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“And certain feasts”: He says “certain feasts” are the banquets, as in the Gospel, when the fatted calf, and the rest, is prepared for the prodigal son.

“The manifold and crooked things”: In these things, he speaks of failures of promises, that in some of the prophecies, as it seems at first glance, the things promised did not receive their fulfillment; such as, to cite a few from many, what was said to Jacob, “Be lord over your brother,” and the things concerning the permanence of the kingdom of the seed of David, which in their manifest sense missed their outcome, but according to accurate contemplation, not at all. For that of Jacob has been fulfilled through the dominion of his descendants and by its elevation to Christ, just as also the promises to Abraham (15∆_460> concerning the possession of the land and the blessing of the nations. But the things to David refer only to Christ, and likewise also the things concerning Solomon that seem to have been said in the 44th psalm. Therefore, the exegetical renderings in these matters, having variety, he called manifold sophistries, not as things that artfully reason against the truth, but as things that clearly unfold what is sought.

(Concerning the Song of songs, that it is holy according to these saints; for Theodore of Mopsuestia slandered it very foolishly).

“Of the tokens”: He speaks of tokens that happen symbolically, which for their own sake, that is, for the purpose of being understood in this way, as the appearance has it and the bare letter dictates; he says it is not prefigured, but is a veil and a type of deeper thoughts and conceptions. And he says this, that the symbols did not devise the mystical tokens for their own sake, but for the sake of the unworthy, lest, being set before them, they might seem easily despised.

“The one, unutterable”: He explains the unutterable and mystical tradition of Scripture itself, calling it symbolic, as it was given by oracle through symbols; but also initiatory, as it hands down the rites of the mysteries in symbols through the priestly tradition. And he says that this unutterable, or symbolic, tradition has the inexpressible, or mystical, interwoven with the expressible, that is, with the symbol permitted to be spoken. For the true and unpublished thing is overshadowed in the symbol, as in the legal pascha the true one, of which it is said: “Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us.” But the second part of the theological tradition is manifest and knowable, yet not through symbols; which he calls both philosophical and demonstrative, such as that which hands down the ethical and physical and practical things of creation. And this more manifest part has a certain persuasion, and the truth bound (15∆_462> to the things said; for in this respect it is also demonstrative. But the symbolic does not have persuasion, but a certain divine, unseen, and active energy, which establishes mystical and contemplative souls through mystical, that is symbolic, riddles, and, as it were, founds them in Christ, through mysteries not taught by word, but in silence and by revelation of the illuminations of God, it enlightens the mind to the understandings of the ineffable mysteries. But note, how the tradition of the theologians is twofold, and how, and what it is.

“And the one symbolic”: Symbolic and initiatory is that which is accomplished through symbols, such as the things of the legal worship, and the mysteries of the mystical liturgy among us, even if ours are more lofty and spiritual. “But philosophical and demonstrative” is that which consists in the understanding of created things, and of certain divine economies, and of the contemplative exegesis of the things said about God in the Scriptures.

“It persuades and binds down”: It persuades and binds down, as it were placing a certain bond and seal on the things said, the truth, and what is trustworthy to those who hear

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«Καί δαῖτάς τινας»: ∆αῖτάς τινας τάς εὐωχίας φησίν, ὡς ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ, ὅτε ὁ μόσχος ὁ σιτευτός, καί τά λοιπά, γίνεται ἐν τῷ ἀσώτῳ υἱῷ.

«Τά πολυειδῆ καί λοξά»: Ἁμαρτίας ἐπαγγελιῶν ἐν τούτοις φησί τό ἔν τισι τῶν προρρήσεων, κατά τό πρόχειρον δοκεῖν, μή τέλος λαβεῖν τά ἐπαγγελθέντα· οἷόν ἐστιν, ὡς ἐκ πολλῶν ὀλίγα παραθέσθαι, τό πρός τόν Ἰακώβ λεχθέν, «Γίνου κύριος τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σοῦ», καί τά περί τῆς διαμονῆς τῆς εἰς τήν βασιλείαν τοῦ σπέρματος ∆αυίδ, ἅπερ ἐν τῷ προφανεῖ διήμαρτον τῆς ἐκβάσεως, κατά δέ τήν ἀκριβῆ θεωρίαν οὐδαμῶς. Τό μέν γάρ τοῦ Ἰακώβ διά τῆς τῶν ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἐπικρατείας καί τῆς εἰς Χριστόν ἀναγωγῆς πεπλήρωται, ὥσπερ καί αἱ πρός τόν Ἀβραάμ ἐπαγγελίαι (15∆_460> περί τῆς κατασχέσεως τῆς γῆς καί τῆς τῶν ἐθνῶν εὐλογίας. Τά δέ πρός ∆αυίδ μόνως εἰς τόν Χριστόν ἀναφέρεται, Ὁμοίως δέ καί τά περί Σολομῶντος δοκοῦντα ἐν τῷ μδ' εἰρῆσθαι ψαλμῷ. Τάς οὖν ἐν τούτοις ἐξηγητικάς ἀποδόσεις, τό ποικίλον ἐχούσας, πολυειδῆ ἐκάλεσε σοφίσματα, οὐχ ὡς παραλογιστικῶς τεχναζόμενα τήν ἀλήθειαν, ἀλλ' ὡς σαφῶς ἀναπτύσσοντα τό ζητοῦμενον.

(Περί τοῦ Ἄσματος τῶν ἀσμάτων, ὅτι ἅγιον κατά τούς ἁγίους τούτους· Θεόδωρος γάρ ὁ Μοψουεστίας διέβαλεν αὐτό ἡλιθίως πάνυ).

«Τῶν συνθημάτων»: Συνθημάτων φησί τῶν συμβολικῶς γινομένων, ἃ ὑπέρ ἑαυτῶν, τουτέστιν ὑπέρ τοῦ οὕτως νοεῖσθαι αὐτά, ὡς τό φαινόμενον ἔχει καί τό γράμμα ψιλῶς ὑπαγορεύει· οὐ τυπωθῆναί φησιν, ἀλλά προκάλυμμα εἶναι καί τύπον τῶν βαθυτέρων νοήσεων καί ὑπολήψεων. Τοῦτο δέ φησιν, ὅτι τά σύμβολα οὐχ ὑπέρ ἑαυτῶν τά συνθήματα τά μυστικά ἐπενόησαν, ἀλλά διά τούς ἀναξίους, ἵνα μή, προκείμενα αὐτοῖς, εὐκαταφρόνητα δοκοίη.

«Τήν μέν ἀπόρρητον»: Τήν μέν ἀπόρρητον καί μυστικήν παράδοσιν τῆς Γραφῆς αὐτήν ἐπεξηγεῖται, καλῶν συμβολικήν, ἅτε διά συμβόλων χρησμοδοτηθεῖσαν· ἀλλά καί τελεστικήν, ὡς τάς τελετάς τῶν μυστηρίων ἐν συμβόλοις παραδιδοῦσαν διά τῆς ἱερατικῆς παραδόσεως. Ταύτην δέ τήν ἀπόρρητον ἤτοι συμβολικήν φησιν ἔχειν συμπεπλεγμένην τῷ ρητῷ, τουτέστι τῷ ρηθῆναι ἐπιτετραμμένῳ συμβόλῳ, καί τό ἄρρητον, ἤτοι μυστικόν. Συνεσκίασται γάρ ἐν τῷ συμβόλῳ τό ἀληθές καί ἀδημοσίευτον, ὡς ἐν τῷ νομικῷ πάσχα τό ἀληθές, ὅπερ εἴρηται· «Τό Πάσχα ἡμῶν ὑπέρ ἡμῶν ἐτύθη Χριστός». Τό δέ δεύτερον μόριον τῆς θεολογικῆς παραδόσεως ἐμφανές ἐστι καί γνώριμον, οὐ μήν διά συμβόλων· ὅπερ καί φιλόσοφον καλεῖ καί ἀποδεικτικόν, οἷόν ἐστι τό τά ἠθικά καί φυσικά καί πρακτικά τῆς δημιουργίας παραδιδόν. Τοῦτο δέ τό ἐμφανέστερον ἔχει τινά πειθώ, καί συνδεδεμένην (15∆_462> τήν ἀλήθειαν τοῖς λεγομένοις· κατά τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι καί ἀποδεικτικόν. Τό δέ συμβολικόν οὐκ ἔχει τό πείθειν, ἀλλ' ἐνέργειαν τινα θείαν ἀφανῆ καί δραστήριον, ἥτις μυστιριώδεις καί θεωρητικάς ψυχάς διά τῶν μυστικῶν, ἤτοι συμβολικών, αἰνιγμάτων ἐνιδρύει, καί οἱονεί θεμελιοῖ εἰς Χριστόν, διά τῶν μή λόγῳ διδασκομένων μυστηρίων, ἀλλά σιγῇ καί ἀποκαλύψει ἐλλάμψεων Θεοῦ φωτίζει τόν νοῦν εἰς τάς τῶν ἀρρήτων μυστηρίων κατανοήσεις. Σημείωσαι δέ, ὡς διπλῆ ἐστι τῶν θεολόγων ἡ παράδοσις, καί πῶς, καί ποία ἐστί.

«Καί τήν μέν συμβολικήν»: Συμβολικήν καί τελεστικήν τήν διά συμβόλων τελουμένην, οἷα τά τῆς νομικῆς λατρείας, καί τά τῆς μυστικῆς τῆς παρ' ἡμῖν ἱερουργίας μυστήρια, εἰ καί μᾶλλον ὑψηλά τε καί πνευματικά τά ἡμέτερα. «Φιλόσοφον δέ καί ἀποδεικτικήν» τήν διά τῆς κατανοήσεως τῶν κτισμάτων, καί τινων θείων οἰκονομιῶν καί τῆς θεωρητικῆς ἐξηγήσεως τῶν περί Θεοῦ λεγομένων ἐν ταῖς Γραφαῖς συνισταμένην.

«Πείθει καί καταδεῖται»: Πείθει καί καταδεῖται, οἱονεί δεσμόν τίνα καί σφραγῖδα ἐπιτίθησι τοῖς λεγομένοις τήν ἀλήθειαν, καί τό πιστόν τοῖς ἀκούουσι