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a faithful high priest to him who made him» is not said concerning his divinity. For God came * and the divine Scriptures clarify everything for us. For there is nothing in them crooked or twisted, «but all things are plain to them that understand, and right to them that find knowledge.» «Receive,» for he says, «instruction, and not silver»; for if one does not receive instruction from God, that is, the faith of the truth, all things are crooked and perverse to him, but to those who understand rightly and find knowledge, all things are right and irreproachable. And to refute them, the apostle says: «For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices.» For this reason also the Only-begotten himself, since he came to be a high priest for men, took flesh from us, so that he who was made from us might be an offering for us to his own Father and God, and might call the disciples «brethren.» Where then is "having become" fulfilled? Nowhere else, but in relation to the high priest. «Receive,» he says, «the high priest who is faithful to him who made him.» 41.7 But that I may also use a more abundant example: suppose someone were to ask a king about his own son and daringly say to him: Who is this? And after hearing from the father the just confession, He is my son, he were to ask again, Your son by nature? And with the king saying Yes, the questioner would add again: What then did you make him? He would surely say: I made him king. 41.8 By stating the dignity, did he deny the legitimacy? If he says the second, has he done away with the first? Not at all. In this way, therefore, God the Father also begot the Son without beginning, and in the flesh is fulfilled «he made him high priest.» 42.1 But, they say, it is written: «The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways for his works.» And first, the vainglorious are ignorant of the name of the book. For the book is called the Proverbs of Solomon. And everything spoken in proverbs is not identical with the meaning of the speech. 42.2 For behold, our Lord Jesus Christ spoke in parables, and we see that the parables are not so in relation to our subject. 42.3 «For,» he says, «the kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed»; and if we wish to understand the part according to our own mind, it is clear that the kingdom of heaven is a place of spaciousness. 42.4 If then one must speak of a place, in which kingdom is the king, God and Father, and God the Word and Son of God, and the Holy Spirit of God, and angels and archangels, spiritual hosts, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the righteous, where then will so many things be contained in a grain of mustard seed? But the figurative aspect of the saying is spoken enigmatically. Therefore what is said in a proverb is not identical. 42.5 but also to a woman having ten drachmas and losing one and lighting a lamp and finding it, but also to a dragnet cast into the sea, but also to seed being sown on the earth *. And all these things are said enigmatically, but are not identical in meaning. 42.6 And we do not really know if the proverb-writer Solomon has said this saying about the Son of God. 42.7 For there is wisdom and wisdom. The apostle therefore knows to say «the world through wisdom did not know God» and «God has made foolish the wisdom of this world» and again he says «not in fleshly wisdom, but in the power of God», and Solomon knows to call upon wisdom, saying, «I loved her beauty and took her to myself as a bride,» and Job knows wisdom and says, «But where shall wisdom be found? And what is the place of understanding?» and «the wisdom of the poor man is despised» and «he is the corrector of wisdom» and «the wisdom of the Father is the Only-begotten.» 43.1 What then do we say? If the Father is wisdom and the Son also according to their

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ἀρχιερέα πιστὸν ὄντα τῷ ποιήσαντι αὐ41.3 τόν» οὐ περὶ τῆς θεότητος εἴρηται. ὁ θεὸς γὰρ ἦλθε * καὶ εἰς πάντα ἡμῖν σαφηνίζουσιν αἱ θεῖαι γραφαί. οὐδὲν γὰρ ἐν αὐταῖς ἐστὶ σκολιὸν ἢ στραγγαλιῶδες, «πάντα δὲ ἐνώπια τοῖς συνιοῦσι καὶ ὀρθὰ τοῖς 41.4 εὑρίσκουσι γνῶσιν». «λάβετε» γάρ φησι «παιδείαν καὶ μὴ ἀργύριον»· ἐὰν γὰρ μή τις λάβῃ παιδείαν παρὰ θεοῦ τουτέστι τὴν πίστιν τῆς ἀληθείας, σκολιὰ αὐτῷ πάντα καὶ διεστραμμένα, τοῖς δὲ συνιοῦσιν 41.5 ὀρθῶς καὶ εὑρίσκουσι γνῶσιν ὀρθὰ πάντα καὶ ἀδιάβλητα. ἵνα δὲ αὐτοὺς ἐλέγξῃ, ὁ ἀπόστολός φησι· «πᾶς γὰρ ἀρχιερεὺς ἐξ ἀνθρώπων λαμβανόμενος τὰ πρὸς θεὸν ὑπὲρ ἀνθρώπων καθίσταται, εἰς τὸ 41.6 προσφέρειν δῶρα καὶ θυσίας». διὰ τοῦτο καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ μονογενής, ἐπειδὴ ὑπὲρ ἀνθρώπων ἀρχιερεὺς ἦλθε γενέσθαι, ἔλαβεν ἐξ ἡμῶν τὴν σάρκα, ἵνα ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ὁ ἀφ' ἡμῶν γενόμενος προσφορὰ τῷ ἰδίῳ πατρὶ θεῷ τοὺς μαθητὰς «ἀδελφοὺς καλέσῃ». ποῦ οὖν τὸ γενόμενος πληροῦται; οὐκ ἄλλοθεν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τοῦ ἀρχιερέως. «δέξασθε, γάρ φησιν, τὸν ἀρχιερέα πιστὸν ὄντα τῷ ποιήσαντι αὐτόν». 41.7 Ἵνα δὲ καὶ παραδείγματι περισσοτέρῳ χρήσωμαι· ἐρωτήσειέ τις βασιλέα περὶ τοῦ ἰδίου υἱοῦ καὶ λέξει αὐτῷ τολμήσας· τίς οὗτός ἐστιν; ἀκούσας δὲ παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς δικαίαν ὁμολογίαν· υἱός μού ἐστι, πάλιν ἔροιτο· υἱός σου κατὰ φύσιν; καὶ ναί τοῦ βασιλέως εἰπόντος αὖθις ἐπάξει ὁ ἐρωτῶν· τί οὖν αὐτὸν ἐποίησας; πάντως ἂν ἐρεῖ· βασιλέα 41.8 αὐτὸν ἐποίησα. ἆρα τὴν ἀξίαν εἰπὼν τὴν γνησιότητα ἠρνήσατο; ἐὰν τὸ δεύτερον εἴπῃ, τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἠφάνισεν; οὐδαμῶς. οὕτως γοῦν καὶ ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ ἐγέννησε τὸν υἱὸν ἀνάρχως καὶ ἐν σαρκὶ πεπλήρωται τό «ἐποίησεν αὐτὸν ἀρχιερέα». 42.1 Ἀλλά, φασί, γέγραπται «κύριος ἔκτισέ με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἔργα αὐτοῦ». καὶ πρῶτα μὲν ἀγνοοῦσιν οἱ κενόδοξοι τὸ ὄνομα τῆς βίβλου. ἡ γὰρ βίβλος παροιμίαι καλεῖται Σολομῶντος. πᾶν δὲ 42.2 τὸ παροιμιαζόμενον οὐ ταυτόν ἐστι τῇ τοῦ λόγου δυνάμει. ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἐν παραβολαῖς ἐλάλησεν ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς καὶ ὁρῶμεν 42.3 τὰς παραβολὰς οὐχ οὕτως ἐχούσας πρὸς τὴν ὑπόθεσιν ἡμῶν. «ὁμοία γάρ ἐστι» φησίν «ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν κόκκῳ σινάπεως»· καὶ εἰ κατὰ τὸν ἡμέτερον νοῦν θελήσομεν διανοήσασθαι τὸ ἀπὸ μέρους, 42.4 δῆλον ὅτι βασιλεία οὐρανῶν εὐρυχωρίας ἐστὶ τόπος. εἰ ἄρα δεῖ λέγειν τόπον, ἐν ᾗπερ βασιλείᾳ ἐστὶ βασιλεὺς ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ καὶ ὁ θεὸς Λόγος καὶ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα τοῦ θεοῦ, ἄγγελοί τε καὶ ἀρχάγγελοι, στρατιαὶ πνευματικαί, Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακὼβκαὶ πάντες δίκαιοι, ποῦ τοίνυν τὰ τοσαῦτα ἐν κόκκῳ σινάπεως χωρηθήσεται; τὸ δὲ τροπικὸν τοῦ λόγου αἰνιγματωδῶς λέγεται. ἄρα οὐ 42.5 ταυτόν ἐστι τὸ παροιμιαζόμενον. ἀλλὰ καὶ γυναικὶ ἐχούσῃ δέκα δραχμὰς καὶ ἀπολεσάσῃ μίαν καὶ λύχνον ἁψάσῃ καὶ εὑρούσῃ αὐτήν, ἀλλὰ καὶ σαγήνῃ βληθείσῃ ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ, ἀλλὰ καὶ σπόρῳ σπειρομένῳ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς *. ταῦτα δὲ πάντα αἰνιγματωδῶς λέγεται, οὐ 42.6 ταυτὸν δέ ἐστι τῇ δυνάμει. καὶ οὐκ οἴδαμεν ὄντως τὸν παροιμιαστὴν Σολομῶντα, εἰ περὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ εἴρηκε τοῦτον τὸν 42.7 λόγον. ἔστι γὰρ σοφία καὶ σοφία. οἶδεν οὖν ὁ ἀπόστολος λέγειν «οὐκ ἔγνω ὁ κόσμος διὰ τῆς σοφίας τοῦ θεοῦ τὸν θεόν» καί «ἐμώρανεν ὁ θεὸς τὴν σοφίαν τοῦ κόσμου» καὶ πάλιν λέγει «οὐκ ἐν σοφίᾳ σαρκικῇ, ἀλλ' ἐν δυνάμει θεοῦ», καὶ οἶδε Σολομὼν καλεῖν σοφίαν λέγων «ἠράσθην τοῦ κάλλους αὐτῆς καὶ νύμφην ἠγαγόμην ἐμαυτῷ», καὶ Ἰὼβ οἶδε σοφίαν καί φησιν «ἡ δὲ σοφία πόθεν εὑρέθη; ποῖος δὲ τόπος ἐστὶ τῆς φρονήσεως;» καί «σοφία τοῦ πένητός ἐστιν ἐξουδενωμένη» καί «αὐτὸς τῆς σοφίας ἐστὶ διορθωτής» καί «σοφία πατρὸς ὁ μονογενής». 43.1 Τί οὖν λέγομεν; εἰ σοφία πατήρ ἐστι καὶ ὁ υἱὸς δὲ κατὰ τὸν 43.1 ἐκείνων