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taking hold of garments; and the men of old, who, remaining in the beauty of visible things alone, unwittingly worshipped creation rather than the creator.

οδ΄. The word of Holy Scripture, having in part divested itself for the loftier concepts (1160) of the composition of sayings physically fashioned in it, is shown to exist as in the voice of a gentle breeze to the more discerning mind; to the mind which, because of its extreme abandonment of natural energies, was able to receive a sense only of the simplicity which in some way reveals the Logos, according to the great Elijah who was deemed worthy of this vision in the cave of Horeb. For Horeb is interpreted as a new thing [one Reg. thought], which is the state of virtues in the new spirit of grace. And the cave is the hiddenness of wisdom according to the mind; in which he who has come to be will mystically perceive the knowledge that is beyond sense, in which God is said to be. Therefore, everyone who truly seeks God according to the great Elijah will not only be in Horeb—that is, as a practitioner in the state of the virtues; but also in the cave in Horeb—that is, as a contemplative in the hiddenness of wisdom which exists only in the state of the virtues.

οε΄. When the mind shakes off the many opinions about beings that lie upon it, then the clear word of truth appears to it, giving it the foundations of true knowledge, and pushing away its former preconceptions like scales from the powers of sight, according to the divine and great Apostle Paul. For truly, scales are they that lie upon the discerning faculty of the soul, and that prevent passage to the pure word of truth, both the assumptions concerning only the literal text of Scripture, and the passionate contemplations of visible things according to sense.

οστ΄. The divine Apostle Paul said that he knows the knowledge of the Word in part. But the great evangelist John says that he has beheld His glory. For we have seen, he says, His glory, glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. And perhaps Saint Paul said that he knows the knowledge of the Word as God in part. For He is known only in some measure from His energies. For the knowledge of Him according to essence and hypostasis has been rendered inaccessible alike to all, both angels and men, being known in no way by anyone. But Saint John, having been initiated into the principle of the incarnation of the Word, perfectly as among men, said that he beheld the glory of the Word as flesh; that is, he beheld the principle, or rather the purpose, for which God became man, full of grace and truth. For the Only-begotten has not been graced in that He is God by essence and consubstantial with God the Father, but in that He became by nature, according to the economy, man and consubstantial with us, He has been graced for our sake, who are in need of grace; and from His fullness we continually receive the corresponding grace according to our every advance. So that he who has kept the principle (1161) of God the Word, who was incarnate for us, perfect and unprofaned within himself, will receive the glory full of grace and truth, of Him who for our sake glorified and sanctified Himself as one of us, according to His presence. For when, He says, He shall appear, we shall be like Him.

οζ΄. As long as the soul makes the transition from strength to strength, and from glory to glory; that is, the advance from virtue to a greater virtue, and the ascent from knowledge to a higher knowledge, it has not ceased from sojourning, according to what is said. My soul has sojourned much. For great is the distance, and the multitude of knowledges that must be traversed by it, until it shall pass through into the place of the wondrous tabernacle, even to the house of God; with the voice of joy and praise, of a festal sound; always adding an intellectual voice to intellectual voices for the progress of divine contemplations, with that which is according to the mind upon the things contemplated

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ἐπιλαβομένην ἱματίων· καί τούς παλαιούς ἀνθρώπους, οἱ μόνῃ τῆ εὐπρεπείᾳ τῶν ὁρωμένων ἐναπομείναντες, ἔλαθον τῇ κτίσει λατρεύοντες παρά τόν κτίσαντα.

οδ΄. Ὁ τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς λόγος, κατά μέρος τοῖς (1160) ὑψηλοτέροις νοήμασι τήν τῶν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῶ σωματικῶς διαπεπλασμένων ῥητῶν ἐκδυσάμενος σύνθεσιν, ὡς ἐν φωνῇ αὔρας λεπτῆς ὑπάρχων δείκνυται τῷ διορατικωτέρῳ, νοΐ· τῷ διά τήν ἄκραν ἀπόλειψιν τῶν κατά φύσιν ἐνεργειῶν, αἴσθησιν μόνου δυνηθέντι λαβεῖν, τῆς τόν Λόγον ποσῶς μηνυούσης ἁπλότητος, κατά τόν μέγα Ἠλίαν τόν ἐν τῷ σπηλαίῳ Χωρήβ ταύτης ἀξιωθέντα τῆς ὄψεως. Χωρήβ γάρ ἑρμηνεύεται νέωμα [unus Reg. νόημα], ὅπερ ἐστίν ἡ ἐν τῷ καινῷ πνεύματι τῆς χάριτος ἕξις τῶν ἀρετῶν. Τό δέ σπήλαιον, ἡ τῆς σοφίας ἐστί κατά νοῦν κρυφιότης· ἐν ᾗ ὁ γενόμενος, τῆς ὑπέρ αἴσθησιν μυστικῶς αἰσθήσεται γνώσεως, ἐν ᾗ λέγεται τυγχάνειν ὁ Θεός. Πᾶς οὖν κατά τόν μέγαν Ἠλίαν ζητῶν ἀληθῶς τόν Θεόν, οὐ μόνον ἐν Χωρήβ γενήσεται· τουτέστιν, ὡς πρακτικός ἐν τῇ ἕξει τῶν ἀρετῶν· ἀλλά καί ἐν τῷ σπηλαίῳ τῷ ἐν Χωρήβ· τουτέστιν, ὡς θεωρητικός ἐν τῇ κρυφιότητι τῆς σοφίας τῇ ἐν μόνῃ τυγχανούσῃ τῇ ἕξει τῶν ἀρετῶν.

οε΄. Ὅταν ὁ νοῦς τάς ἐπικειμένας αὐτῷ πολλάς περί τῶν ὄντων ἐκτινάξηται δόξας, τότε σαφής αὐτῷ τῆς ἀληθείας ὁ λόγος ἀναφαίνεται, διδούς αὐτῷ τῆς ὄντως γνώσεως τάς ὑποθήκας, καί τάς πρώην ἐπ᾿ αὐτῶ προλήψεις ὡσεί λεπίδας τῶν ὀπτικῶν δυνάμεων ἀπωθούμενος, κατά τόν θεσπέσιον καί μέγαν Ἀπόστολον Παῦλον. Λεπίδες γάρ εἰσιν, ὡς ἀληθῶς, ἐπικείμεναι τῷ διορατικῷ τῆς ψυχῆς, καί ἀπείργουσαι τήν πρός τόν ἀκραιφνῆ τῆς ἀληθείας λόγον, διάβασιν, αἵ τε πρός τό ῥητόν μόνον τῆς Γραφῆς ὑπολήψεις, καί τῶν ὁρωμένων αἱ κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν προσπαθεῖς θεωρίαι.

οστ΄. Ὁ μέν θεῖος Ἀπόστολος Παῦλος, τήν τοῦ Λόγου γνῶσιν, ἐκ μέρους ἔφη γινώσκειν. Ὁ δέ μέγας εὐαγγελιστής Ἰωάννης τεθεᾶσθαι λέγει τήν αὐτοῦ δόξαν. Ἐθεασάμεθα γάρ, φησίν, τήν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, δόξαν ὡς Μονογενοῦς παρά Πατρός, πλήρης χάριτος καί ἀληθείας. Καί μήποτε ὁ μέν ἅγιος Παῦλος τήν ὡς Θεοῦ Λόγου γνῶσιν ἐκ μέρους ἔφη γινώσκειν. Ἐκ γάρ τῶν ἐνεργειῶν, ποσῶς μόνον γινώσκεται.Ἡ γάρ ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ κατ᾿ οὐσίαν τε καί ὑπόστασιν γνῶσις, ὁμοίως πᾶσιν ἐγγέλοις τε καί ἀνθρώποις, καθέστηκεν ἄβατος, κατ᾿ οὐδέν οὐδενί γινωσκομένη· Ὁ δέ ἅγιος Ἰωάννης, τέλειον ὡς ἐν ἀνθρώποις, τόν τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως τοῦ Λόγου μυηθείς λόγον, τήν ὡς σάρκα Λόγον δόξαν ἔφη τεθεᾶσθαι· τουτέστι, τόν λόγον, ἤγουν τόν σκοπόν, καθ᾿ ὅν ὁ Θεός γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος, πλήρη χάριτος ἐθεάσατο, καί ἀληθείας. Οὐ γάρ καθ᾿ ὅ κατ᾿ οὐσίαν Θεός, καί τῶ Θεῷ Πατρί ὁμοούσιος ὁ Μονογενής κεχαρίτωται, ἀλλά καθ᾿ ὅ φύσει κατ᾿ οἰκονομίαν γέγονεν, ἄνθρωπος καί ἡμῖν ὁμοούσιος, δι᾿ ἡμᾶς κεχαρίτωται τούς χρῄζοντας χάριτος· καί ἐκ τοῦ πληρώματος αὐτοῦ διαπαντός κατά πᾶσαν ἡμῶν προκοπήν τήν ἀναλογοῦσαν δεχομένους χάριν. Ὥστε ὁ τόν λόγον (1161) τέλειον ἐν ἑαυτῶ φυλάξας, ἀβέβηλον τοῦ δι᾿ ἡμᾶς σαρκωθέντος Θεοῦ Λόγου, τήν πλήρη χάριτος καί ἀληθείας κομίσεται δόξαν, τοῦ δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ἑαυτόν καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς δοξάσαντός τε καί ἁγιάσαντος κατά τήν αὐτοῦ παρουσίαν. Ὅταν γάρ, φησίν, ἐκεῖνος φανερωθῇ, ὅμοιοι αὐτῷ ἐσόμεθα.

οζ΄. Ἕως ἡ ψυχή, τήν ἀπό δυνάμεως εἰς δύναμιν, καί ἀπό δόξης εἰς δόξαν ποιεῖται μετάβασιν· τουτέστι, τήν ἀπό ἀρετῆς εἰς ἀρετήν μείζονα προκοπήν, καί τήν ἀπό γνώσεως εἰς γνῶσιν ὑψηλοτέραν ἀνάβασιν, οὐκ ἐπαύσατο παροικοῦσα, κατά τό εἰρημένον. Πολλά παρώκησεν ἡ ψυχή μου. Πολύ γάρ ἐστι τό διάστημα, καί τό πλῆθος τῶν ὀφειλουσῶν παρ᾿ αὐτῆς διαβαθῆναι γνώσεων, μέχρις οὗ διελεύσεται ἐν τόπῳ σκηνῆς θαυμαστῆς, ἕως τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ Θεοῦ· ἐν φωνῇ ἀγαλλιάσεως καί ἐξομολογήσεως, ἤχου ἑορτάζοντος· ἀεί φωναῖς, φωνήν,νοεραῖς, νοεράν προστιθεῖσα τῇ προκοπῇ τῶν θείων θεωρημάτων, μετά τῆς κατά νοῦν ἐπί τοῖς θεωρηθεῖσιν