354
of a demon. But the mind has authority and the power either to follow or to resist whom it wishes.
tes. anoik. g'. The holy Powers urge us toward what is good; but the natural seeds and good disposition help us; while the assaults of the demons, the passions and evil disposition establish.
tes. anoikt. d'. The pure mind, sometimes God Himself, coming upon it, teaches; sometimes the holy Powers suggest good things; and sometimes, the nature of things being contemplated.
tes. anoik. e'. The mind that has been deemed worthy of knowledge must keep the thoughts of things dispassionate, and the contemplations secure, and the state of prayer undisturbed. But it cannot keep these things when it is beclouded by the exhalations of the flesh through the plotting of the demons.
tes. anoik. st'. We are not angry for all the things for which we grieve. For the things that cause grief are more numerous than those that cause anger. For example, this was broken; that was lost; so-and-so died. For such things, we only grieve; but for the rest, we both grieve and are angry, being disposed in an unphilosophical manner.
tes. anoik. z'. The mind, receiving the thoughts of things, is by nature transformed according to each thought. But contemplating these things spiritually, it is variously transfigured according to each contemplation. But having come to be in God, it becomes completely formless and without shape. For contemplating the One of a single form, it becomes of a single form and wholly like light.
(1048) tes. anoik. ē'. A perfect soul is that whose passible power has inclined completely toward God.
tes. anoik. th'. A perfect mind is that which through true faith has super-known the super-unknowable in a super-unknowable way; and has beheld the universals of His creations; and has received from God the comprehensive knowledge of the Providence and judgment within them; as I say, among men.
100. Time is divided in three ways; and faith is co-extended with the three parts; but hope, with one; and love, with two. And faith and hope are for a time; but love, for infinite ages super-united to the super-infinite, remains, ever super-increasing. And for this reason, Love is the greatest of all.
The fourth hundred chapters on love. 1. First, the mind, when it conceives of the divine infinity in all things, marvels,
and that boundless and much-desired sea. Second, it is astonished how from nothing He brought the existence of beings into being. But just as there is no limit to His greatness, so also there is no finding of His wisdom.
2. For how does one not marvel contemplating that immeasurable, and beyond astonishment, sea of goodness? Or how is one not astounded, conceiving how and from where both rational and intelligible substance came to be, and the four elements from which bodies are made, when no matter for their generation pre-existed? And what was that power which, moved into activity, brought these things into being? But the children of the Hellenes do not accept this, being ignorant of the all-powerful goodness, and its active and beyond-mind wisdom and knowledge.
3. God, being creator from eternity, creates when he wishes by the consubstantial Word and Spirit, through infinite goodness. And do not say, For what reason now
354
δαίμονος. Ἐξουσίαν δέ ἔχει ὁ νοῦς, καί δύναμιν ᾧ θέλει εἴτε ἕπεσθαι, εἴτε ἀντιστῆναι.
τέσ. ἀνοικ. γ΄. Αἱ μέν ἅγιαι ∆υνάμεις προτρέπονται ἡμᾶς ἐπί τά καλά· τά δέ φυσικά σπέρματα καί ἡ ἀγαθή προαίρεσις, βοηθοῦσιν ἡμῖν· τάς δέ τῶν δαιμόνων προσβολάς, τά πάθη καί ἡ πονηρά προαίρεσις συνιστῶσι.
τέσ. ἀνοικτ. δ΄. Τόν καθαρόν νοῦν, ποτέ μέν, αὐτός ὁ Θεός αὐτῷ ἐπιβαίνων διδάσκει· ποτέ δέ, αἱ ἅγιαι ∆υνάμεις τά καλά ὑποτίθενται· ποτέ δέ, ἡ φύσις τῶν πραγμάτων θεωρουμένη.
τέσ. ἀνοικ. ε΄. Χρή τόν καταξιωθέντα γνώσεως νοῦν, τά τε νοήματα τηρεῖν ἀπαθῆ τῶν πραγμάτων· καί τά θεωρήματα, ἀσφαλῆ· καί τήν τῆς προσευχῆς κατάστασιν ἀθόλωτον. Οὐ δύναται δέ ταῦτα τηρεῖν ἐκ τῶν τῆς σαρκός ἀναδόσεως, διά τῆς τῶν δαιμόνων ἐπιβουλῆς καπνιζόμενος.
τεσ. ἀνοικ. στ΄. Οὐ δι᾿ ὅσα λυπούμεθα, διά ταῦτα καί ὀργιζόμεθα. Πλεονάζει γάρ τά τήν λύπην ἐμποιοῦντα, παρά τήν ὀργήν. Οἷον, ἐκλάσθη τάδε· ἀπώλετο τάδε· ἀπέθανεν ὁ δεῖνα. ∆ιά γάρ τά τοιαῦτα, λυπούμεθα μόνον· διά δέ τά λοιπά, καί λυπούμεθα καί ὀργιζόμεθα, ἀφιλοσόφως διακείμενοι.
τέσ. ἀνοικ. ζ΄. ∆εχόμενος ὁ νοῦς τά τῶν πραγμάτων νοήματα, πρός ἕκαστον νόημα μετασχηματίζεσθαι πέφυκε. Θεωρῶν δέ ταῦτα πνευματικῶς, πρός ἕκαστον θεώρημα ποικίλως μεταμορφοῦσθαι. Ἐν δέ Θεῶ γενόμενος, ἄμορφος πάντη καί ἀσχημάτιστος γίνεται. Τόν γάρ μονοειδῆ θεωρῶν, μονοειδής γίνεται καί ὅλος φωτοειδής.
(1048) τέσ. ἀνοικ. η΄. Ψυχή ἐστι τελεία, ἧς ἡ παθητική δύναμις νένευκεν ὁλοτελῶς πρός Θεόν.
τέσ. ἀνοικ. θ΄. Νοῦς ἐστι τέλειος, ὁ διά πίστεως ἀληθοῦς, τόν ὑπεράγνωστον ὑπεραγνώστως ὑπερεγνωκώς· καί τῶν αὐτοῦ δημιουργημάτων, τά καθόλου θεασάμενος· καί τῆς ἐν αὐτοῖς Προνοίας καί κρίσεως, τήν περιληπτικήν γνῶσιν παρά Θεοῦ εἰληφώς· ὡς ἐν ἀνθρώποις δέ φημι.
ρ΄. Τριχῶς τέμνεται ὁ χρόνος· καί ἡ μέν πίστις, τοῖς τρισί συμπαρατείνεται τμήμασι· ἡ δέ ἐλπίς, τῷ ἑνί· ἡ δέ ἀγάπη, τοῖς δυσί. Καί ἡ μέν πίστις καί ἐλπίς μέχρι τινός· ἡ δέ ἀγάπη, εἰς ἀπείρους αἰῶνας τῷ ὑπεραπείρῳ ὑπερηνωμένη, καί ἀεί ὑπεραύξουσα διαμένει. Καί διά τοῦτο, Μείζων πάντων ἡ ἀγάπη.
Περί ἀγάπης τετάρτη κεφαλαίων ἑκατοντάς. α΄. Πρῶτον μέν θαυμάζει ὁ νοῦς τήν θείαν ἐννοούμενος κατά πάντα ἀπειρίαν,
καί τό ἀνέκβατον ἐκεῖνο καί πολυπόθητον πέλαγος. ∆εύτερον δέ ἐκπλήττεται, πῶς ἐκ τοῦ μηδενός τήν τῶν ὄντων εἰς τό εἶναι παρήγαγεν ὕπαρξιν. Ἀλλ᾿ ὥσπερ τῆς μεγαλοσύνης αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔστι πέρας, οὕτως οὐδέ τῆς φρονήσεως αὐτοῦ ἔστιν εὕρεσις.
β΄. Πῶς γάρ οὐ θαυμάζει τό ἄπλετον ἐκεῖνο θεωρῶν, καί ὑπέρ ἔκπληξιν ἀγαθότητος πέλαγος; Ἤ πῶς οὐκ ἐξίσταται, ἐννοούμενος, πῶς καί πόθεν ἤ τε λογική καί νοερά γέγονεν οὐσία, καί τά τέσσαρα στοιχεῖα, ἐξ ὧν τά σώματα, μηδεμιᾶς ὕλης τῆς τούτων προϋπαρξάσης γενέσεως; Ποία τε ἡ δύναμις ἐκείνη, ἡ εἰς ἐνέργειαν κινηθεῖσα, ταῦτα εἰς τό εἶναι παρήγαγεν; Ἀλλά τοῦτο Ἑλλήνων παῖδες οὐ παραδέχονται, ἀγνοοῦντες τήν παντοδύναμον ἀγαθότητα, καί τήν δραστήριον αὐτῆς καί ὑπέρ νοῦν σοφίαν καί γνῶσιν.
γ΄. Ἐξ ἀϊδίου δημιουργός ὑπάρχων ὁ Θεός, ὅτε βούλεται δημιουργεῖν Λόγῳ ὁμοουσίῳ καί Πνεύματι δι᾿ ἄπειρον ἀγαθότητα. Καί μή εἴπῃς, Τίνι τῷ λόγῳ νῦν