,

by the nature of men, but for an economy which educates towards that which is greater and more mystical; according to which meaning I think the Lord said to the Samaritan woman: and he whom you now have is not yours. For He knew that nature would be transferred into the Gospel. Therefore, also around the sixth hour, when the soul is especially illuminated from all sides by the rays of knowledge through the presence of the Word to it, (14Β_266> the shadow in the law having departed, He conversed with her, both by the well of Jacob, that is, by the spring, standing with the Word of the scriptural theorems.

Let these things for now be said about this. SCHOLION 1. The well of Jacob is the Scripture; and the water is the knowledge in the Scripture,

knowledge, and the depth is the impenetrable position of the scriptural enigmas, and the bucket is the learning of the divine word through letters, which the Lord, being the Word Himself, did not have, and not giving the knowledge from learning and study to believers, but the ever-flowing wisdom from spiritual grace, and granting that which never ceases to the worthy. For the bucket, that is, learning, taking the smallest part of knowledge, leaves the whole grasped by no account. But knowledge according to grace possesses whole and without study the wisdom attainable by men, gushing forth variously according to needs.

42 (42). CONCERNING HOW WE ARE SAID TO COMMIT SIN, BUT THE

LORD WAS MADE SIN, BUT DID NOT KNOW IT? 42. QUESTION 42 How are we said to commit and to know sin, but the Lord

is said to have been made sin, but not to have known it? And how is it not more serious to be made sin and not know it than to commit and know it? For "Him who knew no sin," it says, "He made to be sin for us."

Response. Adam's will, having first been corrupted from its natural principle, nature

corrupted along with itself, having cast off the grace (14Β_268> of impassibility. And the first and culpable sin occurred, the falling away of the will from the good toward evil; and a second, on account of the first, the non-culpable transformation of nature from incorruption to corruption. For two sins occurred in the forefather through the transgression of the divine commandment, the one culpable, the other non-culpable, having the culpable one as its cause; and the one of the will, which voluntarily cast off the good, and the other of nature, which involuntarily cast off immortality on account of the will. Correcting, therefore, this corresponding corruption and alteration of nature, our Lord and God, taking the whole of nature, also had in the assumed nature its passibility, adorned by the incorruptibility of His will, and He became sin for us by nature on account of His passibility, but not knowing the sin of the mind on account of the immutability of His will; and He corrected the passibility of nature through the incorruptibility of His will, making the end of the passibility of nature, I mean death, the beginning of the natural transformation towards incorruptibility. And it happened, just as through one man who voluntarily turned his will from the good, the transformation of nature from incorruption to corruption came to all men, so through one man, Jesus Christ, who did not turn His will from the good, the restoration of nature from corruption to incorruption came to all men.

Therefore, not knowing my sin, that is, the turning of my will, the Lord neither took on nor became my sin, but the sin [He became] for my sake, that is, the corruption of

φύσει τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλ᾽ ἐπ᾽ οἰκονομίᾳ παιδαγωγούσῃ πρὸς τὸ μεῖζόν τε καὶ μυστικώτερον· καθ᾽ ὃ σημαινόμενον οἶμαι τὸν Κύριον φάναι πρὸς τὴν Σαμαρεῖτιν γυναῖκα· καὶ νῦν ὃν ἔχεις οὐκ ἔστι σός. Ἤιδει γὰρ εἰς τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον τὴν φύσιν μετενεχθήσεσθαι. ∆ιὸ καὶ περὶ ἕκτην ὥραν, ὅτε μάλιστα πανταχόθεν ἡ ψυχὴ περιλάμπεται ταῖς ἀκτῖσι τῆς γνώσεως διὰ τὴν πρὸς αὐτὴν τοῦ Λόγου παρουσίαν, (14Β_266> τῆς ἐν νόμῳ σκιᾶς ἀπογενομένης, αὐτῇ διελέγετο, καὶ παρὰ τὸ φρέαρ τοῦ Ἰακώβ, παρὰ τὴν πηγὴν δηλαδὴ σὺν τῷ Λόγῳ τῶν γραφικῶν ἱσταμένῃ θεωρημάτων.

Ταῦτα καὶ περὶ τούτου τέως εἰρήσθω. ΣΧΟΛΙΟΝ 1. Τό φρέαρ τοῦ Ἰακώβ, ἐστίν ἡ Γραφή· τό δέ ὕδωρ, ἐστίν ἡ ἐν τῇ Γραφῇ

γνῶσις, τό δέ βάθος ἡ τῶν γραφικῶν αἰνιγμάτων δυσδιεξίτητος θέσις, τό δέ ἄντλημα, ἐστί, ἡ διά τῶν γραμμάτων τοῦ θείου λόγου μάθησις, ἥν οὐκ εἶχεν ὁ Κύριος αὐτολόγος ὑπάρχων, καί οὐ τήν ἐκ μαθήσεως καί μελέτης γνῶσιν διδούς τοῖς πιστεύουσιν, ἀλλά τήν ἐκ χάριτος πνευματικῆς ἀένναον σοφίαν, καί μηδέποτε λήγουσαν τοῖς ἀξίοις δωρούμενος. Τό γάρ ἄντλημα, τουτέστιν ἡ μάθησις, μέρος ἐλάχιστον λαμβάνουσα γνώσεως, τό πᾶν ἐᾷ μηδενί λόγῳ κρατούμενον. Ἡ δέ κατά χάριν γνῶσις, ὅλην ἔχει καί δίχα μελέτης τήν ἐφικτήν ἀνθρώποις σοφίαν, πρός τάς χρείας ποικίλως βλυστάνουσαν.

ΜΒ (42). ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ ΠΩΣ ΗΜΕΙΣ ΛΕΓΟΜΕΘΑ ΠΟΙΗΣΑΙ ΤΗΝ ΑΜΑΡΤΙΑΝ, Ο ∆Ε

ΚΥΡΙΟΣ ΓΕΝΕΣΘΑΙ ΜΕΝ ΑΜΑΡΤΙΑ, ΜΗ ΕΙ∆ΕΝΑΙ ∆Ε ΑΥΤΗΝ; 42. ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΜΒ' Πῶς ἡμεῖς μὲν ποιῆσαι λεγόμεθα τὴν ἁμαρτίαν καὶ εἰδέναι, ὁ δὲ Κύριος

γενέσθαι μὲν ἁμαρτία λέγεται, μὴ γνῶναι δὲ αὐτήν; Πῶς δὲ καὶ τοῦ ποιῆσαι καὶ εἰδέναι αὐτὴν οὐκ ἔστι βαρύτερον τὸ γενέσθαι καὶ μὴ γνῶναι; Τὸν γὰρ μὴ γνόντα ἁμαρτίαν, φησίν, ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίησεν.

Ἀπόκρισις. Φθαρεῖσα πρότερον τοῦ κατὰ φύσιν λόγου τοῦ Ἀδὰμ ἡ προαίρεσις τὴν φύσιν

ἑαυτῇ συνέφθειρεν, ἀποθεμένην τῆς ἀπαθείας (14Β_268> τὴν χάριν. Καὶ γέγονεν ἁμαρτία, πρώτη μὲν καὶ εὐδιάβλητος, ἡ πρὸς κακίαν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ τῆς προαιρέσεως ἔκπτωσις, δευτέρα δέ, διὰ τὴν πρώτην, ἡ τῆς φύσεως ἐξ ἀφθαρσίας εἰς φθορὰν ἀδιάβλητος μεταποίησις. ∆ύο γὰρ ἁμαρτίαι γεγόνασιν ἐν τῷ προπάτορι κατὰ τὴν παράβασιν τῆς θείας ἐντολῆς, ἡ μὲν διαβεβλημένη, ἡ δὲ ἀδιάβλητος, αἰτίαν ἔχουσα τὴν διαβεβλημένην, καὶ ἡ μὲν προαιρέσεως, ἑκουσίως ἀποθεμένης τὸ ἀγαθόν, ἡ δὲ φύσεως, ἀκουσίως διὰ τὴν προαίρεσιν ἀποθεμένης τὴν ἀθανασίαν. Ταύτην οὖν τὴν διάλληλον φθοράν τε καὶ ἀλλοίωσιν τῆς φύσεως ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν καὶ Θεὸς διορθούμενος, ὁλόκληρον τὴν φύσιν λαβών, εἶχε καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν τῇ ληφθείσῃ φύσει τὸ παθητὸν τῇ κατὰ προαίρεσιν ἀφθαρσίᾳ κοσμούμενον, καὶ γέγονε φύσει μὲν διὰ τὸ παθητὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἁμαρτία, μὴ γνοὺς δὲ τὴν γνωμικὴν ἁμαρτίαν διὰ τὴν ἀτρεψίαν τῆς προαιρέσεως· τὸ δὲ παθητὸν τῆς φύσεως διὰ τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν τῆς προαιρέσεως διωρθώσατο, τὸ τέλος τοῦ παθητοῦ τῆς φύσεως, φημὶ δὲ τὸν θάνατον, τῆς κατὰ φύσιν πρὸς ἀφθαρσίαν μεταποιήσεως ἀρχὴν ποιησάμενος. Καὶ γέγονεν, ὥσπερ δι᾽ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου τραπέντος ἑκουσίως ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ τὴν προαίρεσιν εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους ἡ τῆς φύσεως ἐξ ἀφθαρσίας εἰς φθορὰν μεταποίησις, οὕτως δι᾽ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, μὴ τραπέντος ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ τὴν προαίρεσιν, εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους ἡ τῆς φύσεως ἐκ φθορᾶς εἰς ἀφθαρσίαν ἀποκατάστασις.

Τὴν ἐμὴν οὖν μὴ γνοὺς ἁμαρτίαν ὁ Κύριος, τουτέστι τὴν τροπὴν τῆς ἐμῆς προαιρέσεως, τὴν ἐμὴν οὐκ ἔλαβεν ἁμαρτίαν οὔτε γέγονεν, ἀλλὰ τὴν δι᾽ ἐμὲ [γέγονεν] ἁμαρτίαν, τουτέστι τὴν διὰ τὴν τροπὴν τῆς ἐμῆς προαιρέσεως φθορὰν τῆς