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a contemplative, because of being unrestrained, with an unveiled face is able to see in part the glory of God.

156. Prayer with spiritual contemplation is the promised land, in which flows like honey and milk the knowledge of the principles of God’s providence and judgment; but prayer with some natural contemplation is Egypt, in which the memory of grosser desires arises for those praying. But simple prayer is the manna in the desert, which because of its uniformity, for the impatient shuts out through desire the promised good things; but for those who persevere with such restricted food, it provides a better and abiding taste.

157. Practice with contemplation will be reckoned as a body with a governing spirit; but without contemplation, as flesh with a spirit of choice.

158. Of the rational soul, the court is sense-perception; the temple, the intellect; the high priest, the mind being cut off from thoughts; in the temple, the one subject to opportune things; but over none of these, the one deemed worthy to enter into the divine sanctuary.

160. The practical man desires to depart, because of his labors, and to be with Christ; but the contemplative man prefers rather to remain in the flesh, both because of the joy which he receives from prayer, and for the benefit of his neighbor in earthly things.

161. For the more rational, contemplation precedes practice; but for the more rustic, practice precedes contemplation; but both arrive at one good end. But this will be seen more quickly by those for whom contemplation precedes practice.

162. (1440) Paradise is the contemplation of intelligible things. Into this the gnostic man enters from within in prayer as into a house; but the practical man will be seen as a passerby, desiring to peer within, but not being permitted, because the barrier of his spiritual age has been raised too high.

163. The passions of the body are like wild beasts; but those of the soul, like birds; but the practical man is able to wall the former out of the rational vineyard; but not also the flying things, unless he be in spiritual contemplation, even if he makes the greatest effort to guard what is within.

164. A practical man cannot become better than having moral decency, unless he himself, like the patriarch Abraham, goes out from his own country, as it were, of the natural law, and from his kindred, of the life corresponding to his age and relations. For thus he too will receive as a seal the removal of the pleasure of generation, by which the veil covering us from birth does not permit complete freedom to be granted to us.

165. Neither does a colt in spring endure to remain inside a manger and eat its food; nor can a newly-perfected mind persevere for long in the constrained state of prayer; rather, like that colt, it is gladly disposed to go out into the breadth of natural contemplation, which is found in psalmody and reading.

166. As with loins girded, the practical life has fasting and purity, its vital powers; as with lamps burning, the contemplative life has silence and prayer, its gnostic virtues, setting over the former reasoning as a guide, and over the latter the inner word as a bridal attendant.

167. An imperfect mind is not permitted to enter into the fruitful vineyard of prayer; but only and with difficulty, like a poor man to the gleanings, to the bare echoes of the psalms.

168. Just as not all who come to converse with a king are able to dine with him, so too, not all who come to the encounter of prayer will be seen in the contemplation that belongs to it.

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θεωρητικός διά τό ἄσχετον, ἀνακεκαλυμμένῳ προσώπῶ ὁρᾷν ἀπό μέρους δύναται τήν δόξαν τοῦ Θεοῦ.

ρνστ΄. Ἡ μετά πνευματικῆς θεωρίας εὐχή, ἡ γῆ τῆς ἐπαγγελίας ἐστίν, καθ᾿ ἥν ῥέει ὡς μέλι καί γάλα ἡ γνῶσις τῶν περί προνοίας καί κρίσεως λόγων Θεοῦ· ἡ δέ μετά τινος φυσικῆς, ἡ Αἴγυπτος, ἐν ᾗ τῶν παχυτέρων ἐπιθυμιῶν μνήμη τοῖς εὐχομένοις ἐγγίνεται. Ἡ δέ γε ἁπλῆ, τό μάνα ἐστί τό ἐν τῆ ἐρήμῳ, τό διά τό μονοειδές, τοῖς μέν ἀκαρτερήτοις ἐναποκλεῖον τά δι᾿ ἐπιθυμίας τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων καλά· τοῖς δέ ἐγκαρτεροῦσι τῇ τοιαύτῃ ἀπεστενωμένῃ τροφῇ, προξενοῦν τήν κρείττω γεῦσιν καί μένουσαν.

ρνζ΄. Πρᾶξις σύν θεωρίᾳ μέν ὡς σῶμα μετά πνεύματος ἡγεμονικοῦ· ἄνευ δέ θεωρίας, ὡς σάρξ μετά πνεύματος προαιρετικοῦ λογισθήσεται.

ρνη΄. Τῆς λογικῆς ψυχῆς, αὐλή μέν ἡ αἴσθησις· ναός δέ, ἡ διάνοια· ἀρχιερεύς δέ, ὁ νοῦς περικοπτόμενος λογισμῶν· ἐν τῶ ναῷ δέ, ὁ ὑπό εὐκαίρων· ἐπ᾿ οὐδενί δέ τούτων, ὁ εἰς τό θεῖον ἱερατεῖον ἀξιωθείς εἰσελθεῖν.

ρξ΄. Πρακτικός μέν, ἐπιθυμεῖ ἀναλῦσαι, διά τούς πόνους, καί συγγενέσθαι Χριστῷ· θεωρητικός δέ, εὐδοκεῖ μᾶλλον σαρκί παραμένειν· καί διά τήν χαράν, ἥν δέχεται ἐξ εὐχῆς, καί διά τήν τοῦ πλησίον πρός τά γήϊνα ὠφέλειαν.

ρξα΄. Ἐπί μέν τῶν λογιωτέρων, ἡ θεωρία προηγεῖται τῆς πράξεως· ἐπί δέ τῶν ἀγροικοτέρων, τῆς θεωρίας ἡ πρᾶξις· εἰς ἕν δέ τέλος χρηστόν ἀμφότεραι καταλήγουσι. Συντομώτερον δέ τοῦτο ὀφθήσεται, οἷς ἡ θεωρία προηγεῖται τῆς πράξεως.

ρξβ΄. (1440) Παράδεισος, ἡ θεωρία τῶν νοητῶν ἐστιν. Ἐν τούτῳ ὁ μέν γνωστικός ὡς ἐν οἰκίᾳ ἔνδοθεν εἰσέρχεται ἐν εὐχῇ· ὁ δέ πρακτικός, ὡς παροδίτης ὀφθήσεται, ἐπιθυμῶν μέν ἔνδοθεν παρακύπτειν· μή συγχωρούμενος δέ, διά τό ὑπερανεστηκέναι τόν φραγμόν τῆς πνευματικῆς ἡλικίας αὐτοῦ.

ρξγ΄. Τά μέν σωματικά πάθη θηρίοις ἐοίκασι· πτηνοῖς δέ, τά ψυχικά· ἀλλά τά μέν ἀπό τοῦ λογικοῦ δύναται ἀμπελῶνος ἀποτειχίζειν ὁ πρακτικός· οὐκέτι δέ καί τά πετεινά, εἰ μή ἐν θεωρίᾳ πνευματικῇ γένηται, κἄν ὅτι μάλιστα ποιήσεται σπουδήν πρός τήν τῶν ἔνδοθεν φυλακήν.

ρξδ΄. Ἠθικῆς εὐπρεπείας κρείττων πρακτικός γενέσθαι οὐ δύναται, εἰ μή καί αὐτός κατά τόν πατριάρχην Ἀβραάμ ἔξω γένηται, ὡς μέν τῆς οἰκείας, τοῦ φυσικοῦ νόμου, ὡς δέ συγγενείας, τῆς ἥλικος αὐτῷ καί κατά σχέσιν ζωῆς. Οὕτω γάρ καί οὗτος, ὡς σφραγῖδα λήψεται τῆς γενικῆς ἡδονῆς τήν ἀφαίρεσιν, καθ᾿ ἥν τό ἀπό γενέσεως κάλυμμα περικείμενον, τήν παντελῆ ἐλευθερίαν οὐ συγχωρεῖ παρασχεθῆναι ἡμῖν.

ρξε΄. Οὔτε πῶλος ἐν ἔαρι ἔνδον φάτνης μένειν, καί τά ἐκείνης ἐσθίειν ἀνέχεται· οὔτε νεοτελής νοῦς τό ἀπεστενωμένον ἐπί πολύ καρτερεῖν τῆς εὐχῆς οὐ δύναται· ἡδέως μᾶλλον κατ᾿ ἐκεῖνον ἔχων, ἐπί τό πλάτος τῆς φυσικῆς θεωρίας ἐξέρχεσθαι, τῆς κατά τήν ψαλμῳδίαν εὑρισκομένης καί τήν ἀνάγνωσιν.

ρξστ΄. Ὡς μέν ὀσφύας ἔχει περιεζωσμένας, νηστείαν καί ἁγνείαν ἡ πρακτική, τάς ζωτικάς δυνάμεις αὐτῆς· ὡς λύχνους δέ καιομένους, σιωπήν τε καί προσευχήν, τάς γνωστικάς ἡ θεωρητική ἀρετάς, ἐφιστῶσα· ἡ μέν ἐκείναις, τόν λογισμόν ὡς παιδαγωγόν· ἡ δέ ταύταις, ὡς νυμφοστόλον λόγον τόν ἐνδιάθετον.

ρξζ΄. Νοῦς ἀτελής, εἰς τόν κατάκαρπον ἀμπελῶνα τόν τῆς εὐχῆς οὐ συγχωρεῖται εἰσέρχεσθαι· εἰς μόνα δέ καί μόλις, ὡς πρός ἐπιφυλλάδας πτωχός, τά ψιλά τῶν ψαλμῶν ἀπηχήματα.

ρξη΄. Ὥσπερ οὐ πάντες οἱ εἰς βασιλέως ὁμιλίαν ἐρχόμενοι, συναριστᾷν αὐτῷ δύνανται· οὕτως οὐδέ οἱ εἰς ἐντυχίαν εὐχῆς ἥκοντες, πάντες ἐν θεωρίᾳ τῇ κατ᾿ ἐκείνην ὀφθήσονται.