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And to say something greater, one person is crucified to practical philosophy through dispassion, and passes over to the natural contemplation in the spirit as if from the flesh of Christ to his soul; another is put to death even to natural contemplation, through the casting off of the symbolic contemplation of beings according to the intellect, and is transferred to the unitive and simple mystagogy of theological knowledge as if from the soul of Christ to his mind; and another from this is mystically led up into the ineffable apophatic indeterminacy through complete negation as if from the mind of Christ's soul to his divinity;

Each one, as I said, according to his own power, and the worth granted to him, making the high ascents through mortification to all things, so also each of us, as in a certain house in his own order of the state of virtue fitting for him, both sacrifices the lamb and partakes of his flesh, and is filled with Jesus. For to each, Jesus Christ becomes his own lamb, as each is able to contain and eat him, his own, of Paul the great herald of truth, 1361 and in a particular way the own of each of the saints according to the measure of faith in each, and the grace of the Spirit supplied, to one in this way, to another in that way, being found whole to the whole, and becoming all things to all.

RKA (121). ..».... IT WILL BE EATEN WITH THE INNARDS AND THE SECRET THINGS OF THE MIND

AND FOR DIGESTION ..». From the same discourse, on the text: “As much of the word as is fleshly and nourishing,

will be eaten with the innards and the secret things of the mind and will be given over to spiritual digestion.”

God, who established every nature with wisdom, and as a first for each of the

rational essences having secretly placed the knowledge of himself as a power, has also given to us humble humans, as a munificent Master, according to nature the desire and love for himself, having naturally interwoven with it the power of reason, so that we might be able with ease to know the ways of fulfilling the desire, and not, having gone astray, fail to attain that for which we strive. Moved, therefore, by this desire, 14Ε_084 we are led to seek concerning truth itself and the wisdom and governance made manifest in an orderly way in all things, longing through these things to attain that for whose sake we received the desire. And having mystically understood this, the studious and ambitious lovers of truth have established for themselves as their one leisure and occupation the laborious discipline concerning this, having learned precisely from the true understanding and consequence of things themselves that if in this age they should in any way image the future truth through pious contemplations, they will both fulfill their desire and, having their soul more prepared as having been well-trained in the things here, they will pass over unwearied after this life to the future truth, which has already been well-sketched for them through the more divine thoughts, as our God and Savior Jesus Christ leads them to it, that is, to the truth, and shows it to them simple and most clear and without any perplexity, symbolic variety, and all enigmatic obscurity; since, just as in practical virtue pain and grief and groaning fled from them through dispassion, so too in contemplative knowledge all obscurity and perplexity have fled through wisdom, which has been added to them, who from here have received its outlines, at that time of the naked truth. For to everyone, he says,

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καί ἵνα τό μεῖζον εἴπω, ὁ μέν τῇ πρακτικῇ σταυρούμενος φιλοσοφίᾳ δι᾿ ἀπαθείας, καί πρός τήν ἐν πνεύματι φυσικήν θεωρίαν ὥσπερ ἀπό τινος σαρκός τοῦ Χριστοῦ πρός τήν ψυχήν αὐτοῦ μεταβαίνων, ὁ δέ καί τῇ φυσικῇ θεωρίᾳ νεκρούμενος, διά τῆς ἀποβολῆς τῆς κατά νοῦν περί τά ὄντα συμβολικῆς θεωρίας, καί πρός τήν ἑνοειδῆ καί ἁπλῆν τῆς θεολογικῆς ἐπιστήμης μυσταγωγίαν ὥσπερ ἀπό τινος ψυχῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ πρός τόν νοῦν αὐτοῦ μετατιθέμενος, ὁ δέ καί ἀπό ταύτης εἰς τήν δι᾿ ἀποφάσεως παντελοῦς ἄῤῥητον ἀφαιρετικήν ἀοριστίαν ὥσπερ ἀπό τινος ψυχῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ νοός πρός τήν αὐτοῦ θεότητα μυστικῶς ἀναγόμενος·

Ἕκαστος, ὡς ἔφην, κατά τήν ἑαυτοῦ δύναμιν, καί τήν κατ᾿ 14Ε_082 ἀξίαν χορηγουμένην αὐτῷ τάς ὑψηλάς διά τῆς πρός πάντα νεκρώσεως ἀναβάσεις ποιούμενον, οὕτως καί τόν θεῖον ἀμνόν ἕκαστος ἡμῶν ὡς ἐν οἰκίᾳ τινί τῷ ἰδίῳ τάγματι τῆς κατ᾿ ἀρετήν ἁρμοζούσης αὐτῷ καταστάσεως θύει τε τόν ἀμνόν καί μεταλαμβάνει τῶν αὐτοῦ σαρκῶν, καί ἐμφορεῖται τοῦ Ἰησοῦ. Ἑκάστου γάρ ἴδιος γίνεται ἀμνός Χριστός Ἰησοῦς, ὡς ἕκαστος χωρεῖν τε καί ἐσθίειν αὐτόν δύναται, ἴδιος, Παύλου τοῦ μεγάλου τῆς ἀληθείας 1361 κήρυκος, καί ἰδιοτρόπως ἴδιος ἑκάστου τῶν ἁγίων κατά τό μέτρον τῆς ἐν ἑκάστῳ πίστεως, καί τήν ἐπιχορηγουμένην χάριν τοῦ Πνεύματος, ᾧ μέν οὕτως, ᾧ δέ οὕτως, εὑρισκόμενος ὅλος ὅλῳ, πᾶσι δέ πάντα γινόμενος.

ΡΚΑ (121). ..».... ΜΕΤΑ ΤΩΝ ΕΝ∆ΟΣΘΙΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΤΩΝ ΚΡΥΦΙΩΝ ΤΟΥ ΝΟΥ ΒΡΩΘΗΣΕΤΑΙ

ΚΑΙ ΕΙΣ ΠΕΨΙΝ ..». Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου εἰς τό· «Ὅσον μέν σαρκῶδες τοῦ λόγου καί τρόφιμον,

μετά τῶν ἐνδοσθίων καί τῶν κρυφίων τοῦ νοῦ βρωθήσεται καί εἰς πέψιν πνευματικήν ἀναδοθήσεται».

Ὅ πᾶσαν μετά σοφίας φύσιν ὑποστήσας Θεός, καί πρώτην ἑκάστῃ τῶν

λογικῶν οὐσιῶν δύναμιν τήν αὐτοῦ γνῶσιν κρυφίως ἐνθέμενος, δέδωκε καί ἡμῖν τοῖς ταπεινοῖς ἀνθρώποις, ὡς μεγαλόδωρος ∆εσπότης, κατά φύσιν τόν εἰς αὐτόν πόθον καί ἔρωτα, συνεπιπλέξας αὐτῷ φυσικῶς τοῦ λόγου τήν δύναμιν, ἐφ᾿ ᾧ δυνηθῆναι μετά ῥᾳστώνης γνῶναι τούς τρόπους τῆς τοῦ πόθου πληρώσεως, καί μή παρασφαλέντας διαμαρτεῖν οὗ τυχεῖν ἀγωνιζόμεθα. Κατά τοῦτον οὖν κινούμενοι τόν πόθον 14Ε_084 περί τε τῆς ἀληθείας αὐτῆς καί τῆς εὐτάκτως τοῖς ὅλοις ἐμφαινομένης σοφίας τε καί διοικήσεως ζητεῖν ἐναγόμεθα ἐκείνου τυχεῖν, διά τούτων γλιχόμενοι, οὗ χάριν τόν πόθον ἐλάβομεν. Καί τοῦτο μυστικῶς ἐγνωκότες οἱ φιλομαθεῖς καί φιλότιμοι τῆς ἀληθείας ἐρασταί μίαν ἐστήσαντο σχολήν καί προσεδρείαν ἑαυτοῖς τήν περί τούτου φιλόπονον ἄσκησιν, ἀκριβῶς ὑπ᾿ αὐτῆς τῶν πραγμάτων τῆς ἀληθοῦς κατανοήσεώς τε καί ἀκολουθίας μαθόντες ὡς, εἴπερ κατά τόν αἰῶνα τοῦτον ποσῶς δι' εὐσεβῶν θεωρημάτων τήν μέλλουσαν ἀλήθειαν εἰκονίσαιντο, καί τόν πόθον πληροφορήσουσιν, ἑτοιμοτέραν ὡς τοῖς ἐνταῦθα καλῶς γυμνασθεῖσαν τήν ψυχήν ἐσχηκότες, ἀκμητί μετά τόν βίον τοῦτον ἐπί τήν μέλλουσαν ἀλήθειαν μεταβήσονται, σκιαγραφηθεῖσαν αὐτοῖς ἤδη καλῶς διά τῶν θειοτέρων νοημάτων, ἄγοντος αὐτούς ἐπ' αὐτήν δηλαδή τήν ἀλήθειαν τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, καί ἁπλῆν καί ἀρίδηλον καί δίχα πάσης ἀπορίας, συμβολικῆς τε ποικιλίας καί πάσης αἰνιγματώδους ἀσαφείας, αὐτοῖς παραδεικνύντος, ἀποδρασάσης αὐτοῖς ὥσπερ ἐπί τῆς πρακτικῆς ἀρετῆς ὀδύνης καί λύπης καί στεναγμοῦ διά τήν ἀπάθειαν, οὕτω καί ἐπί τῆς θεωρητικῆς γνώσεως, ἀσαφείας πάσης καί ἀπορίας, διά τήν σοφίαν, προστεθείσης αὐτοῖς, ἐντεῦθεν λαβοῦσι τάς ὑποτυπώσεις αὐτῆς, τηνικαῦτα γυμνῆς τῆς ἀληθείας. Παντί γάρ, φησί,