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modes of contemplation, by which the saints, dividing creation, piously gathered the mystical principles within it, having apportioned it into substance, and motion, and difference, and mixture and position. Of these, they said that three are primarily for the knowledge of God and have been set forth as guides: that according to substance, that according to motion, that according to difference, through which God becomes known to men who gather from created beings the manifestations of Him as creator and provider and judge; and two as pedagogical for virtue and for appropriation to God: that according to mixture and that according to position, through which, being formed, man may become God, having experienced being God from created beings, seeing as it were with the mind the whole manifestation of God according to goodness, and forming this most purely for himself according to reason. For what the pure mind, they say, is by nature able to see through pious knowledge, this it is also able to experience, becoming that very thing by disposition through virtue. For example, that substance is a teacher of theology, through which, seeking the cause of created beings, we are taught through them that it exists, not attempting to know what this is in essence, because there is no projection of a manifestation of this in created beings through which we might even in some way, as through an effect, look up to the cause; that motion is revelatory of the providence for created beings, through which, contemplating the unchangeable identity of each of the things that have come to be according to substance according to its kind and likewise its unimpeded course, we conceive of the One who holds together and preserves all things clearly distinguished from one another in an ineffable union according to the principles by which each subsisted; that difference is indicative of judgment, according to which we are taught that God is the wise distributor of the principles of each thing from the natural power of the substance in each of the created beings that is commensurate with its subject; but I mean the providence of the mind, not the one that turns back, and is as it were the economic restoration of the things provided for from where they ought not to be to where they ought, but the one that holds the universe together, and preserves it according to the principles by which the universe primarily subsisted; and judgment, not the pedagogical and as it were punitive one for those who sin, but the saving and defining distribution of created beings, according to which each of the things that have come to be, being connected to the principles according to which it came to be, has (1136) an inviolable and unchangeable lawfulness in its natural identity, just as from the beginning the creator judged and established concerning the being, and what, and how, and of what sort each thing is; since indeed providence and judgment spoken of in another way have been attached to our volitional impulses, in many ways restraining from evil things, wisely turning towards good things, and by directing things not in our power in opposition to those in our power, they cut out present and future and past evil. I do not say that through these there is one providence and judgment and then another. For I know one and the same according to its power, but having a diverse and manifold energy with respect to us. And that the mixture or synthesis of created beings is a symbol of our mind. For it, being mixed with the virtues and mixing them with itself, also constitutes the most God-befitting world according to the intellect. And that the position is a teacher of the disposition according to the mind, as one who ought to have a firm opinion about the good by regulating the contrary, admitting least of all any alteration whatsoever from its rational foundation by things that happen to it. And again, joining position to motion, and mixture to difference, they indivisibly distinguished the substance of the universe into substance and difference and motion, and having understood the cause to be contemplated technically in different ways in its effects according to the reason of thought, they piously apprehended this to be, and to be wise, and to be living. And from this they were taught the God-perfecting and saving doctrine concerning the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, according to which not only simply the being of the

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θεωρίας τρόπους, οἷς διαιροῦντες τήν κτίσιν οἱ ἅγιοι τούς ἐπ' αὐτῇ μυστικούς μετ᾿ εὐσεβείας συνελέξαντο λόγους, εἰς οὐσίαν, καί κίνησιν, καί διαφοράν, κράσιν τε καί θέσιν, αὐτήν ἐπιμερίσαντες. Ὧν τρεῖς μέν ἔφασαν εἶναί τε πρός ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ Θεοῦ προηγουμένως καί προβεβλῆσθαι χειραγωγικούς, τόν κατ᾿ οὐσίαν, τόν κατά κίνησιν, τόν κατά διαφοράν, δι᾿ ὧν ὁ Θεός γνωστός τοῖς ἀνθρώποις γίνεται ἐν τῶν ὄντων τάς περί αὐτοῦ ἐμφάσεις συλλεγομένοις ὡς δημιουργοῦ καί προνοητοῦ καί κριτοῦ· δύο δέ παιδαγωγικούς πρός ἀρετήν καί τήν πρός Θεόν οἰκείωσιν, τόν κατά κράσιν καί τόν κατά θέσιν, δι᾿ ὧν τυπούμενος, ὁ ἄνθρωπος Θεός γίνηται, τό Θεός εἶναι παθών ἐκ τῶν ὄντων, ὅλην τοῦ Θεοῦ τήν κατ᾿ ἀγαθότητα ἔμφασιν κατά νοῦν ὥσπερ ὁρῶν, καί ἑαυτῷ κατά λόγον ταύτην εἰλικρινεστάτην μορφούμενος. Ὅ γάρ δι᾿ εὐσεβοῦς γνώσεως, φασίν, ὁ καθαρός ὁρᾷν πέφυκε νοῦς, τοῦτο καί παθεῖν δύναται, αὐτό ἐκεῖνο κατά τήν ἕξιν δι᾿ ἀρετῆς γινόμενος. Οἷον, τήν μέν οὐσίαν θεολογίας εἶναι διδάσκαλον, δι᾿ ἧς τῶν ὄντων τό αἴτιον ἐπιζητοῦντες δι᾿ αὐτῶν ὅτι ἔστι διδασκόμεθα, τό τίποτε εἶναι τοῦτο κατ᾿ οὐσίαν γνῶναι μή ἐπιχειροῦντες, ὅτι μηδέ ἔστιν ἐμφάσεως ἐν τοῖς οὖσι τούτου προβολή, δι᾿ ἧς κἄν ποσῶς ὡς δι᾿ αἰτιατοῦ πρός τό αἴτιον ἀνανεύσωμεν· τήν δέ κίνησιν τῆς τῶν ὄντων προνοίας εἶναι ἐμφαντικήν, δι᾿ ἧς τῶν γεγονότων τήν κατ᾿ οὐσίαν ἑκάστου κατ᾿ εἶδος ἀπαράλλακτον ταυτότητα καί ὡσαύτως ἀπαραγχείρητον διεξαγωγήν θεωροῦντες, τόν συνέχοντα καί φυλάττοντα καθ᾿ ἕνωσιν ἄῤῥητον ἀλλήλων εὐκρινῶς ἀφωρισμένα τά πάντα καθ᾿ οὕς ὑπέστησαν ἕκαστα λόγους ἐννοοῦμεν· τήν διαφοράν δέ τῆς κρίσεως εἶναι μηνυτικήν, καθ᾿ ἥν διανομέα σοφόν ἐκ τῆς ἐν ἑκάστῳ τῶν ὄντων συμμέτρου τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ τῆς οὐσίας φυσικῆς δυνάμεως τῶν καθ᾿ ἕκαστα λόγων εἶναι τόν Θεόν παιδευόμεθα· πρόνοιαν δέ φημι νοῦ, οὐ τήν ἐπιστρεπτικήν, καί οἷον οἰκονομικήν τῆς τῶν προνοουμένων ἀφ᾿ ὧν οὐ δεῖ ἐφ᾿ ἅ δεῖ ἐπαναγωγῆς, ἀλλά τήν συνεκτικήν τοῦ παντός, καί καθ᾿ οὕς τό πᾶν προηγουμένως ὑπέστη λόγους συντηρητικήν· καί κρίσιν, οὐ τήν παιδευτικήν καί οἷον κολαστικήν τῶν ἁμαρτανόντων, ἀλλά τήν σωστικήν καί ἀφοριστικήν τῶν ὄντων διανομήν, καθ᾿ ἥν τῶν γεγονότων ἕκαστα τοῖς καθ᾿ οὕς γεγένηται συνημμένα λόγοις ἀπαράβατον ἔχει (1136) τήν ἐν τῇ φυσικῇ ταυτότητι ἀναλλοίωτον νομιμότητα, καθώς ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὁ δημιουργός περί τοῦ εἶναι καί τί εἶναι καί πῶς καί ὁποῖον ἕκαστον ἔκρινέ τε καί ὑπεστήσατο· ἐπεί τοιγε ἡ ἄλλως λεγομένη πρόνοια καί κρίσις ταῖς ἡμῶν προαιρετικαῖς ὁρμαῖς παραπεπήγασι, τῶν μέν φαύλων πολυτρόπως ἀπείργουσαι, πρός δέ τά καλά σοφῶς ἐπιστρέφουσαι, καί τῷ διευθύνειν τά οὐκ ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν ἐναντίως τοῖς ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν καί παροῦσαν καί μέλλουσαν καί παρελθοῦσαν κακίαν ἐκτέμνουσαι. Οὐκ ἄλλην δέ καί ἄλλην πρόνοιαν διά τούτων εἶναι λέγω καί κρίσιν. Μίαν γάρ καί τήν αὐτήν οἶδα κατά τήν δύναμιν, διάφορον δέ ὡς πρός ἡμᾶς καί πολύτροπον τήν ἐνέργειαν ἔχουσαν. Τήν δέ κράσιν τῶν ὄντων ἤτοι σύνθεσιν τῆς ἡμετέρας γνώμης εἶναι σύμβολον. Κραθεῖσα γάρ αὕτη ταῖς ἀρεταῖς, καί ἑαυτῇ ταύτας κεράσασα, τόν κατά διάνοιαν θεοπρεπέστατον καί αὐτήν συνίστησι κόσμον. Τήν δέ θέσιν τοῦ κατά γνώμην ἤθους εἶναι διδάσκαλον, ὡς παγίως ἔχειν περί τό εὖ δόξαν τῷ ῥυθμίζειν ἀντιλόγῳ ὀφείλοντος, ἥκιστα τοῖς συμπίπτουσιν ἐκ τῆς κατά λόγον βάσεως ἀλλοίωσιν τήν οἱανοῦν δεχομένου. Συνάψαντες δέ πάλιν τῇ κινήσει τήν θέσιν, καί τήν κράσιν τῇ διαφορᾷ, εἰς οὐσίαν καί διαφοράν καί κίνησιν τήν τοῦ παντός ἀδιαιρέτως διέκριναν ὑπόστασιν, καί τῷ κατ᾿ ἐπίνοιαν λόγῳ τεχνικῶς ἐνθεωρεῖσθαι τοῖς αἰτιατοῖς διαφόρως τό αἴτιον κατανοήσαντες καί εἶναι καί σοφόν εἶναι καί ζῶν εἶναι εὐσεβῶς τοῦτο κατέλαβον. Καί τόν περί Πατρός καί Υἱοῦ καί ἁγίου Πνεύματος θεοτελῆ καί σωτήριον ἐντεῦθεν ἐδιδάχθησαν λόγον, καθ᾿ ὅν οὐ τόν τοῦ εἶναι μόνον ἁπλῶς τοῦ