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save me;» and Abraham to Sarah his spouse: «She became to me also a wife;» and Paul: «Let God be true, but every man a liar.» In accordance with this is also understood, «Yet have I been set as king by him upon Sion his holy hill.» For to speak of someone in this way or that way in a word does not declare his substance. Therefore he said not simply, «I was set,» but, «upon Mount Sion;» for being king of all from eternity and to eternity, for he says: «The Lord is king for ever, and for ever and ever;» and, «Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom», he seemed in a way not yet to reign over those who did not know him, but to have become king over them also in the incarnation, on account of which David himself asked in the 9th Psalm: «Set, O Lord, a lawgiver over them: let the nations know that they are but men;» and Micah prophesied: «And the Lord shall reign from now and for ever.» The outsiders also clarified concerning this as follows: For the name king is God, immortal, never ceasing, Never perishing, nor coming to an end. Similar to this is also, «Receive the high priest of your confession, who is faithful to the one who made him.» For again it speaks of him who from us was made like us, and urges us to receive him, 39.848 being indeed God and true Son of God without beginning, but then for our sakes made a high priest, since he was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not, having run away from his uncreated divinity. Consequently is also considered Paul's saying to the Corinthians: «But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made wisdom for you from God, both righteousness and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. For according to God, they say, men are both good and wise;» and the opposites of these: For superfluous and useless bodies fall by heavy misfortunes from God. For in the way that he, being appointed a light to the nations, did not then become light in his essence, but that by which those who acknowledge him are enlightened—for «he was,» it says, «the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world;» so also «he was set as king,» and «he became Lord,» being Lord by nature and without beginning, when the disciples, as it is written, became his servants; when the Apostle wrote: «Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ;» when also all of us, acknowledging his lordship and Christhood, were called Christians, as servants partaking of the master's name; as he says in Isaiah: «But to my servants a new name shall be called, which shall be blessed upon the earth.» But in my opinion, he prophesies more particularly of our orthodox race, concerning which the same one said: «These are the seed blessed by God;» and, «everlasting joy shall be upon their head.» Such also is that which is in the Song of Songs: «Chosen out of ten thousands;» that is, elect, not as the only one out of many sons, but because David, that is, the Theotokos, from whom Christ according to the flesh was chosen from all for the economy; and fittingly he was well pleased in him, and says: «Who is like unto the Lord among the sons of God?» or also chosen, as the Only-begotten, from all, sinless in the incarnation.

39.849 CHAP. 7. Going from blasphemy to blasphemy, they immediately put forward

after the preceding things that which was theologically spoken by Paul: «Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God;» interpreting syllogistically according to their own opinion: that such a proposition declares that he was created by the power and wisdom of God. And both the phrase and the thought point to his incarnation, For in it, he says, he was named Christ, in the likeness of those called christs before him. But if the saying is also to be accepted with respect to his divinity, at once the genuineness of his relation to his Father

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σῶσαί με·» καὶ Ἀβραὰμ πρὸς Σάῤῥαν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ σύμβιον· «Ἐγένετό μοι καὶ εἰς γυναῖκα·» καὶ ὁ Παῦλος· «Γινέσθω ὁ Θεὸς ἀληθὴς, πᾶς δὲ ἄνθρωπος ψεύστης.» Ἀκολούθως τούτῳ ἐκλαμβάνεται καὶ, «Ἐγὼ δὲ κατεστάθην βασιλεὺς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ Σιὼν ὄρος τὸ ἅγιον αὐτοῦ.» Οὐ γὰρ περί του τοιῶσδε λόγῳ φάναι, ἢ τοιῶσδε, τὴν οὐσίαν αὐτοῦ δηλοῖ. ∆ιὸ οὐχ ἁπλῶς τὸ, «κατεστάθην,» ἀλλ', «ἐπὶ τὸ ὄρος Σιὼν,» εἶπεν· ὑπάρχων γὰρ πάντων ἐξ ἀπείρου καὶ ἐπ' ἄπειρον βασιλεὺς φησὶ γάρ· «Κύριος βασιλεὺς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, καὶ ἐπ' αἰῶνα, καὶ ἔτι·» καὶ, «Ἡ βασιλεία σου, βασιλεία πάντων τῶν αἰώνων», ἐδόκει πως μήπω μὲν βασιλεύειν τῶν μὴ γινωσκόντων αὐτὸν, γεγενῆσθαι δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ αὐτοὺς βασιλεὺς ἐν τῇ ἐνανθρωπήσει, δι' ἣν αὐτός τε ∆αυῒδ ἐξῄτει ἐν θʹ ψαλμῷ· «Κατάστησον, Κύριε, νομοθέτην ἐπ' αὐτούς· γνώτωσαν ἔθνη, ὅτι ἄνθρωποί εἰσιν·» Μιχαίας τε προεφήτευσεν· «Καὶ ὁ Κύριος βασιλεύει ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν καὶ ἕως τοῦ αἰῶνος.» ∆ιεσάφησαν δὲ περὶ τούτου καὶ οἱ ἔξω τοιάδε· Οὔνομα γὰρ βασιλεὺς Θεὸς ἄμβροτος οὔποτε λῆγον, Οὔποτ' ἀποφθινύθον, οὐδ' ἀποπαυόμενον. Ὁμοιότροπον τούτῳ ἐστὶ καὶ τὸ, «∆έξασθε τὸν ἀρχιερέα τῆς ὁμολογίας ὑμῶν, πιστὸν ὄντα τῷ ποιήσαντι αὐτόν.» Πάλιν γὰρ τὸν ἐξ ἡμῶν σύμμορφον γενόμενον ἡμῖν λέγει, καὶ προτρέπει δέξασθαι αὐτὸν, 39.848 Θεὸν μὲν καὶ Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀληθινὸν ἀνάρχως ὄντα, τότε δὲ δι' ἡμᾶς ἀρχιερέα πεποιημένον, ἐπειδὴ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἦν, καὶ ὁ κόσμος δι' αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, καὶ ὁ κόσμος αὐτὸν οὐκ ἔγνω, ἀποδραμὼν αὐτοῦ τῆς ἀκτίστου θεότητος. Ἑπομένως θεωρεῖται καὶ ἡ πρὸς Κορινθίους Παύλου φωνή· «Ἐξ αὐτοῦ δὲ ὑμεῖς ἐστε ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, ὃς ἐγενήθη σοφία ὑμῖν ἀπὸ Θεοῦ, δικαιοσύνη τε καὶ ἁγιασμὸς, καὶ ἀπολύτρωσις· ἵνα, καθὼς γέγραπται, Ὁ καυχώμενος ἐν Κυρίῳ καυχάσθω. Κατὰ γὰρ Θεὸν, φασὶ, καὶ ἀγαθοὶ καὶ σοφοί εἰσιν ἄνθρωποι·» καὶ τὰ ἐναντία τούτων· Τὰ γὰρ περισσὰ κἀνόνητα σώματα Πίπτει βαρείαις πρὸς Θεοῦ δυσπραξίαις. Ὃν τρόπον γὰρ τεθεὶς φῶς εἶναι ἐθνῶν, οὐκ οὐσιωδῶς ἐγένετο τότε φῶς, ἀλλ' ᾧ φωτίζονται οἱ ἐπιγινώσκοντες αὐτὸν «Ἦν» γὰρ, φησὶν, «τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν, ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον»· οὕτω καὶ «βασιλεὺς κατεστάθη,» καὶ «Κύριος ἐγένετο,» φύσει καὶ ἀνάρχως ὢν Κύριος, ὅτε οἱ μαθηταὶ, ὡς γέγραπται, δοῦλοι αὐτοῦ γεγόνασιν· ὅτε ὁ Ἀπόστολος ἐπέστελλεν· «Παῦλος δοῦλος Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ·» ὅτε καὶ πάντες, τὴν κυριότητα αὐτοῦ καὶ χριστότητα ἐπιγνόντες, Χριστιανοὶ ἐπεκλήθημεν, ὡς δοῦλοι τοῦ δεσποτικοῦ ὀνόματος μετασχόντες· καθὰ λέγει ἐν Ἡσαΐᾳ· «Τοῖς δὲ δουλεύουσίν μοι κληθήσεται ὄνομα καινὸν, ὃ εὐλογηθήσεται ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.» Κατ' ἐμὲ δὲ ἰδικώτερον τὸ τῶν ὀρθοδόξων ἡμῶν γένος προφητεύει, περὶ οὗ ὁ αὐτὸς εἶπεν· «Οὗτοί εἰσιν σπέρμα εὐλογημένον ὑπὸ Θεοῦ·» καὶ, «Εὐφροσύνη αἰώνιος ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς αὐτῶν.» Τοιοῦτόν ἐστι καὶ τὸ ἐν τοῖς Ἄσμασι κείμενον· «Ἐκλελοχισμένος ἀπὸ μυριάδων·» τοῦτ' ἔστιν, ἐκλελεγμένος, οὐχ ὡς ἐκ πολλῶν υἱῶν μόνος, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ ∆αυῒδ, ἤτοι ἡ Θεοτόκος, ἐξ ἧς τὸ κατὰ σάρκα Χριστὸς ἐκ πάντων εἰς τὴν οἰκονομίαν ἐπελέγη· καὶ εἰκότως καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ εὐδόκησε, καὶ λέγει· «Τίς ὁμοιωθήσεται τῷ Κυρίῳ ἐν υἱοῖς Θεοῦ;» ἢ καὶ ἐπίλεκτος, ὡς Μονογενὴς, ἐκ πάντων, ἐν τῇ ἐνανθρωπήσει ἀναμάρτητος.

39.849 ΚΕΦ. Ζʹ. Ἐκ βλασφημίας εἰς βλασφημίαν ἰόντες, προΐσχονται εὐθὺς

μετὰ τὰ προκείμενα τὸ παρὰ Παύλου θεολογικῶς εἰρημένον· «Χριστὸν Θεοῦ δύναμιν καὶ Θεοῦ σοφίαν·» κατὰ τὸ σφίσι δοκοῦν ἑρμηνεύοντες συλλογιστικῶς· ὅτι ἡ τοιάδε θέσις δηλοῖ δυνάμει καὶ σοφίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκτίσθαι αὐτόν. Καὶ ἡ φράσις δὲ, καὶ ἡ διάνοια τὴν ἐνανθρώπησιν αὐτοῦ ὑποδείκνυσιν, Ἐν αὐτῇ γὰρ, φησὶ, Χριστὸς ὠνομάσθη, καθ' ὁμοιότητα τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ κληθέντων χριστῶν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ εἰς τὴν θεότητα αὐτοῦ δεκτέον τὸ ῥητὸν, αὐτόθεν τὸ ἀκραιφνὲς τῆς πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα αὐτοῦ