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knowledge; whom Wisdom also through the mixing bowl, and of the sacrifices, prepared from afar mystically through the Proverbs. But the bones, that is, the principles concerning the Godhead that are beyond understanding, which are infinitely distant in equal measure from every created nature, He does not give; since the nature of beings does not possess, by any power, the capacity for a relationship with them.

And again, the flesh of the Word is true virtue; and the blood, unerring knowledge; and the bones, the ineffable theology. For in the manner of blood, being changed in form into flesh, so also is knowledge through practical activity transformed into virtue; and like bones which are constitutive of blood and flesh, so also the principles concerning the Godhead that are beyond all (380) understanding, existing within beings, both create and hold together the essences of beings for existence, in an unknowable way; and they constitute all knowledge and all virtue.

But if one were also to say that the principles of judgment and providence are the flesh and the blood, as things that will certainly one day be eaten and drunk; and that the ineffable principles concerning the Godhead hidden within them are the bones, he has not, I think, stepped outside of what is probable.

Perhaps, again, the flesh of the Word is also the perfect return and restoration of nature to itself through virtue and knowledge; and the blood, the deification which is to hold it together by grace for eternal well-being; and the bones, the unknowable power itself which through deification holds nature together for eternal well-being.

But if one were to speak more subtly, that the flesh is the voluntary mortification through the virtues; and the blood, the perfection through death for the sake of truth in time of trial; and the bones, the primary, unattainable principles concerning the Godhead for us, this one too has spoken well, and has by no means fallen away from the fitting meaning.

SCHOLIA. a. Cod. Fr. He speaks of the essence and the power of each of the beings and the energy, in which all beings are contemplated, and through which God is known to us as creator and provider and judge. Or the dyad of beings, of perceptible things, their matter and form; and of intelligible things, the essence and the accident; or virtue and knowledge, through which the one who is beyond knowledge is known to the worthy.

b. Ineffable theology is the complete unknowingness by way of transcendence, which is unknown to the same extent that things naturally knowable are known.

c. He took the blood to mean deification, as the life that will belong to those who will be deemed worthy of it. For blood is a symbol of life.

QUESTION 36.

What are the bodies and bloods of the irrational animals, through which the Israelites, when they worshipped, ate the bodies, but not the blood, but poured it out around the base of the altar?

Answer. They bore a type of those being initiated into piety, those who long ago worshipped God according to the law in shadow, being themselves barely able to understand the visible ordinances of the typical symbols. Since, therefore, not for them primarily, but for us the law was given, being spiritually perfected through us according to Christ, let us examine with piety the principle of the sacrifices of that time.

The one being initiated into piety, being taught about the works of righteousness, performs only the practical act with all obedience and faith, (381) just like flesh

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γνῶσιν· οὕς καί ἡ Σοφία διά τοῦ κρατῆρος, καί τῶν θυμάτων πόῤῥωθεν μυστικῶς διά τῶν Παροιμιῶν ἡτοιμάσατο. Τά δέ ὀστᾶ, τουτέστι τούς ὑπέρ νόησιν περί Θεότητος λόγους, πάσῃ γενητῇ φύσει κατά τό ἴσον ἀπείρως ἀπέχοντας, οὐ δίδωσιν· οὐκ ἐχούσης τῆς τῶν ὄντων φύσεως κατά τινα δύναμιν πρός τούτους τήν ἐπιδεχομένην σχέσιν.

Καί πάλιν, σάρξ ἐστι τοῦ Λόγου, ἡ ἀληθής ἀρετή· αἷμα δέ, ἡ ἄπταιστος γνῶσις· ὀστᾶ δέ, ἡ ἀπόῤῥητος θεολογία. Τρόπον γάρ αἵματος, κατ᾿ εἶδος εἰς σάρκα μεταβαλλομένου, καί ἡ γνῶσις διά τῆς πρακτικῆς, εἰς ἀρετήν μεταπλάττεται· καί ὀστέων δίκην συστατικῶν αἵματος καί σαρκός, καί οἱ πάσης (380) ἐπέκεινα νοήσεως περί θεότητος λόγοι τοῖς οὖσιν ἐνυπάρχοντες, τάς τῶν ὄντων ἀγνώστως καί ποιοῦσι καί πρός τό εἶναι συνέχουσιν, οὐσίας· καί πᾶσαν γνῶσιν, καί πᾶσαν ἀρετήν συνιστῶσιν.

Εἰ δέ καί τούς περί κρίσεως καί προνοίας λόγους εἶναι τήν σάρκα καί τό αἷμα, ὡς πάντως ποτέ βρωθησομένους καί ποθησομένους· τούς δέ τούτοις ἐγκεκρυμμένους ἀῤῥήτους περί θεότητος λόγους ὀστᾶ φήσειέ τις, οὐκ ἔξω βέβηκεν, ὡς οἶμαι, τοῦ εἰκότος.

Τυχόν δέ σάρξ ἐστι πάλιν τοῦ Λόγου, καί ἡ τῆς φύσεως τελεία πρός ἑαυτήν δι᾿ ἀρετῆς καί γνώσεως ἐπάνοδος καί ἀποκατάστασις· αἷμα δέ, ἡ ταύτην πρός τό ἀεί εὖ εἶναι χάριτι συνέχειν μέλλουσα θέωσις· ὀστᾶ δέ, αὐτή ἡ πρός τό ἀεί εὖ εἶναι διά θεώσεως συνέχουσα τήν φύσιν ἄγνωστος δύναμις.

Εἰ δέ καί τό λεπτότερον εἴποι τις, ὅτι σάρξ ἐστιν ἡ διά τῶν ἀρετῶν ἑκούσιος νέκρωσις· αἷμα δέ, ἡ κατά περίστασιν ὑπέρ τῆς ἀληθείας διά τοῦ θανάτου τελείωσις· ὀστᾶ δέ, τούς πρώτους ἡμῖν ἀνεφίκτους περί θεότητος λόγους, καλῶς καί οὗτος ἔφη, καί τῆς πρεπούσης ἐννοίας οὐδαμῶς διαπέπτωκεν.

ΣΧΟΛΙΑ. α΄. Cod. Fr. Τήν οὐσίαν λέγει καί τήν δύναμιν ἑκάστου τῶν ὄντων καί τήν

ἐνέργειαν, ἐφ᾿ οἷς θεωροῦνται πάντα τά ὄντα, καί δι᾿ ὧν γινώσκεται ἡμῖν ὁ Θεός δημιουργός καί προνοητής καί κριτής. Ἤ τήν δυάδα τῶν ὄντων, τῶν μέν αἰσθητῶν, τῶν τήν ὕλην καί τό εἶδος· τῶν δέ νοητῶν, τήν οὐσίαν καί τό συμβεβηκός· ἤ τήν ἀρετήν καί τήν γνῶσιν, δι᾿ ὧν τοῖς ἀξίοις ἐγνῶσθαι ὁ ὑπεράγνωστος.

β΄. Ἀπόῤῥητός ἐστι θεολογία, ἡ παντελής καθ᾿ ὑπεροχήν ἀγνωσία, ἥτις τοσοῦτον ἠγνόηται, ὅσον ἔγνωσται τά φυσικῶς γινωσκόμενα.

γ΄. Τό αἷμα εἰς τήν θέωσιν ἐλάμβανε, ὡς ζωήν ἐσομένην τῶν ἀξιωθησομένων αὐτῆς. Ζωῆς γάρ τό αἷμα σύμβολον.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Λστ΄.

Τί ἐστι τῶν ἀλόγων ζώων σώματα καί αἵματα, δι᾿ ὧν λατρεύοντες οἱ Ἰσραηλίται, τά μέν σώματα ἤσθιον, τά δέ αἵματα οὐκ ἔτι, πρός δέ τήν βάσιν κύκλῳ του θυσιαστηρίου προσέχεον;

Ἀπόκρισις. Τῶν εἰσαγομένων πρός εὐσέβειαν τύπον ἔφερον, τό πάλαι τῷ Θεῷ κατά νόμον

ἐν σκιᾷ λατρεύοντες, μόλις κἄν αὐτοί τά φαινόμενα τῶν τυπικῶν συμβόλων διατάγματα νοῆσαι δυνάμενοι. Ἐπειδή οὖν οὐκ ἐκείνοις προηγουμένως, ἀλλ᾿ ἡμῖν ὁ νόμος ἐδόθη, κατά Χριστόν πνευματικῶς δι᾿ ἡμῶν τελειούμενος, σκοπήσωμεν τῶν τότε θυμάτων μετ᾿ εὐσεβείας τόν λόγον.

Ὁ πρός εὐσέβειαν εἰσαγόμενος, περί τῶν ἔργων διδασκόμενος τῆς δικαιοσύνης, τήν πρᾶξιν μόνην ἐπιτελεῖ μετά πάσης ὑπακοῆς καί πίστεως, (381) καθάπερ σάρκας