,

is by nature suited to bind, acting according to the senses, while that of the spirit, acting according to the intellect, makes its union immediately with God. Reasonably, he who is not divided in his heart, that is, who has not in his intellect divided or severed the immediate union with God that comes through faith, as one who is dispassionate, or rather having already become God by union through faith, will say to this mountain to move, and it will move, demonstratively indicating by saying ‘this’ the mindset and the law of the flesh, which is truly heavy and difficult to move and, as far as natural power is concerned, completely immobile and unshakable.

For the power of irrationality is so rooted in the nature of men through the senses that many think man is nothing other than flesh, possessing the senses as a power for the enjoyment of the present life. Indeed, all things are possible for the one who believes and is not divided, that is, not separated from the union with God that has come to him through faith according to the intellect on account of the soul’s relationship to the body according to the senses—all things that alienate the intellect from the world and the flesh, and appropriate it to God, perfected by right actions.

(14B_222> SCHOLIA 1. He calls bare faith a formless kingdom, not having that from the

virtues a divine likeness. But he calls faith that has the divine form of goodness through works a kingdom.

2. Faith, he says, is unprovable knowledge. And if it is unprovable knowledge, then faith is a relation beyond nature, through which we are united to God unknowingly, but not demonstrably, according to the union beyond intellection.

3. The intellect, having received immediate union with God, has its natural power of thinking and being thought completely at rest. For whenever it should break this by thinking of something after God, it becomes divided, severing the union beyond intellection; in which, while it is joined to God, as being beyond nature, and having become God by participation, like an unmovable boundary, it transposes its own law of nature.

4. He says that one must understand in addition the phrase: ‘All things are possible for the one who believes,’ all those things which alienate the intellect from the world and the flesh. For these are the things possible for the believer with God.

LD (34). CONCERNING "THEREFORE I TELL YOU THAT WHATEVER YOU

ASK FOR IN PRAYER, BELIEVE THAT YOU RECEIVE". 34. QUESTION 34 What again is the meaning of "therefore I tell you that whatever you ask for in prayer,"

"believe that you receive, and it will be yours"? How can one believe that he certainly receives what he asks, when God alone knows whether what is asked is beneficial or not? And if out of ignorance one asks for what is not beneficial, how does He grant it? And if (14B_224> He does not grant what is unbeneficially asked for out of ignorance, how can one believe with every request that he receives it and it will be his?

Response. All the points of the present chapter have been resolved in summary in the one before it.

have been resolved. For it belongs only to those who have understood how one must believe to know what one must ask, how, and concerning what things. For not all have knowledge, just as not all have faith. Nevertheless the Lord, when he said "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness," that is, before all things the knowledge of the truth and thus the practice of fitting ways, clearly showed that believers ought to seek only divine knowledge and the virtue that adorns it through works. Since, then, many things are sought by believers for the knowledge of God and virtue,

συνδεῖν πέφυκε κατὰ τὴν αἴσθησιν ἐνεργούμενος, ὁ δὲ τοῦ πνεύματος κατὰ νοῦν ἐνεργούμενος πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἀμέσως ποιεῖται τὴν ἕνωσιν, εἰκότως ὁ μὴ διακριθεὶς ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ, τουτέστιν ἐν τῷ νοῖ μὴ διακρίνας ἤγουν διατεμὼν τὴν διὰ τῆς πίστεως πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν γεγενημένην ἄμεσον ἕνωσιν, ὡς ἀπαθής, μᾶλλον δὲ Θεὸς ἤδη διὰ τῆς πίστεως τῇ ἑνώσει γεγενημένος, ἐρεῖ τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ μεταβῆναι καὶ μεταβήσεται, δεικτικῶς διὰ τοῦ τούτῳ φάναι τὸ φρόνημα καὶ τὸν νόμον δηλῶν τῆς σαρκός, τὸν βαρὺν ὄντως καὶ δυσμετακίνητον καί, ὅσον πρὸς δύναμιν φυσικήν, παντελῶς ἀκίνητον καὶ ἀσάλευτον.

Τοσοῦτον γὰρ ἐρρίζωται τῇ φύσει τῶν ἀνθρώπων διὰ τῆς αἰσθήσεως τῆς ἀλογίας ἡ δύναμις, ὥστε τοὺς πολλοὺς μὴδ᾽ ἄλλό τι νομίζειν εἶναι τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἢ σάρκα, δύναμιν πρὸς ἀπόλαυσιν τῆς παρούσης ζωῆς τὴν αἴσθησιν ἔχουσαν. Πάντα γοῦν δυνατὰ τῷ πιστεύοντι καὶ μὴ διακρινομένῳ, τουτέστι μὴ διαιρουμένῳ τῆς κατὰ νοῦν διὰ τῆς πίστεως γεγενημένης αὐτῷ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἑνώσεως διὰ τὴν πρὸς τὸ σῶμα τῆς ψυχῆς κατὰ τὴν αἴσθησιν σχέσιν, ὅσα κόσμου καὶ σαρκὸς τὸν νοῦν ἀλλοτριοῖ, Θεῷ δὲ προσοικειοῖ τετελειωμένον τοῖς κατορθώμασιν.

(14Β_222> ΣΧΟΛΙΑ 1. Τήν ψιλήν πίστιν λέγει βασιλείαν ἀνείδεον, οὐκ ἔχουσαν τήν ἐκ τῶν

ἀρετῶν θείαν ὁμοίωσιν. Βασιλείαν δέ λέγει τήν ἔχουσαν διά τῶν ἔργων τήν θείαν μορφήν τῆς ἀγαθότητος πίστιν.

2. Πίστις, φησίν, ἀναπόδεικτος γνῶσίς ἐστιν. Εἰ δέ γνῶσις ἀναπόδεικτός ἐστιν, ἄρα σχέσις ἐστίν ὑπέρ φύσιν ἡ πίστις, δι᾿ ἧς ἀγνώστως, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἀποδεικτικῶς ἑνούμεθα τῷ Θεῷ, κατά τήν ὑπέρ νόησιν ἕνωσιν.

3. Τήν ἄμεσον λαβών πρός τόν Θεόν ἕνωσιν ὁ νοῦς, τήν τοῦ νοεῖν καί νοεῖσθαι κατά φύσιν παντελῶς δύναμιν ἔχει σχολάζουσαν. Ὁπηνίκα γοῦν ταύτην λύσει νοήσας τι τῶν μετά Θεόν, διεκρίθη τεμών τήν ὑπέρ νόησιν ἕνωσιν· καθ᾿ ἥν ἕως ἐστί τῷ Θεῷ συνημμένος, ὡς ὑπέρ φύσιν, καί τῇ μεθέξει Θεός γεγενημένος, καθάπερ ὅρος ἀκίνητον, ἑαυτοῦ τόν τῆς φύσεως μετατίθησι νόμον.

4. Προσυπακουστέον φησί τό· Πάντα δυνατά τῷ πιστεύοντι, τά ὅσα κόσμου καί σαρκός τόν νοῦν ἀλλοτριοῖ. Ταῦτα γάρ εἰσι τά δυνατά τῷ πιστεύοντι παρά Θεῷ.

Λ∆ (34). ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ "∆ΙΑ ΤΟΥΤΟ ΛΕΓΩ ΥΜΙΝ ΟΤΙ ΠΑΝΤΑ ΟΣΑ ΑΝ

ΠΡΟΣΕΥΧΟΜΕΝΟΙ ΑΙΤΕΙΣΘΕ, ΠΙΣΤΕΥΕΤΕ ΟΤΙ ΛΑΜΒΑΝΕΤΕ". 34. ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Λ∆' Τί πάλιν ἐστὶ διὰ τοῦτο λέγω ὑμῖν ὅτι πάντα ὅσα ἂν προσευχόμενοι αἰτεῖσθε,

πιστεύετε ὅτι λαμβάνετε, καὶ ἔσται ὑμῖν. Πῶς τις δύναται πιστεύειν ὅτι πάντως λαμβάνει ὃ αἰτεῖ, μόνου τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰδότος εἰ συμφέρει τὸ αἰτούμενον ἢ μή; Καὶ εἰ ἐξ ἀγνοίας ὃ οὐ συμφέρει αἰτεῖ, πῶς παρέχει; Καὶ εἰ (14Β_224> οὐ παρέχει τὸ μὴ συμφερόντως ἐξ ἀγνοίας αἰτούμενον, πῶς πιστεῦσαί τις δύναται ἐπὶ παντὸς αἰτήματος ὅτι λαμβάνει καὶ ἔσται αὐτῷ;

Ἀπόκρισις. Πάντα μὲν τὰ τοῦ παρόντος κεφαλαίου κατ᾽ ἐπιτομὴν ἐν τῷ πρὸ αὐτοῦ

ἐπιλέλυται. Μόνων γὰρ τῶν ἐπεγνωκότων πῶς δεῖ πιστεύειν ἐστὶ τὸ εἰδέναι τί δεῖ καὶ πῶς καὶ περὶ τίνων αἰτεῖσθαι. Οὐ γὰρ πάντων ἡ γνῶσις, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ ἡ πίστις. Πλὴν ὁ Κύριος, εἰπὼν ζητεῖτε πρῶτον τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ, τουτέστι πρὸ πάντων τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ οὕτω τὴν τῶν καθηκόντων τρόπων ἐξάσκησιν, σαφῶς ἔδειξε περὶ μόνης τῆς θείας γνώσεως δεῖν ζητεῖν τοὺς πιστεύοντας καὶ τῆς αὐτὴν κοσμούσης διὰ τῶν ἔργων ἀρετῆς. Ἐπειδὴ γοῦν πολλὰ τυγχάνει τὰ πρὸς γνῶσιν Θεοῦ καὶ ἀρετὴν ζητούμενα τοῖς πιστεύουσι,