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through them and being carried harmoniously towards him, the container and maker of every word and of every cause.

Since these things, then, belong to the soul, as we said, on the one hand, possessing wisdom in potentiality according to the intellect, and from wisdom, contemplation, and from this, knowledge; and from knowledge, unforgetting knowledge; through which it is led to the truth as the limit and end of the goods of the intellect; on the other hand, according to reason, possessing prudence, and from this, practice, and from practice, virtue, and from this, faith, by which it comes to the good as the blessed end of rational activities; through which the knowledge of divine things is gathered, by the concourse of their union with one another; the holy Church of God is clearly conformed to all these things, being likened in contemplation to the soul. Signifying through the sanctuary all things that were shown to be according to the intellect and from the intellect by progression; and clarifying through the nave those things that were shown to be according to reason and from reason by distinction; and gathering all things towards the mystery celebrated upon the divine altar; which one who has been able to be initiated prudently and wisely through the rites performed in the Church, has established his own soul as truly a Church of God, and divine; for which perhaps, and of which the man-made church, being wisely through the variety of divine things in it (684) a paradigm in the manner of a symbol, was handed down to us for guidance to what is better.

CHAPTER 6.

How and in what manner holy Scripture is also called a man. And just as in anagogical contemplation he said the Church is a man

spiritual, and man a mystical Church; so also he declared that all holy Scripture taken together is a man; the Old Testament having the body; and the New, the soul and spirit and intellect. And again, of the whole of holy scripture, I mean of both Old and New, the letter according to history is the body; while the mind of the things written, and the purpose to which the mind is directed, is the soul. And when I heard this, I especially admired the exactness of the likeness, and I duly hymned according to my ability the one who distributes gifts to each according to his worth. For just as man as we know him is mortal in what is seen, but immortal in what is not seen; so also holy Scripture has its visible letter that passes away; but the spirit hidden in the letter, which never ceases to be, establishes the true reason of the contemplation. And just as this man as we know him, by mastering through philosophy his passionate desire and impulse, mortifies the flesh; so also holy Scripture, when understood spiritually, circumcises its own letter. For the divine Apostle says, To the extent that our outer man is decaying, so much is the inner man being renewed day by day. Let this be understood and said also of holy Scripture, understood tropologically as a man. For to the extent that its letter recedes, so much does the spirit prevail; and to the extent that the shadows of the temporary worship pass away, so much does the all-shining and all-brilliant and shadowless truth of the faith enter in; according to which and for which it primarily both exists and is written, and is called Scripture, being engraved on the mind through spiritual grace; just as man as we know him, on account of his rational and intelligent soul, is primarily and especially a man, and both exists and is called so; according to which and for which he is the image and likeness of God, the one who made him

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δι᾿ αὐτῶν καί ἐναρμονίως πρός αὐτόν φερομένη, τόν πάντός λόγου καί πάσης αἰτίας περιεκτικόν τε καί ποιητήν.

Ἐπειδή ταῦτα τοίνυν τῆς ψυχῆς εἰσίν, ὡς ἔφαμεν, κατά νοῦν μέν ἐχούσης δυνάμει τήν σοφίαν, ἐκ δέ τῆς σοφίας τήν θεωρίαν, ἐκ δέ ταύτης τήν γνῶσιν· ἐκ δέ τῆς γνώσεως τήν ἄληστον γνῶσιν· δι᾿ ἧς πρός τήν ἀλήθειαν ὡς πέρας καί τέλος οὖσαν τῶν κατά νοῦν ἀγαθῶν ἄγεται· κατά δέ τόν λόγον ἐχούσης τήν φρόνησιν, ἐκ δέ ταύτης τήν πρᾶξιν, ἐκ δέ τῆς πράξεως τήν ἀρετήν, ἐκ δέ ταύτης τήν πίστιν, καθ᾿ ἥν εἰς τό ἀγαθόν ὡς τέλος μακάριον τῶν λογικῶν ἐνεργιῶν καταλήγει· δι᾿ ὧν ἡ τῶν θείων ἐπιστήμη , κατά σύνοδον τῆς πρός ἄλληλα τούτων ἑνώσεως, συλλέγεται· πρός ταῦτα πάντα σαφῶς ἁρμόζεται, κατά τήν θεωρίαν εἰκαζομένη τῇ ψυχῇ ἡ ἁγία τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἐκκλησία. Τά μέν κατά νοῦν πάντα καί ἐκ τοῦ νοῦ κατά πρόοδον εἶναι δειχθέντα, διά τοῦ ἱερατείου σημαίνουσα· τά δέ κατά τόν λόγον καί ἐκ τοῦ λόγου κατά διαστολήν εἶναι δηλωθέντα, διά τοῦ ναοῦ σαφηνίζουσα· καί πάντα συνάγουσα πρός τό τελούμενον ἐπί τοῦ θείου θυσιαστηρίου μυστήριον· ὅπερ διά τῶν κατά τήν Ἐκκλησίαν ἐπιτελουμένων ὁ δυνηθείς ἐμφρόνως καί σοφῶς μυηθῆναι, Ἐκκλησίαν ὄντως Θεοῦ, καί θείαν τήν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχήν κατεστήσατο· δι᾿ ἥν ἴσως, καί ἧς ἡ χειροποίητος ἐκκλησία σοφῶς διά τῆς ἐν αὐτῇ τῶν θείων ποικιλίας (684) κατά σύμβολον οὖσα παράδειγμα, πρός ὁδηγίαν τοῦ κρείττονος ἡμῖν παρεδόθη.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Στ´.

Πῶς καί ποίῳ τρόπῳ ἄνθρωπος λέγεται καί ἡ ἁγία Γραφή. Ὥσπερ δέ τῇ κατά ἀναγωγήν θεωρίᾳ τήν Ἐκκλησίαν ἔλεγεν ἄνθρωπον εἶναι

πνευματικόν, μυστικήν δέ Ἐκκλησίαν τόν ἄνθρωπον· οὕτω δή καί τήν ἁγίαν πᾶσαν κατά συναίρεσιν Γραφήν, ἄνθρωπον ἔφασκεν εἶναι· τήν μέν Παλαιάν ∆ιαθήκην, ἔχουσαν σῶμα· ψυχήν δέ καί πνεῦμα καί νοῦν, τήν Καινήν. Καί πάλιν, ὅλης τῆς ἁγίας γραφῆς, Παλαιᾶς τέ φημι καί Νέας, τό καθ᾿ ἱστορίαν γράμμα, σῶμα· τόν δέ νοῦν τῶν γεγραμμένων, καί τόν σκοπόν, πρός ὅν ὁ νοῦς ἀποτέτακται, ψυχήν· Ὅπερ ἀκούσας ἐγώ, μάλιστα τῆς εἰκασίας ἠγάσθην τό ἀκριβές, καί τόν κατ᾿ ἀξίαν ἑκάστῳ διανέμοντα χαρίσματα, δεόντως ἀνύμνησα κατά δύναμιν. Ὡς γάρ θνητός ὁ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ἄνθρωπος, κατά τό φαινόμενον, κατά δέ τό μή φαινόμενον, ἀθάνατος· οὕτω καί ἡ ἁγία Γραφή τό μέν φαινόμενον γράμμα, παρερχόμενον ἔχουσα· τό δέ κρυπτόμενον τῷ γράμματι πνεῦμα, μηδέποτε τοῦ εἶναι παυόμενον, ἀληθῆ τόν λόγον τῆς θεωρίας συνίστησι. Καί ὥσπερ οὗτος ὁ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ἄνθρωπος, φιλοσοφίᾳ κρατῶν τῆς ἐμπαθοῦς ὀρέξεώς τε καί ὁρμῆς, μαραίνει τήν σάρκα· οὕτω καί ἡ ἁγία Γραφή νοουμένη πνευματικῶς, τό γράμμα ἑαυτῆς περιτέμνει. Φησί γάρ ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολος, Ὅσον ὁ ἔξω ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπος διαφθείρεται, τοσοῦτον ὁ ἔσω ἀνακαινοῦται ἡμέρᾳ καί ἡμέρᾳ. Τοῦτο νοείσθω καί λεγέσθω καί ἐπί τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς, ἀνθρώπου τροπικῶς νοουμένης. Ὅσον γάρ αὐτῆς τό γράμμα ὑποχωρεῖ, τοσοῦτον τό πνεῦμα πλεονεκτεῖ· καί ὅσον αἱ σκιαί τῆς προσκαίρου λατρείας παρατρέχουσι, τοσοῦτον ἡ ἀλήθεια τῆς πίστεως ἡ παμφαής τε καί ὁλολαμπής καί ἄσκιος ἐπεισέρχεται· καθ᾿ ἥν καί δι᾿ ἥν προηγουμένως καί ἔστι καί γέγραπται, καί Γραφή λέγεται, τῷ νῷ διά χάριτος πνευματικῆς ἐγχαραττομένη· ὥσπερ καί ὁ καθ᾿ ἡμᾶς ἄνθρωπος, διά τήν ψυχήν τήν λογικήν τε καί νοεράν, προηγουμενως ἄνθρωπος μάλιστα καί ἔστι καί λέγεται· καθ᾿ ἥν καί δι᾿ ἥν εἰκών τε καί ὁμοίωσίς ἐστι Θεοῦ, τοῦ ποιήσαντος