97

1. That the one who is puffed up by action is succeeded by the dishonor of the passions; but righteous judgment allows the one who is exalted by knowledge to stumble concerning true contemplation.

2. He speaks of a limit and law divinely inherent in existing things, the providence that holds together all existing things, educating toward gratitude by a righteous judgment through the scarcity of good things those who, in the abundance of good things, have appeared ungrateful to its provider; leading them through opposites to a perception of the discernment of the One who bestows good things; for conceit over virtue and knowledge, remaining undisciplined, is by nature apt to beget the disease of arrogance, which brings about a disposition opposed to God.

3. He who has discerned, he says, the infinity of virtue, never ceases from the course according to it, so that he might not lose the very beginning and end of virtue, God, I say, by fixing the movement of his desire on himself; and lest he unknowingly think he has attained perfection, suffering a falling away from Him who truly is; toward whom every movement of the virtuous man hastens.

(14Β_406> 4. That the road, he says, that has become prone to impiety is insensibility to the loss of the virtues. For he who has accustomed himself to disobey God for the sake of the pleasures of the flesh, will also deny God himself when an occasion calls, preferring the life of the flesh to God, whose pleasures alone he has held to be better than the divine wills.

5. He calls the mind the subject, as receptive of virtue and knowledge; and in a subject, he calls practice and contemplation, which hold the place of accidents in relation to the mind; wherefore in every way they also suffer with it when it suffers, having its qualitative movement as the principles of their own alteration.

6. The innate passions of the body, when governed by reason, have no cause for accusation; but when moved without it, they bring accusation. He says, therefore, that there must be a rejection of those things whose movement is innate, but whose use often becomes contrary to nature, when not governed by reason.

7. A salutary anger is the divine permission for the high-minded intellect to be warred against by the passions by means of the demons; so that he who boasts in his virtues, suffering dishonorably, may know who is the giver of these things; or so that he may become stripped of what belongs to another, which things he thought he possessed as though he had not received them.

8. He calls practice and contemplation, according to the principle of anagogy, Judea and Jerusalem.

9. The Sun of righteousness is the Lord and God, and Savior of all, Christ Jesus.

53 (53). CONCERNING "AND THEY BURIED HIM IN THE ASCENT OF THE TOMBS OF THE SONS OF DAVID". 53. QUESTION 53 Again concerning Hezekiah it says: and they buried him in the ascent of the tombs of the sons of David,

and they gave glory and honor to him at his (14B_408> death, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. What is "in the ascent of the tombs of the sons of David" and what follows?

Response. David is intelligibly our Lord Jesus Christ, the stone whom they scorned

the building priests and rulers of the Jews, having rejected, who has become the head of the corner, that is, of the Church. For the Church is a corner according to Scripture. For just as the corner becomes the union of two walls, binding them to one another for an indissoluble cohesion, so also the holy Church has become the union of the two peoples, binding those from the nations and from the Jews to one another according to one principle of faith and binding them fast into one harmony, of which the cornerstone is the

97

1. Ὅτι τόν ἐπαιρόμενον ἐπί πράξει, παθῶν ἀτιμία διαδέχεται· τόν δέ ἐπί γνώσει ὑψούμενον, περί τήν ἀληθῆ θεωρίαν πταίειν ἡ δικαία κρίσις συγχωρεῖ.

2. Ὅρον καί νόμον ἐνυπάρχοντα θείως τοῖς οὖσι λέγει, τήν τῶν ὄντων συνεκτικήν πρόνοιαν, κατά κρίσιν δικαίαν τῇ σπάνει τῶν ἀγαθῶν παιδεύουσαν πρός εὐγνωμοσύνην, τούς ἐπί τῇ ἀφθονίᾳ τῶν ἀγαθῶν, πρός τόν αὐτῆς χορηγόν φανέντας ἀγνώμονας· διά τῶν ἐναντίων αὐτούς πρός συναίσθησιν ἄγουσαν τῆς τοῦ χαριζομένου τά καλά διαγνώσεως· ἡ ἐπ᾿ ἀρετῇ γάρ καί γνώσει οἴησις ἀπαιδαγώγητος μένουσα, τό τῆς ὑπερηφανίας γεννᾷν πέφυκε νόσημα, τό τήν ἀντικειμένην τῷ Θεῷ φέρον διάθεσιν.

3. Ὁ τήν ἀπειρίαν φησίν ἀρετῆς διαγνούς, οὐδέποτε τοῦ κατ᾿ αὐτήν παύεται δρόμου, ἵνα μή ζημιωθῇ αὐτήν τῆς ἀρετῆς τήν ἀρχήν καί τό τέλος, τόν Θεόν λέγω, περί ἑαυτόν στήσας τήν κίνησιν τῆς ἐφέσεως· καί λάθῃ νομίζων ἐπειλῆφθαι τῆς τελειότητος, ὑπομένων τοῦ ἀληθῶς ὄντος τήν ἔκπτωσιν· πρός ὅπερ ἐπείγεται πᾶσα σπουδαίου κίνησις.

(14Β_406> 4. Ὅτι πρός ἀσέβειαν, φησίν, πρανής καθέστηκεν ὁδός, ἡ περί τήν ζημίαν τῶν ἀρετῶν ἀναισθησία. Ὁ γάρ ἐθίσας ἑαυτόν διά τάς ἡδονάς τῆς σαρκός Θεοῦ παρακούειν, καί αὐτόν ἀρνήσεται τόν Θεόν καλούσης προφάσεως, Θεοῦ τήν τῆς σαρκός ζωήν προτιμῶν, ἧς καί μόνας τάς ἡδονάς τῶν θείων κρείττους ἔσχηκε θελημάτων.

5. Ὑποκείμενον λέγει τόν νοῦν, ὡς ἀρετῆς καί γνώσεως δεκτικόν· ἐν ὑποκειμένῳ δέ, τήν πρᾶξιν καί τήν θεωρίαν, αἵτινες πρός τόν νοῦν συμβεβηκότων λόγον ἐπέχουσιν· διὸ κατά πάντα τρόπον καί συμπάσχουσι πάσχοντι, τήν αὐτοῦ ποιάν κίνησιν ἀρχάς τῆς οἰκείας ἀλλοιώσεως ἔχουσαι.

6. Τά ἔμφυτα πάθη τοῦ σώματος λόγῳ μέν κυβερνώμενα οὐκ ἔχει διαβολήν· κινούμενα δέ τούτου χωρίς φέρει διαβολήν. Τούτων οὖν λέγει γίνεσθαι δεῖν τήν ἀποβολήν, ὧν ἔμφυτος μέν ἡ κίνησις, παρά φύσιν δέ γίνεται πολλάκις ἡ χρῆσις, λόγῳ μή κυβερνωμένη.

7. Ὀργή σωτήριός ἐστιν, ἡ πρός τό πολεμεῖσθαι τὸν ὑψηλόφρονα νοῦν τοῖς πάθεσιν ὑπό τῶν δαιμόνων θεία συγχώρησις· ἵνα γνῷ πάσχων ἀτίμως ἐπ᾿ ἀρεταῖς μεγαλαυχούμενος, τίς ὁ τούτων ὑπάρχει δοτήρ· ἤ γένηται τῶν ἀλλοτρίων γυμνός, ἅπερ ὡς μή λαβών ἔχειν ἐνόμιζεν.

8. Πρᾶξιν λέγει καί θεωρίαν κατά τόν τῆς ἀναγωγῆς λόγον, τήν Ἰουδαίαν καί τήν Ἱερουσαλήμ.

9. Ἥλιος δικαιοσύνης ὁ Κύριος καί Θεός, καί τῶν ὅλων Σωτήρ Χριστός Ἰησοῦς.

ΝΓ (53). ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ "ΚΑΙ ΕΘΑΨΑΝ ΑΥΤΟΝ ΕΝ ΑΝΑΒΑΣΕΙ ΤΑΦΩΝ ΥΙΩΝ ∆ΑΒΙ∆". 53. ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΝΓ' Πάλιν περὶ Ἐζεκίου φησί· καὶ ἔθαψαν αὐτὸν ἐν ἀναβάσει τάφων υἱῶν ∆αβίδ,

καὶ δόξαν καὶ τιμὴν ἔδωκαν αὐτῷ ἐν τῷ (14Β_408> θανάτῳ αὐτοῦ πᾶς Ἰούδα καὶ οἱ κατοικοῦντες Ἱερουσαλήμ. Τί ἐστι τὸ ἐν ἀναβάσει τάφων υἱῶν ∆αβὶδ καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς;

Ἀπόκρισις. ∆αβίδ ἐστι νοητὸς ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, ὁ λίθος ὃν ἐξουδένωσαν

ἀποδοκιμάσαντες οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες ἱερεῖς τῶν Ἰουδαίων καὶ ἄρχοντες, ὁ γενόμενος εἰς κεφαλὴν γωνίας, τουτέστι τῆς Ἐκκλησίας. Γωνία γάρ ἐστιν ἡ Ἐκκλησία κατὰ τὴν Γραφήν. Ὡς γὰρ ἡ γωνία δύο τοίχων ἕνωσις γίνεται, πρὸς ἀλλήλους αὐτοὺς διασφίγγουσα πρὸς ἀδιάλυτον συνοχήν, οὕτω καὶ ἡ ἁγία Ἐκκλησία τῶν δύο λαῶν γέγονεν ἕνωσις, τοὺς ἐξ ἐθνῶν καὶ Ἰουδαίων καθ᾽ ἕνα πίστεως λόγον ἀλλήλοις συνδέουσα καὶ πρὸς μίαν ἐνδιασφίγγουσα σύμπνοιαν, ἧς ἀκρογωνιαῖος λίθος ἐστὶν ὁ