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The intelligible shines always and has shone, whole in the whole universe, uncontainably contained, but is separated from the things created by him and wholly stands apart from them without interval, whole in the whole universe and nowhere, whole in all visible creatures and wholly outside of them, whole in the visible things and whole in the invisible things, and whole he is present everywhere and whole he is nowhere at all.

Of the same, another 100 theological and practical chapters. (421) 1. Christ is the beginning, middle, and perfection} for in all things he who is in the first, is also in

the middle and the last, just as he is in the first} For there is no difference in him in these things, like barbarian, not Scythian, not Greek, not Jew, but Christ is all and in all.

2. The Holy Trinity, extending through all things from the first to the last as from a certain head to the feet, organizes all, glues them together, unites and binds them to herself and organizing them makes them firm and unbreakable} and in each one of them she is shown and recognized as one and the same, who is God, in whom the last become first and the first like the last.

3. We the faithful ought to see all the faithful as one and to reckon Christ to be in each one of them and so to be disposed in love toward him, as to be ready to lay down our own lives for him. For we ought not to say or think that anyone at all is wicked, but to see all as good, as we have said} for if you see someone troubled by passions, do not hate the brother but the passions that war against him, and if you see him tyrannized by desires and prejudices, have all the more compassion, (422) lest you too be tempted, since you are subject to the change of easily besetting matter.

4. In the way that the intelligible orders of the powers above are illumined by God in order, from the first hierarchy to the second, and from this to the next and so on, with the divine radiance passing through them all, so also the saints, being illumined by the divine angels, being bound together and united by the bond of the Spirit, become of equal honor and rivals with them. For from the preceding saints, the saints who come in each generation through the working of God's commandments, cleaving to these, are likewise illumined like them, receiving the grace of God by participation, and they become like a golden chain, each one of them being one link, each bound to the one before by faith and works and love, so that they are one and become a series in the one God that cannot be quickly broken.

5. If someone is counterfeit through hypocrisy, or blameworthy in his works, or briefly broken by one passion, or happens to be slightly deficient in part through carelessness, he is not numbered with the whole, but is cast out as useless and unapproved, so that in a time of tension he may not cause the bond of the chain to be broken and work a separation among the inseparable and grief in both, the ones before being pained for those after, and these for their separation from those leading the way.

6. He who does not strive for union with the last of all the saints in love and fervent desire through humility, but possesses some small unbelief toward him, will never be united at all nor be ranked with him among the first and preceding saints, even if he seems to have all faith and all love for God (423) and for all the saints} for he will be cast out by them, as one who has not accepted through humility the place in which he was stationed and to which he was appointed by God before the ages to be joined.

183

Ὁ νοητός λάμπει ἀεί καί ἔλαμπεν, ὅλος ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ παντί ἀχωρήτως χωρούμενος, ἐκ δέ τῶν ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ κτισθέντων ἀποκεχώρισται καί ὅλος τούτων ἀδιαστάτως διΐσταται, ἐν ὅλῳ ὅλος ἐν τῷ παντί καί οὐδαμοῦ, ἐν ὅλοις ὅλος τοῖς ὁρωμένοις κτίσμασι καί ὅλος τούτων ἐκτός, ὅλος ἐν τοῖς ὁρωμένοις καί ὅλος ἐν τοῖς ἀοράτοις, καί πανταχοῦ ὅλος πάρεστι καί ὅλος οὐδαμῶς οὐδαμοῦ.

Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἕτερα κεφάλαια θεολογικά καί πρακτικά ρ'. (421) α'. Ἀπαρχή Χριστός, μεσότης καί τελειότης} ἐν πᾶσι γάρ ὁ ἐν τοῖς πρώτοις, ἔν τε

τοῖς μέσοις καί τελευταίοις, ὡς ἐν τοῖς πρώτοις ἐστίν} οὐδέ γάρ ἐστιν ἐν αὐτῷ διαφορά τις ἐν τούτοις, ὥσπερ βάρβαρος, οὐ Σκύθης, οὐχ Ἕλλην, οὐκ Ἰουδαῖος, ἀλλά τά πάντα καί ἐν πᾶσι Χριστός.

β'. Ἡ Ἁγία Τριάς, διά πάντων διήκουσα ἀπό τῶν πρώτων καί μέχρι τῶν ἐσχάτων ὡς ἀπό κεφαλῆς τινος μέχρι ποδῶν, συγκροτεῖ πάντας συγκολλᾷ τε καί συνενοῖ καί συνδεσμεῖ ἑαυτῇ καί συγκροτοῦσα στερρούς καί ἀρραγεῖς ἀπεργάζεται} ἐν ἑνί τε αὐτῶν ἑκάστῳ μία καί ἡ αὐτή δείκνυται γνωριζομένη, ἥτις ἐστίν ὁ Θεός, ἐν ᾧ καί οἱ ἔσχατοι πρῶτοι γίνονται καί οἱ πρῶτοι ὥσπερ οἱ ἔσχατοι.

γ'. Πάντας τούς πιστούς ὡς ἕνα βλέπειν ὀφείλομεν οἱ πιστοί καί ἐφ᾿ ἑνί ἑκάστῳ αὐτῶν εἶναι λογίζεσθαι τόν Χριστόν καί οὕτως τῇ πρός αὐτόν ἀγάπῃ διάκεισθαι, ὡς ἑτοίμους εἶναι ὑπέρ αὐτοῦ τιθέναι τάς ἰδίας ψυχάς. Οὐδέ γάρ τό καθόλου λέγειν ἤ νομίζειν ὀφείλομέν τινα πονηρόν, ἀλλά πάντας ὡς ἀγαθούς ὁρᾷν, ὥσπερ εἴπομεν} κἄν γάρ ὑπό παθῶν ὀχλούμενον ἴδῃς τινά, μή τόν ἀδελφόν ἀλλά τά πάθη μίσησον τά πολεμοῦντα αὐτῷ, κἄν ὑπό ἐπιθυμιῶν καί προλήψεων τυραννούμενον, ἐπί πλεῖον σπλαγχνίσθητι, (422) μήποτε καί αὐτός πειρασθῇς, ὡς ὑπό τροπήν ὤν ὕλης εὐπεριστάτου.

δ'. Ὅν τρόπον αἱ νοεραί τάξεις τῶν ἄνω δυνάμεων ἀπό Θεοῦ κατά τάξιν ἐλλάμπονται ἀπό τῆς πρώτης ταξιαρχίας ἐπί τήν δευτέραν καί ἀπό ταύτης ἐπί τήν ἑτέραν καί καθεξῆς, τῆς θεϊκῆς ἐπί πάσας διερχομένης φωτοβολίας, οὕτω καί οἱ ἅγιοι ἀπό τῶν θείων ἐλλαμπόμενοι ἀγγέλων, τῷ συνδέσμῳ τοῦ Πνεύματος συνδούμενοί τε καί συνενούμενοι, ἰσότιμοι αὐτοῖς καί ἐφάμιλλοι γίνονται. Ἀπό γάρ τῶν προλαβόντων ἁγίων οἱ κατά γενεάν καί γενεάν διά τῆς τῶν ἐντολῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐργασίας ἐρχόμενοι ἅγιοι, τούτοις κολλώμενοι, ὁμοίως ἐκείνοις ἐλλάμπονται, τήν τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριν λαμβάνοντες κατά μέθεξιν, καί ὥσπερ τις γίνονται χρυσῆ ἅλυσις, καθείς τούτων ὄντες γονάτιον ἕν, ἑκάτερος τῷ προλαβόντι τῇ πίστει καί τοῖς ἔργοις καί τῇ ἀγάπῃ συνδούμενος, ὡς εἶναι μίαν αὐτούς καί γίνεσθαι σειράν ἐν ἑνί τῷ Θεῷ μή δυναμένην ταχέως διαρραγῆναι.

ε'. Εἴ τις κίβδηλος ἐξ ὑποκρίσεως, ἤ ἐξ ἔργων ἐπίμωμος, ἤ πρός βραχύ τεθραυσμένος ἐξ ἑνός πάθους, ἤ μικρόν ἐλλιπής ἐξ ἀξελείας ἐν μέρει τυγχάνει, οὐ συγκαταριθμεῖται τοῖς ὁλοκλήροις, ἀλλ᾿ ὡς ἄχρηστος καί ἀδόκιμος ἀποβάλλεται, ἵνα μή ἐν καιρῷ τάσεως διαρραγῆναι ποιήσῃ τόν σύνδεσμον τῆς ἁλύσεως καί δάστασιν ἐν ἀδιαστάτοις καί λύπην ἐν ἀμφοτέροις ἐργάσηται, τῶν μέν ἔμπορσθεν ὑπέρ τῶν ὑστέρων, τούτων δέ ὑπέρ τοῦ χωρισμοῦ τῶν προαγόντων ἀλγυνομένων.

στ'. Ὁ τῆς ἑνώσεως τῆς πρός τόν ἔσχατον πάντων ἁγίων ἐν ἀγάπῃ καί ἐπιθυμίᾳ σφοδρᾷ διά ταεπινοφροσύνης μή ἐφιέμενος, ἀλλά μικράν τινα κεκτημένος πρός αὐτόν ἀπιστίαν, οὐχ ἑνωθήσεται ὅλως ποτέ οὐδέ καταταγήσεται σύν αὐτῷ τοῖς πρώτοις καί προλαβοῦσιν ἁγίοις, κἄν δοκῇ πᾶσαν ἔχειν τήν πίστιν καί πᾶσαν τήν ἀγάπην πρός Θεόν (423) καί πρός ἅπαντας τούς ἁγίους} ἔξω γάρ βληθήσεται παρ᾿ αὐτῶν, ὡς μή ἐν τῷ τόπῳ ἐν ᾧ ἐτάγη καί ᾧ συναφθῆναι ὑπό Θεοῦ πρό αἰώνων ὡρίσθη διά ταπεινοφροσύνης καταδεξάμενος.