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18. The resurrection is a re-creation of nature, superior to the formation of nature in paradise: generally, by the total immutability of all things; specifically, by the ineffable deification of the saints according to grace.

(14Γ_048> 19. The Word perhaps called the hands of the intelligible Zerubbabel both the creative power, according to which we receive our coming into being for well-being; and the renewing power, according to which we accept the grace for being well forever; or His grace working good in us according to the practice of the virtues, and the undistracted effusion of knowledge upon it according to contemplation.

20. Faith was called a stone, because of the firmness, immutability, stability, and complete immovability of the truth according to it, and because it in no way yields to the uprisings of falsehood. And in the hand, because it is practical in its operation and comprehensive of all the virtues in their compass. Having seven eyes, because it is discerning and contemplative and contains the complete, unerring knowledge of things under time, and is receptive of the unmixed, as in numbers, sevenfold energy of the most holy Spirit.

21. A conception demonstrating the property of the spiritual gift. For abstinence from evils is proper to fear; the practice of good things, to strength; the discernment of opposites, to counsel; the unadulterated awareness of duties, to knowledge; the active comprehension of the divine principles in the virtues, to gnosis; the soul's complete disposition toward the things known, to understanding; and the undifferentiated union with God, to wisdom, by which for the worthy desire becomes enjoyment, making the participant god by participation and establishing him as an interpreter of the divine blessedness, according to the ceaseless, ineffable projection and passage to those who are in need of the divine mysteries.

22. The first good in relation to us, he says, in its operation, which is fear, the word of Scripture has enumerated last as the beginning of wisdom; from which, moving, we ascend to understanding, the end of wisdom; after which we become near to God Himself, having only wisdom mediating the union with Him. For it is not possible for one to attain wisdom who has not first, through fear and the other intermediate gifts, completely shaken off from himself both the rheum of ignorance and the dust of wickedness. For this reason, the scriptural order has arranged wisdom as proximate to God, and fear as proximate to us, so that we might learn the definition and law of good order.

23. Wisdom, he says, is a monad, contemplated indivisibly in the various virtues that proceed from it; and it is gathered together in a unified way in the operations of all the virtues; and again it is shown to be a simple monad in the restorations to it of the virtues from it, whenever we, for whose sake it makes its procession according to the genesis of each virtue, are gathered anagogically through each virtue to it.

24. He has a blind faith, he says, who does not work the divine commandments according to faith. For if the commandments of the Lord are light, it is clear that he who does not practice the divine commandments is without divine light, and bears the name of faith as bare, but not true.

25. If the word, he says, has named the energies of the Spirit the eyes of the Lord, he who does not open them by the practice of the commandments does not have God looking upon him. For it is not the nature of God, as it is fitting, to watch over those on earth with other eyes, if our illumination according to virtue is a ray of the divine vision.

26. Tin, he says, having naturally the property of both silver and lead, characterizes faith; for when not kept, it punishes,

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18. Ἡ ἀνάστασις ἀνάπλασίς ἐστι τῆς φύσεως, πλεονεκτοῦσα τήν τῆς φύσεως ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ διάπλασιν· γενικῶς μέν, τῇ καθόλου τῶν ὅλων ἀτρεψίᾳ· ἰδικῶς δέ, τῇ κατά χάριν ἀῤῥήτῳ θεώσει τῶν ἁγίων.

(14Γ_048> 19. Χεῖρας τυχόν εἶπεν ὁ λόγος τοῦ νοητοῦ Ζοροβάβελ, τήν τε δημιουργικήν δύναμιν, καθ᾿ ἥν τήν ἐπί τό εὖ εἶναι λαμβάνομεν γένεσιν· καί τήν ἀνανεωτικήν, καθ᾿ ἥν τήν ἐπί τό ἀεί εὖ εἶναι δεχόμεθα χάριν· ἤ τήν ἐν ἡμῖν κατά τήν πρᾶξιν τῶν ἀρετῶν ἀγαθουργόν αὐτοῦ χάριν· καί τήν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῇ κατά τήν θεωρίαν ἀδιασκέδαστον χύσιν τῆς γνώσεως.

20. Λίθος ἡ πίστις ἐκλήθην, διά τό στεῤῥόν, ἄτρεπτόν τε καί βάσιμον, καί παντελῶς ἀκίνητον τῆς κατ᾿ αὐτήν ἀληθείας· καί μηδαμῶς ὑπεῖκον ψεύδους ἐπαναστάσεσιν. Ἐν χειρί δέ, διά τό κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν πρακτικόν, καί πασῶν κατά περιγραφήν τῶν ἀρετῶν συνεκτικόν. Ἑπτά δέ ὀφθαλμούς ἔχουσα, διά τό διακριτικόν τε καί θεωρητικόν καί τῆς παντελοῦς τῶν ὑπό χρόνον ἀπταίστου γνώσεως περιεκτικόν καί τῆς ἀμιγοῦς, ὡς ἐν ἀριθμοῖς, ἑπταπλῆς τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος ἐνεργείας δεκτικόν.

21. ∆ιάληψις ἀποδεικτική τῆς ἰδιότητος τοῦ πνευματικοῦ χαρίσματος. Φόβου γάρ ἴδιον ἡ ἀποχή τῶν κακῶν· ἰσχύος δέ, ἡ πρᾶξις τῶν ἀγαθῶν· βουλῆς δέ, ἡ τῶν ἀντικειμένων διάκρισις· ἐπιστήμης δέ, ἡ τῶν καθηκόντων ἀνόθευτος εἴδησις· γνώσεως δέ, ἡ κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἀρεταῖς θείων λόγων περίληψις· συνέσεως δέ, ἡ πρός τά γνωσθέντα διόλου τῆς ψυχῆς συνδιάθεσις· σοφίας δέ, ἡ πρός Θεόν ἀδιάγνωστος ἕνωσις, καθ᾿ ἥν τοῖς ἀξίοις ἡ ἔφεσις ἀπόλαυσις γίνεται, μεθέξει ποιοῦσα θεόν τόν μετέχοντα καί τῆς θείας αὐτόν ὑποφήτην καθιστῶσα μακαριότητος, κατά τήν ἀέναον πρός τούς δεομένους τῶν θείων μυστηρίων ἀνεκπόμπευτον προβολήν καί διέξοδον.

22. Τό πρός ἡμᾶς, φησί, κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν πρῶτον ἀγαθόν, ὅπερ ἐστίν ὁ φόβος, τελευταῖον ἀπηριθμήσατο τῆς Γραφῆς ὁ (14Γ_050> λόγος ὡς σοφίας ἀρχήν· ἀφ᾿ ἧς κινούμενοι, πρός τό τῆς σοφίας τέλος τήν σύνεσιν ἀναβαίνομεν· μεθ᾿ ἥν προσεχεῖς αὐτῷ γινόμεθα τῷ Θεῷ, μόνην τήν σοφίαν τῆς πρός αὐτόν ἑνώσεως μεσιτεύουσαν ἔχοντες. Οὐ γάρ ἐστι δυνατόν ἐπιλαβέσθαι σοφίας, τόν μή πρότερον διά τοῦ φόβου, καί τῶν διά μέσου λοιπῶν χαρισμάτων, τήν τε λήμην τῆς ἀγνοίας, καί τόν τῆς κακίας κονιορτόν ἑαυτοῦ παντελῶς ἀποσεισάμενον. ∆ιά τοῦτο, Θεῷ μέν προσεχῆ τήν σοφίαν· ἡμῖν δέ προσεχῆ τόν φόβον ἡ γραφική τάξις διέθηκεν· ἵνα ἡμεῖς εὐταξίας μάθωμεν ὅρον καί νόμον.

23. Ἡ σοφία, φησίν, μονάς ἐστιν, ταῖς ἐξ αὐτῆς διαφόρους ἀρεταῖς ἀτμήτως ἐνθεωρουμένη· καί μονοειδῶς ταῖς τῶν ὅλων ἀρετῶν ἐνεργείαις ἐπισυναγομένη· καί πάλιν ἁπλῆ μονάς ἀποδεικνυμένη ταῖς πρός αὐτήν τῶν ἐξ αὐτῆς ἀρετῶν ἀποκαταστάσεσιν· ὅταν ἡμεῖς, δι᾿ οὕς κατά τήν ἑκάστης ἀρετῆς γένεσιν ποιεῖται τήν πρόοδον, ἀνατατικῶς δι᾿ ἑκάστης ἀρετῆς πρός αὐτήν συναγώμεθα.

24. Τυφλήν ἔχει τήν πίστιν, φησίν, ὁ τά κατά τήν πίστιν θεῖα προστάγματα μή ἐργαζόμενος. Εἰ γάρ φῶς εἰσι τά τοῦ Κυρίου προστάγματα, δῆλον ὅτι δίχα θείου φωτός ἐστιν, ὁ μή πράττων τά θεῖα προστάγματα, καί ψιλήν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἀληθῆ τήν τῆς πίστεως ἐπιφέρεται κλῆσιν.

25. Εἰ τάς ἐνεργείας τοῦ Πνεύματός φησιν, ὀφθαλμούς Κυρίου προσηγόρευσεν ὁ λόγος, ὁ μή τούτους τῇ πράξει τῶν ἐντολῶν διανοίγων, ἐπιβλέποντα τόν Θεόν ἐπ᾿ αὐτόν οὐκ ἔχει. ∆ι᾿ ἄλλων γάρ, ὡς εἰκός, ἐπισκοπεῖν ὀφθαλμῶν τούς ἐπί γῆς οὐ πέφυκεν ὁ Θεός, εἴπερ θείας ὁράσεως ἀκτίς ἐστιν ὁ κατ᾿ ἀρετήν ἡμῶν φωτισμός.

26. Ὁ κασσίτερος, φησίν, τήν τε τοῦ ἀργύρου καί τοῦ μολίβου φυσικῶς ἔχων ἰδιότητα, χαρακτηρίζει τήν πίστιν· κολάζει (14Γ_052> γάρ μή φυλαττομένη,