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to give thanks; and to have eyes fiery by night, but full of light by day, that is, the contemplative power, in the day of virtues receiving the rays of knowledge from the sun of righteousness, and in the night of successive temptations brought on for virtue’s sake, comprehending the reasons for abandonments; and also to have a fragrant right nostril; the right part of man is the soul, since we are twofold, of soul and body; therefore, he who through the virtues of the soul has drawn upon himself the grace of the Holy Spirit becomes fragrant to others. But the blood of such a one is destructive of tame animals, that is, anger by way of deviation is destructive to the men who imitate him, but food for the demons who bark against us.

The goat has such a nature: easily climbing the mountains, it walks on cliffs and delights in musical melodies and if its right horn is burned as incense in any place, it produces the illusion of an earthquake; and it excretes two hundred pellets each day. Therefore our soul must also leap boldly over the cliffs of temptations and, ascending the prophetic mountains, hunt for the height of knowledge and rejoice in this, and not only rejoice but also through the reed-pipe, that is, through practical reason, by teaching to instill pleasure in those who hear. The right horn signifies that he who has brought the contemplative part of the soul to God through prayer, becoming fragrant to his hearers, shakes the habit of carnal passions within them. Such a one always casts off the error of the senses concerning sensible things; for the senses are intertwined with sensible things; *** for example, the number four multiplied by ten 14Α_036 makes forty, and this multiplied by five completes the two hundred.

QUESTION 18 What is the didrachma which the Lord is also required to pay and who is the fish which

Peter is commanded to catch and to take the stater in it and give it to those who demand it?

RESPONSE Those who demand the didrachma bear an image of the natural passions within us;

these came to Peter, that is, to the practical and humble disciple of the Lord who obeyed the father in the manner of a disciple, demanding from him as a man what they were accustomed to tax all men. But the Lord, as God and Master, showed himself to be free through the parable; but since he took on our flesh and accepted its blameless passions, he also endured to pay these to nature, without sin. For since in the beginning, having formed man and placed in him two general principles, one primary, that of the soul, and the other by providence, that of the flesh, but he abided in neither of these, but wounded the one by the transgression of the commandment, and the other by the misuse of the limits of nature, which principle, having hidden in passion, he allowed to swim in the sea of this turbulent life, for this reason, when the Lord was required to pay the tax of nature, as Master and corrector of nature, through the principle of action having seized the grasping passion of sin swimming in the sea of life and having drawn up the principle swallowed within it, that is, the limit of need given from the beginning by concession, 14Α_038 he restored it to nature free from the passion of misuse.

QUESTION 19

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εὐχαριστεῖν· ἔχειν δὲ καὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἐν μὲν νυκτὶ πυροειδεῖς, ἐν δὲ ἡμέρᾳ φωτοειδεῖς, τουτέστιν τὴν θεωρητικὴν δύναμιν ἐν μὲν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῶν ἀρετῶν τὰς ἐκ τοῦ ἡλίου τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἀκτίνας τῆς γνώσεως ὑποδεχομένην, ἐν δὲ τῇ νυκτὶ τῶν ὑπὲρ ἀρετῆς ἐπαγομένων ἀλλεπαλλήλων πειρασμῶν τοὺς λόγους καταλαμβάνουσαν τῶν ἐγκαταλείψεων· ἔχειν δὲ καὶ τὸν δεξιὸν ῥῖνα εὐώδη· δεξιὸν μέρος τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐστὶν ἡ ψυχή, ἐπειδὴ διπλοῖ ἐσμεν ἐκ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος· ὁ οὖν διὰ τὰς τῆς ψυχῆς ἀρετὰς τὴν χάριν τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἐπισπασάμενος γίνεται τοῖς ἄλλοις εὐώδης. Τὸ δὲ αἷμα τοῦ τοιούτου ἀναιρετικόν ἐστιν τῶν ἡμέρων ζῴων, τουτέστιν ὁ κατὰ παρατροπὴν θυμὸς ἀναιρετικός ἐστιν τοῖς μιμουμένοις αὐτὸν ἀνθρώποις, τροφὴ δὲ τοῖς ὑλακτοῦσιν καθ᾽ ἡμῶν δαίμοσιν.

Ἡ δὲ αἲξ φύσιν ἔχει τοιαύτην· τὰ ὄρη εὐκόλως ἀναβαίνουσα κρημνοβατεῖ καὶ ἐπιτέρπεται τῶν μουσικῶν μελῶν καὶ τὸ δεξιὸν αὐτῆς κέρας ἐὰν θυμιαθῇ ἐν οἱῳδήποτε τόπῳ, σεισμοῦ φαντασίαν παρέχει· ἀφοδεύει δὲ ἑκάστης ἡμέρας σπυράθους διακοσίους. ∆εῖ οὖν καὶ τὴν ἡμετέραν ψυχὴν τοὺς κρημνοὺς τῶν πειρασμῶν εὐθαρσῶς διαπηδᾶν καὶ τὰ προφητικὰ ὄρη ἀναβαίνοντας τὸ ὕψος τῆς γνώσεως θηρᾶσθαι καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ ἥδεσθαι, καὶ οὐ μόνον ἥδεσθαι ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τοῦ δόνακος, τουτέστιν τοῦ ἐμπράκτου λόγου διδάσκοντας ἡδονὴν ἐντιθέναι τοῖς ἀκούουσιν. Τὸ δὲ δεξιὸν κέρας σημαίνει ὅτι ὁ τὸ θεωρητικὸν τῆς ψυχῆς διὰ τῆς προσευχῆς τῷ Θεῷ προσαγαγών, εὐώδης γινόμενος τοῖς ἀκούουσιν, τὴν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἕξιν τῶν σαρκικῶν παθῶν διασαλεύει. Ὁ τοιοῦτος ἑκάστοτε τὴν περὶ τὰ αἰσθητὰ τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἀποβάλλει πλάνην· αἱ γὰρ αἰσθήσεις τῶν αἰσθητῶν συμπλεκόμεναι· *** οἷον, δεκαπλούμενος ὁ τέσσαρα[ς] ἀριθμὸς 14Α_036 ποιεῖ τὸν τεσσαράκοντα, οὗτος δὲ πενταπλούμενος ἀποτελεῖ τὰ διακόσια.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 18 Τί ἐστιν τὸ δίδραγμον ὅπερ καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἀπαιτεῖται τελέσαι καὶ τίς ὁ ἰχθὺς ὃν

ὁ Πέτρος κρατῆσαι κελεύεται καὶ τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ στατῆρα λαβεῖν καὶ δοῦναι τοῖς ἀπαιτοῦσιν;

ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Οἱ ἀπαιτοῦντες τὰ δίδραγμα εἰκόνα φέρουσιν τῶν φυσικῶν ἐν ἡμῖν παθῶν·

οὗτοι προσῆλθον τῷ Πέτρῳ, τουτέστιν τῷ πρακτικῷ τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ ταπεινῷ καὶ μαθητοῦ τρόπον τῷ πατρὶ ὑπακούσαντι, ἀπαιτοῦντες ὡς ἄνθρωπον ἅπερ εἶχον ἔθος πάντας ἀνθρώπους δασμολογεῖν. Ὁ δὲ Κύριος ἔδειξεν ὡς Θεὸς καὶ ∆εσπότης διὰ τῆς παραβολῆς ἑαυτὸν ἐλεύθερον· ἀλλ᾽ ἐπείπερ τὴν ἡμετέραν ὑποδὺς σάρκα καὶ τὰ ταύτης κατεδέξατο ἀδιάβλητα πάθη, ταῦτα καὶ τελέσαι τῇ φύσει ἠνέσχετο χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ κατ᾽ ἀρχὰς πλάσας τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ δύο γενικοὺς αὐτῷ λόγους ἐνθέμενος, ἕνα μὲν προηγούμενον τὸν τῆς ψυχῆς, ἕτερον δὲ κατὰ πρόνοιαν τὸν τῆς σαρκός, οὐδοποτέρῳ δὲ τούτων ἐμμείναντος, ἀλλὰ τὸν μὲν τῇ παραβάσει τῆς ἐντολῆς, τὸν δὲ τῇ παραχρήσει τῶν ὅρων τῆς φύσεως παρατρώσαντος, ὅντινα λόγον ἐν τῷ πάθει κρύψας εἴασεν νήχεσθαι ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ τοῦ ταραχώδους βίου, διὰ τοῦτο ἀπαιτουμένου τοῦ Κυρίου τελέσαι τὸν φόρον τῆς φύσεως, ὡς ∆εσπότης καὶ διορθωτὴς τῆς φύσεως, διὰ τοῦ λόγου τῆς πράξεως τὸ ἐννηχόμενον ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ τοῦ βίου γλίσχρον τῆς ἁμαρτίας πάθος κρατήσας καὶ τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ καταποθέντα λόγον, τουτέστιν τὸν ἐξαρχῆς κατὰ παραχώρησιν δεδομένον ὅρον τῆς χρείας, ἀνασπάσας, 14Α_038 ἐλεύθερον τοῦ τῆς παραχρήσεως πάθους τῇ φύσει ἀπέδωκεν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 19