460

simple, uniting through the medium of reason to the intellect the principles of beings; and the intellect, purely released from the movement concerning all beings, and resting from its own natural energy, they offered to God; by which, having been gathered wholly to God, they were deemed worthy, whole to the whole God, to be mingled through the spirit, bearing the whole image of the heavenly, as far as is possible for men, and having drawn so much of the divine manifestation, if it is right to say this, as they themselves, having been drawn, were put into God.

74. They say that God and man are paradigms of one another, and that God becomes man for man’s sake through philanthropy to the same degree that man, being able, has deified himself to God through love; and that man is seized by God in mind toward the knowable to the same degree that man has manifested the by-nature invisible God through the virtues.

75. Everyone who has mortified his members that are upon the earth, and has extinguished the whole mind of his flesh, and has shaken off all relation to it, through which the love owed by us to God alone is divided, and has denied all the marks of the flesh and the world, for the sake of divine grace; so as to be able to say with the blessed Apostle Paul, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? and so on; such a one has become without father and without mother and without genealogy according to the great Melchizedek, having no way to be held by flesh and nature, on account of the union that has come to be with the spirit.

76. The end of the present life, I do not think it right to call death, but deliverance from death, and separation from corruption, and freedom from slavery, and a pause from turmoil, and an abolition of wars, and a retreat of darkness, and a relief from toils, and a rest from seething, and a covering of shame, and an escape from passions, and, to speak concisely, a circumscription of all evils; which things the saints, having achieved through voluntary mortification, presented themselves as strangers and sojourners in this life. For by fighting nobly against both the world and the body, and the rebellions arising from them, and by stifling the deceit produced from both in the engagement of the senses with sensible things, they kept for themselves the dignity of the soul unenslaved.

77. Nature herself gives no small proof that the knowledge of providence is naturally sown in us; (1381) whenever, as if pushing us untaught, she prepares us through prayers in sudden circumstances to seek salvation from thence. For being suddenly seized by necessity, without premeditation, before we consider anything, we cry out to God; as if providence itself draws us to itself, even without reasonings, and overcomes the speed of the intellectual power in us, and shows the divine help to be stronger than all things. But nature would not lead us without premeditation to that which has no nature to come into being; and everything that follows anything by nature, as is evident to all, has a strong and invincible power for the demonstration of the truth.

78. Since of beings, some are good, and others bad; and these are either present or future; an expected good, is called desire; but a present one, pleasure; and again, an expected evil, fear; but a present one, pain; so that both to be and to be considered, concerning good things, whether truly existing or supposed, are pleasure and desire; but concerning bad things, pain and fear. For desire, when it attains its object, produces pleasure; but when it fails, pain.

79. They say that all pain is an evil by its own nature. For even if the virtuous man is pained by the evils of others, as being merciful, it is not primarily according to intention, but consequently according to circumstance; But the contemplative man, remains passionless even to these things, having united himself to God, and estranged himself from all things here.

460

ἁπλοῦς διά μέσου τοῦ λόγου πρός τόν νοῦν τούς τῶν ὄντων ἔχοντα λόγους ἑνώσαντες· τόν δέ νοῦν, τῆς περί τά ὄντα πάντα κινήσεως καθαρῶς ἀπολυθέντα, καί αὐτῆς τῆς καθ᾿ αὐτόν φυσικῆς ἐνεργείας ἡρεμοῦντα, τῷ Θεῷ προσκομίσαντες· καθ᾿ ὅν ὁλικῶς πρός Θεόν συναχθέντες, ὅλοι ὅλῳ Θεῷ ἐγκραθῆναι διά τοῦ πνεύματος ἠξιώθησαν, ὅλην τοῦ ἐπουρανίου κατά τό δυνατόν ἀνθρώποις, τήν εἰκόνα φορέσαντες, καί τοσοῦτον ἕλξαντες τῆς θείας ἐμφάσεως, εἰ θέμις τοῦτο εἰπεῖν, ὅσον ἐλχθέντες αὐτοί τῷ Θεῷ ἐνετέθησαν.

οδ΄. Ἀλλήλων εἶναί φασι παραδείγματα, τόν Θεόν καί τόν ἄνθρωπον, καί τοσοῦτον τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ τόν Θεόν διά φιλανθρωπίαν ἀνθρωπίζεσθαι, ὅσον ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἑαυτόν τῷ Θεῷ δι᾿ ἀγάπης δυνηθείς ἀπεθέωσε· καί τοσοῦτον ὑπό Θεοῦ τόν ἄνθρωπον κατά νοῦν ἁρπάζεσθαι πρός τό γνωστόν, ὅσον ὀ ἄνθρωπος τόν ἀόρατον φύσει Θεόν διά τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐφανέρωσε.

οε΄. Πᾶς ὁ τά μέλη νεκρώσας τά ἐπί γῆς, καί ὅλον ἑαυτοῦ τῆς σαρκός κατασβέσας τό φρόνημα, καί τήν πρός αὐτήν διόλου σχέσιν ἀποσεισάμενος, δι᾿ ἧς ἡ τῷ Θεῷ μόνῳ χρεωστουμένη παρ᾿ ἡμῶν ἀγάπη μερίζεται, καί ἀρνησάμενος πάντα τά τῆς σαρκός καί κόσμου γνωρίσματα, τῆς θείας ἕνεκεν χάριτος· ὥστε καί λέγειν δύνασθαι μετά τοῦ μακαρίου Παύλου τοῦ ἀποστόλου, Τίς ἡμᾶς χωρίσει ἀπό τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Χριστοῦ; καί τά ἑξῆς· ὁ τοιοῦτος ἀπάτωρ καί ἀμήτωρ καί ἀγενεαλόγητος κατά τόν μέγαν Μελχισεδέκ γέγονεν, οὐκ ἔχων ὅπως ὑπό σαρκός κρατηθῇ καί φύσεως, διά τήν γεγενημένην πρός τό πνεῦμα συνάφειαν.

οστ΄. Τό πέρας τῆς παρούσης ζωῆς, οὐ δίκαιον οἶμαι θάνατον ὀνομάζειν, ἀλλά θανάτου ἀπαλλαγήν, καί φθορᾶς χωρισμόν, καί δουλείας ἐλευθερίαν, καί ταραχῆς παῦλαν, καί πολέμων ἀναίρεσιν, καί σκότους ὑποχώρησιν, καί πόνων ἄνεσιν, καί βράσματος ἡρεμίαν, καί αἰσχύνης συγκάλυμμα, καί παθῶν ἀποφυγήν, καί πάντων, ἵνα συνελών εἴπω, τῶν κακῶν περιγραφήν· ἅπερ δι᾿ ἑκουσίου νεκρώσεως οἱ ἅγιοι κατορθώσαντες, ξένους ἐαυτούς τοῦ βίου καί παρεπιδήμους παρέστησαν. Κόσμῳ τε γάρ καί σώματι, καί ταῖς ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐπαναστάσεσι γενναίως μαχόμενοι, καί τήν ἐξ ἀμφοῖν κατά τήν τῶν αἰσθήσεων πρός τά αἰσθητά συμπλοκήν παραγενομένην ἀπάτην ἀποπνίξαντες, ἀδούλωτον ἑαυτοῖς ἐφύλαξαν τῆς ψυχῆςτό ἀξίωμα.

οζ΄. Τεκμήριον οὐ σμικρόν τοῦ φυσικῶς ἡμῖν ἐνεσπάρθαι τήν τῆς προνοίας γνῶσιν, ἡ φύσις αὐτή δίδωσιν· (1381) ὁπηνίκα ἄν ἡμᾶς ἀδιδάκτως ὥσπερ ὠθοῦσα πρός τόν Θεόν διά τῶν εὐχῶν ἐν ταῖς ἐξαίφνης περιστάσεσιν, ἐκεῖθεν ζητεῖν τήν σωτηρίαν παρασκευάζῃ. Ὑπ᾿ ἀνάγκης γάρ ἄφνω συλληφθέντες, ἀπροαιρέτως πρίν τι σκέψασθαι, τόν Θεόν ἐπιβοώμεθα· ὡς ἄν τῆς προνοίας αὐτῆς πρός ἑαυτήν, καί λογισμῶν χωρίς, ἑλκούσης ἡμᾶς, καί τό τάχος τῆς ἐν ἡμῖν νοερᾶς νικώσης δυνάμως, καί πάντων ἰσχυροτέραν τήν θείαν προδεικνυούσης βοήθειαν. Οὐκ ἄν δέ ἡμᾶς ἦγεν ἀπροαιρέτως ἡ φύσις, ἐπί τό μή φύσιν ἔχον γίνεσθαι· πᾶν δέ τό ὁτῳοῦν φυσικῶς ἑπόμενον, ὡς πᾶσιν εὔδηλον, ἰσχυράν ἔχει καί ἀκαταμάχητον κατά τήν ἀπόδειξιν τῆς ἀληθείας τήν δύναμιν.

οη΄. Ἐπειδή τῶν ὄντων, τά μέν ἔστιν ἀγαθά, τά δέ φαῦλα· ταῦτα δέ, ἤ παρόντα ἐστίν ἤ μέλλοντα· προσδοκώμενον μέν ἀγαθόν, ἐπιθυμίαν καλεῖ· παρόν δέ, ἡδονήν· καί πάλιν, προσδοκώμενον μέν κακόν, φόβον· παρόν δέ, λύπην· ὡς εἶναί τε καί θεωρεῖσθαι, περί μέν τά καλά, εἴτε τά ὄντως ὄντα, εἴτε τά νομιζόμενα, τήν ἡδονήν καί τήν ἐπιθυμίαν· περί δέ τά φαῦλα, τήν λύπην καί τό φόβον. Καί γάρ ἐπιτυγχάνουσα μέν ἡ ἐπιθυμία, ἡδονήν ἐργάζεται· ἀποτυγχάνυσα δέ λύπην.

οθ΄. Κακόν εἶναί φασι πᾶσαν λύπην τῇ ἑαυτῆς φύσει. Κἄν γάρ ὁ σπουδαῖος ἐπ᾿ ἀλλοτρίοις λυπῆται κακοῖς, ὡς ἐλεήμων, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ προηγουμένως κατά πρόθεσιν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐφεπομένως κατά περίσταστιν· Ὁ δέ θεωρητικός, κἄν τούτοις ἀπαθής διαμένει, συνάψας ἑαυτόν τῷ Θεῷ, καί τῶν τῆδε πάντων ἀλλοτριώσας.