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sparing the flesh, refusing the way of the commandments as impassable because of the roughness of the labors of virtue.

The crooked things, therefore, are made straight when the intellect, having freed the members of the body from the passions, that is, having cut off the senses and the other activities that accord with pleasure, would teach them to be moved according to the simple principle of nature; and the rough places, that is, the assaults of involuntary temptations, will become smooth ways; especially when the intellect, rejoicing and being glad, is well pleased in weaknesses and afflictions and necessities, through involuntary labors removing the entire dominion of the voluntary passions. For he who desires the true life, knowing that every labor, whether voluntary or involuntary, becomes the death of pleasure, the mother of death, will accept all the rough assaults of involuntary temptations with gladness, rejoicing through patience, making afflictions easy and smooth ways, which unerringly escort him to the prize of the high calling, as he piously runs the divine race in them.

Everyone, therefore, who has dissolved through self-control the much-twisted and complex pleasure, which is in many ways intertwined with all the senses together, has made the crooked things straight; and he who has trodden down through patience the impassable and rough assault of labors has made the rough places into smooth ways. Wherefore, as a prize for virtue and for the labors on its behalf, having contended well and lawfully, as it were, and having conquered pleasure by the desire for virtue, and having trodden down pain by the love of knowledge, and through both having nobly borne the divine contests, he shall see the salvation of God. For he says, "And all flesh shall see the salvation of God." All flesh, that is, the faithful; according to, "I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh"; that is, upon those who have believed. Therefore, not simply all flesh shall see the salvation of God; for neither shall the flesh of the ungodly, if the declaration is true. "Let the ungodly be taken away, that he may not see the glory of the Lord"; but specifically, all faithful flesh. And from the part of the flesh, the scriptural word usually signifies the whole man, as if crying out, "And every man shall see the salvation of God." Every man, that is, who has heard the voice crying in the wilderness; and according to the account of contemplation which has been given, having prepared the way of the Lord, and having made his paths straight, and having filled up, through the tearing down of the intelligible and wicked mountains and hills, the soul, a ravine, which through its own hollowness during the transgression of the divine commandment afforded the height and stature to the (429) aforementioned wicked mountains and hills, and working the humiliation of the wicked powers by this filling up; and having made straight the crooked things of the voluntary passions, that is, the movements of pleasure, through self-control; and the rough calamities of involuntary temptations, that is, the modes of pain, having smoothed through patience and established as smooth ways; such a one will rightly see the Salvation of God, having become pure in heart; in which state he sees God at the completion of his struggles through the virtues and the pious contemplations, according to, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God"; having received in exchange for the labors for virtue the grace of dispassion, than which nothing more manifests God to those who possess it.

In which respect, perhaps, for those seeking the higher objects of contemplation, it is also possible to see in another way, as in a wilderness, in the soul deprived of passions, the voice, through the virtues, of the divine wisdom and knowledge that cries without a voice; for upon all according to the proportion of each, the one and the same Word comes to all, passing through each; and bestowing in advance the grace that prepares each one for his presence, as a forerunner voice; in some, becoming repentance, as a forerunner of future righteousness; in others, virtue, as a preparation for expected knowledge; and in others, knowledge,

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σάρκα φειδοῖ, τήν ὁδόν τῶν ἐντολῶν ὡς δύσβατον διά τήν τραχύτητα τῶν πόνων τῆς ἀρετῆς παραιτούμενος.

Ἰθύνεται μέν οὖν τά σκολιά, ὅταν ὁ νοῦς τά μέλη τοῦ σώματος τῶν παθῶν ἐλευθερώσας, ἤγουν τά αἰσθητήρια καί τά λοιπά τῆς καθ᾿ ἡδονήν ἐκκόψας ἐνεργείας, κατά τόν ἁπλοῦν τῆς φύσεως λόγον αὐτά κινεῖσθαι διδάξειεν· αἱ δέ τραχεῖαι, τουτέστιν αἱ τῶν ἀκουσίων πειρασμῶν ἐπιφοραί, ἔσονται εἰς ὁδούς λείας· ὅταν μάλιστα χαίρων καί εὐφραινόμενος ὁ νοῦς, ἐν ἀσθενείαις εὐδοκεῖ καί θλίψεσι καί ἀνάγκαις· διά τῶν ἀκουσίων πόνων τήν ὅλην τῶν ἑκουσίων παθῶν ἀφαιρούμενος δυναστείαν. Ὁ γάρ τῆς ἀληθοῦς ἐφιέμενος ζωῆς, γνούς ὅτι πᾶς πόνος, εἴτε ἑκούσιος εἴτε ἀκούσιος, τῆς τοῦ θανάτου μητρός ἡδονῆς γίνεται θάνατος, πάσας τάς τραχείας τῶν ἀκουσίων πειρασμῶν ἐπιφοράς δέξεται μετ᾿ εὐφροσύνης, χαίρων διά τῆς ὑπομονῆς, ὁδούς εὐμαρεῖς τε καί λείας τάς θλίψεις ποιούμενος, πρός τό βραβεῖον τῆς ἄνω κλήσεως ἀπλανῶς παραπεμπούσας αὐτόν, εὐσεβῶς ἐν αὐταῖς τόν θεῖον δρόμον ποιούμενον.

Πᾶς τοιγαροῦν τήν πολυέλικτόν τε καί πολύπλοκον ἡδονήν, καί πᾶσιν ὁμοῦ τοῖς αἰσθητηρίοις πολυτρόπως συμπεπλεγμένην τῇ ἐγκρατείᾳ διαλύσας, τά σκολιά εἰς εὐθεῖαν ἐποίησε· καί ὁ τήν δύσβατον καί τραχεῖαν τῶν πόνων ἐπιφοράν δι᾿ ὑπομονῆς πατήσας, τάς τραχείας ἐποίησεν εἰς ὁδούς λείας. Ὅθεν ὥσπερ ἔπαθλον ἀρετῆς, καί τῶν ὑπέρ αὐτῆς καμάτων, οἷον καλῶς τε καί νομίμως ἀθλήσας, καί τήν ἡδονήν νικήσας τῷ πόθῳ τῆς ἀρετῆς, καί τήν ὀδύνην πατήσας τῷ τῆς γνώσεως ἔρωτι, καί δι᾿ ἀμφοτέρων γενναίως τούς θείους διενέγκας ἀγῶνας, ὄψεται τό σωτήριον τοῦ Θεοῦ. Καί ὄψεται γάρ, φησί, πᾶσα σάρξ τό σωτήριον τοῦ Θεοῦ. Πᾶσα σάρξ, δηλονότι πιστή· κατά τό, Ἐκχεῶ ἀπό τοῦ Πνεύματός μου ἐπί πᾶσαν σάρκα· δηλαδή τήν πιστεύσασαν. Οὐχ ἁπλῶς οὖν πᾶσα σάρξ ὄψεται τό σωτήριον τοῦ Θεοῦ· οὔτε γάρ ἡ τῶν ἀσεβῶν σάρξ, εἴπερ ἀληθής ὁ ἀποφαινόμενος λόγος. Ἀρθήτω ὁ ἀσεβής, ἵνα μή ἴδῃ τήν δόξαν Κυρίου· ἀλλά προσδιωρισμένως πᾶσα πιστή σάρξ. Ἐκ μέρους δέ τῆς σαρκός, τόν ὅλον ἄνθρωπον σημαίνει συνήθως ὁ Γραφικός λόγος, οἱονεί βοῶν, Καί ὄψεται πᾶς ἄνθρωπος τό σωτήριον τοῦ Θεοῦ. Πᾶς ἄνθρωπος, ἀκούσας δηλονότι τῆς ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ φωνῆς βοώσης· καί κατά τόν ἀποδοθέντα τῆς θεωρίας λόγον, ἑτοιμάσας τήν ὁδόν τοῦ Κυρίου, καί εὐθείας ποιήσας τάς τρίβους αὐτοῦ, καί πληρώσας διά τῆς τῶν νοητῶν καί πονηρῶν ὀρέων καί βουνῶν καθαιρέσεως, τήν διά τοῦ ἰδίου κοιλώματος παρασχομένην κατά τήν παράβασιν τῆς θείας ἐντολῆς τοῖς (429) εἰρημένοις πονηροῖς ὄρεσι καί βουνοῖς τό ὕψος καί τό ἀνάστημα, φάραγγα ψυχήν, καί τήν ταύτης ἀναπλήρωσιν, τῶν πονηρῶν ∆υνάμεων ταπείνωσιν ἐργαζόμενος· καί τά σκολιά τῶν ἑκουσίων παθῶν, ἤγουν τῆς ἡδονῆς τά κινήματα, διά τῆς ἐγκρατείας εὐθύνας· καί τάς τραχείας τῶν ἀκουσίων πειρασμῶν συμφοράς, ἤγουν τούς τρόπους τῆς ὀδύνης διά τῆς ὑπομονῆς ὁμαλίσας, καί εἰς ὁδούς λείας καταστήσας· ὁ τοιοῦτος εἰκότως ὄψεται τό Σωτήριον τοῦ Θεοῦ, καθαρός τῇ καρδίᾳ γενόμενος· καθ᾿ ἥν διά τῶν ἀρετῶν, καί τῶν εὐσεβῶν θεωρημάτων ὁρᾶ τόν Θεόν ἐπί τέλει τῶν ἄθλων, κατά τό, Μακάριοι οἱ καθαροί τῇ καρδίᾳ, ὅτι αὐτοί τόν Θεόν ὄψονται· τῶν ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς πόνων, τῆς ἀπαθείας τήν χάριν ἀντιλαβών, ἧς οὐδέν πλεῖον τόν Θεόν ἐμφανίζει τοῖς ἔχουσι.

Καθ᾿ ὅ τυχόν τοῖς τά ὑψηλότερα ζητοῦσι τῶν θεωρημάτων, καί ἄλλως πάρεστιν ὁρᾷν, ὡς ἐν ἐρήμῳ, τῇ ἐστερημένῃ παθῶν ψυχῇ, τήν διά τῶν ἀρετῶν φωνήν τῆς ἀφώνως βοώσης θείας σοφίας καί γνώσεως· ἐπί πάντα κατά τήν ἀναλογίαν ἑκάστου πᾶσιν ὁ εἷς καί αὐτός γίνεται Λόγος, χωρῶν δι᾿ ἑκάστου· καί ὡς πρόδρομον φωνήν, τήν προκατασκευάζουσαν ἕκαστον πρός τήν αὐτοῦ παρουσίαν προδωρούμενος χάριν· ἐν μέν τοῖς γινομένην μετάνοιαν, ὡς μελλούσης δικαιοσύνης πρόδρομον· ἐν δέ τοῖς ἀρετήν, ὡς προσδοκωμένης γνώσεως προκαταρτισμόν· ἐν ἄλλοις δέ γνῶσιν,