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understanding. And so, after a long intervening time, having philosophized through quietness in lofty meditations, one will barely understand what truly is being, which has its being by its own nature, and what is non-being, which exists only in appearance, having in itself a nature without substance. 2.24 This, it seems to me, is what the great Moses learned when he was taught in the theophany, that none of the other things, neither those apprehended by sense nor those contemplated by the intellect, truly subsist, except for that transcendent substance and cause of all, from which all things depend. 2.25 For if the intellect sees anything else among existing things, reason contemplates in no other existing thing that which is not in need of another, by which it is possible to exist without participation in being. But that which is always the same, which does not increase, which does not diminish, which is equally immovable with respect to every change, both for the better and for the worse (for it is foreign to the worse, and it has no better), which is in need of nothing else, which is alone desirable, and is participated in by all and is not diminished by the participation of those who partake, this is truly that which really is, and the understanding of this is the knowledge of the truth. 2.26 Therefore, having come to be in this state—at that time he, but now everyone who according to him releases himself from his earthly covering and sees the light from the bush, that is, the ray that shone upon us through the flesh of this thorny nature, which is, as the Gospel says, the true light and the truth—then he becomes such a person as to be sufficient for the salvation of others and to cast down the evil prevailing tyranny, and to set free for liberty all that is overcome by wicked slavery, with the changed right hand and the staff transformed into a serpent leading the way for the miracles, 2.27 by which, it seems to me, is indicated enigmatically the mystery of the Lord through the flesh, of the divinity that appeared to men, through which comes both the overthrow of the tyrant and the freedom of those held by him. 2.28 And the things that lead me to this understanding are prophetic and evangelical testimony. For the Prophet says: This is the changing of the right hand of the Most High, as the divine nature is seen in its unchangeability, but through condescension to the weakness of human nature was changed to our shape and form. 2.29 For there too the lawgiver's hand, when brought forth from his bosom, was changed to an unnatural color; and again when it was in his bosom it returned to its own and natural grace. And the only-begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, this is the right hand of the Most High, 2.30 and when He appeared to us from the bosom, He was changed according to us; and when, having wiped away our weaknesses, He brought back again the hand that had come to be in us and had been colored according to us to His own bosom (and the Father is the bosom of the right hand), then He did not change the impassible nature into passion, but transformed the mutable and passible into impassibility through communion with the immutable.

2.31 But let the transformation of the staff into a serpent not trouble the lovers of Christ, as if we were applying the account of the mystery to an unseemly creature. For the Truth itself through the voice of the Gospel does not reject such an image, through which it says: For as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. 2.32 And the reason is clear. For if the father of sin was named serpent by the Holy Scripture, and that which is born of the serpent is in every way a serpent, then it follows that sin is synonymous with the one who begot it. But indeed the apostolic word testifies that the Lord became sin for our sake, who put on our sinful nature. 2.33 Logically; therefore the enigma fits the Lord. For if sin is a serpent, and the Lord became sin, it would be clear to all what is revealed through this sequence: for He who became sin became a serpent, which is nothing other than sin. But for our sake

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κατανόησις. Καὶ οὕτω πολλῷ τις τῷ μεταξὺ χρόνῳ ταῖς ὑψηλαῖς δι' ἡσυ χίας ἐμφιλοσοφήσας μελέταις μόλις κατανοήσει τί μέν ἐστιν ὡς ἀληθῶς τὸ ὄν, ὃ τῇ ἑαυτοῦ φύσει τὸ εἶναι ἔχει, τί δὲ τὸ μὴ ὄν, ὃ ἐν τῷ δοκεῖν μόνον ἐστὶν εἶναι, ἀνυπόστατον ἔχον ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ τὴν φύσιν. 2.24 Ὅ μοι δοκεῖ τότε ὁ μέγας Μωϋσῆς ἐν τῇ θεοφανείᾳ παιδευθεὶς γνῶναι ὅτι οὐδὲν τῶν ἄλλων ὅσα τε τῇ αἰσθήσει καταλαμβάνεται καὶ ὅσα κατὰ τὴν διάνοιαν θεωρεῖται τῷ ὄντι ὑφέστηκε, πλὴν τῆς ὑπερανεστώσης οὐσίας καὶ αἰτίας τοῦ παντὸς ἀφ' ἧς ἐξῆπται τὸ πᾶν. 2.25 Εἰ γάρ τι καὶ ἄλλο ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν ἡ διάνοια βλέπει, ἄλλῳ οὐδενὶ τῶν ὄντων τὸ ἀπροσδεὲς τοῦ ἑτέρου ἐνθεωρεῖ ὁ λόγος ᾧ δυνατόν ἐστι δίχα τῆς μετουσίας τοῦ ὄντος εἶναι. Τὸ δὲ ὡσαύτως ἔχον ἀεί, τὸ ἀναυξές, τὸ ἀμείωτον, τὸ πρὸς πᾶσαν μεταβολὴν τήν τε πρὸς τὸ κρεῖττον καὶ τὴν πρὸς τὸ χεῖρον ἐπίσης ἀκίνητον (τοῦ μὲν γὰρ χείρονος ἠλλοτρίωται, τὸ δὲ κρεῖττον οὐκ ἔχει), τὸ δὲ παντὸς ἀνενδεὲς ἑτέρου, τὸ μόνον ὀρεκτόν, καὶ παρὰ παντὸς μετεχόμενον καὶ ἐν τῇ μετουσίᾳ τῶν μετε χόντων οὐκ ἐλαττούμενον, τοῦτό ἐστιν ἀληθῶς τὸ ὄντως ὂν καὶ ἡ τούτου κατανόησις ἡ τῆς ἀληθείας γνῶσίς ἐστιν. 2.26 Ἐν τούτῳ τοίνυν γενόμενος τότε μὲν ἐκεῖνος, νυνὶ δὲ πᾶς ὁ κατ' ἐκεῖνον τῆς γηΐνης ἑαυτὸν ἐκλύων περιβολῆς καὶ τὸ ἐκ τῆς βάτου φῶς βλέπων, τουτέστι πρὸς τὴν διὰ σαρκὸς τῆς ἀκανθώδους ταύτης ἐπιλάμψασαν ἡμῖν ἀκτῖνα, ἥτις ἐστί, καθὼς τὸ Εὐαγγέλιόν φησι, τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια, τότε τοιοῦτος γίνεται οἷος καὶ ἑτέροις εἰς σωτηρίαν ἀρκέσαι καὶ καθελεῖν μὲν τὴν ἐπικρατοῦσαν κακῶς τυραννίδα, ἐξελέσθαι δὲ πρὸς ἐλευθερίαν πᾶν τὸ τῇ πονηρᾷ δουλείᾳ κατακρατούμενον, τῆς ἀλλοιωθείσης δεξιᾶς καὶ τῆς εἰς ὄφιν μεταβληθείσης βακτηρίας τῶν θαυμάτων καθηγουμένης, 2.27 ᾧ μοι δοκεῖ δι' αἰνίγματος τὸ διὰ σαρκὸς παραδη λοῦσθαι τοῦ Κυρίου μυστήριον τῆς φανείσης τοῖς ἀνθρώποις θεότητος, δι' ἧς γίνεται ἥ τε τοῦ τυράννου καθαίρεσις καὶ ἡ τῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ κρατουμένων ἐλευθερία. 2.28 Τὰ δέ με πρὸς τὴν διάνοιαν ἀνάγοντα ταύτην ἐστὶ προφητική τε καὶ εὐαγγελικὴ μαρτυρία. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ Προφήτης φησίν· αὕτη ἡ ἀλλοίωσις τῆς δεξιᾶς τοῦ Ὑψίστου, ὡς μὲν τῆς θείας φύσεως ἐν τῷ ἀναλλοιώτῳ θεωρουμένης, τῇ δὲ πρὸς τὸ ἀσθενὲς τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως συγκαταβάσει πρὸς τὸ ἡμέτερον σχῆμά τε καὶ εἶδος ἀλλοιωθείσης. 2.29 Καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖ τοῦ νομοθέτου ἡ χεὶρ προβληθεῖσα τοῦ κόλπου πρὸς τὸ παρὰ φύσιν ἠλλοιώθη χρῶμα· καὶ πάλιν ἐν κόλποις γενομένη πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν αὐτῆς καὶ κατὰ φύσιν ἐπανῆλθε χάριν. Καὶ ὁ μονογενὴς Θεός, ὁ ὢν ἐν κόλποις τοῦ Πατρός, οὗτός ἐστιν ἡ δεξιὰ τοῦ Ὑψίστου, 2.30 ὅτε δὲ ἡμῖν ἐκ τῶν κόλπων ἐφάνη, καθ' ἡμᾶς ἠλλοιώθη· ἐπεὶ δὲ τὰς ἡμετέρας ἀσθενείας ἐκμάξας πάλιν ἐπανήγαγε τὴν ἐν ἡμῖν γενομένην χεῖρα καὶ καθ' ἡμᾶς χρωσθεῖσαν ἐπὶ τὸν ἴδιον κόλπον (κόλπος δὲ τῆς δεξιᾶς ὁ Πατήρ), τότε οὐ τὸ ἀπαθὲς τῆς φύσεως εἰς πάθος ἠλλοίωσεν, ἀλλὰ τὸ τρεπτόν τε καὶ ἐμπαθὲς διὰ τῆς πρὸς τὸ ἄτρεπτον κοινωνίας εἰς ἀπάθειαν μετεστοιχείωσεν.

2.31 Ἡ δὲ εἰς ὄφιν μεταβολὴ τῆς βακτηρίας μὴ ταρασσέσθω τοὺς φιλοχρίστους ὡς ἀπεμφαίνοντι ζῴῳ προσαρμοζόντων ἡμῶν τὸν τοῦ μυστηρίου λόγον. Αὑτὴ γὰρ ἡ ἀλήθεια διὰ τῆς τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου φωνῆς οὐ παραιτεῖται τὴν τοιαύτην εἰκόνα δι' ὧν φησιν· ὥσπερ γὰρ Μωϋσῆς ὕψωσε τὸν ὄφιν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, οὕτως ὑψωθῆναι δεῖ καὶ τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου. 2.32 Καὶ σαφὴς ὁ λόγος. Εἰ γὰρ ὁ τῆς ἁμαρτίας πατὴρ ὄφις ὠνομάσθη ὑπὸ τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς καὶ τὸ ἐκ τοῦ ὄφεως γεννηθὲν πάντως ὄφις ἐστίν, οὐκοῦν ἀκολούθως ἡ ἁμαρτία τοῦ γεγεννηκότος αὐτήν ἐστι συνώνυμος. Ἀλλὰ μὴν ἁμαρτίαν δι' ἡμᾶς γενέσθαι τὸν Κύριον ὁ ἀποστολικὸς διαμαρτύρεται λόγος τὸν τὴν ἀμαρτητικὴν ἡμῶν φύσιν περιβαλλόμενον. 2.33 Κατὰ λόγον· ἄρα τῷ Κυρίῳ προσαρμόζει τὸ αἴνιγμα. Εἰ γὰρ ὄφις μὲν ἡ ἁμαρτία, ὁ δὲ Κύριος ἁμαρτία ἐγένετο, φανερὸν ἂν εἴη πᾶσι τὸ διὰ τῆς ἀκολουθίας ἀναφαινόμενον· ὁ γὰρ ἁμαρτία γενόμενος ὄφις ἐγένετο, ὃς οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἢ ἁμαρτία ἐστίν. Ἀλλὰ δι' ἡμᾶς