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18

of which he sowed kindred goods among the things that are, until the complete end of all the ages, at which time he will gather the fruits of his own sowing, unmixed with tares and pure of all chaffy refuse and rubbish, and the entire principle of the movement of things that are moved will be brought to an end, when the worthy have received the promised ultimate blessedness of deification. The Lord, therefore, is called the "Sun of Righteousness," as maker and consummator of the ages, and as beginning and end of all things, and creator of the five-fold wise good order according to the providence for the things provided for, and as filling all things with eternal light by the unfailing visitations of his goodness, and making those who widen their own intelligible channels for the reception of his blessed ray to be mature and edible for God 14Ε_078 and the Father. And he himself is also the acceptable year of the Lord, as being fulfilled through all the saved according to the five-fold motion which takes place intelligibly through him, as the Sun of Righteousness, which he who gathers the spiritual knowledge of intelligible things through the accurate natural contemplation of phenomena according to reason will surely understand. From there he is said by the teacher to be "springing forth," "or circumscribed by what is seen," or as light from light, and true God from true God, springing forth from the Father by generation according to essence, or as the same man, circumscribed by the visible form of nature according to us, just as the sun, springing forth from heaven, is circumscribed by its visible, disk-shaped body.

120. ..». IT IS NO WONDER IF THE LAMB IS SOUGHT FOR IN EACH HOUSE ESPECIALLY

THE LAMB» From the same discourse, on the text: «It is no wonder if in each house especially

the lamb is sought for». Someone might say, and reasonably so, I think, perhaps, If Christ is one, who is mystically 1360 proclaimed through the law and the prophets and the majesty in creation to those who are able to hear and see spiritually, how does the law, fulfilling the type of Christ, command many lambs to be sacrificed in the houses of the patriarchs? To whom we say that if we should receive the word itself, touching intelligibly the ears and eyes of the soul, and opening them to the reception and contemplation of his mysteries, but also to the punishment of all disobedience and the turning away from all vanity, we would surely know the mystical will of Holy Scripture, connecting to the present text a similar one from the holy Apostle, who says, I decided to know nothing among you except 14Ε_080 Jesus Christ, and him crucified. Just as, therefore, each of those who have believed in Christ according to his own power and his underlying habit and quality of virtue is crucified and crucifies Christ with himself, that is, being spiritually crucified with Christ. For one in one way of virtue, and another in another, makes the crucifixion suitable for himself; one is crucified only to sin in act, and puts it to death, nailed by the fear of God; another is crucified even to the passions themselves and appeases the powers of the soul; another even to the fantasies of the passions, not allowing the senses to be unrestrained for the reception of any distractions related to these; another even to the thoughts and reflections concerning the passions; another even to the deception according to sensation; another, being crucified, also puts aside the relation of the senses to sensible things through natural affinity; another even extinguishes universally all sensory motion by the cross, so as to have absolutely nothing at all naturally active within himself; while another ceases completely even from the activity of the mind itself,

18

ὧν τοῖς οὖσιν οἰκείων κατέσπειρεν ἀγαθῶν μέχρι τῆς πάντων ἀποπερατώσεως τῶν αἰώνων, καθ᾿ ἥν συλλέξει τῆς οἰκείας σπορᾶς τούς καρπούς ζιζανίων ἀμιγεῖς καί πάσης ἀχυρώδους ἄχνης καί συμφορήσεως καθαρούς, καί ὁ σύμπας τῆς τῶν κινουμένων κινήσεως περαιωθήσεται λόγος, λαβόντων τῶν ἀξίων τήν ἐπηγγελμένην τῆς θεώσεως ἐσχάτην μακαριότητα. " Ἥλιος" οὖν "δικαιοσύνης" ὁ Κύριος προσηγόρευται, ὡς ποιητής καί συντελεστής τῶν αἰώνων, καί ὡς ἀρχή πάντων καί τέλος, καί τῆς πενταπλῆς κατά τήν πρόνοιαν τῶν προνοουμένων σοφῆς εὐταξίας δημιουργός, καί ὡς πληρῶν τά πάντα φωτός ἀϊδίου ταῖς ἀνεκλείπτοις ἐπιβολαῖς τῆς ἀγαθότητος, καί τούς εὑρύνοντας πρός ὑποδοχήν τῆς αὐτοῦ μακαρίας ἀκτῖνος τούς ἑαυτῶν νοητούς πόρους πεπείρους καί ἐδωδίμους τῷ Θεῷ 14Ε_078 καί Πατρί ποιούμενος. Ὁ αὐτός δέ καί ἐνιαυτός ἐστι Κυρίου δεκτός, ὡς διά πάντων τῶν σωζομένων πληρούμενος κατά τήν ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ νοητῶς γινομένην πεντάτροπον κίνησιν, ὡς Ἡλίου δικαιοσύνης, ἥντινα νοήσει πάντως ὁ διά τῆς τῶν φαινομένων ἀκριβοῦς κατά λόγον φυσικῆς θεωρίας τήν τῶν νοουμένων πνευματικήν ἐπιστήμην συλλεγόμενος. Ἐκεῖθεν δέ "ὁρμώμενος" εἴρηται τῷ διδασκάλῳ, " ἤ τῷ ὁρωμένῳ περιγραπτός», ἤ ὡς φῶς ἐκ φωτός, καί Θεός ἀληθινός ἐκ Θεοῦ κατ᾿ οὐσίαν ἀληθινοῦ τοῦ Πατρός γεννητῶς ὁρμώμενος, ἤ ὡς ἄνθρωπος ὁ αὐτός τῷ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ὁρωμένῳ τῆς φύσεως εἴδει περιγραπτός, καθάπερ ἥλιος ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ὁρμώμενος τῷ φαινομένῳ δισκοειδεῖ σώματι περιγέγραπται.

ΡΚ (120). ..». ΘΑΥΜΑΣΤΟΝ ΟΥ∆ΕΝ ΕΙ ΜΑΛΙΣΤΑ ΚΑΤ' ΟΙΚΟΝ ΕΚΑΣΤΟΝ ΕΠΙΖΗΤΕΙΤΑΙ

ΤΟ ΠΡΟΒΑΤΟΝ» Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου εἰς τό· «Θαυμαστόν οὐδέν εἰ μάλιστα κατ᾿ οἶκον ἕκαστον

ἐπιζητεῖται τό πρόβατον». Εἴποι δ᾿ ἄν τις, καί εὐλόγως, ὡς οἶμαι, τυχόν, Εἴπερ εἷς ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός ὁ διά

νόμου καί προφητῶν καί τῆς κατά τήν κτίσιν μεγαλειότητος μυστικῶς 1360 τοῖς ἀκούειν πνευματικῶς καί ὁρᾷν δυναμένοις κηρυττόμενος, πῶς τόν τύπον ὁ νόμος ἐπιτελῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ πολλά πρόβατα κελεύει θύεσθαι κατ᾿ οἴκους πατριῶν; Πρός ὅν φαμεν, ὡς εἴπερ αὐτόν δεξοίμεθα τόν λόγον, νοητῶς τῶν ὤτων τῆς ψυχῆς καί τῶν ὀμμάτων ἁπτόμενον, καί διανοίγοντα ταῦτα πρός ὑποδοχήν μέν καί θεωρίαν τῶν αὐτοῦ μυστηρίων, ἐκδίκησιν δέ πάσης παρακοῆς καί ἀποστροφήν πάσης ματαιότητος, γνοίημεν πάντως τό μυστικόν βούλημα τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς, τῷ προκειμένῳ συνάψαντες ὅμοιον ἐκ τοῦ ἁγίου Ἀποστόλου φάσκοντος, τό· Οὐδέν ἔκρινα εἰδέναι ἐν ὑμῖν, εἰ μή 14Ε_080 Χριστόν Ἰησοῦν, καί τοῦτον ἐσταυρωμένον. Ὥσπερ οὖν ἕκαστος τῶν πεπιστευκότων τῷ Χριστῷ κατά τήν οἰκείαν δύναμιν καί τήν ὑποκειμένην αὐτῷ τῆς ἀρετῆς ἕξιν τε καί ποιότητα σταυροῦταί τε καί συσταυροῖ ἑαυτῷ τόν Χριστόν, Χριστῷ δηλονότι πνευματικῶς συσταυρούμενος. Ἄλλος γάρ κατ᾿ ἄλλον ἀρετῆς τρόπον ἑαυτῷ κατάληλον ποιεῖται τήν σταύρωσιν· ὁ μέν μόνῃ σταυρούμενος τῇ κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν ἁμαρτίᾳ, καί ταύτην νεκρῶν τῷ φόβῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ προσηλωμένην· ὁ δέ καί αὐτοῖς τοῖς πάθεσι σταυρούμενος καί τάς δυνάμεις τῆς ψυχῆς ἐξιώμενος· ὁ δέ καί αὐταῖς τῶν παθῶν ταῖς φαντασίαις, οὐκ ἐῶν τάς αἰσθήσεις ἀφέτους, πρός ὑποδοχήν τινος τῶν κατά ταῦτα μετεωρισμῶν· ὁ δέ καί τοῖς περί τά πάθη λογισμοῖς καί ἐνθυμήμασιν· ὁ δέ καί τῇ κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ἀπάτῃ· ἄλλος δέ καί τήν πρός τά αἰσθητά τῶν αἰσθήσεων διά τῆς φυσικῆς οἰκειότητος σταυρούμενος ἀποτίθεται σχέσιν· ἄλλος δέ καί πᾶσαν καθολικῶς αἰσθητικήν τῷ σταυρῷ κατασβέννυσι κίνησιν, πρός τό μηδέν ἔχειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ τό παράπαν φυσικῶς ἐνεργούμενον· ἄλλος δέ καί αὐτῆς τῆς κατά νοῦν ἀποπαύεται παντελῶς ἐνεργείας,