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handed down in the mystagogy of the illumination by the Lord of all is the fellowship of which Peter wrote: “that you might become partakers of the divine nature.” For a creature, being also under time, is not a divine nature. 15.27 Remember, besides these things, that he said “our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son,” as with equals, and not “through his Son.” 15.28 And Amos, prophesying, likewise names the Son “Almighty,” saying somewhere thus: “He who builds his ascent to heaven and establishes his promise on the earth; who calls for the water of the sea and pours it out on the face of all the earth; the Lord, God, Almighty is his name.” 15.29 Concerning which ascent David also sings: “God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.” 15.30 Both of these are about the Son. For the Father neither descended nor ascended, as the Apostle interprets, writing thus: “Now this, ‘He ascended’—what is it but that He also first descended? He who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things,” as he says, being raised up above all things and surpassing, together with the Father who begot him, as being uncreated. 15.31 For it is clear that he understood this, from the fact that the intellectual powers, since they happen to be measured creatures in heaven, are not above the heavens, nor do they fill all things. 15.32 And Zephaniah likewise proclaims him “Almighty,” saying: “This shall be to them for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the Lord Almighty. The Lord will appear against them, and the Lord will destroy all the gods of the nations of the earth, and each one will worship him from his own place.” 15.33 And Malachi accordingly speaks from the person of the Lord: “For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name has been glorified among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name is great among the nations, says the Lord Almighty. But you profane it.” 15.34 For the remembrance of both the manifestation and the being glorified among the nations shows that the Son is signified, whose name the Jews profane along with the creature-worshippers. And the sequence itself intends for him to be Almighty, inasmuch as he is the image and only-begotten of the Almighty, being obliged in this also to be understood as the image of the Almighty. 15.35 And Paul writes to the Hebrews: “who being the brightness of the Father’s glory,” that is, co-eternal and consubstantial. For so that the incomparable might be shown somehow by way of parable, if in this way that which is beyond understanding might be received somehow into the mind, I will speak—comparing the great and only great to the small—as at the same time as the sun, at the same time from the nature of the sun and from the whole disk indivisibly and without extension and in equal measure all the light shines forth together and works together and provides heat to those receptive of sensation. And the light, which is poured forth from the substance of that which sent it forth immediately and not after, and which proceeds with it and subsists with it, displays in itself the whole quality. 15.36 But if, to yield to them, “there was when the brightness was not,” where is the hypostasis of the light that radiates it? For this will surely slip away along with that. And indeed Daniel prophesying said: “and light was with him,” instead of “the Son was with the Father.” 15.37 For this especially shows the incomparable and great nature of the divinity, that the Father impassibly begot him co-eternal and co-ruler, and at the same time perfect and unchangeable. 15.38 For it is proper to a creature and not a creator, to the changeable and not the unchangeable, to one under judgment and not a judge, to one being made alive and not one making alive, to one under sin and not God, not to beget and be begotten in this way. 15.39 For if he, when no other activity had yet occurred, “made the ages,” which are constituted from times, and set a beginning for all things, and nothing can be conceived before the times and ages except the incomprehensible and truly sole first and prime-working nature, which alone is without beginning and eternal and

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παραδοθεῖσαν ἐν τῇ μυσταγωγίᾳ τοῦ φωτίσματος παρὰ τοῦ πάντων δεσπότου ἐστὶν ἡ κοινωνία ἣν Πέτρος ἔγραψεν· «ἵνα γένησθε θείας κοινωνοὶ φύσεως». τὸ γὰρ κτίσμα καὶ ὑπὸ χρόνον ὂν οὐ θεία φύσις ἐστίν. 15.27 Μέμνησο δὲ πρὸς τούτοις, ὅτιπερ «τὴν κοινωνίαν ἡμῶν» εἶπεν «μετὰ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ», ἰσοτίμως, καὶ οὐχί «διὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ». 15.28 Καὶ ὁ Ἀμὼς δὲ προφητεύων «παντοκράτορα» ὁμοίως τὸν υἱὸν ὀνομάζει οὕτω που λέγων· «ὁ οἰκοδομῶν εἰς οὐρανὸν τὴν ἀνάβασιν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ γῆς θεμελιῶν, ὁ προσκαλούμενος τὸ ὕδωρ τῆς θαλάσσης καὶ ἐκχέων αὐτὸ ἐπὶ πρόσωπον πάσης τῆς γῆς, κύριος, ὁ θεός, ὁ παντοκράτωρ ὄνομα αὐτῷ». 15.29 Περὶ ἦς ἀναβάσεως ψάλλει καὶ ∆αυΐδ· «ἀνέβη ὁ θεὸς ἐν ἀλαλαγμῷ, κύριος ἐν φωνῇ σάλπιγγος». 15.30 Ἄμφω ταῦτα περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ. ὁ γὰρ πατὴρ οὔτε κατέβη οὔτε ἀνέβη, ὡς ὁ ἀπόστολος ἑρμηνεύει γράφων ὧδε· «τὸ δὲ «ἀνέβη» τί ἐστιν, εἰ μὴ ὅτι καὶ κατέβη πρῶτον; ὁ καταβὰς αὐτός ἐστιν καὶ ὁ ἀναβὰς ὑπεράνω πάντων τῶν οὐρανῶν, ἵνα πληρώσῃ τὰ πάντα» ὡς πάντων φησὶν ὑπερανεστηκὼς καὶ ὑπερφέρων ὁμοῦ τῷ τεκόντι πατρί, ἅτε ἀγένητος. 15.31 φανερὸς γάρ ἐστι τοῦτο νοήσας, ἀφ' ὧν καὶ αἱ νοεραὶ δυνάμεις, ἐπειδὴ κτίσματα μεμετρημένα τυγχάνουσιν οὖσαι ἐν οὐρανῷ, ἀλλ' οὐχ ὑπεράνω τῶν οὐρανῶν, οὐδὲ πληροῦσαι τὰ πάντα εἰσίν. 15.32 Καὶ Σοφωνίας «παντοκράτορα» ὡσαύτως ἀναγορεύει αὐτὸν λέγων· «αὕτη αὐτοῖς ἀντὶ τῆς ὕβρεως αὐτῶν, διότι ὠνείδισαν καὶ ἐμεγαλύνθησαν ἐπὶ τὸν κύριον τὸν παντοκράτορα. ἐπιφανήσεται κύριος ἐπ' αὐτούς, καὶ ἐξολο θρεύσει κύριος πάντας τοὺς θεοὺς τῶν ἐθνῶν τῆς γῆς, καὶ προκυνήσουσιν ἕκαστος ἐκ τοῦ τόπου αὐτοῦ». 15.33 Καὶ Μαλαχίας ἑπομένως ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ δεσπότου φάσκει· «διότι ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν ἡλίου καὶ ἕως δυσμῶν δεδόξασταί μου τὸ ὄνομα ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν καὶ ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ θυμίαμα προσάγεται τῷ ὀνοματί μου καὶ θυσία καθαρά. διότι μέγα τὸ ὄνομά μου ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, λέγει κύριος παντοκράτωρ. ὑμεῖς δὲ βεβηλοῦτε αὐτό». 15.34 Ἡ γὰρ μνήμη τῆς τε ἐπιφανείας καὶ τοῦ δοξάζεσθαι ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, τὸν υἱὸν σημαίνεσθαι δείκνυσιν, οὗ τὸ ὄνομα βεβηλοῦσιν Ἰουδαῖοι σὺν τοῖς κτισματολάτραις. καὶ αὐτὴ δὲ ἡ ἀκολουθία παντοκράτορα αὐτὸν εἶναι βούλεται, καθὸ εἰκὼν καὶ μονογενὴς παντοκράτορος κεχρεωστημένος τὸ καὶ ἐν τούτῳ εἰκὼν νοεῖσθαι τοῦ παντοκράτορος. 15.35 Καὶ Παῦλος δὲ Ἑβραίοις γράφει· «ὃς ὢν ἀπαύγασμα τῆς δόξης τοῦ πατρός», τοῦτ' ἔστιν συνάναρχος καὶ ὁμοούσιος. ἵνα γὰρ τὰ ἀπαράβλητα παραβολικῶς πως παραδειχθείη, εἰ κἂν οὕτω ποσῶς εἰς νοῦν δεχθείη τὸ ὑπὲρ νοῦν, ἐρῶ- τὸ μέγα καὶ μόνον μέγα μικρῷ συμβάλλων-ὡς ἅμα τε ἥλιος, ἅμα ἐξ ἡλίου φύσεως καὶ ἐξ ὅλου τοῦ δίσκου ἀμερίστως καὶ ἀδιαστάτως καὶ ἰσομέτρως ὅλον τὸ φῶς συνεκφαίνεται καὶ συνενεργεῖ καὶ συμπαρέχει τὴν θέρμην τοῖς αἰσθήσεως δεκτικοῖς. καὶ τῆς τοῦ προέντος οὐσίας τὸ ἀμέσως καὶ οὐχ ὕστερον προχεόμενον καὶ συμπροϊὸν καὶ συνυφιστάμενον φῶς ὅλην ἐν ἑαυτῷ διεκφαίνει τὴν ποιότητα. 15.36 Εἰ δέ, πρὸς τὸ εἶκον ἐκείνοις, «ἦν ὅτε οὐκ ἦν» τὸ ἀπαύγασμα, ποῦ ἡ ἀπαυγάζουσα αὐτὸ ὑπόστασις τοῦ φωτός; συνδιολισθήσει γάρ που πάντως ἐκείνῳ τοῦτο. καὶ μὴν καὶ ∆ανιὴλ προφητεύων εἶπεν· «καὶ φῶς μετ' αὐτοῦ ἦν» ἀντὶ τοῦ «ὁ υἱὸς μετὰ τοῦ πατρός». 15.37 Τοῦτο γὰρ μάλιστα δείκνυσιν τὸ ἀσυνείκαστον καὶ μέγα τῆς θεότητος, ὅτι συνάναρχον αὐτοῦ καὶ σύναρχον ὁμοῦ δὲ καὶ τέλειον καὶ ἀπαράλλακτον ἀπαθῶς ἐγέννησεν ὁ πατήρ. 15.38 κτίσματος γὰρ ἴδιον καὶ οὐ κτίστου, τρεπτοῦ καὶ οὐκ ἀτρέπτου, ὑπὸ κρίσιν καὶ οὐ κριτοῦ, ζωοποιουμένου καὶ οὐ ζωοποιοῦντος, ὑπὸ ἁμαρτίαν καὶ οὐ θεοῦ τὸ μὴ οὕτως γεννῆσαι καὶ γεννηθῆναι. 15.39 εἰ γὰρ αὐτός, οὔπω ἐνεργείας ἄλλης οὐδεμιᾶς γενομένης, «ἐποίησεν τοὺς αἰῶνας», οἱ ἐκ τῶν χρόνων ἀποτελοῦνται, καὶ τοῖς πᾶσιν ἀρχὴν ἐπέθηκεν, οὐδὲν δὲ πρὸ τῶν χρόνων καὶ αἰώνων νοεῖσθαι δύναται εἰ μὴ ἡ ἀκατάληπτος καὶ ἀληθῶς μόνη πρωτίστη καὶ πρωτουργὸς φύσις ἡ μόνως οὖσα ἄναρχος καὶ αἰώνιος καὶ