17

having wasted away the passions, has made himself food for himself and for the apostles. For the Word always hungers for our salvation, along with those who follow him; whence in imitation of him they also chose to die for our salvation.

14Α_080 QUESTION 46 What does Zacchaeus the tax collector in the Gospel signify, and what are the things concerning him? RESPONSE Zacchaeus the tax collector is the one who taxes God’s creation for his own

enjoyment. But he hears the Word passing by and climbs up a sycamore tree when the word of repentance comes to be in him; for it persuades him to rise above the mindset of the flesh; for this is the sycamore tree; for from there he may easily see the Word and hear him say, “Make haste and come down,” that is, "if you desire to receive me wholly in your house, do not think it is enough only to rise above the carnal mindset, but also make the journey with me through the virtues." The phrase "I restore fourfold" means this: either using each of the four general virtues for the accomplishment of good works, or also stripping himself of the activity, the assent, the preconceptions of memories, and the mere fantasies, namely the activity through self-control, the assent through attentiveness and the guarding of thoughts, the preconceptions through diligent reading, and the fantasies through intense prayer. Or he means the practical, the natural, the theological, and the prayerful; for the prayerful is higher than the theological; for the latter theologizes about the divine from created things, while the former joins the soul to God himself, unknowably and ineffably.

QUESTION 47 What is the meaning of what is written in the song of Moses, "For of the vine of Sodom is their

vine, and their vine-shoot is from Gomorrah," and what is the wine that the Nazirite must not 14Α_082 drink, and what is the vinegar and the strong drink and the grape and the grape-skins?

RESPONSE The vine of Sodom is irrationality; for Sodom is interpreted as 'muteness' or

'blindness,' and Gomorrah 'embitterment;' for from irrationality comes the embitterment of sin and the ecstatic drunkenness of the wine of wickedness. Hence the word exhorts the Nazirite to abstain from such wine; and Nazirite is interpreted as 'one who is hedged in;' for it is necessary for one who is secured by the law of God to abstain from such wine of irrationality, but also from the grape, that is, from anger, and from the raisin of resentfulness—for this is aged anger—but also from vinegar, the grief over missing out on things according to pleasure, and from strong drink, that which delights in vengeance on one's neighbors—for all strong drinks are sweet—nor indeed the grape-skins, the inventive and constituent forms of wickedness. Nor does such a one cut his hair, that is, the various thoughts of the mind that constitute and provide order for it. For this reason Samson—interpreted without the rough breathing as 'likening a likeness,' but with the rough breathing as 'their sun'—when he rested on the thigh of Delilah, that is, cast himself upon the passionate part of pleasure, was stripped of his hair, that is, his thoughts, which gave him strength against the passions, and became a plaything of demons, having been blinded in his two eyes, I mean, of practical and theoretical knowledge.

QUESTION 48 What, according to the Apostle, is "having girded your 14Α_084 loins

with truth" and the other weapons of the spiritual battle array? RESPONSE

17

παθῶν ἐκτήξας, βρῶσιν ἑαυτῷ τε καὶ τοῖς ἀποστόλοις πεποίηται. Πεινᾷ γὰρ ἀεὶ ὁ Λόγος τὴν ἡμῶν σωτηρίαν μετὰ τῶν ἑπομένων αὐτῷ· ὅθεν κατὰ μίμησιν αὐτοῦ καὶ θανεῖν ὑπὲρ τῆς ἡμῶν εἵλαντο σωτηρίας.

14Α_080 ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 46 Τί σημαίνει ὁ ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ Ζακχαῖος ὁ τελώνης καὶ τί τὰ κατ᾽ αὐτόν; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ζακχαῖος ὁ τελώνης ἐστὶν ὁ τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ κτίσιν τελωνῶν εἰς ἰδίαν

ἀπόλαυσιν. Ἀκούει δὲ τοῦ Λόγου παριόντος καὶ ἀνέρχεται ἐπὶ συκομορέαν ὅτ᾽ ἂν ὁ λόγος τῆς μετανοίας ἐν αὐτῷ γένηται· πείθει γὰρ αὐτὸν ἐπάνω τοῦ φρονήματος τῆς σαρκὸς γενέσθαι· τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ συκομορέα· ἐκεῖθεν γὰρ εὐμαρῶς τὸν Λόγον θεάσηται καὶ ἀκούσῃ αὐτοῦ ὅτι "σπεύσας κατάβηθι", τουτέστιν "εἰ ὅλον με δέξασθαι ποθεῖς ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ σου, μὴ μόνον τὸ ἐπάνω τοῦ σαρκικοῦ φρονήματος γενέσθαι ἀρκεῖν οἰηθῇς, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τῶν ἀρετῶν μετ᾽ ἐμοῦ ποίησον τὴν πορείαν". Τὸ δὲ ἀποδίδωμι τετραπλοῦν τοῦτον δηλοῖ ἢ διὰ τῶν τεσσάρων γενικῶν ἀρετῶν ἑκάστῃ κεχρημένος πρὸς κατόρθωσιν τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἔργων ἢ καὶ τὴν ἐνέργειαν καὶ τὴν συγκατάθεσιν καὶ τὰς προλήψεις τῶν μνημῶν καὶ τὰς ψιλὰς φαντασίας ἀποσκευάζων ἑαυτοῦ, τὴν μὲν γὰρ ἐνέργειαν διὰ τῆς ἐγκρατείας, τὴν δὲ συγκατάθεσιν διὰ τῆς προσοχῆς καὶ τῆς τῶν λογισμῶν παραφυλακῆς, τὰς δὲ προλήψεις διὰ τῆς ἐμμελοῦς ἀναγνώσεως, τὰς δὲ φαντασίας διὰ τῆς ἐκτενοῦς προσευχῆς. Ἢ τὴν πρακτικὴν λέγει καὶ φυσικὴν καὶ θεολογικὴν καὶ εὐκτικήν· ἡ γὰρ εὐκτικὴ τῆς θεολογίας ἐστὶν ὑψηλοτέρα· ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἐκ τῶν γεγονότων τὸ θεῖον θεολογεῖ, ἡ δὲ αὐτῷ συνάπτει ἀγνώστως καὶ ἀπορρήτως τὴν ψυχὴν τῷ Θεῷ.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 47 Τί σημαίνει τὸ ἐν τῇ ᾠδῇ Μωσέως γεγραμμένον "ἐκ γὰρ ἀμπέλου Σοδόμων ἡ

ἄμπελος αὐτῶν, καὶ ἡ κληματὶς αὐτῶν ἐκ Γομόρρας" καὶ τίς ὁ οἶνος ὃν οὐ 14Α_082 δεῖ πίνειν τὸν Ναζιραῖον καὶ τί τὸ ὄξος καὶ τὰ σίκερα καὶ σταφυλὴ καὶ στέμφυλα;

ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ἄμπελος Σοδόμων ἐστὶν ἡ ἀλογία· Σόδομα γὰρ ἑρμηνεύεται 'ἐνέωσις' ἤγουν

'τύφλωσις,' Γόμορρα δὲ 'παραπικρασμός·' ἀπὸ γὰρ τῆς ἀλογίας ὁ τῆς ἁμαρτίας παραπικρασμὸς καὶ ἡ ἐκστατικὴ τῆς κακίας μέθη τοῦ οἴνου. Ἔνθεν τὸν Ναζιραῖον ἀπέχεσθαι τοῦ τοιούτου οἴνου ὁ λόγος παρεγγυᾷ· Ναζιραῖος δὲ ἑρμηνεύεται 'περιπεφραγμένος·' τὸν γὰρ τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ κατησφαλισμένον δέον ἀπέχεσθαι τοῦ τοιούτου τῆς ἀλογίας οἴνου, ἀλλὰ καὶ σταφυλῆς, τουτέστιν τοῦ θυμοῦ, καὶ σταφίδος τῆς μνησικακίας αὕτη γάρ ἐστιν θυμοῦ παλαίωσις ἀλλὰ καὶ ὄξους, τῆς ἐπὶ ἀστοχίᾳ τῶν καθ᾽ ἡδονὴν λύπης, καὶ τοῦ σίκερα, τοῦ ἐπὶ τῇ ἀμύνῃ τῶν πέλας ἥδοντος γλυκέα γὰρ πάντα τὰ σίκερα ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ τὰ στέμφυλα, τὰ ἐπινοητικὰ καὶ συστατικὰ εἴδη τῆς κακίας. Ἀλλ᾽ οὐδὲ τὴν τρίχα ὁ τοιοῦτος κείρεται, τουτέστιν τοὺς διαφόρους τοῦ νοῦ συστατικοὺς καὶ κόσμον αὐτῷ παρέχοντας λογισμούς. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο Σαμψών ἑρμηνεύεται δὲ ψιλούμενος 'εἰκάζων εἰκασίαν,' δασυνόμενος δὲ 'ἥλιος αὐτῶν' ἡνίκα ἐπὶ τὸν μηρὸν τῆς ∆αλιδᾶς ἀνεπάη, τουτέστιν ἐπὶ τὸ παθητικὸν τῆς ἡδονῆς μέρος ἔρριψεν, ἀφῃρέθη τὰς τρίχας, τοὺς λογισμοὺς δηλαδή, τουτέστιν ἰσχὺν αὐτοῦ διδόντας κατὰ τῶν παθῶν καὶ γέγονεν παίγνιον δαιμόνων, τυφλωθεὶς τοὺς δύο ὀφθαλμούς, πρακτικῆς φημι καὶ θεωρητικῆς γνώσεως.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 48 Τί ἐστιν κατὰ τὸν Ἀπόστολον "περιζωσάμενοι τὴν 14Α_084 ὀσφὺν ὑμῶν

ἐν ἀληθείᾳ" καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ ὅπλα τῆς πνευματικῆς παρατάξεως; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ