531
Another contemplation on the same subject. And again, in another way, as the reason ascends, there ascends with it he who is from the ways according to virtue of
practical philosophy, as if from a certain earth to certain heavens—the spiritual realms of knowledge according to contemplation—being exalted together with the divine Logos who draws him upward.
Another contemplation on the same subject. And to speak yet more mystically concerning these things, he who is able, from the
knowledge of the economy, from which the world of the flesh of the Logos came to be with the Father, to be led up to the conception of the glory that the Logos's incarnation had with the Father before the world was, this one has in truth ascended together into the heavens with the God and Logos who descended to earth for his sake, having fulfilled the measure of knowledge that is attainable by men in this age, and having become God to the same degree that he became man, by being exalted so much in the divine ascents for the sake of God, as God, for the sake of man, descended, having unchangeably emptied himself to the last extremity of our nature.
From the same, from the discourse on New Sunday, on the text: "The tabernacle of testimony is dedicated, and very lavishly, which God showed, and Bezalel finished and Moses set up."
Since the anagogical account of contemplation concerning the tabernacle is manifold, let us now consider it as the teacher has received it. The tabernacle of testimony, therefore, is the mysterious economy of the incarnation of God the Logos, which God the Father was pleased to show, and the Holy Spirit, prefiguring it through the wise Bezalel, worked together to complete, and the intelligible Moses, the only-begotten Son of God the Father, himself crafted, fixing human nature in himself by the hypostatic union.
Another contemplation on the same subject. Moreover, the tabernacle is also an image of the whole of creation, both intelligible and sensible, which
God the (1388) Father, as Mind, conceived, and the Son, as Word, created, and the Holy Spirit perfected. And again, of the sensible nature alone, and of man alone who consists of soul and body, and again of the soul alone considered in itself by reason, is the tabernacle an image, that is, contemplated according to the reason proper to each.
From the same discourse, on the text: "The kingdom of David is inaugurated, and not once, but with him being anointed the first time, and proclaimed the second time."
Likewise, let us also receive the great David, the prophet and king, who has a very venerable anagogical account concerning him, according to which the teacher has now contemplated him. David, therefore, is the intelligible, true king of Israel, of the one who sees God, Jesus Christ, being anointed in his first coming by the conception of his humanity, as the teacher says elsewhere, having anointed the
531
Ἀλλο θεώρημα εἰς τό αὐτό. Καί ἑτέρως δέ πάλιν ἀνιόντι τῷ λόγῳ συνάνεισιν ὁ ἀπό τῶν κατ᾿ ἀρετήν τρόπων τῆς
πρακτικῆς φιλοσοφίας ὥσπερ ἀπό τινος γῆς εἴς τινας οὐρανούς τούς κατά θεωρίαν πνευματικούς τῆς γνώσεως τῷ ἀνατατικῶς ἕλκοντι θείῳ συνυψούμενος Λόγῳ.
Ἄλλο θεώρημα εἰς τό αὐτό. Καί μυστικώτερον ἔτι περί τούτων εἰπεῖν, ὁ δυνάμενος ἀπό τῆς κατά τήν
οἰκονομίαν γνώσεως, ἀφ᾿ ἧς ὁ τῆς σαρκός τοῦ Λόγου κόσμος γέγονε παρά τῷ Πατρί, εἰς τήν τῆς πρό τοῦ τόν κόσμον τῆς τοῦ Λόγου σαρκώσεως εἶναι παρά τῷ Πατρί δόξης ἔννοιαν ἀναχθῆναι, κατά ἀλήθειαν οὗτος συνανῆλθεν εἰς οὐρανούς τῷ δι᾿ αὐτόν ἐπί γῆς κατελθόντι Θεῷ καί Λόγῳ, πληρώσας τῆς ἀνθρώποις χωρητῆς κατά τόν αἰῶνα τοῦτον γνώσεως τό μέτρον, καί γενόμενος τοσοῦτον Θεός ὅσον ἐκεῖνος ἄνθρωπος, τῷ ὑψωθῆναι τοσοῦτον ταῖς θείαις ἀναβάσεσι διά τόν Θεόν, ὅσον διά τόν ἄνθρωπον ὁ Θεός πρός τό ἔσχατον τῆς ἡμετέρας φύσεως ἑαυτόν ἀτρέπτως κενώσας κατελήλυθεν.
Τοῦ αὐτοῦ, ἐκ τοῦ εἰς τήν Καινήν Κυριακήν λόγου, εἰς τό· " Ἐγκαινίζεται δέ ἡ σκηνή τοῦ μαρτυρίου, καί λίαν πολυτελῶς, ἥν Θεός παρέδειξε, καί Βεσελεήλ ἐτελείωσε καί Μωϋσῆς ἐπήξατο. "
Πολύτροπον ὄντα τόν κατα τήν σκηνήν ἀναγωγικόν τής θεωρίας λόγον ἐπί τοῦ παρόντος ὡς ἔλαβεν αὐτόν ὁ διδάσκαλος καί ἡμεῖν θεωρήσωμεν αὐτόν. Σκηνή τοιγαροῦν τοῦ μαρτυρίου ἡ μυστηριώδης ἐστίν οἰκονομία τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου σαρκώσεως, ἥν ὁ Θεός καί Πατήρ εὐδοκήσας παρέδειξε, καί τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον διά τοῦ σοφοῦ Βεσελεήλ προτυπούμενον συνεργῆσαν ἐτελείωσε, καί ὁ νοητός Μωϋσῆς ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Πατρός μονογενής Υἱός αὐτούργησε, τήν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν ἐν ἑαυτῷ πηξάμενος ἑνώσει τῇ καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν.
Ἄλλο εἰς τό αὐτό θεώρημα. Πλήν ὅτι καί τῆς ὅλης κτίσεως νοητῆς τε καί αἰσθητῆς ἐστιν εἰκών ἡ σκηνή, ἥν ὁ
Θεός καί (1388) Πατήρ οἷα νοῦς ἐνενόησε, καί ὁ Υἱός οἷα λόγος ἐδημιούργησε, καί τό Πνεῦμα τό ἅγιον ἐτελείωσε. Καί αὖθις τῆς αἰσθητῆς μόνης φύσεως, καί μόνου τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τοῦ ἐκ ψυχῆς ὄντος καί σώματος, καί μόνης αὖ τῆς ψυχῆς καθ᾿ ἑαυτήν τῷ λόγῳ θεωρουμένης, ἐστίν εἰκών ἡ σκηνή, κατά τόν ἑκάστῳ πρέποντα δηλαδή θεωρουμένη λόγον.
Ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ λόγου, εἰς τό· " Ἐγκαινίζεται δέ ἡ βασιλεία ∆αβίδ, καί οὐχ ἅπαξ, ἀλλή χρισμένου τό πρότερον, καί ἀναγορευομένου τό δεύτερον."
Ὁμοίως καί τόν μέγαν ∆αβίδ τόν προφήτην καί βασιλέα, πολύσεμνον ἔχοντα τόν ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ τῆς ἀναγωγῆς λόγον, καθ᾿ ὅν ἐπί τοῦ παρόντος αὐτόν ὁ διδάσκαλος ἐθεώρησε, καί ἡμεῖς ἐκδεξώμεθα. ∆αβίδ τοίνυν ἐστί νοητός ὁ ἀληθινός βασιλεύς τοῦ Ἰσραήλ καί ὁρῶντος Θεόν Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, κατά μέν τήν πρώτην αὐτοῦ παρουσίαν, τῇ ἐπινοίᾳ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος χριόμενος, ὥσπερ ἀλλαχοῦ φησιν ὁ διδάσκαλος, χρίσας τήν