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and the divine Nilus advises to beseech from God a manifestation in such matters, saying, “pray then fervently, so that if the vision is from God, He may enlighten you, but if not, He may quickly drive the delusion away from you.” And indeed, the fathers did not forbear to tell us this as well: what are the signs of delusion and what are the signs of truth. “For delusion, even if it feigns the appearance of the good or clothes itself in brilliant visions, will not be able to provide good energy; for not hatred of the world, not contempt for human glory, not desire for heavenly things, not stability of thoughts, not spiritual repose, not joy, not peace, not humility, not cessation of pleasures and passions, not an excellent disposition of the soul; for these are the energies of grace, the opposites of which are the offspring of delusion.” And indeed some from much experience and from the noetic vision itself have spoken of its properties, so that one might be able to find evidence even before the energies. “And so you will know,” he says, “from the energies whether the noetic light that has shone in your soul is by nature from God or from satan, so that you may neither consider the destroyer of delusion to be a deceiver, nor delusion to be truth.”

But the undeluded light, the unchangeable, is not granted in this age; “for he who says this,” as one of the fathers said, “is of the party of the wolves.” Let them consider (p. 252) then how far from the truth they wander who, because of certain human failings, declare the graced to be deluded, not even hearing him of the Ladder who says: “not to be deceived in sins belongs not to a man, but to an angel;” and again, “some through deficiency humble themselves and from stumblings have made their own the mother of charisms.” Dispassion, at any rate, sought in men is not angelic but human, which you will know and not be deceived to be in yourself, according to the same saint, in the abundance of ineffable light and immeasurable love of prayer; and again, “a soul freed from preconception has certainly beheld divine light; but knowledge of divine dogmas, how many have it with preconceptions?”; and again, “the weak in soul recognize the visitation of the Lord to them from other things, but the perfect from the presence of the Spirit”; and again, “among the beginners, the assurance that their steps are according to God is the addition of humility; among the intermediates, the withdrawal of wars; but among the perfect, the addition and abundance of the divine light.”

If, then, this light is not noetic and productive of knowledge, as the fathers say, but is knowledge, then the abundance of this is a sign of God-loving perfection. The life of Solomon would have been more perfect and more God-loving than the saints from of old, not to mention even the Greeks admired for their abundance of wisdom. But since such a light also shines on some beginners at times, though more dimly, and for the perfect becomes an addition of humility, but of a different kind from that of the beginners, for this reason the same author adds, saying: “Small things among the perfect are not small, but great things among the small are not in every way perfect.” (p. 254) And that the divine grace also appears to these philanthropically, you will know clearly if you are persuaded by the wonderful Diadochus: “for grace,” “at the beginning, with much sensation, is accustomed to illumine the soul with its own light; but in the midst of the struggles, it for the most part works unknowingly.” “For the Holy Spirit,” according to Nilus who speaks in the Spirit, “sympathizing with our weakness, visits us even when we are impure, and if it should find only the mind praying to it in love of truth, it comes upon it and makes disappear the entire phalanx of thoughts or concepts surrounding it.” And Saint Macarius says, “God being good,” “offers to those who ask more philanthropically

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καί ὁ θεῖος Νεῖλος παρά Θεοῦ τήν δήλωσιν ἐπί τῶν τοιούτων ἐξαιτεῖν εἰσηγεῖται, «εὔχου», λέγων, «τηνικαῦτα συντόνως, ἵνα, εἰ μέν ἐκ Θεοῦ ἐστι τό ὅραμα, αὐτός σε φωτίσῃ, εἰ δέ μή, θᾶττον τήν πλάνην ἐκδιώξῃ ἀπό σοῦ». Καί μήν οὐδέ τοῦτο οἱ πατέρες ἠνέσχοντο μή ἐξειπεῖν ἡμῖν, τίνα τά τῆς πλάνης καί τίνα τά τῆς ἀληθείας γνωρίσματα. «Ἡ γάρ πλάνη, κἄν τό τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ πρόσωπον ὑποκρίνηται κἄν ὁράσεις λαμπράς περιβάλληται, ἐνέργειαν ἀγαθήν παρασχεῖν οὐ δυνήσεται˙ οὐ γάρ κόσμου μῖσος, οὐ περιφρόνησιν ἀνθρώπων δόξης, οὐκ ἐπιθυμίαν τῶν οὐρανίων, οὐ κατάστασιν λογισμῶν, οὐκ ἀνάπαυσιν πνευματικήν, οὐ χαράν, οὐκ εἰρήνην, οὐ ταπείνωσιν, οὐ κατάπαυσιν ἡδονῶν τε καί παθῶν, οὐ διάθεσιν ψυχῆς ἀρίστην˙ ταῦτα γάρ εἰσι τά τῆς χάριτος ἐνεργήματα, ὧν τἀναντία εἰσί τά τῆς πλάνης γεννήματα». Ἤδη δέ τινες ἐκ πολλῆς πείρας καί τῆς νοερᾶς θέας αὐτῆς εἰρήκασιν ἰδιότητας, ὡς ἄν ἔχοι τις καί πρό τῶν ἐνεργημάτων τεκμηριώσασθαι. «Καί τοίνυν εἴσῃ», φησίν, «ἐκ τῶν ἐνεργημάτων τό ἐλαμφθέν ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ σου νοερόν φῶς, πότερον τοῦ Θεοῦ ἤ τοῦ σατανᾶ πέφυκεν ὄν, ἵνα μήτε τόν τῆς πλάνης ἀναιρέτην πλάνον εἶναι νομίσῃς μήτε τήν πλάνην ἀλήθειαν».

Ἀλλ᾿ οὐχί τό ἀπλανές φῶς τό ἄτρεπτον ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ χαρίζεται˙ «τοῦτο γάρ ὁ λέγων», καθάπερ τις ἔφη τῶν πατέρων, «τοῦ μέρους τῶν λύκων ἐστί». Σκοπείτωσαν (σελ. 252) δή πόσον τῆς ἀληθείας ἀποπλανῶνται οἱ ἐκ τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων ἔν τισιν ἐλλείψεων τούς κεχαριτωμένους πεπλανημένους ἀποφαινόμενοι, μηδέ τοῦ τῆς Κλίμακος ἀκούοντες λέγοντος˙ «οὐκ ἀνθρώπου, ἀλλ᾿ ἀγγέλου τό μή κλέπτεσθαι ἐφ᾿ ἁμαρτήμασιν εἶναι»˙ καί πάλιν, «τινές ἐξ ἐλλείψεως ἑαυτούς εὐτελίζουσι καί ἐκ πταισμάτων τήν τῶν χαρισμάτων μητέρα ᾠκειώσαντο». Ἀπάθεια γοῦν ἐν ἀνθρώποις οὐκ ἀγγέλων ἀλλ᾿ ἀνθρωπίνη ζητεῖται, ἥν γνώσῃ καί οὐκ ἀπατηθήσῃ ἐν σεαυτῷ οὖσαν κατά τόν αὐτόν ἅγιον ἐν πλήθει φωτός ἀρρήτου καί προσευχῆς ἔρωτι ἀμυθήτῳ˙ καί πάλιν, «ψυχή προλήψεως ἐλευθερωθεῖσα πάντως θεῖον φῶς ἐθεάσατο˙ γνῶσιν δέ δογμάτων θείων, πόσοι μετά ποληρήψεων ἔχουσι;»˙ καί πάλιν, «ἐξ ἄλλων μέν οἱ τῇ ψυχῇ ἀσθενεῖς γνωρίζουσι τήν πρός ἑαυτούς τοῦ Κυρίου ἐπίσκεψιν, οἱ δέ τέλειοι ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Πνεύματος παρουσίας»˙ καί πάλιν, «ἐν μέν τοῖς εἰσαγωγικοῖς πληροφορία τοῦ κατά Θεόν εἶναι αὐτῶν τά διαβήματα ἡ τῆς ταπεινώσεώς ἐστι προσθήκη˙ ἐν δέ τοῖς μέσοις, ἡ τῶν πολέμων ἀναχώρησις˙ ἐν δέ τοῖς τελείοις, ἡ τοῦ θείου φωτός προσθήκη καί περιουσία».

Εἰ τοίνυν μή νοερόν τουτί τό φῶς καί γνώσες παρεκτικόν, καθάπερ οἱ πατέρες λέγουσιν, ἀλλά γνῶσίς ἐστιν, ἡ ταύτης δέ περιουσία δεῖγμα θεοφιλοῦς τελειότητος. Σολομῶντος ὁ βίος τελεώτερός τε καί θεοφιλέστερος ἄν ἦν τῶν ἀπ᾿ αἰῶνος ἁγίων, ἵνα μή λέγω καί τῶν ἐπί σοφίας περιουσίᾳ θαυματομένων Ἑλλήνων. Ἐπεί δέ καί τῶν εἰσαγωγικῶν ἔστιν οἷς καί ὅτε, ἀλλ᾿ ἀμυδρότερον, τό τοιοῦτον ἐπιλάμπερι φῶς καί τοῖς τελείοις γίνεται προσθήκη ταπεινώσεως, ἀλλ᾿ ἑτέρα τῷ εἴδει παρά τήν τῶν εἰσαγομένων, διά τοῦτο ἐπιφέρει λέγων ὁ αὐτός˙ «τά μέν μικρά παρά τοῖς τελείοις οὐ μικρά, τά δέ μεγάλα παρά τοῖς μικροῖς οὐ πάντως τέλεια». (σελ. 254) Ὅτι δέ καί τούτοις ἡ θεία χάρις ἐπιφαίνεται φιλανθρώπως, εἴσῃ σαφῶς, εἴ πείσῃ ∆ιαδόχῳ τῷ θαυμασίῳ˙ «ἡ χάρις γάρ», «τήν ἀρχήν ἐν αἰσθήσει πολλῇ, τήν ψυχήν τῷ οἰκείῳ εἴωθε περιαυγάζειν φωτί˙ περί δέ τά μέσα τῶν ἀγώνων ἀγνώστως τά πολλά ἐνεργεῖ». «Τό γάρ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα», κατά τόν ἐν Πνεύματι λαλοῦντα Νεῖλον, «συμπάσχον τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ ἀσθενείᾳ, καί ἀκαθάρτοις οὖσιν ἡμῖν ἐπιφοιτᾷ καί, εἴπερ εὑρήσει τόν νοῦν μόνον φιλαλήθως αὐτῷ προσευχόμενον, ἐπιβαίνει αὐτῷ καί πᾶσαν τήν κυκλοῦσαν αὐτόν τῶν λογισμῶν ἤ νοημάτων φάλαγγα ἐξαφανίζει». Ὁ δέ ἅγιος Μακάριος, «ἀγαθός ὤν ὁ Θεός», φησίν, «ὀρέγει τοῖς αἰτοῦσι φιλανθρωπότερον