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the only true God." And again: "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." And the divine Apostle says thus: "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen." And again: "One God, one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." And again: "One God the Father, of whom are all things." And it is possible to find very many other passages of the Old and of the New, showing the agreement, and proclaiming the one God. And that He is invisible, both the Old teaches, and the New. For in the Old He says to Moses: "No one shall see my face, and live;" but in the holy Gospels the Lord said: "Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father." This indeed the divine evangelist also proclaims: "No man hath seen God at any time." And he shows whence he learned it; for he adds: "The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." The Apostle also proclaims: "To the immortal, only wise God be glory and honour for ever and ever. Amen." And again: "Whom no man hath seen, nor can see." And His infinity and incomprehensibility we have been taught again both from the Old and from the New. And in the Old, God says: "Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord." And again: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?" But the most divine David proclaims, that "In his hand are the ends of the earth." And he called the activity of the providential power a hand; and he showed not that He Himself is circumscribed in all things, but that all things depend on His providence. In another psalm he says to Him: "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? 83.445 and from thy presence whither shall I flee? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: and if I go down into hell, thou art present: If I take my wings in the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." These things show His incomprehensibility, both of substance and of power. And the prophet Isaiah proclaims: "He that holdeth the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof as grasshoppers." And again, refuting the weakness of idols, he brought us this teaching about the God of all: "For who, he says, has measured the water in his hand, and the heaven with a span? Who hath set the mountains in a balance, and the valleys in a scale? Who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been His counsellor, that might instruct Him? or who hath shewed him judgment, or who hath shewed him the way of understanding?" Then, as was possible for a human mind and a tongue of clay, he shows the infinity of His power. "For if, he says, all the nations are as a drop from a bucket, and as the turn of a balance, and were considered and will be reckoned as spittle, to whom will ye liken the Lord, or with what likeness will ye compare him?" But if heaven and earth and the nature of waters contain all created nature, and the measure of all these things is the measure of the divine hand, let those who attempt to measure God with the tongue consider the infinity of that nature; understanding "hand" not as the bodily member, but the energy that fashions and governs all things. These things, therefore, the Old Scripture teaches concerning the God of all; and one might find other things similar to what has been said, teaching the incomprehensibility both of the substance, and of the wisdom, and of the divine power. And in the holy Gospels the Lord taught the Samaritan woman to think similar things. For when she supposed the Divine to be circumscribed by place, and for this reason had said: "Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought

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μόνον ἀληθινὸν Θεόν." Καὶ πάλιν· "Ἐξομολογοῦμαί σοι, Πάτερ, Κύριε τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ τῆς γῆς, ὅτι ἀπέκρυ ψας ταῦτα ἀπὸ τῶν σοφῶν καὶ συνετῶν, καὶ ἀπεκά λυψας αὐτὰ νηπίοις." Καὶ ὁ θεῖος δὲ Ἀπόστολος οὕτω λέγει· "Τῷ δὲ βασιλεῖ τῶν αἰώνων ἀφθάρτῳ, μόνῳ Θεῷ, τιμὴ καὶ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν." Καὶ πάλιν· "Εἷς Θεὸς, εἷς μεσί της Θεοῦ καὶ ἀνθρώπων, ἄνθρωπος Χριστὸς Ἰησοῦς." Καὶ αὖθις· "Εἷς Θεὸς Πατὴρ, ἐξ οὗ τὰ πάντα." Καὶ ἑτέρας δὲ παμπόλλας χρήσεις ἔστιν εὑρεῖν τῆς Παλαιᾶς καὶ τῆς Καινῆς, δεικνύσας τὴν συμφωνίαν, καὶ τὸν ἕνα κηρυττούσας Θεόν. Καὶ ἀόρατον δὲ εἶναι αὐτὸν, καὶ ἡ Παλαιὰ διδάσκει, καὶ ἡ Καινή. Ἐν μὲν γὰρ τῇ Παλαιᾷ πρὸς τὸν Μωϋσέα φησίν· "Οὐδεὶς ὄψεται τὸ πρόσωπόν μου, καὶ ζή σεται·" ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἱεροῖς Εὐαγγελίοις ὁ Κύριος ἔφη· "Οὐχ ὅτι τὸν Πατέρα τις ἑώρακεν, εἰ μὴ ὁ ὢν ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ, οὗτος ἑώρακε τὸν Πατέρα." Τοῦτό τοι καὶ ὁ θεσπέσιος εὐαγγελιστὴς βοᾷ· "Θεὸν οὐδεὶς ἑώρακε πώποτε." ∆είκνυσι δὲ καὶ πόθεν με μάθηκεν· ἐπάγει γάρ· "Ὁ μονογενὴς Υἱὸς, ὁ ὢν εἰς τὸν κόλπον τοῦ Πατρὸς, ἐκεῖνος ἐξηγήσατο." Βοᾷ δὲ καὶ ὁ Ἀπόστολος· "Ἀφθάρτῳ, μόνῳ σοφῷ Θεῷ δόξα καὶ τιμὴ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν." Καὶ πάλιν· "Ὃν εἶδεν οὐδεὶς ἀνθρώπων, οὔτε ἰδεῖν δυνήσεται." Καὶ τὸ ἄπειρον δὲ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀπερίγραφον πάλιν καὶ ἐκ τῆς Παλαιᾶς καὶ ἐκ τῆς Καινῆς ἐδιδάχθημεν. Καὶ ἐν μὲν τῇ Παλαιᾷ φησιν ὁ Θεός· "Μὴ οὐχὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν ἐγὼ πληρῶ; λέγει Κύριος." Καὶ πάλιν· "Ὁ οὐρανός μοι θρόνος, ἡ δὲ γῆ ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν μου· ποῖον οἶκον οἰκοδομήσετέ μοι, λέγει Κύριος, ἢ τίς τόπος τῆς καταπαύσεώς μού ἐστιν;" Ὁ δὲ θειότατος ∆α βὶδ βοᾷ, ὅτι "Ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς." Καὶ χεῖρα μὲν κέκληκε, τῆς οἰκονομικῆς δυ νάμεως τὴν ἐνέργειαν· ἔδειξε δὲ οὐκ αὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς πᾶσι περιγεγραμμένον, ἀλλὰ πάντα τῆς αὐτοῦ προ μηθείας ἐξηρτημένα. Ἐν ἄλλῃ δὲ ὑμνῳδίᾳ πρὸς αὐτόν φησι· "Ποῦ πορευθῶ ἀπὸ τοῦ πνεύματός σου; 83.445 καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ προσώπου σου ποῦ φύγω; Ἐὰν ἀναβῶ εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, σὺ ἐκεῖ εἶ· καὶ ἐὰν καταβῶ εἰς τὸν ᾅδην, πάρει· ἐὰν ἀναλάβοιμι τὰς πτέρυγάς μου κατ' ὄρθρον, καὶ κατασκηνώσω εἰς τὰ ἔσχατα τῆς θαλάσσης· καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖ ἡ χείρ σου ὁδηγήσει με, καὶ καθέξει με ἡ δεξιά σου." Ταῦτα δὲ τὸ ἀπε ρίγραφον αὐτοῦ καὶ τῆς οὐσίας καὶ τῆς δυνάμεως δείκνυσι. Καὶ ὁ προφήτης δὲ Ἡσαΐας βοᾷ· "Ὁ κατέχων τὸν γῦρον τῆς γῆς, καὶ τοὺς ἐνοικοῦντας ἐν αὐτῇ ὡσεὶ ἀκρίδας." Καὶ πάλιν, τὴν τῶν εἰδώλων διελέγχων ἀσθένειαν, ταύτην ἡμῖν περὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων τὴν διδασκαλίαν προσήνεγκε· "Τίς γὰρ, φησὶν, ἐμέτρησε τῇ χειρὶ αὑτοῦ τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν σπιθαμῇ; Τίς ἔστησε τὰ ὄρη στα θμῷ, καὶ τὰς νάπας ζυγῷ; Τίς ἔγνω νοῦν Κυρίου, καὶ τίς σύμβουλος αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, ὃς συμβιβάσει αὐτόν; ἢ τίς ἔδειξεν αὐτῷ κρίσιν, ἢ ὁδὸν συν έσεως τίς ἔδειξεν αὐτῷ;" Εἶτα ὡς ἐνῆν ἀνθρωπίνῃ διανοίᾳ καὶ γλώττῃ πηλίνῃ, τὸ ἄπειρον δείκνυσι τῆς δυνάμεως. "Εἰ πάντα γὰρ, φησὶ, τὰ ἔθνη ὡς στα γὼν ἀπὸ κάδου, καὶ ὡς ῥοπὴ ζυγοῦ, καὶ ὡς σίελος ἐνομίσθησαν καὶ λογισθήσονται, τίνι ὁμοιώσετε Κύριον, ἢ τίνι ὁμοιώματι ὁμοιώσετε αὐ τόν;" Εἰ δὲ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ καὶ τῶν ὑδάτων ἡ φύσις πάσης φύσεως κτιστῆς περιεκτικὰ, τούτων δὲ πάντων μέτρον τῆς θείας χειρὸς τὸ μέτρον, σκοπη σάτωσαν οἱ τὸν Θεὸν τῇ γλώττῃ μετρεῖν ἐπιχειροῦν τες τῆς φύσεως ἐκείνης τὸ ἄπειρον· χεῖρα νοοῦντες, οὐ τὸ τοῦ σώματος μόριον, ἀλλὰ τὴν πάντα τεκτη ναμένην καὶ κυβερνῶσαν ἐνέργειαν. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν περὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων ἡ Παλαιὰ διδάσκει Γραφή· εὕροι δ' ἄν τις ἕτερα παραπλήσια τῶν εἰρημένων, τὸ ἀπερίγραφον καὶ τῆς οὐσίας, καὶ τῆς σοφίας, καὶ τῆς δυνάμεως τῆς θείας διδάσκοντα. Ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἱε ροῖς Εὐαγγελίοις τὰ παραπλήσια φρονεῖν ὁ Κύριος τὴν Σαμαρεῖτιν ἐδίδαξεν. Ἐκείνης γὰρ τοπαζούσης τόπῳ περιγεγράφθαι τὸ Θεῖον, καὶ τούτου χάριν εἰρηκυίας· "Οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν ἐν τῷ ὄρει τούτῳ προσεκύνησαν, ὑμεῖς δὲ λέγετε ὅτι ἐν Ἱεροσο λύμοις δεῖ