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that is, of knowledge, the mistaken preconception of the law according to the letter. For everyone who has killed the corporeal meaning of the law, has clearly killed and made to disappear the letter of the law, so that it does not stand in any border of Israel; that is, in any principle of spiritual contemplation. For if Israel is interpreted as a mind seeing God, it is clear that the corporeal aspect of the law in no way whatsoever subsists in spiritual contemplation, for those who prefer the spirit to the letter; since, as it is written, God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth, but not in the letter. For the letter kills; but the spirit gives life. Therefore it is necessary for that which by nature kills, to be killed by the life-giving spirit. For it is utterly impossible for the corporeal aspect of the law and the divine, that is, the letter and the spirit, to coexist in actuality with each other at the same time; because that which is able to take life away is not by nature in harmony with that which by nature provides it.

(756) Therefore, taking this passage according to the history, we do not find the Scripture to be telling the truth. For where did the Gibeonites make Saul disappear from every border of Israel, when many of his kindred were found among the people after this? But understanding it according to contemplation, we clearly find that through the midst of natural contemplation, in the height of knowledge, the written law completely ceases to be, that is, the corporeal institution in symbols according to the worship. For where will circumcision of the flesh still stand when the law is understood spiritually? where the Sabbaths, and the new moons? where the festal assemblies of the feasts? where the tradition of the sacrifices, and of the idleness of the land, and of the rest of the law according to the corporeal worship [fort. add. καταστάσεως]? For we know, by naturally applying our minds to these things, that the removal of the natural completeness from God is not perfection. For nature does not make for perfection when it is mutilated by art, and through over-subtlety puts aside what belongs to it from God according to the principle of creation; so that we do not introduce artifice as stronger than God for the confirmation of righteousness, and make the contrived deficiency of nature a supplement for the deficiency in righteousness at creation; but from the typical ordinance of the countless one being circumcised, we are taught to perform, in the way of knowledge, the circumcision of the impassioned disposition of the soul; according to which the will is rather ordered to run in harmony with nature, correcting the impassioned law of our acquired generation. For mystical circumcision is the complete removal of the mind's impassioned relation to our adventitious generation. And the Sabbath is the perfect inactivity of the passions, and the universal cessation of the mind's movement concerning created things, and a perfect passage to the Divine; in which the one who has arrived, as is right, through virtue and knowledge, must not, like wood, contemplate any matter at all that kindles the passions; nor at all consider the principles of nature, lest, like the Greeks, we dogmatize about a God who takes pleasure in passions or is measured by the limits of nature; whom perfect silence alone proclaims, and complete ignorance through transcendence presents. And we say the new moons are the various illuminations in the course of the days of virtue and knowledge, by which, running forward all together through the ages, we fulfill the acceptable year of the Lord, which is adorned with the crown of his goodness. And the crown of goodness is a pure faith, like precious stones, adorned with the sublime language of doctrines and with spiritual words and concepts, binding the God-loving mind as if it were a head. Or rather, again, the crown of goodness is the Word of God himself, who, with the variety of ways according to providence and judgment—that is, by continence in voluntary and patience in involuntary sufferings—encircles the mind as a head, and by participation in the grace of deification, He, of Himself, making the mind more beautiful.

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τῆς γνώσεως δηλαδή, τήν κατά τό γράμμα πεπλανημένην τοῦ νόμου πρόληψιν. Πᾶς γάρ ἀποκτείνας τήν σωματικήν τοῦ νόμου διάνοιαν, τό γράμμα τοῦ νόμου σαφῶς ἐπέκτεινε καί ἠφάνισε, τοῦ μή ἑστάναι ἐν παντί ὁρίῳ Ἰσραήλ· τουτέστιν, ἐν παντί λόγῳ πνευματικῆς θεωρίας. Εἰ γάρ Ἰσραήλ νοῦς ὁρῶν Θεόν ἑρμηνεύεται, δῆλον ὡς τό σωματικόν τοῦ νόμου καθάπαξ ἐν οὐδενί τρόπῳ πνευματικῆς θεωρίας ὑφέστηκε, τοῖς τό πνεῦμα προτιμῶσι τοῦ γράμματος· εἴπερ Πνεῦμα, κατά τό γεγραμμένον, ἐστίν ὁ Θεός, καί τούς προσκυνοῦντας αὐτόν, ἐν πνεύματι καί ἀληθείᾳ δεῖ προσκυνεῖν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ γράμματι. Τό γράμμα γάρ ἀποκτένει· τό δέ πνεῦμα ζωοποιεῖ. ∆ιό χρή τό ἀποκτένειν πεφυκός, ἀποκτένεσθαι πνεύματι ζωοποιῷ. Συνυπάρχειν γάρ κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν ἀλλήλοις ἅμα κατά τό αὐτό τό σωματικόν τοῦ νόμου καί τό θεῖον, ἤγουν τό γράμμα καί τό πνεῦμα, παντελῶς ἀμήχανον· ὅτι μηδέ συμφωνεῖν πέφυκε τῷ παρεχομένῳ κατά φύσιν ζωήν, τό ταύτην ἀφαιρεῖσθαι δυνάμενον.

(756) Οὐκοῦν κατά μέν τήν ἱστορίαν τοῦτον λαμβάνοντες τόν τόπον, οὐχ εὑρίσκομεν τήν Γραφήν ἀληθεύουσαν. Ποῦ γάρ ἠφάνισαν οἱ Γαβαωνῖται τόν Σαούλ παντός ὁρίου Ἰσραήλ, πολλῆς μετά τοῦτο συγγενείας εὑρισκομένης ἐν τῷ λαῷ; Κατά δέ τήν θεωρίαν νοοῦντες, σαφῶς εὑρίσκομεν, ὅτι διά μέσης τῆς φυσικῆς θεωρίας, ἐν τῷ ὕψει τῆς γνώσεως, ὁ γραπτός παντελῶς ἀπογίνεται νόμος, ἤγουν ὁ σωματικός ἐν τοῖς συμβόλοις κατά τήν λατρείαν θεσμός. Ποῦ γάρ ἔτι στήσεται περιτομή σαρκός νοουμένου τοῦ νόμου πνευματικῶς; ποῦ τά Σάββατα, καί τῶν μηνῶν αἱ ἀρχαί; ποῦ τῶν ἑορτῶν αἱ πανηγύρεις; ποῦ τῶν θυσιῶν, καί τῆς ἀργίας τῆς γῆς, καί τῆς λοιπῆς τοῦ νόμου κατά τήν σωματικήν λατρείαν [fort. add. καταστάσεως] ἡ παράδοσις; Οἴδαμεν γάρ φυσικῶς ἐπιβάλλοντες τοῖς πράγμασιν, ὡς οὐκ ἔστι τελειότης ἡ τῆς ἐκ Θεοῦ κατά φύσιν ἀρτιότητος περιαίρεσις. Οὐ γάρ ποιεῖ τελειότητα φύσις διά τέχνης κολοβουμένη, καί διά περινοίας ἀποτιθεμένη τό προσόν αὐτῇ θεόθεν κατά λόγον δημιουργίας· ἵνα μή τήν τέχνην Θεοῦ πρός βεβαίωσιν δικαιοσύνης ἰσχυροτέραν εἰσαγάγωμεν, καί τήν περινενοημένην τῆς φύσεως ἔλλειψιν ἀναπληρωτικήν ποιώμεθα, τῆς ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ κατά τήν δημιουργίαν ἐλλείψεως· ἀλλ᾿ ἐκ τῆς τυπικῆς τοῦ περιτεμνομένου μυρίου θέσεως, διδασκόμεθα ποιεῖσθαι γνωστικῶς τήν περιτομήν τῆς κατά ψυχήν ἐμπαθοῦς διαθέσεως· καθ᾿ ἥν μᾶλλον τῇ φύσει συντρέχειν ἡ γνώμη ῥυθμίζεται, τόν ἐμπαθῆ τῆς ἐπικτήτου γενέσεως νόμον διορθουμένη. Περιτομή γάρ ἐστι μυστική, τῆς ἐμπαθοῦς κατά νοῦν περί τήν ἐπείσακτον γένεσιν σχέσεως παντελής περιαίρεσις. Τό δέ Σάββατον τελεία παθῶν ἐστιν ἀπραξία, καί τῆς περί τά πεποιημένα καθολική τοῦ νοῦ παῦλα κινήσεως, καί πρός τό Θεῖον τελεία διάβασις· ἐν ᾧ τόν δι᾿ ἀρετῆς καί γνώσεως κατά τό θεμιτόν ἀφικόμενον, οὐ δεῖ καθάπερ ξύλα τήν οἱανοῦν παντελῶς ὕλην ἐξαπτική ἐνθυμεῖσθαι παθῶν· οὔτε μή φύσεως τό παράπαν ἀναλέγεσθαι λόγους, ἵνα μή πάθεσιν ἡδόμενον, ἤ φύσεως ὅροις μετρούμενον, κατά τούς Ἕλληνας τόν Θεόν δογματίζωμεν· ὅνπερ ἡ τελεία μόνη κέκραγε σιγή, καί ἡ παντελής καθ᾿ ὑπεροχήν ἀγνωσία παρίστησι. Τάς δέ νεομηνίας εἶναί φαμεν, τούς ἐν τῷ δρόμῳ τῶν κατ᾿ ἀρετήν καί γνῶσιν ἡμερῶν διαφόρους φωτισμούς, οἷς προτροπάδην ἅπαντας ἐνθέοντες τούς αἰῶνας, τόν δεκτόν ἐνιαυτόν τοῦ Κυρίου πληροῦμεν, τῷ τῆς χρηστότητος στεφάνῳ κοσμούμενον. Στέφανος δέ χρηστότητός ἐστι πίστις καθαρά λίθων τιμίων δίκην, ταῖς τῶν δογμάτων ὑψηγορίαις καί λόγοις διηνθισμένη πνευματικοῖς καί νοήμασι, τόν θεοφιλῆ καθάπερ κεφαλήν διασφίγγουσα νοῦν. Ἤ μᾶλλον στέφανος πάλιν χρηστότητός ἐστιν αὐτός ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγος, ὁ τῇ ποικιλίᾳ τῶν κατά πρόνοιαν καί κρίσιν τρόπων, ἤγουν ἐγκρατείᾳ τῶν ἑκουσίων καί ὑπομονῇ τῶν ἀκουσίων παθῶν, ὡς κεφαλήν τόν νοῦν περιγράφων, καί τῇ μετοχῇ τῆς κατά τήν θέωσιν χάριτος, αὐτός ἑαυτοῦ τόν νοῦν ποιῶν ὡραιότερον.