,

conceived unknowably in the sacred mysteries, or, to speak more properly, the word of faith known without intellection, above which nothing among existing things is placed—neither sensation, nor reason, nor mind, nor intellection, nor knowledge, nor what is known, nor what is conceived, nor 14Β_156 what is said, nor what is sensed, nor what senses—the mind that practices the praiseworthy and transcendent, complete and exceptionally deifying negation of itself and of all existing things. And the wife of such a mind is the thought that is pure of every sensible image, having the mind as its head, which is condensed by the beginningless and supra-intellectual intuitions of the ineffable and unknown dogmas. And the head of Christ, that is, of the Word mystically affirmed by transcendence, is the Mind absolutely and infinitely removed in every way from all things, which Christ, being by nature the Word of the Mind, when conceived, makes known to the worthy. For he who has seen me, He says, has seen the Father. For truly the conception of the Word constitutes the manifest knowledge of the Mind that begot Him, as showing the Mind subsisting essentially in Himself, to whom He leads up the mind that longs for identity with God by grace, once it is released from the difference and quantity found in the multiplicity of beings according to intellection, and gathered into a God-like monad by the identity and simplicity of the intensive, perpetual motion concerning God.

Every practical mind, therefore, praying or prophesying—that is, requesting the principles of the virtues, for so 'praying' is to be understood, or manifesting their modes in deeds, for so 'prophesying' is to be taken—ought to see only the naked word of faith, covering its head by conceiving or reasoning or doing nothing by association, placing something else above it. And every woman, that is, the state of a practical mind, praying or prophesying—that is, being moved invisibly according to disposition or shaping virtue in external habits without rational discernment—dishonors her 14Β_158 head, pursuing the good with passion, as one deprived of reason, which is like an adornment, a covering. And every mind practicing natural contemplation, praying or prophesying with something on its head—that is, seeking the principles of beings with knowledge or didactically transmitting them to others with an inclination in any way toward something else, without the goal of piety—dishonors his head, as one who has placed something of the transient things above right knowledge according to piety. And every woman, that is, sense perception, naturally encountering sensible things, not having on her head the intelligible principles of the visible things covering her, dishonors her head, approaching the contemplation of visible things with passion on account of her natural relation to them. And every mind that has become a lover of mystical theology, praying or prophesying with something on its head—that is, entering into the innermost contemplations unknowingly or teaching and initiating others into theology—if it should have any form of intellection while being initiated or initiating into the Word that is beyond intellection, dishonors its head, subordinating the simple and transcendent Word that is beyond all intellection to something that exists and is known, when it is necessary to see the true God, the Word, without eyes, naked of all conception and knowledge, knowing clearly that in the case of God negations by way of transcendence are more true, indicating in some way the divine affirmation through the complete removal of all existing things. And every woman, the thought of such a mind, praying or prophesying with an uncovered head—that is, left bereft of the noetic power concentrated upon it by many mystical theorems—dishonors her head, having cast off the divine and ineffable knowledge that covers the mind as a head.

μυσταγωγίαις ἀγνώστως νοούμενον, ἢ κυριώτερον εἰπεῖν, ἀνοήτως γινωσκόμενον λόγον τῆς πίστεως, ὑπὲρ ὃν οὐδὲν τίθεται τῶν ὄντωνοὐκ αἴσθησιν οὐ λόγον οὐ νοῦν οὐ νόησιν οὐ γνῶσιν οὐ γινωσκόμενον οὐ νοούμενον οὐ 14Β_156 λεγόμενον οὐκ αἰσθητὸν οὐκ αἰσθανόμενονὁ τὴν ἐπαινετὴν καὶ ὑπερέχουσαν ἑαυτοῦ τε καὶ τῶν ὄντων παντελῆ καὶ διαφερόντως θεοποιὸν στέρησιν συνασκούμενος νοῦς. Γυνὴ δὲ τοῦ τοιούτου νοός ἐστιν ἡ πάσης αἰσθητῆς φαντασίας καθαρεύουσα διάνοια, καθάπερ κεφαλὴν ἔχουσα τὸν νοῦν, ταῖς ἀνάρχοις καὶ ὑπὲρ νόησιν τῶν ἀρρήτων καὶ ἀγνώστων δογμάτων ἐπιβολαῖς πεπυκασμένον. Κεφαλὴ δὲ Χριστοῦ, τουτέστι τοῦ καθ᾽ ὑπεροχὴν μυστικῶς ἀποπεφασμένου λόγου, ἔστιν ὁ πάντων ἀπολύτως κατὰ πάντα τρόπον ἀπείρως ἐξῳκισμένος Νοῦς, ὃν ὡς φύσει Νοῦ Λόγος ὑπάρχων ὁ Χριστὸς νοούμενος ποιεῖ γνωστὸν τοῖς ἀξίοις. Ὁ γὰρ ἑωρακὼς ἐμέ, φησίν, ἑώρακε τὸν Πατέρα. Καὶ γὰρ ἀληθῶς ἡ τοῦ Λόγου νόησις ἀρίδηλος τοῦ γεννήσαντος αὐτὸν Νοῦ καθέστηκε γνῶσις, ὡς ἐν ἑαυτῷ δεικνύντος ὑφιστάμενον κατ᾽ οὐσίαν τὸν Νοῦν, πρὸς ὃν ἀνάγει τὸν ἐφιέμενον τῆς πρὸς Θεὸν κατὰ χάριν ταὐτότητος νοῦν, ἀπολυθέντα τῆς ἐν πλήθει τῶν ὄντων κατὰ τὴν νόησιν διαφορᾶς καὶ ποσότητος καὶ εἰς θεοειδῆ μονάδα συναχθέντα τῇ ταὐτότητί τε καὶ ἁπλότητι τῆς περὶ Θεὸν ἐπιτατικῆς ἀεικινησίας.

Πᾶς τοιγαροῦν πρακτικὸς νοῦς προσευχόμενος ἢ προφητεύων, τουτέστι τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐξαιτούμενος λόγους οὕτω γὰρ νοητέον τὸ προσευχόμενοςἢ τοὺς αὐτῶν τοῖς ἔργοις ἐκφαίνων τρόπουςοὕτω γὰρ ἐκληπτέον τὸ προφητεύων,, μόνον ὁρᾶν ὤφειλε γυμνὸν τὸν τῆς πίστεως λόγον, μηδὲν νοῶν ἢ λογιζόμενος ἢ ποιῶν κατὰ πρόσκλησιν ἐπικαλύπτων τὴν κεφαλήν, ὑπὲρ αὐτὴν ἄλλό τι τιθέμενος. Καὶ πᾶσα γυνή, τουτέστι πρακτικοῦ νοὸς ἕξις, προσευχομένη ἢ προφητεύουσα ἤγουν κατὰ διάθεσιν ἀφανῶς κινουμένη ἢ τοῖς ἐκτὸς ἤθεσι διαπλάττουσα τὴν ἀρετὴν ἄνευ λογικῆς διακρίσεως, καταισχύνει τὴν 14Β_158 κεφαλὴν αὐτῆς, πρὸς πάθος μετερχομένη τὸ ἀγαθόν, οἷα τοῦ καλλωπίζοντος, ὡς ἐπιβλήματος, ἐστερημένη λόγου. Καὶ πᾶς νοῦς τὴν φυσικὴν ἀσκούμενος θεωρίαν, προσευχόμενος ἢ προφητεύων κατὰ κεφαλῆς ἔχων, τουτέστι γνωστικῶς τοὺς τῶν ὄντων λόγους ἐπιζητῶν ἢ τούτους διδασκαλικῶς ἄλλοις παραδιδοὺς μετὰ τῆς πρὸς ἄλλό τι καθ᾽ οἱονδήποτε τρόπον ῥοπῆς ἄνευ τοῦ κατ᾽ εὐσέβειαν σκοποῦ, καταισχύνει τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ, ὡς ὑπερθέμενός τι τῶν παρερχομένων τῆς ὀρθῆς κατ᾽ εὐσέβειαν γνώσεως. Καὶ πᾶσα γυνή, τουτέστιν αἴσθησις, φυσικῶς τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς προσβάλλουσα, κατὰ κεφαλῆς μὴ ἔχουσα τοὺς νοεροὺς τῶν ὁρωμένων λόγους αὐτὴν περικαλύπτοντας, καταισχύνει τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτῆς, πρὸς πάθος διὰ τὴν φυσικὴν σχέσιν τὴν τῶν ὁρωμένων ἐπερχομένη θεωρίαν. Καὶ πᾶς νοῦς μυστικῆς γενόμενος ἐραστὴς θεολογίας, προσευχόμενος ἢ προφητεύων κατὰ κεφαλῆς ἔχων, τουτέστι ταῖς ἀδύτοις ἐμβατεύων ἀγνώστως θεωρίαις ἢ διδάσκων καὶ μυσταγωγῶν ἄλλους πρὸς θεολογίαν, εἴ τινα μορφὴν σχοίη νοήσεως, τὸν ὑπὲρ νόησιν λόγον μυσταγωγούμενος ἢ μυσταγωγῶν, καταισχύνει τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ, τὸν ἁπλοῦν καὶ ὑπερέκεινα πάσης νοήσεως ὑποθείς τινι τῶν ὄντων καὶ γινωσκομένων, δέον πάσης αὐτὸν γυμνὸν ἐννοίας καὶ γνώσεως ἀνομμάτως ὁρᾶν τὸν ἀληθῆ Θεὸν Λόγον, γινώσκοντα σαφῶς ὡς ἐπὶ Θεοῦ μᾶλλον αἱ καθ᾽ ὑπεροχὴν στερήσεις ἀληθεύουσι, ποσῶς μηνύουσαι τὴν θείαν θέσιν διὰ τῆς τῶν ὄντων παντελοῦς ἀφαιρέσεως. Καὶ πᾶσα γυνή, διάνοια τοῦ τοιούτου νοός, προσευχομένη ἢ προφητεύουσα ἀκατακαλύπτῳ τῇ κεφαλῇ, τουτέστιν ἄφετος τῆς ἐπ᾽ αὐτῇ πολλοῖς πεπυκνωμένης μυστικοῖς θεωρήμασι νοερᾶς δυνάμεως, καταισχύνει τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτῆς, ἀποβαλομένη τήν, ὡς κεφαλὴν καλύπτουσαν τὸν νοῦν, θείαν καὶ ἀπόρρητον γνῶσιν.