26

receiving,” as the sacred words say. 13.12 And not only this, but also having perverted the natural conceptions of God, they considered all things here to be without providence and ungoverned, and they attributed the substance and constitution of the universe to an irrational and automatic nature and to the necessity of fate. 13.13 And not only this, but also, supposing that their own souls were destroyed along with their bodies, they led a bestial life and an unlivable existence, not investigating the substance of the soul, not expecting the tribunals of divine judgment, not considering the prizes of virtue, nor the punishments for an unjust life, 13.14 and indeed whole nations were wasting away in a bestial life with manifold forms of wickedness, some mixing with their mothers in an illicit and most lawless union, others marrying their sisters, others corrupting their own daughters, and some slaughtering visiting strangers, others tasting human flesh, others strangling the aged with a noose and then feasting on them, others throwing them still living to dogs. Time will fail me as I recount all the things of the ancient disease which had overcome the whole race of men, 13.15 these and ten thousand kindred things, for the sake of which the philanthropic Word of God, taking pity on the rational flock among men, of old through some of his prophets, and even long before through other God-loving men, and after these through his later acquaintances, called the desperate to their healing, laying down for men certain preludes and elements of piety by laws and various exhortations and all kinds of teachings. Therefore, as the mortal race no longer needed human power but a helper greater than human, wandering here and there and being mercilessly torn apart not by wolves and untamed beasts, but by terrible and savage demons and cruel and soul-destroying spirits, the Word of God himself finally came to us most readily and was present in our camp, obeying the will of the all-good Father. 13.16 The cause of his presence here was the things that have been declared, for the sake of all which he came into the company of mortals, not doing what was customary for him, being incorporeal and invisibly traversing the whole world, and revealing his mighty works by his deeds in heaven and on earth, but in a newer way that departed from the customary one. For through a mortal instrument he undertook his conversations and intercourse with mortals, providing to save the mortal through that which was like it. 14.1 Come now, after these things, let us also state for what reason the incorporeal Word of God, using a bodily instrument, came into the company of men. And how else could a divine and intangible, immaterial and invisible substance reveal itself to those in generation who seek God even down upon the earth, who are otherwise unable or unwilling to behold the creator and maker of all things, than through a human form and appearance? 14.2 Wherefore, through a mortal instrument, a suitable aid, he came into conversation with mortals, because this was dear to them; for like, they say, is dear to like. To those, then, who rejoice in the perception of visible things, who seek for gods in statues and in the carvings of lifeless wooden images, who imagine the divine to be in matter and in bodies, and who proclaim mortal men by nature to be gods, in this way somehow the Word of God showed himself. 14.3 Therefore, he fashioned for himself an all-holy temple, a bodily instrument, a perceptible dwelling-place of rational power, a venerable and all-sacred statue, more precious than any lifeless wooden image. For the one, an effigy from lifeless matter, crafted by the hands of artisans in the image of bronze and iron, gold and ivory, stones and woods in matter, would be a fitting dwelling-place for demons; but the divinely-inspired statue, adorned by the power of divine wisdom, partook of life and of mind

26

ἀπολαμβάνοντες,» ᾗ φασὶν ἱεροὶ λόγοι. 13.12 καὶ οὐ τοῦτο μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς περὶ θεοῦ φυσικὰς ἐννοίας παρατρέψαντες ἀπρονόητα μὲν καὶ ἀνεπιτρόπευτα τὰ τῇδε πάντα ἡγοῦντο, ἀλόγῳ δὲ καὶ αὐτομάτῳ φύσει εἱμαρμένης τε ἀνάγκῃ τὴν τοῦ παντὸς οὐσίωσίν τε καὶ σύστασιν ἀνετίθεσαν. 13.13 καὶ οὐ τοῦτο μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς σφῶν ψυχὰς αὐτοῖς συνδιαφθείρεσθαι τοῖς σώμασιν ὑπολαμβάνοντες θηριώδη ζωὴν καὶ βίον ἀβίωτον διῆγον, οὐ ψυχῆς οὐσίαν διερευνώμενοι, οὐ θείας κρίσεως δικαιωτήρια προσδοκῶντες, οὐκ ἀρετῆς ἔπαθλα, οὐκ ἀδίκου βίου τιμωρίας ἐν νῷ βαλλόμενοι, 13.14 ἤδη δὲ καὶ ὅλα ἔθνη πολυτρόποις κακίας εἴδεσι θηριώδει κατετήκοντο βίῳ, οἱ μὲν μητράσι μιγνύμενοι μίξιν ἔκθεσμον καὶ παρανομωτάτην, οἱ δὲ τὰς ἀδελφὰς αὐτῶν γαμοῦντες, οἱ δὲ τὰς αὐτῶν θυγατέρας διαφθείροντες, καὶ οἱ μὲν τοὺς ἐπιδημοῦντας ξένους κατασφάττοντες, οἱ δὲ καὶ κρεῶν ἀνθρωπείων ἀπογευόμενοι, οἱ δ' ἀγχόνῃ τοὺς γεγηρακότας ἀποπνίγοντες κἄπειτα τούτοις ἑστιώμενοι, οἱ δὲ κυσὶν ἔτι ζῶντας παραβάλλοντες. ἐπιλείψει με ὁ χρόνος τὰ πάντα τῆς παλαιᾶς νόσου τῆς δὴ τὸ πᾶν τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένος κεκρατηκυίας διηγούμενον, 13.15 ταῦτα καὶ ἀδελφὰ τούτοις μυρία, ὧν δὴ χάριν ὁ φιλάνθρωπος τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος, τῆς ἐν ἀνθρώποις λογικῆς ἀγέλης οἶκτον λαβών, πάλαι μὲν διά τινων αὐτοῦ προφητῶν καὶ ἔτι πάλαι πρότερον δι' ἑτέρων θεοφιλῶν ἀνδρῶν καὶ μετὰ τούτους διὰ τῶν μετέπειτα γνωρίμων ἐπὶ τὴν σφῶν θεραπείαν ἀνεκαλεῖτο τοὺς ἀπεγνωσμένους, νόμοις καὶ παραινέσεσι ποικίλαις διδασκαλίαις τε παντοίαις προοίμι' ἄττα καὶ στοιχεῖα θεοσε βείας εἰς ἀνθρώπους καταβαλλόμενος. ὡς οὖν οὐκέτ' ἀνθρωπείας δυνάμεως κρείττονος δὲ ἢ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον ἐδεῖτο βοηθοῦ τὸ θνητὸν γένος, ὧδε κἀκεῖσε πλανώμενον ἀφειδῶς τε σπαραττόμενον οὐχ ὑπὸ λύκων καὶ θηρίων ἀτιθάσων, δεινῶν δὲ καὶ ἀγρίων ὑπὸ δαιμόνων καὶ πνευμάτων ἀπηνῶν καὶ ψυχοφθόρων, ἧκεν λοιπὸν ἡμῖν αὐτὸς μάλα προθύμως καὶ παρῆν ἐφ' ἡμετέρας παρεμβολὰς ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος, πατρὸς παναγάθου πειθαρχῶν νεύματι. 13.16 αἰτία δ' ἦν αὐτῷ τῆς ἐνταυθοῖ παρουσίας τὰ δεδηλωμένα, ὧν δὴ ἕνεκα πάντων εἰς θνητῶν ὁμιλίας παριὼν οὐχ ὅπερ αὐτῷ σύνηθες ἦν τοῦτ' ἔπραττεν, ἀσωμάτῳ μὲν ὄντι καὶ τὸν ἅπαντα κόσμον ἀφανῶς ἐπιπορευομένῳ ἔργοις δ' αὐτοῖς οὐρανίοις τε καὶ τοῖς κατὰ γῆν τὰς αὐτοῦ μεγαλουργίας ἐκφαίνοντι, καινοτέρῳ δὲ καὶ τὸν συνήθη παραλλάττοντι τρόπῳ. δι' ὀργάνου γάρ τοι θνητοῦ τὰς πρὸς τοὺς θνητοὺς ὁμιλίας τε καὶ διατριβὰς ὑπῄει, τὸ θνητὸν διὰ τοῦ ὁμοίου σῶσαι προμηθούμενος. 14.1 Φέρε δὴ μετὰ ταῦτα καὶ δι' ἣν αἰτίαν ὀργάνῳ σώματι χρησάμενος εἰς ἀνθρώπων διατριβὰς παρῄει ὁ ἀσώματος τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος ἐξείπωμεν. καὶ πῶς ἂν ἄλλως θεία καὶ ἀναφὴς ἄυλός τε καὶ ἀόρατος οὐσία τοῖς ἐν γενέσει τὸν θεὸν καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς κάτω ζητοῦσιν, ἄλλως τε οὐ δυναμένοις ἢ μὴ βουλομένοις τὸν τῶν ἁπάντων γενεσιουργόν τε καὶ ποιητὴν ἐποπτεύειν, ἢ δι' ἀνθρωπείου σχήματός τε καὶ εἴδους ἑαυτὴν ἔφηνεν; 14.2 ὅθεν δι' ὀργάνου θνητοῦ, καταλλήλου βοηθήματος, τοῖς θνητοῖς εἰς ὁμιλίαν κατῄει, ὅτι δὴ τοῦτ' αὐτοῖς φίλον ἦν· τὰ ὅμοια γοῦν, φασί, τοῖς ὁμοίοις φίλα. τοῖς δῆτα χαίρουσι τῇ τῶν ὁρωμένων αἰσθήσει, ἐν ἀγάλμασί τε καὶ ξοάνων ἀψύχων γλυφαῖς θεοὺς ἀναζητοῦσιν, ἐν ὕλῃ τε καὶ σώμασιν τὸ θεῖον εἶναι φανταζομένοις, θνητούς τε ἄνδρας τὴν φύσιν θεοὺς ἀναγορεύουσιν, καὶ ταύτῃ πη ἑαυτὸν ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγος ἐδείκνυ. 14.3 διὸ δὴ νεὼν πανάγιον αὐτὸς αὐτῷ σωματικὸν ὄργανον κατεσκευάσατο, λογικῆς δυνάμεως αἰσθητικὸν οἰκητήριον, ἄγαλμα σεμνὸν καὶ πανίερον, ξοάνου παντὸς ἀψύχου προτιμότερον. τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἐξ ὕλης ἀψύχου δείκηλον, χερσὶ βαναύσων ἀνδρῶν ἐν εἰκόνι χαλκοῦ καὶ σιδήρου χρυσοῦ τε καὶ ἐλέφαντος λίθων τε καὶ ξύλων ἐν ὕλῃ τετεχνασμένον, προσφυὲς ἂν εἴη δαιμόνων οἰκητήριον· τὸ δ' ἔνθεον ἄγαλμα σοφίας ἐνθέου δυνάμει πεποικιλμένον ζωῆς μετεῖχεν καὶ νοερᾶς