,

striving ardently, they receive imperishable food and the knowledge of things that have come to be, which fattens the mind.

In another way, however, the three days signify the three most general laws: I mean the written, the natural, and the spiritual, that is, that of grace. For every law is, in its own way, illuminative of human nature, having as the creator of the light the sun of righteousness. For just as it is utterly impossible for a day to come into being without the sun, so without the essential and subsistent wisdom a law of righteousness cannot exist, which makes its own sunrise in each law and fills the spiritual eyes of souls with intelligible light. (14B_246> Knowing this, the blessed David says: Your law is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths; calling the written law a lamp, as one that artistically, by the various watchwords of corporeal symbols, enigmas and types, brandishes the caustic light of the depravity of the passions for those who through action broaden the steps of the soul against the opposing powers; and [calling] the spiritual law of grace a light, as one that unartfully, without sensible symbols, shows the eternal paths; in which the contemplative mind, making its course, is led to the ultimate end of goods, God, bounding the movement of its thought by none of the things that exist. For the light of the law of grace is without evening, having no knowledge whatsoever to bound its all-radiant beams. Or perhaps the prophet called 'feet' the whole course of life according to God or the movements of good thoughts in the soul, which are guided as by a lamp by the light in the letter of the law; and 'paths' the modes of the virtues according to the natural law and the principles of knowledge according to the spiritual law, which are shown by the presence of God the Word and lead back to nature itself and its cause through virtue and knowledge.

Having waited upon God the Word for these three days, that is, laws, and having eagerly endured the labors for each, those who have their desire turned towards salvation are not sent away fasting, but receive abundant and divine food: for the written law, complete deliverance from the passions contrary to nature; for the natural, the unerring operation of things according to nature, according to which mutual relation consists, pushing away all dispersive otherness and division of nature; and for the spiritual, union with God himself, according to which, having gone out from all created things, they receive glory beyond nature (14B_248> through which God alone, flashing forth in them, is known.

You have a fuller account of this in the *Ambigua* on the oration of Saint Gregory concerning the holy Pentecost.

SCHOLIA 1. He means reason, spirit, desire. For by reason we seek; by desire,

we long for the good that is sought; and by spirit, we strive ardently. 2. And he has called the powers of the soul 'days', as being receptive of the light of the

divine commandments; and the three most general laws, as being illuminative of the receptive, that is, of the souls. For just as the Scripture of Genesis called the light 'day', saying: And God saw the light, that it was good, and God called the light day; and again the illumined air, saying: And there was evening, and there was morning, one day; so not only has he called the powers of the soul 'days', but also the laws that illumine them. For the complete interpenetration of these into one another makes the composite day of the virtues, not distinguishing from the divine light according to reason the powers that have been wholly qualitied by it.

ὑπεραγωνιζόμενοι δέχονται τροφὴν ἄφθαρτον καὶ τὸν νοῦν πιαίνουσαν τὴν γνῶσιν τῶν γεγονότων.

Καθ᾽ ἕτερον δὲ τρόπον, τοὺς τρεῖς γενικωτέρους νόμους αἱ τρεῖς ἡμέραι σημαίνουσι, τὸν γραπτόν φημι καὶ τὸν φυσικὸν καὶ τὸν πνευματικὸν ἤγουν τὸν τῆς χάριτος. Πᾶς γὰρ νόμος οἰκείως ἑαυτῷ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως ὑπάρχει φωτιστικός, τοῦ φωτὸς ἔχων δημιουργὸν τὸν τῆς δικαιοσύνης ἥλιον. Ὡς γὰρ ἡλίου χωρὶς ἡμέραν γενέσθαι παντελῶς ἀμήχανον, οὕτω δίχα τῆς οὐσιώδους καὶ ὑφεστώσης σοφίας νόμος εἶναι δικαιοσύνης οὐ δύναται, τῆς ἐν ἑκάστῳ νόμῳ τὴν οἰκείαν ποιουμένης ἀνατολὴν καὶ τοὺς νοεροὺς τῶν ψυχῶν ὀφθαλμοὺς νοητοῦ φωτὸς ἐμπιπλώσης. (14Β_246> Ὅπερ εἰδὼς ∆αβὶδ ὁ μακάριός φησι· Λύχνος τοῖς ποσί μου ὁ νόμος σου καὶ φῶς ταῖς τρίβοις μου· λύχνον τὸν γραπτὸν καλέσας νόμον, ὡς τεχνικῶς τοῖς τῶν σωματικῶν συμβόλων αἰνιγμάτων τε καὶ τύπων διαφόροις συνθήμασι τὸ καυστικὸν φῶς τῆς τῶν παθῶν μοχθηρίας πυρσεύοντα τοῖς διὰ πράξεως κατὰ τῶν ἐναντίων δυνάμεων πλατύνουσι τῆς ψυχῆς τὰ διαβήματα, φῶς δὲ τὸν πνευματικὸν τῆς χάριτος νόμον, ὡς ἀτέχνως δίχα τῶν αἰσθητῶν συμβόλων τὰς αἰωνίους δεικνύοντα τρίβους· ἐν αἷς τὸν δρόμον ὁ θεωρητικὸς ποιούμενος νοῦς πρὸς τὸ ἀκρότατον τῶν ἀγαθῶν πέρας ἄγεται, τὸν Θεόν, μηδενὶ τῶν ὄντων ὁρίζων τῆς διανοίας τὴν κίνησιν. Ἀνέσπερον γὰρ τὸ φῶς ὑπάρχει τοῦ νόμου τῆς χάριτος, οὐκ ἔχον τὴν οἱανοῦν γνῶσιν τὰς αὐτοῦ παμφαεῖς ἀκτῖνας ὁρίζουσαν. Ἢ τυχὸν πόδας ἐκάλεσεν ὁ προφήτης ὅλον τοῦ κατὰ Θεὸν βίου τὸν δρόμον ἢ τὰς κατὰ ψυχὴν κινήσεις τῶν ἀγαθῶν λογισμῶν, ὁδηγουμένας καθάπερ λύχνῳ τῷ ἐν τῷ γράμματι τοῦ νόμου φωτί, τρίβους δὲ τοὺς κατὰ τὸν φυσικὸν νόμον τρόπους τῶν ἀρετῶν καὶ τοὺς κατὰ τὸν πνευματικὸν νόμον τῆς γνώσεως λόγους, τῇ παρουσίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου δεικνυμένους καὶ πρὸς ἑαυτὴν τὴν φύσιν καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν δι᾽ ἀρετῆς τε καὶ γνώσεως ἐπανάγοντας.

Ταύτας τὰς τρεῖς ἡμέρας ἤγουν νόμους τῷ Θεῷ Λόγῳ προσμείναντες καὶ τοὺς ὑπὲρ ἑκάστου προθύμως ὑπομείναντες πόνους οἱ πρὸς σωτηρίαν τετραμμένην τὴν ἔφεσιν ἔχοντες οὐκ ἀπολύονται νήστεις, ἀλλὰ δέχονται τροφὴν δαψιλῆ τε καὶ θείαν, ὑπὲρ μὲν τοῦ γραπτοῦ νόμου τὴν τῶν παρὰ φύσιν παθῶν τελείαν ἀπαλλαγήν, ὑπὲρ δὲ τοῦ φυσικοῦ τὴν ἄπταιστον τῶν κατὰ φύσιν ἐνέργειαν, καθ᾽ ἣν ἡ ἀλληλοῦχος σχέσις συνίσταται, πᾶσαν ἀπωθουμένη τῆς φύσεως σκεδαστὴν ἑτερότητά τε καὶ διαίρεσιν, ὑπὲρ δὲ τοῦ πνευματικοῦ τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἕνωσιν τὸν Θεόν, καθ᾽ ἥν, πάντων ἐκβάντες τῶν γενητῶν, τὴν ὑπὲρ φύσιν (14Β_248> δέχονται δόξαν, δι᾽ ἧς ὁ Θεὸς μόνος ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀπαστράπτων γνωρίζεται.

Ἔχετε δὲ περὶ τούτου πλατύτερον ἐν τοῖς Ἀπόροις εἰς τὸν περὶ τῆς ἁγίας Πεντηκοστῆς λόγον τοῦ ἁγίου Γρηγορίου.

ΣΧΟΛΙΑ 1. Λόγον, θυμόν, ἐπιθυμίαν λέγει. Τῷ γάρ λόγῳ ζητοῦμεν· τῇ ἐπιθυμίᾳ δέ,

ποθοῦμεν τό ζητηθέν ἀγαθόν· τῷ δέ θυμῷ, ὑπεραγωνιζόμεθα. 2. Καί τάς δυνάμεις τῆς ψυχῆς κέκληκεν ἡμέρας, ὡς δεκτικάς τοῦ φωτός τῶν

θείων προσταγμάτων· καί τούς τρεῖς γενικωτέρους νόμους, φωτιστικούς τῶν δεκτικῶν, δηλονότι τῶν ψυχῶν. Ὥσπερ γάρ τό φῶς ἐκάλεσεν ἡμέραν ἡ Γραφή τῆς Γενέσεως, φάσκουσα· Καί ἴδεν ὁ Θεός τό φῶς ὅτι καλόν, καί ἐκάλεσεν ὁ Θεός τό φῶς ἡμέραν· καί πάλιν τόν πεφωτισμένον ἀέρα, φήσασα· Καί ἐγένετο ἑσπέρα, καί ἐγένετο πρωΐ ἡμέρα μία· οὕτως οὐ μόνον τάς δυνάμεις τῆς ψυχῆς ἐκάλεσεν ἡμέρας, ἀλλά καί τούς ταύτας φωτίζοντας νόμους. Ἡ γάρ διόλου τούτων εἰς ἄλληλα περιχώρησις, τήν σύνθετον ποιεῖ τῶν ἀρετῶν ἡμέραν, μή διακρίνουσα τοῦ κατά τόν λόγον θείου φωτός, τάς ποιωθείσας αὐτῷ δι᾿ ὅλου δυνάμεις.