477

142. There is neither safe practice apart from contemplation, nor true contemplation without practice. For practice must be thoughtful, and contemplation practical; so that through the one, wickedness may be found powerless; and through the other, virtue powerful in the good-pleasures of goodness.

143. The limit of practical matters is the mortification of the passions; and the end of gnostic knowledge is the contemplation of the virtues.

144. As matter is to form, so is practice to contemplation; and as the eye is to the face, so will contemplation be seen in practice.

145. In the stadium of practical virtue, many run; but one receives the prize, he who desires to come to its end through contemplation.

146. The practical man drinks the potion of compunction in prayer; but the contemplative man is intoxicated by the best cup. The one philosophizing on things according to nature; the other, being ignorant even of himself in prayer.

147. (1436) The practical man is not permitted to persevere for long in spiritual contemplation. For he is found as one who is a guest to someone, and quickly departs from his house.

148. The practical men of the commandments of God enter through the gates in prayer; but the contemplative men, as in the courts of virtues in hymns; the ones giving thanks that they have been loosed from their bonds; the others, that they have also taken captive those who war against them.

149. The measure of contemplation must be found according to the strength of one's practice, lest, in the likeness of a ship that does not carry suitable sails, it should either endure danger in the violence of winds because of their disproportion, or the loss of winds because of their smallness in relation to the hull.

150. Consider the pious thoughts as rowers of the rational ship; and as oars, the vital powers of the soul: the spirited and desiderative powers, volition and choice. Of these, the practical man is always in need; but not always the contemplative man. For in the time of prayer, having bid farewell to all these, seating himself at the rudders of discernment, he stays awake through the whole night of contemplation, offering praises to the one who holds all things together. And somewhere, taking up a song of love, he sings to his own soul, watching the tempests of the other sea, and, like the surging motions, being struck with wonder at the divine words and judgments.

151. He who is in a middle state regarding practice and contemplation, makes his voyage neither entirely with oars like the sailors, nor wholly with the intelligible sails; but through both he works out what is needed for a good voyage; pleasantly bearing the labors of practice, because of the moderate measure of contemplation; and the principles of imperfect contemplation, because he is helped by practice.

152. The contemplative man, having his nature run together with his mind, as a kind of stream, makes his voyage without toil; but the practical man, finding his disposition opposed to his choice, endures a great surging of thoughts, so as almost to come to a state of disapproval because of the burden.

153. Neither does land that is not well tilled usually yield an abundant and clean crop to the sower, nor will the one who pursues the practical life, unless he pursues it diligently and without ostentation, see the fruit of prayer, which is both abundant and pure.

154. (1437) In the case of material things, the intellect has discursive reason as a co-worker; but in the case of immaterial things, if it does not reject it, it will have it as a worm [others, a thorn] that strikes it.

155. The practical man has a veil upon his heart in prayer, the knowledge of sensible things, which cannot be uncovered because of his disposition; but only the

477

ρμβ΄. Οὐκ ἔστιν οὔτε πρᾶξις ἀσφαλής θεωρίας ἐκτός, οὔτε θεωρία ἀληθής πράξεως ἄνευ. Χρή γάρ καί πρᾶξιν ἐλλόγιμον εἶναι, καί θεωρίαν ἔμπρακτον· ἵνα τῇ μέν, ἀνίσχυρον εὑρίσκηται ἡ κακία· τῇ δέ, δυνατή ἡ ἀρετή ἐν εὐδοκίαις χρηστότητος.

ρμγ΄. Πέρας μέν πρακτικῶν, ἡ νέκρωσις τῶν παθῶν· τέλος δέ γνωστικῆς, ἡ θεωρία τῶν ἀρετῶν.

ρμδ΄. Ὡς ὕλη τῷ εἴδει, οὕτω πρᾶξις τῇ θεωρίᾳ· καί ὡς ὀφθαλμός προσώπῳ, οὕτω θεωρία τῇ πράξει ὀφθήσεται.

ρμε΄. Ἐν τῷ κατά τήν πρακτικήν ἀρετήν σταδίῳ, πολλοί μεν τρέχουσιν· εἷς δέ λαμβάνει τό βραβεῖον, ὁ πρός τό πέρας αὐτῆς ἐλθεῖν τῇ θεωρίᾳ ἐπιθυμῶν.

ρμστ΄. Κατανύξεως μέν πόμα πίνει ὁ πρακτικός ἐν εὐχῇ· ποτηρίῳ δέ κρατίστῳ μεθύσκεται, ὁ θεωριτικός. Ὁ μέν ἐν τοῖς κατά φύσιν φιλοσοφῶν· ὁ δέ, καί ἑαυτόν ἀγνοῶν ἐν τῷ εὔχεσθαι.

ρμζ΄. (1436) Οὐ συγχωρεῖται ὁ πρακτικός εἰς πνευματικήν ἐπί πολύ θεωρίαν ἐγκαρτερεῖν. Εὑρίσκεται γάρ ὡς ἐπιξενωθείς τινι, καί τῆς ἐκείνου ταχέως οἰκίας ὑπεξερχόμενος.

ρμη΄. Ἐν πύλαις μέν εἰσέρχονται οἱ πρακτικοί τῶν ἐντολῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν τῷ εὔχεσθαι· ὡς ἐν αὐλαῖς δέ ἀρετῶν ἐν ὕμνοις θεωρητικοί· οἱ μέν εὐχαριστοῦντες, ὅτι ἐλύληθαν τῶν δεσμῶν· οἱ δέ, ὅτι καί αἰχμαλώτους εἰλήφασι τούς πολεμοῦντας αὐτούς.

ρμθ΄. Χρή κατά τό τῆς πρακτικῆς κράτος, καί τό τῆς θεωρίας εὑρίσκεσθαι, ἵνα μή καθ᾿ ὁμοιότητα πλοίου τοῦ μή κατάλληλα τά ἱστία ἐπιφερομένου, ἤ κίνδυνον ὑπομείνῃ ἐν ἀνέμων σφοδρότησιν διά τήν ἀμετρίαν αὐτῶν, ἤ ζημίαν πνευμάτων διά τήν πρός τό σκάφος σμικρότητα.

ρν΄. Ἐρέτας μέν τοῦ λογικοῦ πλοίου, νόει τούς εὐσεβεῖς λογισμούς· κώπας δέ, τάς ζωτικάς δυνάμεις τῆς ψυχῆς, θυμόν καί ἐπιθυμίαν, βούλησιν καί προαίρεσιν. Τούτων ὁ μέν πρακτικός, ἐν χρείᾳ ἐστί πάντοτε· οὐ πάντοτε δέ ὁ θεωρητικός. Ἐν γάρ τῷ καιρῷ τῆς εὐχῆς χαίρειν οὗτος πᾶσιν εἰπών, αὐτός ἑαυτόν ἐπί τῶν τῆς διαγνώσεως οἰάκων καθίζων, διά πάσης ἐγρήγορε τῆς κατά θεωρίαν νυκτός, αἰνέσεις προσάγων τῷ συνοχεῖ τοῦ παντός. Καί πού τι καί μέλος ἐρωτικόν ἀναλαβόμενος, τῇ ἑαυτοῦ προσεπᾴδει ψυχῇ, τούς τῆς ἄλλης θαλάσσης ἀποσκοπῶν μετεωρισμούς, καί ὡς ῥοθίζας κινήσεις, τά θεῖα καταπληττόμενος ῥήματά τε καί δικαιώματα.

ρνα΄. Ὁ μέσως ἔχων περί πρᾶξιν καί θεωρίαν, οὔτε πάντη ταῖς κώπαις κατά τούς ναυτικούς ποιεῖται τόν πλοῦν, οὔθ᾿ ὅλως, τοῖς νοητοῖς ἱστέοις· ἀλλά δι᾿ ἀμφοτέρων τήν χρείαν τῆς εὐπλοΐας ἐργάζεται· ἡδέως φέρων καί τούς πόνους τῆς πράξεως, διά τό μέτριον τῆς θεωρίας· καί τούς λόγους τῆς ἀτελοῦς θεωρίας, διά τό βοηθεῖσθαι ὑπό τῆς πράξεως.

ρνβ΄. Ὁ μέν θεωρητικός, τῇ γνώμῃ τήν φύσιν ἔχων συντρέχουσαν, ὡς οἷόν τι ῥεῦμα, ἀπόνως ποιεῖται τό πλώϊμον· ὁ δέ πρακτικός, ἐναντιουμένην εὑρίσκων τῇ προαιρέσει τήν σχέσιν, πολύν λογισμῶν ὑφίσταται κλύδωνα, ὡς εἰς ἀπευδοκίας μικροῦ δεῖν διά τό βάρος ἐλθεῖν.

ρνγ΄. Οὔτε χώρα μή καλῶς κατεργασθεῖσα, πολύχουν καί καθαρόν ἀντιπαρέχειν τῶ σπείροντι εἴωθεν, οὔτε ὁ τήν πρακτικήν μετερχόμενος, εἰ μή ἐπιμελῶς ταύτην καί φανητίας ἄνευ μετέρχεται, τόν ἐξ εὐχῆς ὄψεται καρπόν πολύν τε καί καθαρόν.

ρνδ΄. (1437) Ἐπί μέν τῶν ἐνύλων, ὁ νοῦς συνεργόν ἔχει τόν λογισμόν· ἐπί δέ τῶν ἀΰλων, εἰ μή αὐτόν παραιτήσηται, ὡς σκώλωπα [alii, σκόλοπα] ἕξει κολαφίζοντα.

ρνε΄. Κάλυμμα μέν ἔχει ὁ πρακτικός ἐπί τήν καρδίαν αὐτοῦ ἐν εὐχῆ, τήν γνῶσιν τῶν αἰσθητῶν, ἀνακαλυφθῆναι διά τήν σχέσιν μή δυνάμενον· μόνος δέ ὁ