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Moses, being sent by God, according to the spiritual meaning of the Scripture, an uncircumcised son, that is, a thought. Since, then, having previously commanded him to circumcise, He sent him; nor was the divine angel harsh, announcing to Moses the death that occurred from his erroneous stance on the path of virtues, which the weakness of virtues concerning the course perhaps brought about. For if you attend more closely to the history, you will find clearly that not at the beginning, nor in the middle, nor at the end of the journey, but at the lodging-place the angel met him and threatened death for the passion that had secretly occurred in his mind; so that, if he had not stopped his course and broken his journey, he would not have been accused, receiving through the angel the indignation at the child's uncircumcision. But let us beseech God, if we are on the path of the commandments, for every transgression of ours, not to cease sending, like an angel, a messenger in our conscience, the word [Fr. Not to cease sending a messenger, an angel-word, of the death from the transgression], so that, receiving perception, we may learn through our innate prudence to circumcise, like a foreskin, the impurity of passions that secretly befalls us along the course of life.

QUESTION 18.

If the doers of the law will be justified, according to the Apostle, how does he say again: "As many of you as are justified by the law have fallen from grace?"

Answer. Not simply the doers of the law will be justified, but those of the spiritual law, and understood spiritually, and who, according to the inner man, in spirit do the spiritual law, will be justified, not falling from grace, because of the passage into the depth (308) of the soul during the purification of the reason; but those who serve bodily according to the appearance of the law surely fall from divine grace, being ignorant of the perfection of the spiritual law in grace, which cleanses the mind of every stain, and of its end, Christ.

QUESTION 19.

What is: "For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law?" And how does the same one say again: "When God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my Gospel?" If they will be judged by the law, how by Jesus Christ?

Answer. The Word of God, Jesus Christ, as the creator of all things, is also the author of the law according to nature. And as provider and lawgiver, He is the giver of the law in the letter, clearly, and of the law in the spirit, that is, in grace; For Christ is the end of the law, that is, of the written law understood spiritually. If, therefore, in Christ as creator, provider, and lawgiver, and propitiation, the law according to nature, the written law, and the law of grace are brought together, the divine Apostle speaks truly when he says that God will judge the secrets of men according to his Gospel, that is, according to what is evangelized; through Jesus Christ, His only-begotten Word, proper to Him in essence, who proceeds through all things; and reproving some, and to others suitably

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Μωϋσῆς ἀποστελλόμενος παρά τοῦ Θεοῦ, κατά τόν νοούμενον τῆς Γραφῆς, ἀκρόβυστον υἱόν, ἤτοι λογισμόν. Ἐπεί ἄρα προστάξας αὐτῷ πρότερον περιτεμεῖν, ἀπέστελλεν· οὔτε μήν ὁ θεῖος ἄγγελον ἀπηνής ἦν, μηνύων τῷ Μωϋσῇ τόν ἐκ τῆς ἐσφαλμένης αὐτῷ κατά τήν τῶν ἀρετῶν ὁδόν στάσεως συμβάντα θάνατον, ὅν ἡ περί τόν δρόμον τυχόν ἀτονία τῶν ἀρετῶν ὑπέστησεν ἐπισκήπτοντες γάρ καί ὑμεῖς ἀκριβέστερον τῇ ἱστορίᾳ, σαφῶς εὑρήσετε ὡς οὐ κατά τήν ἀρχήν, οὔτε κατά τό μέσον, οὔτε κατά τό τῆς ὁδοῦ τέλος, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν τῷ καταλύματι ὑπαντήσας ὁ ἄγγελος, τόν ὑπέρ τοῦ συμβάντος λεληθότως κατά διάνοιαν πάθους ἠπείλησε θάνατον· ὡς, εἴγε μή ἔστη τοῦ δρόμου καί κατέλυσε τῆς ὁδοιπορίας, οὐκ ἄν διεβλήθη, δεξάμενος διά τοῦ ἀγγέλου τήν ἀγανάκτησιν ἐπί τῇ τοῦ παιδός ἀκροβυστίᾳ. Παρακαλέσωμεν δέ τόν Θεόν, εἴπερ ἐσμέν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ τῶν ἐντολῶν, κατά πᾶσαν ἡμῶν παράβασιν τοῦ ἐξ αὐτῆς θανάτου μή παύσασθαι καθάπερ ἄγγελόν τινα τόν μηνυτήν κατά συνείδησιν ἀποστέλλοντα λόγον [Fr.Mή παύσασθαι ἀποστέλλοντα μηνυτήν τοῦ ἐκ τῆς παραβάσεως θανάτου ἄγγελον λόγον], ὅπως λαβόντες αἴσθησιν, μάθωμεν διά τῆς ἐμφύτου φρονήσεως περιτέμνειν καθάπερ ἀκροβυσίαν τήν κατά τόν δρόμον τοῦ βίου λεληθότως συμβαίνουσαν ἡμῖν τῶν παθῶν ἀκαθαρσίαν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΙΗ΄ .

Εἰ οἱ ποιηταί τοῦ νόμου δικαιωθήσονται, κατά τόν Ἀπόστολον, πῶς πάλιν λέγει· " Ὅσοι ἐν νόμῳ δικαιοῦσθε, τῆς χάριτος ἐξεπέσατε;"

Ἀπόκρισις. Οὐχ ἁπλῶς οἱ ποιηταί τοῦ νόμου δικαιωθήσονται, ἀλλ᾿ οἱ τοῦ πνευματικοῦ

νόμου, καί νοουμένου πνευματικῶς, καί κατά τόν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον ἐν πνεύματι ποιοῦντες τόν κατά πνεῦμα νόμον, δικαιωθήσονται μή ἐκπίπτοντες τῆς χάριτος, διά τήν εἰς τό βάθος (308)τῆς ψυχῆς κατά τήν κάθαρσιν τοῦ λόγου διάβασιν· οἱ δέ κατά τό φαινόμενον τοῦ νόμου σωματικῶς λατρεύοντες, τῆς θείας πάντως ἐκπίπτουσι χάριτος, ἀγνοοῦντες τήν τόν νοῦν πάσης καθαίρουσαν κηλῖδος ἐν χάριτι τοῦ πνευματικοῦ νόμου τελείωσιν, καί τό τέλος, Χριστόν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΙΘ΄ .

Τί ἐστιν· " Ὅσοι ἀνόμως ἥμαρτον, ἀνόμως καί ἀπολοῦνται· καί ὅσοι ἐν νόμῳ ἥμαρτον, διά νόμου κριθήσονται;" Καί πῶς ὁ αὐτός λέγει πάλιν· " Ὅτε κρινεῖ ὁ Θεός τά κρυπτά τῶν ἀνθρώπων κατά τό Εὐαγγέλιόν μου, διά Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ; " Εἰ διά νόμου κριθήσονται, πῶς διά Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ;

Ἀπόκρισις. Ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, ὡς μέν πάντων δημιουργός, καί νόμου τοῦ

κατά φύσιν ἐστί ποιητής. Ὡς δέ προνοητής καί νομοθέτης, καί τοῦ ἐν τῷ γράμματι σαφῶς, καί τοῦ ἐν πνεύματι, τουτέστιν ἐν χάριτι, νόμου ἐστί δοτήρ· Τέλος γάρ νόμου Χριστός, δηλονότι τοῦ γραπτοῦ νοουμένου πνευματικῶς. Εἰ τοίνυν εἰς Χριστόν ὡς δημιουργόν, προνοητήν τε καί νομοθέτην, καί ἱλασμόν, ὅ τε κατά φύσιν, καί ὁ γραπτός, καί ὁ τῆς χάριτος συνάγεται νόμος, ἀληθεύει φάσκων ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος, ὅτι ὁ Θεός τά κρυπτά τῶν ἀνθρώπων μέλλει κρίνειν κατά τό Εὐαγγέλιον αὐτοῦ, τουτέστι, καθ᾿ ὅ εὐαγγελίζεται· διά Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ μονογενοῦς κατ᾿ οὐσίαν οἰκείου Λόγου, χωρῶν διά πάντων· καί τούς μέν ἐλέγχων, τούς δέ προσφόρως