23. He, therefore, who is not sanctified by another, nor a partaker of sanctification, but who is himself partaken, and in whom all the creatures are sanctified, how can he be one from among all things or pertain to those who partake of him? For those who say this must say that the Son, through whom all things came to be, is one from among all things.

He is called a quickening Spirit. For it says: ‘He that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken also your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwelleth in you.’ The Lord is the very life, and ‘author of life’, as Peter put it. And as the Lord said himself: ‘The water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up into

eternal life__But this spake he concerning the Spirit which

they that believed in him were to receive.’ But the creatures, as has been said, are quickened through him. He that does not partake of life, but who is himself partaken and quickens the creatures, what kinship can he have with things originated? How can he belong to the creatures which in him are quickened from the Word?

The Spirit is called unction and he is seal. For John writes: ‘As for you, the unction which ye received of him abideth in you, and you need not that anyone teach you, but his unction’—his Spirit—‘teacheth you concerning all things.’ In the prophet Isaiah it is written: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me.’ Paul says: ‘In whom having also believed, ye were sealed unto the day of redemption.’ But the creatures are by him sealed and anointed and instructed in all things. But if the Spirit is the unction and seal with which the Word anoints and seals all things, what likeness or propriety could the unction and the seal have to the things that are anointed and sealed? Thus by this consideration also he could not belong to the ‘all things’. The seal could not be from among the things that are sealed, nor the unction from among the things that are anointed; it pertains to the Word who anoints and seals. For the unction has the fragrance and odour of him who anoints; and those who are anointed say, when they receive thereof: ‘We are the fragrance of Christ.’ The seal has the form of Christ who seals, and those who are sealed partake of it, being conformed to it; as the Apostle says: ‘My little children, for whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you.’ Being thus sealed, we are duly made, as Peter put it, ‘sharers in the divine nature’; and thus all creation partakes of the Word in the Spirit.

Τὸ τοίνυν μὴ ἁγιαζόμενον παρ' ἑτέρου, μηδὲ μετέχον ἁγιασμοῦ, ἀλλ' αὐτὸ μεθεκτὸν ὂν, ἐν ᾧ καὶ τὰ κτίσματα πάντα ἁγιάζεται, πῶς ἂν εἴη ἓν τῶν πάντων, ἴδιον τῶν μετεχόντων αὐτοῦ; Ἀνάγκη γὰρ τοῖς τοῦτο λέγουσιν εἰπεῖν καὶ τὸν Υἱὸν, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα γέγονεν, ἕνα τῶν πάντων εἶναι. Πνεῦμα ζωοποιὸν λέγεται· «Ὁ ἐγείρας» γὰρ, φησὶν, «Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν ζωοποιήσει καὶ τὰ θνητὰ ὑμῶν σώματα διὰ τοῦ ἐνοικοῦντος αὐτοῦ Πνεύματος ἐν ὑμῖν.» Καὶ ὁ μὲν Κύριός ἐστιν ἡ αὐτοζωὴ, καὶ «ἀρχηγὸς τῆς ζωῆς,» ὡς εἶπεν ὁ Πέτρος· ἔλεγε δὲ αὐτὸς ὁ Κύριος· «Τὸ ὕδωρ, ὃ ἐγὼ δώσω αὐ τῷ, γενήσεται ἐν αὐτῷ πηγὴ ὕδατος ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον. Τοῦτο δὲ ἔλεγε περὶ τοῦ Πνεύματος, οὗ ἔμελλον λαμβάνειν οἱ πιστεύοντες εἰς αὐτόν.» Τὰ δὲ κτίσματα, ὡς εἴρηται, ζωοποιούμενά ἐστι δι' αὐτοῦ. Τὸ δὲ μὴ μετέχον ζωῆς, ἀλλ' αὐτὸ μετεχόμενον καὶ ζωοποιοῦν τὰ κτίσματα, ποίαν ἔχει συγγένειαν πρὸς τὰ γενητά; Ἢ πῶς ὅλως ἂν εἴη τῶν κτισμάτων, ἅπερ ἐν ἐκείνῳ παρὰ τοῦ Λόγου ζωοποιεῖ ται; Χρίσμα λέγεται τὸ Πνεῦμα, καὶ ἔστι σφραγίς. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ Ἰωάννης γράφει· «Καὶ ὑμεῖς τὸ χρίσμα ὃ ἐλάβετε παρ' αὐτοῦ, μένει ἐν ὑμῖν. Καὶ οὐ χρείαν ἔχετε, ἵνα τις διδάσκῃ ὑμᾶς· ἀλλ' ὡς τὸ αὐτοῦ χρίσμα,» τὸ Πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ, «διδάσκει ὑμᾶς περὶ πάντων.» Ἐν δὲ τῷ προφήτῃ Ἡσαΐᾳ γέγραπται· «Πνεῦμα Κυρίου ἐπ' ἐμὲ, οὗ εἵνεκεν ἔχρισέ με.» Ὁ δὲ Παῦλός φησιν· «Ἐν ᾧ καὶ πιστεύσαντες, ἐσφραγίσθητε εἰς ἡμέραν ἀπολυτρώσεως.» Τὰ δὲ κτίσματα τούτῳ σφραγίζεται καὶ χρίεται, καὶ περὶ πάντων διδάσκεται. Εἰ δὲ τὸ Πνεῦμα χρίσμα καὶ σφραγίς ἐστιν, ἐν ᾧ χρίει καὶ σφραγίζει πάντα ὁ Λόγος· ποία ὁμοιότης ἢ ἰδιότης τοῦ χρίσματος καὶ τῆς σφραγῖδος πρὸς τὰ χριόμενα καὶ σφραγιζόμενα; Οὐκοῦν καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἂν εἴη τῶν πάντων αὐτό. Οὐ γὰρ ἂν εἴη ἡ σφραγὶς ἐκ τῶν σφραγιζομένων, οὐδὲ τὸ χρίσμα ἐκ τῶν χριομένων· ἀλλ' ἴδιόν ἐστι τοῦτο τοῦ χρίοντος καὶ σφραγίζοντος Λόγου. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ χρίσμα τὴν εὐωδίαν καὶ πνοὴν τοῦ χρίοντος ἔχει, καὶ οἱ χριόμενοι τούτου μεταλαμβάνοντες λέ γουσι· «Χριστοῦ εὐωδία ἐσμέν·» ἡ δὲ σφραγὶς τὴν μορφὴν Χριστοῦ τοῦ σφραγίζοντος ἔχει, καὶ ταύτης οἱ σφραγιζόμενοι μετέχουσι, μορφούμενοι κατ' αὐτὴν, λέγοντος τοῦ Ἀποστόλου· «Τεκνία μου, οὓς πάλιν ὠδίνω, ἄχρις οὗ μορφωθῇ Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν.» Οὕτω δὲ σφραγιζόμενοι, εἰκότως καὶ κοινωνοὶ θείας φύσεως γινόμεθα, ὡς εἶπεν ὁ Πέτρος, καὶ οὕτω μετέχει πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις τοῦ Λόγου ἐν τῷ Πνεύματι.