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glory in their shame; whose memorial of unbelief perished with a sound; but, as I said, the faithful and spiritual Israel, which sees God through faith; gathered from all the nations, according to the election of grace, for a possession, a people, and a holy nation, and a royal priesthood, God promised to give, speaking through the angel to the Virgin, to the Savior God of all who was to be born of her. Which received its own confirmation through the very outcome of events; the Lord having fulfilled the promises to the fathers, and blessed and adopted all the nations in the spiritual Abraham, and having established Abraham himself in spirit through faith as the father of all nations; and having been seated on the spiritual throne of David, and reigning over the faithful house of Jacob for ever, a kingdom having no end.

SCHOLIA. a. In the time of Jeroboam, Israel fell away from the house of David by disbelieving God. b. An enumeration of the firstborn who have been cast out from the age, to whom

the Israelite people are also compared; and let us grant that concerning it was said condescendingly: "Israel is my firstborn son," as a firstborn he has been cast out because of the calling, through faith, of the people adopted after him from here.

c. He says that the brothers who were plotted against by the firstborn bear a type of the Lord and of the new people according to faith.

QUESTION 24.

What is the meaning of the passage in Acts concerning Peter: "When they had passed the first and the second guard, we came (he came) to the iron gate?"

Answer. The faithful and practical (329) mind, according to Saint Peter, being held by Herod, the law of skin (for Herod is interpreted as "of skin"; which is the mind of the flesh, enclosed by two guards [Fr. prisons] and one iron gate), is warred against both by the activity of the passions and by the assent of the mind to the passions; which, like guards, or rather prisons, having passed through by the word of practical philosophy as if by an angel, it comes to the iron gate, which leads into the city; I mean the firm and abrupt and invincible relation of the senses to sensible things; which the word of natural contemplation in the spirit opens, and then sends the mind forth fearlessly, of its own accord, to the kindred intelligible realities, free from the madness of Herod.

SCHOLION. a. He called the habit of evil and its activity "guards"; for assent is the characteristic of the

habit, which the evil one strives to make the saints do. And the iron gate is the natural relation of the senses to sensible things, from which, like an angel, the word of practical knowledge delivers the truly faithful.

QUESTION 25.

What is the meaning of, "I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God; and every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head; but every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head; for it is one and the same as

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δόξα ἐν τῇ αἰσχύνῃ αὐτῶν· ὧν τῆς ἀπιστίας ἀπώλετο τό μνημόσυνον μετ᾿ ἤχου· ἀλλ᾿, ὡς ἔφην, τόν πιστόν καί πνευματικόν Ἰσραήλ, καί ὁρῶντα Θεόν διά τῆς πίστεως· τόν ἐκ πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν συνειλεγμένον, κατ᾿ ἐκλογήν χάριτος, εἰς περιποίησιν, λαόν, καί ἅγιον ἔθνος, καί βασιλικόν ἱεράτευμα, ἐπηγγείλατο δώσειν διά τοῦ ἀγγέλου πρός τήν Παρθένον χρηματίζων ὁ Θεός, τῷ ἐξ αὐτῆς τεχθησομένῳ Σωτῆρι Θεῷ τῶν ὅλων. Ὅπερ δι᾿ αὐτῆς τῆς τῶν πραγμάτων ἐκβάσεως τήν οἰκείαν ἐδέξατο πίστωσιν· τοῦ Κυρίου τάς πρός τούς πατέρας ἐπαγγελίας πληρώσαντος, καί πάντα τά ἔθνη ἐν τῷ νοητῷ Ἀβράαμ εὐλογήσαντός τε καί υἱοθετήσαντος, καί πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν καταστήσαντος ἐν πνεύματι διά τῆς πίστεως αὐτόν πατέρα τόν Ἀβράαμ· καί καθεσθέντος ἐν τῷ πνευματικῷ θρόνῳ τοῦ ∆αβίδ, καί βασιλεύοντος ἐπί τόν πιστόν οἶκον Ἰακώβ εἰς τούς αἰῶνας, βασιλείαν πέρας οὐκ ἔχουσαν.

ΣΧΟΛΙΑ. α΄. Ἐπί τοῦ Ἱεροβάμ ἀπέστη ὁ Ἰσραήλ τοῦ οἴκου ∆αβίδ ἀπιστήσας τῷ Θεῷ. β΄. Ἀπαρίθμησις τῶν ἀπό τοῦ αἰῶνος ἐκβεβλημένων πρωτοτόκων, οἷς

εἰκαζόμενος καί ὁ Ἰσραηλίτης λαός· καί δῶμεν περί αὐτοῦ συμπεριφορικῶς εἰρῆσθαι τό· Υἱός μου πρωτότοκος Ἰσραήλ, ὡς πρωτότοκος ἀποβέβληται διά τήν τοῦ μετ᾿ αὐτόν εἰσποιηθέντος λαοῦ τῶν ἐντεῦθεν διά πίστεως κλῆσιν.

γ΄. Τούς ὑποβουλευθέντας ὑπό τῶν πρωτοτόκων ἀδελφούς, φέρειν τύπον φησί τοῦ Κυρίου καί τοῦ κατά πίστιν νέου λαοῦ.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Κ∆΄.

Τί ἐστι τό ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσι περί τοῦ Πέτρου κείμενον· " ∆ιελθόντες πρώτην φυλακήν καί δευτέραν, ἤλθομεν (ἦλθον) ἐπί τήν πύλην τήν σιδηρᾶν;"

Ἀπόκρισις. Ὁ πιστός, κατά Πέτρον τόν ἅγιον, καί πρακτικός (329) νοῦς, ὑπό Ἡρώδου

κρατούμενος, τοῦ δερματίνου νόμου (δερμάτινος γάρ ὁ Ἡρώδης ἑρμηνεύεται· Ὅπερ ἐστί, τό φρόνημα τῆς σαρκός, ὑπό δύο συγκλείεται φύλακε [Fr.φυλακάς] καί μίαν πύλην σιδηρᾶν), πολεμούμενος ἔκ τε τῆς τῶν παθῶν ἐνεργείας, καί τῆς κατά διάνοιαν ἐπί τοῖς πάθεσι συγκαταθέσεως· ἅστινας καθάπερ φυλακάς, ἤτοι εἰρκτάς διά τοῦ λόγου τῆς πρακτικῆς φιλοσοφίας, ὡς δι᾿ ἀγγέλου διαπεράσας, ἔρχεται ἐπί τήν πύλην τήν σιδηρᾶν, τήν φέρουσαν εἰς τήν πόλιν· τήν πρός τά αἰσθητά λέγω τῶν αἰσθήσεων στεῤῥάν καί ἀπότομον καί δυσκαταμάχητον σχέσιν· ἥν ὁ τῆς φυσικῆς ἐν πνεύματι θεωρίας διανοίγων λόγος, αὐτομάτην πρός τά συγγενῆ νοητά λοιπόν ἀφόβως τόν νοῦν παραπέμπει, τῆς Ἡρώδου μανίας ἐλεύθερον.

ΣΧΟΛΙΟΝ. α΄. Φυλακάς εἶπεν τήν ἕξιν τῆς κακίας καί τήν ἐνέργειαν· χαρακτήρ γάρ τῆς

ἕξεως ἡ συγκατάθεσις· ἐφ᾿ ἅς ὁ πονηρός ποιεῖν ἀγωνίζεται τούς ἁγίους. Πύλην δέ σιδηρᾶν τήν πρός τά αἰσθητά φυσικήν τῶν αἰσθήσεων σχέσιν, ὧν καθάπερ ἄγγελος ἐξαιρεῖται τόν ἀληθῶς πιστόν, ὁ τῆς πρακτικῆς γνώσεως λόγος.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΚΕ ΄.

Τί ἐστι, "Θέλω ὑμᾶς εἰδέναι, ὅτι παντός ἀνδρός ἡ κεφαλή ὁ Χριστός ἐστι, κεφαλή δέ γυναικός ὁ ἀνήρ, κεφαλή δέ Χριστοῦ ὁ Θεός· καί πᾶς ἀνήρ προσευχόμενος ἤ προφητεύων κατά κεφαλῆς ἔχων καταισχύνει τήν κεφαλήν αὐτοῦ· πᾶσα δέ γυνή προσευχομένη ἤ προφητεύουσα ἀκατακαλύπτῳ τῇ κεφαλῇ καταισχύνει τήν κεφαλήν αὐτῆς· ἕν γάρ καίτό