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and through them the mind descends to the multipartite life below, extending its energies to all things, but it surely has another, better energy, which it would exercise by and in itself, since (p. 246) it is able to remain by and in itself, when it is separated from this multiform, various, and earth-crawling way of life, just as a horseman has an energy distinctly better than that of driving a chariot, and not only when he dismounts, but even while on his horse and chariot, he could exercise it in itself, unless he willingly gave his whole self to the care of driving. And so the mind, if it were not wholly and always turned toward things below, could also partake of the better and higher energy, although with much more difficulty than a horseman, since by nature it is entwined with the body and intermingled with corporeal knowledge and with the various and hard-to-shed relationships of this life. The mind, therefore, having entered into the energy proper to itself, which is its turning toward and watchfulness over itself, through this ascends above itself, and could be united with God.

For this reason, then, the lover of communion with God flees the life that is liable to censure and chooses the monastic and unmarried state and desires to dwell in the inner sanctuaries of stillness, free from business and worldly care, having been freed from every attachment, wherein, having loosed the soul as far as possible from every material bond, he unites the mind to unceasing prayer to God, and through it, having become wholly of himself, he finds a new and ineffable ascent to the heavens, the intangible darkness, as one might say, of the secretly mystical silence and paying close attention to this with ineffable pleasure, the mind in the most simple and complete and sweet calm and true stillness and speechlessness soars above all created things. Thus, having gone completely out of himself and become wholly of God, he sees the glory of God and beholds the divine light, which is in no way perceptible to the senses as such, but is a graceful and sacred vision for stainless souls and minds, without which not even the mind, having a noetic sense (p. 248), could see as it is united to the things beyond itself, just as the eye of the body cannot see without perceptible light.

Our mind, therefore, goes out of itself and is thus united to God, but by becoming beyond itself. But God also goes out of Himself and is thus united to our mind, but by using condescension; for as if drawn by longing and love and through an excess of goodness from His state beyond all and transcendent over all, He ineffably goes out of Himself, and is united to us in this very union that is beyond mind. And that God condescends and is united not only to us, but also to the heavenly angels, Saint Macarius will again teach us, saying, "through infinite goodness, the great and supra-essential one makes himself small, so as to be able to be mingled with his noetic creatures, I mean the souls of saints and angels, so that they too might become partakers of immortal life through His divinity." How would He not condescend to this point, He who condescended even to the flesh, and to the death of the flesh and the death of the cross, in order to remove the veil of darkness that fell upon the soul from the transgression and to impart His own light, as the same saint taught in the chapter mentioned at the beginning?

Tremble, therefore, you who disbelieve and lead others to disbelief, you blind who are eager to guide the blind, you who go further from God and lead others on, you who, because you do not see, dogmatize that God is not light, you who not only yourselves turn your faces from the light and run to the darkness, but also call the light darkness and render so great a condescension of God ineffectual, at least as far as it concerns you, you would not have suffered this, if you had believed the words of the Fathers; for those who are persuaded by them (p. 250), not only concerning the supernatural aspects of the gifts, but even toward the debatable aspects of these, show great reverence. "For there is," says Saint Mark, "grace for the infant

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καί δι᾿ αὐτῶν πρός τήν πολυμερῆ κάτειοι ζωήν ὁ νοῦς, προϊσχόμενος τάς ἐνεργείας πᾶσιν, ἀλλ᾿ ἔχει δήπου καί τινα ἑτέραν κρείττονα ἐνέργειαν, ἥν αὐτός ἄν ἐνεργοίη καί καθ᾿ ἑαυτόν, ἅτε (σελ. 246) μένειν καί καθ᾿ ἑαυτόν δυνάμενος, ἐπειδάν μερισθῇ τῆς ποικιλοτρόπου ταύτης καί πολυειδοῦς καί χαμερποῦς διαίτης, ὥσπερ δῆτα καί ὁ ἔφιππος ἔχει τινά ἐνέργειαν τοῦ ἡνιοχεῖν διαφερόντως κρείττω, καί οὐχ ἡνίκ᾿ ἄν ἀποβαίη μόνον, ἀλλά καί ἐφ᾿ ἵππου ὤν καί ἅρματος, ἐνεργήσειεν ἄν καθ᾿ ἑαυτόν αὐτήν, εἰ μή ὅλον ἑαυτόν ἑκών ποιοίη τῆς τοῦ ἡνιοχεῖν ἐπιμελείας. Καί νοῦς τοίνυν, εἰ μή ὅλος καί ἀεί περί τά κάτω στρέφοιτο, γένοιτ᾿ ἄν καί τῆς κρείττονός τε καί ὑψηλοτέρας ἐνεργείας, εἰ καί μακρῷ δυσχερέστερον ἐφίππου, ἅτε φύσει τήν μετά σώματος ἔχων συμπλοκήν καί ταῖς σωματοειδέσι γνώσεσι συμπεφυρμένος καί τοῖς ἐκ τοῦ τῇδε βίου πολυτρόποις καί δυσαποβλήτοις σχέσεσι. Τῆς οὖν καθ᾿ ἑαυτόν ἐνεργείας γενόμενος ὁ νοῦς, ἥτις ἐστίν ἡ πρός ἑαυτόν στροφή καί τήρησις, δι᾿ αὐτῆς ὑπεραναβαίνων ἑαυτόν, καί Θεῷ συγγένοιτ᾿ ἄν.

∆ιά τοῦτο τοίνυν τόν ὑπαίτιον φεύγει βίον ὁ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ συνουσίας ἐραστής καί τήν μοναχικήν καί ἀσυνδύαστον αἱρεῖται πολιτείαν καί τοῖς τῆς ἡσυχίας ἀδύτοις ἀπραγμόνως τε καί ἀπεριμερίμνως ἐνδιαιτᾶσθαι προθυμεῖται, πάσης σχέσεως ἀπηλλαγμένος, ἐν οἷς προσύλου παντός δεσμοῦ, καθ᾿ ὅσον ἐφικτόν, λύσας τήν ψυχήν, συνάπτει τόν νοῦν τῇ ἀδιαλείπτῳ πρός Θεόν εὐχῇ, καί δι᾿ αὐτῆς ἑαυτοῦ ὅλος γεγονώς καινήν καί ἀπόρρητον ἄνοδον εἰς οὐρανούς εὑρίσκει, τόν ἀναφῆ τῆς κρυφιομύστου σιγῆς, ὡς ἄν τις εἴποι, γνόφον καί τούτῳ μεθ᾿ ἡδονῆς ἀπορρήτου προσέχων ἀκριβῶς τόν νοῦν ἐν ἁπλουστάτῃ καί παντελεῖ καί γλυκερᾷ γαλήνη καί ὄντως ἡσυχίᾳ τε καί ἀφθεγξίᾳ πάντων ὑπερίπταται κτιστῶν. Ὅλος δ᾿ οὕτως ἐκστάς καί ὅλος γενόμενος Θεοῦ, δόξαν ὁρᾷ Θεοῦ καί φῶς ἐποπτεύει θεῖον, ἥκιστα αἰσθήσει ᾗ αἰσθήσει ὑποπίπτον, ψυχῶν δέ καί νόων ἀσπίλων εὔχαρι καί ἱερόν θέαμα, οὗ χωρίς οὐδ᾿ ἄν νοῦς ᾗ νοεράν ἔχων αἴσθησιν (σελ. 248) ὁρῴη τοῖς ὑπέρ ἑαυτόν ἑνούμενος, καθάπερ οὐδέ ὀφθαλμός σώματος τοῦ κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν φωτός χωρίς.

Ὁ μέν οὖν ἡμέτερος νοῦς ἔξω ἑαυτοῦ γίνεται καί οὕτως ἑνοῦται τῷ Θεῷ, ἀλλ᾿ ὑπέρ ἑαυτόν γινόμενος. Ὁ δέ Θεός καί αὐτός ἔξω ἑαυτοῦ γίνεται καί οὕτω τῷ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς «ἑνοῦται νῷ, ἀλλά συγκαταβάσει χρώμενος˙ ὥσπερ γάρ ἔρωτι καί ἀγαπήσει θελγόμενος καί δι᾿ ὑπερβολήν ἀγαθότητος ἐκ τοῦ ὑπέρ πάντα καί πάντων ἐξῃρημένου ἔξω ἑαυτόῦ ἀνεκφοιτήτως γινόμενος, καί κατ᾿ αὐτήν τήν ὑπέρ νοῦν ἕνωσιν ἡμῖν ἑνοῦται. Ὅτι δέ οὐχ ἡμῖν μόνον, ἀλλά καί τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις ἀγγέλοις συγκαταβαίνων ἑνοῦται Θεός, ὁ ἅγιος Μακάριος πάλιν ἡμᾶς διδάξει, «διά χρηστότητα», λέγων, «ἄπειρον συσμικρύνει ἑαυτόν ὁ μέγας καί ὑπερούσιος, τοῦ δυνηθῆναι τοῖς νοεροῖς αὐτοῦ κτίσμασι συγκραθῆναι, ψυχαῖς ἁγίων φημί καί ἀγγέλοις, ἵνα καί αὐτοῖς γένοιτο ζωῆς ἀθανάτου τῇ αὐτοῦ θεότητι μετασχεῖν». Πῶς δ᾿ οὐκ ἄν μέχρι τύτου συγκαταβαίη, ὁ μέχρι σαρκός συγκαταβάς, καί σαρκός θανάτου καί θανάτου σταυροῦ, ἵνα περιέλῃ τό ἐπιπεσόν ἐκ παραβάσεως τῇ ψυχῇ κάλυμμα τοῦ σκότους καί τοῦ οἰκείου μεταδῷ φωτός, ὡς ὁ αὐτός ἅγιος ἐν τῷ τήν ἀρχήν εἰρημένῳ κεφαλαίῳ ἐδίδαξεν;

Φρίξατε τοίνυν οἱ ἀπιστοῦντες καί πρός ἀπιστίαν τούς ἄλλους ἐνάγοντες, οἱ τυφλοί καί τούς τυφλούς ὁδηγεῖν προθυμούμενοι, οἱ πορρωτέρω Θεοῦ χωροῦντες καί τούς ἄλλους ἐπάγοντες, οἱ τῷ μή βλέπειν μηδέ φῶς εἶναι τόν Θεόν δογματίζοντες, οἱ μή μόνον αὐτοί τάς ὄψεις τοῦ φωτός ἀποστρέφοντες καί τῷ σκότει προστρέχοντες, ἀλλά καί τό φῶς σκότος λέγοντες καί τοσαύτην Θεοῦ συγκατάβασιν ἄπρακτον τό γε εἰς ὑμᾶς ἧκον ἀποτελοῦντες, οὐκ ἄν τοῦτο παθόντες, εἰ τοῖς τῶν πατέρων ἐπιστεύετε λόγοις˙ οἱ γάρ τούτοις (σελ. 250) πειθόμενοι, μή ὅτι πρός τά τῶν χαρισμάτων ὑπερφυᾶ, ἀλλά καί πρός τά τούτων ἀμφισβητήσιμα πολλήν τήν εὐλάβειαν ἐπιδείκνυνται. «Ἔστι» φάρ, φησίν ὁ ἅγιος Μάρκος, «χάρις τῷ νηπίῳ