,

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over all the earth. Therefore, since it is utterly impossible for this to stand according to the letter, let us proceed to the meaning of what has been written.

Zerubbabel is, as I have often said before, our Lord and God Jesus Christ. And his stone(20) is faith in him; and in his hand, because by the practice of the commandments the faith of Christ is made manifest; for faith without works is dead, just as are works without faith. And the hand is manifestly a symbol of action. The Lord, therefore, holding the stone in his hand, teaches us to have a faith in him that is put into practice, (14Γ_032> adorned with the seven eyes of the Lord, that is, with the seven energies of the Holy Spirit.

And seven spirits, it says, shall rest upon him; a spirit of wisdom, a spirit of understanding, a spirit of knowledge, a spirit of science, a spirit of counsel, a spirit of strength, a spirit of the fear of God. The spirit(21) of the fear of God is abstention from evils in practice; the spirit of strength is the ready impulse and movement toward the energy and practice of the commandments; the spirit of counsel is the state of discernment, according to which we practice the divine commandments with reason and separate the worse things from the better; the spirit of science is the unerring knowledge of the ways of virtuous practice, according to which, in our practice, we in no way fall away from the right judgment of reason; the spirit of knowledge is the comprehension of the principles within the commandments, according to which the ways of the virtues are constituted; the spirit of understanding is the assent to, or to speak more properly, the transformation into the ways and principles of the virtues, according to which a mixture of the natural faculties with the ways and principles of the commandments occurs; the spirit of wisdom is the assumption and union with the cause of the more spiritual principles in the commandments, according to which, being initiated unknowably, as is lawful for humans, into the simple principles of beings which are in God, as from a gushing spring of the heart we bring forth the truth in all things in various ways to other people, ascending in an orderly path from the last things which are from God but nearest to us, to the first things which are far from us but nearest to God.

For from idleness(22) in evil through fear we come to the practice of the virtues through strength, and from the practice of the virtues to the discernment of counsel, and from discernment (14Γ_034> to the state of the virtues, that is, science, and from the state of the virtues to the knowledge of the principles within the virtues themselves, and from this to the transforming state with respect to the known principles of the virtues, I mean understanding, and from this to the simple and precise contemplation of the truth in all things; setting out from which, from the wise contemplation of the essences of sensible and intelligible beings, we shall produce many and various pious arguments about the truth. Through these eyes of faith, therefore, or rather illuminations, we ascend and are gathered to the divine monad of wisdom,(23) gathering together the division of gifts that has come to be for our sake toward the cause of the gifts by the partial ascents of the virtues, leaving aside none of the aforementioned things, by the cooperation of God, lest, by neglecting little by little, we make our faith blind(24) and eyeless, not having the illuminations that come through the works of the spirit, and be justly punished for endless ages, as having blinded the divine eyes within ourselves according to faith, as much as was in our power.

For everyone who has gouged out such eyes of faith in himself through idleness(25) regarding the commandments is entirely condemned, no longer having God looking upon him. And I think it is for this reason that faith is called a tin stone in Scripture, because it is both punitive for those who do not adorn it with the commandments and preservative for those who keep it

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ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν. Οὐκοῦν, ἐπειδὴ παντελῶς ἀμήχανον τοῦτο στῆναι κατὰ τὴν λέξιν, ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν γεγραμμένων χωρῶμεν διάνοιαν.

Ζοροβάβελ ἐστίν, καθὼς πολλάκις προλαβὼν ἔφην, ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν καὶ Θεὸς Ἰησοῦς Χριστός. Τούτου δὲ λίθος(20) ἐστὶν ἡ πίστις ἡ εἰς αὐτόν· ἐν τῇ χειρὶ δέ, ὅτι τῇ πράξει τῶν ἐντολῶν ἡ πίστις τοῦ Χριστοῦ διαφαίνεται· πίστις γὰρ χωρὶς ἔργων νεκρά, ὥσπερ καὶ ἔργα δίχα πίστεως. Πράξεως δὲ σύμβολόν ἐστι προδήλως ἡ χείρ. Φέρων οὖν ἐν τῇ χειρὶ τὸν λίθον ὁ Κύριος ἔμπρακτον ἡμᾶς διδάσκει τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν πίστιν ἔχειν τοῖς (14Γ_032> ἑπτὰ τοῦ Κυρίου κοσμουμένην ὀφθαλμοῖς, τουτέστι ταῖς ἑπτὰ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐνεργείαις.

Καὶ ἐπαναπαύσεται, φησίν, ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν ἑπτὰ πνεύματα· πνεῦμα σοφίας, πνεῦμα συνέσεως, πνεῦμα γνώσεως, πνεῦμα ἐπιστήμης, πνεῦμα βουλῆς, πνεῦμα ἰσχύος, πνεῦμα φόβου Θεοῦ. Ἔστι δὲ τὸ μὲν πνεῦμα(21) τοῦ φόβου τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡ τῶν κατ᾽ ἐνέργειαν κακῶν ἀποχή· τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα τῆς ἰσχύος ἐστὶν ἡ πρὸς ἐνέργειαν καὶ πρᾶξιν τῶν ἐντολῶν πρόθυμος ὁρμὴ καὶ κίνησις· τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα τῆς βουλῆς ἐστιν ἡ ἕξις τῆς διακρίσεως, καθ᾽ ἣν σὺν λόγῳ τὰς θείας πράττομεν ἐντολὰς καὶ τῶν κρειττόνων διαιροῦμεν τὰ χείρονα· τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα τῆς ἐπιστήμης ἐστὶν ἡ τῶν κατ᾽ ἀρετὴν τῆς πράξεως τρόπων ἄπτωτος εἴδησις, καθ᾽ οὓς πράττοντες τῆς ὀρθῆς τοῦ λόγου κρίσεως οὐδαμῶς διαπίπτομεν· τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα τῆς γνώσεώς ἐστιν ἡ τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἐντολαῖς λόγων περίληψις, καθ᾽ οὓς οἱ τρόποι τῶν ἀρετῶν συνεστήκασι· πνεῦμα δὲ συνέσεώς ἐστιν ἡ πρὸς τοὺς τρόπους καὶ τοὺς λόγους τῶν ἀρετῶν συγκατάθεσις ἤ, κυριώτερον εἰπεῖν, μεταποίησις, καθ᾽ ἣν σύγκρασις γίνεται τῶν φυσικῶν δυνάμεων πρὸς τοὺς τρόπους καὶ τοὺς λόγους τῶν ἐντολῶν· πνεῦμα δὲ σοφίας ἐστὶν ἡ πρὸς τὴν αἰτίαν τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἐντολαῖς πνευματικωτέρων λόγων ἀνάληψίς τε καὶ ἕνωσις, καθ᾽ ἥν, ἀγνώστως τοὺς ἐν Θεῷ, κατὰ τὸ θεμιτὸν ἀνθρώποις, ἁπλοῦς μυούμενοι τῶν ὄντων λόγους, ὡς ἔκ τινος βλυστανούσης πηγῆς τῆς καρδίας τὴν ἐν τοῖς ὅλοις ἀλήθειαν ποικίλως τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀνθρώποις προφέρομεν, ἀπὸ μὲν τῶν ἐκ Θεοῦ τελευταίων, ἡμῖν δὲ προσεχῶν, ἐπὶ τὰ πρῶτα, καὶ ἡμῶν μὲν πόρρω, τῷ δὲ Θεῷ προσεχῆ, καθ᾽ ὁδὸν καὶ τάξιν ἀναβαίνοντες.

Ἀπὸ γὰρ τῆς ἀργίας(22) τῶν κακῶν διὰ φόβου ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν ἀρετῶν δι᾽ ἰσχύος ἐρχόμεθα πρᾶξιν, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς τῶν ἀρετῶν πράξεως ἐπὶ τὴν διάκρισιν τῆς βουλῆς, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς διακρίσεως (14Γ_034> ἐπὶ τὴν ἕξιν τῶν ἀρετῶν ἤγουν ἐπιστήμην, ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς ἕξεως τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐπὶ τὴν γνῶσιν τῶν ἐν αὐταῖς ταῖς ἀρεταῖς λόγων, ἀπὸ δὲ ταύτης εἰς τὴν πρὸς τοὺς ἐγνωσμένους λόγους τῶν ἀρετῶν μεταποιητικὴν ἕξιν, φημὶ δὲ τὴν σύνεσιν, καὶ ἀπὸ ταύτης εἰς τὴν ἁπλῆν τῆς ἐν ὅλοις ἀληθείας ἀκριβῆ θεωρίαν· ἀφ᾽ ἧς ὁρμώμενοι, πολλοὺς καὶ ποικίλους ἐκ τῆς τῶν ὄντων αἰσθητῶν τε καὶ νοητῶν οὐσιῶν σοφῆς θεωρίας εὐσεβεῖς λόγους περὶ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀποδώσομεν. ∆ιὰ τούτων οὖν ἀναβαίνοντες τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν τῆς πίστεως, ἤγουν φωτισμῶν, πρὸς τὴν θείαν τῆς σοφίας(23) συναγόμεθα μονάδα, τὴν γεγενημένην δι᾽ ἡμᾶς τῶν χαρισμάτων διαίρεσιν πρὸς τὴν αἰτίαν τῶν χαρισμάτων συνάγοντες ταῖς κατὰ μέρος τῶν ἀρετῶν ἀναβάσεσι, μηδὲν τῶν εἰρημένων, συνεργίᾳ Θεοῦ, παραλιμπάνοντες, ἵνα μή, κατ᾽ ὀλίγον ἀμελοῦντες, τυφλὴν(24) ἡμῶν τὴν πίστιν καὶ ἀνόμματον καταστήσωμεν, οὐκ ἔχουσαν τοὺς διὰ τῶν ἔργων τοῦ πνεύματος φωτισμούς, καὶ κολασθῶμεν δικαίως εἰς ἀπείρους αἰῶνας, ὡς ἐν ἑαυτοῖς κατὰ τὴν πίστιν, ὅσον τὸ ἐφ᾽ ἡμῖν, τοὺς θείους ἐκτυφλώσαντες ὀφθαλμούς.

Πᾶς γὰρ ὁ τῆς πίστεως ἐν ἑαυτῷ διὰ τῆς ἀργίας(25) τῶν ἐντολῶν τοὺς τοιούτους ἀνορύξας ὀφθαλμούς, πάντως κατάκριτος, μηκέτι τὸν Θεὸν ἔχων εἰς αὐτὸν ἐπιβλέποντα. Καὶ οἶμαί γε ταύτης ἕνεκα τῆς αἰτίας λίθον κασσιτήρινον τῇ Γραφῇ προσηγορεῦσθαι τὴν πίστιν, διὰ τὸ τὴν αὐτὴν καὶ τιμωρητικὴν εἶναι τῶν μὴ κοσμούντων αὐτὴν ταῖς ἐντολαῖς καὶ περιποιητικὴν τῶν διατηρούντων αὐτὴν