served me;" according to the covenant I did not know. 43.2 "Alien sons;" those who have emulated the things of another.

44.1 "Magnifying the salvations of his king." all the faithful are called kings, called to a kingdom both in knowledge and in inheritance. "Long-suffering is a sweetness beyond honey", not that it is long-suffering, but according to the fruit of long-suffering, since not even the continent man is dispassionate, mastering his passions not without effort; but when it becomes a state, he is no longer continent, the man having come to be in one state with the Holy Spirit. "Spirits;" the passions in the soul are called spirits not in substance, since an impassioned man would be a legion of demons, but 46.2 according to their instigation. For the same soul, by undergoing changes and taking on different qualities of evil, is said to have taken up spirits.

47.1 The principle of possession does not command to renounce it, but to manage the possession

without attachment, and if something should happen, not to be vexed nor grieved nor to desire to acquire; for it commands to renounce possession with passion and all attachment. Divine providence does not destroy only those in the flesh. For instance, Peter in the Apocalypse says "that the aborted infants will be of the better portion, and that these are delivered to a guardian angel, so that, having partaken of knowledge, they may obtain the better abode, 48.2 having suffered what they would have suffered even had they been born in the body." But the others will attain salvation only, as ones who were wronged and received mercy, and will remain without punishment, receiving this as their prize.

49.1 "But the milk of women, flowing from their breasts and curdling",

says Peter in the Apocalypse, "will generate small, flesh-eating beasts, and running back to them, it devours them," teaching that punishments come about 49.2 because of sins. He says that they are generated from sins, just as the people were sold because of their sins, and "because of their unbelief in Christ," as the apostle says, "they were bitten by the serpents."

50.1 An elder used to say that what is in the womb is a living being. For the soul,

entering the womb from its purification, prepared for conception and having been admitted by one of the angels who preside over generation, who foreknows the time of conception, moves the woman to intercourse, and when the seed has been cast, so to speak, the spirit in the seed is appropriated and thus is conceived 50.2 in its formation. † he named it a testimony for all. And whenever the angels announce good news to the barren women, they, as it were, pre-admit the souls for conception; and in the Gospel "the baby leaped" as if animate. 50.3 * * And the barren are barren for this reason, that since the soul is not admitted, it does not bring together the deposit of the seed into the state of conception and birth.

51.1 "The heavens declare the glory of God." The heavens are spoken of in many ways: both

the heavens in space and period, and the proximate activity of the first-created angels according to the covenant; for by a more authoritative presence of angels the covenants were effected: that with Adam, 51.2 that with Noah, that with Abraham, that with Moses. For being moved by the Lord, the first-created angels were active toward the angels close to the prophets, recounting "the glory of God," that is, the covenants. But also the works that happened on the earth by angels 52.1 came about through the first-created angels for "the glory of God". And the heavens are called, in a proper sense, the Lord, and then also the

ἐδούλευσέν μοι·" κατὰ διαθήκην οὐκ ἔγνων. 43.2 "Υἱοὶ ἀλλότριοι·" τὰ τοῦ ἄλλου ἐζηλωκότες.

44.1 "Μεγαλύνων τὰς σωτηρίας τοῦ βασιλέως αὐτοῦ." βασιλεῖς πάντες

λέγονται οἱ πιστοί, <κεκλημένοι> εἰς βασιλείαν κατά <τε τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν> κατά τε τὴν κληρονομίαν. "Ἡ μακροθυμία γλυκύτης ἐστὶν ὑπὲρ τὸ μέλι", οὐχ ὅτι ἐστὶ μακροθυμία, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸν καρπὸν τῆς μακροθυμίας, ἐπεὶ οὐδὲ ὁ ἐγκρατής ἐστιν ἀπαθής, κρατῶν οὐκ ἀπόνως τῶν παθῶν· ὅταν δὲ ἕξις γένηται, οὐκέτι ἐγκρατής, ἐν μιᾷ ἕξει τῷ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι γενο μένου τοῦ ἀνθρώπου. "Πνεύματα·" λέγεται τὰ πάθη τὰ ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ οὐκ ἐξ οὐσίας πνεύματα, ἐπεὶ ἔσται ἐμπαθὴς ἄνθρωπος λεγεὼν δαιμόνων, ἀλλὰ 46.2 κατὰ τὴν προτροπήν. ἡ γὰρ αὐτὴ ψυχὴ κατὰ μεταβολὰς ἄλλας καὶ ἄλλας ποιότητας κακίας ἀναδεχομένη πνεύματα λέγεται ἀνει ληφέναι.

47.1 Ὁ λόγος τῆς κτήσεως ἀφίστασθαι οὐ κελεύει, ἀλλ' ἀπροσπαθῶς διοικεῖν

τὴν κτῆσιν, ἐπισυμβάντος δέ τινος μὴ ἀγανακτεῖν μηδὲ λυ πεῖσθαι μηδὲ ἐπιθυμεῖν κτήσασθαι· τῆς ἐν πάθει γὰρ κτήσεως ἀφί στασθαι κελεύει καὶ πάσης προσπαθείας. Ἡ θεία πρόνοια <ο>ὐ <κ>αταστρέφει ἐπὶ μόνους τοὺς ἐν σαρκί. αὐτίκα ὁ Πέτρος ἐν τῇ Ἀποκαλύψει φησὶν "τὰ βρέφη ἐξαμβλωθέντα τῆς ἀμείνονος ἐσόμενα μοίρας, ταῦτα ἀγγέλῳ τημελούχῳ παρα δίδοσθαι, ἵνα γνώσεως μεταλαβόντα τῆς ἀμείνονος τύχῃ μονῆς, 48.2 παθόντα ἃ ἂν ἔπαθεν καὶ ἐν σώματι γενόμενα." τὰ δ' ἕτερα μόνης τῆς σωτηρίας τεύξεται, ὡς ἠδικημένα ἐλεηθέντα, καὶ μενεῖ ἄνευ κολάσεως, τοῦτο γέρας λαβόντα.

49.1 "Τὸ δὲ γάλα τῶν γυναικῶν, ῥέον ἀπὸ τῶν μαστῶν καὶ πηγνύ μενον",

φησὶν ὁ Πέτρος ἐν τῇ Ἀποκαλύψει, "γεννήσει θηρία λεπτὰ σαρκοφάγα καὶ ἀνατρέχοντα εἰς αὐτὰς κατεσθίει", διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας 49.2 γίνεσθαι τὰς κολάσεις διδάσκων. ἐκ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν γεννᾶσθαι αὐτάς φησιν, ὡς διὰ τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἐπράθη ὁ λαός, καὶ "διὰ τὴν εἰς Χριστὸν ἀπιστίαν", ὥς φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος, "ὑπὸ τῶν ὄφεων ἐδά κνοντο".

50.1 Ἔλεγεν πρεσβύτης ζῷον εἶναι τὸ κατὰ γαστρός. εἰσιοῦσαν γὰρ τὴν

ψυχὴν εἰς τὴν μήτραν ἀπὸ τῆς καθάρσεως ηὐτρεπισμένην εἰς σύλληψιν καὶ εἰσκριθεῖσαν ὑπό τινος τῶν τῇ γενέσει ἐφεστώτων ἀγγέλων προγινώσκοντος τὸν καιρὸν τῆς συλλήψεως κινεῖν πρὸς συνουσίαν τὴν γυναῖκα, καταβληθέντος δὲ τοῦ σπέρματος ὡς εἰπεῖν ἐξοικειοῦσθαι τὸ ἐν τῷ σπέρματι πνεῦμα καὶ οὕτως συλλαμβάνεσθαι 50.2 τῇ πλάσει. † μαρτύριον ὠνόμασεν πᾶσιν. καὶ ὁπηνίκα ἂν εὐαγγελίζων ται οἱ ἄγγελοι τὰς στείρας, οἷον προεισκρίνουσι τῆς συλλήψεως τὰς ψυχάς· καὶ ἐν <τῷ εὐ>αγγελίῳ "τὸ βρέφος ἐσκίρτησεν" ὡς ἔμψυχον. 50.3 * * καὶ αἱ στεῖραι διὰ τοῦτό εἰσι στεῖραι, ὡς ἂν μὴ εἰσκρινομένης τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν τοῦ σπέρματος καταβολὴν συναγούσης εἰς κατοχὴν συλλήψεως καὶ γεννήσεως.

51.1 "Οἱ οὐρανοὶ διηγοῦνται δόξαν θεοῦ." οἱ οὐρανοὶ λέγονται πολλαχῶς, καὶ

οἱ κατὰ διάστημα καὶ περίοδον καὶ ἡ κατὰ δια θήκην τῶν πρωτοκτίστων ἀγγέλων ἐνέργεια προσεχής· κυριω τέρᾳ γὰρ παρουσίᾳ ἀγγέλων αἱ διαθῆκαι ἐνηργήθησαν ἡ ἐπὶ Ἀδάμ, 51.2 ἡ ἐπὶ Νῶε, ἡ ἐπὶ Ἀβραάμ, ἡ ἐπὶ Μωυσέως. διὰ γὰρ τοῦ κυρίου κινηθέντες <οἱ> πρωτόκτιστοι ἄγγελοι ἐνήργουν εἰς τοὺς προσ εχεῖς τοῖς προφήταις ἀγγέλους <δι>ηγούμενοι "δόξαν θεοῦ", τὰς δια θήκας. ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἔργα τὰ κατὰ τὴν γῆν γενόμενα ὑπ' ἀγγέλων 52.1 διὰ τῶν πρωτοκτίστων ἀγγέλων ἐγένοντο εἰς "δόξαν θεοῦ". καλοῦν ται δὲ οὐρανοὶ κυρίως μὲν ὁ κύριος, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ οἱ