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47 Who then, who could number the Father, that he might also discover the powers of this Word? For just as He is the Father's Word and Wisdom, so also in condescending to created things, He becomes, for the knowledge and conception of His Begetter, self-sanctification and self-life and door and shepherd and way, and king and leader and over all, savior, and life-giver and light, and providence of all things. The Father, therefore, having from Himself so good and creative a Son, did not hide Him unseen from created things; but even daily He reveals Him to all through the constitution and life of all things through Him. And in Him and through Him, He also manifests Himself, as the Savior says: I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; so that of necessity the Word is in Him who begot Him, and the one begotten co-exists eternally with the Father. But while these things are so, and nothing exists outside of Him, but both heaven and earth, and all things in them depend on Him, nevertheless, frenzied men, having pushed aside the knowledge and piety towards Him, have honored things that are not before things that are; and instead of the truly existing God, they deified things that do not exist, worshipping the creation rather than the Creator, suffering a foolish and impious thing. For it is like as if someone were to admire the works before the craftsman, and being amazed at the creations in the city, were to despise their creator; or as if one were to praise the musical instrument, but cast out the one who composed and tuned it. Foolish, and greatly maimed in the eye. For how would they have known a building or a ship or a lyre at all, had not the shipwright worked, and the architect built, and the musician composed? Just as, therefore, the one who reasons these things is mad and beyond all madness, so also those who do not acknowledge God, and do not worship His Word, the Savior of all, our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the Father orders and holds together all things, and provides for all things, do not seem to me to be sound in mind; in whom you, having faith and reverence for God, O Christ-lover, rejoice and be of good hope, for the fruit of faith and piety toward Him is immortality and the kingdom of heaven, only if the soul be adorned according to His laws. For just as for those who live according to Him the prize is eternal life, so for those who travel the opposite path and not the path of virtue there is great shame and unpardonable danger on the day of judgment, because although they knew the way of truth, they did the opposite of what they knew.

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47 Τίς οὖν ἄν, τίς ἐξαριθμήσειε τὸν Πατέρα, ἵνα καὶ τοῦ Λόγου τούτου τὰς δυνάμεις ἐξεύροι; ἔστι γὰρ ὥσπερ τοῦ Πατρὸς Λόγος καὶ σοφία, οὕτω καὶ τοῖς γενητοῖς συγκαταβαίνων, γίνεται πρὸς τὴν τοῦ γεννήτορος γνῶσιν καὶ ἔννοιαν αὐτοαγιασμὸς καὶ αὐτοζωὴ καὶ θύρα καὶ ποιμὴν καὶ ὁδός, καὶ βασιλεὺς καὶ ἡγεμὼν καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσι σωτήρ, καὶ ζωοποιὸς καὶ φῶς, καὶ πρόνοια τῶν πάντων. τοιοῦτον ἄρα ἀγαθὸν καὶ δημιουργὸν Υἱὸν ἔχων ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ ὁ Πατήρ, οὐκ ἀφανῆ αὐτὸν τοῖς γενητοῖς ἀπέκρυψεν· ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁσημέραι τοῦτον ἀποκαλύπτει τοῖς πᾶσι διὰ τῆς τῶν πάντων δι' αὐτοῦ συστάσεως καὶ ζωῆς. ἐν αὐτῷ δὲ καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἑαυτὸν ἐμφαίνει, καθὼς ὁ Σωτήρ φησιν· Ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ Πατρὶ καὶ ὁ Πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί· ὥστε ἐξ ἀνάγκης εἶναι τὸν Λόγον ἐν τῷ γεννήσαντι, καὶ τὸν γεννηθέντα σὺν τῷ Πατρὶ διαιωνίζειν. Τούτων δὲ οὕτως ἐχόντων, καὶ οὐδενὸς ἔξωθεν αὐτοῦ τυγχάνοντος, ἀλλὰ καὶ οὐρανοῦ καὶ γῆς, καὶ πάντων τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐξηρτημένων αὐτοῦ, ὅμως ἄνθρωποι παράφρονες, παραγκωνισάμενοι τὴν πρὸς τοῦτον γνῶσιν καὶ εὐσέβειαν, τὰ οὐκ ὄντα πρὸ τῶν ὄντων ἐτίμησαν· καὶ ἀντὶ τοῦ ὄντως ὄντος Θεοῦ τὰ μὴ ὄντα ἐθεοποίησαν, τῇ κτίσει παρὰ τὸν κτίσαντα λατρεύοντες, πρᾶγμα πάσχοντες ἀνόητον καὶ δυσσεβές. ὅμοιον γὰρ ὡς εἴ τις τὰ ἔργα πρὸ τοῦ τεχνίτου θαυμάσειε, καὶ τὰ ἐν τῇ πόλει δημιουργήματα καταπλαγείς, τὸν τούτων δημιουργὸν καταπατοίη· ἢ ὡς εἴ τις τὸ μὲν μουσικὸν ὄργανον ἐπαινοίη, τὸν δὲ συνθέντα καὶ ἁρμοσάμενον ἐκβάλλοι. ἄφρονες καὶ πολὺ τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν πεπηρωμένοι. πῶς γὰρ ἂν ἔγνωσαν ὅλως οἰκοδομὴν ἢ ναῦν ἢ λύραν, μὴ οὐχὶ τοῦ ναυπηγοῦ ἐργασαμένου, καὶ τοῦ ἀρχιτέκτονος οἰκοδομήσαντος, καὶ τοῦ μουσικοῦ συνθέντος; ὥσπερ οὖν ὁ ταῦτα λογιζόμενος μαίνεται καὶ ὑπερέκεινα πάσης μανίας ἐστίν, οὕτως οὔ μοι δοκοῦσιν ὑγιαίνειν τὴν διάνοιαν οἱ τὸν Θεὸν μὴ ἐπιγινώσκοντες, καὶ τὸν τούτου Λόγον μὴ θρησκεύοντες, τὸν Σωτῆρα τῶν πάντων τὸν Κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, δι' οὗ τὰ πάντα ὁ Πατὴρ διακοσμεῖ καὶ συνέχει, καὶ προνοεῖται τῶν ὅλων· εἰς ὃν σὺ τὴν πίστιν ἔχων καὶ τὸ θεοσεβές, ὦ φιλόχριστε, χαῖρε καὶ εὔελπις γίνου, ὅτι τῆς εἰς αὐτὸν πίστεως καὶ εὐσεβείας ἀθανασία καὶ βασιλεία οὐρανῶν ἐστιν ὁ καρπός, μόνον ἐὰν κατὰ τοὺς αὐτοῦ νόμους ἡ ψυχὴ κεκοσμημένη γένηται. ὥσπερ γὰρ τοῖς κατ' αὐτὸν πολιτευομένοις ἐστὶ τὸ ἔπαθλον ζωὴ αἰώνιος, οὕτω τοῖς τὴν ἐναντίαν καὶ μὴ τὴν τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀτραπὸν ὁδεύουσιν αἰσχύνη μεγάλη καὶ κίνδυνος ἀσύγγνωστος ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κρίσεως, ὅτι καίτοι γνόντες τὴν τῆς ἀληθείας ὁδόν, ἐναντία ὧν ἔγνωσαν ἔπραξαν.