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he will be; that is, as a man of action in the possession of the virtues; but also in the cave in Horeb; that is, as a contemplative in the hiddenness of wisdom, which is found only in the possession of the virtues.

2.75 (75) When the mind shakes off the many opinions about beings that lie upon it, then the clear principle of truth appears to it, giving to it the principles of true knowledge, and pushing away its former preconceptions like scales from the powers of sight, according to the divine and great Apostle Paul. For they are truly scales lying upon the perceptive faculty of the soul, and barring the passage to the pure principle of truth: both the assumptions concerning only the literal text of Scripture, and the passionate contemplations of visible things according to sense-perception.

2.76 (76) The divine Apostle Paul said that he knew the knowledge of the Logos in part. But the great evangelist John says that he has beheld His glory. For we have beheld, he says, His glory, the glory as of the Only-Begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. And perhaps St. Paul said that he knew in part the knowledge of the Logos as God. For He is known only to a certain degree from His energies. For the knowledge of Him according to essence and hypostasis has become inaccessible to all angels and men alike, being known in no way by anyone; But St. John, having been initiated perfectly, as is possible for men, into the principle of the Incarnation of the Logos, said that he had beheld the glory of the Logos as flesh; that is, he beheld the principle, or rather the purpose, for which God became man, full of grace and truth. For the Only-Begotten has been graced not inasmuch as He is God by essence and consubstantial with God the Father, but inasmuch as He became by nature, according to the economy, man and consubstantial with us, He has been graced for our sake, we who are in need of grace; and from His fullness we continually receive the corresponding grace according to our every advance. Therefore, he who keeps the principle 1161 of the God-Logos, who for our sake was incarnate, perfect and undefiled within himself, will bear the glory full of grace and truth, of Him who for our sake glorified and sanctified Himself as one of us during His coming. For when He appears, he says, we shall be like Him.

2.77 (77) As long as the soul makes its passage from power to power, and from glory to glory; that is, its advance from virtue to greater virtue, and its ascent from knowledge to higher knowledge, it has not ceased sojourning, according to what is said. My soul has sojourned long. For great is the interval, and the multitude of knowledges that must be traversed by it, until it passes through to the place of the wonderful tabernacle, unto the house of God; with the voice of exultation and confession, of a festive sound; always adding intelligible voice to intelligible voices in the advance of the divine contemplations, with the exultation, that is, joy, in the mind over the things contemplated, and with the corresponding thanksgiving. For all who have received the Spirit of grace celebrate such things, crying in their hearts: Abba, Father.

2.78 (78) The place of the wonderful tabernacle is a passionless and harmless possession of the virtues; in which the Logos of God, being present, adorns the soul like a tabernacle with the various beauties of the virtues. But the house of God is the knowledge composed of many and various contemplations; in which God, dwelling in the soul, fills it from the mixing-bowl of wisdom. And the voice of exultation is the leaping of the soul at the wealth of its virtues. And that of confession is the thanksgiving for the glory of the feasting on wisdom. And the sound is the continuous mystical doxology that comes from the mixture of both, I mean of exultation and confession.

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γενήσεται· τουτέστιν, ὡς πρακτικός ἐν τῇ ἕξει τῶν ἀρετῶν· ἀλλά καί ἐν τῷ σπηλαίῳ τῷ ἐν Χωρήβ· τουτέστιν, ὡς θεωρητικός ἐν τῇ κρυφιότητι τῆς σοφίας τῇ ἐν μόνῃ τυγχανούσῃ τῇ ἕξει τῶν ἀρετῶν.

2.75 (οε΄) Ὅταν ὁ νοῦς τάς ἐπικειμένας αὐτῷ πολλάς περί τῶν ὄντων ἐκτινάξηται δόξας, τότε σαφής αὐτῷ τῆς ἀληθείας ὁ λόγος ἀναφαίνεται, διδούς αὐτῷ τῆς ὄντως γνώσεως τάς ὑποθήκας, καί τάς πρώην ἐπ᾿ αὐτῶ προλήψεις ὡσεί λεπίδας τῶν ὀπτικῶν δυνάμεων ἀπωθούμενος, κατά τόν θεσπέσιον καί μέγαν Ἀπόστολον Παῦλον. Λεπίδες γάρ εἰσιν, ὡς ἀληθῶς, ἐπικείμεναι τῷ διορατικῷ τῆς ψυχῆς, καί ἀπείργουσαι τήν πρός τόν ἀκραιφνῆ τῆς ἀληθείας λόγον, διάβασιν, αἵ τε πρός τό ῥητόν μόνον τῆς Γραφῆς ὑπολήψεις, καί τῶν ὁρωμένων αἱ κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν προσπαθεῖς θεωρίαι.

2.76 (οστ΄) Ὁ μέν θεῖος Ἀπόστολος Παῦλος, τήν τοῦ Λόγου γνῶσιν, ἐκ μέρους ἔφη γινώσκειν. Ὁ δέ μέγας εὐαγγελιστής Ἰωάννης τεθεᾶσθαι λέγει τήν αὐτοῦ δόξαν. Ἐθεασάμεθα γάρ, φησίν, τήν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, δόξαν ὡς Μονογενοῦς παρά Πατρός, πλήρης χάριτος καί ἀληθείας. Καί μήποτε ὁ μέν ἅγιος Παῦλος τήν ὡς Θεοῦ Λόγου γνῶσιν ἐκ μέρους ἔφη γινώσκειν. Ἐκ γάρ τῶν ἐνεργειῶν, ποσῶς μόνον γινώσκεται. Ἡ γάρ ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ κατ᾿ οὐσίαν τε καί ὑπόστασιν γνῶσις, ὁμοίως πᾶσιν ἀγγέλοις τε καί ἀνθρώποις, καθέστηκεν ἄβατος, κατ᾿ οὐδέν οὐδενί γινωσκομένη· Ὁ δέ ἅγιος Ἰωάννης, τέλειον ὡς ἐν ἀνθρώποις, τόν τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως τοῦ Λόγου μυηθείς (14__548> λόγον, τήν ὡς σάρκα Λόγον δόξαν ἔφη τεθεᾶσθαι· τουτέστι, τόν λόγον, ἤγουν τόν σκοπόν, καθ᾿ ὅν ὁ Θεός γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος, πλήρη χάριτος ἐθεάσατο, καί ἀληθείας. Οὐ γάρ καθ᾿ ὅ κατ᾿ οὐσίαν Θεός, καί τῶ Θεῷ Πατρί ὁμοούσιος ὁ Μονογενής κεχαρίτωται, ἀλλά καθ᾿ ὅ φύσει κατ᾿ οἰκονομίαν γέγονεν, ἄνθρωπος καί ἡμῖν ὁμοούσιος, δι᾿ ἡμᾶς κεχαρίτωται τούς χρῄζοντας χάριτος· καί ἐκ τοῦ πληρώματος αὐτοῦ διαπαντός κατά πᾶσαν ἡμῶν προκοπήν τήν ἀναλογοῦσαν δεχομένους χάριν. Ὥστε ὁ τόν λόγον 1161 τέλειον ἐν ἑαυτῶ φυλάξας, ἀβέβηλον τοῦ δι᾿ ἡμᾶς σαρκωθέντος Θεοῦ Λόγου, τήν πλήρη χάριτος καί ἀληθείας κομίσεται δόξαν, τοῦ δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ἑαυτόν καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς δοξάσαντός τε καί ἁγιάσαντος κατά τήν αὐτοῦ παρουσίαν. Ὅταν γάρ, φησίν, ἐκεῖνος φανερωθῇ, ὅμοιοι αὐτῷ ἐσόμεθα.

2.77 (οζ΄) Ἕως ἡ ψυχή, τήν ἀπό δυνάμεως εἰς δύναμιν, καί ἀπό δόξης εἰς δόξαν ποιεῖται μετάβασιν· τουτέστι, τήν ἀπό ἀρετῆς εἰς ἀρετήν μείζονα προκοπήν, καί τήν ἀπό γνώσεως εἰς γνῶσιν ὑψηλοτέραν ἀνάβασιν, οὐκ ἐπαύσατο παροικοῦσα, κατά τό εἰρημένον. Πολλά παρώκησεν ἡ ψυχή μου. Πολύ γάρ ἐστι τό διάστημα, καί τό πλῆθος τῶν ὀφειλουσῶν παρ᾿ αὐτῆς διαβαθῆναι γνώσεων, μέχρις οὗ διελεύσεται ἐν τόπῳ σκηνῆς θαυμαστῆς, ἕως τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ Θεοῦ· ἐν φωνῇ ἀγαλλιάσεως καί ἐξομολογήσεως, ἤχου ἑορτάζοντος· ἀεί φωναῖς, φωνήν, νοεραῖς, νοεράν προστιθεῖσα τῇ προκοπῇ τῶν θείων θεωρημάτων, μετά τῆς κατά νοῦν ἐπί τοῖς θεωρηθεῖσιν ἀγαλλιάσεως, ἤγουν χαρᾶς, καί τῆς ἀναλογούσης εὐχαριστίας. Τοιαύτας γάρ ἑορτάζουσι πάντες, οἱ τό Πνεῦμα τῆς χάριτος εἰληφότες, ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις αὐτῶν κράζων· Ἀββᾶ, ὁ Πατήρ.

2.78 (οη΄) Ὁ τῆς θαυμαστῆς σκηνῆς τόπος, καί ἀπαθής ἐστι καί ἀπήμων ἕξις τῶν ἀρετῶν· καθ᾿ ἥν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ γινόμενος Λόγος, διαφόροις ἀρετῶν κάλλεσι κατακοσμεῖ καθάπερ σκηνήν τήν ψυχήν. Ὁ δέ οἶκος τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἡ ἐκ πολλῶν καί διαφόρων συγκειμένη θεωρημάτων γνῶσίς ἐστι· καθ᾿ ἥν ἐνδημῶν τῇ ψυχῇ ὁ Θεός, τοῦ τῆς σοφίας (14__550> κρατῆρος ἐμπίμπλησιν. Ἡ δέ φωνή τῆς ἀγαλλιάσεώς ἐστι, τό ἐπί τῷ πλούτῳ τῶν ἀρετῶν τῆς ψυχῆς σκίρτημα. Ἡ δέ τῆς ἐξομολογήσεως, ἡ ἐπί τῇ δόξῃ τῆς κατά τήν σοφίαν εὐωχίας ἐστίν εὐχαριστία. Ὁ δέ ἦχος, ἡ ἐξ ἀμφοῖν, ἀγαλλιάσεώς φημι καί ἐξομολογήσεως, κατά σύγκρασιν γινομένη διηνεκής μυστική δοξολογία.