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of virtues, as works of God, by barrenness; which he eats with much pain and grief, enjoying the little pleasure that is in it. This flesh, for the sake of this corruptible enjoyment, brings forth for him cares and anxieties, like thorns; and great temptations and dangers like thistles, according to reason and anger and desire, painfully pricking him from all sides, so that he might with difficulty be able to secure its health and well-being, like withering grass, and eat, that is, to obtain; and then after much cycling of pains, in the sweat of his face, that is, in the sensual toil and labor of the meddlesome spying out of sensible things; as bread, to have the occasion for the sustenance of the present life, either through (280) art, or through some other method contrived for life.

Or rather, the earth is the heart of Adam, having received a curse through the transgression, the removal of the heavenly goods. Which earth, according to practical philosophy, he eats through many tribulations, having been cleansed from the curse according to conscience of the shame of works. And again, the thoughts arising in it like thorns concerning the generation of bodies, and like thistles, the rigid thoughts concerning the providence and judgment of incorporeal beings, cleansing them by the word, he reaps spiritual contemplation of nature like grass; and thus, as in the sweat of his face, in the scientific mode of the intellect according to knowledge, he eats the incorruptible bread of theology, the only truly living [Fr. life-giving] one, and preserving for incorruptibility the generation of those who eat. The earth, then, when eaten well, is the purification of the heart through practical (action); and grass is the knowledge of created things according to natural contemplation; and bread is the true mystagogy according to theology.

SCHOLION. 1. He calls the passions of dishonor the works of Adam; for God alone works the virtues in those who are willing; for the manifestation of virtues, taking only, as an instrument, the intention of those who are willing.

QUESTION VI.

If according to Saint John, "He who is born of God does not commit sin, because His seed remains in him, and he cannot sin;" and he who is born of water and the Spirit, this one is born of God; how can we who are born of God through baptism be able to sin?

Response. The manner of birth from God in us is twofold; the one gives all the grace of adoption present in potentiality to those who are born; the other introduces it as wholly present in actuality and as transforming by the will the whole volition of the one born towards God who begets; and the one has the grace present in potentiality according to faith alone; the other, in addition to faith, has it also acting according to full knowledge, creating in the one who has come to know the most divine likeness of the one who is known. For those in whom the first manner of birth is contemplated, because the will, having not yet been purely stripped of carnal attachment, has not been wholly qualified by the Spirit, through the participation by energy in the divinely known mysteries themselves, the possibility of ever inclining towards sin is not absent for those who wish it. For the Spirit does not beget a will that is unwilling, but transforms a willing one towards deification, of which he who has partaken by experience according to full knowledge, cannot, of that which was once properly and truly discerned in deed, towards

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τῶν ἀρετῶν, ὡς ἔργων Θεοῦ, ἀκαρπίᾳ· ἥν μετ᾿ ὀδύνης πολλῆς καί λύπης ἐσθίει, τῆς κατ᾿ αὐτήν μικρᾶς ἡδονῆς ἀπολαύων. Ἥτις σάρξ ὑπέρ ταύτης τῆς φθαρτῆς ἀπολαύσεως, ἀνατέλλει αὐτῷ μερίμνας καί φροντίδας, καθάπερ ἀκάνθας· καί μεγάλους πειρασμούς καί κινδύνους ὥσπερ τριβόλους, κατά τε λόγον καί θυμόν καί ἐπιθυμίαν, ἀλγεινῶς αὐτόν πανταχόθεν κατακεντοῦντας, ἵνα μόλις δυνηθῇ τήν ταύτης ὑγείαν τε καί εὐεξίαν, ὡς χόρτον μαραινόμενον περιποιήσασθαι καί φαγεῖν, τουτέστι, τυχεῖν· καί τότε μετά πολλήν τῶν ὀδυνῶν ἐπανακύκλησιν, ἐν ἱδρῶτι τοῦ προσώπου, τουτέστιν, ἐν τῷ κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν καμάτῳ τε καί κόπῳ τῆς περιέργου κατασκοπῆς τῶν αἰσθητῶν· ὥσπερ ἄρτον τήν πρός σύστασιν ἔχειν τῆς παρούσης ζωῆς ἀφορμήν, ἤ διά (280) τέχνης, ἤ δι᾿ ἄλλης τινός περινενοημένης τῷ βίῳ μεθοδείας.

Ἤ μᾶλλον γῆ, τοῦ Ἀδάμ ἐστιν ἡ καρδία, κατάραν λαβοῦσα διά τῆς παραβάσεως, τήν τῶν οὐρανίων ἀγαθῶν ἀφαίρεσιν. Ἥντινα γῆν κατά τήν πρακτικήν φιλοσοφίαν διά πολλῶν θλίψεως ἐσθίει, καθαρθεῖσαν τῆς κατά συνείδησιν κατάρας τῶν ἔργων αἰσχύνης. Καί πάλιν τούς ἀνατέλλοντας ἐν αὐτῇ δίκην ἀκανθῶν λογισμούς περί τῆς τῶν σωμάτων γενέσεως, καί ὥσπερ τριβόλους τούς περί τῆς τῶν ἀσωμάτων προνοίας τε καί κρίσεως περισκελεῖς λογισμούς ἀποκαθαίρων τῷ λόγῳ, τήν φυσικήν ὥσπερ χόρτον δρέπεται θεωρίαν πνευματικήν· καί οὕτως, ὡς ἐν ἱδρῶτι τοῦ προσώπου, τῷ ἐπιστημονικῷ τῆς διανοίας κατά τήν γνῶσιν τρόπῳ, τόν ἄφθαρτον τῆς θεολογίας ἄρτον ἐσθίει, τόν μόνον ὄντως ζῶντα [Fr.ζωτικόν], καί ἐσθιόντων συντηροῦντα πρός ἀφθαρσίαν τήν γένεσιν. Γῆ τοίνυν ἐστί καλῶς ἐσθιομένη, ἡ διά πρακτικῆς (πράξεως) τῆς καρδίας κάθαρσις· χόρτος δέ, ἡ κατά τήν φυσικήν θεωρίαν ἐπιστήμη τῶν γεγονότων· ἄρτος δέ, ἡ κατά τήν θεολογίαν ἀληθής μυσταγωγία.

ΣΧΟΛΙΟΝ. α΄ . Ἔργα λέγει τοῦ Ἀδάμ τά πάθη τῆς ἀτιμίας· τάς γάρ ἀρετάς ἐργάζεται μόνος ὁ

Θεός ἐν τοῖς βουλομένοις· πρός τήν τῶν ἀρετῶν φενέρωσιν, μόνην καθάπερ ὄργανον λαμβάνων, τῶν βουλομένων τήν πρόθεσιν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Στ΄.

Εἰ κατά τόν ἅγιον Ἰωάννην, " Ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἁμαρτίαν οὐ ποιεῖ, ὅτι σπέρμα αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ μένει, καί οὐ δύναται ἁμαρτάνειν·" ὁ δέ γεγεννημένος ἐξ ὕδατος καί Πνεύματος, οὗτος ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ γεγέννηται· πῶς οἱ ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ διά τοῦ βαπτίσματος γεγεννημένοι ἡμεῖς δυνάμεθα ἁμαρτάνειν;

Ἀπόκρισις. ∆ιττός ἐν ἡμῖν τῆς ἐκ Θεοῦ γεννήσεως ὁ τρόπος· ὁ μέν πᾶσαν δυνάμει παροῦσαν

τοῖς γεννωμένοις διδούς τήν χάριν τῆς υἱοθεσίας· ὁ δέ, κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν ὅλην παροῦσαν καί τήν τοῦ γεννωμένου πᾶσαν πρός τόν γεννῶντα Θεόν προαίρεσιν, γνωμικῶς μεταπλάττουσαν εἰσάγων· καί ὁ μέν, κατά πίστιν μόνην δυνάμει παροῦσαν τήν χάριν ἔχων· ὁ δέ πρός τῇ πίστει, καί τήν κατ᾿ ἐπίγνωσιν ἐνεργοῦσαν, ἐν τῷ ἐπεγνωκότι τήν τοῦ γνωσθέντος θειοτάτην ὁμοίωσιν ἐμποιῶν. Οἷς μέν οὖν ὁ πρῶτος τῆς γεννήσεως ἐνθεωρεῖται τρόπος, διά τό μήπω τήν γνώμην καθαρῶς ἐξηλωθεῖσαν τῆς σαρκικῆς προσπαθείας ποιωθῆναι διόλου τῷ Πνεύματι, κατ᾿ αὐτήν τῶν ἐγνωσμένων θείως μυστηρίων δι᾿ ἐνεργείας τήν μέθεξιν, τό πρός ἁμαρτίαν ῥέψαι ποτέ βουλομένοις οὐκ ἄπεστιν. Οὐ γάρ γεννᾷ γνώμην τό Πνεῦμα μή θέλουσαν, ἀλλά βουλομένην μεταπλάττει πρός θέωσιν, ἧς ὁ κατ᾿ ἐπίγνωσιν πείρᾳ μεταλαβών, οὐ δύναται τοῦ κυρίως κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν ἅπαξ ἔργῳ διαγνωσθέντος, πρός