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comprehension; but the kingdom of God is a participation by grace in the good things naturally belonging to God; and the one is at the end of beings, while the other is in concept after the end of beings.

2.91 (ƒα΄) The saying, "The kingdom of heaven has drawn near," is not, I think, a contraction of time; for it does not come with observation; nor will they say, "Behold, here," or "Behold, there"; but it is the relationship to it according to the disposition of those who are worthy of it; for "the kingdom of God," he says, "is within you."

2.92 (ƒβ΄) The kingdom of God and the Father is potentially in all believers; but actually in those who have, by their disposition, entirely put away all the natural life of both soul and body, and have acquired only that of the spirit, and are able to say: "I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me."

2.93 (ƒγ΄) Some say the kingdom of heaven is the way of life of the worthy in heaven; others, the state of the saved, which is like that of the angels; and others, the very form of divine beauty of those who have borne the image of the Heavenly One. But, in my opinion, all three opinions about this are in harmony (14__560> with the truth. For to all, the grace to come is given according to the analogy of the righteousness, both in quality and quantity, that is in them.

2.94 (ƒδ΄) As long as someone manfully goes through the divine struggles according to practical philosophy, he holds within himself the Logos who through the commandments came forth from the Father into the world. But when, having been released from the struggles of practice against the passions, having been shown to be a victor over passions and demons, he moves on to the gnostic philosophy through contemplation, he mystically permits the Logos to leave the world again and go to the Father. This is why the Lord says to the disciples, "You have loved me and have believed that I came forth from God." "I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; again I leave the world and go to the Father"; meaning by "world," perhaps, the laborious work of the practice of the virtues; and by "Father," the supramundane state according to the intellect, free from all material thought; in which the Logos of God comes to be in us, having ceased from the battle against the passions and the demons.

2.95 (ƒε΄) He who has been able to put to death through practice the members that are on the earth, and to conquer through the Logos of the commandments the world of passions within him, will henceforth have no tribulation; having already left the world and come to be in Christ, who conquered the world of passions and is the provider of all peace. For he who has not put away attachment to material things will always have tribulation, his mind changing along with things that naturally change. But he who has come to be in Christ will in no way perceive any material change. This is why the Lord says: "These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." That is, "In me, the Logos of virtue, you have peace; being freed (14__562> from the whirlwind and turmoil of material passions and things; but in the world," that is, in attachment to material things, "tribulation," on account of their continual change. 1172 For both have tribulation: both he who practices virtue, on account of the labor connected with it, and he who loves the world, on account of the failure of material things; but the one has a saving tribulation, while the other a corrupting and destructive one. But the Lord is rest for both: for the one, by putting to rest in himself through impassibility, according to contemplation, the labors of the virtues; for the other, by taking away through repentance the relational attachment to corruptible things.

2.96 (ƒστ΄) The inscription on the title of the Savior's charge clearly showed the crucified one to be King and Lord of practical, and natural, and theological philosophy. For it says that it was written in Latin, and in Greek, and in Hebrew the

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κατάληψις· ἡ δέ τοῦ Θεοῦ βασιλεία, τῶν προσόντων τῷ Θεῷ φυσικῶς ἀγαθῶν κατά χάριν ἐστί μετάδοσις· καί ἡ μέν κατά τό τέλος τῶν ὄντων, ἡ δέ κατ᾿ ἐπίνοιαν μετά τό τέλος τῶν ὄντων ἐστί.

2.91 (ƒα΄) Τό, Ἤγγικεν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν, οὐκ ἔστιν, ὡς οἶμαι, χρονικῆς συστολῆς· Οὐ γάρ ἔρχεται μετά παρατηρήσεως· οὔτε ἐροῦσιν· Ἰδού ὦδε, ἰδού ἐκεῖ· ἀλλά τῆς πρός αὐτῶν τῶν ἀξίων 1169 αὐτῆς κατά διάθεσιν σχέσεώς ἐστιν· Ἡ γάρ βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ, φησίν, ἐντός ὑμῶν ἐστιν.

2.92 (ƒβ΄) Ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Πατρός βασιλεία, δυνάμει μέν ἐν πᾶσί ἐστιν τοῖς πιστεύουσιν· ἐνεργείᾳ δέ ἐν τοῖς ἀποθεμένοις διόλου διαθέσεως πᾶσαν τήν κατά φύσιν ψυχῆς τε καί σώματος ζωήν, καί μόνην κτησαμένοις τήν τοῦ πνεύματος, καί δυναμένοις λέγειν· Ζῶ δέ, οὐκέτι ἐγώ, ζῇ δέ ἐν ἐμοί Χριστός.

2.93 (ƒγ΄) Τήν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν εἶναί τινες λέγουσι, τήν ἐν οὐρανοῖς τῶν ἀξίων διαγωγήν· ἕτεροι δέ, τήν ὁμοίαν τοῖς ἀγγέλοις τῶν σωζομένων κατάστασιν· ἄλλοι δέ, τό εἶδος αὐτό τῆς θεϊκῆς ὡραιότητος τῶν φορεσάντων τήν εἰκόνα τοῦ Ἐπουρανίου. Συνᾴδουσι δέ (14__560> τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, κατά τό ἐμοί δοκοῦν, καί αἱ τρεῖς περί τούτου δόξαι. Πᾶσι γάρ κατά τήν ἀναλογίαν τῆς ἐν αὐτοῖς κατά ποιόν τε καί ποσόν δικαιοσύνης, ἡ μέλλουσα δίδοται χάρις.

2.94 (ƒδ΄) Ἕως ὅτου κατά τήν πρακτικήν φιλοσοφίαν, ἀνδρικῶς τούς θείους διεξέρχεταί τις ἀγῶνας· τόν διά τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐξελθόντα παρά τοῦ Πατρός εἰς τόν κόσμον, παρ᾿ ἑαυτῷ κατέχει Λόγον. Ἐπειδάν δέ τῶν κατά τήν πρᾶξιν πρός τά πάθη παλαισμάτων ἀφιέμενος, ὡς νικητής παθῶν καί δαιμόνων ἀποφανθείς, πρός τήν διά θεωρίας γνωστικήν μετέλθῃ φιλοσοφίαν, συγχωρεῖ τῷ Λόγῳ μυστικῶς ἀφεῖναι πάλιν τόν κόσμον, καί πορευθῆναι πρός τόν Πατέρα. ∆ιό φησιν ὁ Κύριος τοῖς μαθηταῖς, ὅτι Ὑμεῖς ἐμέ πεφιλήκατε, καί πεπιστεύκατε ὅτι ἐγώ παρά τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐξῆλθον. Ἐξῆλθον παρά τοῦ Πατρός, καί ἐλήλυθα εἰς τόν κόσμον· πάλιν ἀφίημι τόν κόσμον, καί πορεύομαι πρός τόν Πατέρα· κόσμον εἰπών τυχόν, τήν κατά τήν πρᾶξιν τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐπίπονον ἐργασίαν· Πατέρα δέ, τήν κατά νοῦν ὑπερκόσμιον καί παντός ἐλευθέραν ὑλικοῦ φρονήματος κατάστασιν· καθ᾿ ἥν ἐν ἡμῖν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ γίνεται Λόγος, τῆς πρός τά πάθη καί τούς δαίμονας μάχης παυόμενος.

2.95 (ƒε΄) Ὁ δυνηθείς νεκρῶσαι διά πράξεως τά μέλη τά ἐπί τῆς γῆς, καί νικῆσαι διά τοῦ Λόγου τῶν ἐντολῶν τόν ἐν αὐτῷ τῶν παθῶν κόσμον, οὐδεμίαν ἕξει λοιπόν θλίψιν· τόν κόσμον ἐάσας ἤδη, καί ἐν Χριστῷ γεγενημένος, τῷ τόν κόσμον νικήσαντι τῶν παθῶν, καί πάσης εἰρήνης χορηγῷ. Ὁ γάρ τήν προσπάθειαν τῶν ὑλικῶν μή ἀφείς, διά παντός θλίψιν ἕξει· τοῖς κατά φύσιν ἀλλοιουμένοις τήν γνώμην συναλλοιούμενος. Ὁ δέ γενόμενος ἐν Χριστῷ, κατ᾿ οὐδένα λόγον αἰσθήσεται τῆς οἱασοῦν ὑλικῆς μεταπτώσεως. ∆ιό φησιν ὁ Κύριος· Ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν, ἵνα ἐν ἐμοί εἰρήνην ἔχητε. Ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ θλίψιν ἕξετε· ἀλλά θαρσεῖτε, ἐγώ νενίκηκα τόν κόσμον. Τουτέστιν, Ἐν ἐμοί τῷ Λόγῳ τῆς ἀρετῆς, εἰρήνην ἔχετε· ἀπηλλαγμένοι (14__562> τῆς τῶν ὑλικῶν παθῶν τε καί πραγμάτων στροβώσεώς τε καί ταραχῆς· ἐν δέ τῷ κόσμῳ, τουτέστι ἐν τῇ προσπαθείᾳ τῶν ὑλικῶν, θλίψιν, διά τήν αὐτῶν ἀλλεπάληλον μετάπτωσιν. 1172 Θλίψιν γάρ ἔχουσι ἀμφότεροι, καί ὁ πράττων τήν ἀρετήν, διά τόν αὐτῇ συνημμένον πόνον· καί ὁ τόν κόσμον ἀγαπῶν, διά τήν τῶν ὑλικῶν ἀποτυχίαν· ἀλλ᾿ ὁ μέν, θλίψιν σωτήριον· ὁ δέ, φθαρτικήν καί ὀλέθριον. Ἀμφοτέρων δέ ἐστιν ὁ Κύριος ἄνεσις· τοῦ μέν, καταπαύων ἐν ἑαυτῷ κατά τήν θεωρίαν δι᾿ ἀπαθείας τούς πόνους τῶν ἀρετῶν· τοῦ δέ, τήν πρός τά φθειρόμενα σχετικήν προσπάθειαν διά τῆς μετανοίας ἀφαιρούμενος.

2.96 (ƒστ΄) Ἡ ἐν τῷ τίτλῳ προγραφή τῆς τοῦ Σωτῆρος αἰτίας, πρακτικῆς καί φυσικῆς καί θεολογικῆς φιλοσοφίας ὄντα Βασιλέα τόν σταυρωθέντα σαφῶς καί Κύριον ἔδειξε. Ῥωμαϊστί γάρ, καί Ἑλληνιστί, καί Ἑβραϊστί φησιν ἀναγεγράφθαι τό