,

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of virtues and the stability of character in the ways of those who through repentance have returned to virtue from vice and have ascended from ignorance to the full knowledge of God.

And they came to Zerubbabel and to Jeshua and to the leaders of the families, and say to them: Let us build with you, for like you we hear of your Lord and to him we sacrifice. Zerubbabel(10) is the practical mind and Jeshua the contemplative, and the leaders of the families are the powers of the soul, from which are set in motion the ways of virtue and the principles of knowledge, to whom the unclean demons of pride and vainglory, of pleasing men and of hypocrisy, approach, saying: Let us build with you the temple of the Lord. For none of these wicked demons ever hinders the zeal of the virtuous man, but rather, deceitfully cutting away the deficiencies of the virtues, he suggests exaggerations, showing enthusiasm with the combatants, so that he might draw the whole mind of the ascetic to himself, having lost the equal measure of the mean, and it might unawares travel toward a different lodging than the one it appears to. Therefore the evildoers say: Like you we hear of your Lord. For they neither hate chastity nor do they abominate fasting, not the distribution of money, not hospitality, not psalmody, not leisure for reading, not the higher (14Γ_124> studies, not sleeping on the ground, not vigils, not all the other things, through which the life according to God is characterized, as long as the purpose and the cause of what is done inclines toward them. For the ascetic, perhaps grasping the other demons more quickly, easily escapes the harm from them. But these, who seem to cooperate in the course of virtue and, as it were, wish to build the temple for the Lord together, what mind, even of the very lofty, could grasp, without the active and living Word that passes through all things and pierces to the division of soul and spirit(11), that is, discerning which of the works or thoughts are psychic, that is, natural forms or movements of virtue, and which happen to be spiritual, that is, above nature and characterizing God, but given to nature by grace.

of joints and of marrow(12), who knows the altogether fitting or unfitting inclination of the ways of virtue towards the spiritual principles, and who judges the thoughts and intentions of hearts(13), that is, the hidden relationships in the depth regarding the aforesaid things and their invisible causes in the soul.

before whom no creature is hidden, clearly in us who seem to be hidden, but all things are naked and laid bare, not only the things that have been done and thought, but also the things that will be done by us and will be thought? For the scripture says "no creature is hidden" perhaps concerning a future action and thought; for it is not about something that has already happened, which has been made manifest both to ourselves and to others, much less to God, who has foreknown all the infinite (14Γ_126> ages, those that have been and are and are to come, and has by nature preconceived the knowledge of the generation of all things, and not from existing things, but from himself has pre-conceived in himself the knowledge of existing things. For He alone is by nature the knowledge of existing things, as He is the cause of existing things, and again, self-knowledge, as having by nature the knowledge of himself beyond cause, and being removed from this knowledge by a reason infinitely more infinite than all and every infinity(14), because He is the creator of so-called knowledge in every respect and manner, and of every other knowledge that can be spoken or thought, being unapproachable.

Who, not having this Word dwelling in the depth of his heart, will be able, having escaped the hidden deceptions of the demons' hypocrisy against us, to stand entirely by himself, without any admixture, and to build the temple of the Lord according to the great Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the

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ἀρετῶν καὶ ἡ κατ᾽ ἦθος τῶν τρόπων εὐστάθεια τῶν διὰ μετανοίας πρὸς ἀρετὴν ἀπὸ κακίας ἐπανελθόντων καὶ ἐξ ἀγνοίας πρὸς ἐπίγνωσιν Θεοῦ ἐπαναβεβηκότων.

Καὶ προσῆλθον τῷ Ζοροβάβελ καὶ Ἰησοῦ καὶ τοῖς ἡγουμένοις τῶν πατριῶν, καὶ λέγουσιν αὐτοῖς· Συνοικοδομήσωμεν ὑμῖν, ὁμοίως γὰρ ὑμῖν ἀκούομεν τοῦ Κυρίου ὑμῶν καὶ αὐτῷ ἐπιθύομεν. Ζοροβάβελ(10) ἐστὶν ὁ πρακτικὸς νοῦς καὶ Ἰησοῦς ὁ θεωρητικός, ἡγούμενοι δὲ τῶν πατριῶν εἰσιν αἱ τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεις, ἐξ ὧν ὥρμηνται τῆς ἀρετῆς οἱ τρόποι καὶ οἱ λόγοι τῆς γνώσεως, οἷς προσέρχονται τῆς ὑπερηφανίας καὶ τῆς κενοδοξίας ἀνθρωπαρεσκείας τε καὶ ὑποκρίσεως οἱ ἀκάθαρτοι δαίμονες, λέγοντες· Συνοικοδομήσωμεν ὑμῖν τὸν ναὸν Κυρίου. Οὐδεὶς γὰρ τούτων τῶν πονηρῶν δαιμόνων τοῦ ἐναρέτου ποτὲ κωλύει τὸ πρόθυμον, ἀλλὰ καὶ μᾶλλον, τὰς ἐλλείψεις δολερῶς περικόψας τῶν ἀρετῶν, τὰς ἐπιτάσεις ὑπαγορεύει, τοῖς ἀγωνισταῖς συμπροθυμούμενος, ἵνα πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ὅλην ποιήσηται τοῦ ἀσκουμένου τὴν ἔννοιαν, παραπολέσασαν τὸ ἶσον τῆς μεσότητος στάθμιον, καὶ λάθῃ πρὸς ἄλλο παρὰ τὸ δοκοῦν ὁδεύουσα καταγώγιον. ∆ιὸ φασὶν οἱ κακοῦργοι· ὁμοίως ὑμῖν ἀκούομεν τοῦ Κυρίου ὑμῶν. Οὔτε γὰρ μισοῦσι σωφροσύνην οὔτε νηστείαν βδελύσσονται, οὐ χρημάτων διάδοσιν, οὐ φιλοξενίαν, οὐ ψαλμῳδίαν, οὐ σχολὴν ἀναγνώσεως, οὐ τῶν (14Γ_124> μαθημάτων τὰ ὑψηλότερα, οὐ χαμευνίαν, οὐκ ἀγρυπνίαν, οὐ τὰ λοιπὰ πάντα, δι᾽ ὧν ὁ κατὰ Θεὸν χαρακτηρίζεται βίος, ἕως πρὸς αὐτοὺς νένευκεν ὁ σκοπὸς καὶ ἡ αἰτία τῶν γινομένων. Τοὺς μὲν γὰρ ἄλλους τάχιον ἴσως ὁ ἀσκητὴς καταλαβόμενος δαίμονας, ῥᾳδίως τὴν ἐξ αὐτῶν βλάβην διαδιδράσκει. Τούτους δέ, δοκοῦντας συνεργεῖν τῷ δρόμῳ τῆς ἀρετῆς καὶ οἷον συνοικοδομεῖν βουλομένους τὸν ναὸν Κυρίῳ, τίς ἂν τῶν ἄγαν ὑψηλῶν καταλάβοι νοῦς, χωρὶς τοῦ διὰ πάντων χωροῦντος ἐνεργοῦς Λόγου καὶ ζῶντος καὶ διϊκνουμένου ἄχρι μερισμοῦ ψυχῆς καὶ πνεύματος(11), τουτέστι διαγινώσκοντος τίνα τῶν ἔργων ἢ νοημάτων εἰσὶ ψυχικά, τουτέστι εἴδη φυσικὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἢ κινήματα, καὶ τίνα τυγχάνει πνευματικά, τουτέστιν ὑπὲρ φύσιν καὶ Θεὸν χαρακτηρίζοντα, τῇ φύσει δὲ κατὰ χάριν διδόμενα.

Ἁρμῶν τε καὶ μυελῶν(12) τὴν πρὸς τοὺς πνευματικοὺς λόγους τῶν κατ᾽ ἀρετὴν τρόπων ἁρμόδιον ἢ ἀναρμόδιον διόλου σύννευσιν ἐπισταμένου, κρίνοντός τε τὰς ἐνθυμήσεις καὶ τὰς ἐννοίας τῶν καρδιῶν(13), τουτέστι τὰς ἐπὶ τοῖς εἰρημένοις ἀφανεῖς κατὰ τὸ βάθος σχέσεις καὶ τὰς κατὰ ψυχὴν ἀοράτους τούτων αἰτίας.

Ὧι οὐκ ἔστι κτίσις ἀφανής, ἐν ἡμῖν δηλονότι τοῖς λανθάνειν δοκοῦσιν, πάντα δὲ γυμνὰ καὶ τετραχηλισμένα, οὐ μόνον τὰ γεγενημένα τε καὶ νενοημένα, ἀλλ᾽ ἤδη καὶ τὰ γενησόμενα παρ᾽ ἡμῶν καὶ τὰ νοηθησόμενα; Περὶ γὰρ μελλούσης τυχὸν πράξεως καὶ νοήσεως τὸ οὐκ ἔστι κτίσις ἀφανὴς ὁ λόγος φησίν· οὐ γὰρ περὶ γεγενημένης, ἥτις καὶ ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς καὶ ἄλλοις πεφανέρωται, σχολῇ γ᾽ ἂν Θεῷ, τῷ πάντας τοὺς ἀπείρους (14Γ_126> τούς τε προγενομένους καὶ ὄντας καὶ ἐσομένους αἰῶνας προεγνωκότι καὶ τῆς πάντων γενέσεως προειληφότι κατὰ φύσιν τὴν γνῶσιν καὶ οὐκ ἐκ τῶν ὄντων, ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ δὲ τὴν τῶν ὄντων ἐν ἑαυτῷ προσυνειληφότι γνῶσιν. Μόνος γὰρ αὐτὸς τῶν ὄντων ὑπάρχει κατὰ φύσιν γνῶσις, ὡς τῶν ὄντων αἴτιος, καὶ πάλιν αὐτογνῶσις, ὡς ὑπὲρ αἰτίαν φύσει τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γνῶσιν ἔχων, καὶ ταύτης ἔτι κατὰ τὸν πάντα καὶ πάμπαν τῆς ἀπειρίας ὑπεράπειρον ἀπειράκις λόγον ἀνῳκισμένος(14), ὅτι καὶ τῆς οὕτω λεγομένης γνώσεως δημιουργὸς παντὶ λόγῳ τε καὶ τρόπῳ, καὶ πάσης ἄλλης λεχθῆναι ἢ νοηθῆναι δυναμένης γνώσεως, ὑπάρχων ἀπρόσιτος.

Τίς, τοῦτον οὐκ ἔχων ἐνοικοῦντα τὸν Λόγον τῷ βάθει τῆς καρδίας, δυνήσεται, τοὺς ἀφανεῖς δόλους τῆς καθ᾽ ἡμῶν ὑποκρίσεως τῶν δαιμόνων ὑπαλύξας, στῆναι καθ᾽ ἑαυτὸν μονώτατος, χωρίς τινος ἐπιμιξίας, καὶ οἰκοδομῆσαι τοῦ Κυρίου τὸν ναὸν κατὰ τὸν μέγαν Ζοροβάβελ καὶ τὸν Ἰησοῦν καὶ τοὺς