Stromata

The light of truth is true light, shadowless, indivisibly divided spirit of the Lord into those sanctified through faith, holding the place of a lamp for the knowledge of beings. Following it, therefore, through the whole of life, we become impassible, which is to rest. Hence Solomon says that wisdom came into being for the Pantocrator before heaven and earth and all beings, participation in which (I mean according to capacity, not according to substance) teaches one to be scientifically knowledgeable of divine and human things. Since we are here, these things must be noted in passing, because the discussion has come in about the hebdomad and the ogdoad; for the ogdoad is in danger of being properly a hebdomad, and the hebdomad a hexad, at least in appearance, and the one is properly the Sabbath, while the hebdomad is the workday; for the cosmogony is completed in six days, and the motion of the sun from solstice to solstice is completed in six months, during which plants both shed leaves and sprout, and the perfections of seeds occur. They also say that the embryo is precisely completed in the sixth month, that is, one hundred and eighty days plus two and a half, as Polybus the physician records in his On Eight-Month Births, and Aristotle the philosopher in his On Nature; and the Pythagoreans, I think, from this, from the generation of the world according to the prophet, consider the number six perfect and call it the mesouth and marriage because it is the middle of the straight line, that is, of ten and two; for it appears equally distant from both.

Just as marriage from male and female generates, so the number six is generated from the odd, which is called the male number, three, and the even, considered female, two; for twice three makes six. Again, these are the most generic motions, according to which all generation is borne: up, down, to the right, to the left, forward, backward. Reasonably, then, they consider the number seven motherless and unbegotten, interpreting the Sabbath and allegorizing the form of rest, according to which they neither marry nor are given in marriage any longer; for seven is neither produced from any number taken into another, nor when taken into another does it complete any other number within the decad. And they call the ogdoad a cube, counting the fixed sphere together with the seven wandering spheres, through which the great year occurs, as a kind of cycle of the promised recompense. In this way the Lord, having ascended the mountain as a fourth, becomes a sixth and is surrounded by spiritual light, having partially revealed the power from himself as far as it was possible for those chosen to see, being proclaimed through the seventh utterance as the Son of God, so that some may rest, persuaded concerning him, and he, through generation, which the hexad signified, being conspicuous, may appear as an ogdoad, God in flesh displaying his power, numbered as a man, but concealed as to what he was; for the six is also included in the order of numbers, but the sequence of elements recognizes the conspicuous that is not written.

Here, according to the numbers themselves, each monad is preserved in order up to the hebdomad and the ogdoad, but according to the number of the letters, the zeta becomes sixth and the eta seventh. Since the episemon has somehow crept into the writing, if we follow this, the hebdomad becomes sixth and the ogdoad seventh. For this reason, man is said to have been made on the sixth day, having become faithful to the episemon, so as immediately to receive the rest of the Lord’s inheritance. Something of this sort is also indicated by the sixth hour of the economy of salvation, at which man was perfected. Indeed, of the eight, the means become seven, and of the seven, the intervals appear to be six. That is another account, when the hebdomad glorifies the ogdoad and the heavens declare to the heavens the glory of God. Their perceptible types are the vowel letters among us. Thus the Lord himself is called alpha and omega, beginning and end, through whom all things came to be and without whom nothing came to be. Therefore, as some suppose, God does not rest from making; for being good, if he ever ceases to do good, he will also cease to be God, which it is not even lawful to say. Rather, he has brought it about that the order of created things is preserved inviolably for all time, and has brought each of the creatures to rest from its former disorder. For the creations on the different days have been taken up in a very great sequence, as if receiving honor from what was prior, all created things having order, having been created simultaneously in thought, but not being equally honored.

Nor would the generation of each thing have been declared to have been made all at once if the creation had been spoken of in a single utterance; for it was necessary to name something first. For this reason, therefore, the first things were prophesied, from which the second things come, all things having come into being together from one substance by one power; for the will of God is, I think, one in a single identity. And how could creation take place in time, when time itself is coeval with existing things? Already the whole world revolves in hebdomads, all living and growing things. There are seven principal rulers of angels who hold the greatest power, and there are also seven planets, as those versed in mathematics say, which accomplish the administration of the sublunary region, by whose sympathy the Chaldeans think all things concerning mortal life come to pass, on account of which they also promise to tell something about the future. Of the fixed stars, the Pleiades are seven, and the Bears are seven-starred, according to which agriculture and navigation are brought to completion. The moon also undergoes its transformations in seven days. In the first week it becomes half-moon, in the second full moon, in the third from the waning it becomes half-moon again, and in the fourth it disappears. But also, as the mathematician Seleucus teaches, it is transformed seven times. For it becomes from being without light crescent-shaped, then half-moon, then gibbous, full moon, and in its waning again gibbous, similarly half-moon, and crescent-shaped. "With a seven-toned lyre we shall sing new hymns for the young," writes some not obscure poet, teaching that the ancient lyre was seven-stringed.

Seven organs of perception are placed about our face: two of the eyes, two of the auditory passages, two of the nostrils, and the seventh, that of the mouth. That the changes of life occur according to the hebdomad is shown by the elegies of Solon, somewhat as follows: The child, still a boy and not yet grown, first loses the fence of teeth, shedding them in seven years; when God completes the next seven years, it shows the signs of youth coming; in the third hebdomad, the chin becomes downy as the limbs grow, the bloom of the complexion changing; in the fourth, every man in the hebdomad is greatest in strength, and men have signs of virtue; in the fifth, it is timely for a man to be mindful of marriage and to seek offspring for the future; in the sixth, the man's mind is fully composed in all things, and he no longer wishes to do vain deeds; in the seventh hebdomad, mind and tongue are greatest; in the eighth, both together, fourteen years; in the ninth, he is still able, but his body and strength are more moderate for great virtue; in the tenth, when God completes seven years, he would not be untimely if he met his fate of death. Again, in diseases, the seventh and the fourteenth are critical, in which nature struggles against the disease-causing causes. And Hermippus of Berytus, in his work On the Hebdomad, sets forth countless such things, sanctifying the number. And the blessed David clearly hands down the mystical account concerning the hebdomad and the ogdoad to those who know, singing somewhat as follows: "Our years I meditated upon as a spider's web.

The days of our years among them are seventy years, but if in positions of power, eighty years. May we be ** to rule. So that we may learn that the world is created, but not suppose that God makes in time, prophecy added: This is the book of generation and of those in them, when it came to be; on which day God made the heaven and the earth. For the phrase "when it came to be" indicates an indefinite and timeless expression, while "on which day God made" means in which and through which he made all things, without which nothing came to be, and reveals the activity through the Son, whom David calls: This is the day which the Lord made; let us rejoice and exult in it, that is, let us feast according to the divine knowledge transmitted through him. For "day" is said of the Word that illuminates what is hidden and through which each of the creatures came into light and generation. And in general, the Decalogue through the letter iota signifies the blessed name, representing the Word who is Jesus. The fifth is the next discourse concerning honor of father and mother. And father and

The Lord clearly speaks of God. Therefore He also proclaims those who have recognized Him as sons and gods. The Lord and Father, then, is the creator of all; but the mother is not, as some think, the substance from which we were born, nor, as others have interpreted, the Church, but divine knowledge and wisdom, as Solomon says, calling wisdom the mother of the righteous. And it is for her own sake that she is to be chosen. Moreover, everything good and holy is known from God through the Son. Following this comes the discourse on adultery. Adultery is when someone, abandoning ecclesiastical and true knowledge and the correct understanding of God, goes to an inappropriate false opinion, either deifying something created or even forming an image of something non-existent in excess, or rather in deviation from knowledge. False opinion is alien to the Gnostic, just as true opinion is proper and conjoined to him. Therefore the noble apostle calls idolatry one of the forms of fornication, in accordance with the prophet who says: "The wood and the stone committed adultery; it said to the wood, 'You are my father,' and to the stone, 'You gave birth to me.'" Then the discourse on murder follows. Murder is a violent removal. Therefore, whoever wishes to remove the true teaching about God and His eternity, in order to introduce falsehood, saying either that the universe is without providence, or that the world is uncreated, or that the things established according to true teaching are **, is most abominable. After this comes the discourse on theft.

As, then, the thief of others' property, being greatly unjust, naturally falls into the evils he deserves, so he who appropriates the divine works through art, whether plastic or graphic, and calls himself the maker of animals and plants, and likewise those who imitate true philosophy, are thieves. Even if someone is a farmer or the father of a child, he is a servant of the sowing of seeds, while God, providing the growth and perfection of all things, brings what comes into being to its natural state. But most, including the philosophers, attribute growth and changes primarily to the stars, robbing, as far as they can, the unwearied power, the father of all. The elements and the stars, that is, the administrative powers, were appointed to carry out what is suitable for the economy, and they themselves obey and are led by those set over them, as the word of the Lord directs, since the divine power is by nature hiddenly active in all things. Therefore, anyone who claims to have devised or made something contributing to creation will be held accountable for his impious audacity. The tenth topic is that concerning all desires. Just as one who desires what is not fitting is held accountable, in the same way it is not permitted to desire false things nor to suppose that among things in generation some ensouled things can from themselves, while soulless things cannot at all save or harm; and if someone says that the antidote cannot heal and that hemlock destroys, he is deceived by sophistry.

None of these things acts without the one who uses the herb and the drug, just as the axe does not act without the one who cuts, nor the saw without the one who saws. And just as they do not act by themselves, but have certain natural qualities that contribute to the proper work through the activity of the craftsman, so the effective energy is distributed through the universal providence of God, by means of those things that are moved more immediately, descending step by step to the particulars. But, as it seems, the philosophers of the Greeks, though they name God, do not know him, since they do not worship God according to God. Their philosophical speculations, according to Empedocles, as they have come through many tongues, have been vainly poured forth from mouths, seeing little of the whole. For just as the light from the sun, through a glass vessel full of water, is directed by art into fire, so philosophy, having taken the spark from divine scripture, appears in few things. Indeed, just as all animals breathe the same air, but differently and into something different, so also the majority pursue truth, or rather the discourse about truth. For they do not say anything about God, but interpret their own passions by referring them to God. For their life has become such that they seek the plausible, not the true; and truth is not taught by imitation, but by learning.

For we do not believe in Christ in order to appear good, just as we do not go into the sun merely for the sake of being seen in the sunlight, but here for the sake of being warmed, and there we are compelled to be Christians for the sake of being beautiful and good, because the kingdom belongs especially to those who strive, who through inquiry, learning, and perfect training reap the reward of becoming a king. Therefore, the one who imitates the appearance falsifies both the impression and the preconception. But when someone, having received a spark of the matter, kindles it within the soul through desire and learning, he sets everything in motion toward knowledge. For where one does not grasp something, he neither yearns for it nor welcomes the benefit from it. Consequently, the gnostic at the end of his achievements imitates the Lord, as far as is attainable for humans, having taken on a certain lordly quality for assimilation to God. But those who do not know knowledge cannot even define the truth. Therefore, it is not possible to partake of gnostic speculations unless we empty ourselves of prior thoughts. For truth is spoken of simply in common of everything intelligible and sensible. For instance, one can observe truth in painting distinct from the vulgar, and the dignity of music distinct from the licentious. And so there is a certain truth of philosophy distinct from other philosophers, and a true beauty distinct from the corrupted. Therefore, one must never investigate the partial truths, of which truth is predicated, but truth itself, not seeking to learn names; for the matter concerning God is not one, but countless, and it differs to seek God or to seek things about God.

Generally speaking, concerning each thing, one must distinguish the accidents from the substance. And it suffices for me to declare that the Lord is the Lord of all. I say "the Lord of all" in an absolute sense, with nothing left out by way of exception. Since, then, there are two forms of truth—names and things—those who occupy themselves with the beauties of speech, the philosophers among the Greeks, speak the names, while the things are with us, the barbarians. For instance, the Lord did not wish in vain to make use of a humble form of body, so that no one, praising the fair and admiring the beautiful, might be diverted from what is said and, attending to what is left behind, be cut off from the intelligible. We must therefore concern ourselves not with the expression, but with the meanings. Now, to those who are captious about the expression and not moved toward knowledge, the Word is not entrusted, since even crows imitate human voices without having any understanding of the thing they utter, while intellectual apprehension is attached to faith. Thus Homer said "father of men and of gods," not knowing who the father is and how he is father. And just as for one who has hands, grasping is natural, and for one who possesses healthy eyes, seeing the light is natural, so for one who has received faith, partaking of knowledge is naturally fitting, if one should be eager to work further and build upon the laid foundation gold, silver, and precious stones. Therefore, one does not promise to wish to partake, but begins; nor is it fitting to delay, but to be royal and luminous and gnostic, nor to wish to touch things in name, but in deed.

For being good, God, through the governing principle of all creation, desiring to preserve this, turned to making the rest as well, providing them from the beginning with this first benefaction, namely, to come into being; for everyone would agree that being is far better than not being. Then, as each thing was capable by nature, it came to be and continues to advance toward its own better state. So it is not absurd that philosophy too has been given by divine providence, as a preliminary training for the perfection through Christ, unless philosophy is ashamed to be instructed by barbarian knowledge and to advance toward truth. But hairs are counted and trivial movements, yet how is philosophy not taken into account? Indeed, to Samson power was given in his hair, so that you may understand that even the despised arts in life, those that lie low and remain after the soul's departure, are not given without divine power. For instance, he says, providence from above, from the primary things as from a head, extends to all, like the ointment, he says, that descends upon Aaron's beard and upon the hem of his garment (that is, of the great high priest, through whom all things came to be and without whom nothing came to be), not for the adornment of the body, but philosophy, like a garment, is external to the people.

Therefore, those philosophers who have trained themselves in their own perception through the perceptive spirit, when they do not investigate a part of philosophy but philosophy in its entirety, bearing witness truthfully and without arrogance to the truth even among those of different opinions in matters well said, advance in understanding according to the divine administration, the ineffable goodness which at each moment leads the nature of beings toward the better as far as possible. Then, having conversed not only with Greeks but also with barbarians, they are led from common training to faith and from faith to their own understanding. And having accepted the foundation of truth, they acquire the power to proceed further in inquiry, and from this point, having been instructed, they love, and yearning for knowledge, they hasten toward salvation. Scripture says that the spirit of perception has been given to craftsmen from God, but this is nothing other than prudence, a power of the soul that is contemplative of beings and of what follows, capable of distinguishing the similar and the dissimilar, and also of combining, commanding, forbidding, and conjecturing about future things. It extends not only to the arts but also to philosophy itself. Why then is the serpent called prudent? Because even in wicked deeds one can find a certain sequence, distinction, combination, and conjecture about future things. And most injustices escape notice for this reason, because the wicked contrive for themselves in every way and by all means to avoid punishment.

Prudence, being multifaceted, is stretched throughout the whole cosmos through all human affairs, and changes its name according to each of them. When it applies itself to the first causes, it is called intellection; when it confirms this by demonstrative reasoning, it is named knowledge, wisdom, and science. When it occurs in matters tending toward reverence and, without theory, receives the ruling principle according to the preservation of its own working, it is called faith. When it confirms in perceptible things what seems, in these matters, most true, it is right opinion. In actions involving manual operation, it is art. Where, without theory of the first causes, by preservation of similar things and by transition, it produces some impulse and constitution, it is called experience. That is proper, truly sovereign, and governing, which, after firm faith, the believer additionally receives as holy spirit by oversight. Therefore, philosophy, having partaken of a more distinguished perception, as has been shown from what was previously said, partakes of prudence. At any rate, the logical exposition concerning things thought, involving choice and assent, is called dialectic, which confirms statements about truth through demonstration and refutes the difficulties brought against them. Consequently, those who assert that philosophy did not come here from God are in danger of saying that it is impossible for God to know all particular things, nor that he is the cause of all beautiful things, even if each of them happens to be particular. Nor would any of

n things, God not being unwilling; but if He is willing, philosophy is from God, He having willed it to be such as it is, for the sake of those who would not abstain from evils otherwise than in this way. For God knows all things, not only what exists, but also what will be and how each thing will be, and He foresees the particular movements, oversees all, and hears all, seeing the soul naked within, and has the thought of each individual thing throughout eternity; and what happens in theaters and in the case of each person's parts according to insight, circumspection, and synopsis, this happens in the case of God. For He looks at all things together and each thing individually with a single glance, though not all according to the primary application. Indeed, many things in life receive their generation through some human reasoning, having received their impulse from God. For instance, health through medicine, good condition through gymnastics, and wealth through money-making receive their generation and presence according to divine providence, but according to human cooperation. Understanding also is from God. Indeed, the choice of good men especially obeys the will of God. Therefore, many of the advantages are common to both good and bad men, yet they become beneficial only to the good and virtuous, for whose sake God made them; for the power of God-given gifts is naturally directed toward the use of good men.

But also the conceptions of virtuous men come about by divine inspiration, the soul being disposed in a certain way and the divine will being transmitted to human souls, with those who are in part divine ministers cooperating in such services. For the provinces of angels are distributed among nations and cities, and perhaps also among individuals, to some of whom certain angels are assigned. Indeed, the shepherd cares for each of his sheep individually, and especially those who are outstanding in their natures and capable of benefiting the multitudes have a more immediate supervision. These are the leaders and educators, through whom the activity of providence is clearly manifested, whenever God wishes to benefit men either through education or through some office and administration. And He always wishes this; therefore He moves those who are suitable to the beneficial accomplishment of things that tend toward virtue, peace, and well-doing. Everything virtuous comes from virtue and is referred to virtue, and is given either for the purpose of becoming good or for the purpose of using natural advantages when one is already good; for it cooperates both in general and in particular matters. How then is it not absurd to attribute disorder and injustice to the devil, while making him the giver of a virtuous thing, namely philosophy? For he would then appear to have been more kindly disposed toward the Greeks for making them good men than divine providence and will. On the contrary, I think it is the property of law and of every right reason to assign to each what is fitting, what is proper, and what belongs to him.

Just as the lyre belongs only to the lyre-player and the flute to the flute-player, so the excellences of good men are possessions, just as it is the nature of the good-doer to do good, as it is of fire to heat and of light to illuminate. A good man could not do evil, any more than light could produce darkness or fire could produce cold. Conversely, wickedness could not produce anything virtuous; for its activity is to do evil, as it is of darkness to confuse the sight. Philosophy, then, which makes men virtuous, is not the work of wickedness. It remains, therefore, that it is the work of God, whose sole work is to do good, and all things that are given by God are both well given and well received. Indeed, the use of philosophy is not for evil men; but if it has been given to the best of the Greeks, it is clear from whom it has been bestowed, namely from providence, which distributes what is fitting to each according to merit. Reasonably, then, law was given to the Jews, and philosophy to the Greeks, until the coming of the Lord; and from that point, the universal calling, gathering into a chosen people of righteousness through teaching based on faith, by means of the one Lord, the one and only God of both, Greeks and barbarians, or rather of the whole human race. We have often said that philosophy is that which, according to philosophy, attains truth, even if only partially; and already the goods in the arts, as arts, have their origin from God. For just as doing something skillfully is contained within the theorems of the art, so acting prudently is ordered under prudence; and prudence is a virtue; and it is its property to know other things, and much more so, things concerning itself.

Wisdom, being a power, is nothing other than knowledge of divine and human goods. Scripture, teaching that the earth and its fullness come from God and that goods come to men from God, has said that the divine power and strength of distribution are fitting for human assistance. Accordingly, there are three modes of all benefit and transmission from one to another: one by way of accompaniment, as the trainer shapes the boy; another by way of likeness, as one who urges another to improvement by first giving an example; and one cooperates with the learner, while the other jointly benefits the receiver. The third mode is that by way of command, when the trainer no longer molds the learner nor demonstrates the wrestling hold through himself for the boy to imitate, but, as to one already more practiced, commands the hold by name. The gnostic, then, having received from God the ability to benefit, helps some by shaping them through accompaniment, others by urging them through assimilation, and others by educating and teaching them through command. Indeed, he himself has been benefited by the Lord in like ways. Thus, the benefit extending from God to men becomes known, with angels joining in the summons; for through angels, divine power provides goods, whether they are seen or not. Such also is the mode according to the Lord’s epiphany. At times, too, according to men’s thoughts and reasonings, the power inspires something and instills in their minds strength and more precise awareness, providing might and boldness of eagerness for both inquiries and deeds.

Yet, there are also set before us for imitation and assimilation truly wondrous and holy examples of virtue through the recorded deeds. And indeed, the form of command is most evident both through the dominical covenants and through the laws among the Greeks, as well as through the precepts in philosophy. And to speak concisely, every practical benefit, according to the highest principle, is accomplished from the all-powerful God, the Father who guides all, through the Son, who is for this reason the savior of all men, as the apostle says, and especially of the faithful; but according to the proximate principle, it is accomplished by those proximate to each, in accordance with the command and ordinance of the Lord proximate to the first cause. Our gnostic, however, always occupies himself with the most essential matters; but if there is ever leisure and a time of relaxation from the primary concerns, instead of other idleness, he also takes up Greek philosophy, as a kind of dessert relished at dinner, not neglecting the better things, but adding these as well, to the extent that is fitting, for the reasons I have previously stated. But those who have yearned for the unnecessary and superfluous parts of philosophy and have devoted themselves solely to eristic sophisms have been left behind from the necessary and most essential matters, chasing, as it were, the shadows of arguments. Now, it is good to know everything; but for one whose soul is too weak to extend to polymathic experience, he will choose only the primary and better things.

For true knowledge, which we say only the gnostic possesses, is a firm comprehension that leads through true and certain reasoning to the understanding of the cause; and the one who knows the truth about any given thing is also the one who knows the falsehood about the same thing. And indeed, that argument seems to me to hold well: if one ought to philosophize, one ought to philosophize—for the thing itself follows from itself; but also if one ought not to philosophize—for no one could condemn something without first having known it. Therefore, one ought to philosophize. These things being so, it is necessary for the Greeks to learn through law and prophets to worship one only God, the truly existing almighty; then to be taught this through the apostle: for us there is no idol in the world, since no likeness of God can exist among created things; and to be further taught that not even of those things which they worship would the statues be images—for the race of souls is not at all of such a form as the Greeks fashion their wooden images. For souls are invisible, not only rational ones but also those of irrational animals; and their bodies never become parts of the souls, but are instruments—some being seats, others vehicles, and others possessions in a different manner. But it is not possible even to represent the images of the instruments clearly, just as one might model the sun as it is seen, or depict the rainbow with its colors. But when they abandon the idols, then they will hear the Scripture:

Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, who are justified by abstaining from evil, and unless along with perfection in these matters you are also able to love your neighbor and do good, you will not be royal. For the intensification of righteousness according to the law reveals the gnostic. Thus one who is stationed according to the ruling part of his own body, the head, and who has advanced to the summit of faith, knowledge itself, about which all the senses are concerned, will likewise obtain the highest inheritance. The apostle clearly indicates the ruling principle of knowledge to those able to discern, writing to those Corinthians of Greece somewhat as follows: "But having hope that as your faith increases you will be magnified among yourselves according to our rule to abundance, to proclaim the gospel beyond yourselves," not meaning the extension of the proclamation in respect to place (for he himself says that faith has abounded in Achaia, and it is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles that he also preached the word in Athens), but he teaches knowledge, which is the perfection of faith, to abound beyond catechesis according to the majesty of the Lord's teaching and the ecclesiastical rule. Hence he adds further: "But even if I am unskilled in speech, I am not so in knowledge." Nevertheless, let those Greeks who boast of having grasped the truth tell us from whom they learned to be so arrogant. For they would not claim it is from God, but they admit it is from men.

And if this is so, they either learned late from themselves, as indeed some of them boast in their conceit, or from others like themselves. But men speaking about God are not reliable teachers, insofar as they are men; for a man, being weak and perishable, is not competent to speak the truth about the unbegotten and imperishable, nor the work about the maker. Then, if one cannot speak the truth about himself, is he not all the more untrustworthy concerning things about God? For as far as man falls short of God in power, so far does his speech fall short, even if he speaks not of God but about God and the divine Word. For human speech is by nature weak and incapable of expressing God—I do not mean the name (for this is common, named not only by philosophers but also by poets), nor the essence (for that is impossible), but the power and works of God. And yet those who claim God as their teacher barely attain to a conception of God, with grace assisting them to some partial knowledge, as when they accustom themselves to contemplate will by will and the Holy Spirit by the Holy Spirit, because spirit investigates the depths of God, while the psychic man does not receive the things of the spirit. Therefore only the

Among us, wisdom is taught by God, from which all the springs of wisdom that aim at truth are derived. Indeed, as if the Lord were coming to men to teach us, there have been countless sign-bearers, announcers, preparers, forerunners from above, from the foundation of the world, through deeds and words, foretelling and prophesying that he would come, and where, and how, and what the signs would be. Indeed, the law and the prophecy prepare from afar, and then the forerunner points out the one who is present, after whom the heralds of the manifestation, teaching its power, announce it. *** They pleased only their own, and not even all of these: Socrates pleased Plato, Plato pleased Xenocrates, Aristotle pleased Theophrastus, and Zeno pleased Cleanthes—these persuaded only their own sectarians. But the word of our teacher did not remain only in Judea, as philosophy did in Greece; it was spread throughout the whole world, persuading both Greeks and barbarians, in every nation, village, and city, whole households and each individual who heard it, and already converting not a few of the philosophers themselves to the truth. And if any chance ruler suppresses Greek philosophy, it vanishes at once; but our teaching, from the time of its first proclamation, has been suppressed by kings and tyrants and local rulers and governors together with all their mercenaries, and also by countless men, who have made war on us and tried with all their might to cut it off; yet it flourishes all the more.

For the teaching does not die as a human one, nor does the gift wither as a weak one (for no gift of God is weak), but it remains unhindered, having been prophesied to be persecuted to the end. Then, concerning poetry, Plato writes that the poet is a light and sacred thing, and is not able to make before he becomes inspired and out of his senses. And Democritus similarly: whatever a poet writes with enthusiasm and holy spirit is very beautiful. But we know what poets say. Would not one be astounded at the prophets of the almighty God, who have become instruments of the divine voice? Just as, having molded a statue of the gnostic, we have already shown what he is like, having indicated the magnitude and beauty of his character as in a sketch; what he is like in contemplation of natural things will be shown afterwards, when we begin to treat of the generation of the world. CLEMENT'S STROMATEIS, BOOK SEVEN. Now it is time for us to demonstrate to the Greeks that only the gnostic is truly god-fearing, so that the philosophers, having learned what sort of person the true Christian is, may condemn their own ignorance, persecuting the name vainly and at random, and falsely calling atheists those who have known the true God. I think it is fitting to use clearer arguments with the philosophers, since they are able to understand from the education they have already been trained in, even if they have not yet rendered themselves worthy to partake of the power of believing. We will not mention the prophetic sayings at present, but will use the scriptures later in the appropriate places.

We will indicate the meanings derived from them summarily, sketching Christianity, so as not to break the continuity of the discourse by including the Scriptures, and this for those who do not yet understand their words. But when we have pointed out the meanings, then for those who have believed from abundance, the testimonies will also be made clear. (And if what we say appears to some of the many to be different from the Lord’s Scriptures, it must be known that it breathes and lives from them, and having its starting points from them, it undertakes to present the mind, not the wording.) For further elaboration, if not done at the right time, would reasonably seem superfluous, while not considering the urgent matter at all is utterly negligent and deficient. Truly blessed are those who search out the testimonies of the Lord; they will seek him out with their whole heart. The law and the prophets bear witness concerning the Lord. It is our task, then, to set forth only the Gnostic as holy and pious, worshipping the true God in a manner befitting God; and what is befitting God is followed by what is dear to God and loving of God. Now, everything that is superior is considered honorable according to its worth; and honor must be given, among perceptible things, to rulers, parents, and every elder; among teachable things, to the most ancient philosophy and the most senior prophecy; among intelligible things, to the most senior in generation, the timeless, beginningless beginning and first-fruit of beings, the Son.

From whom it is possible to learn the cause beyond, the father of all, the most ancient and most beneficent of all, no longer transmitted by voice, but by reverence and silence with holy awe, most properly revered and august. It is spoken by the Lord as far as it was possible for learners to hear, but understood by those chosen for knowledge from the Lord, whose senses, as the apostle says, have been exercised together. Therefore, the service of God is the continuous care of the soul for the gnostic, and his unceasing occupation with the divine in accordance with undying love. For of the service concerning human beings, one part is improving, the other serving. Medicine improves the body, philosophy the soul. To parents from children and to rulers from subjects, serving benefit accrues; similarly in the church, the elders preserve the image of the improving kind, the deacons that of the serving. Both these services are performed by angels for God according to the administration of earthly affairs, and by the gnostic himself, serving God, while displaying the improving contemplation to human beings, so that he may be appointed to teach for the correction of human beings. For only the one who serves God well and blamelessly in human affairs is pious.

Just as the best care of plants is that by which the fruits are produced and gathered through the knowledge and experience of agriculture, providing the benefit from them to men, so the piety of the gnostic, receiving into itself the fruits of the men who have believed through him, as more come to recognition and are saved by this, accomplishes the best harvest through experience. If godliness is a disposition preserving what is fitting for God, the godly man alone is beloved of God; and he would be the one who knows what is fitting both according to knowledge and according to life, how one ought to live who is to be and is already being assimilated to God. Therefore he is first of all a lover of God. For as the one who honors his father is a lover of his father, so the one who honors God is a lover of God. And thus it appears to me that there are three results of the gnostic power: first, to know things; second, to accomplish whatever reason dictates; and third, to be able to transmit in a godly manner the things hidden in truth. Therefore, the one who is convinced that God is almighty and has learned the divine mysteries from his only-begotten son, how can this man be an atheist? For an atheist is one who does not believe that God exists, while a superstitious man is one who fears demons. The one who divinizes everything—wood and stone and spirit—is a man not living rationally, but enslaved.

Faith, then, is the first step toward knowing God, together with the teaching of the Savior, producing the confidence that it is proper to do nothing unjust in any way, and that this is fitting for the knowledge of God. By this, the most powerful on earth is the most god-fearing man, and the most powerful in heaven is the angel, who partakes of eternal and blessed life more closely in place and already more purely. The most perfect, most holy, most authoritative, most governing, most royal, and most beneficent is the nature of the Son, which is nearest to the sole Pantocrator. This is the greatest supremacy, which orders all things according to the will of the Father and steers the whole excellently, working everything with unwearied and untiring power, overseeing the hidden thoughts through which it acts. For the Son of God never departs from his own watchtower, not being divided, not being cut off, not moving from place to place, but being everywhere always and contained nowhere, wholly mind, wholly paternal light, wholly eye, seeing all, hearing all, knowing all, investigating the powers by power. To him is subordinated the entire host of angels and gods, to the Logos who has taken up the holy economy for the Father, on account of the one who subordinated him, through whom also all are his men, but some according to knowledge, others not yet, and some as friends, others as faithful servants, others as mere servants. This is the Teacher who educates the gnostic by mysteries, the faithful by good hopes, and the hard-hearted by corrective discipline through perceptible activity. From this comes providence, privately, publicly, and everywhere.

That the Son is God, and that this one is the Savior and Lord whom we proclaim, the divine prophecies demonstrate directly. With this the Lord of all persuades those who are willing, both Greeks and barbarians; for he does not force the one who is able to receive salvation from himself through choosing and fulfilling all that is required from him to grasp hope. This is the one who gives philosophy even to the Greeks through the inferior angels; for angels are distributed by divine and ancient command among the nations. But the portion of the Lord is the glory of those who believe. For either the Lord does not care for all men (and this would be either because he is unable, which is not permissible, for it is a sign of weakness, or because he is able but does not wish, which is not the mark of a good being; therefore he is not indolent through luxury, he who for our sake took on passible flesh) or he cares for all, which is fitting for the one who has become Lord of all. For he is Savior, not of some but not of others; but according to the capacity each had, he distributed his beneficence, to Greeks and barbarians and to those predestined from among them, but called at the appropriate time, faithful and elect. Therefore he would never envy anyone, he who has called all equally, but has assigned special honors to those who have believed in a special way. Nor would the Lord of all ever be hindered by another, especially as he serves the will of the good and all-powerful Father. But envy does not touch the Lord, who is impassible and without beginning, nor are human affairs such as to be objects of envy for the Lord.

Another is the envious one, whom passion has also touched. Nor indeed can it be said that it is from ignorance that the Lord does not wish to save humanity, because he does not know how to care for each one. For ignorance does not touch the Son, who was the Father's counselor before the foundation of the world. For this was the Wisdom in which the almighty God rejoiced; for the Son is the power of God, being the most primal Word of the Father before all things that have come into being, and he might properly be called his Wisdom and the Teacher of those fashioned through him. Nor would he ever abandon the care of human beings because he is distracted by some pleasure, since he even took up the flesh, which is by nature subject to passion, and trained it into a state of impassibility. How could he be Savior and Lord, if he were not the Savior and Lord of all? But he is the Savior of those who have believed, because they have chosen to know, and the Lord of those who have disobeyed, until such time as, having been enabled to confess, they receive the appropriate and fitting beneficence through him. All the activity of the Lord refers back to the Almighty, and the Son is, so to speak, a kind of paternal activity. Therefore,

The Saviour could never be a misanthrope, who, because of his exceeding love for humanity, did not overlook the weakness of human flesh, but, having taken it upon himself, came for the common salvation of human beings; for the faith of those who choose is common. Nor would he ever neglect his own work, since to the human being alone among other living creatures the conception of God has been instilled according to the creation. Nor could there be any other better and more harmonious administration of human beings for God than the one that has been ordained. It is fitting, then, that the superior by nature should always lead the inferior, and that the one who is able to govern something well should be entrusted with its administration. The truly ruling and governing principle is the divine Word and its providence, overseeing everything, neglecting the care of none of its own. And these would be those who have chosen to be its own, those perfected through faith. Thus the Son is established as the cause of all good things by the will of the all-powerful Father, the primal moving power, imperceptible to the senses. For what he was, that was not seen by those unable to comprehend because of the weakness of the flesh; but having taken up perceptible flesh, he came to show what is possible for human beings through obedience to the commandments. Therefore, being the paternal power, he easily prevails over whatever he wishes, leaving not even the smallest part of his administration uncared for; for otherwise the whole would not be well wrought by him.

The greatest power, I think, is the precise examination extending through all parts, even to the smallest, with all looking to the first governor of the universe, who from the will of the Father governs the salvation of all, while others are arranged under others as leaders. One may thus arrive at the great high priest. For from one single principle above, which acts according to the will, the first, second, and third are suspended; then at the end of the visible world, at its extremity, is the blessed angelic order, and finally down to us ourselves, some under others, from one and through one, are arranged, both being saved and saving. Just as a very distant portion of iron is moved by the breath of the Heraclean stone, extending through many iron rings, so also, drawn by the holy spirit, the virtuous are attached to the first station, and then others in succession down to the last, while the evil, through weakness, having fallen into injustice by insatiable greed, neither holding nor being held, slip away, entangled in passions, and fall to the ground. For this is the law from above: that whoever wishes may choose virtue.

Therefore both the commandments according to the law and those before the law did not ordain for those under law (for law is not laid down for the righteous man) that the one who chooses eternal and blessed life should receive a reward, but they permitted the one who delights in evil to consort with what he chose, and again the soul that is each time improved, advancing to the knowledge of virtue and the increase of justice, receives a better station in the whole, each progression extending into a state of impassibility, until it arrives at a perfect man, the preeminence of knowledge and inheritance together. These saving revolutions are apportioned according to the order of change, both in times and places and honors and knowledges and inheritances and ministries, each according to each, up to the transcendent and immediate contemplation of the Lord in eternity. And the desirable leads to its own contemplation every one who has wholly devoted himself to the love of knowledge for the sake of contemplation. Therefore the Lord, drawing from one source the commandments he gave, both the earlier and the later, neither overlooked that those before the law were lawless, nor permitted those not understanding barbarian philosophy to rebel. For to some he provided commandments, to others philosophy, and he confined unbelief to the time of his coming, whence every one who has not believed is without excuse. For he leads from each progression, both Greek and barbarian, to the perfection through faith. But if someone among the Greeks, bypassing the preliminary stage of Greek philosophy, directly

hastened to the true teaching, this one, even if a layman, having chosen the shortcut of salvation through faith to perfection, has surpassed. Therefore all things that hindered nothing from being voluntary for man in his choice, he both made and showed to be cooperative towards virtue, so that somehow even to those able to see dimly, the one truly only almighty good God might be revealed, saving from eternity to eternity through the Son, and utterly in no way responsible for evil. For with a view to the salvation of the whole, everything has been arranged by the Lord of all, both universally and in particular. It is therefore the work of saving justice to advance each thing always towards the better, as far as possible. For with a view to the salvation and continuance of the better, even the lesser things are administered in accordance with their own characters. Immediately, everything virtuous changes to better dwellings, having as the cause of the change the choice of knowledge, which the soul possessed as an autocratic power. And the necessary disciplines, through the goodness of the great overseeing judge, both through the proximate angels and through various preliminary judgments and through the final judgment, compel those who have become more hardened to repent.

I say nothing else, glorifying the Lord. But I affirm that those gnostic souls, surpassing the polity of each holy order by the magnificence of contemplation, according to which the blessed dwellings of the gods have been demarcated and allotted, being counted as holy among holy ones and transferred entirely from entireties, arriving at better places of better places, no longer embracing divine contemplation in mirrors or through mirrors, but feasting on a vision as clear and precisely pure as possible, insatiably loved by souls, eternally reaping insatiable eternal joy, are honored to remain for the endless ages in the identity of preeminence. This is the contemplative vision of those pure in heart. This, then, is the activity of the perfected gnostic: to converse with God through the great high priest, being assimilated as far as possible to the Lord through all service to God, which extends to the salvation of men according to care for beneficence toward us, and according to liturgy, and according to teaching, and according to benefaction through works. Indeed, the gnostic builds and creates himself, and moreover adorns those who heed him, being assimilated to God, who by nature possesses impassibility, assimilating as far as possible the state contracted by training to impassibility, and this while conversing and associating with the Lord without distraction. Gentleness, I think, and philanthropy, and magnificent piety are the canons of gnostic assimilation.

These, I say, are the virtues that constitute an acceptable sacrifice to God, the unpretentious heart with right knowledge, which Scripture calls a whole burnt offering of God, when the whole person taken up into holiness is illuminated into an undivided unity. For the Gospel and the Apostle command us to take ourselves captive and to slay ourselves, killing the old man who is corrupted by desires and raising up the new man from the death of the old perversion, laying aside the passions and becoming sinless. This, then, was what the Law also intimated when it commanded that the sinner be put to death—the transposition from death to life, the dispassion that comes from faith. The teachers of the Law, not understanding this, having received the Law in a contentious spirit, have provided occasions for those who vainly attempt to slander. For this reason we do not sacrifice to God, who is in need of nothing and has provided all things to all, but we glorify the one sacrificed on our behalf, sacrificing ourselves from the needless to the needless and from the passionless to the passionless. For God rejoices only in our salvation. Reasonably, then, we do not offer sacrifice to the one who is not overcome by pleasures, down somewhere not even as far as the thickest clouds, but far indeed

These, I say, are the virtues that constitute an acceptable sacrifice to God, the unpretentious heart with right knowledge, which Scripture calls a whole burnt offering of God, when the whole person taken up into holiness. The divine is not reached by the exhalation of smoke, which reaches only those it reaches. Therefore the divine is neither needy nor fond of pleasure, nor fond of gain or money, being full and providing everything to every created and needy thing; nor is the divine charmed or led astray by sacrifices, offerings, glory, or honor, or by any such things, but appears like good and noble men, who would never betray justice for fear of threatened punishment or the promise of greater gifts. Those who have not perceived the self-determination and freedom of the human soul in choosing a life, being distressed by the deeds of uneducated injustice, do not believe that God exists. Equal to these in opinion are those who, falling into intemperance of pleasures, excessive griefs, and unwanted misfortunes, and despairing in calamities, say that God does not exist, or that if he exists, he is not all-seeing. Others there are who are persuaded that the so-called gods are bribable by sacrifices and gifts, cooperating, so to speak, with their licentiousness, and they are unwilling to believe that the true God alone exists, who abides in the identity of righteous goodness. Pious, therefore, is the gnostic, who first cares for himself, then for his neighbors, so that we may become as excellent as possible; for the son pleases a good father by presenting himself as earnest and like his father, and the subject pleases the ruler; for believing and obeying is in our power; but one might suppose the cause of evils to be the weakness of matter, the unwanted impulses of ignorance, and the irrational necessities due to lack of learning.

Above these, as if above wild beasts, the gnostic, through learning, having become, imitating the divine choice, does good to those of men who wish it, according to his ability; and if he should ever be placed in a position of authority, like Moses, he will lead for the salvation of those under his rule and will tame the wild and faithless, with honor for the best and punishment for the wicked, the latter being inscribed according to reason for the purpose of education. For the soul of a righteous man is especially a divine image and like God, in which, through obedience to the commandments, the leader of all mortals and immortals, king and begetter of good things, who is truly law and ordinance and eternal word, one for each individually and for all in common, the savior, is enshrined and established. This one is truly the only-begotten, the character of the glory of the all-king and all-ruler father, being impressed upon the gnostic with perfect contemplation according to his own image, so that there is already a third divine image, as far as possible made like the second cause, towards the truly living, through whom we live the true life, as it were tracing the gnostic type becoming for us, moving about the stable and completely unchangeable things. Therefore, being ruler of himself and of his own, having a firm grasp of divine knowledge, he approaches the truth genuinely. For the knowledge and firm grasp of intelligible things would appropriately be called science, whose work concerning divine things is to consider what the first cause is, and what that through which all things came to be and without which nothing has come to be; and again, which things are as pervading, which as encompassing, and which are conjoined, which disjoined.

and what rank each of these holds, what power and what function each contributes. And again, among human matters, what man himself is, and what is according to nature or contrary to nature for him, and how he ought to act or be affected, and what are his virtues and what his vices, concerning goods and evils and things intermediate, and all that pertains to courage, prudence, temperance, and the perfect virtue that stands over all, justice. But prudence and justice are used for the acquisition of wisdom, while courage consists not only in enduring circumstances but also in mastering pleasure and desire, and again grief and anger, and in general in opposing everything that either by force or by some deception leads our soul astray. For one must not endure vices and evils, but repel them, and endure fearful things. Thus pain is found useful in medicine, education, and punishment, and through it characters are corrected for the benefit of men. The forms of courage are endurance, magnanimity, greatness of soul, liberality, and magnificence. And for this reason the gnostic is affected neither by blame nor by ill repute from the multitude, nor is he subject to opinions or flatteries, and while enduring labors, at the same time accomplishing what is fitting and rising courageously above all circumstances, he appears as a true man among other men.

preserving prudence, he is temperate in the tranquility of the soul, receptive to the proclaimed goods as proper to him, by turning away from shameful things as alien, becoming orderly and supercosmic, doing everything in order and arrangement and erring in nothing anywhere, being rich as much as possible in desiring nothing, since he is in need of few things and in abundance of every good through knowledge of the good. For the first work of his justice is to live in friendship with those of the same race and to be with them on earth and in heaven. By this he is also communicative of whatever he possesses, philanthropic, and most hostile to evil in his complete turning away from all wrongdoing. Therefore one must learn to be faithful to oneself and to one's neighbors and obedient to the commandments. For this is the servant of God who willingly submits to the commandments. But he who no longer acts because of the commandments, but because of knowledge itself, being pure in heart, this one is a friend of God. For we are not born possessing virtue by nature, nor does it arise naturally later, as do some other parts of the body (since then it would no longer be voluntary nor praiseworthy), nor is virtue perfected from the occurrence of events and from the habit that arises, as language is (for vice arises in nearly this way); nor does knowledge come about from some art, either of the productive arts or of those that tend the body; nor even from encyclical education; for it would be a great thing if it could only prepare the soul and serve it.

Civil laws are perhaps able to restrain base actions, but neither they themselves nor persuasive discourses, being superficial, could provide a scientific permanence of truth. Greek philosophy, however, purifies and prepares the soul beforehand for the reception of faith, upon which truth builds knowledge. This is the true athlete, the one in the great stadium, the beautiful cosmos, crowned with the genuine victory over all passions. For the umpire is the all-powerful God, the judge is the only-begotten son of God, and the spectators are angels and gods; and the pancratium, the all-out contest, is not against blood and flesh, but against the spiritual powers of the passions that operate through the flesh; overcoming these great antagonists, and having conquered, as it were, the trials that the tempter suspends, he has gained immortality; for the judgment of God is unerring in its most just verdict. He is called to the contest in the theater, and the athletes wrestle in the stadium; and indeed from these the one who becomes obedient to the trainer prevails. For all things are laid equally before all by God, and he himself is blameless; but the one who is able and the one who wills will prevail. For this reason we have received the mind, that we may know what we do, and the "know thyself" here means to know for what purpose we were born. We were born to be obedient to the commandments, if we choose to be saved. This is perhaps Adrasteia, according to which it is impossible to escape God. Therefore, the human work is obedience to God, who has proclaimed varied salvation through commandments, and satisfaction is confession.

For the benefactor initiates the good deed, while the one who, with the necessary reasoning, eagerly receives and guards the commandments is faithful, and the one who, as far as possible, repays the good deed through love is already a friend. But there is one most principal repayment from human beings: to do what is pleasing to God. And just as a teacher and savior accepts the benefits and corrections of human beings as if they were his own offspring or some kindred result, for his own grace and honor, so also he considers the harms done to those who have trusted in him as his own ingratitude and dishonor. (For what else could be a dishonor to God?) Therefore, there is no other repayment of equal worth to salvation that can be given in return for the benefit from the Lord. And just as those who damage property insult the owners, and as those who harm soldiers insult their commander, so also the mistreatment of those consecrated to the Lord is a disregard of him. For in the same way that the sun not only illuminates the sky and the whole world, shining upon earth and sea, but also sends its ray through windows and a small opening into the innermost rooms, so the Word, diffused everywhere, oversees even the smallest of life's actions.

The Greeks, just as they conceive of gods in human form, so also do they attribute human passions to them, and just as each people paints the forms of their gods to resemble themselves, as Xenophanes says—Ethiopians as black and snub-nosed, Thracians as red-haired and blue-eyed—so also do they fashion their souls to be like themselves, barbarians making them beastly and savage in character, Greeks more civilized, but still subject to passion. Hence it is reasonable that the wicked necessarily have base conceptions about God, while the virtuous have the best; and for this reason the man who is truly royal in soul and gnostic, being both pious and free from superstition, is convinced that the one God alone is honorable, august, magnificent, beneficent, bountiful, the originator of all good things, and the cause of none evil. And concerning Greek superstition, I think we have sufficiently demonstrated in our work entitled the Protrepticus, having abundantly and with pressing urgency made use of history. Therefore, it is not necessary to rehearse again what has been clearly stated. But to note a few points from many in accordance with the present topic, even these suffice to show that those who liken the divine to the worst of men are atheists. For either the gods are harmed by men and are shown to be worse than men, being harmed by us, or if not this, how is it that they are embittered, like a quick-tempered old woman provoked to anger, over things by which they are not harmed—as they say Artemis was angered against the Aetolians because of Oeneus? For how did she, being a goddess, not consider that Oeneus did not act out of contempt, but either forgot or neglected it as having already sacrificed?

Well does Auge argue in her defense against Athena for being angry at her for giving birth in the temple, saying: You rejoice in seeing man-slaying spoils and the ruins of the dead, and these are not unclean to you; but if I have given birth, you consider this a terrible thing; and yet other animals that give birth in the temples do no wrong. Naturally, then, becoming superstitious about those who are easily angered, they consider all occurrences to be signs and causes of evils. If a mouse gnaws through an altar that is made of clay, or if it gnaws through a bag having nothing else to eat, or if a domestic cock crows in the evening, they take this as a sign of something. Menander in his Deisidaimon ridicules someone like this: "May some good befall me, O honored gods, for while putting on my sandal I broke the strap of my right shoe." Naturally, you fool; for it was rotten, and you are a miser, not wanting to buy new ones. Charming is the remark of Antiphon: When someone took it as an omen that a sow had devoured her piglets, and seeing her emaciated by hunger due to the stinginess of her keeper, he said, "Rejoice at the sign, that being so hungry she did not eat your children." And what is so wonderful, says Bion, if the mouse gnawed through the bag, not finding anything to eat? For this was

It is remarkable if, as Arcesilaus used to jest, the bag devoured the mouse. Well indeed did Diogenes say to the man who marveled that he found the snake coiled in the mortar: "Do not marvel," he said, "for it would have been more paradoxical if you had seen the mortar coiled around the upright snake." For even irrational animals must run and rush and fight and give birth and die, which, being natural to them, could never become unnatural to us; and many birds come under the rays of the sun. The comic poet Philemon also ridicules such things: "Whenever I see," he says, "someone watching to see who sneezed or who spoke, or who is going ahead, I immediately sell him in the marketplace." Each of us walks and speaks and sneezes for himself, not for those in the city. Things happen as they are by nature. Then, while sober they pray for health, but by overeating and wallowing in drunkenness during festivals they bring on diseases. Many also fear the paintings that are dedicated. Very wittily, Diogenes, finding inscribed on the house of some wicked man, "The victorious Heracles dwells here; let no evil enter," said, "And how will the master of the house enter?" These same people, while adoring every piece of wood and every stone, as the saying goes, with unguents, fear red wool and grains of salt and torches, squill, and sulfur, having been bewitched by sorcerers through certain impure purifications. But God, the true God, knows only the character of the righteous man as holy, just as he knows the unjust and wicked as polluted. One can see, indeed, that eggs from those who have been purified, if they are warmed, become living creatures.

This would not have happened if it had taken on the evils of the one purified. At any rate, the comic poet Diphilus wittily satirizes the sorcerers in these lines: "Purifying the Proetides, maidens, and their father Proetus, son of Abas, and a fifth old woman besides, with one torch and one squill, so many bodies of men, with sulphur and asphalt and the loud-roaring sea from the calm, deep-flowing Ocean." But, "Blessed Air, send Anticyra through the clouds, so that I may make this fellow a drone." For Menander also says well: "If you had some real evil, Phidias, you would need to seek a true remedy for it. But now you have none; you have found both the remedy and the disease empty; think that it benefits you. Let the women smear you all around and carry you about; sprinkle yourself with water from three springs, adding salt and lentils." Everyone is pure who is conscious of no evil in himself. At once tragedy says: "Orestes, what disease is destroying you?" "Conscience, because I am conscious of having done terrible deeds." For in truth, purity is nothing other than abstinence from sins. So Epicharmus also says rightly: "If you have a pure mind, you are pure in your whole body." At once we say that it is necessary to purify the souls beforehand from base and wicked doctrines through right reason, and then in this way to turn to the recollection of the principal topics, since even before the transmission of the mysteries they deem it right to apply certain purifications to those about to be initiated, as it is necessary to lay aside the godless opinion and turn to the true tradition.

For either we do not rightly and truly confine the incomprehensible in some place, nor do we shut up the all-containing in handmade temples; what holy work could there be of builders and stonecutters and vulgar art? Are not those better who have deemed the air and the surrounding space, or rather the whole world and the universe, worthy of the preeminence of God? It would be ridiculous, as the philosophers themselves say, for a human being, who is a plaything of God, to make God, and for God to become a plaything of art. For that which comes into being is the same and similar to that from which it comes, as the ivory thing from ivory and the golden thing from gold; but the statues and temples constructed by vulgar craftsmen come from inert matter, so that they themselves would be inert and material and profane. And even if you perfect the art, it has partaken of vulgarity; the works of art are no longer sacred and divine. And what could be established when nothing is unestablished, since all things are in place? Indeed, that which is established by someone is first unestablished before being established. If, then, God is established by humans, he was once unestablished and did not exist at all. For that would be unestablished, which does not exist; since everything that does not exist is established. But that which exists would not be established by that which does not exist, nor even by another existing thing; for it itself also exists. It remains, then, that it is established by itself. And how will something generate itself? Or how will that which exists establish itself in being? Was it first unestablished and then established itself? But then it would not even have existed, since the non-existent is unestablished; and how could that which is thought to be established, which already had existence, later make itself so?

But if all things are in Him, how then would He need anything? Yet if the divine is anthropomorphic, it will require the same things as a human: food, shelter, a house, and all that follows. For those of similar form and similar passions will need the same way of life. And if "temple" is understood in two senses—both God Himself and the structure built in His honor—how could we not properly call the church, which is made in honor of God through holy knowledge, a temple of God, one that is of great worth and not constructed by vulgar art, nor fashioned by the hand of a charlatan, but made into a shrine by the will of God? For I do not now call the place "church," but the assembly of the elect. This temple is better for receiving a magnitude worthy of God. For the living being of great worth is consecrated to the one worthy of the All—or rather, to the one who is the equal of nothing, through an excess of holiness. And this would be the gnostic, the one of great worth, the one honored by God, in whom God is enshrined—that is, knowledge of God is consecrated. Here we would also find the image, the divine and holy statue, in the righteous soul, when it is blessed and has been purified beforehand, and when it performs blessed works. Here too are the enshrined and the being enshrined: the former in the case of those already gnostic, the latter in the case of those who are to become such, even if they are not yet worthy to receive knowledge of God. For everything that is about to believe is already faithful to God and is established as a virtuous statue consecrated in honor of God.

Just as God is not confined to a place nor ever depicted in the form of a living creature, so too He is not subject to passion nor in need, like created things, so as to desire sacrifices as a kind of food because of hunger. All things that are touched by passion are perishable, and it is vain to bring food to that which is not fed. And that comic poet Pherecrates in his *Automoloi* wittily represented the gods themselves complaining to men about their sacrifices: "When you sacrifice to the gods, first you set aside the customary portion for the priests, then for yourselves, then (shame to say it) after stripping the thighs clean down to the groins, you give us all the meat and the loin completely bare, and then the spine itself, as if filing it with a file, you distribute to us as to dogs, and then, ashamed before each other, you conceal it with many barley-cakes." Eubulus, himself also a comic poet, writes somewhat as follows about sacrifices: "To the gods themselves you sacrifice only the tail and the thigh, as if to pederasts." And in his *Semele*, after introducing Dionysus, he has him give instructions: "First, whenever some people sacrifice to me, they sacrifice blood, bladder, liver, heart, and the surface membrane; for I myself do not eat the sweet nor the thigh." Menander too has represented the outermost loin and the gall as "the inedible bones" (he says) "which they place before the gods, while they themselves consume the rest." For is not the savor of whole burnt offerings also avoided by wild beasts? And if the savor is truly the perquisite of the gods among the Greeks, they would not be far from deifying the cooks as well, who are deemed worthy of the same happiness, and from worshipping the oven itself, which comes into more direct contact with the highly honored savor.

And somewhere Hesiod says that, according to a certain distribution of meats, Prometheus deceived Zeus, who received white ox-bones concealed by crafty skill under rich fat; and from that, mortals on earth burn white bones of sacrificed animals on altars for the immortals. But they would by no means say that God is nourished, being harmed by desire arising from need. They would thus make him like a plant, nourished without appetite, and like animals that live in holes. They say, at any rate, that these are nourished and grow without harm, either by the thickness of the air or by the exhalation from their own body. Yet if the divine is nourished without need, what further need of nourishment does the needless have? But if it rejoices in being honored, being by nature needless, it is not unreasonable that we honor God through prayer, and we offer this sacrifice, the best and most holy, with righteousness, honoring by the most just reason, through which we receive knowledge, glorifying through this the one we have learned. At any rate, our altar here on earth is the assembly of those devoted to prayers, having as it were one common voice and one mind. But nourishments through smell, even if more divine than those through the mouth, are indicative of breathing. What then do they say about God? Does he breathe through, like the race of demons? Or does he only inhale, like aquatic creatures through the expansion of their gills? Or is he breathed around, like insects through the compression of the trachea by their wings? But they would not liken God to any of these, if they were sensible.

All that breathes draws the air by the counter-distension of the lung against the thorax. Then if they should offer entrails and arteries and veins and nerves and limbs to God, they will propose nothing different from these. The term "conspiration" is properly used of the Church. For the sacrifice of the Church is a word exhaled from holy souls, the whole mind being at the same time unveiled to God along with the sacrifice. But they have celebrated the most ancient altar in Delos as pure, to which alone they say Pythagoras approached, not defiled by bloodshed and death; and they will disbelieve us when we say that the truly holy altar is the righteous soul and the incense from it is the holy prayer. Sacrifices, I think, were devised for men as a pretext for eating flesh. It was possible, however, even otherwise to partake of meat without such idolatry, for those who wished. For the sacrifices according to the law allegorize the piety concerning us, just as the turtledove and the pigeon offered for sins indicate that the purification of the irrational part of the soul is acceptable to God. But if one of the righteous does not burden the soul with the eating of flesh, he uses a reasonable argument, not that of Pythagoras and his followers who dream of the transmigration of the soul. Xenocrates, in his special treatise On Food from Animals, and Polemo, in his writings On the Life According to Nature, seem clearly to say that the food consisting of flesh is unprofitable, which, when already prepared, assimilates one to the souls of irrational animals.

For this reason especially the Jews abstain from pork, as this animal is unclean, since more than others it roots up and destroys the crops. If they say that animals have been given to men, we too agree, but not entirely for food nor indeed all, but only those that are unproductive. Therefore the comic poet Plato in his drama The Festivals says not badly: "Of the quadrupeds we should henceforth kill none except pigs. For their flesh is most pleasant, and nothing comes from the pig except bristles and mud and noise for us." Hence Aesop also said not badly that pigs cry out most loudly when they are dragged, because they know that they are useful for nothing else except sacrifice. And Cleanthes says that they have their soul instead of salt, so that the flesh may not putrefy. Some eat it as useless, others as destructive of crops, and others do not eat it because the animal is prone to sexual intercourse. For this reason the law does not sacrifice the goat except only for the averting of evils, since pleasure is the mother of vice. Indeed they say that the eating of goat's flesh contributes to epilepsy. They say that the greatest nourishment comes from pork, so it is useful for those who exercise the body, but for those who attempt to increase the soul itself, no longer, because of the sluggishness arising from meat-eating. Perhaps one of the Gnostics might abstain from meat-eating for the sake of discipline and so that the flesh may not swell concerning sexual matters. For wine, says Androcydes, and surfeits of flesh produce a strong body but a more sluggish soul.

Such food is therefore unsuitable for precise understanding. For this reason the Egyptians, in their own purifications, do not permit their priests to eat meat; they use birds as the lightest of foods and do not touch fish, both for certain other myths and especially because such food renders the flesh flabby. Now land animals and birds, breathing the same air as our souls, are nourished by it, possessing a soul akin to the air; but fish, they say, do not even breathe this air, but rather that which is mixed with the water immediately from their first generation, just as with the other elements, which is also a sign of material persistence. Therefore one must offer sacrifices to God not costly but dear to God, and that compound incense prescribed in the law, composed of many tongues and voices according to prayer, or rather that which is prepared from different nations and natures by the gift according to the covenants, gathered into the unity of faith and according to the hymns, with a pure mind and a just and upright conduct, from holy works and righteous prayer. For who here is so foolish, according to poetic grace, and so excessively credulous among men, as to hope that the gods rejoice in all fleshless bones and burning gall, which are not even edible for hungry dogs, and that they receive this as a reward and repay favor to those who perform these acts, even if they happen to be pirates or robbers or tyrants?

We say that fire sanctifies not the meat, but the sinful souls, meaning by fire not the all-devouring and base fire, but the intelligent fire, the fire that penetrates through the soul which passes through the fire. We are commanded to revere and honor the same Logos, being persuaded that he is both savior and guide, and through him the Father, not on special days, as some others do, but continuously throughout our whole life, doing this in every way. Indeed, the chosen race says, "I praised you seven times a day," being justified according to the commandment. Hence neither a defined place, nor a special temple, nor certain feasts and appointed days, but the whole life of the gnostic in every place, even if he happens to be alone by himself and wherever he may have some of those who are similarly faithful, he honors God, that is, he gives thanks for his knowledge and his way of life. If the presence of a good man, through respect and shame, always shapes the one he meets for the better, how much more would one who is always present with God through knowledge, life, and uninterrupted thanksgiving not reasonably be better than himself in every respect, in both deeds and words and disposition? Such is the one who is persuaded that God is present everywhere, and does not suppose him to be confined to certain defined places, so that he might ever think himself to be without him and indulge in license both by night and by day. Therefore, celebrating our whole life as a festival, persuaded that God is present everywhere and from all sides, we plow while praising, we sail while hymning, and in the rest of our conduct we live artfully.

The gnostic more directly appropriates God, being at once solemn and cheerful in all things, solemn because of his turning toward the divine, cheerful because of the consideration of the human goods that God has given us. The prophet here manifests the preeminence of knowledge: "Teach me kindness, discipline, and knowledge," having increased the governing principle of perfection by gradation. This one, then, is truly the royal man, this one is the holy priest of God, which even now is preserved among the most learned of the barbarians, who bring the priestly race to kingship. This one, therefore, never surrenders himself to mob rule, the mistress of theaters, nor does he admit even in dreams what is said, done, or seen for the sake of profligate pleasure; neither these pleasures of sight, nor the varieties of other enjoyments, such as the extravagance of incense that bewitches the sense of smell, or the concoctions of foods and the enjoyments of various wines that entice the taste, nor the many-flowered and fragrant garlands that effeminate the soul through sensation; but always referring the solemn enjoyment of all things to God, and of food, drink, and ointment he offers the first portion to the giver of all, confessing gratitude both through the gift and through the use by means of the word given to him, rarely attending festive banquets, unless the symposium, promising him friendship and concord, should urge him to come.

He is convinced that God knows and hears everything, not only the voice but also the thought, since hearing in us, though activated through bodily channels, does not receive perception through bodily power, but through some psychic sense and the discriminative understanding of sounds that signify something. God is not therefore anthropomorphic, nor does he need senses in order to hear, as the Stoics thought, especially hearing and sight, as if he could not otherwise apprehend; but the pliancy of the air, the extremely acute perception of the angels, and the power of conscience touching the soul know everything by some ineffable power and without sensible hearing, simultaneously with the thought. Even if one says that the voice does not reach God, being rolled about below in the air, still the thoughts of the saints cut not only the air but the whole cosmos. The divine power, like light, reaches through to see the whole soul. What then? Do not choices also reach God, sending forth their own voice? Are they not also conveyed by conscience? What voice need he wait for, who knows the elect by intention and before birth, and what will be as already existing? Does not the light of power shine into the depth of the whole soul, searching the chambers, as scripture says, of the lamp of power? For God is all hearing and all eye, if one may use these terms.

In general, then, no reverence for God is preserved either in hymns or in words, nor yet in writings or doctrines, by a conception of God that is not fitting, but which turns aside into low and shameful thoughts and notions. Hence the euphemism of the many differs in no way from blasphemy because of ignorance of the truth. Now the prayers correspond to the objects of desire, longing, and, in a word, impulses. For this reason no one desires a drink, but to drink the drink; nor an inheritance, but to inherit; and similarly, not knowledge, but to know; nor right conduct, but to conduct oneself rightly. Therefore the prayers correspond to the objects of request, and the requests to the objects of desire. Prayer and desire are correspondingly directed toward having the good things and the benefits that accompany possession. The gnostic, then, always makes his prayer and request for the truly good things of the soul, and prays while also himself cooperating to attain a state of goodness, so that he no longer has the good things as if they were some kind of lessons lying beside him, but is good. Hence it is especially fitting for those who know the divine as they ought and possess the virtue appropriate to it to pray, those who know what the truly good things are and what

We must ask both when and how each thing is to be asked. It is the utmost ignorance to ask of those who are not gods as if they were gods, or to ask for things that are not beneficial, asking for evils under the appearance of goods for oneself. Hence it is reasonable that, since the good God is one, we pray to him alone for good things—some to be given, others to remain—both we and the angels, but not in the same way. For it is not the same to ask that a gift remain as to be eager to receive it in the first place. And the turning away of evils is also a form of prayer. But such prayer is never to be used for the harm of men in this way, unless the gnostic, by a device of justice, contrives the request for those who are hardened. Prayer, then, is, so to speak, a conversation with God; and even if we whisper, not opening our lips, and speak in silence, we cry out inwardly; for God continually hears all interior conversation. With this we also lift up our head and raise our hands to heaven, and we lift our feet at the final utterance of the prayer, following the eagerness of the spirit toward the intelligible substance, and, trying to raise the body from the earth together with the word, making the soul airborne, winged with desire for better things, we force ourselves to proceed to the holy places, disdaining the bond of the flesh. For we know well that the gnostic voluntarily makes the exodus from the whole world, just as the Jews from Egypt, clearly showing more than anyone else that he will be as close as possible to God.

If some assign fixed hours to prayer, such as the third, sixth, and ninth, yet the gnostic prays throughout his whole life, hastening to be with God through prayer and, to put it concisely, to leave behind everything that is not useful when he arrives there, as if he had already from here received the perfection of the one matured in love. Moreover, those who know the blessed triad of the holy abodes are aware of the divisions of the hours, separated into three and honored with equal prayers. Having come to this point, I recalled the doctrines introduced by certain heterodox, namely those of the school of Prodicus, concerning the claim that one should not pray. So that they may not boast about this atheistic wisdom of theirs as if it were a novel heresy, let them learn that it was anticipated by the philosophers called Cyrenaics. Nevertheless, this unholy knowledge of the falsely named will receive a refutation in due time, so that it may not now intrude into the commentary, since the attack against them, being not insignificant, would interrupt the discourse at hand, as we show that only the one who is truly gnostic according to the ecclesiastical rule is truly pious and god-fearing, for whom alone the request, apportioned according to God's will, is granted both to the one who asks and to the one who conceives it. For just as God can do everything he wills, so the gnostic receives everything he asks. For God knows in general who is worthy of goods and who is not; hence he gives what is fitting to each. Therefore, often he would not give to those who ask unworthily, but would give to those who are worthy, since they clearly exist. Yet the request is not superfluous, even if goods are given without a petition.

For instance, both the thanksgiving and the petition for the conversion of one’s neighbors are the work of the gnostic. The Lord himself prayed, giving thanks for what he had accomplished in his ministry, and praying that as many as possible might come to knowledge, so that among those being saved through salvation by knowledge God might be glorified, and the only good and only savior might be recognized through the Son from eternity to eternity. Indeed, even the faith that one will receive is a form of prayer stored up gnostically. But if prayer becomes some occasion for communion with God, no occasion for approach to God should be omitted. Naturally, the piety of the gnostic, intertwined with blessed providence, displays the beneficence of God in full through voluntary confession. For the piety of the gnostic is, as it were, a kind of counter-turn of providence and a reciprocal goodwill of the friend of God. For neither is God good involuntarily, in the way that fire is heating (rather, the imparting of goods is voluntary for him, even if it anticipates the request), nor will the one being saved be saved involuntarily; for he is not inanimate, but rather all the more will he hasten toward salvation voluntarily and by choice. Hence man received the commandments so that he might be impelled from himself toward whichever of the desirable and the avoidable he might wish. Therefore God does not do good by necessity, but by choice he does good to those who turn to him of their own accord.

For the providence that comes to us from God is not servile, as if proceeding from worse to better; rather, the immediate economies of providence are activated out of mercy for our weakness, just as the care of shepherds for their sheep and that of a king for his subjects, and as we ourselves obediently follow those who are set in order to govern according to the rank they were entrusted with from God. Therefore, those who offer the most free and royal service, that through godly intention and knowledge, are servants and ministers of the divine. Every place is truly sacred in which we receive the conception of God, and every time likewise. When the one who is both well-disposed and grateful prays and asks, he somehow cooperates toward the reception, gladly receiving what he desires through his prayers. For when the giver of goods receives our ready inclination, all goods follow at once with that very concurrence. Indeed, the manner of prayer is examined as to how it stands in relation to what is fitting. And if voice and speech have been given to us for the sake of thought, how does God not hear the soul and the mind itself, since already soul perceives soul and mind perceives mind? Hence God does not await the many-toned tongues as interpreters from men do, but simply knows the thoughts of all, and what voice signifies to us, that our thought speaks to God, which he knew even before creation would come to thought.

It is possible, therefore, not even to convey the prayer by voice, but only to concentrate inwardly the whole spiritual element into an intelligible utterance, in accordance with the undistracted turning toward God. Since the east is an image of the day of birth, and from there light increases, having first shone forth from darkness, and also for those who wallow in ignorance the day of knowledge of truth has dawned in accordance with the sun, prayers are directed toward the morning east. Hence also the most ancient of shrines faced west, so that those who stood opposite the statues might be taught to turn toward the east. "Let my prayer be directed like incense before you, the lifting up of my hands an evening sacrifice," the Psalms say. For base men, prayer is not only harmful to others but most harmful to themselves. For even if they should obtain what they call blessings by asking, it harms those who receive them, since they are ignorant of their use. For some pray to acquire what they do not have, and ask for what seem to be goods, not for what truly are. The gnostic, however, will ask for the persistence of what he possesses, fitness for what he is about to surpass, and † the eternity of what he will not receive. He prays that the truly good things, those concerning the soul, may be present to him and remain. Therefore he does not even reach out for anything absent, being content with what is present. For he is not deficient in his own proper goods, being already sufficient to himself from divine grace and knowledge.

But having become self-sufficient and in need of nothing else, and having known the all-powerful will, and at once both possessing and praying, having become attentive to the all-powerful force, and having striven to be spiritual through boundless love, he is united with the spirit. This is the high-minded one, the one who has acquired the most precious of all, the most good of all according to knowledge, both quick in the application of contemplation and possessing a steadfast power of the objects of contemplation in the soul, that is, the penetrating sharpness of knowledge. He forces himself as much as possible to acquire this power, having become continent with respect to things that oppose the mind, and constantly attending to contemplation, and having trained in the practice that restrains pleasures and corrects actions. In addition, having used much experience in both learning and life, he has frankness, not the power of simply speaking rashly, but a power that uses plain speech, concealing nothing that can be said at the appropriate time, especially when necessary, neither for favor nor for fear. Worthily, then, the one who has understood matters concerning God, having been taught by truth itself in a mystic chorus, uses speech that exhorts to the greatness of virtue, indicating it and its consequences worthily, and with inspired elevation of prayer, appropriates the intelligible and spiritual things as much as possible in a gnostic manner. Hence he is always gentle and mild, approachable, easy to meet, forbearing, grateful, conscientious, austere.

This is our strict judge, presenting the soul not only as incorruptible but also as untempted (for he renders it in no way yielding or capturable by pleasure and pain), becoming unbending if reason calls, granting nothing whatsoever to the passions, walking unswervingly as justice naturally proceeds, thoroughly convinced that all things are most beautifully governed and that progress always advances toward the better for souls that have chosen virtue, until they arrive at the good itself, having become, so to speak, at the portals of the father, attentive to the great high priest. This is our gnostic, the faithful one, convinced that the affairs of the world are excellently administered; without concern, he is pleased with all that happens. Reasonably, then, he seeks nothing among the things of life suited for necessary use, convinced that the all-knowing God supplies whatever is beneficial even to the good who do not ask. For just as, I think, to the skilled man things are given skillfully, and to the ethnic man ethnically, so to the gnostic each thing is given gnostically. And the one who converts from the nations will ask for faith, while the one who ascends to knowledge will ask for the perfection of love. But the gnostic, already at the summit, prays that contemplation may increase and persist, just as the ordinary man prays for continuous health. Indeed, he will pray never to fall from virtue, cooperating especially to remain without stumbling. For he knows that even some angels, through negligence, slipped and then fell low, not yet having completely squeezed themselves from the aptitude for duplicity into that single disposition.

For the one who, from here, has been trained in advance on the path to the summit of knowledge and the transcendent height of a perfect man, all things according to time and place are unchangeably lived, chosen and practiced because of the unwavering steadfastness of the mind from every side. But for those in whom some heavy corner still remains, dragging downward, the part raised through faith is pulled down. Therefore, for the one who has made virtue inalienable through gnostic training, the disposition becomes natural, and just as weight is to stone, so knowledge becomes inalienable for him—not involuntarily, but voluntarily, by a rational, gnostic, and providential power. Since what is not cast off through caution becomes inalienable through right reasoning, caution will prevent sinning, and right reasoning will maintain the inalienability of virtue. Knowledge seems to provide right reasoning, teaching one to discern what can help in the preservation of virtue. Therefore, knowledge of God is the greatest thing. And by this, the inalienability of virtue is preserved. The one who knows God is holy and pious. Hence, only the gnostic has been shown to be pious for us. He rejoices in present goods and delights in those promised, as if already present. For he does not

It has escaped him, as if he were still absent, through what he has come to know by anticipating what things are. Convinced, then, by knowledge, he possesses this as each of the future things is. For the deficient and the needy are measured by what is incumbent. If, then, he possesses wisdom, and wisdom is divine, he who partakes of the non-deficient would be non-deficient. For the transmission of wisdom does not occur as a result of things moving and holding one another, nor of the activity and the participant, nor does anything diminish or become deficient; rather, the activity is shown to be undiminished through the transmission itself. Thus, then, our gnostic possesses all good things according to power, but not yet according to number, since otherwise he would be immutable with respect to the due divine advancements and administrations. God also cooperates with him, having honored him with a more immediate oversight. For is it not the case that all things have come into being for the sake of good men, and for their use and benefit, or rather for their salvation? Surely these things would not be taken away from those who are virtuous, on whose account the things that have come into being exist. For it is clear that he who inspires strength for the rest of salvation even in those who have chosen to live well would honor their good nature and holy choice, in some cases merely exhorting, in others also assisting those who have become worthy of themselves. For every good is an accessory to the gnostic, if indeed his end is to know and to do each thing with knowledge.

Just as the physician provides health to those who cooperate towards health, so also God provides eternal salvation to those who cooperate towards knowledge and right action, and together with the doing, since the things which the commandments enjoin are up to us, the promise is fulfilled. And it seems to me that the following saying among the Greeks is also well put: a certain athlete, not ignoble, who in former times had trained his body very well for courage over a long time, went up to Olympia, and looking at the statue of Pisaean Zeus, said, "O Zeus, if everything necessary for the contest has been duly prepared by me, justly award the victory to me." For in the same way, for the gnostic, who has blamelessly and conscientiously fulfilled all that is his part in learning, in training, in good conduct, and in pleasing God, everything contributes to the most perfect salvation. These things, then, are required of us: the things that are up to us and that pertain to us, both present and absent, choice and desire and acquisition and use and persistence. Therefore, it is necessary to have the soul pure and undefiled, and to converse with God sincerely, ideally having completely perfected oneself as good, but if not, at least advancing towards knowledge and desiring it, and having completely withdrawn from the works of evil. But also, it is fitting to make all prayers gently and together with gentle people; for it is dangerous to be inscribed together with the sins of others. Concerning these matters, then, the gnostic will also pray together with those who have believed more commonly, concerning which it is also fitting to cooperate. His entire life is a holy festival.

Immediately, then, sacrifices, prayers, and hymns, and the readings of the scriptures before the meal, and psalms and hymns during the meal and before sleep, and again prayers at night. Through these he unites himself with the divine chorus, being ordered from continuous memory into everlasting contemplation. What then? Does he not also recognize the other sacrifice, the distribution according to those in need, both of teachings and of money? Indeed he does. But he uses the prayer through the mouth, not wordy, having learned from the Lord what to ask for. Therefore in every place, but not openly nor visibly to the many, will he pray; and he who uses walking, conversation, silence, reading, and works according to reason prays in every way; even if he merely conceives in the inner chamber of the soul and calls upon the Father with unuttered groans, He is near and is present while he is still speaking. Since there are three ends of every action, he does everything for the sake of the good and the beneficial, but leaves the accomplishment for the sake of the pleasant to those who pursue the common life.

Far indeed must the one examined in such piety be from being ready to lie or to swear. For an oath is a definitive affirmation with the additional invocation of the divine. But how could one who is once faithful present himself as faithless, so as to need an oath, and not rather have his life as a steadfast and definitive oath? He lives and conducts himself and shows the faithfulness of his affirmation in an unchangeable and firm life and word. And if injustice lies in the judgment of the one acting and speaking, not in the experience of the one wronged, he will neither lie nor perjure himself as one wronging the divine, knowing that this is by nature unharmed; but neither will he lie or transgress for the sake of his neighbor, whom he has learned to love, even if he is not an acquaintance; and for his own sake, then, all the more he will neither lie nor perjure himself, since he would never willingly be found unjust to himself. But he will not even swear, having chosen to use only the affirmation "yes" for assent and "no" for denial. For to swear is to utter an oath or to present an oath from the mind in a declarative manner. It suffices for him, then, to add to either assent or denial the phrase "I speak truly" for the demonstration to those who do not perceive the firmness of his response. For, I think, one must have a life trustworthy toward outsiders, so that not even an oath is demanded, and toward oneself and those who understand, a good conscience, which is voluntary justice. Thus the gnostic is true to his oath, yet not prone to swearing, he who rarely resorts to swearing, and then only in the manner we have said.

Indeed, speaking truthfully in accordance with an oath occurs in harmony with what is true; thus, keeping an oath coincides with right action in matters of duty. Where, then, is there still need of an oath for one who lives in the utmost truth? One who does not even swear is far from committing perjury, and one who transgresses none of the terms of agreements would never swear at all, since the confirmation of both transgression and fulfillment lies in deeds, just as, of course, lying and swearing falsely consist in speaking and swearing contrary to what is proper. One who lives justly, transgressing none of the duties where the judgment of truth is examined, keeps the oath by deeds; thus, the testimony of the tongue is superfluous for him. Convinced, therefore, that God is everywhere always, and revering the truth, and knowing that lying is unworthy of himself, he is content with the divine conscience and his own alone; and by this he neither lies nor does anything contrary to agreements, and by this he neither swears an oath when demanded nor ever denies, so as not to lie, even if he dies under tortures. And something more, and to a greater degree, intensifies the gnostic principle for one who has taken up the leadership of teaching others, having undertaken the stewardship of the greatest good on earth through word and deed, by which he mediates connection and communion with the divine.

Just as those who worship earthly things pray to statues as if they were sentient, placing their firm agreements upon them, so too in the case of living statues—human beings—the true magnificence of the word is received from a trustworthy teacher, and the beneficence shown to them is referred to the Lord himself, in whose image the true man, by educating, creates and reshapes, renewing the catechumen for salvation. For just as the Greeks call iron Ares and wine Dionysus by a certain transference, so the gnostic, considering the benefit of his neighbors as his own salvation, would fittingly be called a living statue of the Lord, not according to the particularity of form, but according to the symbol of power and the likeness of proclamation. Therefore, whatever he has in mind, he also brings to his tongue for those worthy to hear, from conviction, speaking and living at once from his judgment. For he both thinks truly and speaks truly, except perhaps in the part of therapy, just as a physician, for the salvation of the suffering, will lie or speak a falsehood according to the sophists, to those who are ill. For instance, the noble apostle circumcised Timothy, crying out and writing that manual circumcision avails nothing; but so that, by abruptly tearing them away from the law to the circumcision of the heart through faith, he might not force the still restive Hebrew listeners to break away from the synagogue, he accommodated himself to the Jews, becoming a Jew to win all.

Therefore, the one who condescends only as far as social intercourse for the sake of the salvation of those nearby (purely for the salvation of those for whose sake he engages in such intercourse), partaking in no hypocrisy because of the danger hanging over the righteous from the envious, is in no way compelled; but for the benefit of his neighbors alone he will do some things which would not have been done by him as a matter of primary choice, if he were not doing them for their sake. This one gives himself for the church, for the acquaintances whom he himself has begotten in faith, as an example to those capable of succeeding to the supreme stewardship of the philanthropic and God-loving educator, for the demonstration of the truth of his words, for the activation of love toward the Lord. This one is unenslaved in fear, truthful in speech, steadfast in toil, never willing to lie even in spoken word, and in this always achieving sinlessness, since falsehood itself, when uttered with some deceit, is not an idle word but actively works toward evil. From all sides, therefore, the gnostic alone bears witness to the truth both in deed and in word; for he always succeeds in everything absolutely, both in word and in action and in thought itself. This, then, to speak in passing, is the piety of the Christian. If, then, he does these things fittingly and according to right reason, he acts piously and justly. And if this is so, the gnostic alone would be truly pious and just and God-fearing. Therefore, the Christian is not an atheist (for this was the point to be demonstrated to the philosophers), so that he will never do anything evil or shameful, that is, unjust, in any way whatsoever.

Consequently, he does not commit impiety, but rather is the only one who truly and reverently worships God in a holy and fitting manner, reverently addressing the truly existing God as the universal leader, universal king, and almighty, according to true piety. For knowledge is, so to speak, a certain perfection of man as man, completed through the science of divine things in accordance with both manner, life, and reason, being in harmony and agreement with itself and with the divine Word. For through this, faith is perfected, as the faithful person becomes perfect only by this means. Faith, then, is an inherent good, and without seeking God, it confesses that He exists and glorifies Him as existing. Hence, it is necessary, being led up from this faith and having grown in it by the grace of God, to obtain the knowledge concerning Him that is as far as possible. And we say that knowledge differs from wisdom that arises through teaching. For wherever knowledge exists, there wisdom also certainly occurs, but wherever wisdom exists, knowledge does not certainly occur. For in the case of the uttered word alone, the name of wisdom is manifested. Nevertheless, not to doubt concerning God, but to believe, is the foundation of knowledge, and both are Christ—both the foundation and the superstructure—through whom are both the beginning and the ends. And the extremes are not taught—I mean faith and love—but knowledge, transmitted by tradition according to the grace of God, is entrusted as a deposit to those who present themselves as worthy of teaching, from which the dignity of love shines forth from light to light.

It has been said that to the one who has, more will be added: to faith, knowledge; to knowledge, love; to love, inheritance. This occurs when one hangs from the Lord through faith, through knowledge, and through love, and ascends with him to where the God and guardian of our faith and love is. Hence, at the end, knowledge is transmitted to those who are suitable and chosen for this, because it requires more preparation and preliminary training, both for hearing what is said, for the ordering of life, and for having advanced further in the justice according to law by means of understanding. This leads to the endless and perfect end, pre-teaching the future life with God among gods that awaits us, when we are released from all punishment and retribution, which we undergo from our sins as a saving discipline. After this redemption, the reward and honors are given to those who have been perfected, having ceased from purification and from other service, even if it is holy and among holy ones. Then, having become pure in heart according to the proximity of the Lord, the eternal restoration abides in contemplation. And they are called gods, those who will become fellow-throne-sitters of the other gods, who are ranked first under the Savior. Knowledge, therefore, is swift for purification and suitable for the welcome change to the better.

Hence it easily transfers [the soul] to its kindred divine and holy element, and through a certain proper light conveys the man's mystical advancements, until it restores him to the culminating place of rest, having taught the pure in heart to behold God face to face scientifically and comprehensively. For here, somewhere, is the perfection of the gnostic soul, which, having transcended every purification and service, comes to be with the Lord, where it is directly subordinate. Faith, then, is, so to speak, a concise knowledge of urgent matters, while knowledge is a strong and firm demonstration of things received through faith, built upon faith by the Lord's teaching into the unchangeable, and transmitting it with science and comprehension. And it seems to me that the first saving change is from the nations to faith, as I said before, and the second from faith to knowledge; and this, when it reaches love, already here presents the knower as friend to the known. And perhaps such a person already here anticipates being equal to angels. At any rate, after the final preeminence in the flesh, always changing for the better according to what is fitting, he hastens to the paternal court, to the truly Lordly abode through the holy hebdomad, being, so to speak, a standing and eternally remaining light, entirely and in every way unchangeable. The first mode of the Lord's activity, which we have mentioned, is a sign of the exchange according to piety. Since there are many testimonies, I will present one summarily, spoken somewhat thus by the prophet David: Who will go up to the mountain of the Lord?

Or who will stand in his holy place? Innocent in hands and pure in heart, who has not taken his soul in vain nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbor; this one will receive blessing from the Lord and mercy from God his savior. This is the generation of those who seek the Lord, seeking the face of the God of Jacob. Briefly, I think, the prophet indicated the gnostic; and in passing, as it seems, David demonstrated to us that the savior is God, calling him the face of the God of Jacob, the one who proclaimed and taught about the Father. Hence also the apostle called the Son the character of the Father's glory, the one who taught the truth about God and characterized that God and Father is one and only, the almighty, whom no one knew except the Son, and to whom the Son reveals. That God is one is indicated through "those who seek the face of the God of Jacob," whom alone, being God, the good Father, our savior and God characterizes. And the generation of those who seek him is the chosen race, the inquiring race for knowledge. Through

This also the apostle says: "I will not benefit you at all, unless I speak to you either in revelation or in knowledge or in prophecy or in teaching." And yet some things are done rightly even by those who are not gnostics, but not according to reason, as in the case of courage. For some, being naturally high-spirited, and then having fostered this without reason, rush irrationally at many things and do things similar to the courageous, so that sometimes they achieve the same results, such as enduring tortures easily, but neither from the same cause as the gnostic nor with the same purpose, not even if they give up their whole body; for they do not have love according to the apostle, the love that is generated through knowledge. Therefore, every action of the knowledgeable person is good action, but that of the ignorant is bad action, even if it preserves steadfastness, since it does not act courageously from reasoning nor directs the action toward anything useful among the things that terminate in virtue and from virtue. The same reasoning applies also to the other virtues, so that it applies proportionally also to piety. Therefore, the gnostic is such for us in respect to holiness, and the practices concerning the rest of his conduct follow from scientific piety. For our present task is to delineate the life of the gnostic, not to set forth the contemplation of doctrines, which we will expound later at the appropriate time, while also preserving the sequence. Concerning the whole, then, he has truly and magnificently apprehended, as one who has received divine teaching.

Beginning, then, from wonder at creation, and bringing from within himself a proof of his capacity to receive knowledge, he becomes a willing disciple of the Lord; and immediately upon hearing of God and providence, he believes because of what he wondered at. Setting out from this point, therefore, he cooperates in every way toward learning, doing all those things by which he will be able to obtain the knowledge he desires (and desire is constituted by the progress of faith combined with inquiry), and this is to become worthy of such and so great a contemplation. Thus the gnostic will taste the will of God; for he presents not his ears, but his soul, to the things signified by the words spoken. Taking up, then, the substances and the things themselves through the words, he naturally leads his soul to what is necessary, understanding the commands "Do not commit adultery," "Do not commit murder" in the peculiar sense as spoken to the gnostic, not as they are understood by others. He proceeds, therefore, training himself in scientific contemplation, so as to contend with what is said more universally and more magnificently. Knowing full well that the one who teaches a man knowledge, according to the prophet, is the Lord, the Lord acting through a human mouth; and for this reason he also took on flesh. Naturally, then, he never chooses the pleasant before the beneficial, not even if a beautiful woman, having previously caught him in some circumstance, should challenge him, violently pressing him in a friendly manner; for not even the wife of his master was able to lead Joseph away from his steadfastness, but he stripped off his garment for her as she forcibly held it, becoming naked of sin, while clothing himself with the decency of character.

For even if the master's eyes did not see—I mean the Egyptian's—Joseph, still the eyes of the Almighty were watching. For we hear the voice and behold the bodies, but God examines the thing itself, from which the capacity to speak and see is derived. Consequently, even if disease or some other circumstantial affliction befalls the Gnostic, and especially the most fearful death, he remains unchanged in soul, knowing that all such things are a necessity of creation, but also that in this way they become, by the power of God, a remedy of salvation, benefiting those who are more harshly reformed through discipline, distributed by truly good providence according to merit. Therefore, using created things whenever reason chooses, to the extent it chooses, in accordance with thanksgiving to the Creator, he becomes master of enjoyment. He never bears a grudge, he is never angry with anyone, even if that person deserves hatred for what he does. For he reveres the Maker, and loves the partner in life, pitying him and praying for him on account of his ignorance. And indeed he sympathizes with the body, to which he is bound by nature as subject to passion, but he does not experience the passion as a primary affection. At least in involuntary circumstances, raising himself from pains to his own concerns, he is not carried away by what is alien to him, but accommodates only his necessities, to the extent that the soul is kept unharmed. For he does not wish to be faithful in reputation, nor even in seeming, but in knowledge and truth, that is, in firm deed, word, and actuality.

Therefore, he not only praises what is noble, but he himself strives to be noble, passing from being a good and faithful servant through love into a friend, on account of the perfection of his state, which he has acquired purely through true learning and extensive training. So, as one who strives to reach the very peak of knowledge, adorned in character, composed in demeanor, possessing all those advantages that belong to the true Gnostic, he looks to the noble images—the many patriarchs who succeeded before him, the vast number of prophets, the countless angels we reckon in number, and the Lord over all, who taught and demonstrated that it is possible to attain that supreme life. For this reason, he does not love all the immediate beauties of the world, lest he remain low, but rather the hoped-for things—or rather, the things already known, though hoped for in terms of comprehension. Thus, he endures labors, torments, and afflictions, not as the brave do among the philosophers, in the hope that present pains will cease and that they will later partake of pleasures, but because knowledge has engendered in him the firmest conviction of the future receipt of hopes. Therefore, he despises not only the punishments here but also all pleasures. They say, for instance, that the blessed Peter, upon seeing his own wife being led to death, rejoiced on account of her calling and her return home, and exclaimed very exhortatively and encouragingly, addressing her by name: "Remember, O wife, the Lord." Such was the marriage of the blessed and the perfect disposition even toward the dearest ones.

In this way also the apostle, though married, speaks as one not married, deeming that marriage should be free from passion and from distraction from love for the Lord, to which the true husband exhorted his wife as she departed from life to the Lord. Was not their faith in hope after death manifest, even in those who give thanks to God in the very extremities of punishments? For they possessed, I think, a faith so firm that faithful actions followed it. Therefore, in every circumstance the gnostic's soul is strong, like an athlete's body established in peak condition and strength. For it is prudent concerning human affairs, determining what is to be done by justice, with its principles from above from God, and having acquired gentleness regarding bodily pleasures and pains for the sake of divine likeness; and it rises up against fears with good courage and trust in God. So the gnostic soul is truly an earthly image of divine power, adorned with perfect virtue, increased by all these together: nature, training, and reason. This beauty of the soul becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit when it acquires a disposition throughout life that is in agreement with the Gospel. Such a person therefore rises above every fear, every terror, not only of death but also of poverty, disease, and dishonor, and all things akin to these, being unconquered by pleasure and master of irrational desires. For he knows well what is to be done and what not, having thoroughly understood what is truly terrible and what is not.

Hence knowingly he undergoes what reason dictates as necessary and fitting for him, distinguishing with knowledge the truly courageous (that is, the good) from the apparent, and the fearful from the seeming, such as death and disease and poverty, which pertain more to opinion than to truth. This is the truly good man, the one outside the passions, who by the state or disposition of the virtuous soul has transcended the whole passionate life. For him everything is referred to himself for the attainment of the end. For the so-called contingent evils are not fearful to the serious man, because they are not evils; while the truly dreadful things are alien to the Christian Gnostic, diametrically opposed to the good, since they are evil, and it is impossible for opposites to occur at the same time in the same subject and in relation to the same thing. Therefore, blamelessly acting out the drama of life, whatever contest God may provide for him to undertake, he knows both what must be done and what must be endured. So then, if cowardice consists in ignorance of what is dreadful and what is not, the Gnostic alone is courageous, knowing both the good that exists and that which will be, and understanding along with these, as I said, also what are not truly dreadful, since he knows that only evil is hostile and destructive to those advancing toward knowledge, and, armed with the Lord's weapons, he wages war against it. For if something arises through folly and the devil's activity—or rather cooperation—that thing is not immediately the devil or folly (since no activity is prudence; for prudence is a state, and no activity is a state). Therefore, neither is an action arising through ignorance already ignorance, but it is evil through ignorance, not ignorance itself.

Neither are passions nor sins vices, although they are borne from vice. No gnostic, therefore, is courageous without reason; for one might call children courageous who, in ignorance of terrors, undergo fearful things (they even touch fire, for instance), and beasts that rush headlong against spears, being irrationally courageous, would be called virtuous by some. Perhaps too they will call jugglers courageous who tumble onto swords from some base skill, contriving for a paltry wage. But the truly courageous man, having the danger manifest because of the envy of the many, cheerfully undergoes everything that comes, distinguished from the other so-called martyrs in this: that some, providing occasions for themselves, throw themselves into dangers in some way or other (for it is right to speak well), while others, guarding themselves according to right reason, then, when God truly calls, willingly give themselves up, and confirm the call by having recognized nothing rash in themselves, and offer themselves to be tested in true rational courage. They neither endure lesser evils for fear of greater ones, as the rest do, nor, dreading blame from their peers and those of like mind, do they abide by the confession of the call, but out of love for God they willingly obey the call, choosing no other aim than pleasing God, not for the rewards of their labors.

Some act from love of glory, others from fear of a more severe punishment, and others because of certain pleasures and joys after death, enduring as children in faith; they are blessed, but not yet men in love with God as the gnostic has become (for there are, as in gymnastic contests, so also in the church, crowns for men and for children). But love itself is choiceworthy for its own sake, not for anything else. For the gnostic, then, the perfection of courage increases with knowledge through the training of life, as he has always practiced mastering the passions. Love, anointing and training its own athlete, renders him fearless, undaunted, and trusting in the Lord, just as justice secures for him the habit of always speaking truthfully throughout his life. For it was an epitome of justice to say: "Your yes shall be yes, and your no no." The same principle applies also to temperance. For neither from ambition (as athletes do for the sake of crowns and glory), nor from love of money (as some pretend to be temperate, pursuing the good with a terrible passion), nor indeed from love of the body for the sake of health, nor yet from boorishness is anyone truly temperate who is continent and has not tasted pleasures.

Those who wear down the worker’s life, having tasted pleasures, immediately break the inflexibility of self-control into pleasures. Such also are those restrained by law and fear; for when they get an opportunity, they steal away from the law, escaping what is good. But self-control chosen for its own sake, perfected through knowledge and always remaining, renders the man lord and master of himself, so that the gnostic is temperate and passionless, unyielding to pleasures and pains, as they say adamant is to fire. The cause of this, then, is the most holy and most sovereign love of all knowledge; for through the service of the best and most excellent, which is characterized by the One, it makes the gnostic both friend and son, a truly perfect man grown to the measure of his age. But concord is agreement about the same thing, and the same thing is one, and friendship is accomplished through likeness, with community lying in the One. Therefore the gnostic, being truly loving of the one God, is a truly perfect man and friend of God, enrolled in the order of a son. For these are names of nobility and knowledge and perfection according to the contemplation of God, which the gnostic soul receives as the highest advancement, having become completely pure, deemed worthy to see face to face eternally, as it is said, the all-ruling God. For having become entirely spiritual and having proceeded to what is akin, it remains in the spiritual church in the repose of God.

These things, then, are for this purpose. And the gnostic, being thus disposed toward the body and the soul, and toward his neighbors—whether a servant, or an enemy by law, or anyone at all—is found equal and alike. For he does not overlook his brother, who is of the same father and mother according to the divine law; indeed, he relieves the distressed with consolations, with encouragements, aiding in the necessities of life, giving to all who are in need, but not equally, rather justly and according to merit; and also to one who persecutes and hates him, if that one should be in need, caring little for those who say that he has given out of fear, unless he does this not out of fear but for the sake of assistance. For those who are without love of money and without remembrance of wrongs toward enemies, how much more loving are they toward their own? Such a person advances from this to knowing precisely to whom one should give most, and how much, and when, and how. And who could reasonably become an enemy of a man who provides no cause for enmity in any way? And perhaps, just as we say concerning God that He is opposed to no one and is no one’s enemy (for He is the creator of all, and there is nothing among existing things that He does not will), but we say that those who are disobedient and do not walk according to His commandments are enemies to Him—for example, those who are hostile to His covenant—in the same way we might find this to be the case with the gnostic. For he himself would never become an enemy to anyone in any way, but those who turn to the opposite path would be considered enemies to him; and besides, the disposition in us that is communicative is called justice.

But the discriminating faculty according to worth, with respect to the more and the less, in matters where it is fitting to act according to knowledge, is a form of the highest justice. Now there are things that are accomplished even in a lay manner by some, such as continence from pleasures. For just as among the nations, some abstain from the pleasures at hand either from inability to obtain what they desire or from fear of men, and some abstain for the sake of greater pleasures, so also in the faith, some practice continence either because of a promise or because of fear of God. But such continence is a foundation of knowledge and a kind of approach toward the better and an impulse toward the perfect. For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, it is said. The perfect man, however, endures all things, bears all things, through love, not as pleasing man, but God. And yet praise follows him as a consequence, not for his own benefit, but for the imitation and use of those who praise. It is also said in another sense that the continent man is not only the one who masters the passions, but also the one who has become master of the good and has firmly acquired the grandeurs of knowledge, from which he bears fruit in the activities according to virtue. The gnostic never departs from his own state because of any circumstance. For the scientific possession of the good is steadfast and unchangeable, being knowledge of divine and human things. Knowledge never becomes ignorance, nor does the good change into evil. Therefore he eats and drinks and marries not as a primary end, but from necessity. And as for marrying, I speak of it if reason approves and as is fitting; for when he has become perfect, he has the apostles as models.

And indeed a man is not shown to be such by taking up a solitary life, but that man prevails who, through marriage, child-rearing, and the care of his household, has trained himself without pleasure and without pain, and while tending his household remains inseparable from the love of God, and rises above every temptation that comes through children, wife, servants, and possessions. For the homeless man happens to be for the most part untested. At any rate, he who cares only for himself is inferior to the one who, while falling short in his own salvation, excels in the management of life, preserving a small image, as it were, of true providence. But we must, as far as possible, train the soul in various ways beforehand, so that it may become receptive to the reception of knowledge. Do you not see how wax is softened and bronze purified, so that they may receive the imprint that comes upon them? Just as death is the separation of the soul from the body, so knowledge is, as it were, a rational death, leading the soul away from the passions and separating it from them, and advancing it into the life of well-doing, so that then it may say with boldness to God: I live as you wish. For he who chooses to please men cannot please God, since the many choose not what is beneficial but what is pleasant; but one who pleases God becomes, as a consequence, well-pleasing to the serious among men. How then could the pleasures of eating, drinking, and sexual delight still be pleasant to such a one? Especially when he is suspicious even of a pleasure that involves reason, a movement of thought, or a pleasant activity? For no one can serve two masters, God and mammon.

He does not speak of silver simply, but of the supply from silver for the various pleasures. In truth, it is not possible for one who has known God magnanimously and truly to serve the opposing pleasures. There is only one who is without desire from the beginning, the Lord, the lover of mankind, who also became man for our sake. But those who hasten to be assimilated to the character given by him force themselves to become without desire through training. For he who has desired and has restrained himself, just as the widow through self-control becomes a virgin again. This is the reward of knowledge for the Savior and Teacher, which he himself asked for: abstinence from evils and the exercise of beneficence, through which salvation is attained. Just as those who have learned arts provide for their sustenance through what they were taught, so the Gnostic, providing life through what he knows, is saved. For he who has not wished to cut out the passion of the soul has killed himself. But ignorance is, as it seems, atrophy of the soul, and knowledge is its nourishment. These are the Gnostic souls, which the Gospel likened to the sanctified virgins who receive the Lord. For they are virgins as having abstained from evils, and they receive the Lord through love, and kindling their own light for the contemplation of things, they say, "Wise souls, we long for you, O Lord," to receive at last, having lived in accordance with what you commanded, having transgressed none of the injunctions. Therefore we also demand the promises, and we pray for what is beneficial, not what is pleasant, since it is fitting to ask for the best things from you. And we will accept everything for benefit, even if it is painful.

ne the exercises that your administration offers us for the practice of steadfastness seem to be." The gnostic, then, on account of his exceeding holiness, is more ready to fail in his request than to succeed without asking. For his whole life is a prayer and a conversation with God, and if he is pure of sins, he will certainly obtain what he wishes. For God says to the righteous man: Ask, and I will give to you; conceive, and I will do. If, then, the things are beneficial, he will receive them immediately; but he will never ask for things that are not beneficial, and therefore he will not receive them. Thus, what he wishes will come to pass. And if someone tells us that some sinners also succeed in their requests, this happens rarely, on account of God's just goodness, and it is granted to those who are able to benefit others as well. Hence the giving does not occur for the sake of the one who asked, but the administration, foreseeing the one who is to be saved through him, again makes the gift just. And to those who are worthy, the truly good things are given even without their asking. When, therefore, a person is just not from necessity or fear or hope, but from choice, this path is called the royal road, which the royal race travels, while the other deviations are slippery and precipitous. Indeed, if one were to remove fear and honor, I do not know whether the noble among the outspoken philosophers would still endure the afflictions. Desires and the other sins are called thorns and stakes. The gnostic, then, works in the Lord's vineyard, planting, pruning, watering, being truly a divine farmer of those who have been planted in faith.

Those who have not done evil demand a reward for idleness, but the one who has done good from a bare choice demands the wage as a good worker. Indeed, he will receive a double reward: both for what he did not do and in return for what he did well. This gnostic is tempted by no one, unless God should permit this also for the benefit of those with him. For they are strengthened in faith, being encouraged by his manly endurance. Indeed, for this reason the blessed apostles were led into trial and testimony of perfection for the establishment and confirmation of the churches. Therefore the gnostic, having the voice that says, "Whom I strike, you have mercy," also prays that those who hate may repent; for it is not even for children to witness the punishment of wrongdoers carried out in the stadiums. For the gnostic could never be educated or delighted by such things, having trained himself to be beautiful and good from choice and having become unyielding to pleasures; he never falls into sins, nor is he educated by examples of others' evils. Far from it: this one, who has disdained even the cosmic promises, though they are divine, would take pleasure in earthly pleasures and spectacles. Therefore not everyone who says "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom of God, but the one who does the will of God. This would be the gnostic worker, who restrains cosmic desires while still in the flesh, and concerning what he has known—the future and still invisible things—he is precisely convinced that these are more present than things at hand.

Such a one is a fit worker, rejoicing in what he has come to know, yet drawing back from what he is entangled in by the necessity of life, not yet deemed worthy of the active participation in what he knows. In this life he uses this as something foreign, insofar as he shares in a portion of necessity. He himself also understands the enigmas of the fasts of these days—I mean the fourth day and the day of preparation. For they are named after Hermes and Aphrodite. Accordingly, he fasts in accordance with life from both love of money and love of pleasure, from which all vices spring; for we have already often set forth the three highest differences according to the apostle: love of pleasure, love of money, idolatry. He therefore fasts also according to the law from base actions and according to the perfection of the gospel from evil thoughts. Temptations are brought to him not for his own purification, but, as we said, for the benefit of his neighbors, if, having experienced toils and pains, he has despised and dismissed them. The same reasoning applies to pleasure. For it is a great thing to have experienced something and then to abstain from it. For what great thing is it if one exercises self-control over what one does not know? Such a one, having fulfilled the commandment according to the gospel, makes that day the Lord's day, when he casts off a base thought and adopts a gnostic one, glorifying the resurrection of the Lord within himself.

But even when he attains comprehension of a scientific theorem, he thinks he sees the Lord, guiding his eyes toward the invisible, even if he seems to see what he does not wish to see, chastising his power of sight whenever he becomes aware of himself taking pleasure in the impact of vision, since he wishes to see and hear only what is fitting for him. Thus, when he contemplates the souls of the brethren, he beholds the beauty of the flesh with the soul itself, which alone is accustomed to observe the beautiful without carnal pleasure. Brethren are truly such by virtue of the chosen creation, by similarity of character, and by the substance of their works, doing, thinking, and speaking the same holy and good actions which the Lord willed that they, being elect, should think. For faith consists in choosing the same things, knowledge in having learned and thought the same things, and hope in desiring the same things. And if, due to the necessity of life, he is occupied for a brief time with food, he thinks he is being distracted by the matter and is being pressed as a debtor. In this state, he never sees even in a dream anything unfitting for an elect person. Simply put, every such person is a stranger and a sojourner in the whole of life, who, dwelling in a city, has despised what is admired by others in that city, and lives in the city as if in a desert, so that the place does not compel him, but his choice shows him to be just. This gnostic, in short, fills the apostolic absence by living rightly, knowing precisely, benefiting those who are suitable, moving the mountains of his neighbors and casting off the unevenness of their souls. Yet each of us is both his own vineyard and his own worker.

He who does what is best but wishes to escape the notice of men, persuading the Lord and himself that he lives according to the commandments, preferring those things from which he believes he exists (for where a man's mind is, there, it is said, is his treasure also), he deprives himself in order not to overlook a brother in distress, on account of his perfection in love, especially if he knows that he himself will bear his brother's need more easily. He considers that brother's pain his own grief; and if, while providing from his own need through beneficence, he suffers some hardship, he does not become vexed at this, but rather increases his benefaction. For he has an unmixed faith concerning realities, praising the gospel through works and contemplation. And indeed he reaps praise not from men, but from God, accomplishing what the Lord taught. This man, distracted by his own hope, does not taste of the goods in the world, disdaining all things here; pitying those who after death are disciplined through punishment, making involuntary confession, he is conscientious toward his departure and always ready. As a sojourner and stranger to things here, mindful only of his own inheritances, he considers all things here alien.

Not only does he admire the Lord's commandments, but, so to speak, through knowledge itself he participates in the divine will, being truly a kinsman of the Lord and of the commandments, chosen as righteous, and both commanding and kingly as the gnostic is, disdaining all gold on and under the earth and a kingdom from the ends of the ocean to its ends, so as to cleave only to the service of the Lord. Hence, even when eating and drinking and marrying, if reason so chooses, and even when dreaming, he does and thinks holy things; thus he is always pure for prayer. He who prays even with angels, as already being equal to angels, never falls outside the holy guard; even if he prays alone, he has the chorus of saints standing with him. This man knows a twofold faith: one is the activity of the believer, the other is the preeminence of the object of belief according to its worth, since justice too is twofold, one through love, the other through fear. For it is said: "The fear of the Lord, remaining pure, endures for an age of ages." For those who turn from fear to faith and justice endure for an age. At once, fear produces abstinence from evils, while love, building upon the voluntary, urges one to do good, so that one may hear from the Lord: "I no longer call you slaves, but friends," and already confident, he approaches his prayers. The very form of prayer is thanksgiving for what has happened, for what is present, and for what is to come, as if already present through faith; and this is preceded by having received knowledge.

And indeed he asks to live the life appointed in the flesh as a gnostic, as if without flesh, and to obtain the best things while avoiding the worse. He also asks for relief concerning the sins we have committed and for a turning toward knowledge; thus he follows swiftly the one who calls at the departure as that one calls, leading the way, so to speak, because of his good conscience, hastening to give thanks even there, being with Christ, having presented himself as worthy through purity, to possess by mixture the power of God that is supplied through Christ. For he does not wish to be hot by participation in heat, nor luminous by participation in fire, but to be entirely light. This one knows precisely the saying: Unless you hate your father and mother, and further also your own soul, and unless you bear the sign. For he has hated the fleshly attachments, which have much of the charm of pleasure, and he looks down upon all things pertaining to the creation and nourishment of the flesh, and he even rises up against the bodily soul, having put a bit into the unruly irrational spirit, because the flesh desires against the spirit. And to bear the sign is to carry death about, having renounced everything while still alive, since the love of the one who sowed the flesh and the one who created the soul for knowledge are not equal. This one, having come into a state of beneficence, does good more quickly than he speaks well, praying to share in the sins of the brothers for confession and the conversion of relatives, and eagerly sharing his own goods with his dearest ones, and his friends are thus to him.

Therefore, cultivating the seeds deposited within him according to the husbandry the Lord commanded, he remains sinless, becomes self-controlled, and lives with those like him in spirit among the choirs of the saints, even while still detained on earth. This man, throughout the whole day and night, speaking and doing the Lord's commandments, rejoices exceedingly—not only when rising at dawn and at midday, but also when walking and sleeping, when dressing and undressing. And he teaches his son, if the child is of his lineage, being inseparable from the commandment and the hope, always giving thanks to God like the praise-singing animals allegorized through Isaiah, patient in every trial: "The Lord gave," he says, "the Lord took away." For such also was Job, who, even before the removal of external goods together with bodily health, laid aside everything through his love for the Lord. For he was, it is said, righteous, holy, abstaining from all wickedness. And "holy" indicates what is just toward God according to the whole economy, which, being understood, made him a gnostic. For one must neither cling to these things if they are good, since they are human, nor, if they are bad, be hostile to them, but be above both, trampling some and passing others on to those in need. And the gnostic is secure in social intercourse, lest he be unnoticed or social intercourse become a disposition.

He never remembers those who have sinned against him, but forgives. Therefore he rightly prays, saying "Forgive us," for we also forgive. For this too is one of the things that God wills: to desire nothing, to hate no one; for all men are the work of one will. And does not our Savior, wishing the Gnostic to be perfect like the heavenly Father—that is, like himself—who says, "Come, children, hear the fear of the Lord," desire that this one no longer need assistance through angels, but, having become worthy from himself, receive and have the guard from himself through obedience? Such a one demands from the Lord, and does not merely ask. And in the case of needy brethren, the Gnostic will not himself ask for an abundance of money for distribution, but will pray that provision of what they need be made for them. For thus the Gnostic gives the prayer to those in need, and what is given through the prayer is provided both unknowingly and without ostentation. Poverty, then, and disease, and such trials are often brought for admonition and for the correction of past deeds and for the conversion of future ones. Such a one, asking for relief for these, since he possesses the exceptional quality of knowledge, not for vainglory but for the very fact of being a Gnostic, himself works beneficence, becoming an instrument of God's goodness. And in the Traditions, Matthias the apostle is said to have stated on each occasion that if a neighbor of an elect person sins, the elect person has sinned; for if he had led himself as the Word dictates, he would have shamed his neighbor's life into not sinning.

What then would we say about the Gnostic himself? Or do you not know, says the apostle, that you are a temple of God? Divine, therefore, is the Gnostic and already holy, bearing God and borne by God. Accordingly, Scripture, representing sin as alien, sells those who have fallen to the aliens; and saying, "Do not look with desire at another's wife," it plainly declares sin to be alien and contrary to the nature of the temple of God. Now a temple is one thing great, as the church, and another small, as the man who preserves the seed of Abraham. Therefore he who has God reposing in him will not desire anything else. Accordingly, having left behind all that is in the way and having scorned all the matter that distracts him, he cuts through the heaven by means of knowledge, and passing through the spiritual substances and every principality and power, he touches the outermost thrones, aiming only at that which alone he has known. Having thus mixed the serpent with the dove, he lives perfectly and with a good conscience, blending faith with hope in expectation of the future. For he perceives the gift he has received, having become worthy to obtain it, and having been transferred from slavery to adoption, he performs deeds consistent with knowledge, neither not knowing God (or rather being known by him), but displaying works in accordance with the grace, for works follow knowledge as the shadow follows the body.

He is therefore naturally disturbed by none of the things that happen, nor does he suspect anything that occurs according to the economy for his benefit, nor is he ashamed to die, being of good conscience to appear before the authorities, having, so to speak, cleansed all the stains of the soul, he who knows well that it will be better for him after his departure. Hence he never prefers pleasure and advantage to the economy, training himself through the commandments, so that he may be both pleasing to the Lord in all things and praiseworthy to the world, since everything depends on the one almighty God. The Son of God came to his own, it is said, and his own did not receive him. Therefore, also in the use of worldly things, he not only gives thanks and marvels at creation, but also, using them as is fitting, is praised, since his end is accomplished through gnostic activity according to the commandments, which is brought to completion in contemplation. From here, already, through knowledge, he reaps the provisions for contemplation.