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immovable, makes him to be of divine love even when he is warred against, nailing all his power of longing to divine desire.

2.69 (69) Faith comforts the mind when it is assailed, strengthening it with the hope of assistance; and hope, bringing into view the assistance that has been believed in, repels the incursion of adversaries; and love renders the attack of the enemies dead to the God-loving mind, since it is completely obscured by the longing for God.

2.70 (70) A son, first and only, of a truly divine portion, that is, of true knowledge, is the principle of the divine resurrection in us according to faith, with the necessary ordering according to the will, that is, discernment, bearing well the assaults of both voluntary and involuntary temptations. For the first resurrection in us of God, who was dead to us through ignorance, is faith, well-ordered by the works of the commandments.

2.71 (71) The turning to God clearly signifies through itself the 15∆_112 most complete principle of divine hope, without which, an inclination towards God is by nature in no way possible for anyone in any respect; since it is the property of hope to bring future things into view as present; and to persuade those who are warred against by the opposing power that God who defends them is in no way 1248 absent; for whom and on account of whom the saints wage war. For without some expectation, whether difficult or easy, a turning toward the good is by nature never possible for anyone.

2.72 (72) Truly, nothing so gathers together the scattered as love does, and creates for them one will held fast by concord, whose characteristic is the beauty of equal honor. Therefore love is the offspring of the gathering together and union of the soul's powers in the same way concerning divine things; that is, of the rational, irascible, and desiderative; by which those who have already received equal honor with God through grace, inscribing in their memory the beauty of the divine loveliness, hold it unforgotten; the longing for divine love recording and impressing the undefiled beauty upon the soul's ruling faculty.

2.73 (73) Every mind girt with divine strength possesses as it were certain elders and rulers: both the rational power, from which gnostic faith is naturally born, through which it is ineffably taught that God is always present, and through hope consorts with future things as if they were present; and the desiderative power, through which divine love is established, by which, having voluntarily nailed itself to the longing for the undefiled Godhead, it has an indissoluble desire for the desired one; and moreover also the irascible power, by which it holds fast to divine peace, contracting the movement of desire toward divine love. And every mind has these powers, working with it both for the destruction of wickedness, and for the establishment and preservation of virtue.

15∆_114 2.74 (74) Without the rational power, there is no scientific knowledge; and without knowledge, faith is not established, from which hope proceeds as a good offspring, through which the faithful one consorts with future things as if they were present. And without the power according to desire, longing is not established, whose end is love; for to love something is a property of desire. And without the irascible power which strengthens desire toward union with the pleasant, peace is by nature in no way possible; since peace is truly the undisturbed and complete possession of what is desired.

2.75 (75) One who has not first been cleansed of the passions ought not to engage in natural contemplation, because of the images of sensible things, which are able to impress the mind of one who has not been completely freed from the passions towards passion. For the one who according to imagination on the surfaces of

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ἀκίνητον, τῆς θείας στοργῆς αὐτόν εἶναι παρασκευάζει καί πολεμούμενον, προσηλοῦσα τῷ θείῳ πόθῳ πᾶσαν αὐτοῦ τήν τῆς ἐφέσεως δύναμιν.

2.69 (ξθ΄) Ἡ πίστις παραμυθεῖται τόν νοῦν πολεμούμενον, βοηθείας ἐλπίδι ῥωννύμενον· ἡ δέ ἐλπίς ὑπ᾿ ὄψιν ἄγουσα τήν πιστευθεῖσαν βοήθειαν, ἀποκρούεται τήν τῶν ἀντικειμένων καταδρομήν· ἡ δέ ἀγάπη, νεκράν καθίστησι τῷ φιλοθέῳ νῷ τῶν πολεμίων τήν προσβολήν, τῇ πρός Θεόν ἐφέσει παντελῶς ἀμαυρουμένην.

2.70 (ο΄) Θείας ὄντως μερίδος, ἤγουν γνώσεως ἀληθοῦς, υἱός, πρῶτός τε καί μόνος, ὁ κατά τήν πίστιν τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν θείας ἀναστάσεώς ἐστι λόγος, μετά τῆς δεούσης κατά τήν γνώμην οἰκονομίας, ἤγουν διακρίσεως, καλῶς διαφέρων τάς τε τῶν ἑκουσίων καί ἀκουσίων πειρασμῶν ἐπαναστάσεις. Καί γάρ πρώτη ἐν ἡμῖν ἀνάστασις τοῦ διά τῆς ἀγνοίας ἡμῖν νεκρωθέντος Θεοῦ, ἡ πίστις ἐστί, καλῶς τοῖς ἔργοις τῶν ἐντολῶν οἰκονομουμένη.

2.71 (οα΄) Ἡ πρός Θεόν ἐπιστροφή, σαφῶς μηνύει δι᾿ ἑαυτῆς τόν 15∆_112 πληρέστατον τῆς θείας ἐλπίδος λόγον, οὗ χωρίς, οὐδαμῶς οὐδενί καθ᾿ ὁτιοῦν πρός Θεόν ἐπίνευσις γίνεσθαι πέφυκεν· εἴπερ ἐλπίδος ἴδιον, τό ὑπ᾿ ὄψιν ἄγειν ὡς παρόντα τά μέλλοντα· καί μηδαμῶς 1248 ἀπεῖναι πείθειν τῶν πολεμουμένων ὑπό τῆς ἀντικειμένης δυνάμεως, τόν ὑπερασπίζοντα Θεόν· ὑπέρ οὗ, καί δι᾿ ὅν ἁγίοις ὁ πόλεμος. Χωρίς γάρ τινος προσδοκίας ἤ δυσχεροῦς ἤ εὐχεροῦς, ἐπιστροφή πρός τό καλόν οὐδενί ποτε πέφυκε γίνεσθαι.

2.72 (οβ΄) Οὐδέν ὄντως οὕτως ἡ ἀγάπη συνάγει τούς ἐσκορπισμένους, καί μίαν αὐτοῖς δημιουργεῖ τήν γνώμην συμπνοίᾳ κρατουμένην, ἧς ὁ χαρακτήρ, τό τῆς ἰσοτιμίας καθέστηκε κάλλος. Οὐκοῦν τῆς κατά τό αὐτό περί τά θεῖα συναγωγῆς τε καί ἑνώσεως τῶν ψυχικῶν δυνάμεων· τουτέστι, τῆς λογικῆς καί θυμικῆς καί ἐπιθυμητικῆς, ἡ ἀγάπη καθέστηκε γέννημα· καθ᾿ ἥν ἐγγράφοντες τῇ μνήμῃ τό τῆς θείας ὡραιότητος κάλλος, οἱ τό ἱσότιμον ἤδη πρός Θεόν διά τῆς χάριτος κομισάμενοι, ἀνεπίληστον ἔχουσι· τῆς τῷ ἡγεμονικῷ τῆς ψυχῆς ὑπομνηματογραφούσης τε καί ἐντυπούσης τό ἀκήρατον κάλλος, τῆς θείας ἀγάπης τήν ἔφεσιν.

2.73 (ογ΄) Πᾶς νοῦς θείῳ κράτει διεζωσμένος, καθάπερ πρεσβυτέρους τινάς καί ἄρχοντας κέκτηται, τήν τε λογικήν δύναμιν, ἐξ ἧς ἡ γνωστική γεννᾶσθαι πέφυκε πίστις, καθ᾿ ἥν ἀεί παρόντα τόν Θεόν ἀῤῥήτως διδάσκεται, καί ὡς παροῦσι συγγίνεται διά τῆς ἐλπίδος τοῖς μέλλουσι· καί τήν ἐπιθυμητικήν δύναμιν, καθ᾿ ἥν ἡ θεία συνέστηκεν ἀγάπη, δι᾿ ἥν ἑκουσίως προσηλώσας τῷ πόθῳ τῆς ἀκηράτου θεότητος, ἄλυτον ἔχει τοῦ ποθουμένου τήν ἔφεσιν· ἔτι μήν καί τήν θυμικήν δύναμιν, καθ᾿ ἥν ἀπρίξ τῆς θείας εἰρήνης ἀντέχεται, ἐπιστύφων πρός τόν θεῖον ἔρωτα τῆς ἐπιθυμίας τήν κίνησιν. Ταύτας δέ ἔχει τάς δυνάμεις πᾶς νοῦς, συνεργοῦσας αὐτῷ πρός τε τήν τῆς κακίας καθαίρεσιν, καί τήν τῆς ἀρετῆς σύστασίν τε καί συντήρησιν.

15∆_114 2.74 (οδ΄) ∆ίχα λογικῆς δυνάμεως, ἐπιστημονική γνῶσις οὐκ ἔστι· καί γνώσεως χωρίς, οὐ συνίσταται πίστις, ἀφ᾿ ἧς τό καλόν γέννημα πρόεισιν ἡ ἐλπίς, καθ᾿ ἥν ὡς παροῦσι συγγίνεται τοῖς μέλλουσιν ὁ πιστός. Καί δίχα τῆς κατ᾿ ἐπιθυμίαν δυνάμεως, οὐ συνίστατι πόθος, οὗ τέλος ἐστίν ἡ ἀγάπη· τό γάρ ἐρᾷν τινος, ἴδιόν ἐστιν ἐπιθυμίας. Καί δίχα θυμικῆς δυνάμεως νευρούσης τήν ἐπιθυμίαν πρός τήν τοῦ ἡδέος ἕνωσιν, οὐδαμῶς γίνεσθαι πέφυκεν εἰρήνη· εἴπερ ἀληθῶς εἰρήνη ἐστίν ἡ ἀνενόχλητος καί παντελής τοῦ καταθυμίου κατάσχεσις.

2.75 (οε΄) Οὐ δεῖ τόν μή πρότερον καθαρθέντα παθῶν, φυσικῆς ἅπτεσθαι θεωρίας, διά τάς εἰκόνας τῶν αἰσθητῶν, δυναμένας τυπῶσαι πρός πάθος τόν νοῦν τοῦ μή τελείως ἀπαλλαγέντος παθῶν. Ὁ γάρ κατά φαντασίαν ταῖς ἐπιφανείαις τῶν