,

rising up against practice, and defiling the hitherto pure conscience, and false thoughts being interwoven with the contemplation of beings and distorting the hitherto correct opinion of knowledge.

For a truly divine ordinance and law according to providence exists in beings, permitting those who have appeared ungrateful in better things to be disciplined through opposites towards gratitude, and through the experience of contrary things to acquire the divine knowledge of the power that accomplishes good things, so that we might not, having been permitted by providence to hold an entirely unchastened conceit in better things, slip into the anti-theistic disposition of pride, considering the possession of virtue and knowledge to be our own by nature, and not acquired by grace, and be found using the good for the generation of evil, and through those things by which the divine knowledge ought to have remained more tightly bound and unshaken in us, through them, as ought not to have happened, we suffer from ignorance of it.

For he who supposes himself to have attained the end of virtue, will in no way seek henceforth the fount-like cause of good things, having circumscribed to himself alone the power of desire, forfeiting by himself the very end of salvation, I mean, God. But he who is conscious of his own natural poverty concerning good things (14Β_398> does not cease from running headlong toward the one who is able to give the fulfillment of his need.

Wrath, that is, abandonment, therefore justly comes upon the high-minded intellect, that is, the permission for it to be troubled by demons, both in practice, as Judea, and in contemplation, as Jerusalem, so that it may receive an awareness of its own natural weakness, and the knowledge of the divine power and grace that protects it and accomplishes every good thing, and may be humbled, putting far from itself entirely that alien and unnatural height, so that the other wrath, of the removal of the gifts that have been given, may not come upon it, which did not come upon Hezekiah, who was immediately humbled by the first wrath that came upon him, that is, abandonment, and became aware of the Giver of good things. For it says after *and wrath came upon him and upon Judah and upon Jerusalem*: *and Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah,* that is, the other wrath, of the removal of the gifts, because the first abandonment became for him a teacher of good acknowledgment. For he who is not chastened by the first kind of wrath, that is, abandonment, so as to come to humility, clearly receives the other wrath coming upon him, which removes from him the working of the gifts, and renders him bereft of the power that had hitherto guarded him. *"And I will take away its hedge,"* says God concerning ungrateful Israel, saying, *"and it shall be for a spoil, and I will break down its wall and it shall be for treading down. And I will let my vineyard go, and it shall not be pruned or dug, and thorns shall come up on it as on fallow land; and I will command the clouds not to rain upon it,"* just as it is proclaimed that Saul, the first king of Israel, also suffered. For he, having received with the kingdom through (14Β_400> the anointing the grace of prophecy as well, since he did not guard it, receives as a first wrath the working of the evil spirit; having no awareness of this, he came to his end, being reserved for the other wrath, having become, through his folly, stripped of all piety before his death. And he shows this by what he suffered, first being worked upon by the demon, then later voluntarily deserting to the demons themselves through the ventriloquist and, perhaps like the atheists, performing for the demons the rite of divination.

κατεπανισταμένων τῆς πράξεως, καὶ τὴν τέως καθαρὰν μολυνόντων συνείδησιν καὶ ψευδῶν ἐννοιῶν συνεπιπλεκομένων τῇ θεωρίᾳ τῶν ὄντων καὶ τὴν τέως ὀρθὴν διαστρεφουσῶν δόξαν τῆς γνώσεως.

Θεῖος γὰρ ὡς ἀληθῶς ὅρος τε καὶ νόμος κατὰ πρόνοιαν ἐνυπάρχει τοῖς οὖσι, παιδεύεσθαι διὰ τῶν ἐναντίων ἐπιτρέπων πρὸς εὐγνωμοσύνην τοὺς ἐπὶ κρείττοσι φανέντας ἀγνώμονας καὶ τὴν πεῖραν τῶν ἀντικειμένων τῆς τῶν καλῶν κατορθωτικῆς θείας ἐπίγνωσιν ποιεῖσθαι δυνάμεως, ὡς ἂν μή, παντελῶς ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀμείνοσι ἀκαθαίρετον παρὰ τῆς προνοίας ἔχειν συγχωρηθέντες τὴν οἴησιν, εἰς τὴν ἀντίθεον τῆς ὑπερηφανίας διάθεσιν κατολισθήσωμεν, ἑαυτῶν κατὰ φύσιν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἐπίκτητον χάριτι, τὴν τῆς ἀρετῆς καὶ τῆς γνώσεως κτῆσιν εἶναι νομίζοντες, καὶ εὑρεθῶμεν τῷ καλῷ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ κακοῦ χρώμενοι γένεσιν, καὶ δι᾽ ὧν ἔδει πλέον διασφιγχθεῖσαν ἐν ἡμῖν ἀσάλευτον μένειν τὴν θείαν ἐπίγνωσιν, δι᾽ ἐκείνων, ὡς οὐκ ὤφελον, τὴν ταύτης νοσήσαντες ἄγνοιαν.

Ὁ γὰρ οἰόμενος ἑαυτὸν κατειληφέναι τὸ τέλος τῆς ἀρετῆς, οὐδαμῶς ἐπιζητήσει λοιπὸν τὴν πηγαίαν τῶν καλῶν αἰτίαν, ἑαυτῷ μόνῳ περιγράψας τὴν τῆς ἐφέσεως δύναμιν, αὐτὸν τῆς σωτηρίας τὸν ὅρον ὑφ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ, φημὶ δὲ τὸν Θεόν, ζημιούμενος. Ὁ δὲ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ περὶ τὰ καλὰ φυσικῆς συναισθόμενος πενίας (14Β_398> οὐ παύεται προτροπάδην τρέχων πρὸς τὸν δοῦναι δυνάμενον τῆς ἐνδείας τὴν πλήρωσιν.

Γίνεται τοίνυν δικαίως ἐπὶ τὸν ὑψηλόφρονα νοῦν ὀργή, τουτέστιν ἐγκατάλειψις, ἤγουν ἡ τοῦ διοχληθῆναι αὐτὸν κατά τε τὴν πρᾶξιν ὡς Ἰουδαίαν, κατά τε τὴν θεωρίαν ὡς Ἱερουσαλήμ, ὑπὸ δαιμόνων συγχώρησις, ἵνα λάβῃ τῆς μὲν ἑαυτοῦ φυσικῆς ἀσθενείας συναίσθησιν, τῆς δὲ σκεπούσης αὐτὸν καὶ τὸ πᾶν κατορθούσης τῶν ἀγαθῶν θείας δυνάμεώς τε καὶ χάριτος τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν, καὶ ταπεινωθῇ, πόρρω παντελῶς ἑαυτοῦ τὸ ἀλλότριον καὶ παρὰ φύσιν ὕψος ποιούμενος, ὥστε μὴ ἐπελθεῖν ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν τὴν ἄλλην ὀργὴν τῆς τῶν δοθέντων χαρισμάτων ἀφαιρέσεως, ἥτις ἐπὶ τὸν Ἐζεκίαν οὐκ ἐπῆλθεν, εὐθέως ἐκ τῆς ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν γενομένης πρώτης ὀργῆς, ἤγουν ἐγκαταλείψεως, ταπεινωθέντα καὶ γενόμενον τῆς τοῦ παρέχοντος τὰ καλὰ συναισθήσεως. Φησὶ γὰρ μετὰ τὸ καὶ ἐγένετο ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν ὀργὴ καὶ ἐπὶ Ἰούδαν καὶ ἐπὶ Ἱερουσαλήμ· καὶ ἐταπεινώθη Ἐζεκίας ἀπὸ τοῦ ὕψους τῆς καρδίας αὐτοῦ καὶ οἱ κατοικοῦντες Ἱερουσαλήμ, καὶ οὐκ ἐπῆλθεν ἐπ᾽ αὐτοὺς ὀργὴ Κυρίου ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις Ἐζεκίου, ἡ ἄλλη δηλονότι ὀργή, τῆς τῶν χαρισμάτων ἀφαιρέσεως, διὰ τὸ τὴν πρώτην ἐγκατάλειψιν τῆς καλῆς ἐπιγνωμοσύνης αὐτῷ γενέσθαι διδάσκαλον. Ὁ γὰρ μὴ σωφρονισθεὶς τῷ πρώτῳ εἴδει τῆς ὀργῆς, ἤγουν ἐγκαταλείψεως, ἐλθεῖν πρὸς ταπείνωσιν, τὴν ἄλλην δέχεται σαφῶς ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν ἐρχομένην ὀργήν, ἀφαιρουμένην αὐτοῦ τὴν τῶν χαρισμάτων ἐνέργειαν, καὶ ἔρημον αὐτὸν καθιστῶσαν τῆς τέως φρουρούσης δυνάμεωςκαὶ ἀφελῶ τὸν φραγμὸν αὐτοῦ, φησὶ περὶ τοῦ ἀγνώμονος Ἰσραὴλ ὁ Θεός, λέγων καὶ ἔσται εἰς διαρπαγήν, καὶ καθελῶ τὸν τοῖχον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔσται εἰς καταπάτημα, καὶ ἀνήσω τὸν ἀμπελῶνά μου καὶ οὐ μὴ τμηθῇ οὐδὲ μὴ σκαφῇ, καὶ ἀναβήσεται εἰς αὐτὸν ὡς εἰς χέρσον ἄκανθα· καὶ ταῖς νεφέλαις ἐντελοῦμαι τοῦ μὴ βρέξαι εἰς αὐτόν, καθάπερ ἀνηγόρευται παθὼν καὶ Σαοὺλ ὁ πρῶτος τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ βασιλεύς. Ἐκεῖνος γὰρ ἅμα τῇ βασιλείᾳ λαβὼν διὰ (14Β_400> τοῦ χρίσματος καὶ τῆς προφητείας τὴν χάριν, ἐπειδὴ ταύτην μὴ ἐφύλαξεν, ὀργὴν δέχεται πρώτην τὴν τοῦ πονηροῦ πνεύματος ἐνέργειαν· ἧς μηδεμίαν λαβὼν συναίσθησιν, τῇ ἄλλῃ ταμιευθεὶς ὀργῇ συγκατέληξε, πάσης διὰ τὴν ἄνοιαν γυμνὸς πρὸ θανάτου θεοσεβείας γενόμενος. Καὶ δηλοῖ τοῦτο παθών, πρῶτον μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ δαίμονος ἐνεργούμενος, εἶθ᾽ ὕστερον πρὸς αὐτοὺς αὐτομολῶν ἑκουσίως διὰ τῆς ἐγγαστριμύθου τοὺς δαίμονας καί, ἴσως τοῖς ἀθέοις, τὴν τῆς μαντείας τοῖς δαίμοσιν ἐπιτελῶν τελετήν.