About the life of Moses the Lawgiver

The treatise “On the Life of Moses the Lawgiver” was written by St. Gregory of Nyssa around 392 at the request of the monk Caesarea. The work is devoted not only to exegesis, but also to moral-ascetic and mystical-contemplative theology. The treatise is divided into two unequal parts. The first describes the main events in the life of Moses. In the second, their allegorical interpretation is proposed. St. Gregory considers the life of the Old Testament prophet and seer of God, especially his ascent to Mount Sinai to meet God, as a symbol of man’s gradual ascent along the path of prayer life to the heights of contemplation and union with God. The saint compares all the events from the life of the prophet Moses with various circumstances in the life of a Christian and finds here numerous moral rules. The key concept of the work is “virtue”. St. Gregory argues that perfect, unlimited virtue is God Himself. A person can approach this perfection only by constantly overcoming everything that he has already achieved (through epectasis). The saint shows this by the example of the appearances of God that Moses was honored with: - in the light of the burning bush, God appears to Moses as “true being”; - Sinai darkness means that God can only be seen in ignorance. Moses' conversation with God in the cloud at Sinai is considered as a prayerful frenzy, in which the soul cognizes God in the “luminous darkness”, having renounced any sensory and mental ideas; - the epiphany in the cleft of the rock implies that God can only be seen in the constant abandonment of what has been achieved. Man can approach God's infinity only through non-stop movement. Thus, in this work of St. Gregory sets out his doctrine of ecstasy as the highest form of knowledge of God - the life of the prophet is depicted as a series of spiritual victories that brought him double contemplation in ecstasy of the essence of God. At the conclusion of the treatise, Moses is called “the friend of God.” The saint here represents perfect human virtue as an endless, inexhaustible relationship between man and God, which can have neither end nor complete saturation, since the Divinity always remains distinct from humanity. The treatise had a significant influence on subsequent Christian mystical tradition. *The title of the work in Greek is ἀρετὴν τελειότητος. *The title of the work in Latin is De vita Moysis. Or about perfection in virtue See also: About the life of Moses the legislator or about perfection in virtue (translation by A. Desnitsky) What hunters experience when looking at horse lists; They care about whoever competes in running speed, even if he had no slightest lack of diligence to speed up the run, out of concern for his victory, however, they give him a voice from above, following him with their eyes throughout the entire field, and increase (in their opinion) the swiftness of the rider, shouting at the same time at the horses, stretching out their hands to them and waving them: and all this is done not because this actually contributes to victory, but so that out of goodwill towards competing in the heat of zeal and expressing his solicitude with his voice and body movements: it seems that I am doing something similar with you, my dearest of friends and brothers, because when you struggle beautifully in the divine course in the field of virtue, with frequent and easy leaps you strive to achieve the “honor of the highest calling” (Phil. 3.14), and I give you my voice and encourage you to hasten, and I ask you to carefully increase the speed. I do this, not driven by any unreasonable zeal towards this, but, as a beloved child, wanting to please you. Since the letter you recently sent informed me of this request, that we give you some rule for a perfect life; then I considered it decent to satisfy this. Although anything else in what has been said may not be of any use to you; However, of course, the very fact that I will serve as an example of humility for you will not remain useless. If we, who have been appointed to replace fathers for so many souls, consider it appropriate for these gray hairs to accept the order of chaste youth; then it is all the more natural for you to excel in obedience when your youth, under our guidance, learns voluntary obedience. And that's enough about this. The time has already begun to begin what has been proposed, calling on God to be a teacher in the word. You asked me, dear head, to describe to you what kind of life is perfect - you asked, meaning, of course, to know how, if what you are looking for is found in a word, you can apply the indicated traits of perfection to your own life. But I am equally not strong in both, and I maintain that both to grasp perfection with the mind and to show in life what the mind could comprehend is beyond my strength. And perhaps I am not alone, but many of the great and superior in virtue admit that such a thing is inaccessible to them. But so as not to give the thought that, in the words of the Psalmist, “there they will be afraid of fear [where there is no fear]” (Ps 13.5); I will present my thought to you more clearly. Perfection in everything else that is measured by feeling is limited to some known limits, for example in relation to quantity, whether it will be something continuous and separate. For every measure of quantity is encompassed by its own limits, and whoever sees the lakot, or the number ten, knows where it begins and where it ends, what perfection should consist of. We learn about virtue from the Apostle that it has one limit of perfection - to have no limit itself. For he himself, strong and high in mind, the divine Apostle, during his course of virtue, never stopped, “stretching forward” (Phil 3.13), because it was not safe for him to stop in this flow. Why? Because every good by its nature has no limit; limited to approaching the opposite; for example: life - to death, light - to darkness. And in general, all good ends with everything that we imagine to be the opposite of good. Just as the end of life is the beginning of death; so a stop in the flow of virtue becomes the beginning of a flow along the path of vice. Therefore, our word does not lie when it claims that achieving perfection in virtue is impossible. At least they have proven that what lies within limits is not yet virtue. Since I said that even those leading a virtuous life cannot achieve perfection; then the word about this will be explained like this. Initially and in the proper sense, goodness, which has goodness by its nature: this is the Divinity itself, which, what is mentally represented by nature, is what it really is, and is called that. Therefore, since it has been proven that there is no other limit to virtue except vice: and the Divinity does not allow the opposite, it follows that the nature of God is unlimited and limitless. But he who walks the path of true virtue participates in nothing other than God Himself; because He is all-perfect virtue. So, since those who know what is naturally beautiful certainly desire to partake of it; but it has no limit: then, of necessity, the lust of the communicant, extending into infinity, has no stop. Therefore, of course, there are no means to achieve perfection; because perfection, as has been said, is not limited by limits, but virtue has one limit - infinity. How can anyone reach the desired limit without finding the limit itself? However, because, as the word has proven, the sought-after is not at all achievable, one should not be ignorant of the commandment of the Lord, which says: “Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Therefore, we must make every effort not to completely lose possible perfection, but to acquire as much of it as we have time to recognize what we are looking for. For, perhaps, to have something beautiful in oneself in order to always desire, to acquire even more of it, is already the perfection of human nature. It seems to me a wonderful thing to use Scripture as an adviser in this. For nowhere in the prophecy of Isaiah does God’s voice say: “Look at Abraham your father, and at Sarah who gave birth to you” (Isaiah 51.2). Of course, such a command gives a word to those wandering outside the path of virtue, so that, like those carried away on the sea from the straight path leading to the pier, they correct their erroneous direction according to the provided sign, seeing a flame rising upward from a high place, or the opening peak of some mountain height; like this example of Sarah and Abraham, those who wander on the sea of ​​\u200b\u200blife with a mind that has lost the helm have again directed their path to the harbor of God's will. Since human nature is divided into male and female, and both are equally given the power to choose the path to virtue and to vice, then each department of God is therefore indicated by the word of God with a corresponding example of virtue, so that both sexes, looking at what is akin to them: men to Abraham, and the other part to Sarah, both sexes, according to their characteristic models, are directed to a virtuous life. Therefore, perhaps, the memory of one man, well-skilled in life, will be enough for us to serve as a flame and show how we can lead the soul into the open harbor of virtue, without allowing it to experience adversity among the storms of everyday life and crash in the abyss of vice from the continuous agitation of passions. This is probably why history presents in all its accuracy the way of life of high men, so that by imitation of their successes our subsequent lives would be directed towards good. So, what, another will ask, if I am not a Chaldean, as is mentioned about Abraham, and not a pupil of the daughter of the king of Egypt, as the Scripture says about Moses, and in general in this kind of life I have nothing in common with any of the ancients; then how can I put myself on a par with one of them, without even having the opportunity in my studies to imitate a person so distant from me? To this we say to the questioner: we do not recognize being a Chaldean as a vice or a virtue; It is not life in Egypt, not a stay in Babylon that makes a person far from a virtuous life. And also, it is not only “in Judea” that God is “known” who is worthy, and it is not “Zion” alone, as one might think at first glance, that is God’s “dwelling place” (Ps. 76:1–3). On the contrary, we need some more subtle understanding and a sharper gaze in order to discern from history from which Chaldeans or Egyptians we keep ourselves at a distance, and from which Babylonian captivity, having freed ourselves, we will ascend to the heights of a blessed life. Therefore, let Moses be presented as a model of life for us in this word, whose life, first briefly depicting how we learned it from the Divine Scripture, then we will look for a sense decent in history for extracting the rules of virtue, in order to learn from them the perfect life that is available to people. So it is narrated that Moses was born when the law of the tormentor forbade male infants to remain alive: but he, by the pleasantness of his face, prevented any sacrifice required by the time, and prompted the parents, who saw him “lepa” (Exodus 2.2) while still in swaddling clothes, to the fact that they did not rush to put such a child to death, and even when the threat of the tormentor prevailed, they not only cast him into the waters of the Nile, but laid him in a certain the ark, anointed along the grooves with glue and resin, was then given over to the stream (this was told by those who carefully wrote the story about it). Since the ark was ruled by a certain power of God, it is directed towards the shore rising on the side, and in this place is unimpededly nailed to it by the rush of the waves. And how the king’s daughter came to the meadows of that shore where the ark was brought; Then Moses, uttering a baby cry in the ark, becomes the princess’s find. When the princess looked at him and saw the beauty of the baby, he immediately attracted the princess’s favor and was taken by her instead of her son. But having shown a natural aversion to a foreign breast, according to the idea of ​​one of his relatives, he was fed by his mother’s breast. And having already left childhood, he ate royal food, and was trained in external sciences, which was considered glorious by outsiders, but he did not dare to use it any longer and recognize this imaginary mother, who had him instead of a son, but wished to return again to his own mother and live among his fellow tribesmen. One Jew began to fight with an Egyptian, Moses stands for his own and kills the foreigner. Then, two Jews grapple with each other, Moses tries to pacify this hostile spirit in them; gives advice to behave like brothers, and to use nature, not irritability, as a mediator in quarrels. But rejected by one who had only insult in mind, Moses turned this dishonor into a reason for greater wisdom; and having retired from being in a crowded society, after that he chose a solitary life, having entered into a relationship with one of the foreigners - a man who saw the best, was prudent in his judgment of human morals and life, and who from one act, I mean the matter with the shepherds, discerned the virtue of the young man, namely, that he stood for the truth, not having in mind his own benefit, but recognizing the truth itself by its very nature as worthy of respect, punished the lies of the shepherds, who had done nothing wrong before him. And this foreigner, marveling at Moses, and recognizing his virtue in apparent poverty as more respectful than valuable wealth, gives him his daughter in marriage, and leaves him free to lead whatever life he pleases. And he, secluded in the desert, busy caring for the sheep, liked this secluded life on the mountains, free from all the noise of the market. Quite a lot of time was spent in this kind of life, says history, and Moses had a terrible epiphany: at noon, another light brighter than the light of the sun lit his eyes. Amazed by the extraordinary spectacle, Moses turns his gaze to the mountain and sees a bush in which a fiery flame was burning, and the branches of the bush, as if under dew, turned green in the flame; and Moses speaks these words to himself: “I will go and see this great phenomenon, why the bush is not burned” (Ex. 3:3). Having said this, he no longer perceives the wonderful light with his eyes alone; but, what is most extraordinary of all, his hearing is illuminated by the rays of this light. The grace of light, bestowed upon both senses, illuminates the eyes with the brilliance of rays, and enlightens the ears with pure dogmas. The voice of that light forbids Moses, burdened with the dead skins of his shoes, to approach the mountain, but allows him to “take off your sandals from your feet,” then to touch the earth, illuminated by the Divine light (Ex. 3:5). At the same time (for it is not necessary, I think, to dwell too much in words on the simple story of this man, as if this had already been achieved), Moses, strengthened by the vision of God, receives the command to deliver his fellow tribesmen from Egyptian slavery. And in order to better understand the power imparted from above, according to God’s command, he makes an experiment on what is in his hands. The experience was the following: the rod, falling from the hand, becomes animated, becomes a living creature (and this living creature was a serpent), but taken into the hand again, it becomes what it was before turning into a beast. And the surface of the hand, first inserted into the core, turns into something like the whiteness of snow, and when it is again inserted into the core, it returns to its natural appearance. Moses goes to Egypt, brings with him his foreign wife and the children born to her, and when, as the story goes, “the Lord met him” (Ex. 4:24), frightening him with the threat of death, his wife appeases him with her filial “blood of circumcision”; then there is a meeting with Aaron, who was also prompted by God to go “to meet with him” (Exodus 4:26–27). Then both of them convene the people living in Egypt into a general meeting, and to those who suffered hard, overburdened with work, they proclaim liberation from slavery, and a word about this is spoken to the tormentor himself. At the same time, the indignation of the tormentor, both at the supervisors supervising the work, and at the Israelis themselves, becomes greater than before; The lesson of board making is increased, an even more difficult order is sent not only to not see rest for oneself over the clay, but to exhaust oneself by collecting the chaff of “straw” (Exodus 5.12). Pharaoh (that was the name of the Egyptian tormentor) cleverly attempted to contrast the signs that Moses performed by God's power with the sorceries of the Magi: and when Moses, in the eyes of the Egyptians, again turned his rod into a beast, the sorcery thought to perform an equal miracle on the rods of the Magi. This trick is exposed by what happened; the serpent, from the transformed rod of Moses, devoured the staffs of the Magi, that is, their serpents: and thereby showed that the rods of the Magi had no defensive or even vital power, except for one type, which the cunning sorcery showed to the eyes of those easily deceived. Then Moses, seeing that everything under his control is of one mind with the leader of evil, strikes a general blow to the entire Egyptian people, without removing anyone from among those experiencing distress. And with him, the very elements of beings visible in the universe moved towards such an attack on the Egyptians, like an army subject to their control: earth, fire, air, and water, changing their effective forces at the will of people. For by the same force, at the same time, and in the same place, disorder was punished, and those who did not suffer were left free from sin. Then all the watery nature in Egypt, at the command of Moses, turned into blood, so that the fish, from this transformation of water into fleshly flesh, were damaged: for only the Jews who drew up the blood was water; which is why it became possible for sorcery to cleverly give the water they found among the Jews a bloody appearance. And also, when the reptile toads filled Egypt (their generation, which cannot be explained by any natural sequence, would not have extended to such a multitude; on the contrary, the very command to form the toads renewed this breed of living creatures that appeared then); everything Egyptian suffered harm, oppressed in their homes by these reptiles, and the life of the Jews was free from this trouble. So the air, night and day, was no different for the Egyptians, who were in the same darkness; but among the Jews there was no change in this from the usual. In the same way, everything else: hail, fire, scabs, scabs, dog flies, a cloud of locusts - each of these disasters affected the Egyptians as usual; and the Jews, by rumors and stories, knew about the suffering of those living with them, without experiencing any attack of similar evils on themselves. Then the death of the firstborn produces an even more precise difference between the Jew and the Egyptian - the Egyptians shed tears at the loss of their dearest ones, and the Jews remain in complete silence and safety; - their salvation was secured by the outpouring of blood at every entrance, when “on both doorposts” and on the “crossbar” associated with them, signs were made with blood (Exodus 12.7). Moreover, when the Egyptians were struck by the misfortune that befell the firstborn, and each of them, and everyone in common, mourned the grief, Moses ordered the departure of the Israelites, having prepared them for this by commanding them to take with them, under the guise of a loan, the requested wealth of the Egyptians. A three-day journey outside Egypt was completed, history also says, and it became hard for the king of Egypt that Israel was no longer in slavery; and having armed all his subjects, he pursues the people of God with horsepower. The Israelites, seeing equipped horses and a lot of weapons, as unskilled in war and not prepared for such wonderful things for them, are immediately struck with fear and rebel against Moses. Then, what is most surprising, as the story about Moses says, dividing into two in his activity, he encourages the Israelites with his voice and word, and commands them to remain in good hope, and with his inner mind he brings prayer to God for those who are horrified. And he is guided by this advice from above on how to avoid danger; God Himself (as history says) listens to his silent cry (Exodus 14.15). By God's power, the people were led by a cloud, not formed according to the general law of nature (for its composition was not from any vapors or incense in the air, condensed by the vapors due to their foggy composition, compressed or burned into itself by the winds); On the contrary, this cloud, according to the testimony of Scripture, as something higher than human concept and surpassing it, was such a miracle that, illuminated by the scorching rays of the sun, it served the people as a wall, shading what was above them and moistening the sultry air with thin dew, and at night it turned into fire, illuminating the Israelites with its own light from evening to morning. Moses himself looked at this cloud, and he taught the people to follow its appearance. When they came to the Red Sea, where the cloud leading the procession led them, the people were surrounded from behind by a whole Egyptian army; There was no remedy left for the Israelites, and there was nowhere to run from trouble, because those captured in the middle were threatened by both enemies and water; Then, moved by God's power, Moses did what was most incredible. Approaching the shore to the water, he strikes the sea with a rod, and it splits from the blow. And as usually happens with glass, if in any part a crack appears at the top, then it goes along a straight line to the other edge: so throughout the whole sea, as soon as it was divided from one edge under the rod, and the waves continued to break apart to the opposite shore. Moses, as the sea divided, descending in the depths with all the people below the waters, with his body not wet, as if dried from the sun’s rays, walking along the dry bottom of the sea, passes through the abyss, is not afraid of this sudden ossification from the waves, when here and there on both sides the sea water hardens like a wall. When Pharaoh and the Egyptians invaded the sea, along this newly paved path in the waters, water again merges with water, and after the mutual connection of the separated parts of the sea into their previous form, the waters take on one continuous surface. The Israelites had already rested at the edge of the shore from a long and violent procession across the sea, when they sang a victory song to God, who then erected a bloodless victory monument for them, after the destruction of the entire Egyptian army under water, even with horses, weapons and chariots. Then Moses stretches forward, and, having completed a three-day waterless journey, comes into difficulty, not having anything to quench the thirst of the army. There was some lake near which they camped, but the water in it was sea water, or better yet, it was more bitter than sea water. So, when standing by the water they were burning with thirst for water, Moses, following advice given from above, found a certain tree near this place and plunged it into the water. And the water immediately becomes drinkable; The tree, with its power, transforms the property of water from bitterness to sweetness. Since the cloud went forward, then they went, guided by its movement, as they always did, stopping the procession where the stopped cloud gave a sign to rest, and again setting off when the cloud preceded them in the procession. Following this guide, they reach a place of abundant potable water, washed in abundance by twelve springs. There were seventy date trees, which, even though their number was small, were enough to cause great surprise in the spectators with their extraordinary beauty and size. And from here also the guiding cloud, having raised up a militia, leads it to another place. And this was some kind of desert on dry, bare sand, in a country not irrigated by any water moisture: and there again, when the people began to be tormented by thirst, a certain stone, struck by the rod of Moses at its top, produced sweet and drinkable water in abundance, exceeding the need of the numerous people. Now the supply of food that the Israelites had prepared for the journey, leaving Egypt, became depleted, and the people began to suffer from hunger; then the most incredible miracle of all miracles occurs: food does not appear to them from the earth, according to the general law, but flows from above from heaven like dew. By morning, dew poured out among them, and this dew became food for those who gathered; because what was spilled was not a drop of water, as is usual in dew; but instead of drops, some sort of icy, rounded pieces fell, looking like coriander seeds (according to the villagers’ pronunciation: coliander), but their taste was like the sweetness of honey. Another thing was also seen in this miracle - everyone who went out to collect, at different ages and with different strengths, probably, brought one another no less in terms of the difference in strength, on the contrary, what was collected was proportionate to the need of each, so that the strongest did not have an excess, and the weakest did not have a shortage. Again, and at the same time, history speaks of another miracle, namely: everyone, having brought for the day, did not put anything off until the next day; For those who hid, due to some kind of thrift, part of the food from one day to the next, what was put aside became unfit for food, turning into worms. But there is something else extraordinary about the story of this food. Since one of the days of the week, according to some mysterious law, was considered inaction, then on the day preceding it, food fell out in equal measure with the previous days, and the zeal of those who collected was the same, but what was collected turned out to be twice the usual amount, so there was no excuse, due to the need for food, to violate the law of inaction. And in this, God’s power was even more demonstrated by the fact that the surplus, which on other days became unfit for use, on one heel, the day before the Sabbath (that was the name of the day of inactivity), being saved, remained undamaged so that what remained was found fresh, as if it had fallen on the same day. Then the Israelites begin a war with a certain foreign people (the Scripture then calls those who rebelled against them the Amalekites). And at this time the people of Israel for the first time armed themselves in order to form a battle formation; however, not all of them formed one army, but those chosen by their valor advanced into battle, and even the most selected of them entered the battle, in which Moses again showed a new method of military leadership; because then Jesus, who was the leader of the people after Moses, led the army against the Amalekites, and Moses, outside the battlefield on one hill visible from afar, raises his gaze to the sky, on both sides of him stand two people close to him. Then, as we learn from history, the following miracle happened: “and when Moses raised his hands” to the sky, those under his control strengthened themselves against their enemies, “but when he lowered them,” his army yielded to the swiftness of the foreigners (Exodus 17.11). Noticing this, those standing next to Moses approached him from both sides and supported his hands, which for some hidden reason had become heavy and stiff. Since they did not have enough strength to support Moses in an upright position; Then they supported his seat with a stone, and in this way they made it so that Moses, with their help, raised his hands to heaven: and the foreigners were decisively defeated by the Israelites. But as the cloud remained in the same place, leading the people on the journey, then, out of all necessity, the people had to not move from their place, because there was no one to lead them when moving to another place. So, without any effort, they had the convenience of life: from above the air rained ready-made bread for them, and below the stone brought them drink, and the cloud relieved them of the unpleasantness of air changes, during the day it served as a barrier from the heat, and at night it dispelled the darkness, shining with some kind of fire-like rays; It was a carefree stay for them in the desert at the foot of the mountain where the camp was pitched. Here Moses taught the Israelites some ineffable mystery; The very power of God, with miracles that surpassed the word, wrought secret miracles on both the entire people and the leader himself. And this secret teaching was accomplished in this way. The people were told in advance to be far from any other defilements that are noticeable in the body and soul, and to cleanse themselves with certain sprinklings, even to abstain from marriage itself for a certain number of days, so that the one worthy of the sacrament, having washed himself from everything passionate and bodily, would approach the mountain pure from passion. The name of this mountain was Sinai. And at that time only verbal beings were allowed to climb it, and of them only the male sex, and, moreover, those who had been cleansed of all filth. All caution and foresight were used so that not a single dumb person ascended the mountain. And if something like this happened, the people were commanded to stone everything that would appear on the mountain from a dumb nature. Then the light diffused in the air, instead of pure transparency, began to be blackened by darkness, so that the mountain, enveloped in darkness all around, became invisible. The fire emerging from the darkness made the vision terrible for the spectators, the volume of the mountain seemed to be engulfed on all sides, and everything visible, following the flashing fire, was covered with smoke. Moses himself leads the people to the ascent, timidly looking at what is visible, but amazed in soul from fear, trembling in body from fear: so he does not hide his mental suffering before the Israelites, but admits to them how much he is struck by what is visible, and trembles in body. For what was visible was such that not only through the eyes did it terrify the soul, but also through the ear it communicated something terrible to it; more and more it was crushed by a voice astonishing from above, the first attack of which was painful and unbearable for any hearing: it was likened to the sound of trumpets, but in its menacing and astonishing sonority it surpassed any similar example; as time went on, the voice became even more terrible, because its sound incessantly intensified and became even more amazing. Yes, and this voice was articulate; by God’s power, without tools to facilitate pronunciation, the air itself formed a word articulately within itself. And this word was not easy to articulate; but it legitimized Divine commands. And the continuing voice grew stronger, the trumpet sounded louder than itself, always surpassing the preceding sounds by the subsequent ones. The whole people did not have so much strength to endure what was seen and heard; and therefore, a common petition is brought by all to Moses, so that he becomes a mediator of the law, and the people do not refuse, as God commands, to believe everything that Moses proclaims according to the teaching from above. Therefore, again everyone descends to the foot of the mountain, leaving only Moses, who showed the opposite in himself, or what he really was. For when everyone, participating together in a task, gives themselves over to fear, Moses, left alone, acts more boldly than those around him. Why, from this it becomes clear that it was not his own weakness that was the fear that gripped him at the beginning, but he suffered it out of sympathy with those struck by fear. Therefore, when, like some kind of burden, having laid aside the fear of the people, he came to his senses; then he dares to enter into the very darkness, and remains inside the invisible, already becoming invisible to those looking at him (for, having penetrated into the mystery of the Divine mystery, there the already invisible himself coexists with the Invisible). And by what he has done, he teaches, I think, that those who intend to be in unity with God must come out of everything visible, straining their understanding to the Invisible and Incomprehensible, as if to some mountain peak, to believe that the Divinity is there where the concept does not ascend. In this state, Moses accepts the commandments of God. And they were - the teaching of virtue, the essence of which is piety, the assimilation of the most decent ideas about the Nature of God, about how much It is above any concept and example accessible to reason, not being likened to anything cognizable. For the Scripture in the ideas about God commands not to mean anything intelligible, and not to liken the Nature of everything that exceeds everything to something cognizable by reason, but to believe that It exists - and what It is, or how great it is, or where it comes from, or how, is to be left without investigation, as incomprehensible. But Scripture, teaching the doctrine of general and particular laws, also adds how many moral advances there are. In general, the law prohibits all untruth, obliging one to have love for one’s fellow tribesman, and after affirming this, it certainly requires, in order, the following: not to do any harm to one’s neighbor. Detailed laws prescribe respect for parents and set out a list of prohibited errors. And as if by purifying his mind with these laws, Moses is elevated to the most perfect arcane knowledge in the instantaneous foretelling of a certain tabernacle to him by God’s power. And the tabernacle was a church, having beauty in some inexplicable variety. There were vestibules, pillars, curtains, a table, a lamp, an altar of incense, an altar, a purification chamber, and the interior of the sanctuary, hidden and inaccessible. The beauty and arrangement of all this, so that this miracle would not be lost from memory and could be shown to those below, Moses is commanded not only to convey this to the scriptures, but to create a material structure in the likeness of this immaterial creation, taking for this the most brilliant and prominent substances found on earth. Of these, most of all was gold, with which the pillars were covered around. Along with gold, silver was also used to decorate the tops and bases of the pillars so that, as I think, the gold would shine more among the different colors at both ends. And in some countries the substance of copper was also considered useful: it served as the head and foundation of silver pillars. The veil and coverings that covered the sides of the church and the top of the pillars were all prepared in decent weaving art from a substance suitable for every task. Some of the fabrics had the color of blue, crimson, the fiery luster of scarlet beauty, the whiteness of fine linen - this native and unartificial look. For the weaving itself, flax is taken for one, and hair for another; In some places, red leather was used for the beauty of the structure. And this Moses, after descending from the mountain, built with the assistance of others, according to the model of the building presented to him. Then, while staying in this church not made by hands, Moses received the law about the priest entering the sanctuary, what kind of decoration he should be distinguished by; and Scripture sets forth in detail the laws concerning inner and outer clothing. The beginning of putting on clothes is not something hidden, but something visible, the outer vestments, speckled with different colors, exactly the same ones with which the veil was constructed, but with a golden strand that prevails over the veil. These upper vestments on both sides were connected with clasps, and these were emeralds trimmed all around in gold. The natural beauty of these stones was the shine that emitted some kind of greenish rays, and the wonderful carving was artificial. And this beauty did not consist of the artistic incision of features to depict any idols; but the names of the patriarchs inscribed on two stones, six on each. Shields were hung from the front and twisted ropes, woven together one across the other with the correct arrangement, like a net, were lowered from the top from the clasp on both sides of the shields, so that, as I think, the beauty of the weaving seemed more noticeable, visible through what was under it. On the chest of the priest there was a golden decoration in which several, according to the number of patriarchs, different kinds of stones were embedded, arranged in four rows, and in each row there were three; These stones, with inscriptions made on them, showed the tribes of the patriarchs named after them. Under the upper vestments there was an inner vestment (Exodus 28.31), from the neck reaching to the edge of the legs, beautifully decorated with fringe pendants. And below the hem was beautifully decorated, not only with speckled fabric, but also with gold pendants; and these were gold bells and buttons arranged in rows on the hem. There was also a headband all made of blue, and on the front of the forehead there was a girl made of pure gold with some mysterious characters inscribed on it. There was a belt that held together the spacious vestment, and the decoration of the innermost garments; finally, everything that, under the guise of vestments, mysteriously taught priestly virtue. When Moses, enveloped in this invisible darkness, according to the ineffable instructions of God, studied such things with an increase in mysterious knowledge, he became higher than himself; then, again emerging from darkness, he goes to his fellow tribesmen to inform them of the miracles revealed to him at the Epiphany, to propose laws, to build a church for the people and establish a priesthood in the image shown to him on the mountain. He carried in his hand the sacred tablets, which were God’s acquisition and gift, having no need for any preliminary assistance in their origin; on the contrary, each of the tablets, and its substance, and the mark on it, were equally the work of God. However, the people did not allow the gift to reach them before the legislator appeared, unbridledly abandoning themselves to idolatry. A lot of time passed while Moses, in conversation with God, was busy with the Divine mystery; for forty days and the same number of nights, under the cover of darkness, he partook of this ever-essential life, and was even outside of nature, because at that time he had no need for food for the body. Then the people, like a child left outside the supervision of a mentor, are drawn into disorder by their senseless aspirations, and having rebelled against Aaron, they force the priest to lead them in idolatry. The idol was made of golden substance (and the idol was a calf); the people admired their wickedness, but Moses, approaching them, crushes the tablets that he carried from God, so that the Israelites, having been deprived of a God-acceptable gift, would suffer the punishment worthy of their offense. Then, with the hands of the Levites, having cleansed the filth with the blood of his fellow tribesmen, and with his anger at those who sinned, he propitiated the Divinity, destroying the idol, and finally, after a forty-day stay on the mountain, he again brings the tablets on which the Scriptures were produced by God’s power, while their substance was finished by the hand of Moses. He brings them again, over the course of such a number of days, having surpassed nature itself, and having observed a certain way of life, and not the one that is legal for us, without taking into his body anything that reinforces the impoverishment of our nature with food. And after this he builds the tabernacle, gives legal instructions, establishes the priesthood according to what God taught him. And when, according to God's instructions, he prepared all this in a material structure: the tabernacle, the vestibule, and what is inside the tabernacle, the incense altar, the altar, the lampstand, the curtains, the atonement in the sanctuary, the priestly ornaments, the ointment, various sacrifices, purifying, thanksgiving, saving in troubles, propitiating in sins - when Moses duly put all this in order; then envy arouses in those close to him - this ailment akin to human nature; so that both Aaron, honored by the rank of the priesthood, and his sister Mariam, moved by some kind of zeal characteristic of women to the honor that Moses was awarded by God, express something that irritates the Divinity, and therefore punishes the sins. Here Moses is even more worthy of surprise for his kindness, because God punishes the unreasonable female envy, and he, having succeeded in the fact that nature has overcome even anger in him, propitiates God’s sister. And the people again indulged in disorder, and the immoderation in the pleasures of the womb led to crime: It became insufficient for the Israelites to maintain their health and carelessly with food supplied from above, the desire for the flesh, the commitment to meat-eating made Egyptian slavery seem preferable to them than real blessings. Moses reports to God about the passion that has prevailed over them. And God, by the very same thing that allows one to get what one wants, teaches that one should not desire it, precisely by sending a multitude of some kind of birds flying almost on the ground, which rush in clouds and herds towards the militia; the convenience of catching leads to the desire for meat to the point of satiety, and excessive consumption of food suddenly turns their bodily fluids into putrid juices, and satiation ends in illness and death. Such an example was enough for them and those who saw them to make the people wise. Then Moses sent spies to the country in which, according to God’s promise, the Israelites hoped to live. Since not all of them proclaimed the truth, but some made false and sad testimony; then the people again acted angrily towards Moses. But God condemns those who despair of God’s help not to see the land promised to them. Meanwhile, those walking further through the desert again did not have enough water, and at the same time the remembrance of God’s power was lost, and after the previous miracle with the stone, they now did not believe that they would not need anything necessary; having rejected good hopes, they gave way to reproaches, grumbling against God Himself and Moses; so that Moses, apparently, bowed to the unbelief of the people, however, he again performed a miracle in front of them, transforming that unmovable stone into the nature of waters. When this slavish enjoyment of food again aroused in them the lust of gluttony, and not being deprived of anything necessary for life, they dreamed of Egyptian satiety; then, like disorderly youths, they are brought to their senses by the strongest blows of whips: the serpents that appear in their camp with their remorse impart deadly poison. One after another they fall, bitten by animals; and the legislator, excited by God's council, drains the copper likeness of the serpent, makes it visible at a certain height to the entire camp, and thus stops the death of the people from the serpents. Whoever looked at this copper image was not at all afraid of the remorse of a truly real serpent; because vision, through some inexplicable reaction, weakened the poison. Again there is a rebellion among the people against Moses for leadership, and some are trying to appropriate the priesthood for themselves. But Moses becomes a prayer book before God for those who have sinned; however, the truth of God’s judgment overcomes Moses’ compassion for his fellow tribesmen. The earth, having opened its mouth, according to the will of God, again converges with itself, receiving into the interior everyone, with all their kind, who exalted themselves before the leadership of Moses. And those who frantically sought the priesthood, numbering about two hundred and fifty, having been burned by fire, through their suffering they brought chastity to their fellow tribesmen. But to further assure people that the grace of the priesthood from God is given to those worthy of it, Moses takes rods from each tribe from those in charge; and according to the designation in writing on each rod, by whom it was given (among them was the rod of the priest Aaron), he places them in the church, then announces to the people the verdict of God about the priesthood: for of all the rods, one rod of Aaron vegetated, and from this tree a fruit grew and ripened (and the fruit was a nut). It seemed like the greatest miracle even to unbelievers that a tree without bark, planed, and without roots, suddenly becomes fat and produces the same thing as one rooted in the earth, because the power of God replaces the earth, the bark, the moisture, the root, and the branches. At the same time, leading the army through the lands of foreign peoples, Moses takes an oath on himself that he will not allow his people to pass through fields and vineyards, but will observe the “royal way” (Numbers 21.22), not deviating either to the right or to the left. But as the enemies were not pacified by this; then, having overcome the opponent in battle, he sovereignly makes the transition. Then a certain Balak, the owner of the largest tribe (the name of the tribe was Midian), frightened by the defeat of those who perished before this, and without waiting to suffer from the Israelites himself, he used in his work, not the help of weapons and bodily strength, but useless sorcery, in the person of a certain Balaam, who was considered knowledgeable in this, and about whom those who used him were sure that he had some power in such matters. bird fortune-telling art, he was also terrible because, through some kind of assistance of demons, he caused incurable disasters to people by some cunning force. He, following those who led him to the king of this people, learns with the voice of a donkey that his path will not be successful. Then, from a certain phenomenon, having learned what to do, he finds that evil magic is powerless to cause any harm to people whom God will help. Instead of demonic power, filled with divine inspiration, he prophesies such verbs that directly serve as a prophecy about what subsequently happened for the better. By the very same thing that forbade art to act for evil, brought into a sense of God’s power, putting aside his divinatory art, he prophesies according to God’s will. After this, the foreign people were crushed: because in the war the people of God became stronger than them, who were then defeated by the passion of debauchery for captives. When Phinehas pierced those caught in a shameful act with one blow, God’s wrath on those who furiously indulged in these unauthorized relationships ceased. Then the legislator, having ascended a certain high mountain, and from afar seeing the country which, according to God’s promise to the fathers, was prepared for the Israelites, moved from human life, leaving neither a sign on the earth, nor a memory in the tombs of his migration, while time did not damage his beauty, did not darken the light of his eyes, did not weaken the grace that shone on his face; but it was always the same, and along with the changeability of nature, it retained the immutability of beauty. So, this is what we learned from the husband’s story at first glance, and we retold it to you briefly, although in other cases there was a reason, out of necessity, to spread the word. But it is time to apply the life we ​​have remembered to the intended purpose of the word, so that from what was said before some kind of contribution can be made to the description of a virtuous life. Therefore, let us return to the beginning of the story about Moses. A look at the life of Moses. When the law of the tormentor commanded the extermination of the male sex; then Moses is born. Therefore, how can we at will imitate this random circumstance accompanied by the birth of Moses? Of course, another will say, it is not up to us that a person with his birth imitates this glorious birth. But it is not at all difficult to begin to imitate what, apparently, is very difficult. For who does not know that everything that is subject to change never remains the same, but constantly turns from one thing to another, and as a result of the change always becomes better or worse. Understand this in its application. A material and passionate disposition, to which human nature is especially drawn, is feminine in life, when it is born, it pleases the tormentor; and the firmness and unrelentingness of virtue, this is a male creation, is hostile to the tormentor and suspicious because it can rebel against his power. Therefore, whatever changes, no matter how it is, must, of course, be continually born; because in flexible nature you will not see anything that is always the same; and so to be born does not depend on an extraneous impulse, just as something bodily is born; on the contrary, such a birth takes place of our own free will, and we are in some way the fathers of ourselves, giving birth to ourselves as we desire, and of our own free will by lessons of virtue or vice, forming ourselves into whatever gender we desire, male or female. Of course, it is possible for us, against our will and to the chagrin of the tormentor, to be born into the world with a better birth, and, even if this was contrary to the wisdom of the tormentor, to appear and enter into life for the pleasure of the parents of this beautiful fruit (and this is the essence of the thoughts made by the fathers of virtue). Therefore, this word teaches how, by borrowing a reason from history, one can reveal this mysterious meaning with all clarity, lay the foundation for a virtuous life, and be born to the sorrow of the enemy, that is, in an unpleasant way for him to be born, in which the illness of birth suffers at will. For no other way can someone cause grief to an opponent than by showing signs in himself that would serve as evidence of victory over him. It depends, without a doubt, on the same will to give birth to this courageous and valiant offspring, to feed it with decent food, to take care that it escapes harmlessly from the water; for those who bring their offspring as a gift to the tormentor, naked and unattended, betray their children to the river stream; I mean the stream of life, agitated by continuous passions, as a result of which those who fall into this stream become bogged down and are deprived of breath under the waters. But chaste and caring thoughts are the fathers of male generation, when the necessity of life forces them to surrender their good fruit to the waves of life; what is given over to the stream is secured with an ark so that it does not get bogged down in the depths. Let the ark, composed of different items, be a teaching firmly connected from various lessons, and supported by it, carried above the waves of life, in which even the one carried by the desire of the waves will not be carried away too far by the disturbance of the waters; but remaining on a solid shore, that is, outside of everyday excitement, the most rapid flow of water, no one knows how, will be pushed towards land. And we know this from experience; because the fickle, here and there, evasive movement pushes away those who have not yet plunged into the human seductions of the most everyday affairs, like some kind of useless burden, recognizing them as people restless in their virtue. But whoever has become beyond such unrest, let him imitate Moses, not sparing tears, although he is brought to safety in the ark; because tears are a careful guard for those who are saved by virtue. If the childless and barren royal daughter (under whose name, I think, is meant actually external wisdom), appropriating the newborn child, is preparing to be called his mother: then this word allows us not to reject the properties with this false-named mother until the newborn sees in himself the imperfection of age. And whoever comes of age, as we learn from the example of Moses, will consider it a shame to be called the son of a childless woman by nature. For external learning is truly childless: it always suffers from the diseases of birth, but never gives birth to anything living. And this philosophy, after long-term illnesses of birth, what kind of fruit did it show that is worthy of so many and great labors? Are they not all erupted in the form of windy bubbles and prematurely before they come into the light of the knowledge of God? And they probably could have become human in appearance if they had not been completely hidden in the depths of endless wisdom. Therefore, whoever lived with the Egyptian princess for as long as necessary so as not to seem uninvolved in being respected by the Egyptians, let him return to his mother by nature, from whom he should not move away even during his upbringing with the princess, feeding on his mother’s milk, as history tells. And this, it seems to me, teaches that if during our studies we practice external sciences, we should not deprive ourselves of the milk that educates us - the Church, i.e., those laws and customs of the Church with which the soul is nourished and strengthened, and from which it borrows for itself the means to grow. This word is true, that among the two enemies there will be one who listens to external teachings, and not to fatherly ones; because the foreigner resists the Jewish concept in reverence for God, trying to show that he is stronger than the Israelite; and it seems so to many frivolous people who, having abandoned the fatherly faith and become criminals of the fatherly teaching, entered into a struggle for one thing with the enemy. But whoever, like Moses, is great and noble in soul, kills those who oppose the word of piety with his blow. And others will find a similar struggle in us in a different way. For a person, as if by some kind of reward for a feat, is placed in the middle between those holding opposing sides - and whoever he joins, he makes the enemy victorious. For example, idolatry and piety, intemperance and chastity, justice and untruth, arrogance and modesty of mind, and everything that appears to be the opposite, is clearly the struggle of some Egyptian with a Jew. Therefore, Moses, by his example, instructs us to be in unity with virtue, as with a fellow tribesman, and to kill those who rebel from the opposite side against virtue. For indeed the overcoming of piety is done by death and the destruction of idolatry; In the same way, injustice is killed by justice, and arrogance is killed by modesty. But it also happens in us that fellow tribesmen rebel against each other. For the creeds of evil heresies would not have taken place if some thoughts had not appeared in opposing ranks against other more true ones. If we are weak in order to give priority to justice ourselves, because the worst overpowers us with its speculations and rejects the dominion of truth, then we must, as quickly as possible, flee from here to the most important and more sublime teaching of the sacraments, like the example indicated by this history. And at least it was necessary to again enter into unity with the foreign, that is, need forced one to be in unity with external wisdom; Let us also decide to do this, having driven away the evil shepherds from the unrighteous use of treasures, that is, having exposed the evil teachers in the evil use of teaching, we will then retire into ourselves, not entering into connections and rapprochement with any lovers of disputes, but we will live together with those who are like-minded and of the same wisdom with our flock, while all the movements of our soul, like sheep, are controlled by the will of the guiding mind. And thus, for us, steadily remaining in this peaceful and serene life, the truth will then shine forth, illuminating our spiritual vision with its rays. The truth, which then appears to Moses in the ineffable light, is God. If, however, a certain thorn bush ignites the light with which the soul of the Prophet is enlightened, then it will not be useless to make this a subject for us to study. For if truth is God, and also truth is light - and both of these lofty and divine names are assigned by the Gospel word to God who appeared to us in the flesh (John 14:6): then it follows that such a virtuous life leads us to the knowledge of that light, which descends even to human nature, shining not from any stellar body, why could not it be recognized as the radiance of the earthly substance, but from an earthly bush, and surpassing the heavenly bodies in the lightness of its rays. And in this way we also learn the mystery revealed in the virgin, from whom, at the birth of human life, the light of the Divine, which shone forth, preserved the flaming bush unburnt, so that even after birth the stem of virginity did not wither. By this light we also learn what we should do in order to stand in the rays of truth, namely, that it is not possible to ascend with bound feet to the height where the light of truth is seen, unless this deathly and earthly skin of skin, placed on our nature at the beginning, when our disobedience to God’s will was revealed to us, is not removed from our spiritual feet. And thus, as soon as this happens to us, the knowledge of truth will follow, which serves as purification from the assumption of the non-existent, that is, according to my concept, by the definition of truth, not to form a false concept of what exists. (For a lie is some kind of idea about something that is born in the mind, as if something exists that does not exist; and truth is an undoubted concept about something that exists). And thus, even one who for a long time, in the midst of silence, has philosophized about sublime objects, will barely form an understanding of what is in reality, having existence by nature, and what is non-existent, apparently only having existence, while nature in itself is not realizable. And this, it seems to me, was then recognized by the great Moses, taught by the manifestation of God, namely, that of all that is comprehended by the senses and contemplated by the mind, nothing exists in the true sense, except for the essence that exceeds all, which is the cause of everything, and on which everything depends. For if thought sees something else in the number of beings, then in none of these beings does the mind see something that would not need another, and which would be possible to come into being without the participation of truly existing things. Always the same thing, neither increased nor diminished, to every change, whether for the better or for the worse, equally motionless, because the worst is alien to it, and there is no better; in everything else, having no need, one desired by all, one of which all participate, one not diminished by the communion of those who partake - this is truly what exists in the true sense, and the concept of this existence is the knowledge of truth. Therefore, just as Moses then achieved this, so now everyone who, like him, detaches himself from the earthly shell, sees the light of the bush (that is, turns his gaze to the ray that shines for us from the flesh - this thorn bush, which, as the Gospel says, is the “True Light” (John 1:9) and “truth" (John 1:9). 14:6)), becomes such that it can serve to save others, destroy the torment that prevails over evil and bring into freedom all who have fallen into cruel slavery, while the changed right hand and the rod turned into a serpent work miracles, which, I think, mysteriously depicts the mystery in the flesh of the Lord of the Divinity that appeared to people, by which the deposition of the tormentor and the liberation of those possessed are accomplished. The gospel and prophetic testimony leads me to the same thought; for the Prophet says: “the change of the right hand of the Most High” (Ps. 76.11); because, although the Divine nature is thought to be unchangeable. however, due to condescension to the weakness of human nature, our image and appearance have changed. For there, too, the hand of the legislator, inserted into the depths, changed its color to an unnatural one, and again, once in the depths, it regained its own natural beauty. And the only begotten God, who exists in the bosom of the Father, He is the right hand of the Most High; when he appeared to us from the depths, he changed into one like us; when, having borne our infirmities, the hand that was with us and, like us, had changed color, he returned to his own bosom (the bosom of his right hand is the Father): then he did not change the impassive nature in suffering, but transformed the changeable and passionate nature into dispassion through communication with the unchangeable. And let the transformation of the rod into a serpent not confuse Christ-lovers by the fact that the concept of the sacrament is adapted to an animal of a contrary species: for the Truth itself does not reject this image when it says in the Gospel: “For as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness: so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14). This word is clear: for if the father of sin is named in the Divine Scripture the serpent, and what is born of the serpent is, without a doubt, the serpent; then it follows that sin is of the same name as the one who gave birth to it. The Apostolic word testifies that for our sake the Lord became sin (2 Cor. 5.21), having taken upon Himself our sinful nature. Therefore, this divination is rightly applied to the Lord. For if sin is the serpent, and the Lord became sin; becomes for us also a serpent, in order to absorb and destroy the Egyptian serpents, revived by the Magi, and after this is completed, again turn into a rod, with which those who sin are brought to chastity, and those who ascend the steep and difficult path of virtue are at peace, leaning in good hope on the rod of faith: because “faith... is the substance of things hoped for” (Heb. 11:1). Therefore, whoever understands this, he directly becomes the God of those who resist the truth, and are led into amazement by this material and impracticable charm; which, as something vain, is neglected to listen to Jehovah: for Pharaoh says: “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go” (Exodus 5.2). Only one thing, namely the material and the carnal, is recognized as worthy of respect by devotees of bestial sensuality. Therefore, if anyone is strengthened by the illumination of light and gains so much strength and power over his opponents; how a certain fighter, who has sufficiently learned ascetic courage from a mentor, boldly and confidently prepares to fight against enemies, having in his hand this rod, that is, the word of faith, with which he will overcome the Egyptian serpents. His wife, a foreigner, will follow him; because from external training something is allowed to coexist with us for the fruition of virtue. And moral, natural philosophy can sometimes serve as a cohabitant, friend and accomplice to those who are high in life, unless its offspring bring in the least foreign filth. For until this filth is circumcised and taken away, so that everything is destroyed as harmful and unclean, the smiting Angel threatens with the fear of death, but his concubine appeases him by taking away the distinctive property by which the foreign is recognized, proving that her generation is pure. I think that to the one who understands this historical narrative, from what has been said, the sequence of advancement in virtue is revealed, which is shown by the word that continuously follows the connection of historical fortune-telling. For in the lessons of wise generation there is something carnal and closed, but what remains after the veil is taken away is not devoid of Israeli nobility. For example: and external philosophy says that the soul is immortal - this is a pious creation. But to assert that the soul passes from one body to another, and changes its verbal nature to a wordless one, is already carnal and alien uncircumcision. And like this and much more. Hypocrisy says that God exists, but recognizes Him as material; confesses that He is the Creator, but has a need for substance to create: he agrees that He is omnipotent and good, but in many ways yields to the necessity of fate; and what if we recounted in detail how the good teachings of external wisdom are defiled by absurd additions? After taking away only these latter, the Angel of God becomes merciful to us, rejoicing at the true generation of such teachings. But we must return to the consistency of the word, so that we too, when we are close to the Egyptian exploits, will eventually encounter fraternal assistance. For we know that Moses, at the beginning of his virtuous life, has an abusive and warlike encounter: the Egyptian oppresses the Jew, and the Jew also rebels against his fellow tribesman. If, through his virtues, with long-term care, as a result of a highly enlightened insight, having achieved great spiritual success, he has a friendly and peaceful meeting, according to God’s inspiration, his brother comes to meet him: then (if this historical event is applied to an allegorical view) we will find this not useless for our purpose. For what truly succeeds in virtue is the help given to our nature from God, which, according to its original existence, precedes it, but appears and is known only when, with attentiveness and care, having become sufficiently familiar with the highest life, one has prepared for the most difficult feats. But in order not to allow us to guess by guessing, let us express our thoughts about this more openly. There is a certain teaching that borrows authenticity from paternal tradition, and it says: when our nature fell into sin, God did not leave our fall by His providence, but to help the life of everyone assigns a certain Angel from those who have accepted an incorporeal nature; but on the opposite side, the corrupter of nature also manages to do so through some evil and evil demon, which would harm human life. Man, being among these two accompanying him, since the goal of each of them is opposite to the other, himself makes one stronger than the other. The Good Angel foretells to the thoughts the blessings of virtue, which are revealed to those who succeed in hope. And the other shows material pleasures from which there is no hope for good, only the real, tasted, visible enslaves the feelings of the meaningless. Therefore, if someone shuns what attracts to evil, directing his thoughts towards the better, and puts vice behind him, as it were, and turns his soul, like a kind of mirror, to the hope of good things, so that in the purity of his own soul all the images and representations of the virtue indicated to him by God are imprinted: then he reaps him and gives him help, brother; for by the gift of speech and by the intelligence of the human soul, the Angel in some way becomes a brother to man, (as it is said), appearing to him and being with him when we approach Pharaoh. But in the thought that such a view of the mind can be fully adapted to the whole presentation of history, if anything in what is written turns out to be not suitable for this understanding, for the sake of this, let no one reject everything, but on the contrary, let him always remember the purpose of our word, which, having in mind, we state this. having said in advance at the very beginning that the lives of good men are offered to posterity as an example of virtue. For those competing in their deeds, it is impossible to follow the same footsteps: for example, will there still be a people multiplying in Egypt after the resettlement? Also, will there be a tormentor who enslaves him, who is hostile to the male sex and cares about the reproduction of the more tender and weaker sex? Is there anywhere else that this story contains? So, since it turns out to be impossible to imitate the miracles of these blessed ones in the same events; Let what is borrowed from the actual sequence of events be applied to any moral teaching and to zealots of virtue and serve as some kind of aid for such a life. If any of the historical events is forced by the very necessity of things to remain outside the bounds of accepted understanding, then, putting it aside as not useful and not serving our purpose, we must not interrupt the teaching of virtue. And I say this bearing in mind the opinion about Aaron, and preventing the objection that can be made on the basis of subsequent events. Another will say: the Angel, as a rational and incorporeal being, has an affinity with the soul, and there is no doubt that he is older than us in structure, and provides assistance to those entering into the struggle with the opposite; but there is no reason to imagine Aaron in the form of an angel, who assisted the Israelites in idolatry. In response to this, departing from the connection of speech, we will also say what was said before: if something does not serve the purpose, then for this reason, let the agreement in other matters not be refuted in the word; both brother and Angel are something of the same name, in their meaning equally applied to both of the opposite beings: for in Scripture not only the Angel of God is named, but also the angel of Satan; and we call not only the good, but also the evil, brother; Scripture says this about the good: “A friend loves at all times and, like a brother, will appear in times of misfortune” (Prov. 17:17), and about the opposite: “for every brother puts a stumbling block to another” (Jer. 9:4). Having mentioned this briefly, not in connection with the speech, and postponing the most accurate review to the place that actually belongs to this, let us now touch upon what is before us. So, whoever strengthened himself with the light that appeared to him, and acquired for himself such a brother - a champion and helper - he boldly speaks to the people about the truth, reminds them of paternal nobility and gives them the idea of ​​how to free themselves from clay and heavy wood-making. Therefore, what does history teach us about this? So that he does not dare to speak to the people, who, through such a life, has not prepared words for conversation with many. For you see: Moses, being still young, until he had grown to such a degree in virtue, was not recognized as capable of becoming an adviser to the world even for two at war with each other, but now he speaks with many thousands. And this story almost loudly cries out to you: do not dare, as a teacher, to give advice to your listeners if you have not strengthened your strength for this through great and long-term care. But the words turned out to be valid, freedom was proclaimed, the listeners were approved and longed for it; This irritates the enemy and subjects those who obey the word to greater suffering. The same thing happens today. For many of those who accepted the teaching that frees them from the tormentor and followed the preaching continue to this day from opposing temptations. And how many of them, having strengthened from the attack of sorrows on them, become more skillful and firmer; so some of the weak, in similar circumstances, lose heart, openly saying that it would be much better for them to remain unheard of the sermon about freedom, rather than, for this reason, to experience such misfortunes. The same thing happened then; The Israelites, out of cowardice, accused those who proclaimed their liberation from slavery. But even more so, let the word not weaken, attracting to the beautiful, although some, like an infant and imperfect in mind, are unaccustomed to temptations and are childishly afraid of them. For the harmful and pernicious demon tries to ensure that the person who submits to him does not look at heaven, but lowers his eyes to the earth, and makes plinths out of clay within himself. That what serves for material pleasure is certainly taken from earth or water, this is obvious to everyone. What is carefully obtained for belly and food, what is recognized as wealth, is a mixture of earth and water, and is made and called clay. Those who are greedy for these mortal pleasures, filling themselves with them, never fully preserve the emptiness that accepts them into itself. On the contrary, what is constantly filled becomes empty for what flows in again. So the plinth maker, having in mind plinth after plinth, can easily understand this riddle; having satisfied his desire in one of the things that a person tried to achieve, if the desire inclines towards something else, he also turns out to be unsatisfied in this. And if he is satisfied with that, for another he again feels emptiness and spaciousness in himself. And this does not cease to occur continuously in us until someone ends this material life. What is the stalk and chaff from the stalks, which the one who obeys tormenting orders is forced to mix with the plinth? And the Divine Gospel and the high voice of the Apostle interpreted this to us, namely, that “wheat a... and straw” (Matthew 3:12; 1 Cor. 3:12) equally serves as food for fire. - Therefore, when one of those devoted to virtue wishes to divert those enslaved by delusion into a wise and free life, then he contrives against our souls, according to the word of the Apostle, to various snares (Eph. 6:11), he knows how to oppose the Divine Law with seductive false thinking. I say this, turning my speech to the Egyptian serpents, that is, to the various snares of delusion, turned into nothing by the rod of Moses, which, as much as was necessary, has already been sufficiently touched upon by our review. Therefore, the one who has acquired this irresistible rod of virtue, a rod that destroys cunning rods, in some way and consistently ascends to great miracles. The working of miracles is not performed with the goal of astonishing those who hear, but has in mind the benefit of those being saved; because through the miracles of virtue those who are hostile to them are destroyed, and those of their kind are multiplied by them. Let us try, first of all, to find out the most general of the particular miracles, the goal to which they lead; Then only it will be possible for us to form a decent concept about each miracle separately. For the teaching of truth has different effects depending on the disposition of those who receive the word. Although the word equally shows good or bad to everyone, nevertheless, whoever accepts what is shown with conviction has a mind in the light; and whoever persists and does not agree to turn his soul’s gaze to the ray of truth, for him there remains the darkness of ignorance. If our concept of something like this is not false in its entirety, then it is, of course, not different in detail, as private research has shown in the word. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Jews, living among the foreigners of the Egyptians, remain unaffected by the Egyptian disasters. For one can see that the same thing is happening now. In crowded cities, when residents hold opposing opinions, for some the stream of faith with which the Divine teaching irrigates them is sweet and pure, but for those who hold the Egyptian way of thinking, this water becomes corrupted by blood. The false wisdom of delusion often attempts to turn Jewish drinking into blood by evil lies, that is, to show our teaching even to us as it is in reality. But it will not make this drink completely unfit for consumption, although it easily gives it a bloody appearance for deception; Therefore, the Jew drinks true water, not paying attention to the deceptive appearance, even though opponents try to convince him that it is blood. So this vile and noisy genus of toads, these reptiles and jumping animals, unpleasant not only in appearance, but also in the stench of their skin, creep into the houses, and into the lodges, and into the storehouses of the Egyptians, but do not touch the lives of the Jews. For the corrupting offspring of sin truly constitute a kind of toad, born, as in mud, in the unclean heart of man. These toads live in the houses of those who are like the Egyptians by choosing their kind of life, appear at their meals, do not leave the bed, and penetrate into the storehouses of life supplies. For, as soon as you see an unclean and intemperate life, truly born out of clay and dirt, and while being likened to the dumb in the form of its behavior, which does not adhere exactly to either one or the other nature, you will see that whoever is human by nature becomes a beast by passion, and thereby shows in himself this earthly and mutual way of life; then you will find signs of such a disease, not only on the beds, but also on the table, and in the storerooms, and throughout the house. Such a person expresses his debauchery in everything, so that by the worries in the house, it is easy for anyone to recognize the life of an intemperate and well-behaved person. When in the house of a depraved person on the plaster wall some artificial images are indicated that serve to ignite passionate voluptuousness and resemble the property of illness; because at the sight of dishonest spectacles passion flows into the soul; then the chaste person adopts caution and foresight in everything in order to keep his eye clean from passionate sights. And also the meal is clean for the chaste, but it turns out to be full of toads and many meats for the reptile in a dirty life. If you look into his storerooms, that is, into the secrets and secrets of his life, all the more so in them you will find a bunch of toads among the indecent. If history tells us that the Egyptians produced this rod of virtue, then let not what has been said confuse us. For history also says that the tormentor is hardened by God. For what would he be condemned, who would necessarily receive from above a cruel and stubborn disposition of heart? The divine Apostle says something similar somewhere: “And because they did not care to have God in their minds, God gave them over to a depraved mind - to do lewd things” (Rom. 1:28), meaning this about homosexuals and those who disgraced themselves with dishonest and unspeakably dissolute morals. But although this is what is said in the Divine Scripture, it is not God who makes the one who strives for this indulge in the passion of dishonor. And Pharaoh does not become hardened by God’s will, and this life boiling with frogs is not produced by virtue. For if this were pleasing to God's will, then, without a doubt, such will would extend equally to everyone, so that in relation to life there would be no difference between any virtue and vice. If everyone uses life in their own way, some succeed in virtue, while others fall into vice; then no one has any reason to attribute these differences in life to any higher necessities established by God’s will, which everyone’s arbitrariness contains in its power. Therefore, anyone who indulges in the passion of dishonor can clearly learn about this from the Apostle. Whoever “did not care to have God in his mind,” it is not God, punishing him for the fact that he does not know the existence of God, who betrays passions, but the very fact that he does not know God is the reason why he is drawn into a passionate and dishonorable life. Just as if someone said that such and such was thrown into a ditch by the sun, which he did not look at, then we would not conclude that the light, giving in to anger, pushed him into the ditch of one who did not want to see it, but everyone, reasoning thoroughly, will understand what has been said in such a way that for one who does not look at the sun and does not use its light, this very thing serves as the reason for falling into the ditch: this is how the apostolic word will also be legitimately understood, that those who do not understand God indulge in the passion of dishonor. And the Egyptian tormentor is hardened by God: - not in the sense that by God’s will stubbornness was put into Pharaoh’s soul, but in the fact that Pharaoh’s arbitrariness, due to its inclination to vice, did not accept the words that soften stubbornness. So the rod of virtue, revealed to the Egyptians, makes the Jew clean from the life boiling with frogs, and shows the life of the Egyptians suffering from such a disease. But here is another case: Moses stretches out his hands to the frogs, and they disappear. The same thing, as you can find out, is happening today. For those who have understood this stretching out of the hands of the legislators (you will certainly understand what this riddle tells you, namely, through the lawgiver Moses, it makes you know the true Lawgiver, and through the stretching out of hands, the One who stretched out his hands on the cross), although shortly before this they lived with unclean and frog-filled thoughts, as soon as they turn their eyes to Him who stretched out His hands for us, they will be freed from their evil cohabitation, by killing and destroying passion. But having actually been freed from such a disease, after killing the reptile movements, the memory of the former life becomes somehow inappropriate and fetid, unpleasant to the soul, due to shame, as the Apostle says to those who, having abandoned the vicious life, have begun to virtue: “What fruit did you have then? Such things as now you yourselves are ashamed of” (Rom 6.21)? In the same sense, understand that from the rod the air in the eyes of the Egyptians is blackened, but for the Jews it is illuminated by the sun, which especially confirms the basis of the thought we expressed, that it is not some compulsory force from above that forces one to be in darkness and another in light. On the contrary, we people at home, in our nature and arbitrariness, have reasons for both light and darkness, becoming what we ourselves wish. For, according to history, it was not because of any wall or mountain that blocked vision and stopped the rays, when the Jews enjoyed the light, the Egyptians remained insensitive to this gift. Thus, life in the light is equally given to everyone; but some walk in darkness, led into sinful darkness by evil intentions; others are illuminated by the light of virtue. If, after three days of suffering in darkness, the Egyptians also become partakers of the light; then, perhaps, having been awakened by this, one of those who lived before in the Egyptian way, through the knowledge of the Crucified One and with the help of repentance, will lead the thought to the transition from vice to virtue. For this, according to history, “tangible darkness” (Exodus 10.21), both by its very name and by its meaning, has great affinity with the darkness of ignorance and sin. But both darkness is resolved as soon as Moses (which was also implied in what was said before) stretches out his hands over those who are in darkness. And equally, in accordance with this, one can also understand those furnace ashes that produce painful wounds on the Egyptians (Exodus 9.8, 9), and mysteriously under the name of the furnace means the punishment of Gehenna fire, threatening and prepared only for those who live like the Egyptians, i.e., as we have said repeatedly, they live badly and do not worship the outstretched hands of Christ. Is there anyone who is a true Israelite and son of Abraham, who is likened to Abraham in life, so that by his will he proves his close kinship with the elect; then he is saved from this torment in the cave. But what, according to our interpretation, the stretching out of the hands of Moses signifies for those who live like the Egyptians, may one day serve as a cure for torment and deliverance from punishment. And about these small scrips, which with an inconspicuous remorse cause pain to the Egyptians, about the dog flies, when stinging painfully bite into the bodies, about the destruction of the fruits of agriculture by plows, about the flames falling from above along with stone hail - let someone else, in connection with what has been studied before, following the same path, try to form a decent concept about each execution; since all this, according to what was said above, produces Egyptian arbitrariness, and imposes impartial God's justice on the Egyptians. But following this, we will understand that sorrow is sent from God to those who are worthy of it, but everyone is the author of these scourges for himself, preparing for himself with his own arbitrariness the sorrows that await him, as the Apostle says, turning his speech to one of these: “But, because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and the revelation of righteous judgment from God, who will reward everyone according to his deeds” (Rom. 2.5, 6). Just as, from a disorderly life, some kind of pernicious bile juice is formed in the insides, and the doctor, who with the help of art extracted it by vomiting, is not blamed, as if he himself produced this painful juice in the body, while it was produced by the disorderly consumption of food, and medical science brought it out: so, although it is said that those who have an evil will from God receive a sorrowful reward; but it is more reasonable to understand this in such a way that such suffering borrows its origin and cause from ourselves. For for someone who lived sinlessly there is no darkness, no worm, no gehenna, no fire, or anything else terrible by name, and in fact, just as history says, the Egyptian plagues did not exist for the Jews. Therefore, if in one and the same thing something serves evil to one and not to the other, the difference in will shows both in opposition; it is clear that no evil can take place without our arbitrariness. But let us proceed to the continuation of the word, by previous studies, having learned enough that Moses and everyone, like him, exalted in virtue, as soon as he strengthened his soul with long-term care for the right high life and illumination from above, considers it a loss for himself for his fellow tribesmen not to be a leader to a free life. And having come to them, with the presentation of severe suffering, he puts into them the strongest desire for freedom; Preparing to save his fellow tribesmen from disasters, he puts to death every Egyptian firstborn. And this he does by legitimizing us to destroy the first origin of evil; for otherwise it is not possible to escape Egyptian life. And it seems to me that we will do great if we do not leave this thought without review. For if someone pays attention only to history, then how will the divine concept of what happened according to its legend be preserved? The Egyptian acts unjustly, and for him a newly born baby is punished, who, due to the imperfection of his age, does not know the difference between good and evil, whose life is not involved in vicious passion; because his infancy does not even give room for passion; he does not know the difference between the right and left hand, he turns his eyes to one nurse; He has only one bodily sensation of sorrow - a tear; and if he receives what nature desires, he expresses pleasure with a smile. And he satisfies justice for the father’s sin. Where is the truth? Where is the piety? Where is the holiness? Where is Ezekiel who cries, “The soul that sinneth shall die; the son will not bear the iniquity of the father, and the father will not bear the iniquity of the son” (Ezekiel 18:20)? Why does history legitimize something contrary to the word of Scripture? Therefore, it would be more consistent with reason, holding on to the meaning of what is raised above, even if something happened in a representative way, to believe that the Lawgiver, in describing what happened, sets out the rule. The rule set forth here is this: with the help of virtue, a person struggling with any vice must destroy in himself the first principles of evil deeds; for with the destruction of the beginning, the following is destroyed along with it, as the Lord teaches in the Gospel, speaking in almost clear words about the killing of the firstborn of Egyptian evils, when he commands those who have killed lust and anger in themselves to no longer fear either the filth of adultery or the horrors of murder; because both do not happen by themselves, unless they give rise to anger - murder, and lust - adultery. Therefore, since he who is pregnant with sin gives birth to lust before adultery, and before murder - wrath, then he who kills the firstborn, without a doubt, kills the generation following the firstborn, just as he who strikes the head of a snake kills its entire body, which it drags behind it from behind. But this cannot happen if this blood is not shed at our entrances, which puts the all-destroyer to flight. And if it is necessary to more accurately understand the meaning contained in this; then history leads both to the understanding of this, both by the fact that the firstborn are killed, and by the fact that the entrance is fenced off with blood; for there the first aspiration of evil is destroyed, and here the first entrance of vice towards us is turned away by the true Lamb. We do not think of driving out the all-destroyer when he has already entered, but so that the very beginning does not penetrate us, we install guards according to the law. And it serves as a guard and a fence - the blood of the Lamb placed a sign on the “posts” and on the “lintel” of the entrance (Exodus 12.7). And this scripture mysteriously teaches about our soul the same natural science that external scholarship has invented, dividing the soul into rational, concupiscible and irritable forces. They say that lust is also subordinate to them, supporting the cognitive power of the soul on both sides, that reason, being associated with both forces, rules them, and from them it borrows strength, through irritability it is strengthened in courage, and through lust it is elevated to the communion of good. Therefore, while the soul is protected by such a correlation of its forces, as if by some wedges, firmly united by its concepts of virtue, it uses all their mutual assistance in the production of beauty, while reason itself provides security to the lower forces, and partly borrows from them with an equal gift. If this relationship of forces is perverted, and the highest becomes lower, so that reason, falling to the level of the trampled, places the concupiscible and irritable disposition at the top of itself; then the all-destroyer then penetrates into the interior, and his entry is not hindered by any resistance from the blood, that is, those who are in such a position will not be prevented by faith in Christ; for it is commanded to first smear the blood on the top beam of the door, and then touch both rootstocks. But how can one anoint the top first when there is no top to be found? If not both of these actions, the beating of the firstborn and the shedding of blood, are performed among the Israelites; then do not be surprised at this, and therefore do not reject the proposed speculation about the destruction of evil, as it turns out to be inconsistent with the truth. For now, by the difference in names: Israelite and Egyptian, we meant the difference between virtue and vice. So, if, in the highest sense, the name Israelite is meant to mean the virtuous, then it would be reasonable for anyone to demand that it is not the first fruits of the offspring of virtue that are beaten, but that which is more useful to destroy than to educate. Therefore, we have been rightly taught by God that we must kill the firstfruits of the Egyptian generation, so that the evil diminished by the destruction of the firstfruits will become scarce. This understanding is in accordance with history. For through the shedding of blood the protection of the offspring of Israel is accomplished, so that good things may come to perfection; and what, having achieved perfection, multiplies the Egyptian people, was destroyed before being perfected in evil. This highest concept we propose is facilitated by what follows this into the review of this history. For the body from which the blood is poured out is destined to become food for us, and it is shown on the door that removes the destroyer of the Egyptians from us. And the appearance of those who eat this food seems attentive, preoccupied, not like those having fun at feasts, whose hands are free, the clothing is light, and there are no traveler’s shoes on their feet; but here everything is contrary to this, his feet are compressed by shoes, the belt presses the tunic that envelops him to his loins, in his hand is a rod that is terrible for dogs. In this form, the food is offered to them without any cooking seasoning, as it happened, hastily prepared on the fire, and those who eat it eat it with all speed, hurrying one in front of the other until all the flesh of the lamb is consumed; while they consume what is on the bones, they do not touch what is inside the bones, because it is forbidden to break the bones of this lamb; and what remains of this food is destroyed by fire. From all this it is clear that here the letter indicates a higher meaning; and this law does not explain to us the image of eating (for such things, the sufficient lawgiver is nature, which has placed in us the desire for food), on the contrary, it means something else. For what will happen to virtue or to vice if food is taken one way or another? is it loosened, or is the eater's belt tightened? Are your feet bare or are you wearing shoes? Is he holding a staff in his hand, or is it put aside? But it is clear that this attire, which is traveler in appearance, mysteriously reveals itself. For it directly commands us to understand the life here - that, as travelers, we go through this present life together with birth, driven by necessity itself to the journey, for which we must have our hands and feet ready, and with everything else to protect ourselves on the path. So that the thorns of this life (and these thorns are sins) do not bite our bare and unprotected feet, let us put the stiffness of boots on our feet; and this is a temperate and strict life, which by itself crushes and erases the edges of thorns, prevents sin, starting from a small and imperceptible beginning, from penetrating to the inside. The tunic, lowered to the feet and covering them with itself, will serve as an obstacle to those passing this path with care; and under the tunic, by the connection of concepts, yes, of course, we have abundant enjoyment of what is most valued in this life, reduced by a somewhat chaste thought - this traveler’s belt. That the belt is chastity is evidenced by the way in which life is put into action. And the rod, which protects from beasts, has the meaning of hope, with which we strengthen the soul in exhaustion and repel offensive things from ourselves. By the food offered to us straight from the fire (Exodus 12.8), I mean that hot and flaming faith, which is accepted without delay, and having tasted as much as the eater accepted at the first time, we leave everything hidden in these solid and indecomposable concepts and verbs without inquisitiveness and exploration, consigning such food to the fire. To clarify these fortune-telling, we will say that those divine commandments, the meaning of which is clear at first glance, must be fulfilled not lazily or forcefully, but like the hungry, with the desire to be satisfied with what is offered, so that this food will serve as a path to health for us. And what are hidden concepts (for example: what is the essence of God? What was before creation? What is outside the visible? What was the need for what was created? - and all the like, the study of which is carried out by curiosity alone), we should not search for this, but the knowledge of this should be left to the one Holy Spirit, who tests, as the Apostle says, “the depths of God” (1 Cor. 2:10). For that in Scripture, instead of the Spirit, fire is repeatedly mentioned and named, this is known to everyone who has studied the Scripture. The instruction of wisdom leads us to the same thought: “what is beyond your strength, do not try it” (Sir. 3:21), that is, do not crush the bones of the word, because you have no need for the unseen. So Moses by force leads the people out of Egypt: and everyone who follows in the footsteps of Moses in the same way will free from Egyptian torment all who are guided by his word. But those who follow this leader to virtue, I think, should not be meager in Egyptian wealth and not acquirers of foreign treasures; but, having taken all the property from opponents, you must keep it as a loan; What the people should do is then commanded by Moses. The legislator's decision will not be approved by anyone who at first glance understands this to mean that Moses orders those who gave the loan to deprive them of their property, and becomes a teacher of injustice. But no one will say that the legislator actually gave such an order, having in mind the subsequent laws that decisively prohibit any offense to one’s neighbor, although otherwise it seems fair that the Israelites, by this intention, took the well-deserved payment from the Egyptians: for the guilt is no less if such an order is not pure from lies and deceit. Anyone who borrows something and does not give it back to the lender, if it belongs to someone else, acts unjustly, as if he had taken away property. If he takes possession of his own, but deceives the lender with the hope of getting it back, then, without a doubt, he will be called a deceiver. Therefore, the meaning that seems at first glance is more appropriate than the higher concept, which commands those who virtuously lead a free life to prepare the wealth of external education with which foreigners by faith are adorned. For moral and natural philosophy, geometry and astronomy, and verbal works, and everything that is respected by those outside the Church, the teacher of virtue commands, having taken in the form of a loan from the rich like this in Egypt, to be kept for himself in order to be used for the time when the divine church of the sacrament should be decorated with verbal wealth. Thus, those who gather such wealth for themselves, each of himself brings it to Moses, who is working on the tabernacle of meeting, devoting it to the construction of the shrine. This, as you can see, is still being done today. Many people bring external learning, as a kind of gift, to the Church of God. Such were the great Basil, who in his youth wonderfully bought Egyptian wealth, brought it as a gift to God, and with such wealth adorned the true tabernacle of the Church. But we must return to where we started. Those who have already turned their attention to virtue and will follow the legislator in life, when they leave the borders of Egyptian rule, are accompanied by some kind of temptations that cause difficulties, insurance and extreme dangers, with which the fearful mind of those who are not yet established in faith falls into complete despair of being awarded goods. But if Moses, or one of his kind, is the leader of the people; then he will counter the fear with advice, encouraging the frightened mind with hope in divine help, which, however, would not have happened if the heart of the person ahead had not spoken to God. For many of those placed in such a position only care about the external, so that it is in a good position, but they have little care for the hidden, which is visible to God alone. It was not so with Moses; in which he commands the Israelites to be complacent, without apparently uttering any voice to God, he cries out about this, as God Himself testifies to this, teaching, I think, with this word, that this voice is euphonious and reaches God’s ears - not a cry issued with tension, but a thought sent from a clear conscience. And whoever is such, to help him in legitimate struggles, a brother already turns out to be a brother - that is precisely the brother who, by God’s will, met Moses going to the Egyptians, whom this word represented in the rank of Angel. On the contrary, then there is a manifestation of a higher Nature, revealing Itself to the extent that the receiving nature can accommodate. That this was so then, we hear this from history, and that this always happens, we know with intelligent insight. For when someone flees from the king of Egypt, and is already outside his borders, he fears the attack of temptations; then the leader shows him unexpected salvation from above. When the enemy surrounding the one being pursued by his force, of necessity, makes the sea passable for him, to which the leader, the cloud, leads (this is the name of the leader, which was perfectly accepted by those who came before us to mean the grace of the Holy Spirit); then this leader guides those worthy of good. Whoever follows him crosses the water in the wake of the leader walking on the sea, who is granted security in freedom, after the destruction of the one who pursued him in slavery in the water. For who does not know that the Egyptian army is our manifold spiritual passions by which man is enslaved? These are horses, these are chariots and their riders, archers, slingers, heavily armed, and the rest of the hostile army. For will anyone say that irritable thoughts or desires for pleasure, for sorrow, for covetousness differ in any way from the mentioned army? Slander is a stone thrown directly from a sling; a gust of irritability - here is a spear, shaking with its tip; and let us imagine the passion for pleasure as horses, with some kind of uncontrollable impulse, pulling behind them a chariot and three riders in it, whom history calls “tristates.” Under these three, rushing on a chariot, having previously learned the mysterious meaning of rootstocks and pragues, you will understand, of course, the three-part division of the soul, raising the concept to the rational, the lustful and the irritable in the soul. So all this and everything related to this, together with the leader of the evil invasion, falls into the water after the Israelite. From now on, the nature of water, under the guidance of faith in the rod and the illuminating cloud, becomes life-giving for those who resort to water, and death-giving for those who persecute. Moreover, history teaches us what those who pass through the water should be like, namely, after emerging from the water, not drawing anything with them from the opposing army. For if an enemy goes out with someone, then even after the water he remains in slavery, having brought out alive the tormentor whom he did not drown in the depths. And this (in order for someone to understand this fortune-telling for themselves, having fully revealed it) means that everyone who passes through the mysterious water in baptism must kill in the water the entire horde of sin; such as: covetousness, unruly desire, predatory intent, passion of arrogance and pride, hot temper, anger, vindictiveness, envy, hatred; since passions in some way usually follow human nature, they must kill in water all this and the like, as well as the most vicious movements of thought and their consequences, as in the sacrament of Easter. for this is the name of that sacrifice, the blood of which becomes a rebuke to death for those who take advantage of it. Therefore, as there the law commands to eat unleavened bread - Passover (and unleavened bread is made without the admixture of old leaven), and thereby makes it clear that the one who has stopped the continuous succession of time by applying it to the best should not mix any remnant of sin into the next life, but after this, lay a special beginning of life; so here, too, it is required that in saving baptism, as if in some depth, having drowned every Egyptian face, that is, every form of sin, we come alone, without involving anything foreign into life. For we learn this very thing from history, which says that in the same water life and death are distinguished between the hostile and the friendly, the hostile is given over to decay, and the friendly is revived. Thus, many of those who received mystical baptism, out of ignorance of legal regulations, mix the leaven of vice that preceded them in life into life after baptism, and after they crossed the water, with their undertakings they destroy the Egyptian army alive with them. For others, before the gift of baptism, enriched themselves through rapacity and untruth, or acquired possession of something by perjury, or lived adulterously with their wife, or ventured into something else impermissible in life, and thinks that even after the font, continuing to enjoy what they previously obtained, they are free from sinful slavery, as if they did not see that they were subjugated to evil rulers. For a fierce and frantic ruler is a passion of lewdness, tormenting a servile thought with pleasures, like some kind of whip. Another similar ruler is covetousness, which does not give any rest to its servant, who, the more he works, serving the commands of the ruler and acquiring according to his wishes, the more he is always forced to work. And everything else that is done for the sake of sin belongs to the number of tormentors and rulers; and if someone serves them, then, even if he crossed the water, in my opinion, he has not yet touched the mysterious water, which tends to destroy crafty tormentors. But let us turn again to what follows in the word. He who crosses the sea we understand, and sees in it this mental image of the Egyptian dead, not only turns his eyes to Moses, this rod-bearer of virtue, but primarily believes in God, as the word of the narrative says, and submits to “His saint Moses” (Ex. 14:31). This, as we see, happens even now with those who have truly crossed the water; they, having given themselves up to God, obey and submit, as the Apostle says (Heb. 13.17), to those who serve the Divine in the priesthood. This is followed by a three-day journey from the sea; and on this, when they camped in a certain place, the water found at first turned out to be unfit for drinking due to bitterness; but the inserted tree made it a pleasant drink for those who were thirsty. This legend is in accordance with the course of affairs. Having left the Egyptian pleasures that he served before crossing the sea, life removed from pleasures seems at first difficult and unpleasant, but... if a tree is put into water, that is, if someone receives the sacrament of resurrection, which began with the tree (hearing about the tree, of course, you will understand the cross); then any sweetness that fills the senses with pleasure then makes a virtuous life sweeter and more acceptable, delighting in the hope of the future. Место остановки в дальнейшем путешествии, украшенное финиковыми деревьями и источниками, упокоевает утомленных путников. There are twelve water springs there, flowing with a clear and sweet stream; и семьдесят финиковых деревьев величественных, сеннолиственных, с годами достигших высокого роста. What do we find in this according to the sequential order of history? То, что таинство древа, которым вода добродетели делается удобоприемлемою для жаждущих, приводит нас к двенадцати источникам и семидесяти Финиковым деревьям, то есть, к евангельскому учению, в котором двенадцатью источниками служат Апостолы. Такое число на сию потребность избрал Господь и соделал, что чрез них источается слово, как и один из Пророков предвозвестил об источающейся от Апостолов благодати, когда говорит: «в собраниях благословите Бога Господа, вы – от семени Израилева» ( Пс. 67:27 ). А семидесятью финиковыми деревьями пусть будут, кроме двенадцати учеников, для целой вселенной поставленные Апостолы, которых столько же было числом, сколько, по сказанию истории, и финиковых деревьев. But on this journey it is necessary, I think, to hurry with words; because from the little that we have presented for the hardworking, it is easy to formulate your own view of other countries. And these camps are those virtues in which the people following the cloudy pillar, moving forward, seem to camp and rest. Therefore, having passed the middle camps in the word, I will remind you of the miracle working at the stone, whose stubborn and hard nature became drink for the thirsty, after the stubbornness was resolved into the softness of water. But there is no difficulty in adapting the sequence of history to a higher view. Whoever left the Egyptian dead in the water, was himself pleased with the tree, watered by the apostolic springs and rested under the shade of date trees, becomes already capable of receiving God Himself. For the stone, as the Apostle says, is Christ (1 Cor 10.4), for the unbelievers it is dry and stubborn, but as soon as someone applies the scepter of faith, it becomes acceptable to those who thirst and flows into those who receive Him: I and My Father, He says, “will come... and make our abode with him” (John 14:23). But it is also worthy not to be left without special attention that after crossing the sea, after the water has been sweetened for the travelers of virtue, after a pleasant stay at the springs and date trees, and after drinking from the stone, then the Egyptian travel supplies are completely exhausted. And thus, when there was no foreign food left for them, taken from Egypt, food flows from above, some kind of varied and monotonous; for in appearance it was monotonous, but in quality it had variety, becoming for each one in accordance with the type of his desires. What are we learning from this? How many purifying means must a person cleanse himself from the Egyptian and foreign life, in order to make the vagina of his soul empty of all sinful food that the Egyptians prepare, and then with a pure soul to accept into himself the food that comes from above, which was not brought to us by sowing with the help of agriculture, but which is ready-made bread, not sown and not harvested, coming down from above, gained same on earth. According to the mysterious meaning of history, without a doubt, you will understand this true “bread” (John 6:55), namely, that “the bread... that comes down from heaven” (John 6:33) is not anything non-corporeal. For what is not bodily, how can it be food for the body? And what is not corporeal, without a doubt, is not a body. The body of this bread was not cultivated either by sowing or sowing; but the earth, remaining as it is, turns out to be filled with this Divine food, with which those who are hungry, having previously been taught the sacrament of the Virgin by this miracle-working, partake. Therefore, this uncultivated bread is also the Word, which, with a variety of quality, changes its power according to the ability of those who eat; for not only can it be bread, but it is also made into milk, and meat, and vegetables and everything that is only suitable and pleasing from what is offered for food, as the divine Apostle Paul, who offered us, his disciples, taught such a meal, who turns his word for those who are more perfect into solid and fleshly food, and for those who are exhausted into a potion, and for those who are infant into milk (1 Cor 3.2). And the miracles that history tells about this food serve as lessons for a virtuous life. For she says that everyone was offered an equal share of food, not according to the differences in the strength of those who gathered, there was no excess beyond the need, and there was no shortage (Exodus 16.18). And this, in my opinion, is advice generally offered to everyone who obtains material means to support life - not to exceed the limits of need, but it is good to know that in the matter of food there is only one measure for everything - daily food. If many times more than the need is prepared, the belly does not tend to exceed its own measure, and it does not expand as there is an excess of supplies; but, as history says, “he who gathered much had nothing to spare,” because there was nowhere to put the excess, “and he who gathered little had no shortage: each one gathered as much as he could eat” (Exodus 16.18); because the need was satisfied in proportion to what was found. And by the fact that for those who hide what is superfluous, the excess turns into worms, this word in some way loudly cries out to the covetous, that everything held beyond the need, due to this covetous lust, the next day, that is, in the expected life, for the one who hid it becomes a worm. But whoever hears about this worm will, of course, understand this about the worm that does not die, to which covetousness gives life. And the fact that what was put aside only for Saturday remained intact, without being subject to any damage, contains the following advice: then covetous will is useful for you, when what is collected does not suffer damage; then what we do is useful for us when, having passed the heels of this life, after death we will be inactive: for the day preceding the Sabbath is and is called preparation (of the heels) for the Sabbath; and this is real life, in which we prepare for ourselves what we need for the life to come. Not a single one of the activities allowed to us now is carried out in it, neither agriculture, nor trade, nor military service, nor anything else that concerns us here, even nothing at all; but living in complete peace from such deeds, we will collect there the fruits of the seeds that we have now sown in this life - and imperishable fruits, if the seeds of this life are good, - corruptible and perishing, if the work of this life will produce them for us. For it is said: “He who sows to his flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Gal. 6.8). But one preparation for the better, in the proper sense, is called the heel: why is it decreed by law; and what is put aside with it is incorruptibility. But what is meant in a different sense should be called not heel, but the transformation heel. That is why history legitimizes the heels alone, which serve for prosperity, but makes the opposite clear in silence. But just as during military recruitment, the leader of the army first pays attention to the preparation of food supplies, and then gives the sign to go to war: in the same way, the warriors of virtue, having accepted the supply of mysterious food, then begin to fight with foreigners, having the leader in battle of the successor of Moses, Jesus. Do you notice how sequentially the word goes? While a person, oppressed by crafty torment, is still weak, does not take revenge on the enemy on his own; because he is unable: but the other fights for the weak, and inflicts blow after blow on the enemy. When he is freed from the slavery of the prevailing, he will enjoy the tree, will rest from his labors in a refuge under the date trees, will learn the mystery of the stone and partake of heavenly food; then, not with someone else’s hand, he takes revenge on the enemy, but, as if having already left childhood, and having reached blossoming youth, he himself enters into the struggle with the enemy, having as a military leader not Moses, the servant of God, but God Himself, Whose Moses was a servant. For the law, given in the beginning as the image and shadow of what is to come, does not remain combative in actual struggles, but the executor of the law and the successor of Moses, foreshadowed by the identity of the then military leader, is in command. And the people, if they see the hands of the legislator raised, gain the upper hand over the enemy in battle; if they see them lowered, they yield to the enemy. And the raising of the hands of Moses means looking at the law with the highest concepts, and bowing to the earth - low, creeping on the earth, interpreting and observing the law according to its letter. The burdened hands of Moses are supported by the priest, using as an assistant one close to him by birth. And this is not out of connection with what was considered; because the true priesthood, due to the word of God united with it, through the burden of the Jewish meaning to the ground, again raises the degraded effectiveness of the law to a height, and props up the falling law with a stone, so that, having risen, under the image of retribution of hands, it shows its goal to those looking on. For those who are truly capable of seeing this see the sacrament of the cross in the law most of all. Therefore, the Gospel says somewhere that “not one stroke or one line will pass from the law” (Matthew 5.18), meaning in what was said two lines, one across and the other from top to bottom, with which the image of the cross is drawn, which was then visible in Moses, which is understood here instead of the law, and for those looking at it serves as the reason for triumph and victory. The word again guides our thought through a certain kind of consistent ascent to the heights of virtue. For whoever has strengthened his strength with food, demonstrated this strength in the fight against opponents and has proven victorious over those who oppose him, is then elevated to this mysterious knowledge of God. And with this the word teaches us what and how much we must succeed in life in order to then dare to approach the mountain of knowledge of God with our thoughts, to hear the voice of the trumpets, to enter into the darkness where God Himself is, [and to inscribe Divine writings on the tablets - and if they are lamented by someone’s sin, to again present to God the hewn tablets with their hands, and so that writings not given will be inscribed on them with the Divine finger in execution at first. But it would be better, consistently in the order of the story itself, to adapt its meaning to a higher understanding. When someone, looking at Moses and the cloud (which both guide those walking the path of virtue, and Moses replaces the legal regulations, and the cloud is the leader in the law), has achieved purity of mind. in passing through the water, killing and separating a foreigner from himself; will taste Marah, that is, life removed from pleasures, which at first seems bitter and disgusting to those who taste it, but in those who accept the tree produces a sweet sensation; “and” then, having enjoyed the beauties of the Gospel date trees and springs, being filled with living water, which is a stone, having taken into himself the heavenly bread, and showing his courage over the foreigners, and the reason for the victory is the raising of the hands of the legislator, which foretells the sacrament of the cross: then he is raised to the contemplation of the supreme Nature. The path to such knowledge is for him purity, not only of the body, cleansed by some kind of sprinkling, but also of clothes soaked in water from all uncleanness. And this means that those who intend to begin contemplating all things must cleanse themselves in everything, be pure and undefiled in soul and body, having washed away the impurity of soul and body, so that we can appear clean before Him who sees the hidden, and so that decency in the visible is consistent with the inner disposition of the soul. That is why, before climbing the mountain, by God’s command, the “robes” are washed (Exodus 19.10), and the robes are used to symbolize the decent appearance of life. For no one will say that this sensual uncleanness of garments for those ascending to God is an obstacle to this ascent; On the contrary, I think that the whole appearance of everyday activities is beautifully called vestments. Having corrected this and driven the herd of dumb people away from the mountain as far as possible, man then begins to ascend to lofty concepts. And that no dumb person is allowed to appear at the mountain, this, in my assumption, means that in the contemplation of what is represented by the intellect, the knowledge provided by the senses is exceeded. For it is in the nature of the dumb to be guided by one sense without the participation of the mind: they are guided by sight; often hearing leads to a desire for something, and everything else from which the sense comes into activity has great power in the dumb. Contemplation of God is not accomplished by what is visible or by what is heard, and is not encompassed by any of the ordinary concepts; for this “no eye has seen, nor ear heard,” and this is not something that usually enters “the heart of man” (1 Cor 2.9). On the contrary, one who intends to begin to understand the lofty must first cleanse his disposition from all sensual and wordless movement, washing his mind from any opinion formed on any assumption, and separating himself from the usual conversation with his cohabitant, that is, with sensuality (she is, as it were, the spouse and cohabitant of our nature); and when someone becomes clear of all this, then he will dare to approach the mountain. The truly steep and inaccessible mountain is theology, and most people barely approach its foothills; unless someone is Moses, and when ascending, he will be able to accommodate in his ears the sounds of trumpets, which, according to the exact word of history, become even stronger as they ascend (Exodus 19.19). But preaching about God’s nature is truly a trumpet that strikes the ear; Great is what is revealed the first time, but greater and more important is what reaches the ear at the end. The Law and the Prophets trumpeted the Divine mystery of the economy of man: but the first voices were weak in order to reach rebellious ears; and therefore the heavy hearing of the Jews did not receive the voice of the trumpets. But as time went on, the pipes, as Scripture says, became stronger; because the last sounds made by the gospel sermon reached the ears. So the Spirit subsequently sounded louder in its instruments, and the sound became more intense. The instruments that produced one spiritual sound were the Prophets and Apostles, from whom, as the psalmody says: “Their sound goes throughout the whole earth, and their words to the ends of the world” (Ps. 18.5). If the multitude does not accommodate the voice coming from above, but allows Moses himself to learn the secrets and teach the people the teaching that he learns by instruction from above, then this is also introduced into the church. Not everyone reaches the understanding of the mysteries on their own, but, having chosen from among themselves someone who is capable of containing the divine, they bow their ears to him with gratitude, considering as true everything that they hear from this one initiated into the divine mysteries. For not all, as it is said, are apostles, not all are prophets (1 Cor 12.29). But not many churches observe this nowadays. For many who still need to be cleansed from what they have done in their previous life, some who are not washed, defiled by worldly attachments, hiding behind their unreasonable feelings, dare to ascend to the divine, where they are shaken by their own thoughts; because heretical opinions become like stones that completely bury the very inventor of evil teachings. What does it mean that Moses is in darkness and only sees God in it? For what is now being narrated seems somewhat contrary to the first theophany. Then the Divinity was visible in the light, but now in darkness. And we do not consider this to be out of line with what appears to our higher view. This word teaches that the knowledge of piety for the first time becomes light for those in whom it appears. Why is it that what is imagined in the mind that is the opposite of piety is darkness, and the aversion from darkness becomes a communion of light. The mind, stretching further, always delving into the understanding of what is truly comprehensible with greater and more perfect attentiveness, the more it approaches contemplation, the more it perceives the incontemplation of the Divine nature. For having left everything visible, not only what the sense perceives, but also what the mind seems to see, it incessantly moves towards something more internal, until through the inquisitiveness of the mind it penetrates into the invisible and incomprehensible, and there it sees God. For this is true knowledge of what is sought; This is our knowledge, that we do not know, because what we seek is above all knowledge, as if by some kind of darkness, enveloped in incomprehensibility from everywhere. Therefore, the exalted John, who was in this luminous darkness, says: “No one has ever seen God” (John 1:18), resolutely asserting with these words that not only people, but also any rational nature, is inaccessible to the knowledge of God’s essence. Therefore, Moses, when he became higher in knowledge, then confesses that he sees God in the darkness, that is, then he recognizes that the Divinity is in himself His nature is that very thing that is above all knowledge and comprehension. For it is said: Moses saw “God in darkness” (Exodus 20.21). Who is God? He who “lays the darkness under His roof” (Ps. 17:12), as David says. In this darkness and initiated into secrets. But the one who was there, what he was previously taught by darkness, is taught again by darkness, so that, as I think, this teaching, attested by the voice of God, will become firmer for us. For the word of God, firstly, forbids people to liken the Divinity to anything knowable (Exodus 20.4); since every concept, in accordance with some intelligible idea, compiled according to some natural understanding and assumption, creates an idol of God, and does not proclaim about God Himself. But virtue in piety is divided into two types, partly relating to the Divine, and partly to the advancement of morals; because purity of character is part of piety. Therefore, having first learned what it was necessary to know about God (and knowledge was not to know about God anything cognizable by human understanding), then Moses learned the second type of virtue, having learned by what exercises we achieve success in a virtuous life. After this, Moses is led into the tabernacle not made with hands. Who will follow him when he enters such mysteries and rises so much in mind? The one who, as if stepping from peak to peak, by climbing to heights, constantly becomes higher and higher than himself. So Moses first leaves the foothills, separating himself from all those who were unable to ascend. Then he receives the voices of trumpets with his hearing, ascending to the height of ascension. At the same time, he penetrates into the invisible sanctuary of the knowledge of God, and does not even stop there; but he passes into the tabernacle not made with hands: for in this he truly meets his limit and has himself exalted by such ascents. It seems to me that in another sense the heavenly trumpet becomes a teacher for those who ascend to the entrance not made with hands. For the arrangement of heavenly miracles, calling for the wisdom manifested in beings and preaching in the visible the great glory of God, according to what is said: “the heavens proclaim the glory of God” (Ps. 18:2), due to the clarity and good-sounding instructions, itself becomes a great-voiced trumpet, as one of the Prophets says: God sounded the trumpet from above. And whoever has purified himself and sharpened the hearing of his heart, having received this sound, I mean produced by the sight of creatures, he is guided by it to the knowledge of God’s power, so that he penetrates with his mind to where God Himself is. This in Scripture is called darkness, which, according to interpretation, as we said, means the unknown and invisible. Moses, having been there, sees this tabernacle not made with hands, which he shows to those around him in a material likeness. Therefore, what kind of tabernacle is this, not made with hands, shown to Moses on the mountain? The one that he is commanded to look at as a prototype, in order to show a miracle not made by hands through its hand-made device. These are golden pillars, established on silver bases and with silver heads; these are still other decent pillars, whose heads and bases are made of copper and in the middle between the ends there is silver; inside all the pillars there is a tree that does not accept rottenness; from the outside the shine of such substances spreads all around; a certain ark also shines with pure gold; and what this golden frame rests on is also a tree that does not accept rottenness. Moreover, there is a certain lamp, one in the trunk at the base, and towards the top dividing into seven branches, with an equal number of circles on the branches. The substance of the lamp is gold, there is no emptiness in its composition, not even a wooden support inside. Moreover, the altar, the purification and the so-called cherubim, with whose wings the ark was overshadowed - all this was gold, not only on the outer surface had good color, but everything was solid, the same substance extended inside to the very depths. In addition, there were speckled curtains of weaving art, in which different flowers were intertwined with each other for the beauty of the fabric; with these veils it was separated in the tabernacle, both what was visible and accessible to some of the celebrants, and what was impenetrable and inaccessible to everyone: and before the mentioned part the name was: “holy”: and the hidden: “holy of holies”. In addition, fonts, censers, vestments with outer opons, hair opons and skins dyed red - this and everything else that Moses prepares according to God's word, what mind will understand with all accuracy? What is this likeness of something not made with hands? What benefit does this material resemblance to what Moses saw on the mountain bring to the beholders? But it seems to me that we will do well, leaving an accurate reasoning about this to those who have the power to test the depths of God in spirit, if only there is someone who can, as the Apostle said, “by the spirit ... to speak mysteries” (1 Cor. 14:2). the judgment will decide itself with its own mind. Therefore, following Paul, who partially reveals the mystery in this and taking for ourselves at least a small pretext, we affirm that Moses was taught in the image the mystery of the tabernacle, which embraces the universe. This tabernacle may be Christ, the power of God and the Wisdom of God, in its own nature, allowing for the construction when it should become; this tabernacle to be erected in us; so that in some way it is both uncreated and created; as pre-existing, it was not created, but as having received this material composition, it became created. What we say is probably not unclear to those who have accepted exactly the sacrament of our faith. For one of all, both what was before the ages, and what happened at the end of the ages, which had no need for a temporal origin (how can that which is before times and ages have a need for a temporary birth?), and for our sake, but through the folly of corrupting its being, allowed that which came into being, like us, to raise what had become outside of existence into existence again. And this is the only begotten God, who embraces everything in Himself, but also established His tabernacle in us. If such a great good is called a tabernacle, then do not be at all embarrassed, lover of Christ, that the expressiveness contained in the speech detracts from the greatness of the nature of God; for none of the other names is unworthy of the nature it signifies, but all are equally below the exact meaning, both those recognized as small, and those in which some greatness of concepts is supposedly seen. But just like all other names, each in a certain sense is piously used to show God’s power: such, for example, are the names: doctor, shepherd, patron, bread, angel, vine, path, door, abode, water, stone, source and everything else that is said about God: so in a certain divine sense He is called by this word: tabernacle. For the all-encompassing power of the being, in which dwells all the fullness of the Divinity, this general cover of the universe, He Who contains everything in Himself, is properly called the tabernacle. It is necessary that the knowledge be in accordance with the name, and each part of the visible leads to some kind of view that reveals a magnificent view. So, since the great Apostle says that the veil in the lower tabernacle is flesh (Heb. 10:20), he says, I think, because its composition is from various four elements, and probably to the Apostle himself, when he had a vision of the tabernacle, and he was caught up in the heavenly sanctuaries, the secrets of paradise were revealed by the spirit: then it will be good to pay attention to this particular interpretation, to adapt our whole to the part a look at the tabernacle. Let us extract from the Apostle’s own words an explanation of the mysterious ideas about the tabernacle. In one place he speaks of the Only Begotten, whom we mean by the tabernacle: “For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers—all things were created by Him and for Him” (Col. 1:16). Therefore, the good-looking and gold-plated pillars, the rings and these cherubim covering the ark with their wings, and everything else that contains a description of the construction of the tabernacle, (if anyone, looking at this, has a higher view) are the supermundane forces contemplated in the tabernacle, supporting the universe by Divine will. There our true ones are “sent out to serve for those who are to inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14), - as if by “rings” attached to our souls being saved, lying on the earth, raising their virtues to the heights. About the Cherubim, the Scripture, having said that with their wings they cover the sacraments laid down in the ark of the covenant, confirms this view of the tabernacle presented by us: for we know that this name is used about those powers around God’s nature contemplated, which Isaiah and Ezekiel saw with their minds. And the ark of the covenant, covered with wings, does not seem something strange to the ear; for in Isaiah we recognize something similar to this, mysteriously said by the Prophet about wings. An ark is mentioned here, and a face there, but under both, one being is understood, which, it seems to me, makes us understand that the view of the ineffable is inaccessible. And if you hear about lamps held separately on one candlestick, so that the light that shines everywhere is rich and abundant; then you will not be wrong in reasoning that the manifold coverings of the Spirit are appropriate for this tabernacle, as Isaiah says, distinguishing the seven lordships of the Spirit (Isaiah 11.2). And purification, I think, does not require interpretation, since its hidden meaning is revealed by the Apostle, who says: “whom God offered as a sacrifice of propitiation in His blood through faith” (Rom. 3:25) of our souls. Hearing about the altar and the altar of incense, I imagine in my mind the worship of the heavenly powers incessantly performed in this tabernacle; for it is said that the tongue, not only of earthly and underworld, but also of heaven, sends up praise to the Beginning of all: and this is a sacrifice pleasing to God, “the fruit of the mouth,” as the Apostle says (Heb. 13:15), and the aroma of prayers. If among the transformations we see colored skin and hair tissue, then the inextricable integrity of the look is not violated. The prophetic eye, having come into the vision of the Divine, sees there a predetermined saving suffering, which is signified by both of what has been said. How red is interpreted: blood; so hair: killing; because hair on the body is devoid of sensation, which is why it serves as a sign in the proper sense of death. So this is what the Prophet sees in this when he lifts his gaze to the tabernacle above. If anyone turns his gaze to the lower tabernacle; then, since Paul often calls the Church Christ, it will do well to recognize that the ministers of the Divine Sacrament, whom Scripture calls the pillars of the Church, as well as the Apostles, teachers and Prophets, are called by the same names. For not only Peter, John and James are the pillars of the Church; and not only John the Baptist “was a lamp, burning and shining” (John 5:35): but all those who served to establish the Church, and who through their deeds became luminaries, are called both pillars and lamps. “You are the light of the world,” says the Lord to the Apostles (Matthew 5:14). And the Divine Apostle also commands others to be pillars, saying: “Be strong and unshakable” (1 Cor. 15:58), and he built Timothy into a beautiful pillar, making him, as he himself puts it, the pillar and affirmation of the true Church (1 Tim. 3.15). In this tabernacle, sacrifices of praise and incense of prayer are always visible, offered both morning and evening. The great David makes this understandable, correcting the stench of the fragrance before God with the incense of prayer, and with the lifting of hands of the sacred sacrifice (Ps. 141:2). And whoever hears about fonts will, without a doubt, imagine in his mind a mysterious water washing away the filth of sins: John was the font, washing in the Jordan with the baptism of repentance; the font was Peter, who once suddenly led three thousand to the water; the font was Philip for the eunuch of Candace. There are also fonts that impart grace to all who partake of this gift. Whoever assumes that the “opon y” (Ex. 26:1), in mutual connection with each other, enclosing the tabernacle around the tabernacle, will not sin against proper understanding, means the unanimity of the believers, filled with love and peace. For this is how David interpreted it, who says: “he establishes peace within your borders” (Ps. 147:3). And “the skin... scarlet" (Exodus 26:14) and "hair-hair opons" (Exodus 26:7), which serve to decorate the tabernacle, will receive a corresponding meaning, that is, the mortification of sinful flesh, mysteriously depicted by the scarlet skin, and the harsh lifestyle of abstinence, which especially adorns the tabernacle of the Church, because skins that do not have the vital force given by nature, from scarlet paint makes them fragrant. And this teaches us that grace blooming in the Spirit does not exist in anyone else, but only in those who have mortified themselves to sin. If the scarlet color in the word signifies chaste modesty, then I readily agree to this judgment. But the weave of hair, producing a fabric that is coarse and hard to touch, implies severe abstinence, exhausting the strength of the passions that are inseparable from us: nevertheless, something similar to this is proven by the virgin life, exhausting the flesh of those who live like this. If the interior of the tabernacle, called the Holy of Holies, is inaccessible to many, then we do not consider this to be contrary to the consistency of our understandings. For the truth of beings is indeed something holy, even the holy of holies, and for many inviolable and inaccessible. Since it resides in the hidden and unspoken depths of the mystical tabernacle, one must not be inquisitive in the knowledge of beings that exceed the concept of beings. One must believe that what one is looking for exists, however, it is not subject to the gaze of everyone, but remains unspoken in the hidden depths of thought. Having learned this and the like from the vision that in the tabernacle, having reached purity and raised to a height by such spectacles, the spiritual eye of Moses again ascends to the very top of other ideas, studying the vestments of the priesthood. This includes the robe “inner yaya” (Exodus 28:31), the outer robe, and this “breastplate” shining with the brilliance of various stones (Exodus 28:4), and the bandage on the head, and above it the “diad ema” (Exodus 29:6), “nadragi” (Lev.6:10), “apples”, “vertebrae” (Exodus 28:33). Then on top of everything. the word and the appearance, and in both the truth seen, also on both sides there are sidearms with the names of the patriarchs inscribed on them. The multitude of these vestments, and their very names are such that an accurate review of them in detail is not possible: - appearance, word, truth? Of course, this clearly shows that history is not describing this, not the sensual vestment. spiritual decoration, worn by virtuous intentions. The color of the underwear is blue (Exodus 28.33); some of those who explained this word before us say that this color signifies air. But whether such a color really has any affinity with the color of the air, I do not intend to state this exactly: but I do not reject what is affirmed: because this concept is in accordance with the proper view of virtue, namely, it requires that those who intend to be a priest before God present their body in sacred action, and become not a mortal slaughter in a living sacrifice and in verbal service, not to damage the soul with any rough and multi-flesh vestment life, but with its purity, like some spider's thread, it refined all everyday undertakings, came close to becoming soaring, light, airy. and crush this bodily nature within yourself. In this case, when we hear the last trumpet, according to the voice of the Commander, finding ourselves unencumbered and light, most exaltedly, together with the Lord, we will rush through the air, not drawn to the ground by any burden. Therefore, whoever, according to the advice of the Psalmist, “so is every man vanity” (Ps. 39:12), put on this airy tunic, descending from the head to the edge of the feet. The law requires that virtue should not be deficient in anything. Therefore, golden bells attached to buttons signify the radiance of good deeds. For there are two types of activity by which the wealth of virtue is collected: faith in God and conscientiousness in the continuation of life; These are the buttons and bells that the great Paul attaches to Timothy’s clothing, saying that he must have “faith and a good conscience” (1 Timothy 1:19). So, let faith sound often and loudly in the sermons about the Holy Trinity; and let life be likened to the property of a pomegranate fruit: for the outer side of this fruit is unfit for food, being covered with a hard and hard shell, but the inside is pleasant to the eye due to the variety and strict order in the structure of the fruit, and even more pleasant to the taste, delighting the senses. And the wise and harsh life, being unattractive and unpleasant to the senses, is filled with good hopes, delighting in its own fruit. For when our Worker opens in due time the pomegranate fruit of life and shows the beauty of what is contained in it, then those who partake will have a sweet communion of their own fruits. And the Divine Apostle says nowhere: “all punishment at the present time,” that is, what initially occurs to someone who touches a pomegranate fruit, “seems not to be joy, but sadness; but afterward he brings to those who have been taught the peaceful fruit of righteousness” (Heb. 12:11): this is the sweetness of the inward being willingly tasted. The Scripture commands that this tunic should also have brooms: these brooms are spherical pendants, hung not for the sake of need, but for decoration. And from this we understand that virtue should not only be measured by a commandment, but it is necessary that we also invent something from what is imagined from outside, and add some kind of decoration to clothing, as Paul did, weaving beautiful marks to the commandments on his own. Although the law commands that “those who serve the altar take a share from the altar” (1 Cor. 9:13), it does not prohibit “having a sister as a companion” (1 Cor. 9:5), and “those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:14); Paul preaches the gospel freely, enduring thirst, hunger, and nakedness. These are those beautiful omelets that, by adding to the commandments, adorn the tunic. Then, on top of the podir, two vestments are placed, descending from the ramen to the chest and along the ridge, connected to each other on both ramens with two clasps. And the clasps are stones, each of which has six names of the patriarchs inscribed on it. The fabric of these vestments is colorful. Blue is woven with purple, and scarlet is mingled with fine linen; and between all this there is a golden thread scattered, so that from this variety in color one certain dissolved beauty shines on the fabric. And what we learn from this is the following: the upper vestment is everything that actually constitutes the adornment of the heart, composed of many different virtues. Blue is intertwined with purple, because the kingdom is intertwined with the purity of life. Scarlet is intertwined with fine linen, because a bright and pure life is usually somehow combined with the blush of modesty: the gold shining between these colors mysteriously makes it clear the treasure provided to such a life. The patriarchs inscribed on the amices add a lot to our decoration: because human life is more decorated with previous examples of good men. To decorate the upper vestments, another decoration is attached on top: these are “sockets of pure gold” (Exodus 28.13), hanging on both amices, supporting something made of gold in the form of a quadrangle, giving off a shine from twelve stones that are arranged in rows; There were four rows, and each contained three stones. It was impossible to find similarities between one and the other in the stones, but each was decorated with its own special shine. This is the external appearance of the decoration. And the implied meaning of the nests hanging from the ramen is the ambidextrousness of the weapon against the opponent, so that, since, as was said a little above, virtue succeeds through faith and a good conscience in this life, it would be clear that under the cover of the nests a person is safe on both sides, remaining invulnerable from such arrows with the help of “the weapon of righteousness in the right and left hand” (2 Cor 6.7). The quadrangular decoration, supported on both sides by nests, where the patriarchs named after the tribes were written on the stones, serves as a veil of the heart, and this word teaches us that with these two nests he who repelled the arrows of the evil one will adorn his own soul with all the virtues of the patriarchs, when each of them shines with his brilliance on the robe of virtue. And let the appearance of a quadrangle be for you an indication of the need to remain firmly in goodness, because such an outline, with straight sides equally supported by the corners, is difficult to transform into another form. The leashes with which these decorations were attached to the shoulders, in my opinion, serve as a command to take care of a high life, to consider ourselves obligated to add active wisdom to contemplative philosophy, so that the heart serves as a sign of contemplation, and the shoulder - of deeds. The head, decorated with withered, means the crown prepared for those who lived well, and it is decorated with mysterious inscriptions printed on a golden socket. Shoes are not placed on the one dressed in such decoration, so that he is not burdened in the procession, and does not have difficulty in moving by putting dead skins on himself, but to the understanding that was instilled when looking at the mountain. Therefore, how could shoes become an adornment for the foot, being rejected at the first secret action as an obstacle to ascent? He who has ascended to such a height, through the ascents we have outlined in order, carries in his hands God-created tablets that contain the Divine Law, but they themselves are crushed, crushed by the fierce stubbornness of those who have sinned. The sin consisted in making an idol, in the image of a calf, this idol sculptured by idolaters. Moses, turning it into powder, dissolved it all in water, and made it a drink for those who had sinned, so that by all means he could destroy that substance. which served human wickedness. This is especially true then, and history prophetically proclaimed what is happening now, in our times. For all idolatry’s charm has been completely destroyed, having been destroyed by the lips of the pious, who through a good confession have accomplished the destruction of the ungodly substance in themselves; and the sacraments established from ancient times by idolaters became truly fleeting and impracticable water, destroyed by the very lips that once indulged in idolatry. For, when you see that those who were previously subject to such vanity are now destroying and destroying the idols in which they had hope: will it not seem to you that history clearly cries out: every idol will one day be swallowed up by the lips of those who have changed from delusion to piety? Moses arms the Levites against their fellow tribesmen. and they, having passed the camp from edge to edge, indiscriminately beat those they meet, leaving the decision of the fate of those killed to the edge of the sword; They put everyone to death equally, without distinguishing between the people they killed, without paying attention to whether someone was an enemy or a friend, a stranger or a family member, a relative or a stranger: but there was one direction of the hand, equally and equally directed at everyone they met. The story about this can serve as the following useful lesson for us: since the whole people managed to do something bad, and the whole militia participated in the sin as one person, then the scourge strikes them without distinction. Just as someone who strikes someone caught in any sin applies a scourge to any part of the body, knowing that the pain felt in one member is communicated to the whole body: so, since in this body, which decided to sin, every member was punished equally, the scourge, applied to parts, made the whole whole. Therefore, if sometimes equal sin is seen in many, the wrath of God does not act on all, but only on some; then this should be understood in such a way that God, out of love for mankind, corrects what has been done, and although not everyone bears the blows, yet everyone becomes wise and turns away from sin with individual blows. But this is only the historical meaning of what is written, the applied meaning can benefit us in this way: the legislator in the general sermon says to everyone: “If anyone is the Lord’s, come to me” (Ex. 32:26), that is, this is the voice of the law, commanding everyone: whoever wants to be a friend of God, let him be a friend of me - the law; because a friend of the law, of course, is also a friend of God. And he gives the command to those gathered to him after such a sermon to act with a sword against their brother. both friend and neighbor. Looking at the sequence of this review, we understand it this way: everyone who thinks about God and the law is cleansed by killing in himself what he has adopted for his own evil. For not every brother, friend and neighbor is understood well in Scripture: but there is another who is both brother and stranger, friend and enemy, neighbor and adversary. By these names we understand our eternal thoughts, which life makes our death, and death our life. This concept is in accordance with what was already said in the study about Aaron, when, due to his assistance to Moses, he was presented as a companion, a guardian angel, performing signs to frighten the Egyptians, rightly entitled both to the name of an elder, because the angelic and incorporeal nature was created before our nature, and to the name of a brother, due to the affinity of the intelligible angelic nature with our intelligible nature. Since there is an objection: how can one believe that the cooperation of Aaron, who became a minister for the Israelites during the creation of the idol, served for the better, then our word, even mentioning this above, explained somewhat the similarity of brotherhood, namely, that not the same thing is always meant by the same phrase, when one name is taken in opposite concepts. The brother who destroys the Egyptian tormentor is different, and the brother who makes an idol for the Israelites is different, although both have the same name. Moses draws his sword against such brothers. For what he commands to others, he also legitimizes to himself in the same way. And the killing of such a brother is the destruction of sin. For everyone who has destroyed the evil that has established itself in someone on the advice of an opponent, has also killed this evil in himself, which once lived in sin. Such an opinion about this will prevail even more in us if we take something else from history for this review. For it is said that, according to the command of this Aaron, the Israelites were to rob themselves of “earrings” (Ex. 32:2), and that their plunder served as material for the idol. So what shall we say? The fact that Moses adorned the ears of the Israelites with earrings, that is, the law, and the falsely named brother takes away the decoration given to the ears and makes an idol out of it. And at the initial invasion of sin there was a certain taking away of the earrings - advice to disobey the commandment. Can we consider the serpent to be a friend and neighbor of the primordial beings, advising, as something useful and good, to deviate from God’s command? This means taking away the “earrings” of the commandment from the ear. Therefore, whoever kills such brothers, friends and neighbors will hear from the law these words, according to history, spoken by Moses to such murderers. “Today consecrate your hands to the Lord, every one of you in his son and in his brother, that He may bestow upon you a blessing today” (Exodus 32:29). But it seems timely to enter into this word the remembrance of those who have committed sin; in order to find out how the God-created tablets, on which the divine law was inscribed, fell from the hands of Moses to the earth, and were crushed by the stubbornness of the one below, Moses brings again, no longer exactly the same, but only with the same writing on them. For having taken the tablets from the substance below, he offered the power of Him who inscribes the law on them. And thus he calls on grace, carrying the law on stone tablets, after God Himself depicted the words on stone; because even those guided by them can still come to an understanding of God’s providence for us. For if the divine Apostle is true, who calls “tablets and hearts” (2 Cor. 3:3), that is, the sovereignty of the soul; without a doubt, the one who tests the depths of God with the spirit is true: then one can consistently learn from this that human nature, created by God’s hands and adorned with the unwritten outlines of the law, was indestructible and immortal in the beginning; because naturally there was in us a will in agreement with the law, manifested in aversion from evil and in honoring the Divine. When the voice of sin touched us, which in the first scripture is called the voice of the serpent, and in the history of the tablets the voice of those singing from wine (Ex. 32:18): then, falling to the ground, our nature is crushed. But the true Lawgiver, whose prototype was Moses, again from our land hewed for himself the tablets of our nature. For it was not marriage that created His divine flesh, but He Himself becomes the stone-cutter of His own flesh, which is written with the Divine finger. “The Holy Spirit” descended on the Virgin, and “the power of the Most High” overshadowed Her (Luke 1:35). When did this happen? nature again acquired indestructibility, made immortal by the marks of the finger. The finger in many places of Scripture is called the Holy Spirit. And in this way the realization of the glorification of Moses is accomplished to such a degree and measure that the manifestation of that glory has become inconceivable to the eyes of the world. Anyone who has studied the Divine mystery of our faith, without a doubt, does not know how much this highest view is consistent with history. For the Restorer of the broken tablet of our nature (you will understand, without a doubt, in what has been said, the One who healed our contrition), since he again raised the broken tablet of our nature to ancient beauty, as it is said, having adorned it with the Divine finger, he no longer becomes inconceivable for the gaze of the unworthy, having become, by the superiority of his glory, unapproachable for those who look at Him. For in truth, “when... He comes,” as the Gospel says, “in His glory, and all... The angels are with Him” (Matthew 25:31), and for the righteous it will barely be contained and visible: but the wicked and the Judaizer, as Isaiah says, will remain unparticipated in this vision. “Let the wicked,” he says, “let him not see the glory of the Lord” (Is. 26:10). But we introduced this into speech, following the order of what was considered in relation to the higher view of this place; Now let's return to what follows. Why is the one about whom the Divine voice testifies that he clearly saw God in many manifestations of God, namely, when he says: “face to face, as if one were speaking to his friend” (Ex. 33:11), with all this, as one who has not yet been worthy of what, according to the testimony of Scripture, he should be recognized as worthy, prays to God to reveal Himself to him (Ex. 33:13); as if the one who always appeared was not yet visible to them? And the voice from above, although now agrees to yield to the desire of the one asking and does not even refuse to add this grace to him, nevertheless leads even into despair, declaring that what he asks is incompatible with human life. But there is, God says, a certain “I have” place, and in that place there is a stone, and in the stone there is a “cleft,” in which he commands Moses to remain. Then God puts his hand on the mouth of the cleft, passes by, and Moses sees “behind” the Commander, and remains in the thought that he has seen what he asked for, and that the promise of the Divine voice is not false (Ex. 33:21–23). If we look at this, limiting ourselves to the letter, then the meaning for those who seek it will not only remain unclear, but even impure from the distorted concept of God. For only that which is represented in outline has both a front and a back: and every outline is the limit of the body: so that he who represents God in an outline does not recognize Him as free from corporeal nature: every body, without a doubt, is complex: and the complex has a composition from a combination of heterogeneities; and no one will say about a compound that it is not decomposable; and what is decomposed cannot be incorruptible: because corruption is the decomposition of the composite. Therefore, if anyone understands the back of God literally, then he will be consistently and necessarily brought to this absurdity, because the front and back, without a doubt, are in the outline, and the outline is in the body; the body is decomposing and decomposes according to its own nature; since everything complex is decomposed; what is decomposed cannot be incorruptible. Therefore, whoever slavishly follows the letter, due to the necessary connection of concepts, will allow corruption in God. But God is incorruptible and incorporeal. What meaning, therefore, befits what is written, other than what appears at first glance? If, in connection with speech, this part of what is written forces us to look for another meaning, then of course we must also understand about the whole. For whatever we understand in a part, we necessarily accept the whole as similar. So, the place of God, and the stone in that place, and the room in the stone, which is called a cleft, and the entry of Moses there, and the laying of the hand of God on the mouth, and the passing by, and the proclamation, and after this the vision of those behind, will be more thoroughly considered according to the law of raising the meaning to a higher view. Therefore, what is depicted by this? Just as bodies ready to fall, how soon they acquire a certain desire to roll down an incline, although after the first movement no one will force them again, they rush down by themselves with a strong impulse, while their path is sloping and tends to the bottom, and nothing is encountered that would stop their desire with a contrary movement: so, in spite of this, the soul, having renounced earthly attachments, becomes a rushing mountain and a speeder in this upward movement, soaring from the bottom to the heights. And just as nothing from above stops her strivings (the nature of goodness attracts those who raise their eyes to it): then, of course, she continually becomes higher and higher than herself, according to the desire of the heavenly, as the Apostle says, stretching “forward” (Phil. 3.13), and will always soar to the highest. For, because of what has already been acquired, desiring not to leave the even higher heights unattained, she continuously continues her striving for the higher, thereby in which she has succeeded, constantly renewing her effort to fly. For only activity directed towards virtue feeds strength through labor, not weakening, but increasing the tension towards it. Therefore, we say that Moses, who has always been great, does not stop in the least in his ascent, does not set himself any limit in his striving for what is above: but once he has entered the ladder on which, as Jacob says, “God is established” (Gen. 28.13), he continually ascends to a higher and higher level, and does not cease to rise; because even at the height he always finds a step that is higher than the one he has reached. He renounces his false relationship with the Egyptian princess; becomes an avenger of the Jew; moves to live in the desert, which was not disturbed by human life; shepherds a herd of gentle animals, sees the radiance of light; after taking off your shoes, the ascent to the light is not burdensome; elected for the liberation of related and tribal people; sees a drowning enemy covered by waves; encamps under a cloud; quenches thirst with a stone; in heaven he cultivates grain; then, with the lifting of his hands, he overcomes the foreigner; hears the sound of the trumpet; enters darkness; penetrates into the sanctuary of the tabernacle not made with hands; studies the secrets of the divine priesthood: destroys the idol, propitiates the Deity; renews the law, crushed by the sin of the Jews, shines with glory, and exalted to such heights, still burns with lust, insatiably seeks more, and what he has always had in power, still thirsts for it; and as someone who has not received communion before, he strives to improve this by asking God to reveal Himself to him, not only to the extent that he can contain it, but what God is in Himself. It seems to me that it is characteristic of the soul to feel this. which is filled with some kind of flaming love of disposition towards the beautiful by nature, and which from the beauty it sees, hope always attracts to the highest beauty, constantly acquired, always kindling in it the desire for the hidden. Why does a strong lover of beauty, constantly mistaking what he sees for an image of what he desires, wants to be satisfied with the vision of the distinctive features of the prototype? This is what this daring request to enjoy beauty, transgressing the limits of lust, expresses, not with the help of any mirrors or in images, but face to face. The divine voice gives what is asked, in the very refusal itself, with a few words, showing some immeasurable depth of concepts. For the generosity of God deigned to fulfill the desire of Moses; but she did not promise him any reassurance or satiation in this desire. God would not have shown Himself to His servant if what was seen were such that it could appease the lust of the beholder. This is the true vision of God, that the one who looks at Him never ceases to have this lust. God says: “No man can see Me and live” (Exodus 33.20). And this word does not show that seeing the face of God for those who look becomes the guilt of death (how is it possible for the face of life to ever become the guilt of death for those who approach?); but, since, although the Divine is life-giving by nature, the actual distinctive sign of the Divine nature is that It is above everything distinguished by characteristics; then he who believes that God is something cognizable, having deviated from what exists to what is recognized as existing in the capacity to accommodate this idea, has no life in himself. For what truly exists is true life: and this is not accessible to knowledge. Therefore, if the life-giving nature exceeds knowledge, then what is comprehended, without a doubt, is not life: and what is not life does not have the property of becoming imparting life. Therefore, what Moses desired is not fulfilled in that in which the desire remains unfulfillable. For by what has been said he learns that the Divinity, by His nature, is indefinable and cannot be included in any limit. And if the Divinity could be represented in any limit; then, by all necessity, along with the limit, what is beyond it would also be represented, because what is contained within the limits, without a doubt, ends with a person; as the limit for those living on land is air, and for those living in water - water. Therefore, just as a fish, in all its limits, is encompassed by water, and a bird by air, the medium of water is for the swimmer, and the medium of air is for the flyer, there is an extreme surface of the limit, which embraces both the bird and the fish, followed by either water or air: so, if the Deity is represented in the limit, it is necessary for Him to be embraced by something foreign in nature, and the encompassing, as evidenced by the sequence of speech, is many times greater than the contents. But it is admitted that the Divinity is by nature beautiful; and what is different from the beautiful is, of course, something other than the beautiful, and what is outside the beautiful lies in the nature of evil. And it has been proven that the enveloping is many times greater than the enveloping. Therefore, those who think that the Divinity is enclosed within limits must necessarily agree that It is enveloped in evil. And as always, what is comprehended is diminished before the nature that embraces, then there should be a predominance of what is abundant. So, he who encloses the Divinity within any limit allows the possibility of the opposite to prevail over the beautiful. But this is ridiculous. Therefore, let there not be any comprehension of the invisible nature. The incomprehensible does not tend to be comprehended. On the contrary, every desire for the beautiful, attracted to this ascent, always increases along with the desired procession to the beautiful. And this means, in the true sense, to see God, to never find satiety for your lust. But whoever sees, as soon as it is possible for him to see, must constantly be inflamed with desire to see even more. And thus, no limit will stop the increase in the ascent to God, because no limit is found for the beautiful, and no satiety stops the increasing desire for the beautiful. But what kind of place does God mean? what stone is this? And what kind of capacity is there in a stone again? What kind of hand of God is this, closing the mouth of the cave in the stone? What kind of passing of God is this? What is the back of God, the vision of which God promises to give to Moses, who asked for sight face to face? Without a doubt, all this, taken individually, must be something great and worthy of the greatness of the Giver, so that this promise can be recognized as more majestic and superior to any manifestation of God that has already been to the great servant. Therefore, how can anyone understand that height from what has been said? on which Moses, after so many ascents, wants to climb again; and He Himself, “working all things together for good to those who love God” (Rom. 8.28), under His guidance, facilitates the ascent? “This is my place,” says God (Exodus 33.21). Perhaps such a concept agrees with what was explained in this view before. Having indicated the place, God does not limit what is indicated by quantity (for there is no measure for the non-quantitative), but by keeping silent about the outline relative to the measure, he leads the listener to the limitless and immeasurable. Therefore, the word, it seems to me, expresses such a certain thought: since you constantly have a desire to stretch “forward”, you do not have satiety in the continuation of your flow, you do not know any satisfaction with good, but your desire is always to strive for more: then I have such a place that it is never possible for someone passing through it to stop his flow. But this flow in another sense is standing. For God says: “Stand on this rock” (Exodus 33.21). The most wonderful thing is why standing and moving are one and the same. He who ascends is, of course, not standing; and whoever stands does not ascend. And here standing itself becomes an ascension. This means that the more someone remains firm and immutable, the more successfully he completes the course of virtue. But whoever is fickle and greedy in his thoughts, does not stand firmly in goodness, but barks and wanders, as the Apostle says (Eph 4.14), shaken and crushed by assumptions and doubts about what exists, he will never ascend to the heights of virtue; just as those walking on a hill on sand, although apparently crossing a large space with their feet, work without benefit; because the feet always slide downwards on the sand; so that, although movement is produced, there is no advance in the movement. If someone, as the psalmody says, having removed his feet from the deep mud, has established them “on the rock” (Ps. 39:3), - the rock is Christ, the all-perfect virtue, then the more firmly he is planted in goodness and is “impenetrable” according to the advice of Pavlov (1 Cor. 15:58), the more conveniently he makes the flow, as if with some kind of wings, taking advantage of this standing, and firmness in goodness inspiring the heart for the procession of grief. Therefore, He who showed Moses the place stimulates him to flow by the field, and by promising him to stand on a rock, he shows him the way of the divine flow. The container in the stone, which in Scripture is called “the cleft,” was beautifully interpreted by the divine Apostle in his own words, saying that those who have destroyed the earthly tabernacle will be preserved in hope for the church not made with hands in heaven (2 Cor. 5:1). “he kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7), or, as they say mysteriously, he set his feet “on the stone”: the hand of the Hero will adorn him with the crown of righteousness. But such a reward is called differently in Scripture. For the same thing is called here the cleft of the stone; and in other places “the sweetness of paradise” (Gen. 3:23), eternal shelter (Luke 16:9). "abode" with the Father (John 14:2), "womb" of the patriarch (Luke 16:22), "living countries" (Ps. 115:8), still water (Ps. 22:2), Jerusalem on high (Gal. 4:26), kingdom of heaven (Matt. 7:21), honor of title (Phil. 3:14), crown graces (Prov. 1:9), a crown of kindness (Wis. 5:17), a pillar of a fortress (Ps. 61:4), joy at meals, eating with God, a throne of judgment (Ps. 9:8), a famous place (Is. 56:5) and a secret village (Ps. 27:9). Therefore, we affirm that those who include here the entry of Moses into the stone have the same idea. Since Paul means Christ by the stone; yet the hope of good things, as we believe, is in Christ, in whom we know that there are treasures of good things; then abiding in any good, of course in Christ, who contains in Himself every good. And whoever has achieved this and is covered by the hand of God, as the word declared (the hand of God is the building power of being, the Only Begotten God, by whom “all things were” (John 1.3), who also serves as a place for those who make progress, as a “way” of their course, according to His own word (John 14.6), for those who are established it becomes a stone and for those who are at rest as a house): he will then hear the one who calls, and will be behind the caller, that is, will follow the trail of the Lord God, as the law commands. Hearing this, the great David understood, and “he who lives under the roof of the Most High rests in the shadow of the Almighty,” said: “He will overshadow you with His feathers, and under His wings you will be safe” (Ps 90.1, 4); and this also means being behind God; because the shoulder belongs to the back parts. And David also cries out for himself: “My soul has clinged to You; Your right hand upholds me” (Ps 63:9). You see how the psalmody is in accordance with history. As David speaks of receiving with the right hand those who follow God; so there the hand touches the one waiting for God’s voice in the stone, and begging for permission to follow behind. Yes, and the Lord, who then spoke to Moses, became the executor of his own law; in a similar way he expounds to his students, revealing the clear meaning of what was said mysteriously. “Whoever wants to come after Me,” and not before Me, He says (Luke 9.23). And he offers the same to those who beg for eternal life. For he says: “Come and follow Me” (Mk 10.21). But the one following the trail sees the one behind. Therefore Moses, impatiently desiring to see God, now learns how to see God; namely, that to follow the trail of God, wherever He leads, means to look to God, because the passing of God means leading the one following the trail. For one who does not know the path cannot safely complete it except by following a guide. Therefore, the guide, by the very same thing that precedes the one following, shows him the way. And the one following the trail is then not led astray from the straight path when he constantly sees the leader behind. For whoever in movement turns aside, or directs his gaze to see the leader in the face, makes a different path for himself than that indicated by the leader. Why does God say to the leader: “But My face will not be visible to [you]” (Ex. 33:23), that is, do not stand face to face in front of the leader: because your procession will certainly be in the opposite direction: good does not look good in the face of the good, but follows him. What is presented in opposition face to face opposes the good. For vice looks contrary to virtue: virtue does not appear to be face to face with virtue. Therefore, Moses does not look at the face of God, but sees His “backside.” And whoever looks at the face will not live, as the Divine voice testifies: “man cannot see” the face of the Lord, and “remain... alive” (Ex. 33:20). You see how important it is to learn how to follow in the footsteps of God, namely, after these high ascents, after terrible and glorious epiphanies, by the end of life only those who have learned to stand behind God are barely worthy of this grace. Whoever follows in the footsteps of God in this way no longer encounters any conflict with vice. After this, envy of the brethren is generated towards him: envy is the beginning of evil passions, the father of death, the first door to sin, the root of vice, the birth of sadness, the mother of disasters, the reason for disobedience, the beginning of shame. Envy drove us out of paradise, becoming a serpent before Eve; envy blocked access to the tree of life, and stripped us of the sacred garments and, out of shame, led us to the branches of the fig tree. Envy armed Cain against nature, and brought about “seven times” avenged death (Gen. 4.15). Envy made Joseph a slave. Envy is a deadly sting, a hidden weapon, a disease of nature, a bile poison, voluntary exhaustion, a cruelly stinging arrow, a nail for the soul, a fire under the heart, a flame that burns the insides. For envy, failure is not one’s own evil, but someone else’s good; and on the contrary, there is also luck for her - not her own good, but her neighbor’s bad. Envy is tormented by people's success and laughs at their misfortunes. They say that vultures that feed on dead bodies die from the world; because their nature is akin to stinking and spoiled. And the one possessed by this disease, with the prosperity of his friends, as if from the touch of some world, dies. If he sees any suffering as a consequence of the disaster, he flies to the sufferer, lays his crooked beak, extracting with it the hidden reasons for failure. Many before Moses were overcome by envy. But having attacked this great man, like some clay statue hitting a stone, she crushes herself. For in this, especially, was the benefit of walking with God, which Moses did, flowing through God’s place, standing on a stone, fitting into its cleft, covered by God’s hand, following in the footsteps of the leader from behind; not looking at his face, but seeing the “back”. Therefore, that he became as blessed as possible, he proves this by following the footsteps of God, and, moreover, above the flight of an arrow thrown from a bow; because envy shoots an arrow at him, but its flight does not reach the height at which Moses was. The bowstring of wickedness was not able to shoot passion at Moses with such force that it would first reach him from those who were sick with it. But although Aaron and Miriam were wounded by the Passion of slander (Numbers 12.1), and became, as it were, a kind of bow of envy, hitting him with words instead of arrows: nevertheless, Moses is so far from communicating with them in illness that he even heals those who are sick with this passion, not only remaining motionless to punishing those who offended, but also appeasing God for them, by the very thing that he did, showing, I think that he who is well protected by the shield of virtue will not be wounded by the points of arrows; because the hardness of the weapon dulls the point and reflects the arrows back. The weapon that protects from such arrows is God Himself, in Whom the warrior of virtue is clothed. For it is said: “Put on the whole armor of God” (Rom 13.14). This is the indestructible all-weapon with which, having protected himself, Moses rendered the crafty archer ineffective. Thus, Moses was overcome by a softening attraction towards those who had offended him; He did not know what was fair by nature, and, moreover, in relation to those condemned in an impartial trial, but he became a prayer book for the brethren before God. And he would not have done this if he had not been behind God, Who showed him the “back” for safe driving along the path of virtue. And so is everything else that followed. Because the natural enemy of men had no power to harm Moses; then he turns his weapon on those who are easier for him to catch. And, as if some kind of arrow, having fired the passion of gluttony into the people, he set them up in the desire for food to become like the Egyptians, preferring eating Egyptian meat to this heavenly food. But the high-spirited man, rising above such passion, was entirely devoted to the future inheritance that God promised to those displaced from mental Egypt, and marching to that land, in which flows milk mixed with honey. Therefore, he makes the spies some kind of mentors, informing about the blessings of this land. And these spies, according to my reasoning, could be those who give good hopes, that is, thoughts generated by faith, confirming hope in the good things prepared for them; and those leading to despair in good hopes, that is, thoughts inspired by the enemy, weakening faith in the promises. But Moses, not paying any attention to those who oppose him, recognizes as faithful the one who proclaims the best about this land. The one who confirmed his faithfulness to what was proclaimed was the leader of the best vision, Jesus. Looking at him, Moses had strong hopes for the future, considering the bunch of grapes Jesus brought on the “poles” to be a sign of the abundance there (Numbers 13.24). And hearing about Jesus describing this land, and seeing grapes hanging on a tree, of course, you will turn your thoughts to That, which, looking at, strengthened his hopes. For the grape hanging on the tree, Who else than that in the last days of the Grape hanging on the tree, whose blood became a saving drink for believers? After Moses mysteriously predicted this to us: “the blood of the grapes” (Deut. 32:14), which indicates saving suffering, the journey through the desert continues again, and the people, despairing of the promised blessings, are languishing with thirst. But Moses again floods the desert with stones for them. And such a word, with a speculative look, may teach us what the sacrament of repentance is. For after tasting the water from the stone once, those who turn to the belly and flesh and to Egyptian pleasures are condemned to the hunger of thoughts about the communion of goods. But it is possible for them again, through repentance, to find the stone that they left behind, to again open a stream of water for themselves, to quench their thirst again with the moisture that the stone produces for those who believed that the vision of Jesus is truer than the gaze of those who opposed it, who looks at the Grapple, bleeding for us and stained with blood, who again made the stone flow water for them with the tree. However, the people have not yet learned to follow in the footsteps of the generosity of Moses, they are still carried away into slavish lusts, and are inclined towards Egyptian pleasures. History shows several examples of them that human nature is most prone to such passion, and that thousands of paths lead to this disease. Why does Moses, like a certain doctor who always knows how to overcome passion with the help of art, do not allow the disease to prevail over them even to death? The desire of the inappropriate gave birth to serpents for them, and remorse imparted deadly poison to those subjected to remorse: but the great legislator, in the likeness of a serpent, rendered the power of real serpents inactive. But the time has come to reveal this mystery more clearly. One cure for these evil passions is the cleansing of our souls, accomplished by the sacrament of piety. The main thing that is accepted by faith in the sacrament is the view of the suffering of the One who suffered for us. Suffering is a cross; why the one who looks at Him, as Scripture tells us, does not suffer harm from the poison of lust. To look at the cross means to make your whole life as if dead and crucified for the world, to remain motionless against every sin, as the Prophet says, who has nailed the fear of God to his flesh (Ps. 119:120). The nail that holds the flesh will be abstinence. Therefore, since the lust of the inappropriate brings out deadly serpents from the earth (because every offspring of evil lust is a serpent); therefore, the law foretells to us what is revealed on the tree: and this is the likeness of the serpent, and not the serpent, as the divine Paul says: “in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sacrifice for sin” (Rom. 8:3). And the true serpent is sin; whoever gives himself over to sin puts on the nature of the serpent. Therefore, a person is freed from sin by the One who took upon himself the likeness of sin, by the One who became like us, who turned into our own kind of serpent, by the One who makes remorse not fatal, but does not destroy the serpents themselves. I call lusts serpents. For those who look at the cross are not affected by the evil death; but the remaining lust of the flesh for the spirit was not completely extinguished in them. And the remorse of lust often acts in the faithful; but whoever looks at the Ascended One on the Tree drives away passion from himself, with the fear of the commandment, as if by some kind of medicine, dispelling the power of poison. And that the serpent lifted up in the desert is a sign of the sacrament of the cross, God’s word clearly teaches this when it says: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14). Sin, according to some sequence to our detriment, in its characteristic way goes even further, as if in some continuous chain stretching forward. And the legislator, like a kind of doctor, along with the desire for evil, spreads his healing. Since the remorse of serpents for those who look like a serpent (no doubt, you understand what was said mysteriously) has become invalid; then another method of sin is imagined in various ways to contrive against us for similar things, as we can now see this happening in many. Others, when they curb the passion of lust through a chaste life, willfully invade the priesthood, through human intrigues and efforts to appropriate ordination to themselves, offending God’s economy. And the one whom history accuses of inspiring people with evil is brought to this evil course of sin. When the earth, through faith in the One who ascended on the tree, stopped giving birth to serpents as a punishment for the lustful, and they were convinced that poisonous remorse would not harm them, then the disease of pride enters those freed from the passion of lust. Recognizing that it is low to maintain the rank in which they have been appointed, they themselves invade the rank of the priesthood, trying to expel from it those who have accepted this service from God; they perished, swallowed up by the open earth; and what remained on earth from such a crowd was burned by lightning. And Scripture, I think, teaches by this narrative that the end of proud exaltation is a descent into the underworld. And on this basis, perhaps, it is not unfair that pride is defined as falling down. If, according to the assumption of many, the thought tends to the opposite, do not be surprised at this; for it seems to many that the word “pride” means being superior to others. But the truth of what is being told confirms our definition. For if those who exalted themselves above others came down to the ground in the gap of the broken earth; then no one will condemn the definition according to which pride is a fall to the lowest lands. Moses teaches those who look at this to be modest and not to be proud of their successes, but to always manage the present well. For for the reason that you have become above lust, you no longer have the right to unconsciously indulge in another kind of passion. Every passion, as long as it remains a passion, is a fall; in replacing one passion with another there is no difference in fall. He who crawled from the slipperiness of pleasure fell; and whoever stumbled through pride also fell. He who has the mind will not choose any kind of fall for himself, but he must equally avoid any fall as long as it remains a fall. Why, if even now you see someone who, on the one hand, is free from the disease of voluptuousness, but, trying to show that he is higher than others, invades the priesthood; then imagine about him that you see him from the heights of pride falling into the underworld. For in the subsequent law he teaches that the priesthood is a divine property, and not a human one, and he teaches it this way: Moses places the rods of each tribe by the names of those who gave them at the altar, so that the rod, distinguished from the others by some Divine miracle, may become evidence of ordination from above. And since this was fulfilled, the rods of the other tribes remained the same as they were, and the priest’s rod, taking root in itself, not from any extraneous moisture, but from the divine power invested in it, grew a branch and fruit; and the fruit came to maturity; the fruit was a nut; then after this was accomplished, all those under Moses’ authority learned discipline. Because of the fruit produced by the priestly rod, one must come to the conclusion of how temperate, strict and severe life in the priesthood must be in terms of its external behavior, and internally, secretly and invisibly, what kind of nutritional value it contains, which is revealed in the nut when the nutritious substance ripens over time, the hard shell will disintegrate, and this woody covering on the nutritious fruit will be crushed. If you realize that the life of any so-called priest is like an apple, fragrant, blooms like a rose (very many of them are decorated with fine linen and scarlet, fatten themselves with expensive dishes, “drink wine from cups, anoint yourself with the best ointments” (Amos 6:6), and everything that only at first taste seems sweet is recognized as necessary for a pleasant life); then it will be wonderful to tell you the word of the Gospel: I see the fruit, but by the fruit I do not recognize the tree of the priesthood. The fruit of the priesthood is different; but this one is different; that fruit is abstinence; and this one is luxury; he is not fattened with earthly moisture; and to this from the low places flows many streams of pleasures, with the help of which the ripe fruit of life glows with such beauty. When did the subordinates of Moses become free from this passion; then they enter into a foreign life, while the law, when they deviate in the other direction, leads them along the royal path. For it is dangerous for a traveler to deviate. Just as if two moving rapids leave one path on a high coastal cliff, then it is not safe for someone walking along it to deviate here and there from the middle, because on both sides, perhaps, the deviation will be followed by a cliff from the rapids: so the law requires that the one walking in his footsteps not leave the “fetters and,” as the Lord says, “narrow and cramped” (Matthew 7:14), no deviation in any way. to the left, nor to the right, not recognizing it as successful. And this word defines the teaching that virtues are in the middle. Why, every vice is usually committed either from a lack or from a violation of the measure of virtue; for example, in relation to courage, timidity is a certain lack of this virtue; but what is free from one or another of these vices is seen in the middle between them and is virtue. In the same way, everything else that cares about the most perfect keeps itself somehow in the middle between the bad neighborhood; wisdom occupies the middle between cunning and simplicity. Neither the wisdom of the serpent nor the simplicity of the dove is praiseworthy, if each of these properties is taken alone; but behavior that stays in the middle between one and the other becomes a virtue. He who lacks chastity is depraved; and whoever overflows with them is “burned in his conscience,” as the Apostle defines (1 Tim. 4.2). One is uncontrollably drowning in pleasure; another abhors marriage as well as adultery; the behavior seen in the middle between these is chastity. Since, as the Lord says, this “world” “lies in evil” (1 John 5.19), and for the followers of the law that which is opposite to virtue, that is, vice, is foreign: then he who goes through life in this world will safely complete this necessary course of virtue if he maintains the truly royal path, smoothed and whitened by virtue, not in the least seduced by vice to the adjacent crossroads. But as, according to what has been said, with the rise of virtue, the enemy’s malice also rises, looking for reasons for seducing everyone into sin: the more the people grew in life according to God, the enemy then uses a different intrigue against these strong ones in military affairs. When the combatants see that a regiment of superior enemy forces is invincible in open battle, then they overcome them by negotiating and setting up ambushes. So the horde of malice against those strengthened by law and virtue does not bring out its forces face to face, but in some ambushes secretly plots against them. Therefore, plotting maliciously against the Israelites, he calls on sorcery to help. And so history says that there was a certain “magician” (Joshua 13.22) and a bird fortuneteller (Numbers 23.23), through some demonic action he had the power to harm, he belonged to the number of enemies, and the ruler of the Midianites was hired by his curses to harm those living according to God; and he changed the oath into a blessing. And we understand from the connection of what has been considered so far that magic is invalid against those who live virtuously; On the contrary, those supported by God’s help overcome all wiles. The fact that the one mentioned in history was engaged in bird divination sorcery is evidenced by her when she says: “The sorcery is in his hand” (Numbers 22.7), and he consults with the birds, and even before this he says how he was taught by the cry of a donkey what lay ahead for his effort. The voice of this donkey (since the sorcerer usually had, through some demonic action, to confer with the voices of the dumb) Scripture presents it as if articulate, showing that those preoccupied with such demonic seduction reach the point of being convinced to accept as a word, by some observation, the instruction they extracted from the voice of the dumb. And the sorcerer, heeding this, was taught by the very thing by which he was deceived that the power of those against whom he was hired was irresistible. And according to the gospel story, a horde (legion) of demons was preparing to resist the power of the Lord: but when He who has power over all approaches, it proclaims overwhelming power and does not hide the truth that God’s nature is the One who at the appropriate time will impose punishment on those who have sinned. For the demonic voice says: “I know You who You are, the Holy One of God” (Mark 1.24); and: “You came here before the time to torment us” (Matthew 8.29). The same thing happened then; The demonic power that accompanied the sorcerer reveals to Balaam the invincibility and invincibility of the people of God. And we, adapting history to what has been studied so far, affirm that those who intend to curse those who live virtuously cannot utter a single upsetting and disgusting word, but turn the curse into a blessing. Of course, this means that those who live virtuously are not affected by the reproach of slander. For how can one not reproach a money-grubber for covetousness? How can you spread a rumor to someone about a hermit and someone who lives alone that he lives dissolutely? or about the meek, that he is irritable? Or about the humble, that he is arrogant? or otherwise divulge something reproachful about people who are known from the opposite side, whose goal is to present a life elusive to the scoffer, “let... be put to shame,” as the Apostle says, “so that the enemy may be put to shame, not having anything bad to say about us” (Titus 2.8). Therefore, the voice of the one called for the curse says: “How can I curse? God doesn't curse him. How can I utter evil? The Lord speaks no evil [against him]” (Numbers 23.8)? that is, how can I slander someone who has not given food to slander? With him, since his gaze is turned to God, his life is invulnerable to vice. However, the inventor of evil, when he has not succeeded in this, does not completely stop plotting intrigues against those whom he plotted, but on the contrary, he turns his ingenuity into a special military cunning, trapping human nature in vice with the bait of pleasure. And indeed, pleasure, like some kind of bait, conveniently attracts greedy souls to any vice, as soon as it is brought to view, with the milk of destruction; Especially our nature, without any kind of caution, is drawn into evil by voluptuousness. It was so then; Those who overcame with weapons, showed that every attack of iron is inferior in strength to their own strength, were quickly put to flight by the opposing squads - they themselves were wounded by voluptuousness with women's arrows. And those who defeated the husbands gave up the victory to the wives. As soon as the women appeared before them, instead of weapons they confronted them with their faces, and they immediately forgot about the strength of courage, their irritation changed into a desire to please. And they came to such a state in which it was natural to be furiously given over to lawless mixing with foreigners. Mastering evil became the alienation of the help of good; because the Divinity soon rose up against them. But the zealot Phinehas did not wait for sin to be cleansed by a sentence from above; On the contrary, he himself became both a judge and an executioner. Moved by anger at the frantic, he fulfilled the work of the priest, cleansing sin with blood, and not with the blood of some innocent animal that had not taken upon itself any taint of obscenity, but with the blood of those who copulated with each other in sin. And the spear that pierced their two bodies calmed God’s justice, which was ready to move against them, the pleasure of those who had sinned together with their death. But it seems to me that this story offers people some kind of soul-helping advice, teaching us that of the many passions that overcome human thoughts, not one has such power over us as to be equal to the disease of voluptuousness. For these Israelites, who showed themselves not to be afraid of the Egyptian cavalry, defeated the Amalekites, became fearsome to the people who followed them, and then overcame the army of the Midianites - and they most suddenly, at the mere sight of foreign women, became enslaved to this disease, and this, as has been said, proves nothing else, but only that voluptuousness is such an enemy of ours that it is difficult to fought and overcome, who, by his very appearance, having gained the upper hand over invincible weapons, erected a monument to their dishonor, betraying the shame of the vanquished, with the testimony of daylight. Voluptuousness transformed people into beasts, whom the bestial and unreasonable desire for lewdness convinced to forget their human nature; and they do not hide the crime, but are magnified by the dishonor of passion, comforted by the filthiness of shame, like pigs openly, in the eyes of others, wallow in the mire of uncleanness. What can we learn from this story? So that, having realized with what force the illness of voluptuousness draws us into evil, we remove our lives as far as possible from such proximity, and so that this illness cannot, in any way, sneak up on us, like some kind of fire, which produces a destructive ignition by its mere approach. This is what Solomon teaches, advising in the Book of Wisdom: Can anyone take fire into his bosom, lest his robe be burned? Can anyone walk on burning coals without having their feet burned? (Prov. 6:27–28); since it is in our will to remain in dispassion while we are far from the one who sets us on fire. And if we have become so close that we touch this scorching heat, then the fire of lust will penetrate into us, and thus the leg will be burned and the core will be damaged. So that we may protect ourselves from such evil in the distance, the Lord in the Gospel, with His own word, as if a certain root of passion, cuts off the desire aroused by sight, teaching that he who has accepted passion with his gaze gives the path to illness; because evil passions, like an infection, once soon take possession of the essential in a person, cease only by death. But I think that those who offered Moses’ entire life to the readers as a model of virtue do not need to prolong their speech. Whoever strains his strength towards a high life, what has been said will serve as a generous path to true wisdom; and whoever is exhausted from the deeds of virtue, if one writes many times more than what has been said, there will be no benefit from this work, unless it is consigned to oblivion that in which our word, according to the definition expressed in the preface, stands firmly, namely: perfect life is such that no description of perfection stops further progress in it, but continuous growth in the perfection of life for the soul is the path to perfection. Bringing the word to the end of Moses' life, it will be good to prove that this rule of perfection given to us is beyond doubt. For whoever throughout his life reaches greater and greater heights by so many ascents, he did not doubt to become even higher than himself, so that his life, like an eagle, in everything, I think, is seen above the clouds, above the highest, soaring in the ether of mental ascent. He was born when the Egyptians made it a crime to be born a Jew. The torturer punished the newborn according to the law. But Moses does not submit to the destructive law, saved first by his parents, and then by those who established the law themselves; and those who, according to the law, had to try for his death, they made every effort, not only about his life, but also about the glorious life, teaching the young man all wisdom. After this, he places himself above human honor, above the royal rank, recognizing as more powerful and royal, instead of the title of the royal squire, and instead of the royal decorations, he has the right to stand guard over virtue and be proud of its splendor. Then he saves his fellow tribesman and overthrows the Egyptian with a blow, by which in our sequential review we mean the enemy and friend of the soul. After this, the teacher of high lessons makes silence, and enlightens the mind with the light shining from the bushes. And then he makes an effort to make his fellow tribesmen participants in the benefits given to him from above. At the same time, he presented a profound proof of strength, punitive in the various executions that followed one after another on enemies, and beneficial to his fellow tribesmen. A large people crossed the sea on foot, not preparing a detachment of ships for themselves, but equipping the Israelites with faith for the voyage. He makes the deep waterless for the Hebrews, and the sea for the Egyptians. He sang a song of victory, and was a guiding pillar, illuminated by heavenly fire, prepared his meal from food supplied from above, quenched his thirst with a stone, raised his hands to the destruction of the Amalekites; and he approached the mountain, heard the sound of a trumpet, entered into darkness, approached God’s nature, stayed in the upper tabernacle, gave splendor to the priesthood, built a tabernacle, corrected life with laws, and finally, as has been said, succeeded in wars. At the end of his successes, with the help of the priesthood, he punished lewdness: for this made clear the anger of Phinehas, which he discovered against passion. At the end of all this, he ascends to the mountain of repose, does not descend to the earth below, to which, according to the promise, the people standing below turned their gaze, does not eat earthly food, thinking about the food rained from above, but staying high at the very top of the mountain, like a knowledgeable sculptor, having transformed himself into a complete sculpture of life, at the conclusion of the work he carefully applies, not the end, but the crown of the whole work. For what does history say about him? “And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord; Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died; but his vision was not dull, and his strength was not exhausted” (Deut. 34.5, 7). And from this we learn that for so many successes he is then awarded this high name - to be called a servant of God, which means the same as saying: he has become more perfect than anyone. For no one can serve God except one who has become the most perfect in the world. For Moses, the end of a virtuous life was accomplished “by the word of the Lord.” History calls it death, a living death, which is not followed by burial, no burial mound is built, no darkening of the eyes and no decay in the face. So what do we learn from what was said? We have one end in mind for the continuation of life—to be called a servant of God for what we have done in life. For when you overcome all your enemies, the Egyptian, the Amalekite, the Edomite, the Midianite, you cross the water, are illuminated by the cloud, enjoy the tree, drink from the stone and taste the food from above, with purity and innocence you set the path to ascend the mountain, and having been there, you will be initiated into the Divine Mystery with the sound of trumpets, in inconceivable darkness you will approach by faith to God, there he was taught the mysteries of the tabernacle and studied the priesthood; when you become a stonecutter of your heart, so that the words of God can be inscribed on its tablets by God; when you destroy the golden idol, that is, you erase the lust of covetousness from life: when you rise so much that you become insurmountable to Balaam’s sorcery (and when you hear about sorcery, understand the manifold charm of this life, from which people, as if drunk from some kind of pickled cup, having gone out of their own nature, turn into a species of dumb); when all this is accomplished, and the rod of the priesthood vegetates in you, not absorbing into itself any earthly moisture for vegetation, but containing in itself the power of fruiting, and namely the bringing into fruit of a nut, in which the first thing that appears in it is bitter and hard, but what it contains is sweet and edible; when you bring everything that rebels against your dignity into destruction, like Dathan, who was swallowed up by the earth, or destroy it with fire, like Korea: then you will approach the end; I call the end that for the sake of which everything is done. As for example: the end of agriculture is eating the fruits; the end of the construction of the house - living in the house; the end of trade is wealth; the end of ascetic labors is the crown: so the end of a high life is to be called a servant of God, by which we also mean not to have a grave mound over oneself, that is, to make life not entailing bad consequences. But Scripture tells us another sign of this slavery - not darkening of the eyes and not decay of the face. For the eye, which is always in the light, how can it darken from the darkness to which it is alien? And whoever has succeeded in incorruption throughout his entire life, of course, does not accept any corruption into himself. For whoever is truly created in the image of God, and has not changed a single Divine trait in himself; he bears these signs within himself, and in his likeness corresponds to the prototype in everything, decorating his soul with incorruptibility, immutability and the absence of any admixture of vice. Here, man of God, Caesarius, we offer this short word of ours about the perfection of a virtuous life, depicting the life of the great Moses, as a certain prototype of beauty in the faces, from which we, each individually, by imitation of these exercises, can depict in ourselves the outline of the beauty shown to us. That Moses succeeded in all possible perfection, is there any witness for us that is more reliable than God’s word, which says to him: “And you have found favor in My sight” (Exodus 33.12). And the fact that God Himself called him a friend of God, and that, wishing it would be better to perish with everyone, if God, in his good pleasure, did not show mercy to them for everything they had sinned, he stopped his anger at the Israelites, because God changed His definition so as not to upset his friend - and this and all the like serves as clear evidence and proof that the life of Moses reached the most extreme limit of perfection. So, since our question was about what perfection in virtuous living is; and according to what has been said, this perfection has been found: then it remains for you, valiant one, to have this example before your eyes, and what was seen with a higher look at what was said historically, applying it to your own life, try to be known by God and become a friend of God. For in the true sense, perfection is not servile, not moving away from a vicious life out of fear of punishment, and not doing good out of hope of rewards, trading in a virtuous life with some conditions and agreements; but losing sight of everything, even what is kept by hope according to the promises, one only considers terrible for oneself - to lose God’s friendship, and only recognizes one thing as precious and desirable - to become God’s friend, which, in my opinion, is the perfection of life. But what can be found by you with your mind, exalted to the more magnificent and Divine, there will be many.....; then, without a doubt, it will be of common benefit to all in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and dominion forever, amen. You might be interested in: