81
The word of
gnosis teaches us that there are as it were two genera of evil spirits. The first of these are as it were finer; the
second, more material. Therefore the
finer war against the soul while the others have the custom to take the body
captive by means of certain greasy[1]
consolations. Wherefore the demons that
wrestle with the soul and those that wrestle with the body are ever opposed to
each other even if they have the equal intention of damaging men. Therefore when Grace does not have its abode
in man,[2]
the demons lurk in the depths of the heart after the manner, really, of
serpents, not at all permitting the soul to see clearly towards the desire for
the good. When Grace is hidden in the
mind,[3]
however, the demons thenceforth run through the parts of the heart like certain
gloomy clouds, being formed into the passions of sin and into various
distractions, so that deceitfully buoying up the remembrance of the mind they
tear it away from its intercourse with Grace.
Therefore, when we are inflamed towards the passions of the soul by the
demons afflicting the soul, and certainly towards conceit, which is itself the
mother of all evils, by considering the dissolution of our body we certainly
bring to shame the pretension of ambition.
We must also do the same when the demons that wrestle with the body
prepare our heart to boil up in shameful desires. For this simple recollection[4]
is able in the memory of God to abolish all the scurryings-about of the evil
spirits. If on account of this
remembrance, however, the demons of the soul suggest to us limitless contempt
for the nature of man, on the ground that on account of the flesh there is no
value to it for any reason at all (for they like to do this when one wishes to
torture them with a thought[5]
of this kind), we henceforth recall the honour and glory of the heavenly
kingdom without overlooking the bitter and gloomy aspect of the Judgement, so
that in the former we console our despondency while in the latter we toughen
the softness of our heart.
82
The Lord
teaches us in the Gospels that when Satan returns and finds his own house (that
is, the heart that does not bear fruit) swept and put in order, he then takes
seven other spirits and enters into that heart and lurks there, making the last
things of the man worse than the first.
Whence we must understand that as long as the Holy Spirit is in us, it
is not possible for Satan, entering, to reside in the depth of the soul. But the divine Paul also teaches us clearly
the mind[6]
of this contemplation. For seeing the
shape[7]
of the matter from the point of view of ascetical gnosis he speaks thus: ‘I
rejoice at the Law of God according to the inner man; but I see another law in
my members mobilized against the law of my mind and taking me captive in the
law of sin, the law which exists in my members;’ but from the point of view of
perfection he says: ‘Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are
in Christ Jesus; for the law of the Spirit of Life has freed me from the law of
sin and death.’ So that he again teach
us that from the body Satan wars against the soul which partakes of the Holy
Spirit, he also says elsewhere: ‘Stand, therefore, having girded your loins in
truth and having clothed yourself with the breastplate of righteousness and
having shod your feet in preparation of the Gospel of Peace, taking up over all
the shield of faith, in which you are able to extinguish all the flaming arrows
of the Evil One; and receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God.’
‘Captivity’ is one thing; ‘battle’, another, since the former is
significant of violent seizure whereas the second is declarative of a certain
equipollent struggle. Wherefore the
Apostle says that the Devil is always coming against the Christ-bearing souls[8]
with flaming arrows. For he who is not
in control of his own opponent at all events makes use of arrows against him,
so that he be able to hunt with the feather of the arrows the one who is
battling him from a distance. Thus also,
because Satan is not able on account of the presence of Grace to lurk as
previously[9]
in the mind of those contending [ascetically], he thenceforth lays hand on the
moistness[10]
and lurks in the body so that he entice the soul on account of the body’s
licentiousness. Wherefore it is
necessary to melt the body away moderately so that the mind not slip into the
softness of pleasures by means of the body’s moistness. For it is proper to be persuaded by that
Apostolic saying, that the mind of those who contend [ascetically][11]
is set into activity by the Divine Light, whence their mind also serves the
Divine Law and rejoices in it. The
flesh, however, gladly admits the evil spirits on account of its own
licentiousness, wherefore it is sometimes dragged out to serve their evil. Whence it certainly appears that the mind is
not some common dwelling place of God and the Devil. For how is it that ‘I serve the Law of God
with my mind, but with the flesh the law of sin;’ unless my mind stands in
every freedom towards battle with the demons, willingly subjecting itself to
the goodness of Grace, while the body gladly admits the odour of the irrational
passions (because, as I said, among those who are contending [ascetically] it
is permitted to the evil spirits of deceit to lurk in the body)? It says: ‘For I know that no good dwells in
me, that is, in my flesh;’—thus among those who in the midst of some struggle
are standing against sin. For the
Apostle does not say this by himself: the demons battle against the mind but
endeavour to loosen the body a little towards the softness of the pleasures by
means of greasy consolations. For
because the free will of the human habit of thought[12]
is ever under test, the demons have in accordance with a just judgement once
and for all been allowed to sojourn around the depths of the body even among
those who are earnestly contending against sin.
If one be able, then, to die while still living by means of ascetical
practices, he thenceforth completely becomes the dwelling place of the Holy
Spirit, for before such a person has died he has been resurrected, just as the
Blessed Paul was, and as many as have contended perfectly, and contend, against
sin.
83
The heart
also bears out of itself thoughts[13]
both good and not good,[14]
not by nature bearing as fruit the conceptions[15]
which are not good but having in habit as it were the remembrance of that which
is not good on account of the very first deceit (but the heart conceives most
evil thoughts out of the bitterness of the demons). However, we sense all thoughts as proceeding
from the heart and for this reason certain persons have suggested that sin is
also in the mind with Grace. Wherefore
they also say that the Lord said: ‘Those things which come out of the mouth
come out of the heart and those things pollute a man; for out of the heart come
evil thoughts, adulteries;’ and the rest.
They do not know that our mind, having the activity of a certain most
subtle sense, makes its own, as it were by means of the flesh, the activity of
the thoughts[16]
suggested to it by the evil spirits, the licentiousness of the body fully
bearing the soul to this through the commixture[17]
in a way that we do not know. Since the
flesh ever cherishes being flattered without measure by deceit, on account of
this too the thoughts[18]
sown in the soul by the demons also seem to come out of the heart. For we make these thoughts our own, really,
when we wish to rejoice in them.
Censuring this very thing the Lord made use of the aforementioned
quotation, as the divine saying itself declares. For he who rejoices in the thoughts[19]
suggested by the wickedness of Satan and as it were engraves the memory of them
on his own heart—it is not unclear that he thenceforth bears those thoughts
from his own conception[20]
as fruit.
84
The Lord
says in the Gospel that it is not possible to expel the strong man from his
house unless someone who is stronger, having bound and despoiled him, expels
him. How is it therefore possible that
he who has been expelled with so much shame should enter again and sojourn with
the true householder who is reposing however he might wish in his own house? For not even a king who has contended greatly
against a tyrant who has at some time rebelled against him will countenance
having this person in the royal court.
Rather, he will cut his throat him immediately or, having bound him,
hand him over to his own troops for a long punishment and most miserable death.
85
If someone
supposes that because we think good things together with bad the Holy Spirit
and the Devil together inhabit the mind, let him learn that this happens
because we have not yet tasted and seen that the Lord is good. For, first, as I said above, Grace hides its
presence among the baptized, awaiting the intention of the soul; when, however,
a man turns his intention wholly towards the Lord, then at that time Grace
manifests its presence in the heart with a certain unspeakable [spiritual]
perception; and it again awaits the movement of the soul, nonetheless allowing
the demonic arrows to reach right up to its deep [spiritual] sense so that the
soul seek out God with warmer intention and humble disposition. If therefore a man begin henceforth to
advance in the keeping of the commandments and if he invoke unceasingly the
Lord Jesus,[21]
then the fire of Holy Grace is distributed even on the more external sense
organs of the heart, burning up the weeds of the human earth with inner spiritual
assurance.[22] Whence even <the demonic arrows>[23]
arrive somewhat further away from those places, thenceforth pricking the
impassioned part of the soul tranquilly.[24] When the man of the struggle further binds
all the virtues to himself,[25]
and certainly perfect poverty, then in a certain deeper [spiritual] sense Grace
illuminates his whole nature to a great love of God which thenceforth warms him
round. Wherefore the arrows[26]
are then extinguished more externally to the sense of the body.[27] For moving the heart towards winds of peace
the breeze of the Holy Spirit completely extinguishes the arrows of the
fire-bearing demon while they are still borne in the air. However, on occasion God surrenders even the
one who has attained this very measure to the evil of the demons, at that time
leaving his mind without light so that our free will not at all be bound by the
bond of Grace[28]—not
only so that sin be defeated out of struggles but also because the man is yet
obliged to progress in spiritual experience.
For that which is thought to be the perfection of him who is being
trained is still imperfect as regards the wealth of honour of the God who is
training us in the love, even if by progress in ascetical practices one should
be able to ascend the whole ladder that was shown to Jacob.[29]
86
The Lord
himself says that Satan has fallen like lightning from Heaven, so that the
disfigured one not even gaze on the habitations of the holy angels. How, therefore, is he able, he who has not
been found worthy of the fellowship of the good servants, to have the human
mind as a home together with God? For if
they object[30]
that this happens by surrender, let them say nothing more. For the pedagogical surrender[31]
in no way deprives the soul of Divine Light.
For the most part Grace only hides, as I have already said, its own
presence from the mind so that it propel, as it were, the soul into the
bitterness of the demons with the goal that, knowing a little of the evil of
its enemy, with all fear and great humility it seek out the very help from
God—in the same way that a mother seeing her own infant act disorderly around
the established customs of breastfeeding might thrust it away from her embrace
for a little so that terrified by certain repulsive persons standing there or
by any beasts whatsoever it go back with great fear and tears to the motherly
bosom. On the other hand, the surrender
according to aversion[32]
hands the soul that does not want to have God over to the demons like a
prisoner. However we are not bastards[33]—may
it not be so!—but we believe that we are genuine infants of the Grace of God,
breast-fed by it with small surrenders and frequent consolations so that
through its goodness we arrive to come to the perfect man, to the measure of
stature.[34]
87
The
pedagogical surrender brings much sadness and humbleness and moderate despair
to the soul, so that the part of it which is ambitious and easily excited[35]
come appropriately to humility. The
pedagogical surrender immediately brings to the heart fear of God and tears of
confession and great desire of the finest silence. On the other hand, the surrender which is
according to the aversion of God allows the soul to be filled with despair
together with disbelief and wrath and delusion[36]. We must, knowing the experience of both types
of surrender, approach God according to the manner of each. In the first case, we should bring forth to
God thanksgiving with a rendering of accounts as to one who is chastising the
profligate character of our judgement by the suspension of consolation so that
as a good father he teach us the difference between virtue and vice. In the second case, however, ceaseless
confession of our sinful practices, weeping without cease and greater solitude,
so that thus we might with the addition of ascetical practices even be able to
entreat God to look at some time upon our hearts as before.[37] However, it must be known that when the
battle occurs according to the substantial[38]
engagement of the soul and the Devil—I am speaking of the case of pedagogical
surrender—Grace conceals itself, as I have already said, but it works together
with a help that is unknown to the soul so as to demonstrate to the soul’s
enemies that the victory is of the soul only.
88
Just as
when one is standing some place in the winter-time at the beginning of day and
looking wholly towards the east, all his front parts are somewhat warmed by the
sun whereas all his back parts have no share in the warmth because the sun is
not directly over his head, thus also those in the beginning of spiritual activity[39]
are partially warmed round in the heart by Holy Grace. Wherefore the mind of such persons also
begins at that time to bear the fruit of spiritual habits of thought, but
obvious parts of the mind remain with habits of thought that are according to
the flesh, since all the parts of the heart have not yet been completely
illuminated with the light of Holy Grace in deep [spiritual] perception. (Certain persons, however, not understanding
this very thing, have in themselves thought that in the minds of those who are
contending [ascetically] there are two hypostases[40]
set one over against the other.)
Therefore it thus happens that the soul thinks good things and not good
things in the same instant, in the same way that the man in the example both
shivers and is warmed in the same touch.
For from the time that our mind slid away into the duality of
<judgement>[41],
from that time it has a need to bear, even if it should not want, both good and
bad thoughts[42],
and even among those, certainly, who are coming into subtlety of
discernment. For as the mind ever makes
an effort to think the good, immediately it also recalls the evil because the
memory of man has been split into a certain dual conception[43]
from the time of Adam’s disobedience.
Therefore, if we begin to practise the commandments of God with warm
zeal Grace illuminating in a certain deep [spiritual] perception all our
[spiritual] organs of sense thenceforth burns up as it were all our
recollections and, sweetening our heart in a certain peace of unwavering
friendship,[44]
prepares us to think certain spiritual things and no longer according to the
flesh. This occurs extremely often to
those who are approaching perfection, those who unceasingly have the memory of
the Lord Jesus[45]
in their heart.
89
Holy Grace
procures two things for us in our Baptism of Rebirth, of which the one
limitlessly exceeds the other. But the
lesser[46]
is granted immediately: it renews us in the very water and makes bright all the
lines of the soul—that is, the ‘according to the image’—, washing away every
stain of sin. The greater[47]
expects that it will work with us, which very thing is the ‘according to the
likeness’. When the mind therefore
begins to taste the goodness of the Holy Spirit in great [spiritual]
perception, then we should know that Grace is beginning to paint as it were the
‘according to the likeness’ on the ‘according to the image’. For in the same way that painters first
delineate with one colour the figure of the man, then, adorning tint little by
little with tint, thus capture up to the strands of hair the form of the man
being portrayed—thus also the Grace of God first regulates the ‘according to
the image’ by means of Baptism to just what it was when Man came to be. But when Grace sees us desiring from every
purpose the beauty of the ‘according to the likeness’ and standing naked and
undaunted in its workshop, then, adorning virtue with virtue and bringing the
form of the soul back from glory to glory it procures for the soul the very
stamp[48]
of the ‘according to the likeness’.
Therefore the [spiritual] perception declares that we are being formed
in the ‘according to the likeness’; but we will know the perfection of the
likeness from the illumination. For
progressing according to a certain measure and unspeakable rhythm the mind
receives all the [other] virtues by means of the [spiritual] sense; one cannot
acquire spiritual love, however, unless he be illuminated by the Holy Spirit in
every [spiritual] assurance.[49] If the mind does not receive the ‘according
to the likeness’ by means of the Divine Light, it is able to have almost all
the other virtues but it still remains without a share in perfect love. For when it becomes like to the virtue of
God—as much as man has the capacity to become like to God, I say—it then bears
the likeness of the divine love too. For
just as among those who are being portrayed, the whole range of splendid
colours[50]
added to the image preserves the resemblance of him who is being portrayed
right up to the smile, thus also among those who are being delineated to the
divine likeness by Divine Grace, the illumination of love when added declares
the ‘according to the image’ to be completely in the comeliness of the
‘according to the likeness.[51] For no other virtue except only love is able
to procure dispassion for the soul. For
the fullness of the Law is love. So,
then, our inner man is renewed from day to day in the taste of love; it is
completed in the perfection of love.
90
In the
beginning of our progress, if indeed we warmly and ardently desire the virtue
of God, the Holy Spirit makes the mind taste in every [spiritual] perception
and inner spiritual assurance the sweetness of God, so that the mind be able to
know in exact knowledge the perfect reward of the God-loving ascetical practices. Thenceforth, however, the Holy Spirit hides
for much time the extravagance of this vivifying gift so that even if we should
completely accomplish all the other virtues we consider ourselves to be utterly
nothing because we do not yet have the holy love as it were in habit. Thus, therefore, the demon of hatred
thereafter greatly afflicts the souls of those who are contending [ascetically]
so that it slander even those who love them with the goal of inciting hatred,
and it bears the destroying activity of hatred almost up to the kiss. Whence the soul is thereafter pained, bearing
the memory of spiritual love but not being able to acquire it in [spiritual]
perception because of the lack of the most perfect ascetical practices. It is therefore necessary that in the
meantime we work this from violence[52]
so that we attain to the taste of this spiritual love in every [spiritual]
perception and inner spiritual assurance.[53] For in this flesh no one can acquire the
perfection of this love except those saints who have come as far as martyrdom
and perfect confession.[54] For he whose lot this is, is wholly changed
and does not easily desire food. For to
him who is nourished by divine love what desire is there for the good things in
the world? For this reason, the wisest
Paul, the great receptacle of gnosis, announcing to us from his own spiritual
experience[55]
the good news of the future delight of the first just men[56]
speaks thus: ‘For the Kingdom of Heaven is not food and drink, but
righteousness and peace and grace in the Holy Spirit,’ which things are the
fruit of perfect love. So, therefore,
those who are progressing in perfection are able here to taste this continually
but no one is able to acquire this perfectly except when that which is mortal
is completely[57]
swallowed up by Life.[58]
[1] Greek: liparon. It is not entirely clear what this means
in context.
[2] I.e. before Baptism.
[3] I.e. after Baptism.
[4] I.e. of the dissolution of the body. This is usually called the Memory of Death.
[5] Greek: ennoia.
[6] Greek: nous. I.e. meaning or sense.
[7] Greek: schema.
[8] I.e. souls which have the Holy Spirit indwelling through Baptism.
[9] I.e. before Baptism.
[10] Greek: ugroteti. Des Places renders this as ‘the humours
of the body’, which is probably what the author has in the back of his mind.
[11] Here the author seems to mean all Christians, however.
[12] ‘Habit of thought’: Greek: phronematos.
[13] Greek: logismous.
[14] I.e. not only does a person have bad thoughts on account of the
demons, or even good thoughts on account of the Holy Spirit, but also out of
his own nature. The issue then becomes
where the person gets such bad thoughts arising out of himself given that God
made everything good.
[15] Greek: ennoias.
[16] Greek: logismon.
[17] I.e. through the commixture of the soul and body.
[18] Greek: logismoi.
[19] Greek: logismois.
[20] Greek: ennoias.
[21] Reading ‘Lord Jesus’ with des Places instead of ‘Lord’ with Rutherford. With the reading of des Places, it is clear
that the Jesus Prayer is intended whereas with the reading of Rutherford the author might be
construed to have a more general conception.
However, the construal that the Jesus Prayer is meant is consistent with
the rest of the treatise.
[22] The author appears to view the interior world of the ascetic as
having levels of depth so that he can speak of inner and outer spiritual
senses. What he is saying is that when
the Holy Spirit tries the ascetic after it has given him an inner spiritual
assurance of the spiritual sense, it allows the demonic arrows to reach right
up to the depths of the ascetic’s inner world; but when ascetic makes progress
in keeping the commandments and unceasingly remembers the Lord Jesus through
the Jesus Prayer, then the fire of Grace touches not only the most interior
part of the ascetic’s inner world but expands outward from that centre to the
more external spiritual sense organs of the heart. This is evidently based on the author’s own
experience both in the Jesus Prayer and as a guide of souls.
[23] Greek: <ta demonika bele>.
The text has ‘the demonic counsels (Greek: ai
demonikai boulai), which the other translators have rendered as ‘the
demonic attacks (Greek: ai demonikai
epiboulai)’ except for Rutherford who has rendered it ‘the demonic schemes’. Surely, however, given that ‘the demonic
arrows’ is a consistent element here and elsewhere in the chapter and given
that the author immediately goes on to speak of these things ‘pricking or
piercing’, the text is faulty and to be emended in the manner given.
[24] Evidently the author means that the arrows reach only to the more
external parts of the heart, not to the centre as before, thus pricking the
impassioned parts of the soul more gently.
The text is corrupt it seems. However,
the important thing is that the demonic attacks no longer have an overwhelming
force. Cf. St John of Sinai.
[25] This seems to be an image of the warrior binding armour to himself.
[26] Greek: toxa.
[27] Note that the author has a sort of set of concentric circles: the
innermost circle or bull’s-eye is Grace itself united to the mind in its
uttermost depths. Close to this is the
innermost spiritual sense. Then further
out are the more external spiritual senses of the heart. Finally there are the senses of the
body. The author is saying that when
Grace recedes, then the arrows of the demons reach to the innermost spiritual
sense, but as Grace grows stronger because of the ascetic’s application to the
ascetic struggle, the arrows reach only to the more external spiritual senses
because of the more pervasive conscious presence of Grace. Finally, when the ascetic has reached to the
stage of binding all the virtues to himself, then the arrows of the demons are
extinguished beyond even the physical senses of the body, the outermost circle. But see later in the text, Chapters 89 ff.,
how the author treats the stage of perfection.
[28] I.e. when we experience great Grace, our will is at it were bound
to God by our experience of that Grace.
But when we experience abandonment, our free commitment to God is tested
in the darkness of abandonment. The
author continues, saying that this is actually for two reasons: so that sin be
defeated in struggle and so that the man progress in practical spiritual
experience (so that he understand the nature of spiritual warfare
experientially).
[29] Accepting Rutherford’s reading from the single manuscript R, unknown to des Places,
which adds tes, giving the reading above. The text of des Places without the tes is
difficult to construe. The text seems to
mean that in comparison with the infinite honour of God the accomplishments of
the ascetic are imperfect however perfect they might be, even when the ascetic
is able to climb Jacob’s Ladder by his own ascetical labours.
[30] Accepting Rutherford’s reading.
[31] I.e. the surrender by God of the soul for pedagogical reasons to
the temptations of the Devil, like Job.
This is usually called ‘pedagogical abandonment’ by the ascetical
authors.
[32] This is the second type of abandonment that the author is
analyzing. Here it is a matter of an
aversion on the part of God for someone who refuses God: the soul is handed
over to the demons as a prisoner for punishment.
[33] Literally, ‘children of concealment’. Our interpretation depends on the polarity
between this phrase and the ‘genuine infants’ following.
[34] Two points here. First, it
is clear that the author is catechizing his disciples and that he is frightened
here of the effect on them if he emphasizes the surrender according to
aversion, immediately moderating his words.
The second point is that the author is alluding to Paul in the contrast
‘bastard – genuine child’ and in the phrase ‘to come into the measure of
stature’: Hebrews 10, 39 and Ephesians 4, 13 (although certainly the passage of
Hebrews does not support the interpretation ‘bastard’ even if it uses the same
Greek word for concealment). Indeed,
that this is a catechism of the author’s disciples helps us to assess why the
author dwells so much on the notion that Satan might dwell along with God in
the mind (the created spirit of man): it was a pastoral problem among his
disciples.
[35] ‘Easily excited’. Greek: euptoeton. According to Liddell-Scott and Lampe
(which indeed references this passage) ‘easily frightened’ is the meaning of
the Greek word. But that doesn’t make
sense in context since the cure given is humility: the virtue which would cure
the lack of manliness implied in the book translation is fortitude. Given the other uses of this word and its
cognates by the author we have adopted the translation given.
[36] Greek: tuphos. This is not the same word as plane (plani), which describes a state
of delusion caused by a false revelation given by the demons. Here it is more a matter of a subjective
psychological condition where the person is in the medical sense deluded and
perhaps hallucinating: he is out of his mind.
A milder rendering would be ‘arrogance’.
[37] This is very similar to the ‘Prison’ in the Ladder of Divine Ascent by St John of Sinai.
[38] Greek: ousiode. The sense is that in the case under
discussion the soul and the Devil join battle in actual hand-to-hand
combat. It is no longer a matter of bad
thoughts. See the Life of St Silouan of
Athos.
[39] Greek: energeias. According to the context, this activity is
the activity of Holy Spirit on the person, not the efforts of the person
himself to lead a pious life.
[40] Greek: upostases. Until now the author has used the more
Western word, person (Greek:
prosopon). He clearly means the same
thing: the supposed co-existence of a personal principle of holiness, the Holy
Spirit, and of a personal principal of evil, the Devil or Satan, in the one
person. It should be remarked that the
author’s see was on the Western side of mainland Greece
and that it might very well have had regular communication with the West even
though today it seems rather isolated.
[41] ‘<judgement (Greek: gnomes)>. The text here has ‘knowledge (Greek: gnoseos)’. While the critical apparatus does not show
our reading, it seems to be required by the text. As the author has already said, the Fall
introduced a duality of the will towards good or evil. However, there is nothing in his doctrine of
gnosis that would suggest that the Fall also introduced a duality of intuitive
knowledge or illumination, although the author certainly recognizes the
possibility of demonic delusion.
Judgement (gnome) does bear
the sense of a personal judgement leading to a choice made by the free
will. See below in this chapter, where
the duality is applied to the memory.
[42] Greek: dianoemata.
[43] Greek: ennoian.
[44] This is unclear. It appears
to mean friendship between man and Grace.
[45] Retaining the reading of des Places. Rutherford drops ‘Jesus’.
[46] Literally, ‘the latter’.
[47] Literally, ‘the former’.
[48] ‘Very stamp’: Greek: charakter. This word means ‘engraving’, ‘engraved
image’. The word is used by the Apostle
Paul of the relation between Jesus Christ and the Father. Hence, here, the ‘very stamp’. One might also say ‘very character’.
[49] ‘[Spiritual] assurance’: Greek: plerophoria. While all the other virtues are received by
means of the spiritual sense, the virtue of spiritual love is received only in
a conscious illumination of the mind by the Holy Spirit, what is usually called
the Uncreated Light.
[50] ‘The whole range of splendid colours’. Greek: to antheron olon twn chrwmatwn
chrwma. This is unclear. Either it is an otherwise unattested idiom or
the text is corrupt.
[51] This sentence is difficult to construe.
[52] This is the good violence of the Gospel.
[53] The author means that since by the deprivation of Grace for the
sake of our purification we no longer have any spiritual perception of perfect
love, but even rather are tempted to the hatred of others, we must in this
condition force ourselves to love so that we ultimately attain to the
perfection of love in full consciousness and assurance.
[54] In the sense of the Confessors of the Faith who have gone to the
stadium for martyrdom but who have survived.
[55] ‘Spiritual experience’: Greek: plerophoria. This is the second meaning of plerophoria—an actual illumination.
[56] Normally this refers to Adam and Eve before the Fall but here seems
to refer to the saints.
[57] Accepting Rutherford's addition of ‘completely’.
[58] I.e. after death.