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Understand "thefts of the day" as the defeats that happen to us from the evil one through the external senses, for which the patriarch offered up the labors of asceticism. "Thefts of the night" are those things by which the enemy robs us through our inner thoughts, for which, like the patriarch, we must offer up labors and vigils and the other forms of asceticism.

QUESTION 151 What does the heifer signify, which, according to the law concerning ignorance of a murder, is hamstrung

in the ravine? RESPONSE Through these things, the spiritual will of Scripture signifies that we must not only fear concerning

manifest sins, as those who are about to be judged for them, but also, fearing for those things done by us in ignorance, we must always hamstring the heifer, that is, our flesh, in the ravine of continence and asceticism. And for this reason they left the heifer alive, so that we too may learn not to kill the body, but to hamstring and tame the pleasures that rise up.

QUESTION 152 What do Nadab and Abihu signify, who "offered strange fire" and

for this reason were consumed by fire? RESPONSE Those who are always ministering as priests to God, and offering themselves to God as a living sacrifice,

and having the fervor of the Holy Spirit 14Α_218 in themselves like Cleopas, offer their own fire to God; but whenever, having grown negligent, they fall outside of this state and gather up the inflammation of the passions within themselves, then they have introduced a strange fire and their conscience is consumed by the fire of reproof.

QUESTION 153 For what reason is the fine flour always included with the sacrifices of the Law, and

sometimes mixed with oil, sometimes in an oven, and sometimes in a pan? RESPONSE The fine flour must be taken as the word, since it is the food of rational beings; and when it is

mixed with oil, it signifies the word with the illumination of knowledge; but when in a pan, it signifies the word that has been tested and is steadfast from the pleasurable temptations that assail us from within; but when in an oven, it signifies the word being solid through the testing in patience of the temptations that assail us from without.

QUESTION 154 Why, when those under the law were celebrating for seven days on the fifteenth day of the seventh month,

did they offer on the first day 14 bulls and each day decrease by one bull until they came to seven?

RESPONSE Since, according to the word of the Lord, it is necessary to turn and become like children,

and a child is completely deprived of impassioned movement, but when he becomes fourteen years old the impassioned movement immediately begins to be stirred up in him, therefore, as 14Α_220 I think, the mystery of the law indicates this, that it is necessary to offer sacrificially to God the diminution even of the natural movement, until we arrive at perfect dispassion.

QUESTION 155

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«Κλέμματα ἡμέρας» νόησον τὰ διὰ τῶν ἔξωθεν αἰσθήσεων συμβαίνοντα ἡμῖν ἀπὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ ἡττήματα, ὑπὲρ ὧν ὁ πατριάρχης ἀπετίννυεν τοὺς τῆς ἀσκήσεως πόνους. Κλέμματα δὲ νυκτός εἰσιν ἅπερ διὰ τῶν ἔνδον λογισμῶν συλᾷ ἡμᾶς ὁ ἐχθρός, ὑπὲρ ὧν χρὴ ἡμᾶς κατὰ τὸν πατριάρχην ἀποτιννύειν πόνους καὶ ἀγρυπνίας καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τῆς ἀσκήσεως εἴδη.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 151 Τί σημαίνει ἡ κατὰ τὸν νόμον περὶ τῆς ἀγνοίας τοῦ φόνου νευροκοπουμένη

ἐν τῇ φάραγγι δάμαλις; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Σημαίνει διὰ τούτων τὸ πνευματικὸν βούλημα τῆς Γραφῆς ὅτι οὐ μόνον περὶ

τῶν προδήλων ἁμαρτημάτων χρὴ δεδοικέναι ὡς μέλλοντας ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν διδόναι δίκην, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἀγνώστως ἡμῖν πραττομένων δεδοικότας, ἀεὶ τὴν δάμαλιν, τουτέστιν τὴν σάρκα ἡμῶν, νευροκοπεῖν ἐν τῇ φάραγγι τῆς ἐγκρατείας καὶ τῆς ἀσκήσεως. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο δὲ τὴν δάμαλιν ζῶσαν κατελίμπανον, ἵνα καὶ ἡμεῖς μάθωμεν μὴ τὸ σῶμα ἀποκτέννειν, ἀλλὰ τὰς ἐπανισταμένας ἡδονὰς νευροκοπεῖν καὶ δαμάζειν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 152 Τί σημαίνουσιν Ναδὰβ καὶ Ἀβιοὺδ οἱ «προσενέγκαντες πῦρ ἀλλότριον» καὶ

διὰ τοῦτο κατακαέντες; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Οἱ ἀεὶ τῷ Θεῷ ἱερατεύοντες, καὶ προσάγοντες ἑαυτοὺς τῷ Θεῷ θυσίαν ζῶσαν,

καὶ τὴν ζέσιν τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος ἔχοντες 14Α_218 ἐν ἑαυτοῖς κατὰ τὸν Κλεόπαν, τὸ ἴδιον πῦρ τῷ Θεῷ προσάγουσιν· ὅτ᾽ ἂν δὲ ῥαθυμήσαντες ἔξω ταύτης τῆς καταστάσεως γένωνται καὶ τὴν ἔξαψιν τῶν παθῶν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς συναγάγωσιν, τότε τὸ ἀλλότριον πῦρ ἐπεισήγαγον καὶ κατακαίονται τὴν συνείδησιν τῷ πυρὶ τῶν ἐλέγχων.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 153 Τίνος χάριν ἡ σεμίδαλις ταῖς νομικαῖς θυσίαις ἀεὶ συμπαραλαμβάνεται καὶ

ποτὲ μὲν ἐλαίῳ πεφυραμένη, ποτὲ δὲ εἰς κλίβανον, ποτὲ δὲ εἰς τήγανον; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Τὴν σεμίδαλιν ἐπὶ τοῦ λόγου ληπτέον ὡς λογικῶν οὖσαν τροφήν· καὶ ὅτε μὲν

ἐλαίῳ πεφυραμένη, τὸν λόγον δηλοῖ μετὰ τοῦ φωτισμοῦ τῆς γνώσεως· ὅτ᾽ ἂν δὲ εἰς τήγανον, δηλοῖ τὸν λόγον δεδοκιμασμένον καὶ συνεστῶτα ἐκ τῶν ἔνδοθεν προσπιπτόντων ἡμῖν ἡδονικῶν πειρασμῶν· ὅτ᾽ ἂν δὲ εἰς κλίβανον, δηλοῖ τὸν λόγον στερρὸν ὄντα διὰ τῆς ἐν ὑπομονῇ δοκιμασίας τῶν ἔξωθεν ἡμῖν προσπιπτόντων πειρασμῶν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 154 ∆ιατί ἐν τῷ ἑβδόμῳ μηνὶ εἰς τὴν πεντεκαιδεκάτην ἡμέραν ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας

ἑορταζόντων τῶν κατὰ τὸν νόμον, προσῆγον εἰς τὴν πρώτην ἡμέραν ιδ' (14) μόσχους καὶ ἑκάστης ἡμέρας ὑφαίρουσαν τὸν ἕνα μόσχον ἕως οὗ ἦλθον εἰς τοὺς ἑπτά;

ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ἐπειδὴ κατὰ τὸν λόγον τοῦ Κυρίου στραφῆναι δεῖ καὶ γενέσθαι ὡς τὰ παιδία,

τὸ δὲ παιδίον ἐστέρηται πάντη τῆς ἐμπαθοῦς κινήσεως, ἡνίκα δὲ γένηται δεκατεσσάρων ἐτῶν εὐθέως ἡ ἐμπαθὴς κίνησις ἄρχεται ἐν αὐτῷ διεγείρεσθαι, τοῦτο οὖν, ὡς 14Α_220 οἶμαι, τὸ μυστικὸν τοῦ νόμου παραδηλοῖ, ὅτι χρὴ καὶ τῆς φυσικῆς κινήσεως τὴν μείωσιν τῷ Θεῷ ἱερουργεῖν, μέχρις ἂν εἰς τὴν τελείαν ἔλθωμεν ἀπάθειαν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 155