363

The end of the chapters on love of the fourth hundred.

ANONYMOUS SCHOLIA. (1073) a. We, who are not able to teach either by words or by deeds, or even to be taught,

attempt to teach by words; and to become physicians of others while we ourselves teem with sores. But consider this, that ‘Not all things are easily grasped by those who wish them,’ even if it seems so. And who will not marvel at those who, while spoiling women and infants, profess to teach these things with a solemn mind?

b. The Apostle says, ‘But if any man loves God, the same is known of him’; indeed, he wishes that we who love the Lord be known. And from being known, comes being taught, as says Gregory, great in both virtue and theology. Of this thought, I think, is also this chapter: Dispassion, then, begets love; and love is generative of the illumination of knowledge.

c. Whom does this thought not touch, but I think most of all, those who are dying for mammon; which is to say, for the so-called public and for the ruler of the world.

d. God wills all men to be saved, and died for all, that all might be saved. He therefore who loves God, keeps what is willed by God. And keeping this, how will he not love all as himself, and will all to be saved, since God wills this?

e. He calls faith knowledge of God; and love, the keeping of the commandments; which he also calls will and ordinances and precepts and commands and light; according to, ‘Because your commands are a light.’ But the chapter presents practical knowledge.

f. The cause of the virtues is God. But knowledge of Him in act, is the alteration, in respect to its state, toward the spirit of him who has truly known God.

g. Read the 76th of the 100, and you will find it altogether similar, except for the difference of the names.

h. If the commandment was given as a remedy of love against anger, surely self-control has been granted against desire. Read the 79th.

(1076) i. But we who are slaves of the three, how much hatred do we nourish against one another, having become entirely of the passion of insatiability. Read the 64th.

j. Having said in the 77th that through the commandments He makes men dispassionate, now through this chapter he shows how: that it is in love and fasting, and in self-control and prayer.

k. And some gnostic is drawn in again. l. But we who are confounded by the passions, how shall we contemplate? or how do the things we contemplate

not cast us out from the knowledge of the Holy Trinity? m. Do you see the ascents of contemplation? n. That just as there is no account of faithlessness in faith, so neither in the principles according to

nature does the irrational exist. But the work of the commandments is a principle put into action. Read the 84th chapter, and you will be at rest.

o. The natural contemplation of the commandments, he says, and unadulterated love for one's neighbor, frees those who keep them from self-love and tyranny. But the knowledge of beings delivers the gnostics from forgetfulness and ignorance. And through all these things, the tripartite nature of the soul is posited, which, when moved according to reason and nature, accomplishes every virtue; but when moved contrary to reason and nature, will work every evil. Remember that the original and generative sources of all evil are these three: ignorance, self-love,

363

Τέλος τῶν περί ἀγάπης κεφαλαίων τῆς τετάρτης ἑκατοντάδος.

ΑΝΕΠΙΓΡΑΦΟΥ ΣΧΟΛΙΑ. (1073) α΄. Ἡμεῖς οὐδέ λόγοις οὐδέ ἔργοις παιδεύειν, ἤ κἄν παιδεύεσθαι δυνάμενοι,

λόγοις παιδεύειν ἐπιχειροῦμεν· καί ἄλλων γίνεσθαι ἰατροί ἕλκεσιν αὐτοί βρύοντες. Ὅρα δέ τό, ὅτι Οὐ πάντα τοῖς βουλομένοις εἰσίν εὔληπτα, κἄν τοῦτο δοκῇ. Καί τίς οὐ θαυμάσεται τούς καί γυναῖκας χλιδώσας καί νήπια ταῦτα διδάσκειν ἐπαγγελλομένους μετά σοβαροῦ φρονήματος;

β΄. Λέγων ὁ Ἀπόστολος. Εἰ δέ τις ἀγαπᾷ τόν Θεόν, οὗτος ἔγνωσται ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ· δῆτα ἀγαπῶντας ἡμᾶς τόν Κύριον γινώσκεσθαι βούλεται· Ἐκ δέ τοῦ γινώσκεσθαι, τό διδάσκεσθαι, καθά φησιν ὁ μέγας καί τήν ἀρετήν καί τήν θεολογίαν Γρηγόριος. Ταύτης οἶμαι τῆς ἐννοίας ἐστί, καί τόδε τό κεφάλαιον· Ἀγάπην μέν, τίκτει ἀπάθεια· ἡ δέ ἀγάπη, τοῦ φωτισμοῦ τῆς γνώσεως ἐστι γεννητική.

γ΄. Τίνων οὐχ ἅπτεται αὕτη ἔννοια, οἶμαι δέ μάλιστα, τῶν τοῦ μαμωνᾶ ὑπεραποθνησκόντων· ταῦτόν δέ εἰπεῖν τοῦ λεγομένου δημοσίου καί τοῦ κοσμοκράτορος.

δ΄. Ὁ Θεός πάντας ἀνθρώπους θέλει σωθῆναι, καί ὑπέρ πάντων ἀπέθανεν, ἵνα οἱ πάντες σωθῶσιν. Ὁ οὖν ἀγαπῶν τόν Θεόν, τό θελητόν τοῦ Θεοῦ φυλάττει. Φυλάττων δέ, πῶς οὐκ ἀγαπήσει πάντας ὡς ἑαυτόν, καί θελήσει πάντας σωθῆναι, τοῦτο θέλοντος τοῦ Θεοῦ;

ε΄. Γνῶσιν τοῦ Θεοῦ τήν πίστιν λέγει· ἀγάπην δέ, τήν τήρησιν τῶν ἐντολῶν· ἥν καί θέλημα καλεῖ καί δικαιώματα καί ἐντάλματα καί προστάγματα καί φῶς· κατά τό, ∆ιότι φῶς τά προστάγματά σου. Τήν ἔμπρακτον δέ γνῶσιν παρίστησι τό κεφάλαιον.

στ΄. Αἰτία τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐστιν ὁ Θεός. Τούτου δέ, κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν γνῶσις, ἡ τοῦ κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν ἐπεγνωκότος τόν Θεόν, πρός τό πνεῦμα κατά τήν ἕξιν ἀλλοίωσις.

ζ΄. Ἀνάγνωθι τό οστ΄ τῆς ρ΄, καί εὑρήσεις ὅμοιον πάντη, παρά τό τῶν ὀνομάτων διάφορον.

η΄. Εἰ φάρμακον τῆς ἀγάπης ἡ ἐντολή κατά τοῦ θυμοῦ ἐδόθη· πάντως ἡ ἐγκράτεια κατά τῆς ἐπιθυμίας δεδώρηται. Ἀνάγνωθι τό οθ΄.

(1076) θ΄. Οἱ δέ τῶν τριῶν δοῦλοι, πόσον μῖσος κατ᾿ ἀλλήλων τρέφομεν· τοῦ πάθους ὅλοι τῆς ἀπληστίας γενόμενοι. Ἀνάγνωθι τό ξδ΄.

ι΄. Εἰπών ἐν τῷ οζ΄, ὅτι διά μέν τῶν ἐντολῶν, ἀπαθεῖς ἐργάζεται· νῦν διά τοῦδε τοῦ κεφαλαίου δείκνυσι πῶς· ὅτι ἐν ἀγάπῃ καί νηστείᾳ, τῇ τε ἐγκρατείᾳ καί προσευχῇ.

ια΄. Καί γνωστικός τις ἐγκατασπᾶται πάλιν. ιβ΄. Ἡμεῖς δέ συγκεχωσμένοι τοῖς πάθεσι, πῶς θεωρήσωμεν; ἤ πῶς ἅ θεωροῦμεν

οὐκ ἐκβάλλει ἡμᾶς τῆς γνώσεως τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος; ιγ΄. Τάς ἀναβάσεις τῆς θεωρίας βλέπεις; ιδ΄. Ὅτι ὥσπερ ἀπιστιδίας ἐν πίστει λόγος οὐδείς· οὕτως οὐδέ ἐν τοῖς λόγοις κατά

φύσιν ὑπάρχει τό παράλογον. Ἔργον δέ τῶν ἐντολῶν, λόγος ἐστίν ἐνεργούμενος. Ἀνάγνωθι τό πδ΄ κεφάλαιον, καί ἀναπαύσῃ.

ιε΄. Ἡ φυσική φησι θεωρία τῶν ἐντολῶν,ἤ τε ἡ πρός τόν πλησίον ἀνόθευτος ἀγάπη, φιλαυτίας καί τυραννίδος ἐλευθεροί τούς φυλάσσοντας. Ἡ δέ γνῶσις τῶν ὄντων, λήθης καί ἀγνοίας ἀπαλλάττει τούς γνωστικούς. ∆ιά τούτων δέ πάντων, τό τριμερές τῆς ψυχῆς ὑποτίθεται, κατά λόγον μέν καί φύσιν κινούμενον, πᾶσαν ἀρετήν κατορθοῦν· παρά λόγον δέ καί φύσιν, πᾶσαν κακίαν ἐργάσεσθαι. Μέμνησο, ὅτι τά ἀρχέγονα καί πάσης κακίας γεννητικά, τρία ταῦτά ἐστιν, ἄγνοια, φιλαυτία,