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That Christ cannot be said to be of the Spirit as it is with the Father and the Son, because it is said indifferently Spirit of God and Spirit of Christ.

RESPONSE Just as the mind is the cause of the word, so also of the spirit, but by means of

the word; and just as we are not able to say that the word is of the voice, so neither can we say the Son is of the Spirit.

QUESTION A,35 What does that which is said by the Lord mean: «if your eye or your hand or your foot

causes you to stumble, cut them off and cast them from you»? (14Α_302> RESPONSE It is possible, on the one hand, to think of friends as eyes, and of relatives as our hands

being necessary, and of companions serving us like feet, to suppose that the parable hints at this in its plain sense; whom, if they cause you to stumble and harm your soul, the word has commanded to cut off. But it is also possible to understand the command in another way, according to the anagogical method: if you have contemplative knowledge like an eye, but it lifts you up to pride and arrogance, cut it off; and if you have virtuous practice, and it becomes a cause of conceit for you, cut it off; likewise, also, if you have an ability for service, which is the foot, and as a result of this you are puffed up, put it away from you. For it is better for you to be without these seeming virtues than through conceit and arrogance to go into complete destruction.

QUESTION A,36 What does "the sun was lifted up and the moon stood in its order" mean? RESPONSE Whenever the sun of righteousness is exalted in us through good works and

true knowledge, then the moon stands in its order, that is, our nature, which is subject to change and alteration, receives a stable order.

(14Α_304> QUESTION A,37 What is that which is written in the Catholic Epistle of Peter "that they might be judged indeed according to

men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit"? RESPONSE Since these things are said concerning those in the flood, and these had complete

ignorance of God and lived with wicked practices, therefore, as many sins as they committed against themselves through the temptations that happened to them daily, both wars and inflictions and various occurrences, He forgave them; but the sins concerning ignorance and impiety towards Him, He did not forgive them, so that through faith in Him, when through His love for mankind He was in the region of Hades, as many as would believe, the sin of impiety might be forgiven them and they might live according to God in the spirit, having been judged, that is, in the flesh as was said for their offenses against men.

(14Α_306> QUESTION A,45 What is that which is said in the Psalms "Be still, and know that I am God"? RESPONSE There are six leisures which, by achieving, we are able to know God; the first is

from the activity of sin, second, from a diet that excites the passions, third, from a place of mixing with those who live unguardedly, fourth, from an occupation unsuitable to the life according to God, fifth, from disreputable property which distracts the mind to many things, sixth, to have no personal will at all. And this is both true renunciation and submission according to God.

(14Α_308> QUESTION A,67

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Ὅτι οὐ δύναται λέγεσθαι ὁ Χριστὸς Πνεύματος καθάπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ, ὅτι λέγεται ἀδιαφόρως Πνεῦμα Θεοῦ καὶ Πνεῦμα Χριστοῦ.

ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ὥσπερ ἐστὶν αἴτιος τοῦ λόγου ὁ νοῦς, οὕτως καὶ τοῦ πνεύματος, διὰ μέσου δὲ

τοῦ λόγου· καὶ ὥσπερ οὐ δυνάμεθα εἰπεῖν τὸν λόγον εἶναι τῆς φωνῆς, οὕτως οὐδὲ τὸν Υἱὸν λέγειν τοῦ Πνεύματος.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Α,35 Τί δηλοῖ τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου λεγόμενον τὸ «ἐὰν ὁ ὀφθαλμὸς ἢ ἡ χεὶρ ἢ ὁ ποὺς

σκανδαλίζῃ σε, ἔκκοψον αὐτοὺς καὶ βάλε ἀπὸ σοῦ»; (14Α_302> ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ἔστιν μὲν καὶ περὶ φίλων ὡς ὀφθαλμῶν, καὶ οἰκείων ὥσπερ χειρῶν ἡμῶν

ὄντων ἀναγκαίων, καὶ ἑταίρων ποδῶν δίκην διακονούντων ἡμῖν ὑπονοεῖν τὴν παραβολὴν κατὰ τὸ πρόχειρον αἰνίττεσθαι· οὕσπερ, ἐὰν σκανδαλίζωσιν καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν καταβλάπτωσιν, ἐκκόπτειν ὁ λόγος παρεκελεύσατο. Ἔστιν δὲ καὶ ἄλλως ἐκλαβεῖν τὸ παράγγελμα κατὰ τὸν τῆς ἀναγωγῆς τρόπον· ἐὰν ἔχῃς θεωρητικὴν γνῶσιν ὥσπερ ὀφθαλμόν, πρὸς τύφον δὲ αὐτὴ ἐπαίρει σε καὶ ὑπερηφανίαν, ἔκκοψον αὐτήν· ἐὰν δὲ καὶ πρᾶξιν ἀστείαν, καὶ αἰτία σοι γίνεται ἐπάρσεως, ἔκκοψον αὐτήν· ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ ἐὰν ἱκανότητα ἔχῃς διακονίας, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ὁ πούς, καὶ ὡς ἐκ τούτου φυσᾶσαι, ἀπόσθητι ἀπ᾽ αὐτῆς. Συμφέρει γάρ σοι παρὰ ταύτας τὰς δοκούσας εἶναι ἀρετὰς γενέσθαι καὶ μὴ διὰ τῆς ἐπάρσεως καὶ ὑπερηφανίας εἰς παντελῆ χωρῆσαι ἀπώλειαν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Α,36 Τί δηλοῖ τὸ «ἐπήρθη ὁ ἥλιος καὶ ἡ σελήνη ἔστη ἐν τῇ τάξει αὐτῆς»; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ὅτ᾽ ἂν ἐν ἡμῖν ὑψωθῇ ὁ ἥλιος τῆς δικαιοσύνης διὰ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἔργων καὶ

τῆς ἀληθοῦς γνώσεως, τότε ἡ σελήνη ἵσταται ἐν τῇ τάξει αὐτῆς, τουτέστιν ἡ ἡμετέρα φύσις, ἡ ὑπὸ τροπὴν οὖσα καὶ ἀλλοίωσιν, τάξιν λαμβάνει βάσιμον.

(14Α_304> ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Α,37 Τί ἐστιν τὸ ἐν τῇ καθολικῇ Πέτρου γεγραμμένον "ἵνα κριθῶσιν μὲν κατὰ

ἀνθρώπους σαρκί, ζῶσιν δὲ κατὰ Θεὸν πνεύματι"; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ἐπειδὴ περὶ τῶν ἐν τῷ κατακλυσμῷ εἴρηται ταῦτα, οὗτοι δὲ εἶχον παντελῆ

ἀγνωσίαν Θεοῦ καὶ πονηροῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασι συνέζων, ὅσα μὲν οὖν εἰς ἑαυτοὺς ἡμάρτανον διὰ τῶν καθ᾽ ἑκάστην συμβαινόντων αὐτοῖς πειρασμῶν, πολέμων τε καὶ ἐπαγωγῶν καὶ ποικίλων συμβάσεων, ἀφῆκεν αὐτοῖς· τὰ δὲ περὶ τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν ἀγνοίας καὶ ἀσεβείας ἁμαρτήματα οὐκ ἀφῆκεν αὐτοῖς, ἵνα διὰ τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν πίστεως, ἡνίκα διὰ φιλανθρωπίαν ἐν τῇ τοῦ ᾅδου γένηται χώρᾳ, ὅσοι πιστεύσουσιν, ἀφεθῇ αὐτοῖς ἡ τῆς ἀσεβείας ἁμαρτία καὶ ζήσωσιν κατὰ Θεὸν πνεύματι, κριθέντες δηλονότι σαρκὶ καθὼς εἴρηται ὑπὲρ τῶν εἰς ἀνθρώπους πλημμελειῶν.

(14Α_306> ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Α,45 Τί ἐστιν τὸ ἐν ψαλμοῖς εἰρημένον "σχολάσατε καὶ γνῶτε ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ Θεός"; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ἕξ εἰσιν σχολαὶ ἅστινας κατορθοῦντες Θεὸν ἐπιγνῶναι δυνάμεθα· πρώτη ἡ

τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐνεργείας, δευτέρα ἡ τῆς ἐξαπτικῆς διαίτης, τρίτη ἡ τοῦ τόπου τῆς ἐπιμιξίας τῶν ἀφυλάκτως βιούντων, τετάρτη ἡ τοῦ ἀπροσφόρου ἐπιτηδεύματος τοῦ κατὰ Θεὸν βίου, πέμπτη ἡ τῆς ὑπάρξεως τῆς διαβεβλημένης καὶ εἰς πολλὰ περισπώσης τὸν νοῦν, ἕκτη τὸ μὴ ἔχειν καθόλου ἴδιον θέλημα. Καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν καὶ ἀποταγὴ καὶ ὑποταγὴ ἡ ἀληθινὴ καὶ κατὰ Θεόν.

(14Α_308> ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Α,67