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Death was condemned in the flesh, having been devised for the destruction of the law of sin; he who has discerned that on account of sin, death entered for its destruction, always has a rejoicing soul, seeing through various toils the law of sin ceasing to be in its own flesh, in order to receive the future blessed life in the spirit; which it is not (604) possible otherwise to attain, unless first the flesh has been emptied as from some vessel in the present life in respect to its dispositional relation to the law of sin.

22. He calls salvific pleasure the joy of the soul in virtue; and beneficial pain, the suffering of the flesh for the sake of virtue.

23. He who is attached to passions and things, directs his impulses to what he ought not. 24. He who the occurrences that produce the privation of passions and things does not

embrace, flees from what he ought not.

QUESTION 59.

Concerning which salvation the prophets sought and searched out, who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours [Fr. ours], searching for what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating; when he testified [Fr. testifying] beforehand to the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow; if these blessed prophets, what they were taught by the Holy Spirit, have left for us in writing to seek and to search; how is it that they, being taught by the Holy Spirit, and writing down what was revealed to them, what seeking and searching were they seeking or searching?

Response. The inquiring [Fr. both seeking and searching] and searching powers of the

divine things human nature has essentially implanted in it by the Creator at its very coming into being; but the revelations of divine things, the visiting power of the all-holy Spirit effects by grace. But since in the beginning through sin the evil one nailed these powers to the nature of visible things, and there was no one who understood or sought God, since all who shared in the nature had their noetic and rational power circumscribed by the surface of sensible things, and possessed no concept of things beyond sense perception; fittingly the grace of the all-holy Spirit, for those who were not intentionally and dispositionally under deceit, un-nailed from material things the power that had been nailed to them and restored it. Which power, having received it pure through grace, they first sought and searched, and thus they inquired and searched out, that is, through the same grace of the Spirit.

For it is not right to say that grace alone, in each case, worked the knowledge of the mysteries in the saints, without their natural powers receptive of knowledge. Otherwise we would introduce the holy Prophets as not understanding the power of the illuminations given to them by the all-holy Spirit. And how is the saying true, that "the wise man will understand what comes from his own mouth." Nor yet, without the grace of the all-holy Spirit, by seeking with their natural power alone, did they receive the true knowledge of things; because the visitation of the Spirit will be shown to be superfluous for the saints, cooperating with them (605) in no way toward the manifestation of the truth. And how will the saying be true, that "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights"; and, "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good"; for to one, it says, is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom; and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same

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κατεκρίθη τῆς σαρκός ὁ θάνατος, εἰς τήν τοῦ νόμου τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀναίρεσιν ἐπινενοημένος· ὁ διαγνούς ὅτι διά τήν ἁμαρτίαν, εἰς τήν αὐτῆς ἀναίρεσιν ἐπεισῆλθεν ὁ θάνατος, ἀεί χαίρουσαν ἔχει τήν ψυχήν διά πόνων ποικίλων θεωμένην ἀπογινόμενον τῆς οἰκείας σαρκός τόν νόμον τῆς ἁμαρτίας, πρός ὑποδοχήν τῆς μελλούσης ἐν πνεύματι μακαρίας ζωῆς· ἧς ἄλλως οὐκ (604) ἔστι τυχεῖν, μή πρότερον κενωθέντος ὡς ἐξ ἀγγείου τινός τῆς σαρκός ἐν τῇ παρούσῃ ζωῇ κατά τήν πρός αὐτήν σχέσιν τῆς γνώμης τοῦ νόμου τῆς ἁμαρτίας.

κβ΄. Ἡδονήν λέγει σωτήριον, τήν ἐπ᾿ ἀρετῇ χαράν τῆς ψυχῆς ὠμέλιμον δέ λύπην, τήν ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς ὀδύνην τῆς σαρκός.

κγ΄. Ὁ πάθεσι προστετηκώς καί πράγμασιν, ἐφ᾿ ἅ μή δεῖ τάς ὁρμάς ποιεῖται. κδ΄. Ὁ τάς ποιητικάς τῶν παθῶν καί τῶν πραγμάτων στερήσεως συμβάσεις οὐκ

ἀσπαζόμενος, ἀφ᾿ ὧν μή δεῖ τάς ἀποφυγάς ποιεῖται.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΝΘ΄.

Περί ἧς σωτηρίας ἐξεζήτησαν καί ἐξηρεύνησαν προφῆται οἱ περί τῆς εἰς ὑμᾶς [Fr.ἡμᾶς] χάριτος προφητεύσαντες, ἐρευνῶντες εἰς τίνα ἤ πόσον καιρόν ἀδήλου τό ἐν αὐτοῖς Πνεῦμα Χριστοῦ· μαρτυρούμενον [Fr. μαρτυρόμενον] τά εἰς Χριστόν παθήματα, καί τάς μετά ταῦτα δόξας· ἐάν αὐτοί οἱ μακάριοι προφῆται ἅπερ ἐκ Πνεύματος ἁγίου ἐνηχήθησαν, ἡμῖν ἐγγράφως κατέλιπον ἐκζητεῖν καί ἐρευνῆσαι· πῶς αὐτοί ἐκ Πνεύματος ἁγίου ἐνηχούμενοι, καί τά ἀποκαλυπτόμενα αὐτοῖς συγγράφοντες, ποίαν ἐκζήτησιν καί ἐξερεύνησιν ἐξεζήτουν ἤ ἐξηρεύνων.

Ἀπόκρισις. Τάς μέν ἐκζητικάς [Fr. ζητητικάς τε καί ἐρευνητικάς] τε καί ἐξερευνητικάς τῶν

θείων δυνάμεις οὐσιωδῶς ἔχει καταβεβλημένας αὐτῇ παρά τοῦ κτίσαντος, κατ᾿ αὐτήν τήν εἰς τό εἶναι πάροδον, ἡ τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσις· τάς δέ τῶν θείων ἀποκαλύψεις, κατά χάριν ἡ τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος ἐπιφοιτῶσα ποιεῖται δύναμις· Ἐπειδή δέ καταρχάς διά τῆς ἁμαρτίας τῇ φύσει τῶν ὁρατῶν ταύτας ὁ πονηρός προσήλωκε τάς δυνάμεις· καί οὐκ ἦν ὁ συνιών ἤ ἐκζητῶν τόν Θεόν, πάντων τῶν μετειληφότων τῆς φύσεως τήν νοεράν τε καί λογικήν δύναμιν ἐχόντων περιγεγραμμένην τῇ ἐπιφανείᾳ τῶν αἰσθητῶν, καί μηδεμίαν κεκτημένων ἔννοιαν τῶν ὑπέρ αἴσθησιν· εἰκότως ἡ τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος χάρις τοῖς μή κατά πρόθεσιν ἐνδιαθέτως ὑπό τήν ἀπάτην γενομένοις, τῶν ὑλικῶν ἀφηλώσασα τήν προσηλωμένην ἀπεκατέστησε δύναμιν· ἥν καθαράν ἀπολαβόντες διά τῆς χάριτος, πρῶτον ἐζήτησαν καί ἠρεύνησαν, καί οὕτως ἐξεζήτησαν καί ἐξηρεύνησαν· διά τῆς αὐτῆς δηλαδή τοῦ Πνεύματος χάριτος.

Οὐ γάρ θέμις εἰπεῖν, ὡς μόνη καθ᾿ ἑκάστην ἡ χάρις ἐνήργει τοῖς ἁγίοις τάς γνώσεις τῶν μυστηρίων, χωρίς τῶν τῆς γνώσεως δεκτικῶν κατά φύσιν δυνάμεων. Ἐπεί μή συνιέντας εἰσάγομεν τούς ἁγίους Προφήτας τῶν δοθέντων αὐτοῖς ὑπό τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος φωτισμῶν τήν δύναμιν· καί πῶς ἀληθής ὁ φάσκων ἐστί λόγος, Ὅτι ὁ σοφός νοήσει τά ἀπό τοῦ ἰδίου στόματος. Οὔτε μήν δίχα τῆς τοῦ παναγίου Πνεύματος χάριτος, μόνῃ τῆ κατά φύσιν δυνάμει ζητήσαντες τήν ἀληθῆ τῶν ὄντων ἀπειλήφασιν γνῶσιν· ἐπειδή περιττή δειχθήσεται τοῖς ἁγίοις ἡ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐπιφοίτησις, κατά μηδέν αὐτοῖς (605) συνεργοῦσα πρός τήν τῆς ἀληθείας φανέρωσιν. Καί πῶς ἀληθής ὁ φάσκων ἔσται λόγος, Ὅτι πᾶσα δόσις ἀγαθή, καί πᾶν δώρημα τέλειον, ἄνωθέν ἐστι, καταβαῖνον ἀπό τοῦ Πατρός τῶν φώτων· καί τό, Ἑκάστῳ δέδοται ἡ φανέρωσις τοῦ Πνεύματος πρός τό συμφέρον· ᾧ μέν γάρ φησί, διά τοῦ Πνεύματος δόδοται λόγος σοφίας· ἄλλῳ δέ λόγος γνώσεως κατά τό αὐτό