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of that which has come to be and is, and is conceived, and which has penetrated into God Himself, the only good and true, and Who is beyond all being and thought.

3.26 (26) They say that the end of practical virtue is the good. And this is the fulfillment of divine energy, towards which the rational part of the soul leads, using the spirited and appetitive parts according to nature; in which the beauty of the likeness is naturally revealed. But they say that the end of contemplative philosophy is the truth; which is the simple, unified knowledge of all things concerning God, towards which the pure intellect is borne; having completely extinguished its own judgment according to the senses; in which (that is, in this knowledge) the unadulterated dignity of the divine image is shown.

3.27 (27) No one is able to bless God truly, 1272 unless he has first sanctified his body with the virtues, and illuminated his soul with knowledge. For the disposition according to virtue is the face of the contemplative intellect, which is lifted up as if to heaven towards the height of true knowledge.

3.28 (28) Blessed is he who knows in truth, that God accomplishes in us, as in 15∆_146 instruments, every action and contemplation, virtue and knowledge, and victory and wisdom, and goodness and truth, with us contributing absolutely nothing at all, except the disposition that wills what is good; which the great Zerubbabel, having this, in addition to the things that have been said, says, "Blessed are You," speaking to God, "who has given me wisdom," "and to You I give thanks, O Lord of the fathers." "From You is the victory and from You is the wisdom, and Yours is the glory, and I am Your servant." As a grateful servant, he ascribed all things to God who had given all things, from whom he had received wisdom, acknowledging to Him as Lord of the fathers the power of the graced goods, which are, the union of victory, as has been said, and of wisdom, of virtue and of knowledge, of action and of contemplation, of goodness and of truth; for these, being united to each other, flash forth one glory, and that of God.

3.29 (29) All the achievements of the saints were manifestly the gifts of God; with no one possessing anything at all, except the good that was given; as from the Lord God, measured in proportion to the gratitude and goodwill of the one receiving; and possessing only those things which are presented to the Lord who gives them.

3.30 (30) The intellect that presides over virtue and knowledge, and wishes the soul to be deprived of the evil slavery of the passions, says, "Women are very strong, but the truth is victorious." By "women," he meant the deifying virtues, from which the unifying love for God and for one another is constituted for men; snatching the soul away from all things subject to generation and corruption, and from the intelligible realities beyond them, and entwining it with God Himself in a certain erotic fusion, in so far as is possible for human nature, and mystically 15∆_148 creating a pure and divine life together. And by saying "Truth," he meant the one and only cause of beings, and the beginning and kingdom and power and glory, from which and through which all things have come to be and are, and are held together in being by it and through it; and for the sake of which is all zeal and movement for the lovers of God.

3.31 (31) Through "the women," he indicated the end of the virtues, which is love; which is the unfailing 1273 pleasure and indivisible union of those who participate in the naturally good, according to desire. And through "the truth," he signified the limit of all knowledge, and of the things known themselves; to which, as the beginning and end of all beings, the movements according to nature are drawn together by a certain universal principle; since the beginning and cause of beings, as truth, naturally conquers all things, and draws to itself the movement of the things that have come to be.

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γενομένης καί ὄντος, καί νοουμένου, καί εἰς αὐτόν εἰσδυσάσης τόν Θεόν τόν μόνον ἀγαθόν καί ἀληθινόν, καί ὑπέρ πᾶσαν οὐσίαν ὄντα καί νόησιν.

3.26 (κστ΄) Πρακτικῆς ἀρετῆς τέλος εἶναί φασι τό ἀγαθόν. Τοῦτο δέ, θείας ἐνεργείας ὑπάρχει συμπλήρωσις, πρός ἥν ἄγει τό λογικόν τῆς ψυχῆς, τῷ θυμῷ καί τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ χρώμενον κατά φύσιν· ἐν ᾗ τό καθ᾿ ὁμοίωσιν ἀναφαίνεσθαι πέφυκε κάλλος· θεωρητικῆς δέ φασι φιλοσοφίας εἶναι τήν ἀλήθειαν, τέλος· ἥτις ἀμερῶς τῶν περί Θεόν ἁπάντων ἑνοειδής ἐστι γνῶσις, πρός ἥν ὁ καθαρός φέρεται νοῦς· ἀποσβέσας ἑαυτοῦ παντελῶς τήν κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν κρίσιν· ἐν ᾗ (γνώσει δηλονότι) ἀκίβδηλον τό τῆς θείας εἰκόνος ἀξίωμα δείκνυται.

3.27 (κζ΄) Οὐδείς δύναται τόν Θεόν εὐλογεῖν ἀληθῶς, 1272 μή τό σῶμα καθαγιάσας ταῖς ἀρεταῖς, καί τήν ψυχήν καταφωτίσας ταῖς γνώσεσιν. Ἡ γάρ κατ᾿ ἀρετήν διάθεσις, πρόσωπόν ἐστι τοῦ θεωρητικοῦ νοός, ὡς εἰς οὐρανόν πρός τό ὕψος τῆς ἀληθινῆς ἐπαιρόμενον γνώσεως.

3.28 (κη΄) Μακάριος ὁ ἐν ἀληθείᾳ εἰδώς, ὅτι πᾶσαν ἐν ἡμῖν ὡς 15∆_146 ὀργάνοις ὁ Θεός ἐπιτελεῖ πρᾶξιν καί θεωρίαν, ἀρετήν τε καί γνῶσιν, καί νίκην καί σοφίαν, καί ἀγαθότητα καί ἀλήθειαν, μηδέν ἡμῶν συνεισφερόντων τό σύνολον, πλήν τῆς θελούσης τά καλά διαθέσεως· ἥν ἔχων ὁ μέγας Ζοροβάβελ, πρός τοῖς εἰρημένοις, φησίν, Εὐλογητός εἶ, πρός τόν Θεόν λέγων, ὅς ἔδωκάς μοι σοφίαν, καί σοί ὁμολογῶ, ∆έσποτα τῶν πατέρων· παρά σοῦ ἡ νίκη καί παρά σοῦ ἡ σοφία, καί σοί ἡ δόξα, καί ἐγώ σός οἰκέτης. Ὡς εὐγνώμων ὄντες οἰκέτης, πάντα τῷ Θεῷ ἀνέθετο τῷ πάντα δωρησαμένῳ, ἐξ οὗ λαβών εἶχε τήν σοφίαν, αὐτῷ ὁμολογῶν ὡς ∆εσπότῃ πατέρων τῶν κεχαρισμένων ἀγαθῶν τήν δύναμιν, ἅπερ εἰσίν, ἕνωσις νίκης, ὡς εἴρηται, καί σοφίας, ἀρετῆς τε καί γνώσεως, πράξεως καί θεωρίας, ἀγαθότητός τε καί ἀληθείας· αὗται γάρ ἀλλήλαις ἑνούμεναι, μίαν ἀπαστράπτουσιν δόξαν καί αὐτήν Θεοῦ.

3.29 (κθ΄) Πάντα τά τῶν ἁγίων κατορθώματα, Θεοῦ προδήλως ὑπῆρχον χαρίσματα· μηδενός τό παράπαν ἔχοντος μηδέν, ἤ τό δοθέν ἀγαθόν· ὡς παρά ∆εσπότου τοῦ Θεοῦ, πρός ἀναλογίαν τῆς εὐγνωμοσύνης τε καί εὐνοίας τοῦ δεχομένου μετρούμενον· κἀκεῖνα μόνα κεκτημένου, ὅσα τῷ ∆εσπότῃ δωρουμένῳ παρίσταται.

3.30 (λ΄) Ὁ τῆς ἀρετῆς καί τῆς γνώσεως προϊστάμενος νοῦς, καί τῆς κακῆς τῶν παθῶν δουλείας τήν ψυχήν στερηθῆναι βεβουλημένος, φησίν, Ὑπερισχύουσιν αἱ γυναῖκες, καί ὑπερνικᾷ ἡ ἀλήθεια· γυναῖκας μέν εἰπών, τάς θεοποιούς ἀρετάς, ἐξ ὧν ἡ πρός Θεόν καί ἀλλήλους τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἑνοποιός ἀγάπη συνέστηκεν· ἁπάντων τήν ψυχήν ἐξαρπάζουσα τῶν ὑπό γένεσιν καί φθοράν, καί τῶν ὑπέρ αὐτά νοητῶν οὐσιῶν, καί αὐτῷ τῷ Θεῷ κατ᾿ ἐρωτικήν τινα σύγκρασιν περιπλέκουσα, καθ᾿ ὅσον ἐστί δυνατόν ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει, καί τήν ἄχραντον καί θείαν μυστικῶς 15∆_148 δημιουργοῦσα συμβίωσιν. Ἀλήθειαν δέ φήσας, τήν μόνην καί μίαν αἰτίαν τῶν ὄντων, καί ἀρχήν καί βασιλείαν καί δύναμιν καί δόξαν, ἐξ ἧς καί δι᾿ ἥν πάντα γέγονέ τε καί γίνεται, καί πρός τό εἶναι ὑπ᾿ αὐτῆς καί δι᾿ αὐτῆς συγκρατεῖται· καί ὑπέρ ἧς πᾶσα τοῖς φιλοθέοις ἐστί σπουδή τε καί κίνησις.

3.31 (λα΄) ∆ιά μέν τῶν γυναικῶν, τό τέλος ἐνδείξατο τῶν ἀρετῶν, τήν ἀγάπην· ὅπερ ἐστίν ἡ κατ᾿ ἔφεσιν 1273 τοῦ φύσει ἀγαθοῦ τῶν μετεχόντων ἀδιάπτωτος ἡδονή καί ἀδιαίρετος ἕνωσις. ∆ιά δέ τῆς ἀληθείας, τό πέρας πασῶν ἐπεσήμανε τῶν γνώσεων, καί αὐτῶν γινωσκομένων· εἰς ὅπερ, ὡς ἀρχήν καί πέρας πάντων τῶν ὄντων, αἱ κατά φύσιν κινήσεις γενικῷ τινι λόγῳ συνέλκονται· πάντα νικώσης κατά φύσιν ὡς ἀληθείας τῆς τῶν ὄντων ἀρχῆς καί αἰτίας, καί πρός ἑαυτήν συνελκούσης τῶν γεγονότων τήν κίνησιν.