,

is the universal and more general virtue than the others, and divided into six species, which are also general, so that, having been fitted to the power of nature, it might be contained, being formed into species in six ways through its modes, and who, in addition to these, are the servants (14B_254> who drew the water, who is the bridegroom, who is the bride, who is the master of the feast, who is the mother who announced with boldness to the Word that they have no wine. For all these things are left for examination for the initiate and initiator of the divine words and thoughts, if he in any way delights in the anagogical mode according to the intellect. However, so that the account concerning these things should not depart from us completely voiceless for the present, not giving even in part the spiritual banquet to those who hunger rightly, I will speak according to my ability, not promising to reveal the whole meaning in what has been said—for my intellect is weak for the comprehension of the intelligible sights in these things—but as much as the capacity of my mind is naturally able to contain.

Therefore, they say that the most general of the virtues is love, and they say that the productive cause of this, the most general power of nature, is reason; which, firmly grasping its own cause, when actualized is divided into six more general modes, which are comprehensive of the species into which the principle of love is naturally divided, caring for the hungry and thirsty and strangers and naked and sick and those in prison, both bodily and spiritually. For the principle of virtue is not circumscribed by bodies alone, nor is the power of nature concerned only with sensation. Therefore, the most general power of nature has become the specific cause of the most general virtue, dividing the virtue into as many species by its own six modes, through which nature is united to the monadic character of judgment, showing the indivisible principle of creation equally in all things, being brought together to itself in doing and receiving good; which the intellect, taking up again in strength through fitting labors, circumcises all the excesses and deficiencies of nature, which the self-love of each person's judgment, having contrived, has turned the most gentle nature into a beast and has cut the one substance into many contrary, and, to say nothing worse, (14B_256> parts destructive of one another, and bearing it, shows the stable mean, according to which the laws of the virtues were written according to nature from the beginning by God. And perhaps demonstrating this mystery, the Word introduces the six water jars as empty and waterless, signifying the inactivity concerning the good of the most general power according to nature. Thus, therefore, the most general power according to nature, being divided into six modes according to practice, forms the most general of virtues into as many species, comprehending it whole in whole; having come into being according to which, nature receives its own most general law, an unerring judge of truth, whom the account called the master of the feast, having clearly discerned that the good wine, which the Word later mixed through His own presence, human nature had to drink first at the beginning and become intoxicated, I mean the better and higher Word concerning God, and thus later, as if it were wines, to be initiated into the principles of created things, which are inferior in comparison to the first Word. For it was most just, indeed, and most fitting, for nature to be initiated first into the principle for which it came to be, and thus later to seek the principles of the things that came to be for its sake.

And those who drew the water are the ministers of both the Old and the New Testament, I mean the holy patriarchs and the lawgivers and the generals, the judges and the kings and the prophets and the evangelists and apostles, through whom the water of knowledge was drawn and given back to nature again; which was changed into the grace of deification by the Word who as good created nature and deified it by grace through love for humanity. And if someone should say that the ministers are also the scientific and pious reasonings according to nature, from the

δύναμίς ἐστιν ἡ καθόλου καὶ γενικωτέρα τῶν ἄλλων ἀρετή, καὶ εἰς ἓξ εἴδη, καὶ αὐτὰ γενικά, διαιρουμένη, ἵνα, τῇ δυνάμει τῆς φύσεως ἁρμοσθεῖσα, χωρηθῇ διὰ τῶν ἐκείνης τρόπων ἑξαχῶς εἰδοποιουμένη, τίνες δὲ πρὸς τούτοις οἱ τὸ ὕδωρ ἠντληκότες (14Β_254> ὑπηρέται, τίς ὁ νυμφίος, τίς ἡ νύμφη, τίς ὁ ἀρχιτρίκλινος, τίς ἡ τῷ λόγῳ παρρησιαστικῶς ἀπαγγείλασα μήτηρ ὅτι οἶνον οὐκ ἔχουσιν. Ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα λείπεται πρὸς ἐξέτασιν τῷ μύστῃ καὶ μυσταγωγῷ τῶν θείων καὶ λόγων καὶ νοημάτων, εἴπερ πάντως τῷ τῆς ἀναγωγῆς κατὰ νοῦν ἥδεται τρόπῳ. Πλὴν ἵνα μὴ παντελῶς ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἄφωνος καταλειφθεὶς ἡμῖν ὁ περὶ τούτων οἰχήσεται λόγος, μὴ διδοὺς τοῖς καλῶς πεινῶσι κἂν ἀπὸ μέρους τὴν πνευματικὴν πανδαισίαν, ἐρῶ κατὰ δύναμιν, οὐχ ὅλην ἀποκαλύπτειν ἐπαγγελλόμενος τὴν ἐν τοῖς εἰρημένοις διάνοιανἀσθενὴς γὰρ πρὸς περίληψιν τῶν ἐν τούτοις νοητῶν θεαμάτων ὁ ἐμὸς καθέστηκε νοῦς ἀλλ᾽ ὅσην ἡ τῆς ἐμῆς διανοίας χωρεῖν πέφυκε δύναμις.

Γενικωτάτην οὖν τῶν ἀρετῶν φασιν εἶναι τὴν ἀγάπην, τὴν δὲ ταύτης ποιητικὴν γενικωτάτην τῆς φύσεως δύναμίν φασιν εἶναι τὸν λόγον· ὅς, τῆς οἰκείας ἀπρὶξ ἐπιλαβόμενος αἰτίας, ἐνεργούμενος εἰς ἓξ διακρίνεται γενικωτέρους τρόπους περιληπτικοὺς τῶν οἷς ὁ τῆς ἀγάπης διακρίνεσθαι πέφυκε λόγος εἰδῶν, πεινῶντας καὶ διψῶντας καὶ ξένους καὶ γυμνοὺς ἀσθενοῦντάς τε καὶ τοὺς ἐν φυλακῇ περιποιούμενος σωματικῶς τε καὶ πνευματικῶς. Οὐ γὰρ μόνοις τοῖς σώμασιν ὁ τῆς ἀρετῆς περιγράφεται λόγος, οὐδὲ περὶ μόνην τὴν αἴσθησιν ἡ τῆς φύσεως καταγίνεται δύναμις. Εἰδοποιὸς οὖν τῆς γενικωτάτης καθέστηκεν ἀρετῆς ἡ γενικωτάτη τῆς φύσεως δύναμις, τοῖς οἰκείοις ἓξ τρόποις εἰς εἴδη τοσαῦτα τὴν ἀρετὴν διακρίνουσα, δι᾽ ὧν ἡ φύσις ἑνοῦται τῷ τῆς γνώμης μοναδικῷ, τὸν ἐν πᾶσιν ἰσοτίμως ἀδιαίρετον τῆς πλάσεως δεικνῦσα λόγον, ἐν τῷ ποιεῖν εὖ καὶ πάσχειν πρὸς ἑαυτὸν συναγόμενον· ὃν ἐρρωμένον ἐπαναλαβὼν διὰ τῶν καθηκόντων πόνων ὁ νοῦς πάσας περιτέμνει τῆς φύσεως τὰς ὑπερβολὰς καὶ τὰς ἐλλείψεις, ἃς ἡ φιλαυτία τῆς ἑκάστου γνώμης ἐπινοήσασα τὴν ἡμερωτάτην ἐθηρίωσε φύσιν καὶ τὴν μίαν οὐσίαν εἰς πολλὰς καὶ ἀντιθέτους, οὐδὲν δὲ χεῖρον εἰπεῖν, (14Β_256> καὶ φθαρτικὰς ἀλλήλων κατέτεμε μοίρας, καὶ τὴν σταθερὰν μεσότητα φέρων δείκνυσιν, καθ᾽ ἣν τῶν ἀρετῶν οἱ νόμοι κατὰ φύσιν ἐξ ἀρχῆς θεόθεν ἐγράφησαν. Καὶ τοῦτο τυχὸν παραδεικνὺς τὸ μυστήριον ὁ Λόγος τὰς ἓξ ὑδρίας εἰσάγει κενὰς καὶ ἀνύδρους, ὑποφαινούσας τῆς κατὰ φύσιν γενικωτάτης δυνάμεως τὴν περὶ τὸ καλὸν ἀπραξίαν. Οὕτω μὲν οὖν ἡ κατὰ φύσιν γενικωτάτη δύναμις, εἰς ἓξ διαιρουμένη κατὰ τὴν πρᾶξιν τρόπους, εἰς εἴδη τοσαῦτα μορφοῖ τὴν γενικωτάτην τῶν ἀρετῶν, ὅλην ὅλη περιλαμβάνουσα· καθ᾽ ἣν γενομένη, τὸν ἑαυτῆς γενικώτατον δέχεται νόμον ἡ φύσις ἄπταιστον τῆς ἀληθείας κριτήν, ὃν ὁ λόγος προσηγόρευσεν ἀρχιτρίκλινον, διεγνωκότα σαφῶς ὅτι τὸν καλὸν οἶνον, ὃν ὕστερον διὰ τῆς ἰδίας παρουσίας ὁ Λόγος ἐκέρασεν, ἔδει κατ᾽ ἀρχὰς πρῶτον πιεῖν καὶ μεθυσθῆναι τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν φύσιν, λέγω δὲ τὸν περὶ Θεοῦ κρείττονα καὶ ὑψηλότερον Λόγον, καὶ οὕτως ὕστερον, καθάπερ οἴνους, τοὺς ὅσον πρὸς τὸν πρῶτον Λόγον ἥττονας, τῶν γεγονότων μυηθῆναι λόγους. ∆ικαιότατον γὰρ ἦν, ὡς ἀληθῶς καὶ πρεπωδέστατον τὸν δι᾽ ὃν γέγονε λόγον μυηθῆναι πρότερον τὴν φύσιν, καὶ οὕτως ὕστερον ζητῆσαι τῶν δι᾽ αὐτὴν γενομένων τοὺς λόγους.

Οἱ ἠντληκότες δὲ τὸ ὕδωρ εἰσὶν οἱ διάκονοι τῆς τε Παλαιᾶς καὶ τῆς Καινῆς ∆ιαθήκης, φημὶ δὲ τοὺς ἁγίους πατριάρχας καὶ τοὺς νομοθέτας καὶ τοὺς στρατηγοὺς τοὺς κριτάς τε καὶ τοὺς βασιλεῖς καὶ τοὺς προφήτας καὶ τοὺς εὐαγγελιστὰς καὶ ἀποστόλους, δι᾽ ὧν ἠντλήθη τὸ ὕδωρ τῆς γνώσεως καὶ ἀπεδόθη τῇ φύσει πάλιν· ὅπερ μετέβαλεν εἰς τὴν τῆς θεώσεως χάριν ὁ τὴν φύσιν ὡς ἀγαθὸς δημιουργήσας καὶ θεώσας διὰ φιλανθρωπίαν τῇ χάριτι Λόγος. Εἰ δὲ καὶ τοὺς κατὰ φύσιν ἐπιστημονικούς τε καὶ εὐσεβεῖς λογισμοὺς εἴποι τις εἶναι διακόνους, ἐκ τῆς τῶν