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spiritually understood, and the Jew likewise is prudent, being transferred from corporeal worship to the spiritual service of God.

It should be noted that those being saved by Jesus, Saul kills. For those whom the spirit of Scripture preserves, the letter is wont to kill. For this reason, I mean the written law, taken carnally by the Jews, God regrets having anointed to rule over Israel, and gives to the spirit the power of the kingdom, to the one who is near the letter and better than the letter. "And I will give," He says, "the kingdom to your neighbor who is better than you." For just as David was near Saul, so the spirit is clearly fixed alongside the letter of the law; which is wont to be revealed after the death of the letter(66).

Let us, therefore, also exhort the intelligible David(67) to sound upon the lyre of spiritual contemplation and knowledge our mind which is seized by material things and to drive away the evil spirit of the material adventure toward sensation, so that we may be able to understand the law spiritually and to find the mystical word hidden in it and to make it a lasting possession for the provision of eternal life, so that we may not have the symbolic law borrowed in the letter(68), being at a loss for the knowledge in the Spirit according to grace, and love only, as if not seeing, the inquiry concerning divine things, being deprived of the truly all-luminous direct vision of the mystical oracles; for Saul is said to be both, when transferred into the Greek language. For it is interpreted, in addition to what has been said, as both 'borrowed' and 'inquiry;' which indeed the written law, being what it is, has become, (14Γ_418> on the one hand, as not being the most proper possession of nature and not at all co-extensive with existence according to it, and on the other hand, as moving us toward true knowledge and archetypal wisdom, for those who do not consider the inquiry to be the comprehension of the sought-after divine archetypal reality, but only through the corporeal symbols in the law, as through a certain inquiry, hastening toward the comprehension of the divine goods, so that we may cease from the anxiety of the inquiry, in which perhaps there is often also error(69), having come into the truth of the divine things sought, and that we may be transformed into their blessedness, which appears in us unchangeably according to participation(70) and which makes the form according to it a characteristic of our existence in Christ Jesus our God and Savior, to whom be the glory for ever. Amen.

SCHOLIA 1. The mind, being purified to the utmost through the virtues, is naturally inclined to those of the virtues

to be taught the principles reasonably; making its own person the knowledge divinely characterized from them. For in itself every mind is formless and uncharacterized, having an acquired form, either the knowledge subsisting in spirit from the virtues, or the ignorance resulting from the passions.

2. He who has received as the form of his mind the divine knowledge from the virtues in the Spirit, is said to have suffered divine things, because he has received this not by nature according to existence, but by grace according to participation. But he who has not received knowledge from grace, even if he says something gnostic, does not know by experience the power of what is said. For mere learning does not give knowledge as a state.

3. He said well that Saul is to be taken according to this passage of Scripture; because in many other places he is taken in ways, (14Γ_420> being suitably adapted to the contemplation revealed from the history.

4. Just as, he says, one who is joined to a concubine does not have a lawful marriage; so he who practices the learning of the law corporeally does not have a lawful cohabitation with it; begetting from it illegitimate doctrines, that perish along with the life of the flesh.

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πνευματικῶς νοούμενος, καὶ ὁ Ἰουδαῖος ὡσαύτως σώφρων ἐστίν, ἐκ τῆς σωματικῆς λατρείας ἐπὶ τὴν πνευματικὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ θεραπείαν μεταφερόμενος.

Σημειωτέον δὲ ὅτι τοὺς ὑπὸ Ἰησοῦ διασῳζομένους ἀποκτέννει Σαούλ. Οὓς γὰρ περιποιεῖται τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς Γραφῆς ἀποκτέννειν τὸ γράμμα πέφυκεν. ∆ιὸ τοῦτον, λέγω δὲ τὸν γραπτὸν νόμον, μεταμελεῖται χρίσας βασιλεύειν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ὁ Θεός, ὑπὸ Ἰουδαίων σαρκικῶς λαμβανόμενον, καὶ δίδωσι τῷ πνεύματι τὸ κράτος τῆς βασιλείας, τῷ πλησίον τοῦ γράμματος καὶ ἀγαθῷ ὑπὲρ τὸ γράμμα. «Καὶ δώσω», φησίν, «τὴν βασιλείαν τῷ πλησίον σου τῷ ἀγαθῷ ὑπὲρ σέ». Καθὼς γὰρ ὁ ∆αβὶδ ἦν πλησίον τοῦ Σαούλ, οὕτω τῷ γράμματι τοῦ νόμου τὸ πνεῦμα σαφῶς παραπέπηγεν· ὅπερ μετὰ τὸν θάνατον τοῦ γράμματος πέφυκε διαφαίνεσθαι(66).

Παρακαλέσωμεν οὖν καὶ ἡμεῖς τὸν νοητὸν ∆αβὶδ(67) ἐπηχῆσαι τῇ κιθάρᾳ τῆς πνευματικῆς θεωρίας καὶ γνώσεως ἐπιληπτευόμενον τοῖς ὑλικοῖς τὸν ἡμέτερον νοῦν καὶ ἀπελάσαι τὸ πονηρὸν πνεῦμα τῆς πρὸς αἴσθησιν ὑλικῆς περιπετείας, ἵνα δυνηθῶμεν νοῆσαι τὸν νόμον πνευματικῶς καὶ τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ κεκρυμμένον μυστικὸν λόγον εὑρεῖν καὶ κτῆμα ποιήσασθαι διαρκὲς πρὸς ἐφόδιον ἀϊδίου ζωῆς, ὅπως μὴ τὸν δεδανεισμένον ἐν γράμματι συμβολικὸν ἔχωμεν νόμον(68), ἀποροῦντες τῆς κατὰ χάριν ἐν Πνεύματι γνώσεως, καὶ μόνην στέργωμεν, ὡς μὴ βλέποντες, τὴν περὶ τῶν θείων ἐρώτησιν, ἐστερημένοι τῆς τῶν μυστικῶν λογίων κατ᾽ ἀλήθειαν παμφαοῦς αὐτοψίας· ἄμφω γὰρ λέγεται Σαούλ, πρὸς τὴν ἑλλάδα φωνὴν μεταφερόμενος. Ἑρμηνεύεται γὰρ πρὸς τοῖς εἰρημένοις καὶ 'δεδανεισμένος' καὶ 'ἐρώτησις·' ἅπερ δὴ καὶ ὁ γραπτὸς ὑπάρχων καθέστηκε νόμος, (14Γ_418> τὸ μὲν ὡς οὐκ ὢν οἰκειότατον κτῆμα τῆς φύσεως καὶ τῇ κατ᾽ αὐτὴν ὑπάρξει παντελῶς οὐ συμπαρατεινόμενος, τὸ δὲ ὡς περὶ γνῶσιν ἀληθῆ κινῶν ἡμᾶς καὶ πρωτότυπον σοφίαν, τοὺς μὴ νομίζοντας τὴν ἐρώτησιν κατάληψιν εἶναι τῆς ζητουμένης τῶν θείων ἀρχετυπίας, ἀλλὰ μόνον διὰ τῶν ἐν νόμῳ σωματικῶν συμβόλων, ὡς δι᾽ ἐρωτήσεώς τινος, πρὸς τὴν τῶν θείων ἀγαθῶν ἐπειγομένους κατάληψιν, ἵνα παυσώμεθα τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἐρώτησιν φροντίδος, ἐν ᾗ τυχόν ἐστι πολλάκις καὶ πλάνησις(69), ἐν τῇ τῶν ζητουμένων θείων ἀληθείᾳ γενόμενοι, καὶ τῆς αὐτῶν μεταποιηθῶμεν μακαριότητος, φαινομένης ἐν ἡμῖν ἀναλλοιώτως κατὰ τὴν μέθεξιν(70) καὶ τὸ κατ᾽ αὐτὴν εἶδος τῆς ἡμῶν γνώρισμα ποιουμένης ὑπάρξεως ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Σωτῆρι ἡμῶν, ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. Ἀμήν.

ΣΧΟΛΙΑ 1. Νοῦς εἰς ἄκρον διά τῶν ἀρετῶν καθαιρόμενος, τούς τῶν ἀρετῶν πέφυκεν

εἰκότως ἐκδιδάσκεσθαι λόγους· τήν ἐξ αὐτῶν θειωδῶς χαρακτηρισθεῖσαν γνῶσιν, οἰκεῖον ποιούμενος πρόσωπον. Καθ᾿ ἑαυτόν γάρ ἀνείδεός τε καί ἀχαρακτήριστος πᾶς καθέστηκε νοῦς, μορφήν ἔχων ἐπίκτητον, ἤ τήν ἐκ τῶν ἀρετῶν ὑποστᾶσαν ἐν πνεύματι γνῶσιν, ἤ τήν ἐκ τῶν παθῶν ἐπισυμβαίνουσαν ἄγνοιαν.

2. Ὁ τήν νοῦ μορφήν τήν ἐξ ἀρετῶν ἐν Πνεύματι θείαν δεξάμενος γνῶσιν, τά θεῖα λέγεται παθεῖν, ὅτι μή φύσει κατά τήν ὕπαρξιν, ἀλλά χάριτι κατά τήν μέθεξιν ταύτην προσέλαβεν. Ὁ δέ τήν ἐκ χάριτος μή δεξάμενος γνῶσιν, κἄν λέγῃ τι γνωστικόν, οὐκ οἶδε κατά τήν πεῖραν τοῦ λεγομένου τήν δύναμιν. Ψιλή γάρ μάθησις, τήν καθ᾿ ἕξιν γνῶσιν οὐ δίδωσιν.

3. Καλῶς κατά τόνδε τῆς Γραφῆς εἶπε τόν τόπον λαμβάνεσθαι τόν Σαούλ· διά τό κατά πολλούς ἐν ἄλλοις τόποις (14Γ_420> λαμβάνεσθαι τρόπους, πρός τήν ἐκ τῆς ἱστορίας ἀναδεικνυμένην θεωρίαν προσφυῶς ἁρμοζόμενον.

4. Ὥσπερ, φησίν, ὁ παλλακῇ συναπτόμενος, νόμιμον οὐ κέκτηται τόν γάμον· οὕτως ὁ σωματικῶς τήν νομικήν ἐξασκούμενος μάθησιν, νόμιμον τήν πρός αὐτήν οὐκ ἔχει συμβίωσιν· νόθα γεννῶν ἐξ αὐτῆς δόγματα, καί τῇ τῆς σαρκός ζωῇ συμφθειρόμενα.