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of the blind? And you will find many others who claimed that they follow the holy Scriptures, who were convicted of lying about themselves and the Scriptures by those who truly follow them. But if someone were to examine you, how you yourself follow the (p. 416) saints, he would not only call you blind but also deaf. For the great Dionysius, as we set forth previously in the discourse *On Saving Knowledge*, says very clearly that "likeness to and union with God are perfected from the divine commandments alone," you yourself with equal clarity say not from them alone; for you grant that these cleanse the one who keeps them by half, and this with difficulty. Thus do you follow in his footsteps. And of Gregory of Nyssa, who teaches that outer wisdom is barren and imperfect, and deems it right that we not push away familiarity with this falsely-named mother "as long as we see the immaturity of age in ourselves," but after this to consider it a shame to be called children of this naturally barren one," you teach that it is most useful and necessary for us to attend to it throughout our life and to pride ourselves on it, and you do not hesitate to falsify other sayings of his, only so that you may have something to put forward to persuade that these studies are productive of perfect and saving purification. Thus you alone, above all the saints, are secure. And of the great Basil, who said clearly that not knowing the truth that pervades heaven and earth and the elements between is no obstacle to the blessedness in the promises, you declare this to be saving, and that without it perfection is not present for someone to harmonize his mind with the truth that is through all things. and would that it were at least with the truth, if one must also pray for the impossible; for in God alone is the knowledge of all things, who says to Job, "Declare to me, if you have understanding, where are the pillars of the earth fixed, and what are the springs of the sea, and how great is the breadth of what is under heaven." But you, not seeking to harmonize your mind with this truth, think that you alone know and have perfection, but rather with Aristotle and Plato, and with Euclid and (p. 418) Ptolemy and those like them. Therefore you also consider astrologers and natural philosophers to be seers of God more than those who are not such, as having their reason moving soundly concerning the truth of beings, by whose winding you deem them worthy also of angelic thoughts. And saying these things, you think that you follow the divine revealer Dionysius in a saving and secure manner, and for this reason you speak boldly as our unerring guide. But let not the crooked man boast as if he were straight; for he will not persuade or deceive those who see him, even if he deceives himself. Nor let him lie against those who think rightly and follow the divinely-inspired speakers securely, and this on matters in which no one anywhere on earth, not even those who do not walk by the gospel of grace, could be convicted of being now completely in error. For who is there—not to mention those called after Christ, but even if he be a Scythian or a Persian or an Indian—who does not now know that God is none of the created or sensible things? For just as at the future coming of Christ the grace of resurrection and immortality is not confined only to those who have believed in him, but according to the oracles all will rise together, even if not all together will obtain the things promised after the resurrection, so also now at his former coming on earth, even if not all obeyed the gospel of Christ, yet all together, having been unknowingly transformed by the abundance of the grace of him who came, confess one uncreated God, creator of all. And if you ask the Parthian, the Persian, the Sarmatian, you would immediately hear from him that Abrahamic voice, "I worship the God of heaven," which Ptolemy would not have said, nor Hipparchus, nor Marinus of Tyre, who according to you are wise and who harmonized their minds with the truth through the heavenly cycles (p. 420) and epicycles and spheres, yet nevertheless calling the heaven divine and the cause of all, nor the Aristotles and Platos, who of gods

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τυφλῶν; Τοῦτο δ᾿ ὅτι ταῖς ἱεραῖς ἕποιντο Γραφαῖς καί πολλούς ἄλλους ἰσχυρισαμένους εὑρήσεις, οἵ καταψευδόμενοι σφῶν τε αὐτῶν καί τῶν Γραφῶν ἐξηλέχθησαν ὑπό τῶν πρός ἀλήθειαν ἑπομένων αὐταῖς. Σέ δ᾿ εἴ τις ἐξετάσειεν, ὅπως καί αὐτός ἕπῃ τοῖς (σελ. 416) ἁγίοις, οὐ μόνον τυφλόν ἄν σε εἴποι ἀλλά καί κωφόν˙ τοῦ γάρ μεγάλου ∆ιονυσίου, καθάπερ ἐν τῷ Περί σωτηρίου γνώσεως λόγῳ προεξεθέμεθα, λέγοντος ἀριδήλως «ἐκ μόνων τῶν θείων ἐντολῶν τελεῖσθαι τήν πρός Θεόν ἀφομοίωσίν τε καί ἕνωσιν, αὐτός ἐπίσης ἀριδήλως οὐκ ἐκ μόνων φῄς˙ ἐξ ἡμισείας γάρ ταύτας τόν τηροῦντα καθαίρειν δίδως, καί τοῦτο μόγις˙ οὕτως ἕπῃ κατ᾿ ἴχνος. Καί Γρηγορίου τοῦ Νύσσης˙ ἄγονον καί ἀτελῆ τήν ἔξω σοφίαν εἶναι διδάσκοντος καί μέχρι τούτου ἀξιοῦντος ἡμᾶς μή ἀπωθεῖσθαι τήν τῆς ψευδωνύμου ταύτης μητρός οἰκειότητα, «μέχρις ἄν τό τῆς ἡλικίας ἀτελές ἐν ἑαυτοῖς βλέποιμεν», μετά τοῦτο δ᾿ αἰσχύνην ἡγεῖσθαι τῆς κατά φύσιν ἀγόνου ταύτης ὀνομάζεσθαι παῖδας», αὐτός διά βίου ταύτῃ προσέχειν ἡμᾶς χρησιμώτατόν τε καί ἀναγκαιότατον εἶναι διδάσκεις κἀπί ταύτῃ σεμνύνεσθαι,καί παραχαράττειν οὐκ ὀκνεῖς ἑτέρας ρήσεις αὐτοῦ , μόνον ἵν᾿ ἔχῃς προβαλλόμενος πείθειν ὡς τελείας ἐστί καί σωτηρίου καθάρσεως ποιητικά τά μαθήματα˙ οὕτω καί μόνος αὐτός ὑπέρ πάντας τῶν ἁγίων ἀσφαλῶς ἔχῃ. Καί τοῦ μεγάλου Βασιλείου σαφῶς εἰπόντος μηδέν ἐμπόδιον εἶναι πρός τήν ἐν ἐπαγγελίαις μακαριότητα τό μή εἰδέναι τήν δι᾿ οὐρανοῦ καί γῆς καί τῶν μεταξύ στοιχείων διικνουμένην ἀλήθειαν, σύ τοῦτο σωτηριῶδες ἀποφαίνῃ, καί ἄνευ τούτου τελειότητα μή παρεῖναι τῇ διά πάντων ἀληθείᾳ τόν ἑαυοῦ τινα ἐναρμόσαι νοῦν˙ καί εἴθε τῇ ἀληθείᾳ γοῦν, εἰ δεῖ καί ὑπέρ τῶν ἀνεφίκτων εὔξασθαι˙ καί γάρ ἐν Θεῷ μόνῳ πάντων ἡ γνῶσις, ὅς φησι πρός τόν Ἰώβ, «ἀπάγγειλόν μοι, εἰ ἐπίστασαι σύνεσιν, ποῦ οἱ στύλοι τῆς γῆς πεπήγασι, τίνες δέ πηγαί θαλάσσης, πόσον δέ τό εὗρος τῆς ὑπ᾿ οὐρανόν». Σύ δέ οὐ ταύτῃ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ ζητῶν ἐναρμόζειν σου τόν νοῦν οἴει μόνος εἰδέναι τε καί ἔχειν τήν τελειότητα, ἀλλά τοῖς Ἀριστοτέλει καί Πλάτωνι. Εὐκλείδῃ τε καί (σελ418) Πτολεμαίῳ καί ὅσοι κατ᾿ αὐτούς˙ διό καί ἀστρολόγους καί φυσιολόγους θεόπτας μᾶλλον τῶν μή τοιούτων ἡγῇ, ὡς περί τήν τῶν ὄντων ἀλήθειαν ὑγιῶς τό λογικόν σφίσι περιπορευόμενον ἔχοντας, ἧς τῇ συνελίξει καί τῶν ἰσαγγέλων αὐτούς καταξιοῖς νοήσεων˙ καί ταῦτα λέγων οἴει σωτηρίως καί ἀσφαλῶς ἕπεσθαι τῷ θεοφάντορι ∆ιονυσίῳ καί ὁδηγός ἡμῶν ἀπλανής εἶναι διά τοῦτο παρρησιάζῃ. Ἀλλά μή καυχάσθω ὁ κυρτός ὡς ὀρθός˙ τούς γάρ ὁρῶντας αὐτόν οὐ πείσει οὐδ᾿ ἀπατήσει, κἄν ἑαυτόν ἀπατᾷ˙ μηδέ καταψευδέσθω τῶν ὀρθά φρονούντων καί τοῖς θεηγόροις ἀσφαλῶς ἑπομένων, καί ταῦτ᾿ ἐφ᾿ ὧν οὐδείς οὐδαμοῦ γῆς, οὐδέ τῶν μή στοιχούντων τῷ τῆς χάριτος εὐαγγελίῳ, ἐλεγχθείη ἄν ἀρτίως τελέως σφαλλόμενος. Τίς γάρ μή ὅτι τῶν ἀπό Χριστοῦ καλουμένων, ἀλλά κἄν Σκύθης κἄν Πέρσης κἄν Ἰνδός ᾖ, ὅς νῦν οὐκ οἶδε τόν Θεόν μηδέν ὄντα τῶν κτιστῶν ἤ τῶν αἰσθητῶν; Ὡς γάρ ἐπί τῆς μελλούσης Χριστοῦ παρουσίας οὐ τοῖς εἰς αὐτόν πεπιστευκόσι μόνοις ἡ τῆς ἀναστάσεως καί τῆς ἀθανασίας περικλείεται χάρις, ἀλλά κατά τά λόγια κοινῇ πάντες ἀναστήσονται, εἰ καί μή κοινῇ πάντες τῶν μετά τήν ἀνάστασιν ἐπηγγελμένων τεύξονται, οὕτω καί νῦν κατά τήν ἐπί γῆς αὐτοῦ προτέραν παρουσίαν, εἰ καί μή πάντες ὑπήκουσαν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἀλλά κοινῇ πάντες, τῷ περιόντι τῆς τοῦ παραγενομένου χάριτος ἀνεπιγνώστως μετασκευασθέντες, ἕνα Θεόν ὁμολογοῦσιν ἄκτιστον, κτίστην τοῦ παντός˙ κἄν ἐρωτήσῃς τόν Πάρθον, τόν Πέρσην, τήν Σαυρομάτην, ἀκούσειας ἄν εὐθύς τήν ἀβραμιαίαν ἐκείνην παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ φωνήν, ὅτι «τόν Θεόν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἐγώ σέβομαι», ὅ Πτολεμαῖος οὐκ ἄν εἶπε καί Ἵππαρχος καί Μαρῖνος ὁ Τύριος, οἱ κατά σέ σοφοί καί τῇ μέν διά τῶν οὐρανίων κύκλων (σελ. 420) καί ἐπικύκλων καί σφαιρῶν ἀληθείᾳ τόν ἑαυτῶν ἐναρμόσαντες νοῦν, θεῖον δ᾿ ὅμως λέγοντες τόν οὐρανόν καί παναίτιον, οὐδ᾿ Ἀριστοτέλεις καί Πλάτωνες, οἱ θεῶν