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THE order of our promise and course demands that there should follow
the instruction of Abbot Nesteros, a man of excellence in all points and
of the greatest knowledge: who when he had seen that we had committed some
parts of Holy Scripture to memory and desired to understand them, addressed
us in these words. There are indeed many different kinds of knowledge in
this world, since there is as art great a variety of them as there is of
the arts and sciences. But, while all are either utterly useless or only
useful for the good of this present life, there is yet none which has not
its own system and method for learning it, by which it can be grasped by
those who seek it. If then those arts are guided by certain special rules
for their publication, how much more does the system and expression of our
religion, which tends to the contemplation of the secrets of invisible
mysteries, and seeks no present gain but the reward of an eternal
recompense, depend on a fixed order and scheme. And the knowledge of this
is twofold: first, praktikh', i.e., practical, which is brought about by an
improvement of morals and purification from faults: secondly, thewrhtikh',
which consists in the contemplation of things Divine and the knowledge of
most sacred thoughts.
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