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dissolving accusations and by the gift of grace in the Spirit deifying the nature that has sinned; and the feast of tabernacles, as the fixing of our immutability concerning the good according to the God-imitating state, and being a cohesive bond of the transformation towards immortality.

But we do not believe, when we approach Scripture naturally, that God is pleased with the slaughter of irrational animals(46) and the sprinkling of blood, and as a kind of reward for this worship provides remission of sins to those who offer them, so that we may not unwittingly worship a passible God, as one who passionately desires with much eagerness those things concerning which, if we should even see men having passion, we slander them as licentious and incontinent. For we know that sacrifices are spiritual,(47) not only the mortification of the passions slaughtered by the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and the intentional pouring out of all life in the flesh, as of blood, but also the offering of mores according to philosophy and of all the powers according to nature, being dedicated to God and wholly consumed by the fire of grace in the Spirit for the divine end.

Thus, by contemplating naturally each of the symbols contained in Scripture, as on a mountain, in the height of mystical contemplation, (14Γ_400> just like the seven men of the sons of Saul, we kill the temporal and temporary tradition of the law, and we make Saul disappear, that is, the earthly mind in the mere letter of Scripture, “that he might not stand in any border of Israel,” that is, in a mode of spiritual contemplation. For he, being truly alive, accomplishes and persecutes(48) and destroys, circumscribing the law by the flesh alone, the principles and thoughts according to nature, honoring as divine the passions of dishonor which the thoughts according to nature, receiving permission under the law of the Spirit, kill together and put to death at the beginning of the barley harvest. And the beginning of the barley harvest is the collection of the virtues according to practical philosophy with a certain commensurate reason, by which the earthliness of the Scriptures is naturally killed and every earthly movement completely vanishes. For as soon as someone reasonably pursues the philosophy of the virtues,(49) he at the same time naturally transferred the interpretation of the Scriptures to the Spirit, serving God practically in newness of spirit through lofty contemplations, and not in oldness of the letter through the more humble reception of the law according to sense toward the body, becoming a nurturer of passions according to the Jews and a servant of sin.

For one must manage by practice, through the thoughts according to nature, the passible and bodily meaning of the law, as the word of Scripture explains, saying: And the king took the two sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth, and the five sons of Merob, the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel, and he gave them into the hand of the Gibeonites. The hand of the Gibeonites(50) is the practice according to virtue of natural thoughts, by which the sons of Rizpah, Armoni and Mephibosheth, that is, the energy of the passions born from the bodily teaching of the law in (14Γ_402> the mere utterance of the word and the licentious movement of the thoughts, are killed, and in addition also the five sons of Merob, that is, the five licentious modes of the five senses born from luxury according to the unnatural use of energy; which every mind that is lofty and sublime according to God is naturally disposed to kill together, as on a mountain, in the height of spiritual contemplation, at the beginning of the barley harvest, which is in the preludes of practice according to virtue or of pious contemplation according to nature, slaughtering at the same time both the energy of the passions and the unseemly movement of the thoughts, and in addition also the licentious modes according to the misuse of the energy of the senses.

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διαλύων ἐγκλήματα καὶ τῇ δωρεᾷ τῆς χάριτος ἐν Πνεύματι τὴν ἁμαρτήσασαν φύσιν θεοποιῶν, σκηνοπηγία δέ, ὡς τῆς ἡμῶν κατὰ τὴν θεομίμητον ἕξιν περὶ τὸ καλὸν ἀτρεψίας πῆξις καὶ τῆς πρὸς ἀθανασίαν μεταποιήσεως συνεκτικὸς ὑπάρχων δεσμός.

Σφαγαῖς δὲ ζῴων ἀλόγων(46) καὶ ῥαντισμοῖς αἱμάτων ἡδόμενον τὸν Θεὸν καὶ οἷον τῆς θεραπείας μισθὸν τὴν τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων παρεχόμενον τοῖς προσφέρουσιν ἄφεσιν, τῇ Γραφῇ φυσικῶς ἐπιβάλλοντες, οὐ πιστεύομεν, ἵνα μὴ Θεὸν ἐμπαθῆ λάθωμεν σέβοντες, ὡς ἐμπαθῶς ἐκείνων διὰ πολλῆς ἐφιέμενον τῆς σπουδῆς, περὶ ἅ, κἂν ἀνθρώπους περιπαθῶς ἔχοντας θεωρήσωμεν, ὡς ἀκολάστους καὶ ἀκρατεῖς διαβάλλομεν. Θυσίας γὰρ πνευματικὰς εἶναι γινώσκομεν(47) οὐ μόνον τὴν τῶν παθῶν νέκρωσιν σφαττομένων τῇ μαχαίρᾳ τοῦ Πνεύματος, ὅπερ ἐστὶ ῥῆμα Θεοῦ, καὶ πάσης τῆς ἐν σαρκὶ ζωῆς, ὡς αἵματος, τὴν κατὰ πρόθεσιν ἔκχυσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν κατὰ φιλοσοφίαν ἠθῶν καὶ πασῶν τῶν κατὰ φύσιν δυνάμεων προσαγωγήν, ἀφιερουμένων Θεῷ καὶ τῷ πυρὶ τῆς ἐν Πνεύματι χάριτος πρὸς τὴν θείαν λῆξιν ὁλοκαυτουμένων.

Οὕτως ἕκαστον τῶν ἐμφερομένων τῇ Γραφῇ συμβόλων φυσικῶς ἐποπτεύοντες, ὡς ἐν ὄρει, τῷ ὕψει τῆς μυστικῆς θεωρίας, (14Γ_400> καθάπερ ἄνδρας ἑπτὰ τῶν υἱῶν Σαούλ, τὴν χρονικὴν ἀποκτέννομεν καὶ πρόσκαιρον τοῦ νόμου παράδοσιν, καὶ ἀφανίζομεν τὸν Σαούλ, τουτέστι τὸν ἐν μόνῳ τῷ ῥητῷ τῆς Γραφῆς χοϊκὸν νοῦν, «τοῦ μὴ ἑστάναι αὐτὸν ἐν παντὶ ὁρίῳ Ἰσραήλ», τουτέστι τρόπῳ θεωρίας πνευματικῆς. Οὗτος γὰρ ζῶν ἐπ᾽ ἀληθείας συντελεῖ καὶ διώκει(48) καὶ ἀπόλλυσι, σαρκὶ μόνῃ τὸν νόμον περιγράφων, τοὺς κατὰ φύσιν λόγους καὶ λογισμούς, τιμῶν ὡς θεῖα τὰ πάθη τῆς ἀτιμίας ἅπερ οἱ κατὰ φύσιν λογισμοί, λαμβάνοντες ἄδειαν ὑπὸ τοῦ νόμου τοῦ Πνεύματος, ἀποκτέννουσιν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ θανατοῦσιν ἐν ἀρχῇ θερισμοῦ κριθῶν. Ἀρχὴ δὲ θερισμοῦ κριθῶν ἐστιν ἡ κατὰ τὴν πρακτικὴν φιλοσοφίαν μετά τινος συμμέτρου λόγου τῶν ἀρετῶν συλλογή, καθ᾽ ἣν τὸ γεῶδες τῶν Γραφῶν ἀποκτέννεσθαι πέφυκε καὶ πᾶν χοϊκὸν παντελῶς ἀφανίζεσθαι κίνημα. Ἅμα γάρ τις τὴν τῶν ἀρετῶν λογικῶς μετέλθοι φιλοσοφίαν(49), ἅμα καὶ τὴν τῶν Γραφῶν πρὸς τὸ Πνεῦμα φυσικῶς μετήνεγκεν ἐκδοχήν, ἐν καινότητι πνεύματος πρακτικῶς διὰ τῶν ὑψηλῶν θεωρημάτων τῷ Θεῷ λατρεύων, καὶ οὐ παλαιότητι γράμματος διὰ τῆς κατ᾽ αἴσθησιν πρὸς σῶμα ταπεινοτέρας τοῦ νόμου παραδοχῆς τροφεὺς παθῶν κατὰ τοὺς Ἰουδαίους γινόμενος καὶ ἁμαρτίας θεραπευτής.

Πράξει γὰρ χρὴ διὰ τῶν κατὰ φύσιν λογισμῶν τὴν ἐμπαθῆ καὶ σωματικὴν τοῦ νόμου διάνοιαν διαχειρίζεσθαι, καθὼς ὁ τῆς Γραφῆς ὑφηγεῖται λόγος, φάσκων· Καὶ ἔλαβεν ὁ βασιλεὺς τοὺς δύο υἱοὺς Ῥεσφᾶς, θυγατρὸς Ἔα, παλλακῆς Σαούλ, τὸν Ἑρμονθὶ καὶ τὸν Μεμφιβοσθέ, καὶ τοὺς πέντε υἱοὺς τῆς Μερόβ, τῆς θυγατρὸς Σαούλ, οὓς ἔτεκε τῷ Ἐσδριήλ, καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτοὺς ἐν χειρὶ τῶν Γαβαωνιτῶν. Χείρ ἐστι τῶν Γαβαωνιτῶν(50) ἡ κατ᾽ ἀρετὴν πρᾶξις τῶν φυσικῶν λογισμῶν, δι᾽ ἧς οἱ υἱοὶ Ῥεσφᾶς, Ἑρμονθὶ καὶ Μεμφιβοσθέ, τουτέστιν ἡ ἐκ τῆς ἐν (14Γ_402> μόνῃ τῇ προφορᾷ τοῦ λόγου σωματικῆς τοῦ νόμου διδαχῆς γεννωμένη τῶν παθῶν ἐνέργεια καὶ ἡ τῶν λογισμῶν ἀκόλαστος κίνησις, ἀποκτέννονται, πρὸς δὲ καὶ οἱ πέντε υἱοὶ τῆς Μερόβ, τουτέστιν οἱ ἐκ τῆς τρυφῆς γεννώμενοι κατὰ τὴν παρὰ φύσιν τῆς ἐνεργείας χρῆσιν ἀκόλαστοι πέντε τρόποι τῶν πέντε αἰσθήσεων· οὓς ἀποκτέννειν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ πέφυκεν, ὡς ἐν ὄρει, τῷ ὕψει τῆς πνευματικῆς θεωρίας, ἐν ἀρχῇ θερισμοῦ κριθῶν, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἐν προοιμίοις τῆς κατ᾽ ἀρετὴν πράξεως ἢ τῆς κατὰ φύσιν εὐσεβοῦς θεωρίας, πᾶς νοῦς κατὰ Θεὸν ὑψηλὸς καὶ μετέωρος, κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ τήν τε τῶν παθῶν κατασφάττων ἐνέργειαν καὶ τὴν τῶν λογισμῶν ἀσχήμονα κίνησιν, πρὸς δὲ καὶ τοὺς κατὰ παράχρησιν τῆς τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἐνεργείας ἀκολάστους τρόπους.