On Enoch and Elijah

On the Departure of Enoch and Elijah Again, his own, as his own. A discourse of fifty [verses], which he composed on the departure of Enoch and Elijah. Sin and death fell upon Adam like bands, And they stripped him, leaving him without covering, naked. Naked, the head of the race went out from Paradise, And his brothers sat in mourning over his own self at his expulsion. In great mourning the spirits sat over the firstborn, Because they heard that the hand of death had loosed the bond of his body. By the decree of judgment upon his folly they were perplexed, And they were distressed that like a lost image, a created image, The Creator called him a brute, while he was being established, And when they heard the good news that he had turned to his earth, they turned and were confounded. A turning that was not his earth: he buried his face in the heavens, And they cut off hope that he would again return to the living. In the life of his days they were bound as one being established, And they greatly prolonged over his separation from their side. The corruption of his body was a lament to them beyond order, As one separated from his companion of the speaking image. By his speech they were amazed at how glorious it was, That he would clothe his own self in the senses of the body, speaking sounds. He was a comfort to them, the voice of his limbs before his folly, And that he became foolish and sinned, they grieved and mourned over his fall. Sin cast down the living image of the heavens, And gave it a decree of death, a burden, and it dissolved his body. As if among the dead they looked upon him, the dead of the wicked, And they did not cease from the grief of mourning over his mortality.

Death considered him from the time he ate the fruit, And especially from that voice which does not cease its turning. That command cast him to the earth, to the earthly ones, And drove the dweller out from the dwellings of Paradise. Outside the region where he had dwelt, he dwelt in death, And the wall of the mountains, which he could not enter, surrounded his face. At the wall of the mountain the spiritual ones were astonished, And they marveled at what the desire for the fruit had done. The desire for the fruit cast Adam from Paradise, And the demons rejoiced and sharpened the thorns of the heavens. The whole creation sat in mourning over his expulsion, And especially wept for his wicked death. As in a house of mourning, the world was made over the son of man, And the voice of his mourners spoke from the tombs. The eloquent and the mute wept for his mortality, And they did not cease from lamentations over his ruin. His ruin placed a barrier of the mountain before his face, And he grew weary and was unable to enter his own place. The divine command cast him into exile, And like a fugitive he wandered in the land of thorns. Among thorns and thistles the king of the earth was entangled, And with difficulty he dragged himself over his own dust. He toiled in his labor, his course was obscured, his food was scanty, And he endured the change of the seasons of his days. In the pains of his soul, his eloquent and his mute ones felt, And his hidden groans were heard in voice and silence.

With voice and silence he was speaking the depths of his afflictions, And from generation to generation he was bearing the curtailment of his life. Through the event he learned the name of mortality, And death began to destroy his offspring without cessation. Through the prayers of Adam, death entered Adam, And it swallowed up Abel, the firstborn, the beloved of righteousness. Through the death of the just one, death ruled over his mortals, And man became a servant to death without respite. They submitted in deed to the decrees of the judgment upon the guilty, And the nature of mortals sinned and was lamented in mortality. As if taking her, sin took the body of Adam And gave it to death to be nourished by it insatiably. Insatiably the devourer consumed the consumed, And without cessation the curse devoured the beautiful. Through all men the destruction of the destroyer passed, And no man remained who did not feel the claw of death. Over his destruction heaven and earth mourned, And they were troubled and agitated painfully. The destructions of death were striking the whole creation, And it was thought that [when] she would give birth, she would expect a serpent. To these pains and distresses the Creator, who sees all, Listened and from on high proclaimed good hope to the hopeless. Good hope the Creator sowed in the ears of the living, In one who was not enslaved to the servitude of death. One who in the beginning preserved in vigilance without destruction, And brought him forth from the world from the curtailment that was upon the beginning. To the living man he made him a guardian of the darkness, the lover of man, And preserved him in life so that the hope for man might be preserved in him.

Hope was proclaiming through the voice of that beautiful one, Who greatly adorned his beauty, hope for mortals. He adorned the lamentation written upon lamentation in the book of the dead. And because he preserved his beauty in the treasure of life, As in an image he formed the image of his beauties, And anointed it with immortal oil that does not decay. Pains afflicted the beautiful form of Adam that was fashioned, And renewed it in the darkness of that seal which death had destroyed. The destruction of death began with the creator in the life of darkness, And among mortals there was no longer hope for the departed. Over their destruction the children of Adam were mourning, From the time of Adam until the darkness adorned itself for God. In the garments of death they were clothed among the mortals, And there was no hope that proclaimed a message for the mortality of man. The six thousand years extended the garments of the clothed ones, And in the end they heard the voice of the bearer of life. In the seventh generation the mortals heard the good news of life, And when they heard it, they did not have time to confirm it fully. They heard that voice of the life of darkness, And they were amazed that it had come and that the world preserved him in life. All of them heard the good news of the lamentation of the afflicted one, And they did not know how to answer the old man who revived the dead. Openly he taught the cause of the cessation of death, But in a mystery he filled his hearing and concealed his power. Mysteriously they heard these spiritual things, And mysteriously they were nourished by its promise. In this mystery they cast off their mortality, the friends of men, And began to rejoice in the good sign of the renewal of man.

In great mourning they were seated over the human race, and all the goodness of his life heard, they rejoiced and were comforted. His life, Enoch, they took to the waters, and they hastened to take him to the order of their affairs. A command passed, it loosened their love towards man, and they were not willing to change the movements of the air. Vain toil they considered the grief over man, and they were distressed to take him on the path of his doings. A hidden sign subjected them to great labor, and they received and completed that command which subjected them. To the hidden command the spirits, servants of men, submitted, and especially beyond the likeness of Enoch and Elijah. Enoch raised up the decree of judgment of mortality, and man and the heavens were astonished at the story of his life. His life cut off the path of death mysteriously, before that time which is cut off in it in deeds. The pledge of astonishment, the Lord of the world took him to his side, and preserved him in the life that proclaimed life to the sons of his race. Rebellion set up among the sons of the rebel against the ruler, he delayed him in the harsh garments of mortality. By death he clothed that harshness that raises rebellion, and he hid it in mercy in the promise of life of one human. One human he chose in one generation of ten ages, and his heart took him to his side like a garment for the guilty. Guilty was the whole Adamite race, and they were confessing and not paying the debt of sins. In this manner he took Enoch like a garment, that they might be mindful to pay the debt, to set a limit.

The sheet of debts he had incurred from the beginning, and without repaying them he repaid them in the days of Enoch when he did not wish. Like a beautiful lamb he was to the sons of his race, that they might repay the sheet of debts of their deeds. Through a cause Enoch taught to repay debt, and he exacted the debt of his sweetness upon the righteous. The righteous did not obey him, and he made a sign to the trees, which he knew before the sign made by deeds. He saw his debt, the sign that he made in the time of Enoch. And he had also prepared his discourse before he was submerged. He knew this, that he wrought at the beginning of times, and that which was destined in the second time was revealed to him. All times were seen from the beginning to be set for times, and their changes were ordered until they were. He was grieved by the error of Adam and his sons until they did not err, and he prepared that death might be loosed and error pass away. Through causes he revealed his will, he willed in the life of the living, and he gave hope through the discourse of the men who arrived. He took Enoch and preserved him in life, not dead, and in his discourse he fixed hope for the race of men. Good hope stood before the ancients in the life of Enoch, and his discourse was like a guide for those after. On the path of life his descendants went in the hope of life, and they began to seek the mystery of their life from generation to generation. To you he magnificently interpreted this mystery, when he was amazed at the treasures of good things with men. Enoch, like thunder, heard the voice of his blessings, and he showed that the time of the renewal of man was near.

Through his blessings the righteous one revealed the will of his Lord, who was prepared to redeem mankind through a human being. Toward Abraham all the scattered debts of the race of hope were settled, that through him his debt might be paid, the account of the ten generations of the race. Ten generations ran from Adam to Abraham, their courses ending in the hope of one human being. Abraham was one, and his debt toward his Lord was one, and because of his debt he made him a hundred for his companions. Abraham became a hundred of hope for the sons of his race, and through him thousands of revealed divine spirits were perfected. From Abraham, men began in the love of truth, and the Creator also revealed his will toward men. One will he had to show toward the human being, and he pressed it in sorrows through the causes of all the orders. To Adam he said that through his seed he would bless the nations, and to the son of Jesse that from his jubilee he would establish a kingdom. One after another they bore fruits for the gift of his words, and there was no time that did not show in it the seeds of his will. To the good he showed the great debt of his sweetness, that the seeds of good hope might be sown among men. In all times he sowed the seed of the salvation of mankind, how much he was poured out for the drops of the seeds of revelations. Through revelations he made men and heavens wise, that they might know to walk in the way of the name of being. The great way that began in the evenings to walk toward him, and more he showed it in the son of the inhabitants, the prophet and the priest.

The righteous one and the priest chose him in the division of the sacrifices, that he might show the mysteries of his will to the children of men. All the power of his service he entrusted into his hands, that he might guide and lead the children of his people in the fear of truth. A divine steward he made him on earth, that he might be a doer of the works of his Lord from the house of his Lord. He spread a cup, a fruitful cup, for the servants of his Lord, and wisely gave sustenance in hunger and satiety. With the garment of humility he drove away the rebels who were against his Lord, and he taught a way that does not stumble against the Creator. A harsh yoke he placed upon the rebels through the sons of Abraham, and like a bridle he subdued the way of the settlers. A harsh wall was the sound of that deceiver, and he subdued the wild beasts when they did not wish. When they did not wish, they chose the lordship of the name of God, and when they were not compelled, they cast off and threw away the service of idols. From the mysteries of the name of the Creator they loved the Creator, and from the filth of idolatry they washed away its stain. The desire of the hunters was made the mouth of the settler, and he gave them to drink the mysteries of mighty blows. As if holding a rod, he held the command of his Lord, and with it he drove the erring people who loved folly. In every form he subdued the cup of the erring ones, and in every manner his words were a wall of his utterances. A harsh wall is the taking of words in humility, and mightily he subdues men by the fear of truth. Chosen among the farmers was Elijah in his humility, and he served much and lived in the fullness that came from the end.

The righteous one and the priest chose him in the division of the sacrifices, that he might show the mysteries of his will to the children of men. All the power of his service he entrusted into his hands, that he might go forth on a pure path without stumbling, the righteous one, that he might be a lamp to the world in the beauty of his soul. The beauty of his soul, that of the beautiful one, the Creator saw, and he preserved him for a life that would not be corrupted, the beauties of his soul. In that beauty of beauties, Elijah was beautiful, and he accomplished the fast of his day, which was kindled for the beautiful one. For a single reward, Enoch and the pure souls were made equal, and they gave no place for death to have power over their bodies. Above death, Enoch raised up the good servants, that the mystery of the resurrection might be placed in the minds of men who were good. He taught men after him, men who were equal to him, that they might not be divided over the fear of the dead. The treasure of life was deposited for him who revealed it to men, and he showed it beforehand in the two men, Enoch and Elijah. Enoch and Elijah were the guides for the whole race of men, that men might walk on the path of life that is not mortal. Enoch he placed in the first age of the ten generations, and the son of the inhabitants in the second, in the middle of the times. In the middle of the times, he made the story of the good servant, that he might be a reminder of the beginnings and the ends. Into three times the Lord of the world divided the world, and each time took one man and preserved him in life. In the first, he placed Enoch, the chaste man, and in the second, the son of Elijah, the chosen prophet. In the third, he raised high the word concerning him, and the mouth was not able to say how glorious his story is.

as though he were running the course of his will in the completion of the sacrifices. And he raised men from the tombs to the glorious ones. In the small sacrifice he showed you Enoch with Elijah, and it was fitting that the son of the seated ones be with the anointed one. Enoch, whom Isaiah mentioned alone concerning his taking up, and he did not make known to us where he took him up and where he placed him. Moses hinted to us mysteriously about his taking up, and he did not explain to us what the cause was for which he was taken up. As though to children he turned his discourse to these things of Enoch, because that conduct of the beginning of the sacrifices was hidden. He hid much of Enoch’s sacrifice with Elijah; the mysteries of the taking up were mingled with the taking up. A hidden voice the ancients heard in the story of Enoch, while Elijah heard the heavy voices of prophecy. Heavy voices were heard concerning Elijah, that the sacrifice which was to be offered from the side of man had approached. The prophet would hear the hearing that he receives for his companion, and their revelations were transmitted from one to another. From one to another the day of his taking up was received, when they wove for him a crown of praises of their revelations. With a revealed voice the athlete of the spirit was praised, and the prophets of the spirit would make ready for his athletic contest. Athletically he was heard from place to place, and when he knew, it was hidden from him the day of his taking up. The priest did not wish to reveal the glory of his honor, lest the fine nets of empty glory catch him.

wisely he was unfolding that which was hidden, until the spirit of revelation in the mysteries seized him. The spirit of revelation was his guide, leading her who was hidden from the veiled ones, and when it was not willing to reveal the mystery of the sacrifice that was being celebrated in it. Providentially he mounted the chariot before his disciple, whom the Lord sent in a mysterious embassy. Mystically he showed him the mystery of his celebration, as is fitting for seekers of divine mysteries. God continually made wise the good servant, who performed the rite for the celebration of immortal life. The son of mortals was celebrating the life that knows no decay, and wisely he honored Enoch before mortals. On the hidden path that has no water he was rich in roses, and he extended his being toward that extension which is without limit. In the desire of the spirit, the seer saw that fragrance, and the world became as a non-world before his thoughts. He saw the other world in a vision without materiality, and he judged everything and loved something that is not subject to corruption. He saw how great is the conduct that he was celebrating, and he marveled and wondered at the love of his Lord, how great is his mercy. He saw the true mercy of his Lord, how great, and how much it strengthens the seekers of his mystery with praises. He praised the day on which the son of the inhabitants was immersed, and the small revelations of the course of his path were prepared. He saw the vision of the mountain, as it was formed above the earth, the smallness of the chariots, the heavenly wheels that run in the air. He saw the courses of the mountain, how they are fixed on the wheels of the mountain, and above them stood the heavenly likeness.

Fire saw fire bound in the fetters of fire. And he was marveling at the greatness of the glory that was revealed to him. At the greatness of the glory of the day of his end he was marveling, and he was not sated with seeing the beautiful among the beautiful. He saw as much as a man is able to see spiritual things, and he remained from the window and turned to speak with his disciple. He revealed to him in revelation the true things of men, and commanded him to ask which side of the parable was greater. "Ask," said the teacher, "the disciple who is guided toward his disciple, and take for yourself something that will be with you and help you." The disciple of the rank of the ascetic of chastity asked, and the wisdom of his teacher, where he asked and where he received. The asker and the giver both asked together, and the veil of the mystery of the fire began on a path that he had not seen. He sat on the dust upon the spiritual chariot, and held in his hands the fetters of fire and did not turn back. Like a charioteer, the spirit was beneath the dust, and the body was guiding the spirit, and the spirit the body. By the spirit the veil of the spirit flew to where it was going, and it was appearing that he was ascending to the face of the height. To the face of the height he directed his sign to go, not to heaven, but to a place higher than the earth. Not to heaven did Elijah ascend on the day of his end, but to a place where he was hidden from the darkness of his fellow. That same sign that hid the darkness of his fellow also hid him, and in one place beneath him stood the being of beings together.

One was the cause for which they were astonished concerning the fire. And in one place and one substance, the end of Enoch and Elijah was made. In glory alone he made a distinction, while being astonished at the manner of the house of their beginning, at their perfection. He was hoping for the time of his astonishment in which he was, with the beautiful Enoch, and the days of his end were being shortened from those of Elijah. He was mixing his time with that of the son of the seated ones, from that of Enoch, and the likenesses of the day of his end were also being praised. By spiritual likenesses he was separating Enoch, that he might show fires concerning the distinction that was at the end. The day of completion was pressing in the vision of the end of the priests, and especially in the day of the end of the son of the seated ones. For the height above, which was prepared for the ascent of the body of fire, he was anticipating its ascent in the vision of his end. He was suspending the gaze of the course of that chariot to the height, to where the whole substance was prepared to be elevated. By this interpretation it is said that the son of the seated ones ascended, not that he ascended, but that he formed a mystery of ascent. He formed a mystery of ascent in the vision of that in which he was astonished, that thus the substance of the dead ascends in the mysteries of its ascent. The way of life that Enoch and Elijah began for us, and they showed in the fullness of the end a way of the non-dead. In life without corruption they are preserved in the place where they were placed, and naturally they live life in something that is diminished. In something that is diminished, the priests live as they are. By the power of that spirit which simplified even the difficulties.

By the power of his command he preserved them in the earthly earth, while they were not subject to the afflictions of the earthly. In that substance, full of wonder, he made them live, and that wonder which is not exhausted by the astonished. A great wonder, that life of man does not exist there, and it is not effaced by the belts of the rolling spheres. In that place, the belts of the living man were bound, and that command which he established for them completes them. That command completes from them the belts, and it does not cease from the exercise of praises. Their exercise of praises and the running of their glories are beautiful, and it suffices for the contemplation that is thought in it. The thought that thought beautiful thoughts is not spoken, and Paul testifies that he went in time and saw their exercise. In that exercise of the immortal, they exercise the mortal, and with the incorporeal they sing spiritual songs. Like spirits, they are destined to be what the earthly were, and he established two bodies before the beginning of all. For the beginning of all, Enoch established two men, that in their equality man would be established in the future. The pure soul receives the pledges of the Savior from Enoch, so that it may become a firm foundation of man before the Creator. A loose substance, it binds the mortal from the beginning, and without order it passes time, wandering in tremors. The wandering, the secret of their thoughts, sees all, and takes from them two dwellings that were his prey. For the sign of the foundation, Enoch established from the side of man, that man might preserve love for his covering.

To the image of men he constantly strengthens the two true ones, and strikes it with the good thought of their pastors. He loved the likeness of man, and also loved the one who loved man, and in all his ways he seeks that men might live. He preserved the lives of men from death, two deathless ones, that through their lives they might remind men of their own lives. He filled the whole world with deathless life, and witnesses of this are the two who entered [their lives into their mortality], Enoch and Elijah. And like those who entered, their lives were for their mortality, so that they might not be separated from the hope of deathless life. He bestowed life without corruption, the good gift, upon the world of men, and wrote them in two books and three witnesses. In the first book he set the hand of Enoch and Elijah, and in the second one who entered and a chosen witness. A chosen witness the Creator chose from among the mortals, that he might be a witness to the good things of his kind. The witness of men is every testimony in the land, and thirdly he sealed the document of debts with a stamp. The Creator wrote a document of debts and placed it for men, and stamped it with an earthly and heavenly order. He made three witnesses in it, witnesses in the document of their lives: Enoch, Elijah, and thirdly the Christ who is from them. The Christ who is from them stamped it with his own blood on the document of their lives, that he might be the true fulfiller of life for his whole kind. By his death he freed from the servitude of evil and death, and by his resurrection he [gave] us deathless life. He was not mortal in his nature after his death, that his life might be a chosen witness for the kind of men.

To the life of men the Creator chose that man, and raised his rank to the high rank of his divinity. It was not by the order of his divinity that he set his rank, but by the order of that order which has no comparison. There is no comparison for the rank in which the beginning of the race stands, and his beginning is not compared with that of creatures. Not like a servant did he make the servant of the Lord in the tombs, and he did not make his likeness like Enoch and like Elijah. Enoch and Elijah from the side of men shared a sign, and the sign dwelt in another place which is on earth. On earth the pastors Enoch and Elijah dwelt, and in it, in the garment of mortality, they were preserved on earth. To the place that passed over them the true ones began to return, where Adam dwelt, the head of the whole race. Adam who opened the door for the beginning of the faces of men, and brought men into the place that was sealed by the decree of the Lord. By the decree of the Lord men were held back from that place until a son of man loosed them and set men free. One son of man, the Messiah, who from him went before, and gave his entrance to all men by means of souls. Enoch and Elijah entered alone in body and spirit, and they are in it until the time of the passing of times. The passer of times went before in spirit, not in body, and went out from it and ascended to the place that is fairer than it. To the place of height that is higher than height the beginning of us ascended, to the holy of holies which no foot of man has cause to reach. Before the essence that is above the one who purifies, the priest from him purifies, in the place that is pure from the pure and from the impure.

By the blood of his own self he redeemed one time the house of the earth, and he offered the sacrifice of his holiness in place of all creatures. In place of all creatures the Creator chose him from among the creations, and he received his death as a redemption in place of his members. The sin of men sealed the world with shrouds, and the good and pure one atoned with the death of one man. In that very thing by which death and corruption entered man, through it life entered and abolished death from humanity. Adam who opened the path of death by the desire for the fruit, and death passed through the entire nature of Adam. The command passed, subjugating man to the servitude of death, and men despaired that the race of men would ever live again. For the hope of men the Creator chose three men, and he made Enoch and Elijah witnesses to testify to the life of man. To the life of man they testify on earth, Enoch and Elijah, and one is placed, his life above in heaven, confirming life. Two true witnesses on earth concerning our renewal, and one in heaven sealing the words of above and below. Two like servants appease on earth, Enoch and Elijah, and one like a king dwells in heaven and commands on earth. Not with servants is his rank compared, the king who reigns, nor his authority like the authority of the sons of earth. Not with a common head is he called like a son, nor his conversation like the conversation of the sons of flesh. He was not born among the heretics as is commonly said, for this is not possible for a man to find a place for his likenesses. A man knows that high things are composed like hunters, and it is not hidden from me how many are skilled at hunting words.

Hunters hunt the words of faith, and what they hunt, they catch, like a bird from their hands. Faith is not to be hunted by the hands of the foolish, since they are not able to seize its power with their minds. Many are weak from the blood of one generation openly, and the course of their words runs from confusion. They cannot hunt words with words as they wish, nor can they give a clear explanation of hidden things. Hidden from them is the strong word of faith, and when it was revealed in the mouths of the learned, they were amazed and astonished. The strong word of faith came to an end, and I do not think that it is carried about by them in a simple manner. Not simply nor foolishly have I arranged the words. For you, they are not guided, because you are not guided in the guidance of words. You do not know how to be guided on the path of faith, and you are not Christians, the words that are placed in the house of your understanding. Without confusion you are weighed down like a stone, and you do not distinguish to choose the bad from the good. You spoke well in the discourse that you spoke about man, that he was a beginning, the one who was raised up from fire. He was a beginning who proclaimed the gospel to the sons of the earth, and they sealed the sounds that they sowed in the earth, Enoch and Elijah. He was a beginning who ascended and reigned above in heaven, and who investigated the path of the sons of the heavenly ones. He was a beginning who became a witness in the region of the living, and cast a hand and sealed with his blood without falsehood.

In the beginning it was, and again I say that in the beginning it was. And if you have seen the heretics, they cried out greatly. They cried out greatly until the voice heard them. He spoke with them like that voice before our Lord. Bitterly he wailed for them over his fall. And many like the voice of the disciples to that of the teacher. To the foolish teacher who dies, foolish heretics. And they do not understand that they strike their lives with the voice of their words. For the destruction that destroys them every hour with evil thought. And what they heard, the sound of the word of truth, they stripped and were silenced. The voice of their stripping does not leave me to cease from them. And it does not give me to pass over them without reproach. In the likeness of a sign, their mind is set before their thoughts. And it draws me to strike them with the arrows of my words. With words I desire that I might strike them with all my discourses. Without ceasing from the contest against my words. With the thought of words, I had a thought to discourse. And what I thought in it, the voice of the heretics hindered me. Cease from me, I cried out, I shouted against them with all my methods. And as much as I hoped that they would cease, they were disturbed and agitated. Their disturbance I saw also now in this narrative. And I left my word that it might be fitting with the words of their blasphemies. Their blasphemies of the blasphemers weakened my word. And I left its word and descended into the path against the errors. The errors I covered with the change of words against words. And to the unbridled I ran with the persuasion of the true ones. Truly I said, I will go to the true ones. For what is this, that death rules over men from us.

I saw a wonder, that they ascended above death. And the chariot of words of revelation in words to the hidden. The hidden things I sought to narrate before hearers, and to make known Enoch, who were knowing the small mysteries. The small mysteries were concealed in the narrative of these that I saw. Not to the perfect but to the youths and the ignorant. To the ignorant I revealed the causes of the beginning of the vision, what is the cause that they were removed from it to another place. To another place they were removed from it, Enoch and Elijah, and in their removal they engraved for us a type of the removal of our life. New life they showed us, the lover of our race, and Enoch sealed with three signs of the three visions. Three visions I said, Enoch, to the three of them. It was not by rank but by the order of the nature of the vision. One nature is that of the three of them in body and spirit. The ranks are not equal, the service of those who serve the Lord. Servants are Enoch and Elijah, as long as they live. The Messiah, from whom the Lord is over all, as long as he is a man. Enoch and Elijah are preserved on earth until the end. The Messiah is in the place of height and speaks with the dead. He is not dead because he has immortality, and he alone receives this instead of the dead. Instead of the dead, the Creator chose him from the dead, that he might fill the order of servants and of free men. He is a servant also, in that he is a servant of the Creator, and again he is also a lord, in that he took the divine rank. He is divine because his rank is higher than all, and he grew and reigned not by his nature but by his rank.

In his rank that man grew, who from death ascended. And all this because he willed, the one who willed in him. God, all the will of his hiddenness in the name of his greatness. And behold, I saw men, fools, in the greatness of rank. I see fools, for what short time they boast over the height. And you do not wish, men, to receive the king of death. I see men, that you were gods by the hand of a man who became god with God. Men of death, in whom the Word, the Son of God, dwelt. And he called him by his name and gave him the rank of the name of essence. Names he gave him, and also the actions that are hidden from him. And when he gave him good, he did not err that death is his essence. Death is his essence, and he changed his life, ascended and was buried. And our lives are worthy of the good of the one who raised our race. Thanks to the good, all the rational creation of mortals says, that he raised our race by one man who took death.