256

CHAP. X.

Of what are the divine readings a symbol. But the divine readings of the all-holy books, the teacher said, signify the divine and blessed intentions and counsels of the all-holy God; through which each of us, according to the power he possesses, receives the instructions for what must be done; and we learn the laws of the divine and blessed contests; according to which, by striving lawfully, we are deemed worthy of the victor's crowns of the kingdom of Christ.

CHAP. XI.

Of what are the divine songs a symbol. And he asserted that the spiritual delightfulness of the divine songs signifies the manifestation of the pleasure of divine goods; which both moves the souls toward the pure and blessed love of God, and further arouses hatred for sin.

CHAP. XII.

What do the salutations of peace signify. But through the intonations of peace made from within the sanctuary by the priesthood at the command of the high priest, for each reading, the wise one defined, are signified the divine acceptances conveyed through the holy angels; through which God determines the contests of those who strive lawfully for the truth against the opposing powers, dissolving the invisible struggles (692), and giving peace in the abolition of the body of sin, and granting in return to the saints the grace of dispassion for their labors for virtue; so that, having ceased from warring, they might refashion the powers of the soul for spiritual husbandry, that is, for the working of virtues; through which they dissolved the hosts of wicked spirits, with God the Word as their general, scattering the bitter and inescapable machinations of the devil.

CHAP. XIII.

Of what, specifically for each one, is the reading of the holy Gospel a symbol, and the mystical things after it.

Whence immediately after these, the sacred ordinance of the holy Church has decreed that the divine reading of the holy Gospel take place; introducing specifically the hardship for the word's sake to the zealous; after which the Word, as High Priest of gnostic contemplation, visiting them from heaven, contracts for them the mindset of the flesh as a kind of sensible world; pushing away the thoughts still inclining to earth, and leading them hence to the vision of intelligible things through the closing of the doors, and the entrance of the holy mysteries, of both words and

256

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Ι´.

Τίνων εἰσί σύμβολον τά θεῖα ἀναγνώσματα. Τάς δέ θείας τῶν πανιέρων βίβλων ἀναγνώσεις, τάς θείας καί μακαρίας τοῦ

παναγίου Θεοῦ βουλήσεις τε καί βουλάς ὑπεμφαίνειν, ἔλεγεν ὁ διδάσκαλος· δι᾿ ὧν τάς ὑποθήκας τῶν πρακτέων, ἀναλόγως ἕκαστος ἡμῶν, κατά τήν ὑποῦσαν αὐτῷ δύναμιν, λαμβάνομεν· καί τούς τῶν θείων καί μακαρίων ἀγώνων νόμους μανθάνομεν· καθ᾿ οὕς νομίμως ἀθλοῦντες, τῶν ἀξιονίκων τῆς Χριστοῦ βασιλείας ἀξιούμεθα στεφάνων.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΙΑ´.

Τίνος ἐστί σύμβολον τά θεῖα ᾄσματα. Τήν δέ πνευματικήν τῶν θείων ᾀσμάτων τερπνότητα, τήν ἐμφαντικήν δηλοῦν

ἔφασκε, τῶν θείων ἡδονήν ἀγαθῶν· τήν τάς ψυχάς πρός μέν τόν ἀκήρατον τοῦ Θεοῦ καί μακάριον ἀνακινοῦσαν ἔρωτα· πρός δέ τό μῖσος τῆς ἁμαρτίας πλέον ἐγείρουσαν.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΙΒ´.

Τί σημαίνουσιν αἱ τῆς εἰρήνης προσφωνήσεις. ∆ιά δέ τῶν γινομένων ἔνδοθεν ἐκ τοῦ ἱερατείου κελεύσει τοῦ ἀρχιερέως, ἐφ᾿

ἑκάστῳ ἀναγνώσματι τῆς εἰρήνης ὑποφωνήσεων· τάς διά τῶν ἁγίων ἀγγέλων διακομιζομένας θείας ἀποδοχάς δηλοῦσθαι, ὁ σοφός διωρίζετο· δι᾿ ὧν ὁ Θεός ὁρίζει τῶν νομίμως ὑπέρ τῆς ἀληθείας πρός τάς ἀντικειμένας δυνάμεις ἀθλούντων τούς ἀγῶνας, τάς ἀοράτους συμπλοκάς (692) διαλύων, καί εἰρήνην διδούς ἐν τῇ καταργήσει τοῦ σώματος τῆς ἁμαρτίας, καί τῶν ὑπέρ ἀρετῆς πόνων τῆς ἀπαθείας τήν χάριν τοῖς ἁγίοις ἀντιδιδούς· ἵνα τοῦ πολεμεῖν ἀφέμενοι, πρός γεωργίαν πνευματικήν, εἴτουν ἀρετῶν ἐργασίαν, τάς τῆς ψυχῆς μετασκευάσωσι δυνάμεις· δι᾿ ὧν τά στίφη τῶν πονηρῶν πνευμάτων διέλυσαν, στρατηγοῦντος αὐτοῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Λόγου, καί τά πικρά τοῦ διαβόλου καί δύσφυκτα μηχανήματα διασκεδάζοντος.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΙΓ´.

Τίνος ἰδικῶς ἐπί τοῦ καθ᾿ ἕκαστον σύμβολόν ἐστιν ἡ ἀνάγνωσις τοῦ ἁγίου Εὐαγγελίου, καί τά μετ᾿ αὐτήν μυστικά.

Ὅθεν εὐθύς μετά ταύτας, τήν θείαν τοῦ ἁγίου Εὐαγγελίου, ἀνάγνωσιν, ἡ τῆς ἁγίας Ἐκκλησίας ἱερά διάταξις ἐνομοθέτησε γίγνεσθαι· ἰδικῶς μέν τήν ὑπέρ τοῦ λόγου τοῖς σπουδαίοις κακοπάθειαν εἰσηγουμένην· μεθ᾿ ἥν ὁ τῆς γνωστικῆς θεωρίας ὥσπερ Ἀρχιερεύς οὐρανόθεν ἐπιδημῶν αὐτοῖς Λόγος, τῆς σαρκός αὐτοῖς ὥσπερ τινά κόσμον αἰσθητόν συστέλλει τό φρόνημα· τούς ἔτι πρός γῆν κατανεύοντας λογισμούς ἀπωθούμενος, καί πρός τήν τῶν νοητῶν ἐποψίαν ἐντεῦθεν διά τῶν τῶν θυρῶν κλείσεως, καί τῆς εἰσόδου τῶν ἁγίων μυστηρίων, αὐτούς ἀγαγών, λόγων τε καί