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But the inner cities were assigned to the gnostics; for since the gnostic is engaged in three things, namely in ethical, natural, and theological knowledge, it is necessary for the one who commits involuntary homicide, that is, who undertakes something without experience, and in ethical teaching stirs up anger and desire contrary to reason, to flee to the city of meekness—for the goal of ethical philosophy is meekness—, and for the one who errs in natural contemplation and undertakes it unscientifically, to flee to the city of science; and the one who errs in theology must flee to the city of faith, lest the passion that follows from ignorance should prevail and destroy the one who partakes of it.

And what is the meaning of "until the high priest dies," that such a one must remain and then return to his own acquired land, is consistent to consider. The "high priest" is our Lord Jesus Christ; therefore, whenever we come to perfect dispassion and no longer bring to him anything of this world, whether words or thoughts, and simply whenever we have become beyond sense and concept and "no longer know Christ according to the flesh," then the high priest has died for us, no longer receiving worship from us out of any of the created things; and thereafter we are restored to our own acquired land, that is, that which is in God himself, in whom are the principles of the virtues.

QUESTION 30 What are the rods that Jacob peeled and placed in the watering troughs 14Α_054 and

who is Rachel who stole the idols and what is the terebinth tree in which Jacob hid them?

RESPONSE Every Jacob, that is, 'supplanter,' peels the rods, that is, makes the

principles of beings pure of the material forms that lie upon them, and places them in the watering troughs, that is, in the state of knowledge, so that those who are being discipled like sheep may, by being impassioned by learning in it, be shaped in imitation of it. Every soul, therefore, that is discipled in this way steals the idols of its own father who had previously begotten it badly in wickedness. And the idols are forms that are not naturally present in visible things, but are made into idols "by the evil father, the devil" for deception; which the one who, according to the Apostle, takes everything captive to the obedience of Christ, rightly steals. And he hides them in the saddles of the camels; take camel here to mean the body because of its crookedness and because the camel, by pressing the tracks of its feet entirely into the earth, signifies our body which has become crooked and passionate from the transgression; and the saddles are the various modes of ascetic practice, upon which the soul sits and escapes the father of wickedness who is searching and seeking the idols devised by him for deception, which, having rightly snatched them from him through sublime anagogy and contemplation concerning them, it hid in the saddles of continence that press down upon our body. But when it comes to the land of promise, that is, to perfect knowledge, then it is commanded to take these things away as well, that is, the things that were rightly stolen for our anagogy, whether the more ethical ways like a garment or the natural principles learned from them like earrings. For the discerning mind took these things and hid them in the terebinth tree, that is, in the mystery of the cross; for every 14Α_056 practice and knowledge is hidden in it. And the cross is compared to a terebinth tree because in winter the tree is very unpleasant, but in spring it is very fragrant and most delightful; so also the cross of the Lord in the present life seems to have a form of contempt, but in the future it sends forth the beauty of much fragrance and glory.

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Αἱ δὲ ἔσω πόλεις ἀπενεμήθησαν τοῖς γνωστικοῖς· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐν τρισὶν καταγίνεται ὁ γνωστικός, ἔν τε ἠθικῇ, φυσικῇ καὶ θεολογικῇ γνώσει, δεῖ τὸν ἀκουσίως φόνον ἐργαζόμενον, τουτέστιν ἀπείρως ἐπιβάλλοντα, ἐν μὲν τῇ ἠθικῇ διδασκαλίᾳ θυμὸν καὶ ἐπιθυμίαν παρὰ λόγον κινοῦντα εἰς τὴν πόλιν τῆς πραότητος καταφεύγειν τέλος γὰρ ἠθικῆς φιλοσοφίας ἡ πραότης ἐστίν , τὸν δὲ εἰς τὴν φυσικὴν θεωρίαν σφαλλόμενον καὶ ἀνεπιστημόνως ἐπιβάλλοντα, εἰς τὴν πόλιν τῆς ἐπιστήμης καταφεύγειν· τὸν δὲ εἰς τὴν θεολογίαν σφαλλόμενον δεῖ καταφεύγειν εἰς τὴν πόλιν τῆς πίστεως, μήπως τὸ παρεπόμενον τῆς ἀγνοίας πάθος καταλαβεῖν ἐξισχύσει καὶ ἀπολέσῃ τὸν μέτοχον αὐτοῦ.

Τί δέ ἐστιν τὸ «ἕως οὗ ὁ μέγας ἱερεὺς ἀποθάνῃ», μένειν δεῖ τὸν τοιοῦτον καὶ τότε εἰς τὴν ἔγκτητον αὐτοῦ γῆν ἐπανέρχεσθαι, ἀκόλουθον θεωρῆσαι. «Ἱερεὺς μέγας» ἐστὶν ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστός· ὅτ᾽ ἂν οὖν εἰς τελείαν ἀπάθειαν ἔλθωμεν καὶ μηκέτι προσάγωμεν αὐτῷ τι τῶν τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, εἴτε λόγους εἴτε νοήματα, καὶ ἁπλῶς ὅτ᾽ ἂν ὑπὲρ αἴσθησιν καὶ ἔννοιαν γενώμεθα καὶ «μηκέτι Χριστὸν κατὰ σάρκα γινώσκομεν», τότε ἀπέθανεν ἡμῖν ὁ μέγας ἱερεύς, μηκέτι παρ᾽ ἡμῶν ἔκ τινος τῶν γεγονότων λατρείαν δεχόμενος· καὶ λοιπὸν εἰς τὴν ἔγκτητον ἡμῶν γῆν ἀποκαθιστάμεθα, τουτέστιν τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ Θεῷ, ἐν ᾧ οἱ τῶν ἀρετῶν λόγοι εἰσίν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 30 Τίνες αἱ ῥάβδοι ἃς ὁ Ἰακὼβ λεπίσας ἔθηκεν εἰς τὰ ποτιστήρια 14Α_054 καὶ

τίς ἡ Ῥαχὴλ ἡ τὰ εἴδωλα κλέψασα καὶ τίς ἡ τερέβινθος ἐν ᾗ ταῦτα ὁ Ἰακὼβ κατέκρυψεν;

ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Πᾶς Ἰακώβ, τουτέστιν 'πτερνιστής,' λεπίζει τὰς ῥάβδους, τουτέστιν τοὺς

λόγους τῶν ὄντων καθαροὺς ποιῶν τῶν ἐπικειμένων αὐτοῖς ὑλικῶν σχημάτων τίθησιν ἐν τοῖς ποτιστηρίοις, τουτέστιν ἐν τῇ ἕξει τῆς γνώσεως, ἵνα οἱ δίκην προβάτων μαθητευόμενοι τῇ μαθήσει ἐν αὐτῇ ἐνκισσῶντες ἀποτυπῶνται πρὸς τὴν αὐτῆς μίμησιν. Πᾶσα οὖν ψυχὴ μαθητευθεῖσα οὕτως κλέπτει τὰ εἴδωλα τοῦ ἰδίου πατρὸς τοῦ κακῶς αὐτὴν πρότερον τῇ κακίᾳ γεννήσαντος. Εἰσὶν δὲ τὰ εἴδωλα μὴ ἐνόντα φυσικῶς τοῖς ὁρωμένοις, ἀλλ᾽ «ἐκ τοῦ κακοῦ πατρὸς τοῦ διαβόλου» εἰδωλοποιούμενα πρὸς ἀπάτην σχήματα· ἅπερ κλέπτει καλῶς ὁ κατὰ τὸν Ἀπόστολον πάντα αἰχμαλωτίζων εἰς τὴν ὑπακοὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Κρύπτει δὲ ταῦτα ἐν τοῖς σάγμασιν τῶν καμήλων· κάμηλον ἐνταῦθα τὸ σῶμα λάβε διὰ τὸ σκολιὸν καὶ ὅτι διόλου τὰ ἴχνη τῶν ποδῶν τῇ γῇ ἐντυποῦσα ἡ κάμηλος τὸ ἐκ τῆς παραβάσεως γενόμενον σκολιὸν καὶ ἐμπαθὲς ἡμῶν δηλοῖ σῶμα· σάγματα δέ εἰσιν οἱ διάφοροι τῆς ἀσκήσεως τρόποι, οἷς ἐπικαθημένη ἡ ψυχὴ διαφεύγει τὸν ἐρευνῶντα τῆς κακίας πατέρα καὶ ζητοῦντα τὰ πρὸς ἐξαπάτην ἐπινοηθέντα αὐτῷ εἴδωλα, ἅπερ διὰ τῆς ὑψηλῆς περὶ αὐτῶν ἀναγωγῆς καὶ θεωρίας καλῶς ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἀποσπάσασα κατέκρυψεν ἐν τοῖς πιέζουσιν τὸ σῶμα ἡμῶν τῆς ἐγκρατείας σάγμασιν. Ὅτ᾽ ἂν δὲ εἰς τὴν γῆν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας ἔλθῃ, τουτέστιν εἰς τὴν τελείαν γνῶσιν, τότε κελεύεται καὶ ταῦτα περιελέσθαι, τουτέστιν τὰ κλαπέντα καλῶς πρὸς ἡμετέραν ἀναγωγήν, εἴτε ἠθικωτέρους τρόπους ὥσπερ ἱμάτιον εἴτε τοὺς φυσικοὺς λόγους ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐνωτιζομένους ὥσπερ ἐνώτια. Ταῦτα γὰρ ὁ διορατικὸς νοῦς λαβὼν ἐν τῇ τερεβίνθῳ κατέκρυψεν, τουτέστιν ἐν τῷ μυστηρίῳ τοῦ σταυροῦ· πᾶσα γὰρ 14Α_056 πρᾶξις καὶ γνῶσις ἐν αὐτῷ ἐνκέκρυπται. Τερεβίνθῳ δὲ ὁ σταυρὸς παρεικάζεται ἐπειδὴ ἐν μὲν τῷ χειμῶνι ἀτερπές ἐστιν πάνυ τὸ δένδρον, ἐν δὲ τῷ ἔαρι εὐωδέστατον πάνυ καὶ τερπνότατον· οὕτως καὶ ὁ σταυρὸς τοῦ Κυρίου ἐν μὲν τῷ παρόντι βίῳ ἐξουδενώσεως δοκεῖ ἔχειν εἶδος, ἐν δὲ τῷ μέλλοντι πολλῆς εὐωδίας καὶ δόξης ἐκπέμπει εὐπρέπειαν.