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gives. But the symbolic, through the things being performed, appropriates one to God, both by an actual state and by an impression, which he also called "uninstructed mystagogies."

"Or of the legal tradition": That not only the legal tradition, but also the rite of our sacred mysteries needed symbols. And it is not at all surprising, since even the angels advance the divine mysteries through riddles. And the Lord himself appears theologizing in parables. Of the tradition of the theologians, one part is ineffable and mystical, which is also symbolic and initiatory, and effective;

while the other is manifest and known, which is philosophical and demonstrative and persuasive.

"Of symbols": A natural explanation having the cause, for why some things of Scripture are handed down as symbolic, and others as pure.

(15∆_464> "Through riddles": Through riddles, as the angel in Zechariah prefiguring and speaking the things concerning Jesus son of Jozadak and his robe; and in Daniel, Gabriel narrating the things concerning Christ and dictating the mysteries with him, and other such things. But he says "theurgic" either as things that make divine the one who partakes of them, or as things wrought by God

"Through a typical partaking of the table": He calls "partaking of the table" the mysteries performed at the divine table through the holy bread and the cup of blessing. But note that both the old and the new Scripture hand down many things through symbols, and for what reason.

[a] "The human life": I think he said the human life is "indivisible" and "divisible," the one on account of the soul's indivisibility and incorporeality, the other on account of the body's variety and complexity. But see how wonderfully he presents the things of the soul. For he says one part of it is indivisible, which he also calls impassible; and this is the purest part of the soul and, as one might say, its very flower, which is the intellect (nous), which also pours forth the rational faculty, according to which intellect the soul is also intellectual, in which very intellect the simple and, as it were, naked mysteries without symbols are contemplated with knowledge. But the divisible part of it, which he also calls passible, this is the power of the soul which is united to the senses through the spirit that is between the soul and the body, in which spirit are fixed the powers of sensation and of the thoughts known through reflection. This, then, is the passible part of the soul, inasmuch as through the senses it is brought down into affection for sensible things. This part, so to speak, of the soul, unlike the intellect, is not pure, nor can it contemplate divine, knowable, and intelligible things directly, but needs some thicker medium, as it were, to guide it to the simple and indivisible things, which the symbols do, guiding it through the divisible things, that is, the sensible and apparent things, to the ineffable.

(15∆_466> [b] "And the impassible part of the soul": The intellectual part of the soul is impassible, not as being entirely without passion, but as not having the occasions for suffering from without, just as the body is subject to many evil afflictions, which the soul does not endure without its own free will. But its passible part is that which perceives external things through the senses, to which he said it is akin for divine things to be transmitted bodily through symbols, by which we are led up to the vision of immaterial things.

[c] "of clear theology": That even those who have heard a theology that is clear and stripped of veils, fashion certain types in themselves, guiding the hearers toward understanding; "Alternatively": Of clear theology, such as "The Lord appeared to Abraham, or to Moses" and, "The Lord said" and, "The word of the Lord came to the prophet," and such things. "Clear," however, as not through typical symbols. He says, therefore, a type is fashioned, which we devise for such sayings—a pious contemplation and one suitable to the divine nature.

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δίδωσι. Τό δέ συμβολικόν διά τῶν τελουμένων προσοικειοῖ τῷ Θεῷ, πραγματικῇ ἕξει τε καί τυπώσει, ὅπερ καί «ἀδιδάκτους μυσταγωγίας» ἐκάλεσεν.

«Ἤ τῆς νομικῆς παραδόσεως»: Ὅτι οὐ μόνον ἡ νομική παράδοσις, ἀλλά καί ἡ τελετή τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς μυστηρίων τῶν ἱερῶν ἐδεήθη συμβόλων. Καί οὐδέν θαυμαστόν, ὅπου καί οἱ ἄγγελοι δι' αἰνιγμάτων τά θεῖα μυστήρια προάγουσι. Καί αὐτός ὁ Κυριος ἐν παραβολαῖς φαίνεται θεολογῶν. Τῆς τῶν θεολόγων παραδόσεως ἡ μέν ἀπόρρητος καί μυστική, ἥτις ἐστί καί συμβολική καί τελεστική, καί δραστική·

ἡ δέ ἐμφανής καί γνώριμος, ἥτις ἐστί φιλόσοφος καί ἀποδεικτική καί πιθανή.

«Συμβόλων»: Φυσιολογία τήν αἰτίαν ἔχουσα, διά τί τά μέν συμβολικά, τά δέ ἄχραντα τῆς Γραφῆς παραδέδοται.

(15∆_464> «∆ι' αἰνιγμάτων»: ∆ι' αἰνιγμάτων, ὡς ὁ παρά τῷ Ζαχαρίᾳ ἄγγελος τά περί τοῦ Ἰησοῦ τοῦ Ἰοσεδέκ καί τῆς στολῆς αὐτοῦ τυπῶν καί λέγων· καί παρά τῷ ∆ανιήλ ὁ Γαβριήλ τά περί Χριστοῦ διηγούμενος καί τά σύν αὐτῷ μυστικά ὑπαγορεύων, καί ἕτερα τοιαῦτα. «Θεουργά» δέ φησιν ἤ τά Θεόν ἀποτελοῦντα τόν μετέχοντα αὐτῶν, ἤ τά παρά Θεοῦ εἰργασμένα

«∆ιά τυπικῆς τραπεζώσεως»: Τραπέζωσίν φησι τά ἐν τῇ θείᾳ τραπέζῃ διά τοῦ ἁγίου ἄρτου καί τοῦ ποτηρίου τῆς εὐλογίας τελούμενα μυστήρια. Σημείωσαι δέ, ὅτι καί ἡ παλαιά καί ἡ νέα Γραφή πολλά διά συμβόλων παραδίδωσι, καί διά τι.

[α'] «Τήν ἀνθρωπίνην ζωήν»: «Ἀμέριστον» οἶμαι εἰρηκέναι αὐτόν τήν ἀνθρωπίνην ζωήν καί «μεριστήν», τό μέν διά τό τῆς ψυχῆς ἀμερές καί ἀσώματον, τό δέ διά τό τοῦ σώματος ποικίλον τε καί πολυμερές. Ὅρα δέ, πῶς θαυμασίως τά τῆς ψυχῆς παραδίδωσι. Τό μέν γάρ αὐτῆς ἀμέριστόν φησιν, ὅ καί ἀπαθές καλεῖ· τοῦτο δέ ἐστι τό τῆς ψυχῆς ἀκραιφνέστατον καί αὐτό, ὡς ἄν τις εἴποι, τό ἄνθος, ὅπερ ἐστίν ὁ νοῦς, ὁ καί τό λογικόν προχέων, καθ' ὅν νοῦν καί νοερά ἡ ψυχή, ἐν ᾧπερ νῷ τά ἁπλᾶ καί οἷον γυμνά συμβόλων χωρίς μυστήρια ἐπιστητῶς ἐποπτεύεται. Τό δέ αὐτῆς μεριστόν ἐστιν, ὅ καί παθητικόν φησι, τοῦτο δέ ἐστιν ἡ τῆς ψυχῆς δύναμις, ἡ πρός τάς αἰσθήσεις ἑνουμένη διά τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ μέσου τῆς ψυχῆς καί τοῦ σώματος, ἐν ᾧ πνεύματι ἐναπεστηριγμέναι εἰσίν αἱ τῆς αἰσθήσεως καί τῶν διανοήσεων τῶν διά τῆς σκέψεως γνωριζομένων δυνάμεις. Τοῦτο οὖν παθητικόν ἐστι τῆς ψυχῆς, ἅτε διά τῶν αἰσθήσεων εἰς προσπάθειαν ταύτης τῶν αἰσθητῶν καταφερομένης. Τοῦτο δέ τό μέρος, φέρε εἰπεῖν, τῆς ψυχῆς, ὡς ὁ νοῦς, οὐκ ἔστι καθαρόν, οὔτε ἐποπτεῦσαι δύναται τά θεῖα καί ἐπιστητά καί νοητά ἀμέσως, ἀλλά δεῖται μέσου τινός παχύτερου, καθάπερ χειραγωγοῦντος αὐτό ἐπί τά ἁπλᾶ καί ἀμέριστα, ὅπερ ποιεῖ τά σύμβολα διά τῶν μεριστῶν, τουτέστι τῶν αἰσθητῶν καί φαινομένων ἐπί τά ἄρρητα ξεναγοῦν.

(15∆_466> [β'] «Καί τό μέν ἀπαθές τῆς ψυχῆς»: Ἀπαθές τῆς ψυχῆς τό νοερόν, οὐχ ὡς πάντῃ ἀμέτοχον πάθους, ἀλλ' ὡς ἔξωθεν τοῦ πάσχειν οὐκ ἔχον τάς ἀφορμάς, ὥσπερ τό σῶμα πλείστοις ὑποπίπτον κακοῖς συμπτώμασιν, ἅπερ ἡ ψυχή ἄνευ τῆς οἰκείας ἑκουσιότητος οὐχ ὑπομένει. Παθητικόν δέ αὐτῆς τό διά τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἀντιληπτικόν τῶν ἔξωθεν, ᾧτινι συγγενές ἔφη τό διά συμβόλων σωματικῶς παραδίδοσθαι τά θεῖα, δι' ὧν πρός τήν τῶν ἀΰλων ἀναγόμεθα θεάν.

[γ'] «θεολογίας σαφοῦς»: Ὅτι καί οἱ θεολογίας σαφοῦς καί γυμνῆς προκαλυμμάτων ἀκηκοότες, τύπους τινάς ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἀναπλάττουσι πρός νόησιν τούς ἀκροωμένους χειραγωγοῦντες· «Ἄλλως»· Θεολογίας σαφοῦς, οἷον «Ὤφθη Κύριος τῷ Ἀβραάμ, ἤ τῷ Μωϋσεῖ» καί, «Εἶπεν ὁ Κύριος» καί, «Ἐγένετο ὁ λόγος Κυρίου πρός τόν προφήτην», καί τά τοιαῦτα. «Σαφοῦς» δέ, ὡς οὐ διά συμβόλων τυπωτικῶν. Τύπον οὖν φησιν ἀναπλαττόμενον, ἥν ἐπινοοῦμεν ἐπί τοῖς τοιούτοις ρητοῖς εὐσεβῆ θεωρίαν καί τῇ θεία φύσει κατάλληλον.