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That neither he, nor anyone else, saw the divinity, is clear from what they report. For, he says, I saw the Lord sitting. But God does not sit; for this posture belongs to bodies. And not simply sitting, but upon a throne. But God is not contained, <nor is he encompassed>; for how could he be, who is present everywhere and fills all things, in whose hand are the ends of the earth? Whence it is clear that what was seen was a condescension. Thus, indeed, another prophet, speaking enigmatically from the person of God, said: I have multiplied visions, that is, I appeared in different ways. If the bare substance itself appeared, it would not have appeared in different ways; but since, condescending, he showed himself to the prophets now in this manner, now in that, forming the visions suitably to the underlying times, for this reason he says: I have multiplied visions and by the hand of prophets I was likened. Not as I was, did I appear, he says, but I was likened to what those who were seeing were able to see. You see him, then, now sitting, now armed, now having grey hair, now in a breeze, now in fire, now appearing from behind, now upon the Cherubim, and the vision being represented by the brightness of the most transparent metallic substances. For what reason, then, he appears now armed and bloodstained, now in fire, now showing his back, now in heaven, now on a throne, now upon the Cherubim, would not be for the present time to say, lest the secondary matter become greater than the main work. For now, however, it is necessary to discourse on the present vision. For what reason, then, does he appear thus now, sitting on a throne and with the Seraphim? He imitates a human custom, since his discourse was also to human beings. For since he is about to issue a decree concerning the greatest matters and the whole world, and moreover also concerning Jerusalem, and he casts a double vote, one bringing punishment to the city and to the whole nation, the other bringing benefaction to the world and promising great hopes and immortal honors. It is the custom for judges to do these things not in secret, but sitting on a high tribunal, with everyone standing by and the curtains drawn back [to do this].

6.2 Imitating these, he himself set the Seraphim beside him and sits on a high throne and thus issues this decree. And that you may learn that the matter is not a suspicion, but that this is a custom for him, I will also try to make this clear from another prophet. For also in the case of Daniel, since there too he was about to issue a great decree concerning punishments and chastisements of the Jews and of the good things that were to be given to the world, there too a throne appears, bright and conspicuous, and a company of angels standing by, and nations of archangels, and the Only-Begotten sitting with them, and books are opened, and rivers of fire are drawn, and from all sides the form of a tribunal is constituted. And those things are all akin to what is said here, or he reports them even more clearly, since the times were becoming nearer and the prophecy was finally arriving at the very gates. But leaving these things for the diligent to collect and compare and to understand the fellowship of each prophecy, as I said, let us take up the matter at hand with precision, explaining each saying as may be possible. For thus what has been said will be clearer both to us and to you. What then does he say? I saw the Lord sitting. To sit upon a throne is always a symbol of judgment, just as David says: You sat on a throne, judging righteousness; and Daniel: Thrones were set, and the court sat. But the prophet says that to sit simply is a symbol of another thing. Of what indeed? Of the fixed, the abiding, the established, the unchangeable, the unending, of infinite life. For this reason he says: You sit forever, and we are perishing forever. You, he says, remaining, being, living, always being the same. For that he was not speaking about a seat, the contrast made clear. For he did not say, we standing

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εἶδε τὴν θεότητα, οὔτε αὐτός, οὔτε ἄλλος οὐδείς, ἀπ' αὐτῶν ὧν ἀπαγγέλλουσιν εὔδηλον. Εἶδον γάρ, φησί, τὸν Κύριον καθήμενον. Θεὸς δὲ οὐ κάθηται· σωμάτων γὰρ ὁ σχηματισμός. Καὶ οὐχ ἁπλῶς· Καθήμενον, ἀλλ' Ἐπὶ θρόνου. Θεὸς δὲ οὐ περιέχεται, <οὐδὲ ἐμπεριείληπται>· πῶς γάρ, ὁ πανταχοῦ παρὼν καὶ τὰ πάντα πληρῶν, οὗ ἐν τῇ χειρὶ τὰ πέρατα τῆς γῆς; Ὅθεν δῆλον ὅτι συγκατάβασις ἦν τὸ ὁρώμενον. Οὕτω γοῦν ἕτερος προφήτης αἰνιττόμενος ἔλεγεν ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Θεοῦ· Ἐγὼ ὁράσεις ἐπλήθυνα, τουτέστι, διαφόρως ὤφθην. Εἰ δὲ αὐτὴ ἡ οὐσία γυμνὴ ἐφαίνετο, οὐκ ἂν διαφόρως ἐφάνη· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ συγκαταβαίνων, νῦν μὲν τούτῳ τῷ τρόπῳ, νῦν δὲ ἐκείνῳ τοῖς προφήταις ἑαυτὸν ἐδείκνυ, καταλλήλως τοῖς ὑποκειμένοις καιροῖς σχηματίζων τὰς ὄψεις, διὰ τοῦτό φησιν· Ὁράσεις ἐπλήθυνα καὶ ἐν χερσὶ προφητῶν ὡμοιώθην. Οὐχ ὥσπερ ἤμην, ἐφάνην, φησίν, ἀλλ' ὡμοιώθην πρὸς ὅπερ ἰδεῖν ἠδύναντο οἱ θεωροῦντες. Ὁρᾷς γοῦν αὐτὸν νῦν μὲν καθήμενον, νῦν δὲ ὡπλισμένον, νῦν δὲ τρίχα πολιὰν ἔχοντα, νῦν δὲ ἐν αὔρᾳ, νῦν δὲ ἐν πυρί, νῦν δὲ ἐκ τῶν ὀπισθίων φαινόμενον, νῦν δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν Χερουβίμ, καὶ πρὸς μεταλλικῶν ὑλῶν λαμπρότητα τῶν διαφανεστάτων τὴν ὄψιν ἐξεικονιζόμενον. Τίνος μὲν οὖν ἕνεκεν νῦν μὲν ὡπλισμένος φαίνεται καὶ ᾑμαγμένος, νῦν δὲ ἐν πυρί, νῦν δὲ τὰ ὀπίσθια δεικνύς, νῦν δὲ ἐν οὐρανῷ, νῦν δὲ ἐν θρόνῳ, νῦν δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν Χερουβὶμ οὐ τοῦ παρόντος ἂν εἴη λέγειν καιροῦ, ὥστε μὴ τὸ πάρεργον τοῦ ἔργου γενέσθαι μεῖζον. Τέως δὲ ἀναγκαῖον ὑπὲρ τῆς παρούσης ὄψεως διαλεχθῆναι. Τίνος οὖν ἕνεκεν οὕτω φαίνεται νῦν ἐπὶ θρόνου καθήμενος καὶ μετὰ τῶν Σεραφίμ; Ἀνθρώπινον ἔθος μιμεῖται, ἐπειδὴ καὶ πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ἦν ὁ λόγος αὐτῷ. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἀπόφασιν ἐκφέρειν μέλλει ὑπὲρ μεγίστων πραγμάτων καὶ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἁπάσης, ἔτι μὴν καὶ περὶ τῶν Ἱεροσολύμων καὶ διπλῆν τίθησι ψῆφον, τὴν μὲν κόλασιν τῇ πόλει φέρουσαν καὶ τῷ ἔθνει παντί, τὴν δὲ εὐεργεσίαν τῇ οἰκουμένῃ καὶ μεγάλας ἐπαγγελλομένην ἐλπίδας καὶ τιμὰς ἀθανάτους. Ἔθος δὲ τοῖς δικάζουσι ταῦτα ποιεῖν μὴ λάθρα, ἀλλ' ἐφ' ὑψηλοῦ τοῦ βήματος καθημένοις, παρεστώτων ἁπάντων καὶ τῶν παραπετασμάτων συνελκομένων [τοῦτο ποιεῖν].

6.2 Τούτους καὶ αὐτὸς μιμούμενος παρέστησεν αὑτῷ τὰ Σεραφὶμ καὶ ἐφ' ὑψηλοῦ κάθηται θρόνου καὶ οὕτω τὴν ἀπόφασιν ταύτην ἐκφέρει. Καὶ ἵνα μάθῃς ὅτι οὐχ ὑποψία τὸ πρᾶγμα, ἀλλὰ τοῦτο ἔθος αὐτῷ, καὶ ἐξ ἑτέρου προφήτου τοῦτο πειράσομαι ποιῆσαι φανερόν. Καὶ γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῦ ∆ανιήλ, ἐπειδὴ καὶ ἐκεῖ ψῆφόν τινα μεγάλην ἐκφέρειν ἔμελλε περὶ κολάσεων καὶ τιμωριῶν Ἰουδαϊκῶν καὶ τῶν ἀγαθῶν τῶν μελλόντων τῇ οἰκουμένῃ δίδοσθαι, κἀκεῖ θρόνος φαίνεται λαμπρὸς καὶ περιφανὴς καὶ δῆμος ἀγγέλων παρεστηκώς, καὶ ἔθνη ἀρχαγγέλων καὶ ὁ Μονογενὴς συγκαθήμενος καὶ βίβλοι ἀνοίγονται καὶ ποταμοὶ πυρὸς ἕλκονται καὶ πάντοθεν σχῆμα δικαστηρίου συνίσταται. Καὶ ἔστι κἀκεῖνα συγγενῆ τοῖς ἐνταῦθα λεγομένοις ἅπαντα ἢ καὶ σαφέστερον ἐκεῖνος αὐτὰ ἀπαγγέλλει, ἅτε τῶν χρόνων ἐγγύτερον γινομένων καὶ πρὸς αὐτὰς λοιπὸν τὰς θύρας τῆς προφητείας ἀφικνουμένης. Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα τοῖς φιλοπόνοις ἀφέντες συναγαγεῖν καὶ παρατιθέναι καὶ τὴν ἑκατέρας τῆς προφητείας κοινωνίαν καταμανθάνειν, ὅπερ ἔφην, τῆς προκειμένης ἡμεῖς ἁψώμεθα μετὰ ἀκριβείας, ὡς ἂν οἷόν τε ᾖ ῥῆσιν ἑκάστην ἐξηγούμενοι. Οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ἡμῖν καὶ ὑμῖν σαφέστερα ἔσται τὰ εἰρημένα. Τί οὖν φησιν; Εἶδον τὸν Κύριον καθήμενον. Τὸ καθῆσθαι ἐπὶ θρόνου σύμβολον ἀεὶ κρίσεώς ἐστιν, ὥσπερ ὁ ∆αυΐδ φησιν· Ἐκάθισας ἐπὶ θρόνου ὁ κρίνων δικαιοσύνην· καὶ ὁ ∆ανιήλ· Θρόνοι ἐτέθησαν καὶ κριτήριον ἐκάθισε. Τὸ δὲ ἁπλῶς καθῆσθαι ἑτέρου σύμβολον εἶναί φησιν ὁ προφήτης. Τίνος δὴ τούτου; Τοῦ παγίου, τοῦ μονίμου, τοῦ βεβηκότος, τοῦ ἀτρέπτου, τοῦ ἀτελευτήτου, τῆς ζωῆς τῆς ἀπεράντου. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό φησι· Σὺ καθήμενος εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα καὶ ἡμεῖς ἀπολλύμενοι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. Σύ, φησί, μένων, ὤν, ζῶν, ἀεὶ ὡσαύτως ὤν. Ὅτι γὰρ οὐ περὶ καθέδρας ἔλεγεν, ἡ ἀντιδιαστολὴ δῆλον ἐποίησεν. Οὐ γὰρ εἶπεν, ἡμεῖς ἑστῶτες