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in these syllables: “The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God; for who among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God, except the Spirit of God;” and again: “For God knows what the mind of the Spirit is.” But He who searches God is not one who does not see, nor is not with Him; and He who knows the things of God is not one who does not know Him, nor is of the same divinity; for it is impossible to know the things of God as God knows them, and to possess equal knowledge with Him, without being of the same substance and knowledge as Him. But He who knows the things of God and is upon the Son, knows also the things of the Son. Therefore, as it concerns created beings, it is said, “No one knows the Father,” or “the Son;” nor indeed sees Him as He is; for comprehension is not possible in all, since not all are worthy; and where it is, it is not equal for each one. For according to the word of Paul: “To one is given the knowledge of wisdom,” and to another this or that; and according to the Gospel, to whom more is given, more accountability is brought. But heretics say: “He searches the deep things of God, as if ignorant.” But he added, that “He knows the things of God.” 39.972 For “the servant does not know what his master is doing.” But that “to search” is not always the same as “to seek,” the oracles make clear. For when it prophesies, “Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ in them did signify,” it means to seek and to learn, similarly to the one saying: “Search the Scriptures;” but when the Apostle writes concerning God the Father: “And He that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because He makes intercession for the saints according to God;” or in the 30th psalm he says: “For the Lord seeks out truths;” or in the 7th: “God who tries the hearts and reins;” or elsewhere: “Searching the chambers of the belly;” it means not to examine and to learn, but to comprehend the heart, so that nothing ever conceived or thought in it escapes notice; which things the knower of hearts knows even without investigations. For if all of knowledge were to be attributed to searching, then God also will be found searching as if ignorant, and this will bring dishonor to Him according to them, as spoken by Him in Zephaniah, which is a metaphor from human actions: “I will search Jerusalem with a lamp.” Such a saying works a great signification of His power. Therefore, the divine Spirit of God searches, not as one who is ignorant, but as the Spirit of God united to Him by nature. Whence the Psalmist, not separating it from the substance and knowledge of God the Father, but rather persuading that it is hypostatically His wisdom, on a par with the Only-begotten, prayed: “Take not Your Holy Spirit from me;” that which reveals to me, he says, the unseen and hidden things of Your wisdom.

CHAP. 38. And the all-beneficial of Christ proclaimed in John

syllables: “When the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from my Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of me;” and again: “But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you;” they do not receive without distortion, condemning the Holy Spirit. For instead of understanding Comforter, either because He is called upon as God by creation, or because He consoles it, and imparts cheerfulness and peace; for the words for calling upon and for consolation are synonymous; as it is written: “And He comforted the humble of His 39.973 people.” And from the person of those deemed worthy of consolation it says: “Lord, according to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, Your consolations cheered my heart;” and again: “You have put gladness in my heart.” And as Paul prays for the Thessalonians: “Now our Lord Himself

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συλλαβαῖς ταῖσδε· «Τὸ Πνεῦμα πάντα ἐρευνᾷ καὶ τὰ βάθη τοῦ Θεοῦ· τίς γὰρ οἶδεν ἀνθρώπων τὰ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, εἰ μὴ τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τὸ ἐν αὐτῷ; οὕτω καὶ τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐδεὶς οἶδεν, εἰ μὴ τὸ Πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ·» καὶ πάλιν· «Ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς οἶδεν, τί τὸ φρόνημα τοῦ Πνεύματος.» Ἐρευνᾷ δὲ τὸν Θεὸν οὐχ ὁ μὴ ὁρῶν, μηδὲ συνὼν αὐτῷ· καὶ οἶδεν τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐχ ὁ μὴ γινώσκων αὐτὸν, μηδὲ ὢν τῆς αὐτῆς θεότητος· ἀδύνατον γὰρ εἰδέναι τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὕτως, ὡς οἶδεν αὐτὰ ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ τὴν ἴσην γνῶσιν κεκτῆσθαι αὐτῷ, μὴ τῆς αὐτῆς αὐτῷ οὐσίας καὶ γνώσεως ὑπάρχοντα. Τὸ δὲ εἰδὸς τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ ὂν ἐπὶ τὸν Υἱὸν, οἶδεν καὶ τὰ τοῦ Υἱοῦ. Ὡς πρὸς τοὺς κτιστούς ἐστι τοίνυν τὸ, «Οὐδεὶς γινώσκει τὸν Πατέρα,» ἢ «τὸν Υἱόν·» οὔτε μὴν ὁρᾷ οὕτως ὡς ἔστιν· οὔτε γὰρ ἡ ἐγχωροῦσα κατανόησις ἐν πᾶσιν, ἐπεὶ μὴ πάντες ἀξιόχρεοι· καὶ ἐν οἷς ἐστιν, οὐκ ἴση ἑκάστῳ ὑπάρχει. Κατὰ γὰρ τὸν Παύλου λόγον· «Ἄλλῳ μὲν δίδοται γνῶσις σοφίας,» ἄλλῳ δὲ τόδε ἢ τόδε· κατὰ δὲ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον, ᾧ δίδοται περισσότερον, περισσοτέρας εὐθύνας ἐπάγεται. Αἱρετικοὶ δέ φασιν· «Ἐρευνᾷ τὰ βάθη τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὡς ἀγνοοῦν. Ἀλλ' ἐπήγαγεν, ὡς «Οἶδεν τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ.» 39.972 «Ὁ» γὰρ «δοῦλος οὐκ οἶδεν, τί ποιεῖ ὁ κύριος αὐτοῦ.» Ὅτι δὲ οὐκ ἀεὶ τὸ ἐρευνᾷν τῷ ζητεῖν ὅμοιον, διασαφηνίζει τὰ λόγια. Ἡνίκα μὲν γὰρ προφητεύει, «Ἐρευνῶντες, εἰς τίνα, ἢ ποῖον καιρὸν ἐδηλοῦτο ἐν αὐτοῖς Πνεῦμα Χριστοῦ,» τὸ ζητεῖν καὶ μανθάνειν δηλοῖ, παραπλησίως τῷ λέγοντι· «Ἐρευνᾶτε τὰς Γραφάς·» ἡνίκα δὲ ὁ Ἀπόστολος γράφῃ περὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρός· «Ὁ δὲ ἐρευνῶν τὰς καρδίας, οἶδεν τί τὸ φρόνημα τοῦ Πνεύματος, ὅτι κατὰ Θεὸν ἐντυγχάνει ὑπὲρ ἁγίων·» ἢ ἐν λʹ ψαλμῷ λέγει· «Ὅτι ἀληθείας ἐκζητεῖ Κύριος·» ἢ ἐν ζʹ· «Ἐτάζων καρδίας καὶ νεφροὺς ὁ Θεός·» ἢ ἑτέρωθι· «Ἐρευνῶν ταμεῖα κοιλίας·» οὐ τὸ ἐξετάζειν καὶ μανθάνειν, ἀλλὰ τὸ περιλαμβάνειν τὴν καρδίαν, ὡς μηδέν που λανθάνειν τῶν πώποτε αὐτῇ ἐνθυμηθέντων, ἢ νενοημένων· ἅπερ καὶ δίχα ἐξιχνιασμῶν οἶδεν ὁ καρδιογνώστης. Εἰ γὰρ τὸ πᾶν τῆς γνώσεως τῷ ἐρευνᾷν ἀπονεμηθείη, καὶ ἐρευνῶν ὡς ἀγνοῶν εὑρεθήσεται καὶ ὁ Θεὸς, καὶ ἀδοξίαν αὐτῷ κατ' ἐκείνους οἴσει τόδε ἐν τῷ Σοφωνίᾳ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ, οἷον τὸ ἀπὸ μεταφορᾶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων, εἰρημένον· «Ἐξερευνήσω τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ μετὰ λύχνου.» Τὸ ῥῆμα τὸ τοιοῦτο τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ πολλὴν ἐργάζεται σημείωσιν. Ἐρευνᾷ οὖν τὸ θεῖον Πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ, οὐχ ὡς ἀγνοοῦν, ἀλλ' ὡς Πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡνωμένον αὐτῷ τῇ φύσει. Ὅθεν ὁ Ψαλμῳδὸς, οὐ διαστέλλων αὐτὸ τῆς οὐσίας καὶ γνώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ Πατρὸς, αὐτὸ δὲ μᾶλλον ἐνυποστάτως εἶναι τὴν σοφίαν αὐτοῦ ἐν ἴσῳ τοῦ Μονογενοῦς ἀναπείθων, ηὔχετο· «Τὸ Πνεῦμά σου τὸ ἅγιον μὴ ἀντανέλῃς ἀπ' ἐμοῦ·» τὸ ἀποκαλύπτον μοι, φησὶν, τὰ ἄδηλα καὶ τὰ κρύφια τῆς σοφίας σου.

ΚΕΦ. ΛΗʹ. Καὶ τὰς παρὰ Ἰωάννῃ δὲ διαλαλούσας τοῦ Χριστοῦ πανωφελεῖς

συλλαβάς· «Ὅταν ἔλθῃ ὁ Παράκλητος, ὃν ἐγὼ πέμψω ὑμῖν παρὰ τοῦ Πατρός μου, τὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, ὃ παρὰ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐκπορεύεται, ἐκεῖνος μαρτυρήσει περὶ ἐμοῦ·» καὶ πάλιν· «Ὁ δὲ Παράκλητος, τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ὃ πέμψει ὁ Πατὴρ ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου, ἐκεῖνος ὑμᾶς διδάξει πάντα, καὶ ὑπομνήσει ὑμᾶς πάντα, ἃ εἶπον ὑμῖν·» οὐκ ἀδιαστρόφως δέχονται, καταψηφιζόμενοι τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος. Ἀντὶ γὰρ τοῦ νοεῖν Παράκλητον, ἢ διὰ τὸ παρακαλεῖσθαι ὡς Θεὸν παρὰ τῆς κτίσεως, ἢ διὰ τὸ παραμυθεῖσθαι αὐτὴν, καὶ θυμηδίαν καὶ εἰρήνην ἐμβάλλειν· συνώνυμοι γὰρ αἱ λέξεις τῆς παρακλήσεως καὶ παραμυθίας εἰσίν· ὡς γράφει· «Καὶ τοὺς ταπεινοὺς τοῦ 39.973 λαοῦ αὐτοῦ παρεκάλεσεν» Καὶ ἡ ἐκ προσώπου τῶν ἀξιωθέντων τῆς παραμυθίας φησίν· «Κύριε, κατὰ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ὀδυνῶν μου ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ μου αἱ παρακλήσεις σου εὔφραναν τὴν καρδίαν μου·» καὶ πάλιν· «Ἔδωκας εὐφροσύνην εἰς τὴν καρδίαν μου.» Καὶ ὡς Παῦλος Θεσσαλονικεῦσιν ἐπεύχεται· «Αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Κύριος