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saying to the Virgin: “You will have a son, and you will call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High;” and after other things: “Therefore also the holy 39.820 thing that is born, will be called the Son of God.” But Peter to the Romans: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame.” And the Acts of the Apostles: “This,” it says, “is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone, and in no one else is there salvation.” Observe that if there is not one Godhead and power of the Holy Trinity, neither is there salvation with the Father. But may the Holy Trinity be merciful to us. And indeed, Daniel also saw a stone cut from a mountain without hands, which is the one born of Mary without flux or the work of a man, and making the image fine, that is, the world from the denseness of the mind and the commonness with which it lived. And why do we wonder, if a salvific matter beyond word and mind happened before the ages by divine foreknowledge? Seeing that the Apostle says that we too were created and saved before the ages by this ineffable foreknowledge and power, writing thus to the Ephesians: “He chose us for Himself before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before Him in love, having predestined us for adoption as sons;” and to Timothy: “according to the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before eternal times, but now has been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ.”. For the all-knowing and all-powerful Holy Spirit is accustomed to foretell many things, on the one hand, things that are about to happen, as if they had already happened; on the other hand, things that have happened, as if they are still happening, or will happen; and not least, He has declared the things concerning the unutterable economy, as if they were past, before they happened; as when the Lord, not yet having become flesh, says in the 21st Psalm: “They pierced my hands and my feet;” and again: “They divided 39.821 my garments among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots;” and in the 117th: “The stone which the builders rejected, this has become the cornerstone, and it will be marvelous in our eyes;” and Isaiah: “A child is born to us.” He speaks of what has not yet been born. And again: “As a sheep He was led to the slaughter;” and yet the Lamb was not yet born of Mary. And again: “We saw Him, and He had no form, nor beauty.” And yet after many generations He was seen as such in the saving passion. And elsewhere: “Your new moons, and your Sabbaths, and your feasts My soul hates.” But He hated them much later, when indeed He became man, and established the New Covenant for us. And it relates past things as present, as has been said, as when it says: “He who makes the Pleiades and the Evening Star;” and, “He who makes His angels spirits;” instead of, He who made. And, “He who founds the earth on its security;” which is, He who founded. For which reasons it is necessary, if not to the wisdom in our practices, at least to the Lord's sinless incarnation, to apply the Proverb set forth, and in no way to the Son, the Word of the ineffable divine nature, through whom, and from whom, and in whom all things were ordered. For to say, “The Lord created me,” and to add, “And before all the hills He begets me,” is the same as saying: Me, being consubstantially from Him, He created later, insofar as by His will I shared unchangeably, sinlessly, with men in nature, as was said a little before. And before all the hills He begot me impassibly, and without beginning, and ineffably, because the Godhead is beyond the incorporeal. For “before” is especially indefinite in this case, and the conjunction “and” also indicates this. For if He also created, how did He beget? And if He begot, how did He create? For one might say the creature is the offspring of the creator, as we have heard, sons of the Most High; but a true offspring could never be called the creature of the one who begot it. For we do not know of this having been said even to this day. So that the one in the

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λέγων τῇ Παρθένῳ· «Ἕξεις υἱὸν, καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦν Οὗτος ἔσται μέγας, καὶ Υἱὸς Ὑψίστου κληθήσεται·» καὶ μεθ' ἕτερα· «∆ιὸ καὶ τὸ γεννώ 39.820 μενον ἅγιον, κληθήσεται Υἱὸς Θεοῦ.» Πέτρος δὲ Ῥωμαίους· «Ἰδοὺ τίθημι ἐν Σιὼν λίθον προσκόμματος, καὶ πέτραν σκανδάλου· καὶ πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων ἐπ' αὐτῷ οὐ καταισχυνθήσεται.» Αἱ δὲ Πράξεις τῶν ἀποστόλων· «Οὗτος,» φησὶν, «ἐστὶν ὁ λίθος ὁ ἐξουθενηθεὶς ὑφ' ὑμῶν τῶν οἰκοδόμων, ὁ γενόμενος εἰς κεφαλὴν γωνίας, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν ἄλλῳ οὐδενὶ ἡ σωτηρία.» Ἐπιτήρησον, ὡς εἰ μὴ μία θεότης καὶ δύναμίς ἐστι τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος, οὐδὲ παρὰ τῷ Πατρὶ ἡ σωτηρία. Ἵλεως δὲ ἡμῖν ἔστω ἡ ἁγία Τριάς. Καὶ μέντοι καὶ ∆ανιὴλ λίθον ἑώρακεν ἐξ ὄρους τμηθέντα ἄνευ χειρῶν ὅς ἐστιν ὁ ἐκ Μαρίας γεννηθεὶς ἄνευ ῥεύσεως καὶ ἐργασίας ἀνδρὸς, καὶ λεπτύνοντα τὴν εἰκόνα, τοῦτ' ἔστι τὸν κόσμον ἀπὸ τῆς παχύτητος τοῦ νοῦ, καὶ τῆς χυδαιότητος, ᾗ συνέζη. Καὶ τί θαυμάζομεν, εἰ ὑπὲρ λόγον καὶ νοῦν σωτήριον πρᾶγμα πρὸ αἰώνων τῇ θείᾳ προγνώσει ἐγένετο; Ὅπου γε καὶ ἡμᾶς τῇ ἀφράστῳ ταύτῃ προγνώσει καὶ δυνάμει πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων ἐκτίσθαι καὶ σεσῶσθαι λέγει ὁ Ἀπόστολος, γράφων τοιῶσδε Ἐφεσίοις μέν· «Ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς ἑαυτῷ πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου εἶναι ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους κατ' ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀγάπῃ, προορίσας ἡμᾶς εἰς υἱοθεσίαν·» Τιμοθέῳ δέ· «Κατὰ δύναμιν Θεοῦ τοῦ σώσαντος ἡμᾶς, καὶ καλέσαντος κλήσει ἁγίᾳ, οὐ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα ἡμῶν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ ἰδίαν πρόθεσιν καὶ χάριν, τὴν δοθεῖσαν ἡμῖν ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ πρὸ χρόνων αἰωνίων, φανερωθεῖσαν δὲ νῦν διὰ τῆς ἐπιφανείας τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.». Πολλὰ γὰρ, τοῦτο μὲν μέλλοντα γίνεσθαι, ὡς ἤδη γενόμενα· τοῦτο δὲ καὶ γενόμενα, ὡς ἔτι γινόμενα, ἢ ἐσόμενα, προλέγειν εἴωθε τὸ πάντα εἰδὸς καὶ δυνάμενον Πνεῦμα ἅγιον· οὐχ ἥκιστα δὲ καὶ τὰ περὶ τὴν ἄφθεγκτον οἰκονομίαν, ὡς παρῳχηκότα, πρινὴ γένηται διηγόρευσεν· ὡς ὅταν ὁ ∆εσπότης, οὔπω γενόμενος σὰρξ, λέγῃ ἐν καʹ ψαλμῷ· «Ὤρυξαν χεῖράς μου καὶ πόδας μου·» καὶ πάλιν· «∆ιεμερίσαντο 39.821 τὰ ἱμάτιά μου ἑαυτοῖς, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν ἱματισμόν μου ἔβαλον κλῆρον·» καὶ ἐν ριζʹ· «Λίθον, ὃν ἀπεδοκίμασαν οἱ οἰκοδομοῦντες, οὗτος ἐγενήθη εἰς κεφαλὴν γωνίας, καὶ ἔσται θαυμαστὴ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς ἡμῶν·» καὶ Ἡσαΐας· «Παιδίον ἐγεννήθη ἡμῖν.» Λέγει τὸ μηδέπω τεχθέν. Καὶ πάλιν· «Ὡς πρόβατον ἐπὶ σφαγὴν ἤχθη·» καίτοι οὐδέπω ἦν ἐκ Μαρίας τεχθεὶς ὁ ἀμνός. Καὶ πάλιν· «Ἴδομεν αὐτὸν, καὶ οὐκ εἶχεν εἶδος, οὐδὲ κάλλος.» Καὶ μὴν μετὰ πολλὰς γενεὰς ὤφθη τοιοῦτος ἐν τῷ σωτηρίῳ πάθει. Καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ· «Τὰς νεομηνίας ὑμῶν, καὶ τὰ Σάββατα ὑμῶν, καὶ τὰς ἑορτὰς μισεῖ ἡ ψυχή μου.» Ἐμίσησε δὲ πολλῷ ὕστερον, ὅτε δὴ ἐνηνθρώπησεν, καὶ τὴν Καινὴν ∆ιαθήκην ἡμῖν διέθετο. Καὶ τὰ παρελθόντα δὲ, ὡς ἐνεστῶτα, καθὰ εἴρηται, διηγεῖται, ὡς ὅταν φράζῃ· «Ὁ ποιῶν Πλειάδα καὶ Ἕσπερον·» καὶ, «Ὁ ποιῶν τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ πνεύματα·» ἀντὶ τοῦ, ὁ ποιήσας. Καὶ, «Ὁ θεμελιῶν τὴν γῆν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀσφάλειαν αὐτῆς·» ὅ ἐστιν, ὁ θεμελιώσας. ∆ι' ἃ δὴ ἐπάναγκες, εἰ μὴ εἰς τὴν ἐν τοῖς ἐπιτηδεύμασιν ἡμῶν σοφίαν, εἰς γοῦν τὴν δεσποτικὴν ἀναμάρτητον σάρκωσιν, τὴν ἐκκειμένην Παροιμίαν φέρειν, οὐδαμῶς δὲ εἰς τὸν τῆς ἀῤῥήτου θείας φύσεως Υἱὸν Λόγον, τὸν δι' οὗ, καὶ παρ' οὗ, καὶ ἐν ᾧ πάντα κατεκοσμήθη. Τὸ γὰρ εἰπεῖν, «Κύριος ἔκτισέ με,» καὶ τὸ ἐπαγαγεῖν, «Πρὸ δὲ πάντων βουνῶν γεννᾷ με,» ἴσον ἐστὶ τῷ λέξαι· Ὄντα με ἐξ αὐτοῦ συνυφεστώτως ἔκτισεν ὕστερον, καθὸ θελήσει αὐτοῦ ἐκοινώνησα ἀτρέπτως, ἀναμαρτήτως, ἀνθρώποις τῆς φύσεως, ὡς πρὸ βραχέος εἴρηται. Πρὸ δὲ πάντων βουνῶν ἐγέννησεν ἀπαθῶς, καὶ ἀνάρχως, καὶ ἀῤῥήτως, διότι ὑπὲρ τὸ ἀσώματον ἡ θεότης. Τὸ γὰρ «πρὸ» μάλιστα ἐπὶ αὐτῆς τυγχάνει ἀόριστον, ἔτι δὲ καὶ ὁ «δὲ» σύνδεσμος τοῦτο παρίστησιν. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἔκτισεν, πῶς ἐγέννησεν; Εἰ δὲ ἐγέννησεν, πῶς ἔκτισεν; Τὸ μὲν γὰρ κτίσμα εἴποι τις ἂν τοῦ κτίσαντος γέννημα, ὡς ἡμεῖς ἠκούσαμεν, υἱοὶ Ὑψίστου· τὸ δὲ ὄντως γέννημα οὐκ ἄν ποτε τοῦ γεννήσαντος κτίσμα κληθείη. Οὔπω γὰρ ἕως σήμερον ἴσμεν τοῦτο λεχθέν. Ὥστε τὴν ἐν τοῖς