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the pearl, the Word, that completely escapes sensation. Likewise, he who does not circumscribe the nature of visible things by sensation alone, but wisely investigates according to the intellect the principle in each created thing, finds God, being taught the cause of the things that exist from the magnificent work of beings set before him.

Since, therefore, discernment is characteristic of the one who touches, he who approaches the legal symbols with knowledge and contemplates the visible nature of beings with understanding, discerning Scripture and creation and himself—Scripture into letter and spirit, creation into principle and appearance, and himself into intellect and sensation—and taking the spirit of Scripture, the principle of creation, and his own intellect and uniting them indissolubly to each other, found God, as one who has recognized, as is right and possible, the God who is in intellect and principle and spirit, having been delivered from all that leads astray and drags down into countless opinions, I mean the letter and appearance and sensation, in which different quantity exists and is opposed to the monad. But if someone intertwines and confuses the letter of the law and the appearance of visible things and his own sensation with each other, he is blind and shortsighted, suffering from ignorance of the cause of beings.

SCHOLION 1. He says that only the one who has seen the spirit of Scripture without the types and the principles of creation without their shapes, according to the intellect (14Β_218> alone, having been delivered from the activity of sensation, found God: in the spirit of Scripture, as the cause of goodness; in the principles of beings, as the cause of power; in himself, as the cause of wisdom. For the principles of things that come from non-being relate the power of the Creator; and the spirit of Scripture, leading back to deification those who have gone astray, proclaims the goodness of the one who wrote it; and the intellect within us, which unceasingly contains the principles of created things, openly proclaims the wisdom of the Craftsman.

33. CONCERNING "TRULY I SAY TO YOU, WHOEVER SAYS TO THIS MOUNTAIN". 33. QUESTION 33 What is the meaning of "Truly I say to you, that whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into

the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him, whatever he says"? What is the meaning of "and does not doubt"?

Answer. The divine and great apostle, defining what faith is, says, "faith is the substance of things hoped for,

the evidence of things not seen." And if one were to define it as an inward good or as true knowledge that demonstrates the ineffable good things, he would not have erred from the truth. And the Lord, teaching about the ineffable good things and those hoped for and not seen, says, "the kingdom of God is within you." Therefore, faith in God is the same as the kingdom of God, being divided from the kingdom only conceptually. For faith is the formless kingdom of God, while the kingdom is faith divinely formed. Thus, according to this principle, faith is not outside of us, which, when activated by the divine commandments, becomes the kingdom of God, known only to those who possess it. (14Β_220> And if the kingdom of God is faith in action, and the kingdom of God effects the immediate union with God for those over whom it rules, faith is clearly shown to be a relational power or an effective relation of the supernatural, immediate, and perfect union of the believer with God who is believed.

Since, therefore, man consists of soul and body, he is agitated by two laws, I mean of the flesh and of the spirit, and the law of the flesh possesses its activity according to sensation, while that of the spirit possesses its activity according to the intellect, and the law of the flesh with matter

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τὴν αἴσθησιν παντελῶς διαφεύγοντα μαργαρίτην Λόγον. Ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ ὁ τὴν φύσιν τῶν ὁρωμένων μὴ τῇ αἰσθήσει μόνῃ περιγράφων, ἀλλὰ κατὰ νοῦν σοφῶς τὸν ἐν ἑκάστῳ κτίσματι λόγον διερευνώμενος, εὑρίσκει Θεόν, ἀπὸ τῆς προβεβλημένης τῶν ὄντων μεγαλουργίας τὴν αὐτῶν τῶν ὄντων διδασκόμενος αἰτίαν.

Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν ἴδιον τοῦ ψηλαφῶντος ἡ διάκρισίς ἐστιν, ὁ τὰ νομικὰ σύμβολα γνωστικῶς ἐπερχόμενος καὶ τὴν φαινομένην τῶν ὄντων φύσιν ἐπιστημονικῶς θεώμενος, διακρίνων τὴν Γραφὴν καὶ τὴν κτίσιν καὶ ἑαυτόν, τὴν μὲν Γραφὴν εἰς γράμμα καὶ πνεῦμα, τὴν δὲ κτίσιν εἰς λόγον καὶ ἐπιφάνειαν, ἑαυτὸν δὲ εἰς νοῦν καὶ αἴσθησιν, καὶ τῆς μὲν Γραφῆς τὸ πνεῦμα, τῆς δὲ κτίσεως τὸν λόγον, ἑαυτοῦ δὲ τὸν νοῦν λαβὼν καὶ ἀλλήλοις ἀλύτως ἑνώσας, εὗρε Θεόν, ὡς ἐπιγνούς, καθὼς δεῖ καὶ δυνατόν ἐστιν, τὸν Θεὸν τὸν ἐν νῷ καὶ λόγῳ καὶ πνεύματι, πάντων τῶν πλανώντων καὶ εἰς μυρίας δόξας κατασυρόντων ἀπαλλαγείς, λέγω δὲ γράμματος καὶ ἐπιφανείας καὶ αἰσθήσεως, ἐν οἷς ἡ διάφορος ὑπάρχει ποσότης καὶ τῆς μονάδος ἀντίθετος. Εἰ δὲ τὸ γράμμα τοῦ νόμου καὶ τὴν τῶν ὁρωμένων ἐπιφάνειαν καὶ τὴν οἰκείαν αἴσθησιν ἀλλήλοις τις προσπλέξας συμφύρῃ, τυφλός ἐστι μυωπάζων, τὴν τῆς αἰτίας τῶν ὄντων ἀγνωσίαν νοσῶν.

ΣΧΟΛΙΟΝ 1. Ὁ μόνον, φησίν, τῆς Γραφῆς τό πνεῦμα δίχα τῶν τύπων καί τῆς κτίσεως

δίχα τῶν σχημάτων τούς λόγους, κατά μόνον (14Β_218> τόν νοῦν, τῆς κατά τήν αἴσθησιν ἐνεργείας ἀπηλλαγμένον ἑωρακώς, εὗρεν Θεόν· ἐν μέν τῷ πνεύματι τῆς Γραφῆς, ὡς ἀγαθότητος· ἐν δέ τοῖς τῶν ὄντων λόγοις, ὡς δυνάμεως· ἐν ἑαυτῷ δέ, ὡς σοφίας αἴτιον. Οἱ γάρ τῶν ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων λόγοι, τήν δύναμιν ἀφηγοῦνται τοῦ Κτίσαντος· καί τό τῆς Γραφῆς πνεῦμα πρός θέωσιν ἐπανάγον πλανηθέντας, τήν ἀγαθότητα διαγγέλλει τοῦ γράψαντος· καί τό καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς νοερόν, ἀδιαστάτως τούς τῶν γεγονότων λόγους χωροῦν, ἀναφανδόν τήν τοῦ Τεχνίτου κηρύσσει σοφίαν.

ΛΓ (33). ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ "ΑΜΗΝ ΛΕΓΩ ΥΜΙΝ, ΟΣ ΑΝ ΕΙΠΗ ΤΩ ΟΡΕΙ ΤΟΥΤΩ". 33. ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΛΓ' Τί ἐστι ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι ὃς ἂν εἴπῃ τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ Ἄρθητι καὶ βλήθητι εἰς

τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ μὴ διακριθῇ ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ ἀλλὰ πιστεύσῃ ὅτι ἃ λέγει γίνεται, ἔσται αὐτῷ, ὃ ἐὰν εἴπῃ; Τί ἐστι τὸ καὶ μὴ διακριθῇ;

Ἀπόκρισις. Ὁ μὲν θεῖος καὶ μέγας ἀπόστολος, τί ἐστι πίστις ὁρίζων, φησὶ πίστις ἐστὶν

ἐλπιζομένων ὑπόστασις καὶ πραγμάτων ἔλεγχος οὐ βλεπομένων. Εἰ δέ τις καὶ ἐνδιάθετον ἀγαθὸν αὐτὴν ὁρίσαιτο ἢ γνῶσιν ἀληθῆ τῶν ἀπορρήτων ἀγαθῶν ἀποδεικτικήν, τῆς ἀληθείας οὐ διήμαρτεν. Ὁ δὲ Κύριος, διδάσκων περὶ τῶν ἀπορρήτων ἀγαθῶν καὶ τῶν ἐλπιζομένων καὶ οὐχ ὁρωμένων, φησὶν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐντὸς ὑμῶν ἐστιν. Οὐκοῦν ταὐτὸν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ πίστις ἐστίν, κατὰ μόνην ἐπίνοιαν διαιρουμένη πρὸς τὴν βασιλείαν. Ἡ μὲν γὰρ πίστις ἀνείδεος Θεοῦ βασιλεία ἐστίν, ἡ δὲ βασιλεία πίστις θειωδῶς εἰδοπεποιημένη. Ὥστε κατὰ τοῦτον τὸν λόγον οὐκ ἐκτὸς ἡμῶν ἐστιν ἡ πίστις, ἥτις, ἐνεργουμένη ταῖς θείαις ἐντολαῖς, γίνεται βασιλεία Θεοῦ, μόνοις γινωσκομένη τοῖς ἔχουσι. (14Β_220> Εἰ δὲ ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐνεργουμένη πίστις ἐστίν, ἡ δὲ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν αὐτὴν βασιλευόντων ἄμεσον πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ποιεῖται τὴν ἕνωσιν, ἡ πίστις ἀπεδείχθη σαφῶς ὑπάρχουσα δύναμις σχετικὴ ἢ σχέσις δραστικὴ τῆς ὑπὲρ φύσιν ἀμέσου τοῦ πιστεύοντος πρὸς τὸν πιστευόμενον Θεὸν τελείας ἑνώσεως.

Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐκ ψυχῆς ὑπάρχων καὶ σώματος, δυσὶ σαλεύεται νόμοις, σαρκὸς λέγω καὶ πνεύματος, καὶ ὁ μὲν τῆς σαρκὸς νόμος κατὰ τὴν αἴσθησιν, ὁ δὲ τοῦ πνεύματος κατὰ τὸν νοῦν κέκτηται τὴν ἐνέργειαν, καὶ ὁ μὲν τῆς σαρκὸς ὕλῃ