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2.19 (19) He who by his will is pure from the corruption of sin, destroys the corruption of things that are naturally corruptible. For the incorruptibility of the will is naturally constituted, according to providence, to preserve our corruptible nature incorruptible, through the grace of the Spirit in it, not permitting it to be destroyed by contrary qualities.

15∆_086 2.20 (20) Since the principle of nature and of grace is not one and the same, it is not a matter for perplexity how some of the saints at one time were superior to the passions, and at another time rather fell subject to the passions; since we know that the miracle was of grace, while the passion was of nature.

2.21 (21) He who through imitation keeps the memory of the saints' way of life, puts away the deadness of the passions, and receives the life of the virtues.

2.22 (22) In the way that God, who determined each one's life before the ages, wills, He leads each to the proper end of his life, whether just or unjust.

2.23 (23) The dark storm that befell the blessed Paul, I infer to be the weight of involuntary temptations; and the island, the firm and unshakable state of divine hope; 1229 and the fire, the state of knowledge; and the sticks, the nature of visible things; which he gathered with his hand—I mean, with the mind's contemplative and discerning power—nourishing with the thoughts derived from it the state of knowledge, which heals the dejection inflicted on the intellect by the storm of temptations; and the viper, the evil and destructive power secretly hidden in the nature of sensible things, which bit his hand—that is, the mind's discerning activity of contemplation—but did not harm the discerning mind, which immediately destroyed it with the light of knowledge as in a fire—that destructive power which, from the contemplation of sensible things, had attached itself to the practical activity of the mind.

2.24 (24) The Apostle was an aroma from life to life, as he prepared the faithful by his own example to be moved through practice toward the fragrance of the virtues; or, as a herald leading those who obey 15∆_088 the word of grace from the life of the senses to the life in the spirit. And an aroma of death to death for those who have driven from the death of ignorance to the death of unbelief, giving them a sense of the condemnation that awaits them. Or again, an aroma from life to life for those being led up from practice to contemplation; and an aroma of death to death for those who, from having mortified their earthly members through inactivity in sin, pass over to the praised mortification of impassioned thoughts and fantasies.

2.25 (25) There are three powers of the soul: reason, spiritedness, and desire. With reason, we seek; with desire, we long for the good that has been sought; and with spiritedness, we struggle for it. So those who love God, abiding by these powers for the divine principle of virtue and of knowledge—seeking with the one, longing with the other, and struggling for it with the last—receive incorruptible food, which fattens the mind with the knowledge of created things.

2.26 (26) The nature that had been emptied of the knowledge given to it, the Logos of God, having become man, filled again with knowledge; and having tempered it for immutability, deified it not by nature, but by quality; having unfailingly marked it with His own Spirit, just as water is mixed with the quality of wine for strength. For this is why He truly becomes man, that He might make us gods by grace.

2.27 (27) God, who created the nature of men, along with His will has given it being, and He has fitted it with a power productive of what is fitting; and by power I mean that which is essentially sown in nature, 1232 for virtues

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2.19 (ιθ΄) Ὁ γνώμῃ τῆς καθ᾿ ἁμαρτίαν καθαρεύων φθορᾶς, φθείρει τήν τῶν φθείρειν πεφυκότων φθοράν. Ἡ γάρ ἀφθαρσία τῆς προαιρέσεως, τήν φθοράν συντηρεῖν τῆς φύσεως πέφυκεν ἄφθαρτον, κατά πρόνοιαν, διά τῆς ἐν αὐτῇ τοῦ Πνεύματος χάριτος, μή συγχωροῦσα ταῖς ἐναντίαις ποιότησιν αὐτήν διαφθείρεσθαι.

15∆_086 2.20 (κ΄) Ἐπειδή φύσεως καί χάριτος εἷς καί ὁ αὐτός οὐκ ἔστι λόγος, οὐκ ἔστιν ἀπορίας ἄξιον, πῶς τινες τῶν ἁγίων, ποτέ μέν παθῶν ὑπερεῖχον, ποτέ δέ μᾶλλον ὑπέπιπτον πάθεσι· γινωσκόντων ἡμῶν, ὅτι τό μέν θαῦμα, τῆς χάριτος ἦν· τό δέ πάθος, τῆς φύσεως.

2.21 (κα΄) Ὁ διά μιμήσεως τήν μνήμην ἔχων τῆς τῶν ἁγίων ἀναστροφῆς, τήν μέν τῶν παθῶν ἀποτίθεται νέκρωσιν· τήν δέ τῶν ἀρετῶν ζωήν ὑποδέχεται.

2.22 (κβ΄) ᾯ τρόπῳ βούλεται ὁ τήν ἑκάστου διορίσας ζωήν πρό τῶν αἰώνων Θεός, ἕκαστον πρός τό οἰκεῖον τῆς ζωῆς ἄγει τέλος, εἴτε δίκαιον, εἴτε ἄδικον.

2.23 (κγ΄) Τόν τῷ μακαρίῳ Παύλῳ συμβάντα ζοφερόν χειμῶνα, τό βάρος εἶναι τῶν ἀκουσίων πειρασμῶν τεκμαίρομαι· τήν δέ νῆσον, τήν παγίαν ἕξιν τῆς θείας ἐλπίδος καί ἄσειστον· 1229 τήν δέ πυράν τήν ἕξιν τῆς γνώσεως· τά δέ φρύγανα, τήν τῶν ὁρωμένων φύσιν· ἥν συνέστρεφε μέν τῇ χειρί, τῇ κατά θεωρίαν λέγω ψηλαφητικῇ τοῦ νοῦ δυνάμει, διατρέφων τοῖς ἐξ αὐτῆς νοήμασι τήν ἕξιν τῆς γνώσεως, τήν θεραπεύουσαν τήν ἐκ τοῦ χειμῶνος τῶν πειρασμῶν προστριβεῖσαν τῇ διανοίᾳ κατήφειαν· τήν δέ ἔχιδναν, τήν λανθανόντως ἐγκεκρυμμένην τῇ φύσει τῶν αἰσθητῶν πονηράν καί ὀλέθριον δύναμιν· δήξασαν μέν τήν χεῖρα, τουτέστι, τήν κατά νοῦν ψηλαφητικήν τῆς θεωρίας ἐνέργειαν· οὐ βλάψασαν δέ τόν διορατικόν νοῦν, τῷ φωτί τῆς γνώσεως αὐτήν εὐθύς ὡς ἐν πυρί διαφθείραντα, τήν τῷ πρακτικῷ κινήματι τοῦ νοῦ, προσαφθεῖσαν ἐκ τῆς τῶν αἰσθητῶν θεωρίας, ὀλέθριον δύναμιν.

2.24 (κδ΄) Ὀσμή ἦν ἀπό ζωῆς εἰς ζωήν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, ὡς τούς πιστούς τῷ καθ᾿ ἑαυτόν ὑποδείγματι, διά πράξεως πρός τήν εὐωδίαν τῶν ἀρετῶν κινεῖσθαι, παρασκευάζων· ἤ τούς πειθομένους 15∆_088 τῷ λόγῳ τῆς χάριτος, ὡς κήρυξ ἀπό τῆς κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ζωῆς, εἰς τήν ἐν πνεύματι μετάγων ζωήν. Ὀσμή δέ θανάτου εἰς θάνατον, τοῖς ἀπό τοῦ θανάτου τῆς ἀγνοίας εἰς τόν τῆς ἀπιστίας ἐλάσασι θάνατον, διδούς αὐτοῖς αἴσθησιν τῆς μενούσης αὐτοῦ κατακρίσεως. Ἤ πάλιν ὀσμή ἀπό ζωῆς εἰς ζωήν, τοῖς ἀπό πράξεως εἰς θεωρίαν ἀναγομένοις· ὀσμή δέ θανάτου εἰς θάνατον, τοῖς ἀπό νεκρῶσαι τῇ καθ᾿ ἁμαρτίαν ἀργίᾳ τά μέλη τά ἐπί τῆς γῆς, εἰς τήν τῶν ἐμπαθῶν νοημάτων τε καί φαντασιῶν ἐπαινουμένην μεταβαίνουσι νέκρωσιν.

2.25 (κε΄) Τρεῖς εἰσιν αἱ τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεις, λόγος, θυμός, καί ἐπιθυμία. Τῷ μέν λόγῳ, ζητοῦμεν· τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ δέ, ποθοῦμεν τό ζητηθέν ἀγαθόν· τῷ δέ θυμῷ, ὑπεραγωνιζόμεθα. Κατά ταύτας δή τάς δυνάμεις προσμένοντες οἱ τόν Θεόν ἀγαπῶντες, τῷ θείῳ λόγῳ τῆς ἀρετῆς καί τῆς γνώσεως· τῇ μέν, ζητοῦντες· τῇ δέ, ποθοῦντες· τῇ δέ, ὑπεραγωνιζόμενοι, δέχονται τροφήν ἄφθαρτον, καί τόν νοῦν πιαίνουσαν τῇ γνῶσιν τῶν γεγονότων.

2.26 (κστ΄) Τήν κενωθεῖσαν τῆς δοθείσης γνώσεως φύσιν, γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, πάλιν ἐπλήρωσε γνώσεως· καί στομώσας πρός ἀτρεψίαν, οὐ φύσει, ποιότητι δέ, ταύτην ἐθέωσεν· ἀνελλιπῶς αὐτήν τῷ οἰκείῳ χαρακτηρίσας Πνεύματι καθάπερ ὕδωρ, οἴνου ποιότητι πρός τόνον μετακεράσας. ∆ιά τοῦτο γάρ καί γίνεται κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν ἄνθρωπος, ἵνα κατά χάριν ἡμᾶς καταστήσῃ θεούς.

2.27 (κζ΄) Ὁ τήν φύσιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων δημιουργήσας Θεός, ἅμα βουλήσει τό εἶναι αὐτῇ δέδωκεν, συνήρμοσεν αὐτῇ καί δύναμιν τῶν καθηκόντων ποιητικήν· δύναμιν δέ λέγω, τήν οὐσιωδῶς μέν κατεσπαρμένην τῇ φύσει, 1232 πρός ἀρετῶν