3

having partaken of her pure mysteries, so that they may become sharers in the glory of the only truly holy and blameless God, becoming akin to Him through purity and incorruption? But those who draw out long praises in detailed discourses, as if by these they will add something to the wonder of virginity, have unwittingly, at least in my judgment, opposed their own purpose and, by the very means through which they exalt it to greatness, make the praise suspect through their encomiums. For whatever things in nature possess majesty in themselves inspire wonder, needing no advocacy from words, such as the heaven or the sun or any other of the world’s wonders; but for the more humble pursuits, speech, becoming a kind of pedestal, adds a certain phantom of greatness through the artifice of praises; for this reason, the wonder contrived by encomiums is often suspected by men as being sophistical. But the only sufficient praise for virginity is to declare that its virtue is greater than all praises, and to marvel at purity more in life than in speech. He who, out of ambition, makes this the subject of encomiums is like one who thinks a drop of his own sweat will be a worthy addition to the boundless sea, if indeed he has believed it possible for human speech to glorify so great a grace; for he either is ignorant of his own power or does not understand what he praises.

2.t Chapter 2. That it is a property of the divine and incorporeal nature

that virginity is a right achievement.

2.1 For we have need of great understanding, through which it is possible to know the excellence of this grace, which is conceived together with the incorruptible Father; and this is indeed a paradox, for virginity to be found in a Father who both has a Son and begot Him without passion. And it is comprehended together with the only-begotten God, the giver of incorruption, having shone forth together with the pure and impassible nature of His generation; and again there is the equal paradox of a Son being conceived through virginity. And it is likewise contemplated in the natural and incorruptible purity of the Holy Spirit; for in naming the pure and incorruptible, you have signified virginity by another name. And it shares a common life with every super-cosmic nature, being present with the transcendent powers through impassibility, separated from none of the divine things and attached to none of the contrary things; for all things that by nature and by choice incline toward virtue are altogether adorned by the purity of incorruption, and all things that have been set apart in the opposite order are such and are so named by the loss of purity. What power of words, then, will suffice to be equal to so great a grace? Or how should one not fear lest, through the zeal for praises, one might damage the majesty of its worth, by instilling in the listeners an opinion of it lesser than that which they had preconceived?

2.2 Therefore it is well to omit encomiastic discourses on this subject, since it is impossible for speech to rise to the excellences of the theme, but as far as it is possible, to always be mindful of this divine gift and to have this good upon our tongue, which is indeed a peculiar and excellent property of the incorporeal nature, but through the love of God for mankind was also graciously given to those whose lot it is to live in flesh and blood, so that, when human nature had been cast down by the passionate disposition, it might, by extending the participation in purity as a kind of hand, raise it up again and lead it by the hand to look to things above. For on this account, I think, also the

3

καθαρῶν αὐτῆς μυστη ρίων μετεσχηκότας, εἰς τὸ γενέσθαι αὐτοὺς κοινωνοὺς τῆς δόξης τοῦ μόνου ὡς ἀληθῶς ἁγίου καὶ ἀμώμου θεοῦ, διὰ καθαρότητος αὐτῷ καὶ ἀφθαρσίας οἰκειουμένους; Ὅσοι δὲ μακροὺς ἐπαίνους ἐν διεξοδικοῖς κατατείνουσι λόγοις, ὡς διὰ τούτων προσθήσοντές τι τῷ θαύματι τῆς παρθενίας, λελήθασιν ἑαυτοὺς κατά γε τὴν ἐμὴν κρίσιν ἐναντιούμενοι τῷ ἰδίῳ σκοπῷ καί, δι' ὧν ἐξαίρουσιν εἰς μέγεθος, ὕποπτον ποιοῦντες διὰ τῶν ἐγκωμίων τὸν ἔπαινον. Ὅσα γὰρ ἐν τῇ φύσει τὸ μεγαλεῖον ἔχει οἴκοθεν τὸ θαῦμα ἐπάγεται οὐδὲν τῆς ἐκ τῶν λόγων συνηγορίας δεόμενα καθάπερ ὁ οὐρανὸς ἢ ὁ ἥλιος ἢ ἄλλο τι τῶν τοῦ κόσμου θαυμάτων, τοῖς δὲ ταπεινοτέροις τῶν ἐπιτηδευμάτων ἀντὶ ὑποβάθρας ὁ λόγος γινόμενος μεγέθους τινὰ φαντασίαν διὰ τῆς τῶν ἐπαίνων περινοίας προστίθησιν· ὅθεν πολλάκις τὸ ἐκ τῶν ἐγκωμίων κατασκευαζόμενον θαῦμα ὡς σεσοφισμένον ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνθρώπων καθυποπτεύεται. Ἔπαινος δὲ μόνος ἱκανὸς τῆς παρθενίας ἐστὶ τὸ κρείττονα τῶν ἐπαίνων εἶναι τὴν ἀρετὴν ἀποφήνασθαι καὶ τῷ βίῳ θαυμάσαι μᾶλλον ἢ τῷ λόγῳ τὴν καθαρότητα. Ὁ δὲ ὑπόθεσιν ἐγκωμίων ταύτην ὑπὸ φιλοτιμίας ποιούμενος ἔοικε τὴν σταγόνα τῶν οἰκείων ἱδρώτων ἀξιόλογον εἰς προσθήκην νομίζειν τῷ ἀπείρῳ πελάγει γενήσεσθαι, εἴ γε ἀνθρωπίνῳ λόγῳ δυνατὸν εἶναι τὴν τοσαύτην χάριν ἀποσεμνῦναι πεπίστευκεν· ἢ γὰρ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ δύναμιν ἀγνοεῖ ἢ ὃ ἐπαινεῖ οὐκ ἐπίσταται.

2.t Κεφάλαιον βʹ Ὅτι ἴδιον τῆς θείας τε καὶ ἀσωμάτου φύσεως

κατόρθωμά ἐστιν ἡ παρθενία.

2.1 Συνέσεως γὰρ ἡμῖν χρεία πολλῆς, δι' ἧς ἔστι γνῶναι τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς χάριτος ταύτης, ἥτις συνεπινοεῖται μὲν τῷ ἀφθάρτῳ πατρί· ὃ δὴ καὶ παράδοξον ἐν πατρὶ παρθενίαν εὑρίσκεσθαι τῷ καὶ υἱὸν ἔχοντι καὶ δίχα πάθους γεννήσαντι. Τῷ δὲ μονογενεῖ θεῷ τῷ τῆς ἀφθαρσίας χορηγῷ συγκατα λαμβάνεται, ὁμοῦ τῷ καθαρῷ καὶ ἀπαθεῖ τῆς γεννήσεως αὐτοῦ συνεκλάμψασα· καὶ πάλιν τὸ ἴσον παράδοξον υἱὸς διὰ παρθενίας νοούμενος. Ἐνθεωρεῖται δὲ ὡσαύτως καὶ τῇ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος φυσικῇ καὶ ἀφθάρτῳ καθαρότητι· τὸ γὰρ καθαρὸν καὶ ἄφθαρτον ὀνομάσας ἄλλῳ ὀνόματι τὴν παρθενίαν ἐσήμανας. Πάσῃ δὲ τῇ ὑπερκοσμίῳ φύσει συμπολιτεύεται διὰ τῆς ἀπαθείας συμπαροῦσα ταῖς ὑπερ εχούσαις δυνάμεσιν, οὔτε τινὸς τῶν θείων χωριζομένη καὶ οὐδενὸς τῶν ἐναντίων προσαπτομένη· πάντα γὰρ ὅσα καὶ φύσει καὶ προαιρέσει πρὸς ἀρετὴν νένευκε τῷ καθαρῷ πάντως ἐνωραΐζεται τῆς ἀφθαρσίας, καὶ πάντα ὅσα εἰς τὴν ἐναντίαν ἀποκέκριται τάξιν τῇ ἀποπτώσει τῆς καθα ρότητος τοιαῦτά ἐστι καὶ ὀνομάζεται. Τίς οὖν ἐξαρκέσει δύναμις λόγων τῇ τοσαύτῃ χάριτι παρισωθῆναι; Ἢ πῶς οὐ φοβεῖσθαι χρή, μὴ διὰ τῆς τῶν ἐπαίνων σπουδῆς λυμήνηταί τις τῷ μεγαλείῳ τοῦ ἀξιώματος, ἐλάττω τὴν περὶ αὐτοῦ δόξαν τῆς προειλημμένης τοῖς ἀκροαταῖς ἐμποιήσας;

2.2 Οὐκοῦν καλῶς ἔχει τοὺς μὲν ἐγκωμιαστικοὺς λόγους ἐπὶ ταύτης ἐᾶν, ὡς ἀμήχανον ταῖς ὑπερβολαῖς τῆς ὑποθέ σεως συνεπᾶραι τὸν λόγον, ὡς δέ ἔστι δυνατὸν ἀεὶ μεμνῆ σθαι τοῦ θείου τούτου χαρίσματος καὶ ἐπὶ γλώττης ἔχειν τὸ ἀγαθόν, ὅπερ ἴδιον μὲν τῆς ἀσωμάτου φύσεώς ἐστι καὶ ἐξαίρετον, ὑπὸ φιλανθρωπίας δὲ θεοῦ καὶ τοῖς διὰ σαρκὸς καὶ αἵματος λαχοῦσι τὴν ζωὴν ἐχαρίσθη, ἵνα καταβλη θεῖσαν τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν ὑπὸ τῆς ἐμπαθοῦς διαθέσεως, ὥσπερ τινὰ χεῖρα τὴν τῆς καθαρότητος μετουσίαν ὀρέξασα, πάλιν ὀρθώσῃ καὶ πρὸς τὰ ἄνω βλέπειν χειραγωγήσῃ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο γὰρ οἶμαι καὶ τὴν