205

the Holy Spirit; not allowing to remain in them inactive and inoperative, the power by which they are naturally disposed to seek divine things.

First teaching them to seek the (612) mortification of choice according to sin, or the mortification of sin according to choice; and the revival of choice according to virtue, or the revival of virtue according to choice; and to investigate the ways of the mortification of choice according to sin, or of sin according to choice; and likewise also the principles of the resurrection of choice according to virtue, or of virtue according to choice; by which ways and principles, I say, the mortification of sin according to choice, or of choice according to sin; and the resurrection of virtue according to choice, or of choice according to virtue, is naturally brought about; having manifestly in this age (which the Word has called a season) the sufferings for Christ, that is, on behalf of Christ, that are beyond nature; which the Holy Spirit testified to them beforehand; so that they might become united with the likeness of the death of Christ through the mortification of sin, and of the resurrection through the operation of virtue.

For in truth, he who is to be saved must not only put sin to death by his choice, but also put his choice itself to death to sin; and not only raise up his choice to virtue, but also virtue itself [al. to it] by his choice; so that choice, being wholly dead and separated from the whole of dead sin, may not perceive it; and that choice, being alive, may perceive the whole of living virtue in its entirety, in an inseparable [alt. without interval] union.

Having perhaps first sought and investigated these things through the Holy Spirit, the saints accomplished the practical philosophy; after which, having become pure, as it were, and free from all defilement, they moved the spiritual eye of the soul toward the end of all beings, by the same Spirit; seeking, after the resurrection of the will, also the incorruptibility of nature; and searching out both the ways and the principles of the divinely-befitting immortality pertaining to it. For they no longer sought the resurrection of choice, which they had already received from the Spirit through the practical life; nor did they investigate the ways pertaining to it; but they sought out the incorruptibility of nature which they did not have; and they searched out the ways and the principles of the deification pertaining to it; toward which they hastened, desiring the glory in Christ pertaining to it; so that just as they suffered with Him in this age; which, as I said, the Word named a season; so also they might be glorified with Him in the age to come, becoming heirs of God beyond nature, according to grace, and co-heirs with Christ according to the economy, by the power of the Incarnation, which makes the whole of nature its own.

For Christ, being by nature God and man, is inherited by us as God beyond nature by grace, according to the ineffable participation; and for our sake, in a form like ours, as man making us his own, he inherits himself with us, according to the incomprehensible condescension; Whom the saints, mystically foreseeing by the Spirit, were taught how the sufferings for Him on behalf of virtue in the present must precede the (613) glory in Christ that is to be revealed in the future on account of virtue. For inquiring, he says: into what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating, when it testified beforehand [Fr. testifying beforehand] the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow.

Therefore they both sought and searched out, not only the incorruptibility of nature and the principles of the deification pertaining to it, but also indeed the time, in which the trial through sufferings on its behalf will take place; making manifest the disposition of those who truly desire it [Marg. that is, deification by grace], and the intention of those who desire it in hypocrisy. And the other time, that is to say

205

Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον· οὐκ ἐῶν ἀκίνητον ἐν αὐτοῖς μένειν καί ἀνενέργητον, τήν δι᾿ ἧς ἐκζητεῖν τά θεῖα πεφύκασι δύναμιν.

Πρῶτον μέν αὐτούς διδάσκον ζητῆσαι τήν κατά (612) τήν ἁμαρτίαν τῆς προαιρέσεως, ἤ τήν κατά τήν προαίρεσιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας νέκρωσιν· καί τήν κατά τήν ἀρετήν τῆς προαιρέσεως, ἤ τήν κατά τήν προαίρεσιν τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀναβίωσιν· ἐρευνῆσαι δέ, τῆς κατά τήν ἁμαρτίαν τῆς προαιρέσεως, ἤ τῆς κατά τήν προαίρεσιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας νεκρώσεως τούς τρόπους· ὡσαύτως δέ καί τῆς κατά τήν ἀρετήν τῆς προαιρέσεως, ἤ τῆς ἀρετῆς κατά τήν προαίρεσιν ἀναστάσεως τούς λόγους· δι᾿ ὧν τρόπων τέ φημι καί λόγων, ἡ κατά τήν προαίρεσιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἤ ἡ κατά τήν ἁμαρτίαν τῆς προαιρέσεως νέκρωσις· καί ἡ κατά τήν προαίρεσιν τῆς ἀρετῆς, ἤ τῆς προαιρέσεως κατά τήν ἀρετήν ἀνάστασις πέφυκε γίνεσθαι· ἔχουσα προδήλως κατά τόν αἰῶνα τοῦτον (ὅν καιρόν προσηγόρευσεν ὁ λόγος) τά εἰς Χριστόν, ἤτοι ὑπέρ Χριστοῦ περί φύσιν παθήματα· ἅπερ αὐτοῖς προεμαρτύρετο τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον· ἵνα γένωνται σύμφυτοι τῷ ὁμοιώματι τοῦ θανάτου τοῦ Χριστοῦ κατά τήν νέκρωσιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας, καί τῆς ἀναστάσεως κατά τήν ἐνέργειαν τῆς ἀρετῆς.

∆εῖ γάρ ὡς ἀληθῶς τόν σωθησόμενον, μή μόνον τῇ προαιρέσει νεκρῶσαι τήν ἁμαρτίαν, ἀλλά καί αὐτήν τήν προαίρεσιν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ· καί μή μόνον ἀναστῆσαι τῇ ἀρετῇ τήν προαίρεσιν, ἀλλά καί αὐτήν [al. αὐτῇ] τῇ προαιρέσει τήν ἀρετήν· ἵνα νεκρά νεκρᾶς ὅλη ὅλης διαιρεθεῖσα τῆς ἁμαρτίας, μή αἰσθάνηται· καί ζῶσα ζώσης ὅλη ὅλης τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐπαισθάνηται καθ᾿ ἕνωσιν ἀδιάσπαστον [al. ἀδιάστατον], ἡ προαίρεσις.

Ταῦτα μέν τυχόν πρῶτον ζητήσαντες, καί ἐρευνήσαντες οἱ ἅγιοι διά τοῦ Πνεύματος ἁγίου, τήν πρακτικήν κατώρθωσαν φιλοσοφίαν· μεθ᾿ ἥν οἷα δή καθαροί γεγονότες, καί παντός ἐλεύθεροι μολυσμοῦ, πρός τό τέλος τῶν ὄντων ὑπό τοῦ αὐτοῦ Πνεύματος τό νοερόν ἐκίνησαν ὄμμα τῆς ψυχῆς· ἐκζητοῦντες μετά τήν προαιρετικήν ἀνάστασιν, καί τήν τῆς φύσεως ἀφθαρσίαν· καί ἐξερευνῶντες τούς τε τρόπους καί τούς λόγους τῆς κατ᾿ αὐτήν θεοπρεποῦς ἀθανασίας. Οὐ γάρ ἐζήτουν ἔτι τήν ἀνάστασιν τῆς προαιρέσεως, ἥν ἤδη κατά τήν πρακτικήν λαβόντες εἶχον παρά τοῦ Πνεύματος· οὐδέ τούς κατ᾿ αὐτήν ἠρεύνων τρόπους· ἀλλ᾿ ἥν οὐκ εἶχον τῆς φύσεως ἐξεζήτουν ἀφθαρσίαν· καί τούς τρόπους καί τούς λόγους τῆς κατ᾿ αὐτήν ἐξηρεύνων θεώσεως· πρός ἥν ἠπείγοντο, τῆς κατ᾿ αὐτήν ἐν Χριστῶ δόξης ἐπιθυμοῦντες· ἵνα ὥσπερ συνέπαθον αὐτῷ κατά τόν αἰῶνα τοῦτον· ὅν, ὡς ἔφην, καιρόν ὠνόμασεν ὁ Λόγος· οὕτω καί συνδοξασθῶσι κατά τόν αἰῶνα τόν μέλλοντα, κληρονόμοι μέν ὑπέρ φύσιν Θεοῦ, κατά τήν χάριν, συγκληρονόμοι δέ Χριστοῦ κατ᾿ οἰκονομίαν, τῇ δυνάμει τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως, τήν ὅλην οἰκειουμένου φύσιν, γινόμενοι.

Θεός γάρ ὑπάρχων φύσει καί ἄνθρωπος ὁ Χριστός, ὑφ᾿ ἡμῶν ὡς Θεός ὑπέρ φύσιν χάριτι κληρονομεῖται, κατά τήν ἄῤῥητον μέθεξιν· καί δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ἐν εἰδει τῷ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἡμᾶς οἰκειούμενος, ἑαυτόν κληρονομεῖ σύν ἡμῖν, κατά τήν ἀνεννόητον συγκατάβασιν· ὅν τῷ Πνεύματι μυστικῶς οἱ ἅγιοι προθεωρήσαντες, ἐδιδάχθησαν ὡς χρή τῆς κατά τό (613) μέλλον φανησομένης διά τήν ἀρετήν ἐν Χριστῶ δόξης, τά εἰς αὐτόν ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς κατά τό παρόν προκαθηγεῖσθαι παθήματα. Ἐρευνῶντες γάρ, φησίν· Εἰς τίνα ἤ ποῖον καιρόν ἐδήλου, τό ἐν αὐτοῖς Πνεῦμα Χριστοῦ, προμαρτυρούμενον [Fr. προμαρτυρόμενον] τά εἰς Χριστόν παθήματα, καί τάς μετά ταῦτα δόξας.

Οὐκοῦν καί ἐξεζήτουν καί ἐξηρεύνων, οὐ μόνον τήν ἀφθαρσίαν τῆς φύσεως, καί τούς λόγους τῆς κατ᾿ αὐτήν ἐκθεώσεως, ἀλλά δή καί τόν καιρόν, καθ᾿ ὅν ἡ διά παθημάτων ὑπέρ αὐτῆς δοκιμασία γενήσεται· φανεράν ποιουμένη τῶν τε κατά ἀλήθειαν αὐτῆς ἐφιεμένων τήνδιάθεσιν [Marg. κατά χάριν θεώσεως δηλονότι], καί τῶν καθ᾿ ὑπόκρισιν αὐτῆς ἐφιεμένων τήν πρόθεσιν. Καί τόν ἄλλον καιρόν ἤγουν