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revelation and possession and enjoyment of treasures; but we know that the knowledge from secular education is completed together with this age. For if perceptible words present the realities in the age to come, the wise of this age would become heirs of the kingdom of heaven; «but if purity of soul sees, the wise will be far from the knowledge of God», according to the true philosopher Maximus. What need, then, do we have of knowledge that does not draw near to God? And how is it not possible to partake of perfection and holiness without it?

And to pass over for now the other things of those who think they are something and deceive themselves to such an extent, as to misuse the scriptures of the spirit, misinterpreting them against spiritual works and men, I shall set forth those things which are now the subject of the discourse at hand. For they say that God is invisible and incomprehensible; «No one has ever seen God; the only-begotten Son of God, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known». How then, they say, are not those clearly deluded who claim to see God within themselves as a newly-seen light? And if someone should again bring forth the word of the only-begotten of God, saying that «the pure in heart shall see God» and «I will manifest myself to them, dwelling in them with the Father», they immediately say that contemplation is knowledge (p. 182) and do not know that they are speaking inconsistently; for just as the divine is invisible, so it is also incomprehensible. Indeed, those who, because of God's invisibility, dogmatize that the intellective vision of God in light is a false and demonic fantasy and energy, ought also, because of God's incomprehensibility, to drag down knowledge into similar cavils. But we choose to say nothing in opposition to them concerning knowledge, for they speak in harmony with us, even if they do not understand what they are saying. For there is also the knowledge concerning God and the doctrines concerning him, a contemplation which we call theology, and the use and movement according to nature of the powers of the soul and the members of the body brings about a reformation of the rational image; but this is not the perfect comeliness of our nobility from above and the supernatural union with the light beyond all light, from which alone comes both theologizing securely and the standing and moving according to nature of the powers of soul and body within us; by abolishing this, therefore, they have abolished all virtue and truth.

Concerning the fact, then, that there is not a more mystical and higher contemplation than the knowledge of which they speak, nor is there such a contemplation of God at all because of God's invisibility, having been initiated by those who have been in true contemplation, we shall ask them: what do you think, does not even the Holy Spirit see the things of God? But indeed it «searches even the depths of God». If, then, someone said he saw the pure light without the Holy Spirit, you would rightly object, saying: «how could the invisible be seen»? But if someone, having put off the spirit of the world (which the fathers call intelligible darkness lying upon unpurified hearts), if someone, then, having put this off and being purified of all his own will and having risen above every human tradition and temporary postponement (p. 184) which hinders the requisite zeal, even if it be specious, according to the great Basil, and having gathered together the powers of the soul as much as possible and having established a watchful supervision of the mind, first lives among the theorems that are according to nature and pleasing to God, then having ascended above himself, should receive in himself the Spirit from God, which knows the things of God as the spirit of man knows the things in him, and having received these things for this reason, as the great Paul proclaims, that he might know the things mystically bestowed on him by God, «what eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and has not entered into the heart of man», how would this man not see

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θησαυρῶν ἀποκάλυψις καί κτῆσις καί ἀπόλαυσις˙ τήν δ᾿ ἐκ τῆς ἔξω παιδείας γνῶσιν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ συναπαρτιζομένην ἴσμεν. Εἰ γάρ αἰσθητοί λόγοι ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι παριστῶσι τά πράγματα, οἱ σοφοί τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου γένοιτ᾿ ἄν κληρονόμοι τῆς τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείας˙ «εἰ δέ καθαρότης ψυχῆς ὁρᾷ, μακράν οἱ σοφοί γενήσονται τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ», κατά τόν ἀληθῆ φιλόσοφον Μάξιμον. Τίς οὖν ἡμῖν χρεία γνώσεως τῆς μή ἐγγιζούσης Θεῷ; Πῶς δέ χωρίς αὐτῆς τελειότητος καί ἁγιότητος μεταλαχεῖν οὐκ ἔνι;

Καί ἵνα τἄλλα νῦν παρῶ τῶν οἰομένων εἶναί τε καί φρεναπατώντων ἑαυτούς ἐπί τοσοῦτον, ὡς καί τάς γραφάς τοῦ πνεύματος κατά τῶν πνευματικῶν παρεξηγουμένους ἔργων χρῆσθαι καί ἀνδρῶν, ἐκεῖνα δή προθήσω, ἅ καί νῦν ὑπόθεσις ἡμῖν ἐστι τοῦ ἀνά χεῖρας λόγου. Φασί γάρ ἀόρατον εἶναι τόν Θεόν καί ἀπερινόητον˙ «Θεόν γοῦν οὐδείς ἑώρακε πώποτε˙ ὁ μονογενής Υἱός τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ ὤν εἰς τόν κόλπον τοῦ Πατρός, ἐκεῖνος ἐξηγήσατο». Πῶς οὖν, φασίν, οὐχί σαφῶς πλανῶνται οἱ τόν Θεόν ὡς φῶς νεορῶς ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ὁρᾶν ἰσχυριζόμενοι; Κἄν τις αὐτῶν αὖθις τόν μονογενῆ τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγον προσενέγκῃ λέγοντα ὅτι «οἱ καθαροί τῇ καρδίᾳ τόν Θεόν ὄψονται» καί «ἐγώ ἐμφανίσω αὐτοῖς ἐμαυτόν, μετά τοῦ Πατρός τούτοις ἐνσκηνώσας», εὐθύς θεωρίαν τήν γνῶσιν (σελ. 182) λέγουσι καί οὐκ ἴσασιν ἑαυτοῖς ἀνακόλουθα λέγοντες˙ ὡς γάρ ἀόρατον, οὕτω καί ἀπερινόητον τό θεῖον. Τούς γοῦν τήν ἐν φωτί νοεράν ὅρασιν Θεοῦ διά τό τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀόρατον φαντασίαν ἐψευσμένην καί δαιμονικήν δογματίζοντας ἐνέργειαν ἔδει καί τήν γνῶσιν διά τό τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀπερινόητον πρός τάς ὁμοίας κατασπᾶν ἐρεσχελίας. Ἀλλ᾿ ἡμεῖς περί μέν τῆς γνώσεως οὐδέν ἀντιπεῖν πρός αὐτούς αἱρούμεθα˙ συνῳδά γάρ λέγουσιν ἡμῖν, εἰ καί μή συντᾶσιν ὅ τι λέγουσιν. Ἔστι γάρ καί ἡ περί Θεοῦ καί τῶν κατ᾿ αὐτόν δογμάτων γνῶσις, θεωρία, ὅ θεολογίαν ὀνομάζομεν, καί ἡ τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεων καί τῶν τοῦ σώματος μελῶν κατά φύσιν χρῆσίς τε καί κίνησις ἀναμόρφωσιν ποιεῖται τῆς λογικῆς εἰκόνος˙ ἀλλ᾿ οὐ τοῦτό ἐστιν ἡ τελεία τῆς ἄνωθεν ἡμῖν εὐγενείας εὐπρέπεια καί ἡ πρός τό ὑπερφαές φῶς ὑπερφυής ἕνωσις, παρ᾿ ἧς μόνης ἐγγίνεται καί τό θεολογεῖν ἀσφαλῶς καί τό κατά φύσιν ἑστάναι τε καί κινεῖσθαι τάς ἐν ἡμῖν δυνάμεις τῆς ψυχῆς καί τοῦ σώματος˙ ταύτην οὖν ἀναιροῦντες συνανεῖλον πᾶσαν ἀρετήν καί ἀλήθειαν.

Περί τοῦ μή εἶναι τοίνυν τῆς γνώσεως ἧς αὐτοί λέγουσι μυστικωτέραν καί ὑψηλοτέραν θεωρίαν, μηδ᾿ εἶναι ὅλως τοιαύτην θεωρίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ διά τό τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀόρατον, παρά τῶν ἐν ἀληθεῖ θεωρίᾳ γεγονότων μυηθέντες, ἐρωτήσομεν αὐτούς˙ τί ἡμῖν δοκεῖ, οὐδέ τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον ὁρᾷ τά τοῦ Θεοῦ; Ἀλλά μήν αὐτό «ἐρευνᾷ καί τά βάθη τοῦ Θεοῦ». Εἰ μέν οὖν χωρίς Πνεύματος ἁγίου ὁρᾶν ἔλεγέ τις τό ἀκήρατον φῶς, καλῶς ἄν ἀντιπίπτοντες ἐλέγετε˙ «πῶς ἄν ὁραθείη ὁ ἀόρατος»; Εἰ δέ τις ἀποθέμενος τό πνεῦμα τοῦ κόσμου (ὅ σκότος νοητόν ἐπικείμενον ταῖς μή κεκαθαρμέναις καρδίαις οἱ πατέρες ὀνομάζουσιν) εἴ τις οὖν ἀποθέμενος τοῦτο καί καθαρεύσας παντός οἰκείου θελήματος καί ἀπαναστάς πάσης παραδόσεως ἀνθρωπίνης καί πρός ὀλίγον ἀναβολήν (σελ. 184) ἐμποιούσης τῇ ὀφειλομένῃ σπουδῇ, κἄν εὐπρόσωπος ᾖ κατά τόν μέγαν Βασίλειον, καί τάς τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεις ὡς ἐνόν συναθροίσας καί νηφάλιον ἐπιστήσας τήν τῆς διανοίας ἐπισκοπήν, πρῶτον μέν ἐν τοῖς κατά φύσιν καί θεαρέστοις διαζῇ κατά νοῦν θεωρήμασιν, εἶθ᾿ ἑαυτόν ὑπεραναβάς ἐν ἑαυτῷ λάβοι τό ἐκ Θεοῦ Πνεῦμα, ὅ οἶδε τά τοῦ Θεοῦ ὡς τό πνεῦμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τά ἐν αὐτῷ καί ταῦτα διά τοῦτο λαβών, καθάπερ ὁ μέγας κηρύττει Παῦλος, ἵν᾿ εἰδῇ τά ὑπό τοῦ Θεοῦ χαρισθέντα μυστικῶς αὐτῷ, «ἅ ὀφθαλμός οὐκ εἶδε καί οὖς οὐκ ἤκουσε καί ἐπί καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἀνέβη», πῶς οὐκ ἄν ὁρῴη οὗτος