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76th. We act, inasmuch as we have by nature the rational power that produces the virtues, which is active; and the intellectual power that is receptive of all knowledge, without relation, (1212) traversing every nature of things that are and are known, and placing all the ages behind itself; but we undergo, when, having completely passed through the principles of things that are from non-being, we come unknowingly to the Cause of beings, and make our own powers cease along with those things that are by nature finite, becoming that which is in no way an achievement of the power according to nature; since nature does not possess a power capable of grasping that which is beyond nature; for no created thing is by nature productive of deification, since it is not even capable of grasping God; for this is the proper nature of divine grace alone, to bestow deification upon beings in proportion to them; which illuminates nature with the light beyond nature, and places it above its own limits, according to the excess of glory.

77th. Practicing the virtues, we cease after this life; but we do not cease undergoing deification by grace on account of them. For that which is beyond nature is non-existent, because it is also inactive.

78th. The types of divine goods are both the modes according to virtue and the principles of beings; by which God continually becomes man, having the modes of the virtues as a body, and as a soul, the principles of knowledge in the Spirit, by which He deifies the worthy, giving them the hypostatic character of virtue, and bestowing the enhypostatic existence of unerring knowledge.

79th. The faithful and practical mind, according to Saint Peter, being held by Herod, the law of skin; for Herod is interpreted as "of skin," which is the mindset of the flesh; is shut up by two guards, and one iron gate, being warred against both by the activity of the passions, and by the assent of the mind to the passions, which, like guards, or rather prisons, having passed through by the principle of practical philosophy as through an angel, he comes to the iron gate that leads into the city; I mean the firm and abrupt and invincible disposition of the senses toward sensible things; which the principle of natural contemplation in the Spirit opens of its own accord, and then fearlessly sends the mind on to the kindred intelligible realities, free from the madness of Herod.

80th. (1213) The devil is both an enemy of God and an avenger; an enemy, when, as if hating Him, he seems somehow to possess a ruinous love for us men, through the modes of the voluntary passions, by means of pleasure persuading our will to prefer temporal things to eternal goods; by which, stealing the whole desire of the soul, he completely separates us from divine love, making us voluntary enemies of the Creator; but an avenger, when, having laid bare his hatred for us, since we have already become subject to him through sin, he demands punishment against us. For nothing has become so dear to the devil as a person being punished. And having been permitted this, devising successive onsets of involuntary passions, like a tempest he cruelly attacks those against whom he has received authority by God's permission; not wishing to fulfill the divine command, but desiring to nourish his own passion of hatred against us; so that by the great weight of painful misfortunes, the soul, giving way through weakness, might cut off its own power of divine hope, making the onset of painful events a cause of godlessness, instead of admonition.

81st. When those who have obtained the practical disposition, and theoretical knowledge, pursue these for the sake of human glory, sketching out the habits of virtues in an apparent manner; but speaking words of wisdom and knowledge only, without the works of righteousness; and they display to others

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οστ΄. Ποιοῦμεν ἡμεῖς, ἐφ᾿ ὅσον τήν τε τῶν ἀρετῶν ποιητικήν φύσει λογικήν ἔχομεν δύναμιν ἐνεργουμένην· καί τήν πάσης γνώσεως δεκτικήν νοεράν ἀσχέτως δύναμιν, (1212) πᾶσαν τῶν ὄντων καί γινωσκομένων φύσιν διαβαίνουσαν, καί πάντας κατόπιν ἑαυτῆς τούς αἰῶνας ποιουμένην· πάσχομεν δέ, ἡνίκα τῶν ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων τούς λόγους τελείως περάσαντες, εἰς τήν τῶν ὄντων ἀγνώστως ἔλθωμεν Αἰτίαν, καί συγκαταπαύσωμεν τοῖς φύσει πεπερασμένοις τάς οἰκείας δυνάμεις, ἐκεῖνο γινόμενοι, ὅπερ τῆς κατά φύσιν δυνάμεως οὐδαμῶς ὑπάρχει κατόρθωμα· ἐπειδή τοῦ ὑπέρ φύσιν, ἡ φύσις καταληπτικήν οὐ κέκτηται δύναμιν· θεώσεως γάρ οὐδέν γενητόν κατά φύσιν ἐστί ποιητικόν, ἐπειδή μηδέ Θεοῦ καταληπτικόν· μόνης γάρ τῆς θείας χάριτος ἴδιον τοῦτο πέφυκεν εἶναι, τό ἀναλόγως τοῖς οὖσι χαρίζεσθαι θέωσιν· τῆς λαμπρυνούσης τήν φύσιν τῷ ὑπέρ φύσιν φωτί, καί τῶν οἰκείων ὅρων αὐτήν ὑπεράνω, κατά τήν ὑπερβολήν τῆς δόξης, ποιουμένης.

οζ΄. Τάς ἀρετάς ποιοῦντες, μετά τήνδε παυόμεθα τήν ζωήν· τήν δέ κατά χάριν ὑπέρ αὐτῶν οὐ παυόμεθα πάσχοντες θέωσιν. Τό γάρ ὑπέρ φύσιν, ἀνύπαρκτον, ὅτι καί ἀδρανές.

οη΄. Τῶν θείων ἀγαθῶν τύποι, οἵ τε κατ᾿ ἀρετήν τρόποι, καί οἱ τῶν ὄντων λόγοι· οἷς ὁ Θεός διαπαντός ἄνθρωπος γίνεται, ὡς μέν σῶμα, τούς τρόπους ἔχων τῶν ἀρετῶν, ὡς δέ ψυχήν, τούς ἐν πνεύματι λόγους τῆς γνώσεως, οἷς τούς ἀξίους θεοποιεῖ, χαρακτῆρα διδούς ἀρετῆς ἐνυπόστατον, καί ἀπλανοῦς γνώσεως ἐνούσιον χαριζόμενος ὕπαρξιν.

οθ΄. Ὁ πιστός, κατά τόν ἅγιον Πέτρον, καί πρακτικός νοῦς, ὑπό Ἡρώδου κρατούμενος, τοῦ δερματίνου νόμου· δερμάτινος γάρ ὁ Ἡρώδης ἑρμηνεύεται, ὅπερ ἐστί τό φρόνημα τῆς σαρκός· ὑπό δύο συγκλείεται φυλακάς, καί μίαν πύλην σιδηρᾶν, πολεμούμενος ἔκ τε τῆς τῶν παθῶν ἐνεργείας, καί τῆς κατά διάνοιαν ἐπί τοῖς πάθεσι συγκαταθέσεως, ἅς τινας καθάπερ φυλακάς, ἤγουν εἰρκτάς, διά τοῦ λόγου τῆς πρακτικῆς φιλοσοφίας, ὡς δι᾿ ἀγγέλου διαπεράσας, ἔρχεται ἐπί τήν πύλην τήν σιδηρᾶν τήν φέρουσαν εἰς τήν πόλιν· τήν πρός τά αἰσθητά λέγω τῶν αἰσθήσεων, στεῤῥάν καί ἀπότομον καί δυσκαταμάχητον σχέσιν· ἥν ὁ τῆς φυσικῆς ἐν πνεύματι θεωρίας διανοίγων λόγος αὐτομάτην, πρός τά συγγενῆ νοητά λοιπόν ἀφόβως τόν νοῦν παραπέμπει τῆς Ἡρώδου μανίας ἐλεύθερον.

π΄. (1213) Ὁ διάβολος καί ἐχθρός ἐστι τοῦ Θεοῦ, καί ἐκδικητής· ἐχθρός μέν, ὅταν ὡς μισῶν αὐτόν, δοκεῖ πως τήν ὀλέθριον κεκτῆσθαι πρός ἡμᾶς τούς ἀνθρώπους ἀγάπην, τοῖς τῶν ἑκουσίων παθῶν τρόποις, διά τῆς ἡδονῆς πείθων ἡμῶν τήν προαίρεσιν τῶν αἰωνίων ἀγαθῶν, προκρίνειν τά πρόσκαιρα· δι᾿ ὧν κλέπτων ὅλην τῆς ψυχῆς τήν ἔφεσιν, τῆς θείας παντελῶς ἀγάπης ἡμᾶς ἀφίστησιν, ἑκουσίους ἐχθρούς ποιῶν τοῦ ποιήσαντος· ἐκδικητής δέ, ὅταν γυμνώσας τό πρός ἡμᾶς μῖσος, ὡς ἤδη γενομένους αὐτῷ διά τήν ἁμαρτίαν ὑποχειρίους, ἐξαιτῆται τήν καθ᾿ ἡμῶν τιμωρίαν. Οὐδέν γάρ οὕτω φίλον τῷ διαβόλῳ καθέστηκεν, ὡς ἄνθρωπος τιμωρούμενος. Τοῦτο δέ συγχωρηθείς, τάς ἀπαλλήλους ἐπινοῶν τῶν ἀκουσίων παθῶν ἐπαγωγάς, λαίλαπος δίκην ἀπηνῶς ἐπιφέρεται τοῖς καθ᾿ ὧν ἐκομίσατο συγχωρήσει Θεοῦ τήν ἐξουσίαν· οὐ τό πρόσταγμα τό θεῖον ἐκπληρῶσαι βουλόμενος, ἀλλά τό οἰκεῖον τοῦ καθ᾿ ἡμῶν μίσους διαθρέψαι πάθος ἐπιθυμῶν· ἵνα τῷ πολλῷ βάρει τῶν ὀδυνηρῶν συμφορῶν, ἡ ψυχή δι᾿ ἀτονίαν ὀκλάσασα, τῆς θείας ἐλπίδος ἑαυτῆς περικόψῃ τήν δύναμιν, ἀντί νουθεσίας, ἀθεΐας αἰτίαν ποιουμένη τήν τῶν ἀλγεινῶς συμβαινόντων ἐπαγωγήν.

πα΄. Ὅταν οἱ τήν πρακτικήν ἕξιν, καί τήν θεωρητικήν ἐπιστήμην ἀπειληφότες, πρός τήν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ταύτας μετέρχωνται δόξαν, ἤθη μέν ἀρετῶν τῷ φαινομένῳ τρόπῳ σκιαγραφοῦντες· λόγους δέ σοφίας καί γνώσεως μόνον λαλοῦντες, δίχα τῶν κατά δικαιοσύνην ἔργων· καί τόν ὡς ἐπ᾿ ἀρετῇ καί γνώσει τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐπιδείκνυνται