71

not departing from itself. For this reason also those skilled in divine things call him zealous, as having great good love for beings, and as rousing to zeal his (15∆_310> erotic desire, and as showing himself to be zealous, for whom also the things desired are objects of zeal, and as being zealous for the beings for which he provides.

5.87 (πζ΄) Of love (agape) and love (eros), they say that he, that is God, is the projector and begetter. For He himself, these things being in himself, brought them forth to what is outside, that is, concerning created things; and according to this it is said, God is love; And again, Sweetness and desire, which is eros; but the beloved and truly desirable, he is. Therefore, because the loving eros is poured forth from him, he, the begetter of this, is said to be moved; but because he is the truly desirable and beloved and longed for and chosen, he moves those who look to this; and those who have the power of desiring, according to their capacity.

5.88 (πη΄) Understand God to be for me that which leads forth and moves towards an erotic union in spirit, that is, a mediator of this, and one who joins to it, so that he is desired and loved by his own creations. And he says "moving," as moving each thing according to its proper principle to turn back to him. But the name of "leading forth," even if among outsiders it signifies a not-so-holy matter, yet here it means the mediation that brings about union in God.

5.89 (πθ΄) The erotic movement of the good pre-existing in the good, being simple and unmoved, and proceeding from the good, returns again to the same, being without end and without beginning; which reveals our ever-moving desire towards the divine and union. 1388 For the loving union with God is set apart from and is above all union.

5.90 (ƒ΄) Whether we should speak of love (eros) as divine or angelic, or intellectual or of the soul, (15∆_312> or natural, let us understand it as a certain unitive and cohesive power; moving the higher things to providence for the lower; and equals, in turn, to a social communion; and lastly, the subordinate things to a turning back to the better and superior.

5.91 (ƒα΄) If knowledge is unitive of those who have known and what is known; but ignorance, is always the cause of change and of the division resulting from it for the one who is ignorant, then for the one who has believed in truth according to the sacred Word, nothing will move him from the hearth of true faith; on which he will have the permanence of immovable and unchangeable identity. For he who is united to the truth knows well that he is well, even if the many should admonish him as one who is out of his mind. For it escapes them, as is likely, that he has departed from error to the truth of real faith, but he himself truly knows himself not, as they say, to be mad, but to have been freed from the unstable and alterable course around the manifold variety of error, through the simple truth which is always in the same state and in the same way.

5.92 (ƒβ΄) Good and philanthropic, compassionate and merciful have the saints become; shown to have one disposition of love towards the whole race; by which, having held fast throughout all their life to the most excellent form of good things, I mean humility, which is protective of good things, but destructive of their opposites, they have become in no way at all conquerable by the troubling temptations, both the voluntary and those in our power, and the involuntary and those not in our power; by withering the uprisings of the one through self-control, and shaking off the attacks of the other through endurance.

(15∆_314> 5.93 (ƒγ΄) Right faith and unadulterated fear of God produce the perfect practice of virtue; but the unerring natural [one] according to the ascent

71

ἀνεκφοίτητος ἑαυτοῦ. ∆ιό καί ζηλωτήν αὐτόν οἱ τά θεῖα δεινοί προσαγορεύουσιν, ὡς πολύν τόν εἰς τά ὄντα ἀγαθόν ἔρωτα, καί ὡς πρός ζῆλον ἐγερτικόν τῆς ἐφέσεως αὐτοῦ (15∆_310> τῆς ἐρωτικῆς, καί ὡς ζηλωτήν αὐτόν ἀποδεικνύντα, ᾧ καί τά ἐφιέμενα ζηλωτά, καί ὡς τῶν προνοουμένων ὄντων αὐτῷ ζηλωτῶν.

5.87 (πζ΄) Τῆς ἀγάπης καί τοῦ ἔρωτος, αὐτόν, δηλαδή τόν Θεόν, προβολέα φασί δέ γεννήτορα. Αὐτός γάρ ταῦτα ἐν ἑαυτῷ ὄντα, προήγαγεν εἰς τά ἐκτός, τουτέστι περί τά κτίσματα· καί κατά τοῦτο εἴρηται, Ὁ Θεός ἀγάπη ἐστί· Καί πάλιν, Γλυκασμός καί ἐπιθυμία, ὅ ἐστιν ἔρως· τό δέ ἀγαπητόν καί ὄντως ἐραστόν, αὐτός ἐστι. Τῷ μέν οὖν τόν ἀγαπητικόν ἔρωτα ἐξ αὐτοῦ προχεῖσθαι, αὐτός κινεῖσθαι λέγεται ὁ τούτου γεννήτωρ· τῷ δέ αὐτόν εἶναι τό ἀληθές ἐραστόν καί ἀγαπητόν καί ἐφετόν καί αἰρετόν, κινεῖ τά πρός τοῦτο ὁρῶντα· καί οἷς ἡ τοῦ ἐφίεσθαι δύναμις, ἀναλόγως αὐτοῖς.

5.88 (πη΄) Προαγωγικόν καί κινητικόν πρός ἐρωτικήν συνάφειαν τήν ἐν πνεύματι, τόν Θεόν εἶναί μοι νόει, τουτέστι μεσίτην ταύτης, καί πρός αὐτήν συναρμοστήν, τοῦ ἐρᾶσθαι αὐτόν ὑπό τῶν αὐτοῦ ποιημάτων καί ἀγαπᾶσθαι. Κινητικόν δέ φησιν, ὡς κινοῦντα ἕκαστα κατά τόν οἰκεῖον λόγον πρός αὐτόν ἐπιστρέφεσθαι. Τό δέ τῆς προαγωγίας ὄνομα, εἰ καί παρά τοῖς ἔξωθεν πρᾶγμα σημαίνει οὐκ εὐαγές, ἀλλ᾿ ἐνταῦθα τήν πρόξενον τῆς ἐν Θεῷ ἑνώσεώς φησι μεσιτείαν.

5.89 (πθ΄) Ἡ ἐρωτική κίνησις τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ προϋπάρχουσα ἐν τῷ ἀγαθῷ, ἁπλῆ καί ἀκίνητος οὖσα, καί ἐκ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ προϊοῦσα, αὖθις ἐπί τό αὐτό ἐπιστρέφει, ἀτελεύτητος καί ἄναρχος οὖσα· ὅπερ δηλοῖ τήν ἡμῶν ἀεικίνητον ἔφεσιν πρός τό θεῖον καί ἕνωσιν. 1388 Ἡ γάρ πρός Θεόν ἀγαπητική ἕνωσις, πάσης ἐξῄρηται καί ὑπέρκειται ἑνώσεως.

5.90 (ƒ΄) Τόν ἔρωτα εἴτε θεῖον εἴτε ἀγγελικόν, εἴτε νοερόν εἴτε ψυχικόν, (15∆_312> εἴτε φυσικόν εἴποιμεν, ἑνωτικήν τινα καί συγκρατικήν ἐννοήσωμεν δύναμιν· τά μέν ὑπέρτερα κινοῦσαν ἐπί πρόνοιαν τῶν καταδεεστέρων· τά δέ ὁμόστοιχα πάλιν, εἰς κοινωνικήν ἀλληλουχίαν· καί ἐπ᾿ ἐσχάτων, τά ὑφειμένα πρός τήν τῶν κρειττόνων καί ὑπερκειμένων ἐπιστροφήν.

5.91 (ƒα΄) Εἰ ἡ γνῶσις ἑνωτική τῶν ἐγνωκότων καί ἐγνωσμένων· ἡ δ᾿ ἄγνοια, μεταβολῆς ἀεί καί τῆς ἐξ αὐτοῦ τῷ ἀγνοοῦντι διαιρέσεως αἰτία, τόν ἐν ἀληθείᾳ πιστεύσαντα κατά τόν ἱερόν Λόγον, οὐδέν ἀποκινήσει τῆς κατά τήν ἀληθῆ πίστιν ἑστίας· ἐφ᾿ ᾗ τό μόνιμον ἕξει τῆς ἀκινήτου καί ἀμεταβόλου ταυτότητος. Εὖ γάρ οἶδεν ὁ πρός τήν ἀλήθειαν ἑνωθείς, ὅτι εὖ ἔχει, κἄν οἱ πολλοί νουθετοῖεν αὐτόν ὡς ἐξεστηκότα. Λανθάνει μέν γάρ ὡς εἰκός αὐτούς, ἐκ πλάνης τῇ ἀληθείᾳ τῆς ὄντως πίστεως ἐξεστηκώς, αὐτός δ᾿ ἀληθῶς οἶδεν ἑαυτόν, οὐχ ὅ φασιν ἐκεῖνοι μαινόμενον, ἀλλά τῆς ἀστάτου καί ἀλλοιωτῆς, περί τήν παντοδαπῇ τῆς πλάνης ποικιλίαν φορᾶς, διά τῆς ἁπλῆς καί ἀεί κατά τά αὐτά καί ὡσαύτως ἐχούσης ἀληθείας ἠλευθερωμένον.

5.92 (ƒβ΄) Ἀγαθοί καί φιλάνθρωποι, εὔσπλαχνοί τε καί οἰκτίρμονες γεγόνασιν οἱ ἅγιοι· μίαν πρός ἅπαν τό γένος διάθεσιν ἔχοντες ἀγάπης δειχθέντες· ὑφ᾿ ἧς τό πάντων ἐξαίρετον εἶδος τῶν ἀγαθῶν, τήν ταπείνωσιν λέγω, διά πάσης αὐτῶν τῆς ζωῆς βεβαίαν κατασχόντες, τήν φυλακτικήν μέν τῶν ἀγαθῶν, φθαρτικήν δέ τῶν ἐναντίων, οὐδενί τό παράπαν ἁλώσιμοι τῶν διοχλούντων γεγόνασι πειρασμῶν, τῶν τε ἑκουσίων καί τοῦ ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν λόγου, καί τῶν ἀκουσίων καί οὐκ ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν· τῷ τοῖς μέν, δι᾿ ἐγκράτειαν ἀπομαραίνειν τάς ἐπαναστάσεις· τῶν δέ, δι᾿ ὑπομονῆς τάς προσβολάς ἀποσείεσθαι.

(15∆_314> 5.93 (ƒγ΄) Τήν μέν τελείαν πρᾶξιν τῆς ἀρετῆς, πίστις ὀρθή ποιεῖ, καί φόβος εἰς Θεόν ἀνόθευτος· τήν δέ κατά τήν ἀνάβασιν ἄπταιστον φυσικήν