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this godlike and divine thing, I mean our mind and reason, may be mingled with its own kin, and the image may ascend to the archetype, for which it now has a longing. And this seems to me to be the very thing that is the subject of philosophy, that we shall one day know, even as we are known. But for now, everything that reaches us is a certain brief effluence, and like a small radiance of a great light. So that if anyone has known God, or has been witnessed to have known him, he has known so much as to appear more full of light than another who has not been equally illumined. And his pre-eminence was considered perfection, not in truth, but when measured against the power of his neighbor.

18 For this reason Enos hoped to call upon the Lord. Hope was the achievement, and this not of knowledge, but of invocation. And Enoch was translated, but it is not yet clear whether he had comprehended or was about to comprehend the nature of God. And of Noah, his pleasing God was a good thing, who was entrusted with saving a whole world from the waters, or the seeds of a world, in a small piece of wood, fleeing the flood. And Abraham was justified by faith, the great patriarch, and he offers a strange sacrifice, an antitype of the great one. But he saw God not as God, but nourished him as a man, and was praised for revering as much as he understood. And Jacob envisioned a certain high ladder, and an ascent of angels, and mystically anoints a pillar, perhaps to prefigure the Stone anointed for us, and gives a certain place the name "Form of God" in honor of the one who appeared, and he wrestles with God as with a man, whatever this wrestling of God with man may be, or perhaps a contest of human virtue against God, and he bears on his body symbols of the wrestling, showing the defeat of created nature, and he receives as a prize of piety the change of his name, being renamed Israel instead of Jacob, this great and honorable name. But neither he himself nor any, on his behalf, from the twelve tribes of which he was father, has boasted to this day that he comprehended the whole nature or vision of God.

19 And for Elijah, it was neither a violent wind, nor fire, nor an earthquake, as you hear from the story, but a certain light breeze that shadowed forth the presence of God, and that not his nature. To which Elijah? The one whom a chariot of fire also takes up to heaven, showing the superhuman quality of the righteous man. And Manoah the judge before, and Peter the disciple later, how have you not marveled at them? The one, not even bearing the sight of God who had appeared, and for this reason saying, "We are lost, O woman, for we have seen God"; as if not even a divine appearance is containable for humans, much less the nature. The other, not receiving even the manifest Christ into the boat, and for this reason sending him away. And yet Peter was more fervent than the others in the knowledge of Christ, and for this reason he is called blessed, and is entrusted with the greatest things. But what would you say about Isaiah, and Ezekiel, the beholder of the greatest things, and the other prophets? Of whom the one saw the Lord Sabaoth sitting upon a throne of glory, and him being encircled and praised and concealed by the six-winged seraphim, and himself being purified with the coal, and prepared for prophecy; and the other describes the chariot of God, the cherubim, and the throne above them, and the firmament above it, and the one who appeared in the firmament, and certain voices, and impulses, and actions, and whether these things were some daylight vision, visible only to the saints, or a true vision of the night, or an impression on the governing part of the soul, coming together with future things as if present, or some other ineffable form of prophecy, I cannot say. But the God of the prophets knows, and those through whom such things are worked. Nevertheless, neither these of whom the discourse is, nor any other like them, "stood in the counsel and substance of the Lord," as it is written, nor saw or declared the nature of God.

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θεοειδὲς τοῦτο καὶ θεῖον, λέγω δὲ τὸν ἡμέτερον νοῦν τε καὶ λόγον, τῷ οἰκείῳ προσμίξῃ, καὶ ἡ εἰκὼν ἀνέλθῃ πρὸς τὸ ἀρχέτυπον, οὗ νῦν ἔχει τὴν ἔφεσιν. καὶ τοῦτο εἶναί μοι δοκεῖ τὸ πάνυ φιλοσοφούμενον, ἐπιγνώσεσθαι ποτε ἡμᾶς, ὅσον ἐγνώσμεθα. τὸ δὲ νῦν εἶναι βραχεῖά τις ἀπορροὴ πᾶν τὸ εἰς ἡμᾶς φθάνον, καὶ οἷον μεγάλου φωτὸς μικρὸν ἀπαύγασμα. ὥστε καὶ εἴ τις ἔγνω θεόν, ἢ ἐγνωκέναι μεμαρτύρηται, τοσοῦτον ἔγνω, ὅσον ἄλλου μὴ τὸ ἴσον ἐλλαμφθέντος φανῆναι φωτοειδέστερος. καὶ τὸ ὑπερβάλλον τέλειον ἐνομίσθη, οὐ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ, τῇ δὲ τοῦ πλησίον δυνάμει παραμετρούμενον.

18 ∆ιὰ τοῦτο Ἐνὼς μὲν ἤλπισεν ἐπικαλεῖσθαι τὸν κύριον. ἐλπὶς τὸ κατορθούμενον ἦν, καὶ τοῦτο οὐ γνώσεως, ἀλλ' ἐπικλήσεως. Ἐνὼχ δὲ μετετέθη μέν, οὔπω δὲ δῆλον, εἰ θεοῦ φύσιν περιλαβὼν ἢ περιληψόμενος. τοῦ δὲ Νῶε καλὸν ἡ εὐαρέστησις, τοῦ καὶ κόσμον ὅλον ἐξ ὑδάτων διασώσασθαι πιστευθέντος, ἢ κόσμου σπέρματα, ξύλῳ μικρῷ φεύγοντι τὴν ἐπίκλυσιν. Ἀβραὰμ δὲ ἐδικαιώθη μὲν ἐκ πίστεως, ὁ μέγας πατριάρχης, καὶ θύει θυσίαν ξένην καὶ τῆς μεγάλης ἀντίτυπον. θεὸν δὲ οὐχ ὡς θεὸν εἶδεν, ἀλλ' ὡς ἄνθρωπον ἔθρεψε, καὶ ἐπῃνέθη, σεβασθεὶς ὅσον κατέλαβεν. Ἰακὼβ δὲ κλίμακα μὲν ὑψηλὴν ἐφαντάσθη τινά, καὶ ἀγγέλων ἄνοδον, καὶ στήλην ἀλείφει μυστικῶς, ἴσως ἵνα τὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἀλειφέντα λίθον παραδηλώσῃ, καὶ Εἶδος Θεοῦ τόπῳ τινὶ προσηγορίαν δίδωσιν εἰς τιμὴν τοῦ ὀφθέντος, καὶ ὡς ἀνθρώπῳ τῷ θεῷ προσπαλαίει, ἥτις ποτέ ἐστιν ἡ πάλη θεοῦ πρὸς ἄνθρωπον, ἢ τάχα τῆς ἀνδρω πίνης ἀρετῆς πρὸς θεὸν ἀντεξέτασις, καὶ σύμβολα τῆς πάλης ἐπὶ τοῦ σώματος φέρει, τὴν ἧτταν παραδεικνύντα τῆς γενητῆς φύσεως, καὶ ἆθλον εὐσεβείας τὴν μεταβολὴν τῆς προσηγορίας λαμβάνει, μετονομασθεὶς ἀντὶ Ἰακὼβ Ἰσραήλ, τοῦτο δὴ τὸ μέγα καὶ τίμιον ὄνομα· ἐκεῖνο δὲ οὔτε αὐτὸς οὔτε τις ὑπὲρ αὐτὸν μέχρι σήμερον ἐκαυχήσατο τῶν δώδεκα φυλῶν, ὧν πατὴρ ἦν, ὅτι θεοῦ φύσιν ἢ ὄψιν ὅλην ἐχώρησεν.

19 Ἠλίᾳ δὲ οὔτε πνεῦμα βίαιον, οὔτε πῦρ, οὔτε συσσεισμός, ὡς τῆς ἱστορίας ἀκούεις, ἀλλ' ἡ αὔρα τις ὀλίγη τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ παρου σίαν, καὶ ταῦτα οὐ φύσιν, ἐσκιαγράφησεν· Ἠλίᾳ τίνι; ὃν καὶ ἅρμα πυρὸς ἀνάγει πρὸς οὐρανόν, δηλοῦν τοῦ δικαίου τὸ ὑπὲρ ἄνθρωπον. Μανωὲ δὲ τὸν κριτὴν πρότερον, καὶ Πέτρον τὸν μαθητὴν ὕστερον, πῶς οὐ τεθαύμακας; τὸν μὲν οὐδὲ ὄψιν φέροντα τοῦ φαντασθέντος θεοῦ, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο, Ἀπολώλαμεν, ὦ γύναι, λέγοντα, θεὸν ἑωρά καμεν· ὡς οὐ χωρητῆς οὔσης ἀνθρώποις οὐδὲ φαντασίας θείας, μὴ ὅτι γε φύσεως· τὸν δὲ καὶ τὸν φαινόμενον Χριστὸν τῷ πλοίῳ μὴ προσιέμενον, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀποπεμπόμενον. καίτοιγε θερμό τερος τῶν ἄλλων εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν Χριστοῦ Πέτρος, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μακαριζόμενος, καὶ τὰ μέγιστα πιστευόμενος. τί δ' ἂν εἴποις περὶ Ἠσαίου, καὶ Ἰεζεχιὴλ τοῦ τῶν μεγίστων ἐπόπτου, καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν προφητῶν; ὧν ὁ μὲν τὸν Κύριον Σαβαὼθ εἶδε καθήμενον ἐπὶ θρόνου δόξης, καὶ τοῦτον ὑπὸ τῶν ἑξαπτερύγων σεραφὶμ κυκλού μενον καὶ αἰνούμενον καὶ ἀποκρυπτόμενον, ἑαυτόν τε τῷ ἄνθρακι καθαιρόμενον, καὶ πρὸς τὴν προφητείαν καταρτιζόμενον· ὁ δὲ καὶ τὸ ὄχημα τοῦ θεοῦ τὰ χερουβὶμ διαγράφει, καὶ τὸν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν θρόνον, καὶ τὸ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ στερέωμα, καὶ τὸν ἐν τῷ στερεώματι φανταζόμενον, καὶ φωνὰς δή τινας, καὶ ὁρμάς, καὶ πράξεις, καὶ ταῦτα εἴτε φαντασία τις ἦν ἡμερινή, μόνοις θεωρητὴ τοῖς ἁγίοις, εἴτε νυκτὸς ἀψευδὴς ὄψις, εἴτε τοῦ ἡγεμονικοῦ τύπωσις συγγι νομένη τοῖς μέλλουσιν ὡς παροῦσιν, εἴτε τι ἄλλο προφητείας εἶδος ἀπόρρητον, οὐκ ἔχω λέγειν· ἀλλ' οἶδεν ὁ τῶν προφητῶν θεός, καὶ οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐνεργούμενοι. πλὴν οὔτε οὗτοι περὶ ὧν ὁ λόγος, οὔτε τις ἄλλος τῶν κατ' αὐτούς, ἔστη ἐν ὑποστήματι καὶ οὐσίᾳ κυρίου, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, οὐδὲ θεοῦ φύσιν ἢ εἶδεν ἢ ἐξηγόρευσεν.