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they cry out to the Lord with repentance, the Lord will send a word reminding of the exodus from Egypt, that is, the redemption from the darkness of sins. “And there came,” he says, “an angel of the Lord, and sat under the terebinth tree,” hinting at the mystery of the cross. “And Gideon,” he says, “was threshing wheat in the winepress,” that is, pursuing the practical life along with knowledge; for this is the winepress of wine. “And an angel appeared to him and said to him: ‘The Lord is with you, mighty in strength;’” for he calls the one who has subdued and enslaved the passions and who holds authority through practice and knowledge by his own attributes: “The Lord is with you.” And the humility of such a mind is shown by the reply; for he said: “And if the Lord is with us, why have these evils befallen us?” “And the angel said to him: ‘Go in this strength of yours; with this you will save Israel,’” that is, in the strength of practice and of knowledge. “And he said to the angel: ‘If I have found favor in your eyes, do not move from here until I come to you.’” “And Gideon went in and 14Α_126 prepared a kid of the goats, and took an ephah of fine flour and unleavened bread, and he put the meat in the basket and put the broth in the pot, and brought it out to him under the terebinth tree. And the angel said to him: ‘Take the meat and the unleavened cakes and place them on that rock, and pour the broth over it.’ And he did so.” For whenever a spiritual thought is sent down to the mind, and the mind finds how to fit the necessary things to such knowledge through suitable actions, the knowledge does not depart. And bringing out the meat and the unleavened cakes and the broth signifies practice combined with freedom from pride, poured over with knowledge; for this the broth indicates. And he commanded to place these things upon the rock; for both knowledge and practice must be joined to faith in Christ. “And the angel stretched out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat, and fire came up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes, and the angel departed from his sight.” For whenever such practice and knowledge are perfected by faith, then the fire of the Spirit makes them luminous and the word of the beginning of knowledge flies away with them; for no longer, as before, does it follow along reminding; for the mind, being wholly infused with the light of the Spirit, no longer remains fixed on the initial things.

And the fleece signifies the Jewish worship; for upon it there was dew; for it had ordinances of worship. But upon “all the earth there was dryness”; for all the nations happened to be dry of the knowledge of God. And to wring out the water into the basin signified the future grace of baptism; for the Old [Testament] had in many things types of holy baptism; these therefore, being wrung out in the basin of baptism, showed us the mystery itself. And to do it a second time and in reverse, for the fleece to have dryness, but all the earth dew, signified the grace of the Gospel; for all the earth was filled with the gospel 14Α_128 dew; but the Jewish people were left dry of all faith. And for each individual: the fleece is moral philosophy, being squeezed into the basin of knowledge; but for all the earth to have the dew signifies that after the accomplishment of moral philosophy all the earth of the heart is filled with divine knowledge. But if someone is puffed up only by the accomplishment of morals without the appropriate knowledge, such a person has the earth of his own heart unwatered, but appears to be adorning his outer tent like a fleece.

And for the ten thousand to turn back as Gideon was going out to the battle line, signifies those who through cowardice run away from the toil of virtue, betraying the senses and their activities. And the twenty thousand who bow down on their belly

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μεταμελείας βοήσωσιν πρὸς Κύριον, ἐξαποστελεῖ Κύριος λόγον ἀναμιμνήσκοντα τὴν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου ἄνοδον, τουτέστιν τὴν ἐκ τοῦ σκοτασμοῦ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν λύτρωσιν. «Καὶ ἦλθεν», φησίν, «ἄγγελος Κυρίου καὶ ἐκάθισεν ὑπὸ τὴν τερέβινθον» τὸ τοῦ σταυροῦ μυστήριον αἰνιττόμενος «καὶ ἦν», φησίν, «Γεδεὼν ῥαβδίζων σῖτον ἐν ληνῷ», τουτέστιν τὴν πρακτικὴν μετερχόμενος μετὰ τῆς γνώσεως· τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ ληνὸς τοῦ οἴνου. «Καὶ ὤφθη αὐτῷ ἄγγελος καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· "Κύριος μετὰ σοῦ, δυνατὸς ἰσχύϊ"»· τὸν γὰρ ὑποτάξαντα καὶ δουλωσάμενον τὰ πάθη καὶ τὸ κῦρος διὰ πρακτικῆς καὶ γνώσεως κατ᾽ αὐτὸν ἔχοντα, ἐκ τῶν ἰδιωμάτων αὐτὸν καλεῖ· "Κύριος μετὰ σοῦ". Καὶ δείκνυται τὸ ταπεινὸν τοῦ τοιούτου νοὸς ἐκ τῆς ἀποκρίσεως· εἶπεν γάρ· "Καὶ εἰ ἔστιν Κύριος ἐν ἡμῖν, εἰς τί ηὗρεν ἡμᾶς τὰ κακὰ ταῦτα;" «Καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ ἄγγελος· "Πορεύου ἐν τῇ ἰσχύϊ σου· ταύτῃ σώσῃς τὸν Ἰσραήλ"», τουτέστιν ἐν τῇ ἰσχύϊ τῆς πράξεως καὶ τῆς γνώσεως. «Καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς τὸν ἄγγελον· "Εἰ εὖρον χάριν ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς σου, μὴ δὴ κινηθῇς ἐντεῦθεν ἕως τοῦ ἐλθεῖν με πρὸς σέ"». «Καὶ Γεδεὼν εἰσῆλθεν καὶ 14Α_126 ἐποίησεν ἔριφον αἰγῶν καὶ ἔλαβεν οἰφὶ σεμιδάλεως καὶ ἄζυμα καὶ τὰ κρέα ἔθηκεν ἐν τῷ κοφίνῳ καὶ τὸν ζωμὸν ἔθηκεν ἐν τῇ χύτρᾳ καὶ ἐξήνεγκεν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τὴν τερέβινθον καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ ἄγγελος· "Λάβε τὰ κρέα καὶ τοὺς ἀζύμους καὶ θὲς πρὸς τὴν πέτραν ἐκείνην καὶ τὸν ζωμὸν ἔκχεον ἐπ᾽ αὐτῇ». Καὶ ἐποίησεν οὕτως». Ὅτ᾽ ἂν γὰρ νόημα πνευματικὸν καταπεμφθῇ τῷ νῷ καὶ εὕρῃ ὁ νοῦς ἁρμόσαι τῇ τοιαύτῃ γνώσει διὰ τῶν προσφυῶν πράξεων τὰ ἐπιβάλλοντα, οὐκ ἀποκινεῖται ἡ γνῶσις. Τὸ δὲ ἐξενεγκεῖν τὰ κρέα καὶ τοὺς ἀζύμους καὶ τὸν ζωμὸν σημαίνει τὴν πρᾶξιν μετὰ τοῦ ἀτύφου περικεχυμένην τῇ γνώσει· τοῦτο γὰρ δηλοῖ ὁ ζωμός. Θεῖναι δὲ ταῦτα πρὸς τὴν πέτραν προστέταχεν· δεῖ γὰρ γνῶσίν τε καὶ πρᾶξιν τῇ εἰς Χριστὸν πίστει συνάπτεσθαι. «Καὶ ἐξέτεινεν ὁ ἄγγελος τὸ ἄκρον τῆς ῥάβδου τῆς ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἥψατο τῶν κρεῶν καὶ ἀνέβη πῦρ ἐκ τῆς πέτρας καὶ κατέφαγεν τὰ κρέα καὶ τοὺς ἀζύμους καὶ ὁ ἄγγελος ἀπῆλθεν ἐξ ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτοῦ». Ὅτ᾽ ἂν γὰρ ἡ τοιαύτη πρᾶξις καὶ γνῶσις τῇ πίστει τελειωθῶσιν, τότε τὸ πῦρ τοῦ Πνεύματος φωτεινὰς ἀπεργάζεται ταύτας καὶ ὁ τῆς ἀρχῆς τῆς γνώσεως λόγος συναφίπταται· οὐκέτι γὰρ ὡς τὸ πρότερον παρέπεται ὑπομιμνήσκων· ὅλῳ γὰρ τῷ φωτὶ τοῦ Πνεύματος ὁ νοῦς ἐγκραθεὶς οὐκέτι τοῖς ἐναρχθεῖσιν προσκάθηται.

Ὁ δὲ πόκος σημαίνει τὴν Ἰουδαϊκὴν λατρείαν· ἐπ᾽ αὐτὴν γὰρ ἐγένετο δρόσος· εἶχεν γὰρ δικαιώματα λατρείας. Εἰς δὲ «πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ξηρασία»· πάντα γὰρ τὰ ἔθνη ξηρὰ ἐτύγχανον τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ γνώσεως. Τὸ δὲ ἐκπιάσαι εἰς τὴν λεκάνην τὸ ὕδωρ ἐσήμανεν τὴν μέλλουσαν τοῦ βαπτίσματος χάριν· εἶχεν γὰρ ἡ Παλαιὰ ἐν πολλοῖς τύπους τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος· οὗτοι οὖν ἐκπιασθέντες ἐν τῇ λεκάνῃ τοῦ βαπτίσματος τὸ κατ᾽ αὐτὸ μυστήριον ἡμῖν ὑπέδειξαν. Τὸ δὲ δευτερῶσαι καὶ ἀνάπαλιν τὸν μὲν πόκον ἔχειν τὴν ξηρασίαν, πᾶσαν δὲ τὴν γῆν δρόσον, ἐσήμαινεν τὴν χάριν τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου· πᾶσα γὰρ ἡ γῆ τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς 14Α_128 ἐπληρώθη δρόσου· κατελείφθη δὲ ξηρὸς πάσης πίστεως ὁ Ἰουδαίων λαός. Εἰς δὲ τὸν καθένα· πόκος ἐστὶν ἡ ἠθικὴ φιλοσοφία ἐκπιεζομένη εἰς τὴν λεκάνην τῆς γνώσεως· τὸ δὲ τὴν γῆν πᾶσαν ἔχειν τὴν δρόσον σημαίνει ὅτι μετὰ τὴν κατόρθωσιν τῆς ἠθικῆς φιλοσοφίας πᾶσα ἡ γῆ τῆς καρδίας πληροῦται θείας γνώσεως. Εἰ δὲ ἐπὶ μόνῃ τῇ τῶν ἠθῶν κατορθώσει δίχα τῆς προσφυοῦς γνώσεως ἐπαίρεταί τις, ὁ τοιοῦτος τὴν μὲν γῆν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ καρδίας ἄνικμον ἔχει, τὴν δὲ ἔξω σκηνὴν ὥσπερ πόκον καλλωπίζων φαίνεται.

Τὸ δὲ ἐξιόντι τῷ Γεδεὼν εἰς τὴν παράταξιν ὑποστρέψαι τὰς δέκα χιλιάδας, σημαίνει τοὺς δειλίᾳ τὸ ἐπίπονον τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀποδιδράσκοντας, προδιδούντων τὰς αἰσθήσεις καὶ τὰς αὐτῶν ἐνεργείας. Αἱ δὲ εἴκοσι χιλιάδες αἱ κύπτουσαι ἐπὶ κοιλίαν