162

perceiving it, lays aside the vain swelling of his heart; for it says after the wrath had come: And Hezekiah was humbled from the height of

his heart, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah.

Or again, the wrath of the Lord is the suspension of the bestowal of divine gifts; which profitably comes upon every mind that is lofty and proud, and boasts in the good things given to it from God as if they were its own achievements. But it is worthwhile to consider and see why the wrath came not only upon Hezekiah, whose heart was lifted up, but also upon Judah and upon Jerusalem. This especially will persuade those who diligently sit by the mere letter of Scripture, that those who love God must make every effort concerning the spiritual contemplation of what is written, if indeed the word of truth is more honorable to them than all things. For if we adhere to the letter alone, often, as is likely, we will condemn the divine judgment as unjust, which punishes together with the one who sinned those who have in no way sinned; and how will the word be true that says, A father shall not die for a son, nor a son for a father. Each shall die in his own sin? and, "You will render to each according to his works," said to God by David.

And the heart of Hezekiah, it says, was lifted up; and it did not add, And the heart of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah; how then did He punish the innocent with the guilty, according to them, I cannot see. For it says: And the heart of Hezekiah was lifted up, and there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and upon Jerusalem; concerning whom the Word has not written that they were lifted up. Therefore, since the solution to the difficulties is impossible for those who preside over the letter, and prefer the literal sense to the thought, let us come to the spiritual understanding of what is written, and we will find without toil the truth covered by the letter, shining forth like a light for those who love truth.

(493) Every gnostic and philosophic mind, therefore, has both Judah and Jerusalem; Judah, taken spiritually as the way of confession; that is, the habit of repentance, growing practically with its constituent thoughts in the progress of the mind's ascent. For Judah is interpreted as confession. And Jerusalem, understood allegorically as the peaceful habit of truth, with the divine contemplations that complete it. And to speak briefly, it has Judea as practical philosophy, and Jerusalem as contemplative mystagogy. When, therefore, through divine grace, the philosophic mind, in both practical and contemplative philosophy, has repelled every power opposed to virtue and knowledge, and completely assumes dominion over the spirits of wickedness, and does not offer due thanksgiving to God, the cause of the victory, but lifts up its heart, considering itself the cause of every achievement, then, as not having rendered to God according to the recompense He rendered to it, it receives the wrath of abandonment coming not only upon itself, but also upon Judah and Jerusalem; that is, the habit of practice and of contemplation; passions of dishonor immediately, by God's permission, rising up against practice, and polluting the previously pure conscience; and false concepts being interwoven with the contemplation of beings, and perverting the previously correct opinion of knowledge.

For truly a divine definition and law according to Providence exists in beings, permitting those who have appeared ungrateful for better things to be disciplined by means of opposites toward gratitude; and through the experience of opposites, to make an acknowledgment of the divine power that accomplishes good things; so that not at all in the

162

ἐπαισθόμενος, τό μάταιον οἴδημα τῆς καρδίας ἀποτίθεται· φησί γάρ μετά τό γενέσθαι τήν ὀργήν· Καί ἐταπεινώθη Ἐζεκίας ἀπό τοῦ ὕψους τῆς

καρδίας αὐτοῦ, καί οἱ κατοικοῦντες Ἱερουσαλήμ· καί οὐκ ἐπῆλθεν ἐπ᾿ αὐτούς ὀργή Κυρίου ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις Ἐζεκίου.

Ἤ πάλιν ὀργή Κυρίου ἐστίν, ἡ ἀνακωχή τῆς τῶν θείων χαρισμάτων χορηγίας· ἥτις, συμφερόντως ἐπί πάντα γίνεται νοῦν ὑψηλόν καί μετέωρον, καί τοῖς δοθεῖσιν αὐτῷ θεόθεν καλοῖς ὡς ἐπ᾿ ἰδικοῖς κατορθώμασι μεγαλαυχούμενον. Ἄξιον δέ ἐστιν ἐπιστῆσαι, καί ἰδεῖν, τί δήποτε μή ἐπί μόνον τόν Ἐζεκίαν ὑψωθέντα τήν καρδίαν ἦλθεν ἡ ὀργή, ἀλλά καί ἐπί Ἰούδαν καί ἐπί Ἱερουσαλήμ. Τοῦτο μάλιστα πείσει τούς τῷ γράμματι μόνῳ τῆς Γραφῆς φιλοπόνως παρακαθημένους, ὅτι χρή τούς φιλοθέους περί τήν πνευματικήν θεωρίαν τῶν γεγραμμένων τήν πᾶσαν ποιεῖσθαι σπουδήν, εἴπερ ὁ τῆς ἀληθείας λόγος αὐτοῖς πάντων ἐστί τιμιώτερος. Εἰ γάρ μόνῳ τῷ γράμματι στοιχήσομεν, πολλάκις, ὡς εἰκός, ἀδικίαν τῆς θείας καταψηφισόμεθα κρίσεως, τῷ ἁμαρτήσαντι συγκολαζούσης ἀδίκως τούς μηδαμῶς ἁμαρτήσαντας· καί πῶς ἀληθής ὁ φάσκων ἔσται λόγος, Οὐκ ἀποθανεῖται πατήρ ὑπέρ υἱοῦ, οὔτε υἱός ὑπέρ πατρός. Ἕκαστος ἐν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ αὐτοῦ ἀποθανεῖται; καί, Σύ ἀποδώσεις ἑκάστῳ κατά τά ἔργα αὐτοῦ, πρός Θεόν παρά τοῦ ∆αβίδ λεγόμενον.

Καί ὑψώθη, φησίν, ἡ καρδία Ἐζεκίου· καί οὐκ ἐπήγαγε, Καί ἡ καρδία τῶν οἰκούντων Ἱερουσαλήμ καί Ἰούδαν· πῶς οὖν συνεκόλασε τῷ αἰτίῳ τούς ἀναιτίους, κατ᾿ αὐτούς ἐκείνους συνιδεῖν οὐκ ἔχω. Λέγει γάρ· Καί ὑψώθη ἡ καρδία Ἐζεκίου, καί ἐγένετο ἐπ᾿ αὐτόν ὀργή, καί ἐπί Ἰούδαν καί ἐπί Ἱερουσαλήμ· περί ὧν οὐ γέγραφεν ὁ Λόγος, ὅτι ὑψώθησαν. Οὐκοῦν ἐπειδή ἀμήχανος ἡ λύσις τῶν ἀπορουμένων τοῖς προεστηκόσι τοῦ γράμματος, καί τό ῥητόν τῆς διανοίας προκρίνουσιν, ἐπί τήν πνευματικήν τῶν γεγραμμένων κατανόησιν ἔλθωμεν, καί εὑρήσομεν ἀκμητί, τήν τῷ γράμματι κεκαλυμμένων τήν ἀλήθειαν, φωτός δίκην τοῖς φιλαληθέσι προλάμπουσαν.

(493) Πᾶς τοιγαροῦν γνωστικός καί φιλόσοφος νοῦς, καί τόν Ἰούδαν ἔχει, καί τήν Ἱερουσαλήμ· τόν μέν Ἰούδαν, εἰς τόν κατ᾿ ἐξομολόγησιν τρόπον πνευματικῶς λαμβανόμενον· ἤγουν, τήν ἕξιν τῆς μετανοίας, μετά τῶν αὐτῆς συνεκτικῶν λογισμῶν τῇ προκοπῇ τῆς κατά νοῦν ἀναβάσεως πρακτικῶς συναυξάνουσαν. Ἐξομολόγησις γάρ Ἰούδας ἑρμηνεύεται. Τήν δέ Ἱερουσαλήμ, εἰς τήν εἰρηνικήν τῆς ἀληθείας ἕξιν, μετά τῶν συμπληρούντων αὐτήν θείων θεωρημάτων ἀλληγορικῶς νοουμένην. Καί συντόμως εἰπεῖν, τήν μέν Ἰουδαίαν, ὡς πρακτικήν, ἔχει φιλοσοφίαν· τήν δέ Ἱερουσαλήμ, θεωρητικήν μυσταγωγίαν. Ὁπηνίκα οὖν διά τῆς θείας χάριτος ὁ φιλόσοφος νοῦς, κατά τε τήν πρακτικήν καί τήν θεωρητικήν φιλοσοφίαν, πᾶσαν ἀντικειμένην ἀρετῇ τε καί γνώσει διακρουσάμενος δύναμιν, τελείως τό κατά τῶν πνευμάτων τῆς πονηρίας ἀναδήσεται κράτος, καί μή τήν δέουσαν εὐχαριστίαν ἀνάθηται τῷ αἰτίῳ τῆς νίκης Θεῷ· ἀλλ᾿ ὑψώθη τήν καρδίαν, ἑαυτόν τοῦ παντός κατορθώματος ἡγησάμενος αἴτιον, τηνικαῦτα ὡς μή ἀνταποδούς τῷ Θεῷ κατά τό ἀνταπόδομα ὅ ἀνταπέδωκεν αὐτῷ, δέχεται οὐ μόνον αὐτός γινομένην ἐπ᾿ αὐτόν τήν ὀργήν τῆς ἐγκαταλείψεως, ἀλλά καί Ἰούδας καί Ἱερουσαλήμ· τουτέστιν, ἡ τῆς πράξεως ἕξις καί τῆς θεωρίας· παθῶν ἀτιμίας εὐθέως συγχωρήσει Θεοῦ κατεπανισταμένων τῆς πράξεως, καί τήν τέως καθαράν μολυνόντων συνείδησιν· καί ψευδῶν ἐννοιῶν συνεπιπλεκομένων τῇ θεωρίᾳ τῶν ὄντων, καί τήν τέως ὀρθήν διαστρεφουσῶν δόξαν τῆς γνώσεως.

Θεῖος γάρ ὡς ἀληθῶς ὅρος τε καί νόμος κατά Πρόνοιαν ἐνυπάρχει τοῖς οὖσι, παιδεύεσθαι διά τῶν ἐναντίων ἐπιτρέπων πρός εὐγνωμοσύνην, τούς ἐπί κρείττοσι φανέντας ἀγνώμονας· καί τήν πεῖραν τῶν ἀντικειμένων, τῆς τῶν καλῶν κατορθωτικῆς θείας ἐπίγνωσιν ποιεῖσθαι δυνάμεως· ὡς ἄν μή παντελῶς ἐπί τοῖς