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15 Every believer knows these things, and perhaps the listeners would say, reproaching: «What is the purpose of these sayings to you? You have run one course and walked another, and having set out to praise Peter and Paul the apostles you have passed over to theology and the genesis of the world. And what is the reason? What is the purpose?» I myself shall present it to you, O dear listeners; for I am not so verbose and rambling in my words as to be carried entirely outside the subject. But come, consider how very harmonious are the things being said by me, and how very well-fitted and connected. I know two powers in God, I mean those of contemplation and of action. For God contemplates, as it is possible for God to contemplate, by conceiving the natures which he fashions; and God acts by bringing his thought into effect. Rightly, then, he who is made in his image will be depicted with such properties; and man has been created in his image, and reason concludes that it is fitting for him to be dignified by such things. But these things are in reverse proportion with respect to the divine and the human; for in the case of God, contemplation always precedes action, but in the case of men, it happens that action precedes true contemplation. For it is for God to descend a little from his own high station, but for man to ascend to him through action and to enjoy that divine, blessed illumination. Thus, when the first man came to be, a commandment was also given to him, so that he might be trained in this best action and from there approach the tree of the life of knowledge and then, next, be filled with the plant of life. But for the first man these things were corrupted, and both his action and his contemplation were destroyed along with them. Therefore, on account of these things, there is a second world and another kind of life, and the first in this is another man and new Adam, God, and the renewal of our image. Thus, just as we have worn the corrupted image of the first Adam, which subsisted from dust and from the mixture, so also we have put on the intelligible and incorruptible image of the second and firstborn, who appeared among many brethren.

16 And this image comes to us through action and high contemplation, of which Christ has set Peter and Paul as types for instruction—for the discourse has brought us to such a conception—of which Peter will be equated with action, according to our words, and Paul will be likened to contemplation, through whom or from whom every man will be led up to Christ, appearing equally Peter and Paul, or rather becoming more Peter and less Paul, or vice versa, but in any case, he who has wished to go there must not be hindered, since it is not possible otherwise than through these likenesses to approach Christ and be discipled to the Word and become conformed both to his passion and to his splendor. The discourse has led us up to such contemplation and has set forth Peter as an image of practical knowledge, whether as champion or as teacher. Peter is a fisherman and experienced in catching fish; he weaves nets and directs a rod and casts a hook and lets down a line and applies the bait and is engaged in practical skills. But Paul—for though I said I would separate them or consider their affairs individually, I have no desire to tear them completely apart, but to join them together as is possible, since not even a painter would have dared such a thing in sketches—Paul, then, is experienced in letters and is numbered among the Pharisees and is a zealot for the law and an observer of his ancestral traditions, on account of these things also grasping after knowledge. Christ leads Peter out from both boat and sea and catches him with a similar skill and transfers him to a higher kind of netting; but a vision stronger than his eyes overcomes Paul, and he casts away the contemplation and understanding that was in him and, after the change, he is altered to better things. Do you see how I have not been able to separate further those united in the grace of the Spirit, even if I chose to speak of their affairs in part? And this in every way

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15 Ταῦτα μὲν ἅπας οἶδε πιστός, καὶ τάχα ἂν εἴποιεν ἐπι μεμφόμενοι οἱ ἀκροάμονες· «εἰς τί σοι ταῦτα τὰ λόγια; ἄλλην γοῦν τρέχων ἄλλην ἐβάδισας, καὶ Πέτρον ἐπαινέσαι καὶ Παῦλον τοὺς ἀποστόλους προθέμενος πρὸς θεολογίαν καὶ κόσμου γένεσιν μετελήλυθας· καὶ τίς ὁ λόγος; τίς δὲ ὁ σκοπός»; αὐτὸς ὑμῖν, ὦ φίλοι ἀκροαταί, παραστήσαιμι· οὐ γὰρ οὕτως περιττολόγος ἐγὼ καὶ ἀδολεσχῶν ἐν τοῖς ῥήμασιν, ὥστε πάνυ ἔξω φέρεσθαι τῆς προθέσεως. ἀλλ' ἄγε σκο πεῖτε, ὡς λίαν μοι συνῳδὰ τὰ λεγόμενα καὶ πάνυ γε ἡρμοσ μένα καὶ συναρτώμενα. οἶδα διττὰς δυνάμεις ἐπὶ θεοῦ, τὰς τῆς θεωρίας λέγω καὶ πράξεως. θεωρεῖ μὲν γὰρ θεός, ὡς ἔστι θεωρεῖν τὸν θεόν, ἐννοῶν τὰς φύσεις ἃς διαπλάτ τεται· πράττει δὲ θεὸς εἰς ἔργον διαβιβάζων τούτου τὸ νόημα. εἰκότως γοῦν καὶ ὁ κατ' εἰκόνα τούτου γεγενη μένος τοῖς τοιούτοις εἰκονισθήσεται ἰδιώμασιν· ἄνθρωπος δὲ κατ' εἰκόνα τούτου δεδημιούργηται, καὶ ὁ λόγος συνάγει τοῖς τοιούτοις πρέπον εἶναι τοῦτον σεμνύνεσθαι. ἔστι δὲ ἀντιστρόφως περὶ τὸ θεῖον ταῦτα καὶ τὸ ἀνθρώπινον· ἐπὶ μὲν γὰρ θεοῦ προτέρα πάντως ἡ θεωρία τῆς πράξεως, ἐπ' ἀνθρώπων δὲ προτέραν τῆς ὡς ἀληθῶς θεωρίας τὴν πρᾶξιν εἶναι συμβέβηκε· θεοῦ μὲν γὰρ εἶναι κατιέναι μικρὸν τῆς οἰκείας περιωπῆς, ἀνθρώπου δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀνι έναι διὰ τῆς πράξεως καὶ ἐπαπολαύειν τῆς θείας ἐκείνης μακαρίας ἐλλάμψεως. ὡς γοῦν ὁ πρῶτος ἄνθρωπος γέγονε, δίδοται τούτῳ καὶ ἐντολή, ὡς ἂν τῇ ἀρίστῃ ταύτῃ πράξει ἐγγυμ νασθείη κἀντεῦθεν προσέλθῃ τῷ ξύλῳ τῆς ζωῆς γνώσεως καὶ εἶθ' ἑξῆς καὶ τοῦ τῆς ζωῆς ἐμφορηθείη φυτοῦ. ἀλλὰ τῷ πρώτῳ ταῦτα διέφθαρται, καὶ πρᾶξις αὐτῷ καὶ θεωρία συγ καταλέλυται. δεύτερος οὖν διὰ ταῦτα κόσμος καὶ ἄλλη τις βιοτή, καὶ πρῶτος ἐν ταύτῃ ἕτερος ἄνθρωπος καὶ νέος Ἀδὰμ ὁ θεὸς καὶ ἡ τῆς εἰκόνος ἡμῶν ἀνακαίνισις. ὡς γοῦν τὴν παραφθαρεῖσαν εἰκόνα τοῦ πρώτου Ἀδὰμ ἐφορέ σαμεν τὴν ἐκ χοὸς παρυποστᾶσαν καὶ τοῦ συγκράματος, οὕτω δὴ καὶ τοῦ δευτέρου καὶ πρωτοτόκου ἐν πολλοῖς ἀνα φανέντος τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ἐνδεδύμεθα τὴν νοερὰν καὶ ἀνώλεθρον.

16 Αὕτη δὲ ἡ εἰκὼν διὰ πράξεως ἡμῖν καὶ θεωρίας ὑψηλῆς ἐπιγίνεται, ὧν τύπους εἰς διδασκαλίαν Πέτρον καὶ Παῦλον τέθεικεν ὁ Χριστός-εἰς τοιοῦτον γὰρ ὁ λόγος ἡμᾶς κατήντηκε νόημα-ὧν πράξει μὲν Πέτρος ἐκ τῶν λόγων ἐξισωθήσεται, Παῦλος δὲ τῇ θεωρίᾳ ὁμοιωθήσεται, δι' ὧν ἢ παρ' ὧν σύμπας ἄνθρωπος εἰς Χριστὸν ἀναχθή σεται, Πέτρος καὶ Παῦλος κατ' ἶσον φανείς, ἢ μᾶλλον Πέτρος, ἧττον δὲ Παῦλος γενόμενος ἢ ἐναλλάξ, πάντως δὲ ὁ βεβουλημένος ἐκεῖσε ἰέναι μὴ ἀντικλώμενος, ὡς μὴ ἂν ἄλλως εἶναι εἰ μὴ διὰ τούτων τῶν ὁμοιωμάτων Χριστῷ προσεγγίσαι καὶ μαθητευθῆναι τῷ λόγῳ καὶ σύμμορφον γεγενῆσθαι καὶ τῷ πάθει τούτου καὶ τῇ λαμπρότητι. εἰς τοιαύτην ἡμᾶς ὁ λόγος τὴν θεωρίαν ἀνήγαγε καὶ πρακτικῆς ἐπιστήμης εἰκόνα Πέτρον εἴτε προαγωνιστὴν εἴτε διδάσκαλον προύθετο. Πέτρος ἁλιεὺς καὶ τρίβων ἄγρας ἰχθυηρᾶς καὶ δίκτυα πλέκει καὶ ἰθύνει κάλαμον καὶ ἄγκιστρον ἐπιβάλλει καὶ χαλᾷ ὁρμιὰν καὶ ἐπιφέρει τὸ δέλεαρ καὶ τοῖς τεχνικοῖς πρακτικεύεται. Παῦλος δέ-εἰ γὰρ καὶ προέφην τούτους χωρίσαι ἢ κατ' ἰδίαν τὰ αὐτῶν ἐπισκέψασθαι, ἀλλ' οὐ πάμπαν διὰ μακροῦ διαρρῆξαι τούτους βεβούλημαι ἀλλ' ἐπισυνάπτειν ὡς ἔνεστιν, ὅτι μηδὲ ζωγράφος τὸ τοιοῦτον ἂν τετόλμηκεν ἐν σκιαῖς- Παῦλος γοῦν γραμμάτων ἔμπειρος καὶ Φαρισσαίοις συγκατα λέγεται καὶ νόμου ζηλωτὴς καὶ τῶν πατρικῶν αὐτοῦ παρα δόσεων θεωρός, διὰ ταῦτα καὶ τῆς γνωστικῆς ἐφαπτόμενος. Πέτρον ἐξάγει καὶ πλοίου καὶ θαλάττης Χριστὸς καὶ τῷ ὁμοίῳ τῆς τέχνης τοῦτον ζωγρεῖ καὶ πρὸς ὑψηλοτέ ραν σαγήνευσιν μετατίθησι· Παῦλον δὲ ὄψις ἰσχυροτέρα τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἐκνικᾷ, καὶ ἀποβάλλει τὴν ἐνοῦσαν τούτῳ θεωρίαν καὶ νόησιν καὶ εἰς τὰ κρείττω μετὰ τὴν μεταβολὴν μεταμείβεται. ὁρᾶτε πῶς οὐ διαστῆσαι πορρωτέρω δεδύνημαι τοὺς ἡνωμένους ἐν τῇ τοῦ πνεύματος χάριτι, εἰ καὶ προει λόμην ἐν μέρει τὰ τούτων ἐρεῖν; καὶ τοῦτο πάντως