,

Returning, he saw a fig tree by the road having only leaves, that is, the one existing in shadows and types, namely the bodily worship of the law, according to the unstable and transitory tradition, lying as it were by the road, and being only of passing types and ordinances. Which the Logos, having seen elegantly and abundantly adorned, just like a fig tree, with external coverings of the bodily observances of the law, like leaves, and not finding fruit, that is, of righteousness, as not nourishing reason he cursed it, or rather, he commanded that the truth no longer be concealed, being dominated by the types according to the law. Which indeed was shown to have come to pass through the works, with the legal comeliness which has its being in mere figures having been completely withered, and the pride of the Jews in it having been extinguished. For it was not reasonable nor indeed opportune, when the truth of the fruits of righteousness had been plainly shown, for the desire of those who run through the present life as a road to be deceived and persuaded by leaves, having abandoned the edible good fruit of the Logos. Therefore he says, it was not the season for figs; that is, the time during which the law held sway over human nature was not one of fruits of righteousness, but was an adumbration of the fruits in righteousness and, as it were, a herald of the future saving divine and ineffable grace for all. To which not having attained, the 14Β_120 old people perished through unbelief. For Israel, says the divine apostle, pursuing a law of righteousness, that is, the one in shadow and types, did not attain to a law of righteousness, that is, the one perfected in the Spirit according to Christ.

Or again, since the multitude of the priests and scribes and lawyers and Pharisees, having been sick with vain glory through the display of supposedly reverent fabricated morals, nourished the pride born of conceit by seeming to pursue righteousness, the account says that the conceit of those mentioned is a fruitless fig tree, flourishing only in its leaves. Which he who longs for the salvation of all men and hungers for their deification, cursing it as fruitless, withers, so that, preferring being righteous to seeming to be righteous, having cast off the tunic of moral display according to hypocrisy, and having pursued the virtuous one, as the divine Logos wills, without adulteration, they may live their lives piously, showing the disposition of the soul to God rather than the outward shaping of morals to men.

But if we Christians too are some such people, shaping reverence through our manners without righteousness in our works, let us await the Logos, as a lover of mankind who hungers for our salvation, withering the seed of vice in the soul, that is, conceit, so that it no longer bears the fruit of corruption, which is pleasing men.

You have, according to my poor ability, the power of the account, which according to the narrative set forth has shown the Lord to be hungering for a good purpose and usefully cursing the fig tree and withering it at the right time, as an impediment to the truth, whether this be the old tradition of bodily types according to the law, or the conceit of the Pharisees and of ourselves regarding our morals.

21. CONCERNING "HAVING STRIPPED OFF THE PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS". 21. QUESTION 21. What is "having stripped off the principalities and the powers" and so forth? And how indeed

had he been clothed with them at all, having been born without sin? Response. The one who in every way like us, apart from sin alone, unchangeably assumed

our nature, the divine Logos, having become a perfect man, had the first Adam manifest in the modes according to his origin and birth. For instance, the

ἐπανιών, εἶδε συκῆν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ φύλλα μόνον ἔχουσαν, τὴν ἐν σκιαῖς ὑπάρχουσαν καὶ τύποις, σωματικὴν δηλαδὴ τοῦ νόμου λατρείαν κατὰ τὴν ἄστατον καὶ παροδικήν, ὡς ἐν ὁδῷ κειμένην, παράδοσιν, καὶ μόνων οὖσαν τῶν παρερχομένων τύπων τε καὶ θεσμῶν· ἣν θεασάμενος ὁ Λόγος κομψῶς τε καὶ ἀμφιλαφῶς, καθάπερ συκῆν, τοῖς ἐκτός, ὥσπερ φύλλοις, περιβλήμασι τῶν σωματικῶν τοῦ νόμου παρατηρημάτων κεκοσμημένην, καὶ μὴ εὑρηκὼς καρπόν, δηληνότι δικαιοσύνης, ὡς λόγον μὴ τρέφουσαν κατηράσατο, μᾶλλον δὲ προσέταξε μηκέτι τοῖς κατὰ νόμον τύποις δυναστευομένην καλύπτεσθαι τὴν ἀλήθειαν· ὃ δὴ προβὰν ἐδείχθη διὰ τῶν ἔργων, καταξηρανθείσης παντελῶς τῆς ἐν μόνοις σχήμασιν ἐχούσης τὸ εἶναι νομικῆς ὡραιότητος καὶ τοῦ ἐπ᾽ αὐτῇ τύφου τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀποσβεσθέντος. Οὐ γὰρ ἦν εὔλογον οὔτε μὴν εὔκαιρον, τῆς ἀληθείας τῶν τῆς δικαιοσύνης καρπῶν ἐμφανῶς δειχθείσης, ἀπατωμένην παραπείθεσθαι φύλλοις τὴν ὄρεξιν τῶν τὴν παροῦσαν ζωὴν ὡς ὁδὸν παρατρεχόντων, ἀφέντων τοῦ Λόγου τὴν ἐδώδιμον εὐκαρπίαν. ∆ιό φησιν οὐκ ἦν ὁ καιρὸς σύκων· ὁ χρόνος δηλαδὴ καθ᾽ ὃν ἐκράτει τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως ὁ νόμος, οὐκ ἦν δικαιοσύνης καρπῶν, ἀλλ᾽ εἰκονιστικὸς τῶν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ καρπῶν καὶ οἷον τῆς μελλούσης πάντων σωστικῆς θείας καὶ ἀπορρήτου χάριτος μηνυτικός· εἰς ἣν μὴ φθάσας ὁ 14Β_120 παλαιὸς διὰ τῆς ἀπιστίας ἀπώλετο λαός. Ἰσραὴλ γάρ, φησὶν ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος, διώκων νόμον δικαιοσύνης, τὸν ἐν σκιᾷ δηλονότι καὶ τύποις, εἰς νόμον δικαιοσύνης οὐκ ἔφθασε, τὸν ἐν Πνεύματι κατὰ Χριστὸν δηλαδὴ τελειούμενον.

Ἢ πάλιν, ἐπειδὴ τῶν ἱερέων καὶ γραμματέων καὶ νομικῶν καὶ Φαρισαίων ἡ πληθύς, τὴν κενὴν νοσήσασα δόξαν διὰ τῆς τῶν εὐλαβῶς δῆθεν πεπλασμένων ἠθῶν ἐπιδείξεως, τῷ δοκεῖν μετιέναι δικαιοσύνην τὸν ἐκ τῆς οἰήσεως διέτρεφε τῦφον, συκῆν ἄκαρπον μόνοις κομῶσαν τοῖς φύλλοις εἶναί φησι τῶν εἰρημένων τὴν οἴησιν ὁ λόγος· ἣν ὁ τῆς σωτηρίας ὀρεγόμενος πάντων ἀνθρώπων καὶ πεινῶν αὐτῶν τὴν ἐκθέωσιν ὡς ἄκαρπον καταρώμενος ἀποξηραίνει, ὅπως, τοῦ δοκεῖν εἶναι δίκαιοι τὸ εἶναι μᾶλλον προκρίναντες, τὸν μὲν καθ᾽ ὑπόκρισιν τῆς ἠθικῆς ἐπιδείξεως ἐκδυσάμενοι χιτῶνα, τὸν ἐνάρετον δέ, καθὼς ὁ θεῖος βούλεται Λόγος, ἀνοθεύτως μετελθόντες, εὐσεβῶς τὴν ζωὴν διενέγκωσι, Θεῷ μᾶλλον τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν διάθεσιν ἢ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὸν ἐκτὸς ἐπιδεικνύμενοι περὶ τὰ ἤθη σχηματισμόν.

Εἰ δὲ καὶ τῶν Χριστιανῶν ἐσμεν τοιοῦτοί τινες, τὴν εὐλάβειαν διὰ τῶν τρόπων σχηματιζόμενοι δίχα τῆς ἐπ᾽ ἔργοις δικαιοσύνης, ἐκδεξώμεθα τὸν Λόγον, ὡς φιλάνθρωπον ἡμῶν πεινῶντα τὴν σωτηρίαν, ἀποξηραίνοντα τῆς ψυχῆς τὸ τῆς κακίας σπέρμα, τὴν οἴησιν, μηκέτι φθορᾶς καρπὸν φέρουσαν τὴν ἀνθρωπαρεσκίαν.

Ἔχετε, κατὰ τὴν ἐμὴν πενιχρὰν δύναμιν, τοῦ λόγου τὴν δύναμιν, κατὰ τὴν ἐκδοθεῖσαν ἀφήγησιν καλῶς πεινῶντα τὸν Κύριον χρησίμως τε τὴν συκῆν καταρώμενον καὶ εὐκαίρως ξηραίνοντα δείξασαν, ὡς ἐμποδιστικὴν τῆς ἀληθείας, εἴτε τὴν παλαιὰν κατὰ τὸν νόμον τῶν σωματικῶν τύπων παράδοσιν, εἴτε τὴν τῶν Φαρισαίων καὶ ἡμῶν ἐπὶ τοῖς ἤθεσιν οἴησιν.

ΚΑ (21). ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ "ΑΠΕΚ∆ΥΣΑΜΕΝΟΣ ΤΑΣ ΑΡΧΑΣ ΚΑΙ ΤΑΣ ΕΞΟΥΣΙΑΣ". 21. ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΚΑ' Τί ἐστιν ἀπεκδυσάμενος τὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ τὰς ἐξουσίας καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς; Πῶς δὲ καὶ

ἦν αὐτὰς ὅλως ἐνδυσάμενος, ἁμαρτίας χωρὶς γεγενημένος; Ἀπόκρισις. Ὁ κατὰ πάντα τρόπον ὁμοίως ἡμῖν, δίχα μόνης ἁμαρτίας, ἀτρέπτως ὑποδὺς

τὴν ἡμετέραν φύσιν θεαρχικὸς Λόγος, τέλειος γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος, τὸν πρῶτον Ἀδὰμ εἶχε τοῖς κατὰ τὴν γένεσίν τε καὶ γέννησιν τρόποις φαινόμενον. Οἷον, ὁ