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b'. They have been rightly put forth: Why types are symbols of the typeless and forms of the formless, he says here.

Of the unfigured: Instead of 'of the formless'. c'. Immediately: That is, not through the medium of types, but at once and upon

first apprehension; and 'they stretch forth' is the same as 'they set before', and 'they put forth'.

d'. Formations: Note, that incorporeal things are formless; therefore when you hear concerning the super-essential one, "who being in the form of God," understand the unchangeableness in relation to his own Father; for this is what both 'the image of the invisible God' and "he who has seen me, has seen the Father" signify. Thus also Saint Basil interprets in his discourse to his own brother concerning the difference of essence and hypostasis.

§ 3. That the sacred [hymnody] is twofold: That the divine is hymned in two ways; either as similar to all things; for all things consist in it; or as dissimilar; for it is none of all things.

Through dissimilar things: That types are formed through similar and dissimilar things; and how they are formed, he says here.

Sometimes as reason: God is in some sense called reason and mind; in, "who has known the mind of the Lord?", and in, "and the word of the Lord came to me saying", and so forth. But he speaks of rationality with respect to God, not because he wishes to indicate that God is rational, as partaking 14Ε_214 of reason (for this it implies), but that he is reason-itself, being wholly reason; and they speak of essence with respect to God, when they say: "I am who am, and He who is has sent me; but you are the same"; for from 'to be' and 'being' comes the feminine 'being', and its derivative 'essence', 'existence'.

And life: That God is not properly called life, nor light, nor mind, nor essence, but causally; for he is both beyond these things and not such as these things.

Her as invisible: That the things said of God by way of negation, such as invisible, infinite, and the like, are dissimilar; for they signify not what God is, but what God is not; so also Gregory the Theologian.

Unintelligible: He says 'unintelligible', not meaning 'stupid', but that which is not understood by anyone; and God is indefinite, as falling under no definition, but being himself the definition of all things and defining all things in himself, he does not fall under a definition; because definitions are composed of affirmations, but affirmations with respect to God are unfitting, as being false; for God is beyond these, as not being essence, but beyond essence.

The negations: Not only concerning God, but also concerning all divine things, that is, concerning all intelligible things after God, he says both that the negations are true, and that the affirmations are inappropriate. The affirmations, then, are inappropriate, when we say either of God or of the intellectual powers, life or light; for it is neither such a life as lives through inhalation and exhalation, nor the light which is seen and makes present things visible, but something higher than these. But the negations by way of denials are in some way more proper to intelligible things; for we say that they are invisible, 14Ε_216 and that they do not fall under sight, we understand; but what that which is not seen is, the discourse seems neither to inquire curiously, nor to represent; and yet 'life' and 'light' seem to signify what it is, and these in no way declare what God is.

Therefore they honor: See how well he has argued, why the heavenly things have a memory of living creatures, that is, images; for just as the God over all has nothing homogeneous in all things, and for this reason, fittingly, none of all things is declarative of him, but, for the rest, we theologize by another method, saying what God is not, which he calls through dissimilar things, so also in the case of the heavenly powers, which are after God, skillfully

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β'. Εἰκότως προβέβληνται: ∆ιά τί σύμβολα τῶν ἀτυπώτων οἱ τύποι καί τῶν ἀμορφώτων αἱ μορφαί, ἐνταῦθά φησιν.

Ἀσχηματίστων: Ἀντί τοῦ ἀμορφώτων. γ'. Ἀμέσως: Τουτέστι μή διά μέσων τῶν τύπων, ἀλλ' ἀθρόως καί κατά

πρώτην ἐπιβολήν· τό δέ 'προτείνουσι ' ταὐτόν ἐστι τῷ προτιθέασι, καί προβάλλονται.

δ'. Μορφώσεις: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι τά ἀσώματα ἀμόρφωτά εἰσιν· ὅταν οὖν ἀκούσῃς περί τοῦ ὑπερουσίου, «ὅς ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ ὑπάρχων», τό ἀπαράλλακτον πρός τόν ἑαυτοῦ Πατέρα νόησον· τοῦτο γάρ δηλοῖ καί ἡ εἰκών τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου καί τό, «ὁ ἑωρακώς ἐμέ, ἑώρακε τόν Πατέρα», Οὕτω καί ὁ ἅγιος Βασίλειος ἑρμηνεύει ἐν τῷ πρός τόν οἰκεῖον ἀδελφόν λόγῳ τῷ περί διαφορᾶς οὐσίας καί ὑποστάσεως.

§ 3. Ὡς διττός ἐστι τῆς ἱερᾶς: Ὅτι κατά δύο τρόπους ὑμνεῖται τό θεῖον· ἤ ὡς ὅμοιον πᾶσι· πάντα γάρ ἐν αὐτῷ συνίσταται· ἤ ὡς ἀνόμοιον· οὐδέν γάρ ἐστι τῶν ὅλων.

∆ιά τῶν ἀνομοίων: Ὅτι δι' ὁμοίων καί ἀνομοίων πλάττονται οἱ τύποι· καί πῶς πλάττονται, ὧδέ φησιν.

Ποτέ μέν ὡς λόγον: Κατά τι λέγεται λόγος καί νοῦς ὁ Θεός· ἐν τῷ, «τίς ἔγνω νοῦν Κυρίου;», καί ἐν τῷ, «καί ἐγένετο λόγος Κυρίου πρός με λέγων», καί τά ἑξῆς. Λογιότητα δέ φησιν ἐπί τοῦ Θεοῦ, οὐχ ὅτι λογικόν θέλει δηλῶσαι τόν Θεόν, ὡς μετέχοντα 14Ε_214 λόγου (τοῦτο γάρ ἐμφαίνει), ἀλλ' ὅτι αὐτολογιότης ἐστίν, ὅλος λόγος ὤν· οὐσίαν δέ λέγουσιν ἐπί Θεοῦ, ὅταν εἴπωσιν· «ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν, καί ὁ ὤν ἀπέσταλκέ με· σύ δέ ὁ αὐτός εἶ»· ἀπό γάρ τοῦ εἶναι καί τοῦ ὄντος ἡ οὖσα, καί τό παράγωγον οὐσία, ἡ ὕπαρξις.

Καί ζωήν: Ὅτι οὔτε ζωή, οὔτε φῶς, οὔτε νοῦς, οὔτε οὐσία κυρίως λέγεται ὁ Θεός, ἀλλ' αἰτιολογικῶς· ἔστι γάρ καί ὑπέρ ταῦτα καί οὐχ οἷα ταῦτα.

Ἀόρατον αὐτήν: Ὅτι τά κατά ἀπόφασιν λεγόμενα ἐπί Θεοῦ, οἷον ἀόρατος, ἄπειρος, καί τά τοιαῦτα, ἀνόμοιά εἰσι· δηλοῦσι γάρ οὐ τί ἐστιν, ἀλλά τί οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ Θεός· οὕτω καί ὁ θεολόγος Γρηγόριος.

Ἀνόητον: Ἀνόητόν φησιν οὐ τό ἠλίθιον, ἀλλά τό μή νοούμενον ὑπό τινος· ἀόριστος δέ ὁ Θεός, ὡς ὅρῳ μηδενί ὑποπίπτων, ἀλλ' αὐτός πάντων ὅρος ὤν καί τά πάντα ἐν ἑαυτῷ ὁρίζων, ὅρῳ δέ οὐχ ὑποπίπτει· διότι οἱ μέν ὅροι ἐκ τῶν καταφάσεων σύγκεινται, αἱ δέ καταφάσεις ἐπί Θεοῦ ἀνάρμοστοι, ὡς ψευδόμεναι· ὑπέρ γάρ ταύτας ὁ Θεός, ὡς οὐκ ὤν οὐσία, ἀλλ' ὑπέρ οὐσίαν.

Αἱ ἀποφάσεις: Οὐ μόνον ἐπί Θεοῦ, ἀλλά καί ἐπί τῶν θείων ἀπάντων, τουτέστιν ἐπί τῶν μετᾴ Θεόν νοητῶν πάντων, καί τάς ἀποφάσεις ἀληθεῖς εἶναί φησι, καί τάς καταφάσεις ἀναρμοδίους. Ἀναρμόδιοι μέν οὖν εἰσιν αἱ καταφάσεις, ὅταν εἴπωμεν ἤ τόν Θεόν ἤ τάς νοεράς δυνάμεις, ζωήν ἤ φῶς· οὔτε γάρ ζωή τοιαύτη τίς ἐστιν, ὡς διά εἰσπνοίας καί ἐκπνοίας ζῇν, οὔτε φῶς τό φαινόμενον καί ποιοῦν ὁρᾶσθαι τά προκείμενα, ἀλλά ἀνώτερόν τι τούτων. Αἱ δέ ἀποφάσεις αἱ διά ἀρνήσεων ποσῶς ἐπί τῶν νοητῶν οἰκειότεραι λέγομεν γάρ, ὅτι ἀόρατοι, 14Ε_216 καί ὅτι οὐχ ὑποπίπτουσι θέᾳ, νοοῦμεν· τί δέ ἐστιν αὐτό τό μή φαινόμενον, οὔτε πολυπραγμονεῖν, οὔτε παριστᾷν δοκεῖ ὁ λόγος· καίτοι τό ζωή καί φῶς δοκεῖ σημαίνειν τί ἐστι, καί ταῦτα μηδόλως δηλοῦν τί ἐστι Θεός.

Τιμῶσι τοιγαροῦν: Ὅρα πῶς καλῶς ἀπελογήσατο, διά τί ζώων μνήμην ἔχειν τά οὐράνια, ἤτοι εἰκόνας· ὥσπερ γάρ ὁ ἐπί πάντων Θεός οὐδέν ἐν τοῖς πᾶσιν ἔχει ὁμογενές, καί διά τοῦτο εἰκότως οὐδέν τῶν πάντων αὐτοῦ ἐστι δηλωτικόν, ἀλλά λοιπόν ἄλλῃ μεθόδῳ θεολογοῦμεν, λέγοντες, τί οὐκ ἔστι Θεός, ὅπερ καλεῖ διά τῶν ἀνομοίων, οὕτω καί ἐπί τῶν οὐρανίων δυνάμεων, αἵ μετά Θεόν εἰσι, τεχνικῶς