,

8. From the prayer it is clear, he says, that Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar here signify the natural law and the disposition born from it, but not the devil; for no one explains that a prayer is made for the devil at all; for the word of prophecy did not reject this prayer, it should not be thought that it was offered to God for the devil.

27. CONCERNING THE REVELATION TO PETER REGARDING CORNELIUS. 27. QUESTION 27. Since the Lord after the resurrection openly commanded to make disciples of all the

nations, why did Peter need the revelation concerning Cornelius for the sake of the nations? Or how did the apostles in Jerusalem, having heard the things concerning Cornelius, dispute with Peter?

Response. Indeed, the one of the was in great need of the divine revelation concerning the nations.

apostles, the chief, the all-holy Peter. For he did not know that according to faith there is no distinction between circumcision and uncircumcision, nor indeed did he know clearly that the Lord said the nations were to be discipled without the visible worship according to the Law, until He revealed to him through a revelation the mystery (14B_186> of His hidden counsel, persuading him both through the example of the linen sheet, and through the grace of the Holy Spirit given equally to him and to the nations through faith alone, that in Christ there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; which thing the apostles in Jerusalem, being ignorant of it, also disputed with him, until they too learned the hidden riches of the divine goodness toward all people. For it was an introduction of divine life and of a new worship alongside the legal one, and there was a teaching of the soul willingly releasing itself from the body according to its resolve, and the grace of the proclamation was a model of another, more divine principle of generation. And for this reason, those entrusted with this ministry needed the teaching of the one who commanded them for each word.

And if I do not seem to anyone to be more meddlesome than is necessary, every word of a divine command certainly needs teaching and revelation of the manner appointed for its execution. For there is no one at all who discerns the manner of any word without the revelation of the one who spoke the word; knowing this, the all-praised Peter, having already received from the Lord the word of the proclamation concerning the nations, did not undertake it, waiting to be taught by the one who gave the word, the manner of the word.

And perhaps there were also other things in addition to these, which the great Peter was taught through the sheet let down from heaven and the different animals in it, or rather, the whole race of men, or he who had obtained the divine summit according to faith, learning explicitly to extinguish completely all his own sensation; according to which, as long as he sees phenomena, he understands God’s creation to be destructive of itself, not being able to be pure from corruption and confusion. Through the sheet, therefore, and the animals in it (14B_188>, the one who was speaking to him was prefiguring the visible world understood by its principles through the invisible, or the invisible world made manifest by the types of sensible things, and suitable for spiritual food. Therefore he says, 'Arise, Peter, kill and eat.' From where is he commanded to arise? From where else than from the disposition and relation according to sense, and from the more earthbound preconception concerning beings, or from the righteousness considered to be according to the Law, so that, according to the mind alone, released from all fantasy according to sense, being able to behold the principles of sensible things bare of shapes, he might recognize the types of intelligible things and learn that nothing made by God is unclean. For he who has contemplated from the intelligible world

8. Ἐκ τῆς εὐχῆς δῆλόν ἐστι, φησίν, ὅτι τόν φυσικόν νόμον, καί τήν ἐξ αὐτοῦ τικτομένην ἕξιν ἐνταῦθα σημαίνουσι Ναβουχοδονόσορ τε καί Βαλτάσαρ, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ τόν διάβολον· οὐδείς γάρ εὐχήν ὑπέρ τοῦ διαβόλου γίνεσθαι παντελῶς ἐξηγεῖται· ἥν γάρ οὐ διέβαλεν εὐχήν ὁ τῆς προφητείας λόγος, οὐ χρή νομίζειν ὑπέρ τοῦ διαβόλου τοῦ ταύτην τῷ Θεῷ προσενηνέχθαι.

ΚΖ (27). ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΑΠΟΚΑΛΥΨΕΩΣ ΠΕΤΡΟΥ ΤΗΣ ΕΠΙ ΚΟΡΝΗΛΙΩ. 27. ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΚΖ' Τοῦ Κυρίου μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν φανερῶς ἐντειλαμένου μαθητεῦσαι πάντα τὰ

ἔθνη, πῶς ἐδεῖτο ὁ Πέτρος τῆς ἐπὶ τοῦ Κορνηλίου ἀποκαλύψεως διὰ τὰ ἔθνη; ἢ πῶς οἱ ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις ἀκούσαντες ἀπόστολοι τὰ κατὰ τὸν Κορνήλιον διεκρίνοντο πρὸς τὸν Πέτρον;

Ἀπόκρισις. Πάνυ μὲν οὖν ἐδεῖτο τῆς περὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν θείας ἀποκαλύψεως ὁ τῶν

ἀποστόλων ἔξαρχος Πέτρος ὁ πανάγιος. Οὐ γὰρ ἐγίνωσκεν ὅτι περιτομῆς καὶ ἀκροβυστίας οὐκ ἔστι διαστολὴ κατὰ τὴν πίστιν, οὔτε μὴν ᾔδει σαφῶς ὅτι δίχα τῆς κατὰ νόμον φαινομένης λατρείας μαθητευθῆναι τὰ ἔθνη ὁ Κύριος εἶπεν, ἕως οὗ τῆς ἀπορρήτου βουλῆς αὐτῷ δι᾽ ἀποκαλύψεως ἐφανέρωσε (14Β_186> τὸ μυστήριον, διά τε τοῦ κατὰ τὴν σινδόνα παραδείγματος πείσας, διά τε τῆς ἴσως αὐτῷ κατὰ μόνην τὴν πίστιν δοθείσης καὶ τοῖς ἔθνεσι χάριτος τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος, ὡς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν Χριστῷ διαστολὴ Ἰουδαίου τε καὶ Ἕλληνος· ὅπερ καὶ οἱ ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις ἀγνοοῦντες ἀπόστολοι διεκρίνοντο πρὸς αὐτόν, ἕως ἔμαθον καὶ αὐτοὶ τὸν ἐν ἀποκρύφοις πλοῦτον τῆς ἐπὶ πάντας ἀνθρώπους θείας χρηστότητος. Θείας γὰρ ζωῆς ἦν καὶ καινῆς λατρείας παρὰ τὴν νομικὴν ἐπεισαγωγή, καὶ ψυχῆς ἑκουσίως σώματος ἑαυτὴν ἀπολυούσης κατὰ τὴν γνώμην ὑπῆρχε διδαχὴ καὶ ἄλλης ἀρχῆς θειοτέρας γενέσεως ὑποτύπωσις ἡ τοῦ κηρύγματος χάρις. Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τῆς τοῦ προστάξαντος ἔχρῃζον ἐφ᾽ ἑκάστῳ λόγῳ διδαχῆς οἱ ταύτην πιστευθέντες τὴν διακονίαν.

Εἰ δέ τῳ μὴ δοκῶ τοῦ δέοντος εἶναι περιεργότερος, πᾶς λόγος θείας ἐντολῆς χρῄζει πάντως τοῦ ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ πρὸς ἐνέργειαν ὁρισθέντος τρόπου διδαχῆς καὶ ἀποκαλύψεως. Οὐ γάρ ἐστι τὸ παράπαν ὁ διαγινώσκων τόν τινος λόγου τρόπον χωρὶς τῆς τοῦ φαμένου τὸν λόγον ἀποκαλύψεως· ὅπερ εἰδὼς καὶ ὁ πανεύφημος Πέτρος, λαβὼν ἤδη παρὰ τοῦ Κυρίου τὸν περὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν τοῦ κηρύγματος λόγον, οὐκ ἐνεχείρησεν, ἀναμένων διδαχθῆναι παρὰ τοῦ δόντος τὸν λόγον τοῦ λόγου τὸν τρόπον.

Τάχα δὲ καὶ ἕτερα πρὸς τούτοις ἦν, ἅπερ διὰ τῆς καθιεμένης οὐρανόθεν ὀθόνης καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ διαφόρων ζῴων ὁ μέγας ἐδιδάσκετο Πέτρος, μᾶλλον δὲ τὸ πᾶν γένος τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἢ ὁ κατ᾽ αὐτὸν ἐπειλημμένος τῆς κατὰ τὴν πίστιν θείας ἀκρότητος, μανθάνων διαρρήδην πᾶσαν ἑαυτοῦ παντελῶς ἀποσβέσαι τὴν αἴσθησιν· καθ᾽ ἣν ἕως ὁρᾷ τὰ φαινόμενα, φθαρτικὴν ἑαυτῆς τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ κτίσιν ἐπίσταται, μὴ δυναμένην φθορᾶς εἶναι καθαρὰν καὶ συγχύσεως. ∆ιὰ μὲν οὖν τῆς ὀθόνης καὶ τῶν ἐν (14Β_188> αὐτῇ ζῴων τὸν φαινόμενον προεδείκνυε διὰ τοῦ ἀοράτου κόσμον τοῖς λόγοις νοούμενον ἢ τὸν ἀόρατον τοῖς τῶν αἰσθητῶν τύποις φαινόμενον ὁ πρὸς αὐτὸν χρηματίζων καὶ πρὸς ἐδωδὴν πνευματικὴν ἐπιτήδειον. ∆ιό φησιν ἀναστάς, Πέτρε, θῦσον καὶ φάγε. Πόθεν ἀναστῆναι κελεύεται; Πόθεν ἄλλοθεν ἢ τῆς κατ᾽ αἴσθησιν ἕξεώς τε καὶ σχέσεως καὶ τῆς περὶ τῶν ὄντων χθαμαλωτέρας προλήψεως ἢ τῆς νομιζομένης κατὰ νόμον δικαιοσύνης, ἵνα, κατὰ μόνον τὸν νοῦν, πάσης ἀπολελυμένον τῆς κατ᾽ αἴσθησιν φαντασίας, δυνηθεὶς σχημάτων γυμνοὺς θεάσασθαι τοὺς λόγους τῶν αἰσθητῶν, ἐπιγνῷ τοὺς τύπους τῶν νοητῶν καὶ μάθῃ μηδὲν τῶν ὑπὸ Θεοῦ γεγονότων ἀκάθαρτον εἶναι. Ὁ γὰρ θεωρήσας ἐκ τοῦ νοητοῦ κόσμου