63

into many other things. Which things, if someone wished to hand them over to writing through a precise examination, he would collect a long discourse and spend much time, so that it would not even be tolerable to the readers because of the great length.

Great, therefore, and truly wonderful is it, and requiring much attention and diligence, and before these things, divine assistance, to be able first to master the material dyad of the innate powers, I mean anger and desire, and the division according to them; and blessed is he who has been able to readily lead these wherever reason sees fit, until, through the practical application of moral philosophy, he is cleansed of his former thoughts.

63 (63) ... CONCERNING THAT ONE MUST NOT ... TO THE LAW OF NATURE THE WORD OF WISDOM

JOIN... (14D_262> A Contemplation from Scripture concerning that the gnostic must not to the law of nature

join the word of wisdom, and what is the addition of the letter alpha to the name of Abraham.

And then to rise above them and to cast them off completely, like Hagar

and Ishmael, that great Abraham, since his reasoning faculty, like that Isaac, was already able to be exercised in the contemplation of divine things, being taught by the divine voice that comes through knowledge, that the divine offspring of free knowledge according to the spirit, which is according to the intellect, attached to the slavish seed of the flesh, cannot obtain the blessed promise, which is the grace of deification set before those who love the Lord in hope, which he had already received beforehand in a typological way, having been mystically united through faith to the principle of the monad, according to which he became uniform, or rather, one from many, and was magnificently brought together alone to the Alone, that is, entirely to God, bringing with him absolutely no trace of any other kind of scattered knowledge about anything, which, I think, signifies the power of the letter alpha given as an addition to his name. Therefore he was also named the father of those who are brought to God through faith by the privation of all things after God, since the children are able to have the same types as the father, according to faith in the spirit.

64 (64). A CONTEMPLATION ON MOSES CONCERNING THE SANDALS BEING REMOVED

A contemplation on Moses concerning the sandals being removed. Perhaps this is what that great Moses at the beginning of the gnostic way of life

was taught, being instructed by the divine voice, when he approached to see the light mystically appearing in the bush (14D_264>, which said, Loose the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground, meaning, I think, that the soul must be terribly loosed in its disposition from all bodily things, when it is about to make its gnostic journey through contemplation towards the intellection of super-cosmic realities, and must have a perfect alienation from the former life of fleshly relations through the removal of the sandals.

65 (65). A CONTEMPLATION ON PARTS OF THE SACRIFICES

A contemplation on parts of the sacrifices. This again perhaps the same most divine Moses in the regulations for the sacrifices

was showing, to remove from the victims the fat, and the kidneys, and the breast, and

63

εἰς ἄλλα πολλά. Ἅπερ εἰ βουληθείη τις δι᾿ ἀκριβοῦς ἐξετάσεως παραδοῦναι γραφῇ, πολύν ἀθροίσει λόγον καί χρόνον δαπανήσει, ὡς μηδέ ἀνεκτόν εἶναι τοῖς ἐντυγχάνουσι διά τό πλῆθος.

Μέγα οὖν καί θαυμαστόν ὄντως ἐστί καί πολλῆς δεόμενον προσοχῆς τε καί σπουδῆς, καί πρό τούτων τῆς θείας ἐπικουρίας, τό δυνηθῆναι πρῶτον μέν τῆς ὑλικῆς δυάδος τῶν ἐμφύτων κρατῆσαι δυνάμεων, θυμοῦ λέγω καί ἐπιθυμίας, καί τοῦ κατ᾿ αὐτάς μερισμοῦ, καί μακάριος ὅς ἄγειν ἑτοίμως ταύτας ὅποι τῷ λόγῳ δοκεῖ δεδύνηται, μέχρις ἄν τοῖς πρακτικοῖς διά τῆς ἠθικῆς φιλοσοφίας τῶν προτέρων καθαίρηται λογισμῶν.

ΞΓ (63) ... ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ ΜΗ ∆ΕΙΝ ... ΤΩ ΤΗΣ ΦΥΣΕΩΣ ΝΟΜΩ ΤΟΝ ΤΗΣ ΣΟΦΙΑΣ ΛΟΓΟΝ

ΣΥΝΑΠΤΕΙΝ... (14∆_262> Θεωρία ἐκ τῆς Γραφῆς περί τοῦ μή δεῖν τόν γνωστικόν τῷ τῆς φύσεως νόμῳ

τόν τῆς σοφίας λόγον συνάπτειν, καί τίς ἡ προσθήκη τοῦ ἄλφα στοιχείου εἰς τό ὄνομα τοῦ Ἀβραάμ.

Ἔπειτα δέ καί ὑπέρ αὐτάς γενέσθαι καί παντελῶς ἀπώσασθαι, ὡς τήν Ἄγαρ

καί τόν Ἰσμαήλ, ὁ Ἀβραάμ ἐκεῖνος ὁ μέγας, τοῦ λογιστικοῦ ἤδη περί τά θεῖα κατά τόν Ἰσαάκ ἐκεῖνον γυμνασθῆναι δυναμένου θεάματα, ὑπό τῆς κατά τήν γνῶσιν φερομένης θείας φωνῆς διδασκόμενος, μή δύνασθαι τό κατά νοῦν θεῖον τῆς ἐλευθέρας κατά πνεῦμα γνώσεως γέννημα, τῷ δουλικῷ τῆς σαρκός ἐπισυνημμένον σπέρματι, τῆς μακαρίας τυχεῖν ἐπαγγελίας, ἥτις ἐστίν ἡ κατ᾿ ἐλπίδας προκειμένη τοῖς ἀγαπῶσι τόν Κύριον τῆς θεώσεως χάρις, ἥν ἤδη τυπικῶς ὑπῆρχε προειληφώς, τῷ περί μονάδος λόγῳ διά πίστεως μυστικῶς συναφθείς, καθ᾿ ὅν ἐνοειδής γενόμενος, μᾶλλον δέ ἐκ πολλῶν εἷς, μόνος πρός μόνον δ᾿ ὅλου τόν Θεόν μεγαλοπρεπῶς συνήχθη, μηδένα τό παράπαν τῆς οἱασοῦν περί τι ἄλλο τῶν σκεδαστῶν γνώσεως τύπον ἑαυτῷ συνεπιφερόμενος, ὅπερ οἶμαι δηλοῦν τήν τοῦ δοθέντος εἰς προσθήκην τοῦ ὀνόματος ἄλφα γράμματος δύναμιν. ∆ιό καί πατήρ τῶν διά πίστεως προσαγομένων Θεῷ κατά στέρησιν πάντων τῶν μετά Θεόν ἐχρημάτισεν, ὡς τούς αὐτούς κατά πίστιν ἐν πνεύματι τύπους τῷ πατρί τῶν τέκνων ἐμφερῶς ἔχειν δυναμένων.

Ξ∆ (64). ΘΕΩΡΙΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΜΩΫΣΗΝ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΑΦΑΙΡΟΥΜΕΝΩΝ ΥΠΟ∆ΗΜΑΤΩΝ

Θεωρία εἰς τόν Μωϋσῆν περί τῶν ἀφαιρουμένων ὑποδημάτων. Τοῦτο τυχόν ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς γνωστικῆς ἀγωγῆς καί ὁ μέγας Μωϋσῆς ἐκεῖνος

διδασκόμενος ὑπό τῆς θείας φωνῆς ἐπαιδεύετο, ἡνίκα προσῆγεν ἰδεῖν τό ἐν τῇ βάτῳ μυστικῶς φανταζόμενον (14∆_264> φῶς φασκούσης, Λύσον τά ὑποδήματα ἀπό τῶν ποδῶν σου, ὁ γάρ τόπος ἐν ᾧ ἔστηκας γῆ ἁγία ἐστί, τό δεινῶς, οἶμαι, τῶν σωματικῶν ἁπάντων ἀπολελύσθαι κατά διάθεσιν τήν ψυχήν, μέλλουσαν τήν διά θεωρίας πρός τήν τῶν ὑπερκοσμίων νόησιν γνωστικήν ποιεῖσθαι πορείαν καί τελείαν τοῦ ἐν σχέσι σαρκός προτέρου βίου ἀλλοτρίωσιν διά τῆς τῶν ὑποδημάτων ἔχειν ἀποθέσεως.

ΞΕ (65). ΘΕΩΡΙΑ ΕΙΣ ΜΕΡΗ ΤΩΝ ΘΥΣΙΩΝ

Θεωρία εἰς μέρη τῶν θυσιῶν. Τοῦτο πάλιν ἴσως ὁ αὐτός θειότατος Μωϋσῆς ἐν ταῖς τῶν θυσιῶν διατάξεσι

παρεδήλου τῶν ἱερείων ἀφαιρεῖν τό στέαρ, καί τούς νεφρούς, καί τό στηθύνιον, καί