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characterizing, he left these things to our free will, awaiting the perfection of man, if somehow he might make himself like God through the imitation of the God-befitting marks of virtue; for this reason, therefore, the divine Scripture omitted in the things said after this the "according to the likeness."

(14Α_350> (1393) TO THEOPEMPTUS THE SCHOLASTIC* Who asked concerning the judge of unrighteousness and concerning, "if anyone strikes you on the right cheek," and concerning, "do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father."

For those for whom the Logos is the object of worship, for these also life is the revealer of the Logos in that which is rightly performed; so that having received the experience of action as a seal of true knowledge, they might learn from what they have, as is right, undergone, how much greater it is to become than to know what a thing is; and more than this, to do so always and more, until unwavering intimacy with the Cause might be achieved by them, defining movement by stability and desire by immutability of will; for whom also deification by grace is given in return as a prize for a sacred and godlike conduct in this life. To these you also, directing your life very wisely, God-guarded master, hasten to seek that which is set before all through goodness, and which escapes all through its infinitude; on the one hand, that it might draw to itself, goading desire with its irresistible beauty; and on the other, that it might temper it, restraining satiety—which is the father of insolence and the offspring of dissolution—by the astonishment of its super-infinite and divine excellence, for those who do not foresee the flaming sword placed with the Cherubim and turning, for none other than those who turn to (14Α_352> virtue without fear; whence, by the greatness of your progress towards good things, extending what is moderate, by which you all the more increase your advance with security; you deemed it worthy for me, an unknown and humble man, to be known, by that means by which nature has provided for those in such a state; I mean, of the letter, whose discourse connects those who are absent and makes manifest those who are not seen; handing over to the mind and joining him who was previously not known by sense, to the extent that it, being itself inscribed, becomes coarse and embodied by this means; by which you also brought my nothingness more to your desire, inasmuch as you have moved your own sight incorporeally; having shown yourself in both these things to have more of the equal concerning reason, than others have advantages concerning you in the grace of reason beyond others; by which things being adorned throughout your life, 1396 how have you ever been eager to lead my dim-sightedness to the contemplation, and that of sacred words, the approach to which is greater than what is human, for one who has not yet completely ascended above the nature and generation of unstable and extended things; let alone for me, who am willingly mired in this filth, and like a worm roll in and take pleasure in the corruption of unclean passions. Nevertheless, for the sake of obedience, and in honor of your love, daring things beyond my worth, I say these things concerning which you commanded; conjecturally, but not declaratively.

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χαρακτηρίζοντα, ταῦτα τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ αὐτεξουσίῳ ἀφῆκε γνώμῃ, ἀναμένων τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὸ τέλος, εἴ πως ἑαυτὸν διὰ τῆς μιμήσεως τῶν θεοπρεπῶν τῆς ἀρετῆς γνωρισμάτων τῷ Θεῷ ὅμοιον καταστήσῃ· διὰ τοῦτο οὖν παρέλειπεν ἡ θεία Γραφὴ ἐν τοῖς μετὰ ταῦτα λεχθεῖσιν τὸ «καθ᾽ ὁμοίωσιν».

(14Α_350> (1393) ΠΡΟΣ ΘΕΟΠΕΜΠΤΟΝ ΣΧΟΛΑΣΤΙΚΟΝ* Ἐρωτήσαντα περί τοῦ κριτοῦ τῆς ἀδικίας καί τοῦ, «ἐάν τίς σε ῥαπίσῃ ἐπί τήν δεξιάν σιαγόνα», καί τοῦ, «μή μου ἅπτου, οὕπω γάρ ἀναβέβηκα πρός τόν Πατέρα».

Οἷς Λόγος ὑπάρχει τό προσκυνούμενον, τούτοις καί βίος ἐκφάντωρ Λόγου τό

κατορθούμενον· ἵνα σφραγῖδα γνώσεως ἀληθοῦς τήν πεῖραν λαβόντες τῆς πράξεως, μάθωσιν ἀφ᾿ ὧν, ὡς θέμις, πεπόνθασιν, ὅσον τοῦ τί εἰδέναι, μεῖζον τό γίνεσθαι· καί τούτου μᾶλλον, τό ἀεί καί μᾶλλον, ἕως ἄν αὐτοῖς ἡ πρός τόν αἴτιον ἀδίστακτος οἰκείωσις, κατορθωθείη, στάσει τήν κίνησιν περιγράφουσα καί ἀτρεψίᾳ γνώμης τήν ἔφεσιν· οἷς καί ἡ κατά χάριν ἐκθέωσις, ἱερᾶς τῆς κατά τόνδε τόν βίον καί θεοειδοῦς ἀγωγῆς, ἔπαθλον ἀντιδίδοται. Πρός οὕς μάλα σοφῶς καὐτός ἀπευθύνων τόν βίον, θεοφύλακτε δέσποτα, ζητεῖν ἐπείγῃ τό πᾶσι προκείμενον δι᾿ ἀγαθότητα, καί πάντας δι᾿ ἀπειρίαν διαδιδράσκον· τό μέν, ἵν᾿ ἑλκύσῃ πρός ἑαυτό, τῷ ἀμηχάνῳ τῆς ὡραιότητος κεντρίζων τήν ἔφεσιν· τό δέ, ἵνα στομώσῃ, τῇ τῆς ὑπεραπείρου καταπλήξει καί θείας ὑπεροχῆς περιστέλλον τόν κόρον, ὕβρεως ὄντα πατέρα καί διαχύσεως γέννημα, τοῖς τήν φλογίνην ῥομφαίαν οὐ προθεωροῦσι σύν τοῖς Χερουβίμ τεταγμένην καί στρεφομένην, οὐκ ἄλλοις, ἤ τοῖς δίχα φόβον πρός (14Α_352> ἀρετήν ἐπιστρέφουσιν· ἔνθεν τῷ μεγέθει τῆς ἐπί τά καλά προκοπῆς συνεπεκτείνων τό μέτριον, ᾧ καί μᾶλλον ἐπαύξεις σύν ἀσφαλείᾳ τήν πρόοδον· ἠξίωσας ἀγνώτην ὄντα με καί ταπεινόν ἐπιγνῶναι, δι᾿ οὗ τοῖς κατ᾿ αὐτήν ἡ φύσις τρόπου παρείχετο· φημί δέ, τοῦ γράμματος ὅ λόγος συνδεκτικός τῶν ἀπόντων ἐστί, καί τῶν οὐ βλεπομένων ἐμφανιστικός· τοσοῦτον νοήσει παραδιδούς καί συνάπτων τόν τέως αἰσθήσει μή γνωριζόμενον, ὅσον διά ταύτης αὐτός χαραττόμενος παχύνεται σωματούμενος· ᾧ καί τήν ἐμήν οὐδένειαν εἰς πόθον ἤγαγες τόν ὑμέτερον πλέον, ᾗ θέαν τήν οἰκείαν ἀσωμάτως κεκίνηκας· προδείξας αὐτόν ἐπ᾿ ἀμφοῖν τούτοιν ἔχειν μᾶλλον τό ἴσον περί τόν λόγον, ἤ ὅσον ἕτεροι περί σέ τήν τοῦ λόγου χάριν παρά τούς ἄλλους προτερήματα· οἷς διά βίου κοσμούμενος, 1396 πῶς ποτε τήν ἐμήν ἀμβλυωπίαν πρός θεωρίαν ἐνάγειν ἐσπούδασας, ἱερῶν καί ταῦτα λόγων, καί ὧν ἡ ἐπίβασις, κρεῖττον ἤ κατά ἄνθρωπον, τόν οὔπω τελείως ὑπεραναβάντα τήν τῶν ἀστάτων καί διαστατῶν φύσιν καί γένεσιν· μή ὅτι γ᾿ ἐμοί τῷ φορυτῷ τούτων ἑκουσίως συμφυρομένῳ, καί σκώληκος δίκην τῇ σήψει τῶν ἀκαθάρτων καλινδουμένῳ καί ἡδομένῳ παθῶν. Πλήν τῆς εὐπειθείας χάριν, καί τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀγάπης τιμήν, τῶν ὑπέρ ἀξίαν κατατολμῶν, ἐκεῖνά φημι περί ὧν ἐκελεύσατε· στοχαστικῶς, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἀποφαντικῶς.