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90

to those wishing to imitate virtue, and in this showing, of the grace which he had partaken, both the love for mankind and the ungrudging nature.

1.86 (86) Those who pursue philosophy according to God without stain, find the greatest profit from the knowledge according to it; that is, for their mind no longer to change along with circumstances; but with steadfast certainty to undertake readily all things that are in harmony with the principle of virtue.

1.87 (87) Having been baptized into the first incorruption according to the flesh in Christ through the Spirit, the last according to Him in the Spirit; that is, through the increase of good works, and of death according to purpose, having kept the former spotless, we await; according to which, of those who possess it, no one fears the loss of the good things that have been acquired.

1.88 (88) God, wishing to send down from heaven to those on earth the grace of divine virtue through mercy towards us, symbolically constructed the sacred (14__494> tabernacle and all the things in it; being an image and type and imitation of wisdom.

1.89 (89) The grace of the New Testament is mystically hidden in the letter of the Old; therefore the Apostle says that the law is spiritual. The law, therefore, in the letter, grows old and ages, being abolished; but in the spirit, it is ever renewed, being active. For grace is entirely unaging.

1.90 (90) The law has a shadow of the Gospel; but the Gospel is an image of the good things to come. For the one hinders the activities of evil things; while the other sets forth the practices of good things.

1.91 (91) We say that the whole of Holy Scripture is divided into flesh and spirit; as though it were a certain spiritual man. For he who says the literal text of Scripture is flesh; 1121 but the meaning, spirit, or soul, will not err from the truth. But manifestly wise is he who has left aside the corruptible part, and has become entirely of the incorruptible.

1.92 (92) The law is the flesh of the spiritual man according to Holy Scripture; and the prophets are the senses; and the Gospel is the intellectual soul; acting through the flesh of the law and through the senses of the prophets; and making its own power manifest in its activities.

1.93 (93) The law had a shadow, but the prophets an image, of the divine and spiritual good things in the Gospel. But the Gospel itself has shown us the truth itself as present through its letters; which was foreshadowed by the law and prefigured by the prophets.

1.94 (94) He who fulfills the law through his life and conduct, is idle only from the conclusions of wickedness, sacrificing to God the activity of the irrational passions; and he is content with this way for salvation, because of the spiritual infancy in him.

(14__496> 1.95 (95) He who is instructed by the prophetic word, in addition to the rejection of the activity of the passions, also casts out their assents that are formed in the soul; lest, seeming to abstain from wickedness in the worse part, I mean the flesh, he should unawares be lavishly active in it in the better part, I mean the soul.

1.96 (96) He who genuinely embraces the evangelical life, has cut out from himself both the beginning and the end of wickedness; and he pursues every virtue in both deed and word; offering a sacrifice of praise and confession, having been delivered from all the disturbance from the activity of the passions, and being free from the battle against them in the mind; and having only the insatiable pleasure that nourishes the soul in the hope of future good things.

90

βουλομένοις μιμεῖσθαι τήν ἀρετήν, καί ἐν τούτῳ δεικνύς, ἧς μετειλήφει χάριτος, τό φιλάνθρωπόν τε καί ἄφθονον.

1.86 (πστ΄) Οἱ ἀσπίλως τήν κατά Θεόν μετερχόμενοι φιλοσοφίαν, μέγιστον ἐκ τῆς κατ᾿ αὐτήν ἐπιστήμης κέρδος εὑρίσκουσι· τό, μηκέτι τήν γνώμην τοῖς πράγμασι συμμεταβάλλεσθαι· ἀλλά μετ᾿ εὐσταθοῦς βεβαιότητος πᾶσιν ἐγχειρεῖν προθύμως τοῖς ἁρμόζουσι τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀρετῆς.

1.87 (πζ΄) Τήν κατά σάρκα πρώτην ἐν Χριστῷ διά Πνεύματος βαπτισθέντες ἀφθαρσίαν, τήν ἐσχάτην κατ᾿ αὐτόν ἐν Πνεύματι· δι᾿ ἐπιδόσεως ἔργων ἀγαθῶν δηλονότι, καί τοῦ κατά πρόθεσιν θανάτου, τήν προτέραν φυλάξαντες ἀκηλίδωτον, ἐκδεχόμεθα· καθ᾿ ἥν τῶν ἐχόντων, οὐδείς ἀποβολήν δέδοικε τῶν κτηθέντων ἀγαθῶν.

1.88 (πη΄) Τοῖς ἐπί γῆς, τῆς θείας ἀρετῆς ἀπ᾿ οὐρανοῦ δι᾿ ἔλεον τόν πρός ἡμᾶς τήν χάριν καταπέμψαι βουληθείς ὁ Θεός, συμβολικῶς τήν ἱεράν (14__494> σκηνήν καί τά ἐν αὐτῇ πάντα κατεσκεύασε· σοφίας οὖσαν ἀπεικόνισμα καί τύπον καί μίμημα.

1.89 (πθ΄) Ἡ χάρις τῆς Νέας ∆ιαθήκης, μυστικῶς τῷ τῆς Παλαιᾶς κέκρυπται γράμματι· διό φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, ὅτι ὁ νόμος πνευματικῶς ἐστιν. Ὁ οὖν νόμος, τῷ μέν γράμματι, παλαιοῦται καί γηράσκει καταργούμενος· τῷ δέ πνεύματι, νεάζει διαπαντός ἐνεργούμενος. Ἡ γάρ χάρις παντελῶς ἀπαλαίωτος.

1.90 (ƒ΄) Ὁ μέν νόμος, σκιάν ἔχει τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου· τό δέ Εὐαγγέλιον, εἰκών ἐστι τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν. Ὁ μέν γάρ κωλύει τάς τῶν κακῶν ἐνεργείας· τό δέ, τάς πράξεις τῶν ἀγαθῶν παρατίθεται.

1.91 (ƒα΄) Τήν ἁγίαν ὅλην Γραφήν, σαρκί διαιρεῖσθαι λέγομεν καί πνεύματι· καθάπερ τινά πνευματικόν ἄνθρωπον οὖσαν. Ὁ γάρ τό ῥητόν τῆς Γραφῆς εἰπών εἶναι σάρκα· 1121 τόν δέ νοῦν, πνεῦμα, ἤγουν ψυχήν, τῆς ἀληθείας οὖν ἁμαρτήσεται. Σοφός δέ προδήλως, ὁ τό μέν φθειρόμενον ἀφείς· ὅλος δέ τοῦ ἀφθάρτου γενόμενος.

1.92 (ƒβ΄) Ὁ μέν νόμος, σάρξ ἐστι τοῦ κατά τήν ἁγίαν Γραφήν πνευματικοῦ ἀνθρώπου· αἴσθησις δέ, οἱ προφῆται· τό δέ Εὐαγγέλιον, ψυχή νοερά· διά σαρκός τοῦ νόμου, καί δι᾿ αἰσθήσεως τῶν προφητῶν ἐνεργοῦσα· καί τήν ἑαυτῆς δύναμιν ταῖς ἐνεργείαις ἐμφαίνουσα.

1.93 (ƒγ΄) Σκιάν μέν εἶχεν ὁ νόμος, εἰκόνα δέ οἱ προφῆται τῶν ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ θείων καί πνευματικῶν ἀγαθῶν. Αὐτό δέ τό Εὐαγγέλιον, αὐτήν παροῦσαν ἡμῖν διά τῶν γραμμάτων ἔδειξε τήν ἀλήθειαν· τήν τῷ νόμῳ προσκιασθεῖσαν, καί τοῖς προφήταις προεικονισθεῖσαν.

1.94 (ƒδ΄) Ὁ τόν νόμον διά βίου καί πολιτείας ἐπιτελῶν, μόνων τῶν τῆς κακίας ἀργεῖ συμπερασμάτων, καταθύων τῷ Θεῷ τῶν ἀλόγων παθῶν τήν ἐνέργειαν· καί τούτῳ πρός σωτηρίαν ἀρκεῖται τῷ τρόπῳ, διά τήν ἐν αὐτῷ πνευματικήν νηπιότητα.

(14__496> 1.95 (ƒε΄) Ὁ τῷ προφητικῷ λόγῳ παιδαγωγούμενος, πρός τῇ ἀποβολῇ τῆς τῶν παθῶν ἐνεργείας, καί τάς κατά ψυχήν συνισταμένας αὐτῶν ἐκτίθεται συγκαταθέσεις· ἵνα μή τῷ χείρονι, φημί δή τῇ σαρκί, δοκῶν κακίας ἀπέχεσθαι· τῷ κρείττονι, λέγω δέ τῇ ψυχῇ, λάθῃ ταύτην δαψιλῶς ἐνεργούμενος.

1.96 (ƒστ΄) Ὁ τήν εὐαγγελικήν ζωήν γνησίως ἀσπαζόμενος, καί ἀρχήν καί τέλος ἑαυτοῦ τῆς κακίας ἐξέτεμε· καί πᾶσαν ἀρετήν ἔργῳ τε καί λόγῳ μετέρχεται· θύων θυσίαν αἰνέσεως καί ἐξομολογήσεως, πάσης τῆς κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν τῶν παθῶν ἀπηλλαγμένος ὀχλήσεως, καί τῆς κατά νοῦν πρός αὐτά μάχης ὑπάρχων ἐλεύθερος· καί μόνην ἔχων τήν ἐπ᾿ ἐλπίδι τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν τήν ψυχήν διατρέφουσαν, ἀκόρεστον ἡδονήν.