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and if He sees that it is great, for this He casts His votes and judgments, and makes them partakers of eternal good things. Of which may we all be counted worthy to obtain, by grace and love for mankind.

HOMILY II. Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding

all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins. 1. Everywhere we need a reverent mind, but especially when we say or hear anything about God; for neither can tongue speak, nor ear hear, anything worthy of God. And why do I say tongue and ear? For not even the mind, which is far superior to these, will be able to comprehend anything accurately, when we wish to say anything about God. For if the peace of God surpasses all understanding, and the things prepared for those who love Him have not entered into the heart of man; much more does the God of peace Himself, the Creator of all things, surpass by a great measure our reasoning. We must therefore receive all things with faith and reverence; and when reason fails, and is unable to set forth what is said with accuracy, then especially to glorify God, that we have such a God, who surpasses both our mind and our reason. For many of the things we think about God, we are not able to express; or many things we express, but are not able to understand. For instance, we know that God is everywhere, but how, we do not understand. We know that there is a certain incorporeal power, the cause of all good things, but how He is, we do not know. Behold, we speak, and do not understand. I said that He is everywhere, but I do not understand; I said that He is without beginning, but I do not understand; I said that He begot from Himself, and again I do not know how I should understand it. There are, then, some things which it is not even possible to express; for instance, the mind conceives, but cannot speak. And that you may know that even Paul is weak, and does not speak his illustrations with precision, and may shudder and seek nothing further, listen: for having called Him Son, and made Him Creator, what does he add? Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person. 63.20 This we must receive with reverence, and cut off what is absurd. The brightness of His glory, he says. But see for what he takes it, and so do you also receive it; that He is from Him, that He is impassibly, that He is not diminished or lessened. Since there are some who derive absurdities from the illustration. For the brightness, they say, has no subsistence of its own, but has its being in another. Do not, therefore, understand this, O man, nor be sick with the disease of Marcellus and Photinus. For he heals you from near at hand, so that you may not fall into that thought, nor does he allow you to be carried away into that deadly disease. What does he say? And the express image of His person. showing by the addition, that just as the Father has His own subsistence, and needs no one for His subsistence, so also the Son. For here he says this to show the exact likeness, and referring you to the particular character of the original, and teaching that He has subsistence in Himself. And having said above, that God made all things through Him, here he gives Him authority. For what does he add? And upholding all things by the word of His power; that from this we may understand not only the character of His substance, but also that He governs all things with authority. See, then, how what is proper to the Father, this he ascribes to the Son. For because of this he did not simply say, And upholding all things, nor did he say, By His power, but, By the word of His power. For just as before he ascended and descended for us little by little; so also

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κἂν ἐκείνην ἴδῃ μεγάλην οὖσαν, ταύτῃ τίθεται τὰς ψήφους καὶ κρίσεις, καὶ τῶν αἰωνίων ἀγαθῶν ποιεῖ μετόχους· ὧν γένοιτο πάντας ἡμᾶς ἐπιτυχεῖν, χάριτι καὶ φιλανθρωπίᾳ.

ΟΜΙΛΙΑ Βʹ. Ὃς ὢν ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης καὶ χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ, φέρων τε

τὰ πάντα τῷ ῥή ματι τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ, δι' ἑαυτοῦ καθαρι σμὸν ποιησάμενος τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν. αʹ. Πανταχοῦ μὲν εὐλαβοῦς διανοίας δεῖ, μάλιστα δὲ ὅταν περὶ Θεοῦ λέγωμέν τι καὶ ἀκούωμεν· οὔτε γὰρ γλῶσσα εἰπεῖν, οὔτε οὖς ἀκοῦσαι πρὸς ἀξίαν τοῦ Θεοῦ τι δύναται· καὶ τί λέγω γλῶτταν καὶ οὖς; οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ νοῦς ὁ πολὺ τούτων ὑπερέχων, δυνήσεταί τι περιλαβεῖν ἀκριβῶς, ὅταν περὶ Θεοῦ τι φθέγγεσθαι βουλώμεθα. Εἰ γὰρ ἡ εἰρήνη τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑπερέχει πάντα νοῦν, καὶ τὰ ἡτοιμασμένα τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἀνέβη· πολλῷ μᾶλλον αὐτὸς ὁ τῆς εἰρήνης Θεὸς, ὁ τῶν ἁπάντων ∆ημιουργὸς, ὑπερβαίνει πολλῷ τῷ μέτρῳ τὸν ἡμέτερον λογισμόν. ∆εῖ τοίνυν μετὰ πίστεως καὶ εὐλαβείας ἅπαντα δέχεσθαι· καὶ ὅταν ὁ λόγος ἐξασθενήσῃ, καὶ μὴ δύνηται παραστῆσαι τὰ λεγόμενα μετὰ ἀκριβείας, τότε μάλιστα δοξάζειν τὸν Θεὸν, ὅτι Θεὸν τοιοῦτον ἔχομεν, καὶ τὴν διάνοιαν ἡμῶν καὶ τὸν λόγον ὑπερβαίνοντα· πολλὰ γὰρ ὧν περὶ Θεοῦ νοοῦμεν, οὐ φράσαι δυνάμεθα· ἢ πολλὰ μὲν φράζομεν, νοῆσαι δὲ οὐκ ἰσχύομεν· οἷόν τι λέγω, ὅτι πανταχοῦ μὲν ὁ Θεὸς ἴσμεν, πῶς δὲ, οὐκέτι νοοῦμεν· ὅτι ἐστί τις ἀσώματος δύναμις πάντων αἰτία τῶν ἀγαθῶν, ἴσμεν, πῶς δέ ἐστιν, οὐκ ἴσμεν. Ἰδοὺ φράζομεν, καὶ οὐ νοοῦμεν. Εἶπον ὅτι πανταχοῦ ἐστιν, ἀλλ' οὐ νοῶ· εἶπον ὅτι ἄναρχός ἐστιν, ἀλλ' οὐ νοῶ· εἶπον ὅτι ἐγέννησεν ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ οὐκ οἶδα πῶς πάλιν νοήσω. Ἔστιν οὖν τινα, ἃ μηδὲ φράσαι ἔνι· οἷόν τι λέγω, νοεῖ ἡ διάνοια, ἀλλ' εἰπεῖν οὐ δύναται. Καὶ ἵνα εἰδῇς καὶ Παῦλον ἀσθενοῦντα, καὶ μὴ πρὸς ἀκρίβειαν τὰ ὑποδείγματα λέγοντα, καὶ φρίξῃς καὶ μηδὲν περαιτέρω ζητήσῃς, ἄκουε· εἰπὼν γὰρ Υἱὸν, καὶ θεὶς δημιουργὸν, τί ἐπάγει; Ὃς ὢν ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης καὶ χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστά 63.20 σεως αὐτοῦ. Τοῦτο δὲ μετ' εὐλαβείας ἐκλαμβάνειν δεῖ, καὶ τὰ ἄτοπα περικόψαι. Ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης, φησίν. Ἀλλ' ὅρα πρὸς τί αὐτὸ ἐκλαμβάνει, καὶ οὕτω καὶ αὐτὸς δέχου· ὅτι ἐξ αὐτοῦ, ὅτι ἀπαθῶς, ὅτι οὐ μειωθέντος οὐδὲ ἐλαττωθέντος· ἐπειδή εἰσί τινες ἄτοπά τινα ἐκ τοῦ ὑποδείγματος ἐκλαμβάνοντες. Τὸ γὰρ ἀπαύγασμα, φασὶν, ἐνυπόστατον οὐκ ἔστιν, ἀλλ' ἐν ἑτέρῳ ἔχει τὸ εἶναι. Μὴ τοῦτο τοίνυν ἐκλάβῃς, ἄνθρωπε, μηδὲ Μαρκέλλου καὶ Φωτεινοῦ νοσήσῃς τὴν νόσον. Ἐγγύθεν γάρ σε θεραπεύει, ὥστε μὴ εἰς ἐκείνην ἐμπεσεῖν σε τὴν διάνοιαν, οὐδὲ ἀφίησί σε εἰς τὸ ὀλέθριον ἐκεῖνο νόσημα κατενεχθῆναι· τί δέ φησι; Καὶ χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ· δηλῶν διὰ τῆς ἐπαγωγῆς, ὅτι ὥσπερ ἐστὶν ὁ Πατὴρ ἐνυπόστατος, καὶ πρὸς ὑπόστασιν οὐδενὸς δεόμενος· οὕτω καὶ ὁ Υἱός. Ἐνταῦθα γὰρ τὸ ἀπαράλλακτον δεικνὺς τοῦτό φησι, καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἰδιάζοντα χαρακτῆρα τοῦ πρωτοτύπου παραπέμπων σε, καὶ διδάσκων ὡς ἐν ὑποστάσει ἐστὶ καθ' ἑαυτόν. Εἰπὼν δὲ ἀνωτέρω, ὅτι δι' αὐτοῦ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὰ πάντα, ἐνταῦθα δίδωσιν αὐτῷ τὴν αὐθεντίαν. Τί γὰρ ἐπάγει; Φέρων τε τὰ πάντα τῷ ῥήματι τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ· ἵνα ἐκ τούτου μὴ μόνον τὸν χαρακτῆρα τῆς ὑποστάσεως ἐκλάβωμεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ μετὰ αὐθεντίας ἅπαντα κυβερνᾷν. Ὅρα τοίνυν πῶς, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ἴδιον τοῦ Πατρὸς, τοῦτο προσάπτει τῷ Υἱῷ. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο οὐχ ἁπλῶς εἶπε· Φέρων τε τὰ πάντα, οὐδὲ εἶπε· Τῇ δυνάμει αὐτοῦ, ἀλλὰ, Τῷ ῥήματι τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ. Ὥσπερ γὰρ πρώην ἡμῖν ἀνῄει κατὰ μικρὸν καὶ κατῄει· οὕτω καὶ