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Irenaeus says that the prophet showed "by deed," in bringing up the iron, that "we will receive back again, through the economy of the wood, the solid Word of God which, having carelessly cast it away, we do not find. And that the Word of God is like an axe, John the Baptist teaches, saying, ‘And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees,’ and Jeremiah also, saying, ‘the Word of the Lord like an axe hewing rock.’"

14Α_094 QUESTION 56 What does the number of the 153 fish in the Gospel signify? RESPONSE Since, beginning from one and adding consecutively up to seventeen, you fill up

this number, it signifies that those who are saved enter into the kingdom of heaven both through the fulfillment of the ten commandments and of the seven energies of the Holy Spirit, or also those who through faith in the Holy Trinity and hope in things to come—for the number fifty is superlative of the weekly time and of the energy through the commandments, which is signified by the number one hundred—are saved and deemed worthy of the kingdom.

QUESTION 57 Who are the men and the women and the serpents for whom the Lord, according to

Gregory of Nyssa, spent the three days in Hades? RESPONSE There are three powers of the soul: rational, irascible, appetitive. Now the

men are taken for the rational, the women for the appetitive, and the serpents for the irascible. Therefore, these three powers are restored to full knowledge in the age to come; and for their sake the Lord also accepted the life-giving passion and the descent into Hades.

QUESTION 58 From the Proverbs, the [saying], "a discerning man and sharp" 14Α_096 to understand

"ought to stand before kings," how should we understand [it]? RESPONSE The one who is sharp concerning the practical and theoretical concerning the gnostic to the three

laws the saying intends [him] to stand by—the natural, the written, and that of grace—so that, being guided by them, he may properly achieve practical, natural, and theological philosophy.

QUESTION 59 From the same [book]: "The just man will fall seven times and rise again." RESPONSE The just one here, the only truly just one, our Lord Jesus

Christ we must understand. Since, therefore, He is said to fall and to rise in us, as one who accepted all our [affairs] through love for mankind, and our nature fell seven times: first, in the transgression of the forefather; second, in the bloody murder dared by Cain, who first introduced murder into nature; third, in the generation of Noah, in which the Spirit of God did not remain because they were flesh; fourth, at the building of the tower; fifth, in the generation of Abraham, from which he alone was pleasing to God; sixth, in the time of Moses, when the godlessness of his generation had run aground to such an extent that he was sent from God to remedy so great an impiety; seventh, in the generation of the prophets, which surpassed all the preceding generations in the measure of evil; since, therefore, as has been said, seven times has fallen our 14Α_098 nature,

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Εἰρηναῖος λέγει «δι᾽ ἔργου» δεῖξαι τὸν προφήτην ἐν τῷ ἀναγαγεῖν τὸ σιδήριον ὅτι «τὸν στερεὸν Λόγον τοῦ Θεοῦ ὃν ἀμελῶς ἀποβαλόντες οὐχ εὑρίσκομεν, ἀποληψόμεθα πάλιν διὰ τῆς τοῦ ξύλου οἰκονομίας. Ὅτι δὲ ἀξίνῃ ἔοικεν ὁ Λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ διδάσκει Ἰωάννης ὁ Βαπτιστὴς λέγων "ἤδη δὲ καὶ ἡ ἀξίνη πρὸς τὴν ῥίζαν τῶν δένδρων κεῖται" καὶ Ἰερεμίας δὲ λέγων "ὁ Λόγος Κυρίου ὡς πέλεκυς κόπτων πέτραν"».

14Α_094 ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 56 Τί σημαίνει ὁ ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ τῶν ρνγ (153) ἰχθύων ἀριθμός; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ἐπειδήπερ ἀπὸ μιᾶς ἀρχόμενος κατὰ σύνθεσιν μέχρις τῶν δέκα ἑπτὰ πληροῖς

τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦτον, σημαίνει ὅτιπερ διά τε τῆς ἐκπληρώσεως τῶν δέκα ἐντολῶν καὶ τῶν ἑπτὰ ἐνεργειῶν τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος εἰσέρχονται οἱ σῳζόμενοι εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν, ἢ καὶ τοὺς διὰ πίστεως τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος καὶ τῆς τῶν μελλόντων ἐλπίδος ὑπερθετικὸς γὰρ τοῦ ἑβδοματικοῦ χρόνου ὁ πεντηκοστὸς ἀριθμός ἐστιν καὶ τῆς διὰ τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐνεργείας, ὅπερ σημαίνεται διὰ τοῦ ἑκατοστοῦ ἀριθμοῦ, σῳζομένους καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν ἀξιουμένους.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 57 Τίνες εἰσὶν οἱ ἄνδρες καὶ αἱ γυναῖκες καὶ οἱ ὄφεις ὑπὲρ ὧν ὁ Κύριος κατὰ

Γρηγόριον τὸν Νύσης τὰς γ (3) ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ ἡμέρας πεποίηκεν; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Τρεῖς εἰσὶν τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεις, λογικόν, θυμικόν, ἐπιθυμητικόν· οἱ μὲν οὖν

ἄνδρες λαμβάνονται εἰς τὸ λογικόν, αἱ δὲ γυναῖκες εἰς τὸ ἐπιθυμητικόν, οἱ δὲ ὄφεις εἰς τὸ θυμικόν. Ἀποκαθίστανται οὖν ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι αἱ τρεῖς αὗται δυνάμεις τῇ ἐπιγνώσει· ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν δὲ καὶ ὁ Κύριος τὸ ζωοποιὸν κατεδέξατο πάθος καὶ τὴν εἰς ᾅδου κάθοδον.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 58 Ἐκ τῶν Παροιμιῶν, τὸ «διορατικὸν ἄνδρα καὶ ὀξὺν» 14Α_096 τοῦ νοῆσαι

«βασιλεῦσιν δεῖ παρεστάναι», πῶς νοήσωμεν; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Τὸν ὀξὺν περὶ τὸ πρακτικὸν καὶ θεωρητικὸν περὶ τὸ γνωστικὸν τοῖς τρισὶν

νόμοις παρεστάναι ὁ λόγος βούλεται, τῷ φυσικῷ καὶ τῷ γραπτῷ καὶ τῷ τῆς χάριτος, ἵνα ἐξ αὐτῶν ὁδηγούμενος κατορθώσῃ δεόντως πρακτικὴν καὶ φυσικὴν καὶ θεολογικὴν φιλοσοφίαν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 59 Ἐκ τῶν αὐτῶν· «ἑπτάκις πεσεῖται ὁ δίκαιος καὶ ἀναστήσεται». ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ ∆ίκαιον ἐνταῦθα τὸν μόνον ἀληθῶς δίκαιον τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν

Χριστὸν ὑπολαμβάνειν χρεών. Ἐπεὶ οὖν αὐτὸς ἐν ἡμῖν λέγεται καὶ πίπτειν καὶ ἀνίστασθαι ὡς τὰ ἡμέτερα πάντα διὰ φιλανθρωπίαν καταδεξάμενος, ἔπεσεν δὲ ἡ φύσις ἡμῶν ἑπτάκις κατά τε τὴν τοῦ προπάτορος παράβασιν πρώτην γενομένην, δευτέραν δὲ τὴν τολμηθεῖσαν τοῦ Κάϊν μιαιφονίαν, πρῶτον τῇ φύσει καινοτομήσαντος φόνον, τρίτην ἐπὶ τῆς κατὰ τὸν Νῶε γενεᾶς, ἐφ᾽ ἧς οὐ κατέμεινεν τὸ Πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ διὰ τὸ εἶναι σάρκας, τετάρτην ἐπὶ τῆς πυργοποιΐας, πέμπτην ἐπὶ τῆς κατὰ τὸν Ἀβραὰμ γενεᾶς, ἐξ ἧς μόνος αὐτὸς τῷ Θεῷ εὐηρέστησεν, ἕκτην ἐπὶ τοῦ Μωυσέως, εἰς τοσοῦτον τῆς ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῦ γενεᾶς ἀθεΐας ἐξοκειλάσης ὡς αὐτὸν εἰς ἐπικουρίαν τῆς τοσαύτης ἀσεβείας ἀπὸ Θεοῦ πεμφθῆναι, ἑβδόμην ἐπὶ τῆς τῶν προφητῶν γενεᾶς, ἥτις τὰς προλαβούσας γενεὰς εἰς κακίας μέτρον πάσας ὑπερηκόντισεν ἐπεὶ οὖν, ὡς εἴρηται, ἑπτάκις ἔπεσεν ἡ 14Α_098 φύσις ἡμῶν,