438

The return of believers to the beginning, according to the end, is the fulfillment of desire. And the fulfillment of desire is the ever-moving rest of those who desire around the object of desire. And the ever-moving rest of those who desire around the object of desire is the continuous and uninterrupted enjoyment of the object of desire. And the continuous and uninterrupted enjoyment of the object of desire is established as the participation in the supernatural divine things. And participation in the supernatural divine things is the likeness of the participants to that which is participated in. And the likeness of the participants to that which is participated in is the identity, possible through likeness, of the participants in actuality with that which is participated in. And the identity of the participants, possible in actuality through likeness, is the deification through likeness with that which is participated in of those who are deemed worthy of deification.

20. Nature does not possess the principles of things that are beyond nature, just as it does not possess the laws of things that are contrary to nature. By "beyond nature" I mean the divine and inconceivable pleasure which God by nature is wont to produce when He is united by grace to the worthy; and by "contrary to nature," the unspeakable pain constituted by the privation of this pleasure, which God by nature is accustomed to produce when He is united, apart from grace, to the unworthy. For according to the underlying quality of each one's disposition, God, being united to all as He Himself knows how, provides to each one the sensation, in accordance with how each has been formed by himself, for the reception of Him who will be completely united to all at the end of the ages.

21. (1313) The Holy Spirit guides to understanding those who seek in spirit the salvation of souls, and who investigate the spiritual principles and ways of this salvation, not allowing the power by which they are naturally disposed to seek divine things [unus Reg. πεφύκαμεν] to remain for them motionless and inactive.

22. First, one seeks by the will to put sin to death, and the will to sin; and thus he investigates how and in what way he must put these to death for each other. And again, after the perfect mortification of these for each other, he seeks the life of the will according to virtue, and the life of virtue according to the will; and thus he investigates how and in what way he must fashion the life of these in each other. Therefore, to grasp it as in a definition, seeking is the desire for something pleasing; while investigation is the effective method of desire toward what is pleasing.

23. Truly, the one who is to be saved must not only put sin to death by the will, but also the will itself to sin; and not only raise up the will to virtue, but also virtue itself by the will; so that the will, dead to the dead, being wholly separated from all of sin, may not perceive it, and living to the living, may perceive the whole of all virtue, according to an uninterrupted union. For he who has put the will to death for sin has become united with the likeness of Christ's death; and he who has raised it to righteousness has become united also with His resurrection.

24. Sin and the will, being put to death for each other, have a twofold insensibility toward each other. And righteousness and the will, having life for each other, have a twofold sensation.

25. Christ, being God and man by nature, is inherited by us as God supernaturally by grace, according to the ineffable participation; and for our sakes, in our form as man making us his own, he inherits himself along with us according to the inconceivable condescension; whom the saints, having foreseen mystically in the spirit, were taught how it is necessary for the glory that is to be revealed in Christ in the future on account of virtue, that the sufferings for virtue's sake in him should precede in the present.

26. The mind, being moved unknowingly toward the cause of beings according to desire alone, only seeks; but reason, variously making its way through the true principles in beings, investigates.

438

ἀρχήν κατά τό τέλος τῶν πεπιστευκότων ἐπάνοδός ἐστιν, ἡ τῆς ἐφέσεως πλήρωσις. Ἐφέσεως δέ πλήρωσίς ἐστιν, ἡ περί τό ἐφετόν τῶν ἐφιεμένων ἀεικίνητος στάσις. Ἀεικίνητος δέ στάσις περί τό ἐφετόν τῶν ἐφιεμένων ἐστίν, ἡ τοῦ ἐφετοῦ διηνεκής τε καί ἀδιάστατος ἀπόλαυσις. Ἀπόλαυσις δέ διηνεκής τε καί ἀδιάστατος τοῦ ἐφετοῦ, ἡ τῶν ὑπέρ φύσιν θείων καθέστηκε μέθεξις. Μέθεξις δέ τῶν ὑπέρ φύσιν θείων ἐστίν, ἡ πρός τό μετεχόμενον τῶν μετεχόντων ὁμοίωσις. Ἡ δέ πρός τό μετεχόμενον τῶν μετεχόντων ὁμοίωσίς ἐστιν, ἡ κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν πρός αὐτό τό μετεχόμενον τῶν μετεχόντων δι᾿ ὁμοιότητος ἐνδεχομένη ταυτότης. Ἡ δέ τῶν μετεχόντων ἐνδεχομένη κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν δι᾿ ὁμοιότητος ταυτότης, ἡ δι᾿ ὁμοιότητος πρός τό μετεχόμενόν ἐστι θέωσις τῶν ἀξιουμένων θεώσεως.

κ΄. Οὐκ ἔχει ἡ φύσις τῶν ὑπέρ φύσιν τούς λόγους, ὥσπερ οὐδέ τῶν παρά φύσιν τούς νόμους. Ὑπέρ φύσιν δέ λέγω, τήν θείαν καί ἀνεννόητον ἡδονήν, ἥν ποιεῖν πέφυκεν ὁ Θεός φύσει, κατά χάριν τοῖς ἀξίοις ἑνούμενος· παρά φύσιν δέ, τήν κατά στέρησιν ταύτης συνισταμένην ἀνεκλάλητον ὀδύνην, ἥν ποιεῖν εἴωθεν ὁ Θεός φύσει, παρά τήν χάριν τοῖς ἀναξίοις ἑνούμενος. Κατά γάρ τήν ὑποκειμένην ἑκάστῳ ποιότητα τῆς διαθέσεως, ὁ Θεός τοῖς πᾶσιν ἑνούμενος, ὡς οἶδεν αὐτός, τήν αἴσθησιν ἑκάστῳ παρέχεται, καθώς ἐστιν ἕκαστος ὑφ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ διαπεπλασμένος, πρός ὑποδοχήν τοῦ πάντως πᾶσιν ἑνωθησομένου κατά τό πέρας τῶν αἰώνων.

κα΄. (1313) Τούς ἐκζητοῦντας ἐν πνεύματι τήν τῶν ψυχῶν σωτηρίαν, καί ἐξερευνῶντας τούς ταύτης πνευματικούς τῆς σωτηρίας λόγους τε καί τρόπους, ὁδηγεῖ πρός κατανόησιν τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον, οὐκ ἐῶν ἀκίνητον αὐτοῖς μένειν, καί ἀνενέργητον τήν δι᾿ ἧς τά θεῖα ἐκζητεῖν πεφύκασι [unus Reg. πεφύκαμεν] δύναμιν.

κβ΄. Πρῶτόν τις ζητεῖ τῇ προαιρέσει νεκρῶσαι τήν ἁμαρτίαν, καί τήν προαίρεσιν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ· καί οὕτως ἐρευνᾷ, πῶς δεῖ καί ποίῳ τρόπῳ νεκρῶσαι ταύτας ἀλλήλαις. Καί πάλιν μετά τήν τούτων ἀλλήλαις τελείαν νέκρωσιν, ζητεῖ τήν κατ᾿ ἀρετήν τῆς προαιρέσεως, καί τῆς ἀρετῆς τήν κατά προαίρεσιν ζωήν· καί οὕτως ἐρευνᾷ, πῶς δεῖ καί ποίῳ τρόπῳ τήν ἐν ἀλλήλαις τούτων δημιουργῆσαι ζωήν. Ἔστιν οὖν ὡς ἐν ὁρισμῷ λαβεῖν,ἡ μέν ζήτησις, ὄρεξις καταθυμίου τινός· ἡ δέ ἐρεύνησις, τρόπος τῆς πρός τό καταθύμιον ὀρέξεως ἀνυστικός.

κγ΄. ∆εῖ ὡς ἀληθῶς τόν σωθησόμενον, μή μόνον τῇ προαιρέσει νεκρῶσαι τήν ἁμαρτίαν, ἀλλά καί αὐτήν τήν προαίρεσιν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ· καί μή μόνον ἀναστῆσαι τῇ ἀρετῇ τήν προαίρεσιν, ἀλλά καί αὐτήν τῇ προαιρέσει τήν ἀρετήν· ἵνα νεκρά νεκρᾶς, ὅλη ὅλης τῆς ἁμαρτίας διαιρεθεῖσα μή αἰσθάνηται, καί ζῶσα ζώσης, ὅλη ὅλης τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐπαισθάνηται, καθ᾿ ἕνωσιν ἀδιάστατον ἡ προαίρεσις. Ὁ γάρ νεκρώσας τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ τήν προαίρεσιν, σύμφυτος γέγονε τῷ ὁμοιώματι τοῦ θανάτου τοῦ Χριστοῦ· καί ὁ ταύτην ἀναστήσας τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ, σύμφυτος γέγονε καί τῆς ἀναστάσεως αὐτοῦ.

κδ΄. Ἡ ἁμαρτία καί ἡ προαίρεσις νεκρούμεναι ἀλλήλαις, διπλῆν ἔχουσι πρός ἀλλήλας τήν ἀναισθησίαν. Καί ἡ δικαιοσύνη καί ἡ προαίρεσις, ἀλλήλαις ἔχουσαι τήν ζωήν, διπλῆν ἔχουσι τήν αἴσθησιν.

κε΄. Θεός ὑπάρχων φύσει καί ἄνθρωπος ὁ Χριστός, ὑφ᾿ ἡμῶν ὡς Θεός ὑπέρ φύσιν χάριτι κληρονομεῖται, κατά τήν ἄῤῥητον μέθεξιν· καί δι᾿ ἡμᾶς ἐν εἴδει τῷ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἡμᾶς οἰκειούμενος, ἑαυτόν κληρονομεῖ σύν ἡμῖν κατά τήν ἀνεννόητον συγκατάβασιν· ὅν τῷ πνεύματι μυστικῶς οἱ ἅγιοι προθεωρήσαντες, ἐδιδάχθησαν ὡς χρή τῆς κατά τό μέλλον φανησομένης διά τήν ἀρετήν ἐν Χριστῷ δόξης, τά εἰς αὐτόν ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς κατά τό παρόν προκαθηγεῖσθαι παθήματα.

κστ΄. Ὁ μέν νοῦς κατά μόνην τήν ἔφεσιν ἀγνώστως πρός τήν τῶν ὄντων αἰτίαν κινούμενος, ζητεῖ μόνον· ὁ δέ λόγος, τούς ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν ἀληθεῖς ποικίλως ἐφοδεύων ἐρευνᾶ λόγους.