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benefit in both morals and the doctrines of truth. And while in perceptible things it is impossible for a change of nature to occur, yet in intelligible things, the one now receiving lessons and for this reason being in the position of the female might someday, from progress, become a man so as to be a teacher of others, just as, conversely, from indolence one can lose the status of being a teacher so as to be scarcely able to receive from another what he himself formerly taught others. And a testimony of those who receive the seeds of the Word would be "from fear of you we have conceived in the womb, and have travailed, and have brought forth the spirit of salvation upon the earth". And fear works the holy conception concerning God; it is said: "The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring for ever and ever", 64 and: "The fear of the Lord surpasses all", which fear if someone has and progresses in it so as to also become a man to an intelligible woman and for this reason to be called blessed, as the psalm says: "You are blessed, and it shall be well with you. Your wife shall be as a fruitful vine in the recesses of your house; your sons like young olive plants around your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord", which, according to the literal account, is not irrefutable, since many who feared God remained childless or remained so until old age, like Abraham and the father of John, Zacharias. What it says, therefore, is this: the understanding and the faith which the one who is blessed has received is a wife cohabiting with him, able to give birth to divine works and words and thoughts; for it is said: "Wisdom gives birth to prudence for a man", and the wise man says concerning her: "I became a lover of her beauty", that is, of wisdom, and "I brought her to live with me." The one, therefore, who fears the Lord has this as his consort: wisdom, faith, virtue, from whom he begets nothing female but all things male; for she does not give birth to a condemned action or an unsound thought or one that is refuted but all things are vigorous and strong; "Your sons" for he says "like young olive plants", which bear oil that is a producer of light and a release from toils. For the spiritual man, always progressing, has an action like oil, being poured upon his own light, which also contributes to courage and to the struggles against the opposing power. "Male" therefore "and female" taking it according to the aforementioned meaning, the one who teaches is male, but the one who receives the seeds from a teacher or from the Word [of God] and forms them and brings them to completion is female, giving birth to the divine virtues, from which he will also be led to a perfect man. 1:28-31. And God blessed them, saying: Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and sub- 65 due it and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over all the cattle and over all the earth, and over all the creeping things that creep upon the earth. And God said: Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant sowing seed, which is upon all the earth, and every tree which has in itself the fruit of a seed-sowing plant; it shall be for you for food, and to all the beasts of the earth and to all the birds of the air and to every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, which has in it a living soul, every green plant for food. And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, a sixth day. The "and he made them" spoken concerning man and woman should not seem strange if it is expressed in the masculine gender; for it was necessary to make the designation of both from the more honorable. For no one discoursing about males and females has ever preferred to make the signification from the females. "He blessed them" as completing their life together and beginning the succession. For he added this, saying: "Be fruitful and multiply", indicating childbearing and the for this

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ὠφελίαν ἔν τε ἠθικοῖς καὶ τοῖς τῆς ἀληθείας δόγμασιν. Καὶ ἐπὶ μὲν τῶν αἰσθητῶν ἐξαλλαγὴν γενέσθαι τῆς φύσεως ἀδύνατον, ἐπὶ δὲ τῶν νοητῶν ὁ νῦν μαθήματα δεχόμενος καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐν τάξει θήλεος ὑπάρχων εἴη ἄν ποτε ἐκ προκοπῆς ἀνὴρ ὡς ἄλλων γενέσθαι διδάσκαλος, ὡς καὶ ἀνάπαλιν ἐκ ῥᾳθυμίας ἀποβαλεῖν τις δύναται τὸ διδάσκαλος εἶναι ὥστε μάλα μόγις δύνασθαι δέξασθαι παρ' ἄλλου ἃ αὐτὸς πρότερον τοὺς [ἄλλο]υς ἐπαίδευεν. Καὶ εἴη ἂν μαρτύ- ριον τῶν δεχομένων τὰς τοῦ Λόγου σπορὰς τὸ "6ἀπὸ τοῦ φόβου σου ἐν γαστρὶ ἐλάβο<με>ν καὶ ὠδινήσαμεν καὶ ἐτέκομεν πνεῦμα σωτηρίας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς"6. ῾Ο̣ φόβος δὲ τὴν [ἁγί]αν ἐργάζεται σύλληψιν περὶ Θεοῦ· εἴρηται· "6Ὁ φόβος Κυρίου ἁγν[ός], διαμένων εἰς αἰῶνα αἰῶνος"6, 64 καί· "6Φόβος Κυρίου πάντα ὑπερέβαλεν"6, ὅντινα ἔχων τις καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ προκόπτων ὡς καὶ ἀνὴρ γενέσθαι γυναικὸς νοητῆς καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μακαρίζεσθαι, λέγοντος τοῦ ψαλμοῦ· "6Μακάριος εἶ καὶ καλῶς σοι ἔσται, ἡ γυνή σου ὡς ἄμπελος εὐθηνοῦσα ἐν τοῖς κλίτεσι τῆς οἰκίας σου, οἱ υἱοί σου ὡς νεόφυτα ἐλαιῶν κύκλῳ τῆς τραπέζης σου. Ἰδοὺ οὕτως εὐλογηθήσεται ἄνθρωπος ὁ φοβούμενος τὸν Κύριον"6, ὅπερ κατὰ τὴν ἱστορίαν οὐκ ἔχει τὸ ἀναντίρρητον, πολλῶν φοβουμένων τὸν Θεὸν ἀτέκνων διατελεσάντων ἢ μέχρι γήρως κατὰ τὸν Ἀβραὰμ καὶ τὸν πατέρα τοῦ Ἰωάννου Ζαχαρίαν διαμεινάντων. Ὃ λέγει τοίνυν τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· ἡ γνώμη καὶ ἡ πίστις ἣν παρείληφεν ὁ μακαριζόμενος γυνή ἐστιν συνοικοῦσα αὐτῷ, ἔργα καὶ λόγους καὶ νοήματα θεῖ[α γ]εννῆσαι δυναμένη· εἴρηται γάρ· "6Ἡ σοφία τίκτει ἀνδρὶ φρόνη[σι]ν"6, καὶ ὁ σοφός φησιν περὶ αὐτῆς· "6Ἐραστὴς ἐγενόμην τοῦ κάλλους αὐτῆς"6, τῆς σοφίας δηλονότι, καὶ "6ἤγαγον αὐτὴν πρὸς συμβ[ίωσι]ν ἐμαυτῷ."6 Ὁ φοβούμενος οὖν τὸν Κύριον ταύτην ἔχει σύνοικον τὴν σοφίαν, τὴν πίστιν, τὴν ἀρετήν, ἀφ' ἧς οὐδὲν θῆλυ γεννᾷ ἀλλὰ πάντα ἄρρενα· οὐ γεννᾷ γὰρ πρᾶξιν καταγιγνωσκομένην ἢ νόημα σαθρὸν ἢ ἐλεγχόμ[ε]νον ἀλλὰ πάντα εὔτονα καὶ ἰσχυρά· "6Οἱ υἱοί σου"6 γάρ φησιν "6ὡς νεόφυτα ἐλαιῶν"6, ἅπερ φέρει ἔλαιον τρεπτικὸν φωτὸς καὶ λυτήριον πόνων. Ὁ γὰρ πνευματικὸς ἀεὶ προκόπτων πρᾶξιν ἔχει ἐλαίου δίκην, ἐπιχεομένην τῷ ἑαυτοῦ φωτί, ὃ καὶ εἰς ἀνδρείαν καὶ ἀγῶνας τοὺς κατὰ τῆς ἀντικειμένης ἐνεργείας συντελεῖ. "6Ἄρσεν"6 οὖν "6καὶ θῆλυ"6 κατὰ τὴν εἰρημένη̣̣ν διάνοιαν ἐκλαμβάνοντες, τ̣ὸν μὲν διδάσκοντα ἄρρενα, τὸν δὲ πρὸς διδασκάλου ἢ τοῦ Λόγου [τοῦ Θεοῦ] δεχόμενον τὰς γονὰς καὶ μορφοῦντα αὐτὰς καὶ τελεσιου[ρ]γοῦντα θῆλυ, τὰς θείας ἀρετὰς ἀπογεννῶντα, ἐξ ὧν καὶ εἰς ἄνδρα τέλειον ἀχθήσεται. ι, 28-31. Καὶ εὐλόγησεν αὐτοὺς ὁ Θεὸς λέγων· Αὐξάνεσθ[ε καὶ] πληθύνεσθε, καὶ πληρώσατε τὴν γῆν καὶ κατα- 65 κυριεύσατε α[ὐτῆ]ς καὶ ἄρχετε τῶν ἰχθύων τῆς θαλάσσης καὶ τῶν πετεινῶν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ πάντων τῶν κτηνῶν καὶ πάσης τῆς γῆς καὶ πάντων τῶν ἑρπετῶν τῶν ἑρπόντων ἐπὶ [τ]ῆς γῆς. Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεός· Ἰδοὺ δέδωκα ὑμῖν πάντα χόρ[το]ν σπόριμον σπεῖρον σπέρμα, ὅ ἐστιν ἐπάνω πάσης τ[ῆ]ς γῆς, κ[α]ὶ πᾶν ξύλον ὃ ἔχει ἐν ἑαυτῷ καρπὸν σπέρματος σπό[ριμον] ὑμῖν ἔσται εἰς βρῶσιν καὶ πᾶσιν τοῖς θηρίοις τῆς γῆς καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς πετεινοῖς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ παντὶ ἑρπετῷ τῷ [ἕρπον]τι ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ὃ ἔχει ἐν αὑτῷ ψυχὴν ζωῆς, καὶ πάντα χ[όρτον] χλωρὸν εἰς βρῶσιν. Καὶ ἐγένετο οὕτως. Καὶ εἶδεν ὁ [Θεὸς τὰ] πάντα ὅσα ἐποίησεν, καὶ ἰδοὺ καλὰ λίαν. Καὶ ἐγένε[το ἑσπ]έρα καὶ ἐγένετο πρωΐ, ἡμέρα ἕκτη. Τὸ "6καὶ ἐ[ποί]η̣σεν αὐτοὺς"6 π̣[ερὶ ἀν]δρὸς καὶ γυναικὸς εἰρημένον οὐ ξενισ[τ]έον εἰ ἀρσεν̣[ικῷ χα]ρακτῆρι ἐξενήνεκται· ἔδει γὰρ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἐν̣τιμοτέρου τ̣[ὴν ὀν]ομα- σίαν ἀμφοτέρων ποιήσασθαι. Οὐδέποτε γάρ τι[ς περὶ] ἀρρένων καὶ θηλειῶν διαλεγόμενος προέκρινεν ἀπὸ [τῶν] θηλειῶν πο[ι]ήσασθαι τὴν σημασίαν. "6Ε̣υ᾿̣λ̣ο´̣γησεν αὐ[τοὺς]"6 ω῾̣ς συμπληρῶντας τὴν συμ- βίωσιν καὶ τῆς διαδ[οχῆς ἀ]ρχ̣ομένους. Τοῦτο γὰρ καὶ ἐπήγαγεν λέγων· "6Αὐξά[νεσθ]ε καὶ πληθύνεσθε"6, τὴν τέκνωσιν δηλῶν καὶ τὴν ε[ἰς τοῦ]το