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of faith; and another through the same Spirit, the gift of perfect love toward one's neighbor, and another something else according to the same Spirit, as I said, with each one having his own gift activated. But if someone, according to the holy Isaiah, calls these gifts spirits, he does not, I think, miss the truth; for in every gift, whether greater or lesser, the whole Holy Spirit is present, acting analogously.

Therefore Paul, who was truly great and a minister of mysteries beyond man, having immediately received the spirit of the perfect grace of the love of God according to the analogy of the faith in him, from those who had received the gift of perfect love for him, who told him not to go up to Jerusalem; through the Spirit, that is, of the gift of love for him activated in them by the Spirit; for the spirit is the same as the gift, as I said, taking it from the prophet, he disobeyed; incomparably preferring the divine and supra-rational love over the spiritual love from others for him. Or rather, he did not go up by disobeying, but by drawing those who were prophesying through the energy of the Spirit given to them symmetrically according to their gift, by his own example toward the desire for Him who is beyond all, according to their yearning. Therefore the great Paul did not disobey the Spirit, but taught those prophesying about him according to the gift of love to be transferred from a lesser Spirit, that is, gift, to a higher one.

And again, if the prophetic gift is much inferior to the apostolic, it was not of the Word that (368) directs all things and defines the rank of each, for the superior to yield to the inferior; but rather for the inferior to follow the superior. For those prophesying then through the prophetic spirit in them, but not the apostolic, were indicating the manner of the suffering for the Word that would befall the holy Paul; but he, looking only to the divine purpose, considered all the intermediate things as nothing, being eager not to endure what would happen, but to become another Christ; having achieved all things by imitation of Christ, for which Christ philanthropically chose the life in the flesh according to the economy. Therefore, the apparent disobedience of the great Apostle is a preservation of good order, which governs and directs all divine things, and which guards each in its own unfallen state and foundation, and a clear teaching that the ranks of the Church, well-defined by the Spirit, should in no way be confused with one another.

SCHOLIA. a. That which acts differently, in each of those in whom it acts differently,

is whole, and in all at once without being divided. For unmingledly, he says, in all and in each individual, the Holy Spirit is manifested acting indivisibly according to one and the same power, because it is also the fulfillment of all beings; for it is God, and uncontainable by all beings, being super-essential.

b. Every active state of a commandment, he says, is a gift of the Spirit.

c. He who loves God with all his heart and soul and strength, is greater, he says, than he who loves his neighbor. It is not of the Word, therefore, for the superior to be legislated by the inferior; but rather for the inferior to be under the superior. Therefore the divine Apostle rightly did not allow the apostolic dignity and rank to be ruled by those ranks which it rules, lest the good order of all beings, and especially the rank of divine things, be dissolved.

d. He calls the kinds of temptations intermediate, which those prophesying to the holy Paul saw with foreknowledge through the Spirit concerning his contest for the truth; of which

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πίστεως· ἕτερος δέ διά τοῦ αὐτοῦ Πνεύματος, τῆς τελείας πρός τόν πλησίον ἀγάπης χάρισμα, καί ἄλλος ἄλλο τι κατα τό αὐτό Πνεῦμα, ὡς ἔφην, ἔχοντος ἑκάστου ἐνεργούμενον τό οἰκεῖον χάρισμα. Ταῦτα δέ τά χαρίσματα κατά τόν ἅγιον Ἡσαΐαν, πνεύματα καλέσας τις, ὡς οἶμαι, τῆς ἀληθείας οὐ διαπίπτει· παντί γάρ χαρίσματι ὅλον ὡς ἐνεργοῦν ἀναλόγως ἐνυπάρχει τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον, εἴτε μείζονι, εἴτε ἥττονι.

Οὐκοῦν ὁ μέγας ὄντως, καί τῶν ὑπέρ ἄνθρωπον μυστηρίων γενόμενος διάκονος Παῦλος , ἀμέσως τῆς ἐν ἀγάπῃ Θεοῦ τελείας χάριτος τό πνεῦμα δεξάμενος κατά τήν ἀναλογίαν τῆς ἐν αὐτῷ πίστεως, τῶν εἰληφότων τό χάρισμα τῆς τελείας εἰς αὐτόν ἀγάπης, λεγόντων αὐτῷ μή ἀναβαίνειν εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα· διά τοῦ Πνεύματος, τουτέστι τοῦ ἐνεργουμένου αὐτοῖς ὑπό τοῦ Πνεύματος τῆς εἰς αὐτόν ἀγάπης χαρίσματος· ταυτόν γάρ τῷ χαρίσματι τό πνεῦμα, καθά ἔφην ἐκ τοῦ προφήτου λαβών, παρήκουσεν· ἀσυγκρίτως τῆς ἐξ ἄλλων εἰς αὐτόν πνευματικῆς ἀγάπης, προκρίνων τήν θείαν καί ὑπέρ νόησιν. Μᾶλλον δέ οὐδέ παρακούσας ἀνῆλθεν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐκείνους διά τῆς συμμέτρως αὐτοῖς κατά τό χάρισμα δοθείσης ἐνεργείας τοῦ Πνεύματος προφητεύοντας, τῷ κατ᾿ αὐτόν τύπῳ πρός τόν τοῦ παντός ὑπερεπέκεινα πόθον κατά τήν ἔφεσιν ἕλκων. Οὐκοῦν οὐ παρήκουσεν ὁ μέγας Παῦλος τοῦ Πνεύματος, ἀλλ᾿ ἐδίδαξεν ἐπί τό ὑψηλότερον ἀπό τοῦ ἥττονος μετενεχθῆναι Πνεύματος τουτέστι χαρίσματος, τούς περί αὐτοῦ κατά τό χάρισμα τῆς ἀγάπης προφητεύοντας.

Καί πάλιν, εἰ τό προφητικόν χάρισμα πολύ τοῦ ἀποστολικοῦ ὑπάρχει δεύτερον, οὐκ ἦν λόγου τοῦ τό (368) πᾶν διευθύνοντος, καί τήν ἑκάστου διορίζοντος τάξιν, τό κρεῖττον εἴκειν τῷ ἥττονι· ἀλλά μᾶλλον ἕπεσθαι τό ἧττον τῷ κρείττονι. Οἱ μέν γάρ τότε προφητεύοντες διά τοῦ ἐν αὐτοῖς προφητικοῦ πνεύματος, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἀποστολικοῦ, τόν τρόπον τῆς τῷ ἁγίῳ Παύλῳ συμβησομένης ὑπέρ τοῦ λόγου κακοπαθείας ἐμήνυον· ὁ δέ πρός μόνον ἀφορῶν τόν θεῖον σκοπόν, εἰς οὐδέν ἡγεῖτο τά μέσα πάντα, σπουδήν ἔχων οὐχ ὅπως διενέγκῃ τά συμβησόμενα, ἀλλ᾿ ὅπως ἄλλος γένηται Χριστός· μιμήσει τοῦ Χριστοῦ πάντα κατορθώσας τά, δι᾿ ἅ Χριστός τήν ἐν σαρκί φιλανθρώπως κατ᾿ οἰκονομίαν εἵλατο ζωήν. Οὐκοῦν εὐταξίας ἐστί φυλακή, τῆς πάντα διεπούσης τά θεῖα καί διευθυνούσης, καί τῆς οἰκείας ἀνέκπτωτον μονῆς καί ἱδρύσεως ἕκαστον διαφυλαττούσης, ἡ δοκοῦσα τοῦ μεγάλου Ἀποστόλου παρακοή, καί σαφής διδασκαλία τοῦ μηδαμῶς ἀλλήλοις φύρεσθαι τούς καλῶς ὑπό τοῦ Πνεύματος διωρισμένους τῆς Ἐκκλησίας βαθμούς.

ΣΧΟΛΙΑ. α΄. Τό διαφόρως ἐνεργοῦν, ἐν ἑκάστῳ τῶν ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ διαφόρως ἐνεργουμένων,

ὅλον ἐστίν, καί ἐν ὅλοις ἅμα μή διαιρούμενον. Ἀμιγῶς γάρ, φησίν, ἐν ὅλοις καί τῷ καθ᾿ ἕκαστον ἀδιαιρέτως κατά μίαν καί τήν αὐτήν ἐκφαίνεται δύναμιν ἐνεργοῦν τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον, ὅτι καί πάντων ἐστί τῶν ὄντων πληρωτικόν· Θεός γάρ, καί πᾶσιν ἀχώρητον τοῖς οὖσιν, ὑπερούσιον.

β΄. Πᾶσαν ἐντολῆς ἕξιν ἐνεργουμένην, Πνεύματος εἶναι χάρισμα λέγει. γ΄. Ὁ τόν Θεόν ἀγαπῶν ἐξ ὅλης καρδίας καί ψυχῆς καί δυνάμεως, τοῦ τόν

πλησίον ἀγαπῶντος,φησί, μείζων ἐστίν. Οὐκ ἔστιν οὖν λόγου νομοθετεῖσθαι τό κρεῖττον ὑπό τοῦ χείρονος· ἀλλά γενέσθαι μᾶλλον τό ἧττον ὑπό τοῦ μείζονος. ∆ιό τήν ἀποστολικήν ἀξίαν τε καί τάξιν, ὑπ᾿ ἐκείνων ὧν ἄρχει βαθμῶν ἄρχεσθαι δικαίως οὐ συνεχώρησεν ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος, μήπως ἡ πάντων τῶν ὄντων εὐκοσμία, καί μάλιστα τῶν θείων τάξις, λυθῇ.

δ΄. Μέσα φησίν τά εἴδη τῶν πειρασμῶν, ἅπερ προγνωστικῶς ἐθεώρουν διά τοῦ Πνεύματος οἱ προφητεύοντες τῷ ἁγίῳ Παύλῳ τήν ὑπέρ ἀληθείας ἄθλησιν· ὧν