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of Paul. He did not say: being unapproachable light, but: "dwelling in unapproachable light," so that you might learn that if the house is unapproachable, how much more so the God who dwells in it. And he said these things, not so that you might suspect a house and a place for God, but so that from the great abundance you might learn His incomprehensibility. But he did not even say dwelling in incomprehensible light, but unapproachable, which is much greater than incomprehensible. For that is called incomprehensible which, having been searched out and sought, is not comprehended by those who seek it; but that is unapproachable which does not even permit investigation in the first place, nor can anyone come near it. For example, an ocean is called incomprehensible into which swimmers, letting themselves down and being carried to a great depth, are unable to find the end; but that is called unapproachable which it is not possible to even begin to seek or to investigate. What would you say to these things? But, he says, it is incomprehensible to men, but not to angels, nor to the powers above. Are you then an angel, tell me, and do you belong to the choir of the bodiless powers? Are you not a man and of the same substance as me? Or have you even forgotten your own nature? For let us grant that it is unapproachable only to men, although this is not added, nor did Paul say: dwelling in light unapproachable to men, but not unapproachable to angels; yet nevertheless, if you wish, let us grant it by way of concession; are you not yourself a man? What then if it is not unapproachable to angels? what is this to you who are contentious and meddlesome and say that that substance is comprehensible to human nature? But so that you might learn that He is unapproachable not only to men, but also to the powers above, hear what Isaiah says; and when I say Isaiah, I speak the decree of the Spirit; for every prophet utters the operations of the Spirit; "And it came to pass in the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the Seraphim stood round about him, each one had six wings; with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet." For what reason, tell me, do they cover their faces and put forward their wings? And for what other reason, but because of their not being able to bear the flashing lightning from the throne and those splendors? And yet they did not see the pure light itself, nor the unmixed substance itself, but what was seen was a condescension. And what is condescension? When God appears not as He is, but shows Himself in a way that he who is able to see Him is capable of, measuring the manifestation to the weakness of sight of those who see. And that it was a condescension is clear from the words themselves. "For I saw the Lord," he says, "sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up." But God does not sit, for this is the posture of bodies. And "upon a throne." But God is not contained by a throne, for the divine is uncircumscribable. But nevertheless they were not able to bear even the condescension, although standing near; for the Seraphim stood round about him. For this very reason, therefore, they were not able to see, because they were near; but he says near not in place, but because the Holy Spirit wished to show that, although they are nearer than us to that substance, not even so can they see it, for this reason he says: "And the Seraphim stood round about him," not again alluding to place, but by the nearness of place indicating that they are nearer than us. For we do not know the incomprehensible in the same way as those powers, inasmuch as they are purer and wiser and more discerning than human nature. For just as a blind man does not know the unapproachability of the sun's rays in the same way as one who sees, so also we do not know the incomprehensibility of God in the same way as they do. For as great as the distance is between a blind man and one who sees, so great is the difference between us and them. So that if you hear the prophet saying: "I saw the Lord," do not suspect this, that he saw that substance, but the condescension itself, and this more dimly than the powers above; for he would not have been able to see as much as the Cherubim. And what am I saying about that blessed substance, when not even

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τοῦ Παύλου. Οὐκ εἶπε· φῶς ὢν ἀπρόσιτον, ἀλλά· «φῶς οἰκῶν ἀπρόσιτον», ἵνα μάθῃς ὅτι εἰ ὁ οἶκος ἀπρόσιτος, πόσῳ μᾶλλον ὁ ἐνοικῶν αὐτὸν Θεός. Ταῦτα δὲ ἔλεγεν, οὐχ ἵνα οἶκον καὶ τόπον περὶ Θεὸν ὑποπτεύσῃς, ἀλλ' ἵνα ἐκ πολλῆς τῆς περιουσίας τὸ ἀκατάληπτον μάθῃς. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ φῶς οἰκῶν ἀκατάληπτον εἶπεν, ἀλλὰ ἀπρόσιτον, ὃ τοῦ ἀκαταλήπτου πολλῷ μεῖζόν ἐστι. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἀκατάληπτον λέγεται, ὅταν ἐρευνηθὲν καὶ ζητηθὲν μὴ καταληφθῇ παρὰ τῶν ζητούντων αὐτό· ἀπρόσιτον δέ ἐστιν, ὃ μηδὲ ἐρεύνης ἀνέχεται τὴν ἀρχήν, μηδὲ ἐγγὺς αὐτοῦ γενέσθαι τις δύναται. Οἷον ἀκατάληπτον λέγεται πέλαγος, εἰς ὃ καθιέντες ἑαυτοὺς οἱ κολυμβηταὶ καὶ πρὸς πολὺ καταφερόμενοι βάθος, τὸ πέρας ἀδυνατοῦσιν εὑρεῖν· ἀπρόσιτον δὲ ἐκεῖνο λέγεται, ὃ μήτε τὴν ἀρχὴν ζητηθῆναι δυνατόν, μηδὲ ἐρευνηθῆναι. Τί πρὸς ταῦτα ἂν εἴποις; Ἀλλὰ ἀνθρώποις, φησίν, ἀκατάληπτον, οὐχὶ δὲ ἀγγέλοις, οὐδὲ ταῖς ἄνω δυνάμεσι. Σὺ οὖν ἄγγελος εἶ, εἰπέ μοι, καὶ εἰς τὸν χορὸν τῶν ἀσωμάτων δυνάμεων τελεῖς; οὐχὶ ἄνθρωπος εἶ καὶ τῆς αὐτῆς οὐσίας ἐμοί; ἢ καὶ τῆς φύσεως ἐπιλέλησαι; Θῶμεν γὰρ ἀπρόσιτον ἀνθρώποις εἶναι μόνον, καίτοι γε τοῦτο οὐ πρόσκειται, οὐδὲ εἶπεν ὁ Παῦλος· ἀνθρώποις μὲν φῶς οἰκῶν ἀπρόσιτον, ἀγγέλοις δὲ οὐκ ἀπρόσιτον· πλὴν ἀλλά, εἰ βούλει, κατὰ συγχώρησιν θῶμεν· οὐχὶ καὶ αὐτὸς ἄνθρωπος εἶ; Τί οὖν εἰ καὶ ἀγγέλοις ἀπρόσιτον μὴ ᾖ; τί τοῦτο πρὸς σὲ τὸν φιλονεικοῦντα καὶ περιεργαζόμενον καὶ λέγοντα ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει καταληπτὴν εἶναι τὴν οὐσίαν ἐκείνην; Ἵνα δὲ μάθῃς ὅτι οὐκ ἀνθρώποις μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῖς ἄνω δυνάμεσίν ἐστιν ἀπρόσιτος, ἄκουσον ὁ Ἡσαΐας τί φησιν· ὅταν δὲ εἴπω τὸν Ἡσαΐαν, τοῦ Πνεύματος τὴν ἀπόφασιν λέγω· προφήτης γὰρ πᾶς τὰ τῆς τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐνεργείας φθέγγεται· «Καὶ ἐγένετο τοῦ ἔτους οὗ ἀπέθανεν Ὀζίας ὁ βασιλεύς, εἶδον τὸν Κύριον καθήμενον ἐπὶ θρόνου ὑψηλοῦ καὶ ἐπηρμένου, καὶ τὰ Σεραφὶμ εἱστήκεισαν κύκλῳ αὐτοῦ, ἓξ πτέρυγες τῷ ἑνὶ καὶ ἓξ πτέρυγες τῷ ἑνί, καὶ ταῖς μὲν δυσὶ κατεκάλυπτον τὰ πρόσωπα αὐτῶν, ταῖς δὲ δυσὶ τοὺς πόδας.» Τίνος ἕνεκεν, εἰπέ μοι, καλύπτουσι τὰ πρόσωπα καὶ προβάλλονται τὰς πτέρυγας; Τίνος δὲ ἕνεκεν ἑτέρου, ἀλλ' ἢ διὰ τὸ μὴ φέρειν τὴν ἐκ τοῦ θρόνου λάμπουσαν ἀστραπὴν καὶ τὰς μαρμαρυγὰς ἐκείνας; Καίτοι γε οὐκ αὐτὸ ἄκρατον ἑώρων τὸ φῶς, οὐδ' αὐτὴν ἀκραιφνῆ τὴν οὐσίαν, ἀλλὰ συγκατάβασις ἦν τὰ ὁρώμενα. Τί δέ ἐστι συγκατάβασις; Ὅταν μὴ ὡς ἔστιν ὁ Θεὸς φαίνηται, ἀλλ' ὡς ὁ δυνάμενος αὐτὸν θεωρεῖν οἷός τέ ἐστιν, οὕτως ἑαυτὸν δεικνύῃ, ἐπιμετρῶν τῇ τῶν ὁρώντων ἀσθενείᾳ τῆς ὄψεως τὴν ἐπίδειξιν. Καὶ ὅτι συγκαταβάσις ἦν, ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν ῥημάτων δῆλον. «Εἶδον γὰρ τὸν Κύριον, φησί, καθήμενον ἐπὶ θρόνου ὑψηλοῦ καὶ ἐπηρμένου.» Θεὸς δὲ οὐ κάθηται, σωμάτων γὰρ ὁ σχηματισμὸς οὗτος. Καὶ «ἐπὶ θρόνου». Θεὸς δὲ θρόνῳ οὐκ ἐμπεριείληπται, ἀπερίγραπτον γὰρ τὸ θεῖον. Ἀλλ' ὅμως οὐδὲ συγκατάβασιν ἠδυνήθησαν ἐνεγκεῖν, καίτοι πλησίον ἑστῶσαι· τὰ γὰρ Σεραφὶμ εἱστήκεισαν κύκλῳ αὐτοῦ. ∆ι' αὐτὸ μὲν οὖν μάλιστα τοῦτο οὐκ ἴσχυσαν ἰδεῖν, ἐπειδὴ πλησίον ἦσαν· πλησίον δὲ οὐ τόπῳ φησίν, ἀλλὰ δεῖξαι βουλόμενος τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ὅτι, καίτοι γε ἡμῶν ἐγγύτεραι οὖσαι τῇ οὐσίᾳ ἐκείνῃ, οὐδὲ οὕτως αὐτὴν δύνανται θεωρεῖν, διὰ τοῦτό φησι· «Καὶ τὰ Σεραφὶμ εἱστήκεισαν κύκλῳ αὐτοῦ», οὐχὶ τόπον πάλιν αἰνιττόμενος, ἀλλὰ τῇ κατὰ τὸν τόπον ἐγγύτητι τὸ ἡμῶν ἐγγυτέρας αὐτὰς εἶναι παραδηλῶν. Τὸ γὰρ ἀκατάληπτον οὐχ οὕτως ἡμεῖς ἴσμεν, ὡς ἐκεῖναι αἱ δυνάμεις, ὅσῳ καθαρώτεραι καὶ σοφώτεραι καὶ διορατικώτεραι τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεώς εἰσι. Καθάπερ γὰρ τὸ τῶν ἡλιακῶν τῶν ἀκτίνων ἀπρόσιτον οὐχ οὕτως οἶδεν ὁ τυφλὸς ὡς ὁ βλέπων, οὕτω καὶ τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀκατάληπτον οὐχ οὕτως ἡμεῖς ἴσμεν ὡς ἐκεῖναι. Ὅσον γὰρ τυφλοῦ καὶ βλέποντος τὸ μέσον, τοσοῦτον ἡμῶν καὶ ἐκείνων τὸ διάφορον. Ὥστε κἂν τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος ἀκούσῃς· «Εἶδον τὸν Κύριον», μὴ τοῦτο ὑποπτεύσῃς ὅτι τὴν οὐσίαν εἶδεν ἐκείνην, ἀλλ' αὐτὴν τὴν συγκατάβασιν, καὶ ταύτην δὲ ἀμυδρότερον ἤπερ αἱ ἄνω δυνάμεις· τοσοῦτον γὰρ ἰδεῖν οὐκ ἂν ἴσχυσεν ὅσον τὰ Χερουβίμ. Καὶ τί λέγω περὶ τῆς μακαρίας ἐκείνης οὐσίας, ὅπου γε οὐδὲ