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12. Who is the house of the thief and of the perjurer. 13. The reason for the devil being permitted to plunder, one might say conjecturally

perhaps, is that his evil might be known to men through experience of him, so that he might be more hated when he is revealed; and that the dispositions of all men might be shown to one another through trial, so that each person might bring forward an innate defense for himself, his own conscience. For God does not need to learn through experience, having the knowledge of all things essentially, even before their generation.

14. What are the pieces of wood, and what are the stones. 15. That the destruction of the house, that is of the world, according to its error through the

incarnation has come to pass. 16. An exposition of the same things according to another contemplation. 17. Another contemplation about the same things. 18. He set forth this contemplation as suitable for the passionate. For the one who is completely

sick with immobility toward the good, is, in every way, easily moved toward evil. For it is impossible to be immobile in respect to both.

19. The movement according to sense, when joined to the activity according to the intellect, produces virtue with knowledge.

20. Why did he call it a sickle? 21. Because the Word is commingled with the practical faculties of the soul, just as the

sickle is with the hand of the reaper, for the destruction of the passions, and the gathering of virtues. 22. The devil, he says, is a thief, as of ignorance; and a perjurer, as of evil

creator; having as houses, of the ignorant, the erring mind; and of the evil, the sin-loving will.

23. A good contemplation, and very suitable for us, who adulterate the glory of virtue and of knowledge for the sake of vainglory.

24. A thief, he says, is also he who feigns a deceptive formation of moral virtues; and with an outward appearance, conceals the hidden wickedness of his will.

25. He who pretends to have knowledge only in the utterance of words, he says, for his own glory steals the mind of his hearers; and he who feigns virtue in his character, (665) for his own glory steals the sight of the onlookers; and both, stealing through deceit, lead astray, the one, the mind of the soul of the hearers; the other, the bodily sense of the onlookers.

26. What is the perjurer.

QUESTION 63.

In the same prophet it is written again: "And he said to me: What do you see? And I said: I have seen, and behold a lampstand all of gold, and its lamp on top of it; and seven lamps on top of it, and seven pipes for the lamps that are on top of it; and two olive trees above it: one on the right of its lamp, and one on the left. " What is the lampstand? and why of gold, and what is the lamp on top of it? what are the seven pipes of the seven lamps? and what are the two olive trees? and why on the right and on the left of the lamp?

Response. The much-enlightened and exceedingly brilliant magnificence of the holy Church from afar

the Word, symbolically prefiguring for the prophet, thus variegated this vision for him; teaching, I think, the power of the new mystery concerning it. The lampstand

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ιβ΄. Τίς ἐστιν ὁ οἶκος τοῦ κλέπτου καί τοῦ ἐπιόρκου. ιγ΄. Αἰτίαν τοῦ λῃστεύειν συγχωρηθῆναι τόν διάβολον, στοχαστικῶς ἐρεῖ τις

τυχόν, τό καί τοῖς ἀνθρώποις διά πείρας αὐτοῦ γνωσθῆναι τήν κακίαν, ἵνα μισηθῇ πλέον δεικνύμενος· καί τό πᾶσιν ἀλλήλων δειχθῆναι τοῖς ἀνθρώποις διά τῆς δοκιμασίας τάς διαθέσεις, ἵνα ἕκαστος ἑαυτῷ σύμφυτον ἐπιφέρηται συνηγορίαν, τήν οἰκείαν συνείδησιν. Ὁ γάρ Θεός οὐ δέεται τῆς κατά τήν πεῖραν μαθήσεως, πάντων ἔχων οὐσιωδῶς, καί πρό τῆς αὐτῶν γενέσεως, τήν γνῶσιν.

ιδ΄. Τίνα τά ξύλα, καί τίνες οἱ λίθοι. ιε΄. Ὅτι καταστροφή τοῦ οἴκου, τουτέστι τοῦ κόσμου, κατά τήν πλάνην διά τῆς

σαρκώσεως γέγονεν. ιστ΄. Κατ᾿ ἄλλην θεωρίαν τῶν αὐτῶν ἔκθεσις. ιζ΄. Ἄλλη περί τῶν αὐτῶν θεωρία. ιη΄. Ταύτην ἔθετο τήν θεωρίαν τοῖς ἐμπαθέσιν ἁρμόδιον. Ὁ γάρ τήν παντελῆ

περί τό καλόν ἀκινησίαν νοσῶν, περί τό κακόν ὑπάρχει, πάντως εὐκίνητος. Κατ᾿ ἀμφότερα γάρ ἀκίνητον ὑπάρχειν, ἀδύνατον.

ιθ΄. Συναπτομένη ἡ κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν κίνησις τῇ κατά νοῦν ἐνεργείᾳ, ποιεῖ τήν μετά γνώσεως ἀρετήν.

κ΄. ∆ιά τί δρέπανον ἐκάλεσεν; κα΄. Ὅτι συμφύρεται ταῖς πρακτικαῖς τῆς ψυχῆς δυνάμεσιν ὁ Λόγος, ὥσπερ τό

δρέπανον τῇ χειρί τοῦ θερίζοντος, πρός ἀναίρεσιν παθῶν, καί συγκομιδήν ἀρετῶν. κβ΄. Κλέπτης μέν, φησίν, ἐστίν ὁ διάβολος, ὡς ἀγνοίας· ἐπίορκος δέ, ὡς κακίας

δημιουργός· ἔχων καθάπερ οἰκίας, τοῦ μέν ἀγνοοῦντος, τήν πλανωμένην διάνοιαν· τοῦ δέ κακοῦ, τήν φιλαμαρτήμονα γνώμην.

κγ΄. Καλή θεωρία, καί πάνυ πρόσφορος ἡμῖν, τοῖς νοθεύουσι διά τήν κενοδοξίαν τό κλέος τῆς ἀρετῆς καί τῆς γνώσεως.

κδ΄. Κλέπτης ἐστί, φησί, καί ὁ τήν ἀρετῶν τῶν ἠθῶν ἀπατηλήν διάπλασιν ὑποκρινόμενος· καί τῷ φαινομένῳ σχήματι, τήν λανθάνουσαν συγκαλύπτων τῆς γνώμης πονηρίαν.

κε΄. Ὁ κατά μόνην τήν ἐν λόγοις προφοράν γνῶσιν ὑποκρινόμενος, φησί, πρός δόξαν ἰδίαν τήν τῶν ἀκουόντων κλέπτει διάνοιαν· καί ὁ τοῖς ἤθεσι τήν (665) ἀρετήν ὑποκρινόμενος, πρός δόξαν ἰδίαν κλέπτει τήν τῶν θεωμένων ὅρασιν· καί δι᾿ ἀπάτης ἀμφότεροι κλέπτοντες πλανῶσιν, ὁ μέν, διάνοιαν ψυχῆς τῶν ἀκοούντων· ὁ δέ τῶν θεωμένων σώματος αἴσθησιν.

κστ΄. Τί ἐστιν ὁ ἐπίορκος.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΞΓ΄.

Ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ προφήτη γέγραπται πάλιν· "Καί εἶπε πρός με· Τί σύ βλέπεις; Καί εἶπα· Ἐώρακα , καί ἰδού λυχνία χρυσῆ ὅλη, καί τό λαμπάδιον ἐπάνω αὐτῆς· καί ἑπτά λύχνοι ἐπάνω αὐτῆς, καί ἑπτά ἐπαρυστρίδες τοῖς λύχνοις τοῖς ἐπάνω αὐτῆς· καί δύο ἐλαῖαι ἐπάνω αὐτῆς· μία ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ λαμπαδίου αὐτῆς, καί μία ἐξ εὐωνύμων. " Τίς ἡ λυχνία; καί διά τί χρυσῆ, καί τί τό λαμπάδιον τό ἐπάνω αὐτῆς; τίνες οἱ ἑπτά ἐπαρυστρίδες τῶν ἑπτά λύχνων; καί τίνες αἱ δύο ἐλαῖαι; καί διά τί ἐξ δεξιῶν καί ἐξ εὐωνύμων τοῦ λαμπαδίου;

Ἀπόκρισις. Τήν πολύφωτον καί ὑπερφαῆ τῆς ἁγίας Ἐκκλησίας μεγαλοπρέπειαν πόῤῥωθεν

τῷ προφήτῃ συμβολικῶς προδιαγράφων ὁ λόγος, ταύτην οὕτως αὐτῷ τήν ὅρασιν διεποίκιλε· διδάσκων, οἶμαι, τοῦ κατ᾿ αὐτήν καινοῦ μυστηρίου τήν δύναμιν. Λυχνία