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the salvation of souls and those who search out the spiritual principles of this salvation (14Γ_172> and the ways, the Holy Spirit guides towards understanding, not allowing to remain inactive and inoperative in them the power by which they are naturally disposed to seek out divine things.

First, teaching them to seek the mortification of the will with respect to sin or the mortification of sin with respect to the will, and the quickening of the will with respect to virtue or the quickening of virtue with respect to the will, and to investigate the ways of the mortification of the will with respect to sin or of sin with respect to the will, and likewise also the principles of the resurrection of the will with respect to virtue or of virtue with respect to the will; through which, I mean both ways and principles, the mortification of sin with respect to the will or of the will with respect to sin, and the resurrection of virtue with respect to the will or of the will with respect to virtue naturally comes to be, having manifestly in this age, which the Word called a season, the sufferings for Christ, that is, for the sake of Christ, which are beyond nature, which the Holy Spirit testified beforehand to them, so that they might become conformed to the death of Christ according to the mortification of sin and of the resurrection according to the raising of virtue.

For truly, one who is to be saved must not only mortify sin by the will, but also the will itself to sin, and not only raise the will to virtue, but also virtue itself by the will, so that, being dead, wholly separated from the whole of dead sin, it may not perceive it and, being alive, the will may perceive the whole of living virtue through an inseparable union.

Perhaps having first sought and investigated these things, the saints, through the Holy Spirit, perfected the practical philosophy; after which, having become pure and free from all defilement, towards the end of beings, by the same Spirit, they moved the intellectual eye of the soul, seeking (14Γ_174> after the resurrection of the will also the incorruptibility of nature, and investigating both the ways and the principles of the God-befitting immortality according to it. For they no longer sought the resurrection of the will, which they had already received from the Spirit according to the practical life, nor did they investigate the ways according to it, which they had already perfected through grace, but they sought the incorruptibility of nature which they did not have, and they investigated the ways and the principles of deification according to it, towards which they hastened, desiring the glory in Christ that is in accordance with it, so that, just as they suffered with Him in this age, which, as I said, the Word called a season, so also they might be glorified together in the age to come, becoming heirs of God beyond nature according to grace, and co-heirs with Christ, who by economy, through the power of the incarnation, makes the whole of nature His own.

For Christ, being God by nature and man, is inherited by us as God beyond nature by grace, according to the ineffable participation, and, for our sake, in a form like ours, as man making us His own, He inherits Himself together with us according to the incomprehensible condescension; whom the saints, having mystically foreseen by the Spirit, were taught that for the glory in Christ that is to be revealed in the future on account of virtue, the sufferings for Him for the sake of virtue in the present must come first; for, it says, investigating 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.

Therefore, they both sought out and investigated not only the incorruptibility of nature and the principles of deification according to it, but also indeed the time in which the trial through sufferings for its sake (14Γ_176> will take place, making manifest the disposition both of those who truly desire it and of those who love it in hypocrisy

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ψυχῶν σωτηρίαν καὶ ἐξερευνῶντας τοὺς ταύτης πνευματικοὺς τῆς σωτηρίας λόγους (14Γ_172> τε καὶ τρόπους ὁδηγεῖ πρὸς κατανόησιν τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, οὐκ ἐῶν ἀκίνητον ἐν αὐτοῖς μένειν καὶ ἀνενέργητον τὴν δι᾽ ἧς ἐκζητεῖν τὰ θεῖα πεφύκασι δύναμιν.

Πρῶτον μὲν αὐτοὺς διδάσκον ζητῆσαι τὴν κατὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τῆς προαιρέσεως ἢ τὴν κατὰ τὴν προαίρεσιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας νέκρωσιν καὶ τὴν κατὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν τῆς προαιρέσεως ἢ τὴν κατὰ τὴν προαίρεσιν τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀναβίωσιν, ἐρευνῆσαι δὲ τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τῆς προαιρέσεως ἢ τῆς κατὰ τὴν προαίρεσιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας νεκρώσεως τοὺς τρόπους, ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν τῆς προαιρέσεως ἢ τῆς ἀρετῆς κατὰ τὴν προαίρεσιν ἀναστάσεως τοὺς λόγους· δι᾽ ὧν, τρόπων τέ φημι καὶ λόγων, ἡ κατὰ τὴν προαίρεσιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἢ ἡ κατὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τῆς προαιρέσεως νέκρωσις καὶ ἡ κατὰ τὴν προαίρεσιν τῆς ἀρετῆς ἢ τῆς προαιρέσεως κατὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν ἀνάστασις γίνεσθαι πέφυκεν, ἔχουσα προδήλως κατὰ τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦτον, ὃν καιρὸν προσηγόρευσεν ὁ λόγος, τὰ εἰς Χριστόν, ἤγουν ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ, περὶ φύσιν παθήματα, ἅπερ αὐτοῖς προεμαρτύρετο τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ἵνα γένωνται σύμφυτοι τοῦ θανάτου τοῦ Χριστοῦ κατὰ τὴν νέκρωσιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας καὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως κατὰ τὴν ἔγερσιν τῆς ἀρετῆς.

∆εῖ γὰρ ὡς ἀληθῶς τὸν σωθησόμενον μὴ μόνον τῇ προαιρέσει νεκρῶσαι τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὴν τὴν προαίρεσιν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, καὶ μὴ μόνον ἀναστῆσαι τῇ ἀρετῇ τὴν προαίρεσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὴν τῇ προαιρέσει τὴν ἀρετήν, ἵνα νεκρὰ νεκρᾶς ὅλης ὅλη διαιρεθεῖσα τῆς ἁμαρτίας μὴ αἰσθάνηται καὶ ζῶσα ζώσης ὅλης ὅλη τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐπαισθάνηται καθ᾽ ἕνωσιν ἀδιάσπαστον ἡ προαίρεσις.

Ταῦτα μὲν τυχὸν πρῶτον ζητήσαντες καὶ ἐρευνήσαντες οἱ ἅγιοι διὰ Πνεύματος ἁγίου τὴν πρακτικὴν κατώρθωσαν φιλοσοφίαν· μεθ᾽ ἥν, οἷα δὴ καθαροὶ γεγονότες καὶ παντὸς ἐλεύθεροι μολυσμοῦ, πρὸς τὸ τέλος τῶν ὄντων ὑπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ Πνεύματος τὸ νοερὸν ἐκίνησαν ὄμμα τῆς ψυχῆς, ἐκζητοῦντες (14Γ_174> μετὰ τὴν προαιρετικὴν ἀνάστασιν καὶ τὴν τῆς φύσεως ἀφθαρσίαν, καὶ ἐξερευνῶντες τούς τε τρόπους καὶ τοὺς λόγους τῆς κατ᾽ αὐτὴν θεοπρεποῦς ἀθανασίας. Οὐ γὰρ ἐζήτουν ἔτι τὴν ἀνάστασιν τῆς προαιρέσεως, ἣν ἤδη κατὰ τὴν πρακτικὴν λαβόντες εἶχον παρὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος, οὐδὲ τοὺς κατ᾽ αὐτὴν ἠρεύνων τρόπους, οὓς φθάσαντες κατώρθωσαν διὰ τῆς χάριτος, ἀλλ᾽ ἣν οὐκ εἶχον τῆς φύσεως ἐξεζήτουν ἀφθαρσίαν, καὶ τοὺς τρόπους καὶ τοὺς λόγους τῆς κατ᾽ αὐτὴν ἐξηρεύνων θεώσεως, πρὸς ἣν ἠπείγοντο τῆς κατ᾽ αὐτὴν ἐν Χριστῷ δόξης ἐπιθυμοῦντες, ἵνα, ὥσπερ συνέπαθον αὐτῷ κατὰ τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦτον, ὅν, ὡς ἔφην, καιρὸν ὠνόμασεν ὁ λόγος, οὕτως καὶ συνδοξασθῶσι κατὰ τὸν αἰῶνα τὸν μέλλοντα, κληρονόμοι μὲν ὑπὲρ φύσιν Θεοῦ κατὰ τὴν χάριν, συγκληρονόμοι δὲ Χριστοῦ, κατ᾽ οἰκονομίαν τῇ δυνάμει τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως τὴν ὅλην οἰκειουμένου φύσιν, γινόμενοι.

Θεὸς γὰρ ὑπάρχων φύσει καὶ ἄνθρωπος ὁ Χριστὸς ὑφ᾽ ἡμῶν ὡς Θεὸς ὑπὲρ φύσιν χάριτι κληρονομεῖται κατὰ τὴν ἄρρητον μέθεξιν καί, δι᾽ ἡμᾶς ἐν εἴδει τῷ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἡμᾶς οἰκειούμενος, ἑαυτὸν κληρονομεῖ σὺν ἡμῖν κατὰ τὴν ἀνεννόητον συγκατάβασιν· ὃν τῷ Πνεύματι μυστικῶς οἱ ἅγιοι προθεωρήσαντες ἐδιδάχθησαν ὡς χρὴ τῆς κατὰ τὸ μέλλον φανησομένης διὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν ἐν Χριστῷ δόξης τὰ εἰς αὐτὸν ὑπὲρ ἀρετῆς κατὰ τὸ παρὸν προκαθηγεῖσθαι παθήματα· ἐρευνῶντες γάρ, φησίν, εἰς τίνα ἢ ποῖον καιρὸν ἐδήλου τὸ ἐν αὐτοῖς Πνεῦμα Χριστοῦ προμαρτυρόμενον τὰ εἰς Χριστὸν παθήματα καὶ τὰς μετὰ ταῦτα δόξας.

Οὐκοῦν καὶ ἐξεζήτουν καὶ ἐξηρεύνων οὐ μόνον τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν τῆς φύσεως καὶ τοὺς λόγους τῆς κατ᾽ αὐτὴν ἐκθεώσεως, ἀλλὰ δὴ καὶ τὸν καιρὸν καθ᾽ ὃν ἡ διὰ παθημάτων ὑπὲρ (14Γ_176> αὐτῆς δοκιμασία γενήσεται, φανερὰν ποιουμένη τῶν τε κατ᾽ ἀλήθειαν αὐτῆς ἐφιεμένων τὴν διάθεσιν καὶ τῶν καθ᾽ ὑπόκρισιν ἐρᾶν αὐτῆς