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he indicated, beginning from the things below and leading the thought up by degrees toward the things on high. 8.13.1 You are the Christ. This is a declaration of the economy and an explanation of the incarnate theophany. For this is not a name of the pre-eternal Word, but a message of the grace of those who are anointed. Therefore our Lord, having deigned to become man in every way and all other things that revolve around the flesh, also deigns to be called Christ as one anointed to be king, not with the oil of the horn like Samuel and David and the men who followed, but by the working of the Spirit, according to which the Lord's human nature—for so many are fond of calling Jesus—was wonderfully and paradoxically conceived in the virgin's womb. 8.13.2 But having confessed Jesus who became man for our sake, he did not stop his discourse at this point, but ascending to heaven through the spiritual ladder of Jacob and coming to be in the contemplation of God the Word who was in the beginning, he adds to him the extraordinary and true dignity, calling him Son of the living God. And precisely so and not otherwise; he himself, having confessed the straight and unperverted rule of faith and having handed down to all of us the account of piety as an inviolable law, did not depart without reward nor without honor; but having been called blessed by the one who is truly blessed, he is called the rock of faith and the foundation and groundwork of the church according to Christ. 8.13.3 And he receives through the promise the keys of the kingdom and becomes lord of its gates, so as to open them for whom he wishes and to close them for whom it may be just, but in every case to the profane and unholy and to those who deny that confession on account of which he himself, as an exact guardian of good things, was appointed to oversee the entrances of the kingdom. 8.14.1 O the gloom and the mist, which has been poured so thickly before human eyes, on account of which heretics do not see the tracks of the fathers nor are they able to walk that path, which the feet of the apostles have worn. For behold Peter, the genuine disciple of Christ by election, who everywhere received the first vote both of honors and of achievements, that very great one, whose fame has filled the whole world, 8.14.2 having been ordered to say how he thinks about our God and Savior, did not begin from some long reflection nor, encompassing a circle of reasonings and matters, did he reply to the question as the clever sophists and technologists of the faith are now accustomed to do, but in simplicity of heart he set forth the truth concisely, not distinguishing the unbegotten from the begotten, not splitting hairs pugnaciously about 'like' and 'unlike,' nor meddling in the distinction of that which is beyond all substance, nor measuring the immeasurable divinity with reasonings, such as indeed are the trifles of Arius and the attempts of Eunomius. 8.14.3 Let us therefore emulate, O Christians—whose distinguishing mark is faith, not much-speaking—the fisherman, the one without vain curiosity, the old man from Bethsaida, the first catch of Christ. Let us make it our practice to say: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, but to leave things beyond these to the word-wranglers, whose work is strife and whose end is destruction. 8.15.1 Do then the wonders of the apostle stop with what has been said? Or quite the contrary, we seem not even to have begun, if one were to measure what remains by what has been said. But I, leaving the many things to your knowledge—for you know Peter and his deeds, even if no one undertakes to praise the man—wish to say a few things about his repose and how he migrated from the earth to heaven, so that I may cease speaking there where he also ceased his life. 8.15.2 Our Savior, therefore, when he was about to approach his voluntary death, as a kind of special deposit entrusts the universal and ecumenical church to this man, having asked him for a third time, "Do you love me?" And when to the questions he very eagerly set forth an equal number of confessions, he received the world into his care as

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παρεδήλωσεν, ἀρξάμενος ἀπὸ τῶν κάτω καὶ πρὸς τὰ ὑψηλὰ κατὰ μέρος ἀναγαγὼν τὴν διάνοιαν. 8.13.1 Σὺ εἶ ὁ Χριστός. Τοῦτο τῆς οἰκονομίας δήλωσις καὶ τῆς ἐνσάρκου θεοφανείας ἐξήγησις. Τοῦτο γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν ὄνομα τοῦ προαιω νίου Λόγου, ἀλλὰ τῆς τῶν χριομένων χάριτος μήνυμα. ∆ιὸ καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἡμῶν καταδεξάμενος ὅλως τὸ ἄνθρωπος γενέσθαι καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα ὅσα στρέφεται περὶ τὴν σάρκα, συγκαταδέχεται καὶ καλεῖται Χριστὸς ὡς χρισθεὶς εἰς βασιλέα, οὐ τῷ ἐλαίῳ τοῦ κέρατος ὡς Σαμουὴλ καὶ ∆αβὶδ καὶ οἱ καθεξῆς ἄνθρωποι, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἐνεργείᾳ τοῦ Πνεύματος, καθ' ἣν καὶ ὁ Κυριακὸς ἄνθρωποςοὕτω γὰρ τοῖς πολλοῖς φίλον προσαγορεύειν τὸν Ἰησοῦν θαυμαστῶς ἐκυήθη καὶ παραδόξως ἐν τῇ γαστρὶ τῆς παρθένου. 8.13.2 Ὁμολογήσας δὲ τὸν Ἰησοῦν τὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν γενόμενον ἄνθρωπον οὐκ ἔστησε μέχρι τούτου τὸν λόγον, ἀλλὰ διὰ τῆς κλίμακος τοῦ Ἰακὼβ τῆς νοητῆς πρὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀναβὰς καὶ γενόμενος ἐν θεωρίᾳ τοῦ ἐν ἀρχῇ Θεοῦ Λόγου, προστίθησιν αὐτῷ τὸ ἐξαίρετον καὶ ἀληθινὸν ἀξίωμα υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ προσαγορεύσας τοῦ ζῶντος. Ἀκριβῶς δὲ οὕτως καὶ [ὡς] οὐχ ἑτέρως· αὐτός τε ὁμολογήσας τὸν εὐθὺν καὶ ἀδιάστροφον κανόνα τῆς πίστεως καὶ πᾶσιν ἡμῖν παραδοὺς τὸν τῆς εὐσεβείας λόγον ἀπαράβατον νόμον οὐκ ἄμισθος ἀπῆλθεν οὐδὲ ἀγέραστος· μακάριος δὲ ὀνο μασθεὶς παρὰ τοῦ ὄντως μακαρίου, πέτρα καλεῖται τῆς πίστεως καὶ θεμέλιος καὶ ὑποβάθρα τῆς κατὰ Χριστὸν ἐκκλησίας. 8.13.3 Λαμβάνει δὲ διὰ τῆς ὑποσχέσεως τῆς βασιλείας τὰς κλεῖς καὶ κύριος γίνεται τῶν ἐκείνης πυλῶν, ὥστε αὐτὰς ὑπανοίγειν οἷς ἂν ἐθέλοι καὶ κλείειν οἷς ἂν δίκαιον ᾖ, πάντως δὲ τοῖς βεβήλοις καὶ ἀνιέροις καὶ τοῖς ἀρνουμένοις τὴν ὁμολο γίαν ἐκείνην δι' ἣν αὐτὸς ὡς ἀκριβὴς τῶν ἀγαθῶν φύλαξ ἐπιστατεῖν ταῖς εἰσόδοις τῆς βασιλείας ἐτάχθη. 8.14.1 Ὢ τοῦ ζόφου καὶ τῆς ἀχλύος, ἣ πολλὴ κέχυται πρὸ τῶν ἀνθρω πικῶν ὀφθαλμῶν, δι' ἣν οὐ βλέπουσιν αἱρετικοὶ τῶν πατέρων τὰ ἴχνη οὐδὲ βαδίζειν ἐκείνην δύνανται, ἣν ἔτριψαν τῶν ἀποστόλων οἱ πόδες. Ἰδοὺ γὰρ Πέτρος ὁ κατ' ἐκλογὴν γνήσιος τοῦ Χριστοῦ μαθητής, ὁ πανταχοῦ τὴν πρώτην ψῆφον καὶ τῶν τιμῶν καὶ τῶν κατορθωμάτων δεξάμενος, ὁ μέγας ἐκεῖνος ὁ πάνυ, οὗ τὸ κλέος πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην ἐπλήρωσεν, 8.14.2 κελευσθεὶς εἰπεῖν ὅπως δοξάζει περὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν, οὐκ ἀπὸ μακρᾶς τινος ἤρξατο περινοίας οὐδὲ κύκλον συλλογισμῶν καὶ πραγμάτων περιβαλόμενος ἀπεκρίνατο πρὸς τὴν πεῦσιν ὥσπερ δὴ νῦν ποιεῖν εἰώθασιν οἱ δεινοὶ σοφισταὶ καὶ τεχνολόγοι τῆς πίστεως, ἀλλ' ἐν ἁπλότητι καρδίας σύντομον ἐξέθετο τὴν ἀλήθειαν, οὐ τὸν ἀγέννητον διαστείλας τῷ γεννητῷ, οὐ τὰ περὶ ὁμοίου καὶ ἀνομοίου λεπτολογήσας ἐμπλήκτως, οὐδὲ τῶν ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν οὐσίαν πολυπραγμονήσας διαφοράν, οὐδὲ τὴν ἀμέτρητον θεότητα μετρήσας συλλογισμοῖς οἷον δὴ τὰ Ἀρείου παίγνια καὶ τοῦ Εὐνομίου παρεγχειρήματα. 8.14.3 Ζηλώσωμεν τοίνυν, ὦ χριστιανοίὧν πίστις, οὐ πολυλογία τὸ γνώρισματὸν ἁλιέα, τὸν ἀπερίεργον, τὸν ἐκ Βεθσαϊδὰ γέροντα, τὸ πρῶτον θήρευμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ. Μελετήσωμεν λέγειν· Σὺ εἶ ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος, τὰ δὲ πλείονα τούτων ἀφιέναι τοῖς λογομάχοις, ὧν ἔρις τὸ ἔργον καὶ τὸ τέλος ἀπώλεια. 8.15.1 Ἆρ' οὖν μέχρι τῶν λεχθέντων ἵσταται τοῦ ἀποστόλου τὰ θαύματα; ἢ πᾶν τοὐναντίον οὐδὲ ἦρχθαι δοκοῦμεν, εἴ τις τοῖς εἰρημένοις παραμε τροίη τὰ λείποντα. Ἀλλ' ἐγὼ τὰ πολλὰ τῇ ὑμετέρᾳ γνώσει καταλιπών ἴστε γὰρ τὸν Πέτρον καὶ τὰ ἐκείνου, κἂν μηδεὶς ἐπαινεῖν τὸν ἄνδρα προέληταιμικρὰ περὶ τῆς ἀναπαύσεως αὐτοῦ εἰπεῖν βούλομαι καὶ ὅπως ἐκ τῆς γῆς εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν μετῴκησεν, ἵν' ἐκεῖ τοῦ λέγειν παύσωμαι ἔνθα κἀκεῖνος τὸν βίον. 8.15.2 Ὁ μὲν οὖν Σωτὴρ ἡμῶν ἡνίκα ἔμελλεν ἐγγίζειν τῷ αὐθαιρέτῳ θανάτῳ, ὥσπερ τινὰ παρακαταθήκην ἐξαίρετον τὴν καθόλου καὶ οἰκουμενικὴν ἐκκλησίαν τούτῳ τῷ ἀνδρὶ παρατίθεται τρίτον αὐτοῦ πυθόμενος τὸ Φιλεῖς με; Ὡς δὲ ταῖς ἐρωτήσεσι μάλα προθύμως ἰσαρίθμους τὰς ὁμολογίας ἐξέθετο, ἔλαβεν τὸν κοσμὸν εἰς ἐπιμέλειαν ὡς