47

they were mystically taught, toward which through wisdom according to the grace of the Spirit, as is possible for men who are subject to death, having raised the eye of their soul, and having inwardly received the divine longing for it, they reasonably thought it necessary to lay aside this present life, if they were to purely grasp that other life according to the fitting principle. And since the laying aside of life does not happen without death, they devised as its death the casting off of fleshly affection, through which the entrance of death came into this life, so that, by devising death for death, they might cease from living unto death, dying the death that is precious in the sight of the Lord, which is truly the death of death, which is able to destroy corruption, and which provides an entrance into blessed life and incorruption for the worthy.

For the end of this present life I do not think it right to call death, but a deliverance from death, and a separation from corruption, and freedom from slavery, and a cessation of turmoil, and an abolition of wars, and a passing away of confusion, and a retreat of darkness, and a relief from toils, and a silencing of indistinct buzzing, and a calming of agitation, and a covering of shame, and an escape from passions, and a disappearance of sin, and, to speak concisely, a containment of all evils; which things the saints, having accomplished through a voluntary mortification, presented themselves as strangers and sojourners in this life. For by courageously fighting against the world and the body and the rebellions arising from them, and by choking off the deception arising from both through the entanglement of the senses with sensible things, they kept the dignity of their soul unenslaved; very reasonably indeed, judging it to be lawful and just for the lesser to be led 1160 by the greater, rather than (14∆_200> for the greater to be shackled by the worse. Which is indeed a divine law, also innate in those who choose to embrace the life preeminently fitting for rational beings, the one which, through its self-sufficiency, imitates the freedom from need and the ease of the angels.

39. THAT NOT ACCORDING TO US EITHER THE NATURAL CONTEMPLATION, OR THE SCRIPTURAL

INITIATION... That not according to us either the natural contemplation, or the scriptural initiation

did the saints. But let us return in due sequence and, having examined according to our ability, fit the remaining things concerning the Transfiguration to what has been previously contemplated, so that the excellence of the saints in all things may be contemplated, and their genuine detachment from the flesh and from matter, and that not like us did they too contemplate either creation or Holy Scripture in a material and groveling way, using only sense perception and surfaces and shapes for the reception of the blessed knowledge of God, and letters and syllables, from which it is possible to stumble and err concerning the judgment of the truth, but with the purest mind alone, freed from all material darkness. If, then, we wish to judge piously, by contemplating intellectually the principles of sensible things, we might see them proceeding rightly along a straight path to the unerring knowledge concerning God and divine things.

40. A MORE EXTENSIVE CONTEMPLATION ON THE TRANSFIGURATION

A more extensive contemplation on the Transfiguration. It has been said above, therefore, that through the luminous splendor of the Lord's face that occurred on the mountain,

the thrice-blessed apostles were mystically led toward the incomprehensible glory of God for all beings whatsoever, according to the ineffable and

47

μυστικῶς ἐδιδάχθησαν, πρός ἧν διά σοφίας κατά τήν χάριν τοῦ Πνεύματος, ὡς ἐφικτόν ἀνθρώποις τοῖς ὑπό θάνατον, τό ὄμμα τῆς ψυχῆς ἀνανεύσαντες, καί ἐνδιαθέτως τόν αὐτῆς θεῶν ὑποδεξάμενοι πόθον, ἀποθέσθαι δεῖν ταύτην τήν παροῦσαν ζωήν εἰκότως ᾠήθησαν, εἰ μέλλοιεν καθαρῶς ἐκείνης κατά τόν δέοντα λόγον ἐπιλήψεσθαι. Καί ἐπειδή ζωῆς ἀπόθεσις θανάτου χωρίς οὐ γίνεται, θάνατον αὐτῆς ἐπενόησαν τήν ἀποβολήν τῆς κατά σάρκα στοργῆς, δι᾿ ἧς εἰς τόν βίον ἡ τοῦ θανάτου γέγονεν εἴσοδος, ἵνα θανάτῳ θάνατον ἐπινοήσαντες τοῦ ζῆν τῷ θανάτῳ παύσωνται, τόν τίμιον ἐναντίον Κυρίου θάνατον ἀποθανόντες, τόν ὄντως θανάτου θάνατον, τόν τήν φθοράν μέν φθείρειν δυνάμενον, τῇ δέ μακαρίᾳ ζωῇ καί ἀφθαρσίᾳ παρεχόμενον ἐν τοῖς ἀξίοις εἴσοδον.

Τό γάρ πέρας τῆς παρούσης ταύτης ζωῆς οὐδέ θάνατον οἶμαι δίκαιον ὀνομάζειν, ἀλλά θανάτου ἀπαλλαγήν, καί φθορᾶς χωρισμόν, καί δουλείας ἐλευθερίαν, καί ταραχῆς παύλαν, καί πολέμων ἀναίρεσειν, καί συγχύσεως πάροδον, καί σκότους ὑποχώρησιν, καί πόνων ἄνεσιν, καί βομβήσεως ἀσήμου σιγήν, καί βράσματος ἡρεμίαν, καί αἰσχύνης συγκάλυμμα, καί παθῶν ἀποφυγήν, καί ἁμαρτίας ἀφανισμόν, καί πάντων, ἵνα συνελών εἴπω, τῶν κακῶν περιγραφήν· ἅπερ δι᾿ ἑκουσίου νεκρώσεως οἱ ἅγιοι κατορθώσαντες ξένους ἑαυτούς τοῦ βίου καί παρεπιδήμους παρέστησαν. Κόσμῳ τε γάρ καί σώματι καί ταῖς ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐπαναστάσεσι γενναίως μαχόμενοι, καί τήν ἐξ ἀμφοῖν κατά τήν τῶν αἰσθήσεων πρός τά αἰσθητά συμπλοκήν παραγεγομένην ἀπάτην ἀποπνίξαντες, ἀδούλωτον ἑαυτοῖς ἐφύλαξαν τῆς ψυχῆς τό ἀξίωμα· μάλα γε εἰκότως, ἔννομον κρίναντες εἶναι καί δίκαιον τό ἧττον ἄγεσθαι 1160 μᾶλλον τῷ κρείττονι, ἤ (14∆_200> τό κρεῖττον τῷ χείρονι συμποδίζεσθαι. Ὅσπερ δή νόμος θεῖος καί τοῖς προαιρουμένοις τήν λογικοῖς προηγουμένως πρέπουσαν ἀσπάζεσθαι ζωήν ἐμπεφυκώς, τήν ἐμφερῶς δι' ὀλιγαρκείας τό ἀπροσδεές τῶν ἀγγέλων μιμουμένην καί ἄνετον.

ΛΘ (39). ΟΤΙ ΜΗ ΚΑΘ' ΗΜΑΣ Ή ΤΗΝ ΦΥΣΙΚΗΝ ΘΕΩΡΙΑΝ, Ή ΤΗΝ ΓΡΑΦΙΚΗΝ

ΜΥΣΤΑΓΩΓΙΑΝ... Ὅτι μή καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ἤ τήν φυσικήν θεωρίαν, ἤ τήν γραφικήν μυσταγωγίαν

ἐποίουν οἱ ἅγιοι. Ἀλλ᾿ ἐπανελθόντες καθ᾿ εἱρμόν τά λείποντα τῆς Μεταμορφώσεως τοῖς

προθεωρηθεῖσι κατά δύναμιν διασκοπήσαντες προσαρμόσωμεν, ἵνα θεωρηθῇ τῶν ἁγίων ἡ ἐν πᾶσιν ἀκρότης καί ἡ γνησία πρός τήν σάρκα καί τήν ὕλην ἀποδιάθεσις, καί ὅτι μή καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς καί αὐτοί ἤ τήν κτίσιν ἤ τήν ἁγίαν Γραφήν ὑλικῶς τε καί χαμερπῶς ἐθεώρουν, αἰσθήσει μόνον καί ἐπιφανείαις καί σχήμασι πρός ἀνάληψιν τῆς μακαρίας γνώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ, γράμμασί τε καί συλλαβαῖς χρώμενοι, ἐξ ὧν τό πταίειν ἔστι περί τήν κρίσιν τῆς ἀληθείας καί σφάλλεσθαι, ἀλλά νῷ μόνῳ καθαρωτάτῳ καί πάσης ὑλικῆς ἀπηλλαγμένῳ ἀχλύος. Εἴπερ οὖν εὐσεβῶς κρίνειν βουλόμεθα τούς τῶν αἰσθητῶν νοητῶς διασκοποῦντες λόγους, εἰς τήν περί Θεοῦ καί τῶν θείων αὐτούς ἄπταιστον γνῶσιν ὀρθῶς δι' εὐθείας τρίβου βαίνοντας κατίδοιμεν.

Μ (40). ΘΕΩΡΙΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΜΕΤΑΜΟΡΦΩΣΙΝ ΠΛΑΤΥΤΕΡΑ

Θεωρία εἰς τήν Μεταμόρφωσιν πλατυτέρα. Εἴρηται τοίνυν ἀνωτέρω ὅτι διά μέν τῆς γενομένης ἐπί τοῦ ὄρους τοῦ

προσώπου τοῦ Κυρίου φωτοειδοῦς λαμπρότητος πρός τήν πᾶσι καθόλου τοῖς οὖσιν ἄληπτον τοῦ Θεοῦ μυστικῶς οἱ τρισμακάριοι ἀπόστολοι κατά τό ἄῤῥητόν τε καί