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they were harmed by this method of the devil, having God dwelling and remaining in them.

For the one who has either preserved for himself from the beginning the state of being in the image and likeness, or has recalled and recovered it, has also recovered sight according to nature. Therefore such a one also walks honorably, as in the day; he sees all things as they are by nature; he does not marvel at their colors and splendors, but seeing their substance and quality, he remains unshaken, attending only to things that are stable and permanent. He sees gold and does not attend to its brilliance, but understands its matter, that it is from the earth and is dust or stone, never able to be changed into anything else. He sees silver, (234) pearls, all precious stones and his perception is not deceived by their beautiful colors, but he sees all stones as one among all stones and considers these things at the same time to be clay. He sees luxurious garments and does not marvel at their variety, but understands that they are the dung of worms, and he pities those who delight in them and treat them as precious. He sees someone being glorified, sitting on a throne, being paraded through the streets by a great crowd or even puffed up with pride, and is disposed as if seeing a dream, laughing and marveling at the ignorance of men. He sees the world and is in the midst of a great city and walks there - the Lord who works these things in us is witness - as if he were alone in the whole world; and as if living in a desert impassable to men and as if having nothing in common with anyone or knowing any of the people on earth, so is he disposed.

Such a one, therefore, seeing a woman with bodily beauty, does not see the blooming comeliness of her appearance, but as rottenness or mire and as already dead and having become entirely what she does become, so he sees her; his mind would never gaze upon her outward flower, but upon the material corruption existing within, from which the whole body is constituted. For what else is a body than the juice of chewed food? But if he should wish to contemplate the outward beauty, he knows how to marvel accordingly at the Creator from His creations, and not to worship the creation rather than the Creator; for thus from the greatness and beauty of created things he recognizes the Maker and his mind is lifted up to the contemplation of Him and kindles the soul towards the understanding of the Poet, through which, then, he is moved to divine longing and tears and becomes altogether outside of things seen and is separated from created things.

(235) For just as the light of the physical eyes is sent everywhere by us and, traversing all things before it with its power of sight, is not at all defiled by them, even if the things seen are very ugly, but we turn it again, undefiled, to other things, so also the mind of the saints, even if it should stoop to look at filthy and shameful passions, is not defiled. For their mind is naked and a stranger to every passionate desire. For even if it should ever wish to enter into the contemplation of such things, it does not do this for any other reason but only to examine and understand the passionate movements and energies of the passions and from where they receive their causes and by what medicines they are again made to disappear, just as we hear physicians do and have heard concerning the ancients. For they dissected the dead, in order to understand the arrangement of the body, so that from those they might know the internal parts of living men and attempt to heal in others the unseen ailments. Something of this kind indeed the spiritual physician also does, who wishes to heal expertly the passions of the soul; and so that I may show you in word his skillful treatment, I will make the narrative practical.

A sick person comes to the spiritual physician, stupefied by his passion, his whole mind disturbed, seeking harmful things instead of a cure, namely, things that increase the passion and in a moment draw on death. He sees this one, the

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μεθόδου ταύτης τοῦ διαβόλου ἐκεῖνοι παρεβλάβησαν, τόν Θεόν ἔχοντες ἐν ἑαυτοῖς οἰκοῦντα καί μένοντα.

Ὁ γάρ τό κατ᾿ εἰκόνα καί καθ᾿ ὁμοίωσιν ἤ τηρήσας ἑαυτῷ ἄνωθεν ἤ ἀνακαλεσάμενος καί ἀπολαβών, καί τό βλέπειν κατά φύσιν ἀπέλαβεν. Τοιγαροῦν καί ὡς ἐν ἡμέρᾳ εὐσχημόνως ὁ τοιοῦτος περιπατεῖ, βλέπει τά πράγματα πάντα καθώς ἔχουσι φύσεως· οὐ τάς χροιάς θαυμάζει καί τάς στιλπνότητας, ἀλλά τήν τούτων οὐσίαν τε καί ποιότητα καθορῶν, μένει ἀσάλευτος, μόνοις τοῖς ἑστῶσι προσέχων καί μένουσι. Ὁρᾷ τόν χρυσόν καί οὐ τήν λαμπρότητι τούτου προσέχει, ἀλλά κατανοεῖ τήν ὕλην ὅτι ἀπό τῆς γῆς καί χοῦς ἤ λίθος ἐστί, μηδέποτε εἰς ἕτερόν τι μεταβληθῆναι δυνάμενος. Βλέπει τόν ἄργυρον, (234) τόν μαργαρίτην, τούς λίθους ἅπαντας τούς τιμίους καί οὐ ταῖς εὐχροίαις τήν αἴσθησιν κλέπτεται, ἀλλά λίθους ἅπαντας ὡς ἕνα τῶν ἁπάντων λίθων ὁρᾷ καί πηλόν ἅμα ταῦτα λογίζεται. Ὁρᾷ ἱμάτια πολυτελῆ καί οὐ θαυμάζει τήν ποικιλίαν, ἀλλ᾿ ὅτι σκωλήκων κόπρος εἰσίν ἐννοεῖ, καί τούς τερπομένους εἰς αὐτά καί περιποιουμένους ταῦτα ὡς τίμια ἐλεεῖ. Ὁρᾷ τινα δοξαζόμενον, ἐπί θρόνου καθήμενον, ὑπό λαοῦ πολλοῦ κατά τάς ὁδούς πομπευόμενον ἤ καί φυσώμενον, καί ὡς ὄναρ βλέπων οὕτω διάκειται, γελῶν καί θαυμάζων τῶν ἀνθρώπων τήν ἄγνοιαν. Βλέπει τόν κόσμον καί ἐν μέσῳ πόλεως ὑπάρχει καί βαδίζει μεγάλης - μάρτυς ὁ ταῦτα ἐν ἡμῖν ἐνεργῶν Κύριος , ὡς μόνος ὤν ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κόσμῳ· καί ὡς ἐν ἐρήμῳ διάγων ἀνθρώποις ἀβάτῳ καί ὡς μηδέν μετά τινος ἔχων ἤ γνωρίζων τινά τῶν ἐπί γῆς ἀνθρώπων, οὔτω διάκειται.

Ὁ τοιοῦτος καί γυναῖκα τοίνυν ὁρῶν κάλλος ἔχουσαν σώματος, οὐ τῆς ὄψεως ὁρᾷ τήν ἐπανθοῦσαν εὐπρέπειαν, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς σαπρίαν ἤ βόρβορον καί ὡς ἤδη θανοῦσαν καί γεγονυῖαν ὅλην ὅπερ καί γίνεται, οὕτω ταύτην ὁρᾷ· ἧς οὐκ ἄν ποτε τό ἔξωθεν ἄνθος ὁ νοῦς περιβλέψῃ, ἀλλά τήν ἔνδοθεν ὑπάρχουσαν ὑλώδη φθοράν, ἐξ ἧς τό ὅλον σῶμα συνίσταται. Τί γάρ καί ἄλλο ἐστί σῶμα ἤ διαμασηθείσης τροφῆς χυλός; Εἰ δέ καί τό ἔξωθεν κάλλος καταμαθεῖν θελήσειεν, οἶδεν ἐκ τῶν κτισμάτων ἀναλόγως θαυμάζειν τόν γενεσιουργόν, οὐχί δέ λατρεύειν τῇ κτίσει παρά τόν κτίσαντα· οὕτω γάρ ἀπό τοῦ μεγέθους καί ἀπό τῆς καλλονῆς τῶν κτισμάτων ἐπιγινώσκει τόν δημιουργόν καί πρός τήν ἐκείνου θεωρίαν ὁ νοῦς ἀνάγεται καί τήν ψυχήν ἀνάπτει πρός τήν τοῦ ποιητοῦ κατανόησιν, δι᾿ ἧς ἄρα καί πρός θεῖον κινεῖται πόθον καί δάκρυα καί ὅλως ἔξω τῶν ὁρωμένων γίνεται καί ἀπό τῶν κτισμάτων ἀποχωρίζεται.

(235) Καθάπερ γάρ τό φῶς τῶν αἰσθητῶν ὀφθαλμῶν πανταχοῦ παρ᾿ ἡμῶν πέμπεται καί, τά προκείμενα πάντα τῇ ὀπτικῇ δυνάμει περιερχόμενον, τό σύνολον ἐξ αὐτῶν οὐ μολύνεται, κἄν ὦσι λίαν δυσειδῆ τά ὁρώμενα, ἀλλά πάλιν ἀμόλυντον αὐτό πρός ἕτερα περιφέρομεν, οὕτω καί ἡ τῶν ἁγίων διάνοια, κἄν εἰς βορβορώδη πάθη καί αἰσχρά παρακύψειεν, οὐ μολύνεται. Γυμνός γάρ ὑπάρχει ὁ νοῦς αὐτῶν καί πάσης ἐπιθυμίας ἐμπαθοῦς ἀλλότριος. Εἰ γάρ καί εἰς τήν τῶν τοιούτων θεωρίαν εἰσελθεῖν ποτε βουληθείη, οὐ δι᾿ ἕτερόν τι τοῦτο ποιεῖ, ἀλλ᾿ ἤ ἵνα σκοπήσῃ καί καταμάθῃ τῶν παθῶν τάς ἐμπαθεῖς κινήσεις καί ἐνεργείας καί πόθεν λαμβάνουσι τάς αἰτίας καί διά ποίων φαρμάκων πάλιν ἐξαφανίζονται, καθά καί ἰατρούς ποιοῦντας ἀκούομεν καί περί τῶν παλαιῶν ἀκηκόαμεν. Ἀνέτεμον γάρ τούς νεκρούς, ἵνα τήν θέσιν κατανοήσωσι τοῦ σώματος, ὅπως ἐξ ἐκείνων γινώσκοντες ὦσι τῶν ζώντων ἀνθρώπων τά ἔνδοθεν καί ἰατρεύειν ἐν ἄλλοις ἐπιχειρῶσι τά μή ὁρώμενα πάθη. Τοιοῦτόν τι πάντως ἐργάζεται καί ὁ πνευματικός ἰατρός ὁ τά τῆς ψυχῆς πάθη ἐμπείρως ἰατρεύειν βουλόμενος· ἵνα δέ σοι τήν ἔντεχνον αὐτοῦ ἰατρείαν τῷ λόγῳ καθυποδείξω, πραγματικήν ποιήσομαι τήν διήγησιν.

Ἔρχεταί τις πρός τόν πνευματικόν ἰατρόν ἄρρωστος, κεκαρωμένος τῷ πάθει, τεταραγμένος ὅλος τόν νοῦν, ἀντί ἰατρείας τά βλάπτοντα ἐπιζητῶν, τά τό πάθος δηλονότι αὐξάνοντα καί τόν θάνατον ἐν ἀκαρεῖ ἐπισπώμενα. Βλέπει τοῦτον ὁ