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4. Concerning the flood and what the things in the ark were images of; and concerning Abraham and the remnant according to election and what this remnant is; and concerning Israel and circumcision. (131)

Therefore, having known one another, they begat children and made sons and daughters and "Adam called the name of his wife Life, because she was the mother of all the living". But when men had multiplied and had fallen into a depth of evils and into a great multitude of sins, God, being about to flood the world with water and to wipe man from the earth, did not again abandon his portion, but saved Noah and his sons and his daughters in the ark. And the ark was in turn a type of the Theotokos and Noah a type of Christ, and the people with Noah were the firstfruits of the remnant from the Jews, of those who were to believe in Christ, while the wild beasts and all the cattle and the birds and creeping things were a type of the Gentiles. Hence also the ark after the flood held Noah, but the Theotokos Mary held the incarnate God and man; but the ark saved only him along with those with him, but this one rescued both the ark and the whole world from the flood of sin and the slavery of the law and of death.

But after the flood, men, having again been brought down into ignorance of God and likewise having again become stiff-necked because they were of one lip, that is, one language and one speech, began to build a tower and attempted to ascend to the heavens, having again imagined equality with God in themselves. Therefore God, being about to confuse (132) their languages and from this to divide and scatter them over all the earth, as many members having come from the side of Adam and being one body with one language, again took his portion from them, that is, the side, and scattered the remaining body, having made it into many portions of members; and he called them nations, having a complete ignorance of God. This portion, then, he named Israel, that is, one who sees God; and this was Abraham in whom by succession the seed of faith and the knowledge of God had been preserved from above, to whom also he appeared, saying: "Go out from your land and from your kindred and come to a land that I will show you; I will make of you a great nation" to whom also he gave circumcision, having made this known to him as a kind of sign and seal; and he swore to him to multiply his seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand on the seashore. After these things God appeared to him again and says: "Know for certain that your seed will be a sojourner in a land that is not their own", foretelling to him the descent into Egypt of Joseph and Jacob his father and his brothers; from whom this portion was also multiplied there and became a great nation, whom also he led out from there through Moses, having first feasted them on the lamb, the antitype of the true one. Then also, having parted the sea and brought them across and led them up into the desert and nourished them there for forty years, it became "the Lord's portion, his people Jacob, the lot of his inheritance, Israel.

These, therefore, had circumcision as a seal and all (133) were circumcised and from this the Lord's portion was, as has been said, recognizable just like a flock of royal sheep, each of them bearing the seal of circumcision on the hidden member; and this was so that they might not mix with the other sheep, that is, with the nations, who had been brought down to the rank of beasts and irrational creatures by their ignorance of God, was wisely ordained by God. But why did he ordain the seal to be not on another part of the body, but on this one? Because from it is the seed

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δ΄. Περί τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ καί τίνων εἰκόνες ἦσαν τά ἐν τῇ κιβωτῷ· καί περί τοῦ

Ἀβράαμ καί τοῦ κατ᾿ ἐκλογήν λήμματος καί τί ἐστι τό λῆμμα τοῦτο· καί περί τοῦ Ἰσραήλ καί τῆς περιτομῆς. (131)

Τοιγαροῦν καί γνόντες ἀλλήλους ἐτέκνωσαν καί ἐποίησαν υἱούς καί θυγατέρας

καί "ἐκάλεσεν Ἀδάμ Εὔαν τήν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ Ζωήν, ὅτι αὕτη ἦν μήτηρ πάντων τῶν ζώντων". Ἀλλά γάρ πληθυνθέντων τῶν ἀνθρώπων καί εἰς βάθος ἐμπεσόντων κακῶν καί εἰς πλῆθος ἁμαρτημάτων πολύ, μέλλων ὕδατι κατακλύσαι τόν κόσμον ὁ Θεός καί ἀπαλεῖψαι τόν ἄνθρωπον ἐκ τῆς γῆς, τήν μερίδα καί αὖθις οὐκ ἐγκατέλιπεν, ἀλλά τόν Νῶε καί τούς υἱούς αὐτοῦ καί τάς θυγατέρας αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ κιβωτῷ διεσώσατο. Ἡ δέ κιβωτός πάλιν τῆς Θεοτόκου καί ὁ Νῶε τοῦ Χριστοῦ τύπος ἦν, οἱ δέ σύν τῷ Νῶε ἄνθρωποι τοῦ ἐξ Ἰουδαίων λήμματος ἀπαρχή, αὐτῶν τῶν εἰς Χριστόν μελλόντων πιστεύειν, τά δή θηρία καί πάντα τά κτήνη καί τά πετεινά καί ἑρπετά τύπος ὑπῆρχον τῶν ἐθνῶν. Ἔνθεν τοι καί ἡ κιβωτός μετά τόν κατακλυσμόν εἶχε τόν Νῶε, ἡ θεοτόκος δέ Μαριάμ τόν σαρκωθέντα Θεόν καί ἄνθρωπον· ἀλλ᾿ ἐκεῖνον μέν μόνον σύν τοῖς μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἡ κιβωτός διεσώσατο, οὗτος δέ καί τήν κιβωτόν καί πάντα τόν κόσμον τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ τῆς ἁμαρτίας καί τῆς τοῦ νόμου δουλείας καί τοῦ θανάτου ἐρρύσατο.

Ἀλλά γάρ μετά τόν κατακλυσμόν εἰς ἀγνωσίαν καί αὖθις Θεοῦ κατενεχθέντες οἱ ἄνθρωποι καί ὡσαύτως πάλιν τραχηλιάσαντες διά τό εἶναι αὐτούς χεῖλος ἕν, ἤτοι γλῶσσαν καί φωνήν μίαν, πύργον οἰκοδομεῖν ἤρξαντο καί εἰς οὐρανούς ἀνελθεῖν ἐπεχείρουν, ἰσοθεΐαν καί αὖθις ἐν ἑαυτοῖς φαντασθέντες. Τοίνυν καί συγχέειν μέλλων ὁ Θεός (132) τάς γλώσσας αὐτῶν κἀκ τούτου διαμερίσαι καί διασπεῖραι αὐτούς ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ, ὡς πολλά μέλη ἐκ τῆς τοῦ Ἀδάμ πλευρᾶς γεγονότα καί εἰς ἕν σῶμα τῇ μιᾷ διαλέκτῳ ὄντας, πάλιν ἐκ τούτων ἔλαβε τήν μερίδα αὐτοῦ, ἤτοι τήν πλευράν, καί τό λοιπόν σῶμα εἰς πολλάς ποιήσας μελῶν μερίδας διέσπειρε· καί ἐκάλεσεν αὐτούς ἔθνη, ἄγνοιαν Θεοῦ παντελῶς ἔχοντας. Τήν γοῦν μερίδα ταύτην ὠνόμασεν Ἰσραήλ, τουτέστιν ὁρῶντα Θεόν· αὕτη δέ ἦν ὁ Ἀβραάμ ἐν ᾧ κατά διαδοχήν ὑπῆρχεν ἄνωθεν τό τῆς πίστεως καί τῆς θεογνωσίας σπέρμα διασωθέν, ᾧ καί ὤφθη λέγων· "Ἔξελθε ἐκ τῆς γῆς σου καί ἐκ τῆς συγγενείας σου καί δεῦρο εἰς γῆν ἥν ἄν σοι δείξω· ποιήσω σε εἰς ἔθνος μέγα" ᾧ καί δέδωκε τήν περιτομήν, οἱονεί σύσσημον καί σφραγῖδα γνωρίσας αὐτῷ ταύτην· καί ὤμοσεν αὐτῷ πληθῦναι τό σπέρμα αὐτοῦ ὡς τά ἄστρα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καί ὡς τήν ἄμμον τήν παρά τό χεῖλος τῆς θαλάσσης. Μετά ταῦτα δέ ὤφθη πάλιν αὐτῷ ὁ Θεός καί φησί· "Γινώσκων γνώσῃ ὅτι πάροικον ἔσται τό σπέρμα σου ἐν γῇ οὐκ ἰδίᾳ", τήν εἰς Αἴγυπτον κάθοδον τοῦ Ἰωσήφ καί Ἰακώβ τοῦ πατρός αὐτοῦ καί τῶν ἀδελφῶν αὐτοῦ προμηνύων αὐτῷ· ἐξ ὧν καί ἐπληθύνθη ἐκεῖ ἡ μερίς αὕτη καί ἐγένετο εἰς ἔθνος μέγα, οὕς καί διά Μωσέως ἐκεῖθεν ἐξήγαγε, τόν ἀμνόν πρότερον αὐτοῖς τόν τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ ἀντίτυπον ἑστιάσας. Εἶτα καί διασχίσας τήν θάλασσαν καί διαβιβάσας αὐτούς καί εἰς τήν ἔρημον ἀναγαγών καί διαθρέψας αὐτούς ἐκεῖ τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη, ἐγενήθη "μερίς Κυρίου, λαός αὐτοῦ Ἰακώβ, σχοίνισμα κληρονομίας αὐτοῦ Ἰσραήλ.

Εἶχον οὖν οὗτοι τήν περιτομήν ὡς σφραγῖδα καί πάντες (133) περιετέμνοντο καί ἦν ἐκ τούτου ἡ μερίς Κυρίου, ὡς εἴρηται, γνώριμος καθαπερεί προβάτων ἀγέλη βασιλικῶν, ἕκαστον αὐτῶν σφραγῖδα τήν περιτομήν ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ μορίῳ ἐπιφερόμενον· καί τοῦτο πρός τό μή συμμίγνυσθαι τοῖς λοιποῖς προβάτοις, ἤγουν τοῖς ἔθνεσι, τοῖς εἰς θηρίων καί ἀλόγων τάξιν ὑπό τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀγνωσίας κατενεχθεῖσι, σοφῶς ᾠκονομήθη ἀπό Θεοῦ. ∆ιά τί δέ οὐκ ἐν ἄλλῳ μέρει τοῦ σώματος, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν αὐτῷ τήν σφραγῖδα ὑπέθετο γίνεσθαι; Ἐπειδή ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἡ σπορά