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20. That when the word rules in us, he says, the flesh, having been enslaved to it for virtue, is necessarily tormented.

21. The flesh is of the soul, but the soul is not of the flesh. For the lesser, he says, is of the greater; but the greater is not of the lesser. Therefore, since the law of sin, which is sensible pleasure, was mixed into the flesh through the transgression, on account of which the death of the flesh was condemned through pains, being devised for the abolition of the law of sin; the one who has discerned that death entered on account of sin for its abolition, has his soul always rejoicing, beholding through various pains the law of sin being removed from its own flesh, for the reception of the future blessed life in the spirit; which it is not otherwise possible to attain, unless the law of sin is first emptied from the flesh as from some vessel in the present life, according to the will's disposition toward it.

22. He calls salvific pleasure, the joy of the soul in virtue, and beneficial pain, the anguish of the flesh for the sake of virtue.

23. He who is attached to passions and things, directs his impulses to what he ought not. 24. He who the circumstances which produce the deprivation of passions and things

does not embrace, makes his avoidances from what he ought not. 59. CONCERNING WHICH SALVATION PROPHETS INQUIRED AND SEARCHED DILIGENTLY. (14Γ_160> 59. QUESTION 59 Concerning which salvation prophets inquired and searched diligently, those concerning the toward us

grace who prophesied, searching for what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. If the blessed prophets themselves left in writing for us to inquire into and search out what they were taught by the Holy Spirit, how is it that they themselves, being taught by the Holy Spirit and writing down what was revealed to them; what inquiry or diligent search were they inquiring or searching?

Response. The powers for inquiring and searching into divine things it has essentially

established in it by the Creator at its very coming into being human nature, but the revelations of divine things are made by grace through the descending power of the most Holy Spirit. And since in the beginning through sin the evil one nailed these powers to the nature of visible things, and there was no one who understood or sought God, as all who partook of nature had their intellectual and rational power circumscribed by the surface of sensible things and possessed no concept of things beyond sensation, reasonably the grace of the most Holy Spirit, unnailing it from material things, restored the nailed-up power for those who had not intentionally and willfully come under the deceit; which, having received it pure through grace, they first inquired and searched, and (14Γ_162> thus they inquired diligently and searched diligently, that is, through the same grace of the Spirit.

For it is not lawful to say that grace alone by itself worked the knowledge of the mysteries in the saints, without their natural powers receptive of knowledge, since we would be introducing the holy prophets as not understanding the power of the illuminations given to them by the most Holy Spirit—and how will the word be true that says, "A wise man will understand the things from his own mouth"? Nor indeed, having searched only with their natural power without the grace of the most Holy Spirit, did they obtain the true knowledge of things that are, since the descent of the Spirit upon the saints would be shown to be superfluous, cooperating with them in no way toward the manifestation of the truth—and

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20. Ὅτι κρατοῦντος ἐν ἡμῖν τοῦ λόγου φησίν, ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἡ πρός ἀρετήν αὐτῶ δουλωθεῖσα βασανίζεται σάρξ.

21. Ψυχῆς ἡ σάρξ, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ σαρκός ἡ ψυχή. Τοῦ γάρ κρείττονός φησι τόν ἧττον· ἀλλ᾿ οὐ τοῦ ἥττονος τό κρεῖττον. Οὐκοῦν ἐπειδή τῇ σαρκί διά τήν παράβασιν ἐνεφύρη τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὁ νόμος, ὅπερ ἐστίν ἡ κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ἡδονή, δι᾿ ἥν διά πόνων κατεκρίθη τῆς σαρκός ὁ θάνατος, εἰς τήν τοῦ νόμου τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀναίρεσιν ἐπινενοημένος· ὁ διαγνούς ὅτι διά τήν ἁμαρτίαν, εἰς τήν αὐτῆς ἀναίρεσιν ἐπεισῆλθεν ὁ θάνατος, ἀεί χαίρουσαν ἔχει τήν ψυχήν διά πόνων ποικίλων θεωμένην ἀπογινόμενον τῆς οἰκείας σαρκός τόν νόμον τῆς ἁμαρτίας, πρός ὑποδοχήν τῆς μελλούσης ἐν πνεύματι μακαρίας ζωῆς· ἧς ἄλλως οὐκ ἔστι τυχεῖν, μή πρότερον κενωθέντος ὡς ἐξ ἀγγείου τινός τῆς σαρκός ἐν τῇ παρούσῃ ζωῇ κατά τήν πρός αὐτήν σχέσιν τῆς γνώμης τοῦ νόμου τῆς ἁμαρτίας.

22. Ἡδονήν λέγει σωτήριον, τήν ἐπ᾿ ἀρετῇ χαράν τῆς ψυχῆς ὠφέλιμον δέ λύπην, τήν ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς ὀδύνην τῆς σαρκός.

23. Ὁ πάθεσι προστετηκώς καί πράγμασιν, ἐφ᾿ ἅ μή δεῖ τάς ὁρμάς ποιεῖται. 24. Ὁ τάς ποιητικάς τῶν παθῶν καί τῶν πραγμάτων στερήσεως συμβάσεις

οὐκ ἀσπαζόμενος, ἀφ᾿ ὧν μή δεῖ τάς ἀποφυγάς ποιεῖται. ΝΘ (59). ΠΕΡΙ ΗΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΙΑΣ ΕΞΕΖΗΤΗΣΑΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΞΕΡΕΥΝΗΣΑΝ ΠΡΟΦΗΤΑΙ. (14Γ_160> 59. ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΝΘ' Περὶ ἧς σωτηρίας ἐξεζήτησαν καὶ ἐξηρεύνησαν προφῆται οἱ περὶ τῆς εἰς ἡμᾶς

χάριτος προφητεύσαντες, ἐρευνῶντες εἰς τίνα ἢ ποῖον καιρὸν ἐδήλου τὸ ἐν αὐτοῖς Πνεῦμα Χριστοῦ προμαρτυρόμενον τὰ εἰς Χριστὸν παθήματα καὶ τὰς μετὰ ταῦτα δόξας. Ἐὰν αὐτοὶ οἱ μακάριοι προφῆται ἅπερ ἐκ Πνεύματος ἁγίου ἐνηχήθησαν ἡμῖν ἐγγράφως κατέλιπον ἐκζητῆσαι καὶ ἐξερευνῆσαι, πῶς αὐτοὶ ἐκ Πνεύματος ἁγίου ἐνηχούμενοι καὶ τὰ ἀποκαλυπτόμενα αὐτοῖς συγγράφοντες; ποίαν ἐκζήτησιν ἢ ἐξερεύνησιν ἐξεζήτουν ἢ ἐξηρεύνων;

Ἀπόκρισις. Τὰς μὲν ζητητικάς τε καὶ ἐρευνητικὰς τῶν θείων δυνάμεις οὐσιωδῶς ἔχει

καταβεβλημένας αὐτῇ παρὰ τοῦ κτίσαντος κατ᾽ αὐτὴν τὴν εἰς τὸ εἶναι πάροδον ἡ τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσις, τὰς δὲ τῶν θείων ἀποκαλύψεις κατὰ χάριν ἡ τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος ἐπιφοιτῶσα ποιεῖται δύναμις. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ κατ᾽ ἀρχὰς διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας τῇ φύσει τῶν ὁρατῶν ταύτας ὁ πονηρὸς προσήλωσε τὰς δυνάμεις, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ὁ συνιῶν ἢ ἐκζητῶν τὸν Θεόν, πάντων τῶν μετειληφότων τῆς φύσεως τὴν νοεράν τε καὶ λογικὴν δύναμιν ἐχόντων περιγεγραμμένην τῇ ἐπιφανείᾳ τῶν αἰσθητῶν καὶ μηδεμίαν κεκτημένων ἔννοιαν τῶν ὑπὲρ αἴσθησιν, εἰκότως ἡ τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος χάρις τοῖς μὴ κατὰ πρόθεσιν ἐνδιαθέτως ὑπὸ τὴν ἀπάτην γενομένοις, τῶν ὑλικῶν ἀφηλώσασα, τὴν προσηλωμένην ἀποκατέστησε δύναμιν· ἣν καθαρὰν ἀπολαβόντες διὰ τῆς χάριτος, πρῶτον ἐζήτησαν καὶ ἠρεύνησαν, καὶ (14Γ_162> οὕτως ἐξεζήτησαν καὶ ἐξηρεύνησαν, διὰ τῆς αὐτῆς δηλαδὴ τοῦ Πνεύματος χάριτος.

Οὐ γὰρ θέμις εἰπεῖν ὡς μόνη καθ᾽ ἑαυτὴν ἡ χάρις ἐνήργει τοῖς ἁγίοις τὰς γνώσεις τῶν μυστηρίων χωρὶς τῶν τῆς γνώσεως δεκτικῶν κατὰ φύσιν δυνάμεων, ἐπεὶ μὴ συνιέντας εἰσάγομεν τοὺς ἁγίους προφήτας τῶν δοθέντων αὐτοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος φωτισμῶν τὴν δύναμινκαὶ πῶς ἀληθὴς ὁ φάσκων ἔσται λόγος ὅτι ὁ σοφὸς νοήσει τὰ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἰδίου στόματος; οὔτε μὴν δίχα τῆς τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος χάριτος μόνῃ τῇ κατὰ φύσιν δυνάμει ζητήσαντες τὴν ἀληθῆ τῶν ὄντων ἀπειλήφασιν γνῶσιν, ἐπεὶ περιττὴ δειχθήσεται τοῖς ἁγίοις ἡ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐπιφοίτησις, κατὰ μηδὲν αὐτοῖς συνεργοῦσα πρὸς τὴν τῆς ἀληθείας φανέρωσινκαὶ