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§ 3. Whether rational, or sensory, or nutritive: Note how he divides the things pertaining to participated life; for he calls our soul, for example, a principle of life, and the sensory faculty as well; for these are principles of life for bodies that are moved to life, beginning through them; but the intelligible powers and our souls are essences of life; for they have their essence as being life, like a certain matter and subject and form-in-itself, which is existing life; wherefore also, as I said, souls give life to bodies. God, therefore, as cause and fulfiller of our life, as sustainer and divider, as the one who ordered the differences of all life, of intelligible, rational, sensory, and vegetative beings, is the principle of all; so that, since he said above that the sun also gives life and nourishes all things, you should not think that it has this from itself, but from the principle and cause of all things.

ON CHAPTER 7

(14S_258> § 1. Beyond all wisdom: There are some of the inopportune philosophers who say that, If you wish to say God is beyond all wisdom and understanding, you make him unwise and without understanding. To them it must be said: Our God is beyond all things conceived and existing. Therefore, whether wisdom, or understanding, or life, or hypostasis, or existence, or essence is conceived by us, He is beyond all these things, not as not partaking of them (for this is senseless; for how does the cause of things that come to be not partake of what proceeds from him?), but as all things have proceeded from him and partake of his wholeness; for everything that is participated in is more ancient than the things from it. Wherefore he is also called being, and properly eternity, and time, as having made both the ages and the times; so therefore it must be said also concerning wisdom and life, that he is also their creator; for if we say that these things are otherwise, God is found to have been made wise or given understanding later, which is their audacity, not ours; may it never be!

And the sun of the guide: Note that he calls the apostle Paul the sun of himself and of the holy Hierotheus. And note how the father took the saying of the Apostle; for Chrysostom and the rest of the Fathers took it to be about the cross.

And it is customary for the theologians: The stated custom for theologians to express privations concerning God by way of opposition, we might understand thus: for they, wishing to represent the divine light as much as possible, that it is unapproachable and cannot be looked upon, to which nothing can approach, neither immaterial nor sensible, called it darkness, as in: "he made darkness his hiding place," (14S_260> which the divine Apostle says, "dwelling in unapproachable light"; for that to which nothing approaches is like darkness to one who cannot see, by way of eminence. Again it is said: "your knowledge was made wonderful to me, it was too mighty, I cannot attain to it." Just as, therefore, the incomprehensible and inconceivable, unmixed knowledge of God is compared to an ignorance that surpasses all knowledge in created things (for the ignorance concerning God of those wise in divine things is not lack of learning, but knowledge, knowing in silence that God is unknowable), so therefore they also call the incarnation of God the Word an emptying, although it is full, or rather, super-full of wisdom and power and salvation; but they also name the trophy of the cross the weakness of God, for example, since by death the evil and invisible powers of the devil were destroyed, and instead of death the resurrection of the dead and the kingdom of heaven were introduced; in this way, therefore, also the foolishness of God, the understanding of God which surpasses all wisdom and knowledge of men. And one might understand what is said, considering those from the heresies, along with the Greeks, who imagine they can prove with sensible syllogisms that the incarnation of God, dispensed even unto death, is impossible. Considering these, the most divine Paul, having become dizzy

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§ 3. Εἴτε λογικήν, εἴτε αἰσθητικήν, εἴτε θρεπτικήν: Σημείωσαι, πῶς διαιρεῖ τά περί ζωῆς μεθεκτῆς· ζωῆς γάρ ἀρχήν φησιν, οἷον τήν ἡμετέραν ψυχήν καί τήν αἰσθητικήν δέ· αὗται γάρ ἀρχαί εἰσι ζωῆς τοῖς δι' αὐτῶν ἀρχομένοις εἰς ζωήν κινεῖσθαι σώμασι· ζωῆς δέ οὐσίαι αἱ νοηταί δυνάμεις καί αἱ ἡμέτεραι ψυχαί· τήν γάρ οὐσίαν ζωήν οὖσαν ἔχουσιν, οἷον ὕλην τινά καί ὑποκείμενον καί αὐτοεῖδος, ὅ ἐστι ζωῆς ὑπάρχουσαν· διό καί ζωοῦσι τά σώματα, ὡς ἔφην, αἱ ψυχαί. Ὁ οὖν Θεός, ὡς αἴτιος καί συμπληρωτικός τῆς ζωῆς ἡμῶν, ὡς συνοχεύς καί διαιρετικός, ὡς τάς διαφοράς πάσης ζωῆς διατάξας, νοητῶν, λογικῶν, αἰσθητικῶν, αὐξητικῶν, ἀρχή πάντων ἐστίν· ὥστε, ἐπειδή ἄνω εἶπε καί τόν ἥλιον ζωήν διδόναι καί τρέφειν πάντα, μή νοήσῃς, ὅτι ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ τοῦτο ἔχει, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῆς πάντων ἀρχῆς καί αἰτίας.

ΕΙΣ ΤΟ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ Ζ'

(14S_258> § 1. Ὑπέρ πᾶσαν σοφίαν: Εἰσί τινες τῶν ἀκαίρων φιλοσόφων

λέγοντες, ὅτι, Ἐάν βούλησθε τόν Θεόν λέγειν ὑπέρ πᾶσαν σοφίαν καί σύνεσιν, ποιεῖτε αὐτόν ἄσοφον καί ἀσύνετον. Πρός οὕς λεκτέον· Ὁ Θεός ἡμῶν ὑπέρ πάντα τά νοούμενα καί ὄντα ἐστίν. Εἴτε οὖν σοφία, εἴτε σύνεσις, εἴτε ζωή, εἴτε ὑπόστασις, εἴτε ὕπαρξις, εἴτε οὐσία νοεῖται παρ' ἡμῶν, ὑπέρ ταῦτα πάντα ἐστίν, οὐχ ὡς μή μετέχων αὐτῶν (τοῦτο γάρ ἀνόητον· ὁ γάρ αἴτιος τῶν γινομένων πῶς οὐ μετέχει τῶν ἐξ αὐτοῦ;), ἀλλ' ὡς τῶν πάντων ἐξ αὐτοῦ προελθόντων καί τῆς αὐτοῦ μετεχόντων ὁλότητος· πᾶν γάρ τό μετεχόμενον ἀρχαιότερόν ἐστι τῶν ἐξ αὐτοῦ. ∆ιό καί ὤν, καί αἰών κυρίως, καί χρόνος ὀνομάζεται, ὡς καί τούς αἰῶνας καί τούς χρόνους ποιήσας· οὕτως οὖν καί ἐπί τῆς σοφίας καί τῆς ζωῆς λεκτέον, ὅτι καί αὐτῶν ἐστι δημιουργός· εἰ γάρ ταῦτα ἄλλως ἔχειν εἴπωμεν, εὑρίσκεται ὁ Θεός ὕστερον σοφισθείς ἤ συνετισθείς, ὅπερ τῆς αὐτῶν ἐστι τόλμης, οὐχ ἡμέτερον· μή γένοιτο!

Καί τοῦ καθηγεμόνος ἥλιος: Σημείωσαι, ὅτι ἥλιον ἑαυτοῦ καί τοῦ ἁγίου Ἱεροθέου τόν ἀπόστολον Παῦλόν φησι. Σημείωσαι δέ, πῶς ἔλαβεν ὁ πατήρ τό ρητόν τοῦ Ἀποστόλου· ὁ γάρ Χρυσόστομος καί οἱ λοιποί τῶν Πατέρων περί τοῦ σταυροῦ αὐτό ἔλαβον.

Καί σύνηθές ἐστι τοῖς θεολόγοις: Τό εἰρημένον ἔθος εἶναι τοῖς θεολόγοις ἀντιπαθῶς ἐπί Θεοῦ τάς στερήσεις ἐκφέρειν, οὕτως ἄν νοήσαιμεν· βουλόμενοι γάρ ἐκεῖνοι τό φῶς τό θεῖον ὅσον οἷόν τε παριστᾶν, ὅτι ἀπροσπέλαστον καί ἀκατόπτευτον, ᾧ μή δύναται προσβαλεῖν μηδέν, μήτε ἄϋλον, μήτε αἰσθητόν, σκότος ὠνόμασαν, ὡς τό· «ἔθετο σκότος ἀποκρυφήν αὑτοῦ», (14S_260> ὅπερ ὁ θεῖος Ἀπόστολός φησι, «Φῶς οἰκῶν ἀπρόσιτον»· ᾧ γάρ μηδέν πρόσεισιν, ὅμοιόν ἐστι τῷ μή ὁρῶντι ὑπεροχικῶς σκότῳ. Πάλιν εἴρηται· «ἐθαυμαστώθη ἡ γνῶσίς σου ἐξ ἐμοῦ, λίαν ἐκραταιώθη, οὐ δύνωμαι πρός αὐτήν». Ὥσπερ οὖν ἡ ἀκατάληπτος καί ἀπερινόητος ἀκράτως τοῦ Θεοῦ γνῶσις ἀγνωσίᾳ παρεικάζεται τῇ ὑπερούσῃ πᾶσαν ἐν κτιστοῖς γνῶσιν (ἡ γάρ περί Θεόν ἀγνωσία τῶν περί τά θεῖα σοφῶν οὐκ ἔστιν ἀμαθία, ἀλλά γνῶσις, σιγῇ γινώσκουσα, ὅτι ἐστίν ἄγνωστος ὁ Θεός), οὕτως οὖν καί κένωσιν καλοῦσι τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου τήν ἐνανθρώπησιν, καίτοι πλήρη τυγχάνουσαν, μᾶλλον δέ ὑπερπλήρη σοφίας καί δυνάμεως καί σωτηρίας· ἀλλά καί ἀσθένειαν Θεοῦ τό διά σταυροῦ τρόπαιον ὀνομάζουσιν, οἷον ἐπειδή θανάτῳ αἱ πονηραί καί ἀόρατοι δυνάμεις τοῦ διαβόλου κατελύθησαν, καί ἀντί θανάτου ἀνάστασις νεκρῶν καί βασιλεία οὐρανῶν ἀντεισήχθη· τοῦτον οὖν τόν τρόπον καί μωρία Θεοῦ, ἡ πᾶσαν σοφίαν καί ἐπιστήμην ὑπεραίρουσα τῶν ἀνθρώπων σύνεσις τοῦ Θεοῦ. Νοήσαι δέ ἄν τις τό λεγόμενον, ἐννοῶν τούς ἀπό τῶν αἱρέσεων, μεθ' ὧν καί τούς Ἕλληνας, οἵ συλλογισμοῖς αἰσθητοῖς ἀποδεικνύναι φαντάζονται Θεοῦ σάρκωσιν ἀδύνατον εἶναι μέχρι θανάτου οἰκονομηθεῖσαν. Πρός οὕς ἐννοῶν ὁ θειότατος Παῦλος ἰλιγγιάσας