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What is it that the Apostle wrote when he enjoined Timothy, "be urgent in season and out of season"?

ANSWER Whether someone is held by wickedness, he says, whom it is opportune to teach,

propose to him through teaching the flight from evil and the choice of the good; or if someone is not held by wickedness, which seems inopportune, propose knowledge to such a person, he says, securing him against the future rising up of temptations.

QUESTION 43 What does the parable of the ten virgins signify? 14Α_076 ANSWER Because man has five intellectual senses perceptive of intelligible things,

and five bodily senses perceptive of sensible things, the parable seems to allude to every man. Whoever, therefore, has the lamp of practical virtue, and also has the oil of knowledge watering it, that is, whose actions are done with knowledge, this one, having subjected the body and its senses and joined them to the intellectual senses, has become five wise [virgins]. But whoever seems to pursue the practical life without having the oil of knowledge, but practices it foolishly either for the sake of empty glory or for gluttony or love of money, this one, having turned the intellectual senses toward sensible and temporary things; and having made them earthly, has rightly become five foolish virgins, being known only by sensible things.

QUESTION 44 What does the paradise planted in the east signify in an anagogical sense? ANSWER

I think paradise signifies the heart of man planted in the east of the knowledge of God. In the very middle of it God planted "the tree of life and the tree of knowing good and evil." And "the tree of life" is taken to refer to the principle of intelligible things, but "the knowledge of good and evil" to the principle of sensible things; for this has knowledge of both good and evil. For to those who from the beauty of created things conceive of the Creator and through them 14Α_078 are led up to their cause, it is knowledge of good; but to those who remain in sensation alone and are deceived by the appearance of sensible things, turning the whole desire of the soul to matter, it is knowledge of evil.

But if someone in doubt should object, "How can this be taken to apply to the one man, so that at one time the knowledge of the one thing becomes good, and at another time evil?", to him it must be said that since it has been stated that the intelligible and the sensible world are the two trees, and man partakes of both, being of soul and body, whenever therefore the authority of the soul inclines toward sensation and the body, behold, he has partaken of the tree and has known the experience of good and evil: of good, in that the body is naturally pleased by the enjoyment of sensible things; of evil, in that the soul is ruled by the inferior and its natural powers are weakened.

QUESTION 45 What does the small fish lying on the bed of coals, shown by the Lord after the resurrection, signify?

ANSWER The fish signifies human nature swimming in the confusion of the passions,

which, through his ineffable love for mankind, the Lord, having descended into the sea of life, drew up and roasted with the fire of the Holy Spirit and of all clamminess

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Τί ἐστιν ὅπερ ὁ Ἀπόστολος ἐπιστέλλων Τιμοθέῳ ἔγραψεν «ἐπίστηθι εὐκαίρως ἀκαίρως»;

ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Εἴτε τῇ κακίᾳ, φησίν, ἐνέχεταί τις, ὅντινα εὔκαιρόν ἐστιν διδαχθῆναι,

ὑποτίθου αὐτὸν διὰ τῆς διδασκαλίας τὴν φυγὴν τοῦ κακοῦ καὶ τὴν αἵρεσιν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ· εἴτε οὐκ ἐνέχεταί τις τῇ κακίᾳ, ὅπερ δοκεῖ ἀκαίρως, τὸν τοιοῦτον τὴν γνῶσιν ὑποτίθου, φησίν, κατασφαλιζόμενος αὐτὸν πρὸς μέλλουσαν πειρασμῶν ἐπανάστασιν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 43 Τί σημαίνει ἡ παραβολὴ τῶν δέκα παρθένων; 14Α_076 ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ἐπειδὴ ὁ ἄνθρωπος πέντε αἰσθήσεις ἔχει νοερὰς ἀντιλημπτικὰς τῶν νοητῶν,

πέντε δὲ σωματικὰς ἀντιλημπτικὰς τῶν αἰσθητῶν, δοκεῖ ἡ παραβολὴ τὸν καθένα αἰνίττεσθαι ἄνθρωπον. Ὅστις οὖν ἔχει τὴν λαμπάδα τῆς πρακτικῆς ἀρετῆς, ἔχει δὲ καὶ τὸ ἔλαιον τῆς γνώσεως ἐπάρδοντα, τουτέστιν μετὰ γνώσεως τὰς πράξεις γινομένας, οὗτος ὑποτάξας τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὰς τούτου αἰσθήσεις ταῖς νοεραῖς συνάψας, γέγονεν πέντε φρόνιμοι. Ὅστις δὲ τὴν πρακτικὴν δοκεῖ μετιέναι μὴ ἔχων τὸ τῆς γνώσεως ἔλαιον, ἀλλ᾽ ἢ διὰ κενὴν δόξαν ἢ διὰ γαστριμαργίαν ἢ φιλαργυρίαν ταύτην ἀφρόνως ἐπιτηδεύει, οὗτος τρέψας τὰς νοερὰς αἰσθήσεις περὶ τὰ αἰσθητὰ καὶ πρόσκαιρα· καὶ ταύτας ἀπογεώσας, εἰκότως γέγονεν πέντε παρθένοι μωραί, ἐκ μόνων τῶν αἰσθητῶν γινωσκόμενος.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 44 Τί δηλοῖ κατ᾽ ἀναγωγὴν ὁ παράδεισος ὁ κατ᾽ ἀνατολὰς φυτευόμενος; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ

Παράδεισον οἶμαι δηλοῦσθαι τὴν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου καρδίαν φυτευθεῖσαν ἐν τῇ ἀνατολῇ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ γνώσεως. Ἐν τῷ μεσαιτάτῳ ταύτης ἐφύτευσεν ὁ Θεὸς «τὸ ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς καὶ τὸ ξύλον τοῦ εἰδέναι γνωστὸν καλοῦ καὶ πονηροῦ». Καὶ τὸ μὲν «ξύλον τῆς ζωῆς» λαμβάνεται ἐπὶ τοῦ λόγου τῶν νοητῶν, τὸ δὲ «γνωστὸν καλοῦ καὶ κακοῦ» ἐπὶ τοῦ λόγου τῶν αἰσθητῶν· οὗτος γὰρ ἔχει γνῶσιν καλοῦ τε καὶ κακοῦ· τοῖς μὲν γὰρ ἐκ τῆς καλλονῆς τῶν κτισμάτων τὸν δημιουργὸν ἐννοοῦσιν καὶ δι᾽ αὐτῶν 14Α_078 ἀναγομένοις εἰς τὸν αἴτιον τούτων, γνῶσίς ἐστιν καλοῦ, τοῖς δὲ μόνῃ τῇ αἰσθήσει ἐναπομένουσιν καὶ τῇ ἐπιφανείᾳ τῶν αἰσθητῶν φενακιζομένοις ἐπὶ τὴν ὕλην τὴν πᾶσαν ὄρεξιν τῆς ψυχῆς τρέψασιν, γνῶσίς ἐστιν κακοῦ.

Εἰ δέ τις ἀπορῶν ἀνθυπενέγκοι ὅτι "πῶς δύναται ἐπὶ τοῦ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου τοῦτο ληφθῆναι ἵνα ποτὲ μὲν καλόν, ποτὲ δὲ πονηρὸν ἡ περὶ τοῦ ἑνὸς γνῶσις γένηται;", πρὸς ὃν λεκτέον ὅτι ἐπειδὴ εἴρηται τὸν νοητὸν καὶ τὸν αἰσθητὸν κόσμον εἶναι τὰ δύο ξύλα, μετέχει δὲ καὶ τῶν ἑκατέρων ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὡς ἐκ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος ὤν, ἡνίκα οὖν τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς κῦρος ἐπὶ τὴν αἴσθησιν καὶ τὸ σῶμα ῥέψει, ἰδοὺ μετέλαβεν τοῦ ξύλου καὶ ἔγνω τὴν πεῖραν καλοῦ τε καὶ κακοῦ, καλοῦ μὲν κατὰ τὸ ἥδεσθαι φυσικῶς τὸ σῶμα τῇ ἀπολαύσει τῶν αἰσθητῶν, κακοῦσθαι δὲ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀρχομένην ὑπὸ τοῦ χείρονος καὶ τὰς φυσικὰς δυνάμεις ἐξασθενοῦσαν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 45 Τί σημαίνει τὸ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν δειχθὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου ὀψάριον κείμενον

ἐπὶ τὴν ἀνθρακιάν; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ὁ ἰχθὺς δηλοῖ τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν φύσιν νηχομένην ἐν τῇ συγχύσει τῶν παθῶν,

ἣν διὰ τὴν ἄφατον φιλανθρωπίαν ὁ Κύριος κατελθὼν ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ τοῦ βίου ἀνέσπασεν καὶ ὀπτήσας τῷ πυρὶ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος καὶ πάσης γλισχρότητος