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How will the saying be true that every good giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, and to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good? · For to one, he says, is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings, and so on; to which he adds: but all these things are worked by one and the same Spirit, distributing to each one individually as he wills; and he wills, clearly, what is profitable for each, for the full assurance of the dispassionate desire of those who seek divine things. For he who seeks divine things dispassionately will certainly receive what is sought; but he who asks with some passion, as one asking wrongly, will fail to obtain what is sought; for he says: You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly.

Therefore, neither does the grace of the all-holy Spirit work wisdom in the saints without the mind that receives it, nor knowledge without the faculty receptive of the word, nor faith (14Γ_164> without the full assurance, according to mind and reason, of things to come and for the present unknown to all, nor gifts of healings apart from natural philanthropy, nor any other of the remaining gifts without the receptive disposition and faculty of each; nor again will a person acquire any one of the enumerated gifts by natural faculty apart from the divine power that bestows them.

And all the saints clearly show this, seeking after the revelations of divine things the principles of what was revealed. For Abraham, having received the promise of the inheritance of the land shown to him, when God said to him: I am the God who brought you out of the land of the Chaldeans to give you this land to inherit it, was not content with receiving what he had come out from the land of the Chaldeans seeking, but he inquired, desiring to learn also the manner of the inheritance, saying to God: Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? And Moses, having received the power of signs and wonders, sought to be taught also the ways and the principles by which the confirmation of the given signs must be demonstrated; and He set among them, says the great David, the words of His signs and of His wonders in the land of Ham. And again David himself, crying out to God concerning himself, says: Open my eyes, that I may understand the wondrous things from your law and your law is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths. And Daniel the great man of desires for divine visions, for which he completed three weeks of days without eating, seeking the principles, hears an angel saying to another angel: Make this man understand the vision. And Zechariah the great prophet throughout his entire prophecy, in each vision, introduces the angel speaking in him, (14Γ_166> showing the visions and teaching the principles of the visions, saying: and the angel who spoke in me showed me; and the angel who spoke in me said to me; and I said to the angel who spoke in me: Lord, what are these things?

And from this it is clear that all the saints both received revelations from the Spirit and sought for the principles of the things revealed to be revealed, and that the grace of the Spirit in no way abolishes the power of nature, but rather made it active again after it had been rendered inactive by the use of unnatural ways, leading it by the use of natural ways toward the understanding of divine things.

For the Holy Spirit seeks and searches in us for the knowledge of beings, but it does not seek what is sought for itself, because it is God and beyond all knowledge, but for us who are in need of knowledge, just as the Word becomes flesh not for Himself, but for us, accomplishing the mystery through the incarnation. For just as the Word would not work in a divinely fitting manner the things according to the nature of the flesh without flesh intelligently ensouled, so also the Holy Spirit does not work the knowledge of the mysteries in the saints without the faculty that by nature seeks and searches for knowledge. Whether therefore they sought or

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πῶς ἀληθὴς ὁ φάσκων ἔσται λόγος ὅτι πᾶσα δόσις ἀγαθὴ καὶ πᾶν δώρημα τέλειον ἄνωθέν ἐστι καταβαῖνον ἀπὸ τοῦ Πατρὸς τῶν φώτων καὶ τὸ ἑκάστῳ δὲ δίδοται ἡ φανέρωσις τοῦ Πνεύματος πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον; · ᾧ μὲν γάρ, φησίν, διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος δίδοται λόγος σοφίας, ἄλλῳ δὲ λόγος γνώσεως κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ Πνεῦμα, ἑτέρῳ δὲ πίστις ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ Πνεύματι, ἄλλῳ δὲ χαρίσματα ἰαμάτων καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς· οἷς ἐπάγει· πάντα δὲ ἐνεργεῖ τὸ ἓν καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ Πνεῦμα, διαιροῦν ἰδίᾳ ἑκάστῳ καθὼς βούλεται· βούλεται δὲ τὸ ἑκάστῳ δηλονότι συμφέρον εἰς πληροφορίαν τῆς ἀπαθοῦς τῶν ἐπιζητούντων τὰ θεῖα ἐφέσεως. Ὁ γὰρ ἀπαθῶς τὰ θεῖα ζητῶν πάντως λήψεται τὸ ζητούμενον· ὁ δὲ μετά τινος πάθους αἰτῶν ὡς κακῶς ζητῶν ἀποτεύξεται τοῦ ζητουμένου· φησὶ γάρ· αἰτεῖσθε καὶ οὐ λαμβάνετε, διότι κακῶς αἰτεῖσθε.

Οὐκοῦν οὔτε ἡ χάρις τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος ἐνεργεῖ σοφίαν ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις χωρὶς τοῦ ταύτην δεχομένου νοός, οὔτε γνῶσιν χωρὶς τῆς δεκτικῆς τοῦ λόγου δυνάμεως, οὔτε πίστιν (14Γ_164> ἄνευ τῆς κατὰ νοῦν καὶ λόγον τῶν μελλόντων καὶ πᾶσι τέως ἀδήλων πληροφορίας, οὔτε ἰαμάτων χαρίσματα δίχα τῆς κατὰ φύσιν φιλανθρωπίας, οὔτε τι ἕτερον τῶν λοιπῶν χαρισμάτων χωρὶς τῆς ἑκάστου δεκτικῆς ἕξεώς τε καὶ δυνάμεως· οὔτε μὴν πάλιν ἓν τῶν ἀπηριθμημένων ἄνθρωπος κτήσεται κατὰ δύναμιν φυσικὴν δίχα τῆς χορηγούσης ταῦτα θείας δυνάμεως.

Καὶ δηλοῦσι τοῦτο σαφῶς πάντες οἱ ἅγιοι μετὰ τὰς ἀποκαλύψεις τῶν θείων ζητοῦντες τῶν ἀποκαλυφθέντων τοὺς λόγους. Ἀβραὰμ γάρ, λαβὼν τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν τῆς κληρονομίας τῆς δειχθείσης αὐτῷ γῆς, φάσκοντος πρὸς αὐτὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ· ἐγὼ ὁ Θεὸς ὁ ἐξαγαγών σε ἐκ χώρας Χαλδαίων ὥστε δοῦναί σοι τὴν γῆν ταύτην κληρονομῆσαι αὐτήν, οὐκ ἠρκέσθη λαβὼν ὅπερ ἐκζητῶν ἐξῆλθεν ἐκ γῆς Χαλδαίων, ἀλλ᾽ ἠρεύνησε μαθεῖν ποθῶν καὶ τὸν τρόπον τῆς κληρονομίας, λέγων πρὸς τὸν Θεόν· ∆έσποτα Κύριε, κατὰ τί γνώσομαι ὅτι κληρονομήσω αὐτήν; Καὶ Μωυσῆς, λαβὼν τῶν σημείων καὶ τῶν τεράτων τὴν δύναμιν, ἐζήτει καὶ τοὺς τρόπους διδαχθῆναι καὶ τοὺς λόγους, καθ᾽ οὓς ἔδει τῶν δοθέντων σημείων ἀποδειχθῆναι τὴν πίστωσιν· καὶ ἔθετο ἐν αὐτοῖς, φησὶν ὁ μέγας ∆αβίδ, τοὺς λόγους τῶν σημείων αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν τεράτων αὐτοῦ ἐν γῇ Χάμ. Καὶ πάλιν αὐτὸς περὶ ἑαυτοῦ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν βοῶν φησιν ὁ ∆αβίδ· ἀποκάλυψον τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς μου, καὶ κατανοήσω τὰ θαυμάσιά σου ἐκ τοῦ νόμου σου καὶ λύχνος τοῖς ποσί μου ὁ νόμος σου καὶ φῶς ταῖς τρίβοις μου. Καὶ ∆ανιὴλ ὁ μέγας ἀνὴρ τῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν τῶν θείων ὁράσεων, ὑπὲρ ὧν τρεῖς ἑβδομάδας ἡμερῶν ἐτέλεσεν ἄσιτος, τοὺς λόγους ἐκζητῶν ἀκούει ἀγγέλου πρὸς ἄγγελον λέγοντος· συνέτισον ἐκεῖνον τὴν ὅρασιν. Καὶ Ζαχαρίας ὁ μέγας προφήτης δι᾽ ὅλης τῆς αὐτοῦ προφητείας καθ᾽ ἑκάστην ὅρασιν τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ λαλοῦντα ἄγγελον εἰσάγει, (14Γ_166> δεικνύοντά τε τὰς ὁράσεις καὶ διδάσκοντα τοὺς τῶν ὁράσεων λόγους, φάσκων· καὶ ἔδειξέν μοι ὁ ἄγγελος ὁ λαλῶν ἐν ἐμοί· καὶ εἶπέ μοι ὁ ἄγγελος ὁ λαλῶν ἐν ἐμοί· καὶ εἶπα τῷ ἀγγέλῳ τῷ λαλοῦντι ἐν ἐμοί· Κύριε, τί ἐστι ταῦτα;

Καὶ δῆλον ἐντεῦθεν ὅτι πάντες οἱ ἅγιοι καὶ ἐδέχοντο ὑπὸ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἀποκαλύψεις καὶ ἐζήτουν ἀποκαλυφθῆναι τῶν ἀποκαλυφθέντων τοὺς λόγους, καὶ ὅτι τοῦ Πνεύματος ἡ χάρις οὐδαμῶς τῆς φύσεως καταργεῖ τὴν δύναμιν, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον καταργηθεῖσαν τῇ χρήσει τῶν παρὰ φύσιν τρόπων ἐνεργὸν ἐποίει πάλιν, τῇ χρήσει τῶν κατὰ φύσιν πρὸς τὴν τῶν θείων κατανόησιν ἄγουσα.

Ζητεῖ γὰρ ἐν ἡμῖν τὴν τῶν ὄντων γνῶσιν τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον καὶ ἐρευνᾷ, ἀλλ᾽ οὐχ ἑαυτῷ ζητεῖ τὸ ζητούμενον, ὅτι Θεὸς καὶ πάσης ἐπέκεινα γνώσεως, ἀλλ᾽ ἡμῖν τοῖς δεομένοις τῆς γνώσεως, ὥσπερ ἀμέλει καὶ ὁ Λόγος γίνεται σὰρξ οὐχ ἑαυτῷ, ἀλλ᾽ ἡμῖν τὸ διὰ τῆς σαρκώσεως ἐξανύων μυστήριον. Ὡς γὰρ χωρὶς σαρκὸς νοερῶς ἐψυχωμένης οὐκ ἐνήργει θεοπρεπῶς τὰ κατὰ φύσιν τῆς σαρκὸς ὁ Λόγος, οὕτως οὐδὲ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις ἐνεργεῖ τὰς γνώσεις τῶν μυστηρίων χωρὶς τῆς κατὰ φύσιν ζητούσης τε καὶ ἐρευνώσης τὴν γνῶσιν δυνάμεως. Εἴτε οὖν ἐζήτουν ἢ