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And then he is released from them: The explanation of the saying according to its composition must be understood thus, that Moses, having beheld the place where God stood, and then being released from both the things seen, that is, from all sensible things, and from the seers, that is, from all rational things, I mean both intelligible and intellectual substances, among which are also our souls, at that time entered into the darkness, that is, into the unknowing of God, where, having closed off all cognitive perceptions, he was in the intangible and invisible to the mind of all cognitive perceptions of the God who is beyond all things, and being united in such a manner by unknowing and inactivity—I do not mean by the inactivity of his own mind concerning him, nor by the inactivity of another in neither thinking of himself nor anything else, but being united to the one who is completely unknown to all knowledge (14S_392> of the one beyond all things—then by unknowing he knew the all. Note, that he understood the darkness as unknowing. How God is known through unknowing, he says here, and we have discussed more broadly in the discourse On the Divine Names in chapter 2. But it is necessary to know that in Exodus, where it is written that “Moses entered into the darkness where God was,” the Hebrew has 'araphel', but the Septuagint and Aquila and Theodotion rendered 'araphel' as darkness (gnophon). Symmachus, however, interpreted 'araphel' as mist. But the Hebrew says the name 'araphel' is a firmament, which Moses reached; for they say there are seven firmaments, which they also call heavens, and they state their names, which it is not necessary to mention now. But I have read this of seven heavens also in the Dialogue of Papiscus and Jason written for Aristo of Pella, which Clement of Alexandria in the sixth book of the Hypotyposeis says that Saint Luke wrote. Nevertheless, the matter concerning the darkness, being contemplated as the divine unknowing, has been more divinely philosophized both in his epistles; and in the fifth he writes perfectly about this.

By the inactivity of all knowledge: Note, that by the inactivity of all knowledge we are united to the unknown.

ON CHAPTER 2

According to this we: And here he speaks of the divine darkness and unknowing.

And note, that this is what it is to be under the divine darkness, to see through not-seeing and unknowing and (14S_394> to know that which is beyond sight and knowledge, by the very fact of not seeing nor knowing; for this, he says, is to truly see and know; and nowhere does he so clearly explain the knowledge in unknowing. But read also the fifth epistle to Dorotheus.

Through all existing things: That is, through understanding none of the existing things as pertaining to it; for this he called abstraction. But he calls a naturally-formed statue that which is made from uncut material, such as in a whole stone, while it stands, when someone carves some figure, as Euripides also shows in Andromeda:

And a certain image of a maiden From self-formed stone enclosures, A statue of a skilled hand. For he called the self-formed statue of the rock naturally-formed; but also when a part

of a tree is carved while it is standing and flowering, and he makes part of a bed, which, as Homer says in the Odyssey, Odysseus made; or even on such a tree he carved a trophy of victory. And he also speaks of statues of precious stone, as when an emerald, having been cleansed of the surrounding earth, itself appears as a statue, that is, a thing of splendor; looking especially to this he now said the foregoing, as Dionysius the poet in the second book of the Lithica:

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Καί τότε καί αὐτῶν ἀπολύεται: Τήν κατά σύνθεσιν τοῦ ρητοῦ ἐξήγησιν οὕτω νοητέον, ὅτι ὁ Μωϋσῆς, θεωρήσας τόν τόπον οὗ εἰστήκει ὁ Θεός, καί τότε ἀπολυθείς τῶν τε ὁρωμένων, τουτέστιν αἰσθητῶν ἁπάντων, καί τῶν ὁρώντων, ἀντί τοῦ λογικῶν ἁπάντων, νοητῶν τέ φημι καί νοερῶν οὐσιῶν, μεθ' ὧν καί τῶν ἡμετέρων ψυχῶν, τηνικαῦτα εἰς τόν γνόφον εἰσῆλθε, τουτέστιν εἰς τήν περί Θεοῦ ἀγνωσίαν, ἔνθα, πάσας ἀπομύσας τάς γνωστικάς ἀντιλήψεις, ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ ἀναφεῖ τῷ νῷ καί ἀοράτῳ πασῶν ἀντιλήψεων γνωστικῶν τοῦ πέρα πάντων Θεοῦ, καί ἑνωθείς διά τοῦ τοιούτου τρόπου τῇ ἀγνωσίᾳ καί ἀνενεργησίᾳ, οὐ λέγω τῇ περί αὐτοῦ ἀνενεργησίᾳ τοῦ ἰδίου νοῦ, οὔτε τῇ ἑτέρου ἀνενεργησίᾳ ἐν τῷ μήτε αὐτόν μήτε ἕτερόν τι νοεῖν, ἀλλ' ἑνωθείς τῷ παντελῶς ἀγνώστῳ πάσης γνώσεως (14S_392> τοῦ πάντων ἐπέκεινα τότε τῇ ἀγνοίᾳ τό πᾶν ἔγνω. Σημείωσαι δέ, ὡς γνόφον τήν ἀγνωσίαν ἐνόησε. Πῶς δι' ἀγνωσίας ὁ Θεός γινώσκεται, καί ὧδέ φησι, καί ἐν τῷ Περί θείων ὀνομάτων λόγῳ πλατύτερον διεξήλθομεν ἐν κεφαλαίῳ β'. Χρή δέ εἰδέναι, ὡς ἐν τῇ Ἐξόδῳ, ἔνθα γέγρᾳπται, ὅτι «εἰσῆλθε Μωϋσῆς εἰς τόν γνόφον οὗ ἦν ὁ Θεός», τό μέν Ἑβραϊκόν ἔχει ἀραφέλ, οἱ δέ Ἑβδομήκοντα καί Ἀκύλας καί Θεοδοτίων τό ἀραφέλ γνόφον ἐξέδωκαν. Σύμμαχος μέντοι ὁμίχλην τό ἀραφέλ ἑρμήνευσεν. Ὁ δέ Ἑβραῖος λέγει τό 'άραφέλ' ὄνομα εἶναι στερεώματος, εἰς ὅ ἔφθασε Μωϋσῆς· ἑπτά γάρ στερεώματά φασιν, ἅ καί οὐρανούς καλοῦσι, καί τά ὀνόματα λέγουσιν, ὧν μνημονεῦσαι νῦν οὐκ ἀναγκαῖον. Ἀνέγνων δέ τοῦτο ἑπτά οὐρανούς καί ἐν τῇ συγγεγραμμένῃ Ἀρίστωνι τῷ Πελλαίῳ διαλέξει Παπίσκου καί Ἰάσονος, ἥν Κλήμης ὁ Αλεξανδρεύς ἐν ἕκτῳ βιβλίῳ τῶν Ὑποτυπώσεων τόν ἅγιον Λουκᾶν φησιν ἀναγράψαι. Ὅμως τό περί τοῦ γνόφου, εἰς τήν θείαν ἀγνωσίαν θεωρούμενον, θειότερον πεφιλοσόφηται καί ἐν ταῖς ἐπιστολαῖς αὐτοῦ· ἐν τῇ πέμπτῃ δέ τελείως περί τούτου γράφει.

Τῆς πάσης γνώσεως ἀνενεργησίᾳ: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι τῇ πάσης γνώσεως ἀνενεργησίᾳ τῷ ἀγνώστῳ ἑνούμεθα.

ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Β'

Κατά τοῦτον ἡμεῖς: Καί ἐνταῦθα περί θείου γνόφου καί τῆς ἀγνωσίας λέγει.

Καί σημείωσαι, ὅτι τοῦτό ἐστι τό ὑπό τόν θεῖον γνόφον γενέσθαι, τό δι' ἀβλεψίας καί ἀγνωσίας ἰδεῖν καί (14S_394> γνῶναι τό ὑπέρ θέαν καί γνῶσιν, κατ' αὐτό τό μή ἰδεῖν μηδέ γνῶναι· τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι, φησί, τό ὄντως ἰδεῖν καί γνῶναι· οὐδαμοῦ δέ οὕτω σαφηνιζει τήν ἐν ἀγνωσίᾳ γνῶσιν. Ἀνάγνωθι δέ καί τήν ε' πρός ∆ωρόθεον ἐπιστολήν.

∆ιά τῆς πάντων τῶν ὄντων: Τουτέστι διά τοῦ μηδέν τῶν ὄντων προσφυές αὐτῷ νοεῖν· τοῦτο γάρ ἀφαίρεσιν ὠνόμασεν. Αὐτοφυές δέ ἄγαλμά φησιν, ὅ γίνεται ἐν ὕλῃ ἀτμήτῳ, οἷον ἐν πέτρᾳ ὁλοκλήρῳ, ἐν ὅσῳ ἕστηκεν, ὅταν γλύψη τις ζῶόν τι, ὡς δηλοῖ καί Εὑριπίδης ἐν Ἀνδρομέδᾳ·

Παρθένου τ'εἰκόνα τινά Ἐξ αὐτομόρφων λαΐνων τειχισμάτων, Σοφῆς ἄγαλμα χειρός. Αὐτόμορφον γάρ ἄγαλμα τῆς πέτρας τό αὐτοφυές εἶπεν· ἀλλά καί ὅταν μέρος

τι τοῦ δένδρου γλύψῃ ἑστῶτος καί ἀνθοῦντος, καί μέρος κλίνης ποιήσῃ, ὅπερ, ὥς φησιν Ὅμηρος, ἐν Ὀδυσσείᾳ ἐποίησεν Ὀδυσσεύς· ἤ καί ἐν τῷ τοιούτῳ δένδρῳ ἔγλυψε τρόπαιον νίκης. Φησί δέ καί τιμίας λίθου ἀγάλματα, οἷον ὅταν ἡ σμάραγδος, ἀποκαθαρθεῖσα τοῦ περιέχοντος γεώδους, αὐτή ἀναφανῇ ἄγαλμα, τουτέστιν ἀγλάϊσμα· πρός ὅ μάλιστα νῦν βλέπων εἶπε τό προκείμενον, ὡς ∆ιονύσιος ὁ ποιητής ἐν β' βιβλίῳ Λιθικῶν·