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rejoicing, he enters together into the place of feasting, which is full of all knowledge, having been completely delivered from the mindset of the flesh.

130. ANOTHER ON THE SAME CONTEMPLATION

Another on the same contemplation. And again, the grateful thief is one who is deemed worthy to be crucified with Christ through a complete and entire mortification of the passions, and is crucified with Him on the right side, that is, with reason and knowledge going through every virtue, and maintaining a life without offense to all 14Ε_106 1376 men, and having absolutely no movement through austerity that is discordant with the gentleness of the Logos. But the ungrateful thief is one who, for the sake of glory or greater gains, insidiously feigns the life according to virtue in his outward ways, and employing one and only the word of a flatterer toward those outside, in place of all virtue and knowledge, but toward his associates being altogether crooked in mind and difficult, one who blasphemes the way of God and who must indeed be silenced with understanding. For perhaps he will cease from slandering the Logos through his own way of life by the exhortation of the one rebuking him, just as the thief who fearlessly uttered blasphemy suffered on the cross. For to not speak against the one who rebuked him has silence as a sign of the acceptance of the word spoken.

In whichever, then, of the aforementioned contemplations we are crucified with Christ, let us be eager, while we are here, to propitiate the Logos crucified with us, and to receive the unfailing promise of rest in a conscience cleansed of the thoughts that strike it, if indeed "today" indicates the present day of this age (for "today," He says, "you will be with Me in Paradise"), and "tomorrow" that of the age to come, in which one must expect no remission of sins, but only the recompense of the reward fitting to each according to the worth of what has been lived.

131. ..». AND IF YOU ARE JOSEPH OF ARIMATHEA, ASK FOR THE BODY FROM THE

ONE CRUCIFYING» From the same discourse, on the text; «And if you are Joseph of Arimathea, ask for the

body from the one crucifying». The body of Christ is the soul, or its powers, 14Ε_108 or the

senses, or the body of each individual, or the members of the body, or the commandments, or the virtues, or the principles of created things, or to speak more truly and simply, both individually and collectively, all these things and each one of them is the body of Christ. And the devil crucifies this, that is, all these things, in the one who has accepted their crucifixion, not permitting them to be active according to nature. But Joseph is interpreted according to the Hebrew tongue, Addition; and Arimathea, Take that away. How so? A man having additions of faith and having increased in ways according to virtue, and having stripped from himself all deceit of material things, this one is a spiritual Joseph, able to receive the body of Christ and to bury it well and place it in a heart hewn out of faith, and both his own body as the body of Christ through grace, and making the members of his body instruments of righteousness to God for sanctification, and preparing the senses of the body to be ministers to the soul according to the innate logos for natural contemplation in the spirit, and the soul itself to grant equal rights to its powers 1377

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συνεισέρχεται γεγηθώς εἰς τόν τῆς εὐωχίας τόπον τόν πάσης κατάκορον γνώσεως, τοῦ κατά σάρκα φρονήματος παντελῶς ἀπηλλαγμένος.

ΡΛ (130). ΑΛΛΟΣ ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΑΥΤΟ ΘΕΩΡΗΜΑ

Ἄλλο εἰς τό αὐτό θεώρημα. Καί αὖθις λῃστής ἐστιν εὐγνώμων ὁ καταξιωθείς συσταυρωθῆναι Χριστῷ διά

παντελοῦς καί ὁλοκλήρου τῶν παθῶν νεκρώσεως, καί δεξιῶς αὐτῷ συσταυρούμενος, τουτέστι μετά λόγου καί γνώσεως πᾶσαν διεξιών ἀρετήν, καί ἀπρόσκοπον πᾶσιν 14Ε_1061376 ἀνθρώποις τόν βίον διατηρῶν, καί μηδεμίαν ἔχων τό παράπαν τῆς τοῦ λόγου πραότητος ἀπᾴδουσαν δι᾿ αὐστηρότητα κίνησιν. Ἀγνώμων δέ λῃστής ἐστιν ὁ δόξης ἕνεκεν ἤ λημμάτων ἁδροτέρων τοῖς φαινομένοις τρόποις ὑπούλως τόν κατ᾿ ἀρετήν βίον ὑποκρινόμενος, καί ἕνα καί μόνον πρός τούς ἔξω τόν κόλακα λόγον ἀντί πάσης ἀρετῆς τε καί γνώσεως μετερχόμενος, πρός δέ τούς συνήθεις σκολιός τις τήν γνώμην παντάπασιν ὤν καί δυσάντητος, ὅν δεῖ μάλα γε τήν ὁδόν τοῦ Θεοῦ βλασφημοῦντα μετά συνέσεως ἐπιστομίζειν. Ἴσως γάρ παύσεται τοῦ διαβάλλειν διά τῆς οἰκείας ἀναστροφῆς τόν Λόγον τῇ παραινέσει τοῦ ἐπιπλήσσοντος, ὥσπερ ἐπί τοῦ σταυροῦ πέπονθεν ὁ τήν βλασφημίαν ἀδεῶς προσενέγκας λῃστής. Τό γάρ μή ἀντιφθέγξασθαι τῷ ἐπιπλήξαντι σημεῖον ἔχει τῆς τοῦ ῥηθέντος ἀποδοχῆς λόγου τήν σιωπήν.

Καθ᾿ ἥντινα γοῦν τῶν εἰρημένων θεωρίαν τῷ Χριστῷ συσταυρούμεθα σπουδάσωμεν, ὥς ἐσμεν ἐνταῦθα, τόν συσταυρούμενον ἡμῖν ἱλεώσασθαι Λόγον, καί τήν ἀψευδῆ δέξασθαι κατά συνείδησιν καθαρθεῖσαν τῶν πλησσόντων αὐτήν νοημάτων τῆς ἀναπαύσεως ἐπαγγελίαν, εἴπερ ἡ σήμερον τήν ἐνεστῶσαν τούτου τοῦ αἰῶνος ἡμέραν ἐνδείκνυται (σήμερον γάρ, φησίν, ἔσῃ μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ), ἡ δέ αὔριον τήν τοῦ μέλλοντος, καθ᾿ ἥν οὐδεμίαν μέν ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτημάτων ἐκδέχεσθαι χρή, μόνην δέ τῆς ἑκάστῳ πρεπούσης κατ᾿ ἀξίαν ἀμοιβῆς τῶν βεβιωμένων ἀντίδοσιν.

ΡΛΑ (131). ..». ΚΑΝ ΙΩΣΗΦ ΗΣ Ο ΑΠΟ ΑΡΙΜΑΘΑΙΑΣ, ΑΙΤΗΣΑΙ ΤΟ ΣΩΜΑ ΠΑΡΑ ΤΟΥ

ΣΤΑΥΡΟΥΝΤΟΣ» Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου, εἰς τό· «Κἄν Ἰωσήφ ᾗς ὁ ἀπό Ἀριμαθαίας, αἴτησαι τό

σῶμα παρά τοῦ σταυροῦντος». Τό σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐστιν ἡ ψυχή, ἤ αἱ ταύτης δυνάμεις, 14Ε_108 ἤ αἱ

αἰσθήσεις, ἤ τό σῶμα τοῦ καθ᾿ ἕκαστον, ἤ τά μέλη τοῦ σώματος, ἤ αἱ ἐντολαί, ἤ αἱ ἀρεταί, ἤ οἱ λόγοι τῶν γεγονότων, ἤ ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν ἀληθέστερον, ἰδίᾳ τε καί κοινῇ, ταῦτα πάντα καί τούτων ἕκαστόν ἐστι τό σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Σταυροῖ δέ τοῦτο, ἤγουν ταῦτα πάντα ὁ διάβολος, ἐν τῷ παραδεξαμένῳ τούτων τήν σταύρωσιν, οὐκ ἐῶν αὐτά, κατά φύσιν ἐνεργεῖσθαι. Ἰωσήφ δέ ἑρμηνεύεται κατά Ἑβραίων φωνήν, Πρόσθεσις· Ἀριμαθία δέ, Ἆρον ἐκεῖνο. Πῶς οὖν; Ἄνθρωπος προσθήκας πίστεως ἔχων καί τοῖς κατ᾿ ἀρετήν ηὐξημένος τρόποις, καί πᾶσαν ἀπάτην τῶν ὑλικῶν ἑαυτοῦ περιελόμενος, οὗτος Ἰωσήφ ἐστι πνευματικός, δυνάμενος τό σῶμα λαβεῖν τοῦ Χριστοῦ καί καλῶς ἐνταφιάσαι καί ἐνθεῖναι τῇ ἐκ πίστεως λελατομημένῃ καρδίᾳ, τό τε σῶμα τό ἑαυτοῦ ὡς Χριστοῦ σῶμα διά τήν χάριν, καί τά σώματος μέλη ὅπλα δικαιοσύνης τῷ Θεῷ εἰς ἁγιασμόν ποιούμενος, τάς δέ αἰσθήσεις τοῦ σώματος ὑπουργούς εἶναι τῇ ψυχῇ κατα τόν ἔμφυτον λόγον πρός τήν ἐν πνεύματι φυσικήν θεωρίαν παρασκευάζων, αὐτήν δέ τήν ψυχήν ἰσονομεῖν ταῖς δυνάμεσι 1377