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“become perfect, for I am perfect”; but in relation to the perfect angels, he is not perfect, but super-perfect; and the Son is the initiator of perfection, as the ruler of all perfection, since he is also pre-perfect. Thus he is also called form among the formless and bodiless, as the creator of all formation, and the origin of all form; but in relation to these forms, he is formless and beyond form, since both the forms and the ideas are secondary to him.

Differentiating: Instead of distinguishing and preserving from confusion. And is a measure: He is a measure of beings, since in him all things have been limited, and he might most justly be called 'aeon'; for if he is called 'aeon', as it were 'ever-being', he himself is the 'ever-being'; for it is said, "But you are the same, and your years will not fail"; and again; "who numbers the multitude of stars, and measures the heaven with a span, and the earth with a handful". And maker of aeons, since he is the maker of the angels; for they are immortal, and immortality is called an extension, an ever-life, an aeon, but not time, endless and ever-to-be; therefore he is not called an aeon in this sense, according to time which has an end, but according to 'ever-being', unto ages having no end.

Full among the deficient? What he said above, 'imperfect among the perfect', here he says 'super-full among the full'; and thus you must understand 'imperfect' as 'super-perfection among the perfect'.

14S_084 And unto nature: You see how he says it, since he has come even unto nature; understand it as our nature; and that we do not speak rightly of 'nature' in regard to God; for behold how he says, 'he descended unto nature', that is, he reached to that which is more dishonorable, and which he himself did not possess. Note the emphases of the words.

Unchangeably. Note that he shared with us unchangeably and unconfusedly and impassibly, and that in our natural things he remained supernatural, and in the things according to substance, super-substantial, and he had our things beyond us, such as being from a virgin, being sinless, speaking and doing all things in the authority of God, walking upon the water, and all such things. Note, therefore, that no one theologizes in this way concerning the economy against the Nestorians and Acephali and Phantasiasts.

§ 11. The common and: The names of the holy Trinity are common and united, as many as are named from her gifts to the things after her, which gifts he calls distinctions, and as it were, multiplications.

But it is multiplied singularly: This is against the Phantasiasts, that the one is said to be multiplied; for since all things are from him, and through him, and to him created, and he himself is the head of all beings, and he himself produced the whole substances, he is rightly said to be multiplied through the things that have come to be from him, when also, with all things being subjected to the Father, he himself is said, through the things that have come to be from him, to be subjected to the Father, as the Apostle says, "then the Son himself will also be subjected"; and such a one, in the multiplication of the production of all things, remained one and the same in the undiminished outpouring of his participations, being in 14S_086 the whole as a part, and being nothing of the whole; for he is super-substantial; and unattainable by us; but he explains it by going down a little.

And to the single: He spoke of a single production of all things, showing at the same time by his will, and not that created things came to be in some small or partial way, that is, came into being. And an undiminished participation, that is, that God, by creating beings, diminishes none of his own goods.

Our common one having understood: The common guide and leader is clearly the apostle Paul; for through him he believed, as we have learned in the Acts. And it should be noted that Saint Hierotheos was also discipled by Saint Paul.

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«τέλειοι γίνεσθαι, ὅτι ἐγώ τέλειός εἰμι»· πρός δέ ἀγγέλους τούς τελείους οὐ τέλειος, ἀλλ' ὑπερτέλειός ἐστι· καί τελετάρχης ὁ Υἱός, ὡς ἄρχων πάσης τελειότητος, ἐπειδή καί προτέλειος. Οὕτω καί εἶδος λέγεται ἐν τοῖς ἀνειδέοις καί ἀσωμάτοις, ὡς ἁπάσης τῆς εἰδοποιίας δημιουργός, καί ἀρχή παντός εἴδους· πρός δέ ταῦτα τά εἴδη ἀνείδεος καί ὑπέρ εἶδος, ἐπειδή δεύτερα αὐτοῦ καί τά εἴδη καί αἱ ἰδέαι.

Ἀφορίζουσα: Ἀντί τοῦ διακρίνουσα καί πρός τό ἀσύγχυτον διασῴζουσα. Καί μέτρον ἐστί: Μέτρον ἐστί τῶν ὄντων, ἐπειδή ἐν αὐτῷ τά πάντα

πεπέρασται, καί αἰών μάλιστα δικαίως ἄν λέγοιτο· εἰ γάρ αἰών λέγεται, οἱονεί ἀεί ὤν, αὐτός ἐστιν ὁ ἀεί ὤν· εἴρηται γάρ, «Σύ δέ ὁ αὐτός εἶ, καί τά ἔτη σου οὐκ ἐκλείψουσι»· καί πάλιν· «ὁ ἀριθμῶν πλήθη ἄστρων, καί τόν οὐρανόν μετρῶν σπιθαμῇ, καί τήν γῆν δρακί». Ποιητής δέ αἰώνων, ἅτε τῶν ἀγγέλων ποιητής ὤν· ἀθάνατοι γάρ οὗτοι, καί ἡ ἀθανασία, παράτασις, ἀειζωΐα, αἰών, ἀλλ' οὐ χρόνος, ἀτελεύτητος καί ἀεί ἐσόμενος, λέγεται· οὐ κατά τοῦτο οὖν λέγεται αἰών, κατά τόν χρόνον τόν τέλος ἔχοντα, ἀλλά κατά τό ἀεί ὤν, εἰς αἰῶνας τέλος οὐκ ἔχοντας.

Πλήρης ἐν τοῖς ἐνδεέσιν; Ὅπερ εἶπεν ἄνω, ἀτελής δέ ἐν τοῖς τελείοις, ὧδέ φησιν ὑπερπλήρης ἐν τοῖς πλήρεσι· καί τό ἀτελής οὖν οὕτως ὀφείλεις νοεῖν, ὑπερτέλεια ἐν τοῖς τελείοις.

14S_084 Καί ἕως φύσεως: Ὁρᾷς πῶς φησιν, ἐπειδή καί ἕως φύσεως ἐλήλυθε· φύσεως μέν τῆς ἡμετέρας νόησον· καί ὅτι τό φύσεως οὐ καλῶς λέγομεν ἐπί Θεοῦ· ἰδού γάρ πῶς φησιν, 'ἕως φύσεως κατῆλθε', τουτέστιν, ἕως ἐκείνου ἔφθασε τοῦ ἀτιμοτέρου, καί οὗπερ αὐτός οὐκ ἐκέκτητο. Σημείωσαι τάς ἐμφάσεις τῶν λέξεων.

Ἀναλλοιώτως. Σημείωσαι, ὅτι ἀναλλοιώτως καί ἀσυγχύτως ἐκοινώνησεν ἡμῖν καί ἀπαθῶς, καί ὅτι ἐν τοῖς φυσικοῖς ἡμῶν ἔμεινεν ὑπερφυής, καί ἐν τοῖς κατ' οὐσίαν ὑπερούσιος, καί εἶχε τά ἡμῶν ὑπέρ ἡμᾶς, οἷον τό ἐκ παρθένου, τό ἀναμάρτητον, τό ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ Θεοῦ λαλεῖν καί πάντα πράττειν, τό περιπατεῖν ἐπάνω τοῦ ὕδατος, καί ὅσα τοιαῦτα. Σημείωσαι οὖν, ὅτι οὐδείς οὕτω θεολογεῖ περί τῆς οἰκονομίας κατά Νεστοριανῶν καί Ἀκεφάλων καί Φαντασιαστῶν.

§ 11. Τά κοινά καί: Κοινά καί ἡνωμένα τά τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος ὀνόματα, ὅσα ἐκ τῶν αὐτῆς δωρεῶν τῶν εἰς τά μετ' αὐτήν ὀνομάζεται, ἅς τινας δωρεάς διακρίσεις φησί, καί οἱονεί πληθυσμούς.

Πληθύεται δέ ἑνικῶς: Τοῦτο κατά Φαντασιαστῶν, πολλαπλασιάζεσθαι λέγεται τό ἕν· ἐπειδή γάρ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἄπαντα, καί δι' αὐτοῦ, καί εἰς αὐτόν ἔκτισται, καί αὐτός ἐστι κεφαλή πάντων τῶν ὄντων, καί αὐτός τάς ὅλας οὐσίας παρήγαγεν, εἰκότως πολλαπλασιάζεσθαι λέγεται διά τῶν παρ' αὐτοῦ γενομένων, ὅταν καί πάντων ὑποταττομένων τῷ Πατρί, αὐτός λέγεται διά τῶν παρ' αὐτοῦ γενομένων, τῷ Πατρί ὑποτάττεσθαι, ὥς φησιν ὁ Ἀπόστολος, «τότε καί αὐτός ὁ Υἱός ὑποταγήσεται»· καί ὁ τοιοῦτος ἐν τῷ πληθυσμῷ τῆς πάντων παραγωγῆς ἔμεινεν εἷς καί ὁ αὐτός ἐν τῇ ἀνελαττώτῳ χύσει τῶν αὐτοῦ μεταδόσεων, ἐν 14S_086 τῷ παντί μέρος ὤν, καί μηδέν ὤν τοῦ παντός· ἔστι γάρ ὑπερούσιος· καί ἡμῖν ἀνέφικτος· ἑρμηνεύει δέ αὐτό ὑποκατιών.

Καί τῇ ἑνιαίᾳ: Ἑνιαίαν ἔφη τῶν ὅλων παραγωγήν, δηλῶν ἅμα τῷ βούλεσθαι, καί οὐ κατά μικρόν τι καί μερικῶς κτισθῆναι, ἤτοι πρός τό εἶναι ἐλθεῖν τά γεγονότα. Ἀνελάττωτον δέ μετάδοσιν, ἤτοι ὅτι κτίζων τά ὄντα ὁ Θεός, οὐδέν τῶν οἰκείων μειοῖ ἀγαθῶν.

Ἐννοήσας ὁ κοινός ἡμῶν: Κοινός καθηγεμών καί χειραγωγός ὁ ἀπόστολος Παῦλος δηλονότι· δι' αὐτοῦ γάρ ἐπίστευσεν, ὡς ἔγνωμεν ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσι. Καί σημειωτέον, ὅτι καί ὁ ἅγιος Ἱερόθεος τῷ ἁγίῳ Παύλῳ ἐμαθητεύθη.