Collectio dictorum veteris testamenti

 is forced to descend into a foreign state and if the demons should see any good understanding accompanying him, they hasten to subject it to the sowi

 escaping. The heifer, taken first, signified the first generation. For just as the heifer struggles against the yoke, so also the first generation of

 the river, but to keep alive every female. For the devil, the spiritual Pharaoh, also conceived a threefold manner of plotting against the spiritual I

 He interprets what that one speaks spiritually and obscurely, and transforms his weak voice to be more melodious. For I have not come, he says, to abo

 the Gospel according to Christ, had as a son the multitude of those being reborn to it through the Holy Spirit whom she also circumcised with a stone

 and easy to comprehend is the mystery concerning Christ. But God did not lead the Jews to this immediately, but through the long law and the many ridd

 Moses commanded Joshua son of Nun to choose mighty men and go out and fight 77.1196 Amalek, signified that Jesus Christ would be subject to the comman

 of the people of the Jews, and servant of God, he ascends to the highest knowledge of God but the people are prevented from approaching, lest they di

 coming after it, demands this final penalty, as one who, after being freed from the burden of sin, is again voluntarily subjected to it. And He comman

 But the eighth ineffably suggests the mystery of the eternal well-being of the 77.1204 beings. The sixth day is called Preparation, because on it the

 and poverty of intellect, they make their neighbors, that is, those of the same faith, partners, so that through one another they may be raised to hig

 unmixed with wickedness, those partaking of the true Lamb nourish their own soul, throughout the whole weekly age, which is measured by the week. And

 the body bears uncircumcision. Circumcision is mystical, a voluntary removal of the passions. The circumcision of circumcision is the putting away of

 of rational discernment, as Israel did in the time of Moses, commits idolatry. For having cast into the fire of the passions the words concerning theo

 to do good things, and to walk toward good things. Humpbacked is the one bent downwards, and not able to look up from earthly things. Sun-spotted is o

 God, ostracizing stupidity, and wishing his subjects to belong to necessity alone, through the not weaving together of linen and wool, banished variet

 but in heaven God Himself whom alone they both worship and attend. And on the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, an

 they were catechized by the evangelists. Or otherwise, the four types of meanings were a symbol of the four types of moral discourse. Of which the one

 Aaron's rod, as a symbol of watchfulness. For to Jeremiah, seeing a staff of a nut tree, God says: Behold, I am watchful over my words. And it budded

 bracelets, and rings, and armlets, and braided chains. For the leaders of the people in Christ and the eminent often surpass the evangelical commands

 with bodily ways of the ministry of the virtues, they return to the contemplation of kindred intelligible things. A foreign boy and a servant-girl are

 undertaking. For she will pay the penalty for the offense to God, the Father of spirits, and she will be his wife, as having already been joined to hi

 of the other man wherefore he is required to pay the penalty for the murder, but he alone suffers loss in his soul. For this, I think, is what this m

 war for one year he shall cheer his wife, whom he has taken. For it is not right that one who has just taken a spouse for himself should be led out t

 Virtue is the mother of the good deeds from it. And its nest is the soul in which it dwells. It is necessary for those who encounter them to be benefi

 its fruit for three years will be unpurified for you. It shall not be eaten, and in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy to the Lord. But in th

 dragging down to earth, those things that draw up to heaven. Saul, is the natural 77.1249 law, which from the beginning received from the Lord the lot

 David is the law according to the spirit, who reigns over the Christians who worship God spiritually. But Saul is the law according to the letter, who

 the face of the Lord, according to David, and learns the cause of such a famine, that this injustice was against Saul, and against his house, with whi

 taking from the spiritual David, that is, the law according to the spirit, may kill the aforementioned sons and grandsons of 77.1257 Saul then in eve

 of knowledge, if it should receive the divine and discerning word, which brings to memory former sins, and will prefer even to nature itself the heali

 The Lord in the desert I mean in the world, and in the nature of men, digging out and cleansing the hearts of the worthy from material weight and min

 of the city. Since Hezekiah is interpreted as 'strength of God,' every mind 77.1265 that through practical philosophy has acquired divine strength, wh

 through themselves they again turn him away, as he flees into his land which is the fixed habit of evil, whom his sons kill as he is fleeing, and the

 the king of the Assyrians, flees to God, and silently cries out to Him, through progress in virtue and knowledge, and receives an angel as an ally th

 at once a philosopher and a lover of God has both Judah and Jerusalem the one taken as the habit of confession and repentance for Judah is interpret

 becomes a lofty and exalted mind, and in the good things given to it by God, boasts as if in its own accomplishments. There comes by providence upon t

 the spear and the flask of water that is, the power of practical virtue, and the grace of gnostic contemplation, even if he again gives these things

 of king Darius, I mean of the natural law, having conquered by him, lifts up his face to heaven, that is, the disposition of the soul, in which are th

 not being guarded. For lead is a symbol of punishment, but silver of brightness. And the seven eyes of this practical faith are the seven gifts of the

 constituted. For since matter is indeed a tetrad, because of the tetraktys of its elements, and form is a pentad, because of the fivefold nature of se

 they rise up for mischief. And approaching Zerubbabel, and Joshua and the leaders of the families, they say to them: We will build with you for like

not being guarded. For lead is a symbol of punishment, but silver of brightness. And the seven eyes of this practical faith are the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit which Isaiah enumerated: the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of knowledge, the spirit of learning, the spirit of counsel, the spirit of strength, the spirit of the fear of God. The property of fear is abstinence from evil things, of strength the practice of good things; of counsel the discernment of opposites; of learning the knowledge of the modes according to the virtues; of knowledge the theory of the principles in the commandments; of understanding the disposition of the soul toward the aforesaid modes and principles. Of wisdom, the initiation into the principles that are still higher and more divine. Isaiah, beginning from that which is nearest to God but last for us, descended to that which is nearest to us but last for God, which is fear. For, he says, the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. But I, on the contrary, beginning rather from fear, have ascended to wisdom, which is nearest to God, but furthest from us. These are the seven eyes of practical faith, through which we are both enlightened and led to God, and are gathered into the one cause of the gifts which distributes them. Concerning those who were freed from captivity and slavery, who went out with Zerubbabel. And all of them from Israel were four myriads, three thousand, three hundred sixty from twelve years of age, apart from children and women. Only the mind that has gone beyond temporal sensible things. 77.1285 For sense is pentadic; but time is heptadic, through which the twelve is completed; and the soul is freed from slavery in these things to these things, hastening toward the Jerusalem above, having four myriads, three thousand, three hundred sixty, apart from children and women. Children, then, are the thoughts of the natural and irreproachable passions; women are the appetites and pleasures according to nature; for even ordinary food produces a pleasure according to nature, consoling a preceding want, and an ordinary drink warding off the annoyance of thirst, and ordinary sleep restoring the power that has grown weary from wakefulness. Neither the aforesaid thoughts nor the chosen pleasures are counted with the men, as not subsisting in themselves, yet they go out with them as they flee sin and go towards righteousness; as being necessary for the constitution of nature, but useful for the acquisition of virtue. Or otherwise: they are not counted with them, as not being transferred with them to immortal life; for we pass over there without such thoughts and pleasures. The four myriads are the four general virtues, prudence, courage, temperance, justice, with which the mind, having crossed over both nature and time, is restored to the end of dispassion, Or the four general impassibilities, of which the first is the complete abstinence from sin in action, which is observed in the introductory stages. The second is the complete rejection of passionate thoughts, established in those beyond these stages. The third is the complete immobility with regard to the passions, which comes about in the higher stages. The fourth is the complete purification even from the bare fantasy of the passions, which is seen in the perfect. And just as under each general virtue or impassibility there are many particular virtues and impassibilities. The three thousand signify perfect theology. Three, on account of the three hypostases of the Godhead. A thousand, on account of the perfection of the theology concerning each of these. For a thousand is the perfection of hundreds; just as ten is of units, and a hundred of tens, and a myriad of thousands; the three hundred signify the principles concerning virtue and concerning nature. For the three hundred being divided by thought into one hundred and two hundred; the number 100 will indicate perfect virtue, multiplying by ten the decad of the divinely written commandments. And the two hundred, nature from matter and form

μὴ φυλαττομένη. Τιμωρίας μὲν γὰρ σύμβολον ὁ μόλιβδος, λαμπρότητος δὲ ὁ ἄργυρος. Ἑπτὰ δὲ ὀφθαλμοὶ τῆς ἐμπράκτου ταύτης πίστεως, τὰ ζʹ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος χαρίσματα ἅπερ Ἡσαΐας ἀπηριθμήσατο· πνεῦμα σοφίας, πνεῦμα συνέσεως, πνεῦμα γνώσεως, πνεῦμα ἐπιστήμης, πνεῦμα βουλῆς, πνεῦμα ἰσχύος, πνεῦμα φόβου τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ἴδιον δὲ φόβου μὲν ἡ ἀποχὴ τῶν κακῶν, ἰσχύος δὲ ἡ πρᾶξις τῶν καλῶν· βουλῆς δὲ ἡ διάκρισις τῶν ἀντικειμένων· ἐπιστήμης δὲ ἡ τῶν κατὰ τὰς ἀρετὰς τρόπων εἴδησις· γνώσεως δὲ ἡ τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἐντολαῖς λόγων τῆς θεωρίας· συνέσεως δὲ ἡ πρὸς τοὺς ῥηθέντας τρόπους καὶ λόγους συνδιάθεσις τῆς ψυχῆς. Σοφίας δὲ ἡ τῶν ὑψηλοτέρων ἔτι καὶ θειοτέρων λόγων μυσταγωγία. Ὁ μὲν Ἡσαΐας ἀπὸ τοῦ τῷ Θεῷ μὲν προσεχοῦς, ἡμῖν δὲ τελευταίου ἀρξάμενος, κατῆλθεν ἐπὶ τὸ ἡμῖν μὲν προσεχὲς, τῷ δὲ Θεῷ τελευταῖον, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ὁ φόβος. Ἀρχὴ γὰρ, φησὶ, σοφίας φόβος Κυρίου. Ἐγὼ δὲ τοὐναντίον ἀπὸ τοῦ φόβου μᾶλλον ἀρξάμενος ἐπὶ τὴν σοφίαν ἀνῆλθον, ἥτις ἐστὶ τῷ μὲν Θεῷ προσεχὴς, ἡμῖν δὲ ποῤῥωτάτω. Ταῦτά εἰσιν οἱ ζʹ ὀφθαλμοὶ τῆς ἐμπράκτου πίστεως, δι' ὧν φωτιζόμεθά τε καὶ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ὁδηγούμεθα, καὶ εἰς τὴν μίαν αἰτίαν τῶν χαρισμάτων τὴν διαιροῦσαν αὐτὰ, συναγόμεθα. Περὶ τῶν ἐλευθερωθέντων τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας καὶ δουλείας, συνεξελθόντων τῷ Ζοροβάβελ. Οἱ δὲ πάντες ἦσαν ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ ἀπὸ δωδεκαετοὺς χωρὶς παίδων καὶ γυναικῶν μυριάδες τέσσα ρες τρισχίλιοι τριακόσιοι ἐξήκοντα. Μόνος ὁ γενόμενος ὑπὲρ τὰ αἰσθητὰ χρονικὰ νοῦς. 77.1285 Πενταδικὴ μὲν γὰρ ἡ αἴσθησις· ἑβδοματικὸς δὲ ὁ χρόνος, δι' ὃν ὁ δώδεκα συμπληροῦται· καὶ τῆς πρὸς ταῦτα ψυχῆς ἐν τούτοις ἀπαλλάττεται δουλείας, ἐπειγόμενος πρὸς τὴν ἄνω Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ἔχων χωρὶς παίδων καὶ γυναικῶν μυριάδας δ' τρισχιλίους τξʹ. Παῖδες μὲν οὖν εἰσιν, οἱ τῶν φυσικῶν καὶ ἀδιαβλήτων παθῶν λογισμοί· γυναῖκες δὲ αἱ κατὰ φύσιν ὀρέξεις καὶ ἡδοναί· καὶ ἡ τυχοῦσα γὰρ τροφὴ ποιεῖ κατὰ φύσιν ἡδονὴν, προλαβοῦσαν ἔνδειαν παραμυθουμένη, καὶ ἡ τυχοῦσα πόσις τὴν ὄχλησιν τοῦ δίψους ἀποκρουομένη, καὶ τυχὼν ὕπνος τὴν ἐξ ἐγρηγόρσεως κεκμηκυῖαν ἀνακτώμενος δύναμιν. Οὔτε δὲ οἱ δηλωθέντες λογισμοὶ, οὔτε αἱρεθεῖσαι ἡδοναὶ, συναριθμούμενα τοῖς ἀνδράσιν, ὡς οὐχ ὑφεστῶτα καθ' ἑαυτὰ, ὅμως συνεξέρχονται τούτοις φεύγουσι τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, καὶ πρὸς τὴν δικαιοσύνην ἀπιοῦσιν· ὡς ἀναγκαῖα μὲν εἰς σύστασιν φύσεως, χρήσιμα δὲ πρὸς κτῆσιν ἀρετῆς. Ἢ καὶ ἄλλως· οὐ συναριθμοῦνται, ὡς μὴ συμμεθιστάμενα πρὸς τὴν ἀθάνατον ζωήν· χωρὶς γὰρ καὶ λογισμῶν τοιούτων καὶ ἡδονῶν ἐκεῖ μεταβαίνομεν. ∆ʹ δὲ μυριάδες εἰσὶν, αἱ δ' γενικαὶ ἀρεταὶ, φρόνησις, ἀνδρεία, σωφροσύνη, δικαιοσύνη, μεθ' ὧν καὶ φύσιν καὶ χρόνον διαβὰς ὁ νοῦς, πρὸς τὴν τῆς ἀπαθείας λῆξιν ἀποκαθίσταται, Ἢ αἱ δ' γενικαὶ ἀπάθειαι, ὧν πρώτη μὲν ἡ παντελὴς ἀποχὴ τῆς κατ' ἔργον ἁμαρτίας, ἐν τοῖς εἰσαγωγικοῖς θεωρουμένη. ∆ευτέρα δὲ ἡ παντελὴς ἀποβολὴ τῶν ἐμπαθῶν λογισμῶν, ἐν τοῖς ὑπὲρ τούτους συνισταμένη. Τρίτη δὲ ἡ περὶ τὰ πάθη παντελὴς ἀκινησία ἐν τοῖς ὑψηλοτέροις γινομένη. Τετάρτη δὲ ἡ καὶ αὐτῆς δὴ τῆς ψιλῆς φαντασίας τῶν παθῶν παντελὴς κάθαρσις ἐν τοῖς τελείοις ὁρωμένη. Ὥσπερ δὲ ὑφ' ἑκάστην γενικὴν ἀρετὴν ἢ ἀπάθειαν, πολλαί εἰσι μερικαὶ ἀρεταὶ καὶ ἀπάθειαι. Οἱ δὲ τρισχίλιοι τὴν τελείαν θεολογίαν ὑποδηλοῦσι. Τρεῖς μὲν διὰ τὰς τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις τῆς Θεότητος. Χίλιοι δὲ διὰ τὴν τελειότητα τῆς περὶ ἑκάστου τούτων θεολογίας. Τελείωσις γὰρ ἑκατοντάδων, ἡ χιλιάς· ὥσπερ ἡ μὲν δεκὰς μονάδων, ἡ δὲ ἑκατοντὰς δεκάδων, ἡ δὲ μυριὰς χιλιάδων· οἱ δὲ τριακόσιοι τοὺς περὶ ἀρετῆς καὶ περὶ φύσεως λόγους ὑποσημαίνουσι. Τῶν τριακοσίων γὰρ ἐπινοίᾳ διαιρουμένων εἰς ἑκατόν τε καὶ διακόσια· ὁ μὲν ρʹ ἀριθμὸς μηνύσει τὴν τελείαν ἀρετὴν δεκαπλασιάζουσαν τὴν δεκάδα τῶν θεογράφων ἐντολῶν. Ὁ διακόσια δὲ, τὴν φύσιν ἐξ ὕλης καὶ εἴδους