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of man who was saved, 1280 it is clear that Christ God filled the world above, divinely effecting in himself the salvation of all.

ƒΒ (92). ANOTHER CONTEMPLATION ON THE SAME

Another contemplation on the same. And in another way, if you please, let us contemplate the proposed difficulty. Those who have accurately considered the nature of beings say that the law of each nature is the unwavering and unalterable stability of the principle according to which it exists and has come to be, and that the definition of the law of nature thus stands well, as I think, everyone who partakes of reason will agree on hearing it. But if this is true, clearly the law of nature necessarily, just as it guards the principle of nature inviolate, so also it certainly preserves its place according to its position (14∆_386> unchangeable. But He who by law and reason and nature wisely defined the substance of beings according to each kind, existing beyond nature and law and mind and reason and place and motion, acts in no natural way upon those things under nature, but, dealing with the natural things of those under nature in a manner proper to Himself, beyond nature, He both acts and suffers, paradoxically preserving pure and natural unchangeability for both Himself who suffers and for the things being done. And so, having Himself truly moved down to us in His appearance as one of us, He became a perfect man, without being moved at all from Himself and without in any way experiencing the limitation of place, and He perfectly deified us, taking away absolutely nothing of our nature by alteration, both having given Himself whole without deficiency and having received the whole man complete according to the ineffable and unblemished union, He diminished none of the perfection of either nature, and He is truly whole God, the same, and whole man, the same, bearing witness for Himself by the perfection of both natures in which He truly is, that He is in both respects unchangeable and unalterable. Thus God abrogates the laws of nature, using nature supernaturally in natural things.

ƒΓ (93). ANOTHER CONTEMPLATION, ON: "THE WORLD ABOVE MUST BE FILLED"

Another contemplation, on: "The world above must be filled." If, therefore, Christ is the first-fruits of our nature, as man, to

God the Father, and as it were the leaven of the whole lump, and is to God the Father according to the concept of humanity He who, as Word, never departed from His stability in the Father, let us not disbelieve that we will be, according to His request to the Father, where He Himself is (14∆_388> the first-fruits of our race. For as He unalterably became below, for our sake, a man like us apart from sin alone, supernaturally abrogating the laws of nature, so also we, consequently, will become above, through Him, and gods like Him through the mystery of grace, altering our nature in absolutely no way. And so again, according to the wise teacher, the world above is filled, as the members of the body are gathered worthily to the head, each member, that is, 1281 through proximity in virtue harmoniously receiving the position befitting it through the architecture of the Spirit, and He who is filled all in all completing the body which fills all things and is filled from all things.

Whether, therefore, as has been said, according to the spiritual rebirth of those born according to Christ, or according to the replenishment in Christ and through Christ of the mystical numbers in the heavens, namely, of the divine hundred of rational sheep, and of the mystical ten of spiritual drachmas, and of the

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σωθέντος 1280 ἀνθρώπου, δῆλον ὡς τόν ἄνω κόσμον ἐπλήρωσε Χριστός ὁ Θεός, τήν πάντων ἐν ἑαυτῷ θεοπρεπῶς αὐτουργήσας σωτηρίαν.

ƒΒ (92). ΑΛΛΗ ΘΕΩΡΙΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΑΥΤΟ

Ἄλλη θεωρία εἰς τό αὐτό. Καί ἄλλως δέ, εἰ δοκεῖ, θεωρήσωμεν τό προκείμενον ἄπορον. Φασίν οἱ τῶν

ὄντων τήν φύσιν ἀκριβῶς διαθρήσαντες νόμον εἶναι φύσεως ἑκάστης τήν τοῦ καθ᾿ ὅν ἐστι καί γεγένηται λόγου ἀῤῥεπῆ καί ἀναλλοίωτον μονιμότητα, καί καλῶς ἄν ἔχειν οὕτω τόν ὅρον τοῦ νόμου τῆς φύσεως, ὡς οἶμαι, πᾶς λόγου μετειληφώς ἀκούων συνθήσεται. Εἰ δέ τοῦτό ἐστιν ἀληθές, δηλονότι ὁ νόμος τῆς φύσεως ἐξ ἀνάγκης ὥσπερ τόν λόγον ἀπαράβατον φυλάττει τῆς φύσεως, οὕτω καί τόν αὐτῆς κατά τήν θέσιν (14∆_386> πάντως διατηρεῖ τόπον ἀμετάθετον. Ἀλλ᾿ ὁ νόμῳ καί λόγῳ καί φύσει σοφῶς διορίσας καθ᾿ ἕκαστον εἶδος τήν τῶν ὄντων ὑπόστασιν, ὑπέρ φύσιν καί νόμον καί νοῦν καί λόγον καί τόπον καί κίνησιν ὑπάρχων, κατ᾿ οὐδέν τῶν κατά φύσιν ἐνεργεῖ τοῖς ὑπό φύσιν, ἀλλ᾿ ἑαυτῷ προσφυῶς ὑπέρ φύσιν τά κατά φύσιν τῶν ὑπό φύσιν μετερχόμενος δρᾷ τε καί πάσχει, ἀμφοῖν φυλάττων ἑαυτῷ τε πάσχοντι καί τοῖς δρωμένοις παραδόξως κατά φύσιν ἀκραιφνές τό ἀμετάβολον. Οὕτω τε κάτω πρός ἡμᾶς αὐτός κινηθείς ἀληθῶς τῇ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ἐκφάνσει ἄνθρωπος γέγονε τέλειος, μή κινηθείς ἑαυτοῦ τό παράπαν καί τῆς ἐν τόπῳ περιγραφῆς μηδαμῶς πεῖραν λαβών, καί ἡμᾶς ἐθέωσε τελείως, μηδέν ἡμῶν τῆς φύσεως παντάπασι κατ᾿ ἀλλοίωσιν ὑφελόμενος, ὅλον τε δούς ἀνελλιπῶς ἑαυτόν καί ὅλον κατά τήν ἄφραστον καί ἀλώβητον ἕνωσιν πλήρη τόν ἄνθρωπον εἰληφώς οὐδέν τῆς κατ᾿ ἕτερον ἐμείωσε τελειότητος, καί ἔστιν ἀληθῶς ὅλος Θεός ὁ αὐτός, καί ὅλος ἄνθρωπος ὁ αὐτός, τῇ κατ᾿ ἄμφω τῶν ἐν οἷς ἀληθῶς ἐστι τελειότητι μαρτυρῶν ἑαυτῷ τό κατ᾿ ἄμφω ἄτρεπτόν τε καί ἀναλλοίωττον. Οὕτω λύει τούς νόμους τῆς φύσεως, ὑπέρ φύσιν ἐν τοῖς κατά φύσιν τῇ φύσει χρώμενος, ὁ Θεός.

ƒΓ (93). ΑΛΛΗ ΘΕΩΡΙΑ, ΕΙΣ ΤΟ· «ΠΛΗΡΩΘΗΝΑΙ ∆ΕΙ ΤΟΝ ΑΝΩ ΚΟΣΜΟΝ»

Ἄλλη θεωρία, εἰς τό· " Πληρωθῆναι δεῖ τόν ἄνω κόσμον». Εἰ τοίνυν ἀπαρχή τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς φύσεως, ὡς ἄνθρωπος, ἐστίν ὁ Χριστός πρός

τόν Θεόν καί Πατέρα, καί οἷον ζύμη τοῦ ὅλου φυράματος, ἔστι δέ πρός τόν θεόν καί Πατέρα κατά τήν ἐπίνοιαν τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος ὁ μηδέποτε τῆς ἐν τῷ Πατρί ἐκστάς μονιμότητος, ὡς λόγος, μή ἀπιστήσωμεν ἔσεσθαι, κατά τήν αὐτοῦ πρός τόν Πατέρα αἴτησιν, ἔνθα αὐτός ἐστιν (14∆_388> ἡ ἀπαρχή τοῦ ἡμετέρου γένους. Ὡς γάρ γέγονε κάτω δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ἀναλλοιώτως καί ἄνθρωπος καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς χωρίς μόνης ἁμαρτίας, λύσας ὑπερφυῶς τούς νόμους τῆς φύσεως, οὕτω καί ἡμεῖς κατά τό ἀκόλουθον ἄνω δι᾿ αὐτόν γενησόμεθα, καί θεοί κατ᾿ αὐτόν τῷ τῆς χάριτος μυστηρίῳ, μηδέν τό παράπαν ἀλλοιοῦντες τῆς φύσεως. Καί οὕτω πληροῦται πάλιν κατά τόν σοφόν διδάσκαλον ὁ ἄνω κόσμος, πρός τήν κεφαλήν τῶν μελῶν τοῦ σώματος κατ᾿ ἀξίαν συναγομένων, ἑκάστου δηλονότι μέλους 1281 τῆ κατ᾿ ἀρετήν ἐγγύτητι τήν πρέπουσαν αὐτῷ θέσιν διά τῆς ἀρχιτεκτονίας τοῦ πνεύματος ἐναρμονίως λαμβάνοντος καί συμπληροῦντος τοῦ τά πάντα ἐν πᾶσι πληρουμένου τό σῶμα τό πάντα πληροῦν ἐκ πάντων πληρούμενον.

Εἴτε οὖν, ὡς εἴρηται, κατά τήν πνευματικήν ἀναγέννησιν τῶν κατά Χριστόν γεννωμένων, εἴτε κατά τήν ἐν Χριστῷ καί διά Χριστοῦ γεγενημένην τῶν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς μυστικῶν ἀριθμῶν ἀναπλήρωσιν, τῆς τε θείας φημί τῶν λογικῶν προβάτων ἑκατοντάδος, καί τῆς τῶν νοερῶν δραχμῶν μυστικῆς δεκάδος, καί τῆς