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becomes man. Blessed, therefore, is he who after making God man in himself through wisdom and fulfilling the genesis of such a mystery, suffers to become God by grace, because this becoming will never receive an end. For He who does this for the worthy, being indefinite in essence, has an indefinite power, and one beyond all indefiniteness, which does this and never ceases with those who come to be by it, as we do, but rather always holds together with itself those who have received their being from it, being unable to exist without it. Whence also He spoke of the riches of goodness, as the divine and all-luminous disposition in us never ceases in goodness according to the transformation towards deification.

14Β_140 SCHOLIA 1. The union of the Word with the flesh according to hypostasis revealed the ineffable purpose of the divine will, in that it did not confuse the essence by the union with the flesh; but showed the hypostasis to be one, even in the incarnation of the Word; so that the flesh might both remain flesh according to its essence, and become divine according to its hypostasis.

2. Of the ages, he says, some have become manifestations of the divine incarnation, the ends of which have come down to us; but others prove to be demonstrations of our deification; the riches of whose glory has not yet been revealed.

3. The incarnation of God, he says, is a sure confirmation of the hope for deification for the nature of men; making man God to the same extent that He Himself became man. For He who became man without sin, it is clear that without change into divinity, He will deify nature and will raise it up through Himself to the same extent that He Himself lowered Himself for man's sake.

4. A contemplation, through which he shows the beginning and the middle and the end of the ages to be without interval in Christ according to circumscription. Who came down to us as the end of the ages through incarnation, having naturally the fullness of the paternal goodness, of which He made us partakers in Himself by grace, establishing for us the hope of faith as a confirmation.

5. The principle of doing is the natural power for the energy of the virtues; but the principle of suffering is the grace of things above nature or the occurrence of things contrary to nature. For just as we do not have the natural power for what is transcendent, so neither do we by nature have the power for what is not. We therefore suffer deification as being above nature according to grace, but we do not do it. For we do not by nature have a power receptive of deification. And again we suffer vice as something contrary to nature, by will, according to what happens; for we do not have a natural power for the generation of vice. Therefore, being here, he says, we do the virtues, having by nature the power to do them; but in the future we suffer deification, receiving the grace to suffer it as a gift.

6. After this life, he says, we cease from doing the virtues; but we do not cease from suffering deification by grace for them. For the suffering that is above nature is indefinite, because it is also active; but that which is contrary to nature is non-existent, because it is also inactive.

7. The reason, he says, by presiding over both anger and desire, produces the virtues; but the intellect, by attending to the principles of things that have come to be, collects unerring knowledge. When, therefore, reason, after the rejection of opposites, finds that which is lovable according to nature; and the intellect, after passing through knowable things, grasps the cause of beings which is beyond essence and knowledge, then the passion of deification by grace supervenes, leading reason away from natural discrimination, where that which is discriminated does not exist; and causing the intellect to cease from intellection according to nature, where not

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ἄνθρωπος γίνεται. Μακάριος οὖν ὁ μετὰ τὸ ποιῆσαι διὰ σοφίας ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸν Θεὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ τοῦ τοιούτου μυστηρίου πληρώσας τὴν γένεσιν, πάσχων τὸ γενέσθαι τῇ χάριτι Θεός, ὅτι τοῦ ἀεὶ τοῦτο γίνεσθαι πέρας οὐ λήψεται. Ὁ γὰρ ταύτην τοῖς ἀξίοις ποιῶν, ἀόριστος ὑπάρχων κατ᾽ οὐσίαν, ἀόριστον ἔχει, καὶ πάσης ἀοριστίας ἐπέκεινα, τὴν τοῦτο ποιοῦσαν δύναμιν καὶ μηδέποτε συγκαταλήγουσαν τοῖς ὑπ᾽ αὐτῆς γινομένοις, καθάπερ ἡμεῖς, ἀεὶ δὲ μᾶλλον ἑαυτῇ συγκρατοῦσαν τοὺς ἐξ αὐτῆς τὸ εἶναι λαβόντας, ἄνευ αὐτῆς εἶναι μὴ δυναμένους. Ὅθεν καὶ πλοῦτον εἶπε χρηστότητος, ὡς μὴ παυομένης ποτὲ τῆς ἐφ᾽ ἡμῖν ἐν χρηστότητι κατὰ τὴν πρὸς θέωσιν μεταποίησιν θείας καὶ παμφαοῦς διαθέσεως.

14Β_140 ΣΧΟΛΙΑ 1. Ἡ πρός τήν σάρκα τοῦ Λόγου καθ᾿ ὑπόστασιν ἕνωσις, τόν ἀπόῤῥητον τῆς

θείας βουλῆς ἐφανέρωσε σκοπόν, ἐν τῷ μή φῦραι τῇ ἑνώσει τῆς σαρκός τήν οὐσίαν· μίαν δέ δεῖξαι, κἀν τῇ σαρκώσει τοῦ Λόγου τήν ὑπόστασιν· ἵνα καί μείνῃ σάρξ κατά τήν οὐσίαν ἡ σάρξ, καί γένηται θεία κατά τήν ὑπόστασιν.

2. Τῶν αἰώνων, φησίν, οἱ μέν θείας ἐκφαντικοί γεγόνασιν ἐνανθρωπήσεως, ὧν εἰς ἡμᾶς τά τέλη κατήντησεν· οἱ δέ τῆς ἡμῶν ἀποδεικτικοί τυγχάνουσιν ἐκθεώσεως· ὧν οὔπω τῆς δόξης ὁ πλοῦτος ἐφανερώθη.

3. Βεβαία πίστωσίς ἐστι, φησίν, τῆς πρός ἐκθέωσιν ἐλπίδος τῇ φύσει τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐνανθρώπησις· τοσοῦτον Θεόν ποιοῦσα τόν ἄνθρωπον, ὅσον αὐτός γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος. Ὁ γάρ χωρίς ἁμαρτίας γενόμενος ἄνθρωπος, δῆλον ὅτι χωρίς τῆς εἰς θεότητα μεταβολῆς, τήν φύσιν θεοποιήσει καί τοσοῦτον ἀναβιβάσει δι᾿ ἑαυτόν, ὅσον αὐτός διά τόν ἄνθρωπον ἑαυτόν κατεβίβασεν.

4. Θεωρία, δι᾿ ἧς ἐν Χριστῷ κατά περιγραφήν εἶναι δείκνυσιν ἀδιαστάτως, τήν ἀρχήν καί τό μέσον καί τό τέλος τῶν αἰώνων. Ὅς εἰς ἡμᾶς κατήντησεν ὡς αἰώνων τέλος διά σαρκώσεως, ἔχων φυσικῶς τό πλήρωμα τῆς πατρικῆς ἀγαθότητος, οὗπερ ἐν ἑαυτῷ κατά χάριν ἡμᾶς μετόχους κατέστησεν, πίστεως ἡμῖν θέμενος τήν ἐλπίδα βεβαίωσιν.

5. Ὁ τοῦ ποιεῖν λόγος ἐστίν ἡ φυσική πρός ἀρετῶν ἐνέργειαν δύναμις· ὁ δέ τοῦ πάσχειν λόγος ἐστίν ἡ χάρις τῶν ὑπέρ φύσιν ἤ σύμβασις τῶν παρά φύσιν. Ὡς γάρ τοῦ ὑπερόντος φυσικήν οὐκ ἔχομεν δύναμιν, οὕτως οὔτε τοῦ μή ὄντος ἔχομεν φύσει τήν δύναμιν. Πάσχομεν οὖν ὡς ὑπέρ φύσιν οὖσαν κατά χάριν, ἀλλ᾿ οὐ ποιοῦμεν τήν θέωσιν. Οὐ γάρ ἔχομεν δεκτικήν φύσει τῆς θεώσεως δύναμιν. Καὶ πάσχομεν πάλιν ὡς παρὰ φύσιν γνώμῃ κατά σύμβασιν τὴν κακίαν· οὐ 14Β_142 γάρ ἔχομεν πρός γένεσιν κακίας φυσικήν δύναμιν. Ποιοῦμεν οὖν ἐνταῦθα, φησίν, ὄντες, τάς ἀρετάς πρός τό ποιεῖν ταύτας ἔχοντες φύσει τήν δύναμιν· πάσχομεν δέ κατά τό μέλλον τήν θέωσιν, τήν πρός τό παθεῖν ταύτην κατά δωρεάν χάριν δεχόμενοι.

6. Τάς μέν ἀρετάς ποιοῦντες μετά τήνδε, φησί, παυόμεθα τήν ζωήν· τήν δέ κατά χάριν ὑπέρ αὐτῶν οὐ παυόμεθα πάσχοντες θέωσιν. Τὸ γὰρ ὑπέρ φύσιν πάθος, ἀόριστον, ὅτι καί δραστικόν· τό δέ παρά φύσιν, ἀνύπαρκτον, ὅτι καί ἀδρανές.

7. Τοῦ τε θυμοῦ καί τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ἐπιστατῶν ὁ λόγος, φησίν, ποιεῖ τάς ἀρετάς· ὁ δέ νοῦς τοῖς λόγοις ἐπιβάλλων τῶν γεγονότων τήν ἄπταιστον συλλέγεται γνῶσιν. Ὅταν οὖν ὁ λόγος μετά τήν τῶν ἀντικειμένων ἀποβολήν εὕρῃ τό κατά φύσιν ἐραστόν· καί ὁ νοῦς μετά τήν τῶν γινωσκομένων διάβασιν λάβηται τῆς ὑπέρ οὐσίαν καί γνῶσιν τῶν ὄντων αἰτίας, τηνικαῦτα τό τῆς θεώσεως κατά χάριν ἐπιγίνεται πάθος, τόν μέν λόγον ἀπάγον τῆς φυσικῆς διακρίσεως, ἔνθα τὸ διακρινόμενον οὐκ ἔστι· τόν δέ νοῦν καταπαῦον τῆς κατά φύσιν νοήσεως, ἔνθα μή