Letter 506

To Poulalion the Reviewer [diapsephistes, an official charged with scrutinizing the census or property and voter rolls]. Whenever we dwell upon thoughts that are radiant in accordance with nature, we are in paradise, stripped naked of the passions, we who pray, and lifted up by virtue toward the things of heaven; but whenever we incline toward evil, we are cast out of the divine paradise, and, having clothed ourselves in the garments of skin that are the passions, grown gross with sin, we are dragged down. But if again, becoming sober, we thin down through diligent labor the thickness of those passion-laden garments, we become exalted on high, growing wings like eagles, and we are addressed as spiritual, as it is written, that whoever has been born of the Spirit is spirit; so that the apostle Paul says to us, "But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit," because you have put off the old man, who was corrupted by manifold lusts. For though we are wrapped about with flesh, you do not wage war according to the flesh, but you tread the heavens with your mind. "For your commonwealth exists in the heavens."

Ὅταν ἐπὶ τῶν κατὰ φύσιν λαμπρῶν διατρίβομεν λογισμῶν, ἐν παραδείσῳ ἐσμέν, γυμνοὶ παθῶν, οἱ προσευχόμενοι, καὶ τῇ ἀρετῇ ἀνακυφιζόμενοι εἰς τὰ ἐπουράνια · ὅταν δὲ πρὸς τὸ κακὸν ῥέψωμεν, ἐκβαλλό- μεθα τοῦ θείου παραδείσου, καὶ τοὺς δερματίνους χιτῶνας τῶν παθῶν ἐνδυσάμενοι, τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ παχυνθέντες καταβρυνόμεθα. Ἂν δὲ πάλιν νήψαντες διὰ φιλοπονίας λεπτένωμεν τὴν τῶν ἐμπαθῶν χιτώνων παχύτητα, μετάρσιοι γινόμεθα πτεροφυοῦντες ὡς ἀετοί, καὶ πνευματικοὶ προσαγορευόμεθα, καθὼς γέγραπται, ὅτι ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος, πνεῦμά ἐστιν· ὥστε λέγειν ἡμῖν τὸν ἀπόστολον Παῦλον, «Ὑμεῖς δὲ οὐκ ἐστὲ ἐν σαρκί, ἀλλ’ ἐν πνεύματι, » διότι ἀπέθεσθε τὸν παλαιὸν ἄνθρωπον, τὸν ταῖς ποικίλαις ἐπιθυμίαις διεφθορóta. Σάρκα γὰρ περικείμενοι, οὐ κατὰ σάρκα στρατεύεσθε, ἀλλ’ οὐρανοβατεῖτε τῇ διανοίᾳ. «Ὑμῶν γὰρ τὸ πολίτευμα ἐν οὐρανοῖς ὑπάρχει.»