they came to be and prevailed exceedingly.” 2.27.170 But in two ways the darkness has not overcome the light: either by falling far short of it and, through its own slowness, being unable even in quantity to keep up with the swiftness of the light's course, or if the light somewhere wished to ambush the darkness and by design awaited its approach, the darkness, upon drawing near the light, would vanish. But in either case, the darkness did not overcome the light. 2.28.171 But it is necessary for us, having come to these points, to note that not in every case, if something is named “darkness,” is it taken in the worse sense, but sometimes it is even written of in the better sense; which the heterodox, failing to distinguish, have accepted most blasphemous doctrines about the creator and have fallen away from him, giving themselves over to the fabrications of myths. How, then, and when the name of darkness is taken in the better sense must now be demonstrated. 2.28.172 “Darkness, gloom, tempest” in Exodus are said to be “around God” and in the 17th psalm: “God made darkness his hiding place, his tent around him, dark water in the clouds of the air.” For if anyone should comprehend the multitude of doctrines concerning God and knowledge that happen to be incomprehensible to human nature, and perhaps also to other created beings besides Christ and the Holy Spirit, he will know how there is darkness around God, inasmuch as the rich account of him according to his worth is unknown; in which darkness “he has made his hiding place,” having done this by the fact that things concerning him are unknown, being incomprehensible. 2.28.173 But if anyone stumbles at such interpretations, let him be led forward by the obscure sayings and by the dark, hidden, unseen treasures given by God to Christ; for I think the dark treasures revealed in Christ—that “God made darkness his hiding place”—are nothing other than what “the holy one will understand a parable and an obscure saying.” But consider if it is for this reason the Savior says to the disciples: “Therefore, whatever you have heard in the darkness, speak in the light.” 2.28.174 For he commands them to announce to everyone who becomes light the mysteries delivered to them in secret and not for the hearing of the many, hard to understand and unclear, as they are being enlightened and for this reason are said to be in light. But I would say something more paradoxical about the praiseworthy darkness: that this darkness hastens toward the light and overcomes it and at some point becomes—because it is an unknown darkness—for one who does not see its power, so transformed, that what was once known to him to be darkness is shown to the one who has learned to have become light. 2.29.n There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 2.29.175 Hearing “sent” more precisely, since one who is sent is sent from somewhere to somewhere, one will ask from where John was sent and to where. But while the “to where” is clear—historically, that it was to Israel and those willing to hear him while he was staying in the wilderness of Judea and baptizing by the Jordan river, but according to a deeper reason, that it was to the world, “world” being taken as the earthly place where humans are—one will examine how the “from where” should be taken. But examining the word more closely, perhaps he even declares that just as it is written of Adam: 2.29.176 “And the Lord God sent him out from the paradise of delight to cultivate the earth from which he was taken,” so also John was sent, either from heaven or from paradise or from some other place besides this one on earth, and he was sent, “that he might bear witness to the light.” 2.29.177 But the argument has a not insignificant objection, since it is also written in Isaiah: “Whom shall I send, and who will go to this people?” when the prophet, answering, says: “Behold, here I am, send me.” 2.29.178 For one who objects to the deeper-appearing suggestion will say that just as Isaiah was sent, not from another place besides this world, but after he had seen “the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up,” to the people, that he might say:

ἐγίνοντο καὶ κατίσχυον σφόδρα σφόδρα». 2.27.170 ∆ιχῶς δὲ ἡ σκοτία τὸ φῶς οὐ κατείληφεν, ἢ σφόδρα αὐτοῦ ἀπολειπομένη καὶ διὰ τὴν ἰδίαν βραδυτῆτα τῇ ὀξύτητι τοῦ δρόμου τοῦ φωτὸς οὐδὲ κατὰ τὸ ποσὸν παρακολουθῆσαι δυναμένη, ἢ εἴ που ἐνεδρεῦσαι βεβούληται τὸ φῶς τὴν σκοτίαν καὶ κατ' οἰκονομίαν παρέμεινεν ἐπερχομένην αὐτήν, ἐγγίσασα ἡ σκοτία τοῦ φωτὸς ἠφανίζετο. Πλὴν ἑκατέρως ἡ σκοτία οὐ κατέλαβε τὸ φῶς. 2.28.171 Ἀναγκαῖον δὲ ἐν τούτοις ἡμᾶς γενομένους ἐπισημειώσασθαι ὅτι οὐ πάντως, εἴ που ὀνο μάζεται «σκότος», ἐπὶ τοῦ χείρονος λαμβάνεται, ἔσθ' ὅτε δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ κρείττονος ἀναγέγραπται· ὅπερ οἱ ἑτερό δοξοι μὴ διαστειλάμενοι δυσφημότατα περὶ τοῦ δημιουργοῦ δόγματα παραδεξάμενοι ἀπέστησαν αὐτοῦ, ἀναπλάσμασιν μύθων ἑαυτοὺς ἐπιδεδωκότες. Πῶς οὖν καὶ πότε καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ κρείττονος τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ σκότους παραλαμβάνεται, παραδεικτέον ἤδη. 2.28.172 «Σκότος, γνόφος, θύελλα» ἐν τῇ Ἐξόδῳ «περὶ τὸν θεὸν» εἶναι λέγε ται καὶ ἐν τῷ ιζʹ ψαλμῷ· «Ὁ θεὸς ἔθετο σκότος ἀποκρυφὴν αὐτοῦ, κύκλῳ αὐτοῦ ἡ σκηνὴ αὐτοῦ, σκοτεινὸν ὕδωρ ἐν νεφέ λαις ἀέρων.» Ἐὰν γάρ τις κατανοήσῃ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν περὶ θεοῦ θεωρημάτων καὶ γνώσεως ἄληπτον τυγχάνον ἀνθρωπίνῃ φύσει, τάχα δὲ καὶ ἑτέροις παρὰ Χριστὸν καὶ τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα γενητοῖς, εἴσεται πῶς περὶ τὸν θεόν ἐστι σκότος, κατὰ τὸ ἀγνοεῖσθαι τὸν κατ' ἀξίαν περὶ αὐτοῦ πλούσιον λόγον· ἐν ᾧ σκότῳ «ἔθετο αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀποκρυφήν» τῷ τὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ ἀγνοεῖσθαι ἀχώρητα ὄντα τοῦτο πεποιηκώς. 2.28.173 Ἐὰν δέ τις ταῖς τοιαύταις προσκόπτῃ ἐκδοχαῖς, προαγέσθω ἀπό τε τῶν σκοτεινῶν λόγων καὶ τῶν διδομένων ὑπὸ θεοῦ Χριστῷ θησαυρῶν σκοτεινῶν, ἀποκρύφων, ἀοράτων· οὐκ ἄλλο γάρ τι ἡγοῦμαι εἶναι τοὺς σκοτεινοὺς θησαυροὺς ἐν Χριστῷ ἀποκαλυπτομένους-τὸ «σκότος ἔθετο ὁ θεὸς ἀποκρυφὴν ἑαυτοῦ»-ἢ «ὁ ἅγιος νοήσει παραβολὴν καὶ σκοτεινὸν λόγον». Ἐπίσκεψαι δὲ εἰ διὰ τοῦτό φησιν ὁ σωτὴρ τοῖς μαθηταῖς· «Ἀνθ' ὧν ὅσα ἠκούσατε ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ εἴπατε ἐν τῷ φωτί». 2.28.174 Τὰ γὰρ ἐν ἀπορρήτῳ καὶ μὴ ἐπηκόῳ πολλῶν δύσγνωστα καὶ ἀσαφῆ αὐτοῖς παραδεδομένα μυστήρια προστάσσει αὐτούς, φωτιζομένους καὶ διὰ τοῦτο λεγομένους εἶναι ἐν φωτί, ἀπαγγέλλειν παντὶ τῷ γινομένῳ φωτί. Παραδοξότερον δ' ἂν ἐπὶ τοῦ ἐπαινουμένου σκότους εἴποιμι, ὅτι τοῦτο σπεύδει ἐπὶ τὸ φῶς καὶ καταλαμβάνει αὐτὸ καὶ γίνεταί ποτε, διὰ τὸ ἀγνοεῖσθαι σκότος, τῷ μὴ ὁρῶντι τὴν δύναμιν αὐτοῦ οὕτω μεταβάλλον, ὥστε τὸν μεμαθηκότα ἀπο φαίνεσθαι γεγονέναι φῶς τὸ γνωσθέν ποτε ὑπάρχον αὐτῷ σκότος. 2.29.n Ἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος ἀπεσταλμένος παρὰ θεοῦ, ὄνομα αὐτῷ Ἰωάννης. 2.29.175 Ἀκριβέστερόν τις ἀκούων τοῦ «ἀπε σταλμένος», ἐπειδὴ ὁ ἀπεσταλμένος ποθέν που ἀποστέλλεται, ζητήσει πόθεν ὁ Ἰωάννης ἀπεστάλη καὶ ποῦ. Σαφοῦς δ' ὄντος τοῦ «ποῦ», κατὰ μὲν τὴν ἱστορίαν ὅτι πρὸς τὸν Ἰσραὴλ καὶ τοὺς βουλομένους αὐτοῦ ἀκούειν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ τῆς Ἰουδαίας διατρίβοντος καὶ παρὰ τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ ποταμῷ βαπτίζοντος, κατὰ δὲ βαθύτερον λόγον, ὅτι εἰς τὸν κόσμον-κόσμου λαμβανομένου τοῦ περιγείου τόπου, ἔνθα εἰσὶν οἱ ἄνθρωποι-, ἐξετάσει, πῶς δεῖ λαμβάνειν τὸ «πόθεν». Ἐπὶ πλεῖον δὲ βασανίζων τὴν λέξιν, τάχα καὶ ἀποφαίνεται, ὅτι ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ γέγραπται· 2.29.176 «Καὶ ἐξαπέστει λεν αὐτὸν κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἐκ τοῦ παραδείσου τῆς τρυφῆς ἐργάζεσθαι τὴν γῆν, ἐξ ἧς ἐλήφθη», οὕτω καὶ ὁ Ἰωάννης ἀπεστάλη, ἤτοι ἐξ οὐρανοῦ ἢ ἐκ τοῦ παραδείσου ἢ ὅθεν δήποτε ἑτέρωθεν παρὰ τὸν ἐπὶ γῆς τοῦτον τόπον, καὶ ἀπε στάλη, «ἵνα μαρτυρήσῃ περὶ τοῦ φωτός». 2.29.177 Ἔχει δὲ ἀνθυποφορὰν οὐκ εὐκαταφρόνητον ὁ λόγος, ἐπεὶ καὶ παρὰ Ἡσαΐᾳ γέγραπται· «Τίνα ἀποστείλω καὶ τίς πορεύσεται πρὸς τὸν λαὸν τοῦτον;» ὅτε ἀποκρινόμενος ὁ προφήτης φησίν· «Ἰδοὺ εἰμὶ ἐγώ, ἀπόστειλόν με». 2.29.178 Ἐρεῖ γὰρ ὁ ἐνιστάμενος τῇ βαθυτέρᾳ ἐμφαινομένῃ ὑπονοίᾳ, ὅτι ὥσπερ ὁ Ἡσαΐας ἀπεστάλη, οὐχὶ ἀφ' ἑτέρου τόπου παρὰ τὸν κόσμον τοῦτον, ἀλλὰ μετὰ τὸ ἑωρακέναι «τὸν κύριον καθήμενον ἐπὶ θρόνου ὑψηλοῦ καὶ ἐπῃρμένου» πρὸς τὸν λαόν, ἵνα εἴπῃ·