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THEOLOGICAL DISCOURSE THE SECOND (29)

And against those who attempt to theologize without the Spirit. He who has received from above the praise of God to carry always in his mouth,

who opens his mouth and draws in the spirit of life, strives to do this hourly more spaciously for a more abundant reception of the word of life, which is the bread that comes down from heaven, about which it is said: "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it." Therefore, he who has been deemed worthy by God to become such a one is able to have the notion of God, once impressed and, as it were, sealed on the ruling part of the soul, dwelling always in the soul, and he is able, according to the apostolic command, to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, to do all things to the glory of God, whether he eats or whether he drinks, namely, being continually nourished and strengthened by the bread of life. While such a one sleeps, his heart is awake, and when he is awake, he is never separated from God in any way; and declaring this, the Apostle says: "He who is joined to a wife is one body, and he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit." "For God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit (30) and truth." Therefore, he who is thus spiritually joined to God, so as to become one spirit with him, cannot sin; for the theological voice says: "For this the Son of God was revealed, that he might take away our sins, and in him there is no sin; everyone who abides in him does not sin, everyone who sins has not seen him nor known him." And again: "Everyone who is born of God does not commit sin, because his seed remains in him, and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God."

If, then, everyone who sins has not seen God nor known him, and he who is born of God does not commit sin, being called his child, it occurs to me to marvel at the many men who, before being born of God and called his children, do not shudder to theologize and speak about God. For this reason, whenever I hear some of these men philosophizing about divine and inaccessible matters and theologizing ignorantly and expounding things concerning God and what pertains to him without the Spirit who gives understanding, my spirit shudders and I become, as it were, beside myself, considering and contemplating the incomprehensibility of the Godhead to all, and how, being ignorant of the things at our feet and even of ourselves, we are eager to philosophize about things inaccessible to us with a lack of fear of God and with audacity, and this, being empty of the Spirit who illuminates or even unfolds these things, and sinning in this very act of saying anything about God. For if it is difficult for each to know himself alone and a subject philosophized by very few, and by almost none in this time and in this generation, when the love of philosophy has been extinguished by the violent rush and contrary wind of the negligence that has seized us and of the affairs of life, exchanging for eternal things those things that are worth nothing and no longer exist (31) or do not exist at all, being re-formed at different times in different ways and having no limit of stability, how much more difficult is it to know God, and furthermore, completely irrational and senseless to investigate the nature and essence of God. But why, O you people, leaving your own affairs to be well-ordered, do you investigate things concerning God and divine matters? First we must pass from death to life, then thus receive the seed from above of the living God in ourselves and be born of him, so as to be called his children, and draw the Spirit into the

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ΘΕΟΛΟΓΙΚΟΣ ∆ΕΥΤΕΡΟΣ (29)

Καί κατά τῶν ἐπιχειρούντων θεολογεῖν ἄνευ Πνεύματος. Ὁ ἄνωθεν εἰληφώς τήν τοῦ Θεοῦ αἴνεσιν ἐν τῷ στόματι διά παντός περιφέρειν,

ὁ ἀνοίγων τό στόμα αὐτοῦ καί ἑλκύων πνεῦμα ζωῆς, εὐρυχωρότερον σπουδάζει τοῦτο καθ᾿ ὥραν ποιεῖν εἰς ἀφθονωτέραν ὑποδοχήν τοῦ λόγου τῆς ζωῆς, ὅς ἐστιν ὁ ἄρτος ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβαίνων, περί οὗ εἴρηται· "Πλάτυνον τό στόμα σου καί πληρώσω αὐτό". Τοίνυν καί ὁ γενέσθαι τοιοῦτος ἀξιωθείς ἀπό τοῦ Θεοῦ δύναται ἐντετυπωμένην ἅπαξ καί οἱονεί ἐσφραγισμένην τῷ ἡγεμονικῷ τῆς ψυχῆς τήν περί Θεοῦ ἔννοιαν ἔχειν διά παντός ἐνυπάρχουσαν τῇ ψυχῇ, δύναται δέ καί κατά τήν ἀποστολικήν ὑποθήκην πάντοτε χαίρειν, ἀδιαλείπτως προσεύχεσθαι, ἐν παντί εὐχαριστεῖν, πάντα εἰς δόξαν Θεοῦ ποιεῖν, κἄν εἴτε ἐσθίῃ, κἄν εἴτε πίνῃ, ὑπό τοῦ ἄρτου δηλαδή τῆς ζωῆς διηνεκῶς τρεφόμενός τε καί δυναμούμενος. Τοῦ τοιούτου καθεύδοντος ἡ καρδία ἐγρήγορε καί ἐγρηγορότος οὐδέποτε τοῦ Θεοῦ καθ᾿ οἱονδήποτε τρόπον χωρίζεται· καί τοῦτο δηλῶν ὁ Ἀπόστολος λέγει· "Ὁ κολλώμενος τῇ γυναικί ἕν σῶμά ἐστι καί ὁ κολλώμενος τῷ Κυρίῳ ἕν πνεῦμά ἐστι". "Πνεῦμα γάρ ὁ Θεός καί τούς προσκυνοῦντας αὐτόν ἐν πνεύματι ( 30) καί ἀληθείᾳ δεῖ προσκυνεῖν". Τοιγαροῦν καί ὁ οὕτω συναφθείς πενυματικῶς τῷ Θεῷ, ὥστε ἕν πνεῦμα γενέσθαι μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ, ἁμαρτάνειν οὐ δύναται· φησί γάρ ἡ θεολόγος φωνή· "Εἰς τοῦτο ἐφανερώθη ὁ Υἱός τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἵνα τάς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν ἄρῃ καί ἁμαρτία ἐν αὐτῷ οὐκ ἔστι· πᾶς ὁ ἐν αὐτῷ μένων οὐχ ἁμαρτάνει, πᾶς ὁ ἁμαρτάνων οὐχ ἑώρακεν αὐτόν οὐδέ ἔγνωκεν αὐτόν". Καί πάλιν· "Πᾶς ὁ γεγενημένος ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἁμαρτίαν οὐ ποιεῖ, ὅτι σπέρμα αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ μένει, καί οὐ δύναται ἁμαρτάνειν ὅτι ἐκ Θεοῦ γεγέννηται".

Εἰ οὖν πᾶς ὁ ἁμαρτάνων τόν Θεόν οὐχ ἑώρακεν οὐδέ ἔγνωκεν αὐτόν, ὁ δέ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἁμαρτίαν οὐ ποιεῖ, τέκνον χρηματίζων αὐτοῦ, θαυμάζειν μοι ἔπεισιν ἐπί τούς πολλούς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, οἵ πρό τοῦ γεννηθῆναι ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ καί τέκνα χρηματίσαι αὐτοῦ θεολογεῖν καί περί Θεοῦ λέγειν οὐ φρίττουσι. ∆ιά δή τοῦτο καί ὅταν περί θείων καί ἀνεφίκτων πραγμάτων ἀκούω τούτων τινάς φιλοσοφοῦντας καί ἀνάγνως θεολογοῦντας καί τά περί Θεοῦ καί τά κατ᾿ αὐτόν ἐξηγουμένους ἄνευ τοῦ συνετίζοντος Πνεύματος, φρίττει μου τό πνεῦμα καί οἱονεί ἔξω ἐμαυτοῦ γίνομαι, ἀναλογιζόμενος καί σκοπῶν τό πᾶσιν ἀκατάληπτον τῆς θεότητος καί ὅπως, τά ἐν ποσίν ἀγνοοῦντες καί αὐτούς ἡμᾶς, περί τῶν ἀνεφίκτων ἡμῖν ἀφοβίᾳ Θεοῦ καί τόλμῃ φιλοσοφεῖν προθυμούμεθα, καί ταῦτα κενοί Πνεύματος ὄντες τοῦ ταῦτα φωτίζοντος ἤ καί ἀναπτύσσοντος καί αὐτό τοῦτο τό περί Θεοῦ λέγειν τι ἁμαρτάνοντες. Εἰ γάρ τό γνῶναι μόνον ἕκαστον ἑαυτόν χαλεπόν καί κομιδῇ ὀλίγοις φιλοσοφούμενον, μικροῦ δέ οὐδ᾿ ὀλίγοις ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τούτῳ καί τῇ γενεᾷ ταύτῃ, ἡνίκα καί ὁ τῆς φιλοσοφίας ἔρως ἐσβέσθη τῇ βιαίᾳ φορᾷ καί ἀντιπνεύσει τῆς κατασχούσης ἡμᾶς ἀμελείας καί τῶν πραγμάτων τοῦ βίου, ἀνταλλαττομένοις τῶν αἰωνίων τά μηδενός ἄξια καί μηκέτ᾿ ὄντα (31) ἤ οὐδαμῶς ὄντα, ἄλλοτε ἄλλως μετατυπούμενα καί ὅρον μή ἔχοντα στάσεως, πολλῷ μᾶλλον τό γνῶναι Θεόν χαλεπώτερον καί προσέτι πάντῃ ἄλογον καί ἀσύνετον καί φύσιν Θεοῦ καί οὐσίαν ἐξερευνᾶν. Ἀλλά τί τά ἑαυτῶν ἀφέντες, ὦ οὗτοι, καλῶς διατίθεσθαι, τά περί Θεοῦ καί τῶν θείων ἐξερευνᾶτε; Μεταβῆναι δεῖ πρῶτον ἡμᾶς ἐκ τοῦ θανάτου εἰς τήν ζωήν, εἶθ᾿ οὕτω δέξασθαι σπέρμα ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἄνωθεν τοῦ ζῶντος Θεοῦ καί γεννηθῆναι ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ, ὡς χρηματίσαι τέκνα αὐτοῦ, καί ἑλκύσαι Πνεῦμα ἐν τοῖς