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showing its nature incorporeally, not being condensed with voices or bodies. Just as, therefore, the great Baptist John was called a forerunner, in relation to the one truly awaited, and a voice in relation to the Word, as one preceding Him declaratively, and a lamp in relation to the sun, as an artificial and created and temporary light in relation to a natural and essential and uncreated and eternal and unquenchable light; and I think also as repentance, preaching the righteousness that existed by nature before it and that came to be after it by economy, so I think here too this God-minded teacher, by saying contrary to history that the great apostle John was a forerunner, wished to suggest that John the great evangelist, in his own Gospel, is also a forerunner of the more mystical and greater Word revealed through him, a Word unable to be imprinted in letters or spoken by the voice of a fleshly tongue. For the writing of the holy gospels is an elementary instruction in relation to the knowledge that comes each time to those who are exalted through them and who spiritually scrape away from themselves the denseness of the carnal mindset, or in relation to the knowledge that will come later, after the consummation of things in motion. For just as the Law was an elementary instruction, according to the knowledge revealed in it at that time, for those being tutored through it toward Christ the Word in the flesh, and being gathered to the Gospel at His first coming; so also the holy Gospel is an elementary instruction for those being tutored through it toward Christ the Word in the spirit, and being gathered to the world to come at His second coming; since, indeed, He is the same, flesh and spirit, (1245) becoming this or that according to each one's analogy of knowledge; for every word is subject to voices and letters.

But I dare say that even every concept that can be imprinted on the mind is no different from an elementary instruction that reveals the things beyond it. For this reason there are also four Gospels in number, as they are for the time being comprehensible to those who are still under sense and corruption. For so many are the elements of this world, and again, four are the virtues out of which the spiritual world according to the intellect is constituted, so that the word of truth may circumscribe the intelligible world for now within us and the world in which we are, and bring them together with each other unconfusedly in union, and again distinguish them from each other indivisibly, by the similarities of the elements constituting them. For what the ether, that is, the fiery element, is, as they say, in the sensible world, this is prudence in the world of the intellect, as an illuminating state and a demonstrator of the specifically spiritual principles in each of the beings, unerringly revealing through them the cause in all things, and attractive of the soul's desire for the Divine; and what air is in the sensible world, this is courage in the world according to the intellect, as a motive state, at once cohesive and effective of the innate life according to the spirit, and incisive for the soul's perpetual motion toward the Divine; and what water is in the sensible world, this is temperance in the world of the intellect, being a state productive of the life-giving fertility in the Spirit, and generative of the ever-gushing erotic charm according to the desire for the Divine; and what in the sensible world is justice, is an existing state, generative according to species of all the principles in beings, and distributive of the life-giving propagation in the Spirit equally to each, and the unchangeable establishment of its own base in the good according to its position. The Gospel according to Matthew, therefore, mystically holds the place of earth and justice, as it makes its account in a more natural way, and that according to Mark, of water and temperance, as it begins from the baptism of John and the repentance preached by him, according to which the

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τήν φύσιν ἀσωμάτως ἐμφαίνουσα, μή συμπαχυνομένην ταῖς φωναῖς ἤ τοῖς σώμασιν. Ὥσπερ οὖν ὁ μέγας Βαπτιστής Ἰωάννης ἐῤῥέθη πρόδρομος, ὡς πρός τόν ἀληθῶς προσδοκώμενον, καί φωνή πρός λόγον, ὡς τούτου μηνυτικῶς προηγουμένη, καί λύχνος πρός ἥλιον, ὡς τεχνικόν τε καί θετικόν καί πρόσκαιρον φῶς πρός φυσικόν τε καί οὐσιῶδες καί ἀτέχναστον καί αἰώνιον φῶς καί ἄσβεστον, οἶμαι δέ ὅτι καί ὡς μετάνοια, τήν πρό αὐτῆς κατά φύσιν ὑπάρχουσαν δικαιοσύνην μετ᾿ αὐτήν κατ᾿ οἰκονομίαν γενομένην κηρύττουσα, οὕτως οἶμαι κἀνταῦθα τόν θεόφρονα τοῦτον διδάσκαλον διά τοῦ παρ᾿ ἱστορίαν εἰπεῖν πρόδρομον τόν μέγαν ἀπόστολον Ἰωάννην παραινίξασθαι, θέλειν, ὅτιπερ καί Ἰωάννης ὁ μέγας εὐαγγελιστής ἐν τῷ κατ᾿ αὐτόν Εὐαγγελίῳ πρόδρομός ἐστι τοῦ δι᾿ αὐτοῦ μηνυομένου μυστικωτέρου καί μείζονος Λόγου, καί γράμμασι τυπωθῆναι καί φωνῇ γλώσσης σαρκίνης ῥηθῆναι μή δυναμένου. Στοιχείωσις γάρ ὡς πρός τήν ἐπιγινομένην ἑκάστοτε τοῖς δι᾿ αὐτῶν ὑψουμένοις, καί τό πάχος τοῦ σωματικοῦ φρονήματος πνευματικῶς ἑαυτῶν ἀποξέουσιν, ἤ καί ἐπιγενησομένην ἐς ὕστερον γνῶσιν, μετά τήν τῶν κινουμένων συντέλειαν, ἡ τῶν ἁγίων εὐαγγελίων ἐστί συγγραφή. Ὥσπερ γάρ ὁ νόμος στοιχείωσις ἦν, κατά τήν τέως ἐμφαινομένην αὐτῷ γνῶσιν, τῶν δι᾿ αὐτοῦ εἰς Χριστόν τόν ἐν σαρκί λόγον παιδαγωγουμένων, καί τῷ Εὐαγγελίῳ κατά τήν αὐτοῦ πρώτην παρουσίαν συναγομένων· οὕτω καί τό ἅγιον Εὐαγγέλιον στοιχείωσίς ἐστι τῶν δι᾿ αὐτοῦ εἰς Χριστόν τόν ἐν πνεύματι Λόγον παιδαγωγουμένων, καί τῷ μέλλοντι κόσμῳ κατά τήν δευτέραν αὐτοῦ παρουσίαν συναγομένων· ἐπειδή γάρ σάρξ καί πνεῦμά (1245) ἐστιν ὁ αὐτός κατά τήν ἑκάστῳ τῆς γνώσεως ἀναλογίαν τοῦτο ἤ ἐκεῖνο γινόμενος, πᾶς γάρ λόγος φωναῖς ὑποπίπτων καί γράμμασι.

Θαῤῥῶ δέ εἰπεῖν ὅτι καί πᾶν νόημα, νῷ τυπωθῆναι δυνάμενον, στοιχειώσεως οὐδέν διενήνοχε τά ὑπέρ αὐτήν μηνυούσης. ∆ιό καί τέσσαρα τόν ἀριθμόν ὑπάρχει τά Εὐαγγέλια, ὡς τοῖς ὑπό αἴσθησιν ἔτι καί φθοράν οὖσι τέως χωρητά. Τοσαῦτα γάρ καί τά στοιχεῖα τυγχάνει τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, καί τέσσαρες πάλιν ἀρεταί, ἐξ ὧν ὁ κατά διάνοιαν πνευματικός συνέστηκε κόσμος, ἵνα τόν τέως ἐν ἡμῖν νοητόν κόσμον, καί τόν ἐν ᾧ ἐσμεν, περιγράφῃ τῆς ἀληθείας ὁ λόγος, καί ἀλλήλοις αὐτούς ἀσυγχύτως καθ᾿ ἕνωσιν συμβάλλῃ, καί ἀλλήλων πάλιν ἀδιαιρέτως διακρίνῃ, ταῖς τῶν συνιστώντων αὐτούς στοιχείων ὁμοιότησιν. Ὅπερ γάρ ἐστιν, ὥς φασιν, ὁ αἰθήρ, ἤγουν τό πύρινον στοιχεῖον ἐν τῷ κατ᾿ αἴσθησιν κόσμῳ, τό τε ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ τῆς διανοίας ἐστίν ἡ φρόνησις, ὡς ἕξις φωτιστική καί τῶν ἐφ᾿ ἑκάστου τῶν ὄντων ἰδίως πνευματικῶν λόγων ἀποδεικτική, τήν ἐν ὅλοις ἀπλανῶς δι᾿ αὐτῶν αἰτίαν ἐκφαίνουσα, καί τῆς κατά ψυχήν περί τό Θεῖον ἐφέσεως ἑλκτική· καί ὅπερ ἐν τῷ αἰσθητῷ κόσμῳ ὁ ἀήρ, τοῦτο ἐν τῷ κατά διάνοιαν κόσμῳ ἐστί ἡ ἀνδρεία, ὡς ἕξις κινητική, καί τῆς ἐμφύτου κατά πνεῦμα ζωῆς συνεκτική τε ἅμα καί δραστική, καί τῆς κατα ψυχήν περί τό Θεῖον ἀεικινησίας τομωτική· καί ὅπερ ἐν τῷ αἰσθητῷ κόσμῳ ἐστί τό ὕδωρ, τοῦτο ἐν τῷ τῆς διανοίας κόσμῳ ἐστίν ἡ σωφροσύνη, ἕξις ὑπάρχουσα τῆς ἐν Πνεύματι ζωτικῆς γονιμότητος ποιητική, καί τῆς ἀειβλύστου κατά τήν ἔφεσιν περί τό Θεῖον ἐρωτικῆς θέλξεως γεννητική· καί ὅπερ ἐν τῷ αἰσθητῷ κόσμῳ ἐστίν ἡ δικαιοσύνη, ἕξις ὑπάρχουσα κατ᾿ εἶδος γεννητική πάντων τῶν ἐν τοῖς οὖσι λόγων, καί τῆς ἐν Πνεύματι κατά τό ἴσον ἑκάστῳ ζωτικῆς διαδόσεως ἀπονεμητική, καί τῆς οἰκείας ἐν τῷ καλῷ κατά τήν θέσιν βάσεως ἀμετάθετος ἵδρυσις. Γῆς οὖν καί δικαιοσύνης μυστικῶς λόγον ἐπέχει, τό κατά Ματθαῖον Εὐαγγέλιον, ὡς φυσικώτερον τόν λόγον ποιούμενον, ὕδατος δέ καί σωφροσύνην τό κατά Μᾶρκον, ὡς ἐκ τοῦ βαπτίσματος Ἰωάννου καί τῆς κηρυττομένης ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ μετανοίας, καθ᾿ ἥν ἡ