,

SCHOLION. 1. He called "prisons" the state of vice and its activity, for a characteristic of the

state is assent, under which the evil one strives to place the saints. And the "iron gate" the natural disposition of the senses toward 14Β_152 sensible things, from which, like an angel, the logos of practical knowledge delivers the truly faithful one.

25. CONCERNING "CHRIST IS THE HEAD OF EVERY MAN," AND WHAT FOLLOWS. 25. QUESTION 25. What is the meaning of "I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man,

but the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. And every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head; but every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—for that is one and the same as if she were shaven"? And what, again, is the meaning of "For this reason a woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head, because of the angels"?

Response. It must be known that when the divine apostle said that Christ is the head of every man,

Christ, he was clearly declaring Christ to be the head of a man who is faithful in the practice of the divine commandments and the contemplation of pious dogmas, the comprehensive meaning of the statement not including unbelieving men in its scope. For how could Christ be the head of those who do not believe?

Therefore, according to one interpretation, proceeding by the anagogical method, we say that "man" is the practical intellect, which has as its head the logos of faith; looking to this as to Christ, the intellect, built up by the graces of the commandments through practice, establishes its own life, not dishonoring its head, that is, faith, with any external material coverings, by placing nothing of what is temporary and perishable above faith. And we say that the "woman" of such an intellect is the state of practice itself, adorned and covered with many and various practical thoughts and 14Β_154 habits, or rather having the intellect itself as its own head, covered in accordance with the density and comeliness of such thoughts and ways. And we say that "Christ" is faith in hypostasis, whose head is clearly God, to whom the logos of faith leads, showing to the one being led up God in whom he exists by nature.

And again, "man" is the intellect that attends to natural contemplation in the spirit, having as its head the creative logos of the universe, shown forth according to faith from the ordering of visible things, which the intellect does not dishonor by covering it or, as it were, subordinating it to any of the visible things, or by making anything else whatsoever higher than it. And the "woman" of such an intellect is the conjoined sense perception, through which it surveys the nature of sensible things and collects the more divine logoi within them, not allowing her, when uncovered of the rational veils, to become a minister of irrationality and sin, by exchanging the intellect as head for the passion of irrationality through the rejection of the more divine logoi as coverings. And the "head of Christ"—that is, of the creative logos that, according to faith, is revealed through the natural contemplation of created things in proportion to beings—is the ineffable Intellect who begets him according to essence; to whom the Logos through himself brings the intellect that is being led up through the pious contemplation of beings, supplying it with intelligible manifestations of divine things that are commensurate with the knowledge of visible things.

And yet again, "man" is the intellect that has entered into mystical theology, having Christ as an uncovered head, that is, the one who by the indemonstrable

ΣΧΟΛΙΟΝ. 1. Φυλακάς εἶπεν τήν ἕξιν τῆς κακίας καί τήν ἐνέργειαν χαρακτήρ γάρ τῆς

ἕξεως ἡ συγκατάθεσις, ὑφ᾿ ἅς ὁ πονηρός ποιεῖν ἀγωνίζεται τούς ἁγίους. Πύλην δέ σιδηρᾶν τήν πρός 14Β_152 τά αἰσθητά φυσικήν τῶν αἰσθήσεων σχέσιν, ὧν καθάπερ ἄγγελος ἐξαιρεῖται τόν ἀληθῶς πιστόν, ὁ τῆς πρακτικῆς γνώσεως λόγος.

ΚΕ (25). ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ "ΠΑΝΤΟΣ ΑΝ∆ΡΟΣ ΚΕΦΑΛΗ Ο ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ", ΚΑΙ ΤΑ ΕΞΗΣ. 25. ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΚΕ' Τί ἐστι θέλω ὑμᾶς εἰδέναι ὅτι παντὸς ἀνδρὸς ἡ κεφαλὴ ὁ Χριστός ἐστιν,

κεφαλὴ δὲ γυναικὸς ὁ ἀνήρ, κεφαλὴ δὲ Χριστοῦ ὁ Θεός, καὶ πᾶς ἀνὴρ προσευχόμενος ἢ προφητεύων κατὰ κεφαλῆς ἔχων καταισχύνει τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ· πᾶσα δὲ γυνὴ προσευχομένη ἢ προφητεύουσα ἀκατακαλύπτῳ τῇ κεφαλῇ καταισχύνει τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτῆς· ἓν γὰρ καὶ τὸ αὐτό ἐστι τῇ ἐξυρημένῃ; Καὶ τί πάλιν ἐστὶ τὸ διὰ τοῦτο ὀφείλει ἡ γυνὴ ἐξουσίαν ἔχειν ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς διὰ τοὺς ἀγγέλους;

Ἀπόκρισις. Ἰστέον ὅτι παντὸς ἀνδρὸς εἰπὼν ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος εἶναι κεφαλὴν τὸν

Χριστὸν πιστοῦ δηλονότι κατὰ τὴν πρᾶξιν τῶν θείων ἐντολῶν καὶ τὴν θεωρίαν τῶν εὐσεβῶν δογμάτων ἀνδρὸς ἀπεφήνατο κεφαλὴν εἶναι τὸν Χριστόν, τῆς περιεκτικῆς σημασίας οὐ συμπερικλειούσης τῷ λόγῳ καὶ τοὺς ἀπίστους ἄνδρας. Πῶς γὰρ καὶ εἴη κεφαλὴ τῶν μὴ πιστευόντων ὁ Χριστός;

Οὐκοῦν κατὰ μίαν ἐπιβολήν, τῷ τῆς ἀναγωγῆς προσβαίνοντες λόγῳ, φαμὲν ἄνδρα εἶναι τὸν πρακτικὸν νοῦν, κεφαλὴν ἔχοντα τὸν λόγον τῆς πίστεως· πρὸς ὃν ὡς Χριστὸν ἀφορῶν, ταῖς τῶν ἐντολῶν χάρισιν ᾠκοδομημένον διὰ τῆς πράξεως τὸν οἰκεῖον συνίστησι βίον ὁ νοῦς, μὴ καταισχύνων τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ, τουτέστι τὴν πίστιν, τινὶ τῶν ἐκτὸς κατὰ τὴν ὕλην ἐπικαλυμμάτων, ἐκ τοῦ μηδὲν ὑπεράνω τῆς πίστεως τιθέναι τῶν προσκαίρων καὶ λυομένων. Γυναῖκα δὲ τοῦ τοιούτου νοὸς εἶναί φαμεν αὐτὴν τὴν ἕξιν τῆς πράξεως, πολλοῖς καὶ διαφόροις κομῶσάν τε καὶ κατακεκαλυμμένην πρακτικοῖς λογισμοῖς τε καὶ 14Β_154 ἤθεσι, μᾶλλον δὲ αὐτὸν τὸν νοῦν ὡς κεφαλὴν ἰδίαν κατὰ τὴν τῶν τοιούτων λογισμῶν τε καὶ τρόπων πύκνωσιν καὶ εὐπρέπειαν ἔχουσαν κεκαλυμμένον. Χριστὸν δέ φαμεν εἶναι τὴν ἐνυπόστατον πίστιν, ἧς κεφαλὴ σαφῶς ἐστιν ὁ Θεός, πρὸς ὃν ἄγει τῆς πίστεως ὁ λόγος, δεικνὺς τῷ ἀναγομένῳ τὸν ἐν ᾧ κατὰ φύσιν ὑπάρχει Θεόν.

Καὶ πάλιν ἀνήρ ἐστιν ὁ τῆς φυσικῆς ἐν πνεύματι θεωρίας ἐπιμελούμενος νοῦς, κεφαλὴν ἔχων τὸν κατὰ πίστιν ἐκ τῆς τῶν ὁρωμένων διακοσμήσεως γενεσιουργὸν τοῦ παντὸς λόγον διαδεικνύμενον, ὃν οὐ καταισχύνει καλύπτων καὶ οἷον ὑποτιθείς τινι τῶν ὁρωμένων ὁ νοῦς καὶ ἄλλο τὸ παράπαν αὐτοῦ ποιούμενος ὑψηλότερον. Γυνὴ δὲ τοῦ τοιούτου νοός ἐστιν ἡ σύνοικος αἴσθησις, δι᾽ ἧς ἐπιβατεύει τῇ φύσει τῶν αἰσθητῶν καὶ τοὺς ἐν αὐτοῖς θειοτέρους ἀναλέγεται λόγους, μὴ συγχωρῶν τῶν λογικῶν αὐτὴν ἀποκαλυφθεῖσαν ἐπιβλημάτων ἀλογίας γενέσθαι καὶ ἁμαρτίας ὑπουργόν, τοῦ νοὸς εἰς κεφαλὴν διὰ τῆς τῶν θειοτέρων λόγων ὡς ἐπικαλυμμάτων ἀποβολῆς ἀνταλλαξαμένην τῆς ἀλογίας τὸ πάθος. Κεφαλὴ δὲ Χριστοῦ, τουτέστι τοῦ κατὰ πίστιν διὰ τῆς κατὰ φύσιν τῶν γεγονότων θεωρίας ἀναλόγως τοῖς οὖσι διαφαινομένου δημιουργικοῦ λόγου, ἔστιν ὁ κατ᾽ οὐσίαν αὐτὸν γεννῶν ἀπόρρητος νοῦς· πρὸς ὃν ὁ Λόγος δι᾽ ἑαυτοῦ τὸν ἀναγόμενον διὰ τῆς τῶν ὄντων εὐσεβοῦς θεωρίας καθίστησι νοῦν, χορηγῶν αὐτῷ συμμέτρους κατὰ τὴν γνῶσιν τῶν ὁρατῶν τὰς νοητὰς τῶν θείων ἐμφάσεις.

Καὶ αὖθις ἀνήρ ἐστιν ὁ τῆς μυστικῆς θεολογίας ἐντὸς γενόμενος νοῦς, κεφαλὴν ἔχων ἀκατακάλυπτον τὸν Χριστόν, τουτέστι τὸν ταῖς ἀναποδείκτοις