Letter 530

To Maximus the Presbyter. If something is written in the Old [Testament] or in the New as having happened historically, and that this or that was plainly done, but we for our part understand it with reference to ourselves, applying it by our reflections and by our reasonings toward spiritual edification, do not suppose that we have set aside the letter or rejected the historical narrative. Far from it! We do not abolish, nor do we cast away, what was done perceptibly and handed down by the historical account. But since we ourselves are the world, by understanding with reference to ourselves all the things that happened of old, today we are benefited. For since today there is no Joseph, nor the Egyptian woman, nor Hezekiah the king, nor Judas the betrayer, nor Lazarus who died and rose again, nor Simon the Magician [Simon Magus, Acts 8], nor the rest, for this reason, if we see someone living chastely, we call this man a Joseph; if we behold an adulterous woman, we call her the Egyptian woman [the wife of Potiphar, Gen. 39]; if some man of power happens to be faithful to God and devout, he is addressed as Hezekiah; and everyone who betrays the word of the truth and casts others into death is reckoned a Judas; and if some excellent man through carelessness has sinned, and then, having repented, is brought back to life, it is clear that his mind died through the transgression and is raised up through repentance; while the one who approaches the Church of God in hypocrisy and is baptized with mere water, yet not also with the Holy Spirit, we are accustomed to name a Simon Magus. With reference to these things, then, and measuring out as by a rule all the things spoken by us in a spiritual sense, you will in no way be made to stumble against us. Therefore understand with reference to yourself all the things that happened figuratively and were done among the ancients. For the Apostle says: "You are the temple of God" [1 Cor. 3:16] - not the one built of stone by Solomon; "for all things are yours, whether the world, or things present, or things to come" [1 Cor. 3:21-22]. And you are also the tilled field, and the vineyard, and the flock, and the rest.

Ἐάν τι γέγραπται ἐν τῇ Παλαιᾷ, ἤτε ἐν τῇ Νέᾳ, ἱστορικῶς γενήσεσθαι, καὶ φανερῶς τόδε ἢ τίδε πεπράχθαι, ἡμεῖς δὲ εἰς ἑαυτοὺς νοοῦμεν αὐτὸ ταῖς ἐνθυμήσεσι, καὶ τοῖς λογισμοῖς πρὸς οἰκοδομὴν πνευματικὴν χρώμενοι, μὴ νόμιζε, ὅτι ἠθετήσαμεν τὸ γράμμα, ἢ ἀπωσάμεθα τὴν ἱστορίαν. Μὴ γένοιτο! Οὐ καθιστοῦμεν, οὐδ᾽ ἀποβαλλόμεθα τὸ αἰσθητῶς πεπραγμένον, καὶ ἱστορίᾳ παραδοθέν. Ἀλλ᾽ ἐπειδὴ ἡμεῖς ἐσμεν ὁ κόσμος, πάντα τὰ πρώην γενόμενα, σήμερον εἰς ἑαυτοὺς νοοῦντες ὠφελούμεθα. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ οὐκ ἔστι σήμερον Ἰωσήφ, οὔτε ἡ Αἰγυπτία, οὔτε Ἐζεκίας ὁ βασιλεύς, οὔτε Ἰούδας ὁ προδότης, οὔτε Λάζαρος ἀποθανὼν καὶ ἀναστάς, οὔτε Σίμων ὁ Μάγος, οὔτε τὰ ἑξῆς, διὰ τοῦτο, ἐὰν ἴδωμεν σωφρονοῦντά τινα, Ἰωσὴφ τοῦτον καλοῦμεν · ἐὰν θεασώμεθα γυναῖκα μοιχάδα, Αἰγυπτίαν λέγομεν αὐτήν· ἐὰν τις δυνάστης πιστὸς τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ εὐλαβὴς τυγχάνῃ, Ἐζεκίας προσαγορεύεται · πᾶς δὲ ὁ προδιδοὺς τὸν λόγον τῆς ἀληθείας, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους ἐμβάλλων εἰς θάνατον, Ἰούδας νενομίσται· εἰ δέ τις βέλτιστος ἄνθρωπος ἀμελήσας ἥμαρτεν, εἶτα μετανοήσας ζωοποιηθῇ, δῆλον ὅτι ὁ νοῦς αὐτοῦ ἀπέθανεν διὰ τῆς πλημμελείας, καὶ ἠγείρεται διὰ τῆς μετανοίας, ὅν δὲ καθ᾽ ὑπόκρισιν προσερχόμενον τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἐκκλησίᾳ, καὶ βαπτιζόμενον ψιλῷ ὕδατι, οὐ μέντοι καὶ Πνεύματι ἁγίῳ, Σίμωνα Μάγον ἐπονομάζειν ειώθαμεν. Πρὸς ταῦτα οὖν, καὶ πάντα τὰ παρ᾽ ἡμῶν νοητῶς λεγόμενα κανονίζων, οὐδαμῶς σκανδαλίσθησῃ καθ᾽ ἡμῶν. Πάντα οὖν εἰς ἑαυτὸν νόησον τὰ τυπικῶς. συμβάντα, καὶ πραχθέντα τοῖς ἀρχαίοις. φησὶ γὰρ ὁ Ἀπόστολος· « Ὑμεῖς ναὸς Θεοῦ ἐστε· » οὐχ ὁ ἐκ λίθου ὑπὸ τοῦ Σολομῶντος δεδομημένος· « Πάντα γὰρ ὑμῶν ἐστιν, εἴτε κόσμος, εἴτε ἐνεστῶτα, εἴτε μέλλοντα. » Ὑμεῖς δὲ καὶ γεώργιον, καὶ ἀμπελὼν, καὶ ποίμνη, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα.