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43. If we desire to be called and to be of God, let us struggle not to betray the Word to the passions, like Judas; or not to deny Him, like Peter. For denial of the Word is the refusal to do good out of fear; but betrayal is premeditated sin in action, and the impulse toward sin.

44. (1195) The end of all affliction is joy; and of all labor, rest; and of all dishonor, glory. And simply, the end of all painful things for virtue's sake is to come to be with God and to exist forever, and to enjoy the eternal and unending repose.

45. God, wishing to unite us to one another by nature and by will, and truly impelling the whole of humanity toward this, philanthropically engraved for us the saving commandments, and for this reason simply legislated to show mercy and to be shown mercy.

46. The self-love and shrewdness of men, having either rejected or sophistically manipulated one another and the law, has cut the one nature into many parts; and having introduced its now prevailing callousness, it has armed nature against itself through knowledge [Regii guo ἐξήπλωσε]. For this very reason, whoever has been able to resolve this irregularity of nature by sound reasoning and nobility of mind, has shown mercy to himself before others, having fashioned his will according to nature, and having drawn near to God according to his will for the sake of nature, and having shown in himself what is the mode of the 'according to the image,' and how God in the beginning fittingly created our nature similar to Himself, a very clear image of His own goodness, and established it to itself and all of it as uncontentious, peaceful, free from sedition, bound tightly both to God and to itself through love, according to which we cleave to God with desire, and to one another with compassion.

47. The philanthropic God for this reason became man, that He might gather the nature of men to Himself, and stop it from being carried along badly, being in sedition towards itself, or rather against itself, and divided; and having no stability, because of the inconstant motion of each person's will.

48. There is nothing, after God, more honorable to those who have understanding, or rather more beloved by God, than perfect love, as it gathers the divided into one, and is able (1197) to create one unwavering identity of will among the many or among all. For it is the property of love to demonstrate one will among those who seek what pertains to it.

49. If by nature the good is unitive and cohesive of the divided, then evil is clearly divisive and corruptive of the united. For by nature evil is scattered, and unstable and multiform and divisive.

50. Deliverance from all evils and a short path to salvation is the true love of God according to full knowledge, and the complete renunciation of the soul's affection for the body and this world, by which, casting off the desire for pleasure and the fear of pain, we are freed from evil self-love, having been raised up to the knowledge of the Creator; and having received in exchange for a wicked self-love a good spiritual self-love separated from bodily affection, we do not cease to worship God through this good self-love, always seeking the constitution of the soul from God. For this is true worship, and truly God-pleasing: the precise care of the soul through the virtues.

51. He who does not long for bodily pleasure, and does not fear pain at all, has become dispassionate. For with these, along with the self-love that bore them, he has killed off together all the passions that are on account of them and from them, along with ignorance, the chief of evils, and has become wholly of that which is standing and remaining and is always the same

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μγ΄. Εἰ τοῦ Θεοῦ ὀνομάζεσθαί τε καί εἶναι ἐφιέμεθα, ἀγωνισώμεθα μή προδοῦναι τοῖς πάθεσι τόν Λόγον, κατά τόν Ἰούδαν· ἤ μή ἀρνήσασθαι, κατά τόν Πέτρον. Ἄρνησις γάρ ἐστι τοῦ Λόγου, ἡ τοῦ πράττειν τό ἀγαθόν διά φόβον παραίτησις· προδοσία δέ, ἡ κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν ἐμπρόθετος ἁμαρτία, καί ἡ πρός τήν ἁμαρτίαν ὁρμή.

μδ΄. (1195) Πάσης θλίψεως τέλος ἐστίν ἡ χαρά· καί παντός κόπου, ἡ ἀνάπαυσις· καί πάσης ἀτιμίας, ἡ δόξα. Καί ἁπλῶς, πάντων τῶν ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς ἀλγεινῶν τέλος ἐστί, τό μετά Θεοῦ γενέσθαι καί εἶναι διαπαντός, καί τῆς αἰωνίου καί πέρας μή ἐχούσης ἀνέσεως ἀπολαῦσαι.

με΄. Ὁ Θεός πρός τῇ φύσει, καί γνώμῃ ἀλλήλοις ἡμᾶς ἑνῶσαι βουλόμενος, καί πρός τοῦτο ἅπαν ὡς ἀληθῶς ὠθῶν τό ἀνθρώπινον, τάς σωτηρίους φιλανθρώπως ἡμῖν ἐντολάς διεχάραξε, καί τούτου χάριν ἐλεεῖν καί ἐλεεῖσθαι ἁπλῶς ἐνομοθέτησεν.

μστ΄. Ἡ τῶν ἀνθρώπων φιλαυτία καί σύνεσις, ἀλλήλους καί τόν νόμον, ἤ ἀπωσαμένη, ἤ σοφισαμένη, εἰς πολλάς μοίρας τήν μίαν φύσιν κατέτεμε· καί τήν νῦν ἐπικρατοῦσαν αὐτῆς ἀναλγησίαν εἰσηγησαμένη, αὐτήν καθ᾿ ἑαυτῆς τήν φύσιν διά τῆς γνώσεως ἐξώπλισε [Regii guo ἐξήπλωσε]. ∆ιά τοι τοῦτο, πᾶς ὅστις σώφρονι λογισμῷ καί φρονήσεως εὐγενείᾳ, ταύτην λῦσαι δεδύνηται τῆς φύσεως τήν ἀνωμαλίαν, ἑαυτόν πρό τῶν ἄλλων ἐλέησε, τήν γνώμην κατά τήν φύσιν δημιουργήσας, καί Θεῷ κατά τήν γνώμην διά τήν φύσιν προσχωρήσας, καί δείξας ἐφ᾿ ἑαυτῷ, τίς τοῦ κατ᾿ εἰκόνα λόγου ὁ τρόπος, καί πῶς ἑαυτῷ ὁ Θεός πρεπόντως κατ᾿ ἀρχάς ὁμοίαν τήν ἡμετέραν φύσιν, καί τῆς ἰδίας ἀγαθότητος ἀρίδηλον ἀπεικόνισμα δημιουργήσας, κατέστησεν αὐτήν ἑαυτῇ καί πάντα ταυτήν, ἄμαχον, εἰρηνικήν, ἀστασίαστον, πρός τε Θεόν καί ἑαυτήν δι᾿ ἀγάπης ἐσφιγμένην, καθ᾿ ἥν Θεοῦ μέν ἐφετῶς, ἀλλήλων δέ συμπαθῶς ἀντεχόμεθα.

μζ΄. Ὁ φιλάνθρωπος Θεός διά τοῦτο γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος, ἵνα τήν φύσιν τῶν ἀνθρώπων πρός ἑαυτόν συναγάγῃ, καί στῄση τοῦ φέρεσθαι κακῶς, πρός ἑαυτήν, μᾶλλον δέ καθ᾿ ἑαυτῆς σταστιάζουσάν τε καί μεμερισμένην· καί μηδεμίαν ἔχουσαν στάσιν, διά τήν περί ἕκαστον τῆς γνώμης ἀστάθμητον κίνησιν.

μη΄. Οὐδέν ἐστι τῶν μετά Θεόν τοῖς νοῦν ἔχουσι τιμιώτερον, μᾶλλον δέ τῷ Θεῷ προσφιλέστερον, τῆς τελείας ἀγάπης, ὡς τούς διῃρημένους εἰς ἕν συναγούσης, καί μίαν ἐν τοῖς πολλοῖς ἤ τοῖς πᾶσιν, ἀστασίαστον κατά τήν γνώμην δημιουργῆσαι (1197) δυναμένης ταὐτότητα. Καί γάρ ἴδιον τῆς ἀγάπης, τῶν τά κατ᾿ αὐτήν ζητούντων, μίαν ἀποδεῖξαι τήν γνώμην.

μθ΄. Εἰ φύσει τό καλόν ἐστιν ἑνοποιητικόν τῶν διῃρημένων καί συνεκτικόν, τό κακόν δηλονότι τῶν ἡνωμένων ἐστί διαιρετικόν τε καί φθαρτικόν. Καί γάρ φύσει τό κακόν σκεδαστόν ὑπάρχει, καί ἄστατον καί πολύμορφον καί διαιρετικόν.

ν΄. Πάντων τῶν κακῶν ἀπαλλαγή καί σύντομος πρός σωτηρίαν ὁδός, ἡ ἀληθής τοῦ Θεοῦ κατ᾿ ἐπίγνωσιν ἀγάπη ἐστί, καί ἡ καθόλου τῆς κατά ψυχήν πρός τε τό σῶμα καί τόν κόσμον τοῦτον στοργῆς ἐξάρνησις, καθ᾿ ἥν, τῆς μέν ἡδονῆς ἐπιθυμίαν, τῆς ὀδύνης δέ τό φόβον ἀποβαλλόμενοι, τῆς κακῆς ἐλευθερούμεθα φιλαυτίας, πρός τήν γνῶσιν ἀναβιβασθέντες τοῦ Κτίσαντος· καί πονηρᾶς ἀγαθήν ἀντιλαβόντες νοεράν φιλαυτίαν σωματικῆς κεχωρισμένην στοργῆς, οὐ παυόμεθα λατρεύοντες τῷ Θεῷ διά ταύτης τῆς καλῆς φιλαυτίας, ἐκ Θεοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀεί ζητοῦντες τήν σύστασιν. Αὕτη γάρ ἐστιν ἀληθής λατρεία, καί ὄντως θεάρεστος, ἡ τῆς ψυχῆς διά τῶν ἀρετῶν ἀκριβής ἐπιμέλεια.

να΄. Ὁ σωματικῆς ἡδονῆς μή ἐφιέμενος, καί ὀδύνην παντελῶς μή φοβούμενος, γέγονεν ἀπαθής. Ταύταις γάρ μετά τῆς τεκούσης αὐτάς φιλαυτίας, πάντα τά δι᾿ αὐτάς τε καί ἐξ αὐτῶν μετά τῆς ἀρχηγικωτάτης τῶν κακῶν ἀγνοίας, ὁμοθυμαδόν συναπέκτεινε πάθη, καί ὅλος γέγονε τοῦ ἑστῶτος καί μένοντος καί ἀεί ὡσαύτως