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they know and see what they attend to. 1.333 See if the phrase, “Who has despised the day of small things?” does not indicate the rare spectator, but a certain one called by some particularly qualified, and by others an individual, similarly to the apostolic saying which goes thus: “Every house is built by someone.” 1.334Zach. IV, 11-14: And I answered and said to him: What are these two olive trees on the right of the lampstand and on the left? And I asked a second time and said to him: What are the two olive branches which are in the hands of the two golden spouts which pour out and supply the golden funnels? And he said to me: Do you not know what these are? And I said: No, Lord. And he said: These are the two sons of fatness who stand by the Lord of all the earth. 1.335 When the angel speaking in the prophet asked, “What do you see?” he answered and said questioningly: “What are the two olive trees on the right and on the left of the lampstand?” When no answer was given to him, he asks a second time about the two olive branches that are in the hands of the two spouts which pour out and supply the golden funnels. To whom the angel said, “Do you not know what these are?” When the prophet said, “No, Lord,” the angel said, “These are the two sons of fatness who stand by the Lord of all the earth.” 1.336 For one who is at the beginning of initiation it is not yet possible to know what the olive trees on the right and on the left of the lampstand are; for this reason he asks a second time about the two olive branches. It has been clarified in what has gone before that they are words of divine study, called olive trees because their fruit increases and feeds the light. 1.337 Since, therefore, it is not possible for one who “knows in part and prophesies in part” to see entirely the trunks and shoots of the plants set forth, he brings a second question about two olive branches, for it is with difficulty possible for one who perceives the truth “through a glass, darkly” to have knowledge of these, so that having benefited from the parts, he might at some time be able to know what the olive trees are. 1.338 And since one of the interpretations according to one of those who have explained the saying took the two olive trees as the word concerning the Son and the Holy Spirit, see if the branches of these olive trees might be taken as the things attainable by one who knows in part. And Christ being the olive tree, the branch would be that the Word became flesh; and of the Holy Spirit, the introductory contemplation of it, called its “pledge.” 1.339 Having asked a second time about these things, the divinely inspired one heard from the initiating angel: “Do you not know what these are?” And when he said, “No, Lord,” “These,” he says, “are the two sons of fatness; they stand by the Lord of all the earth.” 1.340 For in the same way as on the right of the word concerning the Father—and this is the lamp upon the lampstand, as was interpreted a little before—so, the contemplation of the Father being called fatness, its sons are the word concerning the Son and the Holy Spirit, as it is possible for one who is still in the body to know. 1.341 According to another interpretation, the mystical understanding of the divinely inspired scriptures is the fatness of the house of God according to what is said in the thirty-fifth Psalm to the Lord God: “They will be inebriated from the fatness of your house,” clearly “those hoping in the wings of God,” the sons of men, being two sons in that one has come from the circumcision, and the other according to the gospel of Christ. 1.342 Consider if you can take the two sons of fatness who stand by the Lord of all the earth to be those seen in glory with Jesus on the mountain, Moses and Elijah, that is, the legal and prophetic word. For just as the spiritual law is a son of the aforementioned fatness, so also is the elevated word of the prophet. I have read in an apocryphal book that Enoch and Elijah are the two sons of fatness, as is likely because they were more blessed than other men. “For Enoch

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ἐπίστανται καὶ οἷς ἐπιβάλλουσι βλέπουσι. 1.333 Ὅρα εἰ τό· «Τίς ἐξουδένωσεν εἰς ἡμέρας μικράς;» οὐ τὸν σπάνιον θεατὴν δηλοῖ, ἀλλά τινα τὸν παρά τισιν καλούμενον ἰδίως ποιόν, παρ' ἄλλοις δ' ἄτομον, παραπλησίως τῷ ἀποστολικῷ ῥητῷ ἔχοντι οὕτως· «Πᾶς οἶκος κατασκευάζεται ὑπό τινος.» 1.334Zach. IV, 11-14: Καὶ ἀπεκρίθην καὶ εἶπα πρὸς αὐτόν· Τί αἱ δύο ἐλαῖαι αὗτ̣αι αἱ ἐκ δεξιῶν τῆς λυχνίας καὶ ἐξ εὐωνύμων; Καὶ ἐπηρ̣ω´̣τ̣ησα ἐκ δευτέρου καὶ εἶπα πρὸς αὐτόν· Τί οἱ δύο κλάδοι τῶν ἐλαιῶν οἱ ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν τῶν δύο μυξωτήρων τῶν χρυσῶν τῶν ἐπιχεόντων καὶ ἐπαναγόντων τὰς ἐπαρυστρίδας τὰς χρυσάς; Καὶ εἶπεν πρός με· Οὐκ οἶδας τί ἐστιν ταῦτα; Καὶ εἶπα· Οὐχί, Κύριε. Καὶ εἶπεν· Οὗτοι οἱ δύο υἱοὶ τῆς πιότητος παρεστήκασιν τῷ Κυρίῳ πάσης τῆς γῆς. 1.335 Ἐπηρωτήσαντος τοῦ ἀγγέλου τοῦ λαλοῦντος ἐν τῷ προφήτῃ· «Τί βλέπεις σύ;» ἀπεκρίθη καὶ εἶπεν πευστικῶς· «Τίνες αἱ δύο ἐλαῖαι αἱ ἐκ δεξιῶν καὶ ἐξ εὐωνύμων τῆς λυχνίας;» Ἀποκρίσεως αὐτῷ μὴ δοθείσης, ἐκ δευτέρου ἐπερωτᾷ περὶ δύο κλάδων τῶν ἐλαιῶν οἱ ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν τῶν δύο μυξωτήρων τῶν ἐπιχεόντων καὶ ἐπαναγόντων τὰς ἐπαρυστρίδας τὰς χρυσᾶς. Πρὸς ὃν ὁ ἄγγελος· «Οὐ γινώσκεις τί ἐστιν ταῦτα;» Οὐχί, Κύριε, εἰπόντος τοῦ προφήτου, ὁ ἄγγελος ἔφη· «Οὗτοι οἱ δύο υἱοὶ τῆς πιότητος παρεστήκασιν τῷ Κυρίῳ πάσης τῆς γῆς.» 1.336 Τῷ ἀρχὴν ἔχοντι μυσταγωγίας οὐ δυνατόν πω γνῶναι τίνες ἐκ δεξιῶν καὶ ἐξ εὐωνύμων τῆς λυχνίας ἐλαῖαι· διὸ ἐκ δευτέρου ἐπερωτᾷ περὶ κλάδων δύο τῶν ἐλαιῶν. Σεσαφήνισται ἐν τοῖς πρότερον λόγους εἶναι μελέτης θείας, ἐλαίας ὀνομαζομένους διὰ τὸ τὸν καρπὸν αὐτῶν αὔξειν καὶ τρέφειν τὸ φῶς. 1.337 Ἐπεὶ οὖν οὐ δυνατὸν τὸν «ἐκ μέρους γινώσκοντα καὶ προφητεύοντα» θεωρῆσαι ἐξ ὅλων τὰ στελέχη καὶ τὰ ἔρνη τῶν ἐκ̣κειμένων φυτῶν, ἐκ δευτέρου ἐπερώτησιν προσάγει περὶ δύο κλάδων ἐλαιῶν, τούτων γὰρ μόγις γνῶσιν ἔχει̣ν δυνατὸν τὸν «δι' ἐσόπτρου καὶ αἰνίγματος» ἐπιβάλλοντα τ̣ῇ ἀληθείᾳ, ἵν' ἐκ τῶν μερικῶν ὠφεληθεὶς δυνηθῇ π̣ο̣τε γνῶναι τίνες αἱ ἐλαῖαι τυγχάνουσιν. 1.338 Καὶ ἐπεὶ μία ἀποδόσεων κατά τινα τῶν ἐξηγησαμένων τὸ ῥητὸν ὃς τὰς δύο ἐλαίας εἰς τὸν περὶ Υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου Πνεύματος λόγον ἐξέλαβεν, ὅρα εἰ οἱ κλάδοι τῶν ἐλαιῶν τούτων ἐκλαμβάνοιντο τὰ ἐφικτὰ τῷ ἐκ μέρους γινώσκοντι. Καὶ Χριστοῦ μὲν ἐλαίας ὄντος, κλάδος εἴη τὸ σάρκα γεγονέναι τὸν Λόγον· τοῦ δ' ἁγίου Πνεύματος, ἡ εἰσαγωγικὴ θεωρία αὐτοῦ, ὀνομαζομένη «ἀρραβὼν» αὐτοῦ. 1.339 Περὶ τούτων ἐκ δευτέρου ἐπερωτήσας, ὁ θεολημπτούμενος ἤκουσεν πρὸς τοῦ μυσταγωγοῦντος ἀγγέλου· «Οὐ γινώσκεις τί ἐστιν ταῦτα;» Τοῦ δὲ φήσαντος· «Οὐχί, Κύριε», «Οὗτοι, φησίν, εἰσὶν οἱ δύο υἱοὶ τῆς πιότητος· παρεστήκασιν τῷ Κυρίῳ πάσης τῆς γῆς». 1.340 Ὅνπερ γὰρ τρόπον ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ περὶ Πατρὸς λόγου, οὗτος δ' ἐστὶν τὸ λαμπάδιον τὸ ἐπάνω τῆς λυχνίας, ὡς ἡρμήνευται μικρῷ πρότερον, οὕτω τῆς περὶ Πατρὸς θεωρίας πιότητος προσαγορευομένης, υἱοὶ αὐτῆς τυγχάνουσιν ὁ περὶ Υἱοῦ καὶ ἁγίου Πνεύματος λόγος, ὡς ἐνδέχεται γνῶναι τὸν ἔτι ἐν σώματι ὄντα. 1.341 Κατὰ ἀπόδοσιν ἄλλην, ἡ τῶν θεοπνεύστων γραφῶν μυστικὴ νόησις πιότης ἐστὶ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ Θεοῦ κατὰ τὸ λεχθὲν ἐν πέμπτῳ καὶ τριακοστῷ Ψαλμῷ πρὸς τὸν Κύριον Θεόν· «Μεθυσθήσονται ἀπὸ πιότητος οἴκου σου», δῆλον δ' ὅτι «οἱ ἐλπίζοντες ἐν ταῖς πτέρυξιν τοῦ Θεοῦ» ἀνθρώπων υἱοί, δύο υἱοὶ ὄντες τῷ τὸν μὲν ἐκ περιτομῆς γεγενῆσθαι, τὸν δὲ κατὰ τὸ Χριστοῦ εὐαγγέλιον. 1.342 Ἐπίστησον εἰ δύνασαι πιότητος υἱοὺς δύο ἐκλαβεῖν παρεστηκότας τῷ Κυρίῳ πάσης τῆς γῆς, τοὺς ὀφθέντας ἐν δόξῃ μετὰ Ἰησοῦ ἐν τῷ ὄρει Μωϋσέα καὶ Ἠλίαν, τὸν νομικὸν καὶ προφητικὸν δηλονότι λόγον. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ πνευματικὸς νόμος υἱὸς τυγχάνει τῆς ἀποδοθείσης πιότητος, οὕτω καὶ ὁ ἀνηγμένος προφήτου λόγος. Ἀνέγνων ἐν ἀποκρύφῳ βιβλίῳ τὸν Ἐνὼχ καὶ τὸν Ἠλίαν τοὺς δύο υἱοὺς τῆς πιότητος εἶναι, ὡς εἰκὸς διὰ τὸ προσόνασθαι παρὰ τοὺς ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους. «Ὁ μὲν γὰρ Ἐνὼχ