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nor as something that is in our power, nor as something that now is, and now is not, but to possess some tireless energy (p. 364) engendered by grace, co-existing with and rooted in the soul, a spring producing sacred gladness that draws the mind to itself and removes it from multiform and material fantasies; and by bodily I mean that which passes from the pleasures of the body to the thoughts and pleasantly accompanies and drags them down; but that which passes from the soul, spiritually rejoicing, to the body, even if it happens to be active in the body, is still spiritual. For just as the pleasure that goes from bodies to the mind makes it bodily, being in no way improved by communion with what is superior, but rather imparting to it what is inferior, so that because of it the whole man is even called flesh, according to what was said about those overwhelmed by the wrath of God, as "My Spirit shall not abide in these men, for they are flesh," so the spiritual pleasure coming from the mind to the body, being in no way corrupted by communion with the body, transforms the body and makes it spiritual, causing it to cast off evil carnal desires and no longer drag down the soul, but to be lifted up with it, so that then the whole man is spirit, according to what is written, "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit." And all these things become clear through experience.

But to one who engages in verbal disputes and contentiously objects, it would have been sufficient to say that "we have no such custom, nor does the Church of God," to be led by fruitless words; but we honor a word put into practice and an intelligent practice. But since he has also committed such words to writing, so that he might not deceive any of the many and seem to say something profound and draw them to falsehood, we too by writing make the truth manifest and refute the falsehood, using brief arguments for these things, (p. 366) but longer ones for what is more necessary than these, and everywhere showing the fathers to be opposed to the new teacher of inaction, who, since he rejects good practices done through the body as difficult, and consequently does not accept the spiritual dispositions signified in the body, although all holy and divinely-inspired Scripture is full of such things: "For my heart," it says, "and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God," and "in Him I hoped and I was helped, and my flesh has revived," and again "How sweet are Your words to my throat, sweeter than honey to my mouth." And that he means the perceptible mouth, Saint Isaac also shows clearly, saying it is a sign of those who are advancing that the words of prayer are sweetened in their mouth. And Saint Diadochos says, "that there is one sense of the soul, the very energy of the Holy Spirit engendered in us teaches, which no one can know, except only those who for the hope of future goods are released from the good things of this life; for in these people, the mind, moving vigorously on account of its freedom from care, itself perceives the ineffable goodness of God and imparts its own goodness to the body according to the measure of its own progress, as David also says: 'My heart hoped in Him and I was helped, and my flesh revived.' And such joy, then engendered in the soul and the body, is an unerring reminder of the incorruptible life."

But the philosopher says that this pledge of the age to come, this reminder of incorruptibility, this energy of the all-holy Spirit, cannot possibly be produced by any divine cause, and least of all during noetic prayer. And the reasons why he says that the alterations produced also in the body by the energy of the Spirit are not from God, these are roughly four. First, that "the things from God

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οὐδέ τῶν ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν οὖσαν, οὐδέ νῦν μέν οὖσαν, νῦν δ᾿ οὐκ οὖσαν, ἀλλ᾿ ἀκάματόν τινα ἐνέργειαν (σελ. 364) ὑπό τῆς χάριτος ἐγγινομένην, συνοῦσαν καί ἐνερριζωμένην τῇ ψυχῇ, πηγήν γεννῶσαν εὐφροσύνης ἱερᾶς εἰς ἑαυτήν συνελκούσης τόν νοῦν καί ἐξιστώσης τῶν πολυειδῶν καί προσύλων φαντασμάτων ἔχειν˙ σωματοειδές δέ λέγω τό διικνούμενον ἀπό τῶν τοῦ σώματος ἡδονῶν ἐπί τούς λογισμούς καί ἡδυφανῶς συγγινόμενον καί κατασπῶν αὐτούς˙ τό δ᾿ ἐκ τῆς ψυχῆς πνευματικῶς εὐφραινομένης ἐπί τό σῶμα διαβαῖνον, κἄν ἐν σώματι τυγχάνῃ ἐνεργοῦν, ἀλλά πνευματικόν ἐστι. Καθάπερ γάρ ἡ ἀπό σωμάτων ἐπί τόν νοῦν ἰοῦσα ἡδονή σωματοειδῆ ἀπεργάζεται αὐτόν, μηδέν τῇ κοινωνίᾳ τοῦ κρείττονος βελτιωθεῖσα αὕτη, μεταδοῦσα δέ μᾶλλον τοῦ χείρονος αὐτῷ, ὡς δι᾿ αὐτήν καί σάρκα ὅλον λέγεσθαι τόν ἄνθρωπον, κατά τό εἰρημένον περί τῶν ὀργῇ κατακλυζομένων ὑπό τοῦ Θεοῦ ὡς «οὐ μή μείνῃ τό πνεῦμά μου ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τούτοις διά τό εἶναι αὐτούς σάρκας», οὕτως ἡ ἀπό τοῦ νοῦ ἐπί τό σῶμα πνευματική ἐρχομένη ἡδονή, μηδέν αὕτη τῇ κοινωνίᾳ τοῦ σώματος ἀχρειωθεῖσα, μεταστοιχειοῖ τό σῶμα καί πνευματικόν ποιεῖ, τάς σαρκικάς πονηράς ἀποβαλλόμενον ὀρέξεις καί μηκέτι καθέλκον τήν ψυχήν, ἀλλά ταύτῃ συναναφερόμενον, ὡς καί πνεῦμα τότε ὅλον εἶναι τόν ἄνθρωπον, κατά τό γεγραμμένο, «ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ Πνεύματος Πνεῦμά ἐστιν». Ταῦτα δέ πάντα τῇ πείρᾳ δῆλα γίνεται.

Πρός δέ τόν λογομαχοῦντα καί φιλονείκως ἐνιστάμενον ἀπέχρησεν ἄν εἰπεῖν ὡς «ἡμεῖς τοιαύτην οὐκ ἔχομεν, οὐδέ ἠ Ἐκκλησία τοῦ Θεοῦ», λόγοις ἀπράκτως ἄγεσθαι˙ λόγον δέ τιμῶμεν ἔμπρακτον καί πρᾶξιν ἐλλόγιμον. Ἐπεί δέ καί Γραφῇ τούς τοιούτους παραδέδωκε λόγους, ἵνα μή τινα τῶν πολλῶν ἐξαπατήσῃ καί δόξῃ τι σεμνόν λέγειν καί προσαγάγηται τῷ ψεύδει, γράμμασι καί ἡμεῖς τἀληθές ποιοῦμεν φανερόν καί τό ψεῦδος ἐλέγχομεν, μικροῖς μέν πρός ταῦτα, (σελ. 366) μακροτέροις δέ πρός τά τούτων ἀναγκαιότερα χρώμενοι καί τούς πατέρας πανταχοῦ προδεικνύντες, ἀντικειμένους τῷ καινῷ τῆς ἀπραξίας καθηγητῇ, ὅς ἐπεί τάς διά τοῦ σώματος ἀγαθάς πράξεις ὡς δυσχερεῖς ἀποσείεται καί τάς ἐνσημαινομένας πνευματικάς διαθέσεις τῷ σώματι εἰκότως οὐ καταδέχεται, καίτοι πλήρης ἐστί τῶν τοιούτων πᾶσα ἱερά Γραφή καί θεόπνευστος˙ «ἡ καρδία μου» γάρ, φησί, «καί ἡ σάρξ μου ἠγαλλιάσαντο ἐπί Θεόν ζῶντα», καί «ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ ἤλπισα καί ἐβοηθήθην καί ἀνέθαλεν ἡ σάρξ μου», καί πάλιν «ὡς γλυκέα τῷ λάρυγγί μου τά λόγιά σου, ὑπέρ μέλι τῷ στόματί μου». Ὅτι δέ τῷ αἰσθητῷ στόματί φησι, καί ὁ ἅγιος Ἰσαάκ δείκνυσι σαφῶς, σημεῖον εἶναι λέγων προκοπτόντων τό καθηδύνεσθαι ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτῶν τά ρήματα τῆς προσευχῆς. Ὁ δέ ἅγιος ∆ιάδοχος «μίαν εἶναι», φησί, «τήν αἴσθησιν τῆς ψυχῆς, αὐτή ἡ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἡμῖν ἐγγινομένη διδάσκει ἐνέργεια, ἥν οὐδείς δύναται εἰδέναι, εἰ μή μόνοι οἱ τῶν τοῦ βίου καλῶν διά τήν ἐλπίδα τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν ἀπηλλαγμένοι˙ ἐπί γάρ τούτων εὐρώστως ὁ νοῦς διά τήν ἀμεριμνίαν κινούμενος τῆς θείας ἀρρήτως χρηστότητος αὐτός ἐπαισθάνεται καί τῷ σώματι κατά τό μέτρον τῆς ἑαυτοῦ προκοπῆς τῆς οἰκείας χρηστότητος μεταδίδωσιν, ὡς καί ὁ ∆αυίδ λέγει˙ "ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ ἤλπισεν ἡ καρδία μου καί ἐβοηθήθην, καί ἐνέθαλεν ἡ σάρξ μου" . Ἡ δέ τοιαύτη ἐγγινομένη χαρά τότε τῇ ψυχῇ καί τῷ σώματι ὑπόμνησίς ἐστιν ἀπλανής τῆς ἀφθάρτου βιότητος».

Ἀλλ᾿ ὁ φιλόσοφος τόν ἀρραβῶνα τοῦτον τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος, τήν ὑπόμνησιν τῆς ἀφθαρσίας, τήν ἐνέργειαν τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος, οὐκ ἐνδέχεσθαί φησιν ὑπό θείας τινός αἰτίας γίνεσθαι καί πάντων ἥκιστα κατά τήν νοεράν προσευχήν. ∆ι᾿ ἅ δέ φησιν οὗτος οὐκ ἐκ Θεοῦ εἶναι τάς καί τῷ σώματι ἐγγινομένας ὑπό τῆς ἐνεργείας τοῦ Πνεύματος ἀλλοιώσεις, τέτταρα σχεδόν ἐστι ταῦτα. Πρῶτον μέν ὅτι «τά ἐκ Θεοῦ