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accepting; and to those according to nature and law and grace, through the only-begotten, ineffable Word who is with him in essence, he assigns what is according to worth; for of every nature and every law, and ordinance, and order, the Word of God is the maker, and the judge of things in nature and law and ordinance and order; for without the ordaining word, there is no law. Whether, then, one is judged in the law, he will be judged as in Christ; or without the law, again he will certainly be judged in him; for of all things that are, and are conceived, and are spoken, the Word is the beginning, and middle, and end, as creator.

QUESTION 20.

What is the fig tree in the Gospel that was withered illogically, as far as its appearance? What is the intemperance of the hunger, seeking fruit out of season? And what is the curse of the insensate thing?

Response. The God-Logos, who wisely manages all things for the sake of the salvation of men,

having first instructed nature through the law which has a more bodily worship; for it was not able to receive the truth naked of typical veils, because of the ignorance and estrangement that had arisen in it toward the archetype of divine things; afterward manifestly becoming man through himself, arriving by the assumption of flesh (309) that had an intellectual and rational soul, to the immaterial, gnostic worship in spirit, as the Word leading nature over, did not wish, when the truth had shone through in life, for the shadow to hold dominion, of which the fig tree was a type. For this reason he says: Returning from Bethany to Jerusalem, that is, after his hidden presence according to the law, which was typical and shadowy, again visiting the nature of men through the flesh. For thus must one understand: Returning, he saw a fig tree on the road having only leaves, that is, the bodily worship of the law, existing in shadows and types, according to the unstable and transitory tradition, as lying on a road, and being of only the passing types and ordinances; which the Word, having seen, elegantly and lavishly, like a fig tree adorned on the outside as with leaves, with the coverings of the bodily pre-eminences of the law; and not having found fruit, that is, of righteousness, as not nourishing the Word, he cursed it; or rather, he commanded that the truth no longer be covered and dominated by the types according to the law. Which, indeed, having come to pass, was shown through the works, with the legal beauty which has its being in mere figures having been completely withered, and the pride of the Jews in it having been extinguished. For it was not reasonable, nor indeed opportune, when the truth of the fruits of righteousness had been manifestly shown, for the appetite to be deceived and persuaded by leaves, of those who run past the present life as a road, having forsaken the edible good fruit of the Word. Therefore he says: It was not the season for figs; that is, the time during which the law held sway over human nature, was not of the fruits of righteousness, but representational of the fruits in righteousness; and, as it were, indicative of the future divine and ineffable grace that saves all; which the old people, not having attained through unbelief, perished. For Israel, says the divine Apostle, pursuing a law of righteousness, that is, the one in shadow and types, did not attain to a law of righteousness, that is, the one perfected in the Spirit according to Christ.

Or again, since the multitude of the priests and scribes, and lawyers and Pharisees was sick with empty glory, through the display of supposedly piously formed characters, by seeming to pursue righteousness, nourished the pride arising from conceit; he says that the conceit of the aforementioned is a fruitless fig tree, flourishing only in its leaves

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ἀποδεχόμενος· καί τοῖς κατά φύσιν καί νόμον καί χάριν, διά τοῦ συνόντος αὐτῷ κατ᾿ οὐσίαν μονογενοῦς ἀφράστου Λόγου, τά κατ᾿ ἀξίαν ἀπονέμων· πάσης γάρ φύσεως καί παντός νόμου, καί θεσμοῦ, καί τάξεως, ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος ἐστί ποιητής, καί τῶν ἐν φύσει καί νόμῳ καί θεσμῷ καί τάξει κριτής· τοῦ γάρ διαγορεύοντος λόγου χωρίς, νόμος οὐκ ἔστιν. Εἴτε οὖν ἐν νόμῳ τις κρίνεται, ὡς ἐν Χριστῷ κριθήσεται· εἴτε χωρίς νόμου, πάλιν ἐν αὐτῷ πάντως κριθήσεται· πάντων γάρ τῶν ὄντων, καί νοουμένων καί λεγομένων, ἐστί καί ἀρχή, καί μεσότης, καί τέλος, ὡς δημιουργός ὁ Λόγος.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Κ΄ .

Τίς ἡ ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ παραλόγως, ὅσον πρός τό φαινόμενον, ξηρανθεῖσα συκῆ; Τίς ἡ ἀκρασία τῆς πείνης, παρά καιρόν ἐπιζητούσης καρπόν; Καί τίς ἡ τοῦ ἀναισθήτου κατάρα;

Ἀπόκρισις. Ὁ πάντα σωτηρίας ἕνεκεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων μετά σοφίας οἰκονομῶν Θεός Λόγος,

πρότερον διά νόμου σωματικωτέραν ἔχοντος λατρείαν παιδαγωγήσας τήν φύσιν· οὐ γάρ ἠδύνατο γυμνήν τυπικῶν προκαλυμμάτων δέξασθαι τήν ἀλήθειαν, διά τήν ἐγγενομένην αὐτῇ πρός τήν ἀρχετυπίαν τῶν θείων πράγματων ἄγνοιάν τε καί ἀλλοτρίωσιν ὕστερον ἐμφανῶς δι᾿ ἑαυτοῦ γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος, κατά πρόσληψιν σαρκός (309) νοεράν τε καί λογικήν ἐχούσης ψυχήν παραγενόμενος, πρός τήν ἄϋλον γνωστικήν ἐν πνεύματι λατρείαν, ὡς Λόγος τήν φύσιν μεταγαγών, οὐκ ἠβούλετο τῆς ἀληθείας τῷ βίῳ διαφανείσης, τήν σκιάν ἔχειν τήν δυναστείαν, ἧς τύπος ὑπῆρχεν ἡ συκῆ. ∆ιά τοῦτο φησιν· Ἐπανιών ἐκ Βηθανίας εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα, τουτέστι, μετά τήν τυπικήν καί σκιώδη κατά τόν νόμον λανθάνουσαν αὐτοῦ παρουσίαν, αὖθις τῇ φύσει τῶν ἀνθρώπων διά σαρκός ἐπιδημῶν. Οὕτω γάρ ληπτέον τό· Ἐπανιών, εἶδε συκῆν ἐν τῇ ὁδῷ φύλλα μόνα ἔχουσαν, τήν ἐν σκιαῖς ὑπάρχουσαν καί τύποις, σωματικήν δηλαδή τοῦ νόμου λατρείαν, κατά τήν ἄστατον καί τήν παροδικήν, ὡς ἐν ὁδῷ κειμένην, παράδοσιν, καί μόνων οὖσαν τῶν παρερχομενων τύπων τε καί θεσμῶν· ἥν θεασάμενος ὁ Λόγος, κομψῶς τε καί ἀμφιλαφῶς, καθάπερ συκῆν τοῖς ἐκτός ὥσπερ φύλλοις, περιειλήμασι τῶν σωματικῶν τοῦ νόμου προτερημάτων κεκοσμημένην· καί μή εὑρηκώς καρπόν, δηλονότι δικαιοσύνης, ὡς Λόγον μή τρέφουσαν, κατηράσατο· μᾶλλον δέ προσέταξε, μηκέτι τοῖς κατά νόμον τύποις καταδυναστευομένην καλύπτεσθαι τήν ἀλήθειαν. Ὅ δή προβάν, ἐδείχθη διά τῶν ἔργων, καταξηρανθείσης παντελῶς τῆς ἐν μόνοις σχήμασιν ἐχούσης τό εἶναι νομικῆς ὡραιότητος, καί τοῦ ἐπ᾿ αὐτῇ τύφου τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀποσβεσθέντος. Οὐ γάρ ἦν εὔλογον, οὔτε μήν εὔκαιρον, τῆς ἀληθείας τῶν τῆς δικαιοσύνης καρπῶν ἐμφανῶς δειχθείσης, ἀπατωμένην παραπείθεσθαι φύλλοις τήν ὄρεξιν, τῶν τήν παρούσαν ζωήν ὡς ὁδόν παρατρεχόντων, ἀφέντων τοῦ Λόγου τήν ἐδώδιμον εὐκαρπίαν. ∆ιό φησιν· Οὐκ ἦν ὁ καιρός σύκων· ὁ χρόνος δηλαδή καθ᾿ ὅν ἐκράτει τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως ὁ νόμος, οὐκ ἦν δικαιοσύνης καρπῶν, ἀλλ᾿ εἰκονιστικός τῶν ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ καρπῶν· καί οἷον τῆς μελλούσης πάντων σωστικῆς θείας καί ἀποῤήτου χάριτος μηνυτικός· εἰς ἥν μή φθάσας ὁ παλαιός διά τῆς ἀπιστίας ἀπώλετο λαός. Ἰσραήλ γάρ, φησίν ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος, διώκων νόμον δικαιοσύνης, τόν ἐν σκιᾷ δηλονότι καί τύποις, εἰς νόμον διακαιοσύνης οὐκ ἔφθασε, τόν ἐν πνεύματι κατά Χριστόν δηλαδή τελειούμενον.

Ἤ πάλιν, ἐπειδή τῶν ἱερέων καί γραμματέων, καί νομικῶν καί Φαρισαίων ἡ πληθύς τήν κενήν νοσήσασα δόξαν, διά τῆς τῶν εὐσεβῶς δῆθεν πεπλασμένων ἠθῶν ἐπιδείξεως, τῷ δοκεῖν μετιέναι δικαιοσύνην, τόν ἐκ τῆς οἰήσεως διέτρεφε τῦφον· συκῆν ἄκαρπον, μόνοις κομῶσαν τοῖς φύλλοις εἶναί φησι τῶν εἰρημένων τήν οἴησιν