,

just as corners, the many and various unions of things divided, but also of mind to sense and of heaven to earth and of sensible things to intelligible things and of nature to reason, upon all of which, according to its own knowledge, having established the true doctrines on each, the contemplative mind wisely builds intelligible towers upon the corners, that is, upon the unions, the dogmas that connect the unions.

And he became strong and built towers in the desert and hewed out many cisterns. He who was able to drive the passions out of the senses and to separate the soul from its relation to the senses became strong enough to wall off the entrance of the devil to the mind through the senses, and for this reason, in the desert—I mean in natural contemplation—he built, as if they were safe towers, the pious doctrines concerning created beings; in which he who takes refuge does not fear the demons who plunder in this desert—I mean in the nature of visible things—and who lead the mind astray through the senses and drag it down to the darkness of ignorance.

And he hewed out many cisterns, that is, the various dispositions for better things, which are receptive of the lessons in knowledge granted from God.

Because he had much livestock in the Shephelah and in the plain, and vinedressers in the hill country and in Carmel, for he was a farmer. He who lawfully strives for the truth through the weapons of the right hand and of the left, out of the various dispositions concerning virtue and (14Β_320> knowledge, as from hewn cisterns, anoints for endurance the livestock in the Shephelah, that is, the movements of the soul concerning the body, trained through the experience of involuntary temptations, watering them with the principles of perseverance; but those in the plain, that is, the movements of the soul that prosper through right-hand things by the breadth of virtues, he waters with the principles of humility and moderation, so as neither to fall through the things on the left nor to be puffed up by the things on the right.

And vinedressers in the hill country and in Carmel. The vinedressers in the hill country are the pious thoughts that remain at the height of contemplation and love the ecstatic and ineffable knowledge; and in Carmel, the thoughts that cultivate the principle of perfect dispassion and purification through the removal of all things, as a kind of foreskin surrounding the soul's procreative power, and, as it were, gnostically circumcise completely the mind's relation to material things. For Carmel is "knowledge of circumcision."

It says Uzziah was a farmer, because every mind that has the strength of God for contemplation is also a true farmer, through its own zeal and care, keeping the divine seeds of good things free of tares, as long as it has the memory of God preserving it. For it says, "And he was seeking the Lord in the days of Zechariah, in the fear of the Lord." And the Logos knows that Zechariah, when translated into the Greek language, means "memory of God." Therefore let us always pray to the Lord that His saving memory may be preserved in us, so that achievement does not corrupt the soul, lifted up to a height and daring things beyond nature, as did Uzziah.

SCHOLIA 1. He calls the wondrous tabernacle the holy flesh of God, which is from us, (14Β_322>

as having received its being in him without seed; and the house, the intellectual soul. For He ineffably united to Himself flesh intellectually ensouled, the Logos having become man, cleansing like by like. And the place is the Logos himself, who unchangeably established the nature in himself according to hypostasis. We pass, therefore, to this tabernacle, the flesh, sanctifying our own flesh through the virtues, by which it is naturally made to be conformed to the body of his glory according to the grace of the Spirit; and even to the house of God through unmixed contemplation, according to the simple and undivided

καθάπερ γωνίας τὰς πολλὰς καὶ διαφόρους τῶν διῃρημένων ἑνώσεις, ἀλλὰ καὶ νοῦ πρὸς αἴσθησιν καὶ οὐρανοῦ πρὸς γῆν καὶ αἰσθητῶν πρὸς νοητὰ καὶ φύσεως πρὸς λόγον, ἐφ᾽ ὧν ἁπάντων κατὰ τὴν οἰκείαν ἐπιστήμην τὰς ἀληθεῖς ἐφ᾽ ἑκάστῳ δόξας πηξάμενος ὁ θεωρητικὸς νοῦς ἐπὶ τῶν γωνιῶν σοφῶς οἰκοδομεῖ τοὺς νοητοὺς πύργους, τουτέστιν ἐπὶ τῶν ἑνώσεων τὰ συνδετικὰ τῶν ἑνώσεων δόγματα.

Καὶ κατίσχυσε καὶ ᾠκοδόμησε πύργους ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ καὶ ἐλατόμησε λάκκους πολλούς. Ὁ τῶν παθῶν ἐξηλῶσαι δυνηθεὶς τὰς αἰσθήσεις καὶ τῆς τῶν αἰσθήσεων σχέσεως τὴν ψυχὴν ἀποδιαστείλας κατίσχυσεν ἀποτειχίσαι τὴν γενομένην τοῦ διαβόλου πρὸς τὸν νοῦν διὰ μέσων τῶν αἰσθήσεων εἴσοδον, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον, φημὶ δὲ τὴν φυσικὴν θεωρίαν, οἱονεὶ πύργους ἀσφαλεῖς τὰς εὐσεβεῖς περὶ τῶν ὄντων ᾠκοδόμησε δόξας· ἐν αἷς ὁ καταφεύγων οὐ φοβεῖται τοὺς κατὰ τὴν ἔρημον ταύτην, λέγω δὲ τὴν φύσιν τῶν ὁρωμένων, λῃστεύοντας δαίμονας καὶ πλανῶντας τὸν νοῦν διὰ τῆς αἰσθήσεως καὶ πρὸς ἀγνοίας κατασύροντας ζόφον.

Καὶ ἐλατόμησε λάκκους πολλούς, τὰς διαφόρους δηλαδὴ τῶν κρειττόνων ἕξεις, τὰς δεκτικὰς τῶν θεόθεν χορηγουμένων κατὰ τὴν γνῶσιν μαθημάτων.

Ὅτι κτήνη πολλὰ ὑπῆρχεν αὐτῷ ἐν Σεφιλᾷ καὶ ἐν τῇ πεδινῇ καὶ ἀμπελουργοὶ ἐν τῇ ὀρεινῇ καὶ ἐν τῷ Καρμήλῳ, ὅτι γεωργὸς ἦν. Ὁ διὰ τῶν ὅπλων τῶν δεξιῶν καὶ ἀριστερῶν νομίμως ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας ἀθλῶν ἐκ τῶν περὶ τὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ τὴν (14Β_320> γνῶσιν διαφόρων ἕξεων, ὡς ἐκ λατομητῶν λάκκων, τὰ ἐν Σεφιλᾷ κτήνη, τουτέστι τὰ διὰ τῆς τῶν ἀκουσίων πειρασμῶν γυμναζόμενα πείρας περὶ τὸ σῶμα τῆς ψυχῆς κινήματα, πρὸς ὑπομονὴν ὑπαλείφει, ποτίζων τοὺς περὶ καρτερίας λόγους· τὰ δὲ ἐν τῇ πεδινῇ, τουτέστι τὰ διὰ τῶν δεξιῶν εὐθηνούμενα τῷ πλάτει τῶν ἀρετῶν τῆς ψυχῆς κινήματα, τοὺς περὶ ταπεινοφροσύνης καὶ μετριοπαθείας ποτίζει λόγους, πρὸς τὸ μήτε τοῖς ἀριστεροῖς καταπεσεῖν μήτε τοῖς δεξιοῖς ἐπαρθῆναι.

Καὶ ἀμπελουργοὶ ἐν τῇ ὀρεινῇ καὶ ἐν τῷ Καρμήλῳ. Αμπελουργοί εἰσιν ἐν τῇ ὀρεινῇ οἱ κατὰ τὸ ὕψος μένοντες τῆς θεωρίας καὶ τὴν ἐκστατικὴν καὶ ἀπόρρητον φιλοκαλοῦντες γνῶσιν εὐσεβεῖς λογισμοί· καὶ ἐν τῷ Καρμήλῳ οἱ τὸν περὶ τελείας ἀπαθείας τε καὶ καθάρσεως διὰ τῆς τῶν ἁπάντων, ὡς ἀκροβυστίας τινὸς τῷ γονίμῳ τῆς ψυχῆς περικειμένης, ἀφαιρέσεως γεωργοῦντες λόγον λογισμοί, καὶ οἷον γνωστικῶς περιτέμνοντες παντελῶς τοῦ νοῦ τὴν σχέσιν τῶν ὑλικῶν. Ἐπίγνωσις γὰρ περιτομῆς ὁ Κάρμηλός ἐστιν.

Γεωργὸν δέ φησιν εἶναι τὸν Ὀζίαν, ὅτι πᾶς νοῦς ἰσχὺν Θεοῦ πρὸς θεωρίαν ἔχων καὶ ἀληθής ἐστι γεωργός, καθαρὰ ζιζανίων διὰ τῆς οἰκείας σπουδῆς καὶ ἐπιμελείας τὰ θεῖα τῶν ἀγαθῶν διαφυλάττων σπέρματα, μέχρις οὗ συντηροῦσαν αὐτὸν ἔχει τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν μνήμην. Φησὶ γὰρ καὶ ἦν ἐκζητῶν τὸν Κύριον ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις Ζαχαρίου ἐν φόβῳ Κυρίου. Ζαχαρίαν δὲ μνήμην Θεοῦ πρὸς τὴν ἑλλάδα φωνὴν μεταφερόμενον οἶδεν ὁ λόγος. ∆ιὸ πάντοτε δεηθῶμεν τοῦ Κυρίου τὴν σωτήριον αὐτοῦ ἡμῖν φυλαχθῆναι μνήμην, ἵνα μὴ διαφθείρῃ τὴν ψυχὴν τὸ κατορθούμενον, πρὸς ὕψος ἀρθεῖσαν καὶ τῶν ὑπὲρ φύσιν, ὡς ὁ Ὀζίας, κατατολμήσασαν.

ΣΧΟΛΙΑ 1. Σκηνήν λέγει θαυμαστήν τήν ἐξ ἡμῶν ἁγίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ σάρκα, (14Β_322>

ὡς δίχα σπορᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ τό εἶναι λαβοῦσαν· οἶκον δέ, τήν νοεράν ψυχήν. Σάρκα γάρ νοερῶς ἐμψυχωμένην ἀῤῤήτως ἥνωσεν ἑαυτῷ γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος ὁ Λόγος τῷ ὁμοίῳ τό ὅμοιον ἀνακαθαίρων. Τόπος δέ, αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ Λόγος ὁ καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν ἀτρέπτως ἐν ἑαυτῷ τήν φύσιν πηξάμενος. Πρός ταύτην οὖν τήν σκηνήν σάρκα διερχόμεθα, τήν ἡμετέραν διά τῶν ἀρετῶν ἁγιάζοντες σάρκα, δι᾿ ὧν σύμμορφος πέφυκεν γίνεσθαι τῷ σώματι τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ κατά τήν χάριν τοῦ Πνεύματος· καί ἕως τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ Θεοῦ διά τῆς ἀμιγοῦς θεωρίας, κατά τήν ἁπλῆν καί ἀδιαίρετον