John Chrysostom, On the Incomprehensible Nature of God

of prophets for the Son of God to be made known to the Jews. For having just been delivered from the error of polytheism, if they heard again of God and God, they would have relapsed into the same disease. For this reason the prophets continually say again and again that “There is one God and besides Him there is no other,” not setting aside the Son, God forbid, but wishing to heal their weakness and to persuade them for the time being to be rid of the suspicion of many gods that do not exist. When, therefore, you hear “one” and “no one,” and such things, do not diminish the glory of the Trinity, but learn through these words the distinction between it and creation, since elsewhere also he says: “For who has known the mind of the Lord?” And that this is the meaning here and that it excludes neither the Son nor the Spirit from this knowledge, has been demonstrated already in what was said above, when we brought forward the testimony that says: “For who knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man which is in him? So also no one knows the things of God, except the Spirit of God.” And again the Son says: “No one knows the Son, except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son.” So also here: “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.” For He at once said that He knows Him with exactness and has given the reason why He knows. And what is the reason? That He is from Him; and of His being from Him, the proof in turn is that He knows Him with exactness. For this reason He knows Him clearly, because He is from Him, and the sign of His being from Him is that He knows Him clearly. For an essence would not be able to know well a surpassing essence, even if the interval were small. Hear, at any rate, what the prophet says about the angels, and about human nature, that the difference between the one and the other is small. For having said: “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you think of him?” he added: “You have made him a little lower than the angels.” But yet, even if the interval is small, since there is an interval at all, we do not know with exactness the essence of angels, even if we were to philosophize ten thousand times, we are not able to find it. And why do I speak of angels, when we do not even know the essence of our own soul well, or rather, not at all? But if they contentiously claim to know, ask what the soul is in its essence: is it air, or spirit, or wind, or fire? But they will say none of these things; for all these are bodies, but it is bodiless. Then, they do not know angels, nor their own souls, but they contentiously claim to know with exactness the Master and creator of all. And what could be worse than this folly? And why do I say what kind of essence the soul is? How it is in our body, not even this is it possible to say. For what could one say? That it is co-extensive with the bulk of the body? But this is irrational; for this is a property of bodies. That this is not the case with the soul is clear from this: often when hands and feet have been cut off, it remains whole, in no way mutilated by the maiming of the body. But is it not in the whole body, but is contained in some part? Then the remaining parts must become dead; for what is without soul is surely dead. But it is not possible to say this either, but that it is in our body, we know, but how it is, we do not know. For for this reason also God has shut out the knowledge of this, from great abundance silencing and restraining us, and persuading us to remain below and not to be curious or meddlesome about the things above us. But lest we establish such things from reasonings, come, let us bring the argument back to the Scripture. “Not that anyone,” He says, “has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.” And what of this? he says. For this saying has not yet testified to his exact knowledge. But that creation does not know Him He showed by saying, “Not that anyone has seen the Father,” and that the Son knows Him, this again He showed by adding, “...except He who is from God; He has seen the Father”; that He knows Him exactly, however, and as He knows Himself, this has not yet been demonstrated. For it is possible, he says, that neither creation knows Him clearly, nor the

προφητῶν γνωρισθῆναι τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ἄρτι γὰρ τῆς πολυθέου πλάνης ἀπαλλαγέντες, εἰ πάλιν ἤκουσαν Θεὸν καὶ Θεόν, πρὸς τὴν αὐτὴν ἂν ὑπέστρεψαν νόσον. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἄνω καὶ κάτω συνεχῶς οἱ προφῆται λέγουσιν ὅτι «Εἷς Θεὸς καὶ πλὴν αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν», οὐχὶ τὸν Υἱὸν ἀθετοῦντες, μὴ γένοιτο, ἀλλὰ τὴν ἐκείνων ἀσθένειαν θεραπεῦσαι βουλόμενοι καὶ πεῖσαι τέως τῆς τῶν πολλῶν θεῶν καὶ οὐκ ὄντων ὑπονοίας ἀπαλλαγῆναι. Ὅταν τοίνυν ἀκούσῃς τὸ «εἷς» καὶ «οὐδείς», καὶ ὅσα τοιαῦτα, μὴ τῆς Τριάδος ἐλαττώσῃς τὴν δόξαν, ἀλλὰ τὸ μέσον αὐτῆς πρὸς τὴν κτίσιν διὰ τούτων μάνθανε τῶν ῥημάτων, ἐπεὶ καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ φησι· «Τίς γὰρ ἔγνω νοῦν Κυρίου;» Καὶ ὅτι τοῦτό ἐστιν ἐνταῦθα καὶ οὔτε τὸν Υἱὸν οὔτε τὸ Πνεῦμα ἐκβάλλει τῆς γνώσεως, προαποδέδεικται ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέρω εἰρημένοις, ὅτε τὴν μαρτυρίαν παρηγάγομεν τὴν λέγουσαν· «Τίς γὰρ οἶδε τὰ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, εἰ μὴ τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὸ ἐν αὐτῷ; Οὕτω καὶ τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐδεὶς οἶδεν, εἰ μὴ τὸ Πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ.» Καὶ πάλιν ὁ Υἱός φησιν· «Οὐδεὶς γινώσκει τὸν Υἱόν, εἰ μὴ ὁ Πατήρ, οὐδὲ τὸν Πατέρα τις ἐπιγινώσκει, εἰ μὴ ὁ Υἱός.» Οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐνταῦθα· «Οὐχ ὅτι τὸν Πατέρα τις ἑώρακεν, εἰ μὴ ὁ ὢν ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ· οὗτος ἑώρακε τὸν Πατέρα.» Ὁμοῦ γὰρ ὅτι μετὰ ἀκριβείας αὐτὸν οἶδεν εἶπε καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν τέθεικεν δι' ἣν οἶδε. Τίς δὲ ἡ αἰτία; Τὸ ἐξ αὐτοῦ εἶναι· τοῦ δὲ ἐξ αὐτοῦ εἶναι πάλιν ἀπόδειξις τὸ μετὰ ἀκριβείας αὐτὸν εἰδέναι. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο γὰρ αὐτὸν οἶδε σαφῶς, ἐπειδὴ ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἐστιν, καὶ σημεῖον τοῦ ἐξ αὐτοῦ εἶναι τὸ εἰδέναι αὐτὸν σαφῶς. Οὐσία γὰρ οὐσίαν ὑπερέχουσαν οὐκ ἂν δυνηθείη καλῶς εἰδέναι, κἂν ὀλίγον ᾖ τὸ μέσον. Ἄκουσον γοῦν τί περὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων φησὶν ὁ προφήτης, καὶ περὶ τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης φύσεως, ὅτι ὀλίγον τὸ διάφορον ταύτης κἀκείνης. Εἰπὼν γάρ· «Τί ἐστιν ἄνθρωπος, ὅτι μιμνήσκῃ αὐτοῦ, ἢ υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου, ὅτι λογίζῃ αὐτόν;» ἐπήγαγεν· «Ἠλάττωσας αὐτὸν βραχύ τι παρ' ἀγγέλους.» Ἀλλ' ὅμως εἰ καὶ βραχὺ τὸ μέσον, ἐπειδὴ ὅλως ἐστί τι μέσον, οὐκ οἴδαμεν μετὰ ἀκριβείας ἀγγέλων οὐσίαν, κἂν μυρία φιλοσοφήσωμεν, εὑρεῖν οὐ δυνάμεθα. Καὶ τί λέγω ἀγγέλων, ὅπου γε οὐδὲ τῆς ψυχῆς τῆς ἡμετέρας τὴν οὐσίαν ἴσμεν καλῶς, μᾶλλον δὲ οὐδὲ ὁπωσοῦν; Εἰ δὲ ἐκεῖνοι φιλονεικοῦσιν εἰδέναι, ἐρώτησον τί ποτέ ἐστι τὴν οὐσίαν ἡ ψυχή· ἆρα ἀήρ, ἢ πνεῦμα, ἢ ἄνεμος, ἢ πῦρ; Ἀλλ' οὐδὲν τούτων ἐροῦσι· ταῦτα γὰρ πάντα σώματα, ἐκείνη δὲ ἀσώματος. Εἶτα ἀγγέλους μὲν οὐκ ἴσασιν, οὐδὲ τὰς ἑαυτῶν ψυχάς, τὸν δὲ πάντων ∆εσπότην καὶ δημιουργὸν εἰδέναι φιλονεικοῦσι μετὰ ἀκριβείας. Καὶ τί ταύτης γένοιτ' ἂν τῆς ἀνοίας χεῖρον; Καὶ τί λέγω τὴν οὐσίαν ὁποία ἐστὶν ἡ ψυχή; Ὅπως ἡμῶν ἐστιν ἐν τῷ σώματι, οὐδὲ τοῦτο ἔστιν εἰπεῖν. Τί γὰρ ἔχοι τις ἂν εἰπεῖν; ὅτι παρεκτείνεται τῷ τοῦ σώματος ὄγκῳ; ἀλλὰ τοῦτο ἄλογον· σωμάτων γὰρ ἴδιον τοῦτο. Ὅτι δὲ ἐπὶ ψυχῆς οὐκ ἔστι τοῦτο ἐντεῦθεν δῆλον· πολλάκις καὶ τῶν χειρῶν καὶ τῶν ποδῶν ἐκκεκομμένων, ὁλόκληρος ἐκείνη μένει, οὐδὲν ἀκρωτηριασθεῖσα ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ σώματος πηρώσεως. Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ σώματι, ἀλλ' ἐν μέρει τινὶ συνείληπται; Οὐκοῦν ἀνάγκη νεκρὰ τὰ λοιπὰ γίνεσθαι μέρη· τὸ γὰρ ἄψυχον πάντως νεκρόν. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τοῦτο ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, ἀλλ' ὅτι μέν ἐστιν ἐν τῷ σώματι τῷ ἡμετέρῳ ἴσμεν, τὸ δὲ πῶς ἐστιν οὐκ ἴσμεν. ∆ιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο καὶ τὴν ταύτης γνῶσιν ἀπέκλεισεν ὁ Θεὸς ἐκ πολλῆς περιουσίας ἐπιστομίζων ἡμᾶς καὶ κατέχων, καὶ μένειν κάτω πείθων καὶ τὰ ὑπὲρ ἡμᾶς μὴ περιεργάζεσθαι, μηδὲ πολυπραγμονεῖν. Ἀλλ' ἵνα μὴ ἀπὸ λογισμῶν τὰ τοιαῦτα κατασκευάζωμεν, φέρε πάλιν ἐπὶ τὴν Γραφὴν τὸν λόγον ἀγάγωμεν. «Οὐχ ὅτι τὸν Πατέρα, φησίν, ἑώρακέ τις εἰ μὴ ὁ ὢν ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ, οὗτος ἑώρακε τὸν Πατέρα.» Καὶ τί τοῦτο; φησίν· οὐδέπω γὰρ αὐτῷ γνῶσιν ἀκριβῆ τοῦτο ἐμαρτύρησε τὸ ῥῆμα. Ἀλλ' ὅτι μὲν αὐτὸν ἡ κτίσις οὐκ οἶδεν ἐδήλωσεν εἰπών· «Οὐχ ὅτι τὸν Πατέρα τις ἑώρακε» καὶ ὅτι ὁ Υἱὸς αὐτὸν οἶδε, καὶ τοῦτο πάλιν ἐδήλωσε προσθείς· «... εἰ μὴ ὁ ὢν ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ, οὗτος ἑώρακε τὸν Πατέρα»· ὅτι μέντοι ἀκριβῶς αὐτὸν οἶδε, καὶ οὕτως ὡς αὐτὸς ἑαυτόν, οὐδέπω τοῦτο ἀποδέδεικται. Ἐνδέχεται γάρ, φησί, μήτε τὴν κτίσιν αὐτὸν εἰδέναι σαφῶς, μήτε τὸν