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Zerubbabel is, as I have often said before, our Lord and God Jesus Christ; and his stone is the faith in him; and in his hand, because by the practice of the commandments the faith of Christ is made manifest. For faith without works is dead, just as are works without faith. The hand is clearly a symbol of action. Therefore the Lord, carrying the stone in his hand, teaches us to have an active faith in him, a faith adorned with the seven eyes of the Lord; that is, with the seven energies of the Holy Spirit. And upon him, it says, shall rest seven spirits; the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of knowledge, the spirit of science, the spirit of counsel, the spirit of strength, the spirit of the fear of God.

The spirit of the fear of God is abstinence from evils committed in act; the spirit of strength is the eager impulse and motion toward the energy and practice of the commandments; the spirit of counsel is the state of discernment, according to which we practice the divine commandments with reason, and distinguish the worse from the better; the spirit of science is the unerring knowledge of the modes of virtuous practice, according to which, when we act, we in no way fall away from the right judgment of reason; the spirit of knowledge is the comprehension of the principles in the commandments, according to which the modes of the virtues are constituted; the spirit of understanding is (524) the disposition in harmony with the modes and principles of the virtues; or, to speak more properly, a transformation, according to which a blending of the natural powers with the modes and principles of the commandments takes place. The spirit of wisdom is the assumption and union with the cause of the more spiritual principles in the commandments; according to which, being initiated unknowably into the simple principles of beings that are in God, as far as is permissible for humans, as from a certain sprouting spring of the heart, we bring forth in various ways to other people the truth in all things; ascending in a methodical and orderly way from the last things that are from God, but are near to us, to the first things, which are far from us, but near to God.

For from inactivity in evils through fear, we come to the practice of virtues through strength; and from the practice of virtues, to the discernment of counsel; and from discernment, to the state of the virtues, that is, science; and from the state of the virtues, to the knowledge of the principles within the virtues themselves; and from this, to the transformative state with respect to the known principles of the virtues, I mean understanding; and from this, to the simple and precise contemplation of the truth in all things; from which, setting out, we shall render many and various pious accounts concerning the truth from the wise contemplation of the sensible and intelligible substances of beings.

Therefore, ascending through these eyes of faith, that is, illuminations, we are gathered to the divine monad of wisdom; gathering together the division of the gifts that has come to be for our sake, by the partial ascents of the virtues; omitting none of the things that have been said, with the cooperation of God; lest by neglecting little by little, we should render our faith blind and eyeless, not having the illuminations of the Spirit through the virtues; and be justly punished for endless ages, as having blinded the divine eyes within ourselves according to faith, as far as it was in our power.

For everyone who has gouged out such eyes of faith in himself through inactivity in the commandments is completely condemned; no longer having God looking upon him. And I think, indeed, for this reason, that faith has been called a tin stone in Scripture, because it is both punitive for those who do not adorn it with the commandments, and preservative for those who keep it resplendent with the energies of the Spirit. For he shall be, says the great Simeon, speaking of the Lord, for the fall and rising of many in Israel; a fall

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Ζοροβάβελ ἐστί, καθώς πολλάκις προλαβών ἔφην, ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν καί Θεός Ἰησοῦς Χριστός· τούτου δέ λίθος ἐστίν, ἡ πίστις ἡ εἰς αὐτόν· ἐν τῇ χειρί δέ, ὅτι τῇ πράξει τῶν ἐντολῶν πίστις τοῦ Χριστοῦ διαφαίνεται. Πίστις γάρ χωρίς ἔργων, νεκρά· ὥσπερ καί ἔργα δίχα πίστεως. Πράξεως δέ σύμβολόν ἐστι προδήλως ἡ χείρ. Φέρων οὖν ἐν τῇ χειρί τόν λίθον ὁ Κύριος, ἔμπρακτον ἡμᾶς διδάσκει τήν εἰς αὐτόν πίστιν ἔχειν, τοῖς ἑπτά τοῦ Κυρίου κοσμούμενον ὀφθαλμοῖς· τουτέστι, ταῖς ἑπτά τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐνεργείαις. Καί ἐπαναπαύσεται, φησίν, ἐπ᾿ αὐτόν ἑπτά πνεύματα· πνεῦμα σοφίας, πνεῦμα συνέσεως, πνεῦμα γνώσεως, πνεῦμα ἐπιστήμης, πνεῦμα βουλῆς, πνεῦμα ἰσχύος, πνεῦμα φόβου Θεοῦ.

Ἔστι δέ τό μέν πνεῦμα τοῦ φόβου τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡ τῶν κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν κακῶν ἀποχή· τό δέ πνεῦμα τῆς ἰσχύος ἐστίν, ἡ πρός ἐνέργειαν καί πρᾶξιν τῶν ἐντολῶν πρόθυμος ὁρμή καί κίνησις· τό δέ πνεῦμα βουλῆς ἐστιν, ἡ ἕξις τῆς διακρίσεως· καθ᾿ ἥν σύν λόγῳ τάς θείας πράττομεν ἐντολάς, καί τῶν κρειττόνων διαιροῦμεν τά χείρονα· τό δέ πνεῦμα τῆς ἐπιστήμης ἐστίν, ἡ τῶν κατ᾿ ἀρετήν τῆς πράξεως τρόπων ἄπτωτος εἴδησις· καθ᾿ οὕς πράττοντες, τῆς ὀρθῆς τοῦ λόγου κρίσεως οὐδαμῶς διαπίπτομεν· τό δέ πνεῦμα τῆς γνώσεώς ἐστιν, ἡ τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἐντολαῖς λόγων περίληψις, καθ᾿ οὕς οἱ τρόποι τῶν ἀρετῶν συνεστήκασι· πνεῦμα δέ συνέσεώς ἐστιν, ἡ (524) πρός τούς τρόπους καί τούς λόγους τῶν ἀρετῶν συνδιάθεσις· ἤ κυριώτερον εἰπεῖν, μεταποίησις· καθ᾿ ἥν σύγκρασις γίνεται τῶν φυσικῶν δυνάμεων πρός τούς τρόπους καί τούς λόγους τῶν ἐντολῶν. Πνεῦμα δέ σοφίας ἐστίν, ἡ πρός τήν αἰτίαν τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἐντολαῖς πνευματικωτέρων λόγων ἀνάληψίς τε καί ἕνωσις· καθ᾿ ἥν, ἀγνώστως τούς ἐν Θεῷ κατά τό θεμιτόν ἀνθρώποις ἁπλοῦς μυούμενοι τῶν ὄντων λόγους, ὡς ἔκ τινος βλαστανούσης πηγῆς τῆς καρδίας, τήν ἐν τοῖς ὅλοις ἀλήθειαν ποικίλως τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀνθρώποις προφέρομεν· ἀπό μέν τῶν ἐκ Θεοῦ τελευταίων, ἡμῖν δέ προσεχῶν, ἐπί τά πρῶτα, καί ἡμῶν μέν πόῤῥω, τῷ Θεῷ δέ προσεχῆ, καθ᾿ ὁδόν καί τάξιν ἀναβαίνοντες.

Ἀπό γάρ τῆς ἀργίας τῶν κακῶν διά φόβου, ἐπί τήν τῶν ἀρετῶν δι᾿ ἰσχύος ἐρχόμεθα πρᾶξιν· ἀπό δέ τῆς τῶν ἀρετῶν πράξεως, ἐπί τήν διάκρισιν τῆς βουλῆς· ἀπό δέ τῆς διακρίσεως, ἐπί τήν ἕξιν τῶν ἀρετῶν, ἤγουν ἐπιστήμην· ἀπό δέ τῆς ἕξεως τῶν ἀρετῶν, ἐπί τήν γνῶσιν τῶν ἐν αὐταῖς ταῖς ἀρεταῖς λόγων· ἀπό δέ ταύτης, εἰς τήν πρός τούς ἐγνωσμένους λόγους τῶν ἀρετῶν μεταποιητικήν ἕξιν· φημί δέ τήν σύνεσιν· καί ἀπό ταύτης, εἰς τήν ἁπλῆν τῆς ἐν ὅλοις ἀληθείας ἀκριβῆ θεωρίαν· ἀφ᾿ ἧς ὁρμώμενοι, πολλούς καί ποικίλους ἐκ τῶν τῶν ὄντων αἰσθητῶν τε καί νοητῶν οὐσιῶν σοφῆς θεωρίας εὐσεβεῖς λόγους περί τῆς ἀληθείας ἀποδώσομεν.

∆ιά τούτων οὖν ἀναβαίνοντες τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν τῆς πίστεως· ἤγουν φωτισμῶν, πρός τήν θείαν τῆς σοφίας συναγόμεθα μονάδα· τήν γεγενημένην δι᾿ ἡμᾶς τῶν χαρισμάτων διαίρεσιν συνάγοντες, ταῖς κατά μέρος τῶν ἀρετῶν ἀναβάσεσι· μηδέν τῶν εἰρημένων, συνεργείᾳ Θεοῦ, παραλιμπάνοντες· ἵνα μή κατ᾿ ὀλίγον ἀμελοῦντες, τυφλήν ἡμῶν τήν πίστιν καί ἀνόμματον καταστήσωμεν, οὐκ ἔχουσαν τούς διά τῶν ἀρετῶν τοῦ Πνεύματος φωτισμούς· καί κολασθῶμεν δικαίως εἰς ἀπείρους αἰῶνας, ὡς ἐν ἑαυτοῖς κατά τήν πίστιν, ὅσον ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν, τούς θείους ἐκτυφλώσαντες ὀφθαλμούς.

Πᾶς γάρ ὁ τῆς πίστεως ἐν ἑαυτῷ διά τῆς ἀργίας τῶν ἐντολῶν, τούς τοιούτους ἀνορύξας ὀφθαλμούς, πάντως κατάκριτος· μηκέτι τόν Θεόν ἔχων εἰς αὐτόν ἐπιβλέποντα. Καί οἶμαί γε ταύτης ἕνεκα τῆς αἰτίας, λίθον κασσιτέρινον τῇ Γραφῇ προσηγορεῦθαι τήν πίστιν, διά τό τήν αὐτήν καί τιμωρητικήν εἶναι τῶν μή κοσμούντων αὐτήν ταῖς ἐντολαῖς, καί περιποιητικήν τῶν διατηρούντων αὐτήν κατηγλαϊσμένην ταῖς ἐνεργείαις τοῦ Πνεύματος. Ἔσται γάρ, φησί Συμεών ὁ μέγας περί τοῦ Κυρίου λέγων, εἰς πτῶσιν καί ἀνάστασιν πολλῶν ἐν τῷ Ἰσραήλ· πτῶσιν