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37. The mystery, he says, of the incarnation, removes the properties of human nature that are contrary to nature; and restores those that are according to nature.

38. Providence and judgment, incarnation and passion, he has understood as bronze mountains; from which the tetrad of the Gospels proceeds.

39. He has understood the nations as the land of the North; which once existed as in a land of darkness through the error of ignorance; but now have become in a land of light, through the knowledge of the truth, according to the grace of the holy tetrad of the Gospels, as incorruptible elements, according to the inner and spiritual man being refashioned into eternal life through faith.

40. Another contemplation of the four chariots. 41. Another contemplation of the olive trees. 42. The contemplative person, he says, has the principle of the incarnation according to providence

made manifest; while the practical person shows the manner of the sufferings of the Word being brought into effect according to judgment.

43. Another contemplation on the olive trees. 44. Another contemplation on the same. 45. Another contemplation concerning the same. 46. Another contemplation concerning the two olive trees. 47. He who understands the visible world contemplates the intelligible world; for he typifies with

sense by imagining the intelligible things, and according to the intellect he forms the principles that have been contemplated; and he transfers to sense in a manifold way the constitution of the intelligible world; and to the intellect, in a complex way the composition of the sensible world; (693) and he understands, in the intelligible the sensible, having transferred sense to the intellect by the principles; and in the sensible the intelligible, having scientifically transposed the intellect to sense by means of types.

48. Another contemplation concerning the same.

QUESTION 64.

What is the meaning of the saying in Jonah the prophet concerning Nineveh, which states: "In which dwell more than twelve myriads of men, who did not know their right hand or their left hand," since from the letter I find not one consolation? For it did not say Children, that I might think of infants, but Men. And what man, having his wits about him, does not know his right hand or his left hand? but [Fr. or left; but] tell me who the men are, and what is the right, and what is the left, according to the anagogical sense.

Response. None of the persons, or places, or times, or other

things, animate and inanimate, sensible and intelligible, recorded in Scripture, has its history and its contemplation entirely corresponding to itself in the same way it is always understood. Therefore, one who unerringly exercises the divine knowledge of holy Scripture must, in accordance with the differences of what is done or said, interpret each of the enumerated things differently; and duly assign to it the contemplation that is fitting according to the place or the time. For the name of each of the things signified in Scripture is polysemous, according to the power of the Hebrew language; which we also find clearly here.

For Jonah is interpreted according to different pronunciations: Rest and gift of God, healing of God, and grace of God to them, and labor of God, and dove, and flight of beauty, and their distress. And he is found both in Joppa, and in the sea, and in the whale, and in Nineveh, and under the gourd plant. And Joppa is interpreted as, outlook of joy, and marvelous beauty, and powerful joy. Therefore Jonah the prophet, a type

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λζ΄. Τό μυστήριον, φησί, τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως, τά μέν παρά φύσιν ἀφίστησιν ἰδιώματα τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως· τά δέ κατά φύσιν ἀποκαθίστησιν.

λη΄. Πρόνοιαν καί κρίσν, σάρκωσίν τε καί πάθος, ὄρη χαλκᾶ νενόηκεν· ἐξ ὧν ἡ τῶν Εὐαγγελίων ἐκβαίνει τετράς.

λθ΄. Γῆν Βοῤῥᾶ τά ἔθνη νενόηκεν· ἅτινα ὡς ἐν χώρᾳ σκότους ὑπῆρχόν ποτε τῇ πλάνῃ τῆς ἀγνοίας· νῦν δέ γεγόνασιν ἐν χώρᾳ φωτός, τῇ ἐπιγνώσει τῆς ἀληθείας, κατά τήν χάριν τῆς ἁγίας τῶν Εὐαγγελίων τετράδος, ὡς στοιχείων ἀφθάρτων, κατά τόν ἔσω καί νοερόν ἄνθρωπον εἰς ζωήν αἰώνιον ἀναπλασθέντες διά τῆς πίστεως.

μ΄. Ἄλλη θεωρία τῶν τεσσάρων ἁρμάτων. μα΄. Ἄλλη θεωρία τῶν ἐλαιῶν. μβ΄. Ὁ μέν θεωρητικός, φησί, τόν κατά τήν πρόνοιαν λόγον τῆς σαρκώσεως ἔχει

φαινόμενον· ὁ δέ πρακτικός, τόν κατά τήν κρίσιν τῶν παθημάτων τοῦ Λόγου τρόπον ἐνεργούμενον δείκνυσιν.

μγ΄. Εἰς τάς ἐλαίας ἄλλη θεωρία. μδ΄. Εἰς τάς αὐτάς ἄλλη θεωρία. με΄. Ἄλλη περί τῶν αὐτῶν θεωρία. μστ΄. Ἄλλη περί τῶν δύο ἐλαιῶν θεωρία. μζ΄. Ὁ τόν φαινόμενον κόσμον νοῶν, θεωρεῖ τόν νοούμενον· τυποῖ γάρ τῇ

αἰσθήσει τά νοητά φανταζόμενος, καί κατά νοῦν σχηματίζει τούς θεαθέντας λόγους· καί μεταφέρει πρός μέν αἴσθησιν πολυειδῶς τοῦ νοητοῦ κόσμου τήν σύστασιν· πρός δέ νοῦν, τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ κόσμου πολυπλόκως τήν σύνθεσιν· (693) καί νοεῖ, ἐν μέν τῷ νοητῷ τόν αἰσθητόν, μετενέγκας πρός τόν νοῦν τοῖς λόγοις τήν αἴσθησιν· ἐν δέ τῷ αἰσθητῷ τόν νοητόν, πρός τήν αἴσθησιν ἐπιστημόνως τοῖς τύποις μετεγκλώσας τόν νοῦν.

μη΄. Ἄλλη περί τῶν αὐτῶν θεωρία.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ Ξ∆΄.

Ποίαν ἔννοιαν ἔχει τό ῥητόν τό ἐν τῷ Ἰωνᾷ τῷ προφήτῃ περί τῆς Νινευή φάσκον· " Ἐν ᾗ κατοικοῦσιν πλείους ἤ δώδεκα μυριάδες ἀνδρῶν, οἵτινες οὐκ ἔγνωσαν δεξιάν αὐτῶν οὐδέ ἀριστεράν αὐτῶν, ἐπειδή ἀπό τοῦ γράμματος οὐχ εὑρίσκω μίαν παθραμυθίαν; Οὐ γάρ εἶπε Παῖδας, ἵνα περί νηπίων νομίσω, ἀλλ᾿ Ἄνδρας. Ποῖος δέ ἀνήρ ἔχων ἀβλαβεῖς τάς φρένας, ἀγνοεῖ δεξιάν αὐτοῦ ἤ ἀριστεράν αὐτοῦ; ἀλλ᾿ [Fr. ἤ ἀριστεράν· ἀλλ᾿] εἰπέ τίνες οἱ ἄνδρες, καί τίς ἡ δεξιά, καί τίς ἡ ἀριστερά, κατά τόν τῆς ἀναγωγῆς λόγον.

Ἀπόκρισις. Οὐδέν τῶν ἀναγεγραμμένων τῇ Γραφῇ προσώπων, ἤ τόπων, ἤ χρόνων, ἤ ἑτέρων

πραγμάτων, ἐμψύχων τε καί ἀψύχων, αἰσθητῶν τε καί νοητῶν, κατά τόν αὐτόν ἀεί νοούμενον τρόπον ἔχει συμβαίνουσαν ἑαυτῇ δι᾿ ὅλου τήν ἱστορίαν καί τήν θεωρίαν. ∆ιό χρή τόν ἀπταίστως τήν θείαν τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς ἐξασκούμενον εἴδησιν, ταῖς διαφοραῖς τῶν γινομένων ἤ λεγομένων, διαφόρως ἐκδέχεσθαι τῶν ἀπηριθμημένων ἕκαστον· καί τήν ἁρμόζουσαν αὐτῷ κατά τόν τόπον ἤ τόν χρόνον δεόντως θεωρίαν προσνέμειν. Πολύσημον γάρ ἐστι ἑκάστου τῶν ἐν τῇ Γραφῇ σημαινομένων τό ὄνομα, κατά τήν δύναμιν τῆς Ἑβραΐδος φωνῆς· ὅπερ κἀνταῦθα σαφῶς εὑρίσκομεν.

Ἑρμηνεύεται γάρ Ἰωνᾶς κατά διαφόρους ἐκφωνήσεις· Ἀνάπαυσις καί δόμα Θεοῦ, ἴαμα Θεοῦ, καί Θεοῦ χάρις αὐτοῖς, καί πόνος Θεοῦ, καί περιστερά, καί φυγή κάλλους, καί διαπόνησις αὐτῶν. Γίνεται δέ οὗτος καί ἐν Ἰόππῃ, καί ἐν θαλάσσῃ, καί ἐν κήτει, καί ἐν Νινευῇ, καί ὑπό τήν κολόκυνταν. Ἑρμηνεύεται δέ Ἰόππη, κατασκοπή χαρᾶς, καί καλλονή θαυμαστή, καί χαρά δυνατή. Οὐκοῦν Ἰωνᾶς ὁ προφήτης, τύπον