Of the same Nikitas, the third century of chapters on love and the perfection of life
1. God is a dispassionate Intellect, a Light beyond every intellect and every dispassion, and the Source of good light; He is Wisdom, Word and Knowledge, and the Giver of the word of wisdom and of knowledge. In those to whom these are given because of purity, and in whom they are seen, He abides according to His image; therefore they visibly become sons of God, since they are led by the Holy Spirit, as it is written: «For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God» (Rom 8:14).
2. Those who by ascetic labours have been purified from every defilement of flesh and spirit have become vessels of the immortal nature through the gifts of the Spirit. Having attained this, they are filled with the good light, which fills them with silence in the peace of the heart; they utter good words, and the wisdom of God flows from their lips with the knowledge of things divine and human, and their word speaks clearly of the depths of the Spirit. «Against such there is no law» (Gal 5:23), for they have been united with God alone and have been changed by a good change.
3. He who with diligent labours moves towards God becomes, through the virtues of soul and body, an imprint of His image. He rests in God, and God rests in him by mingling. Therefore he becomes — and it is evident in him — an image of the divine blessedness in the riches of the gifts of the Spirit, and by adoption a god; and God is the mystagogue of his perfection.
4. Let no one say out of ignorance that man was created in the image of God according to the structure of his body. The image of God in him is the noetic nature of the spirit, which the body, drawn downwards, cannot circumscribe. Nor can you circumscribe the divine nature, which abides beyond every creature and its solidity, boundless and bodiless, having no marks, beyond every essence and word, untouchable, uncountable, invisible, immortal, uncontainable, incomprehensible to us. So too the noetic nature which God has given us is uncircumscribable, bodiless and has in itself no solidity; it is invisible, untouchable, uncontainable, and is the image of His immortal and ever-existing glory.
5. The first Intellect is God, the King of all; He has in Himself the consubstantial Word, ever co-existing with the Spirit, and He is never without the Word and without the Spirit, for their nature is undivided; yet He is not merged with them, for these are distinct hypostases. Therefore God naturally begets the Word according to His essence, dividing in Himself while remaining undivided. Of the same nature as the ever co-existing Word is the co-unoriginate Spirit, who proceeds from the Father; and the Word is not cut off from Him who begot Him. For their nature is one in both and undivided, though by the distinction of hypostases it is divided into Persons, and they are hymned as a Trinity — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And never, being one nature and one God, are they separated from the ever co-existing essence and nature. Therefore look upon the image of the tri-hypostatic and single nature, and know that according to it man was created — and not according to a visible image, but according to an immortal one, not according to what is dead and corruptible.
6. God is an Intellect higher in wisdom than all creatures. Begetting the undivided Word, He sends forth from Himself the All-Holy Spirit, that He may hold all creatures in being, and He Himself abides beyond all and in all. So man too is a partaker of His divine nature, His image through the noetic, bodiless and immortal soul. Having an intellect which from its own essence begets a natural word, by which all the power of the body is preserved, he is outside matter and within matter and the visible powers. And as He who created him is undivided from His hypostases, that is, from the Word and the Spirit, so man too is undivided in soul from the intellect and the word of a single nature and essence, uncircumscribed by the body.
7. God is tri-hypostatic, and He is worshipped in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Three parts are also in him whom He created in His image — in man: soul, intellect and word, which worships Him who created all things out of nothing, that is, God. What is by nature co-eternal and consubstantial with God is also by nature connatural and consubstantial with His image. From this it is evident what in us is according to the image, and by what we are the image of God, even though we are subject to corruption.
8. The image of God is one thing, and what we see in the image is another. The image of God is the spiritual soul, the intellect and the word, one and undivided nature. What we see in the image is the ruling, the royal and the self-governing. So too the glory of the intellect is one thing, and the dignity of the intellect another; and what is according to the image of God is one thing, and what is according to the likeness another. The glory of the intellect is that which is directed upwards, always moving upwards, sharp, pure, wise, rational, immortal. And the dignity of the intellect is the rational, the royal, the ruling and the self-governing. That which is according to God’s image — that which is in the soul, in the intellect and in the word — is the same in hypostasis and consubstantial, undivided and inseparable; the soul has an intellect and a word that are bodiless and immortal and divine and noetic. All of them are consubstantial, co-existing, inseparable and undivided among themselves. And that which is according to the likeness is the righteous, the true, the merciful, the compassionate and the man-loving. In these, then, they act and are preserved; in these it is clearly seen what is according to the image and what is according to the likeness.
9. The rational soul is divided into three powers and acts in two directions: one of them is rational and the other passible. The rational, in the image of Him who created it, is unrestrained, invisible and not defined by the senses; it is both within her and outside her. Being by nature joined through this with the noetic and divine powers, she has recourse to God as to her archetype by sacred contemplation and delights in His divine nature. But her passible direction is divided by the senses and falls under the passions and consolations. By this direction she is joined with the nourishing and growing nature and receives air, cold, warmth and food for subsistence, life, growth and health. Therefore she changes according to them, and at times irrationally craves lust, deviating from her natural movement; and at times she is irritated, seized by irrational anger; she can feel hunger and thirst, be sorrowful, suffer pain, and on the contrary feel pleasure. Thus the soul now delights in consolations, now endures afflictions; and therefore this direction of hers is rightly called passible, for it is tormented by the passions. When this mortal is swallowed up by the word of life and the better prevails, then «the life of Jesus [will be] manifest in our mortal flesh» (2 Cor 4:11), creating in us the life-giving deadness of dispassion and, by the coming of the Spirit, granting the incorruption of immortality.
10. The Creator of all, before He had yet created all things out of nothing, had in Himself, as King of the ages and foreseer, the knowledge, the nature and the word of all creatures. He had in Himself the words, the nature and the knowledge of man, whom He created in His image, that he might be king over the creatures. From the earth was taken the dry, the cold and the moist for his creation; the warm and the moist of the blood was taken from air and fire; the moist and cold of phlegm from water; from the gardens, the vegetative; from the animal-vegetative, vitality; from the irrational animals, the passible; from the angels, the noetic and the rational; and God breathed into him that very spiritual, bodiless and immortal soul, which is seen in the intellect and in the word, and by the power of the Holy Spirit — in essence and in life.
11. God created us in His image and likeness, and His likeness is manifested in greatness and in knowledge: «His greatness covers the heavens, and the earth is full of His glory» (Hab 3:3). And God’s greatness is righteousness, holiness and truth, as David says: «Thou art mighty, O Lord, and Thy truth is round about Thee» (Ps 88:9). And again: «Righteous and holy is the Lord.» By righteousness and goodness the Lord is good and upright, by the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge, which are in Him; therefore He is called Wisdom and Word, holiness and perfection, as He Himself says: «Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect» (Mt 5:48). And again: «Be holy, for I am holy.» And He is holy by humility and gentleness, and therefore He says: «Learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls» (Mt 11:29).
12. Our intellect is the image of God, and therefore it has in itself what belongs to God, when it abides in itself and does not depart far from its dignity; it strives to abide in God and to be united with Him from whom it has its beginning and by whom it lives, and has recourse to Him by its natural properties and desires to imitate Him in love of men, in gentleness and in simplicity. Therefore, begetting the word as another heaven of the soul, it renews those of its own kin and makes them strong by the endurance of the active virtues, and quickens them with the breath of its lips, giving them strength against the destructive passions. Thus it too becomes a maker of noetic creatures, imitating its Creator, God, and clearly hears the words from on high: «If you extract the precious from the worthless, you shall be as My mouth.»
13. He who abides in the movements natural to the intellect and in the dignity of the word becomes pure of matter and is adorned with gentleness, humility of mind, love and mercy, and is enlightened by the radiance of the Holy Spirit. Looking upon lofty visions, he comes to know God’s hidden mysteries. And with the word of wisdom he serves in love of the good those who are able to hear him, multiplying the talent not only for himself but also giving its sweetness to his neighbours.
14. He who has set the better above the worse within himself and has made the better free from the influence of the worse has noetically found himself a dwelling among the noetic spirits, becoming himself a noetic spirit, though visibly he lives in the body among men.
15. He who has subjected the service of his faculties to one dignity and one nature has subjected all creation to God, has united what was estranged from one another, and has brought peace to all.
16. So long as the nature of our powers behaves lawlessly against itself and is divided, we cannot be partakers of God’s supernatural gifts. And when we do not partake of them, then in the noetic activity of the intellect we stand somewhere very far from the mystical sacred rite of the heavenly altar. But when by great zeal in sacred struggles we are cleansed from the malice of the senses and by the power of the Spirit gather together what has scattered in us in different directions, then we shall become partakers of God’s ineffable blessings and shall worthily offer up the divine mysteries of the mystical sacred rite of the intellect to the Word and God upon the supracelestial and noetic altar of God, as contemplators and priests of His immortal mysteries.
17. «The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh» (Gal 5:17). Both wage an irreconcilable war, each wishing to overcome the other and to bring it under its power. This discord we call both rebellion and inclination and a balance and mutual conflict, which divides the soul as soon as the intellect inclines somewhere towards human affairs and passions.
18. So long as inconstant thoughts divide us and the law of the flesh holds and is preserved in us, so long are we torn into many parts, and the divine Oneness casts us off, since we are not enriched with its unity. But when all this deadness is destroyed by the unifying power and by supernatural freedom from cares, and the intellect, illumined by wisdom-creating illuminations and understandings, becomes itself, then the soul is joined in a godlike way into one whole, becomes one instead of many diversities and, being joined with the divine Oneness, is united with it in a godlike way by simplicity. This is the ancient constitution of the soul and our renewal for the better.
19. Fierce ignorance and a darkness fiercer than all by its nature is what the soul may suffer; let there not be in it that which creates darkness and noetically divides the soul into many parts and tears it away from union with God. All this taken together is irrationality; it makes the whole man irrational and insensible. Ignorance pours out into a great hardness and becomes for the soul a depth of hell, which covers it; in it then is every weariness and pain, sorrow and sighing. But divine knowledge is bright and immeasurable in the outpouring of light; it makes souls radiant, makes them godlike and fills them with peace, silence and joy, with ineffable wisdom and perfect love.
20. The coming of the divine light is simple and one; it gathers to itself the souls that partake of it, and unites them with its own unity, and perfects them with its own perfection, and raises the sight of their intellect to the depths of God, and makes them contemplators and disciples of great mysteries and guides in the knowledge of the mysteries. Desire at last to be cleansed by labours, and you will see in yourself manifestly the working that is pleasing to God.
21. The radiance of the primordial Light, which comes noetically to purified souls, makes them not only good and radiant, but also leads them out by natural contemplation to the noetic heavens. And this is not only because they are worthy of divine action. Even in the heavens they are perfected, until they are united with the ineffable Wisdom and Reason, and are in Him one, and not many.
22. It behoves us first to be purified, so that the malice of the senses may not be mingled with us. And those who have been purified become enlightened and ever radiant, which is accomplished mystically through the wisdom hidden in God. So it behoves us to attain, in sacred contemplation, to the knowledge of the new and the old, which serves as a word to those who are ready to hear, and gives them hidden mystical understandings, placing them in undefiled ears and hiding them from the imperfect, so as not to give what is holy to dogs and not to scatter the pearls of the word before souls that are like swine, lest they trample them.
23. When someone sees the warmth of his soul expanding in the promised faith and in the love of God, let him know that he bears within himself Christ, who lifts up his soul from the earth and from all things visible and prepares for it a dwelling in the heavens. And when he sees his heart filled with joy and with compunction desiring to be among God’s ineffable blessings, then let him know that the divine Spirit is acting upon him. And when he feels his intellect filled with ineffable light and beginning to understand wisdom better, then let him know that the Comforter has come into his soul and abides in it, so as to manifest in it the hidden treasures of the Kingdom of Heaven. And let him guard himself as a palace of God and a dwelling of the Holy Spirit.
24. In order to guard the hidden treasures of the Spirit, one must withdraw from human affairs — and this is called stillness. And stillness kindles, by purity of heart and the sweetness of compunction, a more zealous love of God; thereby it frees the soul from the bonds of the senses and makes it greet the freedom of good habits. Changing its powers, it turns them back to their original nature and restores the ancient constitution, so that malice may in no way reproach the Creator of all good, saying that His image has been changed and is moving towards the worse.
25. When one learns rightly the blessed art of stillness and so lives in it, it leads one up to sacred and divine perfection. But he who has not yet attained such a height, while thinking that he keeps stillness perfectly — though he does not yet know how to keep stillness noetically and perfectly — in truth will not be able to keep stillness because of the inner storm of unbridled passions, until he comes out onto this height; only his body will sit within four walls or in a cave, worn out by an unruly intellect that wanders about.
26. Souls that have reached the summit of purity and have risen to a great height of wisdom and understanding are like the cherubim, who by their contemplation draw near to the Source of good. From there they receive the tidings of righteous contemplation, as do the cherubic powers also, who are illumined directly by the Godhead itself, as says a certain one who contemplated divine things.
27. Among the first powers above, some are more zealous and swifter in divine things and move for their sake unceasingly, and others are more godlike, more intelligent and wiser. And this is a divine habit: always to move for the sake of divine things. So too the souls that have reached the summit of purity are more zealous for divine things and swifter, wise and intelligent, and more receptive to mystical visions. Proper to them, by power and by divine habit, is a constant movement towards God and an unswerving standing and abiding in Him. And these, who have the divine habit by which they become partakers of Him who Is, generously send to others grace and light.
28. God is Spirit and the cause of the constant movement of all. And all spirits abide in this Spirit, and stand constantly, and move unceasingly. Their movement depends on how far sensory things are added to it and how far it is purified by sacred struggles. In divine love they become partakers of one another and of the gracious illuminations that come from the Godhead, and the wisdom of God’s mysteries hidden in them they transmit to others in love of the good, to the unceasing praise of the love of God.
29. Souls that abide in God stand and move around Him to the degree that they have freed their thoughts from all earthly things; they wage war against themselves and thereby build a light chariot that carries them straight to the heavens. And they move unceasingly in God around Him, as around an axis and cause of circular movement. They stand without departing and without deviating, as in a circle, and cannot depart from their place towards perception and the lower deception of human affairs. This is the perfect end of stillness; this is what true hesychasts attain — that, while moving, they stand, and while standing, they move towards divine things. And so long as this does not happen because of our pretended stillness, our intellect cannot go beyond earthly things and deceptions.
30. When we restore in ourselves the ancient beauty of the word with all diligence and zeal, and receive from on high, by the coming of the Spirit, a good portion of knowledge and wisdom, then we shall know naturally the all-wise First Source and Cause of all created things. Then we shall have nothing in us of the sin which entered creation and corrupted it. When the creature turned away from God and grew proud and, departing from the ancient beauty, fell away from deification, then sin came upon it and made it irrational.
31. The one and first step for those who move towards progress is the knowledge of all that exists, which comes through practical philosophy. The second is the knowledge of God’s hidden mysteries, which is learned through natural contemplation. And the third is union with the primordial Light and dissolution in It. In this all philosophic progress and contemplation comes to rest.
32. All spirits gather in themselves and to themselves and to Him who truly Is in the Trinity and, enlightening their neighbours, secretly teach them divine things, and, perfecting them as purified spirits, make them by heavenly wisdom one with themselves and with the Unity.
33. Deification is, in life, a spiritual and truly divine sacred rite, in which the word of ineffable wisdom is celebrated and given to those who, as far as is possible, have prepared themselves for it. God has graciously granted deification to the rational nature from on high, for the unity of faith. So that some, according to the purity of their dignity, may partake of divine knowledge and be made like God, and become of the same image as His Son by their lofty and spiritual striving towards divine things. And thus by adoption they become gods for other men on earth. And others, by purification through the divine word and sacred union, are perfected in virtue and by their progress and purification partake of deification and come to union with God. So that all, joined into one and embraced by the unity of love, may unceasingly be united with the one God. And God, by nature, will be the cause of good deeds in the midst of the gods by adoption, who have in themselves nothing defiled from creation.
34. To become like God, as far as is possible for us, no zealous man will be able unless he first washes away with zealous tears the silt of evil deeds and touches the sacred rite of Christ’s commandments; otherwise he will not become a partaker of God’s ineffable blessings. He who wishes to taste with the intellect the divine sweetness, let him withdraw from all worldly perceptions, and let his soul always have in itself the desire to contemplate the blessings prepared for the saints.
35. To preserve unchanged the likeness of God, which we attain by great purification and great love for God, one must always contemplate God with the intellect, so that the soul may grow accustomed to the constant virtue of stillness, to spiritual, concentrated and unceasing prayer, to complete self-control and to frequent reading of the Scriptures.
36. We must not only strive to reconcile among themselves the powers that act in us, but also desire to attain the quieting of the intellect, having quieted our thoughts. And with the divine dew that descends from the heavens we must heal our wounds and cool the heart in the fire that bursts into it from on high and is kindled by the Spirit.
37. The soul which the love of God has struck to its depths, and which has noetically tasted the sweetness of His gifts, cannot remain in itself or abide in its usual state and not press forward to the ascent to the heavens. The more it passes through its ascents by the Spirit, the more it is kindled by the fire of desire; it experiences the greatness of His yet deeper mysteries and hastens to draw near to the blessed light, where the intellect is carried away, so as to halt its movement in the joy of the heart.
38. When someone is a partaker of the Holy Spirit and knows His coming by a certain ineffable action and fragrance, so that the fragrance spreads even through his body, then such a man cannot remain within his natural limits, but, being changed by the good change of the right hand of the Most High, he forgets sleep and food, despises bodily things, disdains rest and spends the whole day in monastic labours and sweat, feeling no effort and no natural need of hunger or thirst or sleep or anything else. Invisibly the love of God has been poured out into his heart, and, spending the whole night in the illumination of fire, he performs the noetic work together with bodily struggles and delights in the immortal banquet of the immortal gardens of the noetic paradise, where Paul too was caught up and heard ineffable words which a man cannot hear who has a passion for what is visible.
39. When the body has been kindled by the fire of ascetic labour and bedewed with the water of tears, it does not become weak from labours; when many sweats cease, it is as it were higher than active zeal. It receives within itself silence and stillness and is as though filled with another power, another firmness, another strength of the Spirit. When such an enriched body acts together with the soul, whose constitution has become higher than the ordinary bodily constitution, the soul naturally begins to move towards noetic struggles and, swiftly accomplishing the noetic work, keeps for itself the fruits of the immortal gardens in the noetic paradise; from it flows, like a river, the spring of godlike understandings, and in it grows the garden of the knowledge of God, which bears the fruits of wisdom, joy, peace, goodness, mercy, long-suffering and ineffable love. Acting thus zealously and preserving thus, it goes out of the body and enters the darkness of theology, departs from all things as though nothing visible held it, and, being united with God, leaves behind all labours and desires.
40. Which of all that exists is higher for us, the zealous — the visible or the noetic? If the visible, then nothing will be for us more important or more dear than the corruptible, and the soul will not be in us better than the body. But if the noetic, then «God is Spirit; those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth» (Jn 4:24). Bodily training is superfluous when the noetic work of the soul is alert, by which that which tends downwards becomes light and is made spiritual, being joined with what is better.
41. There are three ranks of those who struggle in the ascent to perfection: the purificatory, the illuminative and the mystical, that is, the perfecting. The first is the rank of beginners, the second of the intermediate, and the third of the perfect. When the zealous man passes in turn through all three ranks, he grows to the stature of Christ and becomes a perfect man, «to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ» (Eph 4:13).
42. The purificatory rank is appointed for those who enter into the sacred struggles. To them it belongs to put off the appearance of the outward man, to be rid of all malice of the senses and to clothe themselves in the new man, renewed by the Holy Spirit. Its work is hatred of earthly things, the refining of the body, the avoidance of every cause that provokes passion, repentance for deeds committed; and besides this, the striving to drown in tears the saltiness of sin, to order one’s habits by the goodness of the Spirit, to cleanse from every defilement of flesh and spirit «the inside of the cup» (cf. Lk 11:39), that is, the intellect, by compunction, to pour into the intellect the wine of the word which gladdens the heart of the purified man, and to bring it for the King of spirits to taste. Its end is to be kindled by the active fire of fasting, to cast off by the labours of the struggles every poison of sin, to be well strengthened, and to drink the water of compunction, and to become a sword that cuts down the passions and the demons, as far as there is strength. He who has attained this by many ascetic struggles has quenched the power of natural fire, has stopped the mouths of the lions of the fierce passions, has become strong in spirit and, like a second man of Ausitis, has overcome endurance and the tempter.
43. The illuminative rank is for those who have made progress in the sacred struggles and have come to the first dispassion. To them belong the knowledge of what exists, the contemplation of creatures and communion with the Holy Spirit. Their work is the purification of the intellect by divine fire, the opening of the spiritual eyes of the heart and the birth of the word with lofty thoughts of the mind. And their end is the word of wisdom which explains all that exists and all that happens, the knowledge of things divine and human, and the revelation of the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. He who has attained this by the noetic activity of the intellect is carried by the quaternion of the virtues on a fiery chariot, as a second Tishbite. And though he is still alive, he is already caught up into the noetic expanse and goes about the heavens, having become higher than the body.
44. The mystical, or perfecting, rank is for those who have already passed through everything and have attained the measure of the stature of Christ. To them it belongs to traverse the expanse and to rise above all that is in the heavenly ranks above, to draw near to the primordial Light and to search out by the spirit the depths of God. Its work is to fill the intellect with words about providence, righteousness and truth, with explanations of the parables and of the obscure passages of divine Scripture. And its end is to teach the perfect man secretly the hidden mysteries of God, to fill him with ineffable wisdom by union with the Holy Spirit and to show him a wise theologian in the midst of the great Church of God, enlightening men with the word of theology. He who has attained this by exceedingly great humility of mind and compunction has been caught up into the third heaven of theology, as a second Paul, and has heard ineffable words which a man cannot hear while under the power of the senses, and has experienced ineffable blessings which eye has not seen nor ear heard, and has become a minister of the mysteries of God, being the mouth of God, serving men with the word and resting in it in blessed repose. Perfect in the perfect God, he converses with theologians and with the most exalted powers of the cherubim and seraphim, to whom belong the word of wisdom and understanding.
45. Human life is divided into two parts, and in three ranks its ends are gathered. One part is social and worldly, and the other unsocial and above the world. The social is divided into chastity and insatiability, and the unsocial into philosophy, natural knowledge and supernatural action. Of these the first is joined with righteousness, which follows nature, or with unrighteousness, and departs into unrighteousness, having deviated from natural movement. The second, when it moves towards its purpose and is set right by the rule towards the nature of the infinite, becomes above nature. But when it errs against the purpose of the love of honour which it learns, it becomes an inexperienced intellect and, as imperfect, falls away from the beauty of the perfect.
46. The Spirit is light and life and peace. Whomever the divine Spirit enlightens accomplishes peacefully a quiet life. From this too flow the knowledge of what exists and the wisdom of the word. Such a man knows the mysteries of the Kingdom and enters the depths of God. And day to day he transmits words of life from an enlightened heart, kind to men. For good is he who has good in himself, who ponders the new and the old.
47. God is wisdom. Those who walk after the word and wisdom He deifies by the knowledge of heavenly things, unites them in Himself by light and by adoption makes them gods. And as He Himself created all things out of nothing by wisdom, so by wisdom He teaches and governs what He has created in the world, and the salvation of those who draw near to Him in conversion He also always accomplishes by wisdom. He who is a partaker of purity has been counted worthy to be a partaker of the wisdom above, as an image of God, and he acts and works according to wisdom, which is also the divine will. Gathering always and stretching out his thoughts by ineffable knowledge towards a truly angelic life, and making his life single in form, as far as may be attained, he is united with the powers above, which move solely in God, and they, as good guides, lead him up to the First Beginning and Cause.
48. He who by higher wisdom has been united with the powers above and thereby has been united with God, converses with all in the likeness of God in a wisdom-loving way, by word and by union; and by the divine power of habit he cuts off those who wish it from what is outward and divided. And, imitating God, he gathers them in the spirit, leads them up by wisdom and reason and by the illumination of hidden things to the contemplation of the glory of the one and first light. And having united those who long for God, he brings them by essence and by rank to unity with God, when they are wholly illumined by the radiance of the Spirit.
49. After the quaternion of the virtues comes an eightfold set of natural and foremost virtues; to each of the four, on either side, two more are added, so that all three may be as a Trinity. To wisdom are added knowledge and the contemplation of wisdom; to righteousness, discernment and compassionate counsel; to courage, patience and firm resistance; to chastity, purity and virginity. Over this threefold twelve, as Creator and Mystagogue, God sits on the throne of the intellect, sending the Word to build the world of the virtues; and the Word, leaning upon the subordinate virtues and taking a little from each, builds in the soul a noetic world of piety. It stretches out wisdom in it like a heaven and makes it all starry for an all-radiant life. In it shine, like two great luminaries, divine knowledge and natural contemplation, which enlighten it. The Word establishes righteousness in the soul, like the earth, for a most rich banquet. It stretches out chastity, like air, for the coolness and dew of a most pure life, and, like a sea, appoints courage in the weakness of nature for the destruction of what is hard and the shattering of what is contrary. Thus the Word, creating this world, places in it the power of the Spirit, in a noetic and ever-moving motion, and in a state unshaken and lasting, according to the words of the divine David: «By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the breath of His mouth all their power» (Ps 32:6).
50. The spiritual growth of the zealous corresponds to the growth of our Lord Jesus Christ as man. When they are still infants in the spiritual life — and infants need milk — it may be said of them that they drink the milk of the initial virtues of bodily training, which is profitable for those who little by little grow in the virtues and slowly grow out of infancy. But when they become youths and are nourished with the solid food of the contemplation of creatures, as those trained in the senses of the soul, it may be said of them that they grow in age and grace, sit among the elders and reveal to them deep mysteries. And when they become perfect men in the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, then they preach to all the word of repentance, teach men about the Kingdom of Heaven and draw near to their own sufferings. For such is the end of everyone who has attained perfection in the virtues: that, having passed through the whole age of Christ, he may reach the passions of temptations, as the Lord reached His cross.
51. So long as we are still being trained in bodily struggles, our guides protect us so that we may not touch foods that could harm us, nor look upon beauty, nor listen to songs, nor breathe in perfumes, for we are still infants, though heirs and masters of all our Father’s goods. But when the time of training is over and we are filled with dispassion, then from a pure thought the word is born in us and abides under the law of the Spirit, so as to redeem us who abide under the law of the wisdom of the flesh and to grant us sonship. When this happens, then the spirit in our hearts cries out: «Abba, Father», showing and manifesting sonship and boldness towards God the Father; He abides and converses with us as with sons of God and heirs, who no longer serve the senses.
52. Those who have attained such faith as Peter, such hope as James and such perfect love as John, the Lord leads up onto the high mountain of theology and is transfigured before them. He appears to them illumined, and His face shines like the sun; by the understanding of ineffable wisdom He becomes bright as light. And they see Him, God the Word, standing between the law and the prophets, now establishing the law and teaching, now revealing the deep and hidden treasures of wisdom, and at times looking into and foreseeing the future. The Holy Spirit overshadows them like a bright cloud, and from it a voice of mystical theology reaches them, teaching them the mysteries of the tri-hypostatic Godhead and speaking thus: «This is My beloved boundary of the perfection of the Word; in Him is My good pleasure; and may you be for Me perfect sons in the perfect Spirit.»
53. The soul which has disdained all that drags it down and has been kindled with divine love receives a certain wondrous and divine rapture. After this it begins to see clearly the nature of all that exists, and its meaning, and how human affairs end; and from then on it cannot bear to remain in itself, within the boundaries appointed to it. It goes out beyond its limits and, having broken the bonds of the senses and passed by the nature of all things, enters with ineffable silence the darkness of theology and sees the beauty of Him who abides in the light of the understandings of ineffable wisdom, as far as grace permits it. With godlike understandings it plunges into contemplation of Him, delights in the fruits of the immortal gardens, in the awe of divine thoughts, that is, of understandings which it has never before found in itself; it can express perfectly the greatness and glory of love. But since the Spirit acts wondrously upon it, in ineffable joy it longs for silence and is unable to express what is happening to it, and what moves it, and what it sees, and who speaks to it mystically things unutterable.
54. He who sows for his own righteousness the tears of compunction reaps, as the fruit of life, ineffable joy. He who patiently hopes in the Lord until the shoots of His righteousness spring up will reap the many-fruited ear of the knowledge of God; the light of wisdom will enlighten him, and he will become a lamp of the ever-existing light which enlightens every man. And he will not envy himself or his neighbours, covering with the vessel of envy the light of wisdom given him, but in the Church of the faithful he will send forth good words for the profit of many and will explain the ancient riddles, as far as he has heard from on high, uttered by the divine Spirit, and as far as he has come to know by exercising himself in the contemplation of all that exists, and as his fathers have told him.
55. So shall it be for every zealous man in the day of his perfection in the virtues: the mountains of the fulfilment of God’s commandments will drip for him the sweetness of the gladness that reigns in Zion in a pure intellect, and the hills of the words of virtue will pour forth milk — food for him who rests on the couch of dispassion, «and all the streams of Judah [that is, the streams of faith and understanding] shall flow with water [that is, with parables and interpretations of divine things]. A fountain [of ineffable wisdom from his heart, as] from the house of the Lord shall break forth and shall water the valley of Shittim [that is, men dried up by the drought and flame of the passions]» (Joel 4:18). And then he will understand how the Lord’s words are fulfilled in him. For it is said: «He who believes in Me, as the Scripture says, out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water» (Jn 7:38).
56. For those who fear Me, says God, «the sun of righteousness shall rise», and in their deeds there shall be healing. They shall come out of the prison of the passions «leaping like calves», freed from the bonds of sin. And they shall trample lawless men and demons, «for they shall be as ashes» under their feet «in the day which I am preparing, says the Lord of hosts» (Mal 3:20-21). This will be when those who fear God are manifestly exalted in all the virtues and are made perfect in wisdom and understanding in communion with the Spirit.
57. When upon the mountain, which signifies this world, you receive from on high the sign of the new knowledge of the Church of Christ, then «lift up your voice», as the prophet says (Is 58:1) — the wisdom given you by God — urging with the word and teaching your brethren, opening up the understanding of divine Scripture towards an understanding of God’s wondrous gifts and directing them to fulfil God’s commandments. Do not fear those who will envy the power of your words and will distort the meaning of all divine Scripture; they are empty and fit for nothing, prepared as a dwelling for the devil. God, of whom you speak with your lips, will write you in the book of life, and no harm will come to you from them, as no harm came to Peter from Simon. And you yourself will say together with the prophet on the day when you see how they try to lead you astray: «Behold, my God, my Saviour and Lord, and I will hope in Him and shall be saved by Him and shall not be afraid, for the Lord is my glory and my praise, and He has become my Saviour, and I shall not cease to proclaim His glorious deeds in all the earth.»
58. When you have come to know that the passions no longer act in you, and that compunction with humility of mind flows from your eyes, know that the Kingdom of God has come to you and that you have been filled with the Holy Spirit. And when you also feel the action of the Holy Spirit, how He moves and speaks within you, and urges you to proclaim in the great Church salvation and God’s truth, then do not forbid your lips because of the envy of those who think in a Judaic way. But «go and write it before them on a tablet» (Is 30:8), as the prophet Isaiah says — what the Spirit tells you. Such men will exist in all days and even in all ages, for it is said of them: «Those who are sick with envy are a disobedient people, lying sons, and there is no faith in them.» They do not wish to hear how the Gospel acts and makes men friends of God and prophets, and therefore they say to the prophets and teachers of the Church: «Do not tell us of the wisdom of God and do not speak to us of those who see the visions of natural contemplation. Speak and proclaim to us that deception which the world loves, and take away from us the judgment of Israel.» But do not listen to their envy and their words. What you proclaim for the profit of many will be heard by «the ears of the deaf» — those who are in the darkness of this life — and «the eyes of the blind» — those who are in the darkness of sin — will see the light of your words (Is 35:5); and those who are poor in spirit will rejoice in them, and those who are in despair will be filled with gladness, and those tempted in spirit will grasp the meaning of your words, and those who murmur against you will learn to listen, and slow tongues will learn to say: «Peace.»
59. Blessed is he who «in Zion» (Is 31:9), in the Church of God, has the seed of the teaching of your words and his sons with him, and abides in spirit in the Jerusalem above of the firstborn. And that man shall be «as a shelter from the wind» (Is 32:2); he will speak his words and hide himself, as though borne along by water, and at last he will appear in Zion, in the Church of the faithful, as a flowing river glorious in a land that thirsts for the streams of wisdom. And he will have no enviers; those who have been cast down will hope in him, with their ears they will listen to the words of that man, and the heart of those who are faint of soul will listen attentively. And the servants of envy will not say to him: «Be silent.» He, being pious, speaks to the point, and not like the foolish sages of the world who speak folly; and his heart does not incline to vanity, nor does he commit lawlessness or speak falsehood against God; he will scatter insatiable souls and will empty greedy souls. Therefore his words will be for the profit of many, though they will not please the envious.
60. He who dwells in fortified rocks (Is 33:16) will be given, for his filling, the bread of understanding and, for his drink, the cup of wisdom, and so his water will be sure. He will see the king in glory, and his eyes will see the land from afar; his soul will learn wisdom and will proclaim to all the eternal place, and there is nothing beyond his boundaries.
61. The teaching of the Lord opens the ear of everyone who fears the Lord, and there is given him an ear to hear, and «the tongue of the disciples» (Is 50:4-5), to understand when it is fitting to speak a word. Who is He that turns back the intelligent and wise of this world and makes their wisdom foolish, exalting only the words of His servants, besides doing Himself what is new and glorious for His own glory? He makes in an empty and dry heart a way of humility and gentleness, and in a dry and waterless intellect rivers of ineffable wisdom, «to give drink to My chosen people. The people whom I formed for Myself shall proclaim My praise» (Is 43:19-21). He goes before those who love Him and fear Him, «levelling the mountains» of the passions. He shatters the «bronze gates» of ignorance and opens the doors of the knowledge of Himself, and reveals «hidden riches and secret treasures», that they may know that He is «the Lord who calls you by name, the God of Israel» (Is 45:2-3).
62. Who is He that stirs the sea of the passions and calms its waves, delivers those who love Him from the calamity of sin and stills the storm of thoughts? It is the Lord of hosts, who has put His own words into their mouth and covers them under the shadow of His hand, with which He built the heaven and created the earth. He gives to those who fear Him the tongue of disciples and an ear of understanding, that they may hear His voice from on high and proclaim in the house of Jacob — the Church of the faithful — His commands. But the portion of those who have no eyes to see the rays of the Sun of righteousness, and no ears to hear of God’s glorious deeds, is darkness and a hope that is vain with words. None of them will speak what is righteous; there is no judgment of truth in them; they hope in what is vain and speak what is empty; they are heavy with envy and give birth to slanders. «Their ear is deaf, they cannot hear. The word of the Lord is to them a mockery; they take no delight in it» (Jer 6:10).
63. Is there wisdom in those who are full of envy? Jeremiah tells how the envious speak of themselves: «We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us.» This is when they rise up against those who have received the grace of the Spirit through wisdom and the knowledge of God. But vain is the false knowledge of the scribes and the wise of the world, who have erred against true knowledge. Therefore the sages were put to shame, having fallen away from the wisdom of the Comforter; and, seeing how it was multiplied in the sons of fishermen, they feared the power of their words and were caught in the nets of their own reasonings, because they rejected true wisdom and the knowledge of the Lord.
64. Why have the envious abandoned the fountain of God’s wisdom and wither with jealousy against those who have been enriched with the grace of the Spirit, who received tongues of fire like the reed pens of a swift-writing scribe? If they themselves walked in God’s ways, they would enter for ever into the peace of dispassion and would understand where wisdom is, and might, and understanding, and the knowledge of what exists, where is length of days and life, where is the light of the eyes and wisdom with peace. They would understand who finds its place and who enters its treasuries. The Lord commands through the prophet the disciples of the Word, saying: «When a prophet has a revelation in a dream, let him tell his dream. And if My word is with him, let him speak My word in truth.» And again: «Write down for yourself in a book all the words that I have spoken to you.» If they knew all this, they would never have envy within them.
65. «Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?» (Jer 13:23). Can the envious speak well and give counsel to those who have learned evil? They trip up their neighbours, for they walk deceitfully, and they mock their friends and do not tell them the truth, for their tongue has learned to speak vain and false words. Know this, you who for the sake of the Word of God and the knowledge of God suffer envy and mockery from them, and pray earnestly, like Jeremiah, and say: «Remember me, visit me and [defend me from the envious who persecute me]; do not destroy me because of Thy long-suffering [wishing to test me]. Know that for Thy sake I endure reproach. Take vengeance for me on my persecutors… Thy word shall be a joy to me and the gladness of my heart» (Jer 15:15-16). «I did not sit in the company of mockers [who mock at Thy understandings]… [I feared Thy hand]; I sat alone, for [I was filled with bitterness from their envy]» (Jer 15:17). And then you will hear: «I know well. When you turn back the one who has strayed from his way, I will set you again among My friends; you will stand before My face. And if you bring forth what is honourable out of what is unworthy, you shall be as My mouth» (Jer 15:19), «and I will save you from the hands of the envious destroyers», says the Lord, the God of Israel.
66. Let all the envious hear the end of the word: the Nazirites of God by their labours have become «purer than snow [in their life]… whiter than milk» (Lam 4:7); their wisdom is brighter than sapphire, their words fairer than pearls. But those who feed on the sweetness of worldly reasoning will perish. Those who fed on purple with Hellenic wisdom have clothed themselves in the dung of incomprehension. And bonds were given them, and they were bound by them. Their tongue was bound in their throat and they became deaf, for they rejected true wisdom and the understanding of the divine Spirit, since they did not wish to receive it by labours.
67. God, who humbles the high tree and exalts the low tree, who dries up the green tree and makes the dry tree flourish (Ezek 17:24), is the one who opens the lips of His servants before great assemblies and gives the word to those who proclaim good tidings with great power. For His is the wisdom and the understanding and the might, and as He changes seasons and years, so He changes souls that seek and desire Him. He appoints kings over the passions and leads from life to life, giving wisdom to those who are wise in spirit and understanding to those who know knowledge. He reveals the deep and hidden depths of God to those who search them out, and gives to those who are in the darkness of riddles to see that the light of wisdom and understanding is with them, and He gives it to whom He wills.
68. To those who «by patience» (Rom 2:7) fulfil the commandments in the outward and the inward man and look only to the glory of God, there is given the honour of heavenly knowledge, peace of soul and incorruption — not as to hearers, but as to doers of the law and of grace. God does not dishonour their understanding, attested by deeds, but glorifies with words of understanding those who have shone forth in wisdom in the Church of the faithful. He is no respecter of persons. But to him who struggles diligently yet opposes the words of one who is led by the Spirit, and obeys his own reasoning and the flattering words that are added to the appearance of piety in those who are led by a glory-loving and pleasure-loving spirit, there is given affliction and distress, envy and fury and wrath. Now as a recompense for his delusion, and at the end as a reproach to those who among themselves discuss or even answer his thoughts, on the day when God judges all that is hidden in men and «will render to each according to his works» (Rom 2:6).
69. As «he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward, in the flesh, but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, by the Spirit and not by the letter» (Rom 2:28-29), so too he is not a perfect man in knowledge and wisdom who is strong only in words, and the true zealot is not he who is diligent in visible bodily labours, but he who is diligent in the hidden and noetic work and from a pure and good heart speaks to God by the Spirit and not by the letter — for such a man praise comes not from men but from God. Men do not know him and do not envy him; only God loves and knows him, and also those who are moved by the same Spirit.
70. If «no one will be justified before God by the works of the law» (Rom 3:20), who then will become perfect before God by labours and instruction alone? By action we grow accustomed to the virtues and stop the working of the passions, but by this alone we do not attain the fullness of Christ. What, then, brings us to perfection? «Faith is the assurance of things hoped for» (Heb 11:1). By faith Abel offered a better sacrifice than Cain, and it bore witness of him that he was righteous. Abraham by faith went out when he was called and came to the promised land. Faith leads those who are truly diligent to the great hope of God’s lofty gifts; and since they already have knowledge, it gives into their hearts inexhaustible spiritual treasures, so as to bring forth from them the new and the old mysteries of God and give them to those who have need. He who has received good faith ascends to the love of God, is perfected by it and enters «into His rest, [where] he too rests from his works as God did from His own» (Heb 4:10).
71. God once promised that those who resist the faith would not enter into His rest; so if they, through their unbelief, could not enter, how shall those enter into the rest of dispassion and the perfection of knowledge who rely only on bodily labours without faith? And we see many who could not enter and rest within from all their labours. Therefore let each one look whether his heart is not deceitful and has not become filled with unbelief, lest through this, after many labours, he lose God’s rest and perfection. For this very reason he labours all the time with the works of the virtues and eats the bread of pain: that he may enter by faith into the rest of dispassion and into the perfection of knowledge, and may not fall into disobedience and suffer what those suffered who resisted through unbelief.
72. We, who are sensory, rational and noetic, must offer a tithe of ourselves to God. And as sensory beings we must perceive sensory things well and through their beauty begin to contemplate their Creator. And as rational beings we must speak well of things divine and human. And as noetic beings we must think without error about God, about eternal life, about the Kingdom of Heaven and about the mysteries of the Spirit hidden in it. So that we may perceive, speak and understand well what true truth is, and the divine measure, and the sacred offering to God.
73. Our true tithe to God is the Pascha of the soul, that is, when passionate habits and irrational perception are passed over. In it the Word is offered in sacrifice through the contemplation of all that exists; He allows Himself to be eaten in the bread of understanding and His precious blood to be drunk from the cup of wisdom. He who eats and celebrates such a Pascha consumes the Lamb who took upon Himself the sins of the world. And he will no longer die, but, according to the Lord’s words, «will live for ever» (Jn 6:51).
74. He who has risen from dead works has risen with Christ. And he who has risen in knowledge with Christ — and «Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more» (Rom 6:9) — over him too the death of ignorance shall no longer reign. He who once died through sin, having deviated from natural movement, died once; but he who lives now lives with God by the freedom of the Holy Spirit, who raised him from the dead works of sin, so that such a man no longer lives for the body and for the world, since he has been put to death for the members of his body and for the things of this life. But Christ lives in him, for he walks under the grace of the Holy Spirit and not under the law of the flesh, since he offers his body to God the Father as a weapon of righteousness.
75. He who has freed his members from the service of the passions and has set them to serve righteousness has drawn near to sanctification by the Holy Spirit and has become above the law of the flesh, and sin will no longer reign over him, for he abides in the freedom and the law of the Spirit. For the service of the passions does not end as the service of righteousness does. The first ends in the noetic destruction of the soul, and the second in eternal life «in Christ Jesus our Lord» (Rom 6:23).
76. The law of the flesh reigns over a man so long as he lives according to the flesh. But when he dies to the world and is put to death for it, then he is freed from the law of the flesh. One cannot be put to death for the world otherwise than by putting to death the members of the body. And they are put to death when we become partakers of the Holy Spirit. And that we have become partakers of the Holy Spirit we know from this: that we bring to God fruits worthy of the Spirit — love for God with the whole soul and for the neighbour, as was commanded; joy of heart from a pure conscience; peace of soul from dispassion and humility; mercy in the thoughts of the intellect; long-suffering in afflictions and temptations; the goodness of good habits; firm faith in God, which doubts in nothing; gentleness from humility of mind and compunction; and all-embracing self-control of the senses. When we bring such fruits to God, it will mean that we are already outside the law of the flesh. And the law will no longer punish us for the fruits which we brought forth to death while still living in the flesh, for we have already been freed from its law, since we have risen with Christ from dead works by the freedom of the Spirit.
77. When those who in the font of baptism received the first fruits of the Holy Spirit and kept them unquenched are weighed down by the burden of the body, they groan within themselves, waiting for the Comforter to fulfil in them their adoption and for them to see «the redemption of their body» (Rom 8:23). The Spirit helps them in their natural weaknesses and intercedes for them with sighs too deep for words. For their thinking is according to God, and their hope expects to see in their mortal flesh the sons of God, and this is the life-giving deadness of Jesus. So that they too may be sons of God, led by the Holy Spirit, and may be freed from the service of the body and attain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. And since they love God, all things work together for their good.
78. To him who studies divine Scripture spiritually, the Holy Spirit spiritually reveals the treasures hidden in Scripture. The psychical man cannot receive such a revelation (1 Cor 2:13-14), for he has so many thoughts that because of them he hears nothing and understands nothing. Nor does he have in himself the Spirit of God, who searches the depths of God and knows what is God’s. He has in himself the spirit of the world, full of earthly impulses and envy, quarrelsomeness and discord. Therefore for him it is folly to search out with reasoning and to examine Scripture with the intellect. He cannot understand, for everything of which Scripture speaks is judged spiritually, whether it concerns divine things or human. He mocks those who speak of them spiritually and says that they are not spiritual and that they are led not by God’s Spirit but exalt themselves. He, as far as he can, twists and distorts their words and divine understandings, as Demas did. But the spiritual man does not act so: he judges all things by the divine Spirit acting in him, and he himself can be judged by no one, for in him is the mind of Christ, which no one can explain.
79. The last day «will be revealed in fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done» (1 Cor 3:13), says the apostle Paul, and he explains that whosever works are by their essence incorruptible, and who has laid them up within himself for his own building up, those works will remain incorruptible in the fire and will not burn; on the contrary, they will be made bright and wholly cleansed of the least dirt. But whosever works are corruptible by essence and have been laid up so as to become a burden to him, those will catch fire and burn up and will leave him in the midst of the fire with empty hands. The works that are incorruptible and will endure are the tears of repentance, almsgiving, mercy, prayer, humility, faith, hope, love and every other work accomplished through the knowledge of piety. Such works build in a man, while he still lives, a holy temple to God, and when he dies they depart with him and remain with him incorruptible for ever. But those works that are burnt to ashes in the fire are manifest to all — pleasure-loving, love of glory, avarice, hatred, envy, theft, drunkenness, reproach, condemnation and every evil which the body commits through lust or anger. They, even while the man lives, are kindled by the fire of lust and burn up; and when the man goes out of the body they go out with him, but do not remain, for the fire destroys them. And him who committed them they leave in the fire, to be tormented there for ever.
80. The knowledge of God means that God has known and enriched with true knowledge of supernatural mysteries the one who has grown up in God through humility of mind and prayer. But when God sees pride in a man, he attains the knowledge of God not through humility and prayer, but lives by the spirit of this world. Therefore, though such a man seems to know something, in truth he knows nothing of divine things as one ought to know. But he who loves God and counts love for God and for the neighbour the highest thing will see both the depths of God and the mysteries of His Kingdom, as befits one led by the Holy Spirit; and God will know him as a true labourer in the paradise of His Church, for with love he does God’s will, that is, he converts souls and, by the word which the Holy Spirit has given him, makes the unworthy worthy, and keeps his work unstolen by humility of mind and compunction.
81. We have all been baptized into Christ by water and the Holy Spirit; «all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink» (1 Cor 10:3-4). And the spiritual food and the spiritual drink is Christ. But with not many of us is God well pleased. Many of the faithful and diligent, by many monastic labours and bodily training, refined and afflicted their bodies; but since they had no compunction from contrite and good-loving thoughts, and no mercy from love for their neighbours and for themselves, they lost the fullness of the Holy Spirit and withdrew from the knowledge of God, having a barren thought and a word unsalted and unenlightened.
82. The Nazirite seeks in the word not merely to ascend by action the mountain of Sinai (Ex 19); nor merely to be purified before the ascent, and to wash his garments, and not to come near a woman; nor merely to behold God’s back (Ex 33:23), but God Himself in His glory, who shows favour to them, and gives them the tablets of knowledge, and sends them to build up His people.
83. Not to all His servants and disciples does the Word reveal His hidden and great mysteries, but only to some, as far as an ear has been given them, and the eye of vision has been opened, and the tongue made clear. These the Word takes apart from the other disciples, ascends with them the Mount Tabor of contemplation and is transfigured before them. He no longer teaches them secretly about the Kingdom of Heaven, but manifestly shows the glory and radiance of the Godhead. He kindles in them a manner of life and of word, so that it shines like the sun in the midst of the Church of the faithful; He whitens their thoughts and makes them by purity of most radiant light, places in them His own mind and gives them to bring forth words old and new for the building up of His Church.
84. Many have zealously ploughed their fields and sown pure grain, have cut out all the thorns and burned the thistles with the fire of repentance. But the divine rain of the Holy Spirit from compunction did not pour upon them, and therefore they reaped nothing; they dried up from drought and did not bring forth an abundant ear of the knowledge of God. Therefore, even if they are not thirsty for the Word of God, they are poor in the knowledge of God, and they have gone out of the body with empty hands, taking with them for the road only crumbs from the banquet.
85. Everyone who speaks with his lips profitable words for the building up of his neighbour brings them forth from the good treasure of his heart, and he is good, according to the Lord’s word. But no one can take up theology and speak of God except by the Holy Spirit. And no one who speaks by the Spirit of God will say anything contrary to faith in Christ. And in so far as they teach, in so far do they lead to God and His Kingdom, and restore the ancient nobility, and unite with God some of those who are being saved. If the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the profit of each, then he who has been enriched with the word of God’s wisdom and has well received the word of understanding is guided by the Holy Spirit and is a house of God’s inexhaustible treasures.
86. Everyone who has been baptized into Christ and has believed does not remain without grace, unless he has given himself over to the action of the opposing spirit and has defiled his faith by deeds, or lives carelessly in listlessness. He who has kept unquenched the first fruits of the Holy Spirit which he received in baptism — or who, having quenched them, has kindled them again by the spirit of truth — cannot fail to receive also His fullness. Either, struggling well, he is counted worthy by the fullness of the Spirit of the word of God’s wisdom, so as to teach the Church; or of the word of the knowledge of God’s mysteries in the same Spirit (1 Cor 12:8), so as to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven; or of firm faith by the same Spirit, so as to believe God’s promises as Abraham believed; or of the gift of healings, so as to heal illnesses in the same Spirit; or of the working of power, so as to cast out demons and work signs; or of the gift of prophecy, so as to look into and foresee the future; or of the gift of the discernment of spirits, so as to distinguish who speaks by the Spirit of God and who does not; or of the ability to speak in tongues; or of the defence of the wronged; or of the governing of God’s flocks or of men; or of love for all and its gifts — long-suffering, goodness and all the rest. But if anyone is found who has received none of these, then he is either not among the faithful or has not put on Christ by divine baptism.
87. He who has love knows no impulses of envy, is not proud like the arrogant and insolent, does not boast, does not behave disgracefully, does not harm his neighbour, does not seek only his own advantage (1 Cor 13:4-5), but also thinks of his neighbour; he is not indignant with those who offend him, does not gloat when someone suffers evil, does not rejoice at the unrighteousness of his friends but rejoices in their true righteousness; he loves all the troubles that come upon him, trusts all things through simplicity and guilelessness, hopes to receive all that God has promised us, endures all temptations, not returning evil for evil. And he never falls away from love for his neighbour who exercises himself in love.
88. Of those who have been counted worthy from on high of the grace of the Holy Spirit in various gifts, some are still infants and imperfect in the divine gifts, and others are men and perfect in their fullness (1 Cor 13:11). The first set about the fulfilment of the divine commandments, and grow in them, and, being filled with greater gifts of the Holy Spirit, lose their former gifts; while the second, having attained the love of God, cease to need all the gifts — whether prophecy, as the Word says, or the discernment of spirits, or acts of help, or administration. He who has entered the chamber of love no longer understands God’s love in part, but converses with God face to face, knowing Him, and God likewise knows him.
89. He who through zeal for spiritual gifts has wished to acquire love and has attained it is not satisfied with prayers and readings alone (1 Cor 14:4). He who speaks to God only with the tongue in prayer and singing builds up himself, according to the words of the apostle Paul. But afterwards he strives also to prophesy for the building up of the Church of God, that is, to teach his neighbours to fulfil God’s commandments and, as is fitting, to strive to be well-pleasing to God. What profit will there be if the one who presides speaks always only to himself and to God in prayer, if he does not also speak to those under him, either in a revelation of the Holy Spirit, or in the knowledge of the mysteries of God, or in the clear-sighted gift of prophecy, or in the teaching of the word of God’s wisdom? Which of his disciples will prepare for the battle against the passions and the demons, if he does not give a good sign of teaching by the written word or the living voice? Truly, if a shepherd does not seek how to build up his flock, though he has an abundance of the word of teaching and of the understanding of the Spirit, then he does not care for God’s gifts. Because he only prays and sings much with the tongue, he builds up his own spirit, that is, his soul, but his intellect remains without fruit, for it does not prophesy with the word of teaching and does not build up the Church of God. And even the apostle Paul, who more than all men was united with God in prayer, preferred to speak five words in the Church with his fruitful intellect, that others too might profit, rather than to sing thousands of words with the tongue. And so those have departed from love who govern others and have diminished the pastoral dignity by singing and reading alone.
90. He who created us out of that which lies below and out of spiritual essence, and gloriously composed them into one, and united these things contrary in nature, has given us well-being by the word of His wisdom and the word of knowledge. So that we, first, by the knowledge of the spirit might see the treasures of the Kingdom of Heaven hidden in Him and given to us, and second, might tell our neighbours with the wisdom of the word about the goodness of His riches and the blessings of eternal life, which He has prepared for the delight of those who love Him.
91. He of the Trinity who became higher than the prohibitions and the promises of the law entered into a life not subject to law and Himself became Law for the Church. Since a life not subject to law is free, for it is higher than every natural need and destruction, he who enters into it becomes free, for he goes out beyond the body and becomes fire, partaking of the Spirit. And afterwards he too is united with Christ, who is above every essence, having withdrawn in Him from what is partial.
92. He who has received knowledge from the Highest Intellect, who is the beginning and the end of all, and boundless in Himself, and in all else without and within, knows how to be solitary both when he is alone and when he is among solitaries. Therefore he is not alone so as to endure vanity in perfection, nor solitary with many. He is one in all and in everything, as a beginning of solitude for others who are in movement, and their end is the most perfect virtue.
93. The unconfused union and conjunction of soul and body — when concord reigns between them — accomplishes a single work either of matter or of nature. When there is no concord, in the soul there arises a desire for victory over the body, and in the body over the soul. But the Word comes, takes its place and stops their impulses, and, establishing concord, distributes all the works between nature and spirit.
94. There are three things that rule in us. One of them rules but is not ruled; the second rules and is ruled; the third does not rule but is ruled. When that which rules under another becomes a ruling principle for those subject to it, then, though by nature subject, it seems free to those who by nature are slaves, and it goes out of its own rule and nature, and a great rebellion arises among them. From this rebellion we see that not everything has yet submitted to the Word. But when that which rules governs the others and leads them under its rule and authority, then, being gathered into one and having become of one mind, they will have peace in the things that are according to God, and by all who have submitted to the Word the Kingdom is delivered up by Him to God and the Father.
95. When the five senses are subordinated to the four principles of the foremost virtues and keep obedience to them, then the nature of the body, created out of four elements, moves without turmoil in the circle of life. When nature moves thus, the powers do not rebel within themselves, but the desiring and the incensive are united with the rational, and the intellect, having received its natural authority, makes for itself a chariot of the virtues and a throne of the senses subordinated to them. And having subdued the body, which wishes to rule of itself and to torment, it is caught up by four horses and rises to the heavens. And standing before the King of ages, it is crowned with the crown of victory and in Him sets all its movement at rest.
96. For him who becomes perfect in the time of contemplation and is established on the pillars of the Spirit, a cup of wine is mixed and bread is offered from the royal banquet, a throne for rest and silver for riches; and a treasure of precious pearls and costly stones stands by the doors, and countless riches are given into their hands. All this appears to clear-sighted men who have completed action and were swifter in deeds before the King than slothful men.
97. Is the Kingdom of Heaven given here already to all who are diligent, or after the departure from the body? If here, then the victory is unconquerable, the joy ineffable, and access to paradise is free for us. And paradise stands in the divine east. But if the Kingdom is given after death and departure from the body, then we must examine whether this departure takes place without fear, and we shall learn what the Kingdom of God is and what paradise is. And how one differs from the other, and at what time each of them takes place, and whether they take place simultaneously, and how, and when, and for how long. He who has attained the first within himself is still alive and walks in the body, yet he has not departed from the second either.
98. The world above is not yet perfect and awaits its fulfilment, so as to receive its order through the firstborn of Israel, who see God. Its fulfilment is accomplished by those who attain the knowledge of God. Having become complete, it determines the end for the world below, for the faithful and the unfaithful, and makes in itself a single assembly, determining for each his own rank and separating from one another the things that are not joined together. And the beginnings and ends that come from it, it leads to itself and defines them as a boundless boundary. It does not itself begin from another beginning, nor does another beginning determine it (how it is to move), for it has its own unceasing movement. It neither hides in itself nor goes beyond its own limits, but becomes for others a sabbath-keeping and the rest of every beginning and movement.
99. The ninefold order of the powers above, as a hymn-singer and leader of songs, forms the ranks in threes, like choirs which stand three by three before the Trinity, and, serving with awe, begins the song. Of these, some are under the rule of all the other powers, yet they themselves rule over the songs — these are the thrones, cherubim and seraphim, whose names signify the fiery wisdom proper to them, and the knowledge of heavenly things, and the end; they sing the godlike song, hel, in the Hebrew tongue. Others stand between them and the following ranks around God — these are the authorities, dominions and powers; it is proper to them to govern great things, to work wonders and signs; they sing the thrice-holy hymn: Holy, holy, holy! And others, reaching down to us, abide above us and below the powers above and stand around God — these are the principalities, angels and archangels; it is proper to them to fulfil service; they sing the sacred song: Alleluia. Thus the rational nature of man, when it is perfected by every virtue and exalted by every knowledge and by the wisdom of the Spirit and the divine fire, becomes like the powers above through the divine gifts. And so with some it is alike in service and in the fulfilment of God’s commandments; with others, in mercy and intercession for men; and again in the ordering of great and divine things and in the actions of the Spirit; and with still others, in the fiery wisdom of the Word and in the knowledge of things divine and human. Being thus perfected and offering natural gifts, man together with the powers above forms a tenth, constituting as it were its beginning, and together with them is united with God.
100. God is Unity and Trinity from Unity; He begins from Himself and, having gone round the circle, ends in Himself. He has in Himself the beginnings and ends of all things, and He Himself is beyond all, as higher than all. He who abides in Him receives into himself the words and the knowledge of all that exists and, abiding beyond all, enters into the midst of all, knowing their beginnings and ends, for he has been noetically joined with the Father through the Word and has become perfect through the Spirit — joined, therefore, with the all-perfect, undivided and consubstantial Trinity, whom we worship in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and glorify in one nature and kingdom and power of the Godhead; may its dominion be for ever. Amen.