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is one and the same for her as if she were shaven?" And what again is the meaning of: "For this reason a woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head, because of the angels?"

Response. It should be known that when the divine Apostle said that Christ is the head of every man, that is, of a faithful man according to the practice of the divine commandments, and the contemplation of pious doctrines, he declared Christ to be the head of a man, the comprehensive meaning not including in the statement unbelieving men as well. For how could Christ be the head of those who do not believe? Therefore, in a single apprehension, approaching the anagogical account, we say that man is the practical intellect, having as its head the principle of faith; looking to which, as to Christ, built up by the graces of the commandments through practice, the intellect establishes its own life, not shaming its head, that is, the faith, with any of the external coverings related to matter; by placing nothing of what is transient and dissoluble above faith. And we say that the woman of (332) such an intellect is the very state of practice, adorned and covered with many and various practical thoughts and habits; or rather, the intellect itself, having its own head, as it were, covered by the density and comeliness of such thoughts and ways. And we say that Christ is the hypostatic faith, whose head is clearly God, to whom the principle of faith leads, showing to the one who is being led up God in whom he exists by nature.

And again, man is the intellect that attends to natural contemplation in spirit, having as its head the creative Logos of the universe, which according to faith is shown forth from the arrangement of visible things, whom the intellect does not shame by covering, as it were, or subordinating to any of the visible things, and making something else [alt. other things] entirely higher than him. And the woman of such an intellect is its consort, sensation, through which it explores the nature of sensible things, and gathers the more divine principles within it, not allowing it, when uncovered of its rational inspirations, to become a servant of irrationality and sin, having exchanged the intellect as head for the passion of irrationality through the casting off of the more divine principles as coverings; and the head of Christ, that is, of the creative Logos who according to faith is revealed through the natural contemplation of created things in a manner analogous to beings, is the ineffable Intellect who begets Him according to essence; to whom the Logos, through Himself, brings the intellect that is being led up through the pious contemplation of beings, supplying it with intelligible manifestations of divine things that are proportionate to its knowledge of visible things.

And again, man is the intellect that has entered into mystical theology, having Christ as an uncovered head; that is, the One who is unknowably conceived through unprovable mystagogy, or, to speak more properly, the principle of faith known without intellection; above whom is placed nothing that exists, not sensation, not reason, not intellect, not intellection, not knowledge, not what is known, not what is conceived, not what is spoken, not what is sensed, not what senses; the intellect that practices the laudable and transcendent deifying negation of itself and of all beings, completely and differently. And the woman of such an intellect is the thought that is pure of all sensible fantasy, having the intellect as its head, densely filled with the beginningless and supra-intellectual apprehensions of the ineffable and unknown dogmas. And the head of Christ, that is, of the Logos who is mystically affirmed [alt. conceived] by transcendence, is the Intellect who is absolutely and in every way infinitely removed from all things; whom Christ, being by nature the Logos of the Intellect, when he is conceived, makes known to the worthy. For he who has seen me, he says, has seen the Father. For truly the conception of the Logos, is a clear [manifestation] of the

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αὐτό ἐστι τῇ ἐξυρημένη;" Καί τί πάλιν ἐστί τό· "∆ιά τοῦτο ὀφείλει ἡ γυνή ἐξουσίαν ἔχειν ἐπί τῆς κεφαλῆς διά τούς ἀγγέλους;"

Ἀπόκρισις. Ἰστέον, ὅτι παντός ἀνδρός εἰπών ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος εἶναι κεφαλήν τόν Χριστόν,

πιστοῦ δηλονότι κατά τήν πρᾶξιν τῶν θείων ἐντολῶν, καί τήν θεωρίαν τῶν εὐσεβῶν δογμάτων, ἀνδρός ἀπεφήνατο τήν κεφαλήν τόν Χριστόν εἶναι, τῆς περιεκτικῆς σημασίας οὐ συμπερικλειούσης τῷ λόγῳ καί τούς ἀπίστους ἄνδρας. Πῶς γάρ καί εἴη κεφαλή τῶν μή πιστευόντων Χριστός; Οὐκοῦν κατά μίαν ἐπιβολήν, τῷ τῆς ἀναγωγῆς προσβαίνοντες λόγῳ, φαμέν ἄνδρα εἶναι τόν πρακτικόν νοῦν, κεφαλήν ἔχοντα τόν λόγον τῆς πίστεως· πρός ὅν ὡς Χριστόν ἀφορῶν, ταῖς τῶν ἐντολῶν χάρισιν ᾠκοδομημένον διά τῆς πράξεως, τόν οἰκεῖον συνίστησι βίον ὁ νοῦς, μή καταισχύνων τήν κεφαλήν αὐτοῦ, τουτέστι τήν πίστιν, τινί τῶν ἐκτός κατά τήν ὕλην ἐπικαλυμμάτων· ἐκ τοῦ μηδέν ὑπεράνων τῆς πίστεως τιθέναι τῶν προσκαίρων καί λυομένων. Γυναῖκα δέ τοῦ (332) τοιούτου νοός εἶναί φαμεν, αὐτήν τήν ἕξιν τῆς πράξεως, πολλοῖς τε καί διαφόροις κομῶσάν τε καί κατακεκαλυμμένην πρακτικοῖς τε λογισμοῖς καί ἤθεσι· μᾶλλον δέ αὐτόν τόν νοῦν, ὡς κεφαλήν ἰδίαν κατά τήν τῶν τοιούτων λογισμῶν τε καί τρόπων πύκνωσιν καί εὐπρέπειαν ἔχουσαν [ἔχοντα] κεκαλυμμένην. Χριστόν δέ φαμεν εἶναι τήν ἐνυπόστατον πίστιν, ἧς κεφαλή ἐστι σαφῶς ὁ Θεός, πρός ὅν ἄγει τῆς πίστεως ὁ λόγος, δεικνύς τῷ ἀναγομένῳ τόν ἐν ᾧ κατά φύσιν ὑπάρχει Θεόν.

Καί πάλιν, ἀνήρ ἐστιν ὁ τῆς φυσικῆς ἐν πνεύματι θεωρίας ἐπιμελούμενος νοῦς, κεφαλήν ἔχων τόν κατά πίστιν ἐκ τῆς τῶν ὁρωμένων διακοσμήσεως γενεσιουργόν τοῦ παντός Λόγον διαδεικνύμενον, ὅν οὐ καταισχύνει καλύπτων, καί οἷον ὑποτιθείς τινι τῶν ὁρωμένων ὁ νοῦς, καί ἄλλο [al. ἄλλα] τό παράπαν αὐτοῦ ποιούμενος ὑψηλότερον. Γυνή δέ τοῦ τοιούτου νοός ἐστιν ἡ σύνοικος αἴσθησις, δι᾿ ἧς ἐπιβατεύει τῇ φύσει τῶν αἰσθητῶν, καί τούς ἐν αὐτῇ θειοτέρους ἀναλέγεται λόγους, μή συγχωρῶν τῶν λογικῶν αὐτήν ἀποκαλυφθεῖσαν ἐπιβλημάτων, ἀλογίας γενέσθαι καί ἁμαρτίας ὑπουργόν· τοῦ νοός εἰς κεφαλήν, διά τῆς τῶν θειοτέρων λόγων, ὡς ἐπικαλυμμάτων ἀποβολῆς, ἀνταλλαξαμένην τῆς ἀλογίας τό πάθος· κεφαλή δέ Χριστοῦ, τουτέστι τοῦ κατά πίστιν διά τῆς κατά φύσιν τῶν γεγονότων θεωρίας ἀναλόγως τοῖς οὖσι διαφαινομένου δημιουργικοῦ Λόγου ἐστίν, ὁ κατ᾿ οὐσίαν αὐτόν γεννῶν ἀπόῤῥητος Νοῦς· πρός ὅν ὁ Λόγος δι᾿ ἑαυτοῦ τόν ἀναγόμενον διά τῆς τῶν ὄντων εὐσεβοῦς θεωρίας καθίστησι νοῦν, χορηγῶν αὐτῷ συμμέτρους κατά τήν γνῶσιν τῶν ὁρατῶν τάς νοητάς τῶν θείων ἐμφάσεις.

Καί αὖθις ἀνήρ ἐστιν ὁ τῆς μυστικῆς θεολογίας ἐντός γενόμενος νοῦς, κεφαλήν ἔχων ἀκατακάλυπτον τόν Χριστόν· τουτέστι, τόν ταῖς ἀναποδείκτοις μυσταγωγίαις ἀγνώστως νοούμενον, ἤ κυριώτερον εἰπεῖν, ἀνοήτως γινωσκόμενον λόγον τῆς πίστεως· ὑπέρ ὅν οὐδέν τίθεται τῶν ὄντων, οὐκ αἴσθητιν, οὐ λόγον, οὐ νοῦν, οὐ νόησιν, οὐ γνῶσιν, οὐ γινωσκόμενον, οὐ νοούμενον, οὐ λεγόμενον, οὐκ αἰσθητόν, οὐκ αἰσθανόμενον· ὁ τήν ἐπαινετήν καί ὑπερέχουσαν ἑαυτοῦ τε καί τῶν ὄντων παντελῶς καί διαφερόντως θεοποιόν στέρησιν συνασκούμενος νοῦς. Γυνή δέ τοῦ τοιούτου νοός ἐστιν, ἡ πάσης αἰσθητῆς φαντασίας καθαρεύουσα διάνοια, καθάπερ κεφαλήν ἔχουσα τόν νοῦν, ταῖς ἀνάρχοις καί ὑπέρ νόησιν τῶν ἀῤῥήτων καί ἀγνώστων δογμάτων ἐπιβολαῖς πεπυκασμένον. Κεφαλή δέ Χριστοῦ, τουτέστι τοῦ καθ᾿ ὑπεροχήν μυστικῶς ἀποπεφασμένου [Fr. νοουμένου] Λόγου, ἐστίν ὁ πάντων ἀπολύτως κατά πάντα τρόπον ἀπείρως ἐξῳκισμένος Νοῦς· ὅν ὡς φύσει Νοῦ Λόγος ὑπάρχων ὁ Χριστός νοούμενος, ποιεῖ γνωστόν τοῖς ἀξίοις. Ὁ γάρ ἑωρακώς ἐμέ, φησίν, ἑώρακε τόν Πατέρα. Καί γάρ ἀληθῶς ἡ τοῦ Λόγου νόησις, ἀρίδηλος τοῦ