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the present and into the future, that is, type and truth, and the present and the future into the primordial, that is, the Logos in the beginning, Who makes him suffer and see those who have become worthy of him, and through the aforementioned things diligently made the journey to him, and made the decade that came to be through them into a monad through him, which shook them free from every passionate and natural and (1297) intelligible movement, and which in grace formed in them, according to their whole state, the divine property of the divine simplicity according to nature. And this too must be known, that the principle of providence is sown in natural philosophy, and the principle of judgment in practical philosophy, according to the modes appropriate to them, by which they are made manifest through the contemplation of things that are and things that come to be. I think that this God-minded teacher, having understood these things, as has been said, fittingly called the aforementioned saints from the mode of contemplation concerning them according to genus and worth, and the great John also from place. Wherefore the great saint John, as a herald of repentance, is an image of practice; as a hermit, of dispassion; as a Levite and priest, of gnostic contemplation; and as one who leaped for the Word from the womb, he is a symbol of immutability and of the state of virtue and knowledge. And saint David, as a Jew and shepherd, is an image of practical philosophy through confession, while as king of Israel, he introduces contemplative mystagogy. Thus, the genus of saint John was the nation and tribe from which he came, his worth was his preaching and priesthood, and his place was the desert in which he lived. And of saint David likewise, the genus is the nation and the tribe, and his pursuit, that is his worth, the shepherding and the kingship. By which each one, being contemplated analogously to himself according to the appropriate principle of the modes spoken of concerning him, shows the mystery signified through him "without stumbling."

From the same discourse, on the text: "If he flees to Egypt, willingly be a fellow-fugitive; it is good to flee with Christ when he is persecuted. If he tarries in Egypt, call him out of Egypt, since he is rightly worshipped there."

It is necessary, I think, in addition to knowing that the Lord fled to Egypt, to know by whom He was persecuted, as follows. The Lord, then, flees not simply to Egypt, but also while being persecuted by Herod, who was then ruling the land of Judea. And Herod is interpreted, as they say, as passion, and of skin, and nature; and Egypt itself is also understood in many ways, according to the applications of the contemplative modes concerning it: sometimes as the present world, sometimes as the flesh, sometimes as sin, sometimes as ignorance, and sometimes as affliction, according to which application it is especially fitting now to interpret the Lord's flight to Egypt. It is good, therefore, to flee with Christ to Egypt, that is, with the divine and discerning word in us, who is for the time being persecuted on account of his infancy, because of us who are infants according to him, by the earthly mindset that still dominates and rules us through the passionate movements of the flesh, (1300) into affliction through practice, until death is announced to us through the dispassion of those who seek the soul of the most divine word that is an infant in us, that is, of those wishing to put to death our life that is perfected in God according to the Word, and raging to destroy the Christ-like condition, that is, state, of Him who, through our unhesitating choice, willingly rides upon our Egypt as on a light cloud, I mean upon our flesh, and shaking its movements and passions like some man-made idols and moving them from their base and completely from the

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παρόν καί εἰς τό μέλλον, ἤτοι τύπον καί ἀλήθειαν, τό παρόν δέ καί τό μέλλον εἰς τό ἀρχικόν, ἤγουν τόν ἐν ἀρχῇ Λόγον, τόν ποιοῦντα παθεῖν αὐτόν καί ἰδεῖν τούς ἀξίους αὐτοῦ γενομένους, καί διά τῶν εἰρημένων φιλοπόνως τήν πρός αὐτόν ποιησαμένους πορείαν, καί τήν δι᾿ αὐτούς γενομένην δεκάδα δι᾿ αὐτόν ποιησαμένους μονάδα, τήν αὐτούς ἐκτινάξαν παντός ἐμπαθοῦς τε καί φυσικοῦ καί (1297) νοητοῦ κινήματος, καί τήν ἐν χάριτι θείαν αὐτοῖς κατά τήν ὁλόκληρον ἕξιν ἐμμορφώσασαν τῆς κατά φύσιν θείας ἁπλότητος ἰδιότητα. Ἰστέον δέ καί τοῦτο, ὅτι τῆς μέν προνοίας ὁ λόγος τῇ φυσικῇ, καί ὁ τῆς κρίσεως λόγος τῇ πρακτικῇ κατέσπαρται φιλοσοφίᾳ, κατά τούς αὐτοῖς πρέποντας τρόπους, οἷς διά τῆς θεωρίαν τῶν ὄντων τε καί γινομένων ἐμφαίνονται. Ταῦτα, καθώς εἴρηται, νενοηκότα τόν θεόφρονα τοῦτον διδάσκαλον οἶμαι προσφόρως τούς ὀνομασθέντας ἁγίους ἐκ τοῦ κατά γένος καί ἀξίαν τρόπου τῆς ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς θεωρίας καλέσαι, τόν δέ μέγαν Ἰωάννην καί ἐκ τοῦ τόπου. ∆ιόπερ ὁ μέγας ἅγιος Ἰωάννης, ὡς μέν κῆρυξ μετανοίας, πράξεώς ἐστιν εἰκών, ὡς δέ ἐρημίτης, ἀπαθείας, ὡς Λευΐτης δέ καί ἱερεύς, γνωστικῆς θεωρίας, ὡς δέ τοῦ λόγου προσκιρτήσας ἀπό γαστρός, ἀτρεψίας καί τῆς κατ᾿ ἀρετήν καί γνῶσιν ἕξεώς ἐστι σύμβολον· ὁ δέ ἅγιος ∆αβίδ, ὡς μέν Ἰουδαῖος καί ποιμήν, τήν δι᾿ ἐξομολογήσεως πρακτικήν φιλοσοφίαν εἰκονίζεται, ὡς δέ βασιλεύς Ἰσραήλ, τήν θεωρητικήν εἰσηγεῖται μυσταγωγίαν. Γένος οὖν τοῦ μέν ἁγίου Ἰωάννου τό ἔθνος καί ἡ φυλή ἐξ ὧν ὑπῆρχε, ἀξία δέ τό κήρυγμα καί ἱερωσύνη, καί τόπος ἡ ἔρημος ἐν ᾗ διῆγε· τοῦ δέ ἁγίου ∆αβίδ ὡσαύτως, τό μέν γένος τό ἔθνος ἐστί καί ἡ φυλή, τό δέ ἐπιτήδευμα, ἤγουν ἡ ἀξία, ἡ ποιμαντική καί ἡ βασιλεία. Αἷς ἑκάτερος, ἀναλόγως ἑαυτῷ κατά τόν πρέποντα λόγον τῶν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ λεγομένων τρόπων θεωρούμενος, τό δι᾿ αὐτοῦ δηλούμενον "ἀπταίστως" μυστήριον δείκνυσιν.

Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου, εἰς τό· "Ἄν εἰς Αἴγυπτον φεύγῃ, προθύμως συμφυγαδεύθητι· καλόν τῷ Χριστῷ συμφεύγειν διωκομένῳ. Ἄν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ βραδύνῃ, κάλεσον αὐτόν ἐξ Αἰγύπτου, καλῶς ἐκεῖ προσκυνούμενον."

∆εῖ καθάπερ οἶμαι, πρός τῷ γινώσκειν εἰς Αἴγυπτον φυγόντα τόν Κύριον καί ὑπό τίνος διωκόμενον κατά τό ἀκόλουθον εἰδέναι. Φεύγει τοίνυν ὁ Κύριος οὐ μόνον ἁπλῶς εἰς Αἴγυπτον, ἀλλά καί ὑπό Ἡρώδου διωκόμενος, τοῦ τηνικαῦτα τῆς Ἰουδαίας γῆς βασιλεύοντος. Ἑρμηνεύεται δέ ὁ Ἡρώδης, ὥς φασι, πάθος, καί δερμάτινος, καί φύσις, ἡ δέ Αἴγυπτος καί αὐτή πολλαχῶς λαμβάνεται, κατά τάς ἐπ᾿ αὐτῆ τῶν θεωρητικῶν τρόπων ἐπινοίας, ποτέ μέν εἰς τόν ἐνεστῶτα κόσμον, ποτέ δέ εἰς τήν σάρκα, ποτέ δέ εἰς τήν ἁμαρτίαν, ποτέ δέ εἰς τήν ἄγνοιαν, ποτέ δέ εἰς τήν κάκωσιν, καθ᾿ ἥν μάλιστα νῦν ἐπιβολήν πρέπον ἐστίν ἐκδέξασθαι τήν εἰς Αἴγυπτον τοῦ Κυρίου φυγήν. Καλόν οὖν ἐστι συμφεύγειν εἰς Αἴγυπτον τῷ Χριστῷ, τουτέστι τῷ ἐν ἡμῖν διαγνωστικῷ θείῳ λόγῳ, διά νηπιότητα τέως διωκομένῳ, δι᾿ ἡμᾶς τούς κατ᾿ αὐτόν νηπιάζοντας, ὑπό τοῦ κρατοῦντος ἡμῶν ἔτι καί βασιλεύοντος διά τῶν ἐμπαθῶν τῆς σαρκός κινημάτων χοϊκοῦ φρονήματος, (1300) εἰς τήν διά τῆς πρακτικῆς κάκωσιν, ἕως οὖ θάνατος ἡμῖν μηνυθῇ διά τῆς ἀπαθείας τῶν ζητούντων τήν ψυχήν τοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν νηπιάζοντος θειοτάτου λόγου, τουτέστι τῶν τήν ἡμῶν κατά τόν λόγον θεοτελῆ ζωήν νεκρῶσαι θελόντων, καί τήν χριστοειδῆ κατάστασιν, ἤγουν ἕξιν, ἀφανίσαι μαινομένων, τοῦ διά τῆς ἡμῶν ἀδιστάκτου κατά προαίρεσιν προθύμως ὥσπερ διά νεφέλης κούφης ἐπιβαίνοντος ἡμῶν τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ, λέγω δέ τῇ σαρκί, καί τά ταύτης κινήματά τε καί παθήματα ὥσπερ τινά χειροποίητα εἴδωλα κατασείοντος καί τῆς ἕδρας μετακινοῦντός τε καί παντελῶς τῆς