,

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Of the feasts, the first(38) is a symbol of practical philosophy, leading toward virtue those held by it, as from Egypt, that is, from sin; the second(39) is a type of natural contemplation in the spirit, offering to God the pious understanding concerning existing things, as the firstfruits of summer; and the third is the mystery of theology(40), containing the gnostic state of all the spiritual principles in created things and the complete sinlessness through grace according to the economy of the incarnate Logos and, upon these, the perfect and immortal immutability in the good, as that which brings about trumpets and atonement and the pitching of tents.

This is the supposition I have for now, according to a single reflection, from the honor of the days. For God did not, wishing days to be honored by men, command that the Sabbath and the new moons and the feasts be honored—for thus he would have taught by a law of commandment(41) to worship the creature rather than the creator, believing that days are venerable by nature and for this reason to be worshipped—but He showed that He Himself is to be honored symbolically through the days. For He Himself is the Sabbath(42), as the rest from the soul's toils in the flesh and the cessation from labors according to righteousness; and the Passover(43), as the liberator of those held in the bitter slavery of sin; and Pentecost(44), as the beginning and end of existing things and the Logos, by whom all things by nature consist. For if Pentecost is after the weekly cycle of the week into itself, and Pentecost is clearly a pentadic (14Γ_396> decad, then manifestly the nature of beings, being pentadic according to its own principle on account of the senses, after the natural passage of time and the ages will be in God who is by nature one, not admitting a limit in which there is utterly no division.

For some say that the Logos is a decad, as providence being extended in its procession by the decad of the commandments; but whenever nature is joined to the Logos by grace, the ‘things without which’ will not be, since the alterable motion of things that are moved by nature will have ceased. For it is necessary that the finite stability, in which the motion of things moved must by nature occur through alteration, should receive an end by the presence of the infinite stability, in which the motion of things moved is by nature brought to a halt. For where there is a limit according to nature, the motion of the things in it is also in every way alterable; but where there is no limit according to nature, no alterable motion of things in it will be known at all. Therefore, the world is a finite place and a circumscribed stability, and time is a circumscribed motion; whence also the motion according to life of the things in it is alterable.

But whenever nature, having passed through place and time in both actuality and thought, that is, the ‘things without which,’ which is to say the finite stability and motion, is immediately joined to providence, it finds providence to be a principle that is by nature simple and stable and having in no way any circumscription and for this reason utterly no motion either. Wherefore, while existing temporally in the world, nature has an alterable motion because of the finite stability of the world and the passage of time through otherness, but when it comes to be in God, because of the natural monad of that in which it has come to be, it will have an ever-moving stability and a stable self-motion, eternally coming to be around the same and one and only, which (14Γ_398> reason knows to be an immediate and permanent establishment around the first cause of the things made by it.

The mystery of Pentecost, therefore, is the immediate union of the objects of providence with providence, that is, the union of nature with the Logos according to the concept of providence, according to which there is no appearance at all of time and generation. And the Logos is again(45) our trumpet, as sounding in us the divine and ineffable knowledge; and atonement, as in Himself our things, having become as we are,

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Τῶν ἑορτῶν δὲ τὴν μὲν πρώτην(38) πρακτικῆς εἶναι φιλοσοφίας σύμβολον, πρὸς ἀρετήν, ὡς ἀπ᾽ Αἰγύπτου, τῆς ἁμαρτίας, τοὺς ὑπ᾽ αὐτῆς κρατουμένους διαβιβάζουσαν, τὴν δευτέραν(39) δὲ τῆς ἐν πνεύματι φυσικῆς τύπον ὑπάρχειν θεωρίας, τὴν περὶ τῶν ὄντων εὐσεβῆ δόξαν, ὡς ἀπαρχὴν θέρους, τῷ Θεῷ προσκομίζουσαν, τὴν δὲ τρίτην θεολογίας εἶναι μυστήριον(40), τὴν πάντων τῶν ἐν τοῖς γεγονόσι πνευματικῶν λόγων γνωστικὴν ἕξιν καὶ τὴν κατ᾽ οἰκονομίαν τοῦ σαρκωθέντος Λόγου παντελῆ διὰ τῆς χάριτος ἀναμαρτησίαν καὶ τὴν ἐπ᾽ αὐταῖς ἐν τῷ ἀγαθῷ τελείαν καὶ ἀθάνατον ἀτρεψίαν περιέχουσαν, ὡς σαλπίγγων καὶ ἱλασμοῦ καὶ σκηνοπηγίας ποιητικήν.

Ταύτην ἔχω τέως, κατὰ μίαν ἐπιβολήν, ἐκ τῆς τῶν ἡμερῶν τιμῆς τὴν ὑπόνοιαν. Οὐ γὰρ δὴ τιμᾶσθαι θέλων ὁ Θεὸς ἡμέρας ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων προσέταξε τιμηθῆναι τό τε Σάββατον καὶ τὰς νεομηνίας καὶ τὰς ἑορτάςοὕτω γὰρ ἂν λατρεύειν τῇ κτίσει παρὰ τὸν κτίσαντα κατὰ νόμον ἐντολῆς ἐξεδίδαξεν(41) οἰομένους σεπτὰς εἶναι φύσει τὰς ἡμέρας καὶ διὰ τοῦτο προσκυνητάς, ἀλλ᾽ Ἑαυτὸν τιμᾶσθαι συμβολικῶς διὰ τῶν ἡμερῶν παρεδήλωσεν. Αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστι Σάββατον μέν(42), ὡς τῶν ἐν σαρκὶ τῆς ψυχῆς μόχθων ἀνάπαυσις καὶ τῶν κατὰ δικαιοσύνην πόνων κατάπαυσις, Πάσχα δέ(43), ὡς ἐλευθερωτὴς τῶν τῇ πικρᾷ δουλείᾳ κεκρατημένων τῆς ἁμαρτίας, Πεντηκοστὴ δέ(44), ὡς ἀρχὴ καὶ τέλος τῶν ὄντων καὶ Λόγος, ᾧ τὰ πάντα φύσει συνέστηκεν. Εἰ γὰρ μετὰ τὴν εἰς ἑαυτὴν ἑβδοματικὴν τῆς ἑβδομάδος περίοδον ἐστιν ἡ πεντηκοστή, πενταδικὴ δὲ σαφῶς ὑπάρχει (14Γ_396> δεκὰς ἡ πεντηκοστή, προδήλως ἄρα τῶν ὄντων ἡ φύσις, κατὰ τὸν ἑαυτῆς λόγον ὑπάρχουσα πενταδικὴ διὰ τὰς αἰσθήσεις, μετὰ τὴν φυσικὴν τοῦ χρόνου καὶ τῶν αἰώνων διάβασιν ἐν τῷ Θεῷ ἔσται τῷ κατὰ φύσιν ἑνί, μὴ δεχομένη πέρας ἐν ᾧ παντελῶς οὐκ ἔστι διάστασις.

Φασὶ γάρ τινες εἶναι δεκάδα τὸν Λόγον, ὡς πρόνοιαν κατὰ πρόοδον τῇ δεκάδι τῶν ἐντολῶν πλατυνόμενον· ὁπηνίκα δὲ συναφθῇ τῷ Λόγῳ κατὰ χάριν ἡ φύσις, οὐκ ἔσται τὰ 'ὧν οὐκ ἄνευ', τῆς τῶν φύσει κινουμένων ἀλλοιωτῆς ἀπογενομένης κινήσεως. ∆εῖ γὰρ τὴν πεπερασμένην στάσιν, ἐν ᾖ γίνεσθαι πέφυκεν ἐξ ἀνάγκης κατ᾽ ἀλλοίωσιν τῶν κινουμένων ἡ κίνησις, δέξασθαι τέλος τῇ παρουσίᾳ τῆς ἀπεράντου στάσεως, ἐν ᾗ παύεσθαι πέφυκε τῶν κινουμένων ἡ κίνησις. Ἐν ᾧ γὰρ πέρας κατὰ φύσιν ἐστίν, καὶ ἀλλοιωτὴ πάντως ἡ τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ καθέστηκε κίνησις· ἐν ᾧ δὲ πέρας κατὰ φύσιν οὐκ ἔστιν, οὐδεμία παντελῶς ἀλλοιωτὴ τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ γνωσθήσεται κίνησις. Οὐκοῦν ὁ μὲν κόσμος τόπος ἐστὶ πεπερασμένος καὶ στάσις περιγεγραμμένη, ὁ δὲ χρόνος περιγραφομένη καθέστηκε κίνησις· ὅθεν καὶ ἀλλοιωτὴ τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ καθέστηκεν ἡ κατὰ τὴν ζωὴν κίνησις.

Ὁπηνίκα δὲ τὸν τόπον διελθοῦσα καὶ τὸν χρόνον κατ᾽ ἐνέργειάν τε καὶ ἔννοιαν ἡ φύσις, ἤγουν τὰ 'ὧν οὐκ ἄνευ', τουτέστι τὴν πεπερασμένην στάσιν καὶ κίνησιν, ἀμέσως συναφθῇ τῇ προνοίᾳ, λόγον εὑρίσκει τὴν πρόνοιαν κατὰ φύσιν ἁπλοῦν καὶ στάσιμον καὶ μηδεμίαν ἔχοντα πάντῃ περιγραφὴν καὶ διὰ τοῦτο παντελῶς οὔτε κίνησιν. ∆ιόπερ ἐν μὲν τῷ κόσμῳ ὑπάρχουσα χρονικῶς ἡ φύσις ἀλλοιωτὴν ἔχει τὴν κίνησιν διὰ τὴν τοῦ κόσμου πεπερασμένην στάσιν καὶ τὴν καθ᾽ ἑτεροίωσιν τοῦ χρόνου φοράν, ἐν δὲ τῷ Θεῷ γινομένη, διὰ τὴν φυσικὴν τοῦ ἐν ᾧ γέγονε μονάδα, στάσιν ἀει κίνητον ἕξει καὶ στάσιμον ταυτοκινησίαν, περὶ τὸ ταὐτὸν καὶ ἓν καὶ μόνον ἀϊδίως γινομένην, ἣν (14Γ_398> οἶδεν ὁ λόγος ἄμεσον εἶναι περὶ τὸ πρῶτον αἴτιον τῶν ἐξ αὐτοῦ πεποιημένων μόνιμον ἵδρυσιν.

Πεντηκοστῆς οὖν ἐστι τὸ μυστήριον ἡ πρὸς τὴν πρόνοιαν ἄμεσος τῶν προνοουμένων ἕνωσις, ἤγουν ἡ πρὸς τὸν Λόγον κατὰ τὴν τῆς προνοίας ἐπίνοιαν τῆς φύσεως ἕνωσις, καθ᾽ ἣν οὐδεμία τὸ παράπαν ἐστὶ χρόνου καὶ γενέσεως ἔμφασις. Σάλπιγξ δὲ πάλιν(45) ἡμῶν ἐστιν ὁ Λόγος, ὡς τὰς θείας καὶ ἀρρήτους ἡμῖν ἐνηχούμενος γνώσεις, ἱλασμὸς δέ, ὡς ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὰ ἡμέτερα, καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς γενόμενος,