92

Therefore he was the first of the sinners who are saved; you become second, become third, become tenth, become of one mind with the thousands, if you wish, and with the ten thousands, and count yourself with Paul; and thus you will honor Paul, just as he says: (213) "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ," and again: "I wish that all were as I myself am."

If, therefore, you wish to praise Paul or honor him, imitate him; and as he was, you also become such in faith, and then you will truly honor him and he will receive you and will count you as his own glory and crown of boasting, because, persuaded by his words and following him, you too became an imitator of him and such as he was. But if you say that it is a dishonor to Paul for another also to become his equal and for this reason, despising your own salvation, you are neglectful, know that he will rather thrust you away as deceiving yourself and for this reason he himself will abhor you. Do you wish, then, that I show you that you will honor him much more and gladden and glorify him, if you are able to become greater than he and more intimate with God? Hear him presenting this and saying: "I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh." He chooses to be completely separated from Christ, so that you might be saved, and you say that he will consider it a dishonor, if I too wish and hasten to become as he is? No, brother, there is no envy among the saints of God, there is not in them a desire and longing for precedence or for greater glory. For for them and for those shown to be friends and prophets of God from generation to generation there is one precedence and seat and preference of station and glory and enjoyment and delight: to see God; and those who see him are freed from all curiosity. For they have not been able to look and turn to anything of this life or to any other man or to think at all of anything foreign, but their mind has been liberated from becoming attached to anything; for this reason they also remain unchangeable for ever and do not turn back to evil.

(214) But I will ask you, and you answer me with understanding. How do those who wrote these things know them, and how does the one writing now understand them? You say, lest I again seem to you to speak vaingloriously: whose are these words? Consider it with reason and you will certainly be persuaded and you will free me from discussions. Of a man, certainly, he says. Woe is me that sight does not come even through your hearing, but you remain hearing and not seeing at all. Do you say that these are the words of a man? If they are of a man, you can certainly also say of what sort, since a man is not able to know or express not only the reasonings and dispositions of a man, but not even the impulses or states or the inner condition of the soul of a beast; "For no one knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him." But if it is difficult for a man to know well the dispositions and impulses of a man and of irrational beasts, how or in what way can anyone know the things of God, that is, the alteration and state that comes to the saints from the contemplation of him, not to mention for now the activity? And besides, if the words are of a man, clearly so are the thoughts. But the thoughts in these things should not be called thoughts, but contemplation of the things that truly are; for we speak from the contemplation of them; and what is said should rather be called a narrative of things seen, while that which is worthy to be called a thought is the concept born from the mind about an unsubstantial thing or intention, such as to do something good or evil which has not yet been done by us, which is also brought forth from the thought into action, so that the thought is the beginning of the thing that is going to be done by us, according to this: "First he conceives the angelic and heavenly powers and the concept was an act."

(215) But consider that all our words and all our are not about certain unsubstantial and obscure matters, but about things already happening and about to happen,

92

Πρῶτος οὖν ἐκεῖνος τῶν σῳζομένων ἁμαρτωλῶν· γενοῦ σύ δεύτερος, γενοῦ τρίτος, γενοῦ δέκατος, γενοῦ ταῖς χιλιάσιν, εἰ βούλει, καί μυριάσι σύμψυχος καί τῷ Παύλῳ σεαυτόν συναρίθμησον· καί οὕτω Παῦλον τιμήσεις, καθώς ἐκεῖνός φησι· (213) "Μιμηταί μου γίνεσθε, καθώς κἀγώ Χριστοῦ", καί πάλιν· "Ἤθελον πάντας εἶναι ὡς ἐμαυτόν".

Εἰ τοίνυν ἐπαινέσαι βούλει τόν Παῦλον ἤ τιμῆσαι αὐτόν, μίμησαι τοῦτον· καί οἷος ἐκεῖνος, γενοῦ τοιοῦτος τῇ πίστει καί σύ, καί τότε ἐπ᾿ ἀληθείας τιμήσεις αὐτόν κἀκεῖνος προσδέξεταί σε καί ὡς ἰδίαν δόξαν καί στέφανον καυχήσεως λογίσεταί σε, ὅτι τοῖς ἐκείνου λόγοις πεισθείς καί ἀκολουθήσας αὐτῷ μιμητής ἐκείνου καί οἷος ἐκεῖνος ἐγένου καί σύ. Εἰ δέ λέγεις ἀτιμίαν εἶναι Παύλου τό καί ἄλλον ἴσον γενέσθαι αὐτοῦ καί διά τοῦτο τῆς σῆς σωτηρίας καταφρονῶν ἀμελεῖς, γίνωσκε ὡς παραλογιζόμενον σεαυτόν μᾶλλον ἀπώσεται καί διά τοῦτο αὐτός σε βδελύξεται. Βούλει οὖν σοι δείξω ὅτι μᾶλλον μειζόνως τιμήσεις αὐτόν καί εὐφρανεῖς καί δοξάσεις, εἰ μείζων ἐκείνου δυνηθῇς γενέσθαι καί τῷ Θεῷ οἰκειότερος; Ἄκουσον αὐτοῦ τοῦτο παριστῶντος καί λέγοντος· "Εὐχόμην ἀνάθεμα εἶναι ἀπό Χριστοῦ ὑπέρ τῶν ἀδελφῶν, τῶν συγγενῶν μου κατά σάρκα". Ἐκεῖνος χωρισθῆναι ἀπό Χριστοῦ προαιρεῖται τελείως, ἵνα σύ σωθῇς, καί λέγεις ὅτι ἀτιμίαν ἡγήσεται, ἐάν ὡς ἐκεῖνος θελήσω καί σπεύσω γενέσθαι κἀγώ; Οὐχί, ἀδελφέ, οὐκ ἔστι φθόνος ἐν ἁγίοις Θεοῦ, οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτοῖς προεδρίας ἤ μείζονος δόξης ἐπιθυμία καί ὄρεξις. Μία γάρ αὐτοῖς καί τοῖς κατά γενεάν καί γενεάν φίλοις καί προφήταις ἀναδεικνυμένοις Θεοῦ προεδρία καί καθέδρας καί προτίμησις στάσεως καί δόξα καί ἀπόλαυσις καί τρυφή, τό ὁρᾶν τόν Θεόν· οἱ δέ ὁρῶντες αὐτόν περιεργίας πάσης ἀπηλλαγμένοι ὑπάρχουσιν. Οὐδέ γάρ πρός τι τοῦ βίου ἤ πρός ἕτερόν τινα τῶν ἀνθρώπων βλέπειν καί ἐπιστρέφεσθαι ἤ ὅλως ἐννοεῖν τι τῶν ἀνοικείων δεδύνηνται, ἀλλά τοῦ πρός τι γενέσθαι τόν νοῦν ἠλευθέρωνται· διά τοῦτο καί μένουσιν εἰς αἰῶνας ἄτρεπτοι καί πρός τό κακόν εἰσιν ἀνεπίστροφοι.

(214) Ἀλλά γάρ ἐρωτήσω σε, σύ δέ μοι συνετῶς ἀποκρίθητι. Ταῦτα πόθεν οἱ γράψαντες ἴσασι, καί νῦν ὁ γράφων πόθεν ἐπίσταται; Εἰπέ σύ, ἵνα μή πάλιν ἐγώ δόξω σοι κενοδόξως λαλεῖν· τίνος ταῦτα τά ῥήματα; Λελογισμένως συλλογίσθητι καί πάντως πεισθήσῃ καί συζητήσεων ἀπαλλάξεις με. Ἀνθρώπου πάντως, φησίν. Οἴμοι ὅτι οὐδέ διά τῆς ἀκοῆς σου ἡ ὅρασις ἐπιγίνεται, ἀλλά μένεις ἀκούων καί μηδόλως ὁρῶν. Ἀνθρώπου λέγεις εἶναι ταῦτα τά ῥήματα; Εἰ ἀνθρώπου εἰσίν, εἰπεῖν ἔχεις πάντως καί ποταποῦ, ἐπειδή ἄνθρωπος οὐ μόνον ἀνθρώπου συλλογισμούς τε καί διαθέσεις, ἀλλ᾿ οὐδέ κτήνους ὁρμάς ἤ στάσεις ἤ ἐνδιάθετον κατάστασιν ψυχῆς δύναται γνῶναι ἤ ἐξειπεῖν· "Οὐδείς γάρ οἶδε τά τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, εἰ μή τό πνεῦμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τό ἐνοικοῦν ἐν αὐτῷ". Εἰ δέ ἀνθρώπου καί κτηνῶν ἀλόγων διαθέσεις καί ὁρμάς χαλεπόν ἄνθρωπον εἰδέναι καλῶς, τά τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἤγουν τήν ἐκ τῆς θεωρίας αὐτοῦ ἐγγινομένην τοῖς ἁγίοις ἀλλοίωσιν καί κατάστασιν, ἵνα μή τό γε νῦν ἔχον εἴπω ἐνέργειαν, πόθεν ἤ πῶς εἰδέναι τις δύναται; Ἄλλως τε δέ εἰ ἀνθρώπου τά ῥήματα, δηλονότι καί τά νοήματα. Τά δέ ἐν τούτοις νοήματα οὐ χρή καλεῖσθαι νοήματα, ἀλλά θεωρίαν τῶν ὄντως ὄντων· ἀπό γάρ τῆς ἐκείνων θεωρίας λαλοῦμεν· καί λέγεσθαι μᾶλλον χρή τῶν ὁραθέντων διήγησιν τά λεγόμενα, νόημα δέ ἐκεῖνο λέγεσθαι ἄξιον τό περί ἀνυποστάτου πράγματος ἤ βουλήματος γεννώμενον ἐνθύμημα ἐκ τοῦ νοῦ, οἷον τοῦ ποιῆσαί τι ἀγαθόν ἤ πονηρόν ὅ οὔπω ἐπράχθη παρ᾿ ἡμῶν, ὅ καί ἀπό τοῦ νοήματος εἰς ἔργον ἐξάγεται, ὥστε τό νόημα ἀρχή ἐστι τοῦ μέλλοντος γίνεσθαι πράγματος παρ᾿ ἡμῶν κατά το· "Πρῶτον μέν ἐννοεῖ τάς ἀγγελικάς δυνάμεις καί οὐρανίους καί τό ἐννόημα ἔργον ἦν".

(215) Σκόπει δέ ὅτι οὐ περί ἀνυποστάτων τινῶν καί ἀδήλων πραγμάτων, ἀλλά περί τῶν ἤδη γινομένων καί γενέσθαι μελλόντων, οἱ λόγοι πάντες ἡμῖν καί πᾶσα ἡ