,

to be known. And to put it briefly, the "when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away" spoken by the apostle seems to me to be the same as the "it has not yet been revealed what we shall be" spoken by the theologian.

10 (10). CONCERNING "HE WHO FEARS IS NOT MADE PERFECT IN LOVE". 10. QUESTION 10 If he who fears is not made perfect in love, how is there not a want for those

who fear him? If there is not a want, it is clear that he is made perfect. How then is he who fears not made perfect?

Response. The fine good order of the divine Scriptures, according to the salvific ordinance of the Spirit

defining the degrees for those who are moving from the external multitude according to the passions toward the divine unity, called those who are being introduced and happen to be at the vestibules, so to speak, of the divine court of the virtues "those who fear," and knows to name as "those who are advancing" those who have acquired a commensurate state of the principles and ways of virtue, while it addresses as "perfect" those who have already come to be gnostically at the summit of the truth that makes the virtues manifest. Therefore, neither does he who fears the Lord, having completely turned away from the old way of life according to the corruption of the passions and having given over his entire disposition to the divine commands on account of fear, lack any good thing proper to those being introduced, even if he has not yet acquired the state in the virtues and has not become a partaker of the wisdom spoken among the perfect; nor indeed does he who is advancing lack any of the good things imposed upon his degree, even if he has not yet acquired the same super-eminent knowledge of divine things as the perfect.

And again, let those who manfully pursue the practical philosophy, not yet having freed the soul from fear and memory of the future divine tribunals, be understood by us as "those who fear," lacking absolutely nothing, according to the blessed David, of those who struggle for the truth against the opposing power, but nevertheless still falling short of the pure transmission of the mystical spectacles to the intellect of the 14Β_086 perfect. But let those who have already been mystically deemed worthy of contemplative theology and have rendered the intellect pure of all material fantasy and bear a whole, unerring imitation as an image of the divine beauty, be for us "those who love."

There is therefore no want for those who fear, according to the blessed David, insofar as they are those who fear, even if he who fears does not have the full and perfect immediate union with the Word to the same degree as those who love the Lord. For each in his own order and assigned mansion has perfection, even if one is higher than another according to the quality or quantity of spiritual age.

But since fear is twofold, according to "but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna," and according to "the fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever and ever," and "he is great and fearful over all who are around him," we must ask how love casts out fear, if indeed it endures forever and ever, and how God will be fearful, enduring for endless ages, over all who are around him.

Or rather, since, as I said, fear is twofold, one pure and the other not pure—for instance, the fear arising from transgressions in anticipation of punishment, having sin as the cause of its own generation, being not pure, will not exist forever, being obliterated along with sin through repentance, but the pure fear, the one without the

γνωσθησόμενον. Καὶ συντόμως εἰπεῖν, τὸ ὅταν ἔλθῃ τὸ τέλειον, τὸ ἐκ μέρους καταργηθήσεται τῷ ἀποστόλῳ εἰρημένον ταὐτὸν εἶναί μοι φαίνεται τῷ οὔπω ἐφανερώθη τί ἐσόμεθα λεχθέντι τῷ θεολόγῳ.

Ι (10). ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ "Ο ΦΟΒΟΥΜΕΝΟΣ ΟΥ ΤΕΤΕΛΕΙΩΤΑΙ ΕΝ ΤΗ ΑΓΑΠΗ". 10. ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Ι' Εἰ ὁ φοβούμενος οὐ τετελείωται ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ, πῶς οὐκ ἔστιν ὑστέρημα τοῖς

φοβουμένοις αὐτόν; Ἐὰν οὐκ ἔστιν ὑστέρημα, δῆλον ὅτι τετελείωται. Πῶς οὖν ὁ φοβούμενος οὐ τετελείωται;

Ἀπόκρισις. Ἡ καλὴ τῶν θείων Γραφῶν εὐταξία, κατὰ τὸν σωστικὸν τοῦ Πνεύματος

θεσμὸν τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκτὸς κατὰ τὰ πάθη πληθύος ἐπὶ τὴν θείαν ἑνότητα κινουμένων τοὺς βαθμοὺς διορίζουσα, τοὺς μὲν εἰσαγομένους καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ πρόπυλά που τυγχάνοντας τῆς θείας αὐλῆς τῶν ἀρετῶν φοβουμένους ἐκάλεσεν, τοὺς δὲ κτησαμένους σύμμετρον ἕξιν τῶν κατὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν λόγων τε καὶ τρόπων οἶδεν ὀνομάζειν προκόπτοντας, τοὺς δὲ κατ᾽ αὐτὴν γνωστικῶς ἤδη γεγενημένους τῆς τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐκφαντικῆς ἀληθείας κορυφὴν προσαγορεύει τελείους. Οὔτε οὖν ὁ φοβούμενος τὸν Κύριον, ἀπεστρεμμένος διόλου τὴν κατὰ τὴν φθορὰν τῶν παθῶν ἀρχαίαν ἀναστροφὴν καὶ πᾶσαν ἑαυτοῦ τὴν διάθεσιν διὰ τὸν φόβον ἐκδεδωκὼς τοῖς θείοις προστάγμασι, ὑστερεῖ τινος καλοῦ τῶν εἰσαγομένοις πρεπόντων, κἂν οὔπω τὴν ἐν ἀρεταῖς ἕξιν ἐκτήσατο, καὶ τῆς ἐν τοῖς τελείοις λαλουμένης σοφίας γέγονε μέτοχος· οὔτε μὴν ὁ προκόπτων τῶν ἐπιβεβλημένων αὐτοῦ τῷ βαθμῷ καλῶν τινος ὑστερεῖ, κἂν τὴν αὐτὴν οὔπω τοῖς τελείοις ὑπερέχουσαν τῶν θείων ἐκτήσατο γνῶσιν.

Καὶ πάλιν οἱ μὲν τὴν πρακτικὴν ἀνδρικῶς μετιόντες φιλοσοφίαν, φόβου καὶ μνήμης τῶν μελλόντων θείων δικαιωτηρίων οὔπω τὴν ψυχὴν ἀπολύσαντες, νοείσθωσαν ἡμῖν οἱ φοβούμενοι, μηδενὸς μὲν κατὰ τὸν μακάριον ∆αβὶδ ὑστεροῦντες καθάπαξ τῶν ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας ἀγωνιζομένων κατὰ τῆς ἀντικειμένης δυνάμεως, ὅμως δ᾽ οὖν ἔτι λειπόμενοι τῆς κατὰ νοῦν τῶν 14Β_086 τελείων ἀκραιφνοῦς τῶν μυστικῶν θεαμάτων διαδόσεως. Οἱ δὲ τῆς θεωρητικῆς ἤδη μυστικῶς ἀξιωθέντες θεολογίας καὶ πάσης φαντασίας ὑλικῆς τὸν νοῦν καθαρὸν καταστήσαντες καὶ εἰκόνα τῆς θείας ὡραιότητος ὅλην ἀνελλιπῶς φέρουσαν τὴν ἐκμίμησιν, ἔστωσαν ἡμῖν οἱ ἀγαπῶντες.

Οὐκ ἔστιν οὖν ὑστέρημα τοῖς φοβουμένοις κατὰ τὸν μακάριον ∆αβίδ, ὡς φοβουμένοις, κἂν οὐκ ἔχῃ τὸ πλῆρες καὶ τέλειον τῆς ἀμέσου πρὸς τὸν λόγον ἑνώσεως κατὰ τὸ ἴσον τοῖς ἀγαπῶσι τὸν Κύριον ὁ φοβούμενος. Ἕκαστος γὰρ ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ τάγματι καὶ τὴν ἠφορισμένην αὐτῷ μονὴν ἔχει τὸ τέλειον, κἂν ἄλλος ἄλλου κατὰ τὸ ποιὸν ἢ ποσὸν τῆς πνευματικῆς ἡλικίας ἐστὶν ὑψηλότερος.

Ἐπειδὴ δὲ διττός ἐστιν ὁ φόβος κατὰ τὸ φοβήθητε δὲ μᾶλλον τὸν δυνάμενον καὶ σῶμα καὶ ψυχὴν ἀπολέσαι ἐν γεέννῃ, καὶ κατὰ τὸ ὁ φόβος Κυρίου ἁγνός, διαμένων εἰς αἰῶνα αἰῶνος, καὶ μέγας καὶ φοβερός ἐστιν ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς περικύκλῳ αὐτοῦ, ζητητέον πῶς ἔξω βάλλει τὸν φόβον ἡ ἀγάπη, εἴπερ εἰς αἰῶνα αἰῶνος διαμένει, πῶς δὲ φοβερὸς ἔσται διαμένων ὁ Θεὸς εἰς τοὺς ἀπείρους αἰῶνας ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς περικύκλῳ αὐτοῦ.

Ἢ μᾶλλον, ἐπειδή, καθὼς ἔφην, διττός ἐστιν ὁ φόβος, ὁ μὲν ἁγνὸς ὁ δὲ οὐχ ἁγνόςοἷον, ὁ μὲν ἐπὶ πλημμελήμασι κατ᾽ ἐκδοχὴν κολάσεως συνιστάμενος φόβος, αἰτίαν ἔχων τῆς οἰκείας γενέσεως τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, ὡς οὐχ ἁγνός, οὐκ ἔσται διαπαντός, τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ διὰ τῆς μετανοίας συναφανιζόμενος, ὁ δὲ ἁγνὸς φόβος, ὁ δίχα τῆς ἐπὶ