43

having ignored his own pleasant honor and being compared to senseless beasts, having shaken off the yoke of his Maker and disregarded His divine command, he will be liable to death and will be subjected to corruption and toil, dragging out a miserable life. For it was not profitable for him, being still untried and unproven, to obtain incorruptibility, lest he fall into pride and the condemnation of the devil. That one, because of his incorruptibility, after his fall by free choice, had an unrepentant and unchangeable fixity in evil, just as, on the other hand, the angels also, after their choice of virtue by free will, had an immovable establishment in good through grace. It was necessary, therefore, for man, having first been tested and perfected by the trial of keeping the commandment, thus to receive incorruptibility as a prize of virtue; for being made midway between God and matter, on the one hand, through keeping the commandment, after being released from his natural relation to existing things and united to God, he was destined to receive by habit an immovable fixity in the good, but on the other hand, through transgression, having been moved more towards matter and having torn his mind from his own Cause, I mean God, he was destined to be appropriated to corruption and to become passible instead of impassible, and mortal instead of immortal, and to be in need of intercourse and fluid generation, and in his desire for life to cling to pleasures as if they constituted it, and fearlessly to detest those providing for their deprivation, and to transfer his desire from God to matter, and his anger from the true enemy of his salvation to his own kind. By the envy of the devil, therefore, man was defeated; for the envious and beauty-hating demon, having himself been brought low through pride, could not bear that we should obtain the things above, whence also with the hope of divinity the liar baits the wretched one, and having led him up to his own height of pride, brings him down to a similar abyss of a fall. 45 Concerning the divine economy, and concerning His care for us, and our salvation. Therefore, man, having been baited by this assault of the primevally evil demon, and not having kept the commandment of the Creator, and having been stripped of grace, and having been divested of his confidence toward God, and covered with the harshness of a toilsome life (for this is the fig leaves), and clothed in deadness, that is, mortality and the thickness of the flesh (for this is the clothing of dead skins), and having been exiled from paradise according to the just judgment of God, and condemned to death, and subject to corruption—him the compassionate One did not overlook, He who gave being and graciously gave well-being, but having first instructed him by many means and called him to conversion through groaning and trembling, a flood of water and the all-but-total destruction of the whole race, the confusion and division of tongues, the oversight of angels, the burning of cities, typical theophanies, wars, victories, defeats, signs and wonders, and various powers, the Law, and the prophets, through which the object of earnest endeavor was the destruction of sin, which had been poured out in many forms and had enslaved man and had heaped up every form of wickedness in life, and the return of man to well-being. Since through sin death entered into the world like some fierce and untamed beast ravaging human life, and it was necessary for the one who was to redeem to be sinless and not liable to death through sin, and furthermore, for nature to be strengthened and renewed, and to be instructed and taught by deed the way of virtue that leads away from corruption and guides towards eternal life; finally, the great sea of His love for man is shown toward him; for the Creator and Lord Himself undertakes the struggle on behalf of His own creation and becomes a teacher by deed; and since the enemy baits man with the hope of divinity, he is baited by the screen of the flesh, and at the same time are shown the goodness and the wisdom, the justice and the power of God: His goodness, on the one hand, because He did not overlook the weakness of His own creation, but had compassion on it when it had fallen, and a hand

43

τερπνὰ τὴν οἰκείαν τιμὴν ἀγνοήσας καὶ τοῖς ἀνοήτοις παρεικασθεὶς κτήνεσι, τοῦ πεποιηκότος τὴν ζεύγλην ἀποσεισάμενος καὶ τὸ θεῖον αὐτοῦ παριδὼν ἐπίταγμα, θανάτῳ ἔσται ὑπεύθυνος καὶ φθορᾷ καὶ πόνῳ καθυποβληθήσεται τὸν ταλαίπωρον ἕλκων βίον. Οὐ γὰρ ἦν λυσιτελὲς ἀπείραστον ἔτι τυγχάνοντα καὶ ἀδόκιμον τῆς ἀφθαρσίας τυχεῖν, ἵνα μὴ εἰς τῦφον ἐμπέσῃ καὶ κρῖμα τοῦ διαβόλου. Ἐκεῖνος διὰ τὸ ἄφθαρτον μετὰ τὴν ἐκ προαιρέσεως ἔκπτωσιν τὴν ἐν τῷ κακῷ ἀμεταμέλητον ἔσχε καὶ ἄτρεπτον παγιότητα ὥσπερ αὖ πάλιν καὶ οἱ ἄγγελοι μετὰ τὴν ἐκ προαιρέσεως τῆς ἀρετῆς ἐκλογὴν τὴν ἐν τῷ καλῷ διὰ τῆς χάριτος ἀμετακίνητον ἵδρυσιν. Ἔδει τοίνυν πρότερον δοκιμασθέντα τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ τῇ πείρᾳ διὰ τῆς τηρήσεως τῆς ἐντολῆς τελειωθέντα οὕτω τὴν ἀφθαρσίαν ἀρετῆς κομίσασθαι ἔπαθλον· μέσος γὰρ θεοῦ καὶ ὕλης γενόμενος διὰ μὲν τῆς τηρήσεως τῆς ἐντολῆς μετὰ τὴν ἀπαλλαγὴν τῆς πρὸς τὰ ὄντα φυσικῆς σχέσεως ἑνωθεὶς τῷ θεῷ καθ' ἕξιν τὴν περὶ τὸ καλὸν παγιότητα λαμβάνειν ἀμετακίνητον ἔμελλε, διὰ δὲ τῆς παραβάσεως πρὸς τὴν ὕλην μᾶλλον κινηθεὶς καὶ τῆς αὐτοῦ αἰτίας, τοῦ θεοῦ φημι, ἀποσπάσας τὸν νοῦν τῇ φθορᾷ προσοικειοῦσθαι καὶ παθητὸς ἀντὶ ἀπαθοῦς καὶ θνητὸς ἀντὶ ἀθανάτου γίνεσθαι καὶ συνδυασμοῦ καὶ ῥευστῆς γεννήσεως ἐπιδέεσθαι καὶ τῇ ἐφέσει τῆς ζωῆς τῶν μὲν ἡδέων ὡς δῆθεν ταύτην συνιστώντων ἀντέχεσθαι, πρὸς δὲ τοὺς τούτων προμηθουμένους τὴν στέρησιν ἀδεῶς ἀπεχθάνεσθαι καὶ τὴν μὲν ἔφεσιν ἐκ θεοῦ πρὸς τὴν ὕλην, τὸν δὲ θυμὸν ἐκ τοῦ τῆς σωτηρίας ὄντως ἐχθροῦ μεταφέρειν πρὸς τὸ ὁμόφυλον. Φθόνῳ τοίνυν διαβόλου ἡττήθη ὁ ἄνθρωπος· οὐ γὰρ ἔφερεν ὁ φθονερὸς καὶ μισόκαλος δαίμων αὐτὸς διὰ τὴν ἔπαρσιν κάτω γενόμενος ἡμᾶς τῶν ἄνω τυχεῖν, ὅθεν καὶ θεότητος ἐλπίδι ὁ ψεύστης δελεάζει τὸν ἄθλιον καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἴδιον τῆς ἐπάρσεως ὕψος ἀναγαγὼν πρὸς τὸ ὅμοιον καταφέρει τῆς πτώσεως βάραθρον. 45 Περὶ τῆς θείας οἰκονομίας καὶ περὶ τῆς δι' ἡμᾶς κηδεμονίας καὶ τῆς ἡμῶν σωτηρίασ Ταύτῃ τοίνυν τῇ προσβολῇ τοῦ ἀρχεκάκου δαίμονος δελεασθέντα τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ τὴν τοῦ δημιουργοῦ ἐντολὴν οὐ φυλάξαντα καὶ γυμνωθέντα τῆς χάριτος καὶ τὴν πρὸς θεὸν παρρησίαν ἀπεκδυσάμενον καὶ σκεπασθέντα τῇ τοῦ μοχθηροῦ βίου τραχύτητι (τοῦτο γὰρ τὰ φύλλα τῆς συκῆς) καὶ περιβληθέντα τὴν νέκρωσιν ἤτοι τὴν θνητότητα καὶ παχύτητα τῆς σαρκός (τοῦτο γὰρ ἡ τῶν νεκρῶν δερμάτων ἀμφίασις) καὶ τοῦ παραδείσου κατὰ τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ δικαιοκρισίαν γεγονότα ἐξόριστον καὶ θανάτῳ κατάκριτον καὶ φθορᾷ ὑποχείριον οὐ παρεῖδεν ὁ συμπαθὴς ὁ τὸ εἶναι δοὺς καὶ τὸ εὖ εἶναι χαρισάμενος, ἀλλὰ πολλοῖς πρότερον παιδαγωγή σας καὶ πρὸς ἐπιστροφὴν καλέσας στόνῳ καὶ τρόμῳ, ὕδατος κατακλυσμῷ καὶ παντὸς τοῦ γένους μικροῦ δεῖν πανωλεθρίᾳ, συγχύσει καὶ διαιρέσει γλωσσῶν, ἀγγέλων ἐπιστασίᾳ, πόλεων ἐμπρησμῷ, τυπικαῖς θεοφανείαις, πολέμοις, νίκαις, ἥτταις, σημείοις καὶ τέρασι καὶ ποικίλαις δυνάμεσι, νόμῳ, προφήταις, δι' ὧν τὸ σπουδαζόμενον ἦν ἡ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀναίρεσις πολυσχεδῶς χεθείσης καὶ καταδουλωσαμένης τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ πᾶν εἶδος κακίας ἐπισωρευσάσης τῷ βίῳ καὶ ἡ πρὸς τὸ εὖ εἶναι τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐπάνοδος. Ἐπειδὴ δι' ἁμαρτίας ὁ θάνατος εἰς τὸν κόσμον εἰσῆλθεν ὥσπερ τι θηρίον ἄγριον καὶ ἀνήμερον τὸν ἀνθρώπινον λυμαινόμενος βίον, ἔδει δὲ τὸν λυτροῦσθαι μέλλοντα ἀναμάρτητον εἶναι καὶ μὴ τῷ θανάτῳ διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὑπεύθυνον, ἔτι δὲ νευρωθῆναι καὶ ἀνακαινισθῆναι τὴν φύσιν καὶ ἔργῳ παιδαγωγηθῆναι καὶ διδαχθῆναι ἀρετῆς ὁδὸν τῆς μὲν φθορᾶς ἀπάγουσαν, πρὸς δὲ τὴν ζωὴν ποδηγοῦσαν τὴν αἰώνιον· τέλος τὸ μέγα περὶ αὐτὸν τῆς φιλανθρωπίας ἐνδείκνυται πέλαγος· αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ δημιουργός τε καὶ κύριος τὴν ὑπὲρ τοῦ οἰκείου πλάσματος ἀναδέχεται πάλην καὶ ἔργῳ διδάσκαλος γίνεται· καὶ ἐπειδὴ θεότητος ἐλπίδι ὁ ἐχθρὸς δελεάζει τὸν ἄνθρωπον, σαρκὸς προβλήματι δελεάζεται καὶ δείκνυται ἅμα τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ τὸ σοφόν, τὸ δίκαιόν τε καὶ τὸ δυνατὸν τοῦ θεοῦ· τὸ μὲν ἀγαθόν, ὅτι οὐ παρεῖδε τοῦ οἰκείου πλάσματος τὴν ἀσθένειαν, ἀλλ' ἐσπλαγχνίσθη ἐπ' αὐτῷ πεσόντι καὶ χεῖρα