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to men forever because they are flesh. The Spirit of God remains in those who have advanced beyond material things, on account of which those who approach them are called flesh, flesh being understood as material and passionate states. For it does not mean the ordinary flesh; for thus it would follow that no man partakes of the Spirit of God. That there is 153 another flesh besides this visible one which we wear, Paul writes: "For the mind of the flesh is hostile to God; for it does not submit to God's law, for it is not even able to; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God"; for if one were to take flesh to mean the visible kind, many with it have pleased God, all the saints. And again, saying "But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit", he indicates the blameworthy flesh; for they were still in the flesh, 152 having this by being alive. [152]Then the flesh which we wear is called both the irrational animal and the human being; 153 "For I will pour out 153 of my Spirit upon all flesh", instead of "upon men," "and all flesh shall see the salvation of God". And the letter of scripture is also called flesh; "The flesh" for it says "profits nothing, it is the spirit that gives life". For scripture taken literally and sensually does not give life, just as if we were to say that he who makes shapes according to geometry is useful, but he who does this only without reason would be less than a painter. 152 Since, therefore, many men having been born were full of wickedness, my spirit, he says, will not dwell in them; "For the holy spirit of discipline will flee deceit"; and deceit is the worst passion; for it harms unforeseenly. And the phrase "forever" would mean throughout their life, as long as they are such. To this is equivalent "I will never eat meat forever". Whether, then, they are men driven by demons 153 having taken daughters, or whether, as has been shown before, the angels are desirers of sensations, the spirit does not remain with them at all. For as many as came to this through passion and sin, it is clear that they have no share of the divine spirit; for not even those who came for help are deprived of the divine spirit. But if someone should be surprised that souls are called angels, one must not wonder; for the intellectual part of both is the same, even if an angel has a subtle body, and a man a dense one; for it is common to both to please God, since that which pertains to a rational nature is also common. And if someone should raise the objection of how pre-existing souls desired bodies, which they did not know, to him it must be said that "to desire" is often said not as desiring in every case that to which actions lead. Often, at any rate, even when rebuking those who do not live well [that] "you desire to be destroyed", we do not say this, that "you desire this very thing" but "you do such things as lead you to destruction". If, therefore, someone should say that souls desired bodies, one must understand it in this way, that they came into such a state which had need 154 of life in a body, being unworthy with such actions to be in a place not of this kind. ῃι, 3. And their days will be one hundred and twenty years. Everything that God does and says, he both does and says with some true judgment. Since, therefore, he says as necessary "their days will be one hundred and twenty", but this does not appear to be so, it is necessary to hunt for the meaning of the present passage in another way. The numbers taken up in the scriptures were not adopted at random, but for the sake of some reason; often they are not even introduced in a way fitting the history, being adopted for the sake of some reason. For to say "I have left for myself seven thousand men, who have not bent the knee to Baal", not having the historical account—for so many did not escape the notice of the holy man— was understood for the sake of the meaning, showing that everyone who has surpassed sensible things and the world that came to be in six days, having come to be in the anagogical seventh, is left by God as a goal for the others and a benefit. Thus also the number six to the

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ἀνθρώποις εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα διὰ τὸ εἶναι αὐτοὺς σάρκας. Τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ Πνεῦμα παραμένει ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέρω χωρήσασιν τῶν ὑλικῶν, δι' ἃ σάρκες λέγονται οἱ προσ- πελ[άζ]οντες αὐτοῖς, σαρκῶν νοουμένων τῶν ὑλικῶν καὶ ἐμπαθῶν καταστάσεων. Οὐ γὰρ τὴν πρόχειρον σάρκα λέγει· οὕτω γὰρ ἂν συνέβ[α]ινεν μηδένα ἄνθρωπον μετέχειν τοῦ Πνεύματος τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ὅτι δὲ [ἔσ]τι[ν] ἄλλη 153 σὰρξ παρὰ ταύτην τὴν ὁρ[ω]μένην ἣν περικείμεθα, Παῦλος γράφει· "6Τὸ φρόνημα τῆς σαρκ̣[ὸς] ἔχθρα εἰς Θεόν· τῷ γὰρ νόμῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐχ ὑποτάσσεται, οὐδ[ὲ γ]ὰρ δύναται· οἱ δὲ ἐν σαρκὶ ὄντες Θεῷ ἀρέσαι οὐ δύναν- ται"6· εἰ γάρ τις σάρκα λάβοι τὴν ὁρωμένην, πολλοὶ σὺν αὐτῇ Θεῷ [ἤρε]σαν, οἱ ἅγιοι πάντες. Καὶ πάλιν λέγων "6Ὑμεῖς δὲ οὐκ ἐστὲ [ἐν σ]αρκί, ἀλλ' ἐν πνεύματι"6, τὴν ψεγομένην σάρκα σημαίνει· ἐν σαρκ̣[ὶ γὰρ ἦ]σαν ἔτι, 152 τοῦτο τῷ ζῆν ἔχοντες. [152]Εἶτα λέγεται σὰρξ ἣν περικείμεθα καὶ τὸ ἄλογον ζῷον καὶ ὁ ἄνθρωπος· 153 "6Ἐκχεῶ 153γὰρ ἀπὸ τοῦ Πνεύματός μου ἐπὶ πᾶσαν σάρκα"6, ἀντὶ τοῦ ἐπὶ ἀνθρώπους, "6καὶ ὄψεται πᾶσα σὰρξ τὸ [σω]τήριον τοῦ Θεοῦ"6. Λέγεται δὲ καὶ ἡ λέξις τῆς γραφῆς σάρξ· "6Ἡ σὰρξ"6 γάρ φησιν "6οὐκ ὠφελεῖ οὐδέν, τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστι τὸ ζωοπ[οι]οῦν"6. Ψιλῶς γὰρ ἡ γραφὴ λαμβανομένη καὶ αἰσθητῶς οὐ [ζω]οποιεῖ, ὡς εἰ λέγοιμεν ὅτι καὶ ὁ κατὰ γεωμετρίαν σχήματα π[οιῶ]ν ὠφελεῖ, ὁ δὲ μόνον ἄνευ λόγου τοῦτο ποιῶν ἐλάττων ἂν εἴη ζωγράφου. 152 Ἐπεὶ οὖν πολλοὶ οἱ ἄνθρωποι γεγενημένοι φαυλ[ότη]τος ἦσαν πλήρεις, οὐ μὴ κατοικήσει, φησίν, τὸ πνεῦμά μου ἐν αὐτοῖς· "6Ἅγιον γὰρ πνεῦμα παιδεί[α]ς φεύξεται δόλον"6· χείριστον δὲ πάθος ὁ δόλος· ἀπρονοή- τως γὰρ βλάπτει. Τὸ δ' "6εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα"6 σημαίνοι ἂν τὸ διὰ βίου αὐτῶν ὁπόσον τοιοῦτοί εἰσιν. Τούτω̣ ἰσοδυναμεῖ τὸ "6οὐ [μ]ὴ φαγῶ κρέας εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα"6. Εἴτ' οὖν ἄνθρωποι ὑπὸ δαιμόνων ἐλαυνόμενοί εἰσιν 153 θυγατέρας δεξάμενοι, εἴτε, ὡς προαποδέδοται, οἱ ἄγγελοι αἰσθήσεων ἐπιθυμηταί, οὐδὲν τούτοις τὸ πνεῦμα καταμένει. Ὅσοι γὰρ πάθει καὶ ἁμαρτήμασιν ἐπὶ τούτῳ ἦλθον, δῆλον ὡς ἀμετόχως ἔχουσι π[ν]εύματος θείου· οὐδὲ γὰρ οἱ διὰ βοήθειαν ἐλθόντες πνεύματος θείου στέρονται. Εἰ δέ τις ξενίζοιτο ἐπὶ τῷ τὰς ψυχὰς ἀγγέλους εἰρῆσθαι, οὐ δεῖ θαυμάζειν· τὸ γὰρ νοερὸν ἀμφοτέρων ταὐτόν, κἂν ἄγγελος λεπτὸν ἔχῃ σῶμα, ὁ δὲ ἄνθρωπος παχύ· κοινὸν γὰρ ἀμφοτέροις τὸ Θεῷ ἀρέσκειν, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὸ τῆς λογικῆς φύσεως κοινόν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἔνστασίν τις κομίζοι ὅτι πῶς αἱ προϋπάρχουσαι ψυχαὶ σωμάτων ἐπεθύ- μησαν, ὧν οὐκ ᾔδεσαν, πρὸς ὃν λεκτέον ὅτι τὸ ἐπιθυμεῖν λέγεται πολλάκις οὐχ ὡς πάντως τοῦτο εἰς ὃ αἱ πράξεις ἄγουσιν ἐπιθυμεῖν. Πολλάκις γοῦν καὶ ἐπιτιμῶντες τοῖς οὐ καλῶς πολιτευομένοις [ὅτι] "3ἐπιθυμεῖς ἀπολέσθαι"3, οὐ τοῦτό φαμεν ὅτι "3αὐτὸ τοῦτο ποθεῖς"3 ἀλλὰ "3τοιαῦτα πράττεις ἃ ἄγει σε εἰς ἀπώλειαν"3. Εἰ οὖν τις λέγοι ὅτι ἐπεθύμησαν αἱ ψυχαὶ σώματα, οὕτω δεῖ δι[ανο]εῖσθαι ὅτι τοιαύτης καταστάσεως ὑπήρξαντο, ἥτις χρε[ία]ν εἶχεν 154 τῆς ἐν σώματι διαγωγῆς, ἀναξίων αὐτῶν οὐσῶν μετὰ πράξε[ω]ν τοιούτων ἐν χ̣ωρίῳ εἶναι μὴ τοιούτῳ. ῃι, 3. Ἔσονται δὲ αἱ ἡμέραι αὐτῶν ἑκατὸν ε[ἴκ]οσι ἔτη. Πᾶν ὃ ποιεῖ καὶ λέγει Θεός, κρίσει τιν[ὶ] ἀληθινῇ καὶ πο[ι]εῖ καὶ λέγει. Ἐπεὶ οὖν ὡς ἀναγκαῖον λέγ[ει τ]ὸ "6ἔσονται αἱ ἡμέραι αὐτῶν ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι"6, οὐ φα[ίνε]ται δὲ τοῦτο, ἀναγκαῖον ἑτέρως θηρεῦσαι τὴν τοῦ προ[κει]- μένου διάνοιαν. Οἱ παραλαμβανόμενοι ἐν ταῖς γραφαῖς ἀριθμοὶ οὐχ ὡς ἔτυχεν παρελήμφθησαν, ἀλλὰ λόγου τινὸς χ̣[άρ]ιν· πολλάκις οὐδ' οἰκείως τῇ ἱστορίᾳ εἰσά- γονται, λόγου τ[ιν]ὸς ἕνεκα παραλαμβανόμενοι. Τὸ γὰρ εἰπεῖν "6Κατέλιπον [ἐμ]αυτῷ ἑπτακι<σ>χιλίους ἄνδρας, οἵτινες οὐκ ἔκαμψαν [γό]νυ τῇ Βαὰλ"6 τὴν ἱστορί[αν] οὐκ ἔχον-οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐλάνθανον τοσοῦτοι τὸν ἅγιον- διε̣λήμφθη τῆς διανοίας χάριν δηλούσης ὅτι πᾶς ὁ ὑπερβὰς τὰ αἰσθητὰ καὶ τὸν ἐν ἓξ ἡμέραις γενάμενον κόσμον, ἐν τῇ ἑβδομάδι τῇ ἀνα̣γ̣ω̣γικῇ γεγενημένος, ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ καταλείπεται σκοπὸς τῶν ἄλλων καὶ ὄφελος. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ ἓξ ἀριθμὸς εἰς τὴν