265

27. He has understood 'to expose to the sun' as 'to reveal', according to the height of contemplation, that the letter of the law is dead, through knowledge in the spirit.

28. He has understood 'the border of Israel' as every principle and mode of spiritual contemplation, in which the corporeal tradition of the law cannot stand at all.

29. The spirit, he says, is a provider of life; but the letter is a taker-away of life. Therefore, both the letter and the spirit cannot act in the (780) same way; just as the life-giving does not coexist with the death-dealing.

30. The foreskin is natural, he says; and everything natural is a work of divine creation. And it is a work of divine creation and very good, according to the voice that says: God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. But the law, by commanding the foreskin to be removed through circumcision as something unclean, introduces God as correcting His own work by means of artifice; which is most impious even to conceive. Therefore, he who applies himself naturally to the symbols of the law knows that God does not correct nature by means of artifice, but commands the passionate part of the soul, which is persuaded by reason, to be circumcised, that which is typically signified through the bodily member; which knowledge is naturally disposed to put away by means of a will courageous in practice. For the circumcising priest signifies knowledge, which possesses, like iron against passion, the courage of reason in practice. At any rate, the corporeal tradition of the law disappears, as the spirit prevails over the letter.

31. Definition of the mystical contemplation concerning circumcision.32. Definition of the mystical legislation concerning the Sabbath, in which he mystically represents what the Sabbath is,

and what the spiritual principle according to it is, that it is a rest from the passions and from the mind's movement concerning the nature of beings.

33. God, clearly. 34. What the new moons signify. 35. Definition of the crown of goodness. 36. Another, more mystical, definition of the same. 37. Here he says that continence is a work of Providence, as it is a purification from the

passions of the will; and he says that patience is an achievement of judgment, as it is set against involuntary temptations.

38. The first feast, he says, is the Passover. 39. The second feast, he says, is Pentecost. 40. The third, he says, is the one in the seventh month, that of the Atonement. 41. See how the law destroys those who understand it corporeally, persuading them to worship

the creature rather than the creator; and to consider venerable by nature the things that were made for them, while being ignorant of the one for whom they themselves were made.

42. How God is Sabbath. 43. How God is also a mystical Passover. 44. The mystery of the feast of Pentecost, in which he mystically taught the spiritual

power of the things signified, having called God "Pentecost." For just as the monad—remaining stationary after (781) the weekly coiling of the week back into itself, constituting Pentecost; and again, by the additions to it, becoming a decad and making Pentecost by means of a pentad multiplied by itself—is the beginning and end of itself (the one, as before all quantity; the other, as beyond quantity); so also God, to whom he said the monad corresponds according to a typical likeness, is the beginning and end of beings, and the Word, by whom all things consist; beginning, because before

265

κζ΄. Τό ἐξηλιάσαι νενόηκεν, ἀντί τοῦ φανερῶσαι κατά τό ὕψος τῆς θεωρίας τό γράμμα τοῦ νόμου νεκρόν, διά τῆς ἐν πνεύματι γνώσεως.

κη΄. Ὅριον Ἰσραήλ νενόηκε, πάντα λόγον τε καί τρόπον πνευματικῆς θεωρίας· ἐν ᾧ στῆναι οὐ δύναται παντελῶς ἡ σωματική τοῦ νόμου παράδοσις.

κθ΄. Τό μέν πνεῦμα, φησί, ζωῆς ὑπάρχει παρεκτικόν· τό δέ γράμμα, ζωῆς ἐστιν ἀφαιρετικόν. Οὐκοῦν οὐ δύναται καί τό γράμμα πράττειν κατά τό (780) αὐτό, καί τό πνεῦμα· ὥσπερ οὐδέ τό ζωοποιόν τῷ φθοροποιῷ συνυπάρχει.

λ΄. Φυσικόν ἡ ἀκροβυστία, φησί· πᾶν δέ φυσικόν, θείας ἔργον δημιουργίας ἐστίν. Ἔστι δέ θείας ἔργον δημιουργίας καί λίαν καλόν, κατά τήν φάσκουσαν φωνήν· Εἶδεν ὁ Θεός πάντα ὅσα ἐποίησε, καί ἰδού καλά λίαν. Ὁ δέ νόμος, ὡς ἀκάθαρτον περιαιρεῖσθαι κελεύων τήν ἀκροβυστίαν διά περιτομῆς, τόν Θεόν εἰσάγει διά τέχνης τό οἰκεῖον διορθούμενον ἔργον· ὅπερ καί ἐννοεῖν ἀσεβέστατον. Οὐκοῦν ὁ τοῖς συμβόλοις τοῦ νόμου φυσικῶς ἐπιβάλλων, οἶδεν ὡς οὐ τήν φύσιν ὁ Θεός διορθοῦται διά τῆς τέχνης, ἀλλά τό ἐπιπειθές λόγῳ τῆς ψυχῆς παθητικόν περιτέμνεσθαι κελεύει, τό διά τοῦ σωματικοῦ μορίου τυπικῶς δηλούμενον· ὅπερ γνῶσις διά τῆς κατά τήν πρᾶξιν ἀνδρείας γνώμης ἀποτίθεσθαι πέφυκεν. Ὁ γάρ περιτέμνων ἱερεύς, σημαίνει τήν γνῶσιν, τήν ἔχουσαν καθάπερ σίδηρον κατά τοῦ πάθους τήν τοῦ λόγου κατά τήν πρᾶξιν ἀνδρείαν. Ἀφανίζεται γοῦν ἡ σωματική τοῦ νόμου παράδοσις, πλεονεκτοῦντος τό γράμμα τοῦ πνεύματος.

λα΄. Ὅρος τῆς κατά περιτομήν μυστικῆς θεωρίας.λβ΄. Ὅρος τῆς κατά Σάββατον μυστικῆς νομοθεσίας, ἐν ᾧ, τί τό Σάββατόν

ἐστι, παρίστησι μυστικῶς, καί τίς ὁ κατ᾿ αὐτό πνευματικός λόγος ἐστίν, ὅτι παθῶν καί τῆς περί τήν φύσιν τῶν ὄντων τοῦ νοῦ κινήσεώς ἐστιν ἀνάπαυσις.

λγ΄. Θεόν δῆλον ὅτι. λδ΄. Τί σημαίνουσιν αἱ νεομηνίαι. λε΄. Ὅρος τοῦ στεφάνου τῆς χρηστότητος. λστ΄. Ἄλλος ὅρος τοῦ αὐτοῦ μυστικώτερος. λζ΄. Ἐνταῦθα τήν ἐγκράτειαν ἔργον εἶναι λέγει τῆς Προνοίας, ὡς τῶν

γνωμικῶν καθαρτικήν παθῶν· τήν ὑπομονήν δέ τῆς κρίσεως εἶναι κατόρθωμά φησιν, ὡς τοῖς ἀκουσίοις ἀντιτασσομένην πειρασμοῖς.

λη΄. Πρώτην ἑορτήν, τό Πάσχα λέγει. λθ΄. ∆ευτέραν ἑορτήν λέγει τήν Πεντηκοστήν. μ΄. Τρίτην λέγει, τήν ἐν ἑβδόμῳ μηνί, τήν τοῦ Ἱλασμοῦ. μα΄. Σκόπει, πῶς ὁ νόμος ἀπόλλυσι τούς νοοῦντας αὐτόν σωματικῶς, τῇ

κτίσει λατρεύειν παρά τόν κτίσαντα πείθων· καί ἡγεῖσθαι φύσει σεπτά τά δι᾿ αὐτούς γεγονότα, τόν δι᾿ ὅν αὐτοί γεγόνασιν ἀγνοήσαντας.

μβ΄. Πῶς ἐστι Σάββατον ὁ Θεός. μγ΄. Πῶς ὁ Θεός καί Πάσχα ἐστί μυστικόν. μδ΄. Μυστήριον τῆς κατά τήν Πεντηκοστήν ἑορτῆς, ἐν ᾧ μυστικῶς τήν

τῶν δηλουμένων πνευματικήν ἐμυσταγώγησε δύναμιν, τόν Θεόν Πεντηκοστήν προσαγορεύσας. Ὡς γάρ ἡ μονάς στάσιμος μένουσα μετά (781) τήν εἰς ἑαυτήν ἑβδοματικήν τῆς ἑβδομάδος συνέλιξιν, ἀποτελοῦσα τήν Πεντηκοστήν· καί πάλιν ταῖς εἰς αὐτήν προσόδοις γινομένη δεκάς διά πεντάδος ἰσοπλασιασθείσης αὐτῇ ποιοῦσα τήν Πεντηκοστήν, ἀρχή καί τέλος ἐστί τῶν ἑαυτῆς· τό μέν, ὡς πρό παντός ποσοῦ· τό δέ, ὡς ὑπέρ ποσόν· οὕτω καί ὁ Θεός, ᾧ τήν μονάδα κατ᾿ εἰκασίαν τυπικήν ἀναλογεῖν ἔφησεν, ἀρχή καί τέλος ἐστί τῶν ὄντων, καί λόγος, ᾧ τά πάντα συνέστηκεν· ἀρχή μέν, ὅτι πρό