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taking himself up, and having prepared beforehand and made ready the dwelling place, withdraws and hands over the kingdom to God and the Father. And he himself confesses this, saying, I will pass before you in my glory, and I will call on the name of the Lord. Now therefore he promises to do this in word; and next he brings on the deed where it is said, And the Lord descended in a cloud, and stood with him there; and called on the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before his face and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful, and compassionate, long-suffering, and abundant in mercy, and true, and keeping justice, showing mercy unto thousands, taking away iniquities, and unrighteousness, and sins, and he will not clear the guilty; visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, to the third and fourth generation. For he himself says these things, having descended in a cloud and stood by Moses, the Lord who is indicated by the tetragrammaton; who, according to the promise he made, passing before his face, proclaims his own Lord and Father, who is truly Lord, Lord, appearing twice through the tetragrammaton, saying, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and compassionate," and the rest. But if someone, forcing the point, should say that not the Lord but Moses said these things, let him take firm conviction from the very words of Moses acknowledging that the aforementioned words are the Lord's, through which, praying in another place, he says, 44 And now let your hand be exalted, O Lord; in the manner you spoke, saying, The Lord is long-suffering and abundant in mercy and true; taking away iniquities and unrighteousness and sins; and will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation. Most clearly, therefore, and most plainly through these things, the Lord himself is shown to have spoken the aforementioned words, calling upon a greater Lord, the true Lord, that is, clearly, his own Father; or if one is disinclined to believe these things, let him say if he is able to apply any other interpretation to these passages; while maintaining that the one who gave the oracle was not an angel, but the Lord himself indicated by the tetragrammaton, who also is recorded to have spoken to Moses face to face, whom Moses, refusing the protection of angels, asks, saying, If you yourself do not go with us, do not lead me up from here. But indeed it is not possible to refer these things to another than to the only God the Word who was in the beginning with God; who to Moses, who was aspiring to great things, reveals the knowledge of the greater one, teaching him how he might know the only true God, and God the Word whom he sent, being himself second after the Father and Lord and God; and he provides him this first and most necessary benefit, so that he might never apply the thoughts about the God of all things to the Word who gave him the oracle, on account of the excess of glory of the things being seen; but he teaches him to consider this one the first and only true God, whom he himself called upon, saying, 45 The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and compassionate, long-suffering, and abundant in mercy, and true. For pay close attention to "true" spoken similarly to "that they may know you, the only true God," spoken by the same Savior in the Gospels; but the whole people would not have comprehended these things, to whom, as they were being introduced, it was said by the one giving the oracle, I am, and there is none other besides me; for they still needed an elementary introduction to the monarchy of God, being somehow unable to articulate the doctrines concerning the Father and the Son, since they had recently departed from the polytheistic error of the Egyptians. But the "I am, and there is none other besides me" would be spoken from the person of God the Word in the same way as, "I and the Father are one;" and "I am in the Father and the Father is in me." As therefore he who has seen him has seen the Father, according to, "He who has seen me has seen the Father who sent me;" in the same way he who hears him was hearing the Father in him saying, "I am"

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ἑαυτὸν ἀναλαμβάνων, προπαρασκευάσας δὲ καὶ προευτρεπίσας τὴν μονὴν, ὑποχωρεῖ καὶ μεταπαραδίδωσι τὴν βασιλείαν τῷ Θεῷ καὶ Πατρί. Τοῦτο δὲ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁμολογεῖ φάσκων, Ἐγὼ παρελεύσομαι πρότερός σου τῇ δόξῃ μου, καὶ καλέσω ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου. Νῦν μὲν οὖν λόγῳ τοῦτο πράξειν ἐπαγγέλλεται· ἑξῆς δὲ καὶ τὸ ἔργον ἐπάγει ἔνθα εἴρηται, Καὶ κατέβη Κύριος ἐν νεφέλῃ, καὶ παρέστη αὐτῷ ἐκεῖ· καὶ ἐκάλεσεν ἐν ὀνόματι Κυρίου. Καὶ παρῆλθεν Κύριος πρὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐκάλεσεν, Κύριος Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς οἰκτίρμων, καὶ ἐλεήμων, μακρόθυμος, καὶ πολυέλεος, καὶ ἀληθινὸς, καὶ δικαιοσύνην διατηρῶν, ποιῶν ἔλεος εἰς χιλιάδας, ἀφαιρῶν ἀνομίας, καὶ ἀδικίας, καὶ ἁμαρτίας, καὶ τὸν ἔνοχον οὐ καθαριεῖ· ἐπάγων ἀνομίας πατρῶν ἐπὶ τέκνα, καὶ ἐπὶ τέκνα τέκνων ἐπὶ τρίτην καὶ τετάρτην γενεάν. Ταῦτα γὰρ αὐτὸς φησὶ καταβὰς ἐν νεφέλῃ καὶ παραστὰς τῷ Μωσεῖ ὁ διὰ τοῦ τετραγράμμου δηλούμενος Κύριος· ὃς καθ' ἣν πεποίηται ὑπόσχεσιν παρελθὼν πρὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ, τὸν καὶ ἑαυτοῦ Κύριον καὶ Πατέρα, τὸν ἀληθῶς ὄντα Κύριον Κύριον, δὶς διὰ τοῦ τετραγράμμου ἐμφερόμενον ἀνακαλεῖται λέγων, τὸ Κύριος Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς οἰκτίρμων καὶ ἐλεήμων, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Εἰ δὲ βιαζόμενός τις φάσκοι μὴ τὸν Κύριον ἀλλὰ Μωσῆν ταῦτα εἰρηκέναι, πεῖσμα βέβαιον λαμβανέτω ἐξ αὐτῶν τῶν τοῦ Μωσέως φωνῶν ὁμολογοῦντος τοῦ Κυρίου εἶναι τὰς προεκτεθείσας λέξεις, δι' ὧν εὐχόμενος ἐν ἑτέρῳ τόπῳ φησὶν, 44 Καὶ νῦν ὑψωθήτω ἡ χείρ σου, Κύριε· ὃν τρόπον εἶπας λέγων, Κύριος μακρόθυμος καὶ πολυέλεος καὶ ἀληθινός· ἀφαιρῶν ἀνομίας καὶ ἀδικίας καὶ ἁμαρτίας· καὶ καθαρισμῷ οὐ καθαριεῖ τὸν ἔνοχον, ἀποδιδοὺς ἁμαρτίας πατρῶν ἐπὶ τέκνα ἕως τρίτης καὶ τετάρτης γενέας. Ἐναργέστατα δὴ οὖν καὶ σαφέστατα διὰ τούτων αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος τὰς προεκτεθείσας εἰρηκὼς παριστᾶτε παρίσταται φωνὰς, μείζονα κύριον τὸν ἀληθῶς Κύριον, δῆλον δ' ὅτι τὸν Πατέρα ἑαυτοῦ, ἀνακαλούμενος· ἢ εἰ δυσπειθῶς ἔχοι πρὸς ταῦτα, λεγέτω εἰ τινὰ ἄλλην οἷός τε ἐστὶν κατὰ τοὺς τόπους ἐπιβαλεῖν διήγησιν· φυλάττων τὸ μὴ ἄγγελον εἶναι τὸν χρηματίζοντα, ἀλλ' αὐτὸν τὸν διὰ τοῦ τετραγράμμου δηλούμενον Κύριον, ὃς καὶ ἐνώπιος ἐνωπίῳ τῷ Μωσεῖ ἀναγέγραπται λελαληκέναι, ὃν καὶ ἀξιοῖ τὴν δι' ἀγγέλων προστασίαν παραιτούμενος ὁ Μωσῆς λέγων, Εἰ μὴ αὐτὸς σὺ συμπορεύῃ, μή με ἀναγάγῃς ἐντεῦθεν. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ οὐχ οἷόν τε ταῦτα ἐφ' ἕτερον ἢ ἐπὶ μόνον τὸν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν Θεὸν Λόγον ἀναφέρειν· ὃς μεγάλων ἐφιεμένῳ τῷ Μωσεῖ τὴν τοῦ μείζονος ἐμφαίνει γνῶσιν, παιδεύων ἑαυτὸν ὅπως ἂν γινώσκῃ τὸν μόνον ἀληθινὸν Θεὸν, καὶ ὃν ἀπέστειλεν Θεὸν Λόγον, δευτέρως καὶ αὐτὸν ὄντα μετὰ τὸν Πατέρα καὶ Κύριον καὶ Θεόν· καὶ πρώτην γε αὐτῷ ταύτην καὶ ἀναγκαιοτάτην παρέχει τὴν ὠφέλειαν, ὡς ἂν μήποτε τὰς περὶ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων ὑπονοίας ἐπὶ τὸν χρηματίζοντα αὐτῷ Λόγον διὰ τὴν ὑπερβολὴν τῆς δόξης τῶν θεωρουμένων ἐκλάβοι· διδάσκει εἰ δ' οὖν αὐτὸν πρῶτον καὶ μόνον ἀληθινὸν Θεὸν ἡγεῖσθαι τοῦτον, ὃν αὐτὸς ἐπεκαλεῖτο λέγων, 45 Κύριος Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς οἰκτίρμων καὶ ἐλεήμων μακρόθυμος καὶ πολυέλεος καὶ ἀληθινός. Πρόσχες γὰρ ἐπιμελῶς τῷ ἀληθινὸς παραπλησίως εἰρημένῳ τῷ, ἵνα γιγνώσκωσι σὲ τὸν μόνον ἀληθινὸν Θεὸν, ὑπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ Σωτῆρος ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις εἰρημένῳ· ταῦτα δ' οὐκ ἂν ἐχώρησεν ὁ πᾶς λαὸς πρὸς ὃν, οἷα δὴ εἰσαγόμενον, ὑπὸ τοῦ χρηματίζοντος ἐλέγετο, Ἐγώ εἰμι καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι πλῆν ἐμοῦ· ἐδέοντο γὰρ οὗτοι στοιχειώδους εἰσαγωγῆς ἔτι τῆς περὶ Θεοῦ μοναρχίας οὐχ οἷοίτε πῶς ὄντες τὰ περὶ Πατρὸς καὶ Υἱοῦ δόγματα διαρθροῦν, ἅτε ἔναγχος τῆς Αἰγυπτίων πολυθέου πλάνης ἀφεστηκότες. Τὸ δὲ Ἐγώ εἰμι καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι πλῆν ἐμοῦ λέγοιτ' ἂν ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου ὁμοίως τῷ, Ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν· καὶ ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί. Ὡς γ' οὖν ὁ ἑωρακὼς αὐτὸν ἑώρακε τὸν πατέρα, κατὰ τὸ, ὁ ἑωρακὼς ἐμὲ ἑώρακε τὸν πατέρα τὸν πέμψαντά με· τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ὁ αὐτοῦ ἀκούων τοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ Πατρὸς ἤκουε λέγοντος τὸ, Ἐγώ εἰμι