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Moses, and simply to transfer all the saints to himself, may he not be hindered, not by changing names and places, but by imitating their ways and manner of life.

KS (26). ANOTHER CONTEMPLATION ON MELCHIZEDEK

Another contemplation on Melchizedek. Therefore, everyone who has put to death the members that are upon the earth, and of his whole flesh

has extinguished the mindset, and shaken off all relation to it, through which the love owed by us to God alone is divided, and has denied all (14∆_176> the characteristics of the flesh and of the world, for the sake of divine grace, so as to be able to say with the blessed Apostle Paul, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" and what follows, such a one has become without father, without mother, without genealogy, like the great Melchizedek, having no way to be held by flesh and nature, because of the union that has occurred with the Spirit.

KZ (27). CONTEMPLATION ON HAVING NEITHER A BEGINNING OF DAYS, NOR AN END OF LIFE

Contemplation on having neither a beginning of days, nor an end of life. But if, in addition to these things, he has also denied himself, having lost his own soul

for my sake, he will find it, that is, giving up the present life with its desires for the sake of the better, he possesses the living and solely active Word of God, penetrating according to virtue and knowledge to the division of soul and spirit, and has nothing at all bereft of His presence, he has become both without beginning and without end, no longer bearing within himself a temporal, moving life, which has a beginning and an end, and is shaken by many passions, but only the divine and eternal life of the indwelling Word, which is terminated by no death.

KH (28). CONTEMPLATION ON, "HE REMAINS A PRIEST FOREVER"

Contemplation on, "He remains a priest forever." But if with much attention he also knows to be vigilant over his own gift, through practice

and contemplation caring for the goods that are beyond nature and time, he has also become a 1145 perpetual and eternal priest, intellectually always enjoying divine communion, and because by the immutability of his disposition concerning the good he imitates that which is immutable by nature, (14∆_178> not being hindered in a Jewish manner by the death of sin from continuing forever, and to offer a sacrifice of praise and confession, gloriously theologizing Him as Creator of all things, and gratefully giving thanks to Him as Provider and righteous Judge of the universe, at the divine altar which is in the mind, from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. For it is not possible for those who adhere only to the letter to partake of the mystical bread of divine knowledge and of the life-giving cup of wisdom, and are content for salvation with the irrational sacrifices of the passions, and who proclaim the death of Jesus through inactivity toward sin, but do not confess His resurrection—for which and because of which His death occurred—through contemplation according to the intellect, which is illumined in the righteousness of good works, and though they quite eagerly desire to be put to death in the flesh, they by no means endure being made alive also in spirit, while their tabernacle still has its standing because the way of the saints through reason and knowledge has not yet been revealed to them, which is the Word of God who said, "I am the way," and from knowing the Word as flesh through

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Μωϋσῆς, καί ἁπλῶς πάντας μεταφέρειν εἰς ἑαυτόν τούς ἁγίους, μή κωλύηται, οὐκ ὀνόματα καί τόπους ἀμείβων, ἀλλά τρόπους καί πολιτείαν μιμούμενος.

ΚS (26). ΘΕΩΡΙΑ ΑΛΛΗ ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΜΕΛΧΙΣΕ∆ΕΚ

Θεωρία ἄλλη εἰς τόν Μελχισεδέκ. Πᾶς τοιγαροῦν τά μέλη νεκρώσας τά ἐπί τῆς γῆς, καί ὅλον ἑαυτοῦ τῆς σαρκός

ἀποσβέσας τό φρόνημα, καί τήν πρός αὐτήν δι᾿ ὅλου σχέσιν ἀποσεισάμενος, δι᾿ ἧς ἡ τῷ Θεῷ μόνῳ χρεωστουμένη παρ᾿ ἡμῶν ἀγάπη μερίζεται, καί ἀρνησάμενος πάντα (14∆_176> τά τῆς σαρκός καί τοῦ κόσμου γνωρίσματα, τῆς θείας ἕνεκεν χάριτος, ὥστε καί λέγειν δύνασθαι μετά τοῦ μακαρίου Παύλου τοῦ ἀποστόλου, Τίς ἡμᾶς χωρίσει ἀπό τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Χριστοῦ; καί τά ἑξῆς, ὁ τοιοῦτος ἀπάτωρ καί ἀμήτωρ καί ἀγενεαλόγητος κατά τόν μέγα Μελχισεδέκ γέγονεν, οὐκ ἔχων ὅπως ὑπό σαρκός κρατηθῇ καί φύσεως, διά τήν γεγενημένην πρός τό Πνεῦμα συνάφειαν.

ΚΖ (27). ΘΕΩΡΙΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΜΗΤΕ ΑΡΧΗΝ ΗΜΕΡΩΝ ΕΧΕΙΝ, ΜΗΤΕ ΤΕΛΟΣ ΖΩΗΣ

Θεωρία εἰς τό μήτε ἀρχήν ἡμερῶν ἔχειν, μήτε τέλος ζωῆς. Εἰ δέ καί ἑαυτόν πρός τούτοις ἠρνήσατο, τήν ἰδίαν ἀπολέσας τήν ψυχήν

αὐτοῦ ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ, εὑρήσει αὐτήν, τουτέστι τήν παροῦσαν ζωήν μετά τῶν αὐτῆς θελημάτων τῆς κρείττονος ἕνεκεν προϊέμενος ζῶντά τε ἐνεργοῦντα μονώτατον τόν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγον κέκτηται, διϊκνούμενον κατ᾿ ἀρετήν καί γνῶσιν ἄχρι μερισμοῦ ψυχῆς καί πνεύματος, καί μηδέν τό παράπαν τῆς αὐτοῦ παρουσίας ἄμοιρον ἔχει, γέγονε καί ἄναρχος καί ἀτελεύτητος, τήν χρονικήν μηκέτι φέρων ἐν ἑαυτῷ κινουμένην ζωήν, τήν ἀρχήν καί τέλος ἔχουσαν, καί πολλοῖς δονουμένην παθήμασι, μόνην δέ τήν θείαν τοῦ ἐνοικήσαντος Λόγου καί ἀΐδιον καί μηδενί θανάτῳ περατουμένην.

ΚΗ (28). ΘΕΩΡΙΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΟ, «ΜΕΝΕΙ ΙΕΡΕΥΣ ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΑΙΩΝΑ»

Θεωρία εἰς τό, " Μένει ἱερεύς εἰς τόν αἰῶνα. " Εἰ δέ καί προσοχῇ πολλῇ τῷ ἰδίῳ ἐπαγρυπνεῖν οἶδε χαρίσματι, διά πράξεως

καί θεωρίας τῶν ὑπέρ φύσιν καί χρόνον ἐπιμελόμενος ἀγαθῶν, γέγονε καί 1145 ἱερεύς διηνεκής καί αἰώνιος, νοερῶς ἀεί τῆς θείας ἀπολαύων ὁμιλίας, καί διά τό μιμεῖσθαι τῇ περί τό καλόν κατά τήν γνώμην ἀτρεψία τό κατά φύσιν (14∆_178> ἄτρεπτον μή κωλυόμενος ἰουδαϊκῶς ἁμαρτίας θανάτῳ εἰς τό διηνεκές παραμένειν, καί θυσίαν προσφέρειν αἰνέσεως καί ἐξομολογήσεως, ἐνδόξως θεολογῶν ὡς δημιουργόν τῶν ἁπάντων, καί εὐγνωμόνως εὐχαριστῶν ὡς προνοητῇ καί κριτῇ τῶν ὅλων δικαίῳ, ἐν τῷ κατά διάνοιαν θείῳ θυσιαστηρίῳ, ἐξ οὗ φαγεῖν οὐκ ἔχουσιν ἐξουσίαν οἱ τῇ σκηνῇ λατρεύοντες. Οὐ γάρ οἷόν τε μυστικῶν θείας γνώσεως ἄρτων καί κρατῆρος ζωτικοῦ σοφίας μεταλαχεῖν τούς μονοστοιχοῦντας τῷ γράμματι, καί ἀλόγων θυσίαις παθῶν πρός σωτηρίαν ἀρκουμένους, καί τόν μέν θάνατον τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, διά τῆς καθ᾿ ἁμαρτίαν ἀργίας καταγγέλοντας, τήν δέ ἀνάστασιν αὐτοῦ, ὑπέρ ἧς καί δι᾿ ἥν ὁ θάνατος γέγονε, διά τῆς κατά νοῦν θεωρίας, τῆς ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ ἔργων ἀγαθῶν πεφωτισμένης, οὐχ ὁμολογοῦντας, καί τό μέν θανατωθῆναι σαρκί εὖ μάλα προθύμως ὁλομένους, τό δέ ζωοποιηθῆναι καί πνεύματι οὐδ᾿ ὁπωσοῦν ἀνασχομένους, ἔτι τῆς κατ᾿ αὐτούς σκηνῆς ἐχούσης στάσιν διά τό μήπω πεφανερῶσθαι αὐτοῖς τήν διά λόγου καί γνώσεως τῶν ἁγίων ὁδόν, ἥτις ἐστίν ὁ Λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ ὁ εἰπών, Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδός, καί ἀπό τοῦ σάρκα Λόγον εἰδέναι διά