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166

34. The natural law is the left, on account of sensation; but it brings to the Logos the modes of the virtues, and creates knowledge put into practice. But the spiritual law, being the right, (14Γ_296> on account of the intellect; mixes with sensation the spiritual principles in existing things, and creates rational action.

35. Providence, he says, is shown in the Logos being united hypostatically to the flesh; but judgment is seen in his deigning to suffer for our sake in the flesh; through which, union and suffering, the salvation of all was constituted.

36. The incarnation, he says, occurred for the salvation of nature; while the passions were for the redemption of those held fast by death on account of sin.

37. The mystery, he says, of the incarnation removes the properties contrary to nature from human nature; and restores those according to nature.

38. He has understood providence and judgment, incarnation and passion, as bronze mountains; from which the tetrad of the Gospels proceeds.

39. He has understood the nations as the land of the North; which once existed as in a land of darkness through the error of ignorance; but now have become in a land of light, through the full knowledge of the truth, according to the grace of the holy tetrad of the Gospels, as incorruptible elements, having been refashioned according to the inner and intelligible man unto eternal life through faith.

40. Another contemplation on the four chariots. 41. Another contemplation on the olive trees. 42. The contemplative man, he says, the principle of the incarnation according to providence

has as manifest; while the practical man shows the mode of the sufferings of the Logos according to judgment being actualized.

43. Another contemplation on the olive trees. 44. Another contemplation on the same. 45. Another contemplation on the same things. 46. Another contemplation on the two olive trees. (14Γ_298> 47. He who understands the phenomenal world contemplates the intelligible world;

for he gives form through sensation, imagining the intelligible things, and according to intellect he shapes the principles that have been contemplated; and he transfers to sensation the manifold constitution of the intelligible world; and to the intellect, the complex composition of the sensible world; and he understands, in the intelligible the sensible, having transferred sensation to the intellect by the principles; and in the sensible the intelligible, having knowingly enclosed the intellect in sensation by the types.

48. Another contemplation on the same things. 64. CONCERNING JONAH AND HIS PROPHECY. (14Γ_300> 64. QUESTION 64 What meaning does the saying in Jonah the prophet about Nineveh have,

which states: “in which dwell more than twelve myriads of men, who did not know their right hand nor their left hand,” since from the letter I find no consolation? For it did not say children, that I should think of infants, but men. But what man, having his wits unharmed, is ignorant of his right hand or his left? But tell me who the men are and what is the right and what is the left according to the anagogical sense.

Response. None of the persons or places or times recorded in Scripture, or

other things, animate and inanimate, sensible and intelligible, when understood in the same way, always has the history or the contemplation wholly corresponding to itself. Therefore it is necessary for one who unerringly practices the divine knowledge of holy Scripture

166

34. Ἀριστερός μέν ὁ φυσικός νόμος διά τήν αἴσθησιν· προσάγει δέ τῷ Λόγῳ τούς τρόπους τῶν ἀρετῶν, καί ποιεῖ γνῶσιν ἐνεργουμένην. Ὁ δέ πνευματικός νόμος, ὡς δεξιός μέν ἐστι (14Γ_296> διά τόν νοῦν· μίγνυσι δέ τῇ αἰσθήσει τούς ἐν τοῖς οὖσι πνευματικούς λόγους, καί ποιεῖ πράξιν λελογισμένην.

35. Ἡ πρόνοια, φησίν, ἐν τῷ καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν ἑνωθῆναι σαρκί τόν Λόγον δείκνυται· ἡ δέ κρίσις, ἐν τῷ παθεῖν ὑπέρ ἡμῶν σαρκί καταδέξασθαι φαίνεται· δι᾿ ὧν, ἑνώσεως καί πάθους, ἡ τοῦ παντός σωτηρία συνέστηκεν.

36. Ἡ μέν σάρκωσις, φησίν, εἰς τήν τῆς φύσεως σωτηρίαν γέγονε· τά δέ πάθη, πρός λύτρωσιν τῶν διά τήν ἁμαρτίαν τῶ θανάτῳ κατεχομένων.

37. Τό μυστήριον, φησί, τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως, τά μέν παρά φύσιν ἀφίστησιν ἰδιώματα τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως· τά δέ κατά φύσιν ἀποκαθίστησιν.

38. Πρόνοιαν καί κρίσιν, σάρκωσίν τε καί πάθος, ὄρη χαλκᾶ νενόηκεν· ἐξ ὧν ἡ τῶν Εὐαγγελίων ἐκβαίνει τετράς.

39. Γῆν Βοῤῥᾶ τά ἔθνη νενόηκεν· ἅτινα ὡς ἐν χώρᾳ σκότους ὑπῆρχόν ποτε τῇ πλάνῃ τῆς ἀγνοίας· νῦν δέ γεγόνασιν ἐν χώρᾳ φωτός, τῇ ἐπιγνώσει τῆς ἀληθείας, κατά τήν χάριν τῆς ἁγίας τῶν Εὐαγγελίων τετράδος, ὡς στοιχείων ἀφθάρτων, κατά τόν ἔσω καί νοερόν ἄνθρωπον εἰς ζωήν αἰώνιον ἀναπλασθέντες διά τῆς πίστεως.

40. Ἄλλη θεωρία τῶν τεσσάρων ἁρμάτων. 41. Ἄλλη θεωρία τῶν ἐλαιῶν. 42. Ὁ μέν θεωρητικός, φησί, τόν κατά τήν πρόνοιαν λόγον τῆς σαρκώσεως

ἔχει φαινόμενον· ὁ δέ πρακτικός, τόν κατά τήν κρίσιν τῶν παθημάτων τοῦ Λόγου τρόπον ἐνεργούμενον δείκνυσιν.

43. Εἰς τάς ἐλαίας ἄλλη θεωρία. 44. Εἰς τάς αὐτάς ἄλλη θεωρία. 45. Ἄλλη περί τῶν αὐτῶν θεωρία. 46. Ἄλλη περί τῶν δύο ἐλαιῶν θεωρία. (14Γ_298> 47. Ὁ τόν φαινόμενον κόσμον νοῶν, θεωρεῖ τόν νοούμενον·

τυποῖ γάρ τῇ αἰσθήσει τά νοητά φανταζόμενος, καί κατά νοῦν σχηματίζει τούς θεαθέντας λόγους· καί μεταφέρει πρός μέν αἴσθησιν πολυειδῶς τοῦ νοητοῦ κόσμου τήν σύστασιν· πρός δέ νοῦν, τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ κόσμου πολυπλόκως τήν σύνθεσιν· καί νοεῖ, ἐν μέν τῷ νοητῷ τόν αἰσθητόν, μετενέγκας πρός τόν νοῦν τοῖς λόγοις τήν αἴσθησιν· ἐν δέ τῷ αἰσθητῷ τόν νοητόν, πρός τήν αἴσθησιν ἐπιστημόνως τοῖς τύποις μετεγκλώσας τόν νοῦν.

48. Ἄλλη περί τῶν αὐτῶν θεωρία. Ξ∆ (64). ΠΕΡΙ ΤΟΥ ΙΩΝΑ ΚΑΙ ΤΗΣ ΑΥΤΟΥ ΠΡΟΦΗΤΕΙΑΣ. (14Γ_300> 64. ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Ξ∆' Ποίαν ἔννοιαν ἔχει τὸ ῥητὸν τὸ ἐν τῷ Ἰωνᾷ τῷ προφήτῃ περὶ τῆς Νινευῆ

φάσκον· «ἐν ᾗ κατοικοῦσι πλείους ἢ δώδεκα μυριάδες ἀνδρῶν, οἵτινες οὐκ ἔγνωσαν δεξιὰν αὐτῶν οὐδὲ ἀριστερὰν αὐτῶν», ἐπειδὴ ἀπὸ τοῦ γράμματος οὐχ εὑρίσκω μίαν παραμυθίαν; Οὐ γὰρ εἶπε παῖδας, ἵνα περὶ νηπίων νομίσω, ἀλλ᾽ ἄνδρας. Ποῖος δὲ ἀνήρ, ἔχων ἀβλαβεῖς τὰς φρένας, ἀγνοεῖ δεξιὰν αὐτοῦ ἢ ἀριστεράν; Ἀλλ᾽ εἰπὲ τίνες οἱ ἄνδρες καὶ τίς ἡ δεξιὰ καὶ τίς ἡ ἀριστερὰ κατὰ τὸν τῆς ἀναγωγῆς λόγον.

Ἀπόκρισις. Οὐδὲν τῶν ἀναγεγραμμένων τῇ Γραφῇ προσώπων ἢ τόπων ἢ χρόνων ἢ

ἑτέρων πραγμάτων, ἐμψύχων τε καὶ ἀψύχων, αἰσθητῶν τε καὶ νοητῶν, κατὰ τὸν αὐτὸν ἀεὶ νοούμενον τρόπον ἔχει συμβαίνουσαν ἑαυτῇ διόλου τὴν ἱστορίαν ἢ τὴν θεωρίαν. ∆ιὸ χρὴ τὸν ἀπταίστως τὴν θείαν τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς ἐξασκούμενον εἴδησιν