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it acts and is not contained corporeally but intellectually; for it does not have a shape, that it might be contained corporeally. God, therefore, being immaterial and uncircumscribed, is not in a place; for He is His own place, filling all things and being above all things and Himself holding all things together. But He is said to be in a place. And a place of God is spoken of, where His energy becomes manifest. For He Himself passes through all things without mingling and imparts His own energy to all according to the fitness and receptive capacity of each, I mean both natural and voluntary purity; for the immaterial are purer than the material, and the virtuous than those joined with wickedness. Therefore, a place of God is said to be that which partakes more of His energy and grace. For this reason heaven is His throne (for in it are the angels who do His will and always glorify Him; for this is His rest) and the earth the footstool of His feet (for in it He conversed with men through the flesh). And the foot of God has been variously named His holy flesh. The church is also called a place of God; for we have set this apart as a kind of sacred precinct for His glorification, in which we also make our petitions to Him. Likewise also the places in which His energy has become manifest to us, whether through the flesh or without a body, are called places of God. But it must be known that the Godhead is without parts, being wholly everywhere as a whole and not divided part in part corporeally, but whole in all things and whole above all. But an angel is not contained corporeally in a place so as to be impressed and shaped, yet it is said to be in a place because it is present intellectually and acts according to its own nature and is not elsewhere, but is intellectually circumscribed there where it also acts; for it cannot act at the same time in different places, for it belongs to God alone to act everywhere at the same time. For the angel, by the speed of its nature and by being ready, that is, by moving quickly, acts in different places, but the Godhead, being everywhere and above all, acts everywhere at the same time in different ways with a single and simple energy. But the soul is bound to the body, whole to whole and not part to part, and is not contained by it, but contains it as fire does iron, and being in it, it performs its proper actions. That which is circumscribed is what is comprehended by place or time or apprehension, while the uncircumscribed is that which is contained by none of these. Therefore, only the Godhead is uncircumscribed, being without beginning and without end and containing all things and being contained by no apprehension; for it alone is incomprehensible and undefined, known by no one, but it alone is contemplative of itself. But the angel is circumscribed both by time (for it began to be) and by place, even if intellectually, as we said before, and by apprehension (for they know each other's nature to some extent and are completely defined by the Creator), while bodies are by beginning and end and corporeal place and apprehension. The Godhead is utterly immutable and unchangeable; for by foreknowledge He has predetermined all things not in our power, each according to its own and fitting time and place. And according to this, "the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son"; for the Father has judged, clearly, and the Son as God and the Holy Spirit, but the Son Himself as man will corporeally descend and will be seated on a throne of glory (for the descent and the session belong to a circumscribed body) and will judge the whole world in righteousness. All things are distant from God, not by place but by nature. In our case prudence and wisdom and counsel happen and depart as a state, but not so with God. For in Him nothing comes to be and passes away; for He is unchangeable and immutable, and one must not speak of accident in His case. God has the good as concomitant with His essence. He who always desires God, this is he who sees Him. For God is in all things; for existing things depend on that which is, and it is not possible for anything to be, unless it has its being in that which is, because God is mingled with all things as holding nature together, but to His holy flesh the God Logos was united hypostatically and was mingled unconfusedly with our own. No one sees the Father except the Son and the
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ἐνεργεῖ καὶ οὐ σωματικῶς περιέχεται ἀλλὰ νοητῶς· οὐ γὰρ ἔχει σχῆμα, ἵνα σωματικῶς περισχεθῇ. Ὁ μὲν οὖν θεὸς ἄυλος ὢν καὶ ἀπερίγραπτος ἐν τόπῳ οὐκ ἔστιν· αὐτὸς γὰρ ἑαυτοῦ τόπος ἐστὶ τὰ πάντα πληρῶν καὶ ὑπὲρ τὰ πάντα ὢν καὶ αὐτὸς συνέχων τὰ πάντα. Λέγεται δὲ ἐν τόπῳ εἶναι. Καὶ λέγεται τόπος θεοῦ, ἔνθα ἔκδηλος ἡ ἐνέργεια αὐτοῦ γένηται. Αὐτὸς μὲν γὰρ διὰ πάντων ἀμιγῶς διήκει καὶ πᾶσι μεταδίδωσι τῆς ἑαυτοῦ ἐνεργείας κατὰ τὴν ἑκάστου ἐπιτηδειότητα καὶ δεκτικὴν δύναμιν, φημὶ δὴ τήν τε φυσικὴν καὶ προαιρετικὴν καθαρότητα· καθαρώτερα γὰρ τὰ ἄυλα τῶν ὑλικῶν καὶ τὰ ἐνάρετα τῶν κακίᾳ συνεζευγμένων. Λέγεται τοιγαροῦν θεοῦ τόπος ὁ πλέον μετέχων τῆς ἐνεργείας καὶ τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ὁ οὐρανὸς αὐτοῦ θρόνος (ἐν αὐτῷ γάρ εἰσιν οἱ ποιοῦντες τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ ἄγγελοι καὶ ἀεὶ δοξάζοντες αὐτόν· αὕτη γὰρ αὐτῷ ἀνάπαυσις) καὶ ἡ γῆ ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ (ἐν αὐτῇ γὰρ διὰ σαρκὸς τοῖς ἀνθρώποις συνανεστράφη). Ποὺς δὲ θεοῦ ἡ ἁγία σὰρξ αὐτοῦ διαφόρως ὠνόμασται. Λέγεται καὶ ἡ ἐκκλησία τόπος θεοῦ· τοῦτον γὰρ εἰς δοξολογίαν αὐτοῦ ὥσπερ τι τέμενος ἀφωρίσαμεν, ἐν ᾧ καὶ τὰς πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐντεύξεις ποιούμεθα. Ὁμοίως καὶ οἱ τόποι, ἐν οἷς ἔκδηλος ἡμῖν ἡ αὐτοῦ ἐνέργεια εἴτε διὰ σαρκὸς εἴτε ἄνευ σώματος γέγονε, τόποι θεοῦ λέγονται. Ἰστέον δέ, ὅτι τὸ θεῖον ἀμερές ἐστιν, ὅλον ὁλικῶς πανταχοῦ ὂν καὶ οὐ μέρος ἐν μέρει σωματικῶς διαιρούμενον, ἀλλ' ὅλον ἐν πᾶσι καὶ ὅλον ὑπὲρ τὸ πᾶν. Ὁ δὲ ἄγγελος σωματικῶς μὲν ἐν τόπῳ οὐ περιέχεται ὥστε τυποῦσθαι καὶ σχηματίζεσθαι, ὅμως λέγεται εἶναι ἐν τόπῳ διὰ τὸ παρεῖναι νοητῶς καὶ ἐνεργεῖν κατὰ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ φύσιν καὶ μὴ εἶναι ἀλλαχοῦ, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖσε νοητῶς περιγράφεσθαι, ἔνθα καὶ ἐνεργεῖ· οὐ γὰρ δύναται κατὰ ταὐτὸν ἐν διαφόροις τόποις ἐνεργεῖν, μόνου γὰρ θεοῦ ἐστι τὸ πανταχοῦ κατὰ ταὐ τὸν ἐνεργεῖν. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἄγγελος τάχει φύσεως καὶ τῷ ἑτοίμως ἤγουν ταχέως μεταβαίνειν ἐνεργεῖ ἐν διαφόροις τόποις, τὸ δὲ θεῖον πανταχῇ ὂν καὶ ὑπὲρ τὸ πᾶν πανταχῇ κατὰ ταὐτὸν διαφόρως ἐνεργεῖ μιᾷ καὶ ἁπλῇ ἐνεργείᾳ. Ἡ δὲ ψυχὴ συνδέδεται τῷ σώματι ὅλη ὅλῳ καὶ οὐ μέρος μέρει καὶ οὐ περιέχεται ὑπ' αὐτοῦ, ἀλλὰ περιέχει αὐτὸ ὥσπερ πῦρ σίδηρον καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ οὖσα τὰς οἰκείας ἐνεργείας ἐνεργεῖ. Περιγραπτόν ἐστι τὸ τόπῳ ἢ χρόνῳ ἢ καταλήψει περιλαμβανόμενον, ἀπερίγραπτον δὲ τὸ μηδενὶ τούτων περιεχόμενον. Ἀπερίγραπτον μὲν οὖν μόνον ἐστὶ τὸ θεῖον ἄναρχον ὂν καὶ ἀτελεύτητον καὶ πάντα περιέχον καὶ μηδεμιᾷ καταλήψει περιεχόμενον· μόνον γάρ ἐστιν ἀκατάληπτον καὶ ἀόριστον, ὑπ' οὐδενὸς γινωσκόμενον, αὐτὸ δὲ μόνον ἑαυτοῦ θεωρητικόν. Ὁ δὲ ἄγγελος καὶ χρόνῳ περιγράφεται (ἤρξατο γὰρ τοῦ εἶναι) καὶ τόπῳ, εἰ καὶ νοητῶς, ὡς προείπομεν, καὶ καταλήψει (καὶ ἀλλήλων γὰρ τὴν φύσιν ἴσασι, ποσῶς καὶ ὑπὸ κτίστου ὁρίζονται τέλεον), τὰ δὲ σώματα καὶ ἀρχῇ καὶ τέλει καὶ τόπῳ σωματικῷ καὶ καταλήψει. Ἄτρεπτον παντελῶς τὸ θεῖον καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον· πάντα γὰρ τῇ προγνώσει τὰ οὐκ ἐφ' ἡμῖν προώρισεν, ἕκαστον κατὰ τὸν ἴδιον καὶ πρέποντα καιρὸν καὶ τόπον. Καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο «ὁ πατὴρ οὐδένα κρίνει, τὴν δὲ κρίσιν πᾶσαν δέδωκε τῷ υἱῷ»· ἔκρινε γὰρ ὁ πατὴρ δηλονότι καὶ ὁ υἱὸς ὡς θεὸς καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ υἱὸς ὡς ἄνθρωπος σωματικῶς καταβήσεται καὶ καθιεῖται ἐπὶ θρόνου δόξης (σώματος γὰρ περιγραπτοῦ ἡ κατάβασις καὶ ἡ καθέδρα) καὶ κρινεῖ πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ. Πάντα ἀπέχει θεοῦ, οὐ τόπῳ ἀλλὰ φύσει. Ἐπὶ ἡμῶν φρόνησις καὶ σοφία καὶ βουλὴ ὡς ἕξις συμβαίνει καὶ ἀποχωρεῖ, οὐ μὴν ἐπὶ θεοῦ. Ἐπ' αὐτοῦ γὰρ οὐδὲν γίνεται καὶ ἀπογίνεται· ἀναλλοίωτος γάρ ἐστι καὶ ἄτρεπτος, καὶ οὐ χρὴ συμβεβηκὸς ἐπ' αὐτοῦ λέγειν. Τὸ ἀγαθὸν ὁ θεὸς σύνδρομον ἔχει τῇ οὐσίᾳ. Ὁ ἐπιθυμῶν ἀεὶ τοῦ θεοῦ, οὗτος ὁρᾷ αὐτόν. Ἐν πᾶσι γάρ ἐστιν ὁ θεός· τοῦ γὰρ ὄντος ἐξῆπται τὰ ὄντα, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν εἶναί τι, εἰ μὴ ἐν τῷ ὄντι τὸ εἶναι ἔχοι, ὅτι πᾶσι μὲν ἐγκέκραται ὁ θεὸς ὡς συνέχων τὴν φύσιν, τῇ δὲ ἁγίᾳ αὐτοῦ σαρκὶ ὁ θεὸς λόγος καθ' ὑπόστασιν ἡνώθη καὶ κατεμίχθη ἀσυγχύτως πρὸς τὸ ἡμέτερον. Οὐδεὶς ὁρᾷ τὸν πατέρα εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱὸς καὶ τὸ