430

which formerly was the ruler of all the regions, was taught, of which mysteries the type had set forth the meanings, that our true Savior Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the destroyer of wicked powers, and the bestower of the inheritance on those worthy of grace, at the time of His incarnation, having overcome sin and its king, the devil, by the cross (for sin, reigning, once ruled over all things), He killed it by the word of His power, and utterly destroyed everything that breathes of it, that is, the passions within us, and the shameful and wicked thoughts connected to them, so that sin might no longer in any way have the power to be moved and to live like something breathing in those who live of Christ and according to Christ.

(1121) A contemplation on, "The heavens declare the glory of God." Thus David, who was after them in time, but like them in spirit—so that I might pass over the Judges who have many mysteries in their lives—hearing the heavens declaring the glory of God, and the firmament proclaiming the work of His hands (a wondrous thing, for the Creator did not place a soul in them), received with the ears of his mind the words about theology from inanimate things, and was taught the ways of providence and judgment from their effects, as far as is possible for men, not attaining to the principles by which, clearly, the course of the universe is variegated in its parts.

A contemplation on, " My father and my mother have forsaken me. " Thus again: My father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord has taken me up, saying, I think, in a hidden manner, that the abandonment and avoidance of the law of the flesh concerning generation and corruption—according to which we all, on account of the transgression, are both born and constituted—and of sense perception, which is like a nursing mother to us, is necessary for those who desire incorruptible things; through which things the visible world is left behind and lets go, but the Lord is taken up, and adopting the worthy by the spiritual law, and being adopted as a father by the worthy, through virtue and knowledge, He, as good, gives His whole self to them wholly in likeness. Or perhaps through the father and the mother he alludes to the written law and the corporeal worship according to it, by the withdrawal of which the light of the spiritual law is wont to dawn in the hearts of the worthy, and to grant freedom from the slavery according to the flesh.

A contemplation on the vision of Elijah in the cave at Horeb. Thus Elijah, the renowned, after that fire, after the earthquake, after the earthquake, after the great and mighty wind that shatters mountains, which things I take to be zeal and discernment and eager faith in full assurance (for discernment, like an earthquake shaking what is continuous, by virtue shakes the disposition thickened by depravity out of its wickedness; and zeal, like fire inflaming those who have it, persuades them by the fervor of the spirit to discipline the impious; and faith, in the manner of a violent wind, for the sake of God's glory, impelling the impassible to the overthrow of strongholds through the display of wonders, makes the truly faithful man a provider of gnostic water and deifying fire, and on the one hand, curing the famine of ignorance (1124), and on the other, to those who sacrifice through

430

ἥτις ἦν πρότερον ἄρχουσα πασῶν τῶν χωρῶν, ἐδιδάσκετο, ὧν μυστηρίων τύπος προβέβλητο τούς λόγους, ὅτι ὁ ἀληθινός Σωτήρ ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, ὁ Υἱός τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ τῶν πονηρῶν καθαιρέτης δυνάμεων, καί κληροδότης τῶν ἀξίων τῆς χάριτος, κατά τόν καιρόν τῆς αὐτοῦ ἐνανθρωπήσεως διά σταυροῦ καταλαβόμενος τήν ἁμαρτίαν καί τόν βασιλέα αὐτῆς τόν διάβολον (ἦρχε γάρ πάντων ποτέ βασιλεύουσα ἡ ἁμαρτία) ἀπέκτεινε τῷ ῥήματι τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ, καί ἐξωλόθρευσεν αὐτῆς πᾶν ἐμπνέον, τουτέστι τά πάθη τά ἐν ἡμῖν, καί τά ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς αἰσχρά καί πονηρά ἐνθυμήματα, ἵνα μηδέ τό ὁπωσοῦν ἐν τοῖς τοῦ Χριστοῦ καί κατά Χριστόν ζῶσιν ἐμπνέοντος δίκην καθ᾿ ὁτιοῦν ἔχῃ λοιπόν τό κινεῖσθαι καί ζῇν ἡ ἁμαρτία.

(1121) Θεωρία εἰς τό, "Οἱ οὐρανοί διηγοῦνται δόξαν Θεοῦ." Οὕτω ∆αβίδ ὁ μετ᾿ ἐκείνους μέν τῷ χρόνῳ, κατ᾿ ἐκείνους δέ τῷ πνεύματι, ἵνα τούς

Κριτάς παραδράμω πολλά ἔχοντας ἐν τῷ βίῳ μυστήρια, τήν δόξαν τοῦ Θεοῦ διηγουμένων τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀκούων, καί τήν ποίησιν τῶν χειρῶν αὐτοῦ ἀναγγέλλοντος τοῦ στερεώματος (τό θαυμάσιον, οἷς ψυχήν ὁ ∆ημιουργός οὐκ ἐνέθηκε), τούς περί θεολογίας νοός ἀκοαῖς παρά τῶν ἀψύχων ὑποδέχετο λόγους, καί τούς τῆς προνοίας καί κρίσεως ἐξ ἀποτελέσματος, κατά τό ἀνθρώποις ἐφικτόν, ἐδιδάσκετο τρόπους, τῶν, οἷς δηλονότι κατά μέρος ποικίλλεται ἡ τοῦ παντός διεξαγωγή, οὐκ ἐφικνούμενος λόγων.

Θεωρία εἰς τό, " Ὁ πατήρ μου καί ἡ μήτηρ μου ἐγκατέλιπόν με. " Οὕτω πάλιν· Ὁ πατήρ μου καί ἡ μήτηρ μου ἐγκατέλιπόν με, ὁ δέ Κύριος

προσελάβετό με, φάσκων τήν τοῦ κατά φύσιν τῆς σαρκός περί γένεσιν καί φθοράν νόμου, καθ᾿ ὅν πάντες διά τήν παράβασιν καί γεννώμεθα καί συνιστάμεθα, καί τῆς τιθηνούσης ἡμᾶς μητρός δίκην αἰσθήσεως ἀπόλειψίν τε καί ἀποφυγήν ἀναγκαίαν εἶναι τοῖς τῶν ἀφθάρτων ἐπιθυμηταῖς ἐπικεκρυμμένως, οἶμαι, διηγόρευε· δι᾿ ὧν ὁ μέν ὁρώμενος κόσμος ἀφίεται καί ἀφίησιν, ὁ δέ Κύριος προσλαμβάνεται, καί τῷ πνευματικῷ υἱοθετῶν νόμῳ τούς ἀξίους, καί τοῖς ἀξίοις πατροθετούμενος, δι᾿ ἀρετῆς καί γνώσεως, ὅλον ἑαυτόν ὅλοις αὐτοῖς καθ᾿ ὁμοίωσιν, ὡς ἀγαθός, ἐνδίδωσιν. Ἤ τάχα διά τοῦ πατρός καί τῆς μητρός τόν γραπτόν νόμον καί τήν κατ᾿ αὐτόν σωματικήν λατρείαν αἰνίττεται, ὧν τῇ ὑποχωρήσει τό φῶς τοῦ πνευματικοῦ νόμου ταῖς καρδίαις τῶν ἀξίων ἀνατέλλειν πέφυκε, καί τῆς κατά σάρκα δουλείας ἐλευθερίαν χαρίζεσθαι.

Θεωρία εἰς τήν ὀπτασίαν Ἠλίου τήν ἐν τῷ σπηλαίῳ Χωρήβ. Οὕτως Ἠλίας ὁ περινόητος μετά τό πῦρ ἐκεῖνο, μετά τόν συσσεισμόν, μετά τόν

συσσεισμόν, μετά τό μέγα καί κραταιόν πνεῦμα τό διαλύον ὄρη, ἅ δή ζῆλον καί διάκρισιν εἶναι καί τήν ἐν πληροφορίᾳ πρόθυμον πίστιν ὑπολαμβάνω (ἡ μέν γάρ διάκρισις, ὥσπερ σεισμός τά συνεχῆ, τήν μοχθηρίᾳ πυκνωθεῖσαν ἕξιν διά τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐπισείουσα τῆς κακίας ἐξίστησιν, ὁ δέ ζῆλος πυρός δίκην ἀνάπτων τούς ἔχοντας τῇ ζέσει τοῦ πνεύματος παιδεύειν πείθει τούς ἀσεβεῖς, ἡ δέ πίστις, πνεύματος βιαίου τρόπον, δόξης ἕνεκεν Θεοῦ πρός καθαίρεσιν ὀχυρωμάτων δι᾿ ἐπιδείξεως θαυμάτων ὠθοῦσα τούς ἀπαθεῖς ὕδατος γνωστικοῦ καί πυρός θεοποιοῦ χορηγόν τόν ὄντως πιστόν ἄνθρωπον καθίστησι, καί τῷ μέν τόν δι᾿ ἀγνοίας λιμόν (1124) θεραπεύουσα, τῷ δέ τοῖς θύουσι δι᾿