10

being, but in whole to the whole, through a simple apprehension she herself will also know the principles and causes of beings, because of which, perhaps before she was wedded to the Logos and God, she was subjected to divisive methods, being saved through them and harmoniously borne towards Him, the container and maker of every principle and every cause.

Since these things then belong to the soul, as we said, which according to the intellect possesses wisdom in potentiality, and from wisdom, contemplation, and from this, knowledge, and from knowledge, unforgettable knowledge, through which it is led to the truth, as the limit and end of the goods according to the intellect; and according to reason, possessing practical wisdom, and from this, practice, and from practice, virtue, and from this, faith, by which it arrives at the good as the blessed end of rational activities; through which the science of divine things is gathered together by the conjunction of their union with one another.

To all these things is clearly harmonized, according to contemplation, the holy Church of God, being likened to the soul. Signifying through the sanctuary those things shown to be entirely according to the intellect and proceeding from the intellect, and clarifying through the nave those things revealed to be according to reason and proceeding from reason by way of distinction, and gathering all things to the mystery being accomplished on the divine altar; which mystery he who has been able, with prudence and wisdom, to be initiated into through the things accomplished in the Church, has established his own soul as truly a Church of God, and a divine one; for the sake of which soul perhaps also the man-made Church was wisely handed down to us through the variety of divine things in it, being a symbolic paradigm for guidance toward the better.

S. HOW AND IN WHAT WAY HOLY SCRIPTURE IS ALSO CALLED MAN 14__086 S. How and in what way Holy Scripture is also called man. And just as in anagogical contemplation he said the Church is a man

spiritual, and that man is a mystical Church, so also he asserted that all of holy Scripture, taken as a whole, is a man, with the Old Testament being the body, and the New being the soul and spirit and intellect. And again, of the whole of holy Scripture, I mean both Old and New, the literal text according to history is the body; but the meaning of what is written and the aim to which the meaning is directed, is the soul.

When I heard this, I especially admired the precision of the comparison, and I duly hymned according to my ability the one who distributes gifts to each according to his worth. For just as our human being is mortal according to what is visible, but immortal according to what is not visible, so also holy Scripture, having the visible letter which passes away, but the spirit hidden in the letter which never ceases to be, establishes the true principle of contemplation. And just as this human being of ours, by mastering through philosophy his impassioned appetite and impulse, withers the flesh, so also holy Scripture, when understood spiritually, circumcises 14__088 its own letter. For the divine Apostle says: “as much as our outward man is perishing, so much is the inward man being renewed day by day.” Let this also be understood and said of holy Scripture, tropologically understood as a man. For as much as its letter recedes, so much does the spirit gain; and as much as the shadows of the temporary worship pass away, so much does the all-radiant and all-brilliant and shadowless truth of faith enter in, according to which and for which it primarily both exists and has been written and is called Scripture, being engraved upon the intellect through spiritual grace, just as our human being also, on account of his rational and intelligent soul, is primarily and especially a man and exists and is called so; according to which and on account of which he is the image and likeness of God the

10

ὄντι, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν ὅλῃ ὅλῳ, κατὰ ἁπλῆν προσβολὴν εἴσεται καὶ αὐτὴ τοὺς τῶν ὄντων λόγους καὶ τὰς αἰτίας, δι᾽ οὓς τυχὸν πρὶν νυμφευθῆναι τῷ Λόγῳ καὶ Θεῷ ταῖς διαιρετικαῖς ὑπήγετο μεθόδοις, σωστικῶς τε δι᾽ αὐτῶν καὶ ἐναρμονίως πρὸς αὐτὸν φερομένη, τὸν παντὸς λόγου καὶ πάσης αἰτίας περιεκτικόν τε καὶ ποιητήν.

Ἐπειδὴ ταῦτα τοίνυν τῆς ψυχῆς εἰσιν, ὡς ἔφαμεν, κατὰ νοῦν μὲν ἐχούσης δυνάμει τὴν σοφίαν, ἐκ δὲ τῆς σοφίας τὴν θεωρίαν, ἐκ δὲ ταύτης τὴν γνῶσιν, ἐκ δὲ τῆς γνώσεως τὴν ἄληστον γνῶσιν, δι᾽ ἧς πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν ὡς πέρας καὶ τέλος οὖσαν τῶν κατὰ νοῦν ἀγαθῶν ἄγεται· κατὰ δὲ τὸν λόγον ἐχούσης τὴν φρόνησιν, ἐκ δὲ ταύτης τὴν πρᾶξιν, ἐκ δὲ τῆς πράξεως τὴν ἀρετήν, ἐκ δὲ ταύτης τὴν πίστιν, καθ᾽ ἣν εἰς τὸ ἀγαθὸν ὡς τέλος μακάριον τῶν λογικῶν ἐνεργειῶν καταλήγει· δι᾽ ὧν ἡ τῶν θείων ἐπιστήμη κατὰ σύνοδον τῆς πρὸς ἄλληλα τούτων ἑνώσεως συλλέγεται.

Πρὸς ταῦτα πάντα σαφῶς ἁρμόζεται, κατὰ τὴν θεωρίαν εἰκαζομένη τῇ ψυχῇ ἡ ἁγία τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἐκκλησία. Τὰ μὲν κατὰ νοῦν πάντα καὶ ἐκ τοῦ νοῦ κατὰ πρόοδον εἶναι δειχθέντα διὰ τοῦ ἱερατείου σημαίνουσα, τὰ δὲ κατὰ τὸν λόγον καὶ ἐκ τοῦ λόγου κατὰ διαστολὴν εἶναι δηλωθέντα διὰ τοῦ ναοῦ σαφηνίζουσα, καὶ πάντα συνάγουσα πρὸς τὸ τελούμενον ἐπὶ τοῦ θείου θυσιαστηρίου μυστήριον· ὅπερ διὰ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν ἐπιτελουμένων ὁ δυνηθεὶς ἐμφρόνως καὶ σοφῶς μυηθῆναι, Ἐκκλησίαν ὄντως Θεοῦ, καὶ θείαν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν κατεστήσατο· δι᾽ ἣν ἴσως καὶ ἧς ἡ χειροποίητος Ἐκκλησία σοφῶς διὰ τῆς ἐν αὐτῇ τῶν θείων ποικιλίας κατὰ σύμβολον οὖσα παράδειγμα πρὸς ὁδηγίαν τοῦ κρείττονος ἡμῖν παρεδόθη.

S. ΠΩΣ ΚΑΙ ΠΟΙΩ ΤΡΟΠΩ ΑΝΘΡΩΠΟΣ ΛΕΓΕΤΑΙ ΚΑΙ Η ΑΓΙΑ ΓΡΑΦΗ 14__086 S. Πῶς καὶ ποίῳ τρόπῳ ἄνθρωπος λέγεται καὶ ἡ ἁγία Γραφή Ὥσπερ δὲ τῇ κατὰ ἀναγωγὴν θεωρίᾳ τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν ἔλεγεν ἄνθρωπον εἶναι

πνευματικόν, μυστικὴν δὲ Ἐκκλησίαν τὸν ἄνθρωπον, οὕτω δὴ καὶ τὴν ἁγίαν πᾶσαν κατὰ συναίρεσιν Γραφήν, ἄνθρωπον ἔφασκεν εἶναι, τὴν μὲν Παλαιὰν ∆ιαθήκην ἔχουσαν σῶμα, ψυχὴν δὲ καὶ πνεῦμα καὶ νοῦν τὴν Καινήν. Καὶ πάλιν ὅλης τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς, Παλαιᾶς τέ φημι καὶ Νέας, τὸ καθ᾽ ἱστορίαν γράμμα, σῶμα· τὸν δὲ νοῦν τῶν γεγραμμένων καὶ τὸν σκοπόν, πρὸς ὃν ὁ νοῦς ἀποτέτακται, ψυχήν.

Ὅπερ ἀκούσας ἐγώ, μάλιστα τῆς εἰκασίας ἠγάσθην τὸ ἀκριβές, καὶ τὸν κατ᾽ ἀξίαν ἑκάστῳ διανέμοντα χαρίσματα δεόντως ἀνύμνησα κατὰ δύναμιν. Ὡς γὰρ θνητὸς ὁ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς ἄνθρωπος κατὰ τὸ φαινόμενον, κατὰ δὲ τὸ μὴ φαινόμενον ἀθάνατος, οὕτω καὶ ἡ ἁγία Γραφή, τὸ μὲν φαινόμενον γράμμα παρερχόμενον ἔχουσα, τὸ δὲ κρυπτόμενον τῷ γράμματι πνεῦμα μηδέποτε τοῦ εἶναι παυόμενον ἀληθῆ τὸν λόγον τῆς θεωρίας συνίστησι. Καὶ ὥσπερ οὗτος ὁ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς ἄνθρωπος, φιλοσοφίᾳ κρατῶν τῆς ἐμπαθοῦς ὀρέξεώς τε καὶ ὁρμῆς μαραίνει τὴν σάρκα, οὕτω καὶ ἡ ἁγία Γραφὴ νοουμένη πνευματικῶς τὸ γράμμα 14__088 ἑαυτῆς περιτέμνει. Φησὶ γὰρ ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος· "ὅσον ὁ ἔξω ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπος διαφθείρεται, τοσοῦτον ὁ ἔσω ἀνακαινοῦται ἡμέρᾳ καὶ ἡμέρᾳ». Τοῦτο νοείσθω καὶ λεγέσθω καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς, ἀνθρώπου τροπικῶς νοουμένης. Ὅσον γὰρ αὐτῆς τὸ γράμμα ὑποχωρεῖ, τοσοῦτον τὸ πνεῦμα πλεονεκτεῖ· καὶ ὅσον αἱ σκιαὶ τῆς προσκαίρου λατρείας παρατρέχουσι, τοσοῦτον ἡ ἀλήθεια τῆς πίστεως ἡ παμφαής τε καὶ ὁλολαμπὴς καὶ ἄσκιος ἐπεισέρχεται, καθ᾽ ἣν καὶ δι᾽ ἣν προηγουμένως καὶ ἔστι καὶ γέγραπται καὶ Γραφὴ λέγεται, τῷ νῷ διὰ χάριτος πνευματικῆς ἐγχαραττομένη, ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ καθ᾽ ἡμᾶς ἄνθρωπος διὰ τὴν ψυχὴν τὴν λογικήν τε καὶ νοερὰν προηγουμένως ἄνθρωπος μάλιστα καὶ ἔστι καὶ λέγεται· καθ᾽ ἣν καὶ δι᾽ ἣν εἰκών τε καὶ ὁμοίωσίς ἐστι Θεοῦ τοῦ