91.  I have said nothing yet of the internal warfare within ourselves, and in our passions, in which we are engaged night and day against the body of our humiliation,282    Phil. iii. 21. either secretly or openly, and against the tide which tosses and whirls us hither and thither, by the aid of our senses and other sources of the pleasures of this life; and against the miry clay283    Ps. xl. 2; lxix. 2. in which we have been fixed; and against the law of sin,284    Rom. vii. 23. which wars against the law of the spirit, and strives to destroy the royal image in us, and all the divine emanation which has been bestowed upon us; so that it is difficult for anyone, either by a long course of philosophic training, and gradual separation of the noble and enlightened part of the soul from that which is debased and yoked with darkness, or by the mercy of God, or by both together, and by a constant practice of looking upward, to overcome the depressing power of matter.  And before a man has, as far as possible, gained this superiority, and sufficiently purified his mind, and far surpassed his fellows in nearness to God, I do not think it safe for him to be entrusted with the rule over souls, or the office of mediator (for such, I take it, a priest is) between God and man.

ϞΑʹ. Καὶ οὔπω λέγω τὸν ἔνδον καὶ ἐν ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς, τὸν ἐν τοῖς πάθεσι πόλεμον, ὃν πολεμούμεθα νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας ὑπὸ τοῦ τῆς ταπεινώσεως σώματος, τὰ μὲν κρύβδην, τὰ δὲ φανερῶς: καὶ τῆς ἄνω καὶ κάτω κυμαινούσης ἡμᾶς καὶ στροβούσης, διά τε αἰσθήσεως καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τερπνῶν τοῦ βίου τούτου περιφορᾶς, τοῦ τε πηλοῦ τῆς ἰλύος, ᾧ ἐμπεπήγμεθα, καὶ τοῦ νόμου τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀντιστρατευομένου τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ πνεύματος, καὶ διαφθείρειν ἐπιχειροῦντος τὴν βασιλικὴν ἐν ἡμῖν εἰκόνα, καὶ ὅσον τῆς θείας ἀποῤῥοίας ἡμῖν συγκαταβέβληται: ὡς μόλις ἄν τις ἑαυτὸν ἢ μακρᾷ φιλοσοφίᾳ παιδαγωγήσας, καὶ ἀποῤῥηγνὺς κατὰ μικρὸν τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς εὐγενὲς καὶ φωτοειδὲς τοῦ ταπεινοῦ καὶ τῷ σκότει συνεζευγμένου, ἢ Θεοῦ τυχὼν ἵλεω, ἢ καὶ ἄμφω ταῦτα, καὶ μελέτην ὅτι μάλιστα ποιούμενος ἄνω βλέπειν τῆς κατασπώσης ὕλης ἐπικρατήσειε. Πρὶν δὲ ταύτην ὑπερσχεῖν ὅση δύναμις καὶ ἀνακαθᾶραι ἱκανῶς τὴν διάνοιαν, ὑπέρ τε τοὺς ἄλλους μακρῷ γενέσθαι τῇ πρὸς Θεὸν ἐγγύτητι, ἢ ψυχῶν προστασίαν δέξασθαι, ἢ μεσιτείαν Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων (τοῦτο γὰρ ἴσως ὁ ἰερεὺς), οὐκ ἀσφαλὲς εἶναι γινώσκω.