,

presenting through the principles the visible creation, or the types of the intelligible things from the arrangement of phenomena, just as a sheet let down from heaven, would believe that none of the visible things is unclean, seeing no antipathy manifested in the principles of beings. For corruption subsists in the senses and the war of created things against one another; but in the principles there is nothing at all contrary.

The sheet, then, is the sensible world, itself held together by four principles, like elements; and the creeping things and the beasts and the birds are the diverse principles of created things, which are unclean to the senses, but to the mind are clean and nourishing and constitutive of intelligible life; and the voice that came a third time teaches practical, natural, and theological philosophy. For he who genuinely follows God completely must rise not once, but twice and thrice, to sacrifice the creation of phenomena and eat it with knowledge. For he who has risen from the impassioned disposition regarding phenomena has sacrificed the motion of phenomena and, having perfected practical virtue, has eaten it; and he who has risen from a false opinion about (14Β_190> beings has sacrificed the forms of phenomena, and eating the non-apparent principles has perfected natural contemplation in the spirit; and he who has risen from polytheistic error has sacrificed the very essence of beings, and eating the cause of beings through faith has been filled with theological power. Every contemplative mind, therefore, having the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, having killed within itself the motion of phenomenal creation, has perfected virtue and, having cut off from itself the fantasy of sensible forms, has found the truth in the principles of beings, according to which natural contemplation is constituted, and, having become superior to the essence of beings, receives the illumination of the divine and unassailable Monad, according to which the mystery of true theology is constituted.

Or perhaps the chief of the apostles, the all-glorious Peter, was commanded by God to rise from the power commensurate with nature to the divine good inheritance according to grace, to slay with God by the sword of the word the passions of wickedness in men and to make good food, suitable for the word and given over for spiritual digestion by the putting away of the former impassioned and bestial life. For they say that blood is a symbol of life, which necessarily flows out when an animal is slaughtered. And perhaps the variety of the animals shown indicates the diversity of passions in men. For the creeping things prefigure those whose entire desiring faculty is dragged down to earthly things, the beasts, those who have madly stirred up their entire spirited faculty for the destruction of one another, and the birds, those who have pushed up their entire rational faculty toward the insolence of pride, and from it speak arrogance and injustice to the height, and (14Β_192> have set their mouth against heaven; which things the great Peter, as a co-worker with God, having slain with the word of the Spirit, made some desirous of heavenly things, others gentle and loving to mankind and supportive of one another, and others lovers of God and humble-minded.

But let us consider what Joppa also wishes to signify through the interpretation of its own name, in which the great foundation of the Church, the all-holy Peter, saw this vision. Joppa is interpreted as watchtower, signifying the guard that is fitting for the practical. For lying beside the shore of the sea, it would be struck by many waves, if the city did not have its position on a height. Whence it seems to me to signify one who builds virtue upon the height of knowledge, like a city, but is not far from involuntary temptations, having lying near it, like a sea, the relation to sensible things not yet completely struck off, and for this reason needing a watchtower, lest, hidden through involuntary temptations, they make the of the

προφαινομένην τοῖς λόγοις τὴν ὁρωμένην κτίσιν ἢ τοὺς τύπους τῶν νοητῶν ἐκ τῆς τῶν φαινομένων διακοσμήσεως, καθάπερ οὐρανόθεν ὀθόνην καθιεμένην, οὐδὲν ἀκάθαρτον εἶναι πιστεύσειε τῶν ὁρατῶν, μηδεμίαν τοῖς τῶν ὄντων λόγοις ἐμφαινομένην θεωρῶν ἀντιπάθειαν. Ἡ φθορὰ γὰρ ἐν τῇ αἰσθήσει καθέστηκε καὶ ὁ τῶν γεγονότων πρὸς ἄλληλα πόλεμος· ἐν δὲ τοῖς λόγοις οὐδὲν ὑπάρχει καθάπαξ ἐναντίον.

Ἔστι μὲν οὖν ἡ ὀθόνη ὁ αἰσθητὸς κόσμος ἐκ τεσσάρων ἀρχῶν, καθάπερ στοιχείων, καὶ αὐτὸς κρατούμενος· τὰ δὲ ἑρπετὰ καὶ τὰ θηρία καὶ τὰ πετεινὰ οἱ διάφοροι λόγοι τῶν γεγονότων εἰσίν, πρὸς μὲν αἴσθησιν ὄντες ἀκάθαρτοι, πρὸς δὲ νοῦν καθαροί τε καὶ τρόφιμοι καὶ τῆς νοουμένης συστατικοὶ τυγχάνοντες ζωῆς· ἡ δὲ ἐκ τρίτου γενομένη φωνὴ πρακτικὴν καὶ φυσικὴν καὶ θεολογικὴν διδάσκει φιλοσοφίαν. ∆εῖ γὰρ οὐχ ἅπαξ, ἀλλὰ καὶ δὶς καὶ τρὶς ἀναστάντα, θῦσαι τὴν κτίσιν τῶν φαινομένων καὶ φαγεῖν αὐτὴν γνωστικῶς τὸν τῷ Θεῷ διόλου γνησίως ἑψόμενον. Ὁ γὰρ ἀναστὰς τῆς ἐμπαθοῦς περὶ τὰ φαινόμενα διαθέσεως τὴν τῶν φαινομένων ἔθυσε κίνησιν καὶ τὴν πρακτικὴν κατορθώσας ἔφαγεν ἀρετήν· ὁ δὲ τῆς ψευδοῦς περὶ (14Β_190> τῶν ὄντων δόξης ἀναστὰς τὰ μὲν τῶν φαινομένων ἔθυσε σχήματα, τοὺς δὲ μὴ φαινομένους λόγους φαγὼν τὴν ἐν πνεύματι φυσικὴν θεωρίαν κατώρθωσεν· ὁ δὲ τῆς πολυθέου πλάνης ἀναστὰς αὐτὴν μὲν τῶν ὄντων τὴν οὐσίαν κατέθυσε, τὴν δὲ τῶν ὄντων αἰτίαν κατὰ πίστιν φαγὼν θεολογικῆς ἐνεφορήθη δυνάμεως. Πᾶς οὖν θεωρητικὸς νοῦς, ἔχων τὴν μάχαιραν τοῦ Πνεύματος, ὅ ἐστι ῥῆμα Θεοῦ, ἐν ἑαυτῷ τῆς φαινομένης κτίσεως ἀποκτείνας τὴν κίνησιν, κατώρθωσεν ἀρετὴν καί, τῶν αἰσθητῶν σχημάτων ἑαυτοῦ τὴν φαντασίαν ἀποτεμών, τὴν ἐν τοῖς λόγοις τῶν ὄντων εὗρεν ἀλήθειαν, καθ᾽ ἣν ἡ φυσικὴ θεωρία συνέστηκε, καί, τῆς οὐσίας τῶν ὄντων ὑπεράνω γενόμενος, τὸν τῆς θείας καὶ ἀμάχου μονάδος δέχεται φωτισμόν, καθ᾽ ὃν τῆς ἀληθοῦς θεολογίας συνέστηκε τὸ μυστήριον.

Ἢ τυχὸν ἐκελεύετο θεόθεν ἡ τῶν ἀποστόλων ἀκρότης, Πέτρος ὁ πανένδοξος, ἀναστὰς τῆς συμμεμετρημένης τῇ φύσει δυνάμεως ἐπὶ τὴν κατὰ χάριν θείαν εὐκληρίαν, μετὰ Θεοῦ καταθῦσαι τῇ μαχαίρᾳ τοῦ λόγου τὰ ἐν ἀνθρώποις πάθη τῆς μοχθηρίας καὶ ποιῆσαι βρῶμα καλὸν καὶ τῷ λόγῳ πρόσφορον καὶ εἰς πέψιν πνευματικὴν ἀναδιδόμενον τῇ ἀποθέσει τῆς προτέρας ἐμπαθοῦς καὶ θηριώδους ζωῆς. Φασὶ γὰρ ζωῆς σύμβολον εἶναι τὸ αἷμα, ὅπερ πάντως ἀπορρεῖν σφαττομένου ζῴου πέφυκεν. Καὶ δηλοῖ τάχα τῶν δειχθέντων ζῴων ἡ διαφορὰ τὴν ἐν ἀνθρώποις τῶν παθῶν ποικιλίαν. Τὰ μὲν γὰρ ἑρπετὰ τοὺς ἅπαν τὸ ἐπιθυμητικὸν τοῖς γηΐνοις ἐπισυρόμενον ἔχοντας προδείκνυσι, τὰ δὲ θηρία τοὺς ὅλον τὸ θυμικὸν εἰς τὴν ἀλλήλων φθορὰν ἐκμανῶς διεγείραντας, τὰ δὲ πετεινὰ τοὺς ὅλον τὸ λογικὸν πρὸς τὴν ὕβριν τῆς ὑπερηφανίας ἀνώσαντας καὶ τὴν ἐξ αὐτῆς ὑψηλοφροσύνην καὶ ἀδικίαν λαλοῦντας εἰς τὸ ὕψος καὶ (14Β_192> θεμένους εἰς οὐρανὸν τὸ στόμα αὐτῶν· ἅπερ οἷα Θεῷ συνεργὸς ὁ μέγας Πέτρος καταθύσας τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ Πνεύματος, τοὺς μὲν ἐποίησε τῶν οὐρανίων ἐπιθυμητάς, τοὺς δὲ ἡμέρους καὶ φιλανθρώπους καὶ ἀλλήλων ἀνθεκτικούς, τοὺς δὲ φιλοθέους καὶ ταπεινόφρονας.

Τί δὲ καὶ Ἰόππη βούλεται δηλοῦν διὰ τῆς ἑρμηνείας τοῦ οἰκείου ὀνόματος, ἐν ᾗ ταύτην εἶδε τὴν ὀπτασίαν ἡ μεγάλη τῆς Ἐκκλησίας κρηπίς, Πέτρος ὁ πανάγιος, κατίδωμεν. Ἰόππη κατασκοπὴ ἑρμηνεύεται, τὴν πρακτικοῖς πρέπουσαν φυλακὴν σημαίνουσα. Παρ᾽ αὐτὴν γὰρ κειμένη τῆς θαλάσσης τὴν ὄχθαν, πολλοῖς ἂν ἐβάλλετο κύμασιν, εἰ μὴ ἐφ᾽ ὕψους εἶχε τὴν θέσιν ἡ πόλις. Ὅθεν μοι φαίνεται δηλοῦν τὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ ὕψους τῆς γνώσεως, καθάπερ πόλιν, οἰκοδομοῦντα τὴν ἀρετήν, οὐ μακρὰν δὲ τῶν ἀκουσίων ὄντα πειρασμῶν, ἔχοντα παρακειμένην ἐγγύθεν, καθάπερ θάλασσαν, τὴν μήπω τελείως ἀπορραπισθεῖσαν σχέσιν τῶν αἰσθητῶν καὶ διὰ τοῦτο κατασκοπῆς δεόμενον, μήπως, λαθόντες διὰ τῶν ἀκουσίων πειρασμῶν, ποιήσωνται τὴν τῶν