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(1256) And whatever other of our natural things happen to be, are necessary for the constitution of nature; but for the acquisition of virtue, they are useful to the zealous. Which things accompany every mind fleeing the confusion of sin; so that through them he may not remain held in the slavery of the passions that are in our power and are slandered, and contrary to nature, which have no other origin in us than the movement of the passions according to nature, which are not even naturally suited to pass over with us to the immortal and long-lasting life.

τέσσ. ἀνοικ. α΄. The words of God, when spoken merely by utterance alone, are not heard, not having the practice of those who speak them as a voice. But if they are proclaimed by the practice of the commandments, they cause the demons to be dissolved by such a voice, and men, by their progress in the works of righteousness, to build obediently the divine temple of the heart.

τέσσ. ἀνοικ. β΄. Just as God in His essence is not subject to knowledge, so too His word is not comprehended by our knowledge. For the word of Holy Scripture, even if it admits of description according to the letter, ceasing along with the times of the events it recounts; yet according to the spirit it remains forever indescribable in the spiritual contemplations of the things understood.

τέσσ. ἀνοικ. γ΄. It is necessary for one who, according to Christ, receives Holy Scripture gnostically for the soul, to be diligently trained also in the interpretation of the names, being able from that very source to clarify the whole meaning of what is written, if he cares for an accurate understanding of what is written; but not to bring down the height of the spirit to the body and the earth in a Jewish manner, and to define the divine and pure promises of intelligible goods by the corruption of present things.

τέσσ. ἀνοικ. δ΄. Just as a vow is a promise of good things offered to God by men according to a pledge, so prayer, according to the likely account, will clearly be the petition for the good things granted by God to men for salvation, bringing a recompense for the preceding [male edita προηγουμ.] good disposition. But a cry is the advance and increase of virtuous ways in practice and of gnostic theorems in contemplation, at the time of the uprising of wicked demons, which God naturally hears not least of all, taking the disposition of those who care for virtue and knowledge in place of a loud voice.

τέσσ. ἀνοικ. ε΄. The wicked and destructive kingdom of the devil, (1257) prefigured by the kingdom of the Assyrians, gathering a war against virtue and knowledge, contrives to turn the soul through its own innate powers: first, desire, by stirring it up to an appetite for things contrary to nature and persuading it to prefer sensible things to intelligible ones; then, anger, by arousing it to fight fiercely for the sensible thing chosen by desire; and the rational part, by teaching it to devise the ways of sensual pleasures.

τέσσ. ἀνοικ. στ΄. It is characteristic of the highest goodness, not only to have established the divine and incorporeal essences of intelligible beings as images of the ineffable and divine glory, receiving into themselves, as is right and in proportion, the whole inconceivable loveliness of the unapproachable beauty; but also to have mingled into sensible things, which are far inferior to the intelligible essences, echoes of His own majesty, able to convey the human mind, when borne upon them, unerringly toward God, becoming above all visible things, as one who has embarked upon the highest blessedness.

τέσσ. ἀνοικ. ζ΄. Every mind crowned with virtue and knowledge, like the great Hezekiah who was allotted to be king of Jerusalem; that is, of the state that sees peace alone, or rather, of the condition deprived of all kinds of passions; for a vision

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(1256) καί ὅσα τῶν καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς φυσικῶν ἕτερα τυγχάνει, πρός μέν σύστασιν φύσεως, ἀναγκαῖα· πρός δέ κτῆσιν ἀρετῆς, ὑπάρχοντα χρήσιμα τοῖς σπουδαίοις. Ἅπερ συνεκβαίνει παντί νοΐ φεύγοντι τῆς ἁμαρτίας τήν σύγχυσιν· ἵνα μή δι᾿ αὐτά μείνῃ κρατούμενος εἰς δουλείαν τῶν ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν καί διαβεβλημένων, καί παρά φύσιν παθῶν, οὐκ ἐχόντων ἄλλην ἀρχήν ἐν ἡμῖν πλήν τῆς κινήσεως τῶν κατά φύσιν παθῶν, τῶν μηδέ πεφυκότων πρός τήν ἀθάνατον καί μακραίωνα ζωήν συμμεταβαίνειν ἡμῖν.

τέσσ. ἀνοικ. α΄. Οἱ λόγοι τοῦ Θεοῦ, ψιλῶς κατά μόνην λαλούμενοι τήν προφοράν, οὐκ ἀκούονται, φωνήν τήν τῶν αὐτούς λαλούντων πρᾶξιν οὐκ ἔχοντες. Εἰ δέ τῇ πράξει τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐκφωνοῦνται, τούς τε δαίμονας ἔχουσι τῇ τοιαύτῃ διατηκομένους φωνῇ, καί τούς ἀνθρώπους τῇ προκοπῇ τῶν ἔργων τῆς δικαιοσύνης, εὐπειθῶς τόν θεῖον τῆς καρδίας οἰκοδομοῦντας ναόν.

τέσσ. ἀνοικ. β΄. Ὥσπερ ὁ Θεός κατ᾿ οὐσίαν οὐχ ὑποπέπτωκε γνώσει, οὕτως οὔτε ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ γνώσει τῇ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς περιλαμβάνεται. Ὁ γάρ τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς λόγος, κἄν εἰ δέχηται περιγραφήν κατά τό γράμμα, τοῖς χρόνοις τῶν ἱστορουμένων πραγμάτων συναπολήγων· ἀλλά κατά τό πνεῦμα ταῖς τῶν νοουμένων θεωρίαις μένει διαπαντός ἀπερίγραφος.

τέσσ. ἀνοικ. γ΄. Χρή τόν γνωστικῶς πρός ψυχήν τήν ἁγίαν Γραφήν κατά Χριστόν ἐκδεχόμενον, ἀσκηθῆναι φιλοπόνως καί τῶν ὀνομάτων τήν ἑρμηνείαν, αὐτόθεν δυνάμενον ὅλην τήν τῶν γεγραμμένων σαφηνίσαι διάνοιαν, εἴπερ μέλει αὐτῷ τῆς ἀκριβοῦς τῶν γεγραμμένων κατανοήσεως· ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ Ἰουδαϊκῶς πρός σῶμα καί γῆν κατάγειν τό ὕψος τοῦ πνεύματος, καί τάς θείας καί ἀκηράτους τῶν νοητῶν ἀγαθῶν, τῇ τῶν παρεχομένων φθορᾶ περιγράφειν ἐπαγγελίας.

τέσσ. ἀνοικ. δ΄. Ὥσπερ εὐχή ἐστιν, ὑπόσχεσις τῶν ἐξ ἀνθρώπων Θεῷ κατ᾿ ἐπαγγελίαν προσαγομένων καλῶν, οὕτω προσευχή κατά τόν εἰκότα λόγον ἔσται σαφῶς, ἡ τῶν ἐκ Θεοῦ πρός σωτηρίαν χορηγουμένων τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἀγαθῶν ἐξαίτησις, ἀντίδοσιν φέρουσα τῆς τῶν προηγμένων [male edita προηγουμ.] καλῆς διαθέσεως. Βοή δέ ἐστιν ἡ τῶν κατά τήν πρᾶξιν ἐναρέτων τρόπων, καί τῶν κατά τήν θεωρίαν γνωστικῶν θεωρημάτων, ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς τῶν πονηρῶν δαιμόνων ἐπαναστάσεως, ἐπίδοσίς τε καί ἐπαύξησις, ἧς πάντων οὐχ ἥκιστα φυσικῶς ἀκούει Θεός, ἀντί μεγάλης φωνῆς, τήν τῶν τῆς ἀρετῆς καί γνώσεως ἐπιμελουμένων διάθεσιν.

τέσσ. ἀνοικ. ε΄. Ἡ πονηρά καί ὀλέθριος τοῦ διαβόλου βασιλεία, (1257) διά τῆς τῶν Ἀσσυρίων τυπουμένη βασιλείας, τόν κατά τῆς ἀρετῆς καί τῆς γνώσεως συναγείρουσα πόλεμον, διά τῶν αὐτῆς ἐμφύτων δυνάμεων τροποῦσθαι μηχανᾶται τήν ψυχήν· τήν μέν ἐπιθυμίαν πρῶτον, εἰς ὄρεξιν τῶν παρά φύσιν διερεθίζουσα, καί τά αἰσθητά τῶν νοητῶν προτιμᾶν ἀναπείθουσα· τόν δέ θυμόν, ὑπεραγωνίζεσθαι τοῦ αἱρεθέντος ὑπό τῆς ἐπιθυμίας αἰσθητοῦ διεγείρουσα· τό δέ λογικόν, τούς τρόπους ἐπινοεῖν τῶν κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ἡδονῶν ἐκδιδάσκουσα.

τέσσ. ἀνοικ. στ΄. Τῆς ἄκρας ἀγαθότητος ἴδιον, τό, μή μόνον τάς θείας καί ἀσωμάτους τῶν νοητῶν οὐσίας, τῆς ἀποῤῥήτου καί θείας ἀπεικονίσματα καταστῆσαι δόξης, ὅλην κατά τό θεμιτόν ἀναλόγως αὐταῖς εἰσδεχομένας τήν ἀπερινόητον ὡραιότητα τοῦ ἀπροσίτου κάλλους· ἀλλά καί τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς, καί τῶν νοητῶν οὐσιῶν κατά πολύ ἀποδέουσιν, ἀπηχήματα τῆς οἰκείας ἐγκαταμίξαι μεγαλειότητος, δυνάμενα τόν ἀνθρώπινον νοῦν ἐποχούμενον αὐτοῖς, πρός Θεόν ἀπλανῶς διαπορθμεύειν, ὑπεράνω πάντων τῶν ὁρωμένων γινόμενον, οἷα τῆς ἄκρας ἐπιβάντα μακαριότητος.

τέσσ. ἀνοικ. ζ΄. Πᾶς νοῦς ἀρετῇ καί γνώσει κατεστεμμένος, οἷα δή κατά τόν μέγαν Ἐζεκίαν βασιλεύειν λαχών τῆς Ἱερουσαλήμ· τουτέστι, τῆς εἰρήνην μόνην ὁρώσης ἕξεως, ἤγουν τῆς παντοίων παθῶν ἐστερημένης καταστάσεως· ὅρασις γάρ