,

and those who through virtuous ways of action utterly destroy the sickness of evil. And so I interpret the gloomy winter that befell him to be the burden of involuntary temptations, and the island to be the firm and unshakable disposition of divine hope, and the fire the disposition of knowledge, and the brushwood the nature of visible things, which he was gathering with his hand—I mean with the contemplative, searching power of the intellect—nourishing with the thoughts from it the disposition of knowledge, which heals the despondency rubbed into the mind by the winter of temptations; and the viper to be the evil and destructive power secretly hidden in the nature of sensible things, which bit the hand, that is, the contemplative, searching activity of the intellect, but did not harm the discerning intellect, which by the light of knowledge immediately destroyed, as in a fire, the destructive power that had been attached to the (14Β_238> practical movement of the intellect from the contemplation of sensible things.

Likewise I also understand concerning Elisha: that each one who is dead in trespasses, whenever he is placed on the tomb of the prophet in which the body was, that is, in the memory which holds the trace of the prophetic life, in which the body of virtues was well-guarded, is made alive by conduct according to the imitation of his ways, being transferred to the virtuous life from the deadness of the passions of evil.

SCHOLIA 1. The faith of those needing healing, he says, called upon the power of the Spirit in the saints, so that through faith the power until then hidden might be made manifest; and the hidden faith might through the power become manifest to all. For then the true manner of healings is wont to be shown, whenever the power of those working in the Spirit coincides in all things with the faith of those being worked upon.

2. He who by his will, he says, is pure from the corruption of sin, corrupts the corruption of those things that are by nature corruptible. For the incorruptibility of one's choice is wont to preserve the corruption of nature incorrupt according to providence, through the grace of the Spirit in it not allowing it to be dominated by contrary qualities.

3. Since, he says, the principle of nature and of grace is not one and the same, it is not a matter of perplexity how some of the saints at one time overcame the passions, and at another time rather succumbed to passions; since we know that the wonder was of grace, but the passion was of nature.

4. The Apostle was an aroma from life to life, preparing the faithful by his own example to move through action toward the fragrance of the virtues, or as a preacher leading those who obey (14Β_240> the word of grace from the life of the senses to the life in the Spirit; but an aroma from death to death, for those who have rushed from the death of ignorance to the death of disbelief, giving them a sense of the condemnation that awaits them. Or again, an aroma from life to life, for those being led up from action to contemplation; but an aroma from death to death, for those who, after having put to death through inactivity in sin their members which are on the earth, pass over to the praised mortification of impassioned thoughts and imaginations.

5. He who through imitation, he says, holds the memory of the saints' way of life, lays aside the mortification of the passions, and receives the life of the virtues.

38. CONCERNING THE QUESTION OF THE SADDUCEES TO THE LORD. 38. QUESTION 38

οἱ δὲ διὰ τῶν κατὰ τὴν πρᾶξιν ἐναρέτων τρόπων τὴν ἀρρωστίαν τῆς κακίας παντελῶς ἀφανίζοντες. Οὕτω δὲ καὶ τὸν αὐτῷ συμβάντα ζοφερὸν χειμῶνα τὸ βάρος εἶναι τῶν ἀκουσίων πειρασμῶν τεκμαίρομαι, τὴν δὲ νῆσον τὴν παγίαν ἕξιν τῆς θείας ἐλπίδος καὶ ἄσειστον, τὴν δὲ πυρὰν τὴν ἕξιν τῆ γνώσεως, τὰ δὲ φρύγανα τὴν τῶν ὁρωμένων φύσιν, ἣν συνέστρεφε τῇ χειρί, τῇ κατὰ θεωρίαν λέγω ψηλαφητικῇ τοῦ νοῦ δυνάμει, διατρέφων τοῖς ἐξ αὐτῆς νοήμασι τὴν ἕξιν τῆς γνώσεως, τὴν θεραπεύουσαν τὴν ἐκ τοῦ χειμῶνος τῶν πειρασμῶν προστριβεῖσαν τῇ διανοίᾳ κατήφειαν, τὴν δὲ ἔχιδναν τὴν λανθανόντως ἐγκεκρυμμένην τῇ φύσει τῶν αἰσθητῶν πονηρὰν καὶ ὀλέθριον δύναμιν, δήξασαν μὲν τὴν χεῖρα, τουτέστι τὴν κατὰ νοῦν ψηλαφητικὴν τῆς θεωρίας ἐνέργειαν, οὐ βλάψασαν δὲ τὸν διορατικὸν νοῦν, τῷ φωτὶ τῆς γνώσεως αὐτὴν εὐθὺς ὡς ἐν πυρὶ διαφθείραντα τὴν τῷ (14Β_238> πρακτικῷ κινήματι τοῦ νοῦ προσαφθεῖσαν ἐκ τῆς τῶν αἰσθητῶν θεωρίας ὀλέθριον δύναμιν.

Ὡσαύτως καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἐλισσαίου νοῶ· ὅτιπερ ἕκαστος νεκρὸς τοῖς παραπτώμασιν, ἐπειδὰν τοῦ μνήματος ἐπιτεθῇ τοῦ προφήτου, ἐν ᾧ ἦν τὸ σῶμα, τουτέστι τῇ τὸ ἴχνος ἐχούσῃ τοῦ βίου τοῦ προφητικοῦ μνήμῃ, ἐν ᾧ ἦν καλῶς φυλαττόμενον τὸ σῶμα τῶν ἀρετῶν, κατὰ τὴν μίμησιν τῶν τρόπων ἀναστροφῇ ζωοποιεῖται, πρὸς τὴν ἐνάρετον μετατιθέμενος ζωὴν ἀπὸ τῆς τῶν παθῶν τῆς κακίας νεκρότητος.

ΣΧΟΛΙΑ 1. Πίστις τῶν δεομένων ἰάσεως, φησί, παρεκαλεῖτο τήν ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις τοῦ

Πνεύματος δύναμιν, ἵνα διά τῆς πίστεως ἡ τέως λανθάνουσα φανερά γένηται δύναμις· καί ἡ κεκρυμμένη πίστις διά τῆς δυνάμεως γένηται πᾶσι διάδηλος. Τηνικαῦτα γάρ ὁ τῶν ἰαμάτων ἀληθής πέφυκε διαδείκνυσθαι τρόπος, ὁπηνίκα τῇ τῶν ἐνεργουμένων πίστει συμβαίνει διά πάντων ἡ τῶν ἐνεργοῦντων ἐν Πνεύματι δύναμις.

2. Ὁ γνώμῃ, φησίν, τῆς καθ᾿ ἁμαρτίαν καθαρεύων φθορᾶς, φθείρει τήν τῶν φθείρειν πεφυκότων φθοράν. Ἡ γάρ ἀφθαρσία τῆς προαιρέσεως τήν φθοράν συντηρεῖν τῆς φύσεως πέφυκεν ἄφθαρτον κατά πρόνοιαν, διά τῆς ἐν αὐτῇ τοῦ Πνεύματος χάριτος μή συγχωροῦσα ταῖς ἐναντίαις ποιότησιν αὐτήν δυναστεύεσθαι.

3. Ἐπειδή φύσεως, φησίν, καί χάριτος εἷς καί ὁ αὐτός οὐκ ἔστι λόγος, οὐκ ἔστιν ἀπορίας ἄξιον, πῶς τινες τῶν ἁγίων ποτέ μέν τῶν παθῶν ὑπερεῖχον, ποτέ δέ μᾶλλον ὑπέπιπτον πάθεσιν· γινωσκόντων ἡμῶν, ὅτι τό μέν θαῦμα τῆς χάριτος ἦν· τό δέ πάθος τῆς φύσεως.

4. Ὀσμή ἦν ἀπό ζωῆς εἰς ζωήν ὁ Ἀπόστολος ὡς τούς πιστούς τῷ καθ᾿ ἑαυτόν παραδείγματι, διά πράξεως πρός τήν εὐωδίαν τῶν ἀρετῶν κινεῖσθαι παρασκευάζων ἤ τούς πειθομένους (14Β_240> τῷ λόγῳ τῆς χάριτος ὡς κήρυξ ἀπό τῆς κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ζωῆς εἰς τήν ἐν Πνεύματι μετάγων ζωήν· ὀσμήν δέ ἀπό θανάτου εἰς θάνατον, τοῖς ἀπό τοῦ θανάτου τῆς ἀγνοίας εἰς τόν τῆς ἀπιστίας ἐλάσασιν θάνατον, διδούς αὐτοῖς αἴσθησιν τῆς μενούσης αὐτούς κατακρίσεως. Ἤ πάλιν, ὀσμήν ἀπό ζωῆς εἰς ζωήν, τοῖς ἀπό πράξεως εἰς θεωρίαν ἀναγομένοις· ὀσμή δέ ἀπό θανάτου εἰς θάνατον, τοῖς ἀπό τοῦ νεκρῶσαι τῇ καθ᾿ ἁμαρτίαν ἀργίᾳ τά μέλη τά ἐπί τῆς γῆς, εἰς τήν τῶν ἐμπαθῶν νοημάτων τε καί φαντασιῶν ἐπαινουμένην μεταβαίνουσι νέκρωσιν.

5. Ὁ διά μιμήσεως, φησίν, τήν μνήμην ἔχων τῆς τῶν ἁγίων ἀναστροφῆς, τήν μέν τῶν παθῶν ἀποτίθεται νέκρωσιν· τήν δέ τῶν ἀρετῶν ζωήν ἀποδέχεται.

ΛΗ (38). ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΠΡΟΣ ΤΟΝ ΚΥΡΙΟΝ ΕΡΩΤΗΣΕΩΣ ΤΩΝ ΣΑ∆∆ΟΥΚΑΙΩΝ. 38. ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΛΗ'