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of hymnology, but for the gnostics, the angelic thoughts and hymns and perpetual motions concerning the Godhead, as far as is possible for humans.

14__150 But the blessed invocation of the great God and Father, and the proclamation of "One is holy" and of what follows, and the participation in the holy and life-giving mysteries, signifies the adoption, union, and familiarity and divine likeness and deification which will be for all and upon all the worthy through the goodness of our God; through which God Himself will be all in all the saved alike, as archetypal beauty fittingly according to cause to those who are similarly fitting to Him through virtue and knowledge according to grace.

He called the initiated, the advancing, and the perfect, the faithful and the virtuous and the gnostics, that is, slaves and hirelings and sons, the three orders of the saved. For the faithful are slaves, those who out of fear of what is threatened fulfill the commandments of the master and benevolently work on what has been entrusted to them; but hirelings are those who, out of desire for the promised goods, bear with patience the burden of the day and the heat, that is, the innate affliction joined to the present life from the ancestral condemnation and the temptations upon it for the sake of virtue, and wisely exchanging life for life according to their own will, the future for the present; but sons are those who, neither by fear of what is threatened, nor by desire for what is promised, but by the manner and habit of inclination and disposition of the soul's will toward the good, are never separated from God, like that son to whom it was said, "Child, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours," being this fittingly according to their 14__152 position in grace, which is what God is and is believed to be according to nature and cause.

Let us not then be left behind by the holy Church of God, which contains so many mysteries of our salvation according to the holy arrangement of the divine symbols being performed, through which it brings to manifestation the gift of adoption given through holy baptism in the Holy Spirit, fashioning each one of us who lives well according to Christ, in a manner analogous to himself, but with all power and zeal let us present ourselves worthy of the divine gifts, pleasing God through good works, not living "like the Gentiles who do not know God, in the passion of lust," but, as the holy Apostle says, "having put to death the members that are upon the earth, fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry, because of which things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience, all anger and wrath and abusive language and falsehood," and, to speak concisely, "having put off the old man, who is being corrupted according to the deceitful desires, with his practices and his desires," let us walk worthily of God, who called us into His own kingdom and glory; "putting on hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another in love, and forgiving each other if anyone has a complaint against another, just as the Lord also forgave us, and above all these things 14__154 the bond of perfection, love and peace, to which we were also called in one body," and, to sum up, "the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created him."

For by so living we would be able to come to the goal of the divine promises with good hope, "and being filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, bearing fruit and growing in the knowledge of the Lord, being strengthened with all power, according to the might of His glory,

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ὑμνολογίας, τῶν δὲ γνωστικῶν τὰς ἰσαγγέλους κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν ἀνθρώποις περὶ θεότητος νοήσεις τε καὶ ὑμνήσεις καὶ ἀεικινησίας.

14__150 Ἡ δὲ μακαρία τοῦ μεγάλου Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς ἐπίκλησις καὶ ἡ τοῦ "Εἷς ἅγιος" καὶ τῶν ἑξῆς ἐκφώνησις καὶ ἡ τῶν ἁγίων καὶ ζωοποιῶν μυστηρίων μετάληψις, τὴν ἐπὶ πᾶσι καὶ ἐπὶ πάντων τῶν ἀξίων ἐσομένην διὰ τὴν ἀγαθότητα τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑμῶν υἱοθεσίαν, ἕνωσίν τε καὶ οἰκειότητα καὶ ὁμοιότητα θείαν καὶ θέωσιν δηλοῖ· δι᾽ ἧς πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν ἔσται τοῖς σωζομένοις αὐτὸς ὁ Θεὸς ὁμοίως, ὡς κάλλος ἀρχέτυπον κατ᾽ αἰτίαν ἐμπρέπων τοῖς αὐτῷ δι᾽ ἀρετῆς καὶ γνώσεως κατὰ χάριν ὁμοίως συμπρέπουσι.

Πιστοὺς δὲ καὶ ἐναρέτους καὶ γνωστικοὺς ἐκάλει τοὺς εἰσαγομένους καὶ τοὺς προκόπτοντας καὶ τοὺς τελείους, ἤγουν δούλους καὶ μισθίους καὶ υἱούς, τὰς τρεῖς τάξεις τῶν σωζομένων. ∆οῦλοι γάρ εἰσι πιστοί, οἱ φόβῳ τῶν ἠπειλημένων ἐκπληροῦντες τοῦ δεσπότου τὰς ἐντολὰς καὶ τοῖς πιστευθεῖσιν εὐνοϊκῶς ἐπεργαζόμενοι· μίσθιοι δὲ οἱ πόθῳ τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων ἀγαθῶν βαστάζοντες μεθ᾽ ὑπομονῆς τὸ βάρος τῆς ἡμέρας καὶ τὸν καύσωνα, τουτέστι τὴν ἔμφυτον καὶ συνεζευγμένην τῇ παρούσῃ ζωῇ ἐκ τῆς προπατορικῆς καταδίκης θλίψιν καὶ τοὺς ἐπ᾽ αὐτῇ ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀρετῆς πειρασμούς, καὶ ζωῆς ζωὴν σοφῶς κατ᾽ αὐθαίρετον γνώμην ἀνταλλάσσοντες, τῆς παρούσης τὴν μέλλουσαν· υἱοὶ δὲ οἱ μήτε φόβῳ τῶν ἠπειλημένων, μήτε πόθῳ τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων, ἀλλὰ τρόπῳ καὶ ἕξει τῆς πρὸς τὸ καλὸν κατὰ γνώμην τῆς ψυχῆς ῥοπῆς τε καὶ διαθέσεως μηδέποτε τοῦ Θεοῦ χωριζόμενοι κατ᾽ ἐκεῖνον τὸν υἱόν, πρὸς ὃν εἴρηται "τέκνον, σὺ πάντοτε μετ᾽ ἐμοῦ εἶ, καὶ τὰ ἐμὰ πάντα σά ἐστι», τοῦτο κατὰ τὴν 14__152 ἐν χάριτι θέσιν ἐνδεχομένως ὑπάρχοντες, ὅπερ ὁ Θεὸς κατὰ τὴν φύσιν καὶ αἰτίαν καὶ ἔστι καὶ πιστεύεται.

Μὴ τοίνυν ἀπολειφθῶμεν τῆς ἁγίας τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἐκκλησίας, τοσαῦτα κατὰ τὴν τῶν τελουμένων θείων συμβόλων ἁγίαν διάταξιν τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν περιεχούσης μυστήρια, δι᾽ ὧν ἕκαστον ἡμῶν καλῶς μάλιστα πολιτευόμενον ἀναλόγως ἑαυτῷ κατὰ Χριστὸν δημιουργοῦσα τὸ δοθὲν διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος ἐν Πνεύματι ἁγίῳ χάρισμα τῆς υἱοθεσίας εἰς φανέρωσιν ἄγει κατὰ Χριστὸν πολιτευόμενον ἀλλὰ πάσῃ δυνάμει τε καὶ σπουδῇ παραστήσωμεν ἑαυτοὺς ἀξίους τῶν θείων χαρισμάτων δι᾽ ἔργων ἀγαθῶν εὐαρεστοῦντας τῷ Θεῷ μὴ ἀναστρεφόμενοι "κατὰ τὰ ἔθνη τὰ μὴ εἰδότα Θεὸν ἐν πάθει ἐπιθυμίας», ἀλλά, καθώς φησιν ὁ ἅγιος Ἀπόστολος, "νεκρώσαντες τὰ μέλη τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, πορνείαν, ἀκαθαρσίαν, πάθος, ἐπιθυμίαν κακήν, καὶ τὴν πλεονεξίαν, ἥτις ἐστὶν εἰδωλολατρεία, δι᾽ ἃ ἔρχεται ἡ ὀργὴ ἐπὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῆς ἀπειθείας, ὀργήν τε πᾶσαν καὶ θυμὸν καὶ αἰσχρολογίαν καὶ ψεῦδος», καί, [ὡς] συντόμως εἰπεῖν, "πάντα τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον, τὸν φθειρόμενον κατὰ τὰς ἐπιθυμίας τῆς ἀπάτης, ἀποθέμενοι σὺν ταῖς πράξεσιν αὐτοῦ καὶ ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις, ἀξίως τοῦ Θεοῦ περιπατήσωμεν, τοῦ καλέσαντος ἡμᾶς εἰς τὴν αὐτοῦ βασιλείαν καὶ δόξαν· ἐνδυσάμενοι σπλάγχνα οἰκτιρμοῦ, χρηστότητα, ταπεινοφροσύνην, πραΰτητα, μακροθυμίαν· ἀνεχόμενοι ἀλλήλων ἐν ἀγάπῃ, καὶ χαριζόμενοι ἑαυτοῖς ἐάν τις πρός τινα ἔχῃ μομφήν, καθὼς καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἐχαρίσατο ἡμῖν, ἐπὶ πᾶσί 14__154 τε τὸν σύνδεσμον τελειότητος, τὴν ἀγάπην καὶ τὴν εἰρήνην, εἰς ἣν καὶ ἐκλήθημεν ἐν ἑνὶ σώματι», καί, ἵνα συνελὼν εἴπω, "τὸν νέον ἄνθρωπον, τὸν ἀνακαινούμενον εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν κατ᾽ εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος αὐτόν».

Οὕτω γὰρ ἂν βιοῦντες δυνηθείημεν πρὸς τὸ τέλος ἐλθεῖν τῶν θείων ἐπαγγελιῶν μετ᾽ ἐλπίδος ἀγαθῆς, "πληρωθῆναί τε τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ καὶ πάσῃ σοφίᾳ καὶ συνέσει πνευματικῇ καρποφοροῦντες καὶ αὐξανόμενοι τῇ ἐπιγνώσει Κυρίου, ἐν πάσῃ δυνάμει δυναμούμενοι κατὰ τὸ κράτος τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ,