεήθημεν ἐκεῖνοί τε καί πάντες, οὐ τοῦ διδάσκοντος φιλοσοφίαν, τέχνην τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ συγκαταλυομένην, διό καί τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου λέγεται, ἀλλ᾿ αὐτοῦ τοῦ τήν ἁμαρτίαν αἴροντος τοῦ κόσμου καί παρέχοντος σοφίαν ἀληθῆ τε καί διαιωνίζουσαν, εἰ καί μωρία τοῖς προσκαίροις καί ἀπολλυμένοις ἐστί σοφοῖς, οὐ δοκοῦσα μόνον, ἀλλά καί μωραίνουσα τῇ ἑαυτῆς ἀπουσίᾳ τούς μή ταύτῃ προσέχοντας τόν νοῦν; Ὁρᾷς σαφῶς ὡς οὐχ ἡ τῆς ἔξω παιδείας μάθησίς ἐστιν ἡ σώζουσα καί τό τῆς ψυχῆς γνωστικόν καθαίρουσα καί πρός τό θεῖον ἀρχέτυπον ἀφομοιοῦσα;

Τοιγαροῦν τοῖς περί αὐτῆς λόγοις προσῆκον ἐποίσω τέλος. Εἴ τις πρός τάς νομικάς παρατηρήσεις ὡς καταρθησόμενος ἐκ τούτων ἐπιστρέφεται, Χριστός αὐτόν οὐδέν ὠφελήσει, καίτοι παρά τοῦ Θεοῦ ποτε νενομοθέτηνται σαφῶς ἐκεῖναι, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχί καί ἡ τῶν ἐξω μαθημάτων ἀνάληψις˙ ᾧ δή καί πολλῷ μᾶλλον, εἴ τις πρός τήν ἀποδεδοκιμασμένην τῶν ἔξω φιλοσοφίαν ὡς ἐξ αὐτῆς τήν ψυχήν καθαρθησόμενος αὖθις ἐπιστρέφει, Χριστός αὐτόν οὐδέν ὠφελήσει. Τό τοῦ Χριστοῦ στόμα Παῦλός ἐστιν ὁ λέγων ἐκεῖ καί ἡμῖν ἐνταυθοῖ συμμαρτυρῶν.

Ταῦτα πρός τούς τήν ἔξω σοφίαν πλέον ἤ δέον ἐξαίροντας, ἀδελφέ, εἰπέ. Καί πρός τούτοις δεῖξον αὐτοῖς διά τῶν ὑπογεγραμμένων κεφαλαίων, πῶς ματαία καί περιφρονητέα τοῖς ἁγίοις ἡμῶν πατράσιν ἐνομίσθη καί μάλιστα τοῖς ἐν πείρᾳ γεγονόσιν αὐτῆς.