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to those holding it to the ground. Having said these things, he is not speaking to himself at all, but through himself to the commonality of humanity, knowing that everyone who desires salvation cleaves entirely either to action or to contemplation. For without virtue and knowledge, no one has ever been able to attain salvation. If, therefore, he says, I have become one of those who through contemplation wait upon God and revel in the blessed beauty, having complete peace and sanctification, (1068) as one who has extended myself to God, in an undivided identity of mind, to the one who fittingly makes rational the irrational powers of the soul and brings them to the intellect through reason and makes them his own—I mean anger and desire—having changed the one into love, and the other into joy, if indeed it is characteristic of joy to leap in a manner befitting God and to exult, like John who leaped from the womb, the great forerunner and herald of the truth, or like David the king of Israel at the resting of the ark. For in the womb (even if the saying is harsh as being unpolished for the many, yet it is true) are both we and God the Word, the Maker and Master of all, in the present state of life; He dimly, as in a womb, and barely shining through to this sensible world, and this to those who are like John in spirit, while men, as from the womb of material circumstance, even if they somehow perceive the reason hidden in existing things. And this, if they boast in the graces of John. For compared to the ineffable glory and splendor of the age to come and the property of the life in it, the present life is no different from a womb suffused with darkness, in which for our sake, who have become infants in mind, God the Word also, though perfect and more than perfect, as a lover of mankind, became an infant. If therefore, as has been said, I am such a one, and have reached the divine height attainable by men in the present life, but I neglect the godlike state, willingly inclining myself towards the affection for the body, I was dragged down, weighed down by the fetters, that is, by cares, and I fell from God, having assigned the care and seeking for the kingdom of heaven alone to that to which it was not right—I mean, to the earthly life—and enduring to be carried along by the senses rather than for the mind to be carried towards God. But if I am one of those still armed for war against the passions through the practical life, not yet having purely escaped the snares of the enemies who wish to capture me through them, and I should love the body indiscriminately, it is clear I was held fast by it, having preferred the relation to it over the separation through virtue. Therefore, then, the contemplative man is dragged down, becoming already unrestrained in his disposition toward the body, neglecting the divine visions. And the practical man who fights against the body is held fast, giving in to the struggle against it, and choosing to be a slave to passions over laboring for virtue, which is the freedom of the soul.

From the same discourse, on the text, "What is the wisdom concerning me, and what is this great mystery? Or does he wish that we, being a portion of God and having flowed from above, lest being lifted up and exalted by our worthiness we should despise the Creator, in the struggle and battle against the body should always look to him, and that the conjoined weakness should be a training for our worthiness? "

(1069) Some, encountering these words, expecting, as it seems, no reward for the labor of seeking for the true, flee to what is easy and already has many starting points from Greek doctrines, asserting both the once-existing henad of rational beings, according to their opinion, in which being connate with God we have our only foundation in him, and furthermore also the motion which occurred, from which...

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κατεχούσαις εἰς ἔδαφος. Ταῦτ᾿ εἰπών οὐχ ἑαυτῷ πάντως, ἀλλά δι᾿ ἑαυτοῦ τῷ κοινῷ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος διαλέγεται, εἰδώς ὅτι πᾶς τις ὁ σωτηρίας ἐρῶν ἤ πράξει ἤ θεωρίᾳ πάντως προσανέχει. Ἀρετῆς γάρ καί γνώσεως χωρίς οὐδαμῶς οὐδείς πώποτε τυχεῖν σωτηρίας δεδύνηται. Εἴπερ οὖν τῶν διά θεωρίας, φησί, Θεῷ προσεδρευόντων καί τοῦ μακαρίου κάλλους κατατρυφώντων καθέστηκα εἷς, εἰρήνην ἔχων παντάπασι καί ἁγιασμόν, (1068) ὡς ἐμαυτόν ἁπλώσας Θεῷ, ἀδιαιρέτῳ κατά τήν γνώμην ταυτότητι, τῷ τάς ἀλόγους δυνάμεις τῆς ψυχῆς λογίσαι τε πρεπόντως καί νῷ διά λόγου προσαγαγεῖν καί οἰκειώσασθαι, θυμόν λέγω καί ἐπιθυμίαν, τόν μέν εἰς ἀγάπην, τήν δέ εἰς χαράν μεταβαλών, εἴπερ χαρᾶς ἴδιον τό σκιρτᾷν θεοπρεπῶς καί ἀγάλλεσθαι κατά τόν ἐκ μήτρας προσκιτρήσαντα Ἰωάννην, τόν μέγαν τῆς ἀληθείας πρόδρομόν τε καί κήρυκα, ἤ τόν ἐπί τῇ καταπαύσει τῆς κιβωτοῦ τοῦ Ἰσραήλ βασιλέα ∆αβίδ. Ἐν μήτρᾳ γάρ (κἄν εἰ τραχύς ὁ λόγος ὡς ἀτριβής τοῖς πολλοῖς, ἀλλ᾿ οὖν ἀληθής) καί ἡμεῖς καί ὁ Θεός Λόγος ἐσμέν ὁ τοῦ παντός Ποιητής καί ∆εσπότης, ἐν τῇ παρούσῃ τῆς ζωῆς καταστάσει, ὁ μέν ἀμυδρῶς ὡς ἐν μήτρᾳ, καί μόγις τῷ αἰσθητῷ τούτῳ κόσμῳ διαφαινόμενος, καί τοῦτο τοῖς κατά Ἰωάννην τῷ πνεύματι, οἱ δ᾿ ἄνθρωποι, ὡς ἐκ μήτρας τῆς ὑλικῆς περιστάσεως, κἄν ποσῶς τόν ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν ἐγκρυπτόμενον διαβλέποντες λόγον. Καί τοῦτ᾿ ἄνπερ ὦσι ταῖς Ἰωάννου αὐχοῦντες χάρισι. Πρός γάρ τήν ἄφατον τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος δόξαν τε καί λαμπρότητα καί τήν τῆς κατ᾿ αὐτόν ζωῆς ἰδιότητα μήτρας οὐδέν διαφέρει ζόφῳ περικεχυμένης συγκρινομένη ἡ παροῦσα ζωή, ἐν ᾗ δι᾿ ἡμᾶς τούς νηπιάσαντας ταῖς φρεσί καί ὁ Θεός Λόγος τέλειος ὤν καί ὑπερτελής, ὡς φιλάνθρωπος, ἐνηπίασεν. Εἴπερ οὖν, ὡς εἴρηται, τοιοῦτός τις ὑπάρχω, καί τῆς ἐφικτῆς ἀνθρώποις κατά τήν παροῦσαν ζωήν ἐπέβην θείας ἀκρότητος, ἀμελήσω δέ τῆς θεοειδοῦς ἕξεως, ἑμαυτόν πρός τήν τοῦ σώματος ἑκουσίως ἐπικλίνας στοργήν, κατεσπάσθην βαρηθείς ταῖς πέδαις, ἤτοι ταῖς φροντίσι, καί ἀπό θεοῦ ἔπεσον, ὡς τήν περί μόνης τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν μέριμνάν τε καί ζήτησιν ᾧ μή θέμις ἦν, τῇ γηΐνη λέγω ζωῇ, προσνείμας, καί ταῖς αἰσθήσεσι συμφέρεσθαι μᾶλλον, ἤ πρός Θεόν φέρεσθαι τήν διάνοιαν ἀνασχόμενος. Εἰ δέ τῶν ἔτι διά τῆς πρακτικῆς πολεμικῶς κατά τῶν παθῶν ὡπλισμένος εἰμί, μήπω τῶν δι᾿ αὐτῶν ἑλεῖν βουλομένων ἐχθρῶν καθαρῶς ὑπαλύξας τούς δόλους, καί στέρξω ἀδιακρίτως τό σῶμα, κατεσχέθην ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ δῆλον, ὡς τήν πρός αὐτό σχέσιν τοῦ δι᾿ ἀρετῆς χωρισμοῦ προελόμενος. Κατασπᾶται οὖν ἄρα ὁ θεωρητικός ἄσχετος ἤδη κατά τήν ἕξιν γινόμενος τῷ σώματι, τῶν θείων ἀμελῶν θεαμάτων. Κατέχεται δέ ὁ πρακτικός ὁ τῷ σώματι μαχόμενος, ἐνδιδούς τῇ πρός αὐτό πάλῃ, καί τοῦ πονεῖν ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς, ἥτις ἐστί ψυχῆς ἐλευθερία, τό δοῦλον εἶναι παθῶν ἐπιλεγόμενος.

Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου, εἰς τό, "Τίς ἡ περί ἐμέ σοφία, καί τί τό μέγα τοῦτο μυστήριον; ἤ βούλεται μοῖραν ἡμᾶς ὄντας Θεοῦ, καί ἄνωθεν ῥεύσαντας, ἵνα μή διά τήν ἀξίαν ἐπαιρόμενοι καί μετεωριζόμενοι καταφρονῶμεν τοῦ Κτίσαντος, ἐν τῇ πρός τό σῶμα πάλῃ καί μάχῃ πρός αὐτόν ἀεί βλέπειν, καί τήν συνεζευγμένην ἀσθένειαν παιδαγωγίαν εἶναι τοῦ ἀξιώματος; "

(1069) Τούτοις τινές ἐντυγχάνοντες τοῖς λόγοις, μηδένα, ὡς ἔοικεν, ὑπέρ τοῦ πονεῖν τῆς ζητήσεως ἔνεκεν τοῦ ἀληθοῦς μισθόν ἐκδεχόμενοι, πρός τό εὔκολον καί πολλάς ἔχον ἤδη ἐκ τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν δογμάτων τάς ἀφορμάς καταφεύγουσι, φάσκοντες τήν τέ ποτε οὖσαν κατά τό δόξαν αὐτοῖς τῶν λογικῶν ἑνάδα καθ᾿ ἥν συμφυεῖς ὄντες Θεῷ τήν ἐν αὐτῷ μόνην ἔχομεν καί ἵδρυσιν, προσέτι γε καί τήν γενομένην κίνησιν, ἐξ ἧς