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the mind of the flesh, to devour like grapes. Whom one must not obey, nor be bent by the untimely flatteries of men and of passions; but to secure the hedge through self-control, until the beasts, the passions of the flesh, cease roaring, and like birds, the vain thoughts, not to come down to do harm to the soul flourishing like a vine with contemplations in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

SCHOLIA ON THE EPISTLES OF SAINT DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE * ON EPISTLE I (15∆_406> I conjecture this to be Gaius, to whom the divine evangelist John wrote the third epistle, inferring also from other things, with whom this divine man associated with the Apostles. And he said that the monks are called Therapeuts in the sixth chapter of "On the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy", stating there also how they are established, not being clerics, but superior to the laity. And Philo the Jew seems to admire them in his treatise "On the Contemplative Life" or "On the Suppliants", calling them Therapeuts, and describing their way of life a little before the end of this book. Read the works of the same Philo.

"But not by way of privation": This, he says, you should not understand according to common notions, that, just as darkness is dispelled by light, and especially by much light, or just as ignorance, which is also itself darkness, ceases when knowledge, and especially much knowledge, supervenes, so also ignorance regarding God resembles ignorance due to a lack of learning, as we said; but the more one is enlightened concerning God and the more one gathers knowledge of beings, that is, concerning intelligible and intellectual beings, by so much the more, ascending towards the knowledge concerning God, (15∆_410> will one know the incomprehensibility, that is, the ignorance concerning God, to be a light and a knowledge beyond all things known, and henceforth honors in silence the speechlessness concerning God. Therefore, the ignorance concerning God is not spoken of as a privation of knowledge, but by way of superiority and excess of all knowledge, because one has known Him who is unknown and incomprehensible to all and to oneself. These things are also said in the first chapter of "On Mystical Theology", and in the second chapter of "On the Divine Names".

"But some one of His own things that are": Insofar as one has, he says, the knowledge of beings, and the being light, that is, the very perception of truth, to that extent will one see the things concerning God as unknown; for they are not revealed by the light or by knowledge, but rather escape the notice of those who have these things. And the progress and increase in these things, I mean in the light and in knowledge, shows the Divine to be unseen and unknown; because he who has seen God and understood what he saw, has not seen Him Himself, but some one of His own things that are and are known.

"To Him in His totality": One must further consider in these matters that which is according to beings and known things. And the "not to be" is added, because "is" belongs to created things, but God is even beyond being, because He is uncreated.

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φρόνημα τῆς σαρκός, ὡς σταφυλάς διαβόσκεσθαι. Οἷς οὐ πείθεσθαι χρή, οὐδέ ταῖς ἀκαίροις κάμπτεσθαι κολακείαις ἀνθρώπων τε καί παθῶν· κατοχυροῦν δέ τόν φραγμόν δι᾿ ἐγκρατείας, ἕως παύσωνται οἵ τε θῆρες, τά σαρκικά πάθη, ὠρύεσθαι, καί ὡς πετεινά οἱ μάταιοι λογισμοί, μή καταβαίνειν λυμαίνεσθαι, τήν ὡς ἄμπελον εὐθηνουμένην ψυχήν θεωρίαις ταῖς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Κυρίῳ ἡμῶν. Ἀμήν.

ΣΧΟΛΙΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΑΣ ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΑΣ ΤΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΥ ∆ΙΟΝΥΣΙΟΥ ΑΡΕΟΠΑΓΙΤΟΥ * ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗΝ Α' (15∆_406> Ἐπιβάλλω Γάϊον τοῦτον εἶναι, ᾧ τήν τρίτην ἐπιστολήν ἔγραψεν ὁ

θεῖος εὐαγγελιστής Ἰωάννης, τεκμαιρόμενος καί ἐκ τῶν ἄλλων, οἷς συγγέγονε μετά τῶν Ἀποστόλων ὁ θεῖος οὗτος ἀνήρ. Θεραπευτάς δέ ἔφη καλεῖσθαι ἐν τῷ «Περί τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς ἱεραρχίας» κεφαλαίῳ ς' τούς μοναχούς, εἰπών ἐκεῖ καί πῶς καθίστανται μή ὄντες κληρικοί, ἀλλά ἀνώτεροι τόν λαοῦ. Τούτους δέ ἔοικε θαυμάζειν Φίλων ὁ Ἰουδαῖος ἐν τῷ «Περί θεωρητικοῦ» ἤ «Ἱκετῶν» συντάγματι, θεραπευτάς αὐτούς καλῶν, καί τήν δίαιταν αὐτῶν διηγούμενος πρό ὀλίγου τοῦ τέ- λους τοῦ βιβλίου τούτου. Ἀνάγνωθι τά τοῦ αὐτοῦ Φίλωνος.

«Ἀλλά μή κατά στέρησιν»: Τοῦτο, φησί, μή κατά τάς κοινάς ἐννοίας ὑπολάβῃς, ὅτι, ὥσπερ τό σκότος λύεται φωτί, καί μάλιστα πολλῷ, ἤ ὥσπερ ἤ ἀγνωσία, ἥτις καί αὐτή σκότος ἐστί, παύεται γνώσεων, καί μάλιστα πολλῶν, ἐπιγενομένων, οὕτω καί ἡ κατά Θεόν ἀγνωσία ἔοικε τῇ κατά ἀμαθίαν ἀγνωσίᾳ, ὥς ἔφημεν· ἀλλ' ὅσῳ φωτίζεταί τις περί Θεοῦ καί ὅσῳ τις συνάγει γνῶσιν τῶν ὄντων, τουτέστι τήν περί τῶν νοητῶν καί νοερῶν, τοσούτῳ μᾶλλον, ἀναβαίνων περί τήν γνῶσιν τήν περί Θεόν, (15∆_410> γνώσεται τήν ἀκαταληψίαν, ἤτοι τήν ἀγνωσίαν τήν περί Θεόν, φῶς εἶναι καί γνῶσιν ὑπέρ πάντα τά γνωσθέντα καί λοιπόν σιγῇ τιμᾷ τήν περί Θεόν ἀφασίαν. Οὐκοῦν οὐ κατά στέρησιν γνώσεως λέγεται ἡ περί Θεοῦ ἀγνωσία, ἀλλά καθ' ὑπεροχήν καί ὑπερβολήν πάσης γνώσεως, ὅτι ἔγνω τις τόν πᾶσι καί ἑαυτῷ ἄγνωστον καί ἀκατάληπτον. Ταῦτα καί ἐν τῷ «Περί μυστικῆς θεολογίας» κεφαλαίῳ α' εἴρηται, καί ἐν τῷ «Περί θείων ὀνομάτων» κεφαλαίῳ β'.

«Ἀλλά τί τῶν αὐτοῦ τῶν ὄντων»: Ὅσον τις ἔχει, φησί, τῶν ὄντων τήν γνῶσιν, καί τό ὄν φῶς, τουτέστι αὐτήν τῆς ἀληθείας τήν νόησιν, τοσοῦτον τά περί Θεόν ὄψεται ἄγνωστα· οὐ γάρ τῷ φωτί ἤ τῇ γνώσει φανεροῦνται, ἀλλά μᾶλλον τούς ταῦτα ἔχοντας λανθάνει. Καί ἡ ἐν τούτοις ἐπίδοσίς τε καί αὔξησις, τῷ φωτί φημι καί τῇ γνώσει, τό Θεῖον δεικνύει ἀθέατόν τε καί ἄγνωστον· ὅτι ὁ Θεόν θεασάμενος καί νοήσας ὅ εἶδεν, αὐτόν μέν οὐχ ἑώρακεν, ἀλλά τί τῶν αὐτοῦ τῶν ὄντων καί γινωσκομένων.

«Αὐτῷ τῷ καθόλου»: Προσεπινοεῖν δεῖ καί ἐπί τούτοις τό κατά τά ὄντα καί γινωσκόμενα. Τό δέ «μή εἶναι» πρόσκειται, ἐπειδή τό ἐστι τῶν κτιστῶν ἐστιν, ὁ δέ Θεός καί ὑπέρ τό εἶναι, διότι ἄκτιστος.