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and by an ineffable condescension, he indicated a manifestation of mysteries. For the abyss and the place of the abyss are named homonymously, and the place of divine wisdom is the pure mind. Therefore, by position, because of its receptivity, the mind is also called abyss, and wisdom again is called the same thing because of its nature.

ROZ (177). ANOTHER CONTEMPLATION ON THE SAME

Another contemplation on the same. Examining the present problem in another way with the help of divine grace, conjecturally, but not dogmatically (for the one is moderate, the other presumptuous), we dare to approach the present saying, asserting that perhaps the projection of the intermediaries, having an equal distance from the extremes, was called a plaything of God by the great teacher, because of their flowing and easily changed state, or rather, to speak more appropriately, a static flux. And this is paradoxical, to behold a state ever flowing and in motion, and a perpetual flux providentially devised by God for the sake of the improvement of those being ordered, which is able to make wise those being educated through it, to hope to be translated elsewhere entirely, and to believe that the end of the mystery concerning them in it will surely be deified by grace through an inclination towards God. By intermediaries, I mean the completion of things seen and now existing around man or in which man exists, and by extremes, the hypostasis of things not seen and those which will infallibly be around man in the future, of things properly and truly made and having come into being according to the ineffable and preeminent purpose and logos of divine goodness. As the wise Ecclesiastes, with a great and clear eye of the soul, having looked beyond the genesis of things seen and flowing, and having become as it were in a vision of things truly made and having come into being: What is it that has been? The very thing that will be. And what is it that has been made? The very thing, he says, that will be made; that is, having made mention of the first and the last things, as being the same and truly existing, but not at all mentioning in this place the intermediaries and things that pass away.

For after he discussed, as was possible for the most brilliant teacher, concerning a certain nature of animals and stones, and to speak simply and indefinitely concerning many of the things contemplated in existing things, he adds to these: "For a lofty Logos plays in 1413 all kinds of forms, judging as it wishes the world that is, here and there.” Perhaps, therefore, as he himself says in his homily on Holy Pentecost, when discussing the divinity and created nature, "As long as each remains in its own state, the one of eminence, the other of humility, goodness is unmixed and philanthropy unshared, and a great and impassable chasm is in the middle, not separating the rich man from Lazarus and the desirable bosom of Abraham, but all created and flowing nature from the uncreated and static?" 14Ε_172 Of which, the great divinely-inspired Dionysius the Areopagite also discusses similar and like things, saying: “But this too must be dared to be said for the sake of truth, that even He Himself, the Cause of all, through the beautiful and good love for all things, through an excess of erotic goodness, goes out of Himself in His providences for all existing things, and is as it were charmed by goodness and love and desire, and is brought down from His state above all and outside of all to being in all things, according to an ecstatic, superessential power that cannot be separated from Himself.”

Perhaps, therefore, as I said, it is also possible for us from these things to expand upon the meaning of "For a lofty Logos plays," briefly explained, according to such a thought, saying, Just as parents (that I may use examples from our own experience for

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καί ἀφράστῳ συγκαταβάσει μυστηρίων ἔμφασιν παρεδήλωσεν. Ἄβυσσος γάρ καί ὁ τῆς ἀβύσσου τόπος ὁμωνύμως ὀνομάζεται, τόπος δέ τῆς θείας σοφίας, ὁ καθαρός καθέστηκε νοῦς. Ἆρα θέσει διά τό δεκτικόν ἄβυσσος καί ὁ νοῦς προσαγορεύεται, καί ἡ σοφία πάλιν τό αὐτό διά τήν φύσιν κατανομάζεται.

ΡΟΖ (177). ΑΛΛΗ ΘΕΩΡΙΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΑΥΤΟ

Ἄλλη θεωρία εἰς τό αὐτό. Καθ' ἕτερον δέ τό προκείμενον ἄπορον διασκοποῦντες τρόπον τῇ βοηθείᾳ τῆς

θείας χάριτος στοχαστικῶς, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἀποφαντικῶς (τό μέν γάρ μέτριον, τό δέ προπετές), ἐγχειρεῖν τῷ προκειμένῳ ῥητῷ τολμῶμεν, φάσκοντες τήν τῶν μέσων τυχόν προβολήν, κατά τό ἴσον ἀπό τῶν ἄκρων ἔχουσαν ἀπόστασιν, παίγνιον εἰρῆσθαι Θεοῦ τῷ μεγάλῳ διδασκάλῳ, διά τήν ἐπίῤῥυτον αὐτῶν καί εὐαλλοίωτον στάσιν, μᾶλλον δέ, στάσιμον ῥεῦσιν εἰπεῖν οἰκειότερον. Ὅ καί παράδοξον, στάσιν ἀεί ῥέουσαν καί φερομένην θεᾶσθαι, καί ῥεῦσιν ἀεικίνητον προνοητικῶς τῆς τῶν οἰκονομουμένων ἕνεκεν βελτιώσεως θεόθεν ἐπινενοημένην, τούς δι᾿ αὐτῆς παιδαγωγουμένους σοφίσαι δυναμένην, ἀλλαχοῦ μεταστήσεσθαι πάντως ἐλπίζειν, καί πέρας 14Ε_170 τοῦ κατ᾿ αὐτήν ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς μυστηρίου τῇ πρός Θεόν νεύσει βεβαίως διά τῆς χάριτος θεωθήσεσθαι πιστεύειν. Μέσα δέ λέγω τήν τῶν ὁρωμένων καί νῦν περί τόν ἄνθρωπον ὄντων ἤ ἐν οἷς ὁ ἄνθρωπος συμπλήρωσιν, ἄκρα δέ τήν τῶν μή φαινομένων καί περί τόν ἄνθρωπον ἀψευδῶς ἔσεσθαι μελλόντων ὑπόστασιν, τῶν κυρίως τε καί ἀληθῶς κατά τόν ἄῤῥητον καί προηγούμενον σκοπόν τε καί λόγον τῆς θείας ἀγαθότητος πεποιημένων τε καί γεγενημένων. Καθώς ὁ σοφός Ἐκκλησιαστής μεγάλῳ τε καί τρανῷ ψυχῆς ὄμματι τῶν ὁρωμένων τε καί ῥεόντων ὑπερκύψας τήν γένεσιν, καί οἷον ἐν φαντασίᾳ τῶν ἀληθῶς πεποιημένων καί γεγενημένων γενόμενος· Τί τό γεγενημένον; αὐτό τό γενησόμενον· καί τί τό πεποιημένον; Αὐτό, φησί, τό ποιηθησόμενον· τῶν πρώτων δηλαδή καί τῶν τελευταίων ἐπιμνησθείς, ὡς τῶν αὐτῶν ὄντων καί ἀληθῶς ὄντων, τῶν δέ μέσων καί παρερχομένων οὐδόλως κατά τόν τόπον μνησθείς.

Μετά γάρ τό ἐξελθεῖν, ὡς οἷόν τε ἦν μεγαλοφυῶς μάλιστα τό διδάσκαλον, περί τινος φύσεως ζώων καί λίθων, καί ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν ἀορίστως περί πολλῶν τῶν ἐν τοῖς οὖσι θεωρουμένων, ἐπιφέρει τούτοις· " Παίζει γάρ λόγος αἰπύς ἐν 1413 εἴδεσι παντοδαποῖσι, κρίνας ὡς ἐθέλει κόσμον ἐόν ἔνθα καί ἔνθα». Μήποτε οὖν καθώς αὐτός ἐν τῷ τῆς ἁγίας Πεντηκοστῆς λόγῳ φησί, περί θεότητος διεξιών καί κτιστῆς φύσεως, " Ἕως ἑκάτερον ἐπί τῆς ἰδίας μένει, τό μέν περιωπῆς, τό δέ ταπεινώσεως, ἄμικτος ἡ ἀγαθότης καί τό φιλάνθρωπον ἀκοινώνητον, καί χάσμα μέγα ἐν μέσῳ καί ἀδιάβατον, οὐ τόν πλούσιον τοῦ Λαζάρου καί τῶν ὀρεκτῶν τοῦ Ἀβραάμ κόλπων διεῖργον, πᾶσαν δέ τήν γενητήν φύσιν καί ῥέουσαν τῆς ἀγενήτου καί ἑστηκυίας;" 14Ε_172 Ὧ παρεμφερῆ τε καί ὅμοια καί ὁ θεηγόρος μέγας διεξέρχεται ∆ιονύσιος ὁ Ἀρεοπαγίτης φάσκων· «Τολμητέον δέ καί τοῦτο ὑπέρ ἀληθείας εἰπεῖν, ὅτι καί αὐτός ὁ πάντων αἴτιος τῷ καλῷ καί ἀγαθῷ τῶν πάντων ἔρωτι δι᾿ ὑπερβολήν τῆς ἐρωτικῆς ἀγαθότητος ἔξω ἑαυτοῦ γίνεται, ταῖς εἰς τά ὄντα πάντα προνοίαις, καί οἷον ἀγαθότητι καί ἀγαπήσει καί ἔρωτι θέλγεται, καί ἐκ τοῦ ὑπέρ πάντα καί πάντα καί πάντων ἐξῃρημένου πρός τό ἐν πᾶσι κατάγεται, κατ᾿ ἐκστατικήν ὑπερούσιον δύναμιν ἐνεκφοίτητον ἑαυτοῦ».

Μήπως οὖν, καθώς ἔφην, κἀκ τούτων τόν περί τοῦ, " Παίζει γάρ Λόγος αἰπύς, " ἐπιτόμως ἀποδοθέντα τρόπον ἐξαπλῶσαι κατά διάνοιαν τοιαύτην ἡμῖν ἐστι δυνατόν φάσκουσιν, Ὥσπερ οἱ γονεῖς (ἵνα τοῖς καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς παραδείγμασι χρήσωμαι εἰς