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cleansing nature of all defilement; and the other, through contemplative mystagogy, elevating the mind gnostically from bodily things toward the related spectacles of intelligible things; and a proof of this is that the disciples who were sent were Peter and John. For Peter is a symbol of practice, and John, of contemplation.

Therefore, he who carries the pitcher of water appropriately meets them first; signifying through himself all those who according to practical philosophy, upon the shoulders of the virtues, as in a pitcher, by the mortification of the earthly members of the body, bear the protected grace of the Spirit which cleanses them of defilements through faith. Then, after him, a second, the master of the house showing the furnished upper room; teaching likewise through himself, all those who according to contemplation have furnished the height of their own pure and magnificent intellect, like an upper room for the reception of the great Logos in a manner befitting God, with gnostic concepts and doctrines. The house is the disposition according to piety; toward which the practical mind, governing virtue, makes its way; but the mind illumined by the divine light of mystical knowledge rules over it, having now acquired it as its own by nature; and for this reason, together with the practical mind, it is deemed worthy of the supernatural presence and banquet of the Savior Logos.

So one man is spoken of, and two; since one is described as carrying a pitcher, and the other is proclaimed master of the house. One, as I said, perhaps, on account of the one nature; but two, because this nature is divided according to piety into the practical and the contemplative; whom the Logos, mixing again through the spirit, both calls and makes one.

But if anyone should wish to contemplate the things said with reference to each individual person, he has not departed from the truth. For the soul of each person is a city, into which the principles of virtue and knowledge are always sent as disciples of the Logos and God. He who carries the pitcher of water is the steadfast manner and reasoning that bears on the shoulders of self-control the grace of faith given in baptism, uncorrupted. The house is the state (276) and disposition of the virtues built from many and various, as it were, stones of firm and manly characters and reasonings. The upper room is the broad and spacious intellect, adorned with spectacles of ineffable doctrines. The master of the house is the mind, made broad by the splendor of the house according to virtue, and by the height, beauty, and greatness of knowledge; to which the Logos, dwelling with his disciples, that is, with the first and spiritual understandings concerning nature and time, imparts himself. For the Passover is truly the passage of the Logos to the human mind, during which the Logos of God, arriving mystically, bestows the fullness upon all the worthy through participation in his own good things.

SCHOLION. In which he is seen while hidden. For from existing things, we know the one of existing things

Creator, being properly the principles of things that have come to be. Time and nature, by which what is under time and nature is contained, he says, and under which is every created thing, both intelligible and sensible; with which the Logos and God visits the worthy. For from the things around him he is known, and he presents himself whole, conforming himself to each according to analogy. Spiritual concepts concerning time and nature are to know the principles of these things, by becoming outside of matter and form, that is, of flesh and world, because of the one who became these things for our sake.

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παντός μολυσμοῦ τήν φύσιν ἀποκαθαίρων· ὁ δέ, διά τῆς θεωρητικῆς μυσταγωγίας, ἀπό τῶν σωματικῶν πρός τά συγγενῆ τῶν νοητῶν θεάματα τόν νοῦν γνωστικῶς ἀναβιβάζων· καί τούτου τεκμήριον, τό τούς πεμφθέντας μαθητάς εἶναι Πέτρον καί Ἰωάννην. Ἔστι γάρ ὁ μέν Πέτρος, πράξεως, ὁ δέ Ἰωάννης, θεωρίας σύμβολον.

∆ιό προσφόρως ὑπαντᾷ πρῶτος αὐτοῖς ὁ τό κεράμιον βαστάζων τοῦ ὕδατος· σημαίνων δι᾿ αὐτοῦ πάντας τούς κατά τήν πρακτικήν φιλοσοφίαν τοῖς ὤμοις τῶν ἀρετῶν, ὡς ἐν κεραμίῳ τῇ νεκρώσει τῶν ἐπί γῆς μελῶν τοῦ σώματος, φρουρουμένην βαστάζοντας τήν διά τῆς πίστεως τῶν μολυσμῶν αὐτούς ἐκκαθαίρουσαν χάριν τοῦ Πνεύματος. Εἶτα μετά τοῦτον δεύτερος, ὁ τό ἀνώγεω ἐστρωμένον δεικνύς οἰκοδεσπότης· διδάσκων ὡσαύτως δι᾿ αὐτοῦ, πάντας τούς κατά θεωρίαν τό ὕψος τῆς ἑαυτῶν καθαρᾶς καί μεγαλοφυοῦς διανοίας, ὥσπερ ἀνώγεων πρός ὑποδοχήν τοῦ μεγάλου Λόγου θεοπρεπῶς, γνωστικοῖς νοήμασί τε καί δόγμασι καταστρώσαντας. Ἡ δέ οἰκία ἐστίν ἡ κατ᾿ εὐσέβειαν ἕξις· πρός ἥν μέν πρακτικός ὁδεύει νοῦς τήν ἀρετήν διέπων· δεσπόζει δέ ταύτης, ὡς ἰδίαν φύσει λοιπόν κτησάμενος, ὁ τῷ θείῳ φωτί τῆς μυστικῆς γνώσεως καταλαμπόμενος νοῦς· καί διά τοῦτο σύν τῷ πρακτικῷ, τῆς ὑπερφυοῦς τοῦ Σωτῆρος Λόγου παρουσίας τε καί εὐωχίας ἀξιούμενος.

Εἷς μέν οὖν ὁ ἄνθρωπος εἴρηται, καί δύο· εἴπερ ὁ μέν, κεράμιον βαστάζων γέγραπται, ὁ δέ, οἰκοδεσπότης ἀναγορεύεται. Εἷς μέν, ὡς ἔφην, τυχόν, διά τήν μίαν φύσιν· δύο δέ, διά τό ταύτην τήν φύσιν τοῖς πρακτικοῖς κατ᾿ εὐσέβειαν διῃρῆσθαι, καί θεωρητικοῖς· οὕς πάλιν διά τοῦ πνεύματος μιγνύς ὁ λόγος, ἕνα καλεῖ τε καί ποιεῖ.

Εἰ δέ καί εἰς τόν καθέκαστον ἄνθρωπον θέλοι τις τά εἰρημένα θεωρῆσαι, τῆς ἀληθείας οὐκ ἐκβέβηκε. Πόλις γάρ ἐστιν ἡ τοῦ καθέκαστον ψυχή, εἰς ἥν διαπαντός ἀποστέλλονται ὡς μαθηταί τοῦ Λόγου καί Θεοῦ, οἱ περί ἀρετῆς καί γνώσεως λόγοι. Ὁ δέ τό κεράμιον βαστάζων τοῦ ὕδατός ἐστιν ὁ ἀνέχων τοῖς ὤμοις τῆς ἐγκρατείας ἀκαθαίρετον τήν ἐν βαπτίσματι δοθεῖσαν χάριν τῆς πίστεως καρτερικός τρόπος τε καί λογισμός. Ἡ δέ οἰκία ἐστίν ἡ ἐκ πολλῶν καί διαφόρων, ὥσπερ λίθων στεῤῥῶν τε καί ἀνδρικῶν ἠθῶν τε καί λογισμῶν οἰκοδομηθεῖσα κατάστασίς τε (276) καί ἕξις τῶν ἀρετῶν. Τό δέ ἀνώγεων, ἡ πλατεία καί εὐρύχωρός ἐστι διάνοιά τε καί ἀπόῤῥήτων δογμάτων κατακοσμηθεῖσα θεάμασιν. Ὁ δέ οἰκοδεσπότης ἐστίν ὁ νοῦς, ὁ τῷ λαμπρῷ τῆς κατ᾿ ἀρετήν οἰκίας, καί τῷ ὕψει, κάλλει τε καί μεγέθει τῆς γνώσεως ἐμπλατυνόμενος· πρός ὅν μετά τῶν αὐτοῦ μαθητῶν, τουτέστι τῶν περί φύσεως καί χρόνου πρώτων καί πνευματικῶν νοσημάτων, ἐνδημῶν ὁ Λόγος, ἑαυτόν μεταδίδωσι. Πάσχα γάρ ἀληθῶς ἐστιν ἡ πρός τόν ἀνθρώπινον νοῦν τοῦ Λόγου διάβασις, καθ᾿ ἥν τό πλῆρες ἅπασι χαρίζεται τοῖς ἀξίοις διά τῆς τῶν οἰκείων ἀγαθῶν μετοχῆς, παραγενόμενος μυστικῶς ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος.

ΣΧΟΛΙΟΝ. Ἐν οἷς κρυπτόμενος φαίνεται. Ἐκ γάρ τῶν ὄντων, τόν τῶν ὄντων γινώσκομεν

Ποιητήν, ὄντα κυρίως οἱ λόγοι τῶν γεγονότων. Χρόνον δέ καί φύσιν, οἷς περιέχεται τό ὑπό χρόνον καί φύσιν φησί, καί ὑφ᾿ ἅ πᾶν κτιστόν, νοητόν τε καί αἰσθητόν· μεθ᾿ ὧν ὁ Λόγος καί Θεός τοῖς ἀξίοις ἐπιδημῶν. Ἐκ γάρ τῶν περί αὐτόν γινώσκεται, ὅλον τε αὐτόν ἐμπαρέχει, κατ᾿ ἀναλογίαν ἑκάστῳ συμμορφαζόμενος. Πνευματικά δέ νοήματα περί χρόνου καί φύσεως, τό τούς λόγους τούτων εἰδέναι, διά τοῦ ἔξω ὕλης καί εἴδους γενέσθαι, ἤτοι σαρκός καί κόσμου, διά τόν ταῦτα δι᾿ ἡμᾶς γενόμενον.