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QUESTION 4.

How did the Lord command the disciples not to possess two tunics, when he himself possessed five, according to the holy evangelist John, as is clear from those who divided them; and what were these garments?

Answer. The Savior did not have five tunics, but one on his body, and the outer

garment; of which the one within on the body, they call a chitonion; but the outer garment, they name an himation. But mystically, to the literal account of the history, the great evangelist John, through the Spirit, delivered the ineffable element of contemplation, so that through the things recorded, he might guide our mind to the truth of the things understood. The Savior's tunic, therefore, woven from above throughout, which those who crucified him did not tear, even though they were permitted to strip him of it, is the reciprocal and inseparable coherence and interweaving of the virtues; and the thought on our part that is suitable and fitting for the Logos; or the grace woven from above through the Spirit for the new man in him. And the outer garment is the sensible world, divided into four elements, which those who crucify the Lord in us spiritually divide as four garments.

The demons therefore divide the visible (277) creation of the four elements, preparing us to look upon it with passion according to sense, we who are ignorant of the divine principles within it; but though they lift from us the tunic of the virtues through the inaction of good deeds, they cannot persuade us that virtue is vice. Let us not, therefore, make the Savior's five garments an occasion for greed, but let us know what the will of Scripture is, and how in us who neglect good things, the Lord is crucified, and is stripped naked through our inactivity in good things; and for the service of the passions through us, the demons divide his creation as if it were garments; and let us become secure guardians of the good things granted to us by God; and let us behold creation rightly, for his glory alone; and let us keep the tunic of the word of knowledge—I mean, the virtues—inalienable through the zealous practice of good works.

But if, in addition to what has been said, you wish to understand the tunic woven from above as the world of incorporeal and intelligible substances, and the outer garment, which the account divided into four parts like the elements, as corporeal nature, you will not err from the truth; of which things they dissolved the body in corruption, having received power against us through the transgression of the law of the commandment; but the soul, being of the kindred from above, they did not tear.

QUESTION 5.

What is the cursed ground in the works of Adam according to the spiritual interpretation, and what does it mean to eat of it in sorrow; and what does it mean, after it has brought forth thorns and thistles, to eat the grass; and what is the final thing, to eat bread in the sweat of his face? And yet, man has never been seen eating earth, nor grass; nor do those who eat bread, according to the decree of the history, eat in the sweat of their face.

Answer. The cursed ground in the works of Adam is the flesh of Adam, always becoming

through the works of Adam—I mean the passions of the mind that has become earthly—cursed by the

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ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ∆΄ .

Πῶς τοις μαθηταῖς ἐνετείλατο ὁ Κύριος, μή κτήσασθαι δύο χιτῶνας, αὐτός πέντε κεκτημένος, κατά τόν ἅγιον εὐαγγελιστήν Ἰωάννην, ὡς ἐκ τῶν μερισαμένων αὐτά δῆλόν ἐστι· καί τίνα ταῦτα τά ἱμάτια;

Ἀπόκρισις Ὁ Σωτήρ οὐκ ἔσχε πέντε χιτῶνας, ἀλλ᾿ ἕνα τόν ἐπί τοῦ σώματος, καί τήν ἔξω

περιβολήν· ὧν τό μέν ἐντός ἐπί τοῦ σώματος, καλοῦσι χιτώνιον· τήν ἔξω δέ περιβολήν, προσαγορεύουσιν ἱμάτιον. Ἀλλά μυστικῶς τῷ ῥητῷ τῆς ἱστορίας τό τῆς θεωρίας ἄῤῥητον ὁ μέγας ἐξέδωκεν διά τοῦ Πνεύματος εὐαγγελιστής Ἰωάννης, ἵνα τόν ἡμέτερον νοῦν διά τῶν ἱστορουμένων, ἐπί τήν ἀλήθειαν ὁδηγήσῃ τῶν νοουμένων. Ὁ μέν οὖν ἄνωθεν ὑφανθείς διόλου χιτών τοῦ Σωτῆρος, ὅν οὐκ ἔσχισαν οἱ σταυρώσαντες, κἄν ἐκδύσαι συνεχωρήθησαν, ἡ διάλληλος τῶν ἀρετῶν καί ἀδιάστατός ἐστι συνοχή τε καί συμπλοκή· καί ἡ παρ᾿ ἡμῶν τῷ Λόγῳ κατάλληλός τε καί πρέπουσα σκέψις· ἤ ἡ ἄνωθεν τοῦ νέου κατ᾿ αὐτόν ἀνθρώπου διά τοῦ Πνεύματος ὑφασμένη χάρις. Ἡ ἔξω δέ περιβολή ὁ αἰσθητός ἐστι κόσμος, στοιχείοις τέσσαρσι διαιρούμενος, ὅν ὡς τέσσαρα ἱμάτια μερίζονται οἱ νοητῶς ἐν ἡμῖν σταυροῦντες τόν Κύριον.

Μερίζονται τοίνυν οἱ δαίμονες τήν φαινομένην (277) κτίσιν τῶν τεσσάρων στοιχείων, πρός πάθος ὁρᾷν κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ἡμᾶς παρασκευάζοντες, τούς ἐν αὐτῇ θείους ἀγνοήσαντας λόγους· τόον δέ χιτῶνα τῶν ἀρετῶν κἄν ἐπαίρωσιν ἐξ ἡμῶν διά τῆς τῶν καλῶν ἀπραξίας· ἀλλά τήν ἀρετήν κακίαν εἶναι πεῖσαι οὐ δύνανται. Μή τοίνυν πλεονεξίας ἀφορμήν ποιήσωμεν τά πέντε τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἱμάτια, ἀλλά γνῶμεν τί τῆς Γραφῆς ὑπάρχει τό βούλημα, καί πῶς ἐν ἡμῖν ἀμελοῦσι τῶν καλῶν, ὁ Κύριος σταυροῦται, καί γυμνοῦται διά τῆς ἡμῶν ἐν τοῖς καλοῖς ἀργίας· καί πρός ὑπηρεσίαν παθῶν δι᾿ ἡμῶν, ὥσπερ ἱμάτια μερίζονται τήν αὐτοῦ κτίσιν οἱ δαίμονες· καί ἀσφαλεῖς γενώμεθα φύλακες τῶν ἐκ Θεοῦ χαρισθέντων ἡμῖν ἀγαθῶν· καί τήν κτίσιν, καλῶς πρός μόνην τήν αὐτοῦ θεασώμεθα δόξαν· καί τόν χιτῶνα τοῦ λόγου τῆς γνώσεως, φημί δέ τάς ἀρετάς, διά τῆς σπουδῆς τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἔργων ἀναφαίρετον τηρήσωμεν.

Εἰ δέ βούλεσθε πρός τοῖς εἰρημένοις χιτῶνα μέν νοεῖν ἄνωθεν ὑφαντόν, τόν τῶν ἀσωμάτων καί νοητῶν οὐσιῶν κόσμον, τήν ἐξω δέ περιβολήν, ἥν εἰς τέσσαρα μέρη ὡς στοιχεῖα διεῖλεν ὁ λόγος, εἰς τήν σωματικήν φύσιν νοεῖν, οὐχ ἁμαρτήσεσθε τῆς ἀληθείας· ὧν τό μέν σῶμα τῇ φθορᾷ διέλυσαν, ἰσχύν λαβόντες καθ᾿ ἡμῶν τοῦ νόμου τῆς ἐντολῆς τήν παράβασιν· τήν δέ ψυχήν, ὡς τῆς ἄνωθεν συγγενείας ὑπάρχουσαν, οὐ κατέσχισαν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Ε΄.

Τίς ἡ κατηραμένη γῆ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῦ Ἀδάμ κατά τήν ἀναγωγήν, καί τί τό ἐν λύπαις αὐτήν φαγεῖν· καί τί τό, μετά τό ἀνατεῖλαι ἀκάνθας καί τριβόλους, τόν χόρτον ἐσθίειν· καί τί τό τελευταῖον, ἐν ἱδρῶτι τοῦ προσώπου αὐτοῦ τόν ἄρτον φαγεῖν; Καί μέν τοι οὐδέποτε ὤφθη ἄνθρωπος γῆν ἐσθίων, οὐδέ χόρτον· οὐδέ οἱ τόν ἄρτον ἐσθίοντες, κατά τήν ἀπόφασιν τῆς ἱστορίας, ἐν ἱδρῶτι τοῦ προσώπου ἐσθίουσιν.

Ἀπόκρισις. Ἡ καταραμένη γῆ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῦ Ἀδάμ ἐστιν ἡ σάρξ τοῦ Ἀδάμ, ἀεί γινομένη

διά τῶν ἔργων τοῦ Ἀδάμ, λέγω δέ τῶν παθῶν τοῦ γεωθέντος νοῦ, κατηραμένη τῇ