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QUESTION 31 What does the story of Judah and Tamar mean? RESPONSE

Our Lord Jesus Christ, having been born "according to the flesh" from the tribe of Judah and having come in the way of life to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel," found in the way of error the Church of the nations that had whored "after other gods," and being joined to her, He gave her a rod and a bracelet and a ring, that is, the mortification through the cross and the pious opinion concerning beings and the grace of the Spirit, and, to speak simply, practical, natural, and theological knowledge.

QUESTION 32 Of Saint Cyril of Alexandria concerning Naboth and Ahab. RESPONSE The story of Naboth refers to Christ; and the vineyard is Israel, according to

Isaiah; and Ahab is a type of the rulers of Israel, who wanted to have it for a vegetable garden, watering it with turbid subversion; and Christ, 14Α_058 representing the person of Naboth, did not wish to give it as a paternal inheritance; whence the intelligible Jezebel, that is, the synagogue, kills him who is being slandered.

QUESTION 33 In the person of whom are Jephthah and his daughter taken? RESPONSE Jephthah is taken in the person of the Lord, and his daughter in his

all-pure flesh. For just as Jephthah had been born of a prostitute and was driven out from his own and went out and fought and conquered his adversaries, having promised to God to offer as a sacrifice whomever of his own household met him, so also the Lord, having come forth sinlessly according to the flesh from our nature which had committed fornication and having become the sower of His own flesh, and having been driven out by the Jews who seemed to be His own, and having conquered the war on our behalf, offered his own flesh to God the Father; for Jephthah is interpreted as 'opening of God.'

QUESTION 34 What does that from Proverbs, "in slothfulness a rafter will be brought low, and in

idleness of hands a house will leak," signify? RESPONSE The rafter is taken to mean the natural powers of the soul; for just as the

rafters, being neglected and bent by the weight placed upon them, collapse, so also the natural powers of the 14Α_060 soul, not being cared for through the study of the divine oracles, being bent by the weight of voluntary and involuntary temptations, collapse towards sensible things. And "in idleness of hands a house leaks" is when the soul, being inactive in good things, through the senses admits the fantasies of material things like drops of water, and drives out the indwelling grace.

QUESTION 35 What does the wedding in Cana signify, and what are the mysteries accomplished in it? RESPONSE Cana is interpreted 'possession,' and Galilee 'revelation;' therefore every mind having a revelatory

disposition for divine things, in being joined to virtue or even to sense perception requires the mediation of the Word so that virtue, being joined to the knowledge of the mind, may become harmonious with it, and sense perception, submitting to the authority of the

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ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 31 Τί σημαίνει ἡ κατὰ τὸν Ἰούδαν καὶ τὴν Θάμαρ ἱστορία; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ

Ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστὸς ἐκ φύλης Ἰούδα τὸ «κατὰ σάρκα» γενόμενος καὶ ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ τοῦ βίου ἐλθὼν τῇ πρὸς «τὰ πρόβατα τὰ ἀπολωλότα οἴκου Ἰσραήλ», ηὗρεν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ τῆς πλάνης τὴν ἐκπορνεύσασαν «ὀπίσω θεῶν ἑτέρων» τῶν ἐθνῶν Ἐκκλησίαν καὶ συναφθεὶς παρέσχετο αὐτῇ ῥάβδον καὶ ὁρμίσκον καὶ δακτύλιον, τουτέστιν τὴν διὰ σταυροῦ νέκρωσιν καὶ τὴν περὶ τῶν ὄντων εὐσεβῆ δόξαν καὶ τὴν τοῦ Πνεύματος χάριν, καὶ ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν πρακτικήν, φυσικὴν καὶ θεολογικὴν γνῶσιν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 32 Τοῦ ἁγίου Κυρίλλου Ἀλεξανδρείας περὶ τοῦ Ναβουθὲ καὶ τοῦ Ἀχαάβ. ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Εἰς Χριστὸν ἀναφέρεται τὰ κατὰ τὸν Ναβουθέ· ἀμπελὼν δὲ ὁ Ἰσραὴλ κατὰ

τὸν Ἡσαΐαν· ὁ δὲ Ἀχαὰβ εἰς τύπον τῶν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἡγουμένων, οἵτινες ἤθελον ἔχειν αὐτὸν εἰς κῆπον λαχάνων, ποτίζοντες αὐτὸν ἀνατροπὴν θολεράν· τὸν δὲ Χριστὸν 14Α_058 πρόσωπον ἐπέχοντα τοῦ Ναβουθὲ μὴ θελῆσαι αὐτὸν δοῦναι ὡς πατρῴαν κληρονομίαν· ὅθεν τὴν νοητὴν Ἰεζάβελ, τουτέστιν τὴν συναγωγήν, συκοφαντούμενον ἀναιρεῖν αὐτόν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 33 Εἰς πρόσωπον τίνος λαμβάνεται ὁ Ἰεφθάε καὶ ἡ τούτου θυγάτηρ; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ὁ μὲν Ἰεφθάε εἰς τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ Κυρίου, ἡ δὲ τούτου θυγάτηρ εἰς τὴν

αὐτοῦ παντάχραντον σάρκα. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ Ἰεφθάε ἐκ πόρνης ἦν γεγεννημένος καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἰδίων ἐξεδιώχθη καὶ ἐξελθὼν ἐπολέμησεν καὶ ἐνίκησεν τοὺς ὑπεναντίους, ὑποσχόμενος τῷ Θεῷ τὸν ὑπαντῶντα αὐτῷ ἐκ τῶν οἰκείων αὐτοῦ προσάγειν εἰς θυσίαν, οὕτως καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἐκ τῆς ἐκπορνευσάσης ἡμῶν φύσεως τὸ κατὰ σάρκα ἀναμαρτήτως προελθὼν καὶ τῆς οἰκείας σαρκὸς γενόμενος σπορεύς, ἐκδιωχθείς τε ὑπὸ τῶν δοκούντων ἰδίων εἶναι Ἰουδαίων καὶ τὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν πόλεμον νικήσας, προσήγαγεν τὴν οἰκείαν αὐτοῦ σάρκα τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρί· Ἰεφθάε γὰρ ἑρμηνεύεται 'ἄνοιξις Θεοῦ.'

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 34 Τί δηλοῖ τὸ τῶν Παροιμιῶν τὸ «ἐν ὀκνηρίαις ταπεινωθήσεται δόκωσις καὶ ἐν

ἀργίᾳ χειρῶν στάξει οἰκία»; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ἡ δόκωσις λαμβάνεται εἰς τὰς φυσικὰς τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεις· ὥσπερ γὰρ αἱ

δοκοὶ ἀμελούμεναι καὶ διὰ τοῦ ἐπικειμένου βάρους καμπτόμεναι καταπίπτουσιν, οὕτως καὶ αἱ φυσικαὶ τῆς 14Α_060 ψυχῆς δυνάμεις, μὴ ἐπιμελούμεναι διὰ τῆς μελέτης τῶν θείων λογίων, τῷ βάρει τῶν ἑκουσίων καὶ ἀκουσίων πειρασμῶν καμπτόμεναι πρὸς τὰ αἰσθητὰ καταπίπτουσιν. Ἐν ἀργίᾳ δὲ χειρῶν στάζει οἰκία ὅτ᾽ ἂν ἡ ψυχὴ ἀπραξίαν ἀγαθῶν ἔχουσα, διὰ τῶν αἰσθήσεων τὰς τῶν ὑλικῶν φαντασίας σταλαγμῶν δίκην εἰσδεχομένη τὴν ἐνοικοῦσαν χάριν ἀποδιώκει.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 35 Τί δηλοῖ ὁ ἐν Κανᾷ γάμος καὶ τί τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ τελεσθέντα μυστήρια; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Κανὰ ἑρμηνεύεται 'κτῆσις,' Γαλιλαία δὲ 'ἀποκάλυψις·' πᾶς οὖν νοῦς ἕξιν

ἀποκαλυπτικὴν ἔχων τῶν θείων, ἐν τῷ συνάπτεσθαι τῇ ἀρετῇ ἢ καὶ τῇ αἰσθήσει δέεται τῆς τοῦ λόγου μεσιτείας ἵνα ἡ μὲν ἀρετὴ τῇ γνώσει συναφθεῖσα τοῦ νοῦ, σύμφωνος γένηται πρὸς αὐτόν, ἡ δὲ αἴσθησις ὑποκύπτουσα ὑπὸ τὴν ἐξουσίαν τοῦ