21

by comparison with this world, magnifying, as they thought, the human element. For they say that man is a small world, composed of the same elements as the universe. For those who by the boast of this name 180 bestow such praise on human nature, have forgotten that they are dignifying man with the properties of the gnat and the mouse.

For their mixture too is from these four, because in every being a greater or lesser share of them is always observed in what is animate, without which it is not in its nature for anything that partakes of sense to exist. What then is great, for man to be considered the character and likeness of the world? of the revolving heaven, of the changing earth, of all things contained in them passing away with the passage of that which contains them? But in what, according to the ecclesiastical account, does human greatness consist? Not in the likeness to the created world, but in being made according to the image of the nature of the Creator. What then is the meaning of the image? Perhaps you will say: how is the incorporeal likened to the body? how the eternal to the temporary? the unchangeable to that which is changed through alteration? the impassible and incorruptible to that which is subject to passion and corruptible? that which is unmixed with any evil to that which always dwells with it and is nurtured by it? For there is a great distance between that which is conceived according to the archetype, and that which has been made according to the image. For the image, if it has the likeness to the original, is properly so called. But if the imitation were to deviate from what is set before it, such a thing is something else, and not an image of that. How then is man, this mortal, passible, and short-lived being, an image of the undefiled, pure, and ever-existing nature? But the true account of this, only the Truth itself could know clearly. But we, as far as we are able, tracing the truth by certain conjectures and suspicions, suppose these things concerning the matters sought. Neither does the divine word lie, having said that man was made in the image of God; nor is the wretched misery of human nature made like to the blessedness of the impassible life. For it is necessary that one of two things be confessed, if one were to compare our state with God: either that the Divine is passible, or that the human is impassible, so that through equal terms the principle of likeness might be applied to both. But if neither the Divine is subject to passion, nor is our state outside of passion, then some other account is left, according to which we say that the divine voice, which says that man was made in the image of God, is true. Therefore we must return to the divine Scripture itself, if perhaps some guidance towards what is sought might be found through what is written. After saying, "Let us make man in our image," and for what purposes we should make him, it adds this account, that God made man, and in the image of God he made him. "Male and female he made them." It has been said, then, already in the preceding parts, that such a statement has been proclaimed beforehand for the refutation of heretical impiety, so that, having been taught that the only-begotten God made man in the image of God, we may by no means distinguish the divinity of the Father and of the Son, since Holy Scripture equally names each as God, both the one who made man, and he in whose image he was made.

181 But let the discussion of these matters be set aside, and let the inquiry be turned back to the subject at hand; how the divine is blessed, and the human wretched, and yet this is called like to that by Scripture. Therefore the words must be examined with precision. For we shall find that that which was made in the image is one thing, and that which is now shown in misery is another. "God made," it says, "man, in the image of God he made him." The creation of that which was made in the image has its end. Then it makes a repetition of the account concerning the construction, and says, "Male and female he made them." For I think it is known to everyone that outside

21

πρὸς τὸν κόσμον τοῦτον συγκρίσει μεγαλύνοντες, ὡς ᾤοντο, τὸ ἀνθρώπινον. Φασὶ γὰρ μικρὸν εἶναι κόσμον τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἐκ τῶν αὐτῶν τῷ παντὶ στοι χείων συνεστηκότα. Οἱ γὰρ τῷ κόμπῳ τοῦ ὀνόματος 180 τοιοῦτον ἔπαινον τῇ ἀνθρωπίνῃ χαριζόμενοι φύσει, λελήθασιν ἑαυτοὺς τοῖς περὶ τὸν κώνωπα καὶ τὸν μῦν ἰδιώμασι σεμνοποιοῦντες τὸν ἄνθρωπον.

Καὶ γὰρ κἀκείνοις ἐκ τῶν τεσσάρων τούτων ἡ κρᾶσίς ἐστι, διότι πάντως ἑκάστου τῶν ὄντων ἢ πλείων ἢ ἐλάττων τις μοῖρα περὶ τὸ ἔμψυχον θεωρεῖται, ὧν ἄνευ συστῆναί τι τῶν αἰσθήσεως μετεχόντων, φύσιν οὐκ ἔχει. Τί οὖν μέγα, κόσμου χαρακτῆρα καὶ ὁμοίωμα νομισθῆναι τὸν ἄνθρωπον; οὐρανοῦ τοῦ πε ριερχομένου, γῆς τῆς ἀλλοιουμένης, πάντων τῶν ἐν τούτοις περικρατουμένων τῇ παρόδῳ τοῦ περιέχοντος συμπαρερχομένων; Ἀλλ' ἐν τίνι κατὰ τὸν ἐκκλη σιαστικὸν λόγον τὸ ἀνθρώπινον μέγεθος; Οὐκ ἐν τῇ πρὸς τὸν κτιστὸν κόσμον ὁμοιότητι, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ κατ' εἰκόνα γενέσθαι τῆς τοῦ κτίσαντος φύσεως. Τίς οὖν ὁ τῆς εἰκόνος λόγος; ἴσως ἐρεῖς· πῶς ὡμοίωται τῷ σώματι τὸ ἀσώματον; πῶς τῷ ἀϊδίῳ τὸ πρόσκαιρον; τῷ ἀναλλοιώτῳ τὸ διὰ τροπῆς ἀλλοιούμενον; τῷ ἀπαθεῖ τε καὶ ἀφθάρτῳ τὸ ἐμπαθὲς καὶ φθειρόμε νον; τῷ ἀμιγεῖ πάσης κακίας τὸ πάντοτε συνοικοῦν ταύτῃ καὶ συντρεφόμενον; Πολὺ γὰρ τὸ μέσον ἐστὶ, τοῦ τε κατὰ τὸ ἀρχέτυπον νοουμένου, καὶ τοῦ κατ' εἰκόνα γεγενημένου. Ἡ γὰρ εἰκὼν, εἰ μὲν ἔχει τὴν πρὸς τὸ πρωτότυπον ὁμοιότητα, κυρίως τοῦτο κατ ονομάζεται. Εἰ δὲ παρενεχθείη τοῦ προκειμένου ἡ μίμησις, ἄλλο τι, καὶ οὐκ εἰκὼν ἐκείνου τὸ τοιοῦτόν ἐστι. Πῶς οὖν ὁ ἄνθρωπος τὸ θνητὸν τοῦτο καὶ ἐμπαθὲς καὶ ὠκύμορον, τῆς ἀκηράτου καὶ καθαρᾶς καὶ ἀεὶ οὔσης φύσεώς ἐστιν εἰκών; Ἀλλὰ τὸν μὲν ἀληθῆ περὶ τούτου λόγον μόνη ἂν εἰδείη σαφῶς ἡ ὄντως Ἀλήθεια. Ἡμεῖς δὲ καθ' ὅσον χωροῦμεν, στοχασμοῖς τισι καὶ ὑπονοίαις τὸ ἀληθὲς ἀνιχνεύοντες, ταῦτα περὶ τῶν ζητουμένων ὑπολαμβάνομεν. Οὔτε ὁ θεῖος ψεύδεται λόγος, κατ' εἰκόνα Θεοῦ εἰπὼν γεγενῆσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον· οὔτε ἡ ἐλεεινὴ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως ταλαιπωρία τῇ μακαριότητι τῆς ἀπαθοῦς ζωῆς καθωμοίωται. Ἀνάγκη γὰρ τῶν δύο τὸ ἕτερον ὁμολογεῖσθαι, εἴ τις συγκρίνοι τῷ Θεῷ τὸ ἡμέτερον, ἢ παθητὸν εἶναι τὸ Θεῖον, ἢ ἀπαθὲς τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, ὡς ἂν διὰ τῶν ἴσων ὁ τῆς ὁμοιότητος λόγος ἐπ' ἀμ φοτέρους καταλαμβάνοιτο. Εἰ δὲ οὔτε τὸ Θεῖον ἐμπα θὲς, οὔτε τὸ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἔξω πάθους ἐστὶν, ἄρα τις ἕτερος ὑπολέλειπται λόγος, καθ' ὃν ἀληθεύειν φαμὲν τὴν θείαν φωνὴν, τὴν ἐν εἰκόνι Θεοῦ γεγενῆσθαι τὸν ἄνθρωπον λέγουσαν. Οὐκοῦν αὐτὴν ἐπαναληπτέον ἡμῖν τὴν θείαν Γραφὴν, εἴ τις ἄρα γένοιτο διὰ τῶν γε γραμμένων πρὸς τὸ ζητούμενον χειραγωγία. Μετὰ τὸ εἰπεῖν, ὅτι «Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα,» καὶ ἐπὶ τίσι ποιήσωμεν, ἐπάγει τοῦτον τὸν λόγον, ὅτι καὶ ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν ἄνθρωπον, καὶ κατ' εἰκόνα Θεοῦ ἐποίησεν αὐτόν. «Ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ ἐποίησεν αὐτούς.» Εἴρηται μὲν οὖν ἤδη καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν, ὅτι πρὸς καθαίρεσιν τῆς αἱρετικῆς ἀσεβείας ὁ τοιοῦτος προανα πεφώνηται λόγος, ἵνα διδαχθέντες ὅτι ἐποίησε τὸν ἄνθρωπον ὁ μονογενὴς Θεὸς κατ' εἰκόνα Θεοῦ, μηδενὶ λόγῳ τὴν θεότητα τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ διακρί νωμεν, ἐπίσης τῆς ἁγίας Γραφῆς Θεὸν ἑκάτερον ὀνομαζούσης, τόν τε πεποιηκότα τὸν ἄνθρωπον, καὶ οὗ κατ' εἰκόνα ἐγένετο.

181 Ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν περὶ τούτων λόγος ἀφείσθω, πρὸς δὲ τὸ προκείμενον ἐπιστρεπτέον τὴν ζήτησιν· πῶς καὶ τὸ θεῖον μακάριον, καὶ ἐλεεινὸν τὸ ἀνθρώπινον, καὶ ὅμοιον ἐκείνῳ τοῦτο παρὰ τῆς Γραφῆς ὀνομάζεται. Οὐκοῦν ἐξεταστέον μετ' ἀκριβείας τὰ ῥήματα. Εὑρήσομεν γὰρ, ὅτι ἕτερον μέν τι τὸ κατ' εἰκόνα γενόμενον, ἕτερον δὲ τὸ νῦν ἐν ταλαιπωρίᾳ δεικνύμενον. «Ἐποίησεν ὁ Θεὸς,» φησὶ, «τὸν ἄνθρωπον, κατ' εἰκόνα Θεοῦ ἐποίησεν αὐτόν.» Τέλος ἔχει ἡ τοῦ κατ' εἰκόνα γεγενημένου κτίσις. Εἶτα ἐπανάληψιν ποιεῖται τοῦ κατὰ τὴν κατασκευὴν λόγου, καί φησιν. «Ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ ἐποίησεν αὐτούς.» Παντὶ γὰρ οἶμαι γνώριμον εἶναι, ὅτι ἔξω