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And first, honored Father, forgive me for the undertaking, and ask the others to pardon my presumption (248); and make God gracious to me by your prayers, and an assistant in what is to be said; or rather, the provider of the whole and correct response concerning each chapter. For from Him is every good gift and every perfect gift, as from the source and father of all illuminating knowledge and powers, which are provided in proportion to those who are worthy. For, trusting in you, I accepted your command, awaiting as a reward for my obedience the divine goodwill through you.

Having set forth each of the chapters in the sequence and order as it was written by you, I will make my response point by point, as concise as possible, and definitive as far as I am able; and I am granted from God the grace and power to think and to speak piously; so that we may not burden the hearing of those who will read it with a multitude of words; and especially since I am making the account for you, who are truly gnostics and precise spectators of divine things; and have passed beyond the disturbance of the passions, and have gone beyond the whole relation of nature, and possess reason as a most just guide and judge of what is fitting; and have established the intellect, through a folly that is for the better, in the inmost place of divine silence; where it is possible to partake unknowingly of divine joy alone, which has for those worthy of it only experience as the teacher of its proper greatness; and for this reason, needing only a small indication concerning the things sought, which points beforehand to the all-radiant beauty of the mystical sights contained in the divine oracles, and the spiritual magnanimity concerning them; if it is indeed lawful for me to say this to you, who have already become the salt of the earth and the light of the world, according to the Lord's word, because of the wealth of your virtue and the great outpouring of your knowledge, and who cleanse the corruption of the passions in others by modes of virtues; and who illuminate ignorance, which is the blindness of the soul, with the light of knowledge.

But I beseech your most holy selves, and all who will likely read this letter, not to make what is said by me a limit of the spiritual interpretation of the chapters; for I fall far short of the meaning of the divine oracles, and I need the teaching of others for this; but if you are able to contribute anything from yourselves, or to learn from others, rather judge that justly, and let it be of the higher and true meaning; whose work is the full assurance of the heart for those who desire the spiritual discernment of the questions posed.

For the divine word is like water, which, just as for all kinds of plants and shoots, and for different animals, for those I mean who are watered by the word, is manifested to them analogously both gnostically and practically, being shown forth as fruit through the virtues, according to the (249) quality of virtue and knowledge of each one, and becomes manifest to different people through different means; for it is never circumscribed by one person; and it does not endure to be contained within a single meaning, being enclosed because of its natural infinity.

Since you first commanded me to speak about the passions that trouble us, how many and of what kind they are. It happens, and from what beginning, and to what end it arrives through its own intermediate state; and growing out of which power of the soul or member of the body, each one invisibly forms the intellect to itself, and makes the body like a dye, coloring the whole wretched soul towards sin through its thoughts; and the power and the activity of the name of each; and the times and the forms, and the deceits of the unclean demons through them; and the invisible conflicts, and the hypocrisies; and how some things are secretly put forward through others; and plausibly they drag [us] on to other things through other things [Fr. drag on]; and their subtleties, and their smallnesses, and their greatnesses, and their masses; and their remissions and retreats and contractions,

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Καί μοι σύγγνωθι πρῶτος αὐτός, τίμιε Πάτερ, τῆς ἐγχειρήσεως, καί τούς ἄλλους αἴτει προπετείας (248) ἀφίεσθαί με· καί ἵλεών μοι τόν Θεόν ταῖς εὐχαῖς κατάστησον, καί τῶν λεγομένων συλλήπτορα· μᾶλλον δέ τῆς ὅλης καί ὀρθῆς γενέσθαι περί ἑκάστου κεφαλαίου χορηγόν ἀποκρίσεως. Παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ γάρ ἐστιν πᾶσα δόσις ἀγαθή καί πᾶν δώρημα τέλειον, ὡς πηγῆς καί πατρός τῶν ἀναλόγως τοῖς ἀξίοις χορηγουμένων πασῶν φωτιστικῶν γνώσεών τε καί δυνάμεων. Ὑμῖν γάρ θαῤῥῶν, τό ὑμέτερον κατεδεξάμην ἐπίταγμα· τῆς εὐπειθείας μισθόν ἐκδεχόμενος, τήν δι᾿ ὑμῶν θείαν εὐμένειαν.

Ἕκαστον δέ τῶν κεφαλαίων, εἱρμῷ τε καί τάξει καθώς παρ᾿ ὑμῶν ἐγράφη προθείς, πρός ἔπος ποιήσομαι τήν ἀπόκρισιν, ὡς οἷόν τε σύντομον, καί ὁριστικήν καθ᾿ ὅσον οἷός τε ὦ· καί τήν πρός το νοεῖν τε καί λέγειν εὐσεβῶς, θεόθεν χορηγοῦμαι χάριν καί δύναμιν· ἵνα μή πλήθει λόγων βαρήσωμεν τῶν ἐντευξομένων τήν ἀκοήν· καί μάλιστα πρός ὑμᾶς γε τῶν λόγων ποιούμενος τήν ἀκοήν, τούς γνωστικούς ὄντως καί ἀκριβεῖς τῶν θείων θεάμονας· καί τῶν παθῶν διαβάντας τήν ὄχλησιν, καί τήν ὅλην παρελθόντας σχέσιν τῆς φύσεως, καί τῶν καθηκόντων κεκτημένους τόν λόγον ἡγεμόνα καί δικαστήν δικαιότατον· καί τόν νοῦν διά τῆς κατά τό κρεῖττον ἀνοησίας, εἰς τό ἐνδότατον τῆς θείας ἀφθεγξίας καταστήσαντας τόπον· ἔνθα μόνης ἐστίν ἀγνώστως εὐφροσύνης θείας ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι, τῆς τῶν ἀξιουμένων αὐτῆς πεῖραν μόνην ἐχούσης τοῦ οἰκείου μεγέθους διδάσκαλον· καί διά τοῦτο, μόνης χρήζοντας μικρᾶς περί τῶν ζητουμένων ἐμφάσεως, προδεικτικῆς τοῦ παμφαοῦς κάλλους, τῶν ἐμφερομένων τοῖς θείοις λογίοις μυστικῶν θεαμάτων, καί τῆς ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς πνευματικῆς μεγαλονοίας· εἴπερ καί τοῦτο θεμιτόν ἐμοί πρός ὑμᾶς εἰπεῖν, τούς ἅλας ἤδη τῆς γῆς, καί φῶς τοῦ κόσμου, κατά τόν Κυριακόν λόγον, διά τόν πλοῦτον τῆς ἀρετῆς, καί τήν πολλήν χύσιν τῆς γνώσεως γεγεννημένους καί τήν ἐν ἄλλοις σηπεδόνα τῶν παθῶν, τρόποις ἀρετῶν ἐκκαθαίροντας· καί τήν ἄγνοιαν, ψυχῆς ὑπάρχουσαν τύφλωσιν, τῷ τῆς γνώσεως φωτί καταυγάζοντας.

Παρακαλῶ δέ τούς ἁγιωτάτους ὑμᾶς, καί πάντας τούς ὡς εἰκός ἐντευξομένους τῷδε γράμματι, μή τοῦτο ὅρον ποιεῖσθαι τῆς τῶν κεφαλαίων πνευματικῆς ἑρμηνείας τά λεγόμενα παρ᾿ ἐμοῦ· πολύ γάρ τῆς τῶν θείων λογίων ἀπολιμπάνομαι διανοίας, καί τῆς ἄλλων πρός τοῦτο χρήζω διδασκαλίας· ἀλλ᾿ εἴ τι καί παρ᾿ ἑαυτῶν, ἤ παρ᾿ ἄλλων ἐπιβάλλειν, ἤ μαθεῖν δυνηθῆτε, μᾶλλον ἐκεῖνο διδκαίως ἐκκρίνατε, καί τῆς ὑψηλοτέρας καί ἀληθοῦς γενέσθαι διανοίας· ἧς ἔργον ἐστίν, ἡ τῆς καρδίας πληροφορία, τῶν ἐφιεμένων τῆς ἀπορηθέντων πνευματικῆς διαγνώσεως.

Ὕδατι γάρ ὁ θεῖος ἔοικεν λόγος, ὥσπερ φυτοῖς παντοδαποῖς καί βλαστήμασιν, καί διαφόροις ζώοις, τοῖς αὐτόν φημι τόν λόγον ποτιζομένοις, ἀναλόγως αὐτοῖς ἐκφαινόμενός τε γνωστικῶς καί πρακτικῶς διά τῶν ἀρετῶν ὡς καρπός προδεικνύμενος, κατά τήν (249) ἑκάστῳ ποιότητα τῆς ἀρετῆς καί τῆς γνώσεως, καί γινόμενος δι᾿ ἄλλων ἄλλοις ἐπίδημος· ἑνί γάρ οὐδέ ποτέ περιγράφεται· καί μιᾶς ἐντός οὐκ ἀνέχεται διανοίας γενέσθαι, διά τήν φυσικήν ἀπειρίαν κατάκλειστος.

Ἐπειδή δέ περί τῶν διοχλούντων ἡμῖν παθῶν πρῶτον εἰπεῖν ἐκελεύσατε, πόσα τε καί ποῖα. Τυγχάνει, καί ἐκ ποίας ἀρχῆς, καί εἰς οἷον διά τῆς οἰκείας μεσότητος καταντᾷ πέρας· καί ποίας ἕκαστον δυνάμεως ψυχῆς, ἤ μέλους σώματος ἐκφυόμενον, πρός ἑαυτό ἀοράτως μορφοῖ τόν νοῦν, καί τό σῶμα ποιεῖ βαφῆς δίκην, ὅλην διά τῶν λογισμῶν πρός τήν ἁμαρτίαν χρῶσαν τήν ἀθλίαν ψυχήν· τῆς τε προσηγορίας ἑκάστου τήν δύναμιν καί τήν ἐνέργειαν· τούς τε καιρούς καί τά σχήματα, καί τούς δι᾿ αὐτῶν δόλους τῶν ἀκαθάρτων δαιμόνων· καί τάς ἀοράτους συμπλοκάς, καί τάς ὑποκρίσεις· καί πῶς δι᾿ ἄλλων ἄλλα λεληθότως προβάλλονται· καί ἐπ᾿ ἄλλα δι᾿ ἄλλων πιθανῶς ἐπισύρουσιν [Fr. ἐπισύρ.]· τάς τε λεπτότητας, καί τάς σμικρότητας, καί τά μεγέθη, καί τούς ὄγκους αὐτῶν· ὑφέσεις τε καί ὑποχωρήσεις καί συστολάς,