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CHAPTER 20.

Of what is the holy prayer, "Our Father who art in heaven," a symbol? The all-holy and revered invocation of the great and blessed God and Father,

is a symbol of the adoption as sons, which will be given substantially and really as a gift and grace of the Holy Spirit; by which, every human particularity being overcome and covered by the visitation of grace, all the saints will be called and will be sons of God, whoever through virtues have already from here brilliantly and gloriously brightened themselves with the divine beauty of goodness.

CHAPTER 21.

What does the conclusion of the mystical liturgy, of the exclaimed hymns, signify; that is, "One is Holy, one is Lord," and what follows.

And the confession of 'One is Holy,' and the rest, made by all the people at the conclusion of the mystical liturgy, signifies the gathering and union, which is beyond reason and mind, of those mystically and wisely perfected according to God, a union that will be towards the hidden one of the divine simplicity, (697) in the incorruptible age of intelligible things; in which, beholding the light of the unmanifest and ineffable glory, they themselves, with the powers above, also become receptive of purity; after which, as the end of all things, the partaking of the mystery takes place; transforming to itself, and showing those who worthily partake to be like the Good by cause, through grace and participation, lacking in nothing of Him, as far as is possible and attainable for human beings. So that they themselves are able to be and to be called gods by position according to grace, because the whole God has wholly filled them, and has left nothing of them empty of His presence.

CHAPTER 22.

How, and in what manner the state of the soul, conceived in itself for each individual, is contemplated through the things that have been said as deifying and perfecting.

Come now then, proceeding by the same way and order, let us contemplate again the same things also concerning the gnostic soul; and let us not hinder (if you please) the mind that longs and wishes, with God leading the way, to ascend a little according to its power in discourse with reverence to a higher contemplation, to examine and to understand how the divine ordinances of the holy Church lead the soul to its own perfection through true and active knowledge.

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ΚΕΦΑΛ. Κ´.

Τίνος ἐστί σύμβολον ἡ ἁγία προσευχή τοῦ, "Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς." Ἡ δέ παναγία τε καί σεπτή τοῦ μεγάλου καί μακαρίου Θεοῦ καί Πατρός ἐπίκλησις,

τῆς δοθησομένης ἐνυποστάτου τε καί ἐνυπάρκτου κατά δωρεάν καί χάριν τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, υἱοθεσίας ἐστί σύμβολον· καθ᾿ ἥν πάσης ὑπερνικωμένης τε καί καλυπτομένης ἀνθρωπίνης ἰδιότητος, τῇ ἐπιφοιτήσει τῆς χάριτος, υἱοί Θεοῦ χρηματίσουσί τε καί ἔσονται πάντες οἱ ἅγιοι, ὅσοι δι᾿ ἀρετῶν ἀπ᾿ ἐντεῦθεν ἤδη τῷ θείῳ τῆς ἀγαθότητος κάλλει ἑαυτούς λαμπρῶς τε καί ἐπιδόξως ἐφαίδρυναν.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΚΑ´.

Τί σημαίνει τό τέλος τῆς μυστικῆς ἱερουργίας τῶν ἐκφωνουμένων ὕμνων· τουτέστιν, " Εἷς Ἅγιος, εἷς Κύριος, " καί τά ἑξῆς.

Ἡ δέ κατά τό τέλος τῆς μυστικῆς ἱερουργίας παρά παντός τοῦ λαοῦ γινομένη τοῦ, Εἷς Ἅγιος, καί τῶν ἑξῆς, ὁμολογία, τήν ὑπέρ λόγον καί νοῦν πρός τό ἕν τῆς θείας ἁπλότητος κρύφιον γενησομένην τῶν μυστικῶς τε καί σοφῶς κατά Θεόν τετελεσμένων, συναγωγήν τε καί ἕνωσιν δηλοῖ, (697) ἐν τῷ ἀφθάρτῳ τῶν νοητῶν αἰῶνι· καθ᾿ ὅν τῆς ἀφανοῦς καί ὑπεραῤῥήτου δόξης τό φῶς ἐνοπτεύοντες, τῆς μακαρίας, μετά τῶν ἄνω δυνάμεων, καί αὐτοί δεκτικοί γίνονται καθαρότητος· μεθ᾿ ἥν, ὡς τέλος πάντων, ἡ τοῦ μυστηρίου μετάδοσις γίνεται· μεταποιοῦσα πρός ἑαυτήν, καί ὁμοίους τῷ κατ᾿ αἰτίαν ἀγαθῷ κατά χάριν καί μέθεξιν ἀποφαίνουσα τούς ἀξίως μεταλαμβάνοντας, ἐν μηδενί αὐτοῦ λειπομένους, κατά τό ἐφικτόν ἀνθρώποις καί ἐνδεχόμενον. Ὥστε καί αὐτούς δύνασθαι εἶναί τε καί καλεῖσθαι θέσει κατά τήν χάριν θεούς, διά τόν αὐτούς ὅλως πληρώσαντα ὅλον Θεόν, καί μηδέν αὐτῶν τῆς αὐτοῦ παρουσίας κενόν καταλείψαντα.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΚΒ´.

Πῶς, καί τίνι τρόπῳ καί ἡ τῆς ψυχῆς καθ᾿ ἑαυτήν νοουμένης ἐπί τοῦ καθ᾿ ἕκαστον ἰδικῶς ἐκθεωτική καί τελειοποιός διά τῶν εἰρημένων θεωρεῖται κατάστασις.

∆εῦρο δή οὖν, διά τῶν αὐτῶν ὁδῷ καί τάξει βαίνοντες, πάλιν τά αὐτά καί περί ψυχῆς γνωστικῆς θεωρήσωμεν· καί συναναβῆναι μικρόν κατά δύναμιν τῷ λόγῳ μετ᾿ εὐλαβείας πρός ὑψηλοτέραν θεωρίαν, σκοπῆσαί τε καί κατανοῆσαι πῶς οἱ θεῖοι τῆς ἁγίας Ἐκκλησίας θεσμοί τήν ψυχήν ἐπί τήν ἑαυτῆς τελειότητα δι᾿ ἀληθοῦς καί ἐνεργοῦς γνώσεως ἄγουσι, ποθοῦντα τόν νοῦν καί βουλόμενον, Θεοῦ χειραγωγοῦντος (εἰ δοκεῖ) μή κωλύσωμεν.