139

for the sake of either fear or love or some other visible or invisible thing, are weakened and overlook or transgress the commandment of the God over all.

It belongs to such men to bind and to loose and to celebrate the holy mysteries and to teach, and not to those who only receive the vote and the ordination from men; "For not from himself," he says, "does one receive the honor, but he who is called by the Lord." He did not say: he who receives the vote from men, but he who has been predestined and pre-elected for this by God. For those who are from men and through men are thieves and robbers, as the Lord said: "I am the door. All who came and come not through me, but climb in some other way, are thieves and robbers."

(367) Do not be deceived, therefore, brothers, he who lives in darkness is outside the door, and he who thinks he enters but does not enter through the light, he too is outside the fold. For if Christ is the light of the world and the door, the door is certainly luminous and not simply just a door, and he who has come to be in it has come to be in the light of the world. And He is the light of the world not as seen by the senses, but as contemplated by the mind. For the physical sun illuminates only the bodily eyes not only of men but also of irrational animals, both four-footed creatures and birds; but the intelligible Sun, who has appeared in the world, illuminates only rational souls. But neither does He know how to illuminate all of these indiscriminately and unworthily; for He is not soulless or, rather, not without life, just as He is not a slave or a creature appointed to the service of others, as indeed this physical sun, which rises on the just and the unjust and on the evil as well as the good. But even if He is called light and is named sun, yet He is also above all light and above the sun, as the maker and Master of light and sun, He is life and life-giver, truth, righteousness, holiness, simple, uncompounded, good and every good and above every good. Therefore, as He is and is called truth, to those who truly turn back He becomes truth; and as He is righteousness, to those who have hated all unrighteousness He is righteousness; as holiness, to those washed and cleansed through tears; as simple, to those who bear no wickedness or evil within; as uncompounded, (368) to those who have no duplicity or double-mindedness or distrust of soul; as good, to those who to the spiritual works of repentance do not bring with them certain bodily or worldly cares and concerns and mix and mingle these things with them, but who approach him naked in mind and in the purpose of their soul in simplicity, and accepting their lack of guile, He quickly fills them with every good and, by being revealed and appearing, He at once makes them partakers of the goods beyond mind and beyond thought.

"And who," he says, "will recognize such men, if indeed such men exist even now?". He who is illuminated from above by the Spirit. But he who speaks and does not know them, why does he condescend to accept testimony from others? Does he not know that, if in ignorance he brings a wolf in among the sheep of Christ, he himself will receive the judgment for the sheep? "And who knows," he says; "he is a man and is ignorant of the things in the heart." If he is not blind, he would never be ignorant of such a man. For how will he who sees not distinguish a sheep and a wolf, a robber and a shepherd? But if he is blind to these things, let him seek a guide to lead him by the hand, or rather, let him cease from such work and discernment, neither becoming a guide for others nor appointing a guide for others, even if he has the whole world bearing witness with him. For this I say, that he who sees spiritually and hears likewise, whomever he sees and meets and often speaks with, he sees his very soul, if not in its essence, at least in its form, of what sort and kind it is. Therefore, if he has been deemed worthy to partake of the Holy Spirit (369), he knows this from his very appearance; but if he who is seen is still imperfect with respect to the

139

ἕνεκα ἤ φόβου ἤ ἀγάπης ἤ τινος ἑτέρου ὁρωμένου ἤ ἀοράτου πράγματος καταμαλακιζομένων καί παραβλεπόντων ἤ παραβαινόντων τήν ἐντολήν τοῦ ἐπί πάντων Θεοῦ.

Τῶν τοιούτων ἐστί τό δεσμεῖν καί λύειν καί ἱερουργεῖν καί διδάσκειν, οὐχί δέ τῶν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων τήν ψῆφον καί τήν χειροτονίαν μόνον λαμβανόντων· "οὐ γάρ ἀφ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ, φησί, τις τήν τιμήν λαμβάνει, ἀλλ᾿ ὁ ὑπό τοῦ Κυρίου καλούμενος". Οὐκ εἶπεν· ὁ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων τήν ψῆφον δεχόμενος, ἀλλ᾿ ὁ ἐκ Θεοῦ εἰς τοῦτο προορισθείς καί προχειρισθείς. Οἱ γάρ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων καί δι᾿ ἀνθρώπων κλέπται εἰσί καί λησταί, καθώς εἶπεν ὁ Κύριος· "Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ θύρα. Πάντες ὅσοι ἦλθον καί ἔρχονται οὐ δι᾿ ἐμοῦ, ἀλλά ἀλλαχόθεν ἐπιβαίνοντες, κλέπται εἰσί καί λησταί".

(367) Μή οὖν πλανᾶσθε, ἀαδελφοί, ὁ ἐν σκότει διάγων ἔξω τῆς θύρας ἐστίν, ὁ δέ δοκῶν εἰσελθεῖν καί οὐ διά τοῦ φωτός εἰσελθών, ἔξω καί αὐτός τῆς μάνδρας ἐστίν. Εἰ γάρ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου καί θύρα ὁ Χριστός, φωτοειδής πάντως θύρα ἐστί καί οὐχί θύρα μόνον ἁπλῶς, καί ὁ ἐν ταύτῃ γεγονώς ἐν τῷ τοῦ κόσμου φωτί γέγονε. Φῶς δέ τοῦ κόσμου ἐστίν οὐχ ὡς αἰσθητῶς ὁρώμενος, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς νοερῶς θεωρούμενος. Ὁ γάρ αἰσθητός ἥλιος μόνον φωτίζει τά σωματικά ὄμματα οὐκ ἀνθρώπων ἀλλά καί ἀλόγων ζῴων, τετραπόδων ἅμα καί πετεινῶν· ὁ δέ νοητός ἥλιος, ὁ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἐπιφανείς, ψυχάς λογικάς μόνον. Ἀλλ᾿ οὐδέ ταύτας ἀκρίτως πάσας καί ἀναξίως φωτίζειν οἶδεν· οὐ γάρ ἄψυχος ἤ, μᾶλλον εἰπεῖν, οὐκ ἄζωός ἐστιν, ὥσπερ οὐδέ δοῦλος ἤ κτίσμα εἰς ὑπηρεσίαν ἄλλων ταχθείς, καθά δή ὁ αἰσθητός οὗτος ἥλιος ἀνατέλλων ἐπί δικαίους καί ἀδίκους καί ἐπί πονηρούς ἅμα καί ἀγαθούς. Ἀλλ᾿ εἰ καί φῶς καλεῖται καί ἥλιος ὀνομάζεται, ἀλλά καί ὑπέρ φῶς ἅπαν καί ὑπέρ ἥλιον, ὡς φωτός καί ἡλίου ποιητής καί ∆εσπότης, ὑπάρχει ζωή καί ζωοποιός, ἀλήθεια, δικαιοσύνη ἁγιασμός, ἁπλοῦς, ἀσύνθετος, ἀγαθός καί πᾶν ἀγαθόν καί ὑπέρ πᾶν ἀγαθόν. Ὡς οὖν ἀλήθεια καί ὤν καί καλούμενος, τοῖς ἀληθῶς ἐπιστρέφουσιν ἀλήθεια γίνεται· ὡς δέ δικαιοσύνη ὑπάρχων, τοῖς πᾶσαν ἀδικίαν μισήσασι δικαιοσύνη ἐστίν· ὡς ἁγιασμός , τοῖς ἐκπλυθεῖσι καί καθαρθεῖσι διά δακρύων· ὡς ἁπλοῦς, τοῖς μηδεμίαν πονηρίαν ἤ κακίαν ἔνδοθεν ἐπιφέρουσιν· ὡς ἀσύνθετος, (368) τοῖς μηδεμίαν διπλόην ἤ διψυχίαν ἤ δυσπιστίαν ψυχῆς ἔχουσιν· ὡς ἀγαθός, τοῖς τῆς μετανοίας πνευματικοῖς ἔργοις σωματικάς τινας ἤ βιωτικάς μερίμνας καί φροντίδας μή συνεπαγομένοις καί τούτοις ἀναμιγνύουσι καί ἀναφύρουσιν αὐτάς, ἀλλά γυμνοῖς τῇ γνώμῃ καί τῇ τῆς ψυχῆς προθέσει ἐν ἀκακίᾳ προσερχομένοις αὐτῷ, ὧν καί ἀποδεχόμενος τό ἀπερίεργον παντός ἀγαθοῦ συντόμως τούτους ἐμπλίπλησι καί τῶν ὑπέρ νοῦν καί ὑπέρ ἔννοιαν ἀγαθῶν κοινωνούς εὐθύς τῷ ἀποκαλυφθῆναι καί φανῆναι ἀποκαθίστησι.

"Καί τίς, φησί, τούς τοιούτους, εἰ ἄρα τοιοῦτοί εἰσι καί νῦν, ἐπιγνώσεται;". Ὁ ἄνωθεν ὑπό τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐλλαμπόμενος. Ὁ δέ λέγων καί μή γινώσκων αὐτούς, τί καί μαρτυρίαν παρά ἄλλων καταδέχεται δέξασθαι; Οὐκ οἶδεν ὅτι, κἄν ἀγνοῶν εἰσαγάγῃ λύκον εἰς τά πρόβατα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, αὐτός τῶν προβάτων τό κρῖμα λήψεται; "Καί τίς γινώσκει, φησίν· ἄνθρωπος ὑπάρχει καί ἀγνοεῖ τά ἐν καρδίᾳ". Εἰ μή τυφλός ἐστιν, οὐκ ἄν ἀγνοήσῃ τόν τοιοῦτόν ποτε. Πῶς γάρ ὁ βλέπων οὐ διαχωρίσει πρόβατον καί λύκον, ληστήν καί ποιμένα; Εἰ δέ τυφλός ἐστι πρός ταῦτα, χειραγωγόν καί ὁδηγόν ἐπιζητησάτω, μᾶλλον καί τῆς τοιαύτης ἐργασίας καί διακρίσεως παυσάσθω, μήτε ὁδηγός ἄλλων γενόμενος μήτε ὁδηγόν ἑτέροις ἀποκαθιστῶν, κἄν ὅλον ἔχῃ τόν κόσμον συμμαρτυροῦντα αὐτῷ. Τοῦτο γάρ ἐγώ λέγω, ὅτι ὁ βλέπων πνευματικῶς καί ἀκούων ὡσαύτως, ὅν ἄν ἴδῃ καί συντύχῃ καί πολλάκις προσομιλήσῃ, αὐτήν αὐτοῦ βλέπει τήν ψυχήν, εἰ καί μή κατ᾿ οὐσίαν, ἀλλά κατ᾿ ἰδέαν, ὁποία ἐστί καί ποταπή. Τοίνυν, εἰ καί Πνεύματος Ἁγίου (369) μεταλαβεῖν κατηξιώθῃ, ἐξ αὐτῆς αὐτοῦ τῆς ὄψεως τοῦτο γινώσκει· εἰ δέ ἔτι ἀτελής ὁ βλεπόμενος πρός τήν