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As the green herb I have given you all things, except you shall not eat flesh with the life's blood. The earth shall be satisfied with the fruit of your works. The beginning of man's life is bread, and water, and clothing, and fire, and iron, and salt, fine wheat flour, oil, milk, honey, these things are for good to the godly. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden, than these necessary things; that you abstain from these things, from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; from which if you keep yourselves, you shall do well. I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself, but to him who esteems anything to be unclean. But if your brother is grieved because of food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food that one 95.1296 for whom Christ died. He that doubts is condemned if he eats. To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.

ELEMENT C. TITLE I. -Concerning gnostic and spiritual men; and what good things will follow

them. The lips of the just know high things. The spiritual man judges all

things; yet he himself is judged by no one. I say to you: walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. He who lacks knowledge is blind, being shortsighted, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins. Knowledge puffs up. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. The Spirit blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound; but you do not know where it comes from, or where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. Nobility is the preservation of the image, and conformity to the archetype, which reason and virtue, and pure desire work, ever and more so forming according to God the genuine initiates of the things above; and to know, from where, and who, and for what we have become. -Spiritual kinship is better than bodily. And as health is the good of the body, so the good of the soul is the knowledge of God, being a certain health of the soul, according to which likeness to God comes about. The spiritual man must be without wickedness, and simple, and guileless. The gnostic, in every way, also performs fitting works; but he who does not perform the works is not in every way also a gnostic. Our philosopher holds fast to these three things: first, contemplation; then, the performance of the commandments; third, the making of good men; which, coming together, constitute the gnostic. But whatever of these is lacking, the things of knowledge are lame. The gnostic will abstain from sins according to reason, and according to thought, and according to sense and action. - It is impossible for those still led by the passions to receive knowledge of God. 95.1297 Spiritual and gnostic, the Apostle knows to be the same, the disciple of the Holy Spirit. - The gnostic, having received from God the ability to be of use, benefits, shaping some by close observation, exhorting others by assimilation, and educating and teaching still others by command. And it seems to me that there are three effects of the gnostic power: to know things; second, to perform them; third, to be able to hand down in a manner worthy of God the things hidden in the truth. -Just as God is able to do all that he wishes, so the gnostic receives all that he asks for. -Works follow knowledge, as the shadow follows the body. -Not

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Ὡς λάχανα χόρτου δέδωκα ὑμῖν τὰ πάντα, πλὴν κρέα ἐν αἵματι ψυχῆς οὐ φάγεσθε. Ἀπὸ καρποῦ τῶν ἔργων σου χορτασθήσεται ἡ γῆ. Ἀρχὴ ζωῆς ἀνθρώπων, ἄρτος, καὶ ὕδωρ, καὶ ἱμάτιον, καὶ πῦρ, καὶ σίδηρος, καὶ ἅλας, σεμίδαλις πυροῦ, ἔλαιον, γάλα, μέλι, ταῦτα τοῖς εὐσεβέσιν εἰς ἀγαθά. Ἔδοξε τῷ ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι καὶ ἡμῖν, μηδὲν πλέον ἐπιθεῖναι ὑμῖν βάρος, πλὴν τῶν ἐπ' ἀνάγκης· τούτων ἀπέχεσθαι, εἰδωλοθύτων, καὶ αἵματος, καὶ πνικτῶν, καὶ πορνείας· ἐξ ὧν διατηροῦντες ἑαυτοὺς, εὖ πράξετε. Οἶδα, καὶ πέπεισμαι ἐν Κυρίῳ Ἰησοῦ, ὅτι οὐδὲν κοινὸν παρ' αὐτοῦ, εἰ μὴ τῷ λογιζομένῳ τι κοινὸν εἶναι. Εἰ δὲ διὰ βρῶμα ὁ ἀδελφός σου λυπεῖται, οὐκέτι κατὰ ἀγάπην περιπατεῖς. Μὴ τῷ βρώματί σου ἐκεῖ95.1296 νον ἀπόλλυε ὑπὲρ οὗ Χριστὸς ἀπέθανεν. Ὁ διακρινόμενος ἐὰν φάγῃ, κατακέκριται. Πάντα καθαρὰ τοῖς καθαροῖς, τοῖς δὲ μεμιασμένοις καὶ ἀπίστοις οὐδὲν καθαρόν· ἀλλὰ μεμίανται αὐτῶν καὶ ὁ νοῦς, καὶ ἡ συνείδησις.

ΣΤΟΙΧΕΙΟΝ Γ. ΤΙΤΛ. Αʹ. -Περὶ γνωστικῶν καὶ πνευματικῶν ἀνδρῶν· καὶ ὅσα ἀγαθὰ ἕψεται

αὐτοῖς. Χείλη δικαίων ἐπίσταται ὑψηλά. Ὁ πνευματικὸς ἄνθρωπος ἀνακρίνει τὰ

πάντα· αὐτὸς δὲ ὑπ' οὐδενὸς ἀνακρίνεται. Λέγω ὑμῖν· πνεύματι περιπατεῖτε, καὶ ἐπιθυμίαν σαρκὸς μὴ τελέσητε. Ἡ γὰρ σὰρξ ἐπιθυμεῖ κατὰ τοῦ πνεύματος, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα κατὰ τῆς σαρκός· ταῦτα δὲ ἀλλήλοις ἀντίκεινται. Ὁ καρπὸς τοῦ πνεύματός ἐστιν, ἀγάπη, χαρὰ, εἰρήνη, μακροθυμία, χρηστότης, ἀγαθοσύνη, πίστις, πραότης, ἐγκράτεια· κατὰ τῶν τοιούτων οὐκ ἔστι νόμος. Ὧ μὴ πάρεστι γνῶσις, τυφλός ἐστι, μυωπάζων, λήθην λαβὼν τοῦ καθαρισμοῦ τῶν πάλαι ἁμαρτημάτων. Ἡ γνῶσις φυσιοῖ. Τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς, σάρξ ἐστι· καὶ τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος, πνεῦμά ἐστι. Τὸ πνεῦμα ὅπου θέλει πνεῖ, καὶ τὴν φωνὴν αὐτοῦ ἀκούεις· ἀλλ' οὐκ οἶδας πόθεν ἔρχεται, ἢ ποῦ ὑπάγει. Οὕτως ἐστὶ πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος. Εὐγένεια, ἡ τῆς εἰκόνος τήρησις, καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἀρχέτυπον ἐξομοίωσις, ἣν ἐργάζεται λόγος καὶ ἀρετὴ, καὶ καθαρὸς πόθος, ἀεὶ καὶ μᾶλλον μορφῶν τὰ κατὰ Θεὸν τοὺς γνησίους τῶν ἄνω μύστας· καὶ τὸ γινώσκειν, ὅθεν, καὶ τίνες, καὶ εἰς ὃ γεγόναμεν. -Κρείττων ἡ πνευματικὴ συγγένεια τῆς σωματικῆς. Ὡς δὲ σώματος ἀγαθὸν ὑγεία, οὕτως ψυχῆς ἀγαθὸν, γνῶσις Θεοῦ, ὑγεία τις οὖσα ψυχῆς, καθ' ἣν πρὸς Θεὸν ὁμοίωσις γίνεται. Τὸν πνευματικὸν ἀπόνηρον εἶναι χρὴ, καὶ ἁπλοῦν, καὶ ἄδολον. Ὁ μὲν γνωστικὸς, πάντως καὶ ἔργα ἐπιτελεῖ καθήκοντα· ὁ δὲ τὰ ἔργα μὴ ἐπιτελῶν, οὐ πάντως καὶ γνωστικός ἐστι. Τριῶν τούτων ἀντέχεται ὁ ἡμεδαπὸς φιλόσοφος· πρῶτον μὲν τῆς θεωρίας, ἔπειτα δὲ τῆς τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐπιτελέσεως, τρίτον, ἀνδρῶν ἀγαθῶν κατασκευῆς· ἃ δὴ συνελθόντα, τὸν γνωστικὸν ἀποτελεῖ. Ὅ τι δ' ἂν ἐνδέῃ τούτων, χωλεύει τὰ τῆς γνώσεως. Ὁ γνωστικὸς ἀφέξεται τῶν κατὰ λόγον, καὶ τῶν κατὰ διάνοιαν, καὶ τῶν κατ' αἴσθησιν καὶ ἐνέργειαν ἁμαρτημάτων. - Θεοῦ γνῶσιν λαβεῖν τοῖς ἔτι ὑπὸ τῶν παθῶν ἀπαγομένοις ἀδύνατον. 95.1297 Πνευματικὸν καὶ γνωστικὸν, τὸν αὐτὸν οἶδεν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, τὸν τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος μαθητήν. - Ὁ γνωστικὸς θεόθεν λαβὼν τὸ δύνασθαι ὠφελεῖν, ὀνίνησιν, τοὺς μὲν τῇ παρακολουθήσει σχηματίζων, τοὺς δὲ τῇ ἐξομοιώσει προτρεπόμενος, τοὺς δὲ καὶ τῇ προστάξει παιδεύων καὶ διδάσκων. Καί μοι καταφαίνεται τρία εἶναι τῆς γνωστικῆς δυνάμεως ἀποτελέσματα· τὸ γινώσκειν τὰ πράγματα· δεύτερον, τὸ ἐπιτελεῖν· τρίτον, τὸ παραδιδόναι δύνασθαι θεοπρεπῶς τὰ παρὰ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ κεκρυμμένα. -Ωσπερ πᾶν ὃ βούλεται, δύναται ὁ Θεὸς, οὕτω πᾶν ὃ ἂν αἰτήσῃ ὁ γνωστικὸς, λαμβάνει. -Ἕπεται τῇ γνώσει τὰ ἔργα, ὡς τῷ σώματι ἡ σκιά. -Οὐ