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And the great Elias clearly shows this, typologically demonstrating this mystery through his actions; (889) giving his sheepskin mantle, by which I mean the mortification of the flesh, in which is fixed the magnificence of moral propriety, to Elisha during his ascension, as an alliance of the spirit against every opposing power, and as a blow against unstable and flowing nature; of which the Jordan was a type, so that the disciple would not be hindered from crossing to the holy land, submerged by the muddy and slippery nature of attachment to material things. But he himself, proceeding freely to God, not held at all in relation to any of the things that exist, simple in desire and uncompounded in mind, towards Him who is simple by nature, through interconnected general virtues, gnostically united to one another, making his sojourn as if on horses of fire. For he knew that for the disciple of Christ [Fr. alterge Reg. the disciple of Christ] the unequal dispositions, whose difference proves their alienation, must cease to be; since the passion of desire is a diffusion of the blood around the heart, while the irascible part, when moved, clearly produces a boiling of the blood. And having arrived, as one living and moving and being in Christ, he put off from himself the strange generation of unequal things [another codex, and of strange things]; not bearing in himself, like male and female, the contrary dispositions, as I said, of these passions; so that reason, in which the reverence for the divine image is naturally ingrained, might not be enslaved by them, being changed by their unstable transformations, persuading the soul to be reshaped in its mind towards the divine likeness, and to become part of the great kingdom that co-exists essentially with God the Father of all, as an all-luminous dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, receiving wholly, if it is right to say, as far as possible, the power of knowledge of the divine nature; by which the generation of worse things naturally ceases to be, and that of better things comes into being, the soul, equal to God according to the grace of its calling, preserving inviolate within itself the substance of the good things bestowed; according to which Christ, ever willing, is mystically born, becoming incarnate through those who are being saved; and making the soul that gives birth a mother of virgins, not having, to speak concisely, in its relation, like male and female, the characteristics of a nature subject to corruption and generation.

And let no one be surprised, hearing corruption placed before generation. For one who dispassionately, with right reason, examines the nature of things that come into being and cease to be, will find clearly that generation begins from corruption and ends in corruption; whose significant passions, as I said, Christ does not have; that is, the life and reason of Christ and according to Christ. If indeed he who says is true, "For in Christ Jesus, there is neither male nor female"; that is, indicating the signs and passions of the nature subject to corruption and generation; but only a godlike reason, qualified by divine knowledge, and a monadic movement of the will, choosing virtue alone.

(892) Neither Greek nor Jew, by which is signified the differing account of the doctrine concerning God; or, to speak more truly, the opposing one. The one [Marg. The Greek account], foolishly introducing polyarchy, and dividing the one principle into opposing energies and powers; and fabricating a polytheistic worship, both divided by the multitude of those worshipped, and mocked by the different manner of worship. The other [Marg. The Jewish account], [introduces] one principle, but a narrow and imperfect one, and almost without substance, as being devoid of reason and life, falling into an equal evil as the former account through opposite means, namely atheism; circumscribing the one principle to a single person, and this subsisting without Word and Spirit, or being qualified by Word and Spirit; not perceiving what kind of God is deprived of these; or how God would share in these as accidents similarly to rational beings under generation; of which in Christ there is absolutely nothing, as I said; but only of true

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Καί δηλοῖ τοῦτο σαφῶς Ἠλίας ὁ μέγας, δι᾿ ὧν ἔπραττε τυπικῶς τοῦτο παραδεικνύς τό μυστήριον· (889) τήν μέν μηλωτήν, φημί δέ τῆς σαρκός τήν νέκρωσιν, ἐν ᾗ τό μεγαλοπρεπές πέπηγε τῆς ἠθικῆς κοσμιότητος, κατά τήν ἁρπαγήν Ἑλισσαίῳ διδούς εἰς συμμαχίαν τοῦ πνεύματος κατά πάσης ἀντικειμένης δυνάμεως, καί πληγήν τῆς ἀστάτου καί ῥεούσης φύσεως· ἧς τύπος ὑπῆρχεν ὁ Ἰορδάνης, πρός τό μή σχεθῆναι τόν μαθητήν τῆς πρός τήν ἁγίαν γῆν διαβάσεως, τῷ θολερῷ τε καί ὀλισθηρῷ περικλυσθέντα τῆς τῶν ὑλικῶν προσπαθείας· αὐτός δέ χωρῶν πρός τόν Θεόν ἄνετος, οὐδενί τῶν ὄντων παντελῶς κατά τήν σχέσιν κρατούμενος, ἁπλοῦς τε τήν ἔφεσιν καί τήν γνώμην ἀσύνθετος, πρός τόν ἁπλοῦν τῇ φύσει, διά τῶν ἀλληλούχων γενικῶν ἀρετῶν, γνωστικῶς ἀλλήλαις συνῃρημένων, ὡς ἵππων πυρίνων τήν ἐνδημίαν ποιούμενος. Ἔγνω γάρ ὅτι δεῖ τῷ Χριστοῦ μαθητῇ [Fr. alterge Reg. τόν Χριστοῦ μαθητήν] ἀπογενέσθαι τάς ἀνίσους διαθέσεις, ὧν ἡ διαφορότης ἐλέγχει τήν ἀλλοτρίωσιν· εἴπερ διάχυσιν μέν τοῦ περί καρδίαν αἵματος τό κατ᾿ ἐπιθυμίαν πάθος· αἵματος δέ ζέσιν, κινούμενον σαφῶς τό θυμικόν ἀπεργάζεται· καί φθάσας οἷα δή ζῶν ἐν Χριστῷ καί κινούμενος καί ὤν, ἑαυτοῦ τήν τῶν ἀνίσων ἀλλόκοτον [alter codex, καί ἀλλοκότων] ἀπέθετο γένεσιν· μή φέρων ἐν ἑαυτῷ καθάπερ ἄῤῥεν καί θῆλυ, τάς ἐναντίας, ὡς ἔφην, τούτων τῶν παθῶν διαθέσεις· ἵνα μή δουλωθῇ τούτοις ὁ λόγος, ταῖς αὐτῶν ἀστάτοις μεταβολαῖς ἀλλοιούμενος, ᾧ φυσικῶς τό τῆς θείας εἰκόνος ἐγκέκραται σέβας, πεῖθον τήν ψυχήν ματαπλασθῆναι κατά τήν γνώμην πρός τήν θείαν ὁμοίωσιν, καί γενέσθαι τῆς συνυφισταμένης οὐσιωδῶς τῷ Θεῷ καί Πατρί τῶν ὅλων μεγάλης βασιλείας, ὡς Πνεύματος ἁγίου παμφαές οἰκητήριον, ὅλην δεχόμενον, εἰ θέμις εἰπεῖν, τῆς θείας φύσεως κατά τό δυνατόν, τήν ἐξουσίαν τῆς γνώσεως· καθ᾿ ἥν ἡ μέν τῶν χειρόνων ἀπογίνεσθαι, τῶν δέ κρειττόντων ὑφίστασθαι πέφυκε γένεσις, ἴσα Θεῷ τῆς ψυχῆς κατά τήν χάριν τῆς κλήσεως ἄσυλον φυλαττούσης ἐν ἑαυτῇ τῶν δωρηθέντων καλῶν τήν ὑπόστασιν· καθ᾿ ἥν ἀεί θέλων Χριστός γεννᾶται μυστικῶς, διά τῶν σωζομένων σαρκούμενος· καί μητέρα παρθένων ἀπεργαζόμενος τήν γεννῶσαν ψυχήν, οὐκ ἔχουσαν, ἵνα συνελών εἴπω, κατά τήν σχέσιν, ὥσπερ ἄῤῥεν καί θῆλυ, τά γνωρίσματα τῆς ὑπό φθοράν καί γένεσιν φύσεως.

Ξενιζέσθω δέ μηδείς, τήν φθοράν τῆς γενέσεως ἀκούων προταττομένην. Ἀπαθῶς γάρ σύν ὀρθῷ λόγῳ τήν τῶν γινομένων καί ἀπογινομένων φύσιν διασκοπήσας, εὑρήσει σαφῶς ἐκ φθορᾶς καί εἰς φθοράν τήν γένεσιν ἀρχομένην καί λήγουσαν· ἧς τά σημαντικά πάθη, καθάπερ ἔφην, οὐκ ἔχει Χριστός· ἤγουν ὁ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τε καί κατά Χριστόν βίος τε καί λόγος· εἴπερ ὁ λέγων ἐστίν ἀληθής, Ἐν γάρ Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, οὐκ ἔστιν ἄῤῥεν καί θῆλυ· τά σημεῖα δηλαδή, καί τά πάθη δηλῶν τῆς ὑπό φθοράν καί γένεσιν φύσεως· ἀλλ᾿ ἤ μόνον θεοειδῆς λόγος γνώσει θείᾳ, πεποιωμένος, καί γνώμης μοναδική κίνησις, μόνην αἱρουμένη τήν ἀρετήν.

(892) Οὔτε Ἕλλην καί Ἰουδαῖος, δι᾿ ὧν τῆς περί Θεοῦ δόξης ὁ διάφορος σημαίνεται λόγος· ἤ, τό γε μᾶλλον ἀληθέστερον εἰπεῖν, ἀντικείμενος. Ὁ μέν [Marg. Ἑλληνικός λόγος] ἀφρόνως εἰσηγούμενος πολυαρχίαν, καί τήν μίαν ἀρχήν ἀντικειμέναις ἐνεργείαις τε καί δυνάμεσι καταμερίζων· καί πλαττόμενος σέβας πολύθεον, τῷ τε πλήθει τῶν προσκυνουμένων στασιαζόμενον, καί τῷ διαφόρῳ τῆς προσκυνήσεως τρόπῳ γελώμενον. Ὁ δέ [Marg. Ἰουδαϊκός λόγος] μίαν μέν, στενήν δέ καί ἀτελῆ, καί σχεδόν ἀνυπόστατον, ὡς λόγου καί ζωῆς ἔρημον, πρός ἴσον κακόν τῷ προτέρῳ λόγῳ διά τῶν ἐναντίων ἐκπίπτων, τήν ἀθεΐαν· ἑνί περιγράφων προσώπῳ τήν μίαν ἀρχήν, καί ταύτην δίχα Λόγου καί Πνεύματος ὑφισταμένην· ἤ Λόγῳ καί Πνεύματι πεποιωμένην· μή συνορῶν, ὅτι τίς Θεός, τούτων ἠμοιρημένος· ἤ πῶς Θεός μεθέξει παραπλησίως τοῖς ὑπό γένεσιν λογικοῖς ὡς συμβεβηκότων τούτων μεμοιραμένος· ὧν ἐν Χριστῷ τό παράπαν, ὡς ἔφην, οὐδείς· ἀλλά μόνος ἀληθοῦς