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Therefore, the mystery according to the providence of the incarnation of the Word is on the right hand, as it is effective of the deification of those who are being saved, which was foreordained before the ages by supernatural grace; which no principle of beings according to nature will be able to attain at all; and on the left hand is clearly the mystery according to the judgment of the life-giving passion of God, who willed to suffer according to the flesh; as it is effective, on the one hand, of the complete annihilation of all the unnatural properties and motions introduced into nature through disobedience; and productive, on the other hand, of the unfailing restoration of all the properties and motions that were previously according to nature; according to which no principle of beings will be found at all to be false; from which, I mean from both providence and judgment, that is, from both the incarnation and the passion, on account of the solid and pure and incorruptible nature of manly virtue and immutability in practice, and on account of the transparent and brilliant nature of mystical contemplation and knowledge, as if from between two bronze mountains, has come forth like horse-drawn chariots, the holy tetrad of the Gospels, which have encompassed and traveled over the whole earth, and have healed the wound of Adam’s transgression, and have given rest to the Spirit of God through faith and the good conduct in life based upon it; (685) in the land of the North, that is, among the nations, in whom the gloom of ignorance prevailed, and darkness tyrannized nature through sin.

Or again, the power of the four general virtues, equal in number to the holy Gospels, having encompassed the entire heart of the faithful just as the earth, and having traveled over the wound born in them from the passions of dishonor; and having given rest to the Spirit of God through the practical activity of the commandments, in the land of the north, that is, in the flesh, having shown the law of the spirit appearing through the works of righteousness.

Or again, the two olive trees must be understood as contemplation and practice; of which, in the case of contemplation, the providence of the incarnation makes the principle appear; but in the case of practice, the judgment of the passion makes the mode become active; with the one, according to the soul, being on the right of the Word, and the other, according to the body, being on the left; and the one calling the mind to kinship with God, and the other sanctifying the senses by the spirit and removing the impressions of its passions.

Or again, faith and a good conscience must be understood as the two olive trees, between which the Word stands; according to faith, on the one hand, being rightly worshiped by the faithful; and according to a good conscience, on the other hand, being piously served through pleasing one another.

Or, the Word has likened the two peoples, I mean the one from the Gentiles and the one from the Jews, to two olive trees; whom He has also named sons of fatness, as if interpreting the olive trees, on account of the birth in the spirit and the grace of adoption for deification; between whom stands the incarnate God, as upon a lampstand, that of the one and only catholic Church, reconciling them both to Himself and to one another, and making them generative of the light according to both virtue and knowledge.

And perhaps the word has also mystically signified the soul and the body through the two olive trees; the one, like the olive tree, as abounding in principles of true knowledge; and the other, as being dense with practices of virtue.

And if the word of Scripture also alludes to the two worlds through the two olive trees, it would be well if understood in this way too; between which the Word stands as God; mystically outlining the intelligible one to appear in the sensible one through types; and teaching the sensible one to be understood as existing in the intelligible one through its principles.

And if the vision of the olive trees has also typified the present life and the future life, the mode of contemplation would be well in this way too; between which the Word stands, leading away from the one through virtue, and leading up to the other through knowledge. Which

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∆εξιόν οὖν τό κατά πρόνοιαν τῆς τοῦ Λόγου σαρκώσεως ὑπάρχει μυστήριον, ὡς ἐνεργητικόν τῆς ὑπέρ φύσιν χάριτι πρό τῶν αἰώνων προωρισθείσης τῶν σωζομένων θεώσεως· ἧς οὐδείς τό παράπαν κατά φύσιν τῶν ὄντων ἐφικέσθαι δυνήσεται λόγος· εὐώνυμον δέ, τό κατά κρίσιν τοῦ ζωοποιοῦ πάθους τοῦ κατά σάρκα παθεῖν βουληθέντος Θεοῦ, σαφῶς ὑπάρχει μυστήριον· ὡς ἐνεργητικόν μέν τῆς τῶν ἐπεισαχθέντων ἐκ τῆς παρακοῆς τῇ φύσει παρά φύσιν πάντων ἰδιωμάτων καί κινημάτων παντελοῦς ἀναιρέσεως· ποιητικόν δέ, τῆς τῶν προηγουμένως κατά φύσιν ἁπάντων ἰδιωμάτων τε καί κινημάτων ἀνελλιποῦς ἀποκαταστάσεως· καθ᾿ ἥν οὐδείς τό παράπαν τῶν ὄντων κίβδηλος εὑρεθήσεται λόγος· ἐξ ὧν, προνοίας τέ φημι καί κρίσεως, ἤγουν σαρκώσεώς τε καί πάθους, διά τό στεῤῥόν τε καί καθαρόν καί ἀδιάφθορον τῆς κατά τήν πρᾶξιν ἀνδρικῆς ἀρετῆς καί ἀτρεψίας, διά τε τό διαφανές καί λαμπρόν τῆς μυστικῆς θεωρίας καί γνώσεως, ὡς ἐκ μέσου δύο χαλκῶν ὀρέων ἐκβέβηκεν ἱππείων ἁρμάτων δίκην, ἡ ἁγία τετράς τῶν Εὐαγγελίων, τῶν πᾶσαν διειληφότων καί περιοδευσάντων τήν γῆν, καί τήν πληγήν τῆς παραβάσεως τοῦ Ἀδάμ ἰασαμένων, καί ἀναπαυσάντων τό Πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ διά πίστεως, καί τῆς ἐπ᾿ αὐτῇ κατά τόν βίον καλῆς πολειτείας· (685) ἐν γῇ Βοῤῥᾶ, τουτέστιν ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, ἐν οἷς ὁ ζόφος ἐκράτει τῆς ἀγνοίας, καί τῆς ἁμαρτίας τήν φύσιν ἐτυράννει τό σκότος.

Ἤ πάλιν ἡ τοῖς ἁγίοις Εὐαγγελίοις τῶν τεσσάρων γενικῶν ἀρετῶν ἰσάριθμος δύναμις, πᾶσαν διαλαβοῦσα καθάπερ γῆν τῶν πιστῶν τήν καρδίαν, καί περιοδεύσασα τήν ἐγγενομένην αὐτοῖς ἐκ τῶν παθῶν τῆς ἀτιμίας πληγήν· καί ἀναπαύσασα τό Πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ διά τῆς πρακτικῆς τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐνεργείας, ἐν γῇ βοῤῥᾷ, τουτέστιν, ἐν τῇ σαρκί, διά τῶν ἔργων τῆς δικαιοσύνης φαινόμενον δείξασα τόν νόμον τοῦ πνεύματος.

Ἤ πάλιν τάς δύο ἐλαίας νοητέον, τήν θεωρίαν καί τήν πρᾶξιν· ὧν, τῆς μέν θεωρίας, ἡ κατά σάρκωσιν πρόνοια δίδωσι φαίνεσθαι τόν λόγον· τῆς δέ πράξεως, ἡ κατά τό πάθος κρίσις δίδωσιν ἐνεργεῖσθαι τόν τρόπον· ὡς τῆς μέν κατά ψυχήν ἐκ δεξιῶν οὔσης τοῦ Λόγου· τῆς δέ κατά σῶμα ἐξ εὐωνύμων ὑπαρχούσης· καί τῆς μέν, τόν νοῦν πρός τήν τοῦ Θεοῦ καλούσης συγγένειαν· τῆς δέ, τῷ πνεύματι τήν αἴσθησιν ἁγιαζούσης, καί τῶν παθῶν αὐτῆς τούς τύπους ἀφαιρουμένης.

Ἤ πάλιν, πίστιν καί ἀγαθήν συνείδησιν τάς δύο νοητέον ἐλαίας, ὧν ἕστηκε μέσος ὁ Λόγος· κατά μέν τήν πίστιν, ὀρθῶς παρά τῶν πιστῶν προσκυνούμενος· κατά δέ τήν ἀγαθήν συνείδησιν, διά τῆς εἰς ἀλλήλους εὐαρεστήσεως, εὐσεβῶς λατρευόμενος.

Ἤ τούς δύο λαούς, τόν ἐξ ἐθνῶν λέγω καί τόν ἐξ Ἰουδαίων, ἐλαίαις δύο παρείκασεν ὁ Λόγος· οὕς καί πιότητος υἱούς, ὥσπερ ἑρμηνεύων τάς ἐλαίας, διά τήν ἐν πνεύμαατι γέννησιν, καί τήν πρός θέωσιν χάριν τῆς υἱοθεσίας προσηγόρευσεν· ὧν μέσος ἕστηκε ὁ σαρκωθείς Θεός, ὡς ἐπί λυχνίας, τῆς μιᾶς καί μόνης καθολικῆς Ἐκκλησίας, καταλλάσσων αὐτούς ἑαυτῷ τε καί ἀλλήλοις, καί ποιῶν φωτός τοῦ κατ᾿ ἀρετήν τε καί γνῶσιν γεννητικούς.

Τυχόν δέ καί τήν ψυχήν καί τό σῶμα διά τῶν δύο ἐλαιῶν παρῃνίξατο μυστικῶς ὁ λόγος· τήν μέν, ὡς λόγοις ἀληθοῦς γνώσεως κομῶσαν κατά τήν ἐλαίαν· τό δέ, ὡς ἀρετῶν πράξεσι πεπυκασμένον.

Εἰ δέ καί τούς δύο κόσμους διά τῶν δύο ἐλαιῶν ὁ τῆς Γραφῆς αἰνίττεται λόγος, καλῶς ἄν ἔχοι καί οὕτω νοούμενος· ὧν ἵσταται μέσος ὡς Θεός ὁ Λόγος· τόν μέν νοητόν ἐν τῷ αἰσθητῷ φαίνεσθαι τοῖς τύποις μυστικῶς διαγράφων· τόν δέ αἰσθητόν, ἐν τῷ νοητῷ τοῖς λόγοις ὄντα νοεῖσθαι διδάσκων.

Εἰ δέ καί τήν παροῦσαν ζωήν καί τήν μέλλουσαν ἡ κατά τάς ἐλαίας διετύπωσεν ὅρασις, καλῶς ἄν ἔχοι καί οὕτως τῆς θεωρίας ὁ τρόπος· ὧν ἵσταται μέσος ὁ Λόγος, τῆς μέν ἀπάγων, διά τῆς ἀρετῆς· πρός δέ τήν ἐπανάγων, διά τῆς γνώσεως. Ὅπερ