,

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But if anyone also ambitiously wishes to raise the mind to a higher concept, he will in every way understand the right hand as the principles of incorporeal things, and the left as those of corporeal things; which the mind(32) that has been raised without relation to the cause of beings will be completely ignorant of, contemplating no principle in God Who is by essence beyond every principle according to every cause; towards Whom, having contracted itself from all beings, it knows none of the principles from which it has departed, ineffably contemplating by grace only Him towards Whom it has come.

God knows to spare these and such as these, and for the sake of such men, the whole world—men who in truth do not know their own blameworthy right hand or left, since almost everything in Scripture is taken in a praiseworthy and a blameworthy sense—even if the envious and enemy of all philanthropy, who is vexed at the salvation of men and for this reason dares to fight against the very goodness of God, the senseless, ungrateful, and man-hating people of the Jews is sawn asunder and rejects life and makes the salvation of the nations in Christ a cause for mourning; for which salvation, on account of their folly, thinking the gourd-plant much better, he mourned when he saw it withered by the worm(33). For I said before that the great Jonah also prefigured typically in himself the madness of the Jews, not suffering anything himself, God forbid, of what belonged to the Jews, but in himself pre-refuting their impiety, on account of which they fell from their former glory, as from a kind of Joppa. For this reason the Holy Spirit mystically gave him such a name, which is able, according to its different interpretations, to indicate the disposition of all those prefigured in him.

(14Γ_328> When, therefore, he typically pre-refutes in himself the madness of the Jews(34), grieving indeed at the salvation of the nations and being confounded at the paradox of their calling, and rejecting life and blasphemously preferring death to it against the divine will because of the withered gourd-plant, it is interpreted as 'their vexation', which the word denounces, saying: and 'God saw their works,' speaking plainly about the Ninevites, 'that they turned from their evil ways, and God repented of the evil which he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.' And Jonah was greatly displeased and was confounded, and he said: now, O Lord Master, take, I pray thee, my soul from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. And again: 'and the Lord God commanded a worm in the morning of the next day, and it struck the gourd-plant, and it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun arose, that the Lord commanded a burning, scorching wind; and the sun struck upon the head of Jonah; and he fainted, and despaired of his life, and said: It was better for me to die than to live.'

Nineveh, therefore, is the Church of the nations, which received the word of grace and turned away from the former error of idols and for this reason was saved and deemed worthy of the glory of the heavens; but the booth, which Jonah made for himself after going out of the city, represents the earthly Jerusalem and the temple made with hands in it; and the gourd-plant prefigured the temporary shadow of the law of corporeal worship, which is in the letter alone, possessing nothing at all that is permanent and able to brighten the mind; and the worm is our Lord and God Jesus Christ, as he himself says concerning himself in the prophet David: 'I am a worm, and no man', a worm on account of the unsown flesh he assumed, and truly becoming and being called so; for just as the worm has no coupling or union preceding its generation, so too no union preceded the (14Γ_330> birth according to the flesh of the Lord, and also as bait for the deception of the devil, having placed it on the hook of his divinity, so that as

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Εἰ δέ τις καὶ πρὸς ὑψηλοτέραν ἔννοιαν ἀνατεῖναι φιλοτίμως βούλεται τὸν νοῦν, δεξιὰν νοήσει πάντως τοὺς τῶν ἀσωμάτων λόγους, ἀριστερὰν δὲ τοὺς τῶν σωμάτων· οὓς ὁ πρὸς τὴν αἰτίαν τῶν ὄντων ἀσχέτως ἀναταθεὶς νοῦς(32) ἀγνοήσει παντελῶς, μηδένα θεωρῶν λόγον ἐν τῷ κατὰ πᾶσαν αἰτίαν ὑπὲρ πάντα λόγον ὄντι κατ᾽ οὐσίαν Θεῷ· πρὸς ὃν ἀπὸ τῶν ὄντων ἁπάντων συσταλεὶς οὐδένα τῶν ἀφ᾽ ὧν ἀπέστη λόγον ἐπίσταται, μόνον τὸν πρὸς ὃν γέγονε κατὰ χάριν ἀνερμηνεύτως θεώμενος.

Τούτων καὶ τῶν τοιούτων οἶδεν ὁ Θεὸς φείδεσθαι, καὶ διὰ τοὺς τοιούτους τοῦ κόσμου παντός, ἀνδρῶν κατ᾽ ἀλήθειαν μὴ γινωσκόντων τὴν ψεκτὴν αὐτῶν δεξιὰν ἢ ἀριστεράν, ἐπειδὴ πάντα σχεδὸν ἐπαινετῶς λαμβάνεται τῇ Γραφῇ καὶ ψεκτῶς, κἂν ὁ βάσκανος καὶ πάσης φιλανθρωπίας ἐχθρὸς καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ σωτηρίᾳ τῶν ἀνθρώπων διαπονούμενος καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πρὸς αὐτὴν ἀπομάχεσθαι τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν ἀγαθότητα τολμῶν ἀγνώμων ἀχάριστός τε καὶ μισάνθρωπος λαὸς τῶν Ἰουδαίων διαπρίεται καὶ τῆς ζωῆς ἀπολέγεται καὶ πένθους ὑπόθεσιν ποιεῖται τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ τῶν ἐθνῶν σωτηρίαν· ἧς διὰ τὴν ἄνοιαν πολλῷ κρείττονα τὴν κολόκυνταν ἡγούμενος, ἐπένθει ξηρανθεῖσαν θεώμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ σκώληκος(33). Εἶπον γὰρ προλαβὼν ὅτι καὶ τὴν τῶν Ἰουδαίων μανίαν ἐν ἑαυτῷ τυπικῶς ὁ μέγας προδιέγραψεν Ἰωνᾶς, οὐκ αὐτός τι πάσχων, μὴ γένοιτο, τῶν Ἰουδαίοις προσόντων, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὴν ἐκείνων προδιελέγχων ἀσέβειαν, δι᾽ ἣν τῆς προτέρας δόξης, ὡς ἔκ τινος Ἰόππης, ἐξέπεσαν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο μυστικῶς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον τοιαύτην αὐτῷ προσηγορίαν ἐπέθηκεν, δυναμένην κατὰ τὴν διάφορον αὐτῆς ἑρμηνείαν ἐνδείξασθαι τὴν πάντων τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ προτυπουμένων διάθεσιν.

(14Γ_328> Ὅταν οὖν ἐν αὐτῷ τυπικῶς τὴν τῶν Ἰουδαίων προδιελέγχῃ παραφροσύνην(34), λυπουμένην μὲν ἐπὶ τῇ σωτηρίᾳ τῶν ἐθνῶν καὶ συγχεομένην ἐπὶ τῷ παραδόξῳ τῆς κλήσεως, ἀπολεγομένην τε καὶ βλασφήμως παρὰ τὴν θείαν βούλησιν τῆς ζωῆς προτιμῶσαν τὸν θάνατον διὰ τὴν ξηρανθεῖσαν κολόκυνταν, ἑρμηνεύεται 'διαπόνησις αὐτῶν', ἣν στηλιτεύων ὁ λόγος φησίν· καὶ «εἶδεν ὁ Θεὸς τὰ ἔργα αὐτῶν», περὶ τῶν Νινευϊτῶν δηλαδὴ φάσκων, «ὅτι ἀπέστρεψαν ἀπὸ τῶν ὁδῶν αὐτῶν τῶν πονηρῶν, καὶ μετενόησεν ὁ Θεὸς ἐπὶ τῇ κακίᾳ ᾗ ἐλάλησε τοῦ ποιῆσαι αὐτοῖς, καὶ οὐκ ἐποίησεν. Καὶ ἐλυπήθη Ἰωνᾶς λύπην μεγάλην καὶ συνεχύθη καὶ εἶπεν· νῦν, ∆έσποτα Κύριε, λάβε δὴ τὴν ψυχήν μου ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ, ὅτι καλὸν τὸ ἀποθανεῖν με ἢ ζῆν». Καὶ αὖθις· «καὶ προσέταξε Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς σκώληκι ἑωθινῇ τῇ ἐπαύριον, καὶ ἐπάταξε τὴν κολόκυνταν καὶ ἀπεξηράνθη· καὶ ἐγένετο ἅμα τῷ ἀνατεῖλαι τὸν ἥλιον καὶ προσέταξεν Κύριος πνεύματι καύσωνος συγκαίοντι, καὶ ἐπάταξεν ὁ ἥλιος ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν Ἰωνᾶ· καὶ ὠλιγοψύχησε καὶ ἀπελέγετο τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ εἶπεν· καλόν μοι ἦν ἀποθανεῖν με ἢ ζῆν».

Νινευὴ τοίνυν ἐστὶν ἡ τῶν ἐθνῶν Ἐκκλησία, ἡ δεξαμένη τὸν λόγον τῆς χάριτος καὶ ἀποστραφεῖσα τὴν προτέραν πλάνην τῶν εἰδώλων καὶ διὰ τοῦτο σωθεῖσα καὶ τῆς τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀξιωθεῖσα δόξης· ἡ δὲ σκηνή, ἣν ἐξελθὼν ἀπὸ τῆς πόλεως ἑαυτῷ πεποίηκεν Ἰωνᾶς, εἰκονίζει τὴν κάτω Ἱερουσαλὴμ καὶ τὸν ἐν αὐτῇ χειροποίητον ναόν· ἡ δὲ κολόκυντα τὴν ἐν μόνῳ τῷ γράμματι πρόσκαιρον τοῦ νόμου τῆς σωματικῆς λατρείας σκιὰν προδιέγραφεν, μηδὲν τὸ σύνολον ἔχουσαν μόνιμον καὶ τὸν νοῦν φαιδρύναι δυνάμενον· ὁ δὲ σκώληξ ἐστὶν ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν καὶ Θεὸς Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, ὡς αὐτὸς περὶ ἑαυτοῦ ἐν τῷ προφήτῃ ∆αβίδ φησιν· «σκώληξ εἰμὶ καὶ οὐκ ἄνθρωπος», σκώληξ διὰ τὴν προσληφθεῖσαν ἄσπορον σάρκα καὶ γενόμενος ἀληθῶς καὶ λεγόμενοςὡς γὰρ ὁ σκώληξ συνδυασμὸν οὐκ ἔχει καὶ μίξιν προκαθηγουμένην αὐτοῦ τῆς γενέσεως, οὕτως οὐδὲ τῆς (14Γ_330> κατὰ σάρκα γεννήσεως τοῦ Κυρίου προκαθηγήσατο μίξις, πρὸς δὲ καὶ ὡς δέλεαρ πρὸς τὴν ἀπάτην τοῦ διαβόλου τῷ τῆς θεότητος ἀγκίστρῳ περιθέμενος αὐτήν, ἵν᾽ ὡς