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so that we may draw near to God, and becoming gods, having received from God the being gods. For not yet are the divine gifts honored, and the presence of divine peace welcomed.

And so much for this; but may the God of peace, who reconciled us to himself through the cross, and redeemed us, being enemies, with his own blood from the power of darkness, himself grant his peace which surpasses all understanding to my blessed master, and deem him worthy of his heavenly kingdom; where the dwelling of all who rejoice and the choir of those who celebrate is.

44. The same to John the cubicularius concerning thetic love. God, as good, having of old through the law and prophets legislated in many ways love for one another among men, at the end of the ages fulfilled this (644) through himself as a lover of mankind, by becoming man.

Not loving us only as himself, but even more than himself; as the power of the mystery clearly teaches those who have piously received the confession of faith in him. For if he willingly, as if he were liable, offered himself up by his will to suffering and death on behalf of us who were liable and deserved to suffer, it is surely clear to everyone who has even slightly perceived this grace, that he loved us more than himself, us for whom he willingly handed himself over to death, and as supremely good, though the saying be bold, instead of his own glory by nature, he chose the timely shame on our behalf in the economy as more honorable. For the return to him of those who had gone astray has truly become an exceeding honor and abounding glory of God, and a progress and manifestation more public than his natural glory. And nothing is more proper to him for the sake of glory than the salvation of men; for which is every word and every mystery; and indeed the most mysterious mystery of all, God himself for the sake of love truly becoming man by the assumption of flesh endowed with a rational and intellectual soul, and unchangeably receiving into himself the passions of nature, in order to save man, and to give to us men himself as a model for virtue, and a living image of goodwill and love towards him and one another, able to persuade all to a due recompense.

Since therefore it is a law of God, both old and new, that we love one another as much as we have been loved; and to make the misfortunes of one another our own to such an extent, that through the relationship of love we should even exchange our dispositions for one another by way of recompense, according to the commandment that bids us rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep; I beseech my God-guarded and blessed master, who has the one and only aim to follow Jesus, who passed through the heavens, with equal love for mankind, being bound by no family tie at all to this deceitful world and its ruler; for this present world is truly deceitful, always luring through deception to the desire for corruptible things, and tightening with the slavery of material things those who are by nature free and heirs of heavenly goods; sporting through pleasure and stealing away those who endure being held by these things.

Knowing therefore, as I said, that my blessed master has the one aim of being saved, I entreat you, receiving along with him my master the most magnificent Illustrious lord Theocharistos, who is the bearer of my present modest letter, to be for him all things in which he needs your help, after God, or rather, with God, as much as we wish God and our neighbor to be for us (645) in those things for which we pray. For he is truly a good man, and of every work

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ἵνα Θεῷ πλησιάσωμεν, καί θεοί γενόμενοι, ἐκ Θεοῦ τό θεοί εἶναι λαβόντες. Οὕπω γάρ τιμᾶται τά θεῖα δωρήματα, καί ἡ τῆς θείας εἰρήνης φιλοφρονεῖται παρουσία.

Καί ταῦτα μέν περί τούτου· ὁ δέ Θεός τῆς εἰρήνης, ὁ καταλλάξας ἡμᾶς ἑαυτῷ διά τοῦ σταυροῦ, καί ἐχθρούς ὄντας ἐξαγοράσας τῷ ἰδίῳ αἵματι τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ σκότους, αὐτός τήν εἰρήνην αὐτοῦ τήν ὑπερέχουσαν πάντα νοῦν χαρίσηται τῷ εὐλογημένῳ μου δεσπότῃ, καί ἀξιώσοι αὐτόν τῆς οὐρανίου αὐτοῦ βασιλείας· ἔνθα πάντων εὐφραινομένων ἡ κατοικία καί ὁ τῶν ἑορταζόντων χορός.

Μ∆´. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ πρός Ἰωάννην κουβικουλάριον περί θετικῆς. ∆ιά νόμου καί προφητῶν πάλαι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ὡς ἀγαθός ὁ Θεός τήν εἰς ἀλλήλους

ἀγάπην πολυτρόπως νομοθετήσας, ἐπί τέλει τῶν χρόνων δι᾿ ἑαυτοῦ ταύτην (644) ἐπλήρωσε ὡς φιλάνθρωπος, γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος. Οὐκ ἀγαπήσας μόνον ἡμᾶς ὡς ἑαυτόν, ἀλλά καί ὑπέρ ἑαυτόν· καθώς καί ἡ τοῦ μυστηρίου δύναμις διδάσκει σαφῶς, τούς εὐσεβῶς τήν εἰς αὐτόν τῆς πίστεως ὁμολογίαν παρειληφότας. Εἰ γάρ ἐκών ὡς ὑπεύθυνος ἑαυτόν κατά θέλησιν ὑπέρ ἡμῶν τῶν παθεῖν ὀφειλόντων ὡς ὑπευθύνων πάθει καί θανάτῳ προΐσχετο, παντί που τῷ κἄν ποσῶς ᾐσθημένῳ τῆς χάριτος δῆλόν ἐστιν, ὡς ὑπέρ ἑαυτόν ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς τούς ὑπέρ ὧν ἑαυτόν κατά θέλησιν τῷ θανάτῳ παρέδωκε, καί τῆς ἰδίας κατά φύσιν δόξης ὡς ὑπεράγαθος, κἄν τολμηρός ὁ λόγος, τήν κατ᾿ οἰκονομίαν εὐκαίρως ὑπέρ ἡμῶν ὕβριν ὡς τιμιωτέραν προείλατο. Τιμή γάρ ὑπερβάλλουσα καί δόξα Θεοῦ πλεονάζουσα, καί τῆς φυσικῆς δόξης μᾶλλον εἰς τό φανερόν πρόοδός τε καί ἔνδειξις καθέστηκεν ἀληθῶς, ἡ πρός αὐτόν τῶν πεπλανημένων ἐπάνοδος. Καί οὐδέν αὐτῷ τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώπων σωτηρίας εἰς δόξης λόγον ἐστίν οἰκειότερον· ὑπέρ ἧς, ἅπας λόγος καί ἅπαν μυστήριον· καί τό δή πάντων μυστήριον μυστηριωδέστατον, αὐτός ὁ Θεός ὑπέρ ἀγάπης ἀληθῶς κατά πρόσληψιν σαρκός νοερῶς τε καί λογικῶς ἐψυχωμένης γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος, καί εἰς ἑαυτόν τά πάθη τῆς φύσεως ἀτρέπτως καταδεξάμενος, ἵνα σώσῃ τόν ἄνθρωπον, καί δῷ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἡμῖν ἑαυτόν ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς ὑποτύπωσιν, καί τῆς εἰς αὐτόν τε καί ἀλλήλους εὐνοίας τε καί ἀγάπης εἰκόνα ζῶσαν, δυσωπῆσαι πάντας δυναμένην πρός ὀφειλομένην ἀντίδοσιν.

Ἐπειδή τοίνυν τοῦ Θεοῦ νόμος ἐστί παλαιός τε καί νέος ἀλλήλους ἡμᾶς τοσοῦτον ἀγαπᾷν, ὅσον καί ἠγαπήμεθα· καί τοσοῦτον ἀλλήλων οἰκειοῦσθαι τάς συμφοράς, ὥστε καί εἰς ἀλλήλους κατά ἀντίδοσιν διά τήν σχέσιν τῆς ἀγάπης ἀλλήλων ἀμείβεσθαι τάς διαθέσεις, κατά τήν χαίρειν μετά χαιρόντων καί κλαίειν μετά κλαιόντων κελεύουσαν ἐντολήν· παρακαλῶ τόν θεοφύλακτον καιί εὐλογημένον μου δεσπότην, ἕνα καί μόνον ἔχοντα σκοπόν ἀκολουθῆσαι διά τῆς ἴσης φιλανθρωπίας τῷ διεληλυθότι τούς οὐρανούς Ἰησοῦ, μηδενί καταδεθέντα τό παράπαν πατριᾶς δεσμῷ πρός τοῦτον τόν πλάνον κόσμον καί κοσμοκράτορα· πλάνος γάρ ὄντως ὁ παρών κόσμος ὑπάρχει, δι᾿ ἀπάτης ἀεί δελεάζων πρός ἐπιθυμίαν τῶν φθειρομένων, καί τῇ δουλείᾳ τῶν ὑλικῶν ἐνδιασφίγγων τούς κατά φύσιν ἐλευθέρους καί τῶν οὐρανίων ἀγαθῶν κληρονόμους· τό παίζειν δι' ἡδονῆς καί ὑποκλέπτειν τούς κρατεῖσθαι τούτοις ἀνεχομένους.

Ἕνα τοίνυν, ὡς ἔφην, τόν τοῦ σωθῆναι σκοπόν ἔχοντα τόν εὐλογημένον μου δεσπότην γινώσκων, παρακαλῶ δεχόμενον τόν σύν αὐτῷ μου δεσπότην τόν μεγαλοπρεπέστατον Ἰλλούστριον κύριον θεοχάριστον, τόν ἐπιφερόμενον τήν παροῦσάν μου μετρίαν συλλαβήν, γενέσθαι αὐτῷ πάντα ἐν οἷς τῆς αὐτοῦ μετά Θεόν, μᾶλλον δέ, σύν Θεῷ, ἐπικουρίας δεῖται, ὅσα τόν Θεόν ἡμῖν αὐτοῖς γενέσθαι, καί τόν πλησίον, (645) βουλόμεθα, περί ὧν δεώμεθα. Ἄνθρωπος γάρ ὄντως ἐστίν ἀγαθός, καί παντός ἔργου