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and respiratory organs, not receiving the whole of the air or the light or the voice—since otherwise participation in these things would not be left for another—but each partakes according to the capacity proportionally present in it, so also the mercy of God gives both forgiveness and grace according to the quality of the dispositions of each of the subjects; for instance, if one has repented completely, he is completely forgiven; if one has repented partially, he is partially forgiven; likewise also in the case of the one who loves.

QUESTION 103 From the same; "and the wrath in proportion to the sins and a cup in

the hand of the Lord called and a cup of stumbling drunk to the dregs, even if for all He removes something of what is deserved and mixes the unmixed wrath with loving-kindness; bending from the abrupt toward the yielding."

RESPONSE "Hand of the Lord" is the creative and preservative power, a doer of good

and a rejecter of ill; every sin, therefore, as soon as it exists, also has the judgment from its end fixed upon it. 14Α_158 And it bends from the abrupt toward the yielding, by suggesting to the soul through the saving commandments the repentance that voids such a judgment.

QUESTION 104 A question on a difficult passage from the oration 'On Good Order' of Saint Gregory the

Theologian; "how is word the offspring of mind and begets word in another mind"? Concerning what kind of word, then, does he speak, the internal or the expressed?

RESPONSE Our fathers say that nothing is uncomposed and simple in its essence except

only the Divine, but all other things, as many as have their being after God and from God, are of essence and quality or power, that is, of essence and accident. If this is so, then certainly the soul, being mind according to its power, has itself as unbegotten, begetting for itself in the manner of a begotten thing, so that the word that is in the mind and begotten from the mind is other than that mind which begets it along with the property according to its begetting which in no way admits of reversal. This word, therefore, both being and being begotten in this way, taking the voice of the ministering nature, is expressed and begets a word in another mind, being transmitted to the mind through the hearing of the one receiving it. But it begets a word in another mind, not by creating a word in the other but by giving the power of a species, so to speak, and of a form for the formation of a concept in the one who hears.

14Α_160 QUESTION 105 From the pacific oration of the same Saint Gregory; "a perfect triad from

three perfect ones, the monad having been moved on account of its richness, and the dyad having been surpassed because of matter and form, from which bodies also come, the triad having been defined by perfection; for it is the first to transcend the composition of the dyad."

RESPONSE He does not here posit the cause for the being of the divine and blessed Trinity, which is beyond

cause and reason, but of our being led by the hand to the truest piety of the holy Trinity. For just as from the essence of beings we conceive of their originator, so also the manner of existence of the ineffable divinity we are mystically taught from certain symbols among beings, that is, of the holy divinity itself moving us to the knowledge of itself and providing pious starting-points for daring to examine the manner of its supernatural existence. It is said, therefore, to be moved either on account of us who are moved toward it or as the cause of our movement toward the knowledge of it. It moved itself, therefore, in us so that we might know that there is some

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καὶ ἀναπνευστικὴν οὐχ ὅλον εἰσδεχομένας τὸν ἀέρα ἢ τὸ φῶς ἢ τὴν φωνήν ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἂν ἄλλῳ ὑπελείφθη ἡ ἐκ τούτων μετοχή ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὴν ἀναλόγως προσοῦσαν δύναμιν ἑκάστῳ μετέχει, οὕτως καὶ ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐλεημοσύνη κατὰ τὴν ἑκάστου τῶν ὑποκειμένων διαθέσεων ποιότητα καὶ τὴν ἄφεσιν καὶ τὴν χάριν δίδωσιν· οἷον, τελείως τις μετενόησεν, τελείως καὶ ἀφίεται· μερικῶς μετενόησεν, μερικῶς καὶ ἀφίεται· ὡσαύτως καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀγαπῶντος.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 103 Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ· «καὶ ἡ ὀργὴ κατὰ λόγον τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων καὶ ποτήριον ἐν

χειρὶ Κυρίου προσαγορευομένη καὶ κόνδυ πτώσεως ἐκπινόμενον, εἰ καὶ πᾶσιν ὑφαιρεῖ τι τῆς ἀξίας καὶ τὸ τῆς ὀργῆς ἄκρατον φιλανθρωπίᾳ κίρνησι· κλίνων μὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀποτόμου πρὸς τὸ ἐνδόσιμον».

ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ «Χεὶρ Κυρίου» ἐστὶν ἡ δημιουργικὴ δύναμις καὶ συντηρητικὴ καὶ τοῦ εὖ

ποιητικὴ καὶ τοῦ φεῦ ἀποποιητική· πᾶσα οὖν ἁμαρτία, ἅμα ὑποστῇ, καὶ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ τέλους ἐπ᾽ αὐτῇ κρίσιν ἔχει παραπεπηγμένην. 14Α_158 Κλινεῖ δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀποτόμου πρὸς τὸ ἐνδόσιμον, διὰ τῶν σωτηρίων ἐντολῶν ὑποτιθεμένη τῇ ψυχῇ τὴν κενωτικὴν τῆς τοιαύτης κρίσεως μετάνοιαν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 104 Ἐρώτησις ἀπόρου ἐκ τοῦ 'Περὶ εὐταξίας' λόγου τοῦ ἁγίου Γρηγορίου τοῦ

Θεολόγου· «πῶς λόγος νοῦ γέννημα καὶ γεννᾷ λόγον ἐν ἄλλῳ νοΐ»; Περὶ ποίου ἄρα λέγει λόγου, τοῦ ἐνδιαθέτου ἢ τοῦ προφορικοῦ;

ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Φασὶν οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν μὴ εἶναι τὸ ἄφετον καὶ ἁπλοῦν κατὰ τὴν οὐσίαν ἢ

μόνον τὸ Θεῖον, τὰ δὲ ἄλλα πάντα, ὅσα μετὰ Θεὸν καὶ ἐκ Θεοῦ τὸ εἶναι ἔχει, ἐξ οὐσίας καὶ ποιότητος ἤτουν δυνάμεως εἶναι, τουτέστιν ἐξ οὐσίας καὶ συμβεβηκότος. Εἰ δὲ τοῦτο, πάντως καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ νοῦς ὑπάρχουσα κατὰ τὴν δύναμιν αὐτῆς, ἔχει ὡς ἀγέννητον ἑαυτήν, ἑαυτῷ γεννῶντα γεννητῶς, ὡς εἶναι τὸν λόγον τὸν ἐν τῷ νῷ καὶ ἐκ τοῦ νοῦ γεννώμενον ἄλλον αὐτῷ ἐκεῖνο τὸν γεννῶντα νοῦν μετὰ τῆς κατὰ τὴν γέννησιν ἰδιότητος τῆς μηδαμῶς δεχομένης ἀντιστροφήν. Αὐτὸς οὖν ὁ λόγος ὁ οὕτω καὶ ὢν καὶ γεννώμενος, τῆς ὑπουργοῦ φύσεως τὴν φωνὴν λαμβάνων, προφέρεται καὶ γεννᾷ λόγον ἐν ἄλλῳ νοΐ, διὰ τῆς τοῦ δεχομένου ἀκοῆς τῷ νῷ παραπεμπόμενος. Γεννᾷ δὲ λόγον ἐν ἄλλῳ νοΐ, οὐ δημιουργῶν λόγον ἐν ἄλλῳ ἀλλὰ διδοὺς εἴδους, ἵν᾽ οὕτως εἴπω, καὶ μορφῆς δύναμιν πρὸς τὸ σχηματίσαι νόημα τῷ ἀκούοντι.

14Α_160 ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 105 Ἐκ τοῦ λόγου τοῦ εἰρηνικοῦ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἁγίου Γρηγορίου· «τριάδα τελείαν ἐκ

τριῶν τελείων, μονάδος μὲν κινηθείσης διὰ τὸ πλούσιον, δυάδος δὲ ὑπερβαθείσης διὰ τὴν ὕλην καὶ τὸ εἶδος ἐξ ὧν καὶ τὰ σώματα, τριάδος ὁρισθείσης διὰ τὸ τέλειον· πρώτη γὰρ ὑπερβαίνει δυάδος σύνθεσιν».

ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Οὐ τοῦ εἶναι τὴν θείαν καὶ μακαρίαν Τριάδα αἰτίαν ἐνταῦθα τίθεται, τῆς ὑπὲρ

αἰτίαν καὶ λόγον, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἡμῶν πρὸς τὴν ἀληθεστάτην εὐσέβειαν τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος χειραγωγίας. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐκ τῆς οὐσίας τῶν ὄντων τὸν γενεσιουργὸν ἐννοοῦμεν, οὕτω καὶ τὸν τρόπον τῆς ὑπάρξεως τῆς ὑπεραρρήτου θεότητος ἔκ τινων τῶν κατὰ τὰ ὄντα συμβόλων μυστικῶς διδασκόμεθα, αὐτῆς δηλονότι τῆς ἁγίας θεότητος κινούσης ἡμᾶς εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἑαυτῆς καὶ εὐσεβεῖς παρεχούσης ἀφορμὰς πρὸς τὸ τολμᾶν ἐξετάζειν τὸν τρόπον τῆς ὑπερφυοῦς αὐτῆς ὑπάρξεως. Λέγεται οὖν κινεῖσθαι ἢ δι᾽ ἡμᾶς τοὺς ἐπ᾽ αὐτὴν κινουμένους ἢ ὡς αἰτία τῆς ἡμῶν πρὸς τὴν γνῶσιν αὐτῆς κινήσεως. Ἐκίνησεν οὖν ἑαυτὴν ἐν ἡμῖν πρὸς τὸ γνῶναι ὅτι ἔστιν τις