The Gnostic and the Practical
Practical men will understand practical words, but Gnostics will see Gnostic things.
A practical man is one who has made only the passionate part of the soul dispassionate.
A Gnostic, however, withholds the word of salt from the impure, but offers the word of light to the pure.
The knowledge that comes to us from without attempts to point out the subject-matters through words; but the knowledge that comes to be in us from the grace of God presents the realities to the intellect by its own vision, toward which the mind looks and admits their logoi; but error opposes the former, and wrath and anger the latter, and the things that follow upon these.
All virtues make the way for the Gnostic; but above them all is freedom from anger. For he who has grasped knowledge and is easily moved toward anger is like one piercing his own eyes with an iron probe.
Let the Gnostic be on his guard in his condescensions, lest the condescension, becoming a habit, escape his notice; and let him constantly test all the virtues equally, making them right, so that they may follow one another and be in him, since the mind is by nature prone to betrayal by diminution.
It is shameful for a Gnostic to be judged, both the one being wronged and the one doing wrong; the one being wronged because he did not endure, and the one doing wrong because he did wrong.
Knowledge, being preserved, teaches the one participating in it how he might be guarded and proceed toward greater things.
It is just for monks and for those in the world to discourse correctly concerning right conduct and to clarify in part those doctrines of natural or theological matters, without which no one will see the Lord.
Know the words and the laws of times, lives, and customs, so that you may easily say to each what is profitable.
Do not allegorize the words of false persons, nor seek anything spiritual in them, unless God has acted through economy, as in Balaam (Numbers 24:17) and Caiaphas (John 11:50-51), so that one speaks concerning the birth and the other concerning the death of our Savior.
Greek
Ο ΓΝΩΣΤΙΚΟΣ Η ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΝ ΚΑΤΑΞΙΩΘΕΝΤΑ ΓΝΩΣΕΩΣ 1 Πρακτικοὶ λόγους νοήσουσι πρακτικούς, γνωστικοὶ δὲ ὄψονται γνωστικά. 2 Πρακτικὸς μέν ἐστιν ὁ τὸ παθητικὸν μέρος τῆς ψυχῆς μόνον ἀπαθὲς κεκτημένος. 3 Γνωστικὸς δὲ ὁ ἁλὸς μὲν λόγον ἐπέχων τοῖς ἀκαθάρτοις, φωτὸς δὲ τοῖς καθαροῖς. 4 Ἡ μὲν ἔξωθεν ἡμῖν συμβαίνουσα γνῶσις, διὰ τῶν λόγων ὑποδεικνύειν πειρᾶται τὰς ὕλας· ἡ δὲ ἐκ Θεοῦ χάριτος ἐγγινομένη, αὐτοψεὶ τῇ διανοίᾳ παρίστησι τὰ πράγματα, πρὸς ἃ βλέπων ὁ νοῦς, τοὺς αὐτῶν λόγους προσίεται· ἀντίκειται δὲ τῇ μὲν προτέρᾳ ἡ πλάνη· τῇ δὲ δευτέρᾳ ὀργὴ καὶ θυμός· καὶ τὰ τούτοις παρακολουθοῦντα. 5 Πᾶσαι τῷ γνωστικῷ ὁδοποιοῦσιν αἱ ἀρεταί· ὑπὲρ δὲ πάσας ἡ ἀοργησία. Ὁ γὰρ γνώσεως ἐφαψάμενος καὶ πρὸς ὀργὴν ῥᾳδίως κινούμενος, ὅμοιός ἐστι τῷ σιδηρᾷ περόνῃ τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ ὀφθαλμοὺς κατανύττοντι. 6 Ἀσφαλιζέσθω δὲ ἐν ταῖς συγκαταβάσεσιν ὁ γνωστικός, μήποτε λάθῃ αὐτὸν ἕξις γινομένη ἡ συγκατάβασις, καὶ πειράσθω πάσας ἐπίσης ἀεὶ τὰς ἀρετὰς κατορθοῦν, ἵνα ἀντακολουθῶσιν ἀλλήλαις καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ, διὰ τὸ πεφυκέναι τὸν νοῦν ὑπὸ τῆς ἐλαττουμένης προδίδοσθαι. 8 Αἰσχρὸν γνωστικῷ τὸ δικάζεσθαι καὶ ἀδικουμένῳ καὶ ἀδικοῦντι· ἀδικουμένῳ μὲν ὅτι οὐχ ὑπέμεινεν, ἀδικοῦντι δὲ ὅτι ἠδίκησε. 9 Ἡ γνῶσις συντηρουμένη διδάσκει τὸν μετέχοντα αὐτῆς ὅπως ἂν διαφυλαχθῇ καὶ ἐπὶ μείζονα προέλθοι. 13 ∆ίκαιον τοῖς μοναχοῖς καὶ τοῖς κοσμικοῖς περὶ πολιτείας ὀρθῆς διαλέγεσθαι καὶ ὅσα τῆς φυσικῆς ἢ θεολογικῆς δόγματα σαφηνίζειν ἐκ μέρους, ὧν χωρὶς οὐδεὶς ὄψεται τὸν Κύριον. 15 Γνώριζε καιρῶν καὶ βίων καὶ ἐπιτηδευμάτων τοὺς λόγους καὶ τοὺς νόμους, ἵνα ἔχῃς ἑκάστῳ τὰ συμφέροντα ῥᾳδίως λέγειν. 21 Τοὺς τῶν ψεκτῶν προσώπων λόγους οὐκ ἀλληγορήσεις, οὐδὲ ζητήσεις τι πνευματικὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς, πλὴν εἰ μὴ δι' οἰκονομίαν ὁ Θεὸς ἐνήργησεν, ὡς ἐν τῷ Βαλαὰμ καὶ Καϊάφᾳ, ἵνα ὁ μὲν περὶ γενέσεως, ὁ δὲ περὶ θανάτου τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν