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silence is a sign of acceptance of the word that was spoken. Therefore, by whichever of the things spoken we are crucified with Christ, let us strive, as we are here, to propitiate the Logos crucified with us, and to receive the true promise of rest, purged in conscience from the thoughts that strike it, if indeed 'today' indicates the present day of this age (For, He says, 'Today you will be with me in paradise'), and 'tomorrow' the age to come, in which one must expect no remission of sins, but only the requital of reward for things lived, fitting to each according to his worth.

(1176) Another contemplation for those who are perplexed about the saying in the oration on the Consecration that says, "Higher than the high, and more wonderful than the wonderful."

And again, that the first Sunday is a symbol of the future natural resurrection and incorruptibility, and the second bears the image of the future deification according to grace. If, therefore, the enjoyment of good things is more honorable than the state of being purified from evil, and the state of perfection in true knowledge is more honorable than a healthy disposition according to virtue, and the transformation in grace toward God according to deification is more honorable than natural incorruptibility, of which the first Sunday bears the type, and the second is the symbol, fittingly the teacher, being led by the Spirit, called the new Sunday higher than the high.

A natural contemplation, through which the saints were taught of God from His creatures. Thus, therefore, the saints, having understood creation by contemplation, and its good order

and the proportion and the need which each thing provides to the whole, and how all things are perfectly created, wisely and providentially, according to the logos for which they were created, and how it is not possible for created things to be well in any other way than they now are, needing no addition or subtraction to be well otherwise, were taught of the Creator from His own works; and thus also the permanence, and the order and the position of created things, and their progression, by which all things stand unconfused according to their own kind and free from all mixture, and the motion of the stars occurring in the same manner, never changing at all, and the cycle of the year occurring in an orderly way according to the return of the same things from the same place to the same place, and the annual equality of nights and days, with each increasing and decreasing in turn, with neither a greater nor a lesser measure of increase or decrease happening to them, they understood that there is a Provider of beings, whom they also recognized as God and Creator of all.

A natural contemplation concerning the world having a beginning and a generation, and everything else after God.

For who, beholding the beauty and the magnitude of God's creatures, will not immediately conceive of Him as the originator, as the beginning and cause of beings and the Maker, and run up to Him alone in his thought, leaving these things below, since it is not in the nature of thought to contain the entire passage, to apprehend immediately, without passions, Him whom it knew through the medium of His works,

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σημεῖον ἔχει τῆς τοῦ ῥηθέντος ἀποδοχῆς λόγου τήν σιωπήν. Καθ᾿ ἥντινα γοῦν τῶν εἰρημένων τῷ Χριστῷ συσταυρούμεθα, σπουδάσωμεν, ὥς ἐσμεν ἐνταῦθα, τόν συσταυρούμενον ἡμῖν ἰλεώσασθαι λόγον, καί τήν ἀψευδῆ δέξασθαι κατά συνείδησιν καταρθεῖσαν τῶν πλησσόντων αὐτήν νοημάτων τῆς ἀναπαύσεως ἐπαγγελίαν, εἴπερ ἡ σήμερον τήν ἐνεστῶσαν τούτου τοῦ αἰῶνος ἡμέραν ἐνδείκνυται (Σήμερον γάρ, φησίν, ἔσῃ μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ), ἡ δέ αὔριον τήν τοῦ μέλλοντος, καθ᾿ ἥν οὐδεμίαν μέν ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτημάτων ἐκδέχεσθαι χρή μόνην δέ τῆς ἑκάστῳ πρεπούσης κατ᾿ ἀξίαν ἀμοιβῆς τῶν βεβιωμένων ἀντίδοσιν.

(1176) Ἄλλη θεωρία πρός τούς ἀποροῦντας περί τοῦ ῥητοῦ τοῦ ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῶνι Ἐγκαινίων τοῦ λέγοντος, " Ὑψηλῆς ὑψηλοτέρα, καί θαυμασίας θαυμασιωτέρα."

Καί αὖθις τήν μέν πρώτην Κυριακήν τῆς μελλούσης φυσικῆς ἀναστάσεως καί ἀφθαρσίας εἶναι σύμβολον, τήν δέ δευτέραν τῆς κατά χάριν μελλούσης θεώσεως φέρειν εἰκόνα. Εἰ τοίνυν τῆς μέν καθαρευούσης κακῶν ἕξεως ἡ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀπόλαυσίς ἐστι τιμιωτέρα, τῆς δέ κατ᾿ ἀρετήν ὑγιοῦς προαιρέσεως ἡ ἕξις τῆς κατά τήν ἀληθῆ γνῶσιν τελειότητος, καί τῆς φυσικῆς ἀφθαρσίας ἡ ἐν χάριτι πρός τόν Θεόν κατά τήν θέωσιν ματαποίησις, ὧν ἡ μέν πρώτη Κυρικάη φέρει τύπον, ἡ δέ δευτέρα τυγχάνει σύμβολον, εἰκότως ὑψηλῆς ὑψηλοτέραν ἀγόμενος πνεύματι τήν καινήν ὁ διδάσκαλος ἔφη Κυριακήν.

Θεωρία φυσική, δι᾿ ἧς τόν Θεόν ἐκ τῶν κτισμάτων οἱ ἅγιοι ἐδιδάσκοντο. Οὕτω μέν οὖν τήν κτίσιν κατανοήσαντες θεωρία οἱ ἅγιοι, καί τήν εὐκοσμίαν αὐτῆς

καί τήν ἀναλογίαν καί τήν χρείαν, ἥν ἕκαστον παρέχεται τῷ παντί, καί ὡς τέλεια πάντα σοφῶς τε καί προνοητικῶς καθ᾿ ὅν δεδημιούργηνται λόγον δεδημιουργημένα, καί ὡς οὐχ οἷόντε ἄλλως γε καλῶς ἔχειν τά γενόμενα παρ᾿ ὅ νῦν ἔχει, προσθήκης ἤ ἀφαιρέσεως πρός τό καλῶς ἄλλως ἔχειν μή δεόμενα τόν ∆ημιουργόν ἐκ τῶν αὐτοῦ ποιημάτων ἐδιδάχθησαν· οὕτω δέ τήν διαμονήν, τήν τε τάξιν καί τήν θέσιν τῶν γεγονότων, καί τήν διεξαγωγήν, καθ᾿ ἥν πάντα κατά τό οἰκεῖον ἕκαστα εἶδος ἔστηκεν ἀσύγχυτα καί παντός ἐλεύθερα φυρμοῦ, τήν τε τῶν ἄστρων φοράν κατά τόν αὐτόν τρόπον γινομένην, μηδέν μηδέποτε διαλλάττουσαν, καί τόν κύκλον τοῦ ἑνιαυτοῦ κατά τήν τῶν αὐτῶν ἀπό τοῦ αὐτοῦ εἰς τόν αὐτόν τόπον ἀποκατάστασιν εὐτάκτως γινόμενον, τῶν τε νυκτῶν καί τῶν ἡμερῶν τήν κατ᾿ ἔτος ἰσότητα, παρά μέρος ἑκατέρας αὐξανομένης τε καί μειουμένης, οὔτε πλείονι οὔτε ἐλάττονι μέτρῳ τῆς αὐξήσεως αὐταῖς ἤ τῆς μειώσεως ἐπιγινομένης, προνοητήν ἠπίστασαν εἶναι τῶν ὄντων, ὅν καί Θεόν καί ∆ημιουργόν τῶν ὅλων ἐπέγνωσαν.

Θεωρία φυσική περί τοῦ ἀρχήν ἔχειν τόν κόσμον καί γένεσιν, καί πᾶν ἄλλο μετά Θεόν.

Τίς γάρ τό κάλλος καί τό μέγεθος τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ κτισμάτων θεώμενος οὐκ εὐθύς αὐτόν γενεσιουργόν ἐννοήσει, ὡς ἀρχήν καί αἰτίαν τῶν ὄντων καί Ποιητήν, καί πρός αὐτόν μόνον ἀναδραμεῖται τῇ διανοίᾳ, ταῦτα ἀφείς κάτω, ὅτι μηδέ πέφυκε τῆς διανοίας χωρεῖν τόν ὅλην διάβασιν, λαβεῖν παθῶν ἀμέσως ὅν διά μέσων τῶν ἔργων ἐγνώρισε,