,

enduring the fall from the truth, and to be grieved, as providing many occasions for the confirmation of unbelief for the Jews. But (14B_360> let us leave them to their own devices, and return to ourselves and to the discourse, making the beginning of the spiritual investigation of the proposed chapter from the interpretation of the names.

Hezekiah, therefore, is interpreted as "strength of God," and Ahaz his father, "might." And Isaiah is interpreted as "exaltation of God," that is, "height of God," and Amos his father, "a people of labor." The "strength of God" is the virtue that destroys the passions and guards pious thoughts, which the practice of the commandments begets, being understood tropologically as "might," through which, with the cooperation of God—or rather, by the power of God alone—we destroy the evil powers opposed to the good. And the "height of God" is the knowledge of the truth, which the labor of contemplating created things and the sweat for the practice of the virtues beget, becoming fathers of labor, through which we completely destroy the power of falsehood opposed to the truth, humbling and casting down every height of evil spirits that is raised up against the knowledge of God.

Prayer is the asking for those things which God is wont to bestow upon men for salvation. And very rightly so. For if a vow is a promise of good things offered by men to God according to a promise, prayer will clearly, by a similar reasoning, be the petition for the good things supplied by God to men for salvation, bringing a recompense for the preceding good disposition.

A cry is the advance and increase of virtuous ways according to practice and of gnostic theorems according to contemplation at the time of the insurrection of wicked demons, which God naturally hears not least of all, receiving, in place of a loud voice, the disposition of those who care for virtue and knowledge.

Heaven is often said in Holy Scripture to be (14B_362> God himself, as somewhere the great herald of the truth, John the Forerunner, says: "A man can receive nothing from himself, unless it has been given to him from heaven," meaning "from God," because "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights." In this sense, the passage of Scripture in the proposed chapter should be understood. But again, Scripture knows to call both heaven and the heavenly powers, according to "Heaven is my throne," as evidently resting upon the holy and incorporeal natures. And if someone were to say that the human mind is heaven, when it is purified of all material fantasy and adorned with the divine principles of intelligible things, he would not, it seems to me, step outside the truth. And if someone were to call the height of intellectual knowledge in men "heaven," he would not miss what is fitting. For in reality, true knowledge becomes a throne of God like heaven, receiving God enthroned according to the immutable disposition of a firm and lofty desire for the good; just as the pure practice of the virtues is called a footstool, receiving upon itself the divine foundations and not allowing itself at all to be defiled by the filth of the body, as if by earth.

Therefore, since King Hezekiah bears the image of virtue according to the interpretation of his own name—for the name, when spoken in the Greek language, means "strength of God," and virtue alone is established as the strength of God against the opposing powers—and Ahaz, the father of Hezekiah, is interpreted as "might," which the discourse has previously set forth as practice, from which the divine strength according to virtue is naturally born; and the prophet Isaiah signifies the knowledge of high things—for he is said, when interpreted, to be "height of God," signifying through himself the height of knowledge according to God, which is born from the labor of (14B_364> concerning existing things

ὑπομενόντων τὴν τῆς ἀληθείας ἔκπτωσιν, λυπεῖσθαι δέ, ὡς πολλὰς εἰς βεβαίωσιν ἀπιστίας τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ἀφορμὰς παρεχόντων. Ἀλλ᾽ (14Β_360> ἡμεῖς ἐκείνους ἐάσαντες ὡς θέλουσιν ἔχοντας, πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς καὶ τὸν λόγον ἐπανέλθωμεν, τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς τοῦ προκειμένου κεφαλαίου πνευματικῆς ἐρεύνης ἐκ τῆς τῶν ὀνομάτων ἑρμηνείας ποιησόμενοι.

Ἐζεκίας τοίνυν ἑρμηνεύεται κράτος Θεοῦ, Ἄχας δὲ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ ἰσχύς. Καὶ Ἡσαΐας ἑρμηνεύεται ἔπαρσις Θεοῦ, τουτέστιν ὕψος Θεοῦ, Ἀμὼς δὲ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ λαὸς πόνου. Κράτος δὲ Θεοῦ καθέστηκεν ἡ ἀναιρετικὴ τῶν παθῶν ἀρετὴ καὶ τῶν εὐσεβῶν φρουρητικὴ λογισμῶν, ἣν γεννᾷ πρᾶξις ἐντολῶν, ἰσχὺς τροπικῶς νοουμένη, δι᾽ ἧς τὰς ἀντικειμένας τῷ ἀγαθῷ πονηρὰς δυνάμεις συνεργίᾳ Θεοῦ, μᾶλλον δὲ μόνῃ δυνάμει Θεοῦ, διαφθείρομεν, Ὕψος δὲ Θεοῦ ἐστιν ἡ γνῶσις τῆς ἀληθείας, ἣν γεννᾷ τῆς τῶν γεγονότων θεωρίας ὁ πόνος καὶ οἱ ἐπὶ τῇ πράξει τῶν ἀρετῶν ἱδρῶτες, πόνου πατέρες γινόμενοι, δι᾽ ἧς τὴν ἀντικειμένην τῇ ἀληθείᾳ τοῦ ψεύδους δύναμιν παντελῶς ἐξαφανίζομεν, πᾶν ὕψωμα τῶν ἐπαιρομένων κατὰ τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ πονηρῶν πνευμάτων ταπεινοῦντές τε καὶ καταβάλλοντες.

Προσευχὴ δέ ἐστιν αἴτησις ὧν πέφυκε Θεὸς ἀνθρώποις δωρεῖσθαι πρὸς σωτηρίαν. Καὶ μάλα γε εἰκότως. Εἰ γὰρ εὐχή ἐστιν ὑπόσχεσις τῶν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων Θεῷ κατ᾽ ἐπαγγελίαν προσαγομένων καλῶν, προσευχὴ κατὰ τὸν εἰκότα λόγον ἔσται σαφῶς ἡ τῶν ἐκ Θεοῦ πρὸς σωτηρίαν χορηγουμένων τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀγαθῶν ἐξαίτησις, ἀντίδοσιν φέρουσα τῆς τῶν προηυγμένων καλῆς διαθέσεως.

Βοὴ δέ ἐστιν ἡ τῶν κατὰ τὴν πρᾶξιν ἐναρέτων τρόπων καὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν θεωρίαν γνωστικῶν θεωρημάτων ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς τῶν πονηρῶν δαιμόνων ἐπαναστάσεως ἐπίδοσίς τε καὶ ἐπαύξησις, ἧς πάντων οὐχ ἥκιστα φυσικῶς ἀκούει Θεός, ἀντὶ μεγάλης φωνῆς τὴν τῶν ἀρετῆς καὶ γνώσεως ἐπιμελουμένων λαμβάνων διάθεσιν.

Οὐρανὸς δὲ πολλάκις λέγεται κατὰ τὴν ἁγίαν Γραφὴν αὐτὸς (14Β_362> ὁ Θεός, ὥς πού φησιν ὁ μέγας τῆς ἀληθείας κήρυξ Ἰωάννης ὁ πρόδρομος οὐ δύναται ἄνθρωπος λαμβάνειν ἀφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ οὐδέν, ἐὰν μὴ ᾖ δεδομένον αὐτῷ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ἀντὶ τοῦ ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ, διότι πᾶσα δόσις ἀγαθὴ καὶ πᾶν δώρημα τέλειον ἄνωθέν ἐστιν, καταβαῖνον ἀπὸ τοῦ Πατρὸς τῶν φώτων· καθ᾽ ὃ σημαινόμενον ἐπὶ τοῦ προκειμένου κεφαλαίου τὸν τῆς Γραφῆς τόπον ἐκληπτέον. Οἶδε δὲ πάλιν ἡ Γραφὴ καλεῖν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὰς οὐρανίους δυνάμεις, κατὰ τὸ Ὁ οὐρανός μοι θρόνος, ὡς ταῖς ἁγίαις δηλονότι καὶ ἀσωμάτοις ἐπαναπαυομένῳ φύσεσιν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ τὸν νοῦν τὸν ἀνθρώπινον, πάσης μὲν ὑλικῆς καθαιρόμενον φαντασίας, τοῖς δὲ θείοις τῶν νοητῶν κατακοσμούμενον λόγοις, φαίη τις εἶναι οὐρανόν, οὐκ ἔξω τῆς ἀληθείας, ὡς ἔμοιγε δοκεῖ, βέβηκεν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ τὸ ὕψος τῆς ἐν ἀνθρώποις νοερᾶς γνώσεως οὐρανὸν εἴποι τις, οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοι τοῦ πρέποντος. Τῷ ὄντι γὰρ ὡς οὐρανὸς θρόνος γίνεται τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡ ἀληθὴς γνῶσις, δεχομένη τὸν Θεὸν ἐνθρονιζόμενον κατὰ τὴν ἀμετάθετον ἕξιν τῆς περὶ τὸ καλὸν παγίας καὶ ὑψηλῆς ἐφέσεως· ὥσπερ καὶ ὑποπόδιον ἡ καθαρὰ λέγεται πρᾶξις τῶν ἀρετῶν, ἐφ᾽ ἑαυτῆς δεχομένη τὰς θείας βάσεις καὶ οὐκ ἐῶσα τὸ σύνολον τοῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος καθάπερ γῆς μολύνεσθαι ῥύποις.

Οὐκοῦν, ἐπειδὴ τῆς ἀρετῆς ὑποτύπωσιν φέρει κατὰ τὴν ἑρμηνείαν τοῦ οἰκείου ὀνόματος Ἐζεκίας ὁ βασιλεύς κράτος γὰρ Θεοῦ κατὰ τὴν ἑλλάδα φωνὴν λεγόμενον τοῦτο σημαίνει τὸ ὄνομα, Θεοῦ δὲ κράτος μόνη κατὰ τῶν ἐναντίων δυνάμεων εἶναι καθέστηκεν ἡ ἀρετή, Ἄχας δὲ ὁ τοῦ Ἐζεκίου πατὴρ ἰσχὺς ἑρμηνεύεται, ἣν εἰς τὴν πρᾶξιν προλαβὼν ὁ λόγος ἐξέδωκεν, ἐξ ἧς γεννᾶσθαι τὸ κατ᾽ ἀρετὴν θεῖον πέφυκε κράτος, ὁ δὲ προφήτης Ἡσαΐας τὴν τῶν ὑψηλῶν γνῶσιν σημαίνειὕψος γὰρ Θεοῦ ἑρμηνευόμενος λέγεται, δι᾽ ἑαυτοῦ τὸ ὕψος τῆς κατὰ Θεὸν γνώσεως δηλῶν, τῆς γεννωμένης ἐκ τοῦ πόνου τῶν (14Β_364> περὶ τὰ ὄντα