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If some king, about to engage with a certain weak tyrant, knows that he will flee from him, he feigns cowardice, saying to his forces, 'Let us pretend to flee from his presence, so that he does not escape us, but pursues us, and thus turning back we may capture him'; so also the Master feigned cowardice, so that the devil might attack him as a man, and find him who would destroy him and rescue all those held by Hades. For thus it says: An angel appeared, strengthening him. He who is worshipped by angels, and to whom every knee bends of things in heaven and on earth and under the earth, how did he receive strength from an angel? Not strength, but the doxology of an angel saying: Yours is the kingdom and the power, Master. No one knows that day or the hour, neither the angels, nor the Son, but only the Father. And how, he says, is he who does not know that day equal to the Father? He who made it, does he not know it? And why then does he say, 'Nor the Son'? But see the theory: One might find two knowledges and understandings in Scripture, one according to action, the other according to gnosis. For 'Adam knew Eve his wife,' it says, not as being previously ignorant; for how could he who said, 'This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh'? And Abraham knew Sarah his wife, and Jacob 48.1093 Leah and Rachel. Did he who served fourteen years for them, then, not know them? He knew them according to gnosis, but in the end also according to action. The Father, therefore, judging no one, but having given all judgment to the Son, saw the day both by gnosis and by action; but the Son, having come to save the world, and not to judge, saw it according to gnosis; but since he has not yet judged, he is ignorant of the day, signifying the knowledge according to action.

3. But Paul says: Consider the apostle and high priest of our

confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him who made him; and elsewhere: God has made him both Lord and Christ; and Solomon: The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways for his works. Do you see how Scripture signifies him as a creature and a thing made? But the sequence will convict you, O fighter against God: For every priest, it says, taken from among men, is appointed on behalf of men, to offer gifts and sacrifices. For he took from us the created flesh without sin, which he offered as a sacrifice to the Father on our behalf. Understand, therefore, 'to him who made him' according to the flesh, and not according to the divinity. So also, God has made him both Lord and Christ. For before the economy he is everywhere proclaimed God, as has been shown before, and nowhere does anyone call him a thing made; but because of the union of the created flesh he says, God has made him both Lord and Christ; for the denseness of the hearers: The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways, it says. Do you see that it says 'creature'? But let us go to the sequence of what follows: Before the age he established me, and before all hills he begets me. First, O vainglorious one, learn that the book is called Proverbs; and everything expressed in a proverb is not the same as the power of the word. For the Lord also compared the kingdom of heaven to a dragnet and leaven and a grain of mustard seed, and to many other such things; and we do not by any means say that the kingdom is any of these things.

But I will not speak evasively: The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways, before the age he established me, and before all hills he begets me. How then is what is begotten created, or established? Or how is what is created begotten? For if created, not begotten; we do not create what we beget, nor do we beget what we create. And how is it possible for the uncreated Father to have begotten a created Son? For we who are created beget created things; but the Father, being uncreated, begot an uncreated Son. But Aquila, interpreting, said, 'He acquired me.' Therefore, 'he created me' proclaims beforehand what is to come as if it has already happened; for this is a custom in Scripture; just as, 'They pierced my hands and my feet'; me, he says, whom you see having united created flesh to himself by his own good pleasure,

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εἴ τις βασιλεὺς μέλλων τυράννῳ ἀσθενεῖ τινι συμβαλεῖν, ἐπίσταται δὲ ὅτι φεύξεται αὐτὸν, σοφίζεται δὲ δειλίαν, λέγων ταῖς δυνάμεσιν αὐτοῦ, Φύγωμεν δῆθεν ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ, ὅπως μὴ ἀποδράσῃ ἡμᾶς, ἀλλὰ καταδιώξῃ, καὶ οὕτω στραφέντες συλλάβωμεν αὐτόν· οὕτω καὶ ὁ ∆εσπότης προεβάλλετο δειλίαν, ἵνα ἐπέλθῃ ὁ διάβολος ὡς ἀνθρώπῳ, καὶ εὕρῃ διαρείσοντα αὐτὸν, καὶ ῥυόμενον πάντας τοὺς ὑπὸ τοῦ ᾅδου κρατουμένους. Οὕτω γάρ φησιν· Ὤφθη ἄγγελος ἐνισχύων αὐτόν. Ὁ ὑπὸ ἀγγέλων προσκυνούμενος, καὶ ᾧ κάμπτει πᾶν γόνυ ἐπουρανίων καὶ ἐπιγείων καὶ καταχθονίων, πῶς ἰσχὺν παρὰ ἀγγέλου ἐλάμβανεν; Οὐκ ἰσχὺν, ἀλλὰ δοξολογίαν λέγοντος ἀγγέλου· Σοῦ ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία καὶ τὸ κράτος, ∆έσποτα. Οὐδεὶς ἐπίσταται τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην, ἢ τὴν ὥραν, οὔτε οἱ ἄγγελοι, οὔτε ὁ Υἱὸς, εἰ μὴ ὁ Πατήρ. Καὶ πῶς, φησὶν, ἴσος τῷ Πατρὶ, ὁ μὴ εἰδὼς τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην; ὁ ποιήσας αὐτὴν, οὐκ οἶδεν αὐτήν; Καὶ διὰ τί οὖν λέγει, Οὔτε ὁ Υἱός; Βλέπε δὲ θεωρίαν· ∆ύο γνώσεις καὶ εἰδήσεις ἐν τῇ Γραφῇ εὕροι τις ἂν, μίαν μὲν τὴν κατὰ πρᾶξιν, ἑτέραν δὲ τὴν κατὰ γνῶσιν. Ἔγνω γὰρ, φησὶν, Ἀδὰμ Εὔαν τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ, οὐχ ὡς πρότερον ἀγνοῶν· πῶς γὰρ ὁ εἰπὼν, Τοῦτο νῦν ὀστοῦν ἐκ τῶν ὀστῶν μου, καὶ σὰρξ ἐκ τῆς σαρκός μου; Καὶ ἔγνω Ἀβραὰμ Σάῤῥαν τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ὁ Ἰακὼβ 48.1093 Λείαν καὶ Ῥαχήλ. Ἆρ' οὖν ἠγνόει αὐτὰς ὁ δι' αὐτὰς δεκατέσσαρα ἔτη δουλεύσας; Ἤδει μὲν αὐτὰς κατὰ γνῶσιν, ἐπὶ τέλει δὲ καὶ κατὰ πρᾶξιν. Ὁ οὖν Πατὴρ μὴ κρίνων τινὰ, ἀλλὰ τὴν κρίσιν ἅπασαν δεδωκὼς τῷ Υἱῷ, εἶδε τὴν ἡμέραν καὶ γνώσει καὶ πράξει· ὁ δὲ Υἱὸς ἐλθὼν σῶσαι τὸν κόσμον, καὶ οὐ κρῖναι, εἶδεν αὐτὴν κατὰ γνῶσιν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ οὐδέπω ἔκρινεν, ἀγνοεῖ τὴν ἡμέραν, τὴν κατὰ πρᾶξιν γνῶσιν σημαίνων.

γʹ. Ἀλλὰ λέγει Παῦλος· Κατανοήσατε τὸν ἀπόστολον καὶ ἀρχιερέα τῆς

ὁμολογίας ἡμῶν Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν, πιστὸν ὄντα τῷ ποιήσαντι αὐτόν· καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ· Κύριον καὶ Χριστὸν ὁ Θεὸς αὐτὸν ἐποίησε· καὶ Σολομών· Κύριος ἔκτισέ με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἔργα αὐτοῦ. Ὁρᾷς πῶς κτίσμα καὶ ποίημα ἡ Γραφὴ αὐτὸν σημαίνει; Ἀλλ' ἐλέγξει σε ἡ ἀκολουθία, ὦ θεομάχε· Πᾶς γὰρ, φησὶν, ἱερεὺς ἐξ ἀνθρώπων λαμβανόμενος, ὑπὲρ ἀνθρώπων καθίσταται, εἰς τὸ προσφέρειν δῶρά τε καὶ θυσίας. Ἔλαβε γὰρ ἐξ ἡμῶν τὴν ποιητικὴν σάρκα ἀναμαρτήτως, ἣν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν τῷ Πατρὶ προσήνεγκε θυσίαν. Κατὰ σάρκα οὖν, τῷ ποιήσαντι αὐτὸν, νόει, καὶ μὴ κατὰ τὴν θεότητα. Οὕτω καὶ, Κύριον καὶ Χριστὸν αὐτὸν ὁ Θεὸς ἐποίησε. Πρὸ γὰρ οἰκονομίας ἁπανταχῆ Θεὸς κηρύσσεται, καθὼς προδέδεικται, καὶ οὐδαμοῦ τις ποίημα αὐτὸν λέγει· ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν ἕνωσιν τῆς κτιστῆς σαρκὸς λέγει, Κύριον καὶ Χριστὸν ὁ Θεὸς αὐτὸν ἐποίησε· πρὸς τὴν παχύτητα τῶν ἀκροατῶν· Κύριος ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ ἔκτισέ με, φησίν. Ὁρᾷς ὅτι κτίσμα λέγει; Ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τὴν ἀκολουθίαν τῶν ἑξῆς ἴωμεν· Πρὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος ἐθεμελίωσέ με, πρὸ δὲ πάντων βουνῶν γεννᾷ με. Πρῶτον μὲν, ὦ κενόδοξε, μάνθανε ὅτι Παροιμία ἡ βίβλος λέγεται· πᾶν δὲ τὸ παροιμιαζόμενον οὐ ταυτόν ἐστι τῇ τοῦ λόγου δυνάμει. Καὶ γὰρ ὁ Κύριος τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν σαγήνῃ καὶ ζύμῃ καὶ κόκκῳ σινήπιος παρείκασε, καὶ ἄλλοις πολλοῖς τοσούτοις· καὶ οὐ πάντως φαμὲν τὴν βασιλείαν τι τούτων εἶναι.

Ἀλλ' οὐ περιφερόμενος λέξω· Κύριος ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ ἔκτισέ με, πρὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος ἐθεμελίωσέ με, πρὸ δὲ πάντων βουνῶν γεννᾷ με. Πῶς οὖν τὸ γεννώμενον κτίζεται, ἢ θεμελιοῦται; ἢ πῶς τὸ κτιζόμενον γεννᾶται; Εἰ γὰρ κτιστὸς, οὐ γεννητός· ἡμεῖς οὐ κτίζομεν ἃ γεννῶμεν, οὐδὲ γεννῶμεν ἃ κτίζομεν. Καὶ πῶς ἐνδέχεται τὸν ἄκτιστον Πατέρα γεγεννηκέναι Υἱὸν κτιστόν; Ἡμεῖς γὰρ κτιστοὶ ὄντες κτιστὰ γεννῶμεν· ὁ δὲ Πατὴρ ἄκτιστος ὢν, ἄκτιστον Υἱὸν ἐγέννησεν. Ἀκύλας δὲ διερμηνεύων, Ἐκτήσατό με, εἶπε. Τὸ οὖν, ἔκτισέ με, τὸ μέλλον γενέσθαι ὡς ἤδη γεγονὸς προαναφωνεῖ· καὶ γὰρ ἔθος τοῦτο τῇ Γραφῇ· ὥσπερ τὸ, Ὤρυξαν χεῖράς μου καὶ πόδας μου· ἐμὲ, φησὶν, ὃν βλέπετε κτιστὴν σάρκα ἰδίᾳ εὐδοκίᾳ ἑνώσαντα ἑαυτῷ,