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48. Nature, existing temporally in the world, (1369) has an alterable motion, on account of the finite state of the world and the course of time according to alteration; but when it comes to be in God, through the natural unity of that in which it has come to be, it will have an immovable stability, and a stable self-motion, occurring eternally around the same and one and only, which the *logos* knows to be the immediate and permanent foundation of things made from it, around the first cause.

49. The mystery of Pentecost is the immediate union of those under providence with Providence; that is, the union of nature with the *logos* according to the concept of Providence, in which there is no appearance whatsoever of time and generation. And again, the *logos* is our trumpet, as it sounds forth to us divine and ineffable knowledge; and propitiation, as having become like us, it resolves our transgressions within itself; and by the gift of grace in the Spirit, it deifies our sinning nature; and the feast of tabernacles, as the practice of our immutability concerning the good, according to a God-imitating state, and the cohesive bond of the transformation to immortality.

50. He who delights in mere bloody sacrifices prepares the sacrificers to be zealous for the passions, as one who is himself subject to passion. For the true worshipper loves to rejoice in what the one worshipped rejoices. Therefore the *logos* knows as sacrifices rather the slaughter of the passions and the offering of the natural powers; of which, the ram is a type of the rational faculty; the bull bears the symbol of the irascible faculty; and the goat is the manifestation of the desiderative faculty.

51. And we know spiritual sacrifices, not only the mortification of the passions slaughtered by the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, and of all life in the flesh, as the intentional motion of the blood, but also the offering of moral states according to philosophy, and of all the natural powers dedicated to God, and consumed as a whole burnt offering by the fire of grace in the Spirit toward the divine end.

52. (1372) The earthly understanding of Scripture, taking hold of the soul, casts off the natural principles, effacing them by the misuse of the natural powers. For this, being alive, truly brings to pass and pursues and destroys, circumscribing the law to the flesh alone, I mean the natural principles and reasonings, honoring as divine the passions of dishonor, which the natural reasonings, receiving license from the law of the spirit, kill and put to death at the same time.

53. As soon as one might rationally pursue the philosophy of the virtues, at the same time he also has naturally transferred the interpretation of the Scriptures toward the spirit, in newness of letter, through the more humble reception of the law according to sense toward the body, becoming a nurturer of passions according to the Jews, and a servant of sin.

54. As soon as one ceases to receive the Scripture according to sense toward the body, at the same time he also runs up toward the spirit according to the intellect, through the midst of nature, doing spiritually those things for which the Jew, performing them bodily, has God angry with him.

55. Every intellect that is lofty and raised up according to God, at the same time, slaughters the activity of the passions, and the unseemly movement of thoughts; and in addition, the licentious habits that come from the misuse of the activity of the senses. For the passions are destroyed by the lofty reasonings of nature, being triumphed over in lofty contemplation.

56. The grace of holy baptism is constituted by nature to efface the power of sin, that is, the mindset of the flesh; and active obedience to the divine commandments is constituted to kill it with the sword of the spirit, that is, with the word of divine knowledge in the spirit, crying out mystically to the passion of sin, as the great Samuel to Agag, "As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women today."

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μη΄. Ἐν μέν τῷ κόσμῳ ὑπάρχουσα χρονικῶς ἡ φύσις, (1369) ἀλλοιωτήν ἔχει τήν κίνησιν, διά τήν τοῦ κόσμου πεπερασμένην στάσιν, καί τήν καθ᾿ ἑτεροίωσιν τοῦ χρόνου φοράν· ἐν δέ τῷ Θεῷ γινομένη, διά τήν φυσικήν τοῦ ἐν ᾧ γέγονε μονάδα, στάσιν ἀκίνητον ἕξει, καί στάσιμον ταυτοκινησίαν, περί τό ταυτόν καί ἕν καί μόνον, ἀϊδίως γινομένην, ἥν οἶδεν ὁ λόγος ἄμεσον εἶναι περί τό πρῶτον αἴτιον, τῶν ἐξ αὐτοῦ πεποιημένων μόνιμον ἵδρυσιν.

μθ΄. Μυστήριον ἐστι Πεντηκοστῆς, ἡ πρός τήν Πρόνοιαν ἄμεσος τῶν προνοουμένων ἕνωσις· ἤγουν ἡ πρός τόν λόγον κατά τήν τῆς Προνοίας ἐπίνοιαν τῆς φύσεως ἕνωσις, καθ᾿ ἥν οὐδεμία τοπαράπαν ἐστί χρόνου καί γενέσεως ἔμφασις. Σάλπιγξ δέ πάλιν ἡμῶν ἐστιν ὁ λόγος, ὡς τάς θείας καί ἀῤῥήτους ἡμῖν ἐνηχούμενος γνώσεις· ἱλασμός δέ, ὡς ἐν ἑαυτῷ τά ἡμέτερα, καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς γενόμενος, διαλύων ἐγκλήματα· καί τῇ δωρεᾷ τῆς χάριτος ἐν πνεύματι, τήν ἁμαρτήσασαν φύσιν θεοποιῶν· σκηνοπηγία δέ, ὡς τῆς ἡμῶν κατά τήν θεομίμητον ἕξιν περί τό καλόν ἀτρεψίας πρᾶξις, καί ὁ τῆς πρός ἀθανασίαν μεταποιήσεως συνεκτικός δεσμός.

ν΄. Ὁ ψιλαῖς ταῖς ἐναίμοις χαίρων θυσίαις, περί τά πάθη σπουδάζειν ὡς ἐμπαθής παρασκευάζει τούς θύοντας. Φιλεῖ γάρ χαίρειν τό γνησίως σέβον, οἷς χαίρει τό προσκυνούμενον. Ὅθεν θυσίας οἶδεν ὁ λόγος, τήν τῶν παθῶν μᾶλλον σφαγήν, καί τήν τῶν φυσικῶν δυνάμεων προσαγωγήν· ὧν, τοῦ μέν λόγου, τύπος ἐστίν ὁ κριός· τοῦ δέ θυμοῦ φέρει σύμβολον ὁ ταῦρος· τῆς δέ ἐπιθυμίας, ἡ αἴξ ὑπάρχει δήλωσις.

να΄. Θυσίας πνευματικάς καί γινώσκομεν, οὐ μόνον τήν τῶν παθῶν νέκρωσιν σφαττομένων τῇ μαχαίρᾳ τοῦ πνεύματος, ὅπερ ἐστί ῥῆμα Θεοῦ, καί πάσης τῆς ἐν σαρκί ζωῆς, ὡς αἵματος τήν κατά πρόθεσιν κίνησιν, ἀλλά καί τῶν κατά φιλοσοφίαν ἠθῶν, καί πασῶν τῶν κατά φύσιν δυνάμεων προσαγωγήν ἀφιερουμένων Θεῷ, καί τῷ πυρί τῆς ἐν Πνεύματι χάριτος πρός τήν θείαν λῆξιν ὁλοκαυτουμένων.

νβ΄. (1372) Ὁ χοϊκός νοῦς τῆς Γραφῆς, κρατῶν τῆς ψυχῆς, τούς φυσικούς ἀποβάλλεται λόγους, τῇ παραχρήσει τῶν κατά φύσιν δυνάμεων αὐτούς ἐξαφανίζων. Οὗτος γάρ ζῶν, ἐπ᾿ ἀληθείας συντελεῖ καί διώκει καί ἀπόλλυσι, σαρκί μόνῃ τόν νόμον περιγράφων, τούς κατά φύσιν φημί λόγους καί λογισμούς, τιμῶν ὡς θεῖα τά πάθη τῆς ἀτιμίας, ἅπερ οἱ κατά φύσιν λογισμοί, λαμβάνοντες ἄδειαν ὑπό τοῦ νόμου τοῦ πνεύματος, ἀποκτείνουσιν ἐπιταυτό καί θανατοῦσιν.

νγ΄. Ἅμα τις τήν τῶν ἀρετῶν λογικῶς μετέλθοι φιλοσοφίαν, ἅμα καί τήν τῶν Γραφῶν πρός τό πνεῦμα φυσικῶς μετήνεγκεν ἐκδοχήν, ἐν καινότητι γράμματος, διά τῆς κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν πρός σῶμα ταπεινοτέρας τοῦ νόμου παραδοχῆς, τροφεύς παθῶν κατά τούς Ἰουδαίους γινόμενος, καί ἁμαρτίας θεραπευτής.

νδ΄. Ἅμα τις παύσεται κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν πρός σῶμα τήν Γραφήν ἐκδεχόμενος, ἅμα καί πρός τό πνεῦμα κατά νοῦν διά μέσης ἀνατρέχει τῆς φύσεως, ἐκεῖνα πράττων πνευματικῶς, ἅπερ σωματικῶς ὁ Ἰουδαῖος ἐπιτελῶν, ἔχει τόν Θεόν ὀργιζόμενον.

νε΄. Πᾶς νοῦς κατά Θεόν ὑψηλός καί μετέωρος, κατά τό αὐτό, τήν τε τῶν παθῶν κατασφάττει ἐνέργειαν, καί τήν τῶν λογισμῶν ἀσχήμονα κίνησιν· πρός δέ, καί τούς κατά παράχρησιν τῆς τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἐνεργείας ἀκολάστους τρόπους. Ἀναιροῦνται γάρ τά πάθη ὑπό τῶν ὑψηλῶν τῆς φύσεως λογισμῶν, κατά τήν ὑψηλήν θεωρίαν θριαμβευόμενα.

νστ΄. Τό κράτος τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἤγουν τό φρόνημα τῆς σαρκός, ἡ χάρις ἀφανίζειν πέφυκε τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος· καί ἡ κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν ὑπακοή τῶν θείων ἐντολῶν, ἀποκτείνειν τῇ μαχαίρᾳ τοῦ πνεύματος, ἤγουν τῷ ῥήματι τῆς θείας ἐν πνεύματι γνώσεως, βοῶσα μυστικῶς πρός τό πάθος τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ὡς ὁ μέγας πρός τόν Ἄγαγ, Σαμουήλ, Ἀνθ᾿ ὧν ἠτέκνωσε γυναῖκας ἡ μάχαιρά σου, ἀτεκνωθήσεται σήμερον ἐκ γυναικῶν ἡ μήτηρ σου.