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severs continuity. And to speak concisely, the passion of gluttony is destructive of all the offspring of virtue.

5.58 (νη΄) The passion of gluttony is by nature apt to kill all the divine offspring of the virtues; but it itself is killed by both the grace of faith and by obedience to the divine commandments, through the word that is according to knowledge.

1373 5.59 (νθ΄) Our Lord is truly a light to the nations, revealing to them through true knowledge the eyes of the mind that were closed by the gloom of ignorance, and having prepared Himself again as a divine guide for the faithful peoples, a good exemplar of virtue, of the person according to virtue, having become for them an outline and a model, looking to whom as the author of our salvation, we achieve the virtues by imitation, as is possible for us, through practice.

5.60 (ξ΄) Everyone who out of envy hates and badly maligns with slanders the one who is more powerful in the struggles of the virtues and in the abundance of the word of spiritual knowledge, is a Saul being choked by an evil spirit, not bearing the glory of the happiness in virtue and knowledge of the better one; and for this reason raging the more, because he is not able to dispatch his benefactor. And often he also bitterly sends away the beloved Jonathan—I mean the innate reasoning according to conscience—which convicts the unjust hatred and truthfully narrates the achievements of the one who is hated.

(15∆_294> 5.61 (ξα΄) Let us also call upon the intelligible David to play upon the lyre of spiritual contemplation and knowledge for our mind, which is seized by material things, and to drive away the evil spirit of material entanglement with sensation, so that we may be able to understand the law spiritually, and to find the mystical word hidden in it, and to make it a lasting possession as a provision for eternal life.

5.62 (ξβ΄) Everyone who loves salvation certainly applies himself either to practice or to contemplation. For without virtue and knowledge, no one has ever been able to attain salvation; since it is the task of virtue, indeed, to order the movement of the body, skillfully restraining with right reason, as with a kind of bridle, its impulse toward absurdity; and it is the task of contemplation to choose and resolve prudently upon things well understood and judged.

5.63 (ξγ΄) Since that which understands is intellectual, and that which is understood is intelligible, and that which is understood is the food and, as it were, the substance of that which understands; it is fitting that God, since the incorporeal beings are minds, being Himself understood and becoming intelligible to them as far as they can attain, illuminates them from within, as the mind both understands and is nourished.

5.64 (ξδ΄) Intelligible is one thing, and intellectual is another. For the intelligible is, as has been said, a kind of food for the intellectual; 1376 since that which is understood, which is the intelligible, is greater than and pre-conceived before that which understands, which is the intellectual. For those things are called intellectual which, because they are mind, understand the intelligibles that are beyond them; for the intelligible is that which is understood, which is also the food of the intellectual, that is, of that which understands.

5.65 (ξε΄) It must be known that the effects have the possible (15∆_296> images of the causes. For effects are all things that have been brought into creation; and causes, the things that have brought them forth; and there is no resemblance of these to one another, I mean of causes and effects.

5.66 (ξστ΄) There is not an exact resemblance between the effects and the causes; but the effects do have the possible images of the causes; but the causes themselves are removed from the effects, and are established above them according to the principle of their own origin. For the properties of the effects pre-exist abundantly and essentially in the causes.

5.67 (ξζ΄) Effects are all things that have been brought into creation, whether in heaven or on earth; and the causes are the things that have brought them forth, that is, the three hypostases of the Holy Trinity.

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διατέμνει συνέχειαν. Καί συντόμως εἰπεῖν, πάντων τῶν κατ᾿ ἀρετήν γεννημάτων ἀναιρετικόν ἐστι τῆς γαστριμαργίας τό πάθος.

5.58 (νη΄) Τό τῆς γαστριμαργίας πάθος, πάντα τά θεῖα τῶν ἀρετῶν ἀποκτείνει γεννήματα πέφυκεν· αὐτό δέ τῇ τε χάριτι τῆς πίστεως, καί τῇ ὑπακοῇ τῶν θείων ἐντολῶν, διά τοῦ κατα τήν γνῶσιν ἀποκτείνεται λόγου.

1373 5.59 (νθ΄) Φῶς ἐστιν ὡς ἀληθῶς ἐθνῶν ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν, ἀποκαλύπτων αὐτοῖς διά τῆς ἀληθοῦς ἐπιγνώσεως, τούς τῷ ζόφῳ τῆς ἀγνοίας ἐπιμεμυκότας ὀφθαλμούς τῆς διανοίας, καί θείας ἀγωγῆς πάλιν ἑτοιμάσας ἑαυτόν τοῖς πιστοῖς λαοῖς, ἀγαθόν ἀρετῆς ἐξεμπλάριον, προσώπου τοῦ κατ᾿ ἀρετήν, ὑπογραμμός αὐτοῖς γενόμενος καί ὑποτύπωσις, πρός ὅν ἀφορῶντες ὡς ἀρχηγόν τῆς σωτηρίας ἡμῶν, τάς ἀρετάς κατά μίμησιν, ὡς ἡμῖν ἐστι δυνατόν, κατορθοῦμεν διά τῆς πράξεως.

5.60 (ξ΄) Πᾶς ὁ διά φθόνον μισῶν καί κακῶς διαθρυλῶν, ταῖς διαβολαῖς τόν ἐν τοῖς ἀγῶσι τῶν ἀρετῶν, καί τῇ περιουσίᾳ τοῦ λόγου τῆς πνευματικῆς γνώσεως δυνατώτερον, Σαούλ ἐστι πονηρῷ καταπνιγόμενος πνεύματι, μή φέρων τό κλέος τῆς κατ᾿ ἀρετήν καί γνῶσιν εὐδαιμονίας τοῦ κρείττονος· καί διά τοῦτο πλέον μαινόμενος, ὅτι μή δύναται τόν εὐεργέτην διαχειρίσασθαι. Πολλάκις δέ καί αὐτόν ἀποπέμπεται πικρῶς τόν φίλτατον Ἰωνάθαν, τόν ἔμφυτον λέγω κατά συνείδησιν λογισμόν, τό ἄδικον μῖσος ἐλέγχοντα, καί τοῦ μισουμένου φιλαλήθως ἀφηγούμενον τά κατορθώματα.

(15∆_294> 5.61 (ξα΄) Παρακαλέσωμεν καί ἡμεῖς τόν νοητόν ∆αβίδ, ἐπηχῆσαι τῇ κιθάρᾳ τῆς πνευματικῆς θεωρίας καί γνώσεως, ἐπιληπτευόμενον τοῖς ὑλικοῖς τόν ἡμέτερον νοῦν, καί ἀπελάσαι τό πονηρόν πνεῦμα τῆς πρός αἴσθησιν ὑλικῆς περιπετείας, ἵνα δυνηθῶμεν νοῆσαι τόν νόμον πνευματικῶς, καί τόν ἐν αὐτῷ κεκρυμμένον λόγον μυστικόν εὑρεῖν, καί κτῆμα ποιήσασθαι διαρκές πρός ἐφόδιοιν ζωῆς ἀϊδίου.

5.62 (ξβ΄) Πᾶς ὁ σωτηρίας ἐρῶν, ἤ πράξει πάντως ἤ θεωρίᾳ προσανέχει. Ἀρετῆς γάρ καί γνώσεως χωρίς, οὐδαμῶς οὐδείς πώποτε τυχεῖν σωτηρίας δεδύνηται· εἴπερ ἀρετῆς μέν, τό τάσσειν τήν τοῦ σώματος κίνησιν, οἷον χαλινῷ τινι τῷ ὀρθῷ λογισμῷ τῆς πρός ἀτοπίαν φορᾶς ἐπιστημόνως ἀναχαιτιζούσης· θεωρίας δέ, τό τά καλῶς νοηθέντα τε καί κριθέντα ἐμφρόνως αἱρεῖσθαι ψηφίζεσθαι.

5.63 (ξγ΄) Ἐπειδή νοερόν μέν ἐστι τό νοοῦν, νοητόν δέ τό νοούμενον, τροφή δέ καί οἷον σύστασις τοῦ νοοῦντος τό νοούμενον· εἰκότως ὁ Θεός ἅτε νόων ὄντων τῶν ἀσωμάτων, αὐτός νοούμενος, καί νοητός αὐτοῖς καθ᾿ ὅσον ἐφικνοῦνται γινόμενος, ἔσωθεν αὐτούς, ἐλλάμπει, τοῦ νοῦ νοοῦντός τε καί τρεφομένου.

5.64 (ξδ΄) Ἕτερόν ἐστι νοητόν, καί ἕτερον νοερόν. Τό γάρ νοητόν, τροφή οἷά τις, ὡς εἴρηται, τοῦ νοεροῦ ἐστιν· 1376 εἴπερ τό νοούμενον, ὅ ἐστι νοητόν, μεῖζόν ἐστι καί προεπινοούμενον τοῦ νοοῦντος, ὅ ἐστι νοερόν. Νοερά γάρ λέγεται, ὅσα διά τό νοῦς εἶναι, νοεῖ τά ὑπέρκεινα νοητά· νοητόν γάρ ἐστι τό νοούμενον, ὅπερ καί τροφή ἐστι τοῦ νοεροῦ, ἤτοι τοῦ νοοῦντος.

5.65 (ξε΄) Ἱστέον ὡς ἔχει τά αἰτιατά, τάς τῶν αἰτίων ἐνδεχομένας (15∆_296> εἰκόνας. Αἰτιατά, γάρ ἐστι πάντα τά παραχθέντα εἰς κτίσιν· αἴτια δέ, τά παραγαγόντα· οὐδεμία δέ ἐμφέρεια τούτων πρός ἄλληλα, αἰτίων φημί καί αἰτιατῶν.

5.66 (ξστ΄) Οὐκ ἔστιν ἀκριβής ἐμφέρεια τοῖς αἰτιατοῖς καί τοῖς αἰτίοις· ἀλλ᾿ ἔχει μέν τά αἰτιατά τάς τῶν αἰτίων ἐνδεχομένας εἰκόνας· αὐτά δέ τά αἴτια, τῶν αἰτιατῶν ἐξῄρηται, καί ὑπερίδρυται κατά τόν τῆς οἰκείας ἀρχῆς λόγον. Καί γάρ περισσῶς καί οὐσιωδῶς προένεστι τά τῶν αἰτιατῶν τοῖς αἰτίοις.

5.67 (ξζ΄) Αἰτιατά ἐστι, πάντα τά παραχθέντα εἰς κτίσιν· εἴτε ἐν οὐρανῷ, εἴτε ἐπί γῆς· αἴτια δέ, τά παραγαγόντα, τουτέστιν, αἱ τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος.