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of the blessed life to come in the spirit, which it is not otherwise possible to attain, unless the flesh is first emptied as from some vessel in the present life, according to the disposition of the will toward it, of the law of sin.

4.10 (ι΄) He who is grieved in the flesh by virtue on account of the labors, rejoices in the soul in that same virtue, as he beholds as present the beauty of the things to come; for the sake of which, according to the great David, by the willing putting to death of the flesh, he dies each day, who is ever renewed according to the birth of the soul in the spirit, since indeed he has both a salvific pleasure and a beneficial grief. For by grief we mean not the irrational grief of the many, which torments the soul at the deprivation of passions or material things, as they make their impulses contrary to nature toward what they ought not, and their avoidances from what they ought not; but that which is rational, and approved by those wise in divine things, and which signifies the present evil; for they say that grief is a present evil, constituted in the soul when pleasure according to the senses overcomes rational discernment; but experienced in the senses when the course of the soul according to virtue is accomplished without hindrance; bringing labors upon the senses to the same degree that it creates pleasure and joy in the soul, which is brought to God through the kindred illumination according to virtue and knowledge.

4.11 (ια΄) He calls salvific pleasure the joy of the soul in virtue; and beneficial grief, the pain of the flesh for the sake of virtue. He, therefore, who is attached to passions and things, directs his impulses toward what he ought not; and he who does not embrace the circumstances that bring about the deprivation of passions and things, makes his avoidances from what he ought not.

4.12 (ιβ΄) Neither does divine grace effect illuminations of knowledge, if there is not that which, according to its natural capacity, receives the illumination; nor, again, does that which is receptive, apart from the grace that bestows it, effect the illumination of knowledge.

4.13 (ιγ΄) Neither does the grace of the all-holy Spirit effect wisdom 15∆_202 in the saints, without the mind that receives it; nor knowledge without the power receptive of reason; nor faith without the full assurance according to mind and reason concerning things to come and for now unknown to all; nor the gifts of healing, apart from natural love for mankind; nor any other of the remaining gifts, 1309 without the receptive state and capacity of each; nor again, on the other hand, will a man acquire any of the things enumerated according to his natural capacity, apart from the divine power that bestows them. And all the saints clearly show this, when after divine revelations, they seek the principles of the things revealed.

4.14 (ιδ΄) He who asks without passion receives the grace to be able to practice the virtues; and he who seeks dispassionately finds the truth in existing things according to natural contemplation, and he who knocks dispassionately at the door of knowledge, will enter without hindrance into the hidden grace of mystical theology.

4.15 (ιε΄) He who seeks divine things dispassionately will surely receive what is sought. But he who seeks with some passion will fail to obtain what is sought. For it says, You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly.

4.16 (ιστ΄) The Holy Spirit seeks and searches in us for the knowledge of existing things; but He does not seek what is sought for Himself, because He is God and beyond all knowledge; but for us who are in need of knowledge; just as indeed the Word becomes flesh, not for Himself, but for us, accomplishing the mystery through the flesh. For just as without flesh intelligently ensouled, the Word would not have worked in a manner befitting God the things according to the nature of the flesh, so also the Holy Spirit does not effect in the saints the knowledge of the mysteries, without the power that naturally seeks and searches for knowledge.

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μελλούσης ἐν πνεύματι μακαρίας ζωῆς, ἧς ἄλλως οὐκ ἔστι τυχεῖν, μή πρότερον κενωθέντος ὡς ἐξ ἀγγείου τινός τῆς σαρκός ἐν τῇ παρούσῃ ζωῇ, κατά τήν πρός αὐτήν σχέσιν τῆς γνώμης, τοῦ νόμου τῆς ἁμαρτίας.

4.10 (ι΄) Ὁ τῇ ἀρετῇ κατά σάρκα διά τούς πόνους λυπούμενος, ἐν 15∆_200 αὐτῇ χαίρει τῇ ἀρετῇ κατά ψυχήν, ὡς παροῦσαν θεώμενος τήν τῶν μελλόντων εὐπρέπειαν· ὑπέρ ἧς, κατά τόν μέγαν ∆αβίδ, τῇ κατά γνώμην ἀπογενέσει τῆς σαρκός, καθ᾿ ἑκάστην ἀποθνήσκει τήν ἡμέραν, ὁ κατά τήν τῆς ψυχῆς ἐν πνεύματι γένεσιν ἀεί καινιζόμενος, ἅτε δή καί τήν ἡδονήν ἔχων σωτήριον, καί τήν λύπην ὠφέλιμον. Λύπην γάρ φαμεν, οὐ τήν παράλογον καί τῶν πολλῶν, ἐπί στερήσει παθῶν ἤ πραγμάτων ὑλικῶν τήν ψυχήν βασανίζουσαν, ὡς τάς ὁρμάς παρά φύσιν ἐφ᾿ ἅ μή δεῖ, καί τάς ἀποφυγάς ἀφ᾿ ὧν μή δεῖ ποιουμένων· ἀλλά τήν λελογισμένην, καί τοῖς τά θεῖα σοφοῖς ἐγκριθεῖσαν, καί τό παρόν κακόν ὑποσημαίνουσαν· παρόν γάρ κακόν, φασίν εἶναι τήν λύπην, συνισταμένην μέν κατά ψυχήν, ὅταν ἡ κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ἡδονή τῆς λογικῆς κρατῇ διακρίσεως· ὑφισταμένην δέ κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν, ὅταν τῆς ψυχῆς κατ᾿ ἀρετήν ἀκωλύτως ὁ δρόμος ἀνύηται· τοσοῦτον ἐπάγων τῇ αἰσθήσει τούς πόνους, ὅσον ἡδονήν ἐμποιεῖ καί χαράν τῇ ψυχῇ, τῷ Θεῷ προσαγομένῃ, διά τῆς συγγενοῦς κατ᾿ ἀρετήν τε καί γνῶσιν ἐλλάμψεως.

4.11 (ια΄) Ἡδονήν λέγει σωτήριον, τήν ἐπ᾿ ἀρετῇ χαράν τῆς ψυχῆς· ὠφέλιμον δέ λύπην, τήν ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς ὀδύνην τῆς σαρκός. Ὁ γοῦν πάθεσι προστετηκώς καί πράγμασιν, ἐφ᾿ ἅ μή δεῖ τάς ὁρμάς ποιεῖται· καί ὁ τάς ποιητικάς τῆς τῶν παθῶν καί τῶν πραγμάτων στερήσεως συμβάσεις οὐκ ἀσπαζόμενος, ἀφ᾿ ὧν μή δεῖ τάς ἀποφυγάς ποιεῖται.

4.12 (ιβ΄) Οὔτε ἡ θεία χάρις ἐνεργεῖ φωτισμούς γνώσεως, οὐκ ὄντος τοῦ κατά δύναμιν φυσικήν δεχομένου τόν φωτισμόν· οὔτε μήν τό δεκτικόν δίχα τῆς χορηγούσης χάριτος, τόν φωτισμόν ἐνεργεῖ γνώσεως.

4.13 (ιγ΄) Οὔτε ἡ χάρις τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος ἐνεργεῖ σοφίαν 15∆_202 ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις, χωρίς τοῦ ταύτην δεχομένου νοός· οὔτε γνῶσιν χωρίς τῆς δεκτικῆς τοῦ λόγου δυνάμεως· οὔτε πίστει ἄνευ τῆς κατά νοῦν καί λόγον τῶν μελλόντων καί πᾶσι τέως ἀδήλων πληροφορίας· οὔτε ἰαμάτων χαρίσματα, δίχα τῆς κατά φύσιν φιλανθρωπίας· οὔτε τι ἕτερον τῶν λοιπῶν χαρισμάτων, 1309 χωρίς τῆς ἑκάστου δεκτικῆς ἕξεώς τε καί δυνάμεως· οὔτε μήν πάλιν ἕν τῶν ἀπηριθμημένων ἄνθρωπος κτήσεται κατά δύναμιν φυσικήν, δίχα τῆς χορηγούσης ταῦτα θείας δυνάμεως. Καί δηλοῦσι τοῦτο σαφῶς πάντες ἅγιοι, μετά τάς ἀποκαλύψεις τῶν θείων, ζητοῦντες τῶν ἀποκαλυφθέντων τούς λόγους.

4.14 (ιδ΄) Ὁ δίχα πάθους αἰτῶν, λαμβάνει τήν τοῦ ἐνεργεῖν δύνασθαι χάριν κατά τήν πρᾶξιν τάς ἀρετάς· καί ὁ ζητῶν ἀπαθῶς, εὑρίσκει κατά τήν φυσικήν θεωρίαν τήν ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν ἀλήθειαν, καί ὁ κρούων ἀπαθῶς τήν θύραν τῆς γνώσεως, ἀκωλύτως εἰς τήν ἀπόκρυφον τῆς μυστικῆς θεολογίας ἐλεύσεται χάριν.

4.15 (ιε΄) Ὁ ἀπαθῶς τά θεῖα ζητῶν, πάντως λήψεται τό ζητούμενον. Ὁ δέ μετά τινος πάθους ζητῶν, ἀποτεύξεται τοῦ ζητουμένου. Φησί γάρ, Αἰτεῖτε, καί οὐ λαμβάνετε, διότι κακῶς αἰτεῖτε.

4.16 (ιστ΄) Ζητεῖ ἐν ἡμῖν τήν τῶν ὄντων γνῶσιν τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον, καί ἐρευνᾷ· ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἑαυτῷ ζητεῖ τό ζητούμενον, ὅτι Θεός, καί πάσης ἐπέκεινα γνώσεως· ἀλλ᾿ ἡμῖν τοῖς δεομένοις τῆς γνώσεως· ὥσπερ ἀμέλει καί ὁ Λόγος γίνεται σάρξ, οὐχ ἑαυτῷ, ἀλλ᾿ ἡμῖν τό διά τῆς σαρκός ἐξανύων μυστήριον. Ὡς γάρ χωρίς σαρκός νοερῶς ἐψυχωμένης, οὐκ ἐνήργει θεοπρεπῶς τά κατά φύσιν ὁ Λόγος τῆς σαρκός, οὕτως οὐδέ τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις ἐνεργεῖ τάς γνώσεις τῶν μυστηρίων, χωρίς τῆς κατά φύσιν ζητούσης τε καί ἐρευνώσης τήν γνῶσιν δυνάμεως.