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may restore knowledge, and transform this toward deification, which removes the mind from the knowledge of beings,[Fr. et Reg. of creation] which tempers and, as it were, strengthens it toward immutability, just as the intelligible water by the quality of wine, the knowledge of nature.

SCHOLIA. a. He speaks of a power, a motion which is indeed essentially sown in nature for the activity of virtues, but by will is towards the volition of its possessor, manifesting itself according to its use.

b. The nature which was emptied of the given knowledge, the Word of God, having become man, again filled with knowledge; and having tempered it towards immutability, He deified it not by nature, but by quality, unfailingly (401) marking it with His own Spirit, as if having mixed water with the quality of wine for strength. For this reason He also truly becomes man, that He might make us gods by grace.

c. He calls the good wine the *logos* of nature which is ecstatic towards deification; which the transgression did not permit Adam to drink; but He Himself, by grace through love for mankind, having emptied Himself as God, later through the incarnation, as He alone knows, made it drinkable. For He is also Providence, as the coherence of beings; and the *logos* of Providence, as the method of healing for those under providence; and the Provider, as holding all things together by their own *logoi* of being.

d. The power of the mind, he says, is by nature receptive of the knowledge of corporeal and incorporeal things; but of the Holy Trinity it receives the manifestations by grace alone, believing only that He is; but not presuming to seek what He is in essence.

e. That the whole power of nature is divided into six modes and activities; and the whole of love is apportioned into six kinds of virtues. For hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, and exile, and sickness, and imprisonment, of those afflicted by these things, whether corporeally or spiritually, he who consoles them has fulfilled the love for both God and neighbor which is composed of the six virtues; having preserved the soul's desire as being made like God alone.

f. He says the cause of the *Logos* is God; to seek whom, man has received the power of reason (*logos*).

g. He who according to virtue by his will, he says, has become equal toward all, shows God to be without partiality in himself, just as He created the nature of all things according to one and the same *logos*, so also He legislated one single motion of the will, according to which the *logos* of nature, which seems to be scattered, is by nature gathered together.

h. He calls the mean the state which is indeed delivered from the passions contrary to nature, but has not yet taken hold of the goods which are above nature. For it shows the will to be in equal measure with nature, having nothing self-inclined and opposed to the *logos* of nature; and for this reason it knows all men as one, since it has the law of nature as a God-written book.

i. That we have the law according to nature as a natural criterion, teaching us that before the wisdom in all things our desire ought to be moved towards the mystagogy of the Creator of all things.

k. Faith, the Mother of the *Logos*, according to the spiritual ascent; which, being created first, later gives birth, embodied in the virtues, to the *Logos* who created her.

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ἀποκαταστήσῃ γνῶσιν, καί μεταβάλῃ ταύτην πρός τήν ἐξοικίζουσαν τόν νοῦν τῆς τῶν ὄντων γνώσεως.[Fr. et Reg. γενέσεως]θέωσιν, τήν στομοῦσαν καί οἱονεί νευροῦσαν πρός ἀτρεψίαν καθάπερ ὕδωρ τό νοούμενον οἴνου ποιότητι ,τήν γνῶσιν τῆς φύσεως.

ΣΧΟΛΙΑ. α΄ . ∆ύναμιν λέγει, τήν οὐσιωδῶς μέν κατεσπαρμένην τῇ φύσει πρός ἀρετῶν

ἐνέργειαν κίνησιν, γνωμικῶς δέ πρός τήν τοῦ κεκτημένου βούλησιν, κατά τήν χρῆσιν ἐκφαινομένην.

β΄ . Τήν κενωθεῖσαν τῆς δοθείσης γνώσεως φύσιν, γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, πάλιν ἐπλήρωσε γνώσεως· καί στομώσας πρός ἀτρεψίαν, οὐ φύσει, ποιότητι δέ ταύτην ἐθέωσεν, ἀνελλιπῶς (401) αὐτήν τῷ οἰκείῳ χαρακτηρίσας Πνεύματι, καθάπερ ὕδωρ οἴνου ποιότητι πρός τόνον μετακεράσας. ∆ιά τοῦτο γάρ καί γίνεται κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν ἄνθρωπος, ἵνα κατά χάριν ἡμᾶς καταστήσῃ θεούς.

γ΄ . Καλόν οἶνον λέγει τόν πρός θέωσιν ἐκστατικόν τῆς φύσεως λόγον· ὅν ἡ παράβασις μέν τῷ Ἀδάμ πιεῖν οὐ συνεχώρησεν· αὐτός δέ χάριτι διά φιλανθρωπίαν ὡς Θεός ἑαυτόν κενώσας, ὕστερον διά τῆς σαρκώσεως, ὡς οἶδεν μόνος αὐτός, κατέστησεν πότιμον. Αὐτός γάρ ἐστι καί Πρόνοια, ὡς συνοχή τῶν ὄντων· καί Προνοίας λόγος, ὡς μέθοδος τῆς τῶν προνοουμένων ἰατρείας· καί Προνοητής, ὡς πάντα τοῖς ἑαυτῶν τοῦ εἶναι τοῖς λόγοις συνέχων.

δ΄ . Τῆς μέν τῶν σωματικῶν καί ἀσωμάτων γνώσεως δεκτική κατά φύσιν ἐστίν ἡ τοῦ νοῦ δύναμις, φησίν· τῆς δέ τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος κατά μόνην τήν χάριν δέχεται τάς ἐμφάσεις, ὅτι ἔστι μόνον πιστεύουσα· ἀλλ᾿ οὐ, τί ποτε κατ᾿ οὐσίαν ἐστί, ζητεῖν αὐθαδιζομένη.

ε΄ . Ὅτι καί ἡ καθ᾿ ὅλου δύναμιν τῆς φύσεως, εἰς ἕξ διαιρεῖται τρόπους καί ἐνεργείας· καί ἡ καθ᾿ ὅλου ἀγάπη, εἰς ἕξ ἀρετῶν εἴδη μερίζεται. Πεῖναν γάρ, καί δίψαν, καί γύμνωσιν, καί ξενιτείαν, καί ἀσθένειαν, καί φυλακήν, τῶν τούτοις κατειλημμένων, εἴτε σωματικῶς, εἴτε πνευματικῶς ὁ παραμυθούμενος, τήν ἐκ τῶν ἕξ ἀρετῶν συνισταμένην πεπλήρωκεν πρός τε τόν Θεόν καί τόν πλησίον ἀγάπην· ὡς μόνῳ Θεῷ πεποιωμένην τῆς ψυχῆς διατηρήσας τήν ἔφεσιν.

στ΄ . Αἰτίαν τοῦ Λόγου φησί τόν Θεόν· ὅν ζητεῖν, τοῦ λόγου τήν δύναμιν ὁ ἄνθρωπος εἴληφεν.

η΄ . Ὁ κατ᾿ ἀρετήν τῇ γνώμῃ, φησίν, ἴσος πρός πάντας γενόμενος, ἀπροσωπόληπτον ἐν ἑαυτῷ δείκνυσι τόν Θεόν, ὥσπερ πάντων καθ᾿ ἕνα καί τόν αὐτόν λόγον δημιουργήσαντα τήν φύσιν, οὕτω καί πᾶσαν νομοθετήσαντα μίαν τῆς γνώμης τήν κίνησιν, καθ᾿ ἥν ὁ δοκῶν σκορπεῖσθαι τῆς φύσεως συνάγεσθαι πέφυκε λόγος.

θ΄. Μεσότητα λέγει τήν ἀπηλλαγμένην μέν τῶν παρά φύσιν παθῶν, οὔπω δέ τῶν ὑπέρ φύσιν ἀγαθῶν ἐπειλημμένην κατάστασιν. Ἰσονομοῦσαν γάρ τῇ φύσει τήν γνώμην δείκνυσι, μηδέν ἔχουσαν αὐτοῤῥεπές, καί τῷ λόγῳ τῆς φύσεως ἀντιφερόμενον· καί διά τοῦτο πάντας ἀνθρώπους ἕνα γινώσκουσαν, ἅτε δή βίβλον θεόγραφον ἔχουσαν τόν νόμον τῆς φύσεως.

ι΄. Ὅτι φυσικόν ἔχομεν κριτήριον τόν κατά φύσιν νόμον, διδάσκοντα ἡμᾶς, ὅτι πρό τῆς ἐν ὅλοις σοφίας ἔδει πρός τήν τοῦ Ποιητοῦ τῶν ὅλων μυσταγωγίαν ἡμῶν κινεῖσθαι τήν ἔφεσιν.

ια΄. Πίστις, ἡ τοῦ Λόγου Μήτηρ, κατά τήν ἀναγωγήν· ἥτις δημιουργουμένη πρότερον, γεννᾷ σωματούμενον ὕστερον ταῖς ἀρεταῖς τόν αὐτήν δημιουργήσαντα Λόγον.