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how much he has erred, having turned from the straight path, and having devised for himself a rough and difficult and, as it were, impassable road. 3.2.30 See, then, how he forced himself, enduring to utter any shameless and impudent word rather than confess that Wisdom itself is the Son of God. 3.2.31 So then, he refers "The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways for his works" to the person of the Savior, confessing that he is the one in Proverbs who says these things. And so he says in these very words: therefore, since the ancient things have reasonably passed away, and all things are about to become new through the newness of our Savior, our Lord Christ cried out through the prophet, saying, "The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways." 3.2.32 And having said this, he brings the thought down to the flesh of our Savior, adding next: for our Lord God truly created, having made what was not; for the flesh which the Word assumed, being non-existent, he "created as the beginning of his ways." And the fine fellow does not understand that it is one expression and one person who happens to say "I Wisdom dwell with counsel" and "The Lord created me"; so that if the one is referred to the flesh, it is necessary for the other to be as well; and Wisdom will be the one saying both. 3.2.33 But if the flesh, according to Marcellus, says "The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways," this would be Wisdom; and the flesh will be the one saying "by me kings reign" and "by me great men are magnified." But how could the flesh say "I will remember to recount the things from eternity," to which he adds "The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways"? And he also shows what the ways are, saying next: for this one has become for us, who are about to live righteously, the way of godliness; the beginning of all the ways after this. 3.2.34 And he adds: and for this reason he has reasonably called our Lord the Savior the "beginning of ways," because he has also become the beginning of the other ways which we have had after the first way, indicating the traditions through the holy apostles, who preached this new mystery to us "with a lofty proclamation" according to the prophecy. So says Marcellus. 3.3.1 If, then, he did not also accept the scripture of Moses and the prophets after Moses, his interpretation would have had some reasonable argument for him; but since he is not among those who reject the old testament, why indeed did he call the apostles and their teachings "ways," but did not pay attention to the prophets of God who have written myriad things about the ways of God? For first, Moses, writing thus, said, "You shall go by the king's highway" and "Behold, I have set before your face 3.3.2 the way of life and the way of death," and David likewise, "The Lord knows the way of the righteous, and the way of the wicked will perish," and Jeremiah, "Stand in the ways and ask for the ancient paths of the Lord, and see what the good way is, and walk in it"; and you will find each of the prophets who have mentioned the ways of 3.3.3 God in various ways. If, therefore, our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ of God teaches that he himself is the beginning of the ways of God, saying, "The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways for his works," surely then he is older than Moses and the prophets and those even earlier who lived according to the ways of God, but the flesh which he assumed was not pre-existent to all of them; the saying is not rightly taken to refer to the flesh. 3.3.4 Therefore the Savior did not say these things because of the flesh, but because of his pre-existence and leadership of all the ways of God, which all the God-beloved men of old have walked. 3.3.5 But since the divine apostle, saying "O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" suggests certain other ways, the providential ways of the universe, through which with ineffable judgment and incomprehensible reasons he governs all things by divine power, it is consistent to say that he who said "The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways for his works" is the beginning of these ways also. But he who did not understand the ways of God, declared that the flesh of our Savior is the beginning of them. 3.3.6 he interprets

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ὅσον διήμαρτεν, τῆς μὲν εὐθείας ἐκτραπείς, τραχεῖαν δὲ καὶ 3.2.30 δύσβατον καὶ ὥσπερ τινὰ ἀνεξίτητον ἑαυτῷ περινοήσας ὁδόν. θέα γοῦν ὅπως ἐξεβιάσατο πάντα μᾶλλον ἀναίσχυντον καὶ ἀναιδῆ λόγον φθέγξασθαι ὑπομείνας ἢ τὴν σοφίαν αὐτὸν εἶναι τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ 3.2.31 ὁμολογῆσαι. τὸ μὲν οὖν «κύριος ἔκτισέν με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἔργα αὐτοῦ» τῷ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἀναφέρει προσώπῳ, ὁμολογῶν αὐτὸν εἶναι τὸν ἐν Παροιμίαις ταῦτα φάσκοντα. λέγει δ' οὖν αὐτοῖς ῥήμασιν οὐκοῦν εἰκότως τῶν ἀρχαίων παρεληλυθότων, καινῶν δὲ ἔσεσθαι μελλόντων ἁπάντων διὰ τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν καινό τητος, ὁ δεσπότης ἡμῶν ὁ Χριστὸς διὰ τοῦ προφήτου ἐβόα λέγων «κύριος ἔκτισέν με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ». 3.2.32 τοῦτο δ' εἰπὼν ἐπὶ τὴν σάρκα τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν καταβάλλει τὴν διάνοιαν, ἑξῆς ἐπιλέγων ἔκτισεν γὰρ ἀληθῶς τὸ μὴ ὂν πεποιηκὼς ὁ δεσπότης ἡμῶν ὁ θεός· οὐκ οὖσαν γὰρ τὴν σάρκα, ἣν ἀνείληφεν ὁ λόγος, ἀλλὰ μὴ οὖσαν «ἔκτισεν ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ». καὶ οὐ συνίησιν ὁ γενναῖος ὡς μία τίς ἐστιν ἔκφρασις καὶ ἓν πρώσωπον τυγχάνει τὸ φῆσαν «ἐγὼ ἡ σοφία κατεσκήνωσα βουλήν» καὶ τὸ «κύριος ἔκτισέν με»· ὥστε εἰ ἐπὶ τὴν σάρκα ἀνάγοιτο θάτερον, ἀνάγκη καὶ τὸ ἕτερον· καὶ ἡ σοφία ἔσται ἡ τὰ ἀμφότερα λέγουσα. 3.2.33 εἰ δὲ ἡ σὰρξ λέγοι κατὰ Μάρκελλον τὸ «κύριος ἔκτισέν με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ», αὕτη ἂν εἴη ἡ σοφία· καὶ ἔσται ἡ σὰρξ ἡ φάσκουσα «δι' ἐμοῦ βασιλεῖς βασιλεύουσιν» καὶ «δι' ἐμοῦ μεγιστᾶνες μεγαλύνονται». πῶς δ' ἂν εἴποι ἡ σὰρξ τὸ «μνημονεύσω τὰ ἐξ αἰῶνος ἀριθμῆσαι», οἷς ἐπάγει τὸ «κύριος ἔκτισέν με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ»; ὁ δὲ καὶ τίνες αἱ ὁδοὶ παρίστησιν λέγων ἑξῆς οὗτος γὰρ ἡμῖν τοῖς δικαίως πολιτεύεσθαι μέλλουσιν θεοσεβείας ὁδὸς γέγονεν· ἀρχὴ πασῶν τῶν μετὰ ταῦτα ὁδῶν. 3.2.34 καὶ προστίθησιν «ἀρχὴν» δὲ «ὁδῶν» διὰ τοῦτο εἰκότως εἴρηκεν τὸν δε σπότην ἡμῶν τὸν σωτῆρα, διότι καὶ τῶν ἑτέρων, ὧν ἐσχήκαμεν, ὁδῶν μετὰ τὴν πρώτην ὁδὸν ἀρχὴ γέγονεν, τὰς διὰ τῶν ἱερῶν ἀποστόλων δηλῶν παραδόσεις τῶν «μετὰ ὑψηλοῦ» κατὰ τὴν προ φητείαν «κηρύγματος» κηρυξάντων ἡμῖν τὸ καινὸν τοῦτο μυ στήριον. ταῦτα Μάρκελλος. 3.3.1 εἰ μὲν οὖν μὴ καὶ τὴν Μωσέως καὶ τῶν μετὰ Μωσέα προφητῶν παρεδέχετο γραφήν, εἶχεν ἄν τινα εἰκότα αὐτῷ λόγον ἡ ἀπόδοσις· ἐπεὶ δὲ οὐ τῶν ἀθετούντων ἐστὶν τὴν παλαιὰν διαθήκην, τί δή ποτε τοὺς μὲν ἀποστόλους καὶ τούτων τὰς διδασκαλίας ὁδοὺς ὠνόμασεν, οὐχὶ δὲ προσέσχεν τοῖς τοῦ θεοῦ προφήταις μυρία περὶ ὁδῶν θεοῦ γεγραφόσιν; πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ Μωσῆς ὧδε γράφων ἔλεγεν «ὁδῷ βασιλικῇ πορεύσῃ» καὶ «ἰδοὺ τέθεικα πρὸ προσώπου σου 3.3.2 τὴν ὁδὸν τῆς ζωῆς καὶ τὴν ὁδὸν τοῦ θανάτου», καὶ ὁ ∆αυὶδ ὁμοίως «γινώσκει κύριος ὁδὸν δικαίων, καὶ ὁδὸς ἀσεβῶν ἀπολεῖται», καὶ Ἱερεμίας «στῆτε ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς καὶ ἐρωτήσατε τρίβους κυρίου αἰωνίους, καὶ ἴδετε ποία ἐστὶν ἡ ὁδὸς ἡ ἀγαθή, καὶ πορεύεσθε ἐν αὐτῇ»· καὶ ἕκαστον δὲ τῶν προφητῶν διαφόρως μνημονεύσαντα τῶν ὁδῶν τοῦ 3.3.3 θεοῦ εὑρήσεις. εἰ τοίνυν ὁ σωτὴρ καὶ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ἀρχὴν εἶναι τῶν ὁδῶν τοῦ θεοῦ ἑαυτὸν διδάσκει λέγων «κύριος ἔκτισέν με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἔργα αὐτοῦ» πάντως που καὶ Μωσέως καὶ τῶν προφητῶν καὶ τῶν ἔτι ἀνωτέρω κατὰ τὰς ὁδοὺς τοῦ θεοῦ βεβιωκότων ὢν πρεσβύτερος, ἀλλ' οὐχὶ ἡ σὰρξ ἣν ἀνείληφεν ἐκείνων ἁπάντων ὑπῆρχεν προγενεστέρα, οὐκ ὀρθῶς ἐπὶ 3.3.4 τὴν σάρκα ἐξείληπται τὸ λόγιον. οὐ διὰ τὴν σάρκα τοίνυν ταῦτ' ἔλεγεν ὁ σωτήρ, διὰ δὲ τὸ προϋπάρχειν αὐτὸν καὶ καθηγεῖσθαι πασῶν τῶν ὁδῶν τοῦ θεοῦ, ἃς πάντες οἱ πάλαι θεοφιλεῖς ἄνδρες ὡδεύκασιν. 3.3.5 ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος λέγων «ὦ βάθος πλούτου καὶ σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως θεοῦ· ὡς ἀνεξερεύνητα τὰ κρίματα αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀνεξιχνίαστοι αἱ ὁδοὶ αὐτοῦ» ἑτέρας τινὰς ὁδοὺς ὑποβάλλει, τὰς προνοητικὰς τῶν ὅλων, δι' ὧν ἀπορρήτῳ κρίσει καὶ λόγοις ἀλήπτοις τὰ σύμπαντα διακυβερνᾷ θείᾳ δυνάμει, ἀκόλουθόν ἐστιν καὶ τούτων τῶν ὁδῶν ἀρχὴν εἶναι λέγειν τὸν εἰρηκότα «κύριος ἔκτισέν με ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἔργα αὐτοῦ». ὁ δὲ μὴ νοήσας τὰς ὁδοὺς τοῦ θεοῦ, τὴν 3.3.6 σάρκα τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἀρχὴν τούτων εἶναι ἀπεφήνατο. ἑρμηνεύει