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5.49 (μθ΄) The mystery of Pentecost is the immediate union of those under Providence with Providence; that is, the union of nature with the Logos according to (15∆_288> the concept of Providence, in which there is no emphasis at all on time and generation. And again, the trumpet is our reason, as it resounds in us with divine and ineffable knowledge; and atonement, as it, having become like us, dissolves our offenses in itself; and by the gift of grace in spirit, deifies our sinful nature; and the feast of tabernacles, as the practice of our immutability concerning the good according to a God-imitating state, and the cohesive bond of the transformation to immortality.

5.50 (ν΄) He who delights in mere bloody sacrifices prepares the sacrificers to be zealous for the passions, as one who is himself passionate. For he who genuinely worships loves to rejoice in those things in which the one worshipped rejoices. Therefore, the Logos knows sacrifices, which are rather the slaughter of the passions, and the offering of the natural faculties; of which, the ram is a type of reason; the bull bears the symbol of the spirited part; and the goat is a manifestation of desire.

5.51 (να΄) And we know spiritual sacrifices, not only the mortification of the passions slaughtered by the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, and of all life in the flesh, as the intentional motion of the blood, but also the offering of moral characters according to philosophy, and of all the natural faculties, being consecrated to God, and being wholly burnt up by the fire of grace in the Spirit for a divine end.

1372 5.52 (νβ΄) The earthly understanding of Scripture, holding sway over the soul, casts away the natural principles, obliterating them by the misuse of the natural faculties. For this, being alive, truly brings to pass and persecutes and destroys, circumscribing the law to the flesh alone, the natural principles and thoughts I mean, honoring as (15∆_290> divine the passions of dishonor, which the natural thoughts, receiving permission from the law of the spirit, kill and put to death at the same time.

5.53 (νγ΄) As soon as one might rationally pursue the philosophy of the virtues, at the same time he has also naturally transferred the interpretation of the Scriptures to the spirit; in the newness of the letter, through the humbler acceptance of the law according to sense toward the body, one becomes a nurturer of passions like the Jews, and a servant of sin.

5.54 (νδ΄) As soon as one ceases to receive the Scripture according to sense toward the body, at the same time he also runs up through the midst of nature to the spirit according to the mind, doing spiritually those things which the Jew, performing bodily, has God being angry.

5.55 (νε΄) Every mind that is lofty and raised up according to God, at the same time, both slaughters the activity of the passions, and the unseemly movement of thoughts; and in addition, also the licentious ways that come from the misuse of the activity of the senses. For the passions are destroyed by the lofty thoughts of nature, being triumphed over in lofty contemplation.

5.56 (νστ΄) The power of sin, that is, the mindset of the flesh, the grace of holy baptism is constituted by nature to abolish; and the active obedience to the divine commandments, to kill with the sword of the spirit, that is, with the word of divine knowledge in the spirit, crying out mystically to the passion of sin, as the great Samuel to Agag, As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women today.

(15∆_292> 5.57 (νζ΄) The passion of gluttony, as with a sword, by the perfect thought of pleasure, has made many virtues childless. For of temperance, through incontinence it kills the seeds; of justice, through greed it corrupts equality; of philanthropy, through self-love, the natural

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5.49 (μθ΄) Μυστήριον ἐστι Πεντηκοστῆς, ἡ πρός τήν Πρόνοιαν ἄμεσος τῶν προνοουμένων ἕνωσις· ἤγουν ἡ πρός τόν λόγον κατά (15∆_288> τήν τῆς Προνοίας ἐπίνοιαν τῆς φύσεως ἕνωσις, καθ᾿ ἥν οὐδεμία τό παράπαν ἐστί χρόνου καί γενέσεως ἔμφασις. Σάλπιγξ δέ πάλιν ἡμῶν ἐστιν ὁ λόγος, ὡς τάς θείας καί ἀῤῥήτους ἡμῖν ἐνηχούμενος γνώσεις· ἱλασμός δέ, ὡς ἐν ἑαυτῷ τά ἡμέτερα, καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς γενόμενος, διαλύων ἐγκλήματα· καί τῇ δωρεᾷ τῆς χάριτος ἐν πνεύματι, τήν ἁμαρτήσασαν φύσιν θεοποιῶν· σκηνοπηγία δέ, ὡς τῆς ἡμῶν κατά τήν θεομίμητον ἕξιν περί τό καλόν ἀτρεψίας πρᾶξις, καί ὁ τῆς πρός ἀθανασίαν μεταποιήσεως συνεκτικός δεσμός.

5.50 (ν΄) Ὁ ψιλαῖς ταῖς ἐναίμοις χαίρων θυσίαις, περί τά πάθη σπουδάζειν ὡς ἐμπαθής παρασκευάζει τούς θύοντας. Φιλεῖ γάρ χαίρειν τό γνησίως σέβον, οἷς χαίρει τό προσκυνούμενον. Ὅθεν θυσίας οἶδεν ὁ λόγος, τήν τῶν παθῶν μᾶλλον σφαγήν, καί τήν τῶν φυσικῶν δυνάμεων προσαγωγήν· ὧν, τοῦ μέν λόγου, τύπος ἐστίν ὁ κριός· τοῦ δέ θυμοῦ φέρει σύμβολον ὁ ταῦρος· τῆς δέ ἐπιθυμίας, ἡ αἴξ ὑπάρχει δήλωσις.

5.51 (να΄) Θυσίας πνευματικάς καί γινώσκομεν, οὐ μόνον τήν τῶν παθῶν νέκρωσιν σφαττομένων τῇ μαχαίρᾳ τοῦ πνεύματος, ὅπερ ἐστί ῥῆμα Θεοῦ, καί πάσης τῆς ἐν σαρκί ζωῆς, ὡς αἵματος τήν κατά πρόθεσιν κίνησιν, ἀλλά καί τῶν κατά φιλοσοφίαν ἠθῶν, καί πασῶν τῶν κατά φύσιν δυνάμεων προσαγωγήν ἀφιερουμένων Θεῷ, καί τῷ πυρί τῆς ἐν Πνεύματι χάριτος πρός τήν θείαν λῆξιν ὁλοκαυτουμένων.

1372 5.52 (νβ΄) Ὁ χοϊκός νοῦς τῆς Γραφῆς, κρατῶν τῆς ψυχῆς, τούς φυσικούς ἀποβάλλεται λόγους, τῇ παραχρήσει τῶν κατά φύσιν δυνάμεων αὐτούς ἐξαφανίζων. Οὗτος γάρ ζῶν, ἐπ᾿ ἀληθείας συντελεῖ καί διώκει καί ἀπόλλυσι, σαρκί μόνῃ τόν νόμον περιγράφων, τούς κατά φύσιν φημί λόγους καί λογισμούς, τιμῶν ὡς (15∆_290> θεῖα τά πάθη τῆς ἀτιμίας, ἅπερ οἱ κατά φύσιν λογισμοί, λαμβάνοντες ἄδειαν ὑπό τοῦ νόμου τοῦ πνεύματος, ἀποκτείνουσιν ἐπιταυτό καί θανατοῦσιν.

5.53 (νγ΄) Ἅμα τις τήν τῶν ἀρετῶν λογικῶς μετέλθοι φιλοσοφίαν, ἅμα καί τήν τῶν Γραφῶν πρός τό πνεῦμα φυσικῶς μετήνεγκεν ἐκδοχήν, ἐν καινότητι γράμματος, διά τῆς κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν πρός σῶμα ταπεινοτέρας τοῦ νόμου παραδοχῆς, τροφεύς παθῶν κατά τούς Ἰουδαίους γινόμενος, καί ἁμαρτίας θεραπευτής.

5.54 (νδ΄) Ἅμα τις παύσεται κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν πρός σῶμα τήν Γραφήν ἐκδεχόμενος, ἅμα καί πρός τό πνεῦμα κατά νοῦν διά μέσης ἀνατρέχει τῆς φύσεως, ἐκεῖνα πράττων πνευματικῶς, ἅπερ σωματικῶς ὁ Ἰουδαῖος ἐπιτελῶν, ἔχει τόν Θεόν ὀργιζόμενον.

5.55 (νε΄) Πᾶς νοῦς κατά Θεόν ὑψηλός καί μετέωρος, κατά τό αὐτό, τήν τε τῶν παθῶν κατασφάττει ἐνέργειαν, καί τήν τῶν λογισμῶν ἀσχήμονα κίνησιν· πρός δέ, καί τούς κατά παράχρησιν τῆς τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἐνεργείας ἀκολάστους τρόπους. Ἀναιροῦνται γάρ τά πάθη ὑπό τῶν ὑψηλῶν τῆς φύσεως λογισμῶν, κατά τήν ὑψηλήν θεωρίαν θριαμβευόμενα.

5.56 (νστ΄) Τό κράτος τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἤγουν τό φρόνημα τῆς σαρκός, ἡ χάρις ἀφανίζειν πέφυκε τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος· καί ἡ κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν ὑπακοή τῶν θείων ἐντολῶν, ἀποκτείνειν τῇ μαχαίρᾳ τοῦ πνεύματος, ἤγουν τῷ ῥήματι τῆς θείας ἐν πνεύματι γνώσεως, βοῶσα μυστικῶς πρός τό πάθος τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ὡς ὁ μέγας πρός τόν Ἄγαγ, Σαμουήλ, Ἀνθ᾿ ὧν ἠτέκνωσε γυναῖκας ἡ μάχαιρά σου, ἀτεκνωθήσεται σήμερον ἐκ γυναικῶν ἡ μήτηρ σου.

(15∆_292> 5.57 (νζ΄) Πολλάς τό πάθος τῆς γαστριμαργίας ὡς ἐν μαχαίρᾳ, τῷ τελείῳ τῆς ἡδονῆς λογισμῷ, ἠτέκνωσεν ἀρετάς. Τῆς μέν γάρ σωφροσύνης, διά τῆς ἀκρασίας ἀποκτείνει τά σπέρματα· τῆς δικαιοσύνης δέ, διά τῆς πλεονεξίας διαφθείρει τήν ἰσονομίαν· τῆς φιλανθρωπίας δέ, διά τῆς φιλαυτίας, τήν ἐκ φύσεως