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for the sake of flattery and pleasing men and of display, practicing to pursue virtue or the study of the divine words, but doing and saying and thinking all things for God's sake. For the divine Word is not wont to frequent paths that are not straight, even if he finds the way ready in some. I mean something like this: Someone fasts, and abstains from the diet that ignites the passions; and he does the other things that are able to contribute to the release from wickedness. This man has prepared the so-called way, but for the sake of vainglory, or greed, or flattery, or pleasing men, or for some other reason, apart from pleasing God, he practices such ways, (425) this man has not made straight the paths of God; and he has endured the labor of preparing the way, but has not had God walking on his paths. The way of the Lord, therefore, is virtue; and a straight path is the right and guileless manner that exists according to virtue.

Every valley shall be filled; of those, clearly, who have prepared the way of the Lord well, and who have made his paths straight. For not simply, nor of all; for not of those who have not prepared the way of the Lord, and made his paths straight. And a valley is the flesh of each person, either furrowed by the great torrent of the passions, and its spiritual continuity and connection to the soul, according to the law of God that bound them together, having been severed. But it is also possible for the soul to be understood as a valley, having been hollowed out by the great storm of wickedness, and having lost the beauty of its good evenness in spirit through wickedness. Every valley, therefore, that is, the flesh and soul of those who have prepared the way of the Lord, and made his paths straight, will be filled through the casting off of the passions, which cause them an unevenness like valleys; and receiving back its natural surface from the introduction of the virtues, made level with the spirit.

And every mountain and hill shall be brought low. With the valleys, as it seems, the mountains and hills are somehow especially wont to be associated. A mountain is every height that raises itself against the knowledge of God; and a hill, every wickedness that rises up against virtue; that is, mountains are the spirits that work ignorance; and hills, those that produce wickedness; whenever, manifestly, every valley, that is, the flesh or soul of those who have prepared, as I said, the way of the Lord, and made his paths straight, through the presence of the Word of God who walks in them through the commandments, is filled with knowledge and virtue; all things of falsely-called knowledge and of wickedness are brought low in spirit, as the Word of God himself treads on and subdues them, and casts down the evil power that raises itself against human nature, and, as it were, digs down the size and height of the mountains and the hills, and brings them to the filling of the valleys. For in reality, if one will take away by the power of the Word all those things which the demons, having taken from nature, have fashioned into unnatural ignorance and wickedness, in no way will the height of ignorance or wickedness subsist in any manner whatsoever; just as neither would a mountain or hill of those that appear to the senses, if there were some device for men to dig down the mountains themselves, and the hills, and to fill up the valleys.

The bringing low, therefore, of the intelligible and evil mountains and hills, is the restoration of the powers according to nature of both the flesh and the soul to themselves; by which the God-loving mind, naturally thriving in the wealth (428) of virtue and of knowledge, passes smoothly through this age, and is borne headlong toward the ageless and incorruptible world of the intelligible and holy powers. Neither being led astray by the voluntary passions of the flesh through pleasure that is crooked in many ways; nor being roughened by involuntary temptations through pain; concerning the

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κολακείας χάριν καί ἀνθρωπαρεσκείας καί ἐπιδείξεως, τήν ἀρετήν ἤ τήν μελέτην τῶν θείων λόγων μετελθεῖν ἐπιτηδεύοντες, ἀλλά πάντα διά τόν Θεόν καί ποιοῦντες καί λέγοντες καί διανοούμενοι. Τρίβοις γάρ οὐκ εὐθείαις ὁ θεῖος οὐ πέφυκεν ἐμφιλοχωρεῖν Λόγος, κἄν εὕρῃ τήν ὁδόν ἔν τισιν ἕτοιμον. Οἷόν τι λέγω· Νηστεύει τις, καί ἀπέχεται τῆς ἐξαπτικῆς τῶν παθῶν διαίτης· τά ἄλλα τε ποιεῖ, ὅσα πρός ἀπαλλαγήν κακίας συμβάλλεσθαι δύναται. Τήν λεγομένην ὁδόν οὗτος ἡτοίμασε κενοδοξίας δέ, ἤ πλεονεξίας, ἤ κολακείας, ἤ ἀνθρωπαρεσκείας, ἤ ἄλλης τινός ἕνεκεν αἰτίας, δίχα τῆς θείας εὐαρεστήσεως, τούς τοιούτους ἐπιτηδεύει τρόπους, (425) οὗτος εὐθείας οὐκ ἐποίησε τάς τρίβους τοῦ Θεοῦ· καί τό μέν τῆς ἑτοιμασίας τῆς ὁδοῦ πόνον ὑπέμεινε, τόν δέ Θεόν οὐκ ἔσχε ταῖς αὐτοῦ τρίβοις ἐμπεριπατοῦντα. Ὁδός οὖν τοῦ Κυρίου ἐστίν ἡ ἀρετή· εὐθεῖα δέ τρίβος, ὁ κατ᾿ ἀρετήν ὑπάρχει ὀρθός τρόπος καί ἄδολος.

Πᾶσα φάραγξ πληρωθήσεται· τῶν ἑτοιμασαμένων δηλονότι καλῶς τήν ὁδόν τοῦ Κυρίου, καί εὐθείας ποιησαμένων τάς αὐτοῦ τρίβους. Οὐ γάρ ἁπλῶς, οὐδέ πάντων· οὔτε γάρ τῶν μή ἑτοιμασάντων τήν ὁδόν τοῦ Κυρίου, καί εὐθείας ποιησάντων τάς τρίβους αὐτοῦ. Φάραγξ δέ ἐστιν, ἡ τοῦ καθ᾿ ἕκαστον σάρξ, ἤ τῷ πολλῷ ῥεύματι τῶν παθῶν ἐγχαραδρωθεῖσα, καί τήν πρός τήν ψυχήν κατά τόν συνδήσαντα Θεοῦ νόμον πνευματικήν διατμηθεῖσα συνέχειάν τε καί συνάφειαν. ∆υνατόν δέ καί τήν ψυχήν φάραγγα νοηθῆναι, τῷ πολλῷ χειμῶνι τῆς κακίας κοιλανθεῖσαν, καί τῆς ἐν πνεύματι καλῆς ὁμαλότητος διά τῆς κακίας τό κάλλος ἀποθεμένην. Πᾶσα τοίνυν φάραγξ, ἤγουν σάρξ καί ψυχή τῶν ἑτοιμασάντων τήν ὁδόν τοῦ Κυρίου, καί εὐθείας ποιησάντων τάς τρίβους αὐτοῦ, πληρωθήσεται διά τῆς ἀποβολῆς τῶν παθῶν, τῶν ποιούντων αὐταῖς φαράγγων δίκην τήν ἀνωμαλίαν· καί τῆς τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐπαγωγῆς ἀπολαβοῦσα τήν φυσικήν ἐπιφάνειαν, ὁμαλισθεῖσαν τῷ πνεύματι.

Καί πᾶν ὄρος καί βουνός ταπεινωθήσεται. Ταῖς φάραγξιν, ὡς ἔοικε, μάλιστα πεφύκασί πως συνίστασθαι τά ὄρη καί οἱ βουνοί. Ὄρος ἐστί πᾶν ὕψωμα ἐπαιρόμενον κατά τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ· βουνός δέ, πᾶσα κακία κατεπανισταμένη τῆς ἀρετῆς· ἤγουν ὄρη μέν εἰσι τά ἐνεργητικά τῆς ἀγνωσίας πνεύματα· βουνοί δέ, τά ποιητικά τῆς κακίας· ὁπηνίκα προδήλως πᾶσα φάραγξ, ἤγουν σάρξ ἤ ψυχή τῶν ἑτοιμασάντων, ὡς εἶπον, τήν ὁδόν τοῦ Κυρίου, καί εὐθείας ποιησάντων τάς τρίβους αὐτοῦ, διά τῆς τοῦ περιπατοῦντος ἐν αὐτοῖς διά τῶν ἐντολῶν Θεοῦ Λόγου παρουσίας, πληρωθῇ γνώσεως καί ἀρετῆς· πάντα τά τῆς ψευδωνύμου γνώσεως, καί τά τῆς κακίας πνεύματι ταπεινοῦται, πατοῦντος αὐτοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου καί ὑποτάσσοντος, καί τό ἐπαιρόμενον κατά τῆς ᾶνθρωπίνης φύσεως πονηρόν κράτος καταβάλλοντος, καί οἷον τό μέγεθος καί ὕψος τῶν ὀρέων καί τῶν βουνῶν κατασκάπτοντος, καί εἰς τήν τῶν φαράγγων ἄγοντος ἀναπλήρωσιν. Τῷ ὄντι γάρ, εἰ πάντα λήψεταί τις διά τῆς τοῦ Λόγου δυνάμεως, ὅσα παρά τῆς φύσεως λαβόντες οἱ δαίμονες, τήν περί φύσιν ἀγνωσίαν τε καί κακίαν ἐδημιούργησαν· οὐδαμῶς ὑποστήσεται καθ᾿ οἷον δήποτε τρόπον ἀγνωσίας ἤ κακίας ὕψος· ὥσπερ οὐδέ ὄρος ἤ βουνός τῶν αἰσθητῶς φαινομένων, εἰ μηχανή τις ἦν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις αὐτά μέν κατασκάψαι τά ὄρη, καί τούς βουνούς καί τάς φάραγγας ἀναπληρῶσαι.

Ταπείνωσις οὖν ἐστι τῶν νοητῶν καί πονηρῶν ὀρέων καί βουνῶν, ἡ τῆς σαρκός τε καί τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς πρός ἑαυτάς τῶν κατά φύσιν δυνάμεων ἀποκατάστασις· καθ᾿ ἥν φυσικῶς εὐθηνούμενος τῷ πλούτῳ (428) τῆς ἀρετῆς καί τῆς γνώσεως ὁ φιλόθεος νοῦς, ὁμαλῶς διαπορεύεται τόν αἰῶνα τοῦτον, καί πρός τόν ἀγήρω καί ἄφθαρτον προτροπάδην φέρεται κόσμον τῶν νοητῶν καί ἁγίων δυνάμεων. Μήτε τοῖς ἑκουσίοις τῆς σαρκός πάθεσι διά τῆς πολυτρόπως σκολιευομένης πλανώμενος ἡδονῆς· μήτε τοῖς ἀκουσίοις πειρασμοῖς διά τῆς ὀδύνης τραχυνόμενος· τῇ περί τήν