10

For he was not abandoned 693 in Hades, just as the divine Peter also said. For he does not say, surely, that the nature which is entirely unassailable and indestructible by death, that is, the divinity of the Only-Begotten, was brought back from the depths beneath the earth. For the matter would not have been deemed a wonder if the Word from God had not remained in Hades, by the energy and nature of his divinity paradoxically and beyond reason filling all things, and being present to all things. For the divine is beyond place and limitation and measurable size, while being itself contained by nothing. But it is paradoxical and to no being is it not a wonder that a body came back to life, that which is by nature corruptible; for it was united to the incorruptible Word. But the divine soul, having obtained its conjunction and union with him, descended indeed into Hades, but using a power and authority befitting God, it appeared to the spirits there. Therefore he also said to those in bonds: Come forth, and to those in darkness: Be unveiled. And it seems to me that the divine Peter said something of this sort concerning both the Word of God and his soul which was made his through the economic union: For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil, because Christ also died once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death <indeed> in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. In which, he says, he also went and preached to the spirits in prison, who had once been disobedient. For they would not say, I think, that the divinity of the Only-Begotten, naked and by itself, descended into Hades and preached to the spirits there, being completely invisible; for the divine is always superior to being seen. But we shall not grant that it was formed into the likeness of a soul in appearance and in a fashioned way, for docetism must be rejected everywhere. But just as to those still in the flesh <he associated with them in the flesh,> so also he preached to the souls in Hades, having as his own vehicle the soul united to him. And the manner of the union is perhaps deep and truly ineffable, and not comprehensible by our minds. Nevertheless, it is proper to reflect on that point. For it is not without penalty to be meddlesome about things not according to our capacity, and it is entirely senseless to subject things beyond the mind to investigation, and to try to understand what is impossible to understand. Or do you not know that this 694 deep mystery, which leaps beyond the mind within us, has been honored with unquestioning faith? But assigning to that Nicodemus and those like him the foolish saying, how can these things be, we shall without hesitation accept the oracles uttered through the divine Spirit, and we shall believe Christ himself saying: Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and we bear witness to what we have seen. {B} You speak well. {A} Let all nonsense therefore be gone, both idle myth and false opinion and the deception of elegant little words. For we in no way accept that which is by nature harmful, even if those on the opposing side should assail us with excessively refined, and indeed also bitter, arguments. For our divine mystery is not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit. Therefore, being God and Lord of all, according to the Scriptures, the Only-Begotten appeared to us. For he was seen on earth, and he shone on those in darkness, having become man, not in appearance—may it never be, for to think or say this is madness—nor indeed being brought into flesh by alteration and change—for the Word from God is unalterable and always in the same state and condition—but neither having his existence co-temporal with the flesh—for he himself is the maker of the ages—nor indeed having become like an unsubstantial word, nor like a mere utterance in a man; for he who calls non-existent things into existence and being must necessarily pre-exist; for he himself is the life, having appeared from the life of God and the Father who exists and is conceived in his own hypostasis. But neither did he put on flesh alone, bereft of a rational soul, but he has been born in truth from a woman, and has appeared as a man

10

Οὐκ ἐγκατελείφθη 693 γὰρ εἰς ᾅδου, καθὰ καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος ἔφη Πέτρος. Οὐ γάρ που τήν γε ἄληπτον παντελῶς καὶ ἀνάλωτον τῷ θανάτῳ φύσιν, τουτέστι τὴν θεότητα τοῦ Μονογενοῦς, τῶν ὑπὸ χθόνα μυχῶν ἀνακεκομίσθαι φησίν. Οὐ γὰρ ἂν ἠξιώθη τὸ χρῆμα θαύματος εἰ μὴ μεμένηκεν εἰς τὸ ᾅδην ὁ ἐκ Θεοῦ Λόγος, τῇ τῆς θεότητος ἐνεργείᾳ τε καὶ φύσει παραδόξως καὶ ὑπὲρ λόγον πληρῶν μὲν τὰ πάντα, καὶ τοῖς πᾶσιν ἐπιδημῶν. Ἀνωτέρω γὰρ τόπου καὶ περιορισμοῦ καὶ μεγέθους μετρητοῦ τὸ θεῖον, αὐτὸ δὲ ὑπὸ μηδενὸς χωρούμενον. Παράδοξον δὲ καὶ οὐδενὶ τῶν ὄντων ἀθαύμαστον ὅτι σῶμα μὲν ἀνεβίω, τὸ τῇ φύσει φθαρτόν· συνήνωτο γὰρ τῷ ἀφθάρτῳ Λόγῳ. Ψυχὴ δὲ ἡ θεία, τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν λαχοῦσα συνδρομήν τε καὶ ἕνωσιν, καταπεφοίτηκε μὲν εἰς ᾅδου, θεοπρεπεῖ δὲ δυνάμει καὶ ἐξουσίᾳ χρωμένη, καὶ τοῖς ἐκεῖσε πνεύμασι κατεφαίνετο. Τοιγάρτοι καὶ ἔφασκε τοῖς ἐν δεσμοῖς· Ἐξέλθετε, καὶ τοῖς ἐν τῷ σκότει· Ἀνακαλύφθητε. Καί μοι δοκεῖ φάναι τι τοιοῦτον καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος Πέτρος περί τε τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου καὶ τῆς καθ' ἕνωσιν οἰκονομικὴν γεγενημένης αὐτοῦ ψυχῆς· Κρεῖττον γὰρ ἀγαθοποιοῦντας, εἰ θέλοι τὸ θέλημα τοῦ Θεοῦ, πάσχειν ἢ κακοποιοῦντας, ὅτι καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἅπαξ ὑπὲρ ἁμαρτιῶν ἀπέθανε, δίκαιος ὑπὲρ ἀδίκων, ἵν' ἡμᾶς προσαγάγῃ τῷ Θεῷ, θανατωθεὶς <μὲν> σαρκί, ζωοποιηθεὶς δὲ πνεύματι. Ἐν ᾧ, φησί, καὶ τοῖς ἐν φυλακῇ πνεύμασι πορευθεὶς ἐκήρυξεν, ἀπειθήσασί ποτε. Οὐδὲ γάρ, οἶμαι, φαῖεν ἂν ὡς γυμνὴ καὶ καθ' ἑαυτὴν ἡ θεότης τοῦ Μονογενοῦς καταπεφοίτηκε μὲν εἰς ᾅδου, διεκήρυξε δὲ τοῖς ἐκεῖσε πνεύμασιν, ἄποπτος οὖσα παντελῶς· κρεῖττον γὰρ ἀεὶ τοῦ ὁρᾶσθαι τὸ θεῖον. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ δοκήσει καὶ ἐσχηματισμένως εἰς τὸ ψυχῆς εἶδος αὐτὴν μεμορφῶσθαι δώσομεν, παραιτητέον δὲ πανταχῆ τὴν δόκησιν. Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ τοῖς ἔτι μετὰ σαρκὸς <συνανεστράφη μετὰ σαρκός,> οὕτω καὶ ταῖς εἰς ᾅδου ψυχαῖς διεκήρυξεν, ἴδιον ἔχων φόρημα τὴν ἑνωθεῖσαν αὐτῷ ψυχήν. Καὶ βαθὺς μὲν ἴσως καὶ ἀπόρρητος ἀληθῶς, καὶ ταῖς ἡμετέραις διανοίαις οὐχ ἁλώσιμος ὁ τῆς ἑνώσεως τρόπος. Ἐκεῖνο δ' οὖν ὅμως ἀναλογίζεσθαι πρέπει. Τὰ γάρ τοι μὴ καθ' ἡμᾶς πολυπραγμονεῖν οὐκ ἀζήμιον, ἀνούστατον δὲ παντελῶς τὸ βασάνοις ὑποφέρειν τὰ ὑπὲρ νοῦν, καὶ πειρᾶσθαι νοεῖν ἃ νοεῖν οὐχ οἷόν τε. Ἢ οὐκ οἶσθα ὅτι τὸ βαθὺ δὴ τουτὶ 694 μυστήριον, καὶ νοῦν ὑπερθρῶσκον τὸν ἐν ἡμῖν, ἀπεριεργάστῳ πίστει τετίμηται; Τὸ δὲ ἀσυνέτως λέγειν, πῶς δύναται ταῦτα γενέσθαι, Νικοδήμῳ τε ἐκείνῳ καὶ τοῖς κατ' αὐτὸν ἀπονέμοντες, ἀνενδοιάστως παραδεξόμεθα τὰ διὰ θείου Πνεύματος χρησμῳδούμενα, καὶ αὐτῷ δὲ πιστεύσομεν λέγοντι τῷ Χριστῷ· Ἀμήν, ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ἃ οἴδαμεν λαλοῦμεν, καὶ ἃ ἑωράκαμεν μαρτυροῦμεν. {Β} Εὖ λέγεις. {Α} Οἰχέσθω δὴ οὖν λῆρος μὲν ἅπας, μῦθός τε ἀδρανὴς καὶ ψευδοδοξία καὶ κεκομψευμένων ῥηματίων φενακισμός. Προσιέμεθα γὰρ οὔτι που τὸ κατασίνεσθαι πεφυκός, κἂν εἰ τοῖς ἄγαν ἐξησκημένοις, καὶ μὴν καὶ πικροῖς ἡμᾶς κατακροτοῖεν λόγοις οἱ δι' ἐναντίας. Ἔστι γὰρ τὸ θεῖον ἡμῶν μυστήριον οὐκ ἐν πειθοῖς σοφίας ἀνθρωπίνης λόγοις, ἀλλ' ἐν ἀποδείξει Πνεύματος. Θεὸς οὖν ὑπάρχων καὶ τῶν ὅλων Κύριος, κατὰ τὰς Γραφάς, ὁ Μονογενὴς ἐπέφανεν ἡμῖν. Ὤφθη γὰρ ἐπὶ γῆς, καὶ ἐπέλαμψε τοῖς ἐν σκότει, γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος, οὐ δοκήσει, μὴ γένοιτομανία γὰρ τοῦτό γε φρονεῖν ἢ λέγεινοὔτε μὴν εἰς σάρκα παρενεχθεὶς κατὰ μετάστασιν καὶ τροπήν ἀναλλοίωτος γὰρ καὶ ἀεὶ κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ ὡσαύτως ἔχων ὁ ἐκ Θεοῦ Λόγοςἀλλ' οὐδὲ ὁμόχρονον τῇ σαρκὶ τὴν ὕπαρξιν ἔχωναὐτὸς γάρ ἐστι τῶν αἰώνων ὁ ποιητής οὔτε μὴν ὡς λόγος ἀνυπόστατος, οὐδὲ ὡς ῥῆμα ψιλὸν ἐν ἀνθρώπῳ γεγονώς· ὁ γάρ τοι καλῶν τὰ οὐκ ὄντα ποτὲ πρὸς ὕπαρξίν τε καὶ γένεσιν προϋφέστηκεν ἀναγκαίως· αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστι ἡ ζωὴ πεφηνὼς ἐκ ζωῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς ὄντος τε καὶ νοουμένου κατ' ἰδίαν ὑπόστασιν. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ μόνην ἠμπέσχετο σάρκα ψυχῆς ἐρήμην τῆς λογικῆς, γεγέννηται δὲ κατὰ ἀλήθειαν ἐκ γυναικός, καὶ πέφηνεν ἄνθρωπος