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5. 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 commandments. And if this is not in us, nor the keeping of the divine commandments, we differ in no way from the gentiles and the unbelievers.

6. Faith and the fear of God and the keeping of His commandments provide the rewards according to the proportion of purification; for in as much as we are purified, to that extent we are led up from fearing Him to the love of God, and, as it were, we pass over from fear by 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 so we add struggles upon struggles, so that we may show love by our works. And when this has happened, He, as He promised, loves us; and when He loves us, His Father likewise loves us, that is, the Spirit preparing the way and making ready the house, so that, as in a single union of the hypostases, we become an abode of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

7. The indwelling of the tri-hypostatic Godhead that occurs knowingly and perceptibly in the perfect is not the fulfillment of longing, (385) but rather the beginning and cause of a more intense and greater longing. For from that time on, it does not allow the one who has received it to rest, but, as though ever kindled and inflamed by fire, it causes him to be raised up into a flame of more divine longing. For since the mind is unable to find the comprehension and end of the desired one, it cannot give a measure to its longing and love, but striving to reach and comprehend the unending end, it carries within itself a longing ever unending and a love unfulfilled.

8. He who has come to this limit does not seem to have found a 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; whence also, considering himself the last of all who fear God, he considers himself from his soul unworthy even of salvation with the faithful.

9. "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 works of the law, which, being confirmed and shown through the commandments of the gospel, makes the faithful partakers of eternal life in Christ Himself.

10. Faith is to die for Christ for the sake of His commandment and to believe this death to be a source of life, to reckon poverty as wealth, insignificance and contempt as true glory and splendor, and to believe that in having nothing 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.

11. Faith in Christ is not only to despise (386) the pleasures in this life, but also to endure and bear every trial that comes in sorrows and tribulations and misfortunes, until God wills and visits us. "For waiting, he says, I waited for the Lord, and He attended to me."

12. Those who in any way prefer their own parents to the commandment of God do not possess faith in Christ; for certainly they are judged by their own conscience, if indeed they have a living conscience concerning their unbelief; for this belongs to the faithful, to

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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.

ια΄. Ἡ εἰς Χριστόν πίστις ἐστί τό μή μόνον καταφρονῆσαι (386) τῶν ἐν τῷ βίῳ τερπνῶν, ἀλλά καί τό καρτερῆσαι καί ὑπομεῖναι πάντα πειρασμόν ἐπερχόμενον ἐν λύπαις καί θλίψεσι καί συμφοραῖς, ἕως ἄν θελήσῃ καί ἐπισκέψηται ἡμᾶς ὁ Θεός. «Ὑπομένων γάρ, φησίν, ὑπέμεινα τόν Κύριον καί προσέσχε μοι».

ιβ΄. Οἱ τούς ἑαυτῶν γονεῖς ἕν τινι προτιμῶντες τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐντολῆς πίστιν οὐ κέκτηνται πρός Χριστόν πάντως γάρ ὑπό τῆς ἰδίας κρίνονται συνειδήσεως, εἴ γε καί συνείδησιν ζῶσαν ἔχουσι περί τῆς ἀπιστίας αὐτῶν πιστῶν γάρ τοῦτό ἐστι τό ἐν