st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul

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108 ST. JOHN OF DAMASCUS.
nor of Paul, nor
of Joseph, nor of any other father,
but of man : for He had not a father on earth, who
had not a mother in heaven
(c. vi.).
Reasons are next given for the use of the expres
sion, "there are some standing here which shall not
taste of death," &c., on the ground that if one only
had been singled out, the words would have been
interpreted
in the same sense as the declaration in
St. John xxi. 22, and referred to the survival of
St.
John ;
whereas if all had been used instead of
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some, the unworthy Iscariot would have been included
(c. vii.). The apparent discrepancy between St. Mat
thew and St. Luke as to the time, after six days
and "after
eight is
days," explained in the simple
and natural way of supposing that one evangelist
counts both extremes in, the other neither. But not
content with this, the preacher goes on to display the
symbolic properties of both these numbers in a way
that reminds us of the Numerorum Mysteria of Petrus
Bungus. Six is a perfect number, for it is made up
of the sum of its factors, and eight is the number of
the resurrection. In connection with this he quotes
the beautiful application made by Nazianzen of the
passage in Ecclesiastes (xi. 2),
Give a portion to
seven, and also to eight";
where seven, the number
of the week, is interpreted of the affairs of this life
which demand our care, while eight, denoting the
recurrence of the first
day over again, is interpreted
of the life to come, which also must have its portion
in our thoughts (c. viii.).
The reason for the choice
of Peter, James, and John, to be witnesses of the
Transfiguration, is then given ;
as also the reason of