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showing the mind and the law of the flesh, which is truly heavy and hard to move, and as far as natural power is concerned, completely immovable and unshakable.

2.10 (10) The power of irrationality is so rooted in the nature of human beings through sense-perception that many think a human being is nothing other than flesh, having sense-perception as a power for the enjoyment of the present life.

2.11 (11) All things, he says, are possible to one who believes, and does not doubt, that is, who is not separated from the union with God that has come to him in the intellect through faith, on account of the soul's relationship to the 15∆_082 body according to sense-perception; as many things of the world and of the flesh alienate the intellect; but it makes one familiar to God, perfected by good actions. For this must be implicitly understood in, "All things are possible to him who believes."

2.12 (12) Faith is unprovable knowledge. And if it is unprovable knowledge, then faith is a relationship beyond nature, through which unknowably, but not demonstrably, we are united with God according to the union that is beyond intellection.

2.13 (13) The intellect, having received immediate union with God, has its power of intellection and being intellected completely at rest. Whenever, then, it breaks this, by thinking of something that is after God, it becomes divided, cutting the union beyond intellection, in which, as long as it is joined to God, having become God by participation and beyond nature, like an immovable mountain, it transposes the law of its own nature.

2.14 (14) One who is being introduced to piety, being taught about the works of righteousness, carries out the practice alone, with all obedience and faith, as if eating the flesh of the virtues, that is, their visible manifestations, the moral instruction; but the principles of the commandments, in which the knowledge of the perfect exists, he yields to God through faith, being unable for the time being to extend himself to the length of knowledge.

2.15 (15) The perfect one, having run through not only the order of those being introduced, but also that of those making progress, is not ignorant of the principles of the things done by him according to the commandment, but having first drunk them in spirit, he eats all the flesh of the virtues through his works, 1228 raising up to knowledge in the intellect the movement of things that occur according to sense-perception.

15∆_084 2.16 (16) The Lord, having said, "Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness," that is, before all things, the knowledge of the truth, and thus the practice of fitting ways, clearly showed that believers must seek only divine knowledge, and the virtue that adorns it through works.

2.17 (17) Since many are the things sought by believers for the knowledge of God and virtue: deliverance from passions, endurance of temptations, principles of virtues, modes of activities, casting out of the soul's disposition towards the flesh, alienation of sense-perception's relation to sensible things, the complete withdrawal of the intellect from all created things. And simply, there are countless other things, for abstinence from evil and ignorance, and for the achievement of knowledge and virtue; reasonably the Lord said, "Whatever you ask for, believing, you will receive," saying that the pious must seek and ask with knowledge and faith simply for all things, only those that contribute to the knowledge of God and virtue. For all these things are profitable, and the Lord certainly gives them to those who ask.

2.18 (18) He therefore who for the sake of faith alone, that is, the immediate union with God, seeks all things that are for the union, will certainly receive them; but he who, apart from this cause, seeks either other things, or the aforementioned things, will not receive them. For he does not believe, but as an unbeliever he contrives his own glory by means of divine things.

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φρόνημα καί τόν νόμον δηλῶν τῆς σαρκός, τόν βαρύν ὄντως καί δυσμετακίνητον, καί ὅσον πρός δύναμιν φυσικήν, παντελῶς ἀκίνητον καί ἀσάλευτον.

2.10 (ι΄) Τοσοῦτον ἐῤῥίζωται τῇ φύσει τῶν ἀνθρώπων διά τῆς αἰσθήσεως ἡ τῆς ἀλογίας δύναμις, ὥστε τούς πολλούς μηδ᾿ ἄλλο τι νομίζειν εἶναι τόν ἄνθρωπον, ἤ σάρκα, δύναμιν πρός ἀπόλαυσιν τῆς παρούσης ζωῆς τήν αἴσθησιν ἔχουσαν.

2.11 (ια΄) Πάντα, φησί, δυνατά τῷ πιστεύοντι, καί μή διακρινομένῳ, τουτέστι μή διαιρουμένῳ τῆς κατά νοῦν διά πίστεως γεγενημένης αὐτῷ πρός τόν Θεόν ἑνώσεως, διά τήν πρός τό 15∆_082 σῶμα τῆς ψυχῆς κατά τήν αἴσθησιν σχέσιν· ὅσα κόσμου καί σαρκός τόν νοῦν ἀλλοτριοῖ· Θεῷ δέ προσοικειοῖ, τετελειωμένον τοῖς κατορθώμασι. Τοῦτο γάρ προσυπακουστέον τῷ, Πάντα δυνατά τῷ πιστεύοντι.

2.12 (ιβ΄) Ἡ πίστις ἀναπόδεικτος γνῶσίς ἐστιν. Εἰ δέ γνῶσίς ἐστιν ἀναπόδεικτος, ἄρα σχέσις ἐστίν ὑπέρ φύσιν ἡ πίστις, δι᾿ ἧς ἀγνώστως, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἀποδεικτικῶς ἑνούμεθα τῷ Θεῷ κατά τήν ὑπέρ νόησιν ἕνωσιν.

2.13 (ιγ΄) Τήν ἄμεσον λαβών ἕνωσιν πρός τόν Θεόν ὁ νοῦς, τήν τοῦ νοεῖν καί νοεῖσθαι παντελῶς δύναμιν ἔχει σχολάζουσαν. Ὁπηνίκα γοῦν ταύτην λύσει, νοήσας τι τῶν μετά Θεόν, διεκρίθη, τεμών τήν ὑπέρ νόησιν ἕνωσιν, καθ᾿ ἥν ἕως ἐστί τῷ Θεῷ συνημμένος, ὡς ὑπέρ φύσιν καί τῇ μεθέξει Θεός γεγενημένος, καθάπερ ὄρος ἀκίνητον, ἑαυτοῦ τόν τῆς φύσεως μετατίθησι νόμον.

2.14 (ιδ΄) Ὁ πρός εὐσέβειαν εἰσαγόμενος, περί τῶν ἔργων διδασκόμενος τῆς δικαιοσύνης, τήν πρᾶξιν μόνην ἐπιτελεῖ, μετά πάσης ὑπακοῆς καί πίστεως, καθάπερ σάρκας ἐσθίων τῶν ἀρετῶν τά φαινόμενα, τήν ἠθικήν δηλονότι παιδαγωγίαν· τούς δέ τῶν ἐντολῶν λόγους, ἐν οἷς ἡ τῶν τελείων ὑπάρχει γνῶσις, τῷ Θεῷ παραχωρεῖ διά τῆς πίστεως, μή δυνάμενος συνεπεκταθῆναι τέως τῷ μήκει τῆς γνώσεως.

2.15 (ιε΄) Ὁ τέλειος, οὐ μόνον τήν τῶν εἰσαγομένων τάξιν, ἀλλά καί τήν τῶν προκοπτόντων διαδραμών, οὐκ ἀγνοεῖ τῶν ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ κατ᾿ ἐντολήν γινομένων τούς λόγους, ἀλλ᾿ ἐκείνους πνεύματι πρῶτον διαπιών, πᾶσαν ἐσθίει διά τῶν ἔργων τήν σάρκα τῶν ἀρετῶν, 1228 πρός τήν κατά νοῦν γνῶσιν ἀναβιβάζων, τήν τῶν γινομένων κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν κίνησιν.

15∆_084 2.16 (ιστ΄) Ὁ Κύριος εἰπών, Ζητεῖτε πρῶτον τήν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, καί τήν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ· τουτέστι, πρό πάντων τήν ἐπίγνωσιν τῆς ἀληθείας, καί οὕτω τήν τῶν καθηκόντων τρόπων ἐξάσκησιν· σαφῶς ἔδειξε, περί μόνης τῆς θείας γνώσεως δεῖν ζητεῖν τούς πιστεύοντας, καί τῆς αὐτήν κοσμούσης διά τῶν ἔργων ἀρετῆς.

2.17 (ιζ΄) Ἐπειδή πολλά τυγχάνει τά πρός γνῶσιν Θεοῦ καί ἀρετήν ζητούμενα τοῖς πιστεύουσιν, ἀπαλλαγή παθῶν, ὑπομονήν πειρασμῶν, ἀρετῶν λόγοι, τρόποι ἐνεργειῶν, ἐξήλωσις τῆς πρός σάρκα τῆς ψυχῆς διαθέσεως, ἀποξένωσις τῆς πρός τά αἰσθητά τῆς αἰσθήσεως σχέσεως, τοῦ νοῦ παντελής ἀπό πάντων τῶν γεγονότων ἀναχώρησις. Καί ἁπλῶς μυρία ἄλλα εἰσί, τά πρός ἀποχήν μέν κακίας καί ἀγνωσίας, κατόρθωσιν δέ γνώσεως καί ἀρετῆς· εἰκότως ὁ Κύριος ἔφησεν, Πάντα ὅσα ἄν αἰτῆσθε πιστεύοντες, λήψεσθε· πάντα ἁπλῶς, τά πρός ἐπίγνωσιν Θεοῦ καί ἀρετήν συντείνοντα μόνα καί ζητεῖν καί αἰτεῖν μετ᾿ ἐπιστήμης καί πίστεως δεῖν εἰπών τούς εὐσεβεῖς. Ταῦτα γάρ πάντα συμφέρει, καί πάντως δίδωσιν αὐτά τοῖς αἰτοῦσιν ὁ Κύριος.

2.18 (ιη΄) Ὁ τοίνυν διά μόνην τήν πίστιν, ἤγουν τήν πρός Θεόν ἄμεσον ἕνωσιν, πάντα ζητῶν τά πρός τήν ἕνωσιν, πάντως λήψεται· ὁ δέ ταύτης δίχα τῆς αἰτίας, κἄν ἄλλα, κἄν τά προειρημένα ζητῇ, οὐ λήψεται. Οὐ γάρ πιστεύει, ἀλλ᾿ οἰκείαν ὡς ἄπιστος διά τῶν θείων πραγματεύεται δόξαν.