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Contemplation on the 7 loaves. The seven loaves of the four thousand typify, as I think, the mystagogy of the Law,

that is, the more divine reasons according to it, which the Logos mystically gives to those who wait for three days upon the Logos, that is, to those who with patience and long-suffering bear the labor concerning ethical and natural and theological philosophy, which procures the illumination of knowledge.

Another contemplation on the three days. Or the three days may perhaps signify the natural and written and spiritual law,

(1404) inasmuch as each according to itself provides the illumination of its more spiritual reason to those who labor diligently, during which days those who rightly and truly hunger for divine things, blamelessly waiting upon God and the Logos, receive mystical food, the leftovers from their satiation at the same time having symbols of both victory and kingdom. For the seven baskets, being made of palm leaves (and the palm is a symbol of victory and royalty), and also of unshakable resistance for the sake of truth against the assaults of violent spirits, through themselves show those who have been fed to be victors over all evil and ignorance, as having received from God the Logos invincible dominion over passions and demons.

Contemplation on the number of the four thousand men. And the very number of those who were fed these spiritual reasons

is a manifest witness of their true perfection, as it contains the four general monads, of which the first is the first monad, the second monad is the decad, the third monad is the hundred, and the fourth monad is the thousand. For each of these, apart from the first monad, is both a monad and a decad: a monad of those that come after it, as it is composed into itself, and by multiplication by ten it completes its own decad; and a decad, as it contains within itself the composition of the monads before it. And the thousand, quadrupled, makes four thousand. Therefore, the first monad is a symbol of mystical theology, the second monad is a type of the divine economy and goodness, the third monad is an image of virtue and knowledge, and the fourth monad is a declaration of the universal, more divine transformation of beings.

Another contemplation on the number 7. The number seven of the baskets, contemplated in another way in addition to the former,

as they say, signifies wisdom and prudence, the one as being moved threefold in the mind concerning the cause, the other as being moved fourfold in the reason through the cause concerning things that are after the cause and are around the cause. Therefore, according to this great teacher, neither of these things was done by the Lord without reason, nor unworthily of the Spirit.

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Θεωρία τῶν ζ´ ἄρτων. Οἱ δέ ἑπτά τῶν τετρακισχιλίων ἄρτοι τήν νομικήν, ὡς οἶμαι, μυσταγωγίαν

ὑποτυποῦσιν, ἤτοι τούς κατ᾿ αὐτήν θειοτέρους λόγους, οὕστινας τοῖς προσμένουσι τρεῖς ἡμέρας τῷ λόγῳ, τουτέστι μεθ᾿ ὑπομονῆς τόν περί τήν ἠθικήν τε καί φυσικήν καί θεολογικήν φιλοσοφίαν περιποιητικόν τοῦ φωτισμοῦ τῆς γνώσεως πόνον μακροθύμως φέρουσιν, ὁ λόγος μυστικῶς δίδωσιν.

Ἄλλη θεωρία περί τῶν τριῶν ἡμερῶν. Ἤ τόν φυσικόν τυχόν καί γραπτόν καί πνευματικόν νόμον αἱ τρεῖς ἡμέραι

παραδηλοῦσιν, (1404) ὡς ἑκάστου τοῦ κατ᾿ αὐτόν πνευματικωτέρου λόγου τόν φωτισμόν τοῖς φιλοπονοῦσι παρέχοντος, καθ᾿ ἅς ἀμέμπτως οἱ καλῶς τε καί ἀληθῶς πεινῶντες τά θεῖα, τῷ Θεῷ καί Λόγῳ προσμένοντες, δέχονται τροφήν μυστικήν κατά ταὐτόν νίκης τε καί βασιλείας ἔχουσαν σύμβολα τοῦ κόρου τά λείψανα. Αἱ γάρ ἑπτά σπυρίδες ἐκ φοινίκων τήν ὕλην ἔχουσαι (νίκης δέ σύμβολον καί βασιλείας ὁ φοῖνιξ) , πρός δέ καί τῆς ἀκλονήτου πρός τάς τῶν βιαίων πνευμάτων ἐμβολάς ὑπέρ ἀληθείας ἐνστάσεως δι᾿ ἑαυτῶν τούς τραφέντας πάσης κακίας καί ἀγνωσίας νικητάς ἀποφαίνουσιν, ὡς τήν κατά παθῶν τε καί δαιμόνων παρά τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου ἀήττητον λαβόντας δυναστείαν.

Θεωρία τοῦ ἀριθμοῦ τῶν τετρακισχιλίων ἀνδρῶν. Καί ὁ αὐτῶν δέ ἐκείνων τῶν τούτους τραφέντων τούς πνευματικούς λόγους

ἀριθμός τῆς ἀληθοῦς αὐτῶν ἀρίδηλος μάρτυς ἐστί τελειότητος, ὡς τάς τέσσαρας γενικάς περιέχων μονάδας, ὧν πρώτη μέν ἐστιν ἡ πρώτη μονάς, δευτέρα δέ μονάς ἐστιν ἡ δεκάς, τρίτη δέ μονάς ἐστιν ἡ ἑκατοντάς, καί τετάρτη μονάς ἐστιν ἡ χιλιάς. Ἑκάστη γάρ τούτων, χωρίς τῆς πρώτης μονάδος, καί μονάς ἐστι καί δεκάς· μονάς μέν τῶν μετ᾿ αὐτήν, ὡς εἰς ἑαυτήν συντιθεμένη, καί τῷ δεκαπλασιασμῷ τήν αὐτῆς ἀπαρτίζουσα δεκάδα· δεκάς δέ, ὡς τῶν πρό αὐτῆς μονάδων τήν σύνθεσιν εἰς ἑαυτήν περιγράφουσα· χιλιάς δέ τετραπλουμένη τετρακισχιλίους ὑφίστησιν. Ἔστιν οὖν ἡ πρώτη μονάς μυστικῆς θεολογίας σύμβολον, ἡ δέ δευτέρα μονάς θείας οἰκονομίας καί ἀγαθότητος τύπος, ἡ δέ τρίτη μονάς ἀρετῆς καί γνώσεώς ἐστιν εἰκών, καί ἡ τετάρτη μονάς τῆς καθόλου τῶν ὄντων θειοτέρας μεταποιήσεως δήλωσις.

Ἄλλη θεωρία εἰς τόν ζ´. ἀριθμόν. Ὁ δέ ἑπτά ἀριθμός τῶν σπυρίδων κατ᾿ ἄλλον πρός τῷ προτέρῳ θεωρούμενος τρόπῳ,

ὥς φασιν, ἐμφαίνει σοφίαν καί φρόνησιν, τήν μέν ὡς περί τήν αἰτίαν τρισσῶς κατά νοῦν κινουμένην, τήν δέ περί τά μετά τήν αἰτίαν καί περί τήν αἰτίαν ὄντα κατά λόγον διά τήν αἰτίαν τετραχῶς κινουμένην. Οὐδέτερον οὖν ἀλόγως παρά τοῦ Κυρίου γεγένηται κατά τόν μέγαν τοῦτον διδάσκαλον, οὐδέ ἀναξίως τοῦ πνεύματος.