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he was utterly unconcerned, hastening to be united with Christ, according to the hypostasis of good things in appearance, after the passage of existing things in faith.

QUESTION 30.

What is the meaning of: "Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" What is the difference between the cup and the baptism?

Response. The Lord's baptism is a type of our voluntary labors for the sake of virtue, according to our intention; through which, washing away the stains on our conscience, we accept the voluntary death of our free will (369) towards phenomena; but the cup is a type of the involuntary temptations that rise up against us for the sake of the truth, from circumstances, against our free will; through which, preferring the divine longing even to nature itself, we willingly undergo the circumstantial death of nature. Therefore, the baptism has this difference from the cup, that baptism, for the sake of virtue, makes the will dead to the pleasures of life; while the cup persuades the pious to prefer the truth even to nature itself. He placed the cup before the baptism, because virtue is for the sake of truth, but truth is not for the sake of virtue. Hence, he who practices virtue for the sake of truth is not wounded by the arrows of vainglory; but he who pursues truth for the sake of virtue has conceit as a housemate of vainglory.

SCHOLIA. a. The Lord's baptism, he says, is the complete mortification of our free will with respect to the sensible world; but the cup has become the denial, for the sake of truth, even of our present life itself.

b. He says that truth is divine knowledge; and virtue, the struggles for its sake of those who long for it. Therefore, he who endures labors of virtue for the sake of knowledge is not vainglorious, knowing that truth is by nature incomprehensible through labors. For the first is not by nature circumscribed by the second. But he who pursues knowledge for the sake of struggles is entirely vainglorious, as one who thinks he has received the crowns before the sweat; not knowing that the labors are for the sake of the crowns, but the crowns are not for the sake of the labors. For every method by nature becomes unpracticed, when that for which it is naturally pursued has been accomplished, or seems to have been accomplished.

QUESTION 31.

If God does not dwell in temples made with hands, how did he dwell in the temple of the Jews?

Response. God, who wisely cares for the objects of his providence according to proportion, first, through types, guiding in a connatural way those who are administered through the senses towards the truth, invisibly mingled himself with all the types given to the ancient people, effecting the ascent of those being instructed. Therefore, God dwelt in the temple of the Jews typologically, but not truly, circumscribing by such a dwelling around the temple [Fr. dwelling in it], the ineffable counsel of the whole mystagogy. For only the pure intellect is most suitable as a dwelling place for God; for whose sake

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παντελῶς οὐκ ἐφρόντιζεν ἑνωθῆναι σπεύδων τῷ Χριστῷ, κατά τήν ἐν εἴδει τῶν ἀγαθῶν ὑπόστασιν, μετά τήν ἐν πίστει τῶν ὄντων διάβασιν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Λ΄.

Τί ἐστι τό· "∆ύνασθε τό ποτήριον, ὅ ἐγώ πίνω, ποεῖν, καί τό βάπτισμα, ὅ ἐγώ βαπτίζομαι, βαπτισθῆναι;" Τίς ἡ διαφορά τοῦ ποτηρίου καί τοῦ βαπτίσματος;

Ἀπόκρισις. Τό τοῦ Κυρίου βάπτισμα τῶν ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς κατά πρόθεσιν ἑκουσίων καί

ἡμετέρων πόνων τύπος ὑπάρχει· δι᾿ ὧν τάς κατά συνείδησιν ἀποῤῥύπτοντες κηλῖδας, τόν πρός τά φαινόμενα τῆς προαιρέσεως (369) ἑκούσιον καταδεχόμεθα θάνατον· τό δέ ποτήριον, τῶν ἐκ περιστάσεως παρά προαίρεσιν ἐπανισταμένων ἡμῖν ὑπέρ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀκουσίων πειρασμῶν τύπος ἐστί· δι᾿ ὧν καί αὐτῆς προκρίνοντες τόν θεῖον πόθον τῆς φύσεως, ἑκόντες τόν περιστατικόν ὑπερχόμεθα τῆς φύσεως θάνατον. Ταύτην οὖν ἔχει τήν διαφοράν τό βάπτισμα πρός τό ποτήριον, ὅτι τό μέν βάπτισμα ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς πρός τά ἡδέα τοῦ βίου, νεκράν ἐργάζεται τήν προαίρεσιν· τό δέ ποτήριον, τήν ἀλήθειαν καί αὐτῆς προκρίνει πείθει τῆς φύσεως τούς εὐσεβεῖς. Πρότερον δέ τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἔθετο τό ποτήριον, ὅτι διά τήν ἀλήθειάν ἐστιν ἡ ἀρετή· ἀλλ᾿ οὐ διά τήν ἀρετήν ἡ ἀλήθεια. Ὅθεν ὁ διά τήν ἀλήθειαν πράττων τήν ἀρετήν, κενοδοξίας οὐ τιτρώσκεται βέλεσιν· ὁ δέ τήν ἀλήθειαν ἀρετῆς ἕνεκεν ἐπιτηδεύων, σύνοικον ἔχει τῆς κενοδοξίας τήν οἴησιν.

ΣΧΟΛΙΑ. α΄. Τό τοῦ Κυρίου βάπτισμα, φησίν, ἐστίν ἡ παντελής πρός τόν αἰσθητόν κόσμον

τῆς ἡμετέρας προαιρέσεως νέκρωσις· τό δέ ποτήριον, καί αὐτῆς ἡμῶν τῆς παρούσης ζωῆς ὑπέρ ἀληθείας καθέστηκεν ἄρνησις.

β΄. Ἀλήθειαν μέν εἶναι λέγει τήν θείαν γνῶσιν· ἀρετήν δέ, τούς ὑπέρ αὐτῆς τῶν αὐτῆς ἐφιεμένων ἀγῶνας. Ὁ τοίνυν γνώσεως ἕνεκεν ἀρετῆς ὑπομένων πόνους, οὐ κενοδοξεῖ, γινώσκων ἀπερίληπτον εἶναι φύσει τοῖς πόνοις τήν ἀλήθειαν. Τοῖς δευτέροις γάρ οὐ περιγράφεται φύσει τό πρῶτον. Ὁ δέ τήν γνῶσιν διά τούς ὑπέρ ἀγῶνας ἐπιτηδεύων, πάντως κενοδοξεῖ, ὡς εἰληφέναι δοκῶν τούς στεφάνους πρό τῶν ἱδρώτων· οὐ εἰδώς, ὅτι διά τούς στεφάνους οἱ πόνοι, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ διά τούς πόνους οἱ στέφανοι. Φύσει γάρ ἀμελέτητος πᾶσα καθέστηκε μέθοδος, τοῦ δι᾿ ὅ πέφυκεν ἐπιτηδεύεσθαι ἐξανυσθέντος, ἤ ἐξανυσθῆναι δόξαντος.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΛΑ΄.

Εἰ οὐκ ἐν χειροποιήτοις ναοῖς ὁ Θεός κατοικεῖ, πῶς κατῴκει ἐν τῷ ναῷ τῶν Ἰουδαίων; Ἀπόκρισις. Ὁ τῆς ἀναλογίας σοφῶς τῶν προνοουμένων φροντίζων ὁ Θεός, πρότερον διά

τῶν τύπων συμφυῶς τοῖς δι᾿ αἴσθησιν οἰκονομουμένοις πρός τήν ἀλήθειαν ποδηγῶν, πᾶσιν ἑαυτόν τοῖς δοθεῖσι τῷ παλαιῷ λαῷ τύποις ἀφανῶς ἐγκατέμιξεν, ἐνεργῶν τήν τῶν παιδαγωγουμένων ἀνάβασιν. ᾬκει τοίνυν ἐν τῷ ναῷ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ὁ Θεός, τυπικῶς, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ ἀληθῶς, περιγράφων τῇ τοιᾷδε περί τόν ναόν οἰκήσει [Fr. κατ᾿ αὐτόν οἰκήσει], πάσης τῆς μυσταγωγίας τήν ἄῤῥητον βουλήν. Ἐπιτηδειότατος γάρ πρός κατοικητήριον Θεοῦ μόνος ὁ καθαρός ὑπάρχει νοῦς· δι᾿ ὅν