43

of a state, leading as a skillful shepherd to the mountain of the knowledge of God which is seen in the height of the intellect.

In which, diligently occupied through suitable spiritual contemplations after the abandonment of the intellect's relation to sensible things (for this, I think, is signified by the passing of the forty-year period,), he will be deemed worthy to become a beholder and a hearer in his thought of the ineffable and supernatural divine fire existing within the substance of beings as in a bush, and of the God Logos who shone forth from the bush of the holy Virgin, I mean, in the last times and who spoke to us through the flesh, bringing the naked footstep of his intellect to such a mystery, and completely free from human reasonings as from dead sandals, and turning away the mind's eye, as a face, from inquiry, but by faith alone opening the soul's obedience for the reception (14∆_184> of the mystery, in the manner of hearing, from whom, who brought the strong and invincible power against the evil powers, 1149 he separates with great authority what is according to nature from what is contrary to nature, and the things of the soul from the things of the flesh, and the intelligible and immaterial things from the material and sensible things, far surpassing the power that tries to enslave what is free.

31. ANOTHER BRIEF CONTEMPLATION ON THE SAME

Another brief contemplation on the same. And to speak concisely, he who has not come under the yoke of sin, nor drowned himself in the muddy stream of the passions through evil desire, and endured to be fed by sensation, the source of pleasures, but rather has killed the mindset of the flesh, which tyrannizes the nobility of the soul, and having risen above all perishable things, having fled this deceitful world as a kind of Egypt, which oppresses the most discerning intellect with bodily cares, and in quietness has come to be with himself, and in diligent leisure has been ineffably taught the wise economy of the divine providence that divinely governs all things, through the scientific contemplation of beings, and thence through mystical theology, which a pure mind is believed to attain alone through prayer in an ineffable ecstasy, having speechlessly come to be with God in the darkness of unknowing, and having engraved on himself inwardly, in his mind, the dogmas of piety, and outwardly, like the tablets of Moses, the graces of the virtues, by the finger of God, the Holy Spirit, or, to speak in the words of Scripture, he who chose to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasure of sin, and considered the reproach of Christ more valuable than the treasures of Egypt, that is, than wealth and glory, the things that are temporary and perishable, (14∆_186> voluntarily choosing in their place the labors for virtue, this man has become a spiritual Moses, conversing not with a visible Pharaoh, but arraying himself intelligibly for battle with the invisible tyrant, the murderer of souls and author of evil, the devil and the evil powers around him, with the rod which is carried in his hand, I mean the power of the word in its practical aspect.

32. CONTEMPLATION CONCERNING, HOW THE SAINTS BEFORE THE LAW AND AFTER THE LAW...

Contemplation concerning, How one can imitate the saints before the Law and after the Law, and what is the identity of the natural law and the written law in their mutual transition.

And in the same way, each of us wishing to transfer into himself all the saints

is able to transfer, in relation to each one spiritually from the things concerning him according to the historical account

43

καταστάσεως ἄγων ὡς ἐπιστήμων ποιμήν πρός τό ὄρος τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ τό ἐν τῷ ὕψει τῆς διανοίας ὀρώμενον.

Ὧ φιλοπόνως ἐνδιατρίβων διά τῶν προσφυῶν κατά πνεῦμα θεωρημάτων μετά τήν ἀπόλειψιν τῆς κατά νοῦν πρός τά αἰσθητά σχέσεως (τοῦτο γάρ οἶμαι δηλοῦν τήν τοῦ τεσσαρακονταετοῦς χρόνου πάροδον,) καί τοῦ ἀῤῥήτου καί ὑπερφυοῦς ὥσπερ θάμνῳ τῇ οὐσίᾳ τῶν ὄντων ἐνυπάρχοντος θείου πυρός κατ᾿ ἔννοιαν θεατής γενέσθαι καί ἀκροατής ἀξιωθήσεται, τοῦ ἐκ τῆς βάτου τῆς ἁγίας Παρθένου φημί ἐπ᾿ ἐσχάτων τῶν χρόνων ἐκλάμψαντος καί διά σαρκός ἡμῖν ὁμιλήσαντος Θεοῦ Λόγου, γυμνόν τό τῆς διανοίας ἴχνος τῷ τοιούτῳ μυστηρίῳ προσάγων, καί λογισμῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ὡς νεκρῶν ὑποδημάτων παντελῶς ἐλεύθερον, καί πρός μέν ζήτησιν, ὥσπερ πρόσωπον, τό τῆς διανοίας ὀπτικόν ἀποστρέφων, πίστει δέ μόνῃ πρός ὑποδοχήν (14∆_184> τοῦ μυστηρίου, ἀκοῆς τρόπον, τό τῆς ψυχῆς εὐπειθές διανοίγων, παρ᾿ οὗ τήν ἰσχυράν καί ἀήττητον κατά τῶν πονηρῶν δυνάμεων 1149 κομίσαντος δύναμιν τῶν παρά φύσιν τά κατά φύσιν, καί τῶν σαρκικῶν τά ψυχικά, καί τῶν ὑλικῶν τε καί αἰσθητῶν τά νοητά καί ἄϋλα κατά πολλήν ἀφορίζει ἐξουσίαν, τῆς δοῦλον ποιεῖν τό ἐλεύθερον πειρωμένης πολύ ὑπερέχων δυνάμεως.

ΛΑ (31). ΑΛΛΗ ΘΕΩΡΙΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΑΥΤΟΝ ΣΥΝΤΟΜΟΣ

Ἄλλη θεωρία εἰς τόν αὐτόν σύντομος. Καί ἵνα συνελών εἴπω, ὁ μή ὑπελθών τόν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ζυγόν, μήτε τῷ

θολερῷ τῶν παθῶν ῥεύματι διά τῆς κακῆς ἐπιθυμίας ἑαυτόν ἐμπνίξας, καί αἰσθήσει τρέφεσθαι τῇ πηγῇ τῶν ἡδονῶν ἀνασχόμενος, ἀποκτείνας δέ μᾶλλον τό φρόνημα τῆς σαρκός, τό τυραννοῦν τῆς ψυχῆς τήν εὐγένειαν, καί πάντων τῶν φθειρομένων ὑπεράνων γενόμενος τόν πλάνον τοῦτον κόσμον ὥσπερ Αἴγυπτόν τινα φυγών, τόν ἐκθλίβοντα ταῖς σωματικαῖς φροντίσι τόν διορατικώτατον νοῦν, καί καθ᾿ ἡσυχίαν ἑαυτῷ συγγενόμενος καί φιλοπόνῳ σχολῇ τῆς διεπούσης θείως τό πᾶν θείας προνοίας τήν σοφήν οἰκονομίαν διά τῆς ἐπιστημονικῆς τῶν ὄντων θεωρίας ἀῤῥήτως διδαχθείς, κἀντεῦθεν διά μυστικῆς θεολογίας, ἥν κατ᾿ ἔκστασιν ἄῤῥητον νοῦς καθαρός διά προσευχῆς πιστεύεται μόνος, ὡς ἐν γνόφῳ τῇ ἀγνωσίᾳ ἀφθέγκτως Θεῷ συγγενόμενος, καί ἑαυτόν ἔσωθεν κατά νοῦν εὐσεβείας δόγμασι καί ἔξωθεν, ὡς τάς πλάκας ὁ Μωϋσῆς, ἀρετῶν χάρισι δακτύλῳ Θεοῦ τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι ἐγχαράξας, ἤ γραφικῶς εἰπεῖν, ὁ ἑλόμενος συγκακουχεῖσθαι τῷ λαῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ μᾶλλον ἤ πρόσκαιρον ἔχειν ἁμαρτίας ἀπόλαυσιν, καί τῶν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ θησαυρῶν τόν ὀνειδισμόν τοῦ Χριστοῦ τιμιώτερον κρίνας, τουτέστι πλούτου καί δόξης, τῶν προσκαίρων καί φθειρομένων, (14∆_186> τούς ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς ἑκουσίως ἀνθαιρούμενος πόνους, οὗτος Μωϋσῆς πνευματικός γέγονεν, οὐχ ὀρατῷ διαλεγόμενος Φαραώ, ἀλλά ἀοράτῳ τυράννῳ ψυχῶν φονευτῇ καί κακίας ἀρχηγῷ τῷ διαβόλῳ καί ταῖς ἀμφ᾿ αὐτόν πονηραῖς δυνάμεσι μεθ᾿ ἧς διά χειρός ἐπιφέρεται ῥάβδου, τῆς κατά τό πρακτικόν φημι τοῦ λόγου δυνάμεως, νοητῶς παρατασσόμενος.

ΛΒ (32). ΘΕΩΡΙΑ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ, ΠΩΣ ΤΟΥΣ ΠΡΟ ΝΟΜΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΜΕΤΑ ΝΟΜΟΝ ΑΓΙΟΥΣ...

Θεωρία περί τοῦ, Πῶς τούς πρό νόμου καί μετά νόμον ἁγίους τις μιμήσασθαι δύναται, καί τίς ἡ τοῦ φυσικοῦ νόμου καί τοῦ γραπτοῦ κατά τήν εἰς ἀλλήλους μεταχώρησιν ταυτότης.

Ὡσαύτως δέ καί πάντας τούς ἁγίους ἕκαστος ἡμῶν θέλων εἰς ἑαυτόν

μεταθεῖναι δύναται, πρός ἕκαστον πνευματικῶς ἐκ τῶν περί αὐτοῦ καθ᾿ ἱστορίαν