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making for the fulfillment of the virtues, and also having enslaved the soul and its powers to the commandments of God, showing the commandments themselves to be natural activities of the soul, and through an unchangeable and fixed disposition according to virtue is stirred up to the understanding and reception of the more divine principles hidden in the commandments, and as if with a certain linen shroud he wraps with the spiritual principles concerning this age the first Logos, from whom and through whom and for whom are all things. He who has thus kept this comely good order is Joseph, mystically burying the mystical body of Christ.

132. ANOTHER CONTEMPLATION ON THE SAME THEME

Another contemplation on the same theme. And to speak yet more briefly, the one who by practice and contemplation wonderfully delivers the teachings concerning the 14Ε_110 cross to his hearers, this one has become another Joseph by the addition of the goods according to contemplation, having increased in spiritual knowledge; and he is of Arimathea through the genuine appropriation of the virtues, in practice cutting away from himself all attachment to material things.

133. ANOTHER CONTEMPLATION ON THE SAME

Another contemplation on the same. Again, they crucify Christ who blasphemously teach the principles concerning the embodiment

of God, and again, he buries him who with boldness piously proclaims to all the principles concerning the incarnation of God.

134. ..». AND IF YOU ARE NICODEMUS, THE NIGHTTIME GOD-FEARER, BURY HIM WITH MYRRH»

From the same oration, on the text: "And if you are Nicodemus, the nighttime God-fearer,

bury him with myrrh." Nicodemus is the nighttime God-fearer and the one who buries the body of Christ with myrrh, who is strong in thought for the knowledge of Christ, but who, like a coward, through fear of the Jews (I mean the assaults of the passions or of the demons) shrinks from the eager pursuit of the practice of the commandments out of a desire to spare the flesh; for whom it is a great thing towards acceptance even to think rightly about Christ and not to utter blasphemous words.

135. ..». AND IF YOU ARE A MARY ..., OR SALOME, OR JOANNA, WEEP AT DAWN..».

From the same oration, on the text: 14Ε_112 "And if you are a Mary, or the other

Mary, or Salome, or Joanna, weep at dawn. See first the stone rolled away, and perhaps also the angels, and Jesus himself."

The first Mary, from whom the Logos cast out seven demons, is every practical

soul, purified from the dismay concerning this age through the logos of the evangelical commandments. For this age is hebdomadal, being fulfilled by the revolution of time upon itself 1380, from which the Logos frees his own votaries, placing them altogether above the things that are under time. And the other Mary is every soul

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ποιῶν πρός τήν τῶν ἀρετῶν ἐκπλήρωσιν, καί ἔτι τήν ψυχήν τε καί τάς αὐτῆς δυνάμεις δουλώσας ταῖς ἐντολαῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ, αὐτάς δέ τάς ἐντολάς φυσικάς τῆς ψυχῆς ἀποδεικνύς ἐνεργείας, καί διά τῆς κατ᾿ ἀρετήν ἀμεταθέτου καί παγίας ἕξεως εἰς κατανόησιν αὖ καί ὑποδοχήν τῶν ἐγκεκρυμμένων ταῖς ἐντολαῖς θειοτέρων λόγων διεγειρόμενος, καί ὥσπερ σινδόνι τινί τοῖς περί τόν αἰῶνα τοῦτον πνευματικοῖς λόγοις περιβάλλειν τόν πρῶτον, ἐξ οὖ καί δι᾿ οὗ καί εἰς ὅν τά πάντα, Λόγον. Ὁ ταύτην οὕτω τηρήσας τήν εὔκοσμον εὐταξίαν, Ἰωσήφ ἐστι, τό μυστικόν σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ μυστικῶς ἐνταφιάζων.

ΡΛΒ (132). ΑΛΛΟ ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΑΥΤΟ ΘΕΩΡΗΜΑ

Ἄλλο εἰς τό αὐτό θεώρημα. Καί ἔτι συντόμως εἰπεῖν, ὁ πράξει καί θεωρίᾳ τούς περί 14Ε_110 τοῦ

σταυροῦ τοῖς ἀκούουσι θαυμαστῶς λόγους ἀποδιδούς, οὗτος Ἰωσήφ μέν γέγονεν ἄλλος διά τῆς προσθήκης τῶν κατά τήν θεωρίαν ἀγαθῶν εἰς γνῶσιν ἐπαυξήσας πνευματικήν, Ἀριμαθαῖος δέ διά τῆς γνησίας τῶν ἀρετῶν οἰκειότητος κατά τήν πρᾶξιν πᾶσαν τῶν ὑλικῶν ἑαυτοῦ περιτέμνων τήν προσπάθειαν.

ΡΛΓ (133). ΑΛΛΟ ΘΕΩΡΗΜΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΑΥΤΟ

Ἄλλο θεώρημα εἰς τό αὐτό. Σταυροῦσι δέ πάλιν τόν Χριστόν οἱ βλασφήμως τούς περί τῆς ἐνσωματώσεως

τοῦ Θεοῦ διδάσκοντες λόγους, ἐνταφιάζει δέ πάλιν ὁ τούς περί τῆς σαρκώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγους μετά παῤῤησίας πᾶσιν εὐσεβῶς ἀνακηρύττων.

ΡΛ∆ (134). ..». ΚΑΝ ΝΙΚΟ∆ΗΜΟΣ ΗΣ Ο ΝΥΚΤΕΡΙΝΟΣ ΘΕΟΣΕΒΗΣ, ΜΥΡΟΙΣ ΑΥΤΟΝ

ΕΝΤΑΦΙΑΣΟΝ» Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου, εἰς τό· «Κἄν Νικόδημος ᾗς ὁ νυκτερινός θεοσεβής,

μύροις αὐτόν ἐνταφίασον». Νικόδημός ἐστιν, νυκτερινός θεοσεβής καί μύροις τό σῶμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ

ἐνταφιάζων, ὁ κατά διάνοιαν μέν ἐῤῥώμενος εἰς τήν ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ Χριστοῦ, τήν δέ τῆς πράξεως τῶν ἐντολῶν φιλοτιμίαν ὡς δειλός διά τόν φόβον τῶν Ἰουδαίων (λέγω δέ τῶν παθῶν ἤ τῶν δαιμόνων τάς προσβολάς) φειδοῖ τῆς σαρκός παραιτούμενος, ᾧ μέγα πρός ἀποδοχήν κἄν τό καλά φρονεῖν περί Χριστοῦ καί μή βλασφήμους προΐεσθαι λόγους.

ΡΛΕ (135). ..». ΚΑΝ ΜΑΡΙΑ ΤΙΣ ΗΣ ..., ΚΑΝ ΣΑΛΩΜΗ, ΚΑΝ ΙΩΑΝΝΑ, ∆ΑΚΡΥΣΟΝ

ΟΡΘΡΙΑ..». Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου, εἰς τό· 14Ε_112 «Κἄν Μαρία τις ᾗς, κἄν ἡ ἄλλη

Μαρία, κἄν Σαλώμη, κἄν Ἰωάννα, δάκρυσον ὀρθρία. Ἴδε πρώτη τόν λίθον ἠρμένον, τυχόν δέ καί τούς ἀγγέλους, καί Ἰησοῦν αὐτόν».

Μαρία ἡ πρώτη, ἐξ ἧς ἐκβέβληκεν ὁ λόγος ἑπτά δαιμόνια, ἐστί πᾶσα πρακτική

ψυχή, διά τοῦ λόγου τῶν εὐαγγελικῶν ἐντολῶν τῆς περί τόν αἰῶνα τοῦτον καθαρθεῖσα πτοήσεως. Ἑβδοματικός γάρ οὗτος ὁ αἰών, τῇ εἰς ἑαυτόν τοῦ χρόνου περιελίξει 1380 πληρούμενος, οὗτινος ἐλευθεροῖ τούς ἑαυτοῦ θιασώτας ὁ Λόγος, πάντως αὐτούς ὑπεράνω τιθείς τῶν ὑπό χρόνον. Ἡ δέ ἄλλη Μαρία ἐστί πᾶσα ψυχή