45

LE (35). A CONTEMPLATION OF THE MANNER IN WHICH ONE GOES BEYOND THE NATURAL AND WRITTEN LAW… 1153 A contemplation of the manner in which one goes beyond the natural and the written

law, who becomes obedient to God through all things. For if the whole nature of beings is divided into the intelligible and the sensible, and

some are called and are eternal, as having received the beginning of their being in an aeon, while others are temporal, as having been made in time, and some fall under intellection, others under sense-perception, through the indissoluble power of the natural relational property which binds these to each other (for great is the relation of those who understand to things understood and of those who perceive to things perceived, and man, being of soul and sensible body, through his natural relation and property in alternation to each of the parts of creation, is both circumscribed and circumscribes, the one in essence, the other in power, as he is divided into his own parts towards these, and drawing these to himself through his own parts into unity; for he is circumscribed by the intelligible and sensible, being soul and body, and he is by nature able to circumscribe these in power, as one who understands and perceives);

But God is simply and indefinitely beyond all beings, both the containing and the contained, and the nature—I mean of time and aeon and place, without which these things are not, and in which the universe is enclosed, (14∆_192> being utterly without relation to all things), therefore, one who has prudently discerned how one must love God, who is beyond reason and knowledge and, simply, every relation whatsoever and every nature, will pass beyond all sensible and intelligible things, and all time and aeon and place, without relation, and finally, having divested himself supernaturally of all activity of sense and reason and intellect, he will attain, in an ineffable and unknowable way, the divine delight that is beyond reason and intellect, according to the manner and reason known to God who bestows such grace and to those who have been deemed worthy to receive it from God, no longer carrying along with himself anything natural or written, all things that can be said or known having been utterly transcended and silenced for him.

LS (36). A CONTEMPLATION ON THE SAYING ABOUT THE MAN WHO FELL AMONG ROBBERS OF THE

GOSPEL A contemplation on the saying of the Gospel about the man who fell among robbers. And perhaps this is the thing, to what was given for the healing of the one who fell among robbers

with two denarii in the inn by the Lord to the one commanded to take care of him being spent in addition, which the Lord, generously returning, promised to give, namely the complete removal of beings through faith in the perfect (for the Lord says, ‘Whoever does not renounce all his own possessions cannot be my disciple’), according to which, removing all things from himself, or more properly said, himself from all things, the one who has made himself a lover of wisdom 1156 is deemed worthy to be with God alone, having received the adoption shown in the Gospel, according to the holy and blessed apostles, who stripped themselves of everything entirely and cleaved only and wholly (14∆_194> to God and the Word, ‘Behold,’ they said, ‘we have left everything and followed you’, to the one who is both the Maker of nature and the Giver of help according to the law, and whom, namely the Lord, having acquired as the sole light of truth instead of law and nature, they rightly received unerring knowledge of all things after God. For with Him the knowledge of the things made by Him is properly co-manifested.

45

ΛΕ (35). ΘΕΩΡΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΤΡΟΠΟΥ ΚΑΘ' ΟΝ ΥΠΕΡ ΤΟΝ ΦΥΣΙΚΟΝ ΚΑΙ ΤΟΝ ΓΡΑΠΤΟΝ ΝΟΜΟΝ ΓΙΝΕΤΑΙ… 1153 Θεωρία τοῦ τρόπου καθ᾿ ὅν ὑπέρ τόν φυσικόν καί τόν γραπτόν

νόμον γίνεται ὁ διά πάντων τῷ Θεῷ γενόμενος εὐπειθής. Εἰ γάρ πᾶσα ἡ τῶν ὄντων φύσις εἰς τά νοητά καί τά αἰσθητά διῄρηται, καί τά

μέν λέγεται καί ἔστιν αἰώνια, ὡς ἐν αἰῶνι τοῦ εἶναι λαβόντων ἀρχήν, τά δέ χρονικά, ὡς ἐν χρόνῳ πεποιημένα, καί τά μέν ὑποπίπτει νοήσει, τά δέ αἰσθήσει, διά τήν ταῦτα ἀλλήλοις ἐπισφίγγουσαν τοῦ κατά φύσιν σχετικοῦ ἰδιώματος ἄλυτον δύναμιν (πολλή γάρ ἡ πρός τά νοούμενα τῶν νοούντων καί πρός τά αἰσθητά τῶν αἰσθανομένων ἡ σχέσις, ὁ δέ ἄνθρωπος ἐκ ψυχῆς καί σώματος τυγχάνων αἰσθητικοῦ διά τῆς κατ᾿ ἐπαλλαγήν πρός ἑκάτερα τά τῆς κτίσεως τμήματα φυσικῆς σχέσεώς τε καί ἰδιότητος καί περιγράφεται καί περιγράφει, τό μέν τῇ οὐσίᾳ, τό δέ τῇ δυνάμει, ὡς τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ πρός ταῦτα διαιρούμενος μέρεσι, καί ταῦτα διά τῶν οἰκείων μερῶν ἑαυτῷ καθ᾿ ἕνωσιν ἐπισπώμενος· περιγράφεσθαι γάρ τοῖς νοητοῖς καί αἰσθητοῖς, ὡς ψυχή τυγχάνων καί σῶμα, καί περιγράφειν ταῦτα κατά δύναμιν πέφυκεν, ὡς νοῶν καί αἰσθανόμενος·

Ὁ δέ Θεός ἁπλῶς καί ἀορίστως ὑπέρ πάντα τά ὄντα ἐστί, τά περιέχοντά τε καί περιεχόμενα καί τήν, ὧν οὐκ ἄνευ ταῦτα, χρόνου φημί καί αἰῶνος καί τόπου φύσιν, οἷς τό πᾶν περικλείεται, (14∆_192> ὡς πᾶσι παντελῶς ἄσχετος ὤν), ἄρα σωφρόνως ὁ διαγνούς πῶς ἐρᾷν τοῦ Θεοῦ δεῖ, τοῦ ὑπέρ λόγον καί γνῶσιν καί πάσης ἁπλῶς τῆς οἱασδήποτε παντάπασι σχέσεως, ἐξῃρημένου καί φύσεως, πάντα τά αἰσθητά καί νοητά καί πάντα χρόνον καί αἰῶνα καί τόπον ἀσχέτως παρελεύσεται, καί πάσης τελευταῖον ὅλης τῆς κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν καί λόγον καί νοῦν ἐνεργείας ἑαυτόν ὑπερφυῶς ἀπογυμνώσας ἀῤῥήτως τε καί ἀγνώστως τῆς ὑπέρ λόγον καί νοῦν θείας τερπνότητος ἐπιτεύξεται, καθ᾿ ὅν οἶδε τρόπον τε καί λόγον ὁ τήν τοιαύτην δωρούμενος χάριν Θεός καί οἱ ταύτην παρά Θεοῦ λαβεῖν ἀξιωθέντες, οὐκέτι οὐδέν φυσικόν ἤ γραπτόν ἑαυτῷ συνεπικομιζόμενος, πάντων αὐτῷ τῶν λεχθῆναι ἤ γνωσθῆναι δυναμένων παντελῶς ὑπερβαθένων καί κατασιγασθέντων.

ΛS (36). ΘΕΩΡΙΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ ΕΜΠΕΣΟΝΤΟΣ ΕΙΣ ΤΟΥΣ ΛΗΣΤΑΣ ΡΗΤΟΝ ΤΟΥ

ΕΥΑΓΓΕΛΙΟΥ Θεωρία εἰς τό περί τοῦ ἐμπεσόντος εἰς τούς λῃστάς ῥητόν τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου. Καί τάχα τοῦτό ἐστι τό τοῖς δοθεῖσιν ἐπί θεραπείᾳ τοῦ λησταῖς περιπεσόντος

δυσί δηναρίοις ἐν τῷ πανδοχείῳ παρά τοῦ Κυρίου τῷ ἐπιμελεῖσθαι κελευομένῳ προσδαπανώμενον, ὅπερ καί φιλοτίμως ἐπανερχόμενος ὁ Κύριος δώσειν ὑπέσχετο, ἡ διά πίστεως γινομένη παντελής τῶν ὄντων ἐν τοῖς τελείοις ἀφαίρεσις (φησί γάρ ὁ Κύριος Ὅστις οὐκ ἀποτάσσεται πᾶσι τοῖς ὑπάρχουσιν αὐτοῦ, οὐ δύναταί μου εἶναι μαθητής) , καθ᾿ ἥν πάνθ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ ἤ ἑαυτόν πάντων ἀφαιρούμενος εἰπεῖν οἰκειότερον, ὁ τῆς σοφίας ἑαυτόν ἐραστήν 1156 καταστήσας μόνῳ Θεῷ συνεῖναι καταξιοῦται, τήν εὐαγγελικῶς ὑποδειχθεῖσαν υἱοθεσίαν δεξάμενος, κατά τούς ἁγίους καί μακαρίους ἀποστόλους, οἱ τό πᾶν ἑαυτῶν ὁλοσχερῶς περιελόμενοι καί μόνῳ δι᾿ ὅλου (14∆_194> τῷ Θεῷ καί Λόγῳ προσφύντες, Ἰδού πάντα, ἔφασαν, ἀφήκαμεν καί ἠκολουθήσαμέν σοι, τῷ καί τῆς φύσεως Ποιητῇ καί δοτῆρι τῆς κατά νόμον βοηθείας, καί ὅν, Κύριον δηλονότι, ὥσπερ ἀληθείας φῶς μονώτατον κτησάμενοι ἀντί νόμου καί φύσεως πάντων εἰκότως τῶν μετά Θεόν ἄπταιστον τήν γνῶσιν παρέλαβον. Αὐτῷ γάρ πέφυκε συνεκφαίνεσθαι κυρίως ἡ τῶν ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ γεγενημένων γνῶσις.