19

being ever mindful of transgressions, will never be separated, because in a way it is essentially implanted in God with respect to creation, making manifest to all His natural reverence of pre-eminence over every kingdom and power. Therefore, the one not fearing God as judge, but revering Him on account of the surpassing 14Β_088 pre-eminence of His infinite power, rightfully has no want, being perfect in love, loving God with reverence and fitting veneration, and this is the one who has acquired the fear that abides unto the age of ages, and he has no want at all.

Therefore, the prophet and the evangelist are in harmony with one another, the one saying there is no want for those who fear the Lord according to pure fear, the other that the one who fears Him as judge on account of a defiled conscience is not perfect in love. According to this interpretation, perhaps God is also terrible to all those around Him, in that He makes the love of those who love Him and will be around Him to be mingled with fear. For love, separated from fear in itself, is naturally wont for the most part to fall into contempt, if the boldness naturally born from it is not, as it were, bridled by fear.

But what is meant by the phrase 'around him,' let us, if it please you, consider. For he who is surrounded has those surrounding him both in front and behind, and on the right and on the left. Since, therefore, the Lord also has those who surround Him, let us understand those behind to be those who have blamelessly walked behind the Lord God through the commandments according to practical virtue, and those on the left, those who have achieved natural contemplation in spirit together with a pious apprehension of judgments—for the book of Proverbs says concerning wisdom "and in her left hand are wealth and glory"—, and those on the right, those who have received the immaterial knowledge of intelligible things, pure of sensible fantasy—for "in her right hand," it says, "are years of life"—, and those in front, those who, because of the surpassing, erotic fervor of their spiritual desire for the divine beauty, have been deemed worthy of face to face enjoyment.

14Β_090 But if there is another greater and more sublime account concerning this, it is for you and the divine men among you to grasp.

11. CONCERNING THE PRINCIPALITY OF THE ANGELS WHO DID NOT KEEP IT. 11. QUESTION 11. What is the principality of the angels who did not keep it, and what is the dwelling which

they abandoned, and what are the everlasting chains, and what is the gloom under which they are kept, and what will they suffer in the judgment of the great day?

Response. The precise account concerning these things is for those alone who are apostolic in mind

let it be kept, for those who have been taught directly by the Word both the unerring knowledge of beings and the good and just administration of wise providence over beings, inasmuch as they have left no impeding barrier in the mind between themselves and the Word.

Insofar, however, as it reaches me below, who has many impediments to the Word’s passage to me, the principality of the angels who did not keep it is perhaps the principle, according to which they were created, or the natural dominion given to them by grace for deification, or again the order of their station according to the dignity of grace. And the dwelling is either heaven, or the wisdom that comes through the possession of goods beyond conception, which they were created to inhabit—for the Scripture knows to name also a house of wisdom—, or the guarding oversight of the natural and acquired goods given to them of the

19

πλημμελήμασι μνήμης ἀεὶ συνεστώς, οὐκ ἀπογενήσεταί ποτε, διότιπερ οὐσιωδῶς ἐμπέφυκέ πως τῷ Θεῷ πρὸς τὴν κτίσιν, ποιούμενος ἔκδηλον αὐτοῦ πᾶσι τὴν φυσικὴν αἰδεσιμότητα τῆς ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν βασιλείαν τε καὶ δύναμιν ὑπεροχῆς, ὁ τοίνυν μὴ φοβούμενος τὸν Θεὸν ὡς κριτήν, ἀλλ᾽ αἰδούμενος αὐτὸν διὰ τὴν ὑπερβάλλουσαν τῆς ἀπείρου δυνάμεως 14Β_088 ὑπεροχήν, οὐκ ἔχει δικαίως ὑστέρημα, τέλειος ὑπάρχων ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ, μετ᾽ αἰδοῦς καὶ τῆς πρεπούσης σεβασμιότητος ἀγαπῶν τὸν Θεόν, καὶ οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ κτησάμενος τὸν διαμένοντα φόβον εἰς αἰῶνα αἰῶνος, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν αὐτῷ ὑστέρημα τὸ παράπαν οὐδέν.

Συνᾴδουσιν οὖν ἀλλήλοις ὅ τε προφήτης καὶ ὁ εὐαγγελιστής, ὁ μὲν λέγων μὴ εἶναι τοῖς κατὰ τὸν ἁγνὸν φόβον τὸν Κύριον φοβουμένοις ὑστέρημα, ὁ δὲ τὸν φοβούμενον ὡς κριτὴν διὰ τὴν ἐρρυπωμένην συνείδησιν μὴ εἶναι τέλειον ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ. Κατὰ ταύτην τὴν ἐκδοχὴν τυχὸν καὶ ἐπὶ πάντας τοὺς περικύκλῳ αὐτοῦ φοβερός ἐστιν ὁ Θεός, ὡς ἐγκεκραμένην φόβῳ ποιῶν τὴν τῶν ἀγαπώντων αὐτὸν καὶ περὶ αὐτὸν γενησομένων ἀγάπην. Φόβου γὰρ καθ᾽ ἑαυτὴν κεχωρισμένη ἡ ἀγάπη εἰς καταφρόνησιν πέφυκεν ὡς τὰ πολλὰ μεταπίπτειν, μὴ οἷον στομουμένης φόβῳ τῆς ἐξ αὐτῆς τικτομένης φυσικῶς παρρησίας.

Τί δὲ βούλεται τὸ περικύκλῳ αὐτοῦ λεγόμενον, εἰ δοκεῖ, κατανοήσωμεν. Ὁ γὰρ κυκλούμενος καὶ ἐμπρὸς καὶ ὀπίσω καὶ ἐκ δεξιῶν καὶ ἐξ ἀριστερῶν ἔχει τοὺς περικυκλοῦντας αὐτόν. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἔχει τοὺς περικυκλοῦντας, νοήσωμεν τοὺς μὲν ὀπίσω τοὺς διὰ τῶν ἐντολῶν κατὰ τὴν πρακτικὴν ἀρετὴν ἀμέμπτως ὀπίσω Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ πορευθέντας, τοὺς ἐξ ἀριστερῶν δὲ τοὺς τὴν φυσικὴν ἐν πνεύματι θεωρίαν μετὰ τῆς τῶν κριμάτων εὐσεβοῦς ἀναλήψεως κατορθώσανταςφησὶ γὰρ περὶ τῆς σοφίας ἡ τῶν Παροιμιῶν βίβλος ἐν δὲ τῇ ἀριστερᾷ αὐτῆς πλοῦτος καὶ δόξα , τοὺς ἐκ δεξιῶν δὲ τοὺς καθαρὰν αἰσθητῆς φαντασίας δεξαμένους τὴν ἄϋλον γνῶσιν τῶν νοητῶνἐν γὰρ τῇ δεξιᾷ αὐτῆς, φησί, ἔτη ζωῆς, τοὺς δὲ ἐμπρὸς τοὺς δι᾽ ὑπερβάλλουσαν περὶ τὸ θεῖον κάλλος ἐρωτικὴν τῆς κατὰ νοῦν ἐφέσεως ζέσιν ἀξιωθέντας τῆς πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον ἀπολαύσεως.

14Β_090 Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἄλλος ἐστὶ περὶ τούτου μείζων λόγος καὶ ὑψηλότερος, ὑμῖν καὶ τοῖς καθ᾽ ὑμᾶς θείοις ἀνδράσιν ἐστὶ ληπτός.

ΙΑ (11). ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ ΤΙΣ Η ΑΡΧΗ ΤΩΝ ΜΗ ΤΗΡΑΣΑΝΤΩΝ ΑΥΤΗΝ ΑΓΓΕΛΩΝ. 11. ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΙΑ' Τίς ἡ ἀρχὴ τῶν μὴ τηρησάντων αὐτὴν ἀγγέλων, καὶ τί τὸ οἰκητήριον ὃ

ἀπέλιπον, καὶ τίνες οἱ ἀΐδιοι δεσμοί, καὶ τί ὁ ζόφος ὑφ᾽ ὃν τετήρηνται, καὶ τί ἐν τῇ κρίσει τῆς μεγάλης ἡμέρας πείσονται;

Ἀπόκρισις. Ὁ μὲν ἀκριβὴς περὶ τούτων λόγος τοῖς ἀποστολικοῖς τὴν διάνοιαν μόνοις

ἔστω τετηρημένος, τοῖς ἀμέσως παρὰ τοῦ Λόγου διδαχθεῖσι τήν τε τῶν ὄντων γνῶσιν ἀψευδῆ καὶ τῆς ἐπὶ τοῖς οὖσι σοφῆς προνοίας τὴν ἀγαθὴν καὶ δικαίαν διεξαγωγήν, οἷα μηδὲν ἑαυτῶν καὶ τοῦ Λόγου κατὰ νοῦν ἀφεῖσι κωλυτικὸν διατείχισμα.

Ὅσον δ᾽ οὖν εἰς ἐμὲ φθάνει τὸν κάτω καὶ πολλὰ ἔχοντα τῆς τοῦ Λόγου πρὸς ἐμὲ κωλύματα διαβάσεως, ἀρχὴ τῶν μὴ τηρησάντων αὐτὴν ἀγγέλων ἐστὶν ὁ λόγος τυχόν, καθ᾽ ὃν ἐκτίσθησαν, ἢ ἡ δοθεῖσα πρὸς ἐκθέωσιν αὐτοῖς κατὰ χάριν φυσικὴ δυναστεία, ἢ πάλιν ἡ κατὰ τὴν ἀξίαν τῆς χάριτος τάξις τῆς στάσεως. Τὸ δὲ οἰκητήριόν ἐστιν ἢ ὁ οὐρανὸς ἢ ἡ κατὰ τὴν ἕξιν τῶν ὑπὲρ ἔννοιαν ἀγαθῶν σοφία, ἣν οἰκεῖν ἐδημιουργήθησανοἶδε γὰρ καὶ σοφίας οἶκον ὀνομάζειν ὁ λόγος, ἢ ἡ φρουρητικὴ τῶν δοθέντων αὐτοῖς φυσικῶν τε καὶ ἐπικτήτων ἀγαθῶν ἐπισκοπὴ τῆς