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As it is, whatever it is: See how he explains the saying that states, “No one has ever seen God,” which I consider most true, and knowing that there are scriptural sayings stating that God appeared to men, as in the case of Adam, as in paradise, and in the case of Abraham, by the oak of Mamre, and when they were going to Sodom; and to Moses on the mountain, even if it is said that he saw His back parts; and he says that the hidden reality of God no one has seen, nor will see, which is His substance, or even higher, because no one is able or will be able to comprehend and declare what God is. But if there have been some theophanies to the saints, understand that each, according to his own faith, was deemed worthy of some vision manifesting the Divine to him, through which he received the illumination of the divine knowledge coming to him.

As in a formation: I think he means the transfiguration, or the wonder on Mount Sinai as fire.

14Ε_238 Theophany: He says it is a theophany not because it makes God visible and shows what He is, for this is impossible, but because the saints are made worthy of a divine illumination through certain sacred visions analogous to them, which he says happen through angels.

Lawgiving: Note that the law is also a figure of another divine legislation, that is, of the divine incarnation according to Christ; and that the first legislation was given through angels, Saint Stephen also declares, saying: “you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

Itself: That is, the lawgiving. That which is through the first: Note, how through the first, that is of the

ones who have ascended, the second (instead of the subordinate ones) are led up to God and concerning the angelic orders.

Supra-essential: a supra-essential hierarchy he called the principle and creative cause of their order,

§ 4. Gabriel: Note that angels are the first to be initiated into the mysteries concerning the incarnation, as is shown by the things concerning the most divine Gabriel, who learned the things concerning Saint John; and who also announced the good news to the Virgin, that from the Holy Spirit she would conceive the incarnate God the Word.

Of the man's: The incarnation of Christ is a man's divine work, according to which, being God in the flesh, he performed divine deeds. But consider how, having here called Jesus 'a man's divine work,' and by saying 'man's' indicating that he became a perfect man, and by 'divine work,' that He is both God and man, the same one having performed the divine signs, shortly after he says that He is unchangeable; for He remained also what He always was. And see this again, how he says that in the holy Theotokos Mary the 14Ε_240 thearchic mystery of the ineffable God-fashioning took place. And he says 'God-fashioning,' indicating that God was fashioned, insofar as He became man, as it has been said, “the Word became flesh.” And 'thearchic,' because the mystery of the incarnation belonged to God, who is the cause and principle of those called gods, both angels and just men, whom he pre-named God Jesus.

And Mary: Note these things against the Nestorians; for not all angels were emboldened by the mystery of the economy; since, when the Lord was taken up after the passion, there were some who said, “Who is this King of glory?”; for the question implies ignorance. Note against the Nestorians and the Acephali, that he says Jesus is the supra-essential cause, as being the creator of all; and that he says He was begotten according to us without change; these are not the same and one nature, even if He is the same one in two; and that He is both lawgiver and under the law, and that He Himself also as

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Ὡς αὐτό ὅ τι ποτέ ἐστι: Ὅρα πῶς ἐξηγεῖται τό ρητόν τό λέγον, «Θεόν οὐδείς ἐώρακε πώποτε», ὅπερ ἀληθέστατον ἠγοῦμαι, καί εἰδώς ὅτι εἰσί γραφικά ρήματα λέγοντα, ὡς ὁ Θεός ὤφθη τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, ὡς ἐπί τοῦ Ἀδάμ, ὡς ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ, καί ἐπί τοῦ Ἀβραάμ, ἐν τῇ δρυί τῇ Μαμβρῇ, καί ὅτε εἰς Σόδομα ἐπορεύοντο· καί τῷ Μωσεῖ εἰς τό ὄρος, εἰ καί τά ὀπίσθια λέγεται ἑωρακέναι· καί λέγει ὅτι αὐτό μέν τό κρύφιον τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐδείς ἑώρακεν, οὐδέ ὄψεται, ὅπερ ἐστίν οὐσία αὐτοῦ, ἤ καί ὑψηλότερον, ὅτι οὐδείς κατανοῆσαι καί φράσαι δύναται ἤ δυνήσεται, τί ἐστιν ὁ Θεός. Εἰ δέ καί ἐγένοντό τισι θεοφάνειαι τῶν ἁγίων, νόησον ὅτι ἀναλόγως ἕκαστος τῆς ἰδίας πίστεως ἠξιοῦτό τινος ὁράσεως ἐμφαινούσης αὐτῷ τό Θεῖον, δι' ἧς τήν ἔλλαμψιν ἐδέχετο τῶν εἰς αὐτόν ἐρχομένων θείων γνώσεων.

Ὡς ἐν μορφώσει: Οἶμαι, τήν μεταμόρφωσιν λέγει, ἤ τό ἐν τῷ Σιναίῳ ὄρει θαῦμα ὡς πῦρ.

14Ε_238 Θεοφάνειαν: Θεοφάνειαν εἶναί φησιν οὐ διά τό φαίνειν τόν Θεόν καί δεικνύειν, ὅ τι ποτέ ἐστι, τοῦτο γάρ ἀμήχανον, ἀλλ' ὅτι θείας ἐλλάμψεως οἱ ἅγιοι ἀξιοῦνται διά τινων ὁράσεων ἱερῶν καί αὐτοῖς ἀναλόγων, ἅς δι' ἀγγέλων γίνεσθαι λέγει.

Θεσμοθεσίαν: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι καί ὁ νόμος ἑτέρας θείας νομοθεσίας ὑποτύπωσίς ἐστι, τουτέστι τῆς κατά Χριστόν θείας ἐνανθρωπήσεως· ὅτι δέ δι' ἀγγέλων ἐδόθη ἡ πρώτη νομοθεσία, δηλοῖ καί ὁ ἅγιος Στέφανος λέγων· «οἵτινες ἐλάβετε τόν νόμον εἰς διαταγάς ἀγγέλων, καί οὐκ ἐφυλάξατε».

Αὐτήν: Τήν θεσμοθεσίαν δηλονότι. Τό διά τῶν πρώτων: Σημείωσαι, πῶς διά τῶν πρώτων, τουτέστι τῶν

ἀναβεβηκότων, τά δεύτερα (ἀντί τοῦ τά ὑποβεβηκότα) πρός Θεόν ἀνάγονται καί περί τῶν ἀγγελικῶν διατάξεων.

Ὑπερούσιον: Ὑπερούσιον ταξιαρχίαν τήν τῆς τάξεως αὐτῶν ἀρχήν καί ποιητικήν αἰτίαν ἔφη,

§ 4. Γαβριήλ: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι τά περί τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως πρῶτοι μυοῦνται ἄγγελοι, ὡς δηλοῖ τά κατά τόν θειότατον Γαβριήλ, μαθόντα τά περί τοῦ ἁγίου Ἰωάννου· εὐαγγελισάμενον δέ καί τῇ Παρθένῳ, ὅτι ἐκ Πνεύματος ἁγίου συλλήψεται σαρκούμενον τόν Θεόν Λόγον.

Ἀνδρικῆς: Ἀνδρική θεουργία ἡ Χριστοῦ ἐνανθρώπησις, καθ' ἥν Θεός ὤν ἐν σαρκί τά θεῖα εἰργάζετο, Σκόπει δέ, πῶς, εἰπών ἐνταῦθα τόν Ἰησοῦν 'ἀνδρικήν θεουργίαν', καί διά μέν τοῦ λέγειν 'ἀνδρικήν' δηλῶν, ὅτι τέλειος ἄνθρωπος γέγονε, διά δέ τοῦ 'θεουργίαν', ὅτι, Θεός καί ἔστι ἄνθρωπος, ὁ αὐτός τάς θεοσημείας ἐργασάμενος, μετά βραχύ λέγει, ὅτι ἀμετάβλητος· ἔμεινε γάρ καί ὅ ἦν ἀεί. Κἀκεῖνο δέ πάλιν ὅρα, πῶς φησιν ἐν τῇ ἁγίᾳ Θεοτόκῳ Μαρίᾳ γενέσθαι τῆς ἀρρήτου θεοπλαστίας τό 14Ε_240 θεαρχικόν μυστήριον. Θεοπλαστίαν δέ λέγει, δηλῶν ὅτι Θεός ἐπλάσθη, καθ' ὅ γέγονεν ἄνθρωπος, ὡς τό εἰρημένον, «ὁ Λόγος σάρξ ἐγένετο». Θεαρχικόν δέ, ὅτι τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ αἰτίου καί ἀρχῆς ὄντος τῶν λεγομένων θεῶν, ἀγγέλων τε καί δικαίων ἀνθρώπων, τό μυστήριον τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως ἦν, ὅν Θεόν Ἰησοῦν προωνόμασε.

Τήν δέ Μαριάμ: Σημείωσαι ταῦτα κατά Νεστοριανῶν· οὐ πάντες δέ ἄγγελοι ἐθαρρήθησαν τό μυστήριον τῆς οἰκονομίας· ἐπεί, ὅτε ἀνελαμβάνετο ὁ Κύριος μετά τό πάθος, τινές ἦσαν οἱ λέγοντες, ὅτι «Τίς ἐστιν οὗτος ὁ Βασιλεύς τῆς δόξης;»· ἡ γάρ ἐρώτησις ἄγνοιαν ἐμφαίνει. Σημείωσαι κατά Νεστοριανῶν καί Ἀκεφάλων, ὅτι τόν Ἰησοῦν ὑπερούσιον αἰτίαν, φησίν, ἅτε ποιητήν ὄντα πάντων· καί ὅτι ἀμεταβόλως λέγει αὐτόν γεγεννῆσθαι καθ' ἡμᾶς· οὐχ ἡ αὐτή δέ καί μία ταῦτα φύσις, εἰ καί ὁ αὐτός τά δύο· καί ὅτι αὐτός καί νομοθέτης καί ὑπό νόμον, καί ὅτι καί αὐτός ὡς