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κστ΄. They say that the end of practical virtue is the good. And this is the fulfillment of divine energy, to which the rational part of the soul leads, using the irascible and concupiscible parts according to nature; in which the beauty of the likeness is naturally revealed. And they say that the end of contemplative philosophy is the truth; which is the indivisible, uniform knowledge of all things concerning God, toward which the pure intellect is borne; having completely extinguished in itself judgment according to sense; in which (that is, in knowledge) the unadulterated dignity of the divine image is shown.

κζ΄. No one is able to bless God truly, (1272) without having sanctified the body with the virtues and enlightened the soul with knowledge. For the disposition according to virtue is the face of the contemplative intellect, which is lifted up as to heaven toward the height of true knowledge.

κη΄. Blessed is he who knows in truth that God accomplishes every action and contemplation in us as in instruments, both virtue and knowledge, and victory and wisdom, and goodness and truth, with us contributing nothing at all, except the disposition that wills what is good. Having this, the great Zerubbabel, in addition to what has been said, says, “Blessed are You,” speaking to God, “who have given me wisdom, and to You I give thanks, O Lord of the fathers.” From You is the victory and from You the wisdom, and Yours is the glory, and I am Your servant. As a grateful servant, he ascribed everything to God who gave all things, from whom having received it he had the wisdom, confessing to Him as Lord of the fathers the power of the graced goods, which are, the union of victory, as has been said, and of wisdom, of virtue and of knowledge, of action and of contemplation, of goodness and of truth. For these, being united with one another, flash forth one glory, and that of God.

κθ΄. All the achievements of the saints were manifestly gifts of God; with no one at all having anything, except the good that was given; measured as from the Lord God, in proportion to the gratitude and goodwill of the one receiving; and possessing only those things that are presented to the Lord who gives them.

λ΄. The intellect presiding over virtue and knowledge, and wishing the soul to be deprived of the evil slavery of the passions, says, “Women are strong, but truth is stronger.” By “women” he meant the deifying virtues, from which unifying love for God and for one another is composed for men; snatching the soul away from all things under generation and corruption, and from the intelligible substances beyond them, and entwining it with God Himself in a certain erotic fusion, as far as is possible for human nature, and mystically creating an undefiled and divine cohabitation. And by saying “truth,” he meant the sole and one cause of beings, and the beginning and kingdom and power and glory, from which and through which all things have come to be and are coming to be, and are held together in being by it and through it; and for the sake of which is every zeal and movement for the lovers of God.

λα΄. Through the women, he indicated the end of the virtues, love; which is the unfailing pleasure and indivisible union (1273) of those who partake of the naturally good according to desire. And through the truth, he signified the limit of all knowledge, and of the things known themselves; into which, as the beginning and end of all beings, the movements according to nature are drawn together by a certain universal principle; since the beginning and cause of beings, as truth, naturally overcomes all things, and draws the movement of created things to itself.

λβ΄. By the eminent negation of the many, the truth is naturally revealed as one and alone, veiling the cognitive powers of all things that can know or be known, since it is supra-essential in its existence, beyond both things that know and things that are known; and by its infinite power it circumscribes the extremities of beings according to their beginning and end, and draws every movement of all things to itself; granting to some

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κστ΄. Πρακτικῆς ἀρετῆς τέλος εἶναί φασι τό ἀγαθόν. Τοῦτο δέ, θείας ἐνεργείας ὑπάρχει συμπλήρωσις, πρός ἥν ἄγει τό λογικόν τῆς ψυχῆς, τῷ θυμῷ καί τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ χρώμενον κατά φύσιν· ἐν ᾗ τό καθ᾿ ὁμοίωσιν ἀναφαίνεσθαι πέφυκε κάλλος· θεωρητικῆς δέ φασι φιλοσοφίας εἶναι τήν ἀλήθειαν, τέλος· ἥτις ἀμερῶς τῶν περί Θεόν ἁπάντων ἑνοειδής ἐστι γνῶσις, πρός ἥν ὁ καθαρός φέρεται νοῦς· ἀποσβέσας ἑαυτοῦ παντελῶς τήν κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν κρίσιν· ἐν ᾗ (γνώσει δηλονότι) ἀκίβδηλον τό τῆς θείας εἰκόνος ἀξίωμα δείκνυται.

κζ΄. Οὐδείς δύναται τόν Θεόν εὐλογεῖν ἀληθῶς, (1272) μή τό σῶμα καθαγιάσας ταῖς ἀρεταῖς, καί τήν ψυχήν καταφωτίσας ταῖς γνώσεσιν. Ἡ γάρ κατ᾿ ἀρετήν διάθεσις, πρόσωπόν ἐστι τοῦ θεωρητικοῦ νοός, ὡς εἰς οὐρανόν πρός τό ὕψος τῆς ἀληθινῆς ἐπαιρόμενον γνώσεως.

κη΄. Μακάριος ὁ ἐν ἀληθείᾳ εἰδώς, ὅτι πᾶσαν ἐν ἡμῖν ὡς ὀργάνοις ὁ Θεός ἐπιτελεῖ πρᾶξιν καί θεωρίαν, ἀρετήν τε καί γνῶσιν, καί νίκην καί σοφίαν, καί ἀγαθότητα καί ἀλήθειαν, μηδέν ἡμῶν συνεισφερόντων τοσύνολον, πλήν τῆς θελούσης τά καλά διαθέσεως· ἥν ἔχων ὁ μέγας Ζοροβάβελ, πρός τοῖς εἰρημένοις, φησίν, Εὐλογητός εἶ, πρός τόν Θεόν λέγων, ὅς ἔδωκάς μοι σοφίαν, καί σοί ὁμολογῶ, ∆έσποτα τῶν πατέρων· παρά σοῦ ἡ νίκη καί παρά σοῦ ἡ σοφία, καί σοί ἡ δόξα, καί ἐγώ σός οἰκέτης. Ὡς εὐγνώμων ὄντες οἰκέτης, πάντα τῷ Θεῷ ἀνέθετο τῷ πάντα δωρησαμένῳ, ἐξ οὗ λαβών εἶχε τήν σοφίαν, αὐτῷ ὁμολογῶν ὡς ∆εσπότῃ πατέρων τῶν κεχαρισμένων ἀγαθῶν τήν δύναμιν, ἅπερ εἰσίν, ἕνωσις νίκης, ὡς εἴρηται, καί σοφίας, ἀρετῆς τε καί γνώσεως, πράξεως καί θεωρίας, ἀγαθότητός τε καί ἀληθείας· αὗται γάρ ἀλλήλαις ἑνούμεναι, μίαν ἀπαστράπτουσιν δόξαν καί αὐτήν Θεοῦ.

κθ΄. Πάντα τά τῶν ἁγίων κατορθώματα, Θεοῦ προδήλως ὑπῆρχον χαρίσματα· μηδενός τό παράπαν ἔχοντος μηδέν, ἤ τό δοθέν ἀγαθόν· ὡς παρά ∆εσπότου τοῦ Θεοῦ, πρός ἀναλογίαν τῆς εὐγνωμοσύνης τε καί εὐνοίας τοῦ δεχομένου μετρούμενον· κἀκεῖνα μόνα κεκτημένου, ὅσα τῷ ∆εσπότῃ δωρουμένῳ παρίσταται.

λ΄. Ὁ τῆς ἀρετῆς καί τῆς γνώσεως προϊστάμενος νοῦς, καί τῆς κακῆς τῶν παθῶν δουλείας τήν ψυχήν στερηθῆναι βεβουλημένος, φησίν, Ὑπερισχύουσιν αἱ γυναῖκες, καί ὑπερνικᾷ ἡ ἀλήθεια· γυναῖκας μέν εἰπών, τάς θεοποιούς ἀρετάς, ἐξ ὧν ἡ πρός Θεόν καί ἀλλήλους τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἑνοποιός ἀγάπη συνέστηκεν· ἁπάντων τήν ψυχήν ἐξαρπάζουσα τῶν ὑπό γένεσιν καί φθοράν, καί τῶν ὑπέρ αὐτά νοητῶν οὐσιῶν, καί αὐτῷ τῷ Θεῷ κατ᾿ ἐρωτικήν τινα σύγκρασιν περιπλέκουσα, καθ᾿ ὅσον ἐστί δυνατόν ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει, καί τήν ἄχραντον καί θείαν μυστικῶς δημιουργοῦσα συμβίωσιν. Ἀλήθειαν δέ φήσας, τήν μόνην καί μίαν αἰτίαν τῶν ὄντων, καί ἀρχήν καί βασιλείαν καί δύναμιν καί δόξαν, ἐξ ἧς καί δι᾿ ἥν πάντα γέγονέ τε καί γίνεται, καί πρός τό εἶναι ὑπ᾿ αὐτῆς καί δι᾿ αὐτῆς συγκρατεῖται· καί ὑπέρ ἧς πᾶσα τοῖς φιλοθέοις ἐστί σπουδή τε καί κίνησις.

λα΄. ∆ιά μέν τῶν γυναικῶν, τό τέλος ἐνδείξατο τῶν ἀρετῶν, τήν ἀγάπην· ὅπερ ἐστίν ἡ κατ᾿ ἔφεσιν (1273) τοῦ φύσει ἀγαθοῦ τῶν μετεχόντων ἀδιάπτωτος ἡδονή καί ἀδιαίρετος ἕνωσις. ∆ιά δέ τῆς ἀληθείας, τό πέρας πασῶν ἐπεσήμανε τῶν γνώσεων, καί αὐτῶν γινωσκομένων· εἰς ὅπερ, ὡς ἀρχήν καί πέρας πάντων τῶν ὄντων, αἱ κατά φύσιν κινήσεις γενικῷ τινι λόγῳ συνέλκονται· πάντα νικώσης κατά φύσιν ὡς ἀληθείας τῆς τῶν ὄντων ἀρχῆς καί αἰτίας, καί πρός ἑαυτήν συνελκούσης τῶν γεγονότων τήν κίνησιν.

λβ΄. Τῆ καθ᾿ ὑπεροχήν στερήσει τῶν πολλῶν, ὡς ἕν καί μόνον ἡ ἀλήθεια πέφυκεν ἀναφαίνεσθαι, καλύπτουσα πάντων τῶν νοεῖν ἤ νοεῖσθαι δυναμένων τάς γνωστικάς δυνάμεις, ὡς ὑπέρ τά νοοῦντά τε καί νοούμενα καθ᾿ ὕπαρξιν ὑπερούσιον οὖσα· καί ἀπείρῳ δυνάμει τάς κατά τήν ἀρχήν καί τό τέλος τῶν ὄντων ἀκρότητας περιγράφουσα, πᾶσαν πάντων πρός ἑαυτήν συνέλκει κίνησιν· τοῖς μέν παρεχομένη