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and drinking this water are those who have betrayed the sensible things along with the senses; for the four elements combined with the five senses make up twenty. These, rolling themselves on the ground, that is, overcome by earthly passion, try to drink the water of knowledge; whom the Word casts out, being rejects from the spiritual battle-line. But he chooses only the three hundred who lapped; and these are they who have crucified themselves and have kept the three powers of the soul safe in the hundredfold of perfection; for a hundred is the decad of the commandments multiplied by ten, with each commandment containing the other and to speak more clearly, the one being ten; whence also to Sarah, when she had advanced, the rho was added, the Word signifying her perfection in virtue. These, lapping with their hands, drink the water; for through the labors of practice they draw up the water of knowledge. And the general of the spiritual battle-line 14Α_130 commands these to hold in the left hand pitchers having torches inside, and in the right a horn, and thus to engage with the enemies, signifying by these things that he who is about to be arrayed against the invisible enemies must through practice—for this is the left hand—hold the body, which has already through asceticism cast off all moisture of passions and become dry like a potsherd, having within it the light of knowledge, and with the right hand, that is, with contemplation, to hold the teaching of the Word; for this is the horn. And the breaking of the pitchers signifies that the perfect mortification of the flesh and the contempt for it uncovers for us the light of knowledge.

And to say "a sword for the Lord and for Gideon" signifies that he who brings to bear the cutting Word of the Lord, along with his own zeal, destroys the passions. And the dream which the Midianites saw indicates that when the mind begins to give itself over to asceticism and to afflict the body, the demons of fornication infer as if through a dream that "if the mind is able to extend itself in such asceticism, it will kill us"; for a rolling barley cake, that is, advancing asceticism, overturns the tents of the foreigners, that is, the passions which constitute the demons.

QUESTION 81 What is the meaning of what was said by the Lord to the apostles, "behold, I am

with you until the end of the age"? ANSWER The Lord Himself is said to be with us in the present age, 14Α_132 but in

the age to come the saints will be with Him, having been deified by grace. QUESTION 82 What does Jericho signify, and who is Achar who stole from the devoted thing, and why does

God command him to be burned, but Joshua stoned him? ANSWER Whoever, having been enrolled in the divine battle-line, circles Jericho seven times

blowing a trumpet, that is, journeying through the seven-day age of this time with the trumpet of the Gospel, is taught to devote all things of this age to God. But whoever purloins a tongue and hides it in the earth, that is, the word in the earthly wisdom of the world, or also a fine cloak—which is a garment, that is, practicing a character for the pleasure of those watching—and two hundred pieces of gold, that is, all sensible things with the senses, having hidden these pieces of gold in the earth of his own carnal pleasure, this person is killed by the commanding Word, first boiling against him like a fire, and then being struck by divine words as if by stones.

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καὶ πίνουσαι τόδε τὸ ὕδωρ εἰσὶν οἱ τὰ αἰσθητὰ προδώσαντες μετὰ τῶν αἰσθήσεων· τὰ γὰρ τέσσαρα στοιχεῖα συντιθέμενα ταῖς πέντε αἰσθήσεσιν ἀποτελεῖ τὸν εἴκοσι. Οὗτοι τῇ γῇ προσκυλινδούμενοι, τουτέστιν τῇ γηΐνῃ προσπαθείᾳ ἡττημένοι, τὸ ὕδωρ τῆς γνώσεως πειρῶνται πίνειν· οὓς ὁ λόγος ἀποβλήτους τῆς πνευματικῆς παρατάξεως ὄντας ἀποβάλλεται. Τριακοσίους δὲ μόνον ἐκλέγεται τοὺς λάμψαντας· οὗτοι δέ εἰσιν οἱ σταυρώσαντες ἑαυτοὺς καὶ τὰς τρεῖς τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεις τῇ ἑκατοντάδι τῆς τελειότητος σώας φυλάξαντες· ἑκατοντὰς γάρ ἐστιν ἡ δεκαπλουμένη τῶν ἐντολῶν δεκάς, ἑκάστης ἐντολῆς τὴν ἑτέραν ἐνπεριεχούσης καὶ σαφέστερον εἰπεῖν ἡ μία δέκα οὖσα· ὅθεν καὶ τῇ Σάρρᾳ προκοψάσῃ προσετέθη τὸ ῥό, δηλοῦντος τοῦ λόγου τὸ κατ᾽ ἀρετὴν αὐτῆς τέλειον. Οὗτοι δὲ λάμπτοντες ταῖς χερσὶν τὸ ὕδωρ πίνουσιν· διὰ γὰρ τῶν πόνων τῆς πράξεως τὸ ὕδωρ ἀρύονται τῆς γνώσεως. Κελεύει δὲ τούτοις ὁ τῆς πνευματικῆς παρατάξεως 14Α_130 στρατηγὸς κρατεῖν ἐν μὲν τῇ ἀριστερᾷ ὑδρίας ἔνδον ἐχούσας λαμπάδας, ἐν δὲ δεξιᾷ κερατίνην, καὶ οὕτως τοῖς πολεμίοις συμπλέκεσθαι, σημαίνων διὰ τούτων ὅτι δεῖ τὸν πρὸς τοὺς ἀοράτους ἐχθροὺς παρατάττεσθαι μέλλοντα διὰ τῆς πρακτικῆς τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ ἀριστερὰ χείρ κρατεῖν τὸ σῶμα ἤδη διὰ τῆς ἀσκήσεως ἀποβάλλοντα πᾶσαν παθῶν νοτίδα καὶ ξηρὸν ὀστράκου τάξιν γενόμενον, ἔνδον ἔχον τὸ φῶς τῆς γνώσεως, τῇ δὲ δεξιᾷ, τουτέστιν τῇ θεωρίᾳ, κατέχειν τὴν τοῦ λόγου διδασκαλίαν· αὐτὴ γὰρ ἡ κερατίνη. Τὸ δὲ συντρίβειν τὰς ὑδρίας σημαίνει ὅτι ἡ τελεία νέκρωσις τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ ἡ ταύτης ὑπεροψία ἐκκαλύπτει ἡμῖν τὸ φῶς τῆς γνώσεως.

Τὸ δὲ λέγειν "ῥομφαία τῷ Κυρίῳ καὶ τῷ Γεδεὼν" σημαίνει ὅτι ὁ τὸν λόγον τοῦ Κυρίου τὸν τμητικὸν ἐπιφερόμενος μετὰ καὶ τῆς ἰδίας σπουδῆς, ἀναιρεῖ τὰ πάθη. Τὸ δὲ ἐνύπνιον ὅπερ εἶδον οἱ Μαδιηναῖοι δηλοῖ ὅτι ἡνίκα ἄρξηται ὁ νοῦς τῇ ἀσκήσει ἑαυτὸν ἐκδιδόναι καὶ κακουχεῖν τὸ σῶμα, τεκμαίρονται οἱ τῆς πορνείας δαίμονες ὥσπερ δι᾽ ἐνυπνίου ὅτι "εἰ ἐξισχύσει ἐπεκτεῖναι ἑαυτὸν ὁ νοῦς τῇ τοιαύτῃ ἀσκήσει, ἀποκτέννει ἡμᾶς»· μαγὶς γὰρ κριθίνη κυλιομένη, τουτέστιν ἄσκησις προβαίνουσα, καταστρέφει τὰς σκηνὰς τῶν ἀλλοφύλων, τὰ συστατικὰ δηλαδὴ τῶν δαιμόνων πάθη.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 81 Τί ἐστιν τὸ πρὸς τοὺς ἀποστόλους ἀπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου εἰρημένον τὸ «ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ

μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν εἰμι ἕως τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος»; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος λέγεται μεθ᾽ ἡμῶν εἶναι ἐν τῷ νῦν αἰῶνι, 14Α_132 ἐν δὲ

τῷ μέλλοντι οἱ ἅγιοι μετ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἔσονται, τῇ χάριτι θεωθέντες. ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 82 Τί σημαίνει ἡ Ἰεριχὼ καὶ τίς ὁ Ἀχὰρ ὁ κλέψας ἐκ τοῦ ἀναθέματος καὶ διατί ὁ

μὲν Θεὸς καῆναι αὐτὸν προστάσσει, ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς ἐλιθοβόλησεν αὐτόν; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ὅστις εἰς παράταξιν θείαν καταλεγεὶς κυκλοῖ τὴν Ἰεριχὼ ἑπτὰ περιόδοις

σαλπίζων, τουτέστιν διοδεύων τὸν ἑβδοματικὸν τοῦ χρόνου τούτου αἰῶνα τῇ σάλπιγγι τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου, διδάσκεται πάντα τὰ τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου τῷ Θεῷ ἀνατιθέναι. Ὅστις δὲ νοσφίσηται γλῶσσαν καὶ κρύψει ἐν τῇ γῇ, τουτέστιν τὸν λόγον ἐν τῇ γηΐνῃ τοῦ κόσμου σοφίᾳ, ἢ καὶ ψιλήν ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἱμάτιον τουτέστιν τὸ ἦθος πρὸς ἀρέσκειαν τῶν θεωμένων ἐξασκῶν, καὶ διακοσίους χρυσοῦς, τουτέστιν τὰ αἰσθητὰ πάντα μετὰ τῶν αἰσθήσεων, οὕστινας χρυσοῦς ἐν τῇ γῇ τῆς ἰδίας σαρκικῆς ἀπολαύσεως κατακρύψας, οὗτος ὑπὸ τοῦ στρατηγοῦντος λόγου πρῶτον μὲν ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ πυρὸς δίκην ζέσαντος, ἔπειτα δὲ καὶ θείοις λόγοις οἱονεὶ λίθοις βαλλόμενος ἀποκτέννυται.