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of the judgment; and issuing forth with justice a fitting sentence for endless ages, according to His good decrees.

QUESTION XII.

What is the garment stained by the flesh? Response. The one with many sins from the passions (sufferings) of the flesh

a defiled life, is a stained garment. For as if from some clothing of one’s way of life, each person is naturally revealed, whether just or unjust; the one, having a clean garment, the virtuous life; the other, possessing a life stained by evil deeds. Or rather, a garment stained by the flesh is the state and disposition that shapes the soul according to conscience through the memory of evil movements and activities of the flesh; which, seeing it always like some garment about itself, is filled with the foul odor of the passions. For just as from the spirit, through the virtues being woven together with each other according to reason, a good and glorious incorruptibility comes into being; so also from the flesh, the passions being woven together with each other according to analogy, there comes into being a certain unclean and stained garment, from itself making the soul known, impressing upon it another form and image besides the divine one.

QUESTION XIII.

What is meant by, "For his invisible attributes, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood through the things that are made; both his eternal power and divinity"? What are the invisible attributes of God, and what is his eternal power and divinity?

Response. The principles of beings, pre-established before the ages (296) by God, as he knows

himself, being invisible; which the divine men are accustomed to call good wills; are clearly seen, being understood from the things that are made. For all the works of God, contemplated by us gnostically according to nature with the required knowledge, secretly announce to us the principles according to which they came to be, and reveal with themselves the divine purpose in each created thing; on which account also The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the work of his hands. And eternal power and divinity is the providence which holds all beings together, and the deifying energy, according to this providence, for those who are its objects.

Or perhaps the invisible things of God are nothing other than His eternal power and divinity, which have as their clear heralds the supernatural magnificences of the things that have come to be. For just as from beings we believe that the truly existing God exists; so also from the essential difference according to kind among beings, we are taught His innate wisdom, existing in substance, and holding all beings together. And again, from the essential movement according to kind of beings, we learn of His innate life, existing in substance, and perfecting all beings; from the wise contemplation of creation, we receive the doctrine concerning the Holy Trinity, I mean, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; for the eternal power of God, as consubstantial, is the Word, and the eternal divinity is the Holy Spirit. Therefore, those who do not are condemned

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τῆς κρίσεως· καί πρόσφορον τήν ἐπ᾿ αἰῶσιν ἀτελευτήτοις ψῆφον συνεκφέρων μετά δικαιοσύνης, τοῖς αγαθοῖς αὐτοῦ δόγμασιν.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΙΒ΄.

Τίς ὁ ἀπό τῆς σαρκός ἐσπιλωμένος χιτών. Ἀπόκρισις. Ὁ πολλοῖς πλημμελήμασι τῶν ἐκ τῆς σαρκός παθῶν (παθημάτων)

κεκηλιδωμένος βίος, χιτών ἐστιν ἐσπιλωμένος. Ὡς ἔκ τινος γάρ ἐνδύματος τῆς κατά τόν βίον ἀναστροφῆς ἕκαστος τῶν ἀνθρώπων διαφαίνεσθαι πέφυκεν, εἴτε δίκαιος, εἴτε ἄδικος· ὁ μέν, χιτῶνα καθαρόν ἔχων, τόν ἐνάρετον βίον· ὁ δέ, πονηροῖς ἐσπιλωμένην ἔργοις τήν ζωήν κεκτημένος. Ἤ μᾶλλον, ἐσπιλωμένος ἀπό τῆς σαρκός ἐστι χιτών, ἡ κατά συνείδησιν μορφοῦσα διά τῆς μνήμης τῶν ἐκ τῆς σαρκός πονηρῶν κινημάτων τε καί ἐνεργημάτων τήν ψυχήν ἕξις τε καί διάθεσις· ἥν ὁρῶσα διά παντός καθάπερ χιτῶνά τινα περί ἑαυτήν, δυσωδίας πληροῦται παθῶν. Ὡς γάρ ἀπό τοῦ πνεύματος διά τῶν ἀρετῶν ἀλλήλαις κατά λόγον συνυφαινομένων, ἀφθαρσίας γίνεται καλή καί ἐπίδοξος· οὕτω καί ἀπό τῆς σαρκός, τῶν παθῶν ἀλλήλοις κατά τήν ἀναλογίαν συνυφαινομένων, γίνεταί τις χιτών ἀκάθαρτος καί ἐσπιλωμένος, ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ δεικνύς γνώριμον τήν ψυχήν, μορφήν ἄλλην αὐτῇ καί εἰκόνα παρά τήν θείαν ἐνθέμενος.

ΕΡΩΤΗΣΙΣ ΙΓ ΄.

Τί ἐστι, "Τά γάρ ἀόρατα αὐτοῦ ἀπό κτίσεως κόσμου τοῖς ποιήμασι νοούμενα καθορᾶται· ἥ τε ἀΐδιος αὐτοῦ δύναμις καί θειότης; "Τίνα τά ἀόρατα τοῦ Θεοῦ, καί τίς ἡ ἀΐδιος αὐτοῦ δύναμις καί θειότης;

Ἀπόκρισις. Οἱ τῶν ὄντων λόγοι προκαταρτισθέντες τῶν αἰώνων (296) Θεῷ, καθώς οἶδεν

αὐτός, ἀόρατοι ὄντες· οὕς καί ἀγαθά θελήματα καλεῖν τοῖς θείοις ἔθος ἐστίν ἀνδράσιν· ἀπό τῶν ποιημάτων νοούμενοι καθορῶνται. Πάντα γάρ τά ποιήματα τοῦ Θεοῦ κατά φύσιν μετά τῆς δεούσης ἐπιστήμης γνωστικῶς ὑφ᾿ ἡμῶν θεωρούμενα, τούς καθ᾿ οὕς γεγένηνται λόγους κρυφίως ἡμῖν ἀπαγγέλλουσι, καί τόν ἐφ᾿ ἑκάστῳ ποιήματι θεῖον σκοπόν ἑαυτοῖς συνεκφαίνουσι· καθ᾿ ὅ καί Οἱ οὐρανοί διηγοῦνται δόξαν Θεοῦ, καί τό στερέωμα τήν τῶν χειρῶν ἀναγγέλλει ποίησιν. Ἀΐδιος δέ δύναμίς ἐστι καί θειότης, ἡ συνεκτική τῶν ὄντων πρόνοια, καί ἡ κατά ταύτην ἐκθεωτική τῶν προνοουμένων ἐνέργεια.

Ἤ τάχα τά ἀόρατα τοῦ Θεοῦ εἰσιν οὐκ ἄλλο τι παρά τήν ἀΐδιον αὐτοῦ δύναμιν καί θειότητα, ἔχουσαν διαπρυσίως κήρυκας τάς τῶν γεγονότων ὑπερφυεῖς μεγαλοπρεπείας. Ὡς γάρ ἐκ τῶν ὄντων τόν κυρίως ὄντα Θεόν ὅτι ἔστι πιστεύομεν· οὕτως καί ἐκ τῆς τῶν ὄντων οὐσιώδους κατ᾿ εἶδος διαφορᾶς, τήν κατ᾿ οὐσίαν ἔμφυτον αὐτοῦ σοφίαν ὑφεστῶσαν, καί τῶν ὄντων συνεκτικήν διδασκόμεθα. Καί πάλιν, ἐκ τῆς οὐσιώδους κατ᾿ εἶδος τῶν ὄντων κινήσεως, τήν κατ᾿ οὐσίαν ἔμφυτον αὐτοῦ ζωήν ὑφεστῶσαν, καί τῶν ὄντων συμπληρωτικήν μανθάνομεν· ἐκ τῆς κατά τήν κτίσιν σοφῆς θεωρίας, τόν περί τῆς ἁγίας Τριάδος, Πατρός λέγω, καί Υἱοῦ καί ἁγίου Πνεύματος, λόγον λαμβάνοντες· Θεοῦ γάρ ἀΐδιος ἐστιν ὡς ὁμοούσιος δύναμις ὁ Λόγος, καί θειότης ἀΐδιος τό Πνεῦμα ἅγιον. Κατάκριτοι τοιγαροῦν οἱ μή