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from the manifested magnificence of beings, being taught the cause of these same beings.

6. Since, therefore, discernment is the property of one who touches; he who approaches the symbols of the Law with knowledge, and who contemplates the phenomenal nature of beings with understanding, discerning Scripture and creation and himself—Scripture, into letter and spirit; creation, into reason and appearance; and himself, into mind and sense; and having taken the spirit of Scripture, the reason of creation, and the mind of himself, and having united them indissolubly with one another, he found God; as one who has known God as is proper and possible, who is in Mind and Word and Spirit; having been delivered from all that leads astray and drags down into countless opinions, I mean, from letter and appearance and sense, in which exists diverse quantity, which is opposed to the monad. But if one, having interwoven, confuses with one another the letter of the law, and the appearance of visible things, and his own sense, he is blind, short-sighted, suffering from ignorance of the Cause of beings.

7. The divine and great Apostle, defining what faith is, says: Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And if one were to define it as an inward good, or a true knowledge that demonstrates the ineffable goods, he has not missed the truth.

8. Faith is a relational power, or an effective relation of a supernatural, immediate, perfect union of the believer with God who is believed.

9. Since, therefore, man consists of soul and body, he is agitated by two laws, I mean, of the flesh and of the spirit; and the law of the flesh has its activity according to sense; while that of the spirit has its activity according to the mind; and the one of the flesh is by nature to bind to matter, being active according to sense, makes the union immediately with God; for this reason, *He who is not divided in his heart*—that is, not having divided in his mind, or rather, not having severed the immediate union with God that has come about through faith—as one who is dispassionate, or rather, has already become a god by faith through the union, will say to this mountain to move, and it will move; (1225) indicating by saying this, signifying the mindset and the law of the flesh, which is truly heavy and hard to move, and, as far as natural power is concerned, utterly immobile and unshakable.

10. The power of irrationality is so rooted in the nature of men through sense perception, that the majority consider man to be nothing else than flesh, having sense perception as a power for the enjoyment of the present life.

11. All things, he says, are possible for one who believes and does not doubt—that is, for one who is not separated from the union with God that has come to him through faith according to the mind, because of the soul’s relation to the body according to sense; all things that alienate the mind from the world and the flesh, and appropriate it to God, when he is perfected by right actions. For this must be implicitly understood in the phrase, *All things are possible for one who believes*.

12. Faith is undemonstrated knowledge. If it is undemonstrated knowledge, then faith is a relation beyond nature, through which we are united to God unknowingly, but not demonstratively, in a union beyond intellection.

13. When the mind has received the immediate union with God, it has the power of intellection and of being intellected completely at rest. Whenever, then, it dissolves this union, by thinking of something that is after God, it becomes divided, severing the union that is beyond intellection, in which, as long as it is joined to God, having become a god beyond nature and by participation, it moves the law of its own nature, as though it were an immovable mountain.

14. He who is being introduced to piety, being taught about the works of righteousness, performs the action alone, with all obedience and faith, just as

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ἀπό τῆς προβεβλημένης τῶν ὄντων μεγαλουργίας, τήν αὐτῶν τῶν ὄντων διδασκόμενος αἰτίαν.

στ΄. Ἐπειδή τοίνυν ἴδιον τοῦ ψηλαφῶντος ἡ διάκρισίς ἐστιν· ὁ τά νομικά σύμβολα γνωστικῶς ἐπερχόμενος, καί τήν φαινομένην τῶν ὄντων φύσιν ἐπιστημονικῶς θεώμενος, διακρίνων τήν Γραφήν καί τήν κτίσιν καί ἑαυτόν, τήν μέν Γραφήν, εἰς γράμμα καί πνεῦμα· τήν δέ κτίσιν, εἰς λόγον καί ἐπιφάνειαν· ἑαυτόν δέ, εἰς νοοῦν καί αἴσθησιν· καί τῆς μέν Γραφῆς, τό πνεῦμα· τῆς δέ κτίσεως, τόν λόγον· ἑαυτοῦ δέ, τόν νοῦν λαβών, καί ἀλλήλοις ἀλύτως ἑνώσας, εὗρε Θεόν· ὡς ἐπιγνούς καθώς δεῖ, καί δυνατόν ἐστι, τόν Θεόν, τόν ἐν Νῷ καί Λόγῳ καί Πνεύματι· πάντων τῶν πλανώντων καί εἰς μυρίας δόξας κατασυρόντων ἀπαλλαγείς, λέγω δέ γράμματος καί ἐπιφανείας καί αἰσθήσεως, ἐν οἷς ἡ διάφορος ὑπάρχει ποσότης, καί τῆς μονάδος ἀντίθετος. Εἰ δέ τό γράμμα τοῦ νόμου, καί τήν τῶν ὁρωμένων ἐπιφάνειαν καί τήν οἰκείαν αἴσθησιν ἀλλήλοις τις προσπλέξας συμφύρῃ, τυφλός ἐστι μυωπάζων, τήν τῆς Αἰτίας τῶν ὄντων ἀγνωσίαν νοσῶν.

ζ΄. Ὁ θεῖος καί μέγας Ἀπόστολος, τί ἐστι πίστις ὁρίζων, φησί· Πίστις ἐστίν, ἐλπιζομένων ὑπόστασις, καί πραγμάτων ἔλγχος οὐ βλεπομένων. Εἰ δέ τις καί ἐνδιάθετον αὐτήν ἀγαθόν ὁρίσαιτο, ἤ γνῶσιν ἀληθῆ τῶν ἀποῤῥήτων ἀγαθῶν ἀποδεικτικήν, τῆς ἀληθείας οὐ διήμαρτεν.

η΄. Ἡ πίστις, δύναμίς ἐστι σχετική, ἤ σχέσις δραστική τῆς ὑπέρ φύσιν ἀμέσου τοῦ πιστεύοντος πρός τόν πιστευόμενον Θεόν, τελείας ἑνώσεως.

θ΄. Ἐπειδή τοίνυν ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐκ ψυχῆς ὑπάρχων καί σώματος, δυσί σαλεύεται νόμοις, σαρκός λέγω καί πνεύματος· καί ὁ μέν τῆς σαρκός νόμος, κατά τήν αἴσθησιν· ὁ δέ τοῦ πνεύματος, κατά τόν νοῦν κέκτηται τήν ἐνέργειαν· καί ὁ μέν τῆς σαρκός ὕλῃ συνδεῖν πέφυκε, κατά τήν αἴσθησιν ἐνεργούμενος, πρός τόν Θεόν ἀμέσως ποιεῖται τήν ἕνωσιν· εἰκότως Ὁ μή διακριθείς ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ· τουτέστιν, ἐν τῷ νοΐ μή διακρίνας, ἤγουν διατεμών τήν διά τῆς πίστεως πρός τόν Θεόν γεγενημένην ἄμεσον ἕνωσιν, ὡς ἀπαθής, μᾶλλον δέ θεός ἤδη διά τῆς πίστεως τῇ ἑνώσει γεγενημένος, ἐρεῖ τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ μεταβῆναι, καί μεταβήσεται· (1225) δεικτικῶς διά τοῦ τοῦτο φάναι, τό φρόνημα καί τόν νόμον δηλῶν τῆς σαρκός, τόν βαρύν ὄντως καί δυσμετακίνητον, καί ὅσον πρός δύναμιν φυσικήν, παντελῶς ἀκίνητον καί ἀσάλευτον.

ι΄. Τοσοῦτον ἐῤῥίζωται τῇ φύσει τῶν ἀνθρώπων διά τῆς ασθήσεως ἡ τῆς ἀλογίας δύναμις, ὥστε τούς πολλούς μηδ᾿ ἄλλο τι νομίζειν εἶναι τόν ἄνθρωπον, ἤ σάρκα, δύναμιν πρός ἀπόλαυσιν τῆς παρούσης ζωῆς τήν αἴσθησιν ἔχουσαν.

ια΄. Πάντα, φησί, δυνατά τῷ πιστεύοντι, καί μή διακρινομένῳ, τουτέστι μή διαιρουμένῳ τῆς κατά νοῦν διά πίστεως γεγενημένης αὐτῷ πρός τόν Θεόν ἑνώσεως, διά τήν πρός τό σῶμα τῆς ψυχῆς κατά τήν αἴσθησιν σχέσιν· ὅσα κόσμου καί σαρκός τόν νοῦν ἀλλοτριοῖ· Θεῷ δέ προσοικειοῖ, τετελειωμένον τοῖς κατορθώμασι. Τοῦτο γάρ προσυπακουστέον τῷ, Πάντα δυνατά τῷ πιστεύοντι.

ιβ΄. Ἡ πίστις ἀναπόδεικτος γνῶσίς ἐστιν. Εἰ δέ γνῶσίς ἐστιν ἀναπόδεικτος, ἄρα σχέσις ἐστίν ὑπέρ φύσιν ἡ πίστις, δι᾿ ἧς ἀγνώστως, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἀποδεικτικῶς ἑνούμεθα τῷ Θεῷ κατά τήν ὑπέρ νόησιν ἕνωσιν.

ιγ΄. Τήν ἄμεσον λαβών ἕνωσιν πρός τόν Θεόν ὁ νοῦς, τήν τοῦ νοεῖν καί νοεῖσθαι παντελῶς δύναμιν ἔχει σχολάζουσαν. Ὁπηνίκα γοῦν ταύτην λύσει, νοήσας τι τῶν μετά Θεόν, διεκρίθη, τεμών τήν ὑπέρ νόησιν ἕνωσιν, καθ᾿ ἥν ἕως ἐστί τῷ Θεῷ συνημμένος, ὡς ὑπέρ φύσιν καί τῇ μεθέξει Θεός γεγενημένος, καθάπερ ὄρος ἀκίνητον, ἑαυτοῦ τόν τῆς φύσεως μετατίθησι νόμον.

ιδ΄. Ὁ πρός εὐσέβειαν εἰσαγόμενος, περί τῶν ἔργων διδασκόμενος τῆς δικαιοσύνης, τήν πρᾶξιν μόνην ἐπιτελεῖ, μετά πάσης ὑπακοῆς καί πίστεως, καθάπερ