Fragments on Luke

[Luke 1:1] Since the undertaking was enormous, for a man to write down the teaching and words of God, he rightly defends himself in the preface. Just as among the people of old many claimed to prophesy, but some of them were false prophets and some true prophets, and there was a gift, the discernment of spirits, by which the true prophet and the false prophet were distinguished, so now too, in the new covenant, many wished to write Gospels. But the approved money-changers did not accept them all; they chose some of them. And perhaps the word "undertook" contains a hidden charge against those who rashly, and without the gift, set about writing Gospels. For Matthew did not "undertake"; he wrote, moved by the Holy Spirit; so too Mark, and John likewise, and Luke. But the writers of the Gospel entitled "according to the Egyptians" and of the one entitled "of the Twelve" "undertook". The Gospel according to Thomas is also in circulation. And Basilides too has dared to write a Gospel according to Basilides. Many, then, undertook, including the Gospel according to Matthias and many others. But the church of God gives preference to the four alone. He did not say simply "believed", but "fully assured", bearing witness that what is said cannot be overturned. And he said "matters" to refute the heresy of those who say that what was done through the Saviour, and his taking flesh, happened only in appearance. In speaking of matters "fully assured" he shows his own disposition; for he was fully convinced, and did not doubt at all whether it was so or not. That he received it from those who had seen with their own eyes and heard with their own ears he clearly confessed, saying: "Just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the Word handed them down to us." And he affirms that he had followed from the first, not some of the things said, but all of them. It is likely, one may suppose, that he wrote the Gospel to a certain Theophilus

who was one of the believers, truly fervent in spirit and insatiable for the Lord's deeds and words; and what was now written made him more secure. Another says: If we are all such as to be loved and befriended by God, we are Theophiloi ("friends of God"). No Theophilus could be weak; every Theophilus is "most excellent", having the might and power that come from God and his Word; and so he will come to know the certainty of the words in which he was instructed. He promises, then, firmness of knowledge, so that what that man had received by hearing he might, reading it also in writing, keep his faith more securely. In Exodus it is written that the people "saw the voice of the Lord," although a voice is not seen but heard, so that it might be shown, paradoxically, that the voice of God is seen by those by whom it is seen. But in the Gospel it is not a voice that is seen, but the Word, which is greater than a voice. Therefore: "Just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the Word handed them down to us." For if to have seen the Lord in the body were to become an eyewitness of him, then Pilate too was an eyewitness of the Word when he condemned him, and Judas the betrayer, and all who said, "Crucify, crucify him." To know the Word, then, was meant in the sense in which the Saviour said: "He who has seen me has seen the Father who sent me." And Luke here also quietly teaches us a fine lesson: that of some objects of contemplation the end is contemplation, of others the end is action. By "eyewitnesses" he indicates the contemplative, by "servants" the practical. You can also take "servants of the Word" in another way: either of the word of teaching that the Saviour handed on, or of the very Word of God, whom the disciples served while he was present. Luke shows his own disposition: he was fully assured and in nothing doubted whether it was so or not. This happens with those who believe firmly; for the apostle says of the firm: "that you may be rooted and grounded in the faith." Nothing gives such full assurance as mind and reason. Sight does not give full assurance, since things are not judged by visible signs and wonders; it is by reason that one judges which things are true and which false. And he says "matters" because Jesus did not stage his coming in the flesh as an appearance, as the children of the heretics say; being truth, he wrought these matters in truth. [Luke 1:3] Verse 3: "To write to you, most excellent Theophilus," [Luke 1:4] verse 4: "that you may know [the certainty] concerning the words in which you were instructed." [Luke 1:5] Verse 5: "There was in the days of Herod, king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was …"

[Luke 1:6] Verse 6: "And they were both righteous before God." It is likely, one may suppose, that he wrote the Gospel to a certain Theophilus, who was one of the believers, so fervent in spirit and insatiable for the Lord's deeds and words; and what was now written made him more secure. If we are all such as to be loved and befriended by God, we are Theophiloi; and no one could be a weak Theophilus. For just as it is written of the people coming out of Egypt, "There was no one weak among their tribes," so I would say that every Theophilus is "most excellent", having the might and the power that come from God and his Word. And so one will come to know the certainty of the words in which he was instructed, by understanding the word of the Gospel. He promises, then, firmness of knowledge, so that what that man had received by hearing he might, reading it also in writing, hold more securely, and keep his faith. To be righteous before God is perfect praise, for he alone knows people's hearts. For it is possible for someone to be righteous before people in appearance, and yet in the hidden part of the heart not to be so, harbouring wicked thoughts that lurk there. Such too is the apostle's saying: "whose praise is not from men but from God." For people do not praise worthily, since they see only the appearance; but God worthily makes both the judgment of what deserves blame and the praise of what deserves praise. Verse 6: "Walking blameless in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord." [Luke 1:7] Verse 7: "And they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in their days." [Luke 1:8] Verse 8: "And it happened, while he was serving as priest in the order of his division before God," [Luke 1:9] verse 9: "that, according to the custom of the priesthood, the lot fell to him to burn incense, entering the temple of the Lord." [Luke 1:10] … praying outside at the hour of incense. Someone may perhaps say: Why is "blameless" added for them? It would have been enough for them to walk in all the ways and ordinances of God, unless it is possible to walk in all the commandments, but not blamelessly. I say to him, then, that if this were not so, it would not have been said: "Justly you shall pursue what is just." When, therefore, we do the commandments so as to have in our conscience no stain of vainglory, or of pleasing people, or of anything else of the kind, we do the commandments blamelessly. [Luke 1:11] Verse 11: "And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing

[Luke 1:14] Verse 14: "And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth." It was by condescension that the angel appeared to Zacharias; for no one can see an incorruptible body with the eyes of a corruptible body. The angel appeared standing at the right of the altar because he was going to announce good tidings to him. And Zacharias was troubled when he saw him; for a strange sight appearing to a man is not bearable. Nevertheless the angel turns Zacharias back from his trouble and restores him, saying: "Do not fear, Zacharias." Know that God and the angels do not appear to everyone, but to those who have a pure heart and are worthy to see. For "he is found by those who do not test him, and shows himself to those who do not distrust him." (Of the same.) Since all who saw angels were afraid that they had come to take their souls, as Manoah too says, the angel, relieving his anguish, said: "Do not fear. For not only will you not die, which brings grief and tears, but you will live and have a child, and you will have great joy; for Elizabeth will bear you a son, than whom no one greater has arisen among those born of women." Then he says: "And many will rejoice at his birth." For even if not all the Jews, yet many rejoiced at the coming of the forerunner who announced the Saviour's arrival. According to the spiritual sense, this is the silence of the prophets among the former people of God. For God no longer speaks to them, but the Word who was in the beginning has passed over to us. Among us he is not silent, but among them he has fallen silent. That is why the prophet Zacharias is silent; and he makes signs while he remains mute. [Luke 1:22] Verse 22: "And when he came out he could not speak to them, and they recognized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute." [Luke 1:23] Verse 23: "And when the days of his service were completed, he went away to his house." [Luke 1:24] Verse 24: "After these days Elizabeth his wife conceived, and she hid herself for five months, saying," [Luke 1:25] verse 25: "Thus has the Lord done to me in the days when he looked on me to take away my reproach among people." [Luke 1:26] Verse 26: "In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth," [Luke 1:27] verse 27: "to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David; and the name of the virgin was Mariam." But he, though he had heard beforehand that something longed for was going to happen to him, did not hurry before the time

but stayed to complete his service, teaching that everything must be put second to the honour owed to God. And with great wisdom Elizabeth hid herself until her pregnancy was known and the matter was beyond doubt, so that those who heard of these things, being unwilling to be persuaded by hearsay, should not fall under the same charge as Zacharias. The transposed word order runs thus: "The angel was sent to a virgin of the house of David, and the name of the virgin was Mariam, betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph." The angel was not sent to Joseph, since Joseph had no part in the Lord's birth. As sin began from a woman, so good things too had to begin from a woman. [Luke 1:34] Verse 34: "And Mariam said to the angel: How will this be, since I do not know a man?" [Luke 1:35] Verse 35: "And the angel answered," and so on. "You have found favour" was common, for others before her had also found favour. But to say "you will conceive" was no longer common; it was peculiar to the promise, a strange thing for a virgin. "For you have found favour with God." Therefore, "Do not fear"; for the Saviour's coming is the removal of all fear. [Luke 1:36] Verse 36: "And behold, Elizabeth your relative," … [Luke 1:41] The forerunner, moved by the working of the Holy Spirit, heard the greeting of Mary, which Christ, the Word of God, had taken up, and leaped with exultation in his mother's womb, to display his joy and to declare a prophecy. For it was as though from then on Jesus began to make him a prophet, giving him inwardly the revelation of the mystery. And since he did not grant speech to the unborn, because it was not yet time, the mother lent the Baptist, eager to proclaim the Redeemer, the instrument of the body. For she was not filled with the Holy Spirit before the woman who carried Christ arrived. First the babe was filled with the Spirit and leaped, and then he shared it with his mother, and Elizabeth cried out prophetic words because of the babe she carried. (Of the same.) The people did not know the Saviour though he did signs and wonders; but John, while still in the womb, leaped when the mother of Jesus came. "For behold," she says, "when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the babe leaped in exultation in my womb." It was fitting that this blessed Mariam, after Gabriel's visit, should go up into the hill country. She went with haste, led by the Spirit within her, which had come upon her, and by the power of the Most High, which overshadowed her. Just as sin began from a woman and

afterwards reached the man, so good things too began from women, so that women may turn away from weakness and, putting off womanish ways, emulate the lives of these blessed women. [Luke 1:43] Verse 43: "And how does this come to me, that the [mother of my Lord] should come …" (Of the same.) Elizabeth speaks in harmony with her son, calling herself unworthy of the presence of the God-bearer, as John called himself unworthy to stand before Christ. "For what good thing so great have I done," she says, "that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" She calls her mother who is still a virgin, anticipating the outcome by a prophetic word. It was by divine dispensation, then, that the testimony was brought to Elizabeth, so that John's testimony to the Lord from the womb might be given full assurance through his own mother Elizabeth; and so that Mary, seeing Elizabeth according to the angel's word, and the wondrous conception in her, might through this believe the greater thing too, I mean the birth without seed from the virgin herself. And Elizabeth's word contributes to this faith as well, when she says: "And blessed is she who believed that there will be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord." For by these words the virgin became firmer in faith, being called blessed because she believed, with an angel foretelling it and her kinswoman likewise prophesying. (Of the same.) Let us now look at the virgin's prophecy. [Luke 1:46] Verse 46: "My soul magnifies the Lord." We must consider how "my soul magnifies the Lord." If we live worthily, according to the image of the one who created us, and are made like the archetype as far as possible through good works, we magnify the Lord in words, deeds and thoughts. But a person makes him small in proportion to the wickedness within him. Mary's soul, then, magnified the Lord, and her spirit rejoiced in God her Saviour. First her soul magnified him, then her spirit rejoiced. [Luke 1:57] One should look through the whole of the Old and the New Scripture to see whether it is anywhere said at the birth of sinners, "The time was fulfilled for her to give birth." One would not find it, I think, except where it is stated that the one being born is righteous. And this, and the rest. [Luke 1:60] Elizabeth, being a prophetess, though she had not heard the revelation given to her husband, learned by the Holy Spirit the name spoken by the angel, and said that the child would be named John. And when they sought to learn it from the father as well, and made signs to him as to one who could neither hear nor speak, he took a tablet and wrote the child's name, in agreement with his wife, so that all were amazed at this. Then he says: "And his mouth was opened": clearly, after he had written on the tablet that "John"

would be his name, the voice that had been bound was released. He received back his own tongue, no longer bound by unbelief as before, but blessing God and prophesying what is written. It is superfluous to say "and the rest." [Luke 1:72–73] As I think, our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the whole choir of his holy prophets and righteous men, enjoyed the coming of Christ. For if "he made peace through the blood of his cross" for the things on earth and those in heaven, according to the divine apostle, why do you hesitate to accept that his visitation reached the fathers too, and that his descent into Hades accomplished this because of his unsearchable mercy? This, even if it took place now, was proclaimed long ago, and it was impossible for the words not to issue in deed. For he confirmed the promises with an oath, because they cannot be overturned, so that they will surely come to pass. And now the faithful are delivered without fear from the hand of their spiritual enemies.

[Luke 2:49] … hints at a mystery: If any of you belongs to the Father, has he Christ in himself? For he looks rather on the Father's living temple, beautiful and good, than on that temple; for he went out from that temple, saying, "Your house is left to you," and departed to the temple of the Father, the churches everywhere. [Luke 2:51] Verse 51: "And he was subject to them," and the rest. [Luke 3:1] For the prophetic word proclaimed among the Jews alone, only the kingdom of the Jews is recorded: "The vision," it says, "which Isaiah saw against Judea and against Jerusalem in the reign of Uzziah and Jotham and Ahaz and Hezekiah"; and I know no other king recorded in the time of the prophecy than the king of Judea, though in some prophecies the king of Israel is named as well. But when John was going to proclaim the mystery of the Gospel, it is not Herod alone, king of Judea, nor Tiberius alone, of the Romans, who is recorded.

[Luke 3:4] "… of the Lord": what does it mean, if not "Make yourselves ready to receive whatever he may wish to lay down as law"? "Make his paths straight" means "Stop doing what is crooked." [Luke 3:5] A valley, deep and hollow, is every unbeliever who, believing in Christ, is filled with the fruits of the Spirit, that is, the virtues. The mountain and hill brought low is the proud people of the Jews. Or else the mountains and hills are the opposing powers, which were brought low by Christ's care, and the valleys are the people who have been filled with good works. Our life was rough, and our speech uneven; but our Lord came and made everything smooth. These things have happened among the nations; but as for the people that has been brought down, "every mountain and hill will be brought low." For it was once a mountain and a hill, but they were pulled down and humbled. [Luke 3:7] He rightly calls all the unbelievers "offspring of vipers." For whoever does not leave behind the customs within him does not receive baptism rightly, but is still the offspring of a viper, having in himself the poison of wickedness. (Of the same.) [Luke 3:8] He calls stones the gentiles, who have a heart of stone and in great insensibility serve the creature rather than the Creator, and worship stones. He prophesies, then, the pulling down of that people and the calling of the nations. To those who boasted of Abraham he says: "Do not begin to say among yourselves, We have Abraham as our father"; but the nations, he says, God can make children of Abraham. What stones? He was not pointing to lifeless stones, but to people who were insensible, stones because they worshipped stones. And in them was fulfilled what is written: "May those who make them become like them, and all who trust in them." Again, concerning stones it is written in the song in Exodus: "Let the nations be turned to stone, until this people whom you acquired passes by," which clearly implies that after the people has passed by they should no longer be turned to stone. [Luke 3:10] Verse 10: "And the crowds asked him, saying: What then shall we do?" [Luke 3:11] Verse 11: "He answered and said to them: Whoever has two tunics, let him share with the one who has none." What they are saying is this: "The customs given us by Moses and the fathers about sacrifices and about sprinklings: shall we keep them, or are you bringing in for us the way of another manner of life? For if the Jewish observances profit us nothing, tell us what we must do; for we know no way of any other manner of life." What, then, does the Baptist do? Not daring, as a servant, to remove the shadow and bring in worship in spirit and truth, he leads them to the fulfilment of the law, that is, love, whose fruit is to be generous, ready to share, and a lover of the poor. For the Jews had their boast in love for their brothers, and in the distinction of love for the poor,

which did not have the whole of the Gospel, but brought in the beginning of the New Covenant. He brings in three things, and the rest. … [Luke 1:22] See the type in Zacharias. For having cast the Word out from among themselves, and being unable to give an account of any word of the law or the prophets, they remain mute and speechless. [Luke 1:63] Verse 63: "And asking for a tablet he wrote: John is his name." Since Zacharias is interpreted "memory of God" and John "one who shows", and one remembers what is absent but shows what is present, the parents of this child did not allow him to be called Zacharias, but wished rather to name him John. For he was not merely going to remember God as absent, but to point with his finger to that very one as present and say: "Behold the Lamb of God." [Luke 2:48] The all-holy Virgin knew that he was not the child of Joseph, but in their presence she includes her betrothed because of the suspicion of the Jews, who thought he had been born of sexual immorality. More simply, it might be said that the Holy Spirit honoured Joseph with the title of father, and the rest … lest he had left them. But the Lord, refraining from giving a human answer, gives a divine one, showing that he was God made flesh. [Luke 3:5] Or else you will understand it thus: the mountains and hills, the opposing powers, were brought low through Christ's coming, and the valleys, the people, have been filled with good works. And all crooked things have become straight; for each of us was crooked. In Christ's coming, then, which takes place in the soul, the crooked things become straight. And again: our life was rough and our speech uneven; but the Lord came and made all things smooth. [Luke 3:1] Verse 1: "In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar." For the prophetic word proclaimed among the Jews alone, only the kingship of Judea is recorded: "The vision," it says, "which Isaiah saw in the days of Uzziah and Jotham and Ahaz, who reigned over Judah." But for the mystery of the

Gospel, which was to be proclaimed in the whole world, the reign of Tiberius Caesar is recorded, who was thought to be king of the whole world. And if only those from the nations were going to be saved, and salvation were wholly shut off from the sons of Israel, it would have been enough to mention Tiberius alone. But since those from Galilee and Ituraea and Trachonitis must also believe, these kingdoms, or rather tetrarchies, are recorded too. [Luke 3:2] The word of God never came to any of the prophets in the desert, except now only, for the sake of a mystical meaning. For the children of the desert, that is, of the church from the nations, were to be more than those of her who has the husband, I mean the law: the synagogue of the Jews. And "the word of God came to John" means a command. [Luke 3:3] Verse 3: "And he came into all the region around the Jordan." Where should the Baptist go about but in the region around the Jordan, so that anyone who wished to repent would have the river at hand at once? Jordan is interpreted "descending". For truly the river of God is descending: the true water, the saving water. [Luke 3:7] Verse 7: They say that the viper, as she conceives, kills the male from whom she conceives; and her offspring, as it grows, kills the one who conceived it, and so comes out into the light by bursting its mother's belly, as a penalty, as it were, for the father who was destroyed … Such too are the Jews, who destroy their spiritual fathers and teachers with their own hands. This has been said more fully on Matthew. [Luke 4:9] Chapter 4, verse 9: "And he led him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple." See how wickedly, by using the Scriptures, he wishes to pull down the Lord's glory, as though he needed angelic help and would stumble unless angels helped him. For the psalm he uses is not said of Christ: the Master of the angels does not need angels. I say the reverse to you, O devil: if Jesus does not help the angels, they stumble. And that is why you fell from heaven, because you thought yourself self-sufficient and not in need of Jesus' help. That you may know that what is written was not said of Jesus but refers to a righteous man, listen: it is written, "He who dwells in the help of the Most High will lodge in the shelter of the God of heaven." This fits a righteous man rather than the Son of God. And again: "A thousand will fall at your side, and ten thousand," and so on, which also refer to the righteous man. [Luke 4:40] Verse 40: "When the sun was setting, all who had any who were sick with various diseases brought

them to him; and he laid his hands on each of them and healed them." They brought them about sunset, either because they were ashamed to do so by day, or because they feared the Pharisees, or were busy with other things; or perhaps they thought it was not lawful to heal on the Sabbath, for the evangelist noted that he was teaching them on the Sabbath. That is why their relatives brought the sick around sunset, and he healed them. [Luke 5:14] According to the history: after the bird has been sent away, the one cleansed first washes his clothes, then shaves off all his hair, and after this bathes in water; then follows: "He shall be clean." The clothes might be a way of life not wholly badly woven, since otherwise he would have put them off. The hair is the dead things that have sprouted in the soul; contrary to these is the hair of Samuel and of the Nazirites, and of their disciples, which is counted. For no iron came upon the head of the Nazirites, … who prosper in all that they do, so that not even their leaves fall as they bear fruit. Then he puts off the defilement from his body with water, baptism being signified by this. After this he becomes worthy of the camp, but he does not enter his own house for seven days, and until his head is shaved again: through the hair of the head, the finer points of doctrines, and to put away knowledge, the man's sins; through the eyebrows, all conceit.

[Luke 8:18] "… has, it will be given to him; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him." [Luke 8:16] Anyone who wishes to apply the lamp to most of the disciples of Jesus will be put to shame by what is said of John, that "he was the lamp that burns and shines." But "the lamp of the body is the eye," which refers to the mind in each person. And the words "Let your lamps be burning" were said to all the disciples of Jesus. One who has lit a lamp in a rational soul must not hide it, but set it on a lampstand, a symbol of which Moses placed in the tent of witness. For let the fellow servants receive their measure of grain from the faithful and wise servant by the bushel; but let them see the rays of the lamp set on the lampstand, that is, the church of all. Nor do they put the lamp under the bed, where one rests, nor beneath any other vessel. For one who does this does not provide for those who come into the house. For them the lamp must be set by those who kindle the mind within them with the true light, the bright word and the rays of wisdom; the mind has a nature according to which the creator made it, needing a lamp, from those who care for it, so as to have in the soul a most clear-sighted mind, sharing in him who said: "I have come as light into the world." For those who light the lamp and set it on the lampstand, so that it may shine for all in the house, will urge those in the house who see the brightness of the lamp to light their own lampstand too. [Luke 8:38] Verse 38: "But Jesus sent him away, saying," [Luke 8:39] verse 39: "Return to your house, and tell how much God has done for you. And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him." He sends him to his house. For the man did not have such a measure as to be able, clothed, to sit at the feet of Jesus and be with him. And since those of the surrounding region had no room for the presence of Jesus, he nonetheless provided for the salvation of those there who were able to receive it, by sending away the man who had sat long enough at his feet, so that he might teach what God had done for him. Some might be hearers and disciples of such a man, who, though he had no room for more, proclaimed from the little he had received. You might also refer the passage to the nature of man outside Israel, for whose sake Jesus sails down to the country of the Gadarenes, and to whom Jesus goes out onto the land. [Luke 8:27] "And the man," it says, "wore no clothing": for he had not put on what covers his shame. "And he did not stay in a house": for he was not, like Jacob, a plain man dwelling in a house. That is why he sent this very man away, saying: "Return to your house." "And he stayed among the tombs": not with the living but with the dead. [Luke 8:32] "And there was," it says, "a herd of many swine feeding on the mountain." But perhaps swine do not feed on a mountain. How, then,

did the herd rush down the steep bank? Perhaps, then, the lovers of pleasure, friends of the belly and of what lies below the belly, feed where the tombs are, near the legion of demons; and Jesus in his goodness destroys the herd of demons together with the swine in the water, and checks the breath of the evils of the lovers of pleasure and of the body, perhaps by means of the demons, and such a person comes to his right mind? And if anyone is in his right mind, he is beside Jesus; but the one who is beginning to be in his right mind is at his feet. [Luke 7:50] Verse 50: "And he said to the woman: Your faith has saved you; go in peace." The more advanced soul, having served the Word of God well, has boldness to come to the very head (and the head of Christ is God), so as to pour ointment on it and produce a fragrance for the glory of God; and God is glorified through the fragrance of the life of the righteous. But the less perfect woman and soul is occupied with the feet and the lowlier parts, and we are close to her. For we have not even repented of our sins. Where are our tears? Where is our weeping, so that we might at least be able to come to the feet of Jesus? For we cannot yet reach the head itself. It is something to be glad of if after our sins we bear the fragrance of repentance, so that one may stand second, as the woman who anoints the feet, not the head: that is, one who does not touch the more perfect and loftier things, but the extremities and the last. [Luke 8:52] Verse 52: "And all were weeping and mourning for her." He also said: "Do not weep; she is not dead but sleeps." [Luke 8:53] Verse 53: "And they laughed at him, knowing that she had died." Such, then, is the account of the miracle. But perhaps one should also contemplate it more finely and more loftily. Let the simpler and more guileless marvel at the great works of God in this way, for these things edify even when understood bodily. But we who are able to pass on to seeing that "these things too happened to them as types, and were written for our sake," let us pray to God and ask for the word that makes these things clear as well. How is it that Jesus goes first to the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, not to the woman with the flow of blood, and yet she, meeting him on the way, is healed first? The Son of God came first to the synagogue of the Jews, and found it sick and dead; for the transgressions of Israel caused it to die. But the woman with the flow of blood, the one on the way, full of uncleanness, flowing not at the time of her separation but always bleeding and sick, she will believe in the Son of God before the other. And he goes away there, but she wishes to touch the fringe of his garment. And Luke added what Matthew did not say, that the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue was twelve years old, and the woman with the flow

of blood had had the flow for twelve years: so with the other's birth this one began to bleed. For this woman is free of her suffering as long as the synagogue lives, and the same boundary of time marks the end of the one and the beginning of the other's salvation. At twelve years that one dies, and after twelve years of suffering this one believes and is healed, she who could not be healed by any of the physicians. For many physicians promised to heal those from the nations: if you see the philosophers promising truth, they are physicians trying to heal. But though she spent all she had on them, she could not be healed by any of the physicians. She touched the fringe of Jesus' garment by faith, and was healed. If we look at our faith in Jesus Christ, and consider how great the Son of God is, and what of him we have touched, we shall see that, compared with what is in him, we have touched only a fringe. This fringe heals us and makes us hear from Jesus, "Daughter, your faith has saved you," and we are healed. And the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue will rise as well; for "when the fullness of the nations has come in, then all Israel will be saved." [Luke 9:27] Chapter 9, verse 27: "But I tell you truly, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God." Some refer this to Peter, James and John, who went up with Christ onto the high mountain and did not taste death before they saw the Son of Man coming in his kingdom, that is, in the glory of his transfiguration. But if one must say something more searching about standing with Jesus and about tasting death: there were some standing where Jesus was, their soul supported by him. Their standing was akin to that of Moses. For "I too," says Moses, "stood on the mountain forty days and forty nights," being counted worthy to hear: "And you, stand here with me." Few, and friends of God, are those who have their standing in the good, as the Baptist himself says of himself: "The friend of the bridegroom, who stands, rejoices with joy." And those standing beside the Word differ in their standing. So not all who stand by the Saviour, but some of them, as standing better, do not taste death until they see the Word who came to dwell among men, and so is called Son of Man, coming in his kingdom. For he does not always come in his kingdom: not to beginners, who would say that he has "no form or beauty." But to the perfect, according to David, he appears "beautiful in comeliness beyond the sons of men." There is, then, a most kingly dignity of the Word, seen by some of those standing by Jesus who were able to follow him as he went up onto the high mountain of his manifestation, which one is counted worthy

being Peter, and having what cannot be shaken in faith; or sons of thunder, who also do not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. Christ is life, and its enemy is death, whether the death that comes through sin or death understood in another way; each of us chooses one or the other by what he does. Just as Christ is living bread, so his enemy, death, is dead bread. Every rational soul is fed by one or the other of these, one only tasting them, another eating a great deal. And perhaps those who sin rarely and in small things only taste death, while those who have taken up virtue do not even taste it, but are always fed on living bread. For Peter, then, against whom the gates of Hades did not prevail, it follows that he does not taste it; for one tastes death when the gates of Hades prevail against him. And for the sons of thunder too, born of a thunder of divine utterance, it was impossible to taste death, which is very far from thunder, their mother. The word "until" here indicates the time pressing upon what is spoken of; it does not set a limit after which the contrary happens, as in: "And behold, I am with you until the end of the age." At any rate not even the apostles tasted the spiritual death just mentioned after they had seen the vision of such great goods. And since it is said in the Psalms, "Who is the man who will live and not see death?", and "Let death come upon them", and in one of the prophets, "Death prevailed and swallowed," and in the Apocalypse, "Death and Hades follow" some, perhaps it is a lesser evil to see death, a greater one to taste it, worse still for death to follow someone, and not only to follow, but already to come upon him and overtake the one it was following before. But to be swallowed up by death seems to me heavier than all of these. And if you consider what is said and the difference among sins, you will not hesitate, I think, to accept that something of this kind was meant by the Spirit who caused these things to be written in the oracles of God. What, then, is shown by seeing the Son of Man coming in his kingdom and in his glory? And what does "having come in power," in Mark's words, mean? Whatever shines in our hearts, or is found by those who seek, or comes into our thoughts, we shall set out more clearly. The one who contemplates and grasps the superiority of the Word, who dissolves and refutes all the plausible arguments of those

who are false yet promise truth, sees the Son of Man coming in his own kingdom. And if he sees him also setting forth his own things more clearly, he would see him with respect to his kingdom and his glory. Such a person would see in himself the kingdom of God having come in power; and he would see this as one no longer in any way ruled by sin, which reigns in the mortal body of those who sin, but always set under the King, the God of all things, whose kingdom is within us potentially, but actually, as Mark put it, "in power", within the perfect only. [Luke 9:28] Verse 28: "And it happened, about eight days after these words, that he took Peter and John and James and went up onto the mountain to pray." [Luke 9:29] Verse 29: "And as he prayed, the appearance of his face became different, and his clothing white, flashing like lightning." [Luke 9:30] Verse 30: "And behold, two men were talking with him, who were Moses and Elijah," [Luke 9:31] verse 31: "who, appearing in glory, spoke of his departure, which he was about to fulfil in Jerusalem." Such, then, is the event and the miracle of the transfiguration. But if one must speak a higher word: it is not without reason that Mark and Matthew say that after six days Jesus went up onto the mountain with the disciples. Since the whole world was made in six days, a perfect number, the one who goes beyond all the things of the world and looks only at what stands firm and is eternal, he is shown to have been taken along by Jesus after six days. For the one who has gone beyond these sees Jesus, who is transfigured for none of those below, transfigured before him. For the Word appears with different forms, to each as he has room to receive him: to some he has no form, to others he is beautiful in comeliness. To those who do not go up through lofty works, and by them to the high mountain of wisdom, he is understood more simply and known according to the flesh. To the perfect he is spoken of as God and contemplated in the form of God, according to their knowledge; and his face shines like the sun to the children of light and of day, as he is revealed as the Sun of righteousness. And his garments too appear white as the light to those whom he has led up onto the high mountain: these are the words and the letters of the Gospels, which he put on, and I think also what is made known in the writings of the apostles. When, then, you see someone treating the theology of Jesus with precision and making clear the whole text of the Gospels, do not hesitate to say that for such a person Jesus' garments have become white as the light. And to one who has seen Jesus in this way, Moses, the law, and Elijah, the prophetic word, would appear conversing with Jesus. The one who has seen the glory of Moses, understanding the spiritual law as one word with Jesus, and the wisdom hidden in mystery in the prophets, has seen Moses and Elijah in glory, when he saw them with Jesus.

[Luke 9:35] Verse 35: "And a voice came from the cloud, saying: This is my beloved Son; listen to him." [Luke 9:36] Verse 36: "And when the voice had come, [Jesus] was found [alone]." The voice from the cloud perhaps says "This is" to Moses and Elijah, and perhaps also to the disciples. Hearing it, and unable to bear this glory, they fell on their faces, humbled under the mighty hand of God, greatly afraid, knowing what was said to Moses: "For no one shall see my face and live." But lifting up their eyes they saw Jesus only. For Moses, the law, and Elijah, the prophecy, became, I think, one with Jesus, the Gospel; and they did not remain three, as they had been before. Understand these things more mystically. As for the lofty intention of the letter: Moses and Elijah, having appeared in glory and talked with Jesus, went back to where they had come from. Jesus is not seen to have wished the things of his glory to be told; for those who heard, and the crowds especially, would have been harmed, seeing one so glorified being crucified. So the disciples did not hide it out of envy, but because they feared they would not be believed. They announced it, then, after the ascension, after the coming of the Spirit. For when they were filled with boldness and were counted worthy of the Spirit, and had the voice of the signs pleading for them, everything they said was readily received. [Luke 9:42] Verse 42: "And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father." One must look at these things more loftily, and note that those who suffer, or the relatives of those who suffer, are with the crowds, to whom Jesus comes down from the heights, after arranging what is above them, to heal those who cannot go up the mountain to him because of the diseases that hold their souls. One must examine in which illnesses the sufferers themselves ask, believing in their own healing, either asking him or touching the fringe of his garment; and in which others ask for them, as the centurion for his servant, the royal official for his son, the ruler of the synagogue for his daughter, the Canaanite woman, and now the man who kneels to him for his moonstruck son; and when the Saviour heals of his own accord without being asked, as the paralytic at the Sheep Pool. For these cases, compared with one another, will present many teachings to one able to hear the wisdom of God hidden in mystery, about the different afflictions of souls and the manner of their healing. For as you reasonably refer every disease and weakness that Christ healed among the crowds to the passions in souls, so in the same way consider, along with the lame and the deaf, the case of the moonstruck boy. For this affliction attacks at certain times, and leaves for longer periods,

during which the sufferer differs in no way from one who is healthy. So too some souls are perhaps thought to be healthy in self-control and to live as reason wishes; and then at times they fall under the passions, after seeming to have stood firm … in the deceit of this age and the other desires. These, speaking spiritually, are moonstruck: thrown down by the spiritual forces of wickedness in the passions that lurk within, they fall into the fire of burnings; and sometimes into the water, when the king of all the dragons in the waters throws them down from seeming to breathe freely, so that they sink into the depths of the waves of the sea of human life. The one who speaks in Wisdom will help us with this account, saying of the steadiness of the righteous, "The discourse of the godly is always wisdom," and of those described here, "But the fool changes like the moon." In such people one may see impulses that can draw to praise those who do not notice their instability, so that one might say there is, as it were, a full moon in them, or nearly full. But again you would see the light that seemed to be in them as a mere imitation: not daylight, but night light, and waning until it no longer even seems to be light when one looks for it in them. If, then, every soul is placed under an angel, this father of the moonstruck boy may be the angel, asking Jesus as for his son, since the boy could not be healed of his affliction by the lesser word of the disciples. And the mute and deaf demon is the irrational impulses toward what seems good, cast out by the Word; it produced them by an irrational motion, while those who saw them thought they were acting according to the reason of Jesus' teaching. This affliction is hard to cure and strong: the belief that what was not done well was done well. In such people this working is so great that it is compared to a mountain, which needs to be moved from the sufferer by the whole faith of the one who heals. And the whole faith is compared to a mustard seed, since faith is despised by people, is very small and appears cheap; but when it finds good earth, that is, a soul, it becomes a great tree, so that, while no wingless creature can, the spiritually winged birds of heaven can nest in the branches of such faith. [Luke 9:43] Verse 43: "And while all were marvelling at all that Jesus did, he said to his disciples," [Luke 9:44] verse 44: "Put these words into your ears: for the Son of Man is about to be handed over into the hands of men." By whom, then, is he to be handed over? The apostle says that the Son was handed over by God, saying: "He who did not spare his own Son, but handed him over for us all"; for

the whole world, he who was to suffer, so that he might take away its sin. And you will say that he was also handed over by the devil, as Job's yokes of oxen and his asses were handed over to the raiders, then the camels to the horsemen, the sheep to the fire, and his daughters and sons to the wind from the desert. Let the Son, then, be handed over first by the Father into the hands of men; then by Judas, into whom Satan entered after the morsel, handing him over more fundamentally than Judas. But the Father did not spare his own Son out of love for humankind and kindness toward us; Judas, out of the wickedness of his choice. And once put to death, he destroyed the one who has the power of death, that is, of sin: the devil. For sin is death in the proper sense, as in "The soul that sins, it shall die." And the rulers set themselves against Christ; but we, who have benefited from his being killed, say: "Let us burst their bonds." For having been conformed to the death of Christ, we are no longer under the bonds of the enemies; rather they are laughed to scorn by the Father who dwells in heaven and mocked by the Lord. For by rising he has made us conformed to his resurrection too, no longer sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, because the light of God has dawned on us. [Luke 9:57] Verse 57: "And as they were going on the way, someone said to him: I will follow you wherever you go, Lord." [Luke 9:58] Verse 58: "And Jesus said to him: The foxes have holes, and the birds of heaven have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." If, then, you are ready, like me, to have nowhere to lay your head, you will choose, because of my teaching, to have no settled place here, in hope of the kingdom of heaven, expecting rest in nothing here but in the age to come. For my disciples, practising righteousness, will have tribulation in this world; but the wicked and the sorcerers, compared to foxes and birds of heaven, will prosper in this life, deceiving and being deceived. More loftily: [Luke 9:59] when the young man's father had died and was dead, then he was called by Jesus. We must think that, just as the world had been crucified to Paul and was dead, since the things of the world had died to him and he no longer looked at them as things seen and temporary, so to each righteous person the devil has died, who lived for him while he was sinning. For "everyone who commits sin is of the devil"; and for everyone who sins and looks to the things here, the evil father is alive. But to everyone for whom the evil one has died, Christ might say: "Follow me." And perhaps such is the mystical meaning of the saying that we must hate our father if we are to be worthy of Jesus. [Luke 9:60] And "Let the dead bury their own dead" is to be taken only as allegory. For in a way the dead bury their own dead within themselves, becoming tombs and monuments.

Completely, then, the one who obeys Jesus leaves the dead man behind and no longer touches him at all; for he knows that whoever touches a corpse is defiled. [Luke 10:1] Luke says these things about the more approved disciples; Mark says that calling the twelve to him he sent them out two by two, giving them authority over unclean spirits. This serving of the word two by two, by the will of God, seems to be ancient, going back to Moses and Aaron when the people went out of Egypt: for God brought Israel out by the hand of Moses and Aaron. And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, both of one mind, calmed the people; … both prophesied in the camp, of one mind. And later too he sent out Paul and Barnabas to the nations; and such men were examples of "two agreeing on earth." These sayings will also fit them: "A brother helped by a brother is like a strong city," and "Two are better than one." That the twelve too were arranged two by two Matthew shows in his list, setting them out in pairs. And just as a farmer works the land with a yoke of oxen, so the Lord, yoking the apostles two by two, sent them out, working with them the land of those who hear in truth and believe. [Luke 10:10] Chapter 10, verse 10: "Into whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into its streets" [Luke 10:11] (verse 11) "and say: Even the dust of your city that clings to us we wipe off against you." For the dust of your sins would justly come back upon you. More simply: "Shake off the dust" means either to show that they received nothing from them, or to serve as a testimony against them of the long journey they made for their sake. Notice that the cities that do not receive the apostles and the sound teaching have broad streets, corresponding to the broad gate and the wide road that leads to destruction, and many are those who go through it. [Luke 10:38] Verse 38: "And as they went on their way, he entered a village; and a woman named Martha received him into her house." [Luke 10:39] Verse 39: "And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to his word." [Luke 10:40] Verse 40: "But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she came up and said: Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her, then, to help me." [Luke 10:41] Verse 41: "And Jesus answered and said to her: Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; but one thing is needed."

[Luke 10:42] Verse 42: "Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her." For "One thing is needed," the saying "You shall love your neighbour as yourself" is useful; for "Few things are needed" you will set beside it "You shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness," and anything else said in the same way. You may take Martha for action, Mary for contemplation. Or Martha for those from the circumcision who believed and keep the precepts of the law in a Jewish way, and Mary for those who are freed from these and sit at the feet of Jesus alone. For if you approach it in different ways, you will find Martha more bodily and occupied with many things, and Mary devoted to contemplation alone and to spiritual things. [Luke 11:2] Verse 2: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name; your kingdom come." I think that no one would say "Father" to God unless he were filled with the spirit of adoption. The Son, who glorifies the Father, would say "Father"; and so would one who has kept the commandment that says, "Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you, so that you may become sons of your Father in heaven." "Your kingdom come": that every rule and authority and power may be abolished, and moreover every kingdom of the world and the sin that reigns in our mortal bodies, and that God may reign over all these. [Luke 11:3] Verse 3: "Give us our daily bread." "Each day" is necessarily added; for our true life needs repair, as it were, so that the inner man may live according to God. [Luke 11:5–7] Verses 5, 6, 7: "Which of you" is said to the disciples; "will have a friend", so that he may call God a friend to the saints, as to Moses and to Abraham. And perhaps midnight is this short span of life, when the destroyer enters every house of the Egypt in the world where the doorpost has not been anointed with the blood of Christ. The disciple asks the friend for three loaves, wishing to nourish with the theology of the Trinity the one who has come to him from the road, as he says: "Apart from me you can do nothing." But how does the friend answer from within, saying, "Do not trouble me"? You will inquire whether those who labour and are burdened hand over their troubles to the Saviour; that is why he bears our weaknesses and suffers pain for us. Or else, just as God does not sleep for this one but is said to be angry with another who sins, so he has trouble from the one who gives it to him. But consider whether bread is the necessary food of the soul

in knowledge, without which one cannot be saved, such as the exact teaching on how one must live; and fish, a kind of relish, is the love of learning, such as knowing the constitution of the world, the working of the elements, the beginning and end and middle of times, and all that Wisdom lists after these. So God does not give a stone instead of bread (the stone that the devil wanted Jesus to eat), nor a snake instead of a fish (the snake that the Ethiopians eat, who are unworthy to eat fish; for there, says the Psalmist, "You crushed the head of the dragon on the water; you gave him as food to the peoples, the Ethiopians"), nor, in general, things inedible and harmful instead of what nourishes and helps. [Luke 11:34] Verse 34: "The lamp of the body is the eye. When your eye is single, your whole body is full of light; but when it is evil, your body too is dark." [Luke 11:35–36] Verse 35: "See, then, whether the light in you is darkness. … it will be wholly full of light, as when the lamp lights you with its flash." I think the meaning of the next saying is this: if, because your body has become full of light, the lamp of the body having lit it, there is no longer any dark part in you, since you no longer sin at all, then the whole body will be full of light, so that its rays may be compared to a lamp in a lightning flash that gives light and dispels the darkness. For the illumination that comes from the mind is like the brightest lightning, and the light in the body is like a lamp in the lightning, … no longer to be darkness, being led wherever the mind wishes. [Luke 11:51] Verse 51: "From the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharias." Having failed to get Elizabeth and the child, the executioners turn their anger on Zacharias, as the story goes. It also happened, they say, because of the virgin Mary after she had given birth to our Saviour. For when she came to worship, she stood in the place of the virgins; and when those who knew that she had given birth tried to stop her, Zacharias said to those who were stopping her that she was worthy of the place of the virgins, since she was still a virgin. So, as though he were breaking the law, they killed him between the temple and the altar, while he was ministering and sacrificing to God, and they mixed his blood with the blood of the sacrifices. [Luke 12:6] Chapter 12, verse 6: "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God." [Luke 12:7] Verse 7: "But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear, then; you are worth more than many sparrows." Note that he did not speak of a sparrow falling to the earth, as Matthew does. Five sparrows here hint at the senses of the righteous man, which of things on high

and they perceive things beyond man: they see divine things, hear the voice of God, taste the living bread, smell the fragrance of Christ's ointments, the oil of gladness, and touch the living Word. These, though despised by those who judge the things of the Spirit to be folly, are not forgotten before God. The saying that shows that not even the least sparrow is forgotten before God should be examined together with the sayings that show God forgetting some people because of their sin. According to the letter, then, these words show the minute care of Providence and a knowledge that reaches to the smallest things. In the spiritual sense, the mind falls to the earth like a sparrow when, though it should be carried upward, it seeks the things below, held fast by the evils of the flesh, handed over to dishonourable passion, and having lost its freedom along with its honour. Such is the one who was lifted up by the Word and then set his mind on earthly things. Again, according to the letter, the saying "It will not fall to the earth without your Father" shows not his will but his foreknowledge. For of the things that happen, some happen by his will, some by his good pleasure, and some by his permission. [Luke 13:20] Verse 20: "And again he said: To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?" [Luke 13:21] Verse 21: "It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened." It can be taken in another way: the woman as the church, the leaven as the Holy Spirit, and the three measures as body, spirit and soul. These are sanctified by the leaven of the Holy Spirit, so as to become one lump with the Holy Spirit. Further, the Saviour calls the Holy Spirit leaven, the power brought to perfection from the seed, hinting at it in this way. The word of the heavenly kingdom, having grown after its first sowing among people and yielded perfect fruit, provides the supply of the Holy Spirit to those who have benefited from the first things, like leaven leavening a lump. And the woman, the wisdom of God, hides this leaven in three measures of flour. To those who, by much care and by cultivating the seed, have gained three measures of flour, that is, doctrines, the divine knowledge of Father and Son and Holy Spirit, the wisdom of God supplies the Holy Spirit. In another sense, the same wisdom hides the leaven, the benefit that comes from it, in every person who is from God, composed of body and soul and spirit, by the supply of divine inspiration, in the three measures of flour as just understood, until the whole is leavened. Such a person, transformed and leavened by sharing in the heavenly leaven, will be called a heavenly and spiritual man, and a new lump, as one in whom a single mixture has been made of the three flours and of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in them.

Spirit. And when we have become a new and spiritual bread, according to the apostle who says, "We who are many are one bread and one body," we shall take on the image and likeness of the life-giving bread of all things, which came down from heaven and has made us too like himself. In these words I liken the wisdom of God to a woman; and Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, in keeping with the example of the leaven. For just as in the parable of the seed he brought in the figure of a farmer and sower, and a woman could not reasonably have been mentioned there, so here too, where leaven is put into three measures of flour, the parable fittingly does not liken the sower named in that parable to a woman making bread. [Luke 13:29] Verse 29: "And they will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline in the kingdom of God." In Matthew a parable is woven in which different workers are called into the vineyard, that is, to the commandments, at different ages: at dawn, and about the third, the sixth, the ninth and the eleventh hour. Perhaps, then, the day in the parable is the life of a human being. Those called from childhood and their first youth are those whom the master hired at dawn; those called after adolescence are those from the third hour; those who are brought to piety after the heat and burden of youth, older men, are those about the ninth hour; and those already old, at the very moment of their departure, are shown by the eleventh. And since it is the choice, not the time, that is examined, what one has done in faith, the equal wage of salvation is given to those who have done what fell to them from the time they were called: the denarius of the divine and most kingly image, which the evil one stole in the beginning through deceit, in the transgression of the commandment. By it he seems to me to indicate the mark of the kingdom itself, since the stamp of a denarius signifies the image of a king imprinted on it. Since, then, it was just that all who had come into the vineyard, into the commonwealth of piety, and had set their hand to one and the same work, should share in the same kingdom, the denarius, the symbol of the kingdom, is fittingly given to all: to those called in childhood, to those called at the age of youth, to those called about the middle of human life, to those who had already reached and passed perfect manhood, and to those in old age itself, aged now and at the sunset of life. One might also, explaining it another way, apply what the parable shows to those counted worthy of the divine call from the first beginning of human life to the consummation of the age: so as to say that those called early in the morning to the work of piety were those who were saved first, at the beginning of life;

second, those around Enoch and Noah; about the third hour, those around Abraham; about the sixth, those in the times of the prophets; about the eleventh, those after the saving manifestation of God. All these, it is shown, will be counted worthy of one and the same wage, signified by the denarius, as it refers to the kingdom of God. All these intervals are equal in number to the senses. Touch is the first call; whence it is said of the plant, "You shall not touch it"; smell belongs to the second, whence in Noah's time "the Lord smelled a fragrant odour"; taste belongs to Abraham, which is why he set before the angels cakes and a calf; hearing belongs to Moses, when the voice of God was heard from heaven; sight, the most precious of all the senses, belongs to the coming of Christ, when they saw Christ with blessed eyes. The evening is the consummation of the age, when the last workers receive their wage first. For those who were earlier attested through faith did not receive what was promised; we who are Christ's own expect to receive the wage first. [Luke 14:12] Verse 12: "And he said also to the man who had invited him: When you give a dinner or a supper, do not invite your friends, or your brothers, or …, lest they too invite you in return and you be repaid." [Luke 14:13] Verse 13: "But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind," [Luke 14:14] verse 14: "and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." According to the letter, we are commanded not to invite friends and neighbours, but the poor and maimed, the lame and the blind. Mystically, perhaps, friends would be those who rejoice with us in the doctrines of the truth; brothers, those who hold kindred doctrines; relatives, those who wish to come close to us in these; neighbours, those who dwell not altogether far from our doctrines. "Rich" is to be understood of all of these together. Those who seek applause for their lectures invite rich and poor; but the one who serves the word for true glory is free of vainglory. He invites the poor, that is, those without experience in words, so as to enrich them; the maimed, that is, those whose thinking is damaged, so as to heal them; the lame, those who limp in reasoning, so that they may make straight paths; the blind, those who lack the power of contemplation, so that they may see the true light. And "they cannot repay you" is the same as "they do not know how to carry on a discussion by question and answer, according to the rules of argument." [Luke 14:18] Verse 18: "And they all began alike to make excuses"

all," that is, as if by one agreement. "The first said to him: I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. I ask you, consider me excused." [Luke 14:19] Verse 19: "And another said: I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you, consider me excused." [Luke 14:20] Verse 20: "And another said: I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come." Put simply, some fall away from the call through three things: the fancy of better doctrines, the pursuit of the things of sense, and the love of pleasure. Those who bought a field and excuse themselves from the supper are those who have taken up doctrines other than those of the Godhead, with much plausibility and variety of speech; they despise the field that has in itself … and powers. The one, then, who has not seen or tested the teaching he acquired, because he was already taken up with it, goes out from the supper of necessity and not willingly, and from the one who invited him, and perhaps from himself. He says "I ask you" as one who respects the host in word only. The one who bought five yoke of oxen is the one who despises the intelligible nature and is fond of the things of sense; nor did this man test from the beginning what he had bought. If the number two is assigned to matter, this man honoured material things; that is why he too declined the intelligible supper. The other is the one who said "I have married a wife": the one who thinks he has found wisdom and, by his fellowship with it, declines the true wisdom; or the one united to the flesh, a lover of pleasure rather than a lover of God. Such, then, is the parable as a whole; but take the details of the passage in another way as well. [Luke 14:16] Since we are human, it is not good for us to know the wealth of God's kindness. Necessarily God is likened to a man, so that he may speak to us as to men, since we have no room for everything to be arranged for us by God while God remains as he is. He will cease to be likened to a man when, having ceased from strife, jealousy and the other evils, and from walking in a human way, we are counted worthy to hear from God: "I said, You are gods, and sons of the Most High, all of you." He has ceased also to be called by many other names that sinful man needs, panther and lion and bear, as is written in the prophets. In the same way I also understand "Our God is a consuming fire"; for to one who is not deserving to be consumed he is light, according to John, who says, "Our God is light." And again: "It has not yet been revealed what we shall be; but we know that when he is revealed we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is." For even if we are counted worthy to see God now with the mind and the heart, we do not see him as he is, but as he becomes for us for the sake of our salvation; but in the restoration of all things, of which he spoke through the mouth of his holy ones, we shall see, not as now what he is not, but, as will befit that time, what he is. Among us, then, who are human, he was likened to a man; but among

those who have made themselves gods, he was likened to God: "For God," it says, "stands in the assembly of gods." [Luke 15:23] Verse 23: "And bring the fatted calf, and let us eat and be merry." If one must view the passage more loftily, he begins with words: ethical ones, like food, in "let us eat", and contemplative ones, like drink, in "let us be merry"; for wine is the beginning of merriment, as it is written. [Luke 16:17] Verse 17: "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of the law to fall." The one stroke is not only the iota among the Greeks, but also among the Hebrews what they call yod. And the iota can be said symbolically to be Jesus, since the beginning of his name is written with the yod among both Greeks and Hebrews. There is, then, in the law the Word of God, who does not pass away, nor fall before everything has come to pass; but then he falls, so that he may bear more fruit, not conquered, but humbling himself and becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. [Luke 17:12] Verse 12: "And as he entered a village, ten leprous men met him, who stood at a distance." [Luke 17:13] Verse 13: "And they lifted up their voices, saying: Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." Indeed, you may take the laws about leprosy as a description of a different state of the soul. For who would not be perplexed to see that in one case leprosy makes a man unclean when it appears on living flesh, and in another case frees from all uncleanness a man who has become wholly leprous? For he is reckoned unclean when living flesh, after he has become wholly leprous, defiles the leprosy that is said to cover the whole … I think that leprosy is taken to stand for the irrational passions of the soul, and the living flesh for its rational condition. The passage seems to me to offer a mystery. In the age of infancy the soul is blameless, its lack of reason freeing it from all blame. But if living flesh appears in it, that is, if reason begins to grow, then the beginning of sin arises, until, when the living flesh has prevailed, that is, when reason grows and is perfected, the whole flesh becomes living and the leprosy disappears completely. [Luke 18:20] Verse 20: "You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honour your father and your mother." In this saying the madness of the Marcionites and the Manichaeans is refuted, who say that the law is foreign to Christ. For Mark says that Jesus, looking at

him, loved him. He would not have loved a man who spoke boldly about keeping these commandments if their fulfilment had been foreign to him. But it raises the question how one who was not going to follow him to life was loved. The one who has kept the precepts of the law is worthy of love for those earlier things; but his neglect of what leads to perfection did not let the love for the earlier things come to completion. [Luke 19:29] Chapter 19, verse 29: "And it happened, as he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called the Mount of Olives, that he sent two of his disciples," [Luke 19:30] verse 30: "saying: Go into the village opposite, in which, as you enter, you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it." [Luke 19:31] Verse 31: "And if anyone asks you, Why are you untying it? you shall say this: The Lord has need of it." [Luke 19:32] Verse 32: "And those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them." [Luke 19:33] Verse 33: "As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them: Why are you untying the colt?" [Luke 19:34] Verse 34: "And they said: The Lord has need of it." For where there is obedience and a holy place, there the Lord sends the apostles to untie a tied colt, on which neither the word of Moses nor that of Isaiah nor of any other of the prophets ever sat. And when Christ came, the one Lord by nature and the only one, the many "lords" fall silent before being made subject by the Saviour. For when someone serves wickedness, he is the slave of many passions; but once the Lord has come, he cannot … [Luke 19:35] Verse 35: "And throwing their garments on the colt, they set Jesus on it." [Luke 19:36] Verse 36: "And as he went, they spread their garments on the road." The disciples take the Word and set him on the souls of the hearers. And the good deeds of the apostles, laid upon us, adorn us. For they wish us also to tread on their garments, by examining the apostolic words. [Luke 20:19] Chapter 20, verse 19: "And the chief priests and the scribes sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they knew that he had told this parable against them." [Luke 20:20] Verse 20: "And watching him, they sent spies who pretended to be righteous, so that they might catch him in what he said, in order to hand him over to the power and authority of the governor."

[Luke 20:23] Verse 23: "But perceiving their craftiness, he said to them: Why do you test me?" [Luke 20:24] Verse 24: "Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have? They answered and said: Caesar's." [Luke 20:25] Verse 25: "And he answered and said to them: Then render to Caesar the things of Caesar, and to God the things of God." [Luke 20:26] Verse 26: "And they could not catch him in what he said before the people, and marvelling at his answer they fell silent." More loftily: man, as is written in Genesis, came to be according to the image of God; but later, through his disobedience, he took on also the image of the earthy. And just as the coin bears the image of the one who rules the nations, so the one who does the works of the ruler of this world bears his image, which the Saviour urges us to give back and put off, and to bear the image that was made in the beginning. In keeping with this, Paul too says: "As we have borne the image of the earthy, so let us bear also the image of the heavenly." This, then, is what "Render to Caesar the things of Caesar, and to God the things of God" shows.