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abolition of action; but extirpation is also the complete annihilation of the evil movements in the mind.

3.5 (5) The sensibles and the intelligibles are intermediaries between God and men; the human mind, proceeding toward God, becomes superior to these, not being enslaved to the sensibles in action, and not being held at all by the intelligibles in contemplation.

3.6 (6) Creation becomes the accuser of impious men; through the logoi in it, proclaiming its own maker; and through the natural laws in it according to each species, instructing man toward virtue. The logoi, therefore, are known in the coherence of the permanence of each species; while the laws appear in the identity of the natural energy of each species; by not applying ourselves to these according to the intellectual power within us, we have both ignored the cause of beings, and have cleaved to all the passions contrary to nature.

3.7 (7) Scripture exhorts us to offer gifts to God, in order to demonstrate the infinity of the divine goodness, that she, having contributed nothing beforehand, receives our offerings as gifts, accounting the contribution as entirely ours, showing the goodness of God toward us to be great and ineffable, as He accepts as ours things that are His own, offered to Him from us, and confesses the debt for them as if they were another's.

3.8 (8) Man, by understanding the spiritual logoi of visible things 15∆_134, is taught that there is some maker of the things that appear; leaving unexamined the concept of what kind of being He is, as being unattainable. For creation, being clearly seen, provides the comprehension *that* there is a Maker, but not *what kind* of maker He is.

3.9 (9) The wrath of God is the painful sensation of those being chastised. And a painful sensation is the bringing on of involuntary pains, through which God often leads the mind that is puffed up over virtue and knowledge toward contraction and humility; allowing it to become a discerner of itself, and conscious of its own weakness; having perceived this, it puts away the vain swelling of the heart.

1264 3.10 (10) The wrath of the Lord is the suspension of the bestowal of divine gifts; which profitably comes upon every high and lofty mind, and which boasts in the good things given to it from God, as if they were its own achievements.

3.11 (11) Every gnostic and philosophic mind has both Judas and Jerusalem; Judas, as practical philosophy; and Jerusalem, as contemplative mystagogy. Whenever, then, through divine grace the God-loving mind, according to both practical and contemplative philosophy, having repulsed every power opposed to virtue and knowledge, completely assumes power over the spirits of wickedness, and does not offer due thanksgiving to God, the cause of the victory, but is lifted up in his heart, considering himself the cause of the whole achievement; then, as one who has not rendered to God, according to the recompense which He rendered to him, he receives the wrath of abandonment coming not only upon himself, but also upon Judas and Jerusalem; that is, the state of action and of contemplation—dishonorable passions immediately, by the permission of God, rising up against action 15∆_136, and defiling the hitherto pure conscience; and false concepts, being interwoven with the contemplation of beings, and distorting the hitherto correct opinion of knowledge. For the one who is puffed up over action, dishonorable passions succeed; and the one who is exalted over knowledge, righteous judgment permits to stumble concerning true contemplation.

3.12 (12) A truly divine definition and law exists in beings according to Providence, permitting those who have appeared ungrateful for better things to be disciplined through opposites toward gratitude, and the experience of the contrary things of the good things

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πράξεως κατάργησις· ἡ δέ ἔκτριψις, καί τῶν κατά διάνοιαν πονηρῶν κινημάτων παντελής ἐστιν ἀφανισμός.

3.5 (ε΄) Μέσα εἰσί Θεοῦ καί ἀνθρώπων τά αἰσθητά καί τά νοητά· ὧν ὑπεράνω γίνεται χωρῶν πρός Θεόν ὁ ἀνθρώπινος νοῦς· τοῖς μέν αἰσθητοῖς κατά τήν πρᾶξιν μή δουλούμενος, τοῖς δέ νοητοῖς κατά τήν θεωρίαν μηδόλως κρατούμενος.

3.6 (στ΄) Κατήγορος ἡ κτίσις γίνεται τῶν ἀσεβῶν ἀνθρώπων· διά μέν τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ λόγων, τόν ἑαυτῆς κηρύττουσα ποιητήν· διά δέ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ κατ᾿ εἶδος ἕκαστον φυσικῶν νόμων, πρός ἀρετήν παιδαγωγοῦσα τόν ἄνθρωπον. Οἱ μέν οὖν λόγοι, ἐν τῇ συνοχῇ τῆς τοῦ καθ᾿ ἕκαστον εἴδους γνωρίζονται μονιμότητος· οἱ δέ νόμοι, ἐν τῇ ταυτότητι φαίνονται τῆς τοῦ καθ᾿ ἕκαστον εἴδους φυσικῆς ἐνεργείας· οἷς μή ἐπιβάλλοντες κατά τήν ἐν ἡμῖν νοεράν δύναμιν, τήν τε τῶν ὄντων ἠγνοήσαμεν αἰτίαν, καί πᾶσι τοῖς παρά φύσιν προστετήκαμεν πάθεσι.

3.7 (ζ΄) ∆ῶρα τῷ Θεῷ προσφέρεσθαι παρ᾿ ἡμῶν ὁ λόγος διακελεύεται, ἵνα παραστήσῃ τό τῆς θείας ἀγαθότητος ἄπειρον, ὡς μηδέν προεισενεγκούσης δέχεσθαι παρ᾿ ἡμῶν ὡς δῶρα τά δόματα, τό πᾶν ἡμῖν λογιζομένης τῆς εἰσφορᾶς, πολλήν καί ἄφατον εἶναι περί ἡμᾶς δεικνύων τοῦ Θεοῦ τήν ἀγαθότητα, δεχομένου ὡς ἡμῶν τά ἑαυτοῦ, ἐξ ἡμῶν αὐτῷ προσφερόμενα, καί τήν ὑπέρ αὐτῶν ὡς ἀλλοτρίων ὀφειλήν ὁμολογοῦντος.

3.8 (η΄) Ὁ ἄνθρωπος, τούς πνευματικούς τῶν ὁρωμένων λόγους 15∆_134 κατανοῶν, διδάσκεται, ὡς ἔστι τις τῶν φαινομένων ποιητής· τήν τοῦ ὁποῖός ἐστιν ἔννοιαν, ὡς ἀνέφικτον ἀφείς ἀνεξέταστον. Τήν γάρ ὅτι Ποιητής, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ὁποῖός ἐστιν ὁ ποιητής, ὁρωμένη σαφῶς ἡ κτίσις, παρέχει κατάληψιν.

3.9 (θ΄) Ὀργή Θεοῦ ἐστιν, ἡ τῶν παιδαγωγουμένων ἐπίπονος αἴσθησις. Ἐπίπονος δέ καθέστηκεν αἴσθησις, ἡ τῶν ἀκουσίων πόνων ἐπαγωγή, δι᾿ ἧς τόν ἐπ᾿ ἀρετῇ καί γνώσει φυσιούμενον νοῦν, ὁ Θεός ἄγει πολλάκις πρός συστολήν καί ταπείνωσιν· αὐτόν ἑαυτοῦ γενέσθαι διδούς ἐπιγνώμονα, καί τῆς οἰκείας ἀσθενείας συνίστορα· ἧς ἐπαισθόμενος, τό μάταιον οἴδημα τῆς καρδίας ἀποτίθεται.

1264 3.10 (ι΄) Ὀργή Κυρίου ἐστίν, ἡ ἀνακωχή τῆς τῶν θείων χαρισμάτων χορηγίας· ἤ τις συμφερόντως ἐπί πάντα γίνεται νοῦν ὑψηλόν καί μετέωρον· καί τοῖς δοθεῖσιν αὐτῷ θεόθεν καλοῖς, ὡς ἐπί ἰδίοις κατορθώμασι μεγαλαυχούμενον.

3.11 (ια΄) Πᾶς γνωστικός καί φιλόσοφος νοῦς, καί τόν Ἰούδαν ἔχει καί τήν Ἱερουσαλήμ· τόν μέν Ἰούδαν, ὡς πρακτικήν φιλοσοφίαν· τήν δέ Ἱερουσαλήμ, ὡς θεωρητικήν μυσταγωγίαν. Ὁπηνίκα οὖν διά τῆς θείας χάριτος ὁ φιλόθεος νοῦς, κατά τε τήν πρακτικήν καί θεωρητικήν φιλοσοφίαν, πᾶσαν ἀντικειμένην ἀρετῇ καί γνώσει διακρουσάμενος δύναμιν, τελείως τό κατά τῶν πνευμάτων τῆς πονηρίας ἀναδήσηται κράτος, καί μή τήν δέουσαν εὐχαριστίαν ἀνάθηται τῷ αἰτίῳ τῆς νίκης Θεῷ, ἀλλ᾿ ὑψωθῇ τήν καρδίαν, ἑαυτόν τοῦ παντός κατορθώματος ἡγησάμενος αἴτιον· τηνικαῦτα ὡς μή ἀνταποδούς τῷ Θεῷ, κατά τό ἀνταπόδομα, ὅ ἀνταπέδωκεν αὐτῷ, δέχεται οὐ μόνον αὐτός γινομένην ἐπ᾿ αὐτόν τήν ὀργήν τῆς ἐγκαταλείψεως, ἀλλά καί Ἰούδας καί Ἱερουσαλήμ· τουτέστιν, ἡ τῆς πράξεως ἕξις καί τῆς θεωρίας παθῶν ἀτιμίας εὐθέως, συγχωρήσει Θεοῦ, κατεπανισταμένων 15∆_136 τῆς πράξεως, καί τήν τέως καθαράν μολυνόντων συνείδησιν· καί ψευδῶν ἐννοιῶν, συνεπιπλεκομένων τῇ θεωρίᾳ τῶν ὄντων, καί τήν τέως ὀρθήν διαστρεφουσῶν δόξαν τῆς γνώσεως. Τόν γάρ ἐπαιρόμενον ἐπί πράξει, παθῶν ἀτιμία διαδέχεται· τόν δέ ἐπί γνώσει ὑψούμενον, περί τήν ἀληθῆ θεωρίαν πταίειν ἡ δικαία κρίσις συγχωρεῖ.

3.12 (ιβ΄) Θεῖος ὡς ἀληθῶς ὅρος τε καί νόμος κατά τήν Πρόνοιαν ἐνυπάρχει τοῖς οὖσι, παιδεύεσθαι διά τῶν ἐναντίων ἐπιτρέπων πρός εὐγνωμοσύνην, τούς ἐπί κρείττοσι φανέντας ἀγνώμονας, καί τήν πεῖραν τῶν ἀντικειμένων τῆς τῶν καλῶν