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love, having naturally interwoven with it the power of reason; so that one might be able with ease to know the ways of the fulfillment of this desire, and not, being led astray, to fail to attain that for which we strive. Moved therefore by this desire, we are led to seek concerning both truth itself and the wisdom and administration which are orderly manifest in all things, yearning through these things to attain that, for the sake of which we received this desire.

The end of the divine chapters of Maximus.

TO THEOPEMPTUS THE SCHOLASTICUS (1393)

Who asked concerning the judge of unrighteousness; and of, "If someone strikes you on the right cheek; " and of, "Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. "

For those for whom the Logos is the object of worship, for them also a life that is a revealer of the Logos is what is rightly accomplished; so that, having received the experience of practice as a seal of true knowledge, they might learn from what they have, as is right, undergone, how much greater it is to become than to know what a thing is; and more than this, to become so always and even more, until their unwavering appropriation to the Cause might be accomplished, circumscribing motion by stability and desire by immutability of will; to whom also deification by grace is given as a prize for a holy and godlike conduct in this life. To these, directing your own life very wisely, O God-guarded master, you hasten to seek that which is set before all through goodness, and escapes all through its infinity; on the one hand, that it might draw you to itself, goading desire with the irresistibility of its beauty; on the other, that it might temper it, restraining satiety with the astonishment of its super-infinite and divine transcendence, satiety being the father of insolence and the offspring of dissipation, for those who do not foresee the flaming sword placed and turning with the Cherubim, for none other than those who turn to virtue without fear; whence, co-extending what is moderate with the greatness of your progress toward what is good, by which you also more securely increase your advancement; you deigned to recognize me, who am unknown and lowly, through that by which nature itself provides a way for those of its kind; I mean, the word of a letter is what connects those who are absent, and makes manifest those who are not seen; handing over and uniting to the mind one who was previously not known by sense, to the degree that it, being itself inscribed through sense, is thickened and becomes embodied; by which also you brought my nothingness more into your desire, in that you have incorporeally moved your own vision; having shown that you possess in both these respects rather what is equal concerning the word, than what others around you possess as advantages of the grace of the word beyond others; being adorned with which throughout your life, (1396) how ever did you endeavor to lead my dim-sightedness to the contemplation, and that of sacred words, the approach to which is beyond man, for one who has not yet completely transcended the nature and generation of unstable and extended things; not to mention me who willingly am mixed up with the filth of these things, and like a worm am rolled and take pleasure in the rot of impure passions. Nevertheless, for the sake of obedience, and in honor of your love, daring what is beyond my worth, I say these things concerning which you commanded; conjecturally, but not declaratively.

The judge of unrighteousness in the Gospel parabolically exists and is spoken of as our own reasoning, which from the beginning, from the transgression, has made its judgment unrighteous; as not having received the commandment of the Creator; but having chosen that of the destroyer

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ἔρωτα, συνεπιπλέξας αὐτῷ φυσικῶς τοῦ λόγου τήν δύναμιν· ἐφ᾿ ᾧ δυνηθῆναι μετά ῥαστώνης γνῶναι τούς τρόπους τῆς τοῦ πόθου πληρώσεως, καί μή παρασφαλέντας διαμαρτεῖν οὗ τυχεῖν ἀγωνιζόμεθα. Κατά τοῦτον οὖν κινούμενοι τόν πόθον, περί τε τῆς ἀληθείας αὐτῆς καί τῆς εὐτάκτως τοῖς ὅλοις ἐμφαινομένης σοφίας τε καί διοικήσεως, ζητεῖν ἐναγόμεθα, ἐκείνου τυχεῖν διά τούτων γλιχόμενοι, οὗ χάριν τόν πόθον ἐλάβομεν.

Τέλος Μαξίμου τῶν θείων κεφαλαίων.

ΠΡΟΣ ΘΕΟΠΕΜΠΤΟΝ ΣΧΟΛΑΣΤΙΚΟΝ (1393)

Ἐρωτήσαντα περί τοῦ κριτοῦ τῆς ἀδικίας· καί τοῦ, "Ἐάν τίς σε ῥαπίσῃ ἐπί τήν δεξιάν σιαγόνα· " καί τοῦ, "Μή μου ἅπτου, οὕπω γάρ ἀναβέβηκα πρός τόν Πατέρα. "

Οἷς Λόγος ὑπάρχει τό προσκυνούμενον, τούτοις καί βίος ἐκφάντωρ λόγου τό

κατορθούμενον· ἵνα σφραγίδα γνώσεως ἀληθοῦς τήν πεῖραν λαβόντες τῆς πράξεως, μάθωσιν ἀφ᾿ ὧν, ὡς θέμις, πεπόνθασιν, ὅσον τοῦ τί εἰδέναι, μεῖζον τό γίνεσθαι· καί τούτου μᾶλλον, τό ἀεί καί μᾶλλον, ἕως ἄν αὐτοῖς ἡ πρός τόν αἴτιον ἀδίστακτος οἰκείωσις, κατορθωθείη, στάσει τήν κίνησιν περιγράφουσα καί ἀτρεψίᾳ γνώμης τήν ἔφεσιν· οἷς καί ἡ μετά χάριν ἐκθέωσις, ἱερᾶς τῆς κατά τόνδε τόν βίον καί θεοειδοῦς ἀγωγῆς, ἔπαθλον ἀντιδίδοται. Πρός οὕς μάλα σοφῶς καὐτός ἀπευθύνων τόν βίον, θεοφύλακτε δέσποτα, ζητεῖν ἐπείγῃ τό πᾶσι προκείμενον δι᾿ ἀγαθότητα, καί πάντας δι᾿ ἀπειρίαν διαδιδράσκον· τό μέν, ἵν᾿ ἑλκύσῃ πρός ἑαυτό, τῷ ἀμηχάνῳ τῆς ὡραιότητος κεντρίζον τήν ἔφεσιν· τό δέ, ἵνα στομώσῃ, τῇ τῆς ὑπεραπείρου καταπλήξει καί θείας ὑπεροχῆς περιστέλλον τόν κόρον, ὕβρεως ὄντα πατέρα καί διαχύσεως γέννημα, τοῖς τήν φλογίνην ῥομφαίαν οὐ προθεωροῦσι σύν τοῖς Χερουβίμ τεταγμένην καί στρεφομένην, οὐκ ἄλλοις, ἤ τοῖς δίχα φόβον πρός ἀρετήν ἐπιστρέφουσιν· ἔνθεν τῷ μεγέθει τῆς ἐπί τά καλά προκοπῆς συνεπεκτείνων τό μέτριον, ᾧ καί μᾶλλον ἐπαύξεις σύν ἀσφαλείᾳ τήν πρόοδον· ἠξίωσας ἀγνώτην ὄντα με καί ταπεινόν ἐπιγνῶναι, δι᾿ οὗ τοῖς κατ᾿ αὐτήν ἡ φύσις τρόπου παρείχετο· φημί δέ, τοῦ γράμματος ὁ λόγος συνδεκτικός τῶν ἀπόντων ἐστί, καί τῶν οὐ βλεπομένων ἐμφανιστικός· τοσοῦτον νοήσει παραδιδούς καί συνάπτων τόν τέως αἰσθήσει μή γνωριζόμενον, ὅσον διά ταύτης αὐτός χαραττόμενος παχύνεται σωματούμενος· ᾧ καί τήν ἐμήν οὐδένειαν εἰς πόθον ἤγαγες τόν ὑμέτερον πλέον, ᾗ θέαν τήν οἰκείαν ἀσωμάτως κεκίνηκας· προδείξας αὐτόν ἐπ᾿ ἀμφοῖν τούτοιν ἔχειν μᾶλλον τό ἴσον περί τόν λόγον, ἤ ὅσον ἕτεροι περί σέ τήν τοῦ λόγου χάριν παρά τούς ἄλλους προτερήματα· οἷς διά βίου κοσμούμενος, (1396) πῶς ποτε τήν ἐμήν ἀμβλυωπίαν πρός θεωρίαν ἐνάγειν ἐσπούδασας, ἱερῶν καί ταῦτα λόγων, καί ὧν ἡ ἐπίβασις, κρεῖττον ἤ κατά ἄνθρωπον, τόν οὔπω τελείως ὑπεραναβάντα τήν τῶν ἀστάτων καί διαστατῶν φύσιν καί γένεσιν· μή ὅτι γ᾿ ἐμοί τῷ φορυτῷ τούτων ἑκουσίως συμφυρομένῳ, καί σκώληκος δίκην τῇ σήψει τῶν ἀκαθάρτων καλινδουμένῳ καί ἡδομένῳ παθῶν. Πλήν τῆς εὐπειθείας χάριν, καί τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀγάπης τιμήν, τῶν ὑπέρ ἀξίαν κατατολμῶν, ἐκεῖνά φημι περί ὧν ἐκελεύσατε· στοχαστικῶς, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἀποφαντικῶς.

Κριτήν ἀδικίας ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ παραβολικῶς ὑπάρχειν καί λέγεσθαι, τόν ἡμέτερον λογισμόν, ἀρχῆθεν ἐκ παραβάσεως ἄδικων πεποιημένον τήν κρίσιν· ὡς τήν τοῦ Κτίσαντος μέν οὐ δεξάμενον ἐντολήν· τήν δέ τοῦ φθείροντος ἑλόμενον