Letter 245

To the same. Establish first what was spoken by Christ not in a figurative but in a literal sense, namely that "From the beginning the Creator made them male and female" [Matthew 19:4], and "What God has joined together, let no man separate" [Matthew 19:6]. And afterward interpret allegorically what the Apostle says, "This great mystery refers to Christ and to the Church" [Ephesians 5:32]: that we are of His flesh and of His bones [cf. Ephesians 5:30; Genesis 2:23] through partaking of Christ and being united to Him in faith, and in knowledge, and in the virtues.

Στῆσον πρῶτον τὸ οὐχὶ νοητῶς, ἀλλ’ αἰσθητῶς παρὰ Χριστοῦ εἰρημένον, ὅτι « Ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς ὁ Κτίσας ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ ἐποίησεν, » καὶ « Ὅπερ ὁ Θεὸς συνέζευξεν, ἄνθρωπος μὴ χωριζέτω. » Καὶ ὕστερον ἀλληγόρει, ὅπερ φησὶν ὁ Ἀπόστολος « Τὸ μέγα μυστήριον εἰς Χριστὸν καὶ εἰς τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν. » ὅτι ἐκ τῶν σαρκῶν αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν ὀστέων ἐσμέν, διὰ τὸ μετέχειν Χριστοῦ, καὶ συνηνῶσθαι αὐτῷ ἐν πίστει, καὶ γνώσει, καὶ ἀρεταῖς.