XIII. THE LORD'S PRAYER—OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN

Our Father in Heaven. It deserves a somewhat careful observation of the so-called Old Testament to discover whether it is possible to find anywhere in it a prayer of one who addresses God as Father. For though I have made examination to the best of my ability, I have up to the present failed to find one. I do not say that God is not spoken of as Father or that accounted believers in God are not called sons of God, but that I have not yet found in prayer that confidence in calling God Father which the Savior has proclaimed.

That God is spoken of as Father and those who have waited on God's word as sons, may be seen in many places, as in Deuteronomy, "You have forsaken God your parent and forgotten God your nourisher," and again, "Is He not your Father himself that got you and made you and created you?" and again, "Sons who have not faith in them." And in Isaiah, "I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me"; and in Malachi, "A son honors his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is my honor? and if I be a master, where is my fear?" So then, even though God is termed Father and their Sons who have been begotten by reason of their faith in Him, yet sure and unchangeable sonship is not to be seen in the ancient people.

The very passages I have cited since the subjection of those so-called sons, since according to the apostle "the heir, as long as he is a child, differs nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father." But the fullness of time is in the sojourn of our Lord Jesus Christ, when they who desire receive adoption as sons, as Paul teaches in the words, "For you did not receive a spirit of slavery unto fear, but you received a spirit of adoption as sons, wherein we cry 'Abba Father'"; and as it is in the Gospel according to John, "To as many as received Him He gave authority to become children of God if believers on His name"; and it is by reason of this Spirit of adoption as sons, we learn in the Catholic Epistle of John regarding the begotten of God, that "Everyone that is begotten of God does no sin because His seed abides in him, and he cannot sin because he is begotten of God."

And yet if we think of the meaning of the words which are written in Luke, "When you pray say: Father . . . ," we shall hesitate to address this expression to Him unless we have become genuine sons in case, in addition to our other sins, we should also become liable to a charge of impiety. My meaning is as follows. In the first Epistle to Corinthians Paul says, "No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' save in a holy spirit, and no one that speaks in God's spirit says 'cursed be Jesus' calling the same thing a holy spirit and God's spirit." What is meant by speaking in a holy spirit of Jesus as Lord is not quite clear, as countless actors and numbers of heterodox people, and at times even demons conquered by the power in the name, utter the expression.

No one therefore will venture to declare that anyone of these calls Jesus 'Lord' in a holy spirit. For the same reason, indeed, they could not be shown to call Jesus Lord at all, since they alone call Jesus Lord who express it from inward disposition in service to the word of God and in proclaiming no other Lord than Him in all their conduct. And if it be such who say Jesus is Lord, it may be that everyone who sins, in that he curses the divine Word through his transgression, has through his actions called out, "Cursed be Jesus."

And accordingly, as the one type of man says "Jesus is Lord," and the man of opposite disposition "Cursed be Jesus," "so everyone that hath been begotten of God and does not sin" because he is partaker of God's seed which turns him from all sin, says through his conduct "Our Father in Heaven," the spirit himself witnessing with their spirit that they are children of God and heirs to Him and joint heirs with Christ, since as suffering with Him they reasonably hope with Him also to be glorified. But in order that theirs may be no one-sided utterance of the words "Our Father," in addition to their actions they have a heart—a fountain and source of good actions—believing unto righteousness, in harmony with which their mouth makes acknowledgment unto salvation.

So then their every act and word and thought, formed by the only begotten word in accord with Him, imitates the image of the invisible God and has come to be "in accordance with the image of the Creator" who makes "the sun to rise upon evil men and good and rains upon righteous and unrighteous," that there may be in them the image of the heavenly One who is himself also an image of God. Saints, therefore, as an image of an Image himself, a son, receive the impress of Sonship, becoming conformed not only to the glorified body of Christ but also to Him who is in that body, and they become conformed to Him who is in a glorified body through being transformed by the renewing of their mind.

And if such men through out the whole of life voice the words "Our Father in the Heavens," plainly he that does sin, as John says in the Catholic Epistle, "is of the devil because the devil sins from the beginning" and just as God's seed abiding in the begotten of God produces inability to sin in him who is formed in accordance with the only begotten Word, so the devil's seed is in everyone that does sin, to the extent in which it is present within the soul—not suffering its possessor to have power to prosper. But since "for this end was the Son of God manifested that He might undo the actions of the devil," it is possible, through the undoing of the actions of the devil by the sojourn of the Word of God within our Soul, for the evil seed implanted in us to be utterly removed and for us to become children of God.

Let us, therefore, not think that it is words we are taught to say in any appointed season of prayer. On the contrary, if we understand our former consideration of prayer without ceasing, let our whole life of prayer without ceasing speak the words "Our Father in the Heavens," having its commonwealth in no wise on earth but in every way in heaven, which is God's throne because of the foundation of the kingdom of God in all who wear the image of the Heavenly One and therefore become heavenly. When the Father of saints is said to be in the heavens, we are not to suppose that He is circumscribed by material form and dwells in heaven.

Since, in that case, as contained God will be formed to be less than the heavens because they contain Him, whereas the ineffable might of His godhead demands our belief that all things are contained and held together by Him. And, in general, passages which taken literally are thought by the simpler order of minds to assert that God is in space are to be otherwise taken in a sense more becoming to great spiritual concepts of God.

Such are those passages in the Gospel according to John: Before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that His hour had come that He should pass from this world to the Father, as He had loved His own who were in the world, loved them to the end; and shortly after: knowing that the Father had given all into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was returning to God; and later: you heard that I said to you: I return and come unto you. If you loved me you would have rejoiced that I go to the Father; and again later; Now I return to Him that sent me and none of you asks me: Where do you return?

If these things are to be taken spacially, so also plainly is: Jesus answered and said to them, "If any one love me he will keep my word and my Father will love him and we shall come unto him and make abode with him." But surely the words do not imply a spacial transition of the Father and the Son to the lover of the word of Jesus and are therefore not to be taken spacially.

On the contrary, the Word of God, in condescension for us and, in regard to His proper desert, in humiliation while among men, is said to pass from this world unto the Father so that we also may behold Him perfectly there in reversion to His proper fullness from the emptiness among us whereby He emptied himself—where we also, enjoying His guidance, shall be filled and freed from all emptiness. To such an end the Word of God well may leave the world and depart to Him that sent Him, and go to the Father! And as for that passage near the end of the Gospel according to John, "Cling not to me, for I am not yet gone up unto my Father," let us seek to conceive it in the more mystical sense:

Let ours be the more reverent conception of the ascension of the Son to the Father with sanctified insight, an ascension rather of soul than of body. I think it right to have linked these considerations to the clause Our Father in the Heavens for the sake of doing away with a low conception of God held by those who think that He is in heaven spacially, and of preventing anyone from saying God is in material space since it follows that He also is physical, which leads to opinions most impious\—to belief that He is divisible and material and corruptible. For every material thing is divisible and corruptible.

Or else let them tell us, not on the strength of vague sensation but with a claim to clear understanding, how it can be of any other than a material nature. Since, then, in writings before Christ's bodily sojourn there are also many statements which seem to say that God is in physical space, it appears to me to be not out of place to cite a few of them also for the sake of doing away with any doubt in those who, because they know no better, confine God, who is over all, within small and scanty space on their own scale. First, in Genesis it says Adam and Eve heard the sound of the lord God walking at evening in the garden, and both Adam and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God amid the wood of the Garden.

I shall put the question to those who not only refuse to enter into the treasures of the passage but do not so much as knock at all at its door, whether they are able to imagine the Lord God, who fills the heaven and the earth, who as they themselves suppose in the more physical sense uses heaven as throne and the earth as a footstool for His feet, as contained by so scanty a space in comparison with the whole heaven and the earth that a garden which they suppose to be material is not filled by God but so far exceeds Him in greatness as to hold Him even when walking while a sound from the tread of His feet is heard? Absurder still on their interpretation is the hiding of Adam and Eve, in fear of God by reason of their transgression, from before God amid the wood of the Garden.

For it is not even said that they merely desired to hide but that they actually hid themselves. And how is it in their view that God inquires of Adam saying: Where are you? I have discussed these matters at greater length in my examination of the contents of Genesis, yet here, too—in order not to pass by so grave a subject in complete silence—it will suffice if I recall what is said by God in Deuteronomy: I will dwell in them and walk in them. For as is His walk in saints such is His walk in the Garden also, since everyone that sins hides from God and shuns His oversight and renounces his confidence with Him. So it was that Cain also went out from before God and dwelt in the land of Nod over against Eden. In the same way, therefore, as He dwells in saints.

So also does He dwell in heaven (that is, in every saint who wears the image of the Heavenly One, or Christ, in whom all who are being saved are luminaries and stars of heaven, or else because saints are in heaven) according to the saying: Unto you who dwells in heaven have I lifted up my eyes. And yet the passage in Ecclesiastes: Be not in haste to utter speech before God, because God is in heaven above, and you on Earth below, means to show the interval which separates those who are in the body of humiliation from Him who is with the angels and holy powers who are being exalted by the help of the Word also and with Christ himself. For it is not unreasonable that He should be strictly at the Father's throne, allegorically called heaven, while His church, termed Earth, is a footstool at His feet.

I have cited a few Old Testament utterances, thought to represent God in space, for the sake of urging the reader by every means within the power given me to accept the divine scripture in the higher and more spiritual sense whenever it seems to teach that God is in space. And it was fitting that these considerations should be linked to the clause Our Father in the Heavens inasmuch as it distinguishes the essence of God from all created beings. For it is upon such as do not share in that essence that a certain glory of God and a power from Him, an outflow of the deity, comes.

[22] „–Πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς–.” ἄξιον ἐπιμελέστερον ἐπιτηρῆσαι τὴν λεγομένην παλαιὰν διαθήκην, εἰ ἔστι που εὑρεῖν ἐν αὐτῇ εὐχήν τινος λέγοντος τὸν θεὸν –πατέρα–: ἐπὶ γὰρ τοῦ παρόντος κατὰ δύναμιν ἐξετάσαντες οὐχ εὕρομεν. οὐ τοῦτο δέ φαμεν, ὅτι ὁ θεὸς –πατὴρ– οὐκ εἴρηται, ἢ οἱ πεπιστευκέναι νομιζόμενοι θεῷ υἱοὶ οὐκ ὠνομάσθησαν θεοῦ, ἀλλ' ὅτι ἐν προσευχῇ τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος κατηγγελμένην παῤῥησίαν περὶ τοῦ ὀνομάσαι τὸν θεὸν –πατέρα– οὐχ εὕρομέν πω. ὅτι δὲ εἴρηται –πατὴρ– ὁ θεὸς καὶ υἱοὶ οἱ τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ θεοῦ προσεληλυθότες, πολλαχοῦ ἔστιν ἰδεῖν ὥσπερ καὶ ἐν Δευτερονομίῳ: ”θεὸν τὸν γεννήσαντά σε ἐγκατέλιπες, καὶ ἐπελάθου θεοῦ τοῦ τρέφοντός σε,„ καὶ πάλιν: „οὐκ αὐτὸς οὗτός σου –πατὴρ– ἐκτήσατό σε καὶ ἐποίησέ σε καὶ ἔκτισέ σε;” καὶ πάλιν: ”υἱοὶ, οἷς οὐκ ἔστι πίστις ἐν αὐτοῖς„: καὶ ἐν τῷ Ἡσαΐᾳ: „υἱοὺς ἐγέννησα καὶ ὕψωσα, αὐτοὶ δέ με ἠθέτησαν”: καὶ ἐν τῷ Μαλαχίᾳ: ”υἱὸς δοξάσει πατέρα, καὶ δοῦλος τὸν κύριον αὐτοῦ. καὶ εἰ –πατήρ– εἰμι ἐγὼ, ποῦ ἐστιν ἡ δόξα μου; καὶ εἰ κύριός εἰμι ἐγὼ, ποῦ ἐστιν ὁ φόβος μου;„ καὶ εἰ λέγεται τοίνυν –πατὴρ– ὁ θεὸς, καὶ υἱοὶ οἱ τῷ λόγῳ τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν πίστεως γεγεννημένοι, τὸ βέβαιόν γε καὶ τὸ ἀμετάπτωτον τῆς υἱότητος οὐκ ἔστιν ἰδεῖν παρὰ τοῖς ἀρχαίοις. αὐτὰ γοῦν ἃ παρεθέμεθα ὑπαιτίους ἐμφαίνει εἶναι τοὺς λεγομένους υἱούς: ἐπεὶ κατὰ τὸν ἀπόστολον, ἕως „ὁ κληρονόμος νήπιός ἐστιν, οὐδὲν διαφέρει δούλου, κύριος πάντων ὢν, ἀλλ' ὑπὸ ἐπιτρόπους ἐστὶ καὶ οἰκονόμους ἄχρι τῆς προθεσμίας τοῦ –πατρός–”: ”τὸ„ δὲ „πλήρωμα τοῦ χρόνου” ἐν τῇ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐπιδημίᾳ ἔνεστιν, ὅτε τὴν υἱοθεσίαν ἀπολαμβάνουσιν οἱ βουλόμενοι, ὡς ὁ Παῦλος διδάσκει διὰ τούτων: ”οὐ γὰρ ἐλάβετε πνεῦμα δουλείας εἰς φόβον ἀλλὰ ἐλάβετε πνεῦμα υἱοθεσίας, ἐν ᾧ κράζομεν: Ἀββὰ ὁ –πατήρ–„: καὶ ἐν τῷ κατὰ Ἰωάννην: „ὅσοι δὲ ἔλαβον αὐτὸν, ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἐξουσίαν τέκνα θεοῦ γενέσθαι, τοῖς πιστεύουσιν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ.” καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τὸ τῆς ”υἱοθεσίας πνεῦμα„ ἐν τῇ καθολικῇ τοῦ Ἰωάννου ἐπιστολῇ περὶ τῶν ἐκ θεοῦ γεγεννημένων μεμαθήκαμεν ὅτι „πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἁμαρτίαν οὐ ποιεῖ, ὅτι σπέρμα αὐτοῖ ἐν αὐτῷ μένει: καὶ οὐ δύναται ἁμαρτάνειν, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ γεγέννηται.” εἰ μέντοι νοήσαιμεν, τί ἐστι τὸ ”ὅταν προσεύχησθε, λέγετε: –πάτερ–,„ ὅπερ παρὰ τῷ Λουκᾷ: γέγραπται, ὀκνήσομεν μὴ γενόμενοι υἱοὶ γνήσιοι προενέγκασθαι ταύτην τὴν φωνὴν αὐτῷ, μή ποτε πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις ἡμῶν ἁμαρτήμασι καὶ ἀσεβείας ἐγκλήματι ἔνοχοι γενώμεθα. ὃ δὲ λέγω, τοιοῦτόν ἐστι. φησὶν ἐν τῇ προτέρᾳ πρὸς Κορινθίους ὁ Παῦλος: „οὐδεὶς δύναται εἰπεῖν: κύριος Ἰησοῦς, εἰ μὴ ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐν πνεύματι θεοῦ λαλῶν λέγει: ἀνάθεμα Ἰησοῦς,” τὸ αὐτὸ ὀνομάζων ἅγιον πνεῦμα καὶ πνεῦμα ”θεοῦ.„ τί δὲ τὸ εἰπεῖν „ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ” κύριον Ἰησοῦν, οὐ πάνυ ἐστὶ σαφὲς, προφερομένων τὴν φωνὴν ὑποκριτῶν μυρίων καὶ ἑτεροδόξων πλειόνων, ἐνίοτε καὶ δαιμόνων, νικωμένων ὑπὸ τῆς ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι δυνάμεως. οὐδεὶς οὖν τολμήσει τινὰ τούτων ἀποφήνασθαι ”ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ„ λέγειν κύριον Ἰησοῦν: διόπερ οὐδ' ἂν δειχθεῖεν λέγειν κύριον Ἰησοῦν, μόνων τῶν ἀπὸ διαθέσεως λεγόντων ἐν τῷ δουλεύειν τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ μηδένα παρὰ τοῦτον ἐν τῷ ὅ τι ποτ' οὖν πράττειν ἀναγορευόντων κύριον τό: „κύριος Ἰησοῦς.” εἰ δὲ τοιοῦτοι οἱ λέγοντες: ”κύριος Ἰησοῦς,„ τάχα πᾶς ὁ ἁμαρτάνων, διὰ τοῦ παρανομεῖν ἀναθεματίζων τὸν θεῖον λόγον, διὰ τῶν ἔργων κέκραγεν: „ἀνάθεμα Ἰησοῦς.” ὥσπερ οὖν ὁ τοιόσδε λέγει: ”κύριος Ἰησοῦς„ καὶ ὁ τούτῳ ἐναντίως διακείμενος τὸ „ἀνάθεμα Ἰησοῦς,” οὕτως ”πᾶς ὁ ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ γεγεννημένος„ καὶ μὴ ποιῶν „ἁμαρτίαν” τῷ σπέρματος μετέχειν θεοῦ, πάσης ἁμαρτίας ἀποτρέποντος, δι' ὧν πράττει λέγει: ”–πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς–,„ αὐτοῦ τοῦ πνεύματος συμμαρτυροῦντος „τῷ πνεύματι” αὐτῶν ”ὅτι„ εἰσὶ „τέκνα θεοῦ” ”καὶ κληρονόμοι„ αὐτοῦ „συγκληρονόμοι” τε τοῦ ”Χριστοῦ,„ ἐπεὶ συμπάσχοντες καὶ συνδοξάζεσθαι ἐλπίζουσιν εὐλόγως. ἵνα δὲ μὴ ἐξ ἡμίσους λέγωσι τὸ „–πάτερ ἡμῶν–” οἱ τοιοῦτοι, μετὰ τῶν ἔργων καὶ ἡ καρδία, ἡ τῶν καλῶν ἔργων πηγὴ καὶ ἀρχὴ, πιστεύει ”εἰς δικαιοσύνην,„ οἷς συμφώνως τὸ στόμα ὁμολογεῖ „εἰς σωτηρίαν.” πᾶν οὖν ἔργον αὐτοῖς καὶ λόγος καὶ νόημα, ὑπὸ τοῦ μονογενοῦς λόγου μεμορφωμένα κατ' αὐτὸν, μεμίμηται τὴν εἰκόνα ”τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου„ καὶ γέγονε „κατ' εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος,” ἀνατέλλοντος ”τὸν ἥλιον„ „ἐπὶ πονηροὺς καὶ ἀγαθοὺς καὶ” βρέχοντος ”ἐπὶ δικαίους καὶ ἀδίκους,„ ὡς εἶναι ἐν αὐτοῖς „τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ ἐπουρανίου,” καὶ αὐτοῦ ὄντος εἰκόνος θεοῦ. ”εἰκὼν„ οὖν εἰκόνος οἱ ἅγιοι τυγχάνοντες, τῆς εἰκόνος οὔσης υἱοῦ, ἀπομάττονται υἱότητα, οὐ μόνῳ „τῷ σώματι τῆς δόξης” τοῦ Χριστοῦ γινόμενοι σύμμορφοι ἀλλὰ καὶ ὄντι ἐν ”τῷ σώματι.„ γίνονται δὲ σύμμορφοι τῷ ἐν „σώματι τῆς δόξης,” μεταμορφούμενοι ”τῇ ἀνακαινίσει τοῦ νοός.„ εἰ δ' οἱ τοιοῦτοι δι' ὅλων φασὶ τό: „–πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς–,” δηλονότι ”ὁ ποιῶν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν,„ ὥς φησιν ἐν τῇ καθολικῇ ὁ Ἰωάννης, „ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου ἐστὶν, ὅτι ἀπ' ἀρχῆς ὁ διάβολος ἁμαρτάνει.” καὶ ὥσπερ ”σπέρμα„ τοῦ θεοῦ, ἐν τῷ γεγεννημένῳ „ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ” μένον, αἴτιον τοῦ μὴ δύνασθαι ”ἁμαρτάνειν„ γίνεται τῷ κατὰ τὸν μονογενῆ λόγον μεμορφωμένῳ: οὕτως ἐν παντὶ τῷ ποιοῦντι „τὴν ἁμαρτίαν” ”σπέρμα„ τοῦ διαβόλου ἔνεστιν, ὅσον ἐνυπάρχει τῇ ψυχῇ, μὴ ἐῶν δύνασθαι κατορθοῦν τὸν ἔχοντα αὐτό. ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ „εἰς τοῦτο ἐφανερώθη ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, ἵνα λύσῃ τὰ ἔργα τοῦ διαβόλου,” δυνατὸν τῇ εἰς τὴν ψυχὴν ἡμῶν ἐπιδημίᾳ τοῦ λόγου τοῦ θεοῦ, λυθέντων τῶν ἔργων ”τοῦ διαβόλου,„ ἐξαφανισθῆναι τὸ ἐντεθὲν ἡμῖν „σπέρμα” πονηρὸν, καὶ γενέσθαι ἡμᾶς ”τέκνα τοῦ θεοῦ.„ μὴ λέξεις τοίνυν νομίσωμεν διδάσκεσθαι λέγειν ἡμᾶς ἔν τινι ἀποτεταγμένῳ τοῦ εὔχεσθαι καιρῷ: ἀλλ' εἰ συνίεμεν τῶν ἡμῖν προεξετασθέντων εἰς τὸ „ἀδιαλείπτως” προσεύχεσθαι, πᾶς ἡμῶν ὁ βίος ”ἀδιαλείπτως„ προσευχομένων λεγέτω τό: „–πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς–,” ”τὸ πολίτευμα„ ἔχων οὐδαμῶς ἐπὶ γῆς ἀλλὰ παντὶ τρόπῳ „–ἐν οὐρανοῖς–,” θρόνοις τυγχάνουσι τοῦ θεοῦ διὰ τὸ ἱδρῦσθαι τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ βασιλείαν ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς φοροῦσι ”τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ ἐπουρανίου„ καὶ διὰ τοῦτο γενομένοις ἐπουρανίοις.

[23] Ἐπὰν –δὲ– λέγηται ὁ –πατὴρ– τῶν ἁγίων εἶναι „ἐν –τοῖς οὐρανοῖς–,” οὐ περιγεγράφθαι αὐτὸν σχήματι σωματικῷ ὑποληπτέον καὶ ”–ἐν οὐρανοῖς–„ κατοικεῖν, ἐπεί τοι περιεχόμενος ἐλάττων –τῶν οὐρανῶν– ὁ θεὸς εὑρεθήσεται, περιεχόντων αὐτὸν –τῶν οὐρανῶν–: δέον τῇ ἀφάτῳ δυνάμει τῆς θεότητος αὐτοῦ πεπεῖσθαι περιέχεσθαι καὶ συνέχεσθαι τὰ πάντα ὑπ' αὐτοῦ. καὶ καθολικῶς τὰς ὅσον ἐπὶ τῷ ῥητῷ λέξεις, τὰς νομιζομένας τοῖς ἁπλουστέροις ἐν τόπῳ φάσκειν εἶναι τὸν θεὸν, μεταληπτέον πρεπόντως ταῖς μεγάλαις καὶ πνευματικαῖς ἐννοίαις περὶ θεοῦ, οἷαί εἰσιν ἐν τῷ κατὰ Ἰωάννην αὗται: „πρὸ δὲ τῆς ἑορτῆς τοῦ πάσχα εἰδὼς ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὅτι ἦλθεν αὐτοῦ ἡ ὥρα, ἵνα μεταβῇ ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου πρὸς τὸν –πατέρα–, ἀγαπήσας τοὺς ἰδίους τοὺς ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, εἰς τέλος ἠγάπησεν αὐτούς”: καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα: ”εἰδὼς ὅτι πάντα ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ ὁ –πατὴρ– εἰς τὰς χεῖρας, καὶ ὅτι ἀπὸ θεοῦ ἐξῆλθε καὶ πρὸς θεὸν ὑπάγει,„ καὶ μεθ' ἕτερα: „ἠκούσατε ὅτι ἐγὼ εἶπον ὑμῖν: ὑπάγω καὶ ἔρχομαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς. εἰ ἠγαπᾶτέ με, ἐχάρητε ἂν ὅτι πορεύομαι πρὸς τὸν –πατέρα–”: καὶ πάλιν μεθ' ἕτερα: ”νῦν δὲ ὑπάγω πρὸς τὸν πέμψαντά με, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐξ ὑμῶν ἐρωτᾷ με: ποῦ ὑπάγεις;„ εἰ γὰρ ταῦτα τοπικῶς ἐκδεκτέον, δῆλον ὅτι καὶ τὸ „ἀπεκρίθη ὁ Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς: ἐάν τις ἀγαπᾷ με, τὸν λόγον μου τηρήσει, καὶ ὁ –πατήρ– μου ἀγαπήσει αὐτὸν, καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐλευσόμεθα καὶ μονὴν παρ' αὐτῷ ποιησόμεθα.” οὐχὶ δέ γε ταῦτα τοπικῆς μεταβάσεως νοουμένης περὶ τὸν –πατέρα– καὶ τὸν υἱὸν πρὸς τὸν ἀγαπῶντα τὸν λόγον τοῦ Ἰησοῦ γίνεται, οὐδ' ἄρα τοπικῶς ταῦτα ἐκδεκτέον: ἀλλ' ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ, ἡμῖν συγκαταβαίνων καὶ ὡς πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν ἀξίαν, ὅτε παρὰ ἀνθρώποις ἐστὶ, ταπεινούμενος, μεταβαίνειν λέγεται ”ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου πρὸς τὸν –πατέρα–,„ ὅπως καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐκεῖθι τέλειον αὐτὸν θεασώμεθα, ἀπὸ τῆς παρ' ἡμῖν κενότητος, ἣν „ἐκένωσεν ἑαυτὸν,” ἐπὶ τὸ ἴδιον ”πλήρωμα„ παλινδρομοῦντα: ἔνθα καὶ ἡμεῖς, αὐτῷ ὁδηγῷ χρώμενοι, πληρωθέντες πάσης κενότητος ἀπαλλαγησόμεθα. ἀπιέτω τοίνυν „πρὸς τὸν πέμψαντα” αὐτὸν ἀφεὶς τὸν κόσμον ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος, καὶ ”πρὸς τὸν –πατέρα–„ πορευέσθω. καὶ τὸ ἐπὶ τέλει δὲ τοῦ κατὰ Ἰωάννην εὐαγγελίου: „μή μου ἅπτου: οὔπω γὰρ ἀναβέβηκα πρὸς τὸν –πατέρα– μου” μυστικώτερον νοῆσαι ζητήσωμεν: τῆς ἀναβάσεως ”πρὸς τὸν –πατέρα–„ τοῦ υἱοῦ θεοπρεπέστερον μετὰ ἁγίας τρανότητος ἡμῖν νοουμένης, ἥντινα ἀνάβασιν νοῦς μᾶλλον ἀναβαίνει σώματος. ταῦτα ἡγοῦμαι συνεξητακέναι τῷ „–πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς–” ὑπὲρ τοῦ ταπεινὴν περὶ θεοῦ ὑπόληψιν τῶν νομιζόντων αὐτὸν εἶναι τοπικῶς ”ἐν –οὐρανοῖς–„ περιελεῖν καὶ μὴ ἐᾶν τινα ἐν σωματικῷ τόπῳ εἶναι τὸν θεὸν (ἐπεὶ τούτῳ ἀκόλουθόν ἐστι καὶ σῶμα αὐτὸν εἶναι) λέγειν, ᾧ ἕπεται δόγματα ἀσεβέστατα, τὸ διαιρετὸν καὶ ὑλικὸν καὶ φθαρτὸν αὐτὸν εἶναι ὑπολαμβάνειν: πᾶν γὰρ σῶμα διαιρετόν ἐστι καὶ ὑλικὸν καὶ φθαρτόν: ἢ λεγέτωσαν ἡμῖν μὴ κενοπαθοῦντες ἀλλὰ τρανῶς καταλαμβάνειν φάσκοντες, πῶς οἷόν τε ἐστὶν ἑτέρας –εἶναι– φύσεως παρὰ τὴν ὑλικήν. ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ πρὸ τῆς σωματικῆς Χριστοῦ ἐπιδημίας γραμμάτων πολλὰ τὸ ἐν σωματικῷ τόπῳ εἶναι τὸν θεὸν λέγειν δοκεῖ, οὐκ ἄτοπόν μοι φαίνεται ὀλίγα κἀκείνων παραθέσθαι ὑπὲρ τοῦ πάντα περισπασμὸν ἀφελεῖν ἀπὸ τῶν διὰ τὸν ἰδιωτισμὸν τὸ ὅσον ἐπ' αὐτοῖς μικρῷ καὶ βραχεῖ τόπῳ ἐμπεριλαμβανόντων τὸν ἐπὶ πάντων θεόν. καὶ πρῶτόν γε ἐν τῇ Γενέσει „Ἀδὰμ” καὶ Εὔα, φησὶν, ”ἤκουσαν τῆς φωνῆς κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ περιπατοῦντος τὸ δειλινὸν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ: καὶ ἐκρύβησαν ὅ τε Ἀδὰμ καὶ ἡ γυνὴ αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ προσώπου κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ ξύλου τοῦ παραδείσου.„ ἐροῦμεν πρὸς τοὺς εἰς τοὺς θησαυροὺς τῆς λέξεως ἐλθεῖν μὴ βουλομένους ἀλλὰ μηδὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν κρούοντας „τὴν θύραν” αὐτῆς, εἰ δύνανται παραστῆσαι κύριον τὸν θεὸν, τὸν πληροῦντα ”τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν,„ τὸν, ὡς αὐτοὶ ὑπολαμβάνουσι, σωματικώτερον „οὐρανῷ” θρόνῳ χρώμενον καὶ ”τῇ γῇ„ ὑποποδίῳ „τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ,” ὑπὸ οὕτω βραχέος συγκρίσει τοῦ παντὸς οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς περιέχεσθαι τόπου, ὥστε ὃν ὑπολαμβάνουσι σωματικὸν παράδεισον μὴ ἐκπληροῦσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀλλὰ τοσούτῳ αὐτοῦ εἶναι τῷ μεγέθει μείζονα, ὡς καὶ περιπατοῦντα χωρεῖν αὐτὸν, ἀκουομένης ”φωνῆς„ ἀπὸ τῆς βάσεως τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ. ἔτι δὲ κατ' ἐκείνους ἀτοπώτερον τὸ αἰδουμένους τὸν θεὸν διὰ τὴν παράβασιν τὸν Ἀδὰμ καὶ τὴν Εὔαν κρύπτεσθαι „ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ ξύλου τοῦ παραδείσου.” οὐδὲ γὰρ λέγεται ὅτι οὕτως ἠθέλησαν κρύπτεσθαι, ἀλλ' ὄντως ”ἐκρύβησαν.„ πῶς δὲ κατ' αὐτοὺς πυνθάνεται τοῦ Ἀδὰμ ὁ θεὸς λέγων: „ποῦ εἶ;” περὶ τούτων δὲ ἐπὶ πλεῖον διειλήφαμεν, ἐξετάζοντες τὰ εἰς τὴν Γένεσιν: πλὴν καὶ νῦν ἵνα μὴ τέλεον παρασιωπήσωμεν τὸ τηλικοῦτον πρόβλημα, αὐτάρκως ἀναμνησθησόμεθα τοῦ ”ἐνοικήσω ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐμπεριπατήσω ἐν αὐτοῖς,„ λεγομένου ἐν Δευτερονομίῳ ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ. ὁποῖος γὰρ αὐτοῦ ὁ περίπατος ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις, τοιοῦτός τις καὶ ὁ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ, κρυπτομένου θεὸν καὶ φεύγοντος τὴν ἐπισκοπὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀφισταμένου τῆς παῤῥησίας παντὸς τοῦ ἁμαρτάνοντος: οὕτω γὰρ καὶ „Κάϊν ἐξῆλθεν ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ᾤκησεν ἐν γῇ Ναῒδ κατέναντι Ἐδέμ.” ὡς οὖν ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις ἐνοικεῖ, οὕτως καὶ ἐν οὐρανῷ, ἤτοι παντὶ ἁγίῳ καὶ φοροῦντι ”τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ ἐπουρανίου„ ἢ τῷ Χριστῷ, ἐν ᾧ εἰσι πάντες οἱ σῳζόμενοι „φωστῆρες” καὶ ἀστέρες τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, ἢ καὶ διὰ τοὺς ἐν οὐρανῷ ἁγίους κατοικεῖ –ἐκεῖ κατὰ– τὸ εἰρημένον: ”πρὸς σὲ ἦρα τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς μου, τὸν κατοικοῦντα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ.„ καὶ τὸ ἐν τῷ Ἐκκλησιαστῇ δέ: „μὴ σπεύσῃς ἐξενεγκεῖν λόγον πρὸ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ: ὅτι ὁ θεὸς ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἄνω, καὶ σὺ ἐπὶ γῆς κάτω” διάστημα βούλεται δηλῶσαι ἀπὸ τῶν ὄντων ἐν τῷ σώματι ”τῆς ταπεινώσεως„ ἕως τοῦ παρὰ τοῖς ὑψουμένοις ὑπὸ τῆς ὠφελείας καὶ τοῦ λόγου ἀγγέλοις καὶ δυνάμεσιν ἁγίαις ἢ αὐτῷ τῷ Χριστῷ. οὐ γὰρ ἄτοπον αὐτὸν μὲν εἶναι κυρίως θρόνον τοῦ πατρὸς, ἀλληγορικώτερον οὐρανὸν καλούμενον, τὴν δὲ ἐκκλησίαν αὐτοῦ γῆν ὀνομαζομένην „ὑποπόδιον” τυγχάνειν ”τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ.„ προστεθείκαμεν δὴ ὀλίγα καὶ τῆς παλαιᾶς διαθήκης ῥητὰ, νομιζόμενα ἐν τόπῳ παριστάνειν τὸν θεὸν, ὑπὲρ τοῦ πάντοθεν κατὰ τὴν διδομένην ἡμῖν δύναμιν πεῖσαι τὸν ἐντυγχάνοντα ὑψηλότερον καὶ πνευματικώτερον ἀκούειν τῆς θείας γραφῆς, ὅταν δοκῇ ἐν τόπῳ διδάσκειν εἶναι τὸν θεόν. ἔπρεπε δὲ ταῦτα συνεξετασθῆναι τῷ „–πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς–,” οἱονεὶ ἀφιστάντι τὴν οὐσίαν τοῦ θεοῦ ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν γεννητῶν: οἷς γὰρ οὐ κοινωνεῖ, αὐτοῖς δόξα τις θεοῦ καὶ δύναμις αὐτοῦ, καὶ, ἵν' οὕτως εἴπω, ἀποῤῥοὴ τῆς θεότητος ἐγγίνεται αὐτοῖς.