23

to suggest a teacher, through whom each one, according to the power that is in him, eats the intelligible Passover.

RKE (125). ..». IF YOU ARE RACHEL OR LEAH, ... STEAL THE IDOLS WHICH YOU FIND OF YOUR

FATHER..». From the same discourse, on the text: "If you are Rachel or Leah, a patriarchal and

great soul, steal the idols which you find of your father, not that you may keep them, but that you may 14Ε_098 destroy them; but if you are a wise Israelite, carry them over to the land of promise."

Rachel, as they say, is interpreted as 'ewe lamb' or 'shepherding', while Leah is interpreted as

'toiling' or 'toil'. Rachel, therefore, is shepherded and shepherds, and is led and leads, according to the meaning of her name. Rachel, therefore, is every contemplative soul, which is shepherded and led like a ewe lamb by the law of God, and according to the law of God shepherds and leads its own movements and thoughts by the ordinances of practice, for the time being subjecting the passions of the flesh to the fruitfulness of virtue, and thus, after the entrance into knowledge, completely destroying them. But Leah is every practical soul, which has toil for the sake of virtue, whom everyone pursuing the divine 1372 philosophy especially takes into his house first in marriage. But a wise Israelite is a contemplative mind, transferring the concepts of this age to the country of knowledge, according to that great Jacob, who moved all of Laban's things to the land of the Fathers. For just as that wonderful Jacob, in the story, having peeled the rods and placed them in the water troughs, made the drinking sheep conceive before them, so also every most wise mind in the Spirit, having stripped the more divine principles of beings from the surrounding matter, and having placed them under the modes of knowledge according to contemplation, teaches the state of incorporeal things to be formed, both to all learners and to the movements of its own soul. The patriarch, therefore, of those who achieve virtue through practical toil is Leah, and of those who pursue virtue rationally through natural contemplation is Rachel, as being obediently led by the law of 14Ε_100 God and gently leading according to it. And of those pursuing the height of knowledge according to spiritual contemplation, the all-praised Jacob, of those who contemplate and know phenomena not as they appear at all, but as they are understood, and with the concepts in these are richly transferred to immaterial and incorporeal knowledge.

RKS (126). ..». IF YOU ARE SIMON OF CYRENE, TAKE UP THE CROSS AND

FOLLOW» From the same discourse, on the text: "If you are Simon of Cyrene, take up the cross and

follow." Simon is 'obedience', and Cyrenian is 'readiness', as they say, is interpreted. Everyone therefore

ready for obedience to the Gospel, and eagerly through the mortification of the members upon the earth undergoing affliction for the sake of virtue according to practical philosophy, has become a Simon of Cyrene, pursuing voluntary virtue, and having the cross upon his shoulders and following Christ, showing that the conduct of the life according to God is completely removed from the earth.

23

διδάσκαλον παραινίττεσθαι, δι᾿ ὧν ἀναλόγως ἕκαστος κατά τήν ὑποῦσαν αὐτῷ δύναμιν τό νοητόν ἐσθίει Πάσχα.

ΡΚΕ (125). ..». ΕΙ ΤΙΣ ΕΙ ΡΑΧΗΛ Ή ΛΕΙΑ, ... ΤΑ ΕΙ∆ΩΛΑ ΚΛΕΨΟΝ ΑΠΕΡ ΑΝ ΕΥΡΗΣ ΤΟΥ

ΣΟΥ ΠΑΤΡΟΣ..». Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου, εἰς τό· «Εἰ μέν τις εἶ ῾Ραχήλ ἤ Λεία, ψυχή πατριαρχική

καί μεγάλη, καί τά εἴδωλα κλέψον ἅπερ ἄν εὕρῃς τοῦ σοῦ πατρός, οὐχ ἵνα φυλάξῃς, ἀλλ᾿ ἵνα 14Ε_098 ἀφανίσῃς· εἰ δέ Ἰσραηλίτης σοφός, πρός τήν γῆν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας μετένεγκαι».

῾Ραχήλ μέν, ὥς φασιν, ἀμνάς ἤ ποιμαίνουσα ἑρμηνεύεται, ἡ δέ Λεία,

κοπουμένη ἤ κόπωσις ἑρμηνεύεται. Ποιμαίνεται οὖν καί ποιμαίνει καί ἄγεται καί ἄγει ἡ ῾Ραχήλ, κατά τήν τῆς προσηγορίας δύναμιν. ῾Ραχήλ οὖν ἐστι πᾶσα ψυχή θεωρητική, ἡ τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ θεοῦ ὡς ἀμνάς ποιμαινομένη τε καί ἀγομένη, καί κατά τόν νόμον τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῖς κατά πρᾶξιν θεσμοῖς ποιμαίνουσά τε καί ἄγουσα αὐτῆς τά κινήματα καί τά διανοήματα, καί τά πάθη τῆς σαρκός τῷ γονίμῳ τῆς ἀρετῆς ὑποτάσσουσα τέως, καί οὕτως μετά τήν εἰς γνῶσιν εἴσοδον παντελῶς ἀφανίζουσα. Λεία δέ ἐστι πᾶσα ψυχή πρακτική, τήν ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς ἔχουσα κόπωσιν, ἥν μάλιστα πρώτην πᾶς τις τήν θείαν μετιών 1372 φιλοσοφίαν γαμικῶς εἰσοικίζεται. Ἰσραηλίτης δέ σοφός ἐστι νοῦς θεωρητικός τά τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου νοήματα πρός τήν χώραν τῆς γνώσεως μεταβιβάζων κατά τόν μέγαν ἐκεῖνον Ἰακώβ, τόν πάντα τά τοῦ Λάβαν πρός τήν γῆν τῶν Πατέρων μετακομίσαντα. Καθάπερ γάρ ἐκεῖνος ὁ θαυμαστός Ἰακώβ ἱστορικῶς τάς ῥάβδους λεπίσας καί ὑποθείς ταῖς ληνοῖς τῶν ὑδάτων πρός αὐτάς ἐγκισσᾷν ἐποίει τά πίνοντα πρόβατα, οὕτω καί πᾶς ἐν Πνεύματι σοφώτατος νοῦς τῆς περικειμένης ὕλης τούς τῶν ὄντων θειοτέρους λόγους ἀπογυμνώσας, καί τοῖς κατά τήν θεωρίαν τρόποις τῆς γνώσεως ὑποθέμενος, τήν τῶν ἀσωμάτων κατάστασιν μορφοῦσθαι, τούς τε μανθάνοντας πάντας καί τά τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ψυχῆς ἐκδιδάσκει κινήματα. Πατριάρχης οὖν τῶν μέν διά πρακτικῆς κοπώσεως τήν ἀρετήν κατορθούντων ἐστίν ἡ Λεία, τῶν δέ διά τῆς φυσικῆς θεωρίας τήν ἀρετήν λογικῶς μετιόντων ἐστίν ἡ ῾Ραχήλ, ὡς εὐπειθῶς ἀγομένη τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ 14Ε_100 Θεοῦ καί πράως κατ᾿ αὐτόν ἄγουσα. Τῶν δέ κατά θεωρίαν πνευματικήν τό ὕψος μεταδιωκόντων τῆς γνώσεως, Ἰακώβ ὁ πανεύφημος, τῶν μή τά φαινόμενα καθώς φαίνονται παντελῶς, ἀλλά καθώς νοοῦνται, θεωμένων τε καί γινωσκόντων, καί μετά τῶν ἐν τούτοις νοημάτων πλουσίως πρός τήν ἄύλον καί ἀσώματον μεταβιβαζομένων γνῶσιν.

ΡΚS (126). ..». ΑΝ ΣΙΜΩΝ ΗΣ ΚΥΡΗΝΑΙΟΣ, ΤΟΝ ΣΤΑΥΡΟΝ ΑΡΟΝ ΚΑΙ

ΑΚΟΛΟΥΘΗΣΟΝ» Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου, εἰς τό· «Ἄν Σίμων ᾖς Κυρηναῖος, τόν σταυρόν ἆρον καί

ἀκολούθησον». Σίμων μέν ὑπακοή, Κυρηναῖος δέ ἑτοιμότης, ὥς φασιν, ἑρμηνεύεται. Πᾶς οὖν

ἕτοιμος πρός ὑπακοήν τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου, καί προθύμως διά νεκρώσεως τῶν ἐπί γῆς μελῶν τήν ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς κατά τήν πρακτικήν φιλοσοφίαν ὑπερχόμενος κάκωσιν, Σίμων γέγονε Κυρηναῖος, ἑκούσιον μετερχόμενος ἀρετήν, ἐπ᾿ ὤμων τε τόν σταυρόν ἔχων καί ἀκολουθῶν τῷ Χριστῷ ἀνεσταλμένην παντελῶς τῆς γῆς τοῦ κατά Θεόν βίου τήν ἀγωγήν ἐπιδεικνύμενος.