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the name signifies; and "But you, Ethiopians, are the wounded of my sword" presents the same thought; but also what is said in Exodus by those who were oppressed by Pharaoh to Moses and Aaron: "May God see and judge *** to give a sword into the hands of Pharaoh", and through the name of the sword they indicate the affliction brought upon themselves. And in harmony with these is, "If you do not turn, he will whet his sword"; but it is said to be turning, so that, when man has turned from wickedness to virtue, it also might turn, providing entry. The guard, therefore, in which the sword and the cherubim are placed, as has been said before, would be for a benefit, so that, if a desire for entry should arise in someone, the guidance might come through these, the cherubim signifying the knowledge of the truth, in which he who wishes to enter must partake, and the sword signifying the painful discipline; for indeed it is through many tribulations that one can attain entry into the kingdom, as it is written. That the punishment set forth from God is turning and not in every case coming to pass, the events concerning the Ninevites teach, who prevented the wrath through repentance; for them the things of the threat were turned. But the saints also, knowing the judgment concerning the cherubim and that it is not possible to enter into paradise without God's economy concerning them, say: "You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, appear" like a charioteer being borne by them and by your will opening or closing the entrance, because those outside, obeying your commands, 117 desire to enter. But others also, knowing that he himself is the one who pronounced against man: "You are earth and to earth you shall return", beseech him, saying: "You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, let the earth be shaken", so that, a change having occurred concerning the earth, he might say to the thief: "Today you will be with me in paradise". 18, 1-2. Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said: I have gotten a man through God. And she again bore his brother Abel. And Abel was a shepherd of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. Following the expulsion from paradise and the making of the garments of skin, it is said: Now Adam knew Eve his wife, with "knowledge" being used for experience and for union with a woman; for he knew her according to the meaning of "to understand"; thus indeed he also said when he saw her: "This is now bone of my bones". In accordance with the "knowledge" with which Adam knew Eve his wife, it is also said in the Books of Kingdoms: "Elkanah knew Hannah his wife". Thus it is also said concerning Rebecca: "she was a virgin, no man had known her", and she was not at all known by any man, but it is clear that it is said this way because she had not yet come together with a man. And it is well said: "She was a virgin, no man had known her"; if it is not understood wisely, it would be a tautology, but since the scripture wishes to show that she was most pure in both body and mind, 118 it has spoken thus. Thus also Mary more divinely said: "How will this be for me, since I do not know a man?" For being unaccustomed to the sight of a man, she was troubled when she saw the angel, had he not himself taken away her fear, and it is plausible that, being learned in the law, she considered whether the one who appeared was one of the transgressing angels, who are said to have desired the daughters of men. "And she conceived and bore Cain." Another manner of the generation of human beings is described; for Adam was formed from dust, and Eve was built, being taken from the side of the man, but this one now being born came forth first from both parents, while the generation according to the Savior occurred from a virgin alone. For it is not untimely to note this, so that all the manners of

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ὄνομα δηλοῖ· καὶ τὸ "6Ὑμεῖς δ' Αἰθίοπες τραυματίαι ῥομφαίας μού ἐστε"6 τὴν αὐτὴν παρίστησιν διάνοιαν· ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ λεγόμενον ἐν τῇ Ἐξόδῳ ὑπὸ τῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ Φαραὼ καταπονουμένων πρὸς Μωσέα καὶ Ἀαρών· "6Ἴδοι ὁ Θεὸς καὶ κρίναι *** δοῦναι ῥομφαίαν εἰς τὰς χεῖρας Φαραώ"6, δηλοῦσιν δὲ διὰ τοῦ ὀνόματος τῆς ῥομφαίας τὴν καθ' ἑαυ[τ]ῶν ἐπενεχθεῖσαν θλῖψιν. Τούτοις συνᾴδει καὶ τὸ "6Ἐὰν μὴ ἐπιστραφῆτε τὴν ῥομφαίαν αὐτοῦ, στιλβώσει"6· αὕτη δὲ στ[ρε]φομένη εἴρηται, ἵνα, στρα- φέντος ἀπὸ κακίας ἐπ' ἀρετὴν [τ]οῦ ἀνθρώπου, καὶ αὐτὴ στραφῇ τὴν εἴσοδον παρέχουσα. Ἡ φυλακὴ ο[ὖν, εἰ]ς ἣν τέθεινται ἡ ῥομφαία καὶ τὰ χερουβείμ, ὡς πρ[οείρ]ηται, εἴη πρὸς ὠφέλειαν, ἵνα, εἰ γένοιτο πόθος τινὶ τῆς εἰσόδου, [δι]ὰ τούτων ἡ χειραγωγία γένηται, τῶν μὲν χερουβεὶμ αἰνιττο[μέν]ων τὴν γνῶσιν τῆς ἀληθείας, ἧς μετέχειν δεῖ τὸν εἰσεῖνα[ι β]ουλόμε[νο]ν, τῆς δὲ ῥομφαίας τὴν ἐπίπονον ἀγωγήν· καὶ γὰρ δι[ὰ π]ολλῶν [θλ]ίψεων τῆς εἰσόδου ἔστιν τῆς βασιλείας τυχεῖν, ὡ[ς γ]έγραπται. Ὅτι δὲ στρεφομένη ἡ παρὰ Θεοῦ ἐκ[κε]ιμένη κόλασις καὶ οὐ πάντως ἐνερχομένη, τὰ κατὰ Νινευεί[τα]ς διδάσκει, οἳ τὴν ὀργὴν διὰ μετανοίας ἐκώλυσαν· τούτοις [δὲ] τὰ τῆς ἀπειλῆς ἐστράφη. Ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ ἅγιοι, εἰδότες τὸ περὶ τ[ὰ] χερουβεὶμ κρῖμα καὶ ὡς οὐχ οἷόν τε εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὸν παρά[δει]σον χωρὶς τῆς περὶ αὐτὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ οἰκονομίας, φασίν· "6Ὁ καθή[μ]ενος ἐπὶ τῶν χερουβεὶμ ἐμφάνηθι"6 καθάπερ ἡνίοχος αὐτοῖς ἐ[πο]χούμενος καὶ τῇ σῇ βουλῇ ἀνοίγων ἢ κλείων τὴν εἴσοδον, ὅτ[ι] τ[ο]ῖς σοῖς πειθόμενοι προστάγ- 117 μασι οἱ ἔξω εἰσελθεῖν ἐπιθυμοῦσιν. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄλλοι ἐπιστάμενοι ὡς αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ ἀποφηνάμενος κατὰ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου· "6Γῆ εἶ καὶ εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσῃ"6, παρακα- λοῦσιν αὐτὸν λέγοντες· "6Ὁ καθήμενος ἐπὶ τῶν χερουβείμ, σαλευθήτω ἡ γῆ"6, ἵνα, μεταβολῆς γεγενημένης περὶ τὴν γῆν, εἴπῃ τῷ λῃστῇ· "6Σήμερον μετ' ἐμοῦ ἔσῃ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ"6. ιῃ, 1-2. Ἀδὰμ δὲ ἔγνω Εὕαν τὴν [γ]υναῖκα αὐτοῦ, καὶ συλλαβοῦσα ἔτεκεν τὸν Κάιν καὶ εἶπεν· Ἐκτησάμην ἄνθρω- πον διὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ. Καὶ προσέθηκεν τεκεῖν τ[ὸ]ν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν Ἄβελ. Καὶ ἐγένετο Ἄβελ ποιμὴν π[ρο]βάτων, Κάιν δὲ ἦν ἐργαζόμενος τὴν γῆν. Ἀκολούθως μετὰ τὴν ἐ[κ]βολὴν τὴν ἐκ τοῦ παραδείσου καὶ τὴν ποίησιν τῶν δερμ[α]τί[ν]ων κιτώνων εἴρηται· Ἔγνω δὲ Ἀδὰμ Εὕαν τὴν γυνα[ῖκα] αὐτοῦ, τῆς γνώσεως ἀντὶ πείρας καὶ τῆς πρὸς γυναῖκα [συν]όδου λεγομένης· ᾔδει γὰρ αὐτὴν κατὰ τὸ τοῦ ἐπίστα[σθ]αι σημαινόμενον· οὕτω γοῦν καὶ εἶπεν θε[α]σ̣άμεν[ος] αὐτήν· "6Τοῦτο νῦν ὀστοῦν ἐκ τῶν ὀστέων μου"6. [Κα]τὰ τὴν [γ]νῶσιν ἣν ἔγνω Ἀδὰμ Εὕαν τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ εἴρηται κα[ὶ ἐ]ν ταῖς Βασιλείαις· "6Ἔγνω Ἐλκανᾶ Ἅνναν τὴν γυναῖκααὐτοῦ"6. [Οὕ]τως εἴρηται καὶ περὶ Ῥεβέκκας· "6Παρ- θένος ἦν, ἀνὴρ οὐκ ἔ[γνω] αὐτήν"6, καὶ οὐδήπου ὑπ' οὐδένος ἐγιγνώσκετο ἀνδρό[ς, ἀ]λλὰ δῆλον ὡς διὰ τὸ μήπω συνελη- λυθέναι αὐτὴν ἀνδρὶ [οὕ]τως εἴρηται. Εὖ δὲ καὶ τὸ εἰπεῖν· "6Παρθένος ἦν, ἀνὴρ οὐκ ἔγν[ω] αὐτήν"6· εἰ μὴ συνετῶς νοηθῇ, δισσολογία ἂν εἴη, ἀλλὰ δ[ηλ]ῶσαι βουλόμενον τὸ λόγιον ὡς καὶ σώματι καὶ γνώμῃ ἁγνοτάτη ἐτύγχανεν, 118 οὕτως εἴρηκεν. Οὕτω θειότερον καὶ Μαρία ἔφασκεν· "6Πῶς ἔσται μοι τοῦτο, ἐπεὶ ἄνδρα οὐ γιγνώσκω;"6 Ἀλήθης γὰρ οὖσα ὄψεως ἀνδρός, διεταράχθηθεασαμένη τὸν ἄγγελον, εἰ μὴ αὐτὸς αὐτῆς ἀφεῖλεν τὸν φόβον, πιθανὸν δὲ καὶ τὸ νομομαθὴ οὔσαν ἐννοῆσαι μὴ ἄρα τις τῶν παραβάντων ἀγγέλων ἦν ὁ φανείς, τῶν ἐπιτεθυμηκέναι εἰρημένων τὰς τῶν ἀνθρώπων θυγατέρας. "6Καὶ συλλαβοῦσα ἔτεκεν τὸν Κάιν."6 Ἕτερο[ς] τρόπος γενέσεως ἀνθρώπων ὑπογράφεται· ὁ μὲν γὰρ Ἀδὰμ ἀπ[ὸ] χοῦ πέπλασται, ἡ δὲ Εὕα ἀπὸ τῆς πλευρᾶς τοῦ ἀνδρὸς λη[μ]φθεῖσα ᾠκοδομήθη, οὗτος δὲ ὁ νῦν γεννώμενος ἐξ ἀ[μ]φοτέρων τοκέων πρῶτος προῆλθεν, τῆς κατὰ τὸν Σωτῆρα γ[εν]ε´̣σεως ἐκ μόνης παρθένου γεγενημένης. Οὐκ ἄκαιρον γὰρ τ[ο]ῦτο παρασημήνασθαι, ἵνα πάντες οἱ τρόποι τῆς