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kindling a beacon, for those who through action against the opposing powers widen the steps of the soul; and light, the spiritual law of grace, as genuinely showing the eternal paths without perceptible symbols; in which the contemplative mind, making its course, is led to the ultimate end of good things, God; defining the movement of the intellect by none of the things that exist. For the light of the law of grace is unsetting, having no knowledge whatsoever that defines its all-luminous rays. Or perhaps the prophet called feet, the course of the whole life according to God; or the movements in the soul of good thoughts, guided as by a lamp by the light in the letter of the law; and paths (393) the ways of the virtues according to the natural law, and the principles of knowledge according to the spiritual law, being shown by the presence of God the Word, and leading back to nature itself and the cause through both virtue and knowledge.

Having waited these three days, that is, laws, for God the Word, and having eagerly endured the labors for each, those who have their desire turned toward salvation are not sent away fasting, but receive food both abundant and divine; for the written law, the perfect deliverance from the passions contrary to nature; for the natural [law], the unerring activity according to nature; according to which the mutual relation is established, pushing away all scattering otherness and division of nature; for the spiritual [law], union with God himself; according to which, having in every way gone out of created things, they receive the glory beyond nature, through which God alone, flashing forth in them, is made known. And you have a broader treatment of this in the *Ambigua* on the oration of Saint Gregory concerning holy Pentecost.

SCHOLIA.

1. He means reason, spiritedness, desire. For with reason we seek; and with desire, we long for the good that has been sought; and with spiritedness, we fight for it. 2. And he has called the powers of the soul days, as receptive of the light of the divine commandments; and the three more general laws, illuminators of the receptive, that is, of the souls. For just as the Scripture of Genesis called the light day, saying: And God saw the light that it was good, and God called the light day; and again the illumined air, saying: And there was evening, and there was morning, one day; so also he called not only the powers of the soul days, but also the laws that illumine them. For the complete interpenetration of these into one another makes the composite day of the virtues, not distinguishing from the divine light according to reason the powers that have been wholly qualified by it. 3. The Word of God is at the same time both a lamp and a light, as both illuminating the natural thoughts of the faithful, and as dispelling the darkness of the life according to sense-perception for those who through the commandments are hastening toward the hoped-for life, and as punishing with the burning of judgment those who by intention cling to this dark night of life through love of pleasure of the flesh. 4. He who, he says, has not first been led up to himself through the casting off of the passions contrary to nature will not be led up to his own cause, that is, God, through the acquisition in grace of the goods beyond nature. For he who is being truly gathered to God must be separated in intellect from created things. 5. Of the written law, the natural work is the deliverance from the passions; of the natural law, the equality of law according to equal honor toward all men; (396) and the perfection of the spiritual law, assimilation to God, as is possible for a human being.

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πυρσεύοντα, τοῖς διά πράξεως κατά τῶν ἐναντίων δυνάμεων πλατύνουσι τῆς ψυχῆς τά διαβήματα· φῶς δέ, τόν πνευματικόν τῆς χάριτος νόμον, ὡς ἀτεχνῶς δίχα τῶν αἰσθητῶν συμβόλων τάς αἰωνίους δεικνύοντα τρίβους· ἐν αἷς τόν δρόμον ὁ θεωρητικός ποιούμενος νοῦς, πρός τό ἀκρότατον τῶν ἀγαθῶν πέρας ἄγεται, τόν Θεόν· μηδενί τῶν ὄντων διορίζων τῆς διανοίας τήν κίνησιν. Ἀνέσπερον γάρ ὑπάρχει τό φῶς τοῦ νόμου τῆς χάριτος, οὐκ ἔχον τῆς οἱανοῦν γνῶσιν τάς αὐτοῦ παμφαεῖς ἀκτῖνας ὁρίζουσαν. Ἤ τυχόν πόδας ἐκάλεσεν ὁ προφήτης, ὅλου τοῦ κατά Θεόν βίου τόν δρόμον· ἤ τάς κατά ψυχήν κινήσεις τῶν ἀγαθῶν λογισμῶν, ὁδηγουμένας καθάπερ λύχνῳ τῷ ἐν τῷ γράμματι τοῦ νόμου φωτί· τρίβους δέ (393) τούς κατά τόν φυσικόν νόμον τρόπους τῶν ἀρετῶν, καί τούς κατά τόν πνευματικόν νόμον τῆς γνώσεως λόγους, τῇ παρουσίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου δεικνυμένους, καί πρός ἑαυτήν τήν φύσιν καί τήν αἰτίαν δι᾿ ἀρετῆς τε καί γνώσεως ἐπανάγοντες.

Ταύτας τάς τρεῖς ἡμέρας, ἤγουν νόμους, τῷ Θεῷ Λόγῳ προσμείναντες, καί τούς ὑπέρ ἑκάστου προθύμως ὑπομείναντες πόνους, οἱ πρός σωτηρίαν τετραμμένην τήν ἔφεσιν ἔχοντες, οὐκ ἀπολύονται νήστεις, ἀλλά δέχονται τροφήν δαψιλῆ τε καί θείαν· ὑπέρ μέν τοῦ γραπτοῦ νόμου, τήν τῶν παρά φύσιν παθῶν τελείαν ἀπαλλαγήν· ὑπέρ δέ τοῦ φυσικοῦ, τήν ἄπταιστον τῶν κατά φύσιν ἐνέργειαν· καθ᾿ ἥν ἡ ἀλληλοῦχος σχέσις συνίσταται, πᾶσαν ἀπωθουμένη τῆς φύσεως σκεδαστήν ἑτερότητά τε καί διαίρεσιν· ὑπέρ δέ τοῦ πνευματικοῦ, τήν πρός αὐτόν ἕνωσιν τόν Θεόν· καθ᾿ ἥν πάντως ἐκβάντες τῶν γενητῶν, τήν ὑπέρ φύσιν δέχονται δόξαν, δι᾿ ἧς ὁ Θεός μόνος ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀπαστράπτων γνωρίζεται. Ἔχετε δέ πλατύτερον περί τούτου ἐν τοῖς Ἀπόροις εἰς τόν περί τῆς ἁγίας Πεντηκοστῆς λόγον τοῦ ἁγίου Γρηγορίου.

ΣΧΟΛΙΑ.

α΄ . Λόγον, θυμόν, ἐπιθυμίαν λέγει. Τῷ γάρ λόγῳ ζητοῦμεν· τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ δέ, ποθοῦμεν τό ζητηθέν ἀγαθόν· τῷ δέ θυμῷ, ὑπεραγωνιζόμεθα. β΄ . Καί τάς δυνάμεις τῆς ψυχῆς κέκληκεν ἡμέρας, ὡς δεκτικάς τοῦ φωτός τῶν θείων προσταγμάτων· καί τούς τρεῖς γενικωτέρους νόμους, φωτιστικούς τῶν δεκτικῶν, δῆλον ὅτι τῶν ψυχῶν. Ὥσπερ γάρ τό φῶς ἐκάλεσεν ἡμέραν ἡ Γραφή τῆς Γενέσεως, φάσκουσα· Καί ἴδεν ὁ Θεός τό φῶς ὅτι καλόν, καί ἐκάλεσεν ὁ Θεός τό φῶς ἡμέραν· καί πάλιν τόν πεφωτισμένον ἀέρα, φήσασα· Καί ἐγένετο ἑσπέρα, καί ἐγένετο πρωΐ ἡμέρα μία· οὕτως οὐ μόνον τάς δυνάμεις τῆς ψυχῆς ἐκάλεσεν ἡμέρας, ἀλλά καί τούς ταύτας φωτίζοντας νόμους. Ἡ γάρ διόλου τούτων εἰς ἄλληλα περιχώρησις, τήν σύνθετον ποιεῖ τῶν ἀρετῶν ἡμέραν, μή διακρίνουσα τοῦ κατά τόν λόγον θείου φωτός, τάς ποιωθείσας αὐτῷ δι᾿ ὅλου δυνάμεις. γ΄ . Λύχνος ἐστί κατά ταυτόν ὁμοῦ καί φῶς ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, ὡς καί φωτίζων τούς κατά φύσιν λογισμούς τῶν πιστῶν, καί ὡς λύων τόν ζόφον τῆς κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ζωῆς τοῖς διά τῶν ἐντολῶν πρός τήν ἐλπιζομένην ἐπειγομένοις ζωήν, καί ὡς κολάζων τῇ καύσει τῆς κρίσεως τούς ταύτης τῆς σκοτεινῆς τοῦ βίου νυκτός κατά γνώμην διά φιληδονίαν σαρκός ἀντεχομένους. δ΄ . Ὁ μή πρός ἑαυτόν, φησί, πρότερον ἀναχθείς διά τῆς ἀποβολῆς τῶν παρά φύσιν παθῶν πρός τήν ἰδίαν αἰτίαν, ἤγουν τόν Θεόν, διά τῆς ἐν χάριτι τῶν ὑπέρ φύσιν ἀγαθῶν ἐπικτήσεως οὐκ ἀναχθήσεται. Τῶν γάρ πεποιημένων χωρισθῆναι δεῖ κατά διάνοιαν, τόν πρός Θεόν ἀληθῶς συναγόμενον. ε΄ . Τοῦ μέν γραπτοῦ νόμου φύσιν ἔργον ἐστίν ἡ τῶν παθῶν ἀπαλλαγή· φυσικοῦ δέ νόμου, ἡ κατ' ἰσοτιμίαν πρός πάντας ἀνθρώπους ἰσονομία· (396) πνευματικοῦ δέ νόμου τελείωσις, ἡ πρός τόν Θεόν, ὡς ἔστι ἀνθρώπῳ δυνατόν, ἐξομοίωσις.