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59. Scripture calls “cisterns” the hearts that are receptive of the heavenly gifts of holy knowledge, being hewn out by the firm word of the commandments, and casting off like calluses both the love of pleasure towards the passions and the relation of nature to sensible things, and being filled with the knowledge brought from above which is cleansing of the passions, and life-giving and, as it were, nourishing of the virtues in spirit.

60. (1244) The Lord hews out cisterns in the desert; I mean, in the world and in the nature of men; excavating the hearts of the worthy, and purifying them from material weight and sentiment, and making them spacious for the reception of the divine rains of wisdom and knowledge, so that they may water the flocks of Christ, I mean those who, because of the soul's infancy, are in need of moral teaching.

61. Scripture calls “mountainous” the lofty contemplation of nature in the spirit, which is cultivated by those who have been weaned from sensible imaginings, and who have passed over intelligibly to their principles through the midst of the virtues.

62. As long as the intellect has the living remembrance of God in itself, it seeks the Lord through contemplation; and not simply, but in the fear of the Lord; that is, in the practice of the commandments. For he who seeks the Lord through contemplation without practice does not find him, because he did not seek the Lord in the fear of the Lord. And the Lord made his way prosperous; for to everyone who acts with knowledge, the Lord grants success, teaching both the ways of the commandments and revealing the true principles of beings.

63. The sublime discourse concerning the divinity is a tower according to the soul, fortified by the energies of the commandments. And this is what it says, that Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem. For he who is rightly prospered in seeking the Lord through contemplation, with the requisite fear, that is, the practice of the commandments, builds towers in Jerusalem, that is, according to the simple and calm state of the soul, raising up the discourses concerning the divinity.

64. The principles of particular things, approaching the universal ones, make unities of the divided things; because the more universal principles unitively encompass the principles of the more particular ones, to which the particular things naturally have their reference. But also of intellect to sensation, and of heaven to earth, and of sensible to intelligible things, and of nature to reason, there is also a certain relative principle of these in spirit, giving to them union with one another.

65. He who has been able to drive the passions out of the senses, and has separated the soul from its relation to the senses, has prevailed to wall off the entrance of the devil to the intellect which occurs through the medium of the senses; and for this reason, in the desert—I mean, in natural contemplation—he built, as it were, safe towers, the pious opinions concerning beings; in which he who takes refuge does not fear those in this desert—I mean the nature of visible things, the plundering demons, and those who lead the intellect astray through sensation, and drag it down to the darkness of ignorance. For he who has acquired a pious opinion about each thing does not fear the demons who lead men astray through appearances.

66. (1245) Every intellect having strength for contemplation is a true husbandman, keeping the divine seeds of good things pure from weeds through his own zeal and care, as long as he has the memory of God preserving him. For it says: And he was seeking the Lord in the days of Zechariah in the fear of the Lord. And the word knows Zechariah, translated into the Greek tongue, as "memory of God." Therefore let us always beseech the Lord, that his saving memory be preserved for us, so that even our achievement may not corrupt the soul, being lifted up to a height, and daring things beyond nature, as did Uzziah.

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νθ΄. Λάκκους καλεῖ ἡ Γραφή, τάς δεκτικάς τῶν οὐρανίων χαρισμάτων τῆς ἁγίας γνώσεως καρδίας, λατομουμένας τῷ στερῷ λόγῳ τῶν ἐντολῶν, καί ἀποβαλλομένας καθάπερ πωρώματα, τήν τε πρός τά πάθη φιληδονίαν, καί τήν πρός τά αἰσθητά τῆς φύσεως σχέσιν, καί πληρουμένας τῆς ἄνωθεν φερομένης ῥυπτικῆς τε τῶν παθῶν, καί ζωοποιητικῆς καί οἷον θρεπτικῆς τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐν πνεύματι, γνώσεως.

ξ΄. (1244) Λάκκους λατομεῖ ὁ Κύριος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ· λέγω δέ τῷ κόσμῳ, καί τῇ φύσει τῶν ἀνθρώπων· τάς τῶν ἀξίων καρδίας ἐκχοΐζων, καί ἀποκαθαίρων τοῦ ὑλικοῦ βάρους τε καί φρονήματος, καί ποιῶν εὑρυχώρους πρός ὑποδοχήν τῶν θείων τῆς σοφίας καί τῆς γνώσεως ὑετῶν, ἵνα ποτίζουσι τά κτήνη τοῦ Χριστοῦ, τούς δεομένους λέγω διά ψυχῆς νηπιότητα, τῆς ἠθικῆς διδασκαλίας.

ξα΄. Ὀρεινήν ἡ Γραφή, τήν ὑψηλήν ἐν πνεύματι θεωρίαν τῆς φύσεως λέγει, ἥν γεωργοῦσιν οἱ τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἀπογενόμενοι φαντασιῶν, καί πρός τούς αὐτῶν νοητῶς διά μέσου τῶν ἀρετῶν διαβάντες λόγους.

ξβ΄. Ὁ νοῦς ἐφ᾿ ὅσον ἔχει ζῶσαν ἐν ἑαυτῶ τήν τοῦ Θεοῦ μνήμην, διά τῆς θεωρίας ἐκζητεῖ τόν Κύριον· καί οὐχ ἁπλῶς, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν φόβῳ Κυρίου· τουτέστιν, ἐν τῇ πράξει τῶν ἐντολῶν. Ὁ γάρ ἐκζητῶν διά θεωρίας τόν Κύριον χωρίς πράξεως, οὐκ εὑρίσκει αὐτόν, ὅτι οὐκ ἐν φόβῳ Κυρίου τόν Κύριον ἐξεζήτησε. Καί εὐώδωσεν αὐτῷ ὁ Κύριος· παντί γάρ τῷ μετά γνώσεως πράττοντι, εὐοδοῖ ὁ Κύριος, τούς τε τῶν ἐντολῶν διδάσκων τρόπους, καί τούς τῶν ὄντων ἀληθεῖς λόγους ἀποκαλύπτων.

ξγ΄. Ὁ περί θεότητος ὑψηλός λόγος, πύργος ἐστί κατά ψυχήν, ταῖς τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐνεργείαις ὠχυρωμένος. Καί τοῦτό ἐστιν ὅ φησιν, ὅτι ᾨκοδόμησεν Ὀζίας πύργους ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ. Ὁ γάρ καλῶς εὐοδούμενος ἐπί τήν διά θεωρίας ἐκζήτησιν τοῦ Κυρίου, μετά τοῦ ἐπιβεβλημένου φόβου, τουτέστι τῆς τῶν ἐντολῶν πράξεως, οἰκοδομεῖ πύργους ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ, κατά τήν ἁπλῆν δηλαδή καί ἡρεμαίαν τῆς ψυχῆς κατάστασιν, τούς περί θεότητος ἀνυψῶν λόγους.

ξδ΄. Οἱ τῶν ἐπί μέρους λόγοι, τοῖς καθόλου προσχωροῦντες, τά τῶν διῃρημένων ἑνώσεις ποιοῦνται· διότι τῶν μερικωτέρων ἑνοειδῶς οἱ καθολικώτεροι τούς λόγους περιλαμβάνουσι, πρός οὕς φυσικῶς τήν ἀναφοράν ἔχει τά κατά μέρος. Ἀλλά καί νοῦ πρός αἴσθησιν, καί οὐρανοῦ πρός γῆν, καί αἰσθητῶν πρός νοητά, καί φύσεως πρός λόγον, ἔστι τις καί τούτων σχετικός ἐν πνεύματι λόγος, τήν πρός ἄλληλα διδούς αὐτοῖς ἕνωσιν.

ξε΄. Ὁ τῶν παθῶν δυνηθείς ἐξηλῶσαι τάς αἰσθήσεις, καί τῆς τῶν αἰσθήσεων σχέσεως τήν ψυχήν ἀποδιαστείλας, κατίσχυσεν ἀποτειχίσαι τήν γενομένην τοῦ διαβόλου πρός τόν νοῦν διά μέσων τῶν αἰσθήσεων εἴσοδον· καί διά τοῦτο κατά τήν ἔρημον, φημί δέ τήν φυσικήν θεωρίαν, οἱονεί πύργους ἀσφαλεῖς, τάς εὐσεβεῖς περί τῶν ὄντων ᾠκοδόμησε δόξας· ἐν αἷς ὁ καταφεύγων, οὐ φοβεῖται τούς κατά τήν ἔρημον ταύτην· λέγω δέ τήν φύσιν τῶν ὁρωμένων, λῃστεύοντας δαίμονας, καί πλανῶντας τόν νοῦν διά τῆς αἰσθήσεως, καί πρός ἀγνοίας κατασύροντας ζόφον. Ὁ γάρ τήν εὐσεβῆ περί ἕκαστον δόξαν κτησάμενος, οὐ δέδοικε τούς διά τῶν φαινομένων πλανῶντας τούς ἀνθρώπους δαίμονας.

ξστ΄. (1245) Πᾶς νοῦς ἰσχύν πρός θεωρίαν ἔχων, ἀληθής ἐστι γεωργός, καθαρά ζιζανίων διά τῆς οἰκείας σπουδῆς καί ἐπιμελείας τά θεῖα τῶν ἀγαθῶν διαφυλάττων σπέρματα, μέχρις οὗ συντηροῦσαν αὐτόν ἔχῃ τήν τοῦ Θεοῦ μνήμην. Φησί γάρ· Καί ἦν ἐκζητῶν τόν Κύριον ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις Ζαχαρίου ἐν φόβῳ Κυρίου. Ζαχαρίαν δέ, μνήμην Θεοῦ πρός τήν Ἑλλάδα φωνήν μεταφερόμενον οἶδεν ὁ λόγος. ∆ιό πάντοτε δεηθῶμεν τοῦ Κυρίου, τήν σωτηρίαν αὐτοῦ φυλαχθῆναι ἡμῖν μνήμην, ἵνα μή καί αὐτό διαφθείρῃ τήν ψυχήν τό κατορθούμενον, πρός ὕψος ἀρθεῖσαν, καί τῶν ὑπέρ φύσιν, ὡς ὁ Ὀζίας, κατατολμήσασαν.