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Thus Elijah, the renowned, after that fire, after the earthquake, after the great and mighty wind that rent the mountains, which I take to be zeal and discernment and the ready faith in full assurance (for discernment, like an earthquake shaking what is continuous, by shaking through virtue the disposition thickened by wickedness, displaces it from evil; and zeal, like a fire igniting those who possess it, persuades them by the fervor of the spirit to instruct the impious; and faith, in the manner of a violent wind, for the sake of God's glory, for the pulling down of strongholds through the display of wonders, pushing the dispassionate, establishes the truly faithful person as a supplier of gnostic water and deifying fire, to the one healing the famine caused by ignorance, 1124 and to the other making God well-disposed to those who sacrifice through intimacy, and slaying the teachers of evil, both thoughts and demons, with the wisdom of the word, it frees those held in slavery to the passions) after all these things, perceiving the sound of a still small voice in which God was (14∆_144> the state which is divine and untroubled and peaceful and utterly immaterial and simple and free from every form and shape in the utterance of speech and ways of life and morals, which cannot be spoken or shown, he was mystically taught.

Awed by its glory and wounded by its beauty, desiring rather to be with it than to be a zealot, that is, instead of fighting for the truth, to become wholly one with the truth, and judging it far more precious to see or know nothing contrary, by knowing only God to be all in all, while still in the flesh he is preserved being with it, having passed through matter in a divine chariot of virtues, as a preliminary veil for the pure passage of the mind to intelligible things, and the cloud of the flesh which overshadows the ruling faculty of the soul through its passions, so that he himself might become a partaker of the ineffable goods he longed for, as is possible for one still with corruptible flesh, and that for us there might be a sure confirmation of the things promised. For God also suggested this to him through these mystically performed events, crying out without speech, that to be with God alone through peace is more profitable than any other good.

XVII (17). CONTEMPLATION ON ELISHA, HIS DISCIPLE

Contemplation on Elisha, his disciple. Thus his disciple and heir of the Spirit, Elisha, no longer having his perception held by material fantasies through its operation, since it had already been penetrated by the graces of the Spirit according to the mind, both saw himself the divine powers opposed to the wicked ones which were around him, through another operation of his eyes, and granted sight to his student, the power being stronger than the weakness, I mean, that of the flesh, around which the spirits of wickedness lay in wait for the discerning mind, that the soul has more, around which the phalanxes of angels encamp, (14∆_146> surrounding it like a royal image, and he was taught and he taught.

XVIII (18). CONTEMPLATION ON ANNA AND SAMUEL

Contemplation on Anna and Samuel. Thus also blessed Anna, the mother of the great Samuel, being barren and childless, having asked of God the fruit of the womb, and having fervently promised to give back and return what would be given to the giving and gracious God through constant attendance in the temple, she taught mystically that every soul barren of carnal pleasures must, through God, the seeds of virtues, in order to see

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Οὕτως Ἠλίας ὁ περινόητος μετά τό πῦρ ἐκεῖνο, μετά τόν συσσεισμόν, μετά τό μέγα καί κραταιόν πνεῦμα τό διαλύον ὄρη, ἅ δή ζῆλον καί διάκρισιν εἶναι καί τήν ἐν πληροφορίᾳ πρόθυμον πίστιν ὑπολαμβάνω (ἡ μέν γάρ διάκρισις, ὥσπερ σεισμός τά συνεχῆ, τήν μοχθηρίᾳ πυκνωθεῖσαν ἕξιν διά τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐπισείουσα τῆς κακίας ἐξίστησιν, ὁ δέ ζῆλος πυρός δίκην ἀνάπτων τούς ἔχοντας τῇ ζέσει τοῦ πνεύματος παιδεύειν πείθει τούς ἀσεβεῖς, ἡ δέ πίστις, πνεύματος βιαίου τρόπον, δόξης ἕνεκεν Θεοῦ πρός καθαίρεσιν ὀχυρωμάτων δι᾿ ἐπιδείξεως θαυμάτων ὠθοῦσα τούς ἀπαθεῖς ὕδατος γνωστικοῦ καί πυρός θεοποιοῦ χορηγόν τόν ὄντως πιστόν ἄνθρωπον καθίστησι, καί τῷ μέν τόν δι᾿ ἀγνοίας λιμόν 1124 θεραπεύουσα, τῷ δέ τοῖς θύουσι δι᾿ οἰκειότητος τόν Θεόν εὐμενίζουσα, καί τούς τῆς κακίας διδασκάλους λογισμούς τε καί δαίμονας λογοσοφίας κτιννῦσα τῆς τῶν παθῶν δουλείας τούς κεκρατημένους ἐλευθεροῖ) μετά ταῦτα πάντα φωνῆς τῆς ἐν ᾗ ὁ Θεός ὑπῆρχε λεπτῆς αὔρας αἰσθόμενος (14∆_144> τήν προφορᾷ λόγου καί τρόποις βίου καί ἤθεσι θείαν καί ἀτάραχον καί εἰρηνικήν καί παντελῶς ἄϋλον καί ἁπλῆν καί παντός εἴδους ἐλευθέραν καί σχήματος κατάστασιν, λεχθῆναι ἤ δειχθῆναι μή δυναμένην, μυστικῶς ἐδιδάσκετο.

Ἧς καταπλαγείς τε τήν δόξαν καί τῷ κάλλει τρωθείς, τοῦ ζηλωτής εἶναι τό πρός αὐτήν εἶναι μᾶλλον ποθήσας, τουτέστι τοῦ ὑπέρ ἀληθείας μάχεσθαι τό μετά τῆς ἀληθείας δι᾿ ὅλου γενέσθαι, καί μηδέν ἀντικείμενον ὁρᾷν ἤ γινώσκειν τῷ μόνον τόν Θεόν ὅλον δι᾿ ὅλου ἐν πᾶσιν ὄντα ἐπίστασθαι πολλῷ τιμιώτερον κρίνας, ἔτι ὤν ἐν σαρκί πρός αὐτήν ὑπάρχων φυλάττεται, θείῳ ἀρετῶν ἅρματι τήν ὕλην διαπεράσας, ὡς προκατάλυμμα τῆς καθαρᾶς τοῦ νοῦ πρός τά νοητά διαβάσεως, καί τῆς σαρκός τό νέφος τό ἐπισκοτοῦν τῷ ἡγεμονικῷ τῆς ψυχῆς διά τῶν αὐτῆς παθημάτων, ἵνα καί αὐτός ὧν ἐπόθησεν ἀῤῥήτων ἀγαθῶν μέτοχος γένηται, ὡς ἐφικτόν τῷ ἔτι μετά σαρκός τῆς ὑπό φθοράν, καί ἡμῖν τάχα τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων βεβαία γένηται πίστωσις. Τοῦτο γάρ αὐτῷ καί ὁ Θεός ὑπετίθετο διά τῶν οὕτω μυστικῶς δεδραματουργημένων ἀλαλήτως βοῶν, ὅτι παντός ἄλλου ἀγαθοῦ τό μετά Θεοῦ μόνου διά τῆς εἰρήνης εἶναι λυσιτελέστερον.

ΙΖ (17). ΘΕΩΡΙΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΕΛΙΣΣΑΙΟΝ, ΤΟΝ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΜΑΘΗΤΗΝ

Θεωρία εἰς τόν Ἐλισσαῖον, τόν αὐτοῦ μαθητήν. Οὕτως ὁ τούτου μαθητής καί κληρονόμος τοῦ Πνεύματος Ἐλισσαῖος μηκέτι

ταῖς ὑλικαῖς φαντασίαις ἐχομένην ἔχων δι᾿ ἐνεργείας τήν αἴσθησιν, ἅτε διαβαθεῖσαν ἤδη ταῖς κατά νοῦν τοῦ Πνεύματος χάρισι, τάς ταῖς πονηραῖς ἀντιθέτους θείας δυνάμεις περί αὐτόν οὔσας δι᾿ ἄλλης ὀμμάτων ἐνεργείας αὐτός τε ὁρῶν καί τῷ φοιτητῇ τό ὁρᾷν χαριζόμενος ἰσχυροτέραν τῆς ἀσθενείας τήν δύναμιν, λέγω δή τῆς σαρκός, περί ἥν τῆς πονηρίας τά πνεύματα τόν διορατικόν νοῦν ἐνδρεύουσι, πλέον ἔχειν τήν ψυχήν, περί ἥν τῶν ἀγγέλων αἱ φάλαγγες παρεμβάλλουσιν, (14∆_146> οἷον βασιλικήν εἰκόνα περιϊστάμενοι, καί ἐδιδάσκετο καί ἐδίδασκεν.

ΙΗ (18). ΘΕΩΡΙΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΑΝΝΑΝ ΚΑΙ ΤΟΝ ΣΑΜΟΥΗΛ

Θεωρία εἰς τήν Ἄνναν καί τόν Σαμουήλ. Οὕτω καί ἡ μακαρία Ἄννα ἡ τοῦ μεγάλου μήτηρ Σαμουήλ, στεῖρα οὖσα καί

ἄτεκνος, παρά τοῦ Θεοῦ καρπόν αἰτησαμένη κοιλίας, καί ἀντιδώσειν καί ἀντιχαρίζεσθαι τό δοθησόμενον τῷ διδόντι καί χαριζομένῳ Θεῷ διά τῆς ἐν τῷ ναῷ προσεδρείας θερμῶς ὑποσχομένη, ἐδίδασκε μυστικῶς τό δεῖν πᾶσαν ψυχήν ἡδονῶν σαρκικῶν στειρεύουσαν, διά τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ, τῶν ἀρετῶν τά σπέρματα, ἵνα τό βλέπειν