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12. The nature of men, he says, had a beginning of its own generation after the transgression: conception from seed according to pleasure, and as an end, death through corruption according to pain. But the Lord, not having this beginning of his birth according to the flesh, was not by nature susceptible to the end, that is, to death.

(14C_224> 13. That the devil, expecting the nature of created things to receive a return to non-being, strove to show man a transgressor of the divine commandment.

14. That the devil, envying God and us, by deceit persuaded man that he was envied by God, and so prepared him to transgress the commandment; toward God, so that His all-praised power, which deifies man, might not become manifest in actuality; and toward man, obviously, so that he might not become a partaker of the divine glory in form according to virtue.

15. That the true incarnation of God is, he says, a general condemnation of the law of nature that prevailed at the transgression; but a particular condemnation of this law is the gnomic rebirth of each individual according to Christ.

16. He called deification ungenerated, the enhypostatic illumination of the Godhead according to form, which does not have a beginning, but an inconceivable manifestation in the worthy.

17. How the 'where' must be considered. 18. He who will not purely receive the divine life, he says, in which the principle of circumscription

does not exist at all, will not be free from pain, perpetually having the generated [life] which circumscribes, that is, contains, his existence, but not the ungenerated [life], which is free from all local position and temporal motion; and has no comprehension; and for this reason, no circumscription. For the divine life is also inconceivable, and even if it gives enjoyment of itself to those who will partake by grace, it does not give comprehension. For it always remains, even in the participation of those enjoying it, incomprehensible, because by nature, as ungenerated, it possesses infinity.

19. God, on the one hand, he says, according to one infinitely powerful will of His goodness will sustain all, both angels and men, good and wicked; but all these will not (14C_226> partake equally of God, who will pass through all things without relation, but rather in a manner analogous to themselves. Those, on the one hand, who have kept their will in harmony with nature in all things, and have made it receptive in activity to the principles of nature, in accordance with the whole principle of eternal well-being, through the good disposition of their will toward the divine will, will partake wholly of goodness according to the divine life that shines upon them, whether as angels or as men. But those, on the other hand, who have made their will contrary to nature in all things, and have shown it to be dispersive of the principles of nature in its activity, in violation of the whole principle of well-being, through the aversion of their will to the divine will, will fall away from all goodness, according to their will's affinity, which becomes manifest to them, for woe-being; according to which there will be a separation of such people from God, since they do not have, according to the intention of their will, the principle of well-being brought to life by the energies of good things, the principle according to which the divine life is naturally made manifest. Therefore, at the judgment, the scale of each one's will shall be the principle of nature, testing its movement toward woe or well-being, according to which participation or non-participation in the divine life naturally occurs. For with respect to being, God, being present, will always sustain all; but with respect to eternal well-being, [He will sustain] only the holy angels and men in a particular way, allowing eternal woe-being to be mixed in for those who are not such, as the fruit of their will.

62 (62). CONCERNING THE SICKLE, WHICH ZECHARIAH THE PROPHET SAW.

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12. Ἀρχήν ἔσχεν μετά τήν παράβασιν, φησίν, ἡ τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσις τῆς ἰδίας γενέσεως, τήν καθ᾿ ἡδονήν ἐκ σπορᾶς σύλληψιν, καί τέλος τόν κατ᾿ ὀδύνην διά φθορᾶς θάνατον. Ὁ δέ Κύριος ταύτην οὐκ ἔχων ἀρχήν τῆς κατά σάρκα γεννήσεως, οὔτε τῷ τέλει, τουτέστι τῷ θανάτῳ, κατά φύσιν ὑπῆρχεν ἁλωτός.

(14Γ_224> 13. Ὅτι τήν εἰς τό μή ὄν ἀπογένεσιν δέξασθαι τήν τῶν γεγονότων φύσιν προσδοκῶν ὁ διάβολος, ἠγωνίσατο τῆς θείας ἐντολῆς παραβάτην δεῖξαι τόν ἄνθρωπον.

14. Ὅτι φθονῶν τῷ Θεῷ καί ἡμῖν ὁ διάβολος, δόλῳ τόν ἄνθρωπον ὑπό Θεοῦ φθονεῖσθαι παραπείσας, παραβῆναι τήν ἐντολήν παρεσκεύασε· τῷ Θεῷ μέν, ἵνα μή φανερά γένηται κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν ἡ πανύμνητος αὐτοῦ δύναμις θεουργοῦσα τόν ἄνθρωπον· τῷ δέ ἀνθρώπῳ προδήλως, ἵνα μή γένηται τῆς θείας ἐν εἴδει κατ᾿ ἀρετήν μέτοχος δόξης.

15. Ὅτι γενική κατάκρισίς ἐστι, φησί, τοῦ κατά τήν παράβασιν κρατήσαντος νόμου τῆς φύσεως, ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν ἐνανθρώπησις· ἰδική δέ τούτου τοῦ νόμου κατάκρισίς ἐστιν, ἡ κατά Χριστόν γνωμική τοῦ καθ᾿ ἕκαστον ἀναγέννησις.

16. Ἀγέννητον εἶπε θέωσιν, τήν κατ᾿ εἶδος ἐνυπόστατον τῆς θεότητος ἔλλαμψιν, ἥτις οὐκ ἔχει γένεσιν, ἀλλ᾿ ἀνεννόητον ἐν τοῖς ἀξίοις φανέρωσιν.

17. Πῶς τό ποῦ δεῖ θεωρεῖν. 18. Ὁ μή καθαράν τήν θείαν ληψόμενος ζωήν, φησίν, ἐν ᾗ περιγραφῆς λόγος

τό παράπαν οὐκ ἔστιν ὀδύνης ἐλεύθερος οὐκ ἔσται, τήν γεννητήν ἔχων διηνεκῶς τήν αὐτοῦ περιγράφουσαν ὕπαρξιν, ἤγουν συνέχουσαν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ τήν ἀγέννητον, καί πάσης ἐλευθέραν θέσεως τοπικῆς καί κινήσεως χρονικῆς· καί μηδεμίαν κατάληψιν ἔχουσαν· καί διά τοῦτο, μηδέ περιγραφήν. Ἡ γάρ θεία ζωή καί ἀνεννόητος, κἄν ἀπόλαυσιν δίδωσιν ἑαυτῆς τοῖς κατά χάριν μεθέξουσιν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ κατάληψιν. Μένει γάρ ἀεί, κἄν τῇ μεθέξει τῶν ἀπολαυόντων αὐτῆς, ἀκατάληπτος, ὅτι κατά φύσιν ὡς ἀγέννητος ἔχει τήν ἀπειρίαν.

19. Ὁ μέν Θεός φησι, κατά μίαν ἀπειροδύναμον τῆς ἀγαθότητος αὐτοῦ βούλησιν πάντας συνέξει καί ἀγγέλους καί ἀνθρώπους· ἀγαθούς τε καί πονηρούς· οὗτοι δέ πάντες, οὐκ (14Γ_226> ἴσως μεθέξουσι Θεοῦ, τοῦ διά πάντων ἀσχέτως χωρήσοντος· ἀλλ' ἀναλόγως ἑαυτοῖς. Οἱ μέν τῇ φύσει φυλάξαντες ἰσονομοῦσαν διά πάντων τήν γνώμην, καί τῶν τῆς φύσεως λόγων κατ' ἐνέργειαν δεκτικήν αὐτήν καταστήσαντες, καθ᾿ ὅλον τόν τοῦ ἀεί εὖ εἶναι λόγον, διά τήν πρός τήν θείαν βούλησιν τῆς γνώμης εὐπάθειαν, ὅλως μεθέξουσι τῆς ἀγαθότητος κατά τήν αὐτοῖς ἐπιλάμπουσαν ὡς ἐν ἀγγέλοις, ἤ ὡς ἐν ἀνθρώποις, θείαν ζωήν. Οἱ δέ τῇ φύσει ποιήσαντες ἀνισομοῦσαν διά πάντων τήν γνώμην, καί τῶν τῆς φύσεως λόγων κατά τήν ἐνέργειαν σκεδαστικήν αὐτήν ἀποδείξαντες, καθ᾿ ὅλον τόν τοῦ εὖ εἶναι λόγον, διά τήν πρός τήν θείαν βούλησιν τῆς γνώμης ἀντιπάθειαν, ὅλης ἐκπεσοῦνται τῆς ἀγαθότητος, κατά τήν ἐμφαινομένην αὐτοῖς πρός τό φεῦ εἶναι τῆς γνώμης οἰκείωσιν· καθ᾿ ἥν πρός τόν Θεόν ἔσται τῶν τοιούτων διάστασις, οὐκ ἐχόντων κατά τήν πρόθεσιν τῆς γνώμης, ταῖς ἐνεργείαις τῶν ἀγαθῶν τόν τοῦ εὖ εἶναι λόγον ζωογονούμενον, καθ᾿ ὅν ἡ θεία ζωή διαφαίνεσθαι πέφυκε. Ζυγός οὖν τῆς ἑκάστου γνώμης ἔσται κατά τήν κρίσιν, ὁ τῆς φύσεως λόγος, τήν πρός τό φεῦ, ἤ εὖ αὐτῆς διελέγχων κίνησιν, καθ᾿ ἥν ἡ τῆς θείας ζωῆς μέθεξις ἤ ἀμεθεξία γίνεσθαι πέφυκε. Κατά γάρ τό εἶναι, καί ἀεί πάντας συνέξει παρών ὁ Θεός· κατά δέ τό ἀεί εὖ εἶναι, μόνους ἰδιοτρόπως τούς ἁγίους ἀγγέλους τε καί ἀνθρώπους· τό ἀεί φεῦ εἶναι τοῖς μή τοιούτοις ὡς γνώμης καρπόν ἀφείς ἐπικιρνώμενον.

ΞΒ (62). ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ ∆ΡΕΠΑΝΟΥ, ΟΥ ΕΙ∆ΕΝ ΖΑΧΑΡΙΑΣ Ο ΠΡΟΦΗΤΗΣ.