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a child, so contained as a man was able to contain Him. Therefore, the impossible and the needy was not in God, but in the newly made man, because he was not uncreated. 24 In God, power and wisdom and goodness are shown together; power and goodness, in that He willingly founded and made things that did not yet exist, and wisdom, in that He made the created things harmonious and well-ordered and well-prepared, which, through His surpassing goodness, receiving increase and abiding for a very long time, will bear the glory of the uncreated, as God abundantly bestows what is good. For according to their having been created, they are not uncreated; but according to their abiding for long ages, they will receive the power of the uncreated, as God freely grants them permanence forever. And thus God holds the first place in all things, He who is also alone uncreated and first of all things and the cause of being for all things, while all the rest remain in subjection to God; and subjection to God is incorruption, and the permanence of incorruption is the glory of the uncreated. 25 Through this order and such rhythms and such a process, created and formed man is made according to the image and likeness of the uncreated God, with the Father approving and commanding, the Son ministering and acting, the Spirit nourishing and increasing, and man gently advancing and ascending to the perfect, that is, becoming near the uncreated; for the end is the uncreated, and this is God. And it was necessary for man first to be created, and having been created to grow, and having grown to become a man, and having become a man to multiply, and having multiplied to become strong, and having become strong to be glorified, and having been glorified to see his own Master; for God is He who is to be seen, and the vision of God is the producer of incorruption, and "incorruption makes one near to God." 26 Neither does the light grow weak on account of those who blind themselves, but while it remains as it is, those who are blinded are established in blindness by their own fault, neither does the light enslave anyone with necessity, nor does God use force, if anyone should not wish to hold fast to His art. Therefore, those things that apostatized from the paternal light and transgressed the law of liberty, apostatized by their own fault, having become free and self-determining in their judgment. 27 One and the same Father, who has prepared good things with Him for those who long for His communion and abide in His subjection, and who has prepared eternal fire for the devil, the leader of the apostasy, and for those who apostatized with him, into which the Lord said those separated on the left would be sent. And this is what was said by the prophet: "I am a jealous God, making peace and creating evils," making peace and friendship and establishing union for those who repent and turn to Him, but preparing eternal fire and outer darkness for those who do not repent and flee His light, which are evils for those who fall into them. 28 The Lord indeed sowed good seed in His own field—"and the field is the world"—; "but while men were sleeping, the enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away." For from that time this angel has been an apostate and an enemy, from when he envied the creature of God and attempted to make him an enemy to God. Therefore God also separated from His own fellowship the one who secretly sowed the weeds from himself, that is, the one who introduced the transgression; but He had mercy on the man who had received the disobedience carelessly but without malice, and He turned back the enmity which he wished to create against Him, toward the one who created the enmity, pushing away the enmity toward him from Himself, and deflecting it and sending it back against the serpent, just as the scripture says God said to the serpent: "And I will put enmity between you and between the woman," And this enmity the Lord recapitulated in Himself, becoming a man "born of a woman" and crushing his head.

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νήπιον, οὕτω χωρούμενος ὡς ἄνθρωπος αὐτὸν χωρεῖν ἠδύνατο. Οὐ περὶ τὸν Θεὸν οὖν τὸ ἀδύνατον καὶ ἐνδεές, ἀλλὰ περὶ τὸν νεωστὶ γεγονότα ἄνθρωπον, ὅτι μὴ ἀγένητος ἦν. 24 Περὶ τὸν Θεὸν δύναμις ὁμοῦ καὶ σοφία καὶ ἀγαθότης δείκνυται· δύναμις μὲν καὶ ἀγαθότης ἐν τῷ τὰ μηδέπω ὄντα ἑκουσίως κτίζειν τε καὶ ποιεῖν, σοφία δὲ ἐν τῷ εὔρυθμα καὶ ἐμμελῆ καὶ ἐγκατάσκευα τὰ γεγονότα πεποιηκέναι, ἅτινα διὰ τὴν ὑπερβάλλουσαν αὐτοῦ ἀγαθότητα αὔξησιν προσλαβόντα καὶ ἐπὶ πλεῖον ἐπιμένοντα ἀγενήτου δόξαν ἀποίσεται, τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀφθόνως χαριζομένου τὸ καλόν. Κατὰ μὲν γὰρ τὸ γεγενῆσθαι αὐτά, οὐκ ἀγένητα· κατὰ δὲ τὸ παραμένειν αὐτὰ μακροῖς αἰῶσι, δύναμιν ἀγενήτου προσλήψεται, τοῦ Θεοῦ προῖκα δωρουμένου τὴν εἰς ἀεὶ παραμονὴν αὐτοῖς. Καὶ οὕτως πρωτεύει μὲν ἐν πᾶσιν ὁ Θεὸς ὁ καὶ μόνος ἀγένητος καὶ πρῶτος τῶν ἁπάντων καὶ τοῦ εἶναι τοῖς πᾶσι παραίτιος, τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ πάντα ἐν ὑποταγῇ μένει τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὑποταγὴ δὲ Θεοῦ ἀφθαρσία, καὶ παραμονὴ ἀφθαρσίας δόξα ἀγενήτου. 25 ∆ιὰ ταύτης τῆς τάξεως καὶ τῶν τοιούτων ῥυθμῶν καὶ τῆς τοιαύτης ἀγωγῆς, ὁ γενητὸς καὶ πεπλασμένος ἄνθρωπος κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ ὁμοίωσιν γίνεται τοῦ ἀγενήτου Θεοῦ, τοῦ μὲν Πατρὸς εὐδοκοῦντος καὶ κελεύοντος, τοῦ δὲ Υἱοῦ ὑπουργοῦντος καὶ πράσσοντος, τοῦ δὲ Πνεύματος τρέφοντος καὶ αὔξοντος, τοῦ δὲ ἀνθρώπου ἠρέμα προκόπτοντος καὶ ἀνερχομένου πρὸς τὸ τέλειον, πλησίον τουτέστι τοῦ ἀγενήτου γινομένου· τέλος γὰρ ὁ ἀγένητος, οὗτος δέ ἐστι Θεός. Ἔδει δὲ τὸν ἄνθρωπον πρῶτον γενέσθαι, καὶ γενόμενον αὐξῆσαι, καὶ αὐξήσαντα ἀνδρωθῆναι, καὶ ἀνδρωθέντα πληθυνθῆναι, καὶ πληθυνθέντα ἐνισχῦσαι, ἐνισχύσαντα δὲ δοξασθῆναι, καὶ δοξασθέντα ἰδεῖν τὸν ἑαυτοῦ ∆εσπότην· Θεὸς γὰρ ὁ μέλλων ὁρᾶσθαι, ὅρασις δὲ Θεοῦ περιποιητικὴ ἀφθαρσίας, «ἀφθαρσία δὲ ἐγγὺς εἶναι ποιεῖ Θεοῦ». 26 Οὔτε τὸ φῶς ἐξασθενεῖ διὰ τοὺς ἑαυτοῖς τυφλώττοντας, ἀλλ' ἐκείνου μένοντος ὁποῖον καὶ ἔστιν, οἱ τυφλωθέντες παρὰ τὴν αἰτίαν τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἐν ἀορασίᾳ καθίστανται, μήτε τοῦ φωτὸς μετ' ἀνάγκης δουλαγωγοῦντός τινα, μήτε τοῦ Θεοῦ βιαζομένου, εἰ μὴ θέλοι τις κατασχεῖν αὐτοῦ τὴν τέχνην. Τὰ οὖν ἀποστάντα τοῦ πατρικοῦ φωτὸς καὶ παραβάντα τὸν θεσμὸν τῆς ἐλευθερίας παρὰ τὴν αὐτῶν ἀπέστησαν αἰτίαν, ἐλεύθερα καὶ αὐτεξούσια τὴν γνώμην γεγονότα. 27 Εἷς καὶ ὁ αὐτὸς Πατήρ, ὁ τοῖς μὲν γλιχομένοις αὐτοῦ τῆς κοινωνίας καὶ προσμένουσιν αὐτοῦ τῇ ὑποταγῇ τὰ παρ' αὐτῷ ἡτοιμακὼς ἀγαθά, τῷ δὲ ἀρχηγῷ τῆς ἀποστασίας διαβόλῳ καὶ τοῖς συναποστᾶσιν αὐτῷ τὸ αἰώνιον πῦρ ἡτοιμακώς, εἰς ὃ πεμφθήσεσθαι ἔφη ὁ Κύριος τοὺς εἰς τὰ ἀριστερὰ διακριθέντας. Καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν τὸ εἰρημένον ὑπὸ τοῦ προφήτου· «Ἐγὼ Θεὸς ζηλωτής, ποιῶν εἰρήνην καὶ κτίζων κακά», ἐπὶ μὲν τοὺς μετανοοῦντας καὶ ἐπιστρέφοντας πρὸς αὐτὸν ποιῶν εἰρήνην καὶ φιλίαν καὶ ἕνωσιν συντιθέμενος, ἐπὶ δὲ τοὺς μὴ μετανοοῦντας καὶ φεύγοντας αὐτοῦ τὸ φῶς πῦρ αἰώνιον καὶ ἐξώτερον σκότος ἡτοιμακώς, ἅτινά ἐστιν κακὰ τοῖς ἐμπεσοῦσιν εἰς αὐτά. 28 Ὁ μὲν Κύριος ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ ἀγρῷ καλὸν ἔσπειρε σπέρμα-»ἀγρὸς δέ ἐστιν ὁ κόσμος»-· «ἐν δὲ τῷ καθεύδειν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, ἦλθεν ὁ ἐχθρὸς καὶ ἔσπειρε ζιζάνια μέσον τοῦ σίτου καὶ ἀπῆλθεν.» Ἔκτοτε γὰρ ἀποστάτης ὁ ἄγγελος οὗτος καὶ ἐχθρός, ἀφ' ὅτε ἐζήλωσε τὸ πλάσμα τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ ἐχθροποιῆσαι αὐτὸν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἐπεχείρησε. ∆ιὸ καὶ ὁ Θεὸς τὸν μὲν παρ' αὑτοῦ τὸ ζιζάνιον λάθρα ἐπισπείραντα, τουτέστι τὴν παράβασιν εἰσενεγκόντα, ἀφώρισε τῆς ἰδίας μετουσίας· τὸν δὲ ἀμελῶς μὲν ἀλλ' ἀκάκως παραδεξάμενον τὴν παρακοὴν ἄνθρωπον ἠλέησε καὶ ἀντέστρεψε τὴν ἔχθραν ἣν ἐχθροποιῆσαι πρὸς αὐτὸν ἠθέλησε πρὸς αὐτὸν τὸν ἐχθροποιοῦντα, ἀπωσάμενος μὲν ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἔχθραν, ἀνακλάσας δὲ αὐτὴν καὶ ἀντιπέμψας πρὸς τὸν ὄφιν, καθὼς ἡ γραφή φησιν εἰρηκέναι τῷ ὄφει τὸν Θεόν· «Καὶ ἔχθραν θήσω ἀνὰ μέσον σου καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς γυναικός», Καὶ τὴν ἔχθραν ταύτην ὁ Κύριος εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἀνεκεφαλαιώσατο, «γενόμενος ἐκ γυναικὸς» ἄνθρωπος καὶ πατήσας αὐτοῦ τὴν κεφαλήν.