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Some of the holy fathers say that the different calls signify the different ages, while others, the different dispositions. Suppose the denarius to be self-control, but there are many differences of this; for one who has his own wife, having obtained her, preserves self-control in this regard; but there is another higher than this one, because he does not continually make use of the permission of the law; another makes use of it only for the sake of the procreation of children for the succession of the family; another, after having one or a second child, completely abstains from marital relations; but there is one higher than all of these, the one who has not given himself over to marriage at all but practices virginity because of love for the Lord. The account has thus shown five dispositions, each one higher than the other, in which are signified the five calls and the one denarius of self-control; and take this also with regard to the other virtues.

14A_252 QUESTION 184 What does the story of the prophet Jonah signify, and what is Joppa from which he flees? RESPONSE Jonah fleeing from the face of the Lord is taken as our nature;

for this nature, being in Joppa—which is interpreted 'vision of joy,' by which paradise is signified—fled through disobedience and gives itself over to the sea of life and is tossed by storm and is swallowed by the spiritual whale and is vomited out through the Lord’s three-day burial in Hades. And again he is taken as the prophetic gift, and he preaches in Nineveh, that is, to the nations, and he is distressed over the gourd; and the gourd is the bodily worship of the law, which the worm withered, the Lord Jesus Christ, who said, “I am a worm and not a man”; for through his coming he abolished the temporary worship of the law. And that there were in the city twelve thousands who did not know their right from their left signifies those who pursue virtue neither by excess nor by deficiency but by the mean and the royal way.

QUESTION 185 Why is it that a raven feeds Elijah bread in the morning, and meat in the evening? RESPONSE The raven is taken for the nature that was blackened by disobedience,

and Elijah sitting by the torrent is taken for the gnostic intellect established in the torrent of temptations and the pains of the ascetic life. This one is fed from the blackened nature bread in the morning, that is, 14A_254 gathering knowledge from the natural contemplation of beings, and meat in the evening; for he is initiated into the mystery of the Lord's incarnation that will come in the last times, that he who brought nature into being out of non-being, will also restore it when it has been corrupted.

Or else: Elijah is taken as a type of the Lord; for he, while a spiritual famine held all hearts, came into the torrent, that is, into life, willingly enduring temptations and sufferings, and his own did not receive him when he came to his own, nor did they feed him, but the nations, blackened by idolatry, received and fed him through knowledge and practice, knowledge being signified by the bread, and practice by the meat.

QUESTION 186 What is the meaning of that which is in the psalm, “he will rejoice as a giant to run his course”? RESPONSE “Giant” is interpreted as ‘one who falls upon,’ and is taken to refer to the Lord; for he

rejoiced along the way of the economy for our salvation

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Φασί τινες τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων τὰς διαφόρους κλήσεις τὰς διαφόρους ἡλικίας σημαίνειν, ἕτεροι δὲ τὰς διαφόρους προθέσεις. Τὸ δὲ δηνάριον ὑπόθου εἶναι τὴν σωφροσύνην, ἀλλὰ πολλαὶ ταύτης αἱ διαφοραί· ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἔχων τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γυναῖκα, ταύτης τυχὼν φυλάττει κατὰ τοῦτο τὴν σωφροσύνην· ἔστιν δὲ ἄλλος ὑψηλότερος τούτου, ὅτι οὐ συνεχῶς κέχρηται τῇ ἀδείᾳ τοῦ νόμου· ἄλλος δὲ διὰ μόνην τὴν ἐκ διαδοχῆς παιδοποιΐαν τοῦ γένους ταύτῃ κέχρηται· ἕτερος δὲ μετὰ τὸ τυχεῖν ἑνὸς ἢ δευτέρου παιδὸς τέλεον ἀφίσταται τῆς γαμικῆς ὁμιλίας· ἔστιν δὲ ὁ πάντων τούτων ὑψηλότερος ὁ μηδόλως ἑαυτὸν ἐπιδώσας τῷ γάμῳ ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν εἰς τὸν Κύριον ἀγάπην τὴν παρθενίαν ἀσκῶν. Ἔδειξεν οὖν ὁ λόγος πέντε προθέσεις, μίαν τῆς μιᾶς ὑψηλοτέραν, ἐν αἷς δηλοῦνται αἱ πέντε κλήσεις καὶ τὸ ἓν τῆς σωφροσύνης δηνάριον· τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀρετῶν ἔκλαβε.

14Α_252 ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 184 Τί δηλοῖ τὰ κατὰ τὸν προφήτην Ἰωνᾶν καὶ τίς ἡ Ἰόππη ἐξ ἧς φεύγει; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Λαμβάνεται ὁ Ἰωνᾶς φεύγων ἀπὸ προσώπου Κυρίου εἰς τὴν ἡμετέραν φύσιν·

αὕτη γὰρ οὖσα εἰς Ἰόππην ἑρμηνεύεται δὲ 'κατασκοπὴ χαρᾶς,' δηλοῦται δὲ ὁ παράδεισος ἔφυγεν διὰ τῆς παρακοῆς καὶ δίδωσιν ἑαυτὴν ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ τοῦ βίου καὶ χειμάζεται καὶ καταπίνεται ὑπὸ τοῦ νοητοῦ κήτους καὶ ἐμεῖται διὰ τῆς τοῦ Κυρίου ἐν τῷ ᾅδῃ τριημέρου ταφῆς. Λαμβάνεται δὲ πάλιν καὶ εἰς τὸ προφητικὸν χάρισμα καὶ κηρύσσει ἐν τῇ Νινευή, τουτέστιν εἰς τὰ ἔθνη, καὶ ἀδημονεῖ ἐπὶ τῇ κολοκύνθῃ· ἔστιν δὲ ἡ κολόκυνθα ἡ σωματικὴ τοῦ νόμου λατρεία, ἣν ὁ σκώληξ ἐξήρανεν, ὁ Κύριος Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστός, ὁ εἰπὼν "ἐγώ εἰμι σκώληξ καὶ οὐκ ἄνθρωπος"· κατήργησεν γὰρ διὰ τῆς αὐτοῦ παρουσίας τὴν πρόσκαιρον τοῦ νόμου λατρείαν. Τὸ δὲ εἶναι ἐν τῇ πόλει δώδεκα χιλιάδας οἵτινες οὐκ ἔγνωσαν δεξιὰν ἢ ἀριστεράν, σημαίνει τοὺς μήτε ὑπερβολῇ μήτε ἐλλείψει ἀλλὰ μεσότητι καὶ ὁδῷ βασιλικῇ τὴν ἀρετὴν μετιόντας.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 185 Τί δήποτε κόραξ διατρέφει τὸν Ἡλίαν πρωῒ μὲν ἄρτον, δείλης δὲ κρέα; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ὁ κόραξ λαμβάνεται ἐπὶ τῆς φύσεως τῆς διὰ τῆς παρακοῆς μελανθείσης,

Ἡλίας δὲ καθήμενος ἐν τῷ χειμάρρῳ λαμβάνεται ἐπὶ τοῦ νοὸς τοῦ γνωστικοῦ ἐν τῷ χειμάρρῳ τῶν πειρασμῶν καὶ τῶν πόνων τῆς ἀσκήσεως ἱδρυμένου. Οὗτος τρέφεται ἐκ τῆς μελανθείσης φύσεως πρωῒ μὲν ἄρτον, τουτέστιν 14Α_254 γνῶσιν ἐκ τῆς τῶν ὄντων φυσικῆς θεωρίας συλλέγων, δείλης δὲ κρέα· μυεῖται γὰρ τὸ ἐπ᾽ ἐσχάτων τοῦ Κυρίου γενησόμενον τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως μυστήριον, ὅτι πάντως ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος ὑποστήσας τὴν φύσιν, καὶ διαφθαρεῖσαν ἐπανορθώσηται.

Ἢ καὶ ἄλλως· Ἡλίας εἰς τύπον τοῦ Κυρίου λαμβάνεται· αὐτὸς γὰρ λιμοῦ νοητοῦ πάσας τὰς καρδίας κατέχοντος, ἦλθεν ἐν τῷ χειμάρρῳ, τουτέστιν ἐν τῷ βίῳ, τῶν πειρασμῶν καὶ τῶν παθῶν ἑκὼν ἀνασχόμενος, καὶ οἱ ἴδιοι εἰς τὰ ἴδια ἐλθόντα οὐ παρέλαβον οὐδὲ ἔθρεψαν, τὰ δὲ ἔθνη τὰ τῇ εἰδωλολατρείᾳ μεμελανωμένα ὑπεδέξαντο καὶ ἔθρεψαν διὰ γνώσεως καὶ πράξεως, διὰ τοῦ ἄρτου τῆς γνώσεως δηλουμένης, διὰ δὲ τοῦ κρέατος τῆς πράξεως.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ 186 Τί ἐστιν τὸ ἐν τῷ ψαλμῷ "ἀγαλλιάσεται ὡς γίγας δραμεῖν ὁδόν"; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ «Γίγας» ἑρμηνεύεται 'ἐπιπίπτων,' λαμβάνεται δὲ εἰς τὸν Κύριον· αὐτὸς γὰρ

ἠγαλλιάσατο κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν τῆς οἰκονομίας τὴν ἡμετέραν σωτηρίαν