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From Saint Hierotheus. 14S_142 § 15. a. The love: Consider how the great Hierotheus philosophizes excellently about commendable love; first, by calling it divine, since God is also the first cause of celestial love, pre-eminently and without cause; for if love itself is charity, as was said before, and it is written that “God is charity,” it is clear that the unifying love, that is, charity, of all things, is God. From there, therefore, he proceeds transitionally to the angels, whence he also calls it angelic, where one might especially find the divine love of unity; for there is nothing disharmonious or contentious among them; then after the angels, he also calls it an intellectual love, that is, among God-wise men who are of the Church, to whom Paul says, “that the same thing may be said,” and the rest, and the Lord, “that they may be one, as we also are one.” And these things are about true Christians, but finally also about all men, among whom is the law of friendship; and he called rational souls intellectual, having named them from the divine intellect; and he called the love of irrational beings psychic, that is, sensible friendship, which is clearly without intellect; for from this erotic power even winged creatures fly in flocks, like swans and geese and cranes and crows and all such things; and there are also such terrestrial creatures, deer, cattle, and the like; and there are also swimming creatures, like tunas and mullets and all that are of a similar kind. And those that are not gregarious are also moved from here toward the gathering of their own kind. And he calls natural love that of inanimate and insensible things according to their dispositional fitness, that is, of quality, loving the 14S_144 creator because they were constituted by him; therefore, according to the vital, that is, the natural motion, these too have turned toward God.

§ 16. Since those from the one: And we said above, that the thinking are intellectual, but the thought are intelligible, and without question the intellectual are surpassed by the intelligible, whence also the thought are food for the thinking; therefore, the intellectual love the intelligible, as being turned toward them and as if having ascended; and the intelligible also love the intellectual providentially by imparting an equal benefit; it is agreed, therefore, that such loves are superior to sensible ones. But these things, I think, are called intelligible and intellectual because they became such by participation in the really good. But the self-intelligible loves are the divine ones, instead of “of God”; for just as there is a good for which there is a good, and another that is simply good and the good itself, so also is there an intelligible for someone intelligible, as being understood by him, and simply intelligible; not time or place (for these too are intelligible, since they are not sensible), but the intellect of intelligible things, being energy and living and life; for the intelligible things after this they find from investigation and from the consequence concerning problems, or they have them from revelation.

Unrelated cause: He calls unrelated the absolute, which has no relation to the whole, that is, no natural affinity.

§ 17. The total love of all things. By saying 'total love', he also indicates partial ones, saying that God is the total and the partial, as cause and provider to all, according to the power of each, of a sort of erotic emanation, How then God, being inseparably with himself, can be the whole and the part, will be clear from the 14S_146 seminal reason; for when the seed is deposited uninterruptedly together into the womb, one embryo is formed, but if the seed is divided into different vesicles of the womb, each part forms a whole embryo; and of the seed one part will be the nose, another the eyes, and the rest, and all will be perfect. Something similar, therefore, must also be considered by analogy concerning the all-perfect intellect; for the whole energy contains also the parts, and each of the parts is complete; and one part is justice itself,

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Ἐκ τοῦ ἁγίου Ἱεροθέου. 14S_142 § 15. α. Τόν ἔρωτα: Ἐπίστησον, ὅπως μέγας Ἱερόθεος τά περί

τοῦ ἐπαινετοῦ ἔρωτος ἄριστα φιλοσοφεῖ· πρῶτον μέν θεῖον αὐτόν λέγων, ἐπειδή καί πρῶτον αἴτιον τοῦ οὐρανίου ἔρωτος ὁ Θεός ἐστιν ἐξῃρημένως καί ἀναιτίως· εἰ γάρ ὁ ἔρως αὐτός ἐστιν ἡ ἀγάπη, ὡς προείρηται, γέγραπται δέ, ὅτι «Θεός ἀγάπη ἐστί», δῆλον ὅτι πάντων ἑνοποιός ἔρως, ἤτοι ἀγάπη, ὁ Θεός ἐστιν. Ἐκεῖθεν οὖν μεταβατικῶς πρόεισιν ἐπ' ἀγγέλους, ὅθεν καί ἀγγελικόν αὐτόν φησιν, ἔνθα μάλιστα καί τόν τῆς ἑνότητος εὕροι τις ἄν ἔρωτα θεῖον· οὐδέν γάρ ἀσύμφωνον ἤ στασιάζον παρ' αὐτοῖς· εἶτα μετ' ἀγγέλους, καί νοερόν φησιν ἔρωτα, τουτέστι παρά θεοσόφοις ἀνδράσιν, οἵ εἰσι τῆς Ἐκκλησίας, πρός οὕς ὁ Παῦλός φησιν, «ἵνα τό αὐτό λέγηται», καί τά ἑξῆς, καί ὁ Κύριος, «ἵνα ὦσιν ἕν, καθώς καί ἡμεῖς ἕν ἐσμεν». Καί ταῦτα μέν περί τῶν ἐξ ἀληθείας Χριστιανῶν, λοιπόν δέ καί περί πάντων ἀνθρώπων, ἐν οἷς ὁ περί φιλίας νόμος· τάς δέ λογικάς ψυχάς νοεράς προσεῖπεν ἐκ τοῦ θείου νοῦ προσειπών αὐτάς· ψυχικόν δέ ἐκάλεσεν ἔρωτα τόν τῶν ἀλόγων, τήν αἰσθητικήν φιλίαν, ἄνουν μέντοι δηλονότι· ἐκ γάρ τῆς ἐρωτικῆς ταύτης δυνάμεως καί πτηνά ἀγεληδόν ἵπτανται, ὡς κύκνοι καί χῆνες καί γέρανοι καί κόρακες καί ὅσα τοιαῦτα· καί πεζά μέντοι εἰσί τοιαῦτα, ἔλαφοι, βόες, καί τά παραπλήσια· καί νηκτά δέ εἰσιν, ὡς θύννοι καί κέφαλοι καί ὅσα ὁμοιότροπα. Καί τά μή ἀγελαῖα δέ πρός τήν τῶν ὁμοστοίχων σύνοδον ἔνθεν κινοῦνται. Φυσικόν δέ ἔρωτά φησι τόν τῶν ἀψύχων καί ἀναισθήτων κατά τήν ἑκτικήν ἐπιτηδειότητα, ἤτοι τῆς ποιότητος, ἐρώντων τοῦ 14S_144 δημιουργοῦ διά τό ὑπ' αὐτοῦ συνεστάναι· κατά οὖν τήν ζωτικήν, ἤτοι τήν φυσικήν κίνησιν, καί αὐτά ἐπέστραπται πρός τόν Θεόν.

§ 16. Ἐπειδή τούς ἐκ τοῦ ἑνός: Καί ἄνω εἴπομεν, νοερά μέν εἶναι τά νοοῦντα, νοητά δέ τά νοούμενα, καί ἀζητήτως τά νοερά ὑπερβαίνεσθαι ὑπό τῶν νοητῶν, ὅθεν καί τροφήν εἶναι τῶν νοούντων τά νοούμενα· τῶν οὖν νοητῶν τά νοερά ἐρᾷ, ὡς ἐπεστραμμένα πρός αὐτά καί ὥσπερ ἀναβεβηκότα· ἐρᾷ δέ καί τά νοητά τῶν νοερῶν προνοητικῶς τῷ μεταδιδόναι τῆς ἴσης ὠφελείας· ὡμολόγηται οὖν, ὅτι οἱ τῶν τοιούτων ἔρωτες ὑπερεστᾶσι τῶν αἰσθητῶν. Ἀλλά ταῦτα, οἶμαι, νοητά καί νοερά εἴρηται ἐκ μετοχῆς τοῦ ὄντος ἀγαθοῦ τοιαῦτα γενόμενα. Οἱ δέ αὐτονόητοι ἔρωτες οἱ θεῖοί εἰσιν, ἀντί τοῦ οἱ τοῦ Θεοῦ· ὥσπερ γάρ ἐστιν ἀγαθόν ὧτινί ἐστιν ἀγαθόν, καί ἄλλο τό ἁπλῶς ἀγαθόν καί αὐτό τό ἀγαθόν, οὕτως ἐστί καί νοητόν τῷ τινι νοητόν, ἅτε νοούμενον ὑπ' αὐτοῦ, καί ἁπλῶς νοητόν· οὐχ ὁ χρόνος ἥ ὁ τόπος (νοητά γάρ καί ταῦτα, ἐπεί μή αἰσθητά), ἀλλά νοῦς νοητῶν, ἐνέργεια ὤν καί ζῶν καί ζωή· τά γάρ μετά τοῦτο νοητά ἐκ ζητήσεως καί τῆς περί τά προβλήματα ἀκολουθίας εὑρίσκουσιν, ἤ ἐξ ἀποκαλύψεως ἔχουσιν.

Ἄσχετος αἰτία: Ἄσχετόν φησι τό ἀπόλυτον, οὗ πρός τό πᾶν οὐδεμία σχέσις, ἤτοι οἰκειότης φυσική.

§ 17. Ἀπάντων ὁλικός ἔρως. Εἰπών 'ὁλικόν ἔρωτα', δηλοῖ καί μερικούς, λέγων τόν Θεόν εἶναι τόν ὁλικόν καί τόν μερικόν, ὡς αἴτιον καί πᾶσι χορηγοῦντα κατά τήν ἑκάστου δύναμιν, ἐρωτικήν οἱονεί ἀπορροήν, Πῶς οὖν ὁ Θεός τό ὅλον καί τό μέρος, ἀνεκφοιτήτως ἑαυτῷ συνών, εἶναι δύναται, ἐκ τοῦ 14S_146 σπερματικοῦ λόγου σαφές ἔσται· ὅταν μέν γάρ τό σπέρμα ἀδιακόπως ὀμοῦ εἰς τήν μήτραν καταβληθῇ ἕν ἀποτελεῖται τό ἔμβρυον, ἐάν δέ μερισθῇ τό σπέρμα εἰς διαφόρους κύστιδας τῆς μήτρας, ἕκαστον μέρος ὁλόκληρον ἔμβρυον ἀποτελεῖ· ἔσται δέ τοῦ σπέρματος τό μέν ρίς, τό δέ ὀφθαλμοί, καί τά ἑξῆς, καί πάντα τέλεια. Ὅμοιον οὖν τι καί περί τόν παντέλειον νοῦν κατά ἀναλογίαν θεωρητέον· ὅλη γάρ ἡ ἐνέργεια περιέχει καί τά μέρη, τῶν δέ μερῶν ἕκαστον ἀπήρτισται· καί τό μέν αὐτοδικαιοσύνη,