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The cross is the beginning of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He carried upon His shoulders; it is fitting to know what He, wishing to reveal through these things, mystically arranged and endured. The experts in symbols say that the shoulder is a proof of action, and the cross of dispassion, as producing a mortification.

Therefore, through these riddles our Lord and God, having gone through both of which the riddles consist (I mean action and perfect dispassion), so that action might not be corrupted through vainglory, showed through what He Himself accomplished to those who obey, all but shouting aloud that, "This is a symbol of my authority; everyone of you, therefore, who desires this authority, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me," that is, the action of mortifying the passions, goodness and the beauty of abundance, showing through these things that He desires everyone to handle this (14∆_394> authority in the same way as Himself. For the God-bearing teacher's saying that "He is raised up with the cross," I think, provides us with such an emphasis through these things, that when the rational nature of men is exalted through action and the dispassion joined to it, 1285 Christ Himself is said to be exalted with it, that is, the Christ-like state in men, being exalted in sequence and order, through dispassionate action to the contemplative knowledge of nature and from this moving to theological mystagogy.

This is what the great saint Dionysius the Areopagite seems to me to show most of all in what he says: "But since the divine is the principle of holy good order, according to which the holy minds become conscious of themselves, he who runs up to the visible that is proper to his nature will in the beginning see who he himself is, and will first receive a holy gift from the turning up towards the light; and he who has examined his own things well with unveiled eyes, will depart from the unenlightened recesses of ignorance, and being himself imperfect, will not immediately desire the most perfect illumination and participation of God, but little by little through his first things to what is yet further, and being perfected, will be led up in order and holiness to the highest communion of the divine rule."

Thus, therefore, according to this great and God-minded teacher, the only Most High is raised up with the cross through us who are exalted in the Spirit according to Him, being led into knowledge through action and the dispassion connected to it, and through that, in the immaterial mind, being exalted to the mystical contemplation and initiation of divine things, and I will add boldly, also participation.

ƒE (95). FROM THE SAME DISCOURSE ON: "THE WORD IS MADE THICK"

From the same discourse on: "The Word is made thick." The Word is said by the God-bearing teacher to be made thick according to (14∆_396> this,

as I think, meaning, either that being the Word, simple and bodiless, and spiritually nourishing in order all the divine powers in heaven, He deigned also through His incarnate presence, from us, for us, as one of us, without sin, to be made thick, and to set forth for us fittingly with words and examples the teaching concerning the ineffable things that surpasses the power of all speech (for it is said that He spoke all things in parables, and without a parable He related nothing; it is customary for teachers to use this method, whenever the hearers do not follow what is said literally, and to bring them to an awareness of what is being said); or that having ineffably hidden Himself for our sake in the principles of beings, He is analogously signified through each of the visible things as through certain letters, whole in all things at once most full, and in each thing complete, whole and undiminished, in different things the undifferentiated and

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τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀρχῆς ἐστιν ὁ σταυρός, ὅν ἐπί τῶν ὤμων φέρων ἐκόμισε, γνῶναι προσῆκε τί διά τούτων ἐμφῆναι βουλόμενος μυστικῶς οὕτω ταῦτα διέθηκέ τε καί ὑπέμεινεν. Φασίν οἱ τῶν συμβόλων ἐπιστήμονες τόν μέν ὦμον πράξεως εἶναι τεκμήριον, τόν δέ σταυρόν ἀπαθείας, οἷα νέκρωσιν ἐμποιοῦντα.

∆ιά τούτων οὖν τῶν αἰνιγμάτων ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν καί Θεός, ἀμφότερα διεξελθών τῶν ὧν εἰσι τά αἰνίγματα (πράξεώς τέ φημι καί τελείας ἀπαθείας), ὥστε μή παραφθείρεσθαι διά κενοδοξίας τήν πρᾶξιν, ἔδειξε δι᾿ ὧν αὐτός κατεπράξατο, τοῖς ὑπηκόοις, μονονουχί διαπρυσίως βοῶν ὅτι, "Τοῦτο σύμβολον ὑπάρχει τῆς ἀρχῆς μου· " πᾶς οὖν ὅστις ἐξ ὑμῶν ἐπιθυμητικῶς ἔχει πρός ταύτην τήν ἀρχήν, ἀπαρνησάσθω ἑαυτόν, καί ἀράτω τόν σταυρόν αὐτοῦ, καί ἀκολουθείτω μοι, τουτέστιν τήν νέκρωσιν τῶν παθῶν πράξιν, τήν ἀγαθότητα καί τό τῆς ἀφθονίας καλόν, διά τούτων ἐμφαίνων ὅτι γλίχεται πάντας ὁμοίως ἑαυτῷ ταύτην μεταχειρίζεσθαι (14∆_394> τήν ἀρχήν. Τό γάρ εἰπεῖν τόν θεοφόρον διδάσκαλον ὅτι "Τῷ σταυρῷ συνεπαίρεται», οἶμαι διά τούτων ἔμφασιν ἡμῖν τοιάνδε παρέχειν, ὅτι τῆς λογικῆς φύσεως τῶν ἀνθρώπων διά πράξεως καί τῆς αὐτῇ συνεζευγμένης ἀπαθείας ὑψουμένης αὐτός 1285 ὁ Χριστός δηλονότι συνυψοῦσθαι λέγεται, τουτέστιν ἡ ἐν ἀνθρώποις Χριστοειδής κατάστασις, καθ᾿ εἱρμόν καί τάξιν ὑψουμένη, διά πράξεως ἀπαθοῦς εἰς θεωρίαν τῆς φύσεως γνωστικήν καί ἀπό ταύτης εἰς θεολογικήν μυσταγωγίαν κινουμένη.

Ὅπερ μάλιστά μοι φαίνεται δηλῶν ὁ ἅγιος Ἀρεοπαγίτης μέγας ∆ιονύσιος ἐν οἷς φησιν· " Ἀλλ᾿ ἐπείπερ εὐταξίας ἐστίν ἀρχή τό θεῖον ἱερᾶς, καθ᾿ ἥν ἑαυτῶν ἐπιγνώμονες οἱ ἱεροί γίνονται νόες, ὁ πρός τό οἰκεῖον τῆς φύσεως ὁρατόν ἀνατρέχων ἐν ἀρχῇ μέν ὅστις ποτέ ἐστιν αὐτός ὄψεται, καί λήψεται πρῶτον ἐκ τῆς πρός τό φῶς ἀνανεύσεως ἱερόν δῶρον· ὁ δέ τά οἰκεῖα καλῶς ἀποσπαθέσιν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἐπισκοπήσας, τῶν ἀλαμπῶν μέν ἀποφοιτήσει τῆς ἀγνοίας μυχῶν, τῆς δέ Θεοῦ τελεωτάτης ἐλλάμψεως καί μεθέξεως ἀτελής ὤν αὐτός οὐκ αὐτόθεν ἐπιθυμήσει, κατά βραχύ δέ διά τῶν αὐτοῦ πρώτων ἐπί τά ἔτι πρότερα, καί τελειωθείς ἐπί τήν ἀκροτάτην θεαρχικήν ἐν τάξει καί ἱερῶς ἀναχθήσεται κοινωνίαν».

Οὕτω μέν οὖν συνεπαίρεται τῷ σταυρῷ κατά τόν μέγαν καί θεόφρονα τοῦτον διδάσκαλον δι᾿ ἡμῶν ἐν Πνεύματι κατ᾿ αὐτόν ὑψουμένων ὁ μόνον ὕψιστος, διά πράξεως καί τῆς αὐτῇ συνημμένης ἀπαθείας εἰς γνῶσιν ἐναγομένων, καί δι᾿ ἐκείνης ἐν ἀΰλῳ τῷ νῷ πρός τήν μυστικήν ὑψουμένων τῶν θείων θεωρίαν τε καί μύησιν, προσθήσω δέ θαῤῥῶν ὅτι καί μετουσίαν.

ƒΕ (95). ΕΚ ΤΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΛΟΓΟΥ ΕΙΣ ΤΟ· «Ο ΛΟΓΟΣ ΠΑΧΥΝΕΤΑΙ»

Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου εἰς τό· «Ὁ Λόγος παχύνεται». Παχύνεσθαι ὁ Λόγος εἴρηται τῷ θεοφόρῳ διδασκάλῳ κατά (14∆_396> τήνδε,

ὡς οἶμαι, τήν ἔννοιαν, ἤ ὅτι Λόγος ὤν ἁπλοῦς τε καί ἀσώματος, καί πάσας καθεξῆς πνευματικῶς τρέφων τάς ἐν οὐρανῷ θείας δυνάμεις, κατηξίωσε καί διά τῆς ἐνσάρκου αὐτοῦ παρουσίας ἐξ ἡμῶν δι᾿ ἡμᾶς καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ἁμαρτίας χωρίς παχυνθῆναι, καί ἡμῖν προσφυῶς φωναῖς τε καί παραδείγμασι τήν περί τῶν ἀποῤῥήτων καί παντός λόγου δύναμιν ὑπερβαίνουσαν ἐκθέσθαι διδασκαλίαν (διά παραβολῶν γάρ εἴρηται πάντα λελαληκέναι, καί χωρίς παραβολῆς μηδέν διεξιέναι· φίλον οὕτω τοῖς διδασκάλοις χρῆσθαι, ἐπάν οἱ ἀκροαταί μή παρακολουθῶσι τοῖς πρωτοτύπως λεγομένοις, καί εἰς συναίσθησιν αὐτούς ἄγειν τῶν λεγομένων)· ἤ ὅτι τοῖς τῶν ὄντων ἑαυτόν δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ἀποῤῥήτως ἐγκρύψας λόγοις ἀναλόγως δι᾿ ἑκάστου τῶν ὁρωμένων ὡς διά τινων γραμμάτων ὑποσημαίνεται, ὅλος ἐν ὅλοις ἅμα πληρέστατος, καί τό καθ᾿ ἕκαστον ὁλόκληρος, ὅλος καί ἀνελάττωτος, ἐν τοῖς διαφόροις ὁ ἀδιάφορος καί