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QUESTION 9.

What does Saint John say again: "Brothers, we are now children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be?" How does Saint Paul say: "But God has revealed it to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God." And how does he philosophize about such things concerning what we shall be?

Response. The holy evangelist John, therefore, says that he is ignorant of the manner of the future deification of those who have become

here children of God through the virtues according to faith, since the self-sufficient hypostasis of the future goods according to its form has not yet been revealed. For here we walk by faith, not by sight. But Saint Paul says that he has received by revelation the divine purpose regarding the future goods; not, however, that he has come to know the manner of deification according to the divine purpose. Wherefore, clearly interpreting himself, he says: I press on toward the goal, for the prize of the upward call; that is, wishing to know by experience the manner of the fulfillment in act of the divine purpose, which was made known to him here by revelation, through the contemplative power of those deemed worthy. The apostles, therefore, are in harmony, breathing together with one another through teaching that seems contradictory, as men moved by one and the same Spirit. For the one confesses ignorance of the manner of the future deification by grace; the other masterfully introduces the knowledge of the purpose. That the holy Apostle holds this opinion, he himself stands as a witness for himself through all his divine words: at one time, asserting that all knowledge and prophecy will be abolished; at another, not yet considering himself to have apprehended; at another, saying that he sees future things through a mirror and in riddles; and that there will be a time when he will enjoy face to face the great(288) and incomprehensible grace of the things hoped for; at another, confessing to know in part and to prophesy in part; at another, crying out expressly that he must come to know, just as he also was known; as one who has clearly not yet known that which is to be known; and, to put it briefly, the statement, When the perfect comes, the partial will be done away, spoken by the Apostle, seems to me to be the same as, It has not yet been revealed what we shall be, said by the Theologian.

QUESTION 10.

If he who fears has not been made perfect in love, how is it that there is no want to those who fear him. If there is no want, it is clear that he has been perfected; how then has he who fears not been perfected?

Response. The good order of the divine Scriptures, according to the salvific ordinance of the Spirit,

defining the stages of those who are moved from the external multitude according to the passions toward the divine unity, has called those who are being initiated, and are somewhere at the gateways of the divine court of the virtues, "those who fear"; but those who have acquired a commensurate state of the principles and modes according to virtue, it knows to name "those who stumble"; and those who have already been born gnostically in it, the summit of the truth that reveals the virtues, it addresses as "perfect." Therefore, neither he who fears the Lord, having completely turned away from the old way of life according to the corruption of the passions, and having given over his whole disposition to the divine commandments on account of fear, lacks any good proper to those being initiated; even if not yet the in

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ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Θ΄ .

Τί λέγει πάλιν ὁ ἅγιος Ἰωάννης· "Ἀδελφοί, νῦν τέκνα Θεοῦ ἐσμεν, καί οὔπω ἐφανερώθη τί ἐσόμεθα;" Πῶς ὁ ἅγιος Παῦλος λέγει· " Ἡμῖν δέ ἀπεκάλυψεν ὁ Θεός διά τοῦ Πνεύματος· τό γάρ Πνεῦμα πάντα ἐρευνᾷ, καί τά βάθη τοῦ Θεοῦ." Πῶς δέ καί τά τοιαῦτα φιλοσοφεῖ περί τοῦ, τί ἐσόμεθα;

Ἀπόκρισις. Ὁ μέν οὖν ἅγιος εὐαγγελιστής Ἰωάννης, τόν τρόπον τῆς μελλούσης τῶν

γενομένων ἐνταῦθα τέκνων τοῦ Θεοῦ διά τῶν κατά τήν πίστιν ἀρετῶν θεώσεως, ἠγνοηκέναι λέγει, μήπω φανερωθείσης τῆς αὐθυπάρκτου κατά τό εἶδος τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν ὑποστάσεως. ∆ιά πίστεως γάρ ἐνταῦθα περιπατοῦμεν, οὐ διά εἴδους. Ὁ δέ ἅγιος Παῦλος, τόν ἐπί τοῖς μέλλουσιν ἀγαθοῖς θεῖον σκοπόν λέγει, δι᾿ ἀποκαλύψεως εἰληφέναι· οὐ μήν αὐτόν ἐπεγνωκέναι τόν κατά τόν θεῖον σκοπόν τῆς ἐκθεώσεως τρόπον. ∆ιό λέγει σαφῶς ἑαυτόν ἑρμηνεύων· Κατά σκοπόν διώκω, πρός τό βραβεῖον τῆς ἄνω κλήσεως· γνῶναι δηλονότι θέλων ἐκ τοῦ παθεῖν τόν τρόπον τῆς κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν ἐκπληρώσεως τοῦ θείου, καί αὐτῷ δι᾿ ἀποκαλύψεως ἐνταῦθα γνωσθέντος σκοποῦ, τῆς ἐκ θεωτικῆς τῶν ἀξιουμένων δυνάμεως. Συνᾴδουσιν οὖν οἱ ἀπόστολοι, διά τῆς δοκούσης ἐναντιοφανοῦς διδασκαλίας ἀλλήλοις συμπνέοντες, ὡς ὑφ᾿ ἑνός καί τοῦ αὐτοῦ κινούμενοι Πνεύματος. Ὁ μέν γάρ, τοῦ τρόπου τῆς μελλούσης κατά τήν χάριν θεώσεως ὁμολογεῖ τήν ἄγνοιαν· ὁ δέ, τοῦ σκοποῦ μεγαλοφυῶς εἰσηγεῖται τήν εἴδησιν. Ὅτι δέ ταύτης ἔχεται τῆς γνώμης ὁ ἅγιος Ἀπόστολος, αὐτός ἑαυτοῦ διά πάντων τῶν θείων αὐτοῦ λόγων μάρτυς καθέστηκεν· ποτέ μέν, πᾶσαν καταργηθήσεσθαι φάσκων γνῶσιν καί προφητείαν· ποτέ δέ, οὔπω λογιζόμενος ἑαυτόν κατειληφέναι· ποτέ δέ, δι᾿ ἐσόπτρου καί αἰνιγμάτων βλέπειν λέγων τά μέλλοντα· καί εἶναι καιρόν, ὅτι τῷ προσώπῳ πρός πρόσωπον τῶν ἐλπιζομένων μεγάλης(288) καί ὑπέρ νόησιν ἀπολαύσει χάριτος· ποτέ δέ ἀκ μέρους γινώσκειν ὁμολογῶν, καί ἐκ μέρους προφητεύειν· ποτέ δέ, χρῆναι αὐτόν γνώσεσθαι, καθώς καί ἐπεγνώσθη, διαῤῥήδην βοῶν· ὡς οὔπω δηλονότι γνούς τό γνωσθησόμενον· καί συντόμως εἰπεῖν τό, Ὅταν ἔλθῃ τό τέλειον, τό ἐκ μέρους καταργηθήσεται, τῷ Ἀποστόλῳ εἰρημένον, ταυτόν εἶναί μοι φαίνεται τῷ, Οὔπω ἐφανερώθη τί ἐσόμεθα, λεχθέντι τῷ Θεολόγῳ·

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Ι΄.

Εἰ ὁ φοβούμενος οὐ τετελείωται ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ, πῶς οὐκ ἔστιν ὑστέρημα τοῖς φοβουμένοις αὐτόν. Ἐάν οὐκ ἔστιν ὑστέρημα, δῆλον ὅτι τετελείωται· πῶς οὖν ὁ φοβούμενος οὐ τετελείωται;

Ἀπόκρισις. Ἡ καλή τῶν θείων Γραφῶν εὐταξία, κατά τόν σωστικόν τοῦ Πνεύματος θεσμόν,

τῶν ἀπό τῆς ἐκτός κατά τά πάθη πληθύος ἐπί τήν θείαν ἑνότητα κινουμένων τούς βαθμούς διορίζουσα, τούς μέν εἰσαγομενους, καί ἐπί τά πρόπυλά που τυγχάνοντας τῆς θείας αὐλῆς τῶν ἀρετῶν, φοβουμένους ἐκάλεσε· τούς δέ κτησαμένους σύμμετρον ἕξιν τῶν κατά τήν ἀρετήν λόγων τε καί τρόπων, οἶδεν ὀνομάζειν προσκόπτοντας· τούς δέ κατά αὐτήν γνωστικῶς ἤδη γεγενημένους, τῆς τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐκφαντικῆς ἀληθείας κορυφήν, προσαγορεύει τελείους. Οὔτε οὖν ὁ φοβούμενος τόν Κύριον, ἀπεστραμμένος διόλου τήν κατά τήν φθοράν τῶν παθῶν ἀρχαίαν ἀναστροφήν, καί πᾶσαν ἑαυτοῦ τήν διάθεσιν διά τόν φόβον ἐκδεδωκώς τοῖς θείοις προστάγμασιν, ὑστερεῖ τινος καλοῦ τῶν εἰσαγομένοις πρεπόντων· κἄν οὔπω τήν ἐν