of the soul, has an opportunity among those who are not most attentive and not secured by humility to slip in and mingle with them, the spirit of error, and having thus stolen its entrance, (p. 494) if it also escapes notice after this, it remains with the soul, it is the good, in which it pretends and through them binds itself to it, but is not united. For only the good Spirit passes through all and everything, "of intelligent, pure, most subtle spirits," as seems right to Solomon and to the truth.

And the initiated know and say that the indwelling is not a conjunction in some few parts or powers providing the succession, but as it were a commingling of the light of grace with the soul, of a wondrous kind, almost ineffable and unheard of. For what word could represent how it both passes through all and remains in itself without departing, and contains the whole and is contained in the part without parts, and becomes participated in and has no mixed communion with that which participates, and is unmixed and intangible, and becomes one Spirit in contemplation with those who encounter it through pure prayer, according to the prayer for us of the common Father to his own Father: "for grant them," He says, "that as I, Father, am in you and you in me, they also may be one in us in truth."

And the exceeding greatness of God's love for us is made most evident through this commingling. For to make the many one is the most proper characteristic of love; and in different ways it becomes a unifier of things divided, the majority of which seem to make the union through similarity, for which reason there is also this old, common, and well-worn saying: "likeness is friendship." But the marital contract seems to have something more than the others, yet not even that is a fusion or a commingling, but by a certain intercourse and cleaving, according to the scripture, the many become one; for it says, "a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall be joined to his wife (p. 496) and the two shall become one flesh"; and one flesh only, but not one spirit. But the union of God with those deemed worthy, surpassing every manner of union by being complete, and of the Spirit that passes through all pure spirits better than can be contained or spoken of, also shows God's love to be surpassing, and that this alone is truly love; for it alone super-cosmically enfolds and firmly brings lovers together into one. But in what manner it conveys this grace through it also to the body joined to this pure and grace-filled soul, now is not the time to say. But the demonic spirit could never pass through the whole soul in this way, but having fallen from the company above, it tries to regain it, badly indeed but nevertheless by a desire suitable to its fall, as is in its power, through the assimilation to itself of those deceived by it; and having diverted the desiring part of the soul, some towards one thing, others towards another, yet towards one thing, to which all that was diverted, through this it finds an entrance and a resting place for itself and is yoked to those who have been diverted by it, as it were one yoke, the desire leading to the same end, coming over them and holding as its power destruction, and sometimes drawing the wretched ones unwillingly to it through the yoking; thus it herds together and consorts, with such contacts, with such entanglements or near them; in such a case, therefore, "to be yoked" is appropriate.

But how could true contemplation be a yoking? And how could the light of their contemplation be truly enfolded and simple and without parts, which certainly did not deliver them from many evil opinions, nor did it gather those who see into a single and true knowledge? But yet, since evil is manifold and that which is from the wicked

ψυχῆς, καιρόν ἐν τοῖς μή προσεκτικωτάτοις καί τῇ ταπεινοφροσύνῃ μή κατησφαλισμένοις ἔχει παρεισδύεσθαι καί συναναμίγνυσθαι ταύταις τό τῆς πλάνης πνεῦμα, καί τήν εἴσοδον οὕτω κλέψαν, (σελ. 494) ἤν καί μετά ταύτην λάθῃ, παραμένει τῇ ψυχῇ, τἀγαθόν ἔστιν, ἐφ᾿ ὧν ὑποκρινόμενον καί δι᾿ αὐτῶν αὐτῇ συνδούμενον, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ἑνούμενον. Τοῦ γάρ ἀγαθοῦ Πνεύματος μόνου δι᾿ ὅλων τε καί πάντων χωρεῖν «πνευμάτων νοερῶν καθαρῶν λεπτοτάτων», ὡς Σολομῶντι καί τῇ ἀληθείᾳ δοκεῖ.

Καί ἴσασιν οἱ μεμυημένοι καί λέγουσιν οὐ συζυγίαν ὀλίγοις μέρεσί τισιν ἤ δυνάμεσι τήν ἀλληλουχίαν παρεχομένην, ἀλλ᾿ οἷον ἀνάκρασιν εἶναι πρός ψυχήν τοῦ φωτός τῆς χάριτος τήν ἐνοίκησιν, θαυμαστήν οἵαν, ἄρρητον σχεδόν καί ἀνήκουστον. Τίς γάρ ἄν παραστήσαι λόγος πῶς καί διαφοιτᾷ πρός πᾶσαν καί καθ᾿ ἑαυτό ἀνεκφοιτήτως μένει καί τό πᾶν περιέχει κἀν τῷ μέρει ἀμερῶς χωρεῖται καί μεθεκτόν γίνεται καί οὐδεμίαν ἔχει πρός τό μετέχον συμμιγῆ κοινωνίαν καί ἄκρατόν ἐστι καί ἀναφές καί ἕν ἐν θεωρίᾳ Πνεῦμα μετά τῶν διά καθαρᾶς προσευχῆς ἐντυγχανόντων γίνεται κατά τήν πρός τόν ἴδιον πατέρα τοῦ κοινοῦ Πατρός ὑπέρ ἡμῶν εὐχήν˙ «δός γάρ αὐτοῖς» φησιν «ἵνα καθάπερ ἐγώ, Πάτερ, ἐν σοί καί σύ ἐν ἐμοί, καί αὐτοί ἐν ἡμῖν ἕν ὦσιν ἐν ἀληθείᾳ».

Καί τό ὑπερβάλλον δέ μέγεθος τῆς πρός ἡμᾶς ἀγάπης τοῦ Θεοῦ διά τῆς ἀνακράσεως ταύτης ἐναργές ὅτι μάλιστα παρίσταται. Τό γάρ ἕν ποιεῖν τά πλείω τῆς ἀγάπης τό ἰδιαίτατον˙ διαφόροις δέ τοῖς τρόποις συναγωγός γίνεται τῶν διεστώτων, ὧν οἱ πλείους δι᾿ ὁμοιότητος δοκοῦσι τήν ἕνωσιν ποιεῖσθαι, διό καί λόγος παλαιός ἐστιν ὁ καθωμιλημένος καί διατεθρυλλημένος οὗτος˙ «ὁμοιότης φιλότης». Ἡ δέ τοῦ γαμηλίου συναλλάγματος ἔχειν τι δοκεῖ τῶν ἄλλων πλέον, ἀλλ᾿ οὐδ᾿ ἐκεῖνο σύμφυσις οὐδ᾿ ἀνάκρασίς ἐστιν, ἀλλ᾿ ὁμιλίᾳ τινί καί προσκολλήσει κατά τήν γραφήν ἕν τά πλείω γίνεται˙ «καταλείψει» γάρ φησιν «ἄνθρωπος τόν πατέρα αὐτοῦ καί τήν μητέρα καί προσκολληθήσεται τῇ γυναικί (σελ. 496) αὐτοῦ καί ἔσονται οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν»˙ καί σάρκα μόνην, ἀλλ᾿ οὐχί καί πνεῦμα ἕν. Ἡ δέ τοῦ Θεοῦ πρός τούς ἠξιωμένους ἕνωσις, ἑνώσεως πάντα τρόπον ὑπερβάλλουσα τῷ παντελής εἶναι, καί τοῦ χωροῦντος κρεῖττον ἤ λόγος δι᾿ ὅλων τῶν καθαρῶν πνευμάτων Πνεύματος, καί τήν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀγάπην ὑπερβάλλουσαν καί μόνην ὄντως ταύτην ἀγάπην εἶναι παρίστησι˙ μόνη γάρ ὑπερκοσμίως συμπτύσσει καί εἰς ἕν ἀραρότως συνάγει τούς ἐραστάς. Τίνι δέ τρόπῳ καί πρός τό συνημμένον σῶμα τῇ καθαρᾷ ταύτῃ καί κεχαριτωμένη ψυχῇ ταύτην δι᾿ αὐτῆς διαπορθμεύει τήν χάριν, νῦν λέγειν οὐ καιρός. Ἀλλ᾿ οὐχί καί τό δαιμόνιον πνεῦμα δύναιτ᾿ ἄν ποτε δι᾿ ὅλης χωρῆσαι τῆς ψυχῆς οὕτως, ἀλλ᾿ ἐκπεσόν τῆς ἄνω συνοδίας ἀνακτᾶσθαι ταύτην, κακῶς μέν ἀλλ᾿ ὅμως δι᾿ ἐφέσεως καταλλήλου τῆς ἐκπτώσεως, ὡς ἐνόν αὐτῷ, πειρᾶται τῇ τῶν ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ φενακιζομένων πρός αὐτό ἀφομοιώσει˙ τό δέ ποθοῦν ἐκτρέψαν τῆς ψυχῆς, ἑτέρας μέν πρός ἕτερον, πρός ἕν δ᾿ ὅμως, εἰς ἅ πάντ᾿ ἐκεῖνο παρετράπη, διά τούτου πρός αὐτούς εἴσοδόν τε καί ἀνάπαυσιν εὑρόμενον τοῖς ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ παρατετραμμένοις συζυγεῖ, οἱονεί ζυγόν ἕνα τόν πρός τό αὐτό φέροντα τέλος πόθον ὑπερχόμενον καί ὡς κράτος ἔχον αὐ τό τῆς ἀπωλείας καί οὐχ ἑκόντας εἶναι τούς ἀθλίους ἔστιν ὅτε διά τῆς συζυγίας ἐπισπώμενον πρός ταύτην˙ οὕτω τοῦτο συναγελάζεταί τε καί συνδιάζεται, τοιαύταις ἐπαφαῖς, τοιαύταις ἐπιπλοκαῖς ἤ ἐγγύς αὐτῶν˙ ἐπί τοῦ τοιούτου τοίνυν κατάλληλον τό συζυγεῖν.

Ἡ δ᾿ ἀληθής θεωρία πῶς ἄν εἴη συζυγία; Πῶς δέ καί τό φῶς τῆς ἐκείνων θεωρίας εἴη ἄν ἀληθῶς συνεπτυγμένον καί ἁπλοῦν καί ἀμερές, ὅ τῶν πολλῶν καί πονηρῶν δοξασμάτων οὔμενουν ἀπήλλαξεν αὐτούς, οὐδ᾿ εἰς μονοειδῆ καί ἀληθῆ συνήγαγε γνῶσιν τούς ὁρῶνας; Οὐ μήν ἀλλ᾿ ἐπεί πολυσχιδές τό κακόν καί τό ἀπό τῆς πονηρᾶς