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δ΄. The Lord does not call blessed those who simply teach, but those who first, through the practice of the commandments, were deemed worthy to see again and to have beheld within themselves the illuminating (384) light of the Spirit flashing, and through it to have known in true vision and knowledge and operation of it the things about which it is necessary to speak and to teach others. Therefore, it is necessary for those who attempt to teach to be first elevated in this way, as has been said, so that by not speaking about things they do not understand, they do not lead astray and destroy both those who are persuaded by them and themselves.

ε΄. He who does not fear God does not believe that God exists, for he is a fool. But he who believes this fears Him, and fearing, he keeps His commandments. But he who says he fears God, yet does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the fear of God is not in him. For where there is fear, he says, there is keeping of the commandments. But if this is not in us, nor the keeping of the divine commandments, we are no different from the gentiles and the unbelievers.

στ΄. Faith and the fear of God and the keeping of His commandments bring about rewards in proportion to purification. For in as much as we are purified, to that extent are we led up from fearing God to the love of God, and we, as it were, pass over from fear, according to progress, to loving God. And then we hear from Him, “He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me.” And thus we add struggles upon struggles, so that we may show love by our works. And when this happens, He loves us, as He promised. And when He loves us, His Father also loves us in like manner, that is, with the Spirit preparing the way and making the house ready, so that we become a dwelling place of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, as in one union of the hypostases.

ζ΄. The indwelling of the tri-hypostatic divinity that occurs consciously and perceptibly in the perfect is not the fulfillment of longing, (385) but rather the beginning and cause of a more vehement and greater longing. For from then on, it does not allow the one who has received it to rest, but as one ever kindled and set on fire by a fire, it makes him rise up into a flame of more divine longing. For since the mind is unable to find a comprehension and end of what is longed for, it cannot give a measure to longing and love, but, striving to reach and grasp the endless end, it always carries within itself an unending longing and an unfulfilled love.

η΄. He who has come to this limit does not think he has found the beginning of longing or love for God in himself, but is disposed as one not loving God, having been unable to comprehend the fullness of love. Wherefore also, considering himself the last of all who fear God, he considers himself from his soul unworthy even of salvation with the faithful.

θ΄. “All things are possible to him who believes.” For faith is reckoned as righteousness. “For Christ is the end of the law.” And faith in Him justifies and perfects the believer, as faith in Christ is reckoned instead of the works of the law, which, being confirmed and shown through the commandments of the Gospel, makes the faithful partakers of the eternal life that is in Christ Himself.

ι΄. Faith is to die for Christ for the sake of His commandment, and to believe that this death is the cause of life; to reckon poverty as riches; insignificance and contempt as true glory and splendor; and in having nothing, to believe one possesses all things; or rather, to possess “the unsearchable riches of the knowledge of Christ,” and to regard all visible things as clay or smoke.

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δ΄. Ὁ Κύριος οὐ τούς ἁπλῶς διδάσκοντας μακαρίζει ἀλλά τούς πρότερον διά τῆς τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐργασίας ἀναβλέψαι ἀξιωθέντας καί θεασαμένους ἐν ἑαυτοῖς τό φωτίζον (384) φῶς τοῦ Πνεύματος ἀστράπτον καί δι᾿ αὐτοῦ γνόντας ἐν ἀληθινῇ τούτου ὁράσει καί γνώσει καί ἐνεργείᾳ τά περί ὧν εἰπεῖν καί ἄλλους διδάξαι χρή οὖν οὕτω πρῶτον, ὡς εἴρηται, ἀναχθῆναι τούς διδάσκειν ἐπιχειροῦντας, ἵνα μή περί ὧν οὐκ ἐπίστανται λέγοντες τούς πειθομένους αὐτοῖς καί ἑαυτούς πλανήσαντες ἀπολέσωσιν.

ε΄. Ὁ μή φοβούμενος τόν Θεόν οὐ πιστεύει ὅτι ἔστι Θεός, ἄφρων γάρ ἐστιν ὁ δέ τοῦτο πιστεύων φοβεῖται αὐτόν, φοβούμενος δέ τηρεῖ τάς αὐτοῦ ἐντολάς ὁ δέ φοβεῖσθαι λέγων τόν Θεόν, μή φυλάσσων δέ τάς ἐντολάς αὐτοῦ, ψεύστης ἐστί καί ὁ φόβος τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῷ οὗ γάρ, φησί, φόβος, ἐντολῶν τήρησις τούτου δέ μή ὄντος ἐν ἡμῖν μηδέ τῆς φυλακῆς τῶν θείων ἐντολῶν, οὐδέν τῶν ἐθνικῶν καί ἀπίστων διενηνόχαμεν.

στ΄. Ἡ πίστις καί ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ φόβος καί ἡ τήρησις τῶν αὐτοῦ ἐντολῶν κατά ἀναλογίαν τῆς καθάρσεως τούς μισθούς προξενεῖ καθόσον γάρ καθαιρόμεθα κατά τοσοῦτον εἰς ἀγάπην Θεοῦ ἀπό τοῦ φοβεῖσθαι αὐτόν ἀναγόμεθα καί οἱονεί μεταβαίνομεν ἀπό τοῦ φόβου κατά προκοπήν ἐπί τό ἀγαπᾶν τόν Θεόν καί τηνικαῦτα ἀκούομεν πρός αὐτοῦ «Ὁ ἔχων τάς ἐντολάς μου καί τηρῶν αὐτάς ἐκεῖνός ἐστιν ὁ ἀγαπῶν με». Καί οὕτω προστιθῶμεν ἐπί τοῖς ἀγῶσιν ἀγῶνας, ἵνα τήν ἀγάπην ἀπό τῶν ἔργων ἐπιδειξώμεθα. Τούτου δέ γενομένου, αὐτός ὡς ὑπέσχετο ἡμᾶς ἀγαπᾷ αὐτοῦ δέ ἡμᾶς ἀγαπῶντος, καί ὁ Πατήρ αὐτοῦ ὡσαύτως ἡμᾶς ἀγαπᾷ, προοδοποιοῦντος τοῦ Πνεύματος δηλαδή καί τήν οἰκίαν προευτρεπίζοντος ὡς ἐν μιᾷ συνόδῳ τῶν ὑποστάσεων μονήν γίνεσθαι ἡμᾶς Πατρός καί Υἱοῦ καί Ἁγίου Πνεύματος.

ζ΄. Ἡ γνωστῶς καί εὐαισθήτως γινομένη ἐνοίκησις τῆς τρισυποστάτου θεότητος ἐν τοῖς τελείοις οὐ πλήρωσις πόθου ἐστιν, (385) ἀλλά μᾶλλον ἀρχή καί αἰτία σφοδροτέρου καί μείζονος πόθου. Ἔκτοτε γάρ οὐκ ἐᾷ τόν ὑποδεξάμενον αὐτήν ἡρεμεῖν, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ὑπό πυρός ἀεί ἐκκαιόμενον καί πυρούμενον ἐπαίρεσθαι εἰς φλόγα πόθου θειοτέρου ποιεῖ. Κατάληψιν γάρ καί τέλος τοῦ ποθουμένου εὑρεῖν ὁ νοῦς μή δυνάμενος οὐδέ μέτρον τῷ πόθῳ καί τῇ ἀγάπῃ δύναται δοῦναι, ἀλλά τῷ ἀτελέστῳ τέλει φθάσαι καί καταλαβεῖν βιαζόμενος, ἀτέλεστον ἀεί τόν πόθον καί ἀπλήρωτον τήν ἀγάπην ἐν ἑαυτῷ περιφέρει.

η΄. Ὁ εἰς τοῦτο τό πέρας ἐλθών οὐ δοκεῖ εὑρηκέναι ἀρχήν πόθου ἤ ἀγάπης ἐν ἑαυτῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς μή ἀγαπῶν τόν Θεόν διάκειται, τό πλήρωμα τῆς ἀγάπης μή καταλαβεῖν δυνηθείς ὅθεν καί ὡς ἔσχατον ἡγούμενος ἑαυτόν πάντων τῶν φοβουμένων τόν Θεόν, ἀνάξιον ἑαυτόν ἡγεῖται ἀπό ψυχῆς καί τῆς μετά τῶν πιστῶν σωτηρίας.

θ΄. «Πάντα δυνατά τῷ πιστεύοντι». Ἡ γάρ πίστις ἀντί δικαιοσύνης λογίζεται. «Τέλος γάρ νόμου Χριστός». Ἡ δέ εἰς αὐτόν πίστις δικαιοῖ καί τελειοῖ τόν πιστεύοντα, ὡς ἀντί ἔργων νόμου λογιζομένης τῆς εἰς Χριστόν πίστεως, ἥτις διά τῶν ἐντολῶν τοῦ εὐαγγελίου βεβαιουμένη καί δεικνυμένη, ζωῆς αἰωνίου τῆς ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ Χριστῷ μετόχους τούς πιστούς ἀπεργάζεται.

ι΄. Πίστις ἐστί τό διά Χριστόν ὑπέρ τῆς αὐτοῦ ἐντολῆς ἀποθανεῖν καί τόν θάνατον τοῦτον ζωῆς πρόξενον εἶναι πιστεύειν, τήν πτωχείαν ὡς πλοῦτον λογίζεσθαι, τήν εὐτέλειαν καί ἐξουδένωσιν ὡς δόξαν τῷ ὄντι καί περιφάνειαν, καί ἐν τῷ μηδέν ἔχειν τά πάντα κατέχειν πιστεύειν μᾶλλον δέ κεκτῆσθαι «τόν ἀνεξιχνίαστον πλοῦτον τῆς ἐπιγνώσεως τοῦ Χριστοῦ» καί πηλόν ἤ καπνόν ἅπαντα τά ὁρώμενα καθορᾶν.