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The principle of changing things is pedagogy. All things change into one another, and each is converted into each; and through each other they ratify their own corruption rather than their generation.

Let us not, therefore, bind the incorruptible soul to temporary things; nor let us weigh down the mind, dragging it to the earth with care for material things, since it is by nature free from matter. Let us by reason naturally separate from each other things that never in essence (377) coincide with each other; and there will be no trouble left for us to draw away from passionate attachment to corruptible things the soul which is uncompounded and in no way capable of admitting the dissolution of its nature. Let us flee Sodom: the deception of the senses concerning sensible things; I mean also the confusion, so that we may flee the conflagration: the punishment, I say, that surely follows these things by fire. Let us be saved on the mountain, that is, to the height of the life according to God, so that we may not be taken along with them, we who have not yet been entirely removed from the senses, even if, like the blessed Lot, we seem to be inactive in wickedness, by not cooperating with the Sodomites in similar things; that is, with the passions that come through the senses, the things appropriate to the passions. Let us run past, with all our strength, the things that run past, which can in no way be held by us, having as their very nature a transient, flowing subsistence; which engender in us only an ill-imprinted disposition of the soul concerning them, on account of which every torment is destined to be inflicted upon the condemned. Let us eagerly give up all things, or let us lend them to God through those in need, things of which deprivation naturally follows us by necessity. Let us give up by our judgment, according to our will, things which by nature and necessity both give up and are given up. Let us not make the soul, which naturally images its own Creator, a captive to things that come to be and pass away through an irrational attachment; the soul which never receives an end after it has come into being, and is commanded always to seek God through all things, and to hasten toward Him. Let us not wish to have what we cannot hold; nor indeed be attached as to eternal things to those that are certainly passing away. For the form of this world is passing away, as the Saint said; and: Heaven and earth will pass away, as the God of the Saint has said; and let us receive the divine decree without falsehood, and let us by faith in the word attain its power, and let us be assured by clear proof of the outcome of what is said. For of whatever the parts are subject to corruption and change, as one of our wise men said, of this also the whole clearly is, even if the time has not yet arrived in effect, in which the whole will undergo these things; since also every man, from what he suffers each day, knows by nature that he will die, even if death is not yet present in reality,

Let us, therefore, belong to ourselves, and to God; or rather, to God alone, but not at all to the flesh and to the world. Let us be prepared to call upon our God according to what is written: Prepare to call upon your God, O Israel; which is, let us be cleansed from evil marks and defilements, having cast off from ourselves even the bare imaginings of the passions, as far as possible. For thus is everyone truly prepared who wishes to be well prepared; so that we may receive through the (380) virtues, as through certain divine colors, the exact likeness to God. For thus he calls upon him fittingly, who is not ignorant of how one must call upon God; for preparation is, in my opinion, the alienation from the passions; and invocation, the genuine appropriation to God through the virtues. Or again, preparation is the radiance that comes to be in the worthy through the virtues; and invocation, the reception through true knowledge of the deifying grace. For thus we shall be able to have our garments always white, according to what is written; that is, characters bright through the virtues; and transparent, and having no evidence of darkness. And the soul

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ἀλλοιουμένων λόγος παιδαγωγία. Πάντα μεταβάλλει εἰς ἄλληλα, καί περιτρέπεται ἕκαστον ἑκάστῳ· καί δι᾿ ἀλλήλων μᾶλλον κυροῦσιν ἑαυτῶν τήν φθοράν ἤ τήν γένεσιν.

Μή τοίνυν ἐνδήσωμεν τοῖς ἐπικαίροις τήν μή φθειρομένην ψυχήν· μηδέ βαρήσωμεν τόν νοῦν κατασπῶντες πρός γῆν τῇ φροντίδι τῶν ὑλικῶν, ὕλης ὄντα κατά φύσιν ἐλεύθερον. Φυσικῶς ἀλλήλων διέλωμεν τῷ λόγῳ, τά μηδέποτε κατ᾿ οὐσίαν ἀλλήλοις (377) συμπίπτοντα· καί οὐδείς κόπος ἡμῖν περίεστιν ἑλκύσαι τῆς προσπαθείας τῶν φθειρομένων, τήν ἀσύνθετον καί μηδαμῶς διάλυσιν φύσεως ἐπιδέξασθαι δυναμένην ψυχήν. Φύγωμεν Σόδομα· τήν περί τά αἰσθητά τῶν αἰσθήσεων πλάνην· λέγω καί σύγχυσιν, ἵνα φύγωμεν τόν ἐμπρησμόν· τήν τούτοις φημί πάντως διά πυρός ἑπομένην κόλασιν. Εἰς τό ὄρος σωθῶμεν, εἰς τό ὕψος δηλαδή τῆς κατά Θεόν πολιτείας, ἵνα μή συμπαραληφθῶμεν, οἱ μήπω τῶν αἰσθήσεων ὁλικῶς ἐξοικισθέντες, κἄν ἀργεῖν δοκῶμεν κατά τόν μακάριον Λώτ ἀπό κακίας, τῷ μή συνεργάζεσθαι τοῖς Σοδομίταις τά ὅμοια· τουτέστι, τοῖς διά τῶν αἰσθήσεων πάθεσι, τά πρόσφορα πάθεσι. Παραδράμωμεν ὅση δύναμις τά παρατρέχοντα, καί κρατεῖσθαι μέν παρ᾿ ἡμῶν οὐδαμῶς δυνάμενα, αὐτήν ἔχοντα φύσιν τήν παροδικήν ῥεῦσιν ὑπόστασιν· μόνην δέ ἡμῖν ἀναφυέντα τήν ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς τῆς ψυχῆς κακῶς ἐστιγμένην διάθεσιν, δι᾿ ἥν πᾶσα μέλλει τοῖς κατακρίτοις ἐπανατείνεσθαι βάσανος. Ἀφῶμεν πάντα προθύμως, ἤ Θεῷ διά τῶν δεομένων προχρήσωμεν, ὧν ἐξ ἀνάγκης φυσικῶς ἡμῖν παρέπεται στέρησις. Ἀφῶμεν γνωμικῶς κατά θέλησιν, τά φυσικῶς κατ᾿ ἀνάγκης ἀφίεντά τε καί ἀφιέμενα. Μή ποιήσωμεν τοῖς γινομένοις τε καί ἀπογινομένοις διά ἀλογίστου σχέσεως κάτοχον, τήν τόν Ποιητήν ἑαυτῆς φυσικῶς εἰκονίζουσαν ψυχήν· τήν μηδέποτε μετά τό γενέσθαι πέρας τοῦ λαμβάνουσαν, καί ἀεί ζητεῖν τόν Θεόν διά πάντων, καί πρός αὐτόν ἐπείγεσθαι προστεταγμένην. Μή θελήσωμεν ἔχειν ἅπερ κρατεῖν οὐ δυνάμεθα· μήτε μήν ὡς αἰωνίοις προστεθῶμεν τοῖς πάντως παρερχομένοις. Παράγει γάρ τό σχῆμα τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, καθώς εἶπεν ὁ Ἅγιος· καί · Ὁ οὐρανός, καί ἡ γῆ παρελεύσεται, καθώς εἴρηκεν ὁ τοῦ Ἁγίου Θεός· καί δεχώμεθα τήν θείαν ἀψευδῶς ἀπόφασιν, καί φθάνωμεν τῇ πίστει τοῦ λόγου τήν δύναμιν, καί πιστούμεθα δι᾿ ἀποδείξεως ἐναργοῦς τῶν λεγομένων τήν ἔκβασιν. Οὗτινος γάρ τά μέρη φθοραῖς καί ἀλλοιώσεσιν ὑπόκειται, καθώς τις τῶν ἡμετέρων ἔφη σοφός, τούτου καί τό πᾶν δηλονότι, κἄν μήπω δι᾿ ἐνεργείας ἐφέστηκεν ὁ καιρός, ἐν ὧ ταῦτα, τό πᾶν ὑποστίσεται· ἐπεί καί πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ἐξ ὧν πάσχει καθ᾿ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν, φυσικῶς οἶδε τεθνήξεσθαι, κἄν μήπω πάρεστι διά τῶν πραγμάτων ὁ θάνατος,

Γενώμεθα τοίνυν ἑαυτῶν, καί τοῦ Θεοῦ· μᾶλλον δέ μόνου Θεοῦ, ἀλλά μή τῆς σαρκός ὅλως καί τοῦ κόσμου. Ἑτοιμασθῶμεν τοῦ ἐπικαλεῖσθαι τόν Θεόν ἡμῶν κατά τό γεγραμμένον· Ἑτοιμάζου, τοῦ ἐπικαλεῖσθαι τόν Θεόν σου, Ἰσραήλ· ὅπερ ἐστί, καθαρθῶμεν τῶν κακῶν στιγμάτων καί μολυσμῶν, ἀποβαλόντες ἑαυτῶν καί αὐτάς ψιλάς τῶν παθῶν, κατά τό δυνατόν, τάς φαντασίας. Οὕτω γάρ ἀληθῶς ἑτοιμάζεται πᾶς ἑτοιμάζεσθαι θέλων καλῶς· ἵνα δεξώμεθα διά τῶν (380) ἀρετῶν, ὡς διά τινων θείων χρωμάτων τήν ἀκριβῆ πρός Θεόν ἀξομοίωσιν. Οὕτω γάρ ἐπικαλεῖται δεόντως, ὁ τόν Θεόν πῶς ἐπικαλεῖσθαι χρή μή ἀγνοιῶν· ἑτοιμασία γάρ ἐστι, κατ᾿ ἐμέ φάναι, τῶν παθῶν ἀλλοτρίωσις· ἐπίκλησις δε, ἡ γνησία διά τῶν ἀρετῶν πρός Θεόν οἰκείωσις. Ἤ πάλιν, ἑτοιμασία ἐστίν, ἡ διά τῶν ἀρετῶν τοῖς ἀξίοις ἐγγινομένη λαμπρότης· ἐπίκλησις δέ, ἡ διά γνώσεως ἀληθοῦς ὑποδοχή τῆς θεοποιοῦ χάριτος. Οὕτω γάρ ἄν λευκά διά παντός τά ἱμάτια ἔχειν δυνησόμεθα, κατά τό γεγραμμένον· τουτέστι φαιδρούς τούς διά τῶν ἀρετῶν τρόπους· καί διαφανεῖς, καί μηδέν σκότους τεκμήριον ἔχοντας. Καί ἡ ψυχή