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of the law clearly killed and made to disappear, “so that it would not stand in any border of Israel”(28), that is, in any mystical mode and principle of spiritual contemplation. For if Israel is interpreted ‘a mind seeing God,’ it is clear that the corporeal aspect of the law in no way whatsoever of spiritual contemplation exists for those who prefer the spirit to the letter, since “God,” according to what is written, “is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in Truth,” but not in the letter; “for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” Therefore, that which is by nature deadly must be killed by the life-giving Spirit; for it is utterly impossible for the corporeal aspect of the law and the divine(29), that is, the letter and the spirit, to coexist in activity with each other at the same time, because that which is able to take away life is not by nature in harmony with that which by nature provides it.

Therefore, taking this passage according to history, we do not find Scripture to be true. For where did the Gibeonites make Saul disappear from every border of Israel, when much of Saul's kindred was found among the people after this? But understanding it according to contemplation, we clearly find that through the middle of natural contemplation, at the height of knowledge, the written law completely passes away, that is, the corporeal ordinance in the symbols according to worship. For where will the circumcision of the flesh still stand, when the law is understood spiritually? where the sabbaths and the beginnings of the months? where the festivals of the feasts? where the tradition of the sacrifices and the fallowness of the land and the rest of the law according to corporeal worship? For we know, applying ourselves naturally (14Γ_392> to the matters(30), that the removal of the completeness from God according to nature is not perfection. For nature does not produce perfection when it is mutilated by art and, through contrivance, sets aside what belongs to it from God according to the principle of creation, lest we introduce the art of God as more powerful for the confirmation of righteousness and make the contrived deficiency of nature a compensation for the deficiency in righteousness according to creation, but from the local position of the member being circumcised we are taught to perform by our will the circumcision of the impassioned disposition according to the soul, by which the will is rather regulated to run with nature, correcting the impassioned law of the acquired generation.

For mystical circumcision(31) is the complete removal of the impassioned relation in the mind concerning the adventitious generation. But the Sabbath(32) is a perfect inactivity of the passions and a universal cessation of the mind's movement concerning created things and a perfect passage to the divine; in which one who has arrived through virtue and knowledge as is lawful must not, like sticks of wood, consider any matter at all that kindles the passions, nor indeed collect principles of nature at all, lest we dogmatize about God as one who delights in passions or is measured by the limits of nature, according to the Greeks, whom perfect silence alone proclaims(33) and complete ignorance by transcendence represents. And the new moons we say are(34) the various illuminations in the course of the days of virtue and knowledge; in which, running headlong through all the ages, we fulfill the acceptable year of the Lord, adorned with the crown of goodness. And a crown of goodness is(35) a pure faith, like precious stones adorned with the lofty speech of doctrines and spiritual words, and with thoughts binding fast the God-loving mind, like a head; or rather, a crown of goodness is again(36) the Word of God himself, who by the variety of modes according to providence and judgment, (14Γ_394> that is, by continence from voluntary(37) and endurance of involuntary passions, circumscribes the mind as a head and by participation in the grace of deification makes the mind itself more beautiful than itself.

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νόμου σαφῶς ἀπέκτεινε καὶ ἠφάνισεν, «τοῦ μὴ ἑστάναι ἐν παντὶ ὁρίῳ Ἰσραήλ»(28), τουτέστιν ἐν παντὶ μυστικῷ τρόπῳ τε καὶ λόγῳ πνευματικῆς θεωρίας. Εἰ γὰρ Ἰσραὴλ 'νοῦς ὁρῶν Θεὸν' ἑρμηνεύεται, δῆλον ὡς τὸ σωματικὸν τοῦ νόμου καθάπαξ ἐν οὐδενὶ τρόπῳ πνευματικῆς θεωρίας ὑφέστηκε τοῖς τὸ πνεῦμα προτιμῶσι τοῦ γράμματος, εἴπερ «Πνεῦμα», κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, «ἐστὶν ὁ Θεός, καὶ τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας αὐτὸν ἐν Πνεύματι καὶ Ἀληθείᾳ δεῖ προσκυνεῖν», ἀλλ᾽ οὐ γράμματι· «τὸ γράμμα γὰρ ἀποκτέννει, τὸ δὲ Πνεῦμα ζωοποιεῖ». ∆ιὸ χρὴ τὸ ἀποκτέννειν πεφυκὸς ἀποκτείνεσθαι Πνεύματι ζωοποιῷ· συνυπάρχειν γὰρ κατ᾽ ἐνέργειαν ἀλλήλοις ἅμα κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ τὸ σωματικὸν τοῦ νόμου καὶ τὸ θεῖον(29), ἤγουν τὸ γράμμα καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα, παντελῶς ἀμήχανον, ὅτι μηδὲ συμφωνεῖν πέφυκε τῷ παρεχομένῳ κατὰ φύσιν ζωὴν τὸ ταύτην ἀφαιρεῖσθαι δυνάμενον.

Οὐκοῦν κατὰ μὲν τὴν ἱστορίαν τοῦτον λαμβάνοντες τὸν τόπον οὐχ εὑρίσκομεν τὴν Γραφὴν ἀληθεύουσαν. Ποῦ γὰρ ἠφάνισαν οἱ Γαβαωνῖται τὸν Σαοὺλ ἐκ παντὸς ὁρίου Ἰσραήλ, πολλῆς μετὰ τοῦτο συγγενείας τοῦ Σαοὺλ εὑρισκομένης ἐν τῷ λαῷ; Κατὰ δὲ τὴν θεωρίαν νοοῦντες σαφῶς εὑρίσκομεν ὅτι διὰ μέσης τῆς φυσικῆς θεωρίας ἐν τῷ ὕψει τῆς γνώσεως ὁ γραπτὸς παντελῶς ἀπογίνεται νόμος, ἤγουν ὁ σωματικὸς ἐν τοῖς συμβόλοις κατὰ τὴν λατρείαν θεσμός. Ποῦ γὰρ ἔτι στήσεται περιτομὴ σαρκός, νοουμένου τοῦ νόμου πνευματικῶς; ποῦ τὰ σάββατα καὶ τῶν μηνῶν αἱ ἀρχαί; ποῦ τῶν ἑορτῶν αἱ πανηγύρεις; ποῦ τῶν θυσιῶν καὶ τῆς ἀργίας τῆς γῆς καὶ τῆς λοιπῆς τοῦ νόμου κατὰ τὴν σωματικὴν λατρείαν ἡ παράδοσις; Οἴδαμεν γάρ, φυσικῶς ἐπιβάλλοντες (14Γ_392> τοῖς πράγμασιν(30), ὡς οὐκ ἔστι τελειότης ἡ τῆς ἐκ Θεοῦ κατὰ φύσιν ἀρτιότητος περιαίρεσιςοὐ γὰρ ποιεῖ τελειότητα φύσις διὰ τέχνης κολοβουμένη καὶ διὰ περινοίας ἀποτιθεμένη τὸ προσὸν αὐτῇ θεόθεν κατὰ λόγον δημιουργίας, ἵνα μὴ τὴν τέχνην Θεοῦ πρὸς βεβαίωσιν δικαιοσύνης ἰσχυροτέραν εἰσάγωμεν καὶ τὴν περινενοημένην τῆς φύσεως ἔλλειψιν ἀναπληρωτικὴν ποιώμεθα τῆς ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ κατὰ τὴν δημιουργίαν ἐλλείψεως, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ τῆς τοπικῆς τοῦ περιτεμνομένου μορίου θέσεως διδασκώμεθα ποιεῖσθαι γνωμικῶς τὴν περιτομὴν τῆς κατὰ ψυχὴν ἐμπαθοῦς διαθέσεως, καθ᾽ ἣν μᾶλλον τῇ φύσει συντρέχειν ἡ γνώμη ῥυθμίζεται, τὸν ἐμπαθῆ τῆς ἐπικτήτου γενέσεως νόμον διορθουμένη.

Περιτομὴ γάρ ἐστι μυστικὴ(31) τῆς ἐμπαθοῦς κατὰ νοῦν περὶ τὴν ἐπείσακτον γένεσιν σχέσεως παντελὴς περιαίρεσις. Τὸ δὲ Σάββατον(32) τελεία παθῶν ἐστιν ἀπραξία καὶ τῆς περὶ τὰ πεποιημένα καθολικὴ τοῦ νοῦ παῦλα κινήσεως καὶ πρὸς τὸ θεῖον τελεία διάβασις· ἐν ᾧ τὸν δι᾽ ἀρετῆς καὶ γνώσεως κατὰ τὸ θεμιτὸν ἀφικόμενον οὐ δεῖ, καθάπερ ξύλα, τὴν οἱανοῦν παντελῶς ὕλην ἐξαπτικὴν ἐνθυμεῖσθαι παθῶν, οὔτε μὴν φύσεως τὸ παράπαν ἀναλέγεσθαι λόγους, ἵνα μὴ πάθεσιν ἡδόμενον ἢ φύσεως ὅροις μετρούμενον κατὰ τοὺς Ἕλληνας τὸν Θεὸν δογματίζωμεν, ὅνπερ ἡ τελεία μόνη κέκραγε σιγὴ(33) καὶ ἡ παντελὴς καθ᾽ ὑπεροχὴν ἀγνωσία παρίστησιν. Τὰς δὲ νεομηνίας εἶναί φαμεν(34) τοὺς ἐν τῷ δρόμῳ τῶν κατ᾽ ἀρετὴν καὶ γνῶσιν ἡμερῶν διαφόρους φωτισμούς· οἷς προτροπάδην ἅπαντας ἐνδιαθέοντες τοὺς αἰῶνας τὸν δεκτὸν ἐνιαυτὸν τοῦ Κυρίου πληροῦμεν τῷ τῆς χρηστότητος στεφάνῳ κοσμούμενον. Στέφανος δὲ χρηστότητός ἐστι(35) πίστις καθαρά, λίθων τιμίων δίκην ταῖς τῶν δογμάτων ὑψηγορίαις καὶ λόγοις διηνθισμένη πνευματικοῖς, καὶ νοήμασι τὸν θεοφιλῆ, καθάπερ κεφαλήν, διασφίγγουσα νοῦν· ἢ μᾶλλον, στέφανος πάλιν χρηστότητός ἐστιν(36) αὐτὸς ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, ὁ τῇ ποικιλίᾳ τῶν κατὰ πρόνοιαν καὶ κρίσιν τρόπων, (14Γ_394> ἤγουν ἐγκρατείᾳ τῶν ἑκουσίων(37) καὶ ὑπομονῇ τῶν ἀκουσίων παθῶν, ὡς κεφαλὴν τὸν νοῦν περιγράφων καὶ τῇ μετοχῇ τῆς κατὰ τὴν θέωσιν χάριτος αὐτὸν ἑαυτοῦ τὸν νοῦν ποιῶν ὡραιότερον.