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and to me of the grace granted to you (417) from God concerning the things that are. But the text, "And now, lest he stretch forth his hand and take of the tree of life, and shall live forever," makes, I think, a providential division according to the practice of unmixed things; so that evil might not become immortal, being preserved by participation in the good. For he who made man wills the knowledge concerning the same man to be unmixed in respect to the relation of opposites.

SCHOLIA 1. That God speaks with Adam in accordance with the conception of divinity he had been taught by the devil.

2. He who loves falsehood is handed over to it for destruction, that he might know by suffering,

what he willingly embraced, and might learn by experience that he was unknowingly embracing death instead of life.

3. That God alone has knowledge of the good, as he is both the nature and knowledge of the good; but ignorance of evil, as having no power for it. For of those things for which he has the natural power, of these he possesses essential knowledge; because wickedness is observed in rational beings as supervening according to a passion contrary to nature, but not according to a natural power.

4. The knowledge of opposites, he says, is naturally observed in those capable of receiving it in turn.

5. He who persuades the conscience that what is most wicked is done as something good by nature, this one, extending the practical faculty of the soul like a hand, took blamefully of the tree of life, considering what is most wicked to be by nature immortal. Therefore God, by naturally implanting in man the accusation of evil according to conscience, separated him from life, having become evil by choice; so that, in doing evil, he might not be able to persuade his own conscience that what is most wicked is by nature good.

QUESTION 45.

What is the meaning in Leviticus of the breastpiece of the offering, and the shoulder of the contribution, dedicated to the priests in honor of God?

Response. I think the better and sublime contemplation is signified by the breastpiece, and

action by the shoulder; that is, the state and the activity of the intellect, or knowledge and virtue; as knowledge brings the mind immediately to God; while virtue, according to action, removes him from all generation of beings; which things the Word set apart for priests, for those who possess God alone as their inheritance through all things, and who possess nothing earthly at all.

Or again, since through the word of teaching, those who have been wholly qualified in knowledge and virtue by the spirit make the hearts of others (420) receptive of piety and faith; and removing their practical state and power from concerns for corruptible nature, they transfer them to the activity of incorruptible goods that are above nature; fittingly, of those things offered as a sacrifice to God, the breastpiece of the offering, that is, the heart of those who are offered; and the shoulder, that is, the action of the same, the Word commanded to be dedicated to the priests.

SCHOLIA.

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κἀμοί τῆς χορηγουμένης σοι (417) περί τῶν ὄντων θεόθεν χάριτος. Τό δέ, Καί νῦν, μήπως ἐκτείνῃ τήν χεῖρα αὐτοῦ καί λάβῃ τοῦ ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς, καί ζήσεται εἰς τόν αἰῶνα, τήν κατά τήν πρᾶξιν, ὡς οἶμαι, τῶν ἀμίκτων προνοητικῶς ποιεῖται διαίρεσιν· ἵνα μή ἀθάνατον γένηται τό κακόν τῇ μετοχῇ τοῦ καλοῦ συντηρούμενον. Ἄμικτον γάρ εἶναι βούλεται περί τόν αὐτόν ἄνθρωπον κατά τήν σχέσιν τῶν ἀντικειμένων τήν γνῶσιν, ὁ ποιήσας τόν ἄνθρωπον.

ΣΧΟΛΙΑ α΄. Ὅτι πρός ἥν ἔσχεν περί θεότητος ἔννοιαν ὑπό τοῦ διαβόλου διδαχθείς ὁ

Ἀδάμ, διαλέγεται πρός αὐτόν ὁ Θεός. β΄. Ὁ τό ψεῦδος ἀγαπῶν, αὐτῷ παραδίδοται πρός ἀπώλειαν, ἵνα γνῷ πάσχων,

ὅπερ ἐκών περιεῖπεν, καί μάθῃ κατά τήν πεῖραν γενόμενος, ὡς ἐλάνθανεν ἀντί ζωῆς περιπτυσσόμενος θάνατον.

γ΄. Ὅτι μόνον ἔχει τοῦ καλοῦ τήν γνῶσιν ὁ Θεός, ὡς καί τοῦ καλοῦ φύσις τε καί γνῶσις ὑπάρχων· τοῦ δέ κακοῦ τήν ἄγνοιαν, ὡς τήν αὐτοῦ ἔχων ἀδυναμίαν. Ὧν γάρ ἔχει τήν δύναμιν φυσικῶς, τούτων οὐσιωδῶς κέκτηται γνῶσιν· ὅτι κατά πάθος παρά φύσιν ἐπισυμβαίνουσα, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ κατά δύναμιν φυσικήν τοῖς λογικοῖς ἐνθεωρεῖται κακία.

δ΄. Ἀναμέρος, φησίν, ἡ τῶν ἀντικειμένων γνῶσις ἐν τοῖς δεκτικοῖς θεωρεῖσθαι πέφυκε.

ε΄. Ὁ πείσας τό συνειδός ὡς φύσει καλόν πραττόμενον ἔχειν τό κάκιστον, οὗτος χειρός δίκην τῆς ψυχῆς ἐκτείνας τό πρακτικόν, ἔλαβεν ψεκτῶς τοῦ ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς, ἀθάνατον ἡγησάμενος φύσει τό κάκιστον. ∆ιόπερ τήν κατά τό συνειδός τοῦ κακοῦ διαβολήν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ φυσικῶς ἐνθέμενος ὁ Θεός, διέκρινεν αὐτόν τῆς ζωῆς κακόν τῇ προαιρέσει γενόμενον· ἵνα μή, τό κακόν πράττων, δύνηται πεῖσαι τήν ἰδίαν συνείδησιν, ὅτι φύσει καλόν ὑπάρχει τό κάκιστον.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΜΕ΄ .

Τί σημαίνει τό ἐν τῷ Λευϊτικῷ στηθύνιον τοῦ ἐπιθέματος, καί ὁ βραχίων τοῦ ἀφαιρέματος, εἰς τιμήν Θεοῦ τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν ἀφιερούμενος;

Ἀπόκρισις. Οἶμαι τήν ἀμείνω καί ὑψηλήν θεωρίαν δηλοῦσθαι διά, τοῦ στηθυνίου, καί τήν

πρᾶξιν διά τοῦ βραχίονος· ἤγουν τοῦ διανοητικοῦ τήν ἕξιν καί τήν ἐνέργειαν, ἤ τήν γνῶσιν καί τήν ἀρετήν· ὡς τῆς μέν γνώσεως αὐτῷ προσαγούσης ἀμέσως τόν νοῦν τῷ Θεῷ· τῆς ἀρετῆς δέ κατά τήν πρᾶξιν, πάσης αὐτόν ἀφαιρουμένης τῆς τῶν ὄντων γενέσεως· ἅπερ ἱερεῦσιν ἀφώρισεν ὁ Λόγος, τοῖς μόνον τόν Θεόν διά πάντων κεκτημένοις κληρονομίαν, καί μηδέν τό σύνολον κεκτημένοις ἐπίγειον.

Ἤ πάλιν, ἐπειδή τάς ἄλλων καρδίας διά τοῦ λόγου τῆς διδασκαλίας, οἱ γνώσει καί ἀρετῇ διόλου ποιωθέντες τῷ πνεύματι, εὐσεβείας καί πίστεως ποιοῦνται (420) δεκτικάς· καί τήν πρακτικήν αὐτῶν ἕξιν καί δύναμιν ἀφαιρούμενοι, τῶν ἐπί τῇ φθαρτῇ φύσει σπουδασμάτων, πρός τήν τοῦ ὑπέρ φύσιν ἀφθάρτων ἐνέργειαν ἀγαθῶν μεταφέρουσιν· εἰκότως τῶν προσαγομένων εἰς θυσίαν Θεοῦ τό στηθύνιον τοῦ ἐπιθέματος, τουτέστι τῶν προσαγομένων τήν καρδίαν· καί τόν βραχίονα, τῶν αὐτῶν δηλονότι τήν πρᾶξιν, προσέταξεν ἀφιεροῦσθαι τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν ὁ Λόγος.

ΣΧΟΛΙΑ.