241

the salvation of the gentiles in Christ; because of ignorance of this, considering the gourd much better, he mourned, seeing it withered by the worm. For I said before, that the great Jonah also typologically prefigured in himself the madness of the Jews, not suffering anything himself, God forbid, of what belonged to the Jews, but in himself reproving their impiety; on account of which they fell from their former glory, as from a kind of Joppa. For this reason the Holy Spirit mystically gave him such a name, which is able, according to its various interpretations, to indicate the disposition of all those prefigured in him. When, therefore, he typologically reproves in himself the madness of the Jews, grieving at the salvation of the gentiles, and being confounded at the unexpectedness of their calling; and despairing and blasphemously preferring death to life against the divine will because of the withered gourd, it is interpreted as their vexation; which the word denounces, saying, God saw their works; speaking, that is, about the Ninevites, that they turned from their evil ways, and He repented of what He would do to them, and did not do it. And Jonah was grieved, and said: Now, Lord and Master, take my soul from me, because it is better for me to die than to live. And again: And the Lord God commanded a worm early the next day, and it struck the gourd, and it withered. And it happened when the sun rose, and the sun struck upon the head of Jonah, and he grew faint, and despaired of his life, and said: It was better for me to die than to live.

Nineveh, therefore, is the Church of the gentiles, which received the word of grace, and turned from the former error of idols, and for this reason was saved, and was deemed worthy of the glory of the heavens. And the booth which Jonah made for himself after going out from the city, represents the Jerusalem below, and the man-made temple in it. And the gourd prefigured the temporary shadow of the law of carnal worship in the letter alone, having nothing at all permanent and able to brighten the mind. And the worm is our Lord and God Jesus Christ, as he himself says about himself in the prophet David, I am a worm, and not a man; (713) a worm because of the seedless flesh he assumed, truly becoming and being called so. For just as the worm has no coupling, and no mingling preceding its generation, so also no mingling preceded the generation of the Lord according to the flesh. And furthermore, he put it on as bait for the deception of the devil on the hook of divinity, so that the spiritual dragon, insatiable, gaping at the flesh because its nature is easily captured, might be caught on the hook of divinity; and that he might vomit up whole, through the holy flesh of the Word which is from us, the human nature he had already swallowed; so that just as he had first swallowed man, luring him with the hope of divinity, so he, being lured by the assumption of humanity, might later vomit up him who was deceived by the expectation of divinity, being himself deceived by the expectation of humanity; and that the surpassing power of God might be revealed, through the weakness of the conquered nature conquering the strength of the conqueror; and that God might be shown to conquer the devil more by using the projection of the flesh, than the devil conquered man by promising the nature of divinity. This worm struck the gourd, and withered it; I mean, he abolished the legal worship as a shadow, and withered the conceit of the Jews in it.

And it happened on the next day when the sun rose. On the next day, because after the passing of the typical riddles according to the law, and the appointed time of carnal worship according to it, the grace of the new mystery arose, making another day of high knowledge, and of divine virtue, which is also contemplative for those who hold to it. For after this worm struck the gourd, and

241

ἐν Χριστῷ τῶν ἐθνῶν σωτηρίαν· ἧς διά τήν ἄγνοιαν πολλῷ κρείττονα τήν κολόκυνταν ἡγούμενος, ἐπένθει ξηρανθεῖσαν θεώμενος ὑπό τοῦ σκώληκος. Εἶπον γάρ προλαβών, ὅτι καί τήν τῶν Ἰουδαίων μανίαν, ἐν ἑαυτῷ τυπικῶς ὁ μέγας προδιέγραψεν Ἰωνᾶς, οὐκ αὐτός τι πάσχων, μή γένοιτο, τῶν Ἰουδαίοις προσόντων, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν ἑαυτῷ τήν ἐκείνων προδιελέγχων ἀσέβειαν· δι᾿ ἥν τῆς προτέρας δόξης, ὡς ἔκ τινος Ἰόππης ἐξέπεσαν. ∆ιά τοῦτο μυστικῶς τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον, τοιαύτην αὐτῷ προσηγορίαν ἐπέθηκε, δυναμένην κατά τήν διάφορον αὐτῆς ἑρμηνείαν, ἐνδείξασθαι τήν πάντων τῶν ἐν αὐτῷ προτυπουμένων διάθεσιν. Ὅταν οὖν ἐν αὐτῷ τυπικῶς τήν τῶν Ἰουσαίων ἐλέγχει παραφροσύνην, λυπουμένην μέν ἐπί τῇ σωτηρίᾳ τῶν ἐθνῶν, καί συγχεομένην ἐπί τῷ παραδόξῳ τῆς κλήσεως· ἀπολεγομένην τε καί βλασφήμως παρά τήν θείαν βούλησιν τῆς ζωῆς προτιμῶσαν τόν θάνατον διά τήν ξηρανθεῖσαν κολόκυνταν, ἑρμηνεύεται διαπόνησις αὐτῶν· ἥν στηλιτεύων ὁ λόγος φησίν, Ἴδεν ὁ Θεός τά ἔργα αὐτῶν· περί τῶν Νινευϊτῶν δηλαδή φάσκων, ὅτι ἀπέστρεψαν ἀπό τῶν ὁδῶν αὐτῶν τῶν πονηρῶν, καί μετενόησε τοῦ ποιῆσαι αὐτοῖς, καί οὐκ ἐποίησε. Καί ἐλυπήθη Ἰωνᾶς, καί εἶπε· Νῦν δέσποτα Κύριε, λάβε δή τήν ψυχήν μου ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ, ὅτι καλόν τό ἀποθανεῖν με, ἤ ζῇν. Καί αὖθις· Καί προσέταξε Κύριος ὁ Θεός σκώληκι ἑωθινῇ τῇ ἐπαύριον, καί ἐπάταξε τήν κολόκυνταν, καί ἀπεξηράνθη. Καί ἐγένετο ἅμα τῷ ἀνατεῖλαι τόν ἥλιον, καί ἐπάταξεν ὁ ἥλιος ἐπί τήν κεφαλήν Ἰωνᾶ, καί ὠλιγοψύχησε, καί ἀπελέγετο τήν ζωήν αὐτοῦ, καί εἶπε· Καλόν μοι ἦν ἀποθανεῖν με, ἤ ζῇν.

Νινευή τοίνυν ἐστίν, ἡ τῶν ἐθνῶν Ἐκκλησία, ἡ δεξαμένη τόν λόγον τῆς χάριτος, καί ἀποστραφεῖσα τήν προτέραν πλάνην τῶν εἰδώλων, καί διά τοῦτο σωθεῖσα, καί τῆς τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀξιωθεῖσα δόξης. Ἡ δέ σκηνή ἥν ἐξελθών ἀπό τῆς πόλεως ἑαυτῷ πεποίηκεν Ἰωνᾶς, εἰκονίζει τήν κάτω Ἱερουσαλήμ, καί τόν ἐν αὐτῇ χειροποίητον ναόν. Ἡ δέ κολόκυντα, τήν ἐν μόνῳ τῷ γράμματι πρόσκαιρον τοῦ νόμου τῆς σωματικῆς λατρείας σκιάν προδιέγραφε, μηδέν τό σύνολον ἔχουσαν μόνιμον καί τόν νοῦν φαιδρῦναι δυνάμενον. Ὁ δέ σκώληξ ἐστίν, ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν καί Θεός Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, ὡς αὐτός περί ἑαυτοῦ ἐν τῷ προφήτῃ ∆αβίδ φησί, Σκώληξ εἰμί, καί οὐκ ἄνθρωπος· (713) σκώληξ διά τήν προσληφθεῖσαν ἄσπορον σάρκα, καί γενόμενος ἀληθῶς καί λεγόμενος. Ὡς γάρ ὁ σκώληξ συνδυασμόν οὐκ ἔχει, καί μίξιν προκαθηγουμένην αὐτοῦ τῆς γενέσεως, οὕτως οὐδέ τῆς κατά σάρκα γεννήσεως τοῦ Κυρίου, προκαθηγήσατο μίξις. Πρός δέ, καί ὡς δέλεαρ πρός τήν ἀπάτην τοῦ διαβόλου τῷ τῆς θεότητος ἀγκίστρῳ περιθέμενος αὐτήν, ἵν᾿ ὡς ἄπληστος ὁ νοητός δράκων, διά τήν φύσιν εὐχείρωτον τήν σάρκα περιχανών, τῷ τῆς θεότητος ἀγκίστρῳ περισπαρῇ· καί ὅλον ἐμέσῃ διά τῆς ἐξ ἡμῶν ἁγίας τοῦ Λόγου σαρκός, καταποθεῖσαν ἤδη τήν φύσιν τήν ἀνθρωπίνην· ἵν᾿ ὡς κατέπιε πρότερον δελεάσας ἐλπίδι θεότητος τόν ἄνθρωπον, οὕτως ἀνθρωπότητος προσλήμματι δελεασθείς, ὕστερον ἐμέσῃ τόν ἀπατηθέντα διά προσδοκίαν θεότητος, ἀπατηθείς ἀνθρωπότητος προσδοκίᾳ· καί φανῇ τό ὑπερβάλλον τῆς θείας δυνάμεως, διά τῆς ἀσθενείας τῆς ἡττηθείσης φύσεως νικώσης τήν ἰσχύν τοῦ νικήσαντος· καί δειχθῇ πλέον νικῶν ὁ Θεός τόν διάβολον προβολῇ τῆς σαρκός χρώμενος, ἤ τόν ἄνθρωπον ὁ διάβολος φύσιν θεότητος ὑπισχνούμενος. Οὗτος ὁ σκώληξ ἐπάταξε τήν κολοκύνταν, καί ἀπεξήρανε· τήν νομικήν λέγω λατρείαν κατήργησεν ὡς σκιάν, καί τήν ἐν αυτῇ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀπεξήρανεν οἴησιν.

Καί ἐγένετο τῇ ἐπαύριον ἅμα τῷ ἀνατεῖλαι τόν ἥλιον. Ἐπαύριον μέν, ὅτι μετά τήν πάροδον τῶν κατά νόμον τυπικῶν αἰνιγμάτων, καί τόν ὡρισμένον χρόνον τῆς κατ᾿ αὐτόν σωματικῆς λατρείας, τοῦ καινοῦ μυστηρίου χάρις ἀνέτειλεν, ἡμέραν ἄλλην ποιοῦσα γνώσεως ὑψηλῆς, καί ἀρετῆς ἐνθέου, τῆς καί τῶν ἀντεχομένων αὐτῆς θεωτικήν. Μετά γάρ τό πατάξαι τόν σκώληκα τοῦτον τήν κολόκυνταν, καί