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knowledge and action are effected. But the other cows and ears of grain, the ugly and wind-blasted ones, indicate ignorance and evil, which were strong enough to devour both the practical vigor of the cows and the knowledge indicated by the good ears of grain. But our Lord Jesus Christ, the true Joseph, the only one who both foreknows and remedies such a famine, taking faith as gold and a brilliant life as silver and moral philosophy as sheep and the swiftness and readiness of the life according to God as horses, provides the grain, that is, the true knowledge.

QUESTION 140 What is the judge of injustice in the Gospel, and who is the widow woman? RESPONSE He calls the judge of injustice the natural law, hardened from transgression and

respecting neither God nor man, and the widow, the soul bereft of good works. For if she should come to repentance, she compels the natural law, troubling it through asceticism and self-control, to abstain from things 14Α_204 contrary to nature. And if, he says, the mind, through diligent and laborious persistence, is strong enough to accomplish even things beyond nature, how much more, he says, will God listen to those who through intense prayer and shameless persistence "cry out to him"?

QUESTION 141 What is the scroll given to Ezekiel the prophet on which was written "lamentation and

song and woe," and how was it made sweet in his mouth? RESPONSE The scroll is the divine Word; and on it is written lamentation, that is, the

threats of punishments, song, the promises of good things, and woe, inasmuch as those who are neither disciplined by the fear of punishments nor made better by the encouragement of the promises will certainly receive the woe of eternal punishment. And the scroll being made sweet in the mouth of the prophet indicates this, that he who always meditates on the aforesaid things and pays attention to what is threatened and what is promised is sweetened by hope.

QUESTION 142 For what reason, ten days after the Lord's ascension, did the Spirit

descend? RESPONSE Some of those instructed in divine things say that since, according to

Dionysius the Areopagite, the angelic powers are nine orders, ascending in his humanity—for in his divinity he fills all things—the Lord assigned one day to each order, 14Α_206 from the lowest to the last; for these too required the Lord's visitation to them; for in him, according to the Apostle, were summed up not only things on earth, but also things in heaven. And after this he appeared to God the Father and thus the Spirit descends. It is also possible to contemplate the matter at hand in another way of contemplation; for since the Word of God is hidden in his ten commandments, and is embodied in us, condescending to us through action, and again leads us up through knowledge, raising us, until we come to the highest of all the commandments, which says, "The Lord your God, the Lord is one"; for when our mind, having been released from all things, or rather, having left all things, arrives at God himself, then it receives the tongues of fire, becoming God by grace.

QUESTION 143

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γνῶσις καὶ πρᾶξις ἐνεργοῦνται. Αἱ δὲ ἕτεραι βόες καὶ στάχυες αἱ αἰσχραὶ καὶ ἀνεμόφθοροι δηλοῦσιν τὴν ἄγνοιαν καὶ τὴν κακίαν, αἵτινες ἴσχυσαν καταπιεῖν τήν τε πρακτικὴν τῶν βοῶν ἀκμαιότητα τήν τε γνῶσιν τὴν διὰ τῶν καλῶν σταχύων δηλουμένην. Ἀλλ᾽ ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ ἀληθινὸς Ἰωσὴφ ὁ μόνος καὶ προγνώστης καὶ διορθωτὴς τῆς τοιαύτης λιμοῦ, λαμβάνων πίστιν ὥσπερ χρυσὸν καὶ λαμπρὸν βίον ὥσπερ ἀργύριον καὶ ἠθικὴν φιλοσοφίαν ὥσπερ πρόβατα καὶ τὸ εὔδρομον καὶ πρόθυμον τοῦ κατὰ Θεὸν βίου ὥσπερ ἵππους, παρέχει τὸν σῖτον, τουτέστιν τὴν ἀληθῆ γνῶσιν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 140 Τί ἐστιν ὁ ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ κριτὴς τῆς ἀδικίας καὶ τίς ἡ χήρα γυνή; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Κριτὴν ἀδικίας λέγει τὸν φυσικὸν νόμον, ἐκ τῆς παραβάσεως πωρωθέντα καὶ

μήτε Θεὸν μήτε ἄνθρωπον ἐντρεπόμενον, χήραν δὲ τὴν χηρεύουσαν ἀγαθῶν ἔργων ψυχήν. Αὕτη γὰρ εἰ εἰς μετάμελον ἔλθοι, ἐκβιάζεται τὸν φυσικὸν νόμον διοχλοῦσα διὰ τῆς ἀσκήσεως καὶ ἐγκρατείας ἀποσχέσθαι τῶν 14Α_204 παρὰ φύσιν. Καὶ ἐάν, φησίν, ὁ νοῦς διὰ τῆς ἐσπουδασμένης καὶ φιλοπόνου προσεδρείας ἰσχύσῃ ἀνύσαι καὶ τὰ ὑπὲρ φύσιν, πόσῳ μᾶλλον, φησίν, ὁ Θεὸς εἰσακούσεται τῶν διὰ προσευχῆς ἐκτενοῦς καὶ ἀναιδοῦς προσεδρείας «βοώντων πρὸς αὐτόν»;

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 141 Τίς ἡ κεφαλὶς ἡ ἐπιδοθεῖσα Ἰεζεκιὴλ τῷ προφήτῃ ἐν ᾗ ἐγέγραπτο «θρῆνος καὶ

μέλος καὶ οὐαί», καὶ πῶς ἐγλυκάνθη ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτοῦ; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ἡ κεφαλίς ἐστιν ὁ θεῖος Λόγος· ἐγγέγραπται δὲ ἐν αὐτῷ θρῆνος, τουτέστιν αἱ

ἀπειλαὶ τῶν κολάσεων, μέλος αἱ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐπαγγελίαι, οὐαὶ δὲ καθότι οἱ μήτε τῷ φόβῳ τῶν κολάσεων μήτε τῇ προτροπῇ τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν σωφρονιζόμενοι καὶ βελτίους γινόμενοι τὸ οὐαὶ τῆς αἰωνίου κολάσεως πάντως ἐκδέξονται. Τὸ δὲ γλυκανθῆναι ἐν τῷ στόματι τοῦ προφήτου τὴν κεφαλίδα τοῦτο δηλοῖ, ὅτι ὁ ἀεὶ μελετῶν τὰ προειρημένα καὶ προσέχων τοῖς ἀπειλουμένοις τε καὶ ἐπηγγελμένοις τῇ ἐλπίδι γλυκαίνεται.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 142 Τίνος χάριν μετὰ δέκα ἡμέρας τῆς ἀναλήψεως τοῦ Κυρίου τὸ Πνεῦμα

κατῆλθεν; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Φασί τινες τῶν τὰ θεῖα πεπαιδευμένων, ὅτι ἐπειδὴ ἐννέα τάξεις κατὰ τὸν

∆ιονύσιον τὸν Ἀρεοπαγίτην αἱ ἀγγελικαὶ δυνάμεις εἰσίν, ἀνιὼν κατὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον ὁ Κύριος κατὰ γὰρ τὸ θεῖον πάντα πληροῖ ἑκάστῳ τάγματι μίαν ἡμέραν ἀπένειμεν 14Α_206 ἀπὸ τῆς ἐσχάτης ἕως τῆς τελευταίας· ἐδέοντο γὰρ καὶ αὗται τῆς τοῦ Κυρίου πρὸς αὐτὰς ἐπιδημίας· ἐν αὐτῷ γάρ, κατὰ τὸν Ἀπόστολον, ἀνεκεφαλαιώθη οὐ μόνον τὰ ἐπὶ γῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἐν οὐρανῷ. Καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο ἐνεφανίσθη τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρὶ καὶ οὕτως τὸ Πνεῦμα κάτεισιν. Ἔστιν δὲ θεωρῆσαι τὸ προκείμενον καὶ κατ᾽ ἄλλον θεωρίας τρόπον· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος ἐν ταῖς αὐτοῦ δέκα ἐντολαῖς ἐγκέκρυπται, σωματοῦται δὲ ἐν ἡμῖν συγκαταβαίνων ἡμῖν διὰ τῆς πράξεως, αὖθίς τε ἀνάγει ἡμᾶς διὰ τῆς γνώσεως ὑψῶν ἡμᾶς, μέχρις οὗ ἔλθωμεν εἰς τὴν πάντων ὑψηλοτέραν τῶν ἐντολῶν, τὴν λέγουσαν "Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου, Κύριος εἷς ἐστιν"· ὅτε γὰρ ἐκ πάντων ἀφεθείς, μᾶλλον δὲ πάντα ἀφεὶς ὁ ἡμέτερος νοῦς εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν Θεὸν καταλήξει, τότε τὰς πυρίνας γλώσσας δέχεται, Θεὸς κατὰ χάριν γινόμενος.

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