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and having the strength to speak, so that the hearers are able to see the whole mind carried upon the word; and to receive whole things clearly appearing to the whole mind, the things understood and conveyed to them through the mediation of the word; but as many things as I bear through memory, and as I am able to understand dimly and to speak more dimly, yet piously by the grace of God who illumines the darkened things. For I do not suppose you should think, you who know how to judge rightly, that I am able to understand or speak otherwise than as I am able to understand and speak and as the grace from above grants, appropriately provident of the power proportionate to me, even if he who delivered and taught it is most exalted. Since to seek equal things from those unequal in virtue and knowledge 14__046 seems to me not far from those who try to show the moon illuminating equally with the sun; and who compel things that are not in every way congruent with each other to be able in all things, which is impracticable and impossible.

But may God be the guide of the things said and understood, the only mind of those who understand and of things understood, and word of those who speak and of things spoken, and life of the living and of those given life, both being and becoming all things to all, through the very things that are and come to be; but through himself in no way whatsoever neither being nor becoming any of the things that are or come to be, inasmuch as he is naturally ordered with nothing at all that exists, and for this reason accepting "not to be" rather than "to be" as more appropriately said of him, on account of his being beyond being.

For it is necessary, if it is truly needful for us to know the difference between God and creatures, that the negation of beings be the affirmation of the one beyond being, and the affirmation of beings be the negation of the one beyond being, and that both predications be properly considered concerning him, and that neither be properly possible: I mean, "to be" and "not to be". Both are proper, insofar as the predication of "being" is affirmative of God as cause of beings, but the predication of "not being" is negative of him as the cause which transcends all beings; and yet again neither is proper, insofar as neither presents an affirmation of the very essence and nature of "what it is" that is sought. For to that to which nothing at all is naturally and causally conjoined, whether being or not being, to this nothing of things that are and are said, nor of things that are not and are not said, 14__048 is reasonably close. For he has an existence that is simple and unknown and inaccessible to all and completely inexpressible, being beyond all affirmation and negation. And so much for these things; but let us come to the proposed subject of the discourse.

A. HOW AND IN WHAT MANNER THE HOLY CHURCH IS AN ICON AND FIGURE OF GOD 14__050 A. How and in what manner the holy Church is an icon and figure of God

Therefore, that blessed elder used to say that the holy Church, according to a first approach of contemplation, bears the figure and icon of God, as having the same activity as he does, by way of imitation and figure.

For just as God, having made all things by his infinite power and having brought them into being, contains and gathers and circumscribes them, and providentially binds to one another and to himself both intelligible and sensible things, and embracing all things around himself as cause and beginning and end, things that are by nature distant from one another, he makes them incline towards one another according to the one power of their relation to him as their beginning, according to which he brings all things to an incorruptible and unconfused identity of motion and existence, with none of the beings being antecedently in dissent or division according to a difference of nature or motion, all things having grown together with all things without confusion according to the one indissoluble relation and watchfulness of the one beginning and cause, the

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καὶ λέγειν ἰσχύοντα, ὡς δύνασθαι τοὺς ἀκροατὰς ὅλον μὲν τῷ λόγῳ τὸν νοῦν ὁρᾷν ἐποχούμενον· ὅλα δὲ ὅλῳ τῷ νῷ καθαρῶς ἐμφαίνεσθαι τὰ νοηθέντα καὶ διὰ τῆς τοῦ λόγου μεσιτείας αὐτοῖς διαπορθμευόμενα δέξασθαι· ἀλλ᾽ ὅσα διὰ μνήμης τε φέρω, καὶ ὡς νοεῖν ἀμυδρῶς καὶ λέγειν ἀμυδρότερον δύναμαι, πλὴν εὐσεβῶς χάριτι τοῦ τὰ ἐσκοτισμένα φωτίζοντος Θεοῦ. Μηδὲ γὰρ οἴεσθαι δεῖν ὑμᾶς ὑπολαμβάνω, δικαίως κρίνειν εἰδότας, ἄλλως με νοεῖν ἢ λέγειν δύνασθαι ἢ ὡς νοεῖν καὶ λέγειν δύναμαι καὶ ἡ ἄνωθεν χάρις ἐνδίδωσιν, οἰκείως τῆς ἀναλογούσης μοι προνοουμένης δυνάμεως, κἂν ὁ παραδοὺς μάλιστα καὶ διδάξας ἐστὶν ὑψηλότατος. Ἐπεὶ τὸ τὰ ἴσα ζητεῖν παρὰ τῶν μὴ ἴσων τὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ τὴν γνῶσιν 14__046 οὐ πόρρω μοι δοκεῖ τυγχάνειν τῶν δείξειν πειρωμένων τῷ ἡλίῳ κατὰ τὸ ἴσον τὴν σελήνην φωτίζουσαν· καὶ τὰ μὴ πάντη ταῦτα συμβαίνειν ἀλλήλοις κατὰ πάντα δύνασθαι βιαζομένων, ὅπερ ἀμήχανον καὶ ἀδύνατον.

Ἡγείσθω δὲ Θεὸς τῶν λεγομένων τε καὶ νοουμένων, ὁ μόνος νοῦς τῶν νοούντων καὶ νοουμένων, καὶ λόγος τῶν λεγόντων καὶ λεγομένων, καὶ ζωὴ τῶν ζώντων καὶ ζωουμένων, καὶ πᾶσι πάντα καὶ ὢν καὶ γινόμενος, δι᾽ αὐτὰ τὰ ὄντα καὶ γινόμενα· δι᾽ ἑαυτὸν δὲ οὐδὲν κατ᾽ οὐδένα τρόπον οὐδαμῶς οὔτε ὢν οὔτε γινόμενος, τῶν ἅ τι τῶν ὄντων ἐστὶ καὶ γινομένων, οἷα μηδενὶ τὸ παράπαν τῶν ὄντων φυσικῶς συντασσόμενος, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὸ μὴ εἶναι μᾶλλον, διὰ τὸ ὑπερεῖναι, ὡς οἰκειότερον ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῦ λεγόμενον προσιέμενος.

∆εῖ γάρ, εἴπερ ὡς ἀληθῶς τὸ γνῶναι διαφορὰν Θεοῦ καὶ κτισμάτων ἐστὶν ἀναγκαῖον ἡμῖν, θέσιν εἶναι τοῦ ὑπερόντος τὴν τῶν ὄντων ἀφαίρεσιν, καὶ τὴν τῶν ὄντων θέσιν εἶναι τοῦ ὑπερόντος ἀφαίρεσιν, καὶ ἄμφω περὶ τὸν αὐτὸν κυρίως θεωρεῖσθαι τὰς προσηγορίας, καὶ μηδεμίαν κυρίως δύνασθαι· τὸ εἶναι, φημί, καὶ [τὸ] μὴ εἶναι. Ἄμφω μὲν κυρίως, ὡς τῆς μὲν τοῦ εἶναι τοῦ Θεοῦ κατ᾽ αἰτίαν τῶν ὄντων θετικῆς, τῆς δὲ καθ᾽ ὑπεροχὴν αἰτίας τοῦ εἶναι πάσης τῶν ὄντων ἀφαιρετικῆς· καὶ μηδεμίαν κυρίως πάλιν, ὡς οὐδεμιᾶς τὴν κατ᾽ οὐσίαν αὐτὴν καὶ φύσιν τοῦ τί εἶναι τοῦ ζητουμένου θέσιν παριστώσης. Ὧι γὰρ μηδὲν τὸ σύνολον φυσικῶς κατ᾽ αἰτίαν συνέζευκται, ἢ ὂν ἢ μὴ ὄν, τούτῳ οὐδὲν τῶν ὄντων καὶ λεγομένων, οὐδὲ τῶν μὴ ὄντων καὶ μὴ λεγομένων, 14__048 εἰκότως ἐστὶν ἐγγύς. Ἁπλῆν γὰρ καὶ ἄγνωστον καὶ πᾶσιν ἄβατον ἔχει τὴν ὕπαρξιν καὶ παντελῶς ἀνερμήνευτον, καὶ πάσης καταφάσεώς τε καὶ ἀποφάσεως οὖσαν ἐπέκεινα. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν περὶ τούτων· ἐπὶ δὲ τὴν προκειμένην τοῦ λόγου ὑπόθεσιν ἔλθωμεν.

Α. ΠΩΣ ΤΕ ΚΑΙ ΠΟΙΩ ΤΡΟΠΩ ΕΙΚΩΝ ΕΣΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΤΥΠΟΣ ΘΕΟΥ Η ΑΓΙΑ ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑ 14__050 Α. Πῶς τε καὶ ποίῳ τρόπῳ εἰκών ἐστι καὶ τύπος Θεοῦ ἡ ἁγία Ἐκκλησία

Τὴν τοίνυν ἁγίαν Ἐκκλησίαν, κατὰ πρώτην θεωρίας ἐπιβολήν, τύπον καὶ εἰκόνα Θεοῦ φέρειν ἔλεγεν ὁ μακάριος γέρων ἐκεῖνος, ὡς τὴν αὐτὴν αὐτῷ κατὰ μίμησιν καὶ τύπον ἐνέργειαν ἔχουσαν.

Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς πάντα τῇ ἀπείρῳ δυνάμει ποιήσας καὶ εἰς τὸ εἶναι παραγαγὼν συνέχει καὶ συνάγει καὶ περιγράφει, καὶ ἀλλήλοις καὶ ἑαυτῷ προνοητικῶς ἐνδιασφίγγει τά τε νοητὰ καὶ τὰ αἰσθητά, καὶ περὶ ἑαυτὸν ὡς αἰτίαν καὶ ἀρχὴν καὶ τέλος πάντα περικρατῶν τὰ κατὰ τὴν φύσιν ἀλλήλων διεστηκότα, κατὰ μίαν τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν ὡς ἀρχὴν σχέσεως δύναμιν ἀλλήλοις συννενευκότα ποιεῖ, καθ᾽ ἣν εἰς ταυτότητα κινήσεώς τε καὶ ὑπάρξεως ἀδιάφθορον καὶ ἀσύγχυτον ἄγει τὰ πάντα πρὸς οὐδὲν οὐδενὸς τῶν ὄντων προηγουμένως κατὰ φύσεως διαφορὰν ἢ κινήσεως στασιάζοντός τε καὶ διαιρουμένου, πάντων πᾶσι κατὰ τὴν μίαν τῆς μόνης ἀρχῆς καὶ αἰτίας ἀδιάλυτον σχέσιν τε καὶ φρουρὰν ἀφύρτως συμπεφυκότων, τὴν