476

(241) For just as what we are unable to understand is intelligible to the holy angels above us, so also for the holy angels above them, the things not understood by the holy angels above them are intelligible, and so in succession, the discourse, ascending from power to power and being exalted, and passing through all ranks and powers, ends in that which is ineffable and unintelligible and completely unknown. If, then, according to Dionysius the Areopagite, negations concerning divine things are true, while affirmations are unsuited to the hiddenness of the ineffable, it was fitting that the divine Apostle, having denied the comprehension of all knowledge available to him, and having come to be beyond all relation to existing things, was, as he said, fittingly neither in the body, since he did not have his sensation active, nor again outside the body, since he had his intellect inactive at the time of the rapture that happened to him, during which, having received certain ineffable and unknowable words through a super-cosmic initiation, he honored these with silence and kept them completely unutterable, such that neither mind could comprehend, nor tongue speak, nor hearing receive them. And, as those with experience say, right faith and unadulterated fear of God produce perfect practice in the aforementioned "progress" of virtue, while firm hope and unimpaired understanding produce unerring natural contemplation in the ascent, and perfect love and a mind that by transcendence is altogether voluntarily deprived of existing things produce deification in the "assumption." And again, they say that the work of practical philosophy is to render the mind clean of all passionate imagination, while natural contemplation requires it to be knowledgeable of the true knowledge of existing things according to the cause for which they exist, and that of theological mystagogy is to make it like God and equal, as far as possible, by grace in its state, being no longer mindful at all of the things after God, on account of transcendence.

From the same discourse, on the text, " that the world below could not contain him, John the Forerunner of the Word, the great voice of truth, declared. "

It would be opportune for me as well, seeing the greatness of the wisdom given to him by God, to say to this holy and great teacher of the truth what David, the most distinguished of prophets and kings, astounded at the infinity of His majesty in all things, divinely uttered to God, saying: Your knowledge is too wonderful for me; (1244) it is grown strong, I am not able to attain to it, as was right, having circumscribed the uncircumscribable power with wonder alone, having nowhere else to rest the ever-moving foundation of the soul concerning things unattainable; and for me, as I said, it would be enough to receive from wonder at the wise teacher an understanding that brings sanctification, and not to be overly curious, how and for what reason the teacher, contrary to the historical account, exchanges with one another the names which the divine voice mystically placed upon the saints, here calling John the son of thunder "Forerunner." But since the reward for obedience is great, especially as the commandment orders us to obey our leaders, and to have leisure and to know and to search the Scriptures, and to meditate on the divine law day and night, I recognized that this is among the things that are especially good, and being wary of the danger of both hesitation and disobedience, I will speak conjecturally about these things according to my ability, trusting in the prayers of you who have commanded it. I think, then, that what was said contrary to the historical account by this God-bearing teacher, when he set forth Christ's Forerunner instead of the son of thunder, cannot be smoothed out otherwise than through contemplation. For this alone is the smoothing out of things in the historical account that seem to contradict one another, so that the truth in all things, being simple according to

476

(241) Ὡς γάρ ἅπερ ἡμεῖς νοεῖν οὐ δυνάμεθα, τοῖς ὑπέρ ἡμᾶς ἁγίοις ἀγγέλοις εἰσί νοητά, οὕτω καί τοῖς ὑπέρ αὐτούς ἁγίοις ἀγγέλοις τά μή νοούμενα τοῖς ὑπέρ αὐτούς ἁγίοις ἀγγέλοις εἰσί νοητά, καί οὕτω καθ᾿ ἑξῆς ἀπό δυνάμεως εἰς δύναμιν ἀναβαίνων ὁ λόγος καί ὑψούμενος, καί πάσας τάξεις τε καί δυνάμεις διαβαίνων, εἰς τό ἄῤῥητόν τε καί ἀνόητον λήγει καί παντελῶς ἄγνωστον. Εἰ τοίνυν κατά τόν Ἀρεοπαγίτην ∆ιονύσιον αἱ μέν ἀποφάσεις ἐπί τῶν θείων ἀληθεῖς, αἱ δέ καταφάσεις ἀνάρμοστοι τῇ κρυφιότητι τῶν ἀποῤῥήτων, εἰκότως ὁ θεσπέσιος Ἀπόστολος πασῶν τῶν κατ᾿ αὐτόν γνώσεως ἀποφήσας τήν νόησιν, καί πάσης ὑπεράνων γενόμενος τῶν ὄντων σχέσεως, οὔτε ἐν σώματι, καθώς εἶπεν, εἰκότως ἦν, ἐνεργοῦσαν οὐκ ἔχων τήν αἴσθησιν, οὔτε ἐκτός αὖθις τοῦ σώματος, ἀργοῦσαν ἔχων τήν νόησιν κατά τόν καιρόν τῆς αὐτῷ γενομένης ἁρπαγῆς, καθ᾿ ἥν ἀφράστως τε καί ἀγνώστως τινά δεξάμενος κατά μύησιν ὑπερκόσμιον ῥήματα σιγῇ ταῦτα τιμήσας ἐφύλαξε παντελῶς ἀνέκφορα, ὡς μήτε νοῦ νοῆσαι, μήτε γλώσσης λαλῆσαι, μήτε ἀκοῆς αὐτά δέξασθαι δυναμένων. Ποιεῖ δέ, καθώς οἱ πεπειραμένοι φασί, τήν μέν ἐν τῇ λεχθείσῃ "προόδῳ" τῆς ἀρετῆς τελείαν πρᾶξιν πίστις ὀρθή καί φόβος εἰς Θεόν ἀνόθευτος, τήν δέ κατά τήν ἀνάβασιν ἄπταιστον φυσικήν θεωρίαν ἐλπίς βεβαία καί ἀλώβητος σύνεσις, τήν δέ κατά τήν "ἀνάληψιν" θέωσιν ἀγάπη τελεία, καί νοῦς τοῖς οὖσι καθ᾿ ὑπεροχήν πάμπαν ἑκουσίως πεπηρωμένος. Καί τῆς μέν πρακτικῆς φιλοσοφίας πάλιν ἔργον εἶναί φασι πάσης τόν νοῦν ἐμπαθῆ φαντασίας καθαρόν καταστῆσαι, τῆς δέ φυσικῆς θεωρίας τῆς ἐν τοῖς οὖσι καθ᾿ ἥν αἰτίαν ὑπάρχουσιν ἀληθοῦς γνώσεως αὐτόν ἐπιστήμονα δεῖται, τῆς δέ θεολογικῆς μυσταγωγίας ὅμοιον Θεῷ καί ἴσον, ὡς ἐφικτόν, τῇ χάριτι κατά τήν ἕξιν ποιῆσαι, μηδενός τό σύνολον ἔτι τῶν μετά Θεόν διά τήν ὑπεροχήν ὄντα νοήμονα.

Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου, εἰς τό, " Οὐδ᾿ ἄν αὐτόν δυνηθῆναι χωρῆσαι τόν κάτω κόσμον, Ἰωάννης ὁ τοῦ Λόγου πρόδρομος, ἡ μεγάλη τῆς ἀληθείας φωνή, διωρίζετο. "

Εὔκαιρον ἦν κἀμέ πρός τόν ἅγιον τοῦτον καί μέγαν τῆς ἀληθείας διδάσκαλον, τό μέγεθος ὁρῶντα τῆς αὐτῷ παρά Θεοῦ δοθείσης σοφίας, εἰπεῖν ὅπερ ∆αβίδ, ὁ τῶν προφητῶν καί βασιλέων ἐπισημότατος, πρός τόν Θεόν, τό ἄπειρον τῆς ἐν πᾶσιν αὐτοῦ μεγαλειότητος καταπλαγείς, ἐνθεαστικῶς ἀπεφθέγξατο, λέγων· Ἐθαυμαστώθη ἡ γνῶσίς σου ἐξ ἐμοῦ, (1244) ἐκραταιώθη, οὐ μή δύνωμαι πρός αὐτήν, ὡς ἦν δίκαιον, μάλιστα θαύματι μόνῳ περιγράψας τήν ἀπερίγραφον δύναμιν, οὐκ ἔχων ἄλλοθί ποι περί τῶν ἀνεφίκτων τῆς ψυχῆς ἐρεῖσαι τήν πολυκίνητον βάσιν· κἀμέ, ὡς εἶπον, ἀρκεῖσθαι τόν ἐκ τοῦ θαυμάζειν σοφοῦ διδασκάλου σύνεσιν ἁγιασμόν κομίσασθαι, καί μή πολυπραγμονεῖν, πῶς καί τίνι λόγῳ παρ᾿ ἱστορίαν, ἅπερ θεία φωνή τοῖς ἁγίοις μυστικῶς ὀνόματα τέθεικεν, ἀλλήλοις ὁ διδάσκαλος περιτρέπει, τόν υἱόν τῆς βροντῆς Ἰωάννην πρόδρομον ἐνταῦθα προσαγορεύων. Ἐπειδή δέ καί τῆς εὐπειθείας πολύς ἐστι ὁ μισθός, ἐντολῆς μάλιστα τοῖς ἡγουμένοις πείθεσθαι κελευούσης, καί σχολάσαι καί γνῶναι καί ἐρευνᾷν τάς Γραφάς, καί μελετᾷν τόν θεῖον νόμον ἡμέρας καί νυκτός, ἐν τοῖς εὖ ἔχουσι μάλιστα κείμενον ἔγνων, τοῦ τε ὄκνου καί τῆς ἀπειθείας τόν κίνδυνον ὑφορώμενος, στοχαστικῶς περί τούτων κατά δύναμιν ἐρῶ, ταῖς ὑμῶν θαῤῥῶν τῶν ἐπιταξάντων εὐχαῖς. Οἶμαι τοίνυν τό παρ᾿ ἱστορίαν εἰρημένον τῷ θεοφόρῳ τούτῳ διδασκάλῳ, παρατιθεμένῳ τόν τοῦ Χριστοῦ πρόδρομον ἀντί τοῦ τῆς βροντῆς υἱοῦ, μή δύνασθαι ἄλλως ἤ κατά θεωρίαν ὁμαλίζεσθαι. Μόνη γάρ αὕτη τῶν κατά τήν ἱστορίαν ἀλλήλοις ἀντικεῖσθαι δοκούντων ἐστίν ὁμαλισμός, ὡς τήν ἐν ὅλοις ἀλήθειαν ἁπλῆν οὖσαν κατά