,

N (50). CONCERNING THE PRAYER OF HEZEKIAH AND ISAIAH. 50. QUESTION N' What is again the meaning in the same book of the words And Hezekiah prayed

the king, and Isaiah the son of Amoz the prophet, concerning these things, and they cried out to heaven. And the Lord sent an angel, and he cut off every mighty man and warrior and ruler and commander in the camp (14B_356> of the king of Assur, and he returned with shame of face to his own land.

Response. The word of holy Scripture, even if it admits of being circumscribed according to the letter, with the

times of the events being narrated ceasing along with them, yet according to the spirit it remains forever uncircumscribed in its contemplative insights of things understood. And let no one, being impatient at this, disbelieve, knowing that God who spoke is by nature uncircumscribed; to whom it is necessary to believe that the word spoken by him is more like, for those who wish genuinely to heed the will of Scripture. For if God is the one who spoke, and he is by essence uncircumscribed, it is clear that the word spoken by him is also uncircumscribed.

Therefore, having contemplated spiritually the things that happened typologically in the times of Hezekiah and which received their end in the outcome of the events narrated then, we will marvel at the wisdom of the Holy Spirit who wrote, how for each of those who have partaken of human nature he set down the fitting and appropriate meaning of what was written, so that everyone who wishes to become a disciple of the divine word and to hold nothing of present and perishable things as equal to virtue is able to become another Hezekiah in Spirit and another Isaiah, hindered by no one both to pray and to cry out to heaven and to be heard and to receive from God through an angel the destruction and perdition of those who wage war against him in the intelligible realm. But since it is necessary for the one who receives Holy Scripture gnostically for the soul according to Christ to be diligently trained also in the interpretation of the names, which is able on its own to clarify the entire meaning of what is written, if indeed he cares for the precise (14B_358> understanding of what is written, but not to bring down the height of the Spirit Judaically to the body and the earth and to circumscribe the divine and undefiled promises of intelligible goods by the corruption of things that pass away, as some of those among us called Christians have unwittingly supposed, falsely ascribing to themselves the name from Christ, of which they are shown to have completely denied the power through their very deeds, and they manifestly walk the path contrary to Christ, as the discourse will show in summary.

For if, along with the other mysteries, which no discourse could reach, God came, having become man, for this also, that He might fulfill the law spiritually in the abolition of the letter, and that He might establish and make manifest its life-giving aspect, I mean that of the law, by the removal of that which kills—and that which kills of the law, according to the divine apostle, is the letter, just as the life-giving aspect of the law, according to him, is the spirit; for he says, "the letter kills, but the spirit gives life"—, then they have expressly chosen the portion opposed to Christ and have ignored the entire mystery of His incarnation, those who have buried the power of their mind in the letter alone and not wishing to be according to the image and likeness of God, but rather to be earth, according to the threat, and to depart into earth, through the relation of the letter to the earth, instead of what is toward heaven, I mean the spirit, into the air, that is, the intelligible illumination, in clouds, that is, in the high contemplations, to be caught up to meet the Lord and thus preferring to be always with Him through knowledge. For whom it is right to be grieved, for an unbearable loss out of ignorance

Ν (50). ΠΕΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΠΡΟΣΕΥΧΗΣ ΕΖΕΚΙΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΗΣΑΪΑ. 50. ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Ν' Τί ἐστι πάλιν τὸ σημαινόμενον ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ βίβλῳ τὸ Καὶ προσηύξατο Ἐζεκίας

ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ Ἡσαΐας υἱὸς Ἀμὼς ὁ προφήτης περὶ τούτων καὶ ἐβόησαν εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν. Καὶ ἀπέστειλεν Κύριος ἄγγελον, καὶ ἐξέτριψεν πάντα δυνατὸν καὶ πολεμιστὴν καὶ ἄρχοντα καὶ στρατηγὸν ἐν τῇ παρεμβολῇ (14Β_356> βασιλέως Ἀσσούρ, καὶ ἀπέστρεψεν μετ᾽ αἰσχύνης προσώπου εἰς τὴν γῆν αὐτοῦ.

Ἀπόκρισις. Ὁ τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς λόγος, κἂν εἰ δέχεται περιγραφὴν κατὰ τὸ γράμμα, τοῖς

χρόνοις τῶν ἱστορουμένων πραγμάτων συναπολήγων, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ πνεῦμα ταῖς τῶν νοουμένων θεωρίαις μένει διαπαντὸς ἀπερίγραφος. Καὶ μηδεὶς πρὸς τοῦτο δυσανασχετῶν ἀπιστήσειεν, γινώσκων ὡς ὁ λαλήσας Θεὸς κατὰ φύσιν ἐστὶν ἀπερίγραφος· ᾧ μᾶλλον ἐοικέναι τὸν ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ λαληθέντα λόγον πιστεύειν χρὴ τοὺς γνησίως κατακούειν τοῦ βουλήματος τῆς Γραφῆς βουλομένους. Εἰ γὰρ Θεὸς ὁ λαλήσας ἐστίν, οὗτος δὲ κατ᾽ οὐσίαν ἀπερίγραφος, δῆλον ὅτι καὶ ὁ λαληθεὶς ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ λόγος ἐστὶν ἀπερίγραφος.

Οὐκοῦν τὰ συμβάντα τυπικῶς κατὰ τοὺς Ἐζεκίου χρόνους καὶ λαβόντα πέρας τὴν τότε τῶν ἱστορουμένων ἔκβασιν πνευματικῶς θεωρήσαντες, θαυμάσομεν τὴν σοφίαν τοῦ γράψαντος ἁγίου Πνεύματος, πῶς ἑκάστῳ τῶν μετειληφότων τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως ἁρμόζουσαν ἔθετο καὶ προσήκουσαν τὴν τῶν γεγραμμένων διάνοιαν, ὥστε πάντα τὸν βουλόμενον τοῦ θείου λόγου γενέσθαι φοιτητὴν καὶ μηδὲν ἔχειν τῶν παρόντων καὶ λυομένων τῆς ἀρετῆς ἰσοστάσιον γενέσθαι δύνασθαι ἄλλον Ἐζεκίαν ἐν Πνεύματι καὶ Ἡσαΐαν ἕτερον, ὑπ᾽ οὐδενὸς κωλυόμενον καὶ προσεύξασθαι καὶ βοῆσαι εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ εἰσακουσθῆναι καὶ λαβεῖν παρὰ Θεοῦ τὴν δι᾽ ἀγγέλου τῶν νοητῶς αὐτὸν πολεμούντων φθορὰν καὶ ἀπώλειαν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ χρὴ τὸν γνωστικῶς πρὸς ψυχὴν τὴν ἁγίαν Γραφὴν κατὰ Χριστὸν ἐκδεχόμενον ἀσκηθῆναι φιλοπόνως καὶ τῶν ὀνομάτων τὴν ἑρμηνείαν, αὐτόθεν δυναμένην ὅλην τὴν τῶν γεγραμμένων σαφηνίσαι διάνοιαν, εἴπερ μέλει αὐτῷ τῆς ἀκριβοῦς τῶν γεγραμμένων (14Β_358> κατανοήσεως, ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἰουδαϊκῶς πρὸς σῶμα καὶ γῆν κατάγειν τὸ ὕψος τοῦ Πνεύματος καὶ τὰς θείας καὶ ἀκηράτους τῶν νοητῶν ἀγαθῶν τῇ φθορᾷ τῶν παρερχομένων περιγράφειν ἐπαγγελίας, καθώς τινες τῶν παρ᾽ ἡμῖν λεγομένων Χριστιανῶν ὑπειληφότες λελήθασι, ψευδώνυμον ἑαυτοῖς τὴν ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ προσηγορίαν ἐπιφημίζοντες, ἧς δείκνυνται παντελῶς ἠρνημένοι δι᾽ αὐτῶν τῶν πραγμάτων τὴν δύναμιν, καὶ τὴν ἐναντίαν τῷ Χριστῷ προδήλως ὁδεύουσιν, ὡς δείξει κατ᾽ ἐπιτομὴν ὁ λόγος.

Εἰ γὰρ μετὰ τῶν ἄλλων μυστηρίων, ὧν οὐκ ἄν τις ἐφίκοιτο λόγος, καὶ εἰς τοῦτο γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος ὁ Θεὸς ἦλθεν, ἵνα πληρώσῃ τὸν νόμον πνευματικῶς ἐν τῇ καταργήσει τοῦ γράμματος, καὶ τὸ ζωοποιοῦν αὐτοῦ, φημὶ δὲ τοῦ νόμου, στήσῃ τε καὶ φανερὸν καταστήσῃ τῇ περιαιρέσει τοῦ ἀποκτέννοντοςτὸ δὲ ἀποκτέννον τοῦ νόμου κατὰ τὸν θεῖον ἀπόστολόν ἐστι τὸ γράμμα, ὥσπερ καὶ τὸ ζωοποιὸν τοῦ νόμου κατ᾽ αὐτὸν τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστι· φησὶ γὰρ τὸ μὲν γράμμα ἀποκτέννει, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα ζωοποιεῖ , διαρρήδην ἄρα τὴν ἀντίπαλον τῷ Χριστῷ μοῖραν ἀνείλοντο καὶ τὸ πᾶν τῆς αὐτοῦ σαρκώσεως ἠγνόησαν μυστήριον οἱ μόνῳ τῷ γράμματι κατορύξαντες τῆς σφῶν διανοίας τὴν δύναμιν καὶ οὐκ ἐθέλοντες εἶναι κατ᾽ εἰκόνα Θεοῦ καὶ ὁμοίωσιν, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον τὸ γῆν εἶναι, κατὰ τὴν ἀπειλήν, καὶ εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσεσθαι, διὰ τῆς ὡς πρὸς γῆν τὸ γράμμα σχέσεως, τοῦ πρὸς οὐρανόν, λέγω δὲ τὸ πνεῦμα, εἰς ἀέρα, τουτέστι τὸν νοερὸν φωτισμόν, ἐν νεφέλαις, ταῖς ὑψηλαῖς δηλαδὴ θεωρίαις, εἰς ἀπάντησιν ἁρπαγῆναι τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ οὕτως πάντοτε σὺν αὐτῷ εἶναι διὰ τῆς γνώσεως προτιμῶντες. Ὑπὲρ ὧν ἄχθεσθαι μὲν δίκαιον, ἀφόρητον ζημίαν ἐξ ἀγνοίας