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escapes its notice, remains with the soul, it is the good, feigning these things and through them being bound to it, but not united. For only the good Spirit passes through all things and through all "intelligent, pure, most subtle spirits," as it seems to Solomon and to the truth.

And the initiated know and say that it is not a conjunction providing interconnection in some few parts or faculties, but that the indwelling of the light of grace is a kind of intermingling with the soul, of a wondrous sort, almost ineffable and unheard of. For what word could represent how it both passes through every soul 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 the one who participates and is unmixed and intangible and becomes one Spirit in contemplation with those who encounter it through pure prayer, according to the prayer of the common Father to his own Father on our behalf: "for grant them," he says, "that just 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 intermingling. For to make the many one is the most proper characteristic of love; and it becomes a unifier of the separated in various ways, of which most seem to effect the union through likeness, whence also comes this old, common, and well-worn saying: "likeness is friendship." The union of marriage seems to have something more than the others, but not even that is a conjoining of natures or an intermingling, 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 also 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, better than can be told, through all pure spirits, shows that the love of God is surpassing and that this alone is truly love; for it alone supernaturally enfolds and brings together the lovers unbreakably into one. But in what way he 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 win it back—badly, but nevertheless, by a desire befitting its fall, as is in its power—through the assimilation to itself of those who are deceived by it; and having diverted the soul's desire, different desires towards different things, but nevertheless towards one end, to which that one was wholly diverted, through this, having found an entrance and a repose for itself, it is yoked to those who have been diverted by it, as if coming under one yoke, the desire that leads to the same end, and as it has power of destruction itself, it sometimes draws the wretched ones, against their will, to this destruction through the yoking; thus this one herds together and lives with them, with such contacts, with such entanglements or near them; for 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 unified and simple and without parts, when it has certainly not freed them from their many and wicked opinions, nor gathered those who see into a uniform and true knowledge? But indeed, since evil is manifold and the tree from the wicked root (p. 498) is most fruitful, but we do not have by a discerning power the

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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 ρίζης (σελ. 498) δένδρον πολυφορώτατον, ἡμεῖς δ᾿ οὐκ ἔχομεν διορατικῇ δυνάμει τῆς