Confession and the Wall of Sin

In essence it is not light, but it is capable of receiving light. But its darkness is the passionate and desiring part.

If the mind is now enlightened by the Lord, sharing with it His own rays, the victorious movements and the irrational movements of the soul are enlightened through knowledge being perfectly accomplished; not that the irrational parts themselves participate in light (for they are incapable of knowledge), but that which is under an enlightened mind is guided by knowledge and virtue without needing a way. If the mind, which is said to be a lamp, is now enlightened by the Lord, then the darkness we have spoken of must necessarily follow being enlightened.

And this is what the Savior says: 'If the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!' (Luke 11:35). For if the eye of the body, that is, the mind, which ought to be a lamp, is deprived of light, then the other is much more so; in this way, the body of the soul becomes darkness, but it is not a human body, rather it is that which happens according to its irrational composition.

Perhaps also those enlightened in the knowledge of the truth have the lamp exhausted, the Lord having given this to them; and having performed actions rightly from the enlightenment of the mind, they have their darkness being enlightened. And this too should not be said of the basket. Those having possessed scientific contemplation concerning intelligible and invisible things have a lamp being enlightened by the Lord, but also regarding sensible things, being well-disposed according to opinion, they have the sense perceiving things luminously, which is darkness because it is not by itself capable of being enlightened, that is, receiving knowledge; for would the senses, even if they received knowledge, receive the irrational parts?

It is not otherwise possible to be saved from the surrounding bitter things by becoming in God; for someone becomes in God partaking of Him. Just as one having come to be in knowledge is saved from ignorances, so one hastening to be in God will be saved from temptation, not by not entering into temptation, but by not being caught by its snares.

For he who confesses Jesus before men is in him; for whoever confesses me before men, I will confess him before my Father who is in the heavens (Matt 10:32-33). For one partakes of him and confesses Jesus, and is confessed by God as being in him. But the multitude of things being done toward us irrationally separates us from God and discerns a gap, as the prophet says: Is not the hand of the Lord able to save? Did his wrath grow because they did not listen? But your sins discern a gap between you and God. And he who now becomes in God, clinging to him and being toward him, surpasses the wall of sins by a little and casts them before and behind, so that, not being pierced through by anything, he may face God face to face.

Perhaps also the sense of bodily and sensible things, standing between our thought and God, separates us from him. But if we now, scientifically as much as possible, through the thought concerning God, grasp him above all bodies and senses, desiring to be united with him, we withdraw from the sensible and bodies as if to leap over the world and all visible things, so that we may be able to present ourselves to God. Our God is faultless in the way toward him (Ps 17:31). And this is virtue, through which, traveling by practice and discipline, we shall be shown faultless coming toward him. But especially faultless is the way of God, he who said: I am the way and the truth and the life (John 14:6). For through this way it is possible to come to the Father.

The word of the Lord, having been made fiery, is in the one who is truthful and pure, or is a fire that consumes the weakness of the matter of those partaking. He is a defender of all who hope in him. Those who know the weakness present to them, if they make those attacking them stronger, by casting hope upon God, are worthy to have him fight for them, saying, 'Fight, those who fight against me.' And thus God fights for them with his own shield, according to: His truth shall surround you with a shield (Ps 17:30). For no one is truly and principally God except the God of the Word, who is called the only-begotten God (Ps 17:32a).

Greek

κατ' οὐσίαν φῶς ἀλλὰ φωτὸς δεκτικός. τὸ δὲ σκότος αὐτῆς τὸ θυμοειδὲς καὶ ἐπιθυμητικόν ἐστιν. ο τ' α ν ου ν ὁ νοῦς φωτισθῇ ὑπὸ τοῦ κυρίου μεταδόντος αὐτῷ τῶν ἰδίων αὐγῶν, τὸ τηνικάδε καὶ τὰ τῆς ψυχῆς α λογα κινήματα φωτίζεται ἐπιστημονικῶς ἐπιτελούμενα, οὐχ ο τι ἐξ αὐτῶν τὰ α λογα μετέχει φωτὸς (ἐπιστήμης γὰρ ἀνεπίδεκτα) ἀλλ' ο τι ὑπὸ νοῦ πεφωτισμένου ὑπὸ ἐπιστήμης καὶ ἀρετῆς ο ν δεῖ τρόπον α γονται. ο τ' α ν ου ν ὑπὸ τοῦ κυρίου φωτισθῇ ὁ νοῦς ο ς ει ρηται λύχνος, ἀναγκαίως ἀκολουθήσει καὶ τὸ φωτισθῆναι τὸ εἰρημένον ἡμῶν σκότος. εἰ δὲ τὸ ἐν ἡμῖν πεφυκὸς φωτίζεσθαι, τουτέστιν ὁ νοῦς, δι' α γνοιαν καὶ ἀνεπιστημοσύνην σκότος ει η, πολλῷ πλέον αἱ α λογοι τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεις, οὐκ ε χουσαι πεφωτισμένον ἡγεμόνα, ἐπιτεταμένον ει εν σκότος. καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν ο φησιν ὁ σωτήρ· Εἰ ου ν τὸ ἐν σοὶ φῶς σκότος ἐστίν, τὸ σκότος πόσον; εἰ γὰρ ὁ ὀφθαλμὸς τοῦ σώματος, τουτέστιν ὁ νοῦς, ὀφείλων ει ναι λύχνος ἐστέρηται φωτός, πολλῷ πλέον τὸ α λλο, ι ν' ου τως ει πω, σῶμα τῆς ψυχῆς σκότος ὑπάρχει, σῶμα δὲ οὐχ ο περίκειται ἀνθρώπινον ἀλλὰ τὸ κατὰ τὴν α λογον σύστασιν αὐτῆς τυγχάνον. Τάχα δὲ καὶ οἱ τὴν γνῶσιν τῆς ἀληθείας πεφωτισμένοι ἐξημμένον ε χουσι τὸν λύχνον, τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῖς τοῦτο δεδωκότος· τὰς δὲ πράξεις κατ' ὀρθὸν α γοντες ἐκ τοῦ πεφωτίσθαι τὸν νοῦν καὶ τὸ σκότος αὐτῶν ε χουσιν φωτιζόμενον. οὐχ η κιστα δὲ καὶ τοῦτο ῥηθείη. οἱ θεωρίαν ἐπιστημονικὴν περὶ τῶν νοητῶν καὶ ἀοράτων πραγμάτων ἐσχηκότες πεφωτισμένον ὑπὸ κυρίου ε χουσι λύχνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ τῶν αἰσθητῶν ευ μάλα κατὰ τὴν γνώμην διακείμενοι τὴν αι σθησιν φωτεινῶς ἀντιλαμβανομένην τῶν πραγμάτων ε χουσιν, η τις σκότος ἐστὶν τῷ μὴ πεφυκέναι καθ' ἑαυτὴν φωτίζεσθαι τουτέστιν ἐπιστήμην δέχεσθαι· η γὰρ α ν καὶ τὰ α λογα ἐπιστήμην ἐδέχοντο αι σθησιν ε χοντα; 133 Ps 17,30 Οὐκ α λλως ῥυσθῆναι δυνατὸν ἀπὸ τῶν περιεστηκότων πραγμάτων πικρῶν η ἐν θεῷ γινόμενον· ἐν θεῷ δέ τις γίνεται μετέχων αὐτοῦ. ὡς γὰρ ἐκ τῶν ἀγνοημάτων ῥύεταί τις ἐν ἐπιστήμῃ γεγενημένος, ου τως ἐν θεῷ τις σπεύδων ει ναι ῥυσθήσεται ἀπὸ πειρατηρίου, εἰς πειρασμὸν μὴ εἰσερχόμενος οὐ τῷ ἐκτὸς πειρασμοῦ γενέσθαι ἀλλὰ τῷ μὴ ἁλῶναι ταῖς παγίσιν αὐτοῦ. διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ὁ ὁμολογῶν ̓Ιησοῦν ε μπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐν αὐτῷ ἐστιν· Πᾶς γὰρ ο ς α ν ὁμολογήσῃ ἐν ἐμοὶ ε μπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ὁμολογήσω κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτῷ ε μπροσθεν τοῦ πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. ὁμολογεῖ τις γὰρ ̓Ιησοῦν μετέχων αὐτοῦ, καὶ ὁμολογεῖται ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ τυγχάνων. διατειχίζει δὲ ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν πρὸς ἡμῶν παραλόγως πραττομένων καὶ διΐστησιν, ῃ φησιν ὁ προφήτης· Μὴ οὐκ ἰσχύει ἡ χεὶρ κυρίου ῥύσασθαι; η ἐβάρυνεν τὸ ου ς αὐτοῦ τοῦ μὴ εἰσακοῦσαι; ἀλλὰ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα ὑμῶν διϊστῶσιν ἀνὰ μέσον ὑμῶν καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ. καὶ ο τ' α ν ου ν ἐν θεῷ τις γένηται κολλώμενος αὐτῷ καὶ ε ν πρὸς αὐτὸν γινόμενος, ὑπερβαίνει τὸ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων τεῖχος εἰς νῶτον καὶ ὀπίσω αὐτὰ ῥίπτων, ι να μὴ ὑπὸ μηδενὸς διειργόμενος τοῦ θεοῦ προσβάλῃ αὐτῷ πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον. Τάχα δὲ καὶ ὁ τῶν σωματικῶν καὶ αἰσθητῶν ο γκος, χωρῶν μεταξὺ τῆς νοήσεως ἡμῶν καὶ τοῦ θεοῦ, διαζεύγνυσιν ἡμᾶς αὐτοῦ. ο τ' α ν ου ν ἐπιστημονικῶς κατὰ τὸ δυνατὸν τῇ περὶ θεοῦ ἐννοίᾳ ἀνωτέρω πάντων σωμάτων καὶ αἰσθήσεως αὐτὸν καταλάβωμεν ἑνωθῆναι αὐτῷ γλιχόμενοι, ἀναχωροῦμεν τῶν αἰσθητῶν καὶ σωμάτων ὡς ὑπερπηδῆσαι τὸν κόσμον καὶ τὰ ὁρατὰ πάντα, ι ν' ου τω τῷ θεῷ παραστῆναι δυνηθῶμεν. 134 Ps 17,31 ̔Ο ἡμέτερος θεὸς α μωμον ε χει τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν α γουσαν ὁδόν. αυ τη δέ ἐστιν ἡ ἀρετή, η ν ὁδεύοντες διὰ μελέτης καὶ ἀσκήσεως α μωμοι ἀποδειχθησόμεθα πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐρχόμενοι. μάλιστα δὲ α μωμος ει η 37 ὁδὸς θεοῦ ὁ εἰπών· ̓Εγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή. διὰ ταύτης γὰρ τῆς ὁδοῦ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα ἐλθεῖν ε στιν. Τὸ λόγιον κυρίου πεπυρωμένον, τῷ α δολον καὶ καθαρὸν ει ναι, η τῷ πῦρ ει ναι θερμαῖνον τοὺς μετέχοντας ἀναλίσκειν τὴν τῆς υ λης ἀχυρμίαν. ̔Υπερασπιστής ἐστιν πάντων τῶν ἐλπιζόντων ἐπ' αὐτόν. Οἱ ἐπιγνώμονες τῆς προσούσης αὐτοῖς ἀσθενείας, ο τ' α ν ἰσχυροτέρους φωράσωσι τοὺς προσπολεμοῦντας, ἐπὶ θεὸν τὴν ἐλπίδα ῥίψαντες ὑπέρμαχον ε χειν αὐτὸν ἀξιοῦσι, Πολέμησον, λέγοντες, τοὺς πολεμοῦντάς με. καὶ ου τως θεὸς τῇ ἑαυτοῦ ἀσπίδι ὑπερμαχεῖ αὐτῶν κατὰ τὸ Οπλῳ κυκλώσει σε ἡ ἀλήθεια αὐτοῦ. 135 Ps 17,32a Οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἀληθῶς καὶ κυρίως θεὸς πλὴν τοῦ θεοῦ λόγου, ο ς καὶ μονογενὴς θεὸς ει ρηται

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Discover how early Christians interpreted the Psalms as divine messages and prophecies about salvation and judgment.

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