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is struck; but if he looks upon the crucified Lord, whose flesh, having been hung on high, held the law of the serpent of sin in our flesh dead and inoperative, he is saved. And the serpent is of bronze, because the nature of bronze admits neither of diminution nor of venom, just as the Lord did not accept the venom of sin, "nor did his flesh see corruption."

But since Gregory the Theologian mentions, saying, "the bronze serpent is hung up against the biting serpents, not as a type of him who suffered for us, but as an antitype," and that "he who believes puts to death with him the powers under him," it is necessary to clarify these things as well. He who through virtue and knowledge has purified the 14Α_022 eye of the soul knows clearly that evil is without substance and exists in none of the things that are, except only in the act of being done. Since, therefore, the author of evil, the serpent, mingled the crookedness of sin in man through disobedience, Moses is commanded to hang up the bronze serpent, prefiguring what was to happen in the case of the Lord; for he alone, through the passion of the cross, publicly exposed sin and showed it to be inoperative and dead. Whoever, therefore, looks upon him and believes that the enemy has been put to death and rendered inoperative, he also "puts to death with him the powers under him"; for he is no longer able to do harm either through the senses or through the objects of sense, through which he held power; for this reason, therefore, it was said by the father, "not as a type, but as an antitype," as prefiguring the putting to death of the devil.

QUESTION 10 How must we also, if indeed "the law is spiritual," celebrate the

sabbath of days and the sabbath of weeks, which is Pentecost, and the sabbath of years, the seventh year, and the sabbath of the seventh year, which is the Jubilee?

RESPONSE We celebrate the week of days when we cease from the activity of evil,

[or] and we celebrate the sabbath of weeks when we cease from assenting to evil thoughts. And we celebrate the sabbath of years when we do not accept the assault of desire, since the year has the sprouting of fruits and desire is aroused in these. And we celebrate the jubilee when we completely bring to an end the memories of evil and the fantasies that occur to us from preconception; for the jubilee 14Α_024 is interpreted as 'a release from bonds for the living' or 'a deliverance from grief for the living;' for when one has acquired perfect dispassion, then he is loosed from the bonds of sin and, being delivered from grief, joy takes up residence in his soul.

QUESTION 11 What does Elisha signify by raising the son of the Shunamite woman? RESPONSE Elisha the prophet signifies the Lord, and the child of the Shunamite woman, human

nature. For since it had grown weak through the transgression and was put to death by the diabolical heat, the Lord sent Moses, working wonders by means of a staff, just as Elisha also sent Gehazi, and he did not raise the man, nor were the prophets strong enough for this. The Lord himself, therefore, out of love for mankind, having taken on our flesh, through its sufferings gave life to our deadened nature.

QUESTION 12

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πλήττεται· ἐὰν δὲ εἰς τὸν σταυρωθέντα Κύριον ἀτενίσει, οὗτινος ἡ σὰρξ ἐφ᾽ ὕψους κρεμασθεῖσα νεκρὸν εἶχεν τὸν ἐν τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ σαρκὶ τοῦ ὄφεως τῆς ἁμαρτίας νόμον καὶ ἀνενέργητον, σῴζεται. Χαλκοῦς δὲ ὁ ὄφις, ἐπειδὴ οὔτε μείωσιν οὔτε ἰὸν ἐπιδέχεται ἡ τοῦ χαλκοῦ φύσις, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ ὁ Κύριος προσήκατο ἰὸν ἁμαρτίας «οὐδὲ ἡ σὰρξ αὐτοῦ εἶδεν διαφθοράν».

Ἐπειδὴ δὲ ὁ Θεολόγος Γρηγόριος μέμνηται λέγων «ὁ δὲ χαλκοῦς ὄφις κρεμνᾶται μὲν κατὰ τῶν δακνόντων ὄφεων, οὐχ ὡς δὲ τύπος τούτου τοῦ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν παθόντος, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ἀντίτυπος» καὶ ὅτι «ὁ πιστεύων συννεκροῖ τὰς ὑπ᾽ αὐτὸν δυνάμεις», ἀναγκαῖον καὶ ταῦτα διασαφῆσαι. Ὁ δι᾽ ἀρετῆς καὶ γνώσεως τὸ 14Α_022 τῆς ψυχῆς ὀπτικὸν ἀνακαθήρας γινώσκει σαφῶς ὅτι ἡ κακία ἀνυπόστατός ἐστιν καὶ ἐν οὐδενὶ τῶν ὄντων ὑπάρχουσα εἰ μὴ μόνον ἐν τῷ πράττεσθαι. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ὁ ἀρχέκακος ὄφις τὴν σκολιότητα τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ διὰ τῆς παρακοῆς ἐνεκέρασεν, ἐνκελεύεται Μωυσῆς κρεμάσαι τὸν χαλκοῦν ὄφιν, παραδηλῶν τὸ μέλλον ἐπὶ τοῦ Κυρίου γενήσεσθαι· αὐτὸς γὰρ καὶ μόνος διὰ τοῦ πάθους τοῦ σταυροῦ ἐστηλίτευσεν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν καὶ ἔδειξεν ἀνενέργητον καὶ νεκράν. Ὅστις οὖν ἀτενίζει ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ πιστεύει νενεκρῶσθαι καὶ ἀνενέργητον γενέσθαι τὸν ἐχθρόν, οὗτος καὶ «συννεκροῖ τὰς ὑπ᾽ αὐτὸν δυνάμεις»· οὐκέτι γὰρ οὔτε διὰ τῶν αἰσθήσεων οὔτε διὰ τῶν αἰσθητῶν δι᾽ ὧν εἶχεν τὸ κράτος, καταβλάψαι δύναται· διὰ τοῦτο οὖν εἴρηται τῷ πατρὶ «οὐχ ὡς τύπος, ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ἀντίτυπος», ὡς παραδηλοῦντος τὴν τοῦ διαβόλου νέκρωσιν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 10 Πῶς χρὴ καὶ ἡμᾶς, εἴπερ «ὁ νόμος πνευματικός ἐστιν», ἑορτάζειν τὸ

σάββατον τῶν ἡμερῶν καὶ τὸ σάββατον τῶν ἑβδομάδων ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἡ Πεντηκοστή, καὶ τὸ σάββατον τῶν ἐνιαυτῶν τὴν ἑπταετερίδα, καὶ τὸ σάββατον τῆς ἑπταετερίδος ὅπερ ἐστὶν ὁ Ἰωβηλαῖος;

ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ἑορτάζομεν τὴν ἑβδομάδα τῶν ἡμερῶν ὅτ᾽ ἂν τὴν τῶν κακῶν ἐνέργειαν

παύσωμεν, [ἢ] ἑορτάζομεν δὲ καὶ τὸ σάββατον τῶν ἑβδομάδων ὅτε τὰς συγκαταθέσεις τῶν πονηρῶν λογισμῶν παύσωμεν. Ἑορτάζομεν δὲ καὶ τὸ σάββατον τῶν ἐνιαυτῶν ὅτε τὴν προσβολὴν τῆς ἐπιθυμίας μὴ παραδεξώμεθα, ἐπειδὴ ὁ ἐνιαυτὸς ἔχει τῶν καρπῶν τὴν ἀναβλάστησιν καὶ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἐν τούτοις διεγείρουσαν. Ἑορτάζομεν δὲ καὶ τὸν ἰωβηλαῖον ὅτε τὰς μνήμας τῶν κακῶν καὶ φαντασίας τὰς ἐκ προλήμψεως ἡμῖν ἐπισυμβαινούσας τέλεον καταπαύσωμεν· τὸ γὰρ ἰωβηλαῖον 14Α_024 ἑρμηνεύεται 'ζῶντος λύσις δεσμῶν' ἢ 'ζῶντος ἀπαλλαγὴ πένθους·' ὅτε γάρ τις τὴν ἀπάθειαν τελείαν κτήσηται, τότε λύεται τῶν δεσμῶν τῆς ἁμαρτίας καὶ τοῦ πένθους ἀπαλλαγεὶς χαρὰν τῇ ψυχῇ εἰσοικίζεται.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 11 Τί σημαίνει Ἐλισσαῖος ἀναστήσας τὸν υἱὸν τῆς Σουμανίτιδος; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ἐλισσαῖος ὁ προφήτης δηλοῖ τὸν Κύριον, ὁ δὲ τῆς Σουμανίτιδος παῖς τὴν

ἀνθρωπείαν φύσιν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἠσθένησεν αὐτὴ διὰ τῆς παραβάσεως καὶ τῷ διαβολικῷ καύσωνι ἐθανατώθη, ἀπέστειλεν ὁ Κύριος τὸν Μωυσῆν διὰ ῥάβδου θαυματουργοῦντα, καθάπερ καὶ Ἐλισσαῖος τὸν Γιεζεί, καὶ οὐκ ἀνέστησεν τὸν ἄνθρωπον, οὔτε δὲ οἱ προφῆται τοῦτο ἴσχυσαν. Αὐτὸς οὖν διὰ φιλανθρωπίαν ὁ Κύριος τὴν ἡμετέραν σάρκα ἀναλαβών, διὰ τῶν ταύτης παθημάτων τὴν νεκρωθεῖσαν ἡμῶν φύσιν ἐζωοποίησεν.

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