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There is also another contemplative approach concerning this: "we will not all sleep," having made a cessation and inactivity in sins, nor will we put our own passions to sleep according to that which says "I sleep, and my heart is awake"; for he who wrote the Song of divine loves signifies that he who has become completely inactive towards all things sensible and intelligible, this one is awake in his heart alone, rejoicing only in the contemplation of God. But the "we will all be changed" indicates the common change of incorruptibility.

QUESTION A,77 What is the meaning of the saying in the Apostle, "I wish they would even cut themselves off"? RESPONSE This is said instead of "they will mourn and lament," into (14Α_322>

coming to repentance for the sins they committed in upsetting the faithful. QUESTION A,78 For what reason are the Moabites and Ammonites forbidden to enter into the

temple of the Lord "until the third and fourth and tenth generation and forever"?

RESPONSE Since Moabite is interpreted 'bowel of a father,' and Ammonite 'father of a mother,' it is signified through these that whoever receives a pattern of wickedness from another, this one has revealed the bowel of the father; but whoever bears sin from himself, this one is the father of a mother, that is, of his own sin. Such people, therefore, will not enter into the house of the Lord until the third and fourth and tenth generation and forever, that is, he who does not appropriate himself to God through a good disposition and practice—for this is the third and fourth generation of the virtues—and through the name and faith of the Lord Jesus and through the ten commandments of the law and through the regeneration that will be in the age to come, will not enter into the house of God, that is, into the heavenly city, "in which is the dwelling of all who rejoice".

QUESTION A,79 Why is one leprous in part unclean according to (14Α_324> the law, but one who is completely leprous is clean? RESPONSE The one who is leprous in part has that part dead where the leprosy is; for as the life-giving blood recedes, the place becomes hollowed, and when the hollow of the leprosy yielded to the touch of the priest, it defiled such a one; so also one who is leprous in a part of the soul, when the soul is hollowed, that is, humbled through the receding of the life-giving power of virtue, becomes unclean. But the one who is completely leprous has the color of a leper, but has the life-giving blood sown throughout the whole body on the surface. This, therefore, signifies that he who has come to the final limit of wickedness, then having repented, recovers the life-giving power of virtue, but has only his conscience colored by his former prejudices; for he is not able not to reckon the things he did as not having been done; for this reason, therefore, the law declares such a one clean.

QUESTION A,81 Why did Ham sin and Canaan was cursed? And if one should take the meaning of the Scripture according to the letter, the righteous Noah will appear unjust in this, bringing the curse upon another for one who sinned; and otherwise, even if Canaan was cursed, it was necessary (14Α_326> for his race also to be cursed, but we find his race, more than the others, ran to the faith of Christ.

RESPONSE

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Ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἑτέρας θεωρίας ἐπιβολὴ περὶ τούτου· «οὐ πάντες κοιμηθησόμεθα», ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις τὴν παῦσιν καὶ τὴν ἀνενεργησίαν ποιησάμενοι, οὐδὲ τὰ ἑαυτῶν πάθη κοιμήσομεν κατὰ τὸ «ἐγὼ καθεύδω καὶ ἡ καρδία μου ἀγρυπνεῖ»· σημαίνει γὰρ ὁ τῶν θείων ἐρώτων τὰ Ἄισματα γεγραφὼς ὅτι ὁ πάντη ἀνενέργητος γενόμενος πρός τε τὰ αἰσθητὰ πάντα καὶ νοητά, οὗτος μόνῃ τῇ καρδίᾳ ἀγρυπνεῖ, μόνῃ τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ θεωρίᾳ ἐνευφραινόμενος. Τὸ δὲ πάντες δὲ ἀλλαγησόμεθα τὴν κοινὴν δηλοῖ τῆς ἀφθαρσίας ἀλλαγήν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Α,77 Τί ἐστιν τὸ ἐν τῷ Ἀποστόλῳ εἰρημένον τὸ «ὄφελον καὶ ἀποκόψονται»; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Τοῦτο εἴρηται ἀντὶ τοῦ "θρηνήσουσιν καὶ κόψονται", εἰς (14Α_322>

μετάνοιαν ἐρχόμενοι ὧν ἥμαρτον ἀναστατοῦντες τοὺς πιστούς. ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Α,78 Τίνος χάριν Μωαβεῖται καὶ Ἀμμανεῖται ἀπαγορεύονται εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὸν

ναὸν τοῦ Κυρίου «ἕως τρίτης καὶ τετάρτης καὶ δεκάτης γενεᾶς καὶ ἕως εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα»;

ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ἐπειδὴ Μωαβείτης ἑρμηνεύεται 'ἔντερον πατρός,' Ἀμμανείτης δὲ 'πατὴρ

μητρός,' σημαίνεται διὰ τούτων ὅτι ὅστις ἀπ᾽ ἄλλου παραλάβῃ ὑπόδειγμα κακίας, οὗτος τὸ ἔντερον τοῦ πατρὸς ἐφανέρωσεν· ὅστις δὲ ἐξ αὐτοῦ τέκῃ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, οὗτός ἐστιν πατὴρ μητρός, τουτέστιν τῆς ἰδίας ἁμαρτίας. Οἱ τοιοῦτοι οὖν οὐκ εἰσελεύσονται εἰς οἶκον Κυρίου ἕως τρίτης καὶ τετάρτης καὶ δεκάτης γενεᾶς καὶ ἕως εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, τουτέστιν ὁ μὴ δι᾽ ἕξεως ἀγαθῆς καὶ πράξεως αὕτη γὰρ τρίτη καὶ τετάρτη γενεὰ τῶν ἀρετῶν καὶ διὰ τοῦ ὀνόματος καὶ τῆς πίστεως τοῦ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ καὶ διὰ τὰς δέκα τοῦ νόμου ἐντολὰς καὶ διὰ τῆς τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος ἐσομένης παλιγγενεσίας ἑαυτὸν τῷ Θεῷ οἰκειῶν, οὐκ εἰσελεύσεται εἰς οἶκον Θεοῦ, τουτέστιν ἐν τῇ οὐρανίῳ πόλει, «ἐν ᾗ πάντων εὐφραινομένων ἡ κατοικία».

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Α,79 Τί δήποτε ἐν μέρει λεπρὸς ἀκάθαρτός ἐστιν παρὰ (14Α_324> τοῦ νόμου, ὁ δὲ

ὁλόλεπρος ὢν καθαρός ἐστιν; ΑΠΟΚΡΙΣΙΣ Ὁ κατά τι μέρος λεπρὸς νεκρὸν ἔχει τὸ μέρος ᾧ ἐστιν ἡ λέπρα· ὑποφεύγοντος

γὰρ τοῦ ζωτικοῦ αἵματος κοιλαίνεται ὁ τόπος, καὶ ἡνίκα τῇ ἁφῇ τοῦ ἱερέως ὑπέκυπτεν ἡ κοίλανσις τῆς λέπρας, ἐμίαινεν τὸν τοιοῦτον· οὕτω καὶ ὁ κατά τι μέρος τῆς ψυχῆς λεπρωθεὶς κοιλανθείσης τῆς ψυχῆς, τουτέστιν ταπεινωθείσης διὰ τῆς ὑποχωρήσεως τῆς ζωτικῆς δυνάμεως τῆς ἀρετῆς, ἀκάθαρτος γίνεται. Ὁ δὲ ὁλόλεπρος τὴν μὲν χροιὰν τοῦ λεπροῦ ἔχει, τὸ δὲ ζωτικὸν αἷμα δι᾽ ὅλου τοῦ σώματος ἔχει ἐν τῇ ἐπιφανείᾳ ἐνεσπαρμένον. Τοῦτο οὖν σημαίνει ὅτι ὁ εἰς τὸ ἔσχατον πέρας τῆς κακίας ἐλθών, εἶτα μεταμεληθεὶς ἐπαναλαμβάνει τὴν ζωτικὴν τῆς ἀρετῆς δύναμιν, μόνον δὲ τὴν συνείδησιν ἔχει κεχρωσμένην ταῖς προτέραις προλήψεσιν· οὐ δύναται γὰρ ἅπερ ἔπραξεν μὴ λογίζεσθαι ὡς μὴ πράξας· διὰ τοῦτο οὖν ὁ νόμος τὸν τοιοῦτον καθαρὸν ἀποφαίνει.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Α,81 Τί δήποτε ὁ Χὰμ ἔπταισεν καὶ ὁ Χαναὰν κατηράθη; καὶ εἰ κατὰ τὸ γράμμα τις

τὴν τῆς Γραφῆς ἔννοιαν ἐκλάβοι, ἄδικος ἐν τούτῳ φανήσεται ὁ δίκαιος Νῶε, ἄλλου πταίσαντος ἐπ᾽ ἄλλῳ τὴν κατάραν φέρων· ἄλλως τε δέ, καὶ εἰ ὁ Χαναὰν κατηράθη, ἔδει (14Α_326> πάντως καὶ τὸ ἐξ αὐτοῦ γένος κατηραμένον εἶναι, εὑρίσκομεν δὲ τὸ γένος αὐτοῦ μᾶλλον τῶν ἄλλων τῇ τοῦ Χριστοῦ προσδραμόν[τα] πίστει.

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