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he himself also keeping the light of salvation unquenchable, being preserved in the manner of endurance according to courage, as having the Lord for strength and praise. But he who knows the devices of the evil one, and is not ignorant of the conflicts of the unseen wars, he too, being illuminated by the light of knowledge, has appeared as another lamp, speaking appropriately with the great Apostle, *For we are not ignorant of his designs*.

89. (1340) The Holy Spirit effects purification for those worthy of the purity of the virtues, through fear and piety and knowledge; but illumination, which is the knowledge of beings according to the *logoi* by which they exist, He grants through strength and counsel and understanding to those worthy of light; and perfection He bestows through all-radiant and simple and complete wisdom on those worthy of deification, leading them up immediately in every way to the cause of beings, as is possible for a human, being known only from the divine properties of goodness, by which, knowing themselves from God, and God from themselves, with no intervening medium separating them; for wisdom has no medium with respect to God; they will possess unalterable immutability, all the media having been wholly traversed for them, in which there once existed the danger of erring in knowledge. And he calls "media" the substance of intelligible and sensible things, through which the human mind is naturally led up to God as the cause of beings.

90. Practical philosophy, fear, piety, and knowledge produce; but natural contemplation in spirit, strength and counsel and understanding achieve; but mystical theology, divine wisdom alone bestows.

91. Just as without oil it is impossible for a lamp to be kept unquenched, so without a disposition that nourishes good things with fitting words and ways and characters, and again with appropriate thoughts and reasonings, it is impossible for the light of the charisms to be kept unquenched. For every spiritual charism requires a suitable disposition, which unceasingly pours upon it, like oil, the intelligible matter, so that it may remain held fast according to the disposition of the one who received it.

92. Just as without an olive tree, it is by no means possible to find genuine oil in nature according to truth; and without a vessel to receive it, it is not possible for the oil to be contained; and a lamp's light, not being fed by oil, is certainly extinguished; so without the Holy Scriptures, there is not in truth a power of thoughts befitting God; and without a disposition, like a vessel receptive of thoughts, a divine thought could in no way be formed; and the light of knowledge in the charisms, not being fed by divine thoughts, is not preserved unquenched by those who possess it.

93. I understand the Old Testament to signify the olive tree on the left, as it provides more for practical philosophy; and the one on the right, the New Testament, as the teacher of a new mystery, and the creator of the contemplative disposition in each of the faithful. For the one provides ways of virtue, and the other, (1341) principles of knowledge to those who philosophize on divine things; and the one, snatching the mind away from the mist of visible things, leads it up to what is kindred, having become pure of all material fantasy; while the other purges it of material passion, with the intensity of courage, like a hammer driving out the nails of the will's attachment to the body.

94. The Old [Testament] leads up the body, reckoned with the soul, through the medium of the virtues, preventing the mind from being brought down to the body; but the New leads the mind up to God, winged by the fire of love. And the one makes the body's movement identical to the mind's according to its state; while the other renders the mind identical to God according to the disposition of grace, having such a resemblance to God,

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ἀκατάσβεστον καί αὐτός φυλάττων τό φῶς τῆς σωτηρίας, ἐν τῷ τρόπῳ τῆς κατά τήν ἀνδρίαν ὑπομονῆς φυλαττόμενον, ὡς τόν Κύριον ἰσχύν ἔχων καί ὕμνησιν. Ὁ δέ γινώσκων τοῦ πονηροῦ τά μηχανήματα, καί τάς συμπλοκάς τῶν ἀφανῶν πολέμων οὐκ ἀγνοῶν, καί οὗτος τῷ φωτί τῆς γνώσεως περιλαμπόμενος, ἄλλος πέφηνε λύχνος, τῷ μεγάλῳ Ἀποστόλῳ προσηκόντως φθεγγόμενος, Οὐ γάρ αὐτοῦ τά νοήματα ἀγνοοῦμεν.

οθ΄. (1340) Τήν μέν κάθαρσιν τοῖς ἀξίοις τῆς τῶν ἀρετῶν καθαρότητος, διά φόβου καί εὐσεβείας καί γνώσεως ποιεῖται τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον· τόν δέ φωτισμόν τῆς τῶν ὄντων καθ᾿ οὕς ὑπάρχουσι λόγους γνώσεως, δι᾿ ἰσχύος καί βουλῆς καί συνέσεως δωρεῖται τοῖς ἀξίοις φωτός· τήν δέ τελειότητα, διά τῆς παμφαοῦς καί ἁπλῆς καί ὁλοσχεροῦς σοφίας χαρίζεται τοῖς ἀξίοις θεώσεως, πρός τήν τῶν ὄντων αἰτίαν, ἀμέσως αὐτούς ἀνάγον κατά πάντα τρόπον, ὡς ἔστιν ἀνθρώπῳ δυνατόν, ἐκ μόνων τῶν θείων τῆς ἀγαθότητος ἰδιωμάτων γνωριζομένους, καθ᾿ ἥν ἐκ Θεοῦ μέν ἑαυτούς, ἐξ ἑαυτῶν δέ γινώσκοντες τόν Θεόν, οὐκ ὄντος τινός μέσου διατειχίζοντος· σοφίας γάρ μέσον οὐδέν πρός Θεόν· τήν ἀναλλοίωτον ἕξουσιν ἀτρεψίαν, τῶν μέσων αὐτοῖς ὁλικῶς πάντων διαβαθέντων, ἐν οἷς ὑπῆρχεν ὁ περί τήν γνῶσιν ποτε τοῦ σφάλλεσθαι κίνδυνος. Μέσα δέ καλεῖ, τήν τῶν νοητῶν καί τῶν αἰσθητῶν οὐσίαν, δι᾿ ὧν πρός Θεόν ὡς αἰτίαν τῶν ὄντων, ὁ ἀνθρώπινος νοῦς ἀνάγεσθαι πέφυκεν.

π΄ Τήν μέν πρακτικήν φιλοσοφίαν, φόβος, εὐσέβειά τε καί γνῶσις ἐργάζονται· τήν δέ φυσικήν ἐν πνεύματι θεωρίαν, ἰσχύς καί βουλή καί σύνεσις κατορθοῦσι· τήν δέ μυστικήν θεολογίαν, σοφία θεία μόνη χαρίζεται.

πα΄. Ὥσπερ ἐλαίου χωρίς, ἄσβεστον διατηρηθῆναι λύχνον ἀμήχανον, οὕτως ἕξεως χωρίς, προσφόροις καί λόγοις καί τρόποις καί ἤθεσι, νοήμασί τε αὖ καί λογισμοῖς τοῖς καθήκουσι τά καλά διατρεφούσης, ἄσβεστον φυλαχθῆναι τό φῶς τῶν χαρισμάτων ἀμήχανον. Πᾶν γάρ χάρισμα πνευματικόν προσφυοῦς χρῄζει τῆς ἕξεως, ἀπαύστως ἐπιχεούσης αὐτῷ καθάπερ ἔλαιον τήν ὕλην τήν νοεράν, ἵνα διαμείνῃ κατά τήν ἕξιν τοῦ δεξαμένου κρατούμενον.

πβ΄. Ὥσπερ ἐλαίας χωρίς, οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδαμῶς εὑρεῖν φύσει κατ᾿ ἀλήθειαν γνήσιον ἔλαιον· ἄγγους δέ δίχα κρατεῖσθαι τοῦ δεχομένου τό ἔλαιον οὐ δυνατόν· ἐλαίῳ δέ μή τρεφόμενον σβέννυται πάντως τό λυχναῖον φῶς· οὕτω τῶν ἁγίων Γραφῶν χωρίς, οὐκ ἔστι κατά ἀλήθειαν δύναμις νοημάτων θεοπρεπής· ἕξεως δέ δίχα, καθάπερ ἄγγους νοημάτων δεκτικοῦ, οὐδαμῶς ἄν συσταίη νόημα θεῖον· θείοις δέ νοήμασι μή τρεφόμενον τό φῶς τῆς ἐν τοῖς χαρίσμασι γνώσεως, ἄσβεστον οὐ συντηρεῖται τοῖς ἔχουσι.

πγ΄. Τήν μέν Παλαιάν ∆ιαθήκην, τήν ἐξ εὐωνύμων ἐλαίαν ὑπολαμβάνω σημαίνειν, ὡς τῆς πρακτικῆς μᾶλλον προνοουμένην φιλοσοφίας· τήν ἐκ δεξιῶν δέ, τήν Νέαν ∆ιαθήκην, ὡς καινοῦ μυστηρίου διδάσκαλον, καί τῆς ἐν ἑκάστῳ τῶν πιστῶν θεωρητικῆς ἕξεως ποιητικήν. Ἡ μέν γάρ, ἀρετῆς τρόπους, ἡ δέ, (1341) γνώσεως λόγους παρέχεται τοῖς τά θεῖα φιλοσοφοῦσι· καί ἡ μέν, τῆς τῶν ὁρωμένων ὁμίχλης ὑφαρπάζουσα πρός τό συγγενές ἀνάγει τόν νοῦν, πάσης καθαρόν ὑλικῆς φαντασίας γεγενημένον· ἡ δέ, τῆς ὑλικῆς προσπαθείας αὐτόν ἀποκαθαίρει, τῷ τῆς ἀνδρίας τόνῳ, καθάπερ σφύρᾳ τινί τούς πρός τό σῶμα τῆς γνώμης κατά τήν σχέσιν ἐκκρουομένη ἥλους.

πδ΄. Ἡ μέν Παλαιά, τό σῶμα πρός ψυχήν λογισθέν ἀναβιβάζει διά μέσων τῶν ἀρετῶν, κωλύουσα τοῦ πρός σῶμα τόν νοῦν καταβιβάζεσθαι· ἡ δέ Νέα, τόν νοῦν πρός τόν Θεόν ἀναβιβάζει, τῷ πυρί τῆς ἀγάπης πτερούμενον. Καί ἡ μέν, ταὐτόν ἐργάζεται τῷ νοΐ τό σῶμα κατά τήν θέσιν κίνησιν· ἡ δέ, ταὐτόν τῷ Θεῷ τόν νοῦν ἀποτελεῖ κατά τήν ἕξιν τῆς χάριτος τοσαύτην ἔχοντα πρός Θεόν τήν ἐμφέρειαν,