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a fitting covering, or the grace from above woven for it of the new man through the Spirit. And the outer garment is the sensible world, divided into four elements, which those who crucify the Lord in us 14Β_068 intelligibly divide as four garments. Therefore, the demons divide the visible creation of the four elements, preparing us to look with passion according to sense, we who are ignorant of the divine principles within it. And though they lift the tunic of virtues from us through the inaction of good things, they cannot persuade us that virtue is vice.

Let us not then make the five garments of the Savior an occasion for greed, but let us know what the will of the Scripture is, and how in us who neglect good things the Lord is crucified and stripped naked through our idleness in good things, and how for the service of the passions through us, the demons divide His creation as if it were garments; and let us become secure guardians of the good things granted to us by God; and let us view creation rightly for His glory alone; and let us keep the tunic of the word of knowledge, I mean the virtues, inalienable through zeal for good works.

But if you wish, in addition to what has been said, to understand the tunic woven from above as the world of incorporeal and intelligible beings, and the outer garment, which the word divided into four parts as elements, to understand as corporeal nature, you will not err from the truth; of which they dissolved the body into corruption, having received power against us through the transgression of the law of the commandment, but the soul, as being of kindred from above, they did not tear.

E (5). CONCERNING THE CURSED EARTH IN THE WORKS OF ADAM. 5. QUESTION 5 What is the cursed earth in the works of Adam according to the anagogical sense? And what does it mean to eat of it in sorrows?

And what does it mean that after it brings forth thorns and thistles, to eat the grass? And what does it mean, finally, to eat bread in the sweat of his face? And yet man has never been seen 14Β_070 eating earth or grass; nor do those who eat bread, according to the sentence of the story, eat it in the sweat of their face.

Answer. The cursed earth in the works of Adam is the flesh of Adam, always

becoming so through the works of Adam, I mean the passions of the mind that has become earthly, cursed with barrenness of virtues, as works of God; which he eats with much pain and sorrow, enjoying the little pleasure that is in it. Which flesh, for the sake of this corruptible enjoyment, brings forth for him cares and anxieties, like thorns, and great temptations and dangers, like thistles, painfully pricking him from every side in reason, anger, and desire, so that he might with difficulty be able to secure and eat, that is, to obtain, its health and well-being, like withering grass, and then, after much recurrence of terrible things, in the sweat of his face, that is, in the toil and labor according to sense of the meddlesome spying out of sensible things, to have, like bread, the means for the sustenance of the present life, either through a craft or through some other method devised for living.

Or rather, the earth of Adam is the heart, having received as a curse through the transgression the removal of the heavenly goods. Which earth, according to practical philosophy, he eats through many afflictions, after it has been cleansed of the curse of the works of shame according to conscience. And again the things that spring up in it in the manner of

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πρέπουσα σκέπη, ἢ ἡ ἄνωθεν κατ᾽ αὐτὸν τοῦ νέου ἀνθρώπου διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος ὑφασμένη χάρις. Ἡ ἔξω δὲ περιβολὴ ὁ αἰσθητός ἐστι κόσμος, στοιχείοις τέσσαρσι διαιρούμενος, ὃν ὡς τέσσαρα ἱμάτια μερίζονται οἱ νοητῶς ἐν 14Β_068 ἡμῖν σταυροῦντες τὸν Κύριον. Μερίζονται τοίνυν οἱ δαίμονες τὴν φαινομένην κτίσιν τῶν τεσσάρων στοιχείων, πρὸς πάθος ὁρᾶν κατ᾽ αἴσθησιν ἡμᾶς παρασκευάζοντες τοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ θείους ἀγνοήσαντας λόγους. Τὸν δὲ χιτῶνα τῶν ἀρετῶν κἂν ἐπαίρουσιν ἐξ ἡμῶν διὰ τῆς τῶν καλῶν ἀπραξίας, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν κακίαν εἶναι πεῖσαι οὐ δύνανται.

Μὴ τοίνυν πλεονεξίας ἀφορμὴν ποιήσωμεν τὰ πέντε τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἱμάτια, ἀλλὰ γνῶμεν τί τῆς Γραφῆς ὑπάρχει τὸ βούλημα, καὶ πῶς ἐν ἡμῖν ἀμελοῦσι τῶν καλῶν ὁ Κύριος σταυροῦται καὶ γυμνοῦται διὰ τῆς ἡμῶν ἐν τοῖς καλοῖς ἀργίας, καὶ πρὸς ὑπηρεσίαν παθῶν δι᾽ ἡμῶν, ὥσπερ ἱμάτια, μερίζονται τὴν αὐτοῦ κτίσιν οἱ δαίμονες· καὶ ἀσφαλεῖς γενώμεθα φύλακες τῶν ἐκ Θεοῦ χαρισθέντων ἡμῖν ἀγαθῶν· καὶ τὴν κτίσιν καλῶς πρὸς μόνην τὴν αὐτοῦ θεασώμεθα δόξαν· καὶ τὸν χιτῶνα τοῦ λόγου τῆς γνώσεως, φημὶ δὲ τὰς ἀρετάς, διὰ τῆς σπουδῆς τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἔργων ἀναφαίρετον τηρήσωμεν.

Εἰ δὲ βούλεσθε, πρὸς τοῖς εἰρημένοις, χιτῶνα μὲν νοεῖν ἄνωθεν ὑφαντὸν τὸν τῶν ἀσωμάτων καὶ νοητῶν οὐσιῶν κόσμον, τὴν ἔξω δὲ περιβολήν, ἣν εἰς τέσσαρα μέρη ὡς στοιχεῖα διεῖλεν ὁ λόγος, εἰς τὴν σωματικὴν φύσιν νοεῖν, οὐχ ἁμαρτήσεσθε τῆς ἀληθείας· ὧν τὸ μὲν σῶμα τῇ φθορᾷ διέλυσαν, ἰσχὺν λαβόντες καθ᾽ ἡμῶν τοῦ νόμου τῆς ἐντολῆς τὴν παράβασιν, τὴν δὲ ψυχήν, ὡς τῆς ἄνωθεν συγγενείας ὑπάρχουσαν, οὐ κατέσχισαν.

Ε (5). ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΚΑΤΑΡΑΘΕΙΣΗΣ ΓΗΣ ΕΝ ΤΟΙΣ ΕΡΓΟΙΣ ΤΟΥ Α∆ΑΜ. 5. ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Ε' Τίς ἡ καταρωμένη γῆ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῦ Ἀδὰμ κατὰ τὴν ἀναγωγήν; Καὶ τί τὸ

ἐν λύπαις αὐτὴν φαγεῖν; Καὶ τί τὸ μετὰ τὸ ἀνατεῖλαι ἀκάνθας καὶ τριβόλους τὸν χόρτον ἐσθίειν; Καὶ τί τὸ τελευταῖον ἐν ἱδρῶτι τοῦ προσώπου αὐτοῦ τὸν ἄρτον φαγεῖν; Καὶ μέντοι οὐδέποτε ὤφθη ἄνθρωπος 14Β_070 γῆν ἐσθίων οὔτε χόρτον· οὐδὲ οἱ τὸν ἄρτον ἐσθίοντες κατὰ τὴν ἀπόφασιν τῆς ἱστορίας ἐν ἱδρῶτι τοῦ προσώπου ἐσθίουσιν.

Ἀπόκρισις. Ἡ κατηραμένη γῆ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῦ Ἀδάμ ἐστιν ἡ σὰρξ τοῦ Ἀδάμ, ἀεὶ

γινομένη διὰ τῶν ἔργων τοῦ Ἀδάμ, λέγω δὲ τῶν παθῶν τοῦ γεωθέντος νοῦ, κατηραμένη τῇ τῶν ἀρετῶν, ὡς ἔργων Θεοῦ, ἀκαρπίᾳ· ἣν μετ᾽ ὀδύνης πολλῆς καὶ λύπης ἐσθίει τῆς κατ᾽ αὐτὴν μικρᾶς ἡδονῆς ἀπολαύων. Ἥτις σὰρξ ὑπὲρ ταύτης τῆς φθαρτῆς ἀπολαύσεως ἀνατέλλει αὐτῷ μερίμνας καὶ φροντίδας, καθάπερ ἀκάνθας, καὶ μεγάλους πειρασμοὺς καὶ κινδύνους, ὥσπερ τριβόλους, κατά τε λόγον καὶ θυμὸν καὶ ἐπιθυμίαν ἀλγεινῶς αὐτὸν πανταχόθεν κατακεντοῦντας, ἵνα μόλις δυνηθῇ τὴν ταύτης ὑγείαν τε καὶ εὐεξίαν, ὡς χόρτον μαραινόμενον, περιποιήσασθαι καὶ φαγεῖν, τουτέστι τυχεῖν, καὶ τότε μετὰ πολλὴν τῶν δεινῶν ἐπανακύκλησιν ἐν ἱδρῶτι τοῦ προσώπου, τουτέστιν ἐν τῷ κατ᾽ αἴσθησιν καμάτῳ τε καὶ κόπῳ τῆς περιέργου κατασκοπῆς τῶν αἰσθητῶν, ὥσπερ ἄρτον, τὴν πρὸς σύστασιν ἔχειν τῆς παρούσης ζωῆς ἀφορμήν, ἢ διὰ τέχνης ἢ δι᾽ ἄλλης τινὸς περινενοημένης τῷ βίῳ μεθοδίας.

Ἢ μᾶλλον γῆ τοῦ Ἀδάμ ἐστιν ἡ καρδία, κατάραν λαβοῦσα διὰ τῆς παραβάσεως τὴν τῶν οὐρανίων ἀγαθῶν ἀφαίρεσιν. Ἥντινα γῆν κατὰ τὴν πρακτικὴν φιλοσοφίαν διὰ πολλῶν θλίψεων ἐσθίει, καθαρθεῖσαν τῆς κατὰ συνείδησιν τῆς κατάρας τῶν ἔργων τῆς αἰσχύνης. Καὶ πάλιν τοὺς ἀνατέλλοντας ἐν αὐτῇ δίκην