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may reach also to us, so that always walking in the light, we may never stumble, not even for a moment.

But Chrysostom the theologian, teaching what is the light, which shall break forth early for the one who shows mercy, says, "it is not this perceptible one, but another much better one, which shows us heaven and the angels and the royal courts. For if you are deemed worthy of this light, you will see these things, and you will be delivered from Gehenna and you will depart to where pain and sorrow have fled away, where there is much joy and peace and love, where there is eternal life and ineffable glory and indescribable beauty. Therefore let us bear all things with ease, so that we may obtain the garment of the kingdom of heaven and of that secret glory."

But let us trace the argument back to another beginning and return to the words of the great Macarius, to which are attached the principles and propositions of the empty-minded one's arguments, from which he thinks to conclude something against us and the truth, which we shall set forth and refute.

SECOND DISCOURSE AGAINST THE SECOND [ARGUMENTS] (p. 646)

A CATALOGUE OF THE ABSURDITIES THAT RESULT

FROM THE PROPOSITIONS OF THE PHILOSOPHER BARLAAM

One of the initiates asked, if it is possible for a man to abide in the aforementioned

state. Symeon, then, the translator, who is both skillful and prolific, sweet and inspired, speaking as in the person of the great Macarius to the one who asked, says: "Grace is never not present and becomes like something natural and fixed in the person with whom it is present. But though it is one, it manages things in many ways, as it wishes, for the person's benefit. And the light sometimes shines more brightly, and at other times is withdrawn, although the lamp burns unquenchably. But when it brightens more, then the person is examined, as if in a greater drunkenness of God's love." And again, in the seventy-fourth chapter, he says: the soul that has received back its own pure nature "beholds the glory of the true light with clear and unhindered eyes," and such people, "although they are clothed with the weight of the flesh, yet because of the earnest of the Spirit their hopes lie in a place of safety, and that they reign together with Christ and will be in an abundance and superabundance of the Spirit is for them nothing to be doubted. For from that very moment they are already caught up to that age and they see the beauties and wonders there. For just as the bodily eye, being unaffected and healthy, gazes confidently at the rays of the sun, so also do these, using a luminous and thoroughly purified mind, continually behold the unsetting rays of the Lord." And again, he says, "such an illumination of the Spirit is not merely a revelation of thoughts (p. 648) and an illumination of grace, as has been said, but a firm and continuous illumination of hypostatic light in their souls. For the saying, 'the light will shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts for the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of Christ,' and, 'enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep unto death,' that is, so that when the flesh is dissolved the soul may not be darkened by the veil of the death of wickedness, and also, 'uncover my eyes and I will understand the wonderful things from Your law,' and, "send forth your light and

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φθάσαι καί εἰς ἡμᾶς, ἵνα πάντοτε ἐν τῷ φωτί περιπατοῦντες, μηδέποτε κἄν πρός βραχύ προσκόψωμεν.

Ὁ δέ Χρυσόστομος θεολόγος, διδάσκων τί ἐστι τό φῶς, ὅ ραγήσεται πρώϊμον τῷ ἐλεοῦντι, «οὐ τοῦτο», φησίν, «ἐστί τό αἰσθητόν, ἀλλ᾿ ἕτερον πολλῷ βέλτιον, ὅ τόν οὐρανόν ἡμῖν δείκνυσι καί τούς ἀγγέλους καί τάς αὐλάς τάς βασιλικάς˙ ἄν γάρ τοῦ φωτός τούτου καταξιωθῇς, καί ταῦτα ὄψει, καί ἀπαλλαγήσῃ γεέννης καί ἀπελεύσῃ ἔνθα ἀπέδρα ὀδύνη καί λύπη, ἔνθα πολλή ἡ χαρά καί ἡ εἰρήνη καί ἡ ἀγάπη, ἔνθα ζωή αἰώνιος καί δόξα ἄρρητος καί κάλλος ἄφραστον˙ πάντα τοίνυν φέρωμεν εὐκόλως, ἵνα τοῦ ἐνδύματος ἐπιτύχωμεν τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν καί τῆς ἀπορρήτου δόξης ἐκείνης».

Ἀλλά γάρ εἰς ἀρχήν ἑτέραν ἀναγαγόντες τόν λόγον ἐπανέλθωμεν εἰς τά τοῦ μεγάλου Μακαρίου οἷς συνημμένως τάς ἀρχάς καί προτάσεις τῶν τοῦ κενόφρονος λόγων, ἀφ᾿ ὧν οἴεταί τι καθ᾿ ἡμῶν καί τῆς ἀληθείας συμπεραίνειν, προθέντες εἰς μέσον ἀπελέγξομεν.

ΛΟΓΟΣ ∆ΕΥΤΕΡΟΣ ΚΑΤΑ ΤΩΝ ∆ΕΥΤΕΡΩΝ (σελ. 646)

ΚΑΤΑΛΟΓΟΣ ΤΩΝ ΕΚΒΑΙΝΟΝΤΩΝ ΑΤΟΠΩΝ

ΕΚ ΤΩΝ ΤΟΥ ΦΙΛΟΣΟΦΟΥ ΒΑΡΛΑΑΜ ΠΡΟΤΑΣΕΩΝ

Ἤρετό τις τῶν εἰσαγομένων, εἰ δυνατόν ἀνθρώπῳ τῇ προειρημένῃ διαρκεῖν

καταστάσει. Συμεώνης τοίνυν ὁ περιδέξιος καί πολύς ἀμφότερον, ἡδύς τε καί ἔνθεος μεταφραστής, ὡς ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ μεγάλου Μακαρίου πρός τόν ἐρωτήσαντά φησιν˙ «ἡ μέν χάρις οὐκ ἔστιν ὅτε μή σύνεστι καί ὡς φυσικόν τι καί πεπηγός ἐγγίνεται τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ ᾧ σύνεστι μία δέ οὖσα, πολυτρόπως, ὡς ἐθέλει, πρός τό τοῦ ἀνθρώπου συμφέρον οἰκονομεῖ καί τό φῶς ἔστι μέν ὅτε μᾶλλον ἐκλάμπει, ἔστι δ᾿ ὅτε καί συστέλλεται, καίτοι γε τῆς λαμπάδος ἄσβεστα καιομένης˙ ὅταν δέ φαιδρυνθῇ πλέον, τότε καθάπερ ἐν μέθῃ πλείονι τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀγάπης καί ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐξετάζεται». Ἐν δέ τῷ ἑβδομηκοστῷ τετάρτῳ κεφαλαίῳ πάλιν φησίν˙ ἡ καθαράν τήν ἰδίαν ἀπολαβοῦσα φύσιν ψυχή «τρανοῖς καί ἀνεπικωλύτοις ὀφθαλμοῖς τήν δόξαν τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ φωτός κατοπτεύει» καί οἱ τοιοῦτοι ἄνθρωποι «καίτοι τό βάρος περικείμενοι τῆς σαρκός, ἀλλ᾿ οὖν διά τόν ἀρραβῶνα τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐν τῷ ἀσφαλεῖ αὐτοῖς κεῖται τά τῶν ἐλπίδων, καί ὅτι συμβασιλεύουσι τῷ Χριστῷ καί ἐν πλεονασμῷ καί περιουσίᾳ Πνεύματος ἔσονται οὐδέν αὐτοῖς τό ἐνδοιαζόμενον˙ αὐτόθεν γάρ ἤδη πρός ἐκεῖνον ἁρπάζονται τόν αἰῶνα καί τά ἐκεῖ κάλλη καί θαύματα καθορῶσι˙ καθάπερ γάρ ὁ σωματικός ἀφθλαμός, ἀπαθῶς τε καί ὑγιῶς ἔχων, ταῖς ἡλιακαῖς αὐγαῖς θαρρούντως ἐνατενίζει, οὕτω καί οὗτοι φωτεινῷ χρώμενοι καί διακεκαθαρμένῳ τῷ νῷ, τάς ἀδύτους αὐγάς Κυρίου διαπαντός ἐποπτεύουσι». Καί πάλιν, «ἡ τοιαύτη», φησί, «τοῦ Πνεύματος ἔλλαμψις οὐχ οἷον νοημάτων μόνον ἀποκάλυψίς ἐστι (σελ. 648) καί φωτισμός χάριτος, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, ἀλλ᾿ ὑποστατικοῦ φωτός ἐν ταῖς ψυχαῖς βεβαία καί διηνεκής ἔλλαμψις˙ τό γάρ εἰπεῖν "ἐκ σκότους φῶς λάμψει ὅς ἔλαμψεν ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν πρός φωτισμόν τῆς γνώσεως τῆς δόξης τοῦ Χριστοῦ", καί τό, "φώτισον τούς ὀφθαλμούς μου, μήποτε ὑπνώσω εἰς θάνατον" , τουτέστιν, ἵνα μή λυομένης τῆς σαρκός ἡ ψυχή ἐπισκοτῆται τῷ τοῦ θανάτου τῆς κακίας καλύμματι, πρός δέ καί τό, "ἀποκάλυψον τούς ὀφθαλμούς μου καί κατανοήσω τά θαυμάσια ἐκ τοῦ νόμου σου", καί τό, «ἐξαπόστειλον τό φῶς σου καί