385

to ascend to the Father, saying: Touch me not. For he knows that one is harmed, who approaches him with such a lowlier preconception.

46. Those who for fear of the Jews were sitting in Galilee in the upper room with the doors shut; that is, those who for fear of the spirits of wickedness, in the land of revelations, standing securely in the height of divine contemplations, having closed their senses like doors, receive the Word of God who arrives unknown to them, appearing to them without activity according to the senses; and bestowing dispassion through his in-breathing; and providing authority over wicked spirits, and showing the symbols of his mysteries.

48. The land of the Chaldeans is the life of passion, in which the idols of sins are fashioned and worshiped. But Mesopotamia is the way that wavers between opposites. But the land of promise is the state filled with every good thing. Therefore, everyone who, like the old Israel, is negligent of this state, is dragged down again to the slavery of the passions, being deprived of the freedom that was given.

49. It should be noted that none of the saints appears to have gone down voluntarily into Babylonia. For it is not right, nor is it of rational understanding, for those who love God to choose the worse things instead of the good. But if some of them were led away there by force with the people, we understand by these those who not by primary intention, but by circumstance, for the sake of the salvation of those needing (1148) guidance, leaving aside the higher discourse of knowledge, and pursuing the teaching about the passions; according to which the great Apostle also judged it more profitable to be in the flesh; that is, in moral teaching, for the sake of the disciples; having his whole desire to depart from moral teaching, and to be with Christ, through the supramundane and simple contemplation according to the intellect.

50. Just as Saul, being choked by the evil spirit, the blessed David gave him rest by playing on the harp; so also every spiritual discourse, sweetened with gnostic contemplations, gives rest to the epileptic intellect, freeing it from the wicked conscience that chokes it.

51. Ruddy, with beauty of eyes, according to the great David, is he who to the bright life according to God has the discourse of knowledge shining along with it; according to which both practice and contemplation consist; the one, being made brilliant by the ways of virtues; the other, being illumined by divine thoughts.

52. The kingdom of Saul, on the one hand, is an image of the bodily worship of the law; which the Lord abolished, as having perfected nothing. For, it says, the law perfected nothing. But the kingdom of the great David is a prefiguration of the evangelical worship; for it completely contains all the desires in the heart of God.

53. Saul is the natural law, who in the beginning was allotted by the Lord to rule over nature. Since he transgressed the commandment through disobedience, sparing Agag king of Amalek; that is, the body; and slipped into the passions; he is thrust out of the kingdom, so that David might take over Israel; that is, the law of the spirit, which begets the peace that manifestly builds for God the temple of contemplation.

54. Samuel is interpreted as obedience to God. Therefore, as long as the word ministers as a priest in us according to obedience, even if Saul spares Agag; that is, the mindset of dust; yet the priest, the Word, being zealous will kill him, and strikes, putting to shame the sin-loving intellect, as a transgressor of the divine ordinances.

55. Whenever the intellect, having become high-minded, through (1149) appropriate inquiry asks the word of teaching that anointed it against the passions about the

385

ἀναβῆναι πρός τόν Πατέρα, λέγων· Μή μου ἅπτου. Γινώσκει γάρ βλάπτεσθαι, τόν μετά τοιαύτης αὐτῷ προσερχόμενον ταπεινοτέρας προλήψεως.

μστ΄. Οἱ διά τόν φόβον τῶν Ἰουδαίων κατά τήν Γαλιλαίαν ἐν τῷ ὑπερῴῳ κλείσαντες τάς θύρας καθήμενοι· τουτέστι, οἱ διά τόν φόβον τῶν πνευμάτων τῆς πονηρίας, κατά τήν χώραν τῶν ἀποκαλύψεων, ἐν τῷ ὕψει τῶν θείων θεωρημάτων ἀσφαλῶς βεβηκότες, θυρῶν δίκην μύσαντες τάς αἰσθήσεις, παραγινόμενον ἀγνώστως δέχονται τόν τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγον, ἄνευ τῆς κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν ἐνεργείας αὐτοῖς ἐπιφαινόμενον· ἀπάθειάν τε διά τῆς ἐμπνεύσεως δωρούμενον· καί τήν κατά πνευμάτων πονηρῶν ἐξουσίαν παρέχοντα, καί δεικνύοντα τῶν αὐτοῦ μυστηρίων τά σύμβολα.

μη΄. Ἡ γῆ τῶν Χαλδαίων ἐστίν, ὁ ἐμπαθής βίος· ἐν ᾧ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων δημιουργεῖται καί προσκυνεῖται τά εἴδωλα. Ἡ δέ Μέση τῶν ποταμῶν ἐστιν, ὁ ἐπαμφοτερίζων τοῖς ἐναντίοις τρόπος. Ἡ δέ γῆ τῆς ἐπαγγελίας ἐστίν, ἡ παντός ἀγαθοῦ πεπληρωμένη κατάστασις. Πᾶς οὖν ὁ ταύτης κατά τόν παλαιόν Ἰσραήλ ἀμελῶν τῆς ἕξεως, πρός δουλείαν πάλιν κατασύρεται παθῶν, τῆς δοθείσης ἐλευθερίας στερούμενος.

μθ΄. Σημειωτέον, ὡς οὐδείς τῶν ἁγίων ἑκουσίως φαίνεται κατελθών εἰς τήν Βαβυλωνίαν. Οὐ γάρ θέμις, οὔτε συνέσεώς ἐστι λογικῆς, τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀνθαιρεῖσθαι τά χείρονα, τούς τόν Θεόν ἀγαπῶντας. Εἰ δέ τινες αὐτῶν κατά βίαν ἐκεῖ τῷ λαῷ συναπήχθησαν, νοοῦμεν διά τούτων τούς μή προηγουμένως, ἀλλά κατά περίστασιν, σωτηρίας ἕνεκεν τῶν χρῃζόντων (1148) χειραγωγίας, ἀφέντας τόν ὑψηλότερον τῆς γνώσεως λόγον, καί τήν περί παθῶν μετερχομένους διδασκαλίαν· καθ᾿ ἥν καί ὁ μέγας Ἀπόστολος ἐν σαρκί λυσιτελέστερον ἔκρινεν εἶναι· τουτέστι, τῇ ἡθικῇ διδασκαλίᾳ, διά τούς μαθητάς· ὅλον ἔχων τόν πόθον ἀναλύσαι τῆς ἠθικῆς διδασκαλίας, καί σύν Χριστῷ γενέσθαι, διά τῆς κατά νοῦν ὑπερκοσμίου καί ἁπλῆς θεωρίας.

ν΄. Ὥσπερ πνιγόμενον τῷ πονηρῷ πνεύματι τόν Σαούλ, ψάλλων μετά τῆς κιννύρας ἀνέπαυεν ὁ μακάριος ∆αβίδ· οὕτω καί πᾶς λόγος πνευματικός, γνωστικοῖς ἡδυνόμενος θεωρήμασιν, ἀναπαύει τόν ἐπιληπτευόμενον νοῦν, τῆς πνιγούσης αὐτόν πονηρᾶς ἐλευθερῶν συνειδήσεως.

να΄. Πυῤῥάκης μετά κάλλους ὀφθαλμῶν ἐστι κατά τόν μέγα ∆αβίδ, ὁ τῷ φαιδρῷ τοῦ κατά Θεόν βίου, τόν τῆς γνώσεως λόγον ἔχων συνεπιλάμποντα· καθ᾿ οὕς ἡ πρᾶξίς τε καί ἡ θεωρία συνεστήκασιν· ἡ μέν, ἀρετῶν λαμπρυνομένη τρόποις· ἡ δέ, θείοις φωτιζομένη νοήμασιν.

νβ΄. Ἡ μέν τοῦ Σαούλ βασιλεία, τῆς σωματικῆς τοῦ νόμου λατρείας ἐστίν εἰκών· ἥν ὁ Κύριος κατήργησεν, ὡς μηδέν τελειώσασαν. Οὐδέν γάρ, φησίν, ἐτελείωσεων ὁ νόμος. Ἡ δέ τοῦ μεγάλου ∆αβίδ βασιλεία, τῆς εὐαγγελικῆς ἐστι λατρείας προδιατύπωσις· πάντα γάρ τά ἐν καρδίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ θελήματα τελείως περιέχει.

νγ΄. Ὁ Σαούλ, ὁ φυσικός ἐστι νόμος· ὁ κατ᾿ ἀρχάς κυριεύειν τῆς φύσεως παρά τοῦ Κυρίου λαχών. Ὅς ἐπειδή παρέβη τήν ἐντολήν διά παρακοῆς, φεισάμενος τοῦ Ἀγάγ βασιλέως Ἀμαλήκ· τουτέστι τοῦ σώματος· καί πρός τά πάθη κατώλισθεν· ἐξωθεῖται τῆς βασιλείας, ἵνα παραλάβῃ τόν Ἰσραήλ ὁ ∆αβίδ· τουτέστιν ὁ νόμος τοῦ νεύματος, ὁ γεννῶν τήν εἰρήνην τήν οἰκοδομοῦσαν περιφανῶς τῷ Θεῷ τόν τῆς θεωρίας ναόν.

νδ΄. Σαμουήλ ὑπακοή Θεοῦ ἑρμηνεύεται. Οὐκοῦν ἕως ἀν καθ᾿ ὑπακοήν ὁ λόγος ἐν ἡμῖν ἱερατεύῃ, κἄν φείσηται τοῦ Ἀγάγ ὁ Σαούλ· τουτέστι, τοῦ χοϊκοῦ φρονήματος· ἀλλ᾿ οὖν ἀποκτενεῖ τοῦτον ζηλώσας ὁ ἱερεύς Λόγος, καί πλήττει καταισχύνων τόν φιλαμαρτήμονα νοῦν, ὡς παραβάτην τῶν θείων δικαιωμάτων.

νε΄. Ἐπάν ὁ νοῦς ὑψηλοφρονήσας, τόν κατά παθῶν αὐτόν χρίσαντα τῆς διδασκαλίας λόγον, διά τῆς (1149) προσηκούσης ἐρεύνης ἐπερωτῶν περί τῶν