,

For did the Sadducees mention the number of the seven brothers for the one woman at random, or does it have some deeper meaning? And if it does, who are they and who is she?

Response. Some say that the words of blameworthy persons in Scripture should not be allegorized. However, since it is better to be diligent and unceasingly to ask God to supply wisdom and power so that all of Scripture may be understood spiritually, trusting in your prayers, I say these things also concerning the present difficulty. The Sadducees are, according to the principle of anagogy, the demons or thoughts that introduce automatism; the woman is the nature of men; and the seven brothers are the laws given to her by God from time to time from the beginning of the age for instruction (14Β_242> and the generation of the fruits of righteousness. Having associated with them as with husbands, from none of them did she have a son, being barren of the fruit of righteousness. And the first law is that given to Adam in paradise; the second, that given to the same after paradise in the manner of a penalty; the third, that given to Noah at the time of the ark; the fourth, that of circumcision to Abraham; the fifth, that to the same concerning the offering of Isaac; the sixth, that according to Moses; and the seventh, that of the gift of foretelling, that is, of prophetic inspiration. For nature had not yet been joined through faith for cohabitation with the Gospel, a husband who remains for all ages.

The demons, therefore, constantly propose these to our reason through thoughts, plausibly striving against faith from the things that are written, and raising difficulties such as: "If there is a resurrection of the dead and we must expect another form of life after the present one, according to which law of those given from the beginning of the age will the nature of men be governed?" so that, if we should name one of the aforementioned laws, they may counter by saying: "Therefore the life of men will again be vain and unprofitable, not delivered from its former evils, if nature is again to be mocked by the same things"; which clearly introduces automatism and banishes providence from existing things. But the Lord and saving Word muzzles such demons and thoughts, intimating the incorruptibility of nature that will be revealed later according to the Gospel and showing that human nature will be governed according to none of the preceding laws, having already been deified and joined through the Spirit to the Word and God Himself (14Β_244>, from Whom and unto Whom it has received and will receive the beginning and the end of its being.

And if one were to take the seven thousand years, that is, ages, to be the husbands with whom the nature of men cohabited, he will grasp the passage not without reason and the necessary contemplation; for nature in the life to come will be the wife of none of these, since temporal nature will have come to an end, and an eighth husband, the unending and limitless age, will have taken her.

39. CONCERNING THE THREE DAYS THAT THE CROWDS REMAINED WITH THE LORD. 39. QUESTION 39. What are the three days that the crowds wait for the Lord in the wilderness? Response. The wilderness is the nature of men or this world, in which those who suffer hardship through faith and the hope of future good things wait for the word of virtue and knowledge. And the three days are, according to one manner of contemplation concerning them, the three powers of the soul, according to which they wait for the divine Word of virtue and knowledge: by one seeking, by another desiring, and by the third

Ἆρα γὰρ ὡς ἔτυχεν οἱ Σαδδουκαῖοι τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν ἑπτὰ ἀδελφῶν εἶπαν ἐπὶ τῆς μιᾶς γυναικός, ἢ ἔχει τινὰ λόγον βαθύτερον; Εἰ δὲ ἔχει, τίνες ἐκεῖνοι καὶ τίς αὕτη;

Ἀπόκρισις. Φασί τινες μὴ ἀλληγορεῖσθαι τῶν ἐν τῇ Γραφῇ ψεκτῶν προσώπων τοὺς

λόγους. Πλήν, ἐπειδὴ κρεῖττον μᾶλλον φιλοπονεῖν καὶ τὸν Θεὸν ἀπαύστως αἰτεῖσθαι χορηγεῖν σοφίαν καὶ δύναμιν πρὸς τὸ πᾶσαν νοηθῆναι πνευματικῶς τὴν Γραφήν, ταῖς ὑμετέραις εὐχαῖς θαρρῶν, καὶ περὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἀπόρου τάδε φημί. Οἱ Σαδδουκαῖοί εἰσιν, κατὰ τὸν τῆς ἀναγωγῆς λόγον, οἱ τὸν αὐτοματισμὸν εἰσάγοντες δαίμονες ἢ λογισμοί, ἡ δὲ γυνή ἐστιν ἡ τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσις, οἱ δὲ ἑπτὰ ἀδελφοὶ οἱ κατὰ καιροὺς ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος δοθέντες αὐτῇ παρὰ Θεοῦ πρὸς παιδαγωγίαν (14Β_242> καὶ γένεσιν καρπῶν δικαιοσύνης νόμοι· οἷς ὡς ἀνδράσιν ὁμιλήσασα, παρ᾽ οὐδενὸς ἔσχεν υἱόν, οἷα τοῦ κατὰ δικαιοσύνην καρποῦ στειρεύουσα. Καὶ ἔστι πρῶτος νόμος ὁ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ δοθεὶς τῷ Ἀδάμ, δεύτερος ὁ τῷ αὐτῷ μετὰ τὸν παράδεισον δεδομένος ἐν ἐπιτιμίου τάξει, τρίτος ὁ κατὰ τὴν κιβωτὸν τῷ Νῶε δοθείς, τέταρτος ὁ τῆς περιτομῆς τῷ Ἀβραάμ, πέμπτος ὁ τῷ αὐτῷ περὶ τῆς προσαγωγῆς τοῦ Ἰσαάκ, ἕκτος ὁ κατὰ Μωσέα, καὶ ἕβδομος ὁ τῆς προαγορευτικῆς χάριτος ἤγουν προφητικῆς ἐπιπνοίας. Τῷ γὰρ Εὐαγγελίῳ οὔπω ἦν διὰ τῆς πίστεως ἁρμοσθεῖσα πρὸς συμβίωσιν ἡ φύσις ἀνδρὶ εἰς πάντας διαμένοντι τοὺς αἰῶνας.

Τούτους οὖν προβάλλονται διαπαντὸς τῷ ἐν ἡμῖν λόγῳ διὰ τῶν λογισμῶν οἱ δαίμονες, εὐλογοφανῶς ἐκ τῶν γεγραμμένων καταγωνιζόμενοι τῆς πίστεως, καὶ διαποροῦντες ὡς· "Εἴπερ νεκρῶν ἀνάστασίς ἐστι καὶ ἕτερόν τι εἶδος ζωῆς μετὰ τὴν παροῦσαν ἐκδέχεσθαι δεῖ, κατὰ ποῖον νόμον τῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος δοθέντων πολιτεύσεται τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἡ φύσις;" ἵνα, καθ᾽ ἕνα τῶν εἰρημένων εἰ φῶμεν, ἐπαγάγωσι φάσκοντες· "Οὐκοῦν ματαία καὶ ἀνωφελὴς ἔσται πάλιν ἡ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ζωή, τῶν προτέρων μὴ ἀπηλλαγμένη κακῶν, εἴπερ ἐπὶ τοῖς αὐτοῖς πάλιν ἡ φύσις ἐρεσχεληθήσεται πράγμασιν"· ὅπερ τὸν αὐτοματισμὸν εἰσάγει σαφῶς καὶ τῶν ὄντων ἐκβάλλει τὴν πρόνοιαν. Ἀλλ᾽ ὁ Κύριος καὶ σωτήριος λόγος ἀποφιμοῖ τοὺς τοιούτους δαίμονάς τε καὶ λογισμούς, τὴν κατὰ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον ἐς ὕστερον φανησομένην τῆς φύσεως ἀφθαρσίαν ὑποφαίνων καὶ κατ᾽ οὐδένα τῶν προλαβόντων νόμων πολιτευσομένην δεικνὺς τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν φύσιν, θεωθεῖσαν ἤδη καὶ ἁρμοσθεῖσαν διὰ Πνεύματος αὐτῷ (14Β_244> τῷ Λόγῳ καὶ Θεῷ, παρ᾽ οὗ καὶ εἰς ὃν τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ εἶναι καὶ τὸ τέλος εἴληφέ τε καὶ λήψεται.

Εἰ δὲ καὶ τὰς ἑπτὰ χιλιάδας τῶν ἐτῶν ἤγουν αἰῶνας λαμβάνοι τις εἶναι τοὺς ἄνδρας, οἷς συνεγένετο τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἡ φύσις, οὐκ ἄνευ λόγου καὶ τῆς δεούσης λήψεται θεωρίας τὸν τόπον· ὧν οὐδενὸς τούτων ἔσται γυνὴ κατὰ τὴν μέλλουσαν ζωὴν ἡ φύσις, ὡς τῆς χρονικῆς τέλος λαβούσης φύσεως, καὶ ὀγδόου ἀνδρός, τοῦ ἀτελευτήτου καὶ πέρας οὐκ ἔχοντος αὐτὴν παραλαβόντος αἰῶνος.

ΛΘ (39). ΠΕΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΤΡΙΩΝ ΗΜΕΡΩΝ ΑΣ ΠΡΟΣΕΜΕΙΝΑΝ ΟΙ ΟΧΛΟΙ ΤΩ ΚΥΡΙΩ. 39. ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΛΘ' Τίνες αἱ τρεῖς ἡμέραι ἃς προσμένουσι τῷ Κυρίῳ οἱ ὄχλοι ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ; Ἀπόκρισις. Ἡ ἔρημός ἐστιν ἡ φύσις τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἢ ὁ κόσμος οὗτος, ἐν ᾧ προσμένουσι

τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀρετῆς καὶ τῆς γνώσεως οἱ διὰ τῆς πίστεως καὶ τῆς τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν ἐλπίδος κακοπαθοῦντες. Αἱ δὲ τρεῖς ἡμέραι εἰσί, καθ᾽ ἕνα τρόπον τῆς ἐπ᾽ αὐταῖς θεωρίας, αἱ τρεῖς δυνάμεις τῆς ψυχῆς, καθ᾽ ἃς προσμένουσι τῷ θείῳ Λόγῳ τῆς ἀρετῆς καὶ τῆς γνώσεως· τῇ μὲν ζητοῦντες, τῇ δὲ ποθοῦντες, τῇ δὲ