Sunday, August 9, 2015

To know in supreme ignorance the supremely unknowable

     "The perfect mind is the one that through genuine faith supremely knows in supreme ignorance the supremely unknowable, and in gazing on the universe of his handiwork has received from God comprehensive knowledge of his Providence and judgment in it, as far as is allowable to men."

     Νοῦς ἐστι τέλειος, ὁ διὰ πίστεως ἀληθοῦς τὸν ὑπεράγνωστον ὑπεραγνώστως ὑπερεγνωκὼς καὶ τῶν αὐτοῦ δημιουργημάτων τὰ καθόλου θεασάμενος καὶ τῆς ἐν αὐτοῖς προνοίας καὶ κρίσεως τὴν περιληπτικὴν γνῶσιν παρὰ θεοῦ εἰληφώς·  ὡς ἀνθρώποις δέ φημι.

     Maximus the Confessor, Four hundred chapters on love 3.99, trans. George C. Berthold, in Maximus Confessor:  selected writings, Classics of Western spirituality (New York:  Paulist Press, 1985), 75.  Capitoli sulla carità, ed. Aldo Ceresa-Gastaldo, Verba seniorum n.s. 3 (Roma : Editrice Studium, 1963), 190; PG 90, col. .

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