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THEOLOGICAL DISCOURSE THE SECOND (29)

And against those who attempt to theologize without the Spirit. He who has received from on high to bear the praise of God in his mouth for ever,

he who opens his mouth and draws in the spirit of life, is eager to do this more spaciously hour by hour for a more abundant reception of the word of life, who is the bread that comes down from heaven, of whom 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 man is able to have the concept of God, once impressed and, as it were, sealed upon the ruling faculty of the soul, existing always within the soul, and is able, according to the apostolic injunction, to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, do all things for the glory of God, whether he eats or whether he drinks, being, that is, continually nourished and strengthened by the bread of life. While such a one is sleeping, 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 woman 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 in 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 has been 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, but he who is born of God does not commit sin, being called his child, I am moved to wonder at the many men who, before they have been born of God and been called his children, do not shudder to theologize and speak about God. For this very reason, whenever I hear some of them philosophizing about divine and unattainable matters and unworthily theologizing and expounding things concerning God and what pertains to him without the Spirit that gives understanding, my spirit shudders and I am, as it were, beside myself, considering and observing the incomprehensibility of the divinity to all, and how, being ignorant of the things at our feet and even of ourselves, we are eager to philosophize about what is unattainable for us with a lack of fear of God and with audacity, and this while we are empty of the Spirit that illumines or even unfolds these things and while we sin in the very act of saying anything about God. For if it is difficult for each person just to know himself, and a matter of philosophy for very few—indeed, for almost none in this time and 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, as we exchange eternal things for things of no worth that are no longer (31) or are not at all, being transformed in different ways at different times and having no fixed limit—how much more difficult is it to know God, and furthermore, how utterly irrational and senseless it is to investigate the nature and essence of God. But why, O you people, having neglected to order your own affairs well, do you investigate the things concerning God and divine matters? First we must pass from death to life, and then receive within ourselves the seed from above of the living God and be born of him, so as to be called his children, and draw in the Spirit in the

11

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