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as explaining further below at the end of the fifth chapter and at the end of the sixth. Understand then with certainty, and do not distort.
It is a measure: For this reason the sun is called a measure and the number of hours, because it rules the day; and the day, revolving, makes time; for this reason it was called a measure, as if measuring our life; for he speaks of all of our time.
For it is the light itself: Note, that the sun also gave light the three days before its creation while being unformed; and that the first-created light on the fourth day was transformed into the sun, and that he speaks of a triad of days, as also Basil the Great clearly says in the Hexaemeron. And do not pass over that, that the aforementioned things were not said concerning the sun, but were said concerning the first-created light that was formed into the sun.
As causal. That is, the beginning and cause of the union with or likeness to that which truly is.
And of which all things have desire. See how he divides all beings, and concerning the King of all beings, of which all beings also have desire. He says then first intellectual, then rational. Intellectual, then, are those things not mixed with bodies, such as all the supracelestial powers; but rational are human souls, which have a relation to the body, as is the sensible man; for if only the inner man is active, according to the Apostle, that is, the soul, not having its full 14S_114 relation to the body, then man is intellectual, but he would not be called rational, in the sense of the whole animal composed of body and rational soul. And he says that the intellectual and rational long for God with knowledge, as this appetite is naturally present in them, to know the King of all, and to partake of his goodness, because the soul is cognitive and rational, the desire for the good is also well spoken of. But irrational animals desire life according to the sensitive power itself; therefore also for the good; but the non-sensitive, such as plants and inanimate and lifeless things, desire the good naturally, not, however, so as to know it, but so as to remain, which is only being held together by natural desire by the good unto their own being.
It makes all things gathered together: Gathered together, assembled. That the sun is so called from making things gathered together and assembling the scattered, and that he refutes the sun being a God, even if we have said many things of that which is easily distorted appearing to be contrary.
According to that of antiquity: According to the reasoning of antiquity, or that they were Greeks, the divine Dionysius and the divine Timothy, as is shown in the Acts of the holy apostles; or he means the foolish reasoning of the Greeks; for they called the sun old and ancient, as is said in the comedy.
§ 5. To purify: For it has been said; “Come unto him, and be enlightened, and your faces shall not be ashamed.”
That they loved much: For to the one who loves much, much will be given, but to the one who loves less, according to the measure of love; which he says above, that God is our order and measure.
14S_116 § 6. And supracelestial: That the supracelestial is said to be mind, as there are certain holy minds that are highest, above all the worlds, of the angelic orders, and certain celestial ones, that is, of those over the service of the worlds, appointed for their administration, which are also called by some world-rulers. And that there are certain minds within the world, both of men and of angels, both ethnarchs and guardians of cities; and over churches and the saints, as the divine John says in the Apocalypse, and over the other cosmic dispositions; and the psalmist also says: “The angel of the Lord will encamp”; the spiritual is supracelestial, the circumcelestial is
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ὥσπερ ἐπεξηγούμενος κατωτέρω ἐν τῷ τέλει τοῦ πέμπτου κεφαλαίου καί ἐν τῷ τέλει τοῦ ἕκτου. Νόει οὖν ἀσφαλῶς, καί μή διαστρέφου.
Μέτρον ἐστί: Μέτρον διά τοῦτο λέγεται ὁ ἥλιος καί ἀριθμός ὡρῶν, ἐπειδή τῆς ἡμέρας ἄρχει· ἡ δέ ἡμέρα ἀνακυκλουμένη τόν χρόνον ποιεῖ· διά τοῦτο μέτρον ἐκλήθη, οἷα τήν ἡμετέραν μετρῶν ζωήν· λέγει γάρ παντός τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς χρόνου.
Αὐτό γάρ ἐστι τό φῶς: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι ὁ ἥλιος καί τάς τρεῖς ἡμέρας τάς πρό τῆς αὐτοῦ ποιήσεως ἐφώτιζεν ἀσχηματιστος ὤν· καί ὅτι τό πρωτόκτιστον φῶς τῇ τετάρτῃ ἡμέρᾳ μετεσχηματίσθη εἰς ἥλιον, καί ὅτι ἡμερῶν τριάδα φησίν, ὡς καί ὁ μέγας Βασίλειος ἐν τῇ Ἑξαημέρῳ σαφῶς φησιν ἐκεῖνο δέ μή παραδράμῃς, ὅτι τά προειρημένα οὐ περί τοῦ ἡλίου, ἀλλά περί τοῦ σχηματισθέντος εἰς ἥλιον πρωτοκτίστου φωτός ἐρρήθη.
Ὡς ἐναρχική. Τουτέστιν ἀρχή καί αἰτία τῆς πρό τό ὄντως ἑνώσεως ἤ ὁμοιώσεως.
Καί οὗ ἐφίεται πάντα. Ὅρα πῶς διαιρεῖ τό ὄντα πάντα, καί περί τόν πάντων ὄντα βασιλέα, οὗ καί τά ὄντα ἐφίεται πάντα. Φησίν οὖν πρῶτον νοερά, εἶτα λογικά. Νοερά οὖν εἰσι τά μή μεμιγμένα σώμασιν, οἷον αἱ ὑπερκόσμιοι δυνάμεις πᾶσαι· λογικά δέ αἱ ἀνθρώπιναι ψυχαί, αἱ τήν σχέσιν ἔχουσαι πρός τό σῶμα, καθώς ἐστιν ὁ αἰσθητός ἄνθρωπος· εἰ γάρ ὁ ἔσω ἄνθρωπος μόνον ἐνεργεῖ, κατά τόν Ἀπόστολον, τουτέστιν ἡ ψυχή, μή τήν πᾶσαν 14S_114 ἔχουσα σχέσιν πρός σῶμα, τότε νοερός ὁ ἄνθρωπος, οὐ μήν λογικῶς καλοῖτο ἄν, κατά τό πᾶν ζῶον τό ἐκ σώματος καί λογικῆς ψυχῆς συνεστώς. Γνωστικῶς δέ φησι τά νοερά καί λογικά ἐξίεσθαι τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὡς φύσει προσούσης αὐτοῖς τῆς ὀρέξεως ταύτης, τοῦ γνῶναι τόν τῶν πάντων βασιλέα, καί μετέχειν τῆς ἀγαθότητος αὐτοῦ, διά τό εἶναι τήν ψυχήν γνωστικήν καί λογικήν, καλῶς λέγεται καί ἡ ἔφεσις τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ. Τά δέ ἄλογα ζῶα κατ' αὐτήν τήν αἰσθητικήν δύναμιν ζωῆς ἐφίεται· διό καί τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ· τά δέ ἀναίσθητα, οἷον τά φυτά καί τά ἄψυχα καί ἄζωα, ἐφίεται μέν φυσικῶς τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ, οὐ μήν ἵνα καί γνῷ αὐτό, ἀλλ' ἵνα μείνη, ὅπερ ἐστί μόνον τῇ φυσικῇ ἐφέσει συνεχόμενα παρά τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ εἰς τό εἶναι αὐτά.
Πάντα ἀολλῇ ποιεῖ: Ἀολλῆ, συνηθροισμένα. Ὅτι ὁ ἥλιος λέγεται παρά τό ἀολλῇ ποιεῖν καί συνάγειν τά διεσκεδασμένα, καί ὅτι ἀναιρεῖ τό εἶναι Θεόν τόν ἥλιον, εἰ καί πολλά εἴπομεν τῆς εὐχερῶς διαστρεφομένης δοκοῦντα ἐναντία εἶναι.
Κατά τόν τῆς παλαιότητος: Κατά τόν τῆς παλαιότητος λόγον, ἤ ὅτι Ἕλληνες ὑπῆρχον, θεῖος ∆ιονύσιος καί ὁ θεῖος Τιμόθεος, ὡς ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσι τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων δηλοῦται· ἤ τόν μωρόν [τόν] τῶν Ἑλλήνων λόγον φησί· παλαιόν γάρ καί ἀρχαῖον τόν ἥλιον ἔλεγον, ὡς ἐν τῇ κωμωδίᾳ εἴρηται.
§ 5. Ἀνακαθαίρειν: Εἴρηται γάρ· «προσέλθετε πρός αὐτόν, καί φωτίσθητε, καί τά πρόσωπα ὑμῶν οὐ μή καταισχυνθῇ».
Ὅτι ἠγάπησαν πολύ: Τῷ γάρ ἀγαπῶντι πολύ καί πολύ δοθήσεται, τῷ δέ ἔλαττον, πρός τό μέτρον τῆς ἀγάπης· ὅπερ λέγει ἄνω, ὅτι τάξις καί μέτρον ἡμῶν ἐστιν ὁ Θεός.
14S_116 § 6. Καί ὑπερκόσμιον: Τό ὑπερκόσμιον εἰρῆσθαι νοῦν, ὥς τινων μέν ὑπέρ τούς πάντας κόσμους ὄντων νοῶν ἁγίων ἀνωτάτω, τάξεων ἀγγελικῶν, τινῶν δέ ἐπικοσμίων, τουτέστι τῶν ἐπί τῇ λειτουργίᾳ τῶν κόσμων, εἰς διοίκησιν αὐτῶν τεταγμένων, τῶν παρά τισι καί κοσμαγωγῶν λεγομένων. Τινῶν δέ ἐγκοσμίων νοῶν ὄντων, ἀνθρώπων τε καί ἀγγέλων, ἐθναρχῶν τε καί πολιούχων· καί ἐπί τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν καί τῶν ἁγίων, ὡς ἐν τῇ Ἀποκαλύψει φησίν ὁ θεῖος Ἰωάννης, καί ἐπί τῶν ἑτέρων κοσμικῶν διατάξεων· καί ὁ ψαλμῳδός δέ φησι· «παρεμβαλεῖ ἄγγελος Κυρίου»· ὑπερκόσμιός ἐστιν ὁ πνευματικός, περικόσμιος ὁ