71
The word of
gnosis[1]
teaches us that in the beginning many passions annoy the theological soul, most
of all anger and hatred. Such a soul
suffers this not so much on account of the demons that set these things into
activity as on account of its own progress.
For as long as the soul is carried off by the arrogance of the world, it
remains unmoved and undisturbed even if it see the right trampled upon by certain
men; for taking a care to its own desires it does not look to the right of
God. But when the soul begins to be
above its own passions, then on account of the contempt for present things and
the love of God it does not bear even in dreams to see the right set aside but
becomes choleric with the criminals and agitated until such a time as it see
those who are insolent against righteousness defend themselves before its
dignity with reverent attitude[2]. On account of this, therefore, the soul hates
those who are unrighteous and has an exceedingly great love for those who are
righteous. For the eye of the soul[3]
becomes completely undespoiled when the curtain, the body I mean, is woven into
great fineness by means of temperance.
However, it is much better to weep for the insensibility of the unrighteous
than to hate them. For even if those
should be worthy of hatred, the word [of gnosis] does not want the God-loving
soul to annoyed by hatred, because whenever there is hatred in the soul, gnosis
is not active.[4]
72
On the one
hand, sweetened and enflamed by the very sayings of God, the theologian[5]
after a time sends the soul towards the breadths of dispassion. For it says: ‘The sayings of the Lord are
pure sayings, fired silver tried in the earth.’
On the other hand, the gnostic, established from his experience of the
actual activity [of Grace], comes to be above the passions. The theologian, if indeed he disposes himself
to be more humble, also tastes the experience of the gnostic; and the gnostic,
if indeed he has the discerning[6]
part of the soul faultless, tastes for a little time the contemplative virtue.[7] For it does not happen that the two charisms
are given in their entirety to either, so that, the both of them being in
wonder at what each has in excess of the other, humility be multiplied in them
together with a zeal for righteousness.
For this reason the Apostle says: ‘To one is given the word of wisdom
through the Spirit; to another is given the word of gnosis according to the
same Spirit.’
73
When the
soul should be in abundance of its natural fruits[8]
it both makes the psalmody in a louder voice and strongly wishes to pray[9]
vocally. When, however, it is set into
activity by the Holy Spirit, it chants and prays[10]
with every relaxation and sweetness in its heart only. There follows on the former disposition joy
suffused with fantasy; but there follows on the latter disposition spiritual
weeping and, after that, a certain gladness of heart that prefers
stillness. For the warm remembrance
which endures on account of the moderation of voice at all events prepares the
heart to bear certain tearful and mild thoughts[11]. Whence it is possible, really, to see the
seeds of prayer[12]
sown with tears in the ground of the heart in the hope of the harvest of
joy. However, when we are weighed down
with great despondency we must for a little while make the psalmody in a louder
voice, striking the strings of the soul in the joy of hope up to the time that
the heavy cloud is dispersed by the winds of melody.
74
Whenever
the soul comes to be in deep knowledge of itself,[13]
it bears out of itself a certain God-loving warmth. For not being disturbed by the cares of
worldly life, it acquires a certain ardour[14]
for peace moderately seeking the God of Peace.
But this is rapidly dissipated either because this remembrance is
betrayed by the senses[15]
or even because nature quickly consumes its own good on account of poverty.[16] Whence the wise men of the pagans did not
have as it should be whatever they thought they had attained by means of
temperance because their mind was not set into activity by the eternal and
completely true Wisdom. On the other
hand, the warmth which is brought to the heart by the Holy Spirit is, first,
completely peaceful and unwavering, inviting all the parts of the soul to a
longing for God, not being fanned outside the heart;[17]
and by means of the heart[18]
very deeply gladdening the whole man towards a certain limitless love and
joy. Therefore one must know the former
warmth and arrive at the latter. For
when through temperance nature[19]
is more or less healthy, there exists natural love as a characteristic sign;
but this natural love[20]
is never able to make the mind good up to the stage of dispassion as spiritual
love can.
75
The air
around us remains clear when the north wind is blowing in creation because of
the certain subtle nature of that wind that brings a clear sky, but when the
south wind is blowing the whole air is as it were made thick and cloudy, the
mist-producing nature of this wind by reason of a certain relatedness bearing
clouds out of its own regions over the whole inhabited world. Thus also, when the soul is set into activity
by the inspiration of the True and Holy Spirit it finds itself to be wholly
outside the demonic mist, but when it is greatly blown upon by the spirit of
deception[21]
it is wholly covered over by the clouds of sin.
Therefore, we must with all our strength ever return our purpose to the
vivifying and purifying breeze of the Holy Spirit—that is, towards the Spirit[22]
coming from the north that the Prophet Ezekiel saw in the light of gnosis. If we do that then the contemplative part of
our soul would certainly ever remain clear[23],
so that we might then apprehend the divine contemplations[24]
without deception, seeing in an air of light those things that belong to the
light. For this is the light of true
gnosis.
76
Certain men[25]
have supposed that among the baptized Grace and sin, that is, the Spirit of
Truth and the spirit of deception, are hidden in the mind[26]
at the same time. Whence, they say, the
one person[27]
calls the mind to the good things whereas the other directly calls it to the
opposite things. But from the Holy
Scriptures and from the actual [spiritual] sense[28]
of the mind I have comprehended that before Holy Baptism, from outside Grace
urges the soul towards the good things, whereas Satan lurks in the depths of
the soul attempting to block all the exits of the mind that tend to the right
hand[29]. But from that very hour in which we are
reborn[30]
the demon comes to be outside and Grace inside.
Whence we find that as deception reigned over the soul before [Baptism],
so Truth reigns over it after Baptism.
Nevertheless, after this Satan is also active in the soul just as before
(and usually worse), yet not as being present [in the soul] together with
Grace—may it not be so!—but rather fumigating as it were the mind with the
sweetness of the irrational pleasures through the moisture of the body.[31] God allows this to occur so that through
storm and fire of trial the soul come to be, if it wishes, in the enjoyment of
the Good. For it says: ‘For we passed
through fire and water and you led us out into refreshment.’
77
Grace, as I
said, lies hidden in the very depth of the mind from the very instant in which
we are baptized, concealing its own presence from the actual [spiritual]
perception of the mind. However,
whenever one should begin to love God ardently from his whole purpose, Grace
speaks then to the soul a certain part of its goods in a certain unspeakable
word by means of the [spiritual] sense of the mind.[32] Whence, thenceforth he who wholly wishes to
keep this discovery securely comes to a desire of divesting himself with great
joy of all present goods so that, really, he acquire the field in which he has
found the hidden treasure of life. For
when one divests oneself wholly of the wealth of this worldly life then he
finds the place where the Grace of God has lain hidden.[33] For in accordance with the progress of the
soul the Divine Gift[34]
also manifests its own goodness to the mind.
Nonetheless, the Lord then allows the soul to be more afflicted by the
demons, so that he teach it thoroughly as it ought the discernment of good and
evil and make it humbler from the great shame that occurs to it from the
filthiness of the demonic thoughts when it is being purified.[35]
78
We are in
the image of God in the mental[36]
movement of the soul; the body is as it were the house of the soul. Therefore, since not only were the lines of
the portrait[37]
of the soul soiled through the transgression of Adam but our body also fell
under corruption, for this reason the Holy Word of God was incarnated, as God
granting to us by means of his own Baptism the water of salvation towards our
rebirth. For we are reborn by means of
the water[38]
in the activity of the Holy and Vivifying Spirit, whence we are immediately
purified both in soul and in body (if one comes forth to God out of his whole
disposition), the Holy Spirit sojourning in us and sin being driven away by it.[39] For it is not possible, the nature[40]
of the soul being one and simple, for two persons[41]
to be present together in it, as some have thought. For when in a certain limitless affection
Divine Grace adapts itself to the lines of the ‘according to the image’[42]
in a pledge[43]
of the likeness,[44]
where can the person of the Evil One find place, there certainly being no
communion at all of the Light towards the darkness? We believe, therefore, we the runners in the
sacred games,[45]
that the multiform serpent is expelled from the treasure-rooms of the mind
through the bath of incorruption. And
let us not wonder for what reason we again think bad things with the good after
Baptism. For the bath of holiness
completely removes from us the stain that comes from sin but it does not now
change the duality of our will,[46]
nor certainly does it impede the demons from warring against us or speaking to
us words of deceit, so that [henceforth] those very things that we did not
observe when we were ‘psychic’[47]
we keep in the power of God by taking up the weapons of righteousness.
79
Satan, as I
said, is expelled from the soul by means of Holy Baptism, but for the
aforementioned causes it is permitted to him to operate in the soul by means of
the body. For the Grace of God dwells in
the very depth of the soul, that is, in the mind. For it says: ‘All the glory of the daughter
of the King is within,’ not appearing to the demons. Wherefore we [spiritually] perceive a divine
longing as it were gushing up out of the very depth of our heart when we warmly
make mention[48]
of God; however, the evil spirits thenceforth[49]
leap on and lurk in the senses of the body, acting on those persons who are yet
infants in soul by means of the licentiousness of the body. Therefore, according to the Apostle our mind
ever rejoices at the laws of the Spirit, whereas the sense organs of the body want
to be carried off in the softness of the pleasures. Whence, among those who progress in gnosis
Grace gladdens the body into unspeakable exultation by means of the [spiritual]
sense of the mind, whereas the demons—and certainly when they find us carelessly
running the course of piety—violently capture the soul by means of the senses
of the body, the murderers calling it to that which it does not want.
80
Those who
say that the two persons of Grace and sin are together present in the hearts of
the faithful[50]
because the Evangelist has said: ‘And the Light shines in the darkness and the
darkness did not comprehend it;’ wish to recommend their own suggestion by
saying that the Divine Brightness is not at all defiled by the sojourn of the
Evil One together with it, no matter, they say, how much the Divine Light
approaches the darkness of the demon in the soul. But they are refuted by the very passage of
the Gospel since they are minded outside the Holy Scriptures. For since the Word of God deigned that the True
Light should appear in the flesh in his own Creation, in his immeasurable love
for Mankind kindling among us his light of gnosis, (although the mindedness of
the world did not comprehend the counsel of God, that is, did not know it,
since the mindedness of the flesh is hostility to God), for that reason the
Theologian[51]
made use of such a verb. Passing over
some lines in the middle, the divine [Evangelist] continues: ‘He was the true
Light which enlightens every man
coming into the world’ (instead of guides
or vivifies;) ‘he was in the world
and the world came to be through him and the world did not know him; he came to
his own places and his own people did not receive him; as many as received him,
to them he gave authority to become children of God, to those who believe in
his name.’ And the wisest Paul also
says, interpreting the ‘did not comprehend’: ‘Not that I already have received
or that I already have been perfected, but I pursue so that perhaps I might comprehend,
since I have already been comprehended by Christ Jesus.’ So the Evangelist does not say that Satan has
not comprehended the True Light (for from the beginning he is alien to it
because it does not shine in him), but he[52]
worthily dishonours by means of this word those men who hear the mighty deeds
and wonders of the Son of God but who do not wish to approach the light of his
gnosis on account of their darkened heart.
[1] ‘Word of gnosis’. Greek ‘o
logos tes gnoseos’. We take this to
mean that the author is basing himself on a personal revelation concerning the
matter at hand.
[2] Greek: logismo.
[3] The ‘eye of the soul’ is usually considered, especially in St John
of Damascus (admittedly many centuries later), to be the mind or nous.
Here however, it is a matter of the faculty of the soul that the author
has referred to as the spiritual or mental sense. What the author has in mind is that in his
present spiritual condition the ascetic discerns quite clearly ‘what is going
on spiritually’, being able to discern the good spirits from the bad even in
dreams—and to be enraged by the behaviour of the bad spirits in those
dreams. Of course, this could also apply
to actual persons that the ascetic might meet or hear of.
[4] The author gives a practical reason not to be enraged by evil: such
a psychological condition is incompatible with contemplation.
[5] Preferring des Places’ reading of ‘theologos’ to Rutherford's ‘theologos
nous’. The context would require
adding ‘nous’ to all further occurrences in the chapter of ‘theologos’
or ‘gnostikos’.
[6] ‘The discerning part’.
Greek: ‘To dioratiko … meros’.
[7] Greek: theoretikes aretes. Here, given the context, the author must mean
the charism of speculative theology.
[8] Recall that the author contrasts the fruits which belong naturally
to the soul with the charisms that accrue to it from the Holy Spirit.
[9] Greek: proseuchesthai. This word is ordinarily used for
discursive intercessory prayer.
[10] Greek: euchetai. This word ordinarily applies to the Jesus
Prayer.
[11] Greek: ennoias. This might also be translated ‘ideas’ or
‘meanings’ or ‘conceptions’. Implicitly,
the ennoias are spiritual. The word is to be contrasted with logismous, which is also translated
‘thoughts’ but which is used for more vulgar thoughts, even thoughts sown by
the demons. More generally, the author’s
sense is that the voice having been kept moderate, the activity of the Holy
Spirit brings the soul to a state of still, quiet and tearful compunction.
[12] Greek: euche. I.e. the Prayer of Jesus as prayed in this
context.
[13] As the author develops, this is a natural activity of the soul, not
something arising from the Grace of the Holy Spirit.
[14] Greek: eros.
[15] I.e. the bodily senses.
[16] I.e. this being a natural charism, it is quickly consumed.
[17] This means that the warmth of the Holy Spirit does not spread to
the other parts of the body to excite them.
This is an important principle of discernment.
[18] Greek: di’ autes. It
is not clear what the antecedent is to this pronoun. The only logical possibility is ‘heart’. However the sense would be better served if
the antecedent were ‘warmth’. But that
seems syntactically impossible. This
sentence seems corrupt. We have
construed it as best we could.
[19] I.e. the soul in its natural attributes.
[20] The text has ‘it’ here. It
is not entirely clear what the referent for this ‘it’ is.
[21] Greek: pneumatos tes planes.
[22] Greek: pneuma. This could also mean wind, although the
word used previously in this chapter for wind was anemos.
[23] Greek: aithrion. I.e. clear just as the sky is clear. In general there are a number of word-plays
that depend on the author’s metaphor of the natural winds blowing in creation.
[24] Greek: theoremata. While this word is usually used for
discursive contemplations, here the author seems to mean intuitive
contemplations of God and the things of God.
[25] I.e. the Messalians.
[26] Greek: nous. Recall
that the mind is the highest part of the soul.
[27] Greek: prosopon. This would be the Spirit of Truth and the
spirit of deception.
[28] Greek: aistheseos. This would be the spiritual sense that the
author has discussed. He is asserting
that he is teaching on the basis of a private revelation.
[29] Greek: dexias. I.e. to the good.
[30] I.e. in Baptism.
[31] The author seems to have in mind the image of the vapour bath.
[32] It is important to understand that this is not a matter of hearing
words spoken either out loud or silently in the mind. Rather it is a matter of a non-verbal
illumination by the Holy Spirit of the mind (the created spirit of man). It should also be apparent that this word
spoken to the soul by the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with emotional states,
especially states of enthusiasm or elation.
What the author is describing is ordinarily called a plerophoria—an inner spiritual assurance
conveyed non-verbally to the mind by the Holy Spirit. It is a matter of the charism of discernment
for an Elder to discern whether an experience of this type is indeed from the
Holy Spirit or not.
[33] As should be evident this is the place in the mind where Grace has
hidden since Baptism.
[34] I.e. the Holy Spirit received in Baptism but hidden since.
[35] ‘Demonic thoughts’. Greek: daimonikon logismon.
[36] Greek: noero. This could well be translated ‘spiritual’.
[37] Greek: charakter.
[38] I.e. of Baptism.
[39] It should be evident that for St Diadochos this ‘sin’ is the spirit
of sin, not a juridical notion of original sin and personal sins committed.
[40] Greek: charakter.
[41] I.e. the Holy Spirit and the spirit of sin.
[42] I.e. to the soul or, more precisely, to the mind, the created
spirit of man.
[43] Greek: arraboni. This is the engagement pledge of two who
are betrothed to be married.
[44] As the author will discuss, by this act of the Holy Spirit Baptism
restores the ‘according to the image’ but the baptized person then has to work,
with the assistance of the now-indwelling Grace, to restore the ‘according to
the likeness’. However, the author is
saying that this ‘according to the likeness’ is already present in potential
(‘pledge’) through the act of the Holy Spirit in Baptism.
[45] The author and his kind are being compared to runners competing in
the sacred games.
[46] I.e. we still have free will.
The ‘now’ indicates that after the General Resurrection we will not be
able to sin any more, this duality having been abolished.
[47] Greek: psychikoi. The author provides an interpretation of this
mysterious usage of St Paul: he treats the ‘psychic’ person that Paul refers to as the person
before Baptism, and the spiritual person that Paul refers to as the person
after Baptism. An interesting
interpretation.
[48] ‘Make mention’. Greek: memnemetha. The most basic meaning of this word is
‘remember’ but it also bears the meaning ‘make mention.’ Since the author is writing a treatise
dealing with the repetition of the Jesus Prayer, we have given a more technical
translation.
[49] I.e. after Baptism.
[50] I.e. the baptized.
[51] I.e. St John the Evangelist.
[52] I.e. the Evangelist.