On various difficult places (aporias), 18, ..., 101

This fragment contains selected 17 chapters (aporia) from the work of St. Maximus the Confessor “Difficulties to John” (about 628-630 or until 633-634). The aporias cover a wide range of topics including: 1. Interpretation of Old Testament images and events: Anna and Samuel (Aporia 18), the cleansing of an unclean house (Aporia 19), the prophet Elijah and the widow of Sarepta (Aporia 20). St. Maxim uses the allegorical method, interpreting these events as symbols of spiritual life. 2. The relationship between natural and written law (Aporia 32-35). The author examines the continuity and difference between these laws, as well as their superiority over life in Christ. 3. Natural theology (Aporia 54-57). St. Maxim explores how through contemplation of creation one can come to the knowledge of God, and proves the beginninglessness of the world. 4. Interpretation of theological texts of Gregory the Theologian (Aporia 95-99, 101). The author analyzes complex passages from the saint's sermons, revealing their deep meaning and protecting them from possible incorrect interpretations. 5. In Aporia 99 ave. Maximus sets out the principles of interpretation of Holy Scripture, classifying various methods and modes of interpretation. *The title of the work in Latin is Ambiguorum liber. 18, 19, 20, 32, 33, 34, 35, 54, 55, 56, 57, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 101 Aporia 18. Commentary on Anna and Samuel (1 Samuel 1:20). So blessed Anna, the mother of the great Samuel, being barren and childless, having asked God for the fruit of the womb and in [zealous] prayer in the church making a fervent vow that the child that would be given to her would repay and please the giver and pleaser of God, mysteriously taught that every soul, free 1 from carnal pleasures, for the sake of God [pleasure] needs the seeds of virtues, so that, having conceived in the mind and given birth, she could bring the obedient Word of God, capable of cognitively seeing what is coming in pious contemplative prayer, reasoning that it is a great and precious duty to have nothing of one’s own, in order to show that only God gives and accepts, as it is said somewhere in the law: My gifts, My deeds, My offerings... observe to bring Me (Numbers 28:2) 2, since from Him and in Everything good begins and ends with it. For the Word of God, in whom it is born, [in that] according to its habit, destroys the movements of the flesh, restrains the soul from striving for them and fills [it] with all true recognition. Interpretation of one who shuts up an unclean house (Lev 14:38). And indeed, when I hear of a priest entering, according to the precept of the law, into a house in any way unclean, locking it up, and giving commands to its owners concerning purification, I think that by him is meant the High Priest the Word, Who enters into the soul like the purest light, and reveals criminal intentions and designs, together with guilty deeds, and wisely suggests the means of conversion and purification. Pointing this out more wisely, the one who received the prophet Elijah said: Man of God, you have come to me to remind me of my iniquities (1 Kings 17:18) 3. Aporia 20. Interpretation of the prophet Elijah and the widow of Sarepta (1 Kings 17:9). Every widowed soul, deprived of good deeds, virtue and knowledge, when she accepts the divine and discriminating Word of God, remembering her sins, learns in some way to feed the Word that nourishes [us] with the bread of virtue and to water the source of life with the teachings of truth and to prefer to [her] nature itself the care of Him, thanks to which the “tub” (1 Kings 17:12) - the flesh will become active regarding the virtues brevity, “jug” - the mind will constantly exude contemplation, preserving the light of knowledge, and the innate mind, like that son of the widow, leaving his former life devoted to passions, will be honored to become a partaker of the Divine and true life given by the Word. An interpretation of how someone can imitate the saints who [lived] before the law and after the law, and what is the identity of the natural law and the written one according to the transition of one into the other. In the same way, each of us, at his own discretion, can attribute to himself all the saints, spiritually taking on the appearance of each, based on what was written about him as images in history (for the divine Apostle says: [All this] happened to them as images; but they are described for the instruction of us who have reached the last ages (1 Cor 10:11)). On the one hand, [taking the form of] the saints who [lived] in ancient times before the law, [each of us] piously acquires knowledge of God from the creation of the world and learns from Providence, which wisely governs the universe, to exercise virtues, in accordance with those saints themselves [who lived] before the law, who through everything naturally in themselves ordained the law of piety and virtue written by the Spirit, and were naturally presented as an example for those who [lived] according to the law (for it is said: Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave birth to you (Isaiah 51:2)). On the other hand, [taking the form of saints who lived] according to the law according to the commandments for the knowledge of God, to whom they hinted, [each of us] is exalted with pious thought, adorned with appropriate images of virtues through noble work, and learns that the natural law is identical with the written one, when, according to work, it is wisely diversified with symbols. And vice versa, the written - to the natural, when it becomes uniform, simple and (thanks to reason and contemplation in the worthy) free, according to virtue and knowledge, from symbols, in accordance with those saints themselves [who lived] in the law, who turned out to be spiritually possessed of the natural law, since the spirit removed [from them] the letter, like a veil (cf. 2 Cor 3:14). That the saints [who lived] according to the law, spiritually accepting the law, foresaw the grace manifested through it. In fact, all [the saints], clearly foreseeing that there would be another service besides the lawful service [to God], foretold that according to this service there would appear the perfection of a supremely God-like life, corresponding and highly akin to [our] nature, since they did not need anything external to [achieve] perfection, as became clear to everyone who knew the divine prophecies of the law and the prophets. David and Hezekiah especially hinted at this, each by his [own] action, among others: one, according to the law, propitiating God for sin (cf. 2 Kings 20ff), and the other, proud of the extension of life that God [gave] him according to another decree, different from the law. The fact that one who truly follows Christ in [his] disposition, thanks to his virtues, surpasses both written and natural law. I think there is no obstacle for someone who was previously lovingly brought up in these laws (that is, in the natural and written), once he has observed them in a God-like manner, and without them, truly, thanks to sincere faith, follow the Word that alone leads to the highest good, without touching with his thoughts absolutely any thing, thought or thought, to which he submits and in which one way or another the existing nature and knowledge of one way or another intelligible and existing are manifested; so that for one who has chosen to truly follow Jesus who passed through heaven (cf. Heb. 4:14), it is natural, and by the example of the Divine light, to be able to collectively show, as far as is possible for man, the true knowledge of things. Interpretation of the manner in which one who has become obedient to God in all things transcends natural and written law. If the whole nature of existence is divided into the intelligible and the sensible, and the first is called and is eternal, since it received the beginning of being in eternity, and the second is temporary, since it was created in time; and the first is subject to thought, and the second to feeling because of the indestructible force of the natural connecting property connecting them with each other, for the connection of the intelligible with the intelligible and the feeling with the sensible is great, and man, consisting of a soul and a sensory body, through an interchangeable natural connection and peculiarity in relation to each of the two parts of creation, is limited and limited, the soul by essence, and the body by force, since he is divided into his own corresponding parts and attracts them into unity with oneself through one's own parts; for by nature it is natural for man to limit himself to the intelligible and sensible, since he consists of soul and body, and to limit them as much as possible, since he thinks and feels. God simply and infinitely surpasses all that exists, encompassing and encompassed, and the nature of that without which they do not exist; I mean [the nature of] the time, age and place in which the universe is contained, since He is completely detached from all [it]. Therefore, the one who has chastely learned how to love God, Who transcends word, knowledge and simply any kind of attitude and is above nature, will certainly overcome everything sensible and intelligible and every time, age and place, supernaturally putting aside, finally, every action according to feeling, reason and mind, and ineffably and unknown will achieve the Divine delight that exceeds reason and mind (cf. Phil. 4:7) (according to the way and manner which God knows, who bestows such grace, and those who are worthy to receive it from God), no longer introducing anything natural or written, since everything that can be said and known, he completely surpassed and consigned to silence. Natural contemplation by which the saints learned about God from creatures. Thus, therefore, the saints, having comprehended the creation, its good order, proportionality and the benefit that each brings to the whole, and that everything was created wisely and providentially in accordance with the principle with which it was created, and that it is impossible for what came into being to be good in any other way than how it is now, since it does not need addition or subtraction in order to be good in another way, were taught to the Creator from His works. Thus [having comprehended] the stability, order, position of what has arisen and the dispensation according to which everything, according to its own kind, remains unfused and free from all confusion, the rotation of the stars, which occurs in the same way, never differing in anything, the annual cycle, which occurs in a certain order according to the return of the same thing from the same place to the same thing, and the equality of days and nights in the year, since they alternately increase and decrease, and their increase or decrease is not greater or lesser At least, they learned that the Provider of existence is the One Whom they came to know [as] God and Creator. Natural contemplation that the world and everything else after God has a beginning and origin. For whoever, contemplating the beauty and greatness of God’s creations, does not immediately think that He is the Source of origin (genesiourgTn), as the Beginning and Cause of existence and [its] Creator, will not ascend with the mind to Him alone, leaving this below, because he is not by nature able to accommodate the entire transition of the mind (tБjdiano...aj...diЈbasin), striving to immediately comprehend the One Whom he knew in creations, and will not immediately reject his delusion that the world is without beginning, truly reasoning that everything that moves certainly had a beginning of movement? And every movement is not without beginning, since it is not without cause. For its beginning is that which moves, and its cause is that which calls and draws towards the end towards which it moves. And if the beginning of every movement of everything that moves is the mover, and the end is the cause to which the mover rushes (for nothing moves without a cause), and nothing that exists is motionless, unless it is the first mover (for the first mover is certainly motionless, because it is without beginning), then nothing that exists is without beginning, because it is not motionless. For everything that exists moves, except for the one, immovable and all-transcending Cause: thinking and rational [beings move] cognitively and scientifically, because they are not knowledge and science in themselves. For their knowledge and science are not their essence, but properties contemplated in their essence, arising from right judgment according to mind and reason (I mean their constituent powers). Contemplation on the contraction and expansion of essence, quality and quantity, according to which they 4 cannot be without beginning. But the so-called simple essence itself not only moves in accordance with origination and decay, but also the essence of everything that exists has moved and is moving by the principle and method of expansion and contraction. For it moves from the most general genus through the less general to the species through which and into which it tends to be divided, moving up to the most particular species, which determine its expansion, limiting its existence from below. And again, it is reduced from the most particular species through more general ones, returning to the most general genus, which determines its expansion, establishing its existence from above. So, it is limited on two sides, I mean above and below, and turns out to have a beginning and an end, without being able to fully perceive the principle of infinity. Likewise, quantity, not only of that which [is] in generation and corruption, moves according to increase and decrease in every way in which it is peculiar to be contemplated, but also every [quantity] of everything [that exists], moving according to the principle of weakening and tension and being modified by particular differences according to expansion, is limited [thus], not being able to expand to infinity. And again, returning, it is reduced, losing the appearance that relates to these differences, but not the related appearance. Likewise, the quality, not only of that which [is] in generation and decay, moves according to change, but also every [quality] of everything [that exists], moving according to the variability of its differences, accepts expansion and contraction. And no one who thinks sensibly will say that what tends to spread and gather according to principle and action is completely motionless. And if it is not motionless, then it is not without beginning, and if it is not without beginning, then obviously it is not unarisen, but just as it knows that what moves had the beginning of motion, so it knows that what has arisen has the beginning of origin for being, having received being and motion from the one and only Unarisen and Unmoved. And that which has a beginning according to the origin of [its] being cannot in any way be without beginning. Proof that everything that is outside of God is necessarily [limited] by place, and therefore of necessity also by time, and that what is [limited] by place certainly had a beginning of being in time. It is not worth saying that the very being of a being, having a certain way of being, and not a simple one, which is the first type of limitation, [is] a weighty and significant [argument] for proving that the being had a beginning in essence and origin. [And] who does not know that before any existing thing whatsoever, except for the Divine and unique, existing above being itself in the proper sense, a certain place is thought of, together with which a certain time is entirely and completely, of necessity, thought. For it is impossible to think of a certain place as separated by privation from a certain time (for they tend to exist simultaneously, since they have an inalienability), nor is a certain time separated by privation from a certain place with which it is usually thought of. And it is proven that everything, as existing in [any] place, falls under the [category of] place. For in itself everything does not exceed only 5 (for it is somewhat absurd and impossible to say that everything in itself exceeds itself), but limits itself after the all-limiting infinite power of the All Cause, being itself the outer limit of itself. This limit is also the place of everything, as some define place, saying: “place is the outer circumference of everything, or the external position of everything, or the limit of the encompassing, which embraces the encompassing 6.” And at the same time it will be proven that [everything] as a being in time certainly falls under the [category] of time, since everything that has existence after God has not a simple, but a definite way of being. And therefore it is not without beginning. For everything that in any way accepts the definition of a way of being, even if it exists [now], [once upon a time] did not exist. Therefore, when we say that the Divinity exists, we do not say how He exists, and therefore “is” and “was” we speak about Him simply, indefinitely and absolutely. For the Divinity is not perceived by any word or thought, and we say about Him that It exists without affirming His existence. For from It comes being, but It is not being in itself. For It transcends being in itself, be it called and conceived in a simple way, be it in a certain way. And if a being has a definite mode of being, and not a simple one, then since it falls under the category of place due to the position and limitation of its natural principles, it will certainly fall under the category of time due to the fact that it [had] a beginning. Translation from Greek by I. Prolygina From the Word XXXVIII of St. Gregory the Theologian on the Epiphany on [words]: “The Word becomes denser” 7. The God-bearing teacher said that “the Word is made flesh” in this, as it seems to me, sense: either because the Word, being simple and incorporeal, and spiritually feeding all the Divine powers in order in heaven, deigned through His coming in the flesh from us, for our sake, in accordance with us, to be made flesh apart from sin and with speeches and examples to expound in our own way the doctrine of the ineffable, surpassing power every word (for it is said that He spoke everything in parables and did not expound anything without a parable 8; after all, teachers willingly take advantage of this if the listeners do not understand what was said in the literal sense, thus leading them to understand their words). Or [this is said] because He, having ineffably hidden Himself for our sake in the foundations of existence, is designated, as if in certain writings, respectively in each visible [thing], all in everything at the same time most complete and complete in each individual part, integral and undiminished, indifferent in different ways and always self-identical, in the complex simple and uncomplicated, in the subprimitive without beginning, invisible in the visible and in tangible intangible. Or [this is said] because for the sake of us, who have grown fat in mind, He deigned to become bodily and to be imprinted in letters, syllables and words, so that through all this we, following Him and united by the Spirit, would gradually be brought to Himself and raised to a simple and absolute concept of Himself, uniting us as much into unity with Himself for His own sake, as He extended Himself for our sake because of [His] condescension. From the same Word on [words]: “[God is known] not from what is inherent to Him, but from what surrounds Him, when one idea is composed of [something] another into some one reflection of the truth.” From the essential properties, that is, from the essence itself, what God is is never known. For the concept that He exists is incomprehensible and completely inaccessible to any creature, both visible and invisible. But God reveals Himself slightly to those who see it from what is around [His] essence, and only when it is contemplated correctly and piously. And everything that is around the essence reveals not what He is, but what He is not, such as, for example, unbornness, beginninglessness, infinity, incorporeality; and everything like that is around the essence and represents what it is not, and not what it is; as well as the principles of Providence and judgment, according to which everything is wisely governed, and together with which the contemplation of the harmonious [organization] of nature leads to God, by analogy revealing its Creator only in the respect that He is. And since negations are the opposite of affirmations, they alternately combine amicably with each other around God and replace each other, as, for example, denials denoting not that God is, but that He is not, are combined with statements regarding the fact that this Non-existent (mѕФn) 9 is something; in turn, affirmations, revealing only that He is, and not that [exactly] He is, are combined with denials regarding the fact that this Being is something. Thus, on the one hand, they show mutual opposition to each other, and on the other, kinship in relation to God due to the mutual circulation of coinciding opposites. From the same Word on [words]: “But since for Goodness it was not enough to move only in contemplation of Itself, but it was necessary that the good should spill out and spread as far as possible, so that there would be as many as possible benefited, [God invents angelic and heavenly powers]. When I asked the great and wise old man, whom I mentioned more than once, about this, he said that the great and God-bearing Gregory shows by this that the self-identical God in Himself is unique, since He is in the proper sense One, having in Himself absolutely nothing different in nature that could be thought with Him, and having in Himself only the inconceivable, beginningless, boundless and incomprehensible constancy, from which, by the infinitely generous through the outpouring of goodness [He] brought the existing from the non-existent and realized [it], he wanted to most purely give Himself to each and every one, giving each the ability to be and stay; according to [the words of] the holy and god-like great Dionysius the Areopagite, who argued that God should glorify [His] Unity, since He is removed from everything, by His goodness bringing into being all the well-being of the spiritual [world] and all the beauty of the visible; accordingly, He is undiminished in each of the creations according to some ineffable basis of wisdom, but is not encompassed by any word or image at all - in some [being present] by an overly generous outpouring, in others - moderately, and thirdly - in that they can at least reflect Him in some way. And this is precisely what, apparently, means, in my foolishness, that “good is poured out and spreads as far as possible,” [that is] that the one God is multiplied by the distribution of goods according to those who receive. From the same Word on [words]: “He enters into a second fellowship [with us], much more wonderful than the first” 10. In the first creation, God by [His] breath brought into communion with Him human nature, which was [still] pure (for it was honored by the hand of God), transmitting to the like the Divine beauty according to the image. But it seems to me that what was surprising was not so much this (despite all its importance), as the fact that He deigned to accept our nature into communion, after it had become defiled and fled from Him because of the passions that had been imprinted on it, became a communion of the worst and increased the miracle by an amazing union without any confusion with things. For previously, by no means (trTpon) or definition (lTgon) of the essence or hypostasis in which all things are generally contemplated, nature did not acquire unity with God, but now through an inexpressible union it acquired hypostatic unity with Him, maintaining its own essential definition without change different from the Divine essence, with which, thanks to the union, it has unity and difference in hypostasis 11, so that принципу бытия, согласно которому она возникла и существует, она пребывала бы, обладая собственным никоим образом не умаленным бытием в прямом смысле, а по принципу способа бытия она, приняв Божеское ипостасное существование, совершенно не знала и не принимала склонности к движению относительно чего-то иного. This is how the Word created a much more wonderful communication with human nature than the first, essentially uniting nature itself with Himself in hypostasis. From the same Word on [words]: “Now accept the womb, and leap, if not like John in the womb, then like David at the return of the ark” 12. 1. The Great John is not only an image of repentance, dispassion in active wisdom and cognitive contemplation (the first as a herald and Baptist, the second as a hermit and completely removed from the world, and the third as a Levite, priest and forerunner of God the Word), but also a symbol of the immutable possession of this, since from the womb [of his mother] to death he retained undiminished spiritual vigor in these things. Also, David is an image of repentance, action and contemplation, firstly, as the shepherd of the Jewish people, and then as their king and destroyer of foreigners, but he is not a symbol of the immutable possession of this. For he sinned after realizing [sin], having suffered something human, and did not preserve the immutable possession of virtue and knowledge. Therefore, apparently, he did not jump for the Word from the belly, as it is written about John, but after the complete destruction of the foreigners and the installation of the ark, that is, after the retreat from passions and the new return of knowledge. So, John is the prototype of all those who are born in the spirit through repentance according to virtue and knowledge and, thanks to success, maintaining their possession immutable to the end; David - everyone who sins after realizing [sin] and again through repentance returns to their soul the rejoicing of Divine joy about virtue and knowledge. So, being laconic and by the Spirit intelligently concentrating the vastness of the word, the great teacher likened the listeners of Divine words to the great John and David in the state of one of them, since everyone who lives in piety, as it seems to me, certainly corresponds to one of them in the way of behavior, well shown in relation to both. And he seems to clearly proclaim: “All of you who have received the divine Word of virtue and knowledge, carried in you through repentance, or, like the great John, from beginning to end, thanks to success in immutable possession, preserve the divine leaping of the soul for Him, not being seduced at all by any form of sin and ignorance; or, like blessed David, even if something happened to you on the divine path unwanted, zealously, through repentance, strive to regain virtue and knowledge for yourself through zealous patience and study of Divine speeches, so that you do not endure the suffering of the priest Eli, frivolously giving over to the passions this divine ark that abides in you (I mean virtues and knowledge) and, falling on your back near the doors of the Shiloh church 13, do not die, crushing the shoulder of the work.” More clearly, it seems to me, this blessed Father teaches about this in his word for the new Sunday 14, saying: “We are commanded to sing a new song to the Lord 15, whether we were carried away by sin to Babylon, into this evil confusion, and then happily returned to Jerusalem (and just as there, being on a foreign land, we could not sing the Divine song, so here they established a new song and a new way of life), or constantly remained and prospered in good, and we have already accomplished one thing, and we are still doing another with the help of the renewing Spirit.” And as far as I can guess from my foolishness, this is exactly what the teacher meant when he said: “Now accept the womb, and leap, if not like John in the womb, then like David at the return of the ark,” reducing the interpretation of what was said to the method of interpretation in accordance with rank and gender. 2. Attentive researchers of these mysteries, as well as lovers and contemplatives of the Divine words inherent in them, say that in general the principle of interpretation of Scripture, being one, is interpreted tenfold expanded - to place, time, gender, person, rank or occupation; to active, natural, theological wisdom; to the present and the future or to reflection and truth; and then, embarrassed, he limits the five ways to three, and again the three to two, and the two are contained in one completely innumerable principle. For example, he reduces the five ways - according to time, place, gender, person and rank - to three - active, natural and theological [wisdom], these three to two, meaning the present and the future, and these to the mysterious, simple, as they say, and all-embracing ineffable Word, from which, by origin, the ten universal ways of interpreting Scripture arose, and to which, by limiting this same ten is again intensely reduced to one as to [its] beginning. And according to time, the word of Scripture is interpreted when once, was, is, will be, before this, present, after this, while, first, past, future indicates years, times, months, weeks, days, nights and their parts and simply everything that expresses time. According to place, when it denotes heaven and earth, air and sea, the universe, limits, countries, islands, cities, churches, villages, fields, mountains, gorges, roads, rivers, deserts, winepresses, threshing floors, vineyards and simply everything that can define a place. According to the genus - in general, whenever it indicates angels or intelligent entities existing in the heavenly structure; on the sun and moon, stars, fire and everything that is in the air, on earth and in the sea; or on animals, vegetable beings or plants; and for everything that is extracted from the earth and serves the art of people, and everything else similar [to this]; and again in a special way when it names people, nationalities, peoples, languages, tribes, clans and everything similar, countable and uncountable. According to the face - when it calls by name this angel, or this archangel, or seraphim, or intelligent beings living in heaven, or mentions by name Abraham, Isaac, Jacob or someone else who is spoken of in Scripture with glory or blame. By rank - when it [denotes] a kingdom, a king, a shepherd, a flock, a priest, priesthood, a farmer, a commander, an architect, and simply some other [occupation] by which the human race is distinguished. Everything that is included in these five ways, as [our] reasoning has shown, consists of essence), ability and activity, [that is,] of its first divisions, and it certainly moves or moves, is affected or acts, contemplates or is contemplated, speaks or is spoken, teaches or learns, receives impulse or aversion, and in short, simply by doing or undergoing, presents to us active, natural and theological wisdom variably woven together. In other words, each of the above is comprehended in a variety of ways by thoughts according to the interpretation regarding them, worthy of praise or blame, and reveals inherent reasons for each, which should be fulfilled or not fulfilled, natural or unnatural, comprehended by the mind or incomprehensible. For, as I said, there is a twofold method for each reason, making as clear an examination as possible of the interpretation inherent in them, so that by affirming those reasons that need to be fulfilled, natural and intelligible, and by taking away ideas that do not need to be fulfilled, unnatural and incomprehensible by the mind, the pious may acquire active, natural and theological wisdom, or, in other words, love of God. And these [types of wisdom] in turn are divided into the present and the future, as having shadow and truth, and reflection and prototype. And what is possible for a person [only] in a supernatural and heavenly way in this age - namely, having achieved the highest measure of virtue, knowledge and wisdom, to improve the knowledge of Divine things - is possible in the reflection and image of archetypes. For the image is truly every truth that we consider to exist now, the shadow and image of the great Word. The Word, existing in everything at the present time and [turned] to the future, having created everything entirely, is comprehended as Existent and appearing in image and truth, as exceeding the present and the future, and image and truth, since it has nothing contrary that would be contemplated together [with Him]. Truth is the opposite of falsehood. And above the truth is precisely the Word, to which everything comes down, again because He is man and God and truly exceeds all humanity and Divinity. So, the first five methods are reduced, in their diverse interpretation, to active, natural and theological wisdom, and they, in turn, to the present and the future, or to reflection and truth, the present and the future - to the superior or, in other words, to the Word that was in the beginning 16, encouraging those who have become worthy of Him to endure and see Him, who have diligently, with the help of what has been said, made the path to Him and made ten, which became for their sake, a unit for His sake, which shook off from them every passionate, natural and intelligible movement and imprinted in them with grace, according to the integral possession, the Divine originality ("diТthta) of Divine natural simplicity. It should also be known that the Word of providence extends to the natural, and the Word of judgment to active wisdom, according to the ways appropriate to them, in which they are manifested through contemplation of being and becoming. 3. Having considered this, as has been said, this godly teacher correctly, it seems to me, named those who are called saints, based on the method of interpretation according to the gender and rank 17 regarding each; the great John - according to the place. Therefore, Saint John, as a herald of repentance, is an image of action, as a hermit - of dispassion, as a Levite and priest - of cognitive contemplation, as one who jumped from the belly for the Word - a symbol of the immutable possession of virtue and knowledge; Saint David, as a Jew and a shepherd, represents active wisdom through repentance, and as the king of Israel represents speculative secrecy (tsnqewrhtiksnmustagwg...an). So, the family of Saint John is the people and tribe from which he came, the title is preaching and priesthood, and the place is the desert in which he lived; and with Saint David it is the same: clan is a people and a tribe, and an occupation or title is shepherding and kingdom. By means of this, each [of them], considered according to itself according to the appropriate principle of the ways named in relation to each, “infallibly” shows the mystery that it is. His from the Word for the [Feast of] Lights on [words]: “If they were to become complete wicked people, and would certainly fall away from the glory of God, abandoning themselves to idols, works of art and works made with hands, then the prudent would not wish them anything other than to have such objects of worship, and to honor them in this way” 18. When this was read, according to you, some listeners reproached the teacher, considering it unfair that those who were prudent and decided to live according to the Gospel wished for someone to have such objects of worship and to honor them in such a way. I will not answer them with anything of my own, but [only] what I learned from one old man, wise in the Divine and honoring the teaching of the Fathers. Our holy and blessed father and teacher Gregory, friends, (I will talk with them as with those present), having seen that the Greeks were previously in such an unreasonable error and were completely alienated from the concept of the truly Existing God, sets out [all] this according to the law of compassion, so that from the meaninglessness and insignificance, or rather from the abomination of what they worshiped, after the complete overthrow of [their] convincing arguments of objects [their] worship, the ascent to orthodoxy became completely easy for them; and also so that none of them falls into evil, since their deception is immediately obvious to everyone and is easily exposed, without hiding the hidden evil with anything that seems valuable. Lit. ‘sterile’, steireЪousa. Synod. translation: ... watch that My offering, My bread as a sacrifice to Me ... be offered to Me ... - Ed. Synod. translation: What is it to me and to you, man of God? you came to me to remind me of my sins... – Ed. That is, “created entities”. “all”, that is, “oneself”. Wed. Aristotle. Physics, IV, 4, 212 a, 5–7. Wed. Dionysius the Areopagite. About Divine names. I.1: God is “non-existent itself as beyond all essence.” Τὸ καθ ὑπόστασιν ἕνκας διάφορον . Difficult expression. Apparently, St. Maximus means that in Christ there was, on the one hand, unity in hypostasis, and on the other hand, difference in essence between humanity and Divinity. Although the words “in essence” are omitted here, their necessity follows from the previous words of St. Maximus that human nature in Christ retains its own essential definition without change and is different from the Divine essence. It is also possible that St. Maxim here means, on the one hand, the hypostatic unity of the two natures in Christ, and on the other hand, the difference between our human hypostases and the Divine hypostasis of God the Word. However, such a transition from the field of Christology to the field of anthropology is only hypothetical here. Homily XLIV of St. Gregory the Theologian for the New Sunday, PG 36, 608. According to St. Maximus the Confessor, the principle of interpretation of Scripture includes 10 methods of interpretation: 5 methods - according to place, time, gender, person, title (which correlate with the main categories - essence, ability, activity) are reduced to 3 methods: active, natural and theological wisdom, which are reduced to 2 methods: present and future (or shadow and truth, or reflection and prototype) and, finally, to the Word (the Word of providence is related to natural wisdom, and the Word of judgment is related to active wisdom). See end of first paragraph. From the Word XXXIX of St. Gregory the Theologian on the Holy Lights, PG 36, 341.