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of opinions without learning and the study of them, nor for one not freed from these to attain perfection and holiness, and that Greek education is likewise a gift of God to the prophets and apostles given through revelation, and that likewise both these things and that education are comprehended by human reasoning after they have been given, and that to know all things, which we know belongs to God alone, is the perfection proper to man. But as for Holy Scripture, even if you mix it into your arguments and seem to champion it greatly, still you do not think it brings perfect purification to the soul; for you would not have introduced the need for one who desires purification to seek to learn if someone professes (p. 330) to know something, even if he is pious. Therefore, you deceitfully weave it into your arguments in favor of your studies to deceive the more simple-minded. And since you clearly contradict those who insist that one must keep the divine commandments as productive of dispassion and of saving purification and knowledge, and since it is one of the commandments to search the Scriptures, those who exhort to the keeping of the commandments of necessity also exhort to the diligent reading of the Scriptures, but you do not think that even these give purification to the soul. Therefore, that you bring together into one the divine Scripture and philosophical studies is a bait; and to say that both lead the one pursuing them to one end is not only deceit, but also a clear opposition to the holy and divine Scripture itself. For it yielded no fruit from its long birth-pangs, but all were wind-eggs and fruitless, not attaining to the light of the knowledge of God, although, according to you, they were casting off the greatest darkness of the soul through the light of learning—the ignorance of disposition. And how, according to these arguments, are not most of the saints darkened and imperfect, all those, to a man, who have not taken up Greek education, and of those who have partaken of the education from there, those who set the world as a tent, and establish the heaven as a vault, and make the sun rise from the northern parts of the earth, whence it rises, and hold that the back of the heavens is concave for the reception of waters and who both possessed, as you yourself say, the ignorance of disposition—the greatest darkness of the soul according to you—and tried to persuade others of it?

But lest we seem to be listing the man's opinions here on our own authority, let us set forth his own statements and compare them with one or two of the saints whom (p. 332) he clearly contradicts; and it is by no means unclear to those who are of sound mind that they are all one voice, moved by the one Spirit; but we will nevertheless set forth those statements that will also have a clear confession. So this monk and philosopher says verbatim as follows: "Through the keeping of the commandments, it is a fine thing if, even with difficulty, dispassion alone is achieved; but it is not sufficient to be cleansed of the passions alone in order to perceive the truth; for dispassion does not cure the ignorance of disposition in the soul; therefore, it would be of no benefit to the soul for perceiving intelligible things, while the ignorance of disposition remains in it, which is indeed the greatest darkness of the soul; so it is proper for the one philosophizing to take care throughout his life how he will purify his soul both of passions and of false opinions, and to call upon help from above for both purifications, but also to do himself whatever is useful for the goal. Therefore, he will wish to learn throughout his life and to converse with all who profess to know something. For it will make no difference to him who the teacher is, if only he contributes to his knowledge; for this is the one who has attained the perfection proper to men, who has harmonized his own mind with the truth that is through all things in a lasting union."

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δοξασμάτων ἄνευ μαθημάτων καί τῆς κατ᾿ αὐτά μελέτης, οὐδέ τελειότητός τε καί ἁγιότητος ἐπιτυχεῖν τόν μή ἀπαλλαγέντα τούτων, καί τήν ἑλληνικήν παιδείαν ὅμοίως εἶναι δῶρον Θεοῦ τοῖς δι᾿ ἀποκαλύψεως προφήταις καί ἀποστόλοις δεδομένοις, καί ὁμοίως ταῦτά τε κἀκείνην ἀνθρωπίνοις λογισμοῖς μετά τό δεδόσθαι καταλαμβάνεσθαι, καί τό πάντα εἰδέναι, ὅ Θεοῦ μόνου ἴσμεν, προσήκουσαν ἀνθρώπῳ τελειότητα εἶναι. Τήν ἱεράν δέ Γραφήν, εἰ καί ἀναμιγνύεις τοῖς λόγοις καί πολλά δοκεῖς ὑπεραγωνίζεσθαι ταύτης, ἀλλ᾿ οὐδ᾿ αὐτήν οἴει τελείαν ἐπάγειν τῇ ψυχῇ κάθαρσιν˙ οὐδέ γάρ ἄν εἰσῆγες τό δεῖν ζητεῖν μανθάνειν, εἴ τίς τι ἐπαγγέλλεται (σελ. 330) εἰδέναι, κἄν ή εὐσεβής ᾖ, τόν καθάρσεως ἐφιέμενον. ∆όλῳ τοιγαροῦν ταύτην συμπλέκεις τοῖς ὑπέρ τῶν μαθημάτων σου λόγοις εἰς ἐξαπάτην τῶν ἁπλουστέρων. Ἐπεί δέ τοῖς ἰσχυριζομένοις δεῖν τάς θείας ἐντολάς τηρεῖν ὡς ἀπαθείας καί σωτηρίου καθάρσεώς τε καί γνώσεως παρεκτικάς σύ σαφῶς ἀντιλέγεις, τῶν ἐντολῶν δέ ἐστι καί τό τάς Γραφάς ἐρευνᾶν, οἱ μέν πρός τήν τῶν ἐντολῶν τήρησιν προτρέποντες κατά πᾶσαν ἀνάγκην καί πρός τήν ἐπίμονον ἀνάγνωσιν τῶν Γραφῶν προτρέπονται, σύ δέ οὐδέ ταύτας οἴει διδόναι τῇ ψυχῇ τήν κάθαρσιν. Οὐκοῦν δέλεαρ ἐκεῖνο τό συνάγεις εἰς ἕν τήν θείαν Γραφήν καί τά κατά φιλοσοφίαν μαθήματα˙ τό δέ καί εἰς ἕν τέλος ἄγειν ἀμφότερα τόν μετιόντα λέγειν οὐ δόλος μόνον, ἀλλά καί σαφής ἀντίθεσις πρός αὐτήν τήν ἱεράν καί θείαν Γραφήν. Οὐδένα γάρ ἐκείνη τῶν μακρῶν ὠδίνων ἔδωκε καρπόν, ἀλλά πάντες ὑπηνέμιοί τε καί ἀτελεσφόρητοι, πρός τό φῶς τῆς θεογνωσίας οὐ φθάνοντες, καίτοι τό κατά σέ μάλιστα σκότος τῆς ψυχῆς διά τοῦ φωτός τῶν μαθημάτων ἀποβαλλόμενοι, τήν κατά διάθεσιν ἄγνοιαν. Πῶς δέ καί τῶν ἁγίων οὐκ ἐσκοτισμένοι καί ἀτελεῖς οἱ πλεῖστοι, κατά τούτους τούς λόγους, οἱ μέν ἑλληνικῆς παιδείας οὐκ ἐπειλημμένοι συλλήβδην ἅπαντες, τῶν δέ μετεσχηκότων τῆς ἐκεῖθεν παιδείας, οἱ κόσμον μέν ὡς σκηνήν πηγνύντες, οὐρανόν δέ ὡσεί καμάραν ἱστάντες, ἥλιον δέ ἀπό τῶν βορείων μερῶν τῆς γῆς ἐπανάγοντες, ὅθεν ἀνίσχει, κοῖλα δέ τά οὐράνια νῶτα πρός ὑποδοχήν ὑδάτων δοξάζοντες καί τήν κατά διάθεσιν ὡς αὐτός λέγεις ἄγνοιαν, τό μάλιστα κατά σέ σκότος τῆς ψυχῆς, αὐτοί τε κεκτημένοι καί τούς ἄλλους πείθειν ἐπιχειροῦντες;

Ἵνα δέ μή δόξωμεν ἀφ᾿ ἑαυτῶν τάς τοῦ ἀνδρός ἐνταυθοῖ καταλέγειν δόξας, αὐτάς ἐκείνου τάς ρήσεις προθώμεθα καί τῶν ἁγίων ἑνός ἤ δύο παραθώμεθα πρός οὕς (σελ. 332) σαφῶς ἀντιφθέγγεται˙ πάντως δέ οὐκ ἄδηλον τοῖς εὖ φρονοῦσιν ὅτι πάντες ἕν εἰσι χεῖλος ὑπό τοῦ ἑνός κινούμενοι Πνεύματος˙ ἐκείνας δ᾿ ὅμως ἡμεῖς προθήσομεν αἱ καί τήν ὁμολογίαν ἐπίδηλον ἕξουσι. Φησίν οὖν ὁ μοναχός καί φιλόσοφος οὗτος ἐπί λέξεως οὕτως˙ «∆ιά τῆς τῶν ἐντολῶν φυλακῆς ἀγαπητόν, εἰ καί μόγις ἀπάθεια περιγένοιτο μόνη˙ οὐκ ἀρκεῖ δέ μόνον τῶν παθῶν καθήρασθαι πρός τό τήν ἀλήθειαν κατιδεῖν˙ ἡ γάρ ἀπάθεια τήν κατά διάθεσιν ἄγνοιαν οὐ θεραπεύει τῆς ψυχῆς˙ οὐκ ἄν οὖν ὄφελος αὕτη γένοιτο τῇ ψυχῇ πρός τό τά νοητά κατιδεῖν, μενούσης ἐν αὐτῇ τῆς κατά διάθεσιν ἀγνοίας, ἤ μάλιστα πάντως σκότος ἐστί τῆς ψυχῆς˙ ὥστε τῷ φιλοσοφοῦντι ἐπιμελεῖσθαι διά βίου προσήκει, ὅπως καί τῶν παθῶν καί τῶν ψευδῶν δοξῶν τήν ἑαυτοῦ καθαριεῖ ψυχήν, καί τήν ἄνωθεν μέν ἀντίληψιν πρός ἀμφοτέρας τάς καθάρσεις ἐπικαλούμενον, πράττοντι δέ καί αὐτῷ ὅσα προὔργου πρός τό τέλος ὑπάρχει. Οὐκοῦν διά βίου μανθάνειν βουλήσεται καί ὁμιλεῖν πᾶσιν ὅσοι εἰδέναι τι ἐπαγγέλλονται. Οὐδέν γάρ αὐτῷ διοίσει τίς ὁ διδάσκων, ἄν μόνον πρός γνῶσιν αὐτῷ συμβάλληται˙ οὗτος γάρ ἐστιν ὁ τῆς προσηκούσης ἀνθρώποις τελειότητος ἐπήβολος, ὅς τῇ διά πάντων ἀληθείᾳ τόν ἑαυτοῦ ἐνήρμοσε νοῦν καθ᾿ ἕνωσιν μόνιμον».