,

ignorance. For the knowledge of opposites is unmixed and altogether incapable of co-existence, since the knowledge of one of the opposites constitutes ignorance of the other, just as the eye cannot perceive what is above and what is below at the same time, and things on either side simultaneously, without a particular turning towards the one and being completely separated from the others.

Therefore, Scripture, appropriating Adam’s passion, either represents God refuting Adam for the serpent’s counsel, leading him to an awareness of the ravings about polytheism that were inflicted on him by the deceit. And if this is correct, enough of these inquiries. Yet if you yourself discover something greater, share with me also the grace concerning beings supplied to you from God.

And the phrase, "lest he now stretch out his hand and take from the tree of life and live forever," providentially makes, as I think, a division of unmixed things in accordance with practice, so that evil might not become immortal, being preserved by participation in the good. For he who made man wants the knowledge of opposites to be unmixed in the same man according to their relation.

SCHOLIA 1. That according to the notion of divinity which Adam held, having been taught by the devil,

God speaks to him. 2. He who loves falsehood is handed over to it for destruction, (14Β_284> so that

by suffering he may know what he willingly embraced, and may learn by experience how he unwittingly embraced death instead of life.

3. That God alone has knowledge of the good, as He is both the nature and knowledge of the good; but He has ignorance of evil, as He possesses the inability for it. For of those things for which He naturally has the power, of these He essentially possesses the knowledge.

4. That vice is perceived in rational beings as a passion that occurs contrary to nature, but not according to a natural power.

5. The existence of opposites, he says, is naturally observed in receptive beings in turn.

6. He who persuades his conscience to consider what is most evil as being naturally good when practiced, this one, extending the soul's practical faculty like a hand, reprehensibly took of the tree of life, believing what is most evil to be by nature immortal. Therefore God, having naturally implanted in man the accusation of evil by the conscience, separated from life the one who had become evil by choice; so that, in doing evil, he might not be able to persuade his own conscience that what is most evil is by nature good.

45. CONCERNING THE BREASTPIECE AND CONCERNING THE ARM OF THE

OFFERING. 45. QUESTION 45 What does the breastpiece of the presentation offering and the arm of the

contribution offering in Leviticus signify, which is dedicated to the priests in honor of God? Answer. I think that the better and high contemplation is signified by the (14Β_286>

breastpiece, and practice by the arm, that is, the state and the activity of the intellect, or knowledge and virtue, since knowledge brings the intellect immediately to God, while virtue through every practice removes it from the genesis of beings; which things the Word set apart for priests, for those who alone through all things have acquired God as their inheritance, and who possess nothing earthly at all.

ἄγνοιαν. Ἀμιγὴς γὰρ τῶν ἀντικειμένων ἡ γνῶσις καὶ παντάπασιν ἀσυνύπαρκτος, ἐπείπερ ἡ τοῦδε γνῶσις τὴν θατέρου τῶν ἀντικειμένων συνίστησιν ἄγνοιαν, ὥσπερ οὔτε ὀφθαλμὸς τοῦ ἄνω τε ὁμοῦ καὶ τοῦ κάτω, καὶ τῶν ἐφ᾽ ἑκάτερα κατὰ ταὐτόν, χωρὶς τῆς πρὸς θάτερον ἰδιαζούσης ἐπιστροφῆς καὶ τῶν ἄλλων πάντῃ κεχωρισμένης, ἀντιλαμβάνεσθαι.

Τὸ τοίνυν πάθος τοῦ Ἀδὰμ οἰκειούμενον ἡ Γραφὴ τὸν Θεὸν παραδείκνυσιν ἢ τὸν Ἀδὰμ ἐπὶ τῇ συμβουλῇ τοῦ ὄφεως διελέγχει, πρὸς συναίσθησιν ἄγουσα τῶν ἐκ τῆς ἀπάτης ἐπιτριβέντων αὐτῷ περὶ πολυθεΐας ὕθλων. Καὶ εἰ μὲν οὕτως ἔχει καλῶς, ἅλις τῶν ζητημάτων. Ἐπείτοι γε αὐτὸς παρ᾽ ἑαυτοῦ τὸ μεῖζον ἐξευρίσκων, μετάδος κἀμοὶ τῆς χορηγουμένης σοι περὶ τῶν ὄντων θεόθεν χάριτος.

Τὸ δὲ καὶ νῦν μήπως ἐκτείνῃ τὴν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ καὶ λάβῃ τοῦ ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς καὶ ζήσεται εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τὴν κατὰ τὴν πρᾶξιν, ὡς οἶμαι, τῶν ἀμίκτων προνοητικῶς ποιεῖται διαίρεσιν, ἵνα μὴ ἀθάνατον γένηται τὸ κακόν, τῇ μετοχῇ τοῦ καλοῦ συντηρούμενον. Ἄμικτον γὰρ εἶναι βούλεται περὶ τὸν αὐτὸν ἄνθρωπον κατὰ τὴν σχέσιν τῶν ἀντικειμένων τὴν γνῶσιν ὁ ποιήσας τὸν ἄνθρωπον.

ΣΧΟΛΙΑ 1. Ὅτι πρός ἥν ἔσχεν περί θεότητος ἔννοιαν ὑπό τοῦ διαβόλου διδαχθείς ὁ Ἀδάμ,

διαλέγεται πρός αὐτόν ὁ Θεός. 2. Ὁ τό ψεῦδος ἀγαπῶν, αὐτῷ παραδίδοται πρός ἀπώλειαν, (14Β_284> ἵνα

γνῷ πάσχων, ὅπερ ἐκών περιεῖπεν, καί μάθῃ κατά τήν πεῖραν γενόμενος, ὡς ἐλάνθανεν ἀντί ζωῆς περιπτυσσόμενος θάνατον.

3. Ὅτι μόνον ἔχει τοῦ καλοῦ τήν γνῶσιν ὁ Θεός, ὡς καί τοῦ καλοῦ φύσις τε καί γνῶσις ὑπάρχων· τοῦ δέ κακοῦ τήν ἄγνοιαν, ὡς τήν αὐτοῦ ἔχων ἀδυναμίαν. Ὧν γάρ ἔχει τήν δύναμιν φυσικῶς, τούτων οὐσιωδῶς κέκτηται γνῶσιν.

4. Ὅτι κατά πάθος παρά φύσιν ἐπισυμβαῖνον, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ κατά δύναμιν φυσικήν τοῖς λογικοῖς ἐνθεωρεῖται κακία.

5. Ἀνὰ μέρος, φησίν, ἡ τῶν ἀντικειμένων ἐν τοῖς δεκτικοῖς θεωρεῖσθαι πέφυκε ὕπαρξις.

6. Ὁ πείσας τό συνειδός ὡς φύσει καλόν πραττόμενον ἔχειν τό κάκιστον, οὗτος χειρός δίκην τῆς ψυχῆς ἐκτείνας τό πρακτικόν, ἔλαβεν ψεκτῶς τοῦ ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς, ἀθάνατον ἡγησάμενος φύσει τό κάκιστον. ∆ιόπερ τήν κατά τό συνειδός τοῦ κακοῦ διαβολήν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ φυσικῶς ἐνθέμενος ὁ Θεός, διέκρινεν αὐτόν τῆς ζωῆς κακόν τῇ προαιρέσει γενόμενον· ἵνα μή, τό κακόν πράττων, δύνηται πεῖσαι τήν ἰδίαν συνείδησιν, ὅτι φύσει καλόν ὑπάρχει τό κάκιστον.

ΜΕ (45). ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ ΣΤΗΘΥΝΙΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ ΒΡΑΧΙΟΝΟΣ ΤΟΥ

ΑΦΑΙΡΕΜΑΤΟΣ. 45. ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΜΕ' Τί σημαίνει τὸ ἐν τῷ Λευϊτικῷ στηθύνιον τοῦ ἐπιθέματος καὶ ὁ βραχίων τοῦ

ἀφαιρέματος, εἰς τιμὴν Θεοῦ τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν ἀφιερούμενον; Ἀπόκρισις. Οἶμαι τὴν ἀμείνω καὶ ὑψηλὴν θεωρίαν δηλοῦσθαι διὰ τοῦ (14Β_286>

στηθυνίου, καὶ τὴν πρᾶξιν διὰ τοῦ βραχίονος, ἤγουν τοῦ διανοητικοῦ τὴν ἕξιν καὶ τὴν ἐνέργειαν, ἢ τὴν γνῶσιν καὶ τὴν ἀρετήν, ὡς τῆς μὲν γνώσεως αὐτῷ προσαγούσης ἀμέσως τὸν νοῦν τῷ Θεῷ, τῆς ἀρετῆς δὲ κατὰ τὴν πρᾶξιν πάσης αὐτὸν ἀφαιρουμένης τῆς τῶν ὄντων γενέσεως· ἅπερ ἱερεῦσιν ἀφώρισεν ὁ λόγος, τοῖς μόνον τὸν Θεὸν διὰ πάντων κτησαμένοις κληρονομίαν, καὶ μηδὲν τὸ σύνολον κεκτημένοις ἐπίγειον.