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my soul."3. And James writes, "just as the body without spirit is dead," calling the soul spirit. And it is called, as I said, also a certain rational being that is yoked with, so as to be an inseparable teacher of the soul, spirit. And since this is with the soul, when it holds fast to God, he says this: may such things not be done by me, so that my spirit comes to be outside your hands, but may every virtue be accomplished by me, so that my spirit may be in your hands. He can also call his own will spirit, so that he desires this too to be kept in the hands of God. Finally, also the exegetical points: the two covenants can be the hands of God. Into these, then, I commit my spirit, wishing to understand both the old, that is, the things commanded there, and the new. Let both your hands encompass my spirit. But it is possible to speak of not only two hands of God; for it was not said in the dual, but in the plural; but it makes no difference whether plural or dual. However, if they are the two covenants, the hands are spoken of in the dual. But if every power of God is called his hand—for we call the king's hand the military power—, into your military power, being your guarding hand, I commit my spirit. To Jerusalem in Isaiah the prophet God says: "Behold, upon my hands I have painted your walls, and you are before me continually." We cannot, even by re-imagining it, say that sensible walls are written on the hands of God, who is incorporeal. If, then, he says, your walls are painted on my hands, you remain before me continually, with no one being able to take you captive; for the walls written on my hands are indestructible; no one can mount upon them. Just as, therefore, walls painted on the hands of God are not sensible, so he who commits his spirit into the hands of God shows that the spirit is not something of little value, but either the rational substance yoked to the soul or its divine mind, which exists unmixed both with matter and with evil. The mind, when it preserves the virtue of the mind, is outside of all matter, it is unentangled with corporeal things, but it is also without any share of evil. For this reason it can be given into the hands of God and be kept; for God does not keep one who has evil. 140 But in another way He keeps him, wishing to lead him out of evil. Since...: what are the walls? -the walls are named in many ways in Scripture. Concerning wisdom it is said that "it is preached on the top of the walls"; and we do not say, of course, that on top of sensible walls some become heralds proclaiming things concerning virtue. The walls that guard the mind and the inner man are the virtues and the divine thoughts. Insofar as someone is still at the foundations of the walls or has reached the midpoint of their ascent, he cannot yet preach wisdom; he can barely perceive it. But when he comes to the very top of the walls, so to speak, when he has passed beyond the world, has become super-cosmic, then he can preach wisdom. Again, it was said that: "upon my hands I have painted your walls." Of sensible things there are corresponding ideas. But these ideas are thoughts of God, they are wills of God. And take what is being contemplated by way of an example: one who wishes to build a city prefigures the whole city and its parts in his own mind and according to those thoughts he builds the sensible things. Assuredly, if he does not correctly grasp the concept, say, of the marketplace or the temple or the other things, he does not make the sensible things well. The ideas, therefore, can be the walls, wills written in the hands of God. These walls, therefore, have their being in the will of God. And I say: "in Christ," he says, "all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions; all things are through him; and he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." in him were created the visible and the invisible; as if a cit

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ψυχήν μου"3. καὶ ὁ Ἰάκωβος γράφων· "ὥσπερ τὸ σῶμα χωρὶς πνεύματος νεκρόν ἐστιν", τὴν ψυχὴν πνεῦμα κ̣αλεῖ. λέγεται δέ, ὡς εἶπον, καὶ παρεζευγμένον τι λογικόν, ὥσπερ ἀχώριστος ἵνα ᾖ διδάσκαλος τῆς ψ̣υχῆς, πνεῦμα. καὶ ἐπειδὴ τοῦτο σύνεστιν τῇ ψυχῇ, ὅτε ἔχεται τοῦ θεοῦ, τοῦτο λέγει· μὴ τοιαῦτά μοι πραχθείη̣, ὥστε τὸ πνεῦμά μου ἔξω τῶν χειρῶν σου γενέσθαι, ἀλλὰ κατορθωθείη μοι πᾶσα ἀρετή, ἵν' ἐν ταῖς σαῖς χερσὶν τὸ πνεῦμά μου τυγχάνῃ. δύναται καὶ τὴν γνώμην ἑαυτοῦ λέγειν πνεῦμα, ὥστε καὶ αὐτὴν θ̣έλ̣ει ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν τοῦ θεοῦ φυλάττεσθαι. λοιπὸν καὶ τὰ ἐξηγητικά· αἱ δύο διαθῆκαι δύνανται χεῖρες τοῦ θεοῦ. εἰς ταύτας οὖν παρατίθεμαι τὸ πνεῦμά μου θέλων καὶ τὴν παλαιὰν νοεῖν, καὶ τουτέστιν τὰ ἐκεῖ προσταττόμενα, καὶ τὴν καινήν. ἀμφότεραι αἱ χεῖρές σου περιεχέτωσάν μου τὸ πνεῦμα. δυνατὸν δὲ καὶ μὴ δύο χεῖρας μόνας τοῦ θεοῦ λέγειν· δυϊκῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἐλέχθη, ἀλλὰ πληθυντικῶς· οὐδὲν δὲ διαφέρει πληθυντικῶς ἢ δυϊκῶς. ὅμως ἐὰν αἱ δύο διαθῆκαι ὦσιν, δυϊκῶς αἱ χεῖρες λέγονται. ἐὰν δὲ πᾶσα δύναμις τοῦ θεοῦ χεὶρ αὐτοῦ ὀνομάζηται-λέγομεν γὰρ χεῖρα βασιλέως τὴν στρατιωτικὴν δύναμιν-, εἰς τὴν σὴν στρατιωτικὴν δύναμιν, φρουρὰν χεῖράν σου τυγχάνουσαν, παρατίθεμαι τὸ πνεῦμά μου. πρὸς τὴν Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἐν Ἰσαίᾳ τῷ προφήτῃ λέγει ὁ θεός· "ἰδού, ἐπὶ τῶν χειρῶν μου ἐζωγράφησά σου τὰ τείχη, καὶ ἐνώπιόν μου εἶ διὰ παντός". μὴ δυνάμεθα κἂν μέχρι ἀναπλασμοῦ εἰπεῖν τείχη αἰσθητὰ γραφόμενα ἐν θεοῦ χερσὶν ἀσωμάτου ὄντος. ἐὰν οὖν, φησίν, τὰ τείχη σου ἐπὶ τῶν ἐμῶν χειρῶν ζωγραφηθῶσιν, ἐνώπιόν μου μένεις διὰ παντός, οὐδενὸς δυναμένου σε αἰχμαλωτίσαι· τὰ γὰρ τείχη τὰ ἐν ταῖς χερσίν μου γεγραμμένα ἀκαθαίρετα· οὐδεὶς ἐπιβῆναι καθ' αὐτῶν δύναται. ὥσπερ οὖν ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν θεοῦ ζωγραφούμενα τείχη οὐκ αἰσθητά ἐστιν, οὕτως ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν τοῦ θεοῦ παρατιθέμενος ἑαυτοῦ τὸ πνεῦμα δείκνυσιν, ὅτι οὐκ εὐτελές τί ἐςτιν τὸ πνεῦμα, ἀλλ' ἤτοι̣ ἡ παρεζευγμένη οὐσία λογικὴ τῇ ψυχῇ ἢ ὁ νοῦς αὐτῆς ὁ θεῖος, ὁ ἀμιγῶς ἔχων καὶ πρὸς ὕλην καὶ πρὸς κακίαν. ὁ νοῦς ὅτε σῴζει τὴν νοῦ α᾿̣ρετήν, πάσης ὕλης ἐκτός ἐστιν, ἀσυνπλόκως ἔχει πρὸς σωματικά, ἀλλὰ καὶ κακίας πάσης ἀμοιρεῖ. διὰ τοῦτο δύναται ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν τοῦ θεοῦ δοθῆ ναι καὶ φυλαχθῆναι· οὐ φυλάττει γὰρ θεὸς τὸν ἔχοντα κακίαν. 140 ἄλλως δὲ φυλάττει αὐτὸν ἔξω τῆς κακίας βουλόμενος αὐτὸν ἀγαγεῖν. ἐπερ · τὰ τείχη τί; -πολυτρόπως ὀνομάζεται ἐν τῇ γραφῇ τὰ τείχη. περὶ τῆς σοφίας λέγεται, ὅτι "ἐπ' ἄκρων τειχέων κηρύττεται"· καὶ οὐ δήπου λέγομεν, ὅτι ἐπ' ἄκρων αἰςθητῶν τειχέων κήρυκες γινόμενοί τινες ἀπαγγέλλοντες τὰ περὶ τῆς ἀρετῆς. τείχη εἰσὶν τὸν νοῦν φρουροῦντα καὶ τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον αἱ ἀρεταὶ καὶ αἱ θεῖαι νοήσεις. ὅσον τις ἔτι ἐν τοῖς θεμελίοις τῶν τειχῶν ἐστιν ἢ ἐμέσασεν τὴν ἀνάβασιν αὐτῶν, οὔπω κηρύξαι δύναται τὴν σοφίαν· μόλις ἐπαΐειν αὐτὴν δύναται. ὅταν δὲ εἰς αὐτὰ τὰ ἄκρα τῶν τειχῶν γένηται, ἵν' οὕτως εἴπω, ὅταν ὑπερβῇ τὸν κόσμον, ὑπερκόσμιος γένηται, τότε δύναται τὴν σοφίαν κηρύττειν. πάλιν, ἐλέχθη ὅτι· "ἐπὶ τῶν χειρῶν μου ἐζωγράφησά σου τὰ τείχη". τῶν αἰσθητῶν εἰσιν ἰδέαι κατ̣άλληλοι. αἱ ἰδέαι δὲ αὗται νοήσεις εἰσὶν θεοῦ, βουλήσεις εἰσὶν θεοῦ. καὶ λάβε διὰ παραδείγματος τὸ θεωρούμενον· ὁ βουλόμενος κατασκευάσαι πόλιν, ὅλην τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὰ μέρη αὐτῆς ἀνατυποῖ τῇ ἑαυτοῦ διανοίᾳ καὶ κατ' ε᾿̣κείνας τὰς νοήσεις κατασκευάζει τὰ αἰσθητά. ἀμέλει γοῦν ἐὰν μὴ ὀρθῶς λάβῃ τὸ νόημα, φέρε, τῆς ἀγορᾶς ἢ τοῦ τεμένους ἢ τῶν ἄλλων, οὐ καλῶς ποιεῖ τὰ αἰσθητά. αἱ ἰδέαι οὖν δύνανται εἶναι τὰ τείχη, ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν τοῦ θεοῦ γεγραμμέναι βουλήσεις. ταῦτα οὖν τὰ τείχη ἐν τῇ βουλήσει τοῦ θεοῦ ἔχουσιν τὸ εἶναι. καὶ λέγω· "ἐν Χριστῷ", φησίν, "ἐκτίσθη τὰ πάντα τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, τὰ ὁρατὰ καὶ τὰ ἀόρατα, εἴτε ἀρχαὶ εἴτε ἐξουσίαι· πάντα δι' αὐτοῦ ἔστιν· καὶ αὐτὸς ἔστιν πρὸ πάντων καὶ τὰ πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ συνέστηκεν". ἐν αὐτῷ ἐκτίσθη τὰ ὁρατὰ καὶ τὰ ἀόρατα· ὡς ἐὰν πολι η