86

A simple and unvaried knowledge of an accessible theology, through which the Logos was formerly known, who, without these things, holds for us a comprehension beyond them that is altogether incomprehensible.

1.62 (ξβ΄) Those who bury the Lord with honor will also behold him gloriously risen; being invisible to all who are not such. For He is no longer able to be captured by those who plot against him, not having the external veils, through which He seemed, willingly, to be captured by those who wished it, and endured to suffer for the salvation of all.

1.63 (ξγ΄) He who buries the Lord with honor is venerable to all who love God; for he fittingly rescued him from public display and reproach, not leaving to the unbelievers an occasion for blasphemy, his nailing to the wood. But those who place seals on the tomb, and set soldiers before it, are hateful for their undertaking; who also slander the risen Logos as having been stolen; with silver, just as the false disciple to betrayal—I mean the ostentatious manner of virtue—so also buying the soldiers for the slander of the risen Savior. The gnostic knows the significance of what is said, not being ignorant of how and in how many ways the Lord is crucified, and is buried and rises: as if making dead the impassioned thoughts seated in the heart by demons; the ways of moral decency, which are divided in temptations like garments; and overcoming like seals the impressions of sins committed by preconception that are set upon the soul.

1.64 (ξδ΄) Every lover of money, feigning virtue through reverence, whenever he finds a way to procure the desired material wealth, renounces the way by which he was formerly considered to be a disciple of the Logos.

(14__478> 1.65 (ξε΄) When you see certain arrogant men who cannot bear for their betters to be praised, and contriving to make the spoken truth unproclaimed, hindering it with countless temptations and unlawful slanders; understand for me that the Lord is again being crucified 1108 and buried by these men; and is being guarded by soldiers and seals. The Logos, turning these things back upon themselves, rises; appearing more clearly by being warred against; as one tempered toward impassibility through his sufferings. For He is stronger than all, as He both is and is called Truth.

1.66 (ξστ΄) The mystery of the incarnation of the Logos holds the power of all the enigmas and types in Scripture, and the knowledge of visible and intelligible created things. And he who has known the mystery of the cross and the tomb, has known the inner principles of the aforesaid things; but he who has been initiated into the ineffable power of the resurrection, has known the purpose for which God originally established all things.

1.67 (ξζ΄) All visible things need a cross: the state of restraining the attachment to those things activated in them according to the senses. And all intelligible things require burial: the total inactivity of those things activated in them according to the mind. For when, along with the attachment, the natural energy and motion concerning all things is done away with, the logos alone, existing in itself, appears as if raised from the dead, containing by circumscription all things that proceed from it, with nothing at all having affinity to it by a natural relation. For the salvation of those who are saved is by grace, and not by nature.

1.68 (ξη΄) Among relative things are also the ages, and the times, and the places; without which none of the things conceived along with them exists. But God is not one of the relative things; for He has nothing at all that is co-conceived with Him. If, then, God himself is the inheritance of the worthy, he who is deemed worthy of this is beyond all (14__480> ages and times and places

86

ἐνδεχομένης θεολογίας ἁπλῆ καί ἀποίκιλος γνῶσις, δι᾿ ὧν ἐγνωρίζετο πρότερον ὁ Λόγος, ἀχώρητον ἡμῖν ἔχων παντάπασιν δίχα τούτων, τήν ὑπέρ ταῦτα κατάληψιν.

1.62 (ξβ΄) Οἱ θάπτοντες ἐντίμως τόν Κύριον, καί ἐνδόξως ἀναστάντα θεάσονται· πᾶσιν ὄντα τοῖς μή τοιούτοις ἀθέατον. Οὐκ ἔτι γάρ τοῖς ἐπιβουλεύουσίν ἐστιν ἁλωτός, οὐκ ἔχων τῶν ἐκτός τά προκαλύμματα, δι᾿ ὧν ἐδόκει θέλων ἁλίσκεσθαι παρά τῶν βουλομένων, καί πάσχειν ὑπέρ τῆς πάντων σωτηρίας ἠνείχετο.

1.63 (ξγ΄) Ὁ θάπτων ἐντίμως τόν Κύριον, πᾶσίν ἐστι τοῖς φιλοθέοις αἰδέσιμος· θριάμβου γάρ αὐτόν καί ὀνείδους καθηκόντως ἐῤῥύσατο, βλασφημίας ὑπόθεσιν οὐκ ἀφείς τοῖς ἀπίστοις, τήν ἐν τῷ ξύλῳ αὐτοῦ προσήλωσιν. Οἱ δέ σφραγῖδας ἐπιτιθέντες τῷ τάφῳ, καί στρατιώτας προκαθιστῶντες, μισητοί τῆς ἐγχειρήσεως· οἵ καί ἀναστάντα τόν Λόγον, ὡς κλαπέντα διαβάλλουσιν· ἀργυρίῳ, ὥσπερ τόν νόθον μαθητήν εἰς προδοσίαν· λέγω δέ τόν ἐπιδεικτικόν τρόπον τῆς ἀρετῆς· οὕτω καί τούς στρατιώτας πρός συκοφαντίαν τοῦ ἀναστάντος Σωτῆρος ὠνούμενοι. Γινώσκει τῶν λεγομένων τήν ἔμφασιν, ὁ γνωστικός· οὐκ ἀγνοῶν πῶς τε καί ποσαχῶς σταυροῦται ὁ Κύριος, καί θάπτεται καί ἀνίσταται· ὡσεί νεκρούς μέν ποιῶν τούς ὑπό δαιμόνων τῇ καρδίᾳ παρακαθημένους ἐμπαθεῖς λογισμούς· τούς διαμεριζομένους ἐν τοῖς πειρασμοῖς ὥσπερ ἱμάτια, τούς τρόπους τῆς ἠθικῆς εὐπρεπείας· καί ὑπερβαίνων ὥσπερ σφραγίδας τούς ἐπικειμένους τῇ ψυχῇ τύπους, τῶν κατά πρόληψιν ἁμαρτημάτων.

1.64 (ξδ΄) Πᾶς φιλάργυρος, δι᾿ εὐλαβείας τήν ἀρετήν ὑποκρινόμενος, ἐπειδάν εὕρῃ τήν ποθουμένην ὕλην πορίσασθαι, τόν τρόπον ἐξώμνυται, καθ᾿ ὅν μαθητής εἶναι τοῦ Λόγου τό πρίν ἐνομίζετο.

(14__478> 1.65 (ξε΄) Ὅταν ἴδῃς τινάς ὑπερηφάνους μή φέροντας ἐπαινεῖσθαι τούς κρείττονας, ἀκήρυκτόν τε μηχανωμένους ποιεῖν τήν λαλουμένην ἀλήθειαν, μυρίοις αὐτήν ἀπείργοντας πειρασμοῖς, καί ἀθεμίτοις διαβολαῖς· νόει μοι πάλιν ὑπό τούτων σταυροῦσθαι τόν Κύριον 1108 καί θάπτεσθαι· καί στρατώταις καί σφραγῖσι φυλάττεσθαι. Οὕς ἑαυτοῖς περιτρέπων ὁ Λόγος, ἀνίσταται· πλέον τῷ πολεμεῖσθαι, διαφαινόμενος· ὡς πρός ἀπάθειαν διά τῶν παθημάτων στομούμενος. Πάντων γάρ ἐστιν ἰσχυρότερος, ὡς ἀλήθεια καί ὤν καί καλούμενος.

1.66 (ξστ΄) Τό τῆς ἐνσωματώσεως τοῦ Λόγου μυστήριον, πάντων ἔχει τῶν τε κατά τήν Γραφήν αἰνιγμάτων καί τύπων τήν δύναμιν, καί τῶν φαινομένων καί νοουμένων κτισμάτων τήν ἐπιστήμην. Καί ὁ μέν γνούς σταυροῦ καί ταφῆς τό μυστήριον, ἔγνω τῶν προειρημένων τούς λόγους· ὁ δέ τῆς ἀναστάσεως μυηθείς τήν ἀπόῤῥητον δύναμιν, ἔγνω τόν ἐφ᾿ ᾧ τά πάντα προηγουμένως ὁ Θεός ὑπεστήσατο σκοπόν.

1.67 (ξζ΄) Τά φαινόμενα πάντα δεῖται σταυροῦ· τῆς τῶν ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ἐνεργουμένων ἐπεχούσης τήν σχέσιν, ἕξεως· τά δέ νοούμενα πάντα, χρῄζει ταφῆς· τῆς τῶν ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς κατά νοῦν ἐνεργουμένων ὁλικῆς ἀκινησίας. Τῇ γάρ σχέσει συναναιρουμένης τῆς περί πάντα φυσικῆς ἐνεργείας τε καί κινήσεως, ὁ λόγος μόνος ἐφ᾿ ἑαυτόν ὑπάρχων, ὥσπερ ἐκ νεκρῶν ἐγηγερμένος ἀναφαίνεται, πάντα κατά περιγραφήν ἔχων τά ἐξ αὐτοῦ, μηδενός φυσικῇ σχέσει τήν πρός αὐτόν οἰκειότητα τό σύνολον ἔχοντος. Κατά χάριν γάρ, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ κατά φύσιν ἐστίν ἡ τῶν σωζομένων σωτηρία.

1.68 (ξη΄) Τῶν πρός τι, καί οἱ αἰῶνές εἰσι, καί οἱ χρόνοι, καί οἱ τόποι· ὧν ἄνευ οὐδέν τῶν συνεπινοουμένων τούτοις ἐστίν. Ὁ δέ Θεός, οὐ τῶν πρός τι ἐστίν· οὐ γάρ ἔχει τι καθόλου συνεπινοούμενον. Εἴπερ οὖν ἄρα κληρονομία τῶν ἀξίων αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ Θεός, ὑπέρ πάντας (14__480> αἰῶνας καί χρόνους καί τόπους ὁ ταύτης ἀξιούμενος