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33.

On theology; and that those who preserve the "in the image" trample upon the evil powers of the ruler of darkness, while the others, whose life is subject to passions, are mastered and ruled by him. (268)

The Father is light, the Son is light, the Holy Spirit is light. See what you say, brother, see that you do not err! For the three are one light, one, not separated, but united in three persons without confusion. For God is wholly indivisible in nature, and in essence truly beyond all essence; He is not divided in power, nor in form, nor glory, nor idea, for He is seen entirely as a simple light. In these the persons are one, the three hypostases are one; for the three are in the one, or rather, the three are one, the three one power, the three one glory, the three indeed one nature, essence, and divinity. They are also the one light, which illumines the world, not the world, far from it, this visible one - for neither has it known Him, nor can the visible world know Him, nor the friends of the world; for he who loves the world happens to be an enemy of God, but the man whom He Himself made according to His image and likeness, we call world, (269) because he is adorned with virtues, rules over earthly things, just as He has authority over the whole, and this "in the image" reigns over the passions and subjugates demons, the craftsmen of wickedness, he tramples upon the dragon, the ancient, the great one, like a worthless sparrow; and how? Listen, child! This ruler who fell, by the deprivation of the light, was immediately in darkness and is in the darkness with all those who fell with him from heaven, and he reigns in it, in the darkness, I say, over all who are held in it, demons and men. Every soul that does not see the light of life shining both day and night is punished by him, wounded, subdued, led and bound, and is pricked by the arrows of pleasures daily. Even if it seems to resist, even if it seems not to fall, yet with much sweat, toil, pain, and labor it always has this implacable war. But every soul that sees the divine light, from which he has fallen, despises him and being illumined by the unapproachable light itself, tramples upon the ruler of darkness like leaves

150

ΛΓ'.

Περί θεολογίας˙ καί ὅτι οἱ τό κατ᾿ εἰκόνα φυλάξαντες τάς πονηράς δυνάμεις τοῦ ἄρχοντος τοῦ σκότους καταπατοῦσιν, οἱ δ᾿ ἄλλοι, οἷς ἐμπαθής ὁ βίος, ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ κρατοῦνται καί βασιλεύονται. (268)

Φῶς ὁ Πατήρ, φῶς ὁ Υἱός, φῶς τό Ἅγιον Πνεῦμα. Βλέπε τί λέγεις, ἀδελφέ, βλέπε μή παρασφάλῃς! Ἕν γάρ τά τρία φῶς εἰσιν, ἕν, οὐ κεχωρισμένον, ἀλλ᾿ ἡνωμένον ἐν τρισί προσώποις ἀσυγχύτως. Θεός γάρ ἀδιαίρετος ὅλως ἐστί τῇ φύσει, καί τῇ οὐσίᾳ ἀληθῶς ὑπέρ πᾶσαν οὐσίαν˙ οὐ τῇ δυνάμει τέμνεται, οὐ τῇ μορφῇ, οὐ δόξῃ, οὐ τῇ ἰδέᾳ, ὅλος γάρ ἁπλοῦν φῶς καθορᾶται. Ἐν τούτοις ἕν τά πρόσωπα, ἕν αἱ τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις˙ τά τρία γάρ ἐν τῷ ἑνί, ἕν τά τριά δέ μᾶλλον, τά τρία μία δύναμις, τά τρία μία δόξα, τά τρία μία φύσις γε, οὐσία καί θεότης. Αὐτά καί φῶς τό ἕν εἰσιν, ὅ φωτίζει τόν κόσμον, οὐχί τόν κόσμον, ἄπαγε, τόν ὁρώμενον τοῦτον - οὐδέ γάρ ἔγνωκεν αὐτόν, οὐδέ δύναται γνῶναι ὁ κόσμος ὁ ὁρώμενος οὐδ᾿ οἱ τοῦ κόσμου φίλοι˙ ὁ γάρ τόν κόσμον ἀγαπῶν ἐχθρός Θεοῦ τυγχάνει , ἀλλ᾿ ὅν αὐτός πεποίηκεν ἄνθρωπον κατ᾿ εἰκόνα αὐτοῦ καί καθ᾿ ὁμοίωσιν, κόσμον ἡμεῖς καλοῦμεν, (269) ὅτι κοσμεῖται ἀρεταῖς, ἄρχει τῶν ἐπιγείων, καθώς ἐκεῖνος τοῦ παντός ἔχει τήν ἐξουσίαν, καί βασιλεύει τῶν παθῶν τοῦτο τό κατ᾿ εἰκόνα καί ὑποτάσσει δαίμονας δημιουργούς κακίας, καταπατεῖ τόν δράκοντα, τόν ἀρχαῖον, τόν μέγαν, ὥσπερ στρουθίον εὐτελές˙ καί πῶς; Ἄκουσον, τέκνον! Ὁ ἄρχων οὗτος ὁ πεσών τοῦ φωτός τῇ στερήσει ἐν σκότει γέγονεν εὐθύς καί ἔστι μετά πάντων τῶν σύν αὐτῷ ἐξ οὐρανοῦ πεσόντων ἐν τῷ σκότει καί βασιλεύει ἐν αὐτῷ, τῷ σκότει, πάντων λέγω, τῶν κρατουμένων ἐν αὐτῷ δαιμόνων καί ἀνθρώπων. Πᾶσα ψυχή μή βλέπουσα φῶς τῆς ζωῆς τό λάμπον ἔν τε ἡμέρᾳ καί νυκτί ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ τιμωρεῖται, τιτρώσκεται, δαμάζεται, ἄγεται καί δεσμεῖται καί βέλεσι τῶν ἡδονῶν κεντᾶται καθ᾿ ἡμέραν. Εἰ καί δοκεῖ ἀνθίστασθαι, εἰ καί δοκεῖ μή πίπτειν, ἀλλ᾿ οὖν ἱδρῶτι σύν πολλῷ, κόπῳ, πόνῳ καί μόχθῳ ἔχει ἀεί τόν πόλεμον ἀκατάλλακτον τούτου. Ψυχή δέ πᾶσα ἡ τό φῶς καθορῶσα τό θεῖον, ὅθεν ἐκεῖνος πέπτωκε, καταφρονεῖ ἐκείνου καί λαμπομένη παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ φωτός τοῦ ἀπροσίτου καταπατεῖ τόν ἄρχοντα τοῦ σκότους ὥσπερ φύλλα