62

He who, in accordance with the first contemplation of the aforementioned saying, 0901 in this age, of which we said "today" is a symbol, seeks through prayer the incorruptible bread of wisdom, from which the transgression originally separated us, since indeed he understands one pleasure, the attainment of divine things, of which God is the giver by nature, but the will of the one who receives is the guardian by choice; and knowing one pain, the failure to attain these things, of which the devil is the instigator, but the perpetrator is everyone who grows weary of divine things through weakness of will [Ven. et Fr. ἀποκναιόμενος]; not guarding that precious thing cherished by the dispositions of the will; having a will that in no way inclines toward any visible things, and for this (15Γ_258> reason is not subject to the painful things that happen to him bodily(6); this one truly, impassibly forgives those who sin against him; because no one can at all overpower the good for which he strives according to his desire, which is believed to be incorruptible by nature. And he establishes himself as an exemplar of virtue for God, if it is licit to say this, bidding the inimitable One to come to imitate him, saying: Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors; and just as he has become to his neighbors, he beseeches God to be to him. For if he wishes to be forgiven by God just as he has forgiven the debts of those who have sinned against him, it is clear that just as God impassibly forgives those whom he forgives, so also he, remaining impassible in the face of what happens, forgives those who have transgressed; not allowing the mind to be imprinted with any memory [Fr. memory] of past hurts, so that, being a man, he may not be convicted of severing nature by his will, being at odds with any man.

For thus, when the will has been united to the principle of nature, God’s reconciliation to nature is disposed to occur, because it is otherwise impossible for nature, when it is in a state of sedition against itself through its will, to receive the divine and ineffable condescension. And perhaps for this reason God wills us first to make reconciliations with one another, not that he might learn from us to be reconciled to sinners and to forgive the penalty for many and terrible crimes, but that he might purify us from passions and show that the disposition of those who are forgiven is consonant with the state of grace(7). But it has been made clearly evident that when the will is united to the principle of nature, the choice of those who have accomplished this will be without sedition toward God; (15Γ_260> since nothing irrational is naturally contemplated in the principle of nature, which is both a natural and a divine law(8), when it receives the movement of the will acting in accordance with it. And if there is nothing irrational in the principle of nature, its activity will be consonant with God in all things; which is [Fr. which will be] a disposition in action, qualified by the grace of that which is good by nature for the generation of virtue.

0904 Thus, then, is the one who asks for the gnostic bread disposed when he prays, after whom also that one who seeks only the daily bread because of the force of nature, will be disposed in the same way; having forgiven his debtors their debts, as one who knows that he is by nature mortal, and henceforth each day, on account of its uncertainty, expecting what is naturally appointed, he anticipates nature according to his will; becoming voluntarily dead to the world, according to the saying which declares, *For your sake we are being killed all day long; we were regarded as sheep for slaughter*; and for this reason he makes a libation to all, so that he may not carry with him any token of the wickedness of the present age, as he passes over to the ageless life; and may receive from the Judge and Savior of all an equal recompense for what he has previously dispensed here. For a pure disposition toward those who have caused pain has been established as necessary for both, for their own benefit; for the sake of all things, yet not when, through the power of the remaining sayings, which is of this sort.

62

Ὁ κατά τήν πρώτην τῆς τοῦ προλαβόντος ῥητοῦ 0901 θεωρίας ἐπιβολήν, κατά τόν αἰῶνα τοῦτον, οὗ σύμβολον εἶναι τό σήμερον ἔφαμεν, τόν ἄφθαρτον ἄρτον τῆς σοφίας, οὗ καταρχάς διετείχισεν ἡμᾶς ἡ παράβασις, διά προσευχῆς ἐπιζητῶν, ἅτε δή μίαν ἡδονήν ἐπιστάμενος τήν τῶν θείων ἐπιτυχίαν, ἧς δοτήρ μέν κατά φύσιν ἐστίν ὁ Θεός· φύλαξ δέ κατά θέλησιν ἡ τοῦ λαβόντος προαίρεσις· καί μίαν ὀδύνην εἰδώς, τήν τούτων ἀποτυχίαν, ἧς ὑποβολεύς μέν ἐστιν ὀ διάβολος· αὐτουργός δέ, πᾶς ὁ τῶν θείων δι᾿ ἀτονίαν γνώμης ἀποκαμνόμενος [Ven. et Fr. ἀποκναιόμενος]· μή φυλάττων τό τίμιον γνώμης διαθέσεσι στεργόμενον· πρός οὐδέν ἔχων τῶν ὀρωμένων ῥέπουσαν τό σύνολον τήν προαίρεσιν, καί διά (15Γ_258> τοῦτο τοῖς σωματικῶς αὐτῷ συμβαίνουσι λυπηροῖς οὐχ ὑπαγόμενος(6)· οὗτος ὡς ἀληθῶς, ἀπαθῶς ἀφίησι τοῖς εἰς αὐτόν ἁμαρτάνωσιν· ὅτι μηδέ τό κατ᾿ ἔφεσιν αὐτῷ σπουδαζόμενον δύναταί τις τό παράπαν χειροῦσθαι καλόν, ἀνάλωτον κατά φύσιν ὑπάρχειν πεπιστευμένον. Καί τῷ Θεῷ καθίστησιν ἑαυτόν ἀρετῆς ἐξεμπλάριον, εἰ τοῦτο θέμις εἰπεῖν, πρός μίμησιν ἑαυτοῦ τόν ἀμίμητον ἐλθεῖν ἐγκελευόμενος, λέγων· Ἄφες ἡμῖν τά ὀφειλήματα ἡμῶν, ὡς καί ἡμεῖς ἀφίεμεν τοῖς ὀφειλέταις ἡμῶν· καί οἷος αὐτός γέγονε τοῖς πέλας, οἷ γενέσθαι παρακαλῶν τόν Θεόν. Εἰ γάρ ὡς αὐτός ἀφῆκε τά ὀφειλήματα τοῖς εἰς αὐτόν ἡμαρτηκόσι, βούλεται καί αὐτῷ ἀφεθῆναι παρά Θεοῦ, δηλονότι ὥσπερ ὁ Θεός ἀπαθῶς ἀφίησιν οἷς ἀφίησιν, οὕτως καί αὐτός ἀπαθής ἐπί τοῖς συμβαίνουσι διαμένων, ἀφίησι τοῖς πλημμελήσασι· μή συγχωρῶν μνήμῃ [Fr. μνήμην] τινί τῶν φθασάντων λυπηρῶν τυποῦσθαι τόν νοῦν, ἵνα μή τέμνων τῇ γνώμῃ τήν φύσιν ἐλέγχηται, πρός τινα τῶν ἀνθρώπων διεστηκώς, ἄνθρωπος ὤν.

Οὕτω γάρ ἄν ἑνωθείσης τῆς γνώμης τῷ λόγῳ τῆς φύσεως, ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ πρός τήν φύσιν καταλλαγή γίνεσθαι πέφυκεν, ὅτι μήτε δυνατόν ἑτέρως κατά τήν γνώμην πρός ἑαυτήν στασιάζουσαν τήν φύσιν, τήν θείαν καί ἀνεκλάλητον ὑποδέξασθαι συγκατάβασιν. Καί τυχόν διά τοῦτο πρότερον ἡμᾶς βούλεται τάς πρός ἀλλήλους ποιεῖσθαι καταλλαγάς ὁ Θεός, οὐχ ἴνα παρ᾿ ἡμῶν μάθῃ καταλλάτεσθαι τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσι, καί τῶν πολλῶν συγχωρεῖν καί φοβερῶν ἐγκλημάτων τήν ἔκτισιν, ἀλλ᾿ ἵνα ἡμᾶς καθάρῃ παθῶν, καί δείξῃ συμβαίνουσαν τῇ σχέσει τῆς χάριτος τήν τῶν συγχωρουμένων διάθεσιν(7). Σαφῶς δέ καθέστηκε δῆλον ὅτι τῆς γνώμης ἑνωθείσης τῷ λόγῳ τῆς φύσεως, ἀστασίαστος ἔσται πρός τόν Θεόν ἡ τῶν τοῦτο κατωρθωκότων προαίρεσις· (15Γ_260> εἴπερ οὐδέν πέφυκεν ἐνθεωρεῖσθαι παράλογον τῷ λόγῳ τῆς φύσεως, ὅς καί νόμος ἐστί φυσικός τε καί θεῖος(8), ὅταν καθ᾿ ἑαυτόν ἐνεργουμένην λάβῃ τῆς γνώμης τήν κίνησιν. Εἰ δέ παράλογον οὐδέν ἐστιν ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῆς φύσεως, συμβαίνουσαν ἕξει διά πάντων τῷ Θεῷ τήν ἐνέργειαν· ἥτις ἐστι [Fr. ἥτις ἔσται] διάθεσις ἔμπρακτος, τῇ χάριτι τοῦ φύσει καλοῦ πρός ἀρετῆς γένεσιν πεποιωμένη.

0904 Οὕτω μέν οὖν, ὁ τόν γνωστικόν ἄρτον αἰτῶν διάκειται προσευχόμενος, μεθ᾿ ὅν κακεῖνος ὁ μόνον τόν ἐφήμερον ἄρτον ἐπιζητῶν διά τήν βίαν τῆς φύσεως, κατά τόν αὐτόν διατεθήσεται τρόπον· ἀφείς τοῖς ὀφειλέταις τά ὀφειλήματα, οἷα δή γνούς, ὅτι κατά φύσιν ὑπάρχει θνητός, καί λοιπόν καθ᾿ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν διά τήν ἀδηλίαν τό φύσει πεφυκός ἐκδεχόμενος, προλαμβάνει τήν φύσιν κατά τήν γνώμην· αὐθαίρετος νεκρός πρός τόν κόσμον γινόμενος, κατά τό φάσκον λόγιον, ὅτι Ἕνεκεν σοῦ θανατούμεθα ὅλην τήν ἡμέραν· ἐλογίσθημεν ὡς πρόβατα σφαγῆς· καί διά τοῦτο σπενδόμενος ἅπασιν, ἵνα μηδέν ἑαυτῷ συνεπικομίζηται γνώρισμα τῆς μοχθηρίας τοῦ νῦν αἰῶνος, πρός τήν ἀγήρω ζωήν μεθιστάμενος· καί λάβῃ παρά τοῦ κριτοῦ καί Σωτῆρος τῶν ὅλων, ὧν ἐνταῦθα προκέχρηκε τήν ἴσην ἀντίδοσιν. Ἀναγκαία γάρ ἀμφοτέροις πρός τήν σφῶν αὐτῶν λυσιτέλειαν καθέστηκεν ἡ καθαρά πρός τούς λελυπηκότας διάθεσις· πάντων μέν ἕνεκεν, οὐχ ἡνίκα δέ διά τῶν λειπομένων ῥητῶν δύναμιν, τοῦτον ἔχουσαν τόν τρόπον.