298

not having a conjoined fear; but love, being a law, may be shown to be an indwelling affection, appropriating everything that is kindred according to nature; through benevolence, overcoming hatred; and through reverence, putting contempt far away; which indeed above all things, I mean fear, the blessed David, recognizing as constitutive of divine love, says: The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring for ever and ever; knowing, that is, that this is different from the fear which consists in the dread of punishment for crimes; since the one is cast out, completely vanishing in the presence of love, as the great evangelist John shows somewhere in his own words, saying: Love casts out fear; but the other naturally characterizes the law of true affection; preserving through reverence for the saints unto eternity, toward God and one another, the ordinance and way of love completely incorruptible.

Therefore, as I said, I too, having mixed fear with longing for my Master, have established this law of love until this day; being prevented from writing by reverence, lest contempt find a place; but being impelled to write by benevolence, lest the complete refusal to write be thought of as hatred. But I write, being commanded to do this, not as many things as I think; For the thoughts of men are timid, according to the Scripture; but as many things as God wills, and by grace bestows for the generation of what is profitable. For the counsel of the Lord, says David, remains forever; the thoughts of His heart to generation and generation; perhaps calling the counsel of God the Father the ineffable emptying of the only-begotten Son for the deification of our nature, according to which He holds the end of all ages circumscribed; and the thoughts of His heart, the principles of providence and of judgment; according to which He wisely conducts both our present life and the one to come, as certain different generations, appropriately assigning to each the fitting mode of operation.

And if the deification of our nature is a work of divine counsel; and the purpose of the divine thoughts is the conducting to their end of the things sought for (876) of our life; it is therefore profitable to know and to do, and thus to write properly, the power of the Lord's Prayer. And since especially my Master, moved by God, writing to me his servant, made mention of this prayer, which I necessarily make the subject of my words, I ask the Lord, the teacher of this prayer, to open my mind to the understanding of the mysteries in it, and to give a proportionate word for the clarity of the things understood. For it holds, by way of outline, the whole purpose spoken of mystically hidden; or, to speak more properly, proclaimed openly to those sound in mind. For the word of the prayer contains the petition for all the things of which the Word of God, having been emptied, became the author through the flesh, teaching us to lay claim to those good things of which God the Father alone is truly the bestower through the Son naturally mediating in the Holy Spirit; since the mediator between God and men, according to the divine Apostle, is the Lord Jesus; to men, making the unknown Father manifest through the flesh; and to the Father, bringing men reconciled in Himself through the Spirit; for whom, and because of whom, having unchangeably become man, He becomes the author and teacher of many new mysteries, whose number and greatness a word has not yet been able to encompass in measure; of which, seven in number, more general than the rest, He has been shown to have bestowed upon men out of exceptional munificence; the power of which, as I said, the purpose of the prayer mystically contains; theology, adoption as sons in grace, equality with the angels, participation in eternal life, the restoration of nature dispassionately inclining toward itself, the abolition of the law of sin, and the destruction of the wicked tyranny of the one who ruled over us through deceit. Let us therefore examine the truth of what has been said.

298

φόβον συνημμένον οὐκ ἔχων· ἀλλά νόμος ἡ ἀγάπη τυγχάνουσα δειχθῇ στοργῆς ἐνδιάθετος, ἅπαν τό κατά φύσιν συγγενές οἰκειούμενος· δι᾿ εὐνοίας μέν, τό μῖσος χειρούμενος· δι᾿ αἰδοῦς δέ, πόῤῥω ποιούμενος τήν καταφρόνησιν· ὅν δή μάλιστα πάντων, φημί δέ τόν φόβον, τῆς θείας ἀγάπης συστατικόν ἐπιγνούς ∆αβίδ ὁ μακάριος, φησίν· Ὁ φόβος Κυρίου ἁγνός, διαμένων εἰς αἰῶνα αἰῶνος· ἕτερον δηλαδή τοῦτο εἰδώς, παρά τόν ἐπ᾿ ἐγκλήμασι δέει τιμωρίας συνιστάμενον φόβον· εἴπερ ὁ μέν ἔξω γίνεται, τῇ παρουσίᾳ τῆς ἀγάπης παντελῶς ἀφανιζόμενος, ὥς που τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ λόγοις ὁ μέγας εὐαγγελιστής Ἰωάννης δείκνυται, φάσκων· Ἡ ἀγάπη ἔξω βάλλει τόν φόβον· ὁ δέ, τόν τῆς ἀληθοῦς στοργῆς φυσικῶς χαρακτηρίζει νόμον· αἰδοῖ συντηρῶν εἰς αἰῶνα τοῖς ἁγίοις, πρός τε Θεόν καί ἀλλήλους, τόν τῆς ἀγάπης θεσμόν τε καί τρόπον παντελῶς ἀδιάφθορον.

Πόθῳ γοῦν, ὡς ἔφην, κἀγώ κεράσας τόν φόβον, πρός τόν ἐμόν ∆εσπότην, τοῦτον τῆς ἀγάπης συνεστησάμην τόν νόμον μέχρι τῆς σήμερον· αἰδοῖ μέν τοῦ γράφειν εἰργόμενος, ἵνα μή λάβῃ χώραν ἡ καταφρόνησις· εὐνοίᾳ δέ πρός τό γράφειν ὠθούμενος, ἵνα μή νομισθῇ μῖσος ἡ τελεία τοῦ γράφειν παραίτησις. Γράφω δέ, τοῦτο πράττειν κελευόμενος, οὐχ ὅσα λογίζομαι· Λογισμοί γάρ ἀνθρώπων δειλοί, κατά τήν Γραφήν· ἀλλ᾿ ὅσα βούλεται Θεός, καί χάριτι πρός τήν τοῦ συμφέροντος γένεσιν ἐπιδίδωσιν. Ἡ γάρ βουλή τοῦ Κυρίου, φησίν ὁ ∆αβίδ, εἰς τόν αἰῶνα μένει· λογισμοί τῆς καρδίας αὐτοῦ εἰς γενεάν καί γενεάν· βουλήν μέν τυχόν φήσας τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Πατρός, τήν ἐπί θεώσει τῆς ἡμετέρας φύσεως ἀπόῤῥητον κένωσιν τοῦ μονογενοῦς Υἱοῦ, καθ᾿ ἥν ἔχειν πάντων τῶν αἰώνων τό πέρας περιγραφόμεον· λογισμούς δέ τῆς καρδίας αὐτοῦ, τούς τῆς προνοίας καί τῆς κρίσεως λόγους· καθ᾿ οὕς τήν τε παροῦσαν ἡμῶν ζωήν καί τήν μέλλουσαν, ὥσπερ τινάς γενεάς διαφόρους σοφῶς διεξάγει, καταλλήλως ἑκάστην τόν πρέποντα τρόπον τῆς ἐνεργείας προσνέμων.

Εἰ δέ θείας ὑπάρχει βουλῆς ἔργον ἡ τῆς ἡμετέρας φύσεως θέωσις· καί τῶν θείων λογισμῶν ἐστι σκοπός, ἡ πρός τό πέρας διεξαγωγή τῶν ζητουμένων (876) τῆς ἡμετέρας ζωῆς· ἄρα συμφέρει τῆς τοῦ Κυρίου προσευχῆς γνῶναί τε καί πρᾶξαι, καί οὕτω δεόντως γράψαι, τήν δύναμιν. Ἐπεί δέ μάλιστα ταύτης καί ὁ ἐμός ∆εσπότης πρός ἐμέ τόν αὐτοῦ δοῦλον γράφων θεόθεν κινηθείς ἐπεμνήσθη τῆς προσευχῆς, ἥν καί τῶν ἐμῶν ἀναγκαίως ὑπόθεσιν λόγων ποιούμενος, αἰτοῦμαι τόν ταύτης διδάσκαλον τῆς προσευχῆς Κύριον, διανοῖξαί μου τόν νοῦν πρός κατανόησιν τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ μυστηρίων, καί δοῦναι σύμμετρον λόγον πρός τήν τῶν νοουμένων σαφήνειαν. Ὅλον γάρ ἔχει κατά περιγραφήν τόν ἐν τοῖς εἰρημένοις σκοπόν μυστικῶς κεκρυμμένον· ἤ, τόγε κυριώτερον εἰπεῖν, τοῖς ἐῤῥωμένοις τόν νοῦν ἐμφανῶς κηρυττόμενον. Πάντων γάρ ὧν διά σαρκός γέγονεν αὐτουργός κενωθείς ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος, αἴτησιν ἔχει τῆς προσευχῆς ὁ λόγος, διδάσκων ἐκείνων μεταποιεῖσθαι τῶν ἀγαθῶν, ὧν μόνος ὁ Θεός καί Πατήρ δι᾿ Υἱοῦ φυσικῶς μεσιτεύοντος ἐν ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι κατ᾿ ἀλήθειάν ἐστι χορηγός· εἴπερ μεσίτης Θεοῦ καί ἀνθρώπων, κατά τόν θεῖον Ἀπόστολον, ὁ Κύριός ἐστιν Ἰησοῦς· τοῖς μέν ἀνθρώποις, διά σαρκός ἐμφανῆ ποιῶν ἀγνοούμενον τόν Πατέρα· τῷ δέ Πατρί διά Πνεύματος ἐν ἑαυτῷ τούς ἀνθρώπους καταλλαγέντας προσάγων· ὑπέρ ὧν, καί διά οὕς ἀτρέπτως γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος, πολλῶν ὅσον οὐδέπω μέτρῳ περιλαβεῖν, τό τε πλῆθος καί μέγεθος δεδύνηται λόγος, καινῶν μυστηρίων αὐτουργός γίνεται καί διδάσκαλος· ὧν ἑπτά τόν ἀριθμόν γενικώτερα τῶν λοιπῶν, κατ᾿ ἐξαίρετον φιλοτιμίαν πέφανται τοῖς ἀνθρώποις δεδωρημένος· ὧν μυστικῶς περιέχει τήν δύναμιν, ὡς ἔφην, τῆς προσευχῆς ὁ σκοπός· θεολογίαν, υἱοθεσίαν ἐν χάριτι, ἰσοτιμίαν τήν πρός ἀγγέλους, ἀϊδίου ζωῆς μετοχήν, φύσεως ἀπαθῶς πρός ἑαυτήν νευούσης ἀποκατάστασιν, τοῦ νόμου τῆς ἁμαρτίας κατάλυσιν, καί τῆς τοῦ κρατήσαντος ἡμῶν δι᾿ ἀπάτης πονηροῦ τυραννίδος καθαίρεσιν. Σκοπῶμεν οὖν τήν τῶν λεχθέντων ἀλήθειαν.