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SCHOLIA. 1. The faith of those needing healing, he says, was calling upon the power of the Spirit in the saints, so that the power, being hidden, might become manifest through faith; and the hidden faith might become manifest to all through the power. For then the true manner of healings is wont to be shown, whenever the power of those working in the spirit concurs in all things with the faith of those being worked upon.

2. He who by his will, he says, is pure from the corruption of sin, destroys the corruption of those things that are by nature corruptible. For the incorruptibility of the will is wont to preserve the corruption of nature incorruptible according to providence, through the grace of the Spirit in it not allowing it to be dominated by contrary qualities.

3. Since of nature, he says, and of grace there is one and the same principle, it is not a matter for wonder how some of the saints at one time prevailed over the passions, and at another time rather succumbed to the passions; since we know that the wonder was of grace, while the passion was of nature.

4. The Apostle is an aroma from life to life for the faithful by his own example, preparing them through action to be moved toward the fragrance of the virtues or those who are persuaded by the word of grace, as a herald leading them from the life according to sense to the life in the spirit; but an aroma from death to death for those who have passed from the death of ignorance to the death of unbelief, giving them a sense of the condemnation that awaits them. Or again, an aroma from life to life for those who are being led up from practice to contemplation; but an aroma from death to death for those who, from having mortified through inactivity in sin their members which are upon the earth, pass over to the praiseworthy mortification of impassioned thoughts and fantasies.

5. Fr. The saying, 'We are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to one, an aroma of life to life; to the other, an aroma of death to death,' is especially clarified here. Now, 'an aroma of life to life' is for those for whom his Gospel is not veiled; but, 'to the other an aroma of death to death' is especially clarified here. Now, 'an aroma of life to life' is for those for whom his Gospel is not veiled; but 'an aroma of death to death' is for those for whom it is completely veiled. 'In their case the god,' he says, 'of this world (389) has blinded the minds of the unbelievers.' And it is revealed or veiled according to the fervor or coldness of the hearers.

6. Through imitation, he says, when one has the memory of the saints' way of life, one puts off the deadness of the passions, and accepts the life of the virtues.

QUESTION 38.

Did the Sadducees state the number of the seven brothers for the one woman by chance, or does it have some deeper meaning? And if it does, who are they, and who is she?

Response. Some say that the words of blameworthy persons in Scripture are not to be allegorized;

however, since it is better to labor diligently, and to ask God unceasingly to supply wisdom and power, so that all of scripture might be understood spiritually; taking courage in your prayers, I say the following concerning the present difficulty. The Sadducees are, according to the anagogical sense, the demons who introduce automatism, or thoughts. And the woman is human nature; and the seven brothers are the laws given to her by God from age to age for instruction and the generation of fruits of righteousness; with whom she consorted as with husbands, she had from none of them

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ΣΧΟΛΙΑ. α΄ . Πίστις τῶν δεομένων ἰάσεως, φησί, παρεκαλεῖτο τήν ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις τοῦ

Πνεύματος δύναμιν, ἵνα διά τῆς πίστεως λανθάνουσα φανερά γένηται δύναμις· καί ἡ κεκρυμμένη πίστις διά τῆς δυνάμεως γένηται πᾶσι διάδηλος. Τηνικαῦτα γάρ ὁ τῶν ἰαμάτων ἀληθής πέφυκε διαδείκνυσθαι τρόπος, ὁπηνίκα τῇ τῶν ἐνεργουμένων πίστει συμβαίνει διά πάντων ἡ τῶν ἐνεργοῦντων ἐν πνεύματι δύναμις.

β΄ . Ὁ γνώμῃ, φησίν, τῆς καθ᾿ ἁμαρτίαν καθαρεύων φθορᾶς, φθείρει τήν τῶν φθείρειν πεφυκότων φθοράν. Ἡ γάρ ἀφθαρσία τῆς προαιρέσεως τήν φθοράν συντηρεῖν τῆς φύσεως πέφυκε ἄφθαρτον κατά πρόνοιαν, διά τῆς ἐν αὐτῇ τοῦ Πνεύματος χάριτος μή συγχωροῦσα ταῖς ἐναντίαις ποιότησιν αὐτήν δυναστεύεσθαι.

γ΄. Ἐπειδή φύσεως, φησίν, καί χάριτος εἷς καί ὁ αὐτός λόγος, οὐκ ἔστιν ἀπορίας ἄξιον, πῶς τινες τῶν ἁγίων ποτέ μέν τῶν παθῶν ὑπερεῖχον, ποτέ δέ μᾶλλον ὑπέπιπτον πάθεσι· γινωσκόντων ἡμῶν, ὅτι τό μέν θαῦμα τῆς χάριτος ἦν· τό δέ πάθος τῆς φύσεως.

δ΄ . Ὀσμή ἀπό ζωῆς εἰς ζωήν ὁ Ἀπόστολος εἰς τούς πιστούς τῷ καθ᾿ ἑαυτόν παραδείγματι, διά πράξεως πρός τήν εὐωδίαν τῶν ἀρετῶν κινεῖσθαι παρασκευάζων ἤ τούς πειθουμένους τῷ λόγῳ τῆς χάριτος ὡς κήρυξ ἀπό τῆς κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ζωῆς εἰς τήν ἐν πνεύματι μετάγων ζωήν· ὀσμή δέ ἀπό θανάτου εἰς θάνατον, τοῖς ἀπό τοῦ θανάτου τῆς ἀγνοίας εἰς τόν τῆς ἀπιστίας ἐλάσασιν θάνατον, διδούς αὐτοῖς αἴσθησιν τῆς μενούσης αὐτούς κατακρίσεως. Ἤ πάλιν, ὀσμή ἀπό ζωῆς εἰς ζωήν, τοῖς ἀπό πράξεως εἰς θεωρίαν ἀναγομένοις· ὀσμή δέ ἀπό θανάτου εἰς θάνατον, τοῖς ἀπό τοῦ νεκρῶσαι τῇ καθ᾿ ἁμαρτίαν ἀργίᾳ τά μέλη τά ἐπί τῆς γῆς, εἰς τήν τῶν ἐμπαθῶν νοημάτων τε καί φαντασιῶν ἐπαινουμένην μεταβαίνουσι νέκρωσιν.

ε΄ . Fr. Τό· Χριστοῦ εὐωδία ἐσμέν τῷ Θεῷ ἐν τοῖς σωζομένοις καί ἐν τοῖς ἀπολλυμένοις· οἷς μέν, ὀσμή ζωῆς εἰς ζωήν· οἷς δέ, ὀσμή θανάτου εἰς θάνατον, ἐνταῦθα μάλιστα σεσαφήνισται. Τό μέν οὖν, ὀσμή ζωῆς εἰς ζωήν, οἷς μή ἐστιν αὐτοῦ κεκαλυμμένον τό Εὐαγγέλιον· τό δέ, οἷς δέ ὀσμή θανάτου εἰς θάνατον, ἐνταῦθα μάλιστα σεσαφήνισται. Τό μέν οὖν, ὀσμή ζωῆς εἰς ζωήν, οἷς μή ἐστιν αὐτοῦ κεκαλυμμένον τό Εὐαγγέλιον· τό δέ, οἷς δε ὀσμή θανάτου εἰς θάνατον, οἷς παντελῶς κεκαλυμμένον ἐστίν· Ἐν οἷς ὁ Θεός, φησί, τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου (389) ἐτύφλωσε τά νοήματα τῶν ἀπίστων. Ἀποκεκάλυπται δέ καί ἐπικεκάλυπται, παρά τήν τῶν ἀκοούντων θερμότητα ἤ ψυχρότητα.

στ΄ . ∆ιά μιμήσεως, φησί, τήν μνήμην ἔχων τις τῆς τῶν ἁγίων ἀναστροφῆς, τήν μέν τῶν παθῶν ἀποτίθεται νέκρωσιν· τήν δέ τῶν ἀρετῶν ζωήν ἀποδέχεται.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΛΗ΄ .

Ἄρα γάρ ὡς ἔτυχεν οἱ Σαδδουκαῖοι τόν ἀριθμόν τῶν ἑπτά ἀδελφῶν εἶπον ἐπί τῆς μιᾶς γυναικός, ἤ ἔχει τινά λόγον βαθύτερον; Εἰ δέ ἔχει, τίνες ἐκεῖνοι, καί τίς αὕτη;

Ἀπόκρισις. Φασί τινες μή ἀλληγορεῖσθαι τῶν ἐν τῇ Γραφῇ ψεκτῶν προσώπων τούς λόγους·

πλήν ἐπειδή κρεῖττον μᾶλλον φιλοπονεῖν, καί τόν Θεόν ἀπαύστως αἰτεῖσθαι χορηγεῖν σοφίαν καί δύναμιν, πρός τό πᾶσαν νοηθῆναι πνευματικῶς τήν γραφήν· ταῖς ὑμετέραις εὐχαῖς θαῤῥῶν, καί περί τοῦ παρόντος ἀπόρου τάδε φημί. Σαδδουκαῖοί εἰσι, κατά τόν τῆς ἀναγωγῆς λόγον, οἱ τόν αὐτοματισμόν εἰσάγοντες δαίμονες, ἤ λογισμοί. Ἡ δέ γυνή ἐστιν, ἡ τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσις· οἱ δέ ἑπτά ἀδελφοί, οἱ κατά καιρούς ἀπό τοῦ αἰῶνος δοθέντες αὐτῇ παρά τοῦ Θεοῦ πρός παιδαγωγίαν καί γένεσιν καρπῶν διακιοσύνης, νόμοι· οἷς ὡς ἀνδράσιν ὁμιλήσασα, παρ᾿ οὐδενός ἔσχεν