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according to the reason which is above us and better, the evil burden of passions, being governed toward the result known to God as fittingly good, is set as a cure. For either we are purified, being required to pay the penalty for past sins, of which perhaps we retain not even a trace in memory because of ignorance, or perhaps even remembering them we do not endure to weigh against our offenses the needed correction, either not willing, or not being able, on account of the ingrained habit of evil or our weakness; or we cast off a present and spreading evil, and are taught beforehand to check the evil that is to come; or one person sets forth for other people a wondrous example of the best endurance and pious courage, if he is of lofty (14∆_116> mind and renowned for 1105 virtue, and able through himself, by his unshaken engagement with terrible things, to reveal the truth that was hitherto hidden.

He exhorts therefore those who are able to think of nothing beyond the present life, not to be confident in the health of the body and in the smoothly flowing course of affairs and be lifted up against those deprived of these things, as long as the present life is here, and they are clothed in this corruption, about which there is turning and alteration, it being uncertain what will also happen to them from the irregularity and disturbance of the body and of external affairs. For this I think he means by, "As long as matter of itself bears disorder," instead of, As long as this universe is under corruption and alteration, and we are clothed in the body of humiliation, and are perhaps subject to manifold evils from it on account of its innate weakness; let us not be lifted up against one another on account of the inequality around us, but rather with sound reasoning let us even out the inequality of our common nature, filling up the deficiencies of others with our own excesses. For this reason perhaps also the present inequality was permitted to exist, so that the power of the reason within us might be shown, preferring virtue above all things. For the turning and alteration of both the body and of externals is the same for all people, both bearing and being borne, and possessing only this as stable and firm: that which is unstable and borne along.

D (4). "...FOR IT DOES NOT HAVE ANYTHING HIGHER NOR EVER WILL HAVE"

From the same, from the discourse on Saint Athanasius, on the text, "For it does not have anything higher nor ever will have."

It seems to me that through these words this divinely-wise teacher releases the one being taught from every comparative and distinctive and otherwise so-called relation. For those skilled in these matters say that such a form of expression is absolute (14∆_118>, and has the same force as saying that something is incomparably above all things, as having the power of a superlative negation.

E (5). "...THROUGH REASON AND CONTEMPLATION...".

From the same discourse, on the text, "Whoever, then, it has been granted, through reason and contemplation, having passed through matter and this fleshly thing—whether one should call it a cloud or a veil—to be with God, and to be mingled with the purest light, as far as is possible for human nature, this one is blessed for his ascent from here and for his deification there, which to philosophize genuinely bestows, and to be beyond the material dyad on account of the unity conceived in the Trinity."

For my part I do not think the 1108 discourse of the teacher that was delivered concerning the virtue of the saints to be deficient, even if some, as you have written, think this, through the

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κατά τόν ὑπέρ ἡμᾶς καί κρείττονα λόγον πρός τό ἐγνωσμένον τῷ Θεῷ ἀγαθοπρεπές ἀποτέλεσμα κυβερνωμένης τῆς κακῆς τῶν παθῶν ἀχθηδόνος ἴαμα τίθεται. Ἤ γάρ τῶν προγεγονότων ἁμαρτημάτων ποινήν ἀπαιτούμενοι, ὧν ἴσως οὐδ᾿ ἴχνος τῇ μνήμῃ παρακατέχομεν διά τήν ἄγνοιαν, τυχόν δέ καί μνημονεύοντες τήν δέουσαν τοῖς πλημμεληθεῖσιν ἀντισηκῶσαι διόρθωσιν οὐκ ἀνεχόμεθα, ἤ μή θέλοντες, ἤ μή ἰσχύοντες, διά τήν ἐγγενομένην ἕξιν τῆς κακίας, ἤ τήν ἀσθένειαν καθαιρόμεθα, ἤ παροῦσάν τε καί νεμομένην κακίαν ἀποβαλλόμεθα, καί πρός ἀναστολήν τῆς μελλούσης ἰδεῖν προδιδασκόμεθα, ἤ καρτερίας ἀρίστης καί εὐσεβοῦς ἀνδρείας ὑπόδειγμα θαυμαστόν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀνθρώποις ἄλλος προτίθεται ἄνθρωπος, ἄνπερ ὑψηλής ᾗ (14∆_116> τήν διάνοιαν καί τήν 1105 ἀρετήν ἐπίδοξος, καί ἱκανός δι᾿ ἑαυτοῦ τῇ ἀκλονήτῳ πρός τά δεινά συμπλοκῇ φανερῶσαι τήν τέως κεκρυμμένην ἀλήθειαν.

Παραινεῖ οὖν τοῖς μηδέν ὑπέρ τήν παροῦσαν ζωήν διανοεῖσθαι δυναμένοις, μή θαῤῤοῦσι τῇ τοῦ σώματος ὑγείᾳ, καί τῷ κατά ῥοῦν φερομένῳ τῶν πραγμάτων δρόμῳ κατά τῶν τούτων ἐστερημένων ἐπαίρεσθαι, ἕως ἡ παροῦσα ἐνέστηκε ζωή, καί τήν φθοράν περίκεινται ταύτην, περί ἥν ἡ τροπή καί ἡ ἀλλοίωσις, ἀδήλου ὄντος τοῦ τί ἐκ τῆς τοῦ σώματος καί τῶν ἐκτός πραγμάτων ἀνωμαλίας τε καί ταραχῆς καί αὐτοῖς συμβήσεται. Τοῦτο γάρ οἶμαι λέγειν αὐτόν διά τοῦ, " Ἕως ἄν καί παρ᾿ ἑαυτῆς ἡ ὕλη φέρῃ τό ἄτακτον», ἀντί τοῦ, Ἕως ἄν ὑπό φθοράν καί ἀλλοίωσίν ἐστι τοῦτο τό πᾶν, καί τό σῶμα τῆς ταπεινώσεως περικείμεθα, καί ἴσως τοῖς ἐξ αὐτοῦ διά τήν ἔμφυτον ἀσθένειαν πολυτρόποις κακοῖς ὑποκείμεθα· μή κατ᾿ ἀλλήλων ἐπαιρώμεθα διά τήν περί ἡμᾶς ἀνισότητα, ἀλλά μᾶλλον σώφρονι λογισμῷ τήν τῆς ὁμοτίμου φύσεως ἀνωμαλίαν ἐξομαλίσωμεν, τάς τῶν ἄλλων ἐλλείψεις ταῖς ἡμῶν αὐτῶν ἀναπληροῦντες ὑπερβολαῖς. ∆ιό τυχόν καί ἡ παροῦσα συνεχωρήθη πολιτεύεσθαι ἀνωμαλία, ἵνα δειχθῇ ἡ τοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν λόγου δύναμις προτιμῶσα πάντων τήν ἀρετήν. Πάντων γάρ ἀνθρώπων ἡ αὐτή ἐστι τοῦ τε σώματος καί τῶν ἐκτός τροπή καί ἀλλοίωσις, φέρουσά τε καί φερομένη, καί μόνον τοῦτο κεκτημένη σταθερόν τε καί βάσιμον, τό ἄστατον καί φερόμενον.

∆ (4). «...ΟΥ ΓΑΡ ΕΧΕΙ ΤΙ ΥΨΗΛΟΤΕΡΟΝ Ή ΟΛΩΣ ΕΞΕΙ»

Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ εἰς τόν ἅγιον Ἀθανάσιον λόγου, εἰς τό, "Οὐ γάρ ἔχει τι ὑψηλότερον ἤ ὅλως ἕξει».

∆οκεῖ μοι διά τούτων ἀπολῦσαι πάσης συγκριτικῆς τε καί διακριτικῆς καί

ἄλλως πως λεγομένης σχέσεως τόν διδασκόμενον ὁ θεόφρων οὗτος διδάσκαλος. Ἄσχετον γάρ τό τοιοῦτον (14∆_118> εἶδος τοῦ λόγου φασίν οἱ περί ταῦτα δεινοί, καί ταὐτόν δύνασθαι τῷ ἀσυγκρίτως ὑπέρ πάντα εἶναι λέγειν, ὡς δύναμιν ἔχον ὑπεροχικῆς ἀποφάσεως.

Ε (5). «...∆ΙΑ ΛΟΓΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΘΕΩΡΙΑΣ..».

Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου, εἰς τό, " ᾯτινι μέν οὖν ἐξεγένετο διά λόγου καί θεωρίας διασχόντι τήν ὕλην καί τό σαρκικόν τοῦτο, εἴτε νέφος χρή λέγειν, εἴτε προκάλυμμα, Θεῷ συγγενέσθαι, καί τῷ ἀκραιφνεστάτῳ φωτί κραθῆναι, καθ᾿ ὅσον ἐφικτόν ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει μακάριος οὗτος τῆς ἐντεῦθεν ἀναβάσεως καί τῆς ἐκεῖσε θεώσεως, ἥν τό γνησίως φιλοσοφῆσαι χαρίζεσθαι, καί τό ὑπέρ τήν ὑλικήν δυάδα γενέσθαι διά τήν ἐν Τριάδι νοουμένην ἑνότητα».

Ἐγώ μέν οὐκ οἶμαι ἐλλιπῶς ἔχειν τόν 1108 ἀποδοθέντα περί τῆς ἀρετῆς

τῶν ἁγίων τοῦ διδασκάλου λόγον, κἄν τινες, ὡς γεγράφατε, τοῦτο νομίζωσι, διά τοῦ