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we find some abandoning the old worship that lay in shadows, and eagerly converting to the new and mystical one.

But in addition to the aforesaid ways, also in all those who have by faith inherited the truly divine and deifying name of Christ, not only as a guardian, and as providentially moving the natural reason; and as an indicator of the transgression and observance of the commandments, and as a herald of the promise foretold according to Christ. But also as a creator of the adoption given by grace through faith. For as productive of wisdom it is present only in those who have been purified in soul and body through the precise practice of the commandments, communing with them as its own, through simple and immaterial knowledge (Fr. See what simple and immaterial knowledge is), and imprinting their mind unto deification with the undefiled conceptions of ineffable things.

It is, therefore, present in all things simply, inasmuch as it holds all things together and is provident over them, and moves the natural seeds; but more specifically, also in (300) all those under the Law, inasmuch as it is indicative of the transgression of the commandments, and illuminative of the promise foretold according to Christ; And in all those who are according to Christ, in addition to what has been said, as effecting adoption; but as productive of wisdom, it is not present simply in any of the aforesaid, except for those who understand, and have made themselves worthy of its contemplative indwelling through a godly way of life. For everyone who does not do the divine will, even if he is a believer, has an undiscerning heart, as a workshop of evil thoughts, and a body indebted to sins, as it is continually held by the defilements of the passions.

QUESTION 16.

What is the molten calf, and why does he speak of a calf in the singular, but says, "These are your gods, O Israel" in the plural? And what is meant by, to be ground down and scattered upon the water; and what are the earrings, and the other ornaments?

Answer. The mind that, like Israel, is coming out of the Egypt of sin, and

having with itself the fantasy of the error of sin coming out with it, like imprints of evil in the intellect, whenever, having become a little negligent, it is left bereft of rational discernment, as Israel was of Moses long ago, it establishes an irrational habit, like a calf, and the mother of all the passions; melting as earrings, the principles concerning theology which it has naturally received from the pious contemplation of beings; as necklaces, the God-befitting doctrines concerning beings which arise in it from natural contemplation; and as bracelets for the hands, the natural activities according to the practice of the virtues, in a furnace, in the fiery heat of the passionate disposition of anger and desire; and according to the fantasy and form of evil pre-existing in the intellect, through its own activity it constitutes an irrational habit which is ever-dissipating, and which dissipates along with itself the mind that enacts it, and which severs it from the single identity concerning the truth, and pours it out among many cruel fantasies and doctrines of non-beings. This habit the presence of the divine Logos grinds down and scatters upon the water, by the subtlety of contemplation grinding down the superficial thickness in the intellect in the passions towards sensation, and clearly distinguishing the change and confusion of the natural powers into one another which occurred according to passion, and leading it back again to its own proper principle of knowledge. For to be scattered upon the water is understood by me in this way (or:

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εὐρίσκομεν, τούς μέν παλαιάν καί ἐν σκιαῖς κειμένην καταλιμπάνοντας λατρείαν, πρός δέ τήν νέαν καί μυστικήν προθύμως μεταβαλλομένους.

Ἔστι δέ πρός τοῖς εἰρημένοις τρόποις, καί ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς τό θεῖον καί θεοποιόν ὄντως ὄνομα τοῦ Χριστοῦ κληρωσαμένοις διά τῆς πίστεως, οὐ μόνον ὡς φρουρητικόν, καί προνοητικῶς λόγου τοῦ κατά φύσιν ἀνακινητικόν· καί ὡς δεικτικόν τῆς τῶν ἐντολῶν παραβάσεως καί φυλακῆς, καί τῆς κατά Χριστόν ἐξαγγελτικόν προαγορεύεσεως. Ἀλλά καί ὡς δημιουργόν τῆς κατά χάριν διά τῆς πίστεως δοθείσης υἱοθεσίας. Ὡς γάρ σοφίας ποιητικόν ἐν μόνοις ἐκείνοις γίνεται, τοῖς κατά ψυχήν καί σῶμα καθαρθεῖσι διά τῆς τῶν ἐντολῶν ἀκριβοῦς συνασκήσεως, ὡς οἰκείοις προσομιλοῦν, διά τῆς ἁπλῆς καί ἀΰλου γνώσεως (Fr. Ὅρα τίς ἡ ἁπλῆ καί ἄϋλος γνῶσις), καί τόν νοῦν αὐτῶν ταῖς ἀχράντοις τῶν ἀῤῥήτων νοήσεσι πρός ἐκθέωσιν ἐκτυποῦν.

Ἔστι οὖν ἐν πᾶσι μέν ἁπλῶς, καθ᾿ ὅ πάντων ἐστί συνεκτικόν καί προνοητικόν, καί τῶν φυσικῶν σπερμάτων ἀνακινητικόν· προσδιωρισμένως δέ, καί ἐν (300) πᾶσι τοῖς ἐν νόμῳ, καθότι τῆς τῶν ἐντολῶν ἐστιν ὑποδεικτικόν παραβάσεως, καί τῆς κατά Χριστόν προαγορευθείσης ἐπαγγελίας φωτιστικόν· Ἐν δέ πᾶσι τοῖς κατά Χριστόν, πρός τοῖς εἰρημένοις, ὡς υἱοθετικόν· ὡς δέ σοφίας ποιητικόν, ἐν οὐδενί τῶν εἰρημένων ἐστίν ἁπλῶς, πλήν τῶν συνιέντων, καί ἑαυτούς διά τῆς ἐνθέου πολιτείας ἀξίους ποιησαμένων τῆς αὐτοῦ θεωτικῆς ἐνοικήσεως. Πᾶς γάρ μή ποιῶν τά θεῖα θελήματα, κἄν πιστός ἐστιν, ἀσύνετον ἔχει τήν καρδίαν, ὡς πονηρῶν λογισμῶν ἐργαστήριον, καί τό σῶμα κατάχρεων ἁμαρτίαις, ὡς διαπαντός μολυσμοῖς παθῶν συνεχόμενον.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Ιστ΄ .

Τίς ὁ χωνευτός μόσχος, καί διά τί μόσχον ἑνικός λέγει· τό δέ, "Οὗτοι οἱ θεοί σου, Ἰσραήλ" πληθυντικῶς. Καί τί τό, λεπτυνθῆναι καί διασπαρῆναι ὑπό τό ὕδωρ· καί τίνα τά ἐνώτια, καί τά ἑξῆς κόσμια;

Ἀπόκρισις. Ὁ κατά τόν Ἰσραήλ ἐξ Αἰγύπτου τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐξερχόμενος νοῦς, καί

συνεξιοῦσαν ἔχων ἑαυτῷ τῆς καθ᾿ ἁμαρτίαν πλάνης, καθάπερ ἐκτυπώματα κακίας ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ τήν φαντασίαν, ἐπάν μικρόν ἀμελήσας ἀπολειφθῇ τῆς λογικῆς διακρισίας, ὡς πάλαι τοῦ Μωϋσέως ὁ Ἰσραήλ, τήν ἀλόγιστον καθάπερ μόσχον, καί πάντων μητέρα τῶν παθῶν ἕξιν ὑφίστησιν· ὡς μέν ἐνώτια, τούς λόγους οὕς εἴληφε φυσικῶς περί θεολογίας ἐκ τῆς τῶν ὄντων εὐσεβοῦς κατανοήσεως· ὡς δέ περιτραχηλίους κόσμους, τάς ἐκ τῆς φυσικῆς θεωρίας ἐγγινομένας αὐτῷ θεοπρεπεῖς περί τῶν ὄντων δόξας· ὡς δέ ψέλλια χειρῶν, τάς κατά τήν πρακτικήν τῶν ἀρετῶν φυσικάς ἐνεργείας χωνεύων ἐν καμίνῳ, τῇ διαπύρῳ ζέσει τῆς τοῦ θυμοῦ καί τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ἐμπαθοῦς διαθέσεως· καί κατά τήν προαποκειμένην τῇ διανοίᾳ τοῦ κακοῦ φαντασίαν τε καί μορφήν, δι᾿ ἐνεργείας αὐτῆς τήν ἀεί σκεδαστήν, καί συνδιασκεδάζουσαν ἑαυτῇ τόν αὐτήν διαπραττόμενον νοῦν, καί τῆς περί τήν ἀλήθειαν ἑνικῆς ταυτότητος, αὐτόν διατέμνουσαν· καί περί πολλάς καί ἀπαγεῖς διαχέουσαν τῶν οὐκ ὄντων φαντασίας τε καί δόξας, ἀλόγιστον ἕξιν συνίστησιν, ἥν λεαίνει καί σπείρει ὑπό τό ὕδωρ ἡ τοῦ θείου Λόγου παρουσία, τῇ λεπτότητι τῆς θεωρίας τό πρός αἴσθησιν κατ᾿ ἐπιφάνειαν ἐν τοῖς πάθεσι πάχος τῇ διανοίᾳ λεαίνουσα, καί τήν εἰς ἀλλήλας τῶν φυσικῶν δυνάμεων γενομένην κατά τό πάθος μεταβολήν τε καί σύγχυσιν, εὐκρινῶς διαστέλλουσα, καί πρός τήν οἰκείαν πάλιν ἀρχήν τῆς γνώσεως ἐπανάγουσα. Τοῦτο γάρ τό ὑπό τό ὕδωρ σπεῖραί μοι νοεῖται (al.