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the beast's destructive quality having changed; or the body of the saint having rendered such corruption consuming; or in some other manner of economy, which God, who does and refashions these things, knows. But again he submitted to the sword, when grace willed it; for he was not by nature immortal, even if he was a wonder-worker through grace. If he had been by nature immortal, we would rightly seek the reason why he submitted to the sword contrary to nature. But if by nature, even after his sanctification, he remained mortal, it is not necessary to seek the reason why the divine Apostle passed through his life in the flesh not in this way, but in that way. For in whatever way He wills, God, who before the ages profitably appointed the life of each, leads each one, whether just or unjust, to the end proper to his life.

If, then, the principle of nature and of grace were one and the same, it would be worthy of wonder and astonishment, that (385) which happens according to nature contrary to grace, or according to grace contrary to nature. But if rather the principle of nature and the principle of grace are different, it is plain and clear that as saints they worked wonders through grace, and as men they suffered through nature; since grace did not abolish the passibility of nature; the principles in nature and grace not being at all confounded with one another. Thus we will accept that the grace of God does all things by economy for those who are cared for in the saints, both living and dead, as in its own instruments, providing for the salvation of others; but the saints do not effect these things by nature through grace in others. This at least is also the case with the body of Elisha.

But since the intelligible meanings of the histories rather gladden the soul of those who love God, we say that the skin of the great Apostle is piety; according to which for some it was an aroma from life to life; but for others, an aroma from death to death; and the handkerchiefs, the manifest discourses of his gnostic contemplation; and the aprons, the venerable ways of practical philosophy according to virtue; for they say that the aprons are for hand-work; and those who received these discourses and ways, which breathed and sent forth like a sweet fragrance the skin, that is, the great piety of the blessed Apostle, received healing from the infirmity that oppressed them; some, through the discourses on contemplation, as handkerchiefs, driving out the sickness of ignorance; others, through the virtuous ways in practice, completely destroying the illness of wickedness.

And thus I infer that the gloomy storm that so happened is the weight of involuntary temptations; and the island, the firm and unshaken state of divine hope; and the fire, the state of knowledge; and the sticks, the nature of visible things; which he gathered with his hand, I mean with the contemplative grasping power of the mind, nourishing with thoughts from it the state of knowledge, which heals the dejection rubbed into the intellect from the storm of temptations. And the viper, the wicked and deadly power secretly hidden in the nature of sensible things; which bit his hand, that is, the mental grasping activity of contemplation; but did not harm the discerning mind, which with the light of its knowledge immediately, as in a fire, (388) destroyed the deadly power attached to the practical movement of the mind from the contemplation of sensible things.

Likewise I also understand concerning Elisha: that each person dead in trespasses, whenever he is placed [Fr. having been placed] upon the tomb of the prophet, in which was the body, that is, in the memory which holds the trace of the prophetic life; in which the body of virtues was well-preserved, is made alive by conduct in imitation of his ways, being transferred to the virtuous life from the deadness of the passions of wickedness.

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τοῦ θηρός φθαρτικήν ποιότητα μεταβαλούσης· εἴτε τό σῶμα τοῦ ἁγίου τῆς τοιαύτης δαπανητικόν φθορᾶς ἀπεργασαμένης· εἴτε κατ᾿ ἄλλον τινά τρόπον οἰκονομίας, ὅν οἶδεν ὁ ταῦτα ποιῶν καί μετασκευάζων Θεός. Τῷ δέ ξίφει πάλιν ὑπέπεσε, βουληθείσης τῆς χάριτος· οὐ γάρ ἦν κατά φύσιν ἀθάνατον, κἄν ἦν διά τήν χάριν θαυματουργόν. Εἰ μέν κατά φύσιν ὑπῆρχεν ἀθάνατον, καλῶς ἄν ἐζητοῦμεν τόν καθ᾿ ὅν παρά φύσιν ὑπέπεσε τῷ ξίφει λόγον. Εἰ δέ φύσει, καί μετά τήν ἁγιότητα, διέμεινε θνητόν, οὐκ ἔστιν ἀναγκαῖον ζητῆσαι τόν καθ᾿ ὅν οὐ τοιῶσδε, ἀλλά τοιῶσδε τήν ἐν σαρκί ζωήν παρῆλθε λόγον ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος. ᾯ γάρ τρόπῳ βούλεται, ὁ τήν ἑκάστου πρό τῶν αἰώνων συμφερόντως διορίσας ζωήν Θεός, ἕκαστον πρός τό οἰκεῖον τῆς ζωῆς ἄγει, εἴτε δίκαιον, εἴτε ἄδικον.

Εἰ μέν οὖν εἷς καί ὁ αὐτός φύσεως ἦν καί χάριτος λόγος, θαύματος ἦν ἄξιον καί καταπλήξεως, τό (385) κατά τήν φύσιν παρά τήν χάριν, ἤ κατά τήν χάριν παρά τήν φύσιν γινόμενον. Εἰ δέ μᾶλλον ἕτερος καί ἕτερος φύσεως καί χάριτος λόγος, δῆλόν ἐστι καί σαφές, ὅτι ὡς μέν ἅγιοι ἐθαυματούργουν διά τήν χάριν, ὡς ἄνθρωποι ἔπασχον διά τήν φύσιν· ἐπειδή μή ἀνεῖλε τό τῆς φύσεως παθητόν ἡ χάρις· οὐδαμῶς ἀλλήλοις συμφυρέντων τῶν ἐν φύσει καί χάριτι λόγων. Οὕτω δεξόμεθα πάντα ποιεῖν κατ᾿ οἰκονομίαν τῶν προνοουμένων ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις τήν τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριν, καί ζῶσι καί ἀποθανοῦσιν, ὡς ἐν ὀργάνοις οἰκείοις τῆς τῶν ἄλλων προνοουμένην σωτηρίας· ἀλλ᾿ οὐ κατά φύσιν ταῦτα διά τήν χάριν ἐν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἐνεργοῦντας τούς ἁγίους. Τοῦτο γοῦν καί ἐπί τοῦ σώματος Ἑλισσαίου.

Ἀλλ᾿ ἐπειδή τῶν ἱστορουμένων τά νοούμενα μᾶλλον εὐφραίνει τήν τῶν φιλοθέων ψυχήν, χρῶτα μέν φαμεν εἶναι τοῦ μεγάλου Ἀποστόλου, τήν εὐσέβειαν· καθ᾿ ἥν τοῖς μέν ἦν ὀσμή ἀπό ζωῆς εἰς ζωήν· τοῖς δέ, ὀσμή ἐκ θανάτου εἰς θάνατον· σουδάρια δέ, τούς ἐκφανεῖς τῆς γνωστικῆς αὐτοῦ θεωρίας λόγους· τά δέ σημικίνθια, τούς σεμνούς κατ᾿ ἀρετήν πρακτικῆς φιλοσοφίας τρόπους· ἐγχείρια γάρ εἶναί φασιν τά σημικίνθια· οὕστινας λόγους τε καί τρόπους πνέοντας καί ἐκπέμποντας καθάπερ εὐωδίαν τά χρῶτα, τουτέστι, τήν τοῦ μακαρίου Ἀποστόλου μεγάλην εὐσέβειαν, οἱ δεχόμενοι, τήν τῆς πιεζούσης αὐτούς ἀσθενείας ἐλάμβανον ἴασιν· οἱ μέν, διά τῶν περί θεωρίας λόγων, ὡς σουδαρίων, τῆς ἀγνωσίας τήν νόσον διώκοντες· οἱ δέ, διά τῶν κατά τήν πρᾶξιν ἐναρέτων τρόπων τήν ἀῤῥωστίαν τῆς κακίας παντελῶς ἀφανίζοντες.

Οὕτω δέ καί τόν οὕτω συμβάντα ζοφερόν χειμῶνα, τό βάρος εἶναι τῶν ἀκουσίων πειρασμῶν τεκμαίρομαι· τήν δέ νῆσον, τήν παγίαν ἕξιν τῆς θείας ἐλπίδος καί ἄσειστον· τήν δέ πυράν, τήν ἕξιν τῆς γνώσεως τά δέ φρύγγανα, τήν τῶν ὁρωμένων φύσιν· ἥν συνέστρεφε τῇ χειρί, τῇ κατά θεωρίαν λέγω ψηλαφητικῇ τοῦ νοῦ δυνάμει, διατρέφων τοῖς ἐξ αὐτῆς νοήμασι τήν ἕξιν τῆς γνώσεως, τήν θεραπεύουσαν τήν ἐκ τοῦ χειμῶνος τῶν πειρασμῶν προστριβεῖσαν τῇ διανοίᾳ κατήφειαν. Τήν δέ ἔχιδναν, τήν λανθανότως ἐγκεκρυμμένην τῇ φύσει τῶν αἰσθητῶν πονηράν καί ὀλέθριον δύναμιν· δήξασαν μέν τήν χεῖρα, τουτέστι, τήν ψηλαφητικήν κατά νοῦν τῆς θεωρίας ἐνέργειαν· οὐ βλάψασαν δέ τόν διορατικόν νοῦν, τῷ φωτί τῆς γνώσεως αὐτοῦ εὐθύς ὡς ἐν πυρί (388) διαφθείραντα τήν τῷ πρακτικῷ κινήματι τοῦ νοῦ προσαφθεῖσαν ἐκ τῶν τῶν αἰσθητῶν θεωρίας ὀλέθριον δύναμιν.

Ὡσαύτως καί ἐπί τοῦ Ἐλισσαίου νοῶ· ὅτιπερ ἕκαστος νεκρός τοῖς παραπτώμασιν, ἐπειδάν τοῦ μνήματος ἐπιτεθῇ [Fr. ἐπιτεθείς] τοῦ προφήτου, ἐν ᾧ ἦν τό σῶμα, τουτέστι, τῇ τό ἴχνος ἐχούσῃ τοῦ προφητικοῦ βίου μνήμῃ· ἐν ᾧ ἦν καλῶς φυλαττόμενον τό σῶμα τῶν ἀρετῶν, τῇ κατά μίμησιν τῶν τρόπων ἀναστροφῇ ζωοποιεῖται, πρός τήν ἐνάρετον μετατιθέμενος ζωήν, ἀπό τῆς τῶν παθῶν τῆς κακίας νεκρότητος.