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He allows them to accept death, which was formerly for the condemnation of nature, for the judgment against sin.

12. After the transgression, he says, the nature of human beings had as the beginning of its own generation, conception from seed according to pleasure, and as an end, death through corruption according to pain. But the Lord, not having this beginning of his birth according to the flesh, was not by nature susceptible to the end, that is, to death.

13. That the devil, expecting the nature of created things to receive degeneration into non-being, strove to show man as a transgressor of the divine commandment.

14. That the devil, envying God and us, by deceit wrongly persuaded man that he was envied by God, and so prepared him to transgress the commandment; with respect to God, so that His all-hymned power deifying man might not become manifest in actuality; and with respect to man, clearly, so that he might not become a partaker of the divine glory in a form according to virtue.

15. That the true incarnation of God, he says, is a general condemnation of the law of nature that took hold at the transgression; but a particular condemnation of this law is the rebirth of the will of each individual according to Christ.

16. He called deification unbegotten, meaning the enhypostatic illumination of the divinity in form, which does not have a beginning, but an inconceivable manifestation among the worthy.

17. How one must consider the 'where'. 18. The one who will not receive the divine life purely, he says, in which there is absolutely no principle of circumscription, will not be free from pain, continually having the created principle that circumscribes, that is, contains, his existence, but not the uncreated one, which is free from all local position and temporal motion, and which has no comprehension, and for this reason, no circumscription either. For the divine life is also inconceivable, and even if it gives enjoyment of itself to those who will partake by grace, it does not give comprehension. For it remains (645) forever, even in the participation of those enjoying it, incomprehensible, because by nature, as uncreated, it possesses infinity.

19. God, he says, according to the one infinitely powerful will of His goodness, will hold all together, both angels and human beings, the good and the evil; but all of these will not partake of God equally, who will pass through all things without being contained, but each in a way analogous to themselves. Those who have kept their will in harmony with nature through all things, and have made it actually receptive of the principles of nature, according to the whole principle of eternal well-being, because of their will's good disposition toward the divine will, will wholly partake of goodness according to the divine life that illumines them, whether as angels or as human beings. But those who have made their will discordant with nature through all things, and have shown it to be dissipative of the principles of nature in its activity, with respect to the whole principle of well-being, on account of their will's aversion to the divine will, will fall away from all goodness, according to the affinity for woe-being that is manifest in their will; according to which there will be a separation of such persons from God, since they do not have, in accordance with the intention of their will, the principle of well-being brought to life by the energies of good things, according to which the divine life is naturally manifested. Therefore, the scale of each one's will at the judgment will be the principle of nature, distinguishing its motion toward 'woe' or 'well', according to which participation or non-participation in the divine life naturally comes to be. For with respect to being, God, being present, will always hold all together; but with respect to eternal well-being, only the holy angels and human beings in a particular way, leaving eternal woe-being to those who are not such, to be mixed in as the fruit of their will.

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τόν εἰς καταδίκην τό πρότερον ὄντα τῆς φύσεως, εἰς τήν τῆς ἁμαρτίας κατάκρισιν αὐτοῖς συγχωρεῖ δέχεσθαι θάνατον.

ιβ΄. Ἀρχήν ἔσχεν μετά τήν παράβασιν, φησίν, ἡ τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσις τῆς ἰδίας γενέσεως, τήν καθ᾿ ἡδονήν ἐκ σπορᾶς σύλληψιν, καί τέλος τόν κατ᾿ ὀδύνην διά φθορᾶς θάνατον. Ὁ δέ Κύριος ταύτην οὐκ ἔχων ἀρχήν τῆς κατά σάρκα γεννήσεως, οὔτε τῷ τέλει, τουτέστι τῷ θανάτῳ, κατά φύσιν ὑπῆρχεν ἁλωτός.

ιγ΄. Ὅτι τήν εἰς τό μή ὄν ἀπογένεσιν δέξασθαι τήν τῶν γεγονότων φύσιν προσδοκῶν ὁ διάβολος, ἠγωνίσατο τῆς θείας ἐντολῆς παραβάτην δεῖξαι τόν ἄνθρωπον.

ιδ΄. Ὅτι φθονῶν τῷ Θεῷ καί ἡμῖν ὁ διάβολος, δόλῳ τόν ἄνθρωπον ὑπό Θεοῦ φθονεῖσθαι παραπείσας, παραβῆναι τήν ἐντολήν παρεσκεύασε· τῷ Θεῷ μέν, ἵνα μή φανερά γένηται κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν ἡ πανύμνητος αὐτοῦ δύναμις θεουργοῦσα τόν ἄνθρωπον· τῷ δέ ἀνθρώπῳ προδήλως, ἵνα μή γένηται τῆς θείας ἐν εἴδει κατ᾿ ἀρετήν μέτοχος δόξης.

ιε΄. Ὅτι γενική κατάκρισίς ἐστι, φησί, τοῦ κατά τήν παράβασιν κρατήσαντος νόμου τῆς φύσεως, ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν ἐνανθρώπησις· ἰδική δέ τούτου τοῦ νόμου κατάκρισίς ἐστιν, ἡ κατά Χριστόν γνωμική τοῦ καθ᾿ ἕκαστον ἀναγέννησις.

ιστ΄. Ἀγέννητον εἶπε θέωσιν, τήν κατ᾿ εἶδος ἐνυπόστατον τῆς θεότητος ἔλλαμψιν, ἥτις οὐκ ἔχει γένεσιν, ἀλλ᾿ ἀνεννόητον ἐν τοῖς ἀξίοις φανέρωσιν.

ιζ΄. Πῶς τό ποῦ δεῖ θεωρεῖν. ιη΄. Ὁ μή καθαράν τήν θείαν ληψόμενος ζωήν, φησίν, ἐν ᾗ περιγραφῆς λόγος τό

παράπαν οὐκ ἔστιν ὀδύνης ἐλεύθερος οὐκ ἔσται, τήν γενητήν ἔχων διηνεκῶς τήν αὐτοῦ περιγράφουσαν ὕπαρξιν, ἤγουν σενέχουσαν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ τήν ἀγέννητον, καί πάσης ἐλευθέραν θέσεως τοπικῆς καί κινήσεως χρονικῆς· καί μηδεμίαν κατάληψιν ἔχουσαν· καί διά τοῦτο, μηδέ περιγραφήν. Ἡ γάρ θεία ζωή καί ἀνεννόητος, κἄν ἀπόλαυσιν δίδωσιν ἑαυτῆς τοῖς κατά χάριν μεθέξουσιν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ κατάληψιν. Μένει γάρ (645) ἀεί, κἄν τῇ μεθέξει τῶν ἀπολαυόντων αὐτῆς, ἀκατάληπτος, ὅτι κατά φύσιν ὡς ἀγέννητος ἔχει τήν ἀπειρίαν.

ιθ΄. Ὁ μέν Θεός φησι, κατά μίαν ἀπειροδύναμον τῆς ἀγαθότητος αὐτοῦ βούλησιν πάντας συνέξει καί ἀγγέλους καί ἀνθρώπους· ἀγαθούς τε καί πονηρούς· οὗτοι δέ πάντες, οὐκ ἴσως μεθέξουσι Θεοῦ, τοῦ διά πάντων ἀσχέτως χωρήσοντος· ἀλλ' ἀναλόγως ἑαυτοῖς. Οἱ μέν τῇ φύσει φυλάξαντες ἰσονομοῦσαν διά πάντων τήν γνώμην, καί τῶν τῆς φύσεως λόγων κατ' ἐνέργειαν δεκτικήν αὐτήν καταστήσαντες, καθ᾿ ὅλον τόν τοῦ ἀεί εὖ εἶναι λόγον, διά τήν πρός τήν θείαν βούλησιν τῆς γνώμης εὐπάθειαν, ὅλως μεθέξουσι τῆς ἀγαθότητος κατά τήν αὐτοῖς ἐπιλάμπουσαν ὡς ἐν ἀγγέλοις, ἤ ὡς ἐν ἀνθρώποις, θείαν ζωήν. Οἱ δέ τῇ φύσει ποιήσαντες ἀνισομοῦσαν διά πάντων τήν γνώμην, καί τῶν τῆς φύσεως λόγων κατά τήν ἐνέργειαν σκεδαστικήν αὐτήν ἀποδείξαντες, καθ᾿ ὅλον τόν τοῦ εὖ εἶναι λόγον, διά τήν πρός τήν θείαν βούλησιν τῆς γνώμης ἀντιπάθειαν, ὅλης ἐκπεσοῦνται τῆς ἀγαθότητος, κατά τήν ἐμφαινομένην αὐτοῖς πρός τό φεῦ εἶναι τῆς γνώμης οἰκείωσιν· καθ᾿ ἥν πρός τόν Θεόν ἔσται τῶν τοιούτων διάστασις, οὐκ ἐχόντων κατά τήν πρόθεσιν τῆς γνώμης, ταῖς ἐνεργείαις τῶν ἀγαθῶν τόν τοῦ εὖ εἶναι λόγον ζωογονούμενον, καθ᾿ ὅν ἡ θεία ζωή διαφαίνεσθαι πέφυκε. Ζυγός οὖν τῆς ἑκάστου γνώμης ἔσται κατά τήν κρίσιν, ὁ τῆς φύσεως λόγος, τήν πρός τό φεῦ, ἤ εὖ αὐτῆς διαλέγχων κίνησιν, καθ᾿ ἥν ἡ τῆς θείας ζωῆς μέθεξις ἤ ἀμεθεξία γίνεσθαι πέφυκε. Κατά γάρ τό εἶναι, καί ἀεί πάντας συνέξει παρών ὁ Θεός· κατά δέ τό ἀεί εὖ εἶναι, μόνους ἰδιοτρόπως τούς ἁγίους ἀγγέλους τε καί ἀνθρώπους· τό ἀεί φεῦ εἶναι τοῖς μή τοιούτοις ὡς γνώμης καρπόν ἀφείς ἐπικιρνώμενον.