,

the assault of voluntary passions, the unclean demons. But also, belonging to the portion of the tribe of Issachar, Joppa—and this is interpreted as wage and labor—gives us more to understand that Joppa is a guarding disposition of the practical life, guarding against the unseen attacks of the spirits of wickedness. Therefore, the great apostle was perhaps commanded to rise up from this and transfer his mind to the knowledge of higher things.

Let him, therefore, who inhabits the height of observation of the practical philosophy be said to be in Joppa, but he who dwells in Sion in Jerusalem, that is, the watchtower established for the vision of peace—for this is how Jerusalem is interpreted—has become far from all relation to the senses, as far as, historically, the sea is from the location of Sion in its position, (14B_194> and being at the height of knowledge he observes only the intelligible sights of beings by the mental stripping away of the phenomenal forms in beings, and he receives the manifestations of divine things made manifest as is lawful, fashioning his governing faculty toward that which is more divine. Therefore, he who dwells in Joppa is a man of practice, observing the snares of the adversaries, but he who dwells in Sion is a gnostic, contemplating with the mind alone the beauty of divine things.

But if the vessel of the sheet was drawn up again into heaven, let us understand that after the spiritual principles of sensible things, coexisting with the intelligible, were shown to the great Peter, God again draws these up to Himself, teaching that nothing, of which the principles abide with Him, is altogether unclean. Wherefore, the great apostle, knowing the power of the things seen, learned to call no man unclean, nor that there is partiality with God, which makes an unjust division of beings. Hence, without any delay, he fulfilled the divine command, slaughtering for spiritual life those who voluntarily circumcise their hearts by the word of grace, and who cast off all impurity of unbelief, evil, and ignorance like a foreskin, but do not circumcise any of the natural attributes of the flesh, whose constitution is not from an impassioned disposition, but whose origin is from divine creation. For nothing that is according to nature is unclean, because it has God as the cause of its existence.

SCHOLIA 1. He speaks of a translation of life and angelic worship, and a voluntary alienation of the soul from the body; and the genesis of the divine transformation in the Spirit, he proclaims the mystery of the New Covenant.

2. The principle of the commandment, he says, is one thing, and the manner of the commandment’s fulfillment is another. Having therefore received the commandment concerning the preaching to the gentiles, the great Peter, being ignorant, was taught (14B_196> the manner of the commandment through the sheet: that the calling of the gentiles must happen without circumcision and the other more bodily customs of the law. For the Word knows a spiritual circumcision, the cutting off of the soul’s impassioned relation to the body.

3. He who does not remain in the forms of visible things through the senses, but mentally seeks their principles, contemplating them as types of intelligible things, or as principles of sensible creations, is taught that nothing of the things seen is unclean. For all things by nature have been established as very good.

4. He who is not altered, he says, by the movement of sensible things, pursues the unadulterated practice of the virtues. And he who has not shaped his mind by their forms has obtained the true opinion concerning beings. And he who has run past the very substance of beings with his thought, as a most excellent theologian, has after this unknowingly approached the monad. Therefore, he who in a threefold manner has slaughtered in himself the creation of visible things, has become worthy of the rank of the perfect.

ἑκουσίων παθῶν ἐπιδρομὴν οἱ ἀκάθαρτοι δαίμονες. Ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς μερίδος τυγχάνουσα τῆς φυλῆς Ἰσσάχαρ Ἰόππημισθὸς δὲ καὶ κάματος οὗτος ἑρμηνεύεται δίδωσι πλέον νοεῖν ὅτι πρακτικῆς ἐστιν ἕξις φυλακτικὴ Ἰόππη, τὰς ἀοράτους ἐφόδους φυλαττομένη τῶν πνευμάτων τῆς πονηρίας. Ταύτης οὖν ἀναστάντα πρὸς τὴν τῶν ὑψηλῶν γνῶσιν μεταθεῖναι τὸν νοῦν ἴσως ἐκελεύετο ὁ μέγας ἀπόστολος.

Ὁ τοίνυν τῆς πρακτικῆς φιλοσοφίας οἰκῶν τὸ τῆς κατασκοπῆς ὕψος ἐν Ἰόππῃ λεγέσθω εἶναι, ὁ δὲ τὴν ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις Σιὼν κατοικῶν, τουτέστι τὸ σκοπευτήριον τὸ κατὰ τὴν ὅρασιν τῆς εἰρήνης ἰδρυμένοντοῦτο γὰρ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἑρμηνεύεται, πάσης μακρὰν γέγονε τῆς κατ᾽ αἴσθησιν σχέσεως, ὅσον ἱστορικῶς τοῦ τόπου τῆς Σιὼν κατὰ τὴν θέσιν ἡ θάλασσα, (14Β_194> καὶ σκοπεύει μόνον κατὰ τὸ ὕψος ὑπάρχων τῆς γνώσεως τὰ νοητὰ τῶν ὄντων θεάματα τῇ κατὰ νοῦν περιαιρέσει τῶν φαινομένων ἐν τοῖς οὖσι σχημάτων, καὶ δέχεται τὰς τῶν θείων ἐμφάσεις κατὰ τὸ θεμιτὸν ἐκφανεῖς, τυποῦσας αὐτοῦ τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν πρὸς τὸ θειότερον. Ὁ γοῦν οἰκῶν Ἰόππην πρακτικός ἐστι, καταθεωρῶν τῶν ἐναντίων τὰ θήρατρα, ὁ δὲ κατοικῶν ἐν Σιὼν γνωστικός ἐστι, μόνην κατὰ νοῦν τῶν θείων θεωρῶν τὴν εὐπρέπειαν.

Εἰ δὲ πάλιν εἰς οὐρανὸν ἀνεσπάσθη τὸ σκεῦος τῆς ὀθόνης, νοήσωμεν ὅτι μετὰ τὸ δειχθῆναι τῷ μεγάλῳ Πέτρῳ τοὺς τῶν αἰσθητῶν πνευματικοὺς λόγους τοῖς νοητοῖς συνυπάρχοντας, πάλιν ἀνέλκει πρὸς ἑαυτὸν τούτους ὁ Θεός, διδάσκων ὡς οὐδὲν ὧν οἱ λόγοι παρ᾽ αὐτῷ μένουσιν, ἔστι καθάπαξ ἀκάθαρτον. ∆ιό, γνοὺς τῶν ὁραθέντων τὴν δύναμιν ὁ μέγας ἀπόστολος, ἔμαθε μηδένα λέγειν ἀκάθαρτον ἄνθρωπον, μηδὲ προσωποληψίαν εἶναι παρὰ Θεῷ, ποιουμένην ἄδικον τὴν τῶν ὄντων διαίρεσιν. Ὅθεν, μηδὲν μελλήσας, τὸ θεῖον ἐπλήρωσε πρόσταγμα, καταθύσας πρὸς ζωὴν πνευματικὴν τοὺς τὴν καρδίαν ἑκουσίως περιτεμνομένους τῷ λόγῳ τῆς χάριτος, καὶ πᾶσαν ἀπιστίας κακίας τε καὶ ἀγνωσίας ἀκαθαρσίαν καθάπερ ἀκροβυστίαν ἀποβαλλομένους, τῆς δὲ σαρκὸς μηδὲν τῶν προσόντων αὐτῇ φυσικῶν περιτέμνοντας ὧν οὐκ ἐξ ἐμπαθοῦς γνώμης ἡ σύστασις, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ θείας δημιουργίας ἡ γένεσις. Οὐδὲν γὰρ τῶν κατὰ φύσιν ἀκάθαρτον, ὅτι Θεὸν ἔχει τῆς ὑπάρξεως αἴτιον.

ΣΧΟΛΙΑ 1. Ζωῆς μετάθεσίν φησι καί λατρείαν ἀγγελικήν, καί πρός σῶμα ψυχῆς

ἑκούσιον ἀλλοτρίωσιν· καί τῆς ἐν Πνεύματι θείας μεταποιήσεως γένεσιν, τό τῆς νέας ∆ιαθήκης καταγγέλλει μυστήριον.

2. Ἕτερος, φησίν, ὁ τῆς ἐντολῆς ἐστι λόγος, καί ἕτερος ὁ τοῦ γίνεσθαι τὴν ἐντολὴν τρόπος. Λαβών οὖν ὁ μέγας Πέτρος τὴν περί τῶν ἐθνῶν τοῦ κηρύγματος ἐντολήν, ἀγνοῶν διά (14Β_196> τῆς ὀθόνης τῆς ἐντολῆς ἐδιδάσκετο τόν τρόπον· ὅτι δίχα περιτομῆς, καί τῶν λοιπῶν τοῦ νόμου σωματικωτέρων, ἐθῶν χρή τῶν ἐθνῶν γενέσθαι τήν κλῆσιν. Πνευματικήν γάρ οἶδεν ὁ λόγος περιτομήν, ἐμπαθοῦς σχέσεως πρός σῶμα τῆς ψυχῆς ἐκτομήν.

3. Ὁ μή τοῖς σχήμασι τῶν ὁρατῶν ἐναπομένων διά τήν αἴσθησιν, ἀλλά κατά νοῦν τούς λόγους αὐτῶν ἀναζητῶν, ὡς νοητῶν τύπους, ἤ λόγους αἰσθητῶν θεώμενος κτισμάτων, οὐδέν ἀκάθαρτον εἶναι τῶν ὁρωμένων διδάσκεται. Πάντα γάρ φύσει καλά λίαν καθέστηκεν.

4. Ὁ τῇ κινήσει φησίν τῶν αἰσθητῶν μή συναλλοιούμενος, ἀκίβδηλον τήν τῶν ἀρετῶν μετέρχεται πρᾶξιν. Ὁ δέ τοῖς αὐτῶν σχήμασι μή διατυπώσας τόν νοῦν, τήν ἀληθῆ περί τῶν ὄντων ἀπείληφε δόξαν. Ὁ δέ καί αὐτήν τήν οὐσίαν τῶν ὄντων τῇ διανοίᾳ παραδραμών ὡς ἄριστος θεολόγος μετά ταύτην ἀγνώστως τῇ μονάδι προσέβαλεν. Οὐκοῦν ὁ τρίτον ἐν ἑαυτῷ καταθύσας τήν κτίσιν τῶν ὁρωμένων, τῆς τῶν τελείων ἄξιος γέγονε τάξεως.