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and tyranny; and that the evil one established these in us by making use of powers.

ιστ΄. The commandments strip these passionate thoughts of the concepts of things; as he says in the fourth chapter of the same century.

ιζ΄. Things done contrary to the will of God—the good and acceptable and perfect, which is the good disposition towards one’s neighbor for God’s sake—are done contrary to the right purpose. That it is contrary to the will of God not to be well-disposed toward one’s neighbor, the Lord shows in the Gospels, saying: As you did, and as you did not do, enumerating the forms of love and of hatred. But see that those who acted contrary to the right purpose, that is, contrary to the commandment of God, having shaken off love for humankind, having no defense to offer, are not seen even to put forward their purpose; knowing that he who does anything contrary to the right purpose of God, even if he should put forward ten thousand reasons, will not escape Gehenna.

ιη΄. The love of God halts desire; and that of one’s neighbor, puts a stop to enraged anger.

ιθ΄. Those who take the iconic materials to be the divine images, (1077) misuse the concepts of the images. For whereas the image signifies the hypostasis, they supposed the substance, that is, the material in which the image is venerated, to be the image. Hence, having misused the concept, they of necessity also misused the thing; as they shamelessly burned the sacred images as bare and deaf matter.

κ΄. See the difference between grief and pain; and that they are consequences: the one, of pleasure; the other, of vainglory.

κα΄. These three successive chapters deprive us of all excuse for laying up money.

κβ΄. By technical wisdom, he means not that which comes from learning, but that by which God made all things.

κγ΄. My mind is impure in the four. But it has something more, in that it considers itself wiser than others.

κδ΄. My soul has never acted according to nature; He knows, who is ignorant of nothing; and it has never rested from actual sin.

κε΄. So when we do something not for Christ's sake, but for some other reason, we cannot put forward our purpose; since we are working contrary to the purpose of God, and according to our own.

κστ΄. If someone thirsts to take and seize what belongs to others, which is not the will of God, how will he put forward the purpose, whose purpose is to have mercy on us and to lend?

κζ΄. That he who is a slave to self-love is heavy of heart, loving and seeking vanity and falsehood; which is the mind of the flesh, that is, the comfort of the flesh.

κη΄. Of the aforementioned, clearly love of pleasure and love of glory and love of money. But if someone is tightly held by these, as I am, how he will be deemed worthy of the knowledge of God, I cannot comprehend.

κθ΄. For either as slaves or also as hirelings, or as sons; that is, either as men of practice only, or also as those deemed worthy of knowledge.

λ΄. A bare thought is one without passion, the simple one; for the passionate one leads away from God. Thus, neither does bare knowledge lead away from human things, but that which has experienced love; which is the alteration of state toward the Spirit.

λα΄. That sons abstain from the passions through knowledge and love; but slaves and hirelings, that is, men of practice, either through fear or through hope.

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καί τυραννίς· καί ὅτι ὑπεστήσατο ταύτας ὁ πονηρός ἐν ἡμῖν δυνάμεων προσχρησάμενος.

ιστ΄. Τούτων τῶν ἐμπαθῶν λογισμῶν ψιλοῦσιν αἱ ἐντολαί, τά τῶν πραγμάτων νοήματα· καθά ἐν τῷ δ΄ κεφαλαίῳ τῆς αὐτῆς ρ΄ φησί.

ιζ΄. Τά παρά τό θέλημα πραττόμενα τοῦ Θεοῦ, τό ἀγαθόν καί εὐάρεστον καί τέλειον, ὅπερ ἐστίν ἡ διά τόν Θεόν πρός τόν πλησίον ἀγαθή διάθεσις, παρά τόν ὀρθόν ἐστι σκοπόν γινόμενα. Ὅτι δέ παρά τό θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ τό πρός τόν πλησίον οὐ καλῶς διακεῖσθαι, δείκνυσιν ἐν Εὐαγγελίοις λέγων ὁ Κύριος· Ἐφ᾿ ὅσον ἐποιήσατε, καί ἐφ᾿ ὅσον οὐκ ἐποιήσατε, τῆς ἀγάπης τά εἴδη καί τοῦ μίσους ἀπαριθμούμενος. Ὅρα δέ ὅτι οἱ παρά τόν ὀρθόν ποιήσαντες σκοπόν, ἤγουν παρά τήν ἐντολήν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀποσεισάμενοι τό φιλάνθρωπον, οὐδεμίαν ἔχοντες ἀπολογίαν εἰπεῖν, οὐδέ τόν σκοπόν προβαλλόμενοι φαίνονται· εἰδότες, ὡς ὁ παρά τόν ὀρθόν σκοπόν τοῦ Θεοῦ τι πράττων, κἄν μυρίους λόγους προβάλλοι, τήν γέεναν οὐκ ἐκφεύξεται.

ιη΄. Ἐπιθυμίαν ἵστησιν ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀγάπη· ἡ τοῦ πλησίον δέ, παύει θυμόν ἠγριωμένον.

ιθ΄. Οἱ εἰκονικάς ὕλας τούς θείους χαρακτῆρας ὑπολαμβάνοντες, (1077) παραχρῶνται τοῖς τῶν χαρακτήρων νοήμασι. Τοῦ γάρ χαρακτῆρος τήν ὑπόστασιν δηλοῦντος· αὐτοί τήν οὐσίαν, ἤτοι τήν ὕλην, ἐν ᾗ ὁ χαρακτήρ προσκυνεῖται, χαρακτῆρα ὑπέλαβον. Ἔνθεντοι καί παραχρησάμενοι τῷ νοήματι, ἐξ ἀνάγκης καί τῷ πράγματι παρεχρήσαντο· ὡς ὕλην ψιλήν καί κωφήν τούς ἱερούς χαρακτῆρας ἀναιδῶς κατακαύσαντες.

κ΄. Βλέπε τό διάφορον τῆς λύπης καί τῆς ὀδύνης· καί ὅτι παρακολουθήματά εἰσιν· ἡ μέν, τῆς ἡδονῆς· ἡ δέ, τῆς κενοδοξίας.

κα΄. Πάσης ἡμᾶς ἀπολογίας ἀποπαύει τοῦ ἀποτιθέναι τά χρήματα, τά καθεξῆς τρία ταῦτα κεφάλαια.

κβ΄. Τεχνικήν σοφίαν, οὐ τήν ἐκ μαθήσεως λέγει, ἀλλά τήν δι᾿ ἧς ὁ Θεός τά πάντα ἐποίησε.

κγ΄. Τοῖς τέσσαρσιν ὁ νοῦς μου ἀκάθαρτος. Ἔχει δέ τι καί πλέον, ὅτι καί τῶν ἄλλων ἑαυτόν σοφώτερον ἥγηται.

κδ΄. Οὐδέποτε ἡ ψυχή μου κατά φύσιν ἐνήργησεν· οἶδεν, ὁ μηδέν ἀγνοῶν· καί οὐδέποτε τῆς κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν ἁμαρτίας ἡρέμησεν.

κε΄. Ὥστε μή διά τόν Χριστόν τι ποιοῦντες· δι᾿ ἄλλο δέ τι, οὐ δυνάμεθα προβάλλεσθαι τόν σκοπόν· ἐπεί παρά τόν σκοπόν τοῦ Θεοῦ, καί κατά τό ἡμέτερον ἐργαζόμεθα.

κστ΄. Εἰ διψᾷ τις ἁλίσκειν καί ἁρπάζειν ἀλλότρια, ὅ μή ἐστι θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ, πῶς προβαλεῖται τόν σκοπόν, οὗ σκοπός τό ἐλεεῖν ἡμᾶς καί δανείζειν ἐστίν;

κζ΄. Ὅτι ὁ φιλαυτίᾳ δουλεύων, βαρυκάρδιός ἐστι, ματαιότητα καί ψεῦδος ἀγαπῶν καί ζητῶν· ὅπερ ἐστί τό σαρκικόν φρόνημα· ἤτοι τῆς σαρκός ἡ εὐπάθεια.

κη΄. Τῶν προειρημένων, δῆλον φιληδονίας καί φιλοδοξίας καί φιλαργυρίας. Εἰ δέ τις τούτοις ἀπρίξ ἐνίσχεται ὡς ἐγώ, πῶς Θεοῦ καταξιωθήσεται γνώσεως, συνιδεῖν οὐκ ἔχω.

κθ΄. Ἤ γάρ ὡς δοῦλοι ἤ καί μίσθιοι, ἤ ὡς υἱοί· τουτέστιν, ἤ ὡς πρακτικοί μόνον, ἤ καί ὡς γνώσεως καταξιωθέντες.

λ΄. Ψιλός λογισμός, ὁ δίχα πάθους, ὁ ἁπλοῦς· ὁ γάρ ἐμπαθής, ἀπάγει Θεοῦ. Οὕτως οὐδέ ἡ ψιλή γνῶσις ἀπάγει τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων· ἀλλ᾿ ἡ παθοῦσα τήν ἀγάπην· ὅπερ ἐστίν ἡ πρός τό πνεῦμα κατά τήν ἕξιν ἀλλοίωσις.

λα΄. Ὅτι οἱ υἱοί, γνώσει καί ἀγάπῃ τῶν παθῶν ἀπέχουσιν· οἱ δέ δοῦλοι καί μίσθιοι, ἤτοι οἱ πρακτικοί, ἤ φόβῳ, ἤ ἐλπίδι.