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they proposed such an argument not inconsistent with ecclesiastical dogma; that from Cain until the flood seven generations have passed, and immediately a punishment was brought upon all the earth because of the great outpouring of sin. But the sin of Lamech does not require a flood for its healing, but Him who takes away the sin of the world. Count, therefore, the generations from Adam until the coming of Christ and you will find, according to the genealogy of Luke, that the Lord was born in the seventy-seventh succession. These things, therefore, have been investigated to the best of my ability, having omitted many of the things that could have been investigated, so that we might not extend the argument beyond the measure of the letter; but even these brief seeds are sufficient for your understanding. "For," it says, "give an occasion to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser," and "A wise man who hears a word will praise it and add to it." 260.6 The words of Simeon to Mary have nothing complex or profound. "For Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother: Behold, this one is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against. And a sword will pierce through your own soul also, that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." In these things I wondered how, having passed over the preceding things as clear, you inquired about this one thing: "And a sword will pierce through your own soul also." And yet to me it seems no less a difficulty how the same one is set for a fall and a rising, and what is the sign that is spoken against, and third, how a sword will pierce through Mary's soul. 260.7 I think, therefore, that the Lord is for the fall and rising not of some falling and others rising, but of the worse part in us falling down and the better part rising up. For the appearance of the Lord is destructive of the bodily passions, but arousing of the soul's own properties. As when Paul says, "When I am weak, then I am strong," the same person is both weak and strong, but he is weak in the flesh, but strong in the spirit. Thus also the Lord does not provide the occasions for falling to some, and for rising to others. For those who fall, clearly fall down from the position in which they once were. But the unbeliever has never stood, always crawling on the ground with the serpent. He has, therefore, nowhere from which to fall, because he has been cast down by unbelief. As a first good deed: for the one standing in sin to fall and die, then to live to righteousness and to rise again, with faith in Christ bestowing both on us. Let the worse things fall, so that the better things may have an opportunity for rising. If fornication does not fall, self-control does not rise. If irrationality is not crushed, the rational part in us will not flourish. Thus, then, "For the fall and rising of many." 260.8 "And for a sign that is spoken against." We have known the cross to be called a sign in the proper sense in Scripture. For Moses, it says, placed the serpent upon a sign, that is, upon a cross, which is a sign indicative of something paradoxical and unseen, seen by them, but understood by those who are quick in thought. Since, therefore, they do not cease to dispute about the Incarnation of the Lord, some affirming that he took a body, others defining his sojourn as having been bodiless, and some that he had a passible body, others that he fulfilled the economy through the body by a kind of phantasm, and some an earthly, others a heavenly body, and some that his existence was pre-eternal, others that he had his beginning from Mary, for this reason, "For a sign that is spoken against." 260.9 And by "sword" he means the word of testing, that which judges the thoughts, which penetrates to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow. Since, therefore, every soul at the time of the Passion was subjected to a kind of discernment, according to the voice of the Lord saying that, "You will all be scandalized in me," Simeon prophesies also concerning Mary herself that: "Standing by the cross and seeing the things that were happening and hearing the voices, after the testimony of Gabriel,

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τοιοῦτον ὥρμησαν λόγον οὐκ ἀπᾴδοντα τοῦ ἐκκλησιαστικοῦ δόγματος· ὅτι ἀπὸ τοῦ Κάϊν ἕως τοῦ κατακλυσμοῦ ἑπτὰ παρεληλύθασι γενεαί, καὶ εὐθέως ἐπήχθη πάσῃ τῇ γῇ τιμωρία διὰ τὸ πολλὴν γενέσθαι χύσιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας. Τὸ δὲ ἁμάρτημα τοῦ Λάμεχ οὐ κατα κλυσμοῦ δεῖται πρὸς θεραπείαν, ἀλλ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ αἴροντος τὴν ἁμαρτίαν τοῦ κόσμου. Ἀρίθμησον τοίνυν ἀπὸ Ἀδὰμ μέχρι τῆς παρουσίας τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὰς γενεὰς καὶ εὑρήσεις, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Λουκᾶ γενεαλογίαν, τῇ ἑβδομηκοστῇ καὶ ἑβδόμῃ διαδοχῇ γεγεννημένον τὸν Κύριον. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν εἰς δύναμιν ἐξητάσθη πολλῶν τῶν ἐνόν των ἐξετασθῆναι παρεθέντων, ἵνα μὴ ἔξω τοῦ μέτρου τῆς ἐπιστολῆς τὸν λόγον προαγάγωμεν· ἀρκεῖ δὲ τῇ συνέσει σου καὶ τὰ βραχέα σπέρματα. «∆ίδου γάρ, φησί, τῷ σοφῷ ἀφορ μὴν καὶ σοφώτερος ἔσται», καὶ «Λόγον δεξάμενος σοφὸς αἰνέσει αὐτὸν καὶ ἐπ' αὐτὸν προσθήσει». 260.6 Τὰ δὲ τοῦ Συμεὼν ῥήματα πρὸς τὴν Μαρίαν οὐδὲν ἔχει ποικίλον οὐδὲ βαθύ. «Εὐλόγησε γὰρ αὐτοὺς Συμεὼν καὶ εἶπε πρὸς Μαρίαν τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ· Ἰδοὺ οὗτος κεῖ ται εἰς πτῶσιν καὶ ἀνάστασιν πολλῶν ἐν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ εἰς σημεῖον ἀντιλεγόμενον. Καὶ σοῦ δὲ αὐτῆς τὴν ψυχὴν διελεύ σεται ῥομφαία, ὅπως ἂν ἀποκαλυφθῶσιν ἐκ πολλῶν καρδιῶν διαλογισμοί.» Ἐν οἷς ἐκεῖνο ἐθαύμασα πῶς τὰ προάγοντα ὡς σαφῆ παρελθὼν ἓν τοῦτο ἐπεζήτησας τὸ «Καὶ σοῦ δὲ αὐτῆς τὴν ψυχὴν διελεύσεται ῥομφαία». Καίτοι ἐμοὶ οὐχ ἧττον φαίνεται ἄπορον πῶς ὁ αὐτὸς εἰς πτῶσιν κεῖται καὶ ἀνάστασιν καὶ τί τὸ σημεῖον τὸ ἀντιλεγόμενον, καὶ τρίτον, πῶς τῆς Μαρίας τὴν ψυχὴν διελεύσεται ῥομφαία. 260.7 Ἡγοῦμαι τοίνυν εἰς πτῶσιν καὶ ἀνάστασιν εἶναι τὸν Κύριον οὐκ ἄλλων πιπτόντων καὶ ἄλλων ἀνισταμένων, ἀλλ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν χείρονος καταπίπτοντος καὶ τοῦ βελτίο νος διανισταμένου. Καθαιρετικὴ μὲν γὰρ τῶν σωματικῶν παθῶν ἐστιν ἡ τοῦ Κυρίου ἐπιφάνεια, διεγερτικὴ δὲ τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς ἰδιωμάτων. Ὡς ὅταν λέγῃ ὁ Παῦλος· «Ὅταν ἀσθενῶ, τότε δυνατός εἰμι», ὁ αὐτὸς καὶ ἀσθενεῖ καὶ δύναται, ἀλλ' ἀσθενεῖ μὲν τῇ σαρκί, δυνατὸς δέ ἐστι τῷ πνεύματι. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ Κύριος οὐχὶ τοῖς μὲν τοῦ πίπτειν τὰς ἀφορμὰς παρέχει, τοῖς δὲ τοῦ ἀνίστασθαι. Οἱ γὰρ πίπτοντες ἀπὸ τῆς στάσεως ἐν ᾗ ποτε ἦσαν καταπίπτουσι δηλονότι. Οὐδέποτε δὲ εἱστήκει ὁ ἄπιστος ἀεὶ χαμαὶ συρό μενος μετὰ τοῦ ὄφεως. Οὐκ ἔχει οὖν ὅθεν πέσῃ διὰ τὸ καταβεβλῆσθαι τῇ ἀπιστίᾳ. Ὡς πρώτη εὐεργεσία· τὸν στή κοντα τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ πεσεῖν καὶ ἀποθανεῖν, εἶτα ζῆσαι τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ ἀναστῆναι τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως ἑκάτε ρον ἡμῖν χαριζομένης. Πιπτέτω τὰ χείρονα, ἵνα λάβῃ καιρὸν τὰ βελτίω εἰς τὴν ἀνάστασιν. Ἐὰν μὴ πέσῃ ἡ πορ νεία, ἡ σωφροσύνη οὐκ ἀνίσταται. Ἐὰν μὴ ἡ ἀλογία συν τριβῇ, τὸ λογικὸν τὸ ἐν ἡμῖν οὐκ ἀνθήσει. Οὕτως οὖν «Εἰς πτῶσιν καὶ ἀνάστασιν πολλῶν». 260.8 «Εἰς δὲ σημεῖον ἀντιλεγόμενον». Κυρίως σημεῖον ἔγνωμεν παρὰ τῇ Γραφῇ τὸν σταυρὸν εἰρημένον. Ἔθηκε γὰρ Μωσῆς, φησί, τὸν ὄφιν ἐπὶ σημείου, τουτέστιν ἐπὶ σταυροῦ, ὃ σημεῖόν ἐστι παραδόξου τινὸς καὶ ἀφανοῦς πράγματος ἐνδεικτικόν, ὁρώμενον μὲν παρ' αὐτῶν, νοού μενον δὲ παρὰ τῶν ἐντρεχῶν τὴν διάνοιαν. Ἐπεὶ οὖν οὐ παύονται ζυγομαχοῦντες περὶ τῆς Ἐνανθρωπήσεως τοῦ Κυρίου, οἱ μὲν ἀνειληφέναι σῶμα, οἱ δὲ ἀσώματον αὐτοῦ τὴν ἐπιδημίαν γεγενῆσθαι διοριζόμενοι, καὶ οἱ μὲν παθητὸν ἐσχηκέναι τὸ σῶμα, οἱ δὲ φαντασίᾳ τινὶ τὴν διὰ σώματος οἰκονομίαν πληροῦν, καὶ ἄλλοι χοϊκόν, ἄλλοι δὲ ἐπουράνιον σῶμα, καὶ οἱ μὲν προαιώνιον τὴν ὕπαρξιν, οἱ δὲ ἀπὸ Μαρίας τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐσχηκέναι, διὰ τοῦτο «Εἰς σημεῖον ἀντιλεγόμενον». 260.9 Ῥομφαίαν δὲ λέγει τὸν λόγον τὸν πειραστικόν, τὸν κριτικὸν τῶν ἐνθυμήσεων, τὸν διικνούμενον ἄχρι μερισμοῦ ψυχῆς καὶ πνεύματος, ἁρμῶν τε καὶ μυελῶν. Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν πᾶσα ψυχὴ παρὰ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ Πάθους οἱονεὶ διακρίσει τινὶ ὑπεβάλλετο, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ Κυρίου φωνὴν εἰπόντος ὅτι· «Πάντες σκανδαλισθήσεσθε ἐν ἐμοί», προφητεύει ὁ Συμεὼν καὶ περὶ αὐτῆς τῆς Μαρίας ὅτι· «Παρεστῶσα τῷ σταυρῷ καὶ βλέπουσα τὰ γινόμενα καὶ ἀκούουσα τῶν φωνῶν, μετὰ τὴν τοῦ Γαβριὴλ μαρτυρίαν,