431

propitiating God by intimacy, and by the wisdom of the word slaying the teachers of evil, both thoughts and demons, freeing those held captive by the slavery of the passions) after all these things, having perceived in the voice of a gentle breeze in which God was present a state divine and tranquil and peaceful and utterly immaterial and simple and free of every form and shape—in the utterance of the word and in ways of life and in character—which could not be spoken or shown, he was taught mystically. Astonished by its glory and wounded by its beauty, desiring more to be with it than to be a zealot, that is, to be wholly with the truth rather than to fight for the truth, and judging it much more honorable not to see or know anything opposed to knowing only that God is wholly in all things through all things, while still being in the flesh he is preserved being with it, having passed through matter in the divine chariot of virtues, as a veil for the pure passage of the mind to intelligible things, and the cloud of the flesh which darkens the soul’s ruling faculty through its passions, so that he himself might become a partaker of the ineffable goods he desired, as far as is possible for one still in corruptible flesh, and that for us there might perhaps be a firm assurance of the things promised. For God was also suggesting this to him by these things so mystically performed, crying out without speech, that to be with God alone through peace is more profitable than any other good.

Contemplation on Elisha, his disciple. Thus his disciple and heir of the spirit, Elisha, no longer having his sense perception held by material imaginings in its activity, since it had already been penetrated by the spiritual graces of the mind, he, both seeing through another activity of the eyes the divine powers opposed to the evil ones that were around him and granting the sight to his student, was both taught and taught that the soul has more—a power stronger than the weakness (I mean, of the flesh, around which the spirits of wickedness ambush the discerning mind)—the soul around which the phalanxes of angels encamp, standing around it like a royal icon.

Contemplation on Hannah and Samuel. Thus also the blessed Hannah, the mother of the great Samuel, being barren and childless, having asked from God for the fruit of the womb, and having fervently promised through constant attendance in the temple to give back and offer in return what would be given to the giving and gracious God, taught mystically that it is necessary for every soul, being carnally barren of pleasures, so that having conceived through God the seeds of virtues, the Word obedient to God, and having brought him forth (1125), she might be able to offer him through pious and constant attendance in contemplation, as a great and precious debt, judging that she has nothing of her own, so as to show that God alone is both giving and receiving. As the Law says somewhere, My gifts, my offerings, my fruits, you shall keep to offer to me, since every good both begins from him and ends in him. For the Word of God is naturally constituted, in whomsoever he is engendered, to set aside the movements of the flesh and to check the soul's inclination towards them, and to fill it with all true discernment.

431

οἰκειότητος τόν Θεόν εὐμενίζουσα, καί τούς τῆς κακίας διδασκάλους λογισμούς τε καί δαίμονας λογοσοφίας κτιννῦσα τῆς τῶν παθῶν δουλείας τούς κεκρατημένους ἐλευθεροῖ) μετά ταῦτα πάντα φωνῆς τῆς ἐν ᾗ ὁ Θεός ὑπῆρχε λεπτῆς αὔρας αἰσθόμενος τήν προφορᾷ λόγου καί τρόποις βίου καί ἤθεσι θείαν καί ἀτάραχον καί εἰρηνικήν καί παντελῶς ἄϋλον καί ἁπλῆν καί παντός εἴδους ἐλευθέραν καί σχήματος κατάστασιν, λεχθῆναι ἤ δειχθῆναι μή δυναμένην, μυστικῶς ἐδιδάσκετο. Ἧς καταπλαγείς τε τήν δόξαν καί τῷ κάλλει τρωθείς, τοῦ ζηλωτής εἶναι τό πρός αὐτήν εἶναι μᾶλλον ποθήσας, τουτέστι τοῦ ὑπέρ ἀληθείας μάχεσθαι τό μετά τῆς ἀληθείας δι᾿ ὅλου γενέσθαι, καί μηδέν ἀντικείμενον ὁρᾷν ἤ γινώσκειν τῷ μόνον τόν Θεόν ὅλον δι᾿ ὅλου ἐν πᾶσιν ὄντα ἐπίστασθαι πολλῷ τιμιώτερον κρίνας, ἔτι ὤν ἐν σαρκί πρός αὐτήν ὑπάρχων φυλάττεται, θείῳ ἀρετῶν ἅρματι τήν ὕλην διαπεράσας, ὡς προκατάλυμμα τῆς καθαρᾶς τοῦ νοῦ πρός τά νοητά διαβάσεως, καί τῆς σαρκός τό νέφος τό ἐπισκοτοῦν τῷ ἡγεμονικῷ τῆς ψυχῆς διά τῶν αὐτῆς παθημάτων, ἵνα καί αὐτός ὧν ἐπόθησεν ἀῤῥήτων ἀγαθῶν μέτοχος γένηται, ὡς ἐφικτόν τῷ ἔτι μετά σαρκός τῆς ὑπό φθοράν, καί ἡμῖν τάχα τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων βεβαία γένηται πίστωσις. Τοῦτο γάρ αὐτῷ καί ὁ Θεός ὑπετίθετο διά τῶν οὕτω μυστικῶς δεδραματουργημένων ἀλαλήτως βοῶν, ὅτι παντός ἄλλου ἀγαθοῦ τό μετά Θεοῦ μόνου διά τῆς εἰρήνης εἶναι λυσιτελέστερον.

Θεωρία εἰς τόν Ἐλισσαῖον, τόν αὐτοῦ μαθητήν. Οὕτως ὁ τούτου μαθητής καί κληρονόμος τοῦ πνεύματος Ἐλισσαῖος μηκέτι ταῖς

ὑλικαῖς φαντασίαις ἐχομένην ἔχων δι᾿ ἐνεργείας τήν αἴσθησιν, ἅτε διαβαθεῖσαν ἤδη ταῖς κατά νοῦν τοῦ πνεύματος χάρισι, τάς ταῖς πονηραῖς ἀντιθέτους θείας δυνάμεις περί αὐτόν οὔσας δι᾿ ἄλλης ὀμμάτων ἐνεργείας αὐτός τε ὁρῶν καί τῷ φοιτητῇ τό ὁρᾷν χαριζόμενος ἰσχυροτέραν τῆς ἀσθενείας τήν δύναμιν, λέγω δή τῆς σαρκός, περί ἥν τῆς πονηρίας τά πνεύματα τόν διορατικόν νοῦν ἐνδρεύουσι, πλέον ἔχειν τήν ψυχήν, περί ἥν τῶν ἀγγέλων αἱ φάλαγγες παρεμβάλλουσιν, οἷον βασιλικήν εἰκόνα περιϊστάμενοι, καί ἐδιδάσκετο καί ἐδίδασκεν.

Θεωρία εἰς τήν Ἄνναν καί τόν Σαμουήλ. Οὕτω καί ἡ μακαρία Ἄννα ἡ τοῦ μεγάλου μήτηρ Σαμουήλ, στεῖρα οὖσα καί ἄτεκνος,

παρά τοῦ Θεοῦ καρπόν αἰτησαμένη κοιλίας, καί ἀντιδώσειν καί ἀντιχαρίζεσθαι τό δοθησόμενον τῷ διδόντι καί χαριζομένῳ Θεῷ διά τῆς ἐν τῷ ναῷ προσεδρείας θερμῶς ὑποσχομένη, ἐδίδασκε μυστικῶς τό δεῖν πᾶσαν ψυχήν ἡδονῶν σαρκικῶς στειρεύουσαν, διά τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ, τῶν ἀρετῶν τά σπέρματα, ἵνα τό βλέπειν τά ἔμπροσθεν γνωστικῶς δυνάμενον κατά διάνοιαν συλλαβοῦσα ὑπήκοον τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγον καί τεκοῦσα (1125) προσενέγκαι δυνηθῇ, διά τῆς κατά τήν θεωρίαν εὐσεβοῦς προσεδρείας, ὡς μέγα χρέος καί τίμιον, μηδέν ἴδιον ἔχειν κρίνουσα, ὥστε δεῖξαι τόν Θεόν μόνον διδόντα τε καί δεχόμενον· καθά πού φησιν ὁ νόμος, Τά δῶρά μου, δόματά μου, καρπώματά μου, διατηρήσετε προσφέρειν μοι, ὡς ἐξ αὐτοῦ τε καί εἰς αὐτόν παντός ἀγαθοῦ καί ἀρχομένου καί λήγοντος. Πέφηκε γάρ ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγος οἷς ἄν ἐγγένηται τῆς τε σαρκός ἀθετεῖν τά κινήματα καί τῆς πρός αὐτά τήν ψυχήν ἀναστέλλειν ῥοπῆς, καί πάσης πληροῦν ἀληθοῦς διαγνώσεως.