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of evil demons and of the ocean of goodness; but the Jews have run aground on another madness; for they say that the God of all spoke "let us make man" to himself, in some imitation of those entrusted with great offices; for indeed prefects and generals are accustomed to speak in the plural, 'we command' and 'we write' and 'we order' and such things; and the madmen did not understand that the God of all speaks mostly in the singular; "for the time," he says, "of every man has come before me", and "I have considered that I made 22 man", and "I will wipe out man", and "you shall have no other gods but me", and "behold, I am doing new things which now spring forth", and "I will open springs on the mountains and rivers on the hills". And in all of holy scripture, for the most part, one can hear the God of all speaking in the singular; but a few times he forms his speech in the plural, revealing the number of the persons of the trinity. For when he confused the tongues he did not say in the singular 'I will go down and confuse the tongues,' but "come, let us go down and confuse their tongues". And here, therefore, since he was fashioning the rational creature, which after many generations he was about to renew, consecrating the all-holy baptism with the invocations of the holy trinity, being about to create the nature that would receive those mysteries, he enigmatically revealed both the identity of the essence and the number of the persons; for by saying "God said," he has revealed the commonality of the divine nature; but by adding "let us make," he has shown the number of the persons. So again, by saying "the image" in the singular, he showed the identity of the nature; for he did not say 'in images,' but "in image". But by saying "our," he revealed the number of the hypostases; for the God of all, foreseeing all things that had not yet happened as if they had already happened, and foreseeing the incarnation and enfleshment of the only-begotten, and how he would take this nature from a virgin, and thus would join and unite it to himself so that it would be understood as one person of God and man and one worship would be offered to him by all creation, very fittingly deemed the very foundation of the race worthy of the greatest honor; and first proposing counsel for the creation 23 in order to signify the rationality of the one being created; then revealing the number of the persons so that the one who was to offer hymns upon the earth might receive enigmas of theology; and becoming, as it were, the very craftsman of the formation, he showed the greater affection for this creature. This is what noble Job also cries out to him, saying: "your hands have made me and formed me". The divine David also used these words, and he who is deemed worthy of holy baptism knows this clearly, that the one who formed saved, and the one who saved formed; and in addition to these things the creator himself also says through Jeremiah, and through Isaiah, "that we are clay, but he is our potter". But we do not say that the divine has hands, nor that it needs any counsel and forethought, so that according to the myths of Plato it might construct the creation according to the idea of its conception; but each of these things reveals the greater care of God for this creature. XX What is "in the image"? Some have called the invisibility of the soul the image of God; but they have not spoken truly; for if the invisibility of the soul is the image of God, then angels and archangels, and all the incorporeal and holy natures would more likely be called images of God; since they are completely separated from bodies, and possess unmixed invisibility. But some, out of great simple-mindedness, say that the human body was made "in the image of God"; since they listen to the holy scripture saying: "open your eyes and see, and incline your ear and hear 24", and "the Lord smelled a pleasing aroma", and "the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things", and "in his hand are the ends of the earth", and such things. And the utterly foolish did not understand that the Lord God, speaking to humans through humans, his words to the weakness of the hearers

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πονηρῶν δαιμόνων καὶ τοῦ πελάγους τῆς ἀγαθότητος· ἰουδαῖοι δὲ εἰς ἑτέραν ἐξώκειλαν παραφροσύνην· φασὶ γὰρ πρὸς ἑαυτὸν εἰρηκέναι τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεὸν τὸ " ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον " κατά τινα μίμησιν τῶν τὰς μεγάλας πεπιστευμένων ἀρχάς· καὶ γὰρ ὕπαρχοι καὶ στρατηγοὶ πληθυντικῶς εἰώθασι λέγειν τὸ κελεύομεν καὶ γράφομεν καὶ προστάττομεν καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα· καὶ οὐ συνεῖ δον οἱ παραπλῆγες, ὡς ἑνικῶς τὰ πλεῖστα ὁ τῶν ὅλων λέγει Θεός· " καιρός, γάρ φησι, παντὸς ἀνθρώπου ἥκει ἐναν τίον μου ", καὶ " ἐνεθυμήθην ὅτι ἐποίησα τὸν ἄν 22 θρωπον ", καὶ " ἀπαλείψω τὸν ἄνθρωπον ", καὶ " οὐκ ἔσονταί σοι θεοὶ ἕτεροι πλὴν ἐμοῦ ", καὶ " ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ποιῶ καινὰ ἃ νῦν ἀνατέλλει ", καὶ " ἀνοίξω ἐπὶ τῶν ὀρέων πηγὰς καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν βουνῶν πο ταμούς ". καὶ ἐν πάσῃ δὲ ὡς ἐπίπαν τῇ θείᾳ γραφῇ ἑνικῶς ἐστιν ἀκοῦ σαι τοῦ τῶν ὅλων διαλεγομένου Θεοῦ· ὀλιγάκις δὲ πληθυντικῶς τὴν διάλεξιν σχηματίζει, τῶν τῆς τριάδος προσώπων ἐμφαίνων τὸν ἀριθμόν. καὶ γὰρ ἡνίκα τὰς γλώσσας συνέχεεν οὐχ ἑνικῶς εἶπε καταβήσομαι καὶ συγχεῶ τὰς γλώσσας, ἀλλὰ " δεῦτε, καταβάντες συγ χέωμεν αὐτῶν τὰς γλώσσας ". καὶ ἐνταῦθα τοίνυν, ἐπειδὴ τὸ λογικὸν διέπλαττε ζῷον, ὃ μετὰ πολλὰς ἀνακαινίζειν ἤμελλε γενεάς, ταῖς τῆς ἁγίας τριάδος ἐπικλήσεσι τελεσιουργῶν τὸ πανάγιον βάπτισμα, μέλλων δημιουργεῖν τὴν ἐκεῖνα παραληψομένην τὰ μυστήρια φύσιν, αἰνιγματωδῶς καὶ τὸ ταὐτὸν τῆς οὐσίας καὶ τὸν τῶν προσώπων παρε δήλωσεν ἀριθμόν· τῷ φάναι μὲν γὰρ " εἶπεν ὁ Θεός ", τὸ κοινὸν τῆς θείας δεδήλωκε φύσεως· ἐπαγαγὼν δὲ τὸ " ποιήσωμεν ", ἐνέ φηνε τῶν προσώπων τὸν ἀριθμόν. οὕτω πάλιν ἑνικῶς μὲν εἰπὼν " τὴν εἰκόνα ", τὸ ταὐτὸν τῆς φύσεως ἔδειξεν· οὐ γὰρ εἶπε κατ' εἰκόνας, ἀλλὰ " κατ' εἰκόνα ". " ἡμετέραν " δὲ εἰρηκώς, τὸν τῶν ὑποστάσεων δεδήλωκεν ἀριθμόν· ἅπαντα γὰρ προορῶν ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεὸς ὡς ἤδη γε γενημένα τὰ μήπω γενόμενα, καὶ προθεωρῶν τὴν τοῦ μονογενοῦς σάρ κωσίν τε καὶ ἐνανθρώπησιν, καὶ ὡς ταύτην τὴν φύσιν ἐκ παρθένου λή ψεται, καὶ οὕτως ἑαυτῷ συνάψει τε καὶ ἑνώσει ὡς ἓν πρόσωπον Θεοῦ τε καὶ ἀνθρώπου νοεῖσθαι καὶ μίαν αὐτῷ προσκύνησιν παρὰ τὴν κτίσεως ἁπάσης προσφέρεσθαι, μάλα εἰκότως καὶ αὐτὴν τοῦ γένους τὴν κρηπῖδα τιμῆς μεγίστης ἠξίωσε· καὶ πρῶτον βουλὴν τῆς δημιουργίας προτάξας 23 ἵνα τοῦ δημιουργουμένου τὸ λογικὸν προσημάνῃ· εἶτα τῶν προσώπων παραδηλώσας τὸν ἀριθμὸν ἵνα τοὺς ὕμνους ὁ μέλλων προσφέρειν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, λάβῃ θεολογίας αἰνίγματα· καὶ οἱονεὶ αὐτουργὸς τῆς διαπλάσεως γενόμενος, ἔδειξε τὴν πλείονα περὶ τόδε τὸ πλάσμα φιλοστοργίαν. τοῦτο καὶ Ἰὼβ ὁ γενναῖος πρὸς αὐτὸν βοᾷ λέγων· " αἱ χεῖρές σου ἐποίησάν με καὶ ἔπλασάν με ". τούτοις ἐχρήσατο τοῖς λόγοις καὶ ὁ θεῖος ∆αβίδ, τοῦτο καὶ ὁ τοῦ ἁγίου βαπτίσματος ἀξιούμε νος γινώσκει σαφῶς ὡς ὁ πλάσας διέσωσε καὶ ὁ σώσας διέπλασε· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ δημιουργὸς καὶ διὰ Ἰερεμίου, καὶ διὰ Ἠσαΐου φησίν, " ὅτι ἡμεῖς πηλός, αὐτὸς δὲ πλάστης ἡμῶν ". ἀλλ' οὔτε χεῖρας ἔχειν τὸ θεῖον οὔτε δεῖσθαι βουλῆς τινος καὶ προθεωρίας φαμέν, ἵνα κατὰ τοὺς Πλάτωνος μύθους πρὸς τὴν τῆς ἐνθυμήσεως ἰδέαν κατασκευάσῃ τὸ ποίημα· ἀλλὰ τούτων ἕκαστον τὴν πλείονα τοῦ Θεοῦ περὶ τόδε τὸ ζῷον κηδεμονίαν δηλοῖ. XX Τί ἐστι τὸ " κατ' εἰκόνα "; Τινὲς τὸ ἀόρατον τῆς ψυχῆς εἰκόνα Θεοῦ κεκλήκασιν· ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀληθῶς εἰρήκασιν· εἰ γὰρ εἰκὼν τοῦ Θεοῦ τῆς ψυχῆς τὸ ἀόρατον, μᾶλλον ἂν εἰκόνες τοῦ Θεοῦ κληθεῖεν ἄγγελοι καὶ ἀρχάγγελοι, καὶ πᾶσαι αἱ ἀσώ ματοι καὶ ἅγιαι φύσεις· ἅτε δὲ παντάπασι σωμάτων ἀπηλλαγμέναι, καὶ ἀμιγὲς τὸ ἀόρατον ἔχουσαι. τινὲς δὲ ὑπὸ πολλῆς εὐηθείας τὸ σῶμα τὸ ἀνθρώπινον " κατ' εἰκόνα Θεοῦ " γεγενῆσθαί φασιν· ἐπειδὴ τῆς θείας λεγούσης ἐπακούουσι γραφῆς· " ἄνοιξον τοὺς ὀφθαλ μοὺς σοῦ καὶ ἴδε, καὶ κλῖνον τὸ οὖς σοῦ καὶ ἄκου 24 σον ", καὶ " ὠσφράνθη Κύριος ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας ", καὶ " τὸ στόμα Κυρίου ἐλάλησε ταῦτα ", καὶ " ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς ", καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα. καὶ οὐ συνεῖδον οἱ ἄγαν ἠλίθιοι, ὡς ἀνθρώποις δι' ἀνθρώπων διαλεγόμενος ὁ δεσπότης Θεός, τῇ τῶν ἀκουόντων ἀσθενείᾳ τοὺς λόγους