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of the praiseworthy mortification of the members, to rise up against the law of the spirit; nor let us confine the magnificence of the fear of God only to the ways that appear in one's character; but let us make the modesty of our character a herald of the good disposition within the soul, so that we may flee the coming threat of fire; and let us adorn good understanding with the practice of the commandments, so that we may not, as vainglorious, carry about dead words, deprived of the life that comes from the practice of the commandments; but let us make the divine words (604) effective in practice, pursuing peace with all, and love; caring for kindness and gentleness, and long-suffering and forbearance in all things towards all people; bearing what happens with patience, and thanksgiving; and receiving afflictions unshakeably, as divine decrees [gifts]; resisting in nothing the words of the providence that advantageously directs our life through these things, so that we may obtain eternal life with all the saints, delighting in the good things to come, in the permanence of the eternal blessedness, hearing God say to us: Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; and let us rejoice, enjoying those ineffable good things, Which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love him.

21. Of the same, to the most holy bishop of Cydonia. God himself, equal to himself in height and depth, through a pious investigation of the mystery

of his economy concerning us, my divinely-protected master, having discerned, and having marveled how the limited and the unlimited, opposites and unmixed, coalescing around him, had their manifestation through one another; the infinite being ineffably co-limited by the limited; and the limited being supernaturally co-extended with the infinite; and him, around whom these things were in both respects the same for himself, having in no way diminished himself according to his infinity, being by nature with the unlimited, but in the economy, being and being known as incomprehensible; having both the height of the divine glory as inconceivable, and the depth of the economic condescension as incomprehensible, he prudently submitted himself like wax, as if to a seal, yielding to God, whom having received impressed through and through to the depth, he made himself a very clear imitation of the divine blessedness. For having wisely exchanged himself for the divine ways; to the lowliness of his nature, through virtue he blended the stature of his dignity; and to the height of his dignity, in turn, through knowledge he co-exalted the lowliness of his nature; and he has made the one to be contemplated paradoxically in the other. For in both respects, the same to himself, having diminished nothing of his dignity in either, he preserved himself; showing very clearly, through which things he acquired an unadulterated imitation of God, how God ordained and set forth the priesthood on earth in his own stead. So that even being seen bodily, his mysteries might not cease to appear to those who are able to see.

(605) For this reason, my master, conducting himself in a God-like manner in word along with his ways, wrought great salvation for me. For just as the Lord exhorted men to be reconciled to God the Father as those who have been sinned against rather than as those who have sinned, as the divine Paul testifies, saying, We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God; so that he might, by the greatness of the benefit, shame them into coming to an awareness of their own hardness of heart; so also my master,

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ἐπαινουμένης τῶν μελῶν νεκρώσεως ἐπαναστῆναι τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ πνεύματος· μηδέ μόνοις τοῖς κατ᾿ ἦθος φαινομένοις τρόποις περιγράψωμεν τοῦ θείου φόβου τήν μεγαλοπρέπειαν· ἀλλά τῆς ἐντός κατά ψυχήν καλῆς διαθέσεως κήρυκα ποιησώμεθα τήν περί τό ἦθος καταστολήν, ἵνα φύγωμεν τήν μέλλουσαν τοῦ πυρός ἀπειλήν· καί τήν σύνεσιν τήν ἀγαθήν τῇ πράξει τῶν ἐντολῶν κατακοσμήσωμεν, ἵνα μή νεκρούς, ὡς κενόδοξοι, περιφέρωμεν λόγους, καί τῆς κατά τήν πρᾶξιν τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐστερημένους ζωῆς· ἀλλ᾿ ἐμπράκτους τούς θείους λόγους (604) ποιήσωμεν, εἰρήνην μετά πάντων διώκοντες καί ἀγάπην· χρηστότητός τε καί πραότητος ἐπιμελούμενοι, καί μακροθυμίας καί τῆς ἐν πᾶσι πρός πάντας ἀνοχῆς· μεθ᾿ ὑπομονῆς τά συμβαίνοντα φέροντες, καί εὐχαριστίας· καί ὡς θεῖα δόγματα [δόματα], τάς θλίψεις ἀκατασείστως δεχόμενοι· μηδέν πρός τούς λόγους τῆς διά τούτων συμφερόντως διεξαγούσης ἡμῶν τήν ζωήν προνοίας ἀντιτείνοντες, ὅπως τύχωμεν τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς μετά πάντων τῶν ἁγίων, κατατρυφῶντες τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν, ἐν τῇ διαμονῇ τῆς τῶν αἰωνίων μακαριότητος, λέγοντος πρός ἡμᾶς ἀκούοντες τοῦ Θεοῦ· ∆εῦτε οἱ εὐλογημένοι τοῦ Πατρός μου, κληρονομήσατε τήν ἡτοιμασμένην ὑμῖν βασιλείαν ἀπό καταβολῆς κόσμου· καί εὐφρανθῶμεν ἐκείνων ἀπολαύοντες τῶν ἀποῤῥήτων ἀγαθῶν, Ἅπερ ὀφθαλμός οὐκ εἶδε, καί οὖς οὐκ ἤκουσε, καί ἐπί καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἀνέβη, ἅ ἡτοίμασεν ὁ Θεός τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτόν.

ΚΑ´Τοῦ αὐτοῦ πρός ἁγιώτατον ἐπίσκοπον Κυδωνίας. Αὐτόν ἑαυτῷ τόν Θεόν ἴσον ὕψει τε καί βάθει, δι᾿ εὐσεβοῦς ἐρεύνης τοῦ μυστηρίου

τῆς περί ἡμᾶς αὐτοῦ οἰκονομίας διαγνούς ὁ θεοφύλακτός μου δεσπότης, καί θαυμάσας πῶς ὁ ὅρος τῇ ἀοριστίᾳ, τἀναντία καί ἀμιγῆ, περί αὐτόν συναυθέντα, δι᾿ ἀλλήλων ἔσχε τήν δήλωσιν· τῆς μέν ἀπειρίας τῷ ὅρῳ ἀῤῥήτως συνορισθείσης· τοῦ δέ ὅρου ὑπερφυῶς τῇ ἀπειρία συναπλωθέντος· αὐτόν δέ περί ὅν ταῦτα κατ᾿ ἄμφω ταυτόν ἑαυτῷ, μηδέν τό παράπαν ἑαυτοῦ καθυφέντα κατά τό ἄπειρον, ὡς κατά φύσιν μετά ἀόριστον, κατ᾿ οἰκονομίαν δέ, ἀκατάληπτον καί ὄντα καί γινωσκόμενον· τό τε ὕψος τῆς θεϊκῆς δόξης ἀδιανόητον ἔχοντα, καί τό βάθος τῆς οἰκονομικῆς συγκαταβάσεως ἀπερίπληπτον, ἐμφρόνως ἑαυτόν κηροῦ δίκην, ὥσπερ σφραγίδι τῷ Θεῷ εὐείκτως ὑπέθηκεν, ὅν δι᾿ ὅλου εἰς τό βάθος ἐντυπωθέντα δεξάμενος, ἀρίδηλον μίμημα τῆς θείας ἑαυτόν κατέστησε μακαριότητος. Σοφῶς γάρ τοῖς θείοις ἑαυτόν ἐναμείψας τρόποις· τῷ μέν ταπεινῶ τῆς φύσεως, δι᾿ ἀρετῆς ἐκέρασε τό τῆς ἀξίας ἀνάστημα· τῷ δέ ὕψει τῆς ἀξίας ἔμπαλιν, διά γνώσεως τήν τῆς φύσεως συνεπῆρε ταπείνωσιν· καί θάτερον θατέρῳ παραδόξως ἐνθεωρεῖσθαι πεποίηκε. Κατ᾿ ἄμφω γάρ ταυτόν ἑαυτῷ, μηδέν ἐν ἀμφοτέροις καθυφέντα σεμνότητος, ἑαυτόν συνετήρησε· δείξας μάλα σαφῶς, δι᾿ ὧν ἀκίβδηλον τήν πρός Θεόν ἐκτήσατο μίμησιν, ὡς τήν ἱερωσύνην ὁ Θεός ἐπί γῆς ἀνθ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ χειροτονήσας προὐβάλετο. Ἐφ᾿ ᾧτε καί σωματικῶς ὁρώμενος, καί τά αὐτοῦ μυστήρια τοῖς ὁρᾷν δυναμένοις μή διαλίπῃ φαινόμενα.

(605) ∆ιά τοῦτο θεοειδῶς τῷ λόγῳ μετά τῶν τρόπων φερόμενος ὁ ἐμός δεσπότης, πολλήν μοι σωτηρίαν ἐνετεκτήνατο. Ὡς γάρ τούς ἀνθρώπους καταλλαγῆναι τῷ Θεῷ καί Πατρί ὡς πταισθέντας μᾶλλον ἤ πταίσαντας ὁ Κύριος παρεκάλεσε, καθώς μαρτυρεῖ λέγων ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος, Ὑπέρ Χριστοῦ πρεσβεύομεν, ὡς τοῦ Θεοῦ παρακαλοῦντος δι᾿ ἡμῶν. ∆εόμεθα ὑπέρ Χριστοῦ, καταλλάγητε τῷ Θεῷ· ἵνα ἐντρέψῃ τῷ μεγέθει τῆς εὐεργεσίας πρός συναίσθησιν ἐλθεῖν τῆς οἰκείας πωρώσεως· οὕτω καί ὁ ἐμός δεσπότης,