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of the intelligible, so also we understand paradise both corporeally, and we allegorize it spiritually.

God planted a paradise in Eden towards the easts. The names of the plants are kept silent, but the place, in which he planted, has been revealed, that is, in delight; for Eden is interpreted as delight. Does it therefore name the delight which comes through the mouth, which is delivered to the belly and whose end is the latrine, and is this the grace from God concerning man, a filling of the stomach and a well-being of the flesh and an outpouring producing pleasure? Or is it not even pious to say this? For to over-fatten the body and to overwhelm with the multitude of foods the soul that dwells within, making it prone to every sin, is surely a provision for licentiousness and insolence and all forbidden things together. Therefore one must understand another delight worthy of God, so that the planting may be reckoned as fitting for the husbandry of God 82a. What delight, then, can there be that is suitable for saints? Hear him who says: Delight in the Lord, and he will give you the requests of your heart. Since, therefore, the variety of virtue is infinite and its beauty incomprehensible, having taken its origin from the manifold wisdom of God, for this reason it is written that God planted a paradise not "toward the east," but "Toward the easts." For each of the plants planted by the Lord shone forth, adorned in its own light of virtue. There the streams of the river make glad the city of God. Elsewhere it is called a Torrent of delight, nourishing and increasing the beauties of those intelligible plants, which also in the following parts of the present scripture is called the River that goes out of Eden to water paradise. Therefore, in what came before it was written that having first completed the creation, he then introduced man into its dominion and lordship, as it were, but now the opposite: first he formed man and then he planted paradise. And the reason is that there, in order to furnish the house, he immediately brought in the master of the house and lest, having created him poor, he should later grant him abundance; but here, granting perfection from progress, he created him elsewhere and later settles him in paradise, so that having learned the difference between the life outside and the life in paradise from the comparison of both and from experience itself, he might know the superiority of its beauty, and fear the loss from the fall. 83a But that you may understand a planting worthy of the divine hand and work, remember what was said in the gospel by the Lord to the disciples: You are the branches, and my Father is the husbandman; clearly, as having been planted by him. Of this planting are also those who have been planted in the house of the Lord, as it is written, and who flourish in the courts of our God. The same also in the prophet: I planted a fruitful vine, all true. And Paul, the imitator of Christ, dares and says that We are God's fellow workers; you are God's field; I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. And the just man in David is likened to the tree that is planted by the channels of waters, which will yield its fruit in its season and its leaf will not fall off; and again, The just shall flourish like the palm tree; and You brought a vine out of Egypt, you cast out the nations and planted it.

Try, therefore, through such teachings to come to a conception of that paradise and to arrive yourself at the rays of the divine light; where the light of knowledge dawns, where the paradise of delight is planted. And if you should conceive of some corporeal place, receptive of the saints, in which all who on earth shone in good works dwell, enjoying the grace of God as a worthy reward and the true and blessed pleasure, perhaps you do not even so fall away from the fitting conception concerning it. For there, then, are rooted and firmly established the good powers, ministers of the saints, to whom man was delivered

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νοητοῦ, οὕτω καὶ τὸν παράδεισον νοοῦμεν μὲν καὶ σωματικῶς, ἀλληγοροῦμεν δὲ καὶ πνευματικῶς.

Ἐφύτευσεν ὁ θεὸς παράδεισον ἐν Ἐδὲμ κατὰ ἀνατολάς. τὰ μὲν ὀνόματα τῶν φυτῶν σεσιώπηται, ὁ δὲ τόπος, ἐν ᾧ ἐφύτευσε, δεδήλωται, τουτέστιν ἐν τῇ τρυφῇ· Ἐδὲμ γὰρ τρυφὴ ἑρμηνεύεται. ἆρα οὖν τρυφὴν τὴν διὰ στόματος ὀνομάζει τὴν τῇ κοιλίᾳ παραδιδομένην καὶ ἧς τέλος ὁ ἀφεδρών, καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν ἡ παρὰ θεοῦ χάρις περὶ τὸν ἄνθρωπον γαστρὸς πλήρωσις καὶ σαρκὸς εὐπάθεια καὶ διάχυσις ἡδονὴν ἐμποιοῦσα; ἢ τοῦτο μὲν εἰπεῖν οὐδὲ εὐσεβές; ἀκολασίας γάρ που καὶ ὕβρεως καὶ πάντων ὁμοῦ τῶν ἀπηγορευμένων ἐφόδιον ὑπερπιαίνειν τὸ σῶμα καὶ καταβαπτίζειν τῷ πλήθει τῶν βρωμάτων τὴν ἐνοικοῦσαν ψυχὴν εὐκατάφορον ποιοῦντα πρὸς πᾶσαν ἁμαρτίαν. οὐκοῦν ἄλλην χρὴ νοῆσαι τρυφὴν ἀξίαν θεοῦ, ἵνα καὶ ἡ φυτεία πρέπουσα τῇ γεωργίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ 82aλογισθῇ. τίς οὖν δύναται γενέσθαι τρυφὴ ἁγίοις ἀρμόττουσα; ἄκουσον τοῦ λέγοντος· Κατατρύφησον τοῦ κυρίου, καὶ δώσει σοι τὰ αἰτήματα τῆς καρδίας σου. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ἄπειρον τὸ ποικίλον τῆς ἀρετῆς καὶ τὸ κάλλος ἀμήχανον, ἀπὸ τῆς πολυτρόπου τοῦ θεοῦ σοφίας τὴν ἀρχὴν εἰληφότα, διὰ τοῦτο γέγραπται ὅτι Ἐφύτευσεν ὁ θεὸς παράδεισον οὐχὶ κατὰ ἀνατολήν, ἀλλὰ Κατὰ ἀνατολάς. ἕκαστον γὰρ τῶν πεφυτευμένων παρὰ τοῦ κυρίου φυτῶν ἐν ἰδίῳ φωτὶ ἀρετῆς κεκαλλωπισμένον ἐξήστραπτεν. ἐκεῖ Τοῦ ποταμοῦ τὰ ὁρμήματα τοῦ εὐφραίνοντος τὴν πόλιν τοῦ θεοῦ. ἀλλαχοῦ δὲ Χειμάρρους τρυφῆς ὀνομάζεται, τρέφων καὶ αὔξων τῶν νοητῶν ἐκείνων φυτῶν τὰ κάλλη, ὅστις καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἑξῆς τῆς προκειμένης γραφῆς λέγεται Ποταμὸς ὁ πορευόμενος ἐξ Ἐδὲμ ποτίζειν τὸν παράδεισον. Ἐν μὲν οὖν τοῖς κατόπιν ἐγέγραπτο ὅτι πρότερον τὴν κτίσιν πληρώσας οὕτως ἐπεισήγαγεν εἰς ἀρχὴν οἱονεὶ καὶ κυριότητα ταύτης τὸν ἄνθρωπον, νῦν δὲ τὸ ἀνάπαλιν πρότερον ἔπλασε τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ τότε ἐφύτευσε τὸν παράδεισον. ἡ δὲ αἰτία ὅτι ἐκεῖ μέν, ἵνα πληρώσῃ τὸν οἶκον, τὸν οἰκοδεσπότην εὐθὺς ἐπεισήγαγε καὶ ἵνα μὴ πένητα κτίσας ὕστερον τὴν εὐπορίαν αὐτῷ χαρίσηται, ἐνταῦθα δὲ τὴν ἐκ προκοπῆς τελείωσιν χαρισάμενος ἀλλαχοῦ ἔκτισε καὶ ὕστερον ἐγκατοικίζει τῷ παραδείσῳ, ἵνα τὸ διάφορον καταμαθὼν τῆς τε ἔξω ζωῆς καὶ τῆς ἐν παραδείσῳ διαγωγῆς ἐκ τῆς συγκρίσεως ἑκατέρων καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς πείρας γνωρίσῃ μὲν τὴν ὑπεροχὴν τοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ κάλλους, φοβηθῇ δὲ τῆς ἐκπτώσεως τὴν ζημίαν. 83a Ἵνα δὲ νοήσῃς φυτείαν ἀξίαν θείας χειρὸς καὶ ἐργασίας, μνήσθητι τῶν ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ παρὰ τοῦ κυρίου πρὸς τοὺς μαθητὰς εἰρημένων ὅτι Ὑμεῖς ἐστε τὰ κλήματα, καὶ ὁ πατήρ μου ὁ γεωργός ἐστι· δηλονότι ὡς παρ' αὐτοῦ φυτευθέντες. ταύτης εἰσὶ τῆς φυτείας καὶ οἱ ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ κυρίου πεφυτευμένοι, ὡς γέγραπται, καὶ ἐν ταῖς αὐλαῖς τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν ἐξανθοῦντες. τὸ δ' αὐτὸ καὶ ἐν τῷ προφήτῃ· Ἐγὼ ἐφύτευσα ἄμπελον καρποφόρον πᾶσαν ἀληθινήν. ὁ δὲ μιμητὴς τοῦ Χριστοῦ Παῦλος ἀποτολμᾷ καὶ λέγει ὅτι Θεοῦ συνεργοί ἐσμεν· θεοῦ γεώργιόν ἐστε· Ἐγὼ ἐφύτευσα, Ἀπολλῶς ἐπότισεν, ὁ δὲ θεὸς ηὔξησεν. καὶ ὁ δίκαιος δὲ ὁ παρὰ τῷ ∆αβὶδ ὡμοίωται τῷ ξύλῳ τῷ πεφυτευμένῳ παρὰ τὰς διεξόδους τῶν ὑδάτων, ὃ τὸν καρπὸν αὐτοῦ δώσει ἐν καιρῷ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ φύλλον αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἀπορρυήσεται· καὶ πάλιν ∆ίκαιος ὡς φοῖνιξ ἀνθήσει· καὶ Ἄμπελον ἐξ Αἰγύπτου μετῆρας, ἐξέβαλες ἔθνη καὶ κατεφύτευσας αὐτήν.

Πειράθητι τοίνυν διὰ τῶν τοιούτων διδαγμάτων ἐν περινοίᾳ γενέσθαι τοῦ παραδείσου ἐκείνου καὶ φθάσαι καὶ αὐτὸς εἰς τὰς αὐγὰς τοῦ θείου φωτός· ἔνθα τὸ φῶς τῆς γνώσεως ἀνατέλλει, ἔνθα ὁ παράδεισος τῆς τρυφῆς πεφύτευται. κἂν χωρίον δέ τι νοῇς σωματικόν, δεκτικὸν τῶν ἁγίων, ἐν ᾧ πάντες οἱ ἐπὶ γῆς διαλάμψαντες ἐν ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς διαιτῶνται τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ ἀπολαύοντες χάριτος κατὰ ἀξίαν ἀμοιβὴν καὶ τῆς ἀληθινῆς καὶ μακαρίας τερπνότητος, οὐκ ἀποπίπτεις τάχα οὐδ' οὕτως τῆς πρεπούσης περὶ αὐτοῦ εἰκασίας. ἐκεῖ γ' οὖν ἐρριζωμέναι εἰσὶ καὶ παγίως ἐρηρεισμέναι αἱ ἀγαθαὶ δυνάμεις, λειτουργοὶ τῶν ἁγίων, αἷς ὁ ἄνθρωπος παρεδόθη