54

of me in paradise), but tomorrow that of the future, in which one must expect no remission of sins, but only the recompense of a reward according to merit appropriate for each one for the things lived.

53. ANOTHER CONTEMPLATION FOR THOSE WHO ARE PERPLEXED ABOUT ... «HIGHER THAN THE HIGH, AND ..».

1176 Another contemplation for those who are perplexed about the saying in the oration on the Dedication which says, “Higher than the high, and more wonderful than the wonderful.” And again, that the first Sunday is a symbol of the future natural resurrection and incorruptibility, and the second bears the image of the future deification according to grace. If therefore (14∆_226> the enjoyment of good things is more honorable than the state of being pure from evils, and the state of perfection according to true knowledge is more honorable than a sound choice according to virtue, and the transformation in grace toward God according to deification is more honorable than natural incorruptibility, of which the first Sunday bears the type, and the second happens to be the symbol, the teacher, being led by the Spirit, fittingly said that the new Sunday is higher than the high.

54. A NATURAL CONTEMPLATION, THROUGH WHICH THE SAINTS WERE TAUGHT ABOUT GOD FROM CREATURES

A natural contemplation, through which the saints were taught about God from creatures. Thus therefore the saints, having understood creation through contemplation, and its good order and proportion and the use which each thing provides to the whole, and how all things have been created perfectly, wisely and providentially, according to the principle for which they have been created, and how it is not possible for created things to be well otherwise than they now are, not needing addition or subtraction in order to be well otherwise, they were taught about the Creator from his own works; so also the permanence, and the order and the position of created things, and the process, according to which all things stand according to their own kind, unconfused and free from all mixture, and the motion of the stars occurring in the same way, never altering anything at all, and the cycle of the year occurring in an orderly manner according to the restoration of the same things from the same to the same place, and the annual equality of nights and days, with each in turn increasing and decreasing, with neither a greater nor a lesser measure of increase or decrease happening to them, they understood that there is a Provider for existing things, whom they also recognized as God and Creator of all.

55. A NATURAL CONTEMPLATION CONCERNING THE WORLD HAVING A BEGINNING AND ORIGIN...

(14∆_228> A natural contemplation concerning the world having a beginning and origin, and everything else after God. For who, contemplating the beauty and magnitude of God's creatures, will not at once think of him as originator, as beginning and cause of existing things and Maker, and will run back in thought to him alone, leaving these things below, because it is not even in the nature of thought to contain the whole passage, to receive without intermediaries from the passions him whom it knew through the medium of his works, and the delusion of his own about the world being without beginning 1177 he will readily cast off, reasoning truly that everything that is moved has certainly also begun to move. And every motion is not without beginning, since it is not without cause either. A beginning

54

ἐμοῦ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ), ἡ δέ αὔριον τήν τοῦ μέλλοντος, καθ᾿ ἥν οὐδεμίαν μέν ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτημάτων ἐκδέχεσθαι χρή μόνην δέ τῆς ἑκάστῳ πρεπούσης κατ᾿ ἀξίαν ἀμοιβῆς τῶν βεβιωμένων ἀντίδοσιν.

ΝΓ (53). ΑΛΛΗ ΘΕΩΡΙΑ ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΥΣ ΑΠΟΡΟΥΝΤΑΣ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ ... «ΥΨΗΛΗΣ

ΥΨΗΛΟΤΕΡΑ, ΚΑΙ ..». 1176 Ἄλλη θεωρία πρός τούς ἀποροῦντας περί τοῦ ῥητοῦ τοῦ ἐν τῷ λόγῳ

τῶν Ἐγκαινίων τοῦ λέγοντος, «Ὑψηλῆς ὑψηλοτέρα, καί θαυμασίας θαυμασιωτέρα». Καί αὖθις τήν μέν πρώτην Κυριακήν τῆς μελλούσης φυσικῆς ἀναστάσεως καί

ἀφθαρσίας εἶναι σύμβολον, τήν δέ δευτέραν τῆς κατά χάριν μελλούσης θεώσεως φέρειν εἰκόνα. Εἰ τοίνυν (14∆_226> τῆς μέν καθαρευούσης κακῶν ἕξεως ἡ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀπόλαυσίς ἐστι τιμιωτέρα, τῆς δέ κατ᾿ ἀρετήν ὑγιοῦς προαιρέσεως ἡ ἕξις τῆς κατά τήν ἀληθῆ γνῶσιν τελειότητος, καί τῆς φυσικῆς ἀφθαρσίας ἡ ἐν χάριτι πρός τόν Θεόν κατά τήν θέωσιν μεταποίησις, ὧν ἡ μέν πρώτη Κυρικάη φέρει τύπον, ἡ δέ δευτέρα τυγχάνει σύμβολον, εἰκότως ὑψηλῆς ὑψηλοτέραν ἀγόμενος Πνεύματι τήν καινήν ὁ διδάσκαλος ἔφη Κυριακήν.

Ν∆ (54). ΘΕΩΡΙΑ ΦΥΣΙΚΗ, ∆Ι' ΗΣ ΤΟΝ ΘΕΟΝ ΕΚ ΤΩΝ ΚΤΙΣΜΑΤΩΝ ΟΙ ΑΓΙΟΙ

Ε∆Ι∆ΑΣΚΟΝΤΟ Θεωρία φυσική, δι᾿ ἧς τόν Θεόν ἐκ τῶν κτισμάτων οἱ ἅγιοι ἐδιδάσκοντο. Οὕτω μέν οὖν τήν κτίσιν κατανοήσαντες θεωρία οἱ ἅγιοι, καί τήν εὐκοσμίαν

αὐτῆς καί τήν ἀναλογίαν καί τήν χρείαν, ἥν ἕκαστον παρέχεται τῷ παντί, καί ὡς τέλεια πάντα σοφῶς τε καί προνοητικῶς καθ᾿ ὅν δεδημιούργηνται λόγον δεδημιουργημένα, καί ὡς οὐχ οἷόντε ἄλλως γε καλῶς ἔχειν τά γενόμενα παρ᾿ ὅ νῦν ἔχει, προσθήκης ἤ ἀφαιρέσεως πρός τό καλῶς ἄλλως ἔχειν μή δεόμενα τόν ∆ημιουργόν ἐκ τῶν αὐτοῦ ποιημάτων ἐδιδάχθησαν· οὕτω δέ τήν διαμονήν, τήν τε τάξιν καί τήν θέσιν τῶν γεγονότων, καί τήν διεξαγωγήν, καθ᾿ ἥν πάντα κατά τό οἰκεῖον ἕκαστα εἶδος ἔστηκεν ἀσύγχυτα καί παντός ἐλεύθερα φυρμοῦ, τήν τε τῶν ἄστρων φοράν κατά τόν αὐτόν τρόπον γινομένην, μηδέν μηδέποτε διαλλάττουσαν, καί τόν κύκλον τοῦ ἑνιαυτοῦ κατά τήν τῶν αὐτῶν ἀπό τοῦ αὐτοῦ εἰς τόν αὐτόν τόπον ἀποκατάστασιν εὐτάκτως γινόμενον, τῶν τε νυκτῶν καί τῶν ἡμερῶν τήν κατ᾿ ἔτος ἰσότητα, παρά μέρος ἑκατέρας αὐξανομένης τε καί μειουμένης, οὔτε πλείονι οὔτε ἐλάττονι μέτρῳ τῆς αὐξήσεως αὐταῖς ἤ τῆς μειώσεως ἐπιγινομένης, προνοητήν ἠπίστησαν εἶναι τῶν ὄντων, ὅν καί Θεόν καί ∆ημιουργόν τῶν ὅλων ἐπέγνωσαν.

ΝΕ (55). ΘΕΩΡΙΑ ΦΥΣΙΚΗ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ ΑΡΧΗΝ ΕΧΕΙΝ ΤΟΝ ΚΟΣΜΟΝ ΚΑΙ ΓΕΝΕΣΙΝ...

(14∆_228> Θεωρία φυσική περί τοῦ ἀρχήν ἔχειν τόν κόσμον καί γένεσιν, καί πᾶν ἄλλο

μετά Θεόν. Τίς γάρ τό κάλλος καί τό μέγεθος τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ κτισμάτων θεώμενος οὐκ

εὐθύς αὐτόν γενεσιουργόν ἐννοήσει, ὡς ἀρχήν καί αἰτίαν τῶν ὄντων καί Ποιητήν, καί πρός αὐτόν μόνον ἀναδραμεῖται τῇ διανοίᾳ, ταῦτα ἀφείς κάτω, ὅτι μηδέ πέφυκε τῆς διανοίας χωρεῖν τόν ὅλην διάβασιν, λαβεῖν παθῶν ἀμέσως ὅν διά μέσων τῶν ἔργων ἐγνώρισε, καί τήν περί τοῦ ἄναρχον εἶναι τόν κόσμον ἑαυτοῦ πλάνην 1177 ἑτοίμως ἀπώσεται, λογιζόμενος ἀληθῶς ὅτι πᾶν κινούμενον πάντως καί ἤρξατο τῆς κινήσεως. Πᾶσα δέ κίνησις οὐκ ἄναρχος, ἐπειδή οὐδέ ἀναίτιος. Ἀρχήν