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13. A CONTEMPLATION OF TYRE ... A contemplation of Tyre and of its king, and of its capture. Thus again, as it is written, At that time, having seized

Assyria, and having killed its king with a sword, and having utterly destroyed every breathing thing in it, which was formerly ruler of all the lands, he was taught—whose mysteries a type has set forth in these words—that our true Savior Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the destroyer of wicked powers and the inheritor of those worthy of grace, at the time of His incarnation, having seized sin and its king the devil through the cross (for sin once ruled over all), killed him by the word of His power, and utterly destroyed every breathing thing of it, (14∆_140> that is, the passions within us, and the shameful and wicked thoughts upon them, so that sin might no longer in any way have the power to be moved and to live like a breathing thing in any respect in those who live of Christ and according to Christ.

14. A CONTEMPLATION ON, "THE HEAVENS DECLARE THE GLORY OF GOD"

1121 A contemplation on, "The heavens declare the glory of God." Thus David, who was after them in time, but with them in spirit—that I may pass over the Judges, who have many mysteries in their life—hearing

the heavens declaring the glory of God, and the firmament proclaiming the work of His hands (the wondrous thing, in which the Creator did not place a soul), received with the ears of his mind the words about theology from inanimate things, and was taught the ways of providence and judgment from their effects, as far as is possible for men, not grasping the reasons for those things by which, clearly, the course of the universe is variegated in its parts.

15. A CONTEMPLATION ON, "MY FATHER AND MY MOTHER FORSOOK

ME. " A contemplation on, "My father and my mother forsook me. " Thus again: My father and my mother forsook me, but the Lord

took me up, saying that the abandonment and avoidance of the natural law of the flesh concerning generation and corruption—according to which we are all born and constituted because of the transgression—and of the senses which are like a nursing mother, (14∆_142> is necessary for those who desire incorruptible things, he was, I think, cryptically narrating; through which the visible world is left behind and lets go, but the Lord is received, and by the spiritual law adopting the worthy, and being adopted as a father by the worthy, through virtue and knowledge, as is good, He gives His whole self to them wholly in likeness. Or perhaps through the father and the mother he alludes to the written law and the bodily worship according to it, by the withdrawal of which the light of the spiritual law is wont to arise in the hearts of the worthy, and to grant freedom from the bondage according to the flesh.

16. A CONTEMPLATION ON THE VISION OF ELIJAH IN THE CAVE AT HOREB.

A contemplation on the vision of Elijah in the cave at Horeb.

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ΙΓ (13). ΘΕΩΡΙΑ ΤΥΡΟΥ ... Θεωρία Τύρου καί τοῦ αὐτῆς βασιλέως, καί τῆς ἁλώσεως αὐτῆς. Οὕτω πάλιν καθώς γέγραπται, Ἐν τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ καταλαβόμενος τήν

Ἀσσώρ, καί τόν βασιλέα αὐτῆς ἀποκτείνας ἐν ῥομφαίᾳ, καί πᾶν ἐμπνέον ἐξολοθρεύσας ἐν αὐτῇ, ἥτις ἦν πρότερον ἄρχουσα πασῶν τῶν χωρῶν, ἐδιδάσκετο, ὧν μυστηρίων τύπος προβέβλητο τούς λόγους, ὅτι ὁ ἀληθινός Σωτήρ ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, ὁ Υἱός τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ τῶν πονηρῶν καθαιρέτης δυνάμεων, καί κληροδότης τῶν ἀξίων τῆς χάριτος, κατά τόν καιρόν τῆς αὐτοῦ ἐνανθρωπήσεως διά σταυροῦ καταλαβόμενος τήν ἁμαρτίαν καί τόν βασιλέα αὐτῆς τόν διάβολον (ἦρχε γάρ πάντων ποτέ βασιλεύουσα ἡ ἁμαρτία) ἀπέκτεινε τῷ ῥήματι τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ, καί ἐξωλόθρευσεν αὐτῆς πᾶν ἐμπνέον, (14∆_140> τουτέστι τά πάθη τά ἐν ἡμῖν, καί τά ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς αἰσχρά καί πονηρά ἐνθυμήματα, ἵνα μηδέ τό ὁπωσοῦν ἐν τοῖς τοῦ Χριστοῦ καί κατά Χριστόν ζῶσιν ἐμπνέοντος δίκην καθ᾿ ὁτιοῦν ἔχῃ λοιπόν τό κινεῖσθαι καί ζῇν ἡ ἁμαρτία.

Ι∆ (14). ΘΕΩΡΙΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΟ, «ΟΙ ΟΥΡΑΝΟΙ ∆ΙΗΓΟΥΝΤΑΙ ∆ΟΞΑΝ ΘΕΟΥ»

1121 Θεωρία εἰς τό, "Οἱ οὐρανοί διηγοῦνται δόξαν Θεοῦ». Οὕτω ∆αβίδ ὁ μετ᾿ ἐκείνους μέν τῷ χρόνῳ, κατ᾿ ἐκείνους δέ τῷ πνεύματι, ἵνα

τούς Κριτάς παραδράμω πολλά ἔχοντας ἐν τῷ βίῳ μυστήρια, τήν δόξαν τοῦ Θεοῦ διηγουμένων τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀκούων, καί τήν ποίησιν τῶν χειρῶν αὐτοῦ ἀναγγέλλοντος τοῦ στερεώματος (τό θαυμάσιον, οἷς ψυχήν ὁ ∆ημιουργός οὐκ ἐνέθηκε), τούς περί θεολογίας νοός ἀκοαῖς παρά τῶν ἀψύχων ὑποδέχετο λόγους, καί τούς τῆς προνοίας καί κρίσεως ἐξ ἀποτελέσματος, κατά τό ἀνθρώποις ἐφικτόν, ἐδιδάσκετο τρόπους, τῶν, οἷς δηλονότι κατά μέρος ποικίλλεται ἡ τοῦ παντός διεξαγωγή, οὐκ ἐφικνούμενος λόγων.

ΙΕ (15). ΘΕΩΡΙΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΟ, " Ο ΠΑΤΗΡ ΜΟΥ ΚΑΙ Η ΜΗΤΗΡ ΜΟΥ ΕΓΚΑΤΕΛΙΠΟΝ

ΜΕ. " Θεωρία εἰς τό, " Ὁ πατήρ μου καί ἡ μήτηρ μου ἐγκατέλιπόν με. " Οὕτω πάλιν· Ὁ πατήρ μου καί ἡ μήτηρ μου ἐγκατέλιπόν με, ὁ δέ Κύριος

προσελάβετό με, φάσκων τήν τοῦ κατά φύσιν τῆς σαρκός περί γένεσιν καί φθοράν νόμου, καθ᾿ ὅν πάντες διά τήν παράβασιν καί γεννώμεθα καί συνιστάμεθα, καί τῆς τιθηνούσης ἡμᾶς μητρός δίκην αἰσθήσεως ἀπόλειψίν τε καί ἀποφυγήν (14∆_142> ἀναγκαίαν εἶναι τοῖς τῶν ἀφθάρτων ἐπιθυμηταῖς ἐπικεκρυμμένως, οἶμαι, διηγόρευε· δι᾿ ὧν ὁ μέν ὁρώμενος κόσμος ἀφίεται καί ἀφίησιν, ὁ δέ Κύριος προσλαμβάνεται, καί τῷ πνευματικῷ υἱοθετῶν νόμῳ τούς ἀξίους, καί τοῖς ἀξίοις πατροθετούμενος, δι᾿ ἀρετῆς καί γνώσεως, ὅλον ἑαυτόν ὅλοις αὐτοῖς καθ᾿ ὁμοίωσιν, ὡς ἀγαθός, ἐνδίδωσιν. Ἤ τάχα διά τοῦ πατρός καί τῆς μητρός τόν γραπτόν νόμον καί τήν κατ᾿ αὐτόν σωματικήν λατρείαν αἰνίττεται, ὧν τῇ ὑποχωρήσει τό φῶς τοῦ πνευματικοῦ νόμου ταῖς καρδίαις τῶν ἀξίων ἀνατέλλειν πέφυκε, καί τῆς κατά σάρκα δουλείας ἐλευθερίαν χαρίζεσθαι.

ΙS (16). ΘΕΩΡΙΑ ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΟΠΤΑΣΙΑΝ ΗΛΙΟΥ ΤΗΝ ΕΝ ΤΩ ΣΠΗΛΑΙΩ ΧΩΡΗΒ.

Θεωρία εἰς τήν ὀπτασίαν Ἠλίου τήν ἐν τῷ σπηλαίῳ Χωρήβ.