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of such thoughts the mind, so that it may be cast into sloth towards virtue. These therefore it destroys through prayer, and through the bears, that is, through pleasure and desire; for by conversion, such passions, being handled for the better, kill the mocking thoughts.

QUESTION 66.

How ought we to understand the ignorance of the Son concerning the end of the age? Answer. There is a certain twofold ignorance; the one is culpable, the other, blameless; and the one is within our power, the other, not within our power. And the one that is culpable and within our power is the ignorance concerning virtue and piety; (840) but the one that is blameless and not within our power is whatever we do not know, even when we wish to know it; such as things happening far away, things that are to come. If therefore in the holy prophets things far away and not within our power were discerned by grace, how much more did not the Son of God know all things, and through him his humanity, not by nature, but by union with the Word? For just as iron made red-hot has all the properties of fire; for it gives light and burns; yet it is not fire by nature, but iron; so also the humanity of the Lord, inasmuch as it was united to the Word, knew all things, and displayed these divinely-fitting things in itself; but insofar as it is considered as human nature, it is said to be ignorant.

QUESTION 67.

What does the monastic habit signify, and before this, what is the meaning of the tonsuring of the hair? Answer. Just as the head has precedence over all the members in the body, so also in the soul the mind has the type of the head. This, therefore, one must tonsure of all worldly thoughts. But the colobium, (841) since it covers the whole body, but leaves only the hands bare, signifies that one must be clothed in moral philosophy, with the practical energies of sin having been taken away; and that this must always be placed upon both power and energy. For the power of the opposing dominion of the evil one is, according to Job, below the navel of the belly; and souls, according to the blessed David, are filled with demonic mockery. And mockeries are the various energies of fornication. But the analavos, since it has the cross both in front and behind, signifies that it is necessary, according to the Apostle, not only for us to be crucified to the world, but also the world to us; so that as we flee the world, we may have no impediment, nor be held fast by our relation to it through its apparent deceit; nor again, being pursued from behind by the world through involuntary temptations, may we yield from the tension of piety; but may we remain insensible and dead, to both the involuntary and the voluntary passions. And the koukoulion shows the grace of God that guards and protects our mind. For he who has tonsured the thoughts of the world receives the helmet of salvation. And the sandals have this meaning. Since they are from dead hides, and are placed under a small part of the body, in the same way that the whole body is related to the soles of the sandal, so must the soul use the body, and mortify it of the passions that are contrary to nature. And the outer garment, since it is four-cornered, and the world is of four elements,

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τοιούτων λογισμῶν ὁ νοῦς, πρός τό εἰς ὄκνον αὐτόν ἐμβληθῆναι πρός τήν ἀρετήν. Τούτους οὖν δι᾿ εὐχῆς ἀναιρεῖ, καί διά τῶν ἄρκων, τουτέστι δι᾿ ἡδονῆς καί ἐπιθυμίας· κατ᾿ ἀντιστροφήν γάρ ἐπί τό κρεῖττον μεταχειριζόμενα τά τοιαῦτα πάθη, ἀποκτένουσι τούς λογισμούς τούς ἐμπαίκτους.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΞΣτ΄.

Πῶς ὀφείλομεν νοεῖν τήν περί συντελείας τοῦ Υἱοῦ ἄγνοιαν; Ἀπόκρισις. ∆ιπλῆ τίς ἐστιν ἄγνοια· ἡ μέν διαβαλλομένη, ἡ δέ, ἀδιάβλητος· καί ἡ μέν ἐφ᾿

ἡμῖν ἐστιν, ἡ δέ, οὐκ ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν. Καί ἡ μέν διαβαλλομένη καί ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν, ἡ περί τήν ἀρετήν καί εὐσέβεια ἄγνοια· (840) ἡ δέ ἀδιάβλητος καί οὐκ ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν ἐστιν, ὅσα θελόντων ἡμῶν γινώσκειν οὐ γινώσκομεν· οἷον τά πόῤῤω γινόμενα, τά μέλλοντα γίνεσθαι. Εἰ οὖν ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις προφήταις διεγινώσκετο τά πόῤῥω καί οὐκ ἐφ᾿ ἡμῖν, χάριτι, πῶς οὐχί μᾶλλον πάντα ἠπίστατο ὁ Υἱός τοῦ Θεοῦ, καί δι᾿ αὐτοῦ τό ἀνθρώπινον, οὐ φύσει, ἀλλ᾿ ἑνώσει τῇ πρός τόν Λόγον; Ὥσπερ γάρ σίδηρος πεπυρακτωμένος, πάντα τά ἰδιώματα τοῦ πυρός ἔχει· φωτίζει γάρ καί καίει· οὐ μήν φύσει ἐστί πῦρ, ἀλλά σίδηρος· οὕτω καί τό ἀνθρώπινον τοῦ Κυρίου, καθό μέν ἡνώθη τῷ Λόγῳ, πάντα ἠπίστατο, καί τά θεοπρεπῆ ταῦτα ἐν ἑαυτῷ διεδείκνυτο· καθό δέ φύσις ἀνθρωπεῖα ἐν αὐτῷ οὐχ ἥνωτο, λέγεται ἀγνοεῖν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΞΖ΄.

Τί σημαίνει τό μοναχικόν σχῆμα, καί πρό τούτου, τίς ἡ ἀπόκαρσις τῶν τριχῶν; Ἀπόκρισις. Ὥσπερ πάντων τῶν ἐν τῷ σώματι μελῶν ἡ κεφαλή προτερεύει, οὕτως καί ἐν τῇ

ψυχῇ ὁ νοῦς κεφαλῆς τύπον ἔχει. Τοῦτον οὖν ἀποκείρειν δεῖ, πάντων τῶν κοσμικῶν νοημάτων. Τό δέ κολόβιον, (841) ἐπειδή τό μέν ὅλον σῶμα σκέπει, μόνας δέ τάς χεῖρας γυμνοῖ, σημαίνει ὡς χρή τήν ἠθικήν φιλοσοφίαν ἐνδεδύσθαι, ἀφῃρημένην τάς πρακτικάς τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐνεργείας· καί ὡς χρή ταύτην ἐπικεῖσθαι ἀεί ἐπί τε δυνάμει καί ἐνεργείᾳ. Ἡ γάρ δύναμις τῆς ἀντικειμένης τοῦ πονηροῦ δυναστείας ἐστί, κατά τόν Ἰώβ, ὑπό ὀμφαλοῦ γαστρός· καί αἱ ψυχαί κατά τόν μακάριον ∆αβίδ, πληροῦνται τῶν δαιμονικῶν ἐμπαιγμάτων. Ἐμπαίγματα δέ εἰσιν, αἱ διάφοροι τῆς πορνείας ἐνέργειαι. Ὁ δέ ἀνάλαβος, ἐπειδή καί ἐμπρός καί ὀπίσω τόν σταυρόν ἔχει, σημαίνει ὅτι χρή, κατά τόν Ἀπόστολον, μή μόνον σταυρωθῆναι ἡμᾶς τῷ κόσμῳ, ἀλλά καί τόν κόσμον ἡμῖν· ἵνα φευγόντων ἡμῶν τόν κόσμον, μηδέν ἐμπόδιον ἔχωμεν, μηδέ τῇ πρός αὐτόν σχέσει διά τῆς ἐπιφαινομένης ἀπάτης ἐγκρατηθῶμεν· μήτε δέ πάλιν τῶν ὄπισθεν διωκόμενοι ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου ἐκ τῶν ἀκουσίων πειρασμῶν, ὑπενδώσωμεν τοῦ τόνου τῆς εὐσεβείας· ἀλλ᾿ ἀναίσθητοι καί νεκροί διαμείνωμεν, πρός τε τά ἀκούσια καί τά ἑκούσια πάθη. Τό δέ κουκούλιον δηλοῖ, τήν φρουροῦσαν καί σκέπουσαν τόν νοῦν ἡμῶν χάριν τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ὁ γάρ ἀποκειράμενος τά τοῦ κόσμου νοήματα, τήν περικεφαλαίαν δέχεται τοῦ σωτηρίου. Τά δέ σανδάλια, τοῦτον ἔχει τόν λόγον. Ἐπειδή ἐκ νεκρῶν δερμάτων εἰσί, μικρῷ δέ μέρει τοῦ σώματος ὑπόκεινται, τόν αὐτόν τρόπον, ᾗπερ τό ὅλον σῶμα πρός τά ἴχνη τοῦ σανδαλίου ἔχει, οὕτω χρή τήν ψυχήν τῷ σώματι κεχρῆσθαι, καί τοῦτο νεκροῦν τῷν παρά φύσιν παθῶν. Τό δέ περιβόλαιον, ἐπειδή τετράγωνόν ἐστιν, ἐκ τεσσάρων δέ στοιχείων καί ὁ κόσμος,