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Since Moabite is interpreted as intestine of the father; and Ammanite, father of the mother; by these it is signified, (852) that whoever receives from another a model of evil, he has manifested the intestine of the father; but whoever brings forth sin from himself, he is the father of the mother, that is, of his own sin. Such ones, therefore, will not enter into the house of the Lord, until the third and fourth and tenth generation; and until the age. That is, he who not through a good disposition and practice (for this is the third and fourth generation of virtues), and through the name and faith of the Lord Jesus, and through the ten commandments of the law, and through the palingenesis that is to come in the age that abides, appropriates himself to God, will not enter into the house of God; that is, in the heavenly city, in which is the dwelling of all who rejoice.

QUESTION 78.

Why is one who is leprous in part, unclean according to the law; while one who is entirely leprous, is clean?

Response. The one leprous in some part has that part dead in which the leprosy is.

For as the vital blood recedes, the place becomes hollow; and when the hollowness of the leprosy yielded to the touch of the priest, it defiled such a one; thus also one who is leprous in some part of the soul, the soul having become hollow, that is, having been humbled through the receding of the vital power of virtue, becomes unclean. But the one entirely leprous has the color of the leper; but he has the vital blood diffused upon the surface throughout the whole body. This therefore signifies that one who has come to the final limit of evil, then having repented, regains the vital power of virtue; but he has only his conscience colored by his former preoccupations. For he is not able to not reckon what he has done as not having been done. Therefore the law declares such a one to be clean.

QUESTION 79.

What do the five sacrifices brought forward according to the law signify, the sheep, the ox, the goat, the turtledove, the dove?

Response. According to one application, the ram is taken as the governing part, for the

rational part; the bull, for the irascible part; the goat, for the concupiscible part; the turtledove, for temperance; and the dove, for sanctification. And if one must also seek the natural attributes of each animal, and apply the appropriate contemplation to each of them, those who have considered such things say that the sheep offers three things to its owner, (853) the wool, the milk, the lamb. And the pupil of its eye travels with the sun, and each day it excretes 365 pellets. And the rational sheep, man, if he has been eager to offer himself as a sacrifice to God who acquired him, owes to give, like wool, moral action; and like milk, natural contemplation (for this is nourishing for the mind); and like a lamb, begetting the one being taught through teaching, and striving to bring all who are like him and perfect to God. But such a one also has the pupil of his eye traveling with the sun; that is, the mind with the Sun of

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Ἐπειδή Μωαβίτης ἑρμηνεύεται ἔντερον πατρός· Ἀμμανίτης δέ, πατήρ μητρός· σημαίνεται διά τούτων, (852) ὅστις ἀπ᾿ ἄλλου παραλάβῃ ὑπόδειγμα κακίας, οὗτος τό ἔντερον τοῦ πατρός ἐφανέρωσεν· ὅστις δέ ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ τέκῃ τήν ἁμαρτίαν, οὗτός ἐστιν πατήρ μητρός, τουτέστι τῆς ἰδίας ἁμαρτίας. Οἱ τοιοῦτοι οὖν, οὐκ εἰσελεύσονται εἰς οἶκον Κυρίου, ἕως τρίτης καί τετάρτης καί δεκάτης γενεᾶς· καί ἕως εἰς τόν αἰῶνα. Τουτέστιν, ὁ μή δι᾿ ἕξεως ἀγαθῆς καί πράξεως (αὕτη γάρ τρίτη καί τετάρτη γενεά τῶν ἀρετῶν), καί διά τοῦ ὀνόματος καί πίστεως τοῦ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ, καί διά τάς δέκα τοῦ νόμου ἐντολάς, καί διά τῆς τοῦ μένοντος αἰῶνος ἐσομένης παλιγγενεσίας, ἑαυτόν τῷ Θεῷ οἰκειῶν, οὐκ εἰσελεύσεται εἰς οἶκον Θεοῦ· τουτέστιν, ἐν τῇ οὐρανίῳ πόλει, ἐν ᾗ πάντων εὐφραινομένων ἡ κατοικία.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΟΗ΄.

Τί δήποτε ὁ μέν ἐν μέρει λεπρός, ἀκάθαρτός ἐστι παρά τῷ νόμῳ· ὁ δέ ὁλόλεπρος ὤν, καθαρός ἐστιν;

Ἀπόκρισις. Ὁ κατά τι μέρος λεπρός, νεκρόν ἔχει τό μέρος ἐν ᾧ ἐστιν ἡ λέπρα.

Ὑποφεύγοντος γάρ τοῦ ζωτικοῦ αἵματος, κοιλαίνεται ὁ τόπος· καί ἡνίκα τῇ ἀφῇ τοῦ ἱερέως ὑπέκυπτεν ἡ κοίλανσις τῆς λέπρας, ἐμίαινε τόν τοιοῦτον· οὕτω καί ὁ κατά τι μέρος τῆς ψυχῆς λεπρωθείς, κοιλανθείσης τῆς ψυχῆς, τουτέστι ταπεινωθείσης διά τῆς ὑποχωρήσεως τῆς ζωτικῆς δυνάμεως τῆς ἀρετῆς, ἀκάθαρτος γίνεται. Ὁ δέ ὁλόλεπρος, τήν μέν χροάν τοῦ λεπροῦ ἔχει· τό δέ ζωτικόν αἷμα δι᾿ ὅλου τοῦ σώματος ἔχει ἐν τῇ ἐπιφανείᾳ ἐνεσπαρμένον. Τοῦτο οὖν σημαίνει, ὅτι ὁ εἰς τό ἔσχατον πέρας τῆς κακίας ἐλθών, εἶτα μεταμεληθείς, ἐπαναλαμβάνει τήν ζωτικήν τῆς ἀρετῆς δύναμιν· μόνην δέ τήν συνείδησιν ἔχει κεχρωσμένην ταῖς προτέραις προλήψεσιν. Οὐ δύναται γάρ ἅπερ ἔπραξε, μή λογίζεσθαι ὡς μή πράξας. ∆ιά τοῦτο οὖν ὁ νόμος τόν τοιοῦτον καθαρόν ἀποφαίνει.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΟΘ΄.

Τί δηλοῦσιν αἱ κατά τόν νόμον προαγόμεναι ε΄ θυσίαι, τό πρόβατον, ὁ βοῦς, ἡ αἴξ, ἡ τρυγών, ἡ περιστερά;

Ἀπόκρισις. Κατά μέν μίαν ἐπιβολήν, λαμβάνεται ὁ κριός μέν ὡς ἡγεμονικόν, ἐπί τοῦ

λογιστικοῦ· ὁ δέ ταῦρος, ἐπί τοῦ θυμικοῦ· ἡ δέ αἴξ, ἐπί τοῦ ἐπιθυμητικοῦ· ἡ δέ τρυγών, ἐπί τῆς σωφροσύνης· ἡ περιστερά δέ, ἐπί τοῦ ἁγιασμοῦ. Εἰ δέ δεῖ καί τά ἑκάστου ζώου προσόντα φυσικῶς ζητῆσαι, καί ἑκάστου αὐτῶν τήν πρόσφορον ἐφαρμόσαι θεωρίαν, φασίν, οἱ τά τοιαῦτα ἐπεσκεμμένοι, ὅτι τρία προσάγει τῶ κεκτημένῳ τό πρόβατον, (853) τόν μαλόν, τό γάλα, τόν ἀμνόν. Ἡ δέ κόρη τοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ αὐτοῦ συμπεριπολεῖ τῷ ἡλίῳ, καί ἑκάστης ἡμέρας ἀφοδεύει σπυράθους τξε΄ Τό δέ λογικόν πρόβατον ὁ ἄνθρωπος, εἴπερ ἑαυτόν προσφέρειν θυσίαν τῷ κτησαμένῳ Θεῷ ἐσπούδακε, χρεωστεῖ διδόναι ὥσπερ μαλόν, τήν ἠθικήν πρᾶξιν· ὡς δέ γάλα, τήν φυσικήν θεωρίαν (θρεπτική γάρ αὕτη τοῦ νοῦ)· ὡς δέ ἀμνόν, τόν μαθητευόμενον ἀπογεννῶν διά τῆς διδασκαλίας, καί πάντα ὅμοιον ἑαυτῷ καί τέλειον σπουδάζων προσάγειν τῷ Θεῷ. Ἀλλά καί τήν κόρην τοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ, ὁ τοιοῦτος ἔχει τῷ ἡλίῳ συμπεριπολοῦσαν· τουτέστι τόν νοῦν τῷ Ἡλίῳ τῆς