VARIOUS EPISTLES

 we do not define Jesus in a human way for he is not only a man -nor super-essential, if only a man-, but truly a man who is pre-eminently a lover of

 For my part, I have not spoken against the Greeks or against others, thinking it sufficient for good men, if they could both know and speak the truth

 represented. By nature, at any rate, Apollophanes [says] these things are not true. Indeed, this is especially borne out in the sacred reports of the

 a man after my own heart. And yet a good law had been given, even to care for an enemy’s beast of burden. And Job was justified as one holding to gu

 For God is divided against himself for how shall his kingdom stand? And if the judgment is God's, as the oracles say, and the priests are messeng

 and to understand deeper things, but to consider only those things assigned to him according to his worth. What then, you say, should not priests who

 He therefore with desire and spirit and reason marked out what was according to worth, but to you the divine ministers, and to these the priests, and

 -this indeed worthy of much shuddering-, whom Christ, being good, seeks wandering on the mountains and calls as he flees and having found him with dif

 to be standing at the chasm, trembling, pitiable, on the very point of being carried down by the instability of their own feet. And from below, from t

 forming certain trees and shoots and flowers and putting forth roots, or springs of water bubbling up, or productive radiances bringing forth light, o

 by the reformations of typical symbols, as such veils are by nature kindred and they show, as many as have heard clear theology without veils, form in

 and in it setting forth both the solid foods and the drinks and the mixing bowl, so that it is clear to those who fittingly contemplate divine things,

 filled with good things. And we consider the reclining a repose from many labors and a life free from harm and a divine way of life in the light and l

 to draw to oneself and partake of the light. But on the contrary, it will not deprive us of the all-radiant ray of John, as we will now encounter the

we do not define Jesus in a human way; for he is not only a man -nor super-essential, if only a man-, but truly a man who is pre-eminently a lover of mankind, beyond men and according to men the super-essential one, having been substantiated from the substance of men. And the ever super-essential one is no less super-full of super-essentiality, indeed, by the abundance of this, and having truly come into substance, he was substantiated beyond substance and he performed human things in a way beyond man. And a virgin supernaturally conceiving shows this, and unstable water bearing the weight of material and earthly feet and not yielding, but by a supernatural power being held together so as not to part. Why should one go through the rest, which are very many? Through which he who sees divinely will know beyond mind also those things affirmed of the philanthropy of Jesus, having the power of a transcendent negation. For indeed, to speak concisely, He was not a man, not as not-man, but as being from men, beyond men, and having truly become man in a way beyond man, and for the rest, not doing divine things as God, nor human things as man, but, God having become man, He lived among us a certain new, theandric energy.

TO DOROTHEUS THE MINISTER

The divine darkness is the “unapproachable light” in which God is said to dwell, and being invisible because of its excelling brilliance and unapproachable because of the excess of its super-essential outpouring of light. In this comes to be everyone who is counted worthy to know and to see God, by the very fact of not seeing nor knowing; truly coming to be in that which is beyond sight and knowledge, knowing this very thing, that He is after all things sensible and intelligible, and will say prophetically: “Your knowledge has been made wonderful to me; it is mighty, and I cannot attain to it.” Just as, then, the divine Paul is said to have known God, by knowing him to be beyond all conception and knowledge, for which reason he also says his ways are “unsearchable” and “his judgments past finding out” and his gifts “indescribable” and his peace “which surpasses all understanding,” as one who has found him who is beyond all, and has known this beyond understanding: that he is beyond all, being the cause of all.

TO SOPATER THE PRIEST

Do not think this a victory, sacred Sopater, to insult a religion or opinion that does not seem good; for not even if you were to refute it with discernment, would Sopater's views thereby be good; for it is possible that both you and others, amid the many falsehoods and appearances, might miss the truth, which is one and hidden. For indeed, if something is not red, it is not thereby white; nor, if someone is not a horse, is he necessarily a man. But you will act thus, if you listen to me: you will refrain from speaking against others, and will speak truly for the sake of truth, so that what is said may be in every way irrefutable.

TO POLYCARP THE HIERARCH

δὲ τὸν Ἰησοῦν οὐκ ἀνθρωπικῶς ἀφορίζομεν· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἄνθρωπος μόνον -οὐδὲ ὑπερούσιος, εἰ ἄνθρωπος μόνον-, ἀλλ' ἄνθρωπος ἀληθῶς ὁ διαφερόντως φιλάνθρωπος, ὑπὲρ ἀνθρώπους καὶ κατὰ ἀνθρώπους ἐκ τῆς ἀνθρώπων οὐσίας ὁ ὑπερούσιος οὐσιωμένος. Ἔστι δὲ οὐδὲν ἧττον ὑπερ ουσιότητος ὑπερπλήρης ὁ ἀεὶ ὑπερούσιος, ἀμέλει τῇ ταύτης περιουσίᾳ, καὶ εἰς οὐσίαν ἀληθῶς ἐλθὼν ὑπὲρ οὐσίαν οὐσιώθη καὶ ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον ἐνήργει τὰ ἀνθρώπου. Καὶ δηλοῖ παρθένος ὑπερφυῶς κύουσα καὶ ὕδωρ ἄστατον ὑλικῶν καὶ γεηρῶν ποδῶν ἀνέχον βάρος καὶ μὴ ὑπεῖκον, ἀλλ' ὑπερφυεῖ δυνάμει πρὸς τὸ ἀδιάχυτον συνιστάμενον. Τί ἄν τις τὰ λοιπὰ πάμπολλα ὄντα διέλθοι; ∆ι' ὧν ὁ θείως ὁρῶν ὑπὲρ νοῦν γνώσεται καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῇ φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ καταφασκόμενα, δύναμιν ὑπεροχικῆς ἀποφάσεως ἔχοντα. Καὶ γάρ, ἵνα συνελόντες εἴπωμεν, οὐδὲ ἄνθρωπος ἦν, οὐχ ὡς μὴ ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀν θρώπων ἐπέκεινα καὶ ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον ἀληθῶς ἄνθρωπος γεγονώς, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν οὐ κατὰ θεὸν τὰ θεῖα δράσας, οὐ τὰ ἀνθρώπεια κατὰ ἄνθρω πον, ἀλλ' ἀνδρωθέντος θεοῦ, καινήν τινα τὴν θεανδρικὴν ἐνέργειαν ἡμῖν πεπολιτευμένος.

∆ΩΡOΘEΩι ΛEIΤOΥΡΓΩι

Ὁ θεῖος γνόφος ἐστὶ τὸ «ἀπρόσιτον φῶς», ἐν ᾧ κατοικεῖν ὁ θεὸς λέγεται, καὶ ἀοράτῳ γε ὄντι διὰ τὴν ὑπερέχουσαν φανότητα καὶ ἀπρο σίτῳ τῷ αὐτῷ δι' ὑπερβολὴν ὑπερουσίου φωτοχυσίας. Ἐν τούτῳ γί γνεται πᾶς ὁ θεὸν γνῶναι καὶ ἰδεῖν ἀξιούμενος, αὐτῷ τῷ μὴ ὁρᾶν μηδὲ γινώσκειν· ἀληθῶς ἐν τῷ ὑπὲρ ὅρασιν καὶ γνῶσιν γιγνόμενος τοῦτο αὐτὸ γιγνώσκων, ὅτι μετὰ πάντα ἐστὶ τὰ αἰσθητὰ καὶ τὰ νοητά, καὶ προφητικῶς ἐρῶν· «Ἐθαυμαστώθη ἡ γνῶσίς σου ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, ἐκραταιώθη, οὐ μὴ δύνωμαι πρὸς αὐτήν». Ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ ὁ θεῖος Παῦλος ἐγνωκέναι τὸν θεὸν λέγεται γνοὺς αὐτὸν ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν ὄντα νόησιν καὶ γνῶσιν, διὸ καὶ ἀνεξιχνιάστους εἶναι τὰς ὁδοὺς αὐτοῦ φησι καὶ «ἀνεξερεύνητα τὰ κρίματα αὐτοῦ» καὶ ἀνεκδιηγή τους τὰς δωρεὰς αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν εἰρήνην αὐτοῦ ὑπερέχουσαν «πάντα νοῦν», ὡς εὑρηκὼς τὸν ὑπὲρ πάντα καὶ τοῦτο ὑπὲρ νόησιν ἐγνωκώς, ὅτι πάντων ἐστὶν ἐπέκεινα πάντων αἴτιος ὤν.

ΣΩΠAΤΡΩι IEΡEI

Μὴ τοῦτο οἴου νίκην, ἱερὲ Σώπατρε, τὸ εἰς θρησκείαν ἢ δόξαν ὑβρίσαι μὴ ἀγαθὴν φαινομένην· οὐδὲ γάρ, οὐδ' εἰ κεκριμένως αὐτὴν ἐξελέγξεις, ἤδη τὰ Σωπάτρου καλά· δυνατὸν γὰρ καὶ σὲ καὶ ἄλλους ἐν πολλοῖς τοῖς ψεύδεσι καὶ φαινομένοις, ἓν ὂν καὶ κρύφιον, τὸ ἀληθὲς λανθάνειν. Oὐδὲ γάρ, εἴ τι μὴ ἐρυθρόν, ἤδη λευκόν· οὐδέ, εἴ τις μὴ ἵππος, ἐξ ἀνάγκης ἄνθρωπος. Oὕτω δὲ ποιήσεις ἐμοὶ πειθόμενος· ἀφέξῃ μὲν τοῦ καθ' ἑτέρων λέγειν, ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας δὲ ὄντως ἐρεῖς, ὡς πάντη εἶναι ἀνεξέλεγκτα τὰ λεγόμενα.

ΠOΛΥΚAΡΠΩι IEΡAΡΧHι