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QUESTION 147 From the same: “Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! And this is

darkness and not light, in the way that when a man flees from the face of a lion and a bear meets him, and he leaps into his house 14Α_212 and leans his hands against the wall and a serpent bites him.”

RESPONSE The day of the Lord is the illumination and the knowledge of the Lord; whoever, therefore, desires

to attain knowledge of God without practice, this one is rightly deemed wretched; for being troubled by the passions, both of anger and desire, seeking to flee being bitten by the lion, that is, by anger, he falls upon the bear of desire; then being distressed by these, he leaps into the house and rests his hands against the wall and a serpent bites him. The house is the soul, and the wall is the body; therefore, whenever he rests the practical powers of the soul on the enjoyment of the body, pleasure comes forth—for this is the serpent—and bites him; for through each sense of the body, as if through a hole, pleasure creeps and bites the wretched soul. To one, therefore, whose eyes of the soul are so weakened, the sun of knowledge is darkness and blindness.

QUESTION 148 From the Psalter: “The words of the Lord are pure words, silver refined by fire,

tested for the earth, purified seven times.” RESPONSE They are called pure as purifying us from every stain of sins; and refined

silver because of their transparency and illuminating quality, as with silver; and because of their divine quality that tests our hearts; for the heart is called earth in the Gospel; and purified sevenfold is when we purify each commandment sevenfold. It is good for what is said to be clarified by one 14Α_214 commandment; the law proclaims, “You shall not murder.” Whoever, therefore, wishes to purify this commandment sevenfold, not only abstains from murder by hand, but also if he sees someone hungry, he feeds him; if he sees someone thirsty, he gives him drink; if he sees someone naked, he clothes him; if he sees a stranger, he takes him in; if he sees someone sick, he does not overlook him; if he sees someone in prison, he runs to him. And simply, he who neglects one of these has committed murder in this way; for he allowed him to die, as much as it was in his power, though he was able to rescue the one in need of him. Therefore, one who joins the six enumerated commandments of the Lord to the legal commandment “You shall not murder” purifies the word of the Lord sevenfold; and it is possible to apply this to each commandment.

QUESTION 149 From the Proverbs: “Let your foot be seldom in your friend’s house,

lest he be filled with you and hate you.” RESPONSE Here it calls our body a friend because of the natural union with and

affection for it. The saying therefore advises not to make provision for the body a matter of anxious care, but to make provision for it only by the track of the soul, and this rarely, lest when you make much of its repose, it exhibit in you the things of enemies and haters.

QUESTION 150 What is the meaning of the saying from the patriarch Jacob, “I paid for

thefts by day and thefts by night”? 14Α_216 RESPONSE

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ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 147 Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ· «οὐαὶ οἱ ἐπιθυμοῦντες τὴν ἡμέραν Κυρίου, καὶ αὕτη ἐστὶν

σκότος καὶ οὐ φῶς, ὃν τρόπον ὅτ᾽ ἂν φύγῃ ἄνθρωπος ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ λέοντος καὶ ἐμπέσῃ αὐτῷ ἄρκος καὶ εἰσπηδήσῃ εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ 14Α_212 καὶ ἀπερείσηται τὰς χεῖρας αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν τοῖχον καὶ δάκῃ αὐτὸν ὄφις».

ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ἡμέρα Κυρίου ἐστὶν ὁ φωτισμὸς καὶ ἡ γνῶσις τοῦ Κυρίου· ὅστις οὖν ἐπιθυμεῖ

ἐπιλαβέσθαι γνώσεως Θεοῦ ἄνευ πράξεως, οὗτος εἰκότως ταλανίζεται· ὑπὸ γὰρ τῶν παθῶν διοχλούμενος, θυμοῦ τε καὶ ἐπιθυμίας, φεύγειν τὸ δακεῖν ζητῶν ἐκ τοῦ λέοντος, τουτέστιν τοῦ θυμοῦ, ἐμπίπτει εἰς τὴν ἄρκον τῆς ἐπιθυμίας· εἶτα ἐκ τούτων στενοχωρούμενος ἐμπηδᾷ εἰς τὸν οἶκον καὶ τὰς χεῖρας εἰς τὸν τοῖχον ἀπερείδεται καὶ δάκνει αὐτὸν ὄφις· οἶκός ἐστιν ἡ ψυχή, τεῖχος δὲ τὸ σῶμα· ἐπειδὰν οὖν τὰς πρακτικὰς τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεις τῇ ἀπολαύσει τοῦ σώματος ἀπερείσηται, ἐξέρχεται ἡ ἡδονή αὐτὴ γὰρ ὁ ὄφις καὶ δάκνει αὐτόν· δι᾽ ἑκάστης γὰρ τοῦ σώματος αἰσθήσεως ὥσπερ δι᾽ ὀπῆς ἕρπουσα ἡ ἡδονὴ δάκνει τὴν ἀθλίαν ψυχήν. Τῷ οὖν οὕτως ἀσθενοῦντι τοὺς τῆς ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὁ τῆς γνώσεως ἥλιος σκότος ἐστὶν καὶ τύφλωσις.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 148 Ἐκ τοῦ Ψαλτηρίου· «τὰ λόγια Κυρίου λόγια ἁγνά, ἀργύριον πεπυρωμένον,

δοκίμιον τῇ γῇ, κεκαθαρισμένον ἑπταπλασίως». ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ὡς ἁγνίζοντα ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ πάσης κηλίδος ἁμαρτιῶν εἴρηνται ἁγνά· ἀργύριον δὲ

πεπυρωμένον διὰ τὸ διαφανὲς αὐτῶν καὶ φωτιστικὸν ὡς ἐν ἀργύρῳ· καὶ διὰ τὸ θεῖον αὐτῶν καὶ δοκιμαστικὸν τῶν ἡμετέρων καρδιῶν· γῆ γὰρ ἡ καρδία ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ εἴρηται· κεκαθαρμένον δὲ ἑπταπλασίως ὅτ᾽ ἂν ἑκάστην ἐντολὴν ἑπταπλασίως καθαίρομεν. Καλὸν δὲ ἐπὶ μιᾶς 14Α_214 ἐντολῆς σαφηνισθῆναι τὸ λεγόμενον· διαγορεύει ὁ νόμος τὸ οὐ φονεύσῃς· ὅστις οὖν ταύτην τὴν ἐντολὴν θέλει ἑπταπλασίως καθᾶραι, οὐ μόνον τοῦ διὰ χειρὸς φόνου ἀπέχεται, ἀλλὰ κἂν ἴδῃ πεινῶντα τρέφει, κἂν ἴδῃ διψῶντα ποτίζει, κἂν ἴδῃ γυμνὸν περιβάλλει, κἂν ἴδῃ ξένον συνάγει, κἂν ἴδῃ νοσοῦντα οὐ παρορᾷ, κἂν ἐν φυλακῇ ἴδῃ τρέχει πρὸς αὐτόν· καὶ ἁπλῶς ὁ ἑνὸς τούτων ἀμελήσας κατὰ τοῦτον φόνον εἰργάσατο· ἔασεν γὰρ ὅσον τὸ ἐπ᾽ αὐτῷ ἀποθανεῖν, δυνάμενος ἀνακτήσασθαι τὸν δεόμενον αὐτοῦ. Συνάπτων οὖν τις τὰς ἀπηριθμημένας ἓξ τοῦ Κυρίου ἐντολὰς τῆς νομικῆς οὐ φονεύσῃς ἐντολῆς, καθαίρει τὸ λόγιον Κυρίου ἑπταπλασίως· τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ ἑκάστης ἐντολῆς δυνατὸν ἐφαρμόζειν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 149 Ἐκ τῶν Παροιμιῶν· «σπάνιον εἰσάγαγε σὸν πόδα πρὸς τὸν σεαυτοῦ φίλον,

μήποτε πλησθείς σου μισήσῃ σε». ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Φίλον ἐνταῦθα τὸ σῶμα ἡμῶν λέγει διὰ τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸ φυσικὴν ἕνωσίν τε καὶ

στοργήν. Παραινεῖ οὖν ὁ λόγος τὴν περὶ τὸ σῶμα πρόνοιαν μὴ πεφροντισμένην ποιεῖσθαι, ἀλλὰ μόνῳ τῷ τῆς ψυχῆς ἴχνει τὴν αὐτοῦ πρόνοιαν ποιεῖσθαι, καὶ τοῦτο δὲ σπανίως, μήποτε τὴν ἀνάπαυσιν αὐτοῦ περὶ πολλοῦ ποιουμένου σου, τὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν καὶ μισούντων ἐν σοὶ ἐνδείξηται.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 150 Τί σημαίνει τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦ πατριάρχου Ἰακὼβ λεγόμενον τὸ «ἐγὼ ἀπετίννυον

κλέμματα ἡμέρας καὶ κλέμματα νυκτός»; 14Α_216 ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ