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ο΄. Not every man coming into this world is by all means enlightened by the Word; for many remain unenlightened, and without a share of the light of full knowledge; but it is clear that every man according to his own will, comes into the true world of the virtues. For everyone who in truth through voluntary birth comes into this world, is by all means enlightened by the Word, receiving an immovable state of virtue, and an unerring science of true knowledge.

οα΄. Not all persons and all things that have the same utterance will by all means be understood in one and the same way; but each of the things said must be understood with respect to the underlying power, that is, according to the manner of Holy Scripture, if we are to correctly apprehend the aim of what is written.

οβ΄. None of the persons, or places, or times, or other things, animate and inanimate, perceptible and intelligible, which are recorded in Scripture, moving always in the same way, has a history or a contemplation that is wholly consistent with itself. Therefore, it is necessary for one who unerringly practices the divine knowledge of Scripture, to interpret each of the enumerated things differently according to the differences of what is done or said, and to duly assign to it the contemplation appropriate to the place or time.

ογ΄. It is necessary to teach all those in the entire world to live and conduct themselves by reason alone, and to have only so much care for their bodies, as to sever the soul's relation to them through much attention, (1337) and to give the soul no fantasy of matter at all; since the sense, which from the beginning pushed aside reason and accepted the irrationality of pleasure in the manner of a creeping serpent, has already been extinguished by reason, and against which sense death was justly appointed, so that it might cease from providing an entrance for the devil to the soul.

οδ΄. Sense, being one in genus, becomes fivefold in its species, through the perceptive activity proper to each species, persuading the erring soul to love the corresponding sensible object instead of God. Therefore, he who wisely follows reason, condemns the flesh to death voluntarily, before the forced and unwilling death, making a complete separation of the will from sense.

οε΄. Sense, having taken the mind captive, teaches it to be polytheistic, by serving through each sense the corresponding sensible object as divine in the bondage of the passions.

οστ΄. He who abides by the letter of Scripture alone, has only the sense that rules nature, according to which only the soul's relation to the flesh is naturally shown. For the letter, if not understood spiritually, has only the sense that circumscribes its utterance, and does not allow the power of what is written to pass to the mind. But if the letter has an affinity for sense alone, everyone who, according to history alone, receives the letter in a Jewish manner, lives according to the flesh, dying the death of sin daily by the will through living sense, being unable to put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit, so that he might live the blessed life in the Spirit. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, says the divine Apostle; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

οζ΄. Let us not then, by kindling the divine lamp, that is, the illuminating word of knowledge through contemplation and practice, place it under a bushel, lest we be condemned as circumscribing the incomprehensible power of wisdom by the letter; but rather upon the lampstand, I mean the holy Church, on the height of true contemplation, which holds up for all the light of the divine doctrines.

οη΄. He who bears the assaults of involuntary temptations with an unshaken mind, like the blessed Job and the noble martyrs, is a strong lamp,

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ο΄. Οὐ πᾶς ἄνθρωπος εἰς τοῦτον ἐρχόμενος τόν κόσμον, ὑπό τοῦ Λόγου πάντως φωτίζεται· πολλοί γάρ ἀφώτιστοι διαμένουσι, καί τοῦ κατ᾿ ἐπίγνωσιν ἀμέτοχοι φωτός· ἀλλά δῆλον ὅτι πᾶς ἄνθρωπος κατ᾿ οἰκείαν γνώμην, εἰς τόν ἀληθῆ κόσμον ἐρχόμενος τῶν ἀρετῶν. Πᾶς γάρ ὁ κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν διά τῆς αὐθαιρέτου γεννήσεως εἰς τοῦτον ἐρχόμενος τόν κόσμον, ὑπό τοῦ Λόγου πάντως φωτίζεται, λαμβάνων ἕξιν ἀρετῆς ἀμετακίνητον, καί γνώσεως ἀληθοῦς ἐπιστήμην ἄπταιστον.

οα΄. Οὐ πάντες τε καί πάντα τά τήν αὐτήν ἐκφώνησιν ἔχοντα, καθ᾿ ἕνα καί τόν αὐτόν πάντως νοηθήσεται τρόπον· ἀλλ᾿ ἕκαστον τῶν λεγομένων πρός τήν ὑποκειμένην δηλονότι τῷ τρόπῳ τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς δύναμιν νοητέον, εἰ μέλλοιμεν ὀρθῶς τοῦ σκοποῦ τῶν γεγραμμένων καταστοχάζεσθαι.

οβ΄. Οὐδέν τῶν ἀναγεγραμμένων τῇ Γραφῇ προσώπων, ἤ τόπων, ἤ χρόνων, ἤ ἑτέρων πραγμάτων ἐμψύχων τε καί ἀψύχων, αἰσθητῶν τε καί νοητῶν, κατά τόν αὐτόν ἀεί κινούμενον τρόπον, ἔχει συμβαίνουσαν ἑαυτῇ διόλου τήν ἱστορίαν ἤ τήν θεωρίαν. ∆ιό χρή τόν ἀπταίστως τήν θείαν τῆς Γραφῆς ἐξασκούμενον εἴδησιν, ταῖς διαφοραῖς τῶν γινομένων ἤ λεγομένων, διαφόρως ἐκδέχεσθαι τῶν ἀπηριθμημένων ἕκαστον, καί τήν ἁρμόζουσαν αὐτῷ κατά τόν τόπον, ἤ τόν χρόνον δεόντως θεωρίαν προσνέμειν.

ογ΄. ∆ιδάσκειν χρή πάντας τούς ἐν παντί τῷ κόσμῳ, λόγῳ ζῇν μόνῳ πολιτεύεσθαι, καί τοσοῦτον ἔχειν περί τῶν σωμάτων τήν μέριμναν, ὅσο διά πολλῆς φροντίδος τήν πρός αὐτά σχέσιν τῆς ψυχῆς διακόψας, (1337) καί μηδεμίαν διδόναι τοσύνολον ὕλης τῇ ψυχῇ φαντασίαν· σβεσθείσης ἤδη τῷ λόγῳ τῆς κατ᾿ ἀρχάς, τόν μέν λόγον παρωσαμένης, τήν ἀλογίαν δέ τῆς ἡδονῆς ὄφεως δίκην ἑρπυστικοῦ προσδεξαμένης, αἰσθήσεως, καθ᾿ ἧς ὡρίσθη δικαίως ὁ θάνατος, ἵνα παύσηται τῷ διαβόλῳ πρός τήν ψυχήν παρεχομένη τήν εἴσοδον.

οδ΄. Μία ὑπάρχουσα κατά τό γένος ἡ αἴσθησις, πενταπλοῦται τοῖς εἴδεσι, διά τῆς καθ᾿ ἕκαστον εἶδος ἀντιληπτικῆς ἐνεργείας, τό προσφυές αἰσθητόν, ἀντί Θεοῦ στέργειν τήν πλανωμένην ψυχήν ἀναπείθουσα. ∆ιόπερ ὁ τῷ λόγῳ σοφῶς ἑπόμενος, πρό τοῦ βεβιασμένου καί παρά γνώμην θανάτου, τόν θάνατον τῆς σαρκός ἑκουσίως καταψηφίζεται, τόν πρός αἴσθησιν τῆς γνώμης παντελῆ ποιούμενος χωρισμόν.

οε΄. Λαβοῦσα τόν νοῦν ἡ αἴσθησις ὑποχείριον, διδάσκει πολύθεον, δι᾿ ἑκάστης αἰσθήσεως τῇ περί τά πάθη δουλείᾳ ὡς θεῖον τό προσφυές αἰσθητόν θεραπεύουσα.

οστ΄. Ὁ μόνῳ τῷ γράμματι τῆς Γραφῆς παρακαθήμενος, μόνην ἔχει τήν αἴσθησιν κρατοῦσαν τῆς φύσεως, καθ᾿ ἥν ἡ πρός τήν σάρκα τῆς ψυχῆς σχέσις μόνη διαφαίνεσθαι πέφυκε. Τό γάρ γράμμα μή νοούμενον πνευματικῶς, μόνην ἔχει τήν αἴσθησιν περιγράφουσαν αὐτοῦ τήν ἐκφώνησιν, καί μή συγχωροῦσαν πρός τόν νοῦν διαβῆναι τῶν γεγραμμένων τήν δύναμιν. Εἰ δέ πρός μόνην τήν αἴσθησιν ἔχει τό γράμμα τήν οἰκειότητα, πᾶς ὁ καθ᾿ ἱστορίαν μόνην Ἰουδαϊκῶς τό γράμμα δεχόμενος, κατά σάρκα ζῇ, τῆς ἁμαρτίας καθ᾿ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν διά τήν ζῶσαν αἴσθησιν γνωμικῶς ἀποθνήσκων τόν θάνατον, μή δυνάμενος πνεύματι τάς πράξεις θανατῶσαι τοῦ σώματος, ἵνα ζῇ τήν ἐν πνεύματι καμαρίαν ζωήν. Εἰ γάρ κατά σάρκα ζῆτε, μέλλετε ἀποθνήσειν, φησίν ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος· εἰ δέ πνεύματι τάς πράξεις τοῦ σώματος θανατοῦτε, ζήσεσθε.

οζ΄. Μή τοίνυν τόν θεῖον λύχνον, ἤγουν τόν φωτιστικόν τῆς γνώσεως λόγον ἀνάπτοντες διά θεωρίας καί πράξεως, ὑπό τόν μόδιον θήσωμεν, ἵνα μή κατακριθῶμεν ὡς περιγράφοντες τῷ γράμματι τήν τῆς σοφίας ἀπερίληπτον δύναμιν· ἀλλ᾿ ἐπί τήν λυχνίαν, λέγω τήν ἁγίαν Ἐκκλησίαν, ἐν τῷ ὕψει τῆς ἀληθοῦς θεωρίας, πᾶσι τό φῶς τῶν θείων δογμάτων πυρσεύουσαν.

οη΄. Ὁ τάς προσβολάς τῶν ἀκουσίων πειρασμῶν κατά τόν μακάριον Ἰώβ καί τούς γενναίους μάρτυρας ἀκατασείστῳ φέρων τῷ φρονήματι, λύχνος ἐστίν ἰσχυρός,