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3. He who has borne the image of the heavenly man, he says, hastens to follow the Holy Scripture through all things in spirit; in which, through virtue and knowledge, is the preservation of the soul; but he who bears the image of the earthy man, attends only to the letter; in which the worship of the body according to sense consists, creating the passions.

4. Practice begets virtue, he says, as Ahaz begot Hezekiah. 5. Contemplation, he says, begets knowledge, as Amos begot Isaiah. 6. He who knows with practice, he says, and who practices with knowledge, is a throne and

a footstool of (476) God. A throne, on account of knowledge; and a footstool, on account of practice.

7. The camp of the king of Assyria, is the assembly of evil thoughts, in which he is powerful, who moves the natural appetites toward pleasure; and a warrior is he who stirs up the irascible part for the protection of pleasures; and a ruler, he who stimulates the senses with the appearances of visible things; and a general, he who gives form to the passions, and is inventive of the matters and modes of their activity.

8. That without a sensible object, he says, a passion is not formed. For if there is no woman, there is no fornication; and if there are no foods, there will be no gluttony; and if there is no gold, there will be no passion of avarice. Therefore, of every impassioned movement of the natural faculties within us, the sensible object is the beginning, that is, the demon who through it provokes the soul to sin.

9. Friction, he says, the activity; but erasure destroys even the very thought of evil.

10. For as the north, he says, does not have the sun passing through; so also the evil habit, which the devil inhabits, does not admit the illumination of knowledge.

QUESTION 51.

"And many brought gifts to the Lord in Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah. And he was exalted in the sight of all the nations." What are the gifts, and what are the presents? and what is it to be exalted in the sight of all the nations.

Response. God, having brought into being all visible nature, did not leave it to only

be moved by sense; but sowed within each of the species that comprise it, both spiritual principles of wisdom and refined modes of conduct; so that not only through silent creatures might the Creator of creatures be loudly proclaimed, being revealed by the inner principles of created things; but also that man, being instructed by the natural laws and modes of visible things, might easily find the path of teaching that leads to Him. For this was characteristic of supreme goodness, not only to establish the divine and bodiless substances of intelligible beings as images of the ineffable and divine glory, receiving, as far as is lawful and in proportion to themselves, the whole incomprehensible loveliness of the unapproachable beauty; but also to mingle with sensible things, which are far inferior to intelligible substances, echoes of His own majesty, which are able to convey the human mind, borne upon them, unerringly to God, having risen above all visible things, and all the means, through which it cut and completed such a journey, leaving them behind itself.

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γ΄. Ὁ τήν εἰκόνα φορέσας τοῦ ἐπουρανίου, φησίν, τῷ πνεύματι διά πάντων ἕπεσθαι σπεύδει τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς· ἐν ᾧ δι᾿ ἀρετῆς καί γνώσεως ἡ τῆς ψυχῆς ὑπάρχει συντήρησις· ὁ δέ τήν εἰκόνα φέρων τοῦ χοϊκοῦ, τό γράμμα μόνον περιέπει· ἐν ᾧ ἡ κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν πρός σῶμα λατρεία συνέστηκε, τά πάθη δημιουργοῦσα.

δ΄. Ἡ πρᾶξις γεννᾷ τήν ἀρετήν, φησίν, ὡς Ἄχας τόν Ἐζεκίαν. ε΄. Ἡ θεωρία, φησί, γεννᾷ τήν γνῶσιν, ὡς Ἀμώς τόν Ἡσαΐαν. στ΄. Ὁ μετά πράξεως γινώσκων, φησί, καί μετά γνώσεως πράττων, θρόνος καί

ὑποπόδιόν ἐστι τοῦ (476) Θεοῦ. Θρόνος μέν, διά τήν γνῶσιν· ὑποπόδιον δέ, διά τήν πρᾶξιν.

ζ΄ Παρεμβολή βασιλέως Ἀσσούρ, ἐστίν ἡ συναγωγή τῶν πονηρῶν λογισμῶν, ἐν ᾗ δυνατός ἐστιν, ὁ πρός ἡδονήν τάς φυσικάς ὀρέξεις κινῶν· πολεμιστής δέ ἐστιν. Ὁ το θυμικόν εἰς τήν τῶν ἡδονῶν φυλακήν διεγείρων· ἄρχων δέ, ὁ ταῖς ἐπιφανείαις τῶν ὁρατῶν τάς αἰσθήσεις διερεθίζων· στρατηγός δέ, ὁ εἰδοποιός τῶν παθῶν, καί τῶν ὕλων καί τρόπων τῆς αὐτῶν ἐνεργείας ἐπινοητικός.

η΄. Ὅτι χωρίς αἰσθητοῦ πράγματος, φησίν, οὐ συνίσταται πάθος. Μή γάρ οὔσης γυναικός, οὐκ ἔστι πορνεία· καί βρωμάτων οὐκ ὄντων, οὐκ ἔσται γαστριμαργία· καί χρυσίου μή ὄντος, φιλαργυρίας οὐκ ἔσται πάθος. Οὐκοῦν πάσης ἐμπαθοῦς κινήσεως τῶν ἐν ἡμῖν φυσικῶν δυνάμεων, ἄρχει τό αἰσθητόν, ἤγουν ὁ δι᾿ αὐτοῦ τήν ψυχήν διερεθίζων πρός ἁμαρτίαν δαίμων.

θ΄. Ἡ τρίψις, φησί, τήν ἐνέργειαν· ἡ ἔκτριψις δέ, καί αὐτήν ἀφανίζει τῆς κακίας τήν ἐνθύμησιν.

ι΄. Ὡς γάρ ὁ βοῤῥᾶς, φησίν, ἥλιον οὐκ ἔχει διοδεύοντα· οὕτως οὔτε ἡ κακή ἕξις, ἥν οἰκεῖ ὁ διάβολος, γνώσεως φωτισμόν ἐπιδέχεται.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΝΑ΄ .

"Καί πολλοί ἔφερον δῶρα τῷ Κυρίῳ εἰς Ἱερουσαλήμ, καί δόματα τῷ Ἐζεκίᾳ βασιλεῖ Ἰούδα. Καί ὑπερήρθη κατ᾿ ὀφθαλμούς πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν". Τί τά δῶρα, καί τί τά δόματα; καί τί τό ὑπεραρθῆναι κατ᾿ ὀφθαλμούς πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν.

Ἀπόκρισις. Τήν ὁρωμένην ἅπασαν φύσιν ὁ Θεός ὑποστήσας, οὐκ ἀφῆκεν αὐτήν κατά μόνην

κινεῖσθαι τήν αἴσθησιν· ἀλλ᾿ ἐγκατέσπειρεν ἑκάστῳ τῶν αὐτήν συμπληρούντων εἰδῶν, καί σοφίας λόγους πνευματικούς, καί ἀγωγῆς ἀστείας τρόπους· ὥστε μή μόνον διά τῶν σιγώντων κτισμάτων μεγαλοφώνως κηρύττεσθαι τόν Ποιητήν τῶν κτισμάτων τοῖς τῶν γεγονότων μηνυόμενον λόγοις· ἀλλά καί τόνἄνθρωπον τοῖς κατά φύσιν τῶν ὁρωμένων θεσμοῖς τε καί τρόποις παιδαγωγούμενον, εὐμαρῶς τήν πρός αὐτόν ἄγουσαν ὁδόν τῆς διδασκαλίας εὑρεῖν. Τοῦτο γάρ τῆς ἄκρας ἦν ἀγαθότητος ἴδιον, μή μόνον τάς θείας καί ἀσωμάτους τῶν νοητῶν οὐσίας, τῆς ἀποῤῥήτου καί θείας ἀπεικονίσματα καταστῆσαι δόξης, ὅλην κατά τό θεμιτόν ἀναλόγως αὐταῖς εἰσδεχομένας τήν ἀπερινόητον ὡραιότητα τοῦ ἀπροσίτου κάλλους· ἀλλά καί τοῖς αἰσθητοῖς καί τῶν νοητῶν οὐσιῶν κατά πολύ ἀποδέουσιν, ἀπηχήματα τῆς οἰκείας ἐγκαταμίξαι μεγαλειότητος, δυνάμενα τόν ἀνθρώπινον νοῦν ἐποχούμενον αὐτοῖς πρός τόν Θεόν ἀπλανῶς διαπορθμεύειν, ὑπεράνω τῶν πάντων τῶν ὁρωμένων γενόμενον, καί τά μέσα πάντα, δι᾿ ὧν τήν τοιαύτην τεμών ἐξήνυσε πορείαν, κατόπιν ἑαυτοῦ ποιησάμενον.