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let him say, making excuses, that the thing is impossible or that perfection comes to be, but unknowingly; but let him know, being fully assured by the divine Scriptures, that the thing is possible and true, happening in deed and activated consciously, and that by the lack and idleness of the commandments each of such persons deprives himself of good things in proportion.

21. Many read the divine Scriptures, and others hear them being read, but few are those able to know correctly the power and the meaning of what is read; who at one time declare what is said by the divine Scriptures to be impossible, and at another consider them entirely unbelievable, or even allegorize them wrongly and judge the things said concerning the present time as if they were to come to pass in the future, while they take the things said about future things as having already happened and as happening every day; and thus there is no right judgment in them nor true discernment in divine and human matters.

22. (419) God from the beginning made two worlds, a visible and an invisible, and one king of visible things, bearing in himself the characters of the two worlds, with respect to both the visible and the intelligible. Suitably to these, two suns also shine, this sensible one and another, intelligible one; and what the sun is among visible and sensible things, that God is among the invisible and intelligible things, for He both is and is called the sun of righteousness. Behold, then, according to this, there are two suns, one sensible and one intelligible, just as there are two worlds, as has been said; and the one of the two, that is, the sensible world and all things in it, are illumined by this sensible and visible sun; but the other, that is, the intelligible world and those in it, are illumined and made bright by the intelligible sun of righteousness. The sensible things, therefore, by the sensible sun, and the intelligible things by the intelligible sun are illumined, separately from one another, having no union or knowledge or communion at all with one another, neither the intelligible things with the sensible, nor the sensible things with the intelligible.

23. Man alone of all visible and intelligible beings was created twofold by God, having on the one hand a body composed of four elements, and sensation and breath, through which he partakes of these elements and lives in them, and on the other hand a rational and immaterial and incorporeal soul, ineffably and inscrutably united and mingled with these things without mixture and without confusion. And these things are one man, a mortal and immortal being, visible and invisible, sensible and intelligible, able to contemplate the visible creation and to know the intelligible creation. Therefore, just as in the two worlds the two suns are divided by their activities, (420) so also it is in the one man; for the one illumines his body, and the other his soul, and each imparts the participation of its own light to that which is illumined by it according to its receptive capacity, either richly or poorly.

24. The sensible sun is seen, it does not see; the intelligible sun is both seen by the worthy and sees all, and especially those who see it. The sensible sun does not speak nor does it grant to anyone to speak; the intelligible sun both speaks to his friends and graciously grants to all to speak. The sensible sun, having shone in the sensible garden, by the heat of its rays only dries up the moisture of the earth, but does not also make the plants and the seeds fat; but the intelligible sun, appearing in the soul, accomplishes both: it dries the moisture of the passions, and cleanses away the loathsomeness from them, and provides fatness to the intelligible earth of the soul, from which the plants of the virtues, being watered, are nourished little by little.

25. The sensible sun rises and illumines the sensible world and all things in it, men, wild beasts, cattle and whatever else, upon which it equally spreads its light; but it sets again and leaves dark the place which it was illumining.

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λεγέτω προφασιζόμενος, ὅτι ἀδύνατόν ἐστι τό πρᾶγμα ἤ ὅτι γίνεται μέν ἡ τελειότης, ἀγνώστως δέ, ἀλλά γινωσκέτω, πληροφορούμενος ὑπό τῶν θείων Γραφῶν, ὅτι τό μέν πρᾶγμα δυνατόν καί ἀληθές ἐστιν, ἔργῳ γινόμενον καί γνωστῶς ἐνεργούμενον, τῇ δέ ἐλλείψει καί ἀργίᾳ τῶν ἐντολῶν αὐτός ἑαυτόν ἕκαστος τῶν τοιούτων κατά ἀναλογίαν ἀποστερεῖ ἀγαθῶν.

κα'. Πολλοί μέν ἀναγινώσκουσι τάς θείας Γραφάς, οἱ δέ καί ἀναγινωσκομένας ἀκούουσιν, ὀλίγοι δέ οἱ καί τῶν ἀναγινωσκομένων τήν δύναμιν καί τήν ἔννοιαν ὀρθῶς εἰδέναι δυνάμενοι} οἵ ποτέ μέν ἀδύνατα εἶναι τά ὑπό τῶν θείων Γραφῶν λεγόμενα ἀποφαίνονται, ποτέ δέ καί ἄπιστα παντελῶς ἡγοῦνται, ἤ καί ἀλληγοροῦσι ταῦτα κακῶς καί τά μέν κατά τόν ἐνεστῶτα χρόνον λεγόμενα ὡς πρός τό μέλλον ἐκβῆναι κρίνουσι, τά δέ περί τῶν μελλόντων εἰρημένα, ὡς ἤδη γεγονότα καί καθ᾿ ἑκάστην γινόμενα ἐκλαμβάνονται} καί οὕτως οὐκ ἔστι κρίσις ὀρθή ἐν αὐτοῖς οὐδέ διάγνωσις ἀληθής ἐν θείοις καί ἀνθρωπίνοις πράγμασιν.

κβ'. (419) Ὁ Θεός ἐξ ἀρχῆς δύο κόσμους πεποίηκεν, ὁρατόν καί ἀόρατον, ἕνα δέ βασιλέα τῶν ὁρωμένων, τῶν δύο κόσμων ἐν ἑαυτῷ τούς χαρακτῆρας ἐπιφερόμενον κατά γε τό ὁρώμενον καί αὐτό τό νοούμενον. Τούτοις καταλλήλως καί δύο ἐπιλάμπουσιν ἥλιοι, αἰσθητός οὗτος καί νοητός ἄλλος} καί ὅπερ ἐστίν ἐν τοῖς ὁρωμένοις καί αἰσθητοῖς ἥλιος, τοῦτο ἐν τοῖς ἀοράτοις καί νοητοῖς Θεός, ἥλιος γάρ τῆς δικαιοσύνης καί ἔστι καί λέγεται. Ἰδού γοῦν δύο κατά ταῦτα ἥλιοι, εἷς αἰσθητός καί εἷς νοητός, ὥσπερ καί δύο κόσμοι, καθώς εἴρηται} καί ὁ μέν εἷς τῶν δύο, ἤγουν ὁ αἰσθητός κόσμος καί τά ἐν αὐτῷ πάντα, ὑπό τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ τούτου καί ὁρωμένου ἡλίου φωτίζονται} ὁ δέ ἕτερος, ἤτοι ὁ νοητός καί οἱ ἐν αὐτῷ, ὑπό τοῦ νοητοῦ ἡλίου τῆς δικαιοσύνης καταλάμπονται καί φαιδρύνονται. Τά τε οὖν αἰσθητά ὑπό τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ, τά τε νοητά ὑπό τοῦ νοητοῦ ἡλίου διῃρημένως ἀλλήλων καταφωτίζονται, μηδεμίαν ἐχόντων πρός ἄλληλα ἕνωσιν ἤ γνῶσιν ἤ κοινωνίαν τό σύνολον, μήτε τῶν νοητῶν πρός τά αἰσθητά , μήτε τῶν αἰσθητῶν πρός τά νοητά.

κγ'. Μόνος ἐκ τῶν ὁρωμένων καί νοουμένων ἁπάντων ὁ ἄνθρωπος διπλοῦς ἐκτίσθη παρά Θεοῦ, σῶμα μέν ἔχων ἐκ τεσσάρων συνεστηκός στοιχείων, αἴσθησίν τε καί πνοήν δι᾿ ὧν τούτων τῶν στοιχείων μετέχει καί ζῇ ἐν αὐτοῖς, ψυχήν δέ νοεράν καί ἄϋλον καί ἀσώματον ἀρρήτως ἐν τούτοις καί ἀνεξιχνιάστως συνηνωμένην καί συγκεκραμένην ἀμίκτως καί ἀσυγχύτως. Ταῦτα δέ ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος εἷς, ζῷον θνητόν καί ἀθάνατον, ὁρατόν καί ἀόρατον, αἰσθητόν καί νοούμενον, ἑποπτικόν τῆς ὁρωμένης κτίσεως, γνωστικόν τῆς νοουμένης. Ὥσπερ γοῦν ἐν τοῖς δυσί κόσμοις οἱ δύο ταῖς ἐνεργείαις διαμερίζονται ἥλιοι, (420) οὕτω καί ἐν τῷ ἑνί ἀνθρώπῳ} ὁ μέν γάρ τό σῶμα, ὁ δέ τήν ψυχήν αὐτοῦ περιλάμπει, καί τοῦ οἰκείου φωτός τῆς μεθέξεως ἕκαστος τό ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἐλλαμπόμενον κατά τήν δεκτικήν δύναμιν αὐτοῦ ἤ πλουσίως ἤ ἐνδεῶς μεταδίδωσιν.

κδ'. Ὁ αἰσθητός ἥλιος θεωρεῖται, οὐ θεωρεῖ} ὁ νοητός καί θεωρεῖται παρά τῶν ἀξίων καί πάντας ὁρᾷ καί μᾶλλον τούς ὁρῶντας αὐτόν. Ὁ αἰσθητός οὐ λαλεῖ οὐδέ λαλεῖν τινι δίδωσιν} ὁ νοητός καί λαλεῖ τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ φίλοις καί λαλεῖν τοῖς πᾶσι χαρίζεται. Ὁ αἰσθητός ἐν τῷ αἰσθητῷ κήπῳ λάμψας, τῇ θερμότητι τῶν ἀκτίνων τό ὑγρόν μόνον ἀποξηραίνει τῆς γῆς, οὐ μέντοι γε καί πιαίνει τά φυτά καί τά σπέρματα} ὁ νοητός δέ τά ἀμφότερα ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ ἐπιφανείς κατεργάζεται, τήν ὑγρότητα ξηραίνει τήν τῶν παθῶν, καί τήν βδελυγμίαν τήν ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀποκαθαίρει, καί πιότητα τῇ νοερᾷ ἐμπαρέχει γῇ τῆς ψυχῆς, ἐξ ἧς ἀρδευόμενα τρέφονται κατ᾿ ὀλίγον τῶν ἀρετῶν τά φυτά.

κε'. Ὁ αἰσθητός ἥλιος ἀνατέλλει καί φωτίζει τόν κόσμον τόν αἰσθητόν καί πάντα τά ἐν αὐτῷ, ἀνθρώπους, θηρία, κτήνη καί εἴ τι ἕτερον, ἐφ᾿ οἷς ἐπίσης καί τό φῶς ὑφαπλοῖ, δύνει δέ πάλιν καί σκοτεινόν καταλιμπάνει τόν τόπον ὅνπερ κατέλαμπεν.