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We have been compelled, O beloved, to collect information concerning the different modes of ecstasy. And we have explained for what reason the state of sleep is there called an ecstasy from the Lord: that it is because of the sparingness and love for mankind of God, which he himself has gifted to all men for man to be transported from care and the necessary things of life to the repose of sleep; but there He more particularly called that an ecstasy because He made him for that moment not to feel pain, on account of which He was about to take a rib from him and to form it for him into a woman. But he was not in an ecstasy of mind and thoughts. For immediately upon rising up he recognized her and said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of her Man." For he knows, as you see, both the first things and the present things and prophesies about the future things. For behold, he recognized the first things when he was 2.228 asleep, saying that "bone of my bones"; and he recognized the present things, after the woman was formed, recognizing her as having been taken from his body; and he prophesied about the things that would be, that "For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." But these are not the words of an ecstatic man nor of one unaware, but of one having a sound mind. 7. But if we must also speak concerning "I said in my ecstasy, Every man is a liar," its force is again different, not in the way * of some foolish and ecstatic man—may it not be so!—but of one marvelling exceedingly and thinking beyond the usual reasoning about things seen and done beyond measure; for since the prophet marvelled, he speaks here also out of marvel. Now, the prophets were in ecstasy, but not in an ecstasy of their reasoning faculties. For Peter also was in an ecstasy, not by being unaware of what was happening, but seeing, instead of the daily sequence of events, other things beyond those seen by men; "for he saw a sheet being let down, bound by four corners, and all the four-footed animals and reptiles and the birds of the air in it." But see that the holy Peter was aware and was not in an ecstasy of mind. For when he heard, "Rise, kill and eat," he was not persuaded as one not sound of mind, but says to the Lord, "By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth." And holy David also said that "I said: Every man is a liar." But he who says "I said" was speaking for himself, and concerning 2.229 men that, he said, they lie; therefore he himself was not lying, but being astonished and marvelling at the love of God for mankind and the things proclaimed to him by the Lord, he marvelled exceedingly, and seeing every man in need of the mercy of God, he attributed truthfulness to the Lord alone, and he knew every man to be under sentence, in order to show the true spirit, that spoke in the prophets and revealed to them the depths of the precision of the knowledge of God. And Abraham was also in an ecstasy, not in an ecstasy of mind but in an ecstasy of fear. For he saw an oven and lamps about the setting of the sun * and other prophets, seeing visions, spoke with a sound mind, as Moses says, "I am fearful and trembling." And Abraham knew the things being said by the Lord; "for," he says, "knowing you shall know that your seed will be a sojourner in a foreign land for four hundred years." And you see how it is possible to see all things spoken in truth by the prophets, both with a sound mind and with sober reasoning, and not in a state of frenzy. 8. But if they wish to say again that "the first gifts are not like the last," from where can they show this? For in a similar way to one another the holy prophets and the

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ἀνάγκην ἐσχήκαμεν, ὦ ἐπιπόθητοι, συναγαγεῖν περὶ τὰς διαφορὰς τῶν τρόπων τῆς ἐκστάσεως. καὶ ἐφράσαμεν δι' ἣν αἰτίαν ἐκεῖ παρὰ κυρίου ἔκστασις εἴρηται ἡ τοῦ ὕπνου μετοχή, ὅτι διὰ τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ φειδὼ καὶ φιλανθρωπίαν, ἣν πᾶσι μὲν ἀνθρώποις ὁ αὐτὸς δεδώρηται εἰς τὸ μεταφέρεσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον ἀπὸ μερίμνης εἰς ἀνάπαυσιν ὕπνου καὶ τῶν ἐν τῷ βίῳ χρειωδῶν πραγμάτων· ἐκεῖ δὲ περιττοτέρως ἐκείνην ἔκστασιν κέκληκε διὰ τὸ ποιῆσαι αὐτὸν πρὸς τὴν ὥραν μὴ αἰσθάνεσθαι πόνου, δι' ἣν ἔμελλε λαμβάνειν πλευρὰν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ καὶ πλάσσειν αὐτῷ αὐτὴν εἰς γυναῖκα. ἀλλὰ οὐκ ἦν ἐν ἐκστάσει φρενῶν καὶ διανοημάτων. εὐθὺς γὰρ ἀναστὰς ἐπέγνω καὶ εἶπε «τοῦτο νῦν ὀστοῦν ἐκ τῶν ὀστῶν μου καὶ σὰρξ ἐκ τῆς σαρκός μου· αὕτη κληθήσεται γυνή, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς αὐτῆς ἐλήφθη αὐτή». καὶ ἐπίσταται γάρ, ὡς ὁρᾷς, καὶ τὰ πρῶτα καὶ τὰ παρόντα καὶ προφητεύει περὶ τῶν μελλόντων. ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἐπέγνω τὰ πρῶτα ὅτε ἦν 2.228 ἐν ὕπνῳ, λέγων ὅτι «ὀστοῦν ἐκ τῶν ὀστῶν μου»· καὶ ἐπέγνω τὰ παρόντα, μετὰ τὸ πλασθῆναι τὴν γυναῖκα ἐπιγνοὺς αὐτὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ ἠρμένην· καὶ ἐπροφήτευσε περὶ τῶν ἐσομένων, ὅτι «ἕνεκεν τούτου καταλείψει ἄνθρωπος τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ καὶ προσκολληθήσεται τῇ γυναικὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔσονται οἱ δύο εἰς σάρκα μίαν». ταῦτα δὲ οὐκ ἐκστατικοῦ ἀνδρὸς οὐδὲ ἀπαρακολουθήτου, ἀλλὰ ἐρρωμένην ἔχοντος τὴν διάνοιαν. 7. Εἰ δὲ καὶ περὶ τοῦ «ἐγὼ εἶπον ἐν τῇ ἐκστάσει μου, πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ψεύστης» λεκτέον, ἑτέρα πάλιν αὐτοῦ ἡ δύναμις, οὐχ ὃν τρόπον * τινὸς ἀφραίνοντος ἀνθρώπου καὶ ἐκστατικοῦ μὴ γένοιτο, ἀλλὰ ὑπερθαυμάζοντος καὶ διανοουμένου ὑπὲρ τὸν κατὰ τὴν συνήθειαν λογισμὸν περὶ τῶν ἀσυμμέτρως ὁρωμένων τε καὶ πραττομένων· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐθαύμασεν ὁ προφήτης καὶ διὰ θαυμασμὸν ἐνταῦθα λέγει. γεγόνασι δὲ ἐν ἐκστάσει οἱ προφῆται, οὐκ ἐν ἐκστάσει λογισμῶν. γέγονε γὰρ καὶ Πέτρος ἐν ἐκστάσει, οὐχὶ μὴ παρακολουθῶν τῷ λόγῳ, ἀλλὰ ὁρῶν ἀντὶ τῆς καθημερινῆς ἀκολουθίας ἕτερα παρὰ τὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ὁρώμενα· «εἶδε γὰρ ὀθόνην καθιεμένην τέσσαρσιν ἀρχαῖς δεδεμένην, καὶ πάντα τὰ τετράποδα καὶ ἑρπετὰ καὶ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τὰ πετεινὰ ἐν αὐτῇ». ὅρα δὲ ὅτι παρηκολούθει καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἐν ἐκστάσει φρενῶν ὁ ἅγιος Πέτρος. ὅτε γὰρ ἤκουσεν τό «ἀναστὰς θῦσον καὶ φάγε», οὐχ ὡς μὴ τὸν νοῦν ἐρρωμένος ἐπείσθη, ἀλλά φησι πρὸς τὸν κύριον «μηδαμῶς, κύριε· οὐδέποτε γὰρ κοινὸν ἢ ἀκάθαρτον εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸ στόμα μου». καὶ ∆αυὶδ δὲ ὁ ἅγιος εἶπεν ὅτι «εἶπον ἐγώ· πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ψεύστης». ὁ δὲ λέγων «εἶπον ἐγώ» ἰδίᾳ ἔλεγεν, καὶ περὶ 2.229 τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὅτι, ἔλεγε, ψεύδονται· ἄρα αὐτὸς οὐκ ἐψεύδετο, ἐκπληττόμενος δὲ καὶ θαυμάζων τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίαν καὶ τὰ αὐτῷ παρὰ τοῦ κυρίου κεκηρυγμένα ἐθαύμαζε καθ' ὑπερβολὴν καὶ ὁρῶν πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐνδεόμενον τοῦ ἐλέους τοῦ θεοῦ μόνῳ κυρίῳ τὸ ἀληθεύειν ἐπέδωκε, πάντα δὲ ἄνθρωπον ὑπὸ ἐπιτίμιον ἔγνω, ἵνα δείξῃ τὸ ἀληθινὸν πνεῦμα, τὸ ἐν προφήταις λαλῆσαν καὶ τὰ βάθη αὐτοῖς ἀποκαλύψαν τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ γνώσεως ἀκριβείας. ἐγένετο δὲ καὶ Ἀβραὰμ ἐν ἐκστάσει, οὐκ ἐν ἐκστάσει φρενῶν ἀλλὰ ἐν ἐκστάσει φόβου. ἔβλεπεν γὰρ κλίβανον καὶ λαμπάδας περὶ τὴν τοῦ ἡλίου δύσιν * καὶ ἄλλοι προφῆται ὁρῶντες τὰ ὁράματα ἐν διανοίᾳ ἐρρωμένῃ ἔλεγον, ὡς ὁ Μωυσῆς φησιν «ἔμφοβός εἰμι καὶ ἔντρομος». ἔγνω δὲ Ἀβραὰμ τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ κυρίου λεγόμενα· «γινώσκων, γάρ φησι, γνώσῃ ὅτι πάροικον ἔσται τὸ σπέρμα σου ἐν γῇ ἀλλοτρίᾳ ἔτη τετρακόσια». καὶ ὁρᾷς ὡς ἔστιν ἰδεῖν τὰ πάντα ἐν ἀληθείᾳ παρὰ τοῖς προφήταις εἰρημένα καὶ ἐν ἐρρωμένῃ διανοίᾳ καὶ σώφρονι λογισμῷ, καὶ οὐκ ἐν παραπληξίᾳ. 8. Εἰ δὲ καὶ πάλιν θελήσουσι λέγειν ὅτι «οὐχ ὅμοια τὰ πρῶτα χαρίσματα τοῖς ἐσχάτοις», πόθεν τοῦτο ἔχουσι δεῖξαι; ὁμοίως γὰρ ἀλλήλοις οἱ ἅγιοι προφῆται καὶ οἱ