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ξζ΄. The unerring contemplation of beings requires a soul delivered from the passions; which is called Jerusalem, on account of both its perfect virtue and its immaterial knowledge; which comes about not only by the privation of passions, but also of sensible fantasies.

ξη΄. Without faith and hope and love, nothing evil is completely abolished, nor is anything good perfectly accomplished. For faith persuades the mind under assault to approach God, becoming for it every preparation of spiritual weapons as an encouragement to be of good courage. Hope, for its part, becomes for it a most unerring guarantor of divine assistance, promising the destruction of opposing powers. And love makes it hard to move, or rather, completely immovable from divine affection, even when under assault, nailing its entire power of desire to divine longing.

ξθ΄. Faith encourages the mind under assault, strengthened by the hope of assistance; hope, bringing the believed-in assistance into view, repels the attack of the adversaries; and love renders the assault of the enemies dead to the God-loving mind, being completely obscured by its desire for God.

ο΄. Truly of the divine portion, that is, of true knowledge, the first and only son, is the principle according to faith of the divine resurrection in us, with the necessary economy according to its faculty, that is, discernment, nobly enduring the uprisings of both voluntary and involuntary temptations. For the first resurrection in us of God who was deadened to us through ignorance, is faith, well-ordered by the works of the commandments.

οα΄. The return to God clearly signifies through itself the most complete principle of divine hope, without which, it is not in anyone's nature in any way whatsoever to be inclined towards God; since it is a property of hope to bring future things into view as if they were present; and to persuade those under assault by the opposing power that God who defends them is in no way (1248) absent; for whom, and on account of whom the saints wage war. For without some expectation, either difficult or easy, a return to the good is never in anyone's nature to occur.

οβ΄. Indeed, nothing so gathers the scattered as love, and it creates in them one mind, held by a common accord, the character of which has become the beauty of equal honor. Therefore, of the gathering and union of the soul's powers in the same thing concerning divine matters; that is, of the rational, irascible, and appetitive, love has become the offspring; according to which, inscribing in the memory the beauty of the divine loveliness, those who have already received equal honor with God through grace, possess it unforgettably; the desire for divine love recording and impressing the pure beauty on the soul's ruling faculty.

ογ΄. Every mind girded with divine strength possesses, as it were, certain elders and rulers, both the rational power, from which gnostic faith is naturally born, according to which it is ineffably taught that God is ever-present, and through hope it associates with future things as if they were present; and the appetitive power, according to which divine love is constituted, through which, having willingly nailed itself to the longing for the pure divinity, it has an indissoluble desire for the longed-for; and further still, the irascible power, according to which it holds fast to divine peace, contracting the movement of desire towards divine love. Every mind has these powers, working together with it for both the destruction of wickedness, and the constitution and preservation of virtue.

οδ΄. Without the rational power, there is no scientific knowledge; and without knowledge, faith is not constituted, from which proceeds the good offspring, hope, according to which, as to things present

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ξζ΄. Ἡ τῶν ὄντων ἀπλανής θεωρία, παθῶν ἀπηλλαγμένης δεῖται ψυχῆς· ἥτις Ἱερουσαλήμ λέγεται, διά τε τήν ἄρτιον ἀρετήν καί τήν ἄϋλον γνῶσιν· ἥτις οὐ μόνον κατά στέρησιν παθῶν, ἀλλά καί φαντασιῶν αἰσθητῶν ἐπιγίνεται.

ξη΄. Χωρίς πίστεως καί ἐλπίδος καί ἀγάπης, οὐδέν οὔτε τῶν κακῶν καταργεῖται παντελῶς, οὔτε τῶν καλῶν κατορθοῦται τοσύνολον. Ἡ μέν γάρ πίστις, πείθει τῷ Θεῷ προσχωρεῖν τόν νοῦν πολεμούμενον, πάσης αὐτῷ γινομένη παρασκευῆς ὅπλων πνευματικῶν πρός τό θαῤῥεῖν παραμύθιον. Ἡ δέ ἐλπίς, τῆς θείας αὐτῷ καθίσταται βοηθείας ἐγγυητής ἀψευδέστατος, τήν τῶν ἐναντίων καθαίρεσιν ἐπαγγελλομένη δυνάμεων. Ἡ δέ ἀγάπη, δυσμετακίνητον, μᾶλλον δέ, πάμπαν ἀκίνητον, τῆς θείας στοργῆς αὐτόν εἶναι παρασκευάζει καί πολεμούμενον, προσηλοῦσα τῷ θείῳ πόθῳ πᾶσαν αὐτοῦ τήν τῆς ἐφέσεως δύναμιν.

ξθ΄. Ἡ πίστις παραμυθεῖται τόν νοῦν πολεμούμενον, βοηθείας ἐλπίδι ῥωννύμενον· ἡ δέ ἐλπίς ὑπ᾿ ὄψιν ἄγουσα τήν πιστευθεῖσαν βοήθειαν, ἀποκρούεται τήν τῶν ἀντικειμένων καταδρομήν· ἡ δέ ἀγάπη, νεκράν καθίστησι τῷ φιλοθέῳ νῷ τῶν πολεμίων τήν προσβολήν, τῇ πρός Θεόν ἐφέσει παντελῶς ἀμαυρουμένην.

ο΄. Θείας ὄντως μερίδος, ἤγουν γνώσεως ἀληθοῦς, υἱός, πρῶτός τε καί μόνος, ὁ κατά τήν πίστιν τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν θείας ἀναστάσεώς ἐστι λόγος, μετά τῆς δεούσης κατά τήν γνώμην οἰκονομίας, ἤγουν διακρίσεως, καλῶς διαφέρων τάς τε τῶν ἑκουσίων καί ἀκουσίων πειρασμῶν ἐπαναστάσεις. Καί γάρ πρώτη ἐν ἡμῖν ἀνάστασις τοῦ διά τῆς ἀγνοίας ἡμῖν νεκρωθέντος Θεοῦ, ἡ πίστις ἐστί, καλῶς τοῖς ἔργοις τῶν ἐντολῶν οἰκονομουμένη.

οα΄. Ἡ πρός Θεόν ἐπιστροφή, σαφῶς μηνύει δι᾿ ἑαυτῆς τόν πληρέστατον τῆς θείας ἐλπίδος λόγον, οὗ χωρίς, οὐδαμῶς οὐδενί καθ᾿ ὁτιοῦν πρός Θεόν ἐπίνευσις γίνεσθαι πέφυκεν· εἴπερ ἐλπίδος ἴδιον, τό ὑπ᾿ ὄψιν ἄγειν ὡς παρόντα τά μέλλοντα· καί μηδαμῶς (1248) ἀπεῖναι πείθειν τῶν πολεμουμένων ὑπό τῆς ἀντικειμένης δυνάμεως, τόν ὑπερασπίζοντα Θεόν· ὑπέρ οὗ, καί δι᾿ ὅν ἁγίοις ὁ πόλεμος. Χωρίς γάρ τινος προσδοκίας ἤ δυσχεροῦς ἤ εὐχεροῦς, ἐπιστροφή πρός τό καλόν οὐδενί ποτε πέφυκε γίνεσθαι.

οβ΄. Οὐδέν ὄντως οὕτως ἡ ἀγάπη συνάγει τούς ἐσκορπισμένους, καί μίαν αὐτοῖς δημιουργεῖ τήν γνώμην συμπνοίᾳ κρατουμένην, ἧς ὁ χαρακτήρ, τό τῆς ἰσοτιμίας καθέστηκε κάλλος. Οὐκοῦν τῆς κατά τό αὐτό περί τά θεῖα συναγωγῆς τε καί ἑνώσεως τῶν ψυχικῶν δυνάμεων· τουτέστι, τῆς λογικῆς καί θυμικῆς καί ἐπιθυμητικῆς, ἡ ἀγάπη καθέστηκε γέννημα· καθ᾿ ἥν ἐγγράφοντες τῇ μνήμῃ τό τῆς θείας ὡραιότητος κάλλος, οἱ τό ἱσότιμον ἤδη πρός Θεόν διά τῆς χάριτος κομισάμενοι, ἀνεπίληστον ἔχουσι· τῆς τῷ ἡγεμονικῷ τῆς ψυχῆς ὑπομνηματογραφούσης τε καί ἐντυπούσης τό ἀκήρατον κάλλος, τῆς θείας ἀγάπης τήν ἔφεσιν.

ογ΄. Πᾶς νοῦς θείῳ κράτει διεζωσμένος, καθάπερ πρεσβυτέρους τινάς καί ἄρχοντας κέκτηται, τήν τε λογικήν δύναμιν, ἐξ ἧς ἡ γνωστική γεννᾶσθαι πέφυκε πίστις, καθ᾿ ἥν ἀεί παρόντα τόν Θεόν ἀῤῥήτως διδάσκεται, καί ὡς παροῦσι συγγίνεται διά τῆς ἐλπίδος τοῖς μέλλουσι· καί τήν ἐπιθυμητικήν δύναμιν, καθ᾿ ἥν ἡ θεία συνέστηκεν ἀγάπη, δι᾿ ἥν ἑκουσίως προσηλώσας τῷ πόθῳ τῆς ἀκηράτου θεότητος, ἄλυτον ἔχει τοῦ ποθουμένου τήν ἔφεσιν· ἔτι μήν καί τήν θυμικήν δύναμιν, καθ᾿ ἥν ἀπρίξ τῆς θείας εἰρήνης ἀντέχεται, ἐπιστύφων πρός τόν θεῖον ἔρωτα τῆς ἐπιθυμίας τήν κίνησιν. Ταύτας δέ ἔχει τάς δυνάμεις πᾶς νοῦς, συνεργοῦσας αὐτῷ πρός τε τήν τῆς κακίας καθαίρεσιν, καί τήν τῆς ἀρετῆς σύστασίν τε καί συντήρησιν.

οδ΄. ∆ίχα λογικῆς δυνάμεως, ἐπιστημονική γνῶσις οὐκ ἔστι· καί γνώσεως χωρίς, οὐ συνίσταται πίστις, ἀφ᾿ ἧς τό καλόν γέννημα πρόεισιν ἡ ἐλπίς, καθ᾿ ἥν ὡς παροῦσι