Eclogae propheticae

Those around Sedrach, Misak, and Abdenago, while singing hymns to God in the furnace of fire, say: "Bless, O heavens, the Lord; hymn and exalt him unto the ages." Then: "Bless, O angels, the Lord." Then: "Bless, O waters and all things above the heaven, the Lord." Thus the scriptures rank the heavens and the waters among the pure powers, as is also made clear in the account of creation. Naturally, therefore, with the power being named in various ways, Daniel adds: "Let every power bless the Lord." Then in sequence: "Bless, O sun and moon, the Lord." And: "Bless, O stars of heaven, the Lord; bless, all who revere the Lord, the God of gods; hymn and confess, for his mercy is for all the ages." [In Daniel it is written of the three youths singing hymns in the furnace.]

Blessed are you who see the abysses, seated upon the Cherubim," says Daniel, being of the same opinion as Enoch, who said, "And I saw all the material things." For "abyss" is that which is boundless in its own substance, but is traversed by the power of God. The material substances, then, from which the particular genera and their species come into being, are called "abysses"; since he would not have called only water "abyss." Yet water is allegorized as abyss or matter.

In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth." The earthly and the heavenly. And that this is true, the Lord said to Hosea: "Go, take for yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, because the earth, playing the harlot, will play the harlot away from behind the Lord." For he does not speak of the element, but of those upon the element, those who have an earth-born disposition.

That the Son is the beginning, Hosea clearly teaches: "And it shall be in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they also shall be called sons of the living God. And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall set for themselves one beginning and shall rise up from the earth, because the great day of Israel is at hand." For to whatever one believes, that one he chooses. And one believes in the Son, who is the beginning. Therefore he also said: "But the sons of Judah I will pity and save in the Lord their God," and the savior is the saving Son of God. This one, then, is the beginning.

Through Hosea, the Spirit says, "I am your instructor; sound the trumpet on the hills of the Lord, make a noise on the heights." And is not baptism itself, being a sign of regeneration, an escape from matter through the teaching of the Savior, a great and violent stream always bearing and carrying us away? Therefore the Lord, leading us out of disorder, enlightens us, bringing us into the shadowless light that is no longer material.

These two prophets cut through and parted this river of matter and the sea by the power of the Lord, matter being traversed on each side of the water by the will of God. Both were pure commanders who served, through whom the signs were entrusted, so that the righteous man might come out of matter, having first traveled through it. Indeed, upon one of the commanders the name of our Savior had been imposed.

Immediately, through "water and spirit" regeneration occurs, just as all generation does. "For the spirit of God was borne over the abyss." And for this reason the Saviour was baptized, not needing it himself, but in order to sanctify all water for those being regenerated. By this, we cleanse not only the body but also the soul. A sign, then, that even our invisible parts are sanctified is that unclean spirits entangled with the soul are strained away from the new and spiritual generation.

Water above the heaven." Since baptism occurs through "water and spirit," being a remedy against the twofold fire—that which touches invisible things and that which touches visible things—it is necessary that water also be partly intelligible and partly sensible, as a remedy against the duality of fire. And the earthly water washes the body, while the heavenly water, because it is intelligible and invisible, is allegorized as the Holy Spirit, purifying invisible things, like water for the spirit, just as that water is for the body.

God mixed fear with goodness for the sake of goodness. For he already provides what is beneficial to each, as a physician to a sick person, as a father to a child who is unruly. "For he who spares the rod hates his son." And the Lord and his apostles also lived amid fear and toils. Therefore, when the body of a believer is ill, either because of some previously committed sin, the Lord administering rebuke, or because of something future, taking precaution, or also by an energy * *an assault occurring from outside, not prevented for some useful purpose for himself or for those nearby, for the sake of example.

Those who dwell in a rotten body, as if sailing in an old ship, are not careless, but always pray, stretched out toward God.

The elders were greatly distressed if they did not suffer something in the body at every turn; for they feared that, if they did not here receive the immediate penalties for their sins—which many, while in the flesh, attend through ignorance—they would receive the whole punishment there all at once, so they deemed it right to be healed here. Therefore, one must fear not the external disease, but the sins through which the disease comes, and the disease of the soul, not of the body, because “all flesh is grass,” and bodily and external goods are “temporary, while the unseen things are eternal.

Some things of knowledge we already partake of, others we firmly hope for through what we have; for we have neither received everything nor are we lacking everything, but we have taken as a kind of "earnest" of the eternal goods and of the paternal wealth; and the provisions for the Lord's way are the beatitudes of the Lord. "Seek," he said, "and be anxious for the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you; for the Father knows what you need." Thus he not only circumscribes occupations, but also cares. "For you cannot," he says, "by being anxious add anything to your age." For God clearly knows what it is fitting for us to have and what to lack. Therefore, having emptied themselves of worldly cares, he deems them worthy to be filled with that which is toward God. "For we groan, longing to put on" the imperishable, before putting off corruption. For when faith is poured in, unbelief flows out. Similarly also with knowledge and righteousness. Therefore it is necessary not only to empty the soul, but also to fill it with God. For it is no longer evil, since it has ceased, nor yet good, since it has not yet received; and that which is neither good nor evil is nothing. "For the purified and empty house" is re-entered, if nothing of the saving things is put in, by the previously dwelling unclean spirit, taking along with it seven other unclean spirits. Therefore, having emptied the soul of evils, it is necessary to fill it with the good God, which is a chosen dwelling place. For when the empty spaces are filled, then the seal follows, so that the holy place may be guarded for God.

Every word stands upon two or three witnesses—upon Father and Son and Holy Spirit, upon which witnesses and helpers the commandments, when spoken, ought to be kept.

Fasting is abstinence from food according to its literal meaning, but food does not make us either more just or more unjust. According to its mystical sense, however, it indicates that just as for individuals life comes from food, and lack of food is a symbol of death, so also we must fast from worldly things, so that we may die to the world and thereafter, partaking of divine food, live for God. Moreover, fasting empties the soul of matter and presents it pure and light, together with the body, to the divine words. Worldly food, then, is the former life and the sins. Divine food is faith, hope, endurance, knowledge, peace, temperance. "For blessed are those who hunger and thirst for the righteousness of God; for they will be filled." It is the soul, however, not the body, that receives this desire.

The Saviour declared to the faithful apostles that prayer is stronger than faith, in the case of a certain demoniac whom they were unable to cleanse, saying, "Such things are accomplished by prayer." The one who believed received remission of sins from the Lord, but the one who attained knowledge, since he no longer sins, obtains remission of the remaining sins from himself.

Just as healings, prophecies, and signs are accomplished, so also is gnostic teaching accomplished through men, with God working through them; for God displays his power through men. And the prophecy rightly says: "And I will send upon them a man who will save them." He himself therefore sends out at one time prophets, at another time apostles, saviors of men. Thus God benefits humanity through men; for it is not that God can do some things and cannot do others, nor is he ever weak in any respect, nor do some things happen willingly and others unwillingly on his part, nor some things by him and others by another, but he also gave us birth through men and educated us through men.

God made us not pre-existing. For if we pre-existed, we would have to know where we were, and how and why we came here; but if we did not pre-exist, God alone is the cause of our generation. Therefore, just as he made us from non-existence, so also, once we have come into being, he saves us by his own grace, if we prove worthy and suitable; but if not, he will let us go to our proper end: "For he is lord of both the living and the dead.

Observe the power of God, not only in bringing non-existent human beings into existence and in increasing those who have been born according to the advance of age, but also in saving those who believe according to what is appropriate for each; and already he changes both seasons and times and fruits and elements.

For this one God is the one who has measured out both the beginning and the end of created things appropriately for each.

Having advanced from faith and fear to knowledge, a man knows to say "Lord, Lord." But not as a slave does; he has learned to say "Our Father." Having freed "the spirit of slavery that leads to fear" and advanced through love to "adoption," he now feels reverence through love for the one he formerly feared; for he no longer refrains from what must be avoided out of fear, but through love he holds fast to the commandments. "The Spirit itself bears witness," he says, when we say, "Abba, Father.

The Lord purchases us with "precious blood," freeing us from the former bitter masters, the sins, because of which "the spiritual forces of wickedness" ruled over us. He therefore leads us into the freedom of the Father, making us co-heirs, sons, and friends. "For my brothers," says the Lord, "and co-heirs are those who do the will of my Father." "Do not therefore call anyone father to yourselves on earth"; for there are masters on earth, but in the heavens is the Father, "from whom comes every lineage both in the heavens and on earth." For love rules over willing subjects, while fear rules over the unwilling—this is the base fear; but the one that educates toward the good leads to Christ and is salvific.

If then one conceives of God (in no way worthily—for what thought is worthy of God?—but as far as possible), let him conceive of him as great, inconceivable, and most beautiful, "inaccessible light," possessing every good power, every excellent virtue, caring for all, compassionate, impassible, good, knowing all, foreknowing all, pure, sweet, radiant, undefiled.

Since the soul is moved from itself, the grace of God, which the soul possesses, demands from it eagerness, as a contribution toward salvation; for he wishes the good which the Lord gives to it to be the soul's own. For it is not insensible, so as to be carried like a body. Now to have belongs to the one who receives, to receive belongs to the one who wills and reaches out, and to hold what one has received belongs to the one who practices holding and is able. For this reason God has given choice to the soul, so that he himself may indicate what is necessary, while she, by choosing, may accept and retain it.

Just as through the body the savior spoke and healed, so also formerly through the prophets, and now through the apostles and the teachers; for the church serves the Lord’s activity, whence also he then took up a man, that through him he might serve the will of the Father. And always the philanthropic God puts on a man for the salvation of men, formerly the prophets, now the church. For it is fitting that like serve like for the sake of like salvation.

When we were earthy, we belonged to Caesar. Caesar is the temporal ruler, whose earthly image is the old man, into which he has reverted. Therefore, to him must be rendered the earthy things, which "we have borne in the image of the earthy," and "the things of God to God." For each of the passions is like a letter, a brand, and a sign upon us. Now the Lord imprints upon us another brand and other names and letters, faith instead of unfaith, and so forth. Thus we are transferred from the material to the spiritual, "having borne the image of the heavenly.

John says, "I baptize you with water. But behind me comes the one who baptizes you with spirit and fire." He baptized no one with fire; "but some," as Heracleon says, "marked the ears of those being sealed with fire," having thus heard the apostolic saying. "For the winnowing fan is in his hand to clean the threshing floor. And he will gather the grain into the storehouse, and burn the chaff with inextinguishable fire." Therefore, to "through fire" is added "through spirit," because just as the grain is separated from the chaff (that is, from the material covering) by means of the spirit, and the chaff is separated by being winnowed by the spirit, so the spirit has a separating power over material activities. Since some things have come from the unbegotten and imperishable, the seminal things of life, they are gathered like wheat and stored away, while the material, as long as it is with the better, remains; but when it is separated from it, it perishes, for it had its being in the other. This, then, is the separating power, the spirit. And the consuming power is fire, and fire is to be understood as the material. But since the thing that is saved resembles grain, and that which clings to the soul resembles chaff, and the one is incorporeal, while the other is material and separable, he set against the incorporeal the spirit, fine and pure, almost beyond mind, and against the material, fire, which is not evil or bad, but strong and purifying of evil; for fire is conceived as a good and strong power, destructive of the worse and preservative of the better. Hence this fire is called wise by the prophets.

Thus, when God is called "consuming fire," it must be understood not as a name of evil, but as a name and symbol of power. For just as fire is the strongest of the elements and prevails over all, so also God is all-powerful and all-ruling, able to rule, create, make, nourish, increase, save, having authority over body and soul. Therefore, as fire surpasses the elements, so the all-ruler surpasses gods, powers, and principalities. The power of fire is twofold: one is suited for creation, ripening of fruits, generation of animals, and nourishment, of which the sun is an image; the other is for consumption and destruction, like earthly fire. So when God is called "consuming fire," it is a strong and irresistible power, to which nothing is impossible, but which is also capable of destroying. Concerning such power, the Savior also says: "I came to cast fire upon the earth," clearly a power purifying the saints, and of material things, as they say, annihilating, but as we would say, disciplining. Fire also has fear, and light has diffusion.

The elders did not write, neither wishing to distract the teaching concern of the tradition by the other concern of writing, nor to consume the time for considering what would be said in writing. Perhaps they were also persuaded that the syntactical and teaching forms were not of the same nature, and they left this to those naturally suited for it. For the one flows without hindrance and with force, a stream of the speaker, and perhaps can even carry away, while the other, being examined by readers each time, receiving precise scrutiny, is deemed worthy of extreme care, and is, so to speak, a written confirmation of teaching, and thus the voice is transmitted to posterity through the composition. For the deposit of the elders, speaking through writing, uses the writer as a servant for the transmission to the salvation of those who will encounter it. Just as the magnet stone, passing over other material, draws only iron through suitability, so also books, though many encounter them, attract only those capable of understanding. For the word of truth is "folly" to some, "stumbling block" to others, but to a few it is found to be "wisdom" and thus "power of God." May envy be absent from the gnostic. For this reason he also inquires which is worse: to give to the unworthy or not to transmit to the worthy.

And it is likely that, because of great love, he will share not only with every worthy person, but sometimes even with an unworthy one who earnestly entreats him, not because of the entreaty (for he is not fond of glory), but because of the persistence of the one entreating, who through much supplication is being trained for faith.

There are some who claim to be gnostics but begrudge their own people more than outsiders. But just as the sea is open to all—one swims, another sails, another fishes—and just as the land is common—one walks, another plows, another hunts, and someone else mines, and another builds—so also when Scripture is read, one is benefited toward faith, another toward character, while another has superstition removed through the understanding of things. And the athlete, having recognized the Olympic stadium, strips for the teaching, contends, and becomes victorious, having outwitted and overcome the opponents who attack and run down the gnostic way. For knowledge is necessary both for the training of the soul and for dignity of character, making the faithful more properly disposed and accurate observers of things. For just as it is impossible to believe without catechesis, so it is impossible to comprehend without knowledge.

Of the things that are useful and necessary for salvation, such as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and also our own soul, the account concerning them, which is gnostic, must necessarily be both useful and necessary. For those who have taken upon themselves the duty of benefiting others, wide experience is useful in order not to miss anything that seems to have been necessarily and learnedly recognized by others. The exposition of heterodox teaching also provides, in another way, exercise for an inquiring soul. And it keeps the student undeceived regarding the truth, since he has already practiced being surrounded on all sides by the instruments of war.

The life of the gnostic alone, just as they say Crete is barren of destructive beasts, is pure from every evil deed and thought and word, having no enemy at all, but being also beyond all envy and hatred and blasphemy and slander.

In a long life, one is not blessed because of having lived long, but because living well has made him worthy of living forever. He has grieved no one, except by instructing with reason those whose hearts are wounded, like healing honey, which is both sweet and sharp. So more than anyone, the gnostic would preserve what is fitting together with what is according to reason. For when every passion has been cut away and removed from the whole soul, with its best part having become pure and freed for adoption, from then on he dwells with it and lives.

Pythagoras thought it proper to consider not only the most learned but also the most ancient of the wise to be the one who gave names to things. Therefore, one must examine the scriptures accurately, since they are acknowledged to have been spoken in parables. From the names, the opinions are to be hunted down, which the Holy Spirit holds concerning things. Having, so to speak, stamped his own thought into the words, he teaches. So that, when examined accurately by us, the names spoken in many senses may be sifted, and the hidden thing, felt out and learned amid many coverings, may be revealed and shine forth. For just as lead, when rubbed, blossoms forth white from black—the white lead—so also knowledge, pouring light and brightness over things, would be truly divine wisdom, the pure light, which illuminates the pure among men like the pupil of an eye for sight and for a firm comprehension of the truth.

Therefore, having kindled ourselves from the source of that light, and from the longing for it, striving to become as like it as possible, we become full of light, truly Israelites of light. For he called those who cling to the assimilation to the divine according to desire and pursuit friends and brothers.

Places that are pure and meadows received them, having voices and certain visions of holy apparitions, while a man who is thoroughly purified will be deemed worthy of divine teaching and power in his entirety.

I know that the mysteries of knowledge bring mockery to the many, especially when not stitched together with sophistic allegory. But to the few, like light suddenly brought into a darkened banquet, they cause astonishment at first; then, having become accustomed, nurtured, and trained in reasoning, they rejoice and exult as if from pleasure * * the Lord. For just as pleasure has as its substance the removal of pain, so knowledge has the removal of ignorance. For just as those who are most asleep think they are most awake, falling upon more vivid and undisturbed dream visions, so those who are most ignorant think they know most. Blessed are those who wake from this sleep and this madness and look upon the light and the truth.

Therefore the one who wishes must have the disciple obedient on equal terms, and, having mingled faith with desire, must exercise and practice, each time examining for himself the truth of the theorems; and when it seems to him to be well, then indeed he should descend into the inquiries of his neighbors; for even young birds first try to spread their wings, having exercised them in the nest.

For the gnostic virtue is everywhere beautiful, gentle, harmless, painless, and blessed, and is supremely prepared to consort with all that is divine in the best manner, and with human beings in the best manner as well, being both contemplative and practical, fashioning the human being as a divine image and rendering him a lover of beauty through love; for the beautiful is there contemplated by wisdom and intelligible, here it is made practicable by temperance and justice through faith, when one has practiced angelic service in the flesh, having consecrated the mind in the body as in a transparent and undefiled place.

Against Tatian, who says that "Let there be light" is a prayer, it must be said: if, then, he who was praying knew the God above, how does he say, "I am God, and besides me there is no other"?

He said that there are punishments for blasphemies, nonsense, and licentious words, which are chastised and disciplined by reason. And he also asserted that women are punished for their hair and adornment by a power appointed over these matters, which also provided Samson with strength in his hair, and which punishes those who, through the adornment of their hair, rush into fornication.

Just as by the outflow of the good they are made good, so also by that of the evil they are made evil. The judgment of God is beautiful, both the separation of the faithful from the unbelievers and the preference for not falling into a greater judgment, and the judgment which is a discipline.

The Scripture says that the exposed infants are handed over to a guardian angel, by whom they are educated and grow, "and they will be," it says, "like those of a hundred years here, the faithful." Therefore also Peter in the Apocalypse says: "and a flash of fire leaping from those infants and striking the eyes of the women;" since the righteous man "shines forth like a spark through a reed and judges nations.

With the holy you will be made holy." According to the praise of the holy, your name has been glorified; according to our knowledge, God is glorified [both according to knowledge and according to inheritance]. Thus also "the Lord lives" and "the Lord has risen.

A people whom I did not know served me; according to a covenant I did not know. Alien sons: those who have emulated what belongs to another.

Magnifying the deliverances of his king." All the faithful are called kings, having been called to the kingdom both in respect of knowledge and in respect of inheritance.

Patience is a sweetness beyond honey," not because patience itself is sweet, but because of the fruit of patience. For even the self-controlled person is not without passion, mastering the passions not without effort; but when a state of character is formed, he is no longer merely self-controlled, the man having come to be in a single state with the Holy Spirit.

Spirits" are said to be the passions in the soul, not spirits by essence, since then a passionate man would be a legion of demons, but according to the [pro]vocation. For the same soul, undergoing changes and receiving different qualities of vice, is said to have taken up spirits.

The logos does not command to abstain from possession, but to manage possession without attachment. And if something happens, not to be vexed, nor grieved, nor to desire to acquire; for it commands to abstain from possession in passion and from every attachment. Divine providence does not turn only to those in the flesh.

Thus Peter in the Apocalypse says: "The prematurely born infants, who would have been of a better portion, are entrusted to a guardian angel, so that, having partaken of knowledge, they may obtain a better abode, having suffered what they would have suffered had they been born in a body." The others will obtain only salvation, being pitied as wronged, and will remain without punishment, having received this reward.

The milk of women, flowing from the breasts and curdling, says Peter in the Apocalypse, will produce slender flesh-eating beasts which, running back into them, devour them, teaching that punishments come about because of sins. He says that these are born from sins, just as because of sins the people were sold, and "because of disbelief in Christ," as the apostle says, "they were bitten by snakes.

An old man said that the fetus is a living being. For the soul, entering the womb after the purification, prepared for conception, and being introduced by one of the angels presiding over birth who foreknows the time of conception, moves the woman to intercourse; when the seed is deposited, the spirit in the seed, so to speak, appropriates it, and thus conception occurs with the formation. He named this a testimony for all. And whenever the angels announce the barren women, they, as it were, pre-introduce the souls before conception; and in the Gospel, "the infant leaped" as ensouled. And barren women are barren for this reason, so that the soul not being introduced, the deposition of the seed does not contribute to the retention of conception and birth.

The heavens declare the glory of God." The heavens are spoken of in many ways, both those according to interval and cycle, and the proximate activity of the first-created angels according to the covenant. For by a more direct presence of angels the covenants were enacted: that of Adam, that of Noah, that of Abraham, that of Moses. For the first-created angels, set in motion by the Lord, acted upon the angels proximate to the prophets, declaring "the glory of God," that is, the covenants. But also the works that have come to pass on the earth by angels.

Through the first-created angels they came into being for the "glory of God." Heavens are called, properly, the Lord, then also the first-created, after whom also the holy men before the law, such as the patriarchs, and Moses and the prophets, then also the apostles. "The firmament declares the work of his hands." The firmament means the impassible and immutable God, as also elsewhere the same David says: "I will love you, Lord, my strength; Lord is my firmament and my refuge." Therefore the firmament itself declares the work of his hands, that is, it shows and makes manifest the creation of his angels; for it declares and shows those whom he made. "Day by day utters a word." As the heavens are spoken of in many ways.

Thus also the day. The Lord is called "word," and the same is also called "day" in many places. "And night proclaims to night knowledge." The devil knew that the Lord was coming, but whether Jesus himself was the Lord, he did not know; therefore he also tempted him in order to find out, if he is powerful. He says, "And he withdrew from him for a time," that is, he postponed the discovery until the resurrection. For he knew that this one was the Lord who would rise. Similarly also the demons, since they even suspected Solomon to be the Lord, but recognized that he was not, when he sinned. "Night to night": all the demons knew that the Lord was the one who rose after the passion. And already Enoch says that the fallen angels taught men astronomy, divination, and the other arts.

These are not speeches nor words, whose voices are not heard," neither of the days nor of the nights. "Their sound went forth into every land." He transferred the word to the saints alone, whom he has called both heavens and days.

The stars are spiritual bodies, having communion with the angels, and are governed by them; they are not causes of generation, but are indicative of things that are happening, will happen, and have happened, both with respect to changes of the air, and with respect to fertility and barrenness, and with respect to plagues and fevers, and with respect to human affairs. Nor do the stars produce their effects even in dreams, but they signify "what is, what will be, and what has been.

And in the sun he placed his tabernacle." Here there is a hyperbaton; for the discourse concerns the second coming. Thus the hyperbaton must be read according to the sequence. "And he himself, like a bridegroom coming forth from his bridal chamber, will rejoice, as a giant to run his course. From the edge of the heaven is his exit; there is no one who will hide from his heat." And then: "In the sun he placed his tabernacle." Some, then, say that the body of the Lord is deposited in the sun, as Hermogenes does; and some call his body his tabernacle, others the church of the faithful. Our Pantainos said, "The prophecy for the most part utters the words indefinitely, and uses the present tense instead of the future, and again the present instead of the past," which also now appears. For "he placed" is used both of the past and of the future: of the future, because when this cycle of the present state is completed, the Lord will come to the righteous faithful, in whom he rests as in a tabernacle; for all are one body from the same race, having chosen the same faith and righteousness, and will be restored to the same unity; but some as head, some as eyes, some as ears, some as hands, some as chests, some as feet, and will be placed in the sun, luminous, "shining like the sun," or in the sun, since a ruling angel is in the sun; for it is appointed to rule over days, just as the moon is to rule over night; and days were called angels.

They will be arrayed, he says, with the angels of the sun (the sun being like a single head of a single body), and will themselves at some time, according to a certain cycle, become rulers of days, as that one upon the sun will come to a greater state. To which state the one before him in the same place has passed. And again, ascending by progression, they will arrive at the first station. But according to the past, he placed the first-created angels so that they no longer serve the determined order of providence, but are at rest and devoted solely to the contemplation of God. And those nearer to them will advance into the rank which those have left, and so those below will advance analogously.

Thus, according to the apostle, those in the final restoration are the first-created; they would be “thrones,” although they are powers, the first-created because God rests in them, as also in those who believe. For each, according to his own advancement, has a proper knowledge of God, in which knowledge God rests, those who have known becoming eternal through knowledge. And perhaps the phrase “he placed his tent in the sun” is understood thus: he placed it in the sun, that is, in [God,] in El, that is, God, as in the Gospel “Eli, Eli” instead of “my God, my God.” And the phrase “above every beginning and authority and power and every named name” refers to those who have been perfected from among humans, angels, archangels into the first-created nature of the angels. For those who have passed from humans to angels are instructed for a thousand years by the angels, being restored to perfection; then those who taught are transferred to archangelic authority, while those who learned in turn instruct those who are passing from humans to angels, and then in this way, by fixed cycles, they are restored to their proper angelic station of the body.

The law of God is blameless, turning souls back. "Law and Word" the Savior himself is called, as Peter says in the Kerygma and the prophet: "For out of Zion will come forth law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem.

The testimony of the Lord is faithful, making infants wise; the covenant of the Lord is true, making infants wise—the guileless, both the apostles and then us. But also the testimony of the Lord himself, according to which he suffered and rose, having become true in the deed itself, led the church to the confirmation of faith.

The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring to the age of ages." It says that those who have turned from fear to faith and righteousness remain for an age. "The judgments of the Lord are true," firm and immovable, distributive according to merit and restoring the righteous "to the unity of faith." For this is what "justified to the same" means. Such things "are more desirable than gold and precious stone.

And indeed your servant guards them." Not that the servant is like David, but the whole people who are being saved are called a servant of God through obedience to the commandment.

From my hidden parts cleanse me: the thoughts contrary to right reason, the remnants. For these he calls "alien" to a righteous man.

If they do not dominate me, then I will be blameless." This is equivalent to: if those who pursue me as they did the Lord do not dominate me, I will not be blameless. For one does not become a witness unless he is persecuted, nor does a righteous man appear unless, when wronged, he does not wrong in return, nor indeed a forbearing man, | * * * *

Lord, save the king," that is, the people anointed for kingship; for it is not only David. Hence he adds: "and hear us on whatever day we call upon you.

To ascend upon the heart" is said by scripture to mean "to conquer the good counsel." Those around Sedrach, Misak, and Abdenago, in the furnace of fire, singing hymns to God, say: "Bless, O heavens, the Lord; praise and exalt him for the ages." Then: "Bless, angels, the Lord." Then: "Bless, waters and all things above the heaven, the Lord." Thus the scriptures assign the heavens and the waters to the powers of the pure, as is also shown in the account of creation. Naturally, then, with the power being named in various ways, Daniel adds: "Let every power bless the Lord." Then in sequence: "Bless, sun and moon, the Lord." And: "Bless, stars of heaven, the Lord; bless, all who worship the Lord, the God of gods; praise and confess, because his mercy is for all ages." [In Daniel it is written of the three youths singing in the furnace.] "Blessed are you who see the abysses, seated upon the Cherubim," says Daniel, agreeing with Enoch, who said: "And I saw all the materials." For "abyss" is that which is boundless in its own substance, but is traversed by the power of God. Therefore the material substances, from which the particular genera and their species come into being, are called "abysses"; for he would not have called only water "abyss," although water is allegorized as abyss or matter. "In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth"—the earthly and the heavenly.

That this is true, the Lord said to Hosea: "Go, take for yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, because the earth will play the harlot and fall away from behind the Lord." For he does not speak of the element, but of those upon the element, those who have an earth-born mind. That the Son is the beginning, Hosea clearly teaches: "And it shall be in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they also shall be called sons of the living God. And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall set for themselves one beginning, and shall ascend from the earth, because the great day of Israel is." For that which one believes, that one chooses. And one believes in the Son, who is the beginning. Therefore he also said: "But the sons of Judah I will pity and save in the Lord their God," and the Savior is the saving Son of God. This one, then, is the beginning. Through Hosea the Spirit says: "I am your instructor; sound the trumpet on the hills of the Lord, resound on the heights." And is not baptism itself, being a sign of regeneration, an escape from matter through the teaching of the Savior, a great and violent stream always carrying and sweeping us away? Therefore the Lord, leading us out of disorder, enlightens us, bringing us into the shadowless light that is no longer material. This river of matter and this sea were cut through and divided by the power of the Lord by two prophets, the matter being crossed at each interval of water by the will of God; both were pure commanders serving, through whom the signs were entrusted, so that the righteous man might come out of matter, having traversed through it the first things.

One of the generals, at any rate, had even the name of our Savior imposed upon him. Immediately, regeneration takes place through "water and spirit," just as all generation does. "For the spirit of God was borne over the abyss." And for this reason the Savior was baptized, not because he himself had need, but in order to sanctify all water for those being regenerated. Thus we cleanse not only the body, but also the soul. A sign, at least, that even our invisible parts are sanctified is that unclean spirits entangled with the soul are strained away from the new and spiritual generation. "Water above the heaven": since baptism takes place through "water and spirit," being an antidote to the twofold fire—that which touches the invisible and that which touches the visible—it is necessary that water also be partly intelligible and partly perceptible, an antidote to the duplicity of fire. And the earthly water washes the body, while the heavenly water, because it is intelligible and invisible, is allegorized as holy spirit, cleansing the invisible parts, such as the water of the spirit, just as that water is of the body. God also mixed fear with goodness for the sake of goodness. For he already provides what is beneficial to each, as a physician to a sick person, as a father to a disorderly child. "For he who spares the rod hates his son." And the Lord and his apostles lived in fear and toils. When, therefore, the body of a believer is ill, either because of some previously committed sin, the Lord imposing a penalty, or because of something future, he taking precaution, or also according to an energy... an attack occurring from without, which he did not prevent for some useful purpose for himself or for those nearby, for the sake of example.

Already those who dwell in a frail body, as if sailing in an old ship, are not supine, but always pray with hands stretched up toward God. The elders were greatly distressed if they did not suffer something in the body at each time; for they feared that if they did not receive the penalties for their sins here, which many in the flesh follow through ignorance, they would receive the punishment all at once there, so they deemed it right to be treated here. Therefore one must fear not external disease, but the sins through which disease comes, and disease of the soul, not of the body, because "all flesh is grass," and bodily and external goods are "temporary, while the unseen things are eternal." Of the things of knowledge, we already partake of some, and we firmly hope for others through which we have them; for we have neither received everything nor are we lacking everything, but we have received, as it were, "a pledge" of the eternal goods and of the paternal wealth; and the provisions for the Lord's way are the beatitudes of the Lord. "Seek," he said, "and be concerned for the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you; for the father knows what you need." Thus he not only limits the occupations, but also the cares. "For you cannot," he says, "by being concerned add anything to your age." For God clearly knows what it is beneficial for us to have and what to lack. Therefore, having emptied themselves of worldly cares, he deems them worthy to be filled with the care for God. "For we groan, longing to put on" the imperishable things, before we put off corruption. For when faith is poured in, unbelief flows away. Similarly also with knowledge and righteousness. Therefore one must not only empty the soul.

but also to fill with God. For neither is it still evil, since it has ceased, nor is it yet good, since it has not yet received; and that which is neither good nor evil is nothing. "For it returns to the purified and empty house," if nothing of the things that bring salvation is introduced, the unclean spirit that previously dwelt there, taking along with it seven other unclean spirits. Therefore, having emptied the soul of evils, one must fill it with the good God, which is a chosen dwelling place. For when the empty spaces are filled, then the seal follows, so that the holy thing may be guarded for God. "Every word stands upon two or three witnesses," upon Father and Son and Holy Spirit, upon whose witness and help the commandments, when spoken, ought to be preserved. Fasting is abstinence from food according to its literal meaning, but food does not make us either more just or more unjust; according to the mystical meaning, however, it indicates that just as for individuals life comes from food, and lack of food is a symbol of death, so also we must fast from worldly things, so that we may die to the world and thereafter, partaking of divine food, live for God. Moreover, fasting empties the soul of matter and presents it pure and light, together with the body, to the divine words. Worldly food, then, is the former life and the sins; divine food is faith, hope, patience, knowledge, peace, temperance. "For blessed are those who hunger and thirst for the righteousness of God; for these will also be filled." It is the soul, not the body, that receives this desire.

The Lord declared prayer to be stronger than faith for the faithful apostles, in the case of a certain demoniac whom they were unable to cleanse, saying, “Such things are accomplished by prayer.” The one who believed received remission of sins from the Lord, but the one who has come to knowledge, since he no longer sins, obtains remission of the remaining sins from himself. Just as healings, prophecies, and signs are accomplished, so also is gnostic teaching accomplished through men, with God working through them; for God displays his power through men. And prophecy rightly says, “And I will send upon them a man who will save them.” So he sends forth at one time prophets, at another time apostles, saviors of men. Thus God benefits through men; for God is not able to do some things and unable to do others, nor is he ever weak in anything, nor do some things happen willingly and others unwillingly on his part, nor some things by him and others by another; but he also begot us through men and educated us through men. God made us, we not pre-existing; for we would have had to know where we were, if we pre-existed, and how and why we came here; but if we did not pre-exist, God alone is the cause of our generation.

Therefore, just as He made them from non-existence, so also He saves those who have come into being by His own grace, if we prove worthy and suitable; but if not, He will let them go to their proper end: "For He is Lord of both the living and the dead." Now observe the power of God: not only does He bring non-existent humans into being and cause those who have come into being to grow in advancement of age, but He also saves those who believe according to what is proper for each; and He already changes seasons, times, fruits, and elements.

For He is one God, who has measured out both the beginning and the end of created things appropriately for each. Having advanced from faith and fear to knowledge, a man knows to say "Lord, Lord." But not as the slave does; he has learned to say "Our Father." Having freed the spirit of slavery that leads to fear, and having advanced through love to "adoption," he now reveres through love the one he formerly feared; for he no longer refrains from what must be avoided out of fear, but clings to the commandments out of love. "The Spirit itself bears witness," he says, when we say: "Abba, Father." The Lord purchases us with "precious blood," releasing us from the former bitter masters, the sins, on account of which "the spiritual forces of evil" ruled over us. He therefore leads us into the freedom of the Father, as co-heirs, sons, and friends. "For they are my brothers," says the Lord, "and co-heirs who do the will of my Father." "Do not, therefore, call anyone father to yourselves on earth;" for there are masters on earth, but in the heavens is the Father, "from whom every family descends both in the heavens and on earth." For love rules over willing subjects, while fear rules over the unwilling—this is the base kind; but the one that educates toward the good leads to Christ and is salvific. If, then, one conceives of God (not worthily—for what conception is worthy of God?—but as is possible), let him conceive of Him as great, inconceivable, and most beautiful, "inaccessible light," encompassing every good power, every excellent virtue, caring for all, compassionate, impassible, good, all-knowing, foreknowing all things, pure, sweet, radiant, undefiled.

Since the soul is moved from itself, the grace of God, which the soul possesses, demands from it the willingness, as a contribution toward salvation; for He wishes the good that the Lord gives to the soul to be its own. For it is not insensate, to be borne along like a body. Now, to have belongs to the receiver; to receive belongs to the one who wills and reaches out; to retain what one has received belongs to the one who practices and is able to retain. For this reason God gave choice to the soul, so that He might indicate what is fitting, and the soul, by choosing, might accept and retain it. Just as the Savior spoke and healed through the body, so also earlier through the prophets, and now through the apostles and teachers; for the church serves the Lord's activity. Hence also He then took up a man, so that through him He might serve the will of the Father. And always the loving God clothes Himself in a man for the salvation of men, earlier the prophets, now the church. For like serving like is fitting for like salvation. When we were of earth, we were Caesar's. Caesar is the temporal ruler, of whom the earthly image is the old man, into which he has reverted. To him, then, the earthly things must be given back, which we have borne in the image of the earthly, and "the things of God to God"; for each of the passions is like a letter and a brand and a sign upon us. Now the Lord stamps upon us another brand and other names and letters: faith instead of unbelief, and so forth. Thus we are transferred from material to spiritual things, having borne the image of the heavenly.

John says, "I baptize you with water. But after me comes the one who baptizes you with spirit and fire." He baptized no one with fire; "but some," as Heracleon says, "marked the ears of those being sealed with fire," thus hearing the apostolic saying. "For the winnowing fan is in his hand to clean the threshing floor. And he will gather the wheat into the storehouse, and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire." Therefore, "through spirit" is added to "through fire," because just as the wheat is separated from the chaff (that is, from the material covering) by means of the spirit, and the chaff is separated by being winnowed by the spirit, so the spirit has a separating power over material activities. Since some things have come from the unbegotten and imperishable, the seeds of life, they are gathered like wheat and stored away, while the material, as long as it is with the better, remains; but when it is separated from it, it perishes, for it had its being in the other. This, then, is the spirit, which has a separating power, while fire has a consuming power; and fire is to be understood as the material. But since the thing being saved resembles wheat, and what has grown around the soul resembles chaff, and the one is incorporeal, while the other is material and separable, he set against the incorporeal the spirit, fine and pure, almost beyond mind, and against the material, fire, which is not evil or bad, but strong and purifying of evil; for fire is conceived as a good and strong power, destructive of the worse and preservative of the better. Hence this fire is called intelligent by the prophets. Thus, also, when God is called "consuming fire," it is not from wickedness.

but must be understood as a name and symbol of power. For just as fire is the strongest of the elements and rules over all, so also God is all-powerful and all-ruling, able to rule, create, make, nourish, increase, save, having authority over body and soul. As fire surpasses the elements, so the all-ruler surpasses gods and powers and principalities. The power of fire is twofold: one suited for creation and ripening of fruits and generation of animals and nourishment, whose image is the sun; the other for consumption and destruction, like earthly fire. Therefore, when God is called "consuming fire," it is a strong and irresistible power, to which nothing is impossible, but it is also able to destroy. Concerning such power the Savior says, "I came to cast fire upon the earth," clearly a power purifying the saints and, as they say, annihilating material things, but as we would say, disciplinary. Fire has both fear and light has diffusion. The elders did not write, neither wishing to distract the teaching care of tradition with the other care of writing, nor to consume the time for considering what would be said in writing. Perhaps they were also not persuaded that the syntactical and teaching form is an achievement of the same nature, but conceded to those naturally suited for this.

The one is carried without hindrance and with force by the stream of the speaker, and can perhaps even sweep away; the other, being tested by those who encounter it at each point, receiving a precise examination, is deemed worthy of the highest care, and is, so to speak, a written confirmation of teaching, and thus the voice is transmitted to posterity through the composition. For the deposit of the elders, speaking through writing, uses the writer as a servant for the transmission to the salvation of those who will encounter it. Just as the magnet stone, passing by other material, draws only iron through suitability, so also books, though many encounter them, attract only those capable of understanding. For the word of truth is found to be "folly" to some, "scandal" to others, but to a few "wisdom" and also "power of God." May envy be absent from the gnostic. For this reason he also inquires which is worse, to give to the unworthy or not to hand down to the worthy. And he runs the risk, from great love, of sharing not only with every worthy person, but sometimes even with an unworthy one who earnestly begs, not because of the entreaty (for he does not love glory), but because of the persistence of the one entreating, who is training for faith through much supplication. There are some who claim to be gnostics but begrudge their own more than outsiders.

Just as the sea is open to all, but one swims, another sails, and another fishes, and as the land is common, but one travels, another plows, another hunts, and someone else mines, and another builds, so also when Scripture is read, one is benefited toward faith, another toward character, while another removes superstition through the knowledge of things. And the athlete, having recognized the Olympic stadium, strips for the teaching, contends, and becomes victorious, having eluded and overcome the opponents who assail the gnostic path. For knowledge is necessary both for the training of the soul and for dignity of character, making the faithful more readily receptive and accurate observers of things. For just as it is impossible to believe without catechesis, so it is impossible to comprehend without knowledge. For among the things useful and necessary for salvation, such as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and also our own soul, the account concerning them, which is gnostic, must necessarily be both useful and necessary. For those who have undertaken the responsibility of benefiting others, wide experience is useful so that nothing which seems to have been necessarily and learnedly recognized by others may escape notice. And the exposition of heterodox teaching also provides, in another way, a joint training for the inquiring soul, and keeps the disciple undeceived concerning the truth, since he has already practiced being surrounded on all sides by the instruments of war.

Only the gnostic’s life is pure from every evil deed, thought, and word, just as they say Crete is barren of destructive beasts; he has no enemy at all, but is beyond all envy, hatred, blasphemy, and slander. In the long course of life he is blessed not because he has lived long, but because he has lived well, being worthy of living forever. He has grieved no one, except that by his word he instructs those whose hearts are ulcerated, as with healing honey, which is both sweet and pungent. So more than anyone the gnostic would preserve what is fitting together with what is according to reason. For when every passion has been cut away and removed from the whole soul, with the best part of it becoming pure and freed for adoption, he thereafter dwells and lives with it. Pythagoras held that the one who gave names to things should be considered not only the most learned but also the most ancient of the wise. Therefore we must examine the scriptures accurately, since they are acknowledged to have been spoken in parables, and hunt out from the names the opinions which the Holy Spirit holds about things, having, as it were, stamped his own thought into the words, and teaches, so that when we examine them accurately, the names spoken in many senses may be unfolded, and what is hidden under many coverings, when felt and learned, may be revealed and shine forth. For just as lead, when rubbed, blooms white from black—the white lead.

Thus also knowledge, pouring light and radiance upon things, would be truly divine wisdom—the pure light that illuminates the pure among men as the pupil of the eye, for a firm vision and comprehension of truth. Having kindled, therefore, from the source of that light through the desire for it, and striving to become as like it as possible, we become filled with light, truly lights—Israelites in reality. For he called those who hold to assimilation to the divine through desire and pursuit friends and brothers. * * Pure places and meadows received them, having voices and certain visions of holy apparitions, and a man thoroughly purified will be deemed worthy of all divine teaching and power. But I know that the mysteries of knowledge bring mockery to the many, especially when not stitched together with sophistic tropology. But to the few, like light suddenly brought into a darkened banquet hall, they cause astonishment at first; then, becoming accustomed, nurtured, and trained in reasoning, they rejoice and exult as if from pleasure * * the Lord. For just as pleasure has as its essence the removal of pain, so knowledge has the removal of ignorance. For just as those who are most asleep think they are most awake, falling upon the most vivid and undisturbed dream visions, so those who are most ignorant think they know most. Blessed are those who awaken from this sleep and derangement and look upon the light and the truth.

Therefore, the one who wishes must have the disciple obedient and, having mingled faith with desire, must exercise and practice, each time examining for himself the truth of the theorems; and when it seems to him to be in good order, then indeed to enter into the inquiries of his neighbors. For even the young birds first try to spread their wings, exercising them in the nest. For gnostic virtue is everywhere beautiful, gentle, harmless, painless, blessed, and prepared to associate in the best way with everything divine, and in the best way with men, being both contemplative and practical, fashioning man as a divine image and rendering him a lover of beauty through love; for the beautiful, as there, is contemplated by wisdom and intelligible, here it is practiced by temperance and justice through faith, having practiced angelic service in the flesh, as if consecrating the mind in the body, a transparent and pure place. And against Tatian, who says that "Let there be light" is a prayer, it must be said: if, then, praying he knew the God above, how does he say "I am God and besides me no one else"? He spoke as there are punishments for blasphemies, nonsense, licentious words, punished and disciplined by reason; and he also said that women are punished for their hair and adornment by a power appointed over these things, which also gave Samson strength in his hair, which punishes those who through the adornment of hair rush into fornication. Just as by the emanation of good they are made good, so also by evil they are made evil.

Good is the judgment of God, both the separation of the faithful from the unfaithful and the preference for not falling into a greater judgment, and the judgment which is discipline. Scripture says that exposed infants are entrusted to a guardian angel, by whom they are both educated and grow, and, it says, "they will be as the faithful of a hundred years here." Therefore also Peter in the Apocalypse says: "and a flash of fire leaping from those infants and striking the eyes of the women;" since the righteous man "shines like a spark through a reed and judges nations." "You will be sanctified with the holy." According to the praise of the holy, your name has been glorified; according to our knowledge, God is glorified [both according to knowledge and according to inheritance]. Thus also "the Lord lives" and "the Lord has risen." "A people whom I did not know served me;" according to a covenant I did not know. "Alien sons;" those who have emulated the property of another. "Extolling the deliverances of his king." All the faithful are called kings, being called to the kingdom both according to knowledge and according to inheritance. "Long-suffering is sweetness beyond honey," not that long-suffering itself is, but according to the fruit of long-suffering. For neither is the continent man passionless, controlling the passions not without effort; but when a state becomes habitual, the man is no longer continent, having come to be in a single state with the Holy Spirit. "Spirits" are said of the passions in the soul, not spirits from substance, for then a passionate man would be a legion of demons, but according to the [ex]hortation. For the same soul, undergoing different changes and receiving different qualities of vice, is said to have taken up spirits.

The word does not command to abstain from possession, but to manage possession without attachment. And if something befalls, not to be vexed, nor grieved, nor to desire to acquire; for it commands to abstain from possession in passion and from all attachment. Divine providence does not extend only to those in the flesh. For instance, Peter in the Apocalypse says: "The aborted infants will be of a better portion; these are handed over to a guardian angel, so that, having partaken of knowledge, they may obtain a better abode, having suffered what they would have suffered even if they had come into a body." The others will obtain only salvation, being pitied as wronged, and will remain without punishment, having received this as a reward. "And the milk of women, flowing from the breasts and curdling," says Peter in the Apocalypse, "will generate small flesh-eating beasts which, running up into them, devour them," teaching that punishments come about because of sins. He says that they are generated from sins, just as because of sins the people were sold, and "because of disbelief in Christ," as the apostle says, "they were bitten by serpents." An elder said that the fetus is a living being. For the soul, entering the womb from the purification, prepared for conception, and being inseminated by one of the angels presiding over generation, who foreknows the time of conception, moves the woman toward intercourse; and when the seed is deposited, the spirit in the seed, so to speak, appropriates it, and thus conception takes place with the formation. He called it a testimony to all.

And whenever the angels announce the barren women, they, as it were, pre-introduce the souls before conception; and in the Gospel, "the infant leaped" as being ensouled. And the barren women are barren for this reason, so that the soul not being introduced, the deposit of seed does not contribute to retention for conception and birth. "The heavens declare the glory of God." The heavens are spoken of in many ways, both those according to interval and cycle, and the proximate activity of the first-created angels according to the covenant; for by a more direct presence of angels the covenants were enacted: that under Adam, that under Noah, that under Abraham, that under Moses. For, set in motion by the Lord, the first-created angels acted upon the angels proximate to the prophets, declaring "the glory of God," the covenants. But also the works that came to be on the earth by angels were accomplished through the first-created angels for "the glory of God." And the heavens are called, properly, the Lord, then also the first-created, after whom also the holy men before the law, such as the patriarchs, and Moses and the prophets, then also the apostles. "The firmament proclaims the work of his hands." The firmament means the impassible and immutable God, as also elsewhere the same David says: "I will love you, Lord, my strength; Lord is my firmament and my refuge." Therefore the firmament itself proclaims the work of his hands, that is, it shows and makes manifest the work of his angels; for it proclaims and shows those whom he made. "Day by day utters a word." As the heavens are spoken of in many ways, so also is the day.

The Lord is the Word, and the same is also said in many places as "day." "And night announces to night knowledge." The devil knew that the Lord was coming, but whether Jesus himself was the Lord, he did not know; therefore he also tempted him in order to know if he was powerful. He says, "And he departed from him for a time," that is, he postponed the discovery until the resurrection. For he knew that this was the Lord who would rise. Similarly also the demons, since they even suspected Solomon to be the Lord, but knew he was not when he sinned. "Night to night": all the demons knew that the Lord was the one who rose after the passion. And already Enoch says that the transgressing angels taught men astronomy, divination, and the other arts. "There are no utterances nor words whose voices are not heard," neither of the days nor of the nights. "Their sound went out into all the earth." He transferred the word to the saints alone, whom he has called both heavens and days. The stars, spiritual bodies, having communion with angels, stand as administrators, not causes of generation, but significant of things that are happening, will happen, and have happened, both concerning changes of airs, and concerning fertility and barrenness, and concerning plagues and conflagrations, and concerning men. Nor do the stars produce their effects in dreams, but they signify "things that are, things that will be, and things that were." "And in the sun he placed his tent." Here there is a hyperbaton; for the word is about the second coming. Thus the hyperbaton is to be read according to sequence.

And he himself, as a bridegroom coming forth from his bridal chamber, will rejoice, and as a giant will run his course. From the edge of heaven is his going forth; there is no one who will hide from his heat. And then: "He placed his tent in the sun." Some, therefore, say that the body of the Lord is placed in the sun by him, as Hermogenes does; and some call his body his tabernacle, others the church of the faithful. Our Pantainos used to say that "the prophecy for the most part expresses the words indefinitely, using the present tense instead of the future, and again the present instead of the past," which is also evident now. For the word "placed" is used both of the past and of the future: of the future, because when this cycle of the present state is completed, the Lord will come to the righteous faithful, upon whom he rests as upon a tent; for all are one body from the same race, having chosen the same faith and righteousness, and will be restored to the same unity; but some as a head, some as eyes, some as ears, some as hands, some as breasts, some as feet, and they will be placed in the sun, luminous, "shining as the sun" or in the sun, since a ruling angel is in the sun; for it is set over the beginning of days, just as the moon is set to rule the night; and days have been called angels. With the angels of the sun, he says, they will be ranked (the sun being like a head of a body that is one), and they themselves will at some time, according to a certain cycle, be rulers of days, as that one who is over the sun will come to a greater state.

Upon which the one before him in the same [place] succeeded. And again, ascending according to progress, they will arrive at the first station. But according to the past [time], he "placed" the first-created angels so that they no longer serve the determined order according to providence, but are in rest and solely in contemplation of God. And those nearer to them will advance into the rank which those have left, and likewise those below, proportionally. Therefore, according to the apostle, those in the final restoration are the first-created. They would be "thrones," although they are powers, the first-created because God rests in them, as also in the faithful. For each, according to his own progress, has his own knowledge of God, in which knowledge God rests, those who have known becoming eternal through knowledge. And perhaps the phrase "he placed his tent in the sun" is understood thus: he placed it in the sun, that is, in [God,] the Sun, that is, God, as in the Gospel "Eli, Eli" instead of "my God, my God." And "above every beginning and authority and power and every named name" are those perfected from humans, angels, archangels into the first-created nature of angels. For those who have passed from humans to angels are instructed for a thousand years by the angels, being restored to perfection. Then those who taught are transferred to archangelic authority, while those who learned in turn instruct those who are passing from humans to angels, and then in fixed cycles they are restored to their own angelic station of the body.

The law of God is blameless, turning souls back. The law and the word is the Savior himself, as Peter says in the Kerygma and the prophet: "For from Zion will come forth law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." The testimony of the Lord is faithful, making children wise; the covenant of the Lord is true, making children wise—the innocent ones, and then the apostles, and then us. But also the testimony of the Lord himself, by which he suffered and rose, having become true according to the deed itself, led the church to the confirmation of faith. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever and ever. It says that those who have turned from fear to faith and righteousness will remain forever. The judgments of the Lord are true, firm and immovable, distributive according to worth, and restoring the righteous "to the unity of faith." For this is what "justified to the same" means. Such things are "more desirable than gold and precious stone." "For your servant guards them." Not that the servant is, for example, David, but every saved person, called a servant of God through obedience to the commandment. "Cleanse me from my hidden things"—from the thoughts contrary to right reason, the remnants. For these it calls "alien" to a righteous person.

If they do not dominate me, then I will be blameless." This is equivalent to: If those who persecute me do not dominate me as they did the Lord, I will not be blameless; for one does not become a martyr unless he is persecuted, nor does a righteous person appear unless, when wronged, he does not retaliate, nor indeed a forbearing person. | * * * * "Lord, save the king," that is, the people anointed for kingship; for it is not only David. Therefore it adds: "And hear us on whatever day we call upon you." To ascend into the heart, the good, is said by Scripture to be to conquer the good counsel.