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my Father;” not, our Father. What could be greater than this: in good things, to be confessed by Him; and in shameful things, for the knowledge of God to be denied to those who have chosen falsehood instead of truth? And He said, “I am ascending to the Father,” because of the economy, bringing good news to the disciples, whom in His love He called brothers, when the firstfruits from us is brought up, as He who always is ascends to His who truly is Father. For indeed He says: “No one has ascended into heaven, except He who descended from heaven, who is in heaven;” by such words mystically and at the same time clearly signifying that He is divine.

CHAP. 10. And when Paul wrote to the Philippians about the incomparable and

economic emptying of God the Word for our sake; “Let this mind be in you, which was also 39.856 in Christ Jesus; who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God; but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Wherefore God also highly exalted Him, and gave Him the name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth; and every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father;” these men hold that, being in the form of God and equal to God, He emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant and being made in the lowliness of men, and divesting Himself of the principalities and powers, not by the necessity of another, but voluntarily; but to the words, “Wherefore God also highly exalted Him, and gave Him the name which is above every name,” they unswervingly apply themselves, although the word “wherefore” signifies that because He likewise partook of flesh and blood with the children, then, and not at another time, the servile measure was highly exalted, and the name which is above every name was given to Him, the most excellent of all; not that the Only-Begotten, of whom the son of thunder says that He is true God and true Son of God, and Paul, that before the emptying He was in the form and equality of God the Father, acquired these things as gifts. For indeed, very absurd things are introduced from this; one is that, if the Son is distinguished as God in name alone, He will have no advantage over creation, either small or none at all; a second is that the gift would slip away from Him, as far as is possible and as far as reason goes; since what is given is not firmly fixed and permanent for all time, but is somehow easily lost; a third is that if He is understood to have received the divine name according to His divinity at the time when He appeared in the world, He will be found not to have had before this what He later received, but as if He received some gift or reward for His coming to us. But He Himself, from an infinite height, for our sake emptied Himself into our condition; and because He is by nature Son, Word, and in the form of God, and equal to God, and God in the beginning with God, having the incomparable name not as something introduced from without and illegitimate, nor having been honored with it later, He returned again to the transcendent height which He always was and in the beginning, and to His innate honor and glory, and to His own session at the right hand of His own Father. 39.857 How then did He highly exalt Him and give Him the name which is above every name? I will say that even while He bore a servile image, He both said, “This is my beloved Son,” and willed that He be called God even then, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, as has been said before. For before the appearance of the Son in the world, only the heavenly beings bent the knee to Him and glorified Him, knowing the co-divine glory of the Holy Trinity; as the Seraphim cry out “Holy” three times, and “Lord” once; in order that they may both offer up the hymn equally to each hypostasis and proclaim that there is one lordship for them; but things on earth and things under the earth did not know Him thus,

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Πατρός μου·» οὐ, τοῦ Πατρὸς ἡμῶν. Οὗ τί ἂν εἴη μεῖζον, ἐν μὲν ἀγαθοῖς, τοῦ ὁμολογηθῆναι ἡμᾶς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ· ἐν δὲ αἰσχίοις, τοῦ ἀρνηθῆναι ἐκείνοις τὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ γνῶσιν, ὡς ἀντὶ τῆς ἀληθείας ἀνθῃρημένοις ψεῦδος; Καὶ τὸ, «Ἀναβαίνω» δὲ «πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα,» διὰ τὴν οἰκονομίαν εἶπεν, εὐαγγελιζόμενος τοὺς μαθητὰς, οὓς φιλῶν ἀδελφοὺς ἐκάλει, ὅταν ἀναβιβάζηται ἡ ἐξ ἡμῶν ἀπαρχὴ, ἀναβαίνοντος τοῦ ἀεὶ ὄντος πρὸς τὸν ὄντως ὄντα αὐτοῦ Πατέρα. Ἐπείτοιγε λέγει· «Οὐδεὶς ἀναβέβηκεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, εἰ μὴ ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβὰς, ὁ ὢν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ·» διὰ τῶν τοιούτων λέξεων τῇ θεότητι μυστικῶς ἅμα καὶ λευκῶς σημαίνων εἶναι αὐτόν.

ΚΕΦ. Ιʹ. Καὶ Παύλου δὲ Φιλιππησίοις γράψαντος περὶ τῆς ἀσυγκρίτου καὶ

οἰκονομικῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου δι' ἡμᾶς κενώσεως· «Τοῦτο δὴ λογιζέσθω ἐν ὑμῖν, ὅπερ καὶ 39.856 ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ· ὃς ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχων, οὐχ ἁρπαγμὸν ἡγήσατο εἶναι ἴσα Θεῷ· ἀλλ' ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσεν, μορφὴν δούλου λαβὼν, ἐν ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρώπων γενόμενος· καὶ σχήματι εὑρεθεὶς ὡς ἄνθρωπος, ἐταπείνωσεν ἑαυτὸν, γενόμενος ὑπήκοος μέχρι θανάτου, θανάτου δὲ σταυροῦ. ∆ιὸ καὶ ὁ Θεὸς αὐτὸν ὑπερύψωσε, καὶ ἐχαρίσατο αὐτῷ ὄνομα τὸ ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομα· ἵνα ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ πᾶν γόνυ κάμψῃ ἐπουρανίων, καὶ ἐπιγείων, καὶ καταχθονίων· καὶ πᾶσα γλῶσσα ἐξομολογήσεται, ὅτι Κύριος Ἰησοῦς εἰς δόξαν Θεοῦ Πατρός·» οὗτοι τῷ μὲν, ὅτι ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ, καὶ ἴσα τῷ Θεῷ ὑπάρχων, ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσεν, ἐν τῷ λαβεῖν μὲν δούλου μορφὴν, καὶ ἐν ταπεινώσει ἀνθρώπων γενέσθαι, ἀπεκδύσασθαι δὲ τὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ τὰς ἐξουσίας, οὐχ ἑτέρου ἀνάγκῃ, ἀλλ' ἑκουσίως· ἔχουσιν· τῷ δὲ, «∆ιὸ καὶ ὁ Θεὸς αὐτὸν ὑπερύψωσε, καὶ ἐχαρίσατο αὐτῷ ὄνομα τὸ ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομα,» ἀτρέπτως ἐπιβάλλουσι, καίτοι τῆς «διὸ» λέξεως σημαινούσης, ὡς διὰ τὸ παραπλησίως τῶν παιδίων κεκοινωνηκέναι σαρκὸς καὶ αἵματος, τότε, καὶ οὐκ ἄλλοτε, ὑπερυψώθη τὸ δουλοπρεπὲς μέτρον, καὶ ἐχαρίσθη αὐτῷ ὄνομα τὸ ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομα, τὸ πάντων προφερέστατον· οὐ μὴν ὅτι ὁ Μονογενὴς περὶ οὗ λέγουσι τῆς τε βροντῆς ὁ υἱὸς, ὡς ἀληθινὸς Θεὸς καὶ ἀληθινὸς Υἱὸς Θεοῦ· καὶ Παῦλος, ὡς πρὸ τῆς κενώσεως ἐν μορφῇ καὶ ἰσότητι τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς ἦν δοτὰ ἐκτήσατο ταῦτα. Ἐπείτοι καὶ ἄτοπα λίαν ἐκ τούτου εἰσφέρεται· ἓν μὲν, ὅτιπερ, εἰ ἐν ψιλῷ καὶ μόνῳ τῷ ὀνόματι διακέκριται Θεὸς ὁ Υἱὸς, πλεονεκτήσει τὴν κτίσιν, ἢ μικρὸν, ἢ τὸ σύμπαν οὐδέν· δεύτερον δὲ, ὅτι ἐξολισθήσειεν αὐτοῦ κατά γε τὸ ἐγχωροῦν, καὶ ὅσον ἧκεν εἰς λογισμὸν τὸ χάρισμα· ἐπείπερ τὸ δοτὸν οὐκ εἰς πᾶν ἐρηρεισμένον καὶ διαμένον, ἀλλ' εὐαπόβλητόν πως· τρίτον, ὅτιπερ, εἰ κατὰ τὴν θεότητα νοηθείη εἰληφέναι τὸ θεῖον ὄνομα τὸ τηνικαῦτα, ὅτε ἐν κόσμῳ ἐφάνη, εὑρεθήσεται μὴ ἐσχηκὼς πρὸ τούτου, ὃ ὕστερον ἔλαβεν, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ τι χάρισμα, ἢ μισθὸν κομισάμενος ὑπὲρ τῆς πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀφίξεως. Αὐτὸς δὲ καὶ ἐξ ἀπείρου ὑψώματος δι' ἡμᾶς ἐν τοῖς καθ' ἡμᾶς ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσε· καὶ διὰ τὸ εἶναι φυσικῶς Υἱὸς Λόγος, καὶ ἐν μορφῇ. Θεοῦ, καὶ ἴσα Θεῷ, καὶ Θεὸς ἐν ἀρχῇ ὢν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν, οὔτ' ἔξωθεν εἰσκεκριμένον καὶ νόθον οἷον ἔχων τὸ ἀπαράβλητον ὄνομα, οὔθ' ὕστερον τούτῳ ἐκτετιμημένος, ἐπανῆλθε πάλιν εἰς ὅπερ ἦν ἀεὶ καὶ ἐν ἀρχαῖς ὑπερανέχον ὕψος, καὶ εἰς ἔμφυτον τιμὴν καὶ δόξαν, καὶ εἰς ἰδίαν τὴν ἐκ δεξιῶν τοῦ ἑαυτοῦ Πατρὸς συνεδρίαν. 39.857 Πῶς δὲ καὶ ὑπερύψωσε καὶ ἐχαρίσατο ὄνομα τὸ ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομα; Ἐρῶ, ὅτι καὶ δουλικὴν περιφέροντι αὐτῷ εἰκόνα ἔλεγέ τε, «Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητὸς,» καὶ ἤθελε Θεὸν καὶ τότε καλεῖσθαι αὐτὸν, ἵνα ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ πᾶν γόνυ κάμψῃ, ὡς προείρηται. Πρὸ τῆς ἐν κόσμῳ γὰρ ἐπιφανείας τοῦ Υἱοῦ, τὰ ἐπουράνια μόνον γόνυ ἔκλινεν αὐτῷ, καὶ ἐδόξαζεν αὐτὸν, εἰδότα τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος τὴν ἰσόθεον δόξαν· ὡς τὰ σεραφὶμ τρίτον βοᾷν, «Ἅγιος,» καὶ ἅπαξ, «Κύριος·» ἵνα καὶ ἑκάστῃ ὑποστάσει τὸν ὕμνον ὁμοίως ἀναπέμψῃ καὶ μίαν αὐταῖς εἶναι κυριότητα καταγγείλῃ· τὰ δὲ ἐπίγεια καὶ τὰ καταχθόνια οὐκ ᾔδει αὐτὸν οὕτως,