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joined to God, as beyond nature, and having become god by participation, like an immovable boundary-stone, alters the law of his own nature.

d'. He says one must supply the words: All things are possible for one who believes, namely, whatever alienates the mind from the world and the flesh. For these are the things possible for one who believes in God's sight.

QUESTION 34.

What again is the meaning of: "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it, and it will be yours"? How can someone believe that he receives all that he asks, when God alone knows whether what is asked for is beneficial or not? And if, out of ignorance, he asks for something that is not beneficial, how does He grant it? And if He does not grant what is unbeneficially asked for out of ignorance, how can someone believe regarding every request that he receives it, and it will be his?

Response. All the main points on this present topic, in summary, in the one before it

have been solved. For only those who have understood how one must believe are able to know what one must ask for, and how, and concerning what things. For not all have knowledge, just as not all have faith. Nevertheless, when the Lord said: Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; that is, before all things, the knowledge of the truth, and then the practice of the appropriate ways; He clearly showed that believers must seek only divine knowledge and the virtue which adorns it through works.(377) Since, therefore, there happen to be many things sought by believers for the knowledge of God and virtue, deliverance from passions, endurance of temptations, principles of virtues, modes of activities, the casting out of the soul’s disposition toward the flesh, the alienation of the sense’s relation to sensible things, the complete withdrawal of the mind from all created things; and simply myriad other things for the abstinence from evil and ignorance, and for the attainment of knowledge and virtue, rightly the Lord said: All things that you ask for, believing, you will receive; all things simply that contribute to the knowledge of God and virtue, saying that the pious must seek and ask for these alone, with knowledge and faith. For all these things are beneficial, and the Lord certainly gives them to those who ask. He, therefore, who for the sake of faith alone, that is, the immediate union with God, seeks all things that lead to that union, will certainly receive them. But he who, without this cause, seeks either other things or the aforementioned things, will not receive them; for he does not believe, but as an unbeliever he contrives his own glory through his own affairs.

QUESTION 35.

Since the Word became flesh, and not only flesh, but also blood and bones; and we are commanded to eat the flesh, to drink the blood, but not to break the bones, I ask to learn, what is this threefold power of the incarnate Word?

Response. The supersubstantial Word, wishing to come into substance as He Himself knows how, and of all

beings the creator, brings with Him the natural principles of all beings, both visible and intelligible, together with the incomprehensible concepts of His own divinity; of which, let the principles of the intelligible things be the blood of the Word; and let the principles of the sensible things be the visible flesh of the Word. Since, therefore, the Word is the teacher of the spiritual principles both in visible and in intelligible things; fittingly and according to reason He gives to the worthy, as flesh to eat, the knowledge in the principles of things seen; and as blood to drink, that in the principles of intelligible things

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τῷ Θεῷ συνημμένος, ὡς ὑπέρ φύσιν, καί τῇ μεθέξει θεός γεγενημένος, καθάπερ ὅρος ἀκίνητον, ἑαυτοῦ τόν τῆς φύσεως μετατίθησι νόμον.

δ΄. Προσυπακουστέον φησί τό· Πάντα δυνατά τῷ πιστεύοντι, τά ὅσα κόσμου καί σαρκός τόν νοῦν ἀλλοτριοῖ. Ταῦτα γάρ εἰσι τά δυνατά τῷ πιστεύοντι παρά Θεῷ.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Λ∆΄.

Τί πάλιν ἐστί· "∆ιά τοῦτο λέγω ὑμῖν, ὅτι πάντα ὅσα ἄν προσευχόμενοι αἰτεῖσθε, πιστεύετε ὅτι λαμβάνετε, καί ἔσται ὑμῖν;" Πῶς τις δύναται πιστεύειν, ὅτι πάντα λαμβάνει αἰτῶν, μόνου Θεοῦ εἰδότος εἰ συμφέρει τό αἰτούμενον, ἤ μή, Καί εἰ ἐξ ἀγνοίας ὅ οὐ συμφέρει αἰτεῖ, πῶς παρέχει; Καί εἰ οὐ παρέχει τό μή συμφερόντως ἐξ ἀγνοίας αἰτούμενον, πῶς πιστεύειν τις δύναται ἐπί παντί αἰτήματι ὅ τι λαμβάνει, καί ἔσται αὐτῷ;

Ἀπόκρισις. Πάντα μέν ἐπί τοῦ παρόντος κεφάλαια κατ᾿ ἐπιτομήν ἐν τῷ πρό αὐτοῦ

ἐπιλέλυται. Μόνων γάρ τῶν ἐπεγνωκότων πῶς δεῖ πιστεύειν, ἐστί τό εἰδέναι, τί δεῖ, καί πῶς, καί περί τίνων αἰτεῖσθαι. Οὐ γάρ πάντων ἡ γνῶσις, ὥσπερ οὐδέ πίστις. Πλήν ὁ Κύριος εἰπών· Ζητεῖτε πρῶτον τήν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ καί τήν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ· τουτέστι, πρό πάντων τήν ἐπίγνωσιν τῆς ἀληθείας, καί οὕτω τήν τῶν καθηκόντων τρόπων ἐξάσκησιν· σαφῶς ἔδειξε περί μόνης τῆς θείας γνώσεως δεῖν ζητεῖν τούς πιστεύοντας, καί τῆς αὐτήν κοσμούσης διά τῶν ἔργων ἀρετῆς.(377) Ἐπειδή γοῦν πολλά τυγχάνει τά πρός γνῶσιν Θεοῦ καί ἀρετήν ζητούμενα τοῖς πιστεύουσιν, ἀπαλλαγή παθῶν, ὑπομονή πειρασμῶν, ἀρετῶν λόγοι, τρόποι ἐνεργειῶν, ἐξήλωσις τῆς πρός πρός σάρκα τῆς ψυχῆς διαθέσεως, ἀποξένωσις τῆς πρός τά αἰσθητά τῆς αἰσθήσεως σχέσεως, τοῦ νοῦ παντελής ἀπό πάντων τῶν γεγονότων ἀναχώρησις· καί ἁπλῶς μυρία ἄλλα ἐστί τά πρός ἀποχήν μέν κακίας καί ἀγνωσίας, κατόρθωσιν δέ γνώσεως καί ἀρετῆς, εἰκότως ὁ Κύριος ἔφη· Πάντα ὅσα αἰτῆσθε πιστεύοντες, λήψεσθε· πάντα ἁπλῶς τά πρός ἐπίγνωσιν Θεοῦ καί ἀρετήν συντείνοντα, μόνα καί ζητεῖν καί αἰτεῖν, μετ᾿ ἐπιστήμης καί πίστεως δεῖν εἰπών τούς εὐσεβεῖς. Ταῦτα γάρ πάντα συμφέρει, καί πάντως δίδωσιν αὐτά τοῖς αἰτουμένοις ὁ Κύριος. Ὁ τοίνυν διά μόνην τήν πίστιν, ἤγουν τήν πρός Θεόν ἄμεσον ἕνωσιν, πάντα ζητῶν τά πρός τήν ἕνωσιν, πάντως λήψεται. Ὁ δέ ταύτης δίχα τῆς αἰτίας, κἄν ἄλλα, κἄν τά προειρημένα ζητῇ, οὐ λήψεται· οὐ γάρ πιστεύει, ἀλλ᾿ οἰκείαν ὡς ἄπιστος διά τῶν είων πραγματεύεται δόξαν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΛΕ΄.

Ἐπειδή ὁ Λόγος σάρξ ἐγένετο, καί οὐ μόνον σάρξ, ἀλλά καί αἷμα καί ὀστᾶ· καί κελευόμεθα ἐσθίειν μέν τήν σάρκα, πίνειν δέ τό αἷμα, μή συντρίβειν δέ τά ὀστᾶ, παρακαλῶ μαθεῖν, τίς ἡ τριμερής αὕτη τοῦ ἀνθρωπισθέντος Λόγου δύναμις;

Ἀπόκρισις. Εἰς οὐσίαν ἐλθεῖν βουληθείς ὡς οἶδεν αὐτός ὁ ὑπερούσιος Λόγος, καί πάντων

τῶν ὄντων δημιουργός, τούς τῶν ὄντων πάντων τῶν φαινομένων καί νοουμένων, μετά τῶν ἀκαταλήπτων τῆς οἰκείας θεότητος νοημάτων, φυσικούς ἐπιφέρεται λόγους· ὧν, τῶν μέν νοητῶν οἱ λόγοι, εἶεν τό αἷμα τοῦ Λόγου· τῶν δέ αἰσθητῶν οἱ λόγοι, ἡ φαινομένη Λόγου ἔστω σάρξ. Ἐπειδή τοίνυν, καί τῶν ἐν τοῖς φαινομένοις, καί τῶν ἐν τοῖς νοουμένοις πνευματικῶν λόγων ὑπάρχει διδάσκαλος ὁ Λόγος· πρεπόντως καί κατά λόγον δίδωσι τοῖς ἀξίοις, ὡς σάρκα φαγεῖν, τήν ἐν τοῖς λόγοις τῶν ὁρωμένων ἐπιστήμην· καί ὡς αἷμα πίνειν, τήν ἐν τοῖς λόγοις τῶν νοουμένων