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appearing, but greater and reaching the hearing more in the last things. 2.159 The law and the prophets sounded the trumpet of the divine mystery of the economy according to man, but the first sounds were too weak to reach the disobedient hearing. Therefore the hardness of hearing of the Jews did not receive the sound of the trumpets. But as they went on, as the word says, the trumpets became stronger. For the last sounds, those which came through the evangelical proclamations, reached the hearing, as the Spirit sounded through the instruments, making the sound louder and more forceful in the successive ones. And the instruments would be, sounding forth the voice in spirit, both prophets and apostles, of whom, as the psalmody says, their sound went out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.

2.160 But if the multitude does not contain the voice coming from above, but permits Moses to know for himself the ineffable things, and to teach the people whatever dogma he might have happened to learn through the teaching from above, this too is one of the things administered in the Church: that not everyone should thrust themselves forward to the comprehension of the mysteries, but having chosen from among themselves the one able to contain the divine things, to submit their hearing to him with good judgment, considering faithful whatever they might hear from the one initiated into the divine things. 2.161 For not all, he says, are apostles, nor all prophets. But this is not now being observed in many of the churches. For many, still in need of cleansing from their past lives, being unwashed and stained by the cloak of life, putting forward their own irrational sense, dare to make the divine ascent, from which they themselves are stoned by their own reasonings. For heretical assumptions are truly certain stones, murdering the inventor himself of the wicked dogmas. 2.162 But what does it mean for Moses to be within the darkness and thus to see God in it? For what is now being recounted seems somehow to be contrary to the first theophany. For then the Divine is seen in light, but now in darkness. Let us not think this either to be discordant with the sequence of the things considered by us anagogically. For through these things the word teaches that the knowledge of piety becomes a light at first to those in whom it arises. Because that which is conceived as contrary to piety is darkness; and the turning away from darkness comes about by the participation in the light. But as the mind advances and through ever greater and more perfect attention comes to be in contemplation of the understanding of beings, the more it approaches contemplation, the more it sees the unseeable aspect of the divine nature. 2.163 For leaving behind everything that appears, not only what sense perceives, but also what the intellect seems to see, it always strives for what is within, until it penetrates by the activity of the intellect to the unseen and incomprehensible and there sees God. For in this is the true knowledge of what is sought and in this is the seeing in the not-seeing, because what is sought is beyond all knowledge, being separated on all sides by incomprehensibility as if by some darkness. Therefore also the sublime John says, who was in this luminous darkness, that: 'No one has ever seen God,' defining by this declaration that the knowledge of the divine essence is unattainable, not only for men, but also for every intelligible nature. 2.164 When therefore Moses became greater in knowledge, then he confesses to see God in darkness, that is, then to know that the Divine by nature is that which is above all knowledge and comprehension. For he says, 'Moses entered into the darkness where God was.' What God? 'He who made darkness his hiding place,' as David says, who was initiated into the ineffable things in the same sanctuary. 2.165 And he who was there, what he was previously taught through the darkness, is taught again through the word, so that, I think, the dogma concerning this might become more firmly established for us, being witnessed by the divine voice. For in the first place the divine word forbids toward nothing

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φαινόμενον, μεῖζον δὲ καὶ μᾶλλον τῆς ἀκοῆς καθικνούμενον ἐν τοῖς τελευταίοις. 2.159 Ἐσάλπισαν ὁ νόμος καὶ οἱ προφῆται τὸ θεῖον τῆς κατὰ ἄνθρωπον οἰκονομίας μυστήριον, ἀλλ' ἀσθε νέστεραι ἦσαν αἱ πρῶται φωναὶ ἢ ὥστε καθικνεῖσθαι τῆς ἀπειθοῦς ἀκοῆς. ∆ιὸ ἡ βαρυηκοΐα τῶν Ἰουδαίων τὴν φωνὴν τῶν σαλπίγγων οὐ παρεδέξατο. Προβαίνουσαι δέ, καθώς φησιν ὁ λόγος, αἱ σάλπιγγες ἐγένοντο ἰσχυρότεραι. Αἱ γὰρ τελευταῖαι φωναί, αἱ διὰ τῶν εὐαγγελικῶν κηρυγμάτων γεγενημέναι, καθίκοντο τῆς ἀκοῆς, οὕτω τοῦ Πνεύματος διὰ τῶν ὀργάνων ἠχοῦντος γεγωνότερον ἐν τοῖς ἐφεξῆς καὶ εὐτονώτερον ποιουμένου τὸν ἦχον. Ὄργανα δ' ἂν εἶεν, ἐν πνεύματι τὸν φθόγγον ἠχοῦντα, προφῆταί τε καὶ ἀπόστολοι ὧν, καθώς φησιν ἡ ψαλμῳδία, εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ἐξῆλθεν ὁ φθόγγος αὐτῶν καὶ εἰς τὰ πέρατα τῆς οἰκουμένης τὰ ῥήματα αὐτῶν.

2.160 Εἰ δὲ οὐ χωρεῖ τὸ πλῆθος τὴν ἄνωθεν γινομένην φωνήν, ἀλλ' ἐπιτρέπει τῷ Μωϋσεῖ γνῶναι μὲν δι' ἑαυτοῦ τὰ ἀπόρρητα, διδάξαι δὲ τὸν λαὸν ὅπερ ἂν διὰ τῆς ἄνωθεν διδασκαλίας τύχῃ μαθὼν δόγμα, καὶ τοῦτο τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν διοικουμένων ἐστί, τὸ μὴ πάντας ἑαυτοὺς εἰσωθεῖν πρὸς τὴν τῶν μυστηρίων κατάληψιν, ἀλλ' ἐπιλέ ξαντας ἐξ ἑαυτῶν τὸν χωρῆσαι τὰ θεῖα δυνάμενον ἐκείνῳ τὴν ἀκοὴν εὐγνωμόνως ὑπέχειν, πιστὸν ἡγουμένους ἅπαν ὅτιπερ ἂν παρὰ τοῦ τὰ θεῖα μυηθέντος ἀκούσωσιν. 2.161 Οὐ πάντες γάρ, φησίν, ἀπόστολοι οὐδὲ πάντες προφῆται. Τοῦτο δὲ οὐκ ἔστι νῦν ἐν ταῖς πολλαῖς τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν φυλασσό μενον. Πολλοὶ γὰρ καθαρσίων ἔτι ἐκ τῶν βεβιωμένων δεόμενοι, ἄπλυτοί τινες καὶ κατεσπιλωμένοι τῇ τοῦ βίου περιβολῇ, τὴν ἄλογον αἴσθησιν ἑαυτῶν προβαλλόμενοι, τῆς θείας ἀνόδου κατατολμῶσιν, ὅθεν αὐτοὶ τοῖς ἰδίοις ἑαυτῶν λογισμοῖς καταλεύονται. Αἱ γὰρ αἱρετικαὶ ὑπολήψεις λίθοι τινὲς ἀτεχνῶς εἰσιν αὐτὸν τὸν εὑρετὴν τῶν πονηρῶν δογμάτων καταφονεύοντες. 2.162 Τί δὲ δὴ βούλεται τὸ ἐντὸς γενέσθαι τοῦ γνόφου τὸν Μωϋσέα καὶ οὕτως ἐν αὐτῷ τὸν Θεὸν ἰδεῖν; Ἐναντίον γὰρ δοκεῖ πως εἶναι τῇ πρωτῇ θεοφανείᾳ τὸ νῦν ἱστορούμενον. Τοτὲ μὲν γὰρ ἐν φωτί, νῦν δὲ ἐν γνόφῳ τὸ Θεῖον ὁρᾶται. Μηδὲ τοῦτο τοῦ εἱρμοῦ τῶν κατ' ἀναγωγὴν ἡμῖν θεωρη θέντων ἀπᾴδειν νομίσωμεν. ∆ιδάσκει γὰρ διὰ τούτων ὁ λόγος ὅτι τῆς εὐσεβείας ἡ γνῶσις φῶς γίνεται παρὰ τὴν πρώτην οἷς ἂν ἐγγένηται. ∆ιότι τὸ ἐξ ἐναντίου τῇ εὐσεβείᾳ νοούμενον σκότος ἐστίν· ἡ δὲ ἀποστροφὴ τοῦ σκότους τῇ μετουσίᾳ τοῦ φωτὸς γίνεται. Προϊὼν δὲ ὁ νοῦς καὶ διὰ μείζονος ἀεὶ καὶ τελειοτέρας προσοχῆς ἐν περινοίᾳ γινόμενος τῆς τῶν ὄντων κατανοήσεως, ὅσῳ προσεγγίζει μᾶλλον τῇ θεωρίᾳ, τοσούτῳ πλέον ὁρᾷ τὸ τῆς θείας φύσεως ἀθεώρητον. 2.163 Καταλιπὼν γὰρ πᾶν τὸ φαινόμενον, οὐ μόνον ὅσα καταλαμβάνει ἡ αἴσθησις, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὅσα ἡ διάνοια δοκεῖ βλέπειν, ἀεὶ πρὸς τὸ ἐνδότερον ἵεται, ἕως ἂν διαδύῃ τῇ πολυπραγμοσύνῃ τῆς διανοίας πρὸς τὸ ἀθέατόν τε καὶ ἀκατάληπτον κἀκεῖ τὸν Θεὸν ἴδῃ. Ἐν τούτῳ γὰρ ἡ ἀληθής ἐστιν εἴδησις τοῦ ζητουμένου καὶ ἐν τούτῳ τὸ ἰδεῖν ἐν τῷ μὴ ἰδεῖν, ὅτι ὑπέρκειται πάσης εἰδήσεως τὸ ζητούμενον, οἷόν τινι γνόφῳ τῇ ἀκαταληψίᾳ πανταχόθεν διειλημμένον. ∆ιό φησι καὶ ὁ ὑψηλὸς Ἰωάννης, ὁ ἐν τῷ λαμπρῷ γνόφῳ τούτῳ γενόμενος, ὅτι· Θεὸν οὐδεὶς ἑώρακε πώποτε, οὐ μόνον τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, ἀλλὰ καὶ πάσῃ νοητῇ φύσει τῆς θείας οὐσίας τὴν γνῶσιν ἀνέφικτον εἶναι τῇ ἀποφάσει ταύτῃ διοριζόμενος. 2.164 Ὅτε οὖν μείζων ἐγένετο κατὰ τὴν γνῶσιν ὁ Μωϋσῆς, τότε ὁμολογεῖ τὸν Θεὸν ἐν γνόφῳ ἰδεῖν, τουτέστι τότε γνῶναι ὅτι ἐκεῖνό ἐστι τῇ φύσει τὸ Θεῖον ὃ πάσης γνώσεώς τε καὶ καταλήψεώς ἐστιν ἀνώτερον. Εἰσῆλθε γάρ, φησί, Μωϋσῆς εἰς τὸν γνόφον, οὗ ἦν ὁ Θεός. Τίς ὁ Θεός; Ὃς ἔθετο σκότος ἀποκρυφὴν αὐτοῦ, καθώς φησι ∆αβίδ, ὁ ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ ἀδύτῳ μυηθεὶς τὰ ἀπόρρητα. 2.165 Ὁ δὲ ἐκεῖ γεγονώς, ἃ προεπαιδεύθη διὰ τοῦ γνόφου, πάλιν διὰ τοῦ λόγου διδάσκεται, ὡς ἄν, οἶμαι, παγιώτερον ἡμῖν τὸ περὶ τούτου γένηται δόγμα, τῇ θείᾳ φωνῇ μαρτυ ρούμενον. Ἀπαγορεύει γὰρ ἐν πρώτοις ὁ θεῖος λόγος πρὸς μηδὲν