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(15Β_392> And God allowed the Greeks to receive oracles, through which for themselves

they contrived ways for the foreknowledge of future events, and for deliverance from painful things; and He often granted that things turn out for them according to their hopes, preparing the way for all by providence, as each was able to receive it, for the acceptance of the future great mystery. For if the affection of rulers towards their subjects, proceeding through deed, snatched the whole subject body from the impending necessity; it is not strange nor incredible, if the One who is by nature a lover of mankind, and the only Creator and King of men, gave up His own Son for all men to death, according to the economy through the flesh, that He might redeem them from the evils that held them. Indeed, when the kings of Israel and Judah campaigned against the Moabites in the time of the holy Elisha the prophet, and after a great victory were about to sack the entire royal city itself, the king of the land, taking his son according to the custom of the nations, as it seems, sacrificed him on the wall in the sight of the kings; (15Β_394> and in this way, he both appeased the kings, and persuaded them to turn away from the 0617 wrath prepared against him, and saved his subjects. Therefore, by allowing the Greeks to accomplish things by their own law, God wisely appropriated them for the acceptance of the great mystery; and by giving the law to the Israelite people, He prefigured the future mystery through it all. Whence, after the mystery of our salvation appeared and came into effect, He abolished these things and those from the Gentiles and Jews, whatever He had given before this, or had allowed to happen for the prefiguration of what was to come. For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things, whatever has been or will be, at every time or in every way: some, according to good pleasure; some, according to economy; and some, according to concession. It is not, therefore, a myth that is remembered by the ancients; but it truly happened, and the remedy for which it happened followed it. But concerning the details of what has been written, when I am with you, with God's help, let us examine them together. However, he who knows how even the flesh of snakes can, through art, heal the sick, will faithfully accept the method of divine providence.

LETTER 27. ... TO JOHN THE CUBICULARIUS. 27. From the same to John the Cubicularius. (15Β_396> Those in the world, having established their love for one another, need

each other's bodily presence for its preservation, because of the forgetfulness that naturally withers every desire constituted around bodies alone; with which the memory of those so disposed to one another is naturally extinguished. And it is the case that even this very thing which seems able to preserve the worldly relation to one another, satiety coming upon it separates, and makes the entire preceding disposition disappear. And often the lack of some of the causes which provide for it, or even some small pretext falling in between, makes for a swift reversal into hatred of a love so constituted. But those according to God, bound to one another indissolubly by the bond of love, both being with one another and being absent from one another, rather intensify this bond; having this love in themselves through God, who both is love and provides the power to be able to love to those who are worthy; and very rightly so, as I think. For with things by nature fluid, the disposition of those who are disposed to one another according to them is naturally wont to flow away; but with things stable and always holding the same state, the affection of those who are disposed to one another according to them is accustomed to remain altogether unshaken and unmoved, so much intensifying for them the desire for one another (15Β_398> to the

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(15Β_392> Καί Ἕλλησιν ὁ Θεός συνεχώρει χρηματίζεσθαι, δι᾿ ὧν ἑαυτοῖς

τήν τῶν μελλόντων πρόγνωσιν, καί τήν τῶν λυπούντων ἀπαλλαγήν ἐπενόησαν τρόπων· καί ἐδίδου πολλάκις κατ᾿ ἐλπίδας αὐτοῖς ἐκβαίνειν τά πράγματα, πᾶσι προοδοποιῶν κατά πρόνοιαν, καθώς ἕκαστος ἠδύνατο δέξασθαι, τήν τοῦ μέλλοντος μεγάλου μυστηρίου παραδοχήν. Εἰ γάρ φιλοστοργία τῶν ἀρχόντων πρός τούς ἀρχομένους δι᾿ ἔργου προβαίνουσα, ὅλον ὑφήρπασε τῆς ἐπικειμένης ἀνάγκης τό ὑπήκοον· οὐ ξένον οὐδέ ἄπιστον, εἰ ὁ φύσει φιλάνθρωπος, καί μόνος ∆ημιουργός καί Βασιλεύς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, τόν αὐτοῦ Υἱόν ὑπέρ πάντων τῶν ἀνθρώπων εἰς θάνατον, κατ᾿ οἰκονομίαν διά σαρκός προέσχετο, ἵνα τῶν κατεχόντων λυτρώσηται κακῶν. Ἀμέλει τῶν βασιλέων Ἰσραήλ καί Ἰούδα κατά τῶν Μωαβιτῶν ἐπιστρατευσάντων ἐπί τοῦ ἁγίου Ἐλισσαίου τοῦ προφήτου, καί μετά μεγάλην νίκην μελλόντων καί αὐτήν πᾶσαν τῆς βασιλείας πορθῆσαι τήν πόλιν, λαβών κατά τό εἰθισμένον, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἔθνεσιν, ὁ τῆς χώρας βασιλεύς τόν υἱόν αὐτοῦ, κατ' ὀφθαλμούς τῶν βασιλέων ἐπί τοῦ τείχους κατέθυσε· (15Β_394> καί τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ, τούς μέν βασιλεῖς ἱλεώσατο, καί ἔπεισεν ἀποστραφῆναι τῆς κατ᾿ αὐτοῦ διεσκευασμένης 0617 ὀργῆς, τούς δέ ὑπηκόους διεσώσατο. Τοῖς μέν οὖν Ἕλλησι τά ἐξ αὐτονομίας ἐπιτελεῖν συγχωρῶν ὁ Θεός, εἰς τήν τοῦ μεγάλου μυστηρίου παραδοχήν σοφῶς ἐσφετερίζετο· τῷ δέ Ἰσραηλίτῇ λαῷ νόμον διδούς, δι᾿ ὅλου τό μέλλον διετύπου μυστήριον. Ὅθεν μετά τό φανῆναι, καί κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν γενέσθαι τό τῆς ἡμῶν σωτηρίας μυστήριον, ταῦτα κἀκεῖνα ἐξ Ἐθνῶν καί Ἰουδαίων κατήργησεν, ὅσα πρό τούτου δέδωκεν, ἤ γίνεσθαι συνεχώρησεν πρός τήν τοῦ μέλλοντος διατύπωσιν. Ἐξ αὐτοῦ γάρ, καί δι᾿ αὐτοῦ, καί εἰς αὐτόν τά πάντα, ὅσα γέγονεν ἤ γενήσεται, κατά πάντα καιρόν ἤ τρόπον· τά μέν, κατ᾿ εὐδοκίαν· τά δέ, κατ᾿ οἰκονομίαν· τά δέ, κατά συγχώρησιν. Οὐκ ἔστιν οὖν μῦθος τό τοῖς ἀρχαίοις μνημονευόμενον· ἀλλά γέγονεν ἀληθῶς, καί ἐπηκολούθησεν αὐτῷ, τό ἐφ᾿ ᾧ γέγονεν ἀλέξημα. Τό δέ κατά λεπτόν περί τῶν γραφέντων, σύν Θεῷ παρ᾿ ὑμῖν γινόμενος ἅμα γυμνάζωμεν. Πλήν ὁ γνούς πῶς καί ὄφεως σάρκες δύνανται θεραπεύειν διά τέχνης νοσοῦντας, δέξεται πιστῶς τῆς θείας προνοίας τήν μέθοδον.

ΕΠΙΣΤΟΛΗ ΚΖ'. ... ΠΡΟΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΝ ΚΟΥΒΙΚΟΥΛΑΡΙΟΝ. ΚΖ´Τοῦ αὐτοῦ πρός Ἰωάννην κουβικουλάριον. (15Β_396> Οἱ μέν κατά κόσμον, τήν πρός ἀλλήλους ἀγάπην στησάμενοι, τῆς

ἀλλήλων χρῄζουσι σωματικῆς παρουσίας πρός τήν ταύτης συντήρησιν, διά τήν λήθην τήν καταμαραίνουσαν φυσικῶς πάντα τόν περί μόνα τά σώματα συνιστάμενον πόθον· ᾧ συγκατασβέννυσθαι πέφυκεν ἡ μνήμη τῶν οὕτω πρός ἀλλήλους διακειμένων. Ἔστι δέ ὅτι καί αὐτό τοῦτο τό συντηρεῖν δύνασθαι δοκοῦν τήν κατά κόσμον πρός ἀλλήλους σχέσιν, διίστησι κόρος ἐπιγενόμενος, καί ὅλην τήν προλαβοῦσαν ἀφανίζων διάθεσιν. Καί ἐπίλειψις δέ τινος πολλάκις τῶν ταύτης ποριστικῶν αἰτιῶν, ἤ καί μικρά τις παρεμπεσοῦσα πρόφασις, ταχεῖαν ποιεῖται τῆς οὕτω συνισταμένης ἀγάπης τήν εἰς μῖσος περιτροπήν. Οἱ δέ κατά Θεόν τῷ δεσμῷ τῆς ἀγάπης ἀλλήλοις ἀλύτως καταδεθέντες, καί σύν ἀλλήλοις ὄντες, καί ἀλλήλων ἀπόντες, μᾶλλον τόν ταύτης δεσμόν ἐπιτείνουσι· διά Θεόν ταύτην ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἔχοντες, τόν καί ἀγάπην ὄντα, καί τήν τοῦ ἀγαπᾷν δύνασθαι τοῖς ἀξίοις παρεχόμενον δύναμιν· καί μάλα γε, καθάπερ οἶμαι, δικαίως. Τοῖς γάρ κατά φύσιν ῥευστοῖς συναποῤῥεῖν πέφυκε καί ἡ τῶν κατ᾿ αὐτά πρός ἀλλήλους διακειμένων διάθεσιν· τοῖς δέ σταθεροῖς καί ἀεί ὡσαύτως ἔχουσιν, ἀκλόνητος παντάπασι καί ἀτίνακτος συνδιαμένειν εἴωθε, καί ἡ τῶν κατ᾿ αὐτά πρός ἀλλήλους διακειμένων στοργή· τοσοῦτον αὐτοῖς ἐπιτείνουσα τόν εἰς ἀλλήλους πόθον (15Β_398> πρός τό