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of the Spirit who says: “I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy.” 1.171 The flesh so called, being rational, is receptive of divine reverence; at any rate, it is commanded “to be reverent before the face” of the one who appears to it, concerning whom the pure in heart send up a prayer, saying: “Make your face to shine, and we shall be saved.” And he gives next the reason why all flesh must be reverent before the face of the Lord God, adding: “Because he has been roused from his holy clouds.” 1.172 But holy clouds are not those that rain the perceptible shower, but those that bring the spiritual rain, according to what was said in Isaiah concerning Israel, called a vineyard by way of allegory, from the person of the Lord: “I will command the clouds not to rain rain upon it,” because it has brought forth thorns and not grapes as fruit. 1.173 For with the vineyard being allegorized, the clouds too would be taken harmoniously, sometimes raining to water it, and other times being prevented from doing this. Concerning such rain-bearing ones, again in the same prophet it is commanded by God: “Let the clouds rain righteousness.” For righteousness, being a virtue of the rational soul, the perceptible clouds do not rain, but the divine prophets, who are called clouds in an anagogical sense. 1.174 Since, therefore, from these clouds has been roused the Savior who came to fulfill the law and the prophets, for this reason “let all flesh be reverent before the face of the Lord” God, which he manifested and showed when the prophecy was fulfilled that runs thus: “The God of gods shall be seen in Zion,” and he shone forth so that “we beheld his glory, as of the only-begotten from the Father”. 1.175 Having been roused from the holy clouds, which were interpreted to be Moses the great hierophant and the prophets possessed by the Holy Spirit, he came to visit, having mounted upon a light cloud, the world in which we are, called Egypt in an anagogical sense. And the prophecy concerning these things runs thus, beginning from here: “Behold, the Lord sits upon a light cloud and will come into Egypt, and its handmade things will be shaken.” 1.176 But with Egypt being transferred to the region around the earth, the light cloud also will be referred harmoniously to the incarnation of the Savior, the God Logos having sat upon the one who came forth from Mary. 1.177 For what cloud is so light, having no weight of sin, as the flesh of Jesus, not constituted from the union of man with woman, which is most heavy, but from the Holy Spirit coming upon the virgin who had no experience of a man and whom the power of the most High overshadowed, so that that which was born without marriage was called holy. And even more is manifested the lightness and buoyancy of the Lord's cloud from the fact that the soul of Jesus did not commit sin nor know it. 1.178 For nothing else drags down and weighs upon the soul of men like lawlessness, compared to a talent of lead, because it presses downward and drags down those who practice it; but the soul of Jesus was not tried by this weight, “having loved righteousness and hated lawlessness”; and he did not have “guile in his mouth,” which of all sins drags down the soul of him who has it. 1.179 It was necessary, therefore, for the roused Savior from his holy clouds, having fulfilled the prophecies concerning himself, to be royally established upon the assigned light cloud, raining the evangelical rain so that the inhabited world might bring forth salvific fruits and to give cover from that scorching heat from which the intelligent man is saved, according to the proverbial oracle which runs thus: “A discerning son is saved from the heat.” And it gives cover also from the cold of sin, about which it is written: “As a cistern cools water, so does her wickedness cool.” 1.180 To this you will take allegorically: “A cold north wind will blow.” 1.181 The things thus said

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Πνεύματος ὑπὸ τοῦ λέγοντος· «Ἐκχεῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ Πνεύματός μου ἐπὶ πᾶσαν σάρκα, καὶ προφητεύσουσιν οἱ υἱοὶ καὶ αἱ θυγατέρες ὑμῶν.» 1.171 Ἡ οὕτω λεγομένη σὰρξ λογικὴ οὖσα εὐλαβείας θείας ἐστὶ δεκτική· προστάττεται γοῦν αὐτῇ «εὐλαβεῖσθαι ἀπὸ προσώπου» τοῦ ἐπιφαινομένου αὐτῇ, περὶ οὗ εὐχὴν ἀναπέμπουσιν οἱ καθαροὶ τῇ καρδίᾳ φάσκοντες· «Ἐπίφανον τὸ πρόσωπόν σου καὶ σωθησόμεθα.» Ἀποδίδωσιν δ' ἑξῆς τὴν αἰτίαν τοῦ δεῖν πᾶσαν σάρκα εὐλαβεῖσθαι ἀπὸ προσώπου Κυρίου τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐπιφέρων· «∆ιότι ἐξεγήγερται ἐκ τῶν ἁγίων αὐτοῦ νεφῶν.» 1.172 Ἅγια δὲ νέφη οὐ τὰ ὕοντα τὸν αἰσθητὸν ὄμβρον εἰσίν, ἀλλὰ τὰ φέροντα τὸν πνευματικὸν ὑετόν, κατὰ τὸ ἐν Ἠσαΐᾳ λεχθὲν περὶ τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, ἀλληγορίας τρόπῳ ἀμπελῶνος καλουμένου, ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Κυρίου· «Ταῖς νεφέλαις ἐντελοῦμαι τοῦ μὴ βρέξαι εἰς αὐτὸν ὑετόν», διὰ τὸ ἀκάνθας καὶ μὴ σταφυλὴν καρπὸν ἠγιοχέναι. 1.173 Τοῦ γὰρ ἀμπελῶνος ἀλληγορουμένου, ἁρμονίως καὶ αἱ νεφέλαι ἐκλημφθεῖεν, ὁτὲ μὲν ὕουσαι ἐπὶ τῷ ποτίσαι, ὁτὲ δὲ κωλυόμεναι τοῦτ' ἐνεργεῖν. Περὶ τοιούτων ὀμβροτόκων πάλιν ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ προφήτῃ προστάττεται ὑπὸ Θεοῦ· «Αἱ νεφέλαι ῥαινέτωσαν δικαιοσύνην.» Τὴν γὰρ δικαιοσύνην ἀρετὴν οὖσαν ψυχῆς λογικῆς, οὐ τὰ αἰσθητὰ νέφη ὕει, ἀλλ' οἱ θεῖοι προφῆται, νέφη κατὰ ἀναγωγὴν προσαγορευόμενοι. 1.174 Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν ἐκ τούτων τῶν νεφῶν ἐξεγήγερται ὁ ἐληλυθὼς Σωτὴρ πληρῶσαι τὸν νόμον καὶ τοὺς προφήτας, τούτου χάριν «εὐλαβείσθω πᾶσα σὰρξ ἀπὸ προσώπου Κυρίου» τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὃ ἐπέφηνεν καὶ ἔδειξεν ὅτε ἐπληρώθη ἡ προφητεία ἡ οὕτως ἔχουσα· «Ὀφθήσεται ὁ Θεὸς τῶν θεῶν ἐν Σιών», καὶ ἐπέλαμψεν ὡς «θεάσασθαι ἡμᾶς τὴν δόξαν αὐτοῦ, ὡς μονογενοῦς παρὰ Πατρός». 1.175 Ἐξεγηγερμένος ἐκ τῶν ἁγίων νεφῶν ἃ ἡρμηνεύθησαν εἶναι Μωϋσῆς ὁ μέγας ἱεροφάντης καὶ οἱ κάτοχοι τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος προφῆται, ἐπεδήμησεν ἐπὶ κούφης νεφέλης ἐπιβὰς τῷ καθ' ἡμᾶς κόσμῳ, Αἰγύπτῳ κατ' ἀναγωγὴν καλουμένῳ. Ἔχει δὲ οὕτω ἡ περὶ τούτων προφητεία ἔνθεν ἀρχομένη· «Ἰδοὺ Κύριος κάθηται ἐπὶ κούφης νεφέλης καὶ ἥξει εἰς Αἴγυπτον καὶ συσσεισθήσεται τὰ χειροποιητὰ αὐτῆς.» 1.176 Μεταλημφθείσης δὲ τῆς Αἰγύπτου εἰς τὸν περὶ γῆν τόπον, ἁρμονίως καὶ ἡ κούφη νεφέλη ἀναχθήσεται εἰς τὴν ἐνανθρώπησιν τοῦ Σωτῆρος, καθίσαντος τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου ἐπὶ τὸν ἐκ τῆς Μαρίας προεληλυθότα. 1.177 Τίς γὰρ οὕτω κούφη νεφέλη μὴ ἔχουσα βάρος ἁμαρτίας ἢ ἡ σὰρξ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἡ μὴ συνιστᾶσα ἐκ τῆς ἀνδρὸς πρὸς γυναῖκα συνόδου βαρυτάτης οὔσης, ἀλλ' ἐκ Πνεύματος ἁγίου ἐπελθόντος τῇ παρθένῳ τῇ πεῖραν ἀνδρὸς οὐκ ἐχούσῃ καὶ ᾗ ἡ τοῦ ὑψίστου δύναμις ἐπεσκίασεν, ὡς ἅγιον χρηματίσαι τὸ γεννηθὲν ἄνευ γάμου. Ἔτι δὲ μᾶλλον φανεροῦται τῆς κυριακῆς νεφέλης τὸ κοῦφον καὶ ἐλαφρὸν ἐκ τοῦ ἁμαρτίαν μὴ πεποιηκέναι μηδὲ ἐγνωκέναι αὐτὴν τὴν Ἰησοῦ ψυχήν. 1.178 Οὐδὲν γὰρ ἕτερον καθέλκει καὶ βαρεῖ τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ψυχὴν ὡς ἡ ἀνομία, ταλάντῳ μολίβου παραβαλλομένη, διὰ τὸ κάτω βρίθειν καὶ καθέλκειν τοὺς ἐνεργοῦντας αὐτήν· ἀλλ' ἡ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ οὐκ ἐπειράθη τοῦ βάρους τούτου, «δικαιοσύνην ἀγαπήσασα καὶ μισήσασα ἀνομίαν»· οὐκ ἔσχεν δὲ «οὐδὲ δόλον ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτοῦ» τὸν πάντων ἁμαρτημάτων κατασπῶντα τὴν ψυχὴν τοῦ αὐτὸν ἔχοντος. 1.179 Ἔδει οὖν τὸν ἐξεγηγερμένον Σωτῆρα ἐκ τῶν ἁγίων αὐτοῦ νεφῶν, πληρώσαντα τὰς περὶ αὐτοῦ προαναφωνήσεις, ἱδρυθῆναι βασιλικῶς ἐπὶ τῆς ἀποδοθείσης κούφης νεφέλης, ὑούσης τὸν εὐαγγελικὸν ὑετὸν ἐπὶ τῷ καρποὺς σωτηρίους ἀγαγεῖν τὴν οἰκουμένην καὶ σκεπάζειν ἀπὸ τοῦ καύματος ἐκείνου ἀφ' οὗ διασῴζεται ὁ νοήμων, κατὰ τὸ παροιμιῶδες θέσπισμα ὧδε ἔχον· «∆ιεσώθη ἀπὸ καύματος υἱὸς νοήμων.» Σκεπάζει δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ κρύους τῆς ἁμαρτίας περὶ οὗ γέγραπται· «Ὡς ψύχει λάκκος ὕδωρ, οὕτω ψύχει κακία αὐτῆς.» 1.180 Εἰς τοῦτο ἀλληγορικῶς λήμψει· «Βορέας ψυχρὸς ἄνεμος πνεύσει.» 1.181 Τὰ οὕτω λεχθέντα