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What is the Lord’s answer when he says, “tell that fox,” speaking about Herod, “today and tomorrow I perform cures, and on the third day I am perfected”?

ANSWER Herod is interpreted as 'of skin'; therefore it is necessary for the carnal thoughts that wish to draw the mind away from practical virtue to be loathed, and to say to them that today and tomorrow I perform cures, and on the third day I am perfected, that is, through practice I first heal my own members, then also the senses in order to engage with sensible things in a healthy way, and on the third day I am perfected, receiving perfection in the contemplation of divine knowledge.

14Α_112 QUESTION 72 What is it according to the Apostle that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”? ANSWER Flesh is desire, and blood is anger; and reasonably, one who is not pure of these cannot inherit the kingdom of God. QUESTION 73 What does Mount Sinai in Horeb signify, and what are the mysteries that took place there? ANSWER Sinai is interpreted as 'temptation,' and Horeb as 'renewal.' Therefore, one who longs for the height of knowledge must first be in the endurance of temptations and renew and sow the fruit of knowledge and righteousness and be purified from every passion, and for three days, meaning the three powers of the soul, be cleansed of all carnal pleasure, and not to take along the female, nor indeed the irrational, the word signifying this, that one who wishes to become worthy of the divine voice must have nothing effeminate or thoughtless, but clothed in the bright garments of virtue must approach the mountain of knowledge. For thus, according to the divine Moses, through natural contemplation and the property of time, which the seventy elders signify, having come and passed beyond the voices and the sounds, the declarations from phenomena, he brings with him only Aaron and his two sons Nadab and Abihu, that is, Aaron the reason, and his sons anger and desire. 14Α_114 But these too must be left behind like smoke and storm and to have only Aaron, I mean, the simple reason for understanding, illuminated like lightning by the divine illuminations, then to leave this too outside and to enter into the darkness of unknowing, where there is all irrationality and un-knowing. I think that the people purified at the foot of the mountain signify the practical ones, and the seventy elders, those who pursue natural contemplation, and those with Aaron, those who pursue theology, and those like Moses, those who are united to God through negation and unknowing.

QUESTION 74 What is a diapsalma? ANSWER I think that it is either a change from one thought to another thought or of a mode of teaching to another mode. QUESTION 75 What is “it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble”? ANSWER

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Τί ἐστιν ἡ τοῦ Κυρίου ἀπόκρισις λέγοντος «εἴπατε τῇ ἀλώπηκι» περὶ τοῦ Ἡρῴδου λέγων ὅτι «σήμερον καὶ αὔριον ἰάσεις ἐπιτελῶ καὶ τῇ τρίτῃ τελειοῦμαι»;

ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ἡρῴδης 'δερμάτινος' ἑρμηνεύεται· χρὴ οὖν τοὺς σαρκικοὺς λογισμοὺς τοὺς

θέλοντας ἀποσπάσαι τὸν νοῦν ἐκ τῆς πρακτικῆς ἀρετῆς βδελύττεσθαι καὶ λέγειν αὐτοῖς ὅτι σήμερον καὶ αὔριον ἰάσεις ἐπιτελῶ καὶ τῇ τρίτῃ τελειοῦμαι, τουτέστιν ἰῶμαι διὰ τῆς πρακτικῆς τὰ ἴδια μέλη πρῶτος, εἶτα καὶ τὰς αἰσθήσεις πρὸς τὸ τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς ὑγιῶς ἐπιβαλεῖν, καὶ τῇ τρίτῃ τελειοῦμαι, τῇ θεωρίᾳ τῆς θείας γνώσεως τὸ τέλειον λαμβάνων.

14Α_112 ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 72 Τί ἐστιν κατὰ τὸν Ἀπόστολον ὅτι «σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα βασιλείαν Θεοῦ

κληρονομῆσαι οὐ δύνανται»; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Σάρξ ἐστιν ἡ ἐπιθυμία, αἷμα δὲ ὁ θυμός· καὶ εἰκότως ὁ μὴ τούτων καθαρεύων

βασιλείαν Θεοῦ κληρονομῆσαι οὐ δύναται. ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 73 Τί δηλοῖ τὸ ἐν Χωρὴβ Σινᾶ ὄρος καὶ τί τὰ γενάμενα ἐν αὐτῷ μυστήρια; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Σινᾶ ἑρμηνεύεται 'πειρασμός,' Χωρὴβ δὲ 'νέωσις.' Χρὴ οὖν τὸν τοῦ ὕψους τῆς

γνώσεως ἐφιέμενον πρῶτον ἐν τῇ ὑπομονῇ γενέσθαι τῶν πειρασμῶν καὶ νεῶσαι καὶ σπεῖραι καρπὸν γνώσεως καὶ δικαιοσύνης καὶ ἁγνίσασθαι ἀπὸ παντὸς πάθους, τρεῖς δὲ ἡμέρας, ἀντὶ τοῦ τὰς τρεῖς τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεις, πάσης κεκαθάρθαι σαρκικῆς ἡδονῆς, μὴ συμπαραλαμβάνειν δὲ τὸ θῆλυ, μήτε μὴν ἄλογον, τοῦτο δηλοῦντος τοῦ λόγου, ὡς χρὴ τὸν ἄξιον θέλοντα γενέσθαι θείας φωνῆς μηδὲν ἔχοντα θηλυδριῶδες μήτε ἀλόγιστον, ἀλλὰ λαμπροῖς τοῖς ἱματίοις τῆς ἀρετῆς ἠμφιεσμένον προσβαίνειν τῷ ὄρει τῆς γνώσεως. Οὕτω γὰρ κατὰ τὸν θεσπέσιον Μωυσέα διὰ τῆς φυσικῆς θεωρίας καὶ τῆς τοῦ χρόνου ἰδιότητος ὅπερ δηλοῖ τοὺς ἑβδομήκοντα πρεσβυτέρους γενόμενον καὶ παρελθόντα τὰς φωνὰς καὶ τοὺς ἤχους, τὰς ἐκ τῶν φαινομένων δηλώσεις, μόνους ἐπιφέρεται μεθ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ Ἀαρὼν καὶ τοὺς δύο υἱοὺς αὐτοῦ Ναδὰβ καὶ Ἀβιούδ, τουτέστιν Ἀαρὼν τὸν λόγον καὶ τοὺς αὐτοῦ υἱοὺς θυμὸν καὶ ἐπιθυμίαν. 14Α_114 Ἀλλὰ καὶ τούτους καταλιπεῖν χρὴ δίκην καπνοῦ καὶ θυέλλης καὶ μόνον ἔχειν τὸν Ἀαρών, τὸν ἁπλοῦν πρὸς τὴν νόησίν φημι λόγον, δίκην ἀστραπῶν καταλαμπόμενον ταῖς θείαις ἐλλάμψεσιν, εἶτα καὶ τοῦτον καταλιπεῖν ἔξω καὶ εἰς τὸν γνόφον τῆς ἀγνωσίας εἰσδῦναι, ἔνθα πᾶσα ἀλογία καὶ ἀνοησία. Τοὺς δὲ ὑπὸ τὸ ὄρος ἁγνισθέντας τοῦ λαοῦ σημαίνειν οἶμαι τοὺς πρακτικούς, τοὺς δὲ ἑβδομήκοντα πρεσβυτέρους τοὺς τὴν φυσικὴν θεωρίαν μετερχομένους, τοὺς δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἀαρὼν τοὺς τὴν θεολογίαν μετιόντας, τοὺς δὲ κατὰ Μωυσέα τοὺς δι᾽ ἀποφάσεως καὶ ἀγνωσίας ἑνουμένους τῷ Θεῷ.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 74 Τί ἐστιν διάψαλμα; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Οἶμαι ὅτι ἢ ἀπὸ νοήματος εἰς νόημα μεταβολὴ ἢ καὶ τρόπου διδασκαλίας εἰς

ἕτερον τρόπον. ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 75 Τί ἐστιν τὸ «συνήφερεν αὐτῷ ἵνα μύλος ὀνικὸς περιτεθῇ ἐν τῷ τραχήλῳ

αὐτοῦ καὶ ῥιφῇ ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ ἢ ἵνα σκανδαλίσῃ ἕνα τῶν μικρῶν»; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ