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“I wished,” he says, to be delivered up by Christ to the devil, so as to be scourged and to endure the punishments for Israel, which they justly owed for their unbelief in God, only so that they might be saved; in the same way the Lord also “delivered himself up and became a curse for us.”

QUESTION A,5 In how many ways does man sin? RESPONSE I think man sins in four ways: by being carried away,

by deceit, by ignorance, by disposition. And the first three easily come to acknowledgement and repentance, but he who sins by disposition and comes to repentance neither through experience nor through time has incurable punishment.

QUESTION A,6 What does the Lord mean in the Gospel when he says that "two sparrows are sold for an assarion"? (14A_284> RESPONSE They say the assarion is a ten-nummus coin; and by ten the letter iota is signified; and this is the beginning of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, through the name of the Lord, the old and the new people are redeemed, and the inner and the outer man.

QUESTION A,7 What is the meaning of what was said by Elisha, when Elijah was taken up, "where is the God of Aphpho?"

RESPONSE It is interpreted in three ways: either "where is the God of my father?" or "where is the God of my great one?" or "where is the God of the hidden one?"

QUESTION A,8 In how many ways are there allegories and what is tropology? RESPONSE Allegory is that which applies to inanimate things, for example, mountains, hills, trees and the rest. Tropology, however, is that which applies to our members, for example, the head, eyes and the rest; for tropology is so called from "to turn."

(14A_286> QUESTION A,9 What is the meaning of that which is said in the psalm, "sitting, you spoke against your brother, and against your mother's son you set a stumbling block"?

RESPONSE He who speaks evil of the action of a fellow believer and, as it were, sits in abuse of him, this one is rightly said to speak against his brother. But he who, moved by envy, slanders the son of wisdom who is adorned and scandalizes everyone, this is 'he who sets a stumbling block for his mother's son'.

QUESTION A,10 Since it is written in the holy Diadochus in the hundredth chapter that 'some will be judged by fire and be purified in the age to come', I ask that the purpose of the father be revealed to me with clarity.

RESPONSE Those who have acquired the perfection of love for God and have raised the wing of the soul through the virtues are, according to the Apostle, caught up in the clouds and do not come into judgment. (14A_288> But those who have not entirely acquired perfection but possess both sins and good deeds, these in the tribunal of judgment

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«Ηὐχόμην», φησίν, παραδοθῆναι ἀπὸ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τῷ διαβόλῳ ὥστε μαστιγωθῆναι καὶ τὰς ὑπὲρ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ κολάσεις ὑπομεῖναι, ἅσπερ κατὰ τὸ δίκαιον ἐχρεώστουν ὑπὲρ τῆς εἰς Θεὸν αὐτῶν ἀπιστίας, μόνον ἵνα σωθῶσιν· καθ᾽ ὃν τρόπον καὶ ὁ Κύριος «παρέδωκεν ἑαυτὸν καὶ γέγονεν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν κατάρα».

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Α,5 Κατὰ πόσους τρόπους ἐξαμαρτάνει ὁ ἄνθρωπος; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Οἶμαι κατὰ τέσσαρας τρόπους ἁμαρτάνειν τὸν ἄνθρωπον, κατὰ συναρπαγήν,

κατὰ ἀπάτην, κατὰ ἄγνοιαν, κατὰ διάθεσιν. Καὶ αἱ μὲν πρῶται τρεῖς εὐχερῶς εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν καὶ μετάνοιαν ἔρχονται, ὁ δὲ ἐκ διαθέσεως ἁμαρτάνων καὶ μήτε τῇ πείρᾳ μήτε τῷ χρόνῳ εἰς μετάνοιαν ἐρχόμενος ἀνήκεστον ἔχει τὴν κόλασιν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Α,6 Τί δηλοῖ ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ ὁ Κύριος λέγων ὅτι «δύο στρουθία ἀσσαρίου

πωλεῖται»; (14Α_284> ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Φασὶ τὸ ἀσσάριον δεκάνουμον εἶναι· δηλοῦται δὲ διὰ τοῦ δέκα τὸ ἰῶτα

γράμμα· ἀρχὴ δέ ἐστιν τοῦτο τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Ἐξαγοράζεται οὖν διὰ τοῦ ὀνόματος τοῦ Κυρίου ὁ παλαιὸς καὶ ὁ νέος λαός, καὶ ὁ ἔσω καὶ ὁ ἔξω ἄνθρωπος.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Α,7 Τί ἐστιν τὸ ἀπὸ Ἐλισσαίου, ἀναλαμβανομένου τοῦ Ἡλίου, ῥηθὲν "ποῦ ὁ Θεὸς

ἀφφώ;" ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Κατὰ τρεῖς ἐπιβολὰς ἑρμηνεύεται· ἢ "ποῦ ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ πατρός μου;" ἢ "ποῦ ὁ

Θεὸς τοῦ μεγάλου μου;" ἢ "ποῦ ὁ Θεὸς τοῦ κρυβέντος;" ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Α,8 Κατὰ πόσους τρόπους αἱ ἀλληγορίαι καὶ τί ἐστιν τροπολογία; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ἀλληγορία ἐστὶν ἡ ἐπὶ τῶν ἀψύχων, οἷον, ὀρέων, βουνῶν, δένδρων καὶ τῶν

λοιπῶν. Τροπολογία δέ ἐστιν ἡ ἐπὶ τῶν ἡμετέρων μελῶν, οἷον, κεφαλῆς, ὀφθαλμῶν καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν· τροπολογία γὰρ ἀντὶ τοῦ τρέπεσθαι λέγεται.

(14Α_286> ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Α,9 Τί ἐστιν τὸ ἐν τῷ ψαλμῷ εἰρημένον "καθήμενος κατὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου

κατελάλεις, καὶ κατὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ τῆς μητρός σου ἐτίθεις σκάνδαλον"; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ὁ τὴν τοῦ ὁμοπίστου πρᾶξιν κακηγορῶν καὶ ὥσπερ ἐγκαθήμενος τῇ τούτου

λοιδορίᾳ, οὗτος εἰκότως λέγεται κατὰ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ καταλαλεῖν. Ὁ δὲ τὸν υἱὸν τῆς σοφίας κοσμούμενον φθόνῳ φερόμενος ἐνδιαβάλλων καὶ πάντας σκανδαλίζων, οὗτός ἐστιν 'ὁ τιθεὶς τῷ υἱῷ τῆς μητρὸς σκάνδαλον'.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Α,10 Ἐπειδὴ ἐν τῷ ἁγίῳ ∆ιαδόχῳ ἐν τῷ ἑκατοστῷ κεφαλαίῳ γέγραπται

'κριθήσεσθαί τινας διὰ πυρὸς καὶ καθαίρεσθαι ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι', παρακαλῶ ἐκκαλυφθῆναί μοι διὰ τῆς σαφηνείας τὸν σκοπὸν τοῦ πατρός.

ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Οἱ τὸ τέλειον τῆς πρὸς Θεὸν ἀγάπης κεκτημένοι καὶ τὸ πτερὸν τῆς ψυχῆς διὰ

τῶν ἀρετῶν μετεωρίσαντες, κατὰ τὸν Ἀπόστολον ἐν νεφέλαις ἁρπάζονται καὶ εἰς κρίσιν οὐκ ἔρχονται. (14Α_288> Οἱ δέ γε μὴ πάντη τὸ τέλειον κτησάμενοι ἀλλὰ καὶ ἁμαρτήματα καὶ κατορθώματα κεκτημένοι, οὗτοι ἐν τῷ δικαστηρίῳ τῆς κρίσεως