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the word, being held by the letter of the law as by a bushel, has deprived of eternal light, not giving spiritual contemplation to those who hasten to cast off sensation, which is deceptive, and receptive only of deception; and which is perceptive only of the corruption of connatural bodies; but upon the lampstand, I mean the Church, or the rational worship in spirit, so that it may enlighten all; teaching those in all the world to live and conduct their lives by reason alone; and to have so much concern for their bodies as to completely sever, through much care, the soul's relation to them; and to make it their work and study not to give the soul any fantasy of matter at all; sensation having now been extinguished by reason, which at the beginning pushed reason aside; and which accepted the irrationality of pleasure, like a creeping serpent; against which death was justly decreed, so that it might cease from providing the devil entry to the soul. For sensation, being one in genus, becomes fivefold in its species, through the perceptive energy of each species persuading the erring soul to love what is naturally sensible instead of God. Therefore, he who wisely follows reason, before the forced and unwilling death, willingly condemns the flesh to death, making a complete separation of the will from sensation.

Therefore, he who sits beside only the letter of Scripture has only sensation holding sway over nature; by which the soul's relationship to the flesh alone is naturally manifested. For the letter, not understood spiritually, has only sensation circumscribing its utterance, and not permitting the power of what is written to pass over to the mind. But if the letter has an affinity for sensation alone, everyone who accepts the letter in a Jewish manner, according to history alone, lives according to the flesh, dying the death of sin daily by the will, on account of living sensation; being unable by the spirit to put to death the deeds of the body, so that he might live the blessed life in the spirit. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, says the divine Apostle; but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Let us not then, after lighting the lamp, that is, the illuminating word of knowledge, through contemplation and action, place it under the bushel; lest we be condemned, as circumscribing by the letter the incomprehensible power of wisdom; but upon the lampstand, I mean the holy Church, on the height of true contemplation, holding up to all the light of the divine dogmas.

(672) The law, typically prefiguring this holy Church, commanded it to be made a lampstand all of gold, and hammered; the one, as having nothing empty, and void of the power of the Word; the other, as being completely stripped of all material superfluities, and having nothing earthly. Which the great Zechariah, marvelously beholding with some variation, says in addition to the lamp: And seven lamps upon it. Here we must understand the seven lamps in another way, than that which the word already gave forth, anticipating the lamp in the Gospel. For not everyone and everything that has the same utterance will be understood in one and the same way in all cases; but each of the things said must be understood clearly according to the underlying power of the passage of holy Scripture, if we are to rightly conjecture the purpose of what is written.

Therefore, I suppose that the holy Scripture here calls the energies of the Holy Spirit lamps; that is, the gifts of the Spirit, which the Word, as head of the whole body, is wont to bestow upon the Church. For upon him, it says, shall rest the Spirit of God, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and piety; the spirit of the fear of God shall fill him. But the head of the Church, in the concept of humanity, is Christ. Therefore to the Church

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τῷ γράμματι τοῦ νόμου καθάπερ μοδίῳ κρατούμενος ὁ λόγος, ἐστέρησε φωτός ἀϊδίου, μή διδούς θεωρίαν πνευματικήν, τοῖς τήν αἴσθησιν ὡς ἀπατηλήν, καί μόνης δεκτικήν τῆς ἀπάτης· καί τῆς τῶν συμφυῶν σωμάτων φθορᾶς ὑπάρχουσαν μόνης ἀντιληπτικήν, ἐκδύσασθαι σπεύδουσιν· ἀλλ᾿ ἐπί τήν λυχνία, λέγω τήν Ἐκκλησίαν, ἤγουν τήν ἐν πνεύματι λογικήν λατρείαν, ἵνα πάντας φωτίσῃ· διδάσκων τούς ἐν παντί τῷ κόσμῳ, λόγῳ ζῆν μόνῳ καί πολιτεύεσθαι· καί τοσοῦτον ἔχειν περί τῶν σωμάτων τήν μέριμναν, ὅσον διά πολλῆς φροντίδος τήν πρός αὐτά σχέσιν τῆς ψυχῆς παντελῶς διακόψαι· καί μηδεμίαν διδόναι τό σύνολον ὕλης τῇ ψυχῇ φαντασίαν, ἔργον ποιεῖσθαι καί σπούδασμα· σβεσθείσης ἤδη τῷ λόγῳ, τῆς κατ᾿ ἀρχάς τόν μέν λόγον παρωσαμένης· τήν ἀλογίαν δέ τῆς ἡδονῆς, ὄφεως δίκην ἑρπηστικοῦ, προσδεξαμένης αἰσθήσεως· καθ᾿ ἧς ὡρίσθη δικαίως ὁ θάνατος, ἵνα παύσηται τῷ διαβόλῳ πρός τήν ψυχήν παρεχομένη τήν εἴσοδον. Μία γάρ ὑπάρχουσα κατά τό γένος ἡ αἴσθησις, πενταπλοῦται τοῖς εἴδεσι, διά τῆς καθ᾿ ἕκαστον εἶδος ἀντιληπτικῆς ἐνεργείας, τό προσφυές αἰσθητόν ἀντί Θεοῦ στέργειν τήν πλανωμένην ψυχήν ἀναπείθουσα. ∆ιόπερ ὁ τῷ λόγῳ σοφῶς ἑπόμενος, πρό τοῦ βεβιασμένου καί παρά γνώμην θανάτου, θάνατον τῆς σαρκός ἑκουσίως καταψηφίζεται· τόν πρός αἴσθησιν τῆς γνώμης παντελῶς ποιούμενος χωρισμόν.

Οὐκοῦν ὁ μόνῳ τῷ γράμματι τῆς Γραφῆς παρακαθήμενος, μόνην ἔχει τήν αἴσθησιν κρατοῦσαν τῆς φύσεως· καθ᾿ ἥν ἡ πρός σάρκα τῆς ψυχῆς σχέσις μόνη διαφαίνεσθαι πέφυκε. Τό γάρ γράμμα μή νοούμενον πνευματικῶς, μόνην ἔχει τήν αἴσθησιν περιγράφουσαν αὐτοῦ τήν ἐκφώνησιν, καί μή συγχωροῦσαν πρός τόν νοῦν διαβῆναι τῶν γεγραμμένων τήν δύναμιν. Εἰ δέ πρός μόνην τήν αἴσθησιν ἔχει τό γράμμα τήν οἰκειότητα, πᾶς ὁ καθ᾿ ἱστορίαν μόνην Ἰουδαϊκῶς τό γράμμα δεχόμενος, κατά σάρκα ζῇ, τῆς ἁμαρτίας καθ᾿ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν, διά τήν ζῶσαν αἴσθησιν, γνωμικῶς ἀποθνήσκων τόν θάνατον· μή δυνάμενος πνεύματι τάς πράξεις θανατῶσαι τοῦ σώματος, ἵνα ζῇ τήν ἐν πνεύματι μακαρίαν ζωήν. Εἰ γάρ κατά σάρκα ζῆτε, μέλλετε ἀποθνήσκειν, φησίν ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος· εἰ δέ πνεύματι τάς πράξεις τοῦ σώματος θανατοῦτε, ζήσεσθε. Μή τοίνυν τόν λύχνον, ἤγουν τό φωτιστικόν τῆς γνώσεως λόγον, ἀνάπτοντες, διά θεωρίας καί πράξεως ὑπό τόν μόδιον θήσωμεν· ἵνα μή κατακριθῶμεν, ὡς περιγράφοντες τῷ γράμματι τήν τῆς σοφίας ἀπερινόητον δύναμιν· ἀλλ᾿ ἐπί τήν λυχνίαν, λέγω τήν ἁγίαν Ἐκκλησίαν, ἐν τῷ ὕψει τῆς ἀληθοῦς θεωρίας, πᾶσι τό φῶς τῶν θείων δογμάτων πυρσεύουσαν.

(672) Ταύτην τυχόν τήν ἁγίαν Ἐκκλησίαν καί ὁ νόμος τυπικῶς προκαταγγέλλων, λυχνίαν χρυσῆν ὅλην αὐτήν, καί τορευτήν γενέσθαι προσέταξε· τό μέν, ὡς μηδέν διάκενον ἔχουσαν, καί τῆς τοῦ λόγου δυνάμεως ἄμοιρον· τό δέ, ὡς τῶν ὑλικῶν πάντων περιττωμάτων παντελῶς ἀπεξεσμένην, καί μηδέν ἐπίγειον ἔχουσαν. Ἥνπερ μετά τινος ἐξαλλαγῆς θαυμαστῶς διαθρήσας ὁ μέγας Ζαχαρίας, φησί πρός τῷ λαμπαδίῳ· Καί ἑπτά λύχνοι ἐπάνω αὐτῆς. Τούς ἑπτά λύχνους ἐνταῦθα καθ᾿ ἕτερον τρόπον ἐκληπτέον ἡμῖν, παρ᾿ ὅν ἤδη τόν ἐν τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ λύχνον προλαβών ἐξέδωκεν ὁ λόγος. Οὐ γάρ πάντες τε καί πάντα τά τήν αὐτήν ἐκφώνησιν ἔχοντα, καθ᾿ ἕνα καί τόν αὐτόν πάντως νοηθήσεται τρόπον· ἀλλ᾿ ἕκαστον τῶν λεγομένων πρός τήν ὑποκειμένην δῆλον ὅτι τῷ τόπῳ τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς δύναμιν νοητέον, εἰ μέλλοιμεν ὀρθῶς τοῦ σκοποῦ τῶν γεγραμμένων καταστοχάζεσθαι.

Λύχνους οὖν ἐνταῦθα φάναι τήν ἁγίαν Γραφήν ὑπονοῶ, τάς ἐνεργείας τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος· ἤγουν χαρίσματα τοῦ Πνεύματος, ἅπερ δωρεῖσθαι τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ πέφυκεν ὁ Λόγος, ὡς κεφαλή τοῦ παντός σώματος. Καί ἐπαναπαύσεται γάρ ἐπ᾿ αὐτόν, φησί, Πνεῦμα Θεοῦ, πνεῦμα σοφίας καί συνέσεως, πνεῦμα βουλῆς καί ἰσχύος, πνεῦμα γνώσεως καί εὐσεβείας· ἐμπλήσει αὐτόν πνεῦμα φόβου Θεοῦ. Ἡ δέ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας κεφαλή κατά τήν ἐπίνοιαν τῆς ἀνθρωπότητός ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός. Ἄρα τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ